#love how he always gives credit to them!! love how he gives criticism without putting anyone under the bus!! all with a smile on his face!!

[ugartecoco]

a common occurrence developing rn is me mumbling 'you dont have to gif this you dont have to post this' under my breath over and over while watching a ruben press conference

[hereforthehitsbaby]

Beca beca please please I’m begging you write smt w cooper x shy!plus size reader. Please please please😭😭😭🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

In The Now | Cooper Adams/Abbott x Plus Size F!Reader

Gif credit to @d-vient

Synopsis: Nightly walks by the fire station is a ritual, a way to clear your mind from the bullshit in your life. The firefighters do so much for your community, why not give them a little appreciation back? Though, only one remains, and he happens to be your favorite.

Warnings: Porn with Plot, Smut, Soft!Cooper, Shy!Reader, Mentions of weight (soft belly/tummy, grabbable thighs, soft flesh, ect.), Public Sex???, Oral F!Receiving, Floor Sex, Cooper Talks You Through It (Shh its canon,)

Word Count: 6.2k

Rating: M

Author’s Note: I hope I did your request justice.

Tagging: @rubyfruitjungle @cherryinterlude @lilly3434 @amethystblackkchaos @rosaleelovesdilfs @babygorewhore @dirtylittlefairytales @redpillbluepill @strangererotica

If you would like to be tagged for my fics, please fill this out

Introvert; a typically reserved or quiet person who tends to be introspective and enjoys spending time alone. Shy; being reserved or having or showing nervousness or timidity in the company of other people. What do both have in common? You. Being shy and introverted is not a bad thing, no, in fact it is a great thing. It protects you from the horrors of the world, keeps you in line with other things in life so – you can get the full experience without the bullshit that comes with it. It is a better way to go through each day; You’re not naïve but careful. You don’t leave traces where you have been, but you garner experiences. You don’t remember conversations but, you remember names and faces. It is better that way; it is easier to be in the background of everyone else’s journey than to be at the forefront. Not being seen is good, it’s safe. You know where you are and cannot be touched. It’s better than whatever is going on locally.

Sure, Philadelphia isn’t the prime location for a job change but – it was better than one season states. At least in Philly you got to see the leaves change, sun to rain to snow, every element was prevalent each day. It was a step up from what you were used to, nothing could follow you here. Your past, your regrets – they stayed away, like they deserved to. You deserved and needed a fresh start – this was the best way to do it, this ensured that you could be seen with fresh eyes, over critical ones. You didn’t want to be in the spotlight, or in places where it wasn’t important. You wanted a name for yourself, but one that didn’t bring attention. Wallflower, that was what you wanted. Standing, listening, analyzing; You take inventory of a room and guess the life pattern for everyone, then be on your merry way. Quiet, demure, mindful.

Moving here was a dream come true – a great work opportunity that you couldn’t pass on. You would’ve been a fool to do so. Plus, a way to escape the realism of your hometown? Call it a win-win situation. It was what every reclusive person wanted; Fully remote, put up in a swanky condo across from the fire department – so you know you’d never lose power in snowstorms. It was good; Safe. It meant you were out of the public sights of the world, you could in passing say hi and move on – never commit to the names. They never mattered anyways. It was a great experience, a great road trip drive, and better yet – a dream come true to explore.

Ladder 49 in Philly is an exuberant bunch – always laughing and welcoming the neighbors in. Every Spring day they are drawing hopscotch with the kids. Every Summer they are playing basketball. Every Autumn they are carving pumpkins and delivering turkeys. Every Winter they are holding toy drives and shoveling people out. When they say they are community driven – they are not kidding. Years upon years of photos always sit in the forefront of the station, showing new and oldcomers alike how much they love giving back, how devoted they are to the community. It was the luck of the draw for you to be across from it, it was a match made in heaven. The first day you moved in was just a show of their kindness, their dedication. Especially when the fire chief came strolling over with a simple sentence: “Let me take those for you.” He didn’t even stutter or miss a step as he took the box out of your arms, and carried it inside. A leader of example, considering his men were quick to grab the rest. That was your first interaction with Cooper Adams, and sure as hell hoped it wasn’t going to be the last.

With the Summer cresting into Fall in Philly, shorts weather now became jeans and a sweatshirt weather. It felt better, not having to deal with chafing thighs and the constant sticky skin. The humidity was brutal this time of the year, but as it dried against you skin it felt nice. The second you could feel it on your back, your stomach, and your sides? It was AC for you. But with the Fall rolling through it just made things better. The air was crisper, the mood was starting to get that spooky feel – with Halloween on the way in. It was everything you wanted, everything you asked for. Everything that made the world feel alright again.

Your favorite things to do during this time were take late night strolls through the town, getting use to the city and seeing how places were starting to decorate. Headlamps lined the streets in Victorian era black steel, the orange glow of the lightbulbs inside caused a cozy feeling to overtake your body. It brought you solace and comfort, knowing everything would be orange and red soon – and the rain would move in sweetly. Pulling your coat tighter around your body, you wrapped your arms over your chest – enjoying the plush feel. Your boots scuffed at the newly paved sidewalk, bringing music to your ears. Laughter could be heard from around the corner, the park playground – as the smell of marijuana hung sweetly in the air. Inhaling the scent deeply, you let your eyes fall shut at the notion – swaying on your own two feet. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’re already ready for Winter!” A cheery voice chimed from beside you, causing your eyes to slowly drift open. Turning your head to your right, you saw him sitting against the firehouse wall, spraying down his helmet with cleaner as he smiled at you. Him, the one you have been pining over for months since you arrived in Philly – the one to always strike up a conversation with you. Cooper Adams, fire chief, and resident DILF.

Ever since that first day of taking your boxes in, he never passes on the opportunity to strike up a conversation with you. It was sweet, it was also the highlight of your days. His long chestnut locks always falling into his face, sweeping them away with both hands – the way his ember eyes glittered against any type of lighting sent shivers down your spine. You grew to admire the golden flecks his irises always loved to send out, sparkling like Tiger’s Eye against the sun. He was beauty and grace wrapped into one, the All-American man. Everything you could see yourself wanting, Cooper was. To you it felt silly to have such a high-school crush on a man, clearly in his forties but, the body wants what it wants. The little lines around his eyes when he laughed made your heart grow softer, the way he always admired what you were wearing made your head fill with smoke. He is ethereal, and you never seized the opportunity to embrace that light he shone so brightly.

“Sshh! Don’t say that too loud or else we will get an early one,” you joked, feeling your heart race as your feet started to walk towards the firehouse entrance, leaning against the brick wall beside Cooper. Staring up at you, Cooper laughed so dreamily – music to your ears. He shook with his laughter, which you admired a lot. It wasn’t just a thoughtful reaction but, a mindless one. Everything was always so comical to Cooper, your talk backs and dad jokes. He admired them, and you loved the full body chuckle. Shaking his head, he slowly started to calm his laughter down as he leaned back into the steel chair, sighing out as he grabbed a rag from his side. Propping his helmet on his lap, Cooper started to wipe down the visor of soot from their last call uptown this morning, a two-alarm fire that thankfully no one was home for. Your eyes lost focus on Cooper’s face as he gripped his helmet hard – wiping in circular motions. His blue fire department shirt was rolled around the sleeves, highlighting the beautiful bulging of his biceps. It was soft yet hard; Easily bitable. You felt your mouth water at the thought, smirking inwardly at the idea of doing so.

“You’re fun, you know that?” Internally you cocked your eyebrow, not believing that in the slightest. Sure, you could have fun but, to the outside world? No way. That wasn’t reality. You were a wallflower, shy and quiet versus talkative and extroverted. No, this was only for Cooper – a side of yourself you never would’ve thought would come out as much as it did. Feeling your cheek heat from the compliment, you shied away in yourself for a moment, locking your eyes onto the ground by Cooper booted feet, loving to see the scuffs against the leather – proving how hard he was at work. In fact, you were so into the fantasy of him calling you fun and thinking about his boots, that you wondered what the leather would feel like rubbing against your cu-

“Ah, shit!” Cooper yelled out as he jumped out of his seat, causing you to jump back into reality. Stumbling backwards a bit from the scare, Cooper leaned forth to grab your arm – stopping you from falling. You didn’t quite understand what was happening at first when he grabbed you, but as your body evened out to the stumble, you noticed that the dark blue of Cooper’s shirt was now navy, soaked in liquid – the cleaner he was using. The pungent smell permeated your nostrils, making them flare slightly. Cooper ground his booted feet against the concrete floor, watching you intently as you caught your breath. But you could never bring your eyes to Cooper’s face, no, instead your eyes were fixated on Cooper’s chest. His sopping shirt clinging so well to his form. He was hard in some places, but soft in all the good spots. The soft pudge of his belly to the hardened contours of his sides made your mind go wild. That flush crept down your neck to your chest – suddenly causing your coat to feel too tight around you; Too warm. His nipples pebbled beneath the wetness as a cool breeze rolled through, causing him to shudder.

“Sorry about that, I hope I didn’t splash you,” Cooper spoke with remorse, grimacing at the idea of getting this stuff on you. Shaking your head as you cleared your throat – you closed your eyes momentarily. “Uhm, no…not that I could tell. I was too busy uh,” you began as you chuckled, waving your arms dramatically to signalize your almost fall. Cracking one eye open, you caught Cooper looking at you with a longing look – his head tilted to the side as he pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. The admiration in his eye lit you on fire, from the inside out. Those beautiful autumn night irises trailed up and down your body, focusing on your baren legs, then trailing up the expanse of your torso – flashing his teeth slightly with his lip bite. You could feel your fingers starting to shake at your side, the electricity between the two of you immaculate – ready to burst at the seams.

As Cooper’s eyes slid over your face, he came to the realization that you saw him check you out, causing his eyes to go wide for a moment before relaxing. A flush of pink tinged his cheeks cutely, causing that little color to make his eyes pop more. Letting go of his lip, he trailed his tongue over the puckered surface. He was holding something back; An internal fight with himself. God, you wanted him to just say it – to put an end to the pining. The tension, the quietness, it was too much. “I was planning on it being you that got me out of my shirt, not the cleaning products.” Cooper was nonchalant with how he spoke out, leaning against the lockers to the left of the firetruck. He used the tip of his elbow to click the garage switch – those giant doors starting to close now, putting the city away for the night so it was only you two. You were happy he did that, considering how loud the garage doors were going down, it masked the small moan you let out at his words.

You were in shock to say the least, not expecting sweet, delicate Cooper to say such a thing. I mean it was obvious you both have been playing the will they, won’t they card for months but – you thought it may have just been all in your head. “Excuse me?” You said quietly, keeping your eyes fixated on the concrete floor. You wouldn’t be able to control yourself if you looked up – your shy demeanor would fall since it was now just the two of you. There was a deeper side of yourself that was questioning all of this – if it was real, if it was in your head. It’s a fantasy to you, Cooper interested in you – a recently divorced man, bringing him back to his glory days. It wasn’t self-doubt or insecurity stopping you; You know you are beautiful, sexy, and hot – but you were afraid this was all a dream. A dream brought on by a fever or a daydream while you’re at work. But as you peered back up to meet Cooper’s attentive gaze, you knew this was real. “Honey, I wasn’t born yesterday.”

Cooper spoke so plainly, like nothing else in the world mattered within that moment. Only you did, only this moment did. “I could see it, still see it actually.” He used the rag in his hand to motion to your face in a circle, licking around the inside of his lip as he tried to find the next words. Slowly the gap between the two of you started to close, the air growing thicker and thicker as his body took up the empty space. The gentle pace at which he was going spoke measures, it was delicious – he was inevitable. “Your eyes speak the words you mouth will not.” Cooper brought his clean hand up to caress your cheek, rubbing his thumb over your soft skin. You couldn’t help but to lean in, letting the warmth of his palm envelop you. “That’s…very waxing poet of you.” Your words came out like it was never a question at all or have any hesitancy behind your words. They were true, cute, and most of all – funny.

The genuine belly laugh you got from Cooper caught you off guard - getting you off into a giggle fit. Hearing him let his true self out within that laugh made everything feel okay – the heavy sexual tension was blooming with free-spirited energy and such wholesome qualities; It made you feel so good. Bowing to you, he blew you air kisses as he slicked his hair back, nudging you with his shoulder. “Thank you,” he chortled, running a hand over his five o’clock shadow. The facial hair looked so good on him; Small specks of grey littered the edges, whilst his temple held all the rest. Grey looked so good on him; the color made him youthful in a way. “You know, I did major in poetry at school.” That was a shock to you; You never saw Cooper as the writer type but – more of an engineering background. The new tidbit of information made you question everything.

“Did you now?” You asked politely, crossing your arms over your chest. Biting his lip in your direction, Cooper leaned his arm directly above your head, looking down at you. Your eyes trailed up the inseam of his arm, seeing the light-colored veins under his skin, mixed with the intoxicating smell of his cologne. Your knees trembled the slightest bit as he stood over you, examining your face with precision. His gaze was intense, shifting from hazel to black almost immediately – his pupils taking up all the color. As he went to nod his head, he changed at the last second to a shake. “No, I went to a trade school but hey – I still dabble in a bit of Shakespeare.” He shrugged, doing the shrug smile with it. Rolling your eyes, you set your vision to the calendar hanging up on the other side of the fire station, trying to calm your heart rate from the proximity of Cooper.

He could tell your heart was racing, that your spine was growing tingling with emotion. To help quell the racing you were feeling, Cooper brought his hand back to your face, caressing your cheek as his lips were only a few inches from yours. “No, but seriously, though. I see the way you look at me.” He was so matter of fact with it, he wasn’t skating around anything anymore. He knew that he needed to speak the truth, to get across to you, because this would be the only chance he had while the guys were all playing pool downtown. “I don’t mean to be forward but, it feels good.” You made Cooper feel good, a feeling everyone deserves to have. You felt the pinprick of tears in the corner of your eyes as you smiled up at him, nudging your chin out for him to touch your lips. Cooper stayed where he was, not moving an inch, causing you to grow wanton. “Feeling wanted again.”

Deep seeded emotion found its way into his eyes, the glimmer of light reflecting off showcased the unshed tears he was holding back. With the way his Adam’s apple bobbed, you knew he was close to crying. But Cooper was not going to show that – no, instead he hissed as he pulled back, clearing his throat. A whimper slipped through his parted lips, which in turn caused you to clench your bare thighs together, swallowing down hard at the sound. You tried to be inconspicuous, so Cooper didn’t see; You were thankful his eyes were turned down. “Okay, yeah this is starting to burn,” he snickered out, grabbing at the end of his t-shirt with expert precision. Cooper whipped his shirt off quickly, small bits of chemical hitting the floor as it was removed. Your eyes went wide at the sight in front of you – showing off all the hard and soft parts of Cooper’s torso you saw earlier. This time his skin was pinkened by the exposure to the cleaner, but it didn’t take away from him at all. The happy trail leading right to his belt buckle; His chest hair spread across him in the sexiest way.

Cooper grabbed a clean rag from his locker and doused it with a water bottle, groaning as the burning got more intense. The way the liquid was about to glide over his abs, made your eyes vibrate. You felt your demeanor slipping at an alarming rate, knowing you were about to cross a line you wouldn’t come back from. “Do you want me to hose you down?” Your joke was a tight delivery, considering you couldn’t stop watching Cooper run the wet towel down his stomach, soaking up any bits of the chemicals. You felt your eyes waver heavily as your arousal grew, which caused you to stare at Cooper. His own eyes were obsidian, black around all edges – a man pained with arousal. Smirking in such a sinister way, he nodded at you – flicking the wet cloth in your direction. “Depends, you going to show me what you have hiding under that coat?”

That was it for you – you knew you were never coming back. Cooper Adams metaphorically saw what you had underneath, that lacy red number you bought a while ago. You had nowhere to wear it, and no one to wear it for. But you didn’t care – it made you feel sexy, enticing, plus it was a little incentive for Cooper in hindsight. His red iPhone gave away his favorite color, and tonight he happened to be all alone. It wasn’t planned in the slightest but, you were hoping. When you saw Cooper sitting alone tonight, you hoped no one else was there. After an hour and no one, you knew it was your time to make the call. Twisting side to side in your spot, you moved forward into Cooper’s space, giving your best innocent eyes you could muster as Cooper placed his hand on your hip, smoothing the other down your arm. “You’re not as sneaky as you might think, love.” The whispered tone in which he spoke to you made your body shudder under his touch; His lips pressed sweetly to the shell of your ear, letting his plush skin rest easily against you. He could feel the tremor in your body as his lips laid a peaceful kiss to your ear, moaning slightly into you. “I wasn’t-“ you managed to start but, alas gave up halfway through.

“Oh you were, don’t be shy, darling.” His tone shifted from calm to desperate very quick – a little tease at the end to sweeten the deal. The hand that rested against your hip scooted around to your lower back, running a finger up and down your spine. The other hand resting against your arm snaked to the back of your neck, rubbing at the nape. Quickly you were pulled flush against Cooper, feeling his bulging jeans press firmly against your stomach, causing your breath to waver. His lips only inches from yours; If you tilted your head up, you would be able to just feel him and every dream he could give you. “You were hoping that tonight, of all nights, would be the time you finally got a taste of me.” He read you like a book, because this is exactly what it was. What it all looked like, it was exactly what you needed.

Cooper let both of his hands trail over your clothed body, bringing them around to your front. Each finger admired the curves on you, the soft and supple skin hiding beneath. All he could think about doing was sinking his teeth in and leaving his mark on you. The beige trench coat you wore was adorned in front by the belt – to which you had tied into a bow. Thick, calloused fingers made their way to the simple knot, gently tugging on the longer end, teasing you. Cooper’s eyes remained on your front; mouth ajar whilst the soft fabric started to sway with the tension. You had half a mind to pull yourself back, forcing him to undo it quicker but – where was the fun in that? Cooper wouldn’t have it either, no, he would make your life a living hell if you did that. This was all about the chase, never the end – but you knew it was going to be worth it.

As you were about to speak, the last of the knot fell out in front of you, leaving just the first loop around. Cooper’s agile fingers worked diligently to undo it, letting the belt fall to your side, brushing past your exposed thighs. Taking in the sight of you fully clothed, Cooper took a deep breath as he let his left-hand swing back your coat, now being able to see the glory underneath. The teddy lingerie you were wearing didn’t leave much to the imagination, in fact it gave Cooper the eyeful he had been dying for since day one. You caught his eye, being so adorable and shy, he knew he had to have you. Letting out a low wolf whistle, he took in the gorgeous sight in front of him. Breasts were uncovered due to the structure of the lingerie but held up just nicely due to the underwiring. A keyhole slit sat against the front of your stomach, highlighting its softened nature. Cooper though was drawn to the open slit between your legs where it would be covered, growing harder by the second knowing your cunt has been free this whole night.

“Well, you’d be right,” Cooper stated huskily, rubbing his thumb against the side of your breast. You gasped at the soft touch, shivering under his finger as the cold air of the firehouse nipped at your exposed skin. Everything in you broke, that small thin thread that had been holding you together – completely unraveled. Cooper didn’t waste another second as he leaned forth to capture your neck between his lips, greedily biting at your supple flesh. The moan that ripped from your throat caused Cooper to grow feral; Your back pushed against the lockers next to the firetruck, the cold in perfect contrast with your heated skin. Your hands tangled in Cooper’s soft hair, tugging at the root for him to move his lips upward. You could feel the heat of his bites against your neck, knowing you’d be wearing his mark for days.

Once your lips finally hit Cooper’s, everything you had been holding back on came to fruition. It was unlike anything you had experienced within a kiss. It wasn’t all lips, teeth, and spit like you were used to, it was primal yet possessive. It reminded of the first rainfall of Summer; The air slightly too thick as it crests, skies turning grey at the drop of a hat. But through all that muck and heat you feel it – the cold, crisp drops of rain against your bated skin, absorbing into you – becoming one. The smell around you amplifying the sensation; Goosebumps rising against your flesh as you cool from the inside out. Safe, you’re safe. You’re okay. You’re at peace. It wasn’t like a traditional kiss, it felt more. Cooper must’ve felt it too because his hands pushed you further against his lips, caressing your neck as the fingers of his left hand squeezed your breast lovingly.

He was a man on a mission, a man intoxicated by your touch, how you felt, and everything that encompassed you. He wanted to get drunk off you, and swim in that loving pool of your soul, and never surface again. For the last few months, he felt so unloved, unwanted, embarrassed because of how Rachel treated him. It made him feel insecure, like he wasn’t worthy of that kind of love. But that flew right out the window the second he got you in his hands, knowing that you weren’t going to leave – that you were going to be forever to him. It made you feel lightheaded the amount of passion Cooper was exuding towards you – like you were his lifeline in this cruel world. You brought your leg up around Cooper’s hip to get him further, wanting to feel the full, covered length of him Not wanting to tease you any longer, Cooper grabbed at your baren thigh and hiked it up higher, making sure to spread your pussy enough to feel the cold breeze.

“But I need to taste you first.” He finally spoke again, making you forget his earlier sentence. The thought of Cooper’s mouth on your cunt was enough to make you cry – you needed it bad; you needed him biblically. Nodding against his lips at his words, you placed one of your hands on his shoulder, wrapping your arm around him. Cooper grabbed at the plushness of your thigh, placing it gently onto the bench to your side as he maintained eye contact. Not once in his slow descent down did he ever look away – always keeping his eyes on you, watching how you shivered with delight. His thick fingers ran down your skin like he was starving – hungry for you and only you, bringing a part of his life back he thought was long gone.

As Cooper came face to face with your wet cunt, the reservations he had about going too fast slipped away – he was like a man starved, your folds were the only thing he needed to survive. Cooper’s mouth was only mere inches away from your cunt, his hot breath fanning over your soaked lips. Wasting not a single moment more, Cooper dove into your sweet cunt like a man starved, hungrily lapping at your puffy folds. You screamed out in pure bliss at the feeling, his tongue working your clit in harsh circles, using his two longest fingers to circle your entrance, never did he attempt to push them inside of you. It was only a mere distraction for the fact that he was sucking your clit as if it was a hard candy.

The harsh clash of his lips and the slight grazing of his teeth sent you into an overdrive. So many feelings were flooding through your body, as if ice water had been tossed all over you. It was a pure feeling nonetheless, something so brilliant and rough - you didn't want to give it up. You brought your hands up to rake through Cooper’s locks, yanking harshly at the root as your nails dug into his scalp. The growl he let out into your cunt was feral, yet animalistic. In this moment you both were not humans, but two animals in the jungle, fucking like the world was going to end. “God, you taste so fucking good.”

There was nothing soft or human-like about this, it was pure primal. Cooper’s tongue lapped and flicked over your clit like water, his eyes watching yours as your face turned up in pleasure, wails of pure bliss exiting your mouth. Cooper took you by surprise when he shoved three of his long, thick digits into the cavern of your wet cunt - plowing them in and out of you with wreck less abandon. You were not moaning anymore, you were fully screaming in ecstasy over the brutal fucking you were getting. “I’m here baby, no need for tears,” Tears fell down from your eyes with ease pass of his fingers over that spongy spot - spurring your orgasm on like it was nothing. “You’re safe. Fuck, you’re so beautiful. Come on princess, you can give it to me.”

It's then that your body jolted off of the lockers with a wail of pleasure, neck tightening as you tried too hard to remain in control. “That’s my good fucking girl, you’re squeezing the shit out of me.” Cooper’s brutal pace of his fingers and tongue did not let up, not until you were screaming the safe word. Just then he got a great idea; His fingers kept moving at a rapid speed but his mouth was replaced with his other hand - using them entire pad of his palm to rub your clit quicker. He had a better use for his mouth, placing it on the apex of your thigh, and clamping his teeth harshly around the skin. Not hard enough to break it but, enough to make a welt and bruise form. It was sexy, you've never seen a man like this. “You make me insane, you know that? I am fucking mad for you.” Cooper’s grunts - the sensation of pain mixed with pleasure as your orgasm never faded, instead only growing stronger. The flex of your lower belly came in tune with the vice-like grip of your cunt, your hands twisted smacked hard against the lockers behind you, eyes rolling into the back of your head. It was then, the floodgates broke.

“Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop!” You screamed out, a new sensation to your orgasm came forth, sending you into a spiral of the unknown. It felt like a bubble burst deep within you, enough to make you scream. "That’s it babydoll, just let go." Cooper huskily let out, letting his hands work in tandem with each other. The rapid movements on your clit and g-spot made you sob into the open air, your orgasm causing your entire body to be jelly-like. “That’s a good girl, you’re so perfect. You’re everything to me.” Your brain was nonexistent, all you could hear was the sloppy wet sound of your cunt being wrung out, and Cooper’s primal growls. Looking down at Cooper, you watched as the thickness of his fingers disappearing inside of your cunt, your orgasm soaking not just his hands, but his chest and stomach - eyes black as the sky above. There were so many things you wanted to say, but could not get them out - you were too far gone to speak. Cooper saw that you were twitching aimlessly, and took it as a sign to spot. Abruptly pulling his hands from your core, Cooper shoved his fingers into his mouth, sloppily sucking them clean as you watched with fervor.

You were a mess, one you knew you weren’t going to be coming back from anytime soon. It was too much – everything that you had been wanting played out, and yet still so much more needed to be said. “Coop! Why are you still here, my dude!” The young voice brought you out of your high, causing your eyes to focus back in on Cooper’s face – the front of his chest soaked with your essence. The gentle laugh emanating from the back of the firehouse made you shy away, feeling you turn in on yourself. Cooper didn’t get what was happening at first, not until the heavy bootsteps started to come towards you, making him scramble up on cracking knees. “Shit!” He let out in a whisper, the silent scream obvious as he wasted no time to grab your jacket – holding it closed on you as the footsteps haltered. “Oh hey ma-“ The young firefighter started, looking up from his phone at the same time. What he was met with, was the image of Cooper’s front pressed against you, your face heating with arousal and nerves as you buried it into Cooper’s neck, smelling a hard days work on his skin. Cooper flashed his coworker a taut smile, waving with his freehand, hoping he wouldn’t say anything. “Oh my god did you get laid?!” He yelled out, smacking the back of his phone against his hand as you erupted into a fit of laughter. You shook in Cooper’s arms as he laughed out loud as well, realizing there was no point of hiding it now. Looking up at Cooper, you watched as he slowly nodded towards his coworker, a few unruly strands of hair falling into his face.

Without missing a beat, the firefighter came over and smacked Cooper on his bare shoulders, going to his locker directly next to you and grabbing out his backpack. “Cooper, you’re my fucking hero dude!” He yelled as he ran out through the side entrance, waving off his fire chief, leaving you both alone again. The giggle fit going through the both of you made for a fun way to decompress after having the best orgasm of your life. No man had ever made you cum so hard – so precisely as well. It was like Cooper took you apart, and rebuilt you over and over; Each wave being harder than the last. Cooper took a deep breath in as he pressed his heated forehead to yours, the flush on his cheeks working its way back. “Let’s finish this at my house. Riley and Logan are staying with their mom this weekend.” You weren’t going to pass on this opportunity – especially now that you learned the names of his kids. It was a weird feeling, for both of you. Cooper never disclosed information about his kids to anyone – only those who he deemed important. He knew you were, and were going to be in his life for a while. He could already tell by the way you carried yourself  - they were going to love you as much as he could.

Nodding your head against Cooper, you pecked him gently on the lips – lingering for a moment and just focusing on the feeling. “I’m down, let me pack a bag.” The snicker Cooper omitted at your sentence made you perk up, cocking an eyebrow in his direction. Running his warm fingers over your cheeks, he grasped your chin firmly, yet soft – peering down into your eyes. “Oh sweetheart, that’s cute,” he began, biting at his bottom lip. The swirls of colors in your eyes caused his to ignite, flecks of reds and golds flitting around in his irises. His lips grazed your lips as he smirked, licking at you while he continued. “You’re not going to need anything when I am done with you.” Cooper whispered sensually, causing your cunt to pulsate. A weekend without clothes, Cooper between your thighs – was the best way to ring in the fall.

[finn-writes-stuff]

Jack of All Trades (pt 2)

A follow-up to -this- post, with the rest of the party. The Original Request: Hello. If you're willing and have the time, I jumbly request a TLOVM headcannon for the team having an s/o who steals their weapons and tries to figure out to use them. What would their reactions be and would they/how would they teach them to use the weapons?

Percy, Vax, Scanlan & Grog x Reader

Fandom: The Legend of Vox Machina/ Critical Role

Format: Headcanons

Gender Neutral Reader

Masterlist

Some credit to my lovely partner for giving me accurate info about their specific weapons. As well as a discussion on whether or not you can say Percy or Orthax invented Guns. -Finn

Percy

With anyone else in the party, there's a good chance you may have used a weapon like theirs before. But not Percy and his guns. These are his own inventions, new to Tal'Dorei completely.

They are also powered by exploding gunpowder. He is a little bit worried about letting you handle them.

Hearing a gunshot when he isn't causing it is a deep cause of concern for him, please don't steal his guns, just ask.

Percy will absolutely teach you! It's a chance to have his arms around you as he steadies your aim and stance.

He's a very...specific teacher. You have to make sure he doesn't get too wrapped up in the fine details. Keep him on track with how to shoot and he won't get way into the actual mechanics of the hammer of the gun.

Let him watch you shoot after you get the hang of it. He'll start to understand why you like watching him so much.

Vax

This man owns so many knives. He has a full-out collection of daggers. Hugging him is a dangerous prospect because you never know where one is hiding.

And with all the different daggers, it can't be that hard to steal one or two of them. How could he even notice?

Stealing them proves to be surprisingly hard. He doesn't store many of them, they always seem to be on his person.

But once you manage it, it's quite a lot of fun to handle a truly well-made dagger. In a fantasy world like this, every adventurer has held a dagger, but Vax turns it into an art and his tools reflect that.

They are also insanely sharp. Don't get too cocky with them.

He swipes them out of your hands when he finds you with them, and it's obvious just how experienced he is with handling knives. He can twist and spin them without a glance or a nick.

"Well, well, someone's got sticky fingers, hey love?"

He'll teach you how to throw them accurately and how to spin them without hitting your fingers. He will also tease you while you practice before you get the hang of it.

Scanlan

Scanlan doesn't particularly use a weapon! He's fairly strictly a spellcaster.

That being said, his instruments are likely the next best thing, particularly his lute. And that is his baby, best of luck stealing it.

If you ask him, he'll let you play it and he'll teach you during downtime. He will also serenade you for demonstrations.

He'll be annoyed if you take it without asking though. His music is a source of safety for him as much as a source of joy.

Let him teach you songs around the fire at night and serenade him in return. He won't stop smiling for ages.

Grog

Grog has had some...questionable weapons. Perhaps don't borrow Craven's Edge.

But borrowing his axe or his gauntlets is a world of fun. Even if they might not be well weighted for anyone who isn't as strong as he is.

You will quickly realize how much work goes into swinging his axe and it puts his effortless attacks into a very different light for you.

Grog laughs out loud when he sees you using his weapons, but it's full of fondness and affection.

Even if he isn't exactly academically clever, this is his skill set, he knows how to fight and he does it well. So he's a really good teacher as he corrects your stance and grip.

His teaching method also includes encouraging you to just swing at him, so you'll need a bit of courage and faith that you won't hurt him.

[little-teacupss]

The Serpentine's jealousy.

Note: Full credit goes to @skellseerwriting/ @skellseer, for the title, and the cover is still work in progress they didn't give me much to work with ;-;, anyway hope you enjoy this story it will be more Morgie based, and remember you can give criticism without being a prick.

Summary: James and Morgie navigate their complicated feelings for each other and Fay.

Note 2: If you want to be a part of the tag list, just put mail in the mailbox!

Tag list: @giveityourworst and @brokenmilkcrates, go show both of them love and support. Giveit is my co-founder for MFH, and milkc is helping me build lore for this ship!

Note 3: Part one here.

___________________________________________

Morgie sat against one of the shell chairs that Uliana had gotten for the lair for decoration with crossed arms as they waited for Hook to get back, he wasn't sure if Uliana had seen Fay or not, but he did, it was strange he'd liked Hook for a while, but a part of him also felt something for Fay, he'd been set up with for different classes randomly, but he never felt this way for her before she was always the nerdy, clumsy fairy who couldn't make her wand work.

He'd liked Hook for a while. They usually spent time together, or he was with Uliana. For a while, Morgie thought Hook may be gay, but now he doesn't know what to think. How could he be gay, but now have confusing feelings for his friend and his girlfriend, or is Fay his girlfriend?

He heard a snapping sound in front of him. Looking up, he saw Uliana snapping her fingers in front of his face, although having a passive look, he knew she was worried about him, she always was.

"You good, Morgs?" .Uliana asked as she stopped snapping her fingers and sat back in her seat, Morgie let out a soft chuckle as he gave a wry smile and said. "Yeah, yeah, I'll tell ya later."

Uliana gives him an uneasy look but nods. Finally, after fifteen minutes of waiting, Hook comes into the lair and takes a seat to Maleficent, who says. "You finally made it, I see, but why are you soaked?"

Hook shrugged as he leaned back in his chair before looking at Uliana as he listened to her talk about needing a plan to get back at the AK's.

After a while of thinking and many ideas being shot down, a light bulb turned on in Morgie's head as he pitched in. "What if we smoke bombed the ballroom for rehearsal for castlecoming?"

Uliana snapped her fingers as she smiled at Morgie for giving her a plan that would make people fear them more.

"That's an excellent idea Morgie."

She said as she began to give everyone their part of the plan who would do what.

They sat around and went over what each person would do, and then for a couple of hours, they sat and played cards or gossiped, it wasn't until they all started yawning that they finally left the lair, and headed back to Merlin Academy, while Uliana, Maleficent and Hades went to the dorms, Morgie followed Hook who decided that he'd spend the night in the Jolly Roger.

He grabbed Hook's shoulder, who turned around and looked at him, Morgie didn't waste any time and got straight to the point and warned Hook. "Look I saw you, I'm not sure if Uliana did, I'm not telling you to stop, but I am saying to be careful."

Morgie was very careful about what he said to the pirate as he was unsure how protective he was over his secret relationship, but also there was a tiny part of him that was afraid the Captain might just order his crew to have Morgie forced to walk the plank, while another part of him was terrified of being figured out for his feelings towards him, but then those strange, never before feelings also appeared the ones he held for Fay, she wasn't a VK, she was soft, very delicate, she was clumsy, and terrible at magic so she couldn't protect herself like Hook could, what if something happened to her because Hook was bad at hiding their relationship?

Morgie shook his head, trying to clear those thoughts from his head, before looking back at Hook, who was leaning against the rails of the dock, and fixing his hair, before turning his gaze back to Morgie and saying. "Need anything else, lad?"

Morgie shook his head and quickly made his way from the dock. Once he finally made his way to the gates of Merlin Academy, Uliana popped out from behind one of the pillars.

She crossed her arms as she approached him, and said. "So are you gonna tell me now what's going on?"

The two sat at a random picnic table as Morgie began to explain. "Well, you already know how I feel about Hook, but some things changed."

Uliana nodded a she listening and said. "Changed how?"

Morgie gulped before letting out a shaky sigh. "Well, do you know that one fairy the one always wearing light blues and periwinkle?"

Uliana nodded as she gave him a small smile as she realized where this was going.

"Well, I don't know how or when it started, but she has to be a vixen or something along with Hook she's all I think about her stupid wand tricks and softness, she can barely even get her wand to listen to her if she keeps it up she'll end up dead if she doesn't get her act straight."

Uliana laughed as Morgie went on a big rant about how Fay must have cursed him or something because it made no sense how he was gay, but constantly thinking about her and Hook.

Uliana patted his arm and said. "Morgs, I could be wrong, but maybe you're not gay, of course at one point you could've been, but maybe you've changed, and if you have that's okay, it's normal, maybe you like both men and women, maybe you like all genders, but you won't know unless you give it a chance and stop blaming it on a fairy who can't even get her wand to work for her, it doesn't mean you have to stop liking Hook, maybe you'll find you two are more alike then you may think."

Morgie hummed in response, unsure of what to think of what the sea witch said. He'd know he was gay for a while, so how could he just abandon it so quickly?

Uliana got up from the bench across from him and made her way over before gently putting her arms around his shoulders, hugging him close, so he knew it was alright.

Morgie grabbed her hand and squeezed it as he looked at the table in front of him, unsure of what to think anymore. One minute, he's gay, and the next, he truly doesn't have an idea what to think anymore.

The two ended up going back to Uliana's dorm, where she let Morgie stay for the night so she could be there to comfort him as he figured out what was going on with him.

Uliana smiled at him as he sat on the floor before joining him and said. "You don't have to decide anything yet. Just try and get some rest, okay, Morgs?"

He gave her a small half smile as he nodded before laying back against the carpet. With his arms rested underneath his head, Uliana patted his leg before getting up and getting into bed, as she began to let out a soft humming sound similar to how a siren would, so Morgie would relax enough to fall asleep.

- two days later, Monday 8:40 am. -

The entire VK group was hanging out in the courtyard, Uliana was sorting their plan, while the other four played cards, but Morgie's focused wasn't exactly on the card game, instead his eyes periodically traveled to across the courtyard where a certain fairy was sat with her nose in a book sometimes waving her wand that'd do absolutely nothing.

Hades snapped his fingers infront of Morgie's face and said. "It's your turn."

Morgie let out a shaky breath before throwing a random card. It wasn't looking great for him anyway, so what was the point of trying when he had more dire problems going on right now.

Hades squinted his eyes at him, but let the game go on, not questioning what was going on with the Serpentine, but before he could think about it any longer, Maleficent slammed her hand down and took all the cards from the middle.

"Another point for Mali?" .Hook asked as he picked the pen up and tallied up the score, unaware of what was going on around him as Hades whispered something to Maleficent, whose eyes traveled to Morgie, but his attention was gained when he felt a sharp kick to his shin, and he let out a loud yelp. "That hurt. What was that for ya bilge rat?"

Hook glared at the sorceress across from him, Maleficent got up and led Hook away from where Hades and Morgie were restarting the game and said. "Haven't you noticed some things up with him?"

Hook looked back and forth from Maleficent to Morgie. Before shrugging, he felt a light tap on his chest as Maleficent gave him a pointed look before walking off back to the table, as Hook let out a soft sigh seeing as he'd be the one to figure out what was going on with his friend.

He stalked his way back over he gently grabbed Morgie by his shoulder and led him away from the courtyard and near an old corridor, close enough to see their crew, but not close enough to hear what was going on.

"Alright, bucko, what's been going on? You've been hanging the jib all day, matey?" .Hook said as he looked at his friend, wondering what could possibly being going on with him to make him so gloomy, compared to his usual upbeat self.

Morgie let out a soft sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair and leaned back against the wall with crossed arms while nervously bouncing his leg.

James, taking in how nervous the other guy was, backed a little away in case he felt claustrophobic and said. "Ay, it's alright me hearty, take your time it can't be that bad as plundering or sinking ships for a living?"

He tried to be light-hearted to try and calm Morgie, who shook his head in response.

Morgie had no clue how he could possibly tell his friend that he held feelings for not only him but his girlfriend, the same one he told Hook to be careful with so they wouldn't get caught, he let out a shaky breath, as he tried to regain composer and control of the situation, he combed his hand through his hair and blurted out. "It's about Fay, alright, I think I- I'm not sure, actually."

James eyes widened a bit, and his mouth tightened a little, but he listened on to what the Serpentine had to say. "But it's not just Fay, it's everything. it's you, her, and I don't understand, i thought I did, but I clearly don't at all."

Morgie sighed as he tried to come up with a way to tell the pirate what was going on, but he'd much rather have the floor open beneath him and suck him into the void the more he went on, he started to adjust his shirt, before he continued. "Look, I'm not trying to get in the way of you and Fay, but you needed to know how I feel for both of you it doesn't feel right not telling you as my friend."

He managed to get out before staring at Hook, who was processing what he'd been told with crossed arms as he nodded before approaching Morgie, who was nervously looking at him, James gently grabbed his shoulder.

"How about we figure things out with Fay present, mate?" .Hook waited for Morgie to give an indication that he wanted to, as he watched Morgie look at the ground and cross his arms over his chest before stepping away from the pirate and said. "The last thing I want is for you two to have problems."

James furrows his brows at him before letting out a slow whistle, as he said. "Nothing gonna change. Well, some things will, hopefully, but nothing bad will change, bucko."

James put his arm around Morgie's shoulder and further explained. "Fay's going through something a little similar at the moment, poor wee faes, you'd be surprised by how similar you both are."

After a while of mentally preparing, James led Morgie when he was ready back to the courtyard, but not where the VK's were, but over where Fay was at with her book and wand, being wove around, but nothing happening as she said. "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo?"

They watched as she glared at the book before waving her around around and repeating. "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo."

Her wand sparkled, but it was becoming clear what she hoped to happen wasn't going to as the book disappeared in thin air, with her mouth falling open and dropping her wand as she look to her hands in shock.

James smiled as he waved his hand in front of the shocked fairy's face, who slowly looked up at him, and Morgie still wearing a look of confusion as she still wondered what happened to the book.

"Y- yes?" .She nervously said while still processing that she had just made her homework vanish, her dark eyes moved from James to Morgie, and back again, as she nervously fiddled with the hem of her skirt.

"Ahoy! Me Corsair, you see Morgie here was thinking of telling you something."

Fay looked at her lap before slowly looking up to Morgie, who gulped loudly as he looked between the two before taking a step closer to Fay and gently helping her stand up.

He pursed his lips as he stared at the nervous fairy who glanced behind him before looking back up at him as he said. "Look, I know we don't- well, it's all strange really, I don't know when or how it happened, but."

Morgie struggled to find the words to tell the fae in front of him who stared up at him as he fumbled to confess to her.

Fau watched him patiently as she was unsure of what he was about to say, but there was a part of her that knew what he was gonna say, as he continued. "For a while now, I've begun to see you differently. You used to be the nerdy fairy who couldn't use her wand, but then I don't know, you always seem so hopeful no matter how upset you get when you don't get it right the first dozen times, yet you never stop trying."

Morgie rambled on about randomly little facts about her he'd noticed over time before looking down at her and nervously looking away when their eyes met.

Fay nodded as he went on, and on about random things she'd do, her love for blueberry pie, how excited she'd get if her wand would finally decide to work, the way she smiled, or how the gleam in her eyes was ever so familiar a gleam.

"I guess what I want to say is- well, you know, I like you, Fay Godmother." .It felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders the moment he got it out, but then a new fear arouse as he waited for Fay's reaction to his confession.

Fay's eyes widened at the sudden confession as she looked up at the Serpentine, whose eyes slitted a bit as he stared at her, Fay nodded as she let a small smile grace her face.

Behind Morgie, they could hear a soft wolf whistle before Morgie was playfully shoved forward and sent flying into Fay.

The two tumbled into each other, Morgie slipped one arm around Fay's waist while the other braced against the picnic table behind her to keep them from falling onto it, when he opened his eyes he realized just how close they were as their noses brushed against one another's.

They both gave a soft chuckle to each before before Morgie lifted them back into a standing position.

Hook finally made his way over and drapped his arms around their shoulders as he smiled at the two deviously and said, "So how bout we give this a wee try, me hearties?"

The two nodded bashfully as the pirate gave a hearty laugh at the two's reactions to his suggestion, after a while of clearing some things up and three planned a time to spend time together soon, so finally after a long few days of questioning everything Morgie laid in bed feeling content at where his life was at the moment.

___________________________________________

I want to give a special thank you to @skellseerwriting and @brokenmilkcrates for giving me so much help with setting up queer relationships and queer discovery, so go show them some much love and support!

Another special thank you to @giveityourworst for helping me create the MFH ship and becoming my co-founder go show them some love as well!

I hope you've enjoyed it, and if you want to be on the tag list, just put mail in the mailbox!

Tag list: @giveityourworst and @brokenmilkcrates! @saturnisaroace and @jupiterisaroace

Anyway till the next story! Ba bye!

[thissying]

Thanks for uploading ep 1 of the doco – while it’s clearly a highly managed piece of media, it remains a rich text for Max scholars. Entirely aside from padel shirtlessness.

I think my favourite parts were:

Max just being a huge racing nerd, which we already knew but I always enjoy.

Competence kink, especially that final GT3 testing session.

Going from me not knowing anything about his GT3 racing team to ‘oh of course it’s his ride-or-die childhood friend who he’s mentoring, because Max attaches early and hard or not at all’.

Max’s sincere enjoyment of/commitment to The Process which helps him offset being a nightmare of competitiveness. (Something I particularly admire and respect in Alex Albon as well.)

It may have been the editing but I got a kick out of that video call after Suzuka. ‘Congratulations on winning the championship—’ ‘Yeah thanks, now here are many questions about your GT3 race weekend…’

Max looking relaxed in the talking heads even though he was doing them solo, without someone else onscreen to bounce off. Basically the opposite of his DTS talking heads.

(I understand why Max’s horrible dad™️ has such a big presence but for the sake of my blood pressure, on rewatch maybe I’ll use a post-it note to block him from my sight. 🙃 )

I don't see enough people talk about things this way any more in fandom on tumblr, including myself btw, except in tags but even then not so much, so I enjoyed getting this ♥

Yeah, same wrt how huge of a racing nerd he is. The fact that Thierry had to explain to him several procedures of the GT3 car first because it was new to him and then he did some laps and knew exactly what needed to be changed to improve the car. With giving credit to Thierry and the "engineers are stubborn, that's just how they are" comment 😂 And yesss, that final testing session where the head of track engineering is so impressed that he expects to be talking about it during nights at the bar in years to come. I was like: that's our boy, yeah 😊

I wouldn't be surprised if that was how that Suzuka phone call really went! He's so serious about his commitment and guidance to other drivers and it was one of my favourite things we got to see in this episode. Him being direct about things that aren't good without being rough or cruel, making me think that is part his character and part his own experiences (the good and bad ones). He seems good at constructive criticism; "here's what you're doing wrong or what you need to improve and here's what you can do about that." Lovelovelove.

Also, him being more nervous when watching family and friends race than when he has to do it himself because of the control. Which is such a common thing for people to feel (not just in racing) but I love knowing this about him.

I agree about the talking heads parts. Genuinely relaxed! The bit where they cut to his laughter about Thierry's remote control car 🥰

Other favourite bit: the "so much grip" comment about his shoes, in unison like it's an old familial in-joke.

The G-Star RAW interview is a good one! I feel like it should be like a first go-to for (new) Max fans who want to know a little bit more about him, even though it's a bit older already. I never saw any flirting in this though, but I'd put that down more to Edwin Evers than Max!

ETA: also. the maxplaining to Thierry after padel!!!

[balkanradfem]

So I like the Barbie movie enough to do an analysis of their feminist statements and try to get to the root of the problem! They did give us a long list of expectations women worldwide are dealing with, now let's see why they're dealing with it.

1. "We have to always be extraordinary, but somehow, we're always doing it wrong. You have to be thin, but not too thin, and you can never say you want to be thin, you have to say you want to be healthy."

This issue happens because women in practice, culture, and their real-life circumstances are still effectively living as the second class citizens, and they're viewed as servants for males, and male toys. It does not benefit us to be expected to be extraordinary, and it does not benefit us to be thin. So who benefits from it?

It's a feature of a male fantasy. Male wants to posses a woman who is trained to please him in every possible way, but she also needs to be unique and different from all other women, so he feels like he has something special. Every woman already is unique and individual, but he doesn't notice such things as personality, he needs her to be special in a way that he and his male buddies will notice! So she has to be extraordinary in something that males appreciate, but also if she is better than them at it, then they no longer feel the ease of being superior, so she's doing it wrong.

Women's ideal being thin is also a male fantasy, they've managed to pavlov themselves into finding thin women the only kind of woman that is attractive, thus the requirement on women is to be thin, even when it damages our health. Men love causing trauma to women, but to see women actually visibly struggling with it, putting it into words, saying it hurts us, that makes them uncomfortable! So they shame the language, until we phrase it as something that doesn't relate to them, or that makes it seem like it's for our own good. 'Being thin for health' makes it seem like the required starvation is for our own good, and healthy, in fact.

This could not possibly happen if we were not existing in service of the other half of population. If we were respected and valuable human beings, what is bad for us would not be represented to us as an ideal.

2. "You have to have money, but can't ask for money, because that's crass. You have to be boss, but can't be mean. You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas."

These are double standards that men put up for us. Even though women are paid less, own less, are globally more impoverished and have a harder time gaining money, that is no longer enough for us to completely depend on men for money; they hate this. So as a revenge for us managing to earn a bit of our own money, we now can't ask them for any, we are supposed to 'have our own', and still depend for them, but in fear, reluctant to ask or to demand. Notice how it isn't crass for a man to ask for money, it's almost expected, but for a woman, it's shameful.

Women in lead will be criticized, called out, scrutinized and humiliated like no male leader ever would be; this is to make it harder for women to feel in control and comfortable in leading positions. Male leader is supposed to step all over ideas he doesn't find useful, hell he can even squash it and take credit for it later, but if a woman doesn't acknowledge a stupid idea, she is immediately told off for 'not being a good enough leader'. Even when she's doing exactly what she's supposed to do. It's a hypocritical little game to ensure only men can comfortably lead.

3. "You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people."

This is a feature of "women existing for male convenience" problem. We are supposed to be naturally loving of raising kids, because it's convenient for males to just have their children raised for them without having to do much about it, and if this is not provided to them, then women are evil for not 'loving being a mother' when it's convenient for men that women are super into that and willing to do it for free, forever, without complaining or talking about it, because men don't like to know that it's an actual effort, they feel more comfortable feeling it's a silly little chore that deserves no thought whatsoever.

Women having careers is something men have been making difficult in any way possible, because it means women are not reliant on them for resources within capitalism, but they were not able to completely prevent us having jobs, so now they're just trying to get as much use of it as possible. If women earn money, they will leech off of that money. If women have careers, well then those women should prove that they're just as convenient, nurturing, always available, running at every beck and call, and act as if they still only exist to serve and please men. If women fail to do this, they'll again be accused of being selfish, horrible people, bad mothers, bad community members, and so on and so forth. Men of course, can ignore the entire world and do their job badly, and have a violence problem, and be addicted to p*rn, and it's fine. They're not bad people regardless of how little compassion they have for anyone who isn't them.

4. "You have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is insane. But if you point that out, you're accused of complaining. You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood."

This is an example of psychological abuse; victims are most often told they're responsible for their abuser's actions, as if they would in any situation be able to control or influence them, which they can't. But, putting that responsibility on women will make women hyperfocus on their own behaviour, on prevention of abuse, prevention of violence, which means they will go a long way trying to please men, tiptoe around them, give them insane amount of attention and care, in hope or preventing the escalation of their behaviour - and this is exactly what men want, this is what the abuse was for. To gain that devotion and attention, with the threat of violence. If women understood perfectly that men are responsible for their own behaviour, their way forward would be to hold men accountable, to lock them up and never look back. It's only in the world where women are victims of severe psychological abuse that we try to please men into not committing acts of violence. And it never works, because men love violence, and will turn to violence at every corner, even more easily and smugly knowing they can simply blame a woman for not working hard enough to prevent it.

Men expecting women to be pretty but then punishing them for being pretty is also an act of abuse; women's exterior is being judged as if our appearance is both a statement and a crime. Men can look whatever they naturally look like, and it's not a provocation, temptation, lack of solidarity or anything worth criticizing; but any way that a woman looks can be scrutinized and a ground for moral callout. The reality is that women also just look like the way they look like, and there's nothing wrong with it. There is zero moral problems with women looking pretty or not pretty. There isn't even a problem with tempting males because males are responsible for their own actions and not toddlers who have no power to resist impulses. This is a tactics for making women responsible for male behaviour - the way she looks is responsible for what I want to do to her. Complete nonsense, they just found a way to blame her for his own behaviour.

Calling women out for not being 'a part of the sisterhood' based on their appearance is very poorly concealed tactic to turn women against each other, to distract them from seeing that men are the root of the problem. Men don't turn on each other based on appearance, and it doesn't make sense for women to be assumed to do it either; in women-only communities, it doesn't matter what women look like. Whatever women look like is never a threat or an attack on other women, men are trying to play on female insecurity and frame other women as a threat to that insecurity - when the only threat all along was men, creating ideals and standards of beauty that don't correspond to reality or nature.

5. "Always be grateful, but never forget that the system is rigged, so find a way to acknowledge that, but also, always be grateful. You have to never get old."

The waves of feminism have forced the public consciousness to acknowledge that the system is rigged, but the pressure to do something about it falls completely on women, even though men created the system, rigged it, are keeping it rigged, are using violence to enforce it, and are benefiting from it. And it's convenient to them if women do nothing else but acknowledge it's rigged and stay grateful they're still allowed to live within, we're supposed to be threatened by the fact that we can easily be killed if we step out of line.

Men are threatened by older women because mature women have experience, they are no longer easily manipulated or cheated out of their gain, they will not bow down and please men like young, inexperienced women can be tricked into doing. So they convince those young women, that being old is shameful and ugly for women. They want women to stay young and susceptible, like children that they can control and not allow any agency or free will. This ensures we stay focused on being scared of time, aging and our own bodies and nature, but not of the predators who are taking our lives as a service for themselves.

6. "Never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear. Never get out of line, it's too hard, it's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says "thank you". And it turns out, in fact, that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault."

These are lists of standards that are only applied to women, men are allowed to do all of these things and to be catered to while they're doing it. This behaviour is presented as bad only when women are doing it; if men do it, it's considered neutral, normal, intrinsic to human nature. Women being selfish inconveniences men, who are looking to exploit female selflessness. Women showing off and being proud would cut into their time showing off, they want that attention for themselves. Women getting out of line is inconvenient, since men have drawn those lines for women (those lines don't exist for men). Women showing fear makes it difficult for male predators to corner them down and have them act complacent; men don't want to see proof of victimizing women, except in private, except when they can get off on it. Never in public, never when women could potentially escape or reach for help, then it's sexist of women to be afraid.

Women getting medals, acknowledgment or gratitude again, cuts into male parade of getting all the acknowledgment, gratitude and medals, for them it doesn't make sense that they should share attention or credit with what they consider to be the 'servant class'. Men have deluded themselves into thinking they deserve more credit than women do, they don't consider us smart or capable, because they can easily oppress us, so how smart can we be? But also, they expect and demand us to be as smart and capable as necessary to resolve all of their issues, to make their life easy and pleasant and undemanding. We are forced to deal with issues they won't even look at, we often solve problems or create solution they wouldn't be able to produce, and this is when they simply take credit and convince themselves that they knew better all along. It's a 'male-delusion rules reality' kind of world for women.

After doing the biggest bulk of work on earth, creating and raising the entire human race, doing daily unpaid labour, putting up with violence, threats and constant degradation from men, after not having our interests represented by the law, education, government, economy or any other institution with any power, after spending a piece of our life being groomed and then having to spend another undoing the grooming, we are still told that everything is our fault, and that we're doing everything wrong.

This is abuse, and somebody is doing it. We are not put thru all of this for vague reasons, or for arbitrary reasons, someone is benefiting from all of it. While we're raising children, who lazes around and attaches their last names to our kids? When we're doing daily unpaid labour, who doesn't do their part? Who is staring at us while we're walking down the street, who fails to represent or even acknowledge our interests, and even our human rights? Who does the grooming, and who enables them to do it? Where do they get resources from it, who allows it to go on unchecked? How come young girls and women are regarded as such low value that we allow them to live unprotected around predators who will absolutely attempt to violate them in as many ways they can? Who fails to prevent, or arrest, or punish them?

It's not just a system of patriarchy, it'a a system of men, doing this every single day of their life. We can point the finger at the root of the problem. We have a common enemy, and they're working damn hard to keep us from realizing it.

[nyxe9206]

What their kisses taste like pt.2

What the MHA boys’ kisses taste like. All characters are aged up to be in their 20′s and some scenarios are suggestive so 18+ MDNI. Nameless and ageless blogs will be blocked. I do not own these characters and all scenarios are just fiction and for fun. Please do not copy my works or repost without either asking or giving credit.

Content warning : Making out, implied sex, dry humping, mentions of oral sex, nicknames (Princess, baby), mentions of female anatomy,

A/N : please let me know if I missed anything or if you want to give feedback, this is my second time actually posting a hc so I'll gladly take any criticism. Also I'm unsure who to do next so you can send in requests for who to put in my next one and hopefully I don't take months to post.

WC : 1.3k

Eijiro Kirishima

Like pop rocks and cherry coke 

It was a party with 3a and 3b for graduation

You still don’t know how you ended up in the circle playing seven minutes in heaven 

He was so nervous about you not wanting to kiss him

“Okay Y/n it’s your turn!” Mina shouts

As you spin the empty bottle you look around the circle and feel your hands beginning to sweat. A chorus of ‘ooo’ can be heard as you look up and find Kirishima beginning to stand. Grabbing his hand you stand and follow him to the coat closet found at the front of the dorm.

The space in the closet got smaller with how big the sturdy hero had gotten compared to the first year of high school. Each year that you grew alongside all of your classmates there was always an invisible line that was drawn between you and Eijiro made by the feelings you’ve never spoken about.

“You know we don’t have to do anything right, I'm happy just sitting here with you.” even in the dim light of the closet you can see the blush on his cheeks.

Your own cheeks burn with embarrassment, both your chests are touching and every exhale can be felt on the others lips.

“But what if I told you I want to?” Your hands snaked their way up his chest and over his shoulders to clasp together around the back of his neck.

“Then I guess I’d say good, cause I've been thinking about kissing you for god knows how long.” 

You could feel his lips brushing against yours as one of his hands made a claim on your waist while the other rubbed up and down your side.

“Kiss me.”

Your plea was met by the softness of his lips touching yours in a passionate and sensual kiss. Sparks tingle throughout your body as the kiss went on and his hands ran along your curves. His tongue poked at your lips as you tilted your head, parting your lips slightly you swirl your tongue against his. You could vaguely taste the coke and candy he had earlier as your hands caressed his muscles as he started pushing you against the wall in a desperate attempt to get closer only made you begin to run your hands through his hair to tug at the ends. As the kiss goes on his lips travel further down to your neck where you feel his teeth begin to nip at the skin

“Times up love birds!” The pink girl yells through the door

“Next time, next time when we walk out they’ll all know your mine.”

Denki Kaminari

Lemonade and chocolate chip cookies

Hanging out in his room after class

Fridays were your scheduled disney movie binge day

The little mermaid definitely became a bit more eventful

“Denks,the movie is still playing.” You whimper as he starts to trace the side of your neck with his finger.

“It’s okay, just wanted to see how sensitive you are.” his eyes are tracing your face as he stops at your lips.

You go to lick them out of habit and he takes his chance. The kiss is soft, almost hesitant giving you enough room to back away. In the three months that you’ve agreed to be friends with benefits with the electric boy you’ve never kissed. The deal was stress relief, as third years the amount of pressure was rising as graduation grew closer. Hand jobs, and oral was the most either of you have done with the other. But today something was off, it was different; the feeling of his hands groping your cloth covered breast as you pulled him in closer by the back of his neck was more urgent. His body pushing you down on the bed as he unbuttoned your uniform shirt was rushed while he licked and sucked on your bottom lip. The need to feel your skin on his clouding his brain as he ground his hips against you.

“Fuck baby, I need you so bad.” His words muffled by the skin of your neck as his hand danced over your panties.

“Denks please do something.” Your voice getting breathier as he skims his fingers over the growing wet patch

“You want me to play with you baby, want me to touch this pretty pussy you have here?” You can feel the smirk on his lips as your hips shift up to get more friction.

“You’re fucking soaking through your pretty little panties baby, why don’t we take them off might have more fun if we do.” 

Tired of his teasing you grab him by his shirt and pull him into you. The kiss is a clash of teeth, tongue, and the taste of his favorite lemonade and cookies.

“You talk too much, just fuck me already Denks.”

“Whatever you want princess, fuck I’d do anything you want every second of the day.”

“Yeah, then give it to me Denks, take me and give me everything,”

Sero Hanta

Orange soda and airheads

After another late night on the job you decide to go back to his

Literally just take out on his coffee table and whatever late night reruns were on tv

Was definitely not the first time either of you have thought of doing it

“No, no the last time we had this Kaminari laughed a noodle out his nose and I still have no idea how he managed that.” the tears gathered in the corners of your eyes as you and Hanta recall the memory of the electric hero making a fool out of himself yet again.

“Man I miss hanging out with them, it sucks we’re all so busy though.”

“Yeah but at least we can still do these stupid reruns every now and then, I like how chill it is with you.”

The room was quiet save for the tv in the background, his fingers just barely touching your arm put your nerves on high alert. The tension between you and Hanta has been palpable since your second year at UA, and for some reason the consequences of kissing him don’t seem so bad tonight.

His eyes went back and forth between your eyes and your lips, the blush rising on your face did nothing to stop him from smirking before he lent in pressing his lips against yours.

“God you’re so fucking pretty.” His kiss was intense and passionate, it felt like everything he never had the chance to say was coming out through the dance between your mouths.

Soon his tongue started sliding along your bottom lip, parting your lips you let him in as he pushed you down the sofa. The taste of his drink pulling you in as his tongue danced with yours sensually. His hands wrapping themselves around your waist and breasts holding, caressing and massaging as his hips ground against yours. The feeling of him half hard putting pressure on your clit through your sweats had you moaning into his mouth. Your hands moved into his black hair as his lips traveled down your neck leaving little nips and licks in the places he kissed. Your moans slowly started getting louder as his hips moved faster and harder.

The pressure building up in your core became too big to ignore. You knew he felt it too as his breathing got heavier until it stopped. His hips stuttered to a stop as he slowly lifted himself off of you with a shy smile and blush tinting his cheeks.

“Fucking came in my pants like we were in high school.” His eyes hanging low as he spoke “But let me guess, you didn’t cum did you princess?”

“No, I was really close though, why you trying to make it up to me?” The lust in his eyes was undeniable as he smirked and lifted you from the couch.

“Wouldn’t be much fun if you don’t finish, how about you try it on my tongue instead?”

[magnorious]

Pixar’s Cars is still way better than people give it credit for

Am I writing an essay on a kids movie that fell out of relevance after the last sequel seven years ago? Yes. Is it my favorite background animated movie to put on whenever I’m working? Yes.

It goes without saying that Pixar’s catalog is still topped by movies like Incredibles, Toy Story 2, Up, Inside Out, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, etc. Cars sat at the bottom of Pixar’s “best of” list until its sequel came out and people realized how bad Pixar movies could actually be.

But you know what? I love Cars. Is the story as deep and moving and profound as some of the others? No. But it was made with love and after what feels like the past 8 years of resounding “meh” coming from Hollywood and some of the most shameless cash grabs pretending they’re not, Cars remains my feel-good movie. It doesn’t have that classic Pixar “cry your eyes out” moment, no dead parents, no chosen ones, decently low stakes. It’s a good time, anytime.

Why I’m writing this now, though, is because of this: I knew already that the King and Chick were based off real racers, and Lightning’s “McQueen” is another homage, but I looked up if Doc was also based on a famous racer during my last rewatch and found this on Wikipedia:

Doc’s car model, the Hudson Hornet, was manufactured from 1951-1953 for its original run. In 1954, its manufacturer merged with another company and the Hornet was heavily remodeled to boost sales, only the popularity of the car never recovered. It stayed in production until ‘57. It was used in racing and that’s where Doc’s paint job in the finale draws inspiration.

But do you remember what his backstory is? 3 back-to-back Piston Cups from ‘51-’53, a crash in ‘54 that saw him rebuilt, and obsolescence upon his return.

People complain that they “didn’t need to be cars” in this movie. They’re not like the toys in Toy Story where the plot and message depends on them not being human. They’re not like the fish in Finding Nemo. They could have just been humans who drive race cars and it raises more questions than it answers.

You are wrong, Sir.

Doc’s backstory is why they had to be cars. They aren’t human because the story depends on them being machines – as Cars 3 explores more deeply. A human endurance runner can train to be the fastest, running against other humans with the same chances at success (ignoring steroids and socioeconomic opportunity). Humans aren’t running foot races against mutants or aliens where, no matter what we do, we will lose by nature of what we are.

Cars do. A car model is beholden to its manufacturing and all the complications that come with it. Cars are objects that, like toys, have obsolescence built into them. There is no “outdated” way to run a foot race.

So yes, Doc has a Tragic Backstory(tm) but it’s not just that he was some great master at the top of his game once that faded from glory like any human who got too old. He’s a car, and no matter how good he was, how many Piston Cups he won, the powers that be that made newer models with better mileage and efficiency and mechanics were always going to dethrone him.

The movie isn’t about him, though, it’s about another rookie. A rookie who lives life in the fast lane and thinks his time in the spotlight is never going to end when Doc can look at him and know exactly how wrong he is. Lightning is a race car too and, regardless of the existence of Cars 3, Lightning will also inevitably become obsolete no matter what he does to fight it.

I doubt the writers were going for this when they wrote it but that they’re machines is also a criticism of how we treat celebrities. Lightning is an entertaining story until the next shiny starlet emerges and, through no fault of his own, he’s kicked to the curb for the “new”. And that new will be cast aside for the next new and so on and so forth and the only winner is the greedy producer making money off their cash cow until they drain it dry.

Yes, the movie is about appreciating life and the things that you do have and “the friends we made along the way” but that they’re machines matters. Had they all been human, the movie would have lost half its message, and half the tragedy. If they were human driving cars, Doc wasn’t written with a disability so he could have, in theory, hopped back behind the wheel of a new car and still won against younger drivers. He’s not human, he’s a car, and he isn’t built to go as fast as newer models.

Age affects everyone, but a world made by machines that pits machines against other machines in an endurance test is inherently rigged when the machinery being tested can always improve.

It is unfortunate that both Doc and the King go out in wrecks (even though the poetry is nice) and the story doesn’t explore the existential obsolescence of being a machine designed to only do so well and be improved upon – even Lightning still has to wreck out of his big race in Cars 3 before he starts losing to the newer models.

But maybe having a Cars movie that does explore the existential obsolescence of a machine might have gone over kids’ heads. Or, maybe not? They pulled off some very mature themes in Incredibles with marriage problems and presumed infidelity that kids probably didn’t understand but still knew was not good for the characters.

Not to mention all the other wonderful details in this movie: The car-pun cities on all the license plates, the tire tracks in the sky and car-shaped natural phenomena, all the creative sponsoring brands on the racers.

How the “Life is a Highway” montage hits you over and over again with a straight road that cuts through the winding nature (the snaking river, the mountains sliced open to make room), industry that stops for nothing and scars everything in its path.

If you haven’t watched this movie in a while, do yourself a favor and find time to do so.

[celestie0]

Hii! This is my first time messaging any fanfic author (I'm an extremely anxious person and tend to be more of a lurker LOL) I'm so sorry but this might be a long one lmfao

First of all, the way you write in general? Absolutely phenomenal!! The way you characterise and describe scenes is honestly so incredibly immersing. I've always had a relatively easy time imagining scenes in my head when reading, even with relatively little detail, but the way you word everything puts the scene straight into my head and it's such a wonderful experience!

Your characterisation of Gojo (in all your works!!) is probably my absolute favourite out of any fanfics I've read of him (trust me I've read an embarrassing amount :sob:). The way you actually capture what he feels like in canon, without making him feel super mean or cold, but still retaining that side of being emotionally repressed is absolutely chefs kiss!!

I also really love y/n in both kickoff and ihm so much. I relate to both of them in different ways, but probably more so ihm reader personality wise (might also be because I'm around the same age as her lmao). As someone who is very emotionally repressed due to trauma (especially of loved ones leaving you), the way you've portrayed those sides of reader in ihm is VERY spot on!! And I would like to add that I, for one, LOVE slow burn, so I don't mind the pace ihm is going at right now personally!

Chapter 12 of Kickoff?!?!? Holy shit I was literally sat there blushing, kicking my feet and giggling. It was absolutely hilarious and super cliché in the absolutely best way possible (I absolutely love clichés if they're well used!)

I could honestly wait years for anything you write. Never feel any pressure to churn out your writing and take it at your own pace!! My genuine first thought after finishing the latest chapter of Kickoff was that it was sooo worth the wait haha.

Personally I have an extremely hard time writing anything but angst, because I like making myself sad I guess who knows LOL But I'm sooo excited about your next work!! I absolutely love the song you're basing it off of <3

AND did I also see some talk about a potential Spider-man Gojo fic in the future??? Cos I would honestly probably scream (in a good way lol) if you ever did that, he's my alltime favourite superhero!!

Okok this is getting really long, but I found this photo of four football players a bit ago and thought I absolutely HAD to draw them as Gojo, Geto, Choso and Nanami from Kickoff (adding the art at the bottom)! But I haven't gotten around to colouring it yet (or cleaning it up considering it's just a sketch lmaoo) cos I'm stuck on how to do the jerseys. So I have two questions! I know you've explained the colours of their jerseys, but do you have any particular idea in mind of what the design on the jersey itself looks like? As in where the colours are placed specifically etc? And we know Gojo's signature jersey number, but do you have numbers for the rest of them too? (I may or may not also have a wip of a drawing of just Gojo from Kickoff too!)

I'm sorry there's A LOT of different plot points in my message??? The most important part was just to convey, hey, I love the way you write and you should definitely give yourself some more credit cos you are genuinely a really good writer!! <3 (Though I know us artists tend to be our own worst critics LOL)

hi love i’m so sorry this took me a sec to respond to!! first off thanks you so much for sending me such a sweet ask :’’’) i literally gaspeddd when i saw it

aaa i’m so happy the scenes feel immersive!! and that you enjoy my characterization of gojo aaa i’m so happy to hear that. and yes i totally relate to ihm reader’s suppression of her emotions due to trauma and lack of trust so it’s been very…cathartic yet challenging to write for her, but i wouldn’t have it any other way hahah

i’m so glad you enjoyed kickoff ch12!! i totally agree that chapter was so cliche, honestly it made me cringe while i was writing it because i typically hate cliches esp when they’re corny rather than on-the-nose, but i posted it anyways bc i figured maybe i just hate it bc i’m the author xd but it seems my readers enjoyed it so :’’0 perhaps i made the right choice

oh you are too kind. i really appreciate you looking out for me <3 tbh i’ve been feeling really overwhelmed lately, and it’s been really hard to deal with the emotions, but coming on here and seeing sweet works n ppl interacting w my stories brings me lots of happiness n i can’t thank you enough :’’) yes i will definitely take my time bahahha that i can assure you LOL and i’m so happy to know you’re looking forward to more of my works!! you’re so right about artists/authors being our own worst critics. i swear no one has been as mean to my writing as i have LMFAOOO but alas i think i’ve gotten better in trusting my direction n kinda choosing what i think is best soooo. progress i suppose? hahah

ok. now. i can talk about. THE ART?!?!?!?!? HELLO!!!!!!! OH MY GODD?!?!!?!?! ok i KNOWWW that’s it’s just a sketch so far but tell me whERE MY PANTIES HAVE GONE?!?!?!? WHERE MY CLOTHES ARE AT?!?!??!

the expression on kickoff gojo’s face has me reeling he looks so focused n sexy and THE HEADBAND PUSHING HIS HAIR UP OUT OF HIS FACE YES YES YES 100% THAT’S HOW I PICTURE IT WHEN I WRITE AAA and kickoff geto’s expression too pls i could cum (sorry i hope this isn’t weird to say lmfaooo i am also very respectfully looking at your artwork as well aaa) nanami’s hair looks so nice too

as for the uniforms hmm i know i said like gold and blue colors, i believe actual real-life UTOKYO has more of a yellowish color but i actually like gold better hence why i chose gold. but…i can imagine the whole jersey being blue and then with gold accents then white numbering?

here are some options!! like w the first one, probs sky blue fabric with the white stripes as gold instead, and then the numbers/brand sponsors or whatever are in white? they would probs have like “UTOKYO” in large print somewhere too, maybe underneath their numbers or sumn. tbh i think the middle one is the nicest, i can picture the stripes of blue and gold, and then accents in white. but the third one also works too!!

as for numbers hmm. ok yes gojo is #10, geto is #7, choso is #4 and nanami is #24 :0 that sounds…about right! LOL i hope i don’t have it somewhere in the other chapters that they are different numbers although i don’t think i’ve assigned the other boys numbers before

BUT I HOPE THIS HELPS AND THANKS SOSOSOSOSOSO MUCH FOR DRAWING FANART INSPIRED BY MY FIC!!!! I AM SO HUMBLED BY YOU AND I’M SOOOO EXCITED TO SEE THE FINAL DRAWING BUT ALSO NO PRESSURE AAAAAAAA

so much loveee <333

[tswaney17]

I Do Bad Things with You - Part 40

Ask and you shall receive. 😏 I've been sitting on this update for a while now and I can't believe it's time to share it. We are so close to the end of this fic and it just floors me completely how far this story has come. 🥺 On a side note, I have something very special coming for the 3rd anniversary coming in July. Stay tuned for more! 💙💚💜

My fanfic account: @tswaney17fics​​​

My ao3 account: tswaney17

Please let me know what you think about this update. I love getting your feedback. Constructive criticism is always welcome. 💕

Catch up here.

Credit to @featherymalignancy for Cassian’s nickname, Cash. 😘

Trigger warnings: violence, sexual assault , language, NSFW

Word Count: 9,125

A few weeks after their getaway, Azriel was ready to pop the question. He took the day off to prep the penthouse, asking for help from Rhys and Feyre in setting up seeing as Nesta and Cassian were locked down at home in prepping for their newest arrival as they approached Nesta’s due date. He ordered an atrocious number of flowers (as Elain would likely put it), both red roses and blush-colored peonies alike. Even went as far as requesting cases of rose petals to line the walkway from the elevator to the piano. It would be a mess to clean up but she was worth every effort.

He and Rhys had managed to swivel the instrument around so it faced the elevator doors rather than the window so he could watch her as he played. At least a hundred candles were sporadically placed about the room and kitchen, giving off enough light to see clearly while having the regular ones turned off.

It was every shade of romantic. And, of course, he didn’t want to miss getting her reaction on film, so he grabbed a few of the small cameras from work and hid them amongst the décor to capture her and him from multiple angles.

Everything was perfect—exactly how he envisioned the proposal. His siblings bid him goodbye, once they finished helping him, not wanting to get caught by Elain when she made her way home.

He was just sprinkling the last of the rose petals on the floor, already in his most expensive suit and tie when Fenrys texted him and told him they had just left the hospital.

Azriel’s nerves kicked up—such an unusual emotion for him to experience. It’s not like he thought Elain wouldn’t say yes, but they never had really talked about marriage aside from those blind statements about being the only one for each other back when they first got back together. He wanted to make it a complete surprise, hence the at-home proposal rather than getting her dressed up to go out. Azriel had no worries that Elain wouldn’t care about whether she was in some dress or a pair of scrubs.

He checked his pocket for the fifth time since he had gotten dressed, verifying the box was still inside. The ring itself was stunning. There really was no other way to describe it. Rose-gold in color, it was large, though not ostentatious enough that Elain would be hesitant to accept it. The band looked like a vine, with leaves at the top, framing a three-tiered diamond center. It was masterfully crafted to look like a flower, something he specified when he helped design it. The ring was intricate, one-of-a-kind, and hands down the most beautiful piece of jewelry he’d ever laid his eyes on.

Az took a seat at the piano, stretching his fingers as he waited. The ding of his phone announced that Elain was in the elevator on her way up to the penthouse. Taking a deep breath, Azriel set his scarred fingers on the keys and began to play.

The doors pinged open and she stepped out slowly. Even from across the room, he could see the emotions on her face. Surprise at first. Maybe a little disbelief. And then the realization of what was happening. Silver lined her incredible doe eyes as she looked across the room at him.

And then, he started to sing.

What would I do without your smart mouth? Drawing me in and you kicking me out. You've got my head spinning, no kidding, I can't pin you down. What's going on in that beautiful mind? I'm on your magical mystery ride. And I'm so dizzy, don't know what hit me, But I'll be alright.

Elain strolled closer, having dropped her bag on the floor without a care in the world. Tears were rolling down her flushed cheeks as he continued singing.

'Cause all of me, Loves all of you. Love your curves and all your edges, All your perfect imperfections. Give your all to me, I'll give my all to you. You're my end and my beginning, Even when I lose, I'm winning.

Azriel sang with every inflection of his voice. Every piece of his heart was put out on display for her. His love, his joy, and his dedication to her mixed into the words he poured from his very soul.

I give you all of me. And you give me all of you, oh oh.

And when he was finished, she was crying in earnest at the side of the piano, fingertips covering her mouth. He slid off the bench, standing in front of her before sinking onto a single knee.

Elain choked out a sob. The emotion, the love on her face was enough to make his heart stop.

Azriel gave her a broad smile. “Elain Violet Archeron—my love. You have always been the brightest shining star in my life. From the moment I met you, I knew you were going to be someone special in my life. Little did I know that the girl that I sat next to in biology, the one that I pegged with a soccer ball in gym class would one day become the love of my life.

“I have never met anyone as kind as you. As generous and loving. As resilient as you. Despite all that we’ve been through—and knowing this proposal is coming over a decade late—we’ve built this incredible, beautiful, beyond-my-wildest-dreams life together. There isn’t anyone else I would rather share it with.” He flicked open the box, enticing a gasp from her chest. “So, my sweet, my love, my Elain… Would you do the absolute honor of marrying me?”

Elain fell to her knees, weeping, and clutched him to her. “Az,” she croaked, barely able to get the words out.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her up as her body shook from the force of her sobs. Kissing her temple, he waited until she calmed down enough to speak.

“I can’t believe you did all of this…” she murmured, sniffing and wiping the tears from her eyes.

Cupping the side of her face, Azriel brought their lips together for a gentle kiss. “You deserve all of this and more, El.”

She laughed softly. “Who knew you were such a romantic.”

“Well, this romantic is still waiting for an answer to my question.” He needed her to answer more than he needed oxygen in his lungs. Blood in his heart.

Those beautiful, brown eyes, shining bright with golden hues flicked up to his face. “Yes.” A broad grin overtook her face. “My answer is yes. It has always been yes.”

Seizing her mouth in a ferocious kiss, Azriel pushed his utter bliss, his love and devotion, his overwhelming need for her into that single moment. Kissing her was like tasting spring. It was lovely and sweet and warm.

It was home.

Azriel had found his home in her, and he vowed to himself to never let anyone take that away from him.

She gripped his shirt, pulling him harder against her before she flattened her palm on his chest, clearing her throat in an indication that he should put the ring on her.

He did just that, removing the ring from the box and sliding it over her finger. It fit perfectly. “You know, this is the first time you haven’t complained about receiving jewelry from me.” It was a terrible joke, but Elain laughed.

“Would you like me to complain?” she teased.

A nervousness touched his face, something he knew she picked up on. “If you don’t like it, then yes.”

Elain cupped his cheeks between her palms, the coolness of the ring a stark contrast to his heated skin. “Azriel, I love it. It’s beyond anything I ever pictured myself wearing. Wherever did you find it?”

His thumb swept under the back of her scrub, finding the soft skin of her spine. “I had it custom-made with my specifications. I wanted you to have something that was uniquely yours. That nothing similar would ever sit on somebody else’s hand.”

Crawling onto his lap until her knees were slotted on either side of his hips, she stroked his cheek with her fingers, leaning forward to kiss him softly. “You are, without a doubt, the most thoughtful man I have ever met. And this ring,” she held her hand between them, “is the most gorgeous thing I have ever laid my eyes on. But it means even more to me because you had a hand in its creation. I will never stop questioning what I have done to deserve you.”

He pressed her palm to his chest, over his heart. Let her feel its thundering beat. “You deserve better than me, Elain. But I will spend the rest of my life trying to prove to you that you made the right choice in me.”

“We deserve each other, Azriel. You are my life, my always.” Like she needed to prove it to him, she kissed him, melting into his embrace as she pushed his suit jacket off his shoulders and then started working on his tie, loosening it to pull it over his head.

Sensing where her intentions were going, he stopped her from shrugging off her scrub top. “Hang on,” he breathed heavily against her lips. “I have cameras set up around the penthouse to capture the proposal on video. Let me turn those off before we do anything.” Az rose on his knees, lifting them up slightly to reach into his pocket for his phone.

But Elain’s hand on his wrist had him freezing, and looking back into her eyes. “Leave them on.”

Surprise had his brows shooting into his hairline.

She slid her fingers back into the hair at his nape. “I want to record this entire moment. Just for us. Please, Az…”

Her nails scratched at his scalp, sending shivers down his spine. He would’ve asked her if she was sure about it, knowing a sex video was a very personal, dangerous thing to commit to. But looking at her face, he didn’t need to. Az could read the unending trust, the assuredness of her answer without her having to voice it. So, he set his phone on the ground, gripped the hem of her scrub top, and pulled it over her head.

Elain’s fingers went to his shirt, flying down the buttons to help him shrug out of the garment.

It took some maneuvering, but they managed to get each other undressed and her back onto his lap, him on his knees. His cock was hard and aching to be sunk into her warm, wet heat, but Az took his time to worship her body. Kissing her neck and delicate collarbones, sucking marks everywhere he went. His teeth grazed her pert nipple, suckling it until her back arched and she moaned, low and throatily.

Elain’s hair cascaded down her back, tangling in his fingers gripping her and keeping her pressed into him. She pushed her pelvis forward, rubbing him between her legs and producing just the right friction that had them both groaning. “Az,” she whined. “Please…” Her scrunched-up face of pleasure was the sexiest, most adorable thing.

“What do you need, Elain?” he breathed against the shell of her ear. “Tell me what you need.” Azriel licked that sensitive spot behind her ear making her shudder in his arms.

She clutched him, fingers gripping him hard enough that his tanned skin would be peppered with little bruises.

Fuck he loved wearing her marks on his body.

Fingers gripping his hair, she let out this needy little sound that had his balls tightening. It was like his body was wired to her touch, her presence, the cute little noises she made when they were hot and heavy. Just a simple sigh from her lips could have him hardening in his pants in the most pathetic way. He was utterly a goner for her. Mind, body, and soul, he was hers and she was his.

“I need you,” she cried, tugging on his hair.

It wasn’t enough for him. “You have me, El. I’m right here, love,” he murmured into the skin of his neck.

Elain made a growling sound, her hands in his hair tightening and forcing him to look up at her. Her eyes were blown wide with lust, wholly dark with just a ring of brown around her pupils. “I need you inside me, Az. I need your cock. Fuck me, please!”

“Good fucking girl,” he groaned, slipping his fingers between them and circling her entrance. “Fuck, Elain. You’re so wet and needy for me, aren’t you?”

His touch had her crying out, hips undulating and grinding against his hand. “Now, Azriel,” she demanded.

Who was he to deny his queen—no. His fiancée… His large hands engulfed her rear, lifting her. “Put me where you want me, love.”

Elain reached between them, grabbing his cock in her small hand and pumping him twice, spreading the slick that had rubbed on it from between her legs. She lined him up and slowly sank, taking him inch by glorious inch, filling her, stretching her fluttering passage until he was completely submerged in her wet pussy.

He held her still, giving her those few moments to adjust to his size, and if he were being honest, the time he needed to collect himself so he didn’t bust a nut upon their initial joining. He always had to take a few moments to catch his breath when he first entered her. She just fit him so damn well, like she was fucking made for him. Azriel had been with a lot of women but never had anyone felt as heavenly as Elain. “Fuck me, El. You’re so goddamn tight.”

Her breaths grazed his neck as she buried her face into the junction of his shoulder. “I can see you inside me,” she whispered like she was trying so hard not to come right there too.

You and me both, baby, he almost said. Instead, he looked down between them, and sure as fuck, there was a bulge in her lower abdomen, his dick imprinting itself in her body. “Jesus fuck,” he groaned. He released one hand from her ass and placed his palm over the bulge, adding pressure to it.

Elain moaned, her arms tightening around his neck as she held him closer to her.

“Ride me, El.”

On shaky legs, she rose until only his tip remained inside of her and slowly sank back down. The sensation of the added pressure was indescribable. His name tumbled from her lips in the most delectable sound.

He guided her into slow thrusts down onto him, wanting to make this more about intimacy than just fucking. Elain’s high sex drive often had them fucking quick and hard. The rare times when he’d slow them down because he wanted to make love to her too were some of his favorites. The tenderness of their fingers linked while he rolled his hips into hers, their constant eye contact. Azriel wanted this one to be like that. So, when she started to pick up her pace, he slowed her back down with his palm cradling her behind. “It’s not a race, baby. Take your time.”

Elain’s gorgeous eyes blinked open, understanding why he wanted to take it slowly. She cupped his face between her palms, her engagement ring sparkling in the candlelight, and kissed him. It was heated, but it wasn’t the clash of teeth and tongues like they normally did when they had sex. Pacing herself, she rode him leisurely, savoring every inch of him, every pass of his cock over the spot deep inside her.

He twisted his hand still pressed to her abdomen so he could circle her clit with his thumb.

Her body shuddered and she broke off their kiss to whimper. With her forehead pressed to his, he could watch every twitch of her face. “Azriel,” she drawled out the syllables of his name. “I’m so—so close. Don’t stop.”

Drawing her lips in for another kiss, he breathed into her mouth. “Never.”

It only took a few more strokes down his cock until she crested into her orgasm, her sweet pussy fluttering around his member and drawing him to his pleasure.

Elain’s arm reached down the middle of his back, nails digging into his tattooed skin and clawing him as her release washed over her. She clung to him like he would be ripped from her. But like hell was anything ever coming between them again.

He would burn the entire world to the ground for her.

Azriel used his strength to slide her up and down his cock, prolonging their combined pleasure and pushing his seed deep inside of her. She’d be leaking it for hours after much to his masculine pride and male satisfaction.

Her body went limp against his chest as she panted heavily, fingers tangling in the hair at his nape. “My fiancé,” she grinned into his neck.

He chuckled lightly. “Fiancée does have a nice ring to it, but I can’t fucking wait to call you my wife.”

The soft, feminine laugh she let out brightened up the darkest corners of his heart, his soul until he was flooded with light. “My future husband,” she corrected. Her fingers danced along his jaw. “I love you, Azriel. Wherever life takes us, I’m blessed to have you by my side through it all. Now and forever.”

Capturing his mouth in a searing kiss, he gently laid her down on the floor. “My heart, my body, my soul is yours, Elain. Only and always yours.”

Covering her with his massive frame, Azriel made love to his future wife over and over again until she was utterly spent and blissfully happy.

~~~~~

It had been a month and a half since their engagement, and the entire time had been a blur for Elain. Aside from getting engaged, which she was ecstatic about, Nesta and Cassian welcomed their baby girl to the world.

They had their baby shower just three weeks before her arrival, inviting many of Nesta’s friends and coworkers and a few of Cassian’s. Azriel had been exceptionally affectionate during the whole ordeal, even going as far as to lift her off the couch and sit down, placing her on his lap.

It was a little bizarre to her, Azriel typically keeping most of his endearing affections to the privacy of their home. This overt display of it had her finally asking him what he was doing.

“Nesta’s paralegal hit on me at the grocery store a few months ago,” he told her, wrapping his arms around her.

Elain glanced towards the young girl, whom she had noticed was giving her fiancé heated looks throughout the shower. “Are you scared of her?” she teased.

Az nipped at her jaw with his teeth. “No, brat. I just want to make sure she knows I am happily taken.”

She slid her left hand to his cheek, making sure her diamond ring was on display. “Don’t worry, my love. I’ll keep you safe.” And then she kissed him in a way that was highly inappropriate for a baby shower, but it did the trick. The girl stopped making eyes at her man for the remainder of the party.

And then three weeks later, her niece was born.

Sutton Mazaei was the most beautiful little girl she had ever seen. With Cassian’s dark hair and skin tone and Nesta’s blue-grey eyes, she was guaranteed to be a showstopper when she was older, much to Cassian’s dismay.

“She’s never dating,” he had said to her and Azriel when they visited them at the hospital.

Elain took careful notice of how her fiancé acted when she placed her in his arms. Was it cliché to say her uterus pulsed at the sight of him holding a baby? He looked honestly terrified about having something so small and precious in his hands. She wasn’t sure if she should ask him about it or not, so she didn’t, taking the bundle back when he offered.

Now she was at the grocery store, having offered to go get the new parents some supplies while they enjoyed their new little one. It was her day off, but she pre-coordinated with the Moonbeam twins to come with her, knowing that Azriel was still nervous about the silence from Elias.

They were in the produce section when she heard her name being called.

“Elain! Elain Archeron!”

Turning around, she saw Clare Beddor, her old coworker from the bank, waving at her.

“Clare!” she grinned, excusing herself from the twins and making her way over to her old friend. Well, a friend was a strong word for their relationship. Acquaintance felt like a better description of what they were.

The brunette pulled her into a hug. “It’s been well over a year since I last saw you,” she gushed. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” Elain said honestly. “I’ve been busy with work. And my sister just had a baby. I’m shopping for her and her hus—”

“Oh, my god,” she interrupted, snatching Elain’s left hand. “Look at the size of that ring! You’re engaged?” Clare shouted, causing a few heads to turn in her direction. “Whom are you engaged to that can afford a rock like this?” She eyeballed the two men with her. “Is it one of them? Please tell me it’s not the golden blond because I’d climb him like a cat in a tree.”

Elain looked over her shoulder at the two males who were obviously pretending they weren’t listening to the entire conversation; saw the slight hue on Fenrys’s cheeks. She softly laughed. “No, they’re… well, they’re a part of my security team.”

Clare’s eyes went wide. “You have a security team? Mother, Elain. Whom are you marrying?”

“Um,” she hesitated. “His name is Azriel.”

Recognition flared in those green eyes. “Wait… You’re telling me you bagged Azriel Knight? The Azriel Knight? Multi-millionaire Azriel Knight? That Azriel Knight?”

“You know it’s weird that you keep saying his full name.”

One of the reasons that Elain tolerated Clare, but didn’t consider her a friend was one—she was a notorious gossip, and two—she was judgmental as hell. She saw the shift in the other woman’s features that had her taking a small step back. Without even seeing them, she knew Fenrys and Connall took note of that step and slowly shifted to face them.

“How the hell did you bag him?”

It was a derogative question, but Elain let it slide. “We dated in high school and reconnected about a year ago.” She didn’t need to tell her what exactly brought them crashing back together.

Clare crossed her arms, judgment radiating off her entire form. “Well, you’ll have to introduce me to his brothers. He has some, right?”

Oh boy. Typical Clare and her hunt for men. “He does. Adoptive ones, however, they’re married to my sisters.”

The woman scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Like always, you Archerons take every good bachelor in this god’s forsaken city. Nesta had Cassian wrapped around her finger in high school. And now you’re engaged to the most eligible bachelor in Velaris. Did you leave anything for the rest of us mere mortals?”

The utter disdain in her voice had Elain recoiling. It was enough to have the Moonbeam twins come up to her and try and herd her away. But like hell was she going to let her have the last word. “Last time I checked, Clare, we’re not responsible for your love life. If you want to find a decent man, perhaps you should present yourself as a less judgmental person.” Shock rippled across her face at Elain’s comments, but she didn’t let that deter her. “Take care.”

Fenrys placed his hand on the small of her back and guided her away from the fuming woman back over to their cart. “She seems pleasant,” he muttered once they were out of earshot.

Elain snorted. “Understatement of the century.”

“How do you know her?” Connall asked from a step behind them, guarding her back.

“We worked at the bank together but she went to school with my sisters and me. Graduated a year ahead of Nesta and Cash.”

“She seemed plenty interested in you, brother,” the dark-haired twin sniped, clapping Fen on the shoulder.

Elain whipped her head to look up at the other twin. “Please, no. Clare’s not good company to keep.” She stopped in the drink aisle, grabbing a few energy drinks for Cassian. The dark circles under his eyes told her he could use a caffeine boost as he did everything he could to support his wife.

“Jealous, Archeron?” Fen teased grinning down at her.

She shook her head, huffing a laugh. “No, but I do know somebody for you if you’re interested.” Since Azriel’s proposal, it seemed Fenrys had finally gotten a grip on his feelings for her, falling back into the more friendly nature of their relationship rather than the strict, professional setting they had regressed to for months.

Those bright eyes lit up in surprise. “You do?”

Elain nodded, pushing the cart forward and making it seem like she was a bit aloof to his eagerness. “Mhmm. She’s a recently graduated nurse. Very beautiful. Dark brown hair and these emerald green eyes. Kind, courageous, and incredibly smart. I think she would suit you.”

He stopped her with a hand on his shoulder. “What is her name?”

A smile tugged on her lips. “Lysandra. Her name is Lysandra Ennar.” She watched him mouth the name like he was tasting it on his tongue. Reaching for the pack of Cassian’s preferred energy drinks, she said, “I’ll introduce you two next week.” Glancing back at the tall male, Elain swore she saw a blush dusting his cheeks when he ducked his head. Yeah, they would be really cute together.

~~~

“A little birdy told me that you set up my new nurse with Fenrys,” Viviane cooed as they made their way toward the front of the hospital.

Elain flashed her an innocent look. “Should I not have?”

The head nurse raised a brow. “I don’t see him going anywhere soon; I just want to make sure he’s not going to use her and break her heart. I don’t need her quitting right after we hired her. You know I need the hands, Ellie.”

She could understand her friend’s concern, but it wasn’t fair to judge Fenrys without knowing him. “Don’t fret about them. Fen seemed really interested in her and they hit it off when I introduced them a few days ago. I don’t think that’s what this is.”

Viv looked like she was going to say something else, but didn’t as they approached the hospital lobby and found said man waiting for her. “Afternoon ladies. Good day?”

Elain smiled at him. “It was, thanks, Fen.”

He ushered them both outside, listening to the two girls chatted about the most bizarre case of the day when they were ambushed by an influx of people.

“ELAIN ARCHERON! ELAIN CAN WE GET A QUOTE!”

Flashes blinded her. She startled, like a deer caught in the headlights, then cried out when they surged forward, curling into her friend. Their shouts echoed around them like church bells ringing.

Viviane grabbed her arm while Fenrys barked out, “Get back!”

“HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DATING AZRIEL KNIGHT? WHEN IS THE WEDDING?”

She had no idea how the paparazzi found out about their engagement, but their swarming her had her panic rising. Elain gripped Viviane’s hand, especially when they started reaching for her, trying to pull her away from the nurse and Fenrys. Her anxiety made it hard to breathe, the air coming out in quick, short pants. And then she heard him.

“Move.” Azriel’s thundered, midnight voice and his presence had the crowd parting. He towered over most of the mob making it easy for her to spot him. The look of utter wrath on his face had some people stepping back; others fled outright. He made a beeline straight for her, pulling her from Viviane and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Head down,” he told her.

Elain had no hesitation about hiding in his embrace, fist clutching his shirt.

“MR. KNIGHT! TELL US ABOUT THE WEDDING!” the paparazzi called out, chasing after them like a hive of pissed-off bees.  

Azriel ignored them, tugging her to his other car where Cerridwen already had the back door open for her. “Get in,” he said, voice softening as he spoke to her.

She climbed in, letting him shut the door behind her once securely inside, and quickly made his way to the other side. As soon as he was inside, Cerridwen took off, the other car with the Moonbeam twins following close behind. Elain let herself be pulled across the seat into Az’s lap, him not giving a shit about the seatbelt or the law.

He cupped her face in his scarred palms and let his thumb swoop over the apples of her cheeks. “Are you all right?”

Physically? Yes, she was fine. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her breathing was still short, but overall, she was fine. Mentally, however, was another story. Elain nodded. “I’m okay.”

It was obvious he didn’t believe her, but let her white lie slide.

“What are you doing here?” she asked instead.

He grabbed something from the door and handed it to her. “Nuala saw this at the store this afternoon. I had a feeling you were going to be ambushed.”

It was the same magazine that blasted them on the cover after the fundraiser, and there they were again. Az’s portrait was front and center, taking up most of the front page. A small image of them walking into and out of the fundraiser was placed over it like a collage. She read through the headline.

Velaris’s Most Eligible Bachelor: Off the Market? Azriel Knight of Knight Securities engaged to Dr. Elain Archeron of Velaris Medical Center.

Elain flipped open the magazine to the article.

Sorry, ladies. He’s taken. Azriel Knight of Knight Securities is rumored to be engaged with Dr. Elain Archeron, a surgeon at Velaris Medical Center. Elain is the sister of the world-renowned artist, Feyre Archeron (married Rhysand Archeron [Knight]), and prominent defense attorney, Nesta (Archeron) Mazaei (married Cassian Mazaei).

No confirmation has been received by Knight’s team.

So, who is Elain Archeron? Born and raised in Velaris, she attended Velaris High and went to…

She closed the article, her skin going cold at how they blasted their lives in some sleazy tabloid.

Azriel rested his palm on her thigh, thumb stroking. “I will find out who leaked our engagement, Elain.”

But Elain didn’t need him to find out. Because she already knew who leaked it. “I think it was me,” she whispered, looking down at her fingers tangled in her lap. They hadn’t planned on announcing to the press yet, knowing they would eventually have to with Az’s status. It wasn’t something they could just sweep under the rug and wanted to be in control of the situation.

Gentle fingers gripped her chin and turned her face up to look at him. “Talk to me, love.”

Elain breathed heavily, shoulders drooping. “A few days ago, you remember I ran into my old coworker at the grocery store?” He nodded. “Well, she saw the ring on my hand and started asking all these questions, wanting to know whom I was engaged to. I just said your first name, but she seemed to put it together based on the size of the ring and your name. She’s a fairly aggressive person when she wants something and blames others for her failures.” Guilt washed over her. “I snapped. She must’ve gone to the press with the information for a quick buck. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for, El. She took our private information and sold it. This is, unfortunately, a common issue when living in the spotlight. So we didn’t get to announce it the way we wanted to. Oh well. I’ll have my team work up something for us and we can go over it together.”

She threw her arms around his neck as they pulled into the garage under their building. “I’m fine with that. Thank you, Azriel. I didn’t mean to create more work for your team.”

He waved her off. “Don’t even worry about it. This is literally what I pay them for.” He kissed the side of her head shuffling her off his lap so he could open the door and help her out.

Fenrys and Connall parked next to them, climbing out of the car.

“What the hell is going on?” the former demanded.

Elain knew he probably felt blind-sighted by the commotion outside the hospital, and maybe a little responsible that he couldn’t control the situation.

“Our engagement was leaked. The press is hounding us for a statement.”

“Mr. Knight, we apologize for not being more prepared. I didn’t even see them outside when I went to get the car for Elain.”

Azriel waved a hand. “They know I’m difficult to capture—I’m notorious for getting around them. So, I’m not surprised they hid to get something from her. They probably assumed I would’ve coached her into being like me.”

“We won’t be caught unawares again,” Connall told him with determination.

Elain went wide-eyed. “Again? You think this is going to become a regular occurrence?”

Her fiancé gripped her hip in comfort. “Unfortunately, yes. I don’t see them backing down anytime soon. So, we’ll need a different plan of attack to get you in and out of the hospital.”

“There’s a back door entrance,” she announced. “It’s typically used by vendors for shipments, but I can get in with my keycard.”

Fenrys grinned. “We like backdoor entrances a lot.”

Az nodded in agreement. “I think that’s a good idea, at least for now. Hopefully, they’ll get tired of trying to capture you in about a week or so.”

Elain laid her head on his bicep, wishing for that too.

~~~

Two months.

It had been two months since the incident with the paparazzi and Elain was still using the back door to get into and out of the hospital unseen. They had even taken it upon themselves to flood the lobby a few times trying to snap her photo, catching her once or twice and inserting her on the cover of that damn magazine. They dug into her past, blasting her sexual assault case into the public and how Graysen essentially walked from it, pulling him into the limelight.

His father filed a defamation suit against her for it, which Azriel’s lawyers aggressively shot down. And though Nesta was still on maternity leave, even she was on the phone harassing the press about privacy and threatening to turn the Nolan name to mud if they so much as even breathed Elain’s name again.

She could barely sleep; was constantly woken up with nightmares of absolutely everything. It was thoroughly exhausting. And poor Azriel was desperately trying to keep her calm, always sitting up with her at night when those dreams plagued her until he could coax her back to sleep.

Everything about the situation was absolutely ridiculous.

“It’s only going to get worse,” she said, leaning against Azriel’s desk. He was currently going back and forth with his PR team about how they should navigate the whole ordeal since none of them had expected this to last for as long as it had. “The physical wedding might put them into an actual feral frenzy.”

Azriel pinched the bridge of his nose, groaning in frustration, and shoved his chair back from his desk. He turned to look at her and something about the way he did so made her gut churn with anxiety. “You still want to get married, right?” The hesitation, the nervousness in his voice told her just how scared he was that all of this might have changed her mind about him.

Elain moved, perching herself on his lap. “Yes, Azriel. Of course, I still want to get married. Nothing—and I mean nothing—would ever stop me from wanting to marry you.”

He breathed out a sigh of relief, wrapping an arm around her waist and tugging her closer to his chest. “I’m going to have to add security for the wedding. There’s just no way our current team can hold back this mob.”

She stroked a finger down his chest. “What if they didn’t know when or where we were getting married?”

Those beautiful hazel eyes glanced down at her, indicating that she should elaborate.

“What if we eloped?” she asked, voice hushed.

“Don’t,” he said adamantly. “Don’t do that. Don’t let them take away our wedding.” His hands twisted her body on him, forcing her leg over his hips to straddle his lap.

Elain took his face between her palms, her diamond ring glinting in the sunlight coming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows. “Azriel…We don’t need a huge wedding. The only thing I need is you standing by my side as we say ‘I do.’”

“You deserve to have the wedding of your dreams, Elain. I want to give that to you.”

She swiped her thumb across his cheek. “You have given me everything, Az. Everything and more. I never wanted a giant wedding. That was never my dream. I’m too simplistic to have desired something like that—you know that.” She paused, debating if she should say the rest. “Graysen wanted a big wedding. He wanted the three hundred guests and the attention from it. So, he was planning the monstrosity of a party, and frankly, I dreaded the whole idea of it. The only thing I need, the only thing I want is just to be married to you.” She leaned forward to kiss him softly. “So, whether we get married at the courthouse or here on the balcony, it doesn’t matter to me. I just want to be your wife.”

Azriel surged forward, capturing her mouth in a heated kiss. “How did I end up with you as my fiancée?” he asked, groaning against her lips.

Elain giggled. “Sheer persistence and ungodly attractiveness.”

He barked out a laugh, throwing his head back and exposing his throat. His amber eyes sparkled with mirth. “You’re sure about this, El?” he asked her, always checking to make sure she was certain of her decisions.

“I’m sure.” There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in her voice.

A smile cracked across his face. “We’re not getting married at the courthouse. That I refuse. You deserve much better than the goddamn courthouse. And we’re not getting married at our place.”

She rolled her eyes at his insistence—honestly, she didn’t care where they got married, only that they did. But as she looked at his face, an idea struck her. “What about on the beach? In the Summer District? We could take the jet; invite our siblings, though I’m not sure if Nesta and Cassian will come because Sutton is so little.”

He tugged her closer into his chest, scarred fingers finding their way under her shirt to stroke her bare skin. “I think a beach wedding is exactly what we need.”

“During the sunset, at dusk,” she told him.

A chuckle passed his lips. “Of course. Whatever your heart desires, it shall be.” He leaned forward to kiss her neck, teeth scraping the soft skin. “Now for a date—when do you wish to be married, my love?”

It was hard to concentrate when he ravished her with his mouth, but she forced her mind to focus. “Next month?”

That had him pulling back to look at her face, eyes going wide. “Next month? Are you sure?”

The hopefulness in his tone nearly broke her heart. “Yes, Azriel. I want to be your wife and you my husband already. The sooner the better.”

“I fucking love you, Elain Archeron.” His mouth crashed to hers in a bruising kiss. It was hot, all teeth and tongue. “I can’t wait to take your last name.”

“You’re what?” she spluttered between his kisses.

“Azriel Archeron has a lovely ring to it, don’t you think,” he admitted like he had thought about this a lot.

She blinked. Was he serious? “Azriel, I can’t let you just take my name.”

He frowned. “Why not?”

“Because you have an entire empire behind your last name. How would it look if Azriel Archeron was the head of Knight Securities?”

The man scoffed. “You think I care about that? It’s still my company. Besides, there’s no way I’m letting you change your name when you have a medical degree associated with it. You earned that, Elain. It’s Doctor Archeron, not Doctor Knight.”

Shit… He had thought about it. A lot, clearly. Secretly, Elain adored Azriel Archeron—AA. But she didn’t want to erase his name completely. Her fingers toyed with the hair at his nape. “What about a compromise?”

His brow raised. “I’m listening.”

“We hyphenate. Knight-Archeron.”

Az pursed his lips. “No.” Surprise lit her features, then melted when he continued. “Archeron-Knight. Your name comes first.”

Her eyes soften as she looked at this gorgeous, kind, completely beautiful man. “Azriel and Elain Archeron-Knight. It sounds perfect.”

He closed the distance between them, sharing a special, intimate moment between them. “How about I show the future Mrs. Archeron-Knight just exactly what that name does to me?”

With barely a thought, Azriel had her out of her shirt, bare from the waist up. His mouth went right for her breast, sucking her nipple deep until her back arched, a sultry moan passing between her parted lips.

But Elain had other ideas, halting the progression of his lips. When he looked at her curiously, she flashed a little smirk. “I have other ideas.” Rolling her hips down onto his, she slipped off his lap, stripped out of her bottoms and underwear, and knelt on the floor between his legs. “You’re going to let the future Mrs. Archeron-Knight show you exactly how much you mean to her.” Raising herself on her knees, Elain dropped a kiss on his hardening cock, still confined by pants.

Azriel hissed, threading a scarred hand in her thick locks. “Baby, you’re too fucking good to me.”

Elain had never really enjoyed giving blowjobs. Graysen liked receiving them but he never reciprocated after she finished him. But after that night when she had given one to Azriel, she found that she enjoyed it. She liked giving him pleasure, hearing just how much she affected him and the praise that tumbled from his lips made her eager to get her mouth on his cock. It also didn’t hurt that he tasted fucking good—as weird as it sounded.

He didn’t often let her go down on him, always wanting to save himself to sink his hard member into her wet heat. But when he did give in to her, she fucking devoured him.

Reaching up, she popped the button on his jeans and tugged down his fly. She slid her hand in, stroking his cock twice before tugging his pants and boxers down to his knees. Looking at Azriel’s erect cock was always a sight to behold. His sheer size, the vein feeding it always made her mouth go dry.

“You looking at my cock like it’s a fucking meal is about to make me combust, El,” he groaned, fisting the hold on her hair.

Elain gripped him tightly, earning a heavenly sigh from his parted lips. Licking him like her personal lollipop, she wasted no time in engulfing him with her lips.

“Fuck, baby,” he moaned, using her hair as leverage to control the speed and depth of her bobbing.

She worked him deep into her throat, breathing steadily through her nose as he pushed her farther and farther down. Elain relaxed the muscles of her neck until he slipped past her mouth and she gagged, spit drooling from her lips and onto her hand. Her fingers twisted, sliding over the rest of his hard member that she couldn’t fit into her mouth.

Elain sucked, cheeks hollowing as she pulled that pleasurable sensation from deep in his gut. He was getting close, she could tell by the sounds that came from him, how his fist seemed to tighten further in her hair, how his cock twitched between her lips.

Just when she was about to slide him down her throat, they heard it. The distinct sound of the elevator doors opening.

She tugged him out of her mouth with an audible pop, eyes widening in alarm when Rhys’s voice echoed down the hallway.

“Azriel?” he called out.

Elain snatched her clothes from the ground and scrambled under his desk, Az following close behind her and sliding his chair far underneath to avoid him seeing his naked thighs and his hard-on.  

“Office,” he grunted out, annoyance ringing clear in his voice.

Light footfalls came from the hallway and then she heard her brother enter the room. Elain was grateful that Azriel’s large desk went down to the floor, shielding her in shadow.

“What do you want?” her fiancé demanded.

“Well, hello to you too, brother,” Rhys purred. “I came to pick up the camera set.”

She had forgotten that with all shit going on, the constant digging into their personal lives, they had suggested their siblings put up some extra protection around their homes. Just to be safe. Azriel supplied them with a few extra camera equipment pieces that they could place around the house and monitor from their phones. Cassian had picked his and Nesta’s set up the day before, bringing little Sutton with him while Nesta took a break to shower and get some sleep.

“It’s on the counter.”

Elain had to cover her mouth to keep from giggling at Az’s brusque tone. Reaching forward, she gripped his cock again, the surprise had her fiancé’s knee slamming into the desk.

“Fuck!” he bellowed sliding his large hand on top of his leg to rub at the hurt.

There was a pause before Rhys asked, “Are you all right, man?”

She kissed his injury, then began to tease him, licking a stripe from base to tip on his dick.

Azriel cleared his throat. “I’m fine.” His tone of voice told her he was indeed, not fine. Not fine at all.

Elain wrapped her lips around his head, sucking quietly. Truthfully, she wanted to see how long he lasted before snarling at his brother to get out.

“Okay, well since you’re such pleasant company today,” Rhys said sarcastically, “Where’s Elain?”

Her name on her brother’s lips had her freezing, wondering why he was asking about her.

“She had to run to the grocery store,” he lied. “Why?”

Elain heard Rhys shuffling from foot to foot.

“I have this bite on my arm that’s getting large. I wanted her to look at it.”

“She’s a surgeon, Rhys,” he snapped. “Not your primary care physician. Go see your doctor for that shit.”

Elain struggled to stifle her laugh, clapping a hand over her mouth. Her shoulders shaking with the effort. Poor fucking Rhys. He was receiving the nasty end of Az’s temper without knowing why.

“You know, perhaps you should have her—” he stopped.

“Have her what?” Az gritted out between clenched teeth.

She slid him back into her mouth, hoping to relax him a bit, feeling the tension in his thighs. Slurping him down without making a sound took more effort than she anticipated, but she made it work.

“I was going to say, ‘Have her take care of you when she gets home,’ but I’m getting the distinct feeling she’s doing that right now.”

Elain choked, Azriel coughing to cover up the sound.

“Mhmm,” Rhys murmured, a twinkle in his voice that told her he knew exactly what was going on. “So, I’m just going to go. See you later.” His footsteps echoed out of the room and then he called out, “Bye, Elain!”

She waited until the elevator doors pinged before she started laughing.

“Do you think that was funny, you naughty girl,” Azriel said, sliding his chair out and hauling her from under his desk.

She grinned. “It was a little funny.”

“You sucking my cock while I tried to have a conversation with my brother is funny?” he asked incredulously.

Elain raised a brow. “It didn’t sound like you were trying to have any kind of conversation with him, baby. You were most definitely trying to get him out.”

“Because you were sucking my cock under my desk without a care in the world that we had company. And for that, you should get punished. Over my knee. Now.”

His change in posture, the way his voice took on that dominance had heat rushing to her core. She was wet already, but now she felt herself pulse around nothing, dripping with need. Elain rose on shaky legs. “What are you going to do? Spank me?”

Challenge flared in him. “You bet your sweet ass, I am. Bend. Over.” It wasn’t a request.

Was she really going to allow him to do this? Elain knew if she told him no, he’d stop immediately, but the curious creature inside of her, the one that he had coaxed out of her, was peeking an eye open at the idea. “Will it hurt?” she hesitated, fingers gripping each other.

His face softened, sensing her internal war. “There is a fine line between pleasure and pain. Will it sting? Yes. It will. But it is also pleasurable too. I promise not to take it too hard with you this first time. And if you don’t like it, you can tell me to stop at any time.” He held out a hand to her, an offering to try something new.

Elain hesitated just a moment longer before she took his hand and let herself be tugged over his lap.

Deft fingers swept between her legs, feeling how wet she was. “So needy for me already, my love. Let’s see how drenched we can get you before I fuck you against my desk.” He kneaded her backside, and Elain felt the blood rush to her cheeks at how exposed she felt. “We’ll start you off with five smacks. Count for me.”

Without giving her any other warning, his palm came down on her cheek, skin clapping skin. Elain yelped at the surprise assault, her body convulsing from it. It didn’t hurt, per se, but it stung a bit. Remembering he gave her an order, she gritted out, “One.”

“Good girl,” he murmured, rubbing over where he smacked before bringing his hand down again.

“Two,” she breathed, feeling herself getting wetter already.

“Louder, Elain,” he demanded, running his hand over the curve of her cheek. “I can’t hear you.”

“Two,” she squeaked again, earning another caress over her backside in satisfaction. By the third smack, her body melted into him, becoming more aroused. It didn’t help that his length was currently digging into her side. “Three,” Elain moaned, head bowing.

Az chuckled. “I can see your slick running down your legs, baby. Are you getting turned on?” he asked just as he brought his palm down again.

“Four.” She was barely able to focus over how fucking stimulated she was. Her backside was sore, but fuck did it send delicious tingles up her body.

His hand came down a final time.

“Five,” Elain cried out, body positively aching for release.

Two thick fingers plunged inside her center, meeting no resistance from how turned on she had become. “Good fucking girl, Elain. You took that so well and look at how soaked you are.” His voice was practically a growl as he pumped in and out of her, his thumb pressing down on her clit.

“Az,” she groaned, fingers clutching his body. “Feels good.” The words tumbled from her lips in a slur.

He pumped and stretched her, stroking that spot that had her shaking. “Come, my love. I need you to let go.”

She was barely hanging on as it was, erupting into her orgasm with a scream. Elain’s body clenched around his fingers still fucking her as she fell, and fell, and fell into her release. A surge of liquid ran down the backside of her thighs.

Azriel’s head dipped and then his tongue was licking her there, intensifying her pleasure and building her up at the same time. “My sexy girl looks so good when she comes,” he groaned into fluttering, pink sex. Pulling his fingers out of her, he readjusted her until she was straddling him and sank her onto his cock.

Elain’s arms automatically went around his neck, holding him close as she moaned from deep in her chest. She had slid onto him with ease, her body molding itself to accommodate his size and girth. Fuck he felt so good stretching her, filling her. She said as much out loud.

His hands on her hips raised her up and down his length, helping her fuck him. It was exquisite to feel him pulse inside of her. Every stroke had her seeing stars in her blissed-out state.

Azriel kicked off his pants and boxers, shuffling Elain in his lap before he rose from his chair and pinned her against the window, the cool glass a stark contrast to her heated skin.

Elain’s legs went around his waist, using it as leverage to match him thrust for thrust. “Az, please!” she cried out, tipping her head back against the glass.

He sank his teeth into the junction of her neck, sucking hard enough to leave a bruise.

The slight pain mixed with the pleasure of his hips snapping into hers had her cresting into oblivion again. Elain’s body pulsed, milking him and sending him hurdling into his release, spilling deep inside of her as he pushed into the hilt and stayed there, groaning into her skin.

They were sweaty and breathing heavily, each coming down from their high. Her delicate fingers swept through his damp hair, brushing the locks back from his face and forcing him to meet her eyes. She had never seen those amber irises shining so bright as they were then. “I can’t wait to call you my husband,” she murmured, leaning forward to kiss him softly.

A sound pitched from his throat as he carried her over to his desk and began to ravish her again.

~~~~~

Remember, sharing is caring! Please reblog if you liked the fic. It helps spread my work and I truly appreciate it. 💕

While I have moved these fics to AO3 only, I am still going to utilize a tag list here on Tumblr. This as a permanent solution and may change in the future. For notifications, you can follow and subscribe to my fanfic account where I will be reblogging updates and snippets only. You can also find me on ao3. If you would like to be added to my tag list, please leave a comment on this post.

My fanfic account: @tswaney17fics​

My ao3 account: tswaney17

Taglist: 

@nikethestatue

@reverie-tales

@123moiaussi

@duskwhisperer

@zdenkah

@nyxreads

@shedoessoshedoes

@athena-85

@jasmineandshadows

@nightcourtseer

@nivem565

@debramclaren

@illyrianvalkyriecarynthian

@secretpuppyflower

@justreallybored

@ultadverb

@the-regal-warrior

@roseandshadows

@tcursebreaker

@kingravinger

@mis-lil-red

@eloeloeheheh

@fawnandshadows

@swankii-art-teacher

@miss-bee-cat

@bookhhrelaz

@impossiblescissorspeachpaper

@elrielbaby

@lesolehabitantdelalune

@thoughtsaboutshows

@britishwings

@aelin21galathynius

@saz-griffin

@azrielslight

@bookstaninthesoul

Some tags seem to not want to link, which could be related to your visibility settings. Sorry about that!

[serendertothesquad]

Seren's Studies: Odd Squad UK -- "A Tour of Odd Squad" Episode Followup, Part 2

Part 2 of this very meta episode continues! Who's the adult without any children villain? Find out below the break!

It's like they realized we've gotten so few songs sung in the franchise that they're paying people back with interest for it.

odd squad tour

doesn't sing an odd squad song and instead just gives us the end

God- sh- e- what the hell, Rob?!?!?!

Ohhhh...so the guy was a red herring.

That...changes things. Doesn't change my opinion about the episode all too much, but I don't know, I'd say they got me pretty good.

Funny how I mention "Into the Odd Woods" and then a few episodes later we get clowns pie-ing themselves in the face.

Y'know...just like Omar.

Putting aside the fact that Opie seems to have smartened up considerably in between "The New Ozzie" and this episode...I do like how this episode is taking the "villain dresses up in obvious clothing" cliche and turning it on its head by having the villain wear completely normal clothing so they'll be disguised.

It's almost like...they might be aware of the cliche. Hmmmm...

Or likewise, that villains actually are criminals because real-life criminals do not dress in ridiculous getups.

For a second, my mind went deep into the gutter and went, "If he serves them food and one of them has an allergy to that food..."

But no. No. Not for this episode.

"You've led me right to the Power Room."

"And you'll have to get through us first!"

"A few small children? Ha, don't make me laugh!"

MS. ELECTRIC!!! ELECTROCUTE HIS ASS!!!!!

...I'm sorry, that was the first reference that popped up into my head. Bro got electrocuted somewhere down the line though.

Okay, we get it, it is meta, and they loved it.

"Always have a villain on the tour."

Or in actuality, "If you have not stepped foot in a birthing room and laid down and popped out a child, or supported someone popping out a child, then welcome to the Odd Squad Superfan Tour, my name is Opie, and let's begin!"

And your credits for this episode. My guess is that these episodes combine both segments' credits together in the same run -- hence why we have other characters not seen here in this episode. I...can't believe it took me this long to realize that, lol.

(On the plus side, someone's getting a lot of mileage out of LGBTQ+ triangle villain this season. They're giving a "fuck you" to critics and going hard.)

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

Overall, this was an okay episode with a mix of good and bad things. Wasn't really what I was expecting, unfortunately, but I did very much enjoy the red herring. If this episode really is some kind of a jab at adult fans of the franchise...it's not really a good one. This franchise has done better jabs at that group of people, and quite frankly I don't take kindly to shows that make jabs at the whole of the periphery demographic instead of, say, just creepazoids within the demographic.

But naturally, this is a Rob joint. And the last Rob joint I did a followup on wasn't too good either. So I wasn't expecting anything crazy stellar. But this episode could have been so much better for being a part of a 10th-anniversary series, and instead what we got was...nothing really of substance beyond an Oscar mention, like that makes it okay. And the meta stuff. That too.

In essence, this plot is basically what you hire fans to write. And frankly, I could probably pull it off better than Rob did. Anyone in the fandom could pull it off better than Rob did. There's a challenge for ya.

Next up on the block will be "Club 37", which, if I'm not mistaken, features unicorn Rainbow Dash. So I'm gonna become even more insufferable with all the MLP references! Huzzah!

Seren out!

[decarbry]

I really love your worldbuilding in this newest chapter, how you've expanded on the foundation canon has established with regards to Eraserhead's place in heroics. I'm reminded specifically of that scene in season 6 where Endeavor compliments Aizawa's quirk. That scene felt super uncomfortable to me, the way he was reducing him down to his power, and you did an incredible job at only further digging into it.

It's an interesting topic to think about honestly, considering canon discusses how quirks were named as such to encourage the public to see these powers as just a part of who a person is rather than this scary thing that they had. A quirk of their character. And to see how that's evolved in modern hero society to the point where people can't separate themselves from their quirk, how it practically becomes the bulk of who they are as a person, it puts the way people equate Erasure and Eraserhead as being one in the same into perspective. Who is Aizawa Shouta without Erasure?

The complex relationship between a person and their power and how it impacts and even dictates their identity is one of my favourite aspects of BnHA and it's so exciting whenever I see it explored. Amazing chapter as always! You did an incredible making Hizashi's grief palpable, it was so raw and messy and overwhelming!

Thank you!!

It’s a great topic but I especially love it in connection to Shouta. He’s kind of his own worst enemy when it comes to this subject as his rationality and avoidance of notoriety does its own damage to making sure no one knows enough to get to know the guy behind the goggles. He’s actually a dumbass because he struggled with his usefulness as a teenager and before he settled into his post-high school life, and put a lot of belief in the fact that no one was going to value him for anything but his Quirk, which even he admits is critical. He was right, but he sabotaged himself.

And to him it’s 100% a boon. He gets to stay unknown, keep his privacy, move relatively freely. He doesn’t have to worry about being too sharp or kind with his words, or how a social media post is going to destroy his image. He’s thought long and hard about this exact subject because he went through UA’s classes that talked about reputation, and after Oboro died he consciously settled into the idea that he was not important enough for anyone to worry over. Erasure YES. Aizawa NO. He decided it was not rational for people to worry over him because he was not important. Building his whole adult life off of that one notion. The best part of all of this was that when he died, or something worse happened to him, he wouldn’t be hurting anyone else with his death. Because nobody cares. That last bit is the most important to him.

Hizashi, Nemuri— they were accidents, he settled into this after he met them and it’s too late to shake them loose. So he had to come to terms with the fact that he would hurt exactly (2) people with his death. But that’s a pretty good low number.

Except he also didn’t account for the fact that people are more complex than he gives them credit for and despite his best efforts his students adore the ever-loving SHIT out of him

So when it comes down to the wire like we’re seeing in the fic, very few people care for the actual person beneath Erasure. His students yes, his spouse yes, his friends from HS yes, maybe one or two others.

[hey-there-ghouls]

For the ask game,

🥺✨🧐🎨🧠🤲✅

Yeah i know they’re a lot but I’m curious and love your work! Have a great day!

Never apologise for asking! Sorry this has taken me a bit, my kiddo was sick and wanted to be attached to me constantly. Putting it under a cut because it got a little long:

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

I'm always a sucker for when two characters are having a very emotionally charged moment, usually talking about something very heavy, and one reaches out to just gently touch the other. Bonus points if it's the first time that person has had a friendly touch in a while and slumps at the contact.

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

I want you to know that I agonised over this because I'm super critical of my own stuff. I can't even go back to reread it without wanting to change everything or roll my eyes at something.

I think I'm good at getting the voice of characters right; even if they're saying something that's OOC, I think I can phrase it in such a way or concoct a scenario where it's authentic for them to be saying that particular thing.

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?

I spend so much time researching my stories! I come from a background in journalism and that's an industry that puts a lot of emphasis on citing sources and having the facts straight, so it's really hard for me to write something that doesn't have even the vaguest basis in fact.

Everything in my fic is somewhat based in reality and I usually try to link whatever research I've done at the end of the chapter. I really like coming up with tricky situations (like the church being awash with blood) and then trying to find ways that could actually happen.

🎨 How do you feel about fan art of your stories?

I've never had fan art of my fics, but I'd love it if it ever happened. I only ever ask that people credit the fic where approrpriate.

🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

I don't know if I was meant to pick one or you were, but I'll go with the (fictional) Shane Madej:

He's an exceptionally weird dude. Lots of niche interests and random facts rattling around that big ol' brain of his which he chooses to share in seemingly strange moments. I have this little idea that he endeared himself to Quinta by sharing stories about Ten Cent Beer Night and other historical oddities during tubulant flights to cases.

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

Everything is really in fragments at the moment as I've had to write most of this chapter either on my phone during bouts of morning sickness or through voice to text lol but here you go:

“Special Agent Madej?” Ray asks, his voice still in the faux friendly tone he uses when he’s waiting for one of his agents to realise they’ve drawn a particularly stupid conclusion – and for one confusing moment Shane thinks Ray knows he’s awake and waiting for a response – but then he adds, “What possible reason could you have for wanting to handcuff a federal agent?”  “Because he is now my main lead on six murders after Ryan Bergara shot through thanks to him being tipped off by your agent,” Cooper growls.  “How,” Ray says, and it’s supposed to be the start of a question, but it comes out with so much force that he gets stuck there for a second. “How did you come to that conclusion?” he finally manages.

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

There's always someone dealing with loads of anxiety whilst being in deep denial that they need to reach out for support...no idea where that's come from.

Also humour, I really can't write anything without trying to make it even a little funny to myself.

[redeclipse27]

A Guide for Proper Fandom Etiquette

(because it’s important to be kind, and with so many fandoms growing so fast it causes us to often forget how to behave)

Basic stuff

1. Be kind, don’t bully other people or drag their OCs for fun. If you don’t like someone, you’re not obligated to follow them

2. If someone is looking for tips, use CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, everyone starts somewhere

3. If someone tries to pick on you, don’t engage with them, just block and report them, don’t give them the time of day

4. Before you make any content for something, think about whether or not the OG creator of the thing the fandom is for would like it or if it would make them uncomfortable

5. DO NOT REPOST other people’s art without credit or permission, if it says don’t repost, DON’T. If you want people to see it, make a post with a link to the art instead or just say something like “have you seen [person]’s newest [thing]?”

Engaging with other creators

1. Read other creator’s boundaries before making anything for them.

2. If a creator you like leaves a fandom, respect their choice! Don’t harass them to keep making content! Instead, see what other fandoms they make content for or if they’re working on their own independent project, you might find something else you love!

3. If a creator goes on hiatus, don’t bother them asking when they’ll be back. A hiatus can be a great thing, as it allows the mental health to take a break, and they allow new ideas to grow and bloom

4. If you ask someone to collaborate with you and they say no, don’t be rude about it, say “I understand, thank you for your time”

5. You can give credit for someone’s OCs, AUs, ect without tagging them, just put their name without the “@“ symbol or with this formate: @/name, this is important for if they’ve left a fandom

6. If a creator is accused of something bad, DON’T attack them, whether it’s proven true or not, just unfollow or block them and move on with your day. Remember, part of Article 11 in the universal declaration of human rights states: “Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.”

You can ALWAYS unblock or re-follow someone, but once you’ve said something on the internet, you can NEVER take it back

7. DO NOT MAKE C.AIs of anyone’s characters or AU’s without permission! If they have an official bot, use that, but follow the rules for them! If not or if the bot is taken down, don’t make a new one, it’s tough luck.

People to avoid

1. Avoid people with inappropriate OCs or AUs

2. Avoid prosh!ppers, zoos, and other awful people, look up emoji combos and dog whistles they use so you know who to avoid.

3. Avoid people that make any “news” or “exposer” accounts, although wanting to spread important news on good or bad stuff, or calling out problematic behavior can be good, these accounts often tend to cause trouble and get people (good or bad) harassed. News accounts can often have misinformation as well, it’s better to just get news from the OG creator, such as an official account from the fandom. (Ex: the official Hazbin hotel account, Alex Hirsch’s account for gravity falls, ect)

Thank you for coming to my ted talk! Remember, be kind, be safe ❤️

[little-teacupss]

You're my fairy godmother!

Note: I came to the thought that Jane and Chad would make a good ship, especially with them being childhood friends, constantly around each other, and how Chad would definitely grow to be protective of her as they got older, so I hope you enjoy this rare pair! Remember, go show some love to my amazing friends such as @giveityourworst , @skellseerwriting , and @brokenmilkcrates, and credit goes to @frenchgirltalya for the photo!! :D

Warnings: entitled Chad, slightly bullying?, and somewhat looked down upon relationship.

Note 2: Remember, go show my friends love and support up above they write amazing stories, or in Zach's case amazing reblogs U-U, and remember you can give criticism without being a prick!

___________________________________________

The sky looked beautiful as it began to set, and the orange bled into the pink and purply undertones, Chad's eyes were fixated on the window, and he stared out at it lost in concentration, the book in front of him completely forgotten, his thoughts had been completely drowned by Jane after she told him she'd been asked out by some Prince Edward, he hummed as the corners of his lips tightened in a deep frown, before a loud crash could he heard which made him jump from his seat in the mansions library as he looked to the entrance where a young girl held a glass vase just from hitting the ground.

"Chad!" .The girl squealed as she quickly put the priceless piece back onto the stand before dashing over to him, her curly hair bouncing wildly before coming to a dead stop in front of him, she panted wildly almost like she'd ran a marathon as she spoke with labored breaths. "Where's... Jane... she always comes on Tuesdays... for dinner?"

Chad let out a deep sigh as he approached his younger sister, carefully fixing her hair so she looked presentable as he always had done, so she didn't look like she had been out tending to the horses all day, as he softly began to explain. "Jane and I had a small disagreement today, but don't worry, I promise she won't stay made for long."

His words were more hopeful than anything, Jane had become more self-assured over the year, and he worried, what if she no longer needed him? What if he was no longer all she needed? The very idea shook him to his very core, a bit of grief washed over his system as he began to think his friend, his childhood friend, his very dear friend, his very first ever friend, she meant the world to him, Jane was so many things, Chad wasn't, she was friendly, smart, easy going, wasn't self-absorbed, in a way she made him feel like a normal person, because to Jane, Chad was just Chad, he was Prince Charming Jr., he was just him, and that's all he ever needed to be for her, so why now when she needed him for advice did he fumble so hard? Why had he blown up for no reason after hearing about her and Edward? How he had asked her to go out with him after they'd finished a project for an extracurricular; why did it bother Chad so much? He could have anything he wanted, and he rarely had to ask; his train of thought was cut off as a small voice filled his ears.

"Chad! Chad! Earth to Christopher Chad Charming Jr!" .A little voice practically screamed in his ears. He winced slightly as he cupped his hands over the side of his head and glanced at the girl who wore a peeved expression with her arms over her chest as she tapped her foot clearly annoyed with how odd her brother was been acting as of late.

"What is it, Chloe!" .He raised his more than he meant to, which earned him a pitiful looking Chloe who basically resembled a kicked puppy as she sniffled with crossed arms before running off screaming. "Mom, Chad yelled at me!"

The moment he heard the words leave her mouth as she dashed out of the Charming library, he brought his fingers up to the bridge of his nose as he began to sing underneath his breath.

"Sala-Gadoola-Menchika-Boo-La-Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, put 'em together, and what have you got bibbidi-bobbidi-boo."

He's often heard Jane sing this song when she was stressed out while she worked on random assignments, which she always aced of, but Chad always found it, so cute how she'd mumble to herself while staring at random books or a computer trying to find the right sources to use. Wait a minute cute? Since when did Chad ever think of Jane as cute? She wasn't cute, she- she was his friend. His cute friend, well she was cute, it's completely normal to find your friends... attractive at times, he let it go there as he quickly made his way out of the library and down the hall where he found his mother and Chloe who was in tears as she blubbered on and on about how terrible Chad was of an older brother.

"He yelled at me and said he wished he was an only child, and I ruined his life!" .The bluenette whined to her mom, who held her closely while rubbing her back, coddling her youngest before her eyes flickered to Chad who she gave a scrutinizing look, but she didn't look as angry as he had expected, clearly Ella had known Chloe was overdamatizing what had actually happened, she put her finger under Chloe's chin, giving her a warm smile before pushing her forward into the dining room as she told her. "Don't worry, baby, he's just a hormonal teenage boy."

Chloe giggled at what her mother said as she made her way further into the dining room. The queen watched her daughter, but after a while of waiting, she turned her head to her firstborn, who gulped the moment their eyes met, she carefully grabbed the front of her dress making her way over to her eyes filled with more worry then they did anger now, her soft voice traveled through the air. "What's wrong, my son, your not your usual happy self today?"

She combed her hand through his golden dyed locks ruffling them up so he didn't appear as closed off, Chad looked down at the ground, avoiding his mother's gaze, he felt her arms wrap around his shoulder in a loving embrace as she whispered to him. "You know you can tell me anything, Jr."

He smiled at his mother, but his smile slowly turned to pursed lips, which earned a concern look from his mother, who patted her sons back as she question him.

"What's wrong, my little prince?"

Chad folded his arms over his chest, still trying to evade his mother's eye contact before letting out a breathe of defeat as he broke. "I got into a fight with Jane alright?"

He felt pathetic. How could anyone respect Chad like this? He was supposed to be a daring prince who didn't let anything get in his way, but a small bump in the road, such as a certain godmother, seemed to make him crumble down to pieces, he heard an amused giggle, Chad gave his mother a shocked expression with his mouth wide open and his eyes staring at her in disblief, how could she be laughing at a matter like this?

Cinderella tried hard not to seem entertained by her son's problems, but she couldn't help but chuckle at his dramatics. He, his father, and his sister were so similar in all the right ways, she then said. "And why do you think that was?"

Chad scoffed. Why did he think Jane and him had disagreed, rolling his eyes. He stepped away before walking through the door of the dining room, leaving his mother with a goofy smile, shaking her head and following her ego monster of a son.

The family of four shared dinner, but there was one seat that remained empty at Chad's side that'd usually be occupied by Jane, but alas, she was nowhere to be found, after dinner, that night Chad lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling above him, his mind was flooded with Jane, her smile, her bright blue eyes that matched his once blue hair, her hair that she hated, but he found to suit her so well, her bad jokes that always left Chad in tears from how hard he'd end up laughing, her- no what was he thinking, why was he thinking so much about her, he rolled over, shoving his face in the pillow at he let out a silent scream of frustration before finally laying back, and allowing his eyes to flutter shut.

- The next day, Wednesday 5:35 pm. -

Chad used his jersey to wipe the sweat from his forehead as he panted. He and the guys had been practicing for the last three hours. They'd swapped positions and changed plays, but Coach was nowhere finished with them as he made them run seven laps around the entire field.

He felt someone clap their hand over his shoulder. Looking to his right, he was met with Charlie La Bouff and Ben Florian. They were just as worn out and sweaty as he was, Ben tilted his head toward the bleachers where the three tourney players would usually relax after practice, the boys made their way over, Charlie flopped himself onto the seat, while he used a towel sitting on the bleacher to wipe his face and dampened hair, while Ben leaned against the railing across from Chad.

"What's up with you, man?" .Ben questioned Chad, which made Charlie look at him, too, with both of his best friends staring at him expectantly. How could he find an escape here like he could at home? He let out a breathing chuckle as he pushed himself away from the railing and sat next to Charlie as he went on a small rant. "Ah, you know, parents, sister, school, the hot weather."

Chad wasn't convinced at all by the words that left his mouth, Ben let out a high-pitched noise while Charlie hummed. Clearly, they didn't believe the prince either. As he sat back watching other tourney players run around the field, he ran his tongue over his lips with a pensive look on his face, he felt as if something were missing, well something was missing, Jane was, she always made sure to come and see him practice, and then he'd walk her home, or wherever she was headed, or in some cases spend time with her, Chad wasn't the only one who noticed her presence gone, Charlie looked around the bleachers from top to bottom before turning to Chad.

"Where's Janie at she always comes to see you."

He shook his head as he tried to think of some kind of excuse to give the blonde who was giving him a confused look, his bright blue eyes bore into him, it made him think of Jane and how she'd stare up at him and laugh at his antics, the sound that left Chad could be compared to that of a growl, as he clenched his hand into a fist before hitting it against the seat, Ben and Charlie shared a look of astonishment, they'd never seen Chad so worked up or quick to anger, and never once had he ever hit something.

"Wow, man, what's wrong with you? This isn't you, Chad?" .Charlie piped in as he sat up straighter, taking the situation more seriously than he originally planned on, but this just made Chad feel more pathetic he was losing his cool and he couldn't even face Jane, he couldn't even bring himself to speak about her to his closest of friends, he felt a hand on his shoulder a soft squeeze, his hazel eyes traveled down to the steel board under his feet, his teeth dragged over his lower lip, before he finally boiled over. "It's Jane, alright!"

He stood up and walked over to where the railing of the bleachers was. His hands touched the bar, gripping it in a white-knuckling grip, and he tried to stop himself from getting out of control. He was confused about everything. Why can't he stand the thought of Jane doing all the things they'd do together with Edward? It puzzled him and left a sour taste in his mouth. He finally turned around when he felt as if he's gained some composure. His two friends were worried about him. It was plain as day, Ben finally took a brave step forward.

"Hey, look, whatever happened, I'm sure Jane won't stay mad for long, your Prince Charming and Fairy Godmother, you'll make things right." .Ben tried to sound reassuring, but it didn't help Chad's nerves at all, so he simply nodded before Charlie could add to what Ben had said, Coach called down for them, the three made their way down with Ben and Charlie patting and lightly clapping Chad's arms and back as form of affection and comfort.

- Wednesday, 6:15 pm. -

Chad carried his sports bag with him as he made his way from the field, passing by, different parts of the school till he stopped at Auradon prep's library where he saw a very alone Jane Godmother sat a window seat, her legs curled up into a ball, her hands firmly closed around a book that her eyes were focused on. Chad looked from the hallway before turning back to look at her. He took a hesitant step forward. Before he knew it his feet carried him until he was stood in front of Jane who was now staring up at him with confusion, her head slightly tilted allowing her hair to rest on her neck and shoulders and her round cheeks were red and rosy, her plump lips slightly parted, her sea blue eyes stared up at him hints of hurt laced in them.

"What do you want, Chad?" .Her usually light and welcoming voice felt like ice being stabbed into his chest, Chad's breath hitched in his throat before he swallowed his pride. "You will go with me to the ball. I will not have any complaints from you."

He practically demanded her before walking away, leaving a stunned Jane in his wake, her mouth now wide open in shock as she had no clue what to say in response to Chad's bold command.

Truth be told Chad only truly had confidence in himself because he was used to people complying with his every want and need, but felt a twinge of fear roll down his back as he walked away from his fairy godmother, he worried he worried would she actually go with him? So many questions ran through his mind, but most of them all ended badly, all he could do is wish upon a star tonight just as his mother once had.

- Wednesday, 10:30 pm. -

Jane looked in her closet before running her hair through her hair, clearly very frustrated by a certain charming fellow. It wasn't that she didn't want to go with him, but it was how he completely dodged what had happened the day before their argument, their first big argument, they'd always squabbled and bickered, but yesterday was the first time Chad had ever yelled at her before, she flopped onto her bed, turning her head to look at her nightstand where a picture of her and Chad stood tall and proud, they wore matching smiles, they'd been in middle school and it had been their first ever dance and who better to go with than her best friend?

Her brows knitted together as she reached her hand forward and ran a finger over the younger Chad's cheek in the photo. Her frown grew, and her eyes became glassy as she whispered. "I can give you your happily ever after, but I can't be your princess."

Meanwhile, a certain princess was throwing random, expensive outfits onto the floor of Chad's room; it was clear the girl was looking for the perfect suit before she finally pulled out a teal-colored suit with golden accents and squealed. "Chad, you need to look perfect for Janie!"

He let out a soft breath, which turned into a wide grin. He watched his determined little sister run all the way from the closet to his humongous bed, where she threw the suit at him along with some clip on metals.

"It's not like that, Janie and I are just friends." .He tried to convince himself, his hands ghosting over the high-quality fabric lying next to him. Chad examined the color, thread count, and other small details looking for any imperfections as Chloe went on. "Are you sure you don't like, Jane?"

She questioned with crossed arms, a pouted lip, and big brown eyes full of wonder before she got distracted by something in Chad's closest and ran away, but her words left Chad in shock, did he like Jane? His thoughts were cut off as Chloe let out a gasp. He looked over and saw a familiar box in her hands. She turned to him, tapping her foot. "Why do you have a box of pictures of Jane?"

The moment she said that Chad practically leaped off the bed, to which Chloe ran out of the room where Chad gave chase before they stopped in front of their parent's room, the box was truly important to him and he needed it back now, he kept different things in there, some things Jane had given him like a small locket that had a broken clasp, or the many photos they'd take together on summer break, it was Jane's box for Chad's eyes only, he began to sneer at the younger girl. "Haven't you ever heard of privacy, mom!"

The brother and sister shouted at each other for a while before an elegant woman appeared out of seemingly nowhere with a big smile she said. "I swear you two can't go five minutes without having a screaming match."

Her eyes then landed on the box before a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes, she gently took the box from Chloe while Chad could only watch in horror as she looked through the contents of the box, she was very careful with how she handled the locket that Jane had given him on his eleventh birthday, before setting it back in, she smiled at her son and gave him the box which he held tightly to him, before she gave Chloe a look that made the little girl recoil.

After a while of Ella yelling at the girl, Chloe went back to her room with a defeated look. Ella then guided Chad back to his room, but not without stopping on the way out. "I've known for a while, sweetie; good night, my prince."

Before closing the door on her way out leaving a red-faced Chad whose pride had taken a massive blow, he might as well melt into a puddle of goo onto the carpet and allow the cleaning ladies to wipe away his remains, but he pushed through like a brave knight, setting the box with much care back in it's sacred place in his closet before clapping his hands making the lights turn off.

The future King settled into his bed with thoughts of Jane carrying him off to sleep.

- The next day, Thursday 7:25 pm. -

Jane heard a knock at her door as she put on her final accessories, one of them being a headband. Her mother hadn't gotten for her for Christmas, she looked in the mirror her periwinkle dress wasn't fancy by any means she looked more like a server than a guest, but because she was going with someone invited she didn't need a invitation, she was a plus one in a sense, she grabbed her little messenger back and put it over her shoulder, before she headed out, she opened the front door where she was met with Chad, he looked like a true prince in this moment, the outside lights seemed to glow around him as she peered up I to his warm hazel eyes that had a flecks of gold and lime green in them.

"My lady?" .He asked with a devious smirk, holding out his arm for Jane to grab onto which she did, Chad guided Jane to a white carriage with eight white stallions instead of a footman opening the door for her, it was surprisingly Chad, he held it for her tilting his head to signal her to enter, before climbing in behind her, he knocked the roof of the carriage to tell the driver to start to the ball.

Jane was left speechless. Here he was, dressed in fine clothes, had a whole coach and carriage waiting for her, and she was underdressed compared to Chad and his lavish wardrobe. Her gaze traveled down to her lap it was as if their fight from days ago had vanished completely. Maybe it was because of the ball, or maybe it was how Chad looked at her in this very moment like she was the only girl in the world, she began to whisper. "You didn't have to do this for me."

The deep chuckle he let out made blush bloom all over her face, and her head lifted to meet his gaze as he spoke. "I wanted to for you, you know you look absolutely gorgeous tonight, my dear."

His words made her feel warm and tingly inside. A soft sound rang in her ears, almost as if she felt relaxed like she always did when she was with Chad. She turned her head away to avoid his sharp eyes, looking out the carriage window and watching the moon follow them almost as if it was immersed in their love story that was slowly unfolding before it. Eventually, the carriage came to a stop as they heard. "We've arrived, young master."

The coachman announced, which earned a Cheshire-like smile from Chad, who quickly grabbed Jane's hand to lead her from the carriage. She watched the coachman leave along with her last chance to escape this situation. She gulped as she looked around at the beautiful girls. She wasn't anything like them, rich, pretty, confident, they were everything she wasn't, she wished she could bury her head in the sand at this very moment as she gulped, but she felt a hand wrap around her waist and nring her forward-looking up, her eyes met Chad's who smiled down at her, and it occurred to her this was a side of Chad that was only meant for her eyes only.

They entered the ballroom, where they saw many royal families, couples, and rich people dance, gossip, and gloat, Jane stuck closely to Chad's side, she felt his hand gently run up and down her waist, in a comforting motion, she felt herself preen for his touch as she leaned into his big hand that engulfed her small waist, they walked around for a bit, silently judging some of the other people, but what got Jane most was when other royals would stare at them most were princesses who'd stare at Chad while giggling, but then their gazes would travel to Jane who was firmly planted at his side, and then those looks turned into scrutinizing and criticism, Chad seem to notice as he carefully leaned down and whispered in Jane's ear. "Ignore them they're just jealous. You have the best one in the room."

After he said those words to her, an all too familiar song began to play. "Mmm, mmm, so this is love? Mmm, mmm, so this is what makes life divine."

Jane's eyes widened fearfully as she felt Chad bring her over to the center of the room where he began to start a slow pace for them, as he twirled her he said. "What if I told you I'd whisk you away?"

As she was twirled back and pressed against his chest he continued. "And give you all your hearts desires?"

He let out a small laugh as the song went on, Chad himself began to sing his family song. "My heart has wings, mm, and I can fly."

Slowly, as the song went on, Jane and Chad felt as if they were in their world, so much so Chad carefully leaned down, and joined their lips together in a delicate kiss, it was almost a gentle peck before he leaned back, but before he could become completely outreach, Jane leaned forward to capture his lips in a loving kiss, it was only when the song came to an end that Chad pulled away and whispered. "I'll give you a happily ever after because you're my fairy godmother."

Jane smiled up at him as her arms wrapped around his neck. The two joined in one final kiss of love.

___________________________________________

I hope you all enjoy this rare pair ship! And remember, go show love and support to all my friends, and if you want to be a part of the tag list, just put mail in the mailbox!!

Tagged list: @brokenmilkcrates, @giveityourworst, @skellseerwriting, @leoisbabygirl

Anyway till the next story! Ba bye!!

[houseofbrat]

Loved the submission you just posted! And wanted to comment on something mentioned in it - “I think there has been a serious breach between Charles and William.”

IMHO - the reason for this is clear if you pay attention in that the public embraced Charles III as King.

William truly believed what his mother and the media have claimed for decades - that the public would revolt when KC3 became King, except that never happened. Immediately after his accession, KP still played nice but from my observation that all shifted after the German state visit. That’s when the decades of work KC put in as Prince of Wales started paying off - the rapturous welcome, speaking German in Parliament, receiving firsts that Lizzie never did like the Air Force escort.

After that the briefing against The King from KP has been relentless, same as they briefed against H&M, as well as the public disrespect because they know the media won’t criticize them to keep those exclusives flowing.

There’s not going to be joint engagements between father and son because William cannot be trusted to position himself publicly as serving his father. The last years of QEIIs life, Charles was regent in all but official title but not once did Clarence House ever brief anyone to refer to him as such. KP can’t even bring themselves to say that Willy does investitures “on behalf of The King”. He will gladly not only take credit for his fathers work without honoring, like town developments in the Duchy, but attribute it to being inspired by his long-dead mother.

I hate to admit that Harry has a point when he says William is the problem. He’s drunk off his own self importance (hid well by the same PR facade Harry benefitted from) but he’s hoping that pretty family pics and media obedience will hide something any thinking person should be able to admit - he’s a woefully inadequate Prince of Wales compared to his father and is shaping up to be an even worse King.

Yup.

And I do have to wonder how far William thinks he can take his secret pissing match with his father. To what extent will William try to upstage his father because William is used to being the UK media's "goldenboy." Because William is used to having people whitewash his reputation in the media because he was the heir, and Harry's exploits were always published to make William keep looking good.

I'm reminded of the comments @helenaaurelia made about William after he threw Lady Susan Hussey under the bus, almost a year and a half ago.

A:

Its making me rethink everything he’s done, everything the palace has done. I’ve always blamed the more heartless decisions on Charles ,with William just supporting his father. Now I’m wondering if the roles have been reversed, looking at the changes that seemed to have occurred as William became more and more powerful, wondering how much of it he was responsible for. I just deleted a whole paragraph of speculation, deciding that he probably doesn’t deserve me thinking out loud about every ruthless and possibly heartless decision the BRF has made in the last decade and wondering if he was behind it. (No I won’t tell you what I deleted, that’s the point of deleting it.) From now on though, I’m looking at him through the same lens I look at Charles with. No more benefit of doubt for William.

and B:

The stories about him reminding everyone exactly who he is and who he’s going to be. I always assumed they were false, and that the stories of him always humbly waiting in line, not telling anyone who he is, trying to fly under the radar, being a nice helpful, friendly guy were all true. Now I wonder why I was so quick to believe the good about him and so quick to dismiss the bad. I still think he’s a kind, decent man who truly wants to do good. I just will no longer dismiss any unpleasant stories about him without the same scrutiny I give stories about everyone else.

And I think the anon from yesterday is totally right that "William is having a mental crisis of some sort."

The KP timeline of Kate's cancer and William's work schedule doesn't make sense. In the world according to the Kensington Palace comms team, W&K found out about her cancer on the 27 February, and she was able to start her "preventative chemotherapy" in less than 48 hours after that. And yet, William didn't need to change any of his work schedule to accommodate her first round of "preventative chemotherapy" that week.

Adjuvant therapy, aka "preventative chemotherapy" can be finished in as little as three months. KP has conveniently not let anyone know how long Kate will be doing "preventative chemotherapy." Is she doing this for three months or six months? IF she's only doing this for three months, then that means when the kids started back up at school after their Easter break, she would only have one month left. Which is the same time the KP comms team let everyone know that William can only work ONE DAY per week while his kids are in school full time. Kate could theoretically almost be done with her "preventative chemotherapy," yet William needs to hide from the public for even longer? Except for the big events like Trooping, Garter, D-Day 80th anniversary, etc., because William won't have to engage with the general public for those. William has to get his picture taken for the big events.

As I said before, there are so many problems that the situation is not “Where do you start?” but “Where does it end?”

Because, yeah, I do think William is having a mental crisis. I think he has been hiding something in an attempt to upstage his father's big announcement. Because that is something William would do. It was something he had no qualms about doing until his home life started unraveling with Kate. And who really knows what is going on with her because KP has never been honest, and I've always found it suspicious that Kate filmed her cancer announcement video with William's private secretary present instead of her own.

So, yeah, calm before the storm 'n all, and I can tell there is going to be a huge shit storm because Charles just called Kate a rank celebrity on Tuesday with that "honour." We're about to have a major BRF scandal because William decided to prove that he really is Diana's son by going full Spencer. And any longtime BRF watcher will know that "Spencer" equals crazy or egomaniacal crazy.