#please spread this guys; ppl should know

[risibledeer]

JOEL SMALLISHBEANS WEEK AKA OPERATION: SEVEN HOLY NIGHTS OF JEREMY

soo i have gotten the idea for a Joel Smallishbeans week to help spread the propaga-have fun!

it will be the second week of October (date is subject to change) and it's a regular old seven day fan event. anyone can particpate!!

We'll have prompts for each of the days and maybe some other cool stuff as well :)!!

this is an interest check, as although i have gotten quite a bit of it (ty for that btw!!), i wanna know if this is smth many ppl would wanna do :)

Please reblog and share as idk many ppl lol and we need word to be spread of it if we should actually try and make this a proper thing :)

there will be a similar poll in circulation from @daily-smallishbeans

any prompt ideas for the seven days will be helpful, and ty to anyone who already sent in suggestions^^ !!!! Ofc if there's any questions feel free to ask me!! (and go check out daily smallishbeans too!!!)

We are not a cult

(tagging ppl that have already expressed interest in case u guys wanna see this too!)

@ralburry @marsmarbles @hanselsbike @hannnsh @mellozheist @marsmarbles @pancho-pinto @insomnya777 @daily-smallishbeans @kanda-franca @uninad4 @aurnadri @l-just-want-to-see @ulis-here @carbo2006 @tamblerdraws @hydeomonster @whereonhermitcraftisjoel @icyhotheartwritings @sharpilu @falconearring @kyuyua @liekadae @spoonmoment119 @cygnus-rex @witiraisaqueen @icyhotheartwritings

[323cutie]

your skin is against my body. | jyh

pairing ୨୧ yunho x afab reader

word count ୨୧ 650

genre ୨୧ smut asf!!!!!!

warnings ୨୧ sexual content, swearing <3 smut warnings below the cut

author's note ୨୧ i have had a bad week (it is wednesday morning). So yes i need yunho to comfort me. anyways i finished this last night but was too tired to post it LMFAO

18+ mdni!!

smut warnings ୨୧ fingering, dirty talk, a bit of banter i think, choking but its pretty light, mentions of like actual sex but we don't get there sawrry, teasing yunho, a little bit of begging, you guys know that live where yunho said he liked when ppl whined his name. Yeah

You’ve had a bad day.

You made it obvious to all of your coworkers, yelled at just about every other car on the way home, considered killing your roommate because they took your apartment’s reserved parking spot when it was your turn to have it, and were curt with the boba cafe worker you’re usually more than friendly with.

You’re not proud of yourself. But you are tired. And sick of dealing with it all. So when you get to Yunho’s and he almost immediately offers to cheer you up, you agree with zero hesitation.

It’s probably (definitely) how you ended up with his hand between your legs.

Maybe you should have seen it coming. You don’t really care, either way. Yunho’s fingers feel like heaven inside of you, pumping and curling and twisting in all the most delicious ways. You sigh when he curls them up, head lolling back and to the side, landing on his shoulder from where he lies down next to you.

“When you said you’d make me, hmm, feel better,” you start, letting him nudge your head to the other side with his nose. He presses open mouthed kisses to your neck and shoulder. “Wasn’t expecting – fuck – this.”

Yunho hums, lips tracing the shell of your ear. “Oh?” He says, speeding up the pace of his fingers. You moan and practically feel him grin. “I can stop, if that’s what you want.”

He starts to slow down to an almost stop and you grab at his wrist, trying to guide his hand back to the pace it was before. “Don’t you dare,” you say, glaring at him. He laughs, kisses your temple soothingly.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he responds, picking up his pace again. His other hand wraps loosely around your neck, just enough pressure to make you keen. “Gotta make my baby feel good, hm?”

You nod eagerly and Yunho laughs, fond, obeying to your silent pleas and gliding his thumb over your clit. You gasp, melt into his arms, spread your legs wider so he has all the room in the world to do whatever he wants to you. 

“Look so pretty when you’re spread open for me like this,” Yunho murmurs, adding more pressure to the way he circles your clit. “Had such a bad day, just need it fucked out of you, right? Just need to be taken care of?” 

You don't know what sounds come out of your mouth, but you’re almost certain they’re not words. Yunho curls his fingers up inside of you, hitting a spot only he can reach, and you feel your whole body react. Pliant in his hold, moldable however he sees fit. The hand around your neck squeezes a warning. “Use your words, pretty.”

Oh, right. You can’t even think. “Y-Yeah,” you say, voice strained, breathless. “Need you to fuck me.”

You hear him hum and look up at him, hoping your already fucked out eyes will add a little something extra to your plea. “Yunho,” you whine, canting your hips up to meet his fingers. “Please.”

You see his breath physically hitch, watch as something swirls in his eyes as he looks at you. His cheeks and nose are red and you want to run your fingers through his hair, want to peel every article of clothing off just so you can see all of him.

Maybe you’ll get to soon. Yunho presses forward and kisses you hard, tongue delving into your mouth and tasting your own. You moan onto his lips and he practically mirrors it, letting his own noises out. His fingers move faster, thumb circling tighter, and you squeal.

“I’ll fuck you so good you’ll only remember my name,” he murmurs lowly. He curls against that spot again and you feel like you’re falling apart. “But you’re gonna cum on my fingers first.”

[fairuzfan]

I don’t ask this expecting you have THE answer or that there is one, but I follow a non Palestinian white man on insta (in addition to many Palestinian folks in diaspora and in Palestine) who mostly shares things from Palestinian ppl/sources.

He has several times criticized / shared criticism of charity dinners, music festivals etc raising funds for Gaza with the perspective of, it’s not appropriate to have a dance party or dinner while people are undergoing genocide, but also that in this moment, art isn’t resistance because there needs to be physical resistance, blockades of weapons, etc.

I’ve seen this echoed from some others especially critiquing white folks trying to claim “joy is resistance” right now, which makes sense to me, but i also wonder if it’s reductive to say art or music is not resistance because I feel like it can have a lot of power especially alongside social movements… was wondering if you had thoughts on this or perhaps knew where I could look to learn more.

Please ignore if this is too much, and thank you

I think things like writing and illustration and music feeds into the spirit of revolution and is necessary in that way. You have to energize the masses somehow, and to ensure that your message spreads as far as possible. A good way is to make art, or to sing a song, or write a story.

That's why Wisam Rafeedi wrote his book and different resistance factions make posters and videos — to spread their ideas and garner support among the masses.

It's not as important as putting yourself in immediate physical danger to incapacitate the colonial entity — but I think for Palestinians and other colonized peoples, they do need to make art to really process their thoughts. Of course there's a difference when a Palestinian in Palestine, a Palestinian in the diaspora, a nonPalestinian ally of color, and a NonPalestinian white ally do this. I won't deny that there's a nuance when it comes to this.

But writers who write about Palestinian Liberation historically have been assassinated because of how they participate in liberation actions and also spread ideas of liberation themselves. I don't know which white guy you're talking about but I feel like this is mostly a conversation that should be led by Palestinians if we're talking about Palestine because they understand the nuance of saying statements like "the only resistance is physical." I understand what he's saying to an extent but that does erase a lot of Palestinian resistance the past few decades by making sweeping statements like "art is not resistance" and kind of simplifies the issue at hand.

Charity dinners and galas and that stuff... I don't know what I think about them, I think that people are going to do it either way so my opinion doesn't really matter. Hey, if you're going to raise thousands of dollars for Palestine, I'm not going to stop you at all. I personally think you should try to avoid posting pictures and stuff like that from the gala itself if you're going to host one just out of courtesy.

I guess overall what I'm trying to say, art resistance becomes physical a lot of the time. I think its really reductive to say "art isn't resistance" and also personally insulting considering I have family members and friends who were journalists, creative writers, and artists and killed/targeted for their work.

Here's this article by Fargo Tbahkhi about the role of writing during a genocide that might be a good read. They also mention how Israeli propaganda (calling Palestinians "human animals"/"Amalek" as an example) is specifically a use of culture and writing to energize people to commit genocide. An especially poignant part that I completely agree with, and am trying to get at:

Palestine requires that we abandon this catharsis. Nobody should get out of our work feeling purged, clean. Nobody should live happily during the war. Our readers can feel that way when liberation is the precondition for our work, and not the dream. When it is the place we stand, and not the place we shake ourselves towards. In this way, what the long middle of revolution requires, what Palestine requires, is an approach to writing whose primary purpose is to gather others up with us, to generate within them an energy which their bodies cannot translate into anything but revolutionary movement. This is what Boal modeled for us in his theatrical experiments, which were dedicated to empowering audiences to act, to participate in a creative struggle to envision and embody alternatives. For Boal, theater was not revolution, but it was a rehearsal for the revolution, meant to gather communities together in that rehearsal. Creative work readies us for material work, by offering a space to try out strategies, think through contradictions, remind us of our own agency.  

[apiswitchcraft]

Hiii! Do you know any greek hellenic polytheist accounts on here? sending love 🫶🏻

hi! yes i know several. personally I kinda just follow the #hellenicpolytheist tag to find cool people, but I have some specific recommendations too! (also if you guys have any other recs please feel free to leave them in the comments!)

@apolloforetoldus and @companionsofganymede as they're my dear friend fritz, they have great art and reblog stuff that I actually care about

@temple-of-hermes (the owner is also a really cool person), @templeof-demeter (same here), @temple-of-apollon, @the-suns-temple, @to-hypnos-we-dream, and @hyakinthou-naos are all temples that I follow that frequently make very informative posts

@khaire-traveler, @loemius, @travelingthief, @piristephes, @thegrapeandthefig, and @shewithbloodofdevotion for just ppl in the community and informative stuff

and finally, the artists that I like are @vibeswithrenai (made really cool dividers), @stardayzzing @seleniiium

people that I tend to avoid following are minors or people claiming to be priest(ess)s but who haven't actually gone through any sort of training whatsoever. i just don't think that those are people that I can see as authorities on any issues, especially when it comes to teenagers. there's a lot of misinformation and fearmongering spread around the helpol community, so i would just watch out for any posts that outright try to enforce rules onto your practice (unless they're talking about cultural appropriation, in which case you should probably pay attention to what they're saying) or try to categorize the gods in any sort of way. oh also mythic literalists. that shit's dumb.

[creamiecoups]

dessert - jeongcheol x reader

part one.

↠  summary :  although being the personal assistant for two CEO’s who own a huge company seems hectic and stressful, it had its own perks if both men were head over heels for you that they didn’t bother fighting on who would get to keep you in the end. Anyways two is always better than one right?

that is until you meet one of their very good looking buisness partners Jaehyun, sparking an idea in you to flirt with him to piss off the boys...but you’re too late to realise that it was, indeed, a bad idea.

↠  pairing : seungcheol x jeonghan x reader

↠ warnings :  swearing, smut, dom!seungcheol soft dom?! jeonghan, use of pet names, heavy degradation, rough fingering, slight choking, use of toys, cum play, seungcheol is very mean, reader is a brat, mentions of alcohol, dacryphilia

↠ word count : 5.3K words

↠ author’s note : and finally after more than a year i posted yay!! I’m so sorry for the long wait as i know many ppl have been sending me messages asking me when I’ll be back, but I’m here now and will finally start being more active here i promise hahah

i thought I’d post this one shot first with part one, and I’ll post the day I have finalised for part two.

until my next update feel free to send me reqs and until then, enjoy ;)

part one part two

���—————————————————————————

It really did start of as a joke.

Well, it always did…but this time, part of the reason was because you were bored out of your mind and needed something to do that would at least keep you entertained.

And so, because of that 'stunt', you were currently situated in the bathroom, Jeonghan's hands wrapped around your neck firmly.

"Baby, what were you trying to achieve back there?" He asked, tilting his head to the side a little.

"I don't get why you're mad, all I did was go on my phone," you replied, rolling your eyes before you heard him click his tongue.

"Don't roll your eyes at me...I wouldn't have cared if you just went on your phone but sighing every two fucking minutes and tapping your feet on the ground so fucking hard was not necessary," he spat, gritting his teeth as you realised he was really mad.

"I was bored okay? I don't even get why you guys bought me here it's so boring...can I just call a taxi and head home first, please?" You begged, making him inhale sharply before glaring at you.

"No, you're staying here until we're done," he shot back, making you sigh.

"Anyways....your lucky that was just one of my aquaintances...but now, Seungcheol and I have serious matters to discuss with a possible business partner, you should know how important this would be for us so I advise you, stay put and enough with the bratty attitude."

"Fine, can you at least let me get my earphones from the car?" You asked, making him sigh angrily.

"No, look, if it helps...we'll finally be having dinner so you can stuff your mouth so you won't be bored anymore."

"I'd rather have my mouth stuffed with something else though," you whispered, leaning up to peck the side of his lips with a smirk.

"Well maybe if you behave well for us, you'll get what you want after we're done," Jeonghan replied.

"Okay, I'll be good until then," you replied cheekily, a smirk spread across your face.

"Good, now come, Seungcheol is probably waiting for us."

Both of you walked out of the bathroom, making your way back to the bustling restaurant that the company had rented out for the night to hopefully affiliate with other organizations.

"Hey," Seungcheol greeted you with a big smile, as you sat between him and Jeonghan.

You gave him a smile, before bowing slightly to the man opposite you.

"So this must be your assistant? I've heard a lot about you," the man said, making you smile.

He looked around your age, and you had to admit he was pretty good looking.

"Well I hope good things," you said, a chuckle leaving your lips.

"Of course, I've heard your very good at your job, care to come work at my company instead? My assistants still learning and he's a bit...well, slow in his work and plus, it'll be nice to have a pretty face walking around," he said, giving me a smile.

"Well that wouldn't be too bad, I'll think about it," you joked, as you instantly felt Seungcheol's hand grab your thigh under the table.

"Anyways, let's order before we get into business, what do you say Jaehyun?" Jeonghan asked, making you smile.

he had a nice name.

"Yes of course, I'll call over the waiter," Jaehyun said, before winking my way.

I smirked, suddenly having an idea in my head.

After everyone ordered their food, they began to converse casually about their achievements in their respective companies, which to you just seemed like boastful remarks.

You yawned softly as you felt Seungcheol draw slow circles into your thigh, something he usually did unconsciously while talking or resting.

"Would you really move to his company?" Jeonghan whispered in your ear, making you smile.

"Why not, it'll be nice to have a change of scenery," you whispered back, as you heard Jeonghan chuckle.

"If only he knew half of the time your bent over our study table getting stuffed with our cocks because you were too needy to even function when we asked you to get a job done," he chuckled lowly, making you clench around nothing.

"Fuck off."

"Language princess, you would be in a great deal amount of trouble if Seungcheol heard you," Jeonghan whispered, before pulling away.

You cleared your throat, before turning your attention to whatever Seungcheol and Jaehyun were talking about.

The food finally arrived after a while, making you sigh happily as you looked down to the pasta you ordered.

You almost moaned with how good it tasted, as you were glad you could eat since most of the reason you were bored was because you were hungry.

"You like it?" Seungcheol asked, making you nod.

"Hey we ordered the same thing!" Jaehyun pointed out, making you chuckle.

"We did, it's so good right?" You asked him, giving him a sweet smile.

"It is, I would say I might order it the second time but the portion is so huge," Jaehyun said, laughing as you joined him.

"Let's talk business now, shall we?" Seungcheol said, a smile on his face as you felt his fingers grip your thigh tightly.

"Ahh right yes, that is why we are here."

You sighed internally as you realised that was your queue to back out since you wouldn't really understand as it wasn't your place to join their conversation.

And either way, it was boring.

"Hannie," your whispered in Jeonghan's ear, while he was busy listening.

"Later Y/N, we're busy," he mumbled, his eyes darting between Seungcheol and Jaehyun as they discussed an important matter.

"But Hannie this is important," you whined, feeling his hand make it's way to your thigh.

"Y/N stop," he warned, slapping your thigh softly, making you squirm in your seat a little.

Once it was Jeonghan's turn to speak, you turned to Seungcheol.

"Cheolie, can I go to the bathroom?"

"Later," he whispered, as he didn't even bother glancing at you.

You sighed angrily, pushing their hands off your thigh before speaking out loudly.

"Jeonghan would you be kind enough to move as I need to go to the bathroom?" You asked, tilting your head to the side as Jeonghan stopped talking to look at you.

He hesitantly nodded, before standing up to let you get through.

You gave him a big smile before walking towards the bathroom area, your lips turning into a smirk as you knew you probably ticked them off.

After you were done you opened the bathroom door, about to walk out before you saw someone push you back in quickly before they were pinning you to the door.

You looked up, your lips curving into a smile when you saw Seungcheol's angry eyes.

"What are you trying to do?"

"I don't know what you mean?" You replied back, looking at him cluelessly as he gritted his jaw.

"Jeonghan spoke to you about staying put and being obediant before right? So what are you doing now?" Seungcheol drawled, as you shifted your legs, his deep voice not doing any good for your already wet panties.

"I got bored...and you both were completely ignoring me," you sulked, pouting as you looked up at him with your big eyes.

"We both told you that you could go to the bathroom later right? So why did you still decide to ask again?"

"It's just the bathroom! I was so bored I was literally applying my mascara again just to avoid your boring conversations."

"Pull up your dress," he suddenly spat, making you look up at him in confusion.

"What?"

"I know a big reason why your so bored is because your needy little cunt in probably dripping right now...you think I didn't notice the way you keep shifting?" He asked, chuckling as he watched you slowly pull your dress up.

"Tell me baby, what has you so needy right now?" Seungcheol whispered in your ear, one of his hands moving down your body before he was cupping your heat.

You instantly let out a whine as you let go off your dress to hold onto Seungcheol's broad shoulders.

"I-I.....just wanted," you stuttered, bucking your hips up into his touch.

"You wanted what? Attention?" He asked, as he slowly rubbed you over your panties, the thin material already sticking to your skin.

You nodded your head, making Seungcheol chuckle darkly.

"You're always so needy for us aren't you? Constantly need someone showing you attention...but you really couldn't go a few hours without being cock hungry hm? Didn't Jeonghan fuck you a few times this morning while I was out?" He asked, making you quietly moan as he drew circles on your covered clit.

You nodded once again, making Seungcheol click his fingers.

"Use your words baby."

"Y-Yes...yes he did," you quickly said, as you felt him move your panties to the side before his fingers were pushing flush against your entrance.

"Fuck your so wet," he groaned, bringing his coated fingers up to his lips.

"So tell me, your still needy even after Jeonghan fucked you only a few hours ago?"

You nodded your head feverishly.

"Cheolie....touch me please," you whined, making Seungcheol chuckle.

He plunged two of his fingers into your seeping entrance without warning, making you throw your head back as you moaned loudly.

"Quiet down, we don't need all our employees knowing how much of a dirty little slut you are for me now do we?"

He started at a fast pace, nothing you weren't used to as he was normally rough with you im comparison to Jeonghan, not that you cared anyways.

"Cum nice and sweet on my fingers okay?" He whispered, adding a third finger before he was curling them when he knew he hit your sweet spot.

Your toes curled as you leaned into his shoulder to muffle your sounds.

"Your such a fucking needy little girl baby, you've been fucked all morning and now your still so needy when we haven't even gone home yet," Seungcheol whispered, lightly pecking your shoulder blade as his fingers pumped in and out of you.

"Ch-Cheol....need...more," you whined, making Seungcheol laugh.

"Oh no princess....your not getting dick that easy. You'll have to wait until we get home, so until then...hopefully this shuts you up," he whispered, as you felt your release edge closer as you clenched down on his fingers.

"That's it baby, cum now," you heard Seungcheol say, as you felt your release wash over you, making you moan quietly, as you shivered.

He pulled his fingers away from you before bringing them up to his lips to suck them clean. You watched as you suddenly felt empty, making you whine softly.

"I have to go now, make yourself look a bit more presentable and come back soon okay?" Seungcheol said, pulling your dress down before leaning in to peck your cheek.

"You were so good for me, I'll consider rewarding you when we get home," he whispered, winking at you before he was moving you away from the door so he could leave.

"And baby? Enough with the flirting, don't think we haven't picked up on that....don't let me find you warming up to Jaehyun again," he warned, making you smile at him.

"I won't, I promise."

"Oh your back, I thought you went missing," Jaehyun joked, as you sat in between Seungcheol and Jeonghan again.

You laughed a little, before reaching forward to grab a glass of water.

The night progressed as the men around you continued to converse about their companies and what both of them could bring to the table if they were to affiliate.

Soon it was time for drinks, making your ears perk up as Seungcheol offered to get the drinks for everyone.

"What do you want to drink?" Seungcheol asked you, as his hand on your thigh slowly rubbed circles into your skin.

"Champagne is fine," you replied, making him nod before he was walking towards the bar after taking the other two men's order as well.

"So Y/N....have you thought about my offer from before?" Jaehyun asked you, making you crease your eyebrows at him.

"Offer....what offer?" You ask, tilting your head to the side a little.

"To come work with me....these two surely can do things without you I mean...they have each other! But my assistant is downright a rookie and pretty useless so...if you're down too, I'd love to have you," Jaehyun said with a smirk playing on his lips.

"I'll think about it, maybe....what do you think?" You directed the question to Jeonghan, your faux innocent eyes shining at him as you felt his hand grip your thigh tightly.

"Sorry Jaehyun..." Jeonghan trailed off, before his eyes were on the man across him.

"But I can't give away our most trusted employee, she does her job well and so no, we will not be giving her away to you."

Jaehyun chuckled as his eyes fell to mine.

"Well isn't that a pity... I was looking forward to appointing you as my personal assistant," he said, before Seungcheol came back with our drinks.

"So...what have we been talking about?" Seungcheol asked, as he handed me my glass of champagne before sitting down.

"Jaehyun wants me as his assistant, thought it would be fun but Jeonghan thinks I do my job so well," you say, smirking as Seungcheol's eyes darkened.

"Is that so? Well if you'd like, I can send through a list of capable people who could fill in the role if you're hiring?" Seungcheol asked, as you felt Jeonghan's hand on your thigh move up higher.

"Ah no, I really was joking...but I will comment, you both are very lucky," Jaehyun said with a smile, as you playfully winked at him.

Now that, ticked the both of them off completely.

Seungcheol stifled next to you as he eagerly changed the topic, as he soon conversed with Jaehyun about business, while Jeonghan leaned in to your ear.

"You've really done it now princess, spread your legs," he whispered, his warm breath hitting your cheek as you took another sip of your drink.

"And if I don't?" You dared to ask, as Jeonghan simply smiled at you before leaning in closer.

"Spread your legs," he repeated, making you gulp.

You hesitantly spread your legs as you felt Jeonghan's fingers instantly press against your sticky clothed core.

"Did cheol make you cum earlier in the bathroom? Your so wet," he whispered as you bit back a whimper.

"Y-Yeah, he f-fingered me," you whispered, as he scoffed.

"And your still acting bratty? Hm..." He trailed off, before you saw a few other men come to join you three on the table.

"Seungcheol?" Jeonghan called out to him, as he turned to look at you both.

"Yeah?" He asked, his eyes trailing down to you.

"Try to keep her still while you talk," he muttered, as your heartbeat accelerated.

"W-What are you g-going to do?" You stuttered, as Jeonghan smiled at you.

"You want to wink at a man in front of us? Then let's show him how much of a whore you are for us in front of him," he chuckled, as you felt Seungcheol's hand grab your thigh tightly before you felt Jeonghan's fingers push your panties to the side, his fingers making direct contact to your heat.

Your body jolted instantly, as you tried your hardest not to throw your head back from the delicious contact, and if you thought that was painful, when two of Jeonghan's fingers plunged inside of you, you knew it was only going to get worse for you.

"Stay still, eyes open...more investors have joined now so we'll be conversing more, stay quiet and take what I give you, or you won't like what happens next," Jeonghan spat near your ear, making you nod feverishly.

Your eyes flew to Jaehyun, who was too busy talking to the middle aged man next to him to notice you, as you suddenly took in the fact that everyone around you were too busy to even pay attention to you both.

Jeonghan's fingers stilled in you, making you instantly slump in your seat as you looked towards him.

He was smiling like a little bitch, so into a conversation with an unfamiliar guy next to him that no one would even think he was doing something so dirty and sinful under the huge table.

Your eyes darted towards Seungcheol who was looking through an important document, his eyebrows furrowed as his hand was gripping your thigh tightly so your legs were spread enough for Jeonghan to access.

"Cheol," you called out, your voice coming out almost in a whine making him look at you.

"What?" He spat irritatedly, making you frown.

"When can we leave?" you whisper, as you heard his jaw clench tightly.

"Didn't I warn you earlier not to be a brat?" He shot, his eyes throwing daggers at yours.

"Hannie won't please me properly, I can't take it anymore," you whine back boldly, as you felt his fingernails dig into the skin of you thigh in anger.

"Jeonghan."

"Yeah?" Jeonghan responded, his eyes falling on Seungcheol.

"Move your fingers, and give her what I gave you earlier, she doesn't seem to know how to follow orders," he spat, making Jeonghan nod.

"What?" You ask cluelessly, before you felt the sudden emptiness as Jeonghan withdrew his fingers from your sopping entrance.

maybe you should just behave

"Han wait...I-Im sorry I'll stay still from now on," you quickly mumbled, making Jeonghan chuckle lowly.

"Ask cheol, you should know he doesn't tolerate your shit but here we are," Jeonghan said, before you felt something hard and long poke your entrance.

a fucking vibrator.

Your eyes widen before turning to look at Seungcheol who was listening to a conversation intently, that was until you started tapping his arm.

"Cheol N-No.... I-I'll be good I promise, please," you whispered.

"Have it on medium setting, we'll see how she takes it," He said, his words obviously being directed to Jeonghan as he completely ignored you.

Your heartbeat accelerated as you felt Jeonghan slowly ease the dildo into your entrance, the cum slick from earlier providing an easy slip as he pushed it right into you, making you grab the table tightly.

Knuckles turning white and thighs clamped together, you sat there for for what felt like hours with the quiet buzz of the vibrator making you feel as if the entire room was spinning. It was perfect to ease the ache you had, but it wasn't enough to get you to cum, especially since both the boys' hands weren't on you anymore.

Your head lolled towards Jeonghan, soft pants leaving your pretty glossed lips as your long manicured nails taps against his white dress shirt eagerly.

"Hm?" He hummed, glancing at you only for a second.

"I-It's too much...I wanna...c-c–"

"Y/N," Seungcheol suddenly called out, making you stop talking.

You turned to looked at him, lips pouty and eyes filled with need as it took Seungcheol his all not to grab you by the hair and fuck you on the table in front of everyone.

Which he would eventually get around to doing tonight, but just not now.

"Can you go get me another glass of champagne, please?" He asked sweetly, making you shake your head softly.

"I-I can't...g-get up–"

Seungcheol chuckled softly, cutting you off as he leaned in to your ear, his hand on your thigh once again.

"I wasn't really asking, get up and go get me what I asked for, slut," he spat, making you squirm in your seat.

"You're a dick," you whimper out, before standing up shakily.

With all the strength and self control you could muster, you pushed past Jeongham before carefully walking towards the bar.

Walking around in heels with a fat dildo snuggled in your pussy? this was definitely not how you saw the night going but here you were.

"O-One...g-g Champagne," your words slur as the bartender looks at you in concern.

"Miss are you okay?" he asks in concern, making you nod feverishly.

"Mhm...just get...champagne," you mumble as he nods before pouring a glass on the sparkling liquid.

"Here have a glass of water...you look really flushed...are you gonna be sick?" He asked.

"No..no...but thanks for the water," you finally say a sentence without stuttering, so you pat yourself on the back mentally.

"No worries Ms, please do sit down until you finish your water though," he said, making you hesitantly nod.

You slowly sat down on the barstool, sucking air through your teeth as you felt the vibrator nuzzle into you more.

"Would you like anything else?" The bartender asked, as he gave you a glass of water.

"N-No....I'm good with...with water," your words slurred slightly as you both the glass up to your lips with shaky fingers.

"Are you here alone?" The bartender suddenly asked, as you realised he had been staring at you this entire time.

"N-No I'm...I'm here with a few business... people...I'm sorry for stuttering I just don't feel so good," you babbled on, completely unaware of the pair of eyes burning into your back in rage.

"That's completely understandable, you don't need to say sorry but I do think you should go rest," he said, before leaning over the counter to touch my forehead.

"You're burning up Miss I don't think you should be drink–"

"Get up we're going home."

You shakily turn around to see an angry Seungcheol standing in front of you, his top two buttons undone as his eyes left yours briefly to look at the confused bartender in front of you.

"Yeah she's had a bit too much to drink," he spat shortly, before grabbing you by the wrist and yanking you off the bar stool.

"Cheolie careful I'm in heels," you whine out, but he doesn't seem to hear or care as he walked out of the restaurant, his grip on your wrist never faltering.

"W-What about Jeonghannie," you hiccup, trying to keep up with Seungcheol's pace in your painfully high heels.

Suddenly you felt the vibrators speed increase, making you buckle your hips as a moan left your lips, causing Seungcheol to laugh.

He opened the passenger seat door before practically throwing you in, as you heard the door shut loudly before he was getting into the drivers seat.

"You've really done it today princess....you've found numerous ways to push our buttons and now I'm gonna make sure this type of behaviour will never be repeated from your end, ever again," he spat.

"Cheolie too much," you whine, spreading your legs shamelessly as your hands came down to pull the dildo out of you.

"Ah, ah...that’s staying in there since you decided to act like such a fucking child today I had to leave an important conversation early and now Jeonghan has to do all the work....why do you think so?" He asked, turning to look at you.

"Mm.....I-I don't know," you whimpered out, making his eyes darken.

"How many times did I tell you to stop being a brat today, hm? I even went out of my way and fucked you with my fingers to get you to shut up...so why did you continue to piss me off in front of everyone? And then when I told you to go get me a drink, I found you shamelessly eye fucking that bartender like a whore," he growled, grabbing your jaw tightly as you whimpered, clenching down on the dildo.

"I w-wasn't–" your words were ripped out of your throat when his hand landed down on your aching pussy harshly.

"Don't fucking lie to me, you think I wouldn't notice the way you were talking to him? And the way he wanted to fuck you so bad," he chuckled, as he pulled up your dress so he could eye your soaked underwear.

"Take it off, come on."

You bit down on your bottom lip as you came hard almost quietly, your head lolling to the side as soft pants left your mouth.

"Aww did my baby just cum?"

"Y-Yeah," you mumble out, your lips parted as Seungcheol removed your underwear.

"Your being so so disobedient today Y/N...why's that? I was talking to you about something and you decided to cum? Is that what I've taught you?" He spat lowly, as you watched him bunch your underwear into a ball before pushing it into his pocket.

"M' sorry....c-couldn't help it," you whimper out, tears spilling from your eyes at the overstimulation.

"S-Seung...cheol...the v-vibrator please....too m-much," you hiccup again, as Seungcheol's hand threads through your hair.

"We're alone now baby...that's not my name," he spat into your ear.

"Although I'm starting to think I should make you call me that in public, so everyone around you including you remember who you belong to."

His voice was ten times deeper than usual, which only made you ten times wetter than you already were.

"Would you like that baby?" He asked, his free hand resting on your thigh as you whined.

"Take it out p-please," you whimper out, making Seungcheol sigh.

"Answer my question first doll,” he groaned, his hand in your hair rubbing your scalp slowly.

"No that's embarrassing," you scoff, as he chuckled lowly.

"Why's that? You love disobeying us in public so maybe that will help you remember your place, what do you think?" He asked, eyes narrowing on you as you hesitantly shake your head.

"Che- Daddy no...please," you whine, as you felt his grip on your hair tighten painfully.

"Hmm...I'll think about it..now, spread your legs and be good," he spat, making you instantly comply as you wanted nothing more than having that damn vibrator out of you.

Seungcheol's fingers circled around the part of the vibrator that was sticking out of you, causing you to whine as your eyes pleaded at him to remove it from you.

"You want me to take this out baby? Too much?" He asked with a pout, tilting his head to the side as you nodded eagerly.

"P-Please."

"You know what was too much? Your attitude with us today, so take what I fucking give you or I'll have to bring out your collar....do you want that princess?" He asked, making you shake your head as he smiled.

"Good."

Your body jolted suddenly as Seungcheol grabbed the dildo, roughly thrusting it into you as you choked out a moan.

"Hold up your dress," he shot, as you whimpered from his rough ministrations, but nevertheless obeyed.

Your shaky fingers moved your long evening dress out of the way, bunching it up to your chest to give Seungcheol a better view.

"S-Slow down oh my g-god," you managed to make out, as Seungcheol scoffed.

"You don't make the demands here princess, I do, so why don't you sit here and take it...understand?" He spat, removing the dildo out of you before turning it off.

You breathed out a sigh of relief, your eyes closing only for a second before you felt three of Seungcheol's fingers push into you without warning.

"Fuck Seungcheol....fuck!" You screeched out, your body jolting as his fingers only went rougher at your words.

"What have I said about swearing?" He spat angrily, making you whimper out a weak apology he wasn't going to take.

"You use this pretty mouth of yours for all the wrong reasons baby," he added, fingers pinching your bottom lip.

"I-I'm sorry daddy," you whisper meekly, making him hum.

"Don't swear again, okay?"

"O-Okay," you whisper back, as his fingers stilled in you.

"Okay what?" He spat as you whined, clenching down on him.

"Okay daddy," you muttered quickly, before Seungcheol resumed the rough pace he had set for his fingers.

"I-I'm gonna c-cum daddy," you pant, throwing your head back as Seungcheol pulled on your hair.

"You don't cum until I say so," he drawled, making you shake your head as a smirk played on your lips.

"No."

"No?"

"I want to cum...it's t-too much," you bite back, looking up at Seungcheol's amused face.

"Oh you're still being a brat?...I'm not Jeonghan baby, you know I won't give you any chances so watch what you say to me," he shot, fingers pulling at your hair making you wince.

"It hurts stop," you whine out, wishing Jeonghan was here to help sooth you like he always did.

Every time you did something wrong, it was Seungcheol that would get furious and punish you until dawn, but Jeonghan preferred to teach you in much more gentle ways.

"Than learn to behave," he spat, stuffing two more fingers into you before curling them up.

The stretch was incredibly delicious, as your eyes rolled to the back of your head before a long moan left your parted lips.

"Daddy please...I need to cum," you desperately whined out, as Seungcheol's fingers only went rougher and unbelievably faster.

"A no is a no, you're not allowed to cum until I tell you to," he spat, all four of his fingers curling in you as you felt the heat rush to your throbbing pussy.

"Please I c-can't," you whine, the soft pants and squelching sounds coming from you only urging Seungcheol on as it took all of his self control not to drag you into his lap and fuck the living daylights out of you until you were reduced to nothing but tears.

Before you could even warn him, or yourself, you felt the knot in your stomach snap as you came hard all over his fingers.

You moaned out in bliss, the feeling taking over your senses as your body spasmed.

"Are you fucking serious?" He spat angrily, yanking his fingers out of your soaking entrance with a loud pop.

“I couldn’t help it, you kept pushing it a-and–“

“I’m not gonna take any of your bullshit, you should know that by now. I’m not Jeonghan to listen to your pathetic little excuses,” he growled, pushing his soaked fingers into your mouth roughly, causing you to gag and whimper in pain.

“Suck them clean whore,” he spat condescendingly, as you softly suckled on his fingers before he was pulling them out.

“Now sit back properly, pull your dress down and put your seatbelt on, we’re leaving,” he spat, pulling away from you completely as he started the car.

“No I want to wait for Hannie, you’re mean,” you whine out, refusing to put your seatbelt on.

“Don’t make me repeat it, Y/N….you either put it on yourself or I do it for you,” he growled angrily making you huff.

“Can we at least go back in to get dessert? I didn’t get to try the strawberry cake cheol please,” you whine, holding onto his arm as your tits pressed into him.

He sighed angrily before grabbing your jaw tightly, slightly pushing your cheeks together as his burning eyes bore into yours.

“Tonight was my last fucking nerve. You know I’m not gentle like Han, so yes princess I am mean, and brutal. So you’re in for a rough night… I hope you’re ready.”

[bio-hazard]

Now I've Found A Real Love (You'll Never Fool Me Again)

Charlie Slimecicle x Reader Fake Dating

ladies and gentlefish it's finally done. i think this is the longest fanfiction i've ever written and i cut a large portion of it out just to be able to get it done before christmas so i hope that you guys enjoy this (please enjoy this. i'll cry.)

15k words, only warnings for implied weed and cheating, drinking and a lot of guilt. i don't know why i gave reader anxiety. SFW with a few suggestive jokes but minors please dni with my work !! happy holidays ppl !!!!

. 🎄 . 🎁 . 🎄 .

Christmas time is supposed to be the “most magical time of the year”, with love and joy spread through the hearts of many. Apparently that wasn’t in the cards for you this year. You were supposed to go home for Christmas week with your boyfriend to introduce him to your family. Everything was going so well and you had been hyping him up for months now, bragging about how he was the perfect boyfriend.

Until he made you eat those words a day before you were supposed to leave, sitting among clothes and general things you would need for the week scattered around your bed when your phone buzzed and lit up to show the lockscreen of you kissing his cheek.

“hey so. i hate to say this but i dont think this is going to work out. i dont want to see you hurt and your a great person but i dont think im ready to meet your family yet. i think i should spend time alone to find myself. its not your fault ml”

Your smile fell as you read over the message again and again.

“merry xmas btw”

After a couple hours of coping very healthily and no emotional outbursts whatsoever, you wiped the last of your tears. Okay. This was fine! It was a single day before you were supposed to drive home and see almost all of your extended family for an entire week, and the man you had made sound like a fairy tale prince just dumped you over text!

If you showed up there, heartbroken and alone, you would never hear the end of it from all sides of the family.

…

You needed a new boyfriend.

Running through the list of people you knew would probably be easier than trying to find a stranger within a day, but you quickly ran into the issue that your family already knew most of your friends, and none would be able to easily pass as a boyfriend for a whole week without blowing it. So you moved on to secondary friends. People you had the number of for classes or your neighbours, people in your study group. Nothing. You fell back against your bed and stared at your contact list hopelessly, scrolling up and down as if that would make some new number magically appear. You had to face the reality of the situation; You were screwed.

The next morning you picked yourself up and got ready, showering and packing the rest of whatever items you hadn’t already shoved into a bag. The idea of cancelling on your study group appealed to you greatly, but some part of your mind reminded you that you had notes that a few of the others needed to copy down, and you wanted to stay in their good graces. So you gathered every inch of mental tape you had and held yourself together until you resembled a stable human being, and locked the door behind you as you left.

Walking into the library, the warmth hugged your face and you let out a quiet sigh as you loosened your scarf, kicked the snow off your boots, and moved deeper into the building to find the usual area everyone gathered in. It was a long table toward the back that a handful of you had claimed weekly for study meets. One of your close friends and a few others who had the same class, and a few who just liked the company and atmosphere. You knew everyone there by name and occasionally after studying you would all go out for food. Of course, you couldn’t stop thinking about your dilemma as you sat down and pulled out your books. You wouldn’t be able to focus on work much, but you could at least pretend you were being productive.

Handing your notes around the table, you took a look at everyone again and weighed your options. Either they didn’t fit what you remember telling your family, or they had met your family in one way or another. You sighed and stared down at the still shut textbook in front of you. None of the material seemed like it was near interesting enough to derail your current train of thought. Sitting up to say something to your friend, the sound of approaching footsteps caught your attention.

“Sorry, hope I’m not late!”

Turning your head the other way, you see a dark green jacket and look up at the man holding the back of the chair next to you. “This seat isn’t taken, is it?”

Your eyes widened. Charlie. Of course. He was a newer addition to the group, invited by a couple others you weren’t too close with. You didn’t know him too well, at most having been left alone at the table with him once or twice, but he was nice and funny and.. Well, you’d be lying to say he wasn’t conventionally attractive. He would match what you had told your parents almost perfectly. You just had to figure out how to ask him such a thing. Nothing you came up with sounded normal, or it just made you seem like some kind of creep trying to lie to their family. He’d mentioned doing a little acting before though, hadn’t he? Maybe you would have to bribe him— Before you knew it, everyone else had left the table, leaving you and Charlie alone in that area of the suddenly far too silent library.

He sighed and put his pencil down, closing his book and starting to pack his things. You panicked, cutting him off as he stood up and opened his mouth to speak.

“Can I ask a favour of you?”

He seemed slightly taken aback at how quickly you had spoken, but nodded slightly regardless.

“Sure.. What’s up?”

You took a deep breath and hoped you weren’t about to make an idiot of yourself.

“It’s.. a huge favour, and if you don’t want to, you can say no and we can pretend like I never asked but-” Pausing from nerves, you peeked up at him but he just seemed amused by your nerves, waiting for you to go on so before you knew it you started spilling your guts. “My boyfriend dumped me last night and tomorrow we were supposed to drive home to spend the week and visit my whole family for Christmas, but now he isn’t coming and I just spent the last few months acting like he was gonna be a big surprise so they don’t know too many details but I can’t go home alone or I’ll be embarrassed until the day I die and-”

Charlie waved his hand with a soft laugh and sat back down to be on your level.

“Hey- Hey. Take a breath.” He smiled patiently and waited for you to take a deep breath. “How can I help?”

“I need you to.. Pretend to be my boyfriend for the week in front of my whole family..?” You shakily asked, knowing how messed up that sounded.

Charlie stared at you with a strange look in his eye, but the same soft smile on his face. After a moment he shrugged and nodded. “Sure, why not?”

You blinked.

“Sorry?”

“Honestly, I didn’t have any plans for the holidays anyways so… A week full of free food and entertainment doesn’t sound half bad.”

You felt like your heart might explode. Charlie laughed softly at your reaction.

“Thank- Oh, god Charlie thank you, you don’t know how much this means to me.”

“What can I say, I'm a simple man. Here, I can give you my number and you can text me in the morning when you’re ready to go. Okay?”

You nodded and handed him your phone, ignoring the flutter in your stomach when his hand encased yours to take it. It’s not like you had feelings for him, he was just a nice guy willing to do you a favour. That’s all this was.

You waved as he excused himself and headed out.

What had you gotten yourself into?

The next morning, at a frankly unreasonable time to be awake, you had shoved all your things into your car and parked where Charlie had said would be the easiest to pick him up. The radio hummed Christmas music on the local station as you looked through the messages between you two so far. One of the first things Charlie had sent was a picture of a knitted christmas sweater that looked like it had seen many holidays and a collared shirt that looked ironed, asking what kind of people your parents were. You had to appreciate the dedication to being the perfect boyfriend, and said whatever he’s most comfortable in - But that you probably had a similar looking sweater waiting for you at home somewhere, to which he responded he couldn’t wait to see.

A knock on the passenger window snapped you out of your thoughts and only then did you realize you were smiling like an idiot. Charlie waved through the window, his face illuminated by what bits of moonlight remained as the sky began to lighten before the sun had fully risen, and motioned to his bags. You popped the trunk and hopped out, opening it and going to help him load it all in.

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” He politely waved you off and lifted it in with ease, and you definitely didn’t stare at the way the fabric of his jacket stretched across his arms as he did. He slammed the trunk shut with a hearty clunk before turning to you with a grin. “Shall we?”

You huffed out a laugh and nodded, getting back in the driver seat. He quickly slid into the seat beside you, stretching.

“It’s a long trip… Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Are you asking if I want to do the drive, or do this for a week?”

“I-”

“Because I do.” He nodded, a little too earnestly. “It’ll be okay, I’ll try not to make you look bad.” Charlie winked and glanced at the radio, then at your phone sitting in the cupholder beside you. “Your car, your rules. Who controls the music?”

The way he seemed so unbothered about the situation seemed to put you at ease for now, and you unlocked your phone and connected it to the car speakers before handing it to him.

“Surprise me, will you?”

“I won’t let you down.”

The two of you quickly took off and grabbed something to eat from a drive-through; Stopping to eat now would risk making you late. The weather seemed to be alright for now, but you were a bit nervous something would kick up before you were in the home stretch of your parents house. Charlie managed to calm your nerves every time with a joke or comment that would distract you from your worries. Eventually you two agreed that you needed a cohesive story to pull this off well, so you started by listing off things you remember having told your family about your ex, and Charlie nodded as he seemed to internalize all those traits, though you doubted he needed to fake most of these traits for your sake. Eventually you moved on to your story. How you met, dates you’d been on, mutual friends, and other various stories to sell that you had been close for the better part of a year rather than having maybe three conversations that weren’t purely about schoolwork and studying. Charlie even shared a bit more about himself for you to build on, and it shocked you a little how much you had in common and how little you really knew about him. Talking with him came so naturally, and he was so effortlessly funny that you wondered how you hadn’t become friends sooner. Part of you wondered if it could stay like this after you got home.

The conversation moved to boundaries. Knowing your family, there would be mistletoe somewhere in the house.

“Well,” Charlie hummed, thinking about it as he glanced out the front windshield. “I’m a pretty physical person, and I'm fine with PDA if that’s what you mean.”

You nodded and chewed the inside of your cheek.

“I just.. It’s all pretend, right? I don’t want to overstep-”

“We’ll probably be pushed together at one point or another anyways.” Charlie cut you off, looking at you. “So I’m fine with anything. Let’s maybe keep any kissing to a minimum though. Try to avoid mistletoe, yeah? Oh, and-” He tapped his bottom lip with his finger, smiling. “- No lips.”

There was a sigh, and you realized you had been holding your breath.

“Yeah, of course.”

He let out a little laugh as his smile grew.

“I know, that must be such a disappointment, nobody can resist this.” He sighed, as if this were a recurring issue. You ignored the way your stomach flipped at the thought of kissing him and laughed in response.

At one point you had stopped to refill the tank and Charlie offered to hold the pump while you ran inside to pay and get snacks (but no eggs, despite how many times he asked. You were not making your car smell like whatever gas station eggs must have smelt like.) Grabbing a drink for both of you and a handful of snacks, you plopped them all down on the counter and smiled at the cashier who started scanning the items.

“Is that your boyfriend on pump 2?” She asked, glancing at Charlie, who leaned against the car as he waited for you.

You stopped, and for some reason found yourself unable to answer. You were going to say that no, he was just a friend. …But then again, this was someone you’d probably never see again, and who probably didn’t actually care who he was in relation to you.

“Yeah, why?”

“Let him know that one acts up when it gets cold, he might have to be a little rough to make it work.” She shrugged and typed something into the register. “How much?”

You finished the transaction and walked out with a small bag of items, walking up to Charlie, who looked up from his phone.

“All good?”

“Yeah, she said it gets weird in the cold, be a little rough if you need to.” Charlie laughed a little and bit back a smile, and you felt a slight warmth in your cheeks that wasn’t from the cold.

“I can be rough.”

“Oh my god.” You groaned and shoved his arm as he grabbed the nozzle and pushed it into the car.

You didn’t mention that she called him your boyfriend. You kept it to yourself as you got into the passenger seat when Charlie insisted on driving until the next refuel. You let those words stew in your brain until he got in the driver’s seat and adjusted it to his size, familiarizing himself with your car as you stretched your legs.

After a few more short breaks and another gas station refuel where you took over driving, it’s dark again as you arrive. Charlie is intently watching all the lights on the houses as you drive up and pull into the driveway of your parents house. The whole place was decorated expertly, just as it had been every year for as long as you could remember. The sight was nostalgic.

Movement on the porch caught your eye as your mother and father came out to greet you. You killed the engine and gathered your things inside the car. Charlie was watching you when you looked up to him.

“Last chance.”

His hand slipped into yours with a gentle squeeze.

“I know.”

You look at your hands and smile softly before pulling away and exiting the car with a warm smile for your parents. It’s a moment of you three alone before the passenger door opens and Charlie steps out.

“There he is!” Your mother gasped and put a hand on your shoulder. “I was starting to think you were just making up fairytales.”

You laughed softly and shook your head.

“Mom, Dad, this is Charlie… My boyfriend.” Charlie walked up and wrapped an arm around you, extending a hand to your father, who shook it with a nod. Your mom pulled him in for a hug, and he quickly reciprocated, pulling away with a mirth in his eyes you hadn’t seen before.

“Oh, he’s just as lovely as you said, dear.” Your mother smiled and Charlie shrugged one shoulder as he moved his arm back around you.

“Well, I do my best.” He chuckled. “I gotta say, I'm a huge fan of your work.” Charlie motioned to you, and your mother laughed. “I didn’t believe angels were real until I met this one.”

You flushed and glanced away, which only made your mother laugh more. He instantly fell into rhythm with your family, giving off this perfect charm that made him nearly glow along with the Christmas lights around you all. It felt so genuine, every compliment that fell from his lips and the way he spoke to your parents was nothing short of naturally impressive.

Part of you wondered if it would play out like this if you had genuinely brought him home. If he would have his arm around your shoulders the same, make jokes that enamoured your parents just like he was now. You wondered if he would kiss your cheek and you would be rid of this weight in your chest. This guilt that came with lying to your parents, and soon enough your whole family. Before you could spiral any further into this train of thought, Charlie is nudging your shoulder.

“Oh, sorry- Yeah?”

He smiled down at you reassuringly, squeezing your shoulders as if he could read your mind. You wondered if he could. You wondered if he would leave you if he heard your thoughts now-

“Can you unlock the trunk for me?”

“Yeah, of course.” You reached for your keys and hit the trunk button.

Once again he’s insisting on taking his own luggage, so you grab your bags and bring them inside as your mother talks about the plans she has for the week and your father leads the march inside and up the stairs. You take a moment to admire the house, mostly decorated with little christmas details and festive colours covering every surface. Your parents loved to go all out for the holidays. The bigger decorations were still missing, and you figured they had been waiting for you and your boyfriend to come home and help them with those. Free labour, of course.

Quickly following up the stairs after Charlie, you see him standing in a doorway you immediately recognize. Oh no.

You had entirely forgotten that with extra guests coming over, the guest rooms would be taken up by other family members, leaving you in your old bedroom. Alone with Charlie. With one bed.

That was fine! It was fine, really!

Looking at Charlie’s face, he seemed to have connected the same dots as you.

Your dad left you to unpack and get settled in, saying he would meet you both downstairs and that dinner would be ready soon.

“I’m so sorry, I totally forgot about.. This. I can sleep on the floor if you-”

Charlie cut you off by shaking his head with a flustered laugh. His cheeks were slightly flushed as he looked to you with a hapless smile.

“It’s fine, really. Wouldn’t be the first time I shared a bed with someone. Besides, it's a queen by the look of it. We’ll both fit just fine. Try not to hog the blankets though, I might have to fight you for that.” He moved to the foot of the bed and dropped his bags to the ground, looking around. “So this is your room huh? It’s..” He seemed to bite something back, and it gave you a rush of worry. “It’s nice. I like it.”

You definitely weren’t freaking out right now. You were so normal and were doing fine as he ran his hand over the top of your dresser and looked at all the decorations. Admittedly it was a bit strange to see your room so.. Un-lived in, but it still felt like yours.

“We should probably head down and wash up for dinner.” You ignored the fluttering in your gut as he giddily pointed at a few items he recognized, brushing it off with a smile.

Surprisingly, dinner was rather uneventful. Charlie complimented your mothers cooking and answered a few questions about himself, and the four of you mostly talked about college, what had been going on in the neighbourhood and how the drive here had gone. You told Charlie that you’d help clean up by yourself, but he insisted on helping you clear the table and do the dishes. It felt oddly domestic, especially as you two started flicking water at each other, having to be stopped by your mother scolding you for getting water on her floors.

Your parents retired for the night shortly after that, and you and Charlie figured it would be best to follow suit. Heading upstairs with a quiet conversation, you were faced with a dilemma. You two weren’t about to change in front of each other, and you were not about to just have him cover his eyes and turn around.

“There’s always the bathroom,” Charlie offered, jabbing his thumb back towards the hallway.

“Yeah but- You’re the guest, making you change in the bathroom is a bit rude isn’t it?” He shrugged.

“This is your room, it’s only fair you get to change in here in my opinion.”

You went back and forth a bit more, before Charlie just grabbed his bag and headed to the bathroom anyways. There wasn’t much you could’ve done to convince him anyways, you assumed. A quick change later and there was a soft knock.

“Am I good to come back in?”

“Yeah, come in.”

Sitting on the bed, you went over your options until you had agreed to just bite the bullet and try to sleep on the far sides of the bed to avoid any awkwardness of sleeping with each other. As you stared out the window, the stars glittered, snow fell, and you drifted to sleep trying to guess what was a star and what was a snowflake.

The sun hit your face as you woke up, groaning. You rolled over and threw your arm over your face to shield yourself, only to find yourself now beside something warm. It only took a second to remember it was Charlie, and it took a couple more seconds to pull away and open your eyes to see he was raising an eyebrow at you with a quiet laugh.

“Good morning.”

“... Hi.”

He looked back to his phone in his hand, typing something out before turning it off and putting it down.

“I wasn’t sure when your family got up, I didn’t want to be sitting down there alone.”

“So you sat here and watched me sleep..?”

“No!- No, I didn’t-” Charlie’s eyes widened as he shook his head, only relaxing when he saw you smile and try not to laugh. He sighed, then squinted. “Wait..”

“What?” You sat up to look at him, rubbing your eyes and making yourself a little less dishevelled.

“If you were sleeping… And I was watching you sleep…” He turned to you, doing his best mewing expression. “Who’s watching Foxy..?”

You blinked a few times before dissolving into giggles. Charlie grinned at the praise as you covered your face and groaned. “Wanna go get breakfast now? It’s a little after nine.”

Swallowing down the last bubbles of laughter you nodded and pulled the blanket off of you as you got up. Charlie followed shortly after. Another bout of arguing over who would change where began until he once again moved to the bathroom, and you figured that trying to fight him any more on this would get you nowhere.

Padding down the stairs, you got to looking around the kitchen for something to eat. The only thing you could think of was cereal so you pulled out a box of something plain, and Charlie made a face.

“What?”

“I mean, is there.. Anything else? It’s okay if there isn’t just..”

You look back in the pantry and hummed.

“I don’t see anything. Knock yourself out though.”

Charlie walked over as you moved to your bowl and poured out the cereal. You looked over to see him stuck halfway into the shelves, kicking a foot up before pulling out a colourful box triumphantly. You laughed and recognized it as something you hadn’t gotten to eating before you moved out as he opened it.

“How old is that? When does it expire, even?”

“The bag is still sealed, so it's still fresh right?”

The bag popped open as he pulled it apart and dumped it into his bowl, taking a piece and eating it. “Still crunches.”

You laughed and shook your head, passing him the milk. The two of you sat there, you on the counter and him leaning against it as you two ate and talked quietly as the snow outside reflected warmth and light in the window and made miniature rainbows through the frost and decorations.

Your mother poked her head into the kitchen with a box full of decorations hanging out of it.

“There you are! When you’re done, can I borrow you two for a bit to help me finish getting these decorations up? Your father is out shovelling and handling the front of the house. Lord knows Ashley will have something to say if there’s no wreath on the front door..” She sighed and shook her head.

“Yeah, of course Mom.” You smiled and nodded, and Charlie gave a thumbs up with his mouth being full. She caught a glimpse of the colourful cereal in his bowl and gave it a strange look, but seemed to brush it off as she walked away.

“Ashley?” Charlie looked at you with a raised eyebrow after he swallowed.

“One of my aunts,” You glanced at him, then realized you should probably give him an idea of who he would be dealing with for the rest of the week. Charlie nodded intently as he brought another spoonful to his mouth while listening to you list off family members. “Then of course, there's my Aunt Ashley. She’s… She has high standards.” That was probably the easiest way to describe her eccentricities. “She lives the closest, so she was over a lot with her kids, Bella and Alice. Uh.. Be careful with Alice. She’s a bit of a hopeless romantic.”

Charlie squinted like he was trying to mentally write this all down.

“Don’t worry,” You laughed. “I’ll be sure to refresh you when they show up.”

He nodded, looking incredibly serious before he tilted his head back to drink the rest of the milk in the bowl, and there were a handful of thoughts you couldn’t repeat out loud that went through your mind when he pulled the bowl away and licked the remaining milk off his lips.

“Let’s uh- Let’s go help Mom, yeah?” You swallowed and glanced away, shaking the thoughts from your head. Charlie nodded and the two of you finished up in the kitchen before going through the house to find your mother.

Standing in the den, she was staring intently at the large Christmas tree with her hands on her hips. You knew this stance. She was probably planning out every possible way she could put garland and ribbons onto everything in sight, and would try to execute as many of those plans as possible before settling on one. At least you had Charlie, who was currently staring in awe at what decorations were already out.

“Just wait,” You leaned over and whispered. “It gets better.”

Charlie gave you a wide eyed look.

She quickly got everyone to work, pinning and taping things to the walls, lining each shelf with white stuffing to mimic snow, pulling out box after box of trinkets and little ornaments to set along everything. You wondered how many of these would get broken this year if the younger kids would be running around.

After the den was lathered in Christmas, you moved on to deck every hall and doorway with garland and lights. It would make for a magical walkway at the end, but for now you were watching Charlie struggle to not break a sweat with how much lifting and back and forth your mother had him do. Leave it to her to immediately put people to work when it comes to Christmas.

Taking a short break while she stepped outside to talk with your dad, you and Charlie sat down on the stairs after he finished wrapping the railing with glittering lights and tying bows to every other bannister.

“Where do you guys keep all this stuff year round?” Charlie glanced up to you as you straightened out one of the bows. “I mean it looks great but…”

“Storage containers in the basement. Trust me, getting it all out and decorating is the easy part.” A look of concern flashed across his face, which only made you laugh harder. “Don't worry, we’ll be gone by then.”

Charlie rubbed the back of his neck with a quiet laugh.

“It's nice, though. Like it really adds to the atmosphere and everything. Makes it feel cozy.” He glanced around and flicked at one of the lights gently. “How many people are gonna show up anyways? It’s a big house but I feel like it's gonna get cramped pretty quick.”

You had to think about that for a while. Each side had quite a few people on it, but knowing who would actually be showing up was always a bargain. Humming quietly, you reached into the box of decorations and pulled out a little bell on a string, reaching forward and hanging it on Charlie's ear with a grin.

“I’m not sure. I'll do my best to give you a rundown on everyone before they start talking your ear off though.”

Charlie tilted his head and felt for the foreign object on his ear, giving a confused laugh as he pulled it off and looked at it, then immediately turned back at you with mischief in his eyes.

Your mother walked back in the house to see you two laughing and shouting as you practically wrestled on the stairs to adorn each other with decorations.

She cleared her throat and the two of you quickly stopped to look at her, having been caught. Your mother crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow as she looked between you two and the mess of decorations you'd made.

“Having fun?”

After being made to clean up your mess, the three of you moved all over the house throughout the day decorating and redecorating, only stopping to get a drink or small snack. While looking through the remaining boxes, you held up a handful of mistletoe and looked at your mom.

“Do we really have to put all of this up? It seems a little… Much.”

“Of course we do, hun!” Your mother nodded like it was obvious and grabbed one from your hand, moving over to one of the doorways to hang it up among the garland. “It's tradition. Plus, it's nice! That's how you get all the cute candid pictures of people kissing.”

You sighed and resigned yourself to just trying your best to memorize where all of them were hung to avoid while walking around with Charlie.

“Go hang at least one in the front foyer for me, please?” She motioned to the remaining mistletoe in your hand then waved you towards the front of the house. You sighed and dropped the extra mistletoe back in the box, grabbing the stool she had pulled out a while ago and moved to the front of the house.

“Oh, there you are.” Charlie smiled as he walked up to you, watching you struggle to reach the garland to tie the mistletoe up.

“Yeah- Hey-” Reaching further didn’t seem to help either, the stool being just a bit too short to get up to where you needed. After a couple more moments of struggling, you sighed and turned to Charlie. “Care to lend me a hand?”

What you hadn’t expected was for Charlie to wrap his arms around your thighs from where you stood on the stool and lift you onto his shoulder.

Your mind went blank.

Why was that so easy for him??

“Is that tall enough?” Charlie’s voice was enough to snap you out of your daze and hang the mistletoe, trying your best not to think about how easily he grabbed you or about how you two were technically under mistletoe.

“Uh- Yeah that’s- Good- Great. Yeah, thanks.” You stumbled through the words, bringing your hands down to his shoulders to steady yourself before he set you back down and smiled up at you like he didn’t do anything.

Maybe this was an overreaction. Maybe you just had to calm down and he didn’t realize you meant for him to hang the stupid plant. Surely that was it! He was just taking the easiest path for him and there were no hidden intentions in his actions. Charlie was just an acquaintance doing you a major favour, and honestly you had to think about why he would even do such a thing? Someone like him must’ve had a nice family, or at least someone deserving of his charm to spend the holidays with, rather than spend a week keeping up some silly ruse and oh- Oh, he’s talking and you absolutely aren’t listening.

“Sorry, uh- Pardon?” You shook your head and looked down at him from your place on the stool.

“I asked how much you think is left?” Charlie tilted his head and looked around.

You stepped off the stool, silently praying you didn’t fall on him. That was the last thing you needed.

“Probably not much, Mom could handle the rest.”

The two of you walked around the house, collecting and stacking the empty decoration boxes. Hints of your mother’s work popped up around the house, the two of you almost constantly walking into mistletoe. Maybe keeping up with what doorways had it would be a bit harder than you expected.

Eventually everything was decorated and cleaned up, and you were helping your mother start supper. The radio gently hummed Christmas music through the room as you peeled potatoes and listened to your mother speak about some drama or other you had missed and she hadn’t told you about.

Charlie walked into the kitchen and watched you for a moment before resting his chin on your shoulder.

“Oh- Hi, Charlie.” You glanced at him slightly, to see him softly smiling with his eyes shut. He just hummed warmly in response and moved his hands to your waist. You hardly skipped a beat falling back into conversation with your mother, despite the way you felt your face warm. He didn’t move for a while after that either, only pressing his face into your neck after a while, to which your mother gave a look that you waved off. After a while you had to quietly ask him to move so you could keep helping to prepare the dinner, to which he kissed your shoulder and whispered to you that he was going to take a nap. Your mother teased you when you seemed to short circuit after he pulled away. You finished helping and did your best not to think about the warmth emanating from where he had kissed you, and when the oven timer went off an hour or so later, your mother asked you to go wake him.

“Charlie..? Are you awake?” You gave the door a soft knock. There was the sound of some kind of movement in the bedroom, and then the door opened. Charlie’s hair was messy and his eyes were still tired. “Oh. Uh, dinner is ready..”

“Oh, already? Alright..” He yawned and nodded. You tried to ignore the way his tired voice got to you. He had always woken up some time before you, is that really what he sounded like after an hour of sleep?? “I’ll wash up and be down there soon.”

The conversation at dinner seemed to be entirely around Charlie and his interests and history. You wondered if they were trying to do some kind of weird interrogation or shovel talk, but when he started talking about some of his nerdier interests you saw your mother light up. There it was. You definitely knew what this talk was about.

The day ended with your mother telling you that tomorrow would be full of baking and that the sooner you could get up and help, the more the two of you could get done. Mentally preparing for that, you nodded and wished her goodnight. Charlie stayed up a bit later, waking you slightly when he came to bed, apologizing quietly as he moved the blankets. You don’t exactly remember falling back asleep, but you could’ve sworn you felt something warm press against your forehead.

You woke up before Charlie this time, watching him for a moment as his chest slowly breathed. Slipping out of the bed, you grabbed your clothes and slipped into the bathroom to change before you headed downstairs.

It was mornings like these you really missed. The sun freshly risen, pouring onto the tiled floor through the frosty windows, giving the perfect mix of warmth and chill as you padded into the kitchen and quickly made yourself something for breakfast. The birdsong outside melted into the sound of the radio as you turned it on and lowered the volume to a non-disturbing hum. Rifling through cabinets you pulled out the usual cookbooks and recipes you’d need today and any of the usual baking necessities. Your mother yawned as she walked into the kitchen and smiled at you as you tied an apron around your waist

“Someone’s eager this morning. Did you miss this that much?” She laughed quietly and hugged you before making herself something to eat. The two of you quickly got to work after that, making doughs and mixtures, prepping for any later baking. There were a few things she had already gotten the headstart on earlier that she took out of the fridge to check on.

Charlie walked down a while later, rubbing his eyes. He seemed a little taken aback to see the kitchen already so messy, taking it all in. You stopped to admire his tired look, the way the sun glowed against his skin and lit his hair up, the dust roaming the air making him look like he glittered. He moved his gaze to you and gave a lopsided smile before walking up and gently brushing his thumb across your cheek.

“Wh-?”

“You had flour on your face,” He hummed. His voice was tired like yesterday, and it took all of your power to not melt into his hands right then and there. You almost forgot your mother was in the room.

“I have to help with baking all day, so I’ll have to stay in the kitchen, I’m sorry.” Charlie shook his head.

“I’d love to help, if that’s okay. My mom owns a bakery, so I’m not unfamiliar with baking.”

It reminded you how little you actually knew of him. Sure, you could talk for hours but with such little time in general, there was still a lot you were completely unaware of. The sobering pang of guilt that ran through your nervous system ruined the soft moment between you at the thought of it.

“Are you sure?”

He nodded and you found him another apron to wear, but the only one left that was his size was half of a pair for your parents. Your moms had been stained and discarded a while ago. You tried not to laugh at the awful baking pun on the front, but Charlie seemed to light up as he read the apron. He proceeded to make similar puns throughout the day, and no matter how hard you tried to groan and act like you hated it, you couldn’t fight the smile on your face whenever you heard the pride in his voice while he made one.

Your mother handed baking off to the two of you after the first batch, and you had half a mind to assume it wasn’t because she needed to “do things” like she said, but rather that she was just giving you room to be alone with him. Not that you needed it, you were just two just two friends baking together. ..Though you supposed she didn't know that part.

You sighed as you kneaded the dough in your hands against the counter. You’d been working at it for a couple minutes now and couldn’t figure out what was going wrong or why it wouldn’t come together properly. Charlie walked over from where he was mixing icing and stood next to you to peer at your hands.

“It keeps falling apart, I don’t know what I did wrong...” You glanced at him for a moment before squishing it all together again. Charlie hummed and turned to look for something as you tried to start a proper conversation. “You said your mom owned a bakery? I didn't know that.” He walked back over with something in his hands, and you quickly lost your train of thought as he came up behind you and wrapped his arms around you to grab the dough, leaning into your ear with a quiet tone.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me.”

You were suddenly very glad he was pressing you against the counter, because you swore your knees would’ve given out from under you right then and there otherwise. Your face felt warm as his chest pressed against your back and his arms flexed on either side of your shoulders. His breath was soft against your ear, and you could almost feel his grin despite how hard you tried to avoid looking at him until you remembered how to breathe and wow, was it warm in here? It was really warm. Maybe you left the oven open? God, it was so warm–

“There. You just needed to add a little moisture. Butter works fine for that.” He slowly pulled away, and it felt like you had freezer burn everywhere he had touched. You peeked at him from the corner of your eye, desperately trying to act normal.

“Yeah.. Thanks.” Your voice cracked as you spoke. Of course it did.

Charlie chuckled and went back over to the icing and checked on it before moving over to where the piping bags sat for now. You took a deep breath and reached for the rolling pin, trying to keep your cool. What the hell was that?? There was nobody but you two in the kitchen right now, right? If that was part of the act, who was it for? Did he see something you hadn’t? Some hopeful part of you piped up with the thought that it wasn’t an act. That he wanted to do that. That he meant it. A much more realistic part of your mind suggested that he simply didn’t realize what that just did to you. From lifting you yesterday to what just happened? Yeah, maybe he was just a little oblivious. You couldn’t see the dramatic irony to this.

After you had finally rolled out the dough and put a few batches into the oven, you moved to help Charlie with the icing. He seemed to be lacking a bit, and it was taking up your cooling racks.

“Need some help over here?” You smiled and glanced around at the cookies.

“Uhh,” He started, squinting as his tongue poked out in focus. “Mm.. Maybe. I thought I'd have more done by now.” Charlie stood up and looked across the eight cookies he had so dutifully iced thus far. His eyebrows furrowed. You grabbed one of the other colours and wiped off the excess that had leaked out with your thumb.

“Don’t worry. Worst case, we just eat the rest of the icing and tell mom we ran out.” You shrugged with a playful grin, bringing the icing on your thumb to your mouth — only for Charlie to grab your hand and steal the icing with his own finger. “Hey–!!”

He shot you a grin as he licked his lips, so you squeezed a little more out. This time he grabbed your wrist and pulled it towards his mouth. You gasped and shoved your hand forwards, smearing it on the corner of his lips and onto his cheek. Five minutes later the two of you were messy and covered in icing, bags now much lighter from smearing it on each other and trying to eat the icing.

You only stopped when there was a knock on the door and your mother walked through the kitchen to reach it, stopping to look at you two with a bewildered gaze for a moment, before continuing on when another knock sounded.

You two looked at each other and tried not to laugh, before you ultimately failed and burst into laughter. It only took one warm cloth and a couple minutes to wipe up most of the mess, meanwhile you heard the door open and the sound of shuffling and muffled talking.

A familiar face poked into the kitchen, breaking out into a grin.

“Ohh, there you are!” Isabella grinned and straightened up, walking in with a bag over her shoulder and her arms out for a hug. You gasped and handed the cloth to Charlie before making your way over to hug her.

“Bella! How are you??” You pulled away and looked her over with a matching smile.

“Not as good as you apparently,” She leaned over to look at Charlie. “Who’s this?”

Her younger sister, Alice, came around the corner and nearly fell over as her socks made her slide to a stop. A shout came from where she had been, likely from her mother scolding her for running in the house.

“Oh my god!!” You quickly felt two arms around your waist as she careened into you for a hug, once again unable to stop short due to her socks. “I missed you so much! It’s been like, forever??” Alice stared up at you with a gasp from where she was bent over to hug you.

“You saw me at Easter, Alice.” You laughed and pulled her up to hug properly, where she quickly gasped again.

“Hello there, handsome-”

“Al, give him a chance to introduce himself before you start with that.” Isabella groaned and pulled her sister back by the shoulder.

You laughed at their usual antics and glanced back at Charlie, who was quickly trying to wipe any leftover flour and icing off himself to look presentable.

“This is Charlie. My boyfriend.” The word came out more confident than when you had said it to your parents, but you tried not to dwell on that.

“Your boyfriend.” Isabella raised her eyebrow suspiciously. “The boyfriend?”

A bit of that guilt came back as a burning sensation in your throat you couldn't quite swallow down. Isabella was always the one to see through your lies no matter how hard you tried. You never quite forgave her for telling your mother you were lying when she found the broken TV as kids.

“Not bad.” She nodded approvingly.

You tried not to make your sigh of relief too obvious.

“Sooo…” Alice started, slipping out of her sister's grasp before looking Charlie up and down. “Got any brothers? Maybe some cute friends..?”

Charlie laughed nervously and pushed his hair out of the way, coming up to your side and leaning against you slightly. Alice could be a bit much at first, so you leaned back against him in what you hoped was read as a reassuring movement.

“I don’t know about that..” He smiled apologetically.

“Alice, come help your father with the bags please?” Your Aunt Ashley’s voice came from somewhere closer out of sight, saving Charlie from this conversation for now. He sighed, but you knew better. She’d be back.

A dinging started behind you signaling that the oven timer was through, causing Charlie to pat your shoulder as he turned to get it. Conversation with Isabella came as easy as ever, only for her to fall silent after a minute. You turned and followed her gaze to see Charlie bent over pulling out a rack of cookies. His hair fell over his face and the apron hugged him rather nicely. Any heat on your face was silently blamed on the open oven.

“Nice.”

You scoffed and shoved her halfheartedly. You weren't disagreeing with her, but she didn't need to say it.

Charlie turned and kicked the oven door shut in one smooth motion, raising the tray with a grin as he moved to the cooling trays.

“Bella, was it? Care for a snack?” He motioned to the pile of undecorated cookies, then glanced at the subtle remains of your icing fight and quickly smudged it away with his hand.

Isabella glanced at you, then at him. She didn't need to say it, there was some snarky comment bouncing around up there loud enough for you to hear it anyways. She had always been like this, since you were kids really. It drove her mother mad, but she managed to worm her way out of any sort of punishment every time. You really wished you knew how she did it.

“Yeah, I'll take a cookie.” She shrugged and raised a hand. Charlie looked at you, then around for your mother, and tossed a cookie toward your cousin.

They quickly got settled in, already having usual places from how often they come over for more than a night, meanwhile you and Charlie finished up what baking was left and tidied up the kitchen.

You moved in such sync that it almost felt natural, like this is what you were meant to be doing with your time. It made you feel warm inside, easily passing things to him and sweeping as he wiped the counters down. By the end, the kitchen looked like it had never been touched and smelled like all sorts of freshly baked treats.

The sun had already begun to set, and you had managed to escape the constant questions of your Aunt for now. You loved her, really! But from the moment she had seen you it was a hug, a kiss on each cheek and nonstop questions ever since. Doing your best to answer didn't seem to help much either because every answer opened up a hundred more questions thrown at you too fast to possibly answer them all. Sure, you felt a little guilty throwing Charlie under the bus here by slipping away when he would surely be the next victim, but he had it handled! … Probably.

The front of the house was shoveled to create a simple salted walkway that you followed to the front of the garage to sit on the hood of your car.

“Oh, hey.”

Your attention was caught by Isabella leaning against your parents car, out of sight of the windows and front door. She had something in her hand that she pressed to her lips and pulled away, turning her head to exhale smoke. Oh. That was how she stood her own mother.

“Hey, Bella.” You walked up and leaned against your car across from her, to which she held the pen out to you.

“Hey. Wanna hit?”

“No, thanks. I'm trying to at least keep it together for the week.” You laughed and shook your head a little, putting your hands in your pockets as you looked out across the street at the glittering snow and colourful lights.

“Ohh, yeah. Trying to keep it together for that so-called boyfriend of yours, right?”

“... So-called?”

“Yeah,” She chuckled and nodded. “There's no way you're actually dating him, right?”

“Look, if you have something against Charlie-”

“No, dumbass. He's fine. I'm talking about you.”

You stared at her, confused. So, she continued. “You guys have something going on, but whatever it is, it isn't dating. Not for as long as you say, at least. So either you've been lying about this guy and only recently started dating, or you aren't dating at all and you're faking it.”

“When did you get so perceptive?” You crossed your arms. Trying to lie to her would get you nowhere. “And what's it matter to you?”

She shrugged and took another puff, blowing it into the wind away from you.

“It's not too hard to see. You might have to step your game up though. If Alice catches on it's over for you.” Isabella joked. “I dunno why, though. It doesn't seem like you to pull this kind of stunt.”

Sighing, you figured hiding it from her would only make things worse.

“I got dumped over text by my actual boyfriend.”

There was a beat, and then Isabella broke out into laughter, covering her mouth.

“Over text??”

You gave her an unimpressed look.

“Oh my god- You aren't gonna let that slide, right? You totally have got to kick his ass for that one.” She shook her head, trying to stifle her giggles. After a couple moments she took a deep breath. “Have you even let yourself come to terms with that? I mean, c’mon. When was it?”

“A couple days ago. Just before we drove out.”

Isabella's eyes bulged.

“And you're just? Okay with that?? Acting like nothing happened? Cuz’ you gotta, like, go kick his ass and then properly cry about that or something. You earned it after it. … Can I see the text?”

Sighing, you pulled your phone out and opened the texts, handing it to her. Isabella nodded as she read over it and hissed.

“What an asshole…” There was a minute of silence as she handed you back your phone and took another hit. “I'm sure your man in there wouldn't do the same, though.”

“Oh shut up-” You shoved her, to which she laughed.

“I’m just saying! He seems like prime boyfriend material. You should get on that. Literally.”

The two of you continued talking a little, and you really had to reckon with that thought. Did you like him that much? Surely you wouldn't be having these feelings about anyone else had they come, right? She pocketed her pen and went inside, leaving you to watch the occasional car drive by and the lights on each house flash and change. Eventually you followed her back in and hung up your coat, grabbing a pair of cookies as you made your way back to the main gathering. Charlie was sat on the couch trying to keep up with the conversation, so you just sat next to him and handed a cookie. He lit up at the sight of you and thanked you as he took it, wrapping an arm around your shoulders when you leaned up against him.

Isabella gave you a playful look, to which you rolled your eyes and slightly moved closer to Charlie.

You found yourself warming up to the thought of this being something you could strive for, something reasonable and within reach. When that guilt started to rise again, Charlie squeezed your shoulders and made a small joke. The warmth of his arm and his tone drove away whatever bad feelings there were in your mind. Right now, everything was okay. You and Charlie were warm and happy and having a good time. That's all that mattered.

Considering you had a much earlier start than usual, you excused yourself to bed and Charlie quickly agreed. Isabella made some comment about you two having fun, and you had to try not to laugh as her mother smacked her arm. You walked up the stairs after Charlie and changed in your respective places. After you finished you fell into the bed and sighed, shutting your eyes. There was a knock and Charlie walked in a moment later, seeing you there.

“Tired?”

You nodded, letting out some sort of groan in response.

“Yeah, me too. I'm whipped.”

You peeked an eye open to see him grinning.

“Charlie.”

“Completely cooked. ” He walked over to his side of the bed.

“That doesn't even make sense.”

“I'm just saying…” Charlie followed your lead and fell onto the bed, smiling at you when you turned to look at him. “We really got that bread.”

“Stop.”

“Hey, at least I wasn't like your cousin. She was baked.”

You groaned loudly and shoved a hand into his face, biting your lip to stop from giving him the reaction he was looking for. Charlie laughed and pulled your hand away, continuing to make awful quips until the two of you fell asleep.

In the early light of Christmas Eve, you slowly blinked to life after a dream that was already melting away like watercolours before realizing there was something warm wrapped around you. In your haze, and the chill of the room around you. This didn’t ring any alarms in your mind at first, instead opting to hold it closer. You entwined your fingers with the ones against your stomach before you stopped. Fingers? Blinking open your eyes, you look down and see what you immediately put together to be Charlie’s arm wrapped around you. The world seems to hold its breath as you do, carefully picking up his arm and moving it back onto his own chest. He groans and stretches, and you quickly avert your gaze as his shirt rides up. Looking through your closet is when you hear him yawn and the bed creaks slightly as he sits up. You poke your head out and smile at him.

“Good morning.”

He rubs his eyes and yawns again, looking over to find you, nodding and smiling softly.

“Good morning. Anything planned for today..?”

You hummed and grabbed your clothes for the day.

“I think it’s just going to be a lot of socializing. The kids are all excited for Christmas tomorrow and most of the adults are here. It uh…” You hesitate and glance away in thought, before looking back to Charlie apologetically. “It might be a bit stuffy today. I’m sure we’re gonna get swarmed with those cliche family questions that they’ve been nice enough to hold off on. Once that wine gets uncorked though, we’re in for it. Ashley is well acquainted with how to pour a new glass of wine…”

Charlie laughed and stretched again, standing up and moving over to his suitcase to grab clothes. The two of you split up to get dressed and walked down the stairs together.

The day was warm and filled with your family running about and chatting, but you knew this was tame compared to what tomorrow would look like. Christmas music filled every silence and there were multiple glasses of eggnog laying around. The tree looked more and more full as new gifts were added to the underside, eventually spilling out and off the tree skirt. Conversations felt like the same interaction over and over again, asking how they were, they asked how you were. You’d give the same generic answers over and over with a little extra here and there for flavour depending on who you were talking to. Sure, it was repetitive and a little boring at times, but it was Christmas, and this was the most you’d talk to some of these people all year. It wasn’t that you were distant, they just had their own busy lives.

Charlie would occasionally pop in and join the conversation, talking about his own life when asked, or about one of your made up stories of your supposed love life. That guilt swirled in your gut again, rising like bile in your throat. Your realization last night wasn't helping either, making this even worse. The way he got along with your family so easily, the way they would make remarks when he wasn't there about how lucky you were to have found him. Honestly, you agreed. You couldn't understand how you'd lucked into getting such a wonderful man to ever agree to such a stupid plan, but here he was, playing the part perfectly.

Stepping into the backyard and out of the general hum of chatter in the house, you took a deep breath. The cold winter air stung in such a sobering way that it calmed you instantly. It was just an act, you reminded yourself. You'll go back to school and act like this never happened. Sure, your relationship with him would have changed by now, but what did that matter? It didn't change that this meant nothing. You were just putting on an act for your family.

Your feelings were different, but how could you possibly bring up the thought of actually dating after this? Sure, nothing had gone too wrong - which you were thankful for - but surely it would be awkward to drive home just to ask him out again, right? Considering he had agreed just for entertainment's sake, you figured he probably didn't share your feelings. Sure, he’d been much more forward than you had expected but maybe that was part of his act.

Wallowing in your wishy-washy thoughts, you almost missed the way the door opened and shut behind you, and Charlie stepped out with his jacket on. He smiled and gave a quiet wave as he walked over and sat on the side of the porch next to you, bumping his shoulder into yours.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

You two didn’t say more than that for a while, sitting there and watching the stars in the sky as snow started to fall. It was hard to see the stars normally at home, so you appreciated every moment you could watch them glitter and shine. The snow was small and light as it fell, flashing little shimmers of light caught from the house behind you. Charlie stayed silent in your peripheral vision, and you let your leg fall against his. Sure, this was all an act, but it felt nice nonetheless. Would it be so bad to allow yourself the guilty pleasure of enjoying this just a little?

A shooting star flashed across the sky, disappearing so quickly you almost weren't sure you’d seen it in the first place. You gasped as you pointed to the sky and turned to Charlie, only to see him staring at you.

“Did you see that? The shooting star??”

“Oh,” He breathed and looked up at the sky. “No, I must've just missed it. Are you gonna make a wish? Make sure you get what you want for Christmas?”

You looked at the sky again too and tilted your head. Sure, you could’ve made a wish. You could have wished for a lot of things. Good grades, a better new year, a new car might be nice, but…

“Honestly? I don’t need to.” You shook your head and turned to face Charlie with a smile. “I already got what I really wanted for Christmas.”

“Really? You haven’t even opened any presents.” Charlie laughed a little, looking at you.

There were snowflakes adorning his hair and eyelashes, his cheeks slightly pink from the cold outside. Each breath he took let out a little puff that circled his head and made him glow under the moonlight.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better than you.”

His face changed, ever so slightly, but you kept talking.

“I mean, honestly, you were the best thing I think I ever could have asked for. You showed up right when I needed help and you didn’t turn me away or call me crazy when I asked you to do this with me. My parents love you, I’m sure my aunts and uncles are going to miss you from every other family gathering I attend, and you get along with my cousins like you’ve always been part of the family. You’re an amazing guy, Charlie. You’re funny and sweet and so, so genuine that I just… I don’t know how to thank you enough for this. You saved me from what would’ve been a week of the same question over and over again, having to tell everyone that my ex wasn’t what I thought he was. Embarrassing myself. Stuff like that doesn’t die in this family, y’know? I mean, Alice still gets it from people about this boy she dated in middle school who embarrassed her. I couldn’t handle that this Christmas.” As you finished your ramble, you looked him in the eyes and felt your heart tighten. He looked.. Upset. It wasn’t anger, probably, but he looked conflicted. Maybe hurt? “Charlie?-”

“I..” His hand twitched in his lap, starting to move before it fell limp against his lap again. He took a deep breath and avoided your gaze. “I think I should go.”

“What? Charlie, wait- Did I say something?-”

Shaking his head, Charlie stood up and brushed the snow off of him before quickly going back inside.

Your stomach writhed with even more guilt as the area around you was silent, save for the whistling of the wind that drove a chill down your back. Did you just ruin something? Did you say too much and let your feelings leak through? Maybe you had made him uncomfortable with such an emotional confession. Tears stung your eyes as a lump gathered in your throat. It was Christmas Eve and you had just fucked up.

Snow continued to fall around you, swirling in the wind as you put your head in your arms, trying not to cry. You weren't sure how long you spent out there, but when you couldn't feel your cheeks anymore, you had figured it was long enough that you should probably go inside and warm up before you got frostbite.

It seemed like all of your family had gone to sleep by now, and the lights were slowly being turned out one by one as your mother made her way around the house. She caught up with you in the den, watching you stare at the lights on the Christmas tree. New presents had appeared since the kids had gone to sleep, labeled that they were from Santa. A set of bikes, newly stuffed stockings, even the milk and cookies had been taken from to keep up the magic. The kids would love it.

“Merry Christmas, honey.” She came up beside you, her smile faltering when she saw your face. “What's wrong?”

“I think I messed up, mom.” You sniffled and the sting of tears made themselves known again. Turning to face her, the Christmas lights lit up the room with soft colour and reflected off her face that made the world seem just a bit less real. You figured it would be best to just admit it. “I.. Charlie isn't actually my boyfriend.”

Your mother raised her eyebrows and nodded, leading you to the dining room to sit at the table. The wood was cool against your skin as you tried your best not to choke up or spiral any further. You had already made a mess, you just had to figure out how to clean it up. When your mother sat down across from you and took your hands in hers, you continued.

“He isn't my boyfriend. My actual boyfriend dumped me a day before we drove out here over text because he.. Wanted to work on himself, I guess? I probably should have listened when my friends told me they thought they saw him with someone else at a party. I thought he was good, Mom. I really thought he was different, like everything I said he was. And then he suddenly ended things and- And I wasn't sure what to do, I couldn't come home without anybody. It would've been salt in the wound to be humiliated in front of everyone after letting myself get hurt like that.

And then I found Charlie, and I asked if he was willing to just.. Come and pretend to be my boyfriend and- Honestly I didn't expect him to agree at all. But he did. He did, and he's so..” You laughed tearfully and shook your head. “He's so perfect. He's everything I thought my actual boyfriend was. It's like it all comes naturally to him, like he doesn't even have to try to be funny and make people comfortable. You saw how well he got along with everyone this week, and you said yourself you love him! But I… It was supposed to be easy. A week of avoiding embarrassment with a guy I only sort of knew, and then we would go back to school and I’d tell everyone we broke up. Make it seem like this whole thing where I threw him out and I was in the right. Not dumped over text.

But I don't think I can do that, Mom. I.. I think I’m in love with him? How could I not? He's been nothing but kind and perfect to me and so sweet and I never want this week to end because I know that it means things will go back to normal and I don't know how to ask anything more of him after this- I don't even know why he agreed to this in the first place!! But I tried to tell him how much I appreciated him outside earlier and he looked so… Upset. Like I had done something wrong, and then he said he had to go and came inside. And-” The world blurred and smeared as tears filled your vision. “I think- I think I might've ruined what little I had with him-”

Your mother nodded, listening to you ramble on with an intent look on her face. She squeezed your hands and brought them to her mouth to kiss. Taking a deep breath, she nodded and looked at you until you silently took a couple of breaths yourself.

“Honey… I don’t think you ruined anything. Charlie seems like a wonderful man, he would tell you if you had truly ruined anything. He didn't seem angry when he came in, I saw your uncle ask if he was heading upstairs and he just seemed a little.. lost with himself.” She shook her head and smiled. “I knew from the stars you two weren't dating.”

“What??” Your eyebrows furrowed. Were you really that obvious?

“You had said things about your boyfriend that didn't quite line up with Charlie. Things you wouldn't have said about him, that I'm sure you had just forgotten you said.”

“Mom I’m sorry-” She cut you off by squeezing your hands again.

“Don't be sorry, dear. I knew you had feelings for him anyways.” You gave her a quizzical look, going to speak before she answered your question. “Mothers always know these kinds of things. I know how you act, and I love you, but honey you're not the best actor in the family… I've been watching you two all week, and I’m surprised you haven't said something sooner. I would've kept it to myself, though, because I think you need to see how this plays out.”

“I don't know how I can fix this though, Mom. I- I don't even know what I did wrong!”

She smiled knowingly.

“I don't think you did anything wrong, dear. But if you keep these feelings to yourself I think you'll find yourself worse off than if you didn't.” Your mother squeezed your hands again before letting go and standing up. “I've seen the way he looks at you, too. When he thinks nobody is looking, or when you aren't paying attention. When he thinks nobody but you and him are there.” Patting your shoulder as she walked towards the stairs, she gave you one last smile. “It’s Christmas after all. Maybe you got another gift you didn't know you asked for.”

With that, she bid you goodnight and made her way upstairs to her bedroom, leaving you alone in the dining room under the light. The house was near silent aside from the whistling outside of the wind.

You shut the light off and swallowed as you tried to reason through your mothers words. She was a bit of an optimist, so maybe she was just being hopeful, or maybe she was right. Maybe she had seen something you hadn't yet noticed.

The door to your room was left slightly open when you walked up, giving a soft knock as you pushed the door open. Charlie was under the blankets on his far side of the bed. There was no movement other than the steady breathing of his chest. You changed quickly and walked up to the bed, hesitating.

“Charlie..? Are you awake?” Your voice was quiet and dry. There was no answer from Charlie, and he hardly even shifted. Assuming he was asleep, you sighed and resigned yourself to sleeping on your far side of the bed, trying to ignore the tightness in your chest. Tomorrow would be the busiest day of all and if you had done something to upset him, you really weren't sure how well this would go. Maybe it would have been all for naught if you went and messed things up on Christmas Eve. Drifting to sleep as you tried to ignore the way the soft sound of his breathing made you feel, one final sigh made your exit from the waking world known.

You were woken in darkness, blinking your eyes open to barely see Charlie in the very same knitted sweater he had shown you at the start of the week.

“Good morning sleepyhead.”

You groaned and rubbed your eyes, yawning.

“It's still dark..?”

“Merry Christmas.” Charlie's voice was little more than a whisper, and you felt yourself smile at the pure warmth of the tone.

“Oh… Merry Christmas..”

“Your little cousins are running from room to room, I figured I would wake you up a little nicer than that.”

“You're too sweet, Charlie..” You hummed and looked up at him. Even in the darkness he looked beautiful, and you blearily wondered if you were still dreaming. Having such a wonderful man wake you in your bed to go downstairs for Christmas morning with your family, not a care in the world, seemed like a dream come true.

“I'll go stand in the hall and let you change, I think if someone doesn't stop Elliot he's gonna tear open every package and parcel he can get his hands on.” Charlie quietly slipped out of the room and you immediately heard him make his presence known to the distant chaos you slowly became aware of as you woke up.

… Okay, there were a few cares in your world. The strangeness of last night came back to you slowly. You had expected him to be cold, maybe. Or mad. At least a little upset! But he spoke to you like you were a literal angel, like waking you any faster than your body wanted to would have broken you. It was attractive, to say the least.

A scream from downstairs broke you of your thoughts and you remembered there were gifts with children's names on them, and they wouldn't wait around for you.

Stepping up to your closet, you fished out the sweater you had told Charlie about, smiling down at it. It was a bit old and a gift from your Grandmother, but it still fit nicely and had softened over the years to be a little less itchy. You wore a shirt underneath just to be safe.

With each step down the stairs you had to take a breath and remind yourself that you had an act to put on with Charlie. If you had messed up, you at least owed it to him to keep your attitude nice for the day. You were both adults, you knew any issues you had could be resolved in due time. Charlie wouldn't just let it fester if you had hurt his feelings or said something wrong, right? You had to hope that was the case, at least.

Right as you step off the last step, your younger cousins come running up to you with excitement, shouting about Santa Claus, the half eaten cookies, and the new gifts. You do your best to wave off the lingering sleep in your mind to match their enthusiasm. When that's enough to satisfy them before they can actually open their gifts, they loudly run off to their next victims – You catch Charlie's eye from across the den.

His eyes crinkle at the sight of you, then flick down to your sweater and he sits up, pointing at his own for a moment with his mouth slightly agape, before patting the seat beside him enthusiastically. It takes you a moment to mentally unstick your feet from the floor and walk over to him. It was Christmas morning in front of your family - if anything was wrong, this was probably your last reprieve before things fully went wrong and you could see the damages. As selfish as it sounded, you felt as though you should take advantage of that.

“So you really do have a matching sweater?” Charlie giggled and pulled you down to sit next to him, wrapping an arm around you. “I'm glad you decided to match with me.”

“And leave you hanging? Just wait until you see whatever Mom has got on this year. It's gonna put both of us to shame.” You leaned in to whisper as early morning chaos still reigned.

“Hey lovebirds, say cheese!” Your aunt had her phone out already, and you perked up just in time to smile as the flash dazzled you and Charlie.

“You ready for a whole day of.. That?” You glanced to Charlie, who chuckled.

“Bring it on.”

Rolling your eyes, you waited for everyone to wake up and join the family in the den. The younger kids instantly started opening gifts and throwing wrapping paper everywhere when they were given the go ahead. Eventually your dad started a garbage bag of scraps and tried his best to rally the kids into one area with their new toys as the adults started opening their much smaller gifts.

It was always amusing watching people open gifts, seeing the way even grown adults would get excited over certain things they wanted, or how they tried to hide their dislike or disappointment over certain other gifts. One of your aunts was given an ornate music box that seemed to be hand-crafted, and it seemed like she was ready to cry as she hugged your uncle, thanking him. Meanwhile one of your uncles got a pair of socks with little reindeer printed on them, and you swore you could see him try to set them on fire with his eyes.

Charlie would lift his arm whenever it was your turn to open something, watching you make a neat little pile at your feet of opened gifts. He seemed content to just sit and watch, making little jokes about certain gifts until your father walked over with a small box. He lifted his arm again, but your dad held the box to him a little more insistently.

“Wh.. For me-?” Charlie pointed at himself and sat up, taking it hesitantly.

“Well… We didn't want you to feel left out, but the stores were a bit scarce so close to the holiday when I went to get you something. So we hope it's okay.” Your dad smiled and nodded, stepping back to his place by the tree.

Charlie looked at you a bit bewildered, and carefully tore open the wrapping paper. It was a couple of Pokémon card packs from the store, and a set of six-sided dice. You almost went to say something about how they just did their best to understand, but Charlie's eyes lit up as he pulled them out of the box, carefully holding the dice as he inspected them. It was a set of black dice with white dots, subtly reflecting the lights on the tree.

“You didn't..” He looked up at your parents and shook his head slowly. “You didn't have to get me anything.” His hand slipped into yours, squeezing so tight it shook a little. Glancing at Charlie, you could tell he was trying so hard to play it cool, but the way his lips twitched and fought off a grin was undermining all of his attempts.

Your mother shook her head.

“What kind of parents in law would we be if we left you out?? We’ll get you something better next year, we promise.” She sent a wink your way, and you knew it was more for you than it was Charlie. You tried to ignore the warmth that crawled up your neck at the implication there. Next year. Did she really have that much faith in you to fix things? Did she have so much confidence in her ability to see what you can't that she believed Charlie would come home with you next year?

The next gift was picked, and Charlie turned to you with wide, excited eyes as he held up the card packs. It snapped you out of your thoughts and you smiled at him. You hadn't expected it would make him so happy, but the way he glowed was so much better than you could've imagined.

“I take it you're happy then?” You whispered, and he nodded, flipping through the handful of packs.

“I didn't- They didn't need to get me anything! I didn't expect to get anything..”

“Well,” You shrugged and leaned against him, sighing. “If you're part of the family, they're gonna get you something. I'm just glad I didn't tell them what he would've wanted, in case they got something you would've hated.”

Charlie shook his head as he chose one of the packs, setting the others down in his lap gently.

“I wasn't expecting anything, though. I would've enjoyed just watching you open things.” He fiddled with the wrapping of the pack and you looked down at it, then up at him.

“Well.. Go on.”

“What?”

“Open the pack. I wanna see what you got.”

He smiles and you set your head on his shoulder, watching as he opens the pack and flicks through the cards. He explains each card to you, explaining the differences on each of them, and you were more than happy to let him quietly ramble on as he grabbed the next pack.

“Do you wanna open this one?”

“Nah. All yours.”

Charlie nods, peeling open the next pack. It was impressive how quickly he put you at ease, and you couldn't find it in yourself to worry about what may come later, so long as you could stay in the moment of him explaining the rarity of certain cards. It was cute.

The rest of the day went by in a blur as people showed up and left, some family friends popping in for the day just to visit, a few neighbours showing up to gift some treats that you watched your younger cousins sneak into just a little too early. Your mother walked around at one point with her phone facetiming your grandmother, who insisted on having an entire conversation about you wearing the sweater, to which you just had to drag Charlie into frame to show that you were matching. This started a whole new slough of questions about your relationship, and the two of you had to explain repeatedly that you weren't ready for marriage, let alone kids.

Christmas music played loudly and the sound of far too many conversations loudly filled the air during the afternoon, and after being pulled between so many, you found your head was spinning too fast to keep up with, so you snuck out to the front foyer for a bit of space. Charlie seemed to have the same idea as he stumbled out of the kitchen, followed by the sound of your uncles laughing.

“They aren't getting to you in there, are they? Do I need to go tell them to lay off?” You teased lightly, leaning against the doorway as you took a deep breath.

“Pshh, No..” Charlie shook his head and walked up to you with a warm smile, though you noticed his cheeks were slightly pink. “Just got a little warm in there. Your family is really, uh..”

“Nosy?”

“Thorough.”

You laughed loudly and shook your head as you straightened up. Your gaze drifts up and your face falls slightly.

Mistletoe.

Charlie's gaze follows yours and he freezes. The buzz of the house seems to fade away as you focus on it, as if you found yourself locked in this little bubble with Charlie, and suddenly every guilty feeling writhed under your skin all at once.

“Oh.”

“I'm- I’m sorry,” You start, shaking your head as you turn to step to the side. You had been doing so well acting normal, of course you'd find yourself under the very same mistletoe he helped you hang. “We can move-”

“Wait.”

Charlie's arm stops you, and you look at his face to see him flushed, with the same expression from when you started talking last night.

“I..” He shifts, and you move back to standing under the mistletoe with him, looking at him intently. “I know that when you asked me to help you with this, you were a bit desperate and just looking for somebody to help you, and I’m sure I wasn't your first choice considering how little time we had spent together, but… This week has been the best week of my life I think, and I don't ever want it to end if it means we have to go back to the way things were. I don't want to go another day without hearing your voice, or watching you try not to laugh at my jokes - which I know you think are funny. I know this was mostly to save face in front of your family and that we haven't gotten much of a chance to genuinely get to know each other, but I would love to get to know you better, if I can.” His eyes soften and the confliction on his face fades into something much more vulnerable. Charlie's hands move up to your shoulders, and that feeling of freezer burn starts radiating under his touch again. “I want more of this, if you're okay with that. More of you.”

Charlie's eyes flicker between your own, carefully watching as you stand there, stunned.

“And.. Stop me, if I’ve taken this wrong. If my attempts to get your attention this week have been unwarranted. Stop me if this isn't what you want.” His hand moves to your cheek. “Please.”

You don't stop him, shaking your head and leaning into his hand.

“I won't.”

Charlie smiles as he pulls your face to his, gently kissing you for just a moment. He pulls away, just enough to breathe. You wrap your arms around his shoulders and quickly pull him into a deeper kiss.

The sound of cheers and whoops fill the hall and you pull away to see a handful of family members standing in the hallway, watching you two. Your mom gives you a knowing smile before you stare and silently wave them all off. Isabella is the last one to leave, holding her phone up with a mischievous grin and a thumbs up.

Charlie chuckled lowly and kissed your cheek, and when you were sure your little audience had dispersed, you two smiled at each other and kissed again.

“I told you I’d surprise you.”

“You didn't let me down.”

The rest of the night was full of playful gazes and quick kisses when nobody's looking. Quiet whispers of private conversation passed back and forth with no room for anyone to eavesdrop. Gentle touches and subtle movements, with something a little more genuine behind them – you find that not much changes in these little acts from the rest of the week, as if they've always had the same intent behind them just with more hesitation.

Dinner goes about as well as you'd expect, with one of your uncles trying to stir up some trouble and having to be talked down as a big scene was made. Usually you'd be much more upset about this sort of thing, but whenever you sighed or tensed up, Charlie's hand squeezed yours from under the table, and everything was okay again. You stayed up and drank a little after with the rest of the adults in the family, the conversations around the house a little more soft spoken, albeit a little more loose lipped as well. Those who were either already planning on staying, or had drank more than they meant to, trickled off one by one to their rooms, and slowly the unused lights were turned off until it was you and Charlie alone in the den with the glittering lights of the tree.

Sure, you were a few drinks in, but so was he as the two of you hummed and danced along to the Christmas music emanating from the radio. His arms wrapped around you and it was like there was nothing else in the world you could possibly bring yourself to think about other than the smell of Charlie and the sound of his low hums as he swayed you two back and forth.

You knew there would have to be a proper conversation about what you two were going to do now, about what this meant for your relationship and how it would affect the people around you, but for now, you were content with what you had, which was Charlie in your arms, smiling warmly at you.

The song changed to something more upbeat, and he grinned, laughing a little as he pulled away and spun you to the tune. The two of you kept up with singing along, even if you wavered a little as Charlie pulled you along. It was fun and it was carefree and you were very dizzy by the end, where Charlie leaned you into a dip and smiled down at you.

“Merry Christmas, Charlie.”

“Merry Christmas, Angel.”

He leans down and presses a kiss to your lips, and you chase him as he leans up to press another kiss to his lips. After a couple more chaste kisses, he pulls away and glances towards the stairs then back at you with an unspoken question, and you find yourself quickly pulled up the stairs, giggling and shushing each other all the way to your room.

[arsenictulip8]

Imma go on a rant about Christianity and if this offends you, you may want to reevaluate:

[THIS IS ABOUT THE SYSTEM IM NOT ADDRESSING ALL CHRISTIANS BTW]

The fact you guys will proclaim love and say you're loving yet shut LGBTQ+ people out, try to "heal" autistic people, and vote for bigoted people like trump tells me ALL I need to know about you. You're not about love. You're about "conform to my ways, do what my beliefs say bc my God says so". A loving, all knowing God WOULD NEVER shut a person who is LGBTQ+ person out, would never try to force an autistic person to be normal. YALL DO THAT.

YET YALL SAY THAT PPL ARE LEAVING CHRISTIANITY BC BIBLICAL TRUTH ISN'T BEING SPREAD, NO YOU'RE LITERALLY DRIVING PEOPLE AWAY WITH YOUR HATEFUL DOGMA AND YOUR DISCRIMINATION.

How dare you vote against human rights, vote against immigration, HOW. DARE YOU TREAT OTHERS WHO ARE DIFFERENT THAN YOU LIKE SHIT.

Also, please stop with the "you're going to hell" "turn to Christ before it's too late" "hell is eternal" The idea that hell is eternal damnation is fucking awful. A loving God WOULD NEVER put his creation in hell for all of eternity over some small thing they did on earth. If you're honestly that fucking afraid of my eternal soul that you have to pound the fear of hell into me, you need to reevaluate your view on God. Just saying. Oh and btw, being Gay is not bad, it's natural and PLEASE stop forcing your religion on others, no one asked and it can be harassment. Screaming into the streets about your God WON'T bring people to Christ, it'll drive them away. And please stop with all your misogyny towards women it's fucking disgusting, women are not lesser than men. NOT ALL WOMEN WANNA MARRY MEN AND THE ONES THAT DO SHOULDN'T BE TOLD TTHEITHEY SHOULD SERVE THEIR HUSBANDS LIKE GOOD LITTLE WIFEYS 🥺 NO. WTF?

Ok one last thing, if you're religion is only based off fear and pleasing a God with impossible standards that's not a loving God just saying

Food for thought 💕

[sprinkleonthatcriticism]

I think the way this situation was handled by others (the one w/ damagedcoda6669) was fucking gross... Yippee ended up being bullied off the internet for existing, (I think he mentioned receiving death threats? Idk) and everyone has resorted to retreating Jack's posts w/ "#FreeTheFerret" to antagonize him (along with spreading actual misinfo abt everything going on)

Ppl should criticize Jack, yeah, but ppl should also take into account that Dragy herself isn't all that innocent or well spirited

The only reason a lot of this drama happened was because she followed the same cycle she has for years

>Jack has drastic change in internet activity

>Dragy comes out with allegations

>Death deletes everything

>"I'm done w birdie drama!!!"

I also think that she was influenced into making the allegations due to her involvement with Julian and others who've been known to be weirdos, some callout docs for reference

Callout doc of Julian by Jack with proof of Death being involved with Julian: https://archive.org/details/copy-of-a-general-julian-callout-doc.

Callout doc by someone else of Julian's other gross behaviors: https://archive.org/details/fran-callout/mode/1up

Not to mention a lot of the "evidence" used to claim that Jack is bad is shit from all the way back in 2020, which he already apologized for in his comeback vid and is rlly outdated (Dragy also tries to defend Malachi and Julian throughout her vid which makes me suspicious of her intentions due to Julia's history of starting drama to get off to it)

That's rlly all I have to say, what do u think?

CW// Zoophilla mention, SA mention, COCSA, Grooming mention

I know I said won't talk more about the recent Jack drama after that post but I'll respond to you anon with my thoughts. I do agree with what you said, Draggy isn't innocent either and I do kinda believe that she only brought up the cocsa drama because of Jack being in hot-water because he stolen back his cat (which, i wish people would stop saying that he is in the wrong just because Synnibear03's legal name was signed on the papers to own the cats, neglecting the fact that she given Skqrp to Jack and only took back Skqrp because of ya know being called out of being a predator, and people are also forgetting that ALLEGEDLY [please correct me if i'm wrong and it could be mis-memory] someone on twitter qrt'd Jack and admitted to being the one who encouraged a mentally ill person into the idea of stealing Skqrp back, knowing full well that Jack isn't in the RIGHT state of mind...) Which of course, led to Jack being harassed by everyone online who suddenly decide to take Synni's side because "Oh woe is me, "my" cat has been stolen!11!!! My cat has been stolen by a mentally ill homeless guy that had sexually assaulted a while back!! waah" and people also forget that Jack given the cat to someone else to hold onto until he most likely get a place to stay. Also the '#free the ferret' thing pisses me off considering Jack has already address that he never sexually assaulted his ferret.. he did admit to being close to doing it but didn't went through with it thankfully and people keep leaving out the fact that he was a minor at the time being groomed by Julian? A member of Dice? (i think, my memory is shit).

And yeah it's really gross that people harassed a minor that they claimed to be a "victim" of Jack off the internet all because Yippee says xe isn't a victim of Jack and said that what Jack was doing isn't grooming, so those who claim they care for victims should really shut their mouths and NOT talk over child grooming victims (like myself)....

People also claim to be for mental health until it's an adult having a literal mental breakdown on the internet (Jack posting a photo of a bunch of his pills before taking it down since, obviously) and instead of being concern, they scream "suicide baiting" because he didn't and i quote one of these people "Went through with it".

But anyways yes, I do also think Jack deserves to be criticize and he should address the shit that is happening just as properly apologized to Dragy for grooming her when she was 13 and Jack's 16.

[wannabemasterofwindintraining]

please tell us more about the parallels, Blue 🙏 /nf

Like logan n lunia parallels? Sure

Well first there's the ahaha they're both blue in the dream world that my cracktheory is based on but also when u start looking at the nightmare creatures you actually get more parallels

Both of them are entangled w the nightmare king n the other nightmare creatures in a way the other characters aren't (night hunter is an outlier n should not be counted)

For lunia spoilers but she basically created the nightmare king n by extension all the nightmare creatures we don't know what she thinks about the creatures but the nightmare king was her best friend

And for logan well who does the nightmare king decide to manipulate to get what he wants? Him he's the person that starts befriending the creatures (well mostly sneak) instead of beefing on sight

He's the one they use to spy on the others n he basically turns into a monster which it's not really clear what he turns into but based on the others reactions when they first see his transformation I'd say he probably resembles a nightmare creatures to some extent

Also the music

There's apparently a musical notes hologram in lunias hourglass and also the hourglass itself is music activated like there's clearly some musical themes going on w her

N what's one of logans intrests? Music (i mean zoey two but this is MY post pointing out parallels so i can pick n choose whatever i want) his music intrest is more apparent in s2 with his victory song n that music video of his going viral but he also wanted to be the dj for that Halloween event in s1 n his music basically saved everyone in that siren episode i don't remember episode names

I'll admit the music parallels aren't as strong as the monster stuff but I'm just listing out the parallels n i think the music stuff is neat

Also once you look at it with the assumption that they have a connection you start to notice another parallel or more like a foil? Idk words

Lunia is the greatest at everything ever she is so cool n creative n smart but logan on the other hand? He's just a loser

Yea physically he's more athletic than the others but everything lunia excels at logan just can't do

Lunia is The Most Powerful DreamChaser™️ according to literally everyone girlie imagined a person so real he turned against her n started a war n then created a whole realm on her own she's apparently also very creative n smart based on the challenges n riddles in her castle

Logan on the other hand? Idk how true that is but the other characters imply he's not creative enough to customise his dream avatar he's clearly not the smartest n he can not dream craft he doesn't even have an hourglass (sidenote in the original theory post i did mention that he was the only one to use lunias hourglass n actually i was wrong mateo also uses it so I'd like to apologise for spreading misinformation I'm just a little guy I'm just a little baby)

Also both their names start with L wake up ppl this is a clear sign they're connected THE EVIDENCE WAS ALL THERE ALL ALONG IT WAS IN THEIR NAMES ALL ALO

Anyways idk be gay dreamcraft or whatever

[brittscafe]

Hi!!!! How are you doing? I hope you’re good! I was hoping I could request something with byakuya? Maybe you guys are serious and he’s thinking of proposing and he sees you spending time with rukia, renji, and their daughter and sees how much they love you and how well you fit in with the ppl he cares about and he’s like “😍 yep this is it for me” thank you so much!!!!

YESSS OMFG I WOULD GET ON MY KNEES FOR BYAKUYA!! I really loved writing this and I'm considering writing a part 2, where he actually proposes.

(I'm like 99.9 % sure that Renji's and Rukia's daughter is called Ichika, but please correct me if I'm wrong)

The cherry blossoms float in the soft wind as it gently carries them to the ground. Byakuya's eyes are locked onto yours, walking ahead of him.

Your hair bouncing and your soul reaper's cloak flowing behind you. His eyes are full of love, admiration, and pure respect for you.

"Y/N!" Ichika calls out, running towards you with opened arms and the widest smile you ever saw. You get down onto your knees and open your arms just as Ichika runs into them.

She wraps her tiny arms around your neck and you carefully stand up straight, keeping a tiny grip on the little.

Byakuya's breath hitches in his throat and his stomach churns with warmth as you spin around facing him with your white teeth winking at him.

"She was so excited to see you. She practically ran out of the house without us," Rukia comments with a soft voice, standing beside Renji.

"Well, I was very excited to see you too, Ichika," you announce, setting her back down on the ground.

Ichika reaches down a pick up a petal of a cherry blossom. Her tiny eyes examine the pink petal and she glances back up at you.

"Someone told me that Byakuya makes the cherry blossoms bloom only for you," Ichika blurts out and your stomach twists into knots.

You glance back at Byakuya and the hues of pink hit his cheeks. He quickly glances away from you and clears his throat.

"That is only a myth," Byakuya announces, readjusting his posture.

"Myth? Are you sure?" you chuckle out, shooting him a glance. Byakuya's hand rests in his pocket, slightly nudging the ring box in his deep pocket.

It was no Myth. In the early spring, he would make them bloom just for you. Usually, the wind would carry the cherry blossoms too, but Byakuya would make them float around you sometimes. He loves to see your face light up and he will even chuckle when you start to dance around them.

He does it for you. He does all of it for you.

"Some myth. I wish somebody would make the cherry blossoms bloom for me, " Renji scoffs out quietly, glancing down at Rukia. She rolls her eyes with annoyance

"Or she could turn you into a nice cold popsicle," you suggest and Rukia bursts out laughing.

"I like that idea much better," she nods her head and a frown spreads across Renji's face.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. We should head to the lantern festival soon," Renji announces, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. Rukia smiles warmly and nods her head, grabbing onto Ichika's hand and guiding her along the path.

"We'll be right behind you," Byakuya informs them as Renji, Rukia, and Ichika start heading down the path.

You glance back over at your shoulder as Byakuya as he starts to walk up to you, holding out his large palm. He gives you a slight smile as his dark bangs fall into his face and you grab onto his hand.

You spin around your heel and face him, reaching out towards him. Byakuya's eyes slightly widen and his expression drops as you gently push back his bangs.

You place your hand on his warm cheek and he leans into your touch, closing his eyes and relaxing.

Byakuya dips his head down and connects your lips together. He kisses you slow and gentle, giving your hand a gentle squeeze. Your stomach fills with butterflies.

"We should go before they start to wonder where we are," you whisper against his lips and he smiles warmly.

Byakuya follows behind you, admiring your every step, knowing there's no way he could love you anymore than he already does.

[thatdeadaquarius]

PLS YOU’RE SO FUNNY your pspspsps is too strong I’m back with more asks hello how are you I’m loving your takes on sagau! I thought of a contribution by the power of the pspsps imagine like the languages in teyvat are based on the nations’ real life counterparts (like Japanese for Inazuma) but like only loosely. So creator knows like exactly 3 words in Japanese and think they’re gonna take that and somehow make it work but they get there and understand NOTHING. They finally understand like one word but turns out it means something completely different in this version of “Japanese” so they think someone told them hi and they said hi back but they’re just going around saying “fuck” and no one wants to tell them

ANOTHER ONE YUHSSS LURING BACK IN FOR MORE im doing well tysm for asking ya flatterer!!

aw u think im funny??!! 🥰 well geez here i thought i was just going feral over sagau/isekai genshin stuff and it was like a dam burst and all yall were just coming down with me funny or not 🤷‍♂️

(Hey askers look ive got cookies 🍪🍪🍪 :) if u ask smth ill give u one!!)

Nice to know the humor translates, but holy fuck this ask is like 10x funnier than anything ive written so far or come up with LMAO PLEASE NO ONE WANTS TO TELL YOU-

____________

This is exactly what Portugese vs. Spanish is like i stg

Im not fluent yet but i know a decent amount of spanish at this point, but when i was first learning it i ran into some Portuguese and couldnt really read it and was like?? Oh ok maybe this is too many vocab words i dont get yet, and showed it to another person who spoke some Spanish and they were like ".. Uh, wtf is that?? What is that???🧐😟 Thats not even Spanish, but why is it almost???" And they just kept trying to read it so hard bc they thought it was so close it should work 😭

Anyway the point is i feel like that is just you in this scenario over and over again lol

Its like teaching a little kid language and they happen to pick up the cusswords the best,

Omfg ur around Beidou about to head to Inazuma (bc i like to think u traveling with Aether/Lumine and they r sweet enough not to abandon ur weird ass)

And Beidou just keeps cussing in Liyue's-almost-Mandarian-Chinese-but-not, and ur like trying to pick smth up bc it sucks none of ur little bits and pieces of lang. from ur world have worked so far, and she keeps saying this one word over and over again, to this angry looking Liyue guy, oh hey wait a minute, that's the Mandarin word for "hello"!! Maybe she's using it sarcastically?? She smiled afterward, oh Kazuha's laughing!! Maybe it means smth different? But they still look positive abt it so eh, cant hurt, and you sort of know how to say it!!

"你好 !! (nǐhǎo)", you do a little wave too :)

(I just used straight mandarin for this pls tell me if not right-)

Hey you did it! Sort of, you didn't really do the tones right, and you look over to see if they got it, and oop-

Everybody froze and looked at you, before Beidou starts screaming laughing, Kazhua's wheezing so hard he's leaning on a barrel nearby, the traveler is trying to keep it together, but u can see Beidou's ridiculous laugh is contagious and is spreading rapidly to crew members and to the traveler,,

The angry Liyuean man no longer looks angry, oh, he's leaving, welp, you can tell u did smth funny, but u havent a clue what u actually said

Every now and then Beidou will come up to you and try to teach u more Liyuean words, but anytime the traveler sees it they shoo her off, she has a shit-eating grin on her face, while the traveler looks unamused or is at least trying to hide their amusement

(There r so many characters that will take advantage of this and only try to teach you cuss words, at least at first, CHILDE, kaveh, VENTI, Itto, BEIDOU, Xinqiu the little prankster, ppl i can think of quickly god i gotta look at a character list)

Beidou BEAMS anytime u say "nîhâo" now, and gives u a thumbs up everytime 👍

You learn much later that you probably should just give up trying to say any of your world's lang. That sound equivalent to each genshin country's lang. bc apparently the few words you know from them are either random shit like "egg, bowl, etc." Or straight up explicit "fuck, shit, piss etc."

__________

I didnt have too much to add bc that is a GREAT AND HILARIOUS idea all on its own (esp if u did it in front of more serious characters or situation)

So pls forgive if lackluster writing happened!!

THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!! COME AGAIN!! AND YOU'LL GET A FREE COOKIE!! :]

✨️🍪✨️

Cheers,

🌒🌧🌊Aquarius♒️🌌🌘

[enden-k]

EEEE YUM WRIONEY my babies. im glad ur into them bc istg EVERYONE is into wrio////lette and im like "guys plea. please wrioneys so good though"

i love you're interpretation of them and i agree full stop. thank you for sharing your amazing hcs

-blehb

thats the sad part abt popular ships, ppl miss out on other really good stuff (i love kavetham and theyre my main babies but im lit an ALL x haitham shipper and get to explore all the other good possibilities in my head too <3), not that i care much but it starts to suck when those ppl start spreading misinformation just to burn down another ship (zx enjoyers will prob know), i think ppl should leave others be and let everyone enjoy their stuff etcetc blabla

anw it all started w that damn update AHAHA i just never got around to draw them a lot (happens w quite a lot of things i like), wrioney is sm more fun and delicious to me than well u know what but im not hating on that (no one misunderstand) luckily theres different tastes etc ! anw glad you like my interpretation sjdhdh

[cloud-somersault]

100% feel you about not going in the shadowpeach tag. likeni used to go there all the time for art and fic recs but now it’s :/ not for me anymore

i do still follow the tag, but there’s no diving into it. most of the stuff i do reblog comes from mutuals or ppl i follow on my dash which is great! but it’s not the same

Yeah, I really just liked going in there to follow new artists or learn about new AUs and stuff...it's quite upsetting, because that was part of my morning routine LMAO I'd look through the shadowpeach tag like it was my morning newspaper 😭😭

I'm at the point where I think a new tag should be made for a couple reasons

There's spicynoodles in the shadowpeach tag (with no shadowpeach content with it)

I can't tell if posts are like. Original or about that AU????

Who ARE THESE PEOPLE and where am I

A lot of hype posts with no shadowpeach discussion or anything.

There's already a tag for the shadowpeach bio parents AU, so I don't know why that just isn't being used exclusively???

So, I might just make a new tag. Or propose a new shadowpeach tag for people to use so we can... actually see content from other creators?? Also, please do not assume I'm complaining because I'm jealous or want attention; I've expressed multiple times that I want to remain hidden from the masses and I don't want attention, ESPECIALLY given my past interactions on here.

But if it weren't for that tag, no one would've found constellations AU. it was important for people to check the tag, see the updates, and spread it around through word of mouth. I just want to give other content creators that same opportunity.

If I do make a new tag, do you guys have name suggestions? Otherwise it's gonna be "shadowpea" or "shadowpeach 2" LMAOOOO

[jung-koook]

(about the ai post) also it's not just the monetization part we need to be worried. There's sick ppl out there that will use these apps to fuel their demented fantasies and there's evil people who will use it to spread hate, start rumors, make accusations, etc. Ai isn't fun and games. Besides that, AI is stealing other people's artwork. All the time. It's how it works. Ai is bad all around and no one should be using it.

I agree with everything you said. as someone who was born in japan and if you have ever lived in japan, you have the right to say that you know how it can affect people. but I feel like these types of ai are being treated more as something silly that won't affect anyone and if you complain about something you're complaining about something "small". yeah, I had also seen fan artists making compilations showing how ai are copying their art style. and people need to educate themselves more on this subject. they think nothing can happen to them about it but if they have photos of them online, or video, or even some voice file, someone could very well now be using their image on ai. most of the people who are defending it are people who haven't even educated themselves on this subject. jeongguk even mentioned in his live that ai is evolving so quickly that soon people will want to use ai to make music. one of the reasons for the actors' strike in hollywood was because they didn't want to have their image used in this way. and now they are going to a more dangerous level. look at this video. I'm still extremely scared, terrified!! the way this can mess with people's minds in such a negative and dangerous way it should be illegal. this is wild! I really hope it isn't something that goes forward and becomes popular like these ai edits. seriously guys, before you defend something, please do some in-depth research on it. see the pros and cons of what you are researching so you can have a clear opinion on the matter. there are a lot of good things about ai, but there is a very bad and dangerous side as well.

[vintage-bentley]

I’m gendercrit but holy hell I’m still shocked at how bad those comments were. I love how so many of the negative ones are like “as a polyace as a trans gay guy as an asexual,” go on to insist that PIV can be gay, when they have absolutely zero stake or should have any opinion on homosexuality at all. I’m also sure the author is probably gay or lesbian and they jumped on them for this - chastising them for being a bad gay basically, a bigot a terrible person, because having an opinion that’s absolutely 100% correct and based in the reality of sex and calling out homophobia is a sure fire way to get yourself crucified by people who appropriate shit. These people are batshit insane and hate gay people. Author should do an updated essay where they’re even more upfront and angry tbh especially since this GO attitude of ‘they’re not human they can mix match sex and still be gay” has literally spread to other fandoms with human gay couples and so where’s this excuse now? They don’t respect gay characters and they def don’t understand or share any common goals with actual gay ppl

The worst thing about those people acting like they have any say on topics about homosexuality, is that you can’t tell them otherwise without being told you’re some sort of phobic!! When it comes to all their made up issues, they have no problem saying “only ace people get an opinion!” But when it comes to actual real issues regarding homosexuals, suddenly it’s open to everyone. I wonder if it has to do with the way they’ve hijacked the word gay to no longer mean homosexual, but to instead mean “anyone who wants to call themselves gay to feel special”. As in, they think they’re gay because they want multiple partners, so they get a say in anything regarding gay people.

It’s even worse with “trans gays”…because you know damn well they’re literally homophobic heterosexuals…but you can’t tell them that unless you want to be called transphobic. And you know they won’t listen to you when you say “Aiden, you’re a homophobic straight woman, you get no say on this topic” because they’re so self-absorbed and so caught up in their own ideology that they don’t even listen to anyone who begins to invalidate their fantasy.

Point of that little rant is to say, it is so damn frustrating to see a bunch of non-homosexuals acting like their opinion holds the same weight as homosexuals when it comes to discussing our sexuality…and knowing that their ideology enables them so much that you can’t say anything about it, they’ll just tune you out. It’s frustrating to know that I can give my opinion as a homosexual, only to be overruled by a straight woman calling herself an “aromantic trans nonbinary man” who thinks her fake identities give her more say than me.

And yes, the backlash to the essay absolutely has to do with the idea of a (presumed) homosexual stepping out of line. These people see gays as pawns and objects they own, and hate to see us having our own voice that opposes theirs. Because they think they’re entitled to our agreement and compliance.

They’re also accustomed to being in a community where everyone has the same opinions, everyone claims they’re gay, and everyone validates them. So I think it’s an absolute shock to them when somebody they assume would be in this same boat, has a mind of their own. It’s like, “what? You’re supposed to be Mindless Genderist #200, especially because you’re gay! How could you betray our community like this?”

If the author is still around here and reading this, please please please write another essay, I will eat it up. The first one did a really good job of being respectful and not heavy-handed on the gender critical aspect, which I think is the reason it resonated with me. If it was explicitly a “terf” essay, all my critical thinking would’ve been shut down because Terf Bad. But because it was just laying out points with no belief system attached, I was able to go into it just as a homosexual and find my agreement that way, not swayed by any pressures to believe a certain ideology. But it would be great to read another one that is more firm and angry, because lord knows it would be more than justified.

And I’ve noticed that too, that the “they’re not human, so they can’t be gay” excuse has spread to other fandoms. It’ll just take different forms depending on what’s available in the media’s universe. So for example, in a universe with magic, the fandom will use the magic system as an excuse for why the characters can’t possibly be gay (but they can be anything else). In a universe without magic, it’ll be something like “well, these characters are so deep and complex, so it’s not good to limit them to a label like gay (but they can be anything else)”.

It’s very clear to me that it’s not actually about trying to find interesting and complex ways of worldbuilding like these fandoms claim. Because if that was the case, why would homosexuality need to be ruled out? Wouldn’t it be interesting to discuss how this very real and important experience fits in with the universe in question? Instead, this is clearly about how fandom has always been homophobic, and they’ve finally found an acceptable excuse for it. Why else would the focus constantly be on explaining why characters can’t possibly be gay?

[cl00udyyanan]

are you still doing the zodiac thing? if so could i ask for venti + sagittarius please

also does being an introverted sagittarius make a difference?

have a great day :)

warning i bully venti a bit in this

gemini and sagittarius

you two are a perfect match (which is shocking cuz idk anyone who can stand a gemini) you both have such a passionate relationship really, you probs enjoy the free exotic nature venti brings. you can both adapt to eachothers lifestyles very easily, and outside of the relationship you both are amazing friends. really you guys are so fun together and even a walk down the street can turn into a long tale (probs how venti did something dumb and got the knights on yall but who knows) oh, AMAZING communication, literally spill your emotions out to him and hes a great listener. probs not great at giving advice, but he can validate you!

on the other end, yall got to work on your emotions, you both are great about talking how you feel. tet, your emotions tend to get big when in a fight. you'll keep secrets or maybe spread things you dont mean about eachother. its natural for you both. you should also worry that you two might get bored of eachother if you try to make your relationship so serious. try not to make it so deep and maybe a light hearted love.

in the end,, this is the best relationship ive seen so far, and its with venti of all ppl (im sorry but venti is so goofy to me i love making fun of him) have fun with him, im shocked you even can put up with him.

compatiblity: 98 practically perfect meant to be find u a gemini bae