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prettyboykatsuki · 2 months ago

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best friend yuuji? you’ve just rang the dinner bell

i was just thinking like.

im adding this after writing but this is soooo fucking long lmao im sorry.

tags for fem!reader (reader is referred to as a girl many times, no explicit mention of anatomy), best friends to lovers, 18+ etc

okay. i feel like you and yuuji meet in a stereotypical way

yuuji is your best friend. you met when you guys were sat next to each other in school (classic case of quiet kid and loud kid) but yuuji is uber friendly so he naturally made friends with you. you guys always clicked. in a weird way. no one else could ever fully grasp it

but you just get each other. you have similar mindsets and find each other comfortable. so you grow up and into each other - and become best friends after a long while. he comes over a lot to yap while you study and while it looks one-sided - you often take care of and look after yuuji and make sure he's not carrying too much at once.

anyway . you have a really good relationship. you're not glued at the hip but it's like, you stick together so much people often ask where the other is when one of you is missing. you get older to around middle school and puberty starts to really . hit you know.

a lot of girls confess to yuuji in that time. it's normal. sure he's rowdy and loud but he's the kind of good guy you notice when you really talk to him. fundamentally good, and not crude and shallow like other boys your age. popular but not obviously. it's the first time in your relationship you are self conscious about being his best friend and just happening to be a girl

there's rumors and stuff. you and him never talk about it until some stuff happen (like yuuji seeing it cause problems) and then you talk. the gist of it is basically that - you're yuujis best friend in the world and nothing could change that. it doesn't matter who you are. he's just trying to show you he cares

and you realize right then you are in love with him.

years go by. you get a little older. you go through highschool much like middle school - with no boyfriend. yuuji dates infrequently but usually gets broken up with. this pattern repeats into college.

(what you don't know, because yuuji never bothered to ask - is that the girls he used to date broke up with him simply because he wouldn't shut up about you. everything he should've done with a girlfriend he did with you already. he even keeps pictures)

when you get into college and grow into adulthood, you and yuuji are still extremely close. you chose to stay home and so did he - so not much is very different. except now you're meeting all sorts of new people and having new relationships form.

you don't know how exactly it comes up. you're studying for an upcoming midterm, yuuji is talking about how he got turned out by the cute girl that he works with and he pauses and asks.

"you know, i know you study hard but you should have fun too," he says this laying in your bed like he owns it, turning his head to look at you where you're bent over your desk. "haven't you thought about getting a boyfriend now that you're in college?"

you are good at brushing this off. you've been doing it for years. you do not tell yuuji that you don't date guys even after you get asked out because you're in love. you just shrug and tell him straight.

"i already told you. im not going to think about dating until i'm finished with school and i've held my career for two years."

"but aren't you bored?" yuuji asks, sincere. he doesn't press you but he is being nosy. "i don't play around that much either but i don't know. a little is healthy. and you've always working hard. playing around with handsome guys might be fun."

"not gonna change my mind."

"don't you get i dunno," he lays on his back. "sexually frustrated, though?"

you pause. you flinch. you've never talked about this before.

you clear your throat a little. "don't be inappropriate. and i do the job myself just fine."

"i guess girls don't have to worry about losing their virginity as much as guys but,"

you try to move on as swiftly as you can from talking about this in relation to yourself. "you make it sound like you slut around, yuu-chan."

he laughs a little behind you. "well no but you know. it's nice laying with another person. only if we're together though."

"yeah, sure. good for you. stop pestering me about it then and go get a girlfriend."

"so mean," he replies, laying back on his stomach. "but do you really not care at all about losing it?"

you frown, swallowing the words explaining that you do care but not just anyone will do. you give him a half truth. a lie of omission.

"it's not that i don't care but it has to be with someone i trust a lot. i don't know any guys like that, so,"

"ehh?? what about me?"

you freeze. you're sure you're mishearing it. "what about you?"

"well... you trust me right? so i could help you with it until you do find a boyfriend,"

you turn around. surely not. surely you misheard. surely he did not tell you to have sex with him so casually. you turn around to verify he's fucking with you.

only to find the most blatant sincerity you've ever seen. he's never been entirely stupid but well. he has his moments.

"do you even know what you're saying? you have to get it up for me to do that."

"well sure. but im reliable and trusrtworthy. and maybe it'll relax you a bit."

you think at that point you're definitely losing your shit but no. unfortunately your guy is dead serious. and you know, yuuji is an idiot but he's not enough of an idiot to not know it's unconventional - but in the moment, in the second he asks, his reasoning is for good. he gets a weird little feeling thinking about you losing it to someone you don't trust you know?

you obviously debate with him on this. you refute him, even - telling him that there's no way he thinks that's a good idea. and you go back and forth and you stop him at some point. to just be like

"do you even think you could kiss me?"

and yuuji just stands to his feet, leans over your desk, and kisses you.

and well. after that, it's kind of like you can't keep your hands off of each other.

it's clumsy your first time. you have no experience. but yuuji is your best friend, and he's himself - so he's patient and gentle and sooo very helpful. he teaches you to kiss and breathe through your nose and open your mouth and all sorts of other things. he's big so it's kind of hard to put it in but he takes is time. the sex feels really, really good and is intimate - almost naturally because that's your very best friend in the entire universe.

and so like. you guys have sex. you dont really plan it or anything but somehow when you get alone - it just gets so, so tense and neither of you can seem to cool down.

and how could you, you know? you've always wanted to fuck yuuji and maybe, seemingly, he wants it too. he gets so red when you bend down on your knees and try to blow him and it makes you so confident. you just... start fucking all the time. and you guys have been so close that no one cares if you two are alone together or not.

and so like. you begin this intensely sexual relationship and miraculously unchanged relationship. like you hang out as normal. and you fuck alot. and it's amibigous and vague.

you're kind of torn up about it, but yuuji is the kind of guy to not hook up with more than one person - so it's not hard to delude yourself into dating. he's already sweet and cuddly and thoughtful. and you know, you've always been so, so strict with yourself. you're really on top of your shit you know? so you reason with yourself, fine. ill just do this and see what happens. it's not like you.

(but it's hard to be strict with yourself when he makes you cum six times you know.)

so weirdly, in a weird way - you're kind of fine. you're a bit numb, a bit adjusted to it.

BUT YUUJI? OH YUUJI IS GOING THROUGH IT.

look. i mean what i said about yuuji being sincere and dense about this whole thing. he really does just want to help you and he doesn't think anything of it. sure sex is for someone you love, but yuuji does love you so it's fine to him.

the problem? the problem is you go from looking like a vague, amorphous and wonderful friend whose appearance he rarely thinks of (outside of beautiful, because of course you are - you're his best friend)

and instead become the most insanely fuckable person he has ever laid his eyes on and it is . ruining his life.

again. it's not as if yuuji ever thought you were unattractive. beauty is bigger than appearance to him, always has been - and you've always been the most beautiful girl in every room because you had a lovely character to you. he adores you. as a friend.

he never.... saw you in any other way. not even when other people kept assuming he did. you're a girl so he knew people would try to box you into that with him regardless but it was never like that. or at least, in his head it was never like that.

sure, whenever he dates someone - he is subconsciously compares them to you and sure, no matter what the person he has the most fun with is you but that's normal right? best friends is a big deal after all

you have sex for the first time and it's like. all of a sudden he's seeing all these aspects of you completely different. it's such a dramatic shift for him. like.

but it's not.... just your body really. of course not. he's not just lusting after ou but there's just something different about how you look in his eyes. something about how you readjust your sweater, how you wipe the corners of your mouth. something about the way you look at his place with shorts and a comfortable shirt just barely riding up your stomach and matching fuzzy socks (that are kinda matted from being worn)

all of this is just so, so fucking sexy now. he gets the weirdest fluttery feeling and just . can't help but be on you. you don't even know what you do to him either, and how could you? but god it destroys him. really ruins him to see you all doe eyed. know how you feel when you cling onto his biceps.

for the longest time - he can barely figure out whats doing it to him.

and then like. one day you're finished having sex and you're both so tired you fall asleep. and you're at his place - naked in his bed. he wakes up in the middle of the night. he moves the covers you know, to get up and get a towel - wipe you down.

and then you sort of hold onto him. still asleep. you let out a very soft whiny nooo, and he just. finds it so cute. so without thinking, he leans down and presses a kiss to your forehead and tells you to keep sleeping which you comply with bc ur not awake anyway.

and then when he sits up again he's like. oh. shit shit shit. shit.

that's when it hits him that he's in love with you which is. troubling to say the least. not only because he feels guilty for ruining your friendship but also because he knows himself well enough to know there's no way he could hold himself back.

but he thinks about and... does he have too? he knows it won't be right away but you do this with him too. so maybe, just maybe, there's a chance right?

for what its worth, i do think you two end up together with a minimal amount of angst. but the amount of heavy ass pining...the months it goes on of you two getting insanely, unbearably intimate and then not talking about it. and like. yuuji tests the waters with you. kisses you before he leaves, and does all sorts of stuff but you always go with it. you both cover it up but eventually it all spills and i think that's mostly cause yuuji is so open ......

anyways.... best friend yuuji.... he is on my mind....

#return to sender #yuuji x reader #writing tag #this is not writing its just me talking i should give this a real fic sometime. but the idea is there

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thatfeyboy · 5 months ago

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I need to know why it makes people so unreasonably upset to suggest that some dysphoric trans people probably should be considered intersex. Do you just. Hate trans people? Or is it because anything that makes trans physical isn't allowed?

It has been stated many many times that not all trans people have dysphoria, and not all trans people that do experience the same dysphoria. It has been harped on that gender is social and about presentation and isn't binary. Fine. But somehow when I or people like me talk about having physical and immutable dysphoria that doesn't stem from social means it's not ok. When I bring up that yes, some parts of the brain control your hormones and gonads, and yes, some parts recognize what you are and should look like, im treated like a fucking gender critical.

Why is it wrong to say that parts of the brain do in fact qualify as sex related because that's what they are for? If they dont physically square with the binary(naturally, not through intervention) then that person is not binary/intersex in their physical disposition by definition. It's not exactly a hard concept to grasp.

And because I have to, no, most aspects of the brain are not related to our bimodal sex system. There can in fact be gender/sex nuance in certain parts of the brain without claiming male and female type brains exist as a whole. Fear of some shitty crack pot idea should not prevent people from understanding scientific inquiry and research.

Being intersex does not make the trans experience more or less valid/real. But I'm tired of pretending I'm a man for reasons that absolutely don't apply to me. Nothing about my being trans has anything to do with how I want to socially be, aside as an extension of others viewing my body as I wish it to be. If there is really room in the community for all of us, then my saying that some of our experience is different shouldn't be a problem.

EDIT: Thank you for some of your responses. I would like to amend my statement slightly. When I mentioned intersex I was more trying to imply, as I lacked a better word, that it is clear some if not most trans people that experience dysphoria have a physical developmental reason for that, likely epigenetic, genetic, and pre natal conditions. This type of sense is in most people, including cis people, hence why you cannot train someone to be a gender they aren't(no desistance of gender identity in both cis and trans people regardless of treatment). If intersex is to be interpreted as things exclusively affecting external or internal primary sex traits(as to be read, physically involved in the act of procreation) that are only ever natal, then I am ok in accepting intersex is not the best fit(except for that PCOS study but not super relevant rn).

That being said, I do still believe it is a part of sex and sex/gender development and that it is a physical condition(most anatomy based dysphoria). I don't see why it being a part of sex and sex development is a problem, when it has no other answer that satisfies our actual understanding of the condition and those peoples experience. Anything based on socialization has been disproven time and time again, so when are we going to stop acting like this

#transgender #nonbinary #lgbt #trans #intersex #queer #debate

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toomanyideasandfandoms · 6 months ago

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Sometimes Silence Is The Best Medicine

Jiyan x reader

Notes: I really needed some comfort from my husband, so I'm throwing this out there for others.

Reader based of of oc (but given name inserts), gn reader, they/them used, afab anatomy possibly mentioned.

Also small warning about some graphic imagery and also not proofread lol

It's ringing, your head is ringing. It's not some stark white noise, it doesn't even sound like anything. It's like there's an absence of noise, yet it's every noise as well. You can't block it out either, it heightens when you hear anything. It just won't stop. You wanted to scream. Why won't it stop-

"Are you alright [Y/n]?" A sudden voice calls out, startling you out of your internal screaming. Gentle hands grasp onto your hands, now realizing they're gripping onto your hair tightly, coaxing them to release the [h/c] locks. The person doesn't let go, instead they keep a firm grip on your skin in comfort. "Breathe."

"I am." You reply, acknowledging the slow breathes you were taking. The realization that tears were running down struck you, feeling the droplets land onto your joined hands. Taking a moment to recollect yourself, you lift your head a bit to look at the person before you. Though you didn't see their face, instead you immediately recognized them by the clothes. "I'm fine, Jiyan."

"Forgive me, but I don't believe you." He says, giving you hands a gentle squeeze. It's easy for him to notice how you aren't meeting his eyes or how tense your posture was. "What happened?"

"Nothing did." You sighed, turning your head away to look on at the main city of Jinzhou. The gentle breeze picked up your clothing a bit, letting it flow like petals. "Just...my own head being my biggest enemy."

"I see." He pauses, unsure how to respond. "Would it be better to talk about it?"

"Not really?" You shrug your shoulders, ignoring the almost itching sensation the fabric that clung to your form gave. "It's hard to explain."

"Try it. Explain to me."

"It's...It's like everything is too much." You begin to say, focusing on the warmth his hands gave. "Every sound is deafening, almost every touch is itchy, and no matter where I look my eyes burn because it's too bright. It makes me want to scream out loud until my voice is gone and scratch my skin off."

"That's..."

"I know, it's intense." You chuckle as you can practically see his expression from the way his voice sounded. "But it happens, it's just something I have to get over until the next time."

"Does having someone with you help?"

"Sometimes? Other times no." You squeeze his hands, desiring more warmth to seep into your palms. "Though luckily this is one of those times."

"I'm glad." He smiles, reciprocating your grasp. You hear a small shuffle before you feel his shoulder bump into your, causing you to tense a bit. "Sorry."

"It's okay."

He releases one hand, using the now free limb to bring your head onto him. "Is this okay?"

"...kind of." You mutter, feeling your cheeks turning a bit red at the contact. A small thought crossed your mind, but you weren't too sure if you wanted to go through with it.

"I remember you saying compressions usually helped with those who experience similar things. Would that also work for you?" He asks softly, studying your body language to make sure he wasn't overstepping.

"I'm not sure."

"Are you willing to try?"

"...yes."

Without another word he guides you to sit in front of him, the grass brushing against your skin irritatingly. You grunt in annoyance, before he pushes you against him and wraps his arms around you. You stiffen in his hold, hearing him whisper into your ear to relax and breathe. You do so and as the breeze tickled your cheeks, you began to smell the clear waters that were nearby.

"Would you be alright with talking more? Or is being silent better?" He asked gently, keeping a comfortable firm grip on your form.

"I wanna enjoy the view of the city a bit." You whisper, the desire to scream slowly leaving you. You barely could even register the fact that the sounds of the world around were quietening.

So you both sat there, taking in the shared warmth as they watched the sun begin the set down past the city.

#wuwa #wuthering waves #wuthering waves x reader #wuwa jiyan #jiyan x reader #jiyan x oc #this calmed my mind actually #god what would i give to be able to be in his arms #he gives some major comforter vibes

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natigail · 9 months ago

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"I figured hey, if I'm here, I might as well be honest with myself. So I dug into the archives. And I found teenage Dan. Do you remember HELLO INTERNET? There I was, eighteen years old, your average caucasian British boy with your problematic vocabulary, just wanting so desperately to be liked. I then saw myself age twenty, as a student. Not that I was actually studying anything other than the male anatomy. I had no plan. No prospects. I was in desperate need of a haircut. Jesus Christ. No, look, that was not a hairstyle. It was geometry. My hair was a square. I then saw myself age twenty-two as an adult, just trying to make my way in the world, taking any job that I could, no matter how inauthentic or degrading. And look. I don't hate these past versions of myself, alright? Apart from the square one, it can get in the fucking bin. Mainly, I just feel sorry that it took them so long to work out who they are. I then stumbled across the video titled Existential Crisis. In which I utter the optimistic nihilistic epithet: 'embrace the void and have the courage to exist'. Embrace the void and have the courage to exist. It sounded nice when I said it but for some reason it just didn't hit. I had accepted the absurdity of the world but at that time, I hadn't accepted myself. Looking back at it, it finally clicked. Anyone who has suffered with depression or any kind of trauma that seriously affects your self-worth hopes that one day you're going to have this sudden revelation and then everything is fine. I had my revelation alright. I am unapologetically gay! Don't know if you hadn't picked up on that, so far in the show. But just having this revelation did not immediately fix all of my problems, because I still feel that inherent burnt-on brand that I am wrong. And that doesn't just go away. No, I know what my problem is, alright. My problem I am always living for the future. Every day I am thinking about this dream future where all of my dreams have come true and all of my problem have gone and everything's fine. And so, every day in the present of my life can be this joyless unrelenting grind towards that future. But it's okay. It's going to come any day now, right? Learning to look yourself in the mirror and being honest about what you've been through and keep living in spite of that can be hard. It takes a long time and a relentless persistent resistance against the way that you've been trained to feel by the world. But that doesn't just mean you should give up. Because, sure, sometimes in life, you may feel trapped. I felt trapped by my sexuality. You could feel trapped by your culture or your community. Hell, you could be literally trapped in an elevator but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to get out. 'cause, sure, when I look at the state of the world, I am very tempted to just go: You know what - we're all doomed. But that isn't courageous. That is cowardly. It's the easy way out. Even if it is, as I hope you'd all agree, a really fucking cool name for a show. So that's the thing. You can either say to yourself, every day is just a discontent emoji or you can find the courage to force your inner smiling cowboy hat, ye-motherfucking-haw! And just try to find in everyday life. Which is why I made this show. So I'm not living in the future but I'm just right here, right now, with you, just trying to have one good night. And look. Hey. Who knows, huh? We may all be doomed. Death may be inevitable. But first, we get to live. Life might at times be a struggle but just being here, to put one foot in front of the other every day is living. So please, do not let the doom drag you down. You are important. You matter. Please, stay hopeful for the future. Appreciate life. Embrace the void and have the courage to exist." - Dan Howell, closing monologue of his show "we're all doomed" (2022-2024)

#wad spoilers #dan howell #we're all doomed #talking in tags #i wasn't going to do any more but why not immortalise this #mostly just saving this for myself because it always got me #dan quotes

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ohno-the-sun · 22 days ago

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Oh uh forgot to ask in the previous ask (the one with the digital piece of candy and scurrying and stuff)

How do you draw art so good

Is there a method you use or is that just the style you've gotten over time?

you've activated my trap card

I'm just gonna preface that this tutorial is from someone who was not professionally trained and didn't have a lot of free time for art, so a lot of the tips I have is short cuts I use to get the best results quickly

If you genuinely want to get better at art then please look at references and practice that is always the best

However if you are like me and only really do art for fun but want to go faster then these are for you pfppt

Overall I'd say my style is influenced by speedpaints I would watch when I was younger, I like analyzing how people do things and what makes something look "good" to me

I always recommend watching them because they will often have techniques you've never seen before or do things a certain way that you can try out yourself

I consume good art, it feeds me

but seriously it can be super helpful when developing your own methodology, or just generally trying something new

Usually it starts with me pulling some references from artists I really admire and sort of sketching out how they do the things I like

For example 8um8le has like super good anatomy and poses so I focused on trying to replicate how they do that

venemous-qwille is super good at color and pulling focus so that's what I focused on in my study of them

In general I'd say my process is sketch -> silhouette -> color -> shading -> render

I really don't like doing lineart lol

I'd say for the sketch the most important part is using references and just kind of fudging it until it looks correct anatomically/physically

General rule of thumb is spend time on areas of interest, and keep non important areas light (like the stitching on his pants)

I don't do lineart because I think its unnecessary for most paintings I do

I naturally tend to put more time and focus on areas of interest (like hands and feet) and if you use a brush with opacity for the sketch, those areas are naturally going to be darker in the final sketch

Of course this is gonna be different for everyone but it's what works for me

Sometimes I do a really really sketchy layer underneath my sketch/lineart, just so I know where everything is going

Use thumbnails! They are great to help figure out the general layout of things and what pose I wanna do

Next is what I call the "silhouette" layer

This is super important for me cause it helps me refine the figure and make sure the pose/anatomy looks correct, also depending on what color I choose for the silhouette helps guide what colors I'm going to use on top

This piece is a good example of how it works. The silhouette shows me how the figure interacts with the background, how the pose looks and if its any good

The silhouette layer doesn't have to be super clean, as long as it follows the sketch decently well and shows where the figure is then its fine

I also sometimes make the silhouette layer multiple colors to help guide shading and vibe

Next is the coloring layer. I usually make this a clipping layer on top of the silhouette layer, or I change the silhouette layer to alpha lock, either way it saves me time on coloring everything in

Sometimes I am super rough with the coloring too, using like an airbrush or my fav watercolor brush just to generically block in color where I want it

Works out cause most objects have like a bounce light to them from surrounding objects, so this is sort of a cheat I use to get that effect without all the work lol

Also don't be afraid to have the lower silhouette layer shining through, having multiple colors sort of subtly shining through the piece helps lots

Next is the shading layer, this is usually another clipping layer, usually set to "multiply"

The colors I pick here is usually within this range, any color works, just depends on the piece and vibes.

Since this piece is set in a sunset forest I choose a more desaturated orange for the shading layer

I know there's a whole thing about multiply layer being a crutch (and it kind of it) but it is a useful tool when you just want some darker values across the piece but don't want to go through the process of color picking every single darker shade

Also in my opinion it looks better than picking a darker color and setting it to a lower opacity, idk I just think the color has more "depth"

Next is the hardest to explain, sort of the vibes layer

Usually its just a layer of more concentrated color on top of the normal color and I fudge with the settings and values until I get a result I like

Next is the longest step, is the "extra" or the render stage.

Usually I add a background before this step so that if I need to merge the figure better with the background I can

If I render with a white background but he's supposed to be in a dark forest, its going to mess with the lighting severely

Also this is when I add more "vibe" layers on top to get the figure to match the background better

Backgrounds in general I recommend checking out @/derekdomnicdsouza on instagram he's got lots of great tutorials for breaking down backgrounds simply

I'd say general rule for the rendering layer is to focus on the areas of interest and spend less time on areas you don't care about

I even blur stuff out on the edges I don't want people to see, partially to save time on fixing mistakes in areas I dont care about (oop), but mainly to help draw the eye to the areas I do want people to focus on

Theoretically parts of the background should like mesh with the characters, parrallel lines are a no no unless they are directing a viewer to look somewhere, things that are perpendicular help bring things together

tbh I'm still not the best at layout and probably need more practice, but overall this is what I like doing

Overall this is what my layer set up ends up being

Sort of a sandwich with the lineart/sketch as the "meat" lol

Color and basic shading below the sketch, clean-up and rendering on top

I like this method cause it's super flexible if I ever want to try something different or try to replicate someone's style

I can make each step less or more messy depending on the end result and can add a lineart layer if need be. Also if there's a part that is straight up not working or needs to be removed its super easy to do cause I can just paint over it on the "extras" layer, color picking from the surrounding area to get the same vibe

Generally rule of thumb for my style is: get the initial layout of colors, form and shading to look good, then the rendering should be smooth sailing

Really the best advice I can give to get better at art is to enjoy what you're doing and become very very obsessed with drawing a silly little guy

You'll eventually get very good at drawing them pfptpf

#sundrop #moondrop #long post #art tutorial #fnaf sun #fnaf moon #I draw them way too much holy guac #ask #this is for you asker #idk if anyone else is interested in this kind of stuff #i apologize for ranting lol #also me struggling to spell silhouette like 15 times

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bethanythebogwitch · 1 year ago

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If you asked me as a kid what my favorite animal was, there's a good chance I'd respond "chambered nautilus", though I probably would mispronounce it. I don't know if it's still my favorite but it's definitely up there in the pantheon of weird critters. For this Wet Beast Wednesday, I'll discuss my childhood favorite.

(image: a nautilus)

The nautilus is a cephalopod that lives in a curved shell and looks similar to (but is not closely related to) the extinct ammonites. There are 6 living species in two genera, but 90% of the time when someone is discussing nautiluses they are referring to the most well-known species: Nautilus pompilius or the chambered nautilus. Nautiloids are ancient, going back to at least the late triassic with their more primitive ancestors going back as far as the ordovician period, a time when only invertebrates and primitive plants occupied the land and true fish had not yet appeared. Because of their ancient history, nautiluses are sometimes considered living fossils. I have ranted before on how misleading the term "living fossil" is so I'll spare you that for now. Nautiloids are considered a sister group to the celoids, which contains all the squid, octopus, cuttlefish, and everything else we thinks of as cephalopods. Nautiluses should not be confused with paper nautiluses. Also called argonauts, paper nautiluses are a group of octopi that make an egg case which looks like a shell.

(image: a nautilus)

The most noticeable feature of a nautilus is its shell. The shell is smooth and finely curving, naturally growing in the shape of a logarithmic spiral (though not, as is commonly stated, a golden ratio spiral). The shell has a stripy outer layer and an inner layer coated with nacre. Internally, the shell is divided into camarae (chambers) separated from each other by walls called septa. Each septum has a small hole in it through which a strand of tissue called the siphuncle passes. Most of the nautilus's body is in the foremost and largest chamber. The shell grows new septa as the animal grows, with the nautilus's body moving to a new chamber as it becomes too large for previous ones. Juveniles are typically born with 4 septa, with adults having as many as 30. In addition to providing protection from predators, the shell is also key for regulating buoyancy. The septa can contain pressurized gas or water and the siphuncle regulates their contents by either adding or removing water to increase or decrease buoyancy. Because of its pressurized contents, the shell can only withstand pressure at depths up to 800 M (2,400 ft) before imploding. Oddly enough, nautiluses can be safely brought up from deep waters where most animals would be killed by the pressure changes. To move, the nautilus pulls water into the first chamber of the shell using its hyponome (siphon) and shoots it back out. The chambered nautilus is the largest species, with a maximum shell diameter of 25 cm (10 in), though most get no larger than 20 cm (8 in).

(image: a diagram of nautilus anatomy. source)

Where celoid cephalopods have tentacles, nautiluses instead have numerous cirri. Unlike tentacles, cirri are less muscular, are not elastic, and have no suckers. They are used to grab objects using their ridged surfaces and can hold in so hard that trying to take an object away from a nautilus can rip off its cirri, which will remain firmly attached. In addition, the nautilus has modified cirri that serve as olfactory receptors and a pair that serve to open and close the shell when the nautilus needs to retract into it or emerge. Nestled within the cirri is the beak, which is used to consume the nautilus's primary prey of invertebrates, though they have also been seen scavenging fish. Their eyes are less developed than most cephalopods, lacking a lens and consisting of a small pinhole that only allows the nautilus to see simple imagery. Their brains are differently structured than most cephalopods and studies have found them to have considerably shorter long-term memories.

(image: a chambered nautilus (upper left) next to a rare Allonautilus scrobiculatus. source)

Cephalopod reproduction is quite different than that of other cephalopods. While most cephalopods are short-lived and semelparous (reproducing only once), nautiluses can live over 20 years and reproduce multiple times (iteroparity). They do not reach sexual maturity until around 15 years old, with females laying eggs once per year. Eggs are attached to rocks and take 8 to 12 months to hatch. Males have a structure called the spadix composed of 4 fused cirri that they use to transfer sperm to females. Females lose their gonads after laying their eggs and will regenerate them for the next year's mating season. Interestingly, male nautiluses seem to vastly outnumber the females. EDIT: @bri-the-nautilus in the replies found an alternate explanation for the disparity in male and female numbers you should check out. TLDR; the females are asocial.

(image: nautiluses mating)

Nautiluses are found in the Indo-Pacific reagion of the ocean and can be found on the steep slopes of coral reefs. They prefer to inhabit waters several hundred meters down. It was once believed that they would rise to shallow waters at night to feed, lay eggs, and mate, but their vertical migration behavior has since been shown to be more complex than that. They have noon been fished by humans for their shells, which have become popular subjects in art and can be made into a number of decorative pieces. The nacre of the shell can be polished into osmeña pearl, which can be quite valuable. Demand for the shells combined with the late sexual maturity and low fecundity is threatening all the species. As of 2016, nautiluses have been added to the CITES Appendix II, making them protected by limiting international trade of their shells. Despite this, they are still threatened and require further protection

(image: a carved and painted nautilus shell from the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan)

#wet beast wednesday #nautilus #chambered nautilus #cephalopod #marine biology #zoology #biology #ecology #animal facts

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q-gorgeous · 7 months ago

Text

Sew Me Up and Keep Me Whole

fanfiction

ao3

word count: 7603

Thanks to seeing how various injuries are treated as a member of the football team, Dash actually has a decent background in first aid and anatomy. He gets adopted into Team Phantom when circumstances keep leading him to be the one patching up Phantom after fights.

ohohohhoho

Dash was walking home after a football game. He was exhausted and was looking forward to going to bed tonight. Plus there was a ghost attack at the end of the game so it ran extra long while they waited for it to be over.

He turned into the park. It was dark in the park, but it made his trip home from the school faster. His dad would be even madder if he woke him up this late. He wanted to get back as soon as possible.

He got to the wooded part of the trees when he heard something. It sounded like voices.

“Tucker, you’re not doing it right.” Somebody whispered angrily. It sounded like Manson.

“Do you want to try doing this?” He hissed back. “I’m the only one who’s taken a sewing class. You didn’t think you should be reduced to something so ‘stereotypically feminine.’”

“-’s not ev’n a fem’n’n thing.” Was that Fenton? “Sewing is a b-basic life skill…”

“That’s not the point!” She hissed back at them. “My mom-”

Dash stepped through the bushes and past the tree separating them and fell short. That wasn’t who he was expecting to be there.

Phantom sat in between Foley and Manson, not Fenton. As he stepped through the bushes their heads snapped up to look at him. Phantom’s head groggily lulled to the side as he looked at Dash.

“Ha. Jus’...what we need.”

Dash frowned. “What?”

Phantom chuckled and closed his eyes.

“No! Don’t close your eyes!” Manson lightly slapped him. When he just groaned and leaned his head back against the tree behind him she slapped him harder.

“...Sam!” He pried his eyes open and glared at her. “Don’ hit m’..”

“You can’t fall asleep until Tucker is done with your stitches. If only he could just hurry it up.” Manson ground out.

“I’m going as fast as I can!” Tucker breathed out, his hand shakily pulling another stitch through Phantom’s injury. “I don’t want to leave an ugly scar or make it worse by not doing it well.”

Dash stepped closer to where they were sat behind the bushes. Manson shot another look at him. He could finally see Phantom’s wound and it was pretty gnarly. Foley’s stitches were holding it closed but they definitely weren’t pretty.

“Do you need help?” Dash asked apprehensively. “I’ve seen a lot of injuries during football practice. And I’m not squeamish like you, Foley.”

“Yeah? You know how to sew up wounds?” Manson spit out. “How is watching people get treated for wounds during practice the same as sewing up an injury?”

Dash held up his hands. “It seems like Foley doesn’t know what he’s doing either. I know how to sew already. Isn’t that like halfway there?”

Foley looked at Manson. “If he can get it done faster than me, why not let him? We’re gonna run out of time.”

“How can we trust him?” Manson glanced at Dash, worrying her lip.

“He is literally Phantom’s biggest fan except for maybe Paulina. Do you really think he’s gonna try to kill him?”

A blush rose to Dash’s cheeks at Foley’s comment while Manson kept studying him.

A few more moments went by before she looked back at Phantom. He smiled at her groggily.

She sighed. “Fine. Dash, get over here.”

His eyes widened, stunned that they actually accepted his help. He strode forward and knelt on the ground between Foley and Manson. Phantom looked up at him, the goofy smile still on his face.

“Funny that y’ur the one h’lping me.” He chuckled.

“Why’s that?” Dash asked. Phantom just shook his head and chuckled again.

“Here.” Foley handed him a pair of gloves. “We don’t know if his ectoplasm can irritate or damage skin. We haven't felt risky enough to try it out yet.”

“How often do you guys do this?” Dash snapped his gloves on and took the needle from Foley. Phantom smiled wistfully.

“I get hurt a lot.”

Dash hummed as he made his first stitch. “Well that’s not good.”

“Yeahh.. ghosts suck. And also bullies. They can hurt pretty bad sometimes too.”

Shame wriggled into Dash’s stomach as he made another stitch. What would Phantom think of him if he knew he was a bully himself?

Phantom hummed a wistful sigh as he watched Dash sew his wound closed.

“Y’know, ‘ur pretty cute.”

Dash’s brain stopped for a moment and spent a second processing what Phantom said. He felt like he was short circuiting.

“What?” Dash asked.

Tucker burst out laughing. “Man, you’re not gonna live this one down.” Sam shushed him.

Dash continued sewing Phantom’s wound closed as he tried to get his bearings. He never would’ve thought his hero would think of him like that.

“So.” He said, pulling the thread tight. “Are you guys friends?”

“We’r’ bes frie-” Sam covered his mouth.

“We help him with ghost fights. We don’t know him that well.”

“Oh. It just seemed like you guys are pretty close. He must trust you two a lot.”

Dash finished up his last stitch. “There we go. You’re all closed up.”

Phantom smiled at him again as Dash pulled off his gloves and put them in a bag Tucker held up to him. “Tha’ was s’much faster than Tucker.”

“Much cleaner stitches, too.” Sam said, leaning down to look at them.

“‘Thank you for trying, Tucker. We’re so grateful for you, Tucker.’” He mumbled out as he put all their supplies back in his bag.

“C’mon, Tuck!” Phantom lulled his head in Tucker’s direction. “You’ve stitched up so… so many stitches before now. I’d’d have bled out so many times over with-without you.”

“Thank you, D- Phantom.”

Dash pushed himself up off the ground and stretched. “Do you guys need help getting him back… Wherever he needs to go?”

“We can take him back to my house.” Sam stood up. “My parents are those people who go to bed at eight o’clock and get up at some ungodly hour for their office jobs.”

“Can you stand, Phantom?” Tucker asked him.

Phantom shakily tried to stand up. He only made it up part way before he fell back to his knees.

“Here.”

Dash bent down and picked Phantom up bridal style. He adjusted his hold on him until he was holding him comfortably.

“Okay.” Dash turned to look at Sam. “Lead the way.”

He followed behind Sam and Tucker as they walked through the trees. Phantom was much heavier than what Dash would expect from a ghost. He figured ghosts would be light as a feather since they could fly, but Phantom felt so much like a human it was uncanny.

Phantom leaned his head back into the crook of Dash’s neck. He took a sharp breath in as he felt Phantom’s breath ghost against his neck.

Dash looked down at Phantom and his eyes were closed, but after a few moments of Dash staring Phantom peeked an eye open.

He jumped and looked back up at Sam and Tucker. They were whispering between themselves, shooting glances back at Dash. Phantom chuckled.

“Thank you for helping us.”

Dash looked back down at him. Phantom already seemed to be more coherent than when Dash first stumbled upon them.

“Of course. You should probably thank your friends for letting me help you. They were pretty skeptical at first.”

Phantom shrugged. “They’re just looking out for me. They’re protective.”

“So you are friends?” Dash asked. Phantom looked at Sam and Tucker.

“Yeah. They’re the best friends I could’ve asked for.”

“Are you friends with the Fenton kid too?” Dash asked.

Phantom turned to look at Dash sharply. “The Fenton kid?”

“Yeah.” Dash nodded. “Danny. Hangs around with those two. Kind of a freak.”

Phantom frowned at him and turned away from him. “Oh. The ghost hunter’s son? No. Why would I be friends with him? His parents would tear me apart.”

“Oh. Yeah that’s true. Those three just never go anywhere without each other so I thought maybe he was in on this too. He’s a dork anyways.”

“We’re here.” Sam called behind them.

Dash looked up to see Sam and Tucker stopped in front of a set of stairs leading to Sam’s front door. Phantom suddenly jumped out of Dash’s arms and winced once his feet hit the ground. It set Dash off balance and it took a moment for him to regain it.

Phantom walked over to where Sam and Tucker were waiting.

“Will you be okay?” Dash called to him.

“Yeah.” Phantom said without looking back at him. “I’ll be fine.”

He walked away from Dash without looking back at him. The three of them walked inside the door and shut it behind them.

He stood there and stared at the closed door. A pit formed in his stomach but he’s not sure what happened.

He turned around and started the short trek home.

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

Dash was walking in the hallways of Casper High. He was heading to his next class. He just wanted this day to be over with.

Up ahead of him he saw Fenton and his friends. He smirked and started walking faster to catch up with them.

“Hey, Fentoadally lame! Where do you think you’re going!”

He saw Fenton’s shoulders rise and fall as he sighed. He looked over his shoulder at Dash, an angry grimace on his face.

“Anywhere away from you.”

The hallways were starting to clear out as it got closer to the bell. He caught up to them and grabbed Danny by the shoulder, turning him around and slamming him into the lockers to their left. He glared up at Dash.

“What do you want, Dash?”

Dash sneered down at him. “I want to get my afternoon wailing in before I lose my chance and you disappear for the rest of the day like you did yesterday.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “And why does your wailing have to be on me?”

“Because you’re my favorite nerd to wail on.” Dash said as he pulled his arm back, ready to hit Danny.

“Excuse me!”

Something hit Dash in the back of the head. He hissed and when he turned around he saw Sam holding her boot in her hand, glaring at him.

“What the hell, Manson?” He rubbed the spot she had hit. “What’s that boot made of?”

“Steel toe.” Tucker said from where he stood, far away from the action.

“How’s it feel, Dash? Huh? Do you like getting hit? Do you want to know what it’s like to get beat up for no reason every single day?” Sam spat at him.

He took a step away from her. He already knew what that was like. He didn’t need to know what it would be like, just from a different person.

“Sam-” Danny tried stepping out from behind Dash to get to her but there wasn’t enough room for him to move.

“Why should we let you keep helping us with Phantom if we can’t trust you to leave our friend alone?”

“What?” Dash asked, incredulous. “How are either of these things related?”

Sam walked up to him and poked him in the chest. Distantly Dash could hear the late bell ringing. “Because how do we know you wouldn’t turn on Phantom? That if we relied on you, that you would actually be there to help him?��

“But Phantom is-”

“A person, just like Danny.” Sam said. “Just because Danny isn’t your ‘hero’ doesn’t mean he deserves to be a punching bag.”

Dash rolled his eyes. “Fenton just asks for it.”

Sam closed her eyes and shook her head.

“No, you know what? We won’t need your help anymore, Dash. We were doing just fine without you. We’ll manage.”

“I didn’t want to have to associate with you nerds anymore than I have to anyways.” Dash tried to ignore the pang in his chest at the idea of not being able to help Phantom anymore.

“You know, I’ve heard that Phantom doesn’t like bullies.” Fenton said from behind him.

Dash turned and frowned at him. “What do you know?” He shoved Fenton into the lockers one more time and walked away from them. He could hear Sam furiously whispering with Danny about something but Dash tried to tune it out.

Where did Manson get off threatening to beat him? That’d just make her a hypocrite, wouldn’t it? Doing the very thing she hates?

Whatever. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t make it so Phantom couldn’t talk to him.

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

“Hey, I’ll see you later, Kwan!” Dash said as he walked out of the Nasty Burger. Kwan turned around where he was walking the opposite way down the sidewalk.

“Yeah! See you tomorrow, buddy!” Kwan shouted back at him.

Dash smiled as he started his walk home. Kwan was always pretty good at cheering him up. He’d had a pretty bad week. Every time he’d gone to Phantom to try to talk to him he’d up and disappear or fly away before Dash could even get a word in. Sam and Tucker must’ve said something to him about what happened with Fenton.

He sighed. He’d probably never get to talk to Phantom again at this rate.

He heard some rustling coming from the alley he was coming up on. He paused just before it. Nothing good ever came from inside alleyways.

“Tucker, where are you- Danny, he-”

He could hear Manson’s panicked voice coming from inside the alley. He crept forward.

Dash looked into the alley to see Sam desperately talking on the phone. Phantom sat on the ground in front of her. She was holding a rag to his stomach.

“No, no I already have the supplies. I can’t-”

A tear streamed down her face. “Tucker, I need you. I can’t do this without you.”

Phantom’s eyes slowly opened. He tilted his head towards the end of the alley that Dash was standing in. He locked eyes with him, taking a deep breath.

“Sam..”

She looked up at him. When she saw where he was looking, she followed his gaze until her eyes landed on Dash. Her eyes widened. After a few moments of staring, she put her phone back up to her ear.

“No, Dash- Dash is here. He just walked up. He- He could probably help us again. Just one more time.”

Dash jumped. How serious was it this time that she couldn’t wait for Tucker?

“Dash, get over here!”

He jumped again at her call, but ran to them inside the alley.

“Can you stitch him up again?” She pleaded. “I know what I said, but I-”

“It’s fine.” Dash said. “I’m not that petty that I’ll refuse to save his life just because you don’t like me.”

She pulled a first aid kit out of her backpack and handed it to him. “You’re mean to me and my friends. I don’t want to be around you if you’re going to bully us.”

“Tch.” Dash scoffed. He pulled on a pair of gloves. “As if you aren’t just as mean to us. You go around antagonizing Paulina and forcing things that you want to do on other people.”

She rolled her eyes. “You literally beat people up and stuff them into their lockers. That is not the same thing.”

“Yeah, well-”

“As much as I love watching Sam tell it to you, can you guys hurry it up?”

Dash and Sam looked at Phantom. He had one eye squinted open and he was looking between them.

“Sorry.” Dash said. He threaded the needle and got started stitching up Phantom’s wound.

They were silent while Dash worked. His stitches were quick and soon Dash was done. He sighed.

“I actually used to be friends with them when we were younger. Before they met you.”

“What?” Sam turned to stare at him. “Why are you so mean to them then?”

“My parents didn’t like Fenton’s parents. Or all the nonsense they were spouting about ghosts. I’d come home and tell them all about it and they thought the Fenton’s were ‘corrupting my mind’ or something like that.”

Phantom turned his head to look at Dash.

“My parents told me I couldn’t be his friend anymore. And I told Danny that, but he didn’t get it. And he and Tucker were a package deal at that point. They were more inseparable than me and Danny had ever been. So I just… told them that I didn’t want to be their friend anymore. That they weren’t cool enough. I think I hit one of them. They didn’t go out of their way to talk to me after that.”

They sat in silence for a moment after that.

“Parents, amiright?” Sam said quietly, as she looked at Phantom. “My parents are like that. They try to get me to stop being friends with Danny all the time but I argue too much with them for it to ever stick. Or I don’t tell them when I’m hanging out with Danny.”

“At least you have that luxury.” Dash looked at the ground. “If I don’t listen to my parents… Well, they like to use their fists more than their words.”

Sam covered her mouth.

Dash let out a short laugh.

“And now ghosts are real and they keep asking me all sorts of questions like they expect me to remember the things they told me were bad and wanted me to forget.”

Dash was startled when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked up and saw that Phantom was still staring at him.

“It’s not your fault.”

Dash shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. He shifted so that instead of kneeling on his knees, he was sitting on the ground. He ran his hands through his hair roughly.

“It is my fault!” Dash ground out. “I didn’t have to treat them the way I did! I could’ve broken the cycle but now I’m just like my parents.”

“You don’t have to be.” Sam said. “There’s always time to change. Hell, admitting to how shitty you’ve been is a pretty good start.”

Dash sighed. Phantom looked like he was about to say something but he was interrupted by Tucker sprinting into the alley, out of breath.

“I’m here! I’m here. Did you guys get it figured out?”

Sam nodded and gestured at Dash. “He helped us out again. He really came in clutch there.”

Dash nodded and stood up. “I guess I should get going now. I don’t want to-”

“Wait!” Sam held her hands up in a stop motion. She stood up to look at him. “Do you want to join team Phantom?”

“What?” Tucker looked at her, shocked. “Why are you asking Dash to join the team? I thought you-”

“Clearly having another person around will be beneficial.” Sam interrupted Tucker without looking at him. “You’ve already helped us twice. You could even teach us to sew and stitch up wounds better.”

Dash looked between the three of them. He wasn’t a part of whatever they had going. Would they really be okay with him joining their team? Did they really want him to be a part of it? Or was it just a pity offer?

“Why would you want me to join your team?” Dash said quietly.

“You care more than I thought you did.” Sam said.

Dash laughed. That didn’t seem like a very concrete reason.

“Break the cycle.”

Dash looked back up at where Phantom still sat on the ground. He was staring at Dash.

“Break the cycle.” He said again. “Prove that you can be better. If not for us, just do it for yourself.”

Dash looked away. He nodded. That sounded like a good reason. Work to break the cycle his parents put him in. He nodded again.

“Okay. I’ll do it. I’ll join Team Phantom.”

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

Dash stood outside Tucker’s door awkwardly. Tucker said now would be a good time to come over so they could practice sewing. He hasn’t knocked yet though. He hadn’t been back here since they were all still friends.

He lifted his hand up and paused for a moment. Finally, he brought his fist down on the door and knocked twice.

“I’ve got it!” Tucker shouted from inside the house. He heard some shuffling and then a muffled, “Mom!”

Then the door opened, but instead of Tucker it was his mom. His eyes widened as her mouth dropped open. She looked behind her where Tucker was standing and then looked back at Dash. Tucker shrugged behind her.

“Why, Dash, I haven’t seen you in such a long time. How have you been?” She asked him.

He nodded. “Good, good. Things have been fine. How have you been?”

“Things have been good here.” She looked between Tucker and Dash again. “What brings you over after so long?”

“I, uh..” Dash stammered. They didn’t come up with an excuse. He really couldn’t tell her they were practicing sewing so they could sew up wounds.

“Class project!” Sam’s voice came from down the steps behind him. He turned to see her hurrying up the stairs. “We’re going to be working on our sewing today for class. Dash is going to practice with us.”

“Ohh.” Tucker’s mom nodded. “Well that sounds fun. Do you guys have any projects in the making?”

“We’re not quite there yet, mom.” Tucker said as he stepped forward. “We’re still learning so we’ll probably just be sewing squares of fabric together.”

She nodded again. “Let me know if you kids have any questions. I know a thing or two about sewing myself.” She smiled at them.

“Thanks, mom. We will.” Tucker waved them into the house and then closed the door behind them once they were both inside. “Come on, let’s go upstairs.”

He followed behind both Tucker and Sam as they made their way up the stairs. He hadn’t been here in a very long time but little had changed over the years. Except for maybe new photos that had been hung up on the wall.

They reached the top of the stairs and then Tucker pulled down the attic door and unfolded the ladder. They climbed up there and Dash had the fleeting thought that if they wanted to make him disappear, an attic would be a pretty good place to make that happen.

“Boo.”

Dash jumped as a voice spoke close into his ear and then laughter erupted from an invisible mouth.

“Oh that was good. I haven’t been able to get Sam or Tucker that good in a long time.”

Phantom dropped his invisibility and appeared in front of Dash. Dash chuckled nervously.

“Phantom, don’t be too mean to him. We’re trying to make amends, remember?” Sam called to them while she and Tucker dug through some box.

“Yeah, yeah.” Phantom waved her comment off. He looked back at Dash. “I gotta have fun with this whole ghost thing somehow though, right?”

Dash nodded. “I can’t say I would be so chivalrous if I had your powers. I’d probably be sneaking into the girl’s locker room or something.”

“Eh. It was exciting the first couple times but now the novelty has worn off.”

Dash’s eyes widened. Phantom went to spy in the girl’s locker room?

“Anyways.” Phantom drawled out. “What will I be doing today?”

Dash stared at him. “You’ll also be learning to sew.”

Phantom frowned. “Why?”

“If Sam or Tucker, or even me, ever get hurt during one of your ghost fights it might be useful for you to know. Or if you ever have an occasion where you’re alone and need to do it yourself, if you’re able to of course.”

“Are you gonna be like, our teacher?” Sam asked Dash.

Dash shrugged. “I can explain the basics but this is mostly just practice time.”

They got to work practicing their sewing. Sam and Tucker were working together on the other side of the attic while Dash worked with Phantom. They had cut up squares of fabric that they were sewing together. Phantom looked up at Dash as he pulled a thread through his two pieces he had in his hands.

“Why’d you learn to sew?” Danny asked. “It’s not something most guys pick up.”

Dash shrugged. “My parents liked to wreck a lot of my things growing up. They destroyed a lot of stuffed animals, but when they ripped apart the last teddy bear I got from my grandma before she passed away I decided I was going to take it into my own hands and fix it.”

“Oh.” Phantom’s shoulders dropped and he looked at Dash sadly. “I’m sorry they did that.”

“They’re not good people.” Dash made a couple more stitches on his own squares in his hands. “It hurt when I realized that.”

Phantom nodded. “Sometimes I worry that my parents are bad people. They want to hurt me but I know they’re not actually bad.”

“How are they not bad? You just said they want to hurt you.” Dash frowned at him.

“It’s more complicated because of the whole ghost thing.” Phantom shook his head. “They don’t know who I am.”

Dash’s eyes widened. “What? How can they not know?”

Phantom’s sad expression turned into a smirk. “I’ve got to keep some of my secrets.”

Dash rolled his eyes. “Okay, Inviso-bill.”

“Hey!” Phantom pushed his shoulder.

His skin tingled where Phantom had touched him through his jacket. They smiled at each other and Dash looked back down at the fabric in his hands. They worked for another couple moments before Phantom spoke again.

“What if we sewed them all together?”

“What?” Dash looked back up at him.

“The squares.” Phantom held up his small pile he had gathered while they were working. “We could sew all the squares we make together and turn them into a blanket.”

“Ohh. That’d be cool.” He turned around in his seat. “Yo, Manson. Foley!”

They turned around to face him. “What?”

“Phantom wants to turn our squares into blankets.”

“I like that idea.” Tucker said.

“Does your mom have a sewing machine? It might be easier to sew all the rows together with the sewing machine once we get that far.”

Tucker nodded. “Let me go ask her for it.”

He headed downstairs. Sam stood up and walked over to them.

“How’s your practice going?” She asked.

“Good.” Phantom held up his work so far. The stitches were getting neater and tighter as he showed Sam his progress.

As Dash was showing Sam his own squares, Tucker made his way back up the ladder to the attic. He hefted the sewing machine up onto the floor and climbed up with some extra fabric and some kind of stuffing. He let out a breath.

“My mom gave us some fabric and some quilt batting so we can finish turning it into a blanket.”

“How do we decide who gets to keep the blanket?” Dash asked.

Phantom looked at him. “I think you should get it. We can always make more if we’re going to keep practicing sewing. You should get the first one.”

“Yeah.” Sam said. “It can be a thank you for taking the time to teach us and practice with us.”

“Let’s get this bad boy finished.”

They spent the next couple hours practicing sewing the squares by hand and once they were all sewed together Dash took them to the sewing machine. They got all the rows assembled and the blanket put together with the stuffing inside. Dash stood up and held it up for everyone to look at.

Tucker clapped. “Great work everyone. Just, wow.”

Sam rolled her eyes.

Dash lowered it and smiled at them.

“Here.”

Phantom floated forward and grabbed the other end of the blanket and helped Dash fold it. Their fingers met as they folded it together. Phantom passed his end to Dash and their fingers grazed as he pulled away.

“Thanks.” They stared at each other for a few moments. Dash cleared his throat. “Well. I should get going. It’s getting kind of late.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Sam checked the time on her phone. My parents are gonna start calling me if I don’t get home soon.”

“Thanks for helping us out Dash.” Phantom called as Dash started making his way down the ladder. Dash smiled at him.

“Thanks for giving me the chance.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dash stepped out of the school. It was empty in the schoolyard. Dash had had to stay late to finish up a test with one of his teachers.

“Hey.”

Dash jumped at the voice beside him. Phantom flickered into visibility.

“Why do you keep doing that?” Dash pouted.

Phantom shrugged and held his head in his hand as he floated next to Dash. “It’s funny. Like I said, I can’t get Sam and Tucker like that anymore.”

“Where are they anyways?” Dash crossed the street in front of the school and started the walk home.

“They’re busy.” Phantom groaned and flipped onto his back midair. “They had some very important stuff to do and they said I couldn’t come with them.”

“So tragic.” Dash smiled and shook his head at Phantom’s antics.

Phantom laughed as he floated backwards on his back beside Dash, his arms crossed behind his head. Dash smiled as he watched him, a warm feeling growing in his chest. Phantom’s smile felt like the sun.

“I think they’re trying to surprise me for my birthday. It’s coming up soon.”

Dash’s eyes widened. “You still celebrate your birthday?”

Phantom shot a look back at him. “Yeah? Don’t you still celebrate yours?”

“Yeah, but you’re a ghost. Wouldn’t you celebrate your death day instead?”

Phantom scrunched up his nose and stared at a point from where they had come. “I try as hard as I can to not think about my death day. It was painful.”

“What was it like? Dying?”

Phantom turned to face Dash. He studied his face for a moment before he spoke.

“I-”

A roar sounded from ahead of them on the street they were walking down. A ghost turned around the corner of a building and stared down at them.

“Stay back.” Phantom said to him and flew away. He flew circles around the ghost's head and soon it was facing back the other way. It roared when Phantom shot an ectoblast between its eyes.

It swung at him again and again, its slow paws trying and trying to hit Phantom.

“You sure are slow!” Phantom smirked at the ghost and spun onto his back. “You fight like my sister.”

The ghost roared again and Phantom flew back to avoid the swipe but he didn’t move fast enough.

The ghost scratched Phantom across the chest as he flew back. Dash could hear him hiss from where he stood on the ground.

“That’s all you got, ghost?” Phantom held his fists back up.

As if taking that as a challenge, the ghost shrieked. It reared up for another hit. Phantom dodged the first one but wasn’t so lucky the second time.

When the ghost’s claws connected with Phantom, Dash could hear the sound of his suit ripping. The ghost spun and sent him flying backwards down the street.

“Phantom!” Dash shouted as he turned to look where Phantom had been thrown behind him.

He laid there on the ground. He was hardly moving. The ghost started closing in, not paying any mind to Dash.

“Hey!” Dash swung his arms in the air, trying to get the ghost’s attention. It finally looked down at him and paused.

“Yeah! Leave him alone!” Dash shouted. He stuck a hand into his backpack and pulled out that lipstick laser that Tucker gave him. He aimed it at the ghost and took a shaky shot.

It hit the ghost in the chest and it roared, charging at him. Dash took a step back but he yanked his backpack off, desperately digging out the thermos. He shakily pulled it out of his backpack just as the ghost was getting to him and he pressed the button.

The ghost loomed over him before it got sucked into the thermos. Once it was gone, Dash closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. Then his eyes snapped back open and he turned around.

Phantom.

He ran down the street to where Phantom lay. Phantom’s eyes opened as Dash got closer. Thank god.

“Hey. How bad is it?” Dash asked as he dropped down to his knees on the pavement.

Phantom hissed as he sat up. “Not the worst I’ve ever had. I’m not sure any of these need stitches.”

“Are you sure?” Dash studied his suit where it was torn. “I could literally hear your suit get shredded from where I was standing.”

“Yeah.” Phantom nodded. “I think a good chunk of things I need to have stitched up are because I kept fighting and tore them and made them worse.” He looked up at Dash. “Thanks, by the way. For helping me with that ghost.”

“Whaat? It was nothing.” Dash smiled at him.

Phantom laughed. “I could see you shaking in your boots from here.”

Dash crossed his arms and turned his nose up away from Phantom. “Fighting ghosts is a lot scarier without fancy ghost powers.”

“Yeah, but really, thanks.”

Dash looked back at Phantom. He couldn’t help it. It was the first thing he could think to do. He wasn’t going to just let a ghost get him when he couldn’t fight.

Dash was lost in thought for a moment before his mind wandered back to Phantom’s injury.

“Do you at least want that bandaged even if you don’t need stitches?”

Phantom nodded. “Yeah. It’ll help stop the bleeding.”

Dash dug through his backpack where it sat next to him when he dropped it. He pulled out his first aid kit.

“Gauze or giant band aid?” Dash asked.

Phantom looked down at his chest where the scratches were. He thought for a moment.

“Probably gauze. I think these are too long for a giant bandaid.”

Dash nodded. He pulled the gauze out and turned back to Phantom. He blushed.

“What?” Phantom asked.

The thought of Dash asking Phantom to undress was frazzling Dash’s brain. He only had to unzip the top part of his jumpsuit but he’d never seen Phantom in anything besides that before. What would he look like underneath?

“I need, uh, you to unzip the top part of your jumpsuit so I can wrap the gauze around your chest.”

Phantom looked back down at his chest. “Oh.” He unzipped the front of his jumpsuit and pulled his arms out. He looked back up at Dash.

Dash’s blush went all the way up to his ears and he tried not to stare but he couldn’t help it. Phantom’s skin was so different from other ghosts. He was so much more human-like than them.

Phantom held his hand out for Dash and he looked back up to his face.

“I can do this if it’s too weird for you.”

“It’s not weird!” Dash blurted out. “I just, uh- I don’t-”

Phantom grabbed the gauze out of Dash’s hand and started wrapping it around his chest. “That’s okay. Sam was kind of awkward the first time she had to do this too.”

Dash nodded, but he was disappointed. This could’ve been an opportunity to get close to Phantom. To maybe graze a hand against his skin. Feel what a ghosts skin would-

“Dash?”

He jumped. “Yeah?”

“I’m all done. Here.” Phantom tossed the roll of gauze back to Dash. He fumbled to catch it and when he did he stowed it back in his first aid kit.

Dash put everything back in his backpack and threw it back on his shoulder. He stood up and waited for Phantom to shove his arms back into his sleeves before he offered his hands to help Phantom up.

Phantom looked at them for a moment before he reached up and grabbed onto Dash’s hands. Dash pulled Phantom to his feet and then they just stared at each other. Dash’s grip on Phantom’s hands tightened. He took a step closer to Phantom but then someone shouted at them.

“Look! It’s Phantom!”

Dash looked up around him and was shocked to see how many people had gathered around them. Where had they all come from? Were they all watching the ghost fight from their homes?

“Phantom, who is this boy? Why is he helping you?”

“Is that your boyfriend?”

“Who would be crazy enough to date a dead person?”

The voices clamored around them and Dash felt like they were pressing in on him. Phantom glanced at him and let go of his hands and instead wrapped an arm around his side.

“Gotta go!”

“Wait, wha-!”

Dash yelped as he was pulled into the air with Phantom as he took off in flight. He’d never flown before. Not even in a plane. He squeezed his eyes shut and wrapped his arm around Phantom’s shoulder. The flight was quick and soon they were touching down on the ground.

Dash peeked an eye open and saw that they were standing in front of his house.

“That was fast.” Dash said, out of breath.

“Yeah.” Phantom smiled at him. “My top speed we’ve clocked so far is a hundred and twelve miles per hour. I can get anywhere in town pretty darn fast.”

“Dang. That’s cool. Kinda scary.”

Phantom smiled. “You get used to it after a while.”

They looked at each other for a moment before Phantom seemed to remember he was still holding onto Dash. He coughed and pulled his hand away and it drifted across Dash’s back, leaving a trail of butterfly inducing tingles.

“Well, I gotta go. I have things to do.”

Dash let out a nervous laugh. “How busy can a ghost possibly be?”

“Like I’ve said, I’ve got to keep some of my secrets.”

Phantom started floating up into the air.

“Aw, come on. We’re not close enough for that yet?” Dash shouted up at him.

He smiled down at Dash. “Not quite. Maybe one day.”

Phantom waved down at Dash and then he flew away. Dash’s heart fluttered and he waved back belatedly.

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

Dash was laying in bed. He was ready to go to sleep after such a long day. He could almost fall asleep right now.

He started drifting off but was interrupted a moment later.

Phantom flew through Dash’s bedroom wall and crashed onto his bed. Dash jumped up and stared at the boy that was suddenly next to him.

“Phantom?” Dash exclaimed.

He was curled up on his side next to Dash, holding his stomach.

“I didn’t… I didn’t have anywhere else to go. Tucker is out of town and the far frozen was too far away for this one- ah!” He clenched his stomach again.

“No, no. That’s what I’m here for. That’s why you guys agreed to let me join your team. So that there was someone else there to patch you up.”

Phantom shook his head. “This one’s worse. There’s a chance I’ll-”

A white ring appeared around his waist. Phantom tensed up and groaned before it disappeared again.

“What was that?” Dashed asked, staring.

Phantom shook his head. “You need to start stitching the wound up now. If we wait it’ll start bleeding faster. We can’t-” He tensed up again. Sparks flew around his middle. “We have to hurry.”

At Phantom’s plea, he hurriedly got up and grabbed his first aid kit from under his bed. He kneeled down and Phantom turned to his side to face him.

“Can you uncurl for me? I need to take a look.”

Phantom nodded and slowly pulled his arms away from his stomach. They were covered in ectoplasm. Dash gulped and studied the wound. It was deep. Ectoplasm was steadily oozing out of it. He pulled a pair of gloves on.

“This is pretty deep, what if I can’t-”

“Sewing it shut will help.” Phantom grimaced. “Once the wound is shut my healing abilities will have an easier time mending it.”

Dash nodded. “Okay.”

He took a deep breath and got started. Phantom flinched with every touch of the needle. Dash was halfway done when the ring appeared around his waist again. Phantom struggled to push it away, but it disappeared after a few seconds.

“Phantom.” Dash kept stitching the wound closed. “What’s happening?”

“I can’t keep it back anymore.” Phantom ground out. “When I transform, I’m going to start bleeding much faster. You have to keep stitching me up, no matter what.”

“What? When you transform? What does that-”

The rings appeared around Phantom’s waist a final time. Dash tried to keep his focus on stitching Phantom’s wound, but then the rings split. They revealed a very familiar shirt underneath them.

“I’m sorry.”

The rings finished traveling over the rest of Phantom’s body. Dash’s hands shook as the ectoplasm that was steadily coming out of the wound turned into blood. The pace increased and Dash got a glimpse at Phantom’s face as the rings went over his head and Danny Fenton was left in his place.

Danny met his gaze for a moment and then his eyes fluttered closed.

“Danny?” Dash whispered.

He didn’t move and Dash went back to stitching up the wound. He was almost done and he was hoping this would be enough. That Danny wouldn’t…

He shook his head. He couldn’t think like that. He had already seen the impossible. Danny wouldn’t die. He couldn’t.

He made his last stitch and cut the thread. He grabbed a bag and disposed of everything inside it. He was about to put the first aid kit away when he thought about putting a bandage on top of Danny’s stitches.

He pulled a bandage and some gauze out of the first aid kit and when he turned back around Danny’s eyes were already open, staring at Dash.

“You’re awake already?” Dash whispered. “I wasn’t sure- I was afraid that-”

Danny shook his head. “My healing powers are already working. It just needed help getting started. It can’t heal if it’s still bleeding so much like that.”

Dash let out a deep breath. “I’m glad to hear.”

A pause stretched between them and Dash looked down at his hands and saw the gauze and bandage he was holding. He held them up.

“Do you want these on there too? Would it help?”

Danny nodded. “They’ll help make sure I don’t bleed into my clothes.”

Dash nodded back at him. “Your shirt looks pretty bad too. Do you want one of mine?”

Danny shrugged. “Sure.”

He set the bandage and gauze down on the bed and headed to his dresser. He pulled out a shirt and turned back around to see Danny pulling his shirt off.

Heat rose to Dash’s face and the comments Phantom made that first time Dash helped him came to mind. Tucker’s laugh echoed inside his head.

Man, you’re not gonna live this one down.

Sam and Tucker must know. That’s why they were being so weird that night.

He sat down at the edge of his bed and looked at Danny. He peeled the back of the bandage off and put it over Danny’s stitches. He spread his hand out over it, pressing the edges down, making sure they were sticking to Danny’s skin properly.

“Can you sit up?” Dash asked. Danny nodded and pushed himself up, wincing.

Dash leaned closer to Danny and started winding the gauze around his torso. Once he was done, he looked up to see Danny’s face only a few inches from his own.

They stared at each other for a few moments before they both spoke at once.

“I’m sorry.”

Both of their eyes widened. Dash sat up.

“Why are you sorry? I was literally the one wailing on you for so long.”

Danny shook his head. “I lied to you. I never told you who I was. I could see the way you looked at me, but I didn’t think you’d look at me like that if you knew I was also Danny.”

Dash flushed. “You could tell.” He breathed out.

“Yeah I could.” Then he rolled his eyes. “And if I couldn’t, Tucker would’ve made sure I knew anyway.”

“Tucker knows too?” Dash whispered. He didn’t think anyone could see his developing feelings for Phantom. He thought they just would have assumed it was because he was Phantom’s biggest fan.

“Yeah. No offense, but it was pretty obvious. Especially if even I could tell.”

Dash groaned and covered his face with his hands as he leaned back onto his bed. He felt Danny lean over to look down at him. Dash opened his eyes.

Danny met his eyes. His eyes traveled down his face to his lips. He slowly bent down and pressed his lips against Dash’s. Dash closed his eyes again and after a few seconds Danny pulled away.

“It helped that I was looking for it, though.”

Dash smiled up at him. “You did call me cute that one time.”

Now it was Danny’s turn to groan. “I don’t even know what I was thinking. I hardly even remember that.”

Dash placed a hand on the back of Danny’s head and pulled him back down and kissed him again.

“Did Tucker ever let you live it down?”

Danny laughed. “No. Of course not.”

“I bet it’ll be even worse now.” Dash said against Danny’s lips.

“Oh, you bet it will.”

Dash kissed Danny one more time and gently pulled him down to lay beside him.

#gorgi writes #danny phantom #dash baxter #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #swagger bishie #fanfiction #phic phight 2024 #fanfic #fic #phic

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oddballwriter · 1 month ago

Text

Daily Bite

Summary: You take up a job with a trashy celebrity newspaper to go undercover under a housekeeper for a mysterious tycoon family who never lets the public eye see them just outside of Chicago. Your job is simple: collect information and send it back to the company to publish. But it seems like things are stranger than you originally thought they were going to be.

Warnings: Vampire au. No gore happens here, but if this gets enough love, then the story will progress, and there might be a few cases of that in future parts. Gender-neutral reader, no mention of pronouns or any type of anatomy. This whole thing is very pilot-y.

Author’s Snip: Here I go again with my vampires lol. Will I ever finish a series? Who knows. But now this is here and I want to know if you guys are game.

Notes: This whole thing is what I'm going to call a Pilot-Fic. Basically, this is a thought that's been rattling inside of my head, and I want to do it, but I want to see if you guys are interested. So this is basically going to be a teaser and pilot for it to possibly get green-lit by you guys. At the end, I'll put a poll and you guys can choose if you want this to continue.

I’ll shut up now. Enjoy! And don’t be afraid to request.

Word Count: 2,876

Taglist:

You were a journalist who was as broke as bricks. That's how you ended up with this incognito job working for a trashy celebrity press company. This isn't where you had thought you'd be in your life when you studied and majored in journalism, but it was better than having nothing. It wasn't anything personal to who you were sent to spy on; the company was just offering you a fat stack, and your contract had it stated that this was your only job and then you're free, and also they’re able to cover your tracks on who you are so that you’re not identified once everything goes public. So, the only dirt on your hands will just be morally.

Anyhow, your job revolved around an interesting, albeit strange, tycoon family, the Spectors, who’s managed to successfully stay out of the public eye for nearly two centuries now based in the outskirts of Chicago. You aren’t too sure what they’re a tycoon of, but the press company made it very clear that they were very lucrative and secretive about themselves. Locking themselves in their large mansion and even larger estate away from the eyes of the world and doing all their business there. The only people allowed to see or be near them are the staff employed on their estate and a handful of outsiders who do whatever task they’re given and then immediately kicked out, each and every single one of them having to sign nondisclosure agreements and getting buried in cease and desist letters and threats of lawsuits to any who dare say a thing about them.

Thankfully, you aren’t too in the dark as to who’s living in that big old mansion. According to the sparse few who have said something, there are three men who are all identical triplets and are heirs to the family business and wealth, but seemingly all agree to keep to the estate and never go out. Their names are Marc, Steven, and Jake, most likely being juniors and sharing the same names as the other pair of triplet sons from the Spector family before they randomly became closed off to the world.

Not much is known about them other than that those giving the information either got buried in legal papers or chose to shut up. Everything else is in the walls of the mansion and the sealed mouths of the staff.

But that’s where you come in.

There were two job openings for housekeeping and cleaners that the company managed to catch and send to you. You applied, and you managed to get the job. The only thing is, you would have to pack up and move into the mansion since the only job is listed as a live-in. That was fine, though, you’d still be getting paid by the owners, have a roof over your head, and food, so you would have to find a place to rent and try and supply yourself with groceries. So you packed up what you had and headed off for Chicago and the Spector estate.

However, it seems like the universe wanted to give you a bit of comeuppance though. The press company wanted you to arrive a few days early so that “they don’t have time to hide anything”, but the day that you made it to Chicago it was bucketing rain and you still needed to get to the estate in the outskirts. You did pack an umbrella, but it wasn’t doing much good in these conditions.

You decide that the best way to get there is a taxi. Thankfully, just as soon as you signal for one, one comes shortly after. The driver rolls down the window; you can’t see him too well due to the screen between the driver and passenger seat, but you can hear him clearly when he asks where you’re heading. You tell him, and he says he knows how to get there. You then pay him upfront to save you from having to pay when you get there since you’ll have to take your luggage out of the trunk too.

Sliding into the back seat, you find that he’s also got the screen between the front and back of the car, still obscuring him from being seen properly by you, coupled with his driver's hat and coat. It doesn’t really matter to you. You’re just happy to get a break from that god-awful rain for now.

“This money better be worth it.” you quietly grumble to yourself as the driver takes off.

Along the drive he starts conversation with you. Nothing too big, just casual small talk.

“So what’s over there for you at the old Spector place?” he asks. “I got a job there,” you answer simply. He lets out a ‘huh’ as a response. “Not a lot of those in there.” he says before adding, “They rarely let new people in. You must be lucky to have gotten that job, huh?”. You shrug, “I guess so. It was the last application I made.”.

“You having trouble with finding jobs?” he questions.

“Yeah. Not much out there for someone like me, I suppose,” you answer.

“What’s your expertise?” the driver asks.

You hesitate to answer at first before landing on a half-truth, “Journalism. But I gave up on that. All the good stuff is taken already.” you say. “Journalism,” the driver echoes back. “Why do you say all the good jobs are taken? I’m sure someone’s looking for a journalist out there?” he says after a moment. You sigh and answer in a mumble, “Well, I didn’t find any.” as you thought about your current job.

“But I guess working as a live-in housekeeper isn’t too bad of an in-between job.” the driver says, which catches your attention and makes you confused. “I never said what I was going there for,” you say in your confession. The driver notices your apprehension and says, “Lucky guess. Most people who get a job there are there to be housekeeping.” with a nonchalant attitude. That shook off your confusion, and you shrugged back with your own remark, “Well then, I’m no different.”.

After a brief silence, the driver speaks again with a strange question.

“You’re not scared, are you?”.

“Why would I be scared?” you question.

“People like to tell scary stories about that place. Talking about how they never seem to leave that old place and don’t talk to anyone and making up all kinds of stuff.” the driver says.

“What kind of stuff?” you ask.

You can hear a sort of humor in the drivers voice as he talks, like what he’s saying is like some big joke to him.

“All kinds of stuff. Like how the mansion’s haunted and that there’s all this mystery about the family, why they just randomly closed off to the public centuries ago and haven’t left since, and all sorts of stuff. Some people like to say that the original family never actually grew old and died to leave everything to their descendants and that they’re actually vampires living amongst themselves.”.

You psshh at the thought of that. You had actually heard that crazy theory before while researching what there was a record of about the family after taking this job, but you knew that it wasn’t real. You had heard that the three sons started acting off all the way back before hermitting themselves, but it was known that their parents died very suddenly and that it was possibly a mourning thing that they never left that phase and that the rest of the generations kept to for whatever reason.

Other than the records predating the 1840s, you found nothing. Except for one source talking about medical history that made it known that the two first of the triplets, Marc and Steven Sr., were born slightly conjoined at the hip and had some health issues around that. You aren’t too sure why you remembered that one morbid fact, but it was there and might be worth something.

The rest of your ride was filled with more small talk and the occasional look outside the window.

Still pouring.

You eventually reach the outskirts and into a dense area of trees that completely hide the city as if it was never even there, after a bit longer, you eventually reach a gravel road with a big metal gate with tall stone walls up ahead that hide the other side except for a roof of the mansion off in the distance that just manages to peak over the walls into your line of sight.

"You need help getting all your stuff up there? The walk up to the place is longer than it looks." the driver offers, "No extra charge." he adds. You nod and thank him for being willing to lend you a hand as you prepare yourself to get out of the cab.

The gate just happens to already be open, so you don't need to buzz for someone to come get it if there even is a buzzer anywhere.

You take a few of your lighter bags and make the hike up the rest of the gravel path with the driver behind you. So you look back for him, you feel a bit bad since he's walking with no umbrella, with his hat and coat being his only protection from the rain and seemingly having to tilt his head down to keep his face dry, so you go back towards him and share your umbrella with him.

"Oh, don't worry about me." he laughs, "I've been through worse," he says. "I don't want you to get sick," you say. "I don't get sick. But thanks for the concern." the driver responds.

As you walk, the mansion seems to get bigger and bigger and taller the closer you get. It also doesn't help that its dark color pallet is dulled out and looks unmaintained, making it look spooky and straight out of Halloween concept art. No wonder people say it's haunted. It looks haunted. Even the front door is bigger than you once you reach it.

You set down your bags to have a free hand to knock. It takes a while and a few more knocks, but eventually, someone opens it up a bit to see who's there. You peek your head in a bit to see a stout older woman who has grey streaks in her hair already and wrinkles that emphasize her bothered expression.

"No solicitors." she says before you can even get a hello in.

"I'm not a solicitor," you say before you introduce yourself and say that you're here to be one of the new housekeepers.

"You're here three days early." she scowls.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience," you apologize. "Something came up, and I had to come early and couldn't get a room anywhere here till it was time for me to arrive. I tried to contact someone, but the only option was a letter. I guess the mail is slower right now." you lie. Not fully. The only way to contact is by letter was true, and the job offer was actually via a personal ad in the paper. But you never sent a damn letter.

The lady eyes you up suspiciously for a bit before seemingly taking it while grumbling "No one ever tells me anything.".

"You came all the way up here all by yourself?" she questions.

"Oh, no. A driver helped me with getting my bags up-" you explain as you turn to look at the driver, but when you look, he's gone. You look around for him, but you don't see him walking down the pathway or even his cab where the gate is anymore. You turn back to the woman and finish your sentence, "There was a taxi driver who helped me get my bags up here.".

The maid just opens the door and lets you in, saying, "Alright. Get in here before you get any more wet.".

Stepping inside, the maid closes the door behind you and tells you to stay there as she goes off somewhere in the house, which gives you time to get a look at this place.

You find it's a lot bigger on the inside, if that's even possible. There's a large indoor mat at the door that takes up most of the entrance area. The whole foyer up ahead has more space than most people do for their houses, with two old-style grand staircases going up the sides that take you up to the rest of the floors. There are three main hallways that you can see. One on each side of the house just where the bottoms of the stairs end, and one in front of you under where the two staircases meet. This place is just as spooky looking on the inside as it is on the outside too. The lighting is cool-toned, making the place look a bit blue even though some lights are trying their hardest to light the place up. It's also deafly quiet; the only thing you can hear is the echo of the old woman's footsteps along the polished hard floor, but she's far enough away that they've become faint. You can also hear a muffled conversation somewhere within the house, but all the walls that might be between you and whoever is talking make it unknown to you. But as you listen closely, you manage to make out what seems to be three separate voices.

You hear footsteps coming to where you are and see that it's the maid coming back to get you. She gestures for you to follow her and takes you down one of the hallways on the side of the house.

"You're lucky that we just cleaned out the room that you'll be living in while you work here," she remarks. "I'm really sorry about the early arrival. If I had known, then I would have found some way to wait until the day I was meant to come," you claim. The lady humphs back before saying, "I don't like having to repeat myself, but since you're here and your other new co-worker isn't, I'll have to make due.".

"You're the head maid?" you ask.

"Yes." the lady responds quickly, sounding annoyed before she continues.

"We'll do this," she proclaims, "You spend today settling into your room. Tomorrow, I'll give you a brief tour around the house. And the day after that, your co-worker should arrive sometime in the day. After that, I show you both how to do things around here while giving them their tour." she explains. "Got it?" she asks demandingly.

"Got it." you echo.

It was at that point that you two reach a corridor full of nothing but doors where you two stop at one. The head maid pushes open the door to reveal a relatively nice but quaint room. It looks like a very small hotel room, with only a twin-sized-looking bed, a small nightstand, and a little desk with an even smaller-looking personal bathroom. You were expecting something more cramped and a bit dehumanizing, but this was actually really nice. A bit banged up in a few spots, but it was pretty nice compared to the rooms you'd heard about concerning live-in jobs.

"This will be your room from now on." the head maid says as she places a single key in your hand, "This is your key to it." she tells you. She then points a finger right in your face as she orders you, "Do not lose it. If you do, then we have to get all the locks redone.".

"I'll protect it with my life." you joke as you promise to keep it on you, but she just huffs. "The staff have designated breakfast, lunch, and dinner times. Lunch is in an hour and a half. Dinner is at six." she says as she begins to walk away.

You try to ask where exactly you're meant to go for your meals, but she seems to have caught on by herself and says, "Staff's dining room is down the center hallway from where you came in and is the second to last door on the left.", she also adds "You can eat in your rooms too if you want, just don't make a mess. And if you do, clean it up.".

You take a mental note of that and take all your things into your room, shutting the door. You put everything in its place and proceed to take out your pocket journal and pen that you plan on using as you collect information.

"Just arrived at the mansion. This place is already giving me the creeps look-wise. Took a cab here. The driver was friendly but didn't tell me much about the family other than the stories and theories I'd already heard. Met the head maid, was really rude, didn't catch her or the driver's names. The head maid says that she'll give me a tour tomorrow. Waiting for the other new person to come before we actually start working. I'll see if I notice anything out of place on my tour. Haven't seen any of the three owners, yet. My room's nice though."

#moon knight #moonknight #moon knight x reader #moonknight x reader #steven grant #marc spector #jake lockley #steven grant x reader #marc spector x reader #jake lockley x reader #vampire au

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archangeldyke-all · 3 months ago

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Angel, for my second ask I kinda want it to hit close to home.

Im a medical resident and most of my day is spent in a hospital. It’s a tough job and if you could write sevika comforting me in like any way that would literally make my day much better. I don’t have much time during the day to read and haven’t been on here as my vacation ended and I’m constantly busy. If you could work these details into sev comforting me I’d greatly appreciate it. I’ll hopefully read it!

Love your work Angel

medical residency is CRAZY that is so fucking impressive holy shit?!!? best of luck babe, i hope this gives you a smile :) <3

men and minors dni

oh my gosh, she'd find out your in your residency on your first date and her eyes would light up and she'd be like "what's the most blood you've ever seen at once?!"-- and when you just grin like a maniac right back across the dinner table at her and launch into your best, goriest story-- sevika knows she's met her soulmate.

i imagine sevika has a pretty crazy schedule too. but, with a little extra effort and a shared google calendar, you guys manage to find moments to meet almost daily.

whether it's an official fancy date on a rare shared day off, or it's sevika visiting you to split a lunchable on a bench in your hospital parking lot during your thirty minute break at two in the morning; you always find a few moments to cuddle up together.

be prepared for sevika to constantly milk the most minor injuries just for your attention. like, she'll get a papercut, and you think she's chopped her entire finger off the way she's wailing and screaming for you to come into the room.

you give her your best death glare each time when you realize she's fine-- and she just giggles and blinks her eyes innocently at you. "i need a doctor." she pouts, showing you her barely scratched thumb.

"i fucking hate you." you grumble as you walk to your bathroom for a tiny band-aid.

she puts on hospital based soap operas just to annoy you. she loves when you go all nerdy-mode and start to correct the medical inaccuries. she thinks it's so fucking hot how smart you are.

oh, she'll constantly be throwing out teases like "wanna study my anatomy? wink wink?" while she starts getting naked. she's so silly hehehee.

taglist!

@fyeahnix @lavendersgirl @half-of-a-gay @thesevi0lentdelights @sexysapphicshopowner

@shimtarofstupidity @chuucanchuucan @badbye666 @femme-historian @lia-winther

@ellsss @sevikaspillowprincess @emiliabby @sevikasbeloved @hellorai

@glass-apothecary @macaroni676 @artinvain @k3n-dyll @sevsdollette

@ellieslob @xayn-xd @keikuahh @maneskinwh0re @raphaellearp

@iamastar @sevikitty @mascdom @nhaaauyen @micronreadzztuff22

#sevika #sevika imagine #sevika arcane #sevika x reader #sevika x you #soft sevika

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navybrat817 · 1 year ago

Text

Study Habits

Pairing: College!Bucky Barnes x Female Reader Summary: You give Bucky a suggestion to help with his studies and he gives you a gift in return. Word Count: Over 2.1k Warnings: C-ock warming, brief insecurities, college AU, nicknames, slight feels (it's me), Bucky Barnes and he's smitten (yep, he's a warning) A/N: A little more of my out of order Falling for You AU (Time to Study and Strike a Pose) with Titan and Starshine. For Week 4 of Hot Bucky Summer for @buckybarnesevents! Theme - FREE WEEK, prompt starting with "C". ❤️ Not beta read and written on my phone, so any and all mistakes are my own. Divider by the talented @saradika. Please follow @navybrat817-sideblog for new fics and notifications. Comments, reblogs, feedback are loved and appreciated!

Bucky asked you to help him study for an upcoming exam and you naturally jumped at the chance. It was a good excuse to spend time with him. When he suggested his room for the session, you questioned exactly how much studying you'd accomplish. He argued that he would've offered to use the common room, but there wasn't much privacy or quiet with the guys constantly going in and out. And with Steve in class, the two of you had the bedroom to yourselves.

It didn't stop a few of the guys from whistling as Bucky took you upstairs.

"Fuck off! We're studying!" he called back as you giggled.

"I know you're into Science, but I didn't think Anatomy was your thing!" Sam yelled before Bucky shut the door.

Oh, it's very much his thing.

"I think they're jealous because you're dating me," he said, pulling you into his arms so you could wrap your arms around his neck.

"They are not," you laughed a little. The fraternity brothers you met so far were all nice, which you were thankful for. "And even if they are, I'm only interested in you."

Only one guy outside of Bucky had hit on you and you made it clear that you weren't looking to date around.

A touch of pink showed in his cheeks, but he smiled confidently. "Good because they're animals. All of them," he chuckled.

"You may be in a house of animals, but at least you don't live like one."

Despite the stereotype that many fraternity members were sloppy pigs, Bucky and Steve kept their room relatively clean. The little touches of home with posters, knickknacks, and pictures of their families gave you a glimpse of the past and their childhood friendship. The boxing gloves and science books on your boyfriend's side of the room showed you the present.

What does the future look like?

"I'll be sure not to act like an animal until after we study. I'll behave," he promised when you raised an eyebrow. "And this isn't like the last time when I got everything done before we met up. Honest."

"If you say so," you smiled.

Overall, Bucky kept his word as you helped him make his flashcards. He only snuck in a couple of kisses here and there which he kept relatively innocent. You were almost on the last one when he asked you to go through them on his bed. With you in his lap.

"Me in your lap? We know how that ends," you argued.

It always ended the same way. Not that you were going to complain. There was still plenty of time before Steve got back from class.

"But I behaved," Bucky stated as you put the marker down, the corners of his eyes crinkling when you tried not to smile back. "And my lap is much more comfortable than this bed. Trust me."

"You did behave," you agreed as he took your hand and helped you up from the desk chair. "But I don't know. Your bed feels just fine to me," you added to tease him a bit.

"A 'just fine' bed versus my very good lap?" he asked, taking a seat on his bed and running his hands along your hips. "What do I need to do to convince you?"

Keep touching me like that and I'll melt.

You suddenly had an idea, setting the cards by his pillow. "You don't need to convince me, but why don't we make things interesting?"

An intriguing expression crossed his face as his hands froze, much to your disappointment. "Interesting? How?"

I hope he likes this idea.

"I could…" you tried to keep your voice light as you batted your eyes and prayed you looked enticing. "Keep you warm?"

His blue eyes darkened instantly at your suggestion, but he smirked as he considered it. "How exactly do you wanna keep me warm?" he asked, pulling you a fraction closer. "Tell me how."

He's going to make me say it.

Slowly inhaling, you tried not to stumble over your words. "I want your cock inside me while we go over the flashcards," you said, mentally patting yourself on the back for keeping your voice even when your knees were ready to buckle. "Please, Titan. Let me sit on it?"

The audible hitch in his breath was a win. "Since you asked so nicely, Starshine," he breathed.

Bucky didn't hesitate to reach under your skirt and hook his fingers through the waistband of your underwear. You shivered as they brushed along your flesh, his eyes on yours as he pulled the fabric down. Your neck and face warmed under his gaze, your mind still not used to the eye contact this man enjoyed maintaining. But your body was so responsive to his, already wet and aching.

"So, I'll get to appreciate the view while you help me?" he asked, unbuttoning his jeans as you stepped out of your underwear.

You shook your head before he lowered his pants and boxers enough to take his cock out. Your mouth watered as he wrapped his hand around it, watching it swell under his touch. He was thick when he wasn't hard and your core clenched knowing he was seconds away from stretching you with the length of him. "I think I'm the one appreciating the view," you simpered, barely able to resist putting your hand over his.

"You can look all you want," he said, settling back on the bed and motioning for you to join him. "It's yours."

He helped guide you to straddle him once you were close enough, closing the gap between you two to press your lips together. Your heart swelled as you kissed him back. His kiss was steadfast like always, each soft drag of his lips fueling the fire within you. But he stopped you before you could lower yourself down to take him in.

"Let me stretch you a bit first. I don't want you hurting later."

Your heart went from swelling to nearly bursting. While quickies were fun, Bucky only rushed when he absolutely had to. "Please, touch me," you whispered.

His thick fingers parted your folds to dip one inside, making you whine and clench around him. Letting him explore your body was easy. It always was. Opening your heart to him was just as simple and that should've given you pause. Both of you were young and still figuring out your paths, but everything about Bucky told you to take the plunge.

Just keep holding my hand as we fall.

Your eyes slipped shut as he added another finger and peppered kisses along your jaw. "I still don't get how you want me," you said, your eyes snapping open. You hadn't meant to blurt that out and didn't want to ruin the heated moment. "I don't know why I said that. I just meant-"

"You don't get it?" he asked with a frown, making you whimper as he took his fingers out. "You want a list of reasons why?"

"No, Bucky," you replied, but secretly, deep down also wanted a little praise. You just didn't want to ask for it, especially when there was no reason for him to give it to you.

"I'll give you one anyway so you know I'm serious," he said, keeping you hovering above his cock as he licked his fingers clean. The sight made you tremble. "You're delicious."

"That doesn't count as a reason," you teased, though you enjoyed hearing it.

"It counts," he winked. "You're smart. One of the brightest people I've ever met."

You closed your eyes again when he kissed your left cheek, your heart racing at the compliment. "Coming from a genius," you said.

"Hey. I'm complimenting you, not the other way around," he said, brushing his lips against your other cheek. "You're beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off you when we met. I still can't."

I couldn't take my eyes off you either.

"You take the time to talk to me about my interests, like boxing, or my day. And you make sure I'm not getting lost in my own head most days," he smiled gently as you opened your eyes. "I'm not ashamed to say I'm crazy about you."

"I'm crazy about you, too," you whispered.

Thank you.

"And, fuck, you feel perfect," he moaned, making you whimper as he helped you slowly sink down. It was an almost torturous pace as you stretched to accommodate him before he buried himself to the hilt. He felt perfect. He fit so well with you.

"Perfect," you sighed.

"You know," Bucky said after a moment. "I think you suggested this to punish me."

Your boyfriend pouted as you looked at him. He had an actual pout on his ridiculously handsome face. You wondered how much he got away with growing up giving people that look.

Probably everyone.

"How is this punishing you?" you asked, keeping your breathing even possible as you ran a hand through his hair. It was tough to concentrate with him inside you since he felt so good.

"Because I need you," he groaned, like it pained him to not thrust up into you. "I don't know how long I can stay still."

Neither do I.

You cupped Bucky's face with your hands, loving the way he leaned into your touch. "How about we focus on studying, then you can have me?" you suggested, kissing him gently before you settled back.

With a frustrated grunt, Bucky threw his head back. "Okay, but let me show you just how crazy I am about you first."

Careful not to jolt you, he reached over to where the cards were sitting. Instead of picking them up as you expected, he reached underneath his pillow and pulled out a small box. You almost avoided his deep blue eyes as he looked at you expectantly, your heart pounding so fast that you could hear the roaring rush of blood in your ears.

What is happening?

You gasped when he opened the box. It was a pendant made up of his fraternity letters. "Is this a lavalier?" you asked. You knew of the tradition. It was a sign of commitment and affection when a person gifted their significant other with their letters.

"It is. I was waiting for the right moment to give it to you," he said, glancing away for a second. Was he nervous? "And I realize asking while you're keeping me warm isn't exactly romantic and I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for," you said. If anything, the moment felt more real because it was spontaneous.

It feels a bit like love.

"You don't have to wear it if you don't want to," he said, kissing the corner of your mouth. "I know we haven't been dating for that long, but, well, you're my girl and I don't want anyone else. I haven't since you smiled at me at that party."

He wasn't playing fair at all by lightly shifting underneath you, the moment drawing a whine from you. Pure joy settled over you at his words. Wearing his letters wouldn't just show that you were his girl. It would show everyone that he was your guy.

Titan and Starshine.

"But if it's too soon-"

"I would love to wear your letters," you smiled, wanting to assure him the way he did for you moments ago.

He smiled back, his shoulders relaxing as he removed the necklace from the box. "You said you don't get how I want you," he said, slipping it around your neck to clasp it. The letters rested right over your heart, where they belonged. "But I feel lucky because you want me."

"How could I not want you?" you asked, kissing him tenderly and taking an extra second to savor it. "Would you like me to give you a list of reasons why you're the best guy for me?"

"Later," he smiled, wrapping his arms around your waist and glancing at his letters on your chest. "For now, I want you to keep me warm while you torture me by going over those fucking cards."

You giggled, the action making you tighten around him. "You did tell everyone I was here to study. Besides, flashcards are an effective method because it promotes active recall in the brain."

"I think we should make this a new study habit," he said, nipping your bottom lip with a playful grunt. "Because whenever I see them, I'll remember being inside you and want to do it all over again."

"I'll remember that, too."

And with his letters around your neck, you'd never forget that you were his girl.

How can Titan not be crazy about his Starshine? Love and thanks! ❤️

Masterlist ⚓ Bucky Barnes Masterlist ⚓ Ko-Fi

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