#otp: in love with those eyes of yours

[cloveroctobers]

SENDING MY LOVE | Jack Abbot[t?] (The Pitt) — summer prompts 

A/N: It’s definitely been up for debate if I wanted to try and give writing for this character a go so here’s this little thing?

PROMPT IS FROM HERE & I’m using: Imagine your OTP late into a long drive. The sun has set and the only lights are those on the highway and the soft glow of the moon. Person B tried to stay awake to keep Person A company as they drove, but the lull of the road quickly pulled them into sleep. Person A periodically glances over, smiling every time they see Person B scrunched up and sleeping peacefully in the dark.

WARNINGS: traveling fluff & bickering + probably language! Also wrote this with a age-gap in mind, reader being 30 & I think it’s canon that Jack it’s anywhere from 45-50?

<- read my previous summer anthology fic here.

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You left at night.

Jack’s idea since he was the night owl and stoked to do this road trip with you.

It was honestly a miracle that this was even happening, especially when there was a time that these plans—that were made in advance—were almost cancelled due to a major incident where all hands were needed on deck at PTMC.

The both of you were in the medical field so in a sense, days off were unheard of.

A drive from Pittsburgh up to Toronto was meant to be split in half, something you reminded Jack when he stopped to fill up the tank of his car before the official road trip began and grabbed any last minute items from the mini mart.

Jack whips his head around to you, his salt and pepper hair waving in the night thanks to the mid-July breeze as he clicks the pump into place, “Let’s see…the woman I love who has Astigmatism in BOTH eyes driving us at night? What could possibly go wrong?”

So now it made sense why he wanted to leave at night!

You were not the worst driver he’s ever seen and Jack wasn’t too finicky with his possessions but he’s definitely had to get a nail out of his tire a couple of times whenever you swapped cars. Which wasn’t necessarily your fault…you just tended to really get into your playlists and could miss certain things.

Your mouth drops, chucking a fruit snack at Jack, who sends you a crooked smile as the snack full of sugar doesn’t even reach his body but falls right by the front of his shoe.

“The eye sight you can’t really help but that aim? Maybe we can go to a batting range so I can teach you a thing or two.” Jack jokes, leaning back against the mid-size SUV, folding his arms to set his focus on the price matching what he paid for inside.

You scoff, “Okay Superman,” you tease tossing more snacks in your mouth in attempts to give you energy during this four to five hour ride, “I’ll help you into your tights too.”

Jack gives you a look, “He wears a bodysuit, not tights.”

Quirking up a brow you can’t stifle your snort, making Jack pause before he pushes off the car and decides to cross over the gas pump, making you squeal as you spin to yank on door handle, forgetting Jack is the one with the keys.

So now he’s got you caged in, making you sigh and slowly spin to meet his attempt at a menacing stare. If you didn’t know him, you’d probably be scared. Yet there was a spark in his dark jade eyes, one he claims he doesn’t have, that always lingered when he looked at you.

With one hand you grab the collar of his dry-fit shirt, making Jack peek down at your hand before meeting your eyes again, “…I’ll give you a fruit snack if you be nice.”

Jack pretends to think about it before reminding you, “Oh? Like the one you threw at my shoe a few seconds ago?”

“Did I?”

“You did.” Jack dips his head, letting his nose brush yours, “But I’ll settle for a kiss.”

You smile, “I can do that…long as you promise to let me know when your leg starts to bother you so I can take over. I even made sure that our glasses were packed.”

He’s cups the side of your neck, skin warm and soft against his large rough hand because of course you did, “I will.”

You hold his stare, yours being more of a warning and Jack doesn’t falter.

He always had the best poker face.

And he’s the one who kisses you first, making your fingers and tips of your toes tingle like always. He can’t fully pull away without pecking at your lips as you manage to get out, “Love you.”

“I love you too.” He rasps letting his thumb rub circles at the top of your jawbone, “Now get in the car and don’t eat all the purple ones.”

A HALF HOUR into the drive and you’re already fidgeting, from adjusting the neck pillow around on your neck, commenting on Jack’s poor taste in hot coffee in the summer mind you—with him insisting that you were going to talk shit anyway since it wasn’t iced—to trying to find a comfortable sitting position on the passengers side—about three times Jack counted, and bickering over the right setting to have the AC on since having the windows down was a NO-GO! thanks to getting slapped in the eye with some insect with wings like a drone, which required Jack to pull over into the emergency lane with hazards flashing.

“Stop.” Jack’s as calm as ever, latching onto your face with the passenger side door thrown open, “Let me see. Okay, slowly try to open your eye for me.”

He has a mini flash light on him, because why wouldn’t he? Shining it into your eye for any sign of the insect, “You’re good.” He confirms with a nod of his head, “We’re just gonna use some eyewash, you’re gonna sit back and try to relax. I’ll put the AC on and we’ll get going again.”

“Are you sure you don’t see it swimming in there? I’m not known for having dry eyes you know.” You grumble, dragging down your under eye to check it yourself in the mirror in the sun visor.

Jack’s already in the backseat, rustling through pouches for the said eye wash, “Postive babe. No wings. No ovum.”

“Eggs?!“

“That was a joke?” Jack says flatly, followed by a mutter, “Did you pack the CBD oil too? I think you might need that more?”

“Oh you be quiet, Jack!” You whip around with watery eyes, holding onto the side of the passengers seat, “If a snake flew through the windshield and bit you in the face or came up through the floor and bit your ass—I’d suck the venom out for you.”

He doesn’t laugh. He just sends you that look—that low-key affectionate one that says, Of course you would.

Jack finds the bottle, “I definitely hear the love from you and appreciate the sentiments but what’re the chances of that actually happening?”

“Did you forget what we do for a living?” You quirk up a brow, “We’ve seen some wild shit.”

The older man hums, “You’re not wrong,” before he’s out of the car again to get closer to you, “Tilt your head back drama queen and let me make it all better.”

Scoffing you fold your arms and throw your head back, making Jack snicker as he begins pouring the solution but not without having you hold the cap to it; while he reached over you to sanitize his hands throughly.

“Just because you love me doesn’t mean your bedside manner has to be so snarky.”

Jack pauses as a fingertip touches underneath your eye, “And just because you’re a OBGYN doesn’t mean you have to be so dramatic.”

“What? Do you want me to be careless towards my patients who are bringing life into this crazy messed up and sometimes beautiful world?” You fire back.

Jack tilts your chin back, “Of course not. That’s what makes you so excellent at your career. You’re empathic, kind, attentive, and always got your gears going to find the best possible outcome.”

“Aw.” You blink rapidly as the solution does its job, “Flattery’ll get you everywhere, Abbott.”

He smirks as you put your head down and he brushes his lips over your forehead, “I know. You good?”

“Always am.” You murmur, “Thanks to you.”

Most words from Jack are sarcastic, yet they have a soft undertone when he says it back, “Aw, honey.”

There’s that familar glint in his eye, the one you’ve only ever seen when he looks at you.

Then the door closes with a gentle thunk, sealing the moment in the warmth of late summer air and highway stillness.

ONE HOUR and fifteen minutes into the drive and these podcasts on conspiracies that Jack was firm on playing…almost has you dozing off.

Jack gets a kick out of these type of podcasts: Aliens were definitely real. Tupac still being alive and living somewhere tropical? Whatever makes you sleep at night. People being cloned? Perhaps. Birds could actually be drones and that movie by Jordan Peele, NOPE hinted at it! He gave his own commentary and what he thinks is absolute bullshit or is actually credible.

The road is empty, long, with the shadow of the moon shining in the rearview, and a little foggy beneath the glow of overhead lights. Sure, A flight would have been easier but Jack swears there’s magic in the open road.

Said it reminded him of being a kid.

Back when road trips were a thing his family did, backseat games and homemade snacks, before the fighting between the adults started, before he stopped getting excited about the drive as a pre-teen.

Doing this with you, although not with a ring or with children in the back, it was different. Your first major trip together. It felt like a beginning.

Not a test.

…At least until you accidentally whack him in the head with your colorful insulated bag.

“Seriously?!” Jack questions, turning his head towards you, raised brows and a creased forehead.

Laughing, you apologize, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to do that. It’s snack time. Want a tea sandwich?”

“No tomatoes?”

“I would never!”

A crooked smile returns to his face as you begin unzipping the colorful patterned bag.

He admits with a cup still full of coffee, “I’m not exactly hungry for lunch yet, so no thanks.”

“Okay,” you shrug as you pull out a scary looking figure from the depths of the bag, “Oh that’s where you went!”

Jack squints as you hold up your latest find. His hand darts out to grab it and hold it over the steering wheel, “What the hell is this?”

With your tongue sticking out the corner of your mouth, your hand is buried in the bag again and searching around until you pull out the real frosted item you were actually digging for before meeting Jack’s burning stare.

“What? That’s just lychee berry.” You causally answer, “Isn’t her outfit so cute?” Your nose crinkles at the berry and cream colored vinyl toy, sighing in satisfaction of it dressed up in a crochet strawberry onesie and hat.

Jack is blinking still holding it up by its chain, “You actually bought this? It wasn’t given to you by…I don’t know a kid?”

Frowning after yanking open the icee cover with your teeth you respond, “Excuse you. Those are the hottest things on the market right now and I’m so glad I have at least one Labubu before it became a huge trend. As for the crochet outfit, a patient of mine actually made it for me. And she’s older than me! You should see her collection before you judge me.”

Jack huffed, “I’m not judging! I just didn’t know you were into this type of collecting. A la-goo-goo.” He sits it on the dash like it might come alive and be the thing that bites him instead of that make believe snake.

Scrapping your spoon around the icee you sass, “Well now you know, Jack. And It’s LA-BOO-BOO but spelled with U’s. Now gimme my baby.”

With the spoon resting in your mouth, you free up one hand to snatch the labubu to prop up on the far end of the dash instead, away from your boyfriend’s grasp, yet still visible enough to make Jack side eye it (like it was doing him) despite your protective mode being on.

Jack shakes his head at you before listening to you scrape the spoon around, “And when did you have time to get icee’s? I’m surprised they haven’t melted.”

“All thanks to this baby right here.” You dip your head, spoon back between your teeth, handle of the spoon pointing at the bag you now had sitting beside your foot, “Three dollars from HomeGoods. And I couldn’t just abandon them.”

Jack snorts, “Why not? We have a thing called a freezer and we can get all the snacks we want once we settle into Toronto.”

You roll your eyes to his profile, leaning your elbow onto the console as you jam in the spoon into the slush, “Well what if I wanted a cool treat right now?“

Jack let’s out a deep sigh, “Then I’d have to pull over again. And we’d never get there.”

“So it’s my fault that a bug tried to go swimming in my eye?”

“It wasn’t.” Jack senses a disagreement coming on, “It wasn’t personal. It’s just doing what it’s made to do, fly. Nature ya know.”

Scrunching up your nose you poke his shoulder, hard, making him glare over at you, “Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side!”

“Jesus Christ.” He scowls.

Now you slap his arm.

“Ow!?”

“Oh, Did that hurt?” You mock, “Good!” You move your elbow from the console and lean towards the other side of the car, crossing your legs under you and start to give more force to the icee, like it wronged you personally.

It’s quiet now, tension in the air but not enough for it to be long lasting. Jack checks the GPS briefly leaving you to your own thoughts as another episode continues on auto play, that you’re so tempted to snatch the phone and put on some tunes instead but decide against it.

“Want some?” You decide to offer, spoon raised, “It’s orange flavored.”

Jack turns to you for a moment, gauging your mood, then leans slightly as you reach for him. You feed him a bite, and he hums as he begins to swallow, before you’re returning back to the middle of your seat.

“…that’s not bad.” Jack announces around the leftover slush.

You nod, “See. Why should they be at home when they could be with us? They’re even better than those slushies at the mart right?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Jack shrugs, “I don’t indulge in any of that crap. And that’s not gonna keep you awake if that’s what you’re aiming for.”

You narrow your eyes.

You know this man once devoured two bags of mini pretzels and a half-eaten churro in your pantry at 1AM before he got called in last minute on his night off to help.

Dr. Liar Abbott.

You don’t call him that though.

It’s not like you haven’t before…way back when.

Right now? You don’t.

You just lean back with your icee, wondering if this trip will bring you closer, or just give you more reasons to pick the hell out of each other.

TWO HOURS and fifty-five minutes.

That’s how long you lasted before slumber finally pulled you under.

Despite small sips of Jack’s hot coffee and your fruit infused water in your too large tumbler in the cup holder. Despite the spoon-fed sugar rush. Despite your very convincing argument that you could absolutely stay awake this time, Jack. For real.

He doesn’t let out a, he told you so, out into the car but he does glance over, slow and fond, at the sight of you.

You’re tucked along the side of the passenger door, zip up hoodie off and balled up like a second pillow, which is something you slept on back at home because it helped you sleep better, and it’s his hoodie actually but what’s his is yours.

A heather grey hoodie that’s stained yellow at the cuffs and you can’t get it out but it looks much better than it once did. Maybe because it kept you warm.

Jack almost wants to lean over, tug you gently to rest against his shoulder instead because he hates when you fall asleep along the door.

It’s hazardous.

It looks uncomfortable, too cold, too far away from where he is. From where you belong.

Except you’re already out for the count, arms curled around yourself as if you had more to say but fell asleep before you got to finish saying such things.

Jack’s never been one for disrupting your sleep since majority of the time you’re on different time frames. If he came home from a night shift and you still had hours to spare before it’s your turn to get up and get ready, living room light on just like the outside light for him, med journal in your lap, glasses ready to slip from the bridge of your nose and one fuzzy sock halfway off. He’d just cover you. Sit nearby for a few minutes with a glass of water.

Make sure you’re good.

Just like he’s doing now, mentally counting the rise and fall of your chest, spotting the goosebumps rising on your bare skin.

There’s only a tank top under the hoodie.

Which was too little for how cold the car’s gotten.

Without a word, he lowers the AC. Adjusts the vent nearest to you so it doesn’t blow directly.

The podcast is still playing but he’s no longer listening, last he checked it was something about time travel.

Bullshit.

He’s thinking about Toronto. About your younger brother and his Alt-Rock band. How you already had your favorite songs and made him promise to perform them just for you at the show on Friday. About what it means to show up for someone, even when they’re walking a different path than expected.

He thinks about your parents.

A oncologist for a mother who’s vocally combative yet protective over the ones she loves and a cardiologist for a father who’s deeply opinionated but always respectful.

Jack thinks over how he got their approval after some time despite him being in the medical field (so it’s been proven that it wasn’t just that they were looking for in their children or their children’s partners) and showed them that he doesn’t scare easily.

He’s seen enough that keeps him up at night.

Jack doesn’t plan on going anywhere when it comes to you.

Then there’s you he thinks about.

The long hours and impossible expectations, you never let him feel alone for it.

Yes it’s been a year and some change since you made it official and it wasn’t all golden.

Especially since it all started at work.

Typical frenemies to lovers.

When feelings were discovered underneath it all, it took time, with Jack having to decide if he was truly ready to open up his heart again after being a widower for at least five years now.

And you having your guard up and constantly dedicating yourself to your career.

Being here now made it all worth it even if it still felt fresh.

Jack wanted more holidays, traditions, and places to see with you.

Wanted there to be room for you both to build something a little different. Something slow. Something solid.

Jack reaches out on instinct.

His palm runs over the chilled bumps on your thigh a few times, not to wake you but to keep you comfortable.

His hand stops just above your knee, letting it rest there for a moment.

Your hand finds his not too much after, not even lifting your head or opening your eyes.

You’re familar with his touch.

Fingers weave right on top of his, second nature.

Half-asleep but still here. Still with him.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*

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When you popped up from your sleep, arms stretched up high enough to let your knuckles hit the top of the car’s ceiling, the first groggy words out of your mouth are wanting to take over.

Jack laughs a little at you, he peers over at you now sporting some shades he’s probably had living underneath his seat for decades, telling you it’s all good and that you both made it safely.

That’s when you realize you’re parked in the Airbnb’s driveway.

And the sun’s already up.

“Jack.” You glare. “You asshole. Why didn’t you wake me? I missed the sunrise.”

He blinks at you as if it’s obvious, “You needed the rest.”

Then he shuts off the engine, unbuckling himself, and pushing the door open so he could finally stretch his legs.

It’s something he always says and should take his own advice!

SIX HOURS and four minutes.

Jack let you sleep for four hours and fifty-one minutes.

You’re stumbling out of the car yourself, looking around for your phone just to find it wedged in the passenger door. Making quick work of unlocking your phone, you go to your family’s groupchat, pressing the microphone to let them know you made it and planned on crashing for a few more hours.

By the time you make it into your temporary stay, Jack carries the main bags upstairs while you’re shoving the food and snacks into the fridge for now, mentally promising that you’ll organize it later.

Making your way upstairs, Jack is sitting on the edge of the bed when you kick your shoes off in the corner. He’s shifting slightly, making work of taking off his prosthetic but you stop him by pressing your hand lightly on his shoulder.

“I got you,” you say gently sitting down on your knees while Jack leans back on the palms of his hands, watching you with care.

Later you’re massaging the tension in that thigh with the pink body gua sha, the one you always kept in your bag for moments like this.

“You don’t have to do all that,” Jack rasps with his eyes closed, breathing softly like it’s working.

It’s your turn to watch his face, “Yes I do. You take care of me, I take care of you. It’s simple really.”

Moments pass like that quiet and still, your breathing in sync. You end up halfway collapsed against his chest not long after, legs curled into him, your tank top strap slipping from your shoulder.

Jack holds you tightly, running circles against your back, “Shower later? We’re disgusting.”

Nuzzling your head against his chest you yawn obnoxiously, “Speak for yourself, Doc. I’m sending you my love and cleansing you with a much needed nap.”

He laughs peeling one eye open, “Is that how it works?”

“Mhm, Lychee’s even downstairs holding down the fort while we crash.” You explain, “And by the end of this trip, you’ll learn to love her too. Watch.”

Jack chuckles, “I’m too tired to make a bet.”

The morning light slowly bleeds through the blinds, like honey.

The birds chirp differently in Toronto.

The light scruff on Jack’s chin scratches at your forehead as he rolls his neck around before settling close to you, locking his hands together up behind your shoulder.

You press a kiss right where his ribcage sits, where his heart speaks. Protected at the warm front.

Neither of you bother to change.

The ceiling fan whips with soothing air.

His eyes fluttered closed as he takes in the shape of your sleep-heavy limbs. He doesn’t need to say anything more as you’re both pulled to rest.

Sealed in love.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:

Continue with my summer anthology prompts here.

[emotionoitme]

i didn’t know

i didn't know - skinshape

final part of don’t call my name

warnings: some fighting at the beginning, but it’s mostly just one big love and fuckfest, mommy issues, slight mention of disordered eating, carmy is a PERV!! unprotected sex throughout but what else did you expect, shower sex (water off for SAFETY), teasing, play fighting (like shoving), brat/brat tamer themes, f receiving oral, fingering, major voyeurism (while otp with richie because i have a crush on him), spanking (and mention of skin being red), slight dacryphilia, sexy pictures, face fucking (m receiving oral), he spits in her mouth, kind of rough handling (thank u dom carmy), but it’s sweet and sappy too, breeding kink oop, bittersweet ending, pls let me know if i missed any warnings my brain is fried from looking at this for so long.

wc: 21k - but tumblr has a 1k "block limit" so this chapter is broken into two posts

a/n: sorry that took me so long i took a grippy sock vacation lol. wow i am so excited for all of you to read this. and the only way i can apologize is with 21k words of the nastiest smut i’ve ever written. LET THERE BE LIGHT!!! (part two of this chapter will be linked at the bottom! no more waiting i promise!!)

playlist

knock knock 

he calls her name. 

she rolls her eyes, brushing out the tangles in her hair. “i need to talk to you.” his voice comes sternly.

she cracks the door, continuing to detangle. the plan was to ignore him, yet she can’t help but seethe at the fact that she had to deal with claire again.

“go talk to your girlfriend” her retort comes sharply.

“can you not start this shit?” his face scrunches.

“i’m not starting anything,” she defends, “you’re the one who keeps inviting that girl over here.” 

“she forgot her scarf,” he states, “she just came to pick it up. that’s it.”

the girl scoffs. 

“i’m sure she wanted a lot more than her scarf from you, carm.” 

“you-,” he rubs his forehead, sighing, “i told her that we’re together, okay?” his eyebrow twitches from the argument.

“you only told her that because she saw me in your shirt,” the girl argues stubbornly, “if i didn’t walk behind you, you wouldn’t have said anything.” she turns the shower on.

“yes i would have,” he contests, “and even if she didn’t see you, i’ve got these fuckin’ things all over my neck,” pointing to the dark purple hickeys that lay on his skin, “thanks for those, by the way. gotta go into work tomorrow like this.” 

she bites her lip to hide a smirk. 

he catches it and raises his eyebrows in response. 

“payback.”

“what?” he stutters, shaking his head. 

“those are nothing compared to what you gave me.”  

he scoffs and crosses his arms. tries to push away how roused he becomes when they bicker like this. 

“i didn’t hear any complaints while i was giving you them,” he counters. 

she rolls her eyes.

“can you get out? i need to shower.” 

“m’not done talking to you,” his eyes lock on her face. 

she puts her hand on her hip and scoffs, staring at him for a moment, studying his features. cursing how her body tingled from the argument. deliberating. 

“fine,” she concedes, threading her fingers under the hem of the borrowed shirt, lifting it up over her head to reveal her nudity. if he won’t leave, she’ll just shower anyways. 

carmen fights a groan at the sight, instead forcefully exhaling through his nose. 

she was right, the marks on his neck were nothing compared to the bruises littering her skin, trailing from her neck all the way down to her chest, ranging from red to purple to brown.

the girl turns to open the glass door of the shower, stepping in, watching as the man shamelessly admires her figure. she goes about her business as if he’s not there, submerging her head under the stream of water, carding her fingers through her hair to scrub her scalp. 

he’s not done talking to her, yet he can’t seem to remember what he even wanted to say, transfixed by her nude, wet body just feet away. she begins to hum a tune and lather up her hair with shampoo. 

carmen approaches the glass. 

“hey,” he tries with a knock, eyebrow twitching. something else twitching, too. 

she glances at him, suds dripping down the side of her face, sliding down her breasts. she smirks knowingly at the sight of his flustered face, pushing her chest out slightly before drenching her face underneath the water again. 

he knocks on the glass door again, jaw tightly clenched. she rubs the water out of her eye and turns to him, cracking the door of the shower open. 

“hm?” she questions, gazing up at him. 

“we gonna finish talking?” he asks. he looks angry, but she knows better. the way his chest puffs out. the way his jaw clenches in that certain way. he looks hungry, and she’s tempted to keep pushing.

“i can’t. i’m in the shower,” she bites down on her lip to refrain from smirking. 

“why-” a sigh, running his fingers through his hair, “why you being such a brat today, huh?” he strains, giving great effort to keep his gaze from trailing down. 

“because i want you to myself,” she bites, “i’m tired of sharing with claire.”

“will you knock that shit off? y’not sharing me with anyone.” 

“uh, i beg to differ,” her eyebrows scrunch, “you’ve been fucking around with her since i moved in.” 

“fucking around?” he scoffs, “she was getting her scarf.”

“there was the other time, too, carm,” she reminds him. 

“that’s because-” he lets out a sigh of exasperation, hand carding through his hair. “listen. she’s the last person i wanna be with. we just…weren't good together.”

“why not?” she presses 

“there just wasn’t…i dunno, sparks? it was like dating a friend.” 

“okay.” she’s still mad, but she likes the words that come from his mouth. because if she has one thing with carmen, it’s definitely sparks. 

“yeah?” he tries, leaning to see her face, “you know i’m yours, right?” 

“yeah. whatever.” she doesn’t want to concede, too fired up about claire coming back over. “you should’ve told me.”

“i knew it’d make you mad,” he defends. 

“not as mad as it makes me thinking that you invited her,” she scoffs, “fucking hate seeing that girl bat her eyelashes at you.” she lathers shampoo between her hands and begins to wash her hair. 

“yeah?” he raises his eyebrows, “feeling jealous?” 

“shut up.” she can sense the stupid smirk on his face. 

carmy’s concentration breaks, and his gaze flits down to her sudsy chest. fuck. he clears his throat before speaking. 

“didn’t know girls like you could get jealous.”

“girls like m-what? what is that supposed to mean?” she cracks an eye open. 

“means you’re too fuckin’ pretty to worry about that shit. so just lose the attitude.”

his answer catches her off guard. the pulsing between her legs catches her off guard too. so she just turns away from him, scrubbing her scalp with her soapy fingers and shutting her eyes tightly. 

he chides her name and pushes the glass door open further. 

she ignores him, soaking her hair under the stream of water, muffling his voice. her eyebrow twitches. 

carmy steps partially in and turns off the water, getting his shirt wet in the process. the girl’s eyes shoot open and she whips around to face him.

“what the fuck, carmy?!” 

“i need you to fuckin’ hear me.” his comes louder than he anticipated. “i don’t. want. claire.” 

she doesn’t even care anymore. his lips look so inviting, she thinks. his white shirt clings to his chest in the spot that got wet. 

she just looks at him for a moment. studies his frenetic expression. looks at his lips again. 

“are you gonna keep fucking fighting with me or are you gonna take that wet shirt off?” 

it takes him a half second of firm deliberation before he’s yanking his shirt over his head and pushing his sweatpants off. she grins as he roughly grabs her face and slams his lips against hers. 

he kisses her with a hungry frenzy, like he has something to prove.  

and they apologize to each other with their bodies yet again, as carmen lifts her against the cold tile and fucks her, coaxing and kissing and thrusting an orgasm out of her. 

he fucks her until it feels like all the hurting is gone. until she gets lovey and desperate for him. until he gets so worked up he groans promises about finding her in california and giving her a ring. 

by the time they finish, the water is cold and the girl begins to shiver. so the two quickly finish washing up and carmy wraps her in a towel. 

he retrieves one of his sweatshirts for her to wear, smoothing his hands over her arms to help warm her up. 

without many words exchanged, they decide to cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie together. she lays her head on his lap and he cards his fingers through her hair absentmindedly. exchanging tenderness to help mend the argument. forgetting feelings of jealousy and shortcoming and guilt. 

they cozy up in carmen’s bed that night, taking a moment before falling asleep to just lay staring at each other. joking softly, touching each other sweetly.

he asks her about california, and watches with fascination as she lights up telling him about the beach she grew up next to. tells him about how when things would get bad at home she would sneak out her window and spend hours swimming in the salty water. letting the waves lap at her skin. letting the sun kiss her better. how it seems so dangerous looking back at it, but as kid nothing ever seemed that dangerous. it felt like nothing could hurt you. 

carmy enthusiastically agrees with her. follows her memory with his own anecdote of when donna took him, mikey, and nat to lake michigan and little carmy got separated from everyone. how he would have otherwise panicked and ran around and made the situation worse, but it was such a beautiful evening. so he decided to just sit on a rock and watch the waves roll in. 

a big smile grows on the girl's face as he recounts the moment when his mom found him. how she threw her arms around him and cried. how he was too young to understand why she was so scared when it was such a lovely evening. 

she wraps her arms around his shoulders and their chests press flush together. she kisses his neck, and they stay quiet for a moment. 

“i wish i didn’t have to go back,” she whispers her admission.

“me too.” he keeps playing with her hair.

it’s quiet for a moment. there’s a heaviness that fills the room. 

“how long you gonna have to end up staying?” carmy asks softly, leaning away from her to study her eyes. her face. trying to memorize every detail. he doesn’t miss the way her expression falters at his question. 

the girl doesn’t answer, and her eyes become glossy. 

“shit,” he breathes. her eyes dart to his. “you’re not coming back, are you?” 

“my whole family is there,” she whispers, “my friends. there’s nothing for me here.” 

“really?” he scoffs, “nothing at all?” 

“don’t start, carm.”

“y’know i fuckin’ love you,” he harshly whispers. she flinches slightly at the word. it feels so much heavier without the haze of lust. 

“all we ever do is fuck and fight.” 

“that’s not true,” he argues. 

“it is.” 

the man lets out a sigh of frustration, studying her eyes. her face. her lips. 

“it just…it feels right with you,” his tone softens. 

she doesn’t say anything for a moment, and fantasizes about leaving everything behind and building something in chicago, no matter how much she had grown to hate the weather. she fantasizes about the man in front of her. how she wants to build a life with him. how makes her feel like no other man ever has.

it’s hard to verbalize as her mind racks back and forth, so instead she just leans forward and kisses him softly, fingers threading through the hair at the nape of his neck. 

carmy reciprocates hesitantly, mind racing with the things he wants to tell her. how he doesn’t care about the distance. how he’ll call her every night. how he’ll keep her room vacant incase she wants to come back. he softly groans into the kiss when she slips her tongue into his mouth, feeling her press her chest flush against his. it feels so good, but he knows it’s wrong to keep pushing the hard conversations away with more sex. 

the girl finds his hand and softly guides it under the hem of her shirt. carmen lets her, fingertips finding the softness of her skin. but when she tries to pull his hand up to her breast, he stops the attempt, fingers firmly pressing against her ribs. 

the girl whines against his lips, moving closer. 

carmy indulges in the taste of her for only a moment more before pulling back and saying her name. she ignores him, chasing his lips, hand moving to grasp his strong bicep. 

“hey,” he turns his head and her kisses land messily along his jaw, “c’mon.” 

she ignores him, knowing he’ll want to keep talking about california, pressing herself closer, wanting to indulge in the feeling of him without thinking about the end. 

he calls her name again, voice coming out strained. she can feel his erection pressing against her, and keeps peppering kisses along his jaw and face. 

“just make me feel good,” she begs against his skin, “please.”

carmen feels himself throb against her, wanting nothing more than to give in. knowing it won’t fix anything. knowing it’ll only complicate things more. 

“thought you said all we do is fuck and fight?” his fingers grip into her, jaw tightening, feeling his resolve begin to crumble beneath her lips. 

“mhm,” she breathes into his skin, “so fuck me again,” trailing her hand down his bare abdomen.

he grips her wrist before she can move any further down. her eyes come up to meet his, taking in the stern look on his face. 

“i know you wanna,” she breathes, a small smile tugging at the edge of her lips, “can feel you throbbing against me.” 

carmen harshly exhales, trying to keep his mind focused. she’s completely right, he thinks, he’s stiff as wood. but he has to stay strong, prove to himself he has control around her.  

“stop fucking around. i wanna talk to you.” his voice comes more sharply than he means. 

the girl stiffens at his tone, pulling away to sit up and retreat. he doesn’t release her wrist. 

“let me go,” she tells him. 

“no. we’re gonna fuckin’ finish this,” his eyebrows furrow, “i didn’t even know you weren’t coming back until now.”

“i don’t wanna talk about it anymore.” her throat feels tight. 

“no? just want me to make you feel better? that all this is to you?” he can’t help the harshness of his tone. 

“carm, i-”

“y’know i’ve never fuckin’ felt this way about anyone? never said ‘i love you’ to anyone but you?” his nose scrunches, eyes appearing glossy. 

“we’ve only known each other for a few weeks.” her tone comes hushed as her chest painfully tightens. 

“yeah, well, i know you enough to know that this is real. that i don’t even-” a sigh, “ i don’t want anybody else but you.” 

“everything you’re saying is just gonna make it harder when i leave.” her voice breaks. 

his furrowed brows soften at the sound, releasing her wrist. she says seated on the bed, trying to take deep breaths and stave off the hot tears that threaten to form. 

“fuck, i-” he pauses, harshly rubs his hand over his face, taking a moment before meeting her eyes again and saying her name. “i like you. a lot.” 

“i know. i like you too, carm.” she rubs the tears away harshly.

“so why can’t we just…enjoy it? while you’re still here? go all out on this?” 

she stares at him blankly for a second as a cue to elaborate. 

the man exhales and shakes his head, trying to piece together what to say. he can’t seem to find the words. she thankfully cuts in. 

“go all out on this?” she asks.

he nods. 

“like, you wanna be my fuckin’…. boyfriend?” 

carmen can’t help the small smile that flashes across his face at the title. he tries to turn his head to hide it but she catches it, playfully shoving his arm. his smile turns to a chuckle. 

“shut up,” she grins, wiping the last stray tear away, “you so wanna be my boyfriend.”

he bring his arms to rest behind his head, staring up at the girl with a lazy smile. he studies her smile. her pretty face. they way in which she’s leaned in closer. 

“fuck yeah, i do. you kidding me?” 

her eyebrows raise at how assertively he says it. her head falls back, and she begins to laugh. partially out of joy and partially out of disbelief. the sound is hearty and sweet, and carmy finds himself wishing he’d make her laugh more. 

the girl leans over him, smile still gracing her face, and she plants a tender kiss against his lips. 

carmen gazes dreamily at her as she sits back up and tucks her hair behind her ears. her face is flushed, and she’s wearing an expression he can’t quite read. they keep staring at each other silently. 

“this is gonna be a bad idea, huh?” she asks after a moment. 

“why?” 

“why wouldn’t it be?” her eyes take in his handsome face. she thinks about how hard it’s gonna be to leave. 

“well…i like you,” he clears his throat, “a lot. actually i’m kind of fuckin’ crazy about you.” 

her gaze softens at this. he continues. 

“and i’m very attracted to you. and we, uh… we have great sex…”

“yeah, we do,” she concedes, “these are all good points.”

“so then, you’re my girlfriend.” 

“carmy…” she sighs, pausing. thinking of what to say. “i don’t like it here. i’ve felt homesick for the past year. i’m really not coming back.” her voice is quiet.

“yeah.” he nods, clearing his throat, “i know you’re not.” he knows, but it’s still hard to be reminded of. 

“so, you’re gonna be okay with that?” 

“i mean…i’m not okay with it, but i’ll deal with it if it means we get to spend these next few weeks together.”

she thinks for a moment, studying his genuine expression.

“okay…but if we do this, we have to promise each other that we’re not gonna get too attached. i really don’t want this to be messy. i like you too much.”

“it won’t be,” he assures, although it feels more like a prayer than a fact. 

“okay,” she whispers, “then you’re my boyfriend i guess.”

his eyes light up a bit at this, and a boyish grin breaks his face.  

“nice.” 

“you’re stupid.” she laughs at his response, lightly shoving his chest again. 

he reaches up and shoves her shoulder back playfully. 

“you are.” 

she scoffs and goes to shove him again, harder this time. he catches her wrist and pulls her forward so she can’t. the girl lets out a yelp of surprise, splaying out over him, face inches from his. 

the simple display of dominance makes her feel dizzy, placing her free hand on his firm chest to center herself. 

“why you like fighting so much, hm?” he asks, his breath ghosting over her lips, “you’re always testing.” 

she tries to pull her wrist away, but his grip is firm. 

“cause you’re…sexy when you’re mad,” she admits, eyes drooping to his lips. 

“i’m sexy when i’m mad?” he has a slight mocking tone. 

“mhm.” she can’t keep her eyes off his lips. “if i worked at your restaurant, i’d probably mess shit up on purpose just so you’d yell at me.”

“jesus,” he lets out a laugh, rubbing his free hand over his face, “what, you like when i get a little rough you?”

“n-no,” she blurts out. the way she averts her eyes immediately reveals her lie.

“yeah, i think you do,” he grins. 

she goes to defend herself again, but shuts her mouth when she can’t think of anything to say. it is kind of true, anyways.

“shut up,” she pushes his face away from her gently, “or else i’ll break up with you.”

this makes him fully laugh. it’s a really nice sound. she watches the way his face crinkles with the big smile. when his laugh fades, he reaches for her chin and pulls her into a gentle kiss. she sighs into the feeling, settling her body closer to his. 

“m’tired,” she mutters into his lips, “you exhaust me.”

carmy rolls his eyes at this. “c’mere.” he says, pulling the sheets back for her. 

the girl slips in next to him and presses her back against his chest, resting her head on his bicep. 

carmy reaches behind him to turn off the lamp, then wraps his arm securely around her. he plants a kiss on her neck and nuzzles his nose into her hair. 

boyfriend. 

he could get used to the title. 

-

carmen gets home late from work on a cold night, late into november, crashing down onto the couch and basking in the silence of the apartment. 

it was a long day in the kitchen, followed by meeting with a contracting crew to update some structural components after hours. 

he had finally taken off after being there for almost 12 hours straight, begrudgingly leaving the renovations to be overseen by richie after having snapped at the crew for the third time. 

he hears soft footsteps padding down the hall, and opens his eyes to see his girlfriend. his sweet, perfect, sexy fucking girlfriend. and it’s like a breath of fresh air, especially after not having seen her the past few days. and she’s wearing a tiny pair of shorts with a crop top that barely covers the curve of her breasts. 

it’s like a reward, he thinks to himself, for all the bullshit he put up with today at the restaurant. 

“welcome home,” she greets, walking past the couch and into the kitchen. 

“hey,” he returns, eyes following her, gaze raking down her backside as she gets herself a glass of water. 

“how was work?” she’s oblivious to the way he’s hungrily looking at her, oblivious to how pent up he feels. 

“long,” he responds, eyes trailing up the length of her legs. 

she lets out a hum of acknowledgement, turning to face him and taking a long sip of water. she catches him watching her intently, his arm stretched out over the back of the couch and neck craned. 

“enjoying the view?” comes her tease.

“y’look good,” he defends. 

“yeah?” 

“mhm.” 

the girl sets her glass down and begins to saunter to the couch. carmen’s eyes follow her closely. 

“how good?” she stops in front of him. 

“good enough to eat.” a small smile twitches the edge of his lip. 

“yeah? wanna taste?” her hands come to her hips, and she pushes her chest out slightly. 

fuck. he shamelessly looks her up and down. this was getting to be dangerous territory. 

“do you wanna go to out to dinner this week?” he changes course, watching her brain stutter for a second. 

“wh-dinner?” 

he nods, resting his head against his hand. she pauses for a moment, studying his face. 

“where?” 

“wherever you want.”

“like…a date?” 

“mhm,” a smirk tugs at the edge of his lips, “cause you’re, uh…my girlfriend now.” 

a grin breaks her face. she thinks for a moment. 

“can we go to your restaurant?” 

“uh…yeah, i guess we can.”

“you guess?” she asks. 

“yeah, we can go. but you’re probably gonna get a lot of, uh…attention.” he admits hesitantly. 

“from who? your staff?” 

he nods. they would probably lose their shit seeing him bring in a girl to eat dinner with. not to mention a girl that looks like her. 

“okay,” she nods, “i’ll dress cute. you can help me pick.”

“yeah?” he likes the sound of that. 

“mhm. whatever you want.” 

carmen rubs his hand over his face then locks his eyes on her again. this girl is going to be the death of him. 

“c’mere,” he beckons.

the girl gently steps forward, standing in between his spread legs. his hand comes to the back of her thigh as he sits forward, gazing up at her with those big blue eyes. he looks so handsome, and she can’t help but place her hands on his face and lean in to kiss him. 

it’s gentle and sweet, and it only makes him want more, tightening his grip on her leg as she pulls away. 

“you taste minty,” she says softly, still leaning over him, stroking her thumb across his face. 

“you sure?” he’s fixated on her lips, “might wanna check again.” he definitely is minty from the nicorette gum he’d been chewing. but it’s worth a shot.

this makes her smile. and she does check again. decides it’s spearmint she tastes. 

before she can pull back, carmy pulls her forward to straddle him. she makes a sound of surprise, but leans into it, wrapping her arms around his neck and continuing to kiss him.

“missed you today,” he slips in between kisses.

“liar,” she smiles against his lips. 

his hands come to her hips, pulling her against him. 

“nah, it’s true,” another kiss, “couldn’t stop fuckin’ thinking about you.” 

“prove it.” she grinds against his bulge, making him tighten his grip. 

“lay down,” he growls, pulling away. there’s a dark gleam in his eyes. 

“or else what?” she challenges 

he grabs both sides of her thighs and stands up with her still straddling his waist, turning and dropping her back onto the couch. 

okay, he’s not in the mood for arguing anymore. good to know. 

carmen cages her with his arms and kisses her deeply before trailing his lips down her jaw, neck, collarbones, only being stopped by the neckline of her shirt. he glances up at her, and she eagerly takes it off. he smiles at the silent act of obedience and continues kissing down her body, barely giving any attention to her breasts before his lips come to her stomach. the girl huffs at this, and he pretends to not notice. 

“what are you doing?” she strains, watching as his lips come to rest just above the waistband of her shorts. 

“m’getting my taste,” he replies casually 

“carmy,” she chides, face becoming red and hot. 

“what?” his fingers hook her waistband, “you embarrassed or something?” another kiss on her hipbone. 

she is, inexplicably. and vulnerable and exposed and horny all at the same time. she hides her face in her arms instead of responding, feeling him slide the shorts down her legs, left clad only in a thin pair of panties. 

carmy hooks his arms around her legs and pulls her closer to his mouth, pressing slow, firm kisses to her covered mound.

the girl lets out a labored breath at the heat of his lips against her clit as he begins to place wet, open mouthed kisses on her covered pussy. her cotton underwear becomes damp with his tongue, and she arches into the feeling with a sharp breath in. 

carmy nuzzles the fabric and deeply inhales, letting out a low groan.

“ah- don’t do that!” the girl tries to clamp her legs shut out of embarrassment, but he holds them firmly in place and presses his face closer to her core, continuing to kiss and suck her through the fabric. 

“you smell good,” carmy defends. “and these are cute,” he snaps the band of her panties. 

she can hardly even process the statement before he starts sliding them down her thighs, bunching up the fabric and putting it in his pocket. 

“hey, you can’t have those,” she strains. 

there’s a delay in carmen’s response—too busy studying her soft pussy up close, lips gleaming with wetness, bundle of nerves twitching under his gaze. 

“i’ll, uh…make it up to you,” his eyes stay fixed on the glorious sight upon him. 

he leans in, flattens his tongue against her clit, and begins to gently lick. 

the girl gasps, and her hands fly down to grab his hair as she releases a whine of pleasure. 

the tantalizing licks to her clit are gentle. almost not enough. she tugs on his hair and tries to scoot forward, so he eases his tongue back. 

when his eyes flicker to her face. her skin is flushed, lip clamped between her teeth, and she’s looking at him hungrily. 

“y’so pretty,” he presses a kiss to her clit, “taste so fuckin’ good.” 

her head falls back and she breathes out sharply. it’s too much to keep making eye contact with him. the slow, teasing licks are the only thing she can concentrate on. 

“you gonna say thank you?” it’s more of a demand than a question, as he glides his finger over her entrance, collecting her syrupy wetness. 

“n-no,” she struggles, face hot and red. 

thank you, really? how embarrassing. 

his tongue flicks over her clit repeatedly, his finger dips inside of her opening ever so slightly. 

“no?” his lips close around her clit and he sucks, cherishing the sound of the first moan she allows to slip out. 

“mmm,” she whines in response, beginning to pant at the feeling of his mouth. 

“c’mon, be a good girl for me?” unlikely, but he asks anyways

“i am,” she argues, pulling his head towards her needy heat. he scoffs at this and continues to swirl his tongue around her clit.

“then say thank you.”

“carm, i’m not saying-ah thank you!” she cuts herself off with a moan as he sinks his finger inside of her. “y’welcome” he replies lowly, a smirk fighting to break his face. 

“shut up. i didn’t-mmh! …mean it like that.”

she sits up onto her forearms, watching him curl his digit upwards inside of her, trying to keep it together. 

“you’re so fuckin’ cute.” he growls, then dives forward to taste her again. his fingers curl rhythmically, tongue lightly swirling her sensitive clit, giving her barely enough stimulation to get by. 

“more,” she whines, bucking her hips up slightly. he gives her a disapproving glance, so she adds a “please”. 

“yeah?” he kisses her clit. 

she frantically nods her head, trying to scoot closer to the man, trying to buck her hips against his hand. 

carmen speeds up the pace of his fingers, sucking her clit into his mouth, free hand gripping onto her thigh. 

“yeah,” she moans, “fuck, you’re so good at that.”

he preens at the praise and swirls her clit with his tongue, beginning to lap at her pussy. when he adds a second finger she cries out his name.

the view above him in combination with how sweet she sounds leaves his cock pulsing beneath his denim. he reaches down with his free hand, undoing his belt buckle and unzipping his pants. he just needs a little something to keep him from fucking her into the couch. 

as he goes to wrap his fingers around his cock, he’s interrupted by the harsh buzz of his phone on the table.

the girl startles at this, and both of their eyes dart to the contact tag. 

fucking richie. 

he doesn’t stop the movement of his fingers, and leans back in to taste her again, ignoring the loud vibrations. he begins to softly stroke himself, groaning into her pussy. 

“do you need to-ah… to get that?

“no,” he replies sharply, “y’taste too fuckin’ good to stop.”

the girl whimpers at the sound of his voice. at how low and raspy and hungry it sounds. 

“let me taste,” her plead comes breathily. 

carmen nearly groans at her request, more than willing to happily oblige. he licks a long stripe up her pussy, collecting her slick on his tongue, then leans over for a kiss. the girl eagerly (and messily) accepts his lips, swirling her tongue around his own, tasting her juices. she tasted herself before off his fingers, but it’s so much better off his tongue. she moans appreciatively and holds the sides of his face, pulling him in for deeper, sloppier, wetter kisses. the vibration of the phone stops, and his fingers continue their pace, curling into her heat, beginning to produce a squelching sound from the slick of her arousal. 

“yes!” she cries into his lips, eyes nearly rolling back into her head. 

“so perfect, y’know that?” he punctuates his words with the thrust of his fingers, gently biting at the girl’s bottom lip. 

she’s only able to muster a moan in response, trailing her hand down her stomach to circle her neglected clit, babbling out a string of “yes yes yes yes.”

the phone vibrates harshly atop the edge of the table again, falling to the floor with a loud thud. 

“fuck!” carmen exclaims, ripping his hand out of his pants. he stops curling his fingers inside of her and leans down to angrily grab his phone. the girl lets out a cry of protest. 

“carmy m’so close, please,” she begs pathetically. grabbing at his arm. 

“be quiet,” he hushes her, scooting back down to his previous position between her legs, “can y’do that for me?” 

she nods eagerly, biting down on her lip. 

carmen answers the call with a harsh “what?” and rolls his eyes at the voice that blares through the other line. 

his fingers remain engulfed in her heat, and he begins to slowly curl them again. the girl lets out a sharp breath and he shoots her a warning look, mouthing a stern “quiet.”

he puts the call on speakerphone, then places it on her stomach, leaning down to softly lick her clit. the girls eyes widen in surprise. a loud voice begins to come through the phone. 

“-that he was going to do it anyways, but i said ‘no way, carmy would have a fuckin’ bitch fit if we didn’t ask!’ so don’t answer the phone all fuckin’ mad, it’s not my fault,” the voice at the other line loudly rambles. carmy lifts his mouth from her pussy to respond

“jesus, richie, just look at the fucking floor plan.” 

“you don’t think we tried that? the vents aren’t lining up with the floor pla- what is that sound?” 

carmy curls his fingers a bit faster, pressing his tongue flat against her clit instead of answering. the girl gasps, convinced her lip is going to start bleeding from how hard she’s biting down on it. 

his eyes flicker up to her, and she mouths a “what the fuck?” 

like an asshole, he just grins in response. 

“hello?? earth to asshole,” richie’s voice cuts in loudly, “what the fuck are you doing over there?” 

carmen pulls away from her pussy with wet lips. he looks pretty, she thinks, like he has lipgloss on or something. 

“m’eating dessert,” he responds truthfully. the girl’s faces grows incredibly hot. 

“you wh- dessert? what is it, is it good?”

“fuck, richie, you-” he sighs, “forget about the vents,” he begins to rub gentle circles around her clit, “just have them do the pipes and go home. and stop fucking calling me.” 

“you think i wanted to call you, you fuckin’ baby? it’s gonna be an extra $200 for them to come back tomorrow and…” he continues to ramble on. meanwhile the girl holds onto carmy’s shoulder, digging her nails in, trying to anchor herself. the feeling of his fingers plunging into her is incredible, and there’s an unexpected rush at the risk of being listened to. of being caught.

carmen laps at her pussy, then closes his lips around her clit and sucks gently. he keeps doing this rhythmically, curling his fingers up into her core, continually switching between gentle licks and slurping and sucking. it’s a particularly deep thrust of his fingers that make her release her lip from her teeth and cry out loudly.

“ah-!” 

carmy’s eyes dart upwards at the moan, watching as she claps a hand over her mouth in shock. 

“what the fuck was that?” richie’s voice sounds after a pause. 

carmen, without a care that they could be caught, continues eating the girl out, giving her a look that says “you are so getting it.”

“hello?? are you watching porn or something, you fuckin’ weirdo?”

he rolls his eyes at the accustation, why would he be watching porn while on the phone? 

“no, i’m not watching fucking porn, richie. finish the vents tomorrow, i’m not arguing about this anymore. goodnight.” he grows increasingly impatient, and it reflects in the quickened pace of his fingers. 

“wait, wait, one more thing-”

“fuck, what?!” carmen snaps. 

the girl lets out a sound of exasperation, coming up on a perpetual orgasm then being denied every time he removes his mouth. the pressure is growing to be unbearable, and she softly whines a “carmyy.”

“i know, baby, i got you,” he whispers back, barely loud enough for her to hear. he brings his mouth to suck on her clit again while richie continues yapping about the fucking vents. fuck the vents. 

carmy just watches the girl’s face, tuning out the voice from the phone. he studies how flushed she is—from her cheeks all the way down to her chest. how she seems like she’s barely holding on. how her legs begin to tremble. how she tries desperately to keep from making noise, pressing her lips together firmly, eyes screwed shut, breathing ragged. 

the wet, squelching sound from her pussy begins to sound again, juices flooding down his fingers, soaking his hand. it feels unbelievable and she begins to lose patience. 

“carm, hang up,” she cries, much louder than she means to. richie’s voice stops in its tracks. 

“are you f-what the hell are you doing?” he asks, “who is that?”  

“none of your fuckin’ buisness,” carmy snaps, “the central vent is the one that’s the most fucked up, so get it sealed and go the fuck home. and don’t fucking call me again.” 

“yeah, yeah, whatever. you have fun over there, assh-” carmy hangs up the phone and tosses it onto the floor. 

“what the fuck, carm?” she asks exasperatedly, face fully flushed. 

“you’re not very good at staying quiet.” 

“you were- ah!” she loses her sentence as he dips back down to swirl her clit with his tongue. 

“i was what?” he mutters into her wetness, slipping his free hand back into his pants. 

“you were doing that!” she cries, tangling her fingers in his curls.

“it feel good?” he laps at her cunt, rhythmically curling his fingers. 

“yeah,” she cries, “please don’t stop again. please.” 

a small smirk breaks on his face at how nicely she’s able to ask, even after being tormented with interruptions moments ago. he rewards her by continuing his steady pace, keeping everything constant, coaxing an orgasm out of her. 

he squeezes the head of his cock, stroking the length of it faster now. she tastes so good, and the sounds she’s making are so pretty, it’s easy to lose himself in the pleasure. 

she bucks her hips against his face, getting his nose wet. her grip on his hair tightens. her body feels hotter, hotter, hotter and-

“carm-!” she gasps, “fuck, baby, that’s so good. m’gonna cum. please keep doing that pleasepleasepleasebabyyesyesyes,” she babbles, grinding her hips against his face, practically riding his fingers which curl so deliciously inside of her. the man has to force himself to not stop and make a snarky comment about how cute she sounds when she’s all fucked out like this . 

with a final few curls of his fingers and another swirl of his tongue, she’s coming completely undone. her head falls back and she rides out the orgasm shakily. 

he bucks his hips into his hand with fervor, groaning into her pussy as he feels himself approaching an embarrassingly easy climax. 

she clenches around his fingers, and he wriggles them as deeply as he can, swirling her clit with his tongue. 

the girl lets out a cry, feeling herself be pushed far past her peak, hand flying down to grab his wrist. 

“ah-carm, s’too much.” 

“you can take it, yeah?” he growls, rutting into his hand. he’s so close. just needs to taste her for a little longer. there’s a hot pulse surging throughout his body. 

the girl’s breathing becomes loud, a rapid inhale exhale inhale exhale. 

at the labored sound, he takes some mercy on her and stops moving his fingers, focusing solely on lapping at her throbbing clit. his cock twitches in his hand, and with a few final frenzied pumps, he cums into his palm.

“fuck,” he groans, resting his head on her pelvis for a moment. the two of them bask in the post-orgasm high, catching their breaths. carmen’s jaw aches a bit. he plants one last kiss on her oversensitive clit, then pulls away, easing his fingers out slowly.

“kiss me,” she pleads breathily, feeling slightly dizzy from the orgasm. 

“yeah? wanna taste yourself again?” his voice is low, kind of raspy. 

she nods eagerly.

he leans over and, to her surprise, shoves his fingers in her mouth, swirling them around her tongue, making sure she gets every drop she left behind. the girl enthusiastically cleans his fingers, taking them deeply into her mouth. 

the moment he eases them out, he dives into her lips hungrily, shoving his tongue in her mouth, tasting the heavenly mix of her saliva and arousal. 

she grabs his face and licks her cum from the side of his lips, from his chin, gathering it before kissing him frantically again. 

“mm, thank you,” she mutters against his lips sweetly. 

“y’welcome.” he loves how she thanks him. 

the taste is intoxicating, and he’s tempted to lick her pussy again just so the both of them can continue to indulge. but there’s a sticky mess on his hand and the inside of his boxers, so he pulls away from her lips, and grabs a tissue from the box on the coffee table. 

the girl’s eyes widen in surprise as he eases his cum-covered hand out of his boxers.

“is that- did you..?”

he wipes the white substance off his hand, small small teasing the edge of his lips. 

“uh…yeah. that was, um… that was really hot,” he admits.  

“yeah, except the part where you put me on the phone with your employee.”

“nah…” he shakes his head, a smirk on his face, “i think you liked that.”

“wha-no i did not,” her eyes widen, “it was so embarrassing.” it was embarrassing, but it really turned her on—not that he needs to know that.  

“embarrassing?”

“yes, embarrassing! get that dumb grin off your face, it was!” 

this only makes him smile harder, beginning to laugh. 

“yeah? that why you soaked my fuckin’ fingers?” 

she sits up and reaches for her tank top, a bashful expression on her face. 

“no. that’s just because it felt good.” 

“you were squeezing me like crazy trying to stay quiet,” he continues to try and provoke her, liking how feisty she becomes. 

“give me my panties back.” the girl rolls her eyes and ignores his statement. 

“what panties?” he asks cluelessly. 

“carmy.”

“yeah, baby?” 

she scoffs and mutters a “whatever” before standing up and slipping on her shorts. pantiless. there’s a creeping blush on her face as she wonders what he even wants them for. 

“so, tomorrow?” he asks before she can walk away, “for our date?” 

she pauses, then nods. 

“but we’re not going to your restaurant.” 

“why not?” there’s a small smirk on his face. 

she gives him a look that says, because you just ate me out on the phone with the guy that would probably be serving us, dumbass, but stays quiet, beginning to walk to the stairs 

carmen lets out a chuckle, and stands to follow her after cleaning his hand off. he hooks the waistband of her shorts and pulls her back. hands coming to her hips to steady her, his chest flush against her back. 

“c’mon, don’t be like that,” he leans down to kiss her neck. she can feel his smirk against her skin, “you hungry? y’eat yet?” 

she shakes her head no, closing her eyes at the sensation of his kisses. 

“no you didn’t eat or no you’re not hungry?” he asks, nipping the skin below her earlobe. 

“both,” she exhales, leaning back against him, her hands coming overtop his. she suddenly notices how big they are splayed out over her hips.

“you haven’t eaten dinner yet?” he stops kissing her. 

“m’not hungry,” she breathes, “keep kissing me there.”

he removes his hands from her hips and steps back. she lets out a noise of disappointment and turns to face him with a pout. he doesn’t see this, though, already walking to the kitchen and turning on the light to make her something. 

“carmy,” she calls, following him, “it’s late. let’s just go to bed.”

he ignores her, opening their cabinets to retrieve a box of spaghetti. 

“hey,” she grabs his arm, leaning to meet his eyes, “come on. i wanna cuddle.” 

“we will. but i’m gonna make you dinner first.” his voice is firm. he pulls his arm away from her and reaches down to grab a pot. 

he’s so demanding. but the gesture makes her feel incredibly affectionate towards the man, so it’s hard to be mad at.

as he fills the pot with water, the girl snakes her arms around his waist and hugs him from behind, pressing herself flush against his back. 

“thank you,” she mumbles into his shirt, taking a deep breath of their shared laundry detergent. her hand sneaks under his shirt and she drags her fingers into the deep cut of his v line. 

carmen reaches his hand behind him, caressing her hip without saying anything in response. 

she pulls away after a moment and he puts the pot of water on to boil. 

“you eating enough?” 

his question catches her off guard. 

“i- what?” 

“you heard me.” he crosses his arms.

she stares at him for a moment, studying his tightly set jaw. the way it twitches a bit.

“yeah, i am.”  

“yeah?” he looks like he doesn’t believe her. 

and maybe she had been a bit forgetful lately, missing breakfast, oftentimes coming home too tired to make dinner and opting for a snack instead. she didn't think he had been so observant, though. 

“yes.” her tone is quiet. 

he just stares at the girl silently, striking blue eyes boring a hole into her. she crumbles under his gaze. 

“i’ve just been…stressed. i don’t know. haven’t had much of an appetite.”

“what are you stressed about?” 

“going back home i guess,” she admits quietly, shuffling on her feet. 

he doesn’t respond, giving her the opportunity to elaborate without pressure. 

“i just- it’s gonna be hard. y’know when i told you my mom and i have a complicated relationship?” 

he nods, and she continues. 

“yeah, that was like…understatement of the year.” 

he nods, a knowing look on his face. 

“yeah, no. i, uh…i know exactly what you mean.” he really does. 

“and um, she’s sick. like, not entirely there,” she points to her head, “so she gets really mean. but then she can also be the nicest, most motherly person. its just…really unpredictable.” 

it was almost uncanny, the way in which he pictures donna as she gives her description. 

“i, uh…yeah. i get it,” he clears his throat, “i’ve dealt with someone like that my whole life.” he intently locks eyes with her, wishing he could say more to alleviate her dread. 

“how did-how do you deal with it?” she asks quietly, after a moment. 

“i, uh…i don’t really?” he rubs his neck, letting out a sardonic chuckle, “i haven’t talked to her in…months probably.”

“really?” 

“yeah, i’ve, um…been kind of an asshole, actually. my sister is really the only one that deals with her.” 

“you’re not an asshole,” she locks eyes with him, “well, sometimes you are. but not cause of that. that’s more like a…i dunno, a defense response.”

he laughs at her bluntness. 

“so i am an asshole, just not for that?” 

“correct.”

“how am i an asshole?” 

“you’ve been trying to make me jealous since i got here.” 

“not trying. it actually worked very well.” he has a stupid smile on his face when he says that. 

“shut up!” she laughs, shoving her hands against his chest as hard as she can. he barely moves from it, grabbing both her wrists firmly with an amused look on his face. she struggles against his grip, trying to shake the feeling of arousal that comes with how easily he’s able to overpower her. 

“why’re you so fiesty, huh?” he grins, pulling her closer. 

“cause you’re a fucker, that’s why.” she tries again to pull her arms back, but to no avail. her face feels hot, and she becomes hyper aware of the fabric touching her skin, the hair on her neck, the tingle of the rough grip on her wrists. his face is much closer now, and she fights the urge to lean forward and indulge.

“yeah?” 

“mhm,” her response overlaps his. 

“what are you gonna do about it?” he mocks, “huh?”

her eyes flicker down his face. he has a stupid fucking smirk plastered on his lips. fuck, she wants to kiss him. 

an idea pops into her head. 

the girl leans forward, gently ghosting her lips over his own. her tongue darts out and she licks his bottom lip, then sucks it into her mouth and bites softly. then she gives him a soft and gentle barely there kiss. 

she feels his grasp on her wrist loosen, so she splays her hand over his chest. 

her lips hover over his for just a moment more, and then she shoves him. 

carmy stumbles back slightly, less prepared that time, hands coming behind him to steady himself on the counter. when he meets her eyes again he has a dark glint in his eyes. almost like anger, but hungrier.

the next thing she knows, he yanks her into his chest, grabs her hip and roughly bends her over the countertop. 

she just thinks to herself, finally. 

carmen tugs her hips back until her forearms fall to the counter and she arches her spine. until she’s flush with his pelvis and he’s pressing his achingly hard cock against her ass. 

“such a bratty fuckin’ girl,” his tone is rough, strained.  “you know that? fuckin’ had it with you.” 

“i’m n-” she cuts herself off with a gasp as he harshly tugs the waistband of her shorts up, wedging the fabric between her cheeks and giving himself a nice view of the supple skin.

“you’re what?” he smooths his hand over her ass, watching her arch into his touch. watching as she opens her mouth to say something, then close, staying silent and shuffling her hips against his groin. 

carmen lets out a groan—half frustration, half arousal, smoothing his hands over her hamstrings and firmly squeezing the soft flesh before trailing back up to her ass. 

“you doing this on purpose?” both hands grab her ass, kneading, pulling her closer against his hardness. 

no response. she can’t, not without moaning. 

“hmm?” he shoves his hips forward into her, “you trying to get a reaction outta me tonight? or are y’really just that fucking bratty?” the hand gripping her flesh squeezes harder. 

“i-mmh…that-…keep doing that.” she chooses to ignore his question. 

“answer me.”

still nothing. 

“you want me to spank you? cause that’s what’s gonna happen if you keep this shit up.”

his words make her stomach flip. of course she does. she hides her smile in her arms and stays quiet, pushing back into him. hoping he’ll stick to his words. 

carmen raises his hand, and cracks it down on her right cheek, grabbing the flesh immediately after to ease some of the sting. 

“ah-!” she grips the countertop, arching her spine. his hand leaves behind a hot, tingling sensation, flooding through her body like a wave. 

“y’okay?” he tries to sound caring but his tone comes out rough, heavy with arousal. 

“yeah.” better than okay. incredibly horny, actually.  “that hurt?” his hand smooths over the reddening skin. 

“no,” she shakes her head, pushing back against him again, “thought you were gonna spank me.”

she cranes her neck trying to get a look at the man. his pupils are blown, face is rosy, and when she meets his eyes there’s a dangerous glint to them. 

he wedges her shorts up higher, exposing more of her ass, then smacks her in the same spot without warning. harder this time. 

“fuck-!” she gasps sharply. it hurts, but in a way that has her pressing her thighs together desperately to try and get some relief. 

“can you take one more, pretty girl?” 

“yeah,” she whines enthusiastically, shuffling her hips back against his groin. 

“yeah? y’so tough, baby.” his voice has a slight mocking edge to it as he does everything in his power to not yank the shorts down her legs and fuck her into the counter. 

“just…shut up and do it.” she tries to mask her eagerness, but it doesn’t work very well. 

he scoffs, and rubs his large hand over her supple skin. when he feels her relax, he raises it and cracks down on her other cheek. 

she partially muffles the loud cry by biting down on her forearm, feeling a few tears begin to form in her eyes. 

“you have such a cute ass, y’know that?” he squeezes both of her cheeks in tandem, pulling them apart, pushing them together, “can already see the handprints forming.” his voice is low and rough.

“wh-really?” her brain feels fuzzy with desire as she tries to switch gears. 

“you wanna see?” 

she nods her head frantically, butterflies arising at the thought. 

carmen pulls his phone out of his back pocket and holds it over her, snapping a picture with a low groan. 

“look back at me,” he demands softly. 

she does, peering over her right shoulder to see him holding the camera facing her. the embarrassment makes her face feel hot, but she lets him take the picture anyway, looking into the lense with a small pout on her face. 

“so fucking pretty,” he growls, lowering the phone and clicking on the picture he took, admiring it for a moment before turning the phone so she could see. 

it was quite the picture—cherry red handprints over her round ass, shorts wedged up so far they look like underwear, the curves of her body accentuated by the angle. 

carmy swipes to the left and reveals the photo of her looking back at the camera, all flushed cheeks and pouty lips and misty eyes. she knows she should probably feel embarrassed, but seeing herself like that just makes the throbbing between her legs intensify. 

carmen turns off the phone and puts it back in his pocket. he leans over and grabs her face, studying her with furrowed brows before leaning down kissing her firmly. 

“you okay?” another kiss, “really?”

she nods, eagerly reciprocating the kiss, moaning a soft “mhm” against his lips.  

“didn’t hurt too bad?” his brows are furrowed, their movements beginning to quicken. she slips her tongue into his mouth and she begins to kiss him faster, losing herself in his lips. 

carmy reciprocates for a moment before muttering a gentle “hey,” pulling back a bit, “answer me.” his gaze flickers over the sheen on her cheeks, left behind from a few stray tears. 

her eyes flutter open, fighting the urge to not chase his lips. 

“it didn’t hurt,” she affirms hazily, “felt good. can you put it in? please?”

“jesus, christ” he groans, dipping back in for another kiss, “want me to fuck you? needy fuckin’ girl.”

she nods with a small, bashful smile and softly nips at his bottom lip, fighting the urge to bite harder. 

carmen straightens to his previous position behind her and slips his fingers beneath the hem of her bunched up shorts. he pulls them to the side to reveal her glistening pussy, letting out a sharp exhale at the sight. he’s about to reach out and touch her when she gasps.

“carm, the water.”

it angrily bubbles and pours down the sides of the pot, sizzling when it splashes onto the flames. 

“fuck,” he pulls away from her, quickly moving to turn off the burner. “stay right there.” 

and she would’ve, had another fucking phone not started ringing. 

the girl cries out his name frustratedly, just wanting him to come back over and fuck her brains out. 

“it’s not mine this time,” carmy defends, adjusting the tent of his pants. he’s so hard it’s almost painful, increasingly eager to get back behind her. 

she huffs and straightens, readjusting the uncomfortably wedged-up shorts as she follows the sound of the ringer. when she retrieves her phone from between the couch cushions, her heart drops at the contact name. 

mom.

in a single moment it’s like the air gets sucked from her lungs. her skin stops tingling with that warm heat, body stops buzzing with pleasure—all the good feelings flood from her suddenly. 

carmen wipes down the stove, drying the water that had boiled over before refilling the pot and turning the heat back on. his roommate talks in a hushed, urgent tone in the living room, and he tries to refrain from curiously moving closer and eavesdropping. curiosity almost gets the better of him, but a few more moments pass and he hears delicate footsteps approaching. 

he looks up, and catches the sight of her tear-streaked face. her big, sad eyes. a pit forms in his stomach. 

“everything okay?” he’s unable to hide the concern in his tone. 

she doesn’t say anything. she can’t. so she just rushes forward and crashes into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. 

“hey,” he soothes, tightly reciprocating the hug, “what happened?” he kisses the side of her head. 

it takes her a minute before she’s able to verbalize, just wanting to nuzzle herself as far into his chest as she can, wishing she could just disappear into him completely. 

he says her name, pulling away slightly to get a look at her sweet, sad face. “what’s goin’ on, huh?” 

“i’m going back next week,” it’s hard to make eye contact with him, so she looks to the side with blurry vision. 

“what?” it’s like a punch in the stomach. 

“i-…my mom,” she sighs exasperatedly, “she’s just getting worse,” at this point the tears stream down her cheeks. 

he cups her face with both hands, wiping them away with his thumbs. he just stares at her, not knowing exactly what to say to make this shitty situation better. 

“i’m-….fuck, i’m sorry.” he puts his forehead on hers, “m’so so sorry.” he doesn’t know exactly what he’s apologizing for—the state of her mother or the dread of her sudden departure. either way, there’s this overwhelming feeling of loss trying to wrap his head around how soon next week really is. 

“m’gonna go to bed,” she mutters, tightly closing her eyes to stop the flow of tears, nose brushing against his. 

“you don’t wanna eat with me?” 

she gives a small shake of her head, having lost her appetite at the news. 

carmy wants to push it. but she just looks so tired and sad, he figures it’s better not to. his hand comes to the back of her neck, and he pulls her into a bear hug, kissing the side of her head. 

“go wait in my bed for me,” another kiss, “i’ll be up in a bit.”

“i need a shower,” she mutters into his neck, “you made me all…sticky.”

he can’t help but let out a humorous exhale, finding a small bit of relief from her words. 

“yeah? sorry about that.” he has a soft, barely there smile on his face. 

“you know i love you, carmy?” 

her quiet confession stops his train of thought. stops the noise of it all. it kind of feels like it even stops his heart, just for a second.

it was something she hadn’t yet said to him without the hazy high of lust. something she had been waiting on until it felt real. 

carmen eases away from the tight hug, getting a good look at her face. she’s entirely genuine, brows furrowed and eyes glossy, searching his expression for reassurance. he dips forward and kisses her softly, hand caressing her cheek. 

“i know,” his thumb traces along her jaw, “i love you too.”

she turns her head to the side and kisses his hand.

“you gonna come to california with me?” she softly bites his thumb. 

“yeah, baby.” he nods. it’s a lie, and they both know that. 

sometimes it’s easier to fantasize about what could be than accept what never will. 

-

it’s far too late into the night by the time carmen has eaten and showered. he blearily trudges down the hall and pushes his door open. and like a breath of fresh air, there she was. cuddled up in his blankets, face buried in his pillow. it feels incredibly domestic, and he finds himself wishing he could come home to this every night of his life. 

carmen eases into bed slowly as to not wake her, shuffling his body against hers. then he just watches her for a bit. 

he watches her chest rise and fall. watches the way her lips slightly part with her heavy breaths. she looks so peaceful unconscious, like there isn’t a worry in the world. 

he thinks about how selfishly he wants to keep that placating expression on her face. wants to keep her to himself. thinks about how selfishly he wishes she didn’t even have a family to return to—how fucked up is that?  it’s almost surreal, staring at her sleeping form, mourning her loss while she’s still in front of him. tangible and soft and beautiful and sleeping right there. 

carmen reaches out and strokes her cheek at the thought, then leans in to press a gentle kiss to her resting lips. it doesn’t make him feel better like he thought it would. 

he turns off the light and pulls her in close. 

-

pt 2 of i didn't know

[reashot]

So you and Ruby?...

Blake: Look at those two... *Watching Lancaster moment from behind a bush*

How could they say that they don't have feelings for each other?

If only there's a way for me to know about their true feelings...

???: Why don't you just ask them?

Blake: Nyah!!!

Cardin?

What the Salem are you doing sneaking up on me? Gods, I always know there's something wrong with you!

Cardin: Huh? I can say the same thing to you creeping up from behind the bushes while watching dork number 1 & 2 eye fucking each other.

Blake: *gasp* So even you know that there's something between them.

Cardin: You have to be blind not to.

Blake: Still I need something more substantial...

And you said that you will help me?

Cardin: What are friends for...

Some times later.

Jaune: Bye Ruby.

Cardin: Hey wuz up. Mind answering me some questions?

Jaune: Cardin? S-sure asks away.

Cardin: So Jaune... Are you and Ruby dating?

Jaune: W-what no! Propestrous, ludicrous and just downright silly. Ruby and me are not dating.

Cardin: I see... So you won't mind if I ask her out then?

*record scratch*

Jaune: Excuse me?

Cardin: Yeah I'm thinking about asking her out. She's cute and you said you're not interested. That is okay with you right?

Jaune: Y-yeah of course. I mean I'm not her boyfriend. *Starts shaking* of course you can ask her out on a date. Ha, ha, ha. I mean why do I care about who she's dating. *Bite lips*

Cardin: ... Okay. I mean it's nothing serious I'm just going to pump and dump her... *Ghugh*

*strangling Cardin*

Jaune: What did you just say to me? You want to use Ruby as an outlet for your lust. I might not be interested in Ruby like that and I'm not her boyfriend. But I am her friend. If you think I'm going to let you treat Ruby like that you have another things coming.

She meant the world to me as a friend. When I'm with her the world shines a little more brighter. Her smile is the most beautiful thing in the world. And I will do anything, absolutely anything to protect it. Do you hear me Cardin!?

Cardin: *gasping for air*

Jaune: I know I can't choose who she decides to go out with and I certainly can't choose who she falls in love with. But I can make sure to protect her from people like you!

If you still want to go after Ruby fine! I can't stop you. But you will treat her like a lady. You will buy her flower and take her out on a date. A fancy one. Treat her the way she is meant to be treated. You will give her compliments like how cute her smile is or just how cute she is in general. Because she is so gosh darn cute!

You get that Cardin?

*Let Cardin go*

Cardin: *cough* c-clear...

Jaune: Good... And I will tell Ruby that you're asking her out on a date. So remember to treat her well, all right. She's my best friend... We'll see you.

Cardin: Fucking psycho...

You get all of that Blake?

....Blake?

Meanwhile behind the bush

*lying on the ground with nosebleed*

Blake: he, he, he, he... My OTP...

In unrelated news Blake's romance novel just reached an all time best sellers across all four kingdoms.

[sossi-still-dreamin]

blue lock fics

because i read too much fanfiction and maybe you do too... otherwise known as a masterlist of this month's best fics *blue lock edition*

note: almost everything is a oneshot unless otherwise noted

nagireo (my otp in bllk, this ship is unbeatable):

my boy's got his own ringtone by okwa - for those of you who like the streamer kuroken social media style fics, this one is for you! huge kenma energy here, nagi is a streamer and he only picks up calls from one particular ringtone... fans speculate.. hee hee

you're drowning in the pit of my stomach by breathepurple (bleedpurple) - my personal favorite nagireo fics, 8 chsoulmate au + college au featuring bachisagi. nagi and reo have been together for years without their soulmate marks... but they must be soulmates, right? ermmmm or not. aaand cue reo's spiral, nagi's confusion, and rin having the most tragic story ever. LOVES

everything and anything by breathepurple (bleedpurple) (this is not an actual fic)

friendship is magic (i'm begging you, please want me) by luffia - canon compliant fic in which shidou realizes that reo can copy sae... and yea you know what he does with that. nagi gets jealous, pines, reo is confused, and in some quirky ahh way shidou is the best and worst wingman ever

seishirou nagi’s guide to make your friend fall for you through flirting - a really really really good nagireo 5+1 fic in which nagi *tries* really REALLY hard to flirt. but you and i both know nagi is a little slow and the flirting... yikes... but they still end up together so he must've done something right! another one of my favorites :D

and they were roommates - a nagireo fic on bltv being a live tv show… everyone speculates, reo realizes, trying to be discrete, minor half breaking up, zero angst

nagireo hanahaki fics (idk why ppl like depressing fics but also i do bc i'm one of those ppl)

fall forward/spring back by nagireo (happy clover) - reo has hanahaki, happens during bluelock (3 ch)

but could you adore me? by breathepurple - nagireo hanahaki fic but tHIS tIMe NAGI gets the hanahaki! (2 ch)

kaisagi:

you're cute by blue0rangeade - an 11 ch pre-bllk fic in which isagi gets chucked to germany for two months and meets... kaiser... and then they meet again! in bllk! yayyyyy this one is rly rly good i was so invested

shirt by jehielshan- ohhh the second hand embarrassment in this one... but its sO good... a post-canon oneshot kaisagi fic (and a/b/o) in which isagi accidentally steps onto the field in kaiser's shirt...

birds and wings by pistatsia - a 15 ch pre-canon? kaisagi fic in which kaiser gets injured, goes to japan to recover... and meet isagi! teaches isagi to do soccer and all that fun stuff

overloaded by no_3- a kaisagi oneshot in which isagi (basically) borderline faints again bc of metavision, super overwhelmed and such but kAIsEr is there... the actual fic is okay but the text fonts and effects are soOOO cool!

he goes to a different school by opposition- a kaisagi 11 ch fic where the bluelockers all dont believe isagi has a hot, famous, soccer player boyfriend but he does…

bachisagi >v<

love bites by j_jabbers- hee hee bachisagi oneshot that is exactly as it sounds, in which bachira likes to erm bite isagi randomly. but its sOO cUte!

other:

ego jinpachi: the world’s most unwitting and unwilling matchmaker by starstruckdove- pfffft a nagireo, bachisagi, + a ton of other ship fic that has soOOo much crack. very amusing to read, had me dying, and ego poor poor ego who needs to bleach his eyes now, a fan favorite

valentines day at blue lock by sephlav- a supercute fluffly fic with a couple of ships on valentines dayyyy

he’s the one i dream of by seventies- no. 1 in the fandommmm, an isagi/everyone fic that is seriously so funny, i'm sorry pls give it a chance

enjoy! (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) .ᐟ.ᐟ

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

Angel Dust: "How come Niffty put ME in the angel kill on sight group and not YOU, toots?!"

Vaggie: "No idea. Maybe she just likes me better?"

Niffty: "STAB STAB STAB!"

Vaggie: "Or uh, likes you better. So much she want's to stab you."

Niffty: "STABSTABSTABSTABSTAB-"

Angel Dust: "Niff- DOWN! Sheesh! Go look to ya right- go get Vag-gay over there!"

Niffty: (giggling) "ANGEL STAB! ANGEL STAB!!!"

Angel Dust: "GEEZE! Like sure my name's Angel an' whatever, but I ain't an angel?? I don't even got the wings for it! YOU look jus' like an extra bitch with your wings and eye so what the fuck! What gives!!"

Vaggie: "Wow... That's, actually a good question, Angel Dust."

Angel Dust: "YEAH WELL WHAT'S THE ANSWER MY GRIP ON THE RAILIN'S SLIPPING!!!"

Vaggie: "Hey Niffty? Why are you hunting him and not me?"

Niffty: "Charlie told me not to~"

Vaggie: "She told you not to... what?"

Niffty: "Hunt you like an ANGEL! Because of the TRAUMA, right??"

Vaggie: "Uhh, the-"

Niffty: "You're already SUFFERING and if I stabbed YOU for being an angel you'd just feel lame and sad and boooo like you deserved it even though you don't. BLEGH!" (pouts) (sticks out tongue) "Boooooring!"

Vaggie: "Yeah?" (smiling) "Charlie said that, huh."

Niffty: "She's so nice~ She didn't want me to waste my time~"

Vaggie: "Yeah. She. She really is the nicest person ever."

Niffty: (SIGH) "I guess you two match. You're not a very good BAD GIRL are you? Even with having been an exorcist! What a WASTE!"

Charlie: (hugging gf from behind) "I know right? I love hugging her around the middle! She has a very lovely everything!"

Niffty: "NO!!!! NOT WHAT I MEANT!"

Vaggie: "Waste as in wasted bad girl potential, babe, not hug zones."

Charlie: "Oh!"

Niffty: "A tragedy." (heaves sigh) "Oh well..."

Niffty: (turns) (lifts knife) (Grins) "Ohhhh Angellll Dusssst~"

Angel Dust: (SCREAMING)

Vaggie: (softly) "Charlie..?"

Charlie: "I don't think she can really reach him up there... Hm?"

Vaggie: "Thanks. The... the angel thing..."

Charlie: "Shhh." (squeezes) "You are NOT the stabable kind of angel. Even Niffty gets that. See?"

Chaggie: (watches a gleeful knife waving niffty bouncing around under a terrified and dangling angel dust)

Charlie: ".... um."

Vaggie: "Damn she's catching air."

Charlie: "And Angel Dust's grip is a bit less than I thought it'd be. Do you think you should maaaaybe use your pretty angel wings to save him?"

Vaggie: "Fuck no. Let Husk do it."

Charlie: "Husk??? Why would Husk be the one to-"

Vaggie: (pats charlie's hand) "You've got your ships babe and I've got mine."

Charlie: "Oh please- I kow you think Pentious being sweet on Cherri is cute too! I've HEARD you give him tips!"

Vaggie: "Those? Just survival tactics."

Charlie: "More like how to survive liking a girl tactics."

Vaggie: "Well I guess me and you are in the same boat there anyway... Aren't we?"

Charlie: "A ship not a boat and always, Vaggie. Always."

Angel Dust: "WILL YA SAPPHICS STOP CUDDLIN' AND WHISPERIN' SWEET NOTHIN'S AND HELP ME!?"

Niffty: "ARE YOU AN ANGEL CAKE??? ARE YOU DONE? LET ME STAB YOU AND FIND OUT!!!"

Vaggie: "...."

Charlie: "So where's his Husk in shining armor?"

Vaggie: "Sloshed armor. I never said it was a good otp, sweetie."

Charlie: "I'll check the bar. You?"

Vaggie: "Will make sure Angel Dust doesn't end the night with more holes than he started with."

Charlie: "I'm gonna miss hugging you the entire time I'm gone~"

Vaggie: "Me too. Hurry or I'll leave our porn star to his fate."

Angel Dust: "OH FOR FUCKS SAKE LET GO ALREADY!"

Niffty: "You FIRST!!! MUWAHAHAH!"

Charlie: (slowly letting go) "The things we do for our friends..."

Vaggie: "Hey, look on the bright side. We can have another heartfelt make out session once we're meet back up again."

Charlie: "-HUUUUSSSK WHERE ARE YOU? FUCKING WAKE UP! THERE ARE ROMANTIC EVENT FLAGS GOING OFF ALL OVER THE DAMN PLACE AND I WANNA KISS MY GIRLFRIEND! HuUUUSK!!!!!!!!"

[jvnluaa]

That's My Man... You Just Don't Know It Yet

It was a typical Thursday afternoon in the university library.

Rain pattered softly against the windows, the kind of lazy, gentle drizzle that made you want to bury yourself in a blanket burrito and binge your favorite boys love series with a bucket of popcorn and tissues.

But alas—midterms.

Kurapika sat across from you, his posture straight as always, pen gliding over his notes in that annoyingly perfect way. Leorio sat next to him, scribbling on a wrinkled worksheet with a half-dead pencil, groaning under his breath about how capitalism had robbed him of sleep and his will to live.

You, on the other hand, were leaning precariously far over your phone screen, not studying.

Because what were midterms, really, in the face of real priorities? Priorities like:

“Look at them,” you whispered dramatically, showing them your screen. “Just LOOK.”

Leorio blinked. “The hell is this?”

Kurapika squinted. “Are those… animated versions of us?”

“YES,” you grinned. “It’s fanart.”

Kurapika’s pen froze mid-word.

Leorio leaned over to inspect it. “…Are we kissing?”

“YESSS!” you squealed, clapping softly so the librarian wouldn’t kick you out again. “Isn’t it so romantic?! The tension! The longing! The forbidden chemistry between the principled honor student and the secretly sweet med major—”

“I’m not sweet,” Leorio muttered.

“Shut up, Leorio. You totally are,” you said, scrolling. “This artist has a whole AU where you’re both mafia enemies-turned-lovers. The slow burn! The angst! Kurapika gets SHOT and—”

Kurapika finally closed his notebook.

“Do you… read this sort of thing often?” he asked, voice even.

You didn’t look up, completely absorbed. “Oh god, all the time. BL is my lifeblood. You and Leorio are my OTP.”

Kurapika stared at you.

You smiled, dreamy and unaware. “Like… the way you look at each other? I felt that. That’s love.”

Leorio looked up. “Wait, what way do we look at each other?”

Kurapika didn’t answer.

Because he knew exactly what kind of look you meant.

He had looked at Leorio like that once—years ago—when they were still figuring out what kind of bond they had. But that look had long since shifted.

It only happened now when he looked at you.

When you fell asleep in study sessions, pen still clutched in your hand.
When you held his wrist during thunderstorms, eyes wide but trusting.
When you ranted about manga with stars in your eyes and asked him what kind of uke he thought he’d be—

(He didn’t even know what an uke was until you explained it with charts.)

And still, he said nothing.
Because you only ever saw him through the lens of your delusions.
Delusions where he and Leorio were passionately in love and sneaking kisses behind library shelves while you watched, teary-eyed, from the bushes.

You smiled at him again, oblivious.

“You guys are literally soulmates. It’s okay,” you whispered, like it was a comfort. “I’ll always support you.”

Kurapika wanted to scream.
He wanted to grab you by the shoulders and say: “No, you idiot. I’ve never once looked at Leorio the way I look at you. Every ‘longing glance’ you keep projecting onto him—those are for YOU. You are the one I think about when I lie awake at night. You’re the one I would take a bullet for. You’re the one I want to kiss behind the library shelves.”

But all he said was:

“…I see.”

You leaned your cheek against your hand. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. I know you’re subtle with your feelings.”

Kurapika looked at you.
You looked at Leorio’s doodle on your folder cover, hearts surrounding it.
Leorio burped quietly and asked if you wanted to get ramen after this.

And Kurapika thought: God, this is hell.

BONUS: Later That Night, In Kurapika’s Room

He stared blankly at the ceiling, wearing a hoodie you had accidentally left behind.

His phone buzzed. It was a text from you:

Y/N: look what I just made!! [image attachment]
Y/N: it’s a collage of you and Leorio’s moments. I cried while making it. You’re welcome.

He closed his eyes. Inhaled.

Exhaled.

Clutched your hoodie to his chest.

“…I’m going to die,” he muttered.

[avaistryingtheirbest]

That one draw your OTP image but with Sarah and Yolay because they need more fanworks and I love them!

I might start drawing Dog Man characters in my style more often, I can’t keep drawing those dot eyes all the time lol

Og image under cut

[trippingontheescalator]

Which Classic Novel Should You Read Based on Your Fave Snape Pairing

Snily - Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847). Let's see, a low class and abused, brooding Byronic leading man? Check. Madly in love with a woman who ends up marrying a snobbish rich man who looks down on our hero? Check. Obsessed with her even decades after her death? Check, check, and check. Oh, and let's not forget that the child the woman has with her husband shares her eyes. Hm, suspicious.

Snames - Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson (1740). So, as a fellow snames fan, let's be honest with ourselves: all of our fics can be boiled down to "I can change him." We want James to be despicable, inhuman, and cruel to Severus, and then we want James to realize how disgusting he is and grovel at Severus's feet, because we are all basic bitches. So basic that one of the earliest novels in the English language is basically this. Pamela originated this trope.

Snirius - Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith (1957). Snirius fans are unafraid of dark, toxic relationships and unhappy endings, and, well, here's a book for you! Deep Water is about as toxic as you can get. It's about a man who murders his wife's lovers.

Snucius - Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (1913). Alright, alright, so this isn't a novel, this is a play, but fans of this pairing definitely seem to be into the whole sugar daddy/"I can turn this feral street child into an elegant gentleman" kind of vibe, and this is what this play is all about. Audrey Hepburn is fantastic in the film adaptation My Fair Lady (1964).

Snupin - Bear by Marian Engle (1976). You Canadians are probably like, "What the fuck? Is my OTP a joke to you?" The answer is yes, but that's beside the point. Hear me out. The main character is an archivist who is very bad at relationships and kind of shuns society in general. Like our Snape. She ends up in the Canadian wilderness on an assignment going through a dead person's belongings. Also, this dead person kept a pet bear that our heroine now has to take care of. Our heroine begins to yearn for something wild, our pet bear is a literal bear, but also incredibly pathetic and docile just like Lupin. Anyway, the two fuck. Literally, she fucks a bear. THIS BOOK WON THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD. THAT'S LIKE CANADA'S PULITZER I THINK. None of you werewolf-fuckers should act shocked and dismayed by this. We all know how you really think Sirius's prank should have gone (in which instead of James rescuing Snape, Moony makes sweet sweet love to him).

Sorry, guys, no Snarry or Snamione. I don't really read those pairings so I can't give an accurate recommendation. But if you've got thoughts, add to this!

[sweet-s0rr0w]

day 18 of @hprecfest - a fic that makes you laugh

Little Red Courgette, by @blamebrampton - T, 31k, 2009

Summary: When this season's purple courgettes are woefully thin, Draco Malfoy thinks it amounts to small beans. Next thing he knows, the Department of Standards is over-run with leeks, Brussels sprouts all sorts of legislative difficulties, and somebody appears to have put a roquette under Harry Potter. Can Draco seize a marrow victory? Or will his plans for peas be squashed?

All along, Kingsley Shacklebolt finds himself pining for the good old days, when, instead of governing, all you had to worry about were Dark Lords and imminent death.

Excerpt:

They each made it through a bowl of chocolate with sundry other flavours garnishing it. And three large glasses of wine. This was the only excuse Draco could find for the fact that he found himself asking Potter: 'So what's your game?'

'Quidditch,' Potter replied instantly. 'Or Exploding Snap.'

'Here. What's your game here.'

'I'm not with you.'

A part of Draco's brain screamed at him to stop, but the alcohol-soaked part, in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Smythe's, encouraged him to go on. 'Are you working with Kingsley to enlist me as your pawn in a clean out of the Ministry? You were very quick to agree when I asked you to warn The Quibbler off, was it all a ruse?'

'I thought you were engaged in your own hands-on grass-roots Ministry reform, making the one department work well, with an eye to expanding in the future,' Potter rebutted.

'Well I am, so you needn't try making use of me in your nefarious scheme.'

'I don't have a nefarious scheme.'

'So is it all a complicated plan to take some highly personal and embarrassing revenge for the Potter Stinks badges? Because that was years ago. And although I feel a little badly about it now, they were excellent work for a wizard that age.'

'They were, I was impressed. I still have one at home, you know.'

'Really?'

'Yup. I thought you were a wanker at the time, but I have to say, that was a quality Charm.'

'Thanks. So what's left? You're in the hire of someone keen to assassinate the last of the Malfoys; it's all an elaborate if somewhat clumsy plan at seduction; or you're desperate for someone to talk to now that all your friends are getting married and having children.'

'Those are my options? I'll take two, clumsy seduction.'

'Really?'

Back in 2019 when I rediscovered the joys of fanfic after over a decade out, I started off the way any (less tech-savvy) millennial would, by googling 'Drarry fanfiction'. blamebrampton's works were some of the first that I found, and I was immediately entranced. They're such an incredible variety, from the Muggle World-set Doing the Lambeth Walk, to travel fic Beneath Boundless Skies, to wartime epic (and longtime @tackytigerfic obsession) And Save Me From Bloody Men. No matter what the topic, though, blamebrampton's sense of humour always shines through in her sharp observations and witty dialogue, and in Little Red Courgette she's able to showcase this to the fullest extent. It's a hilarious examination of government bureaucracy from the world-weary point of view of one Draco Malfoy, an employee of the Office for the Volumetric Standardisation of Edible Wizarding Greengrocery Produce. The veg related puns are numerous, and excellent, and both Draco and Harry are incredibly endearing. Big rec, for all her works!

If you read it, and especially if you love it, please do let me know! And as always, please do take the time to leave the author a kudos/comment <3

day 1 - first fic you remember reading

day 2 - a fic rated G

day 3 - a fic not on ao3

day 4 - a comfort fic

day 5 - a romantic fic

day 6 - a fic for a ship you don’t normally read

day 7 - the best of your OTP

day 8 - a fic that was recced to you

day 9 - a WIP

day 10 - a fest/event fic

day 11 - an underrated fic

day 12 - a fic from your favourite author

day 13 - a rare pair

day 14 - a fic rated T

day 15 - a fic over 50k

day 16 - a podfic

day 17 - a fic that makes you cry

[blahblahblahclintnickiscanon]

007 Fest Intro Post

Furball is a cat, a beautiful cat who loves gentle scratches and all kinds of fishes.

What only some inside the MI6 know is that Furball is a spy herself. A very good spy.

Just look at those big, big round eyes.

How can you suspect her innocent meows?

Why would you not tell her your deepest secrets?

Like any other spy Furball has an enemy, but in her case it’s Summer itself.

Nothing like the Summer heat to push a long haired cat into just flopping down in front of the AC and begging for a bowl of ice cold milk.

Always ready to go cheer up fellow colleagues, Furball is the purrrfect cheerleader every day of the week.

Especially when they bring a tribute of tuna.

__________________

Hi! I'm Arwen88, back again to the Fest to try and push myself into writing something and maybe produce some arts! I usually go for watercolor pencils and watercolors but this year I'd like to attempt something with acrylics. I don't know what I'm gonna write but I'm pretty sure it will be something with Q/Tanner, my otp in this fandom.

[mrs-monaghan]

Claiming you are a OT7 army but pushing and promoting the hate towards taehyung makes you a hypocrite.

Jkkrs are slowly becoming the vermin by pushing false narratives to match their perception of taehyung. It has come to a point whereby we are also starting to base reality of Jikook around villainizing Taehyung. It disappointing honestly to undermine a 10+ year relationship that vmin publicly claimed as soulmates just becuz of social media posts. Dubbing words such as envious to a person Jimin deems important to him is utterly disrespectful.

At the end of the day... WE DO NOT KNOW THEM... so we should believe in their words rather than conspiracies that lead to outrageous conclusions. We jkkrs always preach about how we should only believe in what Jimin and Jungkook say but here we are disrespecting Jimin's words. Words that was just spoken in last week's Sapporo episode.

The truth of the matter is that Jimin and Taehyung are still very close. It justifiable hating Taehyung's subfandoms but hating him is not becuz it based off baseless theories.

More and more each day we jkkrs are starting to resemble the vermin. So fuckin disappointed.

I know you need a Jikooker to yell at, but I take issues when people accuse me of things I haven't personally done. Just because other Jikookers are acting a certain way, if I haven't done what they're doing, I resent being accused of it.

I. Shaz. Love. V. I wouldn't say that if I didnt. Trust me. Or don't. Either way, read this

I had this talk with some friends on discord but here is the thing. I may still care about V but I can understand why some people have washed their hands off of him. I've said this 1000 times but as long as Jikook keep loving V, so will I. But that doesn't have anything to do with holding V accountable for his actions. Jimin and JK may be okay with him, but us as fans are still allowed to question his behaviour.

Jikookers will complain that during FACE everyone and their dog made posts supporting the album except V. Then people like u will say, you don't know them personally, V probably praised him privately. And I would counter with the fact that V posted about Dday and TXT's album. Does that mean he didn't praise them privately???

Same thing happened with MUSE even though the guy finds a way to still be online all the time even while enlisted.

When Jikook were enlisting he posted that shirtless facetime screenshot of JK. Was Jimin not enlisting too?? Why didn't he post about him?

JK himself has come online to correct things that V said. Pointing out that, that's not how it happened. So if JK himself feels the need to correct misinformation, why are we being side eyed?

V promotes everyone except for Jimin, the vermin notice this just like we do and do you know what happens? They go to town on Jimin talking about how V only promotes good music. That Jimin makes garbage music and that's why V can't support it.

I assume you're here due to that post I just made about them not knowing eo as well as they used to. Bro, I ain't making this up. We have seen this with our own eyes. Them trying to guess things about eo and ending up being wrong. That wouldn't have happened way back when. I could talk about the many, many times he has gone quiet only to finally post when the fandom is focused on Jimin.

You say that we don't listen to members, except that's all I do. I watch Vmin chronologically and they're not the same. U would see it too if u did the same. Jimin seems tighter with Jungkook Jhope and V seems tighter with the Wooga Squad. And like I mentioned before, we've seen on original content JK come online to ammend something V said so... how is that me not listening to members? RM saying that V is not very good at self awareness, how is that not me listening to members?

Anon, Vmin aren't the same. U wanna live in denial thats fine. But don't be mad when those of us confident enough to talk about it, do.

.

.

.

Tkkrs hate Jimin because of his bond with JK. But Jimin has never done anything to V. Additionally he does things that makes those morons come for Jimin everyday. That's why jkkrs get upset with him. We don't have an issue with him just because he hangs out with JK or is the closest to JK (he's not) And that is why angry anon, we will never be like the vermin.

[zenkindoflove]

Fandom Shipping Terminology 101: ACOTAR edition

Hi! So I decided to put a little resource together for the ACOTAR fandom. Since many people join the SJM/ACOTAR fandom and have never been in fandom before, they encounter a lot of fandom terminology that they are not quite sure what it means or have seen others use it incorrectly so they get a false impression of the meaning of the word. So I put this together, including examples from the fandom, so that people can use it as a reference to learn more about what these terms mean and when they're appropriate to use. This list is focused on words related to shipping.

Tldr definitions (note: these are definitions that I wrote based on my own experiences/research on fanlore. These are always up for interpretation and meaning and nuance change over time and depend on fandom context)

Canon ship - a relationship where the characters have romantic interactions in canon

Fanon ship - a relationship where in canon the characters are platonic but the fandom has accepted as a ship with romantic undertones, canonical potential, or has become so popular within a fandom it's has surpassed the need/desire for canon

Crackship - a pairing of two characters where the idea of them together is strange or funny depending on the circumstances. Often in these ships, the characters have little or even no interactions in canon

Rare pair - agnostic to fanon or canon status. A rare pair simply means the fandom does not make a lot of fan content for it.

End-game - This is a canon ship that is together by the end of a series.

Slash ship - Fanon ships that feature queer relationships. M/M usually takes on the term slash and F/F has the term femslash.

OTP - Stands for One True Pair. This is a ship that a shipper considers to be the most important one that they love in a fandom.

NOTP - anti-OTP, or a ship that a shipper detests/is squicked out by

Multishipping - the act of shipping a character with multiple other characters.

For more context and thorough examples read more under the cut 

First, what the heck is a ship?

The origins of shipping and becoming obsessed with fictional relationships predate our modern understanding of fandom. Modern fandom roots can be traced as early as Star Trek: The Original Series. But the terminology of calling a couple you like a ship or the act of obsessing over fictional (and sometimes non fictional) couples "shipping" has its origins in the X-Files fandom. While ACOTAR is a romance, many fandoms do not have romance as a central element of its plot, and yet, shippers find a way. That's exactly what happened for the fans of Mulder/Scully. Those who wanted them to be in a romantic relationship were called "relationshippers" which then got shortened to "shippers". The verb "to ship" would appear later from this origin.

The way to think about "what is a ship" though is really based on do people think up romantic scenarios with these two characters? If yes, then you have a ship. And in ACOTAR, oh baby, are there MANY, MANY SHIPS.

Canon vs. Fanon ships

Where does a canon ship end and a fanon one begin? Now that, my friends, is not as clear cut as you might think.

I think this discussion is very important for the ACOTAR fandom because of the state of the ship war currently. Often, there is back and forth about which ship is canon or fanon (and *eye twitch* people throwing around crackship as a derogatory term to de-legitimize a ship which makes me wanna punch shit).

I'm gonna burst everyone's bubbles and say, I personally think Elriel, Elucien, and Gwynriel are all CANON ships.

Why? Well, that's the part that is up for interpretations my friends. What is deemed canonical romantic interactions? That is where a lot of lines can become blurry and if you have ever shipped a fanon ship before - you KNOW what I mean by that. Is it a charged glance? A caress of a hand that lingered too long? Is it a shared kiss? Or do the characters have to explicitly declare "I'm yours and you're mine"?

I've shipped a lot of kinds of ships. Canon. Fanon. Canon that had its end-game blown up. You name it, I've shipped it. And to me, a canon ship is anytime the writer of the canon is putting characters in a romantic situation, regardless if they end up together or not by the end of the series. If they wanted you to feel butterflies and think "could they?", and you felt butterflies, well my friends, you're responding to canon romance. And we've seen evidence of all three ships having those moments.

But, what does that mean for fanon ships? I have shipped a fanon couple where I got butterflies from their canonical scenes together. I've read into their moments and thought "wow, that was romantically charged". I think this is where the lines of canon and fanon are blurred. Because what this comes down to is, did the author intend this? Or am I seeing more into an interaction because I like it? Most fanon ships do hinge a lot of their interest in said ship because of what happens in canon. But, often times, the authors of said content are not necessarily wanting you to take away from their writing that these two characters are interested in each other romantically. You just can't help it. You see it. You see the potential, and you want it to go there so you see more of it the more you look.

Sometimes fanon ships are very clear that the canon is not even hinting at these two characters together romantically. And that is perfectly fine. To me, a fanon ship is a ship that has become so ingrained in the fandom community that the fandom thinks of these two together romantically. That it doesn't really matter anymore what the canon says or doesn't. The fandom has created this relationship and it lives and breathes within what the fandom builds for it. Azris is a perfect example of a fanon ship in ACOTAR. The canon interactions between Azriel and Eris are sparse and platonic in nature, yet the fandom itself has created a whole fanon around them with a large enough community that as soon as you enter the ACOTAR fandom, you immediately know this ship exists.

Rare pairs and Crackships

These two terms are often used interchangeably as if they are synonyms. Now, a rare pair can be a crackship but not all rare ships are crackships and vice versa.

Generally, a rare pair is devoid of canon or fanon connotations. A rare pair is a ship that receives little attention from fans and has few associated fanworks. So, a rare pair could be a fanon couple that few people think about romantically. For example, Emerie and Gwyn have a lot of interactions in canon. I would not think shipping them together to be a crackship because I mean, they're friends, they like each other, they read smut together. There are a lot of scenarios one could imagine them falling in love. But they have a whopping 12 fanfics under their tag in AO3. Therefore, they are a rare pair but not necessarily a crackship.

A rare pair can also be a canon ship. For example, Thesan and his unnamed lover are canon. However, when you look up their relationship tag on AO3, there are 23 works and most do not appear to be focused on them.

I also have seen people use rare pair for very popular ships (like Azris) when they mean fanon. Again, rare pair is really an indication of "how much fan content can you find for this" not necessarily are they canon.

Crackships really were birthed from the intention of putting two characters together "4 da lulz" to bring back early 2000s internet lingo. Crack shipping is usually a pairing that the idea of them together is a little absurd but also fun. Beron/Tamlin is a quintessential crackship example, especially why it came to be (but we will avoid getting into all the origins of that). There is no real reason to think Beron or Tamlin would ever have a romantic interaction and thinking about it makes you laugh. Crackships can sometimes turn into fanon ships. This is another example where the lines do get blurry. But really, crackshipping is about intention and the use of absurdism within fan creation.

I also want to say, often what I see in the Elucien v. Elriel and Elriel v. Gwynriel ships wars is the use of crackship in a derogatory way, and thinking that if one of these ships does not become end-game, therefore, it proves the other was a crackship. Simply put - no. That's not how it works.

End-game

Related to the above point, I think often where the ACOTAR ship wars really derail themselves, is conflating fanon/canon/endgame with each other. I don't see people often using the term end-game, when really, it would help so much with the judgmental and strange ship policing that this fandom loves to do. Specifically, this fandom has a hard time talking about the value within shipping fanon, or shipping the blurriness between fanon and canon for any characters that do not have end-game potential. ACOTAR is not a complete series. Therefore, in a strict definition, no couples are end-game. However, given the genre, there are several couples who are clearly going to be end-game. And really, what I think the ship war community needs in their discourse, is to start using the term end-game when they want to discuss the outcome of Elucien, Elriel, or Gwynriel having a canonical Happily Ever After. The reason being is that you can use end-game, and not insult another ship. End-game is simply a fact. There is no hierarchy involved in what ship is best or not. Because ships can be beloved whether they're canon or fanon or canon who did not end up together. And they all can have very valid reasons why people ship them despite not achieving end-game.

I also urge the ACOTAR fandom to realize that end-game is not the end of YOUR experience of your ship. Your ship lives on despite what the canon may or may not give you. Even if you ship a canon ship that does not achieve end-game, you can create those fanon end-games for yourself. Many popular ships end up being popular because of the effect of that ship not achieving end-game. And while I am using the prime-ship war as examples within this post, I've seen other microshipwars popping up within the fandom as well. So, I'm not trying to pick on this specific set of conflicts, it's just the one I see most prominently.

OTP vs NOTP

I think the ACOTAR fandom could also really benefit from adopting this terminology.

The point of declaring OTPs and NOTPs is a way for you to signal to others in your fandom, "This is how much I care about this ship. Whether I love it it or hate it. Tread carefully". These terms are not meant to say one ship is better than the other from a moral standpoint. Instead, it's to indicate to others that you have a strong preference. You're going to love your OTPs regardless of what arguments others throw at you to convince you to not love them. You will probably be very annoyed by your NOTPs regardless of what others try to do to convince you that they're actually cute/sexy/hot/perfect for each other. And what the ACOTAR fandom could benefit from, from readopting OTP/NOTP language, is having a common understanding where different shipping communities boundaries are and how they can better utilize those boundaries to prevent constant fighting. Now, ship wars are inevitable because of how people see their OTPs and NOTPs, but general rule of thumb is - don't engage with your NOTP's content for your own mental sanity.

Multishipping

Multishipping can be used in many ways. Some people use it to say, hey I'm in this fandom, and I ship a lot of couples. But the origins of multishipping as a term, comes from ship war discourse in other fandoms. Multishippers generally are people who ship one character with multiple other characters. For example, if you ship Elain/Lucien, Elain/Azriel, Elain/Gwyn, Elain/Tamlin, etc etc etc, you are a multishipper. I generally would not consider someone a multishipper if all of their ships do not cross streams. It just sort of means that you ship a lot of couples. Which tends to be normal for romance series with a lot of couples. Maybe not a single of those couples is your true OTP, and that's what you mean by saying you're a multishipper. And that's okay. I think though that multishipping generally in other fan spaces is a marker of you telling others that you don't draw harsh lines with who you see characters with. I often see multishippers not declaring NOTPs. It's kind of a state of how you go about shipping often. I, for one, identify as an OTP shipper. I've never really multishipped. But I also have a very strict standard of what I call my "ships". Anyways, this is to say, this term has a lot of uses. And sometimes it can be confusing which of these uses a person means when they say it.

Slash shipping 

I've seen over the years that slash as a terminology has fallen out of favor. In the past, slash shipping was the pinnacle of shipping in fandoms. The term slash comes from the first modern fanon ship, Kirk/Spock, where the / between their names, which we now all know and use to indicate a romantic pairing (note: & is used to indicate a platonic interaction between characters), exists because the Kirk/Spock shipping community really were the originators of shipping communities creating fan content and sharing it in with each other in a massive way. In general slash (and femslash) is an important modifier of shipping because it explicitly tells you that this is a queer ship which often were not mainstream and considered canon until more recently. With the rise of canonical queer ships, I think the subversiveness of shipping queer couples has lost it's edge, therefore slash is not needed as much anymore to directly state the nature of your ship.

I wanted to keep this in the post though, because I think it's incredibly important history for ALL ACOTAR fans to understand. Shipping queer couples, and especially shipping FANON queer couples, has always been the backbone of fandom. Kirk/Spock walked so Destiel could fly. These are all queer ships that have strong fanon roots (and that fanon has had impacts on their canon) and have shaped fandom and your concept of shipping and romance tropes in inextricable ways. You don't have / without Kirk/Spock. You don't have Omegaverse, without gay shipping within the Supernatural fandom. And I wanted to make this point because this fandom has a strong het (heterosexual) ship bias. Which is okay. It's a romance series with a lot of heterosexual canon couples. But, I think because of that, many people are not entering this fandom with an understanding that people shipping queer fanon couples have been the ones who were the originators of many fandom terms that we have come to know and use today.

Conclusion:

I hope you all found this informative and that you can take away something from this post that can help you have better interactions and ability to communicate with others in this fandom. Again, I want to stress, that this is heavily influenced by my own 25 years of experience being in fandoms. And I haven't seen it all. Others will have different interpretations of these terms and experiences using these terms. So, feel free to add on anything that you think would be helpful to those in the ACOTAR community to better understand how to "ship and let ship". I do think that ship war are inevitable and not necessarily a bad thing. But using the right terms can help you engage in a more respectful way within ship war discourse.

[respectthepetty]

The Heart Killers' Colors? - Ep. 11

I saved over 100 images for episode eleven of The Heart Killers’ so writing “I’m in my feels” in an understatement, and this episode beginning with this beautiful shot of the boys at descending heights, Style being the highest in pink, and the lovers reuniting at the center really emphasize this is a love story.

Style's shirt even says "love" and I need the GMMTV wardrobe department to get a raise!

However, I’m still pissed that the boys did not kill this man!

Liliana, I thought you raised them better!

But now that Black Brooder Fadel and Red Rascal Bison have found love, they are done killing (even if they should still take the shot).

And Style, the biggest lover of them all, makes perfect sense because I, too, would be acting a whole damn fool for this beautiful man and begging him to give up the hitman life since Style knows it doesn’t actually make Fadel happy.

So even though I’m already thinking about how good Joong and Dunk are going to look in Dare You To Death since this will be their aesthetic, I’m also very pissed that this white man is about to break up the these partners (in crime) since he doesn’t understand this Black Brooder and Red Rascal are in a LOVE STORY (with two possible Blue Boys, but I'm not here for those lies)!

Thankfully, Style’s dad understands what genre his son is in because even if I’m not sure about Style’s color, we all know he is deeply in love with his Black Brooder (who is wearing the hell out of that tank *bites bottom lip*), so it’s time he puts a ring on it, and makes Style Mr. Hitman’s Husband.

Even Kant understands this! I don’t think he even knows his color, but he knows he is in love with a quick-tempered and aggressive Red Rascal, so an exhibit about a volcano killing everyone is the perfect place to propose a proposal to him.

It’s also the perfect place to have these adorable inflatable suits with red (and blue . . . Kant, what is your color, bro!) on them.

But we all know the only reason for the suits was so the show could introduce this line into the mix. Kant and Bison have said the freakiest stuff in this show, and I appreciate First and Khaotung getting an opportunity to be play characters who are weird about each other.

Fadel can’t allow that though. He must out-weird everyone. But first, let me enjoy this scene.

Okay, now for my emo kid to show just how “weirdly romantic” he is.

I know Black Brooder Fadel is super duper emo (Paramore’s “The Only Exception” plays in the distance), but Style is just so in love with him that their perfect emo love story is healing my heart. Style is Death Cab for Cutie’s “I’ll Follow You into the Dark” (Love of mine, someday you will die, but I'll be close behind. I'll follow you into the dark) and I love that Style continues to prove that Fadel’s darkness does not scare him, but is the reason he loves him.

I LOVE THEM!

And now they are going back to the support group to share their fears leading to Style basically proposing. That’s my boy! He doesn’t need to wait for Fadel. He can propose!

And seal it with a kiss. They are my OTP!

Fadel is giving Style is heart pin, and that is a reversal proposal. He is giving him his heart. I feel the tingle of a tear of a forming in my right eye!

And now a romantic dinner after cooking together! This is “peaches and plum, motherfucker.” This is “In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.” This is “we deserved this domestic happiness, but even if we don’t have it, I’ll still love you in every version of us” and I’M UNWELL ABOUT IT!

Of course Kant is looking like an angel surrendering his tools, so Bison can claim him with a tattoo.

They are beautiful, and this calming blue light is physically hurting my feelings because now my left eye is tingling with a tear.

Fam, I’m going to be honest, I’m not doing too hot. I don’t give two effs about the colors right now. This hurts way more than I expected.

AND NOW KANT IS CRYING! Don’t have First cry because then my bitchass starts crying. Don't look at me!

FUCK!

FUCK!

Jojo, don't you hurt me like this. This is not HIStory 3: Trapped.

FREE MY BOYS!

[dancing-dawn]

for the ask game. please put him under the microscope

[to all my other sskk+kuro mutuals - love ya, have a little treat from me mmmwah!]

Why, my darling loving literary versed and slightly unhinged friend, you have my eternal gratitude for blessing me with this opportunity to analyse our bastard son. This ask just brought the brightest smile upon my face, because it was so unexpected but also, oh, how my soul has been craving it without my knowledge. I shall make a fair warning here: all of this is going to be my pure and unblemished opinion, since I have read 0, and I mean 0.00 Kuroshitsuji analysis (unlike, yk, for some other cursed by fate morally gray and doomed by the narrative characters for whom I have read every single instance of meta knowledge that can be found on this blasted site). So this shall be fun! Hopefully I can do him justice with my measly understanding of the source material and longtime hyperfixation.

Favourite thing: Ok I feel the need to be very insightful here and analyse the complexity of his character and why he’s such a unique and lovable protagonist besides being an absolute insufferable little shit but, honestly, it’s his character design for me. The way he’s drawn in the manga and espeeecially in the latest volumes where Yana’s art style has grown and flourished so much - it’s magnificent. Such a simple yet striking design, with the glowing engraved with runes purple eye beneath the eyepatch and the very simple boyish blueish hair which oh thanks god he doesn't look like your typical anime protagonist with crazy hair (it also helps to drive the appearance of just a normal little boy who's driven into a world of pure madness and forced to grow up and essentially come on top of the underground “mafia” because of his heritage)

Second, his asthma. As crazy as I may sound. The connection I feel to him because of his lung problems is as limitless as the sky. I adore asthma representation in media, it’s very important for me and I feel that his was portrayed very respectfully and serves to paint the full picture of his story.

Third, all the goddamn chess metaphors to his name. I love the chess symbolism to SHREDS!! And everything related to his personality to stem from that yes.

Least favourite thing: MMmmmmm some of his earlier outfits imao, I can think of some especially atrocious ones from the anime (the colors are NOT helping). But don’t get me wrong - I also love a lot of them. Especially those from the dreamscape, yk what I'm talking about.

Favourite line: I just realised I don't have one???? Preposterous, gotta go on a deep dive gimme a sec…

“I prefer to have my nightmares with open eyes.”

Oh that's a sick one I like it! Coming back to check Ciel quotes I'm being reminded this boy has some terrific life philosophy and I love him for it.

brOTP: Ok it’s a bit weird to call it a “brotop” but in the sense of which platonic interactions I love the most of course I need to say between those of our main duo. Ciel and Sebastian have the most complex and interesting dymanic, possibly out of any characters in media outside of kuro too, I just don't feel confident enough to analyse it here because honestly it's hard even for me to put into words.

OTP: I feel like the story of Black Butler is best told without any romance, so I’m gonna say none.

nOTP: For plot and current manga development reasons, as tragic as it is, I need to say Lizzy/ Ciel (both in fact). I love Lizzy, so so much. She became very dear to my heart the second her backstory and real character was revealed in Book of the Atlantic. Her love for Ciel is tragic in many ways. It makes for a dramatic interesting story but I still feel sympathy for her.

Random headcanon: He would soon reach a point when he'd start wanting to tear himself from Sebastian's care - maybe just to spite him, maybe to prove to himself he's as physically weak as he's perceived, but he will start making his own tea or trying and failing spectacularly to make his own desserts and little things like that.

Unpopular opinion: uuuuh gonna skip this one i can't think of anything perdonami perdonami

Song I associate with them: Easy. So easy in fact that I searched for the song the second I opened this document and it’s been playing nonstop for an hour while I write this. I have so many fond memories of this song because I discovered it very early into my Kuro obsession and at first I didn’t even realise it’s not an “official” character song, it just fits so so well. I remember this song carrying me through my uni prep art courses when I was feeling so stressed and close to throwing up, I always put this on repeat to calm me. I barely even remember what the lyrics mean and yet I still feel a very intense connection to it.

Favourite picture:

I shall not and need not elaborate further thank you :3

[glitter-stained]

You don't have to answer all if you don't want! :p

B - A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind

M - Your favorite fanart or fanartist

N - Your favorite fanfiction or fanauthor

O - Choose a song at random, which OTP does it remind you of

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go

Heyo daisybell, thanks for the ask!

N. I answered here- and I want to reiterate that you people are cruel for wanting me to pick a favourite.

B- Dickbabs! When I first got into fandom, my perception of Dickbabs was mostly aged down Barbara, Robin/Batgirl (which I'm neutral/uninterested for) or Nightwing/Batgirl (which I really really don't like) so I didn't see the appeal, but it turns out you can do whatever you want and shipping is fun and fuck Tom King -I unfortunately don't recall who first had the idea but someone mentioned Nightwing/Oracle with the original age gap between the two and I'm like hey you know what now that sounds interesting. Also I'm a very enthusiastic multishipper and with Barbara I gotta be honest I love her a cheater (especially when she doesn't realize she's doing it)/having a bit of a harem. She will make you fall in love with her and it is going to ruin your life and she might not even realize it meanwhile it's going to haunt you for the rest of your life. Anyway I like the idea of Barbara considering Dick kinda like a fun refreshing adventure and not really interested in committment contrasting with Dick's utter devotion, with a touch of miscommunication because Dick kinda just assumes that the relationship means the same for her as it does for him and meanwhile there's a reason she never put words on it or had a conversation about it, and thought he was on the same page. Add to that some more control issues and deep desire for freedom and independence from both of them and there you have a Dickbabs dynamic I actually really like. (Let me never be accused of only enjoying healthy ships).

M-again? No no no no. I will not. I shan't. I will not pick a favourite. Get compilationed, idiot:

Starspilli + aylendoesart + kartsie + daredevil-vagabond + Faalthien + lukewarmcomic + apples-jpeg + miasonwing + strange-birb + Under the starlitsky + tigerjpg + qweenofurheart + Enfernalinferno + tamagi-aki + ky-landfill + s-darli'g-art

Anyway shout out to all these amazing artists I've found, the list is non-exhaustive this is just a bunch of those who inspire me when writing!

O-maybe because I made the rena playlist recently and have been listening to it a lot but yeah All the Dying by Mother Mother, aside from being a great fucking song in general, is so jayrena to me. Specifically during the period where they're separated and the "choir" type music at the end is Rena finding Red Hood crucified. I've made so many jayrena edits to this songs in my head it's on loop. Ugh I love them sm.

S- large deep dark brown eyes for Jason. Yes I know it doesn't match the large majority of canon but it should. Why? Brown eyes are so beautiful and deserve so much more love and I hate that dc is allergic to brown eyes and because Jason is my favourite character he should get my favourite eye colour. If they can be inconsistent about his appearance all the time they can afford to be inconsistent in a way that suits my taste for once. + deer in headlights look when jaybin exploded + deer in headlights look in the batarang incident, batman 138, ethiopia 2.0, the rhato 25 thing if we really want to include it, batman 148, joker mwsl, etc etc. Or in my personal universe, when he gets crucified, when he wakes up and realizes he's not dead, that one time he gets time-looped, that one time he gets himself kidnapped on purpose, etc etc etc. Basically just I love giving Jason a deer in headlights look (especially when he's also covered in blood). But mostly it's because brown eyes are pretty. Also ik people like lazarus mood ring eyes- I raise you -golden mood ring eyes (because golden lazarus pits look great). So brown eyes that maybe grow gold when he's getting in "the zone" (deeply focused and about to kill someone). But mostly just, big beautiful brown eyes.

Z- Have you guys ever heard of the second Crimson Avenger ? (<- yes I know I'm the most annoying person on earth what are you gonna do). She's a maybe undead spirit and also the avatar of the spirit of vengeance. My theory is Geoff Johns wrote her as an incarnation of the danger of the cycle of vengeance (ik, boring morality lesson vibe but he didn't develop that and instead we get good stuff about agency, don't worry) but she works so well as a story about secondary trauma. She's one of my favourite dc characters, and one of my favourite ghost stories! I have many ideas about her interacting with Jason, counting but not limited to:

-AU where Jason stays dead after the end of UTH and Jill comes after both Joker and Batman to avenge him

-AU where Jason is alive but his ghost from where he was dead asks Jill for help after Batman 148 and she's very confused with what's going on, and tries to make sense of the duality between the depressed, resigned man who wants to die and the furious boy who knows he deserved to live- the duality between the two of them confuses the guns enough to give her agency, but what can she do?

-no cape AU where Jill is a prosecution lawyer (i think? Not sure how the us justice system works) who specializes in CSA cases and she tries to help kid!Jason case while struggling on the edge of burnout.

-college AU with all of my personal dream outlaws where she is president of the debate club and also she's part of the outlaws which is its own club dedicated towards activism wrt sexual violence on campus, but on top of the usual activism during the day, certain members of the club reunite at night to assert a more... definitive solution, under Jill's motto "Justice is vengeance". (So like, Jill isn't the actual president of the club, but she sure is the leader of the nighttime version of the club -and Jason is one of her biggest followers.)

-and of course, there's my head canon, aka the completely different fleshed out canon that exists only in my head, in which Jill for a long time is a very important active member of the Outlaws and gets a lot of character-centric arc, as well as a very intense, heavily developed romance with Raphael Arce that I have been informed reminds certain people of telenovela stories with its dramatic twists and magical memory loss subplots.

That's all for now but I'll definitely come up with many more Jill&Jason ideas later-what can I say, I love them. Aaah.

[teacupballerina]

Okay but Blossom whispering ‘no one asks if we consent with the rowdy ruff boys is so real (and I ship Blossick)’ like I’ve read so many fan fictions where the boys basically manhandle and SA the girls. But that’s fine because boys will be boys

Well, it’s also a jab at ME, because I HAVE drawn and written some crazy Akubloss in my life. There are some dubcon and even noncon type stories hidden in that ship, but that’s the nature of shipping. You want to see every dynamic possible of your OTP even the fucked up ones.

Put a big answer under the cut.

I’ve come to understand PPG/RRB as a litmus test for how one views sexual dynamics, because it’s so broad and generic and the RRB are so flat that they typically end up changed for fics to suit the author’s taste.

For example, in my case, I don’t really care for ppg/rrb but I will tolerate or even draw Bubboomer or Brickercup because those dynamics are things I like. I already have a preferred match for Blossom. I don’t mind the shippers as long as they aren’t hateful to others over having different ships. In real life I don't really care to mingle with men but will tolerate them as desired, as long as they aren’t assholes, because I’ve been hurt. The girls might begin to feel the same way, because who hurts them the most if not men? 

But, the nature of our existence requires compromising with men. We’re here on this planet to learn to get along with each other. That doesn’t mean you absolutely have to have a relationship. It just means we need a balance of masculine and feminine energies for the world to be able to function. 

The stories/fics that are indistinguishable from the typical romance novel/female fantasy is indicative that the author is a normal girl. The most common fantasy of women, the oldest trick in our books, is taming the beast. The beast is both the man and the female desire for the man. You can find it in The Epic of Gilgamesh for god’s sake. The “unsavory” elements are quite literally the entire reason fantasy is fantasy. It’s a safe place to explore those concepts, and if you need to interpret things through characters you love because it feels safer that way, all the better. 

The thing about Aku is that he is Brick. Like actually. A red eyed, red haired DEMON; boastful, arrogant, aggressive, domineering, can be dumb as a rock. He was defeated once and brought back. The typical story is that he just shows up in Townsville one day and eventually kills Blossom in some way, whether literally or metaphorically. He can become a giant. He’s about as emotionally mature as a five year old. He’s dry-humored, calls out wrestler titles for himself and is even associated with dogs. And he explodes when he dies. “Explode”. What else explodes?

And yet. Aku is not Brick. He’s presented as intellectually intelligent. Cunning. He’s shown as possessing the fire breath people want to give Brick [that the girls already have]. 

The typical fanon Brick–a smart, cold, commanding leader who breathes fire and sweeps Blossom off her feet with inappropriate flirtation–is what Aku already is. Literally, in canon, in Super Secret Crisis War, he is the smart, cold, commanding leader of all the big villains (even Mojo!), he breathes fire, and he calls Blossom terms of endangerment until Buttercup swoops in with laser eyes.

Aku’s weakness is not his masculinity, it’s love. And he is the monster the girls truly cannot decisively defeat [in one episode].

In crossovers, Aku is presented as Chemical X–literally already a part of Blossom–and Brick may look like Blossom, but his primary element is monkey shit. Radioactive, chemical-x tainted monkey shit, yes. But Brick is still a brick of talking shit that Mojo flings at the girls. Then the devil becomes his father once kisses start making him bigger. That's not to say I hate the guy. He's like a mini Aku! But, why take the free trial when the full version is hunting you down?

Brick is the sanitized version of Aku. A safer, dumbed down forewarning of what is to come for the girls. It’s no coincidence that Him resurrected them as Aku was resurrected. It’s just another parallel to help the girls understand exactly how to defeat Aku, and by extension all men:

He will not be bested in physical combat. Shrink him down, give him affection, and wear his ass out with plenty of new toys, and you will receive a loyal pet and protector.

Aku represents the cosmic horror of what Brick and the Rowdyruff boys REALLY are when all the child-friendly stuff is stripped away. The chthonic masculine, the darkest and most destructive element of man. Mars, Saturn, Pluto. The devil. The darkness. THE SHADOW.

I think someone even wrote a fanfic about it.