#oh well there's still a text-free version anyway i guess

[batcastlesociety]

fbxbsajshkzkzggxbxxbbz

oc art

alternative versions under the cut !!

characters are akihiro black (left, red text) and manato edgeworth (right, white text). they are my ocs and i detest them dearly :3

is the sketch!!!!!!!!!!!!!¡ it kind of reminds me of that one shitpost. yknow the one, it goes like person A going "i think we're going to have to kill this guy, person B." and person B is just like "damn." and yeah

2. is the background. not much else about it! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3. is just the drawing with no background.

4. is the full art, but no text !

((sorry if the image ordering is weird btw, i know it's weird, i didn't even intend for the photos to be ordered that way and i can't even reorder them 💀💀))

[be-my-sunrise]

Late Night Grind || p.js

pairings: idol bf!jisung x fem!reader

genre: smut, minors pls dni

word count: 3,261

warnings: use of a sex toy, oral (f receiving), fingering, use of pet names (baby and princess), use of derogatory terms (reader being called a slut once), unprotected sex, choking, dacryphilia, multiple orgasms, creampie. let me know if i missed anything!

a/n: hii! this is my first time sharing my work here and i'm kinda nervous. jisung has been living in my head rent-free 24/7😩 plus i found this sex toy on tiktok and it inspired me to write for jisung. also, thank you @jenoslutie for encouraging me to start a writing blog and share my own work<3 it started from these asks and now i'm here to share the full version hehe i hope you enjoy it!

You're snuggling in a blanket on bed, scrolling through tiktok on your phone while waiting for Jisung to come home. Letting out a sigh as you plop the hand holding your phone down on the bed. You've been home all day since it's a Saturday and you're starting to get bored.

"I should be back home before 10, baby. I'll text you when I arrive, okay? See you soon!" He said earlier before leaving for practice. 

You glance at the time on your phone to see that it's now 11pm and Jisung is still not home. You were about to text him when you hear keys fumbling outside, and then you hear Jisung call out your name as he enters your shared apartment. 

"Baby, I'm home!" 

You open the bedroom door and smile when you see Jisung standing at the small entryway to take his shoes off, his face lit up when he sees you. You cross the room slightly running to hug Jisung, burying your face in his chest as he wraps his arms around you. 

"Hi princess," he says while stroking your hair gently.

"What took you so long? I missed you." You pout, voice muffled by Jisung's chest. 

"I know, baby, I'm sorry. We had lots to prepare today, so practice went a bit longer than usual," he says as he rests his chin comfortably on the top of your head. He pulls away after a while and notices that you're only wearing his favorite black Adidas jacket, which falls perfectly on the middle of your thighs. 

"Hey, you found my jacket! I looked for it everywhere this morning, where did you find it?" 

You looked down at the jacket and smiled. "Well.. It was on my side of the closet, so I guess it's mine now." Jisung raises his eyebrows as he pulls you closer to wrap his arms around your waist. 

"Oh, is that so?" he says playfully. 

"Mhmm," you giggle. You put your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to kiss him. Jisung breaks the kiss to say, "It looks better on you anyway," before connecting his lips on yours once again. 

As the kiss deepens, he slowly pushes you until your back hits the wall. His hands roaming freely, sneaking inside the jacket to feel the curves of your body before giving your ass a squeeze, earning a yelp from you. A minute passed and both of you pulled away to catch your breath. Jisung rests his forehead against yours, hands never leaving your body. 

"Feeling a bit handsy, hm?" you ask teasingly as you play with the hair on his nape. 

"Can't help it. I have a surprise for you, baby. But, I have to clean it before we can use it, just to be safe," he said. 

Your tilt your head to the side, looking up at him, "Oohh what kind of surprise?" Jisung smirks, "Go wait for me on the couch, I'll be right back." 

He gives you a peck on the lips before letting you go, slapping your ass playfully as you walk. You sit on the couch, excited for the surprise Jisung has for you. Not long after, you hear Jisung's footsteps getting closer. 

"All done! Before I show you, can you please just close your eyes for me?" 

You close your eyes and you hear Jisung walking around the couch. He suddenly lifts you up with ease, making you squeal in surprise. He sits both of you on the couch with you sitting on top of his left thigh, slightly flinching at the strange object poking the inside of your thighs. 

"Okay, you can take a look now!" You open your eyes and look down to see a very strange looking pad strapped on his thigh.

"Ji, what is this?" You run your fingers over the tentacles. 

"I saw this on tiktok the other day and I know how much you love to grind on my thigh, so I bought it to try with you," he explains enthusiastically. You smile and bite your lower lip, stomach fluttering from the excitement and at his thoughtfulness.

"Let's not wait any longer then," you say before leaning in for a kiss. 

Jisung's hands grips your ass, slowly massaging the cheeks with his palms, making you hum into the kiss. You can feel him tugging on your panties impatiently. He was about to rip it off, but you were quick to stop him. Quickly pulling away and getting up from his lap.

"Wait, no! This is one of my most comfy pairs!" You hook your fingers on the waistband of your panties to pull it down. Jisung laughs in disbelief, leaving soft kisses along your thighs as he helps you.

"Sorry, I've been thinking about this the entire day. The package arrived not long after I left and I couldn't wait to try it," he says, grinning as he looks up to see you.

You giggle at his story, "Ohh, Jisung, you're so cute when you're all impatient." 

"Giggle all you want, I was literally so close to ditching practice and run back home." Jisung unclasped the strap to turn on the vibration switch and strapped it back to his thigh. He grabbed the bottle of lube next to him and poured it all over the toy evenly.

"Well, then. I think we should make up for lost time."

You grab onto Jisung's shoulder as you position yourself on his thigh again, letting out a soft sigh of relief when you feel the vibration from the toy. You bite back a moan as you start to slowly grind against the tentacles. 

"Don't hold back, baby. I want to hear your pretty moans."

He slightly lifts up the jacket and holds it on your waist to have a clear view of your pussy, swearing under his breath as you start to pick up the pace. You moan out from the stimulation, hands gripping Jisung's shoulders. Jisung leans in to leave kisses on your neck trailing down to your chest before unzipping the jacket completely. He smirks when he sees that you're not wearing any bra underneath.

You let out a loud gasp when you feel Jisung's plump lips around one of your nipples and rolling the other one between his fingers. His tongue flicking back and forth against the hardened bud before doing the same with the other, the sudden cold air sends shivers down your spine. 

"S-shit, it feels so good," you say with a shaky voice. 

Jisung leans his head against the backrest, the vibration from the toy is enough to make him dizzy from the sensation. He's so hard he can feel his cock twitching in his pants, especially with the view in front of him. Jaw dropping with moans spilling from your mouth, eyes closing as you grind on his thigh, wearing nothing but his jacket, which hangs loosely from your figure. Fuck, the sight itself could make him cum untouched. He would flutter his eyes close every time your knee brushes against his bulge. His breath gets shallow as he becomes more and more aroused. You move your hips faster as you start to feel the familiar knot in your stomach.

"Fuck, baby. You look so pretty like this. Riding my thigh so desperately like a little slut," he paused. "I can't stop thinking about you, I kept getting in trouble for not focusing during practice."

He notices that your moves start to get sloppy, so he puts his hands on your hips to help guide you, while pushing your hips down as well to apply more pressure to your clit. 

"Oh my- fuck, I'm so close."

"That's it, baby, cum for me." 

You moan loudly as you reach your climax, dropping your body on top of Jisung. Digging your nails on his shoulder as you ride out your high, making him hiss in pain. Once you come down from your high, you lift your hips weakly to sit on Jisung's thigh that is not covered with the pad, leaving a wet patch on his pants from your release. He rubs your back as he waits for you to catch your breath. When you start to calm down, you lift your head to kiss Jisung.

"That was intense," you giggle. Jisung smiles, "you have no idea how hard you make me just from watching you." You push yourself up to look at his situation. Jisung let out a loud moan when your knees bump against his cock, the prominent bulge almost looks painful. 

"My turn now."

Jisung grabs your waist and pushes you down gently on the couch while getting down on his knees as well. A soft moan falls from your lips at the sight of his toned body as he pulls his shirt over his head, throwing it somewhere across the room. He leaves kisses on the inside of your thigh, inching closer to your center. You suck in a sharp breath when he suddenly licks a stripe up your slit, collecting your release on his tongue. He groans from the taste of you. 

You lift your head to see him looking up at you and you swear you see his eyes darken. He smirks before flattening his tongue, your hips jerking up as his tongue brushes against your clit. You try to wiggle away as you're still sensitive from your previous orgasm. Jisung clicked his tongue in annoyance before hooking his arms around your thighs to pull you closer, holding you in place as he pressed his tongue on your clit again. You whimper, pulling on his hair to push him away, but he did not budge at all.

"Don't even think about stopping me, baby." He says lowly, his deep voice laced with warning. 

He closed his lips on your clit and sucked the sensitive bud, making your legs tremble from the overstimulation as he continued. Slowly, your whimpers turn to moans, and the hand pulling on his hair is now pushing his head closer. Jisung hums in satisfaction around your clit, the vibration making you moan loudly. He looks up at you through his lashes, palms moving up to grip your tits. Just as you start to feel close, he suddenly stops and pulls his lips away from your clit. Hips humping the air at the sudden loss, making you whimper.

"No, don't stop! Please, I'm so close," you begged, tears pricking in your eyes. 

"Get up." He says as he stands up and pulls you along with him. Your legs felt like jelly, causing you to almost fall over if Jisung hadn't caught you. Once he's sure he got a nice hold on you, he bends down slightly to take off the strap from his thigh and places it on the edge of the couch backrest. 

"Go straddle the couch and I want your ass facing me," he says, dominance can be heard from his tone.

You turn to face your back against him and straddle the couch. You position yourself on top of the pad and bend over to give Jisung a clear view of your soaking pussy, your arms supporting your upper body. As you lower yourself on the pad, you feel Jisung's index finger running over your slit while you move your hips against the tentacles.

You let out a surprised yelp as he pushed two fingers inside you, the sudden stretch making you dizzy. He starts to pump his fingers in and out of you while his other hand goes to stroke his bulging cock, biting down on his lower lip from the slightest stimulation.

"Shit, I'm gonna cum again, baby." Jisung adds one more finger inside you when he felt you clench around his fingers, determined on making you cum one more time before fucking you dumb.

A loud moan left your lips when you reach your second climax, hips jerking uncontrollably as you ride out your high. Jisung pumps his fingers a few more times before pulling out. You turn your head back to look at him just as he was taking off his boxers, where traces of arousal can be seen. Your pussy clenched when his cock slapped against his lower abdomen. The sight of his thick veiny cock making your mouth water. You can feel yourself getting aroused again, even though you had just come down from your second orgasm of the night. 

"Like what you see?" Jisung smirked as he pumped his cock with the hand that was inside of you, rubbing the arousal all over his cock while his other hand massages your ass cheek.

"You know I always do, baby." You bite your lip and press your clit against the pad, moaning from the stimulation. Jisung positions himself behind you, pressing the tip of his cock up and down against your slit, using your wetness as a lubricant. 

"Baby, please. Stop teasing me," you whine. 

He leans down to whisper in your ear, "Patience, princess." He kisses your shoulder and leaves a trail of it along your back. 

"I want to take my time with you," he says in a low voice. 

You whine in protest as you feel your pussy throb with need, feeling the tip of his cock teasing your entrance. "Please, I need you so bad."

"Will you be a good girl for me?" he asks teasingly. 

"Jisungie, please! I'll be so good for you, I promise," you cry out in frustration. He finally pushes his cock inside of you, making both of you moan in relief, his huge cock stretching you deliciously. Jisung hisses at the warm sensation around his cock. 

"Fuck, always so tight for me." 

He drops his head on your shoulder as he bottoms out fully, giving you time to adjust to his big size. No matter how many times you've had sex with Jisung, you can never get used to how big he is. Once you've adjusted, you move your hips slightly as a signal to Jisung. He almost pulled out completely before slamming his cock back in, thrusting roughly. Your body jerks forward from the impact and you moan out loudly.

His hands gripping your sides, pulling your hips to meet his thrusts. Only the sound of skin slapping, your broken moans, and Jisung's heavy breathing can be heard in the living room, along with the soft buzz from the vibrator. 

You swear under your breath as Jisung's hands reach down to play with your tits, toying with the nipple before pulling your upper body to hold you close to him. You lay your head against his shoulder, your left hand reaches around Jisung's head to pull on his hair and your other hand grips his arm. Jisung lets out a deep growl when he feels you clenching around his cock, signaling that you're close. 

"Are you close, baby?" 

You answer with a nod, unable to think properly. He clicked his tongue at your response, "use your words, or you're not coming at all." His thrust slows down waiting for your response, making you cry in frustration. 

"No, Jisung please, don't slow down. I'm so close!" 

You feel the air getting knocked out of you as Jisung slams his hips against you to pick up the pace. With him hitting your sweet spot each thrust, the vibrating tentacles rubbing against your swollen clit, and Jisung toying with your nipples, it doesn't take long until you feel the familiar knot in your stomach. 

"Baby, I'm gonna cum," you say weakly to Jisung. 

"No."

"Please, I can't-" Jisung cuts you off as he puts one of his hands around your throat, putting enough pressure to block your airways. 

"Yes, you can. Hold on a bit longer for me, baby, I'm close too." 

You can feel Jisung's thrust getting sloppier as he is reaching his climax. Your grip on his hair tightens as a choked sob falls from your lips, unable to deny your orgasm any longer. Jisung lets out a breathy laugh at the sight of you crying.

"Look at you, so pretty crying over my cock. Does my cock make you feel good, hm? You like it when I fuck you dumb like this?" You clench around his cock as a response, a deep growl falls from his lips. 

"Cum for me, princess. You've been such a good girl," he says as he releases the grip on your throat. 

You scream from the intense climax, body convulsing in pleasure as you clench tightly around Jisung once again, triggering his own release. Jisung shoots his cum deep inside you, groaning loudly as he thrusts slowly to ride out both of your highs. 

He holds your body close to him and kisses your forehead before letting you go. Your upper body falls forward onto the couch backrest, giving Jisung access to dig his fingers under the silicone pad and turn off the vibration switch. You suck in a sharp breath when Jisung pulls out, flinching from overstimulation. He lets out a groan at the sight of your releases mixing together and dripping onto the pad.  Your hips jerked as he collects the releases in his fingers and pushed it back inside of you.

You can barely keep your eyes open as Jisung helps you down from the couch and carries you in his arms to the bedroom. He lays you down gently on the bed and throws a blanket over you to keep you warm as he runs you a bath. He also went back to the living room to grab the discarded clothes and the grinder pad to clean later. 

Once the bath is ready, he carries you in first before going in as well. He pulls your body close to him, so you can lean against his chest. You let out a sigh as the warm water relaxes your muscles. Both of you bathe quietly before Jisung breaks the silence. 

"So, what do you think of your surprise?" 

You turn to face him and smile, "I loved it, baby. Thank you." Jisung returns your smile and leans in for a sweet kiss. 

"Was I too rough earlier?" he asks carefully. 

"Nothing I can't handle, don't worry." 

He smiles before kissing you again. You stay in the bath a little bit longer before drying off. Jisung goes to the closet to grab pajamas for both of you, while you sit on the bed waiting for him. He hands you your pajamas and a fresh pair of underwear before putting on his own.

After you're both done, Jisung switches the lights off before climbing into bed. You snuggle against Jisung, laying your head on his chest as he holds you close. He pulls the comforter over the two of you. You were about to drift off to sleep when you heard Jisung call your name. 

"You wanna know something?" he asks quietly. 

"Tell me." 

Jisung bites back a smile before answering, "I wasn't lying when I said you look so pretty crying over my cock." 

You open your eyes and gasp, tilting your head to look at him, "Hey!" 

Jisung laughs at your reaction, "It's true! You should've seen yourself." 

You roll your eyes, trying to hold back the smile. "Shut up and go to sleep, Jisung." You say as you lay your head back on his chest and close your eyes. 

"I'm definitely fucking you in front of a mirror next time," he whispers under his breath, which earns him a slap on the chest from you.

"Jisung!"

"Ow! Okay, okay, I'll stop!"

thanks for reading! any kind of feedback would be much appreciated<3333

[scarefox]

I need to write down the timeline of Zouey and Nant + Phop. Might edit this post along my rewatch:

Zoueys Birthday, 18. September 2023:

Zouey started to have a crush on Jason, they started chatting in September

the guys pestered Nant about his virginity too, so Nant didn't start sleeping with the playboyys and taking drugs yet either

nothing happened at that time yet but:

"Why do I have to go all the way back to last year? That's when it started"

April:

2024 or 2023 ?? (since Thai New Year is in April, April 2024 still counts as "last year" from a 2024 pov I guess)

The circumstances are still foggy here. (That said I am glad we didn't have to see that scene on screen). But I need more information how sentence 1 and sentence 2 are relevant to each other. Also how they got from texting to meeting. Zouey told Teena that he tried to have sex with someone but it didn't end well. Is that what happened or was it a "different version" he told Teena. (before someone asks, yes it's relevant for the plot and characterization)

Zouey is mad and disappointed at Jason (but as we know still has a crush on him)

Nant was the only one knowing about it "that's the reason he couldn't stay"

Nant is in debt

after taking Soongs drugs, nobody wanted to help him with he got involved with Nuth and drug dealing

so we are talking about him being in debt with Jason for throwing out his drugs to not get busted by the cops

might there be an ulterior motive of Nant to use this to get Jason behind bars so he doesn't have to pay the debt anymore?

not saying he wouldn't have exposed him anyways but it's convenient

Nant asked Zouey to come out as witness

-> him as witness sounds a bit as if there are more... well we audience know later about Porsche. But did Nant know? Could be possible since Nant and Porsche lived together before the others joined and they seemed close then according to Porsche. Yet something happened that Porsche is pissed at him. Porsche didn't seem to know that Nant wanted to expose Jason... or did he? (side note: Zouey did not know about Porsche being Jasons "sugar baby" / other victim, if we believe his surprised reaction in ep11)

Zouey didn't want Nant to expose Jason / what happened to Zouey, so he suggested Nant to fake his suicide instead to get out of the debt

Nants fake suicide & the time Nant went missing

Nant came back home to see Zouey & packed his stuff to go abroad after the video was done

Zouey told Jason to kidnap Nant for whatever warped messed up crush feelings he still has for this man

Nant was in the VIP room of Playboyy, held by Jason the whole time

assuming the party of episode 1 is Zoueys birthday again? So we start episode 1 around 5 months later after he got raped by Jason and Nant disappeared?

Nont arrives to investigate Nants disappearance

Zouey frees Nant from the VIP room (because Nont is sniffing around)... when Nant asks Zouey why he is here, Zouey refuses to answer:

Zouey apologizes.... for not being there sooner (.... bruh)

(internal voiceover from future ep14 Zouey "I am sorry Nant, I am the reason you're dead")

Zouey knows the whole time Nont is Nants twin... or maybe only after Nont revealed it in ep4?

Zouey refuses any of Nants question and is in a hurry to get Nant out / away from there

oh okay so that's way after ep4 then... after ep8 (fits with the Phop incident) that's when Nuth shows Nont the suicide clip

so Zouey didn't know till around ep8 where Nant was but he knew Jason got him since he was the one telling Jason... but how did he find out now

Zouey wants him to keep playing dead, even to his brother

Zouey got a ticket for Nant to the states via his mom, Nants & Nonts dad lives in the states

Zoueys mom was suppoesd to send a driver to pick up Nant the next day

Zoey doesn't want Nant to see Nont in fear Jasons men would find out

at least that bastard man wasn't present when Nant was in that room the whole time.. maybe. we don't know when he left Thailand

Zoey wants Nant to wear Zoueys clothes so he won't be noticed by other people in Playboyy lounge

seeing how different Zouey is dressed as well... maybe you have to look a bit more rich and fancy to be allowed in?

... look at him feeling guilty then when Nant hugs him and tells him that Zouey is always treating him the best. WHILE simultaneously we hear ep14 Zoueys guilty voiceover to that image, knowing that Nant indirectly got killed because of his stupid plan. PLUS this is just a few moments away from Nant getting killed by Phop.

Phop kills Nant in ep8

after Nuth tells him this

which happens after Nont held them both at gun point

after Nuth reveled the suicide video and the issues he had with Nant

but I don't think Phop recognizes Nant, since he wears a mask when they run into each other

it cut's back to the talk with Nuth, Phop promising him that he's not losing the drugs

Phop is shocked when he takes Nants mask off at the end, so he did not know it was him (or he didn't expect him to die) ... he just didn't want to get busted or robbed... I mean Nant does look shady here

News announced that Nants body was found

at the end of ep9

he was found naked in a forest near Rangsit, had been dead for 48 hours

side note Teena x Zouey

Zouey finally agrees to have sex (all the way) with Teena at the end of ep7 (did he know then that Jason comes back soon?). After Zouey confesses him that he is his muse and that Teena is the only one allowed in his art room. Teena is not as perfect as the image Zouey has in his head but he likes him despite that. (lets hope Zouey doesn't compare Jason & Teena 🤐). It was very unusual of Playboyy to not show their sex scene here despite it being a long awaited moment for the characters (and audience). They witheld Jump x Porsches first time too. We only saw that when it became relevant later in a flashback to define their relationship dynamic. I wonder if the Teena x Zouey scene will be revealed in the continuation / special / season 2 ... We got to see later sex scenes between these two after that. Where Zouey is more dominant, tho he did show some of that already earlier in ep7 during their art picnic.

Jason is back in ep10

Zouey please, dear, your obsession is showing (+ you have a boyfriend) 😭

we see mesmerized Zouey vs frowning nervous Porsche both watching Jasons speech.....

we learn from Porsches voiceover that Jason gives out scholarships and big projects to the best students

he gives the students opportunities for big projects and takes the credits for it

"if he likes someone, they get chosen to work for him after graduation." (this line paired with focus on Zoueys face)

Zouey got a scholarship here, he's happy talking with Jason

Jason tells him to drop the formal talk with him when they talked alone

they talk about Zoueys art exhibition he got the opportunity for now

(the music gives a shady vibe to the scene)

Teena x Zouey popcorn scene is the next time we see Zouey

later this shifty talk with Nont

hmmm :) oh well I feel like Nont became Zoueys new secret worst enemy to his dream

... could he be behind Nonts kidnapping? :) maybe trying the same thing again he did with Nant, now that it worked so well with Jump and Porsche :) Zouey please, that's not the way.

Zoueys art exhibition is his big dream

back then we thought he wants to do the exhibition in Jasons office for investigation reasons but nah... that's actually the opposite of what he wants. He's kind of a double agent here. Zouey wants the investigation to stop so his scholarship and exhibition doesn't get endangered (which is linked to Jasons goodwill.. affection). When Zouey is shocked about the reveal between Porsche and Jason, his first question to Porsche is "What you said isn't true, right? Your adoptive father doesn't sleep with you, right? He doesn't hurt you, right?"

Now is this actual worry for his friend or also worry for himself and his plans?

He desperately needs this exhibition to happen for some reason. Presumably to impress someone? To prove it to someone or to himself? His parents? Maybe Jason? (Aob is / was the same with Jason, his obsession to be number 1 in Playboyy. Might be a manipulation thing Jason does, to make people fall in love with him to make them do what he wants). With Porsches earlier voiceover about the opportunity to work with Jason, we constantly saw Zouey beaming up at him. Indicating that this might be his goal.

Later Zouey tells Jason that he wants the exhibition theme to be nudes but Jason smiles and says that's not working with the schools image.

In ep14 we see Zouey having beef with Den the school director, also about the theme of the exhibition being nudes and not "deep enough" for the schools image.

Zouey & Jasons private interactions ep11

do make a lot of sense btw. I saw some confused comments, I am too, that's why I do this rewatch. but looking at it all together, it makes sense

they both know what happened, they act as if nothing bad happened

Zouey has extreme respect for Jason, is intimidated by him even but still has a crush on him AND his future depends on this man (big ass power imbalance and abuse if we ever saw one)

bet Teena will be the one who reveals this mess if we get a sequel because he sees all of that, knows Zoueys issues with sex

Later we have this interaction between Jason and Zouey, also very in character and plot. When Zouey once again asks about a nude exhibition. Jason asks if Zouey will be the model. But Zouey is the artist not the model.

.... because he knows his naked body .....................

makes Zouey immediately more uncomfortable

Zouey snapping because of Captain and First intentionally (nonconsensually) hurt people during sex

this is a weird thing to say when Nant was the only one knowing about Jason and him. Maybe he slipped here, projected again like in ep1. Or maybe there is more we don't know yet but the baddie bunch knows about. Maybe that wasn't about Jason.

I mean with this mean ass cliffhanger they left us sitting in the finale, there is definitely still some stuff left open for Zouey...

[chibishortdeath]

I redrew something from 2022 :3! Yippie, now you guys get to see the old one and the new one next to each other heck yeah.

I’m gonna rant like absolutely bonkers length about Simon’s Quest and the endings and story under a cut for anyone interested:

The original version (the last image) had this like long rant about how I see the endings of the game, but it wasn’t as comprehensive cause I was still kinda new to things and well instagram character limit lol.

The endings of the game are a really really cool topic to me because of how ominous and vague they all are. They’re all left pretty open! But I’ve always gotten some sinking dread even when getting the fastest “red sky” ending. The game really sets up the ending with a lot of empty areas and suspense beforehand, especially with the still present but now more pressing clock still ticking ya know, and the final battle is kinda just there, but it ends off all this tense build up with

A eulogy. One definitely written for Simon too. In every ending.

The first ending (grey sky) is really vague, just a general statement that “Simon you will always be remembered for your bravery and courage” and that “Peace and serenity have been restored to Transylvania and the people are free of Dracula’s curse”. Which is really odd for what would be assumed to be a “bad ending”. This generally sounds like a pretty good outcome and it’s primarily the same in the Japanese version just slightly worded differently. Heck, it’s not even stated in the text outright if he died. But the visuals, oh man. Dreary greyscale and Simon doesn’t even appear on screen in front of Dracula’s grave. Did Dracula even get reburried? It’s some really bleak imagery compared to the otherwise pretty unsuspecting text.

And second ending (blue sky) is very interesting. Simon appears on screen with some nice bright generally cheery colors, but the text deliberately mentions his death in both versions. The English version however says something the Japanese version doesn’t: it says the curse wasn’t broken. The original text says “until a young man to fight against evils like him comes again to this world, Transylvanians will keep praying forever.” Which I guess you could assume means that something went wrong and the curse still exists, but it could also be taken as a general “there’s no cool badass vampire hunter guy to kill any other general threats, so we hope another one comes along”. So, again, it’s so extremely vague.

So far the first and the second don’t really have all that much different as far as implications go: Simon beat Dracula but he died.

So what about the third ending (red sky)? Would it shock you if I said there’s not much difference from the text of the first ending? It’s essentially just another eulogy text with nice things to say about him. It says “Simmon Belmont put an eternal period to the legend of Dracula” (yes the Japanese version says Simmon lol it happens), which is something we know isn’t true because well more games got made later. Also because Dracula’s hand pops out of the ground afterwards! Which is hard to say the meaning of, is it just a teaser like “to be continued” or is it actually meaning that Dracula wasn’t put down properly and will be back really soon? Because that still is in line with things since yeah Drac did kinda sorta come back early in Harmony of Dissonance. Anyway— But it’s just another way of saying “he killed Dracula” and probably “he ended the curse”. The last section is just “his blood and sweat have penetrated into the ground of Transylvania and will bring us full-blown flowers with happiness in next spring”. Which is, again, just a really pretty, poetic way of saying “we’re never gonna forget this guy”. And again, this ending never outright says if he lives or dies!

Which is so!!!!! Weird!!!!!!!!!!! Why have multiple endings in a game if they’re all so vague that they’re almost completely interchangeable and can all be argued to be the ending of the game? You could genuinely make an argument for each of the endings being the canon ending and it would affect essentially nothing. They’re so vague to the point that a lot of people assume that they were mixed up at some point in development, which I find unlikely coming from the dev team of the guy said to want his games to be a cinematic experience. But it’s so strange! Why!?!?!

But I think that this vagueness and sense of idk how to put it— um ya know when something builds something up to get you all excited and convinced it’ll go one way and then it pulls the rug out from under you? Like when it’s set up to where it feels like the protagonist is finally going to get something and then it just doesn’t happen completely unceremoniously? Like a hope crushing twist?

Idk what I mean is, to me, it feels completely intentional. It feels to me like the game is just ramping up the tension and the suspense and the dread just to cut it off with vague, bittersweet endings that just seem to imply sad things and don’t sit right. It’s like as if the game wants you to get the first ending, see that it’s really gloomy, try to figure out the game more and get the second ending, see that that one outright says he’s dead, then try to get something better only to run into another awkward seemingly negative ending and a realization that you can’t do anything about it.

And I was thinking about this again a bit ago and realized that it really fits with the rest of Simon’s story. Simon kinda has this general “hero goes to save the day” plot in the first one with some slight mention of Christopher before him and the fact that this is a clan and a repeating 100 year Dracula cycle right? But things go wrong and he gets cursed and presumably either struggles to figure out what to do or just puts it off for like 6 ish years. Add the general vibes of “will I ever be as good as my ancestors?” and repeating themes of being alone and then compare that with Dracula’s Curse that comes out not long later and this game is suddenly the most “power of friendship” “seeing the good in people” “together we can overcome this” kind of story in the whole series and it hit me: Simon feels like a subversion of the lone hero trope. Like this super uplifting, unlikely band of heroes story coming out right after the solitude if it were personified as a 1600s vampire hunter story feels so so so so important to me. And then The Adventure and Belmont’s Revenge come out and what are they about? Christopher goes into the castle alone and something goes wrong! And I’ve noticed how other Belmonts and protagonists in later games get companions or friends or helpers or somebody else, and oh boy does that make how alone Simon is that much more noticeable.

It just all comes together in a messed up way. I really feel like Simon dies in all of these endings. And I didn’t even get into weird symbolism discussion lol—

And maybe this is just me looking too hard into an old game from a modern used to stories in games being detailed perspective, but idk man, I love the Simon’s Quest because it never fails to baffle me. Honestly so much of Simon’s Quest genuinely haunts me (affectionate), like I’ll just be sitting around and think of another possible answer to something and it’ll end up just as vague and full of holes as any other speculation, it’s wild. This game will have you sitting around looking for answers only to consistently run into dead ends with sad or nonexistent implications. I hope any of this makes sense, this game drives me insane I love it debating replaying and overthinking it again hmmmmmmm—

[heidiamalia]

2 + 17 for the fic ask meme :)

okay so for some reason as tumblr does i guess i just never got notified you sent me something for this AHH

okay here goes -

2/ a fic you’ve re-read several times

oooooh gosh gotta run it back to my og's like an honorable mention because this one was one of those core memories, but beyond this point the series itself is just ash in my mouth.

the fallout by everythursday

Hermione learns about growing up through the redemption of Draco Malfoy.

i was lucky to download it when we still had access to the sacred texts [rip H&V] - but i'm sure ao3's got some orphan account with the numbers out there if ever the interest arose.

313k of war and smut and figuring shit out and it absolutely changed my life.

as a bonus to this question because now i feel bad its not a solid rec -

His Name is Stede - mercess [@spaceshipkat]

Ed never planned to see Stede Bonnet again, but after he learns Stede has been captured and is on his way to a short drop and a sudden stop, Ed declares no one gets to kill Stede but Ed himself. If that doesn't go as planned, well, Stede is far more wily than many give him credit for.

Or perhaps Ed is just a lying liar who lies.

-----

Ed’s breath caught, like a fist closing around his throat, at the sight of Stede there in the brig, wringing his hands and squinting through the shadows. He looked tired and weak, more like the sickly version of himself Ed had first met after he was cut free of the noose aboard the Spanish ship.

Most unfairly of all, he was still the most beautiful man Ed had ever seen.

if ever at all i can convince a person to witness [or endure, i know who you are, no pressure] this show, this would be the fic to have you be like whoah, okay, maybe. a post-s1 where i gasped when appropriate and shouted when i probably shouldnt have [3am rereads, i mean, yeah.] - reading this one with my heart in my hands gained me a deeply wonderful new friend along with it.

17/ a fic you wish you could read again for the first time

ughhhhh kastle fanfic writers are no fucking J O K E. we knew this.

what is left but a broken man - idekman

He's surprised by the amount of flowers at her grave.

He shouldn't be, really. Although Karen didn't have friends - or at least, not many. Murdock. Nelson. Ellison. And he was her boss before anything else.

He'd thought they'd been friends, too.

I kissed her, he thinks, a little desperately. It had just been on the cheek but he had hesitated, stayed there for a moment with that heat and that floral warmth that somehow radiated from her even in the chill air, and that had meant something. He thought it had. He had thought that, perhaps, she understood – understood that he couldn’t give her everything he wanted to, that he wasn’t ready, but that maybe some day he could be. That if he could ever have an after, he would have –

The thought is too painful to finish.

-

Karen Page is dead. Frank goes looking for her anyway.

i went into this one feeling like my heart was gonna be broken the whole fucking time but fuuuuuuck.

being able to walk with frank as we saw him discover karen in georgetown, in fagan corners, in his HEART! oh gosh i remember hitting this link and d e v o u r i n g this deep, sharp claw in to my chest with a grateful feeling.

ask me about the fic rec meme!

[archoneddzs15]

Sega Saturn - Virtua Racing Sega Saturn (Time Warner Interactive's V.R. Virtua Racing)

Title: Virtua Racing Sega Saturn / バーチャレーシング セガサターン

Developer/Publisher: Sega / Time Warner Interactive

Release date: 22 December 1995

Catalogue No.: T-4803G

Genre: Racing

I bought this Japanese version hoping that it would be different from the God-awful US and PAL versions (which I stupidly bought with my own school pocket money back in 2014). Guess what. It's the same bloody game with everything in English and that annoying woman's voice is still there when you watch the movies for each track. Oh well, at least they changed the title to Virtua Racing Sega Saturn (^v^).  The following text is pasted from my PAL review script I had in hand, but never published. Note: I have since sold my NTSC-US and PAL versions just so I could buy myself some basketball shoes at one point.

If you've already read my Race Drivin' post, you'll know just what I think of Time Warner Interactive. My classmate from high school told me that his father was lucky enough to see an early beta of Virtua Racing many months before the official Japanese launch of the Saturn. What I saw then based on the footage he sent me during computer class was a diabolical mess. Try to imagine a very poorly built course moving along at something like 15fps, a bit like an Atari Jaguar 3D racer really (^v^). Anyway, Time Warner Interactive promised that the final release of Sega's Virtua Racing would be every bit as impressive as the arcade plus many new tracks and cars. Well, they sort of kept their word.

The Saturn version did indeed have many more tracks and cars but my arse it was as impressive as the arcade. The game still moves at a very poor 20fps if that. The controls are very unresponsive, and the pop-up is pretty bad too. After seeing Time Warner's Race Drivin' which was released before Virtua Racing, I sort of suspected that Virtua Racing on the Saturn would turn out to be a massive pile of steaming poo. The thing that gets me is why did Sega hand over such a great license to such a shitty company? 

I urge everyone to play the far superior Sega-made 32X version or even the Mega Drive version, heck even the Sega Ages Playstation 2 or Sega Ages Nintendo Switch version over this crap. Oh, one more thing, one of my older copies was the PAL European release, but it works perfectly in a Japanese Saturn. In other words, it's region-free. Very odd indeed.

[plantcrazy]

Lost Children Progress Update 17/4/24

It's been a little while since I did one of these. I've been giving small updates here and there, but a big one once in a while is nice, and I enjoy sharing my progress. It's sort of motivating. You know? To look and see, 'Oh wow, I did a lot' or 'wow, I didn't accomplish a lot, but I'm proud of what I did do!' (Some chapters take their time to come together, other the ideas just flow on to the paper).

ANYWAY! You don't care about this. You want to know how long till the next chapter comes out, right????

So, will start with the elephant in the room: Ch.19. It's only 8 pages, which is why, despite the first 3 technically done (anything at 90% is just to digitalise & add text), I haven't uploaded anything.

It's about done. I'm just stuck on page 5 (and two panels of page 4). They're a flashback. A god-damned nightmare of a flashback to draw and... I don't want to do it TT , but for effect and impact, the story needs it >>

Otherwise:

(That should be 20/22 chapters done :P )

Part 1 is coming together swimmingly! With the recent addition of 2 new chapters and, I think, this is as big as part 1 will be getting. I'm finishing off tidying up how I want Part 1 to end at the minute, and then we'll have a small time skip to part 2.

(And maaaaaaybe I'll go back to the start and add an intro chapter to give more info on what the heck happened in the Triple Threat Ending to make Henry think screwing up the timelines and making a new one was a great idea. IDK. Still on the hedge about where to put this info)

Also! The poll I'm running looks like everything in one fic will win, for how it gets uploaded on A03. In two days time once the poll is finished I'll work on implementing those changes (, unless the poll swings back the other way again :P ).

Part 2:

The order of the first 9 chapters, take with a grain of salt. I'm still finalizing the order.

For the most part it's just detailed ideas of what I want to happen in each part + 4 chapters finished, 2 being edited.

'Standing on the Ledge' came out FANTASTIC. I cannot wait to upload that one. Personal favourite of the part so far. 2nd place going to 'Stuck With You'.

And what is that at the bottom? A familiar chapter name! Yes! We're getting back to the Wall. Slowly but surly our characters will be reunited with their frozen prisons, well-

Those who I haven't/ don't kill off~

*eViL lAuGhInG! >:D*

jk.

Or am I?

Anyway,

Part 3:

Part 3 is mostly a butt-ton of editing. It looks like most of the new chapters will land in part 2 (asides from 4), so part 3 will be similar to the original version, but not, given all the minor changes you're about to witness snowball into avalanche sized consequences!

^^;

Anyway, I've edited 4 so far dated them since it's going to be a while till we get to Part 3. That being said, given it's 85%ish editing, it should hopefully just be rapid fire chapter uploading when we do get there :)

I think that's about all I've got to say?

Er... you guys should be aware by now of the 'I'm in uni, chapters are as I have time/wrist able' disclaimer. So...

OH! Also, this is all going up on A03 (once the poll is done), so I can keep the readers over there who don't follow this Tumblr up-to-date with what's going on. So when you see a new chapter update in your inbox, don't get too excited ^^;

And finally, for you.

My dear read.

Who has read through my long waffle and sporadic episodes of evil laughter and fun!

I have an... 'opportunity'

*Snots* I sound like a Mafia boss with Liam Neelson's voice reading this allowed.

I left my colour coding in Part 2 (as I couldn't be bothered to remove it ^^; ), so... will have some fun with this.

Whoever can figure out who's POV are colours blue or green will get a free half or full body drawing of one character (SFW), of their choice (mine, oc, stickmin or another fandom (at my discretion)).

And we'll say... 2 guesses a person (either two on one colour, or one guess for each colour) to make it fair. (It shouldn't be too hard, there's only 12 POV's, and you've met them all but one coming in at Part 3.

OH!

And there will be three winners in total.

Good luck :)

(btw, I'm going to bed now, so first people with the right answers are the winners in case you all rush in here with your answers over the next... 10 ish hours...

Unless... you're the only person to read this far >> )

[ideas-on-paper]

Monster Hunter Tri Diary, Part 10: The Great Jaggi and his gang

For previous entries, search for #monster hunter tri diary

Disclaimer: Text is paraphrased from my localization and might slightly deviate from the English version.

Quest: Big Game Hunting

Since this is our first big monster hunt, I went all out with my equipment: In addition to my normal potions, I also packed some mega potions, as well as some nutrients and mega nutrients. Since it's my best set at the moment, I donned my Hunter's armor again, which will also save me the trouble of paitballing the Great Jaggi thanks to Autotracker.

This time, I picked a meat + meat meal (both fresh, prep method steam). That seems to have tasted a lot better than the last time, giving me a health boost, the skills Felyne Medic, Felyne Groomer, and Felyne Kickboxer, plus Ultra Lucky Cat on top of that! Nice.

The client this time is the chief village guard (presumably of Moga), who is overwhelmed by the Great Jaggi's attacks and requests assistance. This is actually the first time I'm doing a quest that isn't just for someone's personal gain - protecting the village is important, after all.

Guild Sweetheart: "Blaargh! How was my battle cry? It's supposed to motivate you for a great hunt. Is it working?" Sounds very heroic, for sure. xD

Offering us her usual telepathic support, the Guild Sweetheart explains us that the Great Jaggi is considerably tougher than anything we've hunted so far, that he can direct his minion Jaggis to attack us, and that he'll flee when he's wounded so we have to track him with a paintball. I gotta say, Tri is way more generous with tutorials than the MHs who came before. People who started in 2nd, or hell, 1st gen, definitely had a way harder time. xD

"You're already missing the fishing quest, aren't you?" Ha, no worries! Unless I have to go fishing and get beat up at the same time (sincerely hateful greetings to you, Plesioth), I ain’t complaining.

They give me 5 first aid-meds this time. Guess that's the "first big monster bonus".

Since I got the Autotracker skill, I technically don't need the paintballs from the box, but I still took them to hoard them for later. Also, not sure if I'm ever gonna use it, but I took the Tainted Meat as well. (I'm not one to turn down free stuff if I get the chance. ;-) )

Anyway, off to area 6 where the Great Jaggi is hanging around (as displayed on my map). The music during the Great Jaggi's intro is actually a remix of his battle theme. Nice!

I always felt like the Great Jaggi’s cry sounds similar to some real-life animal, but unfortunately, I was never able to put my finger on it. In any case, I think it’s really cool. (It kind of reminds me of the velociraptors from Jurassic Park. xD)

Ah, the music there we gooooo!! I love the Great Jaggi’s theme - it's so catchy. Kinda makes me miss the time when even the small big monsters had awesome music.

Oh guys, you have no idea how much I missed this. It's been years since I last played 3U, but once I saw the familiar attack patterns, I almost immediately slipped back into my battle routine. Once you know it, you know it by heart! ;-)

I just realized: The Great Sword in Tri doesn't seem to have a charged draw attack? (Like hold attack when drawing and then immediately charge.) I never noticed that before, but I guess I had no reason to outside of serious combat situations... ^^'

Did the Great Jaggi's just hip check one of the Jaggia? Hey, that's no way to treat your girlfriend!

Oh, yeah - I completely forgot about the Autoblock skill from the talisman. Kinda saved my ass in one of the rare situations where I got hit and still had my weapon drawn.

And that's the head wounded for the subquest! Now his pretty frill looks like Swiss cheese. xD

And he runs off to area 5. Alright, I'm just gonna sharpen my wea-- Ouch! Would you stop biting me, Jaggi? Jeez, you can't even sharpen your weapons in peace...

I just remembered that I had a Simple Flashbomb from the supply box, so I thought I might as well use it. It wasn't the best throw though, so I only managed to blind the small Jaggis, but not the Great Jaggi. xD Well, at least they can't disturb me now.

And he's already limping. I let him escape, since it'll be easier to get him once he's sleeping. As a thank you, he dropped me a Wyvern Tear. Thanks for the extra money, Great Jaggi!

The moment the Great Jaggi went back to area 6, he pretty much fell asleep instantly (at least that's what I saw with Autotracker). Dude was so exhausted he just got home, plopped down at his favorite spot and dozed off. xD

Since I'm a really mean hunter, I couldn't resist the opportunity to strike him with a charged blow, now that I had ample time to do so. xD However, despite monsters taking more damage when they're asleep (as far as I know), it appears it wasn't quite enough to kill him.

The Great Jaggi doesn't give up that easily, immediately going into rage mode once I woke him. Well, I guess that's understandable given I disturbed his slumber in such a rude way. xD

I just stopped his hip check with a charged blow! xD Kinda gutsy, but I love when I manage to pull off stunts like this.

And down he goes! But yeah, hunting the small big monsters isn't that big of a deal if you've got experience. Really nothing against the time when started playing 4U and struggled against a Seltas, of all things. xD

Moga Village (day)

Guild Sweetheart: "Good job, that stuff with the Great Jaggi! Powerful blows, quick diving, impeccable assessment... Well... I'm only guessing. I didn't see it, of course!" Again: You were clearly talking to me through the power of telepathy, but you didn't see anything that was going on? Or am I just hallucinating, and the stuff with the voices of the Chief, the Chief's Son, and the Guild Sweetheart was all happening inside my own head? (That would be quite the big plot twist, actually.)

"For first-rate hunters, there's no shortage of impossible jobs!" No shit - defeating any Elder Dragon is essentially making the impossible possible. xD

"Was that Great Jaggi hard to kill?" Not really, no - but of course, the Guild has come up with an extra challenge for us: to capture a Great Jaggi. (Given that the small big monsters tend to die pretty quickly, this actually might not be that easy. xD)

"That stupid Guild! Destroying both hearts and hunters!" Given the absolute bullshit the games like to throw at you, I think a lot of MH players can attest to that. xD Still, quite brave of her to say that, as an employee of the Guild herself.

Even the "very comprehensive" monster guide has nothing to say about capturing - in fact, the Guild Sweetheart realizes that 90% of the pages are completely empty!

Even the "very comprehensive" monster guide has nothing to say about capturing - in fact, the Guild Sweetheart realizes that 90% of the pages are completely empty! "Oh, my bad. That's just a normal old notebook! From now on, I'll fill it with useful facts. The hard work of today becomes the wisdom of tomorrow!" I like that she doesn't sulk at all about it, though. You know, she could've complained like "What?! What kind of prank is this?", but nope - instead, she decides to turn it into something productive. Not dwelling on past disappointments and always staying practically-minded - that’s a real role model right there.

Yet another episode of MH food lore: According to the cook, even scholars are arguing whether Algae Jellyfish belong to the algae or jellyfish. I suppose that means Algae Jellyfish are creatures that look exactly like a clump of algae drifting through the water?

"Many don't want to eat Dry Butter. They think it's dried butter! Although it's just butter with a very dry sense of humor." Ah. I suppose I fell for that joke, then. xD

"Mossy Cheese is a daring fromage that coagulates through moss instead of mold! Chapeau to the genius of its creator! Pity that the taste leaves so much to be desired..." Interesting that someone found a completely novel way of coagulating cheese, though. I wonder how they discovered this - was it deliberate experimenting or just coincidence?

Village Chief: You've only been here for such a short time... and you've already slain the Great Jaggi! That damn monster and its pack caused so much grief..." Sounds like the Great Jaggi has been causing the villagers trouble for quite a long time. Also, this seems quite personal - did the Great Jaggi hurt someone the Chief was close to?

"You keep getting stronger... That's what anticipation smells like." You're talking about your own feelings, right? I guess the Chief is really looking forward to when I'll finally be able to face and slay the Lagiacrus.

The Chief also mentions that I've now unlocked the Great Jaggi during the Moga Woods free hunts. Nice! That means I can get some rare trading goods for the Argosy.

Since we've got our first capturing quest awaiting us, the Chief also gives us a briefing on how capturing works. However, he says that Gunners use tranquilizer bombs to tranquilize monsters. I'm pretty sure that there's tranq ammo though, so is this a mistake? (Since the tranq bombs are what I normally use as a Blademaster.)

"How you recognize if a monster is sufficiently weakened? Oh, you should rely on your experience and intuition for that!" Classic old MH here: "You wanna know how this works? Oh, just learn by doing." xD

The Village Chief actually provides an explanation why Gunner armors only have half the defense Blademaster armors have in the older games: Gunners store the ammunition they need in pouches attached to their armor; therefore, their armors are lighter and provide less protection (I suppose that's due to avoiding overweight, since the ammo bags are already pretty heavy by themselves).

So the Gossip Lady also tells us about tranquilizers (a "dead sure" method to capture monsters xD), and according to her, there is tranq ammo for Gunners. (I'm honestly wondering if the comment by the Chief is a mistranslation...)

"Have you ever seen a Jaggia that sits down and rests?" I did, yes - poor girl didn't even notice me coming from behind until I killed her sister. ^^'

Chief's Son: "I know it took you a lot of effort to take down that Great Jaggi, but..." *me desperately trying to keep a serious face and not burst out laughing because of how easy it actually was* I remember the Guildmarm from MH4U said you can't call yourself a real hunter unless you're able to kill a Great Jaggi with your small finger. Guess that makes me a real hunter, then. :-)

The Chief's Son explains that the reason more Great Jaggis are popping up in the Moga Woods is because many monsters were scared away by the recent earthquake and are slowly starting to come back now. I gotta say, I always appreciate if there's an in-lore explanation for the gameplay mechanics.

And we have another villager request, this time to improve the fields. Unfortunately, I don’t have any Super-sized Dung, so I’ll first need to get my hands on that. (If I remember correctly, you get it from the Aptonoth during Moga Woods hunts.)

It's the Chief's Son who actually explains to us that a monster limping signals it's capture-ready. Really appreciate that Capcom decided to mention this at all for newcomers playing Tri. (Though most people I've seen playing MH just skip through the "boring" NPC dialogue, so...)

The Moga Woods resource info for the Great Jaggi is actually kinda interesting: It says that the Chief's Son once rescued a child from a Great Jaggi. Given that the big brother of the siblings is often running around in the Moga Woods (he's the one who tells you about shortcuts) and encountered a big monster once (trying to run away from it), I wonder if that child was him. (It would also fit his personality, since he's generally the more reckless one of the two.)

Speaking of which, our "wise" big brother tells us a few things about trap tools he's "not allowed to play with". I can scarcely imagine why. xD

Little brother: "You'll get shocked if you touch a Thunder Bug with your bare hands." Fair enough since they are used to make Shock Traps, but how do you actually gather them? Do you always have to wear gloves if you catch a Thunder Bug?

"My brother once shoved me into a pitfall trap for fun. Horrible!" *sign* Big brother just can't leave you alone, can he? Though it's interesting that you can get trapped in a pitfall trap as a human, since your own pitfall traps (fortunately) never trigger if you stand on them. (I suppose the traps have some kind of smart "identification feature" that recognizes who placed them. xD)

Item seller: "Sushifish baits should NOT be used for sushi! Too much mercury!" Okay - do I have to worry about mercury in the Sushifish as well if I catch them with the bait? (Since, you know, they kind of eat it.)

Okay, now for business: I'm going to stock up on some stuff before the Argosy leaves again, since this will be the last chance to get it a little cheaper for some time. I bought some herbs, pickaxes, bugnets, trap tools, cool and hot drinks - really just about anything that's going to come in handy in the near future.

Unfortunately, I don't have enough materials to upgrade my Great Sword (I'm missing 2 Great Jaggi Claws), but I did unlock the rest of the Jaggi armor pieces now. Since that armor is not too expensive to make and has pretty good skills (Attack Up Small which you can easily upgrade to Attack Up Medium, Gourmand so I can get full stamina from just eating the rations, and Halve Stun), I’m going for it first.

Chamberlyne: "I'm not going to scratch your furniture items when rearranging them. But hairs can't be avoided!" Just cat problems, I suppose. xD

Alright, my plan looks as follows: First, we'll do the gathering quests in the Sandy Plains, and then I'll do another hunt in the Moga Woods since the forecast says there’s a Ludroth brood in the north and a herbivore brood in the south (Ludroth are always nice for the resource points and paddles, and I need the Super-sized Dung from the Aptonoth). So, till next time, when we'll explore the vast reaches of the desert! ;-)

To be continued

[redheadsinmybed]

Powers

Wanda x Natasha x Reader

Reader is little, this is part of Loving a little series

Summary: Reader has powers. What happens when reader tries to unleash them???

Notes: just let me know what you think :) feel free to talk to me too!

You had powers, like real powers. Like you can save the world with these powers, powers.

“So I ran all the tests, Y/N and basically we don’t know the extent of your powers. You could possibly have more than what Wanda saw out there, but until you show them somehow we won’t know.” Bruce says to you, Natasha, and Wanda.

“I. Have. Powers.” You say slowly.

“I have powers.”

“I. Have powers.”

“Baby just because you keep saying it doesn’t mean it’s gonna change,” Natasha says laughing.

“But. I. Have powers.” You look at them with big eyes. Still not being able to believe that you have powers.

“Yes baby, you’re gonna wear yourself out if you keep thinking too hard,” Wanda says with a chuckle.

“I have powers!!!!!!” You say with a squeal. You run out of the room screaming down the hall.

“I have powers!!!!” Wanda and Natasha hear you scream down the hall, they laugh and walk out together holding hands.

They find you in the kitchen, breathing heavily and smiling.

“I think you’re gonna need more training, baby, if you’re already out of breath,” Natasha says to you.

“You try running around screaming your head off, it’s not as easy as it seems.” You say back.

“Guys, I have powers,” You squeal out happily.

“Yes baby, we know,” Wanda says back with a smile. You go throughout the day saying you have powers to everyone, and then repeating it randomly whenever you think about it. You tell Wanda and Natasha that you’ve got powers at least 100 times throughout the day. But it doesn’t bother them. They love you and are glad that you're happy, plus they have to deal with a three year old version of you. Oh yeah, you were back to your normal little state now. It seemed like it only affected you for about a week.

When you wake up the next day you’re excited to train with Wanda. You guys decided that the best way to find out all of your powers is to try to train them out of you. Wanda had thrown a 10 pound medicine ball at you and you caught it, sort of. Then she threw a 20 pound medicine ball at you. You did not catch this one, it hit you and you fell to the ground. Luckily you were training on soft matts, otherwise you would’ve cried.

“Okay so super strength is a no go,” Wanda says, helping you up.

“Let’s try super speed.” You and Wanda made your way to the track.

“Okay Y/N I need you to run as fast as you can okay baby?” She asks, you nod your head.

“Okay, ready, set, GO!” She says as she starts the timer, you take off at the fastest pace you can go.

“Am I doing it?!” You yell loud enough for her to hear you. You make it all the way around the track breathing heavily and slightly wheezing.

“Good thing, you don’t have super speed, but you might have asthma,” Wanda says sarcastically.

“Maybe we should try that fire thing again,” Wanda suggests.

“Okay,” You say back.

“Alright, umm, I don’t really know how to help you with this one. I guess just try to light yourself on fire?” You stand there, nothing happens. You try straining your body, still nothing happens. You close your eyes still straining.

“Is she trying to poop?” You hear Nat say. You let go of the breath you were holding and open your eyes to see Natasha holding up her phone.

“You did not!” You say scandalized.

“Oh, yes I did, ooo and it’s a good one too, one for the books” she says with a grin.

“Wanda, make the mean lady go away,” You say with a whine.

“Natasha, no more pictures,” Wanda says with a chuckle.

“Why not, this should be documented,” Natasha says with a pout.

“Well you can document it when something actually happens,” Wanda says.

“Fine, you guys are no fun,” Natasha says, still pouting.

“Awww, don’t pout,” You say going over to her. You kiss her and her pout instantly turns into a smile.

“So what were you trying to do anyways?”

“Trying to light myself on fire,” You say.

“And making a constipated face is the way to do it?” Natasha says with a smile laced in.

“No, I just don’t know how I did it,” You say sadly.

“What were you feeling at that moment?” Natasha asks.

“Well, I was sad because you wouldn’t wake up, but mostly I was angry. I just felt rage towards the Hydra agent.”

“Okay, that’s good. So I want you to think of something that makes you mad, like mad like you felt towards the Hydra agent.” Natasha instructs. You think back to when you received those texts from your ex. You think about your past. You think about all the fights you’ve ever had with Hydra. You start to glow red.

“That’s it baby, keep thinking,” Natasha says. You think about Natasha lying unconscious on the ground. You are set aflame.

“Baby open your eyes,” You open your eyes but you don’t see anything at first, until Wanda holds up a mirror for you to see. You are on fire, your whole body is encased in flames. You don’t feel any different, you’re not overheating or burning. You want to try something.

“Come touch me,” You say to Wanda and Natasha. Natasha was recording you, but stops when she hears your request.

“What? Y/N you’re on fire why would we touch you?” Natasha asks.

“Do you trust me?”

“Well of course we do,” Wanda says.

“Then come hold my hand.” Wanda and Natasha come closer to you, when they don’t feel any heat coming off you they tentatively take the hand you’re holding out for them. When they touch you they don’t burn up or catch fire.

“Wow.” Wanda and Natasha say dumbstruck.

“Okay now watch this,” You say letting go of their hands, walking up to the punching bag. You take a deep breath and press your hand against it. It instantly lights on fire. You let out your breath.

“Wow,” Wanda says in awe. Natasha stares for a moment until she snaps out of it. She quickly goes and gets the fire extinguisher putting the fire out.

“That was awesome baby!” Wanda says hugging you. You relax into her arms and you deignigte yourself. Natasha comes over and hugs you two in a big group hug.

Throughout the day you figure that anger and rage make you light on fire. You find out that you can also shoot fire from your hands. And when you spin around in a circle your hair is like a fiery lasso that releases embers. You couldn’t do the lightning thing that you did when Natasha was unconscious, but at least you unlocked one power.

“Maybe I’m like a mystery superhero. Like in different situations I unlock different powers. Wouldn’t that be so cool? What if I have powers like Wands? Then you could teach me!” You say happily.

“Yes then I could teach you,” Wanda says with a chuckle. You three walk towards your room hand in hand.

[kaistarus]

Fake Confessions Spawn Real Feelings

Pairings: Nishinoya X Reader

Words: 2.2K

Summary: Noya asks you to help him make Kiyoko jealous, but like most of his ideas it doesn’t go the way he expects it to.

Notes: Chaotic Noya is my favorite Noya, so half this fic is cute and half this fic is him being a crackhead. Both versions I'm unhealthily in love with.

**there’s now a sequel with the first date**

Masterlist

“Noya what the hell are you doing?”

Nishinoya appeared by your desk the moment the final bell had rung bouncing with the energy of a caffeinated toddler. You were suspicious of the impatient look in his eyes that could only mean trouble, which was later confirmed by him pulling you out of your desk the moment your class materials were packed. Now, without explaining his actions, he weaved his way through the halls while dragging you reluctantly along.

“The most genius thing ever.” He said once you arrived outside the school’s gymnasium. Nishinoya dropped your hand and began looking around the empty courtyard.

“What are you looking for?”

“Kiyoko,” he opened his bag and dug around before producing an envelope. You raised an amused brow at the poorly drawn hearts adorning the parchment.

“Are you giving that to her?”

Nishinoya raised an eyebrow like you’d just asked the most ridiculous question he’d ever heard. “What? No, this is empty.” He shoved it into your hands.

You blinked, raising the envelope into the light to confirm that it was indeed see through. “So, you just decorated an empty envelope? What’s the point of that?”

“Well, when Kiyoko sees another girl confessing her feelings for me. She’ll think I’m irresistible!”

He puffed out his chest after swinging his bag back onto his back.

“Another girl?” You snorted as you flipped the envelope over to admire the poorly drawn kissy faces on its back. “Who’s stupid enough to do that?”

“You are!” He said as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. You stared blankly. “You’re going to give me that fake love letter.”

“What do you mean I’m going to-”

 “Then she’ll be like, ‘oh Noya, I didn’t realize you were so sexy and talented, please don’t leave me’,” he said while clasping his hands together and raising his voice several octaves.

“I don’t think she’s going to-”

“And I’ll be like, ‘Kiyoko baby I would never leave you. I’d wait a million lifetimes sweet mama’.” He grabbed his cheeks and wiggled his butt around, clearly lost in a fantasy. “Then we’ll fall in love and get married at a destination wedding and have ten thousand children and Tanaka will weep of jealousy at my astounding awesomeness.”

“Ten thousand babies?” Your jaw dropped in horror before you quickly shook it off. You pushed the envelope against his chest. “Look, I’m not doing this.”

“C’mon, this is literally life or death.” He tried, shoving the letter back into your hands.

“What if someone sees? I’m supposed to live with the reputation of confessing to you and everyone thinking you turned me down?”

“First of all, ouch. Second of all, everyone’s gone home by now.” Nishinoya shrugged. “What could possibly go wrong?”

The phrase alone made a long list scroll through your mind. “I wouldn’t even know how to confess.”

“I’m literally cool as fuck,” Noya smirked. “It should be easy. Just be honest.”

You gave him a once-over. “Do you want to impress Kiyoko or have me be honest? Pick one.”

Nishinoya glared at you before his eyes connected with something over your shoulder. “Okay, here she comes. Act natural.”

He released the envelope and you caught it on reflex, sneering at him while he straightened out his poster and uniform jacket. What did he mean to act natural? Absolutely nothing about this situation was natural.

“Oh my gosh, (Y/N). Why did you ask that we meet out here all alone?” Noya said, his voice awkwardly stiff and loud.

Your grip on the envelope tightened as you tried to keep yourself from becoming more agitated with Nishinoya. He has the nerve to tell you to act natural and then puts on a performance like that. “I have something important I need to tell you…” 

“I wonder what it is. As someone who respects all women I will take any amount of time out of my day to listen to your words.” The corner of his mouth quirks up and he shoots you a small thumbs up at his hip. It takes all of your concentration to not roll your eyes.

You heard a pair of footsteps echoing from the walkway that connected the main building and the gymnasium, so you figured one of them belonged to Kiyoko. In your peripheral you spotted her and Yachi pretending to stare down at a clipboard in Kiyoko’s hands, but you knew they were glancing up at the fake display you both were putting on.

“Uh, well, it’s just… um... ” You nibbled on your bottom lip from frustration. Thankfully, they probably took your hesitation for nervousness rather than the inability to think of something to say.

 It wasn’t that you disliked Nishinoya. You actually really admired him-not that you had ever imagined admitting it to his face. But… if you didn’t have a choice.

You took a deep breath.

“I think that you're really amazing,” you said, avoiding his excited amber eyes you knew were trained on Kiyoko anyway. “I like how determined you are to do your best and how that transitions to how hard you work in volleyball. I truly believe you’re the greatest libero there is.”

You felt Nishinoya’s focus become more grounded on you, so you lifted your stare to meet his. The longer you made eye-contact the more it felt like he was pulling the confession from you. “I like how much you care about your friends and that you work hard to cheer people up even when I can tell you’re not in a great mood yourself. I also admire how fearless you are and how you’re the first to try new things.” You looked down again and dug your shoe into the dirt. “I wish I could be more like that sometimes.”

You felt your cheeks warming as his mouth went a little slack and his brow creased. You knew you could probably stop at any moment, but the words were flowing too easily and a part of you wanted him to hear them now. Later you could pretend it was for the bit and not because your heart weighed heavy in your chest.

“I’ve always been jealous of how free it feels to be around you. Like, how chaotic and carefree you can be, but you still know how to be serious in certain situations.” You shrugged. “You’re also pretty cute or whatever, so that’s a good addition.”

Nishinoya looked in awe. You glanced back at Kiyoko and Yachi who were now watching from the gymnasium’s entrance-their heads peeking out from the doorway. You became self-conscious when you remembered it wasn’t just you and Nishinoya and you felt the urgency to wrap this up quickly.

“So, uh,” you held the poorly crafted envelope Nishinoya had made outward. “I really like you, Nishinoya. I hope you can accept my feelings.”

The moment had come where he was supposed to turn you down. Say he couldn’t accept and you’d be on your way to live life like normal. But, instead of saying anything he just kept staring at you.

You coughed awkwardly and waved the envelope in his face. “Noya…”

“Oh, uh, right.” His cheeks dusted pink and he took the empty envelope. “Thanks. That um… you’re also… pretty cool.”

He just stared down at the poorly crafted envelope for several moments before glancing back up at you nervously.

 “So, I get done with practice at around six if you want to hang out later? Unless you’re busy tonight. We can hang out this weekend or really I can make any time work. Dead ass, like, I can fucking skip practice if that’s what you want.”

You blinked.

...what.

“What’s going on?” You leaned forward to whisper, but he leaned away awkwardly. “This wasn’t the plan.”

“I know, but you said all those nice things and now I’m confused.” Nishinoya covered his face with his hands.

“Confused how?” You looked back to the doorway where Kiyoko and Yachi had been peeking out and frowned at how they were gone.

“Confused like my heart feels funny and now I want to get married and have ten thousand kids and stuff.”

Your face turned bright red. “What? I can’t have ten thousand kids.”

“One thousand?”

“I’m not having more than two kids,” you crossed your arms. “Besides, one kid with your energy is equivalent to at least two.”

He pouted. “Fine, but then I get to choose our destination wedding.”

“Absolutely not. You’d pick somewhere ridiculous like Nebraska.”

“What the hell is a Nebraska?”

“It’s a boring place in the US where nothing-” You waved it off. “Why are we even talking about this? You don’t like me, Noya. You like Kiyoko.”

“But I didn’t even know I was allowed to like you,” his brow furrowed as he thought. “I mean, I’ve thought about liking you, but it’s different ‘ya know?”

“No,” you responded. Next time Nishinoya pulls you into a ridiculous plot where he claims ‘what could possibly go wrong?’ you’d have to add actual confessions to the long list.

“You’re like a real person.” He gestured to all of you and you just tilted your head confused. “It’s like, Kiyoko can turn me down a hundred times, but she’ll still talk to me so who cares. But if you turned me down it’d be different. I might never get to be with you again. Does that make sense?”

“I guess… so…” You furrowed your brow and stared at his shoes that were tapping nervously against the ground. “Do you even know how to go on dates?”

“How dare you,” he placed a hand over his chest in mock horror. “I’ll have you know I’ve read two whole romance books. No pictures.”

“Well, when you sell yourself like that.” You smirked before taking a deep breath. “I mean, I guess… it would be fine. If we had one date.”

“Really?” He fist pumped. “Fuck yeah. I’m gonna swoon you so good. This’ll be the best date of your life.”

“I’ve never been on a date.”

“Even better! There’s no standard.” He cackled as he spun around with his fist raised high. “I can’t even fuck it up.”

“I don’t think that’s how that-”

“I’ll text you,” he sent you a wide smile over his shoulder. “I promise that this is going to be really great. You’re going to love it.”

You gave a slight nod and watched him practically skip into the gymnasium. It took Tanaka’s disbelieving shouts to snap you out of your frozen stupor and you stared down at your hands in confusion.

What the hell just happened?

Mindlessly, you made your way to the front of the school where your bike was chained up so you could finally get home and relax. You spent the entire ride home in a numb state of disbelief that somehow, in less than an hour, you’d gone from refusing to admit you found Nishinoya even remotely cool to going on a date with him.

What kind of witchcraft had he pulled?

You assured yourself that it was just a date and nothing would come of it. So when you struggled with focusing on your homework that night because every few minutes your heart would do acrobatics at the idea of spending time alone with Nishinoya, you pretended it was just leftover embarrassment.

It also probably meant nothing that your face turned red when he texted you immediately after his practice with like ten smiley faces. And it definitely wasn’t a big deal that you giggled like an idiot while texting him until three in the morning about absolutely nothing. That was all just normal stuff that happened between normal people who had a normal non-romantic connection. No way had you actually fallen for Nishinoya.

You definitely weren’t in denial.

As you sat through a boring lesson the next day in class your eyes drifted, landing unsurprisingly on the boy taking up too much of your mental space. He was absentmindedly fiddling with his dyed strand of hair as he focused intently on the workbook on his desk. His tongue poked out in concentration as he repeatedly wrote and erased something on the same line in his notebook. You smiled fondly at the frustrated crease between his furrowed brow as he struggled to analyze that day’s literature passage.

Nishinoya must have felt you blatantly staring because he lifted his head confused before searching around the room and finally meeting your eyes dead on. You stared at each other briefly until he gave you a lopsided grin that sent your heart into a frenzy. You lifted your hand for a little wave and embarrassingly turned your attention back to your own schoolwork.

You rubbed your pencil’s eraser against one of your now pink cheeks.

Damn it… you thought, as you began underlining random sentences to appear busy. You really did like him. A small smile rested on your lips as your heart kept it’s irregular pattern. Perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing?

You snuck another peek and your smile fell when you saw him cross-eyed and balancing his pencil on his top lip. He’d apparently given up on attempting to do the assigned work for the day. You watched the pencil roll forward and he tried to catch it on his tongue before it clattered onto his desk, pulling everyone’s attention.

You groaned quietly and covered your face with your hands.

At least he was cute?

[watchmegetobsessed]

VALERIE - Part V. (Harry Styles)

happy sunday loves!! part 5 is here, buckle up bc we are getting down to business here!! thank you so much for the nice feedbacks, it’s always so moving and inspiring to read your thoughts, so please keep them coming! even if it’s just some gibberish rambling, those are the best haha! now let’s jump right into part 5, we are heading into the christmas mood and im so excited for yall to read this part!! enjoy!

word count: 6.1k

SERIES MASTERPOST

masterlist

By the time November nears its end you officially become a couple with Marcus. It happens gradually, two more dates follow your first one, and then on the third one you agree to test the waters of the possibilities between the two of you exclusively. 

Marcus is a great guy. He is funny, caring and smart, always listens to you and cares for even the smallest details about you when you’re talking. He is great company and never fails to make you feel appreciated and wanted. Exactly what you’ve been looking for in a guy, Rosa really hit the nail on the head this time. 

You easily fall into a habit with him. Fridays are for date nights, sometimes you go for little trips outside the city on Sundays and he never misses a chance to send you flowers throughout the week. He is just the type of guy that’s always there to cheer you up with something whenever the days start to weigh down on your shoulders. 

You even have dinner together with Rosa and Steven one Saturday evening, Rosa keeps giving you those ‘I told you so’ eyes whenever Marcus kisses you shortly or places his hand to your waist. You mostly just roll your eyes at her, not wanting to make a big deal out of the two of you, but Rosa knows how long you’ve been trying to find someone. 

What’s a surprising turn is that you start seeing Harry more. Intentionally. You have no idea how it happens, but it does and you’re not mad about it. Some days you grab lunch together whenever he is in the neighborhood, some days you go shopping with him when his sister doesn’t have the time. Harry is a problematic shopper, he takes a long time to decide on clothes so usually you are the one that forces him to choose and finish before all shops close. 

When he has had a rough week and you happened to call him for whatever reason, the two of you agree to meet up for drinks at his place, then end up playing UNO for hours, slowly emptying out two bottles of wine.

It’s starting to get harder to imagine what it was like when things weren’t like this with him. When you were getting anxiety from just the thought of seeing him or having to talk to him. It’s like the both of you are showing a different version of yourselves to each other and you have to admit you enjoy being friends with him. 

He keeps his habit of teasing you and making jokes about you though, but you don’t mind it. He is not doing it in a mean way with the attempt to piss you off, but to make you laugh and start a playful war where you both throw insults at each other until one of you runs out of it and just starts laughing. You feel a kind of dynamic building between you and him that has a way better effect on you than the continuous killing you were doing before.

You can tell Rosa is thankful for the change as well. Whenever she sees you interact with Harry without making a grimace or have that face that screams how badly you want to hit him, she is relieved that she has one less thing to worry about and Valerie will have two amazing godparents who even like each other.

Christmas is always a big parade in your family. Your mom and your aunts always want to celebrate together so in the past few years it has become a tradition to rent a place out that has enough space for the whole extended family and spend three days there from the 23rd to the 25th. This year your dad found a huge cabin in the woods with ten bedrooms and seven bathrooms, just the perfect size for you all. It’s gonna be your parents, Rosa and Steven with Valerie, Aunt Monica, Aunt Teresa with Uncle Andrew, your cousin Etta, her husband Joe and their two kids, your other cousin Lily with her husband Jeremy and their daughter, and lastly you and Harry.  Though your mom urged you to invite Marcus along as well, he could join you for longer than a dinner, since he was already set to fly home to his family.

“You sure he can’t stay for at least the first night?” you mom asks on the phone one evening. You’re stirring the sauce in the pan. holding the phone to your ear with your shoulder so you have both of your hands free.

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s fine, he can come for dinner and then leave later.”

“I get it, but it would have been fun if he stayed,” she sighs, clearly disappointed that she couldn’t change what’s already set. If you’re being honest you don’t mind that Marcus is not staying for the night. You haven’t been dating for that long, you feel like it would be a little uncomfortable to have him there the whole time. A dinner is perfectly fine as a starter, since he hasn’t met anyone else from your family other than Rosa and Steven.

“Anyway,” she sighs moving on, “Have you figured it out how you’re gonna get there?”

“I don’t know, I guess I’ll tag along with someone.”

“Well, I think you should ask Harry. Everyone else is pretty packed already. Rosa and Steven won’t have any extra space with Valerie this year.”

You nod, even though she can’t see you. These past years Rosa always offered you a ride for the holidays, but even when they brought her over for just one night their car was jam-packed. No way you’re gonna fit in there so you are left with Harry since Marcus can only come in the afternoon.

“Sure, I’ll ask him.”

You shoot him a text that day and he replies right away that you’re welcomed in his car, though he won’t be able to take you back since he is leaving early in the morning on the 25th since he is flying back to the UK to his family. It’s fine, you think, you’ll just probably just tag along with aunt Monica back to the city, she always gets her a car for these occasions. Though it’s not your ideal option, she is not the best partner for rides, because she is a fan of smoking in the car, but you don’t have much of a choice. 

“I’ll call you when I leave, okay?” Marcus tells you on the morning of the 23rd. It’s early, barely seven, but he is up because he needs to work a little today and you are finishing up packing since Harry will be here in an hour to pick you up.

“Sure. Drive safe,” you huff sitting on the edge of the bed, staring down at your suitcase that’s still not closed, clothes are sticking out on the side and you’re sure you’ll have to sit on it to pull the zipper.

“See you later,” Marcus says before you end the call. 

It’s rather comical how you try to close the suitcase but you only care about the fact that you eventually succeed. Only minutes before eight you are packed and ready so when you get Harry’s text that he is outside you can leave right away.

Seeing you with your big suitcase he hops out of the car and rushes to help you.

“How long are you planning to stay, Y/N?” he chuckles lifting the bag up and you just shrug your shoulders with a smirk. You’ve alway been a heavy packer, no need to try to cover it up.

Harry throws your stuff into the back of the car as you take the passenger seat. His phone is hooked to the car, a playlist of his own playing gently through the speakers and you’re surprised to catch on the Christmas feeling in the songs.

“Are you in the spirit?” you ask when he gets into the car.

“Like to set the mood ahead,” he chuckles starting the car and off you go. 

Ridiculous to think about it, but it’s actually the first time you sit in the same car with Harry or see him drive even. The way you two used to be was not quite ideal to have you locked up in such a small place as a car. But now you have nothing against spending the almost hour long drive with him. 

“Can you pull out the navigation when I leave the highway? I’m not sure where exactly I need to head,” he asks you, eyes fixed on the road ahead of him and nodding you open the app on your phone so his can keep on playing the music without the voice of the navigation interrupting it. 

“Excited to spend your first Christmas with us?” you ask. Though Harry was there at several family events, it’s his first Christmas since becoming Valerie’s godfather. 

“I am,” he chuckles, nodding, hands gripping the wheel gently. He is a natural driver, easily working the car, the kind you feel completely safe next to. As Baby It’s Cold Outside comes on a smile stretches across your lips as you start gently bop your head to the song. “I’ve heard crazy stuff about Christmases at your family,” he adds glancing in your way for a second.

“Like what?”

“I remember when Steven told me about his first Christmas with your family. You remember that?”

Searching in your memories you tried to remember when was the first time Rosa brought Steven along. They dated for two years before they got married so it’s been about five years since then, but as you think hard the memory of that specific year pops into your head making you laugh as you nod.

“Oh, yes. The year Aunt Monica almost burned the Airbnb down,” you sigh grinning at the memory. She brought some special kind of cigars that year that were told to be curiosities from somewhere fancy, but they ended up the literal worst quality, flaming bits were falling out them all the time when she would smoke one, almost making the rug catch on fire wherever she went. Best thing is that she was already drunk on the liquor so she didn’t even notice, there was always a person on Aunt Monica duty, following her around, making sure nothing burnt down. 

“Steven said he had a moment when he thought about bailing,” Harry tells you and you gasp, because that’s new information.

“Really?”

“Yeah, but like only for a split second after your dad walked in on him naked in the bathroom. That was kind of the last straw. Luckily Rosa could convince him to stay. Guess it all worked out at the end.” Harry smiles as he stares ahead of him.

You can’t imagine a version where Rosa and Steven don’t end up together. They met through a mutual friend not long after Rosa had a nasty breakup with her scumbag ex. Steven was there to put her back together and be her partner as she found herself again. The change and positive impact he had on her could be seen every day and you were so thankful to him for helping your sister find her way out of such a dark place in her life. It didn’t take them too long to start dating and he proposed a little more than a year later. You still remember how Rosa was screaming in the phone when she called you that evening telling you that Steven proposed. They are quite literally a match made in heaven. It’s been your goal in life to find this person in your life though you haven’t had much luck with men so far. Ironically, if you were in a room with every man you were ever involved with in any kind of way, Harry would be the only one you’d want to talk with. If you had to make this exact same choice just months ago you would have chosen to run out screaming. 

“Maybe this year it’s your turn to get horrified from us,” you laugh, sinking down a little in your seat as you adjust the seat belt. You’re still quite far away from the cabin, you might as well make yourself comfortable. 

“I think there’s not much that I haven’t witnessed yet. I was walked in on at the bathroom once too, but it was your cousin, Etta.”

“When did that happen?” you ask with a heartfelt laugh.

“I think it was last summer at one of your nieces’ birthday party. Luckily everything was already tucked away when she basically barged in.”

“She didn’t miss much,” you tease him with a smirk and your witty comment catches him by surprise.

“Are you saying my dick is not imposing enough to be worthy of peeking?” he asks with raised eyebrows and you’re happy he is driving. His intimidating look would already burn right into your skin by now, but he is forced to watch the road instead. 

“I mean, if you want to put it that way…” you continue, but a laugh escapes your lips.

“Take that back, Y/N,” he orders, sneaking a hard look at you before turning back ahead, but you can see the small smile hiding on his lips. 

“Or what?”

“Or you might find yourself in a war you don’t want to be involved in,” he warns you, but his words don’t quite have the effect on you he wanted. Because in a heartbeat you find yourself feeling… excited? Thrilled? Even curious about his means behind his words. 

“Wouldn’t want to lie, so…” Pretending like you’re sorry you shrug your shoulders as Harry gives you a look that makes your stomach churn. Now either you are gonna have some fun teasing each other or… you just threw yourself into the arms of the Devil himself. Either way, you’re certain Harry won’t leave it in that.

Turning your head to your window you can’t keep your smile contained as you think of the fact that how big of a lie it was. Harry is surely not a guy who should ever worry about any aspect of his manhood. You’re talking from experience. 

***

The cabin is absolutely gorgeous, just the perfect place for a cozy family holiday. Hidden from the busy roads with a secure gate and tall trees on both sides, the back of it is facing a majestic view of the valley and the evergreen covered hill in the distance. With an interior straight from the pages of a magazine, you need just a few moments to adjust to your surroundings upon arriving.

“I saved a nice room for you, Harry!” your mother gushes the moment she sees the two of you walk through the front door. You huff in annoyance.

“And what about me?” 

Harry chuckles giving you a smug grin. “Guess you’re just second after me.”

“It’s his first Christmas with us, he deserves the better room,” your mom shushes at you, making your eyes roll instantly. It’s still hard to believe Harry has this kind of charm over most people.

After greeting everyone who is already there, your dad, Aunt Teresa and Etta with her family, your mom walks the two of you down one of the hallways that leads to several bedrooms. She stops at the last door with an excited grin on her face as she opens it revealing the bedroom behind it. 

You instantly understand why she thought this is the best one. The view is absolutely breathtaking, the gentle noon light is flowing into the room through the floor to ceiling windows, the king sized bed facing them so when you wake up in the morning the first thing you see is the endless sea of evergreens on the side of the hill. Not to mention the room has its own bathroom, not many of the other rooms are blessed with that. There’s a spacious shower that has enough space for at least three people in there and it’s one of those fancy ones that can make you feel like you’re having a shower in the middle of a jungle, mood lights and bluetooth speakers attached to it.

“No fucking way Harry is getting this room!” you gasp as you look around, taking in the luxure your mother is willing to hand over to him.

“Jealous, much?” he smirks, throwing his sports bag to the bed already ruining the neatly made sheets. He does not deserve this.

“Mom!” you huff turning to her, but she has made her mind up already.

“Your room is nice too, don’t worry Honey. Let Harry have this one!”

“I really can’t believe you are taking his side,” you grumble under your breath, folding your arms on your chest as you take one last look at the stunning view. 

“Come on, Y/N. He is a guest!”

“He is not! You said it yourself he is family now!” you retort and Harry just laughs behind you, so you shoot him a murderous look over your shoulder, that just fuels his entertainment.

“Don’t be silly. Your room is the second one on the right from here,” she smiles at you. “We are gonna take a walk around once everyone arrives, so get settled by then!” she informs you before walking out. 

“Hey,” Harry’s soft voice makes you turn around. “You can have the room if you want.”

Your eyebrows rise at the kind gesture, it’s very not like him, even now in your friendly state, so it’s quite odd that he is willing to switch rooms with you.

“No need,” you shake your head grabbing the handle of your suitcase that you abandoned at the door.

“You sure? It doesn’t matter where I’m sleeping, really.”

“I’m not gonna deal with my mother’s scolding if she finds out I took your room, so you can totally stay.” 

Harry chuckles as you head out, but stop at the door to have one last word with him. “Though I might occupy your bathroom, that shower looks nice.”

“All yours,” he grins before you walk out.

***

By 11 am everyone arrives and the once quiet cabin is now buzzing from life, children running around, Valerie’s babbling shoots through the spacious living area where Rosa set her crib up, your mother is already making preparations for dinner while most of the men are circled around the pool table having a beer since no one has to drive for the rest of the day. 

“When is Marcus arriving?” Rosa asks, eyes on Valerie who is absolutely destroying something that once were an elephant maybe, but she’s been ruthless with the poor animal, chewing and throwing it around all the time, so it’s not just a grey, fuzzy mess.

“Sometime before dinner. He has some work to finish,” you tell her pulling your legs under yourself on the comfy couch.

“And explain again, why isn’t he staying for the night?” she turns to you with a puzzled look.

“Because he is going home to his family early in the morning tomorrow.”

“Okay, but he could have just left from here, didn’t he?”

“It’s… complicated. It’s better if he just goes back home tonight and then leaves from there in the morning.”

What you leave out of the whole explanation is that you didn’t really invite him to stay the night as well. Sounds horrible and ridiculous but you didn’t think you’d have felt comfortable with him staying. You’ve been dating for only barely more than a month and though things are going well, you felt like starting with just a dinner would be a better idea. Marcus didn’t question why you didn’t offer him to stay, it seemed like he was fine with just coming and then going after dinner. 

Does this make you a bad girlfriend? Maybe, but you value your comfort and feelings more than to ruin your favorite holiday with your family. 

Just as you mom said, once everyone is settled in their rooms for the upcoming three days, the whole gang dresses up to have a walk around taking the welcoming little path that runs around the cabin and is smooth enough for Valerie’s carriage as well. Your nieces and nephew are quick to surround Harry and nag him to join them at the front, exploring the woods surrounding the path. It seems like he doesn’t mind it and gladly takes part in the adventure, also secretly looking after them so their parents can have a break and enjoy the stroll in hopes the walk tires the kids out enough that they’ll willingly go to bed in the evening instead of whining to stay up late. 

You’re walking with Etta next to you as she tells you about Hannah’s latest dance competition when you spot that Harry and Oliver, your nephew, Etta’s other kid are suspiciously whispering around pointing in your direction. At last Olly nods and runs up to you showing a quite thick piece of wood into your hand. You look down at him confused.

“Thank you?” you tell him a little unsure what it’s all about.

“I found it in a bush, I want to take it home. Harry said you’ll keep it for me because you have a good hand for thick and hard sticks.”

You almost choke on your own breath, as Olly just carelessly runs back ahead to join his sister. You immediately look over to Etta in fear that she heard what Harry told Oliver, but luckily she was talking with Joe turning back, not really paying attention to the conversation you just had with her son. If she did, Harry probably wouldn’t live by now.

Speaking of the devil, you look in his way and that annoying, smug grin is right there as he nods in your way saluting before he shows his hands into his pockets and turns back around to catch up with the kids. 

That disgusting piece of shit really went into the depth of teaching something secretly dirty to your nephew as a way of payback for your comment in the car earlier. He surely wasn't just joking when he said you’d pay for what you said. And you have a feeling he is just getting started. 

***

Aunt Monica is like a legend in your family. She is the oldest between your mom and her sisters, already in her sixties, but in the heart she still feels like she has just turned twenty. She never married, but had several men in her life, love affairs, short flings, but none of them lasted for more than a year. 

“Why would I settle when there’s so many fish in the sea?” she once told you, her iconic Chanel sunglasses sat on her nose as she sipped on her martini. 

She has worked many jobs throughout her life, she was once a dancer, she waited tables and even worked as a TV host at one point in the ‘80s. She was the true free spirit of the family, her sisters often questioned her sanity, but you think there’s nothing wrong with how she lived her life, enjoying it to the last bit. In the early ‘90s she was seeing a millionaire, probably the only man she would have given her lifestyle up for. Unfortunately, they never married, the man passed away due to his heart problems, however, since he had little to zero family he left basically everything to Aunt Monica. Money, house, cars, business, everything. Being the smart woman that she is, she handed over the business into professional hands but she is still the owner, so the money is still flowing even though she could have lived happily on the money she inherited without ever having to work a day. 

She seems a little odd in your family, but she has always been a loving aunt to you, a caring sister and she never fails to take care of her loved ones. She is the one to pay for all these Christmas getaways, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to stay in places this nice.

“What’s all the money for if I don’t spend it on my family?” she always says when someone questions if she is fine with paying for everything. Your mom and Teresa have tried to convince her to let them at least pay for part of it but she wouldn’t even listen to them. 

She likes to have her own, sometimes odd ways in life. She definitely has a drinking problem, but not in a dangerous way. You have never seen her completely wasted, she just likes to keep things buzzing and always have a drink on her whenever she needs the extra fun. Because of her past she has the greatest stories about meeting famous people back in the days or how soldiers used to try to win her over when she was just a teenager.

“Oh, those things happened,” your mom told you when one day you questioned if you could believe all the crazy stories Aunt Monica tells you. “She was like… the star of the show. Used to hate living in her shadow, but I can’t blame her for enjoying life and doing the things I was too afraid to do myself.”

Now you’re sitting in the sunroom that faces the amazing view behind the cabin, the Christmas tree is standing tall in the corner, beautifully decorated in white and beige. Valerie is snuggled up to your chest as you gently rub her back and you listen to Aunt Monica tell you about how a literal captain once proposed to her after just three days of knowing each other.

“He was a gentleman, but a beast in the bed, Y/N. I’m telling you, men in uniform are just a different level of satisfaction.”

She sighs deep, taking a sip from her margarita that’s definitely not her first drink, and you just laugh nodding.

“He was begging for me to go to Italy with him.”

“And why didn’t you?”

“Who said I didn’t?” she asks with a pretentious hurt look turning to you and you just laugh. You should have known the story would go this way. “I accepted the offer, only turned down his proposal when we sailed off and then we parted as soon as I stepped onto the land of Italy. Broke his heart into pieces, but I was too busy enjoying the Italian summer.”

Harry comes in and hands you a bottle filled with juice that probably Rosa sent for Valerie.

“Thank you,” you smile at him shortly as you adjust the little girl in your arms and hand her the bottle.

“Young boy, have you ever proposed to someone?” Aunt Monica asks Harry who stops in his way as he was already about to head out, but now he walks back to the sofa where she is sitting.

“No, not yet,” he shakes his head.

“And how do you think you would if the time came?”

You watch Harry think to himself at the odd and quite random question. It’s not really something you would have ever asked him, but now that there’s the chance to hear his answer you are listening curiously. 

“Depends on the woman I’m proposing to,” he replies after a few seconds.

“How would you propose to Y/N?”

Your eyes widen as you turn to your aunt with shock all over your face. You definitely didn’t want yourself dragged into this.

“Aunt Monica, that’s--”

“Shush! I’m just asking theoretically. Wanna hear his answer.”

Harry’s eyes wander over to your sitting figure on the sofa as he leans onto the back of the one in front of him. You can feel the heat crawling up on your neck to your cheeks under his burning look and you just know he enjoys how nervous you got from this simple question that wasn’t even asked from you. 

Licking his lips he moves his eyes from you over to Aunt Monica who is still waiting for his answer.

“Something romantic, but not too grandiose, I know she doesn’t like being in the center of the attention that much. Maybe…” Tapping on his chin you listen to his words and without even realizing you hold your breath. “Maybe on a hike with a nice view. She would be admiring the view when I get down on one knee and as she turns around I pop the lid on the box.”

What bugs you is that it’s an awfully accurate description of how you’d imagined your proposal. He was right about many aspects, like how you don’t like being in the center of attention. No idea how he nailed so easily, but he did. 

Glancing down you pretend to be busy with Valerie who is still peacefully drinking her juice, eyes wandering around the room relentlessly.

“So you really look to satisfy her deepest fantasies, careful about even the smallest details. Women appreciate it,” Aunt Monica nods, completely oblivious to how uncomfortable she just made you feel.

“Thank you, I do like to satisfy women,” Harry cheekily answers with a smirk, eyes locking with yours for a moment as Aunt Monica lets out a laugh at the dirty comment. Before you could bite your tongue a retort slips out of your mouth.

“What a shame you don’t always succeed.”

Harry’s eyes turn from playful to dark pretty quickly and you enjoy the victory over him. Your comment in the car earlier already wounded his manhood, now it’s another stab right into his… crotch. It’s the least he deserves after what he taught poor Olly.

“That I don’t believe. He seems like an absolute pleaser.” Aunt Monica winks in Harry’s way who just smiles at her shyly, but you can tell your comment is still bugging him. 

“I think Y/N knows that too herself, am I right?” He tilts his head to the side and you stand your ground with holding his gaze and not looking away.

“Don’t be so sure about that,” you simply say, just when you hear your mom calling out for you. “Would you take her please?” you innocently ask walking up to Harry, holding Valerie out for him. You can tell he is looking for a witty comeback, but he has nothing just yet, so he is stuck with keeping his mouth shut as he takes baby Valerie from you. You gift him with a sweet, but definitely spikey smile before leaving him there with Aunt Monica. 

***

Dinner is already almost ready, you’re helping your mom and Aunt Teresa in the kitchen with the finishing touches, Joe and Harry packing out the wine bottles from the rack Jeremy brought them in, the two of them examining the bottles with such professionalism you almost believe they have the slightest idea about what to look for in a good wine. 

“Should we open some red or white ones for tonight’s dinner?” Joe asks your mom who is the master chef when it comes to the dinner.

“Red would suit better,” she answers. “Are they sweet?”

“Some, yeah,” Harry nods holding up a bottle and checking the label.

“Great. Monica loves that too,” Teresa chuckles as she adds some salt to the mashed potato. 

“And Y/N too,” Harry adds, not even looking up, but he successfully attracts your mom’s attention with his comment.

“She does?” Harry looks up and sees your boiling anger plastered all over your face, so of course he chooses to take it further.

“Oh, yeah. She can drink like a gallon. Wine drunk Y/N is like a whole different person.”

“I told you so many times not to get drunk, Y/N. It’s not too ladylike. When was the last time you saw her drunk?”

“There were plenty of occasions,” Harry exaggerates and you could kill him right there. “Though last time it was the tequila that got her wildin’.”

That damned smirk of his is making your hands curl into fists and for a moment you tell yourself it’s okay to punch him in front of your mother even if she’ll probably disown you for such behavior. 

“Y/N! I have told you a million times that you need to know where your limits lie!” she huffs shaking her head at you while you clench your jaw. Back at it with the lessons about getting drunk. She’ll never get over it, not even when you’ll be forty. Why does it matter to her so much? Sometimes she is the one to get you started, but then she gives you the dirtiest looks when you have one too many. She should just get used to it now. 

“She surely likes to have fun when she has had a few drinks,” Harry continues smugly. “Remember how much fun you had at Rosa and Steven’s wedding?”

“Oh, God! I remember how drunk you were that evening, I could have killed you!” your mother growls and you roll your eyes at her.

“It wasn’t that bad. There were a lot more people who got way more wasted than me,” you try to defend yourself folding your arms on your chest. 

“That doesn’t change that you were too,” she says with a hard look. Great, now she is mad at you for something that happened literally years ago. Kudos to Harry for ruining her mood.

“She wasn’t that bad,” Harry adds and you look in his way with suspicion. “She was a delight when it was time to get her to bed.”

Your mouth almost hangs open, but it seems like you’re the only one understanding what he really meant by that. Luckily, beside you and him, Rosa and Steven are the only people who knows what happened between you and Harry that night, so it’s no surprise no one else catches on the hint.

“You were the one who took her up to her room? Sorry if she was a burden,” your mother sighs and right at that moment you wish the floor would just open up and you could disappear forever. Harry’s satisfied grin is the evidence that he just won another round of this nasty war.

Just as you open your mouth to try and move the conversation to another field you see a pair of headlights pull up to the driveway. Everyone turns to the window as Marcus’ car parks down last in the line. As you step away from the counter you see the confusion in Harry’s eyes about the new guest.

“Oh, amazing! He is here!” your mom cheers, seemingly instantly forgetting about how she was dragging you just a minute ago.

“Who’s here?” you hear Harry ask, but you’re already out of there, heading to the front door to greet Marcus.

Just as you walk out into the cold evening air you see him get out with a warm smile on his lips. You wait for him at the door, arms wrapped around yourself and as he reaches you he places a soft kiss to your lips. 

“Hey, how was the drive?” you ask him.

“It was fine. I didn’t arrive too late, right?”

“No, we were just about to set the table. Come on in, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

He takes your hand in his as the two of you walk inside, all eyes immediately turning your way at the arrival of your boyfriend.

“Everyone, I want you all to meet my boyfriend, Marcus. He is staying for dinner.”

Your family members walk up to the two of you, shaking hands and introducing themselves to Marcus who smiles at everyone politely, trying his best to remember all the names and information that’s thrown at him all of a sudden. Everyone seems delighted to have him for dinner, the kids instantly make him promise he’ll play a card game with them after dinner and he happily says yes to the invitation. 

You can tell your mom is proud that finally both of her daughters are spending Christmas with a man by their side and you’re almost certain your dad took a liking to Marcus the moment he mentioned he is into fishing.

Everyone seems excited and happy for Marcus, there’s just one face that doesn’t fit in the line of joyful smiles. Harry stands quite far from the two of you and only gets closer when he shakes hands with Marcus. His cocky grin is long gone from his face as he keeps his hard look on your boyfriend who is chatting with everyone. Standing next to Marcus, your hand still holding his, your eyes lock with Harry’s and there’s an unknown, burning feeling in your gut when his hard gaze holds yours. The sudden change and cold act gets you wondering what’s really going on in his mind. He is the first one to look away and you watch him walk into the kitchen and disappear from your sight before you force a smile on your lips and turn back to Marcus.

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[wa-royal-tea]

Previous | Beginning | Next

(Transcript under the cut - Click Pics for HQ Version!)

@royalfamilyofgrimalldi​​ @houseofroyalsims​​

King Maximillian’s Academy, Worchester (12:45pm)

*school bell rings*

Ginny *thinking*: What do I do? It’s been a year and he’s still around...What does he want from me? I left Carlos, I left home, I left everything. What more does he want?

Rainier: Ginny?

Ginny: What if he hurts someone else? What if he hurts Ani? Or Eli? Or...Rainier?

Rainier: Ginny? Did you hear me?

Ginny: Oh! Rainier. You ready to go home?

Rainier: Oh, uh...Not yet. I have an extra class to attend. Our finals are getting closer. I actually came here to tell you I can’t send you home today.

Ginny: O-oh, really? It’s fine then.

Rainier: Hey, don’t worry. I called our driver and he’ll pick you up. I think he’s on his way here now.

Ginny: Thank you for that, Rainier. You really don’t have to do all of this.

Rainier: It’s not a problem. I want to make sure you’re safe. I have some free time right now so I can send you off. Your classes are done for the day right?

Ginny: Yeah.

Rainier: Okay, let’s go.

Rainier: You’re awfully quiet today. Is everything okay?

Ginny: I’m fine. I just...have a lot of things in my mind. Nothing to worry about.

Rainier: Are you sure? Do you want to talk about it?

Ginny: I’ll be fine. I promise.

Rainier:...you know I’m here for you right? If you have any problems, you can talk to me.

Ginny: I appreciate that, Rainier. I just...don’t want you to be involved in my mess.

Rainier: Why not? Don’t you trust me?

Ginny: I do. But I don’t want you to worry about my problems. I’m sure you have a lot of things on your plate. I’ll be fine on my own.

Rainier: Ginny...

*phone rings*

Rainier: Hold on a second. I need to take this call.

Rainier: Hello?

Phone:......

Rainier: What? I thought we had an hour break?

Phone:......

Rainier: Urgh, fine. I’m on my way.

Ginny: What’s wrong?

Rainier: Mr. Dansworth wants to start the class now. I have to go. Sorry I can’t accompany you.

Ginny: Oh...it’s fine. You should get to your class now.

Rainier: I’m really sorry, Ginny. I feel bad leaving you alone here. But the driver will be here any minute.

Ginny: I’m not alone. There’s a lot of people here. Don’t worry about me, alright?

Rainier: *chuckles* I’ll try. Don’t forget to text me when you get home, okay?

Ginny: I will. Go on, you don’t want to be late.

Rainier: Yeah...I’ll see you later.

Ginny *thinking*: Why do I feel...disappointed?

Ginny: Snap out of it! He has a girlfriend!

Jack: Hey, Ginny. You waiting for someone?

Ginny: Oh, hey. Yeah, I’m waiting for the driver to come. You?

Jack: The same as you. Though I think he’s almost here.

Ginny: That’s good. Don’t you have extra classes to go to as well?

Jack: I don’t. My class already did ours yesterday. So I’m free for the rest of the day.

Ginny: I see, must be nice.

Jack: *chuckles* I guess so. Anyways, I thought Rainier's the one to send you home? Doesn’t he do that everyday?

Ginny: Well, he has an extra class today, so he can’t.

Jack: So that’s why you’re waiting for the driver.

Ginny: Yeah...

Jack:...is it okay if I ask you something?

Ginny: What is it?

Jack: Does he...always makes you text him whenever you leave your place? Or if you go anywhere?

Ginny: Hmm...not all the time.

Jack: Does he tell you where he’s going too?

Ginny: No. I don’t think he has a reason to? Why?

Jack: Nah, I just think it’s weird. Both of you aren't dating but he likes to keep tabs on you. He doesn't even care this much with his girlfriend.

Ginny: How do you know that?

Jack: I know people. And people talk about it a lot. They’ve been saying that his relationship with his girlfriend is not going so well recently.

Ginny:...

Jack: Oh, my ride’s here. I’ll see you around, Ginny.

Ginny: Y-yeah. See you.

Jack: Stop by the hardware store. I need to buy tape and cable ties. The wires behind the TV are getting too tangled.

Gavin: Yes, sir.

[supercorpkid]

Red Kryptonite causes drama and trauma – The series.

Part 3 – The old you can’t come to the phone right now.

Supercorp, Kara Danvers x Daughter!Reader, Lena Luthor x Daughter!Reader

Word count: 1933.

Warning: More angst. Like, a lot. But it’s getting better, people.

Previously on the series - part 1, part 2

You open your eyes after you finally sleep a little. The sun is burning your face and you curse yourself for not putting any sunscreen, because Lena is always right and you do burn.

“Hey.” You hear a voice and you startle getting up in one move. You look at Kara sitting a few feet away from you. “Can we talk?”

“No.” You walk further away from her.

“Little one, please. I know I hurt you…” She stands up and you turn to her abruptly.

“Hurt me? You think I’m hurt?” You look at your body, all of your bruises are almost gone by now. “You punched me, and kicked me. You left me suffocating on the ground begging for your help. You didn’t give me your hand.”

“I’m so-“ Her eyes are full of tears, and she doesn’t hold them back.

“Sorry? Yeah. I was sorry too. Don’t you remember?” You interrupt her. You’re angry. You know it wasn’t really her, it wasn’t this scared person in front of you. But you can’t just forgive her like that.

“It wasn’t me. Baby, you have to understand, I had no control over what I was doing.” She shakes her head like she is trying to get rid of the images. “It was horrible.”

“I know, I was there.” You swallow hard. “And I remember you called me weak and soft. You told me I’ll never be Supergirl.”

“Kid, please.” It hits differently. Kid instead of child. You should’ve known from this word alone. “I remember everything I said, and trust me If I could take it back…”

“Why would you take it back? It’s the truth, isn’t it?” You shrug. “I’m half human. I was born on Earth. I’ll never be you.”

“Yes, but you don’t have to be me. You are so smart, so amazing, you can be anything you want.” Kara’s tears keep falling. She looks so broken. “You can be so much more than Supergirl.”

“Right now, I want to be someone who doesn’t get dragged into the mess every single time.” You take off the super watch and throw it at her feet.

“What are you doing? Kid, please.” She kneels to grab the watch.

“I can take punches now.”

“That’s not what the watch is for. Please. Please, just put it on. What if there’s an emergency? What if you get shot again?” She is still on her knees and she reaches out to you with the watch in her hands. You don’t take it.

“I didn’t call you back then. I sure as hell won’t call you now.” That hurt her more than you thought it would. You can see it on her face. You fly away just like she did. You leave her behind with the most hurtful sentence you could think of, and you hope she falls on the ground and stays there unable to move just like you did.

You fly away, and you keep flying. You don’t stop when you pass National City’s limits. You don’t stop when you pass your gramm’s house in Midvale. You, certainly, don’t stop when you pass the Fortress of Solitude. You only stop once you can’t see any familiar place, and you just sit on top of a mountain alone.

Truth is, you didn’t take the watch off because you thought you wouldn’t need it. You took it off because you know there is a way for her to know your exact location with it, and you want to stay away. You know you can’t hide forever, and you don’t want Lena to worry about you anyway, but you need time alone. You need to think, breath, recover. You can’t do that with Kara breathing down your neck.

You’re hurt, more than you’ve ever been your whole life. The kryptonite gun shot? That was nothing. Lena being attacked, and you having a full-on panic attack and destroying her office? Bad, but not this bad. This is worse because everything Kara said was true.

You were supposed to be better at fighting. Why are you so bad? Why don’t you have control over your powers like she does? Is it because you are half human? Is there something wrong with your DNA? Or are you really just weak? Did Kara and Lena’s unconditional support make you soft and weak?

You have a huge brain. Anything you try is a success. Robotics? Piece of cake. Physics? So easy is actually boring. Shouldn’t you be at college? Lena went to college pretty young. You’re not there yet, why? Is it because you are not smart enough or because you’re soft and weak?

Do they really want you to be just 15 or do they feel like they can’t ask you to be more than that because you can’t take it? And, by the way, can you take it?

You’re again filled with so much anger and pain you just want to break something. Your body knows that, aches for that, and you have no control over what happens next.

You’re flying high over the top of the mountain, and then for some reason that your brain cannot fully process right now, your heat vision hits the top of the mountain breaking it off. Then, you’re flying full speed towards the center and you keep breaking rock after rock. Body and heat vision combined completely destroying an entire mountain from within. Fast, hard, painfully.

When you hit the ground, the anger has left your body entirely and you just stay there, surrounded by broken rocks, dirt and destruction.

You are not weak. Is the first thought you have when your brain comes back to work. A weak person cannot destroy an entire mountain. A weak person can’t get shot with Kryptonite and not ask for Supergirl’s help. A weak person can’t save her mom when Supergirl herself was nowhere to be found. You are not a weak person.

You are also not Supergirl. And for the first time in your life, you don’t want to be Supergirl and you don’t care about being a soft person with powers to destroy a freaking mountain. You will never be Supergirl, because you are already Superkid.

This brings you peace you never thought you would find. You’re ready to go back now. So, you fly back and before you realize, you’re home. You sit on the roof of your house and you barely have to use your super hearing to hear your moms talking inside the house.

“Lena, I don’t know what to do. I flew everywhere. She’s not at Alex’s, she’s not in Midvale, she’s not at the Fortress. I-I don’t know where else to look. Can you find her?” You hear Kara’s voice and you look at your phone. 36 missed calls, and 53 texts from them.

“What? Do you think I’ve figured out a way to put a microchip in our daughter even though her skin is impenetrable?” You hear Lena’s voice this time.

“Well, have you?”

“I…” Your breath stops midway. Has she? “Do you remember if she was wearing the necklace?”

“Yeah, she never takes it off.” You hear Kara’s voice again.

You hold your necklace strong in your hand. This is the necklace your grandmother Alura gave Kara before she was sent to Earth. Kara gave it to you when you turned 13, the same age she was when she got it. You haven’t taken it off ever since. And you can’t believe Lena would do something to it.

“Then I can track her.” Lena answers and you close your eyes and let your head fall. You could take the necklace off, throw it in the middle of the ocean, and fly away again. But you’re tired. It’s time to let them come to you. You can’t run forever. “Oh. She’s not wearing it. It says it’s right here.”

“No. I’m sure she was wearing it. She-she is here.” Doesn’t take long until Kara is flying in front of you. She must have used her x-ray vision. She is hovering in front of you and you notice her soft expression, that’s your Kara. “You scared me so much, little one.”

“I guess that makes us even now.” You are not mad anymore, just sad. You know eventually this will go away; things will be normal again. Kara shakes her head agreeing.

“May I?” She points to the place next to you and you nod. She flies to you and sits by your side. “I don’t know what else to say except I’m sorry.”

“I know you are.” You lay your head on your knees and hug your legs close to your body. “Why are there so many kryptonites? I don’t get it. The green one that makes us weak is like, ok, I kind of get why it exists. But then there’s a red one? And the black one that makes an evil version of yourself. And the silver one that makes whatever. I don’t know why Krypton had so many evil rocks.”

“Yeah. And don’t forget about the pink one.” She looks at you and you furrow your brows confused. You’ve never heard about a pink one. “It makes you gay.”

“It makes you whAT?”

“Gay. Totally gay.” She says trying to remain serious. She doesn’t know if you are at a laughing point yet.

“Oh. So, like, were you exposed to it or…?” You ask with a little smile on your lips and she smiles too. “’Cause you are totally gay.”

“Yeah well, I wasn’t infected with it. I was infected with Lenanite.” She says and you burst into laughter.

“Oh Rao, that was so bad. Please never say that again!” You two are laughing together and it feels right. It feels like it always did. “Oh man, mom will kill you if she hears you joined her name with kryptonite.”

“Oh, please don’t tell her. She already tried to kill me twice today.” She is still laughing, but that makes you stop. She notices it. “Not that I didn’t deserve it.”

“Let’s go inside. She’s probably worried.” You fly back home and Lena opens her arms when she sees you. You snuggle inside her embrace and just stay there for a while. “Sorry I got you worried.”

“I’m just glad you’re home, babygirl.” She kisses your forehead and holds your face with both hands looking right into your eyes. “You are the most important thing in my life.”

Kara lands behind you and you take a deep breath. Is time to put this whole thing behind you. You can do it, because you are not weak. Being soft and caring for everyone in your life is not a weakness. Being able to forgive is not weakness. You are stronger than they think. You are stronger than you think.

“C’mere momma.” You ask, turning your head to look at Kara. She looks confused, but she takes small steps towards you. You free one hand and pull her into the hug. The three of you are stiff and awkward, but no one moves away.

“Why are you all covered in dirt?” Lena asks after a while and you laugh slowly and let go of them.

“Yeah, um, about that…” You scratch your head smiling. “If anyone asks who destroyed an entire mountain up North, just say you know nothing about that.”

“What?” Lena furrows her brows and Kara’s mouth drop.

“Ok! Good talk! I’m going to go take a shower.” You leave them behind and smile to yourself. That will prove them you’re not soft and weak.

[kookie-doughs]

Beta Tester

Kozume Kenma X Reader

-YN LN is a popular mangaka

Chapter 29: Tested

As you sat in the middle of Kenma's sprawled leg, you two cuddled with controllers at hand.

A year at most had passed since the release of Puri Puri Magika: Lost Magic™ and things happened.

Of course PPM recieved a lot of rewards and the hype of the game still hasn't died which surprised you. A multi-player version was also released after 5 months.

You had publish and completed 2 Manga and have a new one on going. Your Manga recieved an anime adaptation which made you proud.

Kenma had won awards as well. Not that we'd go into that🙄. He also 'forced' you to move in so he could make sure you're living healthy and not staying up for a week finishing your script. He also dedicated a day where he streams with you, so you could rest.

You both usually used your time playing games that were on top charts. And among all the games only 1 game almost topped PPM.

The game Kenma had asked Sakujo to make. They publicly released it as a dating simulator, which you could either end up with Kenma or you.

"You idiot! Just fucking die already!!" You screeched as you button mashed.

Right now you were playing Street fighter to match with Kenma's retro theme of the month.

"You suck at this."

"Shut the fuck up! How do I do Kamehameha?!!!??"

Kenma sighed, "It's not called Kamehameha idiot. It's called-" He didn't need to finish his sentence when his character finished you off with a yell of "Hadouken!"

You looked at how your character lost and clenched you jaw.

"You suck!!!! You're a cheater!!!! I hate this let's play something else!!!!!" You screamed.

Kenma frowned at how loud your were but obliged. He checked the comments to see which games they were recommending.

"Let's play th---" He was cut off when the door slammed open outside.

The two of you looked at each other.

"Y/N!!! BABEEEEE!!!!" You heard your Soulmate yell at the living room.

"AHHH! Kuroo!!!!" You hopped off Kenma and ran to the door.

Kenma wouldn't agree but according to the comments, Kenma gave a horrified and broken look the moment you jumped off.

"This idiot." He grumbled and followed you as fast as he could not bothering with his stream.

He saw how you and Kuroo approached each other in slow mo, skipping to each other. So Kenma had no trouble grabbing you by the hood of your hoodie and frowned at Kuroo only to see Alisa holding Kuroo in a choke hold.

"Hey Kenma!" Alisa smiled.

The blond nodded and dragged you behind him.

"Alisaaaaa! Kenmaaaa!!!! You can't split away soulmates!! Let us goo!!!" You and Kuroo struggled from their hold.

Managing to free a hand you both tried to reach out to each other, only for Alisa to choke Kuroo harder killing the poor man.

"I came to borrow YN~" Alisa sang looking at Kenma.

"If she's going be like this, you can have her."

"Swap her with Kuroo?"

"Why the fuck would I want Kuroo?"

"Well I can't have both of them! Do you seriously want them arrested? Again?"

Kenma groaned at sighed. He let Alisa drag you to your closet and he was stuck with Kuroo.

After you got prepared to go out you gave Kenma a kiss and tried to do it Kuroo as well but the demonic aura of the two scared you both so you decided against it and went out.

Unbeknownst to you the two male had a talk about something. Unfortunately unbeknownst to them, the stream was still active...

Alisa dragged you from shop to shop. Buying this and that.

After what seemed to be 3 hours you and Alisa went to a food court.

To your surprise you saw Keiji, Tenma and Yamaguchi together.

"Y/N! Alisa!" Satori greeted.

"What are you guys doing here?" You asked shocked.

"Well we wanted to hang out and Alisa said you were with her so we went here." Tenma grinned.

"Satori dragged me with him." Akaashi said.

They all joined you and then conversation just flowed perfectly. You talked about this and that while eating.

You'd check on your phone hoping to see a message from Kenma but you got none.

"You keep checking your phone, want us gone that bad?" Satori frowned.

"N-No! I was just checking if Kenma left a message."

"Did he?"

"Nope. I kinda wanna go home now."

"Oh my god what if he's cheating on you?" Satori gasped. Which earned him a hit from Alisa and Akaashi.

"As if that hermit could get anyone else. Especially with Kuroo following him. My Soulmate would make girls pass out before they could even glance at Kenma."

"I don't understand why YN loves Kuroo more than Kenma." Yamaguchi laughed nervously.

"Alisa prefers Kenma. Kuroo prefers YN. Kenma hates everyone." Akaashi pointed out.

"If Alisa would let me I wouldn't mind being a third."

"One thing we agreed on is never put you and Kuroo together and unsupervised. So no I don't think so."

"When did you learn that?" Tenma asked.

"After the two got arrested." Akaashi answered.

"Huh?"

"It was at a train. Something... Explicit happened." Alisa sighed remembering what happened.

"H-Huh?"

"YN went on her knees on a train. They didn't actually do anything, just suggested the thought but I guess it was enough to get them arrested." Akaashi explained.

"That's where the KenYN break up came in."

"I'm surprised Kenma and Alisa are still dating you and Kuroo at this point."

"I know right?" Alisa cringed. "Anyway we should continue our shopping spree."

You all stood up and roamed around for another hour or two until Alisa got a message.

"We should go home. Kuroo just texted me. You guys wanna come with?"

They all shrugged and said they'll meet you at your place.

When you got home you got home you laughed seeing how messy your place was. It was like there's a con going on at your house.

Everyone in it was Cosplaying as some game character. There were people you didn't quite know who.

"Y/N!!!!" Kuroo came barelling towards you in his Luigi costume with Mario right behind him.

"Ahh! Where's Akaashi?!" Mario, who turned out to be Bokuto, asked.

Alisa stepped in front of you before Kuroo got to you and turned to Bokuto. "He's on his way. He probably changed clothes."

"What's happening? Why is everyone dressed up?"

Kenma came out of the room with his Overwatch cosplay. You told your friends you were going to Kenma and went over.

"Well hello there. What's up with everything?"

"Do you not know what today is?" Kenma asked.

"Oh fuck, is it our anniversary?"

You and Kenma just looked at each. You fucked up.

"You don't know when that is?"

"P-psh. Of course I-I know!

Kenma flicked your forehead and walked away after saying, "Get dressed. Choose whatever you want."

And now he's upset at you. You felt guilty about forgetting what today was.

Luckily you and Kenma often Cosplay during stream so you had spares. You decided to go as Graves from League of Legends with face beard and all.

Everyone was looking at you when you got out of the room which made you feel anxious.

Was this party for you and you forgot about it? It wasn't Kenma's birthday that's for sure. What could it have been?

Alisa came to you in a KDA Akali Cosplay that you assume Kenma lent her.

"Oh my god the photos are gonna be so great."

"I think Kenma's mad at me..." You mumbled.

"When is he not?"

"I don't know what today is..."

"Just- it'll come to you sooner or later."

You frowned as you scanned the room for your man. You saw Akaashi in a Kingdom Hearts Cosplay, Satori and Wakatoshi in a Tomb Raider costume. Hinata and Kageyama in Danganronpa. Link, who is Atsumu, clinging to Skull Kid. Sakujo and his husband wearimg you and Kenma's character in PPM.

But you found no one in an Overwatch costume.

"Excuse me..." You heard from the front. It was Kuroo, Bokuto and Kenma on an improvised stage.

"I'm sure everyone here knows what's going on right?" Kenma said exaggerating on the word everyone.

"Today, to continue our celebration we will be having a treasure hunt! The treasures you're looking for are in a form of a game loot box of various game style."

"There are a total of 21 loot boxes around town. One of them empty. You are to bring the loot box unopened here and you'll claim the prize of whatever it is in it. You could either come home empty handed or 100k courtesy to our dear host."

"The clues to the boxes are cut evenly to all the players. All the players will have 1 clue. Each players could only get one loot box and it has to correspond to your clue. Come up and get your clue!"

With that, Bokuto brought out a box with a hole on top. Everyone went on stage and got their clue. You were the last to get the clue so you were excited.

The thought of at least 45 adults in Cosplay running around town looking for boxes humored you. So you excitedly looked at your clue.

What made today special.

You froze. It was as if they were doing this in purpose. You had no idea what today was, and of course you had to get the clue asking for what today was.

You looked at Kenma and he gave you a look. Did he know which clue you got, and is disappointed you didn't know what it was?

You took a deep breath and went over to Kenma. "I-I'll win! I know it."

Kenma nodded. "That'll be one less 100k. Do win."

"Ready???" Kuroo called everyone.

"Go!" Bokuto yelled and everyone went out.

Eyes were on us with a bunch of adults wearing Cosplay coming out of a room. Some recognized people it made you realize everyone running right now was a pretty big deal in entertainment industry or related to someone. No one recognized you though. Bless your fake beard.

You ran to wherever you could think of. Enix, Jump, your place. But you saw nothing. Then you thought of the party.

The party wasn't a year ago from today but it was the only one you could think of.

You ran you were just so tired. After all you've been running for hours. And when you got there.

It was empty.

It broke your heart. You couldn't remember what today was. You failed Kenma.

You just gave up. You needed Kenma's comfort, but you were afraid you won't get it since you failed.

You sadly made your way back to you place. Tears threatening to fall. You were disappointed in yourself.

"Y/N." You heard someone call. You lifted your head to see Kenma.

The tears fell. "Kenma... I could find the box..."

Everyone was already back, and was looking out.

"I-I looked everywhere and I-I just couldn't find it..." A soft sob escaped your lips. And you looked down.

"Y/N."

"I-I don't remember what today is..."

"Y/N look at me." Kenma called.

You lifted your head and saw that Kenma was on his knees. Your eyes widened.

"H-Huh...?"

He brought out a Overwatch loot box from his pocket and cleared his throat.

"Today... Was the day when it all started. The day you showed up in my steps with a stupid flash drive..." He laughed weakly.

You blinked confused of what's happening.

"The day I saw, was the most important day for me. It was the day... The day I noticed you. I really hate you back then. You were so annoying, you still are. You're so persistent. So loud. You ruined my stream. And you kept bothering me. "

"Now you're just insulting me..." You laughed sadly.

"I-I... Look... I love you. I love you YN LN." And looked at the box, "Do you want to know what box you got?"

"Uh-Hm..."

When you opened the box there was a ring.

"Marry me."

You took the box from him and laughed. "You are such a nerd!" Wrapping your arms around him and gave him a kiss.

The crowd hollered and awed at you two. Chanting "Answer him!" and "Say yes!"

When you two parted you rested your forehead against his.

"I love you so much Kenma. I'd love to spend an eternity stuck with your stupid nerdy ass."

Previous | Masterlist

This was the last chapter!!! Thank you very much for sticking with it!!!!

It was kinda dull and all that but I had an issue with my messaging app so I couldn't use it so I went for written only

I hope you liked this and I want to thank you all for supporting this I had so much fun writing this

-kookie-doughs

Taglist?

@gayer-than-the-gayest-gay @synx-ed @normalisthenewnorm @0majuh0 @leachann @nikanikabitch @almondeupeach @immxnty @mer-majesty @yamayoomi @simpingoveranime-men @lostmarimoismyhubby @mariishat @just-snog-already @sadcosmicdoggie @so-lo-stuff @emperor-eros @nachotrash @themisadventurescrew

[stories-by-rie]

Chapter 1 - Heart of Silver

Evelyn turns to the infamous curse-broker Ariel for help, after she got cursed by a dead granny’s fork.

words: 3763 || masterlist

Despite the late summer, the air had grown cold with the night’s storm. The wind was blowing the rain drops harshly against Evelyn’s coat and the persistent noise of its dripping onto her hood mixed with the ringing sound in her ears. With the anxiety that threatened to overflow, she shivered. Even if her hood saved her from the worst, she had to hold it in place with one hand so the wind wouldn’t blow it off. Now, that hand was wet, cold and shook even more than the rest of her body. Tripping from one foot to the other did nothing to bring her warmth or to disperse the gnawing threat of doom inside her chest.

    Once again, she pulled out her phone. The fourth of September, 22:34, a Thursday, no new notifications, battery at eleven percent. Raindrops landed on the bright screen and distorted the picture of a flower field in irregular splashes. From the upper right corner, lines like spider legs drew through them. 

    Frustration settled in her, taking coin-sized bites. Her eyes flicked over to the doorbell again -- she had rung two times already -- maybe a third time would be all right? She knew that Ariel was home, so if they hadn’t opened the door after two times, a third ring wouldn't make them either. 

    Still.

    Just as Evelyn was about to press the bell again, the door opened slightly, barely enough for her to make contact with one eye. 

    “Why didn’t you text me that you’d come?” 

    “I did. You haven’t read it yet.”

    Ariel pulled out their old flip phone, dipping their glasses into bright white reflections, and skimmed through what had to be a real handful of messages. 

    “Ah. Oh. Hm.” They stared at a message for a while before they looked up to Evelyn again, opened the door a bit wider. “There will be a sale for winter tyres down in the old factory on the main road next week.”

    Evelyn was too stunned to answer anything but, “Ariel, you don’t drive. You don’t have a car.”

    “That’s true.”

    “It’s summer.”

    “Are you sure?” Ariel looked at the rainy night sky, and squinted their eyes. 

    “Listen, Ariel. I wrote in my message-”

    “Yeah, I read your message. So what?” They looked up at Evelyn again, closed the door a bit more to shelter from the rain. 

    “I didn’t know who else to ask.” Her voice sounded a bit thin to her own ears then, the uncertainty growing with each passing minute. But she had held on for hours now, and it didn’t feel like she had it in herself to hold on for much longer. 

    Ariel scoffed. “Yeah. Obviously, asking anyone but me would be foolish, but I am really busy, you know? A curse is a curse, you should just let it run its course. I am not some sort of all-purpose antidote.”

    Evelyn managed to put her foot in the door before Ariel shut it. 

    “Please? Listen, no one knows curses as well as you do. I am afraid I don’t have that long and I absolutely can’t do this by myself.”

    With both hands against the door, the wind had enough freedom to rob her of her hood, so it drenched her within seconds, stung on her skin like a hundred little needle pricks. 

    “There’s just a handful of curses that more or less kill. You want me to believe that you got one of those? Do you know how hard that is? What would be in it for me?” Ariel eyed her suspiciously. All Evelyn did was to pull up her sleeves as far as possible. Where the skin was thinner and fairer, the black veins stood in sharp contrast to her body, shimmering in a dark grey. Ariel’s eyes widened in surprise and excitement.

    “A Heart of Silver? How far has it spread?” They grabbed her wrist. 

    “It’s in my whole blood-stream,” Evelyn replied and pushed her hair from her temples where her veins were just as black. Ariel looked up with an ‘ah’ on their lips and then let go of her wrist again. 

    “So, I’d get the reaping?”

    “It’s all I could offer.”

    “Say, if we fail and you’ll be a silver statue, can I keep you then? Put you in the corner of my kitchen?”

    “This is not funny, Ariel.” 

    “That’s a yes then. Fine. Come in.” They opened the door enough for Evelyn to step through. Instantly, they were caught in this different world of theirs. She was quite certain that Ariel had put a curse on their own apartment somehow that captured the people who walked in, but so far she did not have evidence to support that theory.

    Books towered against the walls everywhere. There was a pot with an enormous fern right in the middle of the hallway. Not a single lamp was lit, and Evelyn could not shake the feeling that it was to hide the shadows of some ghosts living there as well. Perhaps it was the people the not-yet-proven-curse trapped inside of it.

    “You must tell me everything,” Ariel mumbled while pulling out a few books out of their stacks, seemingly randomly.

    “So, I got an unexpected call from a granny in the morning. She asked me to help with a haunting. I thought I could just handle a simple ghost. You know that I am good with ghosts.” Evelyn tried to follow them, focusing more on not tripping over most likely enchanted vases, gemstones, and one array that hopefully was not used to curse the apartment.

    “I am quite aware, that’s why I don’t like you coming over.”

    Or maybe the array was drawn to specifically keep her out, who knew.

    “So, I drove over in the afternoon. Just one old granny and a ghost. There is a nice magnolia tree in the garden. It’s next to the old school that’s half covered in ivy and the neighbours complain about it all the time because they think it’s weed, although ivy is very useful with old houses for climatic purposes-” Distinctly, she noticed how she started to ramble, her tongue too fast for her mind to catch up on. 

    “Please, for the love of the currently absent blood in your veins, cut yourself short,” Ariel thankfully interrupted and pushed the door to the kitchen open. Evelyn tried very hard to calm herself down with a few measured and calculated breaths, focused on the red lava lamp on the windowsill instead. Multiple candles were lit on the table and next to them slept her black cat whose name Evelyn had never learnt. She only knew her as a beast, my evil gremlin, an annoying menace, YOU!, and the apple of my eye. Currently, the proximity to the candles was once again anxiety inducing.

    Ariel pointed at one of the chairs, so Evelyn sat down and forced herself to keep talking, wiped some of the rain out of her face, along with her sticky bangs that hung in her eyes. 

“The granny didn’t have money to pay, which is fine, you know I like to help where I can, right? And she had this very evil looking set of silverware in her kitchen drawer, so I started to work on it and she kept rambling about how I had a heart of silver -- which was already a bit weird, I guess, since usually it’s a heart of gold, right? -- but at that moment, I thought she was just old and confused because I was working for free, right? Well, until I poked my finger on a fork and that’s when it happened.”

    “Was that the short version?”

    “I left out a lot of detail.”

    The coffee machine beeped and Ariel filled the matching cups. They slid one with big bold yellow letters over to Evelyn that read Best Curse Victim, and kept the one with Best Curse Broker In The Whole Wide World. 

    “Did you custom-make these?” Evelyn asked and Ariel set down the two cups with a grin. They knew that Evelyn preferred tea, but, Tea is for curses and rituals, you can’t make me drink hot water with leaves, they liked to argue. 

    Ariel raised an eyebrow at her quizzically. “I assume the granny then turned out to be a ghost?”

    “She apparently had died over three months ago, yes.”

There was a deep sigh coming from Ariel as they put up their feet onto the table, dangerously close to the candles.

    “And never once while working on silverware and getting praised for your silver heart did you consider the option that perhaps you were getting cursed?”

    “Ghosts get better at hiding themselves each day, Ariel,” Evelyn replied with multiple glances to the shadows. Ariel only offered a weak smile and nodded while they pushed the books into the middle of the table, tapped on it with their sparkly painted fingernails. 

    “I have fourteen books on the Heart of Silver, all very rare collections from back when curse-brokers still thought that this classy beast was curable. I also have read all of these fourteen books.” Ariel took a sip from their coffee and grabbed another pair of glasses that were tucked into a pot of parsley on the windowsill next to the lava lamp. They pushed their former golden glasses up into their soft pink dyed hair. 

Last time they had met, it had been deep purple. They had tried to make her believe once that it was tied to their moods, like those 90s mood rings of which they wore three. “Obviously, I read all the books you can find in this apartment, I wouldn’t keep anything that just took up space.” They opened the right page on the first try and slid the book over to Evelyn. The pages were blank.

    “The pages are blank.”

    “Ah, right. I put a curse on them. No one steals books you can’t read, am I right? Here,” they slid over the glasses to Evelyn, and once she put them on, black letters appeared on the blank pages. Just none she could read.

    “I don’t speak that language, Ariel.”

    “Ah, it’s just encrypted.”

Evelyn sighed deeply and put the glasses down again. She warmed her icy fingers on the coffee cup in front of her, the bitter smell of it made her jittery enough.

    “Please, can you just tell me what you know about it? I am certain that you know your curses, you don’t have to prove anything by showing me book excerpts I can’t read anyway.”

    Ariel smirked openly then, their eyes clearly tracing the black lines on her skin where the liquid silver was running through her veins.

    “The Heart of Silver is a curse that dates back all the way to the sixteenth century. That ultimately makes it a curse of the black night level, because we don’t know its origin anymore, so understanding it has become as good as impossible. Legends say that it was just another love story, though. Why it is a heart of silver and not of gold is equally unclear. Perhaps they didn’t know any better. Then again, a Heart of Gold curse already exists, so. Anyway, the story says that one woman, got  jealous of her maid. The maid, being kind-hearted, was just too lovely to her husband, you see. So when that woman died she cursed her maid on her deathbed and said something along the lines of With your heart made of silver, you still won’t be worth enough to appeal to him. Maybe you could feed his greed by turning into actual silver instead.” They took another sip of coffee, taking out another book from the stack on the table and flipping a page open. “How the curse is passed on is totally unclear as well, although, as you might have noticed, contact with silver seems to be one determinant, as well as someone actually cursing you, also known as a ghost. But why and how? No one knows.”

    “Not even you?” Evelyn asked, feeling punched out. She pulled the new book closer, putting on the glasses again, and there they were. The photos with the evidence that this curse existed. That it was more than just a rumour, a scary story told to teach children not to steal. Proof that her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her; that she had understood the situation of her own doom correctly. 

    A silver statue of a man, the face too realistic to be art, distorted in a scream. His arms were outstretched, all around him scrolls of parchment. 1982, Vienna.

    A silver statue of an old woman, sleeping in her bed. She looked much more peaceful, but her brows were drawn together, giving her discomfort away. 1864, Kuressaare.

    A teenage boy, locked inside a dark room with handcuffs tied to the walls, screams on his silver lips. 2003, Hildesheim.

    Evelyn didn’t need to look at more of them. It just made her picture herself as one more of these photos. A corpulent young woman, the face silver but clearly pleading for her life-

    “Does it hurt? Do you know?”

    “Not sure, sorry. Would it help if you knew?” Ariel looked directly at her then, the soft pink hair glimmering red from the lamp, the candles’ lights dancing on her glasses.

    “Probably not.”

    “Then let’s try to make it so that you don’t have to find out. But just to be clear, I will take notes on the curse’s progress, for scientific purposes.” They pulled a notebook out from under their coffee cup.

    “Sure.”

    Ariel grinned and drummed with their golden painted nails onto the table.

    “Soon I will be the first curse-broker to have dealt with the Heart of Silver. Everyone will know my name. Maybe someone will finally publish my book. My google reviews will skyrocket!”

    “You always say a truly good curse-broker gets only bad reviews. And that book doesn’t get published because you describe for three hundred pages how to create various curses. ”

    “That’s because if you want to deal with curses, you need to understand them from the inside out first. Also, creating curses can be fun, I promise.”

    With a glimpse to the shadows, Evelyn nodded in slight agreement. Unease found its way back to her, like an intrusive thought stuck to her skin. The more she listened to her body, the more she felt like it had changed. She was sure to feel the silver in her veins, believed that her body had gotten heavier – was silver heavier than blood? She was sure that her skin had gotten harder where it ran through her.

    “You still there?” Ariel waved before her eyes, nearly poked her, but Evelyn flinched back before they got to. She finally took a sip of her own coffee. The bitterness made her squirm but at least she was able to still taste it.

“So, if the books are all useless, as you say, then where do we start?”

    “Well, as I said, if you want to deal with curses, you have to know them from the inside out. Only if I know how you got it in the first place, I will have a chance at extracting it and exchanging it for a different one. A curse is a near-living thing, after all. If I just rip it out, it might do more damage than aid. I need to know why you fit in its scheme, how it develops inside of you. So I would say we should start with the ghost who put that curse on you, since that granny might be able to answer those questions, but I assume you hunted the shit out of that ghost, didn’t you?”

    Evelyn froze as she remembered the exchange, the prospect of a new curse. She gave her best not to tremble too much as she asked, “The new curse-”

“I can’t tell you what it will be yet.”

“But how-”

“Okay, I’ll give you the short explanation. Any curse corrupts its host. Your body lets it nest inside of it, and usually you will let the curse run its course until it’s fulfilled or withered and the space will grow back. More or less. If I have to extract the curse, the space will be hollow and harm your body and mind. It leaves room for possessions, diseases and much more. So instead I extract the awful curse and give you a new one that is slightly less awful. But in order to do that, the new curse needs to fill out the same space. I need to understand both curses to the T, so that this procedure works. That’s also why I can’t tell you anything about the new curse yet, because I need to understand the Heart of Silver first. Got it?” 

Evelyn nodded, a little as if in a daze. 

“So, the granny?”

“Gone, yes.” Evelyn sighed deeply. “I didn’t think that she would be of help. I just saw her as a ghost and sent her off.”

    “The mark?”

    “Just the silver veins, they started in the hand with which I touched the fork.”

    “Mn. It looks like it has spread completely since then. That doesn’t need to mean anything, though.” Ariel wrote down notes in a book, the pen’s ink invisible to Evelyn’s eyes.

    “When exactly was this?”

    “Somewhen between five and six, this evening.”

    Ariel wrote down more notes, far more than Evelyn had said, so she could only assume that those were some curse related conclusions. After a few minutes, Ariel had emptied their second cup of coffee. At this point, they looked up again and pressed their lips together.

    “I would like to see the curse medium then. You don’t happen to still have that fork?”

    Evelyn shook her head, “I assume it’s still in the house, though. I saw the police wrapping everything up as well, so we should be alone there.” She forced the rest of her coffee down her throat, ignoring how it upset her stomach just a moment later. Ariel nodded and got up, carrying the two cups over to the sink.

    “Well, then. Let’s get going, shall we?” They nodded towards the door and Evelyn went to follow them. Before Ariel closed the kitchen door, she looked back. “Shouldn’t you blow out your candles? Your cat is so close and-”

    “Oh, I cursed the candles, don’t worry. They don’t burn anything. I feel a little bad for doing it, though. Imagine being a fire and then the only thing you can burn is candle wax. So sad.”

    They reached the door and Evelyn stopped once more in her tracks.

    “Do you really want to leave like that?” she asked and looked down Ariel’s onesie with ghost-print.

    “Oh, right, shoes,” they answered, fetching a pair of run down converse, not bothering to tie the laces. They tucked them in and pointed to the door. “Now?”

    But Evelyn still felt like they had forgotten something important. Something they needed to consider before they left. Maybe it was just her fear of entering that house again where she had gotten cursed in the first place, the fear of not finding what they needed to. The fear that she would so utterly fail in the quest of saving her life, of destroying the curse. It was too close to past memories, perhaps. The image of the old lady dissipating into thin air as she sent her off still lingered in her mind, and she couldn’t help but see herself in that place.

    “Ah, of course,” Ariel mumbled, pulled out a single hair from Evelyn and burnt it in the candle standing next to the door. “My mistake.” They waved to the outside, and finally Evelyn found the strength to walk again.

    “So you did curse your own apartment!”

    “Nonsense, I never said that,” Ariel replied with a grin and the rain poured down on them once more. Like needles, it pricked on her skin. If she turned into a silver statue, she would never feel it again. They ran to her old Corolla, parked so very badly in line.

    “You know, those winter tires are really cheap now. You should get them as long as they are affordable. I bet they will be much pricier once it’s winter.”

    “Gotta make it to winter first,” Evelyn muttered and turned on the motor. The radio gave white noise – a side effect of getting cursed, or maybe just a coincidental break-down.

    “So pessimistic. Really, you’re insufferable.” Ariel started to play snake on their phone. 

The way to the old house was quiet except for the occasional white noise when the radio came to life unasked. The road was mostly deserted at the late hour, some street lights only blinked yellow already. It was not until she turned on the road to leave the small city that Ariel shifted in the front seat.

    “Where were you the whole last year, Evelyn?” Their voice was softer now. The phone tucked inside their pocket. With a quick glance, she could see that they looked outside. Of course, they would ask. Evelyn had known that. Despite this, she still didn’t know what to answer. How to say the words to Ariel that she could hardly think to herself.

    “I just… I was not so well.” A kind euphemism for lying in bed all day, ignoring her calls and living off of pizza and instant noodles.

    “We could have really used you then. There was that Undine in the sink of that favourite restaurant of yours. Took three of us to get her out of there. You could have probably managed her yourself.” A harsh way to say that she had been missed. A nice way to say that Ariel was hurt.

    “I’m sorry.” Lousy words. They would not make up for letting her friends down. Not really.

    “It’s fine, you don’t have to apologize.” She had to, though. She really had to.

    Evelyn pulled into the street, the utmost street of the small-town. One could see the forest behind it from here. At the end of the street stood an old house, next to the old school that was covered in ivy.

    “I just wanted you to know that you’re needed, even if you think you aren’t. Or I don’t know… Ah, you know.” Words were hard for Ariel, too. But Evelyn thought she understood them, and nodded with a slight smile. It had been like that between them from the beginning, somehow.

----

WIP intro || masterlist || next chapter

[whats-rambled-rambled]

Long Nights - part 2

Neil x Reader

Chapter 2: Praise you

(see chapter 1)

summary: you found tremendous joy in coming up with new ways to make the lockpicking sessions challenging. And entertaining. 

...even if the last part was mostly a one-sided thing.

warnings: 18+, explicit language, teasing, implied smut I guess? oh, and of course - ✨hand content✨

author’s note: Took me a while, but it was fun to write! Didn’t expect it to get this long, but here we are - over 4,2k words of shameless hand content

The song for this chapter is Fatboy Slim - Praise you

Anyway, enjoy! All feedback is greatly appreciated, let me know what you think?

——————

Tag list: @vaneilla @gallifreyan-uprising​ @ergunbilge @invertedneil @wanderedaway​ @truly-insatiable​ (let me know if you want to be added or removed from the list)

-----

You cracked it.

It took you a good while, though. A whole sleepless night, even.

And half of the morning after that.

But maybe the absolute exhaustion was the key, pun intended.

At first, it boggled your mind so much that you were dangerously close to using brute force just to examine that lock. You tried every technique that you could think of - to no effect. It wasn’t like anything you’d seen before. The mechanism wasn’t responding as usual, it was more like a thing from goddamn Upside Down, or however the fuck that was called.

It became a matter of pride.

The sun had risen over an hour ago and the sunlight was pouring through the gaps in the blinds. Grasping at the last strands of sanity, you decided to take a break. You put on your headphones and danced around your apartment to the sounds of a song with that one bloody line that somehow seemed fitting for this madness.

Is it worth it? Let me work it, I put my thang down, flip it and reverse it

Because it felt exactly like that was what had happened to it. And no amount of cursing and switching tools would help in the face of glitched reality.

And when you sat down at your desk again, with your head so empty that your last brain cell was amusing itself by yodeling and listening to an echo, you bound the first pin. The sound was so distorted it almost startled you. The last thing you needed right then was to break the hook inside the keyway, so you leveled your breath and continued, even though your fingers cramped painfully. That wasn’t enough to stop you. Not as you finally got proof that the task was actually within your reach. 

With every click like a backwards version of the sound you knew so well, the next pins got set quicker and smoother. And when you opened the lock, you couldn’t help the cheerful scream that escaped your mouth.

“Fuck yes!” You punched the air, the adrenaline rushing through your veins, the biggest grin lighting up your face.

That’s when you knew there was no way you were going to sleep anytime soon. Besides, you still didn’t know how you managed to convince that device to cooperate. You had to prove to yourself that it wasn’t dumb luck, and should you ever come upon a bloody nightmare like that, you’d be able to use the experience to crack it open. Because of that, you spent the next couple of hours reverse-picking it (which turned out to be another level of bonkers) to lock the damn thing, only to open it back again. And again. And then three times more. When you got comfortable with the process, your eyes were burning, your fingers stiff and trembling, but the immense satisfaction was worth every bit of it.

You were about to crash on the bed as your phone buzzed, and you glanced at the incoming message.

//did you pick it?

At first, you assumed you got it from Mahir, but as you were typing in a long rant, you realized that there was no history of the previous conversations on the screen, so you checked the sender again.

Neil.

Huh.

You’d exchanged the numbers the day before, but you didn’t expect to hear from him until they got everything ready to start the lessons. Oh well. You snapped the picture of the open lock and sent it back, adding a short message.

          //that was fun, hope you have more of them

As you faceplanted on the bed, the phone buzzed with a reply.

//N: you bet

You couldn’t wait to get all the answers about how they managed to manufacture the most bizarre and mind-bending thing you’d ever seen, but there was no point in asking those questions over the phone. Plus, you really needed to get some rest.

          //awesome! now excuse me, imma get some Zs - let me know when you  guys are ready to start

After a second, you typed in another text.

          //ps. how’s your nose?

//N: will do, sleep well!

//N: as for my nose...let’s say I’m glad it wasn’t the straightest one in the first place

That cheeky bastard.

          //hey, don’t try to guilt-trip me, i’m trying to sleep

You almost drifted off, but you couldn’t resist checking that last notification.

//N: ...I wouldn’t dare

Snorting, you rolled to the side.

Then you fell asleep, dreaming of the impossible locks.

-------

It took them another day to prepare all the stuff, and after several further messages you got a date and location.

The building looked like a contemporary tenement house, definitely standing out from two older ones at its sides. You always assumed it belonged to one of those fancy start-ups, but apparently it was some sort of temporary headquarters of your new associates.

It didn’t surprise you that you weren’t given a tour of the place, you assumed you needed to have some sort of clearance to walk freely through the area. For now, you were restricted to the ground floor, or rather to the lobby and your classroom - a rather cozy space, but equipped with everything you needed to begin.

Neil turned out to be a fast learner, at least when it came to covering the theoretical side of lockpicking. You walked him through the basics, but you couldn’t help the itch in the back of your brain. After the encounter with the preposterous lock, your mind started to question everything that used to be unshakeable.

And of course you asked Neil about that bloody device as soon as you saw him, but he just smiled lightly and said that The Protagonist insisted on telling you all that himself when the time was right. So you had nothing left to do but to continue with the lessons, hoping that you the man himself would decide to grace you with his presence sooner than later.

You propped the chin on your hand and watched as Neil grabbed the tools. Your gaze wandered over his outrageously long fingers as he gave the lock a try, but apparently, the most idiotic grin on your face didn’t go unnoticed.

“Hey, eyes up here,” snorted Neil, and you looked at him just to meet his amused face. He caught you shamelessly staring, and there was no point in denying it.

Trying to salvage your mental coherence, you choked out, “Dude, your hands are--”

“What?” he asked, tilting his head.

“...huge,” you finished, the wide smile not leaving even for a second. You bit your lip and glanced back at Neil. “Don’t mind me, I’m just gonna stare for a bit longer.”

A hint of a blush crept upon his cheeks. My, oh my. Blinking rapidly, he cleared his throat and proceeded to bind the first pin, pressing his mouth into a thin line in an attempt to keep a composed demeanor. The sparkles in his gaze were quite telling, though.

The sight was utterly adorable, but more importantly, it planted a rather gut-busting idea into your head.

You stifled a giggle.

All in due time.

____

One of the perks of the location was a small cafe on the other side of the street.

Neil took you there on your second day during a break, walking in with a confidence of a true regular. He knew the staff by name and vice-versa, so it didn’t surprise you as he charmed his way through the conversation.

“I’ve got this,” he said, raising a hand to stop you before you could place your order. “One black coffee and one--...” he hesitated, still preventing you from chiming in. You crossed your arms and watched as his forehead creased, the confidence leaving him with every second passed. He narrowed his eyes, and you could almost hear the gears grinding in his head.

Whatever he was doing, or trying to do, it was time to put him out of his misery.

“Iced mocha for me, please,” you said, wondering which one of you had a more puzzled expression. “Cat got your tongue?”

Neil shook his head.

“No, it’s just…” - he let out a small sigh - “I can’t read you.”

“Good,” you snorted. “Why would you want to, anyway?”

The young barista smiled, putting the first coffee on the counter.

“Oh, your colleague here has a thing.”

“Oh?” You arched a brow. “Do tell!”

“It’s nothing,” said Neil, cringing slightly, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the enthusiastic answer from spilling from the barista.

“He likes to guess the orders of his companions, but this is prolly the first time I ever saw him freeze like that. Can’t wait to tell Doris!”

Neil groaned, avoiding your amused stare. “Spare me, Max.”

“Aww, man, I’m honored to be your first!” you teased, nudging his arm lightly and snickering at the absolutely done face he gave you in return.

That cafe quickly became your place of choice during breaks, but sometimes, if the weather was nice enough, you ordered to-go, just to spend that bit of free time between lockpicking sessions sitting on a grassy hill overlooking a bank of the river. You chatted about everything and nothing in particular, or simply sat in silence, enjoying the ambiance, beverages, and each other’s company.

The last thing took you by surprise, in a way. You’d expected those brief moments of a break during the day to be your sacred moments of solitude, the usual necessity to avoid getting too cranky around people. As Neil joined you on that second day, you found out that his presence was not bothering you, or at least your social batteries weren’t being drained in their regular manner. Sure, it probably helped that he was incredibly easy on the eyes, but a real treat were those moments when you ventured onto a territory he felt strongly about. In a wink, he was ready to drop his typical composure just to go straight into bubbly rants, gesturing wildly, the blue irises lit by the fire that he most often kept under wraps.

There was nothing more boring than people who lacked passion.

Lucky for you, that was not the case with Neil.

Moreover, he made you laugh.

A dangerous combination.

Alluring, even.

Good thing that you were not one to become smitten that easily.

That didn’t mean you couldn’t have some fun, though.

--------

“You need to listen to what the lock has to say,” you prompted, pacing through the room and watching as Neil struggled with a new type of mechanism. “It’s all about feedback.”

He pulled out the tools and rubbed his face, trying to hide the first hints of frustration.

“What if we apply heavier tension to amplify it?” he said and glared at the lock as if it was taunting him from its place on the practice stand.

“Sure, “ - you leaned over the table to rest the chin on your laced fingers - “but can you think of any reasons not to do that, my dear Physics Boy?”

“The higher possibility of breaking tools?”

“Precisely,” you said as you snapped and pointed your fingers. ”Also, you risk binding the pins too tightly and you wouldn’t want that, either.”

Neil sighed and slumped his shoulders.

“So...patience, then?”

“Yes,” you beamed. “It really comes down to one thing - you have to feel it.”

A corner of his lips twitched. “I’ve heard it before,” he said, shifting in his seat.

You shrugged, eyeing him curiously.  

“Maybe because that’s one universally useful advice?”

“Would help if I understood it, too.” He gave you a weak smile, but his expression told you he wasn’t convinced.

You hummed in acknowledgment.

“Listen, I can smarten it up for you, but let me just show you what I mean.” You grabbed the second pair of tools from the table and placed them inside the keyway, but as soon as you opened your mouth to provide some follow-up instructions, you got struck by a better idea. Your eyes flared up. “Okay, know what? I’m just gonna-- if you could scoot back a bit--...” you said, shuffling in his direction. Neil’s brows snapped together in consternation, but he moved back. Without further ado, you sat down in front of him, nestling yourself between his spread legs on the edge of the chair, and let out a content sigh. “Should be easier now. Put your hands on mine.“

Neil tensed, and you could swear you heard him swallowing hard behind your back. He followed your suggestion, wrapping his arms around you and placing his hands on top of yours.  

“Now, lay your fingers on the tools just above mine,” you continued as you slid your digits back to make more room for him. “Great, try not to press them and focus. Close your eyes, if you want.” As you gently moved the tools, you couldn’t resist but to add, “You can breathe though, you know?”

“Blimey.”

You giggled at the sarcastic bit in his tone and drew a long breath, hoping that Neil would follow it, and focused back on the lock. Purposefully slowing down your movements to allow him to feel how the mechanism responded to your ministrations, you kept sliding the hook back and forth the keyway, setting pin after pin. Neil relaxed after a moment, his shallow breath ghosting over your shoulder got deeper and more steady. His palms rested heavier on your hands, and you marveled at their size again, nibbling on your bottom lip. With all your senses sharpened, you stole a brief moment of self-indulgence, closing your eyes and relishing in the warmth radiating from Neil, the way it enveloped you, carrying a scent of his cologne - airy citrus undertones mixed with hints of powdery musk, a fresh and unostentatious combination you found fitting him so well.

The final click, more pressure and voilà - the lock was open.

“Did you feel it?” you asked softly, weirdly unwilling to move, hoping to linger in the position for a little while longer.  

“Yes,” said Neil, and his husky voice made you turn your head to look at him. As he pulled his hands back somewhat hesitantly, you noticed his dazed expression and slightly flushed cheeks.

“Good,” you chirped, grinning, then reached out over your shoulder and lightly booped his nose, enjoying probably a bit too much the way his eyes widened. “Your turn.”

-----

Days. Weeks. Or was it months, plural?

You lost track of how much time had passed since that morning in the Old Town district.

The progress was counted by the number of models you introduced to Neil, showing him all the tricks you’d learned over the years. You still waited for the meeting with The Protagonist, although, ever since your student spilled a little too much information during one of his enthusiastic rants at the breaks (seriously, how could a person that bad at keeping secrets survive so long in any sort of spying business was beyond you), your initial curiosity itch had been scratched, and you were now in that blessed moment before it got unbearable again and demanded taking further actions.

It also helped that you found tremendous joy in coming up with new ways to make the lockpicking sessions challenging. And entertaining. Even if the last part was mostly a one-sided thing.

Neil was clearly feeling confident that evening. He really started to get a hang of this, and you loved watching him like that - fully focused, blonde strands falling to the eyes, with the tip of the tongue poking out...

It would be a shame if someone was to test his level of concentration.

“You know, I spend so much time looking at your hands that they recently started making cameos in my dreams.”

The blue eyes darted at you from under raised brows.

“Is that so?" asked Neil, switching his attention to the lock again.

“Yep. Mind you, most of those dreams are rather uneventful.” You pouted, sliding from your place on the windowsill. “Still waiting for one that is not so boringly PG-13.”

He pressed his lips into a thin line and swallowed with effort.

...warmer...

Circling the table, you stopped behind Neil’s chair.

"I’m just saying,” - leaning over, you purred right into his ear - ”that such long fingers like yours can give a girl all sorts of ideas--"

Snap.

You bit back a satisfied smile and smacked your tongue. “Those were perfectly fine tools, you know.”

Neil turned in his seat and gaped at you.

“Why are you like this?” he complained, helpless and flustered.

You shrugged. “I thought it was a high time for a little stress test. Might come in handy later.” Snickering at his puzzled face, you added, “What? You’re not exactly in a stress-free line of work.”

He shook the head lightly and scoffed. “... yeah, I see your point,” he said, a corner of his mouth curling into a half-smile. “But I don’t think there’s a high risk of someone trying to seduce me in the field.”

“Do you think that’s what I’m doing?” you asked, arching a brow, your tone nothing but serious.

“I-...”

The panicked look on his face as he blinked rapidly was more than enough to break your deadpan façade.

“Oh man, I’m just pulling your leg. You should’ve seen your face though.” Giggling, you grabbed a fresh lock from a shelf and tossed it to Neil. He sighed and replaced the messed-up device. “Besides,” you continued, “if there is one thing that the espionage movies have taught me, it’s that the spy always has plenty of beautiful creatures willing to keep his bed warm.”

The playful sparks appeared in Neil’s eyes.

“Is this a very elaborate way of asking me if I’m seeing someone or are you volunteering?”

Well, well, well.

“What if it’s both?”

“Then the first answer is no. As for the second one--” he hesitated, tugging the bottom lip between the teeth. “...a follow-up question - is it a good idea?”

You tilted your head, sitting down on the edge of the table in front of him.

“Why?”

“What if it’s gonna make things… I don’t know, weird?”

You gestured vaguely. “Can’t get any weirder than all your timey-wimey, inverted entropy bullshit.”

“That’s not exactly--”

“I know what you meant,” you sighed and met his darkened gaze, a shade of smile tainting your lips. “And yet, you’re trying to appeal to my reason while looking at me like that.” You left your seat and grabbed your backpack. “It’s getting late. Finish with this one and get some rest.”

Then you left, not waiting for a reply.

It was one of the warm nights and you decided to take a walk. A promenade near the river was not as crowded as you expected, making your journey home way more enjoyable. With your favourite tunes seeping through the headphones, you took in the view, the city lights reflecting in the water only added to the ambiance.

The phone buzzed in your pocket.

//N: I can’t believe you left like that

You chuckled, texting him back.

          //why, you had any plans?

The answer came almost instantly.

//N: maybe

He was adorable. But--

          //have you finished with the lock?

//N: …no    

//N: wait are you gonna use our conversation as some sort of motivational tool now

Even if you weren’t, after getting a message like that?

You just had to.

          //maybe?

//N: jesus

          //sex is but a great metaphorical carrot. besides - it’s all about that delayed gratification and whatnot

A moment of silence.

And then:

//N: you’re evil.

That spiteful period at the end got you snickering loudly, earning you some curious looks.

A huge grin lit up your face.

          //gn <3

-----

You must admit, that game was quite exciting.

And Neil was getting better at it, and soon implying became no longer enough to make him lose his focus.

At first, it was relatively easy to prompt a blush or a slight tremble of a hand. But with every next attempt, he grew more and more resilient, and soon, the only indication that he heard you was the fire burning in his eyes.

Then you got really mean, throwing some ambitious tasks in front of him, tricky locks and complex mechanisms, as your teasing got more straightforward.

And descriptive.

It became hard to shake it off once you left the training room. The lingering looks. The accidental touches. The atmosphere, almost electric. In other words - the heat sink was ready to be popped, and it was no longer a matter of if, but more of when.

“4 minutes.”

Neil barely nodded, lips pressed together and brows knitted in concentration.

3 locks in 15 minutes. Difficult, but doable, considering his current level of skill. Too bad he’d slacked at the second one, not leaving too much time for the final push. Sure, you didn’t go easy on him along the way, but the real challenge was supposed to be a race against the clock, so now you just watched him with bated breath.

Click.

You checked the time.

“45 seconds”

“Goddamnit!” he uttered through gritted teeth, readjusting cramping fingers on the tools.

“Come on, you’ve got this,” you said, taking a step closer.

Another click.

He didn’t know that there was only one pin left to set. You did, that’s why you tried your best not to reveal it with your expression. Too early to celebrate, anyway.

“Nine... eight… seven… six… five…”

That’s when you heard a final click and you looked up from your phone, only to see the lock giving in and opening up.

“Yeah!” Neil cheered, banging a fist on the table and tossing the tools away.

You smiled, hiding the phone in the pocket. “Good job, I knew--” but before you could finish a sentence, Neil sprung up from his chair and closed the gap between you, then cupped your face with his palms and kissed you hungrily.

You froze for a second, but as your mind caught up, you kissed him back, tugging at the light blue shirt. He smiled against your lips and made you back away until you hit the wall, huffing at the sudden coldness of the surface. But he was bent on kissing you senseless until you both ended up gasping for air.

“You’re so paying for all that teasing,” he panted, running the tip of the tongue through his swollen lips. “Not to mention, you’ve given me a few fascinating ideas, and I’m very much willing to give them all a try.”

You grinned, fighting with your evidently short-circuiting brain for a grasp of coherence as his hands traveled down your body.

“My, my, all of them?”

“The night is young,” - his throaty chuckle sent a wave of heat through your body - “and I’m up for a challenge.”

“I’m counting on it,” you breathed, burying your fingers in his hair, and pulling him into a kiss again.

Actually, the challenge started right away, and that meant getting to Neil’s place, as the company conveniently rented him a room in a nearby hotel. Walking distance, but in your current quite heated state, every distance seemed way too long. Especially when you had to keep up appearances.

At least until the elevator’s door closed behind you.

The dark gaze fixed on you. Your breaths intertwining. His bottom lip between your teeth. The five o’clock shadow under your fingertips. Your hands sliding under his shirt. His knee parting your legs. The intoxicating smell of his cologne. Your quiet moan. His tongue slipping into your mouth--

A quiet sound announced you reached your floor, and you stumbled out into the corridor, giggling, unable to keep hands and lips off each other.

Your back hit the door, barely missing the knob. Without skipping a beat, Neil reached to the pocket of his pants, then into the other one. When he tried the third one, you broke the kiss, your expression nothing but innocent.

“Looking for this?” you asked, showing him a key card.

He furrowed his brows. “Yes, thank you, I don’t know how--...” he started, but when he tried to snatch his property, you hid your hand behind your back. His jaw went slack as it dawned on him and he stared at you in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, but I am.”

He groaned.

“You’re unbelievable,” he uttered as he pulled out his wallet. “Credit card?”

“Only if you’re not overly attached to it.” The roguish lights danced in your gaze. “Especially when you’re in a hurry,” you hinted, palming over the bulge in his pants. Neil squeezed his eyes shut, biting back a moan, and you stifled a chuckle. “Try any membership card.”

He glared at you. “You’re so in for it, you have no idea.”

“Promises, promises,” you pouted, trying not to burst into laughter at his wounded expression. “Work it.”

“Gladly, just tell me what to do.”

So you walked him through the process.

Fortunately, Neil really was a fast learner, making the door give way in no time.

“Good boy,” you hummed, and the blue eyes flared up.

He crashed his lips on yours, closing the door behind you.

Then he gave you a taste of what was coming for you.

And then some more.

And then…

...he gave you all.

(next chapter ->)