#no way to get around that even now that i'm fast at them these all still take 25-100 hours depending on size/complexity

[sidneywasfound]

DOLCE | Franco Colapinto x Fem!Reader x Lando Norris

SUMMARY; Franco cheated on her. Regretful, he looks for her. She is making a new life, taking revenge for Franco's actions,Knowing exactly how to get on his nerve, and he didn't know with who she would begin this new facet of her life.

WARNINGS; ANGST with a Fluffy ending!, Franco being a dick,Franco cheating,Crying,suggestive themes,talks and mentions of sex but not actual smut,Bad English writing English is not My first lenguage,Song quotes with original lyrics and translation. a little bit of SMAU, not My Best work so be kind

WORD COUNT; 1.6k

AUTHOR'S NOTE; Firstt i wanted to thank you all for your support!! Seriously i love you all ♡ and second, This fic is inspired on DOLCE by Cazzu i've been listening to this song in loop all the day so yeah

Now playing...DOLCE by Cazzu

You remember it as if it were the first time,That warm kiss that Franco gave you every time you arrived,Only this time you were leaving."Speak up and pray if whatever you are about to say is a damn excuse." You said picking up your bag from the floor facing the open the door."i'm sorry...I was drunk and I didn't tell you because-" You shut the door right on his face and with tears in your eyes you walked towards your car.

He didn't even tell you, it happened three months ago, and he didn't tell you?. You opened your phone seeing the photo of him kissing that girl, that girl who said she was just a friend, you even liked her posts and she liked yours.

3 months later...

"I'm better than ever" You said looking at yourself in the bathroom mirror, on the counter there was some nail polish and makeup.You sighed and went to your closet,Searching through your dresses you saw a dark red silk fabric highlighting between them, you slowly pulled it out but when you saw the whole piece you quickly threw it back into the closet,a knot formed in your throat and tears didn't wait to fall

"This damn dress..." You didn't even know if that phrase would help you feel better,Franco said it that same night, where he took you to his hotel room and delicately undressed you while repeating that pharse.'This damn dress...'

Your breathing was fast, you quickly grabbed your black tube dress and closed the closet

You went out in that dress, you were going to a club for your friend's birthday so nothing too exagerated. Sitting at the bar you watched your still cocktail on the table,The music made the liquid vibrate a little 'why do i bother in trying?' You said to yourself. You got up and when you turned around you crashed into someone."s-shit... i'm sorry i didn't-" When you look up you saw no one else but Lando Norris himself, how embarrasing you tought, In addition to being hurt by your breakup, you just crashed into Lando

"oh no. Shit how embarrasing!" You covered your face slightly as he laughed. "Don't worry, it was my mistake." You already knew each other, Franco introduced you two,sometimes you greeted each other in the paddock, is Nice to see him for the last time

"Are You ok...?" He said putting his hand on your shoulder, your breathing was laborated and your eyes crystallized."yes shit...I just need some fresh air" He quickly grabbed your arm and guide you all over the place to the exit, where the breeze of air hit you and relaxed your whole body."Thanks..." You said still holding on to his arm

"Someone did something to you?" Lando said grabbing your waist "what? Oh nonono, i'm just a little bit tired..."You said fixing your dress."I think I should go back, my friend is waiting for me..." you said turning towards the door making Lando grab you again."You're not going anywhere like this." Your way of walking was clumsy and you were still holding your dizzy head with your hand.

You sat on the sidewalk and covered your face as you burst into tears,Lando opened his eyes wide and sat beside you putting an arm on your shoulder."what- what's wrong?" He said nervously.

"it's just-" You said as your voice your trembled,honestly you hated seeing how people on Twitter supported Franco 'I'm sure she cheated first' or 'i would've done the same cause she is prettier' or just any bullshit justifying Franco's actions. But you kept quiet, you saw how THAT girl said that there were no broken hearts, that she was just a new girlfriend, not a lover.

And though you didn't want to make any statements for the media, you had reached a limit, a limit that hurt you like a stab in your chest, carrying all the weight and guilt on your back. You just wanted to spit out all your hatred and let off all your steam.

"I'm tired of pretending everything is okay when it clearly isn't!" You said with rage,Your tears fell down your cheeks while Lando pulled you into a hug,pressing your face on his chest.

"is this because of...Franco?" Unable to speak through crying, you nodded."Why don't we go home? We can forget about that dickhead..." Lando said trying to cheer you up, you nodded as he stood up putting his coat around your shoulders.

That night Lando took you in his car to his house, the two of you stayed curled up in his bed looking at the large window that illuminated the room with the moonlight. They stared at each other as you caressed his cheek, without any remorse he pulled you into a warm kiss.

2 months later...

"Te creí,y yo no doy más de una oportunidad"

"I believed you,And I don't give more than one chance "

You looked at your phone and saw how he now acted innocent now, pretending and saying that I was aware of this 'extracurricular' relationship. You looked at yourself in the large mirror and started putting on your makeup, your playlist started playing in the background, A guitar rhythm reached your ears as you continued to look at yourself in the mirror, DOLCE by cazzu began to play.

"Ojalá te dure eso de aparentar. Mujeres bonitas ninguna real"

"I hope this 'pretending' lasts for you. Pretty women, none real"

You remember those afternoons watching the sunset while you cuddle with him tangled in a blanket. How you did sacrifice thousands of opportunities to be with him, leave your country to travel with him for the season.

"Como Yo, que contigo estaba a morir y a matar"

"like me,that for you i was willing to die and kill"

And you saw how she didn't even bother to go see him race,she only posted something if he reaches podium and then just photos on a yacht with him. You actually expected him to realize that you were there from the beginning. And it is better for him to know that if he ever looks for that support from his partner, he won't find it.

"Dudo que una así te vuelvas a encontrar

me voy pero antes me voy a vengar."

"I doubt you'll ever meet a girl like me again

I'm leaving but first I'm going to take revenge"

You headed to your closet to pull out the soft, fine, dark red silk fabric that was sticking out from between the dresses and gave it a Big glance to appreciate it. You wore that dress when you met Franco at an event, it was the dress that made him fall in love with you. You dropped your clothes, leaving you in your underwear, to start putting on the dress.Today was the FIA awards, and you would accompany Lando, to Hard launch your relationship. And why not show off that beautiful DOLCE & GABBANA dress to show him what he's missing? You were having the best time ever, Lando was kind and good, you loved everything about him.

A Besides, it was to be expected that a proud guy like Lando would love to make everyone know that you were his, that he would be getting that dress out of you that night, and he loved knowing that Franco would be mad and jelous. You were waiting for him to come in his luxury sports car and get you, you already felt the sweet taste of revenge on your tongue

You took a big breath as you grabbed your purse,Fluffy dark red coat and fixed your hair before going out.

"yo también sé cómo portarme mal...

y se bien que hacer para hacerte llorar"

"I also know how to misbehave...

and i know exactly what to do to make You cry"

You sighed and turned off the lights in your house, put away your makeup and tidied everything.You sighed nervously and looked at yourself in the mirror for the last time thinking 'This is what he deserves for being a dick...'Reoste And you grabbed your cell phone, turning off the music to put it in your purse, without forgetting to listen another line of the song

"a ver si aprendes a valorar..."

"to see if you learn to value me..."

You smiled and put it in your purse, You heard a horn and went fastly to the door. And there it was, Lando Norris right in front of You "Fuck...You are gorgeous." He said putting a hand on your waist and kissing you,You smiled and walked towards his car."don't get to cocky tonight Norris!" You scoffed getting into the as he laughed."i can't help when i know that this idiot is going to be wanting you all night long" He said getting into the car and putting a hand on your to squeeze your thigh.

When they arrived at the place, the paparazzis started taking pictures of you two like crazy, Lando grabbed you by the waist and posed with you."it's going to be a long night..." It was impossible to ignore Franco's gaze on you all night, especially when Lando noticed it and started kissing you or putting an arm around you. Although it was too funny to see him like that while his girlfriend didn't even notice.

"I really hope that everyone who calls him Casanova or a Flirt realize what an idiot he is, do You think the dates he took me on were his idea?, but of course not!, Do you really think a man like him is a casanova when I had to teach him how to basically have a girlfriend?, I don't believe it...I don't believe it." You said confessing for the first time your thoughts on the situation in a interview after keeping quiet for so long."I hope you know there's a little bit of me in every single part of that person and every time that person does something nice I want you to think, 'Did that really come completely from him?'." You laughed."And now that i'm in a very healthy relationship with my boyfriend i understood how toxic was it when i was with this person...but i really hope he is happy now! and I wish him the best of luck, no hard feelings!".

"se te olvidó que lo que sabes te lo enseñé yo"

"You forgot that I taught you what you know"

[servndipityz]

i loved the thing you wrote about nam-gyu so much it was amazing 😭 i think it was a lot more realistic to his character, i hate how people write him as some sort of evil monster with no sympathy at all. if you could write a part two or maybe (sorry for the weird request) write a fic where he finds you hurt during the lights out fight and offers to help fix you up that would be great

sorry if this seems demanding or anything. again, love your work, have a great day/night! 💕

a/n ── WHATT!! thank you so much you're so nice😭😭 it isn't a weird request at all, as soon as i read it i got sooo excited. im a sucker for the tending wounds trope tbh i had a field day w this one, i took some liberties lmao. i must say though, i'm not loving how it turned out, i don't think i did it justice😞

warnings ── blood, injury, general squid game themes

word count ── 2k

it had all happened too fast. the screams had jolted you awake in the middle of the night, but even then, you’d struggled to register where you were, let alone process what was happening around you.

but it hadn’t taken long to figure out—it was a fight. a bad one. a group of players had decided to take matters into their own hands, killing anyone who stood in their way.

you sprung up from your bed, eyes struggling to adjust to the dim light. shadows darted back and forth, figures moving too fast to make sense of. the screams of pain filled the room so completely that they drowned out everything else, and the now-familiar stench of blood was already thick in the air.

frantically, you searched for thanos, se-mi, or even nam-gyu, but they were nowhere to be seen. the chaos, mostly concentrated on the left side of the room, was now spreading in your direction.

some men had started climbing the bunk beds. in the flickering light, you caught the sharp gleam of a broken bottle clutched in one of their hands—just before he drove it into an innocent woman who hadn’t even managed to get out of bed.

you didn't have time to think. you didn't have time to look for anyone—you had to run. hide.

jumping off your mattress, you started leaping from one bed to another. you were pretty sure you were stepping on people, but their screams blended into the others. finally, you made it out of the bed structure, feet hitting the cool floor as you tried to ground yourself.

words crackled through the loudspeakers. the lights flickered on and off. all around you, people were running in every direction. you kept moving, trying to make it to one of the corners where you'd be safer—until you fell.

maybe you’d tripped over your own feet, or maybe over nothing at all, but either way, you hit the ground hard, the air knocked from your lungs.

you gasped, tried to push yourself up, but it was too late. in the brief flash of the lights, you saw him—a man standing over you, gripping what looked like a broken bed frame rod. before you could move, he swung.

but you were fast. you threw up a stumbling arm just in time, blocking the blow before it could slam into your head. still, the jagged edge sliced into your forearm, pain searing through you as the force sent you crashing back against a bed.

you hit the ground again. this time, as you struggled to rise, the man lifted the rod high, ready to deliver the final blow.

it all happened in a matter of seconds. the blow you were expecting never came—a silver bullet tore through the man's head instead, clean and deadly. as he crumpled to the ground, you barely had time to process it before your eyes darted to where the shot had come from. the armed pink guards were flooding into the room, shooting at anything that moved.

soon, the screams were drowned out by gunfire. but before you could be seen, someone grabbed you. an arm yanked you under the nearest bed, a hand locking around your waist as you struggled.

you almost kicked them—until you realized they weren’t trying to hurt you. whoever had pulled you under was keeping you hidden, making sure you weren’t caught in the guards' line of fire.

"stop fucking moving!" the voice hissed.

the moment you recognized it, you might as well have been shot.

your body went limp. "nam-gyu?" you almost shouted.

you couldn’t see him, only feel him—his body pressed behind yours, bigger, solid. his grip still tight on your waist, his breath hot against the back of your neck.

"yeah, who did you think?" he whisper-shouted, like your incredulity somehow annoyed him. but it was strange—he’d shown nothing but disdain toward you in the days prior, constantly pestering you for joining thanos' team. still, something about the way he said it was strange—like he was rattled too. like he hadn't planned on this.

you opened your mouth, but the last gunshot cut you off.

"players must return to their beds now." the friendly voice from the loudspeakers rang out, disturbingly unaffected—like dozens of people hadn’t just died right then and there.

no one moved. the room stayed eerily silent as the guards methodically packed the bodies into those present-shaped caskets and filed out. then, the lights went out again.

you swallowed hard, feeling nam-gyu's chest rise and fall slowly behind you. he hadn't let go. the space between you was barely space at all, just the thin fabric of your tracksuits. his fingers still curled at your waist, like he'd forgotten to release them.

for a moment, everything remained still. then, the quiet shuffling began—people creeping out of their hiding spots, returning to their beds, or to any bed that wasn’t entirely soaked in blood.

"what are you waiting for?" nam-gyu tapped your hip impatiently, and you shifted to crawl out from under the bed. as you pushed yourself up with your arm, a sharp pain shot through you, forcing a wince from your lips.

you glanced down—and that’s when you saw the blood. dark red, running along your forearm, dripping onto the ground. the wound didn’t look deep, but it was long, the skin already turning a sickly purple. worse than how it looked, though, was how much it hurt.

nam-gyu had already stood up, looking down at you.

"you're welcome—" he started, voice laced with sarcasm, but then his eyes landed on your arm.

"shit," you muttered, still staring at the injury.

he huffed before grabbing your good arm and yanking you up onto your feet.

you yelped at the sudden movement, clutching your injured arm. "hey, man! can't you see i'm—"

"sit down." he jerked his chin toward the nearest bed. you hesitated, grimacing. "are you deaf? c’mon."

and when he grabbed the sheets from one of the nearby beds, tearing at the fabric, you finally complied. whatever he had in mind, for once, it didn’t seem like he had bad intentions

you watched as he started ripping the fabric into smaller strips, his lip caught between his teeth in concentration.

you and nam-gyu had had a weird kind of relationship ever since the games started. joining thanos’ team had been both a blessing and a curse. on one hand, you had a group—a good one at that. on the other, you had to deal with nam-gyu, who, for some strange reason, seemed to have it out for you.

he’d pester you all day, only to steal your jacket at night and use it as a blanket when he thought no one was looking. he’d call you every name under the sun, yet still kept you close, casting glances at you during every game. you didn’t think you’d ever understand him. not at all.

and even less now, when he kneeled down to be eye level with you, now sitting on the bed.

"your arm," he said. for a moment, as you looked into his eyes, you almost forgot you were bleeding everywhere. stupidly, you glanced down at your arm before extending it to him.

he raised his hand to hold your wrist, his touch surprisingly gentle. the cold of his fingers sent a shiver through you, but his grasp remained steady as he inspected the wound. he tried to maneuver your arm toward him, but his position was awkward, your knees getting in the way.

he glanced at them, then back up at you, his face still serious.

you realized what he wanted.

slowly, reminding yourself that he was just trying to help, you parted your legs slightly, giving him more space.

he shifted between them, your thighs now on either side of him, closer than before. the warmth of him, the press of him—it was impossible to ignore.

finally, he took the strips of fabric he’d torn and carefully began tying them around your arm, trying to stop the bleeding.

the dim light barely reached the corners of the room, but your eyes had adjusted. you could see every freckle on his face, every bead of sweat on his forehead, every curve of his nose.

his breath was steady, but you weren’t sure yours was.

when he tightened a strip a little too hard, you yelped, quickly biting back the sound. last thing you needed was to look weak in front of him.

he stilled, watching you for a moment, his gaze unreadable. you huffed, suddenly feeling small under it.

"you didn't have to do this, you know," you muttered, trying to sound tough.

he shook his head, his eyes still locked on yours. "do you always have to be such a bitch?" his words were sharp, cutting, but his hands remained gentle as he worked, his fingers brushing against your skin as he secured the bandage. "i saved your life twice. you could at least say thank you."

you rolled your eyes, biting back a wince as he tugged at the bandage. "my hero," you muttered. sure, he'd helped you—but saving your life was a stretch. he’d put you in just as much danger in the previous games.

"i should've let you fucking die," he said, more to himself than to you. but his hands never faltered, still wrapping another strip of fabric around your arm. and for some reason, something twisted in your chest—something that wasn't just the pain in your forearm.

finally, you exhaled. "fine. thank you."

he didn't look convinced.

“hey.” you shifted slightly, moving your injured arm just enough to make him look at you. “i said thank you.” you held his gaze, then swallowed. “and… sorry for being an asshole.

for a second, he didn’t move. his fingers, which had been adjusting the bandage, stilled against your skin. his grip firm but not forceful, his thumb barely brushing the inside of your wrist.

the way he looked at you, you'd swear he'd smiled. but just as quickly as it came, it vanished.

"does it hurt?" he asked, just when you thought he wouldn’t speak again.

"no." the answer came out before you even thought about it. he paused, his gaze flickering to your face. that look of his—like he already knew you were lying—got on your nerves. when had he suddenly gotten so good at reading you?

"yeah, kinda," you corrected yourself, looking away.

"happened a lot at the club," he commented, and you remembered him mentioning he used to work at one. you hadn’t thought club promoters had to deal with this kind of thing, but it checked out. "these kinds of injuries. you’ll be fine."

his fingers trailed along your arm as he checked the bandage, slower than before. almost absentminded. “if it doesn’t get infected and you die."

you frowned, but when you looked at him, there was a small smile on his lips. he was joking. you let out an amused chuckle, shaking your head.

he was still holding your arm, but now he moved it toward your chest, pressing it there, his hand brushing against you as he gripped your wrist.

your breath hitched for a moment while looking at him, though you weren’t sure if it was from the sudden pain of your wound being handled or something else. something unfamiliar.

"hold it like this, okay?" his voice was strangely soft as he looked into your eyes. from his position, kneeling between your thighs, he had to tilt his head up slightly, making you see him in a different light.

you nodded, suddenly shy. 

your faces weren’t that far apart—you could feel his breath mix with yours, could see the way his gaze flickered between your eyes. but what struck you most was that there was no hatred behind it. he wasn’t looking at you the way you always thought he did. he didn’t seem so full of disdain after all.

but had he ever? your memory felt hazy. the more you thought about it, the less sure you were.

and the worst part was, he could also tell. your eyes weren’t filled with hatred either. not anymore.

oh god, you must’ve lost a lot of blood to feel the way you were feeling.

"thanks," you muttered at last, smiling.

"it’s fine." he smiled too, just a little. "now stop being nice to me. it’s fucking weird."

© servndipityz 2025 — all rights reserved. do not modify, repost, translate, or plagiarise my content without my permission.

[neverpathia]

"come, quench my boredom," oh, I sure will:

How about some Thorn for the character list game? >:]

FIE! HAVE AT YOU. HAVE AT YOU ALL.

I'm probably not gonna be getting at these as fast as I'd like. Clearly I had a lot to say about Para but at least he's out of the way, and now Thorn...Damn you, Everest Gale. Damn you. (I have gotten my vengeance with the Paranoid ask on you, though. My time had come.) /lh

[checks who's up next] OH COME ON BROKEN TOO?? MY THREE FAVOURITES IN THAT ORDER???

With that said. This one's probably going to be a little bit short because I've thrown out all my energy on that Paranoid post + analysis lol. Sorry, my beautiful creature plant wife, you deserve so much better.

favourite thing about them

I rummage through every facet of her character and I...don't pull my hands out from the drawer, because it's that hard to choose.

But if I really do have to pick, I'd probably go for her character development and what it represents. The Thorn, as a chapter, tells you that things don't have to end at hurt. That there's always hope, even after you act and react, and act and react, and act and react again. That pain isn't the end. That the cycle doesn't have to keep moving, because it can always be halted. That it's never too late to let go and start anew.

And that doesn't mean that the pain was insignificant, because yes, it's always been there. Inflicted, passed on, released outward, turned inward. If dismissed away, it could grow and remain forever. But it could also be dispelled, and one could finally heal.

I'll also point out that she's absolutely adorable, pretty as all hell, and just smoking hot. Because she's the fucking Thorn. And the sheer symbolism—the way the roots of the wild sprout anew and morph into prickles, contorting around herself when she directs her pain inward. The way she finally sees her poppies for the first time when you both let her recover. I'll be fucking sick.

least favourite thing about them

A single crow glides across this part of the post, idly dropping a single white splatter before fluttering away with three wing-flaps. Nothing to see here, carry on.

(I'm very lax when it comes to others' Thorn characterization, because I never really get her character right myself. But it doesn't bother me too much because I rarely post Princess content anyway. And I do think I'm improving with her writing.)

favourite line

"I'm so tired of the bad blood between us. But it's hard to let it go. You've hurt me. ... And I've hurt you."

I think this just encapsulates so much about her arc. She doesn't want this horrible cycle to keep happening anymore. And she's just as accountable as you are. But at the same time, that doesn't mean she's not reluctant. It's all she's ever known at this point, and it certainly doesn't help that the grievances between you still exist either way.

She's not letting her guard down so easily, not here and certainly never as the Witch. But she wants to try. It's hard, but she's already so resigned. And she does want it to stop.

Also she sounds so tired here and it's kind of hot but you can still hear the guilt, the grief, the single sliver of hope...Thorn I really do love you. Thorn, I love you Thorn. Marry me Thorn. Thorn-

brOTP

Thorn and Cage. They're the two most prominent princesses in my post-construct AU (alongside HEA and Razor. sorry Cheated) and they're definitely close as all hell. Both of them get how it is to be trapped in a hopeless cycle, and how it is to break it.

They're like a cat and an office lady. Thorn spontaneously finds stuff in the woods and brings, say, a dead rat to Cage's doorstep for the sake of friendship. Cage dangles a chain over Thorn's head and she gleefully swipes at it.

Thorn twirls around in a flower field as Cage sits in place and smiles, weaving stems into a flower crown. Then Thorn slides onto her stomach beside her, observing as she playfully kicks the dirt. She's a very whimsical lass.

And let's not forget the scars. Cage is always there for the sudden aches and pains, and she's always there to soothe them with some salve and bandage them with meticulous precision. As for Cage's disembodied head...Thorn did try to seal it back together with a few slivers of plant stem, but it never holds for very long. Not for lack of trying, though. They're always best friends.

Thorn is so whimsical and Cage is so stoically silly and oh my god yes. Just yes. And they're both pretty women.

otp

Cheated x Thorn. I've gone over this before but holy shit I love them. They're the ship I've probably drawn the most? I'm pretty sure. I'm definitely not projecting onto Cheated. Don't look at my current account theme.

But either way I really love them together. Just a couple of flawed, faulty people who have been hurt and chosen to hurt in turn. And yet they're changing. And yet they're recovering. They can't find much solace at all, but they're learning to find peace and sometimes that's enough. The little moments they share are few and far between but so very cute and cathartic and- squealing.

But Cheated isn't immune from Thorn's catlike, playful side either. She randomly paws softly on his coat for no reason. She sits cross-legged on his unfinished game of solitaire. And he actually isn't too mad about it, no matter what his lighthearted grumbling might suggest.

However, they both have trust issues and aren't prone to surprising each other that much. This is another one with horrible will-they-wont-they tension. Thorn eagerly brings him little gifts (some less necessary than others) and tells him she loves him so many times a day, but when it comes to actual physical affection...it takes her a lot of courage. But then she kisses him. And then he, flustered beyond all hell, completely short-circuits.

It's a bit like sunshine x grumpy, although it's also chaos x chaos. Both of them are unhinged. They match each others' freak.

nOTP

Mai (@/hello-universe-lovers) would be very disappointed in me. Dramatic drumroll: Oppythorn.

Well, this is a hundred percent attributed to how I write these fucks because, dramatic reveal: My Opportunist is gay. Achillean. MLM. Swings the other way. He's so fruity Disney-villain coded, so how could I not? (No hate to the gays, by the way. I have better gay voices.)

But my version of these two can't be left alone in a room without engaging in a silent dirty-look competition and shooting obscene gestures at each other (if Smitten is present) or devolving into a dishonourable brawl (if Smitten is absent.) He doesn't understand how Thorn's attempting to redeem herself. Thorn doesn't want to engage with him and return back to those dark times.

They hate each other, but they are mirrors. One retreating further into the dark, one letting herself reach for the light. Opportunist is everything that the Thorn wants to leave behind. They're like toxic exes to me.

random headcanon

If Witch is feral, Thorn is domesticated. She purrs when you give her back scritches. She randomly plops herself down on your table for no reason. She finds boxes and wordlessly declares them her new home. And she does not like baths (though she's willing to sit through it if she trusts you enough. And after a while, she begrudgingly appreciates how the water soothes her scars.)

Just because she's perfectly capable of sitting down with you over a cup of tea and holding a conversation, doesn't make her any less of a chaotic little creature.

At the same time, she desperately tries to be kind anytime she can. She bombards the people she likes (especially Cheated) with gifts and favours. She tries to use kind words, but sometimes she hesitates for too long trying to find the nicest thing to say. She's still trying to grapple with the notion that conversations aren't battlegrounds. No more scheming and plotting. Just words. Just people.

I also like to think that her control over the thorns is actually pretty high. As in epic-anime-fight-scene level high. Thing is, in-game she's too dejected and tired to actually excise any control over them by the time you see her, so she just sits there helplessly in this prison of her own making. She sealed herself in there. She didn't even know if she deserved to escape, and she certainly didn't think so. God. Love you.

unpopular opinion

I'll just echo what everyone else says. She's not just a softie; she still has her claws. People need to remember that she stemmed specifically from Witch.

We need more creature Thorn content.

Maybe she's deliberately trying to be more civilised and get rid of her cat-like mannerisms. Perhaps she gets a little bit embarrassed when she's caught engaging in kitty stuff, and quickly corrects herself. Or maybe she just doesn't care. Being a scrunkly little creature doesn't have to interfere with rehab, right?

song that reminds me of her

For some inexplicable reason, Sweater Weather reminds me of her. Maybe it's the voice, I don't know.

Love Like You and I'll Call You Mine also strike me as pretty Thorn-coded, though I'm frankly not that good at picking out songs for characters.

favourite image

Oh I am so glad you asked because-

LOOOOOOOOOK AT HER SHE'S SO PRECIOUS AND THOSE EYES THOSE DOWNCAST EYES THE SHEER GRIEF AND REMORSE AND THE WAY SHE'S STILL CLUTCHING AT THE KNIFE DESPITE IT ALL AND- dead.

Special mention goes to these, though.

Godddd she looks so cute and defiant in the last two, and so small, and so vulnerable, and so adorable, and so-

Yeah. I think I'll leave it here as I proceed to scream to myself about her. Just her.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Further thoughts that didn't fit in the initial review:

Lost World is the better adventure story, getting the characters to the island and facing major problems almost right away. I'm torn whether that or Jurassic Park is the better novel overall, because Lost World has better writing and thematic coherence but IMHO Jurassic Park has a stronger plot and cast.

It fascinates me that the prologue hinges on Carter (and her PAs) not knowing that "raptor" can refer to dinosaurs as well as birds of prey. Because nowadays — thanks to Jurassic Park — "raptor" is so synonymous with dinosaurs that that's most people's first association, even when you're talking about modern birds.

Maybe I read too much fantasy, but I do feel like Harding Sr. has tons of wasted potential. His expertise is potentially more valuable even than Muldoon's, and even if he doesn't know a ton about human medicine he still knows more than anyone else on the island. He almost literally gets put on a bus — Muldoon has a line about him having been evacuated hours ago, offscreen, when getting Grant et al to the helipad — and it feels like the story loses sight of him. Then again, maybe it's just that Harding Jr. is one of my all-time favorite characters in fiction (reading Lost World, I am Kelly) and I want more of her dad.

Most of the changes in the movie align well with the book thematically — again, Crichton knows Hollywood and knew how to sign that deal — but one that I want to commend is tweaking Lex's character. She's kind of a plot moppet in the book, so having her be the one to fix the computers in the movie felt like better pay-off.

It's delightful watching Hammond lose his park and his life because a) he refused to pay Nedry fairly, and b) he refused to hire enough employees to run the place properly. Maybe in the real world shitty corner-cutting managers don't get eaten by compies, but it's awesome fantasizing about that being the natural consequence of corner-cutting.

You know what else is delightful? Ice cream made with fresh ginger. I tried it after reading this book, and would recommend.

I love how the movie gets around the limitations of the technology to imply things that can't be shown onscreen. We still haven't figured out a good way to film animals that move as fast as the T. rex is described as moving (slow-mo is the only workaround). So the movie has the characters in a Jeep driving at 60 MPH, and shows the T. rex in the rearview mirror, gaining on them. It gets the point about "slow dinos are a failure of human imagination" across, without having to speed up the film of their T. rex puppet.

Crichton isn't super funny, but he has his moments. Malcolm's "You know, at times like this one feels, well, perhaps extinct animals should be left extinct. Don't you have that feeling now?" as he's watching the T. rex advance on their car — gets me every time. Fuck off, Cassandra.

Someone assumed I was joking when I said the book's plot hinges on trans lesbian velociraptors. I am not, in fact, joking.

I really want you to get started on Jurassic Park now after reading your tags.

All right, you asked for it! This post is going to be long because I've been rereading Jurassic Park since I was about 10 years old. But. My thoughts:

Jurassic Park is the oldest story in the world: one about hubris, and the price men pay for their pride. From the first moment the protagonists step foot on the island, they can see it. There are poisonous plants next to the pool because they "look pretty." The harbor has no retaining wall because tropical storms aren't considered important. It's a story where you respect nature, or you die. Wu doesn't bother to learn the dinosaurs' names before breeding them, Nedry ignores them as unprogrammable, Malcolm mansplains them to their own creators, Regis laughs at the idea of them escaping, Hammond relentlessly monetizes them, Arnold insists he can control them... And they all get eaten by dinosaurs. It's the characters with the good sense to be overawed and scared (Muldoon, Gennaro, the paleontologists, the kids) who make it out alive. Almost paradigm.

More specifically, it's a book about the most fundamental principle of engineering: be scared, be confused, and then do something anyway. Then do something else, then something else, until something works. Timmy isn't a master hacker in the book; he's just (unlike Grant) willing to push buttons on the computer until he finds the power grid. Gennaro's still a scaredy cat in the book, but he clenches his teeth and goes into the velociraptor nest anyway. The heroic characters are the ones who conclude someone has to do something, despite not knowing what that something is. The villainous ones are the ones who refuse responsibility.

Speaking of which, can we talk about Ian Malcolm? I'm a sucker for a good Cassandra character, especially one that manages to get even the genre-savvy reader rolling their eyes and going "will you shut up?" And Malcolm is one of the best, every off-putting academic habit rolled into one: He thinks he's better than other people for not liking sports. He brags about not caring about appearances and then comments on Sattler's legs. He assumes Hammond has read his monograph and — when Hammond reveals he hasn't — pulls out a copy that he keeps on his person at all times to have Hammond read on the plane. He smugly explains that other characters should've foreseen they'd be killed by dinosaurs, only to be killed by dinosaurs. He calls his theory the Malcolm Effect. I do love Jeff Goldblum's gentler, more charming take on the character ("See, here, now I'm sitting by myself, talking to myself, that's chaos theory" I say literally every time I ask a question of someone who just left the room). But I prefer the way original Malcolm gets away with being right about everything because we so so badly want him to be wrong.

Speaking of that comment about the legs: by the low low bar of 80s/90s thriller writers, Crichton is surprisingly progressive. Jurassic Park invites us to laugh with (and roll our eyes with) Sattler, every time someone expresses shock the world's top paleobotanist is a woman. The Lost World perfectly captures the "women in STEM have to be twice as competent to get half the respect" dynamic, and it's a story about the male characters over-estimating their own competence as the female ones go about saving the day. Race isn't handled perfectly, but it is discussed in both books. Malcolm's chauvinism is designed to make everything else he says a bitter pill, to poison us against him. Crichton's no feminist. But Sattler's hardiness — later Harding's and Kelly's as well — are shown as hard-won in a world that batters nerdy girls so hard that only the toughest survive.

And Malcolm is just one of the many ways Jurassic Park masterfully lampoons scientific bullshit. After little Tina is bitten by a "strange lizard" and nearly dies from the swelling, Dr. Cruz assures her parents that lizards bite zookeepers all the time, that some people are allergic to lizard venom, and that the lizard Tina drew resembles a basilisk — and then we cut to him talking to his fellow MD. Where we find out that lizards don't attack humans in the wild, no human they know of has ever been hospitalized for a lizard bite, basilisks aren't venomous, and Tina's condition doesn't resemble an allergic reaction. They have no idea what this "lizard" (a Procompsognathus) could be or how it poisoned this kid, but they've been taught to obfuscate rather than admit that. Scientists are arrogant, and ignorant of their ignorance.

But the book is every bit as positive about empiricism as it is negative about individual scientists. The seamless way Crichton blends science fiction with science fact gets me every time. His preface connects Watson & Crick to Swanson & Boyer to Malcolm & Levine, explaining each step of the research process as he goes. He goes on to explain how Genetech developed its ideas from IBM, and that IBM and Genetech both contributed to InGen, which in turn influenced Biosyn, funded by Hamaguri... and only two of those names are fictional, but don't worry about which. Crichton does his homework, and then he presents his homework in the most compelling way of any writer I've ever encountered.

You need no further proof than the technologies — satellite phones, electric cars, touchscreens, gene editing — that were sci fi in 1990, commonplace today. Crichton did the reading. And he rolls that science out ever-so-slowly: dribbling first the mystery of the worker with a 3-foot gash in his torso who claims a bird of prey did it, then the mystery of the resort that needs the world's most powerful data storage, then the mystery of the billionaire who calls in the middle of the night with "urgent" questions about what baby dinosaurs eat... Until even 10-year-old me could look at that picture of a fractal and go "ohhh, I see how the unstable phase shifts of chaos theory explain the fact that a thunderstorm caused that guy to get eaten by a T. rex." Almost paradigm.

And all Jurassic Park's banging on about chaos theory belies a deep understanding of how interconnected ecosystems are. Animals, like plants, like subatomic particles, must be understood holistically. Pretending that the best way to learn the truth of any system is through breaking it down "is like saying scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast is human nature. It's nothing of the sort. It's uniquely Western training." Crichton clearly loves biology: "a single fertilized egg has a 100,000 genes, which act in a coordinated way, switching on and off at specific times, to transform that single cell... A house is simple in comparison. But even so, workmen build the stairs wrong, they put the sink in backward, the tile man doesn't show up when he's supposed to. All kinds of things go wrong. And yet the fly that lands on the workman's lunch is perfect." And he clearly hates what capitalism has done to biotechnology.

Hammond the venture capitalist is a perfectly despicable villain: No dinosaurs have escaped, because I said so. If there are problems, no there aren't. Put on a good show for investors, no matter how many contractors die in the process. Talk about all the "good" the park will do by making tons of money. The kids are stranded and the tech expert's dead? No they're not, because I said so, now pass the ice cream. It's truly a delight watching him get eaten by dinosaurs.

For that matter, Jurassic Park is bursting with details of style over substance. There are cutesy Apatosaurus cutouts in the hotel rooms and bars on the widows, a half-finished restaurant covered in Pterosaur poop, and a celebrity-narrated tour track that can't synchronize with the dinosaurs. It's trying to be Disney World, and it's actually a roadside zoo. The signage — "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth," the hand-lettered "Welcome to Jurassic Park", the room (and department) called "Control" — isn't subtle in its irony. But it is fun.

Which is yet another great sci fi trick. "Our funding is infinite but our peer review sucks" perfectly sets up the blend of the accurate with the plot-fueling (likely why Crichton reuses it several times). Why are there Pterosaurs in a dinosaur park? Our funding is infinite but our peer review sucks. Why are so many Cretaceous dinosaurs in Jurassic Park? Our funding is infinite but our peer review sucks. You didn't know Dilophosaurus is venomous? Our funding is infinite... It's perfect, because it's the opposite of how the scientific process usually works. Again: Crichton knows his shit, and he knows how to communicate it.

Like, even when I'm reading Sphere or Terminal Man — books where I'm perfectly aware I know more than Crichton on the subject, not in the least because their science inevitably became outdated — I still find myself believing, at least for the length of the story. You don't have to suspend disbelief when reading Crichton's work; he hoists it into the stratosphere for you. Half the time he won't give it back even after you're done. Almost paradigm.

But despite all that nerdery, Jurassic Park is still a rocking adventure story that builds momentum until it smashes to its conclusion at 70 miles an hour, ending the millisecond it can do so with not a word of denouement. You can practically hear that last deep piano note on the final words. It's cinematic as hell. This is Crichton post-Westworld, pre-Twister, the ultimate adventure writer. He reads, clearly, avoiding the errors of sci fi amateurs who watch too many movies (the T. rex has a distinctive smell, the island is relentlessly humid, so on) but he knows how to make a tight fast-moving story that you can consume in under three hours. His imagery is powerful, his pacing is on point, and his plot sucks you in and shoots you out like a water slide.

Jurassic Park is fun. It's informative. It makes you laugh, and gasp, and sigh, and think. It has its flaws (Harding Sr. fades out in the 3rd act, Grant's Maiasaura expertise never pays off) but those are minor in a book that stands up so well to rerereading. Almost paradigm.

[yyaktayak]

Chapter 7📌

tags : @uceyliyahh @charmed-dreamssss @theusotwinzcom

**Kimaya's POV**

I barely had time to process everything that had happened in the past 24 hours—Jey surprising me with his visit, the sweet, heartfelt gesture with the ring—but somehow, in the midst of it all, a new reality had come crashing down on me.

I sat in the quiet of Jey's hotel suite, the soft hum of the city beyond the window. Jey was out getting us lunch, and I'd taken the opportunity to snap a quick picture of him holding a tiny, sleeping bundle in his arms. A baby. Our baby. It felt surreal. I never thought I'd be posting anything like this—let alone *this*—but I couldn't help it.

The baby was so small in Jey's arms, and the way he looked at her with such tenderness... it made my heart swell. I'd never seen him like that, and something about the way he was so naturally protective, so utterly in love with this little girl, made everything feel like it was falling into place.

Without thinking too much, I uploaded the picture to my Instagram story. It was a picture of Jey, still in his hoodie, a big smile on his face, holding our daughter—our baby girl. I didn't put anything in the caption, not yet. I wasn't sure how to explain this just yet.

But I didn't have to wait long for the messages to come pouring in.

---

rideordies🤍

Reigns🖤:What. THE. HELL. 

raheem🤍(cody):  RA??? IS THAT A BABY?!? 

slimjim🩷:  Wait, I'm confused. How did you go from  missing Jey to this?? 

Kav💛Okay... I need more info. Is that your baby or did you just adopt? Kimaya??? 

Kav💛: I be with you 25/8 how the fuck-

Trin💚:Kimaya????? WTF is happening right now?? That's Jey's baby?? 

Sheneca🩵:Girl, I see you alot , and now this?? Did I miss something? 

Reigns🖤:  Wait, she's holding Jey's baby???? Did y'all just do a whole SURPRISE baby reveal on IG?! 

raheem (cody)🤍:Ra, don't leave us hanging!!! What is happening??? 

slimjim🩷:  Yo, y'all  really- as much as I been around my twin?! Yall muhfuckas got a DAUGHTA?? I HAVE A NIECE WTFFF??!!?!

---

I had to take a deep breath. How did I even explain this? The last thing I wanted to do was throw everything out there all at once, but it seemed like the universe had decided for me. My phone buzzed again with another notification, and then another. But before I could even try to reply, I saw a notification that made my heart skip—Jey had tagged me in a post.

I opened the post, my thumb hovering over the screen. It was a picture of the same moment I had shared. But Jey had captioned it: "Meet the newest member of our family. Life came at us fast, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm a father. #DaddyJey."

That's it. There was no turning back now.

I grabbed my phone, typed a quick reply to the group chat:

Ra 💕:Alright. It's true. She's ours. Her name is kiua rauaya fatu.

Before I could send another message, Kaveri's text popped up, practically demanding an explanation. I knew I couldn't keep everyone in the dark for long. So, I quickly typed:

Ra 💕:I'm gonna go live in a bit, explain everything. Hang tight. 

---

With that done, I walked over to the bed where Amara was resting in a little bassinet by the window. She was so perfect, so delicate. I ran my fingers lightly over her soft hair and smiled.

My heart was full. But damn, I wasn't ready for the storm of questions that were coming my way. I swiped through my phone again, seeing the steady stream of DMs and texts, each more urgent than the last. But I had to do this on my own terms.

Taking a deep breath, I tapped "Start Live" on Instagram. The screen immediately filled with a flood of hearts and comments. I saw names popping up—people I hadn't spoken to in years, all of them eager for an answer.

Just as the video began to roll, I saw Jey in the background, walking back in with bags of food. He stopped in his tracks when he saw me holding Amara, his expression softening. Without a word, he leaned in and kissed the top of my head.

"Hey," I said, my voice shaky at first as I adjusted Amara in my arms. "Okay, I'm gonna just get right to it."

I took a deep breath.

"So, uh... surprise? This little one is Kiua. She's  ours. And... yeah. I guess I've been keeping a bit of a secret from all of you, huh?"

I saw the comments on the live stream explode: 

"WTF!!! Is that really Jey's baby???"

"Girl, HOW long have you been hiding this?"

"Wait, she's a mother??"

I chuckled awkwardly, trying to keep my composure. Jey stood behind me now, his hands on my shoulders, a grin spreading across his face as he joined me on the screen.

"Alright, alright, we've got a lot to explain," Jey said, his voice smooth but full of that familiar warmth. "But, uh, first, let's just say that life... came at us fast. And we've been working through a lot of things, including how to best share this news with all of you."

I saw the comments lighting up with questions, but there was one that stood out:

"How did this happen??? You guys got a baby but no engagement announcement?"

I smiled softly, holding Amara close. "I get it. It's a lot to take in. But trust me, everything happened in its own time. Jey and I have been together for a while now, and—well—sometimes life just works out the way it's meant to."

Jey squeezed my shoulder, and I could feel the love radiating from him. "We've been through a lot, but this little one? She's our future, no matter how fast things moved."

"Yeah," I added softly, "Amara's our little miracle. And we're just figuring it all out as we go."

The comments continued to flood in, but for the first time in a long time, I felt settled. I wasn't afraid of the questions, of the unknowns. Because in that moment, I realized—I wasn't doing this alone.

Jey was here, and we were doing this together.

[rekino2114]

So we all know Veronika grebenshchikova is amazing, so how about we go the route of being a Shy reader who has a crush on her though everyone in class including her thinks you wither don't like her or are scared of her(not that it stops her from hanging out with you or scaring you) So anyway Reader ends up confessing to Veronika which she acceps in typical Veronika fashion( I hope you write her reaction as amazing as you always write her) and the next day The class finds out that they're now dating since Veronika just casually calls you her boyfriend/darling or you speak up when Hu says something about Veronika frightening you when she's around you.

Veronika grebenshchikova with a shy reader

Everyone thought you were scared of Veronika like many of your other classmates, who wouldn't be? After all, she was kind of a weirdo who liked horror too much and took joy in scaring and pranking other people, not to mention the very unhinged and creepy stuff she said completely randomly

And with how shy you were, you were one of Veronika's favorite people to scare, the way you screamed whenever she randomly popped out of the darkness or when she showed you one of the new creepy decorations she made was just so adorable, like you in general, everything about you was so cute and adorable to her. It was when she started thinking about this that she realized she might actually have a crush on you

But even Veronika herself thought you hated her with how she continued scaring you so she didn't have enough courage to confess and be rejected

Meanwhile, you started to realize the same, Veronika was beautiful, and her creepy antics somehow made her even more attractive to you, seeing her smile whenever she saw you made you blush so hard and your heart beat so fast but despite everything you decided to confess

You invited her to a park and gave her some flowers that she loved and then told her about how you felt while blushing intensely

".....really? You actually love me?

The moment you nodded Veronika squealed and hugged you

"Oh my gosh, this is amazing! I love you too darling, oh can I call you darling? I love that name, oh sorry we aren't even official yet...or are we? I'd love to be your girlfriend.....ahh I can already imagine cuddling you when you're scared during a horror movie.....am I going a bit too fast?"

"Y-yeah just a bit"

"Sorry, I'm just really excited. The cutest guy ever just told me he likes me, and I thought you hated me. Oh, by the way, do you like plushies? I can already think of some that fit your vibe"

"Y-yeah I love them"

"Ahhhh I knew it, you're just getting more adorable by the minute. Your screams are so cute too"

".......t-thank you?......"

"Sooooo are we a thing?"

"I-i'd love to"

"Yaaaaay!!!!"

[Timeskip the next day]

You're sitting next to Veronika while she tells you about the new horror movie she watched yesterday while you're slightly sweating at how happy she looks while telling you about the most gruesome murders you've ever heard of

"Sorry Veronika, may I sit next to y/n for now?"

You both turned to see hu staring at you

"Hm? Why?"

"I couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable he looks around you usually, I would hate for him to feel that way"

"Uncomfortable? Darling am I making you feel that way?"

".....n-no definitely not"

"Darling? Sorry, am I missing something?"

"Oh yeah, he's my darling, or my boyfriend"

"B-boyfriend? Really?"

"Yep! We got together yesterday"

".....y/n, she isn't.....forcing you into this is she?"

"Hey! I would never, Who do you think I am?"

"To be completely honest, you threatened to kill us multiple times"

"Yes and I definitely would if any of you hurt y/n"

"............"

"But I'd never do anything like that"

"Y-yes she's right, I was the one who confessed actually"

"Oh really?"

"Yes, I had a crush on her for a while and decided to act on it.....i-i love Veronika"

"Awwww that's so sweet darling, I love you too"

"I see, I apologize for misunderstanding, I wish you both a happy relationship"

"Thanks hu"

As the zither player went away, Veronika looked at you and smiled brightly

"Thanks so much for defending me darling"

"It's nothing, like I said I love you"

[gainercontent]

Room to Grow Part 6: New Encourager

The changes had been inevitable, but Elliot hadn’t prepared for this part. It started with casual conversations, then quickly became reality: Mark and Ryan were moving out. They’d both secured new places—Mark had found a great opportunity in a quieter neighborhood, and Ryan had landed an apartment closer to work. Elliot was happy for them, of course, but it felt strange. His two roommates, the ones who had unknowingly shaped his current habits, were leaving. It left Elliot with a mix of emotions—relief, sadness, but mostly, a sense of unease about what was to come next.

The apartment felt different now, quieter without their constant presence, but Elliot still wasn’t ready to leave. Despite everything—the tight clothes, the weight gain, the new awkwardness in his body—he liked the place. It had become home. The idea of starting over, finding new roommates, and adjusting to a different dynamic felt like too much. He wasn’t ready to face that just yet. So, he decided to stay.

The first potential new roommate came by a few days later for a tour.

His name was Eric, and he seemed nice enough. He was lean, fit—exactly the kind of person Elliot had once been. At first, they chatted about the usual apartment stuff: rent, utilities, and where the best pizza places were. But as they made their way through the living room, Eric paused, looking around.

“Everything seems good, but, uh, I don’t know…” Eric’s voice trailed off. He hesitated before continuing. “I just get the feeling that, well, I might not be the best fit here.”

Elliot raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Eric looked a little uncomfortable, running his hand through his hair. “I just… I’ve heard the guys before, you know, talking about, uh… food. And snacks. And it seems like you guys… eat a lot. Like, a *lot* of food. I’m trying to get my health on track, and I don’t know if it’s the best idea for me to be in an environment where, uh… the food situation might be a little too tempting, you know?”

Elliot’s stomach twisted. He knew what Eric was getting at. He had seen himself changing over the last few months, but hearing it out loud felt a little jarring. He nodded sheepishly.

“Yeah, well, that’s just how it is sometimes. You know, life happens. But if you're worried about eating habits, I'm sure you could make it work.”

Eric gave him a polite smile but seemed unconvinced. “I’m going to think about it, but I don’t think this is the right place for me.”

With that, Eric left. Elliot stared after him, a sense of unease bubbling up in his chest. He was starting to realize just how much his environment had shifted. The habits he had developed—eating late-night snacks, gorging on fast food, the casual binge-eating—weren’t just things he’d done by himself. His old roommates had been the catalysts for this, and now that they were leaving, he was left to confront the reality of what that had all done to him.

A few hours later, the second potential roommate arrived. His name was Josh, and he was a big guy—bigger than Elliot, even. As soon as he walked in, his sheer presence filled the apartment. He was broad-shouldered, with thick arms and a round belly that he didn’t seem to mind at all. He gave off an air of confidence, and unlike Eric, he didn’t hesitate. 

“Man, this place is *perfect*,” Josh said as he walked through the living room, inspecting the space. He wasn’t shy about voicing his opinion. “I can already tell this is going to work. I love the vibe here. It’s got everything I need—good space, good energy. You mind if I sign the lease right now?”

Elliot was surprised. “You really like it that much?”

Josh gave a hearty laugh, his eyes twinkling. “Oh yeah. It’s got everything. Plus, I’m a *big* eater. I like to eat and enjoy life, you know? I see the kitchen, I see the fridge, and it’s all perfect for me.”

Elliot’s stomach rumbled as if on cue, and he smiled awkwardly. "You definitely came to the right place, then. You’re gonna fit right in."

Josh seemed to sense the awkwardness in Elliot’s smile but didn’t seem to mind. “I’m all in, man. Sign me up. I’ll take it. I’ve got my stuff in the car.”

And just like that, Josh signed the lease. Elliot stood there, a little stunned. The contrast between Josh and Eric couldn’t have been clearer. Eric had hesitated, concerned about his health, while Josh seemed excited by the idea of living in a space that could support his appetite. In that moment, Elliot realized that he wasn’t alone in his habits anymore. Maybe, just maybe, this was the roommate dynamic he’d been craving.

That night, they celebrated.

Josh, already full of energy and enthusiasm, grabbed a bunch of takeout menus and insisted they have a feast. Elliot couldn’t argue; he was eager to indulge too. Within an hour, they had mountains of food: pizza, fried chicken, burgers, and enough sides to fill an entire table. They ordered extra-large portions of everything, the kind of indulgence Elliot had gotten used to, but this time it was different. It wasn’t just about *him* anymore—it was about bonding with his new roommate, someone who seemed to embrace the same kind of eating habits.

As they sat down with their food, Josh opened a couple of beers, passing one to Elliot. They made small talk—about video games, sports, and their favorite fast food spots—while they dug into the mountain of greasy food. Elliot didn’t hold back. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed having a companion for eating for the sake of eating, without any self-consciousness. Every bite of pizza, every crispy wing, every scoop of mashed potatoes felt like pure relief, like finally getting something back he had lost.

The food seemed endless. Every time Elliot finished a plate, Josh was quick to order more, encouraging him to eat. They washed everything down with soda, beer, and a few more beers as the evening progressed. It wasn’t long before Elliot felt completely stuffed. His stomach felt like it was going to burst. But Josh just laughed, noticing the way Elliot leaned back in his chair, rubbing his bloated belly.

“You good, man?” Josh asked, eyes glinting with mischief.

Elliot could barely answer, too full to do anything but nod, trying not to burp. “Yeah, just… haven’t eaten like this in a while.”

They switched over to video games, and Elliot found himself hunched over on the couch, struggling to focus on the game with the bloating pressure in his stomach. It was a strange combination of exhilaration and discomfort. He was stuffed—more full than he’d ever been in his life—but Josh was still going strong, munching on snacks and cracking open more sodas. 

Elliot finally threw in the towel, putting down his controller. “Okay, I think that’s it for me,” he said, his voice strained, as he sat back against the couch.

Josh chuckled, clearly amused. “Don’t worry, we’ve got plenty more. You’re gonna need to catch up tomorrow, though.”

Elliot smiled weakly, rubbing his stomach. The night had turned into an unexpected celebration. There were no more worries about fitting into old clothes, no more uncomfortable stares from fitness-influencer roommates. In this moment, it felt good to just be himself—to indulge without guilt.

The next morning, Elliot woke up to a heavy feeling in his stomach, the kind that lingered for hours. His body ached from overindulgence, but in a weird way, he felt strangely comfortable in his own skin. He wasn’t alone anymore in his eating habits; Josh had proven that he wasn’t the only one who saw food as a kind of joy, a guilty pleasure, a way to bond.

The next morning, Elliot woke up with a groan. His body felt like it had been run over by a freight train—headache, stomach bloated and tender, and a general feeling of sluggishness. He slowly sat up in bed, clutching his stomach as he winced. His entire midsection felt tight, overextended, like he’d just stuffed a balloon with too much air. He tried to ignore it, hoping the discomfort would fade, but it lingered, relentless and heavy.

As he shuffled into the living room, he found Josh sitting on the couch, gaming as usual. Josh looked up and immediately noticed Elliot’s uncomfortable posture. 

“Hey, man, you alright?” Josh asked, pausing the game and turning his full attention to him. "You look like you're about to pop."

Elliot let out a small laugh, but it came out as more of a groan. “I feel like I’m about to burst. My stomach's killing me, man.”

Josh gave a sympathetic look. “Ah, I see what happened. You went a little too hard last night, huh?”

Elliot nodded, rubbing his stomach, feeling every inch of fullness. “I don’t know how you did it, but I literally can’t move. My stomach’s like a balloon.”

Josh chuckled softly, but there was no mocking in his tone—just understanding. “I get it. Trust me, I’ve been there. You need a little help getting that pressure off. Come here.” He patted the space on the couch beside him, then added, “Trust me, I know a trick or two for this kind of thing.”

Elliot blinked, a little confused but too miserable to protest. “A trick? What kind of trick?”

Josh smiled reassuringly. “Just relax, man. You’re in good hands.” He patted the couch again, motioning for Elliot to sit beside him.

Elliot hesitated for a second, then slumped into the seat next to Josh, his stomach still feeling like it was about to rip through his shirt. He leaned back, hoping for some relief, but the tightness persisted.

Josh put down his controller and gently placed one hand on Elliot's bloated belly. "I'm gonna give you a stomach massage. It helps with digestion, and it'll relieve some of the bloating."

Elliot blinked again. "A massage? Like, how does that even work?"

“Just trust me. I’m not a professional, but I’ve done this before,” Josh said, his voice calm and assured. “It’ll help.”

Without another word, Josh began slowly massaging Elliot’s stomach in gentle, circular motions. At first, Elliot wasn’t sure if it was going to help. The pressure on his stomach felt a little odd, but after a few minutes, he could feel the muscles of his abdomen start to loosen. The tightness in his stomach, which had been so unbearable just moments ago, started to ease, little by little.

“Relax,” Josh encouraged, his fingers continuing to knead the muscles under Elliot’s skin. “Deep breaths. Just try to let go of the tension.”

Elliot followed the instructions, taking deep breaths and focusing on the slow rhythm of Josh’s hands moving in and around his midsection. For the first time since last night’s binge, he began to feel a sense of relief. The pressure started to dissipate, and though the fullness was still there, it wasn’t as sharp, nor as painful. The tension in his stomach was lessening with every passing minute.

“You’re doing good,” Josh said, his voice calm as he continued his work. “This helps break up all the food and gas that gets trapped in your system when you overeat. Trust me, you’ll feel a lot better in just a bit.”

Elliot closed his eyes, sinking deeper into the sensation. The massage wasn’t just relaxing; it was *exactly* what he needed. The circular motions on his belly were steady, rhythmic, and there was something oddly soothing about it. It was a relief that he hadn't expected, but one he desperately needed. 

After a while, Josh paused, then slowly worked his way up to the sides of Elliot’s ribs, giving gentle pressure as he moved. It felt oddly therapeutic, like he was giving Elliot permission to let go of the excess from the night before.

Elliot finally let out a deep sigh, the tension draining away from his body. “Man, I have no idea how this works, but it feels amazing. Like, I can actually *breathe* again.”

Josh grinned. “I told you. A little massage can go a long way. You’ll feel back to normal in no time.”

Elliot sat there for a few more minutes, letting Josh work his magic. Gradually, the bloated pressure in his stomach faded even more, until it was just a mild discomfort rather than an all-consuming pain. He could feel his belly softening, the tightness easing. By the time Josh finished, Elliot felt a thousand times better.

“Seriously, man,” Elliot said, leaning back with a relieved smile, “You’re a lifesaver.”

Josh chuckled, wiping his hands on his jeans. “Hey, it’s all part of the job description. You got too carried away last night, but it’s all good. Next time, we’ll make sure to pace ourselves a little better.”

Elliot laughed weakly, still feeling stuffed but no longer in pain. “I think I’m gonna need to take it easy on the food for a while. That was… *too* much.”

Josh gave him a playful nudge. “We’ll see how long that lasts. You know how it goes. The food’s always gonna be here, and you’re gonna be hungry again soon.”

Elliot’s stomach was still heavy, but his mood was lighter. He felt a weird sense of gratitude toward Josh—not just for the massage but for the way he’d made him feel comfortable with everything. He had no judgment in his tone, no ridicule for Elliot’s overeating, just a sense of camaraderie in indulging together.

“Thanks, man,” Elliot said, letting out a contented sigh as he stretched his legs out on the couch. “Seriously, I don’t know what I would’ve done without that.”

Josh gave a friendly grin. “Anytime, bro. That’s what roommates are for.”

*****New Chapter will be posted every Thursday*****

[hansmic]

project kisses

Jeongin x gn! reader

summary:

Two people who have never spoken before are paired together for a group project in class. As they work together, their connection grows, and it’s not just their grades that improve—so does their chemistry. They start spending late nights studying, and somewhere between the textbooks, the laughter, and the shared exhaustion, sparks fly.

genre: fluff,romance

warnings: kissing, and brief sex.

word count: 1.0k

————————————————————————-

you start explaining your idea, he's more than happy to hear you out. after listening to what you want to do and how you want to go about it, he then thinks for a second. "how about we do it this way?" he suggests another idea which you think is even better than yours so you decide to go with his idea and so you guys go from there.

your plan was to finish your project in a day but you've realised you have a lot more work to do than you anticipated.

"I think we would be better off finishing this project next time we meet. are you okay with that?" he asks gently, not wanting to push any boundaries. "um, yeah, I guess that's fine."you reply back.

you both go ahead and make arrangements to meet up on the upcoming saturday.

yeah you and Jeongin grow closer as you guys spend time together. it was a little awkward between you both at first but after a while he starts to come out of his shell and is more playful, comfortable and flirty around you.

one sunny afternoon you and Jeongin are at a cafe talking about your project over coffee and he starts to become a bit flirtier than usual. "you know, I'm really glad I got put into a project with you."

"oh yeah and why's that?"

he leans in slightly and smiles at you. "because I wouldn't have noticed the cute dimples you have when you smile"

you blush hard at what he just said as you try to hide your face with your hands. "why'd you hide your face, you look so cute" he grabs your hands and moves them away from your face then gives you a charming smile and looks into your eyes.

you can't deny it, you find him very attractive. "you know, you're pretty cute as well" you say, this time looking into his eyes.

he moves a little closer to you by adjusting his chair. "you have a very pretty face" as he looks at you longingly. you start to move slightly closer to him as well, your heart beating fast with anticipation on what will happen next.

he moves his face right in front of yours, his lips just inches away. you both look at each others lips, you want to kiss him, and you know he wants to kiss you. after what felt like an eternity, the tension is finally broken when he places  his thumb onto your bottom lip before he gives you a kiss.

you kiss him back and the two of you are in your own little world. after that you guys pull back and look at each other, your cheeks are rosy, and Jeongin is staring at you with a dreamy smile on his face and you can't help but smile back.

"I'm guessing you like me now" Jeongin smirks.

"I've liked you before we kissed." you smile as you tuck your hair behind your ear. "well, I guess my advances worked then. " Jeongin chuckles.

you giggle a little and then he grabs ahold of your hand, "shall we go back to mine to keep working on our project? or something else..” you smirk

he raises his eyebrow at you "I like the sound of something else" he smiles and stands up. you stand up with him and he takes you to his home.

when you two arrive at his house, he opens the door,  steps inside and beckons you to follow.

when you enter and shut the door behind you, he then grabs you by the waist and pulls you in for a kiss, then he moves you two into his room.

the kiss starts to become very heated as you both get lost in the moment.

you let out all your moans as Jeongin starts to bite your neck, he enjoys hearing you moan as you both stumble into his bed.

his kisses become more passionate and needy and you start to do the same to him, he likes it and a moan of satisfaction comes from him.

he starts to take off your top and then moves you to be beneath him before he kisses down your chest and stomach.

suddenly he stops and looks up at you, giving you a mischievous smirk. "what are you doing?" you ask.

he laughs "you'll see"

he then moves himself down to where he wants to be. "Jeongin, what are you do–" you then suddenly moan out. it feels too good, your mind can't think of the things you even want to say at the moment.

he is very good with his tongue, you are moaning so loud it almost makes you feel a little embarrassed. you're gripping on to his hair but he doesn't seem to mind at all.

after a while, you and Jeongin look at each other, out of breath and sweaty with smiles on both your faces.

you feel quite sleepy after doing all that. Jeongin notices this, so he asks "are you okay?"

"yeah just sleepy."

"do you want to sleep here?" he asks before laying back into his bed.

you nod then lay down next to him. he then moves you so that your head is on his chest.

"I didn't expect you to make the first move" you giggle."

"what can I say? I just couldn't resist the idea of being with you anymore." he chuckles.

you both end up cuddling and falling asleep in each other's arms. in the morning, you wake up next to him and take a moment to admire his face, he is so beautiful.

after a few minutes of appreciating Jeongin, he awakens and notices you staring.

"what? do I look funny with bed hair or something?"

"sorry, I just got distracted looking at you because you're so beautiful."

"aww, did you just call me beautiful?" he smiles and pulls you into hug.

he chuckles at the blush on your face. “come on babe, let’s get ready and go for breakfast.”

as you both freshen up and get ready, your mind can’t help but think about how you ended up with such a cute boy next to you.

————————————————————————

hope you liked it!

masterlist is here!!

[mymakuu]

Next Chapter! This one’s a little longer I’m sorry

“This will NEVER be normal.”

Raiden started trying to walk, but suddenly his legs wobbled like a baby cow. Sundowner caught him and pushed him back up to stand.

“your legs should still be numb, but you can walk it off. Come on”

it was incredibly embarrassing to be held up by Sundowner in a room alone, but to be paraded around World Marshal HQ like this was worse. When the sliding doors opened Raiden noticed that Sam was waiting outside. He turned as if he was going to talk to them but Sundowner kept walking like he wasn’t even there, Sam locked eyes with Raiden as they walked past. World Marshal was sleek and full of hallways, the building was recently built or upgraded, of course, it had normal offices and cubicles, and some cyborgs were walking around. He could see Monsoon instructing some cyborg troops and Mistral talking to some other cyborgs. She had to be repaired after her fight with Raiden, she was also easing into her new parts just like how he was. She looked over at Raiden and made a face, Raiden looked away as fast as possible. Non-cyborgs were walking around too, they stood out amongst the high-tech walls and cyborg employees, it was almost odd to see this compared to everyday life. Sundowner walked Raiden into a room full of cyborg parts, there was a table with a younger-looking cyborg on it who was getting his left arm changed.

“I can show you most of this place. We wiped your hard drive and disconnected you from Maverick Security. They think you're dead right now!”

Raiden felt his mouth dry up and his stomach churn. Dead? If they thought he was dead, what did Rose think? Was he dead to her too? It’s not like Desperado could completely disconnect him from Maverick or his prior life, he’d find a way to get back, even if he had to claw there.

“And what does Rose think?”

“Hm? Rose?

Maybe it's for the better if Sundowner DOESN’T know who Rose is, Monsoon probably knew. Sundowner kept walking him through the building.

“So, I heard Sam offered to be your mentor?”

“he did. But I'm not- “

“That’s great! He’ll make a good mentor, he hasn’t been here too long, but that just means you’ll understand him more right?”

“no- “

“he can start training you tomorrow. Especially with that ‘Kitchen knife’ of yours. Actually, while we're here…”

Sundowner leads Raiden into a room with punching bags, beat-up targets, slash marks coating the walls, and bloody handcuffs for some reason.

“I'd like to see your technique, Jack”

Sundowner handed him a sword and put him in front of a worn punching bag.

“go on, show me your horns, white devil.”

Raiden gripped this unfamiliar sword, and let all his anger out on the bag, he slashed it in every direction, and even after it fell off the hook he kept going. It was only when the bag was sliced in half did Raiden notice that his hand was deep red. His stomach dropped when he heard Sundowner walk closer.

“Nice job Jack.”

Sundowner lifted the bag and a torso fell out, the torso of a civilian. He shook it a little and the legs dropped to the ground with a sickening noise.

“you can pretend all you want. But you are just like us.”

Raiden had never felt worse. Maybe the civilian was already dead. Maybe not. But realizing he let his anger take over, realizing he was really Desperado material after all, and realizing that he was dead to his old life all fell on him like 1000 bricks.

“let me show you your bunk, Jack.”

Raiden was slow when walking. He felt sick.

“It’s a long walk, you might want to pick up the pace.”

Raiden kept his pace, even if he was running at ninja speed the bunk would feel like a thousand miles away. He kept reminding himself that it wasn’t on purpose, and the body was already dead, but the fact that he was no better than a terrorist, the fact that he was equal to the monsters in this building. He could feel his heart pumping like crazy, feeling like it was trying to escape. It made him imagine the heartbeat of the corpse, the civilian, it hurt to think of it. Raiden was so focused on his heartbeat that he didn’t realize he was already in front of his bunk door. it didn’t look like an average military bunk, for starters the lock was on the outside, but the room looked decently livable, and there were clean sheets on the bed.

“you can stay here for the night, there's training in the morning so sleep well. The tap water is drinkable.”

Sundowner let go of Raiden and shut the door, Raiden heard that dreaded clicking noise of a lock. The first thing Raiden did was find any cameras in the room. He crouched down to the ground and checked the outlets, there was something that vaguely resembled a camera, so he pulled it out and stomped on it. Then he checked under the bed, it was too dark to see anything under it, and his AR had been disabled, so he decided to check higher. The second camera was in the corner of the room, Raiden knocked it down and destroyed that one too. After the two cameras, the guilt kicked back in. He couldn't stop imagining the cameras screaming, bleeding, dying as he stomped them out. The room began to feel taller, like the floor was sinking, the screaming got louder and louder, until he heard a click, and the world went silent, and everything returned to normal. Until Sam walked in.

“Hey Raiden, everything ok”

Raiden didn't respond, he just realized he was sweating bullets and breathing like a pug.

“yeah, I'm fine.”

Raiden’s voice sounded forced, and his painting was getting in the way of sounding even remotely ok.

“Monsoon told me to keep an eye on you”

“great.”

“I *love* your positivity Raiden.”

Sam walked into the room, Raiden flexed his fingers and got ready to strike him if he needed to.

“Don’t be so tense, pretty boy”

Raiden tensed up more, he got even more ready to attack, seconds away from striking. Sam just kept walking closer. Raiden’s vision suddenly blurred, and Sam turned from a cyborg to a civilian, similar to the one in the punching bag. Raiden felt light-headed, and his legs gave out, Luckily, or unluckily, Sam caught him.

“big day today eh? Maybe it’s time to rest”

Sam moved Raiden over to lie down on the bed.

“I'll check on you in the morning. Goodnight… pretty boy”

Sam left the room after saying this. Raiden felt like the weight of the punching bag was on his chest, keeping him down. His mind drifted to what Monsoon had told him before his fight, was the man in the bag any different than any other cyborgs he had killed? His excuse of “making their choice” and his façade of “I was born to kill” were crumbling. He lifted his hand to the front of his face; the dried blood had gone from scarlet to auburn. It shouldn’t hurt this much, and the killing part didn’t hurt at all, but knowing that he was *really* desperado material, was worse than torture. Desperado or not, it was still wrong to sleep in blood, but sitting up or even getting out of bed had become a distant memory.

Before he knew it was the next morning, with the sun seeping into the room and directly into Raiden’s eye. That heavy feeling from last night had been lifted, and he was finally able to get up. The first thing he did was go to the bathroom to wash up. The shower was small, but at least it was his shower, that luxury wouldn’t be there forever. Surprisingly there was body wash and shampoo already in there, nothing special, just ordinary military hygiene. Raiden stripped off his cyborg armor and stepped into the shower before turning it on. The water was cold, not freezing ice cold but it wouldn’t warm up beyond lukewarm, it made him feel better about not taking a shower last night. As he let the water run down his body, he started to think about Sam, and how Sam was treating him mostly… he was forceful at times, but he seemed to care… he may have forced him to join Desperado but the other option was death. He may be annoying with how much he checks up on him, but at least he's checking. He brought him breakfast, and helped him lay down, and he- whatever, it didn’t matter, Sam was just buttering him up, sweet-talking him into thinking desperado was the life, and Raiden wasn’t going to fall for it, he finished up in the shower and stepped out, then he grabbed a towel and roughly dried off his body, finally looking down at it. How did only monsoon know? Maybe Sam knew and he was just keeping quiet. Maybe Sundowner *DID* know and he was waiting till he could use it against him. Maybe Mistral knew and she was telling everyone else in Desperado. These thoughts would have to wait, there were footsteps outside and the bathroom didn’t have a door. Raiden cleaned his cyborg armor as quickly as he could before slipping it back on, it made him miss how Rose would help him put it on usually. The Desperado armor was easier to put on alone, but it still wasn’t the same without Rose. Raiden walked out of the bathroom, and just then the door clicked open, it was Sam…

“Raiden!” Sam walked over to him and patted his shoulders

“Are you ready for your first day on the job?”

“shut up Sam”

“lighten up whitey. I woke you up early so you could get breakfast with me”

“That's a hard pass, Sam, I’d rather eat (s word)”

“Whatever you say, Pretty boy…”

Sam pushed his hand on Raiden’s back and started to guide him away. He was smiling, and he looked like he put something on his hair that morning, not that it made It look better, but it was easy to notice.

“you seem like you just showered”

“don’t say that”

Sam got quiet, and he kept walking with Raiden beside him, the hallway was empty since it was still early. He saw some other Desperado higher-ups walk past, Monsoon with another employee, Sundowner with another desperado cyborg, some minor cyborgs and child brains on carts. Sam kept saying hello to everyone who walked past, he used names for the Winds of Destruction and the employee who was with Monsoon, he didn’t use names for the soldiers, Monsoon did though. Only Sundowner stopped to talk to Raiden, and The other cyborg stopped beside him. Raiden didn’t recognize Him, so he tensed up, anyone with Sundowner was a threat.

“Sam, Raiden.”

“Ola sundowner”

Raiden stayed quiet, he glanced at Khamsin a few times.

“I don’t think you’re familiar with Khamsin here”

“I'm not.”

And frankly, Raiden didn’t want to be. Khamsin didn’t look that valuable on the battlefield. Raiden tried to keep walking but Sam grabbed him. Raiden made a low growling noise but Sam just patted his back a little rough.

“me and Pretty Boy here need to get to training, we’ll talk to you two later.”

“we’ll see you both at training.”

After that Sundowner walked away, and Khamsin rolled beside him. Sam continued to guide Raiden down the hall.

“you’ll get used to everyone here, they’re nice”

“nice for TERRORISTS I bet”

Sam chuckled and rubbed his chin, Raiden hates it when he does this.

“they're nice people, you’ll see”

Raiden growled again, he was getting sick of Sam’s talking, he couldn’t believe this was his new instructor.

“so, you're self-taught with the blade?”

“you know the answer to that”

“well you're not half bad, but the other half…”, Sam looked at Raiden’s face, focusing on the left side, “it needs work.”

He patted Raiden’s shoulders, all this physical contact was starting to get old.

My first ever fanfic!

Criticism is appreciated 

Raiden joins desperado AU

Raiden gripped the concrete as hard as he could. Shaking in pain as his blood spilled out of his chest. He reached for his weapon in a final attempt to endure it, but it was quickly kicked away.

“Are you finally done?”

Monsoon said while stepping closer, his metal feet against the concrete caused Raiden’s heart to beat faster, so fast that it was all he could hear.

“what can you even do now? Stand up. Show me a man.”

He felt Monsoon’s Sai hit his chin, not a light tapping but a slam.

Instead of giving up in that moment, Raiden forced himself to stand up. His vision was incredibly blurry, it was impossible to see Monsoon’s kick to the legs until he slammed his head on the concrete. The last thing he heard was the ringing, a loud ringing that faded into a beating, almost like a heartbeat.

Most of Raiden’s memories had completely faded like sand in the wind. But the heartbeat brought something back... something sweet, and comforting. The heartbeat no longer sounded like his own, but his mother’s.

It brought back memories of his mom rubbing his forehead back when he was very young, it was soothing… Raiden had completely forgotten about his failed battle until the ringing came back. When the ringing came back the feeling of a hand on his forehead didn’t go away, in fact, the hand felt warmer and larger than a mother’s hand. Quickly Raiden shot his eye open and saw his enemy, Jetstream Sam, rubbing his forehead. Raiden started to struggle against it but he couldn’t move, making Sam laugh.

“Nice try pretty boy”

he finally took his hand off his head

“those EMP shots we gave you won't fade for HOURS”

“WHERE AM I?”

Raiden couldn’t hide the panic in his voice, that tough cyborg façade was about to be washed away, which Sam found amusing because he laughed again.

“you’re at desperado! Do you really think we’d let a valuable asset like you die on the dirty floor? You’re trash, but-”

“shut up Sam. I’m not here for small talk obviously…”

“well, you’re here for a reason pretty boy...”

“are you going to tell me?”

“am I?”

Sam was toying with him, clear as day. Raiden scowled and decided it was best not to entertain a clown, so he just shut his mouth. Disappointingly Sam wouldn’t mimic this action.

“Have you seen your new parts yet?”

Raiden looked down, he did have new parts, red and black with the Desperado logo on his right thigh.

“what the (f word) is this?”

“your new look pretty boy”

“stop calling me that”

“you don’t like it? The logo I mean.”

The armor was beyond beauty. There wasn’t a word strong enough to describe how pretty it was. Maybe it was just the look of fresh armor, or perhaps it was the scarlet accents. It wasn’t that big ugly logo that’s for sure.

“no”

“ah you’re lying pr- “

Raiden quickly cut him off before he could spit out that nickname.

“what happened? Why is your logo on My leg?

“Well, I was getting there if you'd stopped being so catty.”

Raiden finally shut up and started waiting for Sam’s explanation. Sam put his hand to his chin and gave Raiden one of his snarky smiles. Suddenly being dead on the concrete sounded better than this. Sam was taking way too long to speak at this point, so a headache started to form in Raiden’s forehead. Raiden pushed his head back on his pillow and groaned.

“well since you want to know so bad…”

Sam chuckled again

“you put up quite a fight, we couldn’t let a pretty thing like you go to waste. So instead of shooting you dead then and there, we dragged you into the building and took you to the med bay.”

Sam put his hand on Raiden’s new logo.

“they gave you some new parts, monsoon tore yours up pretty bad. We decided that desperado could use someone like you…”

Raiden opened his eye, Sam's eyelids were hung a little. Not in a tired way, but in a relaxed way, it was unnerving.

“so. I'll give you 2 options… you either join Desperado, as one of our cyborgs, or we use you for scrap metal. It's up to you pretty boy”

Sam's hand was still on the Desperado logo. Sam finally took his hand off and then put it back on Raiden’s forehead, which seemed to soothe his headache a bit. This choice wasn’t hard at all, ANYONE with a moral backbone would rather die before joining a company like DESPERADO! Maybe even people without a moral backbone. Raiden was about to say his answer, but the sliding doors opened before his mouth could. He couldn’t tell who walked in by footsteps alone, they were more clicky than sundowners, but too snippy to be monsoon, and not squeaky enough to be Khamsin’s, which meant it had to be…

“Ola Mistral, come to visit Raidey?”

Raiden felt his body tense up at that awful nickname, his stomach even churned every time it echoed in his ears. Sam could tell it was making Raiden sick, so he slid a metal bucket over beside the bed with his foot.

“visit?” mistrals voice was smooth like a cup of Assam tea. But to Raiden, it sounded as smooth as the noise the bucket made on the floor. “I wouldn't say visit. I'm here to see if he weighed his options”

“He was just on that.”

“Sundowner wants an answer by tonight, any later and we’ll scrap him.”

“We can wait a bit, he already acts like scrap metal.”

“Very funny Sam, but its Sundowner’s word is what we follow. And don’t run from the heard unless you want to be mutton”

Sam was quiet for a bit, in the desperado hierarchy, Sam was at the bottom, he was new to desperado and it showed.

“talk to him, Sam. I want the word by tonight. Monsoons on call today if you need him.”

“yes, ma’am. I'm on it, ma’am”

Mistral’s heels clicked on the metal floors as she walked out of the room. It wasn’t until the sliding doors closed that Sam started talking.

“Please Raiden, just join”

“and why should I? you bunch are just a bunch of moralless terrorists. I’d rather d- “

“No, you wouldn’t. come on Raiden, just join, it's better than what's coming if you don’t”

“why would I listen to you”

Raiden attempted to spit at Sam’s face to keep him away, but Sam just put his hand over his mouth.

“I’m not taking no anymore. You're joining. Welcome to Desperado Raiden.”

Raiden felt an indescribable emotion. Anger? Sadness? Something entirely different? Whatever it was it made him throw up. Sam helped him do it in the bucket while holding his hair back too. Raiden didn’t take this as a kind gesture, after being forced to join an organization a bundle of flowers would feel like a bullet to the brain.

I'm sorry Raiden.’

Sam put his hand on an IV bag full of something blue, turning up the dial a bit. Raiden felt his head getting light and airy, and he started to wobble, before he knew it, he was out cold.

When Raiden finally opened his eyes it was dark out, the room would be pitch black if not for the medical equipment’s glow. He heard what sounded like porcelain cups clicking on each other, and heels on the ground. He noticed that one of the lights in the room was moving, it was a faint red glow. he didn’t put much thought into it, realizing that the EMP shots had finally worn off and he could move now was much more interesting. Raiden sat up and was suddenly making “eye” contact with Monsoon. The man who put him in this situation. Neither of them said anything, it was just an awkward silence for a minute or so before Monsoon set his tray down.

“You're up early.”

Raiden didn’t respond.

“I brought you some green tea”

Raiden still didn’t respond. Anything coming out of his mouth would be out of irrational anger now. He could feel his arms shaking in anger at this point. All he wanted to do was dump that hot tea on Monsoon’s face and smash the cups on his teeth.

“calm down Jack.”

Raiden stayed quiet, being called Jack wasn’t helping him calm down. He raised his arm to grab a cup but his headache had gotten worse, and it had spread to the rest of his mind by now. Monsoon picked up a cup and moved to the side of his bed, putting the cup to Raiden’s lips and making him drink it.

“don’t spit it out. It’ll help that headache of yours.”

Raiden kept it in his mouth without swallowing, the chance of a Desperado member poisoning him had gotten lower, but not low enough for him to swallow.

Monsoon set the cup down and got off the bed. He walked to the other side of the room to grab supplies from a cabinet.

“I knew your secret, Jack.”

Monsoon saying that suddenly made him swallow, he choked a bit but got over it fast. Whatever secret it was didn’t matter. If Monsoon knows it's over for him.

“you couldn’t ‘show me a man’ because you're not one.”

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

Here is the finished version of my smaller & simplified Hierophant embroidery design! It measures 3.5 inches wide rather than 6.25 like my larger and more complex pattern, and I tried a different color palette for the background to bring it closer to the original card. It's still not perfect but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

This pattern takes a lot less time than the bigger one, so is more approachable. Both these patterns and my other designs will be available in my new etsy store as I finish writing out instructions and uploading them :)

This finished piece will also be for sale for anyone interested, and I am taking limited embroidery commissions for now.

[aeolianblues]

I'm not an extrovert. At all. In everyday life, I'm a yapper, sure, but I need someone to first assure me I am okay to yap, so I don't start conversations, even when I really want to join in sometimes! It's just the social anxiety acting up. God knows where from and why I lose a lot of my inhibitions when it comes to talking to people about music. I don't know where the confidence has suddenly sprung from. I've made a crazy amount of friends in musical circles, either just talking to people about common music or (since it is after all in music circles) talking to bands about their own music. I let out a sigh of relief any time an interaction goes well, because in truth it's going against my every instinct. I wish I could do that in everyday life

[nobodybetterlookatme]

🥰

[depresseddepot]

I'm trying to find ways to slowly ease my way into taking walks (debilitating social anxiety) so I was going to download pokemon go again but my phone is too old :(

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

One of the biggest reasons I try to recruit all the characters in Three Houses isn’t just because I don’t want to kill them, but because if I do, I still have to go back to the monastery afterward. I still have to pass by their dorm rooms full of their belongings and know that’s where they spent their alone time and where they slept. I still have to pass by the spots they frequented the most. It’s not just the sad dialogue of characters reacting to the deaths, but passing by the spots I vividly remembered them hanging out at.

I realized this most in my first playthrough when I didn’t have the chance to recruit everyone and I accidently killed Raphael at Gronder. I didn’t have the enemy attack range turned on so I didn’t realize he was in range of attacking.

During an exploration, I was looking for Ignatz who was, unfortunately, in his dorm room... and I walked into the wrong room and into Raphael’s after he was killed and man that fuckin’ sucked! Feels bad but like, multiplied with big numbers, u kno??? ???

YES, IT’S A VIDEO GAME. YES, I HAVE HUMAN BEING FEELINGS ABOUT IT.

[devils-yui]

Reposting this from a friend bc I think it is VERY important to know of this, and for immigrants, and other possible victims of the ICE Raids happening right now

Here’s to also a very huge edit, from the list of very helpful people who have been reblogging and providing more info.

I’m not as well informed but I will be relaying the information and tagging each person who added onto this post:

@onthedriftinthetardis -

The phone number in the first photo is ONLY for Orange County, California!

Look up your local ACLU affiliate here

@6feetunderwater -

It always makes me nervous to see a reporting phone number passed around without any links to verify it, so the number in the first pic can be found on the site for the Orange County Rapid Response Network, which is "an interconnected system of non-profit and grassroots organizations, civil rights attorneys, law school clinics, and individuals working together to respond to dehumanizing immigration enforcement activities and policies in Orange County"

@geekerypeekery -

The second warrant is not fake, but is an administrative rather than judicial warrant, and has no constitutional authority to bypass Fourth Amendment protections - in other words, it does not entitle the bearer to enter and search your home. It simply authorizes agents of the issuing department to contact you. Always ask to see the warrant before opening your door!

In addition to the ACLU links, try contacting the National Immigration Law Center https://www.nilc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Warrants-Subpoenas-Facts.pdf

@american-anger -

The phone number listed here is specific to Orange County in California, but you can look up other California counties here:

CALIFORNIA RAPID RESPONSE NETWORKS

@beaniebaneenie -

Unpleasant reminder: within 100 miles of the border (which is home to 200 million people and virtually all major cities in the US), ICE does not need a warrant to enter your home, your car, to search anything, or even to arrest you.

You are not automatically safe just because they don't have a real warrant.

The best and safest thing you can do is learn to have escape routes- quick ways to get out of the house or area you're in if you find out ICE or CBP are around. Those of us who do have documentation? Time for us to step the fuck up.

Film any interaction. Every interaction. If you're able, step into the conversation and be a Karen/Kyle- weaponize your privilege for Good. If you get asked about people? Use positive but vague statements so you a) cannot be caught in a lie, and b) do not give any information away.

"I don't know them that well, but I don't tend to socialize much. They seem great to me."

"I can't remember the last time I saw them."

"Maybe they speak another language, I can't remember details. But I picked up Duolingo during the pandemic and tons of other people did too."

"I'm not sure."

"I'm sorry, I can't help you."

Even if you're somewhere the 100-mile Exception doesn't apply and a warrant is in fact needed? I don't expect ICE and CBP to play by the rules for long, if at all. I fully expect this to get ugly, and fast.

Cheeto has already declared an emergency of national security at the border, and is mobilizing the military to have jurisdiction over a huge swath of the country. It's essentially tantamount to martial law. And it's only been four days.

Gear up for a long, hard fight. This is gonna be a marathon, not a sprint.

— I am leaving all of this as an edit because on the off chance someone does find the posts that have these people specifically reblogging, I don’t want it to be too late. So I’m comprising it all here

Here are a few other people’s reblogs I thought were important:

Thank you @onthedriftinthetardis @6feetunderwater @geekerypeekery @american-anger @beaniebaneenie @bunnychiffon @dubiouslynamed @trisockatops @witchy-disaster for contributing and helping me make this a more well-informed post. Thank you so much

[dollfacefantasy]

kinktober day 20 - size kink jason todd x fem!reader cw: nsfw (18+), smut, p in v, size kink, tummy bulge

"That's it, baby. Take it all. Oh, look at you go. Being so brave for me."

On the surface the words are soothing, but the tone of Jason's voice fills each syllable with condescension. Not in a bad way. The sickly sweet lilt strikes the perfect chord that has you wetter than any body of water on this earth.

Your hips rise and fall in measure rolls, your cunt embracing his thick cock with every motion. You have to take it slow. Otherwise, you feel like you'll tear yourself in half.

"Jay…" you whimper, lip wobbling and eyes gleaming with the need for him to coddle you, "You're so…"

A sharp whine from your throat cuts off your own words. Your head tilts back and then hangs forward. His tip brushes your sweet spot every time you sink down on him. It makes it nearly impossible to remain coherent. You'd never met somebody who could make you malfunction like this.

"I'm so what?" he coos, prompting you to finish your statement. He already knew the words on the tip of your tongue, but he still wanted to hear them spoken into the drafty air of your apartment.

"You're so big," you choke out.

Another moan falls from your lips before you grit your teeth. Your face scrunches up in tandem with your walls clenching around his length. Vaguely, you hear him chuckle. He then pulls you close and cradles you against his chest.

"And you like that, don't you?" he whispers.

He slumps further down on the couch. His feet press hard against the smooth wooden floor beneath the two of you. The muscles in his thighs flex as he begins to pump his hips up and down. You whine and clutch at his meaty bicep, melting against his warm skin and letting him do all the work right now.

You nearly forget he asked a question at all until he continues speaking.

"I know you do, doll. You like that when you're with me, you're helpless. Don't have to think. Don't have to move. Don't have to do anything but let me use this sweet, little pussy till I'm satisfied," he says.

Your toes curl, your thighs clamping around his own. The pressure doesn't stop him from moving though, not in the slightest. You inhale sharply before nodding against his neck. Of course, you like this. You love it.

You could never get enough of Jason's body. You'd study it forever if he let you. Your pupils felt magnetized whenever they had the chance to drift along his chiseled torso or mentally map the pathways of his scars. Adoration wasn't a strong enough word for how you felt in regards to his figure. Obsession seemed more appropriate.

Fortunately for you, Jason behaved much the same about your body.

In the mornings when he thought sleep still had a strong hold on you, he'd run his fingers over every curve he could find. He'd knead the swell of your ass and press tender kisses between your shoulder blades. As you'd start to wake, he'd wrap his hands around your waist and nearly pop a boner right then and there from how large they looked in comparison.

His favorite thing in the world after a long grueling patrol fast became coming home to you. Not even thirty minutes with your delicate body washed away all the stress caused by hard and rough people he dealt with beyond these walls. Some nights he'd prop your dainty legs over his broad shoulders and dive into your slippery cunt. Other nights he'd get right down to it, shoving his fat cock inside you and watching your belly bulge with the intrusion.

Tonight hadn't been either of those. He'd been home for a change. But having you curled up to his side and pressed against him while he read a book got him worked up pretty fast. It wasn't his fault the two of you just seemed to fit so naturally together.

"My good girl. Soft and sweet all for me," he praises as he continues fucking up into you. His heavy balls lightly slap against your ass with each thrust.

Your nails dig into his shoulder as the repetitive strokes start to build on one another. Small, whimpered expletives drip from your lips like a leaky faucet. He knows you're getting there. All he has to do is ramp up his efforts a little.

His hands lock around your waist like they do on hazy mornings. Just like then, he's obsessed with the way your skin dimples beneath his digits now. He boosts you back and starts bouncing you up and down in addition to his thrusts.

Your eyes roll back at the sensation and you take your bottom lip between your teeth. You don't have to do anything in this position still. He's strong enough to hold you upright all by himself. The only thing you had to do was like he said - stay still and let yourself be used.

"Can never get enough of you, baby, fuck," he grunts. His head falls back against the sagging cushion as he keeps working himself into you over and over. He glances back up at you slightly. "Is it feeling good?"

"Mhm," you whine, "So fuckin' good. So deep. All the way inside."

Your head bobbles around with the way he jerks you up and down on his lap. He smirks at your words and the airy way you say them.

"I know. I can see it," he responds, eyes flitting down to that faint and familiar bump. Evidence of his place inside you.

You only whimper in response. He drops you back down against his chest so one of his hands can slot against your center and rub your clit in fast, tight circles. The flickering feeling draws even more noises of pleasure from you.

The edge sneaks up on the both of you fast. You fall over it first. Your body spasms and seizes between his hands, but his strong grip is enough to keep you in place. For him, it explodes in a muted burst of ecstasy before burning into a brighter one. He wraps his arms around your smaller frame and keeps you flush against his sweaty skin as he fucks his load deep inside.

The both of you stay there while you come down. His chest puffs up and down with deep breaths. Even with all his exertion, his hand rubs soothing stripes along the column of your spine. You lie against him completely motionless, limp against the muscles of his chest. A little pleasure doll all for him to play with.