#pining for a girl while she's with your adopted brother

[emilyskinners]

#sapphic yearning

barbara kean & tabitha galavan in gotham 2x03 "the last laugh" // clary fray & izzy lightwood in shadowhunters 1x07 "major arcana"

[silkscream]

bullfight of love (part 2)

ੈ✩ choso x reader

ੈ✩ tags: 2000s au, coworkers, workplace relationship, film bro stuff, pining, car sex, oral sex, fingering

ੈ✩ wc: 5.1k

ੈ✩ a/n: sorry for the lack of proofreading also i feel like the references r annoying. just ignore them bc in this fic both of them are annoying <3

PART ONE

Choso does not call you. 

He does text you, occasionally, to talk about work and movies. Sometimes books and music, swapping recommendations. 

You notice that he reads at the register when the store’s empty. As the weeks pass, he runs through paperbacks like lightning. 90s manga, Ryu Murakami novels. He had a pensive reading face, dipping between serene and morose depending on the page. It was oddly fascinating. Brows knitted, nose twitching in a way that reflected light on his scar tissue.

He never says much. Barely greets you when he clocks in, opting for something of a nod and a noncommittal noise. He always smells like tobacco and incense.

You try to outdo each other when it comes to putting something on the big screen. Maki let you put on any tape you wanted as long as it wasn’t too graphic, which was the one rule the two of you ignored considering how often there were afternoon dry spells. 

You’d put Japanese New Wave, New Hollywood. 90s American trash when Choso could score edibles. He’d never tell you where he got them, always tight-lipped about sources. It annoyed you to no end.

“Nice shirt,” he drawls.

“Huh?” You look up from your stack to see Choso staring at you, gesturing to your chest. 

“Your shirt.” 

You look down at your oversized Deftones tee.

“You’re not gonna ask me to name five of their songs, are you?” 

He shakes his head, laughing. The fluorescents make his irises reflect hints of violet, you notice. He’s less dead-eyed today, which is saying something.

“Which album’s your favorite?” he asks.

“Around the Fur.”

“Basic.”

You frown, reaching over to press the price tagger against his chest. You pull the trigger. He laughs again, looking down.

“I’m only worth ten dollars?”

“Yes.”

He scoffs and returns to the register when he sees a girl waiting with a copy of Clueless. You watch as she twirls a braid around her finger, stumbling over her words as she tries (and fails) to make small talk with Choso. He’s stone-faced again as always – nothing like the feigned sneers shot at you – the poor girl.

You notice him stealing glances at you while you continue to stock. There’s a perpetual hint of a tiny smirk as he continues to be the cashier for the night. You smile at him and wrinkle your nose when you look his way and find him staring at you, goading your reaction on whatever stack of DVDs his customer has in hand.

The two of you decide to close out for the night an hour early. It’s dead in the store. While you vacuum, your ears perk up to footsteps on the main floor. You see a teenage boy with pinkish hair and bright eyes.

“Closing shop, kid,” you say. “And I’m not in the mood for a stray.”

“I’m looking for my brother!” he beams, blatantly ignoring your crabbiness.

You pinch your brows together. Did he mean Choso? The two looked nothing alike and sure as hell didn’t share a personality.

“You mean —”

“Yuuji? I thought I told you I’d meet you at the arcade.”

You raise a brow at Choso appearing from the back room door but decide to leave him and his… brother to their own devices. You watch them from the corner of your eye, noticing that despite Yuuji’s boyish face, they’re slightly similar in build. He must be adopted or fostered, you think. Played the part of a little brother like a sitcom favorite from how Choso looked at him.

“You’re not coming with me, then?”

“Nah. Fushiguro and I were gonna see Human Earthworm 5 but then he told me hasn’t seen the first four! So I came by to pick them up.”

“It’s a good thing you came before we closed,” Choso rolls his eyes. 

“Don’t you close in like an hour?”

“Finishing up early. Her idea.”

You scoff under your breath. There’s a pause.

“You weren’t exaggerating, man,” Yuuji mutters, barely hiding his voice. “She’s really pretty.”

“Dude.” 

You almost laugh. Your smirk fades when you realize that your heart is beating a bit faster.  Liking Maki back then was stupid enough – a terrible cliche to fantasize about. Storage room fucking, sneaking around on the clock. How tacky. And you already checked off one of those fantasies.

The drama wasn’t worth it. It’s absurd to know that you had done that with Choso. It was why you avoided the back room at all costs. After you two had fucked, neither of you spoke of it again.

“Sorry,” Yuuji says, smiling sheepishly. “I��ll see you later, man!”

“Onii-chan,” Choso reminds him.

“Onii-chan.”

“Do you mind if I take the car?” 

“What– then how am I supposed to get home–”

“Pleaaaaase, Onii-chan? Fushiguro lives far from the bus stop!”

Choso grumbles as he fishes his car keys out of his pocket. Yuuji nearly vibrates from excitement as he takes them.

You wait until he leaves to flash a grin. Choso makes eye contact with you and groans.

“Don’t.”

“Onii-chan, huh?”

“Shut up.”

Your grin only widens. 

“He’s cute. Looks nothing like you, though.”

“We’re, uh, half-brothers,” Choso mutters. “And he’s off-limits.”

“Wasn’t interested,” you scoff. “He’s gotta be in high school, right?”

“And you’re not?” Choso raises a brow. 

He laughs at your expression immediately souring and you hate that the sound makes your heart flutter. 

“I’m kidding,” he snorts. “I’d be in jail if that was the case.”

You blush, remembering the last time you were intimate. You huff.

“You know Fushiguro? That’s Toji’s son.”

“Oh shit, really? I never met the kid’s family, I guess.”

You notice Choso checking out a copy of The Ring.

“Is that what you’re getting up to on a Friday night?” 

“Yup. I haven’t gotten around to seeing it yet.”

“Dude, seriously? S’a classic. One of my favorites.”

“You’re welcome to join,” he shrugs. It’s nonchalant. Given his brother's previous teasing, you’d think there would be an air of eagerness around him. The fact that there isn’t only makes your stomach lurch.

“Maybe,” you mumble. “Got some errands to run.”

“It’s cool.” He hikes up the messenger bag he brings to work over his shoulder. It’s right then that you notice how broad he is. Built well, almost like an athlete. Collarbones like a Greek god and a face as pretty as the J-pop idols you used to like. You think back to your past tryst, how his muscles rippled in the dingy office lighting. The sweat on his brow when he moaned.

He leans in to poke your arm to grab your attention.

“Huh?”

“I said, are you ready to lock up?”

“Oh. Uh, yeah,” you mutter. You grab your bag and follow him out. He helps you drag the security gate down. 

“Text me if you change your mind.”

“Yeah. For sure.”

–

You do not change your mind.

Not yet, anyway. You sip a milkshake in the food court, people-watching to pass the time. You couldn’t think about being alone with Choso right now. 

It takes you a bit to muster up the energy to leave. For some reason, you feel exhausted despite closing early. Your shifts were relatively easy, and it helped that being on shift with Choso was usually entertaining. The banter never got old. 

Fuck, you needed to shake the thought of him out of your head. The sex was a one-time thing. His nonchalance made you sure of that.

When you make your way to your car, you see him. He balances a cigarette between his lips as he laughs, surrounded by the usual mall rats you see on nights like these. Some of them you had recognized from high school. They were drop-out skaters who liked to flirt with you sometimes, their toothy grins stained yellow and their tiny waists drowning in cargo pants.

You watch one of the girls flirt with Choso. She’s blonde and thin, and you wonder if she’s his type. Despite the clashing of styles, they look good together. You pretend it doesn’t make you bitter. There’s no reason for the sight to make you bitter. You shouldn’t be staring at him at all — you’re supposed to be walking to your fucking car.

It starts to drizzle, but the crowd doesn’t move. You watch them and convince yourself that maybe he’s isn’t that attractive. But the cigarette in between his lips looks enticing. He probably tastes like tobacco. Mint and eucalyptus like the way he smells. You briefly remember the kisses you shared in the backroom and your stomach clenches with want.

“You,” he beckons to you. You freeze. “Thought you left already.”

You try to ignore all the eyes on you. Your tunnel vision only focuses on him, anyway. 

“Told you I had, uh, errands.”

“Right.”

“Uh-huh,” you clear your throat. “Can I bum a cig?”

He reaches into his pocket for a pack of red Marlboros, handing you one and waiting until it’s between your lips to light it for you. You chuckle lightly when you see it’s a white lighter.

“What?” he grins. 

“You don’t know about the white lighter thing? So many members of the 27 club had a white lighter on them when they died.”

“Like who?”

“Hendrix, Cobain, Morrison…”

“Then it’s an American thing,” he laughs. “I’ll survive.”

“I hope you do.”

He smiles back at you sheepishly, fixing his hair with his hands. He’s almost bashful for a second, but he’s too good at acting casual for you to catch him completely off-guard. 

Before he can respond, a hug of thunder booms above you. Distracted by the frenzy of everyone scrambling to head out, grumbling about the looming storm.

“Do you want a ride?” you blurt out.

He looks at you carefully, then cracks a smile. “Sure.”

___

Much to your annoyance, Choso is a little high, meaning he has no problem turning the dial on your car radio the whole time he’s in the car.

“You’re picky,” you mutter.

“I have taste,” Choso murmurs. “The radio does not.”

“I have like, a billion CDs in the dashboard. Go crazy.”

He smirks, amused, opening the drawer to flip through the albums you have in a thick CD wallet. They’re mostly your mothers – 90s Shibuya-kei and some early city pop you grew up on, along with a fair collection of Western music you’ve acquired over the years. To your surprise, he picks a Faye Wong CD.

“Good choice,” you mutter. He hums in response.

The ride to his house is quiet despite the album. You almost regret your offer, embarrassed about the slight panic you feel as the rain hits harder than expected. You never fucking liked driving anyway – it was why you wanted to move closer to the subway.

The only sounds in the car are Faye Wong’s haunting vocals and the pitter-patter of the rain. Choso glances at you, his expression stoic and unreadable as he watches you drive, but there’s a hint of something else in his eyes. A mix of anticipation and something else that you can’t quite pinpoint. After a few minutes of driving, Choso finally speaks up, his voice low and almost hesitant. 

“Turn at the next exit—” he mutters, breaking the silence that had fallen between the two of you.

“I know,” you chuckle.

“Choso pauses for a moment, a hint of mild surprise on his face. He had expected you to ask for directions, but you seem to know where you’re going without further instructions. He lets out a low scoff, his expression relaxing slightly. 

“You know my neighborhood?” he mutters, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Stalking me, boss?”

“I read your application, dumbass. Plus, I used to babysit around here.”

“Oh. Which family? I might know them.”

“The Fushiguros, actually. Toji used to live around here.”

“You used to babysit Megumi?” Choso asks in surprise.

“Mhm. I thought I heard your brother talking about him in the store.”

“Yeah,” he nods. “They’re best friends. You used to babysit him, huh?”

You hum. “Mhm. Cute kid. Quiet.”

“Still quiet. Though Yuji never shuts up about him.”

“It’s nice that he has friends. Toji used to say that I was the only one Megumi was never nice to,” you chuckle.

“Kid’s got good taste, then,” Choso mutters.

He points you towards his street. The closer you get to his neighborhood, the more residential it gets, and it’s oddly barren. Quiet and suburban, with no one other cars passing you.

As you take a turn, the rain gets even heavier, obscuring your view. The windshield wipers fight against the torrential downpour as the tires slide to the right.

“Fuck,” you curse under your breath. You clutch the steering wheel tightly with paling knuckles. Your piece of shit car could barely handle snow, but it survived in the rain, at least. Right now, you aren’t so sure. The car seems to skid into something that makes one of the tires pop.

“Shit," Choso mutters, gripping the door handle. "You okay?"

You nod, trying to slow your breathing. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just...fuck."

The car lurches to a stop at the side of the road. You turn off the ignition with shaky hands and sit back, exhaling slowly.

"Looks like we popped a tire," Choso says, peering out the window. "And this rain isn't letting up."

You groan, letting your head fall back against the headrest. "Great. Just great."

“Do you have a spare?”

“No,” you moan, pinching the bridge of your nose.

"Hey, it's alright," Choso says, his voice softer than you've ever heard it. "Let’s wait out the storm here. I can call my brother.”

He reaches over and gently pries one of your hands off the wheel, giving it a reassuring squeeze. The unexpected touch makes your breath hitch.

You know he's right, but the thought of being trapped in the car with him makes your stomach flutter nervously. Still, you nod in agreement and watch as he calls Yuji. The phone goes to voicemail immediately, to both of your dismay. He shoots a couple of texts and locks his phone in a huff.

An awkward silence falls between you as the rain pounds against the roof of the car. You're hyper-aware of Choso's presence beside you, the warmth of his hand on yours moments ago still lingering on your skin.

The silence stretches on, broken only by the rhythmic drumming of rain and the occasional rumble of thunder. You steal a glance at Choso, catching him staring out the window with a furrowed brow. His usually composed demeanor seems slightly shaken.

"Some road trip this turned out to be," you joke, attempting to break the tension.

Choso turns to you, a wry smile playing on his lips. "Not quite the adventure we had in mind, huh?"

You can't help but chuckle. "Definitely not. Though I suppose being stranded in a storm is pretty adventurous."

"True," he agrees, his smile widening. "Though I'd prefer less life-threatening adventures in the future."

The casual mention of a "future" makes your heart skip a beat. You try to push the feeling aside, reminding yourself that he probably didn't mean anything by it.

Suddenly, a crack of lightning illuminates the sky, followed immediately by a deafening clap of thunder. You jump, inadvertently grabbing Choso's arm.

"Sorry," you mumble, quickly letting go and feeling heat rise to your cheeks.

"It's okay," he says softly, his voice barely audible over the rain. "I don't mind."

The rain continues to pour, creating a hypnotic rhythm on the roof of the car. You find yourself relaxing slightly, the initial panic of the situation fading into a strange sense of calm. Choso's presence beside you is oddly comforting.

"You know," Choso begins, his voice low and thoughtful, "I used to be terrified of thunderstorms when I was a kid."

You turn to look at him, surprised by this sudden admission. His eyes are fixed on the raindrops racing down the windshield, a faraway look in them.

"Really?" you ask softly, encouraging him to continue.

He nods, a small smile playing on his lips. "Yeah. My mom... she used to tell me that the thunder was just the sky's way of singing. Said the lightning was its dance moves."

There's a tenderness in his voice that you've never heard before. It makes your heart ache in a way you can't quite explain.

"That's… cute," you murmur. "Did it help?"

Choso chuckles, the sound warm and rich. "Not really. But it made me feel less alone, you know? Like the sky was putting on a show for me or something.”

“Toji’s kids used to be scared of thunderstorms too. I used to make blanket forts with Megumi and his sister and put on movies to distract them.”

“What movies?” Choso grins. “Chucky?”

You snort. “No, asshole. Kids’ movies. I’m not evil.”

“Sure, you’re not,” he says teasingly.

“Do I seem evil?”

“No. But you’re a bit… uh…" Choso trails off.

“A bit what?” You furrow your brows.

“A bit... intense sometimes," Choso finishes, his eyes flickering to yours. "In a good way, I mean."

You raise an eyebrow. "Intense?"

He shrugs, a hint of a smirk on his lips. "Yeah. You've got this... energy about you. Like you're always thinking about ten steps ahead of everyone else. You’re intriguing."

You're not sure how to respond to that. Part of you wants to be flattered, but another part feels oddly exposed.

"Intriguing, huh?" you murmur, your voice barely above a whisper. "Is that why you've been watching me at work?"

Choso's eyes widen slightly, a faint blush creeping up his neck. "I... didn't think you noticed."

"I notice a lot of things," you say, leaning in slightly. "Like how you always smell like cigarettes and incense. Or how you bite your lip when you're concentrating on something."

“You've been watching me too, then."

You smile, feeling a surge of boldness. "Maybe I have."

Choso hums, his eyes linger on your mouth for a beat longer than you expect.

“I can never tell what you’re thinking when you look at me,” you say before you can stop yourself.

Choso's eyes flicker back up to meet yours, a hint of amusement in them. "Maybe that's the point," he says softly.

You feel a shiver run down your spine that has nothing to do with the cold rain outside. The air between you feels charged, like the electricity crackling in the storm clouds above.

"And what is the point, exactly?" you ask, your voice barely above a whisper.

Choso leans in closer, his breath warm on your cheek. "To keep you guessing," he murmurs. "To make you wonder."

Your heart is pounding in your chest now, so loud you're sure he must be able to hear it. 

"Wonder about what?" you breathe.

You turn to look at him and your breath catches in your throat. Even in the dim light, his features are striking. His long eyelashes frame his sharp eyes, and a few strands of damp hair stick to his forehead. You have a sudden, overwhelming urge to brush them away.

Choso's eyes meet yours, and for a moment, time seems to stand still. You're acutely aware of how close you are, the confined space of the car suddenly feeling much smaller. His gaze flickers to your lips for a fraction of a second before returning to your eyes.

Your heart races as you realize he hasn't moved away. If anything, he seems to be leaning closer. You swallow hard, trying to find your voice.

"Um—"

Another flash of lightning cuts you off, but this time you don't jump. You're too entranced by the way it illuminates Choso's face, casting shadows that accentuate his jawline and the curve of his lips.

He reaches out, his hand hovering near your face for a moment before he gently tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. His touch is feather-light, but it sends shivers down your spine.

"You were saying?" he prompts, his voice low and husky.

Your heart beats fast. What the fuck were you even going to say?

Do you want to watch a movie sometime? Do you think about that night as much as I do?

You take a deep breath, trying to calm your racing heart. "I was just thinking...mabout that night in the store. Do you ever think about it?"

Choso's eyes widen slightly, but he doesn't pull away. "Yeah," he admits softly. "More than I probably should."

His honesty catches you off guard. You expected deflection or maybe even denial. "Really?"

He nods, a wry smile playing on his lips. "It's not every day you get caught jerking off by your hot coworker who then proceeds to fuck you senseless."

You can't help but laugh, some of the tension dissipating. "Fair point."

"What about you?" he asks, his gaze intense. "Do you think about it?"

You nod, not trusting your voice. The air between you feels charged, electric.

Choso shifts slightly, angling his body towards you. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," you murmur.

"Why did you do it? Was it just… I don't know, pity? Horniness? Boredom?"

You're taken aback by the vulnerability in his voice. It occurs to you that maybe he's been dwelling on this as much as you have.

“I don’t know. Kind of thought it’d be funny.”

“You thought it’d be funny?”

“What? It was like a bad porn plot.”

“Wow, okay,” he scoffs. “I almost thought maybe you liked me or something.”

"I— I do,” you mumble. “I did it because I do. Because I… wanted you.”

Choso's eyes darken at your words. "And now?" he asks, his voice low and husky.

Your breath catches in your throat. "Now?"

He nods, leaning in closer. "Do you still want me?"

The air between you feels electric, charged with anticipation. You can feel the warmth of his breath on your skin.

"Yes," you whisper, your eyes flicking down to his lips.

There's a beat of silence, the only sound of the rain pounding against the car roof. You're acutely aware of how close you are to each other in the confined space of the car, the sound of rain creating a cocoon around you both. You look away from him shyly, which makes him touch your cheek to turn your face towards him.

“Do— do you—”

Choso cuts you off and closes the distance between you, pressing his lips to yours in a kiss that's both gentle and urgent. You respond immediately, your hands coming up to tangle in his hair as you deepen the kiss. He groans into your mouth, the sound sending a jolt of heat straight to your core.

His hands roam your body, reacquainting themselves with your curves. When he palms your breast through your shirt, you arch into his touch, breaking the kiss to gasp.

"Fuck," Choso mutters, his voice rough.

He leans in again, this time trailing kisses along your jaw and down your neck. When he reaches the sensitive spot just below your ear, you let out a soft moan. You feel him smile against your skin before he nips gently at the spot, soothing it with his tongue.

Your hands roam over his chest, feeling the hard planes of muscle beneath his shirt. You tug at the hem, suddenly desperate to feel his skin against yours.

Choso pulls back, his eyes meeting yours as he quickly pulls his shirt over his head. The sight of his bare chest, adorned with intricate tattoos, makes your mouth go dry. You reach out, tracing the lines of ink with your fingertips.

He shudders at your touch, his eyes fluttering closed for a moment. When he opens them again, there's a fire in his gaze that makes heat pool in your belly.

"Your turn," he murmurs, his hands finding the hem of your shirt.

You lift your arms, allowing him to pull it off. His eyes roam over your exposed skin hungrily, and you feel a blush creep up your chest under his intense gaze.

“Jesus. I still can’t get over how hot you are.”

You roll your eyes before leaning in to kiss him again. This time, it’s all teeth and tongue. Messy. Choso tastes even better before, you think, but you don’t quite remember. You’ve been chasing that taste for weeks now and here he was – all tobacco and mint in your mouth.

He pulls you to the backseat, sets you down on the leather. Legs hiked up around his waist, your sneakers up on the window. He can feel his dick jump in his pants when he hears you mewl into his mouth like a kitten, his hand flicking the peak of your breast.

It’s a struggle for him to take off his jeans with how tight the backseat is. Your breath hitches when you feel his cock settle in between the crease of your bare thighs. It’s different, having him this close, bare skin touching. 

He sucks a mark on your collarbone that almost feels loving. You feel drunk from his touch, from his fingers toying with your clit. You need him embedded into your skin. Tattoo crush.

“Feel good, baby?” HIs voice is low, nearly purring.

You hum in satisfaction. “Need you in me.”

“You sure?” The expression on his face is genuine, tender. You respond with an incredulous look. He chuckles.

To spite you, he leans and kisses over the skin between of your breasts. Descending licks, tasting the salt of your skin until he’s curled up, pushing your thighs forward so he has enough room to put his face full in your cunt. You moan at the feeling of his tongue, hot and warm against you. 

His fingers split you open in tandem with his tongue fucking you. You wanted him deep, imprinted in you. You gasp as you come, his fingers reaching somewhere yours could never touch.

He kisses you messily, grinning into it.

“Tastes good.”

“Shut up.”

You want to jump his bones, make a home from his lap. But he’s so big, his hands grasping the silk of your thighs with intent. You groan when you feel his tip prodding you, slowly sinking until he bottoms out. Choso represses any noise from his mouth, biting his lip hard enough to bleed.

“Don’t do that,” you huff. “Wanna hear you.”

He sighs, gripping you tightly, warm-bellied. Tight in your cunt. It feels crazier to him now than before – the spontaneity had driven his lust the first time, but now, it was all built-up emotion. Weeks of yearning and playing it cool, his stomach collapsing in on itself whenever you even looked at him. 

And now, you’re moaning from him like you want him. You do want him. Choso has always found it easy to get laid, but with you, he felt like he was walking on eggshells. Like he could’ve fucked up at any moment, that the time in the back room was just a fluke. The look in your glassy ways say otherwise. 

His pace moves faster and your eyes roll back like he’s knocking the stars out of you. An angel falling. You can barely keep your eyes open and your mouth shut with the way he feels inside you, hitting every spot that has your whole body feel like it’s levitating. 

Choso’s fingers thread through your hair as he kisses you. He marvels at the softness of all of you – your mouth like melted wax, hair knotted in daisy chains underneath his fingertips. Precious.

“Fuck,” he breathes. “You’re so fucking pretty.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah – feels so… shit—”

The desperation is getting to him from the way he ruts into you. Desire leaves his nerves on fire. The kisses you litter on his neck from below certainly don’t help. He’s weak to all of it – all of you. You moan loudly after a particularly hard thrust and he feels himself on the edge already.

You whimper. “Don’t slow down–”

“Gonna cum if I don’t,” Choso groans.

“I’m so close, please,” you beg. “Come with me—”

“Shit—”

“Choso, Choso, please—”

He lifts one of your legs over his shoulder and you nearly scream. He’s deeper — you feel him everywhere, up to your stomach, your heart. He pushes a palm lightly on top of your stomach and you can feel yourself ready to cry.

“I’m gonna – oh, fuck,” he gasps. 

“Me too,” you whimper.

He looks at you like he’s lovesick. Your nails dig into his broad shoulders as your eyes shut tightly, your mouth fallen open into an “O” as you mewl like something wounded. Your orgasm hits you like a tidal wave, washing all over you. He groans as his thrusts gets sloppier, until you feel his warmth fill you.

He keeps rocking into you, nose in your neck as he rides out his high. Thunder booms above you.

Once he’s spent, he pulls out of you, fumbling with some napkins he pulls from the seat pocket to clean up the mess. There’s a buzzing – his forgotten phone is on the floor, lit up with Yuji’s name. He curses under his breath.

You look at him, amused, as he stares at the thing.

“Pick it up.” You nudge his stomach with your foot.

He huffs, but obeys. “Hey, man. What? I didn’t have… service. That’s why. Yeah, I– uh, got a ride home and her tire blew out…”

You snicker as you pull your clothes back on, which earns you a glare. You watch him hang up and sigh. 

“Your brother coming to the rescue?” you ask.

“Yup.”

“What a good boy.”

He narrows his eyes at you, but doesn’t say anything else. He pulls his clothes on and sits beside you, examining the shadows on your face as you both listen to the rain.

“That was good,” you mumble.

He laughs dryly. “Yeah… it was.”

More seconds of silence. Choso clears his throat.

“Do you want to go out with me?” he blurts out.

You raise your brows and try not to laugh. “Aren’t we a little past that?”

“You know what I mean. Go on a date with me. Come over and watch The Ring with me.”

“Are you sure you’re not just trying to coax me into a round two?” you grin.

Choso studies you for a moment. Looks at you with a deadpan expression in his eyes. “I absolutely am trying to coax you into a round two.” A pause.

“But also, I want your company.”

Your face warms up with a smile. You feel overripe, sweet and slightly bruised. Wanting. Your lashes flutter at him.

“Deal.”

[sugarushwriting]

thinking about frat boy heesueng and you have a crush on him, but it’s one sided. but you don’t care, he’s hot. only…..the ending result is not what you both thought.

nsfw 👇🏽

please note i give my lead female characters name rather than using “y/n” simply because it feels more like a storyline to me. you can always change the name to yours, ignore any details of the girl, but that’s just how i write.

not proof read!!! please reblog and share!! pt 2 maybe? if anyone of the boys names are misspelled I AM SORRY, my phone autocorrects and sometimes i don’t catch it!!!

please do not copy or translate my work!!

ᐢ. .ᐢ₎ ₊˚⊹♡

“are you actually gonna talk to him or try and make a move?” your college dorm roomie asked.

you and her were at a frat party, chi omicron (ΧΟ), one of the most popular fraternities on campus.

and the “him” she was referring to was lee hesseung. tall, gorgeous, great smile, and extremely funny. also the biggest man-whore in the fraternity, but he and everyone knows that.

you sighed, taking a sip from your red cup of disgusting alcohol. ni-ki was the worst at bartending drinks and you make note to tease that to him later.

you look up to see heeseung across the room talking to another frat brother, park sunghoon.

thanks to ni-ki, (the nickname you gave him and he just started letting everyone else call him that), you knew almost all his frat brothers in chi omicron. the ones you were most familiar with was, lee heeseung, park jay, sim jake, park sunghoon, kim sunoo, yang jungwon, and ni-ki himself. while the first four were in their third year of college like yourself, sunoo and jungwon were in their second year, ni-ki his first.

you’ve known ni-ki since you were younger simply because his older sister and you were on the same cheer team growing up and he became a baby brother to you as you were the only child. while his older sister went to a different country for college, you stayed back, and soon learned ni-ki would be following.

“babe, you have to act on this crush instead of pining.” your roommate said.

“don’t you think i know that lara?” you groaned in frustration while trying to pull down your mini (mini) skirt, she convinced you to wear. “heeseung is like, almost untouchable for me. one, the crush is one sided, second he doesn’t even know who i am!”

“he doesn’t know many of the girls he sleeps with.” lara laughs while patting you on the shoulder.

“well most of them have some type of social life.” you huffed. the only time you had a social life was when lara was dragging you to frat parties, or hanging out with ni-ki and sometimes his own friends (mostly jungwon, jake and sunoo).

you look at heeseung, only to notice he was actually checking you out. him eyeing you up and down didn’t go unnoticed, neither did him biting his lip.

meanwhile, heeseung had stopped listening to sunghoon the minute he laid eyes on you. fresh meat, he thought. he doesn’t remember seeing you around, although you did look slightly familiar.

“hey! are you listening to me?” sunghoon whined and slapped heeseung. heeseung finally took his eyes off you to look at his frat brother. when sunghoon saw who had heeseung’s attention, sunghoon chuckled.

“finally noticed eunjin?” sunghoon chuckled and heeseung looked shocked. “eunjin is always nearby, how do you not recognize her? she’s like ni-ki’s adoptive older sister!”

sunghoon explained how sometimes when ni-ki stop by the 4’s house nearby, she’s sometimes with him. (the frat house is actually 2 doors down from the older boys house as they refused to live in a frat house that would be used for parties every weekend).

“she’s hot.” heeseung smirked as his eyes went back to you. now you were in deep conversation with the girl beside you and ni-ki. now that he’s seen ni-ki beside you, he recognizes you—sort of.

“of course you haven’t noticed her yet until now. you only pay attention to girls who are throwing themselves at you or girls you just want to get your dick wet with.” sunghoon laughed.

“well now i want my dick wet by her.” heeseung drowned his drink in one go.

“might be easy, she has a crush on you, i heard from sunoo.” it was jay who revealed this information as he overheard a bit of their conversation.

even better, heeseung thought to himself. he was just shocked you haven’t approached him yet. a devilish smirk came to be. must be introverted and shy.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

meanwhile, you don’t know how much time has passed, but you were enjoying your time with lara, her friends and ni-ki.

“i have to go to the bathroom!” you announced.

“no eunjin, don’t break the seal!” one of the girls teased, but you couldn’t help it. you were only halfway done with your second cup, kind of still with it—not too tipsy, but still with it, and your bladder was screaming.

lara asked if you needed help finding a bathroom, but you were fine with ni-ki’s directions giving you special permission to use one upstairs.

after your business, you checked yourself in the mirror, applying more lip gloss to your lips. thankfully your hair still looked good as when you first left the dorm. no frizz in sight. your short black jean skirt was still properly done and the black tight corset top you had on, helped align your figure more, and worked with the boobs you had.

leaving the bathroom, you hadn’t expected to run into no other than the lee heeseung.

“oop, i-i’m sorry.” you apologized with a slight bow.

“it’s okay cutie.” he smiled when you looked up to him. “eunjin right?” he asked and you nodded. you tucked a piece of your hair behind your ear. you’ve imagined talking to him so many times, even thought about how you would get him to bed. turns out, it actually was easy as you thought.

“heard you had a little crush on me, huh?” he teased. you don’t know how he found that out, but you decided that was a problem for another time.

you ended up in a room upstairs with heeseung, and as soon as he shut and locked the door, he leaned in to kiss you.

you kissed him back immediately, wrapping your arms around his neck, has his hands went straight to your ass. he gave a light squeeze, your mouth opening slightly, inviting his tongue in.

you don’t know how long you made out with him, but you ended up straddling heeseung on the edge of the bed, grinding against his lap, his arms wrapped around you tightly. when you both finally came for air, and rested your foreheads together, you could only think about how soft his lips were.

heeseung could only think about how good you felt and how much better you were about to feel to him.

“suck me off.” heeseung didn’t even ask, basically demanded. but you had no problem with complying.

he helped unbutton his belt and pants, only enough to free his cock waiting for your mouth. he twirled a piece of your hair around his finger, licking his lips.

you got straight to sucking him off, bracing your hands on his thighs to balance yourself. heeseung saw stars. his right hand went straight into your hair, his left balancing himself on the bed as he whimpered at the feeling of your mouth wrapped around him. you even had some tricks up your sleeve—or rather your mouth—and he wondered how in the fuck did you know how to do that.

he was coming—close. he abruptly pulled you up by your arm, and apologized if he was a little rough. “don’t wanna come in your mouth pretty.” he smiled, and gestured for you to lay on the bed.

he was skilled, wrapping up in a condom, and pulling down your panties and hiking your skirt up to your waist. he kissed each of your thighs once.

heeseung wanted nothing but to have his head between your legs, but if he did, he was coming too quick and wouldn’t be able to fuck you right. he wanted his dick wet with your pussy clamped around him.

he hovered over you, as confusion clouded your face. he wasn’t going to go down on you, you thought. you were too nervous to ask.

heeseung kissed you once on the lips, a quick peck, and nuzzled his face in your neck.

he could literally combust as soon as he put his tip in. without warning, he emptied every inch of him in you, your walls immediately clamping down, and a gasp escaping your lips, and then a moan from the back of your throat.

“shit, you feel so good around me, pretty.” he moaned and slowly began thrusting, looking down at were you met, only causing him to want to thrust harder and faster to chase his high.

heeseung sat up, wrapping your legs around his waist, as he began pounding you intensely, your bodies and moans the only sounds that could be heard from the room.

heeseung wasn’t going to last much longer with the way you were gripping him.

he loved the way those sounds came out your mouth. the moans, whimpers, groans, and his name. “that’s right pretty, i’m the one making you feel this good.” he groaned, and his hands tightened on your things. his finger reached down between you both, as he rubbed your clit. your head tilted backwards as you bit down on your lip to quiet some of the sounds.

heeseung tsked. “i want to hear how good i am making you feel. i don’t give a damn who hears.” he added pressure to your clit.

your pussy clamped up, and your hands gripped his forearms, and he was thankful he could feel your own orgasm coming.

“that’s it pretty, come for me.” heeseung called out, and soon, your legs and hands gripped him tighter as you moaned out his name. heeseung bent down to cover you as he thrusted even harder if possible as he came and whimpered into your neck.

both of you breathing hard, heeseung kissed your neck, chin, cheek, then your lips with a smile, trying to catch his breath.

when he pulled out, both of you groaned from the loss of feeling one another, and as heeseung took off the condom to toss, you hurriedly got up and went to the bathroom.

heeseung sat up on his elbows confused, but then remembered girls gotta pee after sex or some shit to prevent utis. usually girls would be too tired to even get out of bed, giving him endless praises of how that was the best sex of their life.

after that usually came the, “can we cuddle” or “can i get your number for next time,” which heeseung would always deny and state he only slept with girls once to prevent any clinginess from them (didn’t always work though). so, heeseung was prepared for the same talk with you, although it felt funny to him to have to tell you that.

as you finished in the bathroom, heeseung had only wished he hadn’t drink as much as he did, so he could’ve lasted a lot longer. he wanted to be between your legs, and worship your body as it should have been, but as soon as he kissed you, he knew he had to be inside you. shameful he only fucked you for about 10 minutes rather than hours.

he pulled up his boxers and pants and was buckling his belt when you came out the bathroom with a smile on your face.

here it goes, he thought, but before he could reject you, you said,

“thank you, heeseung.” and left.

just like that.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

time passed, as you eventually made your way back downstairs to lara, a knowing look on her face as she whispered how she saw heeseung go up after you. she wanted every detailed, and you promised to give it to her at the dorm. first, you needed a strong ass drink.

it was almost 2:30 am so this would probably be your last drink before heading back to the dorms.

you and lara walked into the kitchen, and jay was back to making drinks and you couldn’t be more thankful.

“i just need something strong and good.” you told him. when you asked about ni-ki, jake laughed and said sunoo and jungwon had to take him back to the dormitory as he had a little too much to drink.

you laughed and welcomed the drink jay made you and at that time, heeseung made his way back down to the party. still in a daze and shock he was.

when he saw you were in the kitchen with his friends, he was a little relieved. cause then maybe with you still being here, it meant you would find a way to cling to him the rest of the night, and then ask for his number cause it was just the best night of your life.

but it didn’t happen.

you stayed next to jake and lara, and mingled with every one of his frat brothers, but him. you even laughed at something sunghoon said. heeseung drowned his 5th or 6th cup for the night, and when sunghoon told him to slow down, he was just given side eyes and “i’m fine.”

you barely looked his way. he even purposely came by jake, pretending he was grabbing something, but instead of leaning towards him, you gave him space,

at 3:00 am on the dot, you and your roommate were on your way out the frat, with a few other people.

while walking to your dorm, lara asked for details as she couldn’t wait any longer.

you sighed and shrugged. “it was good, nothing special. i gave him head, he fucked me, we both came, at least he knew where the clit was, end of story.”

“he didn’t even go down on you? finger you?” lara screeched and you shook your head no.

“next time, go for the muncher of the group.”

₍ᐢ. .ᐢ₎ ₊˚⊹♡

[babey-fruit-bat]

Molliter Nix Cadit - Softly the Snow Falls

Caracalla goes to great lengths to cure your home sickness, in more ways than one 💍🎄🥂✨

Please Note:

Slight time skip, fast slow-burn, strangers to lovers

Not sure if this will be OOC for Caracalla- author has not seen movie but has seen some spoilers - I heard Dondus is a boy in the movie- author took creative liberties and she’s a gal now

Reader wears braids in hair and is referred to as female- no other descriptors !! Viking/Norse communities ‘adopted’ people from all walks of life and never had just one ‘look’

Language translations list at the end of story (It’s just Google translate rip) xx

🕯️🕊️🎄🥂🕯️🕊️🎄🥂🕯️🕊️🎄🥂🕯️🕊️🎄🥂🕯️

Rome seemed worlds away from your home the closer and closer you got to city center

The sounds, smells, and colors were dulled to your senses as you were brought before the young emperors through the palace gates

Your home in the North had seen much destruction, not from the romans, but other enemy ships and villages

And so you’d fled away with other young woman and children in hopes of peace, of freedom

You should have known it wouldn’t be so simple

You stood facing petty theft from a roman carriage with food, you plead in your broken tongue as best you could for them to spare you- the bread in your hands ripped and flung away

It was fate that Geta had allowed Caracalla to bring Dondus to the city hearings today to keep his boredom and episodes at bay- she was usually always able to calm him

The bread landed close to the emperors feet and Dondus leapt down at once, never one to turn away a snack

With tears in your eyes you watched as a pet was allowed the full loaf over you and you hung your head in defeat- your fate was in their hands

Ever the lady, Dondus ran to share a piece of bread with her master, looking at you with her wide eyes

Caracalla took the piece of bread and popped it in his mouth before speaking

“Where is she from? She’s not Roman, nor Greek?”

A guard bowed and spoke “She hails from the North, the savage lands”

His eyes glittered darkly realizing she was so far from home, from family or friends- only you, all alone, and what was a poor girl to do? Caracalla could use some fun, he’d tired from the same concubines and you looked so different from any Roman citizens

Your hair in serval braids marking victories over your enemies while on the road, dark eye makeup and clothing to blend into the grey, cold Earth- you stuck out like a sore thumb in the richly colored city

He declared no harm to fall you and ensured you’d be treated as his guest, Geta rolled his eyes but had no objection to his brothers latest conquest

Caracalla had you and your few belongings moved to a room in his wing of the palace- gifting you every finery the next morning, including a glorious rose water bath and large breakfast right to your bedside.

After you were dressed in the softest rose shades, complimenting your figure draped in glittering finery

You saw little of him throughout the first weeks dedicating time to learn the roman culture and language.

When the servants found you presentable he had you accompany him throughout the day.

Between meetings and social gatherings you felt as much of a pet as lady Dondus, who affectionately rode on your shoulder most evenings.

It was one evening she joined you in your room, both resting on a table as you scribbled away in a journal.

You’d written so many stories from your first day and escaping death to the witness of gladiator tournaments and the place gardens.

It felt as though you’d entered your own Valhalla and praised your Gods for a safe journey. The solstice was approaching and though the Romans had their own celebrations and Gods you’d not forgotten yourself or family.

It was a quiet, early morning, not even the servants had rose out of bed

Caracalla, unable to sleep his mind plagued- and venturing out of bed, found you weeping in the gardens. The pines set out for Saturnalia so similar and different to yours back home

He sat softly next to you bringing you close in a warm embrace, wrapping an outer layer of his toga over you keeping you warm on the stone bench

“Why do you weep, Dulcissima?”

Your journal beside you, you’d opened the page with your writing about the winter solstice- ‘Yule- the Winter Solstice” is what you called it

Visions of spiced cakes, roasted meats, ale and mead, every recipe you could remember, drawings of Yule decorations and traditions, gift giving and the stationary scent of dried oranges hit Caracalla full force

Not only inviting him into your small world but realizing you were terribly homesick, the festivities of Saturnalia looking so similar were no help to your sorrow

He was determined to do everything in his power to impress you with a Yule festival fit for a Goddess

It was a week of strait planning and preparation, forgoing his formal duties in favor of planning the perfect feast.

He’d demanded the largest pines found in the city displayed in the grand hall of the palace

Droves of servants rapidly created ornaments, bits, and bobbles made of metal by the hundreds, placing each one on the tree with care despite the task at hand

Meticulous effort went into creating each recipe to perfection, in Caracalla’s eyes nothing was good enough, he’d tasted every dish and hoped it was close enough to your meals back home

You arose the day of the festival, maids preparing the bath in Caracalla’s room and leading you in, scrubbed down with rich oils of vanilla, cinnamon, clove and cherry

You were dried and dressed in a deep green and gold stola with a soft white fur collared cape

Your hair was styled in sweeping, grand braids with gold pieces and a pine wreath replaced the traditional laurel

You felt like a Goddess dressed so nicely for what felt like the most magical day

You’d spent your time the past week crafting a gift for Caracalla, a beautiful new blade, bronzed handle engraved with the sacred runic words Viska, Sigur, and Ast, the last word you’d treasured the most

You found yourself growing fonder and fonder of Caracalla’s company and the time he made for you each day grew longer and longer

He’d said he found it impossible to stay away from you- plucking the nearest flower down to place behind your ear the first month of your stay

That memory felt so familiar now as Caracalla met you on the steps “You look divine, Carissima - You’ll outshine all here!”

You could say the same for him, looking nothing less than regal in a long emerald toga and donned a golden laurel

You blushed as you took his arm guiding you to the grand hall with a confident stride, the tree aglow with candle light and strung with red berries

You delighted all night sharing a large feast, music, you friends company and relished the grandeur Calla had spent so much effort to display for you

He made you feel welcome, invited and included- he warmed you from the inside out

As the festivities died down he pulled you aside to the gardens, they were decorated with silver and gold garland illuminated by the moonlight

You walked hand in hand stopping at a stone bench with a cover when a light snow began to fall

“It seems you’ve brought Aquilo’s spirt to Rome this season- it was a wonder I found you” he sighed caressing your face

You grabbed his hand lifting your gaze to his “It seems that Rome is becoming more like home the longer I stay”

“I have one more surprise for you, Dulcissima!” He whispered excitedly, leaning closer to you “Dondus?”

You gazed up a she dropped down to a lower branch and dropped a bundle of leaves into his hand before scurrying off for more treats from the grand hall

“Have you ever heard the story of visci, Cor Meum?” He said, taking you hand once more

You shook your head never hearing this story but recognizing the plant and the tradition it carried back home you hoped his story would lead you down the same path

You giggled with a blush as he pulled you in by the waist holding the bundle over your head “Let me show you, Carissima” his lips moulding perfectly to yours in an unbreakable kiss

It seemed to last a lifetime in only a few moments and he knew he could have no other in his life

“Mea Omnia please be mine? I’ll give you anything you could desire- you’ll want for nothing except to spend you days committed to your passions- I’ll treasure you always. With you by my side I will be unstoppable in every way- Make me feel alive- whole. Become my Empress?” He held a crafted ring with delicately placed emeralds surrounding a lavish diamond in the center, inside was carved the symbols of Mars and Venus- a true work of art.

A soft gasp left you, eyes welling with tears at his truest, most vulnerable confession

“Of course my Calla! How could I turn away your love, your bewitching displays of affection? You see me as I am and who I am becoming, as I see you” you pulled out your gift to him, the dagger embellished with your language, a sacred blessing for you lover

“It’s blesses the wielder with wisdom, victory, and love, things you now have much success in” you said, a giddy lilt in your voice. He swung you around laughing softly holding you close and slipping your ring on your hand

“I shall wield it every day if I must, vanquish anyone who would try and take you away from me!” He taunted and slipped the dagger into an inner pocket

Now strolling arm in arm again he pulled you in for another kiss, the snow softly coating you both in the silent, perfect night

🕯️🕊️🎄🥂🕯️🕊️🎄🥂🕯️🕊️🎄🥂🕯️🕊️🎄🥂🕯️

Anyways!! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed xx

📜Tag list: @doodle-with-rhy @s-lverwing @certifiedcodbabygirl

Language Translations:

Title - Molliter Nix Cadit - Softly the Snow Falls

Dulcissima - Sweetest

Carissma - Dearest

Viska, Sigur, and Ast - Wisdom, Victory, Love

Aquilo - Roman God of winter and the North wind

Visci - Mistletoe

Cor Meum - My Heart

Mea Omnia - My Everything

[findafight]

Tw for hospitals and use of of pain medication, infection, and canonical injuries, brief mention of the AIDS crisis. Ohhhh steddie dating pre S4 au where Robin has now been subjected at work to Steve both striking out spectacularly and flirting like he knows he's getting laid that night. She isn't sure which is worse. (The striking out is worse. She is glad her friend is happy. She's just painfully single and pining away)

The same stuff happens in s4 minus Robin and Eddie pushing Steve and Nancy together romantically (Dustin is trying to push Steve to both Robin or Nancy he's like dude these are girls you like why are you not making a move on them! I want you to be happy!!! And Steve rips his eyes away from Eddie's lips like huh?) But they're still like hey Nancy! It would be nice! If we could be friends maybe! And it's still awkward.

Robin is out here sweating and glaring at Steve and eddie trying to beam thoughts into Eddie's brain in the Upside Down like Eddie please cool it I know it's a stressful situation but stop staring at Steve's tits for five minutes pl-oh giving him your vest??? You think that's going to help? Ok buddy. I'm just going to. Distract Nancy up ahead a little bit while you and Steve chat aaaaand neither of you are listening. Fine.

And it's still a mess. Max and Eddie and Steve end up in the hospital. The ground split open but sealed itself once Steve cut Henry's head off. Everything is over.

Eddie gets discharged first, despite having more bites than Steve, because his didn't have two days to get infected with Upside Down nastiness. So he ends up camped out with Robin at Steve's bedside as he fights the infection with antibiotics (the doctors hope will work), pain meds, and a slight fever.

Which is to say, completely out of it and high as a kite.

So when Dustin visits and Steve is awake, he gets to see a big, goofy grin spread across his best friend's/adoptive older brother's face as he reaches out and says "dusssstyyyy! Cmere. Lemme. Boop you." And yeah, okay, it makes him feel a bit like a baby but Steve is out of it and apparently drugged Steve likes to Boop his younger friends noses. Dustin can accept that. He sighs and leans forward and allows his nose to be booped.

Steve giggles and smiles and pats his head. "Good to see you, man"

Dustin smiles, a bit watery because it's hard to see Steve in the hospital again, and because it was fucking terrifying to watch him nearly drop to the ground after making sure Eddie got treatment, only being caught by Robin. Dustin almost lost three people he loves, and he is so fucking glad they're all alive, if not well.

"yeah, Steve. Good to see you, too. They say when you're allowed to blow this pop stand?"

Steve frons. "No. Still got Upside Down goobies in my guts, 'parently."

Robin sighs. "They said a few more days. Make sure the infection is clear and there's no suspicious side effects."

"yeah. That's what I said, Robin."

Dustin grins, then settles down beside Robin, across from Eddie. He hasn't said anything since Dustin walked in, but was playing with the sleeve of Steve's hospital gown and tracing patterns on his arm. He looks up at Dustin, and offers a small smile.

It's a bit weird, how close he's stuck by Steve this whole time, but Dustin guesses they probably bonded when they got sucked through the watergate, and that Steve saving his life really endeared him to Eddie. He hopes they can be actual, real friends once things settle. Given how much Eddie is at Steve's bedside, he thinks they're well on their way to it.

They all chat for a while, Steve sometimes getting off topic and dreamy, but looking happy even when he isn't quite following what they're all saying. Dustin is pretty sure Steve doesn't have his hearing aids in on top of the drugs, so he isn't really surprised.

His mom eventually bustles into the room, and fusses over Steve. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry. Let me know if we can do anything, I mean anything, to help, okay? I'm sorry I cant visit for longer today, but what with everything happening like this, I -"

"isss okay, Mrs. H...Ma." Steve corrects himself immediately, smiling. Dustin's insides always get a bit squiggly when Steve calls his Ma, Ma. Like they're actual brothers, and she's their mom, and no one could ever argue they're not family for real. What makes it better that it was Ma who insisted Steve call her that since January of '85, as though she knew just how much both Dustin and Steve needed each other like that.

"I'll be by tomorrow, okay, dear? Robin, you and Eddie are alright for tonight? I'll stay tomorrow but today I re-"

"it's fine! Seriously, Mrs. H. Don't worry about us. My parents will force me home tomorrow anyways, but tonight we're good." Robin grips at Steve's ankle, grounding herself. Dustin doesn't think there's been a day when she hasn't been in Steve's room. Doubts if the places were reversed Steve wouldn't have to be dragged out to shower and change clothes. They're so weird, but Dustin is glad Steve has someone older that loves him like Robin does. It makes it easier to not be able to spend all day with him like he wants to.

"okay. Alright." She leans forward and kisses Steve's forehead a few times, brushes some stray hairs out of his face, just like she does when Dustin is sick in bed. "You take care Steve, sweetheart, and make sure you let Robin and Eddie take care of you too." She turns to Dustin. "I'll give you a few minutes to say goodbye and then meet me down at the car, okay?"

Dustin nods, and his mom is out the door. He sighs. "Well. I guess I'd better head out." He gives Steve a hug, a bit awkward from Steve lying down, but it's fine, Steve wraps his arms around Dustin and tries to give him his normal double squeeze, but it's more of a press with his hands than anything. Dustin'll take it. "I'm glad you're getting better Steve. Glad we're all safe."

Steve's smile is soft, gooey in a way that he usually tries to hide. "Glad you're safe, too, man. Love you." Something in his smile sharpens, then. "Unlike some people in this room you actually...listened? When I told you not to be a hero. And didn't nearly almost die."

Eddie groans, dramatic. It seems like a game they're playing with each other more than anything, but it's a game Dustin doesn't know the parameters of, and it's jarring. "C'mon, Steve. I said I was sorry! I wasn't going to let Dustin get hurt."

Steve glares at Eddie, which would be more intimidating if he wasn't scrutching up his nose or propped up by pillows freshly fluffed by one Claudia Henderson. "Which is the reason why you're allowed in here even though you almost died. Dustin is safe, and that's good. But I'd've been so fuckin pissed if you died."

Robin snorts, pats Steve's hand. "Oh, buddy. You'd have been inconsolable."

"yeah. Exactly. it would have fucking sucked, Eddie. So. I'm still mad at you, even though I love you. Probably because I love you."

Which is. Not what Dustin was expecting. Sure, Steve was pretty open about his love. Especially after Starcourt, when he finally seemed to settle into something Dustin thinks of as comfortable with who he is. (Which is, actually, a big softie with a bit of a bitchy mouth) He's told Dustin he loves him before, and he's pretty sure he's told Max too. Steve says he loves Robin all the time, just not romantically even if Dustin doesn't think that's entirely true, but.

This feels different.

It is different, given the way Eddie squeaks a bit and sways towards Steve. "Steve..." He breathes, his eyes big and wet and wide. He swallows. "Steve. Dustin doesn't. He's still here, i--"

Steve's brow furrows. "Yeah? So? Did you not want...oh." something in the blankness that drops over Steve is scary, especially in comparison to how Steve's been open and lax the entire time Dustin's been in the room.

Steve turns his head slightly towards Eddie, ten slightly away, like he doesn't know if he wants to look at him or not. Dustin shuffles his feet, not quite sure what's going on, feeling awkward and wrongfooted. Robin stands, puts her hand on Dustin's shoulder, tries to turn him away and out the door, but Dustin isn't leaving when Steve's face is all stiff and blank like it is.

"steve--" Eddie sounds wrung out, wrecked. What the hell is going on?

Steve sniffs ever so slightly, interrupting Eddie. "You don't have to say it. You don't even have to-uh. To feel it, right now. That's okay. I've done that before. I can wait." Dustin sees a muscle twitch in his jaw. "But if you- if you don't think you can, I need to know now, actually. Because now Dustin knows but he's my brother so that's good and fine but if you don't want to--if you don't think this is gonna, like, be a long-term, tell people important to us kind of thing; if you're realizing that it's been long enough that you should feel that--that way about me but you don't, then I need to know because I don't want you lying about how you feel. I can't do that again. When you say it back I want to be sure you mean-"

"I love you too, Steve! Jesus fuck." Eddie blurts, apparently having had enough of. Well. Everything Steve was saying.

It's dawning on Dustin that maybe when Steve and Eddie said they knew each other they didn't just mean from highschool. That they. Well. Obviously they love each other. Which is....something to consider later because Steve looks like he's about to cry. Because Woah, Dustin has misread a lot between the two of them if they're...like this.

"yeah? You're sure?" He says, wobbly now he isn't rambling.

Eddie's squished himself more into Steve's space. "yes, yeah, of course Steve. Fuck. You met Wayne! I want you in my life, for a long, long time. I don't- I didn't do anything to make you think I didn't, did I?" His voice is a little rough, and little pleading.

Steve shakes his head, grips Eddie's hand in his m, even as Eddie uses it to support himself over top Steve. "No. I just. I know it freaks people out, is all, and I don't want you to freak out, or leave, or think you had to because we've been dating for a few months and I want to say it. It just came out because it's true."

Eddie laughs, leans in reeealy close to Steve. "Honey. It came out because you're high and morphene."

Steve grumbles a bit, but he's smiling too, and knocks their foreheads together. "Yeah. And also because it's true. I love you."

Eddie's eyelids flutter, Dustin can see, as he grins. "And I love you." He says, before closing the distance and kissing Steve squarely on the mouth.

Robin clears her throat. "As...heartwarming and sappy you two are. Dustin has to leave, and probably...has some questions? That he's not going to be a dick about?" She says this as she grips his shoulder tightly, in a way that is definitely a threat.

Dustin nods furiously. Eddie sighs but pushes away from Steve, not before pecking him again, drawing that dopey smile back into Steve's face. "Yeah." He says. "I'll walk you out Henderson."

Dustin waves goodbye to Steve, who seems cheery once again, wiggling his fingers are Dustin and Eddie, before walking out the door behind Eddie.

"so. How long have...has that been a thing?" He asks, as soon as they clear the doorframe.

Eddie huffs, but seems good natured about it. "Few months. December."

"okay." Says Dustin. "Uh. I didn't. I didn't know you...or Steve, I guess...I didn't know you guys were-" he lowers his voice, despite the hallway being surprisingly empty. "Gay."

There's something steely in Eddie's eye when he answers. "We're not. Well-we are, but we both also like women."

Something doesn't sit right about that with Dustin. "But! You just said-"

Eddie holds his hands up, and Dustin shuts his mouth on instinct. "You can like both while just dating one person, Dustin. Just because you like women doesn't mean you're going around with girls who aren't Suzie, right?" He nods. He adores Suzie, can't really imagine looking at any other girl like that because she's just. Amazing. She's his girlfriend and they love each other, and just because girls are pretty great doesn't mean Dustin wants anything other than friendship wi--oh. He sees where Eddie is going.

"right. Yeah. Sorry."

Eddie shrugs. "Steve kinda dropped a bomb in both of us, today"

""isn't it weird though?"

"well...girls and guys are different"

"they are indeed."

"so, if you like girls, why do you like...boys...too?"

"why do you like girls and not boys, Dustin?"

Which is hard to answer because, well. Dustin's never really thought about why he likes girls. He just does. And maybe that's what Eddie means. There's no reason, really. People just...like what they like.

Or there are reasons, because girls are pretty and often smell nice and Suzie looks like a mad scientist when her ponytail gets a little loose after hours of working on a project, her eyes glinting behind her glasses as she giggles and bites her lip, just a little. But that's mostly Suzie. So. He can't really put a finger on why he's only ever had crushes on girls, or why before last summer they've never been as much or as consuming as his love for Suzie. Never been anything like the long days spent together at camp building and creating and blasting ideas off each other, before one day Suzie took his hand and they ended up sneaking away to look at the stars, trying to outdo each other's knowledge about them and slowly being pulled into the other's orbit like binary stars. He's never really wanted to kiss anyone like he wants to kiss Suzie, not even when he had a brief and fleeting crush on Max.

"oh." Is what he says, and feels pretty lame for it.

Eddie shrugs. "You can't really choose who you like." He says before breathing in. "But you do choose who you love, and how you love them."

And. Well. Dustin thinks of his Ma sweeping Steve up into family dinners every other week, and how the party absorbed Max into it as easy as anything, and holding Suzie's hand as they looked up at the stars in dew covered grass feeling like the world starts and ends there, and of Steve and Robin cackling together and having seemingly no personal space or boundaries between them. And of Steve and Eddie, saying I love you for the first time in a hospital room after saving the world.

"That's pretty good." Dustin says, and Eddie smirks at him.

"yeah. Steve said it to me, way back on our second date."

Dustin scoffs. Because he should have known; it's so typically Steve to say something like that. "And you were surprised when he said he loves you?"

Eddie's eyes twinkle in the florescent lights of the hospital. "Nah. Just... it's different being pretty sure, and knowing for sure. I also didn't want him saying something in front of you he'd regret."

He nods. "That's fair. I...don't know how I would've taken it if Steve weren't in the hospital, honestly. Like!" He tries to reassure Eddie "I would have gotten over it, for sure! But if had had sat me ore the party down and talked it out I might've been, like, y'know. Super weird about it. Because. I mean. This talk is good, right? I'm think about things and thinking about how I've only ever really wanted to kiss Suzie, even if I thought about maybe abstractly kissing other people. And how we as humans have all these quirks that let us be human, but different, which enable us as a species to thrive." He heaves a breath. "But. Seeing Steve all loopy and saying it, and then being worried you felt pressure about it, I dunno. It makes sense, I guess. I don't know how you two met or got to know each other, but. I guess it makes sense, how you like each other. And talking to you now. It's helped, I think."

Everything is a bit scrambled in Dustin's brain, the love and the confusion and the worry, because it's setting in that in Hawkins, something like this, for Steve and Eddie, is dangerous. Something that could get them hurt or killed, scorned by the town they've helped save.

His mother always grumbles agrily when ads about how the virus going around is God's punishment for sinners, or how it's cleaning up the streets of unwanted people gays and addicts. She huffs, swears. Says that just because bigots don't consider the people getting sick as wanted or valuable, doesn't mean no one does. That no one deserves to get sick for things they cannot control, or for things they can. A smoker is more likely to get lung cancer, but that doesn't mean they deserve it more than someone who's never seen a cigarette.

Their families will mourn them the same.

They reach the main doors, and Dustin sees his mom has pulled into a pick up lane, blinkers on. He turns to Eddie, and burries his face in his neck.

Eddie takes it in stride, parting his back and giving him a bit of a squeeze. It's not as good a hug as Steve gives, but that bar is only really surpassed by his mom, so it's still a good hug.

"please be careful, Eddie."

"ah," says Eddie, and he pulls back slightly. "We are, man. You're close to both of us and didn't suspect. We know what we're doing."

Dustin raised his eyebrows. Now that he has context, a lot of interactions between Steve and Eddie in the wake of getting them out of the Upside Down seem a lot less friendly.

Eddie chuckles. "Seriously. We are. It was just hard during everything, and, well, we both feel safe around you guys. I think Steve's been gearing up to ask me if we can tell all of you sheepies soon."

"yeah?"

"yeah, bud. Don't worry about us."

"Considering you just got released and Steve is still in the hospital, I think a little worrying over you jackasses is justified."

Eddie smirks. "Fine. A normal and reasonable amount of worrying, then. But no more than that. Now, git! Your ma's waiting on you."

Dustin smiles, "yeah, yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."

"yep. You know where to find me."

He waves again as he hopes into the front seat, and buckles his seatbelt before Ma can ask him to. He smiles at her, and feels oddly...grounded. a mystery has been solved, even if Dustin doesn't have all the pieces, he still has the big picture.

"everything alright, Dusty? Nothing wrong with Steve, is there?" She asks, even as she changes out of park.

"yeah, yeah. Just accidentally stumbled over something saying goodbye, and was worried about them. But everything is fine. Robin and Eddie have Steve handled."

They turn out of the hospital parking lot, heading for home. Ma smiles. It's softer, more indulgent than usual. "Yes. They're good for each other, I think. Compliment one another nicely."

Dustin doesn't bother asking which set she's talking about, thinks maybe they both know.

[quintessenceofdust88]

Fuck it Friday

I was tagged by the amazings @typicalopposite @unhingedangstaddict and @laundryandtaxesworld, so I decided to take a break from my break hehe, and post the complete first scene of Flaming Delights (a.k.a my Hallmark Christmas movie fanfic) Hope you guys enjoy it! 🎄🎄🎄

It was a snowy day in Flame Pine, and Buck had finally flipped the sign of his bakery, Flaming Delights (no one had ever accused him of much creativity), to closed. There had been a bustle of activity from tourists and towners alike during the day, but now, the only people left were his parents, Bobby and Athena, and Hen and Karen. They were tucked in a corner, enjoying some of the pastries Buck hadn't sold during the day and fresh cups of hot chocolate while he wiped the counter clean and flipped the chairs. He hadn’t turned off the speakers yet, so the soft Christmas playlist he had chosen was still playing in a low tune.

"Do you want some help, kid?" His dad asked, halfway to getting up, and Buck waved him off.

"Nah, Dad, I'm good, you've worked all day. You're helping by taking care of the leftovers for me" Buck reassured him, and Bobby sat back down, his eyes still on his kid. Buck knew his parents thought he worked too much, and especially during the holidays, the conversation would soon turn to… 

“You know you’ve also worked all day, right, baby?” His mom told him, a sharp eyebrow raised at him, and Buck shrugged sheepishly. 

“Well, yeah, but I wasn’t chasing bad guys or putting out fires, Mom” He reminded her while wiping the counter, earning a laugh from Hen and Karen. 

“Oh, as if there are many bad guys for Athena to chase in Flame Pine” Karen says while stealing an eclair from Hen’s plate. Hen nodded enthusiastically, and even Athena was smirking a little. 

“Face it, Buckaroo, this town’s criminal activity is as dead as your love life” Hen said, and Buck playfully clutched his own chest.

“Ouch, Hen, rude” He told her. “I’ll have you know I went on a date just last week”

“Yeah, Buck, having dinner with Taylor every time she comes to town and taking her to your loft afterwards barely counts as a date” The very accurate description came from Bobby this time, and Buck desperately wished this town wasn’t so small for once.

Fortunately for him, Buck didn’t have to answer, because Jee and Maddie came in at that exact moment, letting in a rush of cold wind. As soon as they were inside, Jee made a beeline for Buck, who readily picked her up. 

“Hi, butterfly” He said, pressing a kiss to her cheek, and instead of giggling like she usually did, she hid her head on his shoulder with a small sigh. “Oh no, what happened, sweetheart?”

“She’s a little upset Angelica won’t be living with us anymore” Maddie explained while giving Bobby and Athena a hug (they weren’t her adoptive parents like they were Buck’s, but once she had come to live in Flame Pine, they might as well have been), and Buck rubbed her niece’s back comfortingly. 

“Oh, so her uncle finally managed to get here?” Athena asked, and Maddie nodded.

That had been the talk of the town for the last few weeks. When Elizabeth and Andrew Kinard had sadly passed away in a car accident, everyone had wondered what would happen to their little girl, Angelica, because they had no family in town, as far as anyone knew. Chim and Maddie had signed up as emergency foster parents, and the approval was probably helped by the fact Maddie was her teacher. 

As it turned out, Andrew’s brother, Tommy, had been named Angelica’s guardian in their will; the problem is that he was a pilot and was working on a remote location in South America by the time of their deaths. Andrew's attorney had managed to reach him out a little after the funerals, and said the guy was trying everything he could to get back to the US as soon as possible. Now, three weeks after their deaths, it seemed he had managed. 

“Yeah, he’s here,” Maddie told them. “He’s staying at Lizzie and Phil’s place, and Chim just took Angie over. We offered to stay with her until tomorrow, but he really wanted to see her”

Buck’s heart ached for this Tommy guy; he couldn’t even imagine how he was feeling right now, losing his brother and having to step up for his niece like that. 

“Anyway, I thought it’d cheer Jee up if she could see her favorite uncle and get some treats” Maddie finished, and Buck gently booped Jee’s nose, finally getting a small giggle for his efforts. 

“You just know all the treats are waiting for you, Jee-bug. Why don’t you go ask captain Bobby, sweetheart? He’ll show you where the good stuff is” Buck whispered conspiratorially in his niece’s ears, knowing his dad would be the best person to cheer Jee up. She adored her surrogate grandpa and the feeling was mutual. 

“Okay, uncle Buck!” She said, and he put her down, letting her rush to Bobby’s open arms. 

“What about you, Mads? Can I interest you in any leftovers or is baby Buckley-Han still not a fan of his uncle’s baking?” He asked his sister, and she sent him an apologetical glance, placing a hand on her slightly swollen bump. 

“Sorry, baby bro. I don’t know where they take it from; I love your baking, and Chimney definitely loves your baking. He told me to ask if there’s any hazelnut bread, by the way” She answered, and Buck fondly rolled his eyes. 

“Of course there is, let me get him a loaf” Buck said, going to the back, his eyes landing on the baskets that were used for care packages, and an idea popped into his mind. “Hey, Mads, are you passing by Lizzie’s place before going home?”

“Yeah, I promised Jee we would, and I want to see how Angie’s uncle is settling in” She told him, and frowned. “Why?”

“Can you wait a bit? I’ll send a care package over; there’s probably already too much in this guy’s mind without having to worry about dinner and breakfast tomorrow”

Even before Maddie answered, Buck had already set a basket apart, covering it with the red tissue paper he used for decoration during the holiday season. He looked around, mentally sorting through his leftovers, trying to decide what to send. Eventually he decided on two bread loaves, one sourdough and one regular, would be a safe bet. He also set apart some pieces of chocolate cake and a handful of cinnamon rolls, which he knew Angelica loved. 

As he tried to wrap a green satin ribbon to the plastic wrapping, Athena appeared on the kitchen door, leaning against it and looking at Buck with that fond but exasperated look of hers. Seeing him struggle with the bow, she firmly took it from his hands. 

“How you make a profit, I’ll never know, baby,” She told him appreciatively as she expertly made a beautiful bow with the ribbon, tying it neatly against the plastic and handing the basket to him. 

“That’s easy, mom”, he said, kissing her cheek in thanks. “I overprice the snobby tourists so I can keep giving free stuff to the people I care about”

She chuckles, but raises a shrewd eyebrow at him. “That I believe, but Andrew’s brother? You don’t even know him, Buck”

“Well, no, but…” He shrugged; even Buck himself wasn’t sure why he had impulsively decided to do this, but it felt right. “If you were in his situation, wouldn’t it be nice to get some kindness? If there’s one thing I learned from you and Dad is that showing someone you care can make all the difference”

Athena smiled at him, taking his face in her soft hand and caressing his cheek just like he used to do when he had just been adopted, at the tender age of five. The gesture never failed to make Buck feel cherished. 

“You have a heart too big for this world, baby, and I hope someday you’ll find someone who deserves it,” she said, kissing his forehead and going back to the public area of the bakery to join his Dad.

As he followed her, Buck internally hoped his mom was right. Shaking the thought away, he handed the gift basket to Maddie so she could deliver it to Tommy Kinard. It wasn’t much, but Buck hoped it’d help him feel better.

Np tagging @bidisasterevankinard @30somethingautisticteacher @desert--moonchild and whoever else wants to join in! Happy weekend you guys ♥

[gay-dorito-dust]

okay so- I saw your work about Billy with Wonder woman's adopted daughter reader and it gave me a random idea. Billy trying to hide his crush on her pre-relationship but his siblings ofc noticing and making passing comments about it. Reader doesn't notice but Diana does- And she's just like 👀. Please feel free to change anything tho!

I’ve left this on the back burner for too long but here it is. 🦦

Having a crush on Wonder Woman’s daughter wasn’t on Billy’s bingo card but here he was; pining over the most beautiful, gorgeous, sweet person to ever walk into his life.

As cliche as it sounds but Billy knew someone like you would got for someone like him, rough on the edges that were sharp enough to chase away any curious onlooker. Yet despite the supposed red flags that he believed he possessed, that didn’t stop him from inviting you over to his and Freddy’s table during lunch and asking you about how your architecture, history and art clubs -that he oddly remembered you taking- were going and listen to every word that bypassed your sweet lips.

Freddy, at first, thought Billy was just being nice but when it started happening more frequently and how it only seemed to be you whom Billy would go out of his way to do this for, he quickly caught onto what was going on in front of him, mentally condemning himself for not catching on a lot earlier with how many tricks Billy would use in order to keep you within proximity and talking; completely oblivious to his heart eyes from how involved with the subject matter you were.

Freddy was the first out of the family to notice of his brother’s crush on you and so whenever you were out of earshot, he would take every opportunity to torture him via a shit eating grin and passing commentary on your beauty.

‘She’s cute’ - Freddy

‘Yeah, she sure is.’ - Billy, who had yet to take his eyes off of you.

‘So you admit to thinking that she’s pretty?’ - Freddy, brown raised as a smile tugged at his lips.

‘She’s more then just pretty,’ Billy started, absentmindedly, ‘she’s smart, wickedly smart.’

‘Aww has Billy boy got his first crush?’ - Freddy teased, resting his hands underneath his chin, knowingly.

‘Yea-wait, no I don’t!’ Billy exclaimed but once he realised that he had said that a little too loudly he looked at Freddy as he snickered and hissed, ‘I don’t. Just because I complement them on their smarts don’t mean I got a crush.’

‘Sure it doesn’t.’ Freddy replied before getting serious, ‘look, it’s normal to have a crush, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, everyone gets them and you shouldn’t ostracise yourself from experiencing one just because you don’t think you’re deserving of one. Y/n is a lovely girl and I’m certain she’d be ecstatic to go out with someone like you.’

Mary, Eugene, Pedro and Darla were also quick on the uptake of their brothers infatuation with you and were even quicker on joining in with the passive comments whenever you were invited to theirs for a study session or just to hang out. Hell even Victor and Rosa saw through Billy’s excuses and found it adorable that their son was slowly warming up to the idea of bearing his heart to someone outside of his family; so much so that they tease him by calling you their potential daughter in law and being the mrs Batson to Billy’s Mr Batson.

Darla makes it worse by asking when Billy was going to ask you out and if you’ll become her sister in the distant future while he was drinking on water, which inevitably made him choke on it mid sip.

Poor Billy was flustered with the brightest shade of red streaking across his cheeks and to the tips of his ears. Yet the sight was so amusing to his family that they only made it worse by teasing him even further to the point he had to vacant back to his room. Which wasn’t any better considering he shared it with Freddy, who made it his mission to further tease the poor lad.

Whilst this was all going off, you on the other hand were none the wiser to Billy’s interest in your nor his families lighthearted comments regarding it but your mother sure did and it made her both happy as it did make her protective of her daughter. She was once in love, so much so she would sometimes swore that her love had pushed him into deaths awaiting arms, which she had long since learnt to accept wasn’t the truth and that some humans were just like that sometimes; Brave and courageous even in the most hopeless of circumstances.

However she knew she couldn’t protect you from everything forever and whenever you’d come home and tell her about Billy, a smile would cross her face as she would instantly pickup parts of the re-tellings that only highlighted her suspicion of Billy’s crush on you and seeing how happy he made you by even performing the smallest of things that he did for you, even if it was just listening to the latest happenings of your after school clubs. Diana knew that your’s and Billy’s fates were intertwined in more ways then one.

‘Billy sat at my table today.’ You told your mother.

‘Oh did he now? Didn’t you say he usually sits with his brother?’ Diana asked, a little curious at the sudden change of routine.

‘Oh he said that Freddy was busy elsewhere and that he wanted to sit with me today.’ You explained, not having picked up the cues as well as your mother did as her stance immediately changed to that of a protector.

‘Oh? Was the cafeteria full?’ Diana inquired, already having an idea of what your answer would be.

You made a face of thought, ‘yeah…there were a few free tables but I guess that by sitting with me means that we’re friends,’ you looked to your mother, ‘right?’

‘I guess that’s one way of putting it into prospective,’ she replied, squeezing your shoulder, ‘I’m glad you’ve got a new friend my dear daughter.’ She adds before pressing a kiss to your forehead. Oh yeah, Billy better be careful for who he fallen for because now he has to watch out for your mother hounding his arse of his intentions with you.

Which she does whenever she catches sight of his powered up adult form nearby.

‘My child is not one you should trifle with should your intentions stray towards a dark path Billy Batson,’ your mother warned him, ‘and neither am I. So your heart best be pure for my daughter, so I make myself clear.’

Billy wasn’t quite sure whether he should fangirl over the fact that he was meeting Wonder Woman or piss himself because she was threatening him over you. Either way it only made you all the more worth it in Billy’s eyes.

…I wonder how Jon and Damian would feel if they caught wind of his little crush too?

[im-out-of-it]

continued yet again season 1, episode 5 if y’all are still attending

42. this right here is why I will always hate the way jace speaks to Alec. he blames Alec for losing sight of clary. HE IS NOT A BABYSITTER. clary is 18 and she made her choice. she took advantage, saw Alec on the phone distracted and chose to run off. everything jace says goes back to how Maryse treats him. literally almost everyone is so nasty and disrespectful to Alec. he’s trying to keep his family, his livelihood, his responsibilities together and makes sure jace doesn’t go off and make things worse.

43. Jace is acting like clary is pregnant or something smh you literally just met her a day ago and suddenly she’s your world?

44. Alec warned Simon and clary that it was dangerous to go there but did they listen? it’s mostly on clary but Simon follows along with her idiotic plans

45. “perhaps the accords don’t provide equal protection for all shadow realms.” -meliorn coming in with the tea all steamy and hot 🔥 “perhaps all threats don’t affect us the same way.” because when it comes down to it, shadowhunters can go on and do whatever they please but valentine wants the downworlders dead.

46. “Damn it alec. Clary snuck out of the institute.” “And yet you’re blaming our brother?” tell him off Isabelle because how is this on Alec?

47. if I were Alec, I would’ve gone off on jace. how dare he accuse you aren’t doing a good enough job, reminding you of your mothers cruel words and still making you track some idiotic girl? Jace did not get called out enough!!!

48. poor Simon getting kidnapped again but the wolves are here!!!!!!!! love me some soft cuddly dogs 🥰

49. Luke being the alpha leader is the dumbest thing they did. well, one of them. Luke doesn’t care that much about the wolves. everytime the wolves state their concerns, he’s like “I have to get to clary”. I get she’s a daughter to him but if you’re going to be in charge of a whole pack, they have to be put first. you’re in charge of a group of wolves and you can’t leave them to die. he’s so trusting of the shadowhunters that so many downworlders died in season two. I know, how was he to know????? but shadowhunters believe everything they hear and Luke should’ve known better. he’s a terrible leader and I’m glad Maia took his place. she at least cared about them

50. one of the many problems with the parabatai bond between Alec and jace is that Alec always puts him first before himself in season one. Alec does everything jace asks. Jace even assumes Alec will do whatever he says. but when Alec needs to report back and make sure his family is okay, jace chooses clary over him. again and again and again. the bond is so weak and one sided because one of the pair is doing his all to secure their bond while the other doesn’t give a fuck. I will die on the hill that Alec would’ve been better off if jace died. you cut out that cancer like good old Maryse said

51. Jace can’t even look at Alec because he knows Alec is right.

I think at this time, alec is realizing that jace doesn’t have any respect for him. he’s constantly getting tossed behind as if he never mattered. he’s met Magnus, Magnus admires him, and I’m sure by now, alec hasn’t paid attention to other men. he’s looked at men but he hasn’t fallen in love because he doesn’t believe it’s in the cards for him. so around this time, (just my thoughts) he’s starting to see stuff differently

52. alec doesn’t seem happy or content when he’s around jace. and this is why, I can’t be convinced (and other reasons) of Alec’s apparent love for jace. I think he just pined for the closest body to him and still be a responsible shadowhunter which is really gross because it happens to be his adoptive brother. CC at it with the incest pair ups. but Alec is actually happy for the first time in a while with Magnus. he’s smiling, stuttering over his words, unable to hide his excitement. we’ve seen Alec for 5 episodes and he’s been angry, moody, and tired for 99% of them lmao but now, (just my take) but he’s actually happy. he sees jace choosing clary over him while he’s got this new man who is only admiring him. he’s saying pretty boy, you, and Alec feels like he’s the only one in the room. something he never feels.

ahhhhh so we landed at 52. season one has a lot of content and there’s a lot to go over regarding Alec that is usually not mentioned. that’s why these posts are so damn long. but thank you for coming to we love show Alec meeting and whatever name I created 🔥 let’s see what number we get next. I think it’ll be 71????? (I hope not but thanks for staying with me)

[ambrosialdesire]

Hello. I know u said your inbox request is closed but may I know if u can make some respond of what if Marcel survived and how did he feel about the girl Yandere Reiner fell in love with?

well my fic requests are closed but my asks about certain fics are really never closed lol, and i’m assuming you’re talking about cacoëthes since that’s the only reiner fic within the canon universe

idk if marcel still lived, then reiner really wouldn’t have that reliable big brother kinda vibe that drew reader in the first place, and he’d be more of the pining type if that had occurred. BUT if he still had the same personality (highly unlikely but we’ll roll with it lmao) while marcel was still alive, he’d definitely would try to reason out to reiner why he shouldn’t be with this paradisian girl and definitely why it’s a completely terrible idea when they’re trying to complete their mission. i feel like if he was in the scouts with them, he’d definitely would have developed the same caring attitude he has with the warriors, even if he knows it’s “wrong” to even show an ounce of compassion towards these devils.

how he feels towards reader, probably just like an actual older brother since he misses porco deeply and she sorta reminds him of his little brother. if reiner did go throughout his plan, he finds devastation in it since he feels horrible about having her dragged into this mess when she’s completely innocent, tbh he’d probably fist fight reiner for going against his word. back in marley, marcel would watch over her, making sure she’s acclimating well in the new country and if reiner’s not messing with her too much. he’s the one that makes porco be nice to her and could definitely tell that his little brother has a soft spot for reader once they start hanging out more. he’s not completely thrilled at the idea of his little brother having a crush on his mentally adopted little sister, but it’s material to tease him more than ever!

i think he really would’ve prevented reiner from doing a lot of what he did to reader in the original fic story since reiner holds a lot of respect towards marcel, promising him to never lift a finger towards her nor to force her to do anything she doesn’t want since he already forced her to come to a strange new world. reader would cling onto marcel like he’s the only one she has left (he basically is since bertolt is still dead and gone and annie’s left behind in paradis), and though it irritates reiner to no ends, he can’t do anything about it.

it’s kinda sad how one person could’ve changed everything, but that’s how life is fr

[tornrose24]

When you said the devoted followers tried to “get close to them,” do you mean they tried to flirt with the girls to marry into the lords’ houses?

What became of Mabel and her family after star and Stan freed them from bill’s influence?

Do the collector and hunter still exist in this au, if yes, what roles do they play?

-See, while not everyone in the village believes in Belos (especially when some of them weren’t born and raised), there’s always that one group of religious nutjobs who buys into everything he says (like any religious cult). Now, the lords aren’t singing his praises, but it’s obvious to the villagers that the lords have some sort of connection with Belos, and if the nutjobs can’t win direct favor with Belos, they will try to with the lords. So imagine people kissing up to you and saying ‘oh how grand of Belos to approve of this adoption.’ 

Though I would also imagine that there are other villagers who aren’t nutjobs, but are trying to kiss up to the lords to try to win favor with them, either by trying to claim that they did a good thing adopting the girls, or are just trying to be immediately friendly with Molly and Luz upon knowing their new importance. If they have kids close to the girls’ age, then some folks might be trying to win favor in order to ensure a future marriage arrangement (which actually fell out of favor thanks to Eclipsa ensuring that practice was banned due to personal experiences with it). I’m sure their parents–adopted, but also biological if they caught wind of it–would beat the ass of ANYONE who tried to flirt with the girls right then and there, given how young the girls are. Considering marrying into their houses via the girls? Yeah, you pretty much signed your death warrant on the spot.

The ironic thing is that 1. Both girls were commoners and looked down by the upperclass of the village, (such as the Blight family). 2. Luz was kind of one of those weird kids to begin with, so she wasn’t well-liked by a lot of adults. 3. Not only are both Molly and Luz aware that they were looked down on, but they were adopted by the two most reclusive of the lords, and they were NOT in the mood for any ass-kissing. So yeah… no one got on the lords’ good sides on those days and Molly and Luz were kept at their respective new houses for a couple of days until things calmed down again.

Side note-when I say upperclass, I mean the group of villagers who are the most financially well -off and run businesses. The lords rank above them, regardless of how much wealth they themselves posess, which annoys the rich folks. And since I mentioned the Blight family I can confirm that Luz and Amity are a canon couple in this story. (They just keep it secret because… well… Belos is a tad homophobic here and isn’t keen on letting anyone marry whoever they want unless they will have children.)

-I’m happy to say that the entire Pines family are saved in their part of the AU. They all are going to need therapy though. Mabel is happy to be freed and to have her brother back, Dipper was saved from crystalization, although it’s going to take him awhile to get his hair color back (“You look like our grunkles, Dipper!” Mabel comments, much to Dipper’s annoyance), Soos is happy that he’s not trying to kill any kids or his father figure, and Ford…. Well, Stan gives him an EPIC verbal beatdown for bringing Bill into their lives in the first place. Also Stan is just happy his family is safe, sane, and healthy (and that he got to beat up some monsters in the process and be a badass).

[hottestswagking]

January 7th, 1939

 

My name is Joseph Campbell, and I’m 15 years old. I live on Pine Street in San Francisco, California. I’m writing this journal because my uncle says that we’re at the brink of war and I would like to keep notes of everything. My uncle works for the WCCA and my father is in the Navy. My older brother, David, is thinking about joining the military once he’s of age. I don’t think he should go, not with how things are sounding.

My uncle says that people are still recovering from the Great Depression since the Great War and that if Hitler isn’t bothering us, then we shouldn’t get involved. I asked him why Hitler is so angry in the first place, he says it’s because he’s a raging capitalist. Something about a Treaty of Versailles that he broke and how he has started up a military even though the treaty told him not to. 

I asked David why we couldn’t just print ourselves more money and get out of the depression, he laughed at me.

I asked my dad, and he told me that Germany did that. I asked what happened, and he said that they went into a Great Depression, too. My whole thing is why the hell would that Hitler guy try and start a war if his people don’t have money? Whatever, this whole thing is stupid. I hope David doesn’t go into the military.

 

March 2nd, 1939

 

I found out from my Uncle that Japan isn’t a part of the League of Nations anymore. They invaded China and left after the other countries told them to stop. Pretty wild if I’m being honest. This is the same league that tried signing a policy of appeasement with Hitler! How stupid, honestly. All that does is enable behavior, not stop it.

I heard that Stalin isn’t any better. He runs a totalitarian country (Russia) and made a pact with Hitler. Call it the nonaggression pact, made so they won’t attack each other.

 

September 15th, 1939

 

Hitler invaded Poland on the 1st. My dad told me that it was a poor move on their part. Hitler is going through all of Europe and attacking countries left and right. Part of that nonaggression pact was that Hitler would stay out of Poland. I don’t know what Russia is planning to do about this. I got all scared, asked my uncle what this means for us. He said that Hitler is only going after the European theater, and that we’re too strong to be attacked.

 

February 14th, 1940

 

It’s Valentine's Day. Me and Konan (my friend) don’t have girls, so we’re spending it together. I live near him, on Pine st; Konan lives in an apartment in Japan town. We got each other chocolate and a shitty, hand-made card that you would give to your parents in elementary school. The two of us were walking around on some of the rooftops in his area; Konan suggested that we get some subs to eat while we were up there. We were sitting down on a blanket and eating our subs. Konan was telling me about his mom and how she adopted a kitty named Kitty. I said that it was a stupid name, and he agreed. I asked him how school was going, he asked me about sports, and talked about everything and anything after that. I noticed that it was getting darker and suggested that we give each other our cards. Konan gave me his and I gave him mine. We already ate the chocolate. My card was decorated with blue crayon and stickers. On the inside it said: “Happy Valintins Day Josef!” There was a cool drawing of a flower. I didn’t tell Konan that he spelled Valentines wrong, or my name, for the matter. 

The sun was setting, and we decided to spend our last moments watching it. I wrapped the blanket around the both of us and huddled close to Konan, it was cold after all. The night was silent and peaceful. 

Once it was dark and the streetlights were turned on, Konan offered to walk me home. We jokingly held hands since it was still Valentine's Day and continued to do so until we were at my house.

 

April 7th, 1940

 

I heard that Hitler is planning to attack France. My dad and David think that he’s too stupid to do that. Every single place over there is guarded with French soldiers. I think it’s scary still. Hitler has those U-boat things, ships that go underwater. How is France supposed to fight against that? David told me to shut up when I expressed this concern to him. 

Later that day, I went over to Konan’s house. He was listening to the radio, nothing interesting was on there, though. I told him about France and Germany and the U-boats. He told me that it’s very scary indeed, and that David just doesn’t want to think about Hitler having an advantage. I was glad that he agreed with me.

 

May 25th, 1940

 

Konan and I were laying in my bed when David ran into my room. He looked scared. He kept saying my name but nothing else. Konan got up and managed to calm him down enough to say actual words. 

Hitler’s attack against France was successful. 

I didn’t know what to say at first. The room was filled with tension and fear. I looked at my older brother, nervous and unsteady, and felt a hand on my shoulder. Konan squeezed it, a silent reassurance. I finally got words to form and asked David how they did it. Was it the U-boats?

David said it was something called Blitzkrieg. A use of warfare that administers swift, focused blows at the enemy.

David said that the one unguarded part of France was the Ardennes Forest, so thick and heavy that none of them thought the Germans could get through.“They used tanks”, David said, and went through the Forest easily. I asked why he was so scared. He said that if they can get through France, they can probably stand a chance against Britain. “That could me war for us, right?” Konan asked. David went quiet again. War is exactly what he’s so scared of. David left after that. Konan and I just sat on my bed for a while before turning on his radio that he brought over.  I don’t want war.

 

April 3rd, 1940

David’s joining the Navy. Dad’s all proud of him for it, saying that the Navy has been a tradition for the men in our family. David was bragging about how he was going to beat Hitler’s ass if we ever go to war. My uncle told him that it was a noble choice, given how bad things are looking for our allied countries right now. “All for our country, you know?” David told him, and they all laughed and called him brave. I tried my best to laugh along, but I was worried. I don’t want David out in the sea, he can’t even swim. In fact, he’s terrified of the pcean. I know that David is going to call me stupid for it. I think he’s stupid for this.

 

July 16th, 1940

 

Britain was attacked by Hitler. Another Blitzkrieg, Konan says. They used airstrikes and was bombing the whole place. They won, of course, but all of their weapons and money and food are running low. My uncle is saying that the US has created something now called the Land-Lease, which allows us to lend or lease weapons and such to other countries. Although the US is supposed to be neutral on the war, it would be beneficiary to help out Britain and any other country against Hitler.

 

August 12th, 1940

 

Konan tells me that he wants to take me somewhere, a lake that he knows of. It was hot, so I followed him without any questions. The lake wasn’t much. It was medium-sized and had a bit of trash in it. 

“Is this the lake?”

“Sure is.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Do you not like it? Were you expecting a pristine lake of the Bahamas?”

“No, no, not at all. It’s just not as big.”

“If it was big, then it wouldn’t be just us.”

“That’s true, I suppose.”

And so I stripped my clothes and got into the lake. Konan is a competitive swimmer. He has a lean body with some nice muscle. He always won the “hold your breath underwater” competitions that other kids would challenge him to. He immediately began splashing around the lake. I tried catching up to him at first, but he was too fast. I decided that I was going to do tricks and stuff in the water. I attempted some flips and a handstand, which was unsuccessful. I was so focused on my tricks that I didn’t notice the violent splashing approaching me. I felt fingers poking into both of my sides, which made me inhale some water out of surprise. I stuck my head out of the water and began to cough up the water. Konan held me in place since we were in the middle of the lake and I couldn’t touch the bottom without my nose hitting the surface of the water. He laughed and told me he was sorry while patting my back. Once I was done dying, I went to the grass and basked in the sun. I watched Konan swimming around. He went from playful, to graceful, and then to aggressive depending on what he was doing in there. I was content with this, just Konan and me outside where no one else is around. I closed my eyes and took a nap, blissfully unaware of Konan getting out of the lake and laying beside me.

 

August 23rd, 1940

 

My uncle told me that the entire pacific theater might have to go into total war if Hitler keeps going at his rate. Winston Churchill, prime minister of Britain, had accepted the Land-Lease with the US. All sorts of weapons were being sent to the UK. I asked what this has to do with us, David answered instead.

“So you know how Dad’s in the Navy, right?”

“You are too.”

“Not yet, Next year I will. I’ll be 18 by then.”

“Okay, Well, what about him being in the Navy?”

“Dad told me that Hitler’s U-boats are attacking our cargo and supplies ships! Sending holes through them and such. That means that Germany is coming for the US now, too.”

My uncle nodded. He was all solemn. He said that things are getting fiery with Japan as well. They seem to have formed an alliance with Germany and Italy. So, between Japan and their advances across the world, and Germany’s advances against us, total war seems likely. 

Then, he left and said he had work to do, leaving David and I together. I think he could sense that I was scared. 

“Once I join the Navy, I’m going to make sure that nothing happens over here, okay? So is dad and Uncle Roger.”

I could only nod and felt David ruffle my hair. That was the night the nightmares began.

 

March 2nd, 1941

 

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY! I’m officially 17 years old. David woke me up with a pillow to my face. He tackled me to the floor, and we wrestled until I surrendered. He said happy birthday and told me that we’re going out to breakfast. Dad isn’t here, he’s off somewhere in the south. Our aunt comes and checks in on us periodically. 

Dad had given me a letter with money inside, a good $20 bill. I was also given a stack of comics from him. David took me to a diner that I’ve never been to before. I got myself pancakes and eggs. David said I could, even though it was a bit pricey. After breakfast, we went and got me a new baseball cap, and David a pack of ciggs. 

It was around 1:35 pm by the time we go home, doing some little errands on the way. In my room was Konan with his bag on my floor and a book in his hands. I slowly crept up to him, praying that my footsteps didn’t give anything away. When I was close to enough, I grabbed onto his shoulders and yelled into his ear. He screamed, his book leaving his hands. 

“You’re an asshole!”

“Yes, and you’re an intruder.”

I smiled at him. He gave me a hug and wished me a happy birthday. Konan apologized to me about not having a present, but it was fine. We looked through the comics that my dad gave me and took turns reading the dialogue out loud. 

The park nearby was closed due to construction or something, so we decided to stay inside. It had started raining 15 minutes after the decision was made.

Konan and I went to the dining room where David was, reading newspapers and such. 

“Anything new?”

“Yeah, the Japanese.”

I looked at Konan, and he looked at me. He smiled before speaking. 

“What did I do to you, huh?”

David looked up to see my friend who, might I add, is very Japanese. David smiled back and laughed.

“Not you. I mean the government. They’re island hopping.”

“What’s island hopping?”

“Avoiding bigger countries and taking over smaller, more defenseless ones. The US has been trying to tell them to stop for quite some time now, but they won’t listen.”

“Have we tried threatening them?”

“Yeah, me and Joseph’s dad says that we might withhold oil from them. I don’t know if we’ll actually do it.”

“You should.”

“Jeez, kid. Those are your people,”

“Not my country, though. I’m an American first.”

“Hell yeah, nice to hear it.”

And so that was the conversation between Konan and David. To be honest, I never really thought of Japan being Konan’s country. I mean, he’s Japanese, sure, but he’s been in America this whole time. He seems to agree.

 

Later that night, Konan and I were chilling in my bed again. We listened to some music as we each did our own thing. Konan was sitting up and reading his book, and I was laying on him, focusing on the record that was playing. With the beat of the music and the sound of Konan’s breathing, I was lulled to sleep faster than I expected.

 

July 1st, 1941

 

My dad had been discharged from the Navy due to a pretty gnarly cut on his leg. He has a limp that the doctors say will be permanent. By the time he got out, David had been accepted in and is now gone. He’s in Pearl Harbor for now, all the way in Hawaii. Just before he left the two of us got into a big fight, I’ll apologize when he comes home.

Dad said that things keep getting worse. Hitler had attacked the USSR on June 22nd, so not too long ago. Hitler failed, dad told me. And now Russia is our ally.

“They’ve been on Hitler’s side this whole time, why would we accept them as our ally?”

“They were neutral with Hitler. Italy is the one that’s been on Germany’s side. Russia was attacked, and they’re joining the war officially. This helps us.”

“Why does it help?”

“Because we now have one more country fighting with us, in a sense.”

It’s been stressful on my uncle, I heard, because of the threat of going to war with both Germany and Japan. He and his coworkers don’t know what to do. I worry about David the most. He’s all the way in Hawaii and dealing with the water. Ships are constantly being attacked by the Nazis. It’s very possible that Germany will move on to the Navy base.

 

September 14th, 1941

 

Konan is currently very pissed. 

I was walking with him in the park by the school when a group of guys were throwing paper and food at him. The boys were around our age, but I didn’t recognize them. They were calling him names like “Dirty Jap” and making their eyes take the shape of thin slits, meant to mock Konan’s own eyes. It looked like they were going to come closer to us, so I grabbed Konan and dragged him away. He kept yelling back at the boys, calling them degenerates that aspire to disappoint their own mothers.

By the time we got away to a safe enough distance, Konan was so red that I thought he had popped multiple blood vessels. I tried my best to calm him down at first, but I realized that I should just let him blow off some steam. 

Apparently, this is a very common occurrence as of late. Not just those boys, but the overall harassment of his people. Japan town has become dangerous to roam at night, certain neighborhoods in general just too dangerous to show up in even during the day. Posters depicting Japanese people as cartoon villains and exaggerated caricatures all around California. I hadn’t even noticed it.

 “I hate them all. My people didn’t do jack shit and here we are, being treated like the villains!” 

Konan was kicking the rocks in his way with such force that they were just as deadly as a bullet.

 “I mean, what good does it do the government to make fun of us? You saw how those boys were back there, right, Joseph?”

 “Yeah, I saw them.”

 “And you agree, that this whole thing is stupid?”

 “Kinda.”

Looking back, I heavily regret my word choice. I wish I never said that at all. I wish that I could’ve just agreed. I knew that saying “kinda” was a mistake as soon as Konan stopped walking. He just stared at me, a silent anger that only my mother could pull off.

 “What do you mean by that?”

 “Well, like,”

I gulped, unsure if I should continue

 “Like what, Joseph? Tell me.”

 “Well, the Japanese are threatening to go to war with us. It’s just like Hitler and the Germans, and Stalin and the Soviets before joining. You’re making it sound like propaganda.”

 “Because it is Joseph!”

 “No, it’s not, your people are threatening war with our people.”

 “My people are just as American as you!”

 “No, you’re Japanese.”

 “What the fuck do you mean by that?”

I could hear the strain in his voice, which caused me to look at him. He had tears in his eyes, and no longer looked angry. Instead, he had a face of hurt. At that moment, I felt ashamed. Shame for even considering him the same as the Japanese that were fighting against America. Just him asking that question had given me a moment of clarity. Konan is Japanese American, and that is all the difference.

 “I’m sorry… I don’t know what I mean by that, either.”

 Konan began to walk the other way, back to where those boys were. He said nothing.

 “Please, Konan, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I don’t know what I’m talking about, I know I don't know, Konan please.”

I caught his shoulder, but he just shrugged me off of him. I continued to follow him, done with my pleading apologies. He knew that I was following him. At first, I thought that he didn’t mind until we got halfway past our usual path.

 “You should go home, Joseph.”

 “Are you mad at me?”

 “I’ll talk to you later.”

I felt a great sense of defeat. We have not spoken since. The only part of that conversation that I’m clinging onto is the fact that, at some point in time, Konan will talk to me again.

 

September 24th, 1941

 

Konan and I are talking again. 

During school, Leon and his friends were whispering about something. They kept looking at me and then back at some poster that the school had hanging up. The poster area was all about the war that is happening, so naturally I assumed that Leon was talking about my family. I went up to the line of posters. All of them were talking about the Nazis and Hitler, except for two. One was an older poster about the USSR, and the other was about the Japanese. I felt sick. Suddenly I remembered the argument that Konan and I had last Sunday. After the sickness came anger. What could those guys possibly be talking about? It took everything in me not to tear the poster down. If I did, I would never hear the end of it from my family.

I looked across the hallway and spotted Konan and some of his friends from his neighborhood. The area got quiet. All the white kids stared at the small group, a clear tension between White America vs Japanese America. Someone from behind me cut the silence in half with some name-calling and a well calculated throw of a pencil. At first there were snickers, then some whispering, and eventually more school supplies being thrown at the group. The main perpetrator was that idiot behind me. I turned around and made eye contact with him. I said no words aloud, but I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was gonna kick his ass.

I was given detention for a week straight. I thought that I was going to be in more trouble than I actually was, fortunately. Dad was angry that I caused a scene and beat the kid up, but he understood that I was standing up for a friend. I didn’t tell him that Konan and I weren’t talking at the moment, and I’m glad. I went to the dining room in order to get to the stairs, only to see Konan sitting down at the table, doing his homework. He didn’t notice me at first. I slowly walked over to him, pulling out a chair and sitting down. He sat down his pencil and turned to face me. We stared each other in the eyes, not speaking a single word. There he was, studying my face and me studying his. It was one of those moments that you try to savor, but can never remember once it’s done.

“You don’t have to fight for me.”

Was the first thing Konan said. I was taken aback.

“What?”

“I said you don’t have to fight for me. I don’t want to be honored or defended with violence. It’ll only make things worse.”

“Oh.”

I played with Konan’s hand, moving his fingers around and tracing the lines of his palms.

“I’m sorry.”

“I am too.”

“Why? You didn’t do anything.”

“You got yourself hurt. You wouldn’t have done that if I tried to resolve that argument we had. I know you.”

“That’s still not your fault. Just because I’m still upset doesn’t mean that you have to apologize.”

“I know. How’s your head? There’s a pretty ugly knot rising on it, and I saw how that guy slammed you into the door handle.”

“It’s fine. Just a little sore.”

“Do you need some ice?”

“Not right now. I want to know how you’ve been.”

Konan smiled. He took his hand back and put away his homework. As he was doing so, Konan began to ramble about the stuff he’s been up to. A new book that he just finished, a math test that he aced, his dog Theo learning how to shake hands, a date with a girl, learning how to fix a car engine with his dad, his mom making him his favorite dish. There was only one part that I focused on, the rest was a blur.

“You were on a date? With who?”

Konan’s smile faded, and instead he became a little embarrassed.

“Just some girl. Donna something. My mom set us up.”

“But did you actually enjoy it?”

Konan gave me a quizzical look, and realized right then and there just how jealous I sounded. To be honest, my voice didn’t even give away a fraction of how jealous I really was. I don’t why, but the thought of Konan with someone doesn’t sit right with me. Same as when other people play with his hair, or sleep over at his house (even though only I’m allowed to sleep with him in bed), or have private outings with him just hanging out. I’m not gay for him or anything, but I’d rather keep more intimate stuff between us.

“Well, no, she was too much. Donna just talked and talked and talked about anything. It was like a collection of small talk being thrown at you all in one go.”

We laughed at that and I immediately felt much better. I told him about what I’ve been up to and how I was so tired and just wanted to get in my bed. He offered to stay the night at the mention of that. So, Konan and I ate dinner with my dad before hurrying off to go to sleep. Things were officially back to normal when he and I were a tangle of limbs in my bed, differences now past us.

 

December 10th, 1941

 

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Sunday. 

Their method was air strike. The Japanese had bombed our ships and land, no one was prepared. America had withdrawn oil resources from them due to them being a part of the axis (along with Germany and Italy) and island hopping all around. There seems to be a huge amount of deaths that the attack caused. We are trying our best to get ahold of David. I hope he can tell us what happened and where he was when it happened. Our uncle wants to get as many first hand accounts as possible.

 

Konan and I were at his house for dinner since my dad and uncle were trying to find out where David was. Konan said that his cousins had left Pearl Harbor just an hour before the attack and how the military is suspicious of them. His oldest cousin, Masaru, was pulled into questioning that night and the others have been in and out of their homes. His mom was making food when she overheard us talking about Konan’s cousins. She asked us if we knew any information on what they’ll be doing with them. I told her that my uncle is in the WCCA and that it’s not exactly something that they’re focused on, just questions about those guys since they were Japanese and fled the scene just in time. This made her feel at ease, to know that other Japanese people weren’t being targeted. I’ll ask David about that too when he comes home

 

December 13th, 1941

 

David is Dead. He was on a boat that got hit directly. His body was found in the water. Nothing about him was injured. He drowned. Some say that the waves were too powerful, others say that he was in shock, but I know one thing for certain. Even if that boat was just sinking, David would’ve died. My brother can’t swim, he was always too scared of the sea. I don’t know why he would join the Navy. Tradition, maybe. All that matters is that my brother is dead and is never coming back. I’m sorry David. I’m so, so sorry. I wanted to apologize when you came home. I love you, and you were the best brother that I could ever have. 

 

December 27th, 1941

 

Christmas wasn’t the same for anyone in the US. The attack on Pearl Harbor turned the holiday into a day of grief. Mom died around Christmastime as well. My uncle is working, he barely had time to stop by. It was just dad and I. He had lost now both a wife and son, while I had lost a mom and brother. I don’t think we ever left each other's sides.

 

January 23rd, 1942

 

It’s the new year. My dad woke me up today with the news that the US is now officially allies with other countries like France, Britain, and more. This means for certain that we’re going to war. I remember my uncle saying something about protecting American citizens and how we can’t just supply and observe anymore. I can’t blame him after what had just happened. 

Konan came over today. He shook hands with my dad and asked how he’s been. Normally, my uncle would’ve been thrilled to see him. Today, he didn’t even look at him. Konan seemed unfazed. My uncle said that he would like to have a word with my father and for us to run off somewhere inside since it was snowing out.

Konan and I went to my room. We haven’t seen each other since David’s funeral. He told me that he was worried about something and that he’d tell me the next time he’s come over.

            “So, what was it that you have been so worried about?”

            “Hitler is getting rid of all the Jews.”

I blinked. Then blinked again.

            “I’m sorry what?”

            “Just 3 days ago. He and other Nazi and government officials all banded together. Called it the Wannsee conference. The came up with a final solution to kill off all the Jewish people.”

“What’s the solution? Do you know?”

“They’re going to send them all away to camps where they’ll be killed.”

“You’re lying.”

“I wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

“It’s just…why? What the hell would he need to do that for?”

“They’re all sick in the head, the Germans.”                        

The two of us talked some more about the Wannsee conference until my dad called down for Konan. I was told to stay up in my room. I wonder what they were talking about.

 

February 19th, 1942

 

I hate my uncle. I hate the WCCA. I hate the government. And I’m scared. It’s just been announced that all Japanese citizens that reside along the west coast will be moved to internment camps due to the distrust that the bombing of Pearl Harbor has caused. These camps will be put in the middle of nowhere and letters and gifts will not be allowed between the camps and the outside world. It’s not fair. They didn’t do anything. They’re all Americans, aren’t they? They pledge to the flag and enlist in the military, just like most. It’s cruel.

 

March 31st, 1942

 

I turned 18 this month, but that hardly matters. It’s Konan’s last day in San Francisco before his family will have to leave at 10pm. Due to his cousins being prime suspects, his family will be one of the first to be moved into the internment camps. I had been helping them pack their things, much against my uncle’s wishes, and took Kitty into my home. Konan's parents said that we should run off somewhere one last time, but to avoid the public. We went back to the lake.

 

The lake was too cold to swim in, and the ground was icy and hard. We didn’t mind. It was silent between us, just our bodies up against each other for warmth. It wasn’t until I heard a choking sound come from Konan that I realized he was crying. I put my arm around him and held him close. He just cried and cried, at some point he let out a what sounded like the guttural scream of a wounded animal. I tried my best to comfort him, but we both knew that there was a vast uncertainty that neither one of us could smooth over nor distract the other from. We sat like that until my fingers stung from the cold and my cheeks lost all feeling. We had went back to his house hand in hand.

 

Night came. I went along with my friend’s family to say goodbye. His mother hugged me tight and kissed me on the cheek, his dad gave me a firm shoulder squeeze and a hand shake, and Konan pulled me aside with just seconds to spare.

            “Dude what are you doing? You need to leave.”

            “I need to tell you something.”

            “What is it?”

           “Remember this Joseph, please.”

 

“I love you”

 

And with those words he left to get on the train with his family, and I was left with a million thoughts and then some.

 

February 7th, 1943

 

Konan is still in those internment camps, David is still dead, and the war is getting worse. 

There are some good things though.

The Stalingrad ended recently. What happened was that Hitler decided that he wanted to try and take over Russia. Stupid move in my opinion. This war started last year in August and has finally ceased with Soviet success. Due to Hitler turning on Russia, the country has decided to join the allies, which is amazing for us. One more country fighting on our side.

My dad has been getting better with walking, he’s able to hobble around without his cane.

Kitty has learned how to so a half-assed backflip for treats, which is cute.

I’m going to enlist in the air force at some point, I believe. I feel as if it’s safer. The water could drown me, and the majority of the enemy is on the ground anyway. 

 

March 14th, 1944

 

I’m old enough to join the air force, and so for my birthday that’s what I did. It’s a dangerous thing, I know, but I want change. I want to fight for this country like David had wanted to. I know that he dreamed of being some big time hero. I’m not going to end up dead like he is, I know I won’t. 

There’s also some cool new computer that was invented. It’s called the colossus. It’s super cool, man. I don’t think I could ever buy it, it’s only for professional use. Politics and war for now.

 

May 6th, 1944

 

I’ve been thinking about Konan a lot, lately. I miss him. I wonder how those camps are treating the guy. I hope he’s still alive. My dad says that once the war’s over, the Japanese should be released from the camps and allowed to go back home. Even more inspiration to join the air force.

I still think about what he said to me last. That he loved me. Maybe it was the heat of the moment, or maybe he actually felt that way. Maybe he just meant it in a purely friendly way. I don’t know which I would’ve preferred. I know my dad would never let me see him again if I told him what he had said. When he comes back I’ll have to ask for clarity, but even still, I’m not very sure how I would’ve taken it if he actually means it.

 

June 15th, 1944

 

The US has gone into full on war now. I’ve finally flown a plane. It was terrifying.

I was dodging Hitler’s planes and making sure that I shoot them down without going down myself. I always thought that it would be as simple as pushing a button and watching as an enemy plane explodes, but no. It’s much worse. We’re currently hiding out in some base, hopefully it’s hidden enough. Although, I do hear bombs that are awfully close.

 

May 8th, 1944

 

We did it. Germany surrendered once again. America is safe. My family is safe. Konan is safe. Kitty is safe. I thought I would feel more victorious, more animated. I don’t even know what it is that I’m feeling. Although, I still have one more job to do. We aren’t finished with Japan. We will make sure that they never forget which country’s in charge. Scientists like Oppenheimer have been working on the world's first nuclear bomb. We call it the Manhattan Project. Our plan is to use it against Japan, they’ll never be able to top this.

 

Aug 6th, 1944

 

The bombing was a success. Little Boy, the bomb, was dropped on Hiroshima, a major city in Japan. The damage was horrendous. One of the largest deaths in that country, most likely. I was a part of the crew that flew in and did our duties.

The people treated me like a hero, someone who could do no wrong. They were incorrect. I can still feel the blood on my hands of all the lives I took across seas. I can hear the screams of German soldiers, both in pain and watching their fellow soldiers get killed and mutilated.  I can only imagine the devastation that Little Boy caused. I’m a sinful man that deserves no praise.

 

December 17th, 1944

 

Maybe it’s cruel that this will be done near Christmas. I think of it as tradition. Mom passes away from cancer, David dies from an attack, and I die by my own hands.

But really, I’m sorry. I’m sorry dad, for leaving you by yourself, but I just can’t live with this guilt. You were amazing to us, even though you lost two of the people that you loved most.

I’m sorry David. I know you wouldn’t want me to end things this way, but I can’t keep going. I fulfilled your dream of becoming an American hero, but it wasn’t worth it. I will not be joining you and mama, I will be with the Devil himself.

I’m sorry mama. You always told me that I was strong-willed and spirited. You gave me more chances than I ever deserved. You told me on your deathbed that you know that I’ll do something great one day. Is this really that great, mama?

 

And Konan. Oh, I am so, so sorry Konan. I can’t go on without you. I fear that you will never get out of those camps. I fear that you might also be dead. You were my best friend, and I wish you the best if you ever do make it back to California. And I’ve decided that after all these years I have loved you. I love you, I love you, I love you. And if you are to make it back home, I leave you my journals. This one especially.

Goodbye.

 

-Joseph

Hello, Konan here. I’ve decided to finish this journal since Joseph could not. I never expected to hear the news of his death, and looking at the date of his last entry, I wish he could’ve waited one more day. Just the day afterward, December 18th, I was released from my internment camps. His father had hugged me at the funeral and couldn’t let go. It was a closed casket, and you really don’t want to know why.

But, nonetheless, I will finish the story of the war,

 

So, after the bombing of Japan, the war was officially over. Many Asian and European countries lye in ruins due to how costly and violent this war had become. Japan alone couldn’t even produce enough good for its own people. 

The thing is, the allies had found it very difficult to continue with peace. Currently, we are in somewhat of a war with the USSR due to tension and different goals. I was thinking about joining the military like Masaru, but I’ve decided against it. And that’s the story of World War 2

P.S

I miss you, Joseph. I’ll miss you and love you forever. You will never leave my mind until the day that I die, and then we can be sinners together.

[spacefinch]

Finch rambles: MSB headcanons

(These are mostly headcanons that @daiohficblog and I have discussed on our Magic School Bus Discord server, but there's a few of my own as well.)

Carlos and Wanda are basically adopted twins, even though they live in different families.

One time, when Wanda was six, her actual older brother (Henry) shut her in one of the grocery store freezers. She was there for several minutes before Carlos found her and got her out. Ever since then, Wanda has hated the cold.

Carlos knows that Wanda and Henry don't get along, but part of him still can't fathom that siblings would fight so often. He's the oldest of three siblings, and they're practically three peas in a pod. Any time he gets into a fight with Mikey and/or Maria, it's usually about something silly.

Phoebe's basically a Disney Princess-- she's a good singer, she's kind, and she has a natural talent for befriending animals. She also names all of the animals she befriends.

The comedy act that Carlos puts on in "Getting Energized" (especially the Terminator impression) is something he came up with to entertain his younger siblings cousins at family gatherings. However, it does not work on a crowd of people who have been waiting god-knows-how-long to ride a Ferris Wheel.

Some of Carlos's other impressions

Darth Vader

New Yorker ("Ayyy, I'm walkin' here!")

The "Do you wear wigs" interview from LOTR

A horrible British accent

An even worse Southern country accent

Donald Duck

Anakin Skywalker's "I hate sand" monologue

Carlos cannot for the life of him play an instrument. However, he is a good singer. (Probably the second-best after Phoebe.) Wanda, on the other hand, thinks she is a good singer, but isn't.

Phoebe is the tallest girl in the class, but also the youngest.

The class's birthdays:

Carlos: October 24

Dorothy Ann: November 13

Wanda: November 20

Tim: December 5

Keesha: January 16

Arnold: February 2

Ralphie: March 15 (Since Ralphie's birthday falls on the Ides of March, it's a family tradition to order pizza from Little Caesar's.)

Phoebe: April 25

Carlos will address Tim by his proper name (Timothy) when he's really worried about him.

Some more name HC's for the kids

Phoebe's middle name is Jane, after her late biological mother.

Mikey's initials (Miguel Costa Ramon) spell out "MCR" which also happens to be one of his favorite bands.

Dorothy Ann goes by her first and middle names combined since she has quite a few family members who share her first name.

Phoebe, Carlos, and Tim all have middle names beginning with the letter "J."

Every single one of the kids have been called by their full names when in trouble.

Name HC's for some of the parents and relatives

Phoebe's dad: Leonard "Len" Terese

Ralphie's mom: Susan Tennelli

Ralphie's grandfather: Peter Tennelli

D.A.'s mom: Katherine Hudson

Carlos's parents: Daniel and Elena Ramon

Phoebe is a natural when it comes to horseback riding-- yet another piece of evidence that she is a Disney Princess.

Tim is the best tree climber out of the whole class. He has almost no fear of heights, and trees are a nice, relaxing place to sit and draw. However, it does worry his parents.

Tim: *just chilling in a pine tree*

Mrs. Wright: Timothy Jamal Wright, you come down here NOW!

Tim: Aw man, why?

Mrs. Wright: I asked you to help set the table half an hour ago! Your dinner's getting cold! Besides, you'll break a bone if you're not careful!

(To this day, Tim has never broken any bones while climbing.)

[nasuversekinkmeme]

Weekly Roundup: Prompts

Tsukihime:

kohaku and shiki feeding/stuffing, can be as fluffy or dark as op would like

Fate/Stay Night

Rin and Luvia are brainwashed into thinking they are identical Twin sisters.

FGO:

The Boys are having a bbq and kintoki is making the extra effort to make mandricardo feel included and comfortable. What kintoki doesn't realise is that he's getting a little too touchy-feely with mandy, who now has to juggle his social anxiety with his growing desire to fuck this gorgeous hunk of a himbo

After some time, Kriemhild has accepted that her adopted son Schmidt has started dating and invites them over for family dinner. What she didn't expect is for him to show up with two people, both of whom seem to be bad influences on her son (Sieg×AstolfoxJeanne trouphle but honestly it can be anyone)

Smut, Oh no! Asclepius is sick! And the only cure is....nurse Nightingale pegging him into the nearest hospital mattress? Who wrote this prescription!

I hear a lot of "Barghest and Gawain" and more than some "Lancelot and Melusine", but I rarely ever hear about Tristan and Baoban Sith interacting. Show us Tristan and Baoban Sith hanging out! (I imagine Tristan would be like a big brother to Baoban Sith but I leave it to the prompt filler to elaborate on their relationship)

Post-canon. Mash finds phh Morgan still hidden within Britain. How does it go?

Au where Tonelico's plan did succeed and Uther became a righteous king who guided humans and fairies into a better future. Specifically, au where Mash has to deal with the fact that this happy ending means that her own world will never come to be, all the people she's ever loved will never be born, her own world is gone, and it's all by her own hand.

Two characters of your choice gets bodyswapped. Guda, who is completely face blind, takes an embarassing amount of time to realize it.

The Mori siblings should be allowed to eat a guy

Qin Shi Huang being both disgusted by and pining after Trimnau, due to her being made of mercury.

Melusine and the other dragon servant fight for who get to put guda in their treasure horde with the outcome be them all moving in with guda.

Ritsuka gets to live a normal human life after saving humanity and totally rocks it, they get some therapy, get to be happy with someone they love, all that good jazz

Saver/Ruler!Fujimaru Ritsuka see Berserker!Fujimaru Ritsuka and envy their berserker self

Fujimaru couple deal with their own kid that they can't longer recognized. Post ending. (or Ritsuka do their best to prove that they could back to their normal life and their damn repress trauma)

Smut, Tonelico the savior, girl who's fucked around quite a lot in her life, is perfectly prepared to have sex with Mash. What she is not prepared for is that Mash genuinely cares for Tonelico's pleasure & comfort and love is dripping out of her every words even to her muddled fairy eyes. Cue Tonelico benig taken aback and overwhelmed by something she hasn't felt directed at her in centuries. Ideally this would be super kinky bdsm sex because I think the contrast of "this girl is tying me up and whipping me while also being super in love with me" would be interesting but if vanilla's your game go the fuck for it man.

Izou, rebuffed yet again by Ryouma and mostly Oryou, goes out drinking. In the morning he finds himself snuggled up with Hijikata and Tatsuki. Very confused.

I know the Anastasia we have in Chaldea is different than the one in LB1. But I still think it'd be nice for her to visit Kadoc pre-awakening and talk to him for a lil

Crossovers

Sakura Matou, a girl who, let's say "had a bad experience with bugs", meets Oberon Vortigern, a man who 1. uses bugs a lot, and 2. seems rather protective of heavily traumatized girls. How does that pan out? (I'm leaving this as open-ended as possible so the prompt filler can go wild)

[weiryo]

Not A Chance 1.4 “Like a home, but not exactly.”

MATTHEW

“Like a home, but not exactly.”

“Lobsters pee through their faces.” I heard a familiar yet changed voice beside me. I looked up and saw a much taller version of my friend Oliver. The freshman boy smiled at me, clearly proud of his random fact. Oliver has always been a good kid. I feared what would happen to him once his first official year of high school ended, and hoped we could keep him out of the horrors that are the social prison of Upper Lake Academy.

“Where did you learn that?” I asked as I started walking, and he followed me.

Oliver shrugged, “Read it on Reddit.” He answered.

“Oli, stay off of there, that's the kind of shit that gives you mental illness.”

“Fair.” He muttered as he fidgeted with his sleeves, awkwardly trying to make himself look presentable. I couldn't help but smile at his behavior. The school would smell much better if only every freshman were as nice and hygienic as Oliver.

It did not take long for our stalker, Hira, to find us. She came up to us with an enthusiastic look. It was nauseating to see people seeming so ready for a new school year. She immediately ran to hug me tightly .“Matthew! Oli! Hey, how come you two didn't text me?” she asked curiously, smiling at her adopted brother, Oliver, and me.

“Didn't seem all that important,” I said jokingly with a smile. “Besides, you found us now. I'm sure you enjoyed having to search for us, looking around at everyone moving in?”

Hira nodded “Of course, there's nothing better than people watching, I saw so many new kids. I got to see Rain and this majestic new junior guy. Like when I say majestic, I mean majestic.” She said with a little too much passion.

Oliver snickered at her. “Mom said you can't stare at people anymore.” He teased, and Hira shot him a joking glare.

“Anyways” she continued “I finally got to switch to a new dorm building, I swear Crabapple is so gross and run down,” Hira complained while she walked alongside us. 

“Crabapple sounds like a disease, I like my building name better, Ponderosa Pine is just the most glorious name,” Oli mumbled while he not so discreetly opened Hira’s backpack and took out a juice pouch from her snack bag that their parents always packed for the two.

Hira shot him a glare which he visibly looked frightened of, but she didn’t take it from him “I know right, it’s so gross, at least Oli’s dorm building gets some fancy shit name.” She continued her tangent about how much she hated the dorms.

I finally got to escape her angry ranting about dorms once I found my dorm, River Birch, building 4, which strangely enough was the closest to the main building of the school. I waved goodbye and walked in, leaving Oliver with a desperate look that said Don’t leave me, please with the juice pouch straw still in his mouth as Hira kept dragging him along physically and in conversation. I rolled my eyes and made my way into the building for another year even walking through the halls, and looking at certain doors made me shudder deep deep deep inside my soul. Yet… It still felt like a home away from home, once you got to your dorm with your roommate whom you may or may not have quite a few exchanges that include quite a bit of oversharing, it’s pretty comforting. 

Now I’ve never really had bad roommate experiences at this boarding school, and I've been very lucky so far. All my issues have been with boys or girls who I’d rather die than share a room with, for different reasons. But when I walked into my dorm room, and saw it turned into a makeshift budget version of the Acropolium of Carthage I was slightly taken aback, now don’t get me wrong, love the Christians, Jesus was a pretty cool dude… But seeing a cross with a bloody Jesus figurine-looking thing felt like too much. I glanced over to the guy who was supposed to be my roommate this year. He was pretty cute, even though he looked like he was being drowned in sweat in his Sunday best button-up shirt. I stepped in and blinked a few times “Um so… You’re into the whole Gothic Cathedral style, that’s cool…” I very much attempted to make some humor out of this, he just glanced over at me with a judgemental look.

“I’m a Protestant. Not a Catholic.” He firmly corrected, as if being mistaken for Catholic was a very horrible insult to him.

“Right…” I mumbled in response, setting my duffle bag on my bed, “I’m Matthew Van Jaarsveld.

“Do your parents let you dye your hair like that?” He suddenly asked. No introduction, no nice to meet you, no nothing… I am just questioning my home life, as many good friendships start.

“Yeah… My parents are cool with it.” I answered, and his judgemental look only increased. Felt like a very familiar look. “Well, It’s my turn to ask you a question. What is your name?”

“Finnegan McCarthy.” He answered plainly as I held back my strong urge to burst out into laughter.

I nodded slightly, turning away so he couldn't see how much I wanted to laugh at his name. “Oh, cool. Well, I’m uh, gonna go for a walk.”

Of course, Finnigan looked at me strangely as I rushed out, but as I was out of sight, I began to snicker, until I looked up. A familiar boy with long black wavy hair and blue eyes that felt like a childhood home, staring directly at me, just a few feet away from me. Holy shit… Why was he here?

[quintessenceofdust88]

(Several) Sentence Sunday

I was tagged by my darling @typicalopposite! So here's some sentences of my Hallmark Christmas movie AU, 'Flaming Delights', which was supposed to have its first chapter published today, but. What can I say? Little Blobs and Nonna Rosa have taken over my life hehe (speaking of which: Nonna Rosa fix-it later today, new chapter of Little Blobs on Tuesday! Yay! Ohhh, and prompts! Prompts between today and Monday, I promise) Anyway, here's Flaming Delights (if you think you've read it before, yeah, I posted a snippet a while back, but I heavily edited it so here's the new version). I hope you enjoy it! 🎄🎄🎄

-- (tw: minor oc deaths, car accident)

It was a snowy day in Flame Pine, and Buck had finally flipped the sign of his bakery, Flaming Delights (no one had ever accused him of much creativity), to closed. Now, the only people left were his parents, Bobby and Athena, and Hen and Karen. They were tucked in a corner, enjoying the pastries Buck hadn't sold during the day and fresh cups of hot chocolate, while he wiped the counter clean and flipped the chairs.

"Do you want some help, kid?" His dad asked, halfway to getting up, and Buck waved him off.

"Nah, Dad, I'm good, you've worked all day. You're helping by taking care of the leftovers for me" Buck reassured him, and Bobby sat back down, his eyes still on his kid. Buck knew his parents thought he worked too much, and especially during the holidays, the conversation would soon turn to… 

“You know you’ve also worked all day, right, baby?” His mom told him, a sharp eyebrow raised at him, and Buck shrugged sheepishly. 

“Well, yeah, but I wasn’t chasing bad guys or putting out fires, Mom” He reminded her while wiping the counter, earning a laugh from Hen and Karen. 

“Oh, as if there are many bad guys for Athena to chase in Flame Pine” Karen says while stealing an eclair from Hen’s plate. Hen nodded enthusiastically, and even Athena was smirking a little. 

“Face it, Buckaroo, this town’s crime life is as dead as your love life” She said, and Buck playfully clutched his own chest.

“Ouch, Hen, rude” He told her. “I’ll have you know I went on a date just last week”

“Yeah, Buck, having dinner with Taylor every time she comes to town and taking her to your loft afterwards barely counts as a date” The very accurate description came from Bobby this time, and Buck desperately wished this town wasn’t so small for once.

Fortunately for him, Buck wasn’t able to answer, because Jee and Maddie came in. As soon as they were inside, Jee made a beeline for Buck, who readily picked her up. 

“Hi, butterfly” He said, pressing a kiss to her cheek, and instead of giggling like she usually did, she hid her head on his shoulder with a small sigh. “Oh no, what happened, sweetheart?”

“She’s a little upset Angelica won’t be living with us anymore” Maddie explained while giving Bobby and Athena a hug (they weren’t her adoptive parents like they were Buck’s, but once she had come to live in Flame Pine, they might as well have been), and Buck rubbed his niece’s back comfortingly. 

“Oh, so her uncle finally managed to get here?” Athena asked, and Maddie nodded.

That had been the talk of the town for the last few weeks. When Elizabeth and Philip Kinard had sadly passed away in a car accident, everyone had wondered what would happen to their little girl, Angelica, because they had no family in town, as far as anyone knew. Chim and Maddie had signed up as emergency foster parents, and the approval was probably helped by the fact Maddie was her teacher. 

As it turned out, Philip’s brother, Tommy, had been named Angelica’s guardian in their will; the problem is that he was a pilot and was working on a remote location in South America by the time of their deaths. Philip’s attorney had managed to reach him out a little after the funerals, and said the guy was trying everything he could to get back to the US as soon as possible. Now, three weeks after their deaths, it seemed he had managed.

Np tagging @bidisasterevankinard @unhingedangstaddict @aplaceinme @30somethingautisticteacher and anyone else who wants to join in! <3

[aquariusxiv]

Thinking about 1920s catholic lesbians in denial in the hopes it'll distract me. My half of the pair might be developing self-awareness about it despite all my effort to keep the bit going.

Sophie Jennings, originally Zofia Dzienkiewski before getting the Ellis Island special, is from an ethnically and culturally Polish family living in the Austrian city of Bielsko (what with Poland not existing/having been partitioned at the time. Born in 1899, her family crossed the ocean in 1911 before settling down in Arkham, Massachusetts, due to her father owning some land and a building suitable to run his garage out of. Both Tomasz/Thomas (Sr., her brother was also named Tomasz/Tommy) and Zofia/Sophia were naturally gifted with engines and mechanics, repairing both vehicles and whatever odd appliance was brought into their shop. The family adopted English names and send Tommy and youngest sister Kasia/Cassie to school. Despite goals of assimilation they fell back into the ease of speaking Polish at home, leaving all the children with conversational fluency and Zofi a thick accent untempered by an immersive English-speaking environment. Since making friends due to shared eldritch dreams she has gotten more comfortable insisting they call her the hybrid "Zofi", though strangers are still expected to use "Sophie." (Original non-lesbian core concept of the character was inspired by my own Babcia, Zofia, and the absolute *wrongness* I felt as a child hearing someone just casually insist on calling her Sophie when I was a ch

She's had first hand experience with lesbians working the factories during The War. Walked in on two women she didn't know kissing in the corner. Since she didn't see them again, she wasn't sure if they were deliberately avoiding her, of if they got caught and sacked. But that influenced primarily how she conceptualized it - women who kiss other women. Usually in the context of how much it seemed to align with her otherwise nebulous unexplained desires that since puberty she'd only had the words 'girls I like looking at' to describe it.

But also in the context that she wished she was one of those women. Regardless of how much the descriptor aligned with her desires she was lacking whatever officially made one a Woman Who Kissed Women and so she settled in for pining. Part of it was Catholic guilt as personified by 'what would my parents and Mary think if they saw me doing this from Heaven' which got partially alleviated in a somewhat unorthodox response to having your father's spirit brought back to life briefly and conveying that he was not, in fact, watching from Heaven. (She had deliberately avoided dwelling on the implications, whether this means he's unable to watch her from Heaven, or unable to watch her from Heaven.) As for Mary and the other saints, by now they've seen her involved in other blasphemous enough that a little sapphism probably wouldn't be a big deal, right?

The other is that she just feels generally undesirable. She was built with stats supporting her being naturally very intelligent and good at problem solving but with a low education level indicating that she's a first-generation immigrant and English is her second language. (If the system allowed for additional granularity in language skills she'd also just have piss poor reading skills regardless of language, ad a result of not going to public school in favour of helping her parents at the mechanic shop they ran while her younger siblings were seen as 'still potentially able to assimilate' and so got to go to school. (This is mostly a post-hoc justification for why her accent is still so thick tbh but it fits well and informs other parts of the character.)

So because of the language barrier and generally seen as either frumpy or too masculine because of her owning and operating a mechanic garage and general repair shop she just doesn't think Americans would be interested in her

She lucked out, being the oldest child outliving her brother, her mother, then her father so inheritance passed on to her (probably with some help by the family lawyer firmly in her corner, incidentally my backup char if she dies) so she is incentivized against getting married because then the garage would immediately go to him; so most of her old-fashioned regulars who prefer her skill and service have mostly dropped the 'a woman your age should be married' nagging.

She met a nice fellow immigrant boy due to shared eldritch dreams and mistook empathy and solidarity if potential attraction, turns out he's around as gay as she is (or would be if she ever admitted it to herself) so they stayed close friends (I don't play it as much as I should but she thinks of Theo as her closest non-family, non-Evelyn friend; and after that she's trying to warm up to Edith and Charlie in that order. Matteo is a bit intense still. (Though initial joke of lavender marriage with Zofi and Matteo would be funny to bring back in the future if they both live.)

Evelyn, just mentioned, is her long-time crush. She first saw her singing in the choir at church after first immigrating to Arkham and was one of the first girls to get the early conceptualization of 'like looking at.' They lost touch for a while, then were re-introduced by shared eldritch dreams but Zofi didn't recognize her because of a new haircut and dye and a recent marriage changing her last name (if Zofi even ever knew it) but the crush was back full force, now with firearm imagery and a new association of her crush with the smell of gunpowder.

In the interim teenage years Zofi played on a local girl's baseball team, the Mighty Mermaids, headed by team captain Asenath Marsh, originally of Innsmouth. Her needing to return home to participate in a traditional family ceremony was part of why the team fell apart, though the biggest reason was the girls getting old enough and getting married, usually moving away from town. Zofi nursed a crush born of admiration on Asenath, though her major atteaction was teammate Florence St. John. Originally from Newfoundland, she and Zofi found solidarity in a shared immigrant experience even if the circumstances were slightly different. Florence may have been mutually attracted, but Zofi's lack of self awareness would have made her ignorant to her friend and teammate's advances. Florence left one day, unannounced. She might have moved, might have died or disappeared mysteriously. (Another backup character ideal should he uhh not have died...)

With Evelyn back in her life Zofi found any excuse to be near her. This worked our well, Evelyn felt a need to make sure Zofi got to experience the nightlife, inviting her along to her and Theo's performances at nightclubs and speakeasies. After a month long absence dealing with a family emergency in Boston, Evelyn returned with the dye mostly gone and her natural hair growing back, both making Zofi recall her earlier admiration from afar and making her fall even more head over heels. (I don't remember if they ever talked about knowing each other from church that young, that should be a scene we do, Evkat)

Lately the two are even more unseperable. Zofi's more carefree attitude following her revelation about her father has led to some quasi-romantic flirting that Zofi consistently categorizes as "teasing", though her recent injury via impaled on the limb of an eldritch spiderman (of the Boston Spidermans) led to "Evka", Zofi's Polish familiar diminutive/nickname for her, to fret and comfort her via kissing her hand and a declaration of love - at the time Zofi had already been administered morphine so she chided Evka for teasing her again before rambling about always wanting to be the kind of woman who kisses... something unpronouncable before falling asleep. Will Zofi have the courage to bring this conversation up again or just do the tried and true Catholic strategy of pretending it didn't happen while Evka is visiting to help look after her during recovery (so her sister isn't the only one doing so).

Perhaps the third option of bringing up some of earlier teasing to get some actual flirting in. Go for it Zofi you are limited only by the points I put in your social skills. Oh. Shit. Quick, pivot to showing off your forklift certification via Use Heavy Machinery!

(One of these days I want to build a pulp/weird science mech to use with UHM but Zofi is too practical a character and would absolutely be the type to just go "but a tank would be better than making it walk")

TL;DR I live my awkward little Polish grease monkey with a collection of modified baseball bats for combat and her massive requited(?) crush on a redheaded Irish-American club singer/possible mob sniper and assassin (it's fine don't worry about it.) Despite call of cthulhu not really have mechanics for changing starting characteristics she's been lifting weights to build up her strength (in flavour anyway) and has been feeling more confident about ahowing off her newly toned/defined arms.