#maybe you should cut out the making fun of stupid people please

[nickbutnodick]

i hate it when people bully people less smart than they are. but i HATE it when people bully people less smart than i am on my behalf.

[persefolli]

𝐓𝐨 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭, 𝐓𝐨 𝐍𝐨𝐭

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: 𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖, 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐡, 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞, 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬, 𝐀𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐓𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜-𝐃𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐬, 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐧

𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 | 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞

Annoyance filled your body as Stu sat on the couch laughing dramatically and talking loudly to his friends. You didn’t like going to the parties Stu hosted because he paid no attention to you. He only cared about his stupid friends and impressing him, leaving you to baby a drunk Stu at the end of the night. 

“Baby, go grab us a coupla beers okay?”

“Stu this is the third time-”

“Please?” He poked out his bottom lip. “This is the last time. I'll give you 20 bucks.”

You squint your eyes.  “50.”

“Okay fuck. 50.”

You got up from the couch and squeezed past a few people to get to the garage. The room was humid and eerie, so you quickly clicked on the light and walked down the wooden stairs to get to the fridge. Bending over, you looked for the brand of beers Stu liked.

Behind you, the lights were cut off.

“Fuck.” You cursed but still didn't make any urgent moves. You picked up four beers and closed the door. You jumped seeing a person in a ghostface mask and cloak on by the garage entrance. 

“Stu. Is that you?”

The person shook their head. “Okay well…maybe you shouldn't wear that around Sidney.”

The person slowly walked down the stairs, backing you away from the garage stairs. “This isn't fucking funny. Back the fuck up.”

The figure drew a knife and you gasped as he slashed it at you. You dropped the beer bottles and around the garage, throwing storage bins down to block their path to you. Quickly, you tried to dash to the garage door but got tackled down by the person. You screamed but your mouth was quickly covered by the perpetrator. Reaching up, you gripped the mask and slid it off, exposing your boyfriend's best friend. 

“Billy?!” You gasped in fear.

Billy groaned and kept a tight grip on your wrists to stop you from moving any more.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“What does it look like?”

Realization dawned on your face, he was more than serious about trying to kill you. “You killed all those people….”

“Not just me.” He stated.

You shook your head in confusion.

“Stu. Y/n. You’re sleeping with my partner in crime.”

You felt a surge of anger and kicked Billy in the groin, causing him to groan and write on the floor in pain. “Are you fucking sick?!”

“You knew I was sick baby.” He chuckled whilst on the ground.

“How would your best friend feel if he found out you tried to kill his girlfriend?!”

“Who do you think sent me?”

Your heart dropped. Stu sent Billy to kill you? Why?

“He knows?”

“Nah.” Billy leans his head against the ground. “He’s just a little…ya know.”

You crossed your arms and shook your head, looking down at Billy. “And you were actually gonna do it.” Your voice cracked and Billy looked at you with a somber expression.

“I was....I'm supposed to. I haven't decided on it yet.”

“You-”

“Hey!” He interrupted. “I decided not to…just to give you a good scare. But now that you know….killing you would benefit me more.” He shrugged. “If I kill you now…Stu won’t be mad. You can’t tell Sidney about us, and no one would know I'm the killer……but I do enjoy your company…a lot more than I should.” He stood up and dusted himself off. “You know I slowed down on the killings after we started fucking you know.” He approached you slowly. “So I guess that means you do benefit me in some way.”

You placed your hands on your head and groaned. This was deeper than a sadistic prick going around town killing teenagers, these were your friends, your lovers doing this for the fun of it.

“If I let you go. You need to disappear for a bit.”

“What?”

“Listen.” He grabbed your arm tightly. “I can’t let you back in there…Stu needs to think you’re dead and gone. And you can’t go home either because Tatum or Sid might visit.”

“So where the fuck do I go you dipshit?!”

Billy looked to the doggie door that was on the garage door. “You hide out in my backseat and I drive you to my place, yeah?”

“I’m not sitting in your backseat for hours!” You bickered back at him.

“It’s either that or the knife!” He said harshly.

You weighed your options and sighed deeply. You went over to the dog door and looked back at him, angrily before getting on your hands and knees and start to crawl through.

Billy walked over to the door and clicked the garage button, making the mechanisms hum. You screamed loudly and pulled yourself back, looking at Billy and whimpering. He was laughing and clicked the button again, causing the garage door to go back down, leaving the two of you in the empty garage with the echoes of his laughter. “It's not funny!” You snapped, feeling yourself tear up.

“Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.” 

You crawled out the door and avoided detection from any of the partygoers. You found Billy’s car and tugged on the back door, opening it and getting in the backseat as he told you.

There was no way to trust he wasn’t leading you to your death, but here you were.

Hours passed and you sat in the backseat, wondering why you didn’t just call for help, why you didn’t just snitch on Billy and Stu and end this town’s horror. As every hour passed the less you wanted to be entrapped in the car. The urge to get out and scream for help increased. 

One more hour passed before Billy finally got in the front seat, dumping the ghost mask and suit in the back seat near you and starting the car. He said nothing as he pulled away from Stu’s home, and it made you nervous. You watched him through the rearview mirror, studying his frustrated face. He locked eyes with you in the mirror, and began talking. “He didn’t even care, you know. He got off on the fact you’ll be found in a ditch soon.”

You looked out the window, watching the trees and fields pass by. “Why did he wanna kill me?” You asked again. 

“Tatum is his type so he needed a way to get with her without fucking up the friendship dynamic.”

“So his solution was to kill me!”

“I just made all that up.” Billy scoffed. “So fucking gullible. That’s probably why, you're such a dumbass. How the fuck would I know why he wants you dead. He just does.”

You leaned against the back seat, tears pricking at the corners of your eyes. You weren’t the nicest to Stu at times, and you certainly weren;t the perfect girlfriend…cheating on him…stuff like that, but you didn’t think it would end up in a murder plot against you. 

“Stop that.” Billy scolded. “You’re no saint and neither am I….but you don’t deserve this…for once.”

You wiped your eyes and nodded. “How was the rest of the party? Did anyone notice me gone.”

“The girls yeah.” He turned onto a highway. “But I fucked Sid’s brains out so i’m sure that’ll have her distracted for a while.”

You smiled softly, “Finally.”

The two of you made it to Billy’s home, which was lightless and dark, due to the fact his parents weren’t there. He led you to the garage, where he spent most of his time, or so he said. None of you had actually been to his place, so seeing his abode felt very intimate. He let you into the garage and you saw a decorated room with a bed, posters, and sketches everywhere. You walked over to the drawers and the vinyl stacks he had. Billy huffed and sat on the mattress.

“This is not what I expected.”

“What did you expect?” He asked.

“I don’t know…you don’t take me as an artist. Not a person who draws anyways.”

He grunts and stares at the ceiling. You took off your jacket and shoes, getting into the bed next to him. You laid on his chest and watched as he pondered. “Why do you sleep in the garage and not that beautiful house out there?”

“That's not home.” He says. “A home…has a family in it. And it’s warm, and…rustic. Nothing in there has been used, it's cold, and no one is ever there. Barely.”

“You could make it a home.”

“Don’t need all that space. And I need privacy.”

You looked around, this did seem like a ‘Billy hideout’ by definition. 

“Not even a crinkle in the sheets. We have a housekeeper that comes and cleans nothing.”

Things had been really rough for Billy after his mother left, and you knew almost nothing about it. Pillowtalk didn’t really exist with Billy, it did, but it wasn't the share-your-deepest-darkest-secrets-and-profess-your-love kind of pillow talk. 

“Billy-”

“I killed Sidney’s mom a year ago.”

You sat up quickly and looked at him in horror. “What?!”

Sidney was almost inconsolable after the death of her mother, and Billy, along with you and the rest of the friend group comforted her, making sure she would never have to go through anything alone again. You slept over at Sidneys for four months after the death of her mother. 

“Her mom was a whore.”

“Billy thats not-”

“If she hadn’t fucked my dad….”

You placed your hand over Billy’s lips, which caused him to furrow his eyebrows. “You’re getting yourself riled up.”

Billy took a deep breath and slapped your hand from his mouth. “If she hadn’t fucked my dad we wouldn’t be in this predicament would we?”

“Why didn’t you take revenge on…I don't know, your dad?!”

Billy’s eyes relaxed and he smirked. “Why would I do that?”

You groaned and shook your head. “I think you’re the mad one.”

“I’m sorry? Did I not just save your life from your crazy boyfriend.”

“And I ended up with an even crazier son of a bitch.”

Billy was quick to grab your throat and pin you under him, causing you to gasp and grab his wrist in fear. You looked at him in horror as he tightened his grip. He was going to strangle you.

“Billy no!” You choked out. Billy squeezed tighter and tighter until he leaned down and pressed a harsh kiss to your lips. He released his grip and you coughed under him, crying softly as the heat of the moment ended. “You’re so easy to scare.” He used his thumb to wipe your tears.

You hic’ed and tried to push him away from you. “It’s not funny.”

“Hey, hey, hey, I'm sorry.” He placed another kiss on your cheek.

Billy got up from the bed and went over to his vinyl stacks, he dug through them for a bit before putting on some relaxing music. You didn’t know the band or genre, but you were too frozen in shock to care. You heard his belt unbuckle and shifting before he got back into bed with you.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” He caressed your cheek. “You just need to learn when to shut the fuck up okay?”

You nodded, and he placed another kiss on your lips. You didn’t reciprocate. He kept kissing your lips, then your neck, then your cheek, then your collar bone.

“I won’t stop til you forgive me.”

You felt his hands go under your arms, causing a giggle to emit from your throat.

“See? You can't even stay mad.”

“I am mad!” You giggled as he continued to tickle you. “Stop! You’re cheating.”

He continued tickling you until you sat up and shoved him. The two of you panted as the fight was over, and you scanned him, noting how he was only in his boxers now. He tilted his head and you groaned.

“Billy no.”

“Cmon, it's been a long night.”

“Billy you just fucked Sidney.”

“You think I came from that?” He scoffed.

You shook your head, “You are hell on earth.” You moved to take off your shirt, and Billy wasted no time grabbing you by your waist and pulling you onto his lap. He leaned against his headboard and peppered kisses on your chest as he unclasped your bra. Throwing your bra onto the garage floor he redirected himself to your tits, kissing and sucking on your nipples, causing you to writhe and moan.

Your noises made a beeline right to his dick, causing him to pull you down onto his hardening member. You held his head and groaned as he sucked on your breasts, taking his time to stimulate you.

His hands trailed down your waist and began tugging at your shorts. You used your right hand to unbutton your jean shorts and shifted away from him to slide them off. He grunted from the loss of contact. He was right on your wavelength, sliding off your panties right after the shorts and throwing them aside. Billy pulled you right back into his lap, moaning as he latched onto your lips.

“You're so needy tonight.” You said between breaths.

“I just need to come.” He pulled you back to kiss him. You began rocking your hips, creating friction between the both of you. He pulled away and looked down, watching how you wettened a spot on his boxers. He hummed and guided your hips, mumbling and panting as pleasure filled his body.

“Get up.” He said.

You rolled to your side and he quickly yanked down his boxers, springing excitedly in front of you.

He moved to climb on top of you but you clicked your tongue.

“Condom. You just fucked Sid.”

“With the only condom I had.” He mumbled in your neck and began rubbing his tip between your folds. You groaned softly and mentally chastised him. “I promise.” He kissed your neck.

“I need you.” He tested the limits by sticking the tip in and pulling out, causing you to moan in need.

“Okay fuck it.”

Billy entered you with a swift motion and you both let out a synchronous groan. He held a tight grip on your hips as he fucked you. You squealed and drug your nails along his back, stopping right above his buttocks and digging into the skin. Billy hissed and nipped at your bottom lip, moving more vigorously above you. You throbbed around him and he faltered, shivering above you.

“Don't fucking do that. Don't. Don't.” He pleaded into your neck as his strokes got more sloppy.

“Don't do what?” You whimpered as you did it again, causing him to hiss and strain as he held back.

“I'm gonna fucking come inside of you.” He kissed behind your ear. “You fucking asked for it. You wanted this.”

“No!” You moaned in delight. You could protest all you wanted, but you felt too good to get him off of you. The two of you panted louder, moaned louder, fucked harder until the two of you came undone in each others embrace.  You curled your toes and panted breathless and he filled you up.

Billy rolled on his side and stared at the ceiling as he caught his breath. He sighed and patted your stomach twice before getting up.

As predicted, Tatum and Sidney began putting up missing posters for you, and Stu had to go around school acting like the heartbroken, devastated boyfriend. 

Afterschool, Tatum was the one to comfort Stu, rubbing his back as Sidney and Randy came up with ideas as to where you went. Billy was pretty indifferent to it all, knowing you were probably laid out on his bed listening to music. Stu listened to Randy and Sidney, but his mind wandered, looking over at Billy, and then the floor, where he saw a familiar pair of panties hanging from the pocket of Billy’s backpack.

[dearsnow]

THIS CAN WORK

- as you’re trying to forget about him, the man who broke your heart shows up at your doorstep. or in which jake gets yelled at by the entire hard deck. (jake “hangman” seresin x fem!reader, angst -> fluff, reading part 1 is probably a good idea but idk if it’s 100% necessary)

PART 1

word count: 2,032

a/n - the official part 2 is here!! thank you for all the love part 1 got <3 i’m not personally the biggest jake fan but writing this was honestly so fun. i loved exploring the softer and more insecure parts of his personality, so i may have more planned for him in the future 👀

It’s been two days since Jake cut you out of his life, and to say you’ve been devastated is an understatement. You still have his shirts and his stupid nighttime noise maker, and with them, the lingering feeling of his touch on your skin. You’ve already texted to let him know that you’ll drop off his things later, but he has yet to respond. It’s like he’s dropped off the face of the Earth. Good, you think. Let him. But he better at least wipe any memory of himself from your thoughts first.

You’re trying your best to forget, you really are. You took down the pictures of him that hung on your wall, right by your bed, and you’ve shoved the pillow that holds the faint scent of his cologne into the depths of your closet, and the photos of him on your phone are sitting in the recently deleted album. It’s better this way, you tell yourself. You need to get him off your mind as soon as possible and move on to better things, better people. Like a stubborn stain, his presence remains.

But you still want him like you’ve never wanted a single thing before, and it makes you sick.

Jake had never felt worse in his life. As soon as he saw you walking away, he regretted it, but if there’s one thing Jake Seresin hates, it is being wrong. His friends called him every synonym for wrong in the dictionary that night.

“You’re an idiot, Bagman. She was the best thing you had going for you and you just pushed her away like that?” Phoenix scoffed. She had overheard snippets your break-up, and after prompting Penny, she knew the full story within seconds.

“I did what was best for her-“

“No, you did what was best for you.” Penny interjected. “If you can’t make the effort to keep someone so amazing in your life, you’re never going to get anywhere. Relationships require compromise and change on both sides. The whole time you were with her, she was bending over backwards to accommodate you, and you couldn’t even shift to the side a little and give her a pinch of what she needed.”

Jake could feel anger rising in his throat. He knew best, right? No one saw his perspective. No one could feel how unhappy he would’ve made you. He was setting you free. Right? Please, let him be right.

Rooster prodded him in the stomach with his pool stick. Apparently everyone was in on the conversation. “You’ve got that self-pitying look, man. You fucked up. You’ve been fucking up. If you really think you’re not good enough for her, isn’t that a reason to become good enough for her?”

“I just…” For the first time, Jake was at a loss for words. He was coming to recognize that he was wrong. He was so, so wrong, but that felt like a slap in the face. For the first time, Rooster’s words didn’t intend to antagonize him. They were honest, and he hated it.

Bob tried to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Jake pushed it off. “You should talk to her.” He offered. “Tell her your side, and if she’s open to it, work on yourself so you can be good for her.” His voice was soft and soothing, like he was whispering to a wounded animal. Jake felt himself burning up under the gazes of his friends.

“Yeah,” He swallowed hard, finally coming to terms with the fact that he can make mistakes. “Maybe I will.”

You’re humming to yourself, cleaning your apartment’s modest kitchen. The sun is out, shining golden beams upon the shiny counter you’re wiping down. It smells like the nicely-scented cleaner you just bought. The old one smelled too much like him. But, as you move on, so does life. Thinking about it gives you a headache, so you’ve chosen to do anything but think.

A knock at your door makes you put down your rag. You figure it’s just your landlord, considering that you were meant to pay your rent yesterday. You sigh, readying yourself to tell sweet Mr. Hammond that you’ll pay it ASAP.

Your fingers grip the door handle and pry it open. The thing has always been a little too hard to move; old hinges, you figure. Before you can get the door to open fully, you stop in your tracks. Jake.

He’s holding a bag of your favorite takeout with a sheepish look on his face. You consider slamming the door, but it would probably get stuck if you moved it too fast. “Have you come to collect your things?” You ask softly, looking him up and down. He looks like shit. He has seemingly forgotten how to shave, his stubble turning into the awkward length that you always chided him to take care of, and his deep green eyes are laden with sadness. It almost makes you feel bad for him— until, of course, you remember he broke your heart. Calm down, you think, make this quick and easy. Get him in and out.

“No.” He states simply. “I wanted to apologize.” This is a big thing for him, something so new that it sounds foreign to your ears. Jake apologizing? His shoulders are hunched slightly. You resist the urge to put a loving hand on his chest, as you usually did when he was feeling out of sorts.

“It’s fine.” Your voice is quiet, laced with as much kindness as you can muster. “I put all your stuff in a box, if you wanted to pick it up.” You’re still subtly prompting, trying to get him out again.

He places the takeout in your grasp, his pinky finger brushing lightly against your own. You hate how it still makes you tingle. Your other hand picks at the edges of your soft loungewear. Jake purses his lips slightly as you step backwards, your feet shuffling against the linoleum floor. “Can we talk?”

“I thought we just talked.” You respond curtly. He sighs, eyebrows drawn.

“I mean really talk. Just hear me out this one time, and if you want, you’ll never have to see me again.”

You nod slightly, resigning yourself to the fact that you have to get this over with. At least your apartment is clean and sparkling; in your own way, you’re telling him that you don’t need his permission to live a nice life. You can clean, and you can take care of yourself. The takeout finds its place on your small table. You pull out a stool from the side of your island and sit down as the stool’s legs creak underneath you. Jake sits, too, opposite you. His hands are shaking a little, but you turn your gaze up to his face.

You can hear his breaths deepening as he clasps his hands together. “I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry.”

“I appreciate your apology, but that doesn’t really change what happened.” You state. He holds up a finger as if to tell you to wait just a bit. Your eyes pass over his dejected expression, his mouth tilting just the slightest bit downwards.

“I know. I was being stupid, and I see that now. You’re amazing, honey. You’re nice and generous and this genuine kind of comforting that makes me smile. When I’m with you, I feel like I want to be better. And trust me, I do. I want to be so much better for you. When I first met you, I thought that you’d be a fit for Bob or something, that’s how amazing you are. I thought deserved someone like him, someone just as caring, but I fell in love with you instead, and now look where we are.” He chuckles dryly. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “I guess I just felt inadequate and stupidly insecure. I know I’m not what a respectable girl like you would want, so I pushed you away and hurt you instead. I didn’t consider your feelings at all that night, and for that, I really am sorry. I don’t know if that explanation changes anything now, but I had to give it a shot; you were never too sweet, I was just too damn bitter.”

His words come out in a ramble. You’ve never seen him so much as stutter, but his confident, calm voice is bordering on anxious. You can’t even believe what you’re hearing.

It takes a lot of guts to say something like that. When you look back on your interactions, on everything he’s ever said or done around you, you finally see it clearly. All he does is build himself up to be this great figure, so much so that people can’t tell that his ego has been sorely bruised. That’s why he shrugs off comfort and security, fucking up every sure thing in his life during the process.

He’s boring a hole into your forehead with how hard he’s staring. His hands are still white-knuckled, holding each other like they’re seeking some sort of solace. The tension in the air is palpable as you take a breath. “Thank you. I… It’s nice to hear you acknowledge that.”

Jake can hear his breathing quicken shakily. That could’ve gone a lot worse. You’re not screaming at him, hitting him, kicking him out, anything that he thinks you should do. You’re just sitting there, nails digging into the flesh on your arm, looking shocked and heartbroken all at once. He takes one deep gulp of air. “You’re welcome. I’ll get out of your hair now.” He stands to leave, but your smaller hand catches his. His palm is damp.

“I’m sorry you ever had to feel that way about yourself.” You say. His small admission of insecurity weighs on you like nothing else. “You’re a good guy, Jake. I hope you’ll take this as an opportunity to work on yourself and find what makes you happy.”

Budding tears prick at his waterline. He hasn’t cried in a long time, but looking at you makes him want to. He wants to slide into your arms and sob, press his face into your neck and tell you over and over that he wants you back. He has to try. He thinks he’ll regret it for his whole life if he doesn’t. “You make me happy,” he hesitates, “and if you’ll have me, I’d like to have you around while I work on myself. I need you. You make me want to be good enough for you.”

You take one step, then another, and he doesn’t protest a single bit as you envelop him in a hug. His muscles relax as he wraps his arms around you, the tension breathing a sigh of relief. “I’d like that.” Your voice is slightly muffled from being pressed into his chest, but he hears you loud and clear. “I missed being with you.”

You missed the way he would cook you breakfast in the mornings with a dish towel thrown over his shoulder and classic rock playing from his phone. He always told you that you’d get the whole experience when you visited him, starting with his lips caressing your collarbones and continuing with breakfast in bed. It didn’t even matter if you didn’t want to leave; he would take you with him, wherever he went. He even got in trouble once for sneaking you on base.

You missed his scratchy morning voice and warm hands and how he always had an arm around you. You missed him caring about you, wiping your tears, and you missed how confidently he showed you off and stood up for you. You missed almost everything about him, if you’re being honest. You thinking you could live without him was but a brief lapse in your sanity.

“I missed you too.” He whispers. “I… I really do love you, darlin’. I’ll shape up, I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” You smile.

For the first time in a while, Jake can feel hope pricking at his heart, and you can feel it beating through his shirt.

Maybe, just maybe, you think, this can work.

Taglist: @seitmai

[fuctacles]

bonding activity

For @steddie-spooktober prompt "can you please stop trying to scare them?" | 1427 | T | getting together, fluff, post-canon | brainstormed with @blasvemous | Ao3 | ko-fi

more spooktober: witch

"Steve."

Steve doesn't react. He's standing by the dirtiest window Eddie's ever seen, peeking from behind a curtain to see the groups entering the house. 

"Steve!" Eddie hisses insistently.

"What?!" Steve snaps back. 

Eddie widens his eyes at him. 

"We should get into positions," he reminds his friend as if they haven't been doing this for over a week now. 

"Mhm," Steve nods absentmindedly, eyes back on the outside. "You do that."

"Are you waiting for Henderson again?"

"Maybe."

Eddie groans, stepping back towards him. They have about ten minutes before the next group walks in, even more before they get to this part of the haunted house.

"Could you please stop trying to scare him? This house is the same every year, and this kid fought Demogorgons, why do you care about stupid fair attraction?" he presses, crossing his arms. 

"It's kind of my duty as an older brother," Steve points out, sparing him a short glance. "Besides, his attitude has been insufferable lately. Gotta teach him a lesson."

That, Eddie could agree with. Henderson has been a little shit about their current gig, talking all cocky about how it was 'entertainment for little kids' and they wouldn't have to do much. Eddie took scaring kids very seriously, thank you very much. 

He was also grateful for the scheme Steve and Robin had pulled to get him the job. It was a small thing, but enough to start getting on the good side with the residents of Hawkins. And also a good way to spend time with Steve, his new and unlikely friend. Eddie reminds him of that, too.

"We were supposed to be bonding," he pouts.

"We'll be bonding after I make Dustin pee his pants," Steve responds shortly, making Eddie scoff. But seeing how unwavering Steve is in his plan, he sighs and steps right into his personal space.

"Promise?" he asks, jabbing a finger into his ribs. 

Steve jolts, but it has the desired effect of getting his attention back on Eddie. He grabs his hand to push it safely away from his body, his eyes finally focusing on his friend and softening. 

"Yeah, man, I promise."

"Great. Because I actually like it here, which I didn't think I'd say about a legal job." Steve snorts softly. "I guess it's fun to work with a friend."

"Yeah," Steve finally smiles fully. "It is."

"And I know you'd rather be doing it with Buckley, but—"

Steve cuts him off with a shake of his head. 

"Don't be stupid dude, even the bestest of friends need some time apart. And it's a blast working with you. The way you made that dude cry yesterday? Fucking priceless." He grins. 

Eddie grins back. 

"Yeah, love how he grabbed onto his wife."

They burst into snickers until a girl rushes past them, reminding them to get into positions. Eddie salutes, and parts with his dear friend. 

"Please think about me fondly. I will miss you dearly," he sighs deeply, caressing Steve's bicep. 

Steve plays along, reciprocating his longing gaze.

"I am missing you already, darling," he says, pressing a phantom of a kiss onto his hand. 

Eddie snickers and skitters away towards his post. For the sake of the job and his sanity. 

Eddie's determined to keep Steve's attention on himself instead of people-watching. Maybe constantly bothering him isn't the best course of action but stick to what you know, right?

"You're putting a damper on my fun, Harrington," he says behind Steve's shoulder as he's eyeing the outside. 

"I know. I'm sorry." And he sounds genuinely regretful. Like his resolve is slowly falling apart, the point of childish games with his brother slowly getting forgotten. 

"You know, you would scare him if you'd just put effort into all of the groups . Keep it at one hundred and you won't miss."

"Yeah, but that's tiring," Steve whines. 

Eddie rolls his eyes. 

"Oh my god, you're such a princess," he mutters. 

"I'm not." Steve frowns, offended.

"Yes, you are." 

Steve already knows there is no point in arguing with Eddie, so he only glares his way. It's not a huge win, but at least he's not looking out the window. Eddie pushes toward victory. 

"And you could be having fun, too, if you weren't so focused on Henderson. I, for one, take pride and joy in my craft of making kids pee their pants," he says with reverence, hand pressed to his chest. 

Steve raises his eyebrows. 

"Yeah, and how many times have you managed that?"

"Zero, but I'm still enjoying myself! And I made one girl faint!"

Steve snorts. 

"Yeah, you'd be proud of that."

"Well, not all of us can do that without the help of a horror setting." Eddie rolls his eyes. "Which, you could be using to your advantage too," he points out, capturing Steve's attention enough to maneuver him away from the window. "You scare a girl, then you take her to a quiet corner to calm her down, a perfect crime!" he throws his arms up but upon seeing Steve's frown, he backtracks. 

"Well, not a crime, of course, but a little, uh, harmless mischief," he amends with an innocent smile. 

Steve's shoulders sag as he sighs.

"Yeah, that was kind of my whole point of doing this. But it's harder than I thought," he says with a wince. 

"Since when?" Eddie frowns in confusion. "I mean, yeah, your game has been off, but you always went for it anyway. Which, I respect as fuck by the way. I could never." He lets out a small, humorless laugh. 

The room falls silent and when he looks up again, Steve is looking straight at him.

"You should try."

"Yeah, probably," he shrugs, but Steve remains unfazed. 

"I'm serious. Go for it." 

They engage in some serious staring competition that makes Eddie squirm, his whole skin itching. 

"Dude, what are you—"

"Have we not been flirting this whole time?" 

Eddie blinks. 

"Uh."

"I wanted this job so we could be alone for once."

"Uh."

"And I'm sorry for getting distracted with the Dustin thing, but I'm back on track now." Finally, his confidence wavers. "That is, if we're on the same one, you know. I might have completely misread the situation."

Eddie shakes his head. 

"No, no. I was, uh, same track, page, yeah," he pulls a strand of hair over his reddening cheeks, but none of them moves. 

"Sooo, are you going to, or am I supposed to—"

"Oh, what the Hell," Eddie mutters, grabbing onto Steve's shirt to pull him forward. He places a lightly off-center kiss on his lips and can feel the body under his palms sagging with relief. 

Steve hums softly. 

"And you said my game was off," he mutters against his lips. 

"Oh, you little shit." Eddie smirks dangerously before he presses in without his previous hesitance. If Steve wants to play, Eddie's good at making up his own rules. 

They find a wall to rest against, and Steve's hand has just ventured to Eddie's ass when an ear-piercing shriek makes them jump apart. 

"What! The fuck!" They can hear Dustin's voice, but he's trying to blind them with his flashlight, so his face stays hidden until the rest of the gang joins him. Someone's light shows his pale, shell-shocked expression. 

"Why are you molesting my brother?!" He points accusingly at Eddie. "And you!" He turns to Steve, still braced against the wall. "You were groping my DM!"

Steve rolls his eyes. 

"Please, I barely touched him," he scoffs. 

"Yeah." Eddie crosses his arms to show his disappointment. "Because you so rudely interrupted."

"Ew! Ew ew ew ew ew!" Dustin covers his ears and moves forward, almost running into a wall in his haste to escape. The rest of The Party follows, though much calmer. Lucas even stalls behind to give the two older boys a thumbs up. 

"Congrats." He grins before disappearing after his friends. 

"Well..." Eddie trails off once the sound of distressed Dustin fades away. "I'd say we scared him pretty well, so, mission accomplished?" He smiles, throwing finger guns to sell his point better. 

"Two missions, even." Steve smiles back, motioning him to come back closer. 

"Two birds, one stone. Very time-saving of us." Eddie happily returns to his place in the other's orbit, which also means his ass is reachable again.

"We could go for two birds one hand later?" Steve offers, but all it does is make Eddie laugh loudly. 

"Holy shit, you truly have no game, Harrington! You're lucky I dig it." 

[anantaru]

ARE YOU DEAF, OR JUST STUPID?

— ꒰ synopsis ꒱ — visiting a club at night wasn't something scaramouche would normally agree on, but when someone asks if you're single all of a sudden, the night appeared to become all the more eventful.

— ꒰ word count ꒱ — 800 words

— ꒰ genre ꒱ — fluff & crack, he's a jealous man with a dream, gn! reader

the hefty, immersive atmosphere encompassing your body was erratic, shining and full of lucent light.

you can perceive the differences in scents colliding with each other in the humid air of the underground club you were currently visiting as your boyfriend scaramouche was anything else but delighted to be here.

at least you're with him, but he simply doesn't get the appeal of being ringed in between infuriating, boring, pesky little humans having fun.

indeed, he has been playing the grumpy card for the majority of the time, fairly speaking, 'grumpy' was a comical understatement.

most of all, he cannot even convince himself to go out, don't even mention manipulating himself into thinking he likes it. because what's there to like? the noisy crowd or the blaring music blasting into his poor ears with people wildly shaking their bodies to the pesky tune, including you— who thankfully was only having eyes for him, also gleefully dancing and swaying your body as your boyfriend only watched;

stone-cold features not moving a muscle, unbothered and ready to go home again.

but then, the atmosphere changes when you feel someone tap on your shoulder, "sorry if this is weird." you flinch immediately by surprise, noticing the man behind you as you pull your head aside to face him.

"but are you single pretty?"

ugh, double ugh.

yet if you were being quite honest with yourself now, you're already laughing and were feeling just a little bad for the random guy asking you such a question not knowing what storm he had just conjured— because he does not even see that scaramouche was also standing next to you, mouth tight and swallowing, clearly not pleased by that insignificant insect, as he called him, bothering his partner while having fun.

"what?" scaramouche doesn't waste a single breath and spits out immediately, right away cutting you off the conversation entirely and inserting himself into the middle of you and the stranger so he couldn't bother you anymore, even if he tried. "what did you say?"

"w-wait, who are you?" the stranger forces a smile on his tensed face, strikingly irritated.

"are you deaf?" well, again, to make things clear, you should maybe pray to the archons now, clearly not for your boyfriend but for the odd man there. if it wasn't this hilarious. but you silently tug on scaramouche's arm to signal him that it was in fact, okay, and you could simply handle this alone, but you would also lie to yourself if you'd say that it wasn't cute, quite charming too, of him to be this animated, let alone protective right now.

scaramouche feels his throat tighten but doesn't let any anger run down, it's pointless and he would only make people notice him even more. "i don't want any troubles." the man silences down, feeling a warm, embarrassing hotness on his neck and his shoulders shrug inwards, because how possibly couldn't he react that way?

presently, he was being watched up and down, up and down, closely, with those indigo eyes boring sharp, burning daggers into his flesh and bones. "then you better leave."

"because there's no one single here, leave." scaramouche takes a step forward, "do you i have to spell it out for you or are you just that stupid?"

you could've sworn you heard a little 'no' leaving past the guys lips, yet the irksome stranger ultimately decided to take a haste leave instead, thankfully, but not before awkwardly glancing towards you and back to scaramouche, grinning through his tensed mouth, as if not knowing how to possibly tackle a situation like that, ever.

"you didn't have to do this, you know." you sneakily whisper into scaramouche's ear, "but then." and you begin to ponder dramatically in front of him, wrapping your arms around his body as you perceived his muscles lose on tension, "i wouldn't have been able to see this cute side of you."

what followed next was quite a sight to behold— that sicken, repulsed look on scaramouche face was award worthy, the best one in all of teyvat, but you loved that about him and place a soft, pleasing kiss on his parted lips before he was able to say anything back.

"i'm not cute." yet his response brushes over your lips regardless, his warm breath coating your own while he leaned into your warmth, gracefully accepting your candied kisses that were his treasured favorites.

"lets leave this place before i track that sucker down."

©2023 anantaru do not repost, copy, translate, modify

[drdemonprince]

The article regarding about annoying queer people sparked a by now long forgotten memory.

When I went to my first pride I snuck out secretly and thus was there after the parade. Most people were already some form of drunk or high(didn't know that at the time, I was 15 and naive beyond hope)

That was also the first time I saw puppies ever. In retrospect I must have stared and seemed like one of those annoying "no kink at pride" puriteens. They probably just wanted to allow themselves a small joke but what happened in praxis was, that a grown, white man in only puppy mask and boxers crawled up to me, stood up, started sniffing my breasts and when I started panicking and running away he run after me and everyone else watched and laughed. I think I screamed for help or cryed to please leave me be and was ignored but I can't remember much past the fear.

To them it was probably a small joke but to me it set me back for years. I didn't go to pride in that city ever again and took years to move past "no kink at pride" opinions, an opinion I didn't even have before that.

I felt incredibly isolated and wearing a small rainbow bracelet and cutting my hair took so much bravery. And it earned a lot of backlash too?

So often I see coloured hair and pins as this cutesy cringe thing of no consequence, but for me it resulted in hours upon of arguments and insults. It was worth it, because it helped me built my own identity apart from my families bigotry, but it sure wasn't fun or cutesy. Ultimately it led me to becoming brave enough to actually discover who I am and start making connections with the wider queer community.

Thankfully I had no social media accounts or I would have had some truly stupid arguments.

What I'm saying is, yes young queers can be annoying and it can be tiring to deal with them but being an asshole and vilifying them isn't the solution.

Making fun of teenagers doesn't make yourself more valid and doesn't give you the status of being an old experienced queer.

I'm saying teenagers here but the fun thing about queer people is that we can discover ourselves at any point in time. So it's less teenagers and more people newly discovering themselves as queer.

I get how annoying they can be very well now, doing voluntary work at pride does that.

Do many of those we consider annoying queers hold some harmful opinions? Yeah sure. (The amount of white queers, teens or adults, not dealing with systemic oppression beyond their own is staggering and they more than deserve to be called out. Just to be very clear, when I talk about annoying behaviour I do NOT mean microagressions or discrimination in any way)

But annoying behaviour is not synonymous to that and maybe we should all just start being less mean in public spaces? I get how satisfying it can be to get a hit tweet via a bitchy twitter reply now, but quite honestly I am more ashamed of that now than when I was running around in hoodies and short hair being painfully naive.

Because then I wasn't being mean to anyone. I had some stupid takes sure but no outlet. On twitter I was making fun of people to validate my own queer-ness. (Personally I think I was covering up for the fact that I was afraid the queer people I worked so hard to be part of wouldn't consider me one of their own. So I worked hard to show how I'm not one of "those queers".)

Either way, thanks for reading all this and thank you for sharing the article because it is something I strongly agree with. Just let people be annoying without making fun of them for it. It doesn't need to be a big deal.

Thank you for this wonderful, vulnerable, honest message about your slow path to self-acceptance in the face of a lot of barriers, anon. I'm glad that despite everything you've found your way.

Yeah, I think queer people have many reasons to feel terrified at the rising "no kink at pride" discourse, but sometimes when we lash out at puriteens we sound a bit like the childfree people who say that they hate kids?? Like, we're blaming literal children for an ideology of protecting "The Family" that has been foisted upon us.

I'm guilty of it. I was HAUNTED by the social pressure to get married and pregnant and raise a bunch of kids. It caused me massive dysphoria and didn't jibe with my queer identity. But I rebelled against it for far too long by saying that I hated kids.

It was not the kids' fault! It was the ideological specter of The Family as an institution that isolates and attacks all nonconformity and 'deviant' sexuality! Me being an asshole to children was not gonna set me free, kids were even more disinfranchised than I was!! I don't think I was ever overtly cruel to children, just kind of aloof and freaked out by them, but I definitely *did* say some numbskulled shit to my friends with kids a few times. Completely missing how disempowered mothers (and it was usually mothers) are in society BECAUSE of these same forces .

And I think something similar is going on here. Queer people are tired of having "Family Friendliness" shoved down our throats by corporations and conservatives, and so then we lash out... at young queer people. it's fine to have 18+ areas and events; It's very, very important to me that spaces like Furfest have them. But that's not the same thing as claiming young people have no space in our community as a whole. And I do think we need to erode the barriers between the adult and child worlds in a whole lot of ways, and reorient our attitudes toward nudity, sexuality, roleplaying, etc in public life. but that also doesn't mean a pup should run you out of a pride parade actually fucking sexually harassing you.

It feels great to be able to talk about this stuff! Thanks for your message.

[rizzanon]

childhood friend! Shinichiro Sano

part 1 | part 2 (here)

childhood friend! Shinichiro who matures quite significantly by the end of highschool, no longer asking out girls at school anymore much to your surprise

"Woah, look at you."

"Hm??"

"It's been months since you last asked out some random girl. What happened to the women obsessed Shinichiro I know?"

"Shut up, it was just a phase. Besides, you made me open my eyes in a way."

"How so?"

"I guess... I'm just waiting to ask the right person out now."

childhood friend! Shinichiro who invites you to witness the disbandment of the first generation of Black Dragons, despite you not being associated with his gang at all

"Why do you even want me to go? The people I know are only just going to be Takeomi, Waka and Benkei."

"Because I want you to be there. Is there any better reason other than that?"

"I suppose not..."

"And maybe it's also the fact that I need someone to watch over Manjiro haha..."

"I knew it."

childhood friend! Shinichiro who gets upset frustrated when you chose to ride with Takeomi instead of him on the day of the final gathering (he couldn't complain about it to you though, you made a fair point)

"Hey come on! Why are you going to ride with him? Takeomi's a worse rider than me y'know."

T- "Fuck off Shin. You don't worry about me stealing your girl from ya'."

"But you are a reckless rider-"

"Come on Shin, you can't expect me, you and Manjiro to be able to sit in one bike, can you? One of us is surely gonna fall off. I'll be fine with Take-chan, okay?"

"Fine..." (He was not fine with it)

childhood friend! Shinichiro who you make fun of when he comes over to you after the disbandment of the first generation of Black Dragons bawling his eyes out (you were prepared for this outcome)

"Glad to know you're still the same crybaby Shin I know."

M- "Haha! I'm gonna tell Emma you're such a crybaby."

"Cut it out you two! This—sniffs—is a special moment...!"

"You're lucky I brought tissues to wipe your tears away."

"I can't believe you know me that well."

childhood friend! Shinichiro who gets used to you coming over to the Sano household unnanounced whenever you pleased, not that anyone minded, since they all loved your presence

"Emma, be a dear and wake up Shin? Smack him if you have to."

E- "Okay!!"

"Woah, woah, there's no need to smack any—yawn—one. And why are you here?"

"Emma wanted me to teach her a new recipe to make for breakfast. So here I am!"

"And you decided to come over this early??"

"It's 7am Shin. Besides, don't act like you don't like seeing my pretty face the first thing in the morning~"

"Shut up." (Spoiler, he does)

childhood friend! Shinichiro whom you never grow apart from even after highschool, and you both started going on different paths, him opening up a motor bike shop while you started going to college and applied for a part time job as a cashier near the vicinity

"Wait, the shop you're working at is the one down the street, right? Just a few blocks away from my shop?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Great, looks like I can go say hi to you whenever I want."

"Don't you dare do something stupid to get me fired, Shin."

"No promises, ma'am."

childhood friend! Shinichiro who after miserably failing 5 times asks you for your help to bake a cake for Emma's birthday

"And what is this supposed to be?"

"Clearly, it's supposed to be Ariel, y'know, the princess mermaid??"

"That's your best attempt at making an ariel themed cake?? Now I know why you were begging for me to come over when you called me."

"I blame it on Manjiro for ruining the frosting."

M- "Hey! It was you who ruined it."

"So not true."

"I think the both of you should just shut up and help clean up this mess first."

childhood friend! Shinichiro who's gotten used to his siblings asking him where you were whenever you weren't seen with him and getting teased about it

E- "Neh, Shin-nii, where's [name]?"

"Probably stuck in another class, why do you ask?"

E- "I miss her."

M- "Idiot, we already saw her this morning."

E- "Hey! Don't act like you don't want her to come and play with us too!"

"Seriously you two, sometimes I wonder if I'm your older sibling at this point, with how much you ask for her."

M- "Shinchiro, we all know you love her as much as we do, maybe even more~"

"Shut your mouth Manjiro 💢"

childhood friend! Shinichiro who always shows up to your workplace when your shift is almost going to be over, always claiming that he was hungry and wanted to buy something, when in reality, he's there to send you home

"So..."

"And what the hell could you possibly want from this humble store, Shin?"

"Woah, woah! Can't a customer walk around the store to see what they want to get?"

"The last time you were here you knocked down a stack of cans on display, the manager almost reduced my paycheck because of that."

"In my defence, I didn't see the stack of cans."

"Suree you didn't."

"Hey, come on now! You know I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize your job.. on purpose at least...."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Now, would you be so kind to get me a pack of cigarettes, y'know, for a very dear friend of yours?"

"The only think you'll be getting from me is a pack of gum, rotten breath."

"Rude... now come on, when does this shift of yours end anyways? Let's get dinner on the way back."

childhood friend! Shinichiro who becomes your gossip and vent buddy whenever he sends you home after your shift, with him hanging onto every word you say, and hating on whoever you hate even if he doesn't know who the hell they are

"Argh, goddamnit, won't she just give me a break already?"

"Who? Wait—no, let me guess. Is it that girl from your econs class? What's her name again? Ka—Ka something..."

"Kazumi. Wow, didn't think you'd actually remember, well somewhat remember at least."

"With how much you complain about her, who wouldn't? But let me guess what she did to aggravate you this time."

"Go on. No guarantee that there'll be a prize for that though."

"She ditched a group project discussion again? Or she claims she's too busy to complete her part of the project when in reality she's going on parties and all that?"

"Mix of both actually, so congrats! No prize for you though."

"Aww. And here I thought you'll reward me for being a good friend."

"Argh, I should ask Takeomi or Benkei to intimidate her into actually taking this group project seriously or something..."

"Why ask them when you have your number one ride or die partner next to you to do so?"

"What'll you do? Intimidate her with the 20 rejections you've gotten? Pfft, she might even make that 20 become 21 before you intimidate her."

"I thought we swore to never talk about that ever again 💢"

childhood friend! Shinichiro who's grateful to you for bringing him his lunch to his shop whenever he leaves it at home and enjoys groans whenever you nag to him about the importance of not skipping any meals

"Guess some things will never change, huh?"

"Huh? Oh, is that my lunch?"

"No, no, it's my supper."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny [name]."

"I deserve more credit for making sure you don't skip your meals."

"Is that so? Would you like me to get on my knees and thank you? I can certainly do that."

"You and your cheesy lines... when will you learn to remember to bring your own lunch to work? You're pulling off the same shit you did back when we were in highschool."

"Maybe I just like your meals better than mine..."

"...??!... That... That still isn't an excuse for you to not bring along something to eat, dumbass. What would you do if I decide not to check in on you, hm?"

"Probably starve to dea-"

-smacks his head-

"Oww??? Alright, alright, sorry I guess, 'mom'. I won't purposely skip my meals ever again..."

"Good... next time, just... ask if you want me to cook extra for you."

childhood friend! Shinichiro who notes how you start to stand one arm's length away from him whenever you're with him, and when he asks you about it, becomes visibly distraught to hear you say he reeks of cigarette smoke

"Hey... why're you standing so far away from me? Don't tell me you came over to my shop just to see me work from a distance now.."

"You just stink, that's all."

"What??!? I definitely don't stink. I took a shower this morning, and I'm not covered in grease or anything..!!"

"It's that smokey smell that's always lingering around you. Y'know, because you like to smoke every now and then.."

"Huhh?!? What're you saying!!"

"Don't tell me you don't reek of cigarettes Shin. It's blatantly obvious, I can probably even smell you from a mile away like this."

"WHAT?!? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS EARLIER???"

"Because I didn't want you to make you self-conscious, stupid! Besides, it's not like I can force you to stop smoking or anything.."

childhood friend! Shinichiro who slowly stops smoking as much as he used to, especially around you so that you wouldn't be disturbed by his smell and stay close to him

"Huh?"

"What is it?"

"Eh... it's nothing important."

"Oh come on, you clearly have something to say. Cat got your tongue or something? Taken aback by my good looks?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say. You just... smell different, that's all."

"Is smell all you care about? What are you, a dog?"

"Fuck you."

"Yes please."

"Wha-?!?!"

"I'm joking." (He wasn't really)

"And I probably smell good because I put on this new cologne I got."

"Pfft, to mask off the fact that you're a smoke addict?"

"Hey! Might I inform you that I haven't picked up a cigarette for the past two weeks now."

"Really? Wow, I'm surprised. What made you stop?"

"You. Well, more precisely, you avoiding to get close to me because I stink."

"...?!?" (You were speechless and flustered)

childhood friend! Shinichiro who gets jealous upset when his friends flirt with you right in front of his face, not knowing that they're doing this to get him riled up enough and grow balls to finally confess to you

T: "Say, [name], you got a boyfriend or anything?"

"..?!?! Wha- Why're you asking her that-"

T: "What? Can't a man be curious? Besides, no boyfriend would be pleased if their girlfriend is hanging out with her 'guy' friend and his siblings 24/7."

"Very funny Take-chan. If that's your logic, then I believe you already have your answer."

B: "That's suprising. I was sure a pretty girl like you would have many guys chasing for you."

"...! I'm flattered, Keizo-kun. But I doubt that's the case, haha."

"Oi, you guys, stop bugging her like this..."

T: "Ya'know, I'm pretty sure most girls like strong guys, right? Shin's pretty weak to stay by your side."

"Oi-"

T: "But, he makes it up with his charm and caring side, so I guess you have it good [name]."

W: "Well, that's Shin-chan for ya, so you don't have to worry about him not treating you right, [name]. But if he doesn't, you cant count on us to beat him up for you."

"I.... wow, okay...?"

"?!? Oi, you guys!!? Now you're scaring me!!"

childhood friend! Shinichiro who confronts you one day, telling you all about how his friends and family keep on teasing him about how you and him should date and how he also really liked the idea of that

"Hahaha! Really? Manjiro did that?? I can't believe I missed that!"

"It's painful y'know! Can't believe he's only 12 years old and pulling off roundhouse kicks like that. And to my face too!"

"Well, what'd you do this time?"

"Wha-?!? I can't believe you're so quick to take his side. Both you and Emma."

"What can I say? Both him and Emma are my favourite Sanos after all."

"Gasp After all these years, you're choosing them over me?!? I'm disappointed, [name]. I thought you knew better 😔"

"Cry about it then."

"Mean..."

"But he must have a reason for doing that to you though, right?"

"I mean... it's kind of stupid, really."

"Oh? Do tell whatever the reason for the 'invincible Mikey' to roundhouse kick you. And for Emma to take his side on the matter."

"Ah... they're just mad that I apparently haven't made you my girlfriend yet."

"Huh??"

"I know, stupid, isn't it? They both have been bugging me about this for years now, claiming that they 'want you to be their actual sister'. What's worse is that gramps has the same sentiment as them too."

"Seriously? Sano-sensei as well?"

"Yup. He says he doesn't mind having you as his "granddaughter-in-law" and that you're the only person I ever truly listen to. Bullshit by the way."

"Is it it really though?"

"That's not the point. Hell, even the guys are teasing me for not making it official with you yet. Bugging me about it whenever we hangout, saying that if I don't act soon, they'll steal you away from me."

"I-.... wow... I guess that explains what happened the last time we hung out."

"Yeah, sorry if their words bothered you."

"No, no it's fine. But I'm just wondering... what do you think about all this?"

"Huh?"

"Like.... with everyone bugging you, and well me about this, what are your thoughts on us dating?"

"...?!?... I guess.... I don't mind that..."

"Really? I'm glad then."

"Huh? What do you mean."

"I guess I don't mind us dating as well."

".....Wait..., so are you saying I can be your boyfriend?!?! Really?!?"

"Yes! I'm saying you can be my boyfriend, and I can be your girlfriend, idiot."

"I'm actually so happy right now I could literally kiss you."

"Then do it, Shin. Who's gonna stop you?"

a/n: i love him so much oml, thinking about writing longer fics about some of these scenarios

m.list

[jenscx]

[02] tumblr girls — hopeless

it was cliché; being in love with danielle marsh, the straightest girl on earth. you thought your feelings were hopeless, until you discover her tumblr blog.

you toss and turn on your bed, messing up your duvet cover with your indecisiveness. danielle had said she would text you, but should you text her first since she hasn’t? or was it a little weird? would danielle find you desperate or weird? you let out a pathetic groan, throwing your phone away onto the other corner of your bed.

minji and hanni had offered no help and were entirely useless when you told them of your dilemma. after all, keeping your crush a secret from them was increasingly harder each day. might as well just tell them and maybe you would get some help. you were wrong.

“you’re asking us? we’ve spoken to like, 5 people our whole life, including each other,” hanni had said. minji, naturally, nods her head, agreeing.

your phone suddenly dings. eyes widened. hands instantly reach for the phone, fingers hastily scrolling to find danielle’s contact.

no new messages. you flop back onto your bed, feeling pitiful at your own self. if anyone saw you like this, desperate for a girl’s message, what would they say? your friends would definitely make fun of you.

staring at the ceiling, your eyes wander around your bedroom walls, filled with photographs of memories in school with your family and friends. the photograph pinned in the centre of it all, a class photo from last year. you had cut the photo out from the yearbook. you were near the side, smiling with arms tossed over minji and hanni’s shoulders. yet, right in the middle, danielle’s grin is even wider and is it strange if the sight of her immediately brings a smile onto your face?

your phone dings again, then it starts to spasm with notifications. you don’t even bother checking it, knowing it was probably hanni blowing up your phone about how minji was playing with her feelings again. god, maybe you should focus your energy on helping your best friends get together instead of being a sad, pitiful girl yearning for someone out of her league.

hanni, apparently, doesn’t get the hint that you’re ignoring her messages on purpose, and decides to call you. you let the phone ring for a bit before reluctantly picking up.

“y/n, i swear, can you please knock some sense into minji? i don’t care how you do it, like you could even punch her or slap her—”

“shut the hell up,” you groan, “she’s your best friend, you do something.”

“she’s yours too!” hanni retorts.

“okay but i’m not hopelessly in love with her!”

hanni scoffs. annoyance starts to seep in.

“what do you want, pham? what did minji do this time?” you ask. hanni wails loudly, “when you left to go find the love of your life, you know jake from chemistry? yeah, he came up to me and started asking for the homework. obviously, i told him and then minji started being all sulky!”

“sounds like she was jealous.”

“that’s what i’m saying! but maybe it’s the demons in my head and you’re just deluding me. anyway, i just let her sulk until when i get home, she texts me and asks if i’m dating jake? like girl, do i need to bash your head with a rock?” you wince at the increasingly loud tone of hanni. she seemed incredibly agitated.

you bring your phone’s speaker further away from your ear. “i wouldn’t go that far, but what did you say to her?”

“told her that i am not dating jake, we’re just friends because we’re lab partners. and then she was like, asking me if i was dating someone, i would tell her, right? but she’ll do all that, get jealous and shit, and then not look me in the eye the next day?” hanni whines. you feel a semblance of pity for your best friend. maybe minji was just struggling with coming to terms with her feelings.

“god, she’s so annoying. i hate her so much! she thinks she can tell me to trust her when i would literally murder someone for her.”

your best friends were stupid. maybe that’s why you were so drawn to becoming friends with them.

“hanni, you would murder someone for fun,” you frown.

“if you can’t tell, i’m rolling my eyes right now. and yes, i won’t deny that but—” a notification pops up.

danielle [9.47pm]:

hi yn! :))

“hanni, i’m hanging up now.”

“wait, what—”

you instantly press the hang up button, fingers rapidly scrolling to danielle’s chat. meanwhile, hanni blows up your phone, demanding you to answer. hesitating for a moment, you don’t click into her message. you didn’t want to seem too desperate or like you were waiting for her to text you (you were, obviously).

danielle [9.48pm]:

sry 4 the late text :(

just wanted to check

are u free tmrw?

for the project !!

before you could even stop yourself, your fingers start to type a response.

jeon yn [9.48pm]:

i’m free!

what time?

danielle [9.49pm]:

9 in the morning?

i heard our brains work

btr early in the morning :D

meet @ the library near sch!

you internally groan, hoping to sleep in during the weekend but anything for danielle, right?

jeon yn [9.50pm]:

yeah sure!!

see u then

danielle [9.51pm]:

goodnight!!

see u xx

see you. with kisses. your phone nearly drops onto your face. does danielle say that to anyone? or just you?

xx means kisses right? you weren’t going crazy? maybe you were. terribly deluded and indulged in danielle’s kindness, mistaking it for affection. god, you were a mess. why couldn’t you be some suave casanova who could actually talk to your crush without stuttering? seriously, was it just a danielle thing? you could easily converse with others on the daily (not that you did), but still!

the more you think about your situation, the more pitiful you feel. it’s only because of the project that danielle is even talking to you. maybe you should take the chance to show her your charming aspects, and not freeze up every time you see her. yes. that is exactly what you’ll do!

confident and determined, you start to search the common attractive features of someone’s personality. surely a girl like danielle would want an independent yet caring partner. she would need someone to take care of and take care of her. someone that she could rely on but still be emotionally open to talk. your determination starts to disappear when most attributes consist of masculine, strong and manly. right. she would want a man.

you go to sleep with a heavy heart, not bothering to close the tab. maybe it could be a constant reminder that the girl of your dreams is straight.

was this all hopeless?

your dreams, or nightmares, had been haunted by a blurry figure of a man standing next to danielle at the altar. a stretch for sure, since you were both still in high school, but just seeing the truth laid out in front of you was heartbreaking. clearly the contents of last night stirred you greatly. no way danielle was into girls, and if she was, she wouldn’t be into you. she’s a cheerleader, for god's sake, why would she entertain someone like you?

groaning, you quickly get out of bed. of course danielle was a morning person. she was sunshine itself. maybe that’s why she has so much energy and her skin is so luminous… you slap yourself gently, if you wanted to stop this deluded narrative of danielle liking you back, you had to prevent yourself from worshipping danielle like a deity.

taking one glance at your closet, you groan. why was it that on the day you were meeting danielle, all your clothes seemed horrendous? whatever, not like you had to impress her anyway. you throw on a white cropped button up with jeans. at least it was comfortable and breathable. not like you were gonna breathe anyway since you’ll be staring at danielle—

you curse your mind.

staring at the time, you finally decide to head out. even if you arrived early, you wouldn’t mind waiting. it was better to be early than late, you wouldn’t want to make a bad impression. and it was common decency! not like you wanted to portray yourself in a better light or anything…

ugh. you were pathetic. letting yourself be distracted by anything other than danielle, you start to make your way to the library. you hated it there; the librarian, mrs kwon, was not very fond of you after you had caused a domino effect with a bunch of books stacked up. honestly, it really wasn’t your fault. hanni and minji were just so annoying that you became fed up with them. a small cat fight had broken out, if you could really call it that, but hanni had shoved you into the towers of books. needless to say, you spent the rest of the afternoon helping mrs kwon.

you were kind of glad that living so closely to school meant you only had to ride a ten minute bus ride to the library. it was rather convenient. not convenient when your best friends came to your house unprompted and disturbed your peace and tranquillity.

maybe since you were already on the way, you could slip in some alone time and admire the seasonal changes. spring was beautiful. more butterflies and insects flying about. more flowers blooming. could anything be more perfect than spring? (danielle).

you put on your earphones, sighing comfortably as you watched the everchanging view. mere minutes later, you had arrived already. with fifteen minutes to spare, you quickly found a place to sit in the library. since exams haven’t begun yet, there was not a student in sight, only some little kids attending a book reading contest. you smile at the cute children who struggled to pronounce hard words.

a tug of your earbuds pull you out of your reverie. at first, you think that mrs kwon was going to scold you for coming back after the mess you had caused, but the small giggle let out made you realise it was danielle.

“what are you listening to?”

watching danielle with wide eyes, you struggle to formulate a response as she puts your left earbud in her own ear. her lips twitch with delight at the melody that fills her ears.

“clairo? i like her too,” danielle whispers. you swallow your saliva, “you do?”

“yeah,” danielle sends an award-winning smile, “i like sofia the most. do you like sofia?”

if you weren’t so caught up in your own delusions that danielle was the straightest girl alive, you might have eaten up the piece of meat she had left, deeming that girls that liked clario were devastatingly gay.

“uh, yeah.”

“i’ve never met someone else who likes clairo,” danielle confesses, “most of my friends are into rap.”

“rap’s cool too i guess… uh, what do you normally listen to?” you build up the courage to ask. danielle’s face lights up drastically.

“ariana grande, the beach boys, oh! bruno mars too.”

you raise an eyebrow, “a pop lover?”

“yeah! pop just makes me feel happy,” your heart clenches at the sight of her smile. was god drunk when he made danielle? this wasn’t good for your heart.

danielle continues rambling about music, which is the cutest thing ever, not that you would say that out loud. you just wear a smile on your face, genuinely happy to listen to her voice. it was so soothing and relaxing. if danielle told you to jump off a bridge, you would do it instantly.

“oh— sorry, did i say too much?” she asks nervously. you’re immediate to reassure her, “no, of course not. i was just mesmerised.”

danielle stares at you, confused.

“by what?”

“huh?”

“mesmerised by what?” she repeats. your mouth turns dry. mesmerised by the way her curly hair falls against her face. mesmerised by the way her eyes light up with happiness and glee. mesmerised by the way she actually sparkles under the sun.

“you have good music taste,” you say instead. danielle’s smile doesn’t falter.

“really?! i think you have better taste than i do though,” you don’t disagree. liking danielle is the pinnacle of good taste.

she turns to you, beaming, “could you recommend some songs to me?”

caught off guard, you hesitate to reject her. “uh, sure. i can make a playlist.”

“thanks! just send me the link and i’ll listen to it immediately!”

you nod, tempted to run out of the library to hide from the intensity of her stare. danielle, unknowing of your inner dilemma, only pulls out her laptop and stacks of notes.

“so! we have a project to do about human attraction!”

may god bless your soul.

jeon y/n [5.17pm]:

did u get home safe?

danielle [5.18pm]:

yupp!

thanks for buying me coffee too!

i’ll repay u next time :)

jeon y/n [5.18pm]:

next time?

danielle [5.18pm]:

next time we meet up!

we still have more to do

jeon y/n [5.19pm]:

ah… right

by the way

i added u on the playlist

danielle [5.20pm]:

oh my gosh

WAIT i have to listen now

you wait patiently for danielle’s reaction. the playlist was handcrafted with your own music taste and danielle’s revealed preference. coincidentally, there were a lot of love songs, not that you intended there to be. it seemed rather intimate to share your love of music to someone else, but danielle was the kind who would appreciate it.

it had almost been more than an hour until danielle finally texted back.

danielle [6.42pm]:

i love it omg

superior music taste.

jeon y/n [6.43pm]:

haha really?

i just put in songs i thought u would like

danielle [6.43pm]:

spot on.

amazing.

please add more :D

jeon y/n [6.43pm]:

of course!

rest well

danielle [6.44pm]:

u too!!! <3

you too. with a heart. like a lovesick fool, you fall asleep with a smile on your face, unwilling to be rid of.

masterlist | next

[redroomreflections]

Gentle Hands Chapter 4

Natasha Romanoff x fem!reader

Summary: Natasha suspects Reader is in an abusive relationship and tries to convince her to leave

4/10

W/c: 4.1k

Masterlist | General Masterlist

Warning: Domestic violence

Note: i see yall like this

“The Avengers are aiding in the kidnapping of my baby,” He yells into the street.

Dread fills your body seeing Keith on the surveillance camera of Avenger’s Tower. He’s ranting and yelling out into the street to whoever would listen. Passersby don’t pay him any mind for the most part. A few people stop to look at all of the commotions but in the end, they go on with their day too. He’s making a complete and utter fool of himself.

“I’m calling the police now,” He shouts. “They have my little girl in there.” Through the screen, you can see him pull out his phone and call what you assume is the police. That is until two large, burly men in suits exit the tower to grab him. They pick him up as if he weighs nothing to escort him into the tower.

“Where are they taking him?” You ask. You tear your eyes away from the phone screen to look over at Natasha. She turns off the phone screen.

“Inside until he shuts up probably,” She answers.

“And will they hurt him?”

“Not unless he misbehaves,” Somehow this is the wrong answer and it fills you with dread. You didn’t want problems. You didn’t want anyone getting into trouble because of you. Natasha can tell by the look on your face what you’re thinking. “Look, y/n, whatever happens to him is his own fault.”

“Can we go to the Tower?” You interrupt. You know it’s an incredibly stupid ask but you’d like to make things right.

“What?”

“Can we go? We need to settle all of this and if he wants to see Kaia maybe I should let him see her,” You begin to ramble. “She’s his child too and I took her and he’s probably so worried.”

“Y/n, no, absolutely not I can’t let you do that,”

You frown. “You can’t let me? I thought here I had my own autonomy. I could make my own choices.”

“And you do.” Natasha lies her hand atop yours. “I don’t think you should go and see him. He’s unpredictable.”

“He won’t hurt me in front of anyone if that’s what you’re saying,” You shift uncomfortably. “Please, Nat, I promise I won’t go anywhere alone with him. I just…” You don’t know how to finish that sentence. You don’t know how to rationalize any of this. You don’t want to do this. Yet something tells you that you should. For closure.

Natasha sighs. She can’t do this. She doesn’t want to allow this. Yet she knows she has no say. She’s supposed to be supportive. Not that this particular incident should have her support. She wants to be there for you. So she will.

“If he tries anything I kill him,” She stands to go and grab her keys.

You nod wordlessly. Here’s to goodbyes.

You get Kaia ready with her new coat and shoes. You strap her into the car seat Natasha bought. As you click the straps into the base, you look at your daughter as she gives you a smile. She only has a couple of teeth right now. Which she shows proudly. She rubs her hands along the fabric of the chair, kicking her legs out, as she prepares herself for your new adventure. You don’t take cars often so this should be fun for her. You linger for a few seconds, cherishing this moment of peace with her before you climb into the passenger seat.

Natasha puts the car into drive and sets off towards the tower. There’s a random pop song playing lowly on the radio. Natasha is stoic and a bit cold as you leave the unfamiliar neighborhood.

“I know you think I’m stupid.” You break the silence and she cuts her eyes to you. “You wouldn’t be the first.” You look out of the window and then back to her. “I love him. In some silly naive way, I think he loves me too. I just…I can’t keep letting him hit me you’re right.” Your hand travels to your belly, where your unborn child is housed safely. “If he hadn’t stopped. If Kaia hadn’t woken up I think I would have lost them. Kaia. The baby. My choice would have been taken from me and I don’t know if I would have been able to live after that.”

Natasha doesn’t speak for a long time. This makes you uneasy. You’d like to know what she’s thinking. You’re unsure of everything and you want to know how she feels. At a stop Natasha speaks. She flicks on the left turn indicator, the noise a bit distracting, as she looks over at you.

“I don’t think you’re stupid at all,” She starts. “I think it doesn’t matter what I think. You have to decide for yourself what you want. I am here. Every step of the way. Once Upon a Time, I couldn't leave either. I was under a very powerful man's wing and thought I had it good at one point. Until I was shown better.” She glances into the backseat at Kaia who’s surprisingly still awake. “Will you let me show you better?” She turns back to the front.

“I would like that,” You nod. The rest of the drive is ridden in silence.

The tower is not too far away from Natasha’s hideaway. Though it takes a bit longer to get there. She takes a lot of turns and detours and you’re sure this is to keep potential followers off your trail. She is still an Avenger. When she comes to the tower she takes the back entrance. It’s only for authorized individuals and even you weren’t allowed down here. The parking garage houses many cars and trucks. Natasha’s black Corvette is parked on one side of the garage. It’s sideways and taking up more than its fair share of space. You know no one dares to confront her about it. Either that or she just didn’t care.

You’re taking Kaia out of her seat when the nerves hit you. What exactly are you doing? How can you justify any of this? What if Keith does blow up? What if he does try something? What if he didn’t? You don’t have much time to think as you step into the elevator with Kaia in your arms and Natasha’s comforting hand on your lower back. You keep your eyes focused on the numbers on the wall. They rise steadily until you reach the fifty-fourth floor. These floors are usually used for Avenger’s business meetings. No one is usually allowed up here. This also means no one would be coming up if they had a problem.

You follow Natasha into the lobby where a few members of the team are waiting. Suddenly you become self-conscious. You didn’t think to put on makeup or any type of concealer. You look around the room, hoisting Kaia a bit higher in your arms.

“Where is he?” Natasha asks first. Wanda is seated next to Vision and she answers first.

“He’s with Tony and Steve in the conference room,” She points to the room a few feet away. Through the glass, you can spot Tony, Steve, and Sam all standing around the room, glaring him down, not even entertaining Keith’s outbursts. You can’t tell what’s being said from here. Your heart races at the idea of going in there and talking to him. Natasha glances to you before excusing herself. She walks over to the room, not even bothering to knock before she enters. All eyes are on her as she stands with her arms folded. You wonder how this will go.

“Would you like to sit?” Wanda inquires.

“No, I’m, I’m good.” You tuck your face into Kaia’s hair. She’s becoming fussier as she wants to get down and explore.

“I can take her,” Wanda offers. “We have fruit in the kitchen.” She tilts her head towards the doorway. You’re about to decline when you see out of the corner of your eye, that Keith stands from his chair in a fit of rage, only to be forcefully sat down with a hand on his shoulder by Steve.

“Yes, please,” You follow Wanda into the kitchen. She doesn’t treat you any differently. She doesn’t seem horrified by the bruising on your face. She works around you, cutting up a banana into thin slices. Kaia watches in interest, twisting her body around so that she can watch Wanda’s every move. You help her out of her coat, hanging it over a nearby chair before you come back to the counter. “You must have questions.”

“Only if you want to answer,” Wanda shrugs. “I do not wish to pry.”

She holds out a banana slice for Kaia to take. The toddler reaches her hand out before stuffing the fruit into her mouth. She chews loudly, drools leaving her mouth, as she delights in the tasty snack. “I do recognize that he has managed to piss off the entire team. Natasha especially.”

“I don’t have the best track record with relationships,” You begin. “Keith is…”

“The one who did that to your face?” She finishes for you. “I’m no stranger to physical violence from someone who pretends to care for you.” As a product of HYDRA, Wanda has seen her fair share of bruises and bumps. She doesn’t want to preach to you about anything at all.

“I’m sorry I brought this to the tower,” You find yourself apologizing. Even with the distance, you can hear Keith has gotten louder. The commotion has spilled out into the common area. How had he managed to leave?

“Y/n!, Y/n!, where is she?” He yells out. “Where’s my daughter?” He yells. Kaia lifts her head at the sound of her father’s voice. Before she could whine, you pass her to Wanda.

“Keep her safe? Please,” You beg. Wanda nods curtly, bouncing the little one in her arms, as she watches you walk out of the kitchen and down the hallway.

You step a bit further to find Keith fighting his restraints, becoming more erratic by the second, as he yells your name. You try to shake your nerves as you stop in front of him. He calms down considerably at the sight of you. Natasha rushes to your side, whispering into your ear, as the room becomes silent again.

“Y/n, I’m not sure its a good idea,”

“He just wants to talk to me right?” You respond loud enough to hear.

“That’s right,” Keith breathes harshly. “I just want to speak with you and take you home.”

“That won’t be happening,” Steve speaks up.

“I’ll talk with you,” You agree despite Steve’s denial. Before anyone could protest you say “five minutes. Nothing more. Nothing else Keith. If you try anything I will let them hurt you.” You warn him. He nods vehemently. “Let him go.” You request. Steve looks to Natasha for confirmation and she nods her head. This annoys you but it’s on the bottom of your list of things to be addressed. You walk past Kieth and the rest of the team and enter the conference room. You know he’ll follow.

When he does, he closes the door behind him, and for just a second you panic. Though you don’t show him. You can’t show him your weakness. That’s how he gets to you.

“There you are,” He says. He sidles up to your side, his hands cradling your face, as he looks into your eyes. You know the team is watching. “I was going crazy looking for you.” His hand falls to your chin, his eyes scanning your face, and you’re getting no reaction from him.

“Well, you found me,” You turn your head to tear your face from his grasp. You take a few steps backward to further the distance between you. Your stomach is in knots and you can feel nausea making a reappearance. “What do you want, Keith?”

“For you to come home,” He answers. “You and Kaia. Where is she?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” You speak carefully. You know what to say to not tick him off. You know how to play it safe. It’s shame that you do.

“Look, I know,” He clenches his fist. “I know I hurt you and I know what I did is wrong. We’ve talked about this before. I was just afraid to lose you and I get angry and…”

“You make my face look like this,” You say quietly. “Do you know how many times Kaia has seen you hit me, Keith?” You fold your arms under your chest. He doesn’t speak. “How many times we’ve woken her up because you decided to slam me against a wall? How much money I’ve spent on makeup just to hide what you’ve done to me?”

“I’m sorry,” He says. “I’m trying to be better. I’ll go to therapy. Just like you asked. I’ll go to AA and whatever else. I’ll stop seeing that girl. She doesn’t matter to me. You’re the one I want to marry. The one I want.” For a second you believe him. He falls to his knees, placing his hands on your hips, his head buried into your stomach as he cries. Under different circumstances, you might believe him. You do love him. He is trying, right? “Just come home with me. Come home and I’ll make it better. I promise.” He kisses your belly, practically soaking the hem of your shirt before he moves your hands to his head. “Just go get Kaia and we can go home. I need you.” He pleads.

You look up at the ceiling, blinking away tears, as you curse yourself for what you’re about to do. Maybe you are too weak. Maybe this isn’t what you want. He’s all you’ve ever known. You pull yourself from Keith’s arms, leaving them hanging in the air, as you exit the room. You walk past all of the Avengers, avoiding eye contact with them to head for the kitchen. They’ve all been listening. They can see everything. Which is why your next move leaves them perplexed.

Kaia is sitting in Wanda’s lap, tugging at her dark brown curls, as she sings to her.

“Y/n? Are you done talking?” She asks and you don’t even answer. You take Kaia in your arms, kissing the top of her head before you walk with her towards the conference room.

“What are you doing?” Sam questions.

“Hey, y/n, I don’t think you should do that,” Steve warns. Tony makes a noise. As for Natasha. She stays quiet. She knows what you’re about to do. She can’t stand by and watch. You can hear the ding of the elevator just before you walk into the conference room. You swallow down the pain to go and stand in front of Keith again.

“There she is,” Keith grins. He stands tall, clearly feeling victorious, as he pokes at Kaia’s belly. She seems disinterested, though happy to see him. “There’s my girl. Oh, you’re so big.” He smiles. You don’t speak as you watch him interact with her. Tears prick your eyes as Kaia matches his smile. She looks so much like him. Keith gives her another kiss. “I knew you would come home with me.”

Something about that statement startles you into action. Your decision has already been made. Before you have the chance to give up, you speak.

“Say goodbye to Daddy, Kaia.” You whisper brokenly. Keith’s eyes flash to yours. Had he heard you correctly?

“Bye-bye,” Kaia repeats. She’s unaware of the tension between the two of you.

“What do you mean goodbye?” Keith questions. You step back a few inches.

“I can’t go with you, Keith.” You inform him. “I can’t keep doing this.” You shake your head. “She deserves all of me. She deserves to have me forever.” You turn, rushing out of the conference room, spotting Steve and Sam as they step around you. You imagine it's to stop Keith from following after you. You meet Wanda at the end of the hallway where she leads you to the elevators. You can hear Keith yelling again. Screaming this time and you can tell its pain. Whatever they’re doing to him is none of your business anymore. You have yourself and your baby to worry about.

You stand next to Wanda until you reach the first floor of the Avenger’s quarters. Natasha is over by the bar, her head down, her eyes focused on some random object. You’re unsure if she wants to talk with you right now.

“I'll show you where to clean up,” Wanda directs you to a suite a little further down the hall. You recognize this area as Natasha’s. There’s a closed bedroom door, one you know as Natasha’s when she’s here, and another bedroom. This is where Wanda puts you. She closes the door behind the two of you.

“She’s angry with me, isn’t she?” You dare to ask.

“Natasha doesn’t like it when we put ourselves in danger,” Wanda explains. “Though usually its followed by yelling at us. I think with you its special.”

“How so?” You sit Kaia onto the bed. She immediately crawls over to the headboard. She begins to pull the pillows to toss them onto the floor.

“I don’t know if it's my place to say,” Wanda wrings her hands. “For now, don’t worry about it.”

“My life is a mess,” You shake your head. “ I don’t know up from down right now and I definitely don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“Lucky for you there’s a billionaire downstairs and a whole team behind you to help you figure it out,” Wanda looks around the room. “I can bring you clothes down. We’re almost the same size. Though you’re a bit curvier than me.” She points out. You look down to yourself and then to Wanda.

“Genetics,” You joke and she laughs quietly.

“You have a beautiful child,”

“Thank you,”

“I’ll be back,” Wanda leaves you to your own devices. When you hear the click of the door shut, you finally sit. You take deep long breaths, feeling the weight of the past few days hit you.

Everything’s changing. For the better.

******************************

Upstairs, in the conference room, Tony stands at the head of the table, eyeing Keith as the younger man rants about how he would be suing. Steve is seething in the corner while Sam stands completely still. Either this guy is dumb or he’s intentionally trying to goad them.

“You can’t do this to me,” Keith seethes. “You can’t keep me from my child. Once I go to the press you guys are done.”

“Is that so?” Tony tilts his head. “See I don’t think anyone in here takes too kindly to threats. Especially from men that put their hands on women.”

“You like knocking her around like that?” Steve questions. “What about that gets you off? Huh? You like seeing her hurt?”

“You don’t know shit,” Keith says snidely.

“We know enough,” Steve frowns.

“She’s not going to fuck you,” Keith grins. Steve raises a brow. He’s trying a different angle. Wanting to come off cocky. As if he has the upper hand. “She’s a prude. Took years to pop her cherry and you think you can get her to drop her pants because you’re some washed-up superhero?”

“Are you really that deluded?” Steve’s jaw ticks. He can’t believe he’s even listening to this guy.

“No, I know her,” Keith shrugs. “Once she realizes that she needs me she’ll come crawling back. She always does. Maybe this time I’ll finally get her to suck my-” Before he can finish his sentence it’s Sam that punches him square in the jaw. He flies back in his chair, spitting out the blood pooling into his mouth mere inches away from Sam’s shoes.

“Watch your mouth,” Sam warns him.

“Or what you’re going to kill me? You don’t have it in you. You’re an Avenger.” Keith smiles.

“He may not but have you heard of The Black Widow?” Tony gestures outside of the room. “She wouldn't hesitate and you know what? I would let her.” Tony hates that he’s referring to Natasha as some sort of killing machine but he needs to get his point across.

“Then I guess that doesn't make any of you better than me,” Keith argues despite his rising nervousness.

“Okay, I’m tired of you talking,” Tony rounds the table. “Here’s what is going to happen. I’m going to have Pepper speak with a lawyer to draw up papers signing away your rights. Then you’re going to take a plane ticket. You’re going to go far far away from here. You’re never going to speak to Y/n or Kaia again.”

“What’s in it for me? You can’t keep me away from my kid.”

“You get to keep all your limbs,” Tony pats his cheek. “She’s better off without you. You don’t have much of a choice.”

“Take the deal,” Steve says.

“I don’t get money or anything?” Keith presses. “How do you know I won’t go to the press anyway?”

“Oh, you won’t,” Tony says. “Unless you wish to find out how ruthless we can be. Avenger or no Avenger. What you did to that girl? You don’t even deserve to be walking right now.”

Tony takes one last look at him. “Get him out of my tower.” He says to the security waiting nearby. “Sign the papers, Keith.” He bids him one last goodbye.

***********************

You don’t venture out of the bedroom until Kaia has fallen asleep. You take a shower first, throwing on a larger hoodie, sans bra, with sweats to match your ensemble. You scrub the parts of your face that don’t hurt to touch. You want to deny the fact that you’re looking for Natasha but it’s true. She must be disappointed in what she thought you were going to do.

Instead, you find Steve. He's eating some kind of sandwich thing you’re not sure about.

“Hey,” You speak softly.

“Hello,” He drops his sandwich onto the saucer. “How are you holding up?”

“I’ve had better days,” You shrug. Your eyes scan the room again.

“She went out,” He supplies and you look at him questioningly. “Natasha. She said she had to go out for something.”

You nod in understanding. She can’t wait for you forever.

“I’m sorry you had to see that today,” You pull at the sleeves of the hoodie.

“I’ve seen worse,” Steve shrugs. “I’m sorry you didn’t feel that you could come to us.”

“For what it’s worth I did,” You furrow your brows. “It’s embarrassing. I didn't want to bother you with my minuscule problems when you battle aliens for a living.”

“Even so,” Steve beckons you over to his side. It’s where he brings you into his arms. He’s safe. Just like Natasha. He’s your friend too. “Your problems are not small. If they are hurting you or they matter to you they’re not small.”

You nod into his neck. As you pull apart the elevator doors open, revealing Natasha, as she steps onto the floor. You wipe away your tears to look over at her.

“Hi,” You wave to her. You spot the bags in her hand. Had she been shopping again?

“Hi,” She waves back. There’s an awkward silence that Steve interrupts.

“I’m just going to go,” He says. “Let me know if you need anything.” He says to you before walking past Natasha.

“I brought the ice cream,” Natasha shakes the bag. “I got one I’ve seen you eat before. Rocky Road. That’s your favorite?” You can see she’s nervous and unsure. That’s a big deal considering just who you are talking to.

“Thank you,” You nod as she begins to put everything away. “Though I don’t think I’ll be eating anything for a while. My stomach is all messed up.” You reveal and her eyes immediately drop down to said body part. “No, everything’s fine. It’s just morning sickness.”

“Happens all day?” She questions.

“All day,” You say exasperatedly. “I’m sorry.” You feel the need to say.

“For what?”

“I don’t know,” You look down at your bare toes. “For bringing you all into this. For making you think I chose him.”

“I wouldn’t be angry if you did,” Natasha admits.

“Because you don’t think you’re anybody’s first choice,”

“This isn’t about me,” Natasha shakes her head.

You understand that. You know it’s too early to be jumping from one relationship to another. You know your feelings are all mixed up and your head is even more jumbled. This shouldn’t be so complicated and yet it is. Yet you can’t help but step closer to her. Her eyes drop to your lips and you want to. God, you want to. You don’t want to be rejected again. So you tuck that thought away.

You throw yourself into Natasha’s arms and she catches you. The hug is long and fulfilling as her strong arms wrap around you. You let out a shuddering breath.

Would it all be okay?

---> next part

[classypauli]

She’s the Man

Pairing: Jenna Ortega x fem Reader

A/N: Hi! So as some of you may know this is the last chapter. I was fighting the words and all the options of how this should end. Biggest thank you to all the people who read it and liked it, I appreciate every reblog and comment you guys are awesome and I love to talk to you! Hopefully, you’ll like it…Happy reading 🤍

Warning: gram mistakes, spelling errors

Word count: 2.6k

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Chapter 6 - Epilogue

Mason was mad, no he was furious. The game started well, but now it was horrible. Your team lost 4:3 but he wasn´t even mad about it. He was more angry about your injury. It happened too fast and no one could expect it. The player who slid you down was sorry about it, and immediately apologized.

They don´t know what happened to you. After you fell on the ground you touched your knee, wincing a bit and then your head just fell. The paramedics said that you passed out. It was probably from dehydration. You barely drank that day. After the game, Mason, Hunter, and Georgie wanted to go to see you. You were in the hospital, still getting checked by doctors.

The boy noticed that Jenna wasn´t there throughout the game, which was strange. She was there always, even every practice. Your bond was strong. Mason was thinking that maybe she had something more important to do but at least, she should know what happened. That´s why before he wanted to go to see you, he went to a girl´s dorm.

„Hi“ she shot him a questionable look. Did you get him to persuade her to talk with you? She wasn´t in the mood right now. She felt sad and hopeless just thinking about you.

„Look if you came here to convince me-“

Mason cut her off with a rushed tone „Jenna she is in the hospital.“ In the hospital? Jenna´s heart skipped the beat. Who was in the hospital? Her thoughts went to Gideon and Emma, did something happen to them?

„Mason, what are you talking about? Who is in the hospital?“

The boy stopped, she didn´t know about it! Oh God, he completely forgot, if he says it to her and you find out what he did, you will end him. Now isn´t even the time to explain.

Y/N told him the truth before the game started, it was a lot to process, almost couldn´t believe you. You punched him in the shoulder for him wanting the proof of you being a girl. You were so believable but if he kept thinking about it, there was always something different about you.

„Charlie! One of the players tackled him to the ground- he passed out!“

Jenna´s body twitched. Her body moved on autopilot, taking her phone and keys, and running out of the dorm with Mason by her side. They came into the hospital and in the hallway, there was sitting a boy. Jenna looked better and realized he looked like Charlie- what?

The girl turned to Mason with an angry expression written on her face. „So that was your plan huh?!“ she turned around wanting to go away but he stopped her.

„Please you need to listen-“

„No, I won´t! I can´t believe you right now!“ Jenna wanted to continue but someone beat her up to it.

„Is there a problem?“ she turned around to answer but was met with a boy who looked almost exactly like Charlie. She could see a couple of small differences, like the shade of eye color or the shape of nose and lips, these were the most visible differences. This wasn´t Charlie, it just looked a lot like him.

„Who are you?“ Jenna asked the boy in front of her with confused eyebrows.

He looked at her, looking up and down at her then at Mason behind her. „I´m Charlie, who are you?“

Now she felt like she was dreaming. Her body got stuck and was trying to process the new information. Was he trying to make fun of her? Did she look that stupid?

„What are you-“

„Jenna he is telling the truth.“ Mason was heard from behind her, keeping her from running away from there.

„Oh so you are Jenna?“ the boy now looked at her with an angry expression on his face „Yeah I heard about you.“ He kept looking at her without blinking as if he was challenging her. He heard about her from who? She had too many questions.

„Babe!“ All three of them turned around to the voice. It was a girl who was running to them. Before anyone could say anything Charlie went to her and hugged her.

„I tried to come as soon as I could, the traffic was horrible.“ She breathed out and looked at Charlie „How´s Y/N? Is she okay?“ Charlie shook his head at his girlfriend „I don´t know yet, didn´t seen her since.“

Jenna scanned the girl, her blonde hair and voice was familiar to her, she saw her somewhere already. Oh. OH. Jenna´s eyes widen at the couple. Now the position in which they are standing is too familiar. Charlie looked exactly as you did from behind. Even the same names. She kept scanning the boy a little longer, you are family, there´s no way you would look that much alike, but that means...

„Well here is your patient.“ The doctor walked out of the room, opening the door for you. You came out with crutches under your armpits, looking down at where you were going. Your brother rushed to your side immediately, supporting you softly.

„Are you okay? Does it hurt? What happened doctor?“ he kept asking and you slowly rolled your eyes at him, it was so embarrassing like you were some kid who couldn´t take care of themself.

„Well, she has a torn meniscus in her knee. Thankfully it was not torn completely but she needs to be careful. If she won´t heal it fully and something like this happens again, it can have much worse consequences which can lead to operation.“ Charlie nodded at the doctor's words. They gave you pills and said that you need to rest for a couple of weeks, well that wasn´t the greatest news to you. It meant if you weren´t careful enough, you can´t play football anymore.

„Hey you okay?“ Y/N looked up at the Mason. „I was worried about you, the whole team was.“ He slowly led you to a couple of chairs that were there.

„Yeah.“ She looked down at her bandaged knee „It hurts a little but it will be okay.“ She smiled awkwardly with thin-lined lips. Y/N shot her gaze behind Mason´s shoulder. The girl´s body stopped. What is she doing here? Did Mason tell her? As if he could read your mind he looked at you.

„No, you don´t have to worry.“ The boy shook his head before he leaned into her slightly „But you should talk, I think there was a big misunderstanding between you two.“ He whispered and stood up to walk down the hallway „I´ll bring you guys some coffee!“

Y/N breathed out, and there it goes. She could already see Jenna slowly walking to her, when she was close enough she looked at the other girl.

Jenna kept scanning you, up and down. Now when you were sitting there, in the hospital, you looked so valuable. She now saw the true you, not the one you were claiming to be.

„Can I?“ she mentioned at the seat beside Y/N.

Y/N nodded as she was still looking at her injured knee. Her arms were crossed and her mind became empty. She was nervous around Jenna, she was nervous before but now, it was much worse and not that good stress. Y/N was afraid of what she would say, last time they saw each other Jenna told her she didn´t want to see her ever again and now she is sitting beside her. Who´s supposed to understand?

„I´m glad you´re okay, even though you could got out of the match without injury-“

„Jenna, what do you want?“

She looked at you with her soft brown eyes. Now she understands. She knows. At first, she was confused but now as she saw the original Charlie and that you looked almost the same, she knew.

But what haunts her are the words she told you. After she saw Charlie kissing the girl. It wasn´t you. Oh God, she told you she doesn´t want to see you ever again. You looked too broken, she felt ashamed of herself for jumping into conclusions so fast.

„Look...“ Y/N started „I- I understand that you don´t want to talk to me anymore... I mean... if someone lied to me our whole friendship I would be offended too...“ She bit her lip while looking down at her hands.

„I understand that you are disgusted by me being a girl- I mean of course you thought I was a guy and if you want we can completely forget about it-“

„Wait, what?“ Jenna was now confused. „Why would I be disgusted?“ she asked looking at you, the dots connected „You thought I didn´t want to see you because I found out you aren´t Charlie?“ the brown-eyed girl asked softly reaching for Y/N´s hand in her lap.

„Well, yeah... that was the reason, wasn´t it?“

„No!“ Jenna whispered and yelled at you, looking sadly at your side profile, while pushing some of the fallen hair behind your ear. „Oh my God, that would never be a reason! I don´t care about your gender...“

Y/N now looked at the girl beside her, confused by her words. „No? Then why? What was the reason?“

Jenna was embarrassed, the one she saw kissing the girl was him, it wasn´t you. She yelled at you the things she didn´t mean. The girl sighed now looking into her lap.

„That day I was in the cafeteria waiting for Emma...“ Her voice got quieter and you could barely hear her „And suddenly I heard someone calling his name, I thought it was you because you know-„ she motioned with her eyes at him and back at you „he kissed the girl who´s standing next to him- and- well I thought that was you! I was so sad it felt like someone ripped my heart out of my chest and now I feel so stupid- you wanted to talk to me and I got defensive and I didn´t even let you talk!“

Jenna was now so desperately explaining herself and her actions, motioning with her hands all around you as you only watched her with a small smile.

„Hey hey it´s okay... really I´m not mad.“ You pulled her closer to you, hugging her with one arm „I could never be mad at you.“ You whispered into her hair and she put her arms around you.

„I´m so glad that wasn´t you.“ a mumbled voice was heard from your torso, you laughed at her and she punched you slightly in your shoulder, pulling her face from your shaking chest „Don´t laugh! It wasn´t funny to me!“

„Okay, okay, sorry...“ you rubbed your shoulder „Don´t have to be aggressive, I have an injury if you forgot.“

„Oh please, I can see you´re absolutely fine.“ The brown-eyed girl teased you and stood up. Pulling you slowly by your arms up and handing you the crutches „Come on you patient.“

You pushed breath out of your lungs from the sudden move, keeping yourself up, wincing softly at the sudden movement with your knee „Y/N.“

Jenna looked questionable at you, waiting for explain „My name´s Y/N.“

The shorter girl smiled slowly, her dimples now visible on her face. Yeah, she knew there was something different about you. Was she expecting this? No. But now when she knows, everything makes sense.

Y/N... yeah, this name suits you a lot more. She likes it better.

Charlie said goodbye to your doctor and walked after you with his girlfriend. Jenna was the whole time by your side, making sure you won´t fall and injure yourself even more. Your brother was now smiling at the image in front of him. Mason met them at the entrance of the hospital, holding coffees in his hands, also smiling at the two of you, feeling happy that you were finally fine.

„Y/N“a muffled voice was heard.

„Y/N“ a little louder.

„Y/N!“ you now fully woke up as you got hit by a pillow right in the face. You sighed and turned to your roommate and her annoyed face. „Your phone has been ringing since forever!“ You let out a groan as you reach the table by your bed. The sudden brightness of your phone made you squint your eyes.

A couple of weeks went by and everything was back to normal... as it used to be. About your impersonating knew only a couple of people and explaining it to them was definitely hard, no one was expecting this, and it felt unbelievable.  But everyone said the same thing, that there was always something about you that made you different.

After that, Y/N continued studying in the same school, but now as herself. She got a new roommate and everything was great. She slowly started to train again, but only really slightly. The taller girl felt a lot better and she felt like she was finally ready to run around the field again. Jenna of course felt otherwise.

Charlie: u up?

Charlie: heyyy

Charlie: don´t tell me u still asleep

3x missed calls from Charlie

Charlie: Jenna will ky

Charlie: not kiss

Y/N sit up in her bed and looked at the time with wide eyes, well shit, they overslept.

„Mikey get up! The class already started!“ She rushed to the bathroom and in the process slammed her little finger against the corner of the bed which made her curse under her breath. Her roommate, despite being too lazy to move, couldn´t let this opportunity slide so she let out a laugh at Y/N´s clumsiness.

She ran out and saw Mikey in the same position as before. „Oh you can´t be- Get up!“ uncovering her was clearly a good idea as she now stood up, hair covering her whole face.

They quickly changed and rushed to the class, the professor was already there and looked at them with a little shake of the head as they scanned their rumpled uniforms. Quickly finding seats at the back of the class, Y/N saw her brother on the way to her seat, laughing softly to himself, covering his face with his hands.

„This is so awkward...“ Mikey whispered harshly as she was trying to fix her tie. Both girls scanned the class and caught the brown eyes shooting them a scolding look. Y/N already knows what is waiting for her and she is not excited one bit.

Jenna, Charlie, Mason, and Emma were waiting outside of the class for the two girls. Jenna had crossed her arms at her chest and was leaning on her leg with unimpressed eyes. The other three were laughing quietly as Y/N slowly came to them, making a thin-lined smile.

„Guys...“

The reason behind today´s oversleeping was that yesterday she and Mikey were up almost all night. They wanted to study for the finals, saying that they could focus better at night. They in fact study but forgot to turn on the alarm because of how exhausted they were.

„Come here.“ Jenna pushed you to her by your tie, fixing your clothes as you only stood there as a big child, looking everywhere but in her brown eyes because of how scared you were of her.

„What did I tell you?“ the girl said as she still was rectifying your collar. When you kept quiet she looked up at you into your eyes. „Huh?“

You slowly looked down at your legs, still not into her eyes. „Don´t stay up for too long...“ you whispered. She touched your face and made you look at her. Despite her being a little bit mad at you, not really Jenna just wanted you to realize that staying up for too long isn´t good for you, she grabbed you carefully not to hurt you somehow.

You told her how you used to have a problem with sleep and sometimes stayed up even for a couple of days. Your bond with Jenna became a lot stronger, she was with you your whole recovery. Through your shared classes she was by your side, when you had free time she was with you, even on weekends you were sleeping in her dorm or the other way around.

Communication was something that wasn´t a problem in your relationship. It felt strange because you used to always feel like talking was your biggest problem but not with Jenna. She knew almost everything about you now and she didn´t even have to ask. You trusted her.

„And what did you do?“ she raised eyebrows at you.

„I know... I´m sorry we lost track of time.“

She breathed out and kissed your forehead, taking your hand while interlocking your fingers together, softly pulling you to your next class. The squad is still beside you, now smirking. You rolled your eyes at your brother as he made a kissy face to tease you.

Y/N was now walking out of her dorm room, bag around her shoulder. She was still part of the football team, it wasn´t weird to the other guys, they were glad they had Y/N on the team and were now much more protective over her.

„Y/N!“ She heard from the back, signalizing free team-mate. They were playing against each other. She pushed the ball behind her with her heel as Mason was running to her from the front trying to block and take the ball from her.

He couldn´t stop himself because of how fast he was running, making you fall onto the soft grass. All the boys started to yell at him he quickly stopped up and helped you on you up.

„Y/N I´m sorry! I couldn´t stop! Are you okay? Aren´t you hurt?“ he was asking as he was checking you from head to toe, looking for any sort of injury. You only laughed and shook your head at him saying that it was okay.

„Hey! What was that!“ Y/N and Mason turned to the tribune where the voice was heard from. The doe-eyed girl was standing there with her hands on her hips looking at them.

„I´m sorry! It won´t happen again!“ The girl nodded at his words now sitting down in her seat. Mason turned to you and smirked. „Overprotective girlfriend I see.“

Y/N smacked him on the shoulder, smiling at him „Shut up.“ She brushed her legs and looked at the girl, their eyes met, and smiled at each other. Jenna waved at her with one hand and then supported her head with both hands resting on her knees, still smiling at you.

It was like this every practice, as it used to be. She watches your every training and also every match, supports you, and motivates you. Even through your healing journey, she helped you with rest and recovery. Jenna was so cute, when you watched TV she supported your leg with some random pillow, making sure you weren´t hurt or uncomfortable, handing you everything you wanted. She was also feeding you... even though your hands were okay.

Now you were walking out of the practice, still wearing your jersey, bag in your hand. Jenna was waiting for you by the gateway of the field.

„Hey.“ She greeted you with a smile as she put her hands around your neck, slowly pecking your lips. „Ready to go?“ you nodded grabbing her with your free hand.

You got together after like a week of your injury. She didn´t think of you any differently and every time someone mentioned the incident you only laughed. This will be a funny story to tell your kids. And with Jenna by your side, you couldn´t be more excited.

„Any plans for today?“ You asked your girlfriend looking down at her.

„I was thinking that maybe we could hang out with the squad, they said they don´t have anything tomorrow.“ She looked up at you waiting for your answer. You caught her eyes and became mesmerized.

The simplest moments like this made you fall for her even deeper. Her big brown eyes stared up at yours, dimples by the sides of her red lips, brown hair decorating her face, and those freckles. In the golden rays of the sun shooting at her profile, she looked almost unbelievable. You couldn´t believe she was yours.

„Why are you looking at me like that?“ Jenna smiled at you in a teasing way, sparks started to form in her eyes.

„I just... I love you.“ You softly admitted to her. She now had small tears in her doe eyes as she was still gazing at you with dilated pupils as if you were the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

„I love you too.“

• @poisonlove :) •

[mechaseraph]

One guy. Er, I mean two, no, no! Four, four completely different guys, no correlation between them, no sir! Started this around same time as this KID one. It should be same style proportion-wise. As I was messing around for fun/on purpose of finding something that more cartoony? simpler in flow? Anyways, the design/style notes/thoughts under the cut, I did put lots of my exhausted braincells into Kaito/KID difference

Overall style inspos: 1) "I need to think of Sonic but like more human-y" 2) Miho Shimogasa (PPGZ/Kaito Joker/BatuSpi Toppa Bashin) 3) PSWG and SPvsW lol kinda, just from my head how I remembered em though

>Cone and Shin: Originally wasn't planning on putting shadows in his eyes, but without em he's straight up "People with blue eyes" meme. Creepy too much. Neat and sharp a bit. Cone is a pain to size correctly. I think I kinda got it right? But maybe he should had been just tad taller? You never know if he's like 95cm or 1m and something Side note, but Cone's shoes really make me think of Sonic's- >Shin and Kaito: Neat and bit sharp vs more laid back and messy. Also more puffy/round on corners? I basically want him to have puffy sleeves/sleeves that got some volume to em because it fits the magician in my eyes. Adds to hands/arm movement Also Shin's eyes of more your blue/dark blue shades, while Kaito's of blue-ish purple That's to say, I imagine/think Shinichi is the one who hunches more, while Kaito is the one who tends to lean back a bit/keep posture mostly straight (if he ain't sleeping in class lol) >Kaito and KID: Kinda pathetic and messy vs your perfect phantom thief. More shadowy/half-closed eyes vs "oh he's bright awake and ready to go stupid go crazy". Some guy vs the charisma itself. That's to say, shadows cover Kid's visible eye most of the time. And he also has that grin...or his mouth hidden at all. His hair appears bit more fluffier and neater, too. I also tried to keep that juxtaposition with Shinichi of "more sharps vs more round" with him as well. Overall, I like the thought of what if Kaito was more loser in canon, as in less people in school liking him, pitying for his family situation, etc, no entirely of course, because it's simply him, but feel it be more fun in contrast with Kid (and Shinichi) Also, for Kid's cape...just didn't felt like drawing it here, you can excuse me, right?

I think that's all I have to say, but if there's anything ya wanna point out/hear, please ask away!~

[neo-my-geo]

Hey gang, it’s your old pal Neo here. If you know me, it’s probably from one of the several very stupid TF2 comics I’ve posted to Tumblr.

However! I am also an English major (unfortunately). One who has read millions of words worth of fanfiction in their life. I have been part of the Sherlock, BNHA, Disco Elysium, and, of course, TF2 fandoms; I’ve been around the block.

The further I’ve progressed into my English education, the more I’ve noticed which mistakes are the most common in fanfiction. Many of them are easily fixable; writers just need to be pointed in the right direction. 

“Neo! Does this mean you think people shouldn’t be allowed to post their works online without a background in formal English education?”

Of course not! I can explain why if you’d care to venture below the cut with me!

Yes, I will explain how to use commas.

It’s important to note that this is NOT a post about formal writing. You aren’t writing an essay. Please, for the love of god, do not write fiction like you’re writing an essay.

There are no stakes to writing fanfic. No one is going to get hurt if an author doesn’t know what a dangling participle is. One of my favourite things about fanfiction is that it’s one of the only art forms left that’s done exclusively for fun! You should write what you enjoy, and share what you make with like-minded people. 

What I want to do is provide assistance as best I can to writers who want to improve their fundamentals without having to take the same university courses I did. Nobody is going to be getting a formal education to write fanfiction unless they’re ridiculously dedicated, and I’m not expecting that of anyone. 

The point I need to stress is that knowing these grammar fundamentals can instantly improve the flow of your writing. Punctuation is a ridiculously important tool for writers, ESPECIALLY in fiction. Commas, semicolons, and full stops (including periods, exclamation points, and question marks) steer the pacing in the reader’s mind; did you notice how your brain stopped for a second after that semicolon? I can show you how to do that.

You may be wondering why I’m going through so much effort to teach all of this to strangers on the internet. The answer is that I enjoy sharing this knowledge with others and helping them grow. By seeing this, my goal is to help you become more proficient at self-editing. Showing this to people who actually want to learn will, hopefully, benefit the community as a whole, and I think that’s very worth it. 

Also, while this post is obviously themed around TF2, the points I’m making can be applied to any fiction. Grammar is for everyone, and the church of the semicolon always has room for more initiates. 

Also also, as an edit, I should clarify that this is meant to cover the more objective facets of self-editing, which is why I'm mostly covering punctuation. Maybe I'll do another post about using adjectives someday.

With that out of the way, let’s get going!

I’ve teamed up with several English teachers (real ones! One of which may or may not be my mom!) and an editor to gather a list of the most common problems we see in amateur fiction. This post is going to be split into three broad sections: apostrophes, commas/semicolons, and other common problems. 

The apostrophe

This section is short, but it holds weight. Other than commas, apostrophes are the most typoed grammatical tool in any fanfiction I’ve edited. This is because, much like the rest of English, the rules surrounding them can be annoying and inconsistent. 

Apostrophes have two main uses: possessives and conjunctions.

A possessive is a word that denotes the ownership of one thing over another. The vast majority of the time, this is done using an apostrophe and an S.

There is, however, one glaring exception to this rule, and it’s the bane of my existence. 

When denoting possession of an object over something else while using the pronoun ‘it,’ you do NOT add an apostrophe before the S.

A conjunction, on the other hand, is when a writer uses an apostrophe to combine two words. The following are examples of common conjunctions:

What’s (what is)

They’re (they are)

It’s (it is)

Conjunctions are not often used in formal writing. Thankfully, we aren’t dealing in formal writing. Go crazy.

Time for a lightning round of the most commonly mistaken for each other possessives and conjunctions!

Your is possessive. You’re is a conjunction of ‘you’ and ‘are.’ When you can’t decide which one to use, imagine replacing it with ‘you are’ and seeing if it makes sense. If it doesn’t, use your.

Their is possessive. There indicates a location. They’re is a conjunction of ‘they’ and ‘are.’ 

The comma and the semicolon

You knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. It’s time to talk about commas.

Commas and semicolons are far and away the biggest grammatical hole in the toolset of fanfiction writers everywhere. They’re often treated like the rules surrounding them are complicated and difficult to understand, but the exact opposite is true! 

The big issue I’ve heard time and time again is that the rules of commas are often explained through metaphor instead of example; this means that writers everywhere have slightly different ideas of how you’re supposed to use them. The fact of the matter is that, yes, there are correct and incorrect ways to use commas. Knowing when they’re appropriate and when they aren’t is easily the fastest way to bring your writing from looking amateurish to sounding professional and experienced. 

In order to know how to use a comma, you must first understand the difference between a dependent and an independent clause. 

An independent clause is a section of writing that functions perfectly well as its own sentence. It MUST have both a subject and an action/verb.

A sentence without an independent clause is known as a fragment, and they’re the bane of English teachers with highlighters everywhere. 

A dependent clause is a section of writing that does not have both a subject and an action; it does not function as its own sentence.

Now, let’s say you want to combine the two. When joining a dependent clause to an independent clause, the order in which they are placed is crucial to whether you use a comma or not. 

When joining a dependent to an independent with the independent clause first, you do not need to use a comma.

When joining a dependent to an independent with the dependent clause first, you MUST use a comma. 

Keep in mind that, if one strives for total grammatical perfection, all narrative sentences MUST have an independent clause. This, however, does not apply to dialogue. Human beings do not think about whether what they’re saying is a dependent clause, and neither would the vast majority of fictional characters. Don’t be afraid to break the rules of grammar as long as it’s contained within quotation marks. 

Alright, that’s the easy part. Time to learn about joining two independent clauses. It’s semicolon time, baby!

If you join two independent clauses without properly using a comma or a semicolon, it is a run-on sentence. You do not want these in your writing. They’re awkward to read and mess up the flow.

When joining two independent clauses, you can use EITHER a comma or a semicolon. You just need to follow these rules:

If you’re joining two independent clauses with a comma, you MUST use a joining word (and, but, so, etc.) AFTER the comma. 

If you’re joining two independent clauses with a semicolon, you do NOT need to use a joining word.

Did you know that a sentence with a comma counts as its own independent clause? This means that you can make a sentence that includes a mix of both without it being a run-on! Just make sure that, no matter what, the semicolon is between two independent clauses. 

Still, try not to write more than two clauses in a sentence too often. Sentences with a lot of punctuation are very attention-grabbing, but shouldn’t be overused. Full stops aren’t your enemy and variety is the spice of life. 

It’s also important to remember that you should avoid using more than one comma in a clause (with the exception of the rule below). That part loops back to the 'avoiding run-ons' bit.

It’s really that easy! 

Commas are also used in informal writing to inject a separate thought or descriptor mid-sentence without breaking the flow by adding a period. This is often used when describing the perspective of a character experiencing something in a story, but not (usually) when using omniscient perspectives. 

The final issue I frequently see with commas in fanfiction is in regards to dialogue. Sometimes you end it with them, and sometimes you don’t. What gives? 

Well, my friend, the answer is, thankfully, much simpler than the previous section.

When following dialogue with a dialogue tag, use a comma instead of a full stop. If you’re continuing the previous sentence after the tag, use a comma after it as well. 

Note that a dialogue tag is a short phrase that identifies the speaker. It isn’t a complete sentence on its own.

When following dialogue with an action that does not serve as a dialogue tag, use a full stop instead of a comma. 

Other common problems

This section is dedicated to putting specific grammatical errors into words, along with how to solve them. 

Not sticking to the chosen point of view

Always choose your point of view before you start. Is it in the first, second, or third person? Is it omniscient or limited? Does the point of view switch during the story?

First person perspective is told as if the POV character is directly describing their experience to the reader. The character uses I and we to describe their own actions.

Second person perspective is told as if the reader is a character in the story and their actions are being described to them. This is the rarest, and the most difficult to write.

Third person perspective is the most common and the simplest to write. The events of the story are a separate entity from the reader altogether and the narrator uses they/he/she/it pronouns for characters. 

Omniscient perspective means the narrator of the story knows all, including the thoughts and feelings of each character. 

Limited perspective means the narrator of the story only knows what the POV character knows. 

Past and present tense

When you decide between writing a story in past or present tense, it is crucial that you do not switch between them unless it is narratively intentional. Reading a past tense story that mistakenly switches to the present tense is like being pulled out of the room someone is telling a story in and suddenly taking part in it yourself. It’s disorienting and gives the reader unwanted pause.

Overly-long paragraphs

A common adage spread by English teachers is that most paragraphs should be at least eight sentences long. This is great advice for beginner essays. You’re writing fiction. 

If you have a new thought, start a new paragraph! A concise and well-read single-sentence paragraph is infinitely better than one that drags a thought for too long. Aim to have a blend of paragraph lengths when you write, alternating between the descriptive and the punctual. 

Dangling participles

A dangling participle is when a word is used to describe a noun that isn’t actually present in the sentence. Much like how a sentence without an action isn’t grammatically correct, neither is a sentence without a subject. 

Malapropisms

A malapropism is when an author mistakenly uses one word or phrase instead of another similar-sounding one. I’m not about to list every single malapropism ever made, but these are the ones I notice most often:

To comprehend is to understand something, to apprehend is to arrest someone, and to be apprehensive is to be anxious or fearful of something bad happening.

Could care less means you do care. Couldn’t care less means you don’t.

A lot means a large amount of something. Alot isn’t a word and you shouldn’t use it.

The only real solution to using malapropisms is to make sure you fully understand any words you use in your writing. Never guess, and make sure you always google it. Having beta readers also helps.

If you made it this far, congratulations! You now know the most common errors in amateur fiction and how to solve them! Thank you for listening to me complain for two thousand words. 

The most important thing to remember is that it’s okay to make mistakes. First drafts are always gonna be a little bad. The real key to success is knowing what your end goal is, and how you plan on achieving it. Here’s hoping this was a helpful tool for that!

Shoutout to @salmonandsoup for helping me think of the list of issues to address! You're a real one. Also shoutout to my mom, who doesn't have Tumblr. Also the third person. You know who you are.

[ageingfangirl2]

You Drive Me Crazy! Buggy (OPLA)

You might be able to fight, but you have a knack for injuring yourself on stupid things around the ship much to the frustration of your captain who's had enough and decides to take you up on your offer...even if you were joking. Buggy x Reader Fluff

BUGGY

There had to be something wrong in y/n's head. They were the most skilled on the ship next to me and cut down many people without so much as getting a cut or scrape. However, interacting with everyday objects was a challenge for them because they kept hurting themselves. At first, it was endearing, thinking they would do anything to get my attention, but years had passed and it was no longer endearing but annoying.

As the captain, I had a responsibility to the crew, but some days I considered pushing y/n overboard and watching them either sink or swim.

'Where's y/n, I haven't seen them all day?' I ask Cabaji as we walk across the deck.

He shrugs his shoulders, 'Err the kitchen I think captain. The cook is ill and y/n promised to help out.'

My eyes widen at the thought of y/n alone in the kitchen with enough things to injure themselves, 'I'll check on them, they shouldn't be left unsupervised.'

Cabaji laughs, 'at least it's not dull with y/n around.'

I glare at him before stomping across the deck towards the kitchen which is below us, '...yeah fun for everyone but me,' I grumble.

When I entered the kitchen y/n was sat on a barrel peeling vegetables and humming to themselves. I approached cautiously since they looked okay, maybe I did need to stop overreacting.

y/n locks eyes with me and smiles, before waving with bandages on their fingers, 'Hey captain, what brings you down here?'

My eye twitches, they didn't have bandages on this morning, and the cuts must be fresh because blood seeped through the fabric, 'I can't leave you alone for a second without you hurting yourself, can I?'

I close the space between us and take their hand in mine which makes them flinch, 'I mean, I'm fine so it's okay--'

'No, it's not okay. Not when I feel like I'm going to go crazy thinking you've hurt yourself. You're more than just another crew member and I need you in tip-top shape y/n,' I growl, cutting them off, and keeping their hand firmly in mine.

y/n's eyes widen, 'since when did you care about me like that captain?'

y/n might be loyal and a good fighter but sometimes they could be a little slow. I inhale sharply and bring their bandaged fingers up to my lips and kiss them one by one, 'since forever you idiot.'

A faint blush creeps onto y/n's cheeks but they quickly compose themselves and smirk, 'What are you going to do about it, captain? Going to keep me locked in a cage and never out of your sight?'

'That's a brilliant idea y/n,' I mutter, feeling a smile stretch from ear to ear, 'I should have done something like this earlier.'

y/n goes to jump off the barrel but I catch them and throw them over my shoulder with ease, and walk out of the kitchen grinning to myself as y/n struggles against me. I ignore y/n's protests as I carry them towards my quarters, sending one of my hands ahead to get a cage ready. Normal people would find it odd to have so many human-size cages, but pirates liked to kidnap so it was always handy to have some around.

'We'll make it super comfortable y/n and safe so your pretty head can't injure yourselves,' I say, kind of giddy at the thought of having y/n locked in a cage and at my mercy.

y/n continues to kick and protest, 'It was a joke captain...please put me down...I'll be good...' y/n pleads.

Entering my quarters I cackle seeing the cage, 'Here we go y/n, welcome to your new home.'

I throw y/n in the cage and lock the door before they can actually comprehend I followed through, and wave the key at them while they glare and shoot me a rather colourful hand gesture. I tap the top of the cage, I'd start by padding the sides, this was going to be a fun time.

EXTRA

Y/N

Two weeks had passed since Buggy put you in the cage for your own good, only letting you out a couple of times a week to walk around and bathe under his strict supervision. He'd kept his word about making you comfy giving you whatever you needed, knowing full well that when he eventually freed you you were going to find a way to kill the smug clown.

[getosbunsblog]

Jealous Levi

Y’all were in his room about to watch some new ass show. You went down in his beanbag corner, face planting into your favorite one. You were exhausted. this is the fourth marathon this week.

“WAKE UP!! YOU NEED TO SEE THIS!” As he shook you. Ever since you two became closer friends he’s been stealing you and having you watch all of these shows. Not that your complaining. But sometimes it’s a bit much. “Levi, I think I should go to sleep, I’ll watch it with you tomorrow” he looked like a kicked puppy. You felt so bad. But you were exhausted. Suddenly he sat up and said “ok I will too, we can sleep in here” you chuckled “Levi you don’t ever sleep, It’ll be ok I’m just really tired” you rubbed his shoulder and exited. He blushed and watched you walk away. He tried to have fun but he couldn’t. He was utterly bored without you. Maybe he’ll check on you. Yeah. Make sure you made it down the hall safely. He started walking down the hall and creaked open your door. You were not there. “Oh my god, where did she go!!??!” He ran to mammons room because it was the closest and slammed the door open. “MC IS NOT IN HER BEDROO-“ he cut himself off when he saw you in mammons bed wrapped around him. Slightly jolted awake because of Levi. “WHY ARE YOU WITH HIM?!” He yelled. You sat up and looked at him. “Oh, He saw me walking past and called me in here for something real quick” Levi started fuming. You had time for stupid mammon but not HIM?!? Your best friend. Mammon pulled you back down “ignore him, he’s just bein Levi again” he said to you. He turned his head to meet Levi’s eyes “go to bed man, it’s like 3 in the mornin” Levi stormed out and almost gagged remembering that mammon sleeps naked. We’re you naked too. You had his shirt on though. Omg why were you wearing his shirt. Levi knew it, you didn’t see him as more than a friend. You were out fucking mammon of all people?!?

You haven’t heard from Levi for a day, unusual for him and you. You knocked in the distinct pattern you always do. No answer. You opened his door slowly and saw him in his chair. He was playing a video game without headset on. “Hey, did you not hear me?” He didn’t even turn around “no, I did. I know you’d let yourself in, you always do” he sounded mad. You sat down in your seat he got for you and sat in silence watching him for 45 minutes, till you finally asked “Levi, what’s wrong?”

He whipped his head around and glared at you “go away please” you looked shocked, usually he tells you everything. You sat up and left. No questions asked. He clearly needed to be left alone. Maybe he’s just socially overstimulated or something you decided to hang out with Beel today. But it was one of those days for Beel too. He just decided to take it out on your cunt than yell at you. He pounded you till you couldn’t even walk, you slept the rest of the day in his bed where Belphie later crawled in. Sliding his cock between your thighs. Then I’m your spent hole. Cumming in you like Beel did.

Meanwhile asmo went to check on levi and asked what’s wrong “I know it’s MC. I can sense it, don’t lieeee” his face turned red as he screamed “she fucked mammon” asmo looked at him dumbfounded and bursted into laughter “well, duh. Did you think you were the only one. She’s been with all of us” Levi turned even redder and said “SHE FUCKED ALL OF YOU BUT NOT ME?!?” Asmo again looked surprised “oh, I thought, you both had already had sex” Levi screamed “CLEARLY NOT” asmo laughed again “well did you tell her you wanted too?” Levi tilted his head “I show her my things and we talk” asmo moved his hands “yes, yes, but did you make it known you like her?” Levi then realized his error.

Levi started looking for you. All around the house. Then he made it to the twin’s room. He saw your shoes but not you. He went to the kitchen defeated. There you were sitting on the counter eating a cookie. You looked at him “oh,hey Levi-“ he cut you off “Why won’t you have sex with me?! Am I not good enough?! Huh??” You looked at him and he covered his mouth in embarrassment. “Oh, I didn’t know you liked me like this that. Anytime I would try anything you would shut me down immediately and act all weird” you felt oddly happy. “I- oh. Um” he couldn’t form words. You were right. It did look like he only wanted to be friends. “Oh did it misread you just now?” You asked “do you not like me?” He got down on his knees and clung to your leg dangling off the counter “NO! NO I DO!…..so much” he looked up realizing you had no panties on you felt him grow hard against your leg and you giggled you pushed him off gently and he landed on his butt. You could see the outline of two cocks. You spread your legs on the kitchen counter for him. “You wanna try big boy?” He scrambled up and dove into your cunt”

[m1ssunderstanding]

Get Back Rewatch 55 Years On: Day Five

The thing is I absolutely love the album that comes out of this mess. Like I know a lot of people do not like Let It Be, but so many of my favorite songs are on it. One of them being “I Me Mine.” The walz element is haunting, and I can read the lyrics as anti-capitalist even though George himself mostly wasn’t. 

Laughing my head off at two boys from one of the best grammar schools in England, who have at this point made millions off of their writing, genuinely not knowing whether it should be “more freer” or “more freely”

The difference in how George shows Paul his new song vs John is striking. For Paul, he’s relaxed, nonchalant. For John, he stands up and performs it. And I think both are a defense mechanism, poor baby, because clearly, although Paul was very supportive of the song while they were alone, when John is roasting it, Paul just laughs along and George has to go “I don’t give a fuck whether you like it.” 

Ah, the famous “up-against-a-wall” conversation. Paul comes in all dominant and sure. “Haven’t you written anything else? Haven’t you?” But then John touches him, and makes him laugh, and Paul’s a melted, goo-goo-eyes mess. This is the real reason why John got to be the leader isn’t it? Because Paul was too damn soft on him to ever follow through with his bossiness.

Their scouse sounds BEAUTIFUL compared to the stupid ugly RP and MLH’s transatlantic shit.

“And now John’d like to say a few words on the subject.” John starts singing, Paul strums along and joins in on the “chorus.” They can’t communicate like healthy people, but they Can do this. 

So Peter Jackson took out Paul’s bitchy nod at Yoko as he’s stealing her man in real time right in front of her eyes. Unforgivable. But he kept in this adorable laugh, so that’s something. 

Three more covers that I think *mean something* “Stand By Me” and “Spinning Like a Top” by Paul, followed by “You Win Again” by John. Yoko’s sweet little shoulder kiss. Thank you for taking care of the poor wet kitten, girly. Maybe don’t introduce the poor wet kitten to heroine, but you do you, I guess. (OP recognizes that poor wet kitten is also an adult capable of making his own decisions)

The cut from Paul literally dancing to get John’s attention straight to John dancing with Yoko while inside Paul’s head a silver hammer is clanging ominously. I can’t. Followed by the knowing, loving smile from Ringo to Paul. You know, those moments when you validate your friend’s bitchy thoughts with a look. 

George is literally SO big inside himself, you know? You have to have superhuman self-love abilities to watch your friend – who is supposed to be helping you – shamelessly make fun of your art . . . and just “Do you wanna do that walz on the show? That’d be great.”

But did you guys know John was actually a really great mover?

“Yes, alright. Just sod off.” I love John. Paul’s people-pleasing ass would literally die first and he needs John to do this kind of shit for him and John’s only too happy to.

The moment when Paul and John are on the same wavelength about Dennis O’Dell’s stage. 

OK but. Did John get the clear plastic idea from Yoko’s art exhibits? 

“Any time we do anything it’s always got to be the best.” Poor Ringo. They’re all literally so tired of carrying so much weight for such a long time. 

“See, I’d watch an hour of him just playing the piano. Cause he’s so great.” With that fond, loving, smile. SUCH big dick energy here. The others could NEVER. 

“And I’ll have the plastic when you’re finished.” Literally for what, though? John, you little hoarding goblin. 

And then Ringo responding to MLH’s “I love you” with “Yes, I love you too.” Yeah, Ringo wins the prize for most healthy beatle of the day. 

*Pattie Boyd voice* “I just wish I knew what was going on there. But something. Something.”

Ugh, John looks so hurt. So tender. So heartbroken. While Paul is over there playing a damn funeral march because that’s the only way he lets himself express anything. But I actually love how Dennis O’Dell knows the clearest path to cheering John up is to say that Paul liked his idea. And how well it works. They’re literally so obvious to everyone but themselves. 

I love the bit when John walks in on the rest of them discussing the live show and MLH calls, “We’ve decided. We’re going to Africa.” And Paul hurries to cut in, “No we’re NOT.” Because he knows exactly how John can get and he’s going to nip this in the bud before John gets let down. And of course, John is all “YEAH LETS GO LETS GO!” And he’s talking about how they always wish they were recording abroad. “We could be in LA, or FRANCE.” (side eye emoji) 

Paul’s “Well said, John.” and “I’ve seen it, John. I went to the premiere. I thought you were great.” Why do all your compliments to him have to be in silly voices? Like, I know you think everyone is going to call you a pussy for saying something genuinely kind to your best friend, but they’re not, and he needs it. 

Holy shit this was a long day. See you all tomorrow with another long-winded-ass post.

[immeasurablesaladagere]

Hello salad omg!! Can i please request a drabble about cg house 💜

Caregiver House? More likely than you think. Also this was a "drabble" and then the words kept coming out, so it's a little longer now. As is the way of the world lol

-----

"Alright, kiddies! Come and get it!"

Never in a million years did House think that he would end up where he was today. Four days before Christmas in the apartment he shared with Wilson, tree up and decorated with presents underneath, and his employees over for a Christmas party. Not to drink or make stupid, HR-violating decisions, but to have a playdate, decorate gingerbread houses, and exchange gifts.

Chase, Cameron, and Foreman all clambered for a seat at the table in front of a package of pre-cut gingerbread, each with their own bag of crappy royal icing so there wouldn't be any arguments about sharing, around a reservoir of candy bowls in the middle.

"Remember, we're going to share all the candy equally." Wilson said, sitting in front of his own gingerbread man. "No hogging."

"We won't!" The duckings answered in a disjoined chorus, even though they were definitely going to need to give more reminders later when all the good candy started to disappear.

House worked away at his gingerbread man slowly, using icing and red candy to riddle the poor ginger fellow with gore. While he and Wilson had bought a house kit for each of the ducklings, they both agreed to stick with a package of gingerbread men for themselves, because the stuff barely qualified as food. Thankfully, children, even qualified doctor children, didn't seem to mind eating sweetened drywall.

The houses were coming along as expected, with increasing levels of struggle and detail according to the designer. Chase's house, who was regressed the youngest of the three, had messy globs of icing loosely binding the walls together and candy haphazardly scattered around. Nothing particularly artistic going on, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Cameron had a style going on hers. House wasn't exactly sure what that style was, but every piece of candy looked like it was being placed with great intention, and she kept sticking her tongue out while she was adding the details. Foreman, the oldest and ever the keener, was adding tiny, wobbly shingles to his roof with intense focus. The other two had made fun of him earlier for being the last to start decorating, but the walls of his gingerbread house were the most stable of the three, and his walls hadn't collapsed even once.

The whole scene, sitting around the table decorating gingerbread, helping Chase when the walls of his creation collapsed for the third time, reminding them to share the green M&M's, praising Cameron's ugly gingerbread people, it all felt sickeningly domestic. He knew Wilson, the sentimental bastard, felt the same way, because he kept giving him these looks across the table whenever he gave one of the ducklings a thumbs-up or held their gingerbread for them to help the icing stick. He just knew that Wilson was picturing them as this weird little family celebrating Christmas together, and maybe they were, but he should have felt out of place in that picture. He was the pissed-off, pill-popping, asshole doctor. No one would think twice if he spent Christmas alone, wallowing in his own misery. Instead, he was roleplaying gay-dads with Wilson and coordinating upcoming holiday plans. And it was nice. This was nice.

He could get used to it.