#my super self-indulgent weird ship writing

[iamnmbr3]

I need you to know that after a decade of being a Harry Potter fan, your blog was the thing that made me ship drarry. Do you have any fics you'd recommend, since I'm only just starting to read drarry?

Ahhh! That's truly delightful to hear. Thank you so much for telling me! There's a ton of good drarry content. Definitely check out my fic rec tag here. Off the top of my head here are a few fun ones:

Running on Air by eleventy7 (words: 74,880 | rating: T)

Draco Malfoy has been missing for three years. Harry is assigned the cold case and finds himself slowly falling in love with the memories he collects.

At Your Service by Faith Wood (faithwood) (words: 95,752 | rating: E)

Hogwarts students are in danger; Harry is determined to save them all. There's only one thing he knows for certain: Draco Malfoy is somehow involved.

hello goodbye ('twas nice to know you) by tamerofdarkstars (words: 4,807 | rating: T)

Draco Malfoy thinks he might know whose thoughts are scrawling themselves on his skin, but that's crazy. Impossible, even. It has to be a mistake. - Self-indulgent soulmate AU where the thoughts of your soulmate inscribe themselves on your skin in a shifting magic tattoo

Nero su bianco by zuzallove (words: 40,507 | rating: E)

September 1997. Hogwarts is under the regime of Voldemort and the Carrows. Finding himself alienated by both his friends and his supposed enemies, Draco puts quill to parchment, and writes letters. He addresses them to the only person he can think of, as Hogwarts rapidly falls into chaos and ruin: Harry Potter. He goes to great lengths to ensure the letters are never discovered, and he’s pretty certain he’s done a great job. Until the day of his trial. PodFic available!

Denude by Faith Wood (faithwood) (words: 4,172 | rating: E)

This is a HBP AU. It's set a few days after the Sectumsempra scene and takes the story in another direction, asking the question: "What if the Sectumsempra scene had a greater impact on Harry and Draco?" Harry and Draco are sixteen. In medias res beginning. Non-linear storytelling.

AITA for being "obsessed" with my childhood nemesis? by RainstormRadish (words: 4,289 | rating: M)

Alrakis • I [24M] attended a small boarding school in the UK. There was a boy in my year, a couple of months younger than me, and he became my nemesis after we developed an intense rivalry. My friend [25F] told me recently that our dynamic was "weird back then" and that "it’s even weirder" that I still think about him today. She argued that I talk about him all the time, but I believe the amount I talk about him is reasonable. AITA? prongymcprongface • i completely get what you mean. i had a nemesis (like a school one, separate to my other nemesis) and we had a dynamic super similar to what you are describing. having a nemesis is a very cool and normal thing dw about it. NTA In which Draco asks the internet if he's being reasonable. Only one commenter is sympathetic. They start talking.

[caffeiiine]

hi soda!! how you doing!! tell me about your ocs!!

HI BASIL!!!!! I AM WELL ASIDE FROM A MILD COLD!!!!

oh i am so so happy you asked. there is a lot of text. i am partially sorry.

I’d give you drawings or in the very least a doodle but i literally cannot draw them. Unfortunately the screenshotted post is me. Also these ocs are insanely self indulgent. remember the blorbo askgane and you asked me what my favorite tropes were in blorbos, they’re all my dear little amalgamations of these traits given stories. my ultimate blorbos if you will. my little ones.

anyways!!!! I ahve two “universes” thus far and many many many timelines depending on which one I feel like indulging in right then. Not exactly universe as in they’re different realities, they’re taking place in the same reality, same earth. i just use universe to say “these characters are interconnected in some way”, and any characters “outside that universe” are in no way connected to the others.

So!! with that out of the way let’s move on to the actual ocs.

———

First off, we have Zima Raskolnikova. I lied a little, I was actually able to make a drawing of her awhile back. It’s not really up to my current impression of her, but it’s way better than her first draft.

So what’s with her is first of all, they were made for artfight last year. tehyre not super developed, nor do they have a story yet. but they do have connections! and they do necromancy! and i love necromancers! they are also a coroner, im not sure if the nevromancer thing would be good for bad for her job, maybe they’ll get fired if they animate a fresh body. i dont know. they havent told me yet.

stole the name off this guy.

Anyways! her story is a little cliche, i’ll admit now. they were seperated from her brother in an orphanage somewhere after the two were adopted by separate families. Her eye isn’t the result of an accident or anything, they were quite literally born with a faulty eye and it was easier to just remove it and give her a glass one than try and restore function to it. Not that they wear it either way.

I’m cross referencing my oc/misc. discord server and I forgot to write down what her plot was?? I think when i went to write it down i got torn between which version I was going to write. [i typically only write one (canon) version per channel, and i didn’t feel like making a new channel right then]. I don’t think they werre going to reunite with her brother. her brother is on a ship and honestly kinda resigned himself to never finding her again. more on him in a minute.

There was a second canon I made where they go out of her way to find him! it’s not fleshed out because truthfully i haven’t thought about it in awhile, but that canon exists! In the original canon though, they dont find her brother and the two kinda remain seperated. Once I posted about them and another moot of mine rbed telling me how my ocs were just tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. which! fair observation im not even going to lie.

after post note: i had to go through and fix all the ‘she’ pronouns because i routinely forget they go by They/her.

———

Next up, we have the second character in this little “universe”! Ryuunosuke Ito. He’s a ship captain because I want to be on the sea sometimes. i think it’d be great. that’s literally what it says in the server too

i like fish, i can’t identify many but i like fish.

His story is a little more dependent on the people around him, or, well, person. He has a weird Thing for the ship’s cook that he neither wants to acknowledge let alone accept. He avoids Simon as much as he can, which isn’t a whole lot unless he’s in the captains quarters because ships aren’t that big. Simon thinks he’s weird and has no clue why he keeps avoiding him. He’ll keep serving food bc it gets him paid but it kinda pisses him off to be alone half the time.

Regarding Zima, he vaguely knows she exists. He has no way to contact her, no idea where to start, unsure if he even should.

All in all, atleast in true canon, he doesn’t really end up happy. i don’t know, there’s not a lot to him right now.

I managed to find an old doodle of him and his sister though.

i never came up with an official design for him.

His namesake is from the one, the only, Ryuunosuke Akutagawa!!! note, not the author.

———

Simon is technically the third “main” character of the universe, but I have somehow even less on him than Ryuu so I’m not even gonna mention him.

guess who his namesake originates from. Simon keyes!!!!

———

Onto our next universe!! This one only has two characters, if you recognize tropes then i’ll say it now: I made them a little bit after I watched Spy’s are forever, so they are somewhat inspired off the musical.

Ivo!! His namesake comes from Ivo Robotnik!! I never watched or played sonic but man i love egg man’s name. Funny thing is I chose robotnik to be his namesake for several reasons, one I keep mixing up Ivo and Tenma’s roles in their universe and the original rough plot line was going to include a robot corpse [i’ll explain that in a minute]. And that namesake took me along the thought-train like “robotnik -> makes robots -> fixes robots -> fixer”. On Tenma, his namesake is from Jinxie Tenma AA:DD. His namesake has meaning as well, mostly because Jinxie kept getting possessed, and in a related way, that is kinda what happens to Tenma.

So Ivo and Tenma are a spy duo, Ivo is on the inside, making things easy to get into, the hacker guy. idk i don’t watch spy movies, spies are forever was an exception. Basically he keeps Tenma safe while he’s out, eye in the sky and all that.

One day while Tenma is out on a mission, Ivo is going through the usual, they’re even chatting a little bit! They’re making plans for when Tenma gets back from the mission, generally there’s little risk right then, so they can slack off. Suddenly Ivo hears a struggle, and the line goes quiet, Tenmas tracker disappears off the map a few minutes later too. For a week he’s off the grid. god knows what’s happening to him or if he’s even alive. Ivo knew that they wouldn’t have forever together, especially in their career. but he didn’t really expect it to end so suddenly, like that. he doesn’t even have a body to bury. Come sunday the following week, Ivo is wallowing in his office when Tenma stumbles inside.

The man is like a corpse. The way he moves, how stiff he is, how he looks, smells, feels. the one thing to set apart a corpse from Tenma is the fact that Tenma walks and is still warm. I haven’t decided where it goes from there, nor really what’s actually wrong with him or what happened. I mean obviously he got caught and tortured for information then dumped somewhere nearly dead, but i’m not too sure the effects that’d have other than physical. anyways! there is an ending where he ends up “warming up” and after a lot of time and effort on Ivo’s part he gets to be Almost Tenma. Not completely the same as before he left, but as close as it’ll get. That’s enough for Ivo.

Time to explain the robot corpse. In the original story, Tenma was going to die. Ivo would have fashioned a robot to look and act like Tenma, but it wouldn’t have been the same. I realized that there’s nothing to do with a plot like that, it’s also not really my style of story so I ended up making the above draft.

[misty-wisp]

1, 3, and 19 for the ask game :3

oc development ask game

TY FOR THE ASK ARIA GRAAAHHHH

okay, uhm. this got REALLY long. so i'll put most of it under a read more

What was the original thought that led to the creation of this character?

okay. full stop. asuka originally existed as a quite literal self-insert of myself for the sake of being shipped with goro akechi. bc i finally played p5r at iii think 18, maybe 19? and got REALLY obsessed with him. fell in love, you might say. i've grown out of that and now am more or less insane abt asugoro as a pair in itself rather than like. the thought of being in a relationship with a fictional character, lmao.

this is very critical information to me though. i will never forget asuka's origin as a selfship self-insert. never stop selfshipping, you WILL get cool and awesome ocs out of it.

here's some super old art of p5 misty from before she got changed to being asuka:

(these were all definitely traced btw. idk where the first one is traced from, but the second's from rika's official ref for higurashi sotsu, the third's from marie's portrait, and the fourth for aigis' arena portrait. my ass did not want to learn to draw at the time lmao)

i don't think i ever drew any proper ship art of her and akechi, and i never wrote anything proper with them, either. or with her at all. her character was pretty messy--her arcana was still the aeon, but i made the reason for that like..her being aware she's a self insert? and therefore not meant to exist? i got really meta with it, it was weird. and there was like. a lot of personal stuff too but let's not get into that

iirc the reason i changed her from a self insert to a full oc was for the sake of creative freedom--i really limited myself making a self aware self insert, and thought it'd be more fun to take that basis and twist it into a different but kind of adjacent character.

3. What was the first thing you decided on, the character's name, appearance, personality or their role in the story?

her name!!! the first thing i went for in asuka's actual creation was changing the self-insert's name. i still wanted to be a little self indulgent with the character concept, so i wanted a name that had a meaning that related to birds--just to throw in some kind of parallel or connection to crow.

so, i went with naming her asuka, with the kanji 飛 (asu, "to fly) and 鳥 (ka, "bird"). there are other kanji combinations you can do for this name, but i went with that one in specific! i remember that i tried making that kind of self indulgence with the name more reasonable by saying it moreso symbolizes her freeing herself from her manager, like a bird escaping its cage and flying away from its owner.

at the same time, i think my initial concept for asuka's persona was odette from swan lake, so it'd be a double meaning for both her name and persona having a bird-related theme. i don't remember if her codename was originally something like swan as well, but i wouldn't be surprised if it was.

19. What is your general favourite thing about the character? What is your least favourite?

holding myself back from saying asugoro. i'm normal. i'm normal.

i think my actual favorite thing about asuka is the whole thing i came up with for her being the aeon arcana. i don't think i actually spoiled it in full here? but i'll go ahead and drop some things because i proooobably won't be writing or releasing a full fic detailing everything she'd be involved with in the game's story anytime soon, lmao.

she's not human! she has a crisis because of that! she might not get to exist! she has a lot of beef with her dad! her dad loves her a lot and he's protective of her but he's been lying to her this whole time about her existence, her childhood, her memories, everything!!! and she loves him too but she's so angry because he lied to her!!!! her whole life he lied to her!!!! her life is a lie!!! she's not meant to exist!!!!! she's not meant to be living or breathing or anything!!! but she's here, she wants to be here, and if there's a chance that'll be taken away she's going to fight for herself and her personal freedom to live even if that means turning against the people she loves most and taking away their freedom for her own selfish wants--

in short. i really love that i went full self indulgent with this part of her character because i think it paid off. i think it helped me expand p5's world, just in my own little head. and p3's world on a technicality but shhhhhh you tooootally didn't hear that

now. my least favorite thing. i wanna say it was the personal stuff that kept me from really developing asuka in her first year or two of existence, even back when she was just a self-insert. that's time i can't take back! but i'm happy i have time now and that i've developed her so much. she's so cool

[froggiewrites]

The worse part is idk who to ship my oc with but it is also the reason why I don’t wanna post her because people hate on oc x canon sooo much. One Piece sadly has too many hotties.

Oh my god I TOTALLY get it. It's so nerve-wracking!! And people get SO weird about OC x Canon as though that isn't super common and a fun way to engage with media. If you aren't daydreaming of your OCs kissing your faves under the moonlight, are you even really into it?

For me part of my problem is I'm like, physically incapable of shipping my OC with only one person, because I'm deeply fond of writing will they/won't they stuff and exploring different dynamics, and I'm unreasonably afraid of people saying that's too greedy or self indulgent. Even when I think I have only one person, I end up accidentally adding another!! For example, my main OP girlie, Rosamund, I made as a self insert to ship with Sanji, but when I was describing her dynamics with the crew to my girlfriend she said, "It kind of sounds like Zoro is in love with her." And she was right!! I had accidentally made a love triangle too good to pass up on!! And I find it a little ridiculous that you can ship a canon character with dozens of people and no one cares, but you do it with an OC and some people get mean about it!

[makeyoumine69]

Hi, I’m so sorry if this is an inconvenience, but I thought you’d be able to help me with something because you’re Patrick’s favorite 🥰🥰

So… okay. Very weird situation I’m in, but. like. I have always loved self shipping. Especially with villains. I have always thought of myself as the “exception” where they could be horrible to everyone, but be kind to me, if I were a character in their show or movie or book. But then I spent all of 2022 and 2023 being abused, I have now been convinced that love comes with conditions, and it’s affected my self shipping too. even though I have escaped my abusive situation, the damage still lingers. I’ve been trying very hard for to heal from what happened to me, yet self shipping is still something very difficult for me to do now, when it used to be the easiest thing in the world. Even with non-villains, I still think I am unable to receive kindness unless it is in the form of violence.

Well, I watched American Psycho a few days ago, and I really fell for Pat. Like. Really fell for him, for some godforsaken reason lol?? And for a few days, I genuinely felt good with him, I felt safe, like he couldn’t harm me. I felt like the exception. This was my first time feeling genuinely good while self shipping again. I thought he’d never hurt me simply because he likes me enough to want me to feel loved and safe with him. That he could be horribly violent to everyone in the world, but with me it’d be so different. I spent all of yesterday feeling so proud of the progress I am making in my healing and genuinely feeling so loved and happy. Imagining him giving me flowers, admiring the star clips in my hair, liking my freckles and counting them. Fluffy romantic stuff haha. I have even thought of him protecting me, him knowing my past of being hurt, him being so overwhelmed with rage on my behalf and vowing to never make me feel scared like other people did. I have thought of him as a… very violent guard dog boyfriend 😂

But fast forward to this morning, I am talking to one of my friends who is also into self shipping, about to announce my exciting news that I am finally on the path to healing, that I feel really good drawing myself and writing myself with a very sick, twisted, violent murderous villain, and maybe that means I can feel good with other characters someday too. But my friend said very casually about how Patrick is shallow and a misogynist, which… yes, he is, I am aware 😭 and they kept going on about how he’d never love a girl who isn’t super thin and Hollywood attractive. And it felt like a punch to the guts. I realized I would never ever be attractive to Pat. I feel. disgusting. I feel… like the exact opposite of everything he’d desire, now that my friend had made me think about it: I’m not thin, I’m very chubby with a round stomach, I have freckles, glasses, I don’t even have nice nails because I bite them, and my teeth aren’t white because a side effect of my antidepressant yellows them a bit �� I am just. feeling too unattractive to Bateman. Not to say that any of these traits are unattractive, I just feel like… *Pat* wouldn’t like them, wouldn’t like ME specifically. Having a combination of all of these makes me feel… Undesirable to him. Not the exception anymore. And that kills me. I feel so hurt and heartbroken. It was the first time in a year that I was finally started to feel good self shipping again ;-; and now I cannot bring myself to indulge any romantic ideas with him anymore. I feel very stupid for allowing myself to have feelings.

Days ago, I went into his tag to look at photos of him, and found your blog, and remembered you seem to write for him, so you’d know him better than anyone else. I know it’s highly unrealistic for him to like me, but could you tell me how he’d maybe find someone like me attractive, even if I’m not conventionally attractive? It doesn’t have to be a drabble or a fic at all, I’m just asking for uh, reassurance, I suppose. I’m so sorry to come to you and bother you with this but I have been crying about it all day and I thought I’d ask for your perspective on the matter :’) anyway, I’m so sorry, if you don’t want to reply, please don’t worry about it. thank you very much for your time. I hope you have a good New Years and please take care 💙💙💙

Hello my dear anon! 💕 First of all, I want to thank you for putting so much effort into writing this - I can relate to all of this because most of my irl friends call me crazy when I say that Patrick Bateman is my comfort character, and it really sucks. It took me a long time to realize that the most important thing is not someone else's opinion, but how your crush makes you feel. In my darkest days, Patrick was my savior, and I would never trade that feeling of comfort for someone else's opinion. And I'm not a model either, but I will tell you this - Patrick's taste in dates and his obsession with being perfect in everything was driven by the society he lived in. Only God knows what his real preferences in dates were. Remember, he seems to only love blondes, but his ex-girlfriend Bethany was a brunette and, in my opinion, she contributed a lot to his self-destruction and loss of sanity. So, my point is pretty simple - you may think your imperfections are bad, but to another person they could be the rarest of diamonds, because we are who we are, some people are just afraid to show their true selves. Patrick is exactly that kind of person. Speaking of writing - you can come into my DM, and I'd be happy to talk to you about anything! Please don't cry! I'm eager to do whatever I can to help you!

[zanarkandfayth]

Thinking up ffxv headcanons about the boys writing fanfic instead of working on my own fic:

Gladio writes stuff like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, he takes his favourite novels and then inserts something totally weird into it and somehow makes it work. He's a plantser, he comes up with basic ideas but wings most of the details and isn't afraid to go off-script. He finishes most of his fics, but there's a few left abandoned that he swears are just on hiatus. He has a regular readerbase and his fics get a decent amount of attention, but he isn't a BNF.

Prompto writes super indulgent self-insert fanfic for Assassin's Creed. Complete pantser, he starts writing the moment he gets an idea and doesn't plan a single thing in advance, and his plots suffer for it. He's constantly in the middle of no less than five fics at one time, and has a long history of abandoned fics on his account that make most readers hesitant to give him a chance. His fics mostly go unnoticed, except for that one that blew up early on and still has people begging him to finish, but he isn't in it for the attention anyways.

Noct isn't much of a writer, but he'll scribble out an unedited crack oneshot every once in a while based on outlandish conversations he and Prompto have while they game, posted immediately after writing, typos and all. They always get lots of comments and kudos despite the fact that he never responds to anyone. Noct's popularity annoys Ignis immensely, but his pride will never let him admit it.

Ignis writes ridiculously long epic-length fics that are all OC casts and super plotty and so AU they could almost be an original work, if he just changed the setting. He spends months outlining them beforehand and prewrites the entire fic and sends it through no less than two betas before he starts posting on a very precise schedule. They're well-written and engaging, but aren't very popular. Still, he has a small but dedicated and loyal readerbase who leave him thoughtful comments, and he always takes the time to respond in kind.

Regis and Clarus are both BNFs. They're well-known fandom olds and they write popular ships with popular tropes and everyone loves them, their fics are always popping up on rec lists and they have thousands of comments and kudos and multiple pieces of fanart per fic that readers have drawn for them. Clarus pestered Cor into being his beta when they started, wearing him down over a period of months, but Regis has always firmly been in the "no beta we die like men" camp, and sometimes it shows. But people overlook his occasional lazy grammar and spelling because he's one of the best smut writers in his fandom. He once left his AO3 account up on his laptop screen and Noct saw it and promptly went to go bleach his brain just from the tags alone.

[folliesandfolderols]

Writing prompts day 58-60

From this prompt list. If you’ve read this far, I’m not sure you need any explanation, but the short version is I hadn’t written any fiction since 2019, I set a goal to write at least 150 words/day in 2024, and this list was my way to restart. Also I abruptly decided on day 2 I would write an entire Tim/Damian story connecting all the prompts, because I am Good at Judging My Limits. /sarcasm Anyway, I finished the rough draft a while ago and am now unlocking the old entries as I edit.

Read from the beginning here, or on ao3 here

Day 57 here

***

96. "Oh, sensitive there, aren't we?"

***

Tim seriously considered going off planet again for the entirety of his patrol. But he couldn't help remember Damian accusing him of always running away when people called him on his bullshit, and he couldn't stand the thought of proving him right.

When he got home, he heated up leftovers and texted Kon. 

hey u up

His phone buzzed on the kitchen counter within seconds. 

this better not be a sext rob

Tim snorted. 

like i'd want to fuck u right after patrol with my sweaty ass anyway

hey kink tomato or whatever.  I don't judge. what's up

Tim sat at the table but instead of eating laid his forehead on the shiny wooden surface and groaned. He couldn't believe he was about to do this.

am i an asshole

of course, part of your charm, honestly. why do you ask??

Tim blew out a sigh. 

weird convo w this guy i've been fucking

oooooooohhhhhhhhh, all of a sudden the trip off-planet begins to make sense

Taking a bite of naan, Tim gave the screen a disgruntled frown. 

wtf does that mean

you like this dude. sorry cuz I'm sure this is news to you, but since Bernard you always question if you're a decent human whenever you start liking someone

Tim set the phone down, completely confused. What did he even mean, he liked Damian? Of course, Kon didn't know who it was so he was just speaking in generalities. But why would that make Tim question his worth as a person? He was only wondering because of what Damian had said.

After another minute, he responded by marking the text with a question mark. Kon sent 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🩷💜🩵🤡 then nothing else.

Tim went to bed and hoped things would make more sense in the morning.

***

They didn't.

He opened his eyes and his whole body hurt. Some of it was the normal post-patrol bumps and scrapes, but a lot of it was a series of reminders of what he had done with Damian. The scrapes on his hip, the hickey on his shoulder blade, the never-ending ache in his stomach and chest. And of course sitting down wasn't super comfortable either.

Tim ended up messaging his team at WE to let them know he was working from home and available for video calls, then spent the day sprawled on his belly while he was at his computer. He knew it was self-indulgent, but it was also prophylactic. When his internal state got this tumultuous, forcing himself to be around groups of people became so draining that he ended up strung out and despairing.

He slept better that night, and went into the office the next day, but he still felt off-kilter, like he was searching for his balance on a ship in the middle of a storm. A couple of his subordinates gave him concerned looks, and when Tam dropped in with a quick question she asked if he was all right. It was strange because when he checked his reflection his face just looked neutral. The idea of others being able to see what was going on inside his head made him seriously uncomfortable.

Fortunately, when he headed to the Cave to touch base with Bruce about some aspects of the human trafficking case that could use the Detective’s keen perspective, the best possible distraction was waiting for him.

Bruce turned in his office chair as soon as Tim exited the elevator, shoulders relaxed in a way they only got around a select few. Tim grinned at the sight of the man standing next to him.

“Dick!”

He flung himself at his older brother. Dick’s arms closed around him, and suddenly all Tim’s internal turmoil calmed like a switch had been flipped.

Dick’s voice vibrated through his chest, against Tim’s ear. “Hey, Tim. You doing all right?” He tightened his embrace when Tim didn’t pull away. He had been the first person ever who didn't make Tim feel he should let go before he became inconvenient, and sometimes it still felt like that was true. "Seriously, are you okay?"

Tim released him and turned away, suddenly embarrassed. If Dick could tell something was wrong that fast, then his self-control was pathetic. "I'm fine. Sorry. It's good to see you. I was gonna run some case stuff by Bruce if he had time, but you're busy, so—"

"Hey, no, wait." Dick shot out a hand and grabbed his arm.

Tim looked back fast enough to catch the tail end of a concerned glance exchanged between Dick and Bruce. What the fuck, pretty soon people were going to start thinking he couldn't handle his shit. He forced a smile that hopefully looked effortless. He lied to the goddamn Batman when he felt like it—surely he could pull this off. "What's up?"

"We weren't talking about anything important. What's the case? Maybe I can help too."

Wonderful. More pretending, full steam ahead. "That sounds great, thanks." He reached past Bruce to call up the relevant files. "I'm comparing financials here to see if I can use tax evasion as a means of forcing these two guys in the human trafficking ring we're investigating to want to trade information. But they look really clean, so I'm having a hard time tracing the outflow of their under-the-table income."

Bruce looked up at the monitors, gaze sharpening. "Show me where you've looked so far."

Dick pulled up a chair behind them and sat, opening two of the files in side-by-side windows on a tablet. Tim and Bruce opened the files and went through them line by line, scouring them for inconsistencies that could indicate the information they were seeking, while Dick appointed himself the task of eliminating the files Tim had deemed less likely possibilities.

When Dick's hand landed on his shoulder again, Tim blinked in startlement, seeing squares of light behind his eyelids. "What's wrong?"

"You've been sitting in one position for about two hours, buddy. You need to move." Dick grabbed his hand and hauled him up to standing.

Tim scoffed but followed him away from the computer toward the workout mats. “You need to move, you mean."

"Six of one, half a dozen of the other. C'mon, change and we can practice your acrobatics for a while. It'll be fun."

Tim wanted to ask where Damian was—usually he was impossible to rip from Dick's side when his older brother was visiting—but held his tongue. Now that Jason and Cass both were suspicious he couldn't afford to give anyone else more fodder for speculation. "I'll be right out."

Dick helped him stretch first, then they started floor exercises. They began with simple tumbling and then moved into the true acrobatics and flips.

Tim couldn't help feeling off-balance in more ways than one. He sighed in frustration after his third unsuccessful attempt to land a round off back handspring layout with his feet where Dick told him to be.

"What am I doing wrong?" he asked.

Dick showed him the video he'd taken after the most recent attempt, playing in slow-motion. "Your shoulders are dropping too soon as you rotate over—it's happening before your feet begin to drive over. Wherever your shoulders are when your feet begin the rotation is the highest point you're going to reach with your layout, so then you have to pike out of it and your feet aren't going where you want them. Plus it looks awkward as hell." He gave Tim a searching look. "You've nailed that one before. Sometimes when something's bothering us it can show up in what our body does if we don't choose to deal with it."

Tim sat on the mats with a huff and drew up his knees, resting his forearms on them. "Nothing's bothering me. I'm tired, that's all."

Sitting next to him, Dick bumped his shoulder with his own. "Tim, my guy, we all operate tired every day. It's our normal state. This is different. You're hurting."

He rested his hand on Tim's back for a second, landing right on the hickey Damian had left there. It was still a little sore, and Tim flinched, then immediately cursed internally at himself. He hid the reaction to things hitting his wounds all the time, but around Dick his guard was down too much.

And of course Dick had noticed. "Oh, sensitive there, aren't we? Did you get an injury?"

He made to lift up Tim's shirt and check his back, and Tim leaned away. "Dick, I'm fine. Seriously."

"Your shoulders are telling a different story. You’re in your head and so you’re not in your body. You don't have to tell me what it is, but I hope you tell somebody, because right now it's eating up too much of your attention."

Shaking his head, Tim played with a loose thread on his shorts and avoided looking at him. "It's stupid. I don't want to talk about it. I just feel . . ." He searched for the right term. How the hell did he feel? It was so hard to figure out. "I feel like a bad person."

There was a long moment of silence. When Dick spoke again, his words were careful. Measured. "Can you tell me what happened to make you feel that way? Did you let someone down?"

At least he hadn't patronized him by pretending he could never be a bad person. Tim shook his head again and pulled his knees against his chest. "I accidentally let someone know I don't fully trust him and it hurt his feelings. Like, really hurt, not kind of peeved or whatever. I didn't mean to do it but it sort of just happened."

"And this person is important?" At Tim's shrug, Dick asked, "Are there good reasons that you're not safe with him?" Tim opened his mouth to protest, but Dick cut him off. "If you don't trust him, it's because something about him doesn't feel safe to you. Is he a genuine threat?"

Tim kept his eyes locked on the thread. "No . . . I don’t know. I just know that now I feel sick all the time. And I have this weird phantom ache in my chest and my stomach. It feels kind of hollow there? And I can't catch my breath, like, my whole body keeps trying to curl up around the pain to protect itself and I have to fight to stand up straight. It's so weird, like emotional flu. At first I was wondering if maybe I got sick while I was in space but I think it's this thing between me and this guy. Anyway, all that to say, it's not surprising that you can tell something's wrong."

Dick reached for him again, and this time Tim let him pull him into a sideways hug. He still spoke in that same cautious meter. "I’m gonna be honest here, buddy. What you're describing sounds a lot like a broken heart. Haven't you felt this way before, like after a breakup?"

Tim used every bit of his willpower not to tense. "I haven't been dating him, though. We're barely friends. We can't have broken up because there's nothing to break."

"Well, first of all, friends have breakups too, you know this. But I'm kind of wondering if maybe he means more to you than you're willing to acknowledge. It could be that you need to look at the situation from a detective's perspective and see what conclusions you can draw from the evidence. Something that’s got your focus this skewed could affect things in the field. I want you to be safe, okay?"

Tim rested against him, relishing the solid reassurance of the embrace. "Sure, well, better retire then. Time to go corporate full-time."

With a snort of laughter, Dick let him go. "Yeah, right. Hey, have you seen Damian?"

And there it was. They couldn't talk too long about Tim without Damian somehow gaining center stage, even in absentia, although for whatever reason it stung less than usual this time. Tim still couldn't stop the sharp glance he gave Dick, but his older brother only looked inquiring. "No, sorry."

"Hmm." Dick shrugged. "Must've missed him. Hopefully he comes back before I leave." He turned on his heel and walked away, whistling.

Hustling in the direction of the showers, Tim kept his head down and hoped he'd been a better actor than he'd felt.

Days 62-69 redux here

[yourthirdparent]

free space WHAT WIP WOULD YOU LIKE TO TALK ABOUT MOST OR WHAT SPECIFIC THING ABOUT ONE OF THEM R YOU SUPER HYPED TO TALK ABOUT GO !!!!!!

i'm just gonna say a little bit about each of them for this ehhehehehe

to daffodils is my BABY to daffodils is my pride and joy to daffodils is the only thing i care about in the WORLD and i have not touched it in several months. it's still my fuckin baby though don't care. i love thinking about the tbm time loop i love thinking about jason dying over and over again and nobody he loves being able to stop it. quick fun fact Apollo isn't rewinding time on his own. do with that what you will. oh also nico is experiencing the loop too so he just keeps reliving the day up until jason dies and he can't stop it and apollo won't stop it. so

the fire is hot is the original jasontristan rumour fic!! the plot is just. jason and tristan are spotted together. they Aren't a couple but people Think they're a couple. tristan panicking because jason is sixteen ensues. not a ship fic but it is the fic that made me obsess over trason and where would i be today without that obsession

stare us down is really fuckin old. like from when i first picked up writing again old.

father figure unlocked was originally written on paper !! i miss it tbh i never even got to the good part

I WON'T SAY SHE EVEN THOUGH I KNOW YOU WANT ME TO OH MY GOD it's named after a line from yoshi's island by glass beach and it's Another transfem jason fic and in this one she's getting her makeup done by piper THAT'S RIGHT JASIPER MAKEUP FIC i miss it. i promised to post this one for adam ages ago but idk if it's got a good enough ending yet LMAOOOO

tristan cooking breakfast is sooooo self indulgent. obsessed with the duo obsessed with them mentally ill about them in every way every day. like half of it is just tristan explaining the concept of transness LMAO

love is no guess. ough. tbh my favourite part of this fic is that i started writing it at all LMAOOOO

funny enough i actually started writing head over heels before any of the rest of love is no guess

LIZARD MAGIC CHAPTER NAMED AFTER BMC FIC WEIRD SCIENCE best part of this fic is one it's lizard magic and lizard magic is great and two WEIRD SCIENCE REFERENCE i miss that fic

a boy with too much power was originally supposed to get more into the trio and THE CURSE but sadly i got bored 💔

the urge ! named after just the first thing that came to mind when i opened the doc

Untitled document is secretly kuaitomas but shhhh it's before anything happens. anyways cut to liu kang calling a thirteen year old kuai liang a slur

ty for all your asks!!! and ofc thanks to everyone who sent in asks i appreciate you all <3<3<3

[multiimistakes]

Hi !!! ARACHNO they/them. 25+

⭐ This is a (mostly) private and very low effort multi-muse.

⭐ Not interacting with any muses or muns under 25. Exceptions can be made but no one below 18+ period. This means muns and muses and extends to physical appearances ( as in idc if you're vampire is 1000+ if they only physically look 17, stay away from me). Gonna be RPing some pretty heavy stuff here theme wise. Dead dove, etc.

⭐ I will be screaming about muses a lot. Gonna post lots of fc posts and edits and hcs, etc. If you get annoyed easily, this ain't the blog to follow. I've got lots of self-indulgent muses. Idc if they're bad, they make me kick my legs and teehee.

⭐ Read all my info and stuff, please!

⭐ Even I don't have a muse listed as active/loud, they're still all up for grabs you just gotta poke me about it.

⭐ Memes are tagged under #(blog); memes

( RULES ) ( MUSES ) ( LIST VIEW OF MUSES*) ( TAG DROPS )

LOUDEST MUSES RN: -- SOMEWHAT LOUD: --

*= my list view of muses is gonna be less detailed but more up to date than my google site page, fyi.

Rules under cut for mobile.

– Keep the basics in mind. I shouldn't have to type them all out. Don't be fucking WEIRD. I'm liberal with my hard block.

– This is a MOSTLY private blog as I won't really be advertising it. I am open to writing with people besides mutuals on my other blog. Just know I am likely not going to be the first to follow in most instances. But if I do follow first, know that I read all info and rules before doing so. c:

– My graphics are going to be at a minimum. I have basic headers for all muses but otherwise I'll be without. Some muses will have their own icons. Sometimes I'll use GIFs. There won't be a uniform theme here so expect a lot of Frankenstein bullshit.

– Expect info pages to be the same. This is a low effort blog and I just want to write and yell about these bastards. Some muse pages will have pictures, others not. Some will be more detailed, etc. Some won't have any at all and will have a normal info post written about them. If you ever have any questions about any of the idiots, hmu. For the most up to date list of muses, please refer to my LIST VIEW OF MUSES instead of just my MUSE page.

– I tend to fixate on different muses at different times so don't expect me to talk about or write all of them at once.

– When sending memes, please specify for WHO it is. All muses will have an emoji assigned to them that I'll be using for various things, feel free to also use this method. If you can't decide on a muse, I always encourage the good ole' RNG method. Unlabeled memes may take longer to answer or may not even be answered at all as I struggle a lot with choice paralysis.

– I won't be RPing with muses and muns under 25. This can be case by case but will typically be adhered to. Shipping wise, I'm not going to be doing more than 10 year age gaps between muses for any muse under like 30. As in I may be open for a 30 yr old with a 50 yr old. But I will not be down for a 25 yr old with a 50 yr old.

For immortal muses, same applies but with their physical appearance (as in idc if your vampire is 500, if they look 18 I will not be writing or shipping with them with my mid 40s looking muse)

– Some muses are closed to romantic shipping. (Liluthe & Seoyeon rn) Please respect that. :) A lot of these muses are connected and know each other as well so I may have them mention one another from time to time. A lot are also heavily connected to my main muse, Clark, over on kxllerblond. I have some that are super self-indulgent ocs with ties to canons. Always willing to write that out though

– I have some unwritten DNI's and won't list them all but atm I will not be writing with any TVD muses period unless I've got an established mun relationship with you outside of writing those characters.

[iamnmbr3]

Hii!! I am new in this ship, and i was wondering what are your favs fics of Drarry? Do you can recommend me some?

Welcome to the ship! Too many to count but here are a few good ones.

At Your Service by Faith Wood (faithwood) ( words: 95,752 | rating: E )

Hogwarts students are in danger; Harry is determined to save them all. There’s only one thing he knows for certain: Draco Malfoy is somehow involved.

Running on Air by eleventy7 ( words: 74,876 | rating: T )

Draco Malfoy has been missing for three years. Harry is assigned the cold case and finds himself slowly falling in love with the memories he collects.

hello goodbye (‘twas nice to know you) by tamerofdarkstars (words: 4,807 | rating: T )

Draco Malfoy thinks he might know whose thoughts are scrawling themselves on his skin, but that’s crazy. Impossible, even. It has to be a mistake. -Self-indulgent soulmate AU where the thoughts of your soulmate inscribe themselves on your skin in a shifting magic tattoo.

AITA for being “obsessed” with my childhood nemesis? by RainstormRadish (words: 4,289 | rating: M )

Alrakis • I [24M] attended a small boarding school in the UK. There was a boy in my year, a couple of months younger than me, and he became my nemesis after we developed an intense rivalry. My friend [25F] told me recently that our dynamic was “weird back then” and that “it’s even weirder” that I still think about him today. She argued that I talk about him all the time, but I believe the amount I talk about him is reasonable. AITA? prongymcprongface • i completely get what you mean. i had a nemesis (like a school one, separate to my other nemesis) and we had a dynamic super similar to what you are describing. having a nemesis is a very cool and normal thing dw about it. NTA In which Draco asks the internet if he’s being reasonable. Only one commenter is sympathetic. They start talking.

When They Tell Our Story, They’ll Tell the Story of Tonight by tamerofdarkstars (words: 2,279 | rating: T )

Draco and Narcissa Malfoy face the Wizengamot for crimes committed during the Second Wizarding War. Harry Potter attends the trial.

Storm in a Teacup by Faith Wood (faithwood) (words: 7,954 | rating: M)

For reasons he’d rather not think about, Draco is obsessed with Potter’s hair. This cannot end well.

Nero su bianco by zuzallove (words: 40,507 | rating: E)

September 1997. Hogwarts is under the regime of Voldemort and the Carrows. Finding himself alienated by both his friends and his supposed enemies, Draco puts quill to parchment, and writes letters. He addresses them to the only person he can think of, as Hogwarts rapidly falls into chaos and ruin: Harry Potter. He goes to great lengths to ensure the letters are never discovered, and he’s pretty certain he’s done a great job. Until the day of his trial.

Denude by Faith Wood (faithwood) (words: 4,172 | rating: E | CW: Underage)

This is a HBP AU. It's set a few days after the Sectumsempra scene and takes the story in another direction, asking the question: "What if the Sectumsempra scene had a greater impact on Harry and Draco?" Harry and Draco are sixteen. In medias res beginning. Non-linear storytelling.

Touchstone by Faith Wood (faithwood) (complete | words: 7,450 | rating: E )

Two years after their break up, Harry and Draco meet again under familiar circumstances: Draco is in danger, Harry saves him.

[sondheim-girly]

okay straight up. for the outsiders ask game. all of them. If you so wish.

Answered all but the ones i did in another ask lmaoooo

1.(Have u read other se Hinton books)

Yep! Ive read that was then this is now, Tex, and rumblefish.

 2. (What are ur feelings on the book)

I LOVE ITTTT I read it at the end of every month and I have since august, I just think it’s so incredible and theres so much to dissect.

3.(fav character outside main seven) 

MARCIA MARCIA MARCIA MARCIAAAAA

5.(fav ships)

Say it with me… marbit!!!! I also love cherrycola, sharkcard, cherrybomb, and Martrip

6.(ships I dislike)

I’m not a huge jally fan, but that’s just cuz I’m primarily a musical fan and their brother dynamic is super played up in the musical, so it feels weird for me to ship them 

8.(how did u get into the outsiders)

I like listening to every new musical on Broadway, and so when I saw someone on tumblr post about how the cast recording had been released a couple of minutes ago, I decided to listen to it. And I got hooked.

9.(fav scene/moment from the book)

Ohhh this is hard… I really love the end of the book with sodas breakdown and then Johnnys letter… in terms of the musical the drive in song might be my favorite part cuz it’s so fun and the music slaps

10.(least favorite scene/moment)

In the book it might be the slapping scene? But like that’s just cuz it’s pretty short and pales in comparison to how the scene is done in the musical (let’s call the feds! Out in the world! That’s a Soc girl! The entirety of ritfr is literally life changing!!!!)

In the musical my least favorite scene is probably Johnnys death? I could still write paragraphs about why I love it, but it’s a very short scene and like doesnt have as many standout moments maybe? I still fucking love it more than life itself tho

11.(opinion on the movie)

Ok the regular version of the movie lowkey makes me mad cuz it feels like so much is missing, but I really like the novel cut or whatever it’s called!! Ive only seen it like twice tho so I can’t say I’m a huge fan.

12.(have u seen the tv show and what did u think of it)

I’ve seen a couple of episodes and I still watch it from time to time. I think it’s horrific but in a super funny way and I love it for that. I spend the entire time watching it just yelling at the screen saying “THIS SHOW IS AWFUL!!” Or “OH MY GOD THAT GUY IS GAY!!! DONT MAKE HIM LIKE A WOMAN HE IS GAY!!!”

13.(most well written character)

I actually have no idea lol

15.(five self indulgent headcanons)

-Marcia has naturally curly hair

-Marcia is half Irish

-Marbit notebook au (iykyk)

-all of my headcanons on two bits sister

-especially her being a theater kid

16.(characters youd want to interact)

Cherry and soda. Yeah.

17.(criticisms or salt with the book)

All the stuff with native Americans

18.(criticisms or salt with the fandom)

The musical fandom on TikTok? Yeah I’m beefing with some of yall. But like the fandom on here? Sometimes I feel like we blow small problems that we see wayyy out of proportion until I’ll see people posting paragraphs and paragraphs complaining about issues in the fandom that ive never even seen??? And that confuses me a ton.

19.(opinion on se Hinton)

I don’t really have an opinion on her? She wrote some incredible books, that’s my opinion on her.

20.(character you relate to most)

Gee I wonder (it’s Marcia ofc. Tho maybe that’s just cuz of how much I project onto her)

22.(minor character you projected a whole new personality onto)

Marcia and trip and two bits sister, mostly.

23.(opinion on the musical)

Haha. I sure wonder. (I think it’s perfect in every way)

24.(hopes for the musical and what you don’t want to happen)

I hope that they make parry make out before the rumble.

25.(do u plan to watch the musical)

I’ve seen it three times and will be seeing it as much as I can when I’m in New York next September

[party-dude]

𝓛𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓷 ✂ 𝓐𝓭𝓾𝓵𝓽 ✂ 𝓗𝓸𝓫𝓫𝔂 𝓐𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻

Im Lemon, or party dude, and i write self insert fanfics.

super self indulgent and very defensive over self insert and what not. most if not all of my works are 18+ and just porn, do not follow or interact with me if you are under 18.

no tcc or pro-ship or other weird shit please.

im not the most skilled author. i write for fun and i am diagnosed with a few things that make is difficult to catch some errors. please ignore any cringe and misspelling. love ya <3

Feel free to message me with requests or ideas! im always hoarding a list of them and work on them as i have time. Im also currently rewriting my fics that date back from 4-1-25.

[dyke-terra]

Thanks for the tag!

How many works do you have on ao3?

*squints* 261…?

What’s your total word count?

663,298. Over the course of like seven years, even if that was mostly 2020-2023.

What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, mostly DC comics with a bit of Worm thrown in there. Previously, Homestuck, the Mechanisms/Dr Carmilla, and Homestuck.

Top five fics by kudos

Ughhh, three of them are My Hero Academia fics. I didn’t include that in the above list because everything from this era sucks. Honestly, they only have so many kudos because they’re either slash or chat fics, not to mention for one of the bigger fandoms. It’s basically cheating. The other two are “all the things they didn’t say” and “your hand in my nightmare tonight.”

Do you like replying to comments? Why or why not? Yeah! Why would I!

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Oh, man, everything I write is super angsty. I think "so watch my back and keep the blade" is pretty grim, as well the "all this bad blood" series in general.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Man, do I write anything happy? I guess "next year in jerusalem" is kind of sweet.

Do you get hate on your fics? Not hate towards me, but once on one of my Worm fics, someone decided to get really mad at Dinah Alcott, a character who is notably an incredibly traumatized twelve year old and talked about how they wanted to kill her. I had to keep deleting this guy's posts until he got the clue. It was weird. Do you write smut? I've tried. It's hard. Do you write crossovers? I've done some! Mostly Worm.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not as far as I know!

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but two of them got podfics! Have you ever co written a fic before? Nope. Though I've worked on collaborative projects that I ended up going in my own direction.

What's your all time favorite ship? Whichever one I brainrotted about last. Smugbug. What's a WIP you want to finish but probably never will?

All of them?

What are your writing strengths? I like to think I'm good at depressing character studies/emotional scenes! What are your writing weaknesses? Fight scenes also

First fandom you wrote for? Man, it depends on how you count. I guess minecraft youtubers from 2013 or so? Homestuck's the first on ao3. Favorite fic you've written? I've written so many... I'm still pretty fond of "this side of paradise" even though it's really self indulgent.

Tagging @uuuuutan @shield-sheafson, if either of you are interetd!

20 questions for fic writers!!!

TY FOR TAGGING ME @evilwickedme my amount of wips will be painful for the both of us

How many works do you have on ao3?

13!!!!!!

what’s your total ao3 word count?

43,740!

What fandoms do you write for?

i started out writing for father brown (hi father brown fandom!! i miss you!!!) and i've written one the owl house fic, but i mostly write for dc!!

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

healing, feathers and thorns, loving harley, a ludicrous accusation, and loving ivy

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes!!! i love getting comments they make my day!!

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending

hmmmm i wanna say Always His Fault which is a tiny ficlet. OR Feathers and Thorns

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

uhhhhhhh, i dont think ive ever written a fic with a happy ending. or at least one that ive finished.

Do you get hate on fics?

once! someone commented on my wonderlois fic saying it was weird that cassie introduced herself with their pronouns. which, whatever i guess?

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i dont but id like to try it one day

Do you write crossovers?

nope, but id looove to write a pjo/yj98 crossover

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i dont think so!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

uhh no i dont think so!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

to write for? cissiecassie without question. in general? supercorp.

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

SO MANY. one that i doubt ill ever finish is one where kara and lena meet at a disability support group that barbara wanted kara to attend with her. PI bunty windermere is also one that i never finished.

What are your writing strengths?

i have absolutely no idea

What are your writing weaknesses?

fight scenes. bloody fucking hell, fight scenes.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

unless i'm fluent in the other language, i wouldn't feel comfortable doing it in case i made mistakes, or if i had someone fluent in that language to help me.

First fandom you wrote for?

father brown, but i wrote a self insert harry potter fic in a notebook with my best friend in year 5

Favorite fic you’ve written?

poison root because it was such an emotionally draining one to write, but ultimately left me feeling a lot better about stuff once i published it, also it got recognised by sterling gates! a close second would have to be Meet me at Blue Diner because i wrote that during a tough time also, need to post the second chapter so bad. uhhhh tag games r hard but i guess ill tag @frosty-the-killer-doll and @antifa-terra !!!!!!

[ishgard]

Fictober - Day 1: “Can You Feel This”

I’m hecka behind but I’mma try to do at least?? two a day maybe to catch up. I haven’t written in ages and this is hella wonky and self-indulgent canon/oc that I haven’t really talked about much but have been mulling over for A While Now and I know it’s really outlandish but... idgaf. 

She’s avoiding him again; perhaps not a conscious decision, but one of habit. The air between them was too warm lately, too gentle and inviting, and her nature could not abide that. For years now she’s run from that softness, from the comfort of companionship that edged too close to intimacy. Every time she gave into it, after all, she was met with tragedy, and loss. Her heart’s been broken and stepped on too many times, and not always by lovers. Still, she keeps it open and kind for the world, fierce and devoted. He wonders, at times, how she hasn’t decayed from the inside and crumbled in upon herself.

Gaius watches as Ahru busies herself, anything to keep her mind and fingers preoccupied - from wandering to him. She weaves brilliantly colored threads together, a crease forming on her brow as she struggles with the delicate task. Faintly, she bites her lower lip in concentration. She hates this.

He’s aware that she can feel him watching her, but he has never been one to turn away from a challenge. His mind, however, is not on any concept of ‘winning’, or victory, so much as it is studying his would-be-quarry. The way her fingers twitch and freeze just before she makes an error, the way her shoulders slouch in weary defeat when she realizes a mistake, the glint in her eyes and the upward tug on her lips when something comes along nicely. 

Perhaps it is crass of him, but he has watched her like this many times by now, feeling as if some ancient locked door within the cavern of his chest slowly creaks wider each time.

Her mind is focused, but racing; she’s good at that, at being the calm center amidst all the chaos. Finally, though, she looses a heavy sigh and drops her knitting into her lap, looking at him. “What?” 

She’s annoyed but hurting, raging and warring some internal battle with herself. He doesn't’ take her exasperated tone personally, instead he feels his own tired muscles tug into a ghost of a smile.

Without answering he rises from his chair, crossing the room to stand before her. The false aura of aggravation crumbles away as she watches him with a furrowed brow, equal parts trepidation and curiosity. 

Leaning down he gingerly slides one hand under her forearm, down her wrist to her hand and lifting it away from her work. She tenses only a little, but allows it; her lips purse and her gaze falters, but she doesn’t look away from him - not until he’s placed her palm against the center of his chest, and her eyes move to it as if she anticipates some great puzzle she must piece together. Again, he feels a smile tug at his lips.

“Can you feel this?” It is, after all, his heart, he knows it well. It beats sure and steady, as calm and even as the rise and fall of his chest. He has never been one to fall easy prey to panic or anxiety, but there is an ease in him that he knows is foreign, and yet welcomes all the same. 

Her lips part as she looks up at him, but close once more, finding no answer. Instead she waits for him to elaborate, her lithe, small fingers trembling against his clothing.

With his other hand resting on the arm of her chair he leans down close, her ear giving a small flicker as he whispers. 

“This is peace, Ahru.” 

He feels the tension leave her, hears the almost inaudible sound of her exhale. Slowly, she slips her hand from his, leaning forward to press her face against him, wrapping her arms tight around his back. 

[therhythmafterthesummer]

Alone Together (M) ~Lee Know

Pairing: SpacePirate!Minho x Smuggler!F.Reader Themes: Sci-Fi AU (barely) | Smut | Established Relationship (kind of) | Lovers (idiots) to Even More Lovers (affectionate) Word Count: ~8k | AO3 Synopsis: Minho was a man on the run, an outlaw. He was always getting himself into trouble, thieving and fighting against the people that perpetuated an unfair system that did nothing but bring pain to those the system considered lowly and unworthy. For his next mission, he decided to ask for help from the person he trusted most in this world, you. Warnings: star wars concepts used very loosely and probably very poorly · made up locations · mentions of slavery and morally questionable situations · the term suicide mission is used once · your honour they’re sickly in love · graphic depictions of intercourse (smut warnings under the cut).

Due to all the abovementioned warnings, this story is intended for an adult audience only. Minors please do not interact.

Author’s Note: i started watching the book of boba fett, and it seems like it’s impossible for me to watch anything star wars related without wanting to write about people boning in space. so this piece was born ! it’s incredibly self-indulgent, but i hope someone else out there gets to enjoy it too~

this was barely proof-read, so if anything sounds weird don’t hesitate to let me know lol

Smut Warnings: this is very vanilla tbh · praise · fingering [F.Rec] · protected penetration [piv].

Disclaimer: the story represented in this work does not represent Stray Kids in any way; anything described in this story and all actions performed by the characters are purely fictional, this was created just for good fun.

As an outlaw, Minho’s entire livelihood depended on him not attracting too much attention to himself, on laying low and being as stealthy as possible. Which was why it almost felt counterintuitive to be here right now, trying to get his ship caught on the radars of a cargo ship. Although, to be fair, it wouldn’t have been the first time he tried to get into this cargo ship in this exact same way, but usually he’d have a bit more preparation than this.

“Shit… Here we go. Buckle up, boys”, Minho informed his crewmates.

Their entire starcraft shook violently as the gravitational beam of the much bigger starship pulled them towards it. They were discovered almost as soon as they came close to the vessel, and Minho had honestly taken a leap of faith with this move, because this could’ve gone two ways: like it was going right now, them being pulled towards the hangar within the starship, or they could’ve been shot down on sight.

Getting within the perimeter of a smuggler ship was always dangerous, especially when done unannounced, but Minho was desperate, so he did what he had to do.

As soon as his ship was parked within the hangar, he unbuckled his safety belt, standing up and stretching his limbs. “Guys, get ready. Remember what I said, no sudden movements, no arguing, just follow my lead, okay?”

Hyunjin and Felix nodded in understanding, getting out of their seats and stretching as well, just as loud thuds started to resonate within the crammed space they called their ‘navigation room’. That was a bold claim, this ship consisted only of that navigation room, small enough to go undetected when needed, but not that good for long periods of time travelling, he’d admit.

“Open up, hands in the air!”

Minho nodded to his crewmates, and once they both lifted their arms he hit the door’s button on his console.

Four super battle droids stood right outside, with their blasters pointed right at them. Minho hadn’t seen this model of droid before, they must’ve been one of your latest acquisitions, and somehow, that thought brought a smile to his face. However, new droids meant that they wouldn’t know who he was, which also meant things could get out of hand really quickly.

“Step out!”

Minho got off the ship first, with his hands in the air as instructed, followed by Hyunjin and Felix. The droids immediately took a hold of their wrists, rather forcefully, and it made him wince.

“Hey! We’re cooperating, don’t be so harsh, jeez…” The droids completely ignored Minho, simply continuing their task of holding their wrists behind their backs and binding them together.

“Names, and what were you doing fluttering around this ship?”

“I’m Minho. These are Hyunjin and Felix”, Minho replied simply, gesturing with his head as he named his two crewmates. “We came to speak with your captain”.

“Our captain has no time to deal with stowaways”, one of the droids scoffed, pointing their blaster right to Minho’s forehead.

He couldn’t help but smirk, the words flying past his mouth before he could even think twice about them. “How can you call us stowaways when you were the ones to pull us in here?”

The droid went silent. Minho figured that if it could make facial expressions, it would’ve looked annoyed.

“It’s really important”, Minho urged. “I’m sure she’ll understand. If you’re planning on throwing us to the trash chute, don’t you think she’d like to make the call herself?” 

The droid in front of him went silent again, the other three were just surrounding them, pointing their blasters at them. It was taking the droid so long to say something, Minho started to really worry that he had miscalculated how this part of the plan would go.

Ultimately, the droid lowered its weapon, and the three of them heaved a sigh of relief. “Follow me”.

The insides of the ship looked almost the same as they had last time Minho was here, save for a few changes to the corridor’s decor. How long had it been? Three months? Six? It was hard to tell these days when he was running for his life half the time.

The group of droids guided the three of them towards where Minho knew the main control room would be, where you probably would be. He should’ve been unfazed, Minho had seen you thousands of times, but somehow every single time without fail his heart would flutter, especially when so much time had passed since he last saw you.

As soon as the doors of the main control room slid open they were engulfed by the sound of clicks and clacks from the amount of droids sitting at their stations just pressing buttons. It was impressive, how you had put together this entire operation almost on your own, he couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

“Captain”, the droid spoke finally, snapping Minho out of his daze.

Ah, there you were, hunched over your desk, with your fingers flying on the touchscreen that was embedded in it. What were you doing? Planning your next course? Ensuring the safety of your routes? Checking for imperial ports in the vicinity? Minho was always curious, mostly because he was nosy. He wanted to have as much knowledge as possible at any given time, but he also just liked to hear you talk about things. He quite enjoyed hearing you speak, he’d admit.

“What is it, B2-49?” Shit, just your voice could kickstart Minho’s heartbeat. He should visit more often, the longer he spent away the more your mere existence affected him, and it was, quite honestly, inconvenient.

“The stowaways wish to speak with you”, the droid, B2-49, informed you, and you scoffed, not lifting your eyes from the screen under your fingertips for a second.

“How can you call them stowaways when we pulled them in here in the first place?”

“Took the words right out of my mouth”, Minho couldn’t help but say, grinning at you once the sound of his voice finally pulled you from your task.

Your eyes went wide as soon as you spotted him, you clearly weren’t expecting him, and Minho would lie if he said he didn’t enjoy catching you off guard, that he didn’t enjoy your attention.

Your gaze jumped from him to his two companions, and your brows furrowed. You looked at him again, right in the eyes, confusion written all over your face. “What’re you doing here?” 

“Can’t I just drop by anymore?”

“You can”, you leaned back in your chair, crossing your arms over your chest. “But something tells me you’re here with a purpose”.

‘So when I come here to fuck you isn’t a purpose?’ was what Minho would’ve liked to say, because that was often why he came to your ship, but he’d always come alone. Hyunjin and Felix didn’t have to know any of that, so he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he chose to take a direct approach.

“We need a safe route to infiltrate the Antrilian quadrant”.

You scoffed, incredulousness painted all over your face. “Have you gone mad? Antrilia? Want me to get you right to the intergalactic council as well?”

Antrilia was known for hosting the biggest slave ring in the galaxy, it was heavily guarded by imperial forces, and it was Minho’s goal to bring it all down, to free every single slave in the quadrant, stealing a few prized possessions in the process–he had to get his money’s worth, of course. 

It was a very personal task, considering two of his crewmates had been taken by the empire recently. Saving his friends and taking it all down wouldn’t be easy, the entire quadrant was heavily guarded, which was why he had come to you, the best, most discreet smuggler he’d ever known.

“I’m being serious”, and he was.

Minho’s entire purpose was to rid the galaxy of every single slave camp he could, that was how he met his crewmates, they formed their own guild and were now some of the most wanted men in the galaxy. Ever since he himself escaped from one of those places when he was just a kid, he made it his purpose to wreak as much havoc as possible, to bring down the system. It was dangerous, and he’d been close to dying more times than he could count, but he just couldn’t turn a blind eye to it.

You looked at him for a moment, your eyes jumping all over his face. After a while, you finally unfolded your arms to place your hands flat on the table. “Oh my Gods, you are serious. Do you have a death wish?”

Minho gave you a smile, a smug one, and you immediately brought your fingers to your temples, rubbing circles there.

“I can’t do that, Minho”, you said as soon as you seemed to realise he wasn’t going to back down.

“If there’s anyone in this galaxy that can get us there is you. I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t truly believe that”, and Minho really meant it. Regardless of his personal connection to you, he knew you were incredibly good at your craft.

You looked at him for a few moments, quiet, pondering, he could almost see the cogs turning inside your head, and for a brief moment he wondered if you would just shoot him down completely. That was, until you spoke again.

“What’s in it for me?”

"My gratitude", Minho said in a mock tone, and you quirked a brow, almost as if you were telling him ‘be fucking serious right now’. 

So he clicked his tongue, slightly annoyed that you didn’t want to play along. “The receptor of an imperial cruise with a valid code”.

Immediately, a glint of excitement appeared in your eyes, 

“How did you… Get your hands on that?”

Minho shrugged. “I have my ways”.

You were silent for a while, just looking into his eyes and tapping your fingers on your desk. Minho looked right back at you, waiting for you to make your decision. This wasn’t the first time he was asking for a favour, but it was certainly the first time he was asking for something so dangerous, so he could completely understand if you didn’t want to help him. He wouldn’t have taken it to heart either way.

With a deep intake of breath, you finally stood up from your desk and walked a bit closer to the group, to stand right in front of Minho. “This is not something I can decide just now. I need some time to think about it”.

“There’s not much time, I’m afraid”, Minho gave you a genuinely apologetic smile, and you sighed, somehow sounding both defeated and annoyed.

“Quit being dramatic. I’m sure you can give me at least twenty four hours”.

“Twenty four hours sounds reasonable”.

You looked at Minho for a moment, and then looked at his crewmates. “Who are you guys?”

“Hyunjin”.

“Felix”.

Both of his crewmates introduced themselves at the same time, but you seemed to pick up their names anyway. You signalled your droids to remove their restraints, giving them both a welcoming smile. “Welcome aboard, Hyunjin and Felix”.

They simply returned your greetings, sounding immensely grateful now that they were no longer bound. You were just about to walk away when Minho cleared his throat with a frown on his face.

“Aren’t you going to untie me, too?”

You looked him up and down, and a devilish smile made its way to your lips, making the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. “Why should I?”

“So you untie my friends and not me? Seems a bit biassed on your part, doesn’t it?”

You walked closer, standing so close he almost felt as if you were going to kiss him. Right there. In front of his friends. And that realisation had his heart pounding in his chest, and, even more annoyingly, it brought heat to his ears. He tried his best to not show how affected he was, though. He stood his ground, with the self-assured smile he could pull off.

Bringing your hand behind him, you took a hold of the device binding his wrists. “Say please”.

His smug façade crumbled immediately, replaced by a look of incredulousness. Minho scoffed, tilting his head to the side and looking you right in the eyes. “You can’t be serious right now…”

The corners of your mouth quirked up, and the mirth in your eyes made him both feel giddy and incredibly annoyed. 

“I’m dead serious, Lee Minho”, you told him, and Minho realised then that if he leaned in just the tiniest bit, he could definitely press his lips to yours, and for a second, he genuinely considered it.

If it had been just you and your droids, he certainly would’ve kissed you right then and there, but the presence of his friends behind him gave him pause. It wasn’t like Minho minded if they knew, it was that he wasn’t sure whether you would mind or not. But based on how things had gone between you two so far, he figured you would, so he took a deep breath, closing his eyes to avoid looking at your triumphant face.

“Please”.

“Please, what?”

His eyes snapped open, and there was nothing he wanted more in that moment than to wipe that glint of victory in your eyes. Regardless, Minho swallowed his pride, he was in no position to try his luck.

“Please, captain”.

You smiled, clearly satisfied. With what Minho figured was a press of a button on his cuffs, the thing unravelled from his wrists, finally letting him move freely.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” You tapped his chest, and Minho had to bite his tongue. Oh, he was so getting his payback for this.

Before he could say anything, you spoke again. “You guys can stay here today if you want. There’s plenty of rations for all of us, including the few other living people on this ship, but I’m afraid there’s only one spare room conditioned for people to stay in besides the crew’s”.

“We’ll stay”, Minho rubbed his wrists, trying to ease some of the ache caused by his restraints.

The room provided to them was big enough, with a bunk bed embedded on one of the walls, and another on the other. Very sterile looking, nothing in particular stood out, it was just like any other room Minho had seen on a spaceship of this size. The biggest add-on was the adjacent washroom, which the three of them immediately rejoiced at when they noticed it.

No one ever spoke about it, but depending on the ships you travelled in throughout the galaxy, a washroom could be considered a luxury, so the prospect of a good shower and a fresh change of clothes was certainly appealing. Minho let his younger crewmates take the spot first, since he was sure both Hyunjin and Felix were dying to feel clean again.

As he waited for them to come out, slouching on one of the chairs in the room, Minho’s mind couldn’t help but wander. He’d never imagined he’d be here, in your ship, with any of his friends. He’d hoped that maybe one day, if things worked out, he could introduce you to them in a less… Contained fashion. But things never seemed to go as he expected whenever it came to whatever it was that was lingering between you two.

As soon as his friends were ready, Minho immediately rushed to the washroom. He took his time just washing off all the grime and gunk that had stuck to him during their almost never-ending travels the past handful of days, so truly, he was immensely grateful for that shower. 

“Do you think she’ll help?” Felix asked from where he was laying on the top bunk as soon as Minho came out of the washroom.

“Honestly?” Minho rubbed a towel on his head, trying to get his hair as dry as possible. “I really have no idea”.

Hyunjin eyed him for a moment, leaning back on his hands from where he sat on the bottom bunk. “You sure? You seem to be awfully close with the captain of this ship”.

“I mean, I wouldn’t say awfully close”, Minho was great at lying and deception, but even to him that statement sounded incredibly disingenuous. “We… Know each other”.

“You know each other? Or you know each other?” Felix wiggled his eyebrows at Minho, just as the older man was sitting on the bottom bunk of the other bunk bed.

“If you ask me, I’d like to think she’d do it. But this is very different from any favour I’ve ever asked. More dangerous… So who knows”, Minho decided to completely brush off the curious eyes, and even more curious questions of his crewmates. Explaining his connection to you was something he’d rather not speak about, not now at least.

Felix looked like he was going to say something, something incredibly annoying. So Minho decided to abruptly stand up from his bed and intercept him. “Anyway, I’m going for a snack”.

“A snack?” Hyunjin asked once Minho walked past him. “Is that how we’re calling the cap–”

Before he could even attempt to finish his sentence, Minho took the towel he had draped over his shoulders and swiftly snapped it in Hyunjin’s direction, hitting him in the arm.

“Ow! Unnecessary!” Hyunjin rubbed his upper arm, pouting.

Minho simply offered him a ‘deserved’ before he walked out the door.

Minho did intend on finding something to snack on before bed, but he would lie if he said he wasn’t keeping his eyes open in case he spotted you. All he’d seen so far was the odd droid going about their business, and a couple of crew members who greeted him as usual.

“Who gave you permission to wander the corridors of my ship?” 

Minho’s skeleton almost jumped out of skin at the sudden voice speaking to him. As soon as that initial shock passed he knew it was you, how could he not know when the sound of your voice was already ingrained in every crevice of his brain? So he decided to put up his best smug façade once again, ignoring the way his heart started to thump in his chest just at the sound of your voice.

“You did, captain. If my memory serves me right”.

You just scoffed in response, and started to walk towards him. Once you stood in front of him, you crossed your arms over your chest, and simply looked at him with a frown on your face.

For a moment, Minho didn’t say anything, just like you didn’t either. Your gaze was stern, guarded, just like it usually was whenever you were into your Captain Mode. After all, you spent most of your time around your crew, leading them, planning morally questionable arrangements to get work going, so it was no surprise to him that you looked at him like this.

However, after a few more moments of silence, the frown on your face turned to one of concern, and, honestly, Minho would lie if he said he didn’t like it when you worried about him. Because he knew that was what was going through your mind right now, worry.

“Is there anything I can say or do to get you to not do this?” 

Minho gave you a smile, a genuine one, the ones he reserved mostly for you, and for moments like these. “No”.

You sighed. “For a pirate, you sure have a lot of morals, don’t you?”

“Being a contradiction is my favourite pastime, baby, you know that”, he registered the pet name falling from his lips a second too late. There was nothing he could do about it, it was like his brain would automatically shift into Smitten Mode whenever you two were on your own. If you were displeased by it, you didn’t show it or say anything about it. “I must say, I find it rather cute that you’re worrying about me that much”.

You scoffed at that, rolling your eyes. “Of course I worry about you. Unfortunately, you’ve got this horrible habit of risking your life, and since I’ve got the horrible habit of caring about you, it’s only natural that I worry”. 

Had you no regard for his weak heart? How could you tell him you cared about him so nonchalantly? And while you were scolding him at that? He wanted to say something back, to bicker a bit more, but his body seemed to not agree with that logic, because it decided that the best reaction would be to rush blood to his ears and his chest, making him flush.

So, to counterattack, Minho simply did what he did best, to display his affection through his actions instead of his words. Cradling your face in his hands, he dragged his thumbs over your cheeks, and as he stared into your eyes he could see all your walls crumble, just like they always did in situations like these. ‘Cute’, was the last word to leave his mouth before he pressed his lips to yours.

Warmth spread quickly inside of him, the tiny whine that escaped your mouth as soon as your lips connected ignited in him all those feelings he usually tried to ignore, and the way you kissed him, with as much desperation as he felt, had blood rushing to his length immediately. Minho couldn’t help it, it was instinctual at this point, to get hard when you so much as touched him–even if that touch was only your lips on his, your hands grabbing his top, and your tongue inside his mouth.

Before he knew it, he had moved, walking forward and pressing you against the cold metal walls of your ship. His hands finally left your face to hold your waist instead, and you took it as an opportunity to loop your arms around his neck, burying one of your hands in his hair and tugging gently.

“Missed you”, Minho mumbled against your lips as he slotted one of his legs between your own, pressing his thigh right against your core. He wasn’t ashamed or bashful of the words that came out of his mouth, he was way past that point, he’d decided long ago that sometimes–especially after long periods of time apart–telling you how he felt was better than having to bottle it all up.

“Missed you, too”, you mumbled back, bringing one of your legs to wrap around his hip, pulling him close, kissing him deeply right after. You, clearly, had also decided to let go of those inhibitions as well.

Moving his hand from your waist to your bum, he groped the flesh over your bottoms, just as he detached himself from your mouth to sparsely press kisses on your neck, right in the areas he knew you were the most sensitive, making you whimper. “Can’t believe you made me fucking beg to get me out of the handcuffs”.

“Wouldn’t have been the first time”, you replied with a strained chuckle, digging your heel on the back of his thigh, enticing him. It was certainly working. “Probably won’t be the last, either”.

“You minx”, Minho chuckled, returning his lips to yours, pushing his tongue inside your mouth, taking a hold of your thigh and squeezing it.

Your heavy breathing, the warmth emanating from your body that immediately seeped into him, kindling the fire that burnt bright inside of him, that fire that didn’t seem to die regardless of how much time passed, all combined had Minho’s head spinning, had him growing impossibly hard. He needed you just as much as he needed oxygen in his lungs, and for a brief second he considered taking you right there, right in the middle of the corridor, uncaring of who could walk by and see you two.

As usual, though, you brought some sense into him, tugging hard on his hair to get him to detach his mouth from yours, mumbling a breathless ‘wanna head to my cabin?’ to which Minho simply replied an overly confident ‘thought you’d never ask’. So, as soon as he separated himself from your body you took his hand in yours, pulling him along the corridor, following the familiar path to your sleeping quarters.

There had always been this thing about your room that gave Minho an immense amount of peace. He wasn’t sure if it was the infuser you seemed to have on at all times, the one that filled your room with whichever relaxing essential oil you’d gotten your hands on during your travels, or if it was the clear signs that this was your living space–the seemingly permanent heap of clothes on the chair next to your bed, the journal you kept on your desk, the huge, old-fashioned map of the galaxy taped to the wall… It was all so incredibly you, it made him feel completely enveloped by your presence, it comforted him, really.

His favourite part of your room, though, was your bed. Incredibly comfortable, with just the right amount of firmness to it, saturated in the smell of you. And maybe later, Minho would be able to bury his face in your pillow, to try and etch your essence into his memory to get him through the hard days to come. 

Right now, as your clothes and his landed on the already existing pile of clothes on your chair, he could hardly think about any of that. The feeling of your bare skin against his was more than enough to drown him in the moment. Every sigh, moan, whine that came out of your mouth whenever his lips touched your skin, the warmth of your body under him, it all let him ignore the world out of this room, out of this ship, let him focus on only you and him and the deep desire that was burning bright inside of him.

Between your hands roaming his back, the desperate way you clung to him, kissing him so hungrily he could barely breathe, Minho knew it was only a matter of time until you talked, or until he talked. He always wondered who would be the first one to ask that burning question that always hung in the air, most of the time it was him, but on odd occasions, you’d cave, and he was always ready to answer when you did.

“Have you been with other people since the last time we saw each other?”

There it was. You beat him to it this time, but, honestly, it really didn’t matter who asked it. To him, regardless of who broke the question first, it never made the entire thing any less absurd.

“Other people?” He propped himself on one hand to get a better view of you, dragging the other hand all the way from your shoulder to your centre, feeling your heated skin under his palm. His fingers teased your folds, spreading your essence all over, getting his fingers drenched. Gods, you were so wet for him already, and you’d barely even started. 

Minho was impatient. He always was the first time he got you under him like this after a long time. He wanted you, he wanted to see you squirming and writhing under his touch, so he wasted no more time, easing his ring and middle finger into your dripping heat. A quiet moan flew past your lips as soon as he was buried to the knuckle, gripping the bed sheets near your head once he started slowly thrusting his fingers in and out, letting you get used to the intrusion. 

“There’s been no one else. No one could ever remotely compare”, he emphasised his words with a hard nudge on your sweet spot, and a tug on your nipple, eliciting a moan from your lips. “There’s been flirting, I’ll give you that. Knowingly and unknowingly. More often than not to get ourselves out of tricky situations, you know how it is… But physically? Emotionally? I haven’t wanted anyone else since the first time I buried my head between your legs and got you to moan so sweetly for me, sweetheart”.

“Minho, my darling…” Your voice was airy, your face flushed, and quiet moans continued to spill from your lips as he picked up his rhythm, prepping you, moving his fingers against all those areas inside of you he seemed to have committed to memory throughout the years, the ones that would labour your breath and get you to moan a bit louder the longer he worked you up. 

Minho dipped, finding your mouth and kissing you with force, with need. Because all this time, all he’d ever needed was you, he always did. Every day, even when he decided to ignore it. 

You held onto his forearm, lightly digging your nails on his flesh, but he didn’t mind. If anything, it reminded him of the fact that he was here, with you, making you feel good, getting to enjoy you once more.

“What about you?” Minho said once he disconnected his mouth from yours for air, leaving a trail of kisses from your cheek to your neck.

He wanted to know. He wouldn’t judge you, you were free to do as you pleased, after all. That was how it worked between you two, although ‘worked’ could be considered a very loose term here. “Has anyone taken care of you these past handful of months?”

You shook your head, inhaling sharply when Minho continued his descent down your torso, attaching his mouth to your chest as his fingers kept going in and out of you, as he kept stimulating that area within your walls that he knew would get you to lose your train of thought.

Of course you hadn’t had sex with anyone else. You never did. You hadn’t in years, just like Minho hadn’t, either.

“I only–Oh!” Your words cut off, replaced by a breathy moan once Minho’s lips found one of your nipples and sucked it into his mouth to flick it with his tongue. He could feel you clenching hard around his fingers, and it almost made him dizzy with how hard it was getting him. 

You swallowed, audibly. Your fingers tangled in Minho’s hair, tugging at it as he kept working you up. With his fingers, with his mouth, with his tongue… He loved to coax the most delicious sounds out of your lip, but he wanted to know. He needed to know. So he let go of your nipple, finding your burning gaze as soon as he looked at your face. 

“I haven’t”, you whined, just as you sneaked a hand down your body, finding your clit to draw circles on it. “You are the only person I ever want. I’ve been cursed since the very first day I met you…”

The bead of precum that had been slowly growing on the tip of his cock fell onto the bed once your words registered in his brain. And Minho realised then that he, too, had been cursed since the very first day he met you. Cursed to be in love with you for the rest of his days, cursed to have to ignore that fact and live in this arrangement you two had conjured.

Leaning in, he captured your lips again, and the whimper that came out of your mouth as soon as he started to kiss you was enough for him to know just how true it all was.

“Go faster”, Minho mumbled against your lips between kisses, picking up the pace of his fingers. “C’mon, baby, I know you’re close. Rub your precious little clit faster. I need you to come on my fingers”. 

“But…” You started to protest, but you sped up your motions anyway, squirming, whining. “It’s too soon”. 

“Doesn’t matter”, Minho kept flicking his fingers against your sweet spot, just as you kept pleasuring yourself. “I’ll get you to come again later. We’ve got all night. Please, love…”

He returned his mouth to your nipple, suckling and licking the hardened bud. You were swearing a lot, writhing a lot, and as soon as the most desperate ‘close…’ fell from your lips, he trapped your nipple between his teeth, nibbling softly on the sensitive flesh. Your whole body shook with your release, and your moans mingled with his own groans of satisfaction. He revelled in the way your walls clamped around his fingers, in the squelching sounds produced by the movement of his fingers going in and out of your heat. 

Minho let go of your nipple, already knowing it’d be too much for you after your high. Your hand on your clit stopped, but you kept your fingers there, applying pressure to prolong your release just as he kept slowly stimulating your walls.

“Fuck…” You finally moved your hand away from between your legs, and your body slumped on the bed, a clear signal that your high was over. 

Pulling his fingers from your core, he slid them up to tease your sensitive clit for a second, chuckling at the jolt of your body with the contact. You looked so absolutely stunning like this. Flushed, panting, almost glowing. 

Holding your gaze, he brought his fingers to his mouth, savouring your taste as he licked them clean. You swallowed, and Minho removed his fingers from his mouth, only to bring them to yours. “Open up, sweetheart”. 

And you did. Letting him ease his fingers inside your mouth. Your lips wrapped around his digits oh, so perfectly, and your tongue lapped him up just as your eyes closed and your brows pulled together with a muffled moan. “Look at you… Always eager to give a good suck”. 

You hummed, nodding. 

“Most beautiful girl in the galaxy”, he couldn’t help but say as he looked at you eagerly sucking on his fingers, as he felt your tongue lick his digits. 

When he removed his fingers from your mouth, he finally leaned in, pressing a brief kiss to your forehead, and moving to connect your mouths once again right after. He hugged you close, laying on top of you and covering you with as much of his body as he could, enjoying your warmth.

Minho finally let you take a breather, removing his mouth from yours to instead press kisses on your collarbone. You sighed, content, and the way you massaged his scalp as you held him close had heat spreading in his chest and face, probably making him blush like a fool.

“Fuck, I haven’t come that hard in months…” you mumbled, still slightly breathless. Minho chuckled, resting his weight on one elbow to look at your face, smiling softly at you. 

“And we’re only just getting started, hm?” Minho kissed you briefly, pulling away from you when he felt your hand wrap around his length, stroking him leisurely. “Nuh-uh. None of that”, he tugged your hand away from his cock, eliciting a pout in response.

“You don’t want me to touch you?”

“Oh, baby…” Minho stretched his arm, blindly reaching for the knob of the drawer of your nightstand. “Want you to touch me so much”, he blindly rummaged through it, quickly finding the box of condoms he knew you kept there. “But I want you so fucking bad right now. Need to be inside you now or I’ll combust”. 

You chuckled against his lips when he leaned in to press a quick peck on your lips. Pulling himself from you for a moment, he focused on the box in his hand, dumping the contents on the bed by your head and grabbing a single packet.

There were still as many as he had seen last time he was here with you. 

Minho quickly tore the foil packet open and slid the condom on his length, giving himself a couple of tentative pumps to make sure it was all secure. Lining himself with your entrance, he teased you for a moment, lost in your lustful gaze and the way you bit your lip in anticipation, lost in the burning desire inside of him. 

He couldn’t help but kiss you again, right as he started to ease his cock between your walls. You moaned, holding him tightly, kissing him desperately. Minho simply grunted, and he started to feel lightheaded just by your warmth around him. You were so intoxicating, and the feeling of you around him was so familiar, and even a bit comforting. As he slid centimetre after centimetre within your core, he was reminded of why he was here.

Because you were warm. 

Because you were home.

Once he bottomed out, he propped himself up to look at your face. One of your hands came to rest on his cheek, and your thumb softly caressed his skin. Minho turned his head a bit, just enough to kiss your palm as he started to move. The feel of you around him, warm, tight, wet, made him close his eyes, made him quietly moan as he enjoyed the onslaught of sensations coursing through him.

Your legs wrapped around his waist, and your heel dug on his ass, trying to get him closer to you. 

“Harder”, was all you mumbled, and it made him chuckle and open his eyes. 

“I’m trying to be careful and you want me to go harder?” Minho kept his rhythm slow, almost teasing you.

“Who’s asking you to be careful?” You pressed your lips to his neck, once again making him flush–although at this point he wasn’t sure if the flush had diminished at all since he came into this room. “It’s been too long, darling. Six months, three weeks, and two days, to be exact. I missed you, and all I want is for you to fucking ruin me, Minho”.

“Shit, what am I gonna do with you…” 

Pulling himself away from your embrace, he sat straighter, throwing one of your legs over his shoulder and starting a brutal pace right then and there. The moan of surprise that came out of your mouth as soon as he started moving fueled him, it almost made him lightheaded, making him completely forget where you two were, not caring if people heard you at all.

Minho wasn’t sure where to focus; on your tits bouncing with every single one of his thrusts, on the way your face scrunched up in bliss, on the absolutely divine feeling of you wrapped so snugly around him… All combined had sparks of pleasure racing up and down his spine, had his head spinning.

“Is this what you wanted?” With a tight grip on your thigh, keeping your leg flush to him, making sure to hit that area within your walls that would make you produce all those sounds he wanted to hear. 

You nodded, swallowing as you brought a hand to his abdomen, sinking your nails into his flesh. The sting made him grunt, made him throw his head back and snap his hips just a tad faster.

“Look at me”, you mumbled, somehow both commanding and breathless, dragging your nails down his abdomen. As soon as Minho complied, your lascivious gaze almost made him burst. Eye contact was a thing that you always enjoyed, but he wasn’t too sure he’d be able to stand it for long, not at this moment at least. The way you looked at him always made him want to blow, especially so after months of no physical contact.

Minho just chuckled, finding your breast with his free hand to knead the flesh and pinch and roll your nipple between his fingers, eliciting a strained moan from you, making you bite your lip to keep your volume in check. “Are you trying to make me blow?”

As soon as the question came out of his mouth, he felt you clench around him, and he couldn’t help but groan at the sensation. He knew you were doing it on purpose, you always liked to work him up, get him to lose his sanity with the simplest things, and he always fell for it, because it was just so good. “What if I am?”

“You sound… Way too self-assured for someone who’s… Borderline gasping for air, you know?” 

The laugh that had started to bubble over from you got caught in your throat, replaced by a string of swear words as Minho moved his hand from your breast to your mound and pressed his thumb on your clit. He might’ve been struggling, but he was determined to get you to struggle as well.

You swallowed, licking your lips as you clearly tried to pull yourself together enough to bicker with him. “But you like it, huh?” 

“I fucking do, shit…” He just sped up his fingers, trying to get you to your peak as fast as possible.

Minho really couldn’t tell how much time passed of him pounding into you, rubbing your clit and tugging on your nipples, and he honestly didn’t care, either. This was always the best part, getting to lose himself in the moment, pleasuring you and getting pleasure of his own just by the feel of you there, under him, around him.

Every time you spoke, it brought him increasingly closer to the edge, your ‘just like that, baby’, and your frequent and almost incomprehensible ‘so fucking good’ simultaneously going to his head and his cock, fueling him even further. When you finally came, he couldn’t hold back the groans that came out of his mouth in tandem with your moans. The feeling of you clenching so tightly around him sent a shiver down his spine, and before he knew it, he was leaning into you, kissing you deeply, messily as he chased his own release.

You held him tightly, tiny squeals muffling against his lips as he kept his relentless pace. The sudden sting of your nails trailing down his back was the final push he needed. Minho saw white for a brief moment, groaning and grunting and maybe even moaning at the feel of your teeth sinking on his bottom lip, at the feel of your hands on his back, and your hips flush to his as he filled the condom inside of you–the only physical barrier between his body and yours.

All that pent up tension he’d been harbouring for months and months seemed to quickly evaporate from his muscles as he melted into you, into your kiss and your tight hug. His ears were ringing a bit, but he didn’t mind. All he could care about was the fact that you were right there, pressed completely against him.

After he left one more kiss on your lips, he pulled back just enough to look at you. You smiled at him, a genuine smile that had his heart skipping every other beat inside his ribcage. He returned the gesture, just as you brought your hand to push his now soaked fringe away from his forehead, pulling him down to press a kiss right there, making him chuckle in disbelief.

Once he pulled himself away from you completely, he carefully slid the condom off of his length, tying a knot to make sure nothing spilled out. Taking the discarded foil packed, he placed it on your nightstand and laid the condom on top of it to dispose of later. 

As he laid back down, he simply looked at you. You had that look in your eyes, the one you hardly ever showed to the people around you… Vulnerability. Minho always saw it after you two had sex, and he knew that under that vulnerability there was something, many unsaid words that you wouldn’t dare say out loud to him. 

“Marry me”, Minho broke the silence, and you huffed an incredulous chuckle.

“Aren’t you tired of asking me to marry you?” 

“Are you tired of me asking you to marry me?”

You went silent for a moment, just looking into his eyes. Minho didn’t really need you to respond, he knew what the answer was. 

“No, I’m not”, you replied simply, exactly what he knew you would say. “How would we even make a marriage work? We can’t even make a relationship work, Lee Minho”. 

“We’ve never tried”. 

It was true. Although the connection he shared with you was laps more than physical, you’d never entertained the possibility of a relationship. You hadn’t let him try, and he hadn’t been persistent–sure, he asked you to marry him every other encounter you had, but he never really pushed it. Because he knew it was a complex situation, him being an outlaw, a pirate, a rebel, and you being a smuggler, both probably with hefty bounties on your heads.

“Do you want to try?” you sounded genuinely incredulous, almost as if you had just realised that he was being genuine about it.

Minho propped his head on his elbow, just looking at you. And then it dawned on him. “You’ve never thought I was being serious when I asked you to marry me before, have you?”

You opened and closed your mouth a few times, but ultimately, you shook your head, and he couldn’t help but scoff, dropping his head back on the bed to stare at the ceiling. 

“Well, I have been. Every time”.

“But why?” Your voice was barely a whisper, and when he turned to look at you his heart clenched just by seeing tears collect in your eyes. You didn’t let them fall, though.

“Because I love you”, Minho replied simply. “You’re clever, fun, one of the bravest people I’ve ever met, you’ve saved my life numerous times. Whenever I’m with you I feel at peace, and when I’m not, I worry about you, about your health, or I wonder if you’re out there getting yourself in trouble and I’m not there to help… I’ve just… Been in love with you for years, and I can’t keep on going pretending that I’m not. That I’m okay leaving your bed or an inn or you leaving my ship as if I don’t want you to stay”.

Minho could feel the lump in his throat, the way his voice shook slightly, but he didn’t care. He needed to let those thoughts out now, otherwise he wasn’t sure how long it would be until he got this boost of courage again. He honestly hadn’t even realised how much he’d been hurting with this until the words came out of his mouth. He’d spent years pretending this arrangement was fine. It clearly wasn’t. At least not anymore.

You went quiet for a while. A long while. Minho was honestly starting to second-guess ever opening his mouth, and it was just as he was about to stand up from that bed that you finally moved, wrapping one of your arms around his waist and burying your face in his chest.

“I hadn’t thought… I didn’t think…” You were rambling, your voice was muffling against his skin, it was hard to understand anything you were saying with the verbiage that was coming out of your mouth

“Hey… It’s okay”, Minho dragged his hands up and down your spine, hugging you even tighter against him, effectively stopping your ramble. “Breathe…”

You took a deep breath, draping your leg over his hips and pulling him even closer to you, which did ease his worries a bit–at least you weren’t kicking him out of your bed just yet.

“You smell nice…” You mumbled suddenly, rubbing your face on his chest. It immediately made his heart race and his chest flush. Minho wanted to say something, but honestly, the words were stuck in his throat, suddenly feeling bashful, as if he wasn’t naked on your bed after having sex with you.

When you finally pulled away from his chest, you looked him in the eyes, looking incredibly vulnerable. Minho simply brought a hand to your cheek, feeling your heated skin under his palm as his thumb moved back and forth.

“Minho… Every time you go, every time I leave, my heart just hurts so much. And I honestly don’t know how to deal with it. With my feelings, or how we could even make this work”.

“I’m sure we can figure something out… Maybe not today, maybe not even this week, but I’m sure we can”.

You closed your eyes then, heaving a sigh. “You know this isn’t gonna be easy, right?”

“I’m aware”, Minho’s lips quirked up a bit, suddenly amused by your choice of words, and he couldn’t help but bring even more clarity to it. “It hasn’t been easy until now, either, has it?” You gave him a smile as well, opening your eyes again. “I’m willing to take my chances. I… Really want to try”.

Your gaze flickered between his eyes for a bit, and then you were leaning in, pressing a tender, brief kiss on his lips. 

“I want that, too”, you whispered, pecking his lips once again, murmuring the most tender ‘I love you’ as you hugged him even tighter, making Minho go impossibly redder, making his heart beat so fast he thought it would leap out of his chest. “If you don’t come back alive from your insane borderline suicide mission, I’ll personally go to the afterlife and kill you again”.

Minho chuckled, pecking your lips. “If you help me then you can make sure I don’t die at all, sweetheart”.

“Huh, so that’s why you’re here now professing your love to me? Trying to seduce me into helping you fulfil your pirate affairs?” Pushing him to lay on his back, you got on top of him, kissing him time and time again. His heart felt as if it was ready to burst, and for a brief moment, it was almost as if everything was okay. As if everything would be fine.

“Need I remind you you brought me into this room yourself?” With a hand on your bum and the other on the back of your neck, Minho simply kept kissing you, uncaring of anything happening outside of these walls. 

“Don’t change the topic”.

“Is it working, though? Am I successfully seducing you?”

You scoffed at that, pressing one loud, final kiss on his lips before you shuffled around, sitting on him, straddling his hips, and placing your hands on his chest. “Of course I’m gonna fucking help you, Lee Minho. But not because you’ve got the best stroke game I’ve ever experienced, but because I stupidly believe in your cause”.

“Gods… Keep inflating my ego, please”, Minho couldn’t help but groan. His hands immediately found your hips, kneading the soft flesh there. “I just love it when you do”.

“I know you do”, you grinned, dragging one of your hands all over his flushed chest, up his neck, finally settling it on his cheek.

Minho caught your hand in his, keeping it in place as he turned to press a kiss to your palm. Your gaze shifted then, that playful glint you usually had when you teased him replaced by something else, something akin to love, maybe even hope. And in that moment, he seriously believed everything would be okay. That he’d be able to save his friends, free the slaves, and make it out alive. That he’d finally get to truly be by your side.

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[cebwrites]

CEVV I'm here to ask you per our convo the other day.....headcanons on cooking specialties/skills of the heart pirates? whichever ones you prefer ❤️ (bepo cooking lol)

a/n: EEEEEEE i get to break out the completely self-indulgent Hearts intro i did for this!! >:3= (also hi i didn't forget this or esp the kata hcs, writing brain just leaves for long periods of time and i have little say in it 😭😭)

Skills of the Heart Pirates (headcanons)

he/they law, various pronouns for other Heart members word count: 0.6k

Bepo my darling light, probably just as clumsy in the kitchen as his captain is... Bepo tries his best to help out when it's his turn to cook for the crew (along with a couple of other members) but a lot of the time he ends up bumping into things and becoming more of a hazard than a helping hand, everyone's only respite is that he isn't as fire prone as their captain is; Bepo is, however, great at washing the pots, pans, and in general the bigger cookware after meals

Penguin started out making little snacks for Shachi on Swallow Island because he'd spent a lot of time with his mom doing the the same at it brought some comfort to him - when Law and Bepo came along, it was mainly so that Penguin could make sure this weird kid who saved his life actually ate

The Tang doesn't have a designated chef in the same way that the Strawhats have Sanji, many members rotate in and out of the kitchen depending on the day but it's usually Dorie, Bas, and Laeno that are in there the most; Pengy still makes small things anyone can munch on throughout the day to keep their energy up or if someone just asks, though - it remains very much a comfort to cook for his loved ones

I vaguely remember a mention in the light novel that Shachi worked as a hairdresser and I 100% agree - it's super cute to imagine Shacchan cutting everyone's hair when it gets too long, helping crew members pick out new styles or looks for certain occasions, having a field day when it's time for Bepo's yearly molt lol, and all free of charge! It's mostly because he's doing this out of the kindness of his sweet little orca heart, but a small part is also because he gets to chat and gossip a lot with whoever it is he's working on

I'm not sure where I picked up the notion that Ikkaku was an engineer along my fandom journey, but I like the idea that it's her in charge of something super important like keeping the ship running, she also pops into the captain's office occasionally to refill their coffee and haul Law out to dinner <3

The Hearts are inked just like their captain - not necessarily all over like Law, but it's unlikely that you'd find someone without at least one tattoo be it big or small - and the one to turn to for that would be Hake! They're the artist responsible for all the work done on this crew, though they do tend to be a bit mingy about prices, you can usually get away with a decent discount by praising their work and fluffing up their feathers a bit (only works for long term crew members, terms and conditions apply)

Smaller hc time!

Uni and Clione are typically in charge when laundry day rolls around, with the latter yelling at his peers to stop goofing around with the freshly warm sheets before they get dirty again

Bepo, Dorie, Bas, and Jean Bart do a lot of heavy lifting when it's time to restock supplies, not that everyone else doesn't help out too, they just take pride in being the ones that everyone relies on the most for their size and strength in heavy lifting (it's also very amusing to see the 'small fry' squabble amongst themselves about who can lift the most)

Bookkeeping and crunching numbers is left to Hoki and Gul, when Gul isn't in the infirmary with Marl taking care of their injured since Law isn't present again

Fang (Hakugan) is really knowledgeable about foraging, he and Laeno will often go together to pick out wild game/herbs if the Tang docks at an island with lush flora and fauna

Since they spent a lot of time underwater though, the Heart Pirates end up eating a lot more seafood than anything on land, and the ones who bring home the bread there are Penguin, Shachi, and Ani