#maybe i shouldn't make a fuss about this situation at all

[stein-chen]

I miss them. No, wait. I miss the idea I had of them.

Back then. When everything felt new and exciting and promising. I loved them.

Now, I don't love them any more. Or, well, I do. But not really. Not really them. I just love the person I thought they were. A picture of the past.

I still love them. And at the same time I don't.

Actually, it feels a lot like mourning someone who isn't here anymore. They are gone. The person I thought they'd become has vanished.

I mourn them. I miss them. Even if they are still here. Because they aren't. Not the person I miss and mourn and love.

Not the person I lost.

[paleprincessturtle]

Hi💗

I read (and loved😍) your Harvey fic in which the reader is mike's sister and I was wondering if you could write a lil fluffy piece on the same line of your other fics (with reader in a relationship with Harvey and who is also mike's sister) in which the reader get pregnant and they break the news to Mike and how he would react (I don't know why but I think it would be funny ahaha)

Bun in The Oven

Thank you for the request! I'm terribly sorry it took sooooo long. But here we go and enjoy!

You can read this as a standalone or as part of this fic.

1 hour ago

Rachel was slightly confused when she saw Mike's sister in Harvey's office, knowing Harvey had asked for her. She thought it was about the case they were on together. After exchanging hugs with Mike's sister, Harvey told Rachel to sit down. Harvey stood up from his chair and straightened himself. Rachel noted something odd about him today, and his usually chirpy girlfriend also seemed a little quiet today. He situated himself on the sofa beside his girlfriend. Rachel suddenly became nervous, too. Maybe they aren't together anymore, Rachel thought. Shit, what if Harvey cheated on her? Rachel suddenly snapped out of her reverie when Harvey called out her name. "There's news we would like to share with you." Harvey took a deep breath as he took her girlfriend's hand in his. Rachel noticed the gesture. "We're pregnant; no, I mean, she's pregnant; I'm not," Harvey stammered, then let out a nervous chuckle. Rachel was taken aback, not just by the news but by years of working in the firm; this was the first time Rachel saw Harvey stammer. But she managed to compose herself. "Are you guys happy?" Rachel asked, truly curious. "We are more than happy, Rach. This is a surprise, but one we wouldn't have any other way."

The three of them still crowd Harvey's office. "Mike could never refuse a homey and hearty meatloaf; I don't know, but it always put him in a good mood." Rachel nodded at the younger woman. Honestly, she rarely cooked at home; she knew Mike's favorite takeouts, but home-made dishes? It's out of her league. And after all, she's Mike's sister. "Should I look for an interesting pro bono case?" The two women shifted their attention to the only man in the room. For the very first time since they got into this discussion, Rachel finally got a good look at Harvey. Everyone who knows Harvey Specter knows that he is full of confidence. His middle name is Confidence. But one look at him, and Rachel swore he was a nervous wreck. Despite the visible discomfort, Harvey's idea wasn't entirely bad. If anything, it was great. An interesting pro bono case, hand-delivered by the managing partner, would certainly put Harvey on Mike's good side. "I will give him the case first thing in the morning, before dinner later that day." Both women beside him nodded in unison. "Why are you guys making such a fuss about breaking the news to him? I mean, if you don't mind me asking," Rachel asked. She bit her lip and looked at Rachel. "After Mike knew me and Harvey were together, our dynamics weren't the same anymore. Whenever he visited my bakery, he would ask me if Harvey had made any mistakes yet or things like that. It also happened with his relationship with Harvey. I feel like we are walking on thin ice here." Rachel gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. Mike never told me," she smiled knowingly at Rachel.

Later that day, after settling everything for their dinner plan, they parted ways. Harvey sat on one of the chairs in his girlfriend's bakery. He watched as she checked and counted everything. She was just about to finish the day. "Come sit with me; you shouldn't be standing up for too long," Harvey called for her, and she laughed. "I'll be 5 seconds, and we'll be out of here," she said as she walked to the back of her bakery. Harvey looked around; he seemed out of place here. Harvey had already thought about hiring an assistant for his girlfriend. Harvey followed in his girlfriend's footsteps earlier and found himself inside a tiny office. His girlfriend stood, facing a computer. "Sunshine," Harvey said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Harvey put his palm flat on her lower stomach, caressing gently. She smiled, even though she wasn't showing yet, Harvey's favorite thing to do now is to caress her lower stomach. "Anything I can help you with so you can finish up faster? Remember what the doctor said? You shouldn't be too tired," Harvey frowned as she typed away. "Imma just add thiiiiis... and done," she said as she turned off her computer. She turned around and faced Harvey. Harvey grinned at her, and she laughed. "What?" Harvey shook his head, smiling, "Nothing; I'm just really happy. About us, our baby, and our little family."

"So I told him that he could shove his sorry excuse of an offer up his ass," everyone laughed at Mike's story. They were all sitting on the couch in Harvey's place, the fire burning slowly in the fireplace. They have done everything they could—the pro bono case Harvey gave to Mike earlier this morning, the food, everything. Now it was only time that Harvey broke the news. Rachel looked at Harvey, quietly nodding at him. "Mike, Rachel," Harvey started, getting their attention. "We have some news to share." Harvey took his girlfriend's hand, and she gave it a good squeeze, silently encouraging him. "Don't you dare tell me you cheated on her, Harvey, I swear to." Harvey didn't let Mike finish his sentence. "Hell no," Harvey said, shaking his head. "Then what? Are you two eloping in Vegas?" Mike almost yelled, brows knitted. Harvey looked at Mike in disbelief, about to open his mouth, when his girlfriend interrupted. "We're pregnant, Mike. It was definitely a surprise, but we are very excited." As she said that, the room fell awfully quiet. "Oh my God, we're so happy for you!" Rachel started and stood up as the two women hugged. Mike followed but still said nothing. Harvey stretched out his arms, ready to hug Mike, after Rachel hugged him. But it wasn't a hug that Harvey received. Mike's fist made contact with Harvey's jaw. For the next few seconds, it was a mess. Rachel gasped. Harvey was on the floor, and his girlfriend kneeled beside him, crying. "How dare you knock up my sister," Mike was ready to launch at Harvey again, but Rachel got in front of Mike. "Mike, stop, stop, please," Rachel pleaded, both her hands on Mike's chest. " Mike still tried to get past Rachel. "I told you to take care of her, Harvey! Not to knock her up!" Mike screamed, and Rachel flinched. Harvey stood up, his girlfriend beside her. Harvey nodded at Rachel to ushered Mike outside to the balcony.

"Are you out of your mind, Mike?" Rachel scolded him. He stood, head hung low, while Rachel stood in front of him, hands folded in front of him. "You stay out of this, Rachel," Mike said, his voice barely audible. "Stay out of it? We're getting married. Your sister is my sister too. And Harvey is a close friend of ours! They are so happy about it, Mike." Rachel sighed and sat beside him. She took his hand in hers. "Mike, she is your sister; she is happy." Rachel tried to reason with him. "Haven't you heard about Harvey? A walking heartbreaker," Mike scoffed as he continued, "Now my sister will be tied to him for the rest of her life." Rachel shook her head. "Ask again, Mike. Is that the Harvey you heard people talk about or the Harvey you knew all these years?" Rachel pulled her hand from Mike's and got back inside. Mike saw Rachel walk to where Harvey and his sister sat. His sister was visibly upset; her eyes were red. Rachel said something to Harvey, and he nodded and stood up. Rachel took Harvey's place, and they hugged. Harvey walked over and opened the sliding door leading to the balcony. Mike turned his face away, and Harvey sat next to him. "I know you're upset. But I don't appreciate you acting like that in front of the mother of my child. She isn't supposed to be stressed about something, let alone crying." Mike looked at Harvey. "We are happy. You might see me as someone who will never marry or plan for a child." Harvey let out a bitter laugh. "I thought the same too until I met your sister, and I would drop anything to be with your sister. I love her, Mike. She loves me. We are so happy about this. About our little family. When will you finally see that?" Mike still looked at Harvey, his face as stoic as ever. "We are going to have this baby, with or without your blessing." Harvey leaned closer. "I let this one slide, Mike. You are his brother, but no one disrespects my girlfriend like that, ever." Mike nodded. "So either you go back inside, tell your sister you are sorry, or you can show yourself the way out," Mike sighed. "I'm.." he paused, contemplating what to say next. "I'm sorry, Harvey. I've known you for years; if anything, I knew you better than anyone. I'm sorry I misjudged you. I've been treating you differently, even treating my sister differently." Mike shook his head, eyes closed. Harvey stretched his arms, once again inviting him for a hug. This time, Mike smiled at him.

"I will read this baby, The Constitution, every day," Mike's sister gasped. "What?" Mike asked and seemed oblivious. "He's going to be a lawyer, hands down," Mike said matter-of-factly, followed by nods from both Harvey and Rachel. "He will be like the best damn closer this city has ever seen." Rachel joked, imitating Harvey. "He? How if the baby is a she?" Both Harvey and Mike groaned at the same time. "I'll get my 9 mm ready," Mike said, face all serious. "You have a gun?" Rachel asked in horror. "Imagine all the boys trying to date her," Mike said as Harvey's face paled. Harvey placed a hand on her still-flat stomach. "Whatever this baby might turn up, he or she," Mike turned to his sister, "will be very much loved." Harvey nodded at Mike after he saw his girlfriend smile so wide with teary eyes. "One thing," Mike said, "I want my name as the baby's middle name."

MASTERLIST

[andhumanslovedstories]

hey here's another question that I've been thinking about for about a week with no particular breakthrough. I'm so much on the healthcare side that all my advice is on that side. Dude, I read academic articles for this and didn't come up with anything particularly useful. That's why I'm answering this publicly, so other people hopefully add something useful. (Also I know you said you're not looking for opioids. I'm gonna talk about opioids anyway they certainly affect perceptions of chronic pain. In your case, try making clear early on that you don't want opioids.)

I'll say some things that I've noticed from my work to maybe provide some insight into healthcare's side of the exchange. I'm not saying this is the way things should be, I'm giving advice based on how I see things are. I wish I could say this wasn't the case, but when there's a pain medication standoff, the two ways I've seen it work out best for a patient are:

A third party advocates for the patient. (like family, nurse, social worker, different specialist, patient advocate, etc)

Change in caregiver.

I don't like those as the top answers, but that's what I've seen and it's consistent with a lot of the accounts I encountered. There is also a third way that the pain medication standoff can quickly end in a patient's favor:

3. New evidence (new symptom, imaging, vital signs, lab test, etc) forces a reexamination of how we're thinking about the patient.

This is also the "oh shit they seem worse" method, but it can also be "we have gained new information that re-contextualizes the information we already knew." This is like hey the xray came back, your whole bone is dust, or hey your blood pressure is now significantly higher, or hey oops your appendix exploded.

In all three cases, something new happens to change the dynamic. This works for healthcare providers operating in good faith because someone comes in fresh and/or the new dynamic causes the healthcare team to do a new assessment and cost/benefit analysis with this updated information. This works for healthcare providers operating in bad faith because they are either removed from the situation or put in a position where giving pain medication is less onerous than not giving pain medication. I genuinely, genuinely believe far more healthcare employees are operating in good faith rather than bad faith, although the end results can look the same from the patient side. This means I think that far more people are swayed by additional information that makes pain management have more benefit and less cost.

I don't know how actionable any of this is from the patient side unfortunately. I don't love being like "my advice? wait till shift change, see if you can shake it up." Bring someone to the emergency department with you if you have someone available, preferably someone prepared to make a fuss on your behalf. If you don't have a third person, see if you can get one. Hospitals can have patient advocate as a job. If they aren't available, is there someone on your healthcare team that seems most sympathetic? Try asking them if they have any advice. They might be able to give you some, they might advocate for you. Be careful about badmouthing staff to other staff and avoid compliments to one member of the team that relies on insulting another member. You don't know the relationships at play, and it's sort of like how you shouldn't trash talk your old job when interviewing for a new job. You may be completely right in everything you're saying, but being like "my boss was a crazy asshole who refused to recognize my work," doesn't come off as objective. It can undercut your credibility and introduce hostility into the conversation where it is not productive.

I'd also be prepared to talk about what you already tried to relieve the pain. Again, with you I'd mention upfront that you don't want opioids because they don't work for you. Then say what you have already tried at home before you came in (tylenol, ibpurofen, heating, ice, exercises, stretching, shower, other meds, etc) and the effect of both the pain (can't sleep, makes you nauseated, had to call off sick from work, aren't able to be a caregiver to someone, etc) and your already attempted interventions (no significant pain control, symptoms got worse, called PCP, they said emergency was the next step, etc). If your condition is chronic, compare it on the pain scale and the functionality scale to your baseline. (i.e. "I'm always at least a 3 out of ten on the pain scale, but it doesn't usually leave me bedbound." "Normally Symptom improves after Intervention At Home, but that didn't work this time.") Something that can make providers hesitant is if opioids, benzos, or other powerful drugs are the first and only thing a patient says will help and they're unwilling to try anything else, so sometimes demonstrating flexibility with your pain plan can signal "I'm not here for oxy to sell, I'm here because I want my symptoms to stop (and, if relevant, figure out what is causing them)."

Also if you can and feel safe doing so, consider providing feedback to the hospital. Nothing changes without something documented.

[lalune9x]

S-Classes novel SPOILERS chapter 470

some thoughts after translating this chapter. as I've translated this arc, I've become fully convinced that the confession/rejection subplot was intentionally presented in parallel with sung hyunje 'breaking up' with yoojin in order to repeatedly bash the reader over the head with the funny narrative device of "you think he's saying all this romance and heartbreak-related stuff about a woman, but he's actually thinking about sung hyunje!!"

I already explained how the korean word for 'getting rejected' also means 'getting broken up with' (차이다). so when the characters mention yoojin being rejected (by chloe), you could also read it as him being broken up with... and because korean often leaves out pronouns and the subjects/objects of actions and requires readers to fill the meaning in by context, it makes the ironic ambiguity even stronger. the story is repeatedly prompting the reader to fill in for themselves who yoojin is really heartbroken over.

then this section in chap 470 is wild, because WHY is it structured like this?

"[...] I still think it's fine to like whatever or whomever you want. No matter how it turns out." Because liking people and things brought joy and could even bring comfort. It was a positive feeling, in any case. Of course, you could also struggle because of it. I had. But even then, I didn't think I would regret any of it. Even if I were to lose it all once more, if I went back, I'd still end up liking them all again. I mean Sung Hyunje, too… He wasn't bad… well... he had put me through some crazy situations. Still, there'd been fun times too. That one time it had been delicious, yeah. That other time it had also been tasty. That one restaurant had suited my palate well. Naturally, Myungwoo's cooking was the best, but he fussed too much about my health. Though it really was amazing that healthy food could still taste that good. "Of course, I shouldn't go falling head over heels and giving up my heart on a silver platter," I said. "But I'm going to do what I like." It wasn't a big change, but how should I put it? I guess I would focus more on prioritizing myself. At my words, Yoohyun's expression became gloomier. "I understand, hyung. She's a foreigner, anyway." "…What?"

like what is the logical connection between these thoughts for yoojin that isn't 'I might have romantically-inclined feelings for this guy I keep thinking about'? how else am I supposed to read it? he's been comforting himself about how it's okay to like people, says he would like the same people even if he had to do things over again, and the one example of those people he brings up is... sung hyunje? he starts reminiscing about hyunje... cooking for him? (he doesn't even specify that the "delicious" things he's talking about are food at first)

and then right after those reminiscences about the fun times he had with hyunje, yoojin says he won't go too far in loving people, but he'll still do what he likes? he'll prioritize himself, aka act selfishly? the very thing he said he was going to do by refusing to let sung hyunje go? the story really smacks you in the face with the conclusion it wants you to draw.

also of course yoohyun misunderstands that yoojin's talking about chloe, because all of his sung hyunje-focused thoughts are internal!! even yoojin himself is confused at who/what yoohyun is even talking about at first because all yoojin's been thinking about is sung hyunje! (and maybe because in korean yoohyun doesn't specify 'she', so yoojin's thought process might've been like mine, thinking "huh, can shj really be called a foreigner?" before understanding yoohyun's just not privy to yoojin's gay inner monologue).

[gyuswhore]

Pure Math 171

choi seungcheol x reader

wc: 2.5k

genre: fluff, humour

warnings: math. (1) dirty joke. thats it i think (lmk if there's more)

synopsis: Walking into the first class of the semester shouldn't have been as eventful as it was (not that you can complain for long)

masterlist

(A/N): I haven't posted a fic in a while so i hope i redeem myself with this one hehe. a million thank yous to @toruro for beta-ing for me (even at the dentists lol) you can thank her for this too shes the reason i finished so quickly kjvkdfjg

It takes a lot to surprise you. 

It’s not that you enjoy it, but your friends simply make it easy to read them. It took Soonyoung seven human years to learn the art of surprise birthday parties. You know, the ones where you aren’t supposed to know he’s throwing a party just for you. Or Minghao, before he learned the art of deceit, and held his disdain like a badge on his face. 

You seem to have honed the skill of psychics better than most, confident in your ability as a higher-risk party trick. 

Skipping into the new semester at uni, you enter your lecture hall at the reasonable hour of 8 in the morning, expecting nothing but the usual. No surprises were to come your way today, just another first day back, fueling for the coming months.

You push the doors of your lecture hall open, ready to greet your professor for Pure Mathematics 171, pushing your spirits high to commence your per semester buttering. What you find though, is the front desk crowded with students wanting to do the exact same, all for the professor that would be teaching the most dreaded unit of the course. Of course. 

You spot Soonyoung among the crowd as he spots you at the door as well. You note how gleeful he looks at this hour. This can’t be good. Hao too presses his mouth together in an attempt to conceal his budding smile, hand to mouth when he miserably fails.

What on Earth was so funny? 

Attempting to crane your neck, over and under, to catch a glimpse of the ever popular professor, you find yourself blocked by the sea of math nerds and ass-kissers just like yourself. Curiosity was becoming a little too much for you to bear, not that your friends sniggering and whispering while looking directly at you was helping at all. You were just about to march up to the two and demand to be put on their shoulders to see what the fuss was about. Until—

“Alright! It’s almost 8, let’s save the chatter for after class, how about?” you hear a voice boom in the centre of the anthill. 

You knew that voice.

You watch in slow motion as the hoard of bodies disperse, not missing the pointed glances of both your friends directed at the teacher’s table. 

And then you see it. Standing there, looking down at his folder sheets, dry-erase marker in hand. 

Choi Seungcheol.

Choi Seungcheol was your professor.

Your boyfriend was your professor.

How did this happen? Did he know about this? Was he keeping it from you? Were you blind when you read the clear ‘Dr. Kim’ next to your unit code? 

Seungcheol doesn’t notice you standing there slack mouthed and frozen in his classroom. Until he does. 

Instead of mimicking your shocked expression, you watch as his mouth goes to pull what you recognise as a smirk. 

Oh, he thinks this is hilarious. 

His eyebrows are raised as he questions you, “Will you be taking a seat, miss?” 

It’s then that you realise you're in the middle of a lecture hall with about a hundred eyes watching you as you gape at your collective professor. Could they be mistaking your imminent horror as you checking him out? 

If this was another situation maybe you would have, but this was starting to sound like a sick joke. 

But alas, you could not confront your professor like that, at least not in front of an audience. So you find it within yourself to slowly slug towards the staircase to plant yourself next to your friends. Both of whom were having the absolute time of their lives watching your dazed expression. 

You might have committed murder that day. 

You’re forced to snap out of it as you hear Seungcheol - professor Choi - begin to speak at the front of the class.

“Good morning everybody,” he starts, hands on his desk, a pleasant expression on his face as he awaits a response from his borderline comatose students. A chorus of good mornings greet him back, excluding your own.

“Hope you guys had a good break, welcome to Pure Math 171, my name is Professor Choi” he moves to scribble his name on the whiteboard, “And I would like to be referred as such.” 

His gaze finds you in your seat as he utters those words. He is quick to shift.

“We’re gonna be starting light today, I’ll be going through our unit guide and grading system…” 

Seungcheol talks. And talks. And talks. And you don’t listen. You watch instead.

You’re mad at him. Really mad at him. But you can’t help but wonder as he walks around looking like that. He’s in the simplest dress shirt and slacks of a neutral colour, but he wears it oh so well. 

You’ve watched him every morning as he gets dressed for work, knowing his attire has always suited him. Your friends who have been in his classes have expressed their disappointment when told he wasn’t single, and promptly draw open in shock when they realize it's you that’s snagged him before the world could. 

Seungcheol, for lack of a better word, hits different when he’s in his element. His hair is pushed back and out of his face, noting how his glasses look so much sexier when he’s pacing the room with hands dipped in his pockets. He’s speaking tongues of numbers and symbols, and it’s suddenly the hottest thing you’ve ever seen.

But you're mad at him. It shouldn’t be that hard to remind yourself. 

“You know, you’re being real ungrateful for a person who just got a free pass on the hardest class this fucking insitution can cook up,” Soonyoung whisper-shouts next to you.

Minghao quips beside him, “Look alive, sister, you’ve hit the jackpot.”

“Were you two in on it?” you finally snap, irritated at their apparent glee. 

Soonyoung snorts, “Fuck, no, we saw him when we walked in this morning”

“So did he know?” 

“Oh, I think Professor Choi would be glad to tell you himself after hours,” Minghao sleazes while Soonyoung throws you the greasiest wink known to man. 

Disgusted and disturbed, you turn your attention back to the front of the room. You’re still disgusted and disturbed. Seungcheol is still there, looking like he does, scribbling some example equation on the board. 

“Hmm. I think professor Choi ought to know his favourite student’s having trouble paying attention? We can’t have that, you should move up front.”

You do move. Away from your friends to the seats higher up. 

It’s a mind-numbing two hours in which you think you experience every emotion possible. 

You think of your friends who have sat in his classes all semester, that have ogled him and admitted his apparent attractiveness. There were people in this room that were thinking the very same thing in this very moment, and it was making your skin crawl. You wanted to get up and scream: This is your boyfriend.

But alas, you are but a tired, tired college student. He wouldn’t fail you, would he? Then again, he has a ruthless streak of keeping you from the lights of life when you’re slacking in dire times. You might be the love of his life, but he remains a man of discipline. 

It’s an annoying trait, but only ever in the moment. He might be the sole reason you haven’t completely lost yourself in the sea of academics. 

“I think we can wrap up with that, it’s basic stuff but it won’t hurt to revise on your own before next week when we really get into it,” Seungcheol’s voice booms.

There’s a churn in your stomach for some reason, and you have to neutralize your breathing as you watch the lecture hall slowly empty out. A few students remain lingering at the front desk for yet another round of buttering. Seungcheol entertains them, pleasant smile on his face, nodding along to something. You remain seated, arms and legs crossed as you stare daggers into the top of Seungcheol’s head as he speaks with his students. 

The remaining students file out as well, and you notice how Soonyoung and Minghao are long gone, leaving just you and Seungcheol alone in this big, big room. 

It’s only then that he looks up searching, to check if you had left yet.

He remembered quick. 

His eyes finally land on your, disgruntled, tight form, refusing to make eye contact for more than three seconds before huffing audibly, moving to put away your things. Seungcheol moves around his front desk, hands in pockets, hiking his way up the lecture steps to where you were at the top row. 

You’re shoving your laptop in your bag by the time he’s done with his trek, planting himself on the chair next to you loudly. You ignore him.

“Do you think we’d get in trouble if they caught us like this?” he muses after a few silent moments.

“Caught us like what?” You snap. There goes your pledge to remain silent.

“You can’t possibly think a teacher and his student caught in a classroom by themselves is necessarily a point in our favor” 

“I’ll do the honors then” with that you’re swinging your bag over your shoulder to trudge behind him to the steps leading down, wanting to be out of his presence for the time being. 

You’re barely past him when there’s a grip on your wrist, firm and purposeful, that tugs you backwards in a harsh manner. The bag on your shoulder is sent to the floor while you, in your entirety, are sent straight into Seungcheol’s lap. 

Bastard. 

The smirk on his face is enough to send you into a pot of livid fumes, right after you’re done balancing yourself on his shoulders. You try not to grip on too tight. 

“What makes you think you can leave without being dismissed?”  

“What the fuck.” 

“Language, miss. I don’t tolerate obscenities in my classroom.” It might’ve been a menacing threat, but with what lay behind the glint in his eyes you knew he was being a little shit. 

It takes you every fibre in your body to refrain from thinking too much about him. Him and his hands that rest on your thighs, him and his hands that are placed near your waist, stroking and pressing into your shirt. 

No, you're mad at him.

“Did you know?” you ask finally, tired of the back and forth.

“Nope,” he replies, “Found out when you walked in.” 

“Do you not read your attendance sheet? Isn’t that your job? You had the entirety of summer to give me a heads up, this is your fault!” 

“Dr. Kim got into an accident last night, she’s out of service for the rest of the semester. I didn’t know until I came in for my other class I was being switched over—” 

“How does that happen?!” you almost yell.

He’s silent for a moment before beginning again, “Do you want me to ask for another class?” 

Wait, what. 

“I didn’t say that—” You can’t finish because your being pushed off your seat on his lap to stand while he gets up as well.

“I’ll go talk to the co-ordinator then, class isn’t working out for me.” With that he’s trudging back down the steps, making a beeline for the door.

You’re left stunned at the top of the stairs, not knowing if he was being serious or not. Were you about to let his presence bother you that bad? To the point he had to switch classes? What were you even that upset about? 

Twirling around in place trying to look for the bag that was strewn about earlier, you grab the straps and race down the steps. If Seungcheol can hear your bounding footsetps, he doesn’t show it. Instead you crash into his back just as he’s about to leave the room, to which he turns around. 

The smirk seems glued to his face and you realize right then you may have been lured. With the 180° that had become of your perception, you couldn’t be mad at him anymore, cooling off the simmer that had been brewing for the past couple hours. 

“Maybe…Maybe I can live with seeing your face for a couple hours a week,” you mumble, suddenly unable to maintain eye contact.

He lets out an incredulous laugh, “Couple hours a week?! Do you realise we sleep in the same bed at night, pretty sure that’s more than a couple hours.”

“You know what I meant!” you huff, arms crossed and turning your head away. You cringe slightly at how you voice echoes across the large lecture hall. 

Feeling his hands enclose yours, pulling your body slowly towards him, you bring yourself to look back up at him. His hands come up behind you when you’re close enough, snaking up your back and waist. You try not to shudder, but it’s hard when you know he’s doing it on purpose. There’s warmth that radiates off of him, a stark contrast from the chill classroom, your fingers finding purchase around his own waist.

There’s more of that same warmth when he kisses you, short pecks, yet ones that have you smiling against his lips. The curve remaining as he rests his forehead on yours.

“Let’s go home, just need to grab my stuff,” he says, but makes no effort to move from his position.

“Are you already done for the day?” you frown.

“No,” he muses, “But it’s only the first day. Besides, I wanna sit in bed with my girl while I map her out for the first assignment of the semester.” 

“Does your girl get premium access?” 

“Hm, maybe.” 

Before you can refute, the door of the room bursts open with a bang that reaches straight into your soul. With the way Seungcheol’s eyes widen, you don’t doubt the same was happening in his own chest. 

There isn’t enough time for you to pull away before hearing gasps alluding from the threshold. 

Soonyoung and Minghao stand at the door, scandalized looks complete with hands over their faces. Hao shakes his head in mock disappointment, eyes pointed. Soonyoung pulls out his hands, framing them like he was taking a picture of the both of you gripping each other.

“Now what would the bulletin look like with these two on the front cover? You’re friends with Seok, right? D’you think you could put a word in?” Soonyoung yaps, the most insufferable look on his face.

Seungcheol laughs, to your surprise, and looks over to you, “What d’you think the bulletin would look like with his F on the front cover?” 

“D’you think you could put a word in?” you raise your eyebrows. 

His smile widens but he’s being pulled away as both your friends move forward to surround him. You vaguely register Soonyoung cupping your boyfriend’s face delicately, singsonging about their years of friendship, or how Hao has his arms wrapped around him in a back hug, head on his shoulder. 

You vaguely register any of it, because you’re smiling too hard at the scene. Smiling too hard when Seungcheol catches your eye, before bursting out laughing, attempting to wrestle the two off of him. 

You bring your phone up to the chaos instead of your hands, wanting to frame the scene for real this time. 

[marimeeko]

Thinking lately about Izuku(a civilian now) getting caught up in some Villain shenanigans(think like a random hostage situation or heist/robbery)(he is literally at the wrong place at the wrong time) and the possibilities of what could happen.

The possibilities of the civilians recognizing him and hoping for him to save them? Him doing his best to keep them all together and calm?

The possibilities of whether or not the villains recognize him or slowly start to figure it out? Do they know he's actually Quirkless now and try to take advantage of that? Or do they think he still has powers and immediately try to restrain and overpower him?

How Izuku either fights back or tries to thwart the villains? How he stays quiet at first, but is observing and analyzing the crap out of them and their Quirks?(while it's technically illegal for him to act as a hero, he also wouldn't stand down if the villains were threatening to harm any of the hostages)

If he has an actual altercation with them? And what if he gets injured? (I imagine he can hold his own reasonably well in a hand to hand fight! He still trains and is in shape, maybe even spars with Kacchan, and he has that extremely high pain tolerance! But he still gets clocked especially if he's trying to prevent them from doing harm)

And what happens when GEMG DynaMight gets to the scene. And does Katsuki know before hand that Izuku is involved of find out afterward when Izuku is released with the hostages? Or when he busts in to stop them and sees Izuku himself??

Or do the villains know enough about Izuku and Katsuki to make Izuku their primary hostage and hold Izuku hostage for some sort of ransom or deal with DynaMight?

And do they know enough to know that that's pretty much a death wish for them?

How about Izuku being just cool as a cucumber even though they're threatening DynaMight bc he knows enough about these suckers now to know that they are no match for Dynamight....much less when he is ANGRY.

Or how bout Izuku actually trying to talk them out of their dumb idea (full on teacher voice activated) because he knows they're petty criminals who are acting this way for a reason, but they shouldn't add kidnapping to their rapsheet.

DynaMight busting in and busting them, of course, and putting the fear of god into the villains whenever he is aware of Izuku being involved. He takes it personally, maybe hitting the guy holding down izuku a little harder than the others before arresting them.

What about when Katsuki gets Izuku out of there, he fusses endlessly over Izukus injuries and bloody face, and refuses to let Izuku go home by himself(he needs to be monitored for a concussion, that's all!)

I MEAN WHY HAVE WE NOT THOUGHT MORE ABOUT THIS ASPECT THERES SO MUCH POTENTIAL HERE.

If this is a fic already I really want to read it... Daniart already made an art to this theme and I saw it today, meanwhile I have definitely been pondering it for a day or two *bkdk brainmeld*

[total-drama-brainrot]

i just posted a silly impulsive headcanon in the discord off the top of my head, but now that i'm thinking about it...

let's say, during their stay in jamaica (or maybe in a later season/different show altogether?) the contestants are staying in hotel rooms for simplicities' sake. and due to the number of them, they're paired up. not an issue, right?

noah goes to join owen in his room, but he's already partnered up with tyler (or whomever), so noah's left with only alejandro as an option. great. again, it's whatever, it's only temporary. at least they'll be able to sleep in proper beds, so things are still looking up!

oh, they've been given the last available room? it's got the queen bed? oh sweet! so they've got bigger beds than the others? no?

wait. what do you mean "only one bed?"

oh shit oh fuck he's totally doomed.

well, they'll just have to make do. noah isn't about to cause a fuss about his sleeping arrangements, he's already tired enough from the plane crash itself and the challenges they competed in. what's the worst that could happen?

(he steadfastly ignores the Very Possible Outcome of his unfortunate sleeping habit, even when various headlines pertaining to a certain awake-a-thon incident race across his vision like spectres. because it's NOT going to happen again.)

alejandro also takes the news with his usual levels of grace and poise- all of that social training as the son of a diplomat has done him well- though noah can just tell by the tenseness in his shoulders and the stiffness of his posture that he's not as calm about the situation as he'd like the others to believe.

whatever. it's just a bed, who cares?

when they're getting ready to sleep- in an actual bed, what a luxury!- noah and alejandro gingerly climb into their respective sleep wears, both facing the opposite direction. this is the first time the whole season that they've been allowed the opportunity to sleep in their actual pyjamas. you know, since they haven't exactly had beds.

alejandro, dressed in his tank top and sleep shorts (he'd usually sleep in just the shorts, but the thought of doing so whilst sharing a sleep space seemed inappropriate), turns to climb into their queen bed only to see noah, who is already dressed in his own loose t-shirt and shorts, stepping into a pair of sweatpants and pulling a thick looking sweater over his sleepwear. what the fuck?

the room they're in isn't even cold, they're in jamaica?

even worse, noah's actively putting on a pair of fluffy socks. who wears socks to bed?

and then, then, the absolute mad lad reaches into his luggage and pulls out an equally fluffy dressing gown (or bathrobe/housecoat, same thing tbf), wrapping it around himself like a winter coat as if he's somehow cold in his two- now three- layers. it's almost 26°c out there! (80°f)

and the psycho smiles to himself, breathing out a sigh of contented air (and, alejandro notices, uncurling from his slightly hunched over posture, as if he'd been trying to conserve heat), as if he's not sweating his ass off under his three weather inappropriate layers!

so, as a concerned team leader, alejandro points out the obvious; he shouldn't be wearing so many layers to bed, he's going to get heat stroke.

but noah argues back; he naturally runs cold, especially when he's asleep.

and alejandro briefly recalls the amount of times he's noticed a napping noah shivering in his sleep despite wearing his usual three layers of clothing and the jet itself being kept a consistent room temperature for all it's faults, but his logic reasons that even so noah still doesn't need to wear socks to bed (it's immoral).

eventually noah gives up defending his (objectively wrong) decision to wear thick layered clothing and socks to bed and just climbs under the covers (discarding the dressing gown on the way, he's not completely insane), huffing in annoyance as he curls up at the edge of the mattress and makes a point of ignoring his company.

alejandro also sighs to himself, though whether it's in defeat or exasperation he isn't entirely sure, and carefully slots himself onto the opposite edge of the bed.

the two fall asleep in a tense silence with almost a meter of space between them.

which is why it's surprising when alejandro wakes up a few hours later, absolutely boiling under the heated weight practically glued to his side.

noah's iconic hair, softer in texture that it's usually neat waves would imply, tickles at his neck whilst the cynic's face is pressed firmly into his chest. his sweater-clad arms and wrapped almost possessively around his shoulders and his legs and tangled between the latino's own. whilst the added pressure is nice bearable, alejandro is sweating his life out beneath the warmth of another body.

when he tries to unpeel his clingy companion from his side, a sleeping noah seems to take that as a challenge and digs his hands into the taller's shoulders, which is when alejandro realises that despite everything noah's hands are freezing to the touch. how?! the two of them end up even further entwined than before, as his escape efforts only lead to noah wrapping his body even tighter around alejandro like a particularly stubborn boa constrictor until he had the shorter practically sleeping on top of him- as if alejandro himself was the mattress, or some oversized teddy bear.

it's... not an ideal situation.

alejandro kicks the duvet off of the pair, prompting a shiver from the wannabe koala attached to him, but the freedom from the oppressive heat outweighs any remorse he would've felt for depriving his companion from potential heat stroke. without the oven-like heat of the duvet, having the warmth of another curled up against him is actually pretty nice, and alejandro soon finds unconsciousness washing over him like the (comparatively) cool air of their room.

noah wakes up as sunlight filters into their suite, his face tucked firmly into alejandro's neck as the taller cradles him between his arms, deep slumbering breaths making his chest periodically rise and fall against noah's own. his arms are wrapped around the spaniard's waist, cold hands gripping loosely at the fabric of his tank top, and their legs are to tangled together that it takes the bookworm a few moments to figure out which ones are his.

he's warm, for once, and it's wonderful. he barely spares a thought at how awkward the situation is going to be when they're both awake and just presses himself further into alejandro's inviting warmth, mouth twitching into a smile, as he drifts back to sleep.

[inactivewattpadauthor]

Shao Kahn x Earthrealm Child Reader: Friendship?

Warning: Maybe OOC Shao? Plot never plots when it's me writing ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Winds grow intense as the giant green ring of a portal forms for the tyrant. He's grown too impatient to wait another day to capture Earthrealm, he'd do it himself if he really has to. No one can stop him or his rapid ambition.

Darkly chuckling, he walks through the portal, each step he takes heavy enough to make weak foes tremble before him. "Earthrealm, bow to your new emperor!" Shao Kahn calls through the portal to his audience. "Prepare! As I, Shao Kahn, will conquer you all!" He triumphantly raises his hammer, ready for chaos, but when he fully enters enemy territory, something seemed off.

No one was around, making him look rather awkward that he was yelling to himself. The portal closes behind him and he views his surroundings: nothing but dead trees and chilly air. Shao was more expecting of a large city, one similar to when the realms merge before. The tyrant growls at the inconvenience.

A small clap was heard somewhere from above. "That was cool!" Shao became alerted at the voice, looking up to see a small human sitting on one of the leafless trees, resting on a branch.

"You there!" He points his hammer up at you. "Tell me where I am!"

Looking to the side awkwardly and back at him you answered. "The woods...?" You reply nonchalantly with vagueness. How does someone that can summon portals not know where exactly they're teleporting to?

Shao Kahn growls under his breath. "Where's the Sky Temple?"

"I don't know. This town is small and boring." You complain.

Seeing that you're no help, he turns away from you and starts walking off, figuring out where his destination is to perhaps bash the head in of a certain demigod. As for you, you tilt your head before quickly, and carefully, climbing down the tree and running up with him. "Where are we going?"

Shao stopped and look down at you. By the Gods, you were so small compared to him. "We?" He copied your word. You nodded. "I don't need some soft Earthrealm child to follow me on my mission! Besides, you should be fearing me!"

Yet, you remain unfazed as he was yelling down at you, and he looks as if he'd crush you without a second thought. "Well, I don't! I won't misbehave, I promise!" You beg. The town was so boring and there was so much to explore, you wanted to go on his journey.

"Don't you have a bedtime? Begone! I've no time for babysitting. Return to your parents!" Again, you reject his demand. "They have other children they're more worried about! Besides, starting right now, you're my new friend! And I command you to bring me with you!" You playfully command.

The giant man doesn't take you serious, and he has better things to do than lose it with some... seven year old, however long you been brought to existence. "If you perish, it's on you." He continues walking, you following up behind him.

---Massive Time Cut with confusing plot, bc I'm not tryna do a part 2---

Shao Kahn returns to Outworld, to his palace, sighing. Even a big, strong brute like him needs his rest. He may not have conquered Earthrealm like he intended to, but there's progress. And he's fine with that.

The portal closes behind him and he goes back to bossing around his servants, demanding them to do this and that, patronizing them because he can. Now he's thinking about going to seek one of his concubines until something odd pops him out his mind.

"Let go! Y-You ugly jerks!" That voice sounds familiar. He swiftly goes around the corner to examine the fuss, and for the first time ever, his heart drops.

It was you. And you were squirming in the clutches of two Tarkatans. Shao mentally face palms himself, knowing your naivety would definitely get you into a situation like this. He knows he shouldn't care and just let the Tarkatans eat the stupid Earthrealm youngling, but he just can't.

"Stop! Release her!" He stomps forward and demands. The Tarkatans do lower you, but not release you as they looked at their emperor, confused. You were glad he steps in, still trying to get away from the scary looking figures.

"I said release her!" He repeats harshly.

One speaks up. You couldn't understand the words it was saying. Hell, how could it even speak a clear word with that mouth?

"I don't care if she's from Earthrealm! You'll dirty my floor with her insides!" How does he know what they're saying?

"I didn't ask you to take her outside! If you don't unhand her from your hideous hands, I'll cut them off and make them your last meal!"

The two monsters exchanged glances before dropping you and walking off. You got to calm yourself and breathe now.

"Y/n!" Shao says, picking you up to your, checking for any cuts, gladly there aren't any. "What are you doing here?"

"I snuck through the portal behind you." You shivered, yet giving him a thumbs up. "I forgot to give you something I made while we traveled together." You pull out a small, poorly made bracelet, consistent of yellow, red, white, and black, tiny rubber bands.

He holds out a giant, clawed hand so you could drop the item onto his palm. You could tell he was raising an eyebrow under that helmet. "It's a friendship bracelet. I know it's not fancy, made of pretty gems like an emperor should have, which is why I would understand if you like... put it somewhere and never see it again, but," You say that last part with a certain tone, but continue on.

"I just want you to have it since you're my only friend. And I like you." You tell him with a smile.

He dangles your gift from his nails, looking at it softly. You're right, it's not expensive, but he will treasure it. Clutching it in his hand and looking back down at you. "Treason is a crime, Y/n." He warns you half heartedly. "But thanks, little one, you were always a kind, oddly interesting human."

Offering a giant hand, he summons a portal. "I shall accompany you home. Outworld isn't a place for you, unfortunately." You understand he meant well with that, putting your small hand in his larger one, which he very gently takes and walks with you through the portal.

Maybe if he rules Earthrealm, you could explore more of the world with your friend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ This one is meh, I wanted to write smth that gives Vanellope and Wreck-it Ralph

[vigilskeep]

What was Ser Joan's opinion on her daughter? I just- sorry, this character FASCINATES me and gets into all sorts of fun territory re: my interest in the idea of people who maybe shouldn't have had children, wouldn't have if that choice had been theirs, but nonetheless have them anyway, and all the complicated ways to feel in that situation.

yeah i think she’s really fun to play around with!! especially as, like, an absence. she left when beatrice was little more than a baby and died when she was like... 12-14? it’s impossible for bea to ever really know what she was thinking or how much she cared. i love backstory characters who are empty spaces full of questions

i think a lot of people told joan over and over that she would be happier in her new life once she had a baby. and it very much did not work out that way. she suffered really badly from depression afterwards. bea was being raised by servants and chantry sisters even before joan left, because she did not want to be in a room with that baby. i mean, not to put too fine a point on it, but with joan we’re talking about a character i initially conceptualised as having committed suicide, which was replaced with her joining the grey wardens. now whether that counts as an alternative to taking your own life or just as a lengthier way of doing it, i don’t know

to be honest i don’t think joan did love bea. i don’t like the idea of saying “oh, she did love her like she was supposed to, some way, deep down”, as if that’s an obligation for her to be sympathetic. if she ever visited ostwick and saw her daughter again before she died, i think she felt very distant from her. she met a polite young girl and they had a short conversation before joan went back to her warden comrades and her real life. perhaps that was all it had to be. (and if she snarled at her husband never to do to the child what had been done to her, that was far more about seeing her own younger self than about seeing her daughter, if that makes sense.)

it’s hard on bea, obviously. she was such a constantly lonely child and except for her aunt’s occasional visits, nobody was ever truly in her corner. i think bea was always trying so hard to be good, to not make a fuss about it, to never resent, and in the end she clings to idealising the grey wardens to convince herself her mother had a reason to leave, that it was heroic and of course her mother didn’t want to leave her, she just had to. it makes it unsurprising that bea is so determined now to always, by force of will, see the best in people and give them the benefit of the doubt. which is one of her best qualities, the core of her open-mindedness and her kindness, but it also makes her too willing to let certain things slide, and as in this case, kind of puts unfair expectations on people that they inevitably disappoint if she ever sees them clearer

[palettepainter]

Thinking of angry Cementoss. He should be allowed to loose his cool, thinking about him and Chikara bumping heads pre dating when the feelings are starting to grow stronger, but Chikara is too shy to talk about it and Cementoss simply doesn't know how to.

Thinking about Higari's siblings coming down to visit sometime after the Training Camp arc to make sure he's okay, Cementoss telling Chikara in particular to be careful when she's out and about because anyone close to UA staff members could now be a potential target for villains, Chikara (having not been in an actual villain related event before) tells Cementoss he's worrying too much and that she'll be fine. Chikara noticing how Cementoss is seemingly especially focused on her, always sending her glances when she comes back from somewhere, or offering to go along with her if she has errands to run, and before she knows it he's hovering around her near constantly

Chikara confronting him about it later that day, feeling embarrassed at all the fussing, telling Cementoss he can't put all his focus on one person's safety, saying he's playing favourites, blah blah argument starts. Cementoss remains calm yet stern but that only makes Chikara more annoyed that he's handling the situation, in her eyes, nonchalantly

Chikara storming out and going on a walk to clear her head, then the final battle between All Might and AFO happens. Chikara isn't directly near Kamino Ward when it happens, but she's in the nearby area, and the destruction of the fight reaches her. She manages to get off lucky, surviving mostly unscathed, but her leg is trapped under some rubble

She tries to stay calm, and after maybe thirty minutes heroes begin to sweep the area, Cementoss is the one who finds her.

Angry Cementoss, like really angry but also so incredibly worried Cementoss, being the silent type. Him just standing there eerily quite while Chikara tries to defend her own situation, because she KNOWS she's in it because she was the one who stormed out and didn't listen to his advice of being careful. Cementoss only speaking in small sentences, only a few words, as he addresses Chikara's trapped leg

He still ignores Chikara as she tries to say it's not that bad (it is), Cementoss saying she won't be able to walk on it and say's he'll carry her to a nearby medical station. Chikara profusely tries to deny him- and then Cementoss turns to her and reiterates again, she can't walk

Days after the event (and after Higari gave her a very thorough scolding for running off and driving him sick with worry-) Chikara is discharged from hospital and is recovering at UA for further safety reasons, she can walk on her leg for short distances but she's advised to not strain herself. Cementoss one day finally going to visit her and he finds Chikara trying to do something she shouldn't be for a reason not good enough - maybe tryna walk down a small flight of stairs - and he proceeds to give her the look, again

Them not really knowing what to say so they're both to the point and quite with each other

Eventually one breaks the ice though and they talk, and it ends with Cementoss convincing Chikara to rest. Much later Higari pops his head in to check on his sis and finds Chikara snoring in the bed, and Cementoss asleep in the nearby arm chair

I am driving myself a little nuts with their dynamic

[pinky-in-blankets]

Operation breakout!

Conner, along with many others of the harem, had been taken captive alongside the charges for a while now. But the time as come to break them out! Balan and the rest who managed to avoid capture are currently facing against the guards, leaving a B team to go and Rescue him.

"Alright guys- I've found where They're keeping everyone. We're gonna have to split up into two teams. Starlo and NiGHTS aren't particularly sneaky nor quiet, so you two are on distraction duty. Make as much fuss as possible so Me, Lance, & Reala can bust everybody out."

Pommie concluded as she spoke to the group. They nodded. It was a good thing that these guys were pretty adaptable to these sorts of situations. Goes to show how important it is to have castle guards.

"Oho, I've been waiting for this kinda thing to happen~ I can finally be true to my Nightmaren Roots and get a good bit of scaring in☆"

"As much as I usually don't condone this sorta rioting- these dirty bandits had already crossed a line messing with my Posse. Everything that's coming to em' is all in the name of justice..!"

"Yeah. Sure. Something like that... Hehehe ✨️"

Starlo and Nights slipped out of the vental shaft first, A dual look of mischievousness in their eyes as they slunk over to the lights switch. They exchanged a few glances before nodding.

Needless to say, Chaos ensues. Maybe we shouldn't leave them in a room alone together next time.. awh well. At least their foes are distracted.

Pommie Dualizes Reala as Lance keeps an eye out for the crossfire and any reaming perpetrators that may attack them while their backs turned. She immediately pressed her nose up against the glass where the Bomb was being contained.

"Conner!"

"Pommie!? What are you doing here? How'd you get out?"

"Not everyone was caught- they got me out- and now we're here to bust everybody else out!

She grinned as they broke open the glass with a paraloop. Thank goodness for magical creatures! Conner was a bit wobbly once they got his shackles off- but at least he was okay.

Lance was tasked on getting Him out of there and back to the castle to recover, while Pommie and reala Both went about into the different rooms to break out the rest of the prisoners.

After all, it's high time they started taking everything back and getting back in control!

[jayden-killer]

DREAMS ARE MY REALITY. (pt.3)

[part 1] [part 2]

What would happen if your favourite fictional character appeared in your bed...?

A/N: I perfectly know this chapter doesn't really make sense, I just ran out of ideas...

Taglist (write me down in the comments if you want to be added!): @strxngegirl @d1lf-loverrr @laysmt @musicalhistorical @souichi-sbitch @majestic-jazmin

☆

Perhaps I had exaggerated previously with Miguel. Maybe I should have told him differently, and I shouldn't have been so…blunt. There was something in my little head that told me I'd hurt him. That he was probably standing in the shower thinking about what I told him. It was a hard pill to swallow. Hearing someone suddenly tell you that you were all an invention, a drawing... And I probably shouldn't even have told him. I took a deep breath, even as I anxiously swung my leg, constantly moving it. Nervous tic, yes I know. I glanced at the clock: 10.47 am.

We just needed this! Miguel would have taken care of my house in my absence, right? Or maybe not… I could picture him sprawled out on the sofa in the living room, with a tub of Stracciatella ice cream from my freezer, and a blanket over his legs, sobbing at the hard truth as he watched “Gossip Girl.” Poor Miguel. He had already suffered, this was the cherry on top. Perhaps, on the way back, some pizzas would cheer him up. Did he like pizza?

For God's sake! This whole situation had led me to lose track of time, and this had meant that my commitments had been postponed until late in the morning!

«Oh, no… I have to go to the office too! I have to collect those cards, damn it!». I zig-zagged around the room, looking for the first clothes I found in front of me, and in fact my choice was very questionable, because I was wearing baggy trousers and a crumpled shirt. However, my hair looked no better than my clothes. Upon returning, a shower wouldn't have hurt. I began to rush downstairs and collect the last things, i.e. shoes and work backpack, but in my haste, I went back and climbed the stairs very quickly. Miguel would have been engulfed in a state of confusion, and he would have thought I had disappeared. Or maybe not. He's not stupid!

«Miguel» My fist pounded insistently on the door «I have things to do today, plus I'm mega late for work; so, you won't find me since…» I took a quick look at my watch. «Now on! I've got to go, make yourself at home» I didn't wait for an answer from Miguel, I didn't even know if he had heard me, but it didn't matter, because those papers on the desk wouldn't have filled in by themselves. I hurriedly put on my shoes and ran, hoping to make up for the time lost this morning. The air was humid and so warm; this wasn't what I was planning for today. Running wasn't the perfect choice too: I would have arrived all sweaty and tired.

══════⊹⊱≼≽⊰⊹══════

«Where did they go?». Miguel looked around bewildered, eyebrows arched down with an expression of pure confusion. Had they left him there without warning him? You without even saying goodbye? He clicked his tongue in disappointment and put on the gray shirt he was given. It fit a little tight, like the washer had shrunk the clothes after a wash, but this made him notice that it accentuated his six pack abs even more. He didn't make a fuss about it, after all it was all that person owned, and he would even have to thank them when he got back. Looking in the mirror a hand traced the outline of his jaw, going up to the left cheek. Miguel couldn't help but think that he seemed strange to be a fictional character. He had always felt real, like a real human being. It was difficult for him to think that it was a creation. All this was complicated for him. His thoughts drifted elsewhere and he began to think about how to fix his Gizmo. Lyla was not available in any way, precisely because his four-dimensional clock was out of order. He snorted in pure anger, then remembered that there was no point in getting angry, and that keeping calm was, of course, the best option; so he went down to the living room and took a look at the mess that surrounded the room.

«Dios mio, que pasò aquì?» Miguel exclaimed. His eyes weren't met with a pretty sight. There were cloths strewn everywhere, books and papers on the tables and floor, and even crockery that hadn't been washed. Miguel felt a sense of generosity overwhelm him, deciding that it wouldn't hurt if he tidied up the house. After all, he owed his host a debt. For him the day seemed to pass quite quickly (this was because he was busy with household chores), mopping the floor, dusting the furniture and sorting dirty clothes from clean ones, all to the musical accompaniment of Manuel Chao albums. It was 5 in the afternoon and he collapsed on the sofa, exhausted. He hadn't happened to do all these chores even at his house, but perhaps this was due to the order he maintained in his laboratory and apartment. Miguel hated dirt, so he hated mess. Now the house gave off a delicate clean scent and the man felt satisfied. But as soon as his back leaned against the back of the sofa, some keys turned in the lock of the main door and Miguel pricked up his ears: it was only the landlord who had left him in the morning, now with two pizza boxes in his hands and a plastic bag. «I'm back. Hey, what's that clean smell? I don't remember cleaning».

«That's because I cleaned».

«Oh».

«Yeah». Miguel took a breath and took the pizza boxes into his hands, depositing them on the kitchen island. They looked around and immediately realized that Miguel had cleaned their house while he was away. «Did you do everything yourself?» Miguel nodded and leaned his arms on the island. «But...why?».

«Because I had to repay. I am your guest now, consider me as a sorta of roommate. Ah, and because there was a mess everywhere».

They let out a laugh upon hearing that confession, shook their head and placed their hands on his hips. “I owe you one. Or maybe more».

«More than one» Miguel pointed out.

«Okay, O'Hara. I'll go wash my hands and then we'll eat this good pizza, yes?».

«Que chingados me ocurrió…».

He had to admit it, Miguel had never felt so welcome that this felt strange. His family had mistreated him so many times during his life that a proposition as trivial as simple as eating pizza with a person he had met that very morning seemed unreal. He'd felt strange and confused, but part of him couldn't take it. He wanted to make things better. He really wanted to help this time and be friendly. Even if that would take a long, long time, according to him. He nodded a second time, seeing his host walk away towards the bathroom. He breathed in and out, and ran a hand through his hair.

[nicistrying]

Thurs 1st August

2.39am and I am wide awake bc my mother in law is being a total nightmare. She's been mostly great all through wedding planning, they are doing us a huge favour by looking after Maggie so we didn't have to put her in kennels. But now they've suddenly decided they really wanted to stay at the hotel, which we said 8 months ago when we asked them to have Maggie that we didn't want her staying there, bc she would be stuck in the room all day, and if a cleaner went in she would be territorial of the room so she'd probably have to be muzzled, and we would be so stressed about making sure people were going to check on her etc. They said this was all fine, they were planning to go home on the night anyway, no problem. But now because there are empty rooms they are having a fit that they can't stay. I get that that's frustrating but we would be so uncomfortable with Maggie being in a hotel full of 60+ people, she'd be so so stressed and it would not be fair to her.

So his mam has then been telling us we shouldn't be paying for empty rooms, but it was in the contract we signed 18 months ago that any empty rooms still need paid for because they're all booked out for our guests, which is fair and from what I can tell is standard for any wedding venue so we would be in the same situation literally wherever we had the wedding. We've explained that to her several times over the past few months and she would not take no for an answer bc she's used to kicking up such a fuss that people just give in to her.

So she had been having this discussion AGAIN with Matt yesterday, and she said she was 'going for a walk near there anyway so she would pop in to talk about it' and he told her not to, because there is nothing to discuss, everything is under control and nothing needs changed. The venue then emailed us saying she had been in wanting to discuss the rooms and thank god the wedding coordinators weren't there to discuss with her. So they emailed us saying rooms can be made up at the last minute if anyone else decides to stay etc as I think they assumed that was maybe what she wanted. Matt sent her their email and said Idk what you wanted to discuss but there's the reply, and she replied 'they said the wedding coordinator would call me and I told them not to tell you!'

Obviously Matt's reply was of course they told us, it is actually our wedding. Then she starts saying how upset she is that she's being left out of the wedding and feels like she doesn't know what's going on. But we've TOLD HER every single update, we talk wedding planning every time we see her, I've offered to take her dress shopping multiple times and she didn't want to go with me, I asked her to send photos of her mam for a memory table and she just never did, we asked her to make our cake, she is a witness to our marriage and will be on the fucking certificate. What else did she want?! She's been just as involved as, if not more than, anyone else. We said from the very start we wanted to do it all ourselves and that's what we've done but we've kept them in the loop the whole time. I genuinely don't know what else we ahould have done. I'm at my fucking wit's end with her I am so stressed and it's literally all because of his family being dicks. My face is breaking out, stress eczema is coming out, I can't eat or sleep. I had a bag of crisps and 4 squares of chocolate for dinner then went to bed and lay awake. His one brother and his wife who we get on really well with have been so supportive bc they've already been through this. Like we were so worried about my family behaving themselves but they're all actually being really chill about everything. We really didn't think his would be such a nightmare

But on the bright side, my sister in law (the one married to the nice brother) helped me make these lovely glasses for everyone having hair and makeup done and it took us 4 hours and we just ranted about this stupid fucking family the whole time and it was v v cathartic

[thecoolerliauditore]

i don't get all the fuss about CCs reading fanfic. if you didn't want people to see it then why would you put it publicly online. like aren't you taught that if you don't want something to be seen you shouldn't put it on the internet?

i don't understand the people mad at tommyinnit for reading fanfic. like you have this space where you talk about this real person but *he's* not allowed to read it? wtf

anon this is so angrily worded are you okay lmao

i'm not really huge on fic writing myself (dabbled in it here and there but i have friends who are writers) and i care negative percent about the dee ess em pee side of things so I'm not really The Person to ask but I'll try my best to explain 👍

CCs reading fanfic is fine. They're allowed to lurk as much as everyone else is.

CCs reading fanfic in videos is exposing fic writers to their wider audience and mcyt fans have a history of harassing fandom creators into online nonexistence for any reason under the sun while simultaneously the CC themselves actively makes money off of the fic writer's work.

I ramble a bit more and it got kinda long but that's the main point. (more stuff under the cut)

Fics are "about" the cc, yes but they are often not made for the cc but rather for the writer and maybe a close group of friends. That means they're often a combination of the writer's love for the source material and a sprinkling of their own interests/experiences. This can go anywhere from smashing two interests together in crossover AUs to deeply personal stuff like using gay ships to explore their own experience as a queer person.

Straight CCs are Not Going To Understand the latter in the way that writer and their gay friends are going to enjoy it. They can read it but they're never gonna be able to look at it the way their fans will.

That's one of the more forward examples but this applies to everything. You will never have that degree of separation from the source material to be able to enjoy fic the way fans do, you're simply not the target audience.

What's more is (not talking about the thomas innit guy or whatever i genuinely don't know who he is lol) these reading fanfic videos tend to have more of an unfortunate.. point and laugh aspect to them? A lot of the time it's presented in this LOOK AT HOW WEIRD THIS THING IS! way that can be humiliating for the author and incite even more harassment because the audience gets introduced to the author not as a person but as entertainment. You can see how this is a bad combination when you consider the previous point about a lot of fanfic being personal, I hope. It all can feel just a bit exploitative.

It does Not take a lot for a CC to open the floodgates on harassment. Just earlier this year another youtuber followed one of his fan artists and that eventually lead to that artist being full-on doxxed. Regardless of anyone's opinions on that situation, whether the youtuber is to blame, etc. etc. it's a pretty blatant example of how CCs even just interacting with fan creators on social media can lead to people being unhinged if they don't like their work. Now imagine making a Whole Video.

and don't say "oh just don't write weird stuff you don't want them seeing" because:

a space where writers are afraid to share their more intimate experiences with taboo subjects like mental health, queerness, abuse, and so on is Not Healthy artistically. Less communication about these topics = less people finding others who are like them = more people feeling alone in the world. I don't want that just in a fandom because a youtuber (who is not forced to look at fic) doesn't want their cubito to kiss certain people.

people. will. find. things. weird. anyway. i've seen twitter call the most mundane, wholesome, coffee shop au fics PROBLEMATIC for daring to ship two characters who have a four or five year age gap. I've seen literally almost every ship you can think of get called incestuous at some point or another because Someone On Twitter said they have "sibling energy" and all of a sudden it's incest and the writer should Die I guess.

"weird stuff" is really hard to define in the first place.

CCs are not authority and we don't have to listen to or cater to them. Fic is never going to directly affect them.

this isn't even getting into character/cc divide and how it's different for everyone and a lot people don't like "writing about real people" so on so forth.

This is only tangentially related but there's this.. odd thing i've noticed where fic writers aren't "respected" in the way artists are in fandoms? I've noticed people are often "scared" to talk to artists and react to things like animatics with more awe than anything else ("this has no right to be as good as it is!") whereas with fanfics it's more like. WE'RE READING FANFIC?!?! 😳😳 (I GET MARRIED TO WHO?!?!?)

There's something to be said about how a skill gap in visual art is more immediately noticeable to your average person than in writing but anyway. anyway.

[didtective-story]

Part 12

So... What this all was about? - asked Sam when Alex visited him another time. They obviously still talked a bit through the phone but he wanted to see her saying that. He trusted her but more precaution in case of her trying to lie to protect him was needed as he saw that fake smile upon entering with Candy few days ago.

... What do you mean? - Alex tried to pretend she doesn't know what he's talking about.

Sam only rolled his eyes.

I'm talking about Candy. What is going on? Did you two had a fight?

Not exactly...

Detective sighed. Getting something out of Alex will be hard but he has to know. It was making him uneasy and overthinking constantly.

Fine! - Alex couldn't look at Sam being so uncomfortable. She hated lying to him - Candy had a crush on you and was jealous...

Candy what now? - Sam interrupted her.

Did he seriously didn't see the obvious signs? Sure Alex didn't have to as Candy didn't have a crush on HER but now as she analised her friend's behavior she was all over Sam whenever she could. He realised now that he winked to her recently with a different intention that she probably read into. That she was standing in front of the door everyday not due to excitment about the work but to see him and not in a friendly way that is. She was knocking to check on him because she tried to grab his attention and he only nodded and smiled. She was blushing for the compliments as she was probably taking it as an interest. How dumb could he be? He was always so insecure that he never thought someone could be crushing on him without his obvious effort or being a pity party.

Alex looked at him not saying a word and everything inside of her started to squeeze like she was shrinking. So he feels like Candy is a missed opportunity? Maybe he will try to get her back? What if he will think she ruined that for him by being around? Candy was taller, maybe much fatter but definitely had a prettier face and wasn't some... cleaner! She would love to tell Sam about the "you can have him" situation but that would hurt him. She no longer was satisfied with the win. She only felt more insecure and an obstacle. The worse option. The bearer of good and bad news at the same time. She should say "has a crush". Not "had".

So she's no longer interested? - Sam slowly asked interrupting her chain of thoughts.

... No - she responded too harshly. Who was she mad at? Candy? Sam? Herself? Will he ask now what did she do to her? Come on!

Thanks God... - Sam fell on a pillow behind him like a deflated balloon.

Wait what? - Alex couldn't believe his words.

I never had to tell someone I'm not interested. You have no idea how hard would that be for me - Sam explained like it was the most obvious thing.

... Would you though? - she couldn't stop herself from asking that question. She imagined him leaving her for Candy. Leaving? Pfft. They weren't even dating! But wait... That would mean he would also have to say "no" to her. Would he also do it?

Sam observed how Alex's face is changing like some sort of a chameleon. He almost laughed. Candy wasn't the only one jealous and that kind of made him happy. He didn't know what Alex exactly thought but felt that she's was worrying she would be replaced. She was even visibly angry thinking she might be an option. A worse one to that. Sam on her place would immediately leave letting someone else take his place but she was sitting here fussing all over not even wanting to meet his eye.

Alex... - he tried to get back her attention.

She reluctantly looked at him and noticed he's smiling. Was he laughing at her?!

What?!

I would try to be with her... if you weren't interested because I would give up on love then - he chuckled a little. He shouldn't say that probably as it came out manipulative. Now she will worry he is going to end up in a toxic relationship if she won't want him. It wasn't her responsibility. He wanted to explain but she spoke up first:

Well I'm glad that I got there first before her but you could shoot your shot Sam. I was crushing on you for weeks!

She was? Then he must've been blinder than he thought. Sure he was a great detective but never when it came to himself. Barely ever saw through manipulation that his ex fed him. He would have to believe in himself to try something with Alex not to mention see that she's into him. He wanted to say sorry but she stopped him:

Don't apologise to me.

Are... are you mad?

Mad? No... - she was a bit but no longer - I'm just worried, Sam. You can't have such low standards just to feel bare minimum I wouldn't even call love.

Was she talking about herself? Maybe she wasn't enough... How could he reprimend him not even seeing her own worth. They looked at each other understanding without words and started to laugh.

Yeah. Sure, Alex... - Sam mocked her.

Well at least I broke up few times. I know how to set boundaries and cut people off - she didn't try to show off. She was telling him she can take care of herself if things went south in a relationship.

But all Sam thought was when she is going to do this towards him...

Alex noticed his sad face.

Sam... I can't promise I will be with you forever. Not yet at least. We don't know each other well enough. But I can promise to try.

I'm glad you know when to tell me to fuck off - he said almost crying. He didn't want to cry. Did it sound sarcastically? Did he hurt her? He didn't meant to... They weren't even together and he was already feeling pain of her being gone. Nobody ever treated him so well before. He could beg her on his knees to stay but also knew he never should do that if she decided she deserves better. He tried to smile but couldn't. Swallowed hard. How manipulative he looked now? Playing a victim. He wanted to punish himself for that. Feeling like he is digging his grave. Showing how awful he can be. So clingy! He was disgusted with himself. Started to dissociate and stopped hearing what she was trying to say. He only repeated in his mind that she is not his and maybe never will be and even if... she will leave. He needs to accept that. Everything's so uncertain.

Sam? Sam... - she tried to snap him out of his state considering waving her hand in front of his face but it could trigger him. Maybe try to front someone else? Maybe she should leave him alone to rest? What if he won't notice that she's gone and will be sad wondering why? She sat there waiting.

Alex? - finally she heard his voice. Well... she wasn't sure who's voice it is this time. Maybe they were blurry.

Yes?

Will you be my girlfriend?

So sudden. How idiotic was that? Probably sounded desperate. They didn't even go on a single date. They didn't kiss. They didn't...

I thought I already am - Alex half joked then added - Yes, Sam. I will.

[jinx-on-mars-19xx]

We'll Go On

🩸Previous Parts Here🩸

Dom x Colson (Yungblud x Machine Gun Kelly)

Warnings: ABO dynamics (knots, slick, heats, mpreg), alpha serial killer/hitman Dom, omega mob boss Kells, threats, cursing, weapons, Kells being a bad ass boss bitch, Dom's darkness, Collette being sneaky, backstabbing, Megan escaping, past abuse, angry boys, allusions to selling people as property, attempted SA of a minor (OC), biting, murder, fussing over messy deaths, taking in a child, hurt/comfort, teasing, enemies to lovers 💣 Rating: mature

All ideas helped by @iamnotanearthlingmotherfucker 🖤

Colson woke up and was happy to see it was still mostly dark outside. He could feel the morning coming but his underlings still had time to set shit right. He truly didn't want to go nuclear on anyone, not anymore. Dom's lap was still warm and comforting under him and he rolled slowly to his back. The Alpha was watching him sleepily, a gentle smile on his face. “Did you sleep at all?” He asked, rubbing his eyes and trying to stretch the kink in his spine. Some of his body felt like jello and he knew his mate had massaged what he could reach. Perfect bastard.

“Told ya I'd watch over yas.” Dominic shrugged like it was a normal thing to say and mean and didn't remind Col of the fact he used to stalk him. The sociopath had trouble sleeping on a good day and got maybe four hours most nights. Col couldn't be surprised the stress kept him up but it made him worry anyway. At least he knew he wouldn't be alone with middle of the night feeding times when their child came. “Mod came in and said Pete texted. ‘Ey still tracking down our people. Asked for more time but we said no. I fink tha’ gave ‘im the push he needed.” The boy grinned a little manically. It shouldn't affect Kells the way it did but it always made his pulse race and his pussy tingle. His lover was a predator and he would always feel protected.

“Good boy, exactly what I would have said. He best listen. We should still get ready. I want to be there for them.” As he started to elbow his way up Dom laid a hand on his stomach, when their eyes met again he had a disapproving look on his face. “Don't start.”

“Cols, ya not far off. Like Doc said, you could go into early labor. I'm worried about yas taken me babe into wha' could end up a bloody gun fight!”

“Fine. Take a gun too.” He knew it wasn't the answer but he was getting annoyed because he damn well knew Dom was right. “I'm the fucking boss here, if I don't go in it looks bad. It all already looks fucking bad! They're gonna realize I didn't okay this shit and that she's working against me. I need to deal with this.”

“Fine but you do it bloody carefully. If ya get shot I won't forgive yas.” It wasn't a fight the Alpha could win and even though he was on edge he always let his lover decide. Besides, he planned on staying in the shadows and making sure no one could get to Colson first.

It didn't take them long to get dressed and ready and thankfully Pete texted with an address before dawn. As they were heading out Collette caught them at the last moment to explain that she knew the men who were keeping their people. They were friends of her spy. Kells tried not to ask where the hell she'd been or why hadn't she told them that sooner. He'd texted her hours before to ask but she seemed not to even have her phone turned on.

That soothed a little rage in the couple's veins but it shouldn't have taken so long to find out. On the drive over with the sun starting to shine, Col had a talk with Collette’s friend. It turned out that Megan had controlled the entire situation and she hadn't left his side all night. The man helping them out was terrified to blow his cover but when the female Alpha invited someone to look at their people he felt he had to text. The whole thing was getting wildly out of hand and they both knew it might devolve into a full blown fight.

“The thing is, she's still operating under your name.” The man whispered into the phone. “The buyers think that you're selling so maybe if you get here…” He trailed off before hanging up without warning. As Col stared down at his phone he hoped their spy wasn't in any danger. He didn't know what the bitch would do if she caught him.

“The fuck is she trying to do? What good is her trying to branch out if she still has to use my name? No one's gonna work with a traitor! Not anyone I know.” He ranted to the group in the back of the SUV. Dom of course had joined him, all his knives hidden along his body. Tom stayed behind with The Doc and Dorothy to set up an apartment as a makeshift hospital, but Mod and Collette rode with them.

He probably should have called more of his men but technically everyone at the place they were heading were supposed to be his. Street boys who sold for him and Collette’s friend’s hired guns. He knew it was a risk to confront Megan but he hoped it made a point. He needed to get his house in order before his child came. He didn't want to have to worry about their business while bonding at home. Especially if there was a chance anyone else might find out about what he was, he had to make a show of putting her in her place. People would keep being scared of him if he was terrifying. Right?

The warehouse they ended up at was so fucking cliché it turned Col's stomach. He was still surprised the bitch had come up with all this but he was starting to think she got it all out of some movie or book. It was too full of dumbass tropes and he hated those. Life was unpredictable at the best of times.

When they filed out of the vehicle Dominic kissed his cheek and gave him a small wave. The Alpha would disappear into the shadows and find his own way inside. Having a serial killer as backup made everything feel more secure but Colson was used to taking care of himself and his people. He checked his gun in its holster and fixed his hoodie over his stomach. He normally wore suits but he wanted to show the situation the disrespect it deserved. He wanted them all to know it didn't feel important enough to him to do much more than roll out of bed. He had control here and everything was perfectly calculated.

The guard at the door seemed surprised to see him and he recognized the guy as one of his sellers. They nodded at each other and he was let inside without problem. But of course he was, it was getting back out that might be hard. Tim greeted him near the entrance- the tattooed up man was more nervous than Kells had expected. They had only met in person a few times before but he trusted their spy because Travis had and his mother still did. Before Colson joined his family Tim had been his adoptive father's right hand man but after getting clean he retired. No one judged him for it and now the omega was thankful, it meant they had someone Megan had never met.

“I didn't know what the fuck to do. There's a guy inside meeting with her to buy everyone. I'm sorry I hung up on you but she almost caught me. I think I played it off alright. I told her I was just checking on the guards.” He shrugged and Colson nodded.

“You're a good man. You've helped more than enough. I'd say after this you can back off. I know mom is thankful but she shouldn't have asked you to do this shit.”

“I'd do anything for your family. Travis must be rolling over in his fucking grave with this girl's bullshit. The fucking disrespect.” Tim spit on the floor between them and Col tried not to make a face. The previous generation was fucking weird sometimes.

“If you walk in with me she'll know, you should wait outside or you might end up on her shit list. I don't want you looking over your shoulder man.” He tried to let him go but the older man rolled his eyes.

“Fuck that. She pissed me off. She really doesn't know how we used to deal with backstabbers. Give me an hour and she'll find the fuck out.” The boss laughed at that but shook his head. This was his problem and he had to be the one to fix it.

Dominic snuck his way through a window and kept to the shadows. He wanted to pinpoint where everyone was in case any real fight broke out. He found his way onto an overhead catwalk that gave him access to the whole place and realized the building was something unfinished but separated by rooms of sorts with no real ceilings. Some areas looked like there was an attempt but it had been years since and the whole place was broken down. There was only one truly closed off room and that one made his senses itch. Something in his hind brain said that was where he was needed most but he couldn't act until he knew there was going to be a fight. If he struck first it gave the others a reason to war with his family. He couldn't do that. He wasn't a separate entity anymore, he was part of a whole.

When Colson reached the main room he tried to act nonchalant. He could make this easy enough by saying he came because he changed his mind on selling, it might piss the other group off but he hoped it wouldn't start a fucking war. Not many had the balls to step to him anyway but knowing Megan she found some who might. She was obviously surprised when she turned around to see him and he had to swallow his rage as he looked around. There were two of his own dealer's wielding guns on either side of the group of his omegas and they were all worse for wear. The buyer was one he knew, someone who went against him sometimes but always backed down. They'd never really fought and he hoped it didn't start now. Kells just always had more money to toss around.

“Daddy! I didn't expect you.” Megan purred but she glared at Tim. She knew she was caught but stepped back as Col stepped closer. He offered his hand to the other man and completely ignored her for now.

“Baker, I thought you weren't coming. I get why you're giving this batch up, a little broken if you ask me but I'm willing to take them off your hands for whatever you paid.” He couldn't even remember the asshole’s name but he felt rage at the disrespect to both him and his people. His trigger finger itched but he didn't pull his weapon. He really didn't want to have to.

He watched as Megan tried to back out slowly and he held up his hand when Mod moved to go after her. He couldn't let the other man know she'd acted without his say or the whole thing could explode in his face. “I'm sorry but you were misinformed. I'm not selling them just yet. How about I give you first call when I decide? I'm thinking of keeping some for my clubs. I think Megan just misunderstood.” He tried to keep it easy and calm. Nothing needed to get out of hand. The man looked annoyed but he obviously knew not to fuck with him.

“I get how it is, my second has a mind of his own too. In fact I think he might be sampling the wares I'm afraid. You know how it is.” With that statement Col looked around and realized the only omega missing was the boy his mate recently saved. He couldn't be very old at all and probably scared out of his fucking mind. It made the man nauseous all over again.

Kells clenched his jaw to fight the bile in his throat but he hoped he could still keep the situation from blowing up. “Without paying? That's a virgin omega. I think you owe me for that disrespect.”

Dom could barely hear what was happening in the crowd from his vantage point but when he caught a scream from the only covered room he couldn't help his instincts kicking into gear. He was running down the catwalk and jumping to the ground floor before he could think twice. He tried to stay in the darkness as much as he could but when he kicked the door in he froze. On the concrete was a random beta bleeding out with the blonde boy he saved standing over him, a chunk of flesh between his teeth that he quickly spat out. “Nasty fuck. Taste as bad as ya look! I told ya not to touch me!” Oh, so the not so mute omega was British like him? How had he ended up here?

When he heard footsteps rumbling behind him Dom ran to hide down the hall and he waited to see how everything would play out. He hoped his mate wouldn't let this stand but he would do whatever was needed to keep his family safe.

Kells bit his lip not to grin when they reached the open door and he saw what had happened, there was blood everywhere and a half dead jerk on the concrete floor. The young blonde still looked like an angel even though he'd obviously inflicted the thigh wound. Smart kid, went for an artery.

“That's my second in command! I'm not paying you shit, the omega is obviously untouched and should be punished! Give him to me and two others and I'll call it even.”

It disgusted Colson that the dick could just look at his friend as a commodity. It was bad enough that he obviously thought omegas were. He knew people thought he and Dom were evil but he'd still rush Mod to the hospital and give a shit if the roles were reversed. After a moment he rolled his eyes and pulled out his gun, shooting the dying man in the head. When the buyer glared at him he turned the barrel on him. “His groaning was pissing me off. I'm not giving you shit in trade but maybe your life. If you walk out of here and never come against me again, I'll let you go but I'm tired of your bullshit and it's not even eight AM. You know you've always been beneath me and my dad before me. You can't demand shit and you still owe me for this fucking disrespect. Now, do you walk out of here or are you getting carried out in trash bags?”

The man swallowed hard and was obviously fighting his own rage. Col could see the wheels spinning behind his eyes as he thought over what would be best and if he could survive. Finally a thought seemed to strike him and he stepped against the barrel of the gun, grinning at Kells as if he'd won. “You lost control of your bitch didn't you? The prodigal son falls off his fucking throne. Can't even keep control of your-” Whatever he was going to say was cut off when a blade suddenly appeared in his eye. The bastard screamed and covered the wound, falling back against the wall. Colson arched a brow as his lover stepped out of the shadows and ripped his knife free. He couldn't help but cringe at the noise it made or the ones that followed as Dom slit his throat but at least the screaming stopped. It was giving him a migraine.

“I thought you were letting me decide.” He huffed to his mate and Dom gave him his patent pout and puppy eyes. It didn't exactly have the same result since he was cleaning his blades off on the dying man's coat but he had to concede the Alpha was still pretty damn cute.

“He were pissing me off.” The boy said simply. “I know you and he weren't leaving after tha’. You should probably send some men to make sure he don't got any outside.”

Colson agreed and flicked his hand and Mod left to gather their dealers and check the grounds. Collette and Tim made their way back to the omega's but the couple stayed. “Even still that was my fucking shot.”

“Gunshots ‘ave to be bad for the baby.” The look on Dom's face made the omega laugh, he wasn't sure what his lover expected him to do but he couldn't stop using guns.

“Are you gonna kill me next?” A soft voice sounded behind them and they both turned to see the young omega sitting in the corner of the room, holding himself tight. It broke something inside the boss to see him so scared. This is what he wanted to save them all from.

“Of course not kiddo.” He vowed, holstering his weapon before he approached the boy slowly, Dom staying back for fear of his scent scaring the child more. “You did good. We're proud of you. No one's gonna hurt you again.”

Bright green eyes like spring grass searched his and he knew it was hard to believe. Travis had promised him the same years before and he meant it as much as his adoptive dad had. “He tried to touch me. First my dad wanted to sell me and then she- she said you wanted to too! You want to sell me to someone like tha’!”

“I swear I don't. Megan stole you from me and tried to sell you but if you want you can come home with us. We'll keep you close and no one will hurt you again.” He tried to soothe again. It made anger boil in his veins that the bitch set back whatever healing the kid had started. He just hoped they could regain his trust. “My names Colson and this is my mate Dom. I promise you we will keep you safe. You wanna hear a secret?” He asked as he crouched in front of the boy. When those green eyes filled with tears his heart broke but the kid nodded. Col slid up the bottom of his hoodie and winked. “I'm just like you. I'm an omega but I run my family. I can help you be a badass too if you want. Looks like you already have a head start.”

“You're a mum and- and they all listen to you?” The boy sniffled and Dom spoke up from behind Colson.

“Even me. Keeps me on a leash and everyfing. He'll take care of yas. We boff will.”

“I didn't ask about ya bedroom play, ya freaks.” The boy huffed teasingly, wiping his cheeks. “I’m Blain. Landon Blain Sebastian, but… Blain. Dad picked the first and last but my mum… she liked Blain.”

“So do I. How old are you?” Kells asked, pulling his hoodie back down. He needed to sit but there was blood on the floor and he refused to mess up his clothes.

“Fifteen. I know, I look young. I can kick some arse though.” They both questioned the truth in his words but it made sense. The Alpha knew the kid had presented because he said so in his email when he asked for the hit on his father. He should be at least thirteen but for fifteen he was quite small. No wonder he'd been picked out of all of the group by the now dead asshole.

“Obviously.” Dom hummed, stepping around to crouch beside them and it seemed to put Blain more at ease. After all, he was the one who saved him originally, Alpha or not. “‘Ere. Keep ‘is to protect ya'self. Jus’ don't mess wiv me mate or baby.” He pulled a clean butterfly knife from the bag on his hip and passed it to him. It wasn't the one Kells first gave him but a newer one he'd bought after realizing he liked them. The teen took it carefully and squeezed it tight in his hand. Thankfully that seemed to help him relax.

“You wanna get out of here? The Doc is at our place. We can have you looked over and get you something to eat. Find you a bed.” The omega offered.

“And I can… I can stay wiv you?” His voice was soft and small and they both nodded. They weren't thinking it through very well but it didn't matter. The boy reminded them both of their younger selves and if he felt safe with them he could be one of Col’s strays. After a moment the kid launched himself between them, hugging them together tight. “Ain't fucking neither of yas.”

“We satisfy each other just fine. I swear when I say you're safe with us I mean it.” Kells fixed his joke because he knew Blain might be genuinely scared of that. He just wanted the boy feeling safe to be a kid. It was something neither of them ever got but he could make sure it didn't happen to others. “Let's go, I need to piss and figure out what to do about Megan.” He grumbled as the boy backed up and jumped to his feet while the boss had to let his mate help him stand.

“If I get a vote? I fink you should kill her.” The teen offered from the door before stepping over the other body they left.

The couple shared a look and Dom wondered if perhaps they didn't have a young sociopath on their hands. He knew he could help guide the broken boy but he hoped Blain let himself be young while he could. He couldn't disagree with him though. “Don't fucking say it. We'll talk about it later. Home. Shower. Massage?” Col asked and the Alpha nodded. When he finally looked down at himself to straighten his clothes before they were seen by their underlings he cursed. “Shit! You got blood on my fucking hoodie! Look at what you did! Do you know how expensive this was?” He knew his bitch was mouthing the question with him to the child and making fun but he had a right to be annoyed. At least with guns you could get distance and not be messy.

“Is he always like tha’?” Blain asked of the Alpha and Colson found himself laughing at the kid's audacity.

“Jus’ wait, he'll start dressing you too and complain when you get a stain. We all his dolls.” Dom replied teasingly and they both looked to the older man.

“He knows babies make a mess right?”

“Aye. He says he knows. We'll see.”

“I guess I get it. If I got to dress like I want I'd be pissed if anyone ruined it.”

“Yeah? I can take you shopping.” Colson offered, he was starting to think it might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Even though he was losing a member of his group he might be gaining new family.

Author's Note/Tags: @iamnotanearthlingmotherfucker @hollywoodxwhore @jaxbreaker @fenoy7 @cole-way-iero28 if anyone wants tagged let me know 🖤

I know, two chapters and no smut- insane! Don't worry, it's coming back with a vengeance next chapter! 😉 Just needed a little more plot first and I hope you like the new character. Blain is a very old OC of mine that I made about 20 years ago. He's just a little reworked for this. I adore him and I hope you will too. I hope you're still enjoying it but seriously guys, next chapter is filthy- be prepared! 🩸💣����