#play telephone tag for a week

[lunar-fandoms]

Why the fuck is insurance and medical bills so fucking stupid

[17020]

LET'S PLAY TELEPHONE!

In which Third Division vice-captains Yn Narumi and Soshiro Hoshina become their officers' latest hot topic after a misunderstanding, even reaching the Ariake Maritime base and its captain, Gen Narumi.

TAGS . . . implied manga spoilers, co-vice captains!yn & hoshina, gen's sister!reader, suggestive remarks, warning!! gen narumi, loser hoshina agenda, everyone in the jakdf are gossips.

TELEPHONE . . . START!

Reno Ichikawa and Kafka Hibino were... confused. With each passing day, there were more questions popping up in their heads whenever they saw their vice-captains around the Tachikawa base. Sure, it wasn't any of their business, but you have to entertain yourself at your job with what you have, right?

"Oh! Here they come now" Kafka whispered, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. Reno simply nodded as he saw you and Soshiro step into the cafeteria, each one of you grabbing a lunch tray and sitting next to one another.

"What do you see, sir?" Reno questioned the man in front of him, as he squinted his eyes to get a better view. "Nothing out of the ordinary, they're just lunchin—oh!" he gasped, to which Reno raised his eyebrow. "What?"

"He put his arm around her, like in the movies."

Now that piqued Reno's interest, as he subtly turned his head to watch the scene behind him. It was true, the way in which Soshiro had wrapped his arm around your shoulder resembled the old movies he used to watch as a little boy. There was a huge smile on your face, which only fueled his theory even further.

"They sure are happy" he noted. Kafka chuckled at his comment, "If you didn't know them, you'd probably think they're dating!"

They both looked at each other with a serious expression, as if something had finally clicked. Reno leaned in, "You thinking what I'm thinking, sir?"

He nodded, his gaze returning to you and Soshiro. He could see a slight pink hue in his cheeks, which confirmed his suspicions.

It was then when Iharu sat down beside them, asking what they were so serious about. When they asked him to lean in, he knew he was in for a good time. Asking what the huge deal was and why they had to be so secretive, his eyes almost popped out of his skull when he heard the reason.

"Haven't you seen? Vice-captain Narumi and vice-captain Hoshina act like a couple!"

GET THE MESSAGE ACROSS!

As soon as the speculation started, Iharu knew that the next person he had to recruit was Izumo. When approached in the training room, Izumo simply tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"What makes you think that?"

"Are you blind?" Iharu asks, his hands on his head. "Dude, they're all over each other—I swear. Just pay attention on our next mission."

The Kaiju gods must have been on Iharu's side, because as soon as he said those words, there was an emergency in a nearby park. It was a crustacean-type honju with various yoju, and as soon as the officers touched the battlefield, their eyes were on you.

With each yoju they neutralized, they turned their heads towards you, as you and Soshiro paved a path for your captain to neutralize the honju. They paid special attention to their earpieces, which gave them a conversation starter for the next week.

"Whoever cracks the honju's shell first gets free dinner" Soshiro beamed, running straight towards the creature in front of him. Your laugh was heard through the officers' earpieces, "I guess I'll have free dinner tonight then! Remember that new ramen place near Shibuya Station?" you asked, rifle in hand shooting right through the crab's carapace.

Soshiro chuckled, "Same time as last week?"

"Mhm."

"Don't make me wait, m'dear."

Soon after, Captain Ashiro stepped in to take care of the honju. The officers saw Soshiro approach you after all kaiju were neutralized, excited to hear what he was to say next. What surprised them, though, was that they didn't hear anything, despite seeing his lips move.

Soshiro Hoshina turned off his microphone, and so did you.

The four men looked at each other before turning theirs off as well, with Iharu speaking up. "What could be so important that they had to turn off their mics?"

"Guess that's confirmed, then" Reno stated.

"What's confirmed?"

The group stiffened as they recognized the voice, turning around to see Kikoru with her arms crossed. They looked at each other, then at her.

"Didn't you know? Vice-captain Narumi and Vice-captain Hoshina are dating!"

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED . . . NOT?

FURUHASHI 20:50 SHINOMIYA PLEASE YOURE OUR ONLY HOPE!!!

HIBINO 20:50 If you wouldn't mind, Shinomiya, please!

ICHIKAWA 20:50 Please, Shinomiya We'll pay you back however we can

Kikoru sighed at the screen in front of her, shutting her phone off and leaving it on her bed before heading out. She was in total disbelief, asking herself why she even agreed to it in the first place. Going inside the bathhouse, she could faintly hear you and Nakanoshima having a chat.

Nothing too interesting, according to the guidelines she had received. She could hear Iharu's voice in her head, screaming 'Only tell us if she says something related to the matter at hand!'

As she took a seat in the bath in front of you, she noticed something was off. There was a faint, red-ish mark on your collarbone, and she knew there was no way a kaiju would have done that.

"Um, vice-captain?"

You turned your head towards her, a smile on your face. "What's up, Shinomiya?"

"If you don't mind me asking, are you okay? There's something on your neck."

Your eyes widened as you raised your hand to your collarbone, before letting out a giggle. "It's nothing to worry about, Shinomiya. When my liver has had enough of my drinking habits, I usually break out in hives. I didn't know I had one right now, so thank you."

She hummed in response, while you mentioned that it was late and you had to head to Soshiro's office to run through some reports. When you stepped out of the bath, Kikoru's eyes were wide and her jaw was nearly on the floor.

Scratches. All over your back.

Bidding your goodbyes, Kikoru was left thinking. It was Nakanoshima who broke her our of her trance.

"You don't think that was her liver, don't you?" Nakanoshima questioned, "I'm not usually one to spill, but I don't think that's her liver either. You saw those scratches?"

Kikoru nodded, "She's heading to the vice-captain's office right now" she said, to which the platoon leader laughed. "Is she? We don't really have any proof, you know? What we do know, though..."

"...is that vice-captain Narumi is keeping herself busy."

After drying herself up and returning to her room, Kikoru unlocked her phone, ready to send a message.

SHINOMIYA 22:22 I got something

FURUHASHI 22:22 WHAT SPILL

ICHIKAWA 22:23 What'd you find??

HIBINO 22:23 Say something

IZUMO 22:24 Yo Spill

SHINOMIYA 22:25 Vice-captain Narumi and vice-captain Hoshina are sleeping with each other

THE TELEPHONE BROKE!

Kikoru usually complained that the training room was always too rowdy due to the men, but today, she was silent.

Everbody was silent.

Word had gotten out about what happened the night before, and everyone was simply processing. They weren't judging, but they were curious. How could you even have the time, as a vice-captain?

When lunchtime came around, the group was determined to watch you like a hawk. They grabbed their trays and made a beeline towards your table, where you and Soshiro happily welcomed them.

While Kafka engaged with the two of you in some small talk, Kikoru and Reno observed. They looked for anything that could be deemed as suspicious. When Reno's eyes scanned over your hands, he gently kicked Kikoru from under the table.

His eyes told her everything she needed to know, as she subtly sent Kafka a text about her and Reno's finding. On the side of your hand, right below your pinky, was a tattoo of a date. And oh—what a coincidence! Soshiro had the same one.

When Kafka secretly read Kikoru's text, he choked on his food, causing you and Soshiro to ask him if he's okay. "I'm good, vice-captains, but if it's okay to ask, why do you have matching tattoos?"

Soshiro laughed as he slammed his palm on the table, "That's 50 pushups for ya, fledgling!" "Hey—make it 30, he was just curious" you justified, "It's okay to ask, Hibino. Me and Hoshina lost a bet to a superior officer a long time ago and had to tattoo the date of that night as a result."

He didn't push any further, afraid it would cost him more pushups.

SHINOMIYA 13:01 Long time ago my ass that ink looks fresh

FURUHASHI 13:01 They're definitely hiding something

ICHIKAWA 13:02 Hey aren't we going to the first division base later today? We can ask some of the officers from there

FURUHASHI 13:03 Shinomiya you know what to do

SHINOMIYA 13:04 What am I your errand girl?

HIBINO 13:05 You're gossip girl

"Rookies, isn't it rude to be on your phones when you're at the table?"

FURUHASHI 13:06 Watch he's gonna give us 30 pushups cuz he wants to hide that he and vice-captain Narumi are married

"Officer Furuhashi, please drop your phone, it's rude. That's 40 pushups for ya."

MESSAGE RECEIVED!

Even with the First Division present, the investigation was ongoing. Within the shared training grounds, whispers were exchanged about the latest news.

"I mean, I couldn't believe it—I'm still in shock" Kafka whispered, to which Kikoru nodded. "It's weird that they decided to keep it secret, but I can see where they're coming from. Who'd want everyone to know that you're boning your coworker?"

"Who's boning who?"

Shivers ran down Kikoru and Kafka's spines as they realized who that voice belonged to. They straightened themselves up while saluting, "Captain Narumi! Sorry, we didn't see you there" Kafka apologized.

"You didn't answer my question, who's boning who?"

"Uhm..."

"Well?"

"...umi and...shina."

"Hahh?"

"...aptain Narumi and....Hoshina, sir"

"Speak up, damn it!"

"Vice-captain Narumi and vice-captain Hoshina, sir!"

"Well that's fuckin' outdated, I'm captain and I'm not into idiots like Hoshina."

"..."

"Oh."

"..."

"BONE?"

"Well, sir, it's normal for married couples to—"

"My SISTER is MARRIED?"

"Sir, we don't know for su—"

"MY SISTER? BOOOONE?"

When Gen Narumi turned on his heel and left, Kafka and Kikoru knew they were done for. They scrambled out of the training grounds in fear for their lives, as Gen Narumi angrily called you and Soshiro into his office.

When you went to greet him with a hug, he screeched. "Yn, you got married to that beady eyed scumbag and didn't tell me??"

You looked at him confused, "Gen, where did you hear that?"

"It's captain Narumi, and for your information, I found out because your whole squad knows you're fucking each other."

Soshiro laughed, his hand holding his stomach from how hard he was laughing. "You think I'd date Yn?"

"It's Ln to you, and I'll have you know my sister is way out of your league, you annoying brat."

"Gen, did you seriously call us to your office for this?" you questioned, seeing the pout on your brother's face. "I have nothing to hide, Gen, and you know that if I'd be dating someone, you'd be the first to know."

"Good to know" he noted, "now get out, will ya? I got things to do."

As soon as you closed the door behind you, you looked at Soshiro. He was about to laugh, when he saw your fearful expression.

"We need to be more careful Soshiro" you sighed, "don't go leaving any evidence next time."

"Oh brother, If I'd be dating someone, you'd be the first to know" he mocked.

Your angry expression quickly shut him up.

"The tattoo thing was a good save though, sweetheart. Good job."

taglist (open, yippee!): @stunie @kaiser1ns @nyxypoo @karasuglazer @maruflix @littleplantfreak @heartkaji @ryescapades , also tagging @justwinginglife this is for you !!

[maniculum]

Gauging Interest in an Idea

I've noticed a couple notes on the original scorpion post along the lines of "wouldn't it be fun to engage in Bestiary Telephone and try to draw animals based on garbled descriptions?" And I was like, that wouldn't be hard to simulate, just find a friend to read you bestiary entries but not tell you what the animal is... and then I had a Thought.

I have access to an academic library and a reasonable fluency in Old and Middle English. I bet I could find a transcription of a bestiary in one of those languages, do a quick-and-dirty modern translation of each entry, and post them on here once a week with the actual names of the animals replaced by nonsense words or something.* Then people could try and draw them, with the same amount of information a medieval artist who had never seen this animal would have had access to.

*Yes, translations of bestiaries do already exist (I even have one on my shelf right now) but I don't know of any that are public domain and so I think it might be Not Cool for me to basically serialize the entire text on this blog.

I figure anyone who wants to play can post their drawings of the week's animal on their own blog using the randomly-generated nonsense-name as a tag, then at the end of the week I can round them up, link to the artists, and reveal what animal the text was actually describing. (No guarantee that the animal actually... exists, though. Lots of made-up critters found their way into these bestiaries over time.)

Before I get into finding & translating a source, though, I want to make sure there are at least a few people out there who would be interested in participating, because if nobody wants to draw stuff, then it's just a translation exercise for me, which, while fun, isn't an ideal use of my time. So:

I'm setting the poll for one week, and if there seems to be sufficient interest, I'll start getting the text together. (It'll probably take a couple weeks after that to get started, because I do have other projects and whatnot.)

[narklos]

Half-Lore #3: 66 HL Facts!

Make your 'counting to three' jokes in the tags please. Back with another instalment, this is one I've been looking forward to! 66 random facts spanning the entire Half-Life franchise (bc I couldn't fit 100 in one post due to numbered list character limits...) If you have any suggestions for other instalments of Half-Lore, please let me know.

Have a peep under the cut, and enjoy!

Gordon can speak, as confirmed in a series of letters that were included in HL1's box. They mention that L.M and him had a telephone call prior to Gordon's arrival.

Speaking of L.M, he was the original administrator for Black Mesa. L.M was the G-Man, though his full name is never revealed.

Barney and Breen were both meant to appear in Half-Life: Alyx, but were cut due to a hard reset on the game's development.

Gordon is apparently very clumsy. Eli jokes about it in a series of cut voicelines.

Prior to his appointment at Black Mesa, Gordon was stationed at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.

Russell's complaint about being told to apply a year later after his interview at Black Mesa is a real-life hiring process that Valve uses.

Marc Laidlaw mentioned that the baby photo in Gordon's locker is probably a nephew, making Gordon an uncle!

Bullsquids have a 'hungry' mode. If they find a dead headcrab, and they're in hungry mode, they'll eat it. Otherwise, they'll play a sniffing animation and walk away.

In HL2, you can bonk NPCs on the head during a cutscene to make them teleport. This is because the game thinks that the character is trapped by a physics prop, and will teleport them to the next segment in the cutscene to free them.

On Kleiner's clipboard during his first cutscene, what he's saying about the HEV suit is actually written on the paper word-for-word.

Barney has a girlfriend called Lauren, and a picture of her in his locker. The woman in question was a real-life girlfriend of one of the devs.

In one of the OP4 skyboxes, a dev has written the note "Hack hack hack all day long. Hack hack hack while I sing this song."

The mysterious artefact Alyx brings back to Black Mesa East is the head of a Cremator, which was a cut enemy.

HL2 was originally meant to take place in New York.

Headcrabs don't turn Gordon into a zombie because he apparently never lets them get close to his face.

Colette gets a kick out of violence.

Gordon was employee of the month when the Resonance Cascade happened.

A special rebel outpost along Route Kanal will start playing ambient windchimes if you hang around long enough.

Breen was meant to wear a pair of glasses, but Marc Laidlaw went against it, citing that they made Breen look 'vaguely homosexual'.

Russell was originally meant to be Laszlo, the finest mind of his generation. His computer's password is actually 'Laszlo' too!

There are props clipping through Russell's ceiling intentionally- objects will phase through each other during portal storms, the likes of which ravage City 17.

The Citadel wasn't built on Earth, per se- it was teleported in chunk by chunk like the world's biggest IKEA assembly.

G-Man cannot understand the Vort's language, and the Vorts use by-words when discussing him and the Advisors to avoid detection.

Combine Advisors cannot breathe Earth's atmosphere, hence the breathing apparatus they wear.

There was meant to be a fourth day of HL2's plot, but it was shortened to three. Players would have fought through a museum.

Eli lost his leg to a bullsquid when he was helping Kleiner into City 17.

Kleiner and Barney were meant to die in a bus crash in HL2's opening sequence. Marc Laidlaw wrote a short story discussing their deaths in rather graphic detail.

In Decay, there was a cut sequence where players witnessed Gordon getting killed if they didn't scare away the soldiers in time.

Despite 20 years having passed in reality, only around two weeks have passed for Gordon due to being in stasis.

For HLA, developers scanned in a $10,000 Nordstrom suit to use for G-Man's textures.

Level designer David Casali, who has worked on every single mainline HL game, was too tall for a lot of the levels in HLA's Vault sequence. This lead to a lot of upside-down sections being cut for accessibility.

G-Man was meant to be an unwilling prisoner in the Vault, as revealed in a storyboard in The Final Hours.

The Nihilanth is inspired by Gabe Newell's fears of fatherhood, as he'd just had his son at the time.

Nothing is native to Xen. Every alien animal present on Xen is running away from The Combine's invasion of their homeworlds.

During Opposing Force, players can find a gear and a valve inside of a cardboard box- a very clear nod to Gearbox and Valve!

Barney's model changes subtly from HL2 to Episode 1- he's shown more dishevelled, with his hair unkempt and a series of cuts on his cheeks.

G-Man's face is hidden in the Xenian crystal at Black Mesa East.

Alyx was found by the G-Man, sitting beside her dead mother and clutching her mother's wedding ring.

Child labour was meant to appear, with models and animations of the children working in Cremator factories made. This, understandably, were cut, and the lack of children explained away with the suppression field.

G-Man's crow friend is nicknamed 'Crowley'.

During the tactical map section of Surface Tension, you don't have to use the drone strike to destroy the doors leading to the next level- you can actually break it with a fully-charged Tau Cannon shot.

Typing 'haiku' in the game's console will generate a random haiku for you.

Imprisoning the G-Man in HLA was referred to as putting 'God in a Box' by developers.

HL2 on PC and HL2 on Xbox 360 sound wildly different! Due to advanced sound chips, developers were able to push the audio of HL2 to be more immersive and sound more realistic than on PC.

Grigori's shotgun is called Annabelle.

A model of Eli naked exists. This was meant to be used in the section we see him in the Combine pods.

An illustration of G-Man holding a gun to his head can be found on the back of a sign in HLA.

Similarly, in the Index HLA home environment, his eyes are used as part of an advertisement for 'vision enhancement'.

You can find a minifigure of the Scout in HLA.

The textures for some of HLA's cans actually use a recoloured metal effect from HL1's orange poster.

Grigori has cut crosses into the backs of his hands.

Inside G-Man's briefcase is pencils, ID, paper, and a gun.

The shadowy woman in HLA is called Hahn/The Contractor, and according to Erik Wolpaw, they 'have plans' for her.

A cut enemy called Mr. Friendly was meant to literally SA the player and knock Gordon's glasses off, blurring the screen. Apparently, the idea was to play on a gamer's subconscious (or conscious...) homophobia and make them freak out. This enemy was actually designed by a teenager, and was predictably scrapped.

Early advertisements for HL1 featured babies and children with lambdas replacing their eyes.

HL1 is intended to be an allegory for fighting your own inner hopelessness.

Valve's offices have a wall built to resemble the moving walls of the Citadel.

G-Man has had a total of 11 different models throughout HL's history.

Breaking the army crates in the Dreamcast port of HL1 will reveal copies of Sonic Adventure inside.

Gordon is from Seattle, Washington.

HL2 was delayed a lot during its development. At the time, many swore never to buy from Valve again due to their broken promises.

HL2's E3 demonstrations were staged.

Colette was employed by G-Man, but Gina died.

During a Reddit AMA, a dev responded that we shouldn't keep making Gordon feel bad about his outdated hairstyle choices, when asked about where his ponytail went.

A metrocop's hideaway can be found in the level after the zoo in HLA. Due to the amount of conspiracy theory paraphanelia, the room is theorised to be Barney's.

The act of covering your mouth to stop the fumes of Xenian flora from affecting you in HLA was implemented after playtesters instictively covered their mouths when sprayed.

Thanks for reading to the bottom! Here's some top notch BREENWAVE for you.

[spookyscarydemonbabe]

Drive

A/N- During the normal April rain, i got the urge to watch some more of S4. Have i officially finished it yet? No. Does it still give me little ideas every now and then? Absolutely. And sorry to come back with such a (somewhat) depressing fic 😂 please know i’ve been working on a few things back and forth for the last two months so expect a few scattered fics here and there when i get around to finishing them. I still miss you all very much 😘 (P.S. i got this story while listening to Drive by The Cars, hence the title :p)

Summary- Late one night you get a call from Eddie that sends chills down your spine

Genre- Hurt/Comfort, Fluff

Warnings- S4 spoilers, mentions of death/dying

Tag List- @thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles @munsonology @esme-viridian @gvf23 @wheels-of-despair

(tag list is always open, let me know if you’d like to be added 🖤)

Word Count- 4.5k

Tonight was finally the night.

The last dreadful day of school before spring break, thank god. For another seven days you would be able to stay up late, sleep in, hang out with the guys, smoke, put a dent into the list of movies Jeff and Gareth had been making for you to watch before you die, and maybe finally dive into that stack of books next to your nightstand that you’ve been putting off reading. All the while you’d have full accessibility to the house while your parents were on vacation for a little spring break of their own.

It would be bliss. Save for the few shifts at work during the week, but it was a sacrifice you’d be willing to make for all that extra free time.

You had finally sat down after a shower, your hair still damp at your shoulders as you sat on the couch with a bag of chips at your side and a can of pop waiting to be opened at the living room table, you reached for the remote and as soon as you clicked the power button you could hear the incessant ringing of the telephone. As much as you wanted to ignore it and let it ring, something just didn’t feel right.

There was something that washed over you as you glanced down the hall at the phone on the wall, and just couldn’t help but carefully wander down to pick it up. Your heart dropped into the pit of your stomach before you could even say anything.

Eddie was at the other end. Crying, hyperventilating, and you could just hear his panicked pacing through his quick speech. It took a moment for you to even realize what was happening before finally speaking up,

“Eddie! Eddie, calm down, i can’t understand you. What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I don’t know!” He shouted into the phone between sobs, “I was in my bedroom and then walked out and she was acting so strange and then she started floating and-“ He couldn’t finish. Whatever it was that had happened, you knew it wasn’t something that could be fixed with him calming down.

“Ok, it’s ok, you don’t have to tell me. I know you’re really scared right now, i’m here for you ok.”

“(y/n), i don’t know what to do…” He cried out, and it was heartbreaking hearing just how badly he was hurting without even knowing what was going on. The mystery of it all was panic inducing enough for you, you couldn’t imagine how Eddie was feeling on the other end.

“Eddie, i need you to listen very carefully to me, ok? I want you take a deep breath, i want you to get your keys, and i want you to drive over here. Don’t bother with going home, don’t bother grabbing anything or stopping anywhere, get over here now. I don’t know what the situation is but i can tell that whatever it is, it isn’t safe.”

He said not another word, and you heard the click of the phone on the other end, the disconnect tone playing in your ear wasn’t helping the situation.

Within minutes you could hear the screeching tires of Eddie’s van pull into your driveway. You watched from the front window as he struggled to pull the keys from the ignition, rushing to get out as fast as he could. When he saw you carefully open the door for him he couldn’t help but run to you, wrapping his arms around you in a tight embrace, his head buried in your chest and you could hear the slow sobs start once more.

“Ok, it’s ok. Shh, it’s ok…” You still had no idea what was happening.

All you knew was that Eddie was here, crying, panicked, scared, and he needed you.

You quickly shut the front door, clicking the lock and moving your arms around him once more, one hand moving to cradle the back of his head as you felt his tears start to soak through your shirt.

He was trembling, cold to the touch, and you were terrified not knowing what on this earth had made him feel this way. He was in a state that you had never seen him in before, and as painful as it was to not bombard him with every question you had floating around in your brain about what could possibly be making him like this, you let him be. He needed time, and what he needed now was someone to make him feel right again.

The moment you heard the sobs start to quiet and his breathing became slower, you carefully pulled yourself away, hand still on the back of his head to comfort him as his arms never left your sides,

“Shh, it’s alright. Take a few deep breaths ok?”

Eddie looked up to you and nodded, his bloodshot eyes slowly closing as he took a few shaky deep breaths. Your hands moved to his cheeks, wiping away the few stray tears that slipped through.

“You don’t have to tell me what happened right now,” Eddie opened his eyes as you held his cheeks, “but i need to know if you’re hurt, or if someone else is hurt…” You looked down to his Hellfire Club shirt, spotting a few stray droplets of blood, but Eddie seemed to be physically fine.

“Someone else…” The thought of whatever had happened made him muster up another quick sob.

“I’m glad you’re ok. We’ll worry about that in a little bit ok, right now let’s stand you up.” He nodded once more and your arms moved to hold onto his, trying to give him a reassuring smile as he did his best to slow his breathing back to normal, “Let’s go get you cleaned up, come with me.”

You still held onto his arm as you led him upstairs. This wasn’t the first time he had come over, he knew the layout of your home well, but you wouldn’t dare leave his side while he was in this state.

You slowly walked him down the hall and into the bathroom, letting him carefully sit on the toilet as you leaned over and fidgeted with the knobs for the faucet. Eddie leaned over, his elbows at his knees, palms at his forehead. His breathing had slowed finally, but he was quiet. You reached your hand beneath the faucet and once the water felt warm enough you pulled the curtain and started the shower for him, kneeling on the floor before him.

“Eddie?” He slowly moved his hands and looked to you, eyes still bloodshot with swollen cheeks from all the tears he had shed, “I know that whatever it is you’re going through isn’t easy, but all i want to do is help you. You know that right?”

He was still silent, but nodded.

“Take a shower, clean yourself up. I promise i’ll be nearby the whole time, and i’m going to come back in a few minutes with a towel and pajamas for you, ok?”

He nodded again, and you gave him another smile as you stood. You pushed the hair aside on his forehead and placed a gentle kiss to the space, and it seemed that this finally got a reaction out of him. His lips twitched at the corners, and you could see he wanted to smile back to you but he was just so exhausted.

You left the bathroom and shut the door behind you, standing there for just a moment to listen for anything. As soon as you heard a bit of shuffling and his clothes hitting the floor you smiled to yourself and wandered to the hall closet, grabbing a towel and then heading into your parents room to steal a pair of your dads pajama pants and an extra shirt for Eddie to change into. They’d be oversized and probably a little uncomfortable but they were better than nothing.

You walked back to the bathroom door, towel and clothes in hand, and waited. After a deep breath, and a quick shake just to get your nerves in place, your gently rapped your knuckles at the door,

“Eddie?” You opened the door just a crack, “I’m coming in, ok?”

You only heard a groan from him, but it was enough for you to enter once again. You saw his clothes piled up on the floor and placed the towel on top of the toilet, the extra pajamas on the counter. You could hear a few sounds from him through the curtain, a few groans and it sounded like he was doing his best to keep his composure. You left him to his business, grabbing his clothes off of the floor and quickly folding them into a pile and carrying them out with you, save for his underwear that you left with the extra pajamas for him.

“I’ll be in my room ok? Take all the time you need and i’ll be there when you’re done.” You said before stepping back out into the hall and softly closing the door behind you.

With one more deep breath you walked to your bedroom door, flicking the light switch on and leaving the door open for Eddie whenever he was finished and ready to come in. His clothes were placed on top of your dresser and you quickly wandered around to grab a few things for him. Extra pillow and blanket, a hair brush and some detangling solution, and you grabbed a few small snacks from your munchies stash under your bed for him to snack on. You didn’t know what he would’ve needed, but it was a good idea to be prepared for anything.

As you sat on your bed waiting for him you reached for the remote and switched on your TV, you heard the floorboards creaking at your door. Eddie was standing there in your doorway, towel in hand with his wet hair soaking the shoulders of the oversized shirt.

“Hey, come on in, close the door behind you.” You smiled to him, standing up and approaching him slowly, “Here, you take this, and i’ll take that,” You had handed him the TV remote and took the towel from his hands, leading him to the end of your bed, “you sit and find something to watch. Let me deal with your hair, i know you like how gentle i am with it.”

Eddie finally gave you a smile. A small one, but it was something. He sat at the end of your bed and you sat behind him on the mattress, reaching over and grabbing their hairbrush and detangler before lifting his wet hair and draping the towel over his shoulders.

He finally seemed calm as you sprayed the fruity scented detangler into his hair, gently brushing at the end in small sections as he finally found a channel to settle on. It was one of the local public access channels that showed old music videos while the host talked about all his favorite parts from the video afterwards. Music was always his happy place.

Eddie breathed deeply, quietly, sitting there before you with his eyes on the tv while you gently brushed his hair. He was always so grateful to have you to turn to when he wasn’t ok. Though it was odd to see him like this.

You had seen him cry when he was panicked over having to repeat another school year, you had seen him scared after Wayne found out he had swiped a few cans of beer from the fridge, but this was something new. This was a different kind of fear. He wasn’t trying to brave this one out and take it on the chest like he had before. It was like he had reverted to a scared little boy with no clue what to do or who to turn to. This was something he couldn’t face alone and he knew you knew that now.

You kept quiet as you finished with his hair, setting the brush down next to you and using the towel to scrunch his curls, gently pulling it off of his shoulders and bringing it to your hamper. He didn’t move as you went to sit next to him, only turning to you as you nudged his shoulder to grab his attention.

His face was still slightly puffy from the tears he had shed, his eyes were slightly pink, but his breathing was normal and that you were grateful for.

“Are you ok?”

His eyes wandered away from yours and he shook his head gently, still not speaking.

“Eddie, i know you might not think i’ll understand whatever it is you’re going through, but i want to understand. Please…” You moved yourself to sit in front of him, his view of the TV blocked by your form, “I just want to know what happened.”

Eddie clenched his eyes shut and took a deep breath, and as he opened his eyes they began to water once more,

“You won’t believe me…” He choked out.

You stood for a moment and quickly ran over to your nightstand, grabbing the box of tissues for him to use whenever he needed them.

“Yes i will.” You reassured him. “Eddie, i know you wouldn’t lie to me, but i don’t know what’s going to happen if you don’t tell me. You said someone else was hurt and i saw the blood on your clothes… If you did something-“

“I didn’t do anything!” He shouted, cutting you off mid-sentence.

You sat back on your legs and reached over to turn down the volume on the TV, sitting and waiting patiently for Eddie to be ready to finally tell you what the cause of all his panic was. You could sense that he was ready, it was just hard to find the words.

With one last deep breath he looked down at his hands in his lap,

“I was at the trailer with Chrissy, i met her after school and she said she was going through some stuff. Asked for something strong. I left her in the living room while i went to look for it and when i came back she was acting… different.”

You tried to move closer to him but he backed himself away.

“Different how?” You asked.

His lip started to quiver and his eyes were shut tight again.

“She was just standing there… silent. Her eyes were rolled back and then her feet just lifted off of the ground, but not like she was floating, like someone had picked her up but there was nothing… no one…”

You gave him time. He needed patience, and you could see that whatever happened next was what caused him to act the way he was. He was terrified of something, someone, but he didn’t know what or who.

“I tried to wake her up and see if maybe she was just freaking out or something but…” His lip quivered as he tried to collect himself, but it was clear that this was an event he was having to relive every time he closed his eyes, “She floated up to the ceiling and it was like…” He started to hyperventilate again, and you inched closer, reaching out and gently grasping his arm, though this time he didn’t move away, “it was like something was inside her, breaking every bone in her body…” He couldn’t stop the flow of tears, and you couldn’t bear to have this go on any longer. Though it sounded crazy, Eddies reactions weren’t making it seem crazy.

“Ok, ok, you don’t have to tell me anymore, it’s alright.”

Eddie quickly wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you in close as he sobbed into your shoulder. You held him gently, slowly moving your fingers through his hair to try and comfort him. It always worked before.

“You don’t have to tell me any more…”

You said to him quietly, the music on the TV softly playing in the background was helping slightly to dull the horrific reaction Eddie was having to this memory.

A few moments had gone by, and though he was no where near better, his breathing was slowing and the tears were slowly stopping. Or maybe he just didn’t have any left in him.

“You think i’m crazy, don’t you?” He said through slow breaths.

“No.” You said plainly, “I don’t think you’re crazy Eddie. It sounds unreal but… with how you’ve been reacting i don’t see anything else making sense…”

It was an insane scene to think about. It sounded like something straight out of a horror movie, and those things were fine, they weren’t real. But this was. And Eddie was horrified.

“Did you call anyone else about this? Did you tell the guys or the police?”

“No…” He whimpered, hiding his head back into your shoulder, “I ran… I didn’t know what else to do or who else to go to…”

“Eddie,” You carefully lifted his face away from your shoulder, grabbing a tissue and wiping away the tears that trailed down his cheeks, “I know it’s scary, but you have to go to the police.”

“I can’t…”

“Yes you can.”

“I can’t, they’ll know i did it!” He shouted.

“You didn’t do anything!” You shouted back, quieting him once more, “I’ll go with you, i’ll vouch for you, i’ll say that you saw her earlier in the day and then you came over afterwards, i know you couldn’t have done something like this Eddie.”

“No.” He said it with no emotion between every word you were saying, “No, no, no. You are NOT lying to the police for me (y/n).”

“Then what are you going to do?”

Eddie was silent for a moment, sniffling as he recollected himself. He brought his knees up to his chest and looked down into his lap,

“I don’t know… They’re going to think it was me anyways…”

“Don’t say that!”

He could hear in your voice that talking about this was making you more and more worried for him. That’s the last thing he wanted.

“I’ll figure something out.”

You were quiet.

Neither of you were sure how to go about something like this.

You moved yourself to sit back next to him, your legs crossed in front of you as you fidgeted with your fingers in your lap. The quiet music on the TV was fading in and out and as the song played, somehow it managed to calm both your nerves, at least a little bit. You slowly leaned over and put your head onto his shoulder as you sat together, bringing your hand up to wipe away a single tear that had fallen from your eye. But of course once the first one started, it was difficult to stop. Eddie only noticed your tears after he heard a few muffled sniffles from next to him.

He looked over to you and saw the wetness at your cheeks and reached one arm around your shoulder to pull you in closer,

“Why are you crying?”

“Because,” Another sniffle as you reached up to wipe your eyes, “I’m worried about you…”

The corners of Eddie’s lips curled up into a small smile as he rested his head on top of yours,

“It’ll be alright… I promise.”

You silently nodded, looking up at him with a pursed smile through your wet eyes. You didn’t know if he would be alright, but Eddie wasn’t the type to lie. Especially not to you.

With a deep breath, you slowly shut your eyes and let out a yawn, Eddie catching it and doing it himself a moment later.

“Why don’t we get to bed?” You offered, “We’ll get everything figured out in the morning.”

Eddie nodded, slowly getting up and stretching his arms over his head as you stood up next to him.

You wandered over to your bed, grabbing a few pillows and holding them in your arms as you started to pull one of the blankets away for Eddie to use before he stopped you,

“Wait! Um…” He was hesitant for a moment, but you let him take his time, “Could i uh… If you’re ok with it-“

“Do you want to sleep in bed with me?” You cut him off, seeing that he was a bit uncomfortable at the thought of having to ask. He nodded and you smiled to him as you placed the pillows back into their spots, “Of course you can.”

You pulled the covers back to make room for him as he wandered to the other side of your bed. He’d stayed the night plenty of times before, but never like this. Just the two of you sharing a bed. The thought of it made his heart flutter, and maybe under different circumstances he might even consider it a romantic thing between you with the music helping the mood. But he was just happy that you cared so much for him.

He didn’t know if you liked him or not, but he knew that you loved each other.

“Go ahead and make yourself comfortable.” You fluffed up his pillows as he sat at the edge of your bed, grabbing the remote as you walked over to Eddie’s side, “Here. Put on anything you want, i’m going to go downstairs really quick and make sure everything is locked up ok?”

Eddie nodded as he took the remote from you, closing his eyes gently as you pushed his hair back from his forehead and placed a gentle kiss onto the skin,

“I’ll be right back, but just in case, you call me if you need me ok?”

He nodded once more, the corners of his lips curling into a smile as he watched you leave the room. The quiet music and the sound of your fading footsteps somehow made him forget about the incident. Or at least forget as much of it as he could.

He kept his attention on the TV, listening to the music play to get his mind off of everything else that had happened that night. He didn’t know what he was going to do, but he knew that he couldn’t have you getting hurt because of him too.

He looked at the remote in his hands and fidgeted with the buttons for a moment, looking back up at the door as he heard you enter the upstairs hallway and close your bedroom door behind you.

“All locked up.” You said with a smile.

Eddie smiled back and took a deep breath as he set the remote onto the nightstand next to your bed.

“Want to keep the TV on?” You asked as another song started to play.

Drive by The Cars.

Eddie nodded and pulled the covers up over himself, settling into bed, yet keeping his eyes on you. He needed to make sure he had you in his sight, just in case. You reached out and turned off the light switch, the glow from the TV softly illuminating your room.

It was strange.

You’d dreamt of a moment like this before.

Eddie in bed with you, safe and comforted, though you never had imagined it would happen like this.

You slowly walked over to your side of the bed, lifting the covers and laying yourself next to Eddie as he sat with his back against the pillows resting on the headboard. He had been staring at nothing and yet he seemed like he had been seeing everything at once. Glazed over with both fear and exhaustion. All you wanted to do was help, Eddie knew that, but a situation like this was so hard to read.

“Hey,” You said softly up to him, his head turning to look down to you, “lay down. I want to talk to you for a second, ok?”

Eddie slowly moved his body downward, lifting the covers up as he adjusted himself next to you, trying so desperately to keep himself at a respectful distance. His face was close to yours, noses so close to touching, and you could feel the warmth of his body as it lay close. Even in times like this he still kept so warm.

“I’m scared too… I don’t know what it is that you saw, but i promise you that i’ll do everything i can to make sure you’re safe.”

“(y/n), you don’t have to do that-“

“I do.” You cut him off sternly, “Eddie, i love you. I care about you. The only other time you’ve ever come to my house freaked out was when Wayne caught you swapping out his vodka because you didn’t know alcohol froze.” Eddie smiled to himself as he remembered that night, knowing he fully deserved his punishment for doing something that stupid, “Whatever happened, i know you didn’t do it. I know you. Do you have anywhere else you can stay? Some place safer?”

Eddie thought to himself for a moment. He didn’t know. He had a million things racing through his head, before finally looking to you and nodding his head. You were unsure of his answer, but you didn’t want to keep prying.

“I don’t want to tell you what to do Eddie, but you really need to tell someone what happened.” You reached your hand up and gently held his cheek, and you could see that though he didn’t know what he needed, he needed you to be there with him, “I just want you to be ok…”

He could hear the cracking of your voice, knowing how hard you were trying to hold back your emotions, but it was terrifying. For him, for you, and for god knows who else this may have happened to.

Eddie reached up and grasped your hand in his, holding it tightly as he looked to your eyes,

“I promise i’ll be ok.”

You couldn’t tell if he meant it, but you nodded as you looked to him. He wanted to be ok, and you knew he could take care of himself, but when Eddie needed help you knew it was serious. You just hoped he’d be able to come out of this unharmed.

Eddie took a deep breath and moved his hand to the back of your head, raising his lips and pressing a soft kiss to your forehead. His arms slowly wrapped around your body, pulling you in close, and as he moved himself closer to you it was clear he was starting to cry again. Softly. Quietly.

Your arms moved around him and held him tightly, one hand slowly moving through his hair as the other gently scratched over his shoulders to comfort him,

“Shh, it’s ok…” His quiet sobs and whimpers only made you hug him closer, “I’m right here with you, you’re safe, i promise…”

It would take a while before either of you would get any sleep, you figured as much when Eddie ran through your door and into your arms. He needed someone there and you were so happy to be the person he came to, wether you knew how to help him or not.

As you lay in each others arms, the slow song playing softly from the TV soon was able to lull you both to sleep.

Every now and then throughout the night, Eddie would wake up in a cold sweat, seeing the scene that had unfolded before his eyes earlier. He’d look around the room, see you sleeping so soundly in his arms, and he’d calm down.

He was safe where he was.

[thatwriterchick222]

coffee (joel miller x f/reader)

summary: “What are you drinking?” Ellie asked quietly, leaning on the railing of the deck. Joel had a steaming cup of something in his hands.

“Coffee.” He walked up beside her, leaning on the railing and mirroring her.

Ellie looked at him, confused. “Where’d you get that?”

“Uh, those people that came through last week.” Joel chuckled.

“Oh.”

Joel rocked back and forth on his heels. “A little embarrassed as to what I had to trade to get it, but…” He raised the mug, about to take a sip.“It’s not bad.”

a/n: today we finally learn the truth... what DID joel have to trade to get his beloved bag of beans??? read ahead to find out ;)))

-------------

You and your group were passing through the small settlement in Jackson, Wyoming. Your leader had mentioned it a few times, since he was familiar with Tommy Miller, the man who founded the small town with his wife, Maria.

The group had lots of supplies, and so did yours, so your group figured you could pass through and stay for a few days since they had allowed it before. Everyone would do some trading, and you would get to sleep in a warm bed for once…

When you all arrived, you were in awe of the state of the place. Lights that hung from old telephone poles illuminated the snow-covered streets in a warm yellow glow, and kids ran around playing tag, weaving between the various civilians huddled by the fire pits.

Your shoulders ached, the backpack you were carrying was filled with nothing but food, seeds, and a large bag of coffee beans. 

One thing about your group was that you were always stocked in food and natural resources since you mostly lived off the land, and the Jackson group was stocked in weapons and supplies, something you had very little of.

When you were invited to one of their weekly dance-potluck-party events, you were frankly nervous as hell. You hadn’t been to something like this since before the outbreak, and large groups had become a rarity unless you were all fighting for your lives.

You had been given a room in a large house and took a long shower, the feeling of the hot water making you tear up. You missed it.

You arrived slightly late since you were pulled aside by a few people wanting to trade with you, weapon parts for seeds, and the like. One person had asked for your bag of coffee beans, but you were hesitant to give them over just for a few bullets.

When you got in, you immediately went straight to the bar. The lively crowd inside was already whittling a hole in your chest, and anxiety bubbled in your stomach as you walked around the dance floor. People laughed, clinked glasses, hugged… it was just like the old world. 

Only it wasn’t the old world, and the way that these people smiled and partied like there weren’t infected all around them outside these walls had you on edge. How did they do it? Is that what living in a place like this did? Did it make you ignorant?

You took a long sip of the beer you ordered and got the sudden urge to get out. It was all too much. The loud music, the bright lights… 

As you turned, you crashed into someone.

“Shit! Sorry!” You exclaimed, pulling back and immediately looking up at the tall figure. He was leaning on the bar and seemed to barely even notice you crashing into him because he was so large.

“It’s okay.” He said, smiling at you, his gaze soft. You swallowed, looking at the man, his hair grey, a stubbly beard on his face. He looked to be in his mid-fifties. Not that you were complaining. 

You leaned on the bar beside him. He had a whiskey in his hand. 

“I don’t recognize you…” He trailed off, looking at you out of the corner of his eye. 

“My group and I are passing through.” You smiled nervously, taking a sip of beer. “Tommy likes to trade with us.”

The man put his whiskey down and stuck his hand out to me. You noticed the way his shirt sleeves were rolled up, exposing a long vein in his forearm. He was also wearing a watch, but the glass face was cracked and it seemed to be stuck in time. 

“I’m Joel.” He said, and you grabbed his hand, shaking it slowly. “Tommy’s my brother.”

“Oh!” You laughed softly. “I’m Y/N.”

You held onto each other’s hands for a beat longer than normal, his palm warm against yours. You pulled away, a blush spreading across your cheeks as you looked down. 

One thing about living in a world like this… was that human affection was hard to come by. Attractive men, even more so.

You swallowed, and Joel cleared his throat, taking a sip of his whiskey. “Sorry… I– I don’t often find myself talkin’ to beautiful women. I don’t quite know what to say.”

You felt your stomach swirl and looked up at him through the corner of your eye. “Who, me?” 

To be quite honest, you were surprised he found you beautiful. Not because you hated yourself, but because you hadn’t thought about your looks in so long. You learned to forget about those things since they didn’t matter. A pretty face didn’t keep you alive. 

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “I’m glad you bumped into me.”

You laughed, turning to him. Something about him felt extremely warm. Despite his nervousness and guarded exterior, you were drawn to him. It wasn’t every day you got a compliment from an older man. Was he probably way too old for you? Yes. Did you care? No. Life was short, and you were only here for a few days...

continue on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53698717

[gojonatr]

home ☆

synopsis: geto disappears, but randomly appears at gojo's door a few months later.

tags: graphic description, implied character death, angst w no comfort.

word count: 1k

note: this was originally something i wrote up w original characters but i thought it fit stsg so well i tweaked it a lil' bit :)

divider credit @/cafekitsune

something in satoru’s gut told him to call suguru. to make sure that he was okay.

the elder of the pair went out of town for the weekend, something urgent with his family, but he promised to text satoru when he got there. his thumbs were heavy as they hovered over the call button, glossy eyes rereading their text messages, satoru wishing suguru safe travels and exchanging their i love you’s.

with a deep sigh, he pressed down on the small telephone symbol, placing the phone up to hear his only to be met with suguru’s voicemail.

“hello! this is suguru, i'm not able to answer, but send me a text or call back later, and i'll get to you." something wasn’t right, he knew that suguru would be available right now, he’d probably be bored out of his mind. this made him really uneasy, his heart dropping to his stomach and his breath short, but he couldn’t help but to try calling again.

“hello! this is su-”

and again.

“hello!-”

and again.

“hel-”

until it seemed pointless. it was clear that suguru wasn’t going to answer any of his calls, no matter how frantic they seemed. it was going straight to voicemail for a reason. maybe his phone was off. maybe he had do not disturb on. maybe it died. maybe he died.

the days passed slowly as satoru waited for any sign of life from him. no calls, no texts, no social media posts. sometimes he’d pretend that this was all a bad dream and text suguru about his day, asking about his as well.

at some point it started turning into seeing suguru in public.

at first, he knew that there was no way in hell that it could have been him inspite the twinge of hope that he was holding onto. there was nothing to solidify that thought. the second suguru’s long and dark hair came into view, it was gone within a second. it was like a magic trick.

it was a cruel trick that satoru’s brain was playing on him and if he didn’t know any better, he would run after these apparitions of suguru.

a part of him didn’t want to come to terms with the fact that his best friend was gone. a big part of him, really. he wanted to cave into his thoughts and live in the world where suguru was still around. things would be easier, he wouldn’t have to pretend that he was okay.

there’s never been anything in his entire life that has made his heart ache this much. no death, no inconvenience. nothing. suguru was his world and it was hell managing without him. wrapping his mind around living in a world where his best friend didn’t exist seemed impossible.

about a week after his initial disappearance, suguru showed up at satoru’s door. the knock took him out of his sleep, tired eyes scanning the room for his glasses before getting up and going to the door. the peephole didn’t even cross his mind, immediately going to unlock the wooden door and pulling it open. once his eyes landed on suguru, it was like his world mended back together.

was it really suguru? it couldn’t be. why would he come to his door in such a state? he was drenched, clothes tattered and worn. his face drained of all life and color. he looked sickly. beneath some of the rips on his clothes, there were deep gashes and blood dripping; some of these wounds looked fresh.

satoru had to take a second to ground himself before he grabbed the other and gently urged him into his apartment. there were so many questions that he could ask him at this moment, but he knew better than to do so. suguru was waiting in a wooden chair for satoru, shivering from the cold.

“suguru… i’ve been looking everywhere for you. i mean- i was calling and texting everyday hoping that you’d just broken your phone but this is just.. this is so much wor-”

“satoru,” the other male spoke. his voice was cold, blunt. it sent goosebumps up satoru’s skin and a shiver down his spine. this was very uncharacteristic of the gentle man. suguru didn’t even bother looking at the other, his eyes glued to his knees, “shut up. just shut up.”

scared to say anything more, he simply nodded and walked away to get the other a blanket.

maybe it was the circumstances of his disappearance, but suguru never left satoru’s dorm and he never returned to his old activities. his days were just spent holed up in their now shared room, reading and drawing when inspiration struck. of course, satoru didn’t mind this at all. his best friend was back home, back in his arms.

the pair were cuddled up on the couch watching the news, something that they’d been doing fairly recently as suguru had taken a liking to the reports. nothing ever interesting was on, satoru didn't understand why suguru liked it so much. except a few days ago, they reported a body that’d been found washed up on the shore of okinawa.

the screen changed from a puppy learning to walk for the first time to an orange banner that read, “URGENT REPORT”. this peaked both satoru and suguru’s reaction, the latter of the two looking over worriedly at the former. suguru, however, his face was drained of all color. it’s almost as if he looked guilty, his eyes wide and fingers white gripping the blanket as he awaited for the news reporter to start speaking.

a swoosh from the tv interrupted satoru’s observation, his heart pounding in his ears with anticipation. if suguru wasn’t next to him, then he’d have already started wondering if he was the victim.

“the body that was found by the northern bshore of okinawa has been identified. the victim was found on december 24, 2023, in a barely recognizable state. we’ve been informed that the victim was suguru geto, who was age 28 and kyoto resident. if you have any information that could be of help, please call the kyoto police department or okinawa police department. may god rest his soul.”

[faegoddessog]

Woman in Red Ch 3/17

Chapter 3: Unbuttoning

Series Summary: She's a very successful woman who can't seem to find a partner that can keep up with her. He is just wanting to find someone who likes him for HIM, not his fame. Neither of them are prepared for what hits them when she walks into that coffee shop.

A/N: (telephone voice) Please enjoy the pussy eating as the desired heat is reached...

Message me or leave in in a comment if you'd like to be added or removed from my tagged list!

Here is the link Woman in Red Masterlist

Here is the link to all my posted work: My Dirty Little, and not so little Stories.

@purejasmine @slowsweetlove @richardslady121 @austinbutlerslovers

Chapter 3: Unbuttoning

“You’ll just have to see,” she beckons him inside, pulling the shelves closed behind him. 

She leads him up a dimly lit spiral staircase, to a small landing and a tall door. If the walls were stone, it’d feel just like a castle.

“I just love a good secret passageway, don’t you?” she says pressing the keypad buttons. 

“As long as it doesn’t lead me to certain death,” he jests a bit nervously.  

Aya just shakes her head as the keypad beeps and the door swings open. 

They step inside a large marble floored foyer.  As she closes the door behind him, he turns to see that it’s disguised as a large mirror. There is a set of elevator doors to the left and a modest but nice kitchen to the right. Nothing looks dubious, it’s airy and clean.  A bench with obvious spots for shoes, clues him into toeing off his boots and placing them neatly under.  As she walks further in, low lights turn on around her and music starts to play, like magic. 

“Whoa, is this an apartment? Do you actually live here?”  he looks around, it’s the last thing he expected to see.

“Only during the work week,” she hangs his jacket in an inconspicuous closet. 

“How did you swing that, do you know the owner of the building?” “Austin,  I AM the owner of this building and that one,” Aya points out the windows, “and those two there and a couple you can’t see from here.”

“Oh, well, my apologies,” he says, feeling only slightly foolish. He didn’t know she had THAT kind of money. 

“How could you know,” she shrugs, “I work like ten plus hour days when I’m here, so it just made sense. Plus that means when I’m NOT here, I’m not working.”

She gives him the five cent tour. It’s not that huge of a place, although the high ceilings make it feel big. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large workout room  and a living room with a big cream colored couch that faces the big windows with that familiar city view.    

“I hope it’s obvious by now that my intentions in bringing you here are not… um… wholesome,” she explains, ”I plan to wear you out then nudge you, not text you, for breakfast. If you are up for it.“  

“It has been made clear, yes. And uh… I don’t think I could turn down breakfast,” he rubs his stomach. ”Besides, you’ve captured me in your secret sex tower,” he smiles wrapping his arms around her, “however will I get away.”

“Well, I think it’s about time you take me out of this dress,” she looks up at him, her eyes sparkling with desire.

“I must confess,” his hand runs over the buttons on her side, “I have been enamored of these buttons since the coffee shop.” 

“These old things? Well I suppose they are good buttons,” her hands slide up his arms and rest behind his neck.

“And when we parted, all I could think all afternoon was how much I wanted to slip them through their buttonholes.” 

“And now?” she licks her lips and raises her eyebrow as her fingers delicately play with the hair at the nape of his neck. 

He breathes out a soft laugh and leans down to her ear.

“Now I want to rip them off,” he whispers, voice low,  pressing his hips to her body. 

His hot breath plays over her neck, goosebumps trickle down her arm. The hardness she feels through his trousers is promising.

“Do it,” she whispers back. 

“Oh no,” he leans back and smiles, “I know better than to ruin a woman’s clothing. May I?” he is eternally polite as he fingers the first button.  

She nods. 

“Besides, you are like fine wine,” his deft fingers undo a button. “I plan on taking you,” another button hole stretches open, “all night long,” another button, “over,” another, “and over.” The last button slips, and  the fabric drapes loosely on her form. “If you think you can handle it.” The look in his eye is almost challenging. 

“Austin, you’d better be able to deliver on that,” she smiles up at him. This is what she has hoped for, and why she wanted to bring him here. Dalia had said she would have to work hard to wear this one out. Time to test that theory.

“Oh, honey I can and I will,” he breaths out the words into her mouth as he overtakes it. 

His kiss is laced with every ounce of desire he had built up through the day.  He pulls her tight to him, cupping her jaw.  “May I?” his finger slips under the strap at her shoulder. 

“Austin,” she sighs, grabbing his hand and looking earnestly into his eyes, “I know you are a gentleman, but you don’t have to keep asking for permission. I know what I want, ok. I will stop you if I’m not comfortable or need something different, and I expect you to do the same. Alright?”

“Alright,” he was not used to women being so straightforward with him anymore. Lately, he felt that he had to go above and beyond in order to cover his bases for consent, far more than normal. It gave him a certain level of comfort, knowing she was so intrepid about sex.

He pulls the strap over her head. An unwitting ‘Oh’ leaves his lungs as he pushes the dress off her other shoulder. He had been imagining this all day, the unveiling of her curves. His eyes follow his fingers over her collarbone and down the cleavage of her simple nude bra. They float over the tattoo of a white snake eating its tail on a cosmic stardust background that adorns the right side of her torso.  He lands his palm on the lace of her matching panties at her hip.  Her skin is so soft and warm. His cock presses harder against the fly of his pants, he reaches down and adjusts himself as his eyes drink her in, from the curve of her belly to the plushness of her red lips.  Her complete comfort in her own body is sexy as hell. 

She catches the dress in her hand and flings it over the couch next to them. Never letting his eyes go. She runs her hand up under his shirt, letting her fingertips explore his abdomen and chest. She lifts the hem of his shirt as he simultaneously reaches back and peels his shirt off over his head, tossing it in the direction of her dress. 

“Oh my god,” she breathes, fingers tracing the perfect outline of his muscles. He isn’t even flexing to show off, this is just…him. 

Her fingernails graze his nipples, his pecs tighten momentarily and little shivers run down his neck. He tries to relax as her fingers play in the light hairs on his chest and drag down the defined midline of his abs to little trail of hair under his belly button. She pushes one finger into his waistband. He knows he’s been working his ass off in the gym lately. Where he is proud of his body, he’s also not one of those bodybuilder flexing guys. 

She circles him, fingers dragging around his torso in deep appreciation. He was fucking flawless. She stops behind him. Both hands run up the columns next to his spine and out over his traps. 

“Fuck me, you must work hard,” Aya breathes.

“I do, and I plan to,” he answers in reverse order, smirking over his shoulder at her. He is decidedly un-shy in this moment. 

Aya presses her body to his back. It’s solid and warm against her chest. She reaches around his waist to unclasp and unzip his trousers from behind.  She slides her hands between his underwear and pants, cupping his bulge. Gently rubbing her palms up and down, she enjoys hearing  the catch in his breath. She pulls the waistband away and over his cock. His hands help push both past his hips and they fall to the floor.

Her forehead presses between his shoulder blades and she breathes in his scent. Masculine and clean with a touch of some kind of essential oil. His naked ass is stunning.  She wraps her hand around his girth, letting her sense of touch tell her all she needs to know about his cock. His chest expands in a little gasp. He feels big in her hand. She gently savors the feel of his length against her palm while her other hand snakes around to the roundness of his ass. 

He is so sumptuous and sexy.  Oh lord, the unholy things she wants him to do to her. 

Austin had never had a woman disrobe him from behind. He watches her fingers expertly handle the fly of his slacks then unabashedly fondle him. He had been planning on turning around and kissing her,  but suddenly his dick was out. It was a almost a dominance move that suddenly released him from having to take charge. Not that he minds being in charge, most of the time. Her casual boldness sparks his balls. Seeing only her hand moving gently up and down his shaft sends wildfire through his body. He reaches back with both hands to her hips, fingertips denting her flesh. 

She is so stunning and shamelessly sensual. Oh lord the unholy things he wants to do to her. 

He sucks air in through his teeth as her thumb glides over his weeping tip. He tries to keep his hips from straining forward into her grasp but is only moderately successful. 

“Is there, uh… anything you don’t want me to do, that you know you don’t like?” Austin asks over his shoulder, his voice trying to maintain calm.  He can barely contain himself right now, but he likes being thorough with his research before starting  a project. He likes to please whomever he is with.

“Good question, I’m not into being peed on, but if that’s your kink we can discuss it.” 

Austin lets out a puff of a laugh and shakes his head, “No.” 

“No bloodletting or knives” she says matter of factly. Concern flashes across his face as if he’d never considered such a thing. “Also,” she carries on quickly, “you don’t always have to be gentle,  I won’t break if you are a little rough with me.  My safe word is Newfoundland. Other than that, don’t uh… just don’t stop.” She cages his balls in a loose fist and presses her hips up against him at the word ‘stop’.

The words ‘yes ma’am’  are poised on his lips. They come out as a gasp when she grabs him and thrusts against his ass.  Suddenly turned on by the hint at role reversal, he turns around, unrestrained fire in his eyes. He grabs her face, kissing her hard and passionately. Her bra evaporates along with her panties.

His knee drops to the designer couch. His tongue trails down her neck, and onto her breasts. Those beautiful globes turn out to be real, as advertised. He cups them in his hand, tongue lightly flicking her nipples. Her light moan above him makes the corner of his mouth turn up.  

Her skin is so soft against his lips and tongue, he loves the feel of her in his mouth.  He is far more oral than he likes to admit. In the dark hours of the night, he has pondered what it would be like to suck a cock while stroking his own. It’s not the only secret desire that he’s kept to himself. 

His kiss is intense and his tongue demanding. Aya’s inner thighs are suddenly wet with slickness as Austin’s mouth makes promises to her without using words. He kneels before her, feasting on her breasts.   She is pleasantly surprised at how soft his tousled hair is between her fingers. It has a gorgeous texture, enough to give her fingers traction if she needs to pull.

His hand slides down the curve of her belly, over her lightly furred mound and between her legs. She steps her feet apart. The flat of his hand rubs back and forth against her bare lips. 

“Je-sus,” he murmurs, his palm slick with her juices, “Ma’am, I’m afraid you may have a problem,” he withdraws his hand, showing her how wet she is. 

“You think? It’s more like an opportunity, if you ask me. Either way, what are you going to do about it, huh?” Aya’s voice slips into a sexy contralto, her fist tightening momentarily in his hair, pulling his gaze up. Dominance move. 

Their eyes meet. Her dominance falters with the depth of desire she sees in him. He never wavers his gaze as he pulls her down to sit on the wide couch, pushes her to lean back, and presses her knees apart. She is hypnotized by him. 

He wants her so badly, it nearly burns as he folds his long legs up under him on the fluffy rug. The air in the room is thick with desire. He wants to sink his dick into her wetness and fuck her for hours. And he will, because where she is merely gambling on the hope,  he knows he has the stamina. Right now though, he’s gonna savor every second of this. As her knees give way to his pressure, he can smell her arousal and it’s intoxicating.

“What do you think I’m gonna do?” he teases her, licking his full, gorgeous lips. 

“Well, I think you are going to show me how talented that tongue of yours really is and see if you can make me cum,” she states bluntly, “and if you do, I am going to grind my hips into your beautiful face. I will look down and see those gorgeous eyes of yours looking up at me and lose my shit. I will feel you groan against me as I wash your tongue in my juices. And your hips will make your cock beg and plead to be inside me.”

“Mmm,” his teeth bite into his lip as her blatant description fires him further. “Somewhat accurate. It’ll be more than just my tongue and I know I will make you cum and you’ll be begging me .” He punctuates his sentence by yanking her by the hips to the edge of the couch. 

He kneels before her, lowering his face close to her, eyes closed, inhaling her like a prayer. 

Aya’s lip curls at his confidence. Time to put his money where his mouth is.  Her lips catch in her teeth. She considers flipping him on his back and riding his face right there on the floor. But she has to see if his tongue will live up to all his promises. Her hips tilt up of their own accord, begging for him to take a taste. 

Austin can feel her whole body poised and anticipating, begging for his next move. She is so damn sexy laid back on the couch, legs splayed, wet pussy open and eager. Finally, his tongue reaches out and licks a slow, soft streak along her labia. He loves the first taste. He groans as he goes in for another one, pushing his tongue in just a bit father this time. The third time, he comes away with a string of wet on his tongue that breaks when he pulls it in, letting her juices coat his mouth.  A soft moan escapes her as he spreads her labia apart with his fingers, revealing her wet inner lips. Austin’s tongue licks them gingerly to each side revealing her slightly gapped slit. Slow and with a deep vibrating moan, he presses into her pussy. He gathers her juices on his tongue until his nose is squashed up against her mons. He is in heaven. Austin loves the taste of pussy, the feel of it on his tongue. He’s fucking oral as hell. 

She watches as his tongue frolics on her, twirling the locks of his glorious hair around her fingertips. It’s not until his soft, wet tongue dives into her and  up towards her clit that her fingers curl and she sucks in a breath. She feels his hand slipping under his chin, fingers just teasing her entrance.  Her head drops back against the couch, focusing on the movement of his tongue and the soft touch of his fingertip. 

His eyes are closed, completely absorbed in exploring her with his mouth, head moving in concert with his lips and tongue, dipping along her folds.  His full bottom lip trailing wetly after his tongue.  The movement of his finger seems tentative, up and down, in a little at a time.   But he knows that little actions can have big rewards. Little moans and whimpers start falling from her mouth above him. Sounds that, when they reach his ears, cause him to growl against her in reply.   His cheeks hollow as he sucks her clit into his mouth, flicking it with his tongue. His finger slides fully into her warm wet vagina. 

"Oh holy fuck," she moans, lifting her head to look down. He is naturally gorgeous, even more so between her legs. His groans reverberate into her pussy, his hips pulse forward in short bursts.  His whole body strains-  agitated, excited. His free hand is kneading into her waist, pulling her closer. He is devouring her.  Seeing his obvious arousal from eating her out sends her over the edge. Her orgasm rises, her hands grip his hair, pulling. Her whole body seems to contract in pleasure then release with wordless groan. It’s a good orgasm.

His tongue slows as she catches her breath.  The flat of his tongue travels gently along the length of her slit in long licks lapping up the juices leaking from her. She shivers as he lightly passes over her clit. He had indeed made her cum, she thought, no empty promises there. With a mind to return the favor, she begins to sit up. 

When he feels her back start to rise from the couch. He growls low, vibrating her sensitive pussy. The glance he gives her over her mound is feral and stops her in her tracks. With his free hand on her sternum, he pushes her back down. A predatory arm winds around her thigh.

“M’ not done,” he mumbles into her, tightening a little on her leg. 

Aya’s mouth drops open, enormously turned on by his dominance. 

His fingers curl deep into her front wall, hooking up behind her pubis. His head snakes back and forth, nestling in again. His tongue swipes on her clit before he pulls it into the vacuum of his mouth again. She squeals and jerks a little above him. His tongue becomes relentless. He refuses to give her a moment of reprieve. Licking, lapping, sucking, feeling her cunt flutter around his fingers. God, he loved this part and loved that she was so responsive. 

“Oh god! No! Yes! No! Fuck! Don’t stop!” her head is jerking this way and that. She is  already sensitive from her first orgasm.  She’s not sure what she wants in the next moment, and equally unsure if she even gets a choice. Then his lips are sealed to her pussy  and it’s as if he is sucking the orgasm from her. His confidence was well founded. The plush-lipped, long-tongued, talented fucking mouth on this man.  Her spine undulates into another, deeper orgasm from his fingertips pulsing on her g-spot and the magnificence of his mouth. Her mind is floating somewhere nearby, her thoughts just flashes, compared to the focus between her legs. True to her prediction, she can’t help grinding against his beautiful and talented face.

Austin can’t stop his hips from pulsing, rubbing his cock just a little against his own belly as he is hunched over in front of her. Her hips try to rock away and his arm clamps like steel on her thigh. He won’t let her get away from this exquisite torture. He feels her ankles lock together behind him, her thighs threatening to crush his head. Her back arches away from the couch, her hands pushing at his head. He is determined to ride her out, rising and falling as she bucks and screams. His fingers fucking her as his tongue milks her fast, then slow. Giving her barely a moment for breath, before speeding up again and, causing a whole new flood of delicious juices into his waiting mouth. Only once her voice starts to sound hoarse does he stop is oral assault. 

“Oh… gaw,” she pants out to the ceiling, “tha’ was....incredible.” Aya tilts her head up to the sight of him kneeling in front of her with the biggest grin on his face. His eyes are blue rimmed apertures, dark with desire. He looks like a naughty boy in a special kind of candy store. His mouth had made good on its promises. Better than good. God, he has her so heady. Austin Butler between her legs was now the bar set. She had never had a man lick her pussy like that. Most did it as a means to an end, he did it like he was a student of cunnilingus, vying for the professorship. 

He watches her blissed out face from the valley of milk and honey between her legs. He neglects to wipe his wet chin. He loves being covered in it. 

“MMM, your cum tastes so good,” he murmurs into her lips, eyes closing again. He can feel her shiver ever so slightly at the touch.  

“Do I?” he hears above him, “show me,” her voice is low and sultry. 

Her fingers tighten on his hair, tugging him towards her face. She doesn’t know just how effective that is, how tender headed he is.  She gathers his bottom lip with her tongue, sucking it into her mouth. The soft velvet of her tongue on his lip and the low moan she emits fills his senses. The taste of her sweet saltiness mingles on their tongues. As Austin rises further, the kiss turns into a heated mess of lips, tongues and teeth. Hands grasping, pulling bodies close. Breathy moans pass back and forth between them. His glutes tense and release without knowing it. His swollen cock searches blindly for warm wet sensation, only to find the creamy fabric of the couch. 

“I need you in me,” Aya moans against his lips. 

[floralcrematorium]

OKAY WOW THERE WAS A VERY BIG POSITIVE RESPONSE TO THE TELEPHONE GAME, HI

FOLLOW THE TELEPHONE GAME BLOG! @hws-telephone

I thought about making a discord, but to be entirely honest, I really don't want to manage that. In hindsight it might be good for discussions and feedback's sake, but my moderator days are behind me (I used to be a discord and in-game mod for a Minecraft server and I think I would rather eat my hand than do that again.) We will. See.

PLEASE READ MY FOLLOWING THOUGHTS ABOUT THE EVENT! I would love to hear feedback, but I think this kind of event may have to be a trial and error sort of situation. I've never hosted an event before and this is one that will move semi-fast. I will also need to be holding decent communication with people!

• Skill level does not matter. Anyone is allowed to participate regardless of their skill level or materials of choice, so long as those who work traditionally are able to get clear/well lit photos of their submission

• I will need to hold an experimental round capped at 5-7 participants. I do not know how long I should give people to complete their part. Life gets in the way and I know not everyone is fast (I am very much not fast). However, considering there will be a large number of participants, we gotta get moving! I think as of right now, everyone would have 3-5 days to complete their parts, and if they need an extension they get 2 days. If we need more time, that's possible! THE FIRST SIX PEOPLE TO FILL OUT THE GOOGLE FORMS (linked further in the post) WILL BE CONTACTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE EXPERIMENTAL ROUND.

• Once we get into it, there could be a short-format and long-format group? Short format being people only get 1-3 days to work while long-format gets a week? The different groups differ based on complexity? Unsure. Need community feedback on this. OR we could just have two separate groups co-running so people don't have to wait forever to play.

• GOOGLE FORMS SUBMISSION HERE FOR PARTICIPANTS

• Once I have The Participants, their usernames will be ordered randomly and that'll be the order the drawing is passed around.

• If this is an event with multiple rounds... Maybe each round has a different theme? I know I have different groups of people following me (off the top of my head, FrUK, FACE fam, and Nordic centric blogs in particular). I think the first round will just be using my design for Nyo!Austria because I'm interested to see if we use a character whose clothing isn't able to be referenced by a quick google search, how that will be affected by the telephone. Unsure.

• I will start the experimental round and the very first Big Round. Other people can volunteer to be the starting artist in the future!

• No posting your submission until the end of the round!!! This is very important. The point of a telephone is you only know what the person right before you did!

• When it comes to someone's turn, I will be reaching out via Tumblr DM (or through another contact method if that is preferred). I'm considering asking someone to co-host this event with me for organization's sake, but I don't. Really have someone to do that. So!

If there's anything else we need to talk about, throw it in the replies!!! This is really going to be a trial and error kinda event until we get it down! Ideally, this would be a fun year round project/event!

BELOW THE CUT IS JUST ME TAGGING EVERYONE WHO REPLIED TO/REBLOGGED THE ORIGINAL POST

Hi, you replied to/reblogged the interest check so you get Priority News that there is a telephone game sideblog to follow @hws-telephone and that if you're still interested there is a submissions post pinned to the blog.

THE FIRST SIX RESPONSES WILL BE CONTACTED FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL ROUND.

@doodlin-moons @hws-lceland @ironic-orange @vikingosten @soulsembers @yaqamole @dappy-dappernette @losnordiquitos @tema-makes-art-sometimes @dandelion-coffee-bear @spiritmoon23 @genpaele @astrophilic-soul @batataaurdoodh @the-heaminator @krazys-ass-emporium @sixcatsinajacket @hoasens @wackylittlegal @starsilversword @untitled-kitsune @2p-nyotalia

[cuoredimuschio]

last three lines tag 🌊

rules: post the last three lines you've written and if has been over a week, write something new in a wip!!

tagged by the radiant, resplendent @cheatghost, thank you lou!!! 💙💙💙

i've got two fics with deadlines that i should be working on, so of course i'm working on line of apsides instead (but i can't share from my exchange fic or my bb fic anyway, so it actually works out!) here's another taste of august, 1992:

His hand whips out, and not even a second later, his knuckles smack into Steve’s bicep, with a meaty thwap and a hapless spark. “Watch your mouth, Stevie. I wasn’t ever as bad as he is. You know that sonuvabitch once drove himself to the hospital with a compound fracture? In his arm.” He shakes his head, his eyes rolling so hard that he probably gets a pretty good look at his brain. “Was bleeding like a triple-stuck pig too. He’s damn lucky he even made to the ER instead wrapping himself a telephone pole and locking lips with his windshield.” “Yeah, that sounds exactly like something you’d do. No offense.” “Wasn’t gonna take any until you said that.” It’s a different smile on his lips now, one that Steve recognizes all too well, even after all this time. It’s the one he was ready and willing to do anything for once upon a time, lit by that sharp edge that he’d longed to cut himself on, to jump off of, to hang upon forever. To taste. “That your polite way of calling me stupid?” “Stupid’s a strong word,” he says, a smile of his own shoving at the corners of his lips, begging them to rise. But it’s not supposed to be this easy. It shouldn’t be this easy. It can’t be this easy. They can’t just slip back, cram up in the pea pod they once shared and ignore all the aches in their contorted bones. They’re too old to play pretend again. He looks back to the sea. Crash, sigh. Crash, sigh. Crash.

no pressure tags (i know some of y'all are probably working on your exchange or bb fics too) 💗💗💗: @starryeyedjanai, @flowercrowngods, @thefreakandthehair, @kkpwnall, and @sharpbutsoft!!

[goneahead]

@cowandcalf tagged me to post something from my WIP. This is from ‘Goodnight, Moon’ which is **checks notes** yes, another mcdanno AU.

tagging @itwoodbeprefect @mcdannoangelwolf @redgoldblue @bgharison @simplyn2deep @stephmcx @kristin99 and anyone else who wants to share a snippet from their WIPs!

putting this under a cut ‘cuz its kind of long:

It was one in the morning, but Steve couldn’t sleep. He wandered out onto the lanai, back into the kitchen for a glass of water, and then headed across the lawn to the garage. Opened the toolbox, only to realize that he just wasn’t up to wrestling sense out of his dad’s riddles.

He picked up the tape recorder, ran his thumb over the play button. That jogged his memory.

Where was the Eight Islands Story Hour videotape?

Back in the 80’s, there had been a statewide project to tape people reading children’s books; first in English, and then in Hawai’ian. His mom was on the second tape in the series, reading Goodnight, Moon in English.

He’d been ten; too old and too cool to care about a recording of his mom reading a ‘baby’ book. Mary, though, had watched and rewatched the tape for the next couple of years. Eventually, she moved on to cartoons and kid movies—until 1992.

While his dad was making the final arrangements at the funeral home, Steve had searched through the kid movies piled up in the bookcase, and Mary had snuck a can of beer from the fridge in the garage. Then they had held their own vigil; listening to their mom read to them one more time, while they split the beer.

Letting his nine-year old sister drink was definitely not one of his finer moments as a brother, but that afternoon had somehow felt more real, more meaningful, than his mom’s funeral.

Or his father’s funeral, two weeks ago.

Steve put the tape recorder back, closed the toolbox. Went into the house, and started searching. He finally found the boxes half-buried in the closet of the guest bedroom. He carried the big box downstairs first, pulled out the VCR. Sorted through the cables and a ziplock bag of adapters, found what he needed to hook the machine up.

He returned to the closet, grabbing the box labeled ‘Kid Movies - VHS’ in his dad’s broad, strong handwriting. Steve carried the box downstairs, set it on the coffee table. Found the Story Hour tape near the bottom. A photo of his mom was on the back cover, and he had to swallow against the sudden lump in his throat.

He pushed the tape into the VCR, checked the box again. Good Night, Moon was the second book on the tape. He hit play and forward a few times, finally found the right section.

His mom was sitting in a wooden rocker, looking impossibly young. She was smiling at the camera. “—next book is ‘Good Night, Moon’ by Margaret Wise Brown.”

Her smile was like a gut punch and Steve half-sat, half-fell into the recliner.

In the great green room, there was a telephone

He hadn’t cried during the long flight back, or at his father’s funeral. He hadn’t even cried when he’d stood over the outline of his father’s body, the walls of his childhood home still flecked with blood. But hearing his mother’s voice for the first time in eighteen years was too much.

Steve dropped his head in his hands, and wept.

[lilolilyr]

I do Not have the time to write fic right now, in fact I shouldn't even be online right now because I have so many things to do, so I definitely don't have the time to write the longfic this idea deserves to be but -

I had a random thought and now I'm just obsessed with the idea of an Elinor Lives AU where Ellie finds Bernie when everyone thinks she's dead.

Doesn't really matter why Elinor lives, can be full on AU ignoring any of that ever happened or just turning the same storyline into her just barely surviving or anything in between... But she's alive, she was around for the whole Bernie/Serena debacle and now she sees her mum break after Bernie's disappearance and 'death', and while everyone who knew Bernie is paralyzed by worry then grief, Elinor needs to do something.

Maybe she chats with journalist students in her dorm, or a professor who used to be a war correspondent... She gets some contacts needed to start her research, it's not like she can actually leave the country, she couldn't do that by to her mum and she's to scared anyway, but she ends up playing a literal game of telephone passing information back and forth and asking others to ask others about the missing blonde, and it's hard but she's already failing her semester so she might as well do something worthwhile instead of focusing on exams she'll have to repeat anyway... And she wants to do her damnest to figure out where that woman who her mum loves and who disappeared might have gone, because grieving for someone when there's no body is just 'bloody stupid', and she knows she's been a brat a lot of the time but she just wants her mum back, her mum who's happy and annoyingly curious and always there for her, okay?

And then, when it's time for the funeral (okay, very dramatic daydreaming on my part here, maybe if someone wants to write this into an actual fic you can go less Last Second) she's just found out where Bernie is, and proof that she's alive, and shows up like 'well, let's get this farce over with' 'farce?' 'oh idk maybe that her ex is giving her speech and her other ex is pretending to be her fiancé, or, oh, maybe the fact that you're burying an empty coffin in honour of a woman who isn't even dead?'

Serena gasps. Elinor hadn't seen her, she was just ranting at whoever stood closeby outside of the building while she was looking for her mum, but now Serena's by her side immediately. 'Elinor?? What are you doi- what are you talking about??'

So she tells her. She's alive, in hospital, injured but alive, conscious even, doesn't have a phone but I managed to get the number of a nurse at her station so we can call, if you like... Maybe she has a picture of her too, grainy small image someone else took with a phone camera worse than her own, of Bernie lying there pale in a hospital bed, smiling awkwardly at the camera.

And for the first time in what feels like forever, Elinor sees her mother look happy again.

~

Berena tag list (lmk if you want on/off it): @sapphicdbc @akaanonymouth @starfleetwitch @shippingsincebeforeyouwereborn

What can I say, I'm just a sucker for all the hurt/comfort happy ending everybody lives AUs <3 I really Really want to see this fic come to life but I have two deadlines next week and another the week after so I can't just take a few hours to couple days off to write... And I know myself, by the time I have the time I'll have forgotten all about it and five new ideas besides :( so I just wanted to share the idea... maybe someone else wants to pick it up, or just enjoys the little outline I wrote down here :)

[arianatheangel-girl]

Agent Elvis Bloopers, Part 4

Author’s note: Sorry if this seems like a shorter installment; I had some writer’s block for the past few weeks. Anyway, I really hope you like this!

Tagging: @loving-elvis @heartbrake-hotel @star-shard @prompted-wordsmith​

****

SCENE: The abandoned motel. Elvis and Cece are attempting to get some kind of connection to the outside world. Elvis is fiddling around with a radio which starts playing one of his songs, before Cece takes it to try and play something else.

C: Look, your music’s just not my thing, okay?

E: That’s literally not possible.

Cece turns the radio to a different station; it’s supposed to play the Doors song “Hello, I Love You” but it instead starts playing Elvis’s “Devil in Disguise”. Elvis starts to snicker since he knows this isn’t part of the script.

C: Huh? Wait, that’s not right. Did I maybe hit the wrong station?

She attempts to turn the radio to a different station three different times, but each station is playing one of Elvis’s songs; “Hound Dog”, “Heartbreak Hotel”, and “Blue Suede Shoes” respectively. By now, Elvis is in a full-on laughing fit along with several of the crew members as Cece looks hopelessly confused and unamused at the same time.

Director: CUT! Okay, who messed with the radio?

Scatter begins laughing maniacally from off-camera.

Director: Ugh, Scatter! Seriously? Quit messing around; we haven’t got all night here!

****

SCENE: The spy plane. Elvis and Bobby Ray have been “knocked out” by the enemy agents; Cece is attempting to wake them up.

C: Wakey wakey! Hey, guys? Hey, WAKE THE FUCK UP!

Bobby Ray “wakes up” right on cue, but Elvis remains fast asleep.

C: Uh, hey, buddy? I said WAKE UP!

She attempts to kick him to wake him up, as her arms are bound, but Elvis simply lets out a loud snore and curls up on the ground in the fetal position, mumbling about “gigantic donuts”, and obviously fast asleep.

BR: Um, I don’t think you’re gonna have too much luck there, ma’am. That guy can sleep through anything. Seriously, one time he slept through a fire drill at the hotel; saw it with my own eyes. 

I think he must’ve had a big lunch, because he always gets super drowsy after eating too much. I knew I shouldn’t have left him at that fried chicken buffet.

C (rolling her eyes): Ugh. Well, that’s just great. So he’s dead to the world until he comes out of this food coma?

BR: ...Yeah, pretty much.

Director: Oh, for the love of...CUT! Somebody go pour some ice water on Elvis or something!

****

SCENE: The casino. Birdie has just found out Scatter ran up an over 300,000 dollar tab, and is confronting him and his lady friend.

B: Scatter, you damn fool! How drunk are you? Uh-uh, don’t you dare pass out on me! For all of your NASA training, you sure as hell ain’t a...wait, what the hell was my line again?!

Scatter starts to laugh along with her.

Director: Ugh, CUT! It’s “you sure as hell ain’t a rocket scientist”, Birdie! People, is it too much to ask that you read the script?!

Birdie just gives him a “seriously? You did not just say that” look.

Director (looking nervous): Uh, sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean you. No disrespect meant.

****

SCENE: The desert. Elvis is about to shoot the rattlesnake with the stun gun.

E: Fuck you, Vegas.

He aims the stun gun and shoots, but nothing happens. Confused, he tries again, looking nervous when he realizes the gun is jammed and trying to back away because it looks like the snake is about to bite him. 

Just then, the snake is revealed to be a robot as it starts swaying back and forth and “singing” in the voice of Michigan J. Frog from the cartoon “One Froggy Evening”.

Snake: 🎶 Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal! Send me a kiss by wire, baby my heart’s on fire! If you refuse me, honey you lose me, then you’ll be left alone! Oh baby, telephone, and tell me I’m your own! 🎶

Elvis just shakes his head and starts cracking up as the crew members are laughing hysterically behind the camera at the success of their prank.

E: Okay, seriously guys, what the fuck was that?! Don’t scare me like that again!

Director: Ugh. CUT!

[blackink-onpaper]

The Descend and the Resurface

Damian Hart (Beyblade) x OC

Summary: OC comes from a complex background, and in the midst of trying to save it all and help her family she enters a strange arrangement, which will change her life forever.

Masterlist 🖤

Tags: Beyblade, Beyblade Metal Masters, Damian Hart, Julian Konzern, Jack, Zeo Abyss, OC, Gingka Hagane, team Starbreaker, team Excalibur, dr. Ziggurat, Hades Inc.

A/N: (ambience suggestion) this chapter will go along with the canon storyline, so watch Beyblade Metal Masters episode 96 and 97 if you like, it’s on youtube! Enjoyyy :D

Chapter 21

My phone rang, my mom was calling. I had completely forgotten to talk to them properly since moving into Hades Inc., other than a text here and there, the last one being from the match against Gan Gan Galaxy:

“Heyy” I answered the phone, I wasn’t gonna pay attention to what the presenter was saying anyway: “What’s up?”

“Darling, you’re sounding good” my mom sounded pleasantly surprised: “Do you have good news to share with me?”

I briefly considered if I should tell her about Damian, given that he reciprocated his feelings to me today and we already talked about him visiting me: “Well actually, yes!” I giggled to myself

“Oh wonderful, Camila! I knew Julian would come around from his silly decision! I’ll invite his parents over for tea next week then, before you come back.”

“No mom, I am not dating Julian” I corrected her, but feeling her shock across the silent telephone: “I am actually dating one of the Americans” Because my parents don’t follow Beyblade as closely, I wasn’t sure if she was gonna know by name. Especially since they hadn’t seen the match between Julian and Damian, only read about it in the news.

“What?” She gasped: “Darling please don’t tell me it’s the one with long hair, how would I explain that to your grandmother?”

I accidentally snorted, trying not to burst out laughing at my mom’s primary concern being how my grandmother would react to Jack.

“I mean I understand he is an artist and I definitely like that, but Paulo should see him if he comes to visit…” my mom referred to our hairdresser, which just made the entire episode ten times funnier because I imagined the shitshow that would happen if Jack and Paulo ever met.

“Actually mom” I recovered: “I am dating Damian, the one that won the match against Julian.”

She was silent for a bit: “But Camila, was he not quite… condescending?” My mom probably couldn’t think of a better word for ‘unnecessary torture’.

“To Julian yes, he is fine to me” I played around with the remote control in my hand: “I invited him to come and visit us as soon as he is able to.”

“I mean, Camila darling yes but is this, you know? Serious?” She sounded quite baffled across the phone: “Are you sure you want to commit that fast just yet? Have you met the family?”

“Yes” I had a lovely flashback of Ziggurat’s face: “He only has a dad, and he is the owner of Hades Inc.”

“Goodness, aren’t those the people that bought up Andrea and Giovanna’s shares?!” My mom was shocked yet again, referring to Julian’s parents and the Konzern entrprise: “What’s the boy’s name again?”

“Damian Hart” I replied flatly, knowing she was Googling him as we spoke.

“He is cute” my mom said, making me blush: “Yes, I see. The kids will be good looking.”

“MOM!” I was dying of embarrassement

“Let’s see his net wort- oh.” My mom interrupted herself: “well yes that’s quite a sum.”

“Mom I gotta go” I was trying to end this unneccessary conversation as well as pay some attention to the TV, which had lost signal a minute ago: “Talk to you later!”

“Yes darling, love you!”

I turned up the volume again, letting out a huge sigh because of my mom but also the signal that seemed to have dissapeared. After a couple of minutes, the camera seemingly turned on again: there were no more tables at the ceremony, only the helicopter from Hades Inc. with Ziggurat, Starbreaker, Julian and the Garcias already standing in front. The audio was bad, but I could see Ziggurat using his own Bey to clear up a big mess that was in front of him.

“He has a Bey?” I was confused by the entire event. Looking at the background I could see Starbreaker was looking pretty smug, but Julian kept hidden, staring at the floor. Then the Garcias girl attacked the cameraman and took hold of the camera, when the audio finally became clear:

“I don’t have any interest in your party, to tell you the complete truth” Ziggurat spoke as he walked slowly to the stage: “In fact from the start I never had any interest in winning the Beyblade world championships at all.”

‘Will the surprises ever end?’ I wondered to myself, what the heck was going on out there and why was I as oblivious as the rest of the people watching this? Ziggurat then proceeded to explain he participated just to collect data on the other Bladers, but for what? The Arrangement was already complete?

He then went on to explain how the Earth is facing an energy crisis, and how sustainable energy sources thus far have not addressed this problem that well, but that he has found the energy source of Beyblades to be the solution to this problem.

“Alright Ziggurat” I smiled to myself: “This whole party crashing and camera stealing was a bit dramatic, but at least he is working on sustainability.”

Ziggurat introduced Spiral Force as the result of his research, and how HD academy helped him find suitable candidates for data collection in the tournament itself. His noble idea was slowly starting to sound a bit off to me. He introduced the Bey that would supply this Spiral Force and his owner, Faust, a platinum hair boy. I was getting more and more confused as Ziggurat spoke to Zeo off camera, acknowledging that this guy was actually Toby, Zeo’s ill friend.

“What the actual fuck is going on…” I stared at the screen, mouth agape.

Ziggurat continued, as the wide screen behind him displayed Hades City: “Alright then, please observe the power of the briliant next generation energy - Spiral Force!”

On the screen, the platinum hair blader entered a room somewhere and began a huge process that created a lot of electricity: “Wait a minute” I stopped midway through my thoughts: “Is that… here?”

The remote control on the table started moving because of the repeated silent quakes that were intensifying until I noticed them myself.

“Oh my God what the-“ I gasped as there was a vast surge of energy that went through the building, temporarily turning off all of the electronic devices. I jumped off the couch and tried to get to the elevator, but it stopped working as well. Then the commotion stopped for a brief moment before a huge energy wave went over me, making me feel sick and falling to my knees, as I saw a blinding light shine from the windows. At his point I had no idea if the thing that was happening was happening outside or inside of the building. When everything had calmed down, I tried to get up from the floor but my legs were somehow weak:

“I need help” I typed into the chat with Ziggurat’s assistant, letting her know where I was. I felt so sick and weak I just slid to the cold marble floor completely, and slowly passed out.

When I woke up again, I was being tended to by two nurses. The haze in my mind went away as soon as I saw coulds moving outside unnaturally: “what… what happened?”

“You had a reaction to the Spiral Force wave, which is normal. You are stable now” one of them replied.

“Are we flying?” I asked, completely aware of how ridiculous I sounded but I did not want to rule out a concussion just yet.

“Yes, the demonstration of Spiral Force is now in progress” the other nurse replied, making me feel as sober and clear-headed as if I just had a cold shower. They turned on the TV for me and left the room, saying I should rest, but that was the only thing I could definitely not do: the news was full of reocurring news of “Hades the Floating City” and uncontolled damages caused by Bey battles across the city.

“Damian!” I sat up abruptly catching a glimpse of him and Jack running next to Gingka, but the abrupt motion just made me feel sliced in pain. I took out my phone and opened up a thread that allowed me to see people’s stories and videos of what was going on. Ziggurat must’ve hired the Garcias and Julian to be guards on this event, but why?

“What is going on…?” I uttered scrolling through feeds of people in the streets - there were car crashes, injured people, broken glass and buildings; a literal Avengers scenario.

Then, I reached a video of someone filming from the ground floor of a building: Damian called Hades Gate, which was just about to seize Pegasus until another Bey flew in and disrupted the chains, but that was the end of the video. Then I realised all of these happened about an hour ago, which meant anything could’ve happened since I passed out! I sighed in annoyance, no, in outrage: I was left here all alone and no one told me what was happening today, worried out of my fucking mind as I was flying around on a floating city over the East Coast?! The sentence alone made me sound like a mad person!

About an hour passed as I managed to beg the nurses to let me go: I was so confused and angry that I didn’t even feel sick anymore and I couldn’t lay still any longer. I made my way through the halls, realising I actually didn’t know where I was going and where I could or should go. I tried texting the boys but they were all unavailable, the messages not getting through at all. My phone was ringing off the hook, my mom, dad and friends from back home calling me probably to see what was going on. I didn’t answer the phone because I just couldn’t deal with the amount of things going on right now. My primary concern now was finding someone I knew - Ziggurat, his assistant, Starbreaker, Julian, anyone - and getting to the bottom of this.

—

A/N: Stay tuned for the next chapter, I’m working on it right now! Let me know if you would like to have a Q&A session about the fic one of these days!

[girlwiththenegantattoo]

It's been a while since I posted on this story so you can find the last chapter Telephone here

So this is the end. Its been rewarding to be able to write for these 2 and hopefully I improved my writing along the way. Pretty sure I have good closure in this chapter but I'm tired and really wanted to get this posted so it may feel a bit rushed.

Rating: Mature (18+) Tagging @everythingbutresolved @plainlo-inthemorning

Jeb shifted for what felt like the up-tenth time, in the driver’s seat of his Oldsmobile as images of Mila played behind closed eye lids. If he ever wanted to make it to Friday, he knew he'd have to find something to take his mind off the rather risqué phone call he received earlier that day. For Jeb unfortunately, nothing really worked.

Much like Wednesday night, Thursday was filled with reading month old reports, writing what he’d claim to be reports of his own and several whiskey crystal glasses filled halfway. Friday, Jeb had spent his time locked in his office, sulking after a particular unjustified, outburst towards his secretary. He was absolutely certain that his week could not get any worse, when the shrill ringing of his office telephone was soon to tell him how wrong he was.

                                                                                    ------

Mila had only experienced what it was like to be let down a few times in her adolescence. With that came the reminder never to put her excitement or hopes in other's hands. Heartbreak, however, was a completely different story. Only experiencing such a devastating feeling once, the last thing she wanted was to feel her most avoided emotion while looking into the big blue eyes of Jeb Magruder.

He had only knocked twice, which wasn't unusual per say but they were well passed the nervousness that the unknown brought Jeb. Still dressed in his usual work attire, his tie looked to have been yanked loose, laying around his neck like a big silk necklace. Normally he'd offer a smile, no matter how unconvincing, when he was upset. Tonight however, there was no such attempt to hide the heart sinking look of sadness on his face.

Standing by the door Mila watched as Jeb walked straight to the bed. Sitting on the edge he leaned forward, placing his elbow on his knees and his head in his hands. With his dress shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbow Mila would have admired the way his muscles flexed under taut skin but now wasn't the time. Walking closer she spoke, being mindful to keep the disappointment out of her voice. This is not about you

 "Should we do this another time?"

"I think I'm going to jail!" Jeb blurted out as he continued to keep his head buried in his hands. "I've done some questionably...bad. I've done bad things for the people, person I work for." He was ramble and shooting for honesty however, the encrypted words still left Mila confused. "I've done these things... and now I’ve been summoned to court and…and I’ll have sit there and be drilled for answers...I just I-" Jeb’s voice was now beginning to crack. As vague as Jeb was being he could have easily been talking about murder, but that wasn't him. Not the Jeb she knew.

Mila walked to the spot between his legs forcing Jeb to sit up off his knees and look up at her and for the first time he couldn't interpret the look that covered her usual soft features. Though the surprise of feeling her fingers combing through his hair had made him gasp, it was the action of her bringing his head to her stomach and wrapping her arms around him, that convinced him it was all just a cruel dream.

"Talk to me."

With Jeb’s arms now around Mila's waist she could feel his trembling body as the tears of his silent sobs dampened the front of her dress. She'd give him time to collect himself then. Maybe he'd even calm down enough to realize it wasn't as bad as he thought. With a deep breath, Jeb told her about his wife and how she left him months ago. Claiming she had gotten bored, and he worked all the time gave Mila the sense of receiving half-truth, but this was the story he wanted to tell. He told her about Watergate and how his involvement was a blind act of service for the very people that thought the least of him. Though he had gone silent for a moment it felt like there was so much more he wanted to say. When Jeb finally pulled back, he expected to see a look of disgust or even disappointment however, he found neither. Just the same comforting green eyes and look that said I understand. With the information she just received Mila decided to unpack it all at a different time. Whipping the last tear that made its way down his cheek she motioned behind her with her head. "Come take a bath with me?" A defeated head shake and the feeling of Jeb grabbing her outstretched hand was all Mila needed to know he was on board.

                                                                                        ------

"You want us to fit in that thing?" Jeb asked looking down into the empty tub surrounded by small white tiles. The disbelief in his tone had caused Mila to playfully roll her eyes. "We'll make it work," she replied, leaning over to turn the faucet on. The manner of which Jeb divested himself was solemn, making Mila want to assist in hopes of cheering him up. Adding some flirtatious elements always got her a smile but like the few men she knew, comfort came with a type of seriousness and Jeb had been no different.

Stepping in, Jeb used his heels to push himself against the back of the tub, trying carefully not to send any water sloshing over the side.

 "Ah. Scoot forward."

 It was a simple request, spoken with soft words yet it hadn't stopped the furrowed brows Jeb gave her in confusion. Taking her place behind him she signaled for him to lean back. Wide eyes and unsure movements caused Mila to finally speak again. "Jeb just trust me. Would you please lay against me?" Hesitantly leaning back Jeb kept a death grip on the sides of the tub because the last thing he wanted was to pin Mila uncomfortably to its cold porcelain surface. A huff of air, from what he only assumed was a laugh, rolled on the back of his neck as he watched Mila place her hands on his.

"Relax," she whispered kindly in his ear.

 For a brief second, Mila thought she heard a whine before he removed his fingers and slowly laid against her. From where Jeb rested on her chest, he was able to lay his head on her shoulder, leaving his long legs to bend at the knees well above the water. Soft hands roamed the expanse of his chest while Mila placed a heated trail of kisses from behind his ear to the end of his shoulder, playfully nipping where his upper arm met his clavicle. As time passed her once leisurely touch turned to determined fingers sliding down Jeb’s stomach and settling around his rapidly hardening length. Setting a slow pace, absent of any teasing, Mila was now given easy access to Jeb’s full neck as he threw his head back against her shoulder. Light nips and swipes of her tongue stretched from just under his jaw to the base of his neck, all while leaving small hickys in places she knew people would see.

 She would have been lying if she said she wasn’t a little upset when Jeb softly stopped her moments. Turning as best he could there was something that caught Mila off guard, a look that provoked a feeling she liked to keep buried. “I would really like to see… you, could I take you to bed?” It was timid and hopeful and there was no way she’d deny him this request.

                                                                                --------

Pleasure was a word Mila understood well but it wasn’t until that night that she truly got to experience it for herself. Eager lips danced over what felt like every inch of her skin while his hands went on their own exploration. “You’re always so good to me” was whispered in one ear before he entered her and “I want to make you feel as good as you make me,” grunted on a particular hard thrust. Mila held Jeb tighter than anything she held in years that night and now it was her with tears in her eyes. After they both caught their breaths there was a tranquil silence that fell over the room. Mirroring each other positions as they laid facing each other Jeb had been the one to break the silence first.

"Is this my last hurrah before I never see you again."

Propping herself up on her forearm, Mila gave him a look akin to hurt. She never thought about the last time when it came to Jeb or how many first times there would be. But wasn’t the unspoken at that very moment not obvious? Had he not paid attention to anything they've just done, what she just did? Searching for the words Mila finally just let her heart speak.

“Jeb. I love you.”

A soft gasp left Jeb and for the first time the sight of tears in his eyes had brought tears back to her own. "What will you do when I-I don't want to do what I’m doing anymore but I don't know-" Mila softly placed a finger on his lips and it was her time to offer a teary-eyed smile. A simple "We'll make it work”, was all Mila said as she reached for the hand Jeb tucked under his pillow. After encompassing it with the both of hers, Mila continued. "I don't want to do this anymore either. I don't want to spend my time with other people or lay awake at night wondering what you’re doing or if you're happy." Removing one hand, Mila used her thumb to wipe a tear that had settled at the end of his nose. "I want to wake up to your sleepy blue eyes and kiss these soft lips before I go to bed."

"But what will you do if...if I go away?"

“I’ll wait for you.”

The answer to his question was the easiest answer Mila ever had to give because this was exactly where she was supposed to be. In the short time Mila had known Jeb she learned a lot about herself. Of all the things, the one of most importance being that Jeb taught her how to love and she taught Jeb what love is.

[spookyscarydemonbabe]

Bad Kitty

Summary- Ralph gets you an adorable gift, but unfortunately he gets too excited while playing with it.

Genre- Fluff

Warnings- Mentions of blood (nothing explicit)

Tag List- @babybisexual @wheels-of-despair

Word Count- 2.1k

Ralph had always been a huge fan of animals, but unfortunately the people around him never seemed to be. Always being told how messy they were and how much responsibility they’d be. His parents never had pets, and Victoria thought they were pests, but he adored getting to see all the cute little animals in the window of the pet shop.

The puppies jumping up excitedly whenever he passed by, the bunnies hopping over to try and sniff him through the glass with their twitchy noses, but his favorites were always the little kittens that would press their paws up against the window to try and play with him.

He’d had his eyes on the littlest orange kitten for weeks now, wanting to go inside and get him as a little present for the both of you to love and take care of. He’d show up on your doorstep with the kitten in a box, with a few holes in it obviously, and the kitten would have the cutest little collar around his neck with a bell that jingled each time it jumped up into your lap.

He had kept a few things hidden in his room whenever you came over to try his best and keep your gift a secret. In his closet he had hidden away a few toys, a little bed, some cat food and collars to match each of the outfits you two wore together. All that was missing was that little kitten.

He had been so excited to come to you and give you that adorable little ball of orange fluff but he had also been too excited to finally hold that kitten. For weeks all he had wanted was to hold it and pet it and feel it’s scratchy tongue on his cheeks when it licked him, but his excitement seemed to have frightened the little thing.

He had bought the kitten and the moment he got home to put it in its little box for you he couldn’t help but want to play with it just once more before bringing it over to you, but before he knew it the kitten had reached his claws out and scratched Ralph’s cheek.

It came as a surprise to him, and it wasn’t enough to draw much blood, but it did still hurt. He was so upset that his new little friend would hurt him like that.

He checked himself in the bathroom mirror before deciding it might just be better to ask you over rather than try to get that kitten back into the box like he had intended. He placed the kitten onto his bed with one of its new toys to occupy it while he walked to the other side of the room to call you.

You had been reading quietly in your room, giving yourself some time away from everything in your home just to relax a bit when your telephone rang from across the room. You weren’t expecting any calls, your parents were out at the shops, and you hadn’t planned to get any calls from friends today. You smiled and set your book down onto your bed, knowing it was Ralph calling on the other end.

You picked up the handset and put it to your ear,

“Hello my love.” You could hear a giggle coming from him on the other end as soon as he heard his favorite of your little pet names for him. Who was he kidding, he loved them all! He couldn’t possibly pick a favorite.

“Hello darling! Are you able to come over? I’ve gotten a surprise for us and i can’t wait to show you!”

“I am sweetheart, i just have to fix myself up and then i’ll be out alright? Give me just about 15 minutes and i should be over.”

“Oh, please make it quick darling,” You could just hear it in his voice how big he was smiling, “you know how much i love to give you your surprises.”

“I’ll do my best.” You said with a giggle, giving each other quick ‘i love you’s’ before checking yourself over in the mirror to make sure you were ready to make the trip to the Penbury estate.

The walk was quick, the whole time you kept thinking about what Ralph’s surprise for you could’ve been with a smile on your face.

A bouquet of flowers? No, each time he got you flowers he always brought them to you immediately after picking them or going to the florist.

A new set of outfits for you to wear out? Couldn’t be, he always asked you to come with to the tailors to make sure everything was perfect when he bought them.

A ring? Absolutely not, you knew he was waiting until he finished finding the perfect jeweler to help design it for you. Unless he already had.

You could barely contain your excitement when you knocked on the front door, smiling big as soon as you saw your sweet boy, but your attention quickly went to his cheek. You saw there was a small scratch there, nothing devastating, but it was definitely a bit irritated and you could see a bit of blood collecting, a small drop forming that was about to roll down the side of his cheek,

“Ralphie what happened?” You raised your hand up to gently touch his cheek, trying your best to not irritate the scratch on his cheek, “You’re bleeding my love, let’s go clean that up, ok?”

Ralph moved his hand up to his cheek and carefully wiped away the blood, looking at the red smudge on his finger,

“Oh goodness, i hadn’t even noticed. It didn’t hurt all that bad though, are you sure it needs to be dressed?”

“Sweetheart, you’re bleeding. My surprise can wait, let me clean you up.”

You entered his home and took his hand into yours, guiding him into the upstairs bathroom where you knew their maids kept most of the things you needed to clean up his cut. A few bandaids and of course some antiseptic soap and water from the sink should help enough.

He sat down on the edge of the bathtub as you grabbed a washcloth from the closet and ran it under some warm water, taking a seat next to Ralph on the edge of the bathtub and gently pressing it to his cheek,

“You hold this here alright?” He nodded and did as you said, though he wasn’t anticipating what would be coming next.

He had gotten enough cuts and scratches when he was young to know that the antiseptic was his absolute least favorite part of cleaning them up.

He watched as you grabbed another cloth and ran it under the warm water once more, placing the bar of soap in the middle and creating some suds with it before taking your place back next to him on the edge of the bath.

“Alright sweetheart, give me this one,” You took the now cold cloth he had been holding to his cheek and set it onto the sink counter, “I’m going to use this one to clean it ok? It may sting just a bit, but only for a second.”

Ralph nodded and braced for the gentle sting of the soap against his cheek, wincing as you gently dabbed the cloth against the cut. It took only a moment before you were finished, and you used one last dry cloth to wipe the soap away from his cheek.

There was no more blood, just a light redness surrounding the cut, and you smiled before grabbing one of the bandaids from the counter. You turned his cheek to get a better view of it and you gently stuck the adhesive to his cheek, covering the scratch on his cheek.

“There! All better.”

“I’m not so sure darling, i think you’ve forgotten the lost important part…”

You giggled and cupped his other cheek, pulling him close to you to press your lips over the bandaid on his cheek,

“How’s that?”

“Now it’s all better.”

You smiled with one another before cleaning up the bathroom, placing all the cloths into the hamper,

“How did you manage to get that scratch sweetheart?”

“Oh! I nearly forgot, it was from your present darling, could i show it to you please? I know you’re just going to love it!”

You smiled at his excitement and as you left the bathroom, he placed his hands carefully over your eyes,

“I want to make sure it’s a good surprise,” You giggled once more as he slowly led you into his bedroom, guiding you to sit on his bed where he kept his attention on the little orange kitten that was now resting on one of his decorative pillows, “I’m going to take my hands off, but i want you to keep your eyes closed for me alright?”

“Ok Ralphie, i’ll keep them closed.” You sat there patently with an excited smile on your face, hearing Ralph shuffle over a few things on his bed.

“No peeking!” He said from next to you, earring another giggle from you as you felt his presence reaching out next to you.

He had gently placed something small into your lap, and you could feel it’s little paws gently pat at your fingers, it’s soft fit grazing over your hands and you could instantly tell what it was.

“Open your eyes my love.”

You gasped as soon as they opened, seeing the adorable orange kitten sitting in your lap, it’s blue eyes curiously looking up to you. You picked it up into your arms and pet it, it’s soft fur moving gently beneath your fingers.

“Ralphie, he’s absolutely perfect! You got him just for me?”

“For us my love,” He sat next to you, reaching his fingers out to pet between the kittens ears, “he’s all ours to love and to play with. As soon as i saw him in that window i knew he was the one for us, don’t you agree?”

“I absolutely agree, he’s so tiny and soft,” You lifted the kitten up to give it a closer look, “you bad little kitty, did you give your daddy that scratch?”

The kitten looked over to Ralph and stuck one of its paws out, wanting to crawl it’s way over into his arms. Ralph helped the kitten back into his arms and it leaned its head up, gently putting its paws onto his cheek and licking it a few times, earning a giggle from Ralph.

“Aww, see sweetheart, he’s saying sorry.”

“You’re right,” He moved the kitten away and held it in his arms for the both of you to pet him’ “i couldn’t stay mad at him, he’s too adorable. What should we name him darling?”

“Is there any name you had in mind?”

You both thought for a moment on different names for the sweet kitten, wanting to pick something that fit it well.

“How about…” Ralph started, his fingers gently scratching the kittens ears, “Ginger?”

“Ginger is perfect my love, and it suits him so well!” You leaned down to face the kitten, hearing it’s little mewls and purrs as Ralph scratched its belly, “Sweet little ginger.”

“I figured since we’ve been courting for a while, we should take another step in our relationship. It’s too soon for talk of children, and you know my plans for a ring already, so a little pet would be the perfect compromise for us.”

“I think it was a wonderful idea Ralphie,” You leaned up and gave him a gentle kiss, “now we’ve got a cute little kitten to care for and love. And you know what it means now that we’ve got Ginger, right?”

“What’s that darling?”

“It means i get to come over more so we can care for him! If you like i could run home and get a few things to stay for the next few days? Little kittens need lots of care and i don’t want you to get overwhelmed with the little guy.”

“That would be wonderful my love! And when you get back i can show you all of the toys and cute little collars i got for him to match our outfits!”

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you Ralphie,” You stood up from the bed and gave him another sweet kiss, leaning down to give Ginger a gentle kiss on the top of his head, “you be nice to your daddy while i’m gone little kitty.”

Ralph smiled and gave you a wave as you left to gather your things, gently setting Ginger back onto his bed for him to run around and play with his toy once more.

Ralph knelt onto his floor and watched the kitten play with the little felt mouse and giggled as he rolled onto his back and bit at the toy,

“You’re going to have such a wonderful life we with me and your mommy you bad kitty.”