#not the best but i wanted to churn this out on a Wednesday and I have to hop off to work my real job weeeeeeee

[cashmoneyyysstuff]

♡ chronicle #2 : bring your dragon to work day ♡

wc : 3739

"what do you do at this job of yours, anyway ?"

"hm ?"

bakugou wants to see where you work.

he loves to act like he isn't, but he is curious to know where you fuck off to everyday, except on wednesdays.

he grunts from where he's sitting across from you at the kitchen table. you're supposed to be leaving for work in about 30 minutes and this was the first thing he'd said to you since you first woke up, besides grunting out a greeting when you had told him goodmorning.

" your job," he grumbles "what do you even do ? you're gone for so long." he dips his spoon inside his bowl absentmindedly a couple times, messing with his soggy cereal. you have half a mind to scold him and tell him to not play with his food until you realise you'd sound like some overbearing mother.

and that he could burn you to a crisp right now if he so chose to, of course.

"oh" you hum, trying your best to talk properly despite eating "'m an accountant." you giggle at how he looks at you like you had spoken a lovecraftian language, his eyebrows pinched and a little frown pulling at his lips, as you expected.

"it's boring stuff, don't worry about it." you wave off. he furrows his eyebrows even harder at that. the idea of him not understanding some puny human trade frustrates him harder than he'd rather admit.

he huffs, stabbing his spoon into his cereal "don't compare you're species' water flea attention span to mine, human. 'm plenty capable of being entertained by your human.." he pouts as he thinks "jargon" is what he settles with, you giggle. he frowns harder, somehow, cheeks dusting a light pinkish color as he scoffs.

"it's not to insult you, mr. oh so powerful dragon man" you joke, causing him to growl at you. you hold back a giggle but you can't keep the smartass smirk that forms on your lips, it feels good to get back at him from time to time.

"it's all about staring at a computer screen n' typing numbers, you wouldn't like it, i honestly get bored of it, too." you finish the last of your cereal and walk off to place it in the sink, you've selfishly gotten used to bakugo doing them by the time you're back from work (he's suprisingly very neat).

"of course you do. you humans always need to be entertained, have someone put on a show for you, 'ts pathetic"

"says the guy who binged the entirety of downtown abbey in one sitting." you quip.

he spins around to look at you wide eyed and you can't stop the ugly snort that leaks out. he glares and growls at you, ears pink as he sputters for something to say, a mix of insults and excuses pouring out of his mouth "yeah, yeah i get it, i get it. no need to explain yourself to me" you smirk "i am but a puny human, after all." you finish smugly, he all but gives you the nastiest glare, trying to burn you alive with his stare alone, knowing he very much could. right now.

and yet he doesn't. he refrains from questioning as to why and simply growls at you, then leans forward and snaps at you like a rabid dog. you squeal and run off to your room to change, giggling to yourself.

he shakes his head, a ghost of a smile on his face before the thought crosses his mind again.

bakugou wants to see where you work, he wants to know how you work. and maybe, just maybe, he's a little curious about what you're like at work. are you as quippy and annoyingly witty and cheeky as you are with him, a dragon as powerful as him who could easily destroy more than just the wall of your apartment ? do you also share food and watch rom-coms and scrunch your nose in that stupidly cute way you do when you try to hold back your laughter with your coworkers ? do you pout at the people at your job the way you do at him when you notice how he had managed to sneakily steal a bite of your food ?

the thought makes something nasty churn inside his stomach, something he can't explain quite well, but doesn't like at all.

you come back out then, dressed up all proper, different than what you look like from when you have your movie marathons, that's one thing your other stupid human coworkers don't get to see, he knows. something akin to smugness bubbles up in his chest, he quickly brushes it off.

"alright, i'm off" you sigh, looking at your phone camera to fix up anything that seemed out of place. you absentmindedly pick at something on your jacket as you speak "i'll be back by 8 if everything goes according to plan" you reassure, you notice he's a little bit of a stickler and likes keeping things on schedule, getting a little antsy angry whenever you're not back by the time you usually are. he merely grunts in response, gulping the last of his cereal down, his adam's apple bobbing as he swallows—you look away.

he grabs your wrist when you pass by him, you let out a suprised little gasp. he glowers at you, deep red eyes focused on yours as he seems to be debating with himself on what to say.

"what's up ?" you stutter quietly, you don't dare speak louder.

"i—wanna see.." he looks away, his grip on your arm tightens slightly "where you work" he's staring at you intently. you want to look away, but you can't.

"you really wanna see where i work that bad ? you really won’t like it." your answer comes out somehow breathy, but there's a joking tone to your voice. he keeps leering at you and you know you have your answer.

"i—" you sigh, looking down at your phone's clock , you have to leave in a few minutes to catch your train. "i can take you." he sits up a little straighter, his tail rising from where it’s propped on on chair "but !" you continue " knowing you— you'd end up burning some of my coworkers. sure, some of 'em deserve to get roasted a little, but that wouldn't be good for me." you lean forward to pet his head, you notice and ignore how soft his hair is "we're gonna have to write that off for another time." you jest softly, snorting when he smacks your hand away. (you don't seem to notice how red he's gotten from the simple touch). "when the hell is that ?!" he growls after you as you walk off.

"when you learn to behave !" you call back from the front door before he hears it close. he scoffs to himself, sulking off to wash the dishes you'd left behind.

him ? learn to behave ? like he couldn't already ! he was being pretty well behaved for not chomping you and your stupid job up right fuckin' now !

"learn how to behave, my ass." he mutters bitterly to himself, scrubbing aggresively at a particularly sticky piece of food.

he could behave, he could behave so fuckin' well you'd be suprised at it !

and he'd prove it to you.

your office building is suprisingly big.

of course, nowhere near as big as his hoard, but it's getting there.

tracking down your scent wasn't hard considering he's been staying with you for a while now. he found your building rather quickly in his dragon form (optic perception on, of course. humans get freaked out too easily).

he could definitely get you here way faster than that tiny cramped metal box you call a "train", he shoves that thought to the side for now.

bakugou katsuki is a selfish being, he lives true to himself and fights for what he believes he deserves. he's stubborn, headstrong and he does not submit to anyone. nobody. absolutely no one.

but for a second he thinks, maybe, he should've listened to you and stayed his ass home.

the building is way bigger than it looks from the outside, bigger than the fortresses filled with piles upon piles of gold and jewelry he'd seen back in his homelands. the pristene white walls damn near make him dizzy and the smell of plastic, hand sinitizer and coffee fills his nose. this complex is crawling with humans, he can smell it. he can see it. they're walking, talking amongst themselves, running, talking on the phone, constantly moving. except for one sitting at a desk. he decides his best bet is them.

he walks up to a woman, who greets him with a bright smile and a polite "good morning sir, how may i help you ?" katsuki bets she wouldn't have talked to him so casually if he wasn't hiding his horns, wings and tail.(humans get freaked out way too easily, pathetic.) the woman has some sort of card dangling around her neck, was she owned by someone ? he can just barely read the small letters "secretary". was that her function ?

whatever it is, this human says she can apparently help him. but c'mon, he's a fearsome, powerful dragon. as if he needed help from some-

" i need to find someone."

katsuki feels likes he's going to lose his mind.

humans are far more dreadful than he’d imagined, he won't say it out loud, but he won't underestimate them from now on.

the secretary, upon finding out that he was here for you( it took them about 10 minutes to figure out was you he was looking for, fuck you for not telling him humans worked in different building blocks) proceeded to give him directions to your block. okay, not too bad.

except it's been 20. fucking. minutes. and still no sight of you.

this should've been easy. he had travelled through the havenfall forest like it was nothing. crossed throught the yonara sea with nothing but the scales on his back. this really should've been easy.

when he thinks about it, that secretary probably set him up. maybe instead of going left, he was meant to go right and she had purposefully tricked him. truthfully, it wouldn't surprise him, humans were vile tricksters after all.

this is the 6th left he's taken, he counted. and he somehow ended up in block f. you're in block c.

humans were vile fucking fiends.

that secretary was definitely praying on his downfall, she must've sensed his astronomical mana output and decided to plot against him. there are too many humans walking around and it's seriously messing with him. he could've caught your scent if it didn't stink of sweat, sanitizer and so much fucking coffee.

maybe he should just make it easier for himself by burning every one of these vile fucking mortals to a crisp-

" knowing you- you'd end up burning some of my coworkers. sure, some of 'em deserve to get roasted a little, but that wouldn't be good for me."

katsuki takes a deep, coffee filled breath and trudges on, trying to catch even the faintest hint of your scent, relying solely on his instincts, fuck the secretary and her godforsaken instructions.

he'd find you all by his-fuckin'-self. who needs help from those rotten humans anyway.

he'd show you he could behave.

"l/n, someone's here for you !"

you lift your head up to glance curiously at your coworker sachi, she gestures for you to wait when you mouth "who ?" silently. her head pops past the door frame, dark brown curls bouncing around as she gives you a look, eyebrow raised.

"says his name is bakugou."

huh ???????!!

you must look beyond surprised because your expression seems to alarm your coworker. you hear her tell bakugou to wait a minute before she's speedwalking over to you, grabbing an office chair from your absent coworker next to you and sits down.

"do you know him?" she questions, playing around with her badge absentmindedly. you snap out of your stupor and groan, rubbing at your forehead "unfortunately" you grumble.

her face changes from mildly amused to serious "need me to get 'im out ?" you quickly shake your head " no, no ! don't worry he's not like that!" she still seems suspiscious , but tilts her head to the side, coaxing you to say more.

"he's.." you pause "a friend—of sorts"

"of sorts ?" she repeats

you nod "of sorts."

"..sooo…with benefits orr..?"

you sit up, revolted "get your mind out of the gutter, you dog !" you groan, covering your face with your hands.

she leans back and barks out a loud laugh "m'just askin' ! so, just a friend, then ?" you nod. "kay, got it..what's he here for ?"

"i'd love to know !" you exclaim "i don't know why he can't just stay at home—"

"at home ? what, he lives with you ?" she seems even more amused and intrigued "you bitch ! you're supposed to tell me if you get a boyfriend, i'm trynna live the office rom-com best friend experience !" she giggles with a cat-like grin, looking utterly too pleased with herself.

"it's not like that !" you moan "it isn't—he's not my boyfriend, first of all" you glare at her seriously but you can feel the immense heat gathering in your cheeks, your voice trails off towards the end of your sentence. sachi doesn't look the least bit convinced as she gives you a half assed "uh-huuuuh.."

"he's my roommate..of sorts" sachi snorts "he got evicted from his flat and he's staying with me until he's back on his feet !" you speak rapidly, hoping the story you cooked up in .2 seconds sounded somewhat believable.

sachi giggles some more before shaking her head " alright well, don't let him take advantage of your kindess, you know what doja said." she concludes, before walking back off the her own cubicle, not before telling your dragon companion you'd "be there in a sec."

bakugou looks like he's been through the cold war when you see him.

he's heaving, fuming. glaring hard at you. you're so confused you forgot were supposed to be mad at him.

"ba—"

"no." he growls, lifting his hand up to silence you. "shut up. i'm talking." his voice is this close to cracking, you're starting to get a little worried about him so you simply nod silently.

"i've been stuck, walking around aimlessly in this..prison realm. for two. fucking. hours." he gasps. looking down at the floor with his hands tightened into fists. you can't tell if he's shaking from anger or if he's about to cry, you feel a little sorry for him but you can't help but find it a little funny the great dragon man has been reduced to this from just two hours inside your office building, you can unfortunately relate a little too well.

"can you imagine that ?!"

"i can, actually, i work here—"

"it's a fucking nightmare !" he interrupts, you're not even sure he can hear you. "this place is a fuckin' maze , there are way too many blocks, why do you anthropoids even need a fuckin' block z ?!" he cursed, you snort. "that stupid secretary woman set me up 'take a left right at the second hallway and you're there !' my ass ! i'd like to see her take a left towards the gates of the underworld !" you laugh out loud as he very crudely mimics mayu's voice, the wretched secretary he'd encountered.

"don't be mean, mayu's real sweet" you jest. his eye twitches and he glares at you in disbelief. his expression is near cartoonish and you can't help the giggles that keep bubbling from your mouth.

"sweet, my ass ! the witch lied to me ! had me walkin' around this fuckin' deathtrap from front to back ! there are too many damn people around and it reeks of goddamn coffee!" hes heaving by the time he's done, you feel a little bad for laughing. being thrown in such an unknown environment must've been more than a little shocking.

except he wasn't thrown anywhere, he had decided to be a stubborn little shit and not listen to you, so you really didn't feel all that bad.

"well..." you sing "i told you it would be boring". he huffs, then scoffs at you, crossing his arms "nothin' boring about any of this."

"you could've just stayed home, y'know?" you quip

he scoffs again, like he wasn’t just having a breakdown three seconds ago. "i don’t take orders from anyone, much less from you, shitty human."

"right." you shake your head, though the grin on your face remains.

there is definitely nothing boring as long as bakugou's involved.

it's quiet until he mumbles something you can't quit catch, "hm?" you hum "i proved you wrong" he grumbles, abnormaly quiet.

"about what ?" you question

he looks up at you, smirking smugly " 'bout me not being able to behave, didn't kill any of your shitty human companions even though i had every right to" he huffs, cockily raising his nose up at you.

" there are plenty of people who dont go around killing others, yknow ? here, we call that being a normal human being" you laugh when his grin immediatly falls "though i suppose i can compliment you, you exceeded my expectations."

katsuki scoffs for the umpteenth time, head raised high again. he refrains from mentioning how he thought about burning the place down more times than he could count.

"is that really all you did this for ? to prove me wrong ?" you chortle incredulously " you're truly unbelievable."

"tch. s'not it, you shitty human" he grumbles, you tilt your head. "i told you why.." he mutters quietly. he won’t meet you eye like he so proudly did earlier, looking anywhere but you. it clicks.

you gasp "you really wanted to see me at work that bad?" he growls lowly to himself and you know you have your answer. "hey, it's really nothing special, i told you it's boring stuff, to everyone, no offense." you jest softly, walking a little closer to him. he squints at the wall next to you and sniffs, but doesn't back away. he meets your eye again then and you feel just like you did when he first appeared a few weeks ago, when you felt like you couldn't move, when being with him felt so..right.

"s'not about it being boring" he says lowly, lowering his head towards you "s'not about you sittin at a computer or the stupid numbers." his stare is intense, it feels like he's looking through you. "it's about.." he trails off, taking a breath as his cheeks darken the slightest bit, you can see it well with how close your standing.

" 'ts about—i wanted to—fuck— i wanted to see you" he spits "i wanted to see if you act the same at your stupid job than when you're with me. wanted to know what's so special about this shitty place that has you dressin' up an' stayin' late. i—" he cuts himself off and looks away again, shame crawling up his back as he realizes how far he's fallen, for a human.

and it barely bothers him at all.

he's quiet again and he looks down at the carpet design on the floor. you haven't known bakugou for all that long, but you think you understand what he meant. it warms your heart that despite acting mostly indifferent, he wants to know more about you as much as you want to know more about him. it makes you think about how you're both mysterious to each other in your own ways. him being a dragon and you simply being a human.

or maybe it makes you a smidge happier that he wants to know more about you. just like you want to know more about him

you probably shouldn't, but you reach up on your toes a little to rub at his suprisingly soft, blond spiky hair. it feels nice between your fingers, it feels right.

"i appreciate it" you whisper softly scratching at where his horns would be, you’re not used to them not being there "you did a good job today" you hum.

you congratulate him despite claiming he was just doing what a normal human being would do minutes ago, but katsuki can't bring himself to care when you're hands feel so good, so right in his hair.

he tells himself it's because he's tired that he isn't smacking your hand away like this morning (which he secretly regrets). he's had an extremely tiring day and he can't give enough of a shit to stop you, he won't let this slide as easily next time, he tells himself.

so for now, he allows it as he leans against your hand a little more—and fuuuck does it feel good.

you catch a slight purr like noise coming from him as he leans into your touch more, you decide not to comment on it, for now.

when you pull away, you don't fail to notice the way his head follows your warmth for a second before he retracts fully, slowly blinking at you sleepily, today must've been tiring for him.

"lemme go get my stuff and we can go home, hm ? think you've had enough of the office life for today." you chuckle.

we can go home. he likes the way that sounds.

he grunts in agreement, toeing roughly at something on the floor with his shoes "don't wanna step foot in this place ever again" his ears prick up at your laughter and just this once, he refrains from commenting when you sing out a "told you so ! "

when you’ve returned you're throwing your bag over your shoulder and already looking at the next hour for your train when bakugou stops you with a smirk, telling you he has another, faster way. ( thinking back on it now—you should never have trusted that damn smirk)

today, you rode home on a dragon—for the first and most definitely—the last time.

whooo this one was a lil extra long , i hope you enjoy ! i had alot of fun writing it ! <3 also the more cultured ones among you mightve seen that i did infact steal the havenfall forest and the yonara sea names from yuzuyas fantasy series LMFAOO, go check him out on yt his audios absolutely smack

taglist : @rosemarygalaxy @slashersl0t @guccirosegold

[strangersteddierthings]

Shovel Talk(s) Final Part

Part One 🦇Part Two🦇Part Three🦇Part Four

Steve starts with Dustin. Not for any particular reason. Dustin is just the first person he ends up seeing after an entire weekend spent at Eddie's house. They'd redone their date in Indy on Saturday, getting back into Hawkins late, so Steve stayed the night. He had a morning shift at Family Video but it was Robin's day off so he didn't see her.

Dustin called at 11:00am on Monday to ask for Steve's assistance with his bike's flat tire. He needs a ride to Melvald's for a new tire tube and pump, and since Steve's shift doesn't start until 2:00pm he agrees.

Steve picks him up and listens to him ramble about his weekend and how he the tube got a hole in it. He stays in the car while Dustin runs inside to make his purchases, and then they're back at Dustin's house. Dustin knows how to change out the tube on his bike; he's been raised by a single mother for longer than Steve's known him so he's pretty self-sufficient, but Steve still offers to do it and Dustin lets him.

It's little moments like these that really let Steve feel like Dustin's brother. Which is what makes it easier for Steve to say, as he is peeling the tube from inside the tire out, "hey, do you remember a week or so ago, when you said we were happy for Eddie and me?"

"Yeah," Dustin says as he's ripping open the package the new tube is in.

"You also told me to not hurt him. I- why'd you say that?" Steve halts his progress on peeling the tube out to look up at Dustin.

He watches as Dustin turns sheepish, "I. Well, mostly I said it so that when I talk to Eddie, I might feel less bad about threatening him."

"What? Why did you threaten him?"

Dustin finishes freeing the new tube from its prison before finally looking back at Steve, "I haven't yet. Mike was talking about how Nancy gave you a shovel talk a while ago, as Eddie's 'best friend'," he makes air quotes around the words, "and I'm your best friend, so I have to give Eddie one. But Eddie's also my friend, so I had to say something to you, too."

"That's so-" Steve cuts off, because he was going to say that's so childish but Dustin should be allowed to be childish just a little longer. Part of his childhood was stolen by monsters and Steve can give him a little bit back, "that's a nice thought but please don't shovel talk Eddie. Besides, Erica beat you to it."

"Shit!"

"Language."

"Well, since Erica did it there's really no point in me doing it. She's terrifying when she wants to be."

Steve laughs because Erica can be terrifying. "Give me the tube, or do you want to finish this?"

"No, continue," Dustin thrusts the tube at Steve, who takes it with a grin and gets back to work.

Robin and he are closing on a Wednesday night, so it's been slow all day, and while Steve wants to talk to Robin, he doesn't want to be interrupted. So, they go about their shift like normal and it's only once he's locked the door and flipped the open sign to closed that he seeks out Robin in the back room, where she's counting down the till.

"Can you pause after that? I need to talk," Steve says and feels his stomach churn. He's never.... he and Robin have never had a fight, never really had any issues that required a talk. Not about anything between them anyway. Robin's always just understood him, in the same way he's understood Robin. They've never been the source of each other's pains until now.

"Yeah, of course," Robin finished the coins, marking down the amounts on a piece of paper before shifting to give Steve her full attention. "Are you ready to talk about it?"

"It?"

"Whatever's hurting you," she says. "I don't know what it is, but I knew you'd come to me when you were ready."

"It's been heard to try and talk about," Steve confesses, "because it's never. It was never you that I've been- I still don't know what to say but I know I don't want to be..." he trails off, waving his hands as he grapples for the words he wants.

"Oh," Robin whispers, standing from the desk to approach. "I hurt you. Tell me what I did, so I can properly apologize."

"When you told me to be careful with Eddie," Steve says, "after I told you about our first date. I don't understand why you'd say that me."

Robin looks pained and swallows before she says, "I'm so sorry, Steve. I shouldn't have said that. And I don't- I don't even have a good reason why I did. I know you'd never hurt Eddie. I know you and what I said wasn't even about you. Not the real you, anyway."

"So, why'd you say it, then?"

Robin frowns and looks away from him, shuffling her feet before she says to a point at the wall, "I was friends, or friendly, with a lot of the girls you were with in high school. A lot of one and done dates that I had to hear about, while they cried in the bathroom or on their bedroom floors, wondering what they'd done wrong, why you didn't stay or-" Steve winces as the reminder of who he'd been in high school comes easily out of Robin, but not for the usual reason he winces. It's not because Robin's reminding him he used to be a douche; she's reminding him of all the people he hurt and never cared that he'd done it. He never apologized, and now it's far too late even if all those girls deserve to hear it.

Robin is still speaking, "or whatever. But that doesn't matter now. You aren't that guy anymore; haven't been the entire time I've actually known you and it wasn't fair for me to say what I said. I just- you took Eddie out, and the part of me that spent years of high school consoling friends who felt used by you just spoke. I-I need to work on filtering the words that come out of my mouth, because if I'd waited like, four more seconds to process your words and settle in the fact you went on a date we both thought you'd never be brave enough to ask for, then I never would have said it. I'm so sorry, Steve. I know you and I should have known better."

Steve swallows thickly, because it hurt to hear but he also knows she's sorry and that's enough. He steps forward and sweeps her into a hug, crushing her against him. She squeezes back just as hard.

Steve has never felt really hurt about Wayne's shovel talk. It was the first, and the only one he'd say he deserved. Not because Steve deserved to have a shovel talk given to him, but because Wayne should get to have the honor of giving one. Eddie's never had a boyfriend before, and Wayne had spent so long worried about how this town would treat Eddie if they knew he was gay.

So, when Steve sees Wayne again, he just smiles at the man, and gets a genuine smile back. He and Wayne are ok.

He and Jeff apologize to each other next time they cross paths on a Hellfire night. Steve apologizes for being snappy and rude. Jeff apologizes for automatically assuming the worst of Steve. They agree to a truce and a start over.

Steve's convinced he can win over Eddie's friends eventually.

Steve can't talk to Nancy. There's too much left unsaid between them for him to feel comfortable with telling her she hurt him. But it's okay. He and Nancy aren't close friends, and she's leaving for Boston in a few weeks for college. He's sure that the distance, and not seeing her weekly for Lunch Date Day, will help.

So, he's a bit surprised to answer the knocking on his front door to see Nancy. It's an exact recreation of the day she shovel talked him and immediately Steve tenses.

"Uh, hi," he says.

Nancy takes a deep breath and says, "I'm sorry. I thought I was being funny when I gave you that shovel talk, but I- someone made it clear to me that we aren't friends enough to be able to make jokes like that. That's my fault, too. For everything I've done and never apologized for. So, I want to say that I'm sorry."

Steve's a little stumped, a bit perplexed even, so he speaks on autopilot, "It's fine, Nance. We're good."

Nancy squares her jaw and narrows her eyes and says, "no."

"No?"

"No. Don't forgive me. Not yet. Make me earn it."

Steve don't respond right away. He wants to just forgive Nancy, but when he thinks about it, he just wants to do that so Nancy will quit looking so defensive. He's not sure he does forgive her. "You're right. I- we'll work on that, then. Being friends one day."

"Good. Good," Nancy nods. "I'll see you are Lunch Date day, yeah? Or... or would you like me to stop coming?"

He shakes his head. "No, please keep coming. There's, what, three more before you're off to college? We can work towards friends in that time, yeah?"

"Yeah," Nancy gives him a small smile, "see you then, Steve."

"See you," Steve replies and shuts the door as she heads down the walkway back towards her car.

He wants to know if Eddie or Robin gave her the dressing down that brought her here to say sorry.

(It wasn't Robin or Eddie. It was Mike, learning what Nancy had done and telling her it wasn't her place to do that.)

There is one final shovel talk for the remainder of their relationship.

It's the final day in Steve's room at his parents house. He's moving in with Eddie and Wayne, at least until the kid's all graduate. Then he and Eddie might go off somewhere on their own.

He's finished packing up his things from the bathroom, and looks up in the mirror. He sees himself, and almost doesn't recognize the reflection staring back. He looks happy. Actually, really happy.

Eddie appears behind him in the mirror, leaning himself against the doorjam, smiling softly at Steve through the mirror.

"All done, sweetheart?"

"Yeah, babe," Steve says. "Just one more thing."

"Oh?"

Steve slides his eyes away from Eddie in the mirror, back to himself. He lifts a finger and points one accusingly finger at himself and says, "if you fuck this up, Harrington, I'll kick your ass myself."

Eddie's full belly laughter rings loudly in the bathroom and Steve just smiles.

[weemssapphic]

Lipstick Stains - Pt. 14

previous chapter | next chapter | series page

Larissa Weems x fem!reader

summary: Larissa opens up.

words: ~ 1.7k | ao3 link in title

chapter-specific warnings/content: angst adjacent? conversations (lots of dialogue, sorryyyy)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Larissa must have seen the anxiety flash across your face for she quickly began to backtrack, her eyes widening.

“Not like that, darling, it’s alright.” She offered out a hand - you accepted it gratefully and she gave it a tight squeeze before linking your fingers together, her thumb tracing soothing circles over your knuckles.

A heavy silence shrouded the room like a veil - Larissa seemed unsure where to begin, and you were unsure how to encourage her to continue, your stomach churning uneasily. Larissa let out a deep breath and sucked her bottom lip between her teeth.

“I’m afraid I don’t know where to start,” she said eventually with a nervous laugh.

You offered her a soft smile and propped your head up on your hand.

“Umm… how about with Morticia - you did want to talk about her, right?” Larissa nodded and you continued. “When did you guys meet?”

A heavy sigh escaped Larissa’s lips and her eyes darted briefly about the room - you waited patiently as she seemed to collect her thoughts.

“We met on my first day at Nevermore, when we became roommates. I was thirteen. I remember stepping into my room and there was Morticia, hanging up a poster on medieval torture methods.”

You scrunched your brows together, earning yourself a chuckle from the blonde. “She’s always been… unique, in that aspect.”

“So that’s where her daughter gets it from…” You recalled the strange girl from the Weathervane and wondered how much Morticia would have been like her as a teenager.

A crease formed between Larissa’s brows and her lips quirked up into a half-smile. “You’ve met Wednesday?”

“Briefly…” you muttered. “She kind of creeped me out.”

This pulled a genuine laugh from Larissa’s throat. “Her mother was just like her at that age. In fact, she was everything I wasn’t. She was charismatic, confident. She made friends wherever she went - everyone really liked her.”

“You did, too,” you pointed out, and Larissa sighed. 

“I did, too.”

“So… what happened between you?”

“We became friends - best friends. We did everything together. I suppose, in hindsight, it was for the best that we drifted apart… no matter how good I was, Morticia was always just that much better. But I didn’t see it like that back then… I just wanted to be her friend. And when we were together, I felt special. I felt alive.” 

You swallowed thickly - even if it was far in the past, it still wasn’t easy hearing Larissa talk about Morticia like this. Your gaze urged Larissa to continue, however - you could sense it was important for her to open up to you and you wanted her to feel safe with you, no matter how much it made your stomach burn with jealousy.

“Eventually, it turned into something more than friendship. We would hold hands and kiss… I-” Larissa’s eyes fluttered shut, her brow furrowing and a frown growing on her face. “I lost my virginity to her. And then one day, she just started seeing a boy in our class, and that was that. She made it clear that I didn’t mean as much to her as she did to me.”

A bitter snort escaped Larissa’s lips and she opened her eyes - the vulnerability written across her face made your heart clench, and you gave her hand an encouraging squeeze.

“I was devastated. We graduated, went our separate ways. The last time I saw Morticia was at her wedding, which she so kindly invited me to. High school sweethearts, I believe one would call it. A few months later, she called to tell me she was pregnant. Then I didn’t hear from her again until she decided to enroll Wednesday at Nevermore.”

“Larissa, I-”

“As it turns out, Morticia was just the first in a long line of women who could decide, from one day to the next, that I meant nothing to them.”

Larissa’s somber tone made your heart crack a little, and you leaned in to press a soft kiss to her temple. “You mean everything to me, Riss,” you whispered into her skin.

The blonde’s gaze dropped quickly to the bedsheets, her eyelashes fluttering against her cheekbones and her lip quivering just the slightest bit.

“Larissa.” You extricated your hand from hers to cup her cheek, urging her to meet your gaze. “I’m so sorry. I…” You felt your words get caught on the lump in your throat, tears stinging at the backs of your eyes. Larissa’s pupils were wide and her eyes were glassy, her breathing turning shallow as she stared back at you. “I wish I could say or do something to change what you went through.”

Larissa shrugged, blinking rapidly to keep tears at bay. “It’s happened. It’s in the past.”

“But it’s still hurting you.”

“Morticia managed to reopen some old wounds,” she muttered with a sad smile.

“Is she the one who called you that night?” you whispered, your stomach clenching. You didn’t want to pry, but it was something that was still bothering you greatly.

“That was Sheriff Galpin, he’d called to inform me that Morticia had been arrested.”

“Wait - she what?”

Larissa smiled softly at your bewildered expression. “That, my love, is a long story. It’s since been sorted. But as I’ve said, that woman is a thorn in my side.”

You searched Larissa’s eyes, biting your lip nervously. “What about tonight? What’s going on up there?” You brushed a finger across Larissa’s temple to emphasize your point and she began to blush profusely. 

“I-I’m sorry… I think I got a little jealous,” she muttered, hiding her face in the crook of her arm.

“Jealous?” You furrowed your brow, wracking your brain for any memory of what she could mean. You’d been having a great time after all, just the two of you - oh. “What, you think I’d leave you for him?” you teased, keeping your voice light as you referred to the man who’d attempted (poorly) to flirt with you at the bar.

“Not for him,” Larissa murmured into her arm, still refusing to look at you.

“So in general, then?”

You were given a shy nod in return, and you pressed your lips to the top of Larissa’s head. “Why?” you whispered. “Why would I ever leave you?”

Larissa peeked up at you. “I don’t know what you see in me.” You were about to protest when she sucked in a deep breath and pressed on, her voice low and shaky. “I’m too old for you - you have your entire life ahead of you, a woman like me is only going to tie you down and burden you. You’ll resent me for it.”

“You can’t be serious,” you snorted, your heart constricting - Larissa had to know how madly in love you were with her. “You’re fucking amazing, Larissa. You’re smart and loving and capable, you’re drop-dead gorgeous, you’re funny as hell. If anything, you’re way out of my league.”

Larissa’s gaze was nothing short of incredulous, her cheeks flaming red. “I’m not out of anyone’s league. Don’t sell yourself short.”

“Why me, then?” you countered with a raised eyebrow. “If you think you’re too old for me, then what’s to say I’m not too young for you?”

“I…” Larissa paused, the brief silence hanging heavily in the air as Larissa’s gaze bore into your own. “I must admit I’ve never been with someone so much younger than I am. And it wasn’t my… intention when we first met-”

“What was your intention then?”

Closing her eyes, Larissa swallowed nervously. “I found you extremely attractive. I was alone. I had time.”

“A quick fuck, then?” you asked matter-of-factly, trying to keep any judgment from your tone - trying to push Larissa into talking to you.

Larissa’s eyes flew open. “Don’t be crass, darling.” After a moment’s hesitation, she continued, choosing her words carefully. “But… yes and no. There was a… pull. I suppose I thought I was humoring you by giving you my number and asking you to have dinner with me, but I don’t think I could have stopped myself if I’d tried.”

“I have nothing to offer you, though.”

“Safety,” came Larissa’s immediate reply. “I feel safe with you. You are open-minded and loving, and I’ve never felt so at peace with another person before. You are intelligent and bright, I can talk to you and I am free to be myself around you. And that is a person who I have always been terrified of being - but you encourage it. Darling, you’ve already offered me the world. I’m just afraid I cannot give it to you in return - that perhaps you deserve more than a broken version of myself.”

“Jesus, Riss, don’t make me cry,” you teased, tears beginning to blur your vision. “You’re not broken. And you don’t have to be perfect, I don’t want that. I just want you to be yourself. Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I really like you the way you are.”

Larissa let out a wet chuckle as tears gathered in her own eyes, her lips spreading into a sheepish smile as she ducked her head back into the crook of her elbow. “I’m sorry. I’m being silly, aren’t I?”

“Having emotions isn’t silly,” you pointed out. “I just wish you wouldn’t worry so much. I’m not Morticia… though maybe,” you paused, your lips pulling into an impish grin, “I should send her a thank you card.” “Oh?” Larissa glanced up, her brows creased in confusion.

“I mean, think about it. If she hadn’t been such a bitch, you might’ve ended up together or something. That really would’ve sucked for me.”

The laugh you received from the blonde made your heart soar, and you leaned in to press your lips to hers. She smiled into the kiss - it was wet, and it tasted salty from her tears, and you pulled back to wipe her cheek with your thumb. 

“I couldn’t imagine wanting to be here with anyone but you, my love,” Larissa whispered affectionately.

“Good, because you’re mine,” you growled playfully, slinging an arm around her bare waist and tugging her closer. 

The dazzling smile that Larissa offered you in return made your heart feel ten times lighter.

x

Taglist: @mysaviorfalsegod @imlike-so-gaydude @rainbow-hedgehog @enchantressb @alder-saan @eveymay @amateurwritescm @brienneswife @principal-weems09 @messynessi @larissaoftarthweems @anti-bright-places @lvinhs @catechristiesstuff @ladyzmilf002 @milfsloverblog @opheliauniverse @orangeisnttheonlyfruit @im-a-carnivorous-plant @alexusonfire @bigolgay @kimiinou @wastdstime @scream-queenlover @imprincipalweemspet @justcallmelittleone @willowshadenox @milfsloverblog @leftoverenvy @yahaqueen @peggycarter3 @lilfartbox1 @makemyworldworthliving @crow-raven-crow @mosscoveredcrucifix @opalthefrog @barbarasstar

Let me know in the comments if you'd like to removed from or added to the taglist <3

[creative-caramel-coffee]

hi can you please do something where reader gets in trouble so has to go to weems office for a meeting but she wakes up with the cold/flu and still drags herself there, shes barely paying attention to the lecture shes getting on behaviour but weems is so annoyed she doesnt notice until her sneezes/sniffles give her away despite reader being adamant shes fine? leading to some soft taking care of by weems?

Sickness and Spiders

Pairings: Weems x Reader (platonic)

Word count: 1.3K

Summary: You get in trouble for something you didn’t fully understand, the whole time your feeling sick as and Weems is yet too notice.

TW: vomiting, flu symptoms, spiders (mentioned), fainting (mentioned), lectures, fever

A/n loved this request, hope you do too :)

I mean was it really your fault, had you known Wednesday was going to use the spiders to torment Bianca you would have never given them to her. You should have known better, yes. But the classes you had all afternoon, had seemed to numb your already aching mind. Yoko had been sick a few days ago and was starting to get over it, her vampire immune system reducing the flu to a simple cold. However, being around her in close quarters for days on end as the two of you shared a dorm meant you had gotten her “cold.”

After Wednesday had accidentally outted your (unknowing and unwilling) involvement in her plot, you had spent the afternoon in detention. Which you had spent staring at the wall with a blank look as your head seemed to have invisible hands stuff your sinuses and skull with cotton and sand. You had barely even registered being let out before you stumbled down the hall to your dorm which luckily wasn’t too far. You had to see the principal tomorrow morning as she had spent the afternoon dealing with Wednesday and her punishment. Maybe you could plead your case and …. That would never work.

You stumbled over to your bed curling up on-top of the sheets deciding to forgo dinner as your stomach churned at the room seemed to be freezing. You fell asleep at five in the afternoon still in your uniform and hair done up.

It had barely felt like five minutes before you felt hands shaking your shoulder. Blearily you looked up at the attacker through have lidded eyes. Your head was pounding, and your stomach churned. You couldn’t breathe through your nose at all and somehow at the same time it was running down your top lip. Your lips were chapped, and your eyes glazed with the haze of fever.

Darting your tongue out to try and rehydrate your lips you blinked up as you realised Yoko was standing over you.

“Dude. Jeez you look like hell. Are you ok?” She asked and you wiped your nose on your sleeve which made her wince and let out a deep and throaty yes, your voice surprising you at how congested you sounded.

“If you say so. Weems wanted you in her office ten minutes ago. But you should probably-“ you launched off the bed and stumbled righting yourself against the wall and took off down the hall still in yesterdays crumpled uniform.

“-stay here.” Yoko finished looking at your empty bed with a frown.

You did your best to stand upright as you knocked on the door, swaying slightly. Suddenly the door flew open with an angry looking Weems saying there. At the sudden movement your head swam, and you took a step back. Weems took this as an escape attempt and grabbed your arm pulling you inside. You stumbled and weems thrust you into the chair in-front of her desk.

She barely looked at you as she began to lecture.

“I expect this kind of thing from Wednesday, you however Y/n… have been one of my most promising students. I worry what would happen if you chose to follow a path like Ms Addams. I should suspend you; those spiders scared half the first years to death. One actually fainted. She would be concussed if Ms Thornhill hadn’t caught her…” Weems continued to rant as you tried and failed to listen. You had zoned out looking at the stuffed crow on her bookshelf. Eyes still glassy. Your stomach was churning something awful, and you lifted you sleeve, sniffling and wiping your nose on your already wet sleeve. You grimaced at the texture and brought a hand to rest over your stomach. It hurt a lot as it did flips and gurgled angrily.

Weems was pacing now, still not looking at you as she went on and on about how disappointed she was with you. But it sounded like she was underwater. Noise was distorted as your fever raged, messing with your senses and perception of reality. You swayed where you sat using one hand to grip the edge of the desk to stop yourself falling out of the chair. You stifled a sneeze in your elbow grimiaing as it made your head pound with newfound force. It felt like your heart had been moved to between your ears as it was all you could hear.

You sat trying to stabilise your breathing as saliva began to gather in your mouth. You were feeling worse and worse.

Weems froze her back to you, her lecture stopping as she heard you gag. Unfreezing she spun on her heels just in time to watch you throw up in your own lap. For the first time that day she looked at you. You had deep bags under your eyes. Forehead covering a sheen of sweat. Eye glassy. Nose and cheeks pink and skin pale. Drooping eyelids and now dressed in a sicked-on uniform.

Her anger melted in an instant and she crossed the office in a few strides. Perks of being tall. She knelt next to you and looked into your eyes which moved sluggishly to meet hers.

“Oh darling.” She said turning and grabbing some tissues off her desk to wipe your chin clean. You let out a heartbreaking whimper and buried your face in your hands.

“Sh shhh. None of that now sweetheart.” She said and pried your hands off. She felt your face for a fever frowning as she felt a very present and very hot one raging under your pale and flushed skin.

“Sit tight for me darling.” She said and you gave a weak nod. She quickly left and returned with a towel, a plastic bag and a change of what looked like her old clothes. She peeled your uniform off you carefully throwing it in the bag. She wrapped you in the towel still in your underwear as she wiped you clean with a wet rag. Once you felt slightly better, she tapped your arm.

“Arms up sweetie.” She said and you complied slowly. She wrestled the short onto you and you let her. After a minute she pressed a thermometer to your lips which you accepted. Finding your fever too high for her liking weems gathered some more supplies and fed you some medicine. Figuring you had to the flu and most likely threw up from the fever and nausea.

Gently she guided you to the couch and laid a towel down for you to sleep in case you didn’t make it to the bathroom again if you felt sick again later. She placed a bucket next to the couch and wiped the sweaty hair from your eyes. With a hand she cupped your cheek as you began to fall asleep.

“Im sorry darling. I should have known something was wrong when your name came up.” She said softly. “I know you would never do that in your right mind.” She rubber her thumb over your cheek bone and you nuzzled into her hand.

“‘M s’rry. I di’nt know she’s gonna throw them at the fi’st yea’s” you slurred tired and weems chuckled softly.

“Im sure you didn’t darling. Now rest.” She said and patted your cheek before removing her hand and going to stand up.

“Stay.” You said weakly grabbing her hand.

“Of course, darling. Let me just grab my laptop.” She said going over to her desk before returning and sitting opposite you.

“Close your eyes my darling, you need sleep. I’ll be right here if you need me.”

“G’night mama.” You said confused from the fever. Weems froze before softening.

“Goodnight sweetheart.” She said fighting tears that you saw her as a mother.

MASTERLIST

[thetypedwriter]

Solitaire Book Review

Solitaire Book Review by Alice Oseman 

I’ve loved every book I’ve ever read by Alice Oseman. Granted, that’s only been Loveless and Radio Silence, but both of those books were fantastic. I never read Oseman’s infinitely popular graphic novel series Hearstopper, but I did watch the first season on Netflix and really enjoyed that too. 

So going into Oseman’s book Solitaire, had me filled with high expectations and eager anticipation. Unfortunately those expectations and excitement dwindled to something I’ve never experienced with Oseman before: disappointment. 

Apparently, Alice Oseman wrote Solitaire when she was seventeen-years-old. I’m a little confused on the history, but I’m assuming she wrote Heartstopper first and then Solitaire as a follow-up side novel.

Again, I didn’t look into the details. All I know is that she wrote this book twelve years ago, that it was her debut novel, and that it shows. 

Instead of focusing on Nick and Charlie, Solitaire focuses on Charlie’s sister, Victoria Spring. The best way I can describe Tori is that she is Wednesday Addams embodied, which is ironic seeing as Tori dresses up like Wednesday for Halloween in the novel (very on the nose, Alice). 

However, people seem to like Wednesday Addams’ despondent and cynical attitude (I don’t get it, for the record). I abhor Tori Spring. Maybe abhor is too strong of a word, but she was not a likable narrator. She’s pessimistic, apathetic, rude, judgmental, callous, and mean. 

Her whole schtick is that she thinks other people are “fake” and dislikes that people don’t act in the world, allowing the world to happen to them and only being bystanders to violence, hate, and toxicity. 

And yet…Tori does nothing? The entire novel? The person she supposedly hates the most describes the person Tori is herself.

Which I guess is fitting because Tori seems to despise herself more than anyone. You think as a reader that Tori will grow out of her depression by the end of the novel and come to some sort of understanding or epiphany. 

Spoiler alert: she doesn't. 

If anything, she spirals worse and worse, becoming increasingly sleep-deprived, paranoid, despondent, and obsessive. I get that Oseman wanted a more realistic portrayal of mental health perhaps, or maybe she didn’t think it was realistic for Tori to have a happy ending. 

However, she didn't really get any ending at all. 

Before I get to the conclusion of the story, I guess I should actually explain what the novel is about. 

Tori’s childhood best friend, Lucas, suddenly reappears in her life years later. Around the same time, mysterious pranks start occurring around Higgs, Tori’s school.

Harmless at first, the pranks pulled by the anonymous group Solitaire continuously grow in popularity and in danger, eventually leading to a boy getting beat up, Tori getting hurt by a firework exploding near her, and then, at the end of the novel, Higgs burning down. 

You might ask: why did the school burn down?

I wish I could tell you, but I have no idea. 

Apparently, Lucas was in charge of Solitaire and was doing it all to impress Tori and to bring some “joy” back into her life before the jokes spiraled out of control.

However, Lucas comes to understand that Tori is no longer the girl he knew back in primary school and that she’s drastically changed. He did it because he was in “love” with her, but then admits at the end that he was more in love with the idea of her. 

Okayyyyyy. 

Then, for some inexplicable reason, other people are at Higgs at 5am, including one Michael Holden, Tori’s new fiend and resident “weirdo.”

The ending of the novel then churns out nonsense after nonsense. Tori and her ex-best friend Becky confront Solitaire and persuade them to not burn down the school.

But then, inexplicably, Tori walks out of the room and a classroom is on fire. How? Why? I don’t know. 

I’m unsure if the insinuation is that Michael did it or if Lucas or Solitaire still managed to do it, but all I know is that I was confused. 

Instead of getting better it gets decidedly worse. 

Somehow, Tori thinks she’s going to put out a raging inferno with a single fire extinguisher and chooses now to act instead of evacating a burning building, is lead to believe that Michael is dead from the fire, and then decides to go up to the roof to contemplate suicide. 

Somehow, though, her brother Charlie, Nick, and some other people are outside telling her not to jump. Why are they out there? Some kind of reason.

Apparently Lucas tweeted about it or blogged about the fire so the whole student body is there at 5am to witness the school burning down and see Tori standing on the roof. 

But no fire trucks, police, or authority were there originally, because that would be too logical. 

Alas, Michael is not dead and shows up on the roof to tell Tori that she’s his best friend, they kiss out of left-field, and Tori is convinced not to kill herself. 

The novel ends with them driving to the hospital and with Tori realizing she’s not alone. 

….what? 

The ending was such a jumbled catastrophe that I don’t understand what really happened. It was too climactic and intense in a way that was completely at odds with the tone and plot of the story.

You don’t get any kind of meaningful resolution with Tori other than realizing that she needs a lot of help and care. 

This book was a mess. 

Tori was unlikeable, has no discernible growth as a character, and other people weren incomprehensibly drawn to her and wanted to be friends with her, despite her flat out ignoring them, blowing them off, or being uncommunicative. 

The plot involving Solitaire was ridiculous and uninteresting, culminating in an ending that made no discernible sense and lacked purpose and logic. 

I know people love Heartstopper and Alice Oseman (myself included), but this book is not it. If they decided to publish this novel written twelve years ago simply because the show is popular and they said, “Hey, why not?” they chose wrong. 

I know publishers these days have the mentality of milking a series for all its worth, but this book didn’t add anything of substance, purpose, or heart. 

If anything, it detracts from the Heartstopper universe and makes me appreciate how much Oseman has grown as a writer. The Heartstopper universe is doing just fine on its own. It doesn't need side novels about Tori or about any other character.

Leave it alone, please, I beg of you. 

Recommendation: Solitaire is a poor man’s crappy version of Catcher in the Rye—a book Alice Oseman herself mentions at the end of the novel, stating that none of her characters have read it. Well, they probably should have. It’s a much better story than Solitaire.

Score: 4/10

[lumity-rights]

I finally got around to watching Wednesday after having seen a shit ton (affectionately) of wednesday/wenclair posts all over my dash for the past two years, but now it’s somehow like it’s all disappeared from my dash — so, do you maybe have any wednesday/wenclair blog recs?

i love that for you!! absolutely i do, there’s so many talented and funny ppl in the fandom

i’m assuming that you want currently active blogs, so here are some of the ppl i follow with that in mind

@kulai is absolutely one of my fav wenclair artists on here, i can’t express how much i love her art other than like incoherent keysmashes. her art style is so damn cute. no biggie but i owe my life to her for feeding us😭😭❤️

@homicydlgoth has amazing thoughts and every fic they write is a smash hit for me i fear. love to see a vociferousgoth fic bc i just know it’s gonna be insanely good

@enidsinclajr makes a lot of cool posts PLUS is an incredibly talented writer like when i see callingmushrooms post on ao3 i get so excited

@cowardnthief not only writes amazing fics but is great at art?? save some talent for the rest of us😭

@diudiudiu writes the best fanfics i’m so dead serious. i think i’ve gone clinically insane from how good they are. plus they’re working on a wenclair game which is so cool like how are they so incredibly talented????

wait this might lowkey be getting long so i’m gonna wrap it up

@yeta-drewit @sapient-golem @neraalupa @omorisuunny @maoyuyy @leodraws3 all make amazing art!!! it boggles the mind how talented they are

@altf4d3lete has cool theories and thoughts!! plus their writing is fr so so good i can’t

last but not in the slightest bit least @barblaz-arts churns out insanely good art. there are no words to describe the blessings they’ve bestowed on the wenclair fandom😭❤️

i think i’ve covered everyone i’m aware of? SO SORRY if i’ve missed anyone i’m certain there’s loads more talented artists writers and bloggers out there but i hope it’s a good starting list for you anon!!

[mountttmase]

A Mountain To Climb - Part Two

Note - thank you all so much for the love on chapter one. i've been really sick and haven't written anything new so i thought it would be best to post this now so you can can into it a bit more rather than post something random. i hope you enjoy this one too, let me know what you think 💙

Pairing - Mason Mount x Reader

Word count - 2.5k

Warnings - series will contain fluff, smut & angst

Master list

It had been five days since your lift incident and you were glad to now be back home. That didn’t mean you’d forgotten about Mason completely, if anything you were annoyed at yourself for still thinking about him for this long. As much as it looked like it from the outside, you weren’t completely sworn off boys. They had their uses, you just had no interest in what followed after you’d got what you needed from them.

You’d often been labelled as cold by men, but you didn’t let the words effect you. You’d probably never see them again so why did you care what they thought? Plus the double standards made you laugh.

You were working from home this week, but the reality of sitting within the same four walls for hours on end all day was sending you crazy so you told yourself on Wednesday you’d venture out, hence you were now sat in your local Starbucks, nose buried into your laptop screen with an iced latte and chocolate brownie to the side of you.

‘Well, what are the chances’ you suddenly heard, and even though you barely knew him, you could recognise that voice anywhere. Your body froze but your eyes slowly made their way up to connect with a pair you thought you’d never see again.

‘Mason?’ You breathed, and you felt your skin tingle as he flashed you that wide smile of his. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’

‘I had an appointment a few doors down and fancied a coffee for the way home’ he explained, taking up the seat opposite you, and you shut your laptop over so you didn’t come across as too rude. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I’m working, I just came here for a change of scenery’

‘So you live round here?’ He asked, and you nodded before you could stop yourself. His face lit up at this new information whilst you internally cursed yourself. You didn’t want him to know where you lived, after the whole lift incident you were hoping to keep him as far away from you as possible, but luck seemingly wasn’t on your side. ‘You know I almost didn’t recognise you’ he teased.

‘I wish you hadn’t of’ you whispered and your tummy dropped at the hurt look that washed over his face. You weren’t sure what it was about his eyes but they had this weird effect like they were directly connected to your emotions and whatever he was feeling you also felt.

‘You don’t mean that’ he chuckled, clearly trying to brush off your hurtful comment but you didn’t want to let him know you sort of did. ‘We’re bonded by trauma, this is fate I saw you in here’

‘You surly don’t believe in that’ you murmured, opening your laptop back up so you could carry on working in attempts to make him leave, but he wasn’t getting the hint and continued speaking.

‘I mean, I don’t have any other explanation’ he told you quietly. ‘I’ve been thinking about you a lot since I saw you’

I’ve been thinking about you, too you thought but you held your tongue, biting your lip and pushing the thoughts back down so you didn’t say anything stupid, but the way he was looking at you was making it hard. You’d forgotten how attractive he was and how his smile made your insides churn but looking at him in this light didn’t help. The afternoon sun highlighting all the freckles that dotted his cheeks and you willed yourself to keep your expression blank as you looked back at him even though you could feel the butterflies swarming. You could tell he was struggling to know what to say or do, eventually dropping his eyes to the table.

‘I thought you’d be a bit happier to see me’ he chuckled but you could tell he was a little upset by your attitude. ‘I thought we were friends’

‘What made you think that?’

‘Are we not?’ He countered, rubbing the back of his neck before running his fingers over his facial hair. You couldn’t deny his sad eyes were having an effect on you and you willed yourself not to melt under his stare.

‘I don’t have friends, Mason’

‘Sure you do. You told me yourself you were visiting friends when we met’

‘No, I said friend. I have one friend, who I’ve known since I was little. That’s it’

‘Well where’s the fun in that’ he huffed and you had to take a drink to stop yourself from smiling. ‘Come on, I’d make a great friend’

‘Oh yeah?’ You asked, raising your eyebrow at him and he smiled at the fact he seemed to be breaking you down a bit.

‘Definitely. Come on, let me prove myself to you’

‘I’ll think about it’ you breathed and you had to look away as he smiled in triumph. You wanted to smile too, the feeling of being around someone like him felt so foreign to you but you couldn’t deny the way your heart thumped when he flashed you those pearly whites.

‘I tell you what’ he laughed, plucking the pen from out of your hand and scribbling down on the paper in front of you. ‘That’s my number. You can text me whenever you feel like. No pressure or anything’

‘You did not just write on my report’ you grumbled and you watched him swallow nervously.

‘Fuck, I’m so sorry y/n’ he panicked and he was about to speak again when a knock on the window nearest you distracted the pair of you. You turned you your left to see a group of five boys, aged about 12 staring in at the pair of you with shocked faces before pushing and shoving each other in excitement.

You turned to look at Mason, confusion written all over your face whilst he was blushing and trying to hide a smile.

‘Look, I have to go. Just text me please? And I’m sorry about your report’ he smiled apologetically before standing and leaving the table. You watched him walk back up to the counter and have a word with the barista before they led him through a back door and out of sight.

You were left confused. Both interactions you’d now had with him made you question what was going on but you didn’t have much time to ponder it, being snapped out of your bubble by the same barista that Mason had spoken to, placing a fresh coffee and brownie down on your table.

‘Oh sorry, I didn’t order this’ you told him but he just smiled at you.

‘Mason ordered it for you, asked me to bring it over’ he smiled, and you thanked him quietly before he walked back to the counter.

You could feel something wasn’t right, but you were unsure of what it was. Why did he leave through the back door? Why were those kids looking at him? How comes everyone seems to know his name? It wasn’t something you’d ever felt possessed to do before but you wondered if he was worth a quick google, hoping to find him on LinkedIn so you could figure out what he does for a living but you couldn’t remember his last name.

You knew you’d heard it, the receptionist had used it when you’d both come out of the lift and it was on the tip of your tongue but it just wasn’t coming to you. You huffed when you couldn’t quite recall it, so instead you typed in his first name, hoping it would spark some inspiration, when you saw it pop up.

He was the second suggestion that came up after you’d typed his first name in. Mason Mount. You clicked on it with a gulp, unsure about what you were about to uncover but you never expected anything like this.

It was definitely him, and your heart thudded as you took in what you were seeing, eventually clicking on his Wikipedia to hopefully explain to you who he was.

Mason Tony Mount is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking or central midfielder for Premier League club Chelsea and the England national team…

Oh shit.

So much made sense now, all the looks and special treatment he seemed to get and you were eager to know a little more, forgetting the report you were supposed to be writing for now and focusing on what more you could find.

The recent match section caught your eye, showing they had just played Leeds on Saturday, which explained why he was staying in the hotel the night before, and you glanced to see he would be playing Brighton in a week and a half.

You weren’t sure how long you were looking for, and it wasn’t until you phone rung beside you that you remembered you should be working. You quickly answered, your boss asking when your report would be ready but thankfully for you, you were ahead anyway so you told her you’d send it within the hour and quickly finished it off before heading home.

You knew you shouldn’t, but you looked into Mason more on the way home. Looking him up on instagram and you were shocked by how many followers he had. You’d managed to scroll all the way down to a video of him having buckets of water chucked on him when you finally came to your stop.

You tried to think about other things as the night went on but you kept catching yourself reminiscing about seeing him earlier and the way he would switch from shy to confident with you. You knew you had his number sitting in your bag and you were contemplating on putting it in your phone but you took a shower instead, wanting to try and forget about him.

Yes he was gorgeous, yes he seemed like a lot of fun, and yes he probably would make great friend just like he told you he would. But you weren’t looking to add anyone new into your life. You had your select people and that was good enough for you. No need for any changes.

To you, more people in your circle meant more chances to get hurt, so the fewer people you let in the better. Mason included.

You tried forgetting about him for a few days but not matter how hard you did, those brown eyes seemed to be everywhere you looked, wether that was seeing something that reminded you of him, or waking into a shop and seeing his face plastered on the advertisements. After four days you felt liked you’d been broken down and on the verge of texting him but you made sure to distract yourself with other things.

You settled on the sofa after your shower, putting on the news whilst you tried not to think about his number sitting in your bag but your thoughts began to run wild. You wanted to know why he didn’t tell you who he was? Or how long he thought he could of carried on without you finding out? You also felt bad for not thanking him for the coffee the other day. Yes you didn’t want any other friends but you didn’t want to be rude.

In the end you found yourself rummaging around your bag, fishing out the paper and popping his number into the contacts. You thought over what to message him first, wanting to lull him into a false sense of security so you could eventually make him squirm. The idea of inviting him to hang out when his next game was on sprung to your mind, thinking about what he might say to try and get out of it, and you began texting him straight after.

He went silent after that, and you knew he was thinking about what to say. You couldn’t deny you were enjoying teasing him, wishing you were sat with him so you could watch his face as he tried to worm his way out of it, and without thinking anything of it, you hit the FaceTime button.

You sat waiting, and he picked up on the third ring but you couldn’t see his face straight away. You watched as he shut the door to whatever room he’d gone into before flopping down onto the sofa. His face coming into view soon after and you hated the way your heart gave a thump at the sight of his smile. He was dressed in a white hoodie with a purple beanie covering his head and you couldn’t get over how cute he looked

‘To what do I owe this pleasure?’ He laughed ‘you made out like you wanted nothing to do with me, ignored me for days and now I can’t get rid of you’ he winked. ‘Nice hair towel by the way’

‘Thanks’ you said sarcasticly, suddenly realising your hair was still up from your shower and you cringed at how ridiculous you must look to him. ‘Anyway, you made out you wanted to see me but your diary seems to be full’ you told him and you noticed his face falter for a second. ‘Come on then, out with it’

‘I don’t know what you mean’

‘Mason’ you huffed, and he gulped nervously. ‘I already know. I’m just waiting for you to tell me’

He seemed stumped but this, but then let out a little laugh whilst he hid his face. He’d been caught and he knew it.

‘If you know, then why are you making me say it’

‘Cause I want to hear it from you’ you laughed and he finally raised his head.

‘Fine, y/n I’m sorry but I won’t be able to see you on Sunday because the football team I play for has a game that day’

‘Thank you’ you laughed and he shook his head, an unmistakable blush creeping across his cheeks. ‘I appreciate your honesty’

You carried on talking for another ten minutes or so, teasing each other endlessly about pointless things. He tried hiding his face so you couldn’t see him get flustered, but you couldn’t miss his flushed cheeks.

‘I should go, need to get my beauty sleep’ you told him and he smiled gently at you.

‘I mean it looks like you’ve had enough from where I’m sitting’ he said quietly and you gave him a confused look. Was this his attempt at trying to flirt with you? He let out a small laugh before nodding and scratching his head ‘I’ll let you go, speak soon yeah?’

‘We’ll see’ you winked and you both laughed before you gave him a little wave as you ended the call.

You sat there for a few minutes, smiling to yourself before you realised what you were doing, reality hitting you like a slap in the face as you pushed all of these new feelings out of your body.

This wasn't you, you didn't feel things like this when it came to boys and you'd be dammed if you let Mason trap you under his spell like he had been.

Tagged: @alwaysclassyeagle @ricsaigaslec @cinderellawithashoe

[notsocooljess]

WIP Wednesday

(on a friday)

thanks for the tag @thesunpersists 🥳🥳

Share your last sentence or if you don’t have one, share a plot bunny or idea! (or sketch for your artwork!)

here’s a snippet from my “meet cutes” fic

Peeta and I have never been the closest friends, certainly not in the way that I am close with Katniss, but we grew up on the same side of town and have always floated in the same circles enough for us to be friendly. So, I know enough about him to know that when Delly Cartwright invites me out for dinner after school, he will absolutely be in attendance. As far as friendships go, they’re the longest-lasting pair of best friends at all of Panem Senior High.

“Of course I’ll join, Delly,” I respond with a smile, my long hair covering the smoke coming out of my ears as the gears in my brain churn, “Do you guys know where you wanna eat yet?” When she responds no, I offer her my favorite place.

tagging anyone that wants to show off their work!

[wheretheharekissesthefox]

Bon appétit - Chapter 7: Chili

[Astarion/Gale]

It's 2 a.m., Gale's tired and wants some food. Astarion, the cute barista/waiter at the Emerald Grove knows how to sate his cravings.

Trigger warning (18+): Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, No Magic, No Vampire, No Wizard, Graphic Description of Sex, Smut, Anal Sex, Fellatio, Fingering, Waiter Astarion, Professor Gale, Angst, Feels, Panic Attack, Face-fucking, Role-play Breeding, Vomiting, Negative Self-talk

Served to: @patheticfangirl

Special thanks to her for giving me the 'be gay, do crimes' brainworm (thankfully, it's not a tadpole).

"What?"

Shocked, Gale stared at the vet of the Open Hand Pet Sanctuary, stomach churning with anxiety.

"Your cat's diabetes got worse, thus, she needs the double amount of her daily insulin injection."

Gale couldn't move. He already spent 70gp on her medication per month, plus an additional 50 for the testing supplies.

"I recommend switching to a different food as well that fits her new dietary needs better."

Gale barely suppressed a gasp when he saw the price tag. It was four-times more expensive than the special kibble he already fed her with. Another 200gp gone from his quickly dwindling savings...

"You should think about my recommendation," Dr. Logan droned on. "Otherwise, complications could arise, such as cataract or pancreatitis. The price for surgery would be around 3'500gp and 5'000gp respectively. Thus, it should be prevented at all costs."

Gale's ears were ringing, the edges of his vision was swimming, vertigo rising. He steadied himself against the countertop.

He'd made a payment plan for the upcoming year, every spending had been budgeted. Such big additional expenses hadn't been included.

"Mister Dekarios, are you listen?"

"Yes," lied the addressed, trying to keep breathing.

"Well, then that's settled," Dr. Logan said. "The next visit should be in three month. Have a nice day, Mister Dekarios." He bent down to stick a finger through the lattice of the pet carrier’s door to boop the cat's nose. "Bye, Tara, be good."

"Mreeh!" the addressed complained moodily. With a chuckle, Dr. Logan was off, leaving a very ill Gale behind.

"Schedule for March? How about Wednesday, the twelfth, at 9 a.m.?" asked Miss Bramble, the secretary.

"Sounds good," Gale got out, trying his best to keep his knees from buckling. He quickly grabbed the card with the scheduled visit, the medication, cat food, and Tara's carrier before fleeing the building.

"Have a nice day!" lilted Miss Bramble, but Gale couldn't hear it. The latter practically jumped into his car, locked the door, and gasped for air.

His head was spinning as he thought about the new financial situation. 3'080gp. Almost three-times as much as this year. The quarterly vet visits of 80gp each not included. How was he going to afford this?

"Mrp?" Tara asked. Gale ignored her, too caught up in his own head. His heart was beating so fast that his chest hurt, and he was reminded of the plastic-metal device stuck under his skin. He swallowed and tried to keep his breakfast down. With a yowl, Tara banged against the door of the pet carrier, and Gale opened it with shaking hands. The cat jumped onto his lap with an impressive speed and immediately shoved her head under Gale's bearded chin, purring obnoxiously loudly. The former professor heaved a sigh and started petting Tara's flanks. Her purring vibrated through him, slowly relaxing his tense body, and her rough-textured, little tongue flicked out to lick at the corner of his mouth.

"Thank you," Gale mumbled, kissed the spot between her ears, and scratched her chin. "Let's go home, get in your carrier."

"Mro," complained Tara and rolled up in his lap, gently making biscuits against his soft belly. With a small smile, Gale looked at her.

"This is dangerous, you know? A violation of the safety rules."

"Mrm," Tara rumbled happily. Gale huffed a laugh, turned the car key, and drove home.

When he arrived, he was greeted by three more bills in the mailbox and a letter informing him about an 'unfortunate' increase regarding the interest of the mortgage. Gale's heart sped up again, head spinning. His neatly planned budgeting was falling apart by the second. With shaking hands, Gale placed the letters on the table. He didn't want to lose his childhood home, he didn't want Tara to die, he didn't want to be uselessly unemployed any longer, he didn't want Astarion to leave him. What was he even good for? Gale clutched his aching chest, once more reminded of the foreign object inside his body. This time, he couldn't keep the bile down. He barely made it to the bathroom before vomiting into the porcelain bowl.

When Astarion walked through the door, he found Gale in bed. Motionless, an open book next to him - unread -, Tara rolled up behind his back, and eyes vacantly staring at the windowsill. Immediately, Astarion knew something was wrong.

"What happened, love?" he asked while kneeling down next to the bed to be on eye level with his fiancé. The floodgates opened.

"I'm sorry," cried Gale. "I'm such a useless partner, please forgive me. Tara's condition got worse and she needs higher dosages, and the bank told me the interest of the mortgage increased, and it's all so expensive. If I cannot find a new job soon, we'll be broke. I'd have to sell the house. God, Astarion, I'm so sorry."

The addressed held his partner close, shushing him, while rubbing his back gently.

"It's okay, love. Everything's going to be okay," he tried to reassure him.

"How do you know?" Gale sobbed. "You cannot know if it'll be alright. Everything I touch, goes down the drain eventually."

"Stop it!" scoffed Astarion. "None of that unhelpful self-talk. We will get through this. Together. You and me. Partners in crime." He cradled Gale's face in his hands and looked at him, determination clear on his sharp features. "I'm nothing like that bitch. I won't walk away and leave you behind as soon as things get rough. I love you, Gale, and will stay by your side no matter what." He kissed the brunet gently. "I'd do anything for you, my love. Even kill."

At that, the addressed barked a watery laugh.

"I love you too," he sniffed. "I just hate feeling so useless and like I'm failing you."

"You're not," Astarion told him sternly. "You're wonderful, perfect in your imperfection." He kissed him again. "Now, let's eat something. You skipped dinner, didn't you?"

Caught, Gale lowered his gaze, mumbling: "I wasn't hungry."

Astarion looked pained, but tried his damn best to conceal it behind a poker face.

"Come on, love. Let's have some food."

Together, they moved downstairs to the kitchen and Astarion rummaged through the fridge for leftovers. He wasn't the best cook, but still perfectly capable of whipping up something tasty. With Gale's help, he threw together a weird version of fried rice, using leftover deer cutlet, various already cooked vegetables, the rest of a tomato sauce, eggs, and the name-giving leftover rice. It was an abomination in terms of authentic and haute cuisine, but it tasted fucking delicious. The couple sat down and devoured the entire pan of food. Afterwards, Astarion and Gale got ready for bed and fell asleep spooning.

The next day, Gale was still uneasy and anxious, but felt better. He distracted himself from negative self-talk by doing house chores.

When Astarion was back from work at 2 a.m., he was greeted by a spotless home and freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies. He knew his fiancé well enough to know what had happened, but he decided not to comment about it. Instead, Astarion kissed Gale deeply.

"I have a plan," he announced and proudly emptied a shopping bag onto the kitchen table. Confused, Gale blinked at the two black fleece jackets, the gloves, and two black, rib-knit three-hole balaclavas.

"I fear I don't follow. What's all this for?"

Astarion shot him a dangerous grin and replied: "We'll rob the vet."

"What?"

"You heard me, love. We'll drive downtown, break into the veterinary clinic, and steal all the medication and cat food we can."

Gale stared at him, shocked and slightly paler than usual.

"Are you insane?" he got out.

"Probably," answered his fiancé with a nervous giggle.

"We can't just - just steal things, Astarion! That's illegal!"

"Really? I had no idea," teased the addressed with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"I -" Gale was lost for words, rubbing his temples. "Astarion..."

"Come on, love. It'll be fun," the blond interrupted him. "I did my research and there are no cameras inside or outside the building. Plus, there's a back door that we can use. There's not much risk involved and I can't stand how those sad cow eyes look on you."

Gale balked and huffed disgruntledly: "I don't have sad cow eyes!"

"You do," Astarion retorted matter-of-factly. "Now, get dressed and let's rob the place."

"That's... we can't -" Gale sighed deeply. "We'll get in trouble. This is an insanely stupid thing to do. We're not some low lives. It's not right."

"The only thing that isn't right is that you have to pay an arm and a leg for Tara's medication," Astarion told him. "They squeeze you dry. In the not sexy way."

Gale snorted a laugh and his partner's face softened. As the latter wrapped his arms around Gale's neck, he said: "Just think of it as a spontaneous date. A brush with danger can spice things up."

The brunet groaned, burying his face in the crook of Astarion's neck.

"You're an awful influence on me."

"And you'll thank me for it."

They were doing it. They were really doing it. Anxiously, Gale tapped against the steering wheel, leg bouncing, as he watched Astarion adjust the balaclava. Then, the latter turned, shooting him a smile.

"Ready?"

"No."

Astarion laughed gleefully.

"Off we go then."

They left the car which they'd parked a few streets away for safety. With their ski masks and matching fleece jackets on and backpacks over their shoulders, they approached the Open Hand Pet Sanctuary. It was snowing wildly, the glittery white flakes danced in the light of the street lamps and were covering the city rather quickly. It was around three in the morning and this part of Baldur's Gate was asleep. Astarion and Gale walked into the narrow, dark alleyway and climbed over the fence. While the blond showed a feline grace, the brunet huffed and puffed while struggling to climb over the fence. Snickering, Astarion kneeled down before the door and pulled out a picklock.

"Do you really know how to use that?" Gale asked curiously.

"Mhm," mumbled Astarion, jamming the thin metals into the lock. "Perks of spending your teens in shitty foster families, I suppose."

Gale's heart sunk.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"That's life, I guess," replied his partner, shrugging nonchalantly. He gave a little triumphant "hah!" as the door clicked and opened. Astarion got up and hissed with a wince. Gale shot him a concerned look.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing to worry about," Astarion played down the issue. "It's just my back. It hurts a little."

"Why? Since when?"

Averting his gaze, Astarion mumbled: "Since yesterday morning. It's just the cold weather, love. No need to worry."

"I always worry about you," Gale sighed. "We don't have to do this. Let's go home and I'll run you a hot bath and give you a massage."

"That's tempting, but we have more pressing issues right now," his fiancé retorted. "Come on, let's get it over with."

Gale nodded and they stepped inside. It was pitch-black in the clinic, the only light sources were the street lamps outside. The couple switched on their small flashlights and got a move on. In the entrance area behind the counter, the various pet foods were arranged. Astarion whistled when he saw the price tags.

"Bloody hell, that's some gourmet shit! Almost more expensive than our own food."

Gale hummed non-committally as he glanced around, slightly paranoid. Astarion grabbed two plastic bags from behind the counter and started to stuff them with the cat kibble Tara needed.

"How about some help, love," he teased.

"Of course. Apologies."

Gale hurried over to help his literal partner in crime. When they'd filled four bags, Astarion dragged Gale over to the huge, humming fridge and pushed the door open. Sickly white light spread out, illuminating a small patch of the floor in front of it and revealing dozens of packages of different types of medication inside.

"Ta-da! Merry Christmas," grinned Astarion and Gale had to chuckle a bit. Quickly, the brunet walked over to relieve the fridge of all the Vetsulin, shoving it all into their backpacks. Meanwhile, his partner sauntered over to the shelves, reading all the labels.

"Hmm, some liquid painkiller for senior animals, especially those with arthritis, rheumatism, and back pain. Maybe, that works on people too," Astarion mused. He opened the package to read the instructions. "16 millilitres for big dogs and 32 millilitres for horses. I guess I'm the golden middle, eh?" He took out the pipette, unscrewed the vial and draw some of the milky-white liquid out. "Here goes nothing."

Gale's head shot up.

"Don't -"

But Astarion had already leaned his head back and squirted the liquid into his mouth.

"Ugh! Fuck, that's bitter!"

He coughed and shook himself before rinsing his mouth by the sink.

"Told you," snickered Gale.

"Shut it, love," huffed Astarion half-heartedly, and walked down the corridor to see if any doors were unlocked. As it turned out, they all were. Curiously, the blond peeked into every room, and when he’d reached the last one, he stepped in to squint at a cabinet filled with different medications. Carefully, he opened the glass door and started picking up each bottle and cardboard box. Most of the writing could just as easily have been gibberish. The complicated technical terms made his eyes hurt.

“Astarion,” whispered Gale anxiously as he entered the room. “We have everything, let’s go home.”

“Mh,” mumbled the addressed, still reading a label. Then, he pocketed multiple of the bottles.

“This is pentobarbitone for animal euthanasia,” Astarion explained lowly. “Maybe, we can use it if Tara’s health declines so that she can die peacefully at home instead of in a sterile room like this.” After a pause, he added: “I’d like that, you know? Dying at home. In your arms.”

Gale swallowed thickly, feeling the tale-tell pressure of tears behind his eyeballs. He didn’t want to think about the death of his two favourite beings. He’d already lost his mother. Seemingly sensing that he’d hit a nerve, Astarion turned towards his partner and joked: “Or, we can use it to get revenge on Mystra. It works on humans too.”

That made Gale snort a laugh, and he pulled the blond into a hug. The latter went easily despite his surprise. The couple dwelled like this for a moment, then, Astarion pulled back and sauntered towards the metal examining table in the middle of the room. Playing coy, he glanced over his shoulder and purred: “It’s time for my appointment. Won’t you vet me, doctor? I was a naughty pup, you know? Had my ways with many men, like a good bitch."

Smirking, Astarion hopped onto the cold metal and Gale frowned.

"What are y-"

The rest of the sentence got stuck in his throat when Astarion shook off his trousers, boxers, and boots, spreading his legs wide with a coquettish expression.

"Oh, doctor! I need an ultrasound!" he wailed, dramatically reclining on the examining table with a hand against his forehead. Gale's lips quirked into a smirk and he replied: "I am a doctor - of literature."

Astarion rolled his eyes with an inelegant snort.

"Killjoy."

With a hum, the addressed let the beam of his flashlight wander through the room. Then, he stepped to the left, rolled a machine over, and flip a switch which resulted the machine to hum and the lamp that was fixed to it to turn on. Astarion squinted at the light that painted the examining table in cold, white brightness. When his eyes had adjusted to it, he witness how Gale put on a pair of latex gloves, shoving his own into his jacket pocket. The brunet turned around, cocking his head to the side and said: "Well then, let's see how you're doing."

Gale squirted some lube from the tray table onto his gloved fingers and slowly pushed them into Astarion's ass. The latter grunted and shifted slightly to adjust his position. Gale immediately stopped and looked at him with concern.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No. Keep going."

"What about your back? We can -"

"I'm fine, love. Go on. Please."

With a nod, Gale continued scissoring his partner open, slowly and thoroughly. Astarion groaned impatiently, trying to spur Gale on, but the latter kept his leisurely pace.

"I cannot feel anything," the brunet told him. "I guess you're right and you need an ultrasound."

With that, he withdrew his fingers, grabbed the endocavitary probe, covered it in lube, and slowly shoved it up Astarion's ass. The latter threw his head back with a gasped moan.

"Fuck, Gale!"

"Do you want me to stop?"

"N-no..."

Closing his eyes and biting his lip, Astarion tried to focus on the feeling of the ultrasound stick sliding over his prostate, but his fiancé had other plans.

"Open your eyes and look."

The addressed obeyed and was faced with the monitor of the machine, a live stream of the ultrasound in his ass flickering across the screen in black, white, and all shades of grey. It was incredibly weird and slightly embarrassing, but Astarion couldn't look away. Meanwhile, Gale casually rambled on.

"Here we can the uterus and over here are the ovaries. It seems like your little sexcapades didn't lead to a pregnancy."

"What a shame," snickered the blond. The brunet shot him an undefined look before setting the ultrasound stick aside.

"In that case, more drastic measures must be taken to ensure the fertilisation of your eggs. We'll offer our best stallion to breed a bitch in heat like you."

Astarion's eyes went wide and his breath hitched. Gale immediately looked apologetic and asked: "Was that too much? I knew it's stupid idea."

"No!" the blond blurted out without thinking. "Keep going. I want to hear what you came up with."

A blush of embarrassment and an amused smirk bloomed on Gale's face.

"Okay," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "Okay." He cleared his throat and threw away the latex gloves before wrapping his hands around Astarion's thighs to pull him closer and towards the end of the examining table.

"Our recommended stallion has a one hundred percent success rate regarding impregnation. He'll breed you and fill you with pups."

Astarion whimpered. Why was this hot? He wasn't into this type of dirty talk, but somehow it worked on him? Maybe it was the added thrill of danger. Or simply just because it was Gale. Probably the latter.

The brunet unzipped his pants and took out his half-hard cock, stroking it to full hardness with the help of some extra lube. Then, Gale leaned forward, slightly over Astarion, with his hands on the latter's knees, and whispered: "Ready?"

All the blond could do was nod and moan when his partner entered him in one slow motion.

"You feel perfect around me," Gale told him. "Warm, soft, and wet. Perfect to take my pups."

He set a rather fast pace, bottoming out each time and hitting his partner's prostate, making Astarion moan and whine.

"Good, bitch. You take me so well," Gale praised. "I'm going to pump you so full with my cum, you have no other choice but be knocked up with my pups."

"Fuck, Gale..." groaned Astarion. He was already close and attempted to jerk himself off, but Gale stopped him.

"If you can stave off your orgasm, I'll let you come in any of my orifice," he promised.

"Oh, God..." whined the addressed, gripping the base of his dick to keep from climaxing. Gale glanced up at him, asking: "Do you want to stop?"

"Don't you fucking dare!" panted Astarion, rolling his hips upwards. With a cocky grin, his partner pulled him impossibly closer, fucking into him hard and sloppily.

"Take my pups," Gale panted and came with an inelegant grunt. Astarion gasped and trembled through it, teetering on the edge of his own climax as Gale emptied himself into his ass. Cum was leaking out of him soon, trickling out around Gale's cock which was still lodged deep inside Astarion. The latter shuddered in the most pleasant way. Gale pulled out slowly and pushed his spent back inside the puffy hole. The blond whimpered, squirming, rattling the metal table. Gale smiled at him; half cocky, half softly.

"Do you want to come in my mouth or ass?"

"Mouth. Oh, please, love. Your wonderful mouth."

Astarion knew he was begging, but other than his previous lovers, Gale wouldn't deny him anything. The latter smiled - it looked a bit silly with the ski mask on - and bent down to suck Astarion off. The latter moaned and bucked up, his feet desperately searching for support on the flat, cold surface of the examining table. Without stopping what he was doing, Gale grabbed Astarion's legs and propped them up on the tabletop, allowing his partner to thrust upwards more efficiently. The latter's hands scrabbled for purchase futilely. Gale popped off of his dick with a gasp and took Astarion's hands to place them on his head.

"Take what you need," he told him softly. "Don't hold back. Use me however you please and come for me, sweetheart."

Astarion cried out as Gale put his mouth on him again. Sweetheart. No one had ever called him sweet before. Astarion pushed his partner's head down while he face-fucked him, cock speeding in and out of that relaxed throat, crying out a litany of blissful moans. Sweat was beading down his covered face, his clothes stuck to his skin uncomfortably, his gut tightened. He felt like he was going insane. Astarion's eyes fell shut and his head back, as he arched off the examining table and exploded into that talented mouth. Gasping for breath and dizzy, he slumped down, legs feeling like jelly. His back no longer twinged. Gale panted against his sharp hipbone before straightening up and tucking himself back into his pants. Astarion simply watched through hooded eyes, brain still offline.

"We should go before we get caught," the brunet remarked, slinging the backpack over his shoulder.

"Right," mumbled the blond, but didn't move an inch. Gale looked at him worriedly.

"Astarion, come on."

"Mmh..."

"Do you need help?"

"Mhm."

He aided Astarion onto his wobbly legs, hastily dressed him and laced-up his boots before shoving him through the door. They grabbed the bags with cat food in the entrance area. Astarion giggled stupidly, stumbling back towards the rear exit, completely fucked-out. They climbed back over the fence and hurried along the streets until they'd reached the car. Gale sighed a breath of relief as they left the Open Hand Pet Sanctuary far behind. Back home, they basically fell through the door, adrenaline finally wearing off. While Gale stowed away the stolen insulin in the fridge, Astarion smooched a purring Tara.

"The things we do for you, darling. Be grateful that we love you so much and are positively insane," smiled Astarion before setting her down. "By the way, those pain meds work like a charm. My back doesn't feel uncomfortable anymore."

"I'm glad," smiled Gale. With a snicker, he added: "Let's hope that the amount we stole will last you for multiple years. Also, I think we need a bigger fridge."

Astarion laughed, pulled his partner into a ravenous kiss, and they tumbled into bed.

"Say it again, love," Astarion panted against his fiancé's lips.

"Hm, what?" Gale asked slightly confused.

"The word you said before letting me fuck your face."

Gale blushed and smiled simultaneously. He held Astarion tight, placed a kiss on those sinful lips, and said: "Sweetheart."

"Again," whispered his partner, choked up.

"Sweetheart. My sweetheart. I love you."

[illicitlamb]

𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝖶𝖾𝖽𝗇𝖾𝗌𝖽𝖺𝗒 𝗑 𝖳𝗒𝗅𝖾𝗋

— entry for 2024 Wyler Spring Fest [@weylerwritingevents] │ inspired themes: change, spring allergies

summary: Tyler cares for a sick Wednesday.

—word count: 1.2k

—warnings: mentions of vomiting

—a/n. this was something i wrote really quick because i've always wanted to participate in a writing event like this. i didn't have a lot of time so i hope this is good enough. :)

Tyler carried the steaming bowl with one hand while the other knocked on his bedroom door. But when there was no response, he cracked the door enough to slip through and shut it in his wake. Setting the bowl on the bedside table, he faced the blindside of Wednesday’s still body to reach out with a gentle hand.

“Wednesday?” His voice hovered above a whisper while he brushed her bangs back. Her brow gently hardened under his touch before she rolled over to look up at him through narrowed eyes, a groan pressing her throat. “Hey. I made you some soup.” A chuckle left his lips when she only blinked. “Yeah, I know it’s not your favorite, but it’s the best thing to eat when you’re sick.”

He placed her pillow against the headboard so she could sit up properly. Bringing a spoonful to her mouth, she parted her lips but not to take him up on his offer.

“I’m sick, Tyler, not disabled.” Her voice was still hoarse and was held hostage in a softer tone. “I can feed myself.”

Galpin beamed awkwardly. “Oh, y-yeah. I just didn’t want you to spill it on yourself.” Those dark orbs of hers struck like sharp, onyx gems as usual. “I thought you might still be a little loopy from the cough syrup.”

“I was never loopy,” grumbled Addams.

He nodded. “Aye-aye, captain.” Handing her the bowl, he watched her stare at the broth before taking a sip. Then another. “Better than taking medicine, huh?” She had fought him on taking medication, claiming that doing so only compromises the immune system’s natural defenses further. Or in simple terms: adapt or die.

The other glared at him. She did not appreciate his humor even if she did prefer the soup over thick, cherry-flavored syrup and horse pills. Although she did not like soup much more, it did soothe her raw, sore throat.

She only glanced away when the Hyde’s hand pressed her forehead for a moment.

“You still feel a little warm,” he reported and then touched her cheek. “That might be because you’re under the covers.”

Wednesday did not bother keeping the conversation focused on her. “I thought you had to work this evening.”

“I was, until I found out you won’t take care of yourself.”

“I’m not a child,” her comeback was quick but more mellow than she anticipated. “I know how to take care of myself, Tyler. Trying to do a good deed by forcing medicine into me and waiting on me, hand and foot, isn’t going to have a good word carved on your epitaph.”

The other smirked. “I’d hope not.” He sat down on the edge of the mattress. “I just want to make sure you’re okay. I’m just tryna be a friend, Wednesday.” On seeing the weariness in her pale face, he decided to leave her be for the time being.

Once the Raven finished as much of the broth as she could manage, Tyler took the dish downstairs and allowed her to occupy herself with her book while he focused on his laptop. The two kept quiet for about 30 minutes before Wednesday’s voice broke the silence.

“Tyler?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you come sit with me?”

This had Galpin turning in his desk chair. He found that she had put her novel on the side table and was sitting further up as if she was uneasy about something. “Sure,” he responded, getting up from his seat. “Are you okay?” He rounded the bed to meet the mattress.

“I’m just a little nauseous.”

“Okay, well, I have Pepto. That might help.”

But she shook her head. “No, I just-” Her stomach churned, forcing out what she never thought she would ever ask him. “Could you just stay with me?”

“Yeah, anything you need,” was his vow. As she released a nasal sigh, he glanced at his computer and hatched a quick idea. “Do you want to watch something to help take your mind off of your stomach?” Luckily for him, she gave a somewhat-reluctant nod.

Returning with his laptop, he sat back against the headboard and scrolled through his downloaded movies. “Is there anything in particular you wanna watch?” He left it alone when the other’s reply was a quiet “you choose.”

The beginning of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy flashed on the screen. The uncomfortable fizzing in Addams’s stomach persevered despite the proposed distraction. She chose to stay still to keep any sloshing at bay while her black nails curled into the covers beneath them. Normally, reading was soothing to her, but this time around, she could not focus on the words without the bubbling feeling in her stomach threatening to reach up her esophagus. If she needed to run to the bathroom, it was better to keep her book away from any possibility of being vomited on. While she was not too nauseated, she was waiting for that one moment to send her running.

Then she felt a hand touch her back.

“It’s okay, Wednesday. Just try to relax.” Galpin’s palm glided up and down her spine with strokes that leveled her nerves better than she knew was possible. No one had touched her like this before besides her mother. No one had ever dared to. To her surprise, it was something new that she felt was different… but in a weirdly, calming way.

Taking another deep breath, the Raven maintained her stiff position. Every now and then, she would feel the Hyde’s gentle caressing upon her six while trying to focus on the movie playing. Her claws began to loosen their grip as her stomach slowly leveled out with her anxiety. Yes, the film was something to listen to besides her contemplating thoughts, but that distraction was not what had her falling back into peace – it was Tyler who distracted her.

One thing led to another before Wednesday was lying down once more. She had shifted closer to the barista yet kept her head up to see the laptop’s screen. Her sinuses pulsed while her brain struggled to keep up with its ability to stay awake with each passing minute. But when she did finally give into sleep again, the other felt a weight lean against his bicep. 

Looking over, Tyler found shut eyelids and the soft rise and fall of his crush’s torso. Her head had fallen onto his arm like she could trust him for once. That was all he wanted. He wanted her to feel like she could trust him with whatever, whenever. He would always be there for her whether she liked it or not. Yeah, she drove him wild with her remarks and ways of doing things, but that somehow only made him fall for her harder, and made him want her even more.

And she would deny it, no doubt. She denied countless offers of his sympathy and refused his help with things that she struggled with. She was stubborn. It was in her blood, but it was also in her blood to fall in love as any given girl does. Outcast or not, she was still human, still had a beating heart, and still had just as much of a chance to have her steel walls come crashing down by someone who has the courage to love her. Tyler Galpin loved her; that was no secret. But if you asked Wednesday Addams if she loved him…

She would lie, without a doubt.

[sophie1973]

WIP Fic Wednesday

I was tagged over the past week by @thesleepyskipper

@stellarmeadow @iboatedhere @firenati0n @onthewaytosomewhere and @theprinceandagcd Thank you <3

Cheating again as I just posted a Birthday fic for my friend Gia (Onpurpose on AO3) that you can find HERE

5 k of roommates to lovers, fluff, smut and bottom Alex

Snippet and tags under the cut

The girl looks familiar, but Henry can't place where he's seen her before.. It doesn't matter. He only cares because Alex has been engrossed in conversation with her for the past 15 minutes, all smiles, warm eyes, and subtle touches, and Henry's heart aches with a mix of envy and resentment. He’s acutely aware that he has no right to feel this way, yet jealousy churns within him, deep and unsettling. The thing is, it has been a bit weird between them since New Year’s Eve. Since what was meant to be a chaste New Year’s Eve peck on the lips when the clock struck midnight had unexpectedly transformed into a ten-minute, full-blown make-out session. Which had been brushed under the non-existent carpet in their shared flat on January 1 as if nothing significant had happened and blamed on the alcohol and the fact that they had both been painfully single for a while. And now Henry was supposed to go on with his life as if his best friend hadn’t shoved his tongue down his throat - a very skillful tongue, by the way. 10/10. No notes. It’s one thing to quietly pine for your best friend, keeping your feelings hidden for the sake of the friendship. It’s another thing entirely to know firsthand what that best friend can do with his mouth and not be able to enjoy it on a regular basis. They had always been very affectionate, never thinking twice before hugging or cuddling on the couch during movie nights. Alex had come to terms with his sexuality a few years ago, before meeting Henry, so Henry had accepted that even if Alex was attracted to men, he wasn’t attracted to him. As long as he had Alex in his life, he was content with that. But Alex, tonight, is a frustratingly perfect sight. Clad in black jeans and a white henley, his curls in charming disarray, he has the girl completely captivated. Henry can’t really blame her.

No pressure tag for @anincompletelist @fckngyrs @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @taste-thewaste

@tailsbeth-writes @blueeyedgrlwrites @piratefalls @pridepages

@tintagel-or-cockleshells @affectionatelyrs @happiness-of-the-pursuit

and open tag for anyone who wants :)

[wellbelesbian]

WIP Wednesday and AO3 Wrapped Tag

hello all! thanks for the tags @ic3-que3n @bookish-bogwitch @thewholelemon @ileadacharmedlife and @forabeatofadrum! it's technically thursday by now, but time is fake, so here's a bit of a wip i'm working on.

i honestly have no iea if i'll ever finish and post this fic, but i wanted to at least make a start on getting this idea out of my head and onto a page. it's a smut fic, though don't worry, this snippet is completely SFW, because as usual when i sit down to write porn with minimal plot, the next thing i know i've churned out five pages of set-up.

By the time I leave the bathroom, Baz is already on the other side of the room, by the bar, speaking to Katy in a clearly apologetic manner. As she pats him on the arm, he glances my way and flashes me the quickest of conspiratorial smiles.

Which abruptly falls as the father of the bride tips back in his seat and spills red wine all over his expensive cream shirt. Everyone falls silent for a moment, and then Katy groans.

“Oh my god, dad!” She pulls the man back to his feet as he drunkenly chuckles. “I’m so sorry.” She says to Baz, whose face is rapidly flickering between all the stages of grief, before folding backover and catching on anger. If looks could kill, we’d have a red wedding on our hands.

He turns on his heel and walks out without a word, which is probably the best I could ask for, given the circumstances.

(the character of Katy is an OC, i just used the first name that came to mind tbh)

but enough of that, what's AO3 Wrapped, you ask? well, as you probably know, spotify wrapped has arrived! i posted mine earlier, and while looking through the tag i saw this post and loved the template, so i decided to change it ever so slightly to be for this year's ao3 stats!

here's the result! are my chapter titles too long, or does this just not have much space? whatever the case, i had to shorten them. but yeah, the categories are the POVs i wrote the most, my fics with the highest hits, my total word count, and the fandom i wrote the most for this year.

i thought i'd share it here and tag some friends, in case anyone else wants to do it! even if you're not tagged, fel free to do this! you don't need to stick to the same categories and if you're an artist, maybe put your favourite piece as the picture! (i just used my ao3 pfp, my goat Dottie)

tags: @j-nipper-95 @artsyunderstudy @prettygoododds @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @imagineacoolusername @confused-bi-queer @bazzybelle @theearlgreymage @aristocratic-otter @larkral @hushed-chorus @martsonmars @ivelovedhimthroughworse @blackberrysummerblog @fatalfangirl @ebbpettier @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @cutestkilla @youarenevertooold @alleycat0306 @alexalexinii @shemakesmeforget @shrekgogurt and @carryonsimoncarryonbaz

[faeriemarie]

how i tried to manifest a 1600 on the SAT and failed miserably 🤪

9/30/2023

Starting today, I will vaunt as the first thing I do every morning and the last thing I do before I go to bed at night.

10/4/2023

Today, I am taking my first practice SAT. It is Wednesday and it is my first day of studying. The SAT is on Saturday. I am listening to an SAT subliminal while I complete the 3 hour test. UPDATE: I got a 1280 on the practice test.

10/5/2023

Today, I am taking my second practice SAT. It is Thursday and it is my second day of studying. I am listening to a different SAT subliminal while I complete the 3 hour test. I am not feeling confident in the least, but we press on! UPDATE: I got a 1330 on the practice test and I only got 1 wrong on the reading section :)) most of my math mistakes were just silly and that's somehow worse than me not knowing the content. i still feel inadequate.

10/6/2023

Today I am only taking the math section. It is Friday and it is my 3rd day of studying. I listened to the same subliminal while I did this test. UPDATE: I got a 680 on the math section which is literally the highest it has ever been!!

10/7/2023

Today it is Saturday and the SAT is today in 25 minutes. Last night, I listened to my subliminal out loud all night (~7.5 hours). I also did a little prayer at my altar for Hera to help me since she is my deity of choice <3. And possibly a sign, I saw a rainbow driving to the test center and it was the brightest and most vivid rainbow I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I plan to keep up my vaunting until the scores come out so until then, wish me luck!! UPDATE: i think i did really bad. The reading section (which is normally my best section) was SUPER hard and I just filled in random bubbles at the end. I feel like an actual failure and my reading score probably will be in the 500s. The math section was easy and actually felt too easy. I don’t even know what to think. I probably just need to put it out of my mind and let life take its course…

10/18/2023

There are less than 48 hours until SAT scores come out… i am shitting my pants. i’ve been vaunting every morning and night but still like…. fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck i’m getting rejected from everywhere i apply for sure

10/19/2023

ahhh fuck fuck fuck 30-ish hours until the big reveal. im so nervous. my stomach is churning, i don’t even want to wake up tomorrow morning. let me just stay on thursday night forever and ever and ever. i can’t take it.

10/20/2023

12 hours, give or take… 3 hours, give or take… okay time for the BIG REVEAL: i actually got a 1300. math score went down but my reading score went up. at this point, i'm gonna have to superscore (even though that is far from being enough). my shifting break cannot end fast enough. i'm so miserable. i hate it here so much. i wanted this to be an inspirational post about how i'm such a master manifestor, but i'm a failure. i hate my life. i hate myself. i hate everything.

[spaceprincessem]

wip wednesday

hi everyone 💙 thank you @alyxmastershipper for the tag today! im putting buck sees ghost fic a bit on the backburner so i can churn out the hunger games au (i want to finish it by next week so badly) so here’s a snippet from an earlier scene in my hunger games au that ive recently added

That settles something in Eddie. Buck’s not wrong and he doesn’t sound like he’s lying either, which Eddie knows he probably shouldn’t trust, but something in his gut tells him it’s okay. A moment later the door opens and they both look up to see someone stumble in. Eddie can tell his prep team tried their best with Bobby this morning before the Reaping. His hair has been cut and his face shaved, but it doesn’t hide the haunted look in his glazed over eyes as he tips towards the bar cart.

“Uh, Bobby,” Buck says tentatively, “maybe you shouldn’t have anymore to drink.”

Bobby ignores both of them as he clumsily removes a stopper from a glass bottle and sloppily fills a glass nearly to the brim. Eddie sees Buck get up to intervene, but as soon as Buck tries to reach for the glass, Bobby shoves him against the wall.

“Hey!” Eddie is on his feet before he can think, pulling Buck behind him as he pushes Bobby back into the cart. 

“Well,” Bobby grins as he grabs his glass, raising it in a mock toast, “looks like we’ve got ourselves a pair of fighters this year.”

Eddie can feel Buck pulling himself to his fullest height, like he’s ready to back Eddie up at a moment's notice. “Aren’t you supposed to give us advice?” He asks with a little more steel in his voice.

“You want some advice?” Bobby takes a sip from his glass, “Here’s some; stay alive.”

tagging @elvensorceress @ebdaydreamer @buddierights @shortsighted-owl @mysteriouslyyounggalaxy @heartbeatdiaz @rogerzsteven @colonoscopys

[bekkachaos]

WIP Wednesday 🚧

Tagged by the lovely @swiftiediaz @spotsandsocks @the-likesofus 💕

From the jealous Buck fic that I am trying to finish (but am being bombarded with feels and inspo from the new episode so help me)

Eddie and Mason headed off to grab lunch from the cafe while Buck waited with Christopher. He watched them walk away, and the way Eddie threw his head back laughing as Mason smirked. He looked like it made him happy just being the one to make Eddie smile like that. Buck let out a hmph sound as he turned back around, folding his arms and leaning them on the table as Christopher looked up at him. Buck chewed his lip a moment and Christopher tilted his head as though he was waiting for Buck to ask him something. "Hey, what do you think of Mason?" he said. Christopher shrugged and turned to look over at the zookeeper who had a bird of prey on his arm over towards the path. "He's nice," he said. "Dad likes him." "Yeah, I know your dad does," Buck said, fighting the urge to look back at them. "I think your dad likes him a lot." "Yeah, but he loves you," Chris said, and Buck let out a soft chuckle in a breath. "It's not the same thing though, Chris," he said. Buck knew he shouldn't have gotten the ego boost from that comment that he did, because he was right, he knew Eddie loved him, of course he did, he was his best friend. It just wasn't the same kind of love he was building with Mason. "I know," Christopher said, like he knew exactly what he was saying in exactly the way he said it. Buck just watched him as he took out his phone and started playing a game he had downloaded. One day he was going to be too old to want to come to the zoo, too old to want to do anything much with Buck and Eddie at all. He would have to enjoy it while it lasted, and while he was still invited. He felt a churning feeling in his stomach. He hated feeling like the third wheel, he'd never felt that way before with Chris and Eddie, he always just felt like he fit. Now with Mason in the picture, it felt like he was intruding on something. Maybe it wasn't just Chrisopher that was going to outgrow these outings, but also Eddie that was going to outgrow Buck and the co-dependant closeness of their friendship.

Tagged these guys if they wanna!

@loveyourownsmiilee @monsterrae1 @shortsighted-owl @buddierights @elvensorceress @alyxmastershipper @yelenasbuddie @jacksadventuresinwriting @ajunerose

[prismaticpichu]

Happy Wednesday y’all!! We’re halfway there! (No, no I’m not say—) OOHHHH living on a prayer!

Anywho, school sucks and I wanna be writing more! For now, I chuck at you this WIP that’s been in the waiting room playing Where’s Waldo for a solid chunk of time now. I’m having fun with it, so why not?? Maybe you’ll too!

Takes place in the middle of the fic. A little puzzle piece :3c

Zack was completely powerless. He couldn't will words from his mouth, he couldn't run away, and he could do nothing as Seph's firm grip rolled up his sleeve.

So much flashed through the jade eyes in such a short, painful jolt of time. Widening and narrowing, freezing and thawing, an electric spectrum of emotion that filled his gape before that too vanished into a glassy, distant scowl.

And Zack had a front row seat to it all. Seeing every flicker. His heart constricted in his chest, racing in its twisted shape. "Seph... Seph I'm sorry. I didn't want you to--"

"How long has this been here?" Sephiroth glared, at both him and the red flaring on his shoulder. Demanding an answer. Professional.

"...Since yesterday," Zack admitted, his voice three-inches tall; he did everything in his power to ignore the additional centimeters Sephiroth's eyes narrowed then. He couldn't. They were riddled with so much... so much bitterness, and it was all directed at him. He could barely stand it. He would rather be eaten by the cold training room floor than stand at the receiving end of his best friend's anger.

Concerned, shock, fear... that's all Zack thought he would feel. It was what he had spent every second of the past twenty-four hours trying to avoid.

"You were not going to tell me?" Sephiroth snapped, pupils needled, irises aflame, and another piece of Zack's soul was hacked away

"I didn't want you to worry!" he tried to defend himself. "I... I thought..." His voice was suddenly trickling through his fingertips like water. All his paling arguments did. What did he think? That Seph would never find out? That it would all heal before he ever did? That it would magically go away like it exactly hadn't done for Genesis? Gaia it was just such a mess... such a mess... and he didn't even has his shelter to comfort him right now.

There was a beat of fuming silence before Sephiroth gripped his sleeve tighter. "And so your solution was to slowly rot?!"

Rot... the horrid imagery made Zack's entire body churn, a sickening amount of disgust drowning his organs in acid. It was horrible, awful, especially when he had such a clear image of what it meant to rot. Crystal clear. Thorns began to prick at his eyes, his voice shuddered.

"I'm sorry, Seph..."

He felt the weight lift from his sleeve--a confusing, cold motion that Zack didn't know whether he wanted back or was glad that it was relieved. Seph was still in front of him; he heard his jagged breath, trying to level himself. It was the only thing to stew with the silence.

"Do you know how many times I asked Genesis if he was alright?"

The response caught Zack's next snuffle in his throat. He dared to look up then, meeting with his friend's crackling gaze. And like a veil being lifted it hit him all at once.

Gaia... Seph had lived through all of this before. He had a friend who was wounded and refused to say anything until it he was. Someone he cared for who was hiding things, leaving him to rot alongside Genesis with no answers. He had been helpless. Gaia... no. He wasn't protecting Seph from feeling those horrible, empty things. He was repeating history.

He had betrayed him.

The realization brewed an entirely new disgust in him, and now he stood under what Zack knew to be ache in his friend's eyes.

"I didn't want to hurt you, Seph. I... thought it would take over or something--like, like how it did for them." Things were just bleeding from his mind now, shaking his head. He couldn't control it. "I didn't want you to have anything to do with it--not all over again. You didn't deserve it. I didn't mean to hide it... I'm--I'm so sorry, Seph. And now I'm scared and freaking out and I'm gonna hurt you and you're gonna have to stop me." Zack hiccuped on his breath, a teary choke breaking through cotton.

In between breaths, he felt Seph's hand return to his shoulder. Except it wasn't his crumpled sleeve that he was touching; it was his other shoulder, the unblemished one, where there was room to be squeezed. Misty eyes glanced up. Suddenly it didn't burn so much to stare at his friend.

"You're not going to hurt me," Sephiroth said, and his voice was quiet now, that single, delicate concern having smothered his gaze to embers. "I know you aren't."

"But... Genesis..." Zack bit his lips to keep them from trembling. "I don't..."

"What Genesis did--what Angeal did--it was on their own volition, Zack. Degradation did not help but they were driven by the anger and shame they couldn't handle anymore. Angeal," Sephiroth paused, but he willed himself onward, "he chose to fight you. Genesis did too. Your fear is enough to prove otherwise."

Zack tried to absorb everything his friend was saying. Angeal's name didn't even graze him; everything was too numb, too buried in the moment to be cut by the past. And still... still he wasn't assuaged. Not really.

"You're not afraid I'll hurt you...?" he asked hollowly.

Sephiroth shook his head, the movement so slight that only his bangs quivered. "No. I never will be."

Zack could only snuffle through the next swathe of silence. And this time, amid the revelation, under the layer of tension that had been lifted, staring into his best friend's kind eyes, all that was left was the severity of it all. And everything became very clear--right then. The path he was on. The control he didn't have. The ticking time bomb he couldn't stop.

"Seph," he squeaked. "I'm scared..."

He launched himself into the older man's coat, clutching with all the strength he had. All the strength that was eventually gonna bleed out. He clutched before his body withered and his eyes paled to nothingness, like he was gonna go blind and never see Seph again, like he would never recognize him, like he wouldn't remember he existed, like a giant wing was going to erupt from his shoulder and drag him into the sky.

Sephiroth wound his arms around the boy, in instinct, before the same reality crashed down on his shoulders. He was suddenly clutching Zack fiercely, his heartbeat having burst into thunder against his chest.

"I'm gonna degrade... oh man I'm gonna degrade..."

No. You're aren't. The same words echoed from before, but Sephiroth couldn't make them leave his lips. He... couldn't tell lies. He had seen what had become of Genesis and Angeal, how blanched and bloodless their skin was, how leeched of color their hair had become, how skeletal the disease had left their bodies. A wildfire ravaged through healthy, strong SOLDIER Firsts. And if the same was truly happening to Zack...

To Zack...

Sephiroth tightened his hold. Protective. Desperate. To even imagine Zack succumbing to the same fate... it was too much. As much as it undoubtedly, cruelly was to Zack.

"Buddy..." Zack sucked in his breath. "Oh Gaia... oh Gaia this can't be happening... No..."

Sephiroth rested his chin against his hair, the only trace of grey coming from his own hair twining around the spikes, weaving through the pure, righteous blackness like milky starlight.

"I know..." he murmured, even if he didn't. Is this an inevitable fate for all SOLDIERs? For anyone with Mako? Firsts? Was he next? He swallowed that bile as quickly as it rose, holding Zack closer. The only thing that mattered was Zack. The present. The future... but a future that wouldn't turn out as the others. It couldn't. They had already diverged, just now, when he had discovered Zack's wound. They were both aware.

He couldn't tell lies... but he could echo what Zack had told him so many times.

"You will not brace this alone." Sephiroth pulled away to meet with Zack's eyes, maneuvering his hand carefully around his shoulder as he held them. "You will not. I promise."

Zack found himself again staring at his friend, pearls of mist winking under the fluorescent lights of the training room. The words sank in much easier than before... like balm grazing him just enough to feel its warmth.

Sephiroth nodded, and watched a thin, lonely river trickle down Zack's cheeks. There was still more he needed to say; there were still concerns shrouding his friend's mind, even if Zack knew better than to voice them.

"You will always be Zack Fair. I don't care what happens to you, or what you may gain." He gazed into his friend's rippling eyes, watching his reflection in the currents. The catlike pupils drifting in the sea. Abnormally shaped. Inhuman. Accepted. Loved. "You will never be a monster. You are my friend... you always will be."