#might just log off for a while or just only come on to chat to friends. i just. i can't do this this is making me feel insane-insane

[nina-ya]

Digital Temptations

Synopsis: You and Zoro are roommates with opposite schedules. You spend your alone time in the apartment streaming on a camgirl site to make some extra cash. One day Zoro finds out about your little secret and can't help but indulge. CW: AFAB reader, use of sex toys, masturbation (reader and Zoro), fingering, oral (male receiving), orgasm denial, unprotected sex, creampie i think I covered it all let me know if i missed anything! WC: 5.6k Tagging: @tetzoro @eelnoise @sleepymarimo @faglegsanji and thank you @uminozerol and @nc-vb for helping me beta this!!

Living with Zoro was a perfect arrangement, mostly because you and him had nearly completely opposite schedules. You worked in the evening, your job only allowing you to take shifts in the evening, while Zoro was a teacher at a martial arts academy during the day. This setup meant that the apartment was empty and quiet most of the time, and both of you had the time and space to do whatever you guys wanted. 

You often crossed paths, though. Sometimes he would come home early and you two would eat dinner together before you headed off for work, or if either of you had some down time, you might lounge on the couch together watching movies and just enjoying each other's company. These fleeting moments were cherished, each filled with easy conversation. You knew each other very well despite not spending a lot of time together. 

During the day, while Zoro was out instructing at the dojo, you found your own way of earning some extra cash. As a camgirl, you had developed a following online. The time alone in the apartment was perfect for you to stream without any interruptions. 

You had a routine: Zoro would leave for work, and you would transform into your online personality– something only the viewers behind the screen got to see.

As soon as Zoro was out the door, you would set up your space. You’d pull out your camera and lights, setting them up to capture every angle of your body perfectly. You’d lay out your favorite lingerie, picking the ones that had your viewers tossing their money at you. Today, you chose a sheer black lace set that left little to the imagination. 

After changing, you’d apply your makeup, much more dramatic than you would ever wear out in public since the harsh lighting washed you out. You’d do your hair in the chosen hairstyle of the day, finalizing your look for your viewers. 

Your laptop, propped on the edge of your bed, was already open and waiting. You’d log onto your account, checking your messages and comments left on your last stream. There were always requests, some more explicit with others. You were more than happy to oblige, especially when the requests were paired with the promise of payment.

Once everything was ready, you’d start the stream and watch as the viewer count began to climb. The chat would explode with greetings and compliments, your regulars eagerly awaiting the show. You would always start with some teasing, running your hands over your body, adjusting and playing with the lingerie to give them some glimpses of the skin underneath. As the show progressed, you would spread your legs for the camera, letting them see everything as you slid the vibrator inside of you. You’d often fulfill specific requests. One regular loved watching you bounced on a dildo in nothing but thigh high socks. Another preferred when you brought out the restraints, binding your wrists and pretending to struggle as you performed various acts. You’d oblige in them all, watching as dollar after dollar came through just for you.

To Zoro, you were nothing but his roommate who worked late nights. Little did he know, while he was teaching martial arts, you were on your bed, legs spread wide, putting on a show for hundreds of strangers. 

Zoro had his own way of unwinding after a long day at the dojo. He loved teaching martial arts to the students, but he needed to release his tension. While you were out in his evening classes, Zoro found his relief in the corners of the internet. Camgirl sites have become a guilty pleasure of his; a way to indulge in fantasies and relieve stress.

He had his favorites– girls who knew how to work the camera, who could tease and please in ways that left him breathless. One evening, he grew tired of the same routine. The live streams felt repetitive, and he found himself scrolling through the archives of past streams, hoping to find something different.

That's when he saw it. A thumbnail that caught his eye. The person in the image looked familiar. Too familiar. He clicked on the video, a sinking feeling in his gut as he let his curiosity get the best of him. The video loaded, and there you were, staring back at him from the screen, dressed in an outfit that allowed him to see way more of you than he ever has. 

For a moment, Zoro froze,conflicted. Should he be watching this? Was it wrong to invade your privacy like this? But his curiosity got the better of him. He didn’t watch the video at first, closing the browser and trying to push the image out of his mind. But as the days went on, he could not stop thinking about it. He could not make eye contact with you around the apartment without flashbacks to the few seconds of the video that he saw, knowing that he accidentally discovered your secret.

He eventually gave in. He found himself back on the website, clicking on the video again, his heart beating hard in his chest. He watched as you teased the audience, your hands running over your body, the chat exploding with comments. It was so surreal seeing you like this. This version of you is so much different from the person he knew. 

The more he watched, the more aroused he felt. He couldn’t help it. His hands moved to the waistband of his pants, fingers slipping inside to grasp his growing erection. He freed himself, his cock already hard from the sight of you on the screen. His strokes started slow, matching the pace of your movements, his breath catching in his throat as he watched you slide the vibrator over your most sensitive spots. 

Zoro’s hand moved faster as you spread your legs for the camera, the sight of you pleasuring yourself driving him mad. He imagined what it would be like to be there with you, to touch you, to feel what it’s like to be inside of you. His strokes grew more urgent, grip tightening around his shaft. 

He then watched as you pulled out a dildo, sliding the toy inside of you, watching as your face contorted with pleasure, and listening to each and every one of those pretty moans of yours. His hand pumped faster, his hips bucking into his fist. His gaze was locked onto the screen as you brought yourself to your orgasm, watching as your body shook as you clenched around the toy--the faces you made, the sounds you produced, the way you looked; it was all music to his ears. The sight of you so lost in ecstasy pushed him over the edge and a low groan escaped his lips as he came, his cum spilling over his hand. He continued to stroke himself, milking every last drop, his eyes never leaving the screen. He was left trembling, his chest heaving with each breath. 

He closed the video, feeling a mix of guilt and satisfaction. Watching you had awakened something in him, something he couldn’t ignore. He knew how wrong this was, but he couldn’t help himself. You were his roomate, his friend, but now you are the star of his fantasies.

Zoro couldn’t get you out of his head. It’s as if a switch had been flipped inside of him, one that he could not turn off no matter how hard he tried. Each day after that first video, he found himself sneaking back to a site, searching for more of your past streams. It became a nightly ritual: you would leave for your evening classes, and Zoro would settle into his room, laptop open, itching to find the next video of you. 

The guilt gnawed at him, but the pleasure he derived from watching you overpowered it. Each and every video was a deeper dive into you. He watched as you used different toys, different positions, each one driving him crazier than the last. He studied every detail of your body, memorized the sounds you made, the ways your body would react to certain stimulations. 

It wasn’t long before he built a habit. Every evening, without fail, he would find himself with his hand wrapped around his cock, gaze glued to the screen as you performed. He’d fuck his fist to the sight of you every night, and each orgasm was even more intense than the last. 

The guilt became harder to bear in person. During those rare moments when your schedules overlapped, Zoro found it difficult to look you in the eyes. He couldn’t shake the image of you on screen, the sounds of your pleasure bouncing in his mind. When you would sit across from him at dinner, chatting about your day, he would nod along, but his mind would drift back to the videos, to the things he had seen you do.

He began to watch you more closely around the apartment, stealing glances when he thought you weren’t looking. When you’d bend over to grab something from the fridge, his eyes would trail down to your ass, imagining lifting your skirt and taking you right there. If you were doing laundry, he found himself fantasizing about bending you over the washing machine, your moans and cries muffled by the sound of the spin cycle. Even mundane tasks like washing dishes became erotic in his mind; he’d imagine coming up behind you, pressing himself against you as he tore your clothes off. 

The fantasies were constant, and he couldn’t escape them. Each time he looked at you, the scenes that played out in his mind were vivid and intense. He was drowning in his desire for you.

As fate would have it, one afternoon, Zoro came home quite early from work, an unexpected event that gave him the afternoon free. You were surprised to see him walk through the door, but you both fell into your usual comradery, sharing lunch together and chatting. The tension that had been building in his mind was ever so present, but he had to push it aside in your company. 

As the afternoon wore on, you glanced at the clock and realized you needed to start your stream soon. The realization that Zoro would be home while you streamed had anxiety bubbling up within you. But you couldn’t cancel, your viewers had come to expect your regular appearances, and you didn’t want to disappoint them. You scurried off to your room and quickly put yourself together.

A sense of nervousness filled your gut as you set up the streaming equipment. The thought of Zoro being able to possibly hear you made your mind race a million thoughts a minute, but you just had to stick to your schedule. 

You flicked the ring light on, and then turned on the camera. You took a deep breath, trying to calm your heart. You greeted your viewers with the usual smile. 

“Hey everyone. Ready for another fun night?” you whispered.

The usual routine started, slowly undressing and teasing yourself. Nothing much has changed other than your lack of vocalizing. Any moans that escaped your lips were soft, barely able to be picked up by the microphone, and you often bit your lip to prevent any other noises from escaping. As you slid a dildo inside of you, your breath hitched, and you almost whined out, but stopped when you remembered that Zoro could be listening.

A comment popped up on the screen: “why are you so quiet tonight?”

You stared at the comment, and your eyes then flickered at the wall that separated you from Zoro’s room. “My roommate is home tonight,” you muttered. “I have to be quiet.”

Another comment: “Does he know what you do?” 

You shook your head, softly laughing. “No, he has no idea,” you whispered.

As you continued to fuck yourself with the dildo, you couldn’t help but let out a soft whimper. The toy felt so good inside of you, but you just had to keep it down. You moved slowly, savoring every inch, every ridge, every vein as it slid in and out of you, your eyes fluttering shut as you concentrated on keeping your voice low.

“I bet your roommate would love to see this,” another viewer commented. You almost paused your movements, caught off guard by the thought of Zoro watching you like this, but you played into the idea, since other viewers seemed to be goading you on to talk about your roommate more.

Unbeknownst to you, Zoro was on the other side of the wall doing just that: watching you. He had the live stream opened on his laptop, headphones in his ears, as he watched you. He was rock hard, eyes blown with arousal, watching you as you fuck yourself, the knowledge that you were on the other side of the wall driving him mad.

He couldn’t help but palm himself through his pants, breath catching in his throat as he watched you. His thoughts were interrupted by your next words.

“You know, my roommate, he’s quite the built man,” you started. “He’s probably bigger than this old piece of silicone.” He watched as you moved the dildo deeper, the stretch making you gasp softly. Your hips bucked against it, and you had to bite your lip even harder to keep quiet. “He’d probably fuck me like this,” you nearly moaned out to the audience, your eyes half-lidded with lust. “Slow at first, then much, much harder… until I can’t help but cum all over his cock.”

With his free hand, Zoro couldn’t help but give in and start typing out “Tell us more about this roommate of yours.”

Your eyes scanned over the comment, “He’s strong,” you whispered, sliding the dildo in deeper. “I bet he’d pin me down and fuck me hard, just like this,” you emphasized your words by diving the dildo rougher into your cunt, using your free hand to cover your mouth to muffle any moans that escaped.

This sent Zoro’s hands flying to unbutton his pants. He freed himself, his hand wrapping around his throbbing cock as he watched you. The thought of you imagining him while fucking yourself was almost too much, and he stroked himself in time with your movements, his gaze never tearing from the screen. 

“He’d probably take control,” you continued, your voice in a trembling whisper. “He wouldn’t hold back, would make sure I feel every inch of him. I bet he’d love to watch me fall apart, love seeing how desperate I would get for him.”

Zoros hand moved faster along his length, the sight of you fucking yourself while fantasizing about him was making his head spin. His fingers flew over the keyboard again, typing out “bet you would look good wearing nothing but his red and white striped button up.”

Your eyes glanced over the comment, and you breathlessly laughed, “Yeah, maybe I should wear that striped…” your movements slowed down, and your breathing slowed down as a look of confusion crossed your face. Then, with no warning, you pulled the dildo out of you and launched over to your computer to stop the stream. 

Fuck.

You had realized that the commenter in question was Zoro. That comment about the striped shirt was too specific. Who else in the world would know that information but him?. You grabbed a large t-shirt and tossed it over your head, barely covering yourself as you stormed out of your room and down the hall to his.

You barged into Zoro’s room without knocking, catching him frantically trying to adjust his pants. His laptop was still open, the streaming website on full display. 

“Zoro!” you exclaimed, your voice a mix of anger and embarrassment. 

He looked at you, eyes wide with panic. “I- uh…” he trailed off, unable to find any words that could save him.

“You were watching me!” you accused, your chest heaving with emotions. “How long have you been watching?”

Zoro’s mouth opened and closed, his usual composure having shattered. “I found one of your old streams on the website, and, well…” he trailed off again, face flushed with embarrassment.

“You’ve been getting off to me,” you said, more a statement than a question. “This whole time.”

Zoro swallowed hard, nodding slightly, eyes darting to the ground. “Yeah…”

You couldn’t deny all of the times that you had fantasized about him, either. He was your muse, and the thought of him fucking you was what got you off every stream. Being faced with your fantasy, knowing that he also had the same fantasy, you didn’t know how to go on. You couldn’t pick whether to be angry at him or to pounce on him. The arousal eventually won. 

“I don’t know, I... I just couldn’t help myself,” Zoro stammered out.

“But you just couldn’t resist getting off to your roommate,” you stated. Zoro’s gaze met yours, slight confusion evident as he realized how calm you were about this.

You took a step forward, and with your voice lowered, “You couldn’t resist getting off to me.” 

Zoro was silent, watching as you stepped forward, stopping in front of him and locking eyes. Silence stretched between the two of you as you thought of what to say. Then, your mouth opened; you took in a breath,  hesitating before asking, “So… which part did you like best?”

This question caught him off guard. He looked at you with slight shock and he stammered, trying to figure out how to respond. “The… the part where you talked about me.” he finally stated. 

Despite all of the shock, all of the anger, you could not deny the arousal simmering beneath the surface. “Well, let’s take a few steps back before we reach that part,” you said as you played with the hem of the shirt.

His gaze followed your movements, watching as your fingers played with the fabric. He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. “What do you mean?” he asked, his tone a mixture of arousal and confusion.

“You’ve been watching me,” you said, taking another step closer to him, your voice lowering to a sultry whisper. “Now, it’s your turn to show me.

The combination of the tone of your voice and your words caused a flush to spread across Zoro’s cheeks. “Show you… what?” he asked, though he had a pretty good idea of what you meant.

You took his hand and guided it to the bottom of your t-shirt, encouraging him to lift it up. “Show me what you’ve been doing while watching me,” you murmered.

His hands trembled slightly as he raised the material, exposing your bare skin underneath. He let out a shaky breath,his eyes swirling with desire as they raked across your body. “You want me to…?”  You cut him off with a nod. 

“Yes,” you whispered, leaning back to sit on the bed. “I want to see you.”

His eyes darkened as his hands flew to unbutton his pants once more. He hesitated for a moment, his gaze meeting yours, in search of any sign of hesitation or uncertainty from you. But all he saw was the same arousal and yaerning that mirrored his own.

With a deep breath, he dropped his pants down to his ankles, freeing his throbbing erection. You couldn’t help but gasp softly at the sight, your eyes widening in appreciation of him. “Zoro…” you breathed out, reaching to touch him. 

He shuddered at the contact, his hips bucking involuntarily into your hand. “I want to see you touch yourself,” you told him, your voice laced with anticipation. “Just like you did when you were watching me.” You shifted to lay back on the bed, bare body on display for him to gawk at.

Zoro’s breath hitched as he wrapped his hand around his cock, his strokes slow at first. His eyes never left your body. “Like this?” he asked, his voice low.

You nodded, your own arousal growing by the second. “Yes. Just like that”

His strokes grew faster, breath coming out in ragged gasps as he looked at you. The sight of him pleasuring himself, knowing that he had been doing this while watching you, was almost too much to bear. Your own hand moved to your dripping core, your fingers dipping into your wetness as you plunged them in and out, mirroring his own movements.

“Fuck,” Zoro groaned, his eyes glazing over with lust as he watched you. “You’re so fucking hot.” 

You couldn’t help but moan at his words, your fingers working faster as you moved to rub your clit. “Zoro,” you whimpered, the sound of his name on your lips almost sending him over the edge.

Suddenly, he reached out and hoisted you up, pulling you against him, his lips capturing yours in a heated kiss. The feeling of his body against yours, his cock pressing against your thigh, it was intoxicating. You kissed him back with equal energy, your hands quickly moving to take off his shirt. 

Zoro’s shirt hit the floor with a soft thud, and your hands immediately started roaming over his chest and abs, feeling the heat of his skin under your fingers. His mouth trailed from your lips to your neck, planting hot, opened-mouthed kisses along your throat.

You slid down his body, hands tracing trailing along his abdomen until you were on your knees before him. Your eyes locked with his as you wrapped your hand around his cock, giving a few, slow strokes. His breath caught in his throat and he let out a low groan as he watched you.

You leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on the tip before taking him into your mouth. You could feel his body rumble as he let out a groan, his hands threading through your hair as you started to take more of him, your tongue swirling against his length,

Your free hand moved between your legs, fingers slipping past your folds as you started to rub your clit as you sucked him off.

You hollowed your cheeks, sucking harder as you moved up and down his shaft, your hand pumping what you couldn’t fit into your mouth. “Fuck, that’s so good,” you heard him groan above you. “Keep going, just like that.”

You moaned around his cock, the vibrations making him shudder. You needed him desperately, evidenced by the way your wetness was building up to the point that it started to drip onto the ground below you. The sight of you on your knees for him, taking him deep into your mouth as you pleasured yourself, was a sight to behold.

But he wanted more. More than just your mouth. He wanted to be inside of you, to feel you squeezing around him. He pulled you by the hair off his cock, chest heaving as he tried to hold onto some semblance of control. “Come here,” he murmured, voice laced with desire as he lifted you onto your feet. He pushed you backwards until you landed on the plush bed, your body bouncing slightly on the mattress. 

You barely had time to catch your breath before he was on top of you, his lips crashing onto yours in a bruising kiss. His hands were everywhere, rough and greedy, exploring every inch of you. When his fingers found your dripping core, he didn’t waste any time, plunging a finger deep inside of you. You gasped against his mouth, your hips jerking up to meet his hand. 

“You’re so fucking wet,” he muttered against your lips. You could feel his smirk against your mouth as he added a second finger, thrusting them in and out, a squelching sound filling the air from the motions. You cried out when he curled his fingers to hit that perfect spot, back arching off the bed in your pleasure.

“Zoro,” you whimpered, your hands grabbing at his shoulders as he finger-fucked you mercilessly. 

He watched as your jaw went slack as he added a third finger, stretching you wide. The feeling of his fingers dragging in and out of your gummy walls was overwhelming; you could feel that familiar coil tightening in you as he hammered that one spot that had you seeing stars. You were so close, right at the edge-- 

“Not yet,” Zoro commanded. His movements stopped and he pulled his fingers out of you, a string of your slick still connecting you to his fingers. You whined out at the feeling of him leaving you achingly empty. “Just a bit longer. I want you to cum on my cock.”  He brought his fingers to his lips, licking your slick off of his fingers. The sight alone made you clench around nothing, aching for his touch.

“Turn over,” he growled. You complied embarrassingly fast, rolling onto your stomach and lifting your hips for him.

His hands gripped your ass, kneading the skin before he positioned himself behind you. You felt the head of his cock teasing your entrance, and you couldn’t help but push back against him, desperate to feel him inside of you.

“Impatient, aren’t we?” he mocked, his voice dripping with amusement at your actions. He grabbed your hips and, without warning, thrust into you, burying himself into the hilt with one swift motion. You cried out, the sensation of his thick cock stretching you completely.

Zoro groaned above you, “Fuck, you’re so tight,” his hands squeezing your hips tightly as he began to move. He started slow; you could feel every ridge, every vein, every detail of him as he pulled out almost entirely before slamming back into you. 

The room soon filled with the sounds of skin slapping against skin, and your combined sounds of pleasure. You could feel that coil tightening again, the familiar pressure building within you as he fucked you sensless. He leaned over you, his chest pressing against your back, “Touch yourself,” he ordered, “I want to feel you cum all over my cock.”

With that, your hand snaked down between your legs, fingers finding your clit and rubbing it in tight, desperate circles. You whined out, burying your head into the mattress below you, profanities and pleas spilling from your lips.

Zoro’s hand combed through your hair, tugging hard and pulling your head off the mattress. “What was that? Hmm?” he growled. 

You cried out, your head arching back. “Zoro,” you whimpered, voice strained and filled with need. “Oh god, you’re so fucking deep. K-keep going!”

You heard him chuckle behind you “I bet your viewers would love to see this.” he murmured, pausing momentarily as a groan escaped him. “Bent over, getting fucked sensless, begging for more.”

The thought made you clench around him, your walls tightening around his cock in response to his words. “Oh, you like the idea of that, don’t you?” Zoro taunted. He pulled all the way out, pausing momentarily before slamming right back in, making you gasp and cry out. “You love the idea of them seeing you like this, don’t you? Bent over and fucked until the only word you know is my name?”

You could only moan in response, your fingers working frantically on your sensitive bud as he pounded into you. “Y-yes,” you managed to stammer out, admitting to liking the idea. 

“Good,” he growled, his thrusts becoming even more forceful. “Maybe one day we can show them that roommate of yours you were moaning about.” He chuckled, amused by just how easily he’d turned you into a mess.

You whimpered, body trembling as you tried to hold back your orgasm. Zoro’s hand left your hair, trailing down your back until he reached your ass, grabbing it tightly before giving it a harsh smack. “Keep talking,” he commanded. “I like it when you beg.”

“Please,” you cried out, your voice  whiny and desperate. “Please, Zoro, l-let me cum. I need to.”

He chuckled lowly. “Not yet,” he murmured. “Hold it just a little longer for me.”

You sobbed in frustration, your body shaking as you tried to hold back. “Ngh~ I can’t,” you pleaded, your voice breaking. “Please, Zoro, it hurts-- I can’t hold it.”

“Yes, you can,” he snarled, his hips slamming into you with a bruising force. His hands slid up your sides and he firmly grabbed your waist, hoisting you up until your back was flush against his chest. One of his hands was firm around your waist, and one hand on your chest, squeezing one of your breasts tightly. "Keep holding it for me; you're almost there"

You were overwhelmed, so, so close to euphoria. “Please, Zoro,” you whimpered out,a desperate plea. “I need to cum. I need it so bad.” 

He bit down on your shoulder, pulling a gasp from your lips as he groaned into the skin underneath, the sound vibrating against you. “Fine,” he finally relented, “Cum for me. Cum all over my cock.”

This permission was all you needed. With a scream, your orgasm crashed over you, your body quivering as your walls clamped around him. The intensity of the pleasure was nothing like you’ve ever felt before; it left you seeing stars. 

“Oh, fuck,” Zoro groaned, his thrusts speeding up and becoming more erratic as he chased his own orgasm. The feeling of your hole squeezing him so tightly was the last push he needed before he was pushed over the edge. His hips stilled against you and he came, his seed painting your walls and groaning your name. His hips bucked a few more times as he emptied himself inside of you, holding your limp and spent body close against him, his body still shuddering from his orgasm.

For a moment, the room was silent except for the sounds of your heaving breaths. Zoro finally let go of you, letting you collapse onto the bed. He pulled out of you slowly, his softening dick connecting to you with a string of your shared fluids until it snapped. He collapsed beside you, panting as he tried to catch his breath. 

He pulled you against him, murmuring, “That was much better than I imagined.” He let out a breathless chuckle, the sound rumbling through his chest as you lay there tangled in each other's limbs.

You smiled, feeling a sense of satisfaction and intimacy that was far beyond what you had ever felt during your streams. “Yeah, it was,” you agreed, your voice soft.

For a few moments, you both lay there in silence, basking in the afterglow. Zoro’s hand gently traced patterns in your side, his calloused fingertips leaving goosebumps in their trail. “Do you think,” you started, your voice hesitant, “that this will change things between us?”

Zoros paused to think, his fingers stilling. “I believe it already has,” he answered. “But I like you, and I think you like me, too. We can figure out the rest together.”

You took in his words and nodded. “Yeah… I suppose we can.”

He smiled, pressing a kiss to your temple. “Good. Because I’m not going anywhere.” With that, he sat up, and offered a hand to you. “Come on, let's get you cleaned up.”

You tried to join him, but your body protested, a dull ache spreading through your muscles. You groaned, flopping back onto the bed. “I’m too sore to move,” you whined out. 

Zoro chuckled, shaking his head at you. “You're hopeless,” he teased. Without another word, he scooped you up effortlessly, lifting you into his arms in a bridal carry.

You wrapped your arms around his neck, resting your head against his chest. “Show off,” you murmured playfully. 

He carried you to the bathroom, the sound of running water quickly filling the air as he’d turned on the shower. “Alright, let’s get you cleaned up,” he repeated, stepping into the shower with you. He carefully set you down, still holding you up as you struggled to find your balance with your newfound sore legs.

You looked up at him with a playful glint in your eyes. “You know, I could get used to this kind of treatment,” you said, your voice teasing.

He smirked, his hand moving to grab the soap to begin gently washing your body. “Oh, I’m sure you could,” he replied. “But I think I deserve something in return.”

You raised an eyebrow, curious at his words. “Oh? And what would that be?”

His hands ran across your body, lathering you up with the soap, before they landed on your chest to give it a squeeze. “How about I get some more of you?” he suggested. 

You glanced down and you could see him hardening again at the proposition, and you couldn’t help but give in. “Are you really up for more?” you asked, a smirk playing on your lips. 

Zoro leaned in, his own brushing against yours as his hands continued to squeeze you. “I’m not the one who can barely walk right now,” he reminded you.

You giggled at his words, and he silenced you with a kiss, slipping his tongue in as he pressed you against the shower wall. “I guess we’ll just have to find out,” you whispered back, ready for whatever he had in store for the two of you.

[dr-spectre]

Rambling about Marina and Relatability...

I've said in the past that i relate heavily to Marie, but as i think about it further.... I think i relate more to Marina... I just read through this incredible twitter thread by @ _CSenpai_ which i shall leave at the end, but it got me to really think... "huh... Marina is kinda me fr." (Also I'm gonna get pretty personal in this post so keep that in mind too.)

Marina has very serious special interests and clearly spends a lot of time researching and engaging in these interests. She gets VERY excited when someone mentions anything remotely about her interests and takes them seriously. Which is something i do as if someone even remotely mentions Splatoon out of the blue, my chest will go "BZZZTTTT" and i get the tingles and i wanna run around my room.

She's very into machinery, video games, music and manga/comic books. Marina stays up and overworks herself when it comes to music and her interests, which is shown in the dev diaries and chat logs in Side Order and Octo Expansion. This is something i tend to do as well as I consume my special interests way into the night and i can't go to bed because I'm so damn energized. Sometimes i become so focused that i don't even notice that time has passed by for so long and before i even realise it... It's 2pm and now i want lunch.

She corrects Pearl on wizards which reminds me of the kind of stuff i say during my rambles about Callie and her arc in Splatoon 2... I get VERY picky when it comes to people using ahem.... certain words when describing the events that took place.

In the Hero vs. Villain Splatfest, she is the only one who is taking it very seriously while everyone else is smiling or expressing anger.

She's using a god damn GAMECUBE CONTROLLER AND A HEADSET! She's literally me oh my god. When i go over for parties and celebrations and someone brings out a Switch and we play Smash Bros or Mario Kart? I take that shit seriously and i can't tone back my skill level and just have fun.

Also Marina is known to have sensitivity to certain food textures including mayo and pulp in orange juice. Now i LOVE mayo personally but i HATEEEE stuff in my drinks. I am a massive texture eater and i will avoid stuff in food that ruins the texture. When i get pumpkin soup for example, if i see vegetable bits in that shit i will actually feel sick and flick the bits off of my spoon.

Marina is also seen stimming and pacing back and forth when excited. When i tend to get overly excited by myself, i will literally violently shake for a brief moment and then squeal. I'm not joking.

Marina also tends to bottle up her emotions and often lashes out onto others when it's too much for her. Which is something i tend to do... I don't often say how i feel when someone asks how am i and i often wanna scream and break something when the anger is just too much for me to contain. I end up yelling by myself and cuss like no tomorrow. I can find solace in a character who does a similar thing i do, minus the cussing lmao.

I think one of the bigger reasons on why i relate to Marina is gonna be a weird one but... She is almost always seen with her headphones. No matter what situation she is in, she always wears her headphones.

Even when she's Marina Agitando and Overlorder has taken over her body, the Controller VM acts like headphones as it covers her ears!

Now this detail about her wearing her headphones almost often might seem minor, but to me it makes me love Marina even more. I always constantly wear headphones and it's due to various different reasons. First is because i love listening to music and enjoying background noise, second, it dampens the sounds around me as i can be pretty sensitive to certain sounds. And third... well... let's just say that i live with a uh.... loud parent who... gets pretty angry, NOT AT ME! THANKFULLY! BUT... when they scream... and swear... i put on my headphones and wait for the noise to go by. It's a comfort thing for me and helps get through those... rough periods... Marina wearing those headphones often and not being judged for it, makes me feel, happy...

...uh... yeah.

ANYWAYS! Another big thing i relate with Marina on is her want for order and balance in her life. She doesn't like massive changes in her routine and wants to maintain the balance in her life.

i do not like it when my routine suddenly changes and i get upset and angry. I have a strict routine and when it gets fucked over oh MAN OH MANNNN!!!!!!!!!!!

And that last point about feeling safe and secure, as i mentioned earlier with the third point about wearing headphones... I wanna feel safe and secure... I want to feel calm... I don't want someone to suddenly shout or get upset or for my routine to change and i can't do anything about it...

The only thing i don't relate with Marina on is well... Looks. Listen, i ain't no tall black octopus woman with a noticeable figure and a pretty face HAHAHAHA! I find it kind of funny that I'm able to relate SO MUCH to someone like her when I'm some 20 year old dude who looks nowhere NEAR like her. Except for maybe height i don't know.

However, i will say, i actually don't act this excited in person, i tend to be very shy and reserved in person compared to my online behaviour. I say words in a dry manner and i don't have the best social skills. So i guess that's where the relatability for Marie comes in as well. I'm a heavy introvert and despite my need for wanting to connect to others, i would rather stay indoors than go out and meet new people to start friendships or potentially a romantic relationship... like that's ever gonna happen anyways...................

I got two brain cells. It's them.

So anyways, that was all i wanted to say! I love Marina and she's my second favourite Idol, you can probably guess who's number 1 but i ain't talking about... her... well not today anyways.

Thanks for reading!!!

The thread that inspired this blog post: https://x.com/_CSenpai_/status/1367219374948376579

[brainddeadd]

University of Michigan – October

You balanced your textbook on the counter while steaming milk for a customer’s latte, expertly splitting your focus between memorizing chemistry formulas and avoiding getting scalded. It was just another long shift at the campus café, and the buzz of coffee orders felt as endless as the line itself. But you didn’t mind. The job kept you grounded—and distracted—from how lonely things had felt lately.

The doorbell jingled, but you didn’t need to look up. You knew the sound well—Luke Hughes and his friends. The hockey players were regulars, and while they were friendly enough, they existed in a world far from yours. Luke, with his messy black hair, confident stride, and easy smirk, was like a walking daydream. But he might as well have been on another planet.

You sighed, wiping your hands on your apron. The hockey star was barely aware you existed. To him, you were just the barista behind the counter, wearing an oversized sweatshirt, hair tied in a messy bun.

“Large black coffee,” Luke said casually, sliding his card across the counter without even glancing your way.

“Coming right up,” you murmured. He didn’t notice how your heart picked up whenever he was close, or how your eyes flicked to his hands—the same hands that held a hockey stick with deadly precision.

“Hey, Luke!” one of his teammates called from the doorway. “We gotta go. Meeting in five!”

Luke gave a quick nod, his attention already elsewhere. You watched him walk away, your heart sinking slightly. Figures.

Later That Night – Anonymous Chat App

Once your shift ended, you made your way back to your tiny dorm room, exhaustion dragging at your limbs. Kicking off your shoes, you opened your laptop and logged into the only place where you felt like yourself—the campus’s anonymous chat app, where usernames replaced real identities and strangers shared their deepest thoughts.

Your username, Sunflower, blinked with a new message. A familiar warmth spread through you. It was from LostinBlue—the person you’d been chatting with for weeks.

LostinBlue: Still up? How was your day?

You smiled. You didn’t know much about LostinBlue—only that he was also a student at UMich, loved hockey (but swore he wasn’t on the team), and had dreams of escaping the pressure of expectations. His words had become your refuge.

Sunflower: Exhausting. Long shift at the café. LostinBlue: The same café you always complain about? Sunflower: Yup. I swear, I’ll be buried with an espresso machine.

You laughed softly, feeling lighter for the first time all day. Talking to LostinBlue was like speaking to a friend you’d known forever—someone who saw you, even without knowing your name or face.

LostinBlue: You sound like you need a break. Big plans for Halloween? Sunflower: Ugh, no. My best friend wants to drag me to some stupid hockey gala, but I think I’ll skip it. LostinBlue: You should go. It could be fun. Sunflower: Not my thing. I’d rather stay in and eat candy. LostinBlue: …What if I told you I’d be there?

Your heart skipped. It wasn’t like LostinBlue to hint at real-life encounters. Could he be serious?

Sunflower: Are you saying you’ll reveal yourself? LostinBlue: Maybe. If the right person shows up.

The idea made your pulse race—meeting him, face-to-face. Could this stranger be someone you already knew? Maybe even…

No. The thought was ridiculous. There was no way it was Luke Hughes.

You shook off the thought and typed quickly.

Sunflower: I doubt you’ll find me. I’ll probably be home in pajamas, binge-watching Netflix. LostinBlue: If you go, I’ll go. Deal?

You bit your lip, torn between your usual routine and the tiny, dangerous part of you that wanted more. Why not take a chance, just this once?

Sunflower: Fine. Deal.

As you closed your laptop, your heart buzzed with excitement—and anxiety. What if this was a mistake? What if LostinBlue was nothing like the person you imagined?

But deep down, a part of you was already hoping that whoever he was, he’d look at you like you were more than just the invisible girl behind the counter.

And maybe, just maybe, Luke Hughes would finally see you, too.

The Next Day – Hockey Practice

Luke skated across the ice, his body humming with the familiar rhythm of practice. But his mind wasn’t on drills or plays—it was on her. Sunflower. The girl from the chat app who made him laugh harder than anyone in real life.

He didn’t know her name, her face, or even her major. But somehow, she understood him. And that was a rarity in a world where everyone expected him to be nothing more than Jack and Quinn’s little brother or the next NHL star.

“Yo, Luke! You listening?” Mark called out, tapping his stick on the ice.

Luke shook his head, trying to focus. “Yeah, sorry.”

“Man, what’s with you lately?” Zegras teased from the other end of the rink. “You’ve been distracted for weeks. Got a secret girlfriend or something?”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right.”

But as he skated back to the bench, a small smile tugged at his lips. Not yet, he thought.

But soon, if things went the way he hoped, he might just meet her at the Halloween gala.

And if she was anything like the girl he’d imagined, he wasn’t going to let her slip away—no matter what.

[erinwantstowrite]

Would you ever... create like... LOF au oneshots....? Like, one chapter lengths stuff for things that you were thinking of putting in but didn't, or doing like a "Peter if he was younger, meeting the bats" or "what if Bruce was his dad, not Dink?"

i have been collecting scenes that ended up not being in LoF... Like, some scenes that were in a different POV before they got changed (there's a Tim POV that got scrapped and ended up as Peter's instead, this is the hardware store scene), scenes that ended up not being in it at all (Peter and Dick were going to have dinner with Donna, but it wasn't coming out right when I tried writing it) etc.

I do like the idea of doing drabbles for LoF like I do for Home too, or maybe even writing someone else's POV of a scene that I did put in LoF, or writing things that the others were doing on certain days, etc.

though there are some things that i might end up putting in a different au instead of scrapping it all together. like this scene:

[ Peter is holding a fridge. Somehow, this is both a cause for alarm and also not at all what the problem really is.

See, Peter woke up this morning with the goal of going around and logging Gotham’s map so he could input it into the Jumping Radar. Peter really wants to avoid going back to the library, and doesn’t feel like testing his chances at a new library just yet. However, that plan ended up on the back burner sooner rather than later.

There’s this little old lady on Bourbank Avenue, a little close to Benny’s, that Peter says hello to when he sees. Her name is Margerie, and usually outside tending to her rickety garden. “Poison Ivy is more gentle with people who care about the plants.” She had told him, and taught Peter her ways of tending to beans, beets, carrots, and spinach.

Well, Peter said hello to her today. Stopped by to chat while she taught him about how to tell when a tomato is at its best. And that’s when he heard about her fridge.

“I’ve had it so long, it’s no wonder it gave out on me,” She had said.

“How long has it been?”

“Well, Benji was still alive…”

“Who?”

“My son.” Margerie had smiled. “He was the one who’d remember that kind of thing.”

And, well, jeez. Peter’s not a monster. He went looking for a damn fridge.

However, he didn’t have the money for a fridge. So what he could do was find where Margerie’s hired worker dumped the fridge, fix it, and find some way to bring it back without anyone noticing he’s a skinny 14 year old who shouldn’t be able to do that. This endeavour led him all the way to a dumpster, where it turns out he can’t save the fridge after all.

But there was an appliance store in the Diamond District that Peter had passed by. And wouldn’t you know it, he found a fridge outside in their dumpster that was able to be salvaged. It’s perfectly clean, too, just sitting there brand new and with a faulty ice box that no one wanted to work around.

So.

Peter is holding a fridge.

That’s somehow both a cause for alarm, and not the problem.

Cause of alarm- he dropped it on his foot when a group of people ran behind the appliance store, and he almost shrieked in pain and alerted them that he was behind the now dropped fridge. He heard the crack in his foot and felt it and prayed, but no- broken.

Peter pushes the fridge off of his foot, yanks the broken thing back, and gently drops the fridge back into place. He’s far enough against a chain link fence to be hidden very well, thankfully, and none of the people who ran back here had seen him. (Yet?) He presses his back against the chain link, biting his lip and pressing his thumb on the injury. It’s not that bad, he can already feel the healing itch. But it’s enough that with only a couple meals in him, that it’ll take longer than Peter would like for it to get back to normal.

“Fuck! Scatter! Why’re y’followin’ me, y’idiots!?”

The real problem: not the broken foot.

“This was tha only place ta run!” Another shouts back. “Fuck! This is bad!”

“No shit! Y’fuckin’ moron- y’led a Bat right to us!” A third hisses.

Peter peeks around the fridge in time to see the third guy grabbing the second by the collar, slamming him up against a wall with a thud.

hello! hey, watch? look it look it look it

Whatever scuffle was about to happen is quieted. Peter glances upwards, but he doesn’t see what he knows is there, in plain daylight. There’s a presence on the roof of the appliance store, but where? Peter should be able to see them, but…

there there there!

He doesn’t get to focus on the presence that’s there. Instead, his eyes are starting to adjust to the fact that- hold on-

Peter glances up. Gotham is usually cloudy and grey, but… there’s nothing blocking that light of a stormy early morning. And yet, everything in the area is growing darker and darker. Peter’s skin crawls, a tingle that settles down his spine and tries to make up for the increasing lack of light. The group of teens start to panic, looking for a way out that isn’t possible in this dead end.

Darkness encompasses the area. Peter takes short, silent breaths. His ears twitch with every movement from the teens, every whisper of panic. Their heartbeats are erratic, and it’s like they already know which Bat this is. There’s seven heartbeats, panicked, trying to escape…

And one that is calm. There’s a breath and the scuffle of a foot from the rooftop.

Peter closes his eyes even though it’s already dark. His spider-sense is making up for what he can’t see, a mental map of the area created in his head. He feels the air move around him, and listens as the Bat takes each of them out one by one.

The thuds of one companion freak out another. “Scotty?”

But then he’s out too. Peter hears two more meet the same fate, knocked out cold on the concrete. He opens his eyes as the Bat approaches the last of them, just in time for the shadows to recede back to where they should be.

Signal stands over the last, now unconscious guy.

The Bat hasn’t broken a sweat. He almost looks bored when he starts ziptieing the gang, complaining aloud, “Y’all couldn’t have waited until tomorrow to cause trouble?”

Whoa.

Peter had seen Signal doing his thing a couple times when he was out and about, but never this up close. That…

That was fucking awesome.

He heard the guy was a meta, and he didn’t know what to believe about that, but seriously? That was like some Shadow-jutsu shit- wait, could he do that? No, wait, because now Peter can see Signal again. He was fucking invisible! And he’s acting like it was nothing! ]

I really really really really really wanted this scene, but it never made it past the rough draft :( that's because it didn't make sense with the rest of the chapter (i can not remember which chapter it was for, but it was definitely before Two Face). I've been thinking about putting it in a deleted scenes for LoF fic, but I think I might take it and put it in a different au.

(The only consolation I have for this scene not making it in is that Signal gets to have a cool scene later)

[krnsluvvie]

love at first, love at second, love at last

veinticinco: finalmente, tuyx (wc: 2,2k)

SUMMARY: sae had chosen his career and that was shortly followed by his and y/n's separation. three years pass by and amongst all the lurking and stalking each other's socials, sae is suddenly found back in their hometown. old feelings are resurfaced, current ones are questioned and a whole load of future ones are found in a blur.

veinticuatro | masterlist |

Your results have come out and you were sitting cross-legged in your room, shaking with fear and anticipation. To say you've been on edge would only be an understatement; both Isagi and Kurona knew they would be getting dealt with the Devil reincarnated himself and thus, actively avoided you. You closed your eyes then as you rubbed your temples, seeing them turn around the corner, I can't really blame them. 

You keep opening and closing the laptop as if that would help you with your current predicament. It's been done with, what else do you have left? You either face it and take it like a real alpha that you are or you end up crying about it to your friends–as if they haven't been dealing with… everything you've served them. Willingly or unwillingly.

Your phone dings and you check the sender: Sae. With a silly smiley face.

After the grand revelation, you couldn't help but think about how repressive you were regarding your feelings. That explained your random outbursts and terrible mood swings. You really just had to come clean with it. To yourself.

how did you do?

The text is how it usually is. All lowercase, sounding anything but interested. You swallow down the lump that starts to create in your throat and start typing.

haven't checked them yet

You throw your phone back on the bed as you face your laptop. The worst thing is repeating a year. You mumble this under your breath while typing the website into the browser. It soon becomes a mantra–to redirect your mind elsewhere, to have your mind preoccupied.

The screen turns momentarily white after you finish logging in. Relief washes over you but it gets cut rather short when your face pales upon seeing the loading sign appear. Your eyes don't look away in time as they zero in on the percentage. You knew when you saw it but was curious to see the details. Maths got you real fucked up but hey, no more seeing any of that after all of this. 

You send an all-caps message into your group chat, announce it anywhere and everywhere possible.

congrats

Sae's message reads. You frown a little because looking back, you did freak out about this to him. Unpleasant memories flood your mind and your cheeks heat up. Right, it's just a graduation, why were you pissing yourself every time someone mentioned it? You physically cringe at just revisiting all of the instances.

You send him your thanks in the most nonchalant way possible (you ended up with a lame “thx”) but hey, if you truly squint, the communication has gotten better. The bare minimum is being barely met but you don't expect much from the Japan prodigy to begin with.

You get up and stretch a little before letting your body drop on the bed. You loosen your body and close your eyes. You were incredibly happy; it was beyond words.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

After the formal part ends, you get off the stage, meeting with your friends and family. Your parents look at you somewhat proudly and you give them a small smile–a little mocking as you could never forget their nagging and how “with this attitude, you will barely graduate”. It stung but you got over it quickly. The way their heads drop, you can tell that they might feel some regret, too. They point towards the exit and mumble “have fun”. You nod and get back to talking to your classmates, friends, teachers. This is a special day, after all.

“Would you look at that? You getting a diploma?” Isagi approaches you along with Kurona who's holding a small bouquet of various flowers. 

Kurona catches your gaze and you can feel the remark that threatens to leave his mouth but he holds himself back. “We are expecting you to do more for us.” And he hands it to you, all toothy.

You almost grab it. “I knew you guys would never stab me in the back.” The flowers look a little wilted but you don't expect much from a pair of football-obsessed high school freaks. 

“Thanks, you two. Don't worry too much–”

“Where's Y/N!” A voice resounds throughout the gymnasium. It's already teeming with sweaty bodies, loud, and someone has so much time on their hands that–

“Here you are!” 

There's Shidou standing before you, next to Isagi and Kurona. He's holding a box of chocolates with the most devious smile. You raise your eyebrow as you subconsciously grip the tube with your graduation certificate in it. No one dares speak a word. And you notice it isn't just you or your friends. The whole hall ceases all their activities, it becomes deafeningly silent that even a drop of a pin could be heard.

“Continue!” Shidou yells and the rest continues as if he was a person of authority. The look on his face is tell-tale enough. 

“I'm sure they have just never seen that ugly ass hair combo, my friend.” Oliver emerges from behind them and waves at you. You're frozen and rendered speechless. You blink once, twice. Why is everyone here? Everyone but … Sae?

“Don't call me that,” Shidou swats the hand from his shoulder and he fixes his look on you.

Your peripheral gaze locks on the two guys that you surely believed would never stab your back. Explain.

“I only invited Oliver, I don't know what he's doing here.”

“Yeah, my bad, it was me. Figured you'd want this to be more lively.”

You intake a sharp breath. Before you can stop yourself, you blurt out, “Why are you even here. Is this a substitution for Sae?”

The others look at you like you're the seventh wonder of the world. You would do the same in their shoes, let's be real. But for the sake of your dignity, you avoid their piercing gazes as you look around the gym. So spacious! And it fits so many people!

“Actually,” Shidou comes closer as he hands you the chocolates. “Yeah, we are. Sae-chan said he couldn't attend. But he said that he's so proud of you and that he misses–”

A new person enters the discussion as he kicks Shidou in the back of his knees.

“My bad.” Sae mumbles as he regards you with a nod. 

He's in all black, and has a cap that covers his face when he looks down.

“The fuck was that for?!”

“You're seriously not asking that, are you?” Oliver crosses his arms as he tries his best not to erupt in laughter. “Ahh, isn't it just so fun in here?”

“You guys are just loud.” you say. It feels as if it's been years since you last talked, your voice sounding raspy doesn't help it, either.

Oliver not so subtly ignores you as he says, “Sae drove us here. He got here late because he was trying to find a parking spot, isn't it right, Prodigy-chan?”

“I could have said that myself.” Sae deadpans.

You, Isagi and Kurona exchange glances. 

I'm sorry… Sowwy

Isagi puts his hands up in a prayer as if you'd accept his apology this way. You mouth, Buy Me a Congratulatory Meal And Then We're Even-all emphasized–and he has no choice but to reluctantly nod. A smile snakes its way onto your face.

Isagi also catches the way you keep throwing glances Sae's way and drags the rest to the side. Some of your classmates have recognized Oliver and came up to him to talk. 

Now it's just the two of you. 

The bustling and chaos around you does little to help you alleviate your mind. You knew there were a lot of things between you and him unsaid and this place, now, was a godsend opportunity.

“You got the chocolates?” Sae asks out of nowhere and you're almost forced to look at him. 

“Huh?” Huh? WEAK. “I don't know what you're talking about.” As you say this, Shidou comes sprinting towards you, the chocolate box already in shambles. “Sorry,” he says almost unapologetically as he points towards the crowd, enjoying your supposed chocolate.

“I guess not.” He takes the box from your hand and you both notice there's only one piece left. “You take it.” You blurt out.

Sae doesn't say anything as he indeed takes the last piece and pops it into his mouth. 

“Can I take a look at your diploma?” he asks out of the blue and for some reason you comply. You hand the tube to him and watch as he carefully takes the document into his calloused hands. You don't think you could stand there idly, doing nothing, anymore so to plan your escape, you scan the area and the best case scenario would be just… turning around, leaving him behind.

You had manners, though, and this childish game wasn't going to cut it anymore. As you turn to look at him and tell him you will go back to Isagi and Kurona, he grabs your shoulder and leans down. Sae uses the diploma to shield both of your faces as he slightly leans down and kisses you on the lips.

You feel something probing on your lips and your body reacts way faster than your mind and you let him in. His tongue swirls and that one piece of chocolate lands in your mouth.

He slowly pulls away but you latch onto him, not backing down. 

Your façade has been long debunked and you knew Sae was aware. Probably had been for some time now with how confidently he invited himself into your mouth.

You pull away and he looks at you amusingly. “What, want more?”

Your face is burning with crimson and you still have some half-decentness in you left that you cover your mouth with the back of your hand. What the fuck was that.

“Gahhh, that was tiring.” Shidou comes back, arms stretching over his head. 

“No one even knew you.” Oliver deadpans.

“I was literally the talk.”

“You were the guy that Itoshi Sae tossed to.”

“Multiple times, if you will.”

“You know what, nevermind.”

“Oh, you two.” Shidou changes the topic as swiftly as he usually does. “Why are you holding their grad certificate?”

“Was curious.” Sae's answer comes fast and almost calculated. He returns it to you.

“Okay.” Shidou eyes both of you. “The kids are going home 'cause practice, school, so it's just us left.”

Oliver adds, “We should go celebrate.”

“Why are you so red?” Shidou turns to you. “Did somethin' happen?”

“I am fine, you guys go ahead. I will go talk to my teachers before I leave.”

“I will go talk to them, too. Haven't updated them in a while.” Sae says.

Oliver and Shidou exchange fully knowing glances. “Alright, you know where you parked your car. We will wait there.. after we find it.”

Sae nods and the two of them leave with a mischievous glint in their eyes.

“You wanna tell me something?” Sae asks and it takes you a while to realize that he's talking to you.

“Me? I don't think so. Maybe you have something to tell me?” You say, inwardly cringing at how it ended up sounding despite all your nonexistent efforts. 

“Well, I'll go talk to them if you don't mind–”

“Sae,” you exhale. It feels like the more you call out to him, the more free you feel and the more true you're staying to yourself.

He turns to look at you and you hate being scrutinized over. Yet…you gather all your courage and say, unfiltered, “I like you.”

Sae's lips quirk in a small smile. A minute passes. Or maybe a second. You don't know because it feels too long until he responds.

“I know.”

You raise your eyebrows. “Actually–”

Sae chuckles and gets closer and you actively notice you don't mind it. At all. “I like you, too. I have for a while. A long while.”

You look at him and you notice that he's really grown now. He wasn't the boy you once dated and…  almost loved. Though, the personality stayed the same still, but you believe it is a part of the Itoshi appeal.

His hair is longer, his features got sharper and you can only hope that you feeling he has gotten mellower is also right.

“I don't think I ever stopped.”

Your heart starts beating faster. It accelerates with every passing second and you feel like passing out. You also never thought you'd find yourself near him again, let alone like him and be in each other's proximity. Just like before. 

“Aren't you such a romantic?” Your voice comes out meek. But you know that it isn't any sign of weakness.

“Let's go talk to the teachers,” you lay out your hand to him, “I'm sure they missed seeing their favorite sports player.”

He scoffs but takes your hand nonetheless.

That in itself was an answer you both wanted. Neither of you was a fan of words and it manifested itself in this form of a relationship. In the end, words never conveyed as much as actions did.

They truly never did.

a/n: FUCKING FINALLY!!!! i cant say im totally happy with how i managed the series and how it flowed overall (severe burnout from the constant posting in the beginning (sprinkle some life things that contributed to the plot that i call my life) that i had to sit down and breathe). thank you to everyone who stuck around despite everything, im eternally grateful. if you have any questions, send an ask and ill answer!! until then <3!!!

tag list: @kiopanxp @funtuki @silly-ez @asteroskoniiii @keijiqahara @pikibee @tamimemo @kaitfae @biaonww @y-sabell-a @kaiserkisser @winterpein @bloombb @yyoichisgirl @rifran

[willowedhepatica]

Ava falling asleep on Beatrice's shoulder

When Beatrice was a kid she used to go down on bruised knees and pray to God. 

She doesn't know if she really believed in him or not, or if it was just a pursuit for her parents validation. She doesn't know if he ever believed in her. But even then, when she stayed down on the scratchy wooden floor she hoped it would bring her something inexplicable. Something holy.

Even that felt like sinning back then.

The fire cracks and Ava holds a beer up towards the starlit sky as she leans her weight on one shoulder. "To Shannon and Mary for arranging this, I've always wanted to go camping!" 

Camila giggles as Ava takes a swig from the can. Beatrice resists the urge to steady her when she seems to tip a little too far to the left. Ava only straightens, a wonky grin forming on her face as she turns to her. "Want some?"

"You know I don't drink."

"Really, not even when a pretty girl offers?" Ava wiggles her eyebrows and Beatrice's cheeks grow warm. 

Lilith scoffs somewhere from the far left but she isn't paying enough attention to her surroundings for that to matter. That was her first mistake. Because Ava is gorgeous. The flames light up her face and dance across her skin, making her eyes glow. She shifts in place. There's just enough space between them on the wooden log for Beatrice to be able to place a hand between them. "I- you're not..."

Before Beatrice can sputter any further Ava bumps her on the shoulder. "I'm just messing with you, Bea. Would be cool seeing a nun drink though." 

She nods meekly. Digs her nails into the palm of her hand. "Yeah." She doesn't want to remember that part of her right now. Not when she's here. Not with Ava.

She is everything Beatrice isn't. Wild, carefree and bubbly as if everything would burst if she held it between her ribcage for too long. Her cargo jacket, ripped and mended together with all kinds of patches in yellow green and red, hung loose from one of her shoulders and revealed a black tank top underneath. Ava didn't seem like she had noticed. Beatrice had. Damn it she had. How could she possibly have not?

The fire cracks. Everyone is laughing about something, probably Mary because Ava has challenged her to a drinking game and Mary is leaning in like she was born for this moment.

Beatrice simply watches. They are used to her being quiet. 

After two shots Ava sways towards her, arm pressing into her own as she whispers. "You alright?" 

The skin where she makes contact burns. Her whole body tingles. Her voice comes out like a single breath. "Yeah." 

"Okay." 

Beatrice's eyes shoot down to her hand. Ava is playing with her fingers, rubbing her thumb over her knuckles. She shudders. The chatting around them feels distant.

"Are you cold?" Ava continues, still close. Still tracing her fingers over her skin.

"I'm fine. The fire is warm." 

Ava laughs. Beatrice blushes again, jaw tightening. 

"Here." Ava says as she starts taking her jacket off, quite clumsily but doing it nonetheless.

"Ava, no, you need to stay warm."

"Yeah yeah, I know. I can catch a cold or whatever." She rolls her eyes, but not mockingly, just knowing. In a way that could only be done between people who had known each other for a while. She'd only known her for a couple months, Beatrice reminds herself. She shouldn't feel like this--

Ava scoots closer, slides her jacket over her shoulder and adjusts it, keeping her arm there. "There, now we can both stay warm." 

Beatrice tenses, looks around to see if anyone is watching. They aren't, surprisingly so. Beatrice believes they are sparring them, at least for now. Ava doesn't seem to care at all. In fact, she is only watching her. "This is okay right?" 

It isn't the first time Ava's done this. Beatrice has learned from the short time she's known her that she's a physical person. Always in need to reach out, feel the world around her. As if though she is afraid it might disappear. Afraid it wouldn't be real. Beatrice has never been fond by touch but Ava-- Ava made it feel sacred. Like the creation of fire sparked from the simplicity of it. 

She allows herself to relax into it. Into Ava's side. "Yes, yeah it's okay."

Ava answers by letting her head fall on her shoulder, buries her face into her neck and hums. "You smell nice."

God she wishes the others weren't here right now. 

"Do I?"

"Yea." Ava mumbles, lips tickling across her skin. "Smells like pine."

"Pine." She mutters uselessly, mouth dry and heart beating out of her chest. 

Ava draws closer, eyes closed. "Mhm, it's like, you're one with the forest. Or something. Like the werewolves." Beatrice can feel her break into a smile.

She turns her head just enough to glance down at her. "Did you just compare me to a werewolf?" 

Beatrice isn't able to hide the amusement from her voice, especially not when Ava starts to giggle, her entire body shaking with her laughter. "You would be a great werewolf." 

Beatrice doesn't know how to answer that but it doesn't really matter. Ava is dozing off, arm slipping from her shoulder to land loosely behind her back. Beatrice adjusts herself slowly, careful not to disturb her. 

If this is sinning she didn't want to be right. If anyone told her this is anything but holy, she wouldn't believe them. How could anything that felt like this be wrong? 

[multifanhoe99]

Kinktober Day 17- Camgirl/boy

Pairing: Camboy!Soobin

Warnings: No pairing really, solo camboy!Soobin doing his thang, masturbation on camera,

=Let me know if I missed any.=

18+ MDNI

PROMPT LIST

MASTERLIST

Soobin loved his side job. While some people might criticize it he embraces it. There is nothing wrong with showing yourself off to complete strangers for a little bit of extra money. Even more so than liking it, he was good at it. When he means a little side money he actually means a few hundred dollars every week. Sometimes his subscribers sent him cute little gifts and toys to use in his lives too. He also enjoyed doing his livestream because it made him feel really good about himself. That was especially good when he was feeling down and needed a little pick-me-up.

Tonight was one of the nights he went live and he was very excited about it. He had just gotten a new toy that he was very excited to try. It is a small vibrator that also moves in a thrusting motion. It has a circle at the bottom. The idea is that he puts his dick in the circle part and the part that thrusts will go into his ass and the whole thing vibrates. The part that makes him the most excited is that he can set it up so that it responds to the tips he gets. The more money he gets the more intense it will get and if he goes a long period without getting tips it'll stop.

He was excited, not only to try it out but, also to see what it would do for his interaction. He had been looking for more ways he could make his audience feel more included in the live and this was a great idea to do just that. So, when he got home he right away started preparing for his live. He likes to do a little more than just whip it out and start jerking off. He has a little snack with everyone talks about his day and interacts with everyone before starting. He got a snack ready and pulled out the boxes of gifts so he could thank everyone before he started. Then, he changes into a sweater and sweats and nothing underneath. Now he was comfortable but also taking everything off later wouldn't be a hassle.

He was ready and comfortable 5 minutes before the live started which was the perfect amount of time to log in and get settled before starting the live. He started his live right on time and waited for people to join. As more and more people started coming in and saying hello he got more and more excited.

"Hello, everyone," he said, waving to the camera. He looked at the chat reading the responses to himself.

Then, he saw one and read it aloud, "What do you have for snack today?"

"Today, I have some cup ramen to eat while we chat," he answered. He continued to chat while eating. Then, he went through the gifts and thanked everyone. When everything was put away it was time to start the real show.

"I have something very special for you all today," he said. He pulled out the little black toy.

"I got this as a gift from one of you," he began, "I am very excited to try it out. With this, you'll be able to be very involved in what happens tonight. The more you tip the more intense this will get. I am sure you all will take good care of me tonight, right?" He finished talking and got up to begin stripping himself of his clothes. When he was naked he got comfortable and picked up the toy and some lube. He first lubed up the thrusting part of the toy very generously and then he lubed up his cock. Part of it was so that he was able to squeeze through the ring on the other side of the toy and the other part of it was to get himself nice and hard for everyone to see. He was now officially ready. He put his cock through the ring and made sure the audience had a nice view of him slowly pushing the toy into his ass.

The view of that itself had the tips rolling in. The toy began thrusting at a decent pace. He stroked himself slowly as well. He was moaning loudly which made more tips roll in. The toy went faster. The thrusting, the vibrating, and the stimulation from jerking himself off were all so good. He couldn't remember another time he had felt so good. The better he felt the more tips would roll in and the more tips that came in the better he felt. He wished he could personally thank whomever it was that sent him this toy because he was feeling amazing. It was so good that he was starting to get light-headed. He wasn't sure how much longer he was going to last.

"I am so close, everyone," he moaned out, "Do you want me to cum? Should I cum? Tell me you want to see it." The chat went crazy. More people kept tipping big amounts and everyone kept typing that they wanted to see him cum. The little toy went as fast as it could. The vibration mixed with the thrusting motion and he adjusted so now it was at an angle that reached his sweet spot. Plus he was still stroking his cock as fast as he could. All of this pleasure built up and it was ready to explode and so was he. A few pumps later and he was cumming. Long white ribbons shot out from the top of his cock. It got all over him and even reached up to land on his chest and neck rather than just his stomach. It was the most he had ever cum before. When he finished the toy was still moving as tips kept coming in. He didn't think it was possible but, the toy's continuous movement had him cumming again so quickly. He couldn't take anymore though and even though it was still going he had to remove the toy.

"That was amazing," he said, "Thank you everyone. I will definitely be using this toy again. Thank you for coming to hang out and make me feel good. I will see you all later this week. Bye!" Then, he ended his live. He got himself cleaned up and put his sweats back on afterward. He couldn't wait to use that toy again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: I hope you all like this one! I know it's a little different but, I still like it a lot. Let me know if you have anything you want to see! My asks are still open.

[apollos-boyfriend]

Is it okay if you explain to me the summary of what happened today on Cellbit's live?

of course!! so as a heads up, i only got to cellbit's stream AFTER forever ended his, so i don't know exactly !00% what went down, but here's the basics:

cellbit logs in and is bombarded by the multiple screens forever put in his castle, all set to blast his vivo commercial

he begins trying to uncover all of them, but some are hidden underground. i presume he gets rid of what he can before giving up

he and forever have an out-of-character chat where cellbit asks forever to take out the underground screens, as it'd take leveling the mountain to find them. forever agrees.

i lose track of his end of things for a bit until forever ends. additionally my memory is just Spotty in general so the order of things might be a bit off

cellbit is fully a federation member now! the census bureau hands him a book that appears to be a contract of sorts, which cellbit signs, finalizing his hiring.

the census bureau gives him three keycards (up to clearance level 2) and shows him how to work the tunnel system under the island. it tasks him with going to the favela and taking a picture of it without using any of his warps (likely to test if the clearance keys are working, as he had to navigate through the tunnels). he does so and promptly reports back

the census bureau welcomes him into the federation's full office! it's a large white underground structure with a fountain the middle, surrounded by a bunch of seemingly-empty offices.

one of the offices has cubbies within, for the lack of a better word. within the cubbies are a series of books that spell out "feelps", although disorganized, as well as one of the #1 hats and a FUCKTON of soap. chat comes to the conclusion that they turned felps into soap (rip)

cellbit is given his own office! he chooses the one right next to the census bureau's and writes about what he's seen in his diary (that he's TOTALLY not going to show to anyone, what are you talking about?)

despite being instructed by the census bureau to stay in his office, he gets bored (and curious). he heads out with the false premise of needing to use the bathroom, checking different rooms "in search for somewhere to piss"

at some point he finds a book discussing an experiment and subject written on day 19 (i reblogged it a few posts down somewhere)

after a while, he wanders into the census bureau's office. it has a securitycraft door in the back, alongside with a lectern besides it. in a nearby chest is an empty book.

cellbit connects the dots and writes "Feelps" in the book before placing it on the lectern. the door opens to a stairway leading down

below is a dark room with a singular projector on the wall, as long as a few security cameras. the projector shows a camera feed on felps' body laying in a tube of some sorts

cellbit freaks out and runs out of there. he spams bad, asking to use his bathroom (trying to be like "CAN WE TALK"). he runs up into richas, begging him to show forever the book he'd written as soon as richas sees him again

before he can fully finish, though, he's teleported back into the room with felps' projection. the census bureau looks down at him from the staircase, telling him to enjoy the island (or that he's part of the federation now? one of the two). he is then kicked from the server and is no longer whitelisted when he tries to log back on

forever is now live and picking up the pieces with richas' assistance!! i hope that helps :D

[all-encompassing-hero]

I want to talk about my least favorite kind of ship in terms of writing but SPECIFICALLY on a meta level. If that sounds confusing, don't worry it will make sense by the end. (Also, I might be using the terms incorrectly anyway, so if I am, please correct me)

I would also like to make it very clear. I DO NOT DISLIKE THE SHIPS I WILL BE USING AS EXAMPLES! I have two examples I'll be using that I love to no end, but this specific aspect of both of them pisses me off.

Be warned, long post under the cut.

Anyway, let's get into it.

I hate ships that are just on the edge of being canon but aren't fully there.

Now, what do I mean by almost canon?

One of the ways I like to categorize ships is by how canon they are. (This is by no means the only way. It's simply the way I'll be using for this post.) A ship can be 100% canon, 0% canon, and anywhere in between. To be clear, how canon a ship is does not affect its quality. Plenty of fully canon ships are hated, and plenty of non-canon ships are loved.

With this metric in mind, the specific type of ships I hate are the ones that exist between 90% and 99% canon. I have come to call the "Occam's ship." And the two examples I have of this kind of ship are Togachako and Pearlina. Let's start with Togachako.

Togachako is the ship name for Himiko Toga and Ochako Ururaka from My Hero Acadamia. Initially, this ship was simply a "what if" for people to have fun with. The only piece of canon evidence for this ship was Toga in episode 108 (I think. It's been a while since I watched the anime, and the wiki isn't very helpful) listing Ururaka as one of the people she loves alongside Midoriya and Stain. This, alongside Toga being confirmed to be bi/pan, helped push this ship into notoriety. Also, Horikoshi draws a lot of artwork of Toga with Ururaka in ways that could definitely be read as romantic.

So far, nothing massive is going on. If I had to assign a number to it, I'd say this ship was at 30-40% canon. (There's no math here. I'm just throwing out a number that sounds right.) Then Toga and Ururaka's most recent fight happened, with chapters 393-395 of the manga causing the most stir. It gave us lines like "I want to give you my blood for the rest of my life," "I envy your smile," and of course, "Am I cute?" "The cutest in the world." (I'm paraphrasing a little, but you get the picture.)

Suddenly, this ship rockets all the way into Occam's ship tier. This is a Shounen manga. The leading man and the leading lady are supposed to end up together. But suddenly, we get a confession of love between the leading lady and the main female villain. And that's what pisses me off. Because at the end of the day, this isn't a confession of love. While the simplest explanation of these chapters is that they are in love, without an explicit confirmation, Horikoshi could very easily pull the rug out from under us. Because even though the most obvious answer is that they are together, until they actually are together, there will always be that nagging thought in the back of your mind reminding you what kind of manga this is.

Now, I said I had two examples, so let's move on to Pearlina. Pearlina is a ship involving the idol duo Pearl Houzuki and Marina Ida from the Splatoon franchise. Initially, these two were in a very similar situation to early Togachako. A few bits of dialogue here or there do not a canon ship make. But as the franchise continued to grow, more evidence began to appear. From the mock interviews with both characters, to the chat logs and cutscenes in Octo Expansion, to most recently a lot of the conversions and details in Side Order, these two were becoming more canon by the day.

But, at the end of the day, their not canon. At least, their not confirmed to be canon. At any point, Nintendo can simply make a statement, either in game or on social media, that Pearl and Marina aren't dating, or see eachother as sisters, or are actually in relationships with other characters. Without that confirmation, there's just enough plausible denyability for Nintendo to undo everything they've built.

"So what?" I hear you ask. "If a ship being or not being canon doesn't affect the quality, why do you care?"

At the end of the day, I think the biggest factor in this whole thing is investment. I want to get invested in these ships. For ships that are 100% canon, I don't need to get invested. All I need to do is sit back and enjoy. For ships that are 0% canon, my investment is my choice. If I care about this ship, it's because I want to. But when a ship is that close to being canon without that last bit of confirmation, it almost feels like the writers are begging me to get invested with committing to the relationship themselves. They want the benefits of the relationship being canon while still leaving themselves room to back out if they want to.

Maybe this post is a bit rambling, and maybe this is just a me problem. But I just really needed to get my thoughts out there for others to see. So, if you made it to the end of the post, thank you.

[the-chosen-fanfiction]

Andrew | Knots And Tangles | Romantic

Andrew's curls have a mind of their own but you're here to fix that.

Another breeze makes its way across the plains and has Andrew squint against the curtain of curls blowing into his face, and he drags a hand through his hair to push them away, but his fingers become tangled in the mess. He clicks his tongue in annoyance, prying them out with some effort.

Earnestly amused, you look at him from the corner of your eye, fighting the chuckle that builds in your throat. “You okay?” you query, humour in your voice, and he huffs. 

“It’s the wind,” he complains, “Yesterday’s rain made it all damp. It didn’t dry properly overnight and I haven’t had the chance to take care of it yet.”

You smile and let out a small hum. “I could help you with that,” you suggest, “I’ve got a comb on me.”

Andrew’s eyes widen. “Really?! You would? I-I mean, I mean, sure! Yes, please!”

Your grin grows. “Alright,” you pipe up, “Tonight at the fire, when we’re settled down. I could even braid it for you.”

The comment makes his cheeks flush. “That’s… Very nice of you, (Y/n). Thank you.” His voice is softer now, a tad abashed. Simon seems to pick up on his brother’s flustered state and rushes further to the front to catch up to you, clapping a palm onto his shoulder blades.

“Hello, brother dear! Well well, isn’t that wonderful! She might as well shave it all off, with the mess it has been lately!” 

“Not funny, Simon,” Andrew sighs, tensing up. 

Simon laughs. “I’m only kidding, Andrew. Come on man, cheer up! I’m rooting for you.”

Embarrassed, Andrew glares at his brother and grunts, causing the man in question to raise up his hands in defence, slowing his pace already to return to his original position next to Thad and Little James, “Just saying, just saying…”

When he turns back, Andrew notices you’ve already started a conversation with Ramah and Mary, and he rolls his eyes in annoyance about Simon. If he hadn’t interrupted, he might have been courageous enough to speak to you for longer than a minute at a time. Hearing you laugh with the other women makes him lift his chin and straighten his back, his gut pleasantly stirring. 

The three of you discreetly glance over your shoulder at Andrew before Ramah leans closer and whispers something in your ear that makes your cheeks flush, and both her and Mary burst out in a fit of giggles at your shy expression.

Andrew bites the inside of his cheek and swallows thickly, trying to determine the time of day. 

He can barely wait until tonight.

_ 

You truly look breathtaking in the warm light of the fire, so the fisherman can barely tear his gaze away from you. After your shared meal, you chat with Matthew for a while before your eyes suddenly meet his, taking Andrew by surprise.

He blinks rapidly, snapping out of his thoughts before he clears his throat. The small smile you send his way sends a swarm of butterflies throughout his system and he has to brace himself on the log he is sitting on, trying to gather enough confidence to speak to you. You, however, have already stood up from your seat and are making your way over to him. His heart flutters inside his chest, panic building as you approach.

“Hi, Andrew,” you say, taking a small comb from your apron. You have been fingering it in your pocket for a while, trying to find the perfect moment to come to him and fulfil the promise you’ve made him whilst travelling today. He lets out a small sound before responding.

“Ah, hi, (Y/n).” he breathes, flustered. 

“May I sit behind you?”

“Huh?”

You smile softly. “So I can untangle your hair.”

His mouth falls open. “Oh– Oh, yes, of course!” Abashed, he slips to the ground so that you can seat yourself on the log behind him, getting comfortable. You dare to put your hands on his shoulders to have him lean back, a soft hum leaving his lips at the contact. 

“Is this okay?”

“Yeah,” he says, nodding.

You let out a small sound. “Okay, just tell me if it hurts, okay?”

“I will.” he promises.

Your comb starts at the bottom and you slowly work your way up - at least, that is what the plan is. Instead, it catches onto a few unruly strands, already stuck within the first stroke. 

You click your tongue. “Huh… Sorry about that. Maybe this isn’t the best way to go at it.”

Andrew wants to open his mouth to tell you that it is alright, that you don’t have to do this and that he can deal with the problem himself, but is left speechless at the sudden feeling of your fingers against his scalp. Deft, agile digits that softly card through his curls, careful, considerate.

The words die on his tongue. He tries to give the unfamiliar feeling a place, but fails. The way you drag your hands through the coils in an attempt to disentangle the thick locks is utterly relaxing, especially with the warmth of you behind him, and he has to fight the sound of appreciation threatening to fall from his lips. 

“That’s better already,” you sigh, enjoying the way the disorderly mop of black mane starts to listen to your advances, bouncing back beautifully on his shoulders. “Would you mind me applying some oil? That would make it easier and also a little softer.”

Andrew looks over his shoulder to look at you. You’re wearing the most beautiful smile and he feels his throat run dry. “Of-Of course!” he breathes, “Go ahead, by all means!”

You get up to grab a flask of almond oil and sprinkle some onto your palms before starting to work them through Andrew’s hair. He huffs and can’t fight his eyes fluttering shut, the sensation of your touch against his scalp simply incredible.

It is nice to be this close to him, you think to yourself whilst rubbing the split ends with oil to see if you can somehow fix it. You’ve been struggling with hiding your little crush on the former fisherman lately, and now that you’re practically performing a very intimate act for him, it’s even more difficult to keep it under wraps. Ramah and Mary had been the only ones who knew about your feelings for him, but now a lot more of Jesus’ following seem to catch on.

“Hey (Y/n), you braid everyone’s hair now?” Philip jests from across the fire. He is only teasing, you know, but you cannot fight the blush on your cheeks. 

Andrew frowns, “Hey, that’s not what this is, Phil!”

“I know exactly what this is, my friend.” Philip counters with a wink, “And good for you. It was getting rather painful to watch the two of you avoid each other out of embarrassment.”

You nearly choke on your own spit and feel your face heat up. “What do you mean by that?”

Philip chuckles. “You’ll learn that eventually, (Y/n). All I can say is that I’m happy for you.”

Scoffing, you roll your eyes in an attempt to force back your blush, but to no avail. Even worse, the butterflies in your stomach are only increasing the longer you’re working on Andrew’s hair. 

“What kind of braid would you like?” you quiz with a voice way shakier than you intended, “I’m ah, I’m thinking two small ones and bind them together on the back of your head, like this?” You take two strands and position them in the way you’d make them.

Andrew hums. “I trust you, (Y/n), so yes, yes!”

“Okay.” you murmur, starting on the braids that you’ve so often made in your own hair. “This will keep it out of your eyes whilst we are roaming the plains.”

He lets out a small sound that you cannot quite place, as if he’s too shy to verbally answer, and you tuck the locks into neat little braids, starting over a few times – perhaps on purpose – so that the moment doesn’t end too soon. 

You can only keep up the act of being just friendly for so long, so you eventually bind them together behind his head and draw back your hands, smiling. “There you go.” Andrew immediately shifts to face you and he smiles, a pleasant fluster on his cheeks, and he tries to find the proper words to say. Mary gives you a knowing grin from a few logs away.

“Thank you, (Y/n),” Andrew whispers, bringing up his hand to feel at it, “I really, really appreciate that.”

“You’re welcome.” you tell him, wiping your hands on your apron. He stands and dusts down his tunic, attempting to feel confident in your presence. 

An arm is wrapped around his shoulders and nearly knocks him off his feet. Jesus smiles, patting Andrew on the shoulder, nodding in recognition of his new hair.  “That looks very good on you, Andrew.” He says.

“Thanks,” Andrew breathes, clearing his throat and pointing at you. “(Y/n) helped me out.”

“I just witnessed that, yes.” Jesus winks at you and smiles, “Are you available for more clients? I would like it very much if you did that for Me, too.” 

Averting your gaze, you look at your lap a little shy. “If You would like that, Teacher, then I’m open to—”

“I was only playing,” Jesus muses, “But it does look good. Very nice work. You two stay safe tonight. Keep the first watch together, hm?”

Andrew and you lock eyes and you feel excitement bubbling inside your chest. “Of course!” you say, causing Jesus to grin and pat Andrew’s shoulder one more time before He moves away.

“Excellent. Most are turning in soon, so prepare what you need.”

“Of course, Rabbi.” Andrew states, watching Him walk off.

You stand and take a deep breath, looking at him. “Shall we, then?”

Andrew gives a small nod and smiles, happy that he’s getting to spend a few more hours with you. 

“Yes, let’s.”

[calicomarie11]

Chat 4

GR: I think you cursed me.

DK: How so?

GR: There was a cockroach in the break room at work today, scuttling around the sink when I was trying to make a cup of tea.

DK: I maintain it’s the tea that’s the curse. Glad you survived your encounter with cockroach number 1.

GR: Not funny. If a ROUS shows up, I’m cutting contact.

DK: As you wish. *smirk emoji*

GR: Does that make me Princess Buttercup? I think I’d rather be Inigo Montoya.

DK: Are you on a quest for vengeance? Searching for a 6-fingered man?

GR: No, but I do have great hair.

DK: *eyeballs emoji*

GR: I think we’ve established pics are off the table.

DK: Can you blame a guy for trying?

GR: Curiosity killed the cat.

DK: But satisfaction brought him back.

GR: Are you this ridiculous all the time?

DK: My ex-wife would say yes. 

GR: and what do you say?

DK: That life is dull without a little whimsy. We’re stuck here, might as well have some fun.

GR: And how has that worked out for you?

DK: To be honest, 50/50 most of the time. You might say I’m an acquired taste. I rub some people the wrong way, but those people are Debbie Downers anyways. Most people come around after a while. 

GR: So would you say being liked is important to you?

DK: Isn’t it important to everyone?

GR: Not really. I’d rather be respected than liked, if it comes down to it. I suppose I am also an acquired taste, but I accepted a long time ago that most people weren’t going to stick around long enough to acquire said taste. 

DK: Now that’s just stinkin’ thinkin’ sir. I like you plenty and I haven’t even met you yet. 

DK: Sorry if I overstepped again. That was too soon wasn’t it. 

DK: I have been accused of being too much. Did I ruin it?

GR: I’m back. So sorry. The cat got stuck on top of the fridge and started knocking things down to get my attention.

GR: I swear she only has one braincell. Orange cats, you know.

GR: You didn’t ruin anything. 

GR: I like you too. And with that I’m logging off so I can clean up the mess she made. Goodnight. 

DK: Grinning blushing emoji. 

DK: Nighty-night. 

(Read on AO3)

[the-fiction-witch]

The Bride In Black P79- 83

Media IRl X Vampires

Character Thomas Brodie Sangster

Couple Thomas X Reader

Rating Sweet AF

I sat in bed book in hand trying my best not to giggle at the absurdity of it all. Thomas was on the bed with me his arms wrapped around me tight enough to almost cut off my circulation pressing kisses all over me as he muttered sweet things. 

"Thomas, what on earth is the matter?" I asked pushing him back a little revealing he was almost teary-eyed

"I have to leave, I have to go and spend the night in the little cottage without my darling" he pouts

"so? You've spent the night away from me before?"

"I know but, this is our last night before our beautiful wedding," he says 

"we're getting married tomorrow that's why you can't be here with me"

"But I wanna spend our last night unmarried together"

"Well, you can't that's the rule. you agreed to this months ago"

"but I wanna be with you to snuggle and kiss, talk about the life we are going to have together"

"We have plenty of time for that tomorrow night, It's one night Thomas you'll be fine without me" 

"I know... I'll just be cold out in the cottage without my little bed warmer to cuddle up to?"

"Then throw a log on the fire"

"But I'll miss you so badly, I won't have anyone to cuddle"

"I'll miss you too Thomas, but it's one night I'm sure you'll be okay for one night just cuddle your pillow. in the morning we will meet in the garden and have our wonderful wedding"

"Ummm then you and I will be married, we will be one and I get to be with my beautiful y/n forever" he cooes laying his head in my lap "I can't wait till tomorrow"

"Neither can I Thomas" I smiled stroking his hair 

"I love you so much, I can't help but cry imagining you in a wedding dress" He smiled 

"You do?"

"I can't imagine how beautiful you're going to look." 

"I'm positive you are going to look insanely handsome"

"You think I will?"

"Of course, you will"

"I know our wedding will be beautiful. and it's only a few hours away" he cooes sitting up "I can't wait for you to be my wife. for you to become one of us. So I can be yours" he smiled stroking my cheeks and rubbing his nose on my own 

"Awww that's so sweet Thomas" I smiled

"I'm gonna cry"

"When?"

"When I see you in your beautiful dress"

"How do you know?"

"I just know" he smiled "After your process and the party? did you want to come back for cuddles?"

"Of course, I would have thought you'd be eager for something else? on our wedding night"

"well after that"

"Yes we will have cuddles, and chats" I giggled 

"we can chat all about the life we're going to live together" He smiled

"Like what?"

"Well, what sort of thing we'll do on our wedding night"

"well that's a surprise, Thomas"

"oooohhh? is it now?"

"Very much a secret"

"Fine" he pouts "What about our honeymoon?"

"Well just lots of snuggly time in our lovely house"

"Perfect"

"Did you wanna wear your wedding dress for our painting?"

"I think so that sounds lovely" 

"but we will have to be careful, I might not be able to see you in your dress ever after our wedding it might remind me and make me cry"

"awww that's sweet Thomas" I cooed 

"How long do you think it'll be till we start to try for a baby?" He cooes "After our wedding?"

"I don't know, how long would you like to wait?"

"as long as you like darling. it's up to you" 

"Well, a little while. But not too long" I giggled

"Oh? Boy or girl? first?"

"Little boy" 

"a baby boy first?"

"Yeah,  a little blonde boy"

"Awwww that's so sweet I will do my best to supply the required materials"

"I'm sure you will"

"You wouldn't want a little girl?"

"Not first. boys first girls later"

"I'd like a little girl?"

"Yeah?"

"Ummmm a little girly to spoil. A sweet little girl. who looks like her mother" he cooed blowing me a little kiss 

"That's sweet Thomas. Go on take your things and get set up in the cottage for tonight, and I'll see you in the morning"

"Alright," he sighed getting out of bed and getting his bag over his shoulder "I'll miss you so much" 

"I'll miss you too Thomas, but I'll see you tomorrow morning"

"I know, I love you so much I'll see you tomorrow"

 I giggled "I love you too, see you in the morning" I smiled giving him a sweet kiss 

"I'll see you at the alter"

"I'll see you at the alter" I smiled letting our hands be dragged apart as he left the room heading out the house to spend the night in the cottage with jack ready for our wedding tomorrow afternoon. 

It sounds strange but I really missed Thomas. I found the bed was far too big without him, I did feel rather cold without him her to cuddle with and his pillow was not a good substitute even if it smelt of him the proportions were all wrong, and it didn't have the cosy like corners I can rub my nose in like Thomas does. But it's only for one night, at first light tomorrow I'll be up with a hundred jobs to do ready for the wedding tomorrow. I just tried to get some sleep relying on all the jobs in mind hoping it would drum me to sleep but it didn't. It just made me worry about everything running my necklace pendant up and down its chain as I laid on Thomas's pillow. Not even like I had him here to cuddle to calm me down. I smiled, tucking the covers around me, unable to stop imagining our sweet wedding would be in the morning.

I jumped a little as I heard a strange sound like ... moving around beyond the door to the suite.

I tried not to let it bother me just pulling the covers closer trying to get some rest.

I heard it again and for a moment sat up in bed curious if I was imagining the creaks and cracks of the wooden floorboards. But I was almost positive. It couldn't be my imagination.

I heard the door click open and panic rushed through me.

It then occurred to me the obvious answer was likely just Thomas having snuck back into the room unable to sleep without me and honestly if it was I wouldn't mind him staying for a cuddle till morning.

But his mother in an old red dress appeared at the foot of the bed with a candle in hand.

"Natalie?"

"Follow me" she says handing me a dark red cloak I nodded and slipped it on not wanting to ask questions as she put one of her own on. She headed out the room so I grabbed a candle, put on my slippers and followed her through the house. She didn't say a word to me but I knew better than to ask. She lead me down to the library and I noticed her looking for a book so I spoke up

"What's going on?"

"All will be clear. Soon enough" she says "come on their waiting for us"

"Thomas?" I asked

"Thomas can't know of what happens tonight" she says as she pushed open the conservatory door

I didn't press further, following her out the conservatory and out into the garden the dark sky looming low without a moon to light us. The sounds of owls and other such nightly creatures all that I could hear beyond my own fearful breathing. I held my necklace tightly absentmindedly moving the pendant back and forth as she led me deeper and deeper into the gardens.

I stopped so giggly seeing our wedding space set up for the morning with the sweet wooden arch at the altar covered in roses the chairs already laid out but she continued on so I followed her still. She led me behind the house to a space on the grounds that I had never been to, it was a little grey building with an old greenhouse style roof a black gate surrounding it. She pushed open the gate and began to walk inside where the door was open and light was flooding out.

I followed her nervously inside, seeing a dusty dirt floor within, ivy growing up the walls, cobwebs lingering about the place.

I noticed immediately beside the door was a stone surrounded by red roses. I continued on noticing I wasn't alone,

Natalie met here with others in the same long cloaks. All of which I recognized, ava, Martin and Oliver. All of them are family members. They all stood at the back of this building by a stone and a large deep hole.

I didn't want to go over fearful of what could be going on

"It's alright y/n. Come forward" ava reassured

Nervously I walked on past stones before reaching the end of this open hole.

And I was agasp.

My heart is racing.

My breath is sharp.

Tears running down my face.

This stone that they all stood around... held my name.

'y/n y/l/n'

A large grave dug before it, and inside the grave...

Was my own body.

It was like looking in a mirror.

My body laid in the dirt, my hair scattered about me in sweet curls, my skin pale but my face had lipstick and eyeshadow to give illustration of their being life still in me. In one of my little blue dresses with a black rose held to my chest.

"Wh-what is this? What's going on?" I cried, my panic overwhelming me causing me to drop to the floor hyperventilating as I saw my own body in my own grave.

"Oh for-" Natalie began

"Don't. Let me" Oliver interrupted "I understand what she's feeling better then anyone" he says coming kneel beside me "I'm sorry y/n. I know this is scary"

"What's going on? Oliver what is this?"

"This... is the family crypt."

"Crypt?"

"Where those of us who have left this world remain" Natalie explained

"Whats- what's that got to do with me?"

"y/n. Tomorrow you and Thomas will marry and in your process you'll become one, and be welcomed into this family just as I was. But this... this is a very important step"

"Why am I buried? Oliver. Why am I buried?"

"Because you have to be." He says "For Thomas to give you an immortal life. You have to give up you mortal life" he explained

"What?"

"When you become a Sangster you give up your name. Your mortality. Your life. When you become a Sangster you gain an immortal life and the skills and senses of a vampire. But to live forever you have to give up the mortal life you once had" he explained

"So... I have to die. In the eyes of the outside world. In order to have an immortal life here?"

"That's right. I mean if you didn't surely people would come looking for you, or ask questions about how you'd lived this long. Everyone in the family put a body in the ground with their name when they joined the family. I did too." He explained

"This is the allegiance and the secret you swear to this family and it's secret" Natalie explained "to become a Sangster"

"And if someday you do lose your immortal life you will be laid to rest here in the family crypt" ava explained "as one of us."

"It's just a word on a stone, a body in the ground. To swear you are a part of this family and to let the life you had go."

"...okay. what do I have to do?"

"You have to be the first to bury the body" Natalie says

I nodded taking the shovel from Martin unable to stop staring at my body

"Are you... sure y/n?" ava asks

"I am." I nodded "I have to admit... I don't think I liked the life I lived. I'm more then willing to bury it for an immortal life with Thomas" I smiled I took a bit of the dirt from the pile and admittedly froze up watching the tiny bits fall down onto my body but I turned it over letting it fall, I did two more before Martin took it from my hands

"Very good my lady" he says before continuing himself

ava gave me a tight hug and Natalie little more than an accepting nod.

But Oliver held me close and smiled at me "it'll be nice for us two. I know I've always got someone who understands"

"Yeah definitely."

"I'll see you tomorrow y/n. Enjoy your last night not being a Sangster" he chuckled before he headed inside too

I waited holding my candle watching as Martin finished burying the body unable to stop staring at the stone

"This is one of those curses of immortality you mentioned?"

"It is. To live forever you have to die" he says tapping the pile of dirt "it's just best not to think about it" he says "you best get to bed my lady, you wouldn't want to be tried for your wedding" he says as he too left and headed inside.

I dragged my eyes away looking at the other stones, seeing one for Oliver, one for Mark Thomas and ava's father. Even one together for henry and Marceline Thomas and ava's grandparents. It was strange but I understood it had to be this way. I headed out and walked through the gardens to get back to the suite. 

I woke up to the bright sweet sound of the alarm bringing me into the world after last night. I pushed myself up and stretched myself a little seeing it was still dark outside. I made the bed as I got out of it and set myself some music on and ran myself a hot steamy bath. With bubbles, bath salts, muscle soak, and a nice shimmer bath bomb all of it with a sweet rose scent. Making sure to turn my rollers on and get my vanity set up as it ran, Once the bath had been run I turned it off and threw my nightie into the laundry basket climbing into the nice hot water letting it relax my every muscle. I grabbed my wash cloth and scrubbed every last inch of me within an inch of my life once the water began to go cold and I was as clean as I could physically be. I climbed out wrapping a towel and my robe around me tightly heading to my vanity. I got my little tub and filled it with hot water and some nice Epsom salt, even a few rose petals sitting my feet inside. I got a sweet rose face mask sitting it against my skin at times rolling it against my skin with a little rock roller I had. I grabbed my curlers slowly moving the hot rollers into my hair making sure they wouldn't move in the process. I had already shaped and filed my nails yesterday so I grabbed my cuticle oil giving them a good slavour while I waited out my time on my face mask and my toes. Once my time was up I moved the tub away and pealed the mask off like a layer of lizard skin tossing it away immediately. By then my hands were ready so I did a base coat, then a nice muted blue I had picked out painting it down my natural nails, then once that was dry a sweet matte black gradient at its most at the tip of my nail. Of course wrapping the tip and adding a thick top coat in order to keep it nice without chipping given the busy day ahead. By the time it was nice and dry my rollers were almost cooled down so I sprayed a good heap of setting spray on my head in the hope to keep the curls tight. I very careful did my make up as it is not something I have much skill with but I did my best not using to much as to still see my natural skin as well as my freckles, I did a well blended eyeshadow black in my outer eye into a light almost white grey with some black and grey skimmer across it along with a small but sharp eyeliner with not much of a tail or flick. I contemplated fake lashes but they seemed a little much so I did a few coats of mascara making sure it is a good waterproof kind as I imagine I will be full of tears. I tested two or three lipsticks holding them to my face but often didn't think they looked right, before I found the sweet dark blood red matte lipstick that I knew would fit perfectly just dark enough to not look strange but just light enough for some sweet colour. I checked the time and knew it was now time to get dressed.

I went to my wardrobe picking out a sweet black pair of panties that were cute but comfortable airing more on the comfortable side given. I'm marrying a vampire, we will be mated for all our immortal life, and he's a virgin. Let's be honest, I don't need to impress anyone. I got myself the bra that matched the panties making sure not to have it too tight but adjusting the straps a little to make sure it looked nice slipping on a nice pair of tights having a mild fight with them as I did. I slipped on my little black shoes with barely more than two inches of wedge heel, a little strap around my ankle and then I turned my attention to my dress.

It immediately made me smile.

It had a tight corset style bodice with a sweetheart neckline, the bodice sculpted with intricate filigree in a dark silvery grey that was almost unnoticeable from the black of the dress but shimmered when it caught the light. Tulle ran across the sweetheart neckline hiding my bust and hanging off my shoulders with sweet silver flecks also almost unnoticeable, from the bodice down this long flowing tulle ball gown that stopped just at my ankles to allow me to see my feet this too had the slightly flecks of silver shimmer in the other wise black fabric I looked at myself in the mirror and even with my hair still in its curlers I had to fight my urge to cry.

No. We can't cry. Not yet. Haven't even seen thomas yet.

I moved around mostly swishing my skirt around before slowly going over to my vanity Again I pulled each curler out of my hair and gave it a gentle comb keeping the sweet curled waves I pinned up some of the hair near the front so it wouldn't affect my face pinning it up and setting one of the sweet juniper roses from the garden on top of the pins having to clip it there to make sure it kept still. I have myself a spray of all required sprays, hairspray, deodorant, setting spray and of course my perfume.

I put my necklace on letting it hand sweetly and I took my bouquet in my hands eight of the beautiful juniper roses, various small babies breath flowers, lavender and lilac all together in a sweet bouquet with red ribbon around it to tie them up it hanging down low. I held my breath holding my flowers closer as I turned for a moment unable to look at my reflection but I looked up and couldn't help my smiles.

"My goodness." A voice spoke up I looked and saw Natalie had just opened the door in her pale red dress her hand to her diamond necklace

"Hi" I blushed

"You look beautiful my dear." She smiled

"Thank you. Just wish my family could have seen it"

"In sure they are in tears looking at you now" she says "and are thrilled for you to be becoming a part of our family." She smiled "and I am, ecstatic that a wonderful girl like you will be a part of our family, I couldn't have asked for someone better for my thomas"

"You mean that?"

"I do. Truly" she nods "shall we?"

"Okay" I nodded "I'm ready" 

I held my breath a little as Natalie led me down out of the house and into the garden we walked through the green grass beside the hedges and flowers. Side by side we stopped just around the corner from our set up wedding space and she smiled, tapping my hand and heading off without saying a word. I did my best not to blush or to cry as I waited the mere seconds felt for hours rushing by until I heard the sweet violin music begin. At first I found myself unable to move until I let out a clear sign holding my flowers tightly as I took my step. The first couple on the grass until I reached the little wooden red walk way down the center. At first I kept my eyes closed, slowly walking hearing slight gasps below the music. I couldn't wait anymore so I opened my eyes to see the most perfect sight that could be imagined.

The grey sky loomed over us, but bright enough to still be sweet. The hedges in a circle around everything taller than everyone at over six feet tall. The sweet green grass across the ground with the little wooden reed walk way in the center. Either side of the walkway where the small brown wooden chairs with black and red draped fabric across them where all our guests sat, them all looking at me surprised. Slightly behind me was the small quartet of violins to play our sweet music. At the end of the walkway close to the hedge was the large wooden arch covered in red roses, lavender flowers, lilac flowers, and ivy. And there he stood waiting staring at the hedge so I couldn't see much of him. Jack Jack stood beside him in all grey, his eyes wide. I saw him whisper something to Thomas but I wasn't sure what it was. I slowly made my way down spotting Oliver and Ava both smiling so widely, I saw his mother and their aunt Luna. His mother seemed happy already teary and Luna gave me a look of a smirk that made me blush a little. For a second I was nervous being so close to him I moved beside him and gave his shoulder a tap.

He had his eyes closed but nervously fiddled with his fingers as he turned on his heels to face me so I made sure I was facing him too. He wore well shined red leather shoes, blood red suit pants with a black belt, a black button down with the top button undone, a red waistcoat with black buttons, and a red and black slightly textured jacket that perfectly matched his whole outfit, his hair perfectly sat and sculpted. He let out a breath and opened his eyes immediately tearing up and sniffling unable to hide his wide smile

"Hi Thomas" I smiled

"... Hi." He smiled now crying

"Don't you'll make me cry" I whined playfully

"I'm sorry - I'm sorry, I thought I'd last longer than that. Look at you. Your more beautiful than I ever could have imagined" he smiled fighting his tears

"You look insanely handsome"

"I did my best. I don't think I even compare to you my darling, my sweet little Y/n" he smiled "Shall we begin?"

"Um hum" I nodded

He offered his hand so I happily took it,

Jack got the book from the side. I believe it was a copy of Sherlock or something that he had simply passed our wedding script in but it looked the part "we welcome everyone here today in this place of sweetness, to join together two who wish to share an eternity. To join together mortality and immortality to be one. To share one heart, one soul and one infinite life together. From this day on they will walk through hand in hand without the cold wither of time passing. To swear to one another everything without secret, without silence, without fear or concern." He explained "anyone in this place who has reason, concern, or a voice not yet heard who believes this joining to be false the floor is open now and it never will again" he said and there was nothing not a word was spoken "very well. You should know your words'' he looks to me so I nodded

"I Y/n Y/l/N swear that I will stand by your side until time runs out. I will protect you from any and all that may wish to harm you, I promise to give you the freedom to make your path but give advice when this may be bleak, I promise to hold our secret close and protected, and to stay with you until the sun itself burns out. I give you my heart. Utterly and completely. For I love you Thomas and I promise I always will" I smiled looking to jack

"Right, sorry?" He says handing over the sweet ring gold inside and a matte black on the outside I took it and gently squeezed my and before slipping it on his finger

"Awwww Y/n" he said having to dry his tears

"I, Thomas sangster swear, that I will stand with you until the end of time. I will protect you from all those who may harm you. I promise to give you freedom but I will always be by your side to advise you. I will stay with you in your arms until the end of all things. I give you my heart, my soul and all of my external life and love, for Y/n you are the woman I was meant to be with and now I stand with you I know truly I was made for you and no matter what happens I will love you beyond measure of time" he smiled taking the same ring from Jack giving my hand a kiss before slipping the ring on my finger to sit with my engagement ring

"That's beautiful Thomas"

"Will you take this man, in all his flaws and faults, to be with heart as soul for eternity?"

"I do" I blushed holding back my tears

"Will you take this woman in all her flaws and faults to be with heart and soul for all eternity?"

"I do" Thomas nods squeezing my hand

"Then so it shall be, now and forever. Husband and wife. Mr and Mrs sangster" he smiled

We both couldn't stop smiling as everyone began to applaud and cheer but everyone jumped as immediately there was a violent cracking across the sky, the whole garden shaking and illuminating for a split second as thunder and lightning snapped and the moment they did a drop. Then two. Then three. Then four. And before anyone could move the rain was battering the garden knocking the flowers and grass everyone in panic quickly rushing for cover from the intense rain.

And even though I was in my wedding dress I didn't care and neither did Thomas. He pulled me close into a sweet kiss feeling the heat and the rush of emotions making me cry tears flooding down my cheeks along with the rain unable to hold back my emotions that it was finally true we were married. He was even crying too, pulling me tighter and tighter to him.

Till we each pulled back letting the rain wash over us completely

"I have never been more in love with you then I am in this very moment" I smiled

"I didn't think it was possible for me to love you anymore. I have proven myself wrong today" he smiled "you look so beautiful, my beautiful wife"

"It is finally true" I smiled holding his hand "come on or we'll catch a cold" I told him he nodded and we walked down the little pathway hand in hand.

We walked hand in hand, across the rainy paths of the house all the way to the small stone chapel we had been to before. We waited as everyone filed in and found their seats unable to stop our kisses and cuddles; he would barely let me go for a second.

"I don't know what to say to you, I'm just so happy. So happy it's true. We're married. You're my wife." He smiled tears slowly falling

"Ohh thomas" I giggled wiping his tears away and giving him a little kiss "It's alright you don't have to say anything, I know how long you've waited for this"

"It was worth it. Every moment of it. To wait for you, My perfect y/n" he smiled stroking my cheek "I love you so much"

"I love you too" I smiled

"Are you ready?"

"I am" I nodded

"Okay," he nodded and held my hand softly giving my hand a sweet kiss before we headed inside but this time we went to the altar and fear washed over me like an ocean wave seeing the slab of stone. The same slug-like man stood there waiting for us "You have joined this family by law, now you must join it by blood. Do you swear to this family, its secret forever more?"

"I do" I nodded

"Do you join us... willingly?"

"I do"

He offered the slab so I let out a breath and laid down fixing my dress a little so I was comfortable. Thomas stood beside me and gently held my hand.

The priest loomed over me with the knife in hand and thomas turned white admittedly I gulped as I saw it.

"No" thomas snapped "I'll do it" He says taking the knife in hand looking down at me nervously "I'm sorry y/n"

"It's okay" I nodded doing my best not to look, he took my hands and ran the blade across my skin opening up my skin I did my best not to scream to show my pain to much but it hurt so much

"It doesn't hurt too bad doesn't darling?"

"It's fine thomas" I lied trying to make him feel a little better even if tears started uncontrollably running down my cheeks, they took my blood and began to pass it around all the while my vision got fuzzier, slowly getting darker my body feeling so weak and cold. My vision completely fading. 

[theycallmekaibara]

I don’t vent often, but I rlly need to get this off of my chest, Besties. 😅 It’s been a LOOONG time coming, and I’m just tired of feeling this way.

So like, some time ago -- maybe a year or two ago now? time is an illusion, idk -- I tried to cast a line out into one of the popular Stardew Valley Art and OC Communities (the most popular one at the time, idk what the landscape is like now tbh because the ordeal kind of put me off of trying to join communities for a while and even exploring the sdv tag beyond looking at Elliott art lmfao), and the response was just an absolute mess...Not only did they take a while to respond to me (because they were busy talking mess about the situation in their little server...yes I have proof lmao), they didn’t look into my content at all, AND straight up lied about the reason they wouldn’t let me join. It all ended with some of them blocking me for some reason?? (likely because in frustration I made a vent post after the whole situation somewhere along the lines of “if they were a clique, they should just say so”) and now I’m fairly certain one of them, whose art I really admire, is refusing to answer my asks (literally just saying I love their art, or asking little art related questions as I am wont to do) because of the whole situation...

And it’s all just crazy to me?? I don’t think I did anything particularly wrong aside from the vent post which was isolated to My blog and not linked to them in any way. I acknowledge that. But all I did otherwise was send out a few anons to see who I should talk to about joining, and then I talked to that person when I FINALLY got an answer after being given the run around.

And that answer was that they weren’t accepting any members, but if there was someone in the server who could vouch for me, I could be extended an invitation. Which is hilarious, because at the time there were two or three people from the last Stardew Community I was in, and even one I had just met at the time, who were part of their discord server; one of whom, I hear, even vouched for me. They also said they only accepted people who were making stardew content, which, might I add, was RAMPANT on my blog at the time, clueing me in to the fact that they didn’t even glance at it (that and the fact that they called me by Kaibara’s name when I finally got a response :T). 

Guess it would have been a little awkward to let me in after they had such a lengthy and not too nice conversation about the situation sitting in the chat logs. 

It’s something that I go back to from time to time because the situation really made me feel like shit...like...they didn’t even try to talk to me, they talked mad shit about me sending out anons to ask if they were accepting members (calling it creepy??? like...ok lmao), and now I’m blocked and or being ignored by people I did nothing to?? I feel like it shouldn’t be such a source of pain tbh but, sensitive folks gonna be sensitive, IG.

There was one person who I greatly appreciated, who reached out about the situation and was very nice about it -- apologizing for the whole thing, even though they had very little to do with it. I still appreciate them, and hope they’re doing alright. (If you’re reading this....I’m sorry I’m bad about keeping in contact haHAAA)

There wasn’t really any point to this post, I just needed to let it out. I don’t think its BAD that they’re a clique, I just found it really shitty of them to do all this instead of just...yknow...acknowledging that they didn’t want to add people to the friend group.

Did anyone else experience anything like this? Am I the only one being shunned just because I wanted to make some new art friends? :T 

[duskwoodgirl4life]

It's not how I wanted the chapter to go towards the end but due to mental health it is what it is

Trigger warning ⚠️⚠️ contains stronge language ⚠️⚠️

Chapter 6

Jake took MC home once they had gotten back home MC couldn't control her urges any longer. She pushed Jake up against the wall and kissed him deep her hands found their way under his hoodie. Jake's hands ran through MCs hair and the heat between them was rising. MC grabbed Jake's hand and pulled him towards her bedroom clothes flying off as they went.

After a few hours later MC and Jake both lay on the bed catching their breath Jake intertwined their hands. MC turned to face Jake still holding hands with each other.

Jake: MC, I know this might sound stupid but I need to ask you, will you be my forever?

MC: Of course I will Jake but only if you will be my forever too?

Jake: I can't say no to such a beautiful women

Just as they were about to share a kiss MCs phone buzzed, she leaned over to check who it was. It was Phil sending her another message begging her to meet up with him as he was in trouble.

Phil: MC please I am begging you I need your help so bad right now, I am in trouble

MC: why should I care if your in trouble we are not together anymore

Phil: please!!! This is important MC I'm in trouble with my taxes

MC: So what? You made your bed now lie in it I'm busy fucking my boyfriend

MC put her phone down and grabbed hold of Jake again, in a fit of passion their hands were all over each other. Later that afternoon after their intense activities MC and Jake were making something to eat when there was a knock at the door.

MC went to answer and the two officers from the other day, they had come back to let us know about the investigation. MC stood tomome side and let the officers in.

Officer Baine: good afternoon MC, Jake we are here about Phil

MC: Okay, just tell us when the court date is, we will be there but I promise we will be putting up one hell of a fight.

Officer Grant: Yes we are here about that but not how you think, the charges against you and Jake have been dropped

Jake: What!!! But now?

Officer Baine: while we were investigating Mr Hawkins we discovered that he was being investigated by another team for tax fraud

Officer Grant: we now know the whole thing was a pack of lies, you will not have anymore problems from him

MC wasn't quite sure what to think. She knew there wasn't anything good about Phil but to dodge his taxes that was massive. After Jake had shown the officers out he came back and gave MC a hug.

A few weeks had gone by, Phil had been arrested for tax fraud, he was still awaiting his court date. Jake's shop was busier than ever, business had really picked up, everyone recommended him and always left positive reviews.

MCs POV

The group chat had blown up again and it had been quiet for ages, news started pouring in saying Hannah had gone into labor. I fought to hold back from saying anything but it was becoming harder and harder.

Lilly was begging me to help, why I don't know what the hell does she really want me to do, ride in on a horse and say everything is going to be okay.

I couldn't hold back any longer and decided to make one comment and I would be logging off from the chat.

MC: Lilly what the hell do you want me to do? I am not getting involved in this shit, not after what Hannah and Phil did to me. Leave me alone and stop sending me messages. I am not interested in what's going on, okay!!.

MC offline

MC put her phone back in her pocket and went back to work, lost in what she was doing. She didn't notice that Jake had closed the shop for the day she came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

She could smell his scent. It was so intoxicating it made her smile as she held his hands. Jake took her hand and gave her a hug. He could see that she was stressed with everything going on.

Jake: It's going to be okay

MC: it doesn't seem like it, the group chat blew up before Lilly begging me for help just because Hannah had gone into labor

Jake: What does she want you to do?

MC: I don't know, I just told her to leave me alone and logged off

Jake: come on, let's go upstairs and I'll make us some dinner

MC: your so sweet, I love you

MC stopped in her tracks. They had never said I love you to each other yet, her whole body froze not knowing what to do or say.

MC: Jake, I..I…

Jake: I love you to MC

He walked back over to her with a smile on his face and kissed her deep wrapping their arms around each other.

The next morning MC and Jake had decided to have a lazy day. It was Sunday so they just stayed cuddled up together watching Netflix. While MC was picking another movie MC phone rang it was Lilly.

Jake: let me answer you keep looking for a movie

Jake picked up the phone and answered

Jake: Hello Lilly what's up?

Hannah: Jake? Is MC there?

Jake: What do you want?

Lilly: It's Hannah, she's having to raise the baby all on her own she needs MCs help

Jake: not a chance Lilly, don't you get what your sister did to her? Hannah slept with Phil behind MCs back

Lilly: I know, but I was hoping

Jake: Lilly stop calling if Hannah needs help you help her your sister, or better yet just get a nanny that way you can both go back to being the stuck up snobs you both are.

Before Lilly could say anything Jake ended the call and went back to MC who had found a movie to watch.

MC: thank you Jake, that was amazing

Jake: your welcome

MC: You know, I've got a much better idea come on

MC grabbed Jake's hand and led him into the bedroom, they didn't come back out till it was time to make dinner. It was MCs turn to make dinner tonight so she made a homemade lasagne with garlic bread. Jake had lit some candles and had a bottle of wine ready to pour into the glasses.

[clockworkflicker]

<< Rewind

1.4k words, St/ranger Th/ings — platonic Steve and Robin with brief hints of St/eddie and Ro/nance. As ever, Steve is only capable of worrying about others.

Written for @miserablebabes — I was your secret santa ^^

Thanks again to @softsnzstuff for organizing this!

It’s another slow evening at Family Video. Snow falls gently outside, bright silver against the thick cover of clouds. Hardly anyone’s out and about tonight — certainly not for the sake of renting a movie, at least.

That’s not to say there’s nothing to do around the store, though. Far from it. Although they obviously do their best to do as little actual work at Family Video as possible, Steve and Robin still recognize that Keith will be on their asses if they neglect regular upkeep.

The VHS tape rewinder clicks off, and Robin retrieves the rewound tape with a yawn. She fits the movie back in its plastic case and places it atop a growing mountain of movies to her right. Shifting back to the stack of movies on her left, she pulls another from its case and places it in the rewinder, turning it on with a soft click.

It’s all far too dull. On the other side of the customer service counter, Steve is fast asleep, head nestled between arms folded on the table. He must’ve dozed off while she was rummaging around in the back, Robin figures.

She considers letting him sleep. It’s not like she needs him to help deal with the store’s nonexistent patrons at the moment. But a hand with all the goddamn tapes in the return box would be nice. Well, that and she’d love to have someone to chat with. The Family Video is far from quiet — Back to the Future is playing on several screens throughout the store, its audio punctuated by the rhythmic whirring and clicking of the tape rewinder — but the white noise feels distressingly empty without their usual banter.

“Hey Dingus,” Robin says, ruffling Steve’s mess of big, stupid hair. “Have a nice nap?”

Steve groans awake at her touch. “Hands off the hair, Buckley.” The counter he’s resting his arms and head on is ungodly cold, so he clumsily forces himself upright on his tiny little stool, looking like he might start to lean too far one way or another and topple over.

Robin eyes him, unsure of where all this drowsiness is coming from. “You good? It would be nice to have some help sorting these tapes.”

“Shit, you’ve been doing that yourself all this time?” Steve runs a hand through his hair and casts a dazed glance over the stacks of movies scattered about the counter, then a concerned look back at his friend. She looks tired. “Hey, Robin?” Steve mumbles. “You don’t look great.”

“Wow, I bet you say that to all the girls.” Robin rolls her eyes and slides a few stacks of tapes over to Steve. “Scan these in.”

“Shut up, you know what I mean.” He swipes a sluggish knuckle under his nose and gets to work on logging the returned tapes.

Robin shrugs, placing another movie in the rewinder. “I’ve been manning the store while you were knocked out. Perhaps you just might be able to find it in your heart to forgive me for having a few strands of hair out of place from running back and forth between the counter and the new releases. We can’t all look as flawless as Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington all the time.” She glances over at him, but her eyes snag on his slumped shoulders and pallid expression, and she’s suddenly aware that he really does not look flawless at the moment. Quite the opposite of flawless, actually.

Steve leans forward on the counter and rubs at his eyes, annoyed with himself both for falling asleep on the job and for his apparent inability to properly convey concern for a friend. “Right, sorry,” he says with a sniff. God, his head aches.

The VHS rewinder clicks off again, but Robin pauses before taking the tape out. Even if he is pretty out of it, she wasn’t expecting Steve to sound so dejected. When she chooses her next words, her voice is a little gentler. “You’re awfully concerned about me for someone who looks like he might keel over at any moment. What’s going on?”

“‘s nothing, guess I just didn’t sleep great last night.” His gaze is glossy and distant as he keys in the password to the computer, messing it up several times before typing it correctly. Before Robin can probe him further, his eyes narrow, then flutter shut, and Steve ducks to the side with a rough-sounding sneeze. “hiH- GKT’Sshhuh!”

“Mmm,” Robin hums. “You sound sick.”

Steve swipes his nose across his sleeve. “snnft. I guess, yeah.”

"You could’ve said something. Why drag yourself through the mud if you’re in bad shape?”

“Don’t be stupid, it’s just some dumb cold.” He sniffles again, thicker this time, and returns to scanning in tapes.

Robin raises an eyebrow. “You fell asleep at the customer service counter.”

“Really, Robin, it’s fine. ‘m awake now, good to go.”

“And now you’re scanning in movies from the stack you already scanned in.” She walks over to him and plops down on the stool next to his. “Sorry I woke you.”

“Is that an invitation to pass back out? I’d feel bad if I left you with all these goddamn tapes.” Steve gives her a weak smile, slumping back over the counter, chin propped up on folded arms.

“Something tells me you’d also feel bad if you kept yourself awake,” Robin says, brushing a gentle hand across his forehead.

“Christ, Buckley, what did I say about the hair?” Steve hisses, wincing and recoiling slightly.

“You’re burning up.”

“Figures,” he groans.

“Honestly, Steve.” Robin exhales a small sigh.

“Colds always make my head hurt like hell. 's normal.”

“I don’t know where you got that idea, but being this out of it is not normal.”

“No, I mean, like, it’s normal for me.” Steve pauses, an uneven breath sifting through his teeth. He presses his nose against his sleeve in an attempt to rub away the burning sensation prickling his sinuses. “ihheH- hehH’TCH’uhhh! Shit. snf. ghuuhh. Y’know. After all the, uh, the head trauma.”

Robin’s expression softens. “Steve - ”

“ihh-! hH’CHHUHshh!” The second sneeze wrenches through his chest, damp and breathless.

She watches him, shivering and sniffling and folded in on himself on his tiny little stool. Something close to guilt tightens in her chest, and she finds herself foolishly wishing she could rewind time like one of these VHS tapes and take a blow to the head or two in his place. It’s a completely unreasonable thought, but not any more unreasonable than Steve’s proven willingness to throw himself into danger for others’ sakes.

“snnft. ghuhh. Sorry.”

“You’ve gotta stop getting beaten up,” Robin says, handing him the tissue box from under the counter.

Steve exhales a bitter laugh and presses a tissue to his shiny-damp nose. “How else will I have any sense knocked into me?”

Robin slides several stacks of tapes aside and joins him in leaning forward on the counter. “So how many more concussions ‘til you figure out that you don’t have to be Mr. Tough Guy around the people you’ve gone through literal hell with?” Coming from anyone else, the question would’ve sounded accusatory, but the way Robin asks it, staring off into the empty winter night just beyond the front door, she mostly just sounds forlorn.

“How many more concussions? snnft. Yeah, how many.” It’s not intentional, but he’s doing a great job matching her tone, he realizes. Steve rests his head back between his arms and closes his eyes. The lights in the Family Video are way too goddamn bright.

“I’m gonna go grab you some painkillers and call Eddie, okay?”

Before she can get up, Steve speaks up. “Robin, hold on.”

“...?”

“I’m sorry,” he croaks.

“You already apologized, Dingus. It’s fine. Gross colds happen to everyone.”

“No, I mean - ” he pauses to rub his nose against his wrist. “ - I’m sorry I’m, I dunno, such an overconfident idiot.”

Robin tilts her head. “Don’t be. That overconfident idiot has saved my ass a few times. I just wish he was a bit kinder to himself.”

“I can try,” Steve says with a sniff.

“Good.”

“Also,” Steve cracks open an eye to meet Robin’s gaze. It’s weak, but there’s a sly smile creeping across his lips. “Since when do you carry painkillers on you?”

“Shut up.”

“Nance insisted, didn’t she?”

“Shut up!” Robin laughs. If he wasn’t in such bad shape, she would’ve shoved Steve right off his stool for that.

“Yeah, she’s a real walking pharmacy, huh?”

“Frankly, Steve, in an ideal world, everyone around you should be a walking pharmacy. You have all the self-preservation of a wet paper towel.”

[silyabeeodess]

FusionFall Headcanon: The Fusion Hivemind

I've brought up the hivemind a lot in the past, so here's some ideas on how I think it can work:

The closest thing I can compare the way the hivemind functions to is an online server. Typically, only those made from or badly infected by fusion matter can access it, with there being certain restrictions based on who enters. For example, Fuse himself would be the server creator and main admin with certain fusions under him regulating it.

If a normal person enters the hivemind via corruption/infection, they're not typically going to be able to understand it or even remember much from the experience. It would be like entering a live chat feed with no pause and countless people all sending in messages/talking over each other at once. You might pick up one or two things being said, but for the most part, it's all just a jumbled-up mess--and that's not counting the fusion monsters firing off what wound basically come across as spam or keyboard-smashed text. For fusions, understanding it is much simpler as they are essentially able to pause that constant flow of information and/or look back at it for review. They don't automatically know everything going on between all of their kind at once.

This flow of information would essentially be the "main chat room," and would be the sole part to the hivemind that an outsider could access. They'd be in a similar position to fusion monsters. While able to contribute to the "main chat"--if, for humans, only in pained cries from the amount of fusion matter coursing through their bodies. The difference between fusion monsters and outsiders to the hivemind is that, while both can receive orders, true memory transference would only occur with fusion monsters and those over them. The most the hivemind might get from you is quick visions of whatever is occurring during the period of the infection, like if you're close to dying and/or if you're around other fusion fighters.

Only certain species of fusion monsters will have a strong, separate means of communication--like a private or group chat on the server--with each other. Fusions are able to directly reach out to groups of fusion monsters to give orders, but not the other way around. Fusions can also see through the eyes of the monsters under their command via the hivemind, and Fuse can do so through everything in his army.

With the mention of a "private messaging" part of the hivemind, it's actually not-so-private. It's most often used as a means of Fuse and the fusions to connect with each other one step above the chaotic noise that is the rest of the hivemind: If Fusion A wants to talk to Fusion B, it's easier to do so through a little extra telepathic reach than to shout into void hoping they're paying attention. With this, while fusions might not always know or even care what's said between each other, Fuse can access everything.

As mentioned above a little bit, a big weakness of the hivemind is that processing all of the information and dialogue is far from instantaneous. Both Fuse and his Fusions have to mentally "read" through it, which can sometimes leave them distracted and open to attack. For this reason--no different than humans texting each other vs. talking in-person--if they are close to others of their kind, they'll just talk normally.

With this server analogy, it is still necessary to say that there is a degree of mental control Fuse possesses over his army. Now, do fusions have a "log" of private thoughts somewhere in the hivemind? Yes and no... There is absolutely a log, as their memories are recorded into the hivemind so they can be copied over into a new body should a fusion perish. It's much harder for fusions to review these logs with each other than it is for them to access a fusion monster's and what can be reviewed between them would have limited access. That's still not an issue for Fuse though, as everything in the hivemind is connected back to him. He's not normally going to care about the private thoughts of a fusion, however, since they're tools to him rather than people and they have an extreme loyalty to him anyway. He'll mainly just exert more of his will over a fusion if its cloned personality becomes a problem. I once had someone message me asking if this was like White Diamond's possession of gems, and while I think it would be very rare since Fuse would have to put a lot more concentration into it than he'd likely deem necessary, I do see that comparison matching in this situation. Overall, however, Fusions that are under a heavier control are typically regulated to a monster-type role: Aside from a slightly higher intelligence, they become beings of destruction following basic commands, their sense of personality largely stripped from them. Their subconscious isn't locked away and replaced by Fuse's: It's distorted to where they become more like obedient animals.

With the introduction of fusion imaginary friends to the hivemind, they're the only fusions who truly have a mental space completely separate from it--and from Fuse. Thankfully for them, they were also quick enough to subconsciously realize this advantage and keep some things to themselves, if only for the sake of survival. This also means that certain events, like Fusion Eduardo leaving clues for the Fusion Fighters, largely go unnoticed by Fuse's army.

Bringing up Kevin's case again, there are ways the hivemind can essentially be hacked. Doing so without anyone in the hivemind catching on though would be very difficult, and once they notice you, the mental attack in response would be severe. Either they would try to punish and push you out of the hivemind or, more likely, try to control you.