#my sleep schedule has been messed up for a few days and didn't get much of it last night

[edwinspaynes]

I've spent most of my writing time working on chapter 3 of Now We're at the Starting Line (I Did My Time) this month. The good news is that the chapter will be out on the 15th as planned! The bad news is that I didn't write anything for Crystal week.

Luckily, this chapter has a Crystal-and-Edwin scene in it that I'm extremely proud of! I'm posting it independently a few days before the chapter for @crystal-week, because I love our little psychic so much and want to post something for her.

Starting Line spoilers under the cut!

CONTEXT: After getting home from an awful meeting with her mother, Crystal finds herself crying on the stairway of the Agency building. Edwin, after a rather emotional moment with Charles, ascends the stairs and sees her there.

-

Crystal should go home. She knew that she should – her bed would be a great distraction right now, and the promise of a night sleeping beside Niko’s ghostly form was a comfort. But she didn’t want to go home to Niko a crying mess, so she sat on the stairs between the parking lot and the Agency above with her knees pulled to her chest.

Her mom really didn’t care about her. She didn’t give two shits what happened to her daughter. It had never been clearer to Crystal than it was today, and it had already been pretty fucking clear.

You have twelve minutes, she had said.

This conversation has been a perfect waste of time.

Crystal, I’ve let you have your little delusion for long enough.

She should be beyond sadness. She shouldn’t be such a baby. She was Crystal Palace Surname Von-Hoverkraft, and she’d always been a force to be reckoned with. Not just psychic, not just magical, but strong. Emotionally sturdy. Reliable.

Even if her memories didn’t feel like her own, she recalled feeling that way. Powerful.

And, apparently, she couldn’t catch a break. Not even to have a good long humiliating cry on her own. Because the last voice she wanted to hear sounded behind her, echoing through the rickety stairwell louder than she’d ever wanted it to. “Crystal?” Edwin sounded weirdly worried. “Are you… crying?”

“No,” she said. “Someone’s fucking chopping onions.”

Edwin sat down beside Crystal gingerly, lowering himself with his hands awkwardly. He cocked his head to the side and hummed. “I can in fact recognize when you are being sarcastic,” he said. “You are not particularly subtle.”

Crystal snorted. “Did you think I was trying to be?”

“I do sometimes,” Edwin said lightly. “Perhaps not now, though, as you seem rather… tense.” He paused. When he finally spoke, his voice was oddly stiff. “Would you like to… discuss your particular malady?”

Crystal touched the buns in her hair, one after the next. She was already crying, and Edwin knew it. She might as well talk to him. What was the worst he could do?

And, as much as she hated admitting it, somewhere deep inside her she knew that she and Edwin were birds of a feather. Crystal might as well talk to him, right? Besides, she didn’t really care what he thought about her. He’d see her, and he’d be honest. Maybe that was all she needed right now. So she took a breath and said, with absolutely no prelude, “it was my mother.”

Edwin’s response was short, and his voice was light. “Oh?”

“Yeah,” Crystal said, grateful for his brevity. It made her feel like she could go on. “When Charles and I met up with her today, she was… I don’t know. A real asshole, honestly. But I hate saying that. She’s my mom, even if she was super clear that she didn’t want to see me.” She paused. “Did you know that she only gave me a fifteen-minute appointment? I’m her daughter, and she gave me a fifteen-minute scheduling block.”

“That is… less than positive,” Edwin agreed in an oddly sympathetic voice.

“That’s very British of you,” Crystal told him, and he smirked. She did, too, but felt her face fall again after a few seconds. “Just… and, like, I don’t want to bitch and moan about it, even if I’m speaking to the world record holder for bitching and moaning.”

“Now you are just needlessly instigating,” Edwin said, but there was an undercurrent of laughter in his voice. “A well-known facet of your personality, to be sure, but unnecessary right now.”

Crystal rolled her eyes. “Well, like I was saying, I don’t want to gripe too much, but like… she didn’t care that I was missing. She didn’t even fucking notice, and neither did my dad. What kind of parent doesn’t even notice when their child is missing? What kind of parent doesn’t even give it a second thought when they learned that their kid was a literal missing person?”

She was angry. She was indignant. But Edwin was looking off into the distance, his expression calm and contemplative. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was holding back for some reason.

Which sucked, because one of the reasons that she liked Edwin – though, ugh, why would she think that – was that he never bit his tongue. But his face was careful now, even if his eyes shone with some unidentifiable emotion.

“What is it?”

Edwin turned his head toward her, his shoulders rolling. He assessed her with an almost practiced nonchalance before speaking. His voice was kind, but there was an undercurrent of anger in it that Crystal didn’t understand.

Not yet, anyway.

“I do actually know something of that,” Edwin said. “Believe it or not.”

Crystal blinked. “What does that mean?”

Edwin paused. He opened his mouth once, shut it, and shook his head quickly. “When I went to Hell - ”

“God, Edwin,” Crystal said. “I know that what’s happened to me isn’t as bad as literal Hell. You don’t always have to compare.”

“I’m not,” Edwin said. His fists clenched and pressed together on his lap. “I am very sorry that I have given you reason to believe that I am.”

All the fight went out of Crystal then. “It’s fine,” she said.

“Might I go on now?”

“Fine.”

“When I went to Hell,” Edwin continued, “my disappearance was labeled an Act of God. I believe I have told you that, but… well, I have had decades to contemplate the implications of that, and to research precisely what the declaration entailed.” He paused. “One facet of such a statement is that I was not looked for. Not by anyone. Society at large, to be sure, but I do not care much for the opinions of that lot. I do, however, care that my family abandoned my search.”

“Jesus,” Crystal said.

“Yes, I do believe that is a likely reason that no one searched for me.” Edwin’s voice was saucy, but Crystal sensed an undertone of real hurt. “They did not even start, in fact. I was an Act of God from the day I went missing. To this day, my death is what Charles calls a ‘cold case.’ I remain unburied, and my mother and father could not even be bothered to purchase an empty casket for me despite their abundance of money.”

“That sucks,” Crystal said sympathetically.

“Yes,” Edwin agreed. “It is not an ideal outcome. And I know that you think me unemotional, or cold. But remembering that no one around me cared to search for me – it is the only time that I remember that I was once a person.” He cocked his head. “But this is not about me. It is about the truth that you are far from alone in your sentiments, and-” Edwin made a vibrating sound with his lips, his eyes wide. “Well. That is rather enough emotion for one sitting. I daresay that I had far too many feelings after… well. I shall have to find a way to cleanse myself of it.”

Crystal snorted, and in that moment, she felt a bit herself again.

Then, to bring the mood back to something adjacent to normal, she turned toward Edwin. “Did you know that when I was born my mom signed my forehead?”

Edwin gave her an odd look. “With one of those… magical markers? Whyever would she do that?”

Crystal laughed slightly. “No, it was a temporary tattoo of her signature. It was like I was an art piece they were curating. They wanted to make some weird statement online.”

“Your internet is indeed an odd place. A wealth of knowledge, but also a wealth of independent publications waiting to be ridiculed.”

Edwin sidled off the stair next to her wordlessly and walked away, up the stairs and toward the comfort of his books and notes. Crystal watched him go, and he never turned back.

And she knew what she had to do.

She couldn’t give up, not for herself. Not just for her own sake, though that would have been a pretty damn good reason in itself. She had to understand her powers for Charles, for Edwin… and for Niko, who had been lighting her up inside in a weirdass way lately that she didn’t even understand. She had to know who she was, even beyond her memories, and if Maddy Surname wasn’t going to help her…

Well, fuck her.

Aicha, she thought, are you there?

Her eyes went white as Aicha responded.

Always, my sweet child.

[tiredsurvivoronmain]

Old beans doodle before I call it a night

[ocinstar]

Heart and soul

Spencer reid x reader

Summary: slow dancing in your living room turns into an unexpected proposal.

Cw: fluffy fluff, established relationship, use of y/n, use of "mrs" and "girl" (but other than that theres not much fem pronouns)

Wc: 1877

A/n: first time writing a slow dancing scene guys!

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I wasn't having the best day. I had been called in earlier for work since they were understaffed and had to do the majority of the work. I didn't have any more coffee left at home and didn't have time go get some from the coffee shop, so I were tired all day with no aid. On top of all of that, my boyfriend had been gone for almost 3 days and I didn't know when he'd be back.

Of course I knew Spencers job was important, he was saving lives and catching killers. But it would be nice to have him all to yourself for a week before he was swept to a different state. Spencer and I talked on the phone every night and texted each other throughout the day, but it wasn't the same. Not having him next to me in bed every night has severely messed with my sleep schedule, missing the warmth of him next to me. You'd think after 2 years of this that it'd get easier, but it really hasn't.

I felt so much lighter as you walked up to your apartment door, feeling relieved to know the day was over and you could relax. You thought about the warm shower and nap you were going to take as you unlocked the door. As you opened the door, you were pleasantly surprised to see spencer sitting on the couch with a book in his hand. He looked up as you shut the door behind you.

"Hi, love." He smiled, getting up to greet me. He kissed me on the cheek and took the purse off my shoulder and onto the table beside the door.

"Hey, I thought you weren't gonna be back till tomorrow?" I wrapped my arms around his torso and smiled up at him, happy for him to be home so early.

"Case ending sooner than I expected, thought I'd surprise you." He gestured behind him with his head. I looked over to the coffee table to see a spread of food from our favorite Chinese restaurant and my favorite a bottle of wine. I got excited just at the sight of the feast he had bought for the both of you.

"Oh thank god, I'm starving." I unwrapped my arms from him, hurrying over to the food. He laughed as I wasted no time in filling up my plate and shoveling food into my mouth.

"How was your day?" Spencer asked as he sat down beside me, filling up his own plate much slower than I had.

"Better now." I said, words muffled by the food in my mouth. Before eating, he opened the bottle of wine and poured me a glass.

"Thank you, honey." I said once I had swallowed my food. He smiled at me and began to eat the noodles on his plate. Once I wasn't feeling so ravenous, I slowed my pace of eating, now taking normal sized bites.

"How was your case? Did you catch all the bad guys? Save the city?" I asked as U took another bite of chicken.

"I'm not batman." He laughed. With his work hours he mine as well be. "But yes, we did catch the "bad guy" and actually saved another victim."

I always felt proud of him when he tells me about his work. I mean, you're always proud of him. But there's something about the way he talks about the cases he works, the people he helps that just makes me extra proud.

"Gothem is saved once more!" We both shared a short laugh. We quickly fall into comfortable conversation as we finish our meal, him telling me as much from his case as he could without spoiling my appetite and me telling him about the day I had at work.

After eating as much as we could, we cuddled up on the couch. My head rested on his chest as his hand rubs my back. I listened to the steady sound of his heartbeat, sighing contently as he talked about a new book he had just finished.

"I should probably clean this up." He said after a few minutes of us cuddling.

"No, no, I'll clean up." I pushed myself up and crawled over him to get up.

"It's ok, I'll clean up. You relax." He stood up and began to stack our plates. I grabbed them from him before he could take them to the kitchen.

"No. I'm cleaning. It's the least I could do after you bought all this." He sighed in defeat and say back down. I kissed his forehead before grabbing as much containers as I could and heading to the kitchen.

As I tossed out plates into the sink and the empty food containers into the trash. I heard spencer shuffling around in the living room, then I heard the scratching of the record player and then the opening to "every time we say goodbye" by Ella Fitzgerald begin to play. I smiled to myself and walked out from the kitchen to see spencer standing nervously. He had dimmed the lights and lit a few candles.

"Dance with me?" He asked as he held his hand out to me.

"Always the romantic." I walked over to him and took hid hand. He pulled me into close to him, putting his other hand on my waist. We quickly fell into a steady rythme, swaying along to the music. I wasn't much of a dancer, so I let spencer lead me through step. We smiled at each other, never breaking eye contact as we danced.

He took the hand I had on his shoulder in his, pulling me in and pushing me out. I giggled as he pulled me back to him, wrapped his arm around my waist and holding me as close as humanly possible. I nuzzle my face into the crook of his neck and he rested his head on mine. I closed my eyes, relishing in the feeling of having him close. The world seemed to disappear completely, leaving just us in its wake. Any memories of that day had been completely erased from my mind and all i felt was peace.

"One last spin." I heard him say when the song was nearly over. I laughed and put some distance between us so he could spin me. He lifted his arm slightly, twirling me under it. He released my hand when I was turned towards him again.

I was confused for a moment, until I saw him reach into his pocket and pull out a box. My eyes widened and my heart skipped a beat when I saw him drop to one knee, opening the box to reveal a beautiful ring. I put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from screaming.

"I, uh, I had this whole speech planned out, but I forgot everything. I, um, I've never done this before- obviously. But, um-" he cleared his throat, trying to fight off the shakiness in his voice.

"Ok-" -he took a deep breath- "I love you. I love you more than everything in existence. I love how you make me better, I love waking up to you, I love how you push me to try new things even if it's out of my confort zone. You've taught me so much. You're my biggest supporter and my bestest friend. Every time I imagine my future, you are always in it. I couldn't imagine my life without you and I want to stay by your side forever. So, y/n l/n, will you marry me?" Happy tears ran down my cheeks as I listened to him.

"Yes! Yes!" I shouted loudly, practically jumping up and down from joy. I leap towards him ad he stood, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him into a hard kiss. He stumbled back a little at the sudden force, but he quickly found his footing and wrapped his arms around my waist. My hands moved to cup his face and I pull him in closer. I pulled back, resting my forehead on his as we both smiled widely. We laughed when we saw the other, both of us with tear stained cheeks and goofy smiles.

"Oh right!" He sniffled and held up the ring box. He took my left hand in his, taking the ring from the box and slipping it on my ring finger. I marveled at the jewelry, a beautiful silver band with my birth stone on it. It was absolutely perfect.

"Oh my god, spencer. I love it!" I looked up at his beaming face. He chuckled.

"I'm glad you like it. Penelope helped me pick it out." I had talked to Penelope about my dream ring before, so of course she'd know exactly which one I'd want.

"It's perfect." I smiled at the ring on my finger. I felt like I was dreaming, like I'd wake up any second in an empty bed. But this was real. Spencer, my best friend and love of my life was now my fiance. I couldn't explain how i felt, it was far beyond happiness or any other emotion. I felt complete.

"I love you so much." I peppered kisses all over his face as I murmured 'I love you' over and over. His cheeks turned pink and his smile grew. I settled into his embrace, feeling the warmth of his body. We stayed like that for a long time. Just taking in the feeling of each other, feeling the connection of our souls.

~~~

Later that night, we sat together in bed and disgusted what our wedding would be like. We searched for venues online and talked about dates. Of course we weren't deciding anything right away, but we could barely contain our excitement for our day. In the middle of looking at decoration ideas, Spencer's phone rang. We both smiled at each other when we saw the name on the screen. He hit answer and put it on speaker.

"Did she say yes?!" Penelope asked from the other line.

"I did." I laughed and she squealed loudly.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" We heard her shuffling around and opening doors.

"Our genius is getting married!" She yelled out and we heard a bunch of people cheering.

"Wait Garcia, who's there?" Spencer asked.

"The whole team." Spencer and I shared a short laugh.

"Hi guys!" I yelled over the phone, hoping she had us on speaker. She did and everyone yelled hi back to me.

"Way to go, pretty boy!" We heard Derek say from the background. Spencer smiled.

"And congrats to you, Mrs. Pretty girl." He followed up with a cheer.

"I knew she'd say yes! Oh my god, this is so exciting! I'm so happy for you guys!" Penelope yelped. We got more congratulations from the team before hanging up and falling into conversation about their reactions.

We talked about our wedding for a while longer before we started to get sleepy. We cuddled up in bed, wrapped up in each other's arms. Sleep was fast to come as the memories of today replayed in my head. I felt full as I drifed off to sleep in the arms of my love. My fiance.

~~~

A/n: thank you to the person who requested this! I loved this idea so much.

[sunnymoonxx]

❝what was rule number #2 again❞ I.| bucky barnes x reader

pairing: tfatws bucky x reader summary: messing around in banner's lab, the night before your mission wasn't as good an idea as you thought, and you begin to question your actions the moment you step out of it. things worsen when you realize the super soldier serum isn't immune to an unknown contagious disease. warnings: sex pollen, no warnings this part, the II one? hahaha

a/n: I may have insulted the reader a few times in the beginning, so I apologize for that. but let's be honest, we'd do the same. I decided to split this fic into two parts because if I wrote it all into one part, it'd have 10k words. I'm not an english native speaker, so forgive me my sins and bad grammar if you find something.

m.list

You weren't stupid. But you also weren't exactly smart. If you were, you would've minded your own business, stayed in the gym, and went through the plan for tomorrow's mission. Maybe even go to bed a little sooner, to be ready for the next day's alarm. But Banner was away for a business trip, and seeing his lab silent and alone didn't exactly sing you lullabies to sleep. That's why you found yourself standing in the heart of it at 3 a.m., in your pajamas, praying everyone was asleep. It was well known around the compound that Banner's and Stark's labs were a faraway island, and anybody with a brain would circle around them. But you were an excellent swimmer and sharks didn't scare you.

10 hours later, you realised why Banner turned green every time someone even glared the glass door of his science play room. You were a fast swimmer but not exactly a bright one. The only bright thing related to you was that you were easily struck by it. And the glowing pink flowers in Doc's terrarium took you down faster than the sharks. It was bright pink with purple shadows. It reminded you of passionflower, but it was bigger. Way bigger, and you weren't sure if you were hallucinating, but the feeling of the flower's filaments moving was too strong. They were moving in waves, then circles, then each moved in its own way. It was mesmerising.

It was too late before you realized you moved the flower out of its enclosure to get a closer look at it. The smell hit you hard, filling your brain with colorful fog. You smelled a dash of cinnamon, mixed with ginger and lavender. You couldn't miss the powerful vanilla and pumpkin filling up the room. You didn't realize how bad the consequences of smelling Doc's flower would be until you came undone under your fingers nearly seven times. And it still wasn't enough. The scheduled time of your and Barnes' meeting was quickly approaching, and your skin didn't feel less on fire than it did two hours ago.

You managed to get out of the sweaty mattress and put some clothes on you, loose ones, hoping that your skin could breathe a little. You prayed some air would cool you down, clear your head, and slap some sense into you. It was now obvious why Banner was so determined not to let anyone close his lab. He was experimenting with aphrodisiacs, and you, unwillingly, became one of his lab rats. Thoughts didn't stop multiplying in your head until one landed steadily on its feet. Tony has been visiting Doc's labs the last few weeks, five minutes on the dot after curfew. You knew because you were always stationed on your balcony, which gave you a clear view of the other building, and its glass windows didn't hide much. It only became pitch black when Tony came in, and Banner didn't even flinch when he heard the door shut.

Chuckle left your lips when you connected the dots, ignoring how amusing you must look for Barnes, sitting right next to him.

"Something funny?" he asked, not dropping his gaze off of you. You were now on your way to the target's last seen place, being lucky enough to get a ride in Tony's self-driven car. You wanted to drown him in kisses because you can only imagine the suffering if you had to walk all the way from the compound to the other side of the city. Your skin was still on fire, your hair was sticking to your neck, and salty drops chased each other on your skin. You certainly were an amusing sight to Bucky. Or a terrifying one. You wished he got used to it by now. After all these years of fighting against each other, then with each other, and now forced to fight by each other's side, he saw you through worse conditions. But as far as he knew, you were locked in your room all week. You had no reason to look like you had an early meeting with the reaper.

"Just, thinking," you mumbled back at him, forcing yourself to keep your head rested against your seat, begging your body to not betray you for looking back at your partner. Your body fighting the chemicals in your body, you could only imagine how it would end if you stared at Barnes for more than five seconds. Worse, let alone if you touched him. You read about aphrodisiacs and scientists' failed attempts to know what you were going through. You were prepared to die before touching Barnes.

You were secretly jealous. It wasn't fair of you, but Barnes' serum running through his veins protected him from anything related. You almost abandoned your morals, but the pain you were going through justified it. You had no idea how you were going to focus on the mission, communicate with James, and, if it came to it, fight the target. You could only focus on the heat between your legs and how touch-starved you were. And your, undeniably, attractive coworker wasn't helping the case.

You and James had a complicated history. Both born in the 40s and dated for a while before he fell from the train. Years later, he comes to kill you for Howard's successful experiment on you. Immortality would definitely suit HYDRA and their planned assassinations. James, back then, the Winter Soldier, failed to capture you, so they decided your family's fate. And your friends. Then, years later, Howard's. You forgave him. All of it. Because you knew it wasn't him. But when he came back from Wakanda, with no traces of HYDRA in him, and didn't spare you a glance, you couldn't forgive him that. Seventy years of tolerating the actions HYDRA made him do, and he couldn't even look at you. It broke your heart but rather to act like a cunt than a weepy baby, begging for attention that will never come.

"Well then, do it fast. We're almost there." You hear his grumpy voice, making the butterflies in your stomach double their count. The decades-old memories of you together overwhelmed your brain like a tsunami. You couldn't swim out of that. The way his tongue circled your clit as you played with his hair at the theatre restroom. Or when he made you ride his face with Steve in the house. The way he pounded into you against the wall so you wouldn't forget him when he gets shipped out the next morning. And the way he had to cover your mouth that night at the bar, celebrating his unit's rescue. Now he was sitting millimetres away from you, and he wouldn't have done any of it. You still hoped, subconsciously, he'd dick you down like he did all those years ago. But that was a fantasy. Very vivid, real fantasy.

"Yes, sir," you let out, closing your eyes, tugging on your shirt so your fingers wouldn't accidentally slip in between your thighs. You didn't wanna make a scene. Even tho at some point, you knew you would.

You didn't catch James' hungry gaze when he heard those words slip from your mouth. At the back of his head, he reminiscent the amount of times it was him, slipping out of it.

It took you exactly 17 minutes before you got yourself out of Tony's car. You accidentally grinded yourself on his leather seats, causing you to accidentally moan, and of course, Barnes caught it. He'd never miss that sweet sound leaving your lips. At nights, he wished he'd made you sound like that, even louder. But that was ages ago, and you were over him. It was the only thing that made sense to him.

Five minutes into your romantic stroll to the target's office, the wetness in your panties got worse. You figured the more you moved, the less it hurt, but the pleasure doubled. And the Avengers training lessons didn't exactly cover how to act if you're orgasming every five seconds just because your thighs rubbed against each other.

Correction, you didn't actually cum. It was more of a frustrating edging that made you wanna rip out your hair. You were sure Barnes had already figured something was off or had at least suspected something. The suppressed moans and the tugging on your crotch weren't exactly subtle.

"Alright," he stopped walking, a few meters away from a huge building. It was surrounded by a deep forest, straight from a horror movie. "he was last seen inside. If Steve's correct, we should..." You kept nodding, not actually paying attention to what he was saying. It was the way his metal arm moved when he talked and the way his fingers curled while explaining the plan. You never got the answer to your question if he could feel through his amputated arm. He had to, you thought. You heard him groan every time someone pulled it too hard. You were embarrassed how much it roused you when you heard him whimper in pain, but it was also one of the things that circled your head when you were alone in your room.

You'd imagine, would it feel different. It would definitely be cold, rougher, you suspected faster. And with the serum running in his veins, he'd definitely last longer. That, you were one hundred percent sure, for it was Natasha's moans you heard for over two days after she and Steve finally hit it off. But Nat was also a super soldier. Bucky would probably tire you out by the 2nd round. But you were willing to risk it.

"If you're not gonna be listening to me, then you can turn around and go back." Was the first thing you heard after you forced yourself out of Bucky's hand around your throat fantasies. It probably wasn't the best idea, but seeing Bucky frustrated and annoyed by your incompetence made you feel things. And you wanted more.

"Whatever you want, Sergeant." You smirked, walking past him towards the building. His smell punched you in the face, making your walls clench around nothing. Fuck. Your self-control was harder to put in check. You were sure in a few minutes it'd be non-existent.

"Whatever is your problem today," you heard him behind you. You didn't look at him, focusing on keeping a steady pace towards the building so you could finish the job, get home where you could fuck yourself to oblivion. No one, but your fingers were currently available. And even they couldn't sometimes do the job you needed. But you knew whose would.

"I'm talking to you." Your heart dropped when his hand landed on your shoulder. Your skin got warmer again, and the pulse between your legs was impossible to ignore. You didn't know if you wanted to kill him or fuck him.

Ideally, both.

Turning around, you found the strength to twist his arm, finding out it was his human one, making it easier to push him back. He looked so taken back that it was amusing. But not amusing enough to stop the aching of your cunt.

"Touch me again," and I won't answer for the consequences. You wanted to add. But you didn't. Instead, you stared back at him, praying to god you'd drop dead or something would happen to stop the throbbing pain. You wanted to push your pants down and do something about it, but Bucky's presence wouldn't let you. It would, seventy years ago.

God, the number of times he made you rub yourself in front of him, fuck yourself while he watched. Couldn't he do it now? You'd happily obey.

"You've been acting distant ever since morning," he said, taking a step closer. "I just wanna know what's wrong," he said, lowering his voice at the end. You were sure it was just the stupid plant making you see things, but Bucky's dark eyes were hard to miss. Or the sweat on his forehead. Or the way he clenched his jaw when his eyes dropped to your lips.

Your heart sank. Holy fuck.

You couldn't help but laugh. It was, after all, comical. You looked manic but that didn't bother you. You felt so many emotions at once that you struggled to choose one.

"What the hell are you doing," you heard his voice interrupt your laugh. You were out of your mind. Your legs weak and sweaty, your cunt covered in your wetness, your head filled with migraine, skin on fire, and thoughts surrounding only one thing. And now, cherry on top, you realize Banner discovered an aphrodisiacs that make the super soldier serum its bitch. James motherfucking Barnes joined the lab rats of Banner's sex research.

[homestylehughes]

i wanna taste

pairings: jack hughes x fem!reader

summary: after one sight of y/n, jack has to get a taste.

warnings: smut 18+. oral- fem receiving, dirty talk, cussing, use of pet names. fluff, soft jack.

wc: 1.8k

au: hi loves! im on a writing streak (thank you spring break). im back with some jack smut woooohooooo, i realllllyyyy enjoyed writing this, i hope you guys enjoy. like and reblog if you enjoy<3.

happy reading <3

Rain softly hits the window, the soft light from the lamp in the corner of the living room illuminates the room with a soft glow. 

I've been awake for a few hours, my body waking me up at 5 am, turning over to see that Jack was sound asleep beside me, I decided to get out of bed and start my day.

Settling on the couch with a cup of coffee in my hands along with my book, this is where I've been for the last 3 hours. The book captivated me so much I didn't even check the time until I had finished it. 

The clock read 8:15, I was genuinely surprised Jack wasn't awake yet. His crazy hockey schedule kept him awake and up at odd hours, his body probably needed all of the sleep it could get. 

Getting up to get another cup of coffee, and the second book of the series I’m reading, I settle back into the couch and enter an alternate universe. 

I'm so into my book, that I don't even realize Jack creeping up behind me, wrapping his arms around my neck, nessling his face in my neck, feeling  his warm breath fan my neck. 

“Good morning pretty girl” I hear him say, as his face is still muffled in my neck. 

“Good morning” I say back as I crane my neck up to meet his face, getting a good look at his face for the first time today. 

Taking in his sleepy doe like state, hair a mess, eyes full of sleep, leaving evidence that he just woke up. Sweatpants riding scarily low on his hips, his chest bare, allowing me to rake my eyes over it. 

“Done checking me out pretty girl” he smiles down on me, catching me in the act. “Maybe, i'm not sure yet” i muttered back, my face heating with a slight embarrassment. “How'd you sleep?” I ask him, still looking up at him. “Good, really good. Would have been better if I woke up with you beside me” he says, looking down at me. 

“Sorry baby, I randomly woke up at like 5am. I didn't want to wake you up "I say feeling bad, for leaving him in the bed alone. 

“It's okay, you can make up for it now” he says as he begins to lean down, his lips meeting mine in a soft kiss. The angle makes it a little hard for me to fully kiss him, but I deal with it and push my body up further to meet his kiss. 

Our lips moved in sync for a few more seconds before Jack pulls away, resting his arms on the arm rest behind me, giving me a few seconds to catch my breath. 

“That's a better good morning greeting” Jack says as he's smiling, making his way to the other end of the couch, picking up the blanket that covers my feet and slides under it as he sits down. 

The simple movement probably means nothing to him, but it does to me, seeing him so at peace, and calm makes my heart warm. I'm quickly pulled out of my daydream when I hear Jack's voice.

“Has it been raining all morning?” he asks as he's looking out the window, the rain still hitting the window. 

“Yeah it's been raining since i've been out here” i say “it's very peaceful” he replies back softly. Turning his body back to face mine, “what time is it?” he asks, snuggling himself deeper into the blanket like a child, “9:30” i reply back. 

“Dang i slept in” Jack says with an airy laugh. I laugh softly in response, as I go to pick up my coffee mug to take a drink, to only find that its empty. 

“I'm going to go get more coffee, do you want a cup?” I asked him, raising my back from the couch to get up. 

“Yes please that sounds amazing, thank you pretty girl” he says, moving himself back to a sitting position on the couch. 

“Okay baby, I'll be back” I say as I fling the blanket off my body, not seeing Jack's widened eyes as I turn my back to him as I make my way to the kitchen. 

Making both of our cups of coffee I make my way back to the living room, I feel Jack's eyes on me instantly. 

“Here you go baby” I say, holding the hot cup out to him, “can you place it on the table for me?” he rasps out, as I go to place the mug on the table in front of us, I hear Jack speak again “set yours down too”. I look up at him confusingly as I set both cups down on the table. 

“Are you okay Jack?” I ask him, my eyes locked on his face. “Yeah i'm fine, can you come here please” 

I make my way closer to him, standing in front of the couch where he lays, Jack deciding that isn't close enough for him. He puts his hands on my hips pulling me into his lap. His hands moving to rest on my bare thigh. 

“What are you wearing?” he asks me, looking down at my body, i see nothing wrong with what i'm wearing. “Clothes?” i reply back timidly, still confused on why he's acting like this.

“Your not wearing pants” he says, tracing his hands under my shirt, circling his hands on my practically bare hips, causing my breath to hitch slightly. 

“You're walking around the house in a tiny thong, and a shirt that doesn't even cover your ass completely, and you expect me not to do anything” bringing his face to mine, close enough that I can feel his breath fanning on my face. I swallow before saying “what are you going to do about it?”

Before I know it, Jack smashes his lips to mine. The kiss is hot and wet, his tongue quickly entering my mouth fighting and winning for dominance. My hands in his hair pulling him closer to me, wishing that there wasn’t a blanket separating us. 

I began to rock my hips into his to gain some type of friction, I can feel the dampness between my thighs beginning to grow. 

I pull my lips from his and begin to trail them down his neck, kissing and sucking little love bites in my wake, softly biting his ear as I make my way down. I hear Jack's breathing beginning to pick up, moaning lowly in my ear. 

Just as I'm about to trail my way back to his lips, he pushes me off of him. My back is now hitting the couch. I look up at him breathless, waiting for his next move. 

“I have to taste you pretty girl, I've been dying to do it all morning” Jack says, eyes locked with mine as he pushes the blanket of his body. Making his way between my legs spreading them apart as he rests in between them now. 

Tracing his hands up my bare thighs, his hands sliding under the waistband of my underwear, pulling them down slowly, while keeping his eye contact with me. Once my underwear are completely off me, he throws them somewhere behind him.

Jack begins to kiss up my thighs, alternating between each of my legs. My chest is rising quickly now, I need him to do something soon, the tension is starting to kill me. 

“Pretty pussy is so wet for me” he sighs as he slides his middle finger between my folds before pulling it back out, his finger glistening in front of him before sliding it into his mouth. 

Moaning at the taste, his eyes are on mine. This action alone causes me to moan down at him, shifting my hips closer to his face. 

“Tastes so sweet, pretty girl” he says as he guides his face back down to my pussy. “ I think I wanna have a taste now, is that alright with you, pretty girl?” his eyes searching mine for an answer. “Yes jack, please” I breathlessly say to him. 

Not even a second later, jack is diving into my pussy, his tongue finding my clit instantly. My hands fly into his hair grabbing something to hold on to while jack fucks me with his tongue. 

My moans are beginning to fill up the room, along with the sounds of jack slurping up my pussy, like a man who hasn't had a drink of water in days. 

Taking me by surprise Jack pushes 2 fingers into me, continuing to lap up my clit with his tongue. “Jack fuck” I moan out, pulling his hair even tighter between my fingers, the action causing jack to groan into me, sending chills up my body.

I began to push my hips to meet his tongue and fingers, beginning to feel the coil in my stomach heating up. 

Jack senses that i'm almost there, he thrusts his fingers into me, but curves them just enough so that he hits my g-spot. 

Causing my eyes to roll in the back of my head my body arching off the couch, my hips pushing themselves further into his grasp. 

“Right there fuck jack, please dont stop” I groan out. I reach under my shirt grabbing my right nipple between my hands squeezing it in between my fingers, as my other hand starts needing my left boob. 

“Fuck pretty girl, you look so hot from up there” my breath labors at the sound of jacks rough voice “does it feel good pretty girl?” “fuck, you feel so tight against my fingers, taking me so fucking good like a good girl” he says as he brings his thumb to my clit, rubbing and pinching it hard and fast. 

Incoherent things are falling from my lips at this point, the only thing I'm focused on is jack and the dam in my body that's about to break. 

Before I know it I'm cumming, hard and fast. My orgasm gives me no warning as it begins to wash over my body, hitting me like a tidal wave. 

My moans and “don’t stops” fill the living room, my grip on Jack's hair never loosening. Finally coming down from my high, I try to catch my breath, I open my eyes that make their way down to Jack who's looking at me with wide eyes, and a parted swollen mouth catching his breath. 

Making his way up to me, so that he's now directly on top of me, pushing himself up by his arms. “That was the hottest thing ive ever fucking seen.'' Jack says before capturing his lips with mine. 

Pulling back to look into his eyes, before something catches my attention. The cups of coffee on the table. “I think our coffee is cold,” I say, trying to hold back my laugh.

“I dont give a fuck about that coffee anymore” jack says as he laughs back at me, bringing his lips back to mine mumbling “how about we finish this in the bedroom?” before picking me up and dragging me to our bedroom. The coffee being long forgotten about. 

[jahnavisurenda-21]

Hazbin Hotel||Alastor X Reader||Creating Trouble Part 1. ||Kidnaping Scenario

Being a human was a taboo in hell, all the words you never herd you herd, everything you never felt you felt, and it got you a lot of attention from the different residents.

TW- Trigger warning, Mentions of molestation, mild language.

You couldn't scream or utter a single cry of desperation. These demons were much stronger than you could ever imagine, your worst fear was just about to come true.

"Just spray that perfume or whatever boss gave, before the radio demon comes." One muffled voice ordered.

Then you blacked out before they tied you up in constraints.

Everyone had been going nuts about the new extermination dates which had been scheduled much earlier. Everyone was creating havoc in hell during that time,

You came across a page, when you were with Alastor one of those days there was some tension and beef between Alastor and the top face of Vee.

"Oh, that's nothing, my dear! Just a little resident here who thinks he owns all of hell." Alastor said with a big grin,

"Your voice is really nice you know? Can I have those old records of yours that you were going to broadcast but never did?"

"They are just drafts my dear, it's useless."

"If they are so useless, why did you keep them?"

"Maybe I should show it to you someday my dear, I think you'll quite enjoy them. Now go to sleep while I finish some business with some co-workers of mine." Alastor instructed you had a habit of always neglecting your bedtime and sleeping the whole day.

That particular incident flashed before you were woken up with someone kicking your leg and splashing some water.

"I really thought that was some messed up shit you know. You think Lucifer's brat would?"

"Miss Bleeding Heart would probably be dead by now if it isn't that stupid radio demon watching her back all the time."

"Oh, speaking of the radio demon, did the brat wake up already? She sleeps too much; I'll just give her to one of the cannibals."

You woke up but instantly flinched when someone tall, wearing heart-shaped glasses, and a pink coat, type of soul came in front of you.

"How cute." He said amused, "Hey how much money do you think the brat can make?"

"Oh, shut it, Valentino, I didn't ask my henchmen to kidnap her so you could strike some business deal or some shit like that."

"So, listen here bitch, everyone here is horny assholes and if you want to keep that body of yours in peace, you better suck it up and answer all my questions one by one."

"OH, Kinky!" Valentino squealed.

Your heart raced rapidly, it felt like your diaphragm couldn't relax anymore and your mind had gone blank with fear, you would think with those comedic looks they would be good for a few hearty laughs.

But All your friends and you knew they were rivals.

"So did Miss Bleeding Heart and your little boyfriend ever strike a deal or something?"

"M... Miss bleeding heart?" You softly called out,

"Yeah, Lucifer's brat."

"I.. I don't know." You simply said just to be met with a harsh slap, shocking you. "I'm only a human I don't interfere with these things!"

"So, you're telling me, the radio demon has not gone soft after meeting you?"

"How is my personal status of any relevance?" You questioned,

You lay unconscious down below, struggling to get up you took a look around your surroundings, it was dark but a little dim blue light from the TV alerted you; you were bruised, and it hurt to breathe, how did you even survive?

It looked like the corridors were locked, and you were just left discarded here, with your remaining strength you hurried to the T.V., and it was the same page when Vox and Alastor had that little tension.

Could you reach anyone from here?

Judging by your injuries you must have been out at least for two to three days.

Back in the hotel.

It was Husk who noticed that you were literally not anywhere in the hotel, it further confirmed his suspicions, when Sir Pentious and Niffty asked about you, "Where did the goody two shoes go? She's acting like a bad girl!" Niffty huffed.

Everyone had been in a panic, at last when Alastor came back from one of his trips, he would always usually bring you a little trinket or something,

"My dear, sorry I got so caught up--" He realized you were not there.

Two days had passed when no news of your disappearance was updated, but it was getting busy as hell in the hotel and it angered Alastor when he was told to do something that didn't involve tracking you.

One day when Valentino had enough of your refusal he declared, He would ravage you if you didn't open your mouth.

Vox didn't want the entire image to get threatened by the media.

"So how are you, Alastor? Saw the sudden stop with your regular updates."

"Well, you see I'm in a bit of a dilemma myself, a dear friend of mine has been missing."

"Friend?' Vox laughed, "I thought it was more of a plaything?"

He pushed your tired form to the counter, as you barely managed to stabilize yourself.

It was Valentino who grabbed your collar and made you look at Alastor,

Alastor's eyes darkened, a threatening aura had befallen him, which made you nervous. Even if none of the anger was directed towards you.

When he left the remaining support you fell down again, "Exceedingly weak!" Valentino urged, kicking your frail body.

Charlie burst into tears, and Angel instantly bombarded the two with questions, "Did you piece of shi--"

"Anymore and she'll be of good use to me." Valentino warned.

Before the screen was shut.

"That was good don't you think?"

"Now we have to be wary of that Radio demon."

"I'll fucking kill them." Alastor's eyes widened when he recalled your body being manhandled, and thrown with such disregard,

He grew into his demonic form the more he thought about it the more, sadistic the punishments he concocted in his head grew.

"You worry about not letting the hotel fall into shambles, I'll make the Vee wish I'd stay gone."

[loveephia]

:¨ ·.· ¨: atsumu miya's valentine special.

`· . ꔫ sypnosis: in which you wanted to confess to atsumu, but as the school's beloved vice president, you've been too busy helping out with the limited valentine's day events. because of how often you were pulled away from atsumu, he decides to entertain his fangirls to try and make you jealous

content: (🦷) tooth-rotting fluff, hurt with comfort, osamu is in two clubs (volleyball and culinary), kita is mentioned, reader has glasses, you cry because of atsumu, but don't worry, he calms you down toward the end.

⚠ warning/s: atsumu being atsumu none.

my HQ masterlist. (valentine's edition)

"hello, ms. vice president. yer lookin' prettier than usual today. did ya do somethin' with your hair? you smell like a meadow." atsumu teased you non-stop. you were one (if not, the only) girl he'd stop by to bother during school hours. you don't even know if he truly means his teasing or if he's just messing with you.

whatever it is, it worked because you silently crushed on the faux blond.

"cut it out, miya. i'm trying to sign a few papers of allowances for the upcoming valentine's event." you stated sternly, making sure to emphasize the miya. you knew how much he disliked being called that, especially from you. "still on the last name basis?! i have a twin brother who's also named miya, y'know! how'll you call us if we're both present?" atsumu whined.

you thought for a moment, "i'll call you 'the-more-annoying-miya.'"

"no way, call me 'the-hotter-miya' instead! it's got a better ring to it." atsumu winked

"you and osamu have the same face." you factually deadpanned. "wait—! yer callin' 'samu by his first name but not me?!" atsumu said at a loud volume, taking no notice of the rest of your statement.

"whatever.. i have to go now." you said, slipping away from atsumu to head to the afternoon student council meetings.

valentine's is coming, meaning a lot of booths, a lot of food, and potentially, a lot of heartbreak. you can't even imagine the headache atsumu will be by then.

sure you had a crush on him, but he could be a bit of an annoyance sometimes.

time skip.

the meeting came to an end, and you huffed. you skim over your clipboard to see the busy schedule ahead of you.

1. help the botany club sell roses.

maybe one of those roses have a thorn magical enough to prick your finger and put you into a deep sleep until valentines is over; kinda like sleeping beauty with a few details changed.

2. deliver the anonymous love letters.

at this point, all the enveloped confessions should just go straight to the miyas. those two always end up getting the most every year anyway.

3. give each and every schoolmate a pouch of specially made chocolates from the culinary club.

you only like this one because you were told that you get to keep the leftovers.

"hey, ms. vice president!" atsumu greets you with the familiar nickname he specially made. you look up to see the setter, and your eyes widen. "miya.. it's late in the afternoon. what are you still doing in school? i don't think you guys even have volleyball practice today." you said.

"yeah, i know, but i wanted t'walk you home! i didn't know that the meeting would last up to two hours, though." atsumu said, "still, it was time worth waitin'." he smirked at you.

disregarding the flirty comment, your heart swelled at the fact that he was thoughtful enough to wait and walk you home. you smiled softly, "thank you for being so considerate. just let me get my bag, and we can get going."

atsumu was expecting you to roll your eyes or even sigh restlessly, but to his surprise, you didn't.

"okay." he replied quietly, watching you go jog to your own classroom. atsumu sighed longingly.

osamu, who unwillingly witnessed the scene before him, could only cringe. "why is he still at school?" one may ask. he couldn't go home because his older twin of three and a half minutes was entrusted with the keys to the house. atsumu also refused to let him go by himself due to stubbornness.

"i hate it here." osamu murmured.

time skip.

on the walk home with the twins, you all shared your day almost peacefully (not without the twins bickering every now and then, of course). you didn't even realize osamu was there earlier outside the meeting room..

the sun had set, and you were finally at the foot of your house. osamu was standing by your house's gate while atsumu was right next to you. "i'll see ya tomorrow, ms. vice president." he said, patting your head and messing up your hair.

you let it slide since it's the end of the day anyway. you lean close to kiss his cheek, "thanks, atsumu." you quickly expressed your gratitude before going inside your house, leaving atsumu to malfunction outside.

"did— did she just call me by my first name?!" he thought, puffs of smoke cartoonishly coming off the top of his head. his fingers came in contact with his blazing cheek, the cheek that you kissed.

finally going back home with osamu, atsumu couldn't think straight. he even fumbled with the keys to simply unlock their door. the younger twin who's too tired to deal with atsumu's behavior, takes the keys, and unlocks the door himself.

time skip.

valentine's day was here, and your feet were aching from the number of times you had to run up and down the stairs to help out with booths.

the duties of being inarizaki's virtuous vice president were ample. every year, it truly never gets easier. but you enjoy seeing the satisfied expression on your schoolmate's faces from your helpfulness, so you'll continue to run for a spot on the student council if it means—

"y/n!" atsumu calls out. you turn around to see the boy. just as you were about to come up to him to say hi, a female voice cuts you off. "y/n! the president is looking for you, he says it's urgent." your classmate said. you nod, excusing yourself from atsumu's sight to see what the matter is.

atsumu understands. you're a busy girl, so he lets it slide.

until the fourth time, that is.

"y/n, can you please help me carry these boxes of flowers to class 2-E?" the head of the botany club sweatdropped. you nod, helping him out.

"y/n, my adorable underclassmen, would you be a dear and send this to kita shinsuke from class 3-A?" the student council treasurer asks playfully, "i don't want him to know it's from me~" she whispers with red cheeks. you nod, running off to the third year's classroom.

"y/n, can you head to the kitchen with me? we made a new variety of chocolates, and we need your thoughts." osamu said, a sheet of sweat glistening on his forehead from the heat in the kitchen. you nod, "of course, osamu."

atsumu can't believe this.. his own brother?!

"y/n this, y/n that. i just wanna be with her on valentines!" atsumu grumbles, kicking a pebble on the ground, feeling like a defeated puppy.

"excuse me, atsumu?" a hesitant voice disrupts atsumu of his thoughts. "t- this is for you." she bravely hands him a letter. this is the seventg time today that he's received a confession. un-anonymously, that is.

"thanks." atsumu mumbles half-heartedly, though he knows he won't read it.

wait.

this just gave him a brilliant idea.

time skip.

you finished your duties. everything is going great; sales are booming for the botany club, all of the love letters have been delivered, and you even got a few leftover chocolates.

you're off to find atsumu, excited to see him.

only to see the one and only setter surrounded by plenty of fangirls.

"can i have a selfie, atsumu?" a girl asks. "sure, darlin'." atsumu replies. did he just call her by a pet name? and, more importantly, is he actually entertaining his fangirls? this is odd..

your heart starts to feel heavy, and before you know it, atsumu eyes land on you. just one look, and he's forgotten all about his fangirls. "y/n!" he exclaims.

atsumu is so happy to finally see you unoccupied.

then he sees your nose tint a shade of red and your eyes all glassy.

you run off in a weak attempt to hide your tears, and atsumu is quick to run after you. "no— wait, y/n!"

you keep running until you reach a more deserted spot in inarizaki high. you're not athletic. your legs were sure to give out soon, especially when the one chasing after you is a part of a volleyball club.

you try not to sob aloud, very hurt by atsumu's actions. you don't even turn to look at him, and he knows he messed up big time. you sniffle your nose, and atsumu pulls you in for a warm hug. you let him pat your back and hush you quietly.

"..m'sorry. i was actin' like a jerk all because i didn't get to talk to you the entire day." atsumu apologized, "i know my words aren't gonna cut it, but i want t'make it up to you because.." he reaches for both your hands. "i really, really like you."

your breathing is choppy, "d- do you mean that?" you look up at him. your glasses were foggy, and your red cheeks stained with tears. hair a bit disheveled from the run. atsumu smiles at you, "there's my pretty vice president." he says before pressing a kiss to your forehead, "i do." he confirms your earlier question.

you giggle at yourself for falling for a dumbass like atsumu. how silly. "i- i like you too." you stuttered quietly between your sobs.

© lowercase intended | loveephia

[sakuraryomen01]

Valentino /Sukuna Ryomen x Reader/ .o8

warnings: asshole sukuna, college prep. school (aka bitch u at an expensive ass school), former friends to lovers, slow burned love, yuji is sukuna's little brother, some light teasing, more tutoring sessions, and Sukuna punches a pervert!

reader: female reader; 23 years of age, college prep.

plot: It's been years since you've moved from country life, since you've forgotten about all the things you used to love about your hometown and where you grew up from... you didn't think it'd chase you to college in the city after almost a decade..

words: 1.125k

fanfic masterlist: .o1 .o2 .o3 .o4 .o5 .o6 .o7 .o8 .o9 .10 .11 .12 .13 .14 .15 .16 .17 .18 .19 .20

a/n:: I've felt mentally drained so I'm going to finish this dang chapter holy frick did this take so long :D

. . .

Thank you for reading this bit! Enjoy! ❤️

. . .

Sleep didn't come easy to you, and it was expected. Seeing Sukuna in his vulnerable state, having him confirm a small doubt in your mind, and having Shoko spur on your aching heart.

It was a hard pill to swallow, but you needed to force it. You can't force someone to love you back.

Sukuna had his reasons, and it didn’t concern you in the slightest. You told yourself that as much as possible when you felt the need to say something to him after lessons and classes, or do simple things like ask about his day. When you wanted to ask, you bit your tongue and stayed silent. Sticking to the normal day to day chit chat between classmates.

Don’t bug him more than you already do. You say to yourself as you lift your fist up and knock on the door a few times.

There was a quiet "enter" from his side of the door, and when you did as told you didn't see Sukuna in the living room or kitchen like normal.

"Sukuna?" You asked, confusion filling your brain. You continued to wander around the dorm until Sukuna's bedroom door opened up, revealing a disheveled man.

His hair a mess, t-shirt lopsided and somewhat dirty, and boxers on full display. You quickly averted your eyes, trying to save Sukuna his dignity. "Hello to you too."

He waved before heading into his bedroom to change and look cleaner. Moving yourself to your usual space on the couch, you pulled out your things and started flipping through a notebook.

There was almost no noise, besides the random grunts of Sukuna shuffling through his things. Even your thoughts going quiet and jumbled with the notes in your book. Writing things down and not noting the shadow being cast over you by Sukuna.

"Hey, what're you working so hard on?" His voice broke your train of thought, making you look up at him.

"Uhm, tutoring?" You responded, a questioning tone in your voice. "Why?"

Sukuna sighed, resting his cheek against his fist, maroon eyes scanning your figure. "Don't you wanna have fun instead?"

The question catches you off guard and you chuckle, patting his knee in an almost loving manner. "I don't think you should have fun until you get better grades."

"God, you sound like my mother!"

You crinkle your nose as Sukuna's rather modest laughter fills the air. It had been a while since you saw a smile.

With a sigh, you straightened your posture and started to the session, seeing Sukuna's eyes begin to glaze over in a bored pout. You didn't like doing much studying either, but keeping your grades up mattered to you.

Sukuna knew this, watching you diligently work with him to help. So determined..

——

"..How are your parents?" He asked, his eyes lazily looking towards you.

It had been an hour since the tutoring had started that day, and Sukuna's mind was elsewhere. It was dull, the schedule he has wrapped himself into. It was the same thing everyday, seeing the hundreds of students around campus and ending up stuck in his dorm with you.

Talking about equations and random stuff he was already familiar with became tedious. Even though he was willing just to see you.

Never say that out loud though.

"Oh, they're fine," You answered, a slightly confused look on your face as you tapped the cap of your red pen on the notebook.

Sukuna raised a brow, scooting himself closer into your space, a small smile on his face. "That's not specific enough. I wanna know how they're doing."

I just told you– "Well, my dad's working on some project for the house apparently. He wanted to make a garden for it."

"Your dad's still the plant guy, huh?"

You pout your lips as Sukuna's curled into a smirk. "Not always. He got into sports cars for some reason, even though he's a planet health guy."

Sukuna chuckles at this before starting to write a few things down in his notebook. You grumble with a slightly warm flush filling your cheeks. Either way, you couldn't really complain much, his smirk made you feel warm inside.

"Are you done with the questions I gave you?" You asked, leaning your head over and bumping your cheek against Sukuna's shoulder.

"Yeah, the last one stumps me though.."

After teasing him for a few moments about his blunders and getting side eyed for the next twenty minutes, you eventually were able to explain the problem before Sukuna pointing out how late it had gotten.

"I could order a pizza and you just sleep over again." He said as he put away his things, placing a hand on his hip. "It'd be best, this dorm is filled with shit drunk guys."

"Aw, you're so sweet," You responded, lifting your bag over your shoulder strap while hiding all the giddy cuteness inside you. "But it's just a five minute walk to my place. I'll be fine!"

There was a hostile look of discontent in his maroon eyes that read: How dare you say no to me?

A confused shiver was sent down your spine before you sighed and pat Sukuna's arm, heading towards the door. "I'll text you when I get home, promise."

Letting out a small grunt, Sukuna eventually caved and you went home. Although he did threaten that he'll give you a stern talking to if he didn't get a text.

He's got more layers than an onion.*

Though, as you made your way home, you bumped into someone. His hair was messy, sunglasses barely hanging onto his head with his hair pushed back, and pants dirtier than your crustiest sock. But his pink cheeks and glossy eyes didn't betray you in recognizing one of your weirdest friends to date.

"Satoru? What are you doing out?" You place a hand on the males exposed forehead and humming to yourself. "..Are you high, drunk, or sick?"

With a delayed reaction, a hiccup, and a pout, you got this. "My girl, you're judgy so muchy~ Let me life without demands!"

You raise a brow and scoff. I know he'll regret this drinking in the future.

"Fine, but I have to go home now," You say, patting the disheveled mans shoulder, a smile on your face. "Don't trip walking up those stairs!"

But as you said goodbye, Gojo leaned in and placed a soft peck on your cheek with surprising accuracy. You blink in confusion as Gojo smiles loosely and pets your head. "Don't hurt yourself either, Miss best friend chaser!"

Before words could process, or a thought was able to work the cogs in your headspace, there was a grunt and a very big "someone's jaw might have gotten broken" sound.

. . .

a/n: hope you guys have been doing well! srry i haven't posted in almost two months maybe really, so many things came up. I was worried about mental health for a while, wasn't feeling motivated to write much but then smthing else happened. Huge changes are happening so we might end up with another writer's drought lmao (I'm going to college soon and do adult things ⊙⁠﹏⁠⊙;;;)

*and if u didnt get the reference I'll scream*

Chapter Song Theme:

— Ariana Grande - God is a woman (Lyric Video)

taglist: @mageyboo, @mzladyd , @mysticwonderlandangel, @sukunaspersonalfleshlight, @kawaiipenguin20, @k-indie, @okkotsufav, @cafeinthemoon93, @pulchritxde, @bontenbunny, @deepinballs, @kleeboomed, @fallenfeversstuff, @fiierytearzx, @wo-ming-bai, @ririkaxbz, @instantgalaxysheep, @watyousayin, @z3r0art, @sukunaobsessed, @lik0, @sukunasfirstlove, @princesstiti14, @nemoyr, @ladywolf44005, @cat-mak20, @coffee-on-a-rainyautumn, @hxlalokidottir, @instantgalaxysheep, @domainofmarie, @the-moongoddess, @dark-n-dirty-duchess, @agentdedf1sh, @sukunastoy, @lyn-soso, @bao-yu-sarah-morningstar-wang-9, @heyitstacy, @lost-in-tokyo, @marksassybanana, @bozos-r-us, @gumis-girl, @p-3-4-c-h, @chaoticqueen33, @dxxny-loves-u, @l0tus-n-l0ve, @jiordeci

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[punkeropercyjackson]

Spiderband groupchat headcanons but it's based off my bio siblings and friends who're teenagers that i also consider my younger siblings because Y'all Do Not Know How To Write Teens

It's called 'Websters Declassified'

It was Margo's idea to start it obviously

Miles already had a groupchat app that she used for her family but the rest of the band except Gayatri had to install them-Gwen and Miles G DID have one but she took it off because she only ever used it with 65 Peter and she had multiple meltdowns looking through their messages so she forced herself to out of mental safety and he smashed his phone in agonized sadness after finding out about Jefferson so all the data on it was lost

Gayatri has an additional old one she uses for school friends since she's so popular and dosen't want to fuck up and accidentally send Spiderwoman stuff to them

The layout of it has a notebook theme and is popular among black people thanks to it containing various exclusive black stickers and emojis and that's why Miles and Margo both use it

Hobie's a bit of a grandpa when it comes to technology because of being from the 70s and not having been at Spider Society for that long so he had a hard time communicating in it at first,not helped by his cockney

Peni is reverse where she considers it slighty obselete thanks to her futuristic world but in a charming shaking her head 'This old thing' way(Just like she does with Noir /hj)

Their icons are:Miles-a black/blasian edit of Orihime Inoue,Gwen-A random picture of a half eaten pink cupcake she took,Peni-A lesbian flag meme,Pavitr-Bugs Bunny,Hobie-A black/blasian edit of Ichigo Kurosaki to match Miles(They are LITERALLY black4black Ichihime),Gayatri-Bugs Bunny but in one of her fem outfits,Margo-Nessa from Pokemon with a pink filter and Miles G-A cartoony drawing of a black kid with braids

They use it almost every day and night-It actually messed up a few of their sleep schedules but they fixed them again when it started going too far by reminding the other to go to sleep because they love them and deserve good health

Gwen sends them her audio files,either as gifts by covering their favorite songs or just to try out how a new song sounds

Pavitr violently falls over from so much bouncing with his phone getting the brunt of it SO many times but it's somehow always completely intact despite having no special protection

It's where Miles came out to them after her egg cracked but she did because they were all sitting together physically so she'd have them there to comfort them as she sobbed in a big flurry of different emotions

The other girls then start sending her transfem memes on a regular basis and Miles G is actually the one who made her her Orihime pfp

They tried to have movie nights but the collective audhd proved to be too much so they just have normal ones

It's incredibly active and a mixed ass bag,one second they be talking about Spiderjunk,the next someone's venting to the point you can feel them shaking through their texts and then they're discussing the history of legos

Peni's the one who most uses it in class and had a special mini comic where she got it back from her principal and didn't learned her lesson at the end

Since Miles uses kamojis,Margo is a gifs addict

They learned a lot about eachother cultures,more than ever

Selfies sending is a pretty regular thing

Miles G was more hesitant to start using his app again than Gwen since his was actually the same but he prowlered through and now it's a healthy and stable part of his life

Gayatri looks for wholesome videos to show all of them

"MARGO,GIVE ME YOUR PHONE"-Hobie at least twice a day

Gwen and Margo are an e-couple in the sense that they act exactly like girlfriends in it but are in denial irl

Hobie randomly infodumps in it once he gets the hang of it and takes up Miles' kamoji usage but only the smug/bitchy ones

Their usernames are mostly just their names but with a special twist to give them personality-Miles is her name with a sunflower next to it,Pavitr has a sparkles emoji and Miles G has his in that edgy font.But Margo is 'Margo Thee Byte',Gayatri is 'The Ungwen' as a reference to 'The Undead' and for irony,Hobie is 'What are you?A cop?',Peni is 'Pastel Genesis Evangelion' and Gwen is just an assortment of pink emojis

Rio:Mija?Are you texting a boy? Miles,texting Hobie:Technically yes but also literally no

Margo gets them to be on her streams and Miles ends up making her own channel and her fans nearly broke her comments section when Hobie made his first apperance(Tragic day for weird ass Miles fanboys)

Gwen and Peni start rubbing off on eachother,like Peni starting to love her kind of music and Gwen starting to get blunter

Pavitr is the most slang knowledgable and this is thanks to Gayatri-He surpassed the best there is

Miles and Hobie did the 'At Dairy Queen with my Dairy King' meme once but the picture wasn't them at Dairy Queen,it was them chilling with mutated cows they'd saved and they didn't even get the food at Dairy Queen,Hobie cooked them copies because fuck capitalism

[starker-raving-mads]

For You: Part VII

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX

›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹›‹

To say that the next week was hectic was to put it lightly. Peter didn't surface from the lab for anything - Not Aunt May (and her terrible lasagna that Peter loved so dearly), not Ned and MJ, not even for Bucky, who had taken to texting Peter fairly regularly with things like lunch requests or questions about pop culture.

(The man was, hilariously, Steve's opposite in that regard. He still didn't remember much of his time on ice, but he reveled in all of modern technology instead of simply trying to deal with it, which was Steve's approach. He and Peter had partaken in more than one text conversation that ended after 2 hours with, 'Steve's taking my phone because he says I'm becoming a zombie staring at the screen. I think he's just jealous because he doesn't understand modern…anything, really. I think he might be a himbo. Am I using that word right?')

No, Peter instead spent that time with Tony, having the longest, craziest, most wonderful lab binge of his life. His sleep schedule was royally messed up because of it, taking to just falling asleep at his desk or on the couch instead of going back up to the penthouse. He only got a few hours at a time like that anyway and it just didn't seem worth it to put an official pause on their work.

What was their work? Integrating Tony into everything.

He was already fully incorporated into the lab, that was easy enough after the confirmation of the program's success. But they made small tweaks to improve his core functioning systems, defined a few things, and Tony went from almost being Tony Stark to really being Tony Stark. The first day or two, the man had stilled unnaturally in a way that Tony just never had. He'd also not remember certain things, important things, until reminded of them.

"I have a daughter?" he'd asked, overwhelmed awe spread across his face. "I have a daughter!" He looked at Peter then, that same unfamiliar softness in his eyes. "I made you her godfather! Isn't Morgan just amazing?"

"Sorry, Mr. Stark," Peter grimaced at the perplexity on the other man's face. "Since Ms. Potts has been kind of…upset about the whole SI thing, I haven't been allowed to see her." And he'd tried, he really had. He wanted to know the little girl that was half Tony, who was his family in all but blood. But Pepper had responded to every request with a resounding 'no' and she was Morgan's mom, so she got the final say.

Tony had a look of determination on his face at that. "Yeah, we'll see about that."

But all those little issues had been flushed out in the first few days, and now they were working on incorporating his program into everything. Peter already wired him into the Spider-Man suit, tapped him into the tower's network architecture, and into the smart glasses the man had pointed out to him that were, apparently, never finished in the face of the Peter Project.

EDITH, he had called it, but based on all the features she had, Peter was mostly positive it was better that project was never finished. Peter kept the glasses, though, body having an all over shiver the first time he heard Mr. Stark's voice directly in his ear.

Now, they were putting the finishing touches on getting Tony wired into the penthouse, which had its own individual network infrastructure and security protocols. Having Friday helped with a lot of the grunt work, but there were some fine tuning things that Peter had to do to wrap it up.

"There!" he said, leaning back on his haunches as he slid the discreet panel back over the hidden network rack in the living room (carefully hidden behind tall, leafy vegetation he was vaguely sure was called a monster plant). "Okay, Fri-baby, fire it up, let him in."

"Are you sure, Mom?" Friday said, voice warm with humor. "Shouldn't guests knock first?"

"Your father is not a guest, dear," he joked back with her, loving the rapid way she grew with him. He was weirdly proud of her, seeing all these changes in behavior and temperament.

"If you say so."

And then - Tony.

Adding the holographic projection system was another touch Peter had to manually install, like with a drill and everything. It was absolutely worth the time spent crawling around on the ceiling when the man bloomed to life in front of him, craning his neck around to check out the apartment.

"Man, I forgot how bland this place was," he said, eyeing the all-white leather couch and black slate flooring of the sunken living room.

"Bland?" Peter asked, aghast. "This place is great!"

Tony gave him a look. "Kid, I know your taste runs to the science pun t-shirt side of the spectrum, but all black and white isn't exactly that much of a step up from beige."

Peter flushed. "I mean, it's simple but it's nice! And why did you even pick it if you didn't like it?"

"Oh," the older man responded, casually walking around the space. "I didn't. Hired some expensive decorator and told them to go crazy with it." He shrugged. "The lab was always my space, so I didn't really give a damn went on up here as much. Pep was the one to put the art and stuff up - which I see she took."

"Yeah, it was gone by the time I got up here, but not much else thankfully. And I guess that makes sense. The lab just…feels like you, Mr. Stark."

Tony gave him another look. "Kid, you've gotta start calling me Tony. It's cute when you say it, but since I'm essentially a ghost, I think we're past the point of titles."

"I mean," Peter said, struggling not to let all the blood in his body rush to his face at how enflamed he felt at Mr. Stark calling him cute. "If I'm only cute when I say it, I guess I have to keep it up, right, Mr. Stark?" He was falling far short of the playful retort he was going for, mostly because there was too much sincerity in the words.

"Pete, you're cute with or without the 'Mr. Stark' schtick," Tony chuckled casually, as though he wasn't uprooting Peter's entire existence right now.

"O-oh, okay." This was one of those things that made Tony differ from Mr. Stark and Peter had to say, he appreciated it. The openness and honesty, the lack of barrier he could always feel was there before. He wondered how much of it was anxiety and part of the physical pretense of being Tony Stark that made him that way, that he lacked now. Whatever it was, Peter liked it. "So, Tony."

"That's my name, kid," he winked, "don't wear it out."

Peter rolled his eyes. This was the Tony he was used to.

"But seriously," Tony continued, picking their previous conversation back up. "You should redo this place, liven it up a little! Some paint, new furniture, yada yada," he waved a hand around the room. "I've seen your bedroom, not to mention the apartment you shared with May - eclectic is in, and now you've got all the money in the world to make your space your own."

"I hadn't really thought about it like that," Peter said, walking over to where Tony's glowing blue form was. "It just - it feels so weird to change things in your house, you know?"

"Peter, and I say this sincerely," Tony said and yes his tone was playful but sincere nonetheless. "I never cared about how this place looked, it was a matter of convenience. It was a bed and a kitchen and a respectable place to have people over but that's about it. And it's your house now."

Peter furrowed his brow. "But the media center and the blankets and pillows - ?"

"Yeaaaaah," the man dragged out and turned to look over at the TV set up in question. "I may or may not have bought that after you mentioned wanting to binge Star Wars with me when you'd realized I hadn't seen all of them." He shrugged but the casual gesture was ruined by the side-eyed sincerity.

"You bought," Peter started, "an entire TV set up, surround sound, and game console just to watch TV with me?"

"Sure," the man shrugged again and Peter knew for a fact that his whole casual-whatever he was doing was put upon, but he didn't know how to call it out - or if he even wanted to.

What do you say when someone spends a few thousand grand on something because you mentioned it offhand in one conversation?

"Listen, kid," Tony sighed, looking over at him finally. "I told you I was too much and this is what I meant. I do - too much. Extravagant gifts and shit like," he waved his hand at the media center wall, "whole media center set ups and custom blankets without asking." He shrugged, and it was probably the first time Peter had ever seen the man truly awkward, for all that he fidgeted normally. "People've been telling me that my whole life but I just can't ever seem to break the habit." He sounded truly apologetic and that was the moment that Peter snapped.

"Stop," he said, voice firm, face rigid. Tony looked at him, chagrined, like a kid being told off after putting his hand in the cookie jar. "There is nothing wrong with you," Peter continued and watched as the man's glowing blue face snapped up at him in surprise. "Your love language is just gift giving, is all," he explained. "You show people you care by giving them things and I bet it's always things like this," he waved toward the media center. "Things they've mentioned or things you know they'll need or care about. Right?" Tony nodded, eyes wide behind his square framed glasses. "Then, there you go," he said, running out of the confident steam he'd been using for his little mini-rant. "You just want to give people you care about things to make their lives better or things they want or way to enjoy themselves better. There's nothing wrong with that. Sure, it can feel like a little much sometimes due to the expense of such things but at the same time - it's your money, you can afford it, so why not?"

The look on Tony's face clearly said that no one had spelled it out like that before and that he wasn't totally sure if he believed Peter.

Peter smiled, a little sadly. "Tony, if I had thought you were giving me things to make me in debt to you or buy my loyalty or something, I'd have turned them down. But it's obvious you don't, and why would I try and hurt you by being a dick about it?"

Tony cleared his throat. "I gotta say, kid, you're like the first person to not give a damn about it. It's always either people after my money, or people who think I'm trying to buy them with it. It's…refreshing."

"I mean," Peter said while he walked over to the large, squishy chaise side of the couch he liked. "It's not like I don't think about it? It's just - like I didn't grow up with a lot of money, right? And neither did my friends. And so when Ned or someone went out of their way to get me something it really meant a lot. And while you have the ability to probably buy a small country - " Tony laughed, " - that doesn't negate the fact that you put thought and energy into it just like anyone else would."

Tony sat down on the other side of the couch from him, their usual seats, and the normalcy of the action soothed Peter. He was starting to look past the faint blue glow of the other man and just see Tony.

"Thanks, kid," Tony said, looking over at him. "I mean that."

"I know you do," Peter smiled softly. He curled in on himself, snuggling into the cushions, wishing he had his movie blanket.

Tony's mind seemed to go the same direction. "Where's that blanket of yours?" he asked, craning his neck to look at the space where the basket of blankets and spare pillows for the living room used to be.

Peter sighed. "It was one of the things Ms. Potts took," he shrugged. "I haven't gotten around to replacing it yet."

The older man frowned. "You should have Friday do it," he finally said. "I didn't buy it, I crafted it out of the same textile I used to make Steve's stuff with." At Peter's look, he explained, "Capcicle has a similar texture issue that you do, senses cranked up a little under yours. Your first Spider-Man suit was made out of an off-shoot of the formula, but the base is perfect for blankets and things." He furrowed his brow, looking away, thinking. "Pepper knew that," he muttered to himself. "Fri? Get on that, will you?"

"You got it, Boss."

"Maybe she had them grab it by accident when she sent people up to get the artwork and stuff?" Peter pondered.

"Yeah, maybe," Tony agreed though he didn't sound convinced. "How about," he said instead of whatever seemed to be on his mind, "you go grab a blanket from somewhere and we watch something. You wouldn't believe how fast my brain runs now," he chuckled. "And I don't really sleep anymore, so being online and zoning out a little would be nice."

Peter smiled and agreed, stopping at the kitchen to pop a bag of microwave popcorn in before heading down the hallway. He paused by his room first before ultimately going to Tony's and grabbing the bundled up comforter. It was just so much softer than the one in the guest room, and it still faintly smelled like the other man. That wasn't too weird right?

Pushing back the anxiety in him that screamed, 'uh yeah it's weird he's going to call you out on it,' Peter walked back out to the living room and dumped it onto the couch. He tried to be casual about it, twisting on his heel to grab the popcorn and pour it into a bowl before coming back to the living room and snuggling down into the blanket.

He tried not to pay attention to the long, long look Tony gave him when the teen asked, "Anything you're in the mood for?"

After a moment, the older man said, "Fuck it, let's watch Star Wars again."

[dawns-laboratory]

Been a mix of "7 Days to Die" and "Palworld" together with dad, or "Astroneer" with a friend (Hi, I know you'll see this, we have to continue that someday soon when I have energy)

And then I've been playing "My Time at Sandrock" quite obsessively the last few days. Both because I want the story, but also because I just find the character interaction soothing. Also because I want to get through the story so me and the same friend can play multiplayer together. ...Mostly because I want the story, since Multiplayer doesn't have it in the same manner.

I'm just going to ramble below the cut, but TL;DR:

I'm okay, just low on energy. Likely not eating well enough and sleeping schedule is a mess because of stress.

So this will be a bit about me just gushing, and also just my thoughts and feelings. It's more me wanting to talk to the void, even if I get no reply. It's soothing in its own right.

I won't go on too long about this specifically, but I believe I mentioned having broken up earlier this year. Specifically my previous relationship ended early December 2023.

I still don't feel okay from that, my self-esteem is... Not doing well. If anything I feel a bit scared of entering a relationship in the future because of how hurt I feel, and especially because I have such a strong sense of "I am not good enough". So some days are harder than others, but I'll be okay.

But I've kinda realised now that I have... Not really gushed over characters as much. Not really allowed myself to feel much regarding those, felt guilty almost. So Sandrock has been soothing, as I've allowed myself to bit by bit just sqee on the inside because the interactions are adorable.

...Also me having felt guilty to have to turn down a confession from one of the NPCs, like damn did that hurt- But the NPC I wanted to meet hadn't appeared yet and I didn't know who I wanted to go for. I'd say I'd have to do another playthrough and go for the other character, but at the same time........ I'm very stuck on the character I'm with. An odd sense of safety that I once used to have, it's nostalgic. Soothing, even. If I can find that again in a person irl, I'd be happy.

But currently I'm happy as is with my plan to just adopt a lot of cats when I get a better living situation. Become the crazy cat lady. Frankly- I'd probably be happy just living with cats if anything. I'm okay with that future, it's a good one.

And that's me being genuine because I can't see a better future than having a bunch of cats to cuddle with like come on

Cat person, through n through lmao

...Maybe I can get a cat to call Galby after the antagonist of the Eragon books called Galbatorix- Hmmmm.

[sickiesope]

ummm can you do one where hoseok has been having like recurring migraines or something and the members are all worried about him?

Here it is anon, I'm so sorry for the wait! My brain's been stuck for awhile but I hope ur still around and it's to your liking! 💜💜

Headsick

Sickie: Hoseok

Caretakers: OT7

Summary: Everything seems to be giving Hobi a headache lately.

The guys are having a fun weekend off and that includes a night of home karaoke along with some drinks. Hoseok was singing and dancing for a good while before his head felt a little dizzy and heavy. He thought it was just the drinks hitting but this was a more painful kind of dizzy. He decided that's enough alcohol for him tonight.

Jungkook and Jimin are racing to chug their drinks with the others chanting "Go! Go! Go!" Hoseok's head hurts just from watching it. Hoseok tries to drink water to balance out. The glass is cold and has a lot of ice in it. He almost wants to hold it up to his forehead but that would be weird. Instead he sinks his face into his cold hands on the table. He flinches when JK and Jimin hastily put down their empty glasses.

"Yah! Careful guys, you're scaring Hobi" Namjoon jokes.

Hoseok forcibly laughs, his voice sounding like a weird smothering echo in his head.

Hoseok wants to enjoy himself, he really does. But this pesky headache is watering it down. He just stares into space with the blurry clamor of Taehyung and Jimin trying to pick a song.

"Hoba you okay?" Yoongi asks him, gently touching his knee.

"Huh? Oh, yeah hyung..I guess I'm just tired" Hoseok sighs. The dancer ended up going to bed earlier that night.

***

Hoseok slept for eleven hours but still woke feeling out of it. He only had two drinks and barely finished the second.

"Hobi hyung, wanna go for a walk?" Jungkook puts on a hoodie.

Hoseok looks outside and his face expression looks less than thrilled at the idea. "Hmm.. I don't think I can.." the dancer mumbles.

"Oh? Are you feeling okay hyung?" JK looks at Hoseok's face. He looks so tired despite sleeping the most.

"Yeah, just a slight headache is all."

"Don't worry hyung, you should rest up. We're gonna be busy again soon."

***

Hoseok's been like this on and off a few days now. He was slow getting ready and really wanted to sleep in. It's warmer out than expected and that seems to be bothering him too. Traffic is heavy and they're moving at a snail's pace. Hoseok is getting that dull pain in his head again. Near his eyebrows he feels it most. Hoseok gently massages the area with his thumbs. When that doesn't feel like enough he uses his knuckles. He doesn't care how funny it might look.

Hoseok keeps sighing and grunting in the back seat and Seokjin glances at him a few times. The eldest wants to ask what's wrong but doesn't want to pry. He assumed it was because Hobi didn't finish his coffee.

"Come on, we're running behind schedule!" their manager calls. The members are speed walking down the hallway after rushing from the car. It all feels like a blur to Hoseok despite his body feeling so heavy.

The rap line have a busy day of recording today and they wanted to stream some of it. Hoseok loves showing the creativity process with the fans and he's usually shining and lighting up the room with his smile. But the lighting in the room itself feels too much.

There it is again.

Everything seems to be giving Hobi a headache lately. It's now a pulsing that radiates throughout and he feels warm.

"Hm, hold on, its lagging" Yoongi said about the phone. Hoseok feels like his brain is lagging. He can't really pay attention with this pain. It feels like he has weights tied at his arms and his head feels like a loud alarm bell with intense ringing in his ears. It hurts. The last thing he needs is to mess up on camera. Nope, not if Hobi can help it. He stands there smiling and nodding as if the light isn't making him feel like a vampire in the sun.

Hoseok wipes his forehead and looks down at the floor. "Hey Hobi, army is up there!" Yoongi points to the camera "they can't see your beautiful face!"

Hoseok lifts his head smiling tightly. He waves and dances for about 10 seconds before the pain behind his eyes gets too much. He quickly turns around and buries his face into Namhoon's broad frame. "Awwh, our Hobi is extra adorable today!" 

Hoseok just stays like that for a minute before peeling away. "Oh uh, sorry Joon" he says sheepishly.

Namjoon looks at Hobi's face. He leans in and whispers "are you alright?"

"Yeah..I'm fine" Hoseok murmurs "slight headache but it's okay." The dancer casually walks away holding one side of his head. He's going just fast enough to escape but not look rushed. But the others still catch on and get concerned for their sunshine. They decide to turn the cam off.

"Hyung, what's wrong?" Namjoon asks.

Hoseok finally caves. "Ugh, I think I have a migraine.. I can't do this.." he says feebly. His head feels like it's shattering inside. "I need to sit down somewhere."

Yoongi takes him to a nearby chair and gives him a fresh water bottle. Namjoon lends him a pair of his sunglasses. It helps a little with the light but the throbbing persists.

"Did you take anything for it hyung?"

"Yeah, but maybe I should've tried something else. I think I feel worse" Hobi groaned. He sinks in the chair and just holds his head. "Ugh, this wasn't part of the plan"

"It's okay hyung, we'll try again when you feel better" Namjoon rubs his back.

"Awwh, the fans are all wishing you well Hoba" Yoongi shows him. Hoseok is warmed by the love and he feels more relaxed.

[maryannecrimsworth]

What you are

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10

Guide for tormented hearts

Pairing: Wednesday Addams x Selective mute reader

Warnings: stabbing, violence; angst scenes; folklore monster descripition; beware of the elf's picture annexed to the last words of the chapter.

Summary: The first thing you saw when you opened your eyes was Wednesday Addams. You were getting used to it — you had spent the last week with her because of her vindictive prank — but not like this. Not with her eyes so furious and her knife in your skin. Then you understood: she discovered what you are.

Some reader's characteristics: R has anxiety disorder, selective mutism, and is a really unique type of outcast. Reader's background it's derived from my Wednesday fic, The Hunt.

One week. It's been a week since you started spending all your time after class with Wednesday. 

At first, Hank sent you to assist the choir with their instruments – which resulted in an exchange of sharp words between Wednesday and a black mermaid, but everything was fine. You charged yourself with carrying the keyboard and its tripod, without talking to anyone – especially no scales. A primitive part of your brain told you to run away whenever you approached a siren. It was unknown what a mermaid could possibly do with just her singing, and it scared you. What if she asked you to speak? Or then reply to her properly? And then you would go on, rambling without any control or rational thinking. It sounded like a nightmare.

The next day, the advisor — your brother —  told you to clean up the mess in the lupin cage. You wondered how it was possible for teenagers to shed so much fur — and then you two were sent to the hive. Wednesday was part of this club, the Hummers. And even though Eugene was excited about having a possible new member – you couldn't say no to him – Wednesday didn't say a word to you. 

Other than the obligatory and polite greetings of "hello" and "bye", which you responded to with a nod and a shy smile, she didn't ask you any questions. No comments, no words coming from her. Nothing that could make you have another coughing fit and rush to the nearest bathroom.

She even told Eugene to leave you alone after he started begging to know your favorite kind of honey and you immediately blushed and backed off. You had a favorite: eucalyptus honey, even though your mother always made you take the uruçu honey. "It will help you sleep," she used to say.

Eugene left you alone after you finally shook your head and pointed at a jar of honey on a shelf. He ended up giving it to you and you hugged him goodbye. 

The activities, which were actually punishments, were becoming pleasant with Wednesday by your side. Her presence was cold, but calming: she had no need to small talk, and nor did you. The silence was comfortable, fulfilling, almost. It makes you feel good even though your sleeping schedule has been deteriorating exponentially the last few days. 

Hank’s been so insistent in training you — in teaching you to control it — that your sleeping time has been cut to half. Usually, you slept four times a week, five hours tops. Now, you were sleeping twice a week, barely taking a nap. You were not resting, but fighting and gritting your teeth as the marks and dirt in the glass cage increased. If it weren't for the coffee, you wouldn't be up at all. 

You came back from the canteen with another cup in your hand, and for some reason, Wednesday scrunched her nose ever so slightly when she saw you drinking the strained coffee.

"Hank said we need to organize the books." She looked down at the table where your journal and pile of books surrounded your seat. "You seem to have been here for quite a while."

You shook your head and closed your notebook. It was not open when you left the library to get another cup of coffee.

"I've already expunged the lovers from the dark corners in here." Wednesday walked over to a cart to carry the books and marched over to the most cluttered bookshelf of the place. “Let’s start.” 

It was painful how the teenagers cared only about reading magazines, comics and erotic novels — and how they did not have the decency to put them away in the right shelf. Some of them weren’t even on a shelf. What kind of librarian would allow books to be spread all over the floor? Even a kid would do better than this. Wednesday seemed as bothered as you with the state of the library. 

“Someone should dismember the librarian for letting the bookshelves get to such a state.” She said before picking up a book that was clearly thrown up on its shelf. “What kind of laggard mistakes Ovid for a contemporary romanticist?"

You tripped and dropped a book on your foot as soon as you heard her speech. She turned around and saw you picking up the book from the floor in a hurry.

“Have you read Ovid?” She asked, her eyes following your fast and ungraceful movements. You did not answer her: instead, you rushed back to the table and opened your journal. She waited for you to finish writing. 

Your handwriting was hurried, over-spaced, and unexplainably slanted to the left. It was almost like an old, secret lettering of some underground writer.

“In our leisure we reveal what kind of people we are.” You showed her your writing.

Her eyebrows rose before she looked back at you.

"Indeed we do."  Wednesday said and went back to organizing the books as you were left standing there, smiling at her back.

You two have actually found some good books misplaced between magazines and romances. She would occasionally comment on the texts she had read, whether they were good or not, whether the author deserved to be called a writer or not. Wednesday enjoyed most of the same books as you, but you had to choke back a scream when she criticized Emily Dickinson.

How could she not like her?

Wednesday frowned at your exasperated look. “It’s too emotional.” She complained and you recklessly rolled your eyes. Her hard gaze made you regret it instantly. “She bowed to her family's oppression and hid her writings her entire life.” The Addams girl argued. 

Yeah, because she was abused and misunderstood by those who should support her the most!

Wednesday noticed the annoyance which twisted your lips. 

“Then prove me wrong.” Your eyes widened at her words. “Show me her best poem.” 

You smiled at her. Challenge accepted.

X

Wednesday smelled the humidity of the basement before the darkness took form before her eyes. The sound of swinging chains buzzed in her ears, but her wrists and ankles were free. A dim light illuminated a corner of the room, and her gaze immediately followed the shadows moving at distance. 

She quickly recognized the people chained to the ground: Enid, Eugene and Hank. 

They were all unconscious, lying over each other with wounds stained on their skin showing. Enid's face was swollen and bruised, it was impossible to tell if Eugene was breathing or not, and Hank wasn’t healing. Wednesday sprinted in their direction, but her body hit a taller, stronger figure that kept her from reaching them. 

A pair of soft hands held her shoulders, and a sweet voice made her stomach twist.

“I did it all for you, my love.” The figure gained a face as Wednesday's skin began to burn. "Now it's only the two of us." Wednesday tried to move, to run, to rush away from Tyler, but her whole body froze. “I love you, cara mia.” His gentle lips reached hers, but the taste that emerged in her mouth was bitter. 

No — it wasn't real — it couldn't be real. Tyler had been in jail for months: Hank and she made sure of that. He would never come back — they would never come back together. Unless it was a dream. 

A awful bad dream. 

Wednesday fought the feeling of Tyler’s lips against hers and opened her eyes. This time, she wasn’t in the basement, it had no light on, and there was only a figure before her. 

Her gaze froze on the being sat on her chest: she saw the hairy creature gasping at her opened eyes, and then smiling wickedly at her. It was a small and heavy being, with pointy ears, little fangs and vicious, dark eyes which she couldn’t look away. The wickedness and darkness within the orbs watching her created a chill in her spine and a burden in her chest. She tried to move, to push the creature away with a blow, but her body weighed too much. Her chest was too heavy, and her lungs were compressed as the creature kept laughing. Only her eyes moved, and were uncontrollably drawn to the little beast above her. 

She was trying to scream when a punch knocked the creature off of her. Thing fell onto her lap as the monster rolled across the floor, and Wednesday was finally able to move. 

She took her dagger from under her pillow and in one swift movement advanced on the monster. The blade struck one of its arms and the little ghoul ran towards the door, sobbing and sniveling.

Wednesday threw the dagger at it and a grunt came from her right side almost immediately. She turned in a reflex and saw Enid snoring, totally asleep. Then a hiccup came from the door and the little ghoul was no longer there. 

You were. 

The blade was embedded in your shoulder, blood trickled down your clavicle while another cut on your arm soiled your skin. You stumbled and fell backwards to the floor, your head hit the door with a loud thud and your eyes went wide at Wednesday. Her features stiffened and her gaze hardened as she marched toward you.

"How could you?" You didn't retreat in time and her hand closed around your neck. "I will kill you for daring to get inside my head." You choked on her words, her grip becoming tighter around your throat. 

What were you doing in her room? What had you done to her? When did you fall asleep?

A tear fell from your eyes, making her hand loose ever so slightly. She watched the despair and confusion that took over your features and you seized the chance to escape. You pulled her away and grabbed the doorknob, your arm shrinking in pain because of the blade on your shoulder — you grunted and pulled out the dagger, soon stumbling down the hall as she watched you go.

Your blood splattered on her clothes and the salty tear that ran down your face wet her hand. Her whole body shivered as the bitter taste of Tyler — of the nightmare — lingered on her lips. Her breathing continued shallow and rapid as she returned to the bed and sat down, her footsteps created a trail of your blood on the bedroom floor.

She stared at the door — the door you had slammed in utter desperation — and stayed up through the rest of the night.

X

You reached your brother’s office within a few minutes. Hank heard you from the hallway and opened the door before you could knock. He lifted his hand to hold your wrist and push you inside the office. 

“DON’T!” You shouted. “Do not heal me, I deserve this.” You made your way to the office and sat down on the nearest chair. 

“What do you mean? What happened?” Hank followed you and sat by your side, quickly turning his chair in your direction. 

“I…” The tears kept running down your face. “It attacked Wednesday.”

Hank’s face dropped. “How did you let this happen? How did you fall asleep?”

“I don’t know!” You fought back, your voice growing louder, but cracking because of your heavy breathing. “The last thing I remember is reading in the library and then I opened my eyes and her dagger was on my shoulder! I—” You swallowed hard. “It’s over, Hank. I can’t, I messed it all up again, I can’t do it. Wednesday hates me now and soon everyone else will too.” Then you whispered: “She should’ve killed me.”

“Don’t ever say something like that again.” Hank stood up so abruptly that you flinched. You watched him as he unlocked one of his desk’s drawers, grabbed an old book and walked back to you. “Wipe your face, collect yourself, and explain it to her.” He handed you the book, but you didn’t grab it. “You’ll have to do it, sooner or later.” 

“She cannot know.” You sobbed, hugging your own body and shrinking. “She can’t.”

"She's going to figure it out one way or another" He continued holding the book out to you. "Do it."

X

The knock that came from the door did not stop Enid's worried speech.

“What the hell happened?” She eyed the dry blood on the floor and Wednesday’s trembling hands once again. “And do not simply answer ‘Y/N’ again! Tell me what happened.”

Wednesday ignored her roommate and walked over the door.

“We fought.” She opened it and saw only a book in the middle of the hallway. “Y/N is a monster and attacked in the middle of the night.” She picked up the book and her eyes quickly scanned its cover. Her chest was still aching, the slightest movement of her breathing pinched her ribs and heaved her chest since the night before. It felt as if her heart was being pierced, unable to breathe properly.

“What do you mean? What kind of monster?” Enid asked as Wednesday opened the book. “I..I can’t imagine Y/N hurting anyone. Are you sure about it?”

Wednesday’s eyes ran along the marked page and her expression narrowed.

“Wed?” Enid walked over her roommate.

“It’s from Y/N.” Wednesday whispered. “It’s…”

“What does it say?” Enid leaned over the Addams and tried to read the pages. “Which language is that?”

“German.” Wednesday started to translate it. “The ‘elf-pressure’ is when the creature sits astride a sleeper's chest and becomes heavier until the crushing weight awakens the terrified and breathless dreamer. The victim awakes unable to move under the elf's weight.” Enid frowned, and Thing crawled over her shoulder and explained this was exactly what happened to his cousin during the night. “The creature, in many cases, is considered a demon, but there have been some instances in which this elf is created from the spirits or from witchcraft, more akin to a haunting or a bewitchment.”

“I don’t get it.” Enid complained and pointed at the drawing in the book. “How could Y/N do this to you? He doesn’t look like this” Thing signed again and told her: ‘last night, he did.’

“As with the case of werewolves, sometimes a normal human may become this demon during the night. However, they are typically unaware of their nocturnal activities.”

Wednesday closed the book loudly. 

She remembered how scared you felt under her touch, how confused your eyes seemed, so teary and so closer to hers. But you didn’t claim innocence nor deny your responsibility over the creature’s action — no, you seemed guilty and broken. As if a part of your life has been shred apart again, completely destroyed before Wednesday’s eyes, because of her eyes. You were crying and trembling not because of your wounds nor fear, but because she saw who you are. What you are.

A demon, a night elf. 

An Alp.

Taglist: @i984 @cursedchar @toournextadventure @4pparecium @tnnadia @colezb @aroaceanxietylemon @elduster @efectoangel @sweetaimu @tundra1029 @rainbowsixreader (do you guys even want to be tagged? Please tell me in the comments)

[lepusrufus]

I'm starved for theories and hcs and analysis of the blorbos so fine, I'll do it myself. Have some random gritty edgy hcs of Sombra because I'm bored and want to bug my followers with the brainrot

Sombra is a lot less prone to violence than most of Talon, but she also looks extremely apathetic to it on a surface level. She's been scouring and has seen the deepest, most fucked up and disgusting corners the internet has to offer. She's so desensitized to it all that sometimes even she has to take a step back and wonder what the fuck is wrong with her. Sometimes she ends up in deep rabbit holes without even meaning to, just because she can, but suddenly she's trying to find the source of a website selling the shadiest most unsafe spine implants and will need to get up and grab a coffee. (Maybe take Moira's example and steal some of her Irish coffee)

Being the one committing violent crimes is a bit of a different can of worms. Sombra is not usually a field agent and even when she is, that implies mostly staying hidden somewhere away from the fight and taking care of any security that could get in their way. Sure, the gun is there and she'll use it if needed, but she'd rather not.

In a similar vein, she has a very odd way of showing compassion (and has a particular soft spot for young kids in shitty situations). Sombra would find the most disgusting thing hidden somewhere on the web and bury herself neck deep in it to get rid of whoever is responsible. She'll get out of it without as much as a metaphorical scrap, sure, but there's only so many times she can pull this off without it getting to her.

The Implants in her head pretty much connect her brain to the whole wide internet. She's not concerned about anyone compromising her through it, with all the meticulously thought out security she put in place, but it still has its side effects. Sure, she has access to any and all data at any time, but with the amount of misleading and contradictory information you can find even through the simplest google search, she has to always be careful what she picks as true or false, to the point where she sometimes doubts even the simplest little facts. At least she got really good at recognizing lies.

Having any and all information at her fingertips is both a blessing and a curse. She can know anything on anyone in a matter of seconds but on the flip side she rarely gets to truly come in contact with the world if not through a pink tinted screen. She gets wrapped in her own head around motives and data and the inner workings of everything that she sometimes forgets that people are, at the end of the day, people and they will sometimes be unpredictable just because. It made her a bit of a paranoid mess throughout the years and despide how well she can hide it, constantly being on the lookout for something is beyond exhausting.

The implants on her spine are old. They're still very much functioning as they should be, but the one person that did them had died years ago and, without being able to do any tinkering on her own back by herself, Sombra didn't have any major parts of it replaced or updated like the rest of her tech. The knowledge that one day it's bound to malfunction and she'll be left to scramble for a way to fix it looms over her every single time she puts a little too much strain on the mechanical parts of her body and feels a little warning tingle of electricity running down her spine.

Less related to any body modifications, but i think we can all agree that she has the most fucked up sleep schedule in the universe. Sometimes she'll sleep for 12 hours straight. Sometimes she won't sleep for 3 days. Whether it's because she's working on something important or because sleep simply seems to elude her matters little, she'll still be holed up in her bedroom with a few screens floating around her and a pair of headphones blasting too loud music.

[just-wrting]

The Babysitter (Part 4)

Title: The Babysitter (Part 4)

Summary: You do your best to get a little closer to Aaron, while still keeping enough distance that you don't catch feelings. The only problem? It doesn't seem like it's working.

Word Count: 2687

Master List Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

A/N: I promised that Part 4 would be what I posted next and here it is!!!! It only took me longer than expected. I also think that despite the migraines and my terrible work schedule I'll be doing my best to post 3x a week. Also yes I know, I didn't post this at 3 AM my time for once.

You stretch and lean back on the couch. Aaron had texted you that plane had landed and that he’d be on his way soon. It's already much later than you want it to be. Jack has been asleep for a while, leaning against you while the TV plays whatever movie is on.

You know you shouldn’t go to sleep now, not when Aaron is so close to being back home, but you can’t fight it anymore. You shuffle Jack into your arms, it's much harder to move a sleeping child than an awake one, and go to the bedroom.

You're too tired to take Jack to his bed, so you take him to Aaron’s room. You push the covers to Aaron’s bed back and climb in. You shuffle the blanket around you and Jack, tucking it under his chin. Within seconds, you feel your eyes flutter shut. You wish you could stay up until toron gets here. That thought doesn't stop you from falling asleep.

——

You wake up well rested to an empty bed. A slightly burnt smell wafts through the house. You race to the kitchen in a panic, worried that Jack has decided to mess with stuff. Instead Jack is standing next to the toaster, with Aaron.

"You should’ve woken me up,” you say as you lean against the doorway. "You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“I didn't want to wake you. Jack said you had a long week so I thought it was best to let you sleep."

Aaron sets a plate on the table and Jack rushes over to you. He eagerly grabs your arm, and guides you towards the table.

"I helped make you breakfast!"

The way he smiles makes your heart melt, and you sink into a chair.

"Yeah I can see that But is it really okay to eat without you? Maybe I’ll wait a bit.”

Aaron sets two pieces of toast on your plate. The edges are darker than you prefer but you know better than to make a face about it in front of Jack.

"It’s fine. Better to eat it while it's still hot," Aaron says with a gentle smile. "Besides, Jack ate first.”

“That doesn't stop me from feeling a bit bad. How much sleep did you get Aaron?”

His silence is the answer. He got less sleep than you wish he would as is, not to mention how strenuous his job is. You make note to talk to about that habit as soon as you can.

—-

As you pack up your things you hear a knock at the door. You hear Aaron get the door and a voice talking about Jack. Walking to the front door leads to you seeing a mom and son duo.

“He's been talking about this all day," the mom giggles, "I'm so grateful that you’re willing to let Jack come over for a little bit."

You slide up to Aaron and take a look. The kid is Jack’s age, so you guess he's a friend from school. The guess is correct as Jack shoves his shoes on and runs between you and Aaron to go outside.

"I had some stuff to do so it made sense for him to go with a friend.”

"Alright. Just text me when you want me to bring him back. He's always welcome."

With that, the three of them left. You take your time watching Jack get into the car and leave, choosing to stay silent for a minute.

"When did you set that up," you ask, turning to Aaron. "Cause I didn't.”

"This morning. I figured it would give us time to talk about things.”

You nod, "There's still coffee left so we best get to it. I just want a few things to clear up."

A sigh leaves his lips. “I can imagine there's a lot to clear up.

You make both coffees. "I'm not upset with you, if that makes you feel better.

"I suppose it does. I don't know what I'd do if you decided to leave."

"'Probably hire someone else."

"'I don't-" he sighs, “Jack doesn't want someone else."

Your eyes soften as you look at Aaron. He looks exhausted. You want to push him into bed and force him to sleep. You feel yourself thinking about how much you'd like to help him .

“Good thing I love you guys.”

Aaron chuckles. “That’s good. He’d be heartbroken if you left.”

“I can tell. He looks so sad when I have to leave for the night.”

“He does, doesn’t he? What was it you wanted to know?”

You hold the coffee mug in both hands, staring at the surface. There’s only a few topics you want to ask about, you just aren’t sure where to start. There’s stuff about his job, not to mention a topic that you’re positive will be awkward, Jack’s mom.

“Let’s start with an obvious one. Why didn’t you want to tell me about your job? I’m sure that not wanting me to run far away was part of it.”

There’s a pained look on his face. He probably has lots of stories of things happening to people he knows that aren’t agents. You want to give him some sort of comfort, but you aren’t sure what you’d even say.

“You’re right. I also just don’t want you to get hurt. I’ve seen what people will do to people around me and everyone on my team and I was hoping that if you didn’t find out you’d be safer,” he explains, the expression on his face unwavering.

“I’m sorry. I hate to ask it then, but does that choice have anything to do with Jack’s mother? You don’t have to give me details, I just am unsure if I’ll meet her.”

This time, Aaron takes a while to answer. You worry that you’ve asked too much. Clearly something bad happened, and it still weighs heavy on his mind. You choose to focus on your coffee as you try to figure out how to backtrack.

“Forget I asked about it, Aaron. I’m sure I understand enough without you explaining it.”

He shakes his head. “It’s okay. You’re right. My job got in the way and she passed.”

You reach across the table and give his hand a quick squeeze. “You don’t have to say anything else. I’m not entitled to information like that. How about you tell me about this team of yours?”

“I think you’d like them. They do tend to profile everyone however, which can be an issue.”

You give Aaron a smile. “Does that mean you’ve been profiling me since the beginning? And why you didn’t need a background check?”

“Our tech analyst is amazing. She’d find any sort of dirt on you I’d need. Not that I need any.”

“That is a bit terrifying. I’ll make sure to behave I guess. Is she super nosey?”

A small smile breaks across his face. “For sure. Penelope Garcia knows everything I could ever need about you.”

“So do you know everything from my star sign to where I live? Or is that just her?”

“I don’t know any of that. I just made sure you don’t have a criminal background.”

“That’s good. If there’s anything you want to know just ask me. Besides that I don’t have any other questions.”

You down the rest of your coffee and move to the sink.

“Then I’ll get to work. I have some paperwork to get done.”

You turn and look at him. A hand rests on your hip and you frown.

“You’ll do the paperwork after you rest, right? I know for a fact you didn’t get a lot of sleep.”

Aaron looks a bit startled at your question. “I’ll be okay.”

“What time did you get home? When did you go to bed? You slept on the couch, right? When did Jack wake you up?”

“I got home around midnight and went to sleep shortly after. I promise I’m fine.”

You cross your arms and frown. “That doesn’t mean much, Aaron.”

“I’m used to it at this point. Long nights are a part of my job.”

“Aaron, I work with kids. I know how to make you take a nap," you say, Your voice is calm, but you hope he knows you’re serious. "You worry about Jack all the time. Someone has to worry about you.”

“I'll be fine, You don't need to worry about me.”

"Too late. I’m already worried."

Despite the frown, Aaron isn't taking you seriously. His eyes are crinkled and you're sure there's a small hidden behind the coffee mug.

"Since you insist, I'll try to rest. I can’t promise anything."

“I'm sure you'll find the bedroom is nap ready. I swapped out the curtains so it was easier to sleep and brought a fan over.”

Aaron sets his coffee mug next to the sink. You were right about the smile. The corners of his lips are still upturned. You know he’s probably doing this to make you feel better.

—

Thankfully, you’re able to do everything you need around the house. The dishes, sweeping, dusting and various other chores are a breeze without anything or anyone in your way. Things you have been putting off due to a lack of time are officially done. The only place you haven’t cleaned is the master bedroom.

After a few hours, you hear Aaron begin his paperwork. You do your best to not check in on him again, but you can’t help yourself from peering through the crack of the door. His face is set in a frown, and his eyebrows are furrowed. The way he meticulously goes through each page is impressive.

You aren’t sure if he’s eaten, and you can feel the lack of food start to catch up to you. After setting your resolve, you push the door open and lean against the doorframe. Aaron looks up at you almost immediately.

“I know there’s not much in the fridge since I’ve got to go to the store, but did you want lunch? I may not be able to make something that’ll impress you, but I could probably impress a kid,” you joke with a light smile.

While Aaron doesn’t say anything, he gives you more of his attention. You take that as a good sign, and keep rambling.

“Does a PB&J with an apple and milk sound okay? There’s even some leftover brownies that I’ll throw in. That’s something a kid may like, but maybe not something you’d like.”

“Sure. That does sound like something that a kid would like and be impressed by.”

“Of course it is. I cut the apple up which is a superior way of eating it, and they get sugar. Not to mention, sometimes I let them have some chips."

Aaron's smile is less tense, and you feel satisfied. Nothing makes you feel better than knowing you can make someone important to you happier.

“I'll get started on that. Will Jack be joining us for dinner?"

"I thought that it would be a good idea for him to spend as much time as he wants with his friend. It gives me time to get you a contact list for his friends’ parents and that way you can have some free time.”

“If you insist. I already have free time. It's usually a few hours after he's in bed that you’re home. Plus he has stuff he likes to keep "secret" like things for you.”

The frown is back. "What about your dating life? I'm sure that whoever you're seeing wants to see you more."

“Yeah I'm sure that's what my ex would want. I'll make lunch real fast."

You make your escape to the kitchen as quick as you can. Talking about your ex unisn't something you're keen on doing. It was a messy ending.

You push all relationship thoughts out of your head. This is not the time or place to be thinking like that. It's lunch time, which means focusing on making food. Not that making a PB and J is hard.

The whole thing only takes you about ten minutes; you really should just buy an apple slicer. It would save you so much effort. In fact, Aaron's house was missing some of that stuff that would make housework easier.

You do your best to arrange the food on the plate, hoping it all fits. Balancing more than two plates is a struggle, so you choose to grab the drinks separately. Milk is hard to get out carpets if you don’t have the right materials. The smell will attract a pet and that's a hassle. At least it doesn't stain.

"Where do you want me to set this?"

Aaron shuffles the papers into neat piles, creating a space in the middle of the desk. You avert your eyes, not wanting to read the files. Even if they weren’t confidential, it isn't something that you’d want to read. After setting down the plates, you go to get the drinks.

The first few minutes of eating are done in silence. You’d like to get to know Aaron better, you just don’t want to come off as weird. It would suck if he misunderstood your intentions. Not that you wouldn’t date him.

"Something’s on your mind. Did you want to talk about it?”

"No. I think I’ll be okay in regards to what I was thinking about. On a different topic, what do you and Jack do together?”

Aaron looks a little ashamed at the question. You can sense he has a lot of guilt about how things have turned out. The look in his eyes makes you want to comfort him, but you don’t know what to say.

“If you ever want to talk about something, you can talk to me,” you offer. "I won't understand everything, but it's still good to get it out.”

“Maybe at a time when I don’t have so much paperwork,” he says with a sad smile. "I almost feel like-“

"Work has taken over your life? Tell me about it. I love kids, but there are times I wish I choose different job. Like the time all three kids had the flu, so I was cleaning up so much vomit.”

The rest of the meal is spent telling each other embarrassing work stories. Aaron shares things from all his team members, while you tell him the ridiculous things some kids have done. As the stories go on, you find yourself entranced by his laugh. The way his eyes crinkle and the corner of his lips turn up have your heart almost skipping a beat. For some reason, you start to feel self-conscience. Thankfully, the doorbell rings.

"I’ll get it. You probably need to get back to work," you say as you collect the dishes.

You stack the dishes, and carefully close the door behind you. You don't even bother going to the kitchen, opting to just set the dishes on a table nearby. Thankfully, the doorbell rings only the one time. You see the mom from earlier standing there, and swing open the door. Jack rushes in to hug you. You ruffle his hair as the mom starts to speak.

“I’m so glad that Aaron’s finally dating again. Poor man has been alone for too long,” she laments. “How long has it been?”

“I'm not sure. I didn't even know Aaron was dating," you reply with a shrug.

“Wait, you aren’t dating Aaron?” Her face is

turning red. "With how Jack talks about you, I thought maybe. He doesn’t talk about anyone but his dad like that.”

"It's Fine. Can’t blame you for what kids say," you offer with a smile. "No harm done.”

She doesn't say more, instead rushing back to her car. You don’t stop her, figuring that would make it worse.

You'll mention it to Aaron, hoping that he’ll be able to handle it.

For now, you'll be content to make Jack happy by pretending to be whoever he wants. After all, Aaron will have fixed it by tomorrow and there won’t be any more problems.

@rousethemouse @ash-whimsicalfanfic If anyone wants to be added to a tag list let me know!

[dapperbasil]

Fangfest Day 14

Well, I didn't intend to do anything for the vtm tarot because of burnout but since @anarchswild did the lovely Thomas Slater for the Death arcana, it's only fitting to post a snippet from his final nights. Yes a few of you might be familiar with this.

Presenting, the inner thoughts of a Malkavian proxy Prince, to whom the world is a show and he is the star. Sparkle on, you funky little Malk.

My eyes open as day turns to dusk and finally to night, and there’s no time to waste. The next episode of “The Thomas Slater Show” is due to air in two hours, as much as I would like to get back in bed and sleep. The cameras aren’t rolling yet, a blessing in disguise. I love the attention, the applause, the ratings. But I’m so tired of it, all of it. My eyes take extra long to adjust, take in the room around me. That was one of the things the producers couldn’t fix, that and the damnable leg injury I took as a stupid teenager. I was dumb then, thinking I could be an athlete, a star. I guess I got that wish in a different sense, but you can only take stardom for so long.

This new haven is cold and foreboding, unlike my home in NYC. The city is quiet and calm, and it would be a relief if I wasn't in charge of the whole damn thing. This season's ratings have been low overall, and it does wear down on me. My heart's not in it and I think the producers are starting to notice. They sent down a rep, my sheriff. He says he's just here to keep an eye on me, to make sure the producers see what they want to see. Am I supposed to feel safe with that?

What am I even the prince of anyway? They said they're doing a trial run, and didn't want to send too many actors to the new stage, but there's so few of us. I don't think we stand a chance so close to the border. These thoughts begin to fade from my mind as I pull on a purple and red tie-dye blazer and head downstairs to start a pot of coffee. I can't drink the stuff anymore but Alex… it's the only way he'll feed.

For now, he's all that I live for. I messed up and I keep messing up. I messed up with Apollo and now I've messed up with Alex. I shouldn't have embraced even one, but now I've got two childer. Apollo hates me, that much is clear to me, given how our last few chats went. Maybe I won't make the same mistakes with Alex. Call me an empty nester if you must, when I was a kine I wanted to have a family and I guess I never grew out of it.

Alex knocks on the door frame when he comes into the kitchen, his way of getting my attention. I haven't heard him speak once since his embrace, I can only assume it must be part of his derangement. From what I can tell of his derangement, he takes after me in the worst of ways. Well, maybe not the worst. He's still bright and cheerful, smiling as wide as the day I offered a bright young film student an internship. He doesn't even seem to mind not understanding a word I say. We do talk of course, in different ways. Sign language wasn't too difficult for me to pick up, and the critics loved it. He can read lips well enough, and even though I can't, we still communicate fine.

I pour him a cup of coffee as he goes over what's scheduled for tonight. We look over the itinerary together as he sips the coffee deliberately spiked with blood. He still doesn't quite get it, even after all these months. He doesn't understand why he gets so angry once in a while, doesn't understand that he's not keeping food down because his body can't anymore. Blood is all that nourishes him, and I have to slip it into him where I can. Even when the lights overtake me and I have to put on a show, during commercials I make sure he's taken care of.

I'm careful with how much I tell him. I don't want him to grow like Apollo, to hate me yet. Not until he can stand on his own, or has friends to help him like I do. Maybe I'll get him a ghoul, someone who can help him when I'm not there any longer to do so. I don't have much longer.

Those golden eyes haunt me, the eyes of my own childe. Was embracing him a mistake? Perhaps but I was foolish thinking I could change things, I’m not even sure why I did it anymore. If anything I brought my doom closer at hand. I don't really even mind anymore, as I've grown tired from my years of performing. The nightmares have become more frequent as of late, being forced to my knees as an ominous voice speaks over me and Apollo looks down at me with hatred dripping from his eyes. The golden sparkle in his eyes is gone, dimmed and tired. I don't know what he's been through, but I know this is the face of the man who's going to be my death one day.

Hurry Apollo, but don't come too quickly. Not until Alex can stand on his own. For now we exit the haven as the stage lights begin to shine. The curtain will soon rise and all that will matter is the audience. Another night I hope to not see a golden sparkle staring back at me and I face it not with anticipation, but with a tired sigh. The producers will have their show, and soon, maybe not soon enough, their series finale.