#like they really constantly looked at each other like they wanted the other to burrow inside their body to protect each other from the

[starsinthesky5]

why do you like me so much then? || joe burrow x reader

description: why do you like him so much? everything you said made him sound like a lackluster boyfriend, so why did you like him so much?

a/n: this is either really bad, chaotic, all over the place, or just yapping. sorry. the fact that this was supposed to be a blurb?? yeah. i cannot write blurbs LOL.

thanks to @joeyb1989 and my anons for giving me inspo for this! and to joe with that sexy, bratty eyebrow raise that I can never move on from

word count: 9.2 k

warnings: angstttt, smutttt, fluff

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3 hours. That's how long it took you to get ready tonight.

You spent an uncharacteristic amount of time carefully positioning each strand of your hair, ensuring that each piece was perfectly curled and set. You made sure every piece of jewelry from your delicate necklaces to your sparkling earrings and bracelets, all of which were gifted by your boyfriend, shimmered in the warm light and reflected a soft glow. Each stroke of makeup had to look flawless to complete the look, your eye shadow blending in seamlessly as you perfected your small winged eyeliner. The silk sage green slip-on dress you wore–with a delicate lace trim–fit your body like a glove; highlighting every aspect of your beautiful figure perfectly. 

You looked amazing and you felt amazing for the first time in a long time. The past few weeks had been filled with strangeness and ambiguity and you were in desperate need of a change of pace. The strangeness came from how you and Joe had been a bit distant from each other lately, which was uncommon for you two. You were constantly attached at the hip, utterly fixated on each other to the point where the mere thought of being apart would lead to a state of misery and endless complaining. But this past month, you couldn’t be more disconnected from each other. Joe had been so wrapped up with football training this past month to the point where it felt like you two barely saw each other, and that didn't sit well with either of you. You always used to make so much time for each other no matter what, but recently it felt like you two stopped trying.

Every time you thought of planning something to do together such as a little lunch date at your favorite cafe, or a relaxed hike around the park, even just ordering takeout and eating together on the couch while watching a movie, it would always get moved or put off till the next week because Joe had something come up. Either it was more training (which was understandable), more brand shoots (somewhat understandable), or even because he wanted to hang out with the guys--completely not understandable. 

You were never the kind of girlfriend who would keep her boyfriend away from his friends, especially because you actually really liked Joe's friends and greatly appreciated the support they gave him, but when he started using them as an excuse to pass on spending time with you, that's when you became a bit bitter. You were the most understanding person when it came to the things Joe had going on in his life. You knew that he had a lot on his plate and couldn't always be fully present for you, but he always tried his best to be. Or at least he used to. 

Passing on training and brand-related work was hard, but passing on hanging out with his friends once or twice so he could go through with the plans he made with his girlfriend was fairly easy. 

It should be easy, right?

But Joe didn’t do that. He instead moved your plans to hang out with them, and that hurt. He said that you could do the lunch date, hike, or takeout food & movie evening later on, but that 'later' rarely came around. He would just get swamped with more things and you'd be so focused on your work that you couldn't bother to bring up the subject again. 

Joe noticed your increased irritation as well, but he just never said anything because he didn’t feel like it was anything serious, just you in a mood. He wasn't sure what made you so resentful all of a sudden, but he knew better than to argue with you about your sudden mood swings, especially because he knew there could be over 100 reasons for them and didn't really want to set you off even more by pointing it out. 

What Joe did notice was that you two hadn't had much one-on-one time like that recently–completely oblivious to the fact that's exactly why you were so bitter–so he decided to take the first step and offer to take you to dinner at the end of the week. You were so excited when he proposed the idea of going to dinner on Friday, looking forward to spending some much-needed quality time with the person you loved the most. He told you that he'd take you to this new steakhouse in Downtown Cincinnati and then he'd take you down to the banks so you two could lay against the grassy field and look up at the stars together, something you used to do every weekend during the off-season but something had slowly fizzled out as time went by and your weekends became a bit more intense. 

"Every star in the universe reminds me of how much I love you. You’re not just a part of my world; you are the center of my galaxy, and everything else revolves around the love we share," is what he told you the first time you went stargazing. Those special words have stuck with you ever since, especially the part about how you’re the center of his galaxy, but lately, it started to feel like the center of his galaxy had shifted to something other than you. You couldn't figure out when things shifted; those genuine, pacifying moments you two shared became scarily rare. In the back of your mind, you felt like you were losing him. Even though you weren't, it just felt like it, and that was the worst feeling out of them all. Nothing you did or he did made that thought go away. What you didn't or he didn't do is what made it worse. 

You were determined to use this date as a way to move things back on track in your relationship, hopefully even talking about how off things had been lately, so that’s why you dedicated an unusual three hours to primping and preparing. Despite your efforts to achieve perfection, Joe’s love for you was unwavering, regardless of your appearance. He adored your natural beauty, free of makeup, and cherished your tousled, messy hair. He found you just as enchanting in your old gray sweats and one of his worn-out college t-shirts that made you look oh-so tiny. You knew how indifferent he was to perfection, but you wanted everything to be excellent tonight, even if he didn't need it to be. You needed this. 

You were filled with anticipation as you imagined walking into the restaurant with him, the warmth of his hand in yours. You could almost taste the first sip of wine, feel the soft buzz it would bring, and sense the rush of emotions as you immerse yourself in the familiar and comforting bubble of your love for each other. You needed to feel that again so badly.

You took one final look in the mirror, "Damn, I look good. He’s going to love this," you whispered to yourself as your eyes navigated up and down your figure before giving yourself a small nod of approval and exiting the bathroom. You grabbed your white chanel handbag which was one of the many birthday gifts he had gotten you last month and made your way out of the shared bedroom and down the stairs, a big smile on your face as you were expecting an adorable, dressed, and ready Joe awaiting your arrival. But as you reached the last few steps, your smile dropped as you were met with the exact opposite. 

You were met with a Joe dressed in gray sweatpants and an old LSU tee whose back was facing you while he was sitting on the couch, had his headset on, and was playing video games on the TV. 

"Today is Friday, right?" you whispered to yourself as you pulled your phone to read the date, which showed that it was in fact Friday and you weren't crazy.

"Joe?" you called out as you slipped your phone back into your bag, slowly walking down the couple of steps you had left with a look of sheer confusion on your face. He didn't hear you, but you heard him.

"Aye, man. What the fuck?" he said loudly as he started aggressively pushing the buttons on his game controller. "How the hell did you get to level 10 when it's only been a week since the last time we played?".

His friends. He was playing with his friends. 

"Of course," you scoffed as you walked over to the living room where he was, throwing your handbag onto the dining table before calling out for him again. "Joe?.... Joeeeee?" you said louder from behind him, but he still didn't look back at you. 

"He has to be fucking ignoring me. There is no way his headset is this soundproof," you thought to yourself as you shook your head and walked around the couch to come into his view. 

Joe looked over and saw you walking towards him, his eyes giving you a quick once-over before settling on your soft eyes which had a slow burning fire behind them. "You look nice," he mumbled to you before looking back at the TV. While he may not have looked directly at you, his words were genuine–he couldn't help but admire your alluring beauty.

“....Thanks...,” you replied with a dubious tone. “Did you forget that it’s Friday?” you asked him as you looked over at the screen and then back down to him, no response yet again. 

“No, don’t go that way,” he warned his friends through the headset, completely ignoring what you just asked him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” you thought to yourself again.

“Joe? Hellooo?” you called out again but waved your hands for him to see you from the corner of his eye, which he did but didn’t say anything. You were becoming increasingly annoyed with his lack of attention towards you, especially since you knew he could see you and see that you were trying to get his attention. 

"Do you need something?" he finally asked as he moved one side of his headset off his ear, still too focused on the game and his friends to focus in on your conversation. 

"Do I need something? Yes, I fucking need something. I need my boyfriend to go on our date with me which he promised to take me on," you thought to yourself, wanting nothing more than to scream into a pillow.

"Baby, it's Friday," you took a deep breath and said, crossing your arms as you tried to prevent yourself from flipping out on him.

"Yeah, I know," he softly laughed, putting the headset back on again and going back to the game, not even bothering to wait and listen if you had anything else to say, which you did.

You were absolutely dumbfounded by his actions; it was clear that he was intentionally overlooking you. Joe knew you wouldn't bother him like this without a good reason, especially during his video game time with his high school buddies, so his behavior was completely unjustified. 

"Did he forget?" you thought to yourself, feeling your heart break a little at the thought. There was no way he forgot, right? He was the one who planned this date, how could he forget?

Your expression softened as you asked him, "Did you forget?". You didn't really want to hear his response because deep down, you already knew the answer. Admitting it meant that he actually forgot about you.

But you didn't need to hear his response because there was no response. 

You looked back and forth between him and the TV, seeing how he was practically looking right through you and pretending as if you weren’t standing there in the most date-night outfit ever. Joe was oblivious sometimes, but he wasn’t that oblivious.  

“Fuck this,” you mumbled, deciding to take matters into your own hands since he wasn't listening and didn't look like he was planning on listening. You walked over to the TV, grabbed the plug from the outlet behind it, and yanked it so hard that you could've pulled out the entire electrical system in the wall. 

"Y/N, what the hell?" you heard from behind you, as well as the sound of Joe taking his headset off and throwing it down onto the couch. 

"Oh, so now you acknowledge my presence?" you rolled your eyes and sighed heavily. 

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked you, his eyebrows furrowed as if he was genuinely confused. 

"What do you think? I called out your name like 4 times and got no response. Then when I actually got your attention, or I thought I did, you didn't even answer my question fully and brushed me off like I was just some girl," you said as you walked closer to him, the built-up bitterness inside of you begging to be released. 

"You're not just some girl," he shook his head. "You're my girlfri-," he began to say before you interrupted him. 

"Oh yeah? Then act like I am. I asked you a question and you completely ignored it and ignored me," you grumbled as you gave him a look that he instantly knew meant you were genuinely pissed off. 

"What do you mean? I did answer your question," he shrugged. 

"Fucking barely? I told you it was Friday and was hoping that would ring a bell but it didn't, and then I asked you if you forgot but you had already put your dumb fucking headset on and either didn't hear me or didn't want to hear me," you snarled, rolling your shoulders back as the tension in your body increased and put a strain on your upper body. 

"Ohhh, it's Friday? So what?" he sarcastically laughed while shaking his hands, then stood up and practically towered over you. You hated when he did this whenever you two got into a little disagreement, it felt like he was showing the power he had over you and made you feel 10 times smaller. 

"Are you serious?" you asked, feeling the heat rising in your cheeks and your eyes beginning to well up with tears. It wasn't sadness that caused the tears, but a deep sense of anger. 

"What did I forget hmm? Because I'm pretty sure that I already did the laundry, cleaned up the kitchen from lunch, ordered the groceries, and watered your plants outside," he asked, the bratty tone in his voice making you want to scream into a pillow and then proceed to hit him with said pillow. 

You felt your bottom lip tremble as your entire body felt a wave of sadness overpower the anger you were feeling. 

He really forgot. 

He didn't forget to do all the other things that weren’t that big of a deal, but what he did forget was the most important thing.

"Our...our date, Joe?" you choked out, feeling a tear fall from your eye it felt like the world went silent. "Our fucking date," you said again, this time with more anger in your voice, wiping the tear trail from your cheek. So much for your flawless makeup. 

Joe's heart immediately sank at the mention of the word 'date.' He had completely forgotten about the plans you had made, the plans he had made. How could he have forgotten something like this? He knew how important this date was; it was the first time in a long time that you two got to spend alone time together away from everything. Even though he never said it, he felt awful that each time you tried to plan something together, it was pushed back for some reason and never thought about again. 

His eyes softened as he realized why you were mad, "Y/N, I'm so sorry...I forgot," he said. 

You remained quiet for a few seconds, trying to calm yourself by taking a few deep breaths but that wasn't really working. "I shouldn't be surprised you forgot, you know? I've been practically invisible to you this past month," you scoffed, a few more tears falling from your eyes unknowingly. 

"Invisible?" Joe questioned, a bit taken aback by your harsh response. Yeah, he had been spending less time with you lately, but in no way were you invisible to him. 

"Yeah, invisible. It's like I'm just not here. You've been basically avoiding spending time with me and the one time you offer to plan something, you conveniently forget. Spare me, Joe," you shook your head and said. 

"Woah, I wouldn't say I'm avoiding spending time with you?" he said as he took a step closer to you. "I've been busy, you know I've been busy,".

"I get that, but what about those times when you ditched doing something with me so you could do something with the guys? I understand if it’s because of training and stuff but getting ditched for your friends? That hurts. Especially when we already had plans but you moved them and little old me always went along with it because I didn't want to rock the boat," you cried, your tears breaking through and free-falling down your cheeks now. 

"Rock the boat? What are you...what are you even talking about?" he threw his hands in the air and asked. "What the hell is she talking about? I know we've been spending less time together, but in no way is the boat being rocked. We're fine?" he thought to himself. 

"Here you go with the oblivious act," you laughed through the tears in amusement. "Un. fucking. believable. You always do this whenever you’re in the wrong, and frankly, I’m sick of it. You're acting as if I haven't been visibly miserable the past few weeks. Oh, wait. That's just it, how would you know? I'm invisible to you," you said, your voice a little louder as the anger was once again taking over. 

"Look, I don't know what the fuck I did but I don't understand why you're blowing up over this," Joe said, his hand moving to scratch the back of his neck. 

"That's just it. It's mostly what you didn't do. You didn't bother to reschedule our plans, you didn't bother to check in on me to see if I was really okay with you moving our plans, and you didn't fucking remember we were supposed to go out tonight," you yelled, your breaths becoming shorter as you felt yourself turning red from slight distress. You felt awful for yelling at him, but all of the emotions you had built up this past month were coming out at once and it was not going to be pretty. 

Joe stood in silence, his eyes fixed on you as you continued to express your disappointment with his recent behavior as your boyfriend. He felt a sense of unease as he realized the impact of his actions on your emotions. He knew he was in the wrong, but he was hoping you understood how hectic his schedule was and how that prevented him from giving his all to you recently. 

You always understood. And if you didn't, you talked to him about it. But this time you didn't do either of those things, and that made him a little upset. Communication was a big part of your relationship and although it had been pretty off this past month, he thought you would’ve said something to him if you felt this bad about everything. 

"You know, instead of yelling at me about all of this, why didn't you just talk to me about it in the first place?" he asked, now feeling a bit irritated himself. "If you felt so 'invisible' why didn't you tell me right then and there?". 

"Are you really blaming me for this?" you said, looking at him in disbelief. It was unbelievable that he was trying to ignore your feelings, especially when you rarely blew up on him like this so that should tell him that you were really hurt by all of this.

"I never…I never said that," he said while sucking his bottom lip in. "All I'm saying is that we didn't need to have this big argument about it if you just talked to me about how you were feeling before,".

"That still wouldn't change the fact that you forgot about tonight," you snapped, placing your hands on your hips. When your hands touched the smooth, silky fabric of your dress, it seemed to emphasize every curve of your body, catching Joe's gaze for a moment. He felt a flutter of excitement in his stomach as he admired your figure once more, taking in every detail of your stunning appearance a bit closer than he did before. "You still haven't given me a reason," you added.

Joe's frustration was growing as he felt increasingly annoyed by your words, despite his understanding that he had made a mistake. Instead of fixing the issue, your yelling was only aggravating the situation. "You know what? Fine. I forgot. Whoops. My bad," he retorted in a tone that was both monotonous and bratty. He went quiet for a moment, thinking of a devious plan to make you even more annoyed. 

But why did he enjoy making you feel irritated? Because he liked seeing you get all hot and bothered because of him. "I forgot because I was having a great time with my friends and lost track of time. I guess they were more interesting than you," he said smugly.

He knew he was being an absolute dick right now, but part of him was having fun watching you get heated over this and wanted to see you get more flustered. “Is it bad that I think she looks hot as fuck right now?” he thought to himself. 

"God, your fucking attitude pisses me off sometimes," you yelled. As you shook your head, you couldn't help but feel another wave of anger towards him, even though looking around, you realized that the issue at hand was frankly trivial. It wasn't the specific problem–forgetting about the date–that got to you, but rather the underlying feeling of frustration and disappointment that had built inside of you for the past month. Tonight was just the final blow that tipped you over the edge.  

Despite your irritating behavior and petty bickering, Joe was really turned on right now. Something about seeing that fire in your eyes, hearing that fire in your voice just got him going. You were taking charge, and he loved that even if he was pissed that you were arguing with him about something that didn’t need to be this big of a deal. You were putting him in his place and he liked that about you. He liked that you weren’t afraid to call him out on his bullshit. 

His eyes traced a slow, calculated path from your legs, to the graceful curves of your body, to the gentle contours of your breasts, then up to the curve of your neck, before finally meeting your captivatingly beautiful face. He couldn't resist the temptation to admire your compelling appearance, making it even more challenging for him to focus on the petty argument you were having. He felt bad that you got all dressed up for a date that wasn’t happening, but he did enjoy seeing your precious cheeks turn red out of anger, seeing your body tense up in a way that was practically begging for him to relieve it. 

He licked his plump lips as his eyes flashed to a darker shade of blue before saying, "Then why do you like me so much?". 

Your breath caught in your throat as you were trapped by the intense gaze in his eyes. Those dangerous, smoldering, bedroom eyes always seemed to have an irresistible effect on you. The words that followed, said in a tone that ignited a wildfire within you, made you feel an almost overwhelming urge to drop to your knees in front of him. “No, No, No. I’m mad at him. It doesn’t matter how much I would love for him to take away my ability to walk right now. Keep it together,” you thought to yourself, feeling butterflies flutter through your stomach. 

You remained quiet and continued to stare at him, watching him raise his eyebrows in the brattiest way possible as a result of how he easily silenced your bitching and moaning and because of how you had absolutely no response for him. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he leaned over and whispered in your ear, his husky voice sending shivers down your spine. “Cat got your tongue?”. 

“I’m not playing this game with you right now,” you rolled your eyes and snapped, starting to back up and walk away before you felt his warm hand wrap around your wrist and pull you right back to him.

A playful smirk danced across his lips as he pulled you into his embrace, immediately planting a trail of soft, teasing kisses along your neck, successfully redirecting your attention.

“Joe,” you whispered, trying to get out of his hold but struggling because of how he was holding you so tightly and pressing kisses all along your neck—your favorite spot to be kissed. “Oh fuck,” you lightly whimpered, feeling him nip and bite at your skin as he wrapped his hand around your neck and gently squeezed it. 

“Hm? Why do you like me so much then?” he mumbled as he dropped wet kisses up to your ear. “If I’m such a horrible boyfriend, why don’t you just leave?”.

“Fuck, Joe,” you accidentally moaned, feeling him start to suck on your favorite spot which made a pang of arousal shoot up your spine.  “So much for trying to keep it together,” you thought to yourself. “This has to be a massive ego boost for him,”. 

It definitely was. He took pride in knowing that he could so easily make you forget about your anger towards him by simply doing what he did best, skillfully and attentively worshiping every inch of your body.

“Hm,” he laughed against you. “I guess that’s why you don’t leave,” 

“You’re being a brat,” you said a few seconds later as you threaded your fingers through his frosted tips, pushing his head closer to your neck. Your actions are a complete juxtaposition to the words that came from your mouth. You were mad at him, but you weren’t acting like it. The sounds leaving your lips, your needy touch, it was all the complete opposite of what you were saying.

“No, you’re being a brat,” he said as he moved out of your neck and looked into your firey eyes. 

He had some nerve to be calling you a brat right now. You weren’t the one that had been ignoring him tonight or the one that had been brushing him off all month. “Go fuck yourself, Joe,” you spat out, the bitterness evident in your words, but it seemed to have little effect on him.

“How about you fuck me instead?” he boldly said while giving you the same tempting, inviting eyebrow raise again. 

“If he looks at me like that again, I swear to god I’m going to end up pregnant. Fuck. Why does he have to look at me like that when I’m trying to be mad at him,” you thought to yourself. Gradually, the intense anger, sadness, and constant irritation towards him turned into strong feelings of fierce desire, urgent need, and passionate emotion.

As you stood face to face, a noticeable tension filled the air, the heat rising as if a fire had been torched between you. His passionate gaze reached into you, sending jolts of electricity through the space. It felt as though he was silently expressing that he had the power to make you forget everything, if only you would allow him to.

And god you wanted him to. 

You quickly reduced the space between you both and smashed your lips against his, his hands dropping down to your waist and holding you tightly as a smirk rose on his lips. “Told you. This is why you don’t leave,” he whispered in between the messy kiss as you wrapped your arms around his neck and brought him in closer, completely melting under his fervent touch. 

“Shut up,” you smirked as you trailed kisses along his jaw before he pulled your lips back to his, both of your bodies calling each other’s names as you got lost in each other. 

He moves his big hands down to your ass, giving each cheek a gentle squeeze before whispering, “Jump,” in between the kiss. You do as he says, jumping and wrapping your legs around his middle as he holds you tightly, walking towards the stairs and taking you straight to the bedroom, all without breaking the restless kiss.

A few minutes later, you’re both naked and lying on the bed as Joe spends a bit more time peppering kisses along your neck, your neediness getting more and more vocal as he refuses to do the thing you actually need him to do. 

“Joe, please,” you whimpered as you felt his nose brush against your jaw while he sucked on a spot on your neck, your body squirming under his large frame.

“You can’t be mad at me like that and expect me to give you what you want so easily,” he smirks after he moves from your neck and looks into your eyes with mischievous intent. 

“Fuck you,” you scoffed while tilting your head to the side and refusing to look at him.

“Oh you will, all in due time, baby,” he whispered in your ear, then gently lifted you up in a tender embrace and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Straight across from the mirror. 

“What’re you doing?” you ask him as he sets you in his lap, both of you facing the mirror.

“You see that, Y/N?” he asks as he points to you in the mirror. “That’s you,” he adds as he continues to look up and starts to press wet kisses around your shoulder. His hand snakes around your waist, rubbing your belly with his long fingers as they start to navigate down to your thigh. 

“I know,” you sigh, tilting your head to the side as his kisses get closer to your neck.

“You’re not invisible, baby,” he says as he plants kisses in a path up to your ear as his fingers move down to your core aching core. “You’re right here,” he whispers, a moan escaping your lips as you feel his fingers slide against your wet heat. 

“Joe,” you whimper tipping your head back and closing your eyes, the feeling of his hot body underneath you combined with the feeling of his long fingers at the place where you need him the most becoming too much for you.

“I see you, Y/N,” he whispers in your ear, the tip of his cold nose pressed against it. “I always see you, I always hear you. You’re not invisible,” he says before pressing a kiss to the corner of your ear, then pressing his fingers against your sensitive clit. 

“Ah, Joe,” you moaned, feeling a jolt of pleasure rip through your body. Before you can move your head back forward to say something, you feel his fingers dip inside your core with no warning, earning another sound of pleasure from your lips. “Fuck,” you moaned as you practically melted into his embrace even more. 

His fingers begin to pump in and out of your core, more soft groans and whimpers falling from your lips as he drops slow, hot kisses around your face. “Fuck, you’re so tight,” he rasps as he drops his head down to your shoulder again, spending more time cherishing that part of your body. 

The sensation of his skillful fingers stretching you out and filling you makes you want to forget about everything that happened. Joe always had the ability to make you forget your worries and tensions in an instant, but this might have been a new record. 

“Joe, please…I..,” you whimper, grinding your hips against his as your body begs for more.

"Hmm, it's not that easy, baby," he says with a smirk, his voice oozing with cockiness. You can sense the power he holds over you, and it's clear that he finds it entertaining. He is fully aware of the effect he has on you and revels in it. You hated that he could easily get you like this, but you loved it so fucking much. 

His fingers continue to thrust in and out of your core, his touch becoming hotter by the second as you feel yourself inch closer to your release. “You don’t sound like you’re mad at me,” he said as he used his other hand to push your head forward so that you were looking in the mirror again. 

“Fuck,” you moaned when you saw his captivating dark blue eyes at the same time as you felt his fingers hit the spot inside of you. “I…I’m so…mad at you,” you struggled to get out, a whimper squeezing in between your words. 

“Sure,” he chuckled as he rested his chin on your shoulder, increasing the pace of his fingers.

You watched as his fingers disappeared in and out of your dripping heat, faint sounds of your wetness filling the room as you slowly moved your eyes back up to meet his. The look he had told you a number of things; he was horny as hell (just like you), he was enjoying seeing you struggle like this, and he was genuinely sorry about everything. 

The apologetic twinkle in his eyes produced a profound and intense emotion within you, igniting a powerful and overwhelming feeling. He was fully aware of his mistake and this was his way of expressing it to you. “Joe,” you screamed as you felt the band in your stomach tighten, your body gently trembling above him as you felt overwhelming pleasure coursing through your veins. 

“Look at you, you’re right there, Y/N. Not hidden, not transparent, and certainly not fucking invisible. Especially not to me,” he whispered in your ear, his husky, raspy voice being the final thing you needed to tip right over the edge.

You feel an intense, deep, and warm feeling pool in your belly, you were so so so painfully close. But just to your surprise, Joe suddenly pulls his fingers out of your core, earning a dissatisfied shriek from your lips. “What the fuck, Joe,” you panted, your core pulsing at the tension that was still there, the tension you thought he’d release for you.  

“Told you,” he smirked as he looked into your eyes through the mirror. “Not easy,”, a soft kiss landing on your shoulder before you feel yourself being lifted up again, turned around, and pushed down to the bed a little roughly. 

“Go. Fuck. Yourself.” you groaned at him a few seconds later, your eyes having that fire in them that he so desperately loved. 

“That’s your job, baby,” he winked as he kneeled down on the bed, hovering over you. “But, I’ll be nice for a little bit and help you out,”. 

You’re about to open your mouth to say something, but before you can, he smashes his lips against yours and rests the head of his hard cock at the entrance of your core. “You want me to give you attention? Here you go,” he mumbles a few seconds later with a cocky grin, and then you feel him push into you with a roughness that drove you wild.

“Ah, Joe,” a guttural moan escaping your lips as you scrunch your nose, your legs instinctively wrapping around him. He was wasting no time with you, and you loved that. 

A jolt of pleasure rips through your body again as he starts to move inside of you, his movements so thorough and intense but rough at the same time. His hand firmly grasps your waist, communicating a sense of possession and intimacy, making it clear to you that you belong entirely to him. 

His body was telling you that you weren’t losing him, that you could never lose him. You could never lose him because he would never let you, he’d never let go of you. 

“Fuck, Y/N,” he moaned as he felt your hands travel to his hair, gently tugging on the strands as you rested your lips on his neck. He begins to snap his hips against yours hard, every thrust sending you further back into the bed and making you forget about everything that ever bothered you in your entire life. 

“Joe…fuck, I’m…,” you panted. “Fuck,” you trailed off.

“I know, baby. I know,” he smiled.

He continues to thrust into you and sets a pace that makes you feel like you’re practically flying through the clouds. It feels euphoric the way he knows exactly how to send your body to its pleasure, almost other-worldly. He was just so good at it. 

The way he was worshipping your body, basically fucking the anger out of you was something your brain couldn’t comprehend. He was the only person who was capable of doing this to you, getting you so frustrated, hot, and bothered, and then having you completely and utterly raw the next second–emotionally and physically. 

Joe was aware that your anger towards him and his recent behavior stemmed from genuine pain. He deeply regretted causing you this pain and slapped himself mentally, repeatedly, for making you feel invisible, even for a second. You were the center of his galaxy, and he needed you to know that you still were and nothing had changed. 

He moves his lips back to yours, capturing them in an intimate kiss that stifles your moans. The delicious feeling of his cock filling you up and his lips against yours is all you could have ever wanted. The way he was moving against you was creating a haze in your brain, almost like a lavender haze. 

The haze surrounded you, signaling that you were immersed in a love that consumed every part of you. 

Joe consumed every part of you. He was the lavender haze, and you wanted to stay in that haze for as long as humanly possible. 

Even though you were mad at him, you couldn’t stay mad at him. He loved you and you knew that, and now he was showing you that he did. This was his way of reassuring you that he was right here with you. 

“Baby,” he moaned, feeling himself get lost in the pleasure you were bringing him. “You feel so fucking good,” he groaned. 

“Joe, my god,” you whimpered, feeling your already built-up release getting stronger again. “I’m so close,” you whined, feeling him somehow quicken his pace. You looked down at him, watching how he roughly pounded into your wet heat and how his muscular body was glowing in the soft light of your bedroom. 

“Cum for me, baby. I know you’re there,” he moaned in your ear before dropping his head to your neck. 

“Ah,” you whimper, feeling your body start to tremble again, you were just seconds away from letting go. 

One particular hard, well-placed thrust later, you were screaming his name as you pushed your head back into the pillow to brace yourself for your orgasm. You felt like a dam had just burst, and the pressure built against it was finally free. Wave after wave of pleasure rips through your body as Joe keeps hammering into you and each time you feel your high come down, it shoots right back up because of his movements. The feeling of your walls wrapping around him, squeezing and hugging his cock made him smile, almost as much as the sound of his name leaving your lips like a sacred chant. 

“Joe,” you whispered, feeling yourself finally come down from your peak. You looked down and saw that he was still moving inside of you, trying to reach his own peak. “Joe,” you said again as you threaded your hands into his hair and lifted his head, “Flip us,”. 

He looked at your glossed-over eyes with his tired ones, a dirty smirk forming on his lips at the idea of what you were asking him to do. “Okay,” he winked, wrapping his big hands around your torso and easily flipping you over all in one go. Despite how tired he was physically, he could never be too tired for you.

“He’s so fucking strong. Fucking hell,” you thought to yourself as you straddled his waist, taking in his tousled golden curls, his thick muscular chest which was coated with a thin layer of sweat, and then his large cock–which was practically calling for you. 

You grabbed his erection, guiding the tip between your drenched folds as you saw his face contort in pleasure and a hiss leaving his lips–he was close. You lifted your hips from his and sat up on your knees before lining up his cock with your core and sinking straight down onto it.  “Oh, fuck,” he moaned as he closed his eyes, his hands landing right on your ass with a light ‘slap’. 

You leaned forward and placed your hands on his pecs, sliding up and down his cock at the same pace he was pounding into you. “Yeah,” you whispered as you felt yourself feel a shock of pleasure coarse through your vein, just as Joe felt coursing inside of him. 

“Y/N, baby,” he groaned, “You feel so good, fuck,” he said while digging his head back into the pillow, having the time of his life watching you take over and ride him into oblivion. 

“I know,” you said to him with a cocky grin which made him raise his eyebrows again, the same way he did earlier. 

It was that same bratty, sexy, that made you think ‘get me pregnant right the fuck now’ eyebrow raise. 

“Fuck,” you moaned after you saw him raise his eyebrows and his cock hit that spot inside of you. 

“That’s my girl,” he grinned, feeling his ego shoot up because even though you were in ‘control’, he was still, actually in control. Especially over you, and it was so obvious. 

You continued to slide up and down his length, occasionally moving back and forth as his moans got louder and his grip on you got tighter. His eyes were fixated on your breasts that were bouncing up and down right in his view, his hands were stuck to your ass and were kneading your plush skin, and his hips were starting to thrust up into you. 

“I’m close, fuck,” he moaned as he felt your walls tighten around him–you were close too, again. 

“O- oh, fuck,” you whimpered while falling forward, your chest pressed against his. “Joe, you’re so fucking…,” you trailed off as a moan interrupted your sentence. “I’m gonna cum,” you whispered against his swollen, plump lips.

“Y- yeah, me too,” he panted, snapping his hips into yours harder. A few seconds later, your bodies moved against each other in perfect harmony for the final time as both of your releases hit at the same time, both of you feeling like your breaths had just been taken away by the intensity of your orgasms. 

“Joe,” you screamed, feeling your high hit you again like a ton of bricks, stars filling your eyes as your second release soaked your lower halves as you felt Joe’s cock twitch inside of you.  

“Fuck, Y/N…oh my god,” he rasped as he shot hot spurts of cum inside your wet, hot cunt, slowly thrusting whatever came out back into your core. His hands were gripping your hips now, so incredibly tightly that you were sure they would leave a small bruise. You looked down and saw how his nose was scrunched up, how his bottom lip was stuck between his teeth, and how his eyes were filled with love, regret, and admiration towards you. 

A couple of minutes later, you were both lying next to each other, trying to catch your breath and make sense of everything that happened in the past hour or so. Joe turned his head to the side to look at you, taking note of how you were biting away at your bottom lip–something you did when you were anxious.

You were in fact anxious. Your argument was bad, and whatever happened on this bed was amazing, but where did it actually get you? Yeah, you were much calmer and in your senses (kind of?) for the most part, but you had hardly talked about the reason you two even got to this point. 

Joe, with a mix of feelings, let out a deep, heartfelt sigh. He gently put his arm around your bare shoulder, pulling you close to his warm chest. Amid your overwhelming confusion, he became your safe haven even though he was the reason you were confused in the first place.

You felt the gentle touch of his lips as he pressed a tender kiss to your forehead. He then rested his mouth and nose against it, inhaling your natural fragrance. This simple act brought him a unique sense of comfort that no one else, not even his friends, could provide. It was this deep connection that made him realize the need to apologize to you. You were right, you were always right.

“Baby?” he asked you, causing you to look up at him with your tired eyes.

“Y- yeah?” you rasped, your voice scratchy from the activities you were partaking in just a few minutes ago. 

“I’m so, and I mean so fucking sorry for what I did,” he sighed. “I really didn’t mean to make you feel invisible or ignored this past month, you don’t deserve that. I’m sorry that I haven’t been giving you the attention you deserve lately, especially because you do so much for me, more than anyone ever has or ever will,” he sniffled, his eyes welling with tears. 

“Joe,” you pouted, moving your hand to cup his soft cheek and rubbing your thumb under his eye, seeing how glossy his eyes got all of a sudden. “It’s okay, I promise,”.

“It’s not, Y/N,” he said with another gentle kiss to your forehead. “I told you that you were the center of my galaxy, and you are. I hate that I made you feel like you weren’t anymore, that’s so fucked up. I should’ve talked to you about all of this and shouldn’t have expected you to say something first. I was the one that needed to get myself straight and I’m so sorry that I let things get to this point,”.

You felt his hand moving in gentle, soothing circles on your back, providing a comforting and secure touch. In his arms, your worries and tensions seemed to melt away in two distinct ways: the intimacy you shared in the bedroom, and the reassuring feeling of his current actions.

“I just felt like I was losing you,” you admitted. “I was scared that we were drifting apart and I just-,”.

“No,” he interrupted. “You’re not losing me, baby. You’re never going to lose me,” he softly said as he moved his hands into your hair. “I’m not gonna let that happen, not now and not in 15 years when we’re middle-aged and have two kids running around and are arguing about who has to drive the kids to school the next morning,” he smiled.

A soft chuckle left your lips as you imagined what he was saying, an image of your promising future with Joe filled your mind–and it was oh-so sweet. “Obviously you. I need beauty sleep,” you chuckled. 

“Noted,” he smiled as he pulled you closer to him as if you weren’t already stuck to him like glue. He opened his mouth to say something again, and the tone of his voice knew that what he was about to say could easily make you cry,  “I don't think I could find the right words to describe the depth of my love for you. What I feel for you overpowers any other emotion I've ever experienced. It's as if my soul has finally found its missing piece in you. I will choose you, again and again, without hesitation. No one else can make me feel the way you do. You mean everything to me. When I look at you, I see my life partner, my best friend, my everything. You have the unique ability to improve every aspect of my life–every laugh becomes brighter, and every tough day feels more manageable because you're there for me. You have given me a type of love that I never thought possible, and I'll forever treasure the way you've positively impacted my life. My love for you is something I'll wholeheartedly protect because no one else will ever have my heart the way you do. From the moment we met, I felt something unique about you. I've never loved anyone the way I love you, and I know I never will. You're my heart, my soul, and the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. No one else will ever come close to producing the feelings I have for you, and I'll always do everything in my power to ensure you feel as cherished and adored as you deserve.” he said while playing with your messy hair. 

You felt tears falling from your eyes after he finished talking, you didn’t even realize when you started crying, but you were. “Wait, I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he softly said as he leaned down and cleaned up your tears by placing kisses on each droplet. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said, his softness so adorable and genuine. 

“It’s okay, Joey,” you grinned, a few sniffles coming from your nose. “I’m crying because of how much I love you. What you said…that means a lot,”. 

“I mean it, Y/N. I’m genuinely so sorry for tonight, for this past month, for all of it. You are always number 1 for me and I need to show you that more from now on. I don’t deserve you at all, but I have you, and I won’t overlook something as valuable as you or not take advantage of the fact that you, this amazingly sweet, sexy, empathetic, down-to-earth, incredibly genuine, kindhearted, funny & sometimes slightly boring…” he started to say before you interrupted him.

“Ouch,” you giggled as you patted his chest, earning a soft chuckle from him.  

“...boring but unpredictable, loving, insanely beautiful, and charismatic girl has my heart in her hands,” he finished saying. “I love you, Y/N. I need to do better for you, and from this moment on I will. You deserve to be loved with 150% effort and I’m going to make sure you do. The guys can wait. I’ve spent enough time with them for them to go a couple of weeks, even months without seeing me. It’s you and me now and forever,” he said to you, his soft, loving eyes acting as a mirror to his soul–which showed his genuine and raw intentions and were exactly as he was describing to you. 

“I love you, Joe,” you smiled as you felt him brush his lips against your lips before planting a deep, passionate kiss to them. 

“Time to get things back on track,” he said a few seconds later, sitting up on the bed and bringing you with him. “It’s too late for our dinner reservation but I’m going to get it shifted to tomorrow. Tonight we’re going to the banks for some stargazing and a late-night picnic. We can pick up some pizza and ice cream from that place by the stadium on our way,” he nodded, talking you through the plan as if he had thought about this deeply, but he didn’t. He was coming up with all this on the fly. “Then tomorrow morning after we wake up, we can go on a little hike in that part by my parent’s house in Athens. It’ll be a drive but we can hike around there since it’s so pretty this time of the year and see my parents, maybe even get lunch with them at our favorite cafe over there before heading back home for dinner tomorrow night. On Sunday, it’s a full lazy day inside. We’re going to stay in our pajamas all day, do a Twilight movie marathon because I remember you saying you want me to watch them with you, order food to the house for lunch and dinner, maybe even bake some cookies or something, and then spend the rest of the day in bed. Preferably with no clothes,” he grinned. 

You were left speechless as you looked at him, impressed by how effortlessly he had drafted these plans without considering his own weekend schedule. The sight of him thinking on the spot filled you with affection, and your heart swelled with a mix of emotions. 

You leap forward and wrap your arms around his neck as you smother his face with gentle kisses, “I loveeeeee youuuuuuuuu,” you giggle, feeling him wrap his arms around your waist and hearing his soft chuckles in your ear. 

“I love you too, baby. You’re the shining force at the center of my galaxy, the light that everything else revolves around. Like the planets drawn to their sun, my life is pulled by your existence, and I know that for us to thrive, our orbit needs to be steady. Every moment with you is a delicate balance of love, trust, and effort–each one keeping us aligned, making sure our world doesn’t drift apart. I’ll protect that balance, making sure that no matter what forces try to interfere, we stay on track, always revolving around the core of what we’ve built together," he says to you, his heartfelt words, his embrace, the genuine look in his eyes all making you fall deeper in love with him.

"This is why I like you so much," you grin as you meet his baby blues, answering his question from earlier.

"What do you mean?" he asks you, licking his lips as he uses his hand to move his hair back.

"I like you because you're the most thoughtful, raw, incredibly well-spoken, smartest, nerdiest, most adorable and manly, genuine person I've ever met in my entire existence. You make me mad sometimes, but you also know exactly how to fix what you did and make everything even better than it was before. You're always making an effort to fix things. Yeah, you can be a dick, asshole, and oblivious idiot sometimes...,".

"Hey!" he gasps, acting like he was offended over what you said.

"But you're my obvious idiot and I love you for everything you are. You love me, like really love me and I know that and you never fail to make me know that. Also because you're like super sexy and I can't get enough of you and that damn eyebrow raise," you giggled.

"Oh, you like that?" he asked, giving you that eyebrow raise again.

"Do that again and we're staying in this bed the rest of the night," you smiled at him and said. "I might even end up pregnant by the end of it,".

Joe was stunned at your words, "Damn, so you really like that," he slowly nodded with a smirk.

"Really may be an understatement. Just know that you don't want to be inside my brain whenever you do that eyebrow raise," you winked. "I don't think we have enough anti-horny spray to get rid of the thoughts in my head,".

"Being perpetually horny is good for the soul, babe. Embrace it," Joe smiled as he leaned in and slowly kissed you in a way that made your toes curl and your body light on fire.

He fell back down against the pillows and brought you down with him. "Joe," you said in between the kiss, "We have to go," you smiled.

"Another round won't hurt," he said while giving you the eyebrow raise again, now knowing what it did to you.

You rolled your eyes, "Fuck, you're going to use that every damn time from now on, aren't you?".

"Maaaybe," he grinned as he brought you back down to his soft lips.

–The End–

[leonardcohenofficial]

peter capaldi being like it’s different if there’s doctor/companion romance when the doctor is played by handsome young men like david tennant and matt smith but i’m a father and much older than jenna so it would be weird so no romance in the TARDIS is so funny because i get him trying to being mindful but whatever he and jenna were doing is soooooo much more insane; also. NOW is the time we’re worried about age gap discourse? with the two thousand year old alien? god bless him

[ocean-sunfish-hater]

I've always been fascinated by cooperation and communal living in the animal kingdom. There's so many reasons that species will live communally, and not all of them are because they particularly want to.

Maras, a large rodent species, are monogamous but will put their babies into a creche. One couple will stay to look after the babies whilst the rest of the parents go and graze for the day. If the sentries spot danger, the babies run into the burrows, safe and sound. It's a really effective system!

ID: A baby and adult mara touching noses with each other. They are rabbit-like in body shape, with fur that is a gradient from grey to reddish-brown.

The thing is, maras hate each other. They really, REALLY loathe being around other maras that are not their mate. They are NOT very sociable animals.

So when it's pickup time at the daycare, things can turn ugly very quickly. Whilst they may tolerate being in the same vicinity as another adult mara, there's only so much they can take before things go south. Punches. Kicks. Even the yeeting of babies. Their commensalism hangs by a thread, and they are constantly gnawing at it. But the creche system is so effective that they will continue doing this, litter after litter, year after year.

I think this is a really interesting example of how social behaviours can arise even when the animals are themselves not very tolerant of each other. It goes to show how useful working together can be, even if the thought of being in the same geographical area as someone else can send you into a blind rage.

[taxidermycanine]

5 WAYS TO HELP WITH SPECIES DYSPHORIA AS A THERIAN (with and without gear)

- please note that most of these are focused mainly on being a wolf therian, but i'll try my best to make it more inclusive to others.

1 •

my personal favorite, wolf quest! this one does cost money, so this isn't for those who don't have the money/don't already have the game. it really helps me feel more connected to who i am. you find a mate, raise pups, hunt prey, defend your den and pack from predators, and there's even a multiplayer option for you to play with your friends. :o)

(and yes, you can customize what your wolf looks like. all NPC wolves in the game have different personalities for immersion, including you, your pups, and your mate)

please note that the game is still in development! they plan to add a saga where you can live constantly with your pack and continue with new generations each year (and no, you don't HAVE to pass away). you can toggle whether your mate dies or not, if you play on easy you can avoid your pups getting sick by reloading saves if you're sensitive to that, there are constantly new updates being brought out that make the game feel more realistic each time and the development team are incredibly sweet. if you have the money i highly recommend this game, wolf therian or otherwise.

2 •

documentaries. a wonderful way to not only feel more connected to your theriotype(s), but to also learn more information about them! my favorite thing to do when i'm stressed is to wrap myself in warm blankets, turn off my lights and put on a documentary to calm myself down. bonus points if you DO have gear to wear during this, if not that's okay too.

i also like to have my plush friends join me so i can act like they're my pack :o) it's a nice way to feel less lonely as i watch. this also works if you're a domestic cat therian, have your plushies be your clouder! no matter what animal you are though, never feel less valid for wanting your stuffies with you during this. it doesn't matter if your theriotype isn't a social animal in the wild.

if you're an aquatic therian of some kind, i think a good idea would be taking your phone in the bathroom with you and setting it up outside of the tub to watch whilst you're in the water! (or shower if you don't have one, you can also use a kiddie pool outside in the warmer months). PLEASE remember to be safe during this though, if you worry about getting your phone wet then instead find some blue blankets and pretend it's the ocean!

3 •

going outside to where your theriotype resides in naturally. of course this won't be for everyone, since a lot of the time trips can end up being quite costly. something that i like to do is go to my local forest whenever i have the time to do so! i find it refreshing to sit by the stream and play in the water with my mate.

if you're a domestic dog therian, ask to go on a walk around the neighborhood with your friend! (or hell, go by yourself if it's safe enough, you're a free dog, you can do what you want). even as a wild animal i still enjoy this, so don't feel ashamed if you're ALSO a wild animal who wants to do things that domestic dogs do. it doesn't make you any less undomesticated.

if you're an animal that's used to deserts, i recommend going to where you can access sand (e.g. a sandbox at a playground, asking for a small sand tray to play in as a gift, a day out to the beach if you live near one). i also find that dried dirt that's very damaged can feel sort of similar to sand!

if you can't go outside for whatever reason, then there's always ways to make your bedroom feel similar to where you would be more comfortable. if your theriotype lives in dens like caves and underneath trees, make a blanket fort and pretend it's your home! if your theriotype rests in a burrow, make a tunnel with some blankets from the top of your bed all the way down to under it (if that doesn't work, pretend that anything below your bed is underground, and anything above your bed is the surface).

4 •

dressing in clothes that are the same color as your theriotype. i have this fluffy hat with ears that feels very affirming for my species dysphoria, paired with my favorite dark sweaters, warm pants and my tail. if you don't have any gear, don't worry! you don't need to have any to complete an outfit. sometimes clothing textures can also be affirming. for example if you have smooth skin like a whale, a bathing suit can feel similar to blubber. (if you have gender dysphoria, i recommend either full body bathing suits, or wearing pants on top of it and a jacket to help yourself feel more affirmed). i wear fluffy clothes because my fur is fluffy :o) it helps me, personally, but this might not be the same for everyone!

5 •

studying the behavior of your theriotype and trying your best to imitate it to the best of your abilities with the body you have. this can be as simple as copying how they act around each other as a family (for example wolves who are mates will rest their chins on each other to display affection), and as difficult as trying to vocalize what sounds your theriotype makes.

if you wanted to try the latter, i recommend looking at vocal exercises online before as a lot of creature sounds can and will strain your voice, i promise you that warming up your chords will not only help you sound clearer, it'll ensure that it won't take as much effort to do!

[thatsmzbitchtoyou]

Sugar Mama Chapter 6 FINAL

Summary: Bucky is overworked and struggling to get by.  The bills are piling up and he’s consistently in the red with no end in sight.  Y/N is a billionaire’s daughter, entrepreneur and philanthropist having a hard time finding true friends or love.  She has a proposition for him.  bucky barnes x curvy!reader Warnings: smut, sexual assault (not from Bucky)

Previous chapter

After their first night together Y/N and Bucky were basically inseparable.  He slept in her bed from then on.  Even while they were at work they texted constantly, the messages getting progressively more naughty as the day wore on.  Bucky would come visit her during his lunches if she wasn’t too far away and sometimes have a quickie in her office or they would tease each other until it was time for him to leave.  As he accompanied her to the events she was invited to he started getting himself a few interior design clients outside of his assistant work that Y/N introduced him to to help expand his portfolio.  Bucky was beginning to see a real future with Y/N, not just this sugar baby relationship, but something deeper and more long lasting that he wanted to explore.  

They were at another event, the premiere of a new Broadway show, and as they meandered through the after party together Bucky noticed someone staring at him.  He didn’t recognize the man, but didn’t like the look he was giving him or the way his eyes would shift to Y/N predatorily.

“Y/N,” Bucky whispered to her as she stepped away from a conversation with the director.  “Do you know that guy?”  He tried to gesture towards the man without making it obvious.  Y/N gave him a questioning look as she looked around him.  When her eyes fell on the man they widened and she quickly looked away, burrowing herself closer into Bucky’s chest.

“Shit,” she grunted.

“What?  Who is he?” Bucky tried to help her hide.  “Why is he staring daggers at me?”

“Well, do you remember how I said I’ve done this sugar mama thing once before?” Y/N muttered as she tried to pull him away to the edge of the party.  Bucky’s insides went cold as he remembered their first conversation.  He had never really considered who the previous sugar baby had been.  It had never seemed important before.  But now here he was, faced with the icy stare of a jilted ex-lover.

“Y/N!  It’s been so long,” the man was suddenly behind them, trying to reach a hand out towards Y/N’s arm.  She quickly retracted it out of his reach.

“Loki,” she curtly greeted him, not quite meeting his gaze.  

Bucky turned to face this unknown threat head on.  Loki had about two inches on him in height but was slimmer.  His angular face was pulled in a mischievous smile, the black hair on his head reaching his collarbone in a soft curl and his green eyes piercing into Bucky’s stare.  He was dressed to the nines, easily blending in with the high end crowd surrounding them.

“You must be the new plaything?” Loki asked, though it was phrased as more of a statement.  

“James Barnes,” Bucky reached his hand out, trying to play it all off as if he didn’t care.  “The boyfriend, actually.”

“Boyfriend?  Ah, getting more serious now, Y/N?  How quaint,” his British accent making his words sound nicer than they were.  “I’m sure he’s had quite a fun time with you.”

“That’s enough, Loki,” Y/N stepped in front of Bucky, keeping her voice hushed.  “You had your fun, got your connections which you obviously have been able to keep up with somehow, then you embarrassed me.  I don’t know how you got into this party, but you need to leave me and my boyfriend alone,” she looked up at him, her eyes blazing.  “I know you like your games, but me and my life are not one of them.”

“You were never a game, Y/N,” Loki’s eyes flashed with a brief look of grief.  “But the bedroom sure was,” his eyes flickered up to Bucky.  Bucky felt his head cock to the side, his eyebrows furrowing and his lips pulling tight as he watched Loki.  “Tell me, James, how’s Mama’s pussy since I’ve been gone?”

Bucky’s eyes widened in a murderous glare.  He had to physically restrain himself from attacking Loki.  He knew that’s what he wanted, to cause a commotion and have him embarrass Y/N like he once did, enough for her to cut him off and leave him behind, and he was obviously still very upset about it.  But he wouldn’t do that to her, especially not here.  He straightened himself up as he felt Y/N gasp next to him at Loki’s comment.  He leaned in closer to Loki, speaking quietly enough for only the three of them to hear.

“My pussy has been taking real good care of me for a while now, Loki.  Thank you for your concern.  Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a bed to get back to.  Good luck to you.”  Loki’s smile dropped, his eyes narrowing at Bucky’s tone, his eyes shifting from him to Y/N and back.  Bucky gave him a tight lipped smile as he took Y/N’s hand and pulled her away.  Y/N gawked at Bucky as he led her out of the room, down the stairs and through the front door, texting her driver as they walked out.  The car quickly whipped around the corner and in front of them.  Bucky guided her into the car and followed after, slamming the car door behind him.

As the car weaved through traffic Bucky tried to calm himself, taking deep breaths as his hands clenched into fists then released on his knees.  Y/N was still silently watching him, waiting for a blow up that never came.

“Bucky–”

“We’ll talk about it at home,” he said gruffly, leaving no room for discussion.  Y/N gulped, not sure what to do with this version of Bucky.  

As they reached her building he helped her out of the car then led the way to the elevator.  It was a long twenty floors spent in silence until they reached her apartment.  The ding scared Y/N as she had been waiting for him to say something, anything, on baited breath.  Bucky quickly exited the elevator, not waiting for Y/N to follow him.  He rounded the corner towards his room.

“Bucky?” Y/N called out to him as they strode through the kitchen.  Bucky ignored her and kept walking.  “Bucky, please,” Y/N pleaded with him, her voice sounding small and hoarse with emotion.  “I…I don’t know what’s going on, please talk to me.”

“I don’t know what’s going on!” he yelled, turning towards her finally.  She backed up at his raised voice, her eyes widening fearfully.  “I’m sorry,” Bucky apologized quietly, his hands running through his hair.  “I…I don’t know what I’m feeling.”

Y/N then sniffled.  “I didn’t know he was going to be there.  I called basically everyone I knew after the relationship was over and blacklisted him from every place we had ever gone together, including the theater.  He embarrassed me, Buck!  I never wanted to see him or hear from him again.  I don’t love him, I never loved him…” she rambled on, her voice getting louder and higher as she spoke.  Bucky sighed as he approached her, taking her face in his hands.  “I don’t want him.  I want you, only you, my baby, my Bucky,” she cried.  “I, I love you.”

Bucky froze at that.  They had never said that to each other before.  Claimed each other, sure, but never officially said that it was anything deeper, although he had been wanting more.  Now here she was, offering it to him.

“I love you,” Y/N repeated herself more resolutely this time.  Her hands came up and held his wrists as he still held her face.  “I love you, baby.”

Bucky’s eyes fluttered shut as he processed her words.  He leaned down and rested his forehead against hers as his thumbs wiped away her tears.  “I love you, Y/N,” he whispered back to her, opening his eyes slowly to gaze at her.  

“Really?” she said hopefully.  

“Yes, really,” he huffed a laugh.  “I’m sorry I was angry, he’s just really good at pushing buttons.”

“He is,” Y/N agreed, rolling her eyes.  “Always has some game he’s playing, and no one else knows the rules.  I’m sorry he was so awful to you.  I literally haven’t seen him in a few years.  I don’t know where he gets the nerve to just show back up again–”

“It’s okay, Y/N, I’m okay,” Bucky smiled at her protectiveness.  “All I wanna think about right now is that you love me,” his hands slipped down to wind behind her back, pulling her into his chest.  “And how much I’d love to get this dress off of you and have my pussy tonight.”

Y/N’s eyes flashed with glee, a deadly smirk playing on her lips.  “I’m all yours, baby.”

Bucky kissed her deeply, nipping at her lower lip as he growled.  “My Mama.”

@vicmc624 @mega-kittyglitter-1 @jtink27 @jenniferpendragon @redbloodedgurl

I hope you all liked this! Thank you to all those who have commented and liked it and followed me. The next one is going to be a cowboy!bucky type of story. If you all have any ideas that you'd like to see me try, I'm all ears. You're all wonderful! <3 Li

[mishy-mashy]

The Resistance squatted in abandoned buildings. They were squatters.

Before I show the panels that show they used abandoned buildings, I just want to be logical about this for a moment.

It doesn't make much sense to assume these guys - looking around jump-into-university age (18-26) - could afford to make underground bunkers and metal-plated halls all across Japan, for their base. They wouldn't have the time, resources, or even support from others to make these places.

Where do they find the metal to hammer in? The posts? The knowledge of actually building tunnels or buildings from scratch without them falling apart?

Other than that, having a single stationary base (above-ground, for example), is not going to survive. All For One's supporters fight anyone who opposes him without him needing to say anything.

AFO rules Japan right now. Everyone is wary of each other. Look at how Bruce describes it as "the harshest era";

As All For One's supporters attack his opposers of their own will, and supporters don't even realize they're on his side, the Resistance has to constantly be on the move. They can't really trust anyone.

They can't have stationary bases, nor can they afford ANYTHING to make them. They would've been caught immediately trying to do a big project like that, especially if they needed supplies to do so from someone who likely works for AFO, even without knowing.

Japan was in economic and social turmoil. They can't trust the market to keep going and grocery stores to be open. Look at how Japan is with All For One and Tomura; people band together and stores are looted.

Money is obsolete. Society is divided between humans and "monsters" (Ability-users). You can't trust anyone because anyone could be his pawn. Time is running up as his control spreads everyday. Resources are being looted left and right. It's too dangerous to go outside alone. Even if you have a stun gun, what does that mean against Ability-users?

So what do they do with their limited resources? Trying to hide from the big guy? What "bases" do they have?

They hunker down in abandoned places that already exist and, again, are abandoned. No one's going to come looking for them in places that people have run from and left behind. Because these places are literally just that: places no one wants anymore.

You hide a tree in a forest. You don't make a big, special base somewhere that says "I am here!", and they don't have the resources or time to burrow underground or build that.

Hide in an abandoned building among many others. There's not many people in abandoned places, if they happen to be there at all. The Resistance isn't going to be found in the deserted buildings, but they still have to keep moving, because someone might be trailing them.

When they take Yoichi from the vault,

They're in a house. The couch is ripped, the mug is cracked, and so is the wall, with a questionable stain in the background. There are signs of fighting and abandonment, but it works.

Houses have food. Houses have clothes. Houses have beds. It's enough to sit in for a bit and heat up some water.

Not everyone packed their things and run. Some people just had to RUN. And when some places are full-on abandoned from an exodus, the Resistance is definitely gonna find some stuff there in the new "safe area".

Look below at where Kudo and Bruce hole up after Yoichi's death. No one's outside, there's a destroyed car, and there's some smoke further up the road.

The hospital/clinic room Bruce uses is ripped apart and unsanitary, but it's still the best they can do. I think that houses and a hospital would be their best bet for survival/using as a base; resources, lodging, and some sort of safety exist there. Especially in a hospital, which would have backup generators, a camera system, and even a PA system. Hospitals have to accommodate for lots of people (food, space, lodging), and have a lot of medical equipment they can use.

Basically what I'm saying is: the Resistance likely doesn't have a permanent base. They don't have the resources or enough safety to make their own. They squat in abandoned places and move constantly, because nowhere is safe, but they can't just waltz in public and declare where they are; they have to hide in plain sight while they bide their time. In the meantime, the places they use would have to be resourceful, or they're using what they have on their backs. The manga already shows them using a house and a hospital room.

[mamaestapa]

Shy joe and outgoing reader!

If I Seem Shy, It’s Cause You Seem so Shiesty|| Joe Burrow x reader

•pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

•summary: Joe being the shy one and you being the outgoing one in the relationship includes…

•warnings: some suggestive language, but that’s it :)

Shy Joe and outgoing reader includes…

You met Joe at LSU

The two of you were at a bar not far from campus when you met

You were with your friends and he was with his

The two of you made eye contact and you couldn’t seem to take your eyes off of each other

You waved at Joe, all he did was blush deeply

He wasn’t used to attention like this

And he never made the first move…

So for this to go anywhere you would have to

The night went on and you couldn’t shake the feeling of wanting to talk to the shy blonde QB

So you bought him a drink

He blushed crimson when he realized that the drink was from you—the girl across the bar with the pretty eyes and the sweet smile

His friends forced him to go talk to you

Like physically forced him, Ja’Marr literally pushed him in your direction

Once he was near you he didn’t even know what to say

His shyness got worse as soon as you flashed that pretty smile of yours at him

But after a couple minutes of awkwardness and a shy Joey, the two of you shared a couple drinks and hit it off with each other

And the rest was history…

You’ve been dating Joe for almost five years now

His shyness has gotten better, thanks to you being the outgoing partner in the relationship

You always bring him out of his comfort zone—in a good way

Joe is attached to your hip at parties and team events

Without you by his side, it’s hard for him to be social and outgoing at events like that

You constantly tease him about how shy he is

He blushes anytime you compliment him

“You look so good today Joey. You always look good though.”

*blushes deeply* “Thanks baby.”

You plan the dates, making sure to pick things you know Joe likes because he’s too shy to suggest ideas

You’re definitely the more dominant one if you know what I’m saying…😏

Joe loves it when you take charge in the bedroom

He’s too shy to dish the dirty talk at you, but he’ll happily be on the receiving end of it from you

Joe may be on the shyer side

But you wouldn’t want it any other way

You love Joe and his shyness

hey loves!!

this one wasn’t my best work i’ll be honest lol

i’ve gotten a couple requests for this! it’s a great idea, i just didn’t really know how to write it. so i apologize if it’s not what you were hoping to see! i can always re-write it🤍

more coming soon!!

[baurbiediv]

it kills me

pairing → joe burrow x reader

warnings → swearing, accused cheating, joe being a bootyhole

synopsis → you’ve given up almost everything to love & be with joe, and when you have given him an ultimatum, one of you isn’t willing to give up the other one. but is this everything that you wanted?

authors note → surprise surprise! new series based off the lovely song by melanie fiona, it’s been stuck in my head nonstop for the past few days + since there’s no school/classes for me tomorrow i’ll do my absolute best to get my wip’s done and published!!

additional notes → not proofread, y’all know i can’t spell fr

-

you knew how passionate joe was for football the minute you saw him step onto the field to play for lsu.

there was a fire that burned inside of him so very brightly, and he wanted people to see that for themselves. joe was very grateful to have met you throughout the duration of his time attending lsu.

you two couldn’t have met in the most cliché way possible though, you’d taken a position as an athletic trainer out on the field along with your best friend & roomate, eden.

you’d gotten close with everyone, and even players on the team, but you’d caught the attention of a certain player, none other than the infamous star quarterback, joe burrow.

now, initially, you’d never really paid that much attention to him because you wanted to focus on yourself and what your path would be after college. but obviously some people would only experience college once in their entire lifetime, and of course you needed to make the most of it.

but of course, joe pursued you and he continued to take interest in you little by little. whether it was him purposely going out of his way to take a longer route to his classes, or ‘accidentally’ bumping into you at some random college party being held during the weekends.

it just so happened that tonight would be one of those nights where you miraculously bumped into each other at a party. eden had begged you constantly throughout the week to come join her at this party, and to which you finally complied.

eden stood in the bathroom doorway leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed and the biggest smile plastered across her face, “you know y/n you’re very easy to convince.”

the only thing that you could do was purse your lips together and look at her with blank eyes. “so ignoring that lie, do you really want me to go to this party or are you trying to get with ja’marr? cause i mean i can make it happen-“, before you could say another word she screamed and disappeared into the bathroom before you could say another word.

“exactly.”

-

you wouldn’t admit this, but you purposely got ready an additional two hours before you initially had to leave. obviously eden noticed this but she wouldn’t say anything.

and so when the time came you two were out the door. hopping into the car and on your way, eden started giggling in the drivers seat. you didn’t pay any attention to her as you were occupied with fixing your lip gloss on the overhead mirror.

“y/n, i noticed you getting you ready way before we needed to leave, someone you seeing there?” she said nudging your arm, keeping your focus on the mirror.

you didn’t even look in her direction, “i don’t know what you’re talking about e, i’m just going to look good, feel good, and have the time of my college life.” you said, knowing you were lying out of your ass.

eden playfully rolled her eyes, “y/n, you know damn well i know you better than anyone else, plus that lie was literally horrible.” you sighed before closing the overhead mirror and you looked over at eden before admitting, “okay, i literally have not been able to stop thinking about joe for the longest time and i know it’s stupid because he could probably be fucking with me but i do like joe and i don’t know if he feels the same and ..”

eden squealed loudly and clapped her hands together enthusiastically before placing them back on the steering wheel. you looked at her with a ‘huh’ kind of face, “y/n you made it so obvious, any time you two get around each other, you both get all googly eyed” she said.

now that she said that, it didn’t take you long to realize that she was right, undeniably joe was charming, you knew he took an interest in you but you didn’t want to be heartbroken by his typical quarterback antics.

you wanted to believe that he was a different guy from the rest of them. “i know, i just don’t want to be hurt, i should trust him though, he does seem like a really sweet guy though.” you sighed, before you knew it eden parked the car a few houses down from the actual house.

she turned in her seat and looked at you, “look y/n you know i love you and i’m going to always give you the honest truth always, go for it. you i’ve never seen anyone chase for you as bad as he does,” you smiled as you both laughed at that, “and hell, even if you two actually do hit it off, who knows where you’ll be foe the next couple of years? and if you don’t hit off, fuck it, you’re hot as fuck and you know that.”

she smiled at you brightly as you hugged her tightly. “thank you e, i love you.” she patted your back and pulled away from you, “you know i got you, i’d never have you looking crazy out here anyway.” you both laughed again.

-

walking up to the front lawn, there were bodies that lingered around the porch and some that sat on the grass. you were walking side by side with eden when you heard ‘my shit’ by a boogie blaring from inside the house, you both quickly made your way into the house trying to find the center of the music.

time was passing by, you were smiling from ear to ear already enjoying yourself singing along to your favorite song with your best friend.

and shortly after you two found yourselves in the kitchen enjoying the array of different vodkas & tequilas, when suddenly people started scream and hold their phones out. being the two goofy people you were, you peeked your heads out the kitchen walk way like it was kind of cartoon or sitcom.

trying to see between the amount of people, low and behold, there they were, joe burrow & ja’marr chase, two of the most promising players that were to ever step onto the lash football field. both you and eden grinned excitedly at each other before taking your places back at the kitchen island.

you two couldn’t seem to keep your excitement and giggles down to the slight buzz of the alcohol but it was nothing that you couldn’t handle. after what seemed to be hours when in actuality it had been about 10 minutes, joe & ja’marr had walked into the kitchen, obviously you and eden hadn’t noticed due to you two having your backs turned to each other.

“is that my girl eden?” ja’marr said which caused the both of you to jump slightly and turn around. eden’s face lit up as she quickly made her way to hug ja’marr.

you smiled at the both of them, you knew she had a huge thing for him but you never knew if they actually took it to the next step. you took this as the time to just make your move, at this point it was now or never. “hi joe.” you said as joe’s face lit up, “hey y/n.” he opened up his arms and you took this chance to walk over to him and hugged him. at that moment your head was spinning and you couldn’t pinpoint where your mind was in that exact moment.

when joe’s arms wrapped back around you, you felt your entire body relax into his touch. the way he felt, the way he smelled was more intoxicating than the alcohol you consumed which made your head spin.

you looked over and say eden silently cheering you on. you winked at her and smiled. after a while you pulled away from joe as eden did the same with ja’marr. you looked at eden, she had look of brewing up an idea.

“ja’marr what is she thinking?” joe said before bringing his red solo cup to his lips,

“you’re asking the wrong person, you should be asking her!” ja’marr said as he pointed to you while laughing.

quickly, you held up your hands in defense. “let’s play cup pong! since you guys don’t have a game this weekend, all limits are off! loser has to skinny dip and jump into the pool.”

“i’m in.” you said giggling while grabbing the cups and setting them up. unbeknownst, joe was watching your every move, your skin glowed (complimentary of the fenty body glitter) in the dimly light kitchen.

few people had passed through the kitchen but didn’t care to acknowledge the four of you, which you mentally thanked. you poured the small amounts of tequila into the cups and downed the minuscule amount that was left.

it was you & eden on one team then joe and ja’marr on the other. “who starts first?” joe said as she placed his hands onto the kitchen island.

damn he looked good.

“we’ll go first!” eden said as she quickly grabbed the small neon purple ball, she bounced the ball onto the table and watched it land in the cup on the other side.

you noticed ja’marr sending small glances at eden, but she was too oblivious and made it her sole mission to win this game of cup pong. but you occasionally noticed joe sending you glances as well, too flustered to do anything you quickly looked away to avoid any eye contact feeling as though you’d just pass out from nervous he made you.

joe was very aware of how he made you feel, and he was determined to make you his. minutes passed by, eden had managed to completely demolish them by leaving only two cups left.

“man you guys actually suck.” you said laughing.

“i’m used to throwing long distance, not short distance.” joe said with a look of fake hurt on his face as he dramatically placed a hand over his heart.

you shook your head laughing as eden handed you the small ping pong balls, “y/n don’t mess this up!” she teased, “eden, they literally have 6 cups left to our 2, i don’t think we’re losing this game any time soon.”

-

“alright! time to skinny dip! chop chop!”

eden said clapping her hands. ja’marr playfully rolled his eyes, “do we actually have to?” he said before taking his shirt off. “you ask that while taking your shirt off, so yes, you answered your own question.” joe sighed as he took off his shirt.

you laughed as joe handed you the rest of his clothes along with ja’marr handing his to eden. joe took his glasses off and placed them on your head, “don’t need these getting damaged.” he said before diving head first into the pool.

man were you enjoying life right now.

-

[joeshiestyslover]

i love u

pairing: lsu!fratboy!joe burrow x volleyballplayer!reader

summary: sometimes all you need to forgive your ex is two nosy best friends

warnings: language, angst, sad joe, some fluff at the end

a/n: y’all part 2 of i hate u is finally here!!! i’m so sorry i haven’t been active! hope y’all enjoy 🫶🫶

lowercase intended

masterlist part one

the past few weeks have been complete and total hell for you. you can’t even look at joe without feeling the urge to break down and cry. you try to avoid him and his teammates at all costs, including ja’marr. you’ve been sitting on the opposite side of the room, not wanting to tell him about what happened with his best friend, but be probably already knows.

ever since that night with your ex-boyfriend, you’ve been completely self isolating. when every you’re not in class or at volleyball practice, you’re in your dorm room. eve has felt so guilty because she was basically the reason you and joe got into the argument in the first place, but you constantly assure her it wasn’t her fault. you love eve, but if there’s one thing she’s good at, it’s getting into your business. she’s been begging you to talk joe ever since you told him to get the fuck out of your room, and you tell her no every time. little do you know, her and ja’marr have been plotting for the past week to get you and joe to get back together, at the very least stand each other. 

you are walking out of your econ class when you think you hear someone calling your name. you ignore it, thinking it’s your imagination until you feel a tap on your shoulder. you turn around, and behind you stands ja’marr; your eyes widen. “hey y/n. can we talk?” he asks you. “umm yeah sure.” you reply to him , not having the energy to argue. ja’marr leads you down the hallway so you’re both outside a storage closet. “so, why did you want to talk to me?” you question, stuffing your hands into your jacket pockets. “i’m sorry.” he tells you. “for what?” you ask him, confused. “for this.” ja’marr then shoves you into the closet you were just standing in front of. before you’re able to push against the door, it’s slammed shut and locked from the outside. “ja’marr let me out you dumbass! what the fuck is wrong with you?!” you begin to pound your fist on the door, but you get no response. he probably walked away, but why would he lock you in here in the first place, you think. 

you stand there for a bit before your thoughts are interrupted by the door opening. you think it’s ja’marr or someone else saving you from being trapped, but you notice another person being pushed into the closet to join you. as the door closes, you hear a, “what the hell?! let me out!” oh no. your heart drops as you hear the voice of the guy you’ve been avoiding for the past two weeks. “shit.” you whisper to yourself. 

“y/n?” joe asks you, somehow hearing your voice. “joe” you reply to him coldly. “did you get locked in here too?” he inquires. “no, i just decided to chill out in here for a few hours!” you exclaim sarcastically. joe lets out a sigh, hopefully he’s finally given up at starting a conversation with you as if you’re best buds. 

“y/n” joe speaks up again. you ignore him, not wanting a replay of a few weeks ago. “y/n please say something, anything.” he pleads. “i have nothing to say to you. i’ve already said everything i needed to.” you cross your arms over your chest, not even looking him in the eye. “okay fine then i’ll talk.” you continue to avoid his eye line. “i will never stop telling you how sorry i am for what i did. i was a stupid and an asshole. i lost sight of myself and i became someone that i didn’t like. you never deserved that. i hate myself for how i ended it with you. i’m so, so sorry.” you don’t know what to say because you really wanna forgive him, but you don’t know if you can. he hurt you more than anyone else has in your life. how do you even begin to forgive someone for that?

“joe, i understand that you feel sorry now, but you didn’t feel sorry when it first happened. you seemed to be having the time of your life, partying and hooking up with random girls while i was at home crying my eyes out every night wondering why you didn’t want me anymore. tell me, was it easy for you to forget me?” “trust me, there was never a moment where you weren’t on my mind. i thought i did what was right at first, but as time went on, i realized that i had made the biggest mistake of my life. i tried to text you, call you, and even dm you on instagram, but you blocked me, which i completely understand by the way.” joe tells you, starting to become desperate. 

“you still hurt me joe. you made me feel as if i did something wrong, like i wasn’t enough for you. i thought that you left me for someone better.” you tell him while looking at your shoes. “it’s not your fault. it has never been your fault. stop beating yourself up over something i did. i promise you i found no one else that was better than you because there is no one better. i will never find anyone i love more than you. you are truly the most amazing and the most beautiful girl i have ever met. you’re it for me y/n.” “really?” you ask him, becoming more open to the idea of forgiving him. “i promise. i love you y/n, i never stopped.” you’re finally able to look him in the eyes. “oh joe, i never stopped loving you either, but i won’t forgive except under one condition.” “anything.” you replies, hope beginning to gleam in his eyes. “you never, ever pull shit like this again. if you do, don’t expect another chance.” you state. “done. i promise i won’t break your heart again.” he begins to step closer to you. “will you kiss me now?” you ask, looking up at the blue eyes you fell in love with when you were six. joe smiles and leans his head down while cupping the sides of your face. you close your eyes and wait until joe’s lips meet yours.

you two stay like this for a while before you hear the door open. you and joe both look towards the open door and see ja’marr and eve with shit eating grins on their faces. “i told you it would work!” eve turns towards ja’marr. “you guys planned this?!” you yell at the both of them. “well yeah. we had to get you both to make up somehow, you guys were fucking miserable! and we need our quarterback to actually make plays, you know.” ja’marr tells the two of you. “i’m sorry we had to do it like this but we were desperate.” “i hate how you did it, but thank you.” joe says, looking at you lovingly. you look back at him and give him a quick peck on the lips. “awww!” you hear ja’marr and eve exclaim. “shut up.” you and joe tell your friends before letting out a loud laugh. you start to feel like your old self again. it’s as if nothing changed, and you couldn’t be happier.

[audreyscribes]

Carry On My Wayward Child [Part 1]

Ω PJO IMAGINE Ω

PROMPT: When a dream makes the reader unable to settle, they decide to take a walk, converting their dream to reality.

Reader encounters Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth on the run when they have a dream that makes them go out and see a sick Annabeth with a tired, injured Luke and Thalia. They take them in, saving them, and encounters them years later when they remembered a kind stranger.

a/n: Reader is neutral; no specific pronouns or descriptions used. Referred to as Y/N. Roughly college/university age. [Ao3 LINK] | [2] [3] [4]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Being in college sucks. If it weren’t for the fact an authenticated paper by a post-secondary education would be vital for job seeking, then you would’ve long given up this damn paper a long time ago. Your mind is swarming with information, thesis, structures, and your brain stuck onto stretching your words as much as possible to fulfill the bare minimum word count.

You groan, dropping your head into your propped hands, closing your strained eyes as words start to swarm off the paper, flying around like gnats. Even if you wanted to keep pushing forward, your energy was severely depleted into the long night so it was futile to keep pursuing.

You curse the paper to pieces, while also praying to every god you could think of to either end its existence or something-

Your head pulsed with exhaustion, and you push yourself away from the table, hands outstretched to the limit. The legs of the chair scrape loudly in protest against the floor, both you and the chair teetering precariously. You winced at the noise but then remembered you lived alone but habits die hard. Your fingers grip the edge as you look towards the window.

It is very much late. Very much night.

The moon is big and full, the light it shines down giving a soft glow that soothes you. Just a bit.

Just enough to realize you’re really tired and you really need sleep.

You stand up from your chair, halfheartedly cleaning up your work station and turning off the lights. You quickly brush your teeth, to feel slightly less gross and to get rid of the seemingly never ending consumption of caffeine, before body-slamming yourself into your bed. Burrowing in the covers and resting your weary head into the pillow, it took you a moment for your body to relax in softness before darkness took over.

A pause. Some peace until you find yourself witnessing a scene.

A scene of three kids, a boy and two girls. Each being younger then the other. They were running through the night, constantly looking over their shoulders as roars and screeches of what could only be considered as monsters. You watch as they run and you can’t help react to every time they stumble, gasp, and basically whatever hell these kids are going through. You see them wield what could only be weapons, slashing and tumbling through the monsters, as they explode into golden dust.

There’s a blur transition and with a golden explosion of dust, you see the kids hide underneath a very familiar bridge. Darkness covers them as they nervously peer out from their current reprieve, the light of the full moon almost blinding. You hear thundering footsteps, like elephants stampeding through, with clicks of claws or whatever it could be. They blur through you and you see what could be only a demented wolf growl and you see its maw consuming you-

You gasp out and curse from your dream, sweat sticking to your skin. Your heart thumping against your chest wildly is your only tether to reality as it reminds you that you are very much alive. You look around, your brain on adrenaline mood.

Seeing as you’re still in bed and in your home, you feel the strings holding you up cut, and you fall back into bed. You’re too tired to deal with this so you try to sleep. But you toss and turn in your sleep, the light of the moon seems to be brighter and is preventing you from sleeping.

Frustrated, you sit up in bed and rub your hands over your face. You decide to get a drink, not wanting to go back to your paper. You quench your first and your brain can’t help think to the kids in the dream, silently wondering if they were thirsty-

Shaking your head to get rid of that image, you decide to take a nice hot shower to feel clean.

That helped you feel more human but now you were more awake-

You glance at the clock and groan at the fact it wasn’t even that long since you went to sleep. Your body was on edge and your brain couldn’t help wander back to the dream. You noted that the bridge was one you were familiar with and wasn’t that far in terms of walking distance-

Whining at you were about to do, you decide to take a walk; if anything, to soothe your paranoid brain and see that there weren’t any kids underneath the bridge-

Is what you would’ve liked to say as you had bent yourself over the bridge railing. You didn’t feel like slipping down the incline to check the kids were there, but as you bent over, you saw three suspiciously kid shaped shadows extend forwards on the ground that that bridge started off. You bent even further, hands locked tightly on the railing and your eyes blown wide in surprise as you saw those exact three kids in the dream.

This surprised you so much so that you lost your grip and your view point of the world flipped over and plummeted. You let out a yell, air whipping past you and like an invisible hand was helping you, you found your body flipping and slowing down. A voice whispered to your ears, making your body move on its own.

The next thing you knew you had landed perfectly well on the ground, but there was still shock waves going through your entire body, jittering your nerves. You wondered how you even pull off that move without obliterating your legs, but you weren’t going to be ungrateful whatever happened for you to pull off the landing and still have your legs and every limb function still working.

There was a glint from your peripheral and you looked towards it, to only see the boy holding what could only be a bonafide swear-to-gods dagger at you. It was shaky, scattering whatever light it caught and you looked at the wielder. The boy had blue eyes and sandy blond hair. You saw someone shifting behind him and your eyes saw a girl with black hair and shockingly electric blue eyes, wearing all black and in her arms…her eyes were closed with a scrunched up face, but you remembered in your dream that the girl had gray eyes, so if you had to guess-

“Who are you? What do you want?!” questioned the boy as he pointed his weapon towards you as if it to threaten (in your mind you could only see that he saw you as something like a lion that had gotten stuck in its cage and he was desperately holding you back).

You raised your hands up as a friendly gesture and felt your throat dry up. You debated whether or not if you were going to tell the truth, that you came out here based on a whim and lo and behold they were here.

You heard a bone shaking howl and you turned to it, confused but also nerved since it was the dead of night. You heard shuffling and turned to the kids, they’re eyes wide with alert, weapons readied at where the howl was coming from and at you.

The dream of the monsters popped in your head and you were starting to wonder if the monsters were really there-

You licked your cracked lips before deciding to take a limb.

“My name is (y/n), I’m just a college student that went on a walk after a bad dream…” you started and watched their reactions. They seemed to not believe you and you remembered the weight of your wallet in your pocket. You reached a hand to your pocket and saw the boy stiffen. You stopped but kept your hand near your pocket, “I’m just going to grab my wallet in my pocket, alright? If you don’t believe my words, I can show you my college ID okay?”

You slowly lowered your hand and the boy’s dagger followed its movement. You felt your throat tighten at the gesture but you kept your wits. Les you lose a limb really.

You grabbed your wallet and slowly opened it, revealing its content. You picked your college ID and slowly taking it out, holding it up between your fingers. You then flicked it towards the kids and the boy looked between the ID and you for a moment.

He kept his eyes on you while slowly kneeling to pick it up, his eyes glancing at the ID before really reading it. His face was bewildered and saw the girl behind him get up to read it too, as if to verify it. You hoped they were just staring at your goofy face of your ID that was just ridiculous looking.

You gave a shaky smile, “I appreciate it if you didn’t, y’know throw it in the river or break it please. I get a college ID for free at first but to replace it, I have to spend like $20 bucks each time to get it replaced.”

The kids looked at you then at each other, whispering as if to debrief. You heard the howl again and it sounded closer-

You saw the kids jump and the girl behind them whimper as you looked around. You weren’t sure if the monsters were coming but as you looked at the kids now that you weren’t going to be immediately stabbed, you saw their state.

They were tired, dirty, and injured. The girl behind them was the same but she had a weird flush to her face and you felt your body turn cold. It wasn’t that warm outside and their clothes seemed very bare minimum and had tears in them. You weren’t sure how long they were on the run for but now you were here, you couldn’t find it in yourself to abandon them.

“Hey-“ their heads whipped at you and you felt your voice dying inside you for a moment, before you summoned the courage back. “-I don’t know why you kids are out this late, or why you’re under the bridge, but you can’t stay here.”

“Where do you think we can go then?” asked the boy, his voice grating with annoyance and fatigue.

“My place”

They seemed surprised and more on edge.

“Look, I get it I’m not the most believable person right now, and I get you don’t want to listen to a stranger who fell off the bridge, but I you need to trust me. I’m a lone college student and I have a place for you to sleep. You can sleep for just the night, take a shower, eat, or whatever, but you’ll warm and safe.”

The final two words seemed to trigger something in them, making them more miserable. Faintly you heard some latin? Pig latin? Words? But not really? But then you saw them arguing…no pleading to the other, their hand gesturing to the little girl behind them.

“-please-“

“We can’t. We don’t know this person and who knows, maybe she’s a monster in disguise-“

“I know that! But Annabeth’s fever is-“

You heard about the fever, and you definitely can’t let them stay out. Staying out in the night is already risky, but with a fever? That was a death sentence. You may be a struggling college student and barely call yourself an adult, but you were enough of an adult that you couldn’t just leave these kids alone-

“But what if-“

“Look, your little sister right there isn’t looking good,” you say, stepping forward. At least you assumed they were siblings. They each shared similar characteristics with one or the other. Their bodies stiffened and you made a stern face.

“And like, I know I’m repeating myself and by gods, do I know you shouldn’t be listening to a stranger this late at night, but trust me when I say when I’m not going to hurt you. I can’t walk away in good conscious when I know I can get you kids to be safe for just a night nor can you let your sister sleep outside when she has a fever. If you follow me to my place, you can be rest assured she’ll survive the night then sleeping out in the cold. I swear I won’t hurt you or any of you.”

The two kids looked at each other before the girl spoke up next. “Do you swear?”

“I swear.”

“Do you swear on the river Styx?”

You felt something in the air chill as you faintly remembered that the River Styx was something from Greek Mythology. You could feel something in your brain shift as you held up your hand and crossed your heart with the other. ‘Weird question but-‘ you said in your mind before opening your mouth, “I swear on the River Styx and cross my heart to die.”

You watched the kids’ eyes widen and mouth gape open with something akin to fear. You felt something inside you tighten and the air seemed to snap. The kids looked at each other before nodding as the boy held his dagger at you.

“If you try anything funny-“

“I swore didn’t I? Have some faith in that then” you said before gesturing to the kids to follow.

You watched the boy piggyback the girl onto his back, his face softening when looking at her with you recognized was sibling love, while the other girl helped him while also threatened you with a spear now.

Not going to lie, it was kind of working.

(somewhere, some part in you quietly whispered to you that their weapons couldn’t hurt you. But you didn’t want to tempt fate (even if they didn’t hurt you, it gave them some sense of control and safety so might as well believe it eh?))

You led them to your place, the kids following behind you with a a dagger trained on your back. You were glad and cursed it was so late in the night but you swore, and you couldn’t turn them away for any other good reasons now.

You showed them the door and took out the key unlocked it, opening the door. As it creaked open, you winced at the noise but you felt something shift behind you. You took a moment to glance back and something in your chest became more unsettled.

The two older kids seemed to stare into the darkness of your place, with something akin to fear. You saw their jaws tightened, as if they were ready to streak and you knew at that point, that something really bad happened to them.

What you weren’t sure.

But you were starting to feel like you didn’t want to know. Shouldn’t know.

You stepped inside and quickly flipped on the lights, steeling your nerves as you didn’t hear them step in after you. You already got them this far, which was already what you least expected.

You took off your jacket, shuddering at how cold the exterior was. You were only outside for a short while and the cold was already clinging to it. How cold it must’ve been for those kids with the bare minimum of essentials?

You turned to the kids who had stepped the foothold of the door, but look ready to book for it at the slight thing going wrong.

“Alright, welcome to my humble abode, I guess” you tried to say with a lighthearted tone. “It’s not much but it satisfies the basic human needs.”

You saw the raised skeptical eyebrow and thought, 'Sheesh, tough crowd.'

“Come on, close the door before you let all the heat out” you said, before dropping the keys in a bowl, “Let me put on the kettle first then I’ll show you your rooms”. As you filled the kettle, you used that brief solace to gather your wits. Only temporarily because you could feel the kids watching you from the corner.

With the kettle on, you lead them through the house and to one of the guest rooms. You gestured to the door and opened it, flipping on the light quickly. It was a bit dusty but not as bad when you first came to the place; since you, more often then not, had your fellow classmates crash in these beds when they blacked out; whether from alcohol or the soul crushing weight of schoolwork.

You gestured to the Queen-sized bed, “Set her over there, let me grab some extra pillows and blankets” you said before going to the closet. You were sure you had some over here-

“Are you sure you’re a college student?”

You turned and saw them look around, observing the room and looking at you skeptically. Your arms were full of pillows and blankets. You stared for a moment before going to the bed, plopping it down.

“Yeah, you saw my ID right, which by the way I really need back-“

“But how come you’re alone in this old house?”

You turned to them as you realized.

“Ah-“ you started before leaning against the metal bedpost to hide the anxiousness in your body, “Funny thing really. When I was applying for colleges, I wanted to save money along the way cause remember kids, tuition is expensive-“ you stammered, “And then we remembered we had distant aunt we somewhat keep into contact with and my parents managed to talk into her letting me stay over here for my college tuition with being the housekeeper and stuff while she gone overseas time to time.”

“A distant aunt? Overseas? Really?” that last part was definitely sarcastic.

“Yeah yeah, sounds too good to be true” you said, before patting the bed, “Come on, set her down, you look like you’re about to collapse and drop her.”

The boy looked at the girl for a moment before taking their little sister to the bed. As soon the girl was set on the soft covers, she made a noise of content and burrowed herself in the blankets. You smiled before stretching and gestured to the room.

“I guess you want to sleep in the same room?” you clarified.

The other two nodded and you hummed. “Thought so. Anyway, there’s a small toilet and sink here, but when you want to get cleaned up, you have to use the bathroom down the hall. Otherwise, chairs, desk, closet, are all for you guys to use.”

You scooched past them and gestured to them to follow. You showed them the basic layout of the house and showed them where the towels were.

“I’ll go grab the kid’s Tylenol and some stuff for your sister. You can do what you want and stuff, but just don’t mess anything alright?” you said. You stared at them, waiting for a response, but they stared at you.

“Oooookay then” you said, awkwardly before leaving them alone and as you turned the corner, you placed your face in your heads and wondered,

What in the world were you doing?

[To be continued...]

____________________________________________________________

a/n: I realized I had this idea for a while, wrote it down, forgot I had it written, realized it was getting verrry long and now its in parts. So here you go everyone. Maybe I got hyped back from the liveaction Percy Jackson trailer or something, but I went SPEED.

[uluvjay]

The backstory!

Madeline wasn’t really sure when things had changed between the couple, the season had been hard on Quinn and she knew he was struggling but she did her best to make sure he knew she was there for him.

But her undeniable support seemed to go unnoticed by the defensemen, constantly pushing his issues and insecurities onto her.

The girl didn’t mind though, she loved him and they had been together since they were 16. They went through everything together; high school, college acceptance letters, the draft, Madeline getting her first record deal, Quinn’s first game, her first album, their engagement.

But none of that seemed to matter to Quinn in the end as one morning he woke up and told his fiancé he couldn’t do this anymore.

The girl was shocked, she knew they’d been fighting and the added stress of the season and her attempting to write her sophomore album hadn’t helped. But she never thought he’d end things.

She thought he was trying to play a joke on her at first but once he said he’d be going to stay at Brock’s after the upcoming road-trip she knew he wasn’t.

And the next thing she knew she was looking for apartments in Vancouver and packing her things. She wasn’t sure what hurt worse; the phone call with his mother or putting the ring back in it’s box.

But despite the pain, she left, she gave him what he wanted. Maybe she should’ve tried to fight him on it or beg him to stay but after seeing the look in his eyes that morning she knew it would be a lost cause.

Madeline moved on the best she could, throwing herself into her album and work. Her friends sent her on a few dates to try and get over Quinn but none of the guys did much for her.

Quinn had thrown himself into a cycle of hockey and partying, practices in the morning and games and girls in the evening. His mother and father weren’t talking to him as much as they used to and his brothers were pissed at him.

He knew his mother wouldn’t have been so mad if he’d just given her a reason why he chose to end things with Madeline, but he couldn’t. He still loved her but he was miserable in life, but it wasn’t her fault, nothing was.

The season had been horrible, he was losing week after week while his brothers were on a winning streak in jersey. He felt like it was his fault, maybe he needed to put more work in, maybe he needed to push harder? He wasn’t sure.

He thought letting Madeline go and letting her live a life without him would be better for the both of them. He’d noticed how she looked at him as of late, with pity and sorrow in her eyes and he hated it.

He didn’t want her pity but his own judgment hadn’t allowed him to see or feel the love the singer was trying to give to him. He wished things could go back to how they were, the weekly dates, the sweet notes they’d leave each other-well she still left hers but he hadn’t left her one in months.

Of course Madeline had noticed these things but she chalked it up to being that the boy was just stressed and had forgotten to keep up with their little tradition, so she kept it up to try and bring a smile to his tired face and stayed hopeful that things would get better.

Things never did get better though and she realized that as she sat in the studio, burrowed under her favorite blanket. She’d realized she was never given the reason as to why he wanted to end things, but if that’s what he wanted then she’d let him go.

She loved Quinn and she always would, she’d always choose to keep the good memories in her heart and vowed to remember him that way.

-

[void-ink-studios]

This Isn't a Time Room, It's a Time Home

In which Scarab learns a bit about himself as he tries to fill his days in the Time Room.

And this will be the last chapter before a 2-part finale to this series. That doesn't mean I won't be writing these two ever again! If I get ideas, I'll come back and write them! But I'm running out of steam posting 2,000+ word fics every day, and I'd like to end this off on a good note. 20 chapters, totaling 50,000 words seemed like a nice, even spot to stop. So, get ready for that, and I hope you all have enjoyed the ride!

First part of the finale will drop tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Word Count: 2,000

It had been a long time since Scarab had his own space.

A long... long time.

He had a burrow, back at the Mounds, that he'd decorated and made his own. It was a cozy space, if he remembered correctly.

He remembered a love of collecting and preserving the flowers and wild plants he found on his patrol routes. He remembered making simple decorations out of his discoveries, and cluttering his burrow with them.

That was a time that he wasn't constantly on the move. When his life was simpler. More stationary.

He hadn't been stationary for eons.

His life as an Auditor had him constantly on the move. He had... nothing. No home. No place to rest, not when he wasn't really allowed to rest.

If he rested, it was at camps or hotels in whatever world he was tracking a target through. And if that camp happened to be on a floating asteroid in the middle of the void, then so be it.

Scarab didn't complain. Maybe couldn't is the more accurate term, but it's not like it mattered.

The point was, he didn't settle down. He didn't have a place to be stationary, to decorate, to... own.

He wondered if that was sad. He wondered if other Auditors ever got to... settle. If they had a home, somewhere in the Judgement Hall, or elsewhere.

But, that wasn't the case now.

Now, he had no choice but to be stationary.

Everything in the Time Room had a degree of stillness to it. If clocks could work in here, he would probably be able to hear and focus on each and every individual tick. Nothing moved here, other than what they made move. Nothing changed here, other than what they manually changed.

Prismo didn't seem to mind it too much. It was his existence, everything he ever knew (until recently) was in this infinite cube.

Prismo was powerful. He could make the Time Room in anything he wanted. He could conjure almost anything he wanted into the Time Room, rearrange its walls however he saw fit, make it as personal as something could be in the cosmos.

And yet, all that was there, that was uniquely Prismo, was a Hot Tub, and a room full of pickle experiments.

Scarab wasn't sure what to make of it.

He asked the Wishmaster about it, and he only received a shrug. "I dunno man. Kinda hard to have decoration tastes when all you got is a yellow or gray wall of cubes. I like the Hot Tub, and I like the pickles. If you think it's boring, feel free to go at it yourself."

That had made Scarab chirp, curiously.

He looked around the empty corners, and... he saw potential.

He hesitated at first.

"Prismo, did you... mean what you said, before? That I could... decorate the Time Room if I wished?"

The Wishmaster cuddled him closer, sleepily humming. "Yeah, Lovebug. I think that'd be... cool."

Scarab couldn't help but chuckle.

"Cool, hmm?"

"Yeah... You've been everywhere. You'd have a better idea of what looks nice than I would. I saw have at it, sweetheart."

Prismo proceeded to nuzzle and kiss him in their cuddle pile, putting an end to the conversation, but Scarab had the confirmation he needed.

He thought. Considered.

It started small. No conjuring just yet. Just manipulating the walls themselves.

Some places to climb and perch, both for himself and Cos whenever he came over.

He moved the hot tub out of the center of the room, more into the corner, and more of a statement, with a platform, stairs, and shelves.

Made a proper statement around the entrance to the basement.

Already, it was looking a little bit nicer in here.

Scarab chirped happily as he stood back and looked at his work. He preened when their game night crew commented that the Time Room looked a bit more... alive.

He clicked in consideration, eyes skimming what might look nice.

"Prismo... Do you have any objections to... well, anything I suppose?"

Prismo seemed startled that he was being addressed, pausing his fanfic writing to look around.

"U-Uhm... why are you asking me...? This is your project, yeah?"

Scarab tilted his head at him.

"This is your space too, Prismo. I wouldn't want you to... what, silently suffer in your primary living space. Just... you're allowed to have preferences, you know?"

Prismo gave an awkward smile before he tried to think.

"Uh..."

He seemed to have a mental click, eyes focusing on an empty corner. Scarab looked between that corner and Prismo, raising an eyebrow.

"...No statues. At least... none that look like people."

"I'll keep that in mind" Scarab hummed. "Thank you for telling me, love." He nuzzled Prismo's cheek, clicking softly.

So, no statues. That at least narrowed it down.

He thought about what seemed to interest Prismo most on their "field trips" to both Ooo and Fionna's world.

Prismo liked shiny things. He liked gold and crystals and the stars. He liked complex patterns, geometric and abstract. And he liked bold, bright colors.

Hmmm...

Yes, he could work with that.

He continued to play it subtle. Small for now.

He was still getting used to conjuring. So, no complex configurations right now. But that was fine by him.

Because Scarab found out something about himself. Or, rediscovered?

Scarab liked making things. He liked working on things with his talons, something small, meticulous.

Maybe writing fanfiction with Prismo rekindled this love, but working on his accessories for the Gala fanned the flames. He took pride in it, smiling wider than he could remember through learning how to make the shawl and necklace.

So, he set to work.

"Oooh, starting up the lair again?"

Scarab rolled his eyes, not dignifying that with a response as he slipped inside.

And the Time Room began to come to life.

Small crystal stars hanging from some of the perches, that sparkled, wrapped in gold wire.

Crystal ornaments on scattered shelves, wrapped with intricate metalwork, making their own stands. They shined with colors, from blue to purple to green, casting lovely beams of light all around, finally breaking up the yellow walls.

Boldly patterned, lose curtains, held in place by beetle shaped golden fixtures, framed the entrances to the Time Room gorgeously. There were eyes and hands and butterfly wing motifs, all intricately woven together into a truly eye catching design.

"Woah... Lovebug, this place looks nice!"

"Thank you, my dear... I think... I like it too."

Things could only really get more elaborate from here.

Scarab wanted something green. Something alive, something that could change.

So he got some seeds, from all over the multiverse, and got to work.

It was tricky, finding ways of cultivating something alive in the still environment of the Time Room, but Scarab was nothing if not persistent.

He relished in the feeling of leaves, of some organic beauty. He hadn't had the time to stop and admire the flora he'd find on his hunts, but now was as good a time as any to make up for it.

It reminded him of home. Of the lush green forests that rested in the center of his Mound, the ones he could spend hours flying through and playing in, ones he spent many nights camping in with friends.

It was something alive. Something he wanted to take care of.

The plants soon made their way into the Time Room. Quite aggressively, Prismo might say.

Vines curled around the perches, sometimes wrapping around and lacking together with the various crystal stars he had set up earlier. Ferns found homes on shelves, filling out corners, or in hanging pots from above.

Some plants looked strangely unremarkable compared to the elaborate ferns or chaotically elegant vines, yet they found themselves in places of pride, near the entrances and on prominent shelves.

Prismo couldn't help but ask about them.

"Just wait and see, my dear. You'll see."

And see he did.

Because while the plants looked unassuming now, they wouldn't be for long.

Prismo watched in wonder as the flowers bloomed. They opened in a beautiful pinks and light blues, filled the room with perfume and color. The Time Room felt alive, really truly alive, for the first time since before Prismo came to inhabit it.

Scarab admired his work, preening under the oohs and aahs of their guests.

But he wasn't done quite yet.

He pulled a few more shelves out of the wall, and made it a bookcase. There were books from Scarab's own travels, things he found interesting. Some were encyclopedias and bestiaries, culminations of information that Scarab found fascinating.

But there was a special shelf for Prismo.

That shelf was for the things Prismo wrote. That was for showing off what the Wishmaster had made for himself. Prismo sputtered at first, but was quickly shut up with kisses and nuzzles.

Yes, the Time Room was certainly refreshed. No more empty yellow walls where nothing ever happened. Now it was a space of both interests, a space for them to truly live.

Scarab chirped in excitement when he saw Prismo make his own little modifications. A fridge for drinks and snacks. A pantry for some open pickle jars. A music player to add some background noise.

Scarab couldn't have been prouder. It was nice to see Prismo... want things. Want things for himself, something that didn't threaten the architecture of the multiverse.

Scarab had meant for it to stop there. He was satisfied with the new pops of color and personality.

What he didn't expect were gifts.

Seems that the renovations were interpreted as invitations. Invitations to provide trinkets to fill the space.

Neither god minded one bit.

From Cos, a crystal ball, filled with a tiny dream core. It shined and swirled with blues and pinks, small music box chimes occasionally echoing around.

From Life and Death, a bonsai tree, circling constantly through the seasons, complete with a little sand garden and tiny rake. Scarab politely didn't laugh as he watched Prismo play with it for... perhaps a bit longer than what would be becoming of a god.

From the Organizer, a desk. A small one, nothing fancy, but a sturdy, practical desk. The laptop had taken a place of pride there, next to the fridge.

From Fionna and Cake, there were pictures. Pictures around the city, pictures of them and their friends, reassurances that they were okay and thriving.

Finn also gave pictures. Of a specific someone. Scarab learned a lot about Jake as Prismo hung each one up, a story attached to each. The beetle let the Wishmaster hold him, both staring that the photos that now covered the wall.

It was perfect, in their opinions. It was all perfect.

Except it seems that the cosmos had one more surprise for them.

Wish magic seemed to have strange effects on mortal plants and mundane crystals.

The crystals began to glow. They casted a pearly aura, a mist almost, laced with magic that rose up and swirled above them. Almost like clouds in a sky. The two of them spent a lot of time just staring up and admiring it. The clouds rolled and tumbled over each other like the real things, a light rolling thunder every once in a while, echoing around the room.

Scarab thought of home again. Of the forests. He'd always slept better listening to the rolling thunder and rain tapping off the roof of his burrow.

It made for a lovely evening, cuddling with Prismo in their blanket pile, listening to the faux thunderstorm, watching the tv wall.

It reached the flowers as well. The petals bled into unusual colors. Pink shimmering with an unearthly purple. Blue sparking with golden tips.

Glowing pollen spilled out the bell, floating ethereally. Like stars.

The legends of the Time Room had begun to shift, apparently. Word didn't reach either god until much, much later, but it made them chuckle regardless.

No longer was it spoken of as a clinical, featureless chamber. Prismo was not spoken of as an extension of the room. It was no longer "Prismo, keeper of the Time Room."

Now it was "The Time Room, home to the Almighty Prismo."

And Scarab couldn't help but indulge in maybe a bit of smug satisfaction when word reached them. The Time Room did not change unless they willed it.

But the Time Room was their home.

And now they finally willed it to feel like one.

[betweenthings2]

#24 in the cuddling prompts for gatty pleaseeeeeee🫶🫂

Thank you for the ask!! I love writing these so much--all of the prompt lists are tagged as 'prompts' on my blog, but I have a bunch of other prompt lists that I can post if you all want them. I've just been trying to work though everything in my inbox, which will happen a little bit more quickly now that I've submitted the first draft of my thesis, but y'all can have more prompt lists if you want.

This kind of turned into a character study, vaguely inspired by The White Stripes' song "We Are Going to be Friends," and now there's a whole fic in the works in this vein.

24. Heavily doting on each other, feeling lucky seeing the other vulnerable like this, even just knowing them like this.

Matty is something of a complicated person, George has come to know. Still he's appreciated the process of getting know who Matty is, truly. When they first met, George was fairly certain that Matty was the most obnoxious person he'd ever encountered. He ran his mouth but didn't always say a whole lot, he still does, and when they first met, Matty had been taller than George. Matty was only about thirteen, but he had this way of looking down at George that made him seem much older, like an older sibling's cool and intimidating friend, and made George feel very small and uncool at a point when being cool was his overarching goal.

Still, Matty had accepted George into the fledgling band, but it took a few weeks for him to realize that Matty was trying to be friends, too. Once George realized that, he and Matty clicked, and they became practically inseparable. That doesn't mean that George knew exactly who Matty was at first, though. Matty still had that way of looking down at George that made him seem older, he still does it, but it doesn't make him seem so much older. It was Matty who introduced George to cigarettes stolen from his mum's purse, then joints offered by older friends and cheap liquor lifted from supermarkets. When they got older, Matty introduced George to cocaine, then downers, laughing when George decided he would be sticking with weed. Matty's attraction to those things scared George, but he loved the way Matty laughed, head back and unabashed.

Matty was larger than life back then, all loose school uniform ties and Doc Martens, all laugher and smoke, a cigarette almost constantly perched between his fingers, all bright eyes and ideas about getting into trouble. George would have done anything for him. He still would.

Matty is still larger than life, sometimes. Sometimes though, more often than anything else, he's simply himself, simply life-sized. George prefers that. Larger-than-life-Matty is a version of Matty with all the walls up, hiding behind everything. Life-sized-Matty is just Matty, the Matty that George loves, the Matty who has figured out how to circumvent the walls he'd build around himself.

Life-sized-Matty is the version George has now. He has his head on George's chest and has let rare silence settle in the room, punctuated only by even breathing. George has learned, over the years since that first meeting that Matty mostly hates quiet. He says it makes him feel exposed, naked. If he's talking, there's a distraction, something else to focus on, but if he's quiet, there's nothing but him. He's only really quiet with George. He counts himself extraordinarily lucky for that.

George strokes a hand down Matty's back, feeling warm skin through the thin cotton of his t-shirt. "Love you," he murmurs.

Matty hums and burrows a little closer to George.

This is Matty, George realizes, his Matty. "Love that you let me see you like this, know you like this," he continues.

"Like what?" Matty mumbles. He sounds half-asleep.

George is quiet for a moment, still rubbing Matty's back, then settles on, "Vulnerable."

Matty makes a noise, but George can't really tell if it's in agreement or an urge to explain.

He explains anyways, with, "Sometimes, I think you're, well, you're larger than life. You're so much, more than everyone and everything about you. You were like that when we first met. You looked at me and it was like you were so much more than everyone else, like you were so much older and knew so much more than I did. It took me a while to realize that really, you just had all these walls up. You had to be more to see out, I think. Everyone sees that version of you that's larger than life, I get you, just you."

"I was trying so hard way back then," Matty admits. "Like that you let me be like this."

It’s not really an admittance to George. He knows Matty was trying back then, knows that Matty was trying to be what he thought he was supposed to be and he's tried very hard to convince Matty that he doesn't have to be anything he's not or doesn't want to be. He's not completely sold, but George is trying.

"You can be whatever you like, however you like with me," George murmurs. "Always."

"Thanks for bein'," Matty pauses, then, "everything. You're everything."

George presses a kiss into Matty's mess of curls and continues rubbing his back, gentle and easy and quiet, like there’s nothing outside of this. There is nothing outside of this. This is all there is. This is everything. 

[mickmundy]

This is a very special day… it’s Old Wounds day! And so I think now is the perfect time to post my next fic companion piece, a brief little commentary/analysis on part 6 of Thou Giveth Fever... Fever!! I know I say this about a lot of my series because, well, I do put a lot of “myself” (experiences, feelings, thoughts, commentary etc) into my fics, but this one was an extremely personal fic for me. My long-time followers might remember me posting about Sniper’s apricot dream over a year ago! Wow! Without further ado, let's tear into it! Happy #bushmedbday everymerc!

Sniper’s apricot dream is the culmination of his growing desire for Medic, romantically but also most importantly, sexually. His feelings for Medic pull him away from everything he’s ever held dear and pushes him into this unfamiliar new frontier that’s requiring him to be more emotionally in-touch with himself than he ever has been. I think at this point in my series they’ve both started falling hard, but spent a lot of the formative time hoping it was perhaps just physical desire or friendship. Sniper starts getting nervous when he realizes that oh shit, not only is this desire sexual, it’s also romantic. And that means commitment. Ahh! Run! 

And yet… he finds himself not wanting to flee from it. He’s constantly tortured by his desire and his resistance of it, unable to find an “in-between way” to feel these feelings (any other autistics know what I mean by this...?). Now they’re starting to consume him, starting to seep into other aspects of his life that he’d previously kept so far removed from any kind of outside force. And Medic, what an outside force indeed! Hoo!

When he dreams about his desire, we see that Medic isn’t present. That’s absolutely intentional! Something that’s important to me to communicate in my fics is that the concept of desire, especially when pining, begins with the self. While this is absolutely a metaphor/stand-in for him having wet dreams about Medic, it was more important to me to place emphasis on how it feels to feel desire in the first place. He’s in a place that’s something like a personal Eden, surrounded by things he holds dear and comforting (the grass from his childhood, the apricots that he quite enjoys the taste of, being nude, the weather and time of day, etc). 

It’s as if the concept of comfort to him was a physical place that he could take literal shelter in and feel things freely, be authentic to himself in a place where there would be no judgment, by himself or others. He of course has no actual physical place to do this (his van is definitely a safe place for him, but it’s not the same!), which is why the times that he’s the most honest with himself is here, asleep, in his subconscious. 

And, as I’m sure my readers have noticed, there has been a lot of use of sleep as a recurring motif for Sniper. Eternal sleep as in when he died before getting revived by Medic, and the sleep emphasized in this fic, the times in which he has a pretty intense revelation about desire and how it feels to feel it… almost completely untethered. 

Which of course brings us to the cover! Red poppies! Glorious poppies! We don’t see much of Medic in this fic, but his influence is definitely felt; he often likens red poppies to the way that blush blooms on Sniper’s face, citing the uneven flushes on his skin to look like the rounding bits of poppy petals. In art, poppies are also symbolic of… yes! Sleep! And death! And the connection between the two! Oh Medic, was that intentional? Hoo! Yes! And this won’t be the last time we hear of this connection either…! 

And the title… fever… This is signifying when the feelings are really taking hold in both of them, burrowing deep into them and stoking a fire that both of them might have been content to let fizzle out before, but it’s only growing, roaring to life for both of them and beginning to consume them. The fever that they’re inflicting upon each other by desiring each other, so much so that it really feels palpable to the reader, and to them, too, and yet… they refrain. Part of feeling feverish is the uncertainty, wondering when it’s going to break… is it going to break? The light-headedness of it and out-of-touch feeling… it’s intense!

Speaking of Medic, let’s talk about that hunger Sniper feels for him. We’ve spent enough time with Sniper at this point to see that he absolutely has issues with regulating, and feeling, his emotions, no matter what they may be. He lives in “fear” of this hypothetical concept of losing control and feeling too much, and swears he’s better off with sticking to what he knows (work), what makes him happy (work), and what he’s good at (work). Unfortunately for him, Medic isn’t just someone he met in a bar or a mercenary that he got to know from talking to in their off-time… he and Medic are tethered together. 

Intertwined in this messy mass of business and, now, pleasure, and the more Sniper tries to keep the two separate, the more they bleed into each other. Now he’s infected his hobbies (hanging out with his bird, billiards, etc), his routines and habits (sharing food with him before/during matches)... he’s everywhere! And so much! It should scare him, maybe even make him angry. But instead he feels himself leaning into it, wanting that affection and attention from Medic and wanting him to coax out that part of him that he wants so badly to hate… but lately… doesn’t.

Which, of course, this is all just one big sexual repression metaphor and the painful feeling of knowing who you are, truly, and looking that identity and those feelings in the eyes and acknowledging how lonely it can be, dealing with that weight for so long and now finding out how badly you want to be anything but alone. That you might now love who you are, but where does that leave you with all of that weight you’ve been carrying?

“I've mistreated you, hunger. I’ve hated you.”

He’s resented the part of himself that, really, there was never anything wrong with in the first place. That hunger is part of who he is, and as Medic already knows, it’s a beautiful thing! And it should be cherished! Not pushed down and hated! 

It became easier to feel nothing and savor even less.

This fic is absolutely rife with my own ruminations on being butch and how lonely it feels at times and how, when I was coming into myself, I tried to resist it. I swore that apathy and denial were not only the only ways that I thought I could live, but that it was what I deserved to feel. And Sniper’s feeling that too! It’s strange for him to be around someone like Medic, who so freely feels and does what he wants, and we’ve seen before that Sniper envies him for that. He can’t imagine what it’s like to feel something, immediately understand your own feelings, and seize your feelings and do something about them. Unheard of! But he’s trying now. And it’s hard, and it sucks. But he’s trying! 

Of course, the apricots are also just a great fruit that suits Sniper perfectly, given the cheeky little air freshener and “apricot spot” joke-reference Valve put in canonically… I think they’re very much like how Sniper sees himself, or maybe wants to see himself, or maybe- he’s not sure. Soft on the outside, but hard at the heart… I think that’s very Sniper, even though he probably wishes he had a bit more of an icy exterior (easier to encourage folks to keep their distances and whatnot), it’s not who he is. We can see in the comics, and game, and how he talks to his parents (and the fact that he cares so deeply for them) in his intro short, that he is in fact a very emotional person, someone with a great capacity for love!

Not any kind of prince charming, but I have… loving feelings… to give… doesn’t that count for something?

Being saddled with the burden of worthiness, if you really and truly deserve the good things in your life when they come to you, is another struggle of his (and mine!) that I wanted to highlight across the series. We see him going from “No way! I don’t have loving feelings! I’m a stone-cold operator!” to “Okay, maybe I have some… feelings…” to now, most recently, “I do have feelings. Loving ones. I want to love! And be loved!”... but do his feelings really matter, anyway? Yes! Of course! Would anyone want my love?

But with one step forward, sometimes we take two steps back. He confirms his own fear by getting absolutely lost in “pleasure” (the eating of the cake Medic baked him) and immediately feeling guilty for not only indulging, but overindulging! Michael, you beast! Don’t you have any self control?! Yes, this is another internalized homophobia moment about being “predatory”, or feeling like you’re doing something diabolical by pursuing pleasure for the sake of pleasure. Of course, we  know there’s nothing wrong with that, but feelings are feelings, and sometimes they’re unsavory and complicated, even though we have good intentions! Poor Sniper!

You’re gonna be a slob, you’re gonna be a mediocre tradie, you’re gonna be a soft-hearted pansy. Sniper scowled. He hadn’t wound up as a slob, or a mediocre tradie. Avoiding two out of three wasn’t bad. And he remembered there being a time in his life where he couldn’t imagine anything worse than being a soft-hearted pansy.  The way his old man had spit the phrase out made it sound like it was the worst thing anyone could be. Maybe up until a few months ago, Sniper would have sworn he’d agreed.

Again… Sniper wanting to emulate his father’s masculinity in his youth but ultimately failed to do so in a way that made his old man proud, but absolutely internalizing all of the things he’d heard growing up and now struggling to unpack them and unlearn them in his adult life. Sniper is soft hearted, and he’d spent so long trying to chase that feeling away, but now… he’s trying to hold it close to himself, trying to cherish it… he’s working on it!

I wanted to convey concepts of internalized homophobia in the way that I felt them, without going more “stereotypical” routes of just… making the character homophobic at the expense of another character, if that makes sense. This is an internal battle for Sniper and something he’s now reflecting on in a way that doesn’t manifest by taking it out on others. I think he’s more likely to withdraw into himself with things like this. He knows it’s wrong, wouldn’t dare judge or apply this logic to others, and he’s trying to unlearn it. But it’s hard to give himself the same kindness that he gives others when he feels like he doesn’t deserve kindness or forgiveness!

Medic, in his own zany way, turns Sniper’s entire perspective on its head. We all know Sniper’s professional creed, and we also know how Medic breaks just about every single one of those neat and tidy rules! Medic isn’t polite, he’s… only sometimes efficient (he’s quite scatterbrained!), and doesn’t often plan that far ahead! And yet, he’s one of the most talented mercenaries on the team, the absolute linchpin to their team’s success as a unit. Wow! Now that really makes him think. Well, if Medic can be the opposite of all of those things and still do a bang-up job and gets to feel what he wants, then… can’t I do the same, at least every now and then?

We see very little of Medic’s internal monologue throughout the series, and this too is intentional! Medic wouldn’t want others to know what he’s thinking, and so I think it makes sense to keep the readers “in the dark” about how he’s feeling at any given time; plus, what he wants to feel… he does! So he’s much more direct and seems perfectly fine with his feelings for Sniper; no internalized hatred! Good for him! We know that while he might not relate to Sniper’s feelings, he does sympathize with them, content to draw out their flirting and pining for the sake of making his crush comfortable. Sniper takes notice of this and appreciates it; that kind of unconditional care is something he’s always denied himself, and yet Medic gives it to him freely, from the very beginning!

And Medic isn’t without his own sexual desires for Sniper! He quite likes that pesky hunger that Sniper’s always smothering… and he wants more of it. This of course refers to the use of the word in a broader symbolic sense; he knows Sniper sexually desires him, romantically desires him, and he reciprocates, but knows Sniper isn’t ready to make a move yet (or to have one made upon him). That’s just fine with him, he’s content to daydream! Whatever he wants, in the pace and time he requires. 

The Devil’s Trill Sonata was a no-brainer choice for the backdrop of Medic’s steamy fantasies. It’s got everything that makes it so fundamentally Medic: whimsy, darkness, perhaps-somber undertones that flit away just as you’re getting to notice them… hoo! This won’t be the last time we see this symbolism either (if you’ve read this far you know how I love continuation of symbolism!), but if you don’t know the history behind the song, its creator heard it in a dream in a meeting with the devil, in which the devil offered to serve him. 

The work itself is an extremely difficult passage to play, and its own creator lamented about not being able to replicate the vision of it that he’d had in his dream. Something truly remarkable, that was achieved by pure ambition and vision… that felt dreamlike in its execution and would be impossible to replicate… hmm… perhaps Medic has had a similar relationship with a creation of his…? 

He’d see it flash through Sniper’s eyes when they’d touched on occasion, before the bushman would muzzle it and force it back into submission. Medic didn’t want Sniper to smother it. He wanted to coax it out, warm it up and let it bask in the heat before pulling it out with nothing more than gentle touch and passionate words. Wanted to show Sniper that there was nothing wrong with hunger, no sense in suffering for something that could be so wonderful if you only let it live and feast as its instinct required.  If Medic had it his way, there would be nothing Sniper could ever hope to hunger for. 

The lungs, and Sniper’s body… Medic, you have such a way with words! It makes perfect sense that the good doctor focuses on the internal aspects of Sniper… those are the parts of him he knows better than anything else! While they’ve become closer of course, Medic still primarily knows him as his doctor, so he has a special relationship with those vital organs of his… the mind, the lungs, the heart… he wants to hold, cherish and captivate it all!

And lastly, we have the closing scene of the fic. Ah, food sharing. A recurring theme in how I ship bushmedicine, but also a trope that is so dear to my heart because of my love for my girlfriend’s own generosity. I have so many fond memories of us sharing food together before we were a couple, the look in our eyes and the feeling of share this with me, because I care about you and want to share my meal, my sustenance, with you. I want to see your joy when you bite into this and enjoy it. So tender, such a place for romance to bloom and strengthen. Is there anything more intimate than indulging in one’s basic desires together? Feelings of desire, feelings of hunger, the objective need for sustenance and the sharing of it as one…

And they’re basking in that joy now, more than ever! I suppose we’ll have to see what happens next in Tachycardia! 

[terrahlee-cup]

@britt-kageryuu You started this so now you get tagged when I talk about it more. I’ve been trying to figure out which machine from Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West would be each version of Donnie’s favorite. I have ideas, but I’d definitely be interested in other people’s thoughts because I don’t normally do a ton of analyzing Donnie’s character lol.

2003 Donnie:

Okay, so 03 Donnie is generally fairly calm/sweet but of course has his mad scientist moments as you do. A very combat-focused machine just doesn’t seem like his thing— even though a lot of the things he builds in the show have/can double as weapons he seems to be more focused on general utility than anything. I swear like 90% of what he builds seems to be vehicles lol. He’s not a pushover in a fight, sure, but his brothers seem to watch his back a lot. I could see his favorite machine being one that lets him focus on something he’s doing without worrying about his surroundings as much. Several of the machines in the games act as lookouts: Watchers, Burrowers, Longlegs, and Stalkers (sort of). Donnie would probably find the Watchers and Burrowers adorable, but Longlegs and Stalkers are more middle to late game enemies that you can’t usually one-shot after like two encounters. I think if he got most excited by just sheer range of abilities his favorite would be the Stalkers. I mean they turn invisible, place mines that also act as flares, and are just fucking annoying to fight because they’re fast moving targets (I love them too but HOLY SHIT STAY STILL FOR TWO SECONDS SO I CAN SHOOT YOU).

2012 Donnie:

Okay, so 2012 Donnie was… probably the easiest for me to choose at least a general favorite group of machines for? He’s constantly looking for better materials and complaining about how often his bo breaks in the show, so the literal gathering machines would probably be interesting to him. Y’know, just a bit. The primary two I think could be his *favorite* though are the Shell Walker or Tideripper. The Shell Walker isn’t a material gatherer itself, but its main “thing” is the boxes it carries around on its back. One of these would make material runs so much easier, and it can definitely carry more than Donnie can on his own. Tideripper on the other hand can gather materials from the ocean, but it can go on land as well so in theory it could still collect materials from there. Also, turtle sub.

2014/16 Donnie:

Did you expect him to be here? No I’ve never mentioned bayverse on here? Well, I like bayverse so he is. I think his favorite machine would either be the Scrapper or the Snapmaw. The Scrapper is simple enough: extra materials for inventions— useful and also they kinda look like a dog? This Donnie gives off ‘would like a pet’ vibes. The Snapmaw might be a bit less of an obvious choice lol. It’s an aquatic combat machine, not really in line with the trend of more utility-based machines. Honestly I mainly picked this because I think he’d find them neat. There is a little more to it, though. For one, he doesn’t seem to be struggling with getting materials as much as 12 Donnie, and the bayverse turtles are so fucking tanky he probably wouldn’t be too worried about someone sneaking up on him like 03 Donnie. The Snapmaw can watch his back anyway as long as he’s on the ground, so eh he’ll be fine. But yeah, mostly he’d just find the Snapmaw cool as hell.

Rise Donnie:

Look, he likes big loud things that go boom what do you think his favorite would be. Surely not the giant t-rex looking machine with like 5 different weapons on it nooooo. …

So, yeah, I think his favorite machine would be the Thunderjaw. There is no big reason for it except hehe big machine go boom. This version of Donnie is unhinged and made a whole ass giant drill for hero poses what else do you want from me. (I do think the headcanon that he goes bonkers with security in the lair after the Krang is interesting, but I think it’s hilarious to have every other version think a lot about utility and then Rise Donnie just points at the giant t-rex thing and goes: I like that one it shoots lasers.)

That’s it that’s all I got I need to go actually get shit done now enjoy the rare Donnie post lol.

[aotopmha]

I'm done with the Final Fantasy 14 MSQ for now.

It's so strange to see that "To be continued..." on the MSQ quest label.

And whenever I aim to talk about MSQ in a general sense, I face choice paralysis because there is so much to it.

It's partially why I said almost nothing about Heavensward before moving on to Stormblood.

I just wanted to keep playing AND there was a lot to talk about.

I think I would like to bring these posts full circle, though.

I started actually playing the game back in November of last year, but I stumbled upon and got invested in the story I think around six months prior to Endwalker release, somewhere in the WoW exodus window (around July of 2021, I think, by seeing a few playthroughs of A Realm Reborn).

I think it's the Coils of Bahamut raid series and then the patch content finale of A Realm Reborn that got me truly invested to be exact – I think I initially skipped through a lot of ARR, watching a condensed playthrough, but those parts I sat through in full.

Both had some really smart, consistent writing in them despite relying on quite commonly used tropes, which also shone through the awkward voice acting and tedious redundant questing.

And this continued and got better as time went on.

Heavensward and Stormblood further added character and thematic complexity and Shadowbringers and Endwalker in turn built upon that while much improving narrative pacing, leading to one of my favourite fantasy stories ever.

While Stormblood and Shadowbringers in particular much improved the game in terms of gameplay, as well.

This game remains one of the hardest games for me to recommend because of the redundant questing for much of the first three expansions, particularly in the base games.

Particularly Stormblood really is kind of just the same storyline with a different faction for six different zones and not even Shadowbringers and Endwalker are truly free of redundancy with sections like Il Mheg, the leadup to Mt Gulg, Bestways Burrow and Labyrinthos.

A Realm Reborn, Heavensward and Stormblood are now all free and can be played without playtime restrictions, so I can at least encourage just taking your time and not rushing through because meeting the game halfway, on its own terms lead to the most enjoyment on my part, but if you are really looking for a story/game that "never wastes your time", Final Fantasy 14 is not it.

It cares about even the smallest worldbuilding details to a ridiculous degree and at times does send you several layers deep into a quest to the point of the initial goal of it getting buried. I think it's the most frustrating with A Realm Reborn where it really gets in the way of pacing and no matter how neat the high points are, this can take the satisfaction out of any of the payoff you have because it took you so long to get there.

Almost everything you do will eventually matter, but to varying degrees, but it's still *almost* everything and sometimes it matters in relatively small ways.

When all is said and done, we have a complete web of a story with many characters and worlds, touching on many themes, which is in my opinion brought together and concluded in an incredibly satisfying way.

And I kind of see the same journey for the gameplay. By 90 all of the jobs I have unlocked and used feel complete and distinct, some simpler, some more complex, but complete and distinct, and most importantly fun.

So if I'm in the mood for chilling I play Bard, Sage or Dark Knight (the last of which I enjoy to the point of maining right now), but if I want more brain work and super satisfying rotation completion, I play Red Mage or Dragoon.

And Bard, Red Mage and Dragoon, for example, are very different from each other as well.

I've seen a bunch of talk about homogeneity between jobs now, but to me as a casual, the roles at least feel very different from each other.

Bard's DoT management and movement freedom is very different from Dragoon's constantly rolling GCD/OGCD management, which in turn is very different from Red Mage's dualcast and cast time management, which in turn is very different from Sage's shielding/healing (also healing via attacks), which in turn is very different from Dark Knight's mitigation/damage management and pulling/boss positioning role.

And to me the biggest proof of that is getting lost when I take a break from a specific job for a longer period of time. If they truly were all of the same, this would not be an issue.

I guess, as I said in one of the posts at the start of my journey, I found the one MMO I like in terms of gameplay.

The animations for the jobs feel satisfying, getting new buttons for the jobs feels satisfying.

People keep insisting Dragoon plays bad early on, but I still had fun as early as just getting my jump and base combo and before that (and after) I just had my hands full learning how the game works and feels in general. I had some brain work/fun happening since level 1.

And part of that feeling are the encounters themselves, I think.

They essentially just made single player game encounters within multiplayer context and I feel in general MMO-like games are beholden to a specific idea of what fight encounters look like, which just does not gel with me.

A huge part of me not really wanting to check out World of Warcraft aside from the story structure feeling off/strange, what the toxic elements of the community look like or the main selling point being the endgame hardcore raiding, which you need to basically dedicate massive amounts of time for to keep up with, is the encounter design and how that looks to me.

I'm told it definitely has better netcode than FF14, and I believe it, but it unfortunately doesn't look as satisfying to execute to me. On a casual level bosses also literally seem to die with a couple of attacks.

You never know before you play, but based on all of the research I've done on WoW, it just does not click with me.

And that's the reason Runescape combat doesn't do much for me, either. The encounters don't feel satisfying on the most basic level.

Runescape is the perfect grindy MMO; super great second monitor game, imo, but its combat is basically you just standing there. You click on an enemy and watch it die.

There is a skill to managing your stuff and it is quite complex in a high level setting from what I've researched, but it just doesn't do anything for me personally.

There is something about the simple visual language and indicators that feels good to me, even if you sometimes get blown away by an attack 3 seconds after it should hit.

So many MMOs are basically grindfests that involve you watching hundreds of mobs who do nothing die.

And so many feel like directionless sandboxes, which might be fun to be in for a bit, but don't get you invested, be it in terms of gameplay or story.

So FF14 is, in fact, the first MMO I like in terms of combat gameplay and encounter design because it has them to begin with.

But again, if you want jobs and combat to immediately feel complete and super complex, Final Fantasy 14 is probably not for you.

A more critical, negative perspective will say it starts off slow and pretty shallow, a positive perspective will call it a slow burn that will reward you.

I'm of the latter opinion.

The game does have an option to buy a skip to endgame, though and as much as I love the story and think the leveling process does teach you to play, I think skipping the story if it doesn't do anything for you is also an option if you just want to try playing.

It is always possible go back via New Game+ and even free trial accounts can make 8 different characters in total, so you can just restart with a new character.

In fact, I think clicking through and skipping cutscenes to skip the story is an option, too, to save that skip money if you don't mind spending a little more time.

But this game has so much different content aside from the story, your simple dungeons and raiding. Before Stormblood was free, some subbed just for mahjong in the Gold Saucer.

There are fishing/crafting mains, housing mains, glamour and RP mains, Deep Dungeon mains (which are big dungeons with 200 levels for the first one and 100 for the other two), Gold Saucer has many mini games in fact.

There is an entire solo class (and we are getting another one in Dawntrail), which is its own challange in Blue Mage (Beastmaster is set to be the new one).

Even having finished MSQ, there is so much I haven't tried yet.

So something might click even if the story or dungeons/raiding don't.

It is the first subscription for a game that has felt worth my money every month I've paid and played so far.

And an entry level one is just fine. There is a cash shop, but you don't ever have to interact with it nor is it shoved in your face all of the time.

I will say, the Mogstation/Square Enix site is awful. Everything worked out relatively painlessly initially for me to pay, but everything I've done there after that has been a headache.

In terms of buying the game, if you aren't invested already, currently I'd actually wait for the Dawntrail complete edition to get Shadowbringers, Endwalker and Dawntrail for the same price and I absolutely 100% recommend the free trial as the start despite some of the limitations.

It'll save a bunch of money.

All of that said, I absolutely do recommend the game. It's been an absolutely wonderful 6ish months for me, during which I've had a massive blast and generally really positive vibes, the asterix here is simply to expect a game or story that is more of a slow burn.

The flaws are pretty obvious and if they annoy you too much from the start, this game probably isn't for you, if they don't, I think you'll grow to like it or will have a great time to begin with because a lot of people, including myself, really do still like A Realm Reborn.