#lost the momentum can't touch this anymore

[ramenlicious]

[quilly72]

"uuuuh mmmmmmm" you clenched your body as you approached climax. Taylor was riding you like a stallion and after what felt like hours of edging was finally letting you release.

"cum for me" she cooed. Her eyes darted into your soul as she rode on top. She smirked as she watched your eyes roll back into your head

You clenched as your dick throbbed and burst. The heat dissipating as you shot your load off. You gasped for breath as she climbed off of you.

"good boy" she cooed she strutted off the bed as she put her sweatpants back on and started fiddling with her bra. "When your ready we can go agai.... Eeeeek"

She yelled as she arched her back. Taylor spun around like a bullet. She faced her boobs towards you as she stood mouth agape. Taylor held her bra as her boobs spilled out of it.

"did you see that?" She darted at you her boobs swaying back and forth.

You stared at her boobs piling out," see what?"

"my boobs they just grew, they don't even fit in my bra anymore." She jutted her jugs out as you stared.

They definitely seemed larger but it looked like she had just put it on wrong. Besides she was probably still just trying to edge you for a second round, maybe she was just trying out some new roleplay.

Taylor yelped again. She arched backwards as she clasped her back. Her bra digging into her skin. "Stupid bra...hurts...can't get the stupid thing off." She struggled with it trying to get her fingers underneath the band with no luck.

"can you help me with this."

She turned her back to you. You reached for the band as you tugged on it. It seemed to be super glued to her body as you struggled with it. It didn't help that you were never good at taking them off anyway. You lost focus as you stared at her butt. Even in sweatpants they tempted you as they brushed your arm. Taylor swinging side to side rhythmically.

"are you almost finished...it hurts"

"I'm sorry...it just won't come off"

She spun back around her boobs carrying her momentum as they jiggled. She huffed as she gave you a dirty look. "If your not going to help just say so "

She fidgeted with it again as she helped again. "Oooowwww" she complained.

You looked to see her boobs definitely struggling in her bra. They spilled out each side as they pressed against each other. Her cleavage growing deeper. Her sweatpants seemed to be tighter than before and if you were correct she looked taller. You stood up next to her as she stared at you.

"what are you doing"

You watched as the top of her forehead came to your bottom lip. Although usually she was completely below head level. "Are you wearing heels?"

"no why would you even ask thaaaaouwwee"

She yelled and arched her back again. Her bra slingshotting into your face as she jolted. Her head brushed against your as it grew up. Her top of her head now eye level. Taylor spun around as she heard a seam pop her booty pushing past her pants limits.

"what just happened...did I...grow"

"no that's impossible I couldn't have grown....eeeek" she yelped again. Taylor shot up her boobs pressing against you as you stepped back. She was now eye level easily pushing 5'11 as she jiggled. Taylor peeled her sweatpants off as she rolled them down. Her booty overflowing her pants as they clammered for room. Her thighs pressed against each other as they smashed together. Her panties stretched thin as she tugged on them "too tight everything hurts."

Taylor shrieked as she jolted again.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING!"

Taylor shot up her head now past yours her boobs rasing closer to your face. "This is impossible this can't be happening!" She shrieked again. Her panties shot off to the ground as they snapped a loud twang heard across the room. She pushed to 7 ft as her growth accelerated.

Her boobs now face level as they jiggled in front of you. "How do i stop....help me" as she yelped again.

She shot up her arms touching the ceiling as she grew as tall as the doorframe. Her hips were wider than you as her boobs pushed into stripper territory. She could barely see you over her growing cleavage as she pulled it back. Trying to find your face underneath her massive boobs. Her lower ribs now at your eye line.

Taylor shook as her body racked with growth. "I can't stop I just...kept... Grooowwiing". She moaned.

Her body stretched further. Her hair brushing the ceiling as she peered downward. "Call for help do something" she yelled as her eyes looked at you... Pure fear penetrating her." She cocked her head as she spasmed again. Her boobs and butt jiggling as she grew up. The ceiling groaned as her body pressed up against it.

You darted for the phone dialing 911 "come on come on"pick up"

You heard behind you your gf shrieking again. She fell to her knees as her head pushed upwards her body already threatening the ceiling again. She leaned forward as her shoulder blades took the brunt of impact.

"it's getting faster...I can't stop...Hurry.UP!" "AHHHHH"

Taylor surged upward her back bending the ceiling. She fell to all 4s her boobs swinging forward as they knocked you to the ground. The phone connected as you screamed towards it "help us!"

A loud shriek penetrated the call as the operator asked for an address.

On the other side of the call Taylor grew again. Her entire back against the ceiling as she pressed up on it. Her legs bending at the door as she tried to open it. Her arms supported her weight as she stopped herself from crushing you. Your body pinned underneath her cleavage. You struggled to breathe as she grimaced. "Help...can't breathe...too much weight"

Taylor caved in her chest as you tried to scooch out from under her but another spurt sent her weight piling back onto you. You tried pushing her cleavage off as you fought a sea of jello enveloping your lower half. You heard the operator asking if someone was still on the line. "Help us" you gasped as the pressure crushed you.

You looked up at Taylor racking with pain. Her eyes tearing up as she spasmed and shook. She grimaced as her teeth gritted against each other. Her nose scrunching up as her eyes clasped shut.

Taylor clutched her toes and fingers as she gripped what she could. Trying to force the ceiling up as she tried to not crush her bf. "Don't" you heard him whimper as you stared back at him. "Can't hold it...sorry" she whimpered as she shot up again.

Taylor watched as he disappeared in her cleavage her boobs bending the floor downward. Her legs busted the door down as her calves and feet spilled into the hallway. The ceiling groaned and cracked as she forced it up.

Another spurt sent her body filling every available space in the room. She gasped and sputtered as she struggled to breath against the pressure. She heard sirens in the distance as she whimpered. "Please no... It's just a nightmare...this ain't possible."

Taylor shrieked again her yell piercing through the neighborhood as the ceiling burst open. She shot up as she rummaged through the rubble...looking for you. Before she could find anything she shot up again. She flew backwards as her butt demolished the house. Her legs shooting out to the street. As her eye line raised she watched a brigade of sirens approach her.

"help" she muttered as she grew again. Her butt threatening the neighborhood with it's weight.

[saltwatersolution]

I need an outlet.

It's been so long since I've tried to write anything for myself. Even my once-compulsive navel-gazing journal entries and emotional ramblings seem like corridors I don't go down anymore. I wonder to what degree that's growth and how it could also indicate I've lost touch with parts of myself. I used to feel like I could burst in some capacity at any given moment - an angry rant, a sincere but tearful expression or filling a room with unexpected laughter.

Lately I feel like I might just shut down or something. I need to stop trying to make this sound flowery or poetic and just be honest. I'm scared. I have felt fearful for about a week or more now, a severe crash in my mental stability as I had looked so forward to the holidays and having some downtime to relax. School starts again next week and I am not refreshed in the slightest. Oh yeah, school is a thing I do now. I don't know if that's on record or not.

I signed up for community college classes in the summer of 2022. I quit a job that was making me incredibly miserable and took out loans to try and buy myself a chance a better life. I gained a troubling amount of weight and started experiencing a lot of discomfort, but I was continuously getting A's in all my classes after I stuck it through the fall semester. It felt good. I started working out and trying to be more health conscious again, and it worked for the most part.

For the last few years I felt like I was building up to a greater success than I've ever known. This past semester was tough on me because I was also doing a part time internship at a recovery clinic in my neighborhood on top of it. Some recent medical tests confirmed some issues with my cholesterol and being on the low end of vitamin D. I was nervous about it so I've been eating better, exercising more. Leading up to New Years, I was pushing myself to take some walks while the weather was nice - and then the first day it got cold, blustery I made it about 20 minutes from home before my legs felt like they were going to give out.

Adrenaline from panic about my body suddenly feeling weak was the only thing that got me home. A very sweet friend stopped by to take my vitals and it seemed like I just needed some rest, but now it's been over a week and I can't seem to regain much stamina. I keep getting "sensations" that make me uncomfortable, but no real pain or episodic events that would make it easy for me to say "aha, see! I am in danger and this is the danger!"

Yet, I feel a looming sense of impending doom even though there's no clear sign of it. It sounds like anxiety. It is anxiety, of course. However, I feel like I wasn't anxious until the feeling hit me - does that make sense? It doesn't feel unfounded, it doesn't seem like my mind playing tricks. It feels like my nervous system knows something the rest of me doesn't yet.

I have tried talking about it with people but there's not much to say, and the reactions are all pretty similar. I am the only one freaking out so that should be a good sign, right?

There's so much that frustrates me about this world and the life I have had in it, but there's also many wonderful things and people that make me feel so lucky to be here. I want to find more of those. I want to create more of those if I can.

I'm supposed to graduate in May. Then I'm hopefully going to transfer to another school to keep the momentum going, to be more capable to contribute some good and healing to this world that I love being part of. I know my problems don't amount to much but I think my presence could, if I can just get to the level where I can make an impact.

I'm trying to be more hopeful than scared right now.

[she-is-juniper]

The Silence of a Falling Star — Elvis Presley x Reader

[Credit to @shimmeringlights44 for the video and to @sassy-ahsoka-tano for the gif]

Pairing: Austin Butler!Elvis Presley x Reader

Warnings: angst, angst, angst (u asked for it.....)

Prompt (from Anonymous): "Thank you for feeding us some 💥💥💳 content but now I feel like we need make everyone a bit sad :( so I would like to request us getting into a fight with Elvis or possibly us leaving him (like the scene in the movie where Pricilla leaves). The scene brought me to tears and hearing him ask her to stay cracked open my heart like an egg"

Word Count: 1K (short and sad)

✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷

Love isn’t supposed to be easy. You know that. You thought you were prepared for the hard days. But what were you supposed to do when there were only hard days? When you couldn’t even remember the last good day you’ve had with him? When you wake up one day and the realization of how much you’ve given and sacrificed for him, for so little in return, finally dawns on you? 

Elvis isn’t in bed when you wake up. You don’t know where he is. You used to worry when you didn’t know where he was, but like everything else with him, you’ve become jaded. 

You start packing a bag. Just one small bag in a house full of a fortunes that were never yours and that you never cared for in the first place. 

You’re about to leave through the front door when you see him, sitting on a piano bench in the music room, lost in thought. The crooning voice of Hank Williams fills the room from an old record on the turntable. 

Elvis looks up, surprised, his crystal eyes glancing between your face and your packed bag. “Where are you going?” he asks, his voice so incredibly quiet. 

How were you supposed to leave him now when he was looking at you like this? 

“Y/N?” the love of your life asks you again, standing up. “What’s wrong?”

You didn’t realize you’d been crying—you’d probably been crying from the moment you started packing your bag. You never cried in front of him, never wanted to make him feel responsible for the way you felt—even if he was responsible. But you can't hold back the tears now.

“I can’t do this anymore, Elvis.”

A look of disbelief crosses his face. As a long moment of silence passes, the look turns into terror.

“Y/N, please…” He crosses the room to you in three big strides. He takes your shoulders in his hands. You can’t meet his eyes.

“I don’t belong here,” you say as a tear spills over onto your cheek. “I don’t belong in this house, in this life. I don’t belong…with you anymore.”

“You do belong with me,” Elvis asserts, but his voice is quavering. He tilts your chin up to look at him. “You’re my girl—”

“This is the first time you’ve touched me weeks!” you all but scream at him. You shove his chest, hard. “If this is my home, then why do I feel like a stranger in it?!” The pain rips through your heart. “If this is my life, why do I feel like it hasn’t been my own in years?!”

Elvis backs into the wall from the momentum of your shove. His mouth has fallen open in despair. “Please,” he rasps. “Y/N, please.”

You ignore him. “If I belong with you…” your voice cracks. “…then why do I feel like I’ve lost you already?”

He’s starting to comprehend what you are saying. “Y/N, please don’t…I'll be better. I promise. Just please don’t leave. Don’t leave me.” His eyes become glassy. His chest shakes. "Don't leave me."

“You’ve already left me, Elvis,” you say too harshly. “You’ve already been gone for a long time now. I’ve given so much of my life away for you. But when I leave you, your life will just stay the same.”

You suck in a breath, the sensation stinging your lungs, and you remind yourself to keep your voice soft, calm. “You're drowning. You need help, Elvis. You need to get help. But until you do, I can’t keep letting you pull me under to drown with you.”

But as you watch him sink to the floor, his face contorted in agony, his broken blue eyes never once leaving yours…the conviction of your words evaporates from your body.  

“I can’t lose you,” Elvis gasps out. He grasps his hands together in front of his face. And he begins to sob. “You’re my girl, my only girl. You’re the only good thing left in my life. Please, please don’t leave. Please…please.”

So broken, so lost, like a small child. You haven’t seen Elvis like this since he lost his Mama.

You immediately drop his bag and drop to your knees in front of him. You pry his hands apart and lean into his chest to hug him. He grasps onto your body so tightly it almost hurts. Like he wants to never let go of you.

He sobs into your shoulder, keening over and over, “Please, don’t leave, Y/N, please, please…”

And you cry with him. You don’t want to leave, you never wanted to leave. But you know you have to.

“If I don’t leave now, I’ll never be able to again,” you whisper.

You hold him until his shoulders stop shaking and he’s stopped whispering your name, until the only sound that’s left in the room is the old Hank Williams record playing in the corner…

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill,

He sounds too blue to fly.

The midnight train is whining low,

I'm so lonesome I could cry.

I've never seen a night so long

When time goes crawling by.

The moon just went behind a cloud

To hide its face and cry.

Did you ever see a robin weep,

When leaves began to die?

That means he's lost the will to live,

I'm so lonesome I could cry.

The silence of a falling star

Lights up a purple sky.

And as I wonder where you are

I'm so lonesome I could cry.

You pull away from him just enough to reach into your coat pocket and pull out an envelope. “This is for you,” you tell him. “I wrote it for you. And there’s a number you can call, baby. A place you can go for a while to heal, to get better.” You grab his hand and place the envelope in it. Wrap his fingers around it. And then you hold his face in your hands. “Please, Elvis. Please call them. Please get better, for me. For yourself. For all of your fans.”

"I love you, Y/N," he breathes, barely audible. His face…you’ll never be able to forget his face in this moment.

You lean in and kiss the salty tears off his cheeks, right as more tears of your own spill over again. You kiss his forehead, the corners of his eyes. His lips, at last.

You stand up. Elvis is still holding your hand tightly as if his life depends on it. 

It’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do…but you pull your hand away.

Gathering your bag and walking to the front door of the house—this beautiful, grand, lonely estate—you try with all of your might to keep going. To keep walking away, to look forward. To keep from looking back at the only man you’d ever loved truly and fully. But your will is not stronger than the ties that bind you to Elvis Presley, and you find yourself looking back at him just before you walk out the door.

But he isn’t looking at you anymore. He’s looking at the envelope held tightly in his hands.

✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷✷

Author's Note: I......greatly apologize for any emotional damages I may have inflicted with this one 😭

Thank you so much for reading! I'm dying to hear your thoughts about it! Please note that I write fanfiction for free; my only request for repayment is a genuine expression of your thoughts, opinions, likes/dislikes, and predictions about the story. Whether it's simply a "Wow, I loved it!", a keyboard smash, a series of convoluted thoughts in the tags, or even a full-out review, please know that any and all feedback is welcome!

For fanfic, blurb, or headcanon requests about Elvis, Austin Butler, or Stranger Things, please let me know via my ask box!

Much love ❤︎ from Juniper

[onlyseokmins]

Hey again! Thank you for ellaborating on my ask I loved it! But I honestly feel like Woozi would take full effort when it comes to foreplay~ 🤤

Now, here is another food for thought: Imagine desperately riding Woozi and you can feel every inch of his dick inside you and you both just let loose and nothing matters except getting your orgasms, and he fucks you so hard and good too, that you just have to grasp onto him, digging your nails into his bizeps or back-

Btw I study religion lmao.

Please ellaborate~ <3

🐋anon

Hi, again!! ❤️ Oh 👀 do you study theology then, dear whale anon? That is an interesting field of study, do you like it?

Honestly agree w/ you that Jihoon would def put full effort into foreplay, I'm just thinking that he doesn't NEED to because his kissing skills are bar none, hehe.

I'm sure he'll gladly comply if you ask him to take more care of you because he enjoys seeing you beg and will definitely tease you the entire time because you both know how well-prepped you already are. But any excuse to touch each other, right?

Ahem, back to riding him.

Oh yes. I said begging right? Jihoon adores how cock-drunk you get, he won't budge an inch because he wants to see how desperate and needy you'll wantonly beg for him to assist. It's hard for him too, though. You drive him absolutely crazy with how sweetly you bounce on top and take his cock. Even though he knows your thighs are burning, the ache to come undone is much greater.

But just when your legs are shaking from the exertion and exhaustion, he kindly takes over. Thrusting his hips upwards so his cock hits that spot inside you just right and causes shivers running up your spine. He's biting his lip HARD at how much you tighten up around him. The coil that is threatening to snap has you digging your nails into his tense biceps that flex when he holds your hips steady in the air to keep his momentum.

The sounds, oh the sounds. This dumbass really thinks in his sex and drunk-on-you addled brain that the slap of your skin against his would make a nice beat! He's definitely using that in the next album 😭 anyways, he loves the way you moan and whimper, his own groans as he nears his climax harmonizing with yours.

You're not sure who cums first, really. The erratic movements of being so close sends you both over the edge nearly at the same time. Your eyes roll back as you slump against him, taking all of him in your fluttering hole. You're both panting, hands running up and down across the light scratches on his back that you'd unintentionally left.

He kisses you softly, gently maneuvering your body to the side so he can reach behind you. You're lost in the post-orgasmic bliss, falling asleep until he's gently shaking you awake to wash up and go to bed.

It's only months later when friends, stores, companies, and shows are all playing the latest hit by the genius producer Woozi that it all comes together. It's a sexy song and everyone loves the sultry tones. You realize why it sounds so familiar - it's the same beat that's been replicated many times in his studio - with you bouncing on his lap.

Of course, he denies all claims but you can't listen to the song anymore without nearly combusting out of embarrassment, especially when he wins an award and dedicates it on international television to you with a wink.

Tagging @onlymingyus because she said it's only respectful to 🥺🤭

[haechanokeh]

I'm Right For You [pt 7]

pairing: popular college! mark x average! reader

genre: romance, smut, angst, series.

warning (general): corruption, oral sex (both receiving and giving), cream pie, rough sex, mention of religion, rough sex, self-esteem, public sex, sub! reader, sex toys. possessive mark two-faced mark

[teaser] [ Chapter 1 ] [ Chapter 2 ] [ Chapter 3 ] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6]

you are shoving your face on the table because of embarrassment. when you're back to your senses you realize the mess you made in the lee's carpet and dining table. if they knew what happened they would probably not going to use this table.

mark was just laughing at you and watching you mumbling to yourself about how humiliating you are and naming yourself dumb or idiot. you already finished your food and took your paracetamol though the orgasm did relieve your headache but you should still drink paracetamol just in case.

"okay stop that, i'll walk you home." you heard a dragging noise of a chair against the carpet. you look up and mark was carrying your bag already. "okay..." you whispered and stood up too. he chuckled and put his hands behind you.

"don't over think. they will not notice it, i already cleaned it but..." he moved his lips closer to you ear. "but the scent of sex is hard to cover. " he was just teasing you and you totally fell for it.

your jaw dropped and your heart began to beat in a fast face because of panic. "What should we do? what should we do?"

"don't think too much about it. right now, let's get you home, hmm?" he gave you an assuring smile though you're still worrying about the smell you just let him drag you out.

both of you were walking talking about what you did these past few days, and giving him your recommended netflix series and movies. he's nodding, listening, and giving you reactions. mark was just cherishing the moment with you and you enjoy his company. you were being talkative because you really missed him and enjoy his company. mark on the other hand, cherishes every moment with you and he liked your talkativeness.

when you reached the front of your house, you were kind of disappointed and it was written all over your face.

"lock your doors." mark told you, he's worried about your safety after learning that your mom is away. he secretly jog every night to midnight to check your house in the days were chose to ignore you. of course he doesn't want to tell you that.

"is he going?" you don't want him to go yet.

"what?" his brows furrowed.

"what?" you confusingly asked back.

"what, you want me to stay?" he pointed at himself with his index.

you bit your lower lip and squeezed your eyes. your mouth doesn't cooperate well to you brain and will get you in trouble someday. your mouth literally didn't receive some signals that there are things meant to be kept in mind.

"no, no. don't mind me, your parents will comeback, shoo shoo they are looking for you." you said with your hands shooing.

"i mean i can stay if you want. they will just think i am sleeping and if they catch me going home late they will just think that i went for a jog." he stepped forward.

your eyes lock with mark's and you stay still. he lower his gaze to your lips. your chest feeling some weights. mark was finally leaning forward, hand at the back of your head and pulled you gently towards him. lips parted at first and when you felt his soft lips intertwined with you, you couldn't help but to feel the bliss.

this is what mark can make you feel.

you were sharing a slow kiss at first. mark pulled you closer wanting more. he locked your lips, sucking yours that made you moan and grab his shoulder. he slid his tongue inside you, moving in and out and massaging your tongue. you squeezed your thigh in arousal. the blood rushing inside your body, experiencing heat and excitement.

he slowly pulled away his lips and gripped your hips pulling you towards him. you felt mark's bulge under his pants.

"i need you so badly." mark murmured.

"let's get inside." you pulled him.

once you closed the door when you entered the house, it turned into havoc. you're now against the wall, naked. mark sucking your nipples, his left hand squeezing your other breast and this right rubbing your centerfolds that are still wet from your orgasm before the dinner. your leg is clinging around his waist, hands playing his hair and mouth parted producing breathy moans.

mark capture your lips again. your hand reached for his hardness and rubbed him against his pants. he groaned and tugged at your lips. you met his eyes and you saw his dark side again.

you pulled mark's dick out of his pants and pumped it and your thumb pressing the tip of its head. you felt proud when he moaned louder in your lips.

"fvck y/n, i want you so much. pull my pants down, now." he said in a needy voice. you quickly obliged, you were on your knees and ready to take him through your mouth... which you expect but surprisingly he pulled you up. "i don't need that right now, i want to fuck you up so bad."

he grabbed your legs and put it around his hips. your sexes were touching each other. you couldn't help but to move because just like him, you want him inside. he kicked the small table and it hit your favorite long sofa, connecting it. he put you at your small living room table. he lightly slapped your cheek.

"on your fours." mark commanded. your eyes widen.

"right here?" referring to the coffee table.

"yes." he replied. though you were hesitating you followed him. on your knees and hands on the sofa. he showed you his palm. "spit on it, baby."

of course, you're the submissive here, you spit on it. he used it to lubricate around his dick. he caressed your ass.

"do you want me to continue?" making sure that this is mutual.

"yes, please." you're growing impatient now. he snickered.

mark put his knee on the coffee table and slowly inserted his length on your. both of you groaned because of your tightness.

"baby, you're tight for me." he told you. even though you couldn't see him because he's behind you, his image of being frustrated is hella hot and it made you pussy clench. "ah, shit y/n." he cursed in pleasure.

mark slowly thrusted his hip and gripped your hips with light hands. after a few slow thrusts he leaned forward, he began to fasten the pace and kissed your shoulder and arm wrapped around your waist while rubbing your clit fast and hard. his other hand is on your hip and sometimes smacking your behind leaving a pink print but you're not complaining.

"gawd, mark!" he eyes twitched when you felt his roughness.

"yes, baby?" he grunted. your arms lost its strength causing you to shove your cheek on the sofa, your mouth opened.

"ohhh mark, right there! right there!" your eyes flickered and mouth drooling. your toes curled and ass lifted up more in pleasure.

you screamed on top of your lungs. reached your orgasm. however, mark hasn't reached his release.

he leaned forward to whisper in your ears.

"can you do one more for me, y/n?" he kissed the behind of your ear. you nodded weakly. "good girl."

mark felt your cunt clenched. he smiled. "my y/n want to be called a good girl?" the inner dom appeared

you didn't answer still in your euphoria. he turned your body, your back lying on the sofa. he lifted your back to carry you and switched the position. he's now sitting on the sofa, legs spread on the table. you're sitting his pelvis and chest against his chest while face on the crevice on his neck.

"do you still want to be called a good girl?" he asked but didn't answer. he grabbed your jaws and pushed it away to see your face. "answer me." his voice was deep and full of authority. he squished your cheeks.

"yes." you replied in fear mix with excitement. he removed his hands away from your face and put it on the sides of your face.

"put my dick in." he ordered. you use your remaining strength to lift yourself. you hold the base of his dick and guide it to penetrate you. you sighed and purred as you felt your still sensitive pussy.

"move." he slapped your ass and squeezed it.

mark looking up to you with eager face and stare at your erotic face, moaning as you move. you're gripping his shoulders as your support.

"look at me, love, don't close your eyes." he hissed. with your doe eyes, you stare at him. "fucking beautiful." mark admires every single feature of your pleasured face.

you are bouncing using all your remaining strength but you swear, you have nothing left and it made you burst into tears because of frustration. you want to make him and you to cum but you're losing your strength.

"mark, mmhh i can't anymore." you cried-moan, tears rolling on your cheeks. mark bit his lip at how sexy your fucked up look. you said those words but still trying to move, you don't want to break the momentum.

"tell me what to do, y/n. what does my good girl want?" he wanted to be a little playful to you. you put your forehead against his and locked eyes with him.

"please fuck me mark, hard and rough." you told him. mark didn't expect you to be this bold but gawd he liked it. he pecked your lips.

"got it." he said. he held your waist and once he lifted his pelvis, there's no stopping.

every time he thrust up, mark makes sure that his full length is inside you but never decreases the speed. it sends your senses to another universe, you're chanting mark's name through your drooling mouth, eyes rolling and trying not to break eye contact with mark through your fluttering lashes.

you are bouncing effortlessly because of his powerful thrusts and every time he hits you, your legs twitched and tears coming out from your eyes. you are losing your grip in his shoulder, even the tips of your fingers have no energy, it was as if mark sucked everything.

"mark..." you whimpered.

"why are you crying? do you like it this much?" he whispered between his moans. half of his brain doesn't want you to cry, he hate it but learning that you cry because of pleasure, he badly wants to make you cry more.

"i want to cum." you mewled. he snickered.

"greedy, you already cummed twice today." mark pecked the tip of your nose. why is he soft and rough at the same time? "but for you love, i will give everything you ask."

he became rougher, harder, and faster, mark unleashed the beast he's been hiding. air started to knock out of your lungs and jaw dropped, eyes flickering, and you became a moaning mess.

"i missed you so much, it was a torture every time i see you at school but not able to touch you." mark growled and nails digging in your flesh . "i love you so much, i fucking love you and accept it y/n, because if you don't... i will force you. you can't run from me, do you understand." you saw a glimpse of the spine-chilling face he's wearing.

he settled you in his pelvic, dick still inside you. he stopped thrusting and he earned a whining protest from you for stopping.

"answer me or i will stop this." he warned you.

"yes! yes, please mark don't stop!" you can't think straight, you were having a hard time understanding him but whatever it is you're sure that he's professing his love for you again.

mark moved his hips again. your skins slapping, though you couldn't moan, mark is quite loud. your body started to switch, you want to tell him you're cumming already but you became voiceless.

"i'm cumming, fuck." mark said through his gritting teeth. he pushed your down and deep, he hit your spot. both of you reached your climax. you can feel his fluid fully occupied your hole.

both of you stayed still, your face shoved in his neck. mark showered the side of your face with soft kisses.

"sleepy?" he hummed. you nodded. "you did well, baby."

mark effortlessly carried you and bring you to your bed. he laid on the bed beside you. you rolled to face him.

"i love you." he said, not expecting anything from you because typically you don't reply when he says that.

but because you're full of surprises and once again your mouth didn't cooperate with your brain. you unconsciously whispered words that made mark startle.

"i love you too." and everything became blank.

✨if you want to be added in I’m Right For You Tag List, you can DM or Ask me so i can add you ✨

Tag List: @cloudykeiji @jjikyuu @sunshinedhyuck @wassup-haeyadwae @erisxczenie @mrklyy @resceluwu @jenotation @wanlore

[berlinini]

I was being optimistic about the album promo because we're still over a month to get the album, but today it's like he doesn't even care? Like i know he's tired, i completely get that, (that's why I think the dates of the album announcement and bigger than me release were awful), but these days seem so... Like why he's acting like he doesn't have the album he's more proud of coming out in a month? Does he thinks he still has the same fandom who got defenceless to #1 on itunes, or the one who got walls to #1 eight months after the release?? Because he clearly doesn't, most of those fans already lost interest on him, are not larries anymore, or are too busy to stream his music because they only have lives when it comes to Louis, and you can clearly see that on the BTM numbers. Isn't he aware of that?? He literally pays attention to everything the fandom does, so he has to know it. The only idea that comes to me is that he's ok with this, or is already resigned to have this career and doesn't expect anything else. Or maybe he thinks promote his music doesn't fit into his alternative music image he wants to give. Or maybe he thinks he's too cool to use tik tok or social media to promote his own music. Or maybe he's too dumb to fire his useless and stupid team who have to be the most incompetent bunch of people that I have ever seen, probably because he already considers them as family or some shit. I have no idea of what it's going on, but I really hope they have some strategy to engage fans and new people with the album, because I did already feel awful after see the numbers on BTM, to the point I didn't even could to enjoy my first louis's release, and I'm not gonna ruin fitf for me only because his stupid team can't do anything right.

From the Dork interview: "These days, he's less focused on scoring a Number 1 record (although it's pretty certain his fans could get him that)". As @silverfoxlou said, who’s gonna tell him?

I have a hard time imagining he doesn’t know. From the way he speaks about the fandom in the ZS interview, he seems to know a lot about what we say and how we react. So a part seems in touch with the fandom. But then…. Yeah I truly don’t know. In any case BTM and the album will provide a good overview of the current state. Now how will album sales be turned into tour tickets sales? I think he’s coming off the previous situation; Walls didn’t do well commercially but his tour, and his festivals, did. Hence his I don’t care about the album’s charting. But like Sanju pointed out, people who attended LTWT 2022 might not attend the 2023 edition. Especially with a new music genre. It’s very hard to predict…. I think Louis is faith in the future-ing and I guess this tour will still ride on the previous one, but what about the next?

Remember when Louis tweeted that “surely confidence and momentum is enough” for England to advance through the Euro Cup? I’m afraid he’s thinking this at the moment. He has newly gained confidence. For him, he has momentum; the way he’s been talking about rolling from tour to album to tour; how everything he’s doing is going over his expectations; how he’s just on a winning streak. But it doesn’t take much to break a momentum and if we’re looking at the current state of things, it might have happened. And going back to the quote at the beginning, it’s a risky situation to expect your fans to do all the work. Especially when they see that they’re the only ones doing any work.

If we want to be hopeful and *believe*, and think he has a magic trick up his sleeve, then we can imagine BTM was fandom-oriented and proper, big scale, amazing promo will happen for the album release. So there’s actually a proper repertoire to promote him as the artist he’s claiming to be. Faith in the future 🤪🤪🤪

[georginanada]

Last Kiss Goodbye -

Author's note: I can't get this drabble going anywhere so I might as well post it up on Tumblr for now, just to get it out of my head. It comes from somewhere I totally had planned out and then I thought about a tune sandwich and lost all momentum and previous forethought. I suppose I read so much delicious Nygmobblepot fic over on AO3 that I feel compelled to give back to the community, so... reflect on what all this could mean. =)

Oswald looked up to see a long green leg kick open the window in the corner of his office.  Out of habit he touched the gun kept under his desk but curled his fingers away when he saw the state the man was in.

His suit was torn, soaked in places and the collar of his shirt was bright red with blood from an injury that dripped from his hairline.  Hair disheveled, his brown eyes were glossy and bright above a manic smile with too many teeth.

“Riddler?,” Oswald asked carefully as without another word, the man in question strode in hurried footsteps to the painting.  Taking it carefully off the wall, his long fingers twirled at the lock and set about opening his secret safe.  “Ed…?,” he tried again, impatience tinging his voice.

“Not much time, but I needed to get this to you,” Ed mumbled in reply, finally popping open the door and taking out four dark velvet patches from inside his coat. 

“What?”

“To pay you back!”

Oswald rolled his eyes, “I never asked you to pay me back!  We’re squared, I’ve told you time and time again, we-”

“I know you didn’t!  But I needed to pay you back!  It had to be exact, if not more so, just so you would understand!”

“Understand that you’ve put my business at risk?  My reputation in danger?  I’m already under the ever watchful eye of our dear Commissioner and now you’ve come to me in the middle of your heist?  How is that paying me back for anything?”

“Because!,” Ed shouted, louder than Oswald, louder than he thought he’d ever heard from him.  He was like a gunshot, pulling attention to the danger in the room.  His smile was gone, but the wild look in his eyes remained the same, trained on Oswald.  “Because I need you to know why and how this was done.  How this isn’t for anything, this isn’t a trick, this isn’t revenge, not anymore.  I …. I don’t-”

“Edward,” Oswald said warningly as the tall man approached him like a shadow at sunset.

“I want you to know.  Before anything else.  This is my last chance.  This is what I want. All of me.  For one time in my life, this is … I need this before anything else.”

Hands stretched out in front of him, gloved fingers carefully and hesitantly touched Oswald’s shoulders, thumb brushing against his neck.  His deep brown eyes never left his, magnified by the prescription lenses.  Like a tango, their feet were placed just so, Oswald retreating, Edward advancing.  Oswald was close, far closer than he ever expected to be at this time in his life, face tipped up to watch those dark dark eyes grow closer, nose tipped to touch his own, breath warm on his mouth.

Tension left Edward’s body the moment his lips touched Oswald’s; he knew this because Oswald could feel the muscles in his shoulders slacken and drop when he’d wrapped his arms around his friend.  It was soft, more gentle than either of the two of them could attain alone, and destroyed years of anger and animosity like dust on the wind.  It was seconds, it was an eternity that would play in Oswald’s head indefinitely with his most treasured of memories.  The moment he heard footsteps approaching and more muffled voices, Oswald’s fingers curled greedily into Ed’s suit jacket and the kiss lost that gentle understanding for something rough and more demanding.  This was a depleting resource and he’d be damned if he didn’t take all that he wanted when he had the chance.  His tongue broke into Edward’s mouth, savoring the taste and feeling as Ed responded in kind, eyes closing to relish this soon to end moment and committing every new sense to perfect memory. 

“GCPD!  Edward Nygma, you’re under arrest!”

Ed was roughly grabbed away, lanky arms pulled from Oswald’s face to be cuffed behind his back.  Jaw slack, pupils wide, Edward looked back at Oswald’s shocked expression with kiss bruised lips.  “You don’t owe me anything,” he hissed, a lopsided smile on his face as he was hauled away.

[dramionedaydream]

Today's Jilytober from "Soulmate Prophecy"

@jilytoberfest

by diamonddaydream

Read the rest of this multi-chapter on AO3 or FFN or Wattpad

Lily scoffed at him. “You and the lads have secrets, do you Potter? What, like a special handshake?”

“No, Like secrets worth knowing," he crowed. "You might be surprised.”

She raised one eyebrow. “Right. So go on and surprise me with one of them.”

He was stammering. “Well -- I’ll have to talk to the lads first.”

“Oh, come on, Potter,” she said. “You mean to say you don’t have any good secrets of your own, nothing but what’s shared with your mates?”

He raised one eyebrow, a coy smile breaking over his face. “What you mean? Typical schoolboy secrets? Like who I fancy?”

“I said secrets,” she smirked in return. “Not common knowledge, deluded as it might be.”

He clucked his tongue. “Deluded, is it?” he echoed. It was his only answer. She waited for more, watching him across his mother's kitchen table. He was looking for something, pawing through his robes, shifting fabric around himself. Then all at once, with a rustle and a flourish, he was gone.

She stood up. “Potter? Potter, you can't just apparate away.”

“Right here.” It was his voice, close by, but she couldn’t see him.

She waved her arm toward the sound. He was chuckling, leading her closer. She inched along the edge of the table, feeling through the air ahead of her. “If you jump out and scare me, so help me, Potter, I’ll scream loud enough to wake the whole house.”

He was still laughing, with a muffled sound that had her peering underneath the table. “Potter?”

He wasn’t hiding there. She couldn’t hear his voice anymore. “If you think I’m going to chase you all over the house, you’ve got another thing coming.” As she said it, she spun around to leave, taking one quick step, intent on leaving the kitchen, and leaving Potter to his games.

But the air in front of her was suddenly solid, stopping her with the sound of a thud and a grunt. The force of the impact had her reeling backward, about to fall into her chair. Something clamped around her wrist, tugging and reversing her momentum. Her sight went dark and blurry, her hair pushed over her face, as if she was passing through a curtain.

For a moment, she lost her breath, and when she recovered it, she was blinking, realizing she was nose to chest with James. They were in a small, enclosed space that smelled, not at all unpleasantly, of him. He was standing as close as he could get without pressing himself against her, one hand still on her wrist, the other above his head, as if holding up the ceiling of a tent.

She spun around and found they were still in the Potters' kitchen. She could see the same cabinets and shelves, though a little more dimly than they had been a minute before. The view of them rippled in folds, as if printed on fabric. Then she knew.

“Invisibility cloak!” she announced, grazing the material with her fingertips. “Well, this certainly explains a lot. You’ve had this the whole time you’ve been at school?”

“That’s right,” James said, looking out at the kitchen from over her shoulder, his mouth nearly touching her ear as he spoke. “It’s been seven years now and Dad still hasn’t noticed it’s missing from his desk in the study.”

“I’ve read about these but -- wow, Potter. Where did it come from before it was in that drawer?” she asked.

He shrugged, aristocratic enough to take marvelous magical family heirlooms completely for granted. “Dunno. It’s just always been here. But how’s that for a secret?” he beamed.

She tapped her finger against her jaw. “It is a high quality secret. I will give you that, Potter.”

“A secret worth knowing, just like I promised, and just one of many. So you’ll stay? You’ll be with us here until Christmas Eve?”

Still standing behind her, stooped to bring his head nearly level with hers, his face was millimetres from hers. She could hear him breathing, taking in her scent. A shiver she would have to think about later ran down her neck.

She turned to face him, leaning back as he straightened to his full height. “Yes, fine,” she agreed. “I’ll let you lads take me into your secrets. Even though -- secret invisibility cloak my eye. Admit it, Potter. You’ve snogged dozens of girls under here. There’s no way you could have resisted the temptation.”

He smiled, the whole cloak twisting around them as he shook his head. “Temptation, hm?” he said. “No. No girl has ever been under here with me until now, until you.”

She lifted her chin. “Well, keep on resisting then. Don’t even think about -- ”

He gave a soft laugh. “Who’s thinking of it, Evans? You’re the one who’s brought up snogging under here. I haven’t said a word.”

She was sputtering, batting at his arm. “That’s -- that’s just -- “

"Look, there’s no need to worry,” he interrupted. “However I’ve imagined it -- and you know I have imagined it -- I’ve always told myself that when I kiss Lily Evans, it will be special. And no matter how nice things get, if they aren't special, I'll keep waiting."

He was lowering his arms, bringing both Lily and himself back into plain sight, into the cool air of the kitchen where they couldn’t smell each other, couldn’t warm each other anymore.

“This was nice,” he said as he draped the cloak over his arm. “But just nice.”

[silver-wields-a-pen]

Illthdar High: An au fan fiction

Tuesday Afternoon

Nyima checked her watch as she hurried down the side-walk. She kept her head down, ignoring the occasional call out from passing creeps. A familiar voice made her glance up. Is that the janitor? She shuddered and pulled her long, dark hair over part of her face in an attempt to hide. She had roughly half an hour before she had to be at Vyxen’s, which gave her plenty of time to drop off the mail for her mom and then pop into the nearby GameStop to see if the new Final Fantasy game was in stock. Her mother didn't let her preorder it and the last time she’d checked they were all sold out. It was a soul crushing experience. She almost threw herself on the floor in a fit of misery. Only the thought of being looked at by everyone stopped her. If it's not here today, I really will scream. The lie made her giggle.

Ten minutes later and her letters were safely in the mailbox and a wall of games were in front of her. She bounced on her toes with excitement. It's here! It's here! I can play it! Yay! Tunnel vision got her across the store in record time, but not without gracelessly crashing into someone on the way. “I’m so sorry!” Panic swept her game-induced euphoria to the side. “I’m so, so sorry!” She repeated, crouching down to grab the game the other person dropped. 

“Uh, um.. no. No, it’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

The strangled voice was too familiar for Nyima not to realize who it belonged to. She froze and went cherry red. Oh my god, no no no way, not him! Anyone but him! Let me die! This was the worst thing that could happen and it took every ounce of bravery not to just drop the game and run out of the store.

She stayed frozen in place, fingers curled around the game box. She stared so hard at the pair of sneakers at the edge of her vision she could draw them with her eyes closed. The tension was so thick she thought she'd drown in it and she wished she could.

“You can’t drown in feelings, they’re not substantial. Same for evaporating, so stop thinking it.” She could hear Rae’s voice in her head, speaking too much logic for her liking. “Can't stay on the floor either. They'll close eventually.”

You're not my friend anymore. Mustering all the courage she could scrape together, Nyima stood up. She left her gaze on the floor until she forced herself to look up. Jingyi was wearing a gaming t-shirt and a Pokemon beanie. He looks so cute. “Hi, Jingyi,” she mumbled, her voice barely audible even to her own ears. He's so cute, he's super cute! Look at that cute smile and the way his hair looks perfectly messy and his eyes are so kind and warm and I RAN RIGHT INTO HIM! I'M SUCH A LOSER! She was so mortified she could die.

So could he. Jingyi was used to people running into him, so he didn't mind until he saw who it was. He thought he’d have a stroke when she mumbled apologies, so he kept a hand solidly on his inhaler in his pocket just in case. He took a deep breath, trying to commit the flowery scent of her shampoo to memory because he’d probably never be this close to her again. Or maybe he would. This was a good chance to talk to her. Richard told him to seize opportunities when they came his way and this was as good an opportunity as he would ever get. Yes! I’m going to talk to her. Decision made, he straightened up and smiled until his cheeks ached. “You play games?” He rolled his eyes at himself. Smooth move, dork. Of course she plays games. Why would she be in here if she didn’t?

“Yeah,” Nyima replied. Her voice was soft and her eyes darted around, looking at everything but him. Her face tinted pink and if he wasn’t already stupidly head over heels for her, he would be now. “You too?”

“Yeah,” he responded. Silence overtook them again.

“Oh! Here.” She pressed his game back into his hands and made to leave.

Fearing he was losing his first real chance to talk to his dream girl, Jingyi blurted out the first thing he could think of that wasn’t about how beautiful she was. “Have you ever played?” He gestured to the Mortal Kombat game in his hands.

“No.” Nyima stopped mid-stride and turned back to face him, keeping her eye line level with his chin. Her hands fiddled with the cuffs of her cardigan. “Is it good?”

“Yeah,” he said for the second time. He chuckled, awkward, and she looked up at him. They both smiled. “You should try it sometime. My favorite character is Sub Zero, he can control ice––”

“Like Shiva!” Nyima perked up a little. She held up the game box in her hands although it didn't have a picture of the character she meant on it. “Shiva from Final Fantasy, I mean. She's really cool.” She giggled like a nerd at her pun. “I couldn't be like that; I hate being cold.” She shut up when she realized she was rambling, wary of looking like a bigger idiot than she already had.

Jingyi laughed. She's so cute. “I don’t like the cold either,” he confessed, his formerly inexistent confidence sparked to life when the corners of her lips rose. “Shiva sounds like a cool character, no pun intended. Her and Sub Zero would probably make an awesome team. M-may––” he stuttered as his courage fled the shop. No, come back! I need you! Shit. “Erm, maybe if you want, we could, like, maybe play together sometime? You could show me Final Fantasy and I’ll show you Mortal Kombat?”

Nyima squeaked. It sounded like a date. She scuffed her shoe against the floor and tugged on her cardigan.

“Ok,” Jingyi said, deflating after guessing she was about to say no.

Nyima sucked in a breath and looked up at him. She opened her mouth and whispered, “Yes, please.”

Jingyi nodded, dejected. “I figured a girl as pretty as you would––” His brain caught up to her reply and he looked at her, incredulous. “Seriously?”

Nyima was tense and nervous as a rabbit seen by a lurcher. She jerked her head in a yes, clutched her game to her chest and ran towards the tills calling in a squeaky voice, “Text me!”

~*~*~

Zercey was so done with today’s practice and it just began. First, she had to deal with yelling at the JV squad members who showed up late. Their captain was still out sick and the assistant captain wasn’t even good at pretending to be mean. I mean, really, a good captain has to be good at both cheering and leading. This isn’t a Miss Congeniality contest. That mess dealt with, she had to focus on her own squad to make sure they had their routine down for the pep rally and game that weekend. They had a big week ahead of them, and if the last few practices were any indication, they’d be preparing until the last possible second. Today they were in the gym as their coaches decided it was best to separate them from the distraction that was the football team.

Zercey got in formation for the beginning of their halftime routine. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, one, two... She counted along in her head as she lost herself in the sound of the groups' shoes squeaking on the floor in time to the music playing. She concentrated on making her movements precise, locked elbows, light feet. Left hurkie, toe touch… She knew her jumps were good and could see out of the corner of her eye that the rest of the squad was hitting the tempo as well. Round off, back handspring. She used the momentum at the end of her flip to propel herself higher up and back, hands above her head and legs tucked, so that her ending position was the setup for the first stunt. As one, her bases gave a slight pulse down and then she shot up, their arms extended fully overhead as she grabbed her leg with one hand and blew a kiss to the audience with the other. That was where she belonged: high above the crowd, center stage, with all eyes on her. Her confidence sufficiently boosted, she got into the groove, moving more from muscle memory than conscious effort. As she let her mind wander, she thought about Lerki. Damn that beautiful jerk! Why did he insist on messing with her and sending stupid mixed messages? He ignored her almost all day after his teasing in English class, and she found him flirting with every person with a B cup or bigger every time she saw him.

But, when she was leaving the gym after a late practice, there he was, waiting for her in the parking lot. 

“Hey,” he said in that annoyingly sexy voice of his. She huffed and tried to walk by him, but he caught her wrist and spun her around. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Oh? I thought you might have been waiting on one of those bimbo underclassmen,” Zercey snapped, yanking her wrist out of Lerki’s grasp and walking away, nose in the air. If he thinks he can just flirt with anyone right in front of my face, and then come back as if nothing happened, he's got another thing coming.

“You’re cute when you’re jealous,” Lerki cooed, catching up and snaking an arm around her waist. “Come on, sweetness, come hang out with me. I promise I’ll make it up to you. I’ll even drive you home.” He smiled suggestively and Zercey felt her resolve crumbling.

“Fine,” she agreed. And that was how she got an awesome new bracelet and lose an equally awesome bra in his car. It was a good night. She was still a little giddy when she walked into school this morning, remembering how warm his hands had been when he teasingly trailed his fingers along her thighs. That giddy feeling persisted all the way up until she saw him chatting up another freshman in the hallway. He was lucky she didn’t punch him right there and in front of everyone. 

The music ended, and the squad walked over to their coach and choreographer. When she was in school, her team won Regionals three years in a row and Nationals twice. She was even more competitive than many of the girls on the team, and Zercey could tell by the thin line of her mouth that whatever notes she had for them, they wouldn't be good.

“We showcase this routine in four days and you all still don’t have the timing right,” she began, disapproval ringing in her voice. “The first tumbling pass is beyond sloppy. Curran, I only saw four back handsprings, what happened to the fifth? And do you care to tell me why your full became a tuck?” Zercey had to bite her tongue to keep from yelling at him right alongside her. Curran knew better than to switch up any of the flips this late in the game. At least he had the decency to hang his head and look sorry. She continued giving notes to the rest of the group, addressing Zercey last.

“Stay focused. Halfway through and your eyes look dead. I don’t care what else is happening around you. As a flyer, and as captain, there is no excuse for half-baked facials. Charm the crowd or else I’ll change the stunt groups.” Addressing the team at large she said, “I’ve seen enough of the dance, line up for the cheer.”

Dismissed, the squad walked back onto the floor, mentally preparing themselves for the hard work ahead of them.

Inwardly cursing Lerki for being the reason for getting reamed out, Zercey took a deep breath as she found her starting position. 

~*~*~

“Are you going to go to the dance on Saturday?” Raemina asked all of a sudden. She was sitting on Vyxen’s bed, splitting her concentration between completing flashcards they would need for their study session and watching Vyxen agonize over where to put the book she’d just finished on the shelves.

“Probably not,” Vyxen responded offhanded, grey eyes scanning her shelves for the sixth time. This book was the fourth in a set, but it was a different color than all the others. It would bother her not to keep the set together, but it would also bother her to ruin the color system she had in place. “Do you think it would look weird if I bought a cover for it so the color would match all the others?”

“I don’t think anyone but you cares what your bookshelf looks like.” Rae tried not to be amused, but she’d never seen a teenager so bothered by book colors before. “You will give yourself grey hairs if you keep that up.”

“No one would notice.” Vyxen struck a pose and dramatically flipped her platinum colored hair over her shoulder mimicking a gesture she’d seen Scyanatha do in the hallway. She placed the book down on her desk, resolving to go ahead and buy the cover before she shelved it, so that way everything would be in order. She made to return to the bed to help with flashcards, one knee pressing into her floral mint and coral bedspread, when she heard someone flying up the stairs.

A second later Nyima busted into her room, out of breath and looking panicked. “I think I have a date with Jingyi,” she wheezed as she bent over to catch her breath.

“What!?” Raemina jumped off the bed so fast she tripped. She grabbed Nyima by the wrist and dragged her over to the bed, jaw dropping lower and lower as Nyima told them the story of what happened in the video game store. “Are you serious!? This is amazing!” She hugged her until Nyima said she couldn't breathe.

“You’re really going to go to his house?” Vyxen was less ecstatic than Rae, but only because her mind was preoccupied by all the things two teens could get up to at someone’s house and it was threatening to make her faint. “Are his parents going to be there?”

“Hopefully not!” Raemina was giddy with excitement and a little jealous. Mostly she was happy. Nyima was the first of the three of them to get a date; this was a huge deal! “Maybe you guys will make-out!” She pressed on, ignoring how both Nyima and Vyxen flustered at the suggestion. “Do you think he’ll ask you to the dance? We’ll all have to go then, it will be amazing. We could go dress shopping and––”

“How's Rhys doing?” Nyima asked Vyxen, desperate to change the subject. She bounced off the bed and away from Rae’s grasp to inspect the chubby black goldfish lazily swimming around the large tank Vyxen kept beside her desk. “Is he still sick? He looks like he’s doing better. I researched what could cause it, I think it might impress the interviewer when I apply for veterinarian school for me to know about fish. Few people would care about things like that.” She trailed a fingertip across the glass and watched in amusement as Rhys followed it.

“No one cares about the fish!” Raemina noticed the attempt to change the subject and she wasn’t having it.

“I care about the fish…” Vyxen grumbled, pouting when her fish followed Nyima’s hand. Rhys never did that for her.

“Ok, whatever, we all care about the fish and he’s fine. Guys! This is serious. We have to go to the dance now, we have to.” If she could get them to agree she could ask Rhovan to be her date! This was perfect!

Nyima and Vyxen shook their heads. “I don’t really want t––”

“Vyxen, you’re going,” Raemina informed her, refusing to even let her suggest that she wasn’t. “It’ll be great, come on! We can get cute dresses, Nyima can dance with Jingyi and we’ll get to see that awesome new DJ! It’ll be so much fun! And––” Rae tried to persuade, dancing across the room to Vyxen’s computer to bring up Youtube. “Touch,’ by Little Mix poured from the speakers “––we can all dance together! We’ll show the Barbie club that they’re not the only ones with moves.”

“I don’t want to show them anything,” Nyima muttered under her breath. She tried to avoid Scyanatha and her friends and she’d like to keep doing that until she graduated and never had to see them again.

“Come on! I know you two know the moves!” Rae rocked her hips all the way down to the ground and popped her tiny butt out to the best of her capability, sending a wink over her shoulder.

Vyxen and Nyima giggled, rolling their eyes but joining in. Rae was too stubborn to let them off easy. Soon the room was full of pop music, laughter, and dance moves no one would expect from three perpetually shy and nervous girls. Butts were dropping to the floor, thighs were spreading wide and hair was being flipped every which way. They’d watched the music video enough at sleep overs to be able to follow the moves fairly well.

They were on one of the best parts of the song, all with their hands in the air and their hips thrusting forward, when a wolf whistle followed by the sound of clapping and loud laughter from the doorway caused them all to freeze in place.

Salem leant in the doorway with an evil smirk on his face, and Date and Rhovan were right beside him.

“Salem!” Cheeks burning, Vyxen stormed over to the door, screaming, “Get the fuck out!” She slammed it in his laughing face.

~*~*~

“I’m quite disappointed in you two,” Principal Chiyoko tutted from behind her desk. “Not only is smoking very damaging to your health, but we strictly prohibit such behaviour on school property.” She shook her head as she talked, desperately searching for a way to connect with the two students in front of her, who seemed to ignore her good advice at every turn.

Rhoe grumbled, arms folded tight against her chest and legs splayed in front of her. Cowan sat beside her looking bored. They were used to Ms. Chiyoko’s lectures. They'd received one at least once a week since school started. She tried everything: appealing to their good natures, suggesting they join a club so they could take up new hobbies and make friends, even going so far as to halfheartedly threaten to pull their parents in for a meeting. Unfortunately, she found it difficult making her soft and light voice sound firm. It was a challenge to get people to take her seriously.

“I’m afraid that this puts me in a rather difficult position. I can let you off with a warning this time, but if this happens again, you must serve an in-school suspension.” 

“What? That’s fucking bullshit! What kind of fucking joke is this shit?!” Rhoe let out a string of expletives.

Principal Chiyoko blinked, startled. “Now, young lady, I won’t have anyone speaking like that in my office.” She fixed the two with the sternest look she could muster. “For that outburst, young lady, I’m giving  you both a detention! You’ve dragged your friend down with you, doesn’t that make you feel bad?”

“No,” Rhoe replied bluntly.

Cowan snickered beside her.

Mrs. Chiyoko looked devastated, shrinking into her too-big yellow suit jacket and mumbling for the two of them to see the assistant principal, Ms. Queline for their detention slips.

Queline shot the two a scathing look when they exited the office. They were there every day, but no matter how many times Cowan and Rhoe got in trouble, they still caused mischief. Delinquents, the both of them, Ms. Queline thought savagely. If it were up to her, detentions would be a much more serious matter. What kids these days needed was a strong hand, none of this mollycoddling parents liked to do with them. Kids needed to learn respect even if that meant the hard way.  And they would use detention for something useful, like deep-cleaning the science labs; something where they worked with their hands and really thought about the consequences of their actions, not just another hour and a half of falling asleep and doing homework in a classroom. She sighed as she finished writing up their detention slips. “If I see you in here one more time before the end of the semester, you’ll be spending the entirety of your in-school suspension scraping gum off the desks and scrubbing this school from top to bottom, do you understand me?” She snapped, throwing the two slips of paper at them and ordering them to get out of her sight.

Detention used to be all in one room, but ever since someone found a used condom under a desk, Principal Chiyoko decided the best idea was to split it between two genders. So Rhoe stalked off to one room and Cowan walked into the other room, only to see Xyl and another underclassman whose name he didn’t know.

“What’re you in here for?” Cowan asked Xyl as he took the desk next to him. Better being stuck with someone he knew than spend the next ninety minutes in boredom. 

“Got caught passing notes.” It was true. In class earlier that day, he had tried to slip Date a piece of paper for some new Khrome ideas, but the idiot wasn’t paying attention, so they stuck him in detention when they were supposed to be having band practice.

Cowan nodded sagely. “Yeah, that’ll happen.” 

“What are you in for?” Xyl echoed, eager to keep the conversation going. It wasn’t often that he got to talk to Cowan without Rhoe there to scoff and roll her eyes at him while he did it.

“Your sister forgot to check the area before we lit up and Uwe busted us.”

Xyl nodded by way of agreement, but couldn’t think of anything else to say. He wasn’t really a people person, most of the time he just tried to stay out of the way and focus on things he enjoyed, like his band or… The band!

“Oh hey, are you going to the talent show on Friday?” he tried to phrase the question as casually as he could so that Cowan wouldn’t think he was trying too hard. 

“Uhh… I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“Oh.” They lapsed into silence once more.

“Are you?” Cowan finally said.

Xyl lost the thread. “Am I what?”

“Are you going to the talent show thing?”

“Oh, that.” He tried to act casual. “Yeah, my band will be playing there. It’ll be all right, I guess.” He linked his hands behind his head and tipped back in his seat, then overbalanced.

Cowan grabbed Xyl's chair to stop him toppling over. “Right, I forgot your sister said you had a band.”

Xyl cringed. He could only imagine what Rhoe had said about Khrome.

Cowan seemed to read his thoughts when he responded, “She seemed to think you all make more noise than you do music.”

“Well, actually we’re more punk than we are a noise band,” Xyl replied, not getting the joke. Cowan’s blank stare told Xyl he didn’t know what he was talking about. “Never mind,” he said lamely.

Mr. Bracken, who had the misfortune of supervising the boys’ detention today, finally looked up from his desk and reminded the students they should be doing homework and that there was no need to talk.

“Hey, I was planning to give Rhoe a ride home after this. If you wait with me, you can get a ride too,” Cowan whispered when Mr.Bracken’s attention became focused entirely on his book again.

“I’m actually heading to my friend’s house after this...” Xyl never wished he had a good reason to get out of band practice more. He might have done it anyway, but he’d never hear the end of it if he ditched practice with a show so close.

Cowan shrugged. “That’s cool. I can drop you off there too. Where does he live?”

“WHAT DID I JUST SAY?” Mr. Bracken’s voice rang out sharply in the quiet room and put an end to any further conversation.

“Remind me to never let you talk me into anything ever again,” Rhoe said to Cowan as the three of them emerged from their assigned classrooms. “Mr. Phanuel’s easily amused, and I had to spend the last ninety minutes listening to him and Miu go back and forth in a burping war. I have never been so close to killing someone in my life.” She stalked down the hall, radiating anger as she went and leaving the two boys to fall into step behind her. “And what the fuck are you doing here?” she growled when she noticed Xyl following.

“I offered to give him a ride,” Cowan answered, ignoring the exaggerated sigh that burst out of Rhoe's mouth. You would think Imogen, Rhoe and Xyl would be close considering they were triplets, but he’d never seen a set of siblings that disliked each other more.

“Whatever,” Rhoe snapped. “Just drop him off quick cause I don’t want to look at him.”

~*~*~

“WHOO! GO BABY!” Scyanatha's heels clacked as she jumped up and down and clapped when she saw Seth make a good move in the football game. She didn’t know or care much about sports, but she had bothered to learn enough about this game to know when her man was doing well so she could cheer him on properly. She clapped for a minute longer before dropping to sit beside Imogen on the bleachers.

The same set, interestingly enough, that Imogen made out under with Salem both yesterday and today. Luckily Scy didn’t know this, otherwise Imogen would no longer be sitting next to her if she did.

“Back to what we were talking about, you have to come shopping with us tomorrow Imo, I won’t take no for an answer. That new boutique I’ve been talking about for a month is finally open. Seth’s gonna buy the three of us any dress we want and if you’re worried about that stupid project for English, don’t be. Seth already has people lined up to write it for us.” Scy informed Imogen in a tone of voice that said Imo was going shopping tomorrow whether she liked it or not.

Imogen sighed as Scyanatha flicked open her mirror to reapply the lipstick that wore off when she ‘kissed Seth good luck’ for a full twenty minutes in the locker room before the game started. It’s not that she didn’t want to go shopping – she’d never turn down a chance to get free stuff from Seth – it’s that she planned to meet up with Salem. She’d spent the last month stealing moments with him. A full afternoon with no interruptions left her jittery and excited.

Scy snapped her mirror shut and turned to look at Imogen seriously and she knew then and there that she’d have no choice but to cancel on Salem. “Ok fine, you convinced me. I’ll ditch my study session and come shopping with you.”  

“Fabulous.” Scy turned to her left where a pretty, but entirely brainless lackey sat. “Oh,” she said, as if just remembering the girl was there, “you can come too, dear. Seth can buy you a dress as long as you let me pick it.” The girl was basically a servant, but on occasion Scy treated her and a few other lessers to keep them in line. And since she bought their clothes she could guarantee none of them looked better than her.

“Of course!” Laura was quick to agree, vibrating with happiness she’d been acknowledged. She didn’t often get invited to the shopping trips the other three girls went on and so this was a big deal. “You can totes pick my dress Scy, you have such good fashion sense. I’ve never even owned or worn a dress, so I wouldn’t know where to start.”

Scy swept her gaze down to the pale yellow dress Laura had on. “Uh-huh.” She didn’t comment further, turning away from the airhead, planning to continue ignoring her until she needed something again.

Imogen snickered, unable to feel bad for the idiot. She opened her phone, sending a brief text to Salem to let him know that she wouldn’t make it to their not-a-date tomorrow. She then spent the rest of practice splitting her attention between finalizing plans for the homecoming dance and listening to Scyanatha talk about her new shoes and how she and Seth better end up as Homecoming King and Queen or else she was going to sue to school.

Laura nodded like a dog and chirped in agreement.

Practice ended an hour later and Zercey came strolling out of the gym in six inch heels, head held high with Lerki following close behind her, trying to talk to her.

Scy and Imogen rolled their eyes at the same time.

“This is getting ridiculous,” Imogen commented as she gathered up her bag. “Lerki is only flirting with people to make her jealous and it works every time.”

“Zercey needs to learn how to control her man. Oh hey, you guys should come spend the night at my house tomorrow. We can get our dresses after school and I’ll give you two a crash course in dealing with boys. It’ll be embarrassing if those two don’t go to the dance together.” Scy knew Zercey liked Lerki, and she wanted to help her friend, but she also had an aesthetic going. Zercey was the cheer captain,  Lerki was the quarterback of the football team, they had to be together. Every movie said so, and Scy liked the look the two of them gave their group, so they better get their act together. “Oh, and you,” Scyanatha added to Imogen, making her way down the bleachers to meet Seth while Laura gathered her things for her. “You need a date for the dance. There are two hot football players that Seth says are single, pick one and I’ll make it happen.”

Imogen panicked. What sort of excuse could she come up with to get Scy off her back? She liked none of the football players that was true enough. Especially since they were all more concerned with beating the pulp out of other dudes than they were in having a conversation. But that wouldn’t be reason enough for Scyanatha. “I don’t know if that’ll work,” she said, trying to come up with a good justification for turning down her offer. “It’s just that I’m probably gonna be helping with the preparation and clean up, so a guy would just get in the way.”

Scyanatha pouted. “You’re no fun anymore.”

Seth saved Imogen by coming over and enveloping Scyanatha in a big, sweaty hug.

“Ew! Babe, don’t be gross!” she squealed, playfully slapping him on the arm. He smiled and kissed her.

Imogen was used to their excessive PDA, but was still thankful that Zercey finally caught up to their group in that moment. “Hey Zerce, how was practice?” Imogen was eager to have something to look at besides Scy and Seth sucking face. 

“Great!” she said in that voice that meant she was lying, and probably for Lerki’s benefit if Imogen had to guess.

Lerki caught up, passing them all to walk backwards in front of Zercey. “Are you still mad at me? That hurts my feelings,” he appealed, trying to make her look at him.

She refused and instead turned her attention to Imogen. “What’s up with you? Are you coming shopping tomorrow?” Zercey shook her hand out of Lerki’s grasp when he tried to touch her but otherwise did not indicate she knew he was there.

“Yep,” Imogen affirmed, not looking forward to it but knowing she had to go all the same. Shopping for formal events was a nightmare with Scy because she wanted them to look a certain way and their opinions meant nothing. It was a free dress though, so she couldn’t complain too much. “What color dress are you going for?” she asked, though they both already knew that it didn’t matter and they’d get whatever color that made Scyanatha’s dress stand out.

“I don’t care about the color.” Zercey yanked open the door to Seth’s pristine silver Mercedes and tossed her bag in. She usually caught a ride with Lerki but clearly that wasn’t happening today, which meant that Laura would be forced to ride with him instead.  “I just know my dress needs to be short and hot because I need a new boyfriend.” She slid into the car and slammed the door shut before Lerki had time to respond.

“If she puts a scratch on that door, you’re paying for it,” Seth informed Lerki, clapping him on the back before sliding into the driver’s seat with Scy, Imogen and Zercey and driving down the road.

This annoyed Lerki and he resigned himself to spending the rest of the night texting and sucking up to Zercey until she forgave him instead of doing something better like making her lose another bra. He slammed his own car door shut and drove off, moving much faster than what the speed limit advised and already thinking about what sort of present he would have to buy to make her talk to him again.

Poor Laura, meanwhile, stood forgotten in the parking lot. “It’s ok,” she chirped to no one, fishing around in her pocket for her cell phone. “I can find my own way home.”

~*~*~

Salem stumbled into his room and threw himself onto his deep red bedspread, laughing hysterically. He would never, ever, forget how red the nerdettes’ faces were when they realized their little show had an audience. He wished he’d had a camera to capture the moment. “That was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.” He finally stopped laughing and crawled to sit on the edge of his bed while Date collapsed onto one end of an old black couch and Rhovan kicked the door shut before joining him there.

“I don’t know if you’re one to talk about ridiculous things when you’re carrying around a flask of Hawaiian Punch, wearing glittery makeup and claiming to be a child of the night,” Rhovan reminded him and cast a pointed look at the various vampire posters on the dark grey walls and the vampire novels lining the bookshelf to drive home his point.

“It’s an aesthetic,” Salem defended, “and the girls love it. That’s why I get panties thrown at me when we play shows.”

“I have never seen you get anything resembling underwear get thrown at you.” Date didn’t notice a lot of things, but he was sure he would have noticed that.

“You need to pay more attention then.” Salem ended the discussion there before they could call his bluff.

“Speaking of underwear…” Rhovan would never get the image of purple, lace panties out of his head now that he’d had a glimpse of them when Raemina’s plaid skirt hiked up during her dance. “Rae had nice ones, is she single?” He’d always thought she was kind of cute but he’d never paid much attention to her. She was a smarty-pants. He wasn’t. They lived in different worlds and all that jazz. He would have never thought she was the type to pull off ‘sexy’ and she’d just proved him wrong.

“Ew, please do not.” Salem pulled a disgusted face. He hadn’t seen or wanted to see any of the nerdettes’ underwear and couldn’t imagine why anyone would. “I do not need another one of you guys drooling over those brats.”

“Another?” Rhovan questioned, though his voice sounded far-away as if his thoughts were still down the hall and behind the door with a glittery green ‘V’ on it. He wondered if Rae had a date to the dance yet and if she’d consider going with him. He also wondered if all her underwear was lace, but he had to abandon that train of thought because it was sending all of his blood south.  

“Yeah, this idiot,” Salem waved his hand towards Date with a scowl, “has been creeping on my sister for months. You know that song where he mentions a ‘moon haired muse’ GUESS WHO THAT IS?”

“I’m not creeping,” Date corrected, flicking his black hair out of his eyes. He didn’t deny the accusation that the girl in his song was Vyxen.

“Do you know how uncomfortable it is for me to jam out on my bass when you’re singing about banging my sister?” Salem shuddered.

“Do you know how uncomfortable it is for me to appear in public with you when you’re wearing fake vampire teeth?” Date challenged in his usual, bored tone of voice.

“IT’S. AN. AESTHETIC.” Salem slapped his knee to emphasise his point.

“Sure it is.”

The conversation amused Rhovan and he would have egged it on if they didn’t have bigger fish to fry. “Xyl is in detention, so we’re already losing time here, we need to focus if we’re going to get a set together for the talent show.”

Salem held his hands up and said, “I will play any song you want except ‘Ravage my Heart’ or any other song that mentions my sister. I’m not doing it. This is school and everyone will know who we’re talking about.” They probably wouldn’t know as Vyxen wasn’t popular or interesting, but Salem wasn’t going to take any chances. Imogen would be there, and he didn’t need her to think he was any weirder than she already did.

It was this scene that Xyl walked into when he finally arrived at the house. Rhovan and Salem were arguing about which songs to play and Date was in the middle, ignoring them both and scribbling furiously in his notebook. “What the heck is going on here?”

“You missed an awesome dance show.” Salem read the text from Imogen, eyes sweeping over her blunt cancelling of their plans tomorrow and recognized a chance to make himself feel better when he saw one. He said the words ‘dance party’ especially loudly so Vyxen and her friends would hear it.

“How did you get here so fast?” Rhovan asked, checking his watch to see that detention had ended barely fifteen minutes ago.

“My sister’s friend dropped me off.” Xyl dumped his bag on the floor and flopped onto Salem’s bed, trying and failing not to think about how nice Cowan had been and how much hotter he was up close.

“Oh yeah?” Salem tried to wrench his head around as casually as possible to look out the window, hoping to see a glimpse of Imogen in whatever friend’s car she’d came in.

“Yeah, he was nice. Rhoe was mad about it though, so I’m sure I’ll be hearing about that when I get home.” It wasn’t a conversation he was looking forward to. “Do you think I can crash over here tonight?”

“Sure.” Salem sighed in disappointment, turning his head away from the window when he realized that Xyl hadn’t been talking about the sister he was interested in.

“All right, now that everyone knows where everyone else will sleep, can we please talk about the set list? In case you somehow didn’t remember, we have a show in three days,” Rhovan practically shouted. It was days like these when he felt like he was the only one who took their band seriously.

“Hold that thought, I’m starving. Do you guys have money for pizza?” Xyl asked, prompting a great shuffling as everyone dug into their pockets to pull out their wallets and discussed what toppings to get.

Rhovan could have screamed.

~*~*~

Back home, in the safety of her own room, Nyima let out a deep breath to steady herself. She waited all of ten seconds after Vyxen slammed the door before she ran from the house after the humiliating episode with Salem and his friends. Today is so embarrassing! I should've stayed in bed! Her phone pinged with a text and she clutched her chest. Jingyi? Oh, poop. Why did I say text me?! WHY?! She inched her phone out of her pocket and sighed with relief when she saw it was just her friends group chat.

Glitteraffia: Sorry again about my dumbass bro. U ok?

Shiva fan 212: Yeah. It's okay. If I had a brother like that, I'd apologise all the time too.

Glitteraffia: LOL

Moon Princess: But, seriously, you guys, we should definitely get pretty dresses and go 2 the dance.

Glitteraffia: Rae, ur sitting 2 feet away.

Moon Princess: You keep ignoring me.

Moon Princess: Come on, Nyima. I bet Jingyi can dance.

Shiva fan 212: I can't.

Moon Princess: LIES! I saw you!

Shiva fan 212: Vyxen, get her.

Glitteraffia: Idkulik him and he likes u and it'd be cute af and pretty dresses.

Shiva fan 212: Traitor.

Shiva fan 212: Ok, fine. When things go Carrie it's your fault.

Glitteraffia: Carrie's awesome and they deserved it.

Glitteraffia: Scy would totally deserve it.

Moon Princess: She would.

Shiva fan 212: Lol ok.

Moon Princess: YES! VICTORY! After school 2moro!

Nyima put the phone down and sighed. She didn’t know why she agreed to it. She hated the mall; there was always too many people there, and crowds made her nervous. Maybe my mom will say no. She wasn't optimistic. Her mother was a free spirit. First Jingyi and then this? If she weren’t such a dedicated student, she’d consider skipping school tomorrow to avoid reality. The only redeeming part of the day was getting her new computer game, and she’d be breaking it open right now if she didn’t still have homework to do. Looking at the beautiful cover art beneath the plastic wrap, Nyima let out a sigh and then turned to her assignments, wondering somewhere between math and English if Jingyi was already playing his new game and maybe he’d tell her about it tomorrow.

By @guardians-of-las-vyxen & @yogiwithabook

[isleofancients]

the bitty-not-bitty considers the very tired and resigned looking man in front of them, reaching out, touching his face gently. it felt important somehow, to be willing to be close to him. like it might better show him their next words were true. "I'm, not upset," their tone is more concerned right now than anything, "I feel like you might need to hear that. and it's true."

they bite their not-exactly-lower-lip, clearly considering their next words more carefully... reaching up, they brush away some of the hair that had fallen across his face. distracting themself? keeping busy? they honestly don't know what the hell they're doing. but they really want to say this... if, they can just get the words right. just, give them a few seconds to figure out themself what they're trying to say,

"I know you've been around for a seriously long time," yeah, they're aware that they probably have no idea how much of an understatement this is. "like, really long. long, long. and I know you have way more power than anyone should have to bear." something in the way they say this makes it clear they didn't see this as having been a blessing. "both things that seem to make it hard to connect to people. and severely hard to relate to people who aren't either."

"it's hard enough when they look at you with that 'you're different' sort of wariness. and when they're just, afraid when they see you..." something changes, oh so briefly, reflecting pain in those small eyelights, "it makes it clear. that you don't fit their idea of what a person is. whether that makes you something to be destroyed..." that soft teal gaze returns to the mismatched eyes, watching them, "or they see you as some devil, or god? seeing it there every time... it's, alienating as hell."

their gaze briefly touches on each of Q's currently visible scars, noting, acknowledging- not really anything else. "you've lived a hell of a long time," they whisper, a heaviness in their expression, "and it's left it's mark. but the deepest scars time leaves, are the ones not many other people can see. and most people will never know they're there."

they're just, there, looking up at him. this tiny creature and a man that they knew full well both could and had destroyed entire worlds. who'd just revealed the kind of gaze easily imagined peering from the gates of hell, who'd been talking about bargains and prices exacted, and admitted he'd considered doing something similar to them.

"I'm not saying any of this as an excuse. you were responsible for your choices then," a more soft sound, adding, "and, you're responsible for your choices now."

a small hand, brushing against his cheek again. if he's okay with it... then, it seems important. because if he's willing to be touched, they want him to know that they're willing to touch, too. that... maybe it was okay, somehow? to, risk closeness. they aren't sure how to say it though, so they don't try.

"I don't know if this matters to you Q," they repeat, "But I'm not upset. and I'm not a complete fool. I know you were a destroyer for a really long time. I know that I'll never know one thousandth of the things you regret. but... you don't really seem to want to be that anymore."

"for, what it's worth. you have people in your life who care about you a lot. I know my child does. I strongly suspect Dragon does." a soft exhale, not quite a sigh, but an acknowledgement, maybe. "I know you have no reason to believe I do though, not when I've asked for this. so I'm not going to try to convince you. But I hope you have reason to believe it someday."

they seem to have lost some of their momentum by this point, their voice growing quieter for the last few words, honestly unsure as they reach the end of what they'd wanted to say, and pretty sure it had come out all jumbled and clumsy as fuck.

"what, any of that means to you, I can't begin to guess. but... I guess I just wanted you to know."

Q leans into the little touches just slightly, an unconscious sigh leaving his lips as his eyes shut once again, not the firm slamming of doors but a gradual decline, the light of the sun vanishing behind the horizon. "...thank you." He says softly with nothing more to come after, all the meaning he has to give but cannot bring himself to say packed into those two words.