#photo mechanic guide

[smoooothoperator]

What Was I Made For?

07: Please Please Please

Charles Leclerc x driver!OC (Dafne Morelli)

childhood enemies, forced proximity, accidental pregnancy, enemies to lovers

Warnings: Charles POV, Sebastian's last appearence (😭)

a/n: Hello there!!! I hope everyone is doing fine! Here's the new chapter!! Charles redemption arc starts now

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This race was crucial, not just for me but for the entire team. Securing a podium finish was crucial to keep the second place in the Constructors' Championship. And personally, I needed the win to keep my second position in the Driver's Championship, just 25 points shy.

“Charles, red flag. Red flag.”

The urgency in the voice over the radio cut through my focus like a knife. I frowned, scanning the screens for any hint of what happened, but they remained following the cars that moved in the track.

“What's going on?” I asked, my voice filled with anxiety.

“There's been a crash. Return to the pitlane”

A crash. My heart sank. Who was involved? Why weren't they showing anything on the screens?

“Who crashed?” I asked worriedly, needing to know more.

Silence. The unknown kept me tense as I guided the car back into the pitlane, parking it with a heavy heart. Stepping out, I scanned the pitlane, watching how a chaotic movement started as soon as the rest of the cars were parked, with medics and emergency vehicles going to the track where the incident happened. The air was thick with tension.

“Did you see what happened?” I asked Pierre when I saw him walk towards me.

“Only caught a glimpse of Ocon by the side. Looks like he caused the crash” Pierre sighed, eyes scanning the monitors.

“But who else was involved?” My mind raced, connecting the dots. 

Dafne’s Ferrari wasn't in the pitlane.

“Fuck” I muttered, looking at the rest of the cars parked and then at her side of the garage.

Inside, the crew was a crowd of constant activity. Engineers screaming orders, mechanics hurried back and forth between the cars, faces drained of color as they glued their eyes to the screens. Even that guy Dafne had brought along was there, looking like he just saw a ghost.

“What's the situation?” I demanded from Dafne's engineer, my voice strained.

“She's trapped  in the barriers” he replied, his attention divided between tasks and his attempts to reach her on the radio.

“How could you let her race? She was ill!” I snapped, the worry for her well-being bubbling into anger. “If I saw it I'm sure you did too! She was pale and this morning she threw up”

“This isn't the first time she got in the car sick” he frowned, defending her. “Not that you care”

I clenched my jaw, shaking my head in frustration, then turned to Fred. His expression said everything before he even spoke a word.

“She's unconscious” he murmured, and my heart sank further. “Not answering”

Unconscious. The word echoed in my mind like a drumbeat. If only they had known she wasn't at her best today. If only...

I forced myself to look away, back towards my own car, catching sight of that guy again. There was something familiar about him. Maybe I'd seen him in photos with Dafne.

Focus, Charles. Focus on the race. For the team.

I tried to clear my mind as the race resumed, pushing aside the bundle of worry and what-ifs that threatened to overwhelm me. Keep a cool head. Execute perfectly. Dafne’s face kept intruding, but I ordered myself to stay focused.

Dafne... Please, be okay. You're strong. You'll pull through.

The race became a blur of speed and strategy, the laps melting into each other until suddenly it was over. I climbed out of my car almost in a daze after I parked behind the signal with the big 2, letting myself be guided towards the podium, where trophies and authorities awaited. But my mind was elsewhere.

“How's Dafne?” I asked Fred, joining the team in the pit lane. “Any news? Is she awake?”

“Her family went with her to the hospital,” Fred's voice was heavy with concern. “She's still unconscious. They're running tests.”

I swallowed hard, a lump forming in my throat. The podium awaited, cameras poised to capture the moment of triumph. But there would be no champagne celebration today.

“I won't spray the champagne,” I muttered, setting the bottle aside.

Lando and Max exchanged glances, their expressions a mix of sympathy and concern.

“Is it about Dafne?” Lando asked quietly, his hand covering his mouth.

“She's still unconscious,” I replied, the weight of worry evident in my voice.

They nodded in understanding, standing silently by my side as we faced the cameras. No cheers, no smiles. 

Fuck the championship. I need her to be okay.

Every interviewer asked about her. They needed to know about her.

“I know as much as you do” I always answered, nodding and moving to the next interviewer.

When I finished the interviews, I went straight to the hospitality area, feeling a chill as soon as I walked in. No one was talking. Everyone’s gaze was fixed on the floor. Her family wasn’t there, and their things were missing from their usual spot during races.

I swallowed thickly, feeling the heavy atmosphere and the weight in my heart. My lips formed a thin line as I nodded to those who came over to pat my back.

“We’ll try again next year” one of my engineers said, smiling weakly. “This wasn’t the race we wanted.”

“Yeah,” I sighed.

I went to my room, sitting on the bed and staring at the wall in front of me. An internal battle raged in my mind, but a knock at the door brought me back to reality.

“Hey”

My mom’s voice made me look up. Her sad smile grew closer as she sat next to me, wrapping her arm around my shoulders and leaning on me.

“Do you know anything about her? Did her family call you?” I mumbled, closing my eyes and resting my head against hers.

“She’s still asleep” she sighed. “Several concussions and her wrist might be broken…”

“Shit…” I sighed. “She wasn’t focused on this race. I saw it; she was sick and-”

“Look, Charles” she interrupted, sighing. “Dafne might be a girl, but she’s stronger than any man on the grid. If some of you had a cold or another illness, you’d blame your poor performance on being sick.”

“Mom-”

“No, listen” she insisted. “She’s better than you, and you have to accept that. If you ever suffered the pain she does every month, you wouldn’t drive. And yet, there she is, getting on podiums and earning points.”

“I know…” I sighed. “I know I crossed the line with her, okay? I just want to fix everything. You have no idea how much I regret what I said about her.”

“I think it’s a little late for that, Charles” she said, looking at me. “You had your whole life to fix things…”

I clenched my jaw and looked away, feeling her words hit me like a cold shower.

All my life, I despised Dafne because of the stupid jealousy I felt. Jealousy that made me say awful things and insinuate lies. Jealousy that never let me stop and give her space.

“I have to see her” I whispered, standing up and packing my things into my backpack.

“Charles…”

“No, mom” I frowned. “It’s all my fault, you’re right. I’ve been an idiot, and I know she reported me. I know she doesn’t want to see me, but I need to know if she’s okay.”

She sighed and nodded, smiling weakly. I felt her eyes on me as I tidied the room and slung my backpack over my shoulder.

“I’ll see you at home, okay?” I sighed, hugging her. “I’ll text you once I know if she’s awake.”

“Just… don’t make things worse.”

I smiled weakly and kissed her cheek before walking out of the room. I looked at her room; it wasn’t empty. Her things were still there, her backpack and clothes neatly folded on the bed. I should probably take them to her, right? Maybe her family rushed to the hospital and forgot her things.

I swallowed thickly as I walked into her room, overwhelmed by her perfume. The same perfume she always wore, the one that lingered in my nose and on my clothes after that night in Monza. I sighed, grabbing her backpack and packing her clothes, laptop, and phone. When I picked up her phone, I saw a picture of her and that guy on the lock screen, holding a cat between them.

I clenched my jaw, put the phone in the backpack, and looked at the picture of her first win on the wall.

“I miss that brown hair” I whispered, looking at her. “I miss your crown.”

I smiled weakly and looked down, slinging her backpack over my arm.

When I walked out of the hospitality, I felt everyone taking pictures and asking about Dafne, snapping shots of her backpack hanging from my arm. I clenched my jaw and walked toward the paddock exit and my car.

Once inside, I put her backpack on the passenger seat and took a deep breath. Her perfume filled the car, bringing back memories of September.

Her skin. Her taste. Her smell. Her touch. Her lips.

“No, no” I groaned, shaking my head to dispel the thoughts. “Idiot.”

I turned on the engine, typed the hospital address into my phone, and drove.

My mind ran through every possible scenario, good and bad. I tried to stay positive, hoping she’d already be awake. Maybe she’d be strong enough to yell at me. I would need it.

When I parked the car, I grabbed my phone and searched for Erica’s number, texting her.

Charles: What’s her room number?

Erica: What?

Charles: Dafne’s room in the hospital.

Erica: Are you for real? What are you going to do?

Charles: Just drop off her backpack. You left it in her room.

Erica: 5.17

Erica: Behave yourself. If she’s awake, she won’t want to see you.

I sighed, ran my fingers through my hair, took a deep breath, and grabbed her backpack before getting out of the car.

I ignored the reporters outside the hospital, walked straight to the elevators, and pressed the button for the fifth floor. I got out and found her room, frowning when I saw that guy standing in front of the door.

I clenched my jaw and approached, but as I reached for the handle, he stopped me.

“I think you’re the last person she wants to see right now” he said, making me turn around slowly.

“Excuse me? And who are you?” I frowned. “I just came to bring her backpack.”

“Then give it to me and leave” he said, frowning.

“You didn’t answer my question” I insisted.

“Who I am to Dafne is none of your concern. You’ve done enough damage, Charles” he said. “You should forget her.”

“Is she awake?” I frowned.

“She is. That’s why I said you’re the last person she wants to see right now” he groaned.

I clenched my jaw and placed the backpack on the seat next to him, frowning as I looked back at the door. She’s awake. Good.

“Just… why?” he asked, making me frown.

“What?”

“Why were you so cruel to her? She never did anything to deserve your hate. Do you know how badly you made her look? How many threats she’s received because you got drunk and said all those disgusting things?” he said, making me swallow thickly and look away. “You acted like a kid wanting to be the center of attention. Once the spotlight was off you, you did something stupid to get it back.”

Every word felt like a stab. But I had to stay silent and take it because deep down, I knew I deserved it.

“She locked herself in her office to read all the comments, you know?” he sighed. “I had to listen to her cry while she read everything because she didn't let me walk in”

“You think I don’t know?” I interrupted him. “I regret every word I said. I regret everything I did. But it’s too late to fix things, isn’t it? She hates my guts. She doesn’t want to see me ever again; she made that clear with the lawsuit.”

“And yet you came” he said. “You packed her things and brought them here, knowing you had zero chances of giving them to her.”

I took a deep breath and sighed, looking away.

“If she’s awake, why aren’t you inside?” I asked. “I thought you two were dating.”

“We never did,” he said, with a sad smile. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure” I sighed.

“You don’t hate her, do you?” he asked. “I noticed the way you looked at us during the weekend. I saw how you looked at her sadly, how you cared for her. I even noticed you grabbing the peaches near her in the fruit basket at the restaurant.”

“She’s allergic to the skin of peaches” I mumbled.

“And I saw you leave her favorite chocolate on her bed” he said. “You don’t hate her.”

“It’s stupid” I sighed, sitting next to him. “I guess you’re right. I am still a kid wanting the Ferrari spotlight. I want the attention…”

“Her attention” he interrupted. “But that never worked, did it?”

I looked at him and sighed, closing my eyes.

Her attention… Maybe.

“I think you should give her time,” he whispered. “Right now, she received some news she didn’t like. I think you should wait, but not too long. Give her time to recover. After all, you two will have to talk at some point”

I sighed and nodded, looking at the door and swallowing thickly. Some news… bad ones? Is she injured? Can’t she race? What is it?

“She’s okay, I promise” he smiled weakly.

I looked at him and smiled weakly, nodding. I stood up and looked at the door one last time before walking away.

Two weeks have passed since that race.

Two weeks full of interviews, sponsor events, and photoshoots. Of holding a trophy that is the proof of how I lost the second position in the championship. Of smiling fakely when all I wanted to do was stay out of the cameras.

Two weeks of not knowing anything about Dafne. She didn't come to the interviews, nor the events, not even to the dinner.

“Did Dafne call?” I asked Fred while I looked at the empty seat where she was supposed to be sitting, and he only shrugged and shook his head.

“Last time I saw her was back in Abu Dhabi” he said. “I visited her in the hospital. She said that she needed time to recover, that's all.”

After that dinner, I tried to reach her. But every time I grabbed my phone and pressed her contact name, I hesitated, remembering the words of the man who I thought was her boyfriend.

Time. She needs time. She needs to recover. We have things to talk about.

So I waited. I waited until she called me. Until she was ready.

But I was growing impatient. December had already ended, and she hadn't called yet. Everyone at the factory was worried about her absence. And what really set off my alarms was hearing Fred talk about getting another driver in her seat.

So I did what I thought was the most normal thing. I went to her parents' house.

“What are you doing here?” I flinched when I heard her voice. Erica was there, looking at me leaning on the door frame. “I think no one invited you.”

“I just need to know if she's okay, Erica…” I sighed.

“She’s not” she frowned. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Of-”

“Yes, Erica! I know what I have done!” I exclaimed. “Why are you acting like this with me? I thought we were friends…”

“Friends? I stopped being your friend the moment I saw my sister having a panic attack because your fans came to attack her” she frowned.

“I need to see her, Erica. Please” I begged.

She looked at me, scanning me with her green eyes. I felt small again, being intimidated by her judging eyes. It reminded me of when I was a kid and she was always hanging out with my older brother and Jules. She always used to sit next to Jules, scanning the crowd with her eyes before talking, making an analysis of everyone.

“She was happy with Sebastian” she frowned. “She was finally happy, smiling. And then you…”

“I, what?” I frowned. “What else have I done, Erica? Tell me!”

“I… I can’t tell you” she sighed.

“God damn it! Please!” I groaned, frustrated.

“Do you remember where the house of our nonna is?” she said suddenly.

“The one where Jules and you used to play as Juliet and Romeo on the balcony?” I said, remembering those summer days.

“Y-yeah” she said, looking away. “That one.”

“She’s there?” I asked, confused. “She lives there?”

“She went there… to hide” she sighed.

“Hide?”

“Just… Charles” she sighed, taking a deep breath. “You’ll understand, okay? And please… Please, I beg you. Don’t hurt my sister ever again. If she tells you, please don’t run away. Stay with her, even if she pushes you away. Don’t give up.”

“I won’t run away” I said, swallowing thickly. “Not again. I won’t give up on her.”

“Good. Because she’ll need you” she nodded.

I swallowed thickly and walked towards her, going up the four stairs and hugging her. She tensed at first, but then hugged me immediately.

“I’m sorry… For everything I did” I whispered. “For every pain I caused. I don’t deserve your help…”

“Just promise you won’t hurt her ever again. Because if you do, I’ll be the first to-”

“I promise, I promise” I sighed, hugging her tighter.

I went back to the car, smiling weakly at Erica and driving away, trying to remember the way to that house in the middle of nowhere in Tuscany.

Memories came back to me. Our families spending the summer in that house, hiding in the bushes, running and racing to see who could get to the other side of the road first, the sunsets, our parents laughing in the backyard while the kids stayed in our rooms, floating in the river on hot days. Those days, even if Dafne and I were distant, were the best days of my life.

But being here in January is a completely different thing. It smells different; it’s not the warm weather anymore. When you drive through the road, you can smell the wood from the fireplaces keeping the houses warm. There’s no longer that smell of the wine and the herbs.

The house made of stone with wood shutters grew bigger as I approached it, making my heart beat faster with anxiety.

I parked the car on the side of the fence, taking a deep breath when I saw a car I guessed was the one she used to come here. I swallowed thickly, opening the gate and walking inside the property, looking at the house that holds many memories of my childhood.

I heard soft music from the backyard, so I guessed that Dafne was there. I walked towards it, opening the little metal door and closing my eyes when it made noise.

“Erica, you came-”

I swallowed thickly, looking at her. She was sitting on a chair, with a book in one of her hands, and the other hand… on top of her stomach.

“Charles” she mumbled.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. A pregnant belly.

“You are pregnant” I whispered.

That’s why she was hiding? Because she’s pregnant?

“How far?” I asked without thinking.

“Charles, I-”

“How far, Dafne? Is it…”

“Get out of here” she frowned, swallowing thickly and getting up. “You have no right to be here.”

“How far are you?” I insisted, watching her walk towards me.

“Four months, okay? Are you happy?” she groaned. “You are going to be a dad, asshole. Congratulations, you got rid of your worst enemy by knocking her up.”

Pregnant. She’s pregnant with my baby.

taglist

@racinggirl @elisysd @alltoomaples @ssprayberrythings @rach3164 @yvonne-dump @deliciousfestsalad @janeh22 @hc-dutch @ninifee1802 @kakorrhaphiphobia @ssararuffoni @itsjustkhaos @scaramou @tapedeck-hearts @apollosfavkiddo @sltwins @glitterquadricorn @ladystardust05 @theseerbetweenus @vizzzashley @auawdo @leah-also-known-as-creatoronwp @leptitlu @green-thots @catarinemirandax

[psychhound]

hey yall!!! new bundle :D

this is my 14 for 14 ttrpg bundle to pay off some of the debt from my top surgery!! you get 14 games and homebrew for 14 bucks, which is gonna run until june 14th (my birthday!!)

my top surgery was absolutely life changing and has made me so much more comfortable, confident, and happy. i dont regret it in the least. i also got hit with some surprise bills afterward that have me pretty heftily in debt because of it

some very kind souls have donated their games to help me pay some of this off, which was just so incredibly generous. which means its not just my games in here!! lots and lots of cool stuff, please check it out!!

in the bundle:

ttrpgs:

[BXLLET> : a game about systems of violence and power in the weird west apocalypse

disparateum: a dream-like reality-bending game where you hop worlds and tell strange stories

little celestial fieldwork guide: a city exploration photography game where you divine hidden spirits and take photos of them

beach day!: a system agnostic party bonding minigame where characters swap gifts and secrets

what they once feared: a solo journaling game where you play a folkloric monster forced to choose your path

the narrator paradox: a one page solo game where you play a storybook narrator whos protagonist has gained agency and is trying to change the story

the fool who got married (extended): a duet epistolary game of female hardship and connection in 1848

explorers of the forever city: a rules-light, fantasy role-playing game about ordinary people making extraordinary discoveries

homebrew:

riders: a pact for moth-light by justin ford, a fitd game. tame, bond with, and ride the terrifying predator moths

witch: a class for d&d 5e. be a con-based half-caster with curses, familiars, and a whole new way of doing spell slots

harmony with the wind: a ghibli-inspired d&d 5e pack with 5 feats, 4 backgrounds, 4 races, 6 monsters, and 3 subclasses

fairytale/feywild: a pack for d&d 5e with 1 background, 2 races, 1 subclass, and unique timekeeping mechanics for the feywild

burger wizard: a d&d 5e compatible narrative rpg about working as magical kitchen staff in a fantasy restaurant

argyth's arcane companion: 4 wizard subclasses, 3 feats, and 17 new spells for d&d 5e

you can get all of this for 14 bucks until june 14th!! it would really mean a lot to me for yall to check it out and also spread the word :D

check it out on itch!!

[emcscared-whumps]

WRITING RESOURCES

This post will be updated with new entries Last updated: 01 Aug, 2024 See the Updated Version!

WRITING TIPS & RESOURCES

ASL: Technicques to Write Signed Dialogue

Disability Writing Guides (Another resource post)

Disabilities that You Should Consider Representing in Your Writing More Part 1 (Another esource post)

Editing Service (by @concerningwolves)

Emotional Intelligence in Conflict

Ellipsus, the New Collaborative Writing Tool

Difficult Chapters

Drafting: Four Methods for Highly Anxious Individuals

Writing Disability: Overused Tropes

General Writing Resources Post (Collaborative)

Lay or Lie

MS Word Shortcuts Guide

Niel Gaiman Teaches the Art of Storytelling

Platonic Relationship Development

Passive Voice Advice

Publishing

On Punctuating Speech

Scene Transition

Sentence Ending Pointers

YA MacGuffins and Games, A Trope Analysis

Your Readers Don't Know - The Truth of the First 30 Pages

Weirdly Specific but Helpful Character Building Questions

The Writer's Sus Resources Post

The Writer's Workbook

WHUMP

The Anatomy of Kill Blows (Collaborative)

The Biology of Human Survival (Life and Death in Extreme Environments), by Claude A. Piantadosi

Whump Events (A linked Google doc by @whumpsday )

Whump Reference Books (A linked list created by @bump-of-whump )

Whump Resources (A resource post by @a-crumb-of-whump , how to start a whump blog, oc advice, advice on motivation and dealing with discouragement, and games

Iron Comb (Iron combs for processing wood/flax fibre used as a torture device in historical settings)

Mer Whump Bingo by @a-crumb-of-whump

The Whumpy Printing Press is Open for Submissions for Publication of Whumpy Novels!

WOUNDS, INJURIES, & TRAUMA

GSW Recovery - [A] [B] [C]

Malnutrition

Migraines

Passing out from pain

PTSD Dreams

Scar Tissue Info

Sleep Deprivation

Writing Traumatic Injuries Resources (Another resource post)

More Resources for Writing Injuries (Another resource post)

WEAPONS

Gun information

The Safety and Mechanism of a Bolt Action Rifle

Bolt Action Rifle Mechanism (Animated diagram)

Semiautomatic Rifle Mechanism (Animated diagram)

Pump Action Rifle Mechanism (Animated diagram)

CLOTHING

African Women's Fashion (Outfit examples video)

Lady's Clothes Guide

Men's Fashion Guide

Men's Suits Guide

Period Clothing References

Shirt types

Vintage Fashion Clips (Saved for scarf pin :))

MISC

African Hair Care and FAQ

Art Resources and References (Another resource post)

Creating a Chinese Name

Writing Deaf, Mute, or Blind Characters

Place Description Aid...?

Directional Hearing Underwater

Drawing Fat Simple

General Cane Guide

Ideas to Consider when Creating BIPOC Characters

POC Stock Photos

Wheelchair References for Art and Writing (features images)

Whump Community Directory (Tumblr blogs)

Wikipedia Monster Compilation Pages for People (Another resource post)

If there're any broken links, please let me know!

[pickingupmymercedes]

If these wings could fly - Lewis Hamilton

a/n: Tried something different this time and got a song as inspiration.

pairing: lewis hamilton x fem! f1 related! reader

song: Wings - Birdy (yeah, it's old, I know)

warnings: none, just fluff really

wordcount: + 1k

Sunlight comes creeping in, illuminates our skin We watch the day go by, stories of what we did It made me think of you, it made me think of you

You woke up confused and groggy in your window seat in the private plane that was taking you and a few other members of your team to the next leg of the season. Sunlight peaking from the poorly closed blind on your side, Lewis’ perfume strongly present around and his arms still in the back of your neck as you used his shoulders as pillow.

Everyone around was deep in conversation or working, no one really interested in how you and Lewis always seemed to look and act like a couple, although not really one - yet.

“Morning, sleeping beauty” his soft tone welcomed you, the happiness from the last day still very present in his voice.

“How long have I been out?” You breathed out, cracked and dry throat indicating you had been sleeping for a while

“Almost 5 hours, I think. It’s okay though, we saved you some food” He winked looking down at you still snuggled close to him.

“Urgh, day flights are the worst. They never end!” You dramatically put, yawning through the sentence and trying to reach your phone charging on the table in front of you.

“Specially when you party the whole night through huh?” Toto appeared at the back of your seat, ruffling your hair and giving Lewis’ shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“Please, keep it down, there’s a lot of static up here already” you almost whispered, index fingers squeezing your temple.

“You have no ideia how much noise you made, love” His laugh echoed as he pointed to your phone blipping away

“Please don’t tell me twitter’s blowing up with photos from last night ?!” Your question earning a few laughs from people around.

“None yet, you’re safe for now.” Lewis answered chuckling, loud enough just for you and Toto to hear, while gently guiding you back to your seat by your waist.

“It was nice seeing you have fun, really” Toto sincerely looked at you this time, earning a classic Lewis toothy smile in the process.

“Well, then you should start winning more often again” you pointed to Lewis, fully turning to him and smirking.

“We won that. And this time, hopefully, we’re back to how it was.” He confidently stated, squeezing your waist as you adjusted yourself back to lean on him, contemplating the last 24 hours.

Under a trillion stars, we danced on top of cars Took pictures of the stage, so far from where we are They made me think of you, they made me think of you    

No one believed it when Lewis got to that flag first, not even himself, coming on the radio to ask Bono what pace he needed to keep the gap from Verstappen, even when the fireworks had already gone off at the finish line. You could only remember jumping from your place on the garage and running as far as you could to get to where the cars would be parked, with a screaming team right behind you.

Lewis had never jumped faster from the cockpit, running to the mechanics still with his helmet on and almost making a repeat of 2019 with the barriers as you were making a bee line to get as close as you could. He probably first saw Toto, towering over the sea of people there to cheer him on, and then he found you and gosh were you glowing to him, even if in reality you had dried tear stains down your cheeks and a blush that covered almost your entire face.

He hugged you tightly and if it wasn’t for the reporter waiting for the interview, he wouldn’t have let go. As Toto grabbed on his helmet and congratulated him, you slipped a squeeze to his fingers when he looked back and gave you the full toothy smile that had your heart melting.

That night you dragged everyone from the team to an impromptu small party. There, with people excitedly celebrating one of the most important people of your life in what was also one of the hardest moments of your life, you felt as light and free as you hadn’t in a very long time.

You documented everything, photos left and right of how that one victory got everyone so amazed and pumped, just like in the past, making a mental note to actually share what you could with the millions of fans just as proud as you were of the work the team had done. And while Lewis made sure to talk to everyone, he would always find his way back to you, remaining glued to your hips until the early hours of the Monday you were all supposed to leave.

While dragging you back to your hotel room for a quick shower and breakfast you stopped him in front of the bathroom mirror, looking straight into his eyes, the alcohol left in you just about enough to get you to brave up and let out something you had been hammering in the back of your head since that final flag.

“Gosh, Niki would’ve been so, so proud of that.” He perked up wrapping his arms around you and giving a chaste kiss on your forehead.

“He have always been proud of you babe” His response clicked after a few seconds and made you bubble up.

“I meant…and I know I’m not making the most sense right now. But I meant he would’ve been proud of you, Lewis, just as I am, as Toto is.” You said it looking straight at him just to wonder off to the cold shower leaving him standing there.   

Lights go down, in the moment we're lost and found I just wanna be by your side if these wings could fly For the rest of our lives.

Getting to the next hotel for yet another race week almost felt like home after a few years of doing just that. You had developed a routine of sorts in the past years in the category. Whenever you got to the next country at night, you would go run the jet leg off, have a bath, relax, catch up on important emails and order something to eat.

The past months your routine also had accommodated Lewis’ presence, whether for a talk or to have dinner with, he would always be found around you. Mondays and Tuesdays were for you both to figure things out, no F1 talks you had agreed– a rule that was was tossed aside pretty quickly.

That Monday though, the spirits were still running high, and even after burning off his energy and you trying to relax, you two only wanted each other and the tension was something anyone could cut with a knife.

Yes, you two were joined at the hip for almost the four days of a GP, yes, people were starting to suspect the proximity had more than just friendship involved.

“Hey sorry to bother, I was wondering if you have the commercial numbers the board sent last Wednesday, I wanted to go through them.” You sent Toto a whatsapp voice message, not wanting to bother him with a call but hoping he would see it. Your phone ringing not a moment later.

“So… you two can be quick”

“What are you talking about?”

“Haven’t you two celebrated already?”

“Gez, Toto. He’s not even here and I was trying to catch up on some work”

“Okay. Just please, take care of whatever you two had today, I can’t go through 2 hours of meetings tomorrow with a cranky you.”

“I do not get cranky over that”

“Yes, you do. May I remind you of those months before you two…”

“No, you don’t need to remind me of anything, I got it, bye and please send the reports.” You hung up not even waiting to hear his response, but not fast enough to not hear his laughter on the other end.

When Lewis finally showed up, he followed your trails on the suite until he laid his eyes on you sitting on the sofa, papers scarred around and a computer on your leg. Your flushed cheeks as you took his flustered features in, revealing you were as eager for him as he had been since he got out of his car on Sunday.

“I swear, next time I’m not leaving for any party until I celebrate with you.” He almost whispered as he led you away from the mess and towards the bed. His strong scent engulfing you as he pulled you close and studied your features just millimeters away from his face.

“I would very much like that” You agreed, breaking the tension with a clash of lips, hands already all over his abdomen and biceps, grounding yourself in whatever skin you could find.

Later that night you woke up to an empty bed and a shadowy figure on the window, looking out at the sky. He only had his boxers on, braids out and a dreamy expression on the features you could see lightened by the moon.

“Penny for your thoughts” You sleepily murmured in his shoulders, leaving a kiss there and hugging him from behind, feeling his tensioned muscles relax as he took you in and turned you into his arms.

“Did I wake you?” He looked concerned as he asked and kissed your temple

“Felt your absence” You snuggled closer to him, bathing in his warmth

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything like Sunday. It’s been so long and everyone’s worked so hard for that” He let it out after a while, looking out into the city above as you watched him closely, holding him tighter – if that was even possible.

He let you led him back to bed, under the silky duvet he pulled you onto his chest, fingers massaging your scalp while you traced rounds shapes in his chest. You felt the vulnerability in his actions mirroring your own. 

“Niki once told me there’d be one race that I’d remember in horrific details. I always thought that was Brazil 21’, but it doesn’t even come close to what these past 3 days have been.” You broke the silence, looking up at him and finding his eyes fondly looking back at you.

“To be honest, all I remember is that there was only one person I wanted to celebrate that victory with” He grinned before saying, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear

“I love you, Lewis.” You softly said it, not for the first time ever though, but surely the first time you felt it so strongly and liberating   

“I know I’ve been dodging each and every feeling I have for you. But I don’t want to do it anymore, I want to scream to the world that I love you, and I want you to know that I’ve been in love with you for a while now.”  

[wonusite]

Fool For You

❝ We’re all fools when it comes to love, and the cute nerd in your calculus class has to learn this the hard way. Luckily, you’re there to help him through it. ❞

pairing: joshua hong x female reader

genre: college au, fwb au, smut, fluff

word count: 5.1k

warnings: nerd!shua, cheerleader!reader, josh is nothing more than a simp in denial, shua is also vv bad at hiding his feelings, mingyu is the captain of this ship, jealousy, pining, teasing, begging, cockwarming, oral sex (f receiving), riding, spanking, multiple creampies, unprotected sex, jealous sex, overstimulation

read part one

a/n: written due to my inability to get over this concept. minors dni!!!

Josh is almost too good at hiding his budding feelings for you. It’s funny how good he is at pretending that he doesn’t feel an inexplicable warmth in his chest when you sit next to him in calculus. It’s even funnier how he manages to convince you that he’s unaffected when you continuously go to the library just to spend time with him. And it’s fucking hilarious how he acts like he hasn’t seen the latest photos and videos you’ve uploaded when he knows full well that he has the post notifications on for all your socials.

Part of him knows that this facade he has going on is only a byproduct of his denial. After all, the feeling he gets in his chest every time he so much as thinks about you only becomes real if he acknowledges it. His unwillingness to admit his growing feelings is a defense mechanism of sorts because no one had ever made him feel the way you did.

It comforting to him that you actually like the more irritating parts of his personality. The cold and aloof attitude he displayed turned off a lot of people who would’ve otherwise been in his life. But you didn’t care about that because you liked every part of him.

Joshua tries not to think of all this as you’re literally bouncing on his cock, but it’s hard not to. Not with the way your head is thrown back in pleasure, pretty lips dropped open as even prettier moans spill from them. The way your captivating eyes are focused on his face when you come down from yet another orgasm has his cock throbbing wildly. It’s hard to not be overwhelmed with emotion when you direct that beautiful smile of yours at him.

A smile that’s meant for him and only him.

In an effort to focus on the pleasure and not the intensity of the feelings consuming his entire being, he starts to snap his cock into you more harshly. Your shaky moans and needy whimpers make him tighten his grip on your waist. Josh can’t stop a teasing smirk from lifting his lips when he feels your hot cunt start to spasm around his dick. Your arousal is dripping down to his balls and has a wet slapping sound filling his room. The carnal heat in his gut clouds his mind as he starts to guide you down on his dick to fuck you deeper.

“I– fuck.” You let out a choked moan, feeling Josh’s throbbing tip hit your sweet spot. “Gonna come again.”

Josh loves how fucked out you look, completely gone in the pleasure only he can give you. “Yeah? Come for me, pretty girl.”

You love it when he calls you that, and you’re pretty sure he knows it because he always calls you that when he wants you to come on his cock. Josh’s large hands smooth up your body to roughly palm your tits. A loud cry escapes you when he pinches and pulls your sensitive nipples. That’s all it takes for you to gush around his cock.

His hips don’t stop, chasing after his own high with a ferocious need. Josh’s large hands snake down your body and grab a handful of your ass to roughly pull you deeper onto his cock, the giant tip hitting deeper inside you than before. You can feel him throbbing inside you wildly as he starts bouncing you up and down his fat cock.

“Josh!” You cry out when he slams into your spongy spot with a particularly sharp thrust.

The loud cries and moans you’re letting out turn into pathetic mewls as he repeatedly slams over that spot again and again. Joshua watches your eyes roll to the back of your head, absolutely mesmerized. It’s an erotic sight that triggers his own orgasm. Thick ropes of cum spill inside you, filling you up to the brim. Your moans mix in with Josh’s as his seed slowly spills down to his balls.

For a moment, you two just hold on to each other. Josh softly rubs his cheek against your chest, not wanting to seperate from you. He loves the feeling of your nails gently running through his hair and grazing his scalp. It feels oddly intimate, yet he doesn’t stop you from doing it.

A sudden possessiveness overwhelms him, and before he realizes what he’s doing, he has you pinned underneath him, cock still fully sheathed inside you. The teasing grin you’re directing at him makes his dick throb in need.

“Still want more?” You ask through quiet pants.

“You know I’ll never get enough of you, baby.”

His smooth voice has your cunt squeezing his aching cock once again, velvety walls locking him in and refusing to let him go. Joshua lets out a low groan as he snakes an arm around your waist to pull you flush against his chest. “Fuck. Your greedy little pussy won’t let me go, babe.”

His hips press into yours, and you can only whimper when the fat tip of his leaking cock brushes against your sweet spot. Your eyes roll back as you push your hips up to meet his gentle thrusts. It makes Josh smile. You’re always so pliant and needy for him, always ready to take everything he gives you.

“Oh, fuck!” You moan wantonly as his thrusts turn sharp and rough.

His balls are clapping against your ass and your arousal is coating his entire pelvis—the wet slapping sound of sex filling his room. A carnal need suddenly consumes Josh, and he starts drilling into you at an unrelenting pace. Your choked moans and loud crises of his name has Josh’s chest burning with insatiable desire. It’s apparent in the rhythm he sets as he’s stretching you open on his cock.

You’re starting to lose yourself to the pleasure his big dick is bringing you, but you can still feel the way his arm releases your waist and trails down to your puffy cunt. Josh’s long fingers start rubbing quick circles on your sensitive clit, the delicious motion making you see stars.

“Your pussy was fucking made for me.”

He knows you’re too far gone to answer when all you can do is moan stupidly, eyes rolled all the way back as his fingers pinch and twist your puffy clit. Still, your hips are still twisting in time to meet his deep thrusts. Josh feels his heart start to race when your breathe out his name so desperately, hot walls squeezing the sensitive head of his cock when he slams against your sweet spot.

Right now he feels drunk, trying futilely to hold back the needy whines and whimpers on the tip on his tongue. He grips your hips and focuses on fucking his aching cock into your doughy count. Josh’s pace stutters when you mewl his name with something that comes dangerously close to affection.

Everything is almost too much for him—you are almost too much. He’s gotten better at fucking you and not letting too much of his emotions through, but fuck. You always made it so hard. Every time you blink up at him with your pretty eyes and cute pout he feels like you can see right through his stoic facade.

Your walls squeeze his cock, and he knows you’re close. He is too. “You...” he grunts, jaw clenching as he fucks into you. “Do you love m— this?”

Joshua stresses the last word, eyes bulging when he realizes what he almost asked you. Luckily, you were too fucked out to notice. He keeps pounding into you, wondering why his heart feels like it’s on the verge of exploding.

With a few more strokes, you two come at the same time, smashing your lips together to swallow each other’s moans. For now, Josh only focuses on the way you just melt against him, seeking a comforting embrace. He gives it to you like always, slowly easing himself out of you before gently rubbing along your spent body.

You blink back into reality when you feel a warm towel between your legs, gently and attentively cleaning you up. A soft sigh escapes you. If only you could lay in between your little nerd’s soft sheets forever.

“You don’t have to leave.” Josh is quick to say when you sit up and start getting dressed. He almost wants to hit himself for how awkwardly desperate he sounds.

You look back at him with a quiet giggle. “I know, but if I stay we’ll end up fucking all night and I won’t have any energy for practice tomorrow. The team’s still annoyed with me because I haven’t been landing my stunts like I usually do.”

Before you, Joshua didn’t believe cheerleading to be an actual sport. Shaking pompoms and chanting some cheesy cheer didn’t seem like something that required any actual athleticism, but as he got to know you, he realized that he had it all wrong. Tumbling and flying were nothing if not athletic. The proof was in your physical state. More often than not, you would suffer from muscle strains and ligament sprains.

“Cheer is a contact sport, Joshy.” You said casually as you iced your ankles one day. “Every time I land one of my stunts, I’m landing on five times my body weight. This sort of thing is bound to happen.”

It only made the feeling in his chest intensify after you casually dismissed the clear pain you were in. Since then, this lingering feeling always creeps up on him when you’re around. It’s the same feeling he has as he watches you gather your things. Even as you press a chaste kiss on his lips to say goodbye, the feeling doesn’t go away.

“What’s wrong, babe?” Josh groans with a small smirk. “You sound like you want something.”

You swallow the whimper at the edge of your throat and will yourself to come to your senses. Yes, you were becoming impatient, but this time you were determined to not beg. Somehow, you managed to let out a breathy scoff. “That’s funny because it feels like you want something.”

Josh doesn’t know when you made it a habit to cockwarm him every time you two study at his place, but he’s not complaining. The feeling of your tight cunt wrapped snugly against his cock is a feeling he’ll never get sick of. Plus, he absolutely loves it when you fall apart for him, so desperate and needy.

It’s sort of a game between you two now. Both of you want to see the other give in first and move. You always say it’s not fair that he rolls and pinches your clit to get you to grind your hips. He always points out it’s not fair of you to clench down on him knowing that the tightness of your cunt drives him crazy with need.

This time, however, you’re winning.

His thick cock is throbbing inside you wildly, and Josh keeps burying his face into your neck. The feather light kisses he was placing on the tender flesh at the beginning of your game have become harsher and more frequent.

“And if I do? Will you give it to me?”

Fuck.

“You’re creaming all over my cock, baby.” Josh’s lips brush against your cheek sinfully. “Making such a fucking mess. Be a good girl and move for me, hm?”

He’s goading you into moving your hips to fuck yourself on his cock, but you don’t relent, knowing he’s so close to snapping. “I don’t feel like being a good girl.”

Josh’s large hands leisurely wander up and down your body, rolling your hardened nipples between his warm fingers. “You’re so mean.”

You can only smirk as his hands settle on your hips. “I learned from the best.”

All it takes is you clenching down on him one more time for Josh to give in. The grip on your hips becomes bruised as he starts to thrust deeply into your dripping cunt. His thrusts are rough and sharp, not once stopping in his fast pace.

All he can think is how he’s going to make you gush on his cock all night. You did win, after all.

Josh can’t put a name on what you two have. To say it’s a friends with benefits relationship doesn’t really seem to fit. It’s not like you two are enemies, but to say that you're actual friends doesn’t seem right either. Sure, he’s grown significantly more fond of you since you took his virginity, but despite everything, he still doesn’t know how to label what you two have.

Maybe that’s why he freezes when Vernon asks if you two are dating.

The small table at the corner of the library suddenly goes uncomfortably silent. Vernon and Soonyoung exchange a look as Jeonghan watches, entirely amused, when Josh grows visibly flustered.

“No.” You say without looking up from your phone. “We just hang out sometimes.”

Your answer is accepted without much doubt, and soon enough the conversation continues as if the initial question was never asked. Jeonghan is the only one to notice his friend’s displeased frown. He wonders if Josh is aware of the face he’s making. Probably not.

It’s true that you and Josh aren‘t dating, but you didn’t have to be so hasty to confirm that fact to Vernon. You also didn’t have to sound and act so indifferent when the question came up. It probably shouldn’t bother him as much as it does, but he can’t help the bitterness that fills his mouth when he keeps thinking about your response. To reduce what’s going on between you two as hanging out was borderline insulting. Sure, it was mainly sex, but there was an underlying intimacy to this thing you guys had.

But clearly, you didn’t seem to think so.

And why should it matter to him if you didn’t see it the way he did?

So what if Josh knows what kind of foods you like? So what if he knows that you prefer to be the big spoon when you two cuddle? So what if he knows that you’re majoring in computer science despite your parents being against it? So what if he knows that you never wanted to be a cheerleader, but only did it to please your mother? So what if he knows that you’re more than just a pretty face like everyone thinks?

None of that means you two are together or will be in the future. And that’s fine. In fact, it’s perfectly fine and doesn’t bother Joshua at all.

He’s the one who insisted on keeping things between you two casual, anyway. It was only natural for you to act like your relationship was only physical.

When Jeonghan invites him to the football game on Friday night, Josh isn’t sure why he agrees to go. He’s never been interested in football, and he certainly wasn’t now. However, to be able to see you in your cheer uniform was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. The sight alone feels worth it to him.

That is, until he sees the paint on your cheek.

Joshua feels like his jaw could snap from how hard he’s clenching it. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows he shouldn’t be so angry. It’s not like you two were even dating. But still, how could you write Kim fucking Mingyu’s number on your cheek? Did the time you two spend together mean nothing to you?

“Can you make it any more obvious?” Jeonghan wonders with a smirk.

Finally, Josh manages to take his eyes off of you to look at his friend. “What are you talking about?”

“We can all tell you’re mad, but aren’t you the one who told Y/N that you just wanted to fuck on the DL with no strings?”

Joshua isn’t a violent guy, but the urge to throttle his friend has never been stronger. Technically, yes, he did say that to you at one point. But he also didn’t go around flirting with other girls despite there not being anything between you two that went beyond a physical relationship. Not like how you were flirting with every jock that came by to say hi to you. Especially that stupid Mingyu guy.

“I just think her behavior is so high school. Who still does the number on the cheek thing?” Josh’s sulky scowl deepens when he watches you laugh along to something Mingyu said.

“Maybe it is.” Jeonghan has to physically stop himself from cackling. “But so is yours.”

Josh can’t really say anything because it’s true. He was acting like a jealous teenager whose actions were being dictated by spite. Still, one thing was certain. As soon as the game was over and he took you back to his place, he was going to remind you that no one was capable of fucking you he did.

You don’t think much of Josh’s silence when you get back to his place. Well, that’s not exactly true. Part of you is excited because it seemed like your friend’s cliche plan was actually working. Ever since you got drunk and let it slip to Mingyu that you had feelings for Josh, he made it his personal mission to play matchmaker. You were too embarrassed to say that you guys were actually fucking, but the feelings seemed to be one-sided.

Mingyu’s plan was a bit simple minded since it all depended on a tale as old as time—jealousy. He seemed so sure that he planned everything from the paint on your cheek to the “flirting” that took place at the game. You had doubted his methods right until Josh tells you to wash that stupid paint off your face.

“Make me.”

Those two words are enough to make your sweet little nerd snap.

Part of you slightly regrets it, but the larger part doesn’t because you absolutely love it when he’s rough and mean. Just like he’s being now as you’re sitting on his lap with nothing but your panties on.

“You’re such a fucking brat.” Joshua growls. His fingers are gripping the satin material of your panties so they’re pulled tautly and tightly against the throbbing flesh of your wet cunt.

“You think you’re cute flirting with that dumbass football player?” His words are punctured by another harsh tug to your underwear.

You shake your head, unable to believe your idiot friend was actually right. “Juh-Josh!”

He pulls you closer and gently nips at your jaw while his other hand keeps pulling at your underwear. Josh is entirely captivated with the way your swollen lips swallow the damp fabric. He smiles wolfishly when you start to tremble against him. It’s not long after that you feel the coil in your stomach snap, moaning loudly as you gush all over Josh’s jean-clad thigh.

But he’s hardly done. Joshua grips your hips and starts grinding your clothed cunt against his leg. Your eyes roll to the back of your head as the overstimulation starts to become too much for you. Still, it’s not enough. It will never be enough until he splits you open on his cock. And he knows this, which is why he won’t give you what you want until he’s satisfied with your begging.

“Shua, please!” You whine pathetically. “Just fuck me already!”

This finally seems to be enough for him because soon a enough you find your face pressed against the mattress with Josh’s cock ramming into your sensitive cunt. A stinging swat comes down onto your arcing ass that’s already burning from the slaps he delivered to you earlier. It makes you moan out stupidly.

“What’s that?” His chuckle is cruel. “Did I already fuck you stupid?”

His hands are on your hips, forcing you back on to his cock roughly. The tip of his cock is slamming against your g-spot, and he groans when your walls squeeze his cock until you’re creaming on him for the second time.

Josh moans along with you as his cock keeps ravaging your tight little pussy. The euphoric feeling of his thick cock throbbing deep inside you with every languid stroke makes your creamy cunt squeeze him again as if it doesn’t want him to disconnect.

“Fuck, Y/N!” He moans as his hot cum spills inside you.

Another sharp strike connects with the globe of your ass. His large hand spread your cheeks as he roughly fucks his cum back into your sopping hole. Josh’s thrust abruptly slow, and for a second you think he’s done, but he only flips you over so his chest is pressed against yours.

A carnal heat clouds Josh’s mind when he sees your fucked out face gazing up at him. He starts fucking his cock back into your battered cunt.

“More.” You mewl, lifting you hips to meet his thrusts.

“That’s it, baby.” Josh growls as his cock plunges in and out of you, filling his room with a lewd squelching sound. “Beg for this fucking cock.”

The sharp buck of his strong hips clashing against your own forces your body to jolt upward at the rough contact. Josh fucks into your pussy as mercilessly as he can, desperate to have you think of him and only him.

All you can feel is his fat cock ramming into your insides, and you’re so fucking glad that you listened to Mingyu. “Don’t stop!”

“You’re squeezing me so tightly.” Josh sighs dreamily. “So perfect for me.”

“I-I’m gonna come.” You whimper as he starts pounding into you faster and harder than before.

His cock is so deep inside you, and you love every moment of it. You’ll never get enough.

“Mingyu can’t fuck you like this.” Josh suddenly growls as his pace reaches a new level of fast. “Only I can because this sweet cunt is all mine, right?”

You can only moan in response, eyes shutting tightly from the overwhelming amount of pleasure of Josh fucking into you. “All yours, baby. Only yours.”

Your words trigger both your orgasms, the only sound that can be heard in the room is his heavy balls slapping against your ass as he fills you with his sticky cum. That emotion from before settles in his chest as you cling to him, refusing to let go.

Josh presses a gentle kiss to your temple, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion.

“Stay here tonight.” His whisper is soft as his arms tighten around you. “Please.”

Your heart clenches after hearing how desperate and vulnerable Josh sounds. Maybe it’s wishful thinking or post-sex bliss, but it makes an inexplicable warmth spread throughout your body. You gently run your nails along the nape of his neck before softly caressing his hair. “Okay.” You agree in a whisper. “I’ll stay.”

It simultaneously relieves and frustrates Josh that you don’t seem to notice how much affection he actually has for you despite being wrapped up in each other’s arms. Fleetingly, he considers telling you about the feelings consuming him, but he ultimately decides against it.

There’s always next time, after all.

“—heard Mingyu is going to confess to Y/N.”

Josh nearly trips over his feet when he’s walking to his next class and he catches the last part of a stranger’s conversation. It’s crazy for him to stop the random guy and demand to know how he knew this information. It’s even crazier for him to ditch his class to go to the spot the stranger mentions you and Mingyu are at.

He doesn’t remember the last time he ran this much or this fast. His lungs are burning, but he can’t care about that right now. Not when that stupid jock has you all alone with the intention of asking you out.

There’s a terrible jerk in his chest when he sees you and Mingyu together outside the library. You two are talking casually, and Josh’s mind is clouded with a feeling he vaguely acknowledges as jealousy. He won’t allow Kim Mingyu to confess to you at such a sacred place. Our place, he angrily thinks.

“Y/N.” Joshua says as calmly as he can once he’s close enough. “What are you doing?”

It’s a question that throws you off because you specifically remember mentioning that you were going to work on a project with a friend. He had been chill about it, even going as far as to invite you over after his last class of the day was over. The real question is what was he doing? You’ve never known Josh to skip out on any classes, and you weren’t sure why he was choosing now of all moments to do so.

“Mingyu and I—”

“Were having a private discussion.” Mingyu cuts in with a smirk that makes you want to smack him. “Do you mind?”

You knew you should’ve never confided in him with the feelings you harbored for Josh, but it’s too late to pout about drunken mistakes. Now he was going to try to stir shit up, and by the look Josh was giving him, it was working.

“I do.” Joshua seethes. “I need to talk to my girlfriend about something.”

It was more than likely that you had the dumbest look on your face at that moment. You can’t seem to hear anything other than the loud thrumming of your heart. It’s fluttering so hard that you feel like it might fly out of your chest at any moment.

You’ve known Mingyu long enough to know what he’s thinking. Despite the fact that Josh probably couldn’t beat him in a fight, you know the look he’s giving Mingyu had him feeling a bit intimidated. And yet, your idiot friend still sees no reason to stop his antics.

“Really?” Mingyu says through a laugh. “That’s funny because Y/N never mentioned that you two are going out. Since when have you been her boyfriend?”

“Since she took my virginity!”

Mingyu’s smirk slowly fades as he looks between you two with his mouth dropped open. You, on the other hand, feel like your eyes can’t get any wider. Heat burns your face as you realize that instead of being embarrassed or flustered, Josh is glaring at your friend with a challenging look in his eye. He makes no attempt to backtrack from his words, and it’s actually kind of embarrassing that you’ve never found him hotter than you did at this moment.

“Oh… okay.” Mingyu murmurs sheepishly as he brings his hand to rub the back of his neck. “My fault, bro. I didn’t know.”

It’s almost funny how this giant football player gets so flustered at the mention of sex when you know he sleeps with some random at least once a week. You don’t get a chance to laugh because I’m the next second, Josh’s large hand is grabbing your smaller one and guiding you away from Mingyu.

The walk back to his apartment is silent and a bit tense, but you two don’t make a move to let go of each other’s hand.

Once you two are inside his room, Josh finally releases your hand and turns his shining eyes on you. There’s a thick tension between you two, but oddly enough, you don’t mind it. You usually never mind anything when it comes to Joshua Hong.

“So, when were you planning on telling me that we’ve been dating this entire time?” You wonder with a slight tilt of your head.

“I…” Josh feels his bravado from before slip away. “I didn’t plan to tell you about my feelings this way.”

He takes a deep breath and soldiers through the nerves eating away at him. “I like you, Y/N. More than I’ve ever liked anyone. It was stupid of me to try and deny it this entire time.”

It’s hard not to feel like you’re in the middle of a beautiful dream. To see Josh’s sparkling eyes looking at you with unadulterated affection makes the carnal heat in your mind snap. You grab the front of his shirt and pull him against you to press your lips against his.

The familiarity of your sweet lips on his puts Josh at ease. His movements are eager and tender, tongue grazing past your lips. Hearing you whimper makes him feel dazed and drunk.

When your hands brush against his growing bulge, Josh exhales shakily. Of course he has to give in to your unspoken request and starts to take off his clothes. It’s like second nature by this point, and before you know it, he has you spread out on his bed with his tongue shoved inside your hot cunt.

“I’ll never get tired of tasting this sweet pussy.” Josh groans, licking and sucking at your puffy clit.

Your nails graze his scalp as you shove his face deeper into your dripping cunt, desperate for release. “Feels so good, baby.”

The way you’re clenching around his tongue makes him smirk. You feel tight even on his tongue, and he can’t wait to feel you around his dick.

“You gonna come for me, pretty girl?” Josh asks with an impossibly wide smirk as your cunt sporadically clenches around his tongue. He spits on your cunt before lapping at it again, loving the loud moans you let out.

He doesn’t stop his movements until you come on his tongue. Like a starved man, he laps up every last drop of your release. Josh sits up, the remnants of your arousal covering his chin. The sight is so hot that you push him on his back and climb on top of him. You grip his cock before fully sinking down on it with a guttural moan.

“Fuck.” Josh whimpers.

You start to bounce on top of him, moaning wantonly as you feel the tip hit a spot inside you that has you seeing stars. Joshua grips your lower back and rolls you into him to help you ride his cock. His teeth gently graze one of your nipples before he takes it in his mouth. The way he licks and nips at it makes your cunt clench down on his aching cock tighter. He loves how you’re squeezing him.

“Fucking love your cock!” You moan as you start to roughly buck your hips into his.

Joshua releases your nipple with a pop and focuses on making you come again. He angles his hips just right so the fat tip of his dick slams against your cervix as he starts to fuck up into you. The action is repeated until you’re creaming around his cock. That’s all it takes for him to shoot ropes and ropes of hot cum inside your sensitive cunt.

“I’ll never get enough of you.” He says as he gently pants into your neck.

You smirk at him, as his dick twitches inside you. “Prove it.”

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[mookymilksims]

ULTIMATE Realistic Family Gameplay Guide

Hello, everyone. I ran a poll on my channel for you all to decide on which realism guide you'd like to see next and Family Gameplay won. While I'm aware there are hundreds of family gameplay guides out there, and you'll probably have most of these mods already installed, what I think I can offer different are fixes to the EA code, and expansions on gameplay mechanics already included in the game, as well as a masterlist that has been extensively playtested for the last 6-7 years (still testing the newer mods though!). These mods have been run through Delphy's Dashboard, and have even caught conflicts and corrected that Delphy's couldn't catch.

We will break this guide down in simpler sections.

Children can series.

XML's, Tweaks, Tunings (Non-scripts). Special section for fixes.

Scripts and scripted objects.

This guide is also aimed at overall family play. I do not just think of new interactions for babies, toddlers, children, and teens. I also consider the parents. I've included mods for parents in different roleplay scenarios, as well as, single adults looking to create a family, so we will focus on some mods that can promote the family before the family is made.

I will also included a personal recommended list of lots you'd want to include in any world you play in for an ultimate family play experience.

Now that that's out of the way:

This can be followed alongside the youtube guide, we've got a lot of mods to get through so let's jump straight into it.

Children Can Series:

We will start with the most intricate install process. There are many children can mods. And many mods that conflict with each other. I caught all of them through Delphy's Dashboard, so you will only install the mods highlighted in this guide for the most optimal and conflict free experience. These mods are self explanatory but I'm going to explain why you want them at the end of this section.

CamKitty - Children can werewolf hunt.

kls77 - children can repair, tinker, and upgrade.

kls77 - children can time travel.

Bluegentsu - Children can use fortune cookie maker

Jonha - Children can use urinals.

Kap Children can series:

ONLY DOWNLOAD THESE MODS FOR COMPATIBILITY

can call services can check skills can cut and trans gems and ingots can do laundry can get mail can make nectar can read skillbook music can use sketchbook

OEM Children can series:

ONLY DOWNLOAD THESE MODS FOR COMPATIBILITY

can air guitar can chess can conjure apple no auto can feed cowplant (only if you have store cow plant) can hack can magic mirror can mermaid eat can microwave can neat trait clean house can photos-phonesmart can post forum can practice speech mirror can practice speech vanity dresser can solve hard problems

All of these mods enable features already in the game that children were unable to do. Each of these small mods brings back playability with children in very big ways. This also makes children much more independent so you won't always need an adult or teen around to take care of them. For example, children can now order pizza on the phone, or microwave food, instead of needing adults to always cook for them. You can roleplay more chores with children by allowing them to do laundry, this can also be roleplayed in a scenario where a parent isn't very consistent and the child has to be. This could create amazing stories for your gameplay. Without these mods, playing with children feels so much more restrictive. They feel like cute dolls you just send to school and forget about for a couple of hours. Allowing them more agency and free will for my gameplay allowed me to immerse myself more in their child years.

We are now going to focus on XML's, tweaks, and Tunings. These are all non scripts. This is also where I will include fixes. These are very lightweight mods that change what is already in the game and do not create gameplay lag.

Adoption Costs 5 k - I made adoption more expansive because I wanted to be able to feel this decision in game. Adoption isn't neccassarily free in real life. Between the paperwork, meetings, travel, and transitioning the children into your life this can obviously be very expensive. So this mod helps me roleplay this aspect of real life.

Arcade claw machine tweaks - Family fun center version. Arcades are extremely important for my family playthrough's, as it's one of the lots where I can put plenty of interactive objects for all ages. Including a little playpen for toddlers, that won't be out of place. This can also double as a traditional birthday party lot, with closed off rooms. From time to time I like to bring my families to these lots when I want them all to get out of the house together. So with this mod, it tweaks the prizes you can win from the claw machines, increasing your chances of winning a ton more stuff.

BlueGentsu

5% chance of teen mood swings - Makes the mood swings feel a lot more impactful when they happen instead of every other day. This is especially helpful for those who play on longer lifespans.

Skates - all enabled for pregnancy - does just as it says, pregnant sims should be allowed to have a little more fun.

No blowhorns noisemakers at Age ups - It's just annoying and buggy, so removing it altogether optimizes age transitions. This also makes the event seem a bit more realistic, while everyone just cheers and laughs instead.

Toddler's can turn off stereo - Combined with my NRAAS GoHere settings, which allows for inactive daycares to be possible, sometimes when a daycare staff puts your sims down to sleep, they won't turn off the stereo so you as the toddler will have to autonomously do it so they can peacefully take their nap.

Boarding school is expensive - Again, this is so the decision feels a lot more impactful in game. This can also be roleplayed as sending your child to private school when in a wealthy family, so the prices also make more sense for this.

Maid Costs 200 - As the title says maids will be slightly more expensive, this adds up everyday, and is for the purpose of this decision feeling more impactful. It didn't make sense for my poorer families to be able to afford a maid so this is a mod catered more towards upper middle class to wealthy families. I also combine maids with a butler as well, to give a more regal feel to the wealth your sims have obtained.

No Graduation - This is optional, if you use UC mod. This eliminates the graduation ceremony altogether, for those like myself who like to roleplay this event in game instead. By simply throwing a party on a fancy lot with formal attire.

Not just teens can prank call - Just made more sense to have this option available for everyone.

Student Services Booth mod unlocked - This can be used on High school lots as well. Especially when you turn on Summer Vacations, and send kids back to school the first day of Fall. Also, for roleplay Uni scouting events, so sim families can have a more immersive experience of browsing possible universities sims can be sent to.

More Festival Ticket Rewards - BG, SN, UNI version. Just like the claw machine this adds more rewards to win on festival lots. Makes working for the tickets more impactful.

No Auto tell ghost stories - This interaction has always annoyed me as it happens anywhere at any time. I like to plan activities almost like an itinerary when sending my sims to do longer events like vacations or simple camping trips in their homeworld. So specifically for camping, telling a ghost story with the family is a very fun activity to do at night before everyone goes to sleep around a campfire. It is where this interaction makes the most sense for me to use and leaves me excited to actually use it.

Studying is easier - I always thought the study rates of performance were super unbalanced. As I don't have sims study often when in Unni unless it makes sense for their character. And so this leaves an incentive to actually study during their free time outside of class as it brings more of a reward when it is done. However, the default rates of studying was too slow and easily took up all of my sims days. So I wanted to be able to study and be rewarded for that, while also having more time in my sims days to do things. So now I can study less often, throughout the week without the stress. I am including this in the family gameplay guide because your teens can actually study together in your homeworld which doesn't do anything for their school performance but does a lot of roleplaying study groups, since I have a homework mod that only takes 15 minutes to complete.

TwoFT Mama -

Auto Potty Training - does just as it says, this mostly helps townies, but for active households to do this on their own leaves you as the player feeling more immersed.

Better grades - Lowers the grade requirements making school a little easier. This is so while playing with UC it leaves teens and children more time to interact with each other outside of working on interactive objects.

Faster homework minutes - Reduces homework times to 15 minutes, saves up much more time in my child and teen sims days.

Fixes:

This is a smaller section for the non scripts, where I consider these mods to be complete fixes to existing EA gameplay that all the patch updates missed.

Auto Romance YA-Elder Propose going steady - This is a lightweight alternative to the NPC Romance script mod by YolkSims. While the mod was completely rebuilt from the ground up to be much more optimized, I went on a journey to find replacements to my current scripts folder that delivered what I was looking for. I found this mod. While this can go all the way up into Getting divorced. I stopped at going steady because with the Supreme AI mod sims can autonomously break up if they aren't on the best terms. This may also include divorcing, but so far it hasn't been too intrusive. Combined with the simler90 mod which includes attraction fixes, this makes romance a lot more fluid, performance friendly, autonomous, chaotic, but also predictable, aids in roleplaying, and is overall a great fix for townies and creating families with active households.

Read to sleep fix - A patch broke this interaction, so Danjaley fixes it. Without realizing it, you have another immersive gameplay mechanic for toddlers in the game. This interaction is very cute and I wouldn't believe it wasn't a mod, so I'm very happy this interaction was fixed.

Midlife Crisis Always - Adult life stages can be quite boring and monotonous. I play lifespans so long that when this event happens it's like a milestone for me. I think of it as a mini game, and try to fix everything that happens afterwards once my sim comes to their senses.

MissPat Better Playdates - Just as you may have saw in my Supreme AI playtest video, Townies will autonomously call and ask for playdates if both families have children and younger in their household. This was an EA feature, but it also got broken. This makes interacting with other families more immersive, and making children and toddlers friends much more realistic and natural in the game. For those who like to roleplay life long best friends in the game, especially.

TwoFtMama

Birthday Cakes don't catch fire - These fires are annoying and I use other mods that can cause chaotic fires randomly but REASONABLY in game.

No Curfew period - This is the only curfew remover mod that doesn't break changing clothes and dresser interactions in my game. I always thought the curfew mechanic in the game was a bit too much. Police officers wouldn't know where every single child or teen was at in the world. And sometimes, I like to take my teen and child sims out late for family events, teens on late dates, etc. With curfews enabled, police would still arrest them and bring them home, even though the parents were with them, then would have to wait for the parent to get all the way back home just to yell at them for being out late. This obviously made no sense. Combined with a punishment scripts mod, I can user direct punishments for things like this instead for a much more roleplaying and immersive experience.

Teens can take unpaid days off - This mod also made more sense and should've been included in EA features. Teens call off from work, and quite often might I add. So it helps me roleplay a more realistic teen lifestyle in game.

Now for the Final section we are going to focus on Scripts. Scripts typically do not conflict with each other but for this list some of them did. The compatibility patches and versions have been included so you don't have to worry. This is where most of you will probably already have these mods, but hopefully I introduce you to some bangers you never heard of before.

We are going to go by creator and then from A-Z for the misc scripts.

Arsil

Do Homework With - Adds the ability to do your homework with other sims the same age as your children and teens. This can make study groups more immersive, as getting homework done together will actually improve school performance the next day, but can be doubled with the UNI study together interaction the roleplay a longer study session period. These can be done in the home or the Library, which allows me to get more usage out of my Library lots and make a Kid/Teen section which is always fun.

Toddler Extra Activities - Adds a bunch of cute new interactions that toddlers can do like playing in puddles, mud, sand, eating snow, dancing, and even drawing on the walls if they have crayons in their inventory.

Arsil Futons - This is for more eastern themed family plays, but you can alternatively use these if you have a poor sim in the big city who can't even afford a bed. I typically transmogrify deco beds on the floor into this script object in game, you get a lot of creative and really fun gameplay out of this. But I wanted to toss this in here for my eastern simmers, if you don't already know about this, or you'd like to play an Asian household and make your gameplay a little more realistic. I'm definitely excited to rebuild my Korean themed Uni world I had before with these beds!

Arsil Napping Mats - These work exactly like the futons except for toddlers. It's honestly so cute. Outside of the crib and Olomaya's toddler beds, this is just another super cute way for Toddler's to fall asleep. The crib always seemed way too overbearing, and for those who roleplay toddlers aging but not yet into children, these other various options would serve you a lot better. Now for these mats specifically, I typically like using them in my inactive Daycare lots, but from time to time I'll use them in my active household's living rooms or play room, just in case I don't always feel like bringing the Toddler to another floor to fall asleep.

Arsil Low Dinner Table - Another really awesome mod for those who want to be able to roleplay better with eastern households. I always have so much fun with these tables and chairs, I've even converted some myself. One of my favorite general things to do is set the chair up in front of a TV and direct my sims to play video games. So they will be sitting on the floor and playing video games and it always looks super cute, so much nostalgia!

Arsil Limbo Mod - For the same reason I removed the autonomous ghost telling interaction, is why I use this limbo mod. Another activity for sims to do at various different parties. It's one of my favorite little events to host during a birthday party. It's seriously so cute!

FloTheory

Pay For This - Adds a mechanic where every time you change your baby and toddler diapers and give them a bottle of milk you will be charged 5 simoleons. It's such an awesome addition because when you think about it, diapers and milk should add up in real life. However, combined with the other mods in this guide, if you change their diapers and give them a bath using the store object, or give them a bath using The Sweet Simmer's mod, you won't pay for anything then. Which makes sense, sometimes you can roleplay already having diapers in supply. As well as Olomaya's toddler snacks and meals, you would shop for groceries and make the toddler whatever you have available in your fridge, but actually feeding the child those meals won't cost 5 simoleans because you already paid for the ingredients. So this interaction fixes the lack of realism with EA's diaper and bottle interaction. I find myself using all 3 mods at random, and it's always so fun.

Wedding Inactives - Adds the ability to have two sims in a relationship that your sims are friends with, to get engaged, and you can set their wedding party as well. This can give romantic stories with townies more user control. Since we are using tuning mods to make romance more autonomous, and stopped at going steady, eventually SP will push those sims to get married, but you can not only speed things up whenever you'd like, but you can also attend their wedding in the same way they attended yours! This gives the user another way to experience going to a party instead of hosting one like LN introduced. Idk about you guys but I love also feeling like a townie/NPC sometimes, it immerses me much further into my gameplay!

Weight Gain - Adds a random percentage of weight gain for pregnant sims during and after they give birth. Women's bodies are absolutley beautiful especially after giving birth, I always hear about those mommy curves that finally come in for so many women, while you can choose to go to the gym and work this mommy weight off, I imagine myself keeping it probably for most of my playthrough's. It's just always made sense that this should happen, our bodies can change forever after giving birth and so I'd like to roleplay that kind of wholesome realism in game, too.

GameFreak

Advice interaction - Adds a new social interaction with custom moodlets when you can ask for and give advice. There are several different kinds of advice you can give, with many random prompts, and a reasonably timed moodlet that you'll get after the interaction. While this can be applied to general gameplay mods, I'm including this in the family gameplay because there are just way too many roleplay oppurtunities you can have with this one. Siblings or parents giving romantic, career, etc advice. Friends, lovers, maybe a lover asking for romantic advice on how to sweep your sim off their feet? It adds a lot more roleplaying elements that can really help you the player put a story together. I've always had a gameplay style where I generally know what I'd like to happen but I go with the gameplay and can change the plot at will, so the gameplay has to reflect many more possibilities.

Smartphone Dating - Is a smaller mod that just adds the dating app from the computer onto your phone. I personally love to roleplay like this is Tinder for my sims. I always felt the dating app should also be available on sims phones like in real life, and it gives us some things to do when out and about or bored at home!

JunJay

Everyone Clip coupons - This, again, should've been available in the game already, it can be quite fun to shop smarter, even if you aren't poor per say but money is getting kind of tight. I know large families that do pretty well still love using coupons so I've included this mod.

Online Center - Adds a brand new scripting interaction to the PC which makes so much more sense. You can shop online for groceries, books, pets, relics, bots, consignment, potions, etc. You can check weekly events, which means you can disable the newspaper and still get those benefits. Read E-sim news. And probably my favorite, there is a new Simbook (Facebook) feature! Your sim will basically scan their timeline and comment on other townies simbook's, and you'll actually get slight relationship increases with random sims you already know, and you can even meet sims you haven't met already through this feature as well.

Study Skills Online - Adds another interaction to the online center where you can study any and all skills. Instead of having to go out and buy the things you can study them for free right from your pc at home. I typically use this interaction for my teen sims to improve their basic school skills as an extra layer of work for them to do for school. Outside of studying, creating books titled their class projects and etc.

Lizcandor

Potty Training - Adds a new interaction for toddlers to play in the toilet and use it instead of always using their potty training potty.

Independence GoHere Compatible - Adds the ability for toddler's to use stairs! Always exciting! But you'll have to keep an eye on those little rascals a bit more, which is always more realistic!

Mintbeehry

Mint Makeup - Adds a new interaction for children and toddler's to play with makeup. And some very silly makeup masks that will go over the kid's face when done. I used to play with my mom's makeup all the time so it brings back memories for me, I think it's a super cute interaction for you to experience with your sims families!

Fidget Spinner - Adds an interactive fidget spinner object that can go into your sims inventory and taken out and be played with for a couple seconds. I think these are super cute for kids to win at festivals and arcade lots so I included it as it can be combined with savvier seller mod to actually shop for it on these lots.

MonocoDoll

Remove Shoes - Another really great eastern culture gameplay mechanic or just for your more cleanly families with a mud room. Either way, you'll have plenty of fun with this mod installed for realism.

Government assistance - Adds just what it states for your sims. EBT, health insurance, Child support. It's super realistic and adds so much more depth and mechanic to your gameplay. You'll actually be able to roleplay your poor families without having to get creative. Make a side chick a baby mama to a wealthy sim who cheated on his wife, etc. Tell some crazy stories, this mod will certainly help you with all of those scenarios.

Olomaya

Hang out, Children and teens - Adds an interaction where children and teens sims will sit down on the ground and talk, laugh, etc. It increases their relationships, and can be quite a large group. I used to have the all ages version, but I think seeing teens and kids sit on the floor faired out much better in my gameplay than seeing adults. Pick which ever version you'd like, though.

Toddler Bed - Adds a functional single bed for toddlers to the game! I've planned to convert many sims 4 toddlers beds using this scripted object so we have some more variety, but for now the options available for it are so adorable. It's got one bug, where you can only enter the bed from the left side I believe, but other than that it's a much needed mod for more realism, especially for those toddlers that just turn 3 and 4 in your game.

Activity Table - Adds a crafting option, and serve snack option to the activity table. The crafting increases the painting skills but uses glitter as a prop instead. For toddler's and children, so they can both play and eat snacks at the table!

Coloring Book - Adds functional coloring books that are portable!

Smoking - Fixes Cmoney's smoking mod, optimizes the scripts, fixes the animations, adds a sitting animation, moodlets work much better, adds new custom moodlets. Also adds a vape. But most excited, this adds the ability for teens to buy fake ID's for tobacco products. I also use the fake ID's to roleplay my teen sims getting into bars and clubs. As they can actually order from the bar, I like to imagine they were able to slip passed security.

Student council - Adds a really fun almost mini-game interaction to a new student council option for teens in high school. And a new interactive board. It may not be everyone's flavor but it makes highschools a little more interactive outside of UC. See also PheobeJay's cheerleading mod for another interactive mechanic for teens and YA in UNI!

The Sweet Simmer

This is where most of you probably have these mods, so let's just do a basic checklist of all the mods you do or don't have.

Animation World

Children Can care for their little siblings

Family Kiss

Biggest Little Mod for Toddlers

Children and Toddlers can follow

Toys Are More Fun

Peek-A-Boo and Hug Toddlers

Toddlers can ride rocking rider

Replaced child hug

Toddlers can pick up easter eggs

Toddlers can sit on couches and chairs

Toddler can ask for things

Toddlers can catch butterflies and pick flowers

Outdoor activities for Toddlers

Toddlers can sit on sims laps

Toddlers can learn to walk alone

More Baby Interactions

More Toddler Interactions

Functional Baby Carrier

Pick Up Toddler Fixes

More Pregnancy Interactions

So obviously all of these mods MASSIVELY Overhaul family gameplay with babies, toddlers, and children in the game. Not only does it fix EA mechanics, but it also compliments and expands existing mechanics, and then adds even more. You'll probably never go back to regular family gameplay again after these mods. You might only have a couple so consider getting all of these mods listed above!

Twinsimming

Acne Mod - Adds acne to the game, and can randomly have break outs. This suits this theme mods list as puberty can be quite strange. This also effects adults though, and adults still get acne. I mean not me really but y'all be easy.

Dirty Laundry - Again, I think cleaning and have a family just goes hand in hand. This mod adds more custom moodlets the longer you go without washing your clothes. It's how it should've been in the game, to really incentivize you to get that laundry done.

Growing Pains - Is a great addition to family play. Whenever anything significant sad or angry happens to children and teens they will go through a time in their life that will deeply affect them (almost traumatize them in a way). Divorce and breakups, etc. It makes what story you tell with those sims more impactful on their lives.

New Scholarships - Adds new scholarships to the game, I also consider UNI to be an integrated part of Family life in the Sims 3. I love going off to Uni with my sims I watched grow up since birth. This mod just adds more ways they could get in to those Universities.

Tooth Fairy - Is a cute little mod that adds a tooth losing mechanic, it feels like it always should've been there. With custom moodlets that will make you know your kid sim is growing up.

Now we are going to move onto misc Family gameplay mods, these are from various creators where I don't have more than one of their mods installed!

All Adults carry - This is a mod that allows all adults to carry children. It was originally a feature in the sims 3 with the firefighter career, but Puddingface made it possible for all adults to pick up and carry kids. This adds another roleplay element, as sometimes I like to direct my parents to carry their rowdy kids to bed if they aren't listening and staying asleep.

Clean House for Everyone - This mod just makes the ability to clean the house for everyone. Originally this mechanic was only avilable for neat sims, but I find I have neat sims without the trait, and slobby sims who eventually wake up and want to get their house together. So it's a pretty convenient mod. The sims will autonomously be directed to every dirty object in the lot and clean it all up. This is pretty useful for those larger family homes who can't afford a maid or a butler or can, and you don't want to sacrifice a trait slot just to be able to clean your house.

Cherry Toddler interactions - This is another script mod that adds some pretty fun interactions into the game that combined with all the other scripted toddler interactions makes the game an abundance of choices you can do more with toddlers. Things like talking with another toddler, exploring around, having a bottle to themselves, and even eating pet food from their bowl.

Ferris Wheel - This adds a new scripted object ferris wheel, you can actually ride it. Combined with all the other store content geared towards festival lots (roller coaster, carousel) this is another really fun object for your family's to go crazy on in game. It adds a custom moodlet once you've finished and it's super cute.

Icarus Scolding - This adds a new scripted mechanic where you can user direct punishments to your child and teen sims now. This is what I meant earlier with the removal of the curfew mod. If you still want to catch your teens sneaking out it can actually make more sense. Now you can do all sorts of things for your stories and gameplay. Kid didn't clean up their room like you asked? Send them to the wall. Not doing their homework? Ground them from all electronics. You get it.

Lyralei Journal - Not quite like the other journal mod, your sims won't actually write anything to publish like with buzz's notebook mod. But they will get custom moodlets after writing a passage. I like to roleplay this as a diary for my sims and also sometimes extra homework for other classes they take. You'll get random whimsical prompts after they finish writing and you can only imagine what triggered that response from your sims (it's random so get creative). You can also hide the journal, and a new interaction where a sim can ask what you wrote. It's very cute and certainly worth the install.

Fairy Tale Books - adds more fairytale books to the game. Classic ones from real life. They are classified as children's books so you can read them to your kids at night. Makes a more relatable childhood experience for us simmers out there!

Mingos Option b - This adds basically an abortion pill to the game. You take it after suspecting your sim of being pregnant. While you can get an abortion for the enhanced hospitals mod this mod adds a CVS like experience where you can buy the pills from the grocery stores yourself or pretending you got a prescription to terminate a pregnancy. So it makes 2 ways you can get an abortion in game. I'm aware that some more mods that will eventually do this are currently being developed for the game, so this one might not stay in my mods folder after extensively reading through those future mods if or when it includes them. But for now, I think it's a great realistic addition for your gameplay.

Nona Breastfeed Baby - Adds the ability to breastfeed the baby. That's all. It's really cute and realistic, it's an older mod so you might not have heard of it.

I know I've already included a Lyralei mod but the Randomizer mod is a big game changer that shouldn't be ignored. It adds way too much random EA prompt mechanics that actually impact your gameplay and story. I've got all the modules. Things like combatting rumors. Giving Advice. Getting Sick. Power and water outages. Work and School related triggers and many many more.

Zoeoe Buzzler Scribbling Pad Fixed - This is an essential fix and script optimization to this older and most adored scribbling pad mod. This works like typing/writing on the pc except you'll write in the journal and it's portable so you can do it from anywhere. I love having my working and school sims get the most use out of this. You can also use this to replace the writing pc interaction if you're playing in an older time period that didn't have computers.

Ok! Awesome! So we got through all the family gameplay mods! Now when you stick around to the end of the video I can showcase to you what all of these mods combined are going to look like in your game! We won't get through everything because there are simply WAY too many scenarios to show and we would be here all day. So I'm just going to show you how a general gameplay session would go instead!

And just as promised I'm going to recommend you a list of lots you're going to want to have in any world to get the most out of your family gameplay!

The EP's we can combine in this Theme are Seasons, UNI (although this will be in another world entirely so don't worry about this one too much), Generations, Pets, Island Paradise, and Late Night. This is the ultimate pack arsenal combined that gives you so many more features and interaction for your Family gameplay. You do not have to disable all of the other packs, you're simply going to focus on the content and lots given by these EP's in the world you chose to play your family in. Also consider adding all of the premium store content you don't need the full sets, just the functional objects.

Arcade lot - For family events and date nights. Friends meetups.

1 Dive bar - for singles to meet and date nights. Friends meetups.

1 Sports bar - for guys nights or date nights. Bachelor parties. Friends meetups.

1 Dance club - for singles and date nights and girls nights. Bachelorette parties. Friends meetups.

1 Gym - Consider adding a playpen to a toddler/child care section for those busy parents. Friends meetups.

1 Library - Consider adding a toddler playpen section, a child and teen section for homework, and a computer lab. Friends meetups.

1 church - This can double as your opened Masoleum RH, and a pretty place to get married. Friends meetups.

1 functional Movie Theater - Does not need the Theater RH rug. Use the premium store content. For family events and date nights. Friends meetups.

1 Consignment store - With savvier seller objects to buy cc deco and furniture. I use this to roleplay changing around my bedrooms for when my sims age up. I don't put everything I have in the store obviously, but I do buy some things to include in the build.

1 Bistro - Open up the RH and use Ani's Business as Unusual set. For singles, family events, and date nights. Friends meetups.

1 Diner - Same as above, more afforable and relaxed eaterie. You don't have to open up every RH, but you should focus on the ones your active family will be working in and going to school. So for schools, that would be 1 elementary and 1 high school.

1 outdoor picnic/camping lot - For in home vacations, family events, and date nights. Friends meetups.

1-4 festival lot - Could be broken up into several throughout your town, one for each season. This makes these lots more optimized and you can decorate more cc into these seasonal themed lots without worrying about overloading the lot and crashing during season transitions. For family events, singles, date nights. Friends meetups.

1 Pool lot - For everyone, and parties.

1 Fancy banquet lot - Can double as an exclusive lounge, for wealthy family events and fancy parties, can also add casino objects.

1 big park - with a playground.

1 small park - with another playground and cat and dog park.

1 pet store - using store content.

1 pet clinic - Using ATS3 pet clinic set, Pet Vet career, and a second hospital RH combined with Pet diseases mod to make the lot functional, and also adding UC.

1 art gallery - consider adding an easel room for art class, a mini winery (for paint and sip date nights), and a savvier seller gift shop, to gift to your date or friends or for yourself.

1 Fishing spot, with rentable IP boats - For those fishing trips you'll take with your kids and make memories. You can also add this lot to your vacation worlds instead.

1 CoffeeHouse or Java Hut - For singles, Friends, dates during the day. Teens and parents.

1 Laundromat - For families without the laundry objects in their home.

1 Opened up Spa - With store and script objects combined for a more luxorious experience and extra custom moodlets.

[theswordwizard]

ai art: both sides

I think a lot of non-artists are also just really and truly not understanding the big picture. I personally could not care less about that cat image, it was fun, whatever, but you are only producing those kinds of images in the sense that an art director "produces" whatever art they are in charge of. They are telling another artist what to do, even guiding them, but they are not considered the artist themselves. Artists who are creating their own art, who are trying to survive off of their work (many of whom have some form of disability, as art is easy to do while sitting down, etc), who are already in the middle of fighting to not just be tossed aside for a product which doesn't even produce the results it claims, are reacting negatively because they are seeing that in parallel with tabling spaces taken up with people presenting generated art as their own illustration, and game devs/producers using it as a way to explicitly avoid paying people for work, while using something that was trained on their work.

"Why do people react so strongly to things possibly being AI art?" If you want to keep it out of the courts, then public opinion matters all the more. It's about a party line that is easily communicable. Most artists are going to be strongly anti-AI because that's the best way to protect themselves than trying to "open a discussion" about it. It's like nurse scabs. We can argue back and forth all day about the intricacies of scabbing for important jobs, but at the end of the day the party line will generally be "scabbing is bad," "we don't like scabs," "scabbing harms workers."

People are trying to compare people getting mad about it to people getting mad about Duchamp's fountain, which just lets me know about their level of art education, and the level of which they like to talk out their ass.

Duchamp's fountain isn't a major point in art history because of the object itself, its because of the STATEMENT. It is because of the placement of the object IN THE GALLERY. It is the equivalent of a political pamphlet, but summed up in a single object that incites discussion around his political statement. It isn't about the object it is about the CONCEPT. We can literally call anything we want "art" if we dedicate ourselves to reframing it and treating it as such, it's just that most non-artists don't even care. They want the label of being an artist without even putting in an effort to. It's like if I wanted to be called a photographer and I wanted people to treat me as such, and so I just made a portfolio of pictures I took off of Pinterest or even a stock photo site, because I've decided that it's the photos I would WANT to take, and thus I can just act like they have anything to do with me.

There have been arguments over much more "similar" things for a long time too. Since the 90s Richard Prince has been taking people's instagram photos, making slight tweaks to avoid copyright, and then printing them large scale and selling them for tens of thousands of dollars. Technically legal, kinda shitty, as he does it without even contacting the (plenty of times, women) original posters. And that's just with selfies people have taken! But I don't see people mentioning that because a lot of people don't like him, and most people arguing to legitimize AI art to be uncontested don't actually care that much about contemporary art. They have zero real interest in being an artist and talking about art to that degree, to have those discussions in a way that isn't validating themselves. Duchamp's fountain in a gallery incites discussion because galleries are places of art discussion. If someone brought a crate of mechanically woven baskets (that they bought from amazon) to a craft fair, people are going to be rightly pissed off. It's about context.

It's also, in my opinion, a similar discussion to the one that was big on twitter not too long ago, where people argued that artists weren't obligated to be able to draw non-white and/or disabled people. Which, sure, but you probably aren't that good of an artist if you don't know how to. And someone going through a portfolio of exclusively white people might go "huh, only white people. interesting." (I even want to include a gotcha here! If an artist has a portfolio of white people, and they have a section talking about their focus being painting their family tree in like, northern Ireland, it's gonna be a totally different story. why, you ask? because there is an underlying concept other than "wow this artist really only likes white people." this is part of the reading comprehension test that will follow.)

And you know what, I'm going to be honest - and this is likely a result of me not being a photographer - but I'm not even really talking all that much about AI photo edits, outside of the large scale implications of what it means that anyone can create a highly realistic image of anything they want (including political figures, female celebrities, you see my pattern here) with zero effort, on a mass scale we've never seen previously. I think they should only be used with stock, and I even think that photographers who upload their works should get additional payments from it. I actually had used a generator back in 2019 for a project, well before this even became a discussion, and it was even featured in a gallery show for a bit! The overall theme was "fake news," so it was a conceptual piece with fake landscape photography that I made with some beta tool. The point was the tool in combination with the tool's result, not how pretty the fake pictures were. I also want to say it was trained a lot more ethically than a lot of the generators that are so popular today.

And this isn't to say that you have to have a gallery or be so fully integrated in a physical art scene or whatever to be able to make conceptual art or talk about it - honestly I think zines that could actually combine whatever your concept is with having room to talk about it, and they're easy to create both physically and digitally and share. maybe just don't have it be around "look at all these pretty pictures that I made with AI." similar to how people at the art book fair aren't going to be impressed with me being like "look at all these pretty pictures I found on Unsplash."

Sure, AI art is "real art," but it's not illustration or photography or whatever, it's conceptual art. Which means it's main goal is to incite thought and discussion about it. Like the D&D book's release that suddenly turned to being about the AI art they used. So if you want to be an artist using primarily AI, go ahead, no one can stop you, but the topic is culturally significant with the current fight between the entertainment unions to protect their livelihoods, so the discussion will be heated.

[koiimii]

𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬

𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙄𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙙𝙚…

- 𝙉𝙎𝙁𝙒

- 𝙁𝙡𝙪𝙛𝙛

- 𝘼𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙃𝙞𝙢

- 𝘼𝙣𝙜𝙨𝙩

————

𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐇𝐢𝐦

- Alex loves reading. Both books and the paper. He carries his reading glasses on the collar of his shirt, or in his coat pocket.

- If he weren’t in a band, he would own a really nice bar and lounge. Live music, a reading area, and he’d be a bartender as well. It would probably have a soft of rustic, modern-baroque style.

- He chews cinnamon gum. He enjoys how it makes his tongue burn a little.

- Alex sometimes prefers for feminine scents when picking perfumes. They mix well with his natural lingering cigarette scent.

- He always keeps a cigarette tucked behind his ear.

- Twisting and tugging his rings has become a coping mechanism for his anxiety.

- Alex has a big sweet tooth for desserts and pastries. Especially homemade ones. Red velvet is a particular favorite.

- Aside from his favorites, a guilty pleasure of his when picking films are period pieces. He adores them. Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, Dead Poet’s Society, Dorian Gray…

- Alex really wants to learn French.

- He loves vintage pieces when choosing fashions. Jewelry, leather, belts… he likes the timeless feel.

- Alex is actually a very good cook. Baking, and bartending too! He loved a homemade margarita or a Moscow Mule

- Usually in an interview where Alex is wearing sunglasses, he’s dozing off.



𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟

- Alex loves when you wear the things he bought. He absolutely adores it. Especially things like dresses or lingerie.

- Alex secretly has a bit of a green thumb and loves to keep plants around the house, all named after his band mates, and you.

- He has a very naturel pout when he’s deep in thought, and likes when you kiss it to snap him out of it.

- Alex secretly enjoys being the little spoon when the two of you cuddle. He’s want you to press your chest to his back, and wrap your arms around him.

- Alex always likes to keep some extra sweaters, hoodies, and dress-shirts out for the finding of you. He loves seeing you roam around his house in his clothes. Drives him crazy.

- Alex loves making you worked up and mad. He likes your little bossy fits and your silent treatments, because then he can go out and fix them with gifts and things.

- Alex stutters quiet a bit when it’s just the two of you. He says it’s because no matter how long the two of you have been together, your still make him so very nervous.

- His favorite thing about you is your legs. He loves when you oil them on date nights, and they shine. He love how soft they are. He loves when your thighs thicken when you sit down. He loves when you wear heels. He likes to kiss your calves and up when you two are in bed together. He just loves your legs.

𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖

- Alex is very hyper-sensitive. The little things turn him on or arouse him.

- if you could photograph Alex after sex, you’d have multiple photo albums. You’ve never seen such a pretty afterglow..

- His hair is disheveled and sweaty, stuck to his forehead.

- His lips are glossy and parted while he tries to catch his breath.

- His eyes are sleepy and low, yet they still get all big and doe eyed when you speak to him…

- Alex gets super lazy after sex. His aftercare is cuddles and kisses. - He just gives soft, dazed praises while you clean the both of you up, patting your thighs and kissing your exposed parts.

- His flush cheeks and nose are heart wrenching. You especially like how flushed he gets while he’s buried between your thighs.

- He loves when you caress or scratch his chest and back. Especially with longer, freshly done nails. If you don’t do it yourself, he’ll take your hand and guide it down his body to where he wants it the most.

- Alex has two very different moans. Usually, they’re very vocal. Long, drawn out groans and strained curses under his breath, or there’s the more breathless, whiny like moans you’ve come to favor. The way he cries out your name and his voice cracks before he hits that pinnacle of pleasure.

- Your neck is his go-to, especially your collarbone. It’s always his first target. Kissing, biting, licking, he just loves your reactions.

- There was no in between when you and Alex made love. In the mornings, soft sex was perfect. Both still very sleepy, his strong arms holding you close, holding your leg in the air as he buried his nose into your neck. Keeping his thrusts slow and lush. His cheeks puffed and rosy, fluffy disheveled hair and doe eyes staring up at you as you ride him lazily, or sometimes he’d hold you close to his chest until you both spilled over. Soft breaths and whimpers exchanged, the sweet nothings he whispered in your ear when he got close. It was all amazing.

- Rough sex was another story. When Al was pent up or frustrated, that’s when you knew you were in for it. Your wrists clutched firmly in his hands as he pounded into you. He especially loved it when you started to cry from the overwhelming pleasure. He’d kiss your tears but his rhythm never faltered or softened. He loved taking you from behind too, forcing you down into a cat-like arch and gripping your hips so hard he left imprints.

- You two came to agreement and made your safe word “Rosie.”

- Knee socks. You thought they were childish at first, but when Alex first saw you wear them to one of his concerts, he took you right there in his dressing you. Now you have a thousand pairs.

- On the rare occasion that Al us still energized after sex, he’s the King of Aftercare. Water on a tray, tea, a warm bath, a hot meal on the way, his clothes freshly out of the dryer so they’re warm when you wear them, he wants nothing more than to make you feel completely safe with him, especially after more intense love making.

- On stage, Alex is very immersed in his performance. When on-stage, he transforms. There was something erotic about the way his body moved, usually on its own. Grinding and rolling his hips, caressing his mic stand, getting down on his hands and knees… Alex couldn’t count the amount of times he’s found himself turned on during a performance or concert, having to quickly hide his erections the best he can.

𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭

- When you first made it official, Alex desperately tried to get over it, but there was this mind eating feeling he had that he didn’t deserve you.

- After disagreements that are exceptionally bad, he’ll come find you afterwards like a timid child.

- “Are you still upset with me, love…?”

- He hates waking up alone. He just feels like once he’s off stage, no one cares for the real Alex. He always need you in bed with him.

- He’s a terrible sleeper. He gets no where near enough sleep and so he tries to nap whenever he can.

- He’s tried to stop smoking so many times, but he really struggles with anxiety.

- You had been shouting at him once and quickly stopped when you realized he was having a panic attack.

- “I’m not good at this relationship thing am I?”

- When Alex realizes his accent is “too much”, he tries to correct so it’s easier to comprehend.

- When faced with chances to open up about his own emotions, he automatically brushes it off or gets distant.

- “I don’t know, does anyone really care what I think?”

- “I’ve just gotten used to not having the last word…”

[brucewaynehater101]

Hey sorry if you don’t care about this at all, but I was on ao3 reading a GREAT Tim and Jason fic and in the notes I saw that it was you that made the fic!

So great job on “A Brother's Guide to Unhealthy Communication and Coping Mechanisms”!

(Really hope this actually is you or else this will be really awkward)

Yeah!!!! I'm really proud of that fic cause it's my longest to date.

There's absolutely no need to apologize. I love asks and talking about fics (even my own)!

I'm really glad that you enjoyed that fic ^^ I'm a bit biased and love the tire jack photo scene the best. If you feel like answering, was there any part in particular you liked most?

Regardless, thank you so so much for the compliments and the ask

[nexkove]

[📖] Thoughts on Nesting Guide...

A silly lore post with my day 1 thoughts on our new seasonal guide!

Please don't take anything I say too seriously, this is all for fun!

Share your thoughts, I'm very interested!

Is this an excuse to make Nesting & Flight guide close friends?... Yes!

Discussing the Whale in the room...

Nesting Guide's ties to the Forest Elder

TL;DR: Nesting guide was a former apprentice of Forest Elder, due to them having a photo framed with the two & seemingly being more powerful than typical ancestors.

Now for typing's sake, I'll be referring to the Forest Elder as Teth.

I couldn't see it clearly in the trailer (nor in beta), but the photo framed of Teth and Nesting got my brain going wild with thoughts.

The first thought I've had is that Nesting was an apprentice of Teth, similar to how Flight was an apprentice of Ayin.

From the first cutscene after we revive them, they already seem more powerful than the other spirits; they're able to lift up seemingly heavy objects with barely any trouble (ESPECIALLY multiple objects at once.)

Nesting also seems to be able to spawn furniture items whenever, whether this is a game mechanic or not I don't know! But it's a fun idea to play around with.

That's basically my day 1 thoughts, I may come back and make more posts similar as the season goes on! 9CD wasn't all that interesting so I'm glad I can finally talk about a season like this again!

Now... Some final notes from me...

I don't think Teth and Nesting are related as iirc Elders and Ancestors are completely separate beings. I barely got to test this season in beta, so I'm fully blind on future quests (besides quest 2,) so some stuff may get debunked, but that's ok!! I'm just very excited to see another Spirit with close ties to an Elder. It makes me wonder if there's any other spirits with close ties. (I have more thoughts on that, that I may put in a separate post.)

Thanks for reading! Don't be shy to share any thoughts you have on this! Just please be civil.

[probablyasocialecologist]

To bring about its hypothetical future, OpenAI must build a new digital ecosystem, pushing users toward the ChatGPT app or toward preëxisting products that integrate its technology such as Bing, the search engine run by OpenAI’s major investor, Microsoft. Google, by contrast, already controls the technology that undergirds many of our online experiences, from search and e-mail to Android smartphone-operating systems. At its conference, the company showed how it plans to make A.I. central to all of the above. Some Google searches now yield A.I.-generated “Overview” summaries, which appear in tinted boxes above any links to external Web sites. Liz Reid, Google’s head of search, described the generated results with the ominously tautological tagline “Google will do the Googling for you.” (The company envisions that you will rely on the same search mechanism to trawl your own digital archive, using its Gemini assistant to, say, pull up photos of your child swimming over the years or summarize e-mail threads in your in-box.) Nilay Patel, the editor-in-chief of the tech publication the Verge, has been using the phrase “Google Zero” to describe the point at which Google will stop driving any traffic to external Web sites and answer every query on its own with A.I. The recent presentations made clear that such a point is rapidly approaching. One of Google’s demonstrations showed a user asking the A.I. a question about a YouTube video on pickleball: “What is the two-bounce rule?” The A.I. then extracted the answer from the footage and displayed the answer in writing, thus allowing the user to avoid watching either the video or any advertising that would have provided revenue to its creator. When I Google “how to decorate a bathroom with no windows” (my personal litmus test for A.I. creativity), I am now presented with an Overview that looks a lot like an authoritative blog post, theoretically obviating my need to interact directly with any content authored by a human being. Google Search was once seen as the best path for getting to what’s on the Web. Now, ironically, its goal is to avoid sending us anywhere. The only way to use the search function without seeing A.I.-generated content is to click a small “More” tab and select “Web” search. Then Google will do what it was always supposed to do: crawl the Internet looking for URLs that are relevant to your queries, and then display them to you. The Internet is still out there, it’s just increasingly hard to find. If A.I. is to be our primary guide to the world’s information, if it is to be our 24/7 assistant-librarian-companion as the tech companies propose, then it must constantly be adding new information to its data sets. That information cannot be generated by A.I., because A.I. tools are not capable of even one iota of original thought or analysis, nor can they report live from the field. (An information model that is continuously updated, using human labor, to inform us about what’s going on right now—we might call it a newspaper.) For a decade or more, social media was a great way to motivate billions of human beings to constantly upload new information to the Internet. Users were driven by the possibilities of fame and profit and mundane connection. Many media companies were motivated by the possibility of selling digital ads, often with Google itself as a middle man. In the A.I. era, in which Google can simply digest a segment of your post or video and serve it up to a viewer, perhaps not even acknowledging you as the original author, those incentives for creating and sharing disappear. In other words, Google and OpenAI seem poised to cause the erosion of the very ecosystem their tools depend on.

[christabelq]

I was going to post a cosplay photo today, but decided to do another of my tutorial type things instead👩‍🏫. This time it’s for the steampunk handgun I used in my recent Typhoid Mary shoot and also seen in a few of my earlier pics. I’ve found it super useful to have, as it suits a bunch of different characters. If you want to rustle one up yourself, you’ll need these ingredients…

1 x Nerf gun or similar – Choose your gun carefully, as it will dictate what your finished weapon looks like. I went for something small, but chunky, which I picked up cheap in a thrift store (💜 my bargains).

Sandpaper for prepping the gun.

1 x can of black spray paint (or possibly more depending on the size of your gun – tbh I regularly misjudge how much paint I’ll need for stuff and end up having to make extra trips to the craft store to stock up 🚶‍♀️😩

Silver acrylic paint and 🖌️🖌️ to give the gun a metallic look (or gold if you want to bling out).

Assorted fixtures for decorations – I used some gears left over from another project, a bit of an old speaker and some circuitry from a broken tablet, but loads of other stuff will work. Btw, if you haven’t tried it, it’s super therapeutic pulling bits out of an old tablet, especially if it’s one that used to crash on you a lot like mine😈😈😈 

 Plastic knob – Replacement for the cocking thingy at the back of the Nerf gun, as this totally gave away that it was a toy. My piece was stripped off a toy gun I used in another project, but you can use whatever’s available.

A piece of leather – Trim for the barrel to add to the steampunk vibe and (hopefully) make the gun look a bit more realistic.

Needle and thread 🪡 – Most of my projects involve sewing in some way, as it’s something I like doing. Here it was used for finishing the edges of the piece of leather.

Fixative spray – Used to try and ensure I don’t accidentally scratch off any paint when I’m using the gun in a typical display of klutziness 🥴

Normally when I do these tutorials, I start rambling on at this point about whatever bits of the project pop into my head, but this time, I’m totally going to be structured about it, so here’s a step-by-step guide…

Sand off any logos and stuff on your gun, as these always make them look toy like. If the gun you’ve chosen has any smooth surfaces, you might want to sand these as well, as the paint will go on better that way. Top tip here is not to use really rough sandpiper or you’ll end up with nasty scratches.

Strip off any fittings on the gun which don’t look realistic and replace if necessary. In my case, this included replacing the thing for getting the gun ready to fire (I’m sure there’s a technical term for this, but it beats me what it is). I screwed the new bit into the end of the mechanism, so it still works, which is pretty cool.

⛫💨 Spray the gun matt black to prime it, plus any of your fittings which need to match. Usually this has to be done in a couple of stages, as if you’re working on a table or something you won’t be able to turn anything over until it’s dry. Also, no matter how good a surface looks at the time, you often come back to find the paint hasn’t covered something properly 😠😠. Here’s another tip… go off and do something else between coats rather than waiting around for however many hours it takes the paint to dry 💡

🎨 Add the metallic distressed look with the arcylic paint. For this to work, you need to dust the paint on super lightly. I usually wipe my brush on a bit of paper each time I dip it in the paint to get rid of the excess.

Once the paint is dry, attach your fittings. The trick here is to try to make them look like they have some kind of purpose and aren’t just window-dressing. Glue is the easiest way to stick things on, but I use bolts and screws when possible 🪛🔧, as these are more secure and allow gears and stuff to spin around if you want them to. If you’re using leather like me (or any other material), you’ll probably want to sew in a folded overedge before attaching it to stop it fraying 🪡.   

Touch up any damage you did to your paintwork when working on step 5. Maybe you’ll be luckier than me, but no matter how careful I am, there always seems to be some.

⛫💨 Spray on your fixative for protection. This should be done in steady lines with the can about 30 cms away from the gun. It’s best to do a few coats, sometimes working from side to side and sometimes from top to bottom, so you get good coverage. My tip for this stage is to shake the can well before use and do a quick test spray first to make sure the fixative is coming out evenly.

Pick up the finished gun and start rocking it /̵͇̿̿/’̿’̿ ̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿💥

So there you have it. Hopefully if you’re new to projects like this, it will give you a good starting point. I think you get good results for some pretty easy steps. Let me know if you found it useful or if you have any questions 💬, and stay tuned for more cosplay stuff.

Luv your friendly neighborhood  cosplayer, Christabel ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

ko-fi.com/christabelq instagram.com/christabel.simpson/ deviantart.com/christabelq

[horseshoegirl]

Damn Those Dog Tags: Part 20 - Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)

📜 Everyone wants Jake's reaction to Liz's risky photo. 👀😂Well, you got it... and something else... Let me put it this way: I have to take my chance where I can....

❗+18, sexual themes, strong language, godmother reader/original female character, Mentions of an original child character, deployments, letters, verbal fights, hurricanes, near-death experiences, angst, Don't read if you have Thalassophobia/Aquaphobia cause Jake and Bradley... well, you'll find out, intense moments of peril/disaster.

#7.4k words

Part 19 | Masterlist | Part 21

Hangman could hear his breath, the mechanical exhale and hiss, through his oxygen mask as he finally set his eyes on the carrier alone out at sea.

The tension in his shoulders released, and the weight that had been pressing him down since he and Rooster launched this morning lifted slightly.

"Rooster, where are you?"

"Right behind you, Hangman," came his crackled tense reply.

The attack on the facility had been gruesome and extremely time-sensitive. They only had a few seconds to spare in reaching their destination should there have been any reason for a delay. It was one of the few things he had worried about when they were being briefed, worried if the same ghost that had haunted Rooster on the uranium mission would resurface yet again.

Thankfully, it didn't, and the pair of them managed to get to the target well on time, just to take down two enemy fighter jets before they had even managed to get above the hard deck line.

It might have helped the attack happened right around dawn when nobody was least expecting it—three weeks at sea for an hour in the sky. And the worst of what they thought would happen and what they had prepared for didn't.

You and Sadie had been with him the entire time, your polaroids pinned in his cockpit near the control panel. They were the same ones he had before, the one Sadie took of you and the other of Sadie standing in front of the F-18. 

He was looking at them now, between you, Sadie and his navigational beacon, knowing that the second his wheels hit the upper deck, he'd be that much closer to going home.

Hangman was cleared to land, his radio buzzing with the familiar voice of the control tower as he approached the tiny runway. He adjusted the F-18's flaps, feeling the jet respond instantly beneath him, knowing it wasn't over yet, not until both he and Rooster were safely on board.

He took a steadying breath, the sound echoing in his mask as he said to himself in his head, 'Make it perfect. For them."

The back wheels touched down flawlessly, catching the arresting wire with a strong tug. Jake felt himself being pulled forward out of his seat, the straps of his harness tight on his chest. But the second his back hit the chair, he finally felt like he could breathe. The weight on his chest dissipated, and Jake couldn't help the smug grin.

He was finally in the clear.

"Nice landing," he heard the landing officer say through the radio. Jake, taxing himself to the elevator on deck, watched as the officer gave him a thumbs up from the runaway below.

"What can I say? When you're good, you're good," his cheeks hurt from the edges of his mask, grin wide as he cockily gave a two-fingered salute.

If Jake heard the following tense groan coming out of his radio, he didn't let on.

Parking the jet on the elevator strip, Jake watched as he was lowered down into the ship's hanger bay, looking for his designated mechanic as he turned off the flight system. The second he reached the ground, he guided the machine into its designated spot, turning it off completely.

He popped the canopy open before going for his helmet, unstrapping the buckles with haist. He went for one of the pockets on his harness, reaching into the tight space to grab at the zip-locked bag, placing it on top of his helmet before reaching for the polaroids of you and Sadie. Holding both between his thumb, he brought them to his lips, kissing the images simultaneously before placing them safely inside the bag where they belonged.

As Jake stepped down the ladder, a mechanic greeted him, readying a list of questions as Jake started up his post-flight checks.

"It's a good thing you guys finished when you did. Radar points to a tropical storm coming in tonight."

Jake raked his fingers through his hair, trying to combat the sweat. "So we got confirmation we are moving out?"

The mechanic nodded, not bothering to lift his head as he dug for his notepad. "The second you guys were called back. We're already on route to base."

The news only added to his high spirits. Today was a good day.

He was going home.

As Jake answered all the mechanic's questions while checking the jet, out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Bradley's jet ascended down the elevator and rolled into its resting spot. Bradley popped his canopy, climbing out, sliding down the ladder and high-fiving his mechanic, smiling.

He had no idea where the urge, or dare he say courage, came from when he finished walking over to Bradley as he was finalizing his post-flight routine.

Jake waited till Bradley said his last word before approaching him. Jake held out his hand, his voice clear over the commotion, as he said, "Good job flying out there, Bradshaw."

Bradley glanced at Jake's outstretched hand, then to his face, his expression inscrutable. There was a palpable pause, a pregnant beat of tension, before Bradley deliberately rested his hand on the side of his jet, ignoring Jake's overstretched hand completely.

"Don't think one mission changes everything," Bradley replied tersely, eyes sharp and focused.

His reply didn't deter Jake. In fact, he only smirked, lowering his hand. "Didn't think it would. I just wanted to see if you had the balls to acknowledge a job well done. By the way, I went to Liz and apologized. Something you probably never imagined I'd do."

Bradley scoffed, a short, derisive laugh escaping him. "You think an apology is your ticket to redemption? You must have been more rattled up there than I thought. She'd never forgive you after a stunt like that."

Jake bit his lip, contemplating what you or Sadie might say to Rooster at this moment.

So, in a rare second of honesty, in front of his rival, Jake answered Bradley.

"I never expected her to accept my apology, Bradshaw. But I had to try. For her. For Sadie." Jake paused, looking solemn before continuing on. "You know what it's like, leaving on a deployment, not sure when or if you're going to come back. I had to try, and believe it or not, I want to try to get along with you for both their sakes. It's what they would want."

Jake lifted his hand once again, hoping Rooster would take it. But Bradley didn't, nor did he reply. Instead, he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Jake to bow his head and drop his hand once again, not knowing if he should sigh or roll his eyes. At this point, it was frugal to think Bradley would ever change his ways.

Least of all for him.

...

"Seresin! Bradshaw! You have mail!"

Jake looked up from his plate just in time to see the communications officer slam a white envelope down to the empty space in front of him. The officer continued her journey down to the other end of the table to Rooster, tossing a nearly identical envelope into his outstretched hands.

Bradley hadn't spoken a word to him since the hanger earlier, not that Jake expected him to. The mess hall wasn't necessarily the friendliest place, and while Jake couldn't have cared less about whether or not he was making friends, he and Bradley tended to stick together silently. They didn't really speak to each other, though. Even when they had to bunk together.

It's funny how deployments did that.

Jake slid his tray over to the side, reaching out to grab the thick piece of paper between his hands and inspecting the front.

White was probably the wrong word to use. The envelope looked like it had a rough time getting to him. There were dirt marks and scuffed-up edges, several post stamps thrown uncaringly on the front. Even a few water marks, which made sense, considering a gust front was currently pounding the upper deck.

What stood out to Jake, though, was your handwriting still perfectly intact. He'd recognize it anywhere.

Lt. Jake "Hangman" Seresin

Jake flipped it over, not expecting to see the words written across the back.

This is everything I didn't say

Jake pulled himself back in his seat, only to realize he had a pair of eyes on him. He looked over to Bradley, noticing how the chicken was staring at the object in Jake's hands. He had already opened his, two pieces of lined paper on the table in front of him.

"From Liz?" Jake finally asked, tilting his head towards Bradley's letter. Rooster looked back down at his, staring at the front. "Sadie, actually."

As if that didn't sting a little bit, Jake thought. Bradley looked back up, eyes fixed on the one in Jake's hands. "Liz?" he asked. It was almost sombre.

Jake tore his eyes away from Bradley to trace your cursive writing with his fingers. "Yeah."

There was something to be said about receiving letters or packages from family and loved ones while in service. Regardless of whether or not Jake and Bradley were on the outs, no one ever dared to mock this particular part of their job. Hearing word from the other side, the outside world, was something sacred, and Bradley knew better than to hold it against Jake- even if he did break your heart.

You had chosen to write him that letter. There was nothing he could really do about it - like he even had a choice. Bradley had to pick and choose his moments where he could.

Jake finally broke the seal, immediately going for the folded-up pieces of paper inside. He let the envelope drop, the sound heavy as it hit the table, and Jake knew you had probably stuffed polaroids inside.

He unfolded your pages and began to read.

Jake,

Everything became still the moment my sister passed away. I keep remembering, picturing it like hands on a clock, having counted the seconds away before finally coming to a stop. The days didn't matter. My next thought, my only thought, was Sadie. Then you came into my picture, our picture, and cheesily enough, that seconds hand on that metaphorical clock started to tick.

I can’t lie; I knew you'd break through my walls the first time I saw you. Not in the Hard Deck that day, but when you were playing football on the beach, me watching you from Penny’s chair. I knew who you were instantly.

Because you had a rep, and everyone had warned me about you - Womanizer.

But I knew the second you spoke to me, the second I had turned around after fixing that damn keg, seeing that mona lisa smile of yours (Yes - I have been calling it that and no, your ego does not need to grow two more sizes because of it), my heart was screaming, Hello, I love you.

(Those are in reference to a song; they don't count just yet).

I have a confession to make, which is partly why I wanted to write you this particular letter.

I put up a wall between you and myself then and there. I think that's the only secret I've ever kept from you. Because as much as I knew something was probably going to happen between the two of us, whatever it would have been, I knew you had the power to devastate my heart completely.

I didn’t get your name that day. Not until you showed up on my doorstep with my favourite flowers, asking me to forgive you, and you sat out in my backyard with everyone singing along to Southern Nights.

The first crack in the wall started when you followed me inside, helping me with the dishes. You were honest with me that night, not the person I thought you to be, and I realized you were putting on a show for others to see. And when I showed up in that long cool black dress at the hard deck that day, and you taught my klutzy ass how to throw a dart, the wall cracked further.

(I can hear you as I write, Jake Seresin. Saying I love your ass, don't diss my ass. Stop making everything sexual, you horny beast.)

Sadie knew it, too... that my walls were cracking. She sees everything. It's why she invited you on that damn hike. And there is also a part of me wondering if Ridley sent that damn sake from wherever she is now, hoping to get the two of us together - it would be something she'd do if she had the power…if she was able to rule the world to make it happen.

Then, all of you guys were deployed. And everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.

I don't know if three little birds told me things were going to be alright back then, but I somehow knew, deep down, they would be -  even if you fly like you have nothing to lose and everything to prove. You don't, not to me. And oh, what a night it was when you came home.

I wanted you to kiss me that night. But I'm glad you didn't. Because the night I drifted away in your arms, you might as well have shot a missile from your F-18 and made my walls crumble almost completely.

Almost. Because what truly did it was when you let Sadie hang on to you during that thunderstorm. How you cared for her and told her it was going to be okay. How good you were with her and how you might be with your own. I will never stop saying how much that meant to me- what it still means to me.

Then you rammed me up against my hallway, and I had to really hang on for dear life.

(I just realized we never talked about our futures on our first date. We were too busy screaming Let's dance to figure out if Marriage/Kids, etc., were on the table - if they are something you want. Cause I'm all in Jake, whether we do or not. All I know is that I want to be with you - you and Sadie are enough.)

Then someone made himself known, and hell would have to freeze over before I mentioned his name in a letter to you - Dream on asshole. But you loved, yes loved, me through my worst moments, Sadie's worst moments. When I sang as a Blue healer for my feelings deep blue, when sons and daughters of people long gone raged, and I had to hide in my bathtub, waiting till it was all over.

When you showed me it was okay to live and experience life through the bad moments, that it was okay to remember my sister, even in the rays of a sunset from the sky. And when you made me want to scream sex on fire, cause damn Jake, we definitely weren't taking things slow.

I won't mention the 'incident' with George or how much rain I saw when Bradley drove me home. I know; I've always known how much generational trauma you've carried in your blood throughout your entire life. I will say, though, out of all the songs that had to play on the jukebox the night things for Sadie and I finally came to an end, it had to be Come a little bit closer. (That pissed me off, you have no idea, Jake.... stop laughing, you asshole).

And although it’s been weeks for me since you left me standing at the end of my driveway, after you apologized and I felt like a Sapling, searching for an Oak, watching you drive off to go our separate ways for a small length of time, being worlds apart, I’m counting down the minutes, the hours, the seconds till I can tell you what you need to hear.

Because My sister had a box. A just-in-case box. Filled with letters, objects, and memories. I finally opened it, with Sadie, of course, on an evening I will never soon forget. I don't want a repeat of that. Of me finally visiting Ridley and reading her letter, her last words to me on her grave.

I don't want that to be us.

So Jake 'Hangman' Seresin, after breaking down my walls not once but twice, I will not write those three words down in this letter. I'd rather tell you in person. So I can see your face when I do. I’m a fair lady - if you wanted me to wait to tell you until you are home, I’m waiting till you come home.

So much of our relationship started backwards. A first kiss before the first date, an extended sleepover before the first touch. We made a promise to each other, not already realizing we had already broken it.

So, sir, if you think the second I see your face, I'm not going to try to jump you, drag you home and lock Sadie out of my bedroom, you can kiss this idea of going slow out the window. Life's too short to go slow when... well, you'll find out soon enough.

And I know you think Sadie doesn’t want to see you again. That's she's still mad at you and will be forever mad for what happened. But I know for a fact the second she sees you, she will jump into your arms. You’re her uncle - you count more than you’ll ever know. 

And while sleep deprivation is my remaining side effect from dealing with the grief I’ve shouldered, I know part of it involves counting down the days for when I can fall asleep with you next to me.

And maybe even doing something else ;)

Your darlin' Elizabeth

P.S. Sadie wanted to send some Polaroids - I promise you, she doesn't hate you, but I know you're still going to think otherwise until you come home. We went on a hike, so there are probably some bug-themed ones in there... I'm sorry for what you see... so if you have anyone lurking over your shoulder, you might want to be careful. They aren't for everyone.

You were right about one thing: he was still so sure Sadie had it out for him. The day she had cornered him at the beach haunted his thoughts. The look and level of disappointment she had on her face would forever remain imprinted in his head.

Yet, he still wiped at his eyes and raked his fingers through his hair, his heart feeling like it was going to beat out of his chest. He reached into the envelope and grabbed at the small stack.

The first few were from the hike you mentioned; Sadie chose one of you, sitting on the same rock she had done last year. He still had the photo he took on his phone. There were some ones with bugs, no question about it. But they weren't random ones, either.

There was one of Sadie surrounded by what looked like to be monarchs. Jake had never seen her look so happy, her smile wide and beautiful, and he couldn't help the grin on his face looking down at the image.

But when Jake went to slide the image of Sadie behind the others, he did a double take, quickly hiding the following polaroid from view.

You wouldn't have, he thought. There was no way.

Jake glanced around the hall, turning the collection of pictures down to face the table in his hands, wondering if anyone had seen what he had seen. But next to Bradley, who was too engrossed in his own letter even to lift his head, the hall had cleared itself out, leaving the two of them practically alone.

Hesitantly lifting his hands, Jake slid Sadie's photo over, carefully peering down at the image of you.

You. On your bed. Half naked.

You seemed carefree, leaning back on your bed, damp tendrils of your hair half clinging to your face, half covering the sharp lines of your neck. Oh, how many times he had kissed that neck, and now, seeing it on display, only for him - Jake had to draw in a sharp breath.

And his dog tags hanging between your half-bare breasts, framed by the silk of your robe, glinting in the soft, warm sunlight from your bedroom window. And written along the bottom... Come home and take them back ;)

You cheeky... Jake could feel the heat rush to his face: surprise, desire, and pure pride. He was thousands of miles away, and you found yet another way to remind him of what awaited him when he got home.

The Mona Lisa smile, as you had so deemed, spread wide across his face as he whispered to himself in one ragged breath, "Damn, Liz."

He felt himself getting hard just looking at you.

He'd send you a message when they were closer to American soil, hoping you and Sadie would be there to greet him. But more importantly, if you'd make plans for Penny to take Sadie that night. Cause fuck the lock on your bedroom door. He wanted to find out all the ways he could make you scream for him, all the sounds you had yet to make for him.

Until then, Jake climbed into his bunk that night, reading your letter over and over, staring at the photo you had gifted him, wondering and coming up with all the ways the two of you would celebrate his homecoming. Because lying on that narrow bunk, he couldn't stop his rampant thoughts.

He could almost feel the silk of your robe against his fingertips, the wet strands of your hair brushing against his palms, and the warmth of your skin. And those fucking dog tags he gave you, nestled between the soft curves of your breasts - everything made a fierce heat coil in the lower half of his stomach.

Jake shifted uncomfortably, the rough sheets tangling around his legs, the damp are doing little to soothe his fevered skin. He rolled over into his pillow, trying to summon any other thought but that photo - anything to take his mind off the overwhelming feeling of pure want that consumed him.

You were there, in every corner he turned to, beckoning him with both those innocent and mischievous glint in your eyes, making him crave the day he finally came home. He took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to find some semblance of calm against the lust you had ignited within him.

But falling asleep, his dreams were only filled with you. And all the ways he'd finally have you cumming on his cock.

...

Jake jolted awake to the sound of a high-pitched beeping in his ears, almost hitting the bunk above his. His stomach felt uneasy, like it had been flipped upside down, and every sense was screaming at him something was wrong. He was off balance, unable to ground himself to a solid point.

He hated not being in control.

Rooster shouted from the bunk above, and Jake pressed himself against the tiny wall as he felt himself tilted hard to the side, masked by a shutter that shook their entire room.

Bradley wasn't as lucky, rolling straight out of his bed and landing hard on the ground with a massive thunk. Jake wanted to laugh, but even he couldn't stop the grimace as he heard the sound.

Bradley groaned a long, pitful sound, lifting himself to rest on his hands. "What the hell is going on?!"

"What do you think, Bradshaw? You've never been stuck in a storm on a deployment before?"

He knew he shouldn't be so snarky with Bradley, but this morning had left him in a sour mood. Not to mention, the storm was but another obstacle in his path stopping him from getting home sooner.

It was going to be a long night.

Bradley sat up, about to reply with a remark just as snarky, when the PA system blared above their heads.

All currently available personnel report to the lower decks for assistance. I repeat all currently available personnel report to the lower decks for assistance.

Jake tore out of bed, and Bradley stood sharply, both reaching for their fight suits, putting them on in a rush. As Bradley laced his boots, Jake reached for your letter and picture on his bed, quickly shoving them inside the packet he had in his chest pocket with the other Polaroids.

He didn't know if and when he'd be back here.

As the pair emerged from their room, they had to dodge multiple people flying past in a mass panic, trying to get to their respective stations. The added struggle of not knowing what the carrier was going to throw at them next also didn't help. All Jake and Bradley knew was that, given a storm, let alone even in a hurricane, they needed to be down at the lower docks, reinforcing the restraints on the Jets.

The ship groaned, then shook, the floor vibrating beneath their feet.

"What the hell was that?" Bradley shouted, his voice strained with concern. Jake struggled to steady himself, gripping a nearby railing. His Texian accent was strong as he shouted his reply, "It doesn't matter. Let's just get to the hanger bay!"

It was pure chaos the second they arrived. Bright flashing red emergency lights, crew members scrambling in every direction. Next to the high-pitched alarm going off every other second, the ship continued to creak and groan, rocking enough that Jake and Bradley had to steady themselves.

"Get the damn secondary restraints on the F-18s!" A senior official shouted as they passed. Jake and Bradley's 'Yes, sir' only seemed to fall on deaf ears.

The pair raced towards the first jet, stopping momentarily to assist what they needed to do. Jake's voice was barely audible above the chaos. "We need to get the secondary straps down and make sure the wheel jacks are in place!"

Bradley shot him a disdainful look. "Thanks for stating the obvious. I was about to suggest a picnic."

Jake gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to snap back. "Not now, Bradshaw."

Bradley only rolled his eyes. "Let's just get this over with."

As they began to secure the planes, the ground started to tilt enough to throw them off balance if they weren't careful. Jake and Bradley tried to brace themselves as one adjusted the straps while the other secured the wheel jacks.

A cry for help managed to break through the alarms and shouts, and both turned towards the sound. Bradley was closest, shouting out, "I got it!" before running off, not bothering to hear Jake's reply.

The sound of a wire recoiling, snapping hard like a whip through the air, startled Jake, making him turn sharply. A wooden crate, the height of his chest, had broken loose from its net, sliding directly towards him.

Bracing himself, Jake charged forward, holding out his hands to stop it from crashing into the jet behind him. He grunted hard as the wood slammed into his palms. Jake used as much strength as he could gather, baring his teeth and straining his muscles, to push the crate back towards where it came from.

Jake's mechanic from before suddenly appeared next to him, helping him push the crate back into the relative safety of the net.

"What the hell is going on?!" Jake shouted over the alarm system. The mechanic continued to work as he replied, "Everything! The whole ship is going to hell! We've got engine failure. Some of the airlock doors won't seal properly on the lowest deck, and to fucking top it off, one of the ballast tanks is compromised! In a fucking hurricane!"

That would explain the rocking, Jake thought, as the ship titled back, allowing for the create to easily slide back into its original spot with no more effort. The mechanic knotted the net through a few metal loops on the ground while Jake rested his hands on his knees, bent over and panting hard.

The second he finished, the mechanic left Jake standing there as he was called off towards another task.

Jake straightened, looking around to see where he was needed next, his eyes instantly landing on Rooster, who was dealing with his own crate. He ran towards him, using his weight to help Bradley push the crate back and away into its designated spot.

The two managed to secure it, and struggling to catch his breath, Bradley glared at Jake. "Didn't need your help."

"Of course, you didn't," Jake retorted, frustration evident.

"I had it handled."

"Right," Jake panted.

"Always gotta be the hero, don't you, Hangman?" Rooster grumbled.

Whatever had encouraged him to reach an olive branch earlier was long gone. Whether it was Rooster's words or the situation, Jake simply had enough.

He hit Bradley square in his chest with both hands, sending him backwards a few steps. "Okay, what's your damn problem with me, Bradshaw?!"

"Now?!" Bradley shouted, ready to fight it out. "You want to do this now?"

"Good as time as any!" Jake remarked, throwing his hands to the side in open invitation. He was tired of Rooster's animosity, of the constant back and forth, but damn if he wasn't ready for the confrontation.

"What is it? My call-sign? What I did to earn it!?" Jake cocked his head, stepping to the side, causing the two pilots to circle each other. "Or is it what I said about your old man two years ago?! You didn't even let me finish, so I couldn't have said anything that truly pissed you off. And you know what, not that it matters, but I'm sorry if it hurt your feelings."

The floor shook beneath their feet, but neither man seemed phased. Bradley only fisted his hands tighter with each remark that passed Jake's lips.

"Or is it Liz? Sadie? The fact they welcomed me in with open arms, loved me, and there wasn't a hell of a thing you could have to stop it?"

The surrounding chaos only seemed to amplify Bradley's longstanding irritation with Jake. Bradley stalked forward, slamming his hands to Jake's chest and returning the favour.

"It's everything! Everything you stand for!" he shouted, his nostrils flaring hard. "Don't you dare say Sadie's name, not when I know you are going to leave that little girl out to dry. I won't have it, Hangman!

Recognition flashed in Jake's eyes, and he knew, he understood right then, amongst all the chaos and panic, the lengths any one of the Daggers would go to make sure their bug was loved and protected above all else.

It had never been about you. It had always, always been about Sadie.

"Sadie?!" he shouted. "That's the reason?"

Jake clenched his fists, struggling to find the words. "You think I would ever abandon Sadie? Or Liz? You've seen me, day in and day out, fighting for them, fighting fucking Tyler, fighting to get back to them. I would die before they were hurt. Before any one of you were hurt."

"But you did! The second your brother asked you to." Bradley's voice hardened. "Answer me this: in the heat of the moment, when you're faced with a choice, can you honestly tell me you'd put them first?"

Tyler and everything he had wrought flashed in Bradlely's mind, but he pressed on.

"Not your pride, not your ego, but them? Or any of us. Unasked or not on the job! Cause I know you wouldn't!"

Jake reeled back, Bradley's words hitting him hard. But Bradley didn't falter. His face was still lit up with all the pent-up anger and frustration he held for Jake since the day he got his call sign.

"I see the man behind the show, the guy who thinks he's invincible. But you're not." Bradley pointed his finger. "Until you prove otherwise, I won't trust you with them. Not with Sadie. Not with Liz. Not with any of us."

Jake opened his mouth to reply, but a shout from the officer who gave them orders before interrupted him.

"You two, Top Gun! Quit standing around and go to the communications office and see where we are at with our navigation systems!"

Bradley stomped past Jake without another word, leaving him to silently fume for a few seconds before following him out of the hanger.

In the dimly lit, claustrophobic corridors of the carrier, the metallic walls groaned, strained by the might of the storm. Water or steam, they weren't sure which, was starting to pool in patches along the floor. With each wave and rock the ship encountered, the intermittent jolts sent the two pilots grasping for whatever was nearest to stay upright as they tried to make it to the communications office.

Following Bradley, Jake felt a spike of irritation. 'Why's he got to make everything so damn personal?' Jake thought bitterly. Bradley, meanwhile, was a simmering pot of anger.

"Why do you always have to be right in the middle of everything, Hangman?" Bradley shot over his shoulder, clearly irritated. "Can't you just once follow orders without making it about you?"

Jake gritted his teeth, trying to hold back a retort. "Look, can we just get to the comms and figure this out? We can bicker like an old married couple later."

Bradley's face twisted in a smirk, his pace never faltering. "Don't flatter yourself. I have standards."

A loud klaxon sounded, the eerie wail echoing through the narrow halls of the carrier. Jake and Bradley covered their ears, falling into the walls.

The second they managed to pull themselves up onto their feet, the PA system blared out another warning.

Begin bail-out and evacuation procedures. I repeat, Begin bail-out and evacuation procedures. All personnel should be on the upper decks in five minutes.

Jake turned to Bradley, his face filled with urgency. "We need to go! Now!"

Bradley snarled. He had no idea whether it was out of frustration with the current situation or Jake barking orders at him. But Jake was having none of it, grabbing Bradley hard by the collar of his suit and tugging him hard.

Jake's eyes were hard and furious as he remarked, "I'm not dying today, and neither should you."

Something flashed in Bradley's eyes that Jake could not name. But it was enough to give Bradley pause, water droplets running down his face as the anger and tension decided to leave him from earlier.

"We need to get home! For the girls," Jake roughed out. "For Liz and Sadie! Whatever hate you have towards me, we need to get out for them. Now!"

Another name came to Bradley's mind, but he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud, even now. Instead, Bradley could only sallow and nod. He couldn't deny Jake was right.

It was damn near impossible to sink an aircraft carrier. Jake and Bradley knew this. The things were built to withstand the roughest seas, hurricanes included. They were the most balanced and sturdiest things that ever graced any body of water on this planet. They had to be if aviators were literally landing planes on them.

But as water continued to breach the carrier, and as the pair raced through the ship to get to a proper stairwell that would get them to the relief point on the upper decks, they both wondered about the series of unfortunate events that led them to this point. The mechanics in the hangar bay had said everything was going wrong.

Bradley was on the verge of saying sabotage, wondering if they had a spy amongst their ranks. The mission had gone so much better than they had thought. But in their line of work, if something suspicious didn't happen, then their job wasn't over.

Jake just wanted to get both of them out of there.

They finally reached one of the escape hatches, a stairwell that led directly to the upper deck. Bradley was the one to turn the wheel on the door first, Jake joining in shortly after once he realized the sheer force Rooster was putting into opening the door.

A pressure vale released, and the second the two managed to open the door, Jake surged forward, followed by Bradley, who made their way into the narrow stairwell, hoping all had not been lost.

Jake paused on the small landing, looking up at the flights guided by the emergency light. There were a few fires scattering the walls, but it was climbable, and if both of them hurried, they wouldn't have any issues.

Bradley's hand on his shoulder made him pause.

"Dude, we have to book it."

Jake turned his head, ready with a cocky reply of something resembling a 'you don't think I know that' until he took in Bradley's panicked face, staring at the stairs below. Following Bradley's eyes, Jake reeled, noticing the rising water levels.

Grabbing Rooster by the back of his suit, Jake pulled Bradley in front of him, pushing him up the stairs, urging him forward and shouting, Go!

The two tried not to look up as they climbed, picturing their destination in their minds. Ignoring the sound of the alarm and the rushing water, Jake and Bradley counted their steps as they tried to reach the top. And they were close. Even as the rest of the ship creaked and groaned, they still fought to reach the top, unaware if help was waiting for them on the other side.

Then something blew up on one of the upper levels, the sound, the vibration, causing Jake and Bradley to slam themselves into the wall, trying to make themselves as small as possible. The lights flickered once, twice, then completely out, before a rotating red emergency light dimly lit the narrow stairwell. Metal crunched above their heads, snapping like twigs, and Jake didn't dare look up for fear of what might happen to either of them.

They felt it before they saw it, thin metal snapping out from underneath their feet. Feeling himself lurching forward, Jake immediately reached out for anything to hold on to. His fingers met a railing untouched by damage, and he latched on, suddenly opening his eyes to pull himself up and towards the relative safety of the remnants of the broken landing.

Bradley hadn't been so lucky.

Because the falling debris favoured his side of the stairs, the section he'd been crouching against completely crumpled under the impact, leaving only an empty space where thick, rushing water roiled menacingly below. There was nothing Bradley could have clung to, nothing that would have saved him from falling towards those black depths or allowed him to reach the warped edges of that landing.

Till his hand slapped onto a piece of a broken railing, Bradley struggled to find a grip tight enough to counteract the sweat on his palms. A panicked noise escaped his mouth as he slid down the newly indented piece of metal, finally stopping just before the end, muscles taunt and ridged as he forced breath into his body.

Jake had managed to pull himself up onto the landing as Bradley had fallen, instantly rolling himself up onto his chest to look down for the pilot.

He was within reach, and Jake extended his hand, on the verge of falling off the flimsy piece of metal. Bradley was hanging on, barely, looking between Jake's hand and the beam, the metal becoming looser and looser by the second.

And yet, Bradley still wouldn't take his hand.

"For godsakes, Bradshaw, just take my fucking hand!"

Jake purposely tried to jolt his arm forward in emphasis, hoping Bradley would finally take the leap and let go. But Bradley bowed his head, trying to force air into his lungs through his mouth as he looked down. With each pulse of red light, the water appeared to be getting higher and higher with each second.

He let out a panicked noise, trying to adjust his slipping grip. The movement caused the metal beam to drop slightly further, accompanied by a jarring clang. Bradley cried out, trying to reach for the broken edge of the landing.

Jake could feel himself slipping, sliding forward until he caught his boot on the railing, locking his body tight as he hung over the edge. Sharp, broken pieces of metal bit into his stomach as he swayed, trying to reach once again.

"Bradley! Just take my hand!" he shouted over the alarms, not any less urgent than before. "Please!"

Jake had never begged a day in his life, let alone to someone like Rooster. But there was no way he wasn't going home without him. You would never forgive him, and Sadie would never recover. He knew that for a fact.

Metal snapped, and Bradley dropped another inch, thinking this was it. That the railing was no longer attached to whatever had been holding it in place, baring his entire weight. Bradley threw his arm up towards Jake's in a desperate move.

Jake grabbed his wrist at the last possible second, a pained shout escaping his lips as he completely absorbed his weight, metal grating bending underneath him. But the grip he had on the railing with his foot held, and Jake bowed his head in relief, taking a few seconds with Bradley hanging dangerously off his arm to ground himself, trying not to think about what might have happened had he not caught him.

Jake grunted hard as he pulled Rooster up, his other hand finding a grip on the fabric of his flight suit along his back, hoping the railing from where he grounded himself would hold long enough to support them both. Bradley did the same with Jake's, using it as leverage to hoist himself up over the edge, only to roll onto his back, breathing hard.

Jake twisted his body away from the edge, laying on his back next to Rooster, staring up at what remained of the remaining flights of stairs. With the water still rushing below them and red lights spinning above them, the two dagger pilots took a few seconds to recuperate in the middle of the danger.

"You had to wait till the last second, didn't you?" Jake roughed out, panting hard. Bradley took three deep breaths before managing to gasp out, "I had to keep it interesting, right?"

Jake slammed his eyes shut, rocking his head to the side in slight annoyance. Bringing himself to a stand, Jake held out his hand again to help Bradley up. This time, Rooster didn't refuse it, instantly throwing his arm out to grasp the back of Jake's elbow, hoisting himself up.

Jake went to let go the minute he was up, but Bradley's grip remained firm.

"This is the second time you've saved me," he said, trying to make out Jake's face in the red light and dropping water. "You could have left me this time, for everything I've done, said..."

"What would be the point?" Jake interrupted him. "If I'd left you, I'd be no better than the person you thought I was. Besides," Jake added, smirking, "who else would I have to constantly prove wrong if you weren't around?"

Bradley scoffed, a tint of a smile tugging at his lips. "Asshole."

Jake shrugged. "It's in my nature. Now, can we please get the hell out of here?"

Bradley nodded, releasing Jake's elbow. In a dramatic fashion, he gestured for Jake to lead the way, looking up towards the rest of their journey to escape. But Bradley's eyes widened in horror as he saw the chunk of ceiling, metal, and wiring breaking loose directly above Jake.

"Jake, move!" Bradley bellowed, his voice echoing with urgency as he dropped to the ground, trying to drag Jake with him.

But in the chaos of falling water, blinking lights and cacophony of alarms, Jake was a split second too late to comprehend the warning fully. Just as he turned to see the descending danger, the heavy debris crashed down, the force of the impact throwing him off balance, rocking whatever remained of the grating they were standing on.

A metallic clang resonated sharply, followed by the splash of water as Jake was sent reeling backwards. The last thing Bradley saw, huddled against the wall, was the look of shock and realization in Jake's eyes, his silhouette disappearing beneath the surging tide of murky water, quickly consuming any trace of him.

Bradley, mouth agape, crawled over to the edge, Jake's call-sign a cry masked by the high-pitched alarms.

"Hangman!"

Bradley couldn't see him anywhere. Water continued to rush into the space, and Bradley, kneeling against the metal grating, tried to spot any area where Jake could manage to resurface. But with the power out and the pulsing red emergency lights, he couldn't see beyond the water's black surface.

Last call, I repeat, last call for evacuation and bail-out procedures.

Rooster pulled himself to stand, weighing his options.

He could jump and look for Jake. Despite the precarious situation they found themselves in, the water was still slow to fill the narrow stairwell. Bradley estimated he had minutes before the water became too much for him to handle.

Or he could leave, save himself. Say he did everything he could. That Jake was lost, the situation was too dire.

That Jake died a hero, trying to save him once again.

But it wasn't even a choice; the decision had already been made. It had been made the second your face appeared in front of his, and how it changed into a faded memory of his mom, collapsing to the ground at the news of his father's death. And Bradley, watching it all from behind the corner of a wall, forever feeling small.

But then it wasn't him as a child, but Sadie, the same look on her face the day the two of you walked up the driveway of your sister's place. The same look he found on her face the day she ran into your backyard, pulling at grass.

Jake would be another person for the both of you to mourn. He couldn't let that happen.

Bradley crossed his arms over his chest and jumped, diving under the water.

All he could see was black.

I had to cliffhanger you guys one last time with this one 😂 Please forgive me....

Tag list:

@blue-aconite @tinytotontheoversizedpony @djs8891 @caitsymichelle13 @startrekfangirl2233

@mayhemmanaged @ereardon @dempy @shanimallina87 @teacupsandtopgun @daggerspare-standingby

@phantomxoxo @formulapierre @eli2447 @fulla02 @blckgrl-sunflower @mizzzpink @ohgodnotagainn

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Part 21 - My Fair Lady Coming Soon 👀

-Wickett ;)

[overnowsfcb]

cindy lou who; rúben dias blurb

summary: hurts to realize you were the woman before the one

warnings: angst, alcohol abuse as a coping mechanism

note: this blurb is inspired by the song 'cindy lou who' by sabrina. im gonna make a new series with fruitcake ep so this is the first — venus 🫂💐🫧

You wished you hadn't turned on your phone, wished you hadn't opened Instagram with the intent of capturing the first time you felt a positive emotion after four months of doubting your worth.

That spontaneous happiness, your smile for the festivities, and your outgoing personality were snatched away in a second when you saw that photo on his Instagram. Your finger hovered, filled with sadness, analyzing his facial expression and his enamored gaze.

His lips on her cheek as she laughed, a flawless smile adorning her face with crimson lipstick highlighting her full lips.

You swiftly turned off your phone; you couldn't continue torturing yourself. But your mind denied you that possibility—how could you escape the unbearable alarm that had triggered in your mind? Just when you thought you'd found an exit, it turned out to be an illusion, and you were standing on the edge of the cliff all along.

Even your favorite song blaring through the club speakers wasn't going to stop you from unfairly reproaching yourself for not having been enough for him. Had you failed at something?

Perhaps you should have tried harder to reach his heart, even though you were just rubbing salt in the wound because, in your wisdom, you knew the limits he set in front of your actions to prevent you from crossing further.

Why with her? Why did she seem to have found that ingredient you had been searching for so desperately? Your chest burned. What kind of karma did you owe to endure this?

Could you even blame her? If she resembled a fallen angel from heaven with her white dazzling teeth and long, jet-black hair like Cleopatra, and you admitted that your assigned role in Rúben's life was to guide him, to accompany him to the final stop, to the dock.

And now, drowning in alcohol, your mind kept processing the treatment he surely gave her, everything he denied with you—introducing her to his family, sitting by the fireplace with her in his arms telling childhood stories, dreaming about a life together while kissing underneath the fireworks, feeling the explosive magic he didn't want with you but with her.

You downed another shot, the climax in your state that failed to make you forget about him, the whole room spinning around. Amidst your group of friends, you grabbed your best friend's hand, running to the bathroom where you vomited while she rubbed your back and tied up your hair. "He didn't deserve you," she whispered, watching as you finally crumbled, hugging the toilet.

A night where you thought you could return to your former self before his body was tattooed on your fingerprints like a spirit clinging to your shoulders, one that would forever haunt you turned into just another chapter with an open ending.

[tgmsunmontue]

Caring, Keeping and Collecting Transformers - A Guide 8/?

Maverick is unknowingly surrounded by Transformers. He knows something is up though. Just not quite what it is exactly.

Bradley and Jake, having never met, are embarking on their own journeys and will have to learn to deal with the fact that they've both been adopted by Transformers.

Despite having years more experience, Maverick is no help at all.

ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN

EIGHT

                When they go back downstairs Admiral Kazansky and Captain Mitchell are both standing at the opposite ends of the kitchen, looking angry. He chances a quick look with Bradley who simply rolls his eyes. Definitely weird.

                “Dinner should be here in about fifteen minutes.”

                “Thank you.”

                “Yeah. Thanks,” Bradley adds and Jake knows he considers these two men some type of parents but his whole attitude screams disrespect and Jake wonders when Bradley might get over himself. He doesn’t want to risk disciplinary action by association. Although, he supposes, Admiral Kazansky can definitely tell that it’s all on Bradley, which is a blessing. The silence is definitely awkward, and he doesn’t know what he can possibly talk about when every subject is a potential minefield, so silence seems like the best choice for now. Admiral Kazansky does offer drinks, of which only Captain Mitchell accepts, asking for a beer and for some reason there is huffs and eye rolling and Jake has no idea what is going on.

                Weird.

                The food finally arrives and they eat and make polite conversation, none of it of any substance. Jake desperately wants to ask how long Admiral Kazansky has known about Transformers. He also wants to ask Captain Mitchell what he’s worked on in the past, because he suspects he’s going to get to learn all about the mechanical workings and help build Jetfire. That’s something that has him buzzing, something he’s wanted to do since he was a kid and not been able to do and now being given even the chance has him excited.

                Dustdrift and Ninja are in the garage and he can tell that Captain Mitchell is itching to get out there. There are definitely more silent conversations happening around the table than there are actual spoken ones and he’s certain he feels almost glancing blows as either Admiral Kazansky or Captain Mitchell kick each other under the table. Or maybe Bradley is the one doing the kicking. Regardless, he draws his ankles under his chair where they’ll be safe from roaming kicks.

                When they’re finished Captain Mitchell automatically starts clearing the trash and stacking the used plates into the dishwasher, clearly comfortable in the Admiral’s house and a pleased smile breaks out on his face when Bradley goes to help him.

                “Oh…” Ice says, voice soft and Jake is fairly certain he hadn’t meant to make a sound. He looks at the domestic scene and wonders what it’s about. Before he can think about it too much Admiral Kazansky is pushing his chair back and inclining his head, clearly intending for Jake to follow him. He enters a study, large desk taking up a large portion of the room, there are photos, maps, books and knick-knacks he’d love to go and study but he stands there, very mindful that this is clearly a conversation Admiral Kazansky wishes to have in private. Or maybe to give Bradley and Captain Mitchell some privacy. Then Admiral Kazansky is reaching behind the door and handing Jake a set of khakis.

                “Here. They’re not up to current regulations but they’re still a step up from civvies.” Jake takes the coat hanger and looks, sees the Kazansky nameplate and his eyebrows shoot up. “They’re old, I was keeping them for sentimental reasons. And I would like them back, however we can make some exceptions given the current… situation.”

                “Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.”

                “Don’t speak too soon Lieutenant, we need to have a talk.”

                “Sir?”

                “Please, this is an informal talk. Very informal. I’m about to trust you with something that only a handful of people know.”

                Jake doesn’t know if he’s ready for state secrets, it’s bad enough knowing that his new knowledge of the Transformers is going to no doubt have a considerable impact on his career, and he doesn’t know if it will be positive of negative yet.

                “Do you have to tell me sir?”

                “Well, I have been informed it would be best for you to know, so that you are not caught by surprise should a… situation arise.”

                Jake has no fucking clue what sort of situation he could be referring to. They’ve already got fucking transforming robots, what else could there be? If it’s informal as it is?

                “Now generally this is very much a case of don’t ask –”

                His stomach plummets, skin instantly clammy and then his stomach is rushing back up and he swallows against the urge to throw up.

                “Did Bradley say something?”

                “What?”

                Jake snaps his mouth shut, mind racing back over the conversation he’d had earlier with Bradley. That they knew that Bradley was… not straight. That they were fine with it. Sort of. Fuck. What does any of that even mean?

                “Sorry sir. You were saying?”

                Admiral Kazansky’s eyes have narrowed and Jake swallows.

                “I’m gay and have been in a relationship with Captain Mitchell for twenty years. Give or take.”

                Jake’s sure his jaw hits the floor. Of all the things he was expecting, that was not it. Likewise the relief that floods through him makes his knees feel a little wobbly and he locks them tight. Bradley’s cryptic as fuck comments make way more sense now in hindsight.

                “Holy shit. Me too.” Admiral Kazansky’s eyebrows go up, and Jake is pretty sure his lips are twitching with amusement and he replays what he just said. “Uh. Just the gay part, not the relationship part…”

                “Yes. I gathered as much. Well. Pete thought it prudent that you were made aware it was a fact so that you could… avoid revealing said fact, even accidentally.”

                “Of course sir. Distract, deflect and divert right?”

                “I like your thinking lieutenant.”

…            …            …

                “Did you remember to tell him that he could have the other guest room?”

                “Shit. No. I forgot.”

                “So, we’ve just put two young men in a room with one bed, despite there being a perfectly empty second bedroom.”

                “Two young men who aren’t straight.”

                “Really? Huh. Well, it is possible they’re just…”

                “They met for the first time today. Bradley may have changed, but I don’t think he’d…”

                “I would have. Ha. I did.”

                “Jesus Mav, you aren’t reassuring me.”

                “Okay, how’s this for being reassuring. The guest bedroom they’re in is on the opposite side of the house and we won’t hear anything.”

                “Still not helping!”

                “He’s twenty-four – ”

                “Six.”

                “What?”

                “He’s twenty-six.”

                “No. I know… oh my god. You’re right. He’s twenty-six.”

                Pete’s voice breaks a little and Tom wraps his arms around him and holds him tight. He knows they’ll start building back their relationship from before, but it will be different and it will have scars and tender patches with bruises that will hurt for years, especially if either of them press too hard. They’re both a little too hot-headed and volatile sometimes and he can only hope that Seresin is calm and collected under pressure, because he’s fairly certain that their futures are all now intrinsically twisted together.

…            …            …

                “Holy shit, Admiral Kazansky is gay and in a relationship with Captain Mitchell.”

                “Uh. Did you figure that out, or are you asking me?” Bradley asks him, and he’s changed into a sleeveless undershirt and boxers, clearly getting ready for bed. Even used to communal living like he is it feels a lot more intimate with them in a room with a single large bed.

                “No. He just flat out told me. Said he was trusting me. Holy shit.”

                “Oh. Thank fuck.”

                “You knew,” Jake states, even though he already suspected that was the case.

                “Yeah, of course I did. Mav is my godfather and Ice is… Ice. Uncle Ice.”

                “Right. Makes sense that you’d know. Except you weren’t talking to them for the last few years because of the secret that your Bronco decided to spill… Weird coincidence that we’ve got a bunch of Transformers and naval aviators and none of the naval aviators are… straight,” Jake says. Because Bradley still hasn’t specified exactly how he identifies, and that’s fine, he might be a little curious, but he doesn’t have to know. It’s enough to know that he’s not actually alone in that respect either, not that he thought he was, but suspecting and knowing are two very distinct things and it’s making him feel quite buoyant.

                “Yeah, you’re right. Although if what Dustdrift said then they came to my dad first, and he was very much… actually. I’m assuming he was straight because he was married to my mom, but he could have been bisexual I guess.”

                “You’ve taken this whole thing really… calmly,” Jake states.

                “Well, I always suspected something was up, so today has just been the confirmation that I’m not actually going crazy and imagining the fact that I haven’t ever paid for gas…”

                “Well, I’ve got a horse truck that needs filling up if you want that life experience…”

                Bradley laughs and Jake finds himself smiling at the sound, because it’s somewhat of a relief that even after everything something as mundane as putting gas in a truck can somehow be funny. Also Bradley looks good, all happy and relaxed, his arms are nicely defined with muscle and yeah, he’s got long legs and Jake should probably stop staring. Not that Bradley seems to have noticed at all, which is a relief.

                “So, now that you know Mav isn’t using the other guest room, you’re welcome to it. We don’t have to share.”

                Jake blinks, a little taken aback, because that logistic hadn’t occurred to him. Of course Captain Mitchell is comfortable here, he likely spends a large chunk of time here, no wonder he simply started clearing the trash and packing the dishwasher, will be sleeping in Admiral Kazansky’s bedroom. Huh.

                “I’m the actual guest, surely you should go to the other room?”

                “Bullshit. I’m just as much a guest as you are. I’ve never lived here. Haven’t called any house of Mav’s or Ice’s home since I was eighteen.”

                “Yeah, and how long has that been then?”

                “Eight years.”

                “Oh. Huh.”

                “Just make up your mind. I don’t care. Less loads of washing if we share though.”

                “Yeah… yeah okay,” Jake agrees, because it’s a flimsy excuse but it’s still better than admitting he struggles to fall asleep when he’s not in a room with several other people, his time at USNA and now in bunks or racks meaning he needs the sound of other’s breathing to lull him to sleep.

NINE

[skiddiks]

Sky Reviews

transcript below.

Not Recommended 107.8 hrs on record Early Access Review POSTED: 20 July

Problems with SKY. - The daily candles earned to weekly candles spent ratio is unbalanced. Saving for two weeks to get the next TS doesn't work when there are events constantly that also require these candles. Especially with the Group TS rotations not accounting or accommodating for the market. - The daily play cycle. It's monotonous, encouraging a solid 2 hours to only get a fifth of the candles needed for one cosmetic, if that. You go in, you run for candles, getting 12 - 15 if you aren't running the whole map which is 49 areas (sans one completely void of any wax for some reason.) It encourages a grind mentality in which you don't want to miss a day, because that can set you back and risk you not having enough candles for the next event or spirit. When FOMO is incorporated into your game in a seemingly deliberate way, that's not good game design.

Fixes that could help - Increase the amount of daily candles earned. Make that max instead of 20/(21 if you're insane) to 30, or double it to 40 like the cosmetic prices. This is viable, without running the risk of running out of wax to farm, because of the bi-hourly events and the wax boosts. - Add more Wax events, there are so many areas that have no use outside of their season. When was the last time you visited Prairie Peaks (a no wax location) or the Repository outside of their seasons or getting the WLs?

For Peaks, there was that mechanic of taking photos of what the guide requested, which relied heavily on the environment (raining, sun, night, birds etc) that could be a nice hourly - daily task for people to complete for wax. For the Repository, we could fix up a space for one of the many spirits residing there, earning wax in return.

These add something more for the players to do in this vast world, another way to interact with it. The current state of the game is a F2P daily grind trying to get you to spend your fortnightly paycheck to keep up.