#plus that one thing that was actually expensive but that you fell in love with

[kattahj]

Watching the transformations in Queer Eye is like: That hair looks nice! Those clothes look nice! That food looks nice! That home looks like a hotel lobby!

[waaayoutofline]

Murder On The Dancefloor (part 1)

(from the When the Cat and the Mouse Go For a Midnight Dance series) | Marvel Masterlist

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x F!Reader

Prompt: Vigilante!Reader x Agent!Natasha

Summary: Natasha isn’t having the best of luck in trying to bring one of the ex Hydras general down. You however may be able to assist her. Will you two be able to cooperate? Or is it your fate to always stand on opposite teams?

Warnings: None in this chapter.

WORD COUNT: 2510 (give or take)

A/N: Hello!! So, this is heavily inspired by the song Murder on the Dance Floor (duh). I think it really suits the dynamic between Agent Natasha and Vigilante!Reader, and I thought, okay, let’s actually write it instead of just thinking about it and eventually forgetting. There are a few changes from the canon universe. In this AU, the Avengers didn’t separate after the Sokovia Accords (I’m a child of divorce, okay), so they’re a real family here. Peter is also part of the team and was never forgotten by every single human except, well Hulk (he deserves better). Natasha is alive and well, along with Yelena.And finally (last thing, I promise), this will be part of a mini-series. Maybe with three parts.That’s about it. Enjoy, and thanks for reading! :)

//

It was too late to do this. Natasha rubbed off the tiredness of her eyes for what must be the fifth time in the last fifteen minutes. This was getting ridiculous.

��…What if-“

“For the last Yelena, we are not committing arson.” The blonde grunted at the quick dismissal, sliding down the synthetic, black leather chair. Crossing her arms with a tired pout, she didnt look much to different from the six year old girl Natahsa remembered. The clock in the conference room is getting more obnoxious by the second, as if teasing them to not having an answer yet.

Across the room, the sulked eyes of Benjamin Horvat were looking right back at her. His picture was poorly pinned, hanging unconventionally by a small blade (courtesy of Yelena) on the board. Steve wont be happy when he sees it.

”It would be a small one! It wouldn’t be that hard, just some small fires around some of his clubs, see if there is any luck and make him come out. Quick and subtle.”

”There is nothing subtle in that plan Yelena.” Natahsa turns down again dryly.

It’s been six hours since Yelena payed a visit to the renovated compound, bringing her 5 month old puppy Fanny (which is currently being spoiled by Wanda and Peter). She came in with new dirt onto a possible Hydra ex-officer, one of a depressing long list that the team has yet to tackle down. Most of them ran when SHIELD fell down.

The two of them plus Steve and Bucky, managed to get intel on Benjamin’s Horvat. He was currently involved is some kind of shady precious gem business, along owning some expensive clubs that served as covers for the mafia. At first glance, you’d say that he was just another second class criminal. But that as far as aparences went. Because people like him were worth something, he was heavily guarded.

His intel was precious enough to make him valuable and well-protected. Access to him seemed almost impossible.

The worst part was that he didn’t even bother using conventional transport. Even after combing through all national surveillance, he didn’t appear on any of the cameras. Not even Redwing, Sam’s beloved drone, had managed to get a clear visual of him. It was almost as if he’d gone underground (which he hadn’t—Natasha checked). And despite his love for nightlife, the clubs he owned and frequented were highly exclusive, each with multiple layers of security clearance.

After a long evening, both Steve and Bucky called it a night, but the two sisters were too stubborn to let it go. They were both running out of ideas—or, in Yelena’s case, running through a list of increasingly dangerous, borderline illegal suggestions. Eventually, exhaustion began to take over, and the blonde started dozing off, her head slipping forward as sleep crept up on her. Natasha wasn’t far behind, her eyelids drooping as the hours dragged on.

But then—a sharp, static crackle echoed through the speakers, jolting both women awake. Instinctively, they snapped into defensive stances, eyes darting to the screens around the room as they flickered in a disorienting pattern of black and white, struggling to stabilize.

Finally, the screens gave a clear image, revealing a shadowy figure cloaked in darkness.

“Night, ladies! Glad to see you’re still awake,” a teasing, lilting voice echoed through the speakers. “Huh, take out from Luigi’s huh? Their pizza rolls are to die for.”

Natasha’s eyes widened, a flicker of recognition sparking across her face. Her posture shifted, shoulders squaring as an unconscious surge of energy overtook her weariness. It can’t be.

“I’d prefer pizza bites. Who are you?” Yelena asked, mirroring Natasha as she stood up. She’d clearly sensed the change in Natasha’s demeanor.

The redhead grabbed the tablet on the table next to her, attempting to trace the breach, but the system was completely overridden. Whoever this was shouldn’t have been able to slip past their security. She called for FRIDAY, but the AI didn’t respond.

“Aw, come on, not even a hello? Do you know how long I spent trying to surpass that stupid robot of yours?” the voice continued playfully. “It’s been a while, Natty. I thought you’d be glad to see me—or, well, hear me.”

Natasha’s face remained painfully stoic, but her white-knuckled grip on the tablet betrayed her turmoil. She knew this person loved theatrics, but even for them, this was going too far. “How many times have I told you not to call me that.” Natasha grunts in annoyance, a headache already starting to set in. There is a brief silence. She can practically see your pout from here.

“Geez, so grumpy.”

Yelena watches the exchange with curiosity, somehow not detecting a real threat. “I sense some... history here.”

“There is!”

“There is not!”

Both women snapped at Yelena, making her eyes widen as she instinctively stepped back, lifting her hands in mock surrender. “Ha, when you say that, it usually means there is…” she stated, amused.But the sentence died under Natasha’s withering stare. “Alright, just an observation. Geez, you are grumpy.” she muttered under her breath. Catching Natasha’s warning look, Yelena slid back into the chair, still grinning despite herself.

“Can we focus?” Natasha said, voice clipped.

Yelena just shrugged, casting a glance between the two of you.

“Oh, come on, don’t get shy on me, Agent Romanoff. Is it because we haven’t had our little “I run, you go after me” sessions recently?” You teased. “I promise, you’re the only one I let chase after me.”

It’s true that its been a while since you have gone under the radar. Even if you weren’t out committing your little revendouz vigilantes acts, Natasha still couldn’t help to keep an eye out for you. It wouldn’t be the first time that you took a mini sabbatical and returned with more messes for her to clean up.

Finally, from the shadows, a woman stepped a young woman, posture relaxed, radiating an air of practiced confidence. You wore your typical casual clothes, a fitted jacket and a crop under it. Your face was partially obscured by the lighting, but Natasha could see a few loose strands of hair escaping, catching faintly in the room’s dim light. Chest rising up and down rather fastly. It’s like you just returned from somewhere.

Your eyes, bright yet focused, lingered on Natasha with an amused glint. The faintest smirk played at the corner of your mouth, an expression that made Natasha feel strangely restless. There was something in that permanent look of yours that always kept her on edge.

“Who are you?” Yelena blurted out.

You gasped dramatically, resting a hand on your chest as if genuinely wounded. “Why, you hurt me, Agent! Didn’t you tell her anything about me? And here I was, starting to think that I meant something to you.”

Natasha sighed in exasperation, her gaze still scanning for any sign of how you managed to break in. But it was as if you’d been authorized from the inside. She knew you were good, hidden behind that playful demeanor, but it was exhausting how you always seemed one step ahead. “There’s nothing to tell,” Natasha replied curtly, “besides the fact that you’re a pain.”

You huffed in false offender , crossing your arms. “Archenemies would have sufficed. Besides, that is no way to greet someone who can help you with Horvat.”

Both of them froze at the name. Giving up, the redhead throws the device on the table, getting slightly closer to the TV and crossing her arms. If this was going where she thought it was, caution was very much need. Especially with you.

“A little…birdie, told me that we have, for once, a common enemy. Excluding each other of course.” You smiled at the last sentence, but your eyes were bright with a dangerous spark.

“He’s not as unreachable as you may think. I guess that by now you have figured that he frequents the nightclubs in the Lower East Side. He is supposed to assist to an event tomorrow at night. Just our luck, right?”

Natasha’s brows furrowed. “Our? What, exactly, do you want with Horvat? Did he make it onto your little blacklist?” She scowled, still irritated by the last man you’d managed to eliminate right under her nose.

As if reading her thoughts, you let out a light, teasing laugh. “Ah, well, I wouldn’t exactly call it little,” you said, an amused glint in your eye.

Natasha huffed under her breath, visibly displeased with your evasiveness. “What’s in it for you?”

Your smile faded just slightly, and for a moment, a flicker of real purpose showed through the facade. “Let’s just say he has something I need. Something personal.”

Natasha’s eyes narrowed, her suspicion unwavering. “And how in the world would you ever entertain the thought of me agreeing to work together?”

“Because you’re stuck,” you shot back, your voice sharper than usual. “Let’s be real, Romanoff—if I could do this alone, I wouldn’t be here. But not even you can’t get to him on your own. And…neither can I.” You admitted through your teeth. The playful glint softened, replaced by an intensity Natasha hadn’t quite seen from you before.

“I need someone who won’t mess it up if I’m going to get to him,” you continued, the amused mask slipping just a bit more. “That’s where you come in. I mean, who better to handle some undercover work than the Black Widow herself?” The slight provocation didn’t go unnoticed, but Natasha’s mind was already racing with possibilities.

The room fell into silence, the ticking clock on the wall seeming louder than ever as Natasha’s eyes bore into yours, as if trying to see every hidden motive. Perhaps she should just go fetch Wanda. Still, she held herself steady, determined to avoid letting any trace of intrigue slip. It only took a spark for you to create a fire.

Yelena, sensing the tension between the two of you growing sharper by the second, finally cut in, a note of exasperation in her voice. “So… how could you get us in—”

“Yelena, no.” Natasha cut her off sharply, her posture rigid and unyielding. “We are not entertaining this. And I’m certainly not working with her,” she added, the cold in her tone unmistakable. She turned her gaze back to you, her expression filled with deep distrust. “She does nothing but trick and deceive, and I’m not about to let her pull us into a mess.”

You held her gaze steadily, a flicker of hurt passing through your eyes—brief enough for Natasha to notice. She shook her head sturborling, she couldn’t afford to feel any remorse for you. But as quickly as the emotion came, it vanished, and you rolled your eyes playfully. That was something that sparked Natasha’s curiosity. Just like herself in the past (maybe still now at times) it seemed as if you had a mask. She didn’t know exactly how genuine that unserious facade, the one you always seemed to hide behind, truly was.

“So distrustful and uptight as always, I see. Tell me, has she always been this way?” you asked, looking at the blonde. Yelena shrugged, starting to answer but clamping her mouth shut as Natasha arched an eyebrow in warning.

“Look, I’m not thrilled about this either. But it’s the only way. Believe me, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think so,” you said, your tone uncharacteristically steady. “I’ll even compromise and act like one of your ‘goody-two-shoes’ heroes.” You almost gagged on the words. “Swear I’ll play by your rules, as long as it gets us to him. If there’s one thing about me, it’s that I don’t lie. Have I ever lied to you, Natasha?”

There was no mockery in your voice this time, just an unexpected sincerity. Natasha paused, caught off guard. Had you deceived her? Absolutely. Tricked her? Too many times to count, wounding her pride each time. But lied, outright and blankly, right to her face? As shocking as it was, she couldn’t recall a single instance. No matter the game, you’d always been blunt about what you were going to do.

Yelena, noticing Natasha’s hesitation, leaned in. “сестра (sister), maybe… maybe she has a point. We’re no closer to him on our own. And if she can get us in…”

Natasha looked at her, seeing the reason in her words, though every fiber of her instinct fought against trusting you. After a long pause, she rubbed her temples, exhaling heavily. As sad as it was, there wasn’t any better option. But to admit that she had no other option than to work with you, of all people, was burning her pride.

“Fine.”

Yelena gave a small fist pump of victory, relief lighting her face after the hours they’d spent trying to come up with a solid plan. Meanwhile, you grinned, satisfaction gleaming in your eyes.

“But—” Natasha cut in, fixing you with a hard look. “No tricks, no double-crossing. As you said before, do this by my rules, is that clear?”

You raised an eyebrow, a glimmer of your usual defiance flashing in your expression. “Well, I mean… it is my plan so technically—”

“My. Rules.” Natasha repeated, her voice dropping to a dangerously low tone that left little room for argument. Her stare bore into you, unyielding, and the confidence in your face faltered just a bit. “Understood?”

You swallowed, any spark of rebellion snuffed out under the intimidating weight of her gaze. “Understood,” you muttered, a hint of surprising, begrudging compliance in your tone.

“Oooh, scary mean glare,” Yelena muttered under her breath, clearly entertained as she watched you two bickering. A mischievous glint in her eye, she leaned back, curious to see how will play out between you two. Perhaps she should pay visits more often.

“Enlighten us, then. What in the world does this great plan, legal plan of yours involve?” Natasha inquires dryly. Another cheeky grin on your face was enough for her to know that she won't like it in the slightest. It was almost sinister, how much you enjoyed to push her bottons.

”Well…that answer can vary. How are your dance moves, Agent Romanoff?

Clearly baffled, she didnt have time to answer when someone blasted through the door, startling all three of you. “You! Are you the one you hacked FRIDAY?” demanded a frantic Tony Stark, dressed in Iron Man-themed pajamas, bags under his eyes and a steaming coffee pot in hand labeled “#1 Best Hero” (a gift from Peter). Honestly, Natahsa is a firm believer that he bought it himself but whatever.

You giggled almost manically. “Oops, that’s my cue! Talk to you later to get into details, Agent.” You practically purred, teasingly waving goodbye before cutting the connection in one swift motion. Natasha was met with her reflection on the now dark screen, your last words hanging heavily on the air.

Natasha drops on the chair heavily, grunting and rubbing her temples while looking at the roof in despair. How does she always end up in these situations?

[agirlwithdemonblood]

Breaking Free: Chapter 4-The Path Ahead

Pairings: AU! Mechanic Dean x Reader

Chapter Summary: Life keeps beating Y/N down, But Dean is there to pick her up.

Series Masterlist here!! & Main masterlist here!

A/N: So some people might not like that it's moving a little fast, but when you know you know.. Plus who doesn't believe in fate?

It's been a few days since our first date, and each day I found myself falling deeper in love. The entire night replayed in my mind like a movie.

I remembered Dean's gentle touch as he fed me strawberries, our laughter filling the air when one fell. He spoke about his family, and his love for working on cars. He shared stories of his little brother Sam, and his late mother. There were tears shed and comfort exchanged, and of course-the lingering kisses.

Nothing intimate happened on our first date, it wasn't that I didn't want to-believe me, I did-but I wanted to make sure everything between us was right, genuine, not just a spur of the moment thing.

Plus, Andrew was the only one I've been with, and I wasn't ready, for that big of a step. I wasn't even sure if I was staying yet...

But when Dean touched me, it was unlike anything I'd experienced before. It was tender, fulfilling, and it felt like he truly cared.

The next morning, he called me for coffee, setting a routine that helped me ease back into going out again. Despite the town's gossip and judgmental glances, Dean remained unfazed, and eventually, I stopped caring too.

Claire and I hung out shortly after our date, bonding over lunch and swapping stories. She was a refreshing friend in this town, one who didn't judge or buy into rumors.

I knew I had to make a decision soon-whether to stay in this town or leave. I didn't want to leave him, but finding a job here was difficult, and my money was running out.

I hadn't told Dean about my thoughts of leaving. I didn't want to burden him, and honestly, I hadn't expected to develop such strong feelings for him so quickly. But I knew I needed to have a serious conversation with him about my future, despite how much I dreaded the idea of losing something like this.

I pulled out my laptop, scanning through job listings again. Most seemed tied to Andrew or businesses featured on his news channel-places unlikely to hire me.

With a sigh, I closed the laptop and dialed Dean's number. It had only been a few hours since we last spoke, But I already missed him, and his voice had a way of comforting me.

Dean picked up after the first ring. "Hey, sweetheart."

"Hey, Dean. How's work going?" I asked, trying to sound cheerful.

"Busy. There was an accident, so i'm working on two very expensive cars. It's a bit intimidating." he replied with a chuckle.

“You’re the best mechanic they could have,” I reassured him, laying my phone on my chest, closing my eyes to savor his voice a moment longer.

“Thanks. How’s your day?”

I hesitated. Dean could always tell when something was bothering me. “It’s… okay.”

“What’s going on, sweetheart?” he asked gently.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. “It’s… nothing. Just trying to figure out my next steps.”

Dean knew I was hiding something. “Next steps towards what? Is there anything I can do to help?”

I let out a nervous giggle. “Not unless you can offer me a job and a place to stay.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line that made my heart skip a beat. “I was actually thinking… maybe I can help with that.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.

“Well, we’re looking for a secretary at the office, and I could talk to my dad about it. And… I have a downstairs unit in my place that you could rent if you’d like,” Dean offered sincerely.

I was taken aback by his generosity. “Dean, as much as I appreciate that—”

“You’re not asking. I’m offering,” he interrupted firmly.

I thought about the rumors swirling around town about me, especially those involving Andrew. It felt wrong to accept Dean’s help, like I was being tested, or setting myself up for future criticism.

“Um… Maybe we could start with the job first, and then we’ll see,” I replied cautiously. “I don’t want to ask too much of you.”

Dean chuckled softly. “If that’s what you’re comfortable with, sweetheart. How about you come by the site in about an hour, and I’ll talk to John?”

“Okay, that works for me. Thanks, Dean,” I said gratefully.

After saying our goodbyes, I felt a rush of nerves. Not only was Dean trying to get me a job at his workplace, but I would also be meeting his father, John Winchester.

From what I’d heard, John was an intimidating figure—intimidating yet fair. I hoped I made a good impression, especially since I knew Dean’s job and possibly our future together were at stake.

I pulled into the parking lot and spotted Dean working underneath a car. I couldn’t resist sneaking up and playfully tickling his leg, causing him to startle and bump his head on the car.

I covered my mouth, trying to suppress a laugh, but it was too late. Dean rolled out from under the car, a wide grin spreading across his face. “Oh, I’m so going to get you back for that, sweetheart.”

I giggled, helping him up. “I’m so sorry.”

He laughed deep and hugged me, “It’s alright. Let’s go inside. I’ll introduce you to my dad,” Dean said, the nerves evident in his voice.

Little did I know, Dean was as nervous as I was, if not more. He knew his father had reservations about me, especially after losing the interview because of our initial encounter.

Dean knocked on the office door, and John Winchester’s sharp eyes instantly fixated on me. His expression tightened, his gaze scrutinizing Dean. I sensed there was something Dean hadn’t told me, but I wasn’t sure what.

“Dad, I wanted you to meet Y/N L/N. Y/N, this is my dad and the owner of Winchester Mechanics, John Winchester.”

I offered a polite smile, stepping forward to shake John’s hand. He chuckled under his breath, his handshake gruff. He leaned back against his desk, arms crossed, his eyes returning to Dean. “Was there something you needed to talk about, Dean?” John asked, his tone cool.

Dean swallowed nervously, his gaze dropping slightly. “Uh, yeah. Y/N is looking for a job, and I was wondering if you still had that opening for a secretary.”

John smiled faintly, shaking his head. I knew at that moment I wanted to earth to open up and swallow me whole, anything to get out of this situation.

"Dean, could you give Y/n and me a moment alone?" Dean's eyes widened as he turned towards me. I nodded quickly, and he exited the room, leaving me alone with his father, whose stare could have cut through steel.

"You'll have to excuse my son. Sometimes he acts without thinking," John said, circling his desk and gesturing for me to sit. He sighed, the tension in the room thickening around me.

"Listen, Y/N. You seem nice, and I'm sure you mean well. But I don't think you're the right fit for this place."

"May I ask why?" I whispered.

He sighed again, settling back into his chair. "I'm aware of the rumours surrounding you, what Andrew and the townsfolk say. It's not my place to judge, but I can't risk our business over someone we barely know. Dean doesn't know you either. Why should we jeopardize everything over a girl who left a relationship unhappy? How is that fair to us?"

Embarrassment flushed my cheeks, tears threatening in my eyes. He was right. I wasn't worth the trouble. This was Andrew's town, not mine. I nodded in surrender and rose from my seat. "I understand."

John stood beside me, his hand lightly touching my arm. "I'm not trying to be harsh, Y/N. But Dean doesn't need this. He doesn't need to worry about a girl he just met. He shouldn't have to endure a town looking down on him because of your history. But he's too stubborn to see it."

I nodded again, wiping away stray tears. "I know. I'll make it clear to him, Sir."

Before he could respond, I hurried out of the office, passing Dean on my way to the car. He caught my arm, concern etched on his face. "What happened? Where are you going?"

"Thanks for trying, Dean. But this was a mistake. I shouldn't have involved you."

Confusion furrowed his brow, but when he saw my tears, anger flashed across his features. "What did my dad say?"

"Nothing that wasn't true. I'm sorry. I have to go... I'll call you later."

Starting my car, I sped away from the parking lot. When Dean was out of sight, tears poured down my cheeks. I felt humiliated, foolish, and undeserving. How could I have thought things would ever be normal here? Why did I think a relationship with someone as wonderful as Dean could work when I was the town's most despised?

Dean’s POV

I stormed into my dad's office, seething with anger. He met my glare with a stern expression. "What the hell did you say to her?"

He stepped closer, his voice low. "Watch your tone, Dean. I told her the truth—that having her around is costing us already. She didn't have to leave, she didn't have to listen, but she did. She knows she's causing problems, I don't understand why you can't see that."

I scoffed and backed up. "Maybe because I'm the only one in this damn town who sees any good in her. Maybe I gave her a chance, and when she showed her true colours, I realized what a great person she is. Did it ever occur to you that Andrew might be the problem?"

He shook his head, anger simmering. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the wall. "That doesn't matter, Dean. Our business is everything. To survive, we need to be on the right side."

"And aligning with a guy who beats women is the right side?"

"Watch your mouth. Andrew has influence. What happens at home is not our concern."

I scoffed again, stepping towards the door. "You're unbelievable. What if it were Mom in her position? Would you have treated her the same way?"

"Don't you dare compare her to your mother." His voice boomed on the walls.

“Swear to god what? You’ll hit me? Yeah, because everybody in this town thinks with their fists. Go ahead, prove me right dad.”

He stepped closer, eyes glaring on me, firsts clenched. "Dean, I'm warning you."

I moved closer, unable to hold back my fury and hurt. "If it were Mom, you'd do the exact same thing."

Before I could react, he grabbed my shirt, slamming me against the wall. Pain shot through my back as his grip tightened around my throat.

"Your mother would never be in that situation. Y/N was foolish to get involved, and you're even more foolish for defending her."

"I'm falling in love with her, why can't you support that!" I shouted, watching his expression darken.

"You're an idiot. You don’t love her."

Pushing him away, I rushed for the door. "I think I do, and you won't stop me from being with her. I care about her more than I care about Winchester Mechanics, and you'd do the same if it were Mom."

Back to me

I locked myself in the motel room, collapsing against the wall as sobs racked my body. How could I have thought I'd find peace here? John was right. Dean was risking too much by being with me, and he hardly knew me. I couldn't take away his future, his passion for cars, all because of my tangled history with Andrew.

That's why I decided to leave. I packed hastily, preparing to depart and sort things out elsewhere. I couldn't stay, shouldn't have stayed.

My phone rang, displaying Dean's name. I hesitated, knowing he wouldn't stop until I answered.

His messages flooded in, each one a plea to talk. My heart raced. He was coming here? Panic surged. I couldn’t face him, couldn’t bear to watch his heart break as I told him I was leaving for good. I had to go before he arrived.

I finished packing, tossing everything into the car. As I closed the trunk, I saw Dean's truck pulling in. He must have raced here.

He hurried over, pain and worry spread across on his face. "Sweetheart..."

I avoided his eyes, "Dean, don't. It's okay. I have to go."

He glanced at the empty room behind me, panic in his eyes. "Go where?"

I sighed, turning to face him, struggling to contain my tears. "I'm leaving town."

The words felt like a knife in his gut. "Why are you leaving?"

"I don’t belong here, Dean. I'm an outcast. Your dad was right. It's not fair for me to jeopardize your future when you hardly know me."

He scoffed gently, reaching for my arm. "I do know you. I don't understand why everyone keeps saying this. It hasn't been long, but I know you. I know about your broken leg when you were five, from falling off a horse. I know you're scared of dogs and hate the dark. I know you've always dreamed of going to New York and seeing Times Square. I know the way your nose crinkles when you're lost in thought, and how you tilt your head. And I know you don't want to leave because you haven't looked away from me this whole time."

I slowly met his gaze, tears welling in my eyes. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Stay with me. I'll take care of you. I'll help you."

I stepped back, arms wrapped around myself. "Dean, if I stay, I'm putting your future at risk."

He moved closer, his hands reaching out. "Fuck my future! Why does everyone care so much about my future? A job isn’t everything. It's you."

My heart skipped a beat, his words hanging in the air. "What did you say?"

He sighed, closing the distance between us. "It's you. You're my future. It hasn't been long, but I feel it. I know you feel it too. And I've only seen someone move this fast once before—my dad and my mom. I want what they have, and I know I can have it with you. Please… just stay with me. I'll take care of you."

I couldn't hold back anymore. I leaned into him, kissing him softly before pulling away, finding the courage to speak my heart. "I think I might love you, Dean."

A smile broke across his face, and he kissed my forehead gently. "I think I love you too, Y/N."

I sighed, resting my head against his chest, finding peace in his embrace. "What do we do now? I can't afford this motel room, and I don’t have a job."

"Well... since the job didn't work out, you could move into the apartment below mine. Or... move in with me."

"Dean…"

He grinned, looking down at me. "Hey, you said you didn't want to ask too much of me. Technically, it's just one thing."

I smiled through my tears, nodding. "You're right, Detective Winchester. Are you sure?"

"More sure than anything. It's up to you—you can take the apartment or with me. Either way works for me."

"I want to live with you."

His eyes widened, joy lighting up his face. "Really?"

"Like you said, my future is with you. We might as well start now, even though I think we are absolutely crazy."

He nodded, giving me the address before heading to his truck to meet me there. For the first time in a while, I felt hope that things were heading in the right direction—all because of Dean. I prayed that moving in together would work out.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Chapter 5 coming soon stay tuned!

Like, comment, and reblog, feedback is my fuel 💕

[corishadowfang]

Questions for 15 Friends Tag Game

Tagged by @siarven--thanks for the tag!

Rules: Answer the questions, then tag 15 people.

ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

Uh...not really but also kind of for my legal name? It was the name of a character in a soap opera my mom watched, and she liked it enough to use it for me.

My chosen name...also kind of falls under the same umbrella, but for different reasons, and, uh...comes with a story. So like--I was really into fantasy stories when I was a kid/teen (I say like I'm not still into them now), and I loved making up "fantasy" names, which...basically just meant shoving a bunch of letters together until I got something I thought sounded cool. One of those names was "Coriora." For whatever reason, I fell in love with this name, and it's shortened version, "Cori," and I used it for everything. Pokemon nicknames, random characters, a self-insert OC...

And my cat. Who I adopted a few months before I made my email and FF.net account. Which is when I officially started using the name "CoriShadowfang" as my primary username online. Teenage me didn't even have the thought in her mind that she could possibly identify with the name "Cori" enough to adopt it as her own, nor did she think of the potential consequences of sharing a name with her cat.

...On the plus side, it's funny to call my cat "Cori Sr.," and watch how people try to process that.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

Uh...I think Friday night? I'm pretty sure it was about something I was planning for a story, aha. (I cry VERY easy, haha, and the thing that spurs it does not necessarily have to be sad.)

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

Do pets count...?

WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED?

I was signed up for baseball, basketball, and soccer when I was a kid, though of those, soccer was the only one I actually liked. I ended up running cross country and track in high school (though after that ended up running only for fun, since, uh...the competitive part of that wasn't very enjoyable for me, aha). In college I did fencing, which I loved and often miss a lot, but there...really aren't many places that offer fencing around where I live. I did do some long sword for a while a couple of years ago; transition to that from fencing was an interesting experience, since the fencing muscle memory...did not go away. ("What do you mean I have to hold this with two hands?? ...What do you mean I can't just stab them?!") That ended up being pretty expensive, though, so I only got to take lessons for a few months. It was still fun, though!

DO YOU USE SARCASM?

Depends on the situation! I use it a lot less online, because I'm worried about coming across as, like...rude or mean. When I do use it, it's often toned down a lot. Offline, it depends on who I'm around, and how they react to it. (Or if I'm just...getting really frustrated. Then it tends to come out more.)

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

Uh, that's...a good question. Online, it's definitely their interests, and...I guess it's kind of also the same offline? If I'm given the opportunity, haha. Like--if I see you're wearing a Pokemon pin or reading a fantasy book or something, I'm immediately going to be focused on that, haha.

WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOUR?

Mostly blue; the bottom of my right eye has a patch of green in it.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

Happy endings! I never got into scary movies very much, aha.

ANY TALENTS?

Uh...I guess writing probably counts? I'm also a pretty good distance runner.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

The middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES?

Writing, haha; I joke that it's all I do, but uh...it really is most of what I do. Besides that, I like drawing, reading, playing video games, and hiking. I guess playing card games/board games might also count? But uh, I do that a lot with my friends and family.

DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS?

Yes! Cori Sr. is still around, haha, and I also recently adopted a puppy named Luna. Obligatory pet photos:

HOW TALL ARE YOU?

5'4''

FAVOURITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?

Probably unsurprisingly, lit/creative writing, haha. I also really liked most science classes, too; learning about nature was one of my favorite things in school, and any sort of labs where we could go outside and actually study plants/animals were amazing.

DREAM JOB?

If money weren't a concern, and I could just do anything I wanted for the rest of my life without worrying about how to pay the bills...I would love to just write stories full time. Writing really is one of the things I'm the most passionate about, and I'd love to be able to pour my all into it without worrying about getting too burnt out or needing to take on extra jobs to make ends meet. Maybe one day...

I will tag...wait I need 15 of you...uhhh @starlightwayfinder, @cq-studios, @recusant-s-sigil, @scalacaelumx, @hallowed-nebulae, @serenedash, @thetwilightroadtonightfall, @rosie-kairi, @fin-al-mix, @kicktwine, @zmwrites, @talesabound, @gotchaocha, @bookwormally, and @lightwithinthedarknessu, if any of you want to do this! Absolutely no pressure, though! (And feel free to skip/leave out any you might feel uncomfortable answering/don't feel like answering.)

[cosplayinamerica]

Hobgoblin from Spiderman : thehobgoblin238

I decided to do The Hobgoblin because I loved the dynamic of his character and how long it actually took in the comics to reveal his identity. I've always seen the more popular characters from Spider Man being cosplayed and I wanted to do something different and original. I'm kinda shy so being a villain really brings out the creative side in me and allows me to be more outgoing and really have fun with something outside of my normal personality. Plus I like to think of him as the Joker of the Marvel Universe.

The process was very long. I started simple with cloth and learning how to sew. I used bed sheets and various materials around the house to create this since I was new to crafts and the cosplay world. I eventually got better at sewing, found better material along with the help of my friends at ShapeShifterZ to come up with a great pattern, comfortable fit and the look I was going for. It was challenging learning how to sew leather, it's expensive and you only get one shot at it. I first used makeup for my face but I couldn't get it to look menacing enough. I tried a pumpkin masks I got from a Halloween store and eventually partnered with CFX to have them make a custom mask that moves with my face and mouth.

Once I felt confident and satisfied with the outfit, I knew I needed to complete the entire ensemble and really make The Hobgoblin who he is, his glider. I watched a lot of YouTube videos, asked other cosplay friends for advice and eventually came up with the simple design you see me rolling around cons with. The one you see today is the fourth version because the others were not stable enough and fell apart. The entire costume took a couple of years to put together but it was a lot of trial and error, testing it out at cons and feedback from friends.

Everyone seems to love the originality of the costume and how it looks like it jumped off the page of a comic book. I couldn't ask for a better response. I carry around extra pumpkin bombs for the kids, who aren't afraid of me, to take cool and interesting pictures with them. They seem to get a kick out of it and I usually tell them to stay evil and the parents get a good laugh out of it. One of the things I find funny at cons besides telling kids to stay evil, is when I notice people video taping me or asking me to ride around so they can get video. I usually throw a pumpkin bomb at their camera/phone. Don't worry it's a plush toy and very soft. They seem to enjoy it and it makes for a really fun and cool video.

The biggest compliment I ever got was from John Romita Jr. He was behind his booth and came out from around the table and the first words out of his mouth were "Wow, this is amazing! Better than anything I could have imagined in real life." He gave me a big hug and just admired my version of bringing his character to life. He gave me once piece of advice and he said I needed to add a big red eye and a small red eye. He stressed that that was a distinct characteristic of The Hobgoblin and the next time he sees me I better have that. I told him, no problem "Dad" I'll get it done. He had a good chuckle, signed a few items for me and told me I did a great job. I think getting compliments like those from the original artists are the best compliments a cosplayer can get. I've gotten similar reactions from Stan Lee, Tom Holland and Jacob Batalon. But Ill save those stories for another time.

I used to be really introverted, to some extent I still am, but cosplaying has really allowed me to connect with people, have fun and really get out of my shell. I'm always excited to go to a new cons or cons I've been to before and show off my Hobgoblin and now The Klaw, another obscure marvel character. I really makes me feel good and happy to hear all the great compliments and how they've seen me at other cons and are excited to meet me. I do this for the love of cosplay and being around other creative artist. I don't have many followers, nor am I interested in getting a ton, but it's always great when I get recognized and people ask to have thier photo taken with me. Those smiles, laughter and good times make riding on that tiny hoverboard all day totally worth it.

If you ever see me at a con feel free to say hi, share stories and talk nerdy. Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Anime or anything in between, I love it all. I'm never in a hurry to go anywhere, even though I'm speeding down the aisle ways, so shout out "Hobgoblin" and I'm more than happy to stop, take a few photos and enjoy the con with you. Most importantly "If you got a problem, call Hobgoblin"

-----

Video : Parks and Cons

[seven-pillows]

hi woow i have a lego ask if u feel like answering one: which lego sets do u have and what are ur faves if any? and what other sets do u want to get besides the pegasus? the unicorn is soo cuute btw!!

hi yay thank you for giving me an opportunity to yap 😈 putting all this below the cut because i couldn't help myself. here are all the sets i own in the order i got them + my thoughts on them

1) 10281 Bonsai Tree

this was given to me for my birthday last year! i think this set has become an instant classic, it's such a nice looking display piece. i put it on the windowsill in my staircase which was very silly because when it gets knocked over, those loose studs go EVERYWHERE 😭

2) 31140 3-in-1 Magical Unicorn

this is my favourite set ever i love it so much! i impulse bought it in a bookshop one day because it has a seahorse and is rainbow, two of my favourite things. i've definitely gotten my money's worth with how many times i've built and rebuilt the different models. plus, on Rebrickable, there are so many custom models people have made out of these pieces! i've turned it into a rhino, a boat and a helicopter from other people's instructions. love that website.

fun fact, an hour or two after i bought this (this was before i even really started getting into lego) they released the first teaser for the Animal Crossing lego sets. the way i manifested that?

3) 21340 Tales of the Space Age

this was a christmas gift! i think it's really pretty and i love how you can change the constellation in the third one. that being said, it just feels a bit silly to have a set be so 2D like this? this could have been an art print.

4) 77050 Nook's Cranny & Rosie's House

i got this one in March! when the AC sets were announced i vowed to get all of them no matter what. i have not done this because they are very expensive for what they are and i don't love them as much as i wanted to... the minifigs are perfect but i think the way that everything is on its own little squircle base looks a bit messy. that being said, as someone who grew up loving Animal Crossing but never had any merch because it was still pretty niche, my inner child was very happy building this set :) i really enjoy how you can change the layout of the furniture in the house and all the individual outdoor pieces.

4a/4b) 30662 Maple's Pumpkin Garden and 30635 Beach Cleanup

these two little sets came for free with the previous one! the Animal Crossing one is cute, kinda whatever though. it's pretty much just an add-on to the main sets. love Maple ❤️

the Friends one though? i held off on building it so i could have it to cheer me up some day i was feeling low. when i finally did build it i fell in love with it! it's just really colourful and cutesy. my first job was actually litter picking by the seaside so it's so bizarre and coincidental that i ended up with this. i've attached this set beside Rosie's house to try and incorporate it into my little Animal Crossing town. i guess Aliya is the player? Pascal looks different though 🧐

i will say though that this set does feel very greenwashy. i follow some sea glass collectors on instagram and they're always finding lego bricks washed up on the shore... i can't really talk because i'm out here buying their products but i do feel a bit guilty sometimes. but also life is short and i'm just trying to be happy. idk. surprise ethical discourse 🤩

Sets I want

i've ordered a few more Animal Crossing sets, namely Dodo Airlines and the Town Hall, because i want to have a little Animal Crossing town (and also just so i could get that damn pegasus 😑). i am also really looking into Lego Friends because i think they have some beautiful and interesting buildings in that theme, and the commitment to inclusion and representation just feels really nice. but yeah. stay tuned for more unwise financial decisions

[adorpheus]

Taking a Chest of Drawers I Rescued from the trash and making it rainbow!!

Hello, tumblr family. Below is a repost of an article originally posted on adorpheus.com, and is being shared here for archival purposes. Original post date: July 23, 2022.

Several years ago, I think it was 2014, I was driving around my hometown and I came across a chest of drawers someone had left on the curb for trash day, apparently throwing it out. At the time I was in need of a dresser pretty much exactly like that - my bedroom was small and I was hoping to get a chest of drawers that was taller than it was wide so it wouldn't take up too much room.

Bless this mess, lol

Originally, the dresser was a blonde wood color with blue knobs. It was also pretty beat up - the back of it was scuffed and it was missing a knob. Even still, I jumped at the chance to get the chest of drawers I was looking for FREE, have fun repainting it, and get to upcycle some trash at the same time.

When I first got it, all I did was spray paint it white. I had ideas for things I wanted to do with it, but that was the first step in getting it ready to paint. Then I didn't do anything with it for like 7 years or something, lol. Then this year, since I have been re-doing my room anyway, I realized it was time to finally get this project finished.

I love pastel rainbows, so I decided to go with that for my theme. For the paint, I went to home depot and after looking over all the paint chips, I picked out some colors I wanted and got paint samples for all of the different shades. I used matte for the drawers and semi-gloss for the white part (the spray paint job was not very good to begin with, so repainting the white base was a must). All the paint is samples of the type of paint you would use on a wall. 

After I finished painting, I felt the drawers needed an extra glaze of some kind to give them a bit of sparkle. The matte was a cool idea in theory but I wanted it to pop a bit more. I had a bottle of craft glitter clear glaze lying around so I decided to go with that. The bottle was half empty, so there wasn't much glitter left in it (plus a bunch of it chose to clump into an unusable blob at the bottom because the bottle was like 15 years old lol) but it did the job well enough. I love when I get to use up craft supplies I've had sitting around for a while.

Once the painting was complete, the last step was to figure out the knobs. Aside from the fact that I hated the original spherical knobs anyways because they were hella awkward to grab, the dresser was missing a knob sooo new knobs were an absolute must.

My original plan was to use rose shaped knobs, but the reviews I saw for those kind said the rose knobs were a bit sharp on the edges. I truly hate when things randomly have sharp edges, and last thing I need is getting pricked in the hand every time I need to grab a pair of socks. So those were ruled out.

After spending way way way too long looking at knobs, I decided on these crystal knobs (above) on amazon and decided to get them. I actually originally wanted a fancier, more expensive set, but those got sold out before I got a chance to buy them so I went with the cheaper set above. The photos didn't look quite as pretty as the ones I originally had my eyes on, but I had already spent so much time obsessing over fricking KNOBS I decided to just go with them. I'm actually really happy I went with these. The pictures don't begin to do them justice, they are way prettier in real life.

To protect the surface, I used my sewing machine to create this lavender lace altar cloth / runner type thing for the top. 

Although the drawers are a little sticky sometimes (which they were to begin with, lol) I'm pretty happy with this furniture flip!! The exact kind of dresser I was looking for fell into my lap and I was able to make it cute.

Some other happenings in the adorpheus multiverse...

I recently became a Twitch affiliate after years of trying!!! Emotes coming soon, feel free to follow me on Twitch to see when I go live! This month I'll be playing the new cat game STRAY along with some other fun titles!

Speaking of cats..!

I also adopted a new cat!! It's MEOW time!! Say hello to Artemis aka Arty for short! She is best friends with my sisters cat Luna!! I am sharing photos and videos of her and Luna on my instagram and they also have their own tiktok!!

I hope everyone is having an amazing non-binary hot gurl summer!! Have fun and stay hydrated!!!

[etaindelaserna]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

Not at all! Thanks for asking!😊 Made me realise how hard it actually is to restrict yourself to 10 characters🙈

1) Zoro (One Piece)

I liked Zoro the moment I saw him for the first time in the anime. The character design, his fighting style, his badassery combined with his goofy moments persuaded me instantly. What made me fall in love with him was his commitment to his friends and his unyielding will to fight for his dream. Also: Always putting himself in the crossfire to protect his nakama and is prepared to do the hardest choices, because it’s the right thing to do. Just✨

2) Naruto (Naruto)

Me and Naruto didn’t click at first. The snotty, troublemaking brat, who didn’t seem to have respect for anything or anyone was annoying. That turned around rather quickly once the Zabuza Arc came around and suddenly I realised why Naruto acted the way he did. Him just wanting to be recognised by the people and find his place among them was as heartbreaking as it was powerful. This combined with his will to achieve his dream no matter how many setbacks and what everyone else told him, plus his good heart despite how people treated him, absolutely made me adore him.

3) Jack Sparrow

I think what attracted me the most apart from Johnny Depp‘s performance was his cleverness, his antics and the „thief with a heart of gold“-trope. Everything Jack does is for his one and only treasure: freedom. He is prepared to do everything he can for it but not at the expense of other people‘s lives. I think Elizabeth was spot on when she called him an „honourable man“. He is one of those characters I could watch doing the most mundane activities and never get bored.

4) Luke Skywalker

I‘ve been a Star Wars fan ever since I was 7 years old. I don’t remember why I wanted to be Luke at the playground apart from the fact that he was Jedi but as an adult I‘d say Luke represents what we all should strive to be: selfless, helping others, believing that there is a good that’s worth fighting for. At least in the OT he never abandoned his friends or family and that’s what I liked about him the most. He was optimistic, never gave up and fought for what he believed was right. I’m sucker for those kind of characters 🧡

5) Hermione Granger

Growing up with Harry Potter I admired Hermione: bookworm, hard-working, talented but not a born genius, stubborn, ordinary looking. Her resourcefulness, her intelligence, her commitment to her studies and her friends despite her obvious flaws was something I really liked about her. She could be condescending, cunning, almost cruel at times, but for the most part she was a ride or die friend, willing if necessary to die for Harry.

6) Jaime Lannister (GoT)

I think Jaime is one of the best written characters in pop culture and one of the best examples of a subversion done right. George R.R. Martin made me despise him in the beginning only to show me along the way that Jaime despite his crimes, actually is one of the few who deserve to be called a „knight of the seven kingdoms“. The core of his character is to protect the innocent but his duty is to his family. I really started to like him during his travels with Brienne. He is willing to sacrifice everything for his family and for Cersei without a second thought and that’s both his biggest virtue and his biggest flaw. The tragedy of it all is so good.

7) Loki

I still don’t know if it’s the Shakespearean aspect of the character itself or the Shakespearean vibes Tom Hiddleston brought to the character but I fell hard for Loki. The tragedy is what fascinated me the most, the idea that some of us are pushed on a certain path due to circumstances and then this path unfortunately speaks to our dark side and we stray away from the light. Also the need to be recognised by your friends, family, the community is something we all experience in our life. Maybe even the need to surpass expectations because you just feel that you have to do something great, something meaningful even thinking that this will give you the attention and connection you are craving.

8) Werther (The Sufferings of Young Werther)

Werther is one of those characters I didn’t particular like when we read the book back in school, because apart from the unrequited love aspect I couldn’t identify with any of his other problems. That started to change during my mid twenties. Times started to change and they changed too quickly for me to catch up. Then you have your family’s expectation, your own and society’s and suddenly you realise that there is no way out, that you can’t spend the rest of your days reading books and wandering around. You have to take responsibility. You have to do something useful even if it’s not the job you actually want to do. I think there are a lot of problems when you are young which turn out to be insignificant once you’ve reached a certain age and that’s one of things Goethe realized in his later years when he was asked about Werther. Werther suffered needlessly. Now when I read the book it breaks my heart because you can see so clearly all the moments and opportunities Werther had to turn around and change his mind. But he just couldn’t.

9) Spike (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

I mean: a sarcastic, sassy, poetry loving, bleach blond, leather coat wearing vampire…do I need to say more? The coolness factor was off the charts when Spike was introduced as a new antagonist. He was cunning, ruthless, fearless but also loyal, funny and even without a soul more human when some of the humans around him. It really annoyed me when they reduced him to a comic relief in later seasons. His fate was to be a hopeless romantic who was used by all the women he admired, fell in love with and was fiercely loyal to. That just sucked. On the one hand I admired his conviction. He even got his soul back just because he thought Buffy would then love him. On the other hand I wished he would have just walked away from everything.

10) Hannibal Lecter (TV Series)

It’s the complexity and deep dive into the human psyche that attracted me to this character as portrayed in the TV series. Generally speaking I think people who don’t bother with the limitations set by society, who follow their own rules and who don’t see anything wrong with killing because it comes natural to them, is something we are fascinated by. The ruthlessness and inhumane behaviour shocks and disgusts us and yet there is also something about it that makes us want to understand. The way Hannibal seemed to manipulate everyone around him (even Will) and at the same time was just cruelly honest about who and what he was, was addictive. A predator in human skin.

[saiilorstars]

Ch.6: P.S. I Love You

Steve Rogers x OFC fic • squeeze your eyes for a Bucky Barnes x (2nd) OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag​​​​​​​​​​​​ @arrthurpendragon​​​​​​​​​​​ @anotherunreadblog​​​​​​​​​​​ @maaaaarveeeeel​​​​​​​​​​​ @stareyedplanet​​​​​​​​​​​ @gloryekaterina​​​ @averyhotchner​​​ @foxesandmagic​​​​​​​​​​​​ @lenonizi @kmc1989​​​​​​​​​​​​

Story Masterlist • Seren’s Masterlist• Chloe’s Masterlist​​

Also available on Fanfic ○ Ao3 ○ Wattpad

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

The moment Seren stepped into Steve's apartment, she couldn't imagine anyone else but him living there. It was completely him in all aspects. It was warm, cozy and very neat. She even spotted the old record player she'd gotten him for his birthday 2 years ago. Warmth blossomed across her chest knowing he actually used her gift. He had a decent amount of records to choose from, having began a collection almost immediately after getting the record player.

"Seren, do you want something to drink?"

Seren tore her gaze from the record player to find Steve waiting for her to answer. He was being cautious with her and with good reason. She was well aware of her erratic behavior tonight. "I'm good, thanks," she smiled lightly. "I like your place. Some of the furniture is familiar, actually."

Steve nodded. "Yeah, I wonder why…?" They shared a small laugh. Seren had chosen most of his furniture for his first apartment. Back when he was just getting used to the new world, she'd done almost everything for him.

"I really like it," Seren reiterated. She set her purse on the coffee table. "I think you've made it very you."

"Is that a good thing? Because I've gotten several complaints from Chloe that it could be a little less old…" Steve shook his head at the memories. Sometimes, Chloe Winters was too much.

"You can kick her out any moment," Seren said, making them laugh again. When they got past it, Seren grew serious. "I don't think I've thanked you for keeping an eye on her while I was gone. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've just been pretty rude these past days when it comes to her."

"You don't have to—"

"I know Chloe can be a handful sometimes and the fact you let her stay here — in your room while you take the couch — means a lot. Anyone else would've just sent her on her way already. So, really, thank you so much."

"I've already told you — she's become like a little sister to me. Plus, I got a secret too…" Steve made a nod towards the couch. "It's a pull-out."

"Aah," Seren chuckled.

"Better than just a normal couch. Sometimes I forget how much better this world is in terms of inventions."

Seren started making her way to the couch. "But other things are far worse, aren't they?" She gave him a sharp look just as he was about to say that it wasn't true.

"Some things could stand to change a bit…" He said with his hands raised in front of him. Seren smiled at him and sat down. She patted the empty spot beside her for him. "The cellphone things could be a little less, uh, brainwashing?" He came to sit with her. He would continue the random subjects with her if it meant easing her nerves from the event. "I've seen so many people crash into others because they won't look up from their phones."

Seren chuckled. "Yeah, that tends to happen a lot. It's so weird, when I was growing up, there weren't cell phones like these. The first ones were so big and then suddenly we switched to these small things. Early 2000s is when we got cell phones with cameras in them."

"Did you have one?"

Seren snorted. "No! They were expensive. Plus, my parents didn't want me getting used to having all that stuff around me. They thought S.H.I.E.L.D. was plenty." At the mention of the organization, Seren fell silent for the next minute. It seemed like his distraction attempt wouldn't be working out so well.

"Seren, what is it?" he asked her. "If you ask me, the night went really well. You said everything exactly how it should've been."

"Yeah, I did. Everything went perfectly," Seren nodded slowly. Her bottom lip became chewing gum at that moment. "Maybe that's the problem."

Steve tilted his head at her for that last remark. "What do you mean? I thought you wanted—"

"If I get the approval, then I'll be off to another country again. I'll be starting over, meeting new people, making new colleagues — I'll be surrounded by strangers again. And when that's done, I'll go to another country...and then another…"

"You don't know that—"

"That's the plan, Steve. Rebeca and Fury already told me," Seren said, her voice falling into a whisper. "Will I really get to have a life that way?"

Oh, that was a good question that Steve unfortunately didn't know how to answer.

"This is exactly what my parents always talked about and I never really thought about it until now." Seren drew in a breath, feeling the weight of her future the more she considered what her life would be like if she was always on the move. She wouldn't have a real home anymore. Her friends would always be changing. Her family would be so, so far away from her. She could say goodbye to everything else. Once upon a time, it didn't really matter but today...it hurt her more than anything.

"Seren, I think that whatever you want to do should be just that: what you want to do," Steve said. "It doesn't matter what the 'plans' are. You are the only one who matters and you should value your happiness over whatever plans Fury and Rebeca have." He could say that he would love to have her at home again but that would be completely selfish. He meant what he said — she was the only thing that mattered in those plans. If she was happy going on with the plans, then so be it. He'd have to learn to live completely without her and move on.

"That's what I'm confused about." Seren sighed and shifted on the couch to face him. "I have always been with S.H.I.E.L.D. I've always known where my place is, what I want to do. There's never been any doubt but...something changed."

Steve felt something in his chest. "What did?"

Seren's eyes drifted to the side, landing on the record player. She swallowed hard — she knew exactly what changed. Chloe was right. She couldn't keep on denying the truth, denying the fact she hadn't been able to move on and forget. She had to understand that her thoughts about the future had changed. She no longer saw herself alone. She never considered what it would be like to be serious about someone. There was always an underlying fear that her significant other would lash out at her because of her Celessian side. It wasn't easy getting over the fact you were dating someone who was half alien. She wouldn't lie to herself and say that she didn't have that fear — just an inkling of it — with Steve too. But for that fear to even be spoken about would imply what she wanted to be with him.

Steve absolutely hated watching Seren in this position. She was so conflicted and he had no idea what to do to help her. He followed her gaze to the record player and, for one moment, he debated whether or not to go with his first gut feeling. Usually that's what he would do on a mission but Seren always made him feel like he should do more. He should go above and beyond to see her happy, and it pained him that he was ridiculously clueless.

Just do the first thing that pops into your head. Steve knew the answer before he even finished the thought. Without saying a word, he got up from the couch and walked around.

Seren blinked when he came up to the record player. "What are you doing?"

"You know back then, I struggled so much to talk to women...it was a nightmare." He was sifting through records so he missed the look Seren sent his way.

"As far I can see, you don't seem to struggle so much anymore. Everyone loves you." Seren felt her face flush remembering what Chloe had said earlier in the night. She wasn't one of those crazy women who only saw him and a bed. He was simply so much more than that and no one had a clue. He was someone you could talk to for hours. He was someone who would listen and try to comfort you however he could. He was so kind, and so loyal. If he said he had your back, then he did. Seren's heart wanted to burst the more she thought about Steve. She could literally spend hours thinking about him, and on most days she typically did. "Steve, I lo—"

"Yeah, but that's different and I'm still not that great." Steve seemed to find exactly what he was looking for. He never noticed Seren covering her mouth behind him.

She'd almost slipped! Dear God, what the hell did I almost do? Seren felt so embarrassed, despite the fact Steve didn't notice.

"I couldn't even ask a girl out to dance. I mean, she would've probably said 'no' anyways but I could've at least tried to ask, you know?" Steve went on, chuckling to himself.

"Sometimes courage is hard..." Seren said, "Sometimes the bravest people can also be the shyest. And I definitely know that you're the bravest man I know."

"Unfortunately, it can come back and bite you. I wasted time — I did that with Peggy — but I'm trying to use that experience and everything else as a guide to right my mistakes." Steve glanced over his shoulder to see Seren had laid her arms over the top of the couch and was resting her chin over her hands. She was smiling at him, clearly listening to his every word despite them probably being all over the place (and obscure). She was always so attentive to him. He wanted to show the same gesture towards her, and perhaps more. "I don't know exactly what's confusing you but if I can say a piece of advice—"

"Please do," she practically begged him. "Anything you say will help me organize my thoughts."

"The things that have made you unhappy in the past concerning S.H.I.E.L.D. should serve as a way to help you make a better choice this time 'round. They're mistakes, try to right them in a way that makes you the happiest."

Seren considered the idea. She could look back in her life and avoid making a decision that would bring her to the worst moments. "Thank you, Steve." She met his gaze with another smile — it was even prettier this time. "So, have you been able to right some of your mistakes?"

"I'm hoping to in a way," he said as he let the record spinner finally drop. He turned to face her just as the music began to play. Put Your Head on my Shoulder. "Would you like to dance with me?"

Seren knew exactly when her blush bloomed over her face. She pulled her arms from the top of the couch as Steve came around with a hand held out for her. "You bought the song?" She couldn't help the light laugh that slipped through her lips.

"I had to. It reminded me of you." God knew that Steve wanted as many reminders of Seren as he could get, even though it probably did his heart no good.

The blush grew deeper over Seren's cheeks. "Why would you want that?" she asked.

There were a million things that Steve could say to her that would hide the truth. He gulped.

Seren saw it. Seconds of courage helped her rise from the couch with a taunting smile. Her blue satin dress seemed to shine under the light. It was just like that, that Steve felt his heart thump a bit stronger. She was beautiful..and she wasn't his.

Because he was almost like a statue, Seren walked up to him and ultimately took his hand. "I'd like a dance," she raised her head to meet his gaze. She felt a rush of pride knowing that this time, nobody else would get a chance to look at him. Only her.

Steve brought his arms around her waist and planted his hand against the small of her back. Even though he was beyond nervous — Seren had yet to lift that alluring look off him — his feet actually moved at a decent pace to the song. When her hands moved to the back of his neck and they actually touched his skin, he felt an insane heat rush through him.

"You're a better dancer than before," Seren spoke quietly, especially considering what happened the last time they danced together in London. "Have you been dancing with other people during these past 2 years?"

"Umm…" Steve raised his eyebrows as he thought, "Not...not really, no."

"Mm, I don't know, I've heard you're quite popular with the ladies…"

That was the second time she said something like that and it was only now that Steve realized it. If he wasn't completely off, one could say that it sounded like Seren was...a bit jealous? Why would she be jealous, though? They were in his apartment, slow-dancing to a song that he clearly said reminded him of her (the whole reason he even bought the record in the first place).

"I honestly don't notice that kind of stuff," he said.

She smirked. "Really? Every man always notices when women trail after them."

"I think I've made it clear that I've never been good with women. Not smart at all," he shrugged and earned himself a light chuckle from her. He felt an irrevocable surge of courage then, seeing her so casual and at ease with him. She'd been so conflicted earlier and now it seemed like a thing of the past. He was responsible for that. He had to believe it in order to keep that courage from leaving him and being unable to say what he wanted to. "If I ever had been smart, I wouldn't have let you go 2 years ago."

Seren's eyes widened, the air in her lungs stilling. "What…?" She may have been having an odd night with her internal struggles but she was pretty sure that she heard right.

Steve held her closer to his chest. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be bringing this up after such a long time but if I'm being honest, I haven't had such a good time since London. I'm terrible at this stuff and it's awful because it means my chances with you are even lower than possible."

"Wait—"

"I don't know if you've already moved on. I mean, it wouldn't be that surprising considering how much time it's been but I think you needed to know what's been going through my head. I miss you, Seren, and I would want nothing more than to be with you." Steve was terrified of what Seren would say to him. He could be very right about her moving on. If that was the case, then he just completely ruined this relationship and he would have to move on for real.

But Seren didn't answer right away. Instead, she rested her head on his shoulder. "This is our song," she whispered. "You're way braver than I am. You go out and you buy things that remind you of me. I don't. I-I can't. I never did...because the thought of having something like you but not you hurts me too much."

They swayed slowly to the song for the following seconds. Their grip on each other tightened and the music seemed to overtake the apartment completely. Neither realized what ran through the other's heads. Steve was trying to process what Seren had just said and the implications that went with it. Seren struggled to come up with a good way to express her conflict — the job proposal, her future — but neither wanted to end their dance just yet. The fact was they loved where they were and the idea of separating (again) was too painful.

Can you really do it again? Leave without looking back? The mere question terrified Seren. No, no she couldn't do it again. She barely did the first time. She raised her head from Steve's shoulder and looked up at him. "It's you," she said quietly.

"What?" He blinked.

"What I'm confused about? It's you...you and my job."

"I don't-I don't want to ever put myself between you and your job, Seren—"

"I know that, silly," she smiled sadly. "It's what we were talking about earlier. We both know that if I get the approval from the Council, I'm going to be travelling nonstop. I won't be coming to D.C. for a very long time. And I'm not sure I want that. I don't know if I want to be alone for such a long time."

"You wouldn't be. If you want to try something, I'd support you. I'd make the visits myself." He wouldn't necessarily be making a sacrifice there. He'd love to visit her wherever she was and see the sights with her.

"I know. I know that you would do God knows what just to make me happy but it's not just about us, you know? My family's here. They're in New York and if I was here, in D.C., it'd be a lot easier to see them than if I were in France or Brazil or wherever else the Council would send me to. Natasha's here, Chloe — even though her schedule is a mess — would be easier to see here. I'm just not sure if I'm willing to give up my life for this Initiative, not when I already gave up so much before." Her childhood was gone, a good and honest relationship with her parents was never going to be possible because of the Initiative. "I may be thinking of a future that might not even happen but...what if one day I want to settle down and...I don't know...have a kid or something…" Her face warmed up with the idea once it expanded to include who that possibility might be with, "...do I really want to be that mother who's never home? It's really in the future and it might not even happen but—"

"It's a valid thought, Seren, don't be ashamed of it," Steve said. It was of course very into the future but something that had to be considered. He simply hadn't realized that she was thinking about so many things.

"It was easier to say 'yes' when it was just a 2 year plan but now that it could potentially be an all-my-life plan…" Seren bit on her lower lip, "It's hard to give things up. And that's never happened to me."

"I understand. Trust me, I do." Without even thinking of the implications, Steve left a kiss on her temple and lingered there for a few seconds. He'd heard the fear in her voice admitting to that. "You've been asked to give up so many things before and it's never been fair. You deserve so much more, Seren. You deserve more than what S.H.I.E.L.D. gave you."

"You are the one thing that I can truly thank S.H.I.E.L.D. for," Seren said, lifting her gaze again. "It gave me the opportunity to meet you."

"I yelled at you when we first met…" Steve would always hate that it was how their first encounter went. That was definitely not his finest moment. "I ran out on you, actually."

"Yeah, you did," Seren chuckled. "But I completely understood you. I didn't really like the method Fury went with your awakening. And trust me, there were meetings about how we were going to wake you."

"You guys had meetings about me?" Steve blinked. He couldn't imagine having a whole room of people talking about him.

Seren giggled. "We had the CIA in there too."

"Oh God..."

"A couple of us were against the idea that was made, and, honestly, I definitely did not pull off that 40s outfit." She shuddered, making Steve laugh.

"You looked fine to me," he said and she knew that he meant it 100%.

"However it happened, I'm glad that it did," she reiterated. She licked her lips nervously and cupped his face, having to lean on her toes for it to actually be possible. "Because if it had been any other S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in that room, we might not be where we are right now. And do you know, it actually wasn't going to be me."

There were way too many things happening at once that Steve felt his head spinning. Seren's soft fingers were on his face, gently stroking his skin. She was looking at him with warm eyes and a captivating smile. Her perfume was filling the air around him, drawing him closer to her.

"Did you just say" — he was blinking fast, trying to snap himself out of the trance — "you weren't supposed to be in the room when I woke up?"

Seren seemed to know what she was doing because she leaned closer to him, pressing a kiss on his cheek. "Aha," she murmured.

Steve's heart was racing again. "I-I — who — do you — who was...who was supposed to be there?" He couldn't imagine anyone else but Seren being in that room with him.

Seren kissed the corner of his mouth and that was the end of any thoughts Steve had. "One of our friends from the CIA, but does that really matter right now?"

Nope. Steve grabbed the sides of her face and kissed her completely. He might have crashed their lips together and he would definitely apologize for the brusque manner but later. Right now, he wanted to — no, he needed to — kiss her until he ran out of breath. There were 2 years of longing to get over and luckily for him, and her, their lungs were significantly strong.

Seren moved her arms around his neck, helping deepen the kiss. Every tensed nerve she had a minute ago disappeared, and how could it not? All her heightened senses were sharp and on fire, all caused by one Steve Rogers. Any other moment she might have been embarrassed at how easily and quickly she moaned into a kiss, but it was impossible to feel uneasy around him. Even with a rough kiss, Steve held her gently and carefully. Seren almost felt like reminding him there was more to both of them than the average human.

They stumbled down on the couch and still didn't let go of each other. Steve lowered his arms around her waist, hand pressing against her back and part of her exposed skin. Her skin was so smooth it felt like a crime to grip it or mark it in the slightest. He just wanted to hold her in his arms for as long as he could — hold the moment for as long as—

Seren recognized the buzz of her phone. She'd sat right over her bag (and hadn't realized a thing until now). "I—" She actually had to take in a big breath.. The fact someone had literally managed to steal her breath away was exhilarating.

Steve couldn't make out her facial expressions and what she was feeling. His mind was still trying to catch up with what had just happened. "Seren, I'm—"

"Shh," Seren held a finger to his lips while she pulled her bag out from underneath her. "I just gotta make sure it's not Rebeca." She pulled out her phone and only a few seconds of reading the text message on her screen, her entire expression fell flat.

Steve had no idea what happened. "Are you...are you okay?"

But just like that, she smiled at him and melted his heart. "You know, I say the first thing we should do together is...plot murder." Her lips curled into a frown as she showed him the message she'd received.

Steve read it quickly — it was just two short sentences — and frowned as well. "That's definitely not Rebeca."

"No, it is not." Seren looked at the message again.

Just a note, but if you're not already making out with Steve, then I'm coming over and locking you both in the room. We've had enough.

- Chloe

"I'm going to kill her. I'm really going to do it this time." Seren dangerously gripped her phone until Steve gently took it out of her hand. "She's — eugh!" She curled her hands into fists. "Would it kill her to stay out of my life!?"

"That would be too easy," Steve said, leaving her phone on the coffee table. "Plus, I'm pretty sure it's under the duties of a best friend. God knows that Bucky screwed me over so many times just to get me to go out with girls."

Seren lifted an eyebrow at him. "And just who exactly did he put you up with?"

Steve blinked at her. How had this turned around to him now!? "I didn't — that was — weren't we — we—?" he gestured between them. "Weren't we fine a minute ago?"

A smile stretched across Seren's face watching him fumble over his words. "Lovey, you're going to be fun messing with. Forget those other girls and kiss me instead."

As soon as he heard her, Steve stopped altogether. Lovey. That same word that kept slipping from Seren each time they were in a compromising situation. It was the word that gave Steve the courage the first time to actually kiss her 2 years ago. It was her fond name for him. And he was oh-so-fond of her too.

"Yes, ma'am." He leaned over and kissed her again.

Seren happily rejoined her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her. Their kiss was slower now, leaving room for giggles and words here and there.

"You do realize we're not getting cinnamon rolls tonight, right?" Steve said to her, pressing his forehead against hers.

"Mm, that's fine by me," Seren shrugged. "I'm suddenly not in the mood for cinnamon rolls anymore."

"New craving?"

"Something like that…" Her alluring smirk was something that Steve never thought he would need in his life.

"You are…" He started already without much breath, which led to a fit of giggles from Seren.

"Adorable?" she finished for him with a wink after.

"Something like that," he settled for. He wouldn't want to waste any precious moments with her, not when they were like this.

They kissed again and with no interruption whatsoever — maybe it was really good that no one would be coming by after all.

Seren enjoyed every minute that passed by without them fully breaking apart. It was refreshing being that close to someone without fearing an accidental display of non-human traits like extra strength. Because right now she was using every last part of her strength to keep Steve right where he was. He was, unsurprisingly, hesitant to let his hands roam when they clearly wanted to. She moved the hand reluctantly touching her left knee higher up until it was settled prominently on her thigh.

"Sorry, I—" Steve mumbled, much to her amusement.

"You're fine." She tilted her head up to capture his lips in a sweet kiss. "I've been there, trust me."

"You?" Steve raised an eyebrow at her, clearly unconvinced with her promise.

Seren pointed to the prominent star birthmark on the right side of her neck and her shoulder-bone. "Look who you're talking to, lovey. I don't have serious relationships because not everybody would be able to see past my out-of-this-world traits. I always have to hold back, whether it's the truth or physical things like strength and my powers."

"Not with me," Steve said automatically. "I don't know what's going to happen but you will never have to hide anything from me. I promise you that." He let his fingers run through her soft ginger hair. "Not even your real hair color…"

Seren burst into laughter. "Brunette-Seren thanks you."

"I mean it." Steve's fingers came down to her star birthmark at the end of her shoulder. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss over it.

Seren's eyes closed with the contact. "Mmm…" She could have said 'yes' to anything he wanted right there and then. Burn the entire building? Sure thing. "Can I stay with you tonight?" The question slipped from her before her brain could discourage her from asking it.

Steve pulled back to look at her, of course surprised with the question. "Uh, I mean…"

Seren would soon find reality again and flush with embarrassment. "Oh my God, I'm sorry. I didn't...of course not — I don't even — I haven't even given you any explanation—"

"What explanation?" Steve said, making a face at her.

Seren sighed. "Well, you know, what happened the last time we saw each other."

"Seren, that was then. This is now. I'm not all great reading signs but I want to say that I understood this one pretty well."

"I just don't want you to think this is me changing my mind back and forth because I promise that's not it," Seren said, shaking her head. "I've...I haven't been able to forget what happened and I couldn't forget about you. It's actually pretty scary."

"Scary?" That wasn't exactly the feeling that came to Steve when he thought about her. "Why...why would it be scary? Did I do something?"

"No!" Seren exclaimed. "God no! You...of course you didn't do anything. It's my stuff, my weird out-of-this-world stuff. Look, I've said it before multiple times. I didn't exactly do a lot of dating and a huge reason for that is because of my fear. My fear of being honest about what and who I was. In the past, I've been able to push away any guy who was genuinely interested in me — and trust me that number was pretty low to begin with — and not think twice about it. I moved on like nothing. I couldn't for the life of me do that with you." She jabbed her finger against his chest. "You with your ridiculous smiles and pretty eyes and comforting ways...I...I couldn't do it. I couldn't forget about you. That's never happened to me."

Steve gently pulled her finger off of him and wrapped his entire hand around his. "I'm sorry..."

Seren chuckled, throwing her head back. "No, lovey, that's not to mean you did anything wrong. You don't have to apologize to me."

"I don't like seeing you conflicted," Steve said simply. "Especially if I'm the cause."

"But you're not — not in that way, anyways." Seren sighed, pulling her hand out of his and bringing them to rest on his shoulders. "I want you to know that this isn't something I just thought about this morning. I haven't stopped thinking about you. I'm in...I love you. I'm sorry I didn't say it before. And I'm sorry that I hurt you."

Steve's eyes had widened, his throat going completely dry. His heart was doing no better seeing as it really wanted to burst from his chest now.

Seren looked no better herself. Her eyes were filled with fear for his response. She kept talking about her mistakes, after all. She hated how stupid she'd been. "I'm sorry," she whispered, lowering her head. She felt hands slide over her cheeks not a minute later and lift her head up. The moment it happened, she had lips on hers, kissing her for dear life.

"I love you, Seren," Steve murmured against her lips. "We have one very similar flaw. We're both so afraid because of the past, because of who we are. I'm willing to try and learn a better way to live if you are..."

Seren didn't think twice as she nodded. "Yes, please," she said in a strained voice. "Can I stay with you tonight?"

Steve smiled like he had already thought about it. He never answered her, just went straight for a kiss again. Something changed in that moment. Where their kisses had slowed, they'd intensified again. Heightened senses and urges were raging to be met and appeased.

Steve kissed the crook of Seren's neck, over her star birthmark, and the second one. What she felt like she had to hide from everyone, he adored. He loved her whole and realized he could only love her with that intensity. He had no idea about the feeling until now. He needed her to know that; he needed to show her. This time, his hands roamed her body with no hesitation. He gripped her waist, pulling her on his lap. One of the straps of her dress had fallen down her shoulder. He met her gaze for a moment, making sure that she was okay. Without saying a word, she flicked her other strap down her shoulder. The act was so quick, so innocent, that it brought a laugh out of Steve.

"I love you," he said, in case she doubted him.

Seren was very proud of herself. "I love you," she spoke in a language that Steve had only heard once before. The day he caught one of her training sessions with Atria. It was Celessian.

"If I'm going to love you, I'm going to do it with all of my sides," Seren said a minute later, earnest. "And this is who I am, as much as it frightens people."

"Doesn't frighten me," Steve assured her. "I'd love to hear more of that language..." He cupped the side of her head. "Everything about it, actually."

Seren nodded, a smile growing across her face. And relief. She was guilty of testing him just to verify that he really meant what he said. It was hard letting the fear go altogether but she would have to work on it if she wanted things to work. And she really wanted things to work.

So she kissed him again. Hard. He matched her strength and soon they were ripping the zipper off her dress and the buttons off his shirt. Seren felt Steve's hands crawl down her legs until they found the straps of her heels and pulled them off her. She pulled her legs up and around Steve's waist. No words were exchanged as their mouths were practically mushed against one another's. The only real thought that would make them come out for air — maybe — was to ask whether or not they would move.

~ 0 ~

Chloe tossed and turned in bed, squeezing her eyes shut as if the extra pressure would bring her closer to a peaceful sleep. The bed was comfortable, the pillows were beyond squishy like marshmallows, the room was nice and cozy, and yet here she was still unable to sleep. Every time her eyes closed, or she got a bit comfortable, she saw flashes of places and things.

First, there was an explosion. Then, it was a highway in broad daylight. Then there were men fighting on a street. Another moment, it was a bank and she walked through it. Then there were a series of needles, flashing lights, an insane throb of pain, and she heard herself scream.

Chloe gasped and shot right up from bed. Her breathing was fast and ragged, eyes wide with shock and horror. As she calmed, she heard one more thing in her head.

'Be ready. There's a 98% chance they are coming.'

Chloe shook her head as if that would shake the thoughts out of her head altogether. She looked at the window and saw a sliver of light peaking through the curtains. For a moment, she forgot where she was and why she was there. Once she got her bearings back, she went in search of her phone. She had a bit of a headache from last night. Natasha always wins the wine competition.

Chloe got out of bed, only to get a repeat of those flashes. She stumbled back, almost falling down on the bed.

I need air. She felt like she was suffocating.

She looked around the room, seeing Seren's suitcase lying in the corner of the room. Without thinking twice, she hurried towards it and ransacked it for some more suitable day clothes. Going out in a party dress simply wouldn't do it.

Natasha was still lying on the couch, unconscious, when Chloe tiptoed towards the door.

"Hold it right there," Natasha's smooth voice stopped Chloe just as she had reached for the doorknob.

Chloe made a face and looked back at Natasha who had not moved from the couch. "Okay, how do you wake up and not have that weird morning voice?"

Natasha turned her head in Chloe's direction, opening her eyes and smirking. "Because I'm good like that." Chloe groaned. "Where are you going?" Natasha exhaled a breath and sat up on the couch, reaching for her phone on the coffee table. "It's not even 6 yet. Don't tell me you're going back to Steve's?"

"Ha, no," Chloe rolled her eyes.

Natasha looked through her phone again. "Well, I've got no death threats sent. You?"

"No, I checked."

"Then it might be safe to say mission accomplished," Natasha smirked.

"Yeah, I guess," Chloe said pretty quickly and made to open the door.

"What's up with you?" Natasha stopped her again. "Thought you'd be more happy or something?"

"No, yeah, of course I am," Chloe nodded. "Who knows, if they're eager to catch up on wasted time, we might end up with a super-soldier-half-human-half-Celessian baby 9 months from now! Whom — by the way — I," she pointed at herself, "will be the godmother to."

"Tell you what, I'll gladly step aside if you tell that to Seren's face," Natasha said, standing up from the couch. "And Steve's."

"Don't feel like dying yet, thanks." Chloe opened the door, about to step out when Natasha called her.

"Where are you going?" Natasha frowned. "If you're not heading back to Steve's, then where to? Are you wearing Seren's clothes? Bit small for you, don't you think?"

Chloe tugged on her shirt. It barely covered her waist. "Give me a break, I'm like 4 inches taller than Seren. I'm surprised her pants fit me and even then they're a bit snug."

"Where are you going?"

"On a walk, sheesh. What is this? Twenty-one questions?" Chloe didn't stick around and headed out.

Even then, she continued to see the same images in her head, hearing her screams.

~0~

She was doing everything she could to free her mind. Meditation, counting, stretching — it didn't work.

Chloe sat down on the grassy ground and leaned against a tree. She groaned. She was going to go crazy if she didn't get any sleep soon. She balled her fists and pressed them above her head.

You need to sleep. I also need to get my shit together.

"Well, well, well, the not-running girl around here — again?"

Chloe lowered her hands and opened her eyes just as Sam was walking over. "Sam, hey…" She was about to pull herself up bit Sam made a gesture that she stay there.

"What are you doing here? I thought you don't run?" Sam set his hands on his waist. "Or did Steve drag you out here again?"

"Nah, he's busy this morning," Chloe shrugged. "It's just me today."

"And you ran?"

"Hey, I don't appreciate the tone there…" Chloe mock-glared at Sam, making him laugh.

"Sorry, last time I heard you weren't the running kind. Almost thought you'd murder Steve that day."

"I would, but my best friend would be pretty pissed then — it's a whole thing."

Sam chuckled again. "Alright, so why are you here then? The real reason, because I'm not buying the 'I came for a walk'."

"So do you just think I'm fucking lazy or something?" Chloe made a face.

"I think you look like someone who could do with some rest..." Sam remarked, leaving Chloe quiet for a moment. "I know the faces — I see them all the time down at the center."

"Right..." Chloe sighed.

"You okay?" Sam asked her gently, but not at all prying. Chloe figured he had tons of experience with that too.

"Yeah..." she leaned her head against the tree, bending one leg up. "It's just been a hard couple of nights. I keep, uh, having bad dreams." At least she hoped that they were just dreams. She didn't forget the fact she saw the bomb coming on the Lemurian ship.

"What do you do for work again?" Sam said.

"SHIELD, like Steve. There's a lot of things I see and sometimes it just gets to me. Nothing new."

"For some reason, I don't quite buy it..." Sam remarked, earning a glare from Chloe. "You're out here, early, and without your track-star friend. You don't want him to see you."

Chloe swallowed. "I like being alone. For your information, I actually do a lot of my mission solo."

"Oh, age doesn't deceive me," Sam said, hands raised in front of him. "Age doesn't matter when you're skilled. But it does lead to a higher risk of getting hurt. Bet SHIELD doesn't know about this, right?"

"Seriously, you know everything or something?" Chloe cocked her head to the side. Sam smirked.

"Call it experience."

Chloe groaned. "Trust me, you don't have experience on this matter. Nobody does."

"Try me," Sam said, and began to sit down on the grass in front of Chloe. She lifted an eyebrow at him, not quite believing he would give her the time of day for this stuff.

"You're a weird kind of guy, Sam Wilson," she said.

"Yeah," Sam half smiled at her. "But I'm a good listener too."

"I'm sure that you are..." nodded Chloe, "But my stuff, it's a whole thing and...I don't even tell my friends about it. No offence but I barely know you."

Instead of being offended, Sam laughed. "Well, sometimes it's actually easier to tell your problems to a stranger. C'mon, try it. What's the worst that could happen?"

"You could send me to the psych ward."

Sam smirked. "Try me."

Chloe raised an eyebrow at him. She didn't expect his determination but maybe he did have a point. She had the worst trouble trying to come clean to Steve, Seren, Natasha and just about anyone else. Tony was easier because she didn't see him every day...

Maybe this guy's smarter than he looks, she thought. She met Sam's gaze and smirked. "If you send me to the psych ward, I'll kick your ass."

Sam chuckled. "Lay it on me."

~ 0 ~

When Seren woke up, she was in the best of moods. Granted, she was still a little sleepy when she felt a kiss in the crook of her shoulder, but she would make an exception.

"Good morning to you too, lovey," she turned in bed with a grin to see Steve already looking a her.

"You're cheerful even in the morning..." he noted.

Seren watched him reach a hand on her cheek. "That a bad thing?"

"Not at all. Chloe's not a morning person. I'm used to the morning grumps."

Seren laughed lightly. "Yeah, well, not with me — at least when I get my full sleep. Although, with my schedule, that doesn't happen a lot. Anyways, good morning."

"Good morning." Steve rubbed gentle circles on Seren's cheek, just taking the moment in. Just as he neared her lips for a kiss, he heard a quiet grumble of a stomach. He pulled back, meeting Seren's gaze, and chuckled as she groaned.

"And leave it to me to ruin the moment!" She pulled the covers over her face.

"What are you talking about, Seren? Trust me, nothing can ruin this moment." Steve gently pulled the covers down, though it was a momentary tugging match between him and Seren. Ultimately, he won and he was able to see her face again. "It sounds like you need some breakfast. You didn't actually eat dinner last night, did you? At the event?"

Seren shook her head. "You stopped me from having drinks, remember?"

"Oh, so now it's my fault?" Steve laughed. "Well, since it's my fault then, let me take you to breakfast! A date."

Seren nodded right away. She really was hungry (and she may have worked an appetite). "I'll have to borrow clothes from Chloe..."

Steve's brows raised when he remembered the state of her satin blue dress that was in the living room. "I will — I will definitely get you a new one. Sweetheart, I'm so sorry—"

Seren grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him. "I'm not," she whispered. "Let's see what Chloe has in the closet. You want to help me?" She smirked seeing how quickly the red tint spread across Steve's face.

The two ultimately got out of bed to get dressed and ready to head out. Seren found a dress amongst Chloe's things that she could more or less wear. It was slightly bigger than her normal size but decent. The shoes were a bit more difficult but she managed.

"You look adorable," Steve laughed when she came out into the living room. The dress was big, period.

Seren groaned. "I know it fits weird. Why is Chloe so frikin tall? She's like a pipe-cleaner with blonde hair!"

"You really do look adorable," Steve insisted as he grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss on the back of it. "I'm thinking cinnamon rolls. I do owe you some from last night."

"That sounds great to me!" Seren nodded quickly.

With that decided, they headed out of the apartment. Just as they were coming into the hallway, one of the other tenants was coming down the opposite end.

"Morning, Kate," Steve politely greeted the woman.

"Morning Ste—" Kate stopped in her tracks when she met Seren's gaze. The latter froze as well.

As surprised as Seren was, confusion soon seeped through when she realized what Steve had called the woman. "Hold on, Ka—"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Kate." The woman held her hand out to shake with Seren.

With brows pinched together, Seren slowly shook Kate's hand. "Seren...?"

Kate seemed to swallow hard, though she quickly smiled at the two. "You guys heading out?"

Steve nodded. "Breakfast. Did you just get back from a shift?"

"Mhm..." Kate said. Her eyes would flicker to Seren every so often.

"Kate's a nurse," Steve told Seren, "And about the only friend I have in the building."

"Mhm..." Seren hummed, "Nurse." Kate ducked her head.

"You must be tired, Kate. We'll see you later," Steve said and started leading Seren down the hall.

Seren looked over her shoulder and saw 'Kate' getting her keys out. "Hey Steve, I forgot to grab my phone. Can I go back quickly?"

"I'll get it for you, sweetheart," Steve said, dropping a kiss on her temple.

Seren stopped him from leaving. "Actually, I can get it. It's fine."

"But I—"

"I can get it, Steve, it's fine," Seren smiled. "Keys?"

Steve reluctantly handed her the keys to the apartment, still volunteering to go get her phone for her. Seren assured him that she could do it and she would catch up with him downstairs.

As soon as he was going down the stairs, Seren was heading back to the apartment. It seemed like Kate had overheard because she stood by her apartment door...waiting. When she saw Seren, she leaned off the door and walked to meet Seren halfway.

"I didn't know you were back in town," Kate said, taking note of the odd dress on Seren. She was pretty sure it was Chloe's.

Seren instinctively tugged on her dress as if it was anything close to being short. "I came back a few days ago to present the new team I created in London." Seren leveled a hard look on the woman. She was familiar with 'Kate', crossed paths occasionally but not enough to be on a friendship basis. "Did Fury post you here?" She went straight to business, and she wasn't happy about it.

Kate closed her mouth and just nodded.

Seren's lips curled down into a frown. "And Chloe?"

"She knows who I am. Natasha too."

"And they didn't tell Steve anything?"

"Fury gave the order, Seren. You know how it goes."

"I do but this isn't any ordinary agent, Sharon." Seren rubbed her fingers against her temples. "Steve has never trusted SHIELD to begin with and when he finds out that Fury put a frikin bodyguard next door to him—"

"He can't know about this," Sharon said, shaking her head. "He thinks Fury stopped."

"Stopped?" Seren made a face and before she could ask what Sharon had meant, she got a delightful piece of news.

"Fury had Steve's apartment bugged."

"Bugged?" Seren brought a hand over her chest, feeling absolutely mortified. "Like—like the whole apartment?"

Sharon nodded. "But Chloe took them down. Fury was not happy about it."

Suddenly, Seren forgave Chloe for absolutely everything she'd ever done in the past. She would just die if that apartment had been bugged.

"Chloe negotiated with Fury about this stuff, alright? You can be mad all you want but I'm just following orders from Fury. If you're worried that I'll say something about you guys—"

"I don't care," Seren said flatly. "Fury has nothing to do with what Steve and I do, okay? You report what you gotta report." She turned to leave when Sharon called her back.

"Wait! Are you going to tell Steve?"

"Uh, I sort of have to!" Seren snapped. "Steve hates being lied to and I don't exactly like it either!"

"Seren, if you tell him who I am, he'll be furious!"

"I'll talk to him, I know what it's like following orders. It'll go back to Fury."

"And Chloe," Sharon pointed out. "She's known the whole time."

Seren shook her head. No, she didn't want Steve to be upset with Chloe but she didn't want to be part of the unnecessary lie. It was so pointless having a bodyguard. Fury was being ridiculous.

"Seren, please..." Sharon said, looking genuinely fearful of the matter.

Seren sighed. "I'm sorry, but I'm telling him. I can't lie to him — not anymore. I'll take the heat from Fury but trust me, he'll have a lot more coming from Steve than you will from them both. I'll make sure of that." She turned away again and went to catch up with Steve downstairs.

~ 0 ~

As much as they ate at the pastry shop as well as having samples — Seren was guilty of beating Steve in that aspect — they decided to bring back another box of cinnamon rolls to continue munching on at home. All throughout their date, Seren tried finding the right moment to tell Steve about Sharon and what Fury had ordered her to do. She didn't want to ruin their perfect morning, especially not with SHIELD business. But apparently, Steve knew her better than she thought.

They had just returned to the apartment when he brought up her strange, shifty feet.

"My feet aren't shifty," Seren argued weakly. "And even if they happened to be, it's because these are Chloe's shoes."

Steve chuckled at her. He dropped the box of cinnamon rolls on the coffee table. "Maybe, but you're still acting weird. Did I do something? Did you change your mind?"

"No, of course not!" Seren exclaimed. What she wasn't going to allow was for SHIELD to ruin something so good between them. "Come here..." She took his hands and sat down on the couch together. "I, uh, I need to tell you something but...it's...it's not going to make you happy."

"And it's not about us...?" Steve needed to make sure that nothing had changed between them. Anything else didn't matter.

"It's not," Seren assured him again. "You, um, you know that neighbor of yours? Kate?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah, what about her?"

"I really hate to be the one to tell you this, and honestly it makes me feel like a snitch but—"

"Is there something going on with Kate? I-I don't understand—"

"She's a SHIELD agent, Steve," Seren blurted. She squeezed his hands while he reacted. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry to tell you but I can't — I can't lie to you. It feels so wrong after everything and I—"

"She's a SHIELD agent?" Steve said slowly, eyes flickering towards his door. "Kate?"

"Her name's actually Sharon..."

"Sharon?"

Seren nodded.

"Did—why? I don't..." Seren saw the exact moment it donned on Steve and braced herself for his true reaction. "It was Fury wasn't it?" His voice hardened. Seren nodded. "What? She's supposed to be my babysitter?"

"I know it's irritating but you shouldn't get upset with Sharon — or even Chloe, or Natasha—"

"They both knew!?" Steve gawked. "Are you kidding me!?"

Seren squeezed his hands again. "They were following orders, Steve. Fury was the one who commanded it."

"Of course!" Steve scowled. "You know, I'm getting real tired of Fury and all his secrets. And Chloe — and Natasha — they just keep secrets so easily and I—"

"I know, I know," Seren sighed. "But it comes with the job and it sucks but it's the truth. I'm sorry."

"What? Seren, it's not your fault. You weren't even here..." And for that matter, Steve tried his best to calm down. As angry as he was, it had nothing to do with Seren. "I'm gonna have a word with Fury next time I see him..."

"Please don't get into arguments because of this..." Seren could only plead at this point. "I know it's irritating but—"

"It's for another moment," Steve said, deciding to push the matter away. "Right now...you're here, and I want to take full advantage of that."

"Are you — we could go to SHIELD right now if you want? I can come with you and we can—"

Steve was shaking his head already, refusing the idea. "I am not going to give SHIELD any of my time when you're around." He pulled his hands out from hers and slid them over her face. He had priorities now, and he was learning from past mistakes. He would not waste anymore of his time. "Besides, the cinnamon rolls might get cold..." He pressed a kiss on her lips.

"Well...who can deny a kiss..." Seren sought out another kiss from him, and got one...and then two...

Before they knew it, they were lost in a series of kisses.

"Mm, the cinnamon rolls?" Seren murmured, bringing her hands over his on her face.

"Right..." Steve leaned back, clearing his throat. He'd left the box on the table and grabbed it.

"Oh! Chloe's chocolates, remember?" Seren spotted the box of chocolates she'd left on the table last night. "Good thing we can take the sugar, right?"

Steve chuckled. "I'll say."

Seren opened up the box of chocolates and was delighted to see a dozen little pieces assorted inside. "Where to start, hmm?"

Steve watched her go through a process just to pick one piece. She was so adorable...

"Chloe's too lucky," Seren said after taking a bite. "Girl gets gifts left to right from admirers."

"Oh, I've noticed," hummed Steve. Even though Chloe was always in and out of D.C., he was often around her when she was being flirted with or given the occasional gift. It was bemusing to see such straightforwardness but Chloe seemed quite at home with it.

"She's got the Angel face, you know?" Seren shook her head. "She used to be head cheerleader in high school and I'm sure a popular girl too."

"I remember those girls, sans the cheerleaders. Those were hard to talk to…of course none of them were ever really in the mood to talk to me."

Seren scooted herself closer to him. "I think you and I would've been good friends if we were in school together."

Steve would have loved the idea but given his history, he doubted it would happen. "I don't know about that…"

"I'm sure of it. Those eyes of yours, one charming smile, the 'ma'am' thing and I would've been all yours." Seren popped in another chocolate piece.

"Really?" He was already smiling at her with fondness. None of those traits were enhanced with the super serum.

"Mhm. They're my favorite things about you!"

"Things would've been very different if you'd been around back then." The first thing Steve thought of was the horrible double-dates Bucky always set him up on. Of course then he realized how nervous he'd be having an actual date with Seren in those days.

"What?" Seren raised an eyebrow at him once his thoughts started seeping through his face. "You wouldn't have liked me?"

"What?" Steve laughed. "Are you kidding me? I was just thinking how nervous I'd be asking you out on a date."

Seren cocked her head. "Seriously?"

"You better believe it. I'm sure I'd be fumbling over my words — don't be fooled, I might be doing that in the future too."

"Duly noted." It was Seren's turn to laugh.

"That's funny to you?"

"Kind of, yeah…but sweet too!" Seren cleared her throat after swallowing another chocolate piece. She decided to try one of their cinnamon rolls instead.

Steve wrapped an arm around her waist as she took one cinnamon roll from the box. He imagined all the dates they would have with cinnamon rolls and grinned from ear to ear.

"Oh gosh, they're so good..." Seren hummed, "I love them!"

"I can tell," Steve chuckled. Seren flushed and tried to slow down on her eating. "Keep eating, sweetheart. They're for you." He leaned over and kissed her forehead

Seren cleared her throat again, feeling like something had gotten stuck. She started rubbing circles on her chest, and coughed.

"You okay?" Steve watched her for a moment.

"Yeah," she cleared her throat. "Um, I just…" She lowered the cinnamon roll in her hand, and took in a breath only to come halfway. She shifted on the couch to try and get a better position to take in a bigger breath.

Steve grew concerned the more he watched her continue to take these breaths only halfway. She let her cinnamon roll drop on the ground suddenly and tried taking in an even bigger breath but, just like before, she couldn't do it.

"Okay, Seren, what's wrong?" Steve didn't know whether to help move her to an easier breathing position or anything else.

"I-I don't know but I can't…" Seren started clutching her neck, mouth wide open and gasped for breath. "I can't breathe! Steve, I can't breathe!"

[daveslutstaine]

I was tagged by my mutual @blackccelebration for this! Thank you 💓

Were you named after anyone? Nope!

When was the last time you cried? I really don't remember. I don't cry much these days tbh

Do you have kids? Nope

Do you use sarcasm a lot? Yep, especially with friends and family. I refrain from doing it in front of patients though.

What's the first thing you notice about people? The sound of their voice. Tone, mood, whether it's high or low pitched, or any accents they may have

What's your eye colour? Brown so dark it looks black, though when the sun hits my eyes you can clearly tell they're brown

Scary movies or happy endings? Both are good to me!

Any special talents? Cooking! I don't do it often due to lack of time, but when I do everyone cleans their plates!

Where were you born? The USA! More specifically, the southern US. Been living here my whole life and I don't plan on leaving. It's a quiet place where I live but I prefer it that way. Plus it's also mostly farm land, so if you drive out to the country it's so nice! You get to see so many cows, and occasionally horses and every now and again sheep! It's a beautiful place and one of the few states that hasn't been fully ruined by the influx of annoying Californians, though thankfully they mostly avoid this place and go to our neighboring state down south

What are your hobbies? Drawing, painting, storytelling, reading about anything and everything, playing the guitar, gardening, and yeah that's it. Occasionally I'll do something different like sewing but it's not often enough that I would call it a hobby of mine ya know? I do want to learn how to sword fight once I get done with the hell known as nursing school though

Have any pets? Nope

What sports do you play/have played? Well, if you consider this a sport, I used to do karate when I was little, but it got too expensive for my parents to allow me to continue. I still enjoy martial arts, but I'm more interested in HEMA than in traditional martial arts, hence why I want to do sword fighting some day!

How tall are you? 5'3 or 160 cm

Favourite subject in school? In grade school it was English and orchestra. In college it was pharmacology. It was a surprisingly easy class despite all the medications I had to memorize. It was also really fun to learn how to give injections and other meds!

Dream job? I'm not exactly sure at the moment. I'm definitely content with the career path I've chosen, but now I'm not sure what specialty I want. I'm torn between becoming a cardiac or oncology nurse. I really enjoyed the cardiac unit in the hospital I had my cardiac clinical in. Plus I really like heart stuff in general and have always had a major interest in cardiology. The heart is just a fascinating organ to me, though not as fascinating as the brain, but honestly I don't feel much of a calling towards neurology tbh. I recently had a clinical at a cancer center and it was one of the best experiences I've had thus far. I won't lie, I thought I was going to hate it. I lost a family member to cancer three years ago, so I thought I was going to come out there sobbing, but my experience was so much more positive than I expected. The staff was incredibly friendly, and the patients were so positive despite their diagnosis. The whole atmosphere was so welcoming and the patients were so well taken care of. I didn't hear a single staff member complain about anyone in the staff only areas. It was truly something else and I say that in a good way.

Many years ago when I was younger, I actually wanted to be an oncologist. Unfortunately medical school is both expensive and intense. I fell out of love with medicine and was incredibly indecisive about what I wanted to do. I originally went into nursing as a way to get my family off my back about what I was going to do with my life. But now I'm rediscovering that love again and I thank my experience at the cancer center and cardiac unit for that. I still have one semester left to go until I graduate, so hopefully God will help guide me to where I need to be. I just hope I can be a good nurse for whoever it is I'll be looking after in the future.

Anyway I'll leave it there

I now leave this an open tag!

[thatguywiththefaceog]

Kinktober 2023 Day 4 Prostitution

The Owl House-Lumity plus Luz/Lilith, Luz/Hunter/Gus, Luz/OCs, Luz/Amity/Boscha

Amity needs funds for an expedition, so Luz decides to whore herself to the Boiling Isles

written for @kinktober2023

requested by anon

This story is rated E for explicit. It is for mature audiences only. All characters are over 18. NSFW under the cut.

Amity could tell they lost when Lilith walked out of the museum. Lilith shook her head, confirming Amity’s worst fears. The older witch put her hand on Amity’s shoulder as she said, "I'm so sorry sweetheart, but the board finds the whole expedition too expensive to fund. Why, they even ignored my suggestion, even though I'm the only one to successfully travel back in time! Those ingrates even-"

"Ms. Lilith!" Amity said before Lilith could go on a tangent. "It's fine. I'll think of something else."

Amity had developed a theory about other islands besides the Boiling Isles. Maybe from other titans or maybe landmass made out of rock, like Earth! But traveling that far out on the Boiling Sea would require a large crew and supplies enough to feed said crew. Which required snails. Her father didn't have as much as he used, using his talents to help people rather than charge them. And her mother… well was her mother. She had hoped the museum would provide funds, but that was now a dead end.

"That sucks!" Luz said as soon as Amity finished telling her.

"I know. Guess we're not ready to know the full extent of the demon realm," Amity sighed.

"Like he'll we're not!" Luz shouted. "If they won't give us the money, we'll have to make it ourselves!"

Amity beamed. That was the Luz Noceda she fell in love with. "Any ideas how?"

Luz blushed. "Actually, I do. I was thinking maybe I could be a hooker."

"Luz that is a wonderful idea!" Amity shouted.

"Really, you don't think I'm a pervert?"

"Oh you are definitely a pervert, but so am I. Besides I know sometimes you crave something that I lack. So yeah, I have no problems with it. In fact I think I can help. I could be your pimp, and step in when things get rough.” As she said that she made a giant fist with her abomination goo.

Luz kissed her on the cheek. “Amity, you're amazing!”

So they made plans and in about a week, Luz made her debut as a prostitute. Luz wanted a classic look, purple tube top, leather jacket, tight black mini shirt with fishnet stockings and pumps. Her face was slathered with red lipstick and blue eyeshadow. At midnight, she stood on a street corner, pretending to smoke a candy cigarette. She felt a tap of her shoulder.

"Hey baby, looking for a good- LILITH!"

"Hey Luz. Look, I feel bad about Amity’s expedition not getting funded, so I'm here to help, ah, donate what little I can."

Luz cocked her head with a sly grin. "Aunt Lilith, do you want to pay to have sex with me?"

Lilith was red faced. "I just, ah. How many snails is it to get eaten out?"

Luz took her to a hotel where the two undressed. After some brief heavy petting, the Luz went down to business. Lilith sat on the edge of the bed, her legs spread out. Her pink slit shined against her pale skin. A trim bush of orange and grey sat above it. Taking a deep breath, Luz ran her tongue over her aunt's wet sex. Lilith moaned as Luz’s tongue explored her lower area; she grabbed a bit of her hair.

"Hmmm, you taste good Lilith."

"Call-Call me Aunt Lilith." She pressed Luz’s face against her crotch. "No wait, call me Cool Aunt Lilith."

"Hmmm, Cool Aunt Lilith. Cool Aunt Lilith." Luz moaned between slurps.

Lilith's hips started to buck into Luz’s face. The older witch came. "Oh, Luz, Luz, Luz!"

In the end, Luz’s face and Lilith's crotch were a mess of smeared make-up, spit, and slick.

"Thank you Luz, that was exhilarating," Lilith said awkwardly handing Luz the money.

"Thank you, Cool Aunt Lilith." Luz spanked her bare ass as she made her way to her clothes.

Lilith wasn't the only one who came. Amity stood in the closet, her tights around her ankles, her wetness dripping down her thighs as she came down from her own orgasm.

Luz’s next customer was male basilisk who wanted simple vaginal sex.

"Alright," Luz told him. "But it's double if you want it raw.” Vee had taught Luz a lot about basilisk anatomy. She rubbed the front of his crotch area until his dick started to poke through. It was long, pink, and slimy. Luz stroked him until she was sure he was fully hard.

Luz laid back on the bed while the snake slithered on top of her. His penis hit her lips. It was difficult to push in but he made it through. Luz held on to him as he got deeper and deeper.

The two got in a comfortable enough position that the basilisk could thrust in earnest. Now that the initial penetration was done, it felt quite nice actually. As the snake humped her, his tail wrapped around her leg.

Luz came first, her walls squeezing his cock. Soon she felt a warm fire in her. The basilisk came, filling her up with his seed. But Luz felt a second sensation. Something big and hard was stretching out her entrance. The basilisk had knotted her!

Luz struggled to pull him out of her. After realizing he was stuck in there, she sighed. "Every minute in there is an extra 50 snails."

"Hss fair ssss."

Luz found herself back on the street, stretching out her legs. Ugggh, she was still sore. She was greeted by a pair of familiar faces. "Hunter! Gus! It's great to see you. I can't really talk right now, I'm working."

"That’s, huh, actually what we wanted to talk to you about."

"Oooooh, are you two looking to party?" Luz raised an eyebrow while she smirked at her friends.

"Nothing fancy," Gus said.

"Maybe just a couple of blowjobs?" Hunter asked.

Amity directed the group to an old empty bathroom. She stood as a lookout while the guys took off their pants. Luz was delighted to see that they were already half hard.

Grabbing a dick in each hand, she slowly stroked them. She started sucking off Hunter, his moans echoing throughout the toilet. After a few seconds, she turned her attention to Gus. Both of them were well endowed; but Gus was longer was Hunter's was girthier. Each had hair but Gus had more.

After a bit, they started helping Luz, thrusting into her mouth and smack her face with their balls while she jerked the other off.

Hunter came first, holding her head in place while he jizzed all over her face. Gus wasn't too far behind, added his cum to Hunter's. After passing high faces all around, the guys left while Luz washed her face in the sink.

Her next customer was the same type of demon as Warden Wrath. He didn’t have lips per sa, so Luz just sorta licked his teeth and sucked on his tongue.

But what the demon really wanted to do was anal. So after the beast lubed Luz up, he shoved his massive cock up her ass. And this thing was thick. Even after his massive fingers fingered her anus, she still had trouble taking him. But Luz was a professional, so she took it like a witch. Bent over with the demon behind her, she gritted her teeth and clung to the bed sheets, but by Titan she took him.

With tears in her eyes, she felt the demon begin to thrust in earnest. Thankfully he didn't last long and busted a nut in her ass. When he pulled out her butthole was left a huge gaping mess.

After a brief visit to a healer, she and Amity were laughing about on the street corner when a familiar voice interrupted them.

"Well, the rumors are true. Amity’s pet human is a whore."

"What do you want, Boscha?"

The tricyclops smirked. "Your girlfriend. I'll pay for her to eat out my asshole. And you get to watch." She tossed a bag full of snails at the two.

Amity caught the bag. She and Luz looked at each and smirked. "Deal."

Returning to the hotel room, the three wasted no time. Luz and Boscha undressed and took the bed. Amity sat in a chair facing them. Skipping any warm ups Boscha bet over and pulled her cheeks apart. "Bon appétit human."

Luz went right in, her tongue lapping at Boscha's dirty hole. Boscha must have been really excited with how wet she already was, Luz thought. She ran her finger up and down the witch's slit. Luz stuck two fingers into Boscha's snatch.

"How does it feel, Amity? Seeing what your girlfriend would do for some coins."

"Well gee Boscha, she's just providing a service. A needed one. After all, you're the one who needed to pay someone to get laid."

Boscha flushed at that. "You dare- aaagghhh!" Whatever retort she had died on her lips. Luz's tongue had pushed deeper into Boscha's ass.

"Yeah, she's very good with her tongue. I know," Amity said. The witch stood up, pulling down her pants. She claimed into the bed and wrapped her legs around Boscha's head. Amity’s mound was completely smooth Boscha noticed as it smooshed against her face. "Eat it," Amity commanded.

Feeling really turned on, Boscha obeyed. Her tongue explored her old friend's folds while Luz sucked her asshole. The human really started working on her clit. Meanwhile Amity was really grinding on Boscha's face, the grugby player's tongue swirling around Amity’s clit.

It was Boscha who came first; her sex spasming and her moans echoing into Amity’s pussy. She collapsed onto the bed, dizzy and light-headed. Amity and Luz lunged at each; turned on by each other's dominance of their old high school bully. As the two fucked, they shook the bed, rocking Boscha to sleep.

[talkingbl]

The Good and Bad of Blueming

SPOILER WARNING. TW: eating disorders

The Good

The capturing of the Cha family dynamic. I want to start off by saying that the way Siwon's parents treated both him and his sister was shitty by any measure. That said, Blueming showcased an artfully crafted exploration of the interfamilial toxicity. Particularly revealing was the film-within-a-film. Those scenes where Siwon shot and exhibited his scenario were really the penultimate expression of Siwon's feeling's toward his mother. 2 things really got me: Siwon's stylistic choices with the film, and his mother's subsequent reaction to the film. Those two plot points demonstrated the power of subtlety in media. Siwon's feelings about his mother were deep and complicated yet felt simple to him. Siwon didn't hate his mother, he resented her. He didn't fear her, he wanted to be perfect for her. One scene in particular that stood out was the scene where his younger version is smiling as his mother forced him to drink the protein shake. It seems like, because of the divorce, he felt so sorry for her that he didn't mind when she began projecting all her insecurities onto him. All that mattered to Siwon, it seems, was that his mother was happy, even at his expense. And that feeling of wanting to see someone you love happy at all costs is extremely relatable.

Siwon's backstory. First off, we actually get a backstory that's not merely told to us but shown to us, like the adults we are. It's raw and compelling and shows us the uglier sides of humanity. But more than that, it gives us a look into Korean society that we never see--showcasing the blemishes on the veneer of perfection we see portrayed in Korean media. Another thing I loved about his backstory outside of the metacommentary it provided on individual choices was the fact that it had long-lasting and direct effects on Siwon's life. Siwon struggled with self esteem and feeling loved due to his abandonment issues and his mother's treatment of him post-divorce. This manifested itself whenever he'd jump to the worst possible interpretation of Daun's actions rather than assuming that Daun was approaching in good faith. That's a very real characteristic of people who struggle with low self-esteem. It also manifested itself as hyper-competitiveness with those he perceived as 'too good' for him or 'better' than him. Again, just a great way to communicate his lack of self-worth and fear of abandonment.

Daun as a concept. The best thing about Daun is how open he is with his feelings for Siwon. There's never a moment in the story where I'm left feeling confused about what he is thinking, which, IMO, is key to building a strong lead character. Plus, he's quite proactive and each of his actions have direct and measurable consequences that move the story forward. He is the living embodiment of this gif:

The mise en scene of Episode 9's intimate scene. Everything from the framing (the silhouettes), to the color grading (washed out moody blues), to the setting (beach house), to the tone (sleepy and playful) combined to create one of the most freeing scenes I've seen in a BL, ever. It wasn't just pretty to look at either--it took me to a completely different place outside of the show. It felt like that time around sunset when everything moves a beat slower, the wind is a perfect breeze, and soft background noise hums through the air. Truly gave the same vibes as 'the night feeling' (google it).

Daun's Episode 4 covered kiss. This was the moment I fell for Daun. I came into this show so skeptical and ready to be bored, but that moment changed me completely. And it wasn't the kiss itself that did it. It was the look on Daun's face as he did it, the words he'd muttered to himself up until that point, and the dumbfoundedness of Siwon. There was a childlike crush that had been growing on Daun's end and it just rose to a head. Such a beautiful moment, indeed.

The Bad

Siwon is a weak lead. Yes, I said it. He is so incredibly reactive that it actually hinders the plot. Any good writer knows that key to writing a good character is to make them do stuff rather than merely having stuff done to them. Even if the character is meant to be indecisive, they should do things that, you know, cause the the plot to happen. But here, Siwon barely moves the story forward. In fact, it's always someone else doing it for him. Whether it was his sister submitting his scenario or Daun progressing their relationship, siwon hardly did anything to give him a personality outside of his body image issues and general low self esteem. In other words, all his character development is in the past and doesn't particularly lend itself to moving the present story along..

What happened to Daun's villain arc? The moment Daun broke ole boy's phone, I thought we were in for a Ok Taecyeon Vincenzo-esque heel turn from Daun. Like the bad guy who'd do anything for his one true love. Sadly, I was wrong and we never explored that side of Daun again.

We still don't clearly know why Daun fell for Siwon in the beginning. Seemed a little too much like happenstance.

What exactly happened in the last 1-2 episodes? Girl, when I tell you I had no clue who was avoiding whom and for why in those last two episodes, I mean it. When I realized it was Daun who was avoiding Siwon, I was legitimately confused. Like, wtf? What did Siwon do to deserve this? Why was Daun doing this to himself? I honestly even feel like they should've cut the entire 11th hour betrayal plot out of there because we all saw that coming a mile away. It would've been more refreshing if Daun never went behind Siwon's back in the first place and they had some other conflict instead. But what do I know? I write blog posts not teleplays.

[ultramaga]

Yeah, reminds me of when the reeboks were a fad, and poor people would spend huge amounts on these shoddy sneakers, which fell apart. Or got stolen by other poor people. Plus, Vimes is missing that his boots are wearing out because he is using them far more than the rich noble. And real rich people will spend like crazy to compete with other rich people. The woman who wears a dress once for a party, for example. Or the gentleman spending a huge amount on a bottle of port, when he can’t actually taste the difference between that and a cheaper variety. One thing I learnt in bottle shops was that cheap wines were awful, but expensive wine and moderately priced wines differed mostly in marketing. There’s little value except in psychological terms. Given blind testing, maybe an expert might be able to tell the difference but often no. I knew a pretty well off couple that went to France in the 90s, and spent 200 australian dollars on a roast chicken. They said it was nothing special. They just wanted to go to the fancy restaurant.  A side note:  Caviar was relatively cheap and common until the latter part of the 19th century, when worldwide sturgeon stocks began to decline rapidly. Today, caviar is a rare and typically expensive food. https://www.britannica.com/topic/caviar I’d eaten caviar pretty regularly as a kid and a young man, because it was served at family christmas by one of my aunts. I never understood the fuss. I still don’t. But if you are rich, you will be expected not just to serve such things, but to buy them at restuarants etc. You will pay through the nose for bottles of wine.  Your lifestyle can bankrupt you, and many rich families went to ruin because they tried to maintain a lifestyle that they couldn’t afford.  So the wealthy can be frugal, yes, and I would love to be wealthy and frugal, because I have been poor most of my life, and know that wealth can disappear in an instant, but most of the wealthy are under pressure to be extravagant, and many can crash to nothing very quickly when times go bad.

But I expect Mr Pratchett probably managed his personal wealth quite carefully. A lot of the poor fritter sudden wealth away quickly, but he was a thoughtful and considered man, from what I understand.  Still, I have no problem with Vimes having such beliefs, and one of the pleasures of that series is having him deal with his own rise to the class he despised.

happy glorious 25th of may

[alexiskrystina]

My Business Journey.

My entire life I’ve done whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

Rules and authority were two things I never understood—well, I understood it, just didn’t like it. Once I found out I was an Aquarius rising, moon, & mars, this all made sense to me. If you know anything about astrology, you’ll know just how validating it was for me to find that out.

I’m also a Taurus sun so I love food, my comfort zone, and of course, I love money. I love luxury and nice things–I always loved the quote, “I have to be successful because I like expensive things.” And so, that’s what I always did–ensure my success.

I got good grades, got a job right when I turned 16, started paying my own cell phone bill at 18 because I knew I needed credit, and got my first credit card at 19. I got a scholarship to college where I finished my Bachelors & Masters, both in Accounting, in 4 years (Usually this takes about 6—so, yeah, there’s overachiever vibes here but really, it was all about making money as soon as possible). I was ready to make some real money stat. That was my objective.

After about 6 years in the corporate world, I was making 6 figures. And then my world fell apart.

Back in 2016, I was living the life–making over $100K, working from home before it was a thing, and I had just had my second child. Then the company I was working for was sold. At that point, what I had previously known about “job security” was shattered. Enter: the fuck this shit vibe.

But let’s back track a smidge–I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur. When I was 8 I sold friendship bracelets, when I was 16 I took a stab at more advanced beaded jewelry, at 20 I sold Mary Kay then jumped to Avon. At 24 I was a blogger, then I decided I was going to be an author and I wrote an entire 68,000 word fiction novel (and it’s actually pretty freakin good). I also had an Etsy shop where I sold little paper crafts (literally the cutest things), and my last gig was selling Senegence. I was determined to GTFO of this corporate construct. So when I got my work-from-home-six-figure-job, I was like YES! I made it! Freedom is mine.

But it was a false sense of freedom.

Yes, I had the flexibility of working from home, but the universe was like, girl don’t get it twisted—this is still a corporate job with all the corporate shit you’ve been running away from.

At that moment, I knew my job was in limbo so I decided I was going to bet on me one more time. I decided I was going to become a CPA (Certified Public Accountant), even though I had once swore I’d never go back to studying. The CPA exam is rough. And with two kids plus a full time corporate job, that shit was intense. But, I passed all 4 parts on the first try with flying colors–would I really have had it any other way? No. I’m like a selective overachiever. I call it Slazy.

In 2017, I started my own accounting firm, previously named Advance Accounting, and I was beyond determined to make this work. And it did, because it’s what I was meant to do all along.

I always thought it was funny that after all those years of selling makeup and jewelry and paper, I ended up being an entrepreneur in the industry where I actually had been professionally trained. Who would’ve thought.

And that’s how I became an entrepreneur. The ride was wild but it was worth it.

[jellieclogs]

thinking about how my older sister used to relentlessly make fun of me for how obsessed i was with one direction at like age 11 like it was real bad for me i would see a picture of harry or zayn and burst out crying . anyway she bullied me because i bought their merch, listened to their music all the time, talked about them with my friends, read fanfiction, WROTE fanfiction, the whole nine yards. i never saw them live because concerts were too expensive as a kid. but yeah she always ALWAYS made fun of me and that was just typical first boyband love behavior ? then, actually years later, like age 22 plus she became more of a fan of their music than i was...like word for word singing rock me like???? i fell off from them because i got into kpop soon after but my sister was a fan for years..

it makes me think like because she was born in 1998, the hit boyband of that time had passed (nsync i guess?) and she was way too young to enjoy them, but by the time the next big thing had come around (1D) my sister was almost 16 and she probably felt like she was way too old to act as obsessed with them as i did, even though she enjoyed their music deep down :(

anyway my fave songs are moments, summer love, loved you first, stockholm syndrome, and what a feeling 🤭

[gaykarstaagforever]

Oh my god, watching journalists try to understand why VICE and Buzzfeed are tanking.

"WELL I GUESS PEOPLE JUST LOVE THE NEW YORK TIMES BECAUSE OF ITS QUALITY JOURNALISM!"

If you are of a class where old-fashioned news reporting matters to you, yes, you subscribe to the Times. But that amounts to only 10 million subscriptions for them. As compared to the 300 million Americans using the Internet.

People don't want to pay for fucking news, stupids. And they aren't. You are all fighting over a tiny mountain of money specially reserved for the most soulless corporate shills. Society as a whole is NOT CONSUMING NEWS THIS WAY ANYMORE.

They just cannot admit they have already lost the war. They still have to act like someone needs them. When it is overwhelmingly obvious no one does.

Yes, that does make us less-informed and dumber. Obviously. And we are. And we don't care. We're not paying your mortgage so you can write bitchy thinkpieces about TV shows you don't like. You're not getting a travel budget, plus daily expenses, from us so you can stand there somewhere in the South and breathlessly "both sides" your way into making the Far Right mainstream. I am not buying you $700 shoes for that dinner party with federal court nominees and lobbyists so you can later pretend you were there all night conducting serious adult business. We don't do it that way anymore. It is too expensive and we have other ways of getting chunks of information when we need it. That is a fractured system but it is FREE.

Vice and Buzzfeed were condescending attempts by old journalists in the 2010s to trick "the hip youth" into consuming news the old-fashioned way. They dressed it up with trendy Internet bullshit but it was just ABC News again. And the only thing that made its financial model "new" was pimping videos on YouTube for sweet Google ad-revenue. Oh what a brilliant idea! News is saved!

The trendy bullshit held on for awhile. Then it still made money because people laughed at it. But then that fell off, too. And while there were random successes of serious traditional news reporting out of that...who was paying for that? The bullshit. The second the bullshit lost value in the market, bam!, the money for reporting dried up. Because no one under 60 is paying you for news. We. Don't. Do. That. Anymore. It was a doomed endeavor.

The Times and Wall Street Journal and television network news hold out because billionaires keep plowing money into them, no matter how much or little they generate, because those billionaires need them as organs of political influence and narrative control. That is the ONLY reason they persist. Yes, many are actually profitable, because the accountants running them are expensive and have tailored them to thrive in the specific weird markets they are faced with. That's all. It not because they are beloved and respected for quality expensive journalism by a nonexistent Monoculture that loves the Times crossword.

This is like a blacksmith in 1908 saying the problem isn't that the Model T has come out, the problem is that not enough other blacksmiths are wearing eye-catching hats.

Traditional news-for-profit is motherfucking dead. Any attempts to revive it will fail. News is a commodity now, and we'll buy the cheapest supply, which may be shit quality but is free. We are not paying you for "perspective and context" anymore.

The reason Tucker Carlson lost his shit trying to lie to Trump voters to woo them back was because he knew that the MOMENT Fox News loses its hold over the old and stupid, his $20 million salary is impossible to justify anymore. He was one of the lucky rare media goons making that kind of money from "news." And to do that, his "news" network has by this point degraded into a platform for far-right propaganda that only maintains an actual news desk so they can point at it when people accuse them of having no point but evil. And Tucker was demanding that news desk lie about election fraud because the propaganda part was where all the money is. Obviously, even Fox News's ancient audience of mummies DOESN'T WANT TO PAY FOR NEWS.

You have a passion for journalism? Take your phone and go do journalism. Figure out how to pay your bills later. It isn't a job anymore. Get the fuck over it and stop trying to sell quality horseshoes on the streets of Detroit.