#promptly forgot about it bc i had opened it already

[starluvsx]

★𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

proofread: yeaaa

word count:4k(lol plz send help)

WARNINGS: pt2 of jealous girl, toxic!Chris, smut but like for the plot yk, p in v, dick suckin, unprotected sex (safe sex is great sex kids😁👍), praise and degrading, crying, mentions of possible cheating, reader talks about being insecure, swearing, pet names, reader is def not standing on business.

A/N:here u gooo @urfavstromboli !this is too long holy shit.the smut part was so strange to write bc like I don't really like writing smut but I had to for like the story.also im sorry this took so long to makes started working on it right after pt1 and just forgot it was in my drafts LMAOOOO. also peep the special banner(I couldn't find any good lyrics).ok ill stop yappin and let you read.

𖦹 𖦹

✧SATURDAY

my heart beat sped up as I slammed the door in Chris' face.never being this upset with him in my life. I mean I never really thought he would choose another girl over me.Especially not one that has problems with me for no apparent reason. As I broke down into sobs I pulled out my phone and ironically called Nick, Chris' brother, knowing he would comfort me.

"Hey what's up?Did Chris apologize?" Nick asked through the phone.Once my crying was heard I think he got the hint of what had happened though.

"Can you uh..can you come over please really just... need someone right now."I stifled out as I paced around my living room.too many yet not enough thoughts running through my head.

"yea of course, do you want me to grab anything on the way?"Nick questioned sympathetically. I only responded with a small 'the usual' before we promptly said goodbye and I hung up.

✧NICKS POV

I heard the front door open as I shuffled down the stairs,Chris huffing and puffing as he stepped into my view. "How'd it go?"I asked even though I already knew how it went.I wanted to see if he would lie to me.

"horrible, its not even my fault though, shes acting like an insane bitch and is trying to make me choose between her and ash.fucking stupid.she needs to get over herself." Chris spat out.i was shock at his words about a girl who he used to love so much.the only time he talked about her behind her back was when he was saying how pretty she looked or how kind she way or how funny she could be.all of those feeling were now replaced by cold, rude, bullshit.

"don't talk about her like that, dickhead." I retorted.yes he's my brother and I'll love him no matter what but there is no way I would let him talk about her in such a way.especially when I knew that wasn't what he was like at all.

"what?! How am I the dickhead?" he yelled out as I turned my body to Matt's room in order to ask if he could drive me to y/n's.rolling my eyes and choosing to ignore the boy who had very clearly lost it.

"Can you drive me to y/n's?"I asked while poking my head into Matt's dark room. a small 'yea sure' being the answer as he got up from his desk.walking back into the kitchen area I was met with an angered Chris. God he was acting like such a child.

"don't ignore me,"he slightly shouted. "If I'm really a dick then there must be a reason!" my youngest brother said, looking at me soullessly.

"you literally were flirting with Ashley the other day, didn't  say anything when she insulted your girlfriend, when y/n confronted you about it you don't even care, and then when she asked you to make the very reasonable decision of either her or Ashley you get all pissed and start calling her an insane bitch, so yea I think that makes you a dick."I rambled on frustrated.

Chris didn't say anything before I walked toward the front door.or maybe he was going to but just didn't because of the situation.either way I don't think he really needed to say anything else.as I was getting my shoes on I could faintly hear Matt say "I know your my brother but if you hurt her anymore after today I'll kick your ass." which was followed up by my silence and footsteps towards Chris' room.

Matt huffed as he walked down the stairs and walked out the door to his car with me.Once we got in the car we both sighed deeply. "He's so stupid sometimes."Matt breathed out as he started the car and began to back out of the driveway.

"seriously, also we need to stop by the gas station."I replied.even though I was going to her house in order to comfort her and hopefully make her realize he's not treating her well and that she should just leave I know it would be to no avail.shes a hopeless romantic and there not much I can do about it.

✧YOUR POV

tears sprung out of my eyes like frogs with no hesitation. “Please please please let me get what I want” by deftones playing on my speaker. I looked into the mirror across from my bed as I laid on my side, locking eyes with my own reflection.I slowly picked my body up and now simply sat on my bed.still staring at myself intently.

I found myself simultaneously messing with different parts of my body and face.silently wishing they would morph to look like Ashley.she was perfect.the perfect weight,perfect skin,flawless makeup, model like hair.no wonder why Chris didn't mind her being on top of him.he probably wanted people to think that was his girlfriend.not me.why would anyone wanna be seen with me anyways.

The doorbell ringing for the second time this night broke me out of my thoughts.I slowly brought myself to my feet and dragged myself to the front door.as I opened It I was met with a sympathetic looking Nick holding a gray bag. "hey girl..."he slowly said.

I'm not sure if it was just my brain trying to distract me or what but I couldn't help but notice he had dyed his hair red again. "your hair...its not blonde anymore..."I quietly said.my words making Nick smile

"Yeah I know, just kinda felt like another change, i don't know.do you like it?"he questioned.

"I love it, looks really cool man.''I answered, tired eyes looking at him and realizing he was still outside. "oh shit sorry"I said while moving out of the way. as he stepped into my house I made eye contact with Matt who had most likely been waiting for Nick to go into my house.I waved to him with a small smile as he reciprocated through his car window.

I sighed heavily as I shut the door.remembering what happened earlier. "Okay so I got you red bull, skinny pop, oreos, mints and Lindt chocolate, oh and I got nerds for myself, you can have some though."Nick said once he walked over to my kitchen table, placing the items on said table as he listed them.I don't know how he remembers what I like to eat when I'm sad but this does happen a lot I guess.

I put my head in my hands and let out a deep breath.trying to unwind somehow.a ping was then heard from across the table.i knew it was Nick because my phone had been left upstairs. "Oh God, look who it is."Nick said as he turned his phone to face me. it was Ashley.she had sent him something on snap.

'half swipe it."I said as I made my way around the table, peering over his shoulder to see his screen.

"I don't know how."he responded, panicking.

"Just pull it from the left." I tried to explain.my help wasn't very useful though because he opened it instead. 'Are you mad at me?' read the message "is she fucking stupid.of course your mad at her?"

"She is stupid, that's why she looks like that.im just gonna say no to see what she says."the boy next to me said as he typed out 'no' followed up by 'why would I be mad at you?'.

she immediately opened the message and began typing "wow I'm surprised she opened that fast, probably cause she has no life."I snakily said as we both watched her bitmoji type.

''Oh bc of what happened with y/n the other day. 'she clarified. He was about to start typing again before she beat him to it. 'yk when she was a psycho bitch for no reason' was the next message. "psycho bitch?!oh I'll show her a psycho bitch!"I said as I shot up from my leaned over position on the counter. walking angrily towards my front door.

"y/n you are not going to fight her right now, especially not when you look like that.'' Nick reasoned as he set his phone down. "just forget about her.she's just an irrelevant cunt that has nothing better to do with her life but hate." the red-head said.

he was right.i don't know why I cared what she thought.but when I really think about it,I don't.i couldn't give less then a fuck about how she saw me.it was Chris' opinion I cared about.i wanted him to think I was beautiful, funny and kind.i wanted him to think i was perfect.i wanted him to be able to see me over Ashely.

"did Chris say anything about me?"I asked.switching topics to something more relevant in my head. The face he made when I said this made my stomach drop.Mainly because I knew how mean Chris could get at times and considering what had happened earlier tonight I don't think he said anything good.

"Do you want what he should've said or what he did say?"he asked as I made my way back to my previous placement.

"Tell me what he actually said."I answered.feeling like I was taking a leap of faith.but I knew if I wasn't told the truth then I would never have a chance of getting over this man.

"he was all like 'it went horrible, it’s not even my fault though, she’s being an inane bitch and is trying to make me choose between her and ash.she needs to get over herself.'"Nick said, mimicking Chris' voice to make it more light hearted.it was a little funny but the words made my eyes well up with tears nonetheless.

I was feeling so many different things.sadness, anger, stress but most of all betrayal.i mean he said it wasn't even his fault basically saying it was mine.my fault for being upset for a little bit.he would rather call me an insane bitch then just admit he was wrong and stop being friends with Ashley.that fat pig.

"what!?Ugh I hate him so much!!Why do I even like him?He treats me like shit,never listens and is always on top of other girls?!I don't even think I've heard him say he loves me in like 3 months!? do you think he's cheating?oh my God he probably is!"I rambled on.placing my head in my arms at the end of my words.i slowly began to sob into my own arms.once Nick heard my sobs he hugged my hunched over back.

"no don't say that.he's obviously not cheating on you."he reassured.his words didn't do much though because my cries only got louder and more emotional.my best friend ushered me up so he could hug me normally.i pulled away from the hug  once I was able to actually breath.looking up at Nick with tired, sad,eyes.thankful for him being here but also embarrassed for crying over his brother. "wanna watch a movie?" the boy sympathetically asked.i nodded a small yes before I grabbed all my snacks and headed over to the couch.

watching the movie was a good distraction for some time.but nonetheless I found myself thinking of him. how much I missed him and just wishing he was here right now.im not going to apologize though.I did nothing wrong no matter what he thinks.so if that means that we never speak again then I'm fine with that.oh who am I kidding, I'm definitely not fine with that.

✧THE NEXT DAY, SUNDAY

'come over please' and 'I miss you' were the two messages I had been staring at for at least five minutes.the sender being chris made this all the more strange and confusing.i mean he was just calling me an insane bitch yesterday and now he wants me to come over.but for some reason I caved.maybe he wanted to apologize or something.

I threw a zip up over my lace tank top and tied my gray sweatpants.sliding my crocs on as I stepped outside started walking to my car.

Once I began driving I found myself more fidgety in anticipation than what felt like ever before.fingers tapping against the steering wheel rhythmically and constant glancing at the ETA were I knew this.

As I entered the house using my key I felt anxiety rush over me.Matts keys weren't here and neither was Nick's jacket which he never leaves the house without during this time of the year.meaning that it was only the two of us in this house.

My footsteps felt heavy as I walked down to his room.something I had done many times now feeling unfamiliar.I knocked on his bedroom door lightly once I approached it. though as the door was opened I wasn't even aloud a greeting before he placed his hands on my hips and smashed his lips onto mine hungrily.i wish I could say I rejected the kiss but I couldn't.it was like he had put a spell on me.

he walked backwards as we eventually crashed onto his bed.i straddled over his lap as I deepened kiss.he swiftly flipped me over onto my back and moved me so I was sat up a little.i took the hint and unzipped my hoodie, throwing it off to the side while trying my best not to break the kiss.

he then removed my tank top.now revealing my bare chest to him "no bra huh?so you are still my slut." he said as a smirk formed on his lips.

"I was actually about to go to bed but whatever you wanna believe."I retorted.

"do you want me to fuck you or not?"he questioned, looking into my eyes.i stayed silent though.letting the wetness between my legs make my decisions. "that's what I thought."he darkly said. pale arms taking his own shirt off.toned body now all in view for me.

"you know what to do.''was my signal to take my pants off.i undid the tie on my sweats and slid them off.leaving my white laced panties on. "sit up and go on the side of the bed"he demanded.i did as he said.sitting on my knees a on the side of the bed I was closer to.he then came around to the side I was facing.once he was directly in front of me he dropped his baggy jeans and boxers at once, cock springing free.all 8 inches now stood in front of me.his pink tip leaking pre-cum.

I looked up at him innocently.as if I had never done this before.i then, on instinct, began to pump him with my hand slowly.my actions making his breath hitch.i placed my lips on the tip and began to lower my head.pace increasing every time I brought my head up.eventually his hands made their way to my hair and began to push my head into his cock roughly. "fuck just like that.keep going.use that perfect little mouth for something good for once."he harshly spat out looking down at me as he said that.i ignored his words though and continued to suck him off.

This feeling being lost on me for almost a week made my throat sting pleasurably.his grip on my hair tightened which told he was close.the signal making me go faster.if even possible.small whimpers fell from his cherry lips as I continued to work. “Oh God yes,please I’m…I’m almost there”he mumbled out, the words working as encouragement for me to keep going.then without warning I felt his cum shoot itself into my mouth.the salty savory flavor touched my taste buds as I swallowed.

Once he came down from his own high he looked down at me.i kept my eyes on his.looking up like a lost puppy. "fuck your so hot" he said as he grabbed my middle area and situated me on my back and so I was on his bed longways.once he laid down with me he whispered "sit on my lap baby"

I complied and did as he said.placing myself more on his legs then his actual lap because I knew he wouldn't be that easy. "you want me to fuck you?"he asked.i nodded 'yes' in response. looking down at him with pleading eyes even though I was on top right now. "use your words.you had so much to say before, what happened to that?"he teased.

"please chris just fuck me, ive been waiting for days!"I squealed out.thankful there was nobody else home right now. 

"good girl.."he hissed out.his words being my command to lift my hips up and hover over his cock.then without warning he thrusted up into me after lining himself up with my entrance.the sudden feeling making me yelp.he continued to buck his hips up into mine as I bounced simultaneously, placing my fingertips on his chest for some sort of stabilization.

moans that were higher pitched than my actual voice spilled out of my mouth along with swears and small pleads.my body was hot as I went up and down on him.his hands were at my waist, guiding my every move harshly. The pale boy grabbed my waist hard, making me wince at the pleasure mixed with pain.the idea that the boy who I was crying over last night was ramming himself into me right now made me feel guilty.but I can't help it.his touch is intoxicating.

my jaw fell open as pornographic noises flowed from my lips.eyes screwing shut and head being now hung low.i was so caught up in myself that I didn't even register the small whimpers coming from the boy underneath me. The noises being my key to realize he really did miss me.at least a part of me. "keep going baby, don't stop, i'm gonna-"I rambled on before being cut off by my own already familiar noises

"Me too..shit.."he whispered.

"chris fuck fuck fuuuuck"I strung out as I came undone on top of him.laying my body on his as he thrusted up into me again,chasing his own high. Whiny whimpers made their way into my ear as I felt him twitch inside of me.knowing he was close I decided to tease him a little by kissing his neck and leaving a trail of hickeys.my sensitive body not mattering at all to either of us.

"fuck baby" he groaned out as I felt his load shoot into me, coating my insides.we sat there in silence.sweaty bodies catching their breath.once we calmed ourselves he pulled me off him and situated me so I was laying on my side, facing the boy who replicated my current position."lemme get you a towel."he said before promptly getting up, putting his boxers on, and doing as he said.

When he came back and cleaned me up I couldn't help but stare at him.all his features slithering into my eyes. "Can I have a shirt?"I asked softy.not wanting to put my tank top back on because of the temperature.he only hummed an ‘mhm’ before tossing me a random black shirt with a white design on it.

"Can we talk? ''he awkwardly said as we both were now sat up and at least partially clothed. I nodded my head to signify I was listening."listen y/n im...im really sorry about earlier.i was a dick and I shouldn't have acted like that.i know you don't like Ashley and i'm totally fine with dropping her.i would rather lose her then you any day and i'm so sorry if I made you feel otherwise.a-and if your ever upset again don't be afraid to say something cause I promise I won't act like a dick again."he nervously rambled on.

I wish I had it in me to stay mad at him but I couldn't.i know this apology was just so I wouldn't leave him lonely and he would pull something stupid in a few weeks.but I can't help it.i'm in love with him and there's nothing I can do about it.

✧MONDAY MORNING

my eyes screwed shut almost immediately after they fluttered open, the bright sunlight causing this.i turned my head around to the best of my abilities to see if chris was awake and it didn't seem like it. I turned my head back and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. "you're finally awake."Chris said from behind me,startling me a little.

I hummed a small 'mhm' before trying to get up but to my dismay he pulled me back down to my previous spot. "I have to pee."I giggled.

"pee later"he mumbled, pulling me closer if possible.

"yea no thank you"I said before breaking out of his limp arms grasp and standing up to go to the bathroom.taking a mental note of my sore legs from last night.

"I see you limping!"he teased once I got into the bathroom.

"oh fuck off"I lightly shouted back.once I washed my hands I began walking towards his door, the idea of food in mind.

"Where are you going?"he asked from his now sat up place.holding himself up on his elbows.

"I'm hungry"I said while throwing on my sweatpants that had been tossed here last night.

When I got up the stairs Nick turned his head to me.shock and disappointment coated his face. "Okay I thought we agreed you hated him?"he questioned.Keeping his voice low knowing Chris was still in the house.

"ugh I know but he texted me last night and told me to come over and then one thing led to another and...look he apologized."I tried to reason.nick though, was not having any of this.i made my way over to the fridge and grabbed my strawberry smoothie from Thursday that had been left here by accident.Taking a sip from it while I turned around to face my best friend again.

"yea and he apologized last time, and the time before that, and the time before that.you have to let him go y/n.he's not good for you."Nick explained to me.I know he was right but I couldn't just get over him.I wasn't the type of person to just get over stuff like that.

"Well last night seemed genuine, okay?I seriously think he meant it.''I said before footsteps were heard coming from chris' bedroom which ended me and Nick's conversation.

Chris hugged me from behind and kissed the top of my head.nick shot me a "you need help" look and I couldn't do much besides give him a "yea I know" look back.the brothers began conversing but it was more like background music to me.

I know nick is right, he’s not good for me.but I can't help it.everytime I look into his eyes I feel like i'm sinking deeper in this pit of love I dug so long a ago for him.i hated that I loved him and how I knew he was gonna do me wrong.but with his arms wrapped around me like they were right now I can't help but leave that as a problem for future me.

[bubble-popping]

okay this is kinda embarrassing bc i meant to post this a long time ago and just... Didn't.

More dnb gods au bc them <3

Truthfully, Techno didn't know why he stood here, hand hovering above the wood of a door. Even less did he understand why he felt so nervous about going in. The words 'Dream's Study' felt like a permanent 'do not disturb' sign. He knew how much he hated to be interrupted when he worked, especially for trivial matters such as a minor headache. Techno hadn't seen Dream for a while, and it was showing with how Chat nagged and clawed at his brain. He wasn't quite at the stage of attacking his dearest friends and causing major property damage because of their volume and relentlessness, but Dream had asked--pleaded, to be more precise--for him to visit before it got to that point. So, here he stood, trying to think of how to phrase his current predicament without sounding like a total loser. And Chat was not helping.

just knock?

man's forgot how to knock

bro forgor

E

E

average dork in love behavior

no u guys don't get it he's so normal about dream i promise

social anxiety L

L

LOL

L

L

"How do you nerds even know half those phrases? I don't say anythin' like that-" Before he knew it, the sound of squeaks and chirps emitted from behind the door. The Blobs' heightened senses never ceased to amaze him.

"What? Techno's outside? How-OW!"

Techno startled upon hearing the exclamation accompanied by a thud and finally kicked himself into gear, opening the door and peeking inside to see Dream standing up from behind his desk, cradling his horns and uttering more hisses of pain. "Dream? You alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine! Jus' bumped my head is all. I'm alright." The blond waved off his concern as he sank into his chair. "Is something up? Chat being loud again?"

The piglin god decided to step further into the room. He'd gone this far, might as well go the full mile. "Well, not at the moment now that you're, ya know, talkin'."

"Aw, they just missed me, huh?" Dream rested his head in his hand, smile smug and eyes scrunched.

YES

DREAM

DREAM POG

simps. every single one of you. me too.

GUYS SHUT UP I CAN'T FOCUS ON HIS PRETTY

pretty dreamie :)

WE AGREED ON DAYDREAM FOR THE NICKNAME IDOIT

**idiot lol

lol

LOL

Lol

LOL

"I didn't say all that. Don't get ahead of yourself, teletubby." As if Techno's absolutely scathing remark wasn't enough of a blow to the man's ego, several Blobs then decided it was their special moment to shine as they dropped down on Techno chirping and cooing not too unlike Phil's crows. He glanced up to see many more piled on a hammock above his head. The majority still soundly slept. Techno could only imagine what it'd look like if they were all awake.

"Hey! What have I told you guys about personal space?" Dream promptly stood from his chair and came over to brush the little Blobs off, a bright gold strong as sunshine glowing on his cheeks. It really didn't match the stern expression he was trying to show. "I'm so sorry about them. We're still working on that..." He didn't meet Techno's eyes as his hands swiped across his shoulders. Not even when he reached further up, lifting on the tips of his toes to pluck away the ones that had settled in his hair.

"They're not so bad. At least they're cute. Chat is just plain annoyin'," Techno grumbled.

WE'RE RIGHT HERE YA KNOW

techno hates us y'all

we're literally fixing your love life?

so ungrateful

Dream giggled softly, shaking his head. Only then did he meet Techno's gaze. "Chat isn't bad either. It's just like the Blobs, they're excitable. I think Chat's cool."

dream gets us y'all

omg he's looking at us guys

HE'S THINKS WE'RE COOL

i hope he wins the custody battle in the divorce

they aren't even married yet

praying on their downfall already is crazy

SHUT UP HE'S STILL TALKIMG

he stopped tho?

**talking

LOL

LOL

L

L

L

Techno pressed a hand to his temple, face twisting in discomfort. "You don't have to hear 'em all the time..."

Dream offered a sympathetic smile before he seemed to get an idea. "Would you like to rest with me while I fulfill some dream requests?"

"I don't wanna bother ya if you're workin'-"

"You wouldn't be a bother, ya big idiot. C'mon, I could use the company." He smiled sweetly, taking Techno by the arm with pretty green eyes begging from under long blond lashes. Naturally, Techno let himself be dragged away--but he still wasn't a simp, Chat, shut up--to a different corner of the office: an area that closely resembled a pillow fort.

Techno really had to duck down to enter it, clearly not built for a god his size. Inside was more spacious than it initially appeared. Made of many different colors and shapes of cushions, all draped with soft blankets, and partially bordered by the lower shelves of a bookcase. Dream easily found a spot to lay down, propped up and facing the curtain canopy. Techno squeezed against the nearest wall out of consideration for Dream's space, but regardless only managed a gap of mere inches. He too looked up, and when he did, he swore that nothing was above them at all. Tiny lights were strategically placed to emulate the night sky. Techno could even see certain constellations in the pattern.

"How did...?"

"Oh, some Blobs got into my glowstone dust by accident and they reminded me of stars, so I got this idea." And Techno believed him because when he squinted he saw, as his eyes adjusted to the change in lighting, many tiny Blobs hanging by thin threads with the proudest grins on their faces.

"Of course..." He huffed, smirking and shaking his head.

A comfortable silence succeeded his words, covering the pair in a particular kind of blanket. The kind that had Techno curiously glancing over to see Dream concentrating on a cloud held aloft by the green strings connected to his fingers.

"What's that one? If ya don't mind me askin'."

"Hm? Oh, well, usually I don't share other people's dreams. They're personal things, meant for your mind alone. But..." Dream got a small, almost mischievous smile on his face. "This one here is for one of my regulars."

"Regulars?"

"Mhm. I think she prays almost every night, always for the same thing. She's an old woman and recently her wife of almost 60 years passed away from an unfortunate accident. Do you know what she asks to dream of?"

Techno couldn't imagine knowing that much about a mortal. But then again, all those that prayed to him usually didn't live very long, so he supposed he just never got the chance to.

"What?"

"She just wants to speak with her again. Nothing else matters, except that she's there. They talk about so many things. Sometimes, they don't speak at all. Just sit there next to each other, enjoying the company. I've put them in all sorts of places. Relaxing on a beach, watching a fireworks display from afar, sitting on their rocking chairs in their living room..." He'd finished crafting the dream by then, offering it to one of the Blobs who devoured the cloud whole and promptly wiggled into the crevice of two pillows. Afterwards, he folded his hands atop his stomach and closed his eyes, smiling wistfully. "Such a sweet, pure love... I only hope someone will love me like that."

A heat unlike any other instantly filled Techno's cheeks.

ASDFGHJKL HE'S LITERALLY ASKING FOR IT

LET'S GOOO

KISS HIM YOU IDIOT

how did that guy make that sound

KISS

KISS

KISS

L matchmakers fr

wdym we're such W matchmakers

yeah he boutta get that sheep pus-

Techno quickly sat up from the comfortable pile onto his elbow, resolutely pushing that thought out of his head.

"Techno?" Dream looked to him, gaze wide and inquisitive. The piglin god turned to stare down at him, and though he knew he had to say something that might finally shut Chat up about this, the words got caught in his throat. Green eyes were simply too pretty, surrounded by freckles and waves of golden blond. A hand surprised him out of his admiring. Gentle fingers pushed the hair that had fallen into Techno's face behind his pointed ear then came to a rest at his cheek. "Something wrong?"

"No," he answered with a shake of his head, placing his hand upon Dream's and leaning into the touch. It still didn't make a lot of sense to him, why Dream was so tender towards him despite his reputation and prowess... Or, perhaps, because of it? Techno cherished it all the same. "Nothin's wrong. 'm just... 'm not sure how to, how to word-"

"Tech," the sheep god murmured, now cupping both of Techno's cheeks and wearing a bittersweet smile, "you don't have to force yourself. I was just thinking out loud. I wasn't trying to-"

"It's not that, I mean, well, it is, but-" He sighed, closing his eyes to collect himself before opening them with a renewed determination. "I get what you're sayin' and I feel the same way."

"You do?"

"Ya think I'd come just to make Chat shut up? That's just a sweet bonus, dude."

Dream giggled, a similar blush rising on his face. "So, what does that mean?"

"It means I... would really like to kiss ya, if you'll let me."

The blush immediately brightened to a shimmering gold. He pushed himself to a sit as well, closing the gap between them to barely a few inches. "I think I'd like that."

They both leaned in, heads tilting to accommodate the other, but when Techno connected with something, he knew it was not Dream's lips. A Blob had managed to slip in at the last second, squeaking happily. The two pulled back in equal astonishment, allowing the Blob to drop on Dream's lap.

Dream's expression rapidly soured. "You little-!" He snatched the Blob up, gripping its little body in a tight grasp. "That's it. You're all going in timeout now." With a snap of his fingers, all the Blobs including the ones that hung from the ceiling exploded into puffs of clouds, leaving the two in near total darkness aside from Dream's glowing eyes. "Much better. Now..." Hands suddenly grabbed Techno by the shoulders and twisted them so he was flat on his back and Dream was straddling his waist. His voice lowered to a whisper as he leaned in once again, bright green illuminating both their faces. "Where were we?"

[eternaldarknessstuff]

Spideychelle soulmate au Part 1

Ok. So, the timeline is a little off because I wanted MJ to have no clue about Spidey but she’s way too smart for that, so Peter just became Spidey, and MJ, Ned, and Peter became BFF’s earlier than in the movies. ALSO Endgame did happen, but nobody dies, and anything that takes place after it doesn’t happen. Civil War was also different bc Pepper was more involved and made them all talk it out like adults so they are all happy and living in Avengers tower because I am a slut for found family. Also, the soulmate thing is - you lose something your soulmate gets it. Also, in life threatening situations they can feel each others pain to an extent.

    MJ had known since eighth grade that the cute nerdy guy who couldn’t keep his voice down while talking to his best friend was her soulmate. He had a habit of losing pens and notebooks, all of which seemed to be labeled with his name. MJ had grown used to dropping them behind her in the school hallway, or throwing them off her apartment balcony when at home.

    She had only ever lost generic things, hair ties and bobby pins being the most frequent. Then, she had actually become friends with the nerd, and found that she treasured their friendship despite all efforts to remain aloof and by herself.

    After she had found the third backpack next to her, she had planned to approach Peter at school, tell him about all the items he had lost and how they were soulmates, and then, Spider-Man’s mask appeared next to the bag, and MJ froze. 

    She prided herself on knowing everything about everyone, but she hadn’t even considered this to be a possibility. With a little more time, she probably would have figured it out, but Spider-Man had only appeared on the streets a few weeks ago. 

She promptly lost the mask and forgot about it.

***

MJ had continued to re-lose things, rolling her eyes at how much Peter could lose, while beginning to drop subtle hints that she was his soulmate and she knew who he was. After Iron-Man had gotten involved, there had been a stretch of a few weeks where MJ didn’t receive anything new, and then, New York city happened, Peter had asked Liz to prom, and then, the  Vulture. MJ had monitored her soulmate with bated breath, ready to re-lose anything he lost and save him. 

She had felt the crushing weight of the building on her chest, slipping out of prom and into the library, where she heard Ned being questioned, and she let a hair tie fall from around her wrist as Ned was dragged out. Then, the weight was gone, and MJ felt like she could cry, because Peter was alive! Peter had made it and he was safe, but he wasn’t really, because then MJ could feel scorching heat and terror filling their bond, before everything was gone, and she forced herself to go home.

Liz had left, moving to a new school where everybody didn’t know her dad was a supervillain, and Peter had grown distant, dropping out of activity's because of his ‘Stark Internship,’ which MJ new was code for Spidermanning or two oblivious idiots hanging out and pretending they weren’t father and son. Honestly, MJ had never seen the two together in person, she had only collected bits and pieces of the story from things Peter had lost, and she already new that Stark considered the nerd his son.

Their freshman year had finished, and they were a month into their sophtmore year when Peter had approached MJ, his hands shaking slightly, and his voice cracked as he invited her over after school. She ahd asked if Ned was coming, and he had shook his head, before taking off, and avoiding her for the rest of the day.

That night, he told her about Spider-Man in hushed whispers, and MJ laughed, telling him she had figured it out a while ago. She considered telling him they were soulmates, until Peter started crying, and she decided to wait a little while. She definitely wasn’t scared though. 

She met Tony Stark a month later, while using the key she had ‘borrowed’ from Peter to get into the apartment, her moms last fight with her grandma ringing in her ears. She was prepared for a May hug and a Star Wars marathon with the two nerds, what she wasn’t prepared for however, was the billionaire sitting on May’s old worn couch, which still had the memories of every time they had sat there, the chili spill from the first time MJ had been over, the coffee spill from the all nighter before midterms, and the tear from where Peter had gotten stuck to the couch while telling May about his nighttime activities.

“Stark,” she greeted, raising an eyebrow as the billionaire startled at her presence. 

“You’re the scary one, right?” Tony asked, and MJ narrowed her eyes at him.

“Eat the rich,” she said, before striding past him and into Peters room where she waited for him to return. 

The first time she lost something identifying, Peter had disappeared into the sky with Stark, and MJ could feel anxiety coursing through their bond. She threw her sketchbook out the window of the bus. 

Then, a week had passed in a second, and she was right back where the bus had been, Ned and the majority of their classmates appearing beside her. Her sketchbook was beside her again, and she pushed the fear of Peter knowing aside, pushing herself to help with the cleanup the blip had caused. 

Peter never brought the sketchbook up. 

Their sophomore year ended, and junior year began. MJ was trying to figure out how to tell Peter they were soulmates, while Ned had found his own soulmate, Betty Brant. 

“Oh my god! We have to watch Spider-Man fight!” Someone shouted, and Harrington sighed, before caving and switching the power point to live footage of Spidey fighting aliens. 

“Come on Spidey, come on!” Ned was whispering, and MJ shared the sentiment. 

She glanced away from the screen for one moment, just the one moment it took for her to open her sketchbook to draw her soulmate. It shouldn’t have been enough time for anything to happen, but the classroom erupted into panicked shouts, and a pair of web-shooters appeared on MJ’s desk.

So the blip only happened for a week instead of five years, because the team worked together and Scott was discovered way sooner. Part two should be out tomorrow and I also have plans for the story from Peter’s POV. Lmk if you want to be added to the tag list for the next part!

[cantankerouscatfish]

sometimes work involves:

Jr: [manager], can you help me with something? manager: yeah. and if we need another person, we can ask Elle. me, sitting at a terminal: I wish, but [coworker] never came in, so. I am. the office today?? manager and Jr: *loud complaints* ...they didn’t need my help, so I had no escape from answering phones until after lunch. :(  the project is a new heater in house 5 so I gotta go over and see it at some point. shiny new heater ooooo

spending the time after lunch frantically restocking the succulents display, sweeping under the tables, and getting rid of the last of the holiday decor. also helping customers here and there bc oh yeah we’re a store.

learning that out of the ~400 centerpieces we’d greened up for the winter holiday rush, there were less than 10 left in the cooler. gosh dang.

someone forwarded us an email receipt all ticked off that she’d paid for an arrangement last week and never received it! except... the invoice was from 2020. I went through the system to see if she did actually order something last month, but she had not. emailed her back to say as such and then promptly forgot all about it so uhh that’s a tomorrow office people problem oops

me: hey I heard of this thing called, umm, plants? and I was wondering if you carried that?? L: what? pants? me: no, plants. it’s weird, I know! L: no, sorry. but you can go to Dash’s? and like, ... me: oh, and there’s Tops, right? they’ll have plants? L: yeah they’ll have, like, lettuces. and celery. me: no, celery is beasts, I learned that in school. L: ...celery is what? me: celery is beasts, don’t lie to me. L: ... L: ... L: I have. nothing to say to that. bye.

one of the drivers found a baby kitten out in the rain back in October. like a couple weeks old, eyes barely open, sick baby kitten. he took it to the SPCA. they treated the kitten (a lil ginger guy) for a respiratory infection. apparently it was kinda touch-and-go for a while but now he’s three months old and up for adoption! so the driver took him!! he already has a cat so we are all very hopeful that the two get along.

[cheryyori]

SK8TERBOY - Skaterboy!Yeosang/Soft!Reader Social Media AU ft. side pairing: Seonghwa/OC

Genre: Pure fluff (possible smut has yet to be determined)

A.N. Whoop, new update, not a lot of Yeosang bc Y/N is a bit of a mess rn. Also italics is Japanese. Also a bonus chapter about Seonghwa and Sumire’s date from the last two chapters will be coming soon bc I’m soft for them.

Chapter summary: It was supposed to be a nice evening between roommates/friends until Y/N gets an unknown text from what might be Yeosang and starts freaking out on what to do. Aka Y/N is still up to her usual clownery.

Taglist: @philosopher-of-fandoms @mangobee @mingiibabieee @yourbunny-xxii @angelichris-b97 @yeosatinyngz @kimtae-bae​

(let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!)

Masterlist.  prev.  next.

Chapter 4. You’re Pretty Cute

Once Y/N returned home, she dropped her bag onto the floor and kicked her shoes off before flopping face down onto the couch. A muffled loud groan left her lips as she recalled her clownery.

“Oh god, she’s finally lost it,” a voice mutters, followed by the sound of a slap to the shoulder. Yusung, Y/N thinks as she recognized the deep voice of his.

“Yusung, don’t be rude!” another says in a harsh whisper. Y/N knew that it was Suzaku who was berating the younger.

“What? It’s not our fault she’s an idiot,” Yusung said. Suzaku smacked his shoulder again, only this time harder than the last one, “Ouch, will you stop that, you bastard!”

“You know that said idiot can hear you, right?” Another chipped in. Junho had been sitting on the other couch, adjacent to the one Y/N flopped onto while scrolling on his phone for anything remotely interesting.

“I have such great friends,” Y/N huffs as she looked up to see the three boys. She could see Yusung stand tall (the bastard being the tallest out of all of them and using his height to make many short jokes at both her and Sumire’s expenses) besides Suzaku who had a concerned look on his face.

“Again, not our fault that you’re an idiot sometimes,” Yusung said once again. Suzaku elbowed him but used one hand to cover the small smile on his lips.

“This is bullying! I will not stand for such slander!” Y/N cried as she sat up, a pout on her lips as she glared at the boys. Junho remained unfazed by the whole exchange, ignoring his group of friends as usual. Yusung, on the other hand, stuck his tongue out at Y/N.

“You two are being loud, shut up!” A female groaned. Emerging from the kitchen, Sumire had a tired looked on her face. Her hair a mess as she walked into the living room, apparently she had been sleeping before the commotion.

“Sumi!” Y/N whined, “They’re bullying me again!” She said as she pointed to the boys, standing up as she went to Sumire’s arms. Sumire only sighed and placed a small pat on Y/N’s back in a weak attempt to comfort her.

“Sumi, you can’t blame us for Y/N’s own clownery!” Y/N heard the soft snort that escaped from Sumire’s lips and pulled away, staring at her in betrayal.

“Sorry,” there a small smile on her lips, “but it was kinda funny to read the whole thing,” Sumire explains. Y/N groaned as rest her head on her shoulder, wanting nothing more than to forget this moment.

“Don’t remind me,” Y/N whined, “I was so excited to see him again and thinking about what nonsense you three idiots were spamming in the chat that I totally spaced out and forgot to ask for his number!”

“Disappointed, but not surprised,” Junho mutters to himself but Y/N’s ears perked up at his words.

“Nam Junho! You are rude!” Y/N fumed. Junho merely shrugged and continued scrolling through his phone. Sumire sighed and decided that since she was up now, she might as well get started on dinner.

“I’m going to make dinner now, feel free to join me if you’re bored─no, not you Yusung!” She gave Yusung a pointed look as he started heading towards the kitchen, “Don’t think you’re still off the hook from the rice cooker incident last night.”

“Oh my god, it was an accident, how was supposed to know you plug the damn thing in?”

“How do you burn rice without having it plugged in?” She replied, raising a brow at him. Yusung opened his mouth before promptly closing it, not wanting to be judged more than he already was by his best/childhood friend.

“Fine. I’ll go play with Iroha, at least she’ll appreciate me!” He grumbled as he stalked over to the small ragamuffin kitten that was settled in the corner. “Iroha-chan! Come play with uncle Sungie!” He cooed as he picked up the small kitten and the toy that had caught her attention.

"I think I’m gonna be in my room for a bit,” Y/N said, “Today was quite eventful,” she mutters as she slowly dragged her feet to her room. Sumire almost felt bad for her friend. Almost, if she didn’t recall the texts she had with Seonghwa earlier. It will only be a matter of time when Yeosang will text Y/N.

“Alright, I’ll call you when dinner’s ready,” Y/N nodded and went inside her room, flopping onto her bed. Y/N closed her eyes, her mind constantly replaying her time with Yeosang and felt her cheeks heat up. Her heart suddenly picked up as she thought about him in general and let her thoughts wonder if he was dating anyone. Would he want to date her-

“AH! Y/N stop thinking like that!” She shrieked as she smacked her warm cheeks lightly again. “You don’t even know him! And you didn’t get his number! Maybe this is a sign that you’re going to be forever alone,” she scolded herself before letting out a dejected sigh.

It was then that her phone went off, Y/N figured that it might have been either one of the boys or Sumire and glanced over at the message before she let out a scream when she saw who texted her.

Meanwhile, in the living room/kitchen, everyone was doing their own thing to pass the time before dinner was ready when they heard Y/N’s voice coming from her room.

“What the fuck is going on?” Junho was the first to ask as he looked up from his phone. 

“So it’s begun,” Sumire muttered to herself as she ignored Y/N’s scream and continued to cook. Suddenly Y/N rushed out of her room and into the kitchen, her phone in hand as she held it out towards Sumire.

“H-he─” Y/N couldn’t even make the first words out as she slowly started talking nonsense. This ruckus caused all the boys to walk into the kitchen (surprisingly Yusung wasn’t kicked out this time) to figure out what the hell was going on with their roommate.

“What the hell is going on with you?” Yusung asked, carrying Iroha in his arms. The ragamuffin kitten was oblivious to what was happening around her as she started to paw at his fingers.

“I-I, he─!” Y/N continued to babble before Sumire shuts off the stove and went over to take her phone.

“Oh,” she says, “He texted her.”

“Who did?” Suzaku asked, going over to Sumire’s side as he peered over her right shoulder while Junho peered over her left side.

“Her skaterboy friend,” Sumire replied.

“I thought you said you two didn’t exchange numbers,” Junho asked with a raised brow.

“W-we didn’t,” Y/N said.

“Then how the hell did he get you number?” Junho continued, skeptical of the idea that this was really her skaterboy crush who was texting her.

“U-uh, I don’t know,” Y/N mutters.

“Hey, here’s a crazy idea,” Sumire started, “Why don’t you, you know, ask him,” she suggested, handing her phone back.

“B-but that’s scary,” Y/N mutters, thinking what if it some stranger or worse. It actually was Yeosang, how the heck was she going to text him?

“Can’t you do it for me, Sumi?” Y/N asked, batting her eyes at her wife.

“No,” Sumire replies, “besides, it’s not that hard it’s just a text, you can text him. Also take a deep breath before you do, you look like you’re going to pass out,” she told Y/N, who was looking rather pale at the moment.

“I think Y/N rather die than do that,” Yusung snorted.

“Shut up, Yusung, don’t make me hit you,” Sumire glares at her childhood friend, eyes narrowing at him.

“As if you can reach me,” The boy mutters. At this, Sumire kicked the back of his knees, causing him to fall onto them.

“Ah, thank you for continuing to brighten my day, Sumire,” Junho smiled brightly at the sight.

“Dammit, Junho, you bastard!” Yusung grumbles as he sets Iroha safely on the ground and rubs the back of his knees.

“Anyways,” Sumire continued, glancing back at Y/N, “Just text him, trust me, it’s not that hard.”

“O-okay,” Y/N said as she took a deep breath. Just a text, she told herself before going replying to the unknown number might or might not be Yeosang.

“Oh my fucking god, Y/N,” Yusung muttered over her shoulder, apparently reading the text she just sent to Yeosang.

“S-shut up, Yusuck!” Y/N exclaimed with a red face before reading Yeosang’s reply, turning away from them all.

“So? Did he say how he got your number?” Suzaku asked curiously.

“He said that his roommate Seonghwa gave it to him,” Y/N replied, causing the boys to have a surprised look.

“Seonghwa? Like Sumi’s Seonghwa, Seonghwa?” Yusung asked. At this Sumire went back to cooking dinner, missing the suspicious look Junho cast her way before turning back to the conversation at hand.

“Yeah, I guess I must have given Seonghwa my number and he passed it along to Yeosang when heard about our situation,” Y/N concluded, earning a quiet snort from Sumire.

“Huh, that’s kinda anti-climatic, I thought skaterboy started typing in random numbers until he got your number right,” Yusung pouted before cooing at a mewing Iroha. Junho gave Sumire another glance and hummed to himself.

“Well, at least you have a way to get in contact with him,” Suzaku said, “And the fact that he texted you first means he likes you!”

“Oh my god, Suzaku, I barely know him!” Y/N sighed.

“But you think he’s cute, right?” He pressed. Y/N bit her lower lip because yes, she did think he was cute. And she hates how these little heathens knew that she thought he was cute.

“I mean yeah but─”

“Then why not ask him out?” Yusung chimed in, leaning forwards slightly, “I mean let’s be honest, we’re all sick of you complaining to us about wanting to go on cute dates whenever Sumi leaves the apartment to meet Seonghwa.”

“I-I─” Y/N’s cheeks were tinted pink as she gawked at Yusung, “I-I do not complain! I just think that going out with someone would be nice,” she pouted.

“Ah, you’re complaining again!”

“Shut up, Yusuck!” Y/N snapped before turning her attention back to her phone.

“CHO YUSUNG!” Y/N shrieked as Yusung stole her phone from her hands and replied to Yeosang. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the text he sent before she started hitting his chest with a red face.

“Ouch, ouch! Dammit, woman! You should be thanking me, I just secured you your future boyfriend!” Yusung whined as he grabbed her arms to stop her from hitting him anymore. Y/N will not be thanking him if anything she felt mortified.

“More like secured your own death,” Sumire comments.

“I AM GOING TO KICK YOU IN THE SHIN, CHO YUSUNG!”

“As much I would love to see that,” Junho drawled out, “I think your skaterboy called you cute as well,” he said as he swiped her phone out of Yusung’s hand and read the newest text.

“WHAT?!” Y/N took her phone back and stared at the screen, feeling oddly giddy as she read the text.

“Oh god, you’re already sending him cute love memes? You’re so whipped for him,” Yusung teased, beside him was a snickering Suzaku.

“Shut up, Yusuck! It was an accident! And Suzaku! How could you betray me like this!”

“Sorry, sorry, it’s kinda cute though,” Suzaku cooed, “This is the best and cutest entertainment since Seonghwa paced around the living room and asked for our permission to try to ask Sumi-chan on a date last week.”

“Anyways, dinner’s ready,” Sumire says, clearing her throat when her name was mentioned and placed five plates on the table they were all gathered around. The three immediately quiet down as everyone took their seats to enjoy dinner, a few teasing remarks from both Suzaku and Yusung as they poked fun at Y/N and her crush on Yeosang ( “It’s not a crush, you two!” “Aw, look at how red her cheeks are!” “Aw, how cute!” )

After dinner, they all went into their room to retire for the night. 

[gallickingun]

hello!! i hope this doesn’t come off as rude but i’ve heard some rumors about you scamming people who commission from you and then blocking them when they ask for a refund. is it alright if you confirm whether this is true or not? tysm!

nope, doesn't come off as rude!! thank you for asking!!!

the only "commission" related work ive done so far is matchups!! the person in question i did block before issuing a refund, but i also forgot that they'd requested a matchup from me when i chose to block them. my intention was not to block them so they could not get their refund, my intention was to block them bc i no longer wanted them to have access to my blog after some stuff going on behind the scenes that i had seen/heard from other people that just made me feel weird. and i did not block them when they asked me for a refund, either. i blocked them prior, bc of reasons mentioned above. but they arent blocked on the other ways we have communicated prior, which was how they reached out to me. we are also in two mutual servers, and they could have found me and messaged me via this method as well had we not already been discord friends.

as soon as they brought it to my attention, i promptly issued them a refund. ive only blocked this one person since matchups started, bc of something else non-matchup related entirely. i would never block someone solely because i wanted to run away with their money. its not worth the heartache to the original party over a few dollars, honestly. that person worked hard for that money and if i didn't provide the service they wanted in the time they wanted, then they deserve a refund! however ive tried to keep everyone updated to let you know that ive not been doing well, and bc of that and the combo of getting messages constantly about matchups, its made it very difficult to fulfill them. i still have every intention of doing so, its just going to be a little while longer. i actually was feeling great today, and then all this mess just swept the rug out from under me and i feel really heavy rn.

they also had a friend message me— i hadn't seen the friends message bc it got buried under my other dms, but once the original person sent me a message requesting a refund, i reached out to the friend who originally reached out to me on the persons behalf and let them know everything was handled, and then we continued on with our conversation. the friend in question didn't even actually originally commission me for a matchup, they donated to my kofi bc id been having a shit time and i asked if they wanted a matchup w a higher tier as a thank you.

i promise you that once i had gone through my messages and seen their matchup request, i would have reached out about a refund. there's no reason for me to keep their money if i didn't provide the service. i wholeheartedly believe that.

i know that its really a whole lot of their word v mine, he said and she said, but thats how it went down from my perspective. i hope you keep an open mind when reading both sides, and i dont blame you if you dont believe me. i can't change what happened, and i can't force you to believe that i would have done the right thing, bc at the time i hadn't realized that there was anything to be done.

again, thank you for asking, i hope this gave you some clarity and the answers you were looking for!

[ripley95]

Echoes of Old Embers

Chapter 4

Pairing: F!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko

Rating: T

Chapter length: 4.6K

Story Tags: friends to lovers, mini slow burn, angst

Story Synopsis:

After surviving the war, one of Shepard’s biggest regrets was rejecting Kaidan at Apollo’s. Fate has a way of bringing Jane and Kaidan back into each other’s lives. A misunderstanding with his family makes Kaidan and Shepard relive old history and question where they stand.

Link to Chapter 1 on AO3

Chapter Synopsis:

Kaidan and Shepard make their way to his family home on the orchard. Shepard finally meets Kaidan’s family.

Link to Chapter 4 on AO3

Tumblr Links:

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14

Read the chapter here below the cut:

Shepard was looking out the window, admiring the view from Kaidan’s rental skycar. They were well on their way to the orchard. The sky was relatively empty heading towards the Okanagan, not much traffic getting in the way of the scenery. They passed beautiful mountainscapes still covered in snow. The whole journey into the interior was more scenic than she was expecting. BC offered a lot of Earth’s beauty, and she figured she’d try to enjoy what she could from this trip. ‘Try’ was the operative word there, still thinking this plan was a mistake. She bounced her uninjured leg nervously, contemplating how difficult this week was about to be. Something Kaidan seemed to be picking up on the closer they got to the orchard.

“You alright there, Shepard? You look like you’re getting a little restless.”

“You could say that,” she said, looking over at him with a smirk. “If you’ll recall, you forced me to drink two whole bottles of water before we left, not to mention my coffee. I think I’m ready for a pit stop.” It was the truth, but she’d be lying if that was the whole reason behind her lively leg. She was getting more and more nervous, the closer they got to their destination.

Kaidan smirked at her. “Sorry about that. Maybe I should have let you pace the water a bit, but I still think you’ll end up thanking me for it later. Think you can hold it, though? The orchard’s only a couple minutes away.”

“Already?”

“Yup. Just over that hill up there,” he said, pointing ahead of them.

“Well, in that case, I’m pretty sure I can hold it.” Her leg continued to bounce impatiently, despite what she said.

They rode in silence the rest of the way. It really wasn’t far off at this point, and the thought of it only put her more on edge. Any minute now, she’d be meeting Kaidan’s family. Yet another thing that reeked of intimacy. This was something that people who were romantically involved did, and yet again, she felt as though she was stealing someone else’s place that should have been here instead of her. Kaidan wasn’t fazed at all as she glanced back towards him. He was just steering the car with a wistful smile.

No matter how he might have felt about their relationship, he was still here for a celebration and to get to be here for his sister on her special day. He would be welcoming someone new into his family. It at least made her happy that he was getting the chance to experience this. She knew this was going to be a stressful week for herself, but seeing the look on his face made her feel better about it.

Just like that, they were already making their descent. Kaidan was right, the ride was short. They made a soft landing on a patch of grass in front of the house. She practically bounced out of the car with her nervous energy. Kaidan went to the trunk to grab the bags. As Shepard reached for hers, he quickly intercepted it, and she looked at him questioningly.

“You know I can carry my own bag, right? I’m not that debilitated.”

“Maybe not, but after what I saw this morning, I don’t want you to be adding any unnecessary weight on that leg,” he said, taking the bag and putting the strap over his shoulder.

Shepard chuckled at that. Always the caretaker. She just wasn’t used to relying on anyone else to make things easier for her. “I guess I can’t argue with that. After you,” she finally agreed as she directed her hand towards the house, still fidgeting a bit thanks to her need to go to the bathroom.

He made his way up the steps and waited for Shepard to follow after him. “Well, I hope you’re ready to meet my family. I’m warning you now, they can be a bit much,” he said with a laugh, his hand hovering over the doorbell.

“I’m sure they’re fine. Even if I wasn’t ready, though, I’m about to pee my pants if this waits any longer.”

“Right,” he said with a smirk as he rang the bell.

As they waited, Shepard examined their surroundings. This was where Kaidan was raised. His childhood home. She never had anything like that, always changing ships, or being dropped off at boarding school while her mother was on active duty. She could see the appeal of having a place to always call home, not to mention being raised close to nature. It must have been nice, not that she begrudged her own upbringing by any means. It was just different. The house was very classic looking, made out of real wood, layered in soft hues of paint with a large porch on the front of the house that they were currently standing on. The property was stunning and bigger than she expected. Well kept, too, barely any signs of the war leftover. She didn’t really know what to expect when she agreed to come out here, but she was pleasantly surprised that they already managed to have it looking so good after the end of the war.

One of the windows must have been open, because they heard some shuffling from inside, followed by someone yelling.

“Kaidan’s here!!” they heard before there was a large commotion of thumping.

That made Shepard look at Kaidan, surprised. She wasn’t expecting such a reaction from an Alenko. She had envisioned them to be reserved and quiet. Then again, her only example to go off of was him, so that wasn’t necessarily a fair assessment.

“That was Maisie. She can be… enthusiastic. Acts like a teenager, even though she’s well into her twenties already. Like I said, they can be a bit much.”

“Ah,” Shepard said with a nod, still a little surprised from the complete contrast to Kaidan.

“I’ve already got it, Maisie. Calm down,” they heard someone shout back before the door opened.

Shepard got the briefest glimpse of the woman opening the door, before a blur of colour shot right past her. Said blur of colour jumped onto Kaidan, hugging him with what looked like the force of a death-grip. Kaidan promptly dropped the bags in his hands as he staggered backwards, nearly falling down the steps.

The woman that opened the door walked outside onto the porch, looking like she was trying to greet her brother as well. She had strikingly similar features to Kaidan, the same dark hair and eyes. There wasn’t any denying that they were related, likely Raiya, the oldest, if Shepard had to guess. There was something about her serious disposition that screamed maturity. She made eye contact with Shepard, and she stopped dead in her tracks. There was an expression of shock at seeing who Kaidan brought with him as his plus one. Shepard waved awkwardly as Kaidan’s younger sister was still dramatically hugging her brother.

“Aaah, I missed you so much. You’re the only cool sibling, you know that?!”

“I’m standing right here, Maisie,” the older sister said, finally moving her attention away from Shepard.

“Oh yeah. Forget I said that,” Maisie said, finally lowering herself from the hug, not even noticing the awkward silence filling the air behind her.

“The only reason you say that is because I’m the one gone long enough for you to miss me, you know,” Kaidan said as he smiled at her. It was one of warmth that looked like he was happy to be home, seeing his family again. Shepard couldn’t help but notice how good it looked on him.

Suddenly, the sound of a dish dropping came from one of the rooms in the house, prompting everyone to turn towards the noise. Shepard had a perfect view, noticing two other women in what looked to be a dining room just past the main foyer. Both of them stood there, staring. That must have been Kaidan’s mother and Libby. All of the Alenkos shared similar features, no denying their relation. Libby was acting flustered for having just dropped the dish as she bent to pick it up. Luckily it didn’t actually break, and they were examining if anything could be salvaged. Shepard couldn’t help but think she seemed a little perturbed, too. That was terrific. She was already making a horrible first impression, causing people to drop dishes.

With the commotion drawing everyone’s attention, Maisie was the last one to finally see Shepard standing there. “Holy shit,” she muttered out. She also had that trademark Alenko black hair, but hers had streaks of bright blue and pink running through it. From what little Shepard knew of her, she could already tell it matched her colourful personality.

All eyes were on Jane now, as she stood there awkwardly, immediately prompting her to look towards Kaidan. “I guess you forgot to tell them I was coming?” she said with a nervous laugh. She was usually the picture of confidence, able to keep her cool, yet somehow having the attention of all of the Alenko women on her was enough to make her anxious.

“Uh,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “I told everyone I was using my plus one last night.”

“Yeah, sure, but none of us believed you!” Maisie said, hitting Kaidan in the abdomen with the back of her hand playfully.

“You also left out who it was that you were bringing,” Raiya cut in, sounding much less enthused than her lively sister.

“I didn’t think I had to,” Kaidan said, sounding a bit confused about everyone’s reaction.

“You didn’t think we’d be interested in knowing you were dating Commander Shepard?!” Maisie cut in sharply.

That made both Kaidan and Shepard go wide-eyed at each other, their mouths agape.

“That’s not- I never-” Kaidan said, stumbling over his words.

He was interrupted by the sound of Libby sniffling, and Kaidan’s mother comforting her and bringing her back into the kitchen.

Shepard stared at Kaidan in a way that was begging for help. Somehow, everything that could have gone wrong was going wrong and then some. She had no idea what to do in this situation, and she still had to go to the bathroom.

“Uh, right, Shepard has to use the bathroom,” he said, picking up their bags, and guiding her through the doorway and down the hall, his hand resting on her lower back.

“Aww, how cute! He calls her Shepard,” Maisie squeaked from behind them.

Kaidan dropped the bags by the bathroom door and gently grasped her shoulder to get her attention.

“I am so sorry, Shepard. I have no idea what that was or how they came to that conclusion. All I said is that I was using my plus one, I swear. I’ll go clear this up.”

“It’s okay,” she said. She wasn’t sure if she was trying to reassure Kaidan or herself at that point. It was a simple misunderstanding, but it wouldn’t help her own situation and how she was already feeling about Kaidan.

Kaidan gave her a quick nod before trying to go and smooth things over with his family.

She closed the door behind her. It was made out of thin plywood. The kind that was hollow in the middle, so as she closed it, she could still hear everything that was going on.

“Commander Shepard?! Kaidan, are you kidding me?” It was said with a scolding anger that Shepard wasn’t expecting.

“Libby,” he said, already sounding exasperated. “I told you I was bringing someone.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t say it was Commander Shepard! The whole point of a wedding is to celebrate the people getting married. No one’s going to care about Derek and me with her here!”

Well, that explained the anger then. This was an issue that she hadn’t even considered. When she joined the Alliance, gaining celebrity status wasn’t exactly on the agenda, but she had gained it all the same. It was even one of the reasons she had opted to come with Kaidan instead of staying in one of the refugee camps. Libby’s concerns were warranted, considering how much of a problem her fame had become even before the end of the war. She couldn’t land on the Citadel without being stopped by a reporter or people wanting to talk to her. It was even a bit of a problem at the hospital where she was staying in London, but they at least had security. How could she have not thought of this complication when agreeing to go to a wedding of all things? The last thing she wanted to do was steal Libby’s thunder during her own wedding. This sure had turned into a colossal mess much faster than she expected. That didn’t change the fact that she was already here, though, stuck in this situation for better or worse.

Shepard heard more muffled conversation through the door, so she put her ear flush up against it to hear better.

“Libby, you are so missing the point. When has Kaidan ever brought anyone home? That means they’re serious. How could you not have told me?” 

That was definitely Maisie.

“Guys, I think everyone’s gotten the wrong ide-” Kaidan tried to cut in.

“Yeah, the Savior of the Galaxy, Kaidan? I don’t think any of us were expecting that.” It was Raiya this time.

“Hey, would you be quiet, please? She doesn’t like being called that. I didn’t bring her here to be paraded around. She’s still a real person underneath all of that, you know. It would be nice if you could all treat her like one.”

“Oooh, look at that, already coming to her defense. Kaidan’s got it bad. So just how serious are you two? Is there going to be another Alenko wedding in our future?”

“Guys, you’re all reading way too m-” He said, getting cut off yet again. He certainly came from a family of strong women, all fighting to be heard.

“All right! That’s enough. I swear, the moment all of you get into the same room together, it’s like you all revert back into being a bunch of wild children again,” Kaidan’s mother cut in. “Where have your manners gone? You’re almost all in your thirties for goodness sake. Whether you like it or not, Commander Shepard is a guest in our house, and we will treat her as such,” she scolded. It sounded like it did the trick if the following silence meant anything. “Kaidan, she seems lovely. I look forward to getting to know her better, but now, will everyone help me set the table. Please.” Shepard heard her huff out in exasperation.

That lecture wasn’t effective enough to completely stop the snarky behaviour, but everyone was speaking more quietly. It was harder to hear them through the door now. Shepard took that as reason enough to stop eavesdropping and finally went to relieve herself.

As soon as she was done and washed her hands, she exited the bathroom. She was almost startled by Kaidan pacing right in front of the door.

“Shepard, I think we have a problem.”

“So I heard,” she said, not being able to contain a smile. As much as this had become a stressful situation, the sheer absurdity of it was enough to make her want to laugh.

“Well, I’m glad you find it funny,” he said, her own smile bringing one out in him. “I’m really sorry. I can’t get a word in edgewise. I tried to tell them that we’re not - you know.”

“I heard. I know,” she assured him. She wanted him to know she didn’t harbour any ill will towards him over the confusion. “It was a simple misunderstanding. I’m sure we can smooth things over when they calm down.”

“If they ever calm down,” Kaidan huffed out seriously, as his gaze drifted off in frustration. “I haven’t seen them so determined to believe something before in my life.”

That didn’t bode well.

“I guess the most we can do is just keep emphasising that we’re not actually together,” he said. The words stung more than she expected. “Hopefully, they’ll get the picture eventually.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Shepard said, not sounding very enthusiastic about it, but it was all they had.

“I’m really sorry about the confusion. I really didn’t even think to mention it was you I was bringing. I guess to them, you’re still larger than life. To me, you’re my friend, which is who I said I was bringing. They somehow made up their own narrative about it. I didn’t think it needed to be explained more at the time. In hindsight, I can definitely see where I went wrong,” he said, sounding genuinely apologetic.

“It’s okay, Kaidan. I know you wouldn’t have done something like this on purpose. Don’t worry about it. We stick to the truth enough, I’m sure they’ll follow suit eventually.”

Kaidan nodded, still upset for having caused such a misunderstanding. “Okay,” he said, not sounding entirely convinced with the idea. “I guess we should get back to them. The table’s set, and they’re waiting for us.”

Shepard nodded in agreement, so Kaidan turned to lead them towards the dining room.

When they finally got there, Libby was still scathing. Definitely off on the wrong foot with her, it would seem. Shepard figured she’d have to try extra hard to get on her good side now, already tarnishing something that was supposed to be a special time for her. Kaidan’s mother and Maisie at least greeted her with a friendly smile that helped her feel welcome. Raiya was harder to grasp, not giving up any outward judgments through appearance alone. This was going to be one hell of a week. The silence was so awkward, Shepard just offered a smile to everyone for a moment, before glancing back to Kaidan for help.

“Uh, right. Well, is everyone ready to eat, then?” he asked, looking around the room. “Mom and Libby have been working on a big meal all morning.”

“Oh,” Shepard said, finally looking at the table setting. There was a big roast prepared and plenty of fresh vegetables and potatoes. It looked like quite the feast. “Everything looks amazing. I haven’t had a good, fresh meal in a long time.”

“Oh, well, in that case, let’s dig in, shall we?” Kaidan’s mother said with a big smile, proud of her accomplishments, and happy to see that her hard work would be appreciated by someone. She was the first to sit, taking the head of the table. “No need for manners now, just grab whatever you want,” she said, pointing to the chairs to prompt everyone to follow suit.

Jane looked at Kaidan to follow his direction. She wanted to make sure she wasn’t stealing anyone’s spot or stepping on even more toes. He quickly took notice that she was waiting for his lead, and went to pull out a chair for her.

“Oooh, look at that, Kaidan’s being such a gentleman,” Maisie said as she sat at the foot of the table.

“Yeah, about that,” Kaidan spoke up. “Shepard and I are not together,” he finally managed to get out without being interrupted. It was a relief to both of them.

“Oh come on,” Maisie said with a laugh as she started dishing some food onto her plate. “With the way you’ve been acting? There’s no way that’s true. If you’re just trying to downplay whatever’s going on between the two of you to avoid breaking the regs or something, you should know that your secret’s safe with us.”

Kaidan let out a sigh, and rubbed his forehead, hardly able to believe that this was happening.

“All right. That’s enough, Maisie. Leave them alone.”

Maisie finally listened to that well enough, but something about the whole situation didn’t seem very finalized.

Kaidan quickly acted as though everything was normal and plated some pot roast before passing it on to Shepard, which is when he broke into the conversation again. “We didn’t get to do any actual introductions, so--”

“Wait, no. I think I have a pretty good idea of who everyone must be,” Shepard said as she took a piece of the pot roast before passing the plate. She figured maybe showing a genuine interest in them might put her back on their good side.

“You have to be Maisie. Awesome hair, by the way,” she said with a genuine smile.

“Thank you,” Maisie said with a smile, glancing over to her sisters with an impressed look on her face.

Continuing around the table, “You must be Libby, and uh, I just wanted to say congratulations. This must be such an exciting time for you,” she said, trying to be extra nice.

Libby said a quiet ‘thanks’ as reciprocation, clearly not happy still, but at least trying to maintain pleasantries. Shepard just nodded at that, knowing that things weren’t going to be smoothed over for her unless she was assured that her wedding day could go off smoothly. That was an issue for another time, though.

“Raiya,” she said with a smile. Raiya just nodded, smiling back. Shepard still wasn’t exactly sure how to read her yet, but she supposed it was better than Libby. Shepard glanced at Kaidan for confirmation after that. The look he gave her was even more surprised than when he learned that she remembered all of their names. It was almost as though he hadn’t expected her to pay attention all those times he discussed his family with her. Especially not to have enough detail to have determined who everyone was on her own. She gave him a warm smile as she tried to move on to the last woman in the room.

“Not together, my ass,” Maisie mumbled under her breath in a way that was still audible to everyone else in the room, and Kaidan rolled his eyes.

Shepard wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so after a bit of an awkward pause, she continued. “And that leaves you, Mrs. Alenko. I’m sorry, but I never actually got your first name.”

“That was impressive. We’re a big group to have gotten everyone right. You can call me Ada.”

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet all of you,” Shepard said.

Maisie just stared at Shepard blankly before looking around the table. “Oh, come on! Seriously? They’re clearly together.”

Shepard and Kaidan shared a bit of a concerned look between the two of them. Apparently, her plan to get on everyone’s good side was just making this other issue of theirs worse, and now she regretted it.

“Just ignore her,” Ada interrupted. “What about you, though. Surely the great Commander Shepard must have a first name. It’s surprisingly well hidden from the public. I can’t say that I’ve ever heard it.”

Shepard had to laugh at that. It was somehow surprisingly well-hidden. Not only from the public, but even from people she was close to in her real life. Everyone had always called her Shepard ever since she was young. Likely a side effect of growing up in the military. Come to think of it, the only people that ever really called her Jane was her own mother, and Kaidan. Kaidan had only ever used that name briefly when they were together, though, and quickly reverted back to Shepard ever since.

“I do have one. Shocking, I know. It’s Jane.”

Ada gave her a genuine smile at that. “Well, it’s lovely to meet you, Jane.”

Shepard smiled back at the sincerity of it. She figured it must be strange to meet ‘Commander Shepard’ given her service record and media coverage. Maybe ‘Jane’ would be a little easier to see the person underneath all of that. This was supposed to be shore leave after all—a personal trip with a friend on top of that. If ever there was a time to put her rank aside and be Jane, it was now.

“The feeling is mutual. Kaidan’s told me so much about all of you. It’s nice to finally put faces to the names,” Shepard said.

Ada smiled at that, and everyone took a moment to eat. It took Maisie a second longer than everyone else to start eating as she sat there looking like she was about to burst. She clearly wanted to say more but didn’t want to be yelled at by her mother.

“Well, I hope you’re okay with waiting a bit before you can settle in. Kaidan only told us last night that he’d be bringing someone.”

“Sorry about that,” Shepard cut in. “You can blame that one on me. I was actually only just released from the hospital, so it was on short notice for everyone.”

“Oh no, I didn’t realise you were still recovering. Your injuries must have been quite serious.”

“You could say that,” Shepard said, warily, not really wanting to relive the worst of it right now. “I guess the important part is that I’m doing much better now,” she said, as she glanced over to Kaidan momentarily. She was almost surprised to see a look of genuine gratitude at the statement before she looked back to Ada. “I still need to be doing the exercises they’ve been teaching me in physical therapy, but I’ve been feeling much more like myself over the last month.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear you’re doing better,” she said with a warm smile. “Anyway, I hope you don’t mind sharing a room. With all of the kids back at the house again, we’re at capacity.”

Being a soldier, sleeping in close quarters with someone was hardly an issue. Her only problem with it was remembering what it felt like to wake up in the same room as him earlier that day back in Vancouver. It did nothing but make her feel worse about her current situation and constantly being reminded of her feelings for him. Then again, it was better than being temporarily homeless.

“No, that’s fine. Don’t even worry about it. I’m just thankful for the hospitality.”

Maisie flung her arms out in frustration, before crossing them indignantly, clearly wanting to say something again. Shepard mentally chastised herself for continuously shoving her foot deeper in her mouth.

“If I have anything to say about it, you’re always welcome here, Jane,” Ada said with a cheerful smile, completely ignoring her youngest child. “I’ll have your room ready in a few hours after I get a chance to wash the sheets and everything.”

“Oh, mom, that’s okay. You don’t have to go out of your way or anything. We can set up the room,” Kaidan cut in.

“No, no, don’t be silly. Your time here is so limited, and Jane’s a guest. You should take her around the property after lunch. There’s a lot to see. The apples aren’t quite ready to bloom yet, but the leaves have all come back and are such nice shades of green. The orchard looks so pretty. You should go enjoy yourselves.”

“Are you sure?” Kaidan asked. It almost looked like it pained him to think that he had inconvenienced his mom. Shepard wouldn’t put it past him. The man never liked to feel like he was a burden.

“Of course I’m sure, now quit asking.”

Kaidan nodded at that reluctantly, accepting that his mother wasn’t going to budge on the issue. 

Everyone continued with their lunch, having a passing conversation. Ada’s warm disposition was already making her feel incredibly welcome, so she figured that was at least one good thing out of this whole situation. As for everyone else, it seemed like she’d be keeping herself plenty busy trying to smooth things over.

[littlemissvincentvega]

what about a smut with orange where you’re one of the dogs and all of y’all are at a hotel for a heist and you guys sneak into each other’s rooms 👀

YAAAAY thank u honeeeeey i love this ideasklasjdlkcasj. ive done ti as if the hotel is the target also reader is mrs blue bc he’s irrelevant x jokes but also yeah

hope u n joy!! 💖💖

It’s a stupidly cold evening in California, and you & the boys have just checked into your hotel. The morning ahead is one of importance– Joe had sent you all on a mission to clear the place of any petty cash you can get your paws on. But that was for tomorrow. Of course you’d been given fake IDs to use, provided by the Cabots, and you tuck yours into your inner pocket. “I can’t wait to freshen up,” you sigh, walking alongside Mr. Pink, talking more to yourself than him. He answers you regardless.

“I don’t blame ya, you look like a rat’s asshole.”

“Thanks, Pink.”

Brown snickers and runs to keep up with you, beginning to walk backwards in front of you, facing you as he speaks. “I think you look pretty as ever, Blue,” he remarks.

“Well, thank you, sweetie, at least somebody’s got some manners around here,” you smirk, elbowing Pink gently. He rolls his eyes.

Orange hadn’t said a word, but he hadn’t heard the exchange. He’s trailing behind alongside White & Blonde, taking in the beauty of the hotel– he thought it was a shame there might be blood spattered about the following morning. Anything could happen where Blonde was involved, all of you knew that. But Eddie always insists he’s trustworthy, just a little haywire at times, so you guys have to go along with it.

All of you pile into the elevator, Pink stepping in last (everyone had shoved past him, including Brown). He watches as White presses the buttons for the second floor and frowns a little. “Is it absolutely necessary for us to take the fuckin’ elevator? To the second floor?”

Orange narrows his eyes at him slightly. “Nobody said you had to join us. Take the stairs if you’re that bothered.”

“No.”

You & Orange share a look and suppress a laugh as the elevator doors close. It’s a really tight squeeze, but you won’t complain– being tightly squeezed with a bunch of handsome thieves? Not something to complain about, not in your books.

A quick twenty seconds or so later and you’re on the second floor. Orange had nudged you on the way up to watch him. A playful twinkle is in his eye and you’re excited to see what shit he’s going to pull. Sure enough, as the elevator doors ping open once again, he kicks Pink out by the ass and hits the ‘close doors’ button, causing an eruption of laughter in the shaft. “Asshole!!” Pink splutters– if there had been an opportunity to kick the shit out of Orange, he would have taken it in a heartbeat.

“Orange!!” you giggle, slapping his arm. Blonde seems to have found it the most funny– he’s bent over double, clutching his knees. The sad sight of Pink scrambling about on the floor had really gotten him. 

Orange has a grin wiped across his stupid face, hands stuffed into his jeans pockets. “What? He deserved it.”

“I mean, true–”

“He did deserve it, Blue,” Brown points out, still giggling.

You sigh in defeat, smiling. “Fine! Chill, you guys.”

-

Dinner rolled around and the six of you had met up in the restaurant area for a nice meal (on Joe, of course). Nice meal meant a nice meal, so all of you had gotten a little dressed up for the occasion. You’re in a black velvet dress that hugs you in all the right places, accompanied by some little pearl earrings and black low heels. The boys are in their usual suits & ties, all looking incredibly handsome (what’s new?).

Being the dad of the group, Mr. White had spoken to the front-of-house man and requested a table. You all trail after him and, before White could get there, Orange helps you into your seat like a true gentleman. “Thanks,” you smile, watching as he sits beside you.

To sum dinner up, it really had just consisted of Pink squinting at his grazed elbow and bitching about it, Brown forgetting what the fuck he was droning on about, Blonde smoking like a chimney, White scolding Pink and Orange? Well, he had been stealing glances at you when he wasn’t joking with you about dumb shit. The two of you had been sharing giggles every single time Pink brought up his elbow and sharing looks of disbelief every time Brown forgot what he’d been saying. It’s safe to say it was a fun dinner. Amusing.

-

Orange stands in front of the bathroom mirror, hands clutching the sink as he frowns into his own eyes. “Just… just go there, tell’er you’re bored, ask to watch TV with’er,” he hisses at himself. “Don’t pussy out, just do it, don’t think, do.” He runs a hand through his hair, pushing his floppy fringe off of his forehead, mulling it over. 

-

You’re just standing watching TV with your toothbrush in your mouth when there’s a knock at the door. Who the fuck could that be?

With a sigh, you saunter over and, toothbrush poking out the corner of your mouth, tentatively open the door. “Blue– oh, shit, are you busy?” It’s Orange.

“What does it look like? No,” you laugh, almost relieved that he’s in his pyjamas too. He seems the most sane out of the guys, and you enjoy his company– not to mention the eye candy. “One sec– come in,” you tell him, skipping to the bathroom to spit out the toothpaste foam into the sink.

After rinsing your mouth out, you return to the room and sit on the bed, patting in front of you. He obliges, eyes glued to the TV. “What’cha watchin’?” he asks.

“Some western, I don’t know.”

He fiddles with the duvet and your eyes narrow just a little bit at him. Not in suspicion… rather curiosity. “Why’d you come here?” you ask, hugging a pillow in your lap.

Orange shrugs. “Bored. Wanted nice company.”

“You’re worried about the heist tomorrow?”

He presses his lips together. “A little.”

“It’s normal, you don’t need to be,” you assure him with a smile, shifting to lay on your back then pressing a poke to his arm. “You only live once, right? Go crazy. We’ll be fine!”

His eyes drift down to your chest as you poke him. You’re in your pyjamas, true, but they’re baby pink satin booty shorts & matching strappy top. It’s a nice view for him, that’s for sure. A slight smirk grows on your lips as he snaps his gaze back up to your eyes, cheeks turning pink. He hopes you didn’t see, but he knows you did. “Enjoying the view, Mr. Orange?” you tease, sniggering quietly.

Orange hesitates for a moment– he could die tomorrow. So right now he could be a pussy and apologise or he could see where this takes him. The second option seemed better. “Uh-huh.” A childish grin appears on his lips upon realising you approve of him looking.

“Wanna see more?”

His brows arch and he runs his tongue along his upper lip at the thought. “I mean– yeah?”

You giggle at his nervousness and promptly lift your top up, gauging his reaction– it’s priceless. His eyes widen and inhibitions take over as he moves his hands to grope your breasts, palms grazing your already-hard nipples. “They’re just as I imagined ‘em,” he chuckles, a few strands of his fringe flopping over his eyes. 

That oh-so lovely feeling of your pussy beginning to arouse becomes apparent as his cold palms tease your nipples, getting them harder, sending shivers through your body. “Mm,” you breathe approvingly, looping your arms around his neck and pulling him down into a desperate kiss. Orange quickly melts into it, nose buried into your face beside your own.

“Is this… allowed?” he grins against your lips, going in for another kiss before you get a chance to respond– he’s joking, anyway, you can tell. Joe doesn’t need to know about this, and Eddie sure as hell doesn’t, along with the rest of the guys.

A few more kisses and you gently push him away, motioning for him to lay on his back. He does so, and you straddle him, beginning to slowly grind against his semi-hard cock. “You wanna know something, Orange?” you grin, enjoying the way he’s ogling at your tits.

“Mm?”

“I’ve wanted us to fuck since Joe hired you.”

You feel him harden at that fact beneath you, and he grins. “Feeling’s mutual, babygirl.”

“Good,” you breathe, snaking your hands up & down your torso, pinching your nipples and letting your tits drop, gauging his reactions. “You like?”

“I love.” You know he does– his cock’s giving it all away. God, how had it taken this long for you two to actually do something as simple as kissing? 

Eventually, the teasing had become too much for the both of you, evident by the wet patch you have going on down there. “Get on your back,” he pipes up, unusually dominant in his tone. It’s exciting to hear him like this– he’s generally quiet in exchanges with everyone else.

You stare at him in silence for a split second before answering, “Yes, Daddy,” and laying on your back where he points. Smirking, Orange gets up off of the bed, stroking himself through his pyjama bottoms at the sight of you. You watch as he removes his shirt, letting it drop to the floor, and does the same with his bottoms– of course he’s not wearing any underwear, and you practically drool at the sight of him. He’s hung. 

“You like?” he teases, mimicking you from before, and you giggle, nodding.

“Uh-huh, I love.”

That’s all he needs to hear– he steps in front of you, and you spread your legs in the air for him, bending your knees. Your pussy’s aching for him. He lets his fingertips trail over your inner thighs, gliding once over your wet patch. An involuntary whimper escapes your lips as you gaze up at him desperately, begging for his cock with your eyes. “I know what you want,” he smiles softly, taking your pyjama shorts in his hands. You straighten out your legs so he can slide them off, and he lets them drop to the floor, marvelling at the grool stuck to your thighs. His cock twitches at the sight and he promptly lines himself up, your knees bent once again. “I’ll pull out.”

You nod, feeling your clit throb for him, and he slowly pushes himself into you, letting out a groan of relief. His left hand is firmly holding your waist, right hand gripping above your left knee as he begins to steadily fuck you, working up a nice pace for you both. “You like it, baby? You like when I fuck you?” he taunts, eyes half-lidded.

“Mm–”

“Good,” he interrupts, voice low and sexed-up. Groaning, Orange leans forward and presses a rough kiss to your lips, still fucking you. He’s into it and you can tell he’s imagined it a hundred different times. 

You whine against his lips as he deepens the kiss– it becomes less patient and more sloppy, breath mingling in a frenzy of lust. “Daddy,” you squeak in between kisses, running your fingers through his mop. “Oh, Orange..”

“S’Freddy,” he growls into your ear, not giving a fuck anymore. He wants to hear you moan his name– fuck Joe’s rules. “Name’s Freddy.”

Your clit tingles at the fact that he’s just given you that information– it doesn’t seem like much but if Joe ever finds out he’d go ballistic. “Freddy,” you breathe, chuckling out a smile, “you’re– you’re a good fuck.” You can’t help but stumble on your words they’re so truthful, and he snickers along with you, standing upright again.

“So’re you, babygirl,” he smirks, pausing briefly to speak his words before starting to fuck you again, admiring the way your tits jiggle with every thrust. He’s going harder now, fringe flopping over his face as he looks down at you. His eyes are practically devouring you– they’re completely different to normal. Determined, dominant and lustful. “Thaaat’s a good girl,” he praises, voice still low, and you whine at him in contentment.

You’re completely under his spell, on your back on the edge of that bed, legs in the air, taking his cock, him holding you in place. And he’s under yours. You can tell by the look in his eye and the smirk on his lips, though even moreso by the grunts he’s producing. “Baby,” he groans, running his thumb along your lip, letting you suck on it. “I’m close.”

“Mm, me too, Daddy,” you whimper, continuing to suck on his thumb. He likes that, and shifts his hand so you can suck on his fingers while he watches. 

His thrusts get a little slower but deeper, more determined, and he takes his fingers from your mouth and brings them down, rubbing your clit. “Tell Daddy it feels good, baby.”

“It--” you shiver, itching to cum, “--it feels amazing, Daddy..”

“Mm, good.” Freddy watches your face closely, and the corners of his mouth turn up as you begin twitching, orgasm fast-approaching. You let it wash over you and grip the duvet, eyes rolling back as he fucks you through it, quickly pulling out to dump his load on your stomach, marvelling at the way you squirm. He grunts through his own, lazily jerking himself, squinting down at you. 

Laughing a little nervously, he lets himself gently collapse beside you, propping himself up with his elbow. “Well, uh-- that was nice,” he comments, letting his fingertips trail down your side.

You roll over to face him, shifting to lay more comfortably on your side. “It really was, Mr. Orange,” you tease. His lips spread into a rather embarrassed grin-- he can’t believe he fucking told you his name. 

“Don’t tell--”

“Joe? Freddy, if I tell Joe, he’ll demand to know just how the fuck I found out... then we’ll both be in trouble,” you laugh. It’s a laugh of sincerity, and it reaches your eyes. He can tell-- a relieved exhale escapes his lips, accompanied by a smile of the same feeling.

“Thanks.”

You lean over to press another kiss to his lips, pushing him onto his back, hoisting your leg over one of his. A smile, and you pull away just a bit. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m (Y/N).”

He blinks and smiles. “(Y/N),” he repeats, nodding ever-so slightly. “S’a pretty name, baby.”

“Thanks,” you beam, pressing a warm kiss to his cheek.

-

An hour or so later (you’d spent a little while in bed cuddling, droning on, just talking about life) and he’s standing in your doorway in his pyjamas once again. “So, uh, Blue...”

“Mm? Orange?” A smirk.

He laughs, ducking his head, hair flopping in his face, then looks at the ceiling. “I forgot what I was gonna say now.”

“Good, ‘cause I have a question, Mr. Orange.”

“Yeah? Go ahead.”

You smile, looking off to the side. “I was thinking-- we could make this a regular thing. Spend a night like that together before the jobs Joe puts us on,” you trail, rocking on your heels a little.

A lightbulb appears above his head and he nods, laughing again. “That’s what I was gonna fuckin’ say-- I just forgot, you distracted me. Callin’ me ‘Mr. Orange’.” Another chuckle, and he nods again. “Yeah, I’d love to.”

You pull him in for one last kiss, him gently rubbing your waist. “G’night, Freddy,” you whisper.

“Night, (Y/N).”

With that, he disappears down the hall back to his own hotel room, collapsing onto his own bed to think about the night’s events. Jesus-- maybe the criminal life was for him after all. Maybe he’d have to fuck over the LAPD. Who knows...?

[solitaria-fantasma]

((Extensive Session #3 highlights.))

We go to Von Trikona’s tower and are greeted by three students and a handful of golems.

Humphry eyes Mountain with abject terror.

Von Trikona gives us the preserved bodies wrapped in burial shrouds, and teleports us to the town of Fwee - just past the security gates, but not right in town square.

The map for the town of Fwee is heckin’ pretty.

“Oh no...oh no, I fucked up. I made a mistake! UwU!!!”

“Please don’t comment on the corpse-shaped backpacks!”

Udaji may be tol and stronk but she is also dumb and can’t roll higher than a 10 on her Perception checks.

“The only ones who don’t blend in with the local crowd are the Halfling and the Dragonborn.” Claus and I just can’t catch a break…

We walked around the marketplace with the preserved corpse backpacks for a while as we asked for directions to the Rose family home.

Mountain’s intimidation checks are on-point.

Udaji’s average Perception roll is a 4 while the rest of the party averages around 16.

It has been decided that this scaly baby should never have been allowed out of town on her own.

Somebody in this town is throwing mud balls and glitter bomb darts at our rogue and Udaji is seeing NONE of it.

“Claus would like to point out that you’re covered in paint.”

We entered a house and the DM resized our icons to reflect the height differences. It looked like a bad game of Agar.io and I was winning.

Matthias - still covered in paint - was politely asked not to sit on the furniture, and handed a single tiny-ass napkin to ‘clean up’ with.

“Yeeeaaahhh...there was no easy way to do this, was there?”

“Is it more disrespectful to put the bodies on the ground or the table?”

“It might be more disrespectful to try and unwrap the bodies one handed and risk dropping them.”

“Above the board, do we have to tell her that the bandits were already dead when we found them?”

Matthias ‘accidentally’ smeared paint on the servant on his way out, and offered him the tiny-ass napkin back.

Lady Rose thanked us for returning her family’s bodies, but asked us to give her some time to process her loss.

We then went to the magic district (mostly wizards, mostly elven) to get started on the errands we promised to run between Von Trikona and her friend Vincent.

We knocked on the door, heard a loud ‘CRASH’, and poked our heads through the unlocked door Scooby-Doo style.

The DM promptly had us roll for initiative.

I keep forgetting to select my token BEFORE rolling for initiative heck.

“Hopefully you guys don’t die.”

“Gotta be honest - I’ve thought about what character I’d bring in if Udaji DID die. But it would be really, REALLY sad.”

I had to run down to get dinner and missed half a turn of combat but I made it back just in time for my second go.

“Oh! Udaji! You missed this part, but the old wizard man has cried out for you to not set anything on fire.”

“Can do! That’s not my kind of dragon heritage!!”

The old wizard man is ‘Vincent Oman’ - an artificer. We returned his stuff, and he offered us dinner.

“This guy is, like, peak Grandpa. He’s very happy to have people over.”

Vincent has not heard of Lord Hassan, but recalled an enchanted lockbox a cohort of his (Ceri, another artificer) had made on commission for the dowry of a local girl marrying a man in the next kingdom over.

That lockbox (enchanted to be neigh on impossible to break into) was part of Clarissa Rose’s dowry, and now I’m sad.

Vincent drew us a map to Ceri’s house, and then we nearly left without picking up Maxine’s books (three advanced spellbooks & some of her notes).

He also offered to let us sleep in his attic for the night, since it was getting late, only asking us to try and keep quiet, as he was a delicate sleeper.

Matthias finally got to wash off the paint in the ‘waterifier’ (re: magical, water-creating shower).

Vincent reminds Udaji too much of her own dad, and she took one point of homesickness damage. Vincent gave her heartwarming life advice, and more food.

“It’s okay if you get sad sometimes, when traveling far from home. You will find people who will not, perhaps, fill the void, but surely make it feel less empty.”

I’m going to adopt Vincent holy heck

Ceri confirmed that the lockbox was commissioned to keep safe a dowry traveling a long distance, and told us that it could only be opened by using two skeleton keys simultaneously.

We had found one of said skeleton keys in the bandit/necromancer lair back in Session 1.

“We were too eager to shout ‘MURDER!’ in front of the guards back in Torrin so now we’re afraid to whisper it in Fwee.”

Ceri confirmed that the key we found is one of the lockbox’s two keys.

We then debated for five minutes who the key, lockbox, and dowry would legally belong to, now that Clarissa and Donald are dead, but never officially reached the wedding.

“This is not the kind of law my family studies!”

Ceri whispered a few rumors of engagements in the area that had fallen through due to ‘accidents’ which saw the dowries go missing, and that the enchanted lockbox had been commissioned by the Rose family to protect against that.

He then told us to get out of his house.

“That’s the kindest ‘GTFO’ I’ve ever gotten.”

“We haven’t heard back from Lady Rose yet, but I feel like it would be too awkward to go back to her house and knock on the door like “Hey, are you done grieving yet?”. The answer is probably ‘no’...”

“Maybe if we walk around town, someone will try to throw more paint at Matthias.”

We wandered around the marketplace for a while, trying to lure out the mysterious woman who’d been throwing things at us the day before.

[Just to set a little reference - this is all happening within the first two hours of the campaign.]

Matthias got egged, and we chased the perpetrator into a public park.

Mountain got distracted by the beautiful view, and Matthias threatened the woman with his bow. The woman pulled her own bow and threatened right back.

“I am going to swing my lute around in front of me to act as a shield in a worst case scenario. I’m not taking an arrow over an egg.

THE WOMAN. IS MATTHIAS’. CHILD.

DM: “How long has it been since you last spoke with your lover?”

Matthias: “Let’s say it’s been….twenty-five years, seven months.”

The kid’s name is Astrid, and she is mAJORLY pissed off at ‘dad’.

Udaji is backing away from the awkward family reunion, and Mountain is still distracted by the park scenery and has no idea.

“You’re Hohenheim, and she’s Edward.”

[I understood that reference!!]

“Udaji makes eye contact with Mountain and shakes her head like “Don’t get involved you’ll regret it”.”

Mountain officially confirmed for Tiefling.

Claus tries to calm Astrid with the blessings of Lathander. She refuses. Udaji bends over a little and pats Claus on the shoulder consolingly.

His player has difficulty articulating it (and honestly, who wouldn’t? Words are hard), but Matthias is legitimately upset to hear that his lover had died.

“You go up to her and give her a hug with a pat-pat?”

“She immediately starts sobbing in your arms.”

“I shed a single manly tear.”

Mountain has only just now caught up to the fact that these rogues know each other.

Astrid is now refusing to leave. Udaji is still the party baby.

“The only reason I was allowed out of town is because nobody could physically stop me.”

“Claus gives you a comforting pat on your hip, as that’s about as high as he can reach.”

After all that chaos, we were approached by a servant from the Rose family, calling us back to Lady Rose’s house.

Her name is now Ingrid Rose, because the DM forgot to name her until this very moment. Mood.

Matthias is still covered in egg.

Lady Rose admits that she thought the offer of marriage from Lord Bryant Hassan to her daughter was too good to be true.

She also admits that she thought the Lord had asked for a rather greedy amount of dowry with the proposal.

“Were any of my husband or daughter’s possessions recovered?”

Don’t look at Matthias. Don’t look at Matthias. Don’t look at Matthias.

Lady Rose asks us to look into the recovery of the enchanted lockbox that was carrying her daughter’s dowry, and offers to reward us for it.

She ALSO asks us to put a knife in the throat of whomever arranged her daughter’s death, should we find it to not, in fact, be a tragic accident.

Astrid is basically June from AtLA but without Nyla.

Everybody stocks up on rations for a long trip back to return Maxine Von Trikona’s books.

We get on the road back to Torrin, retracing the ill-fated Rose party’s steps as we go.

After two days on the road, we come across a seemingly wounded man on the side of the road, by an overturned cart.

He asks us for gold to get back on his feet.

Udaji immediately fell for it, and had to be physically stopped from reaching for her gold.

Miraculously, we all managed to avoid a bunch of mysterious projectiles and whistling noises.

Interestingly, both of the guard corpses we had ‘interviewed’ reported hearing a whistling noise before their death.

Mountain took an arrow to the horn, but only three points of damage.

We were all tired by this point and there were a lot of bandits so combat was looooooong.

Claus has two waiting Bardic Inspiration dice and is having a very good day.

“You’re going to shoot THROUGH your daughter and your cleric??”

ONE BANDIT DOWN!

I charged at a bandit, sword drawn, but couldn’t quite make it there in one turn, so I added an intimidating roar for good measure.

I rolled a nat 20, therefore proving that I inherited SOMEthing from my white dragon mother, and the bandit pissed himself.

THREE BANDITS DOWN!

I took 8 points of damage from the other bandits and it’s a good thing the DM had us level up at least once bc if I’d still had my lvl. 1 total of 9hp that damage would have damn near killed me.

“Ew, he’s got a skull face with horns! ...oh, wait, he’s just ugly nevermind.”

“If I cast the magic, but Matthias says the words, can we duet ‘Vicious Mockery’?”

“My mother [the white dragon] would be proud of that, and I’m not sure I’M proud of that.”

I stand corrected: Astrid is a ranger, not a rogue.

Dragonborn zoomies.

“I may be wearing a flower crown, but I’m still scary.”

I have now decided that there will be - at minimum - one fight where I take off my flower crown and force someone else in the party to hold it.

Probably Claus.

SIX BANDITS DOWN!

“Well, they identify as a corpse right now, so…”

We got distracted for another five minutes arguing about how useful Hawkeye was to the Avengers in the MCU vs. how useful Hawkeye was to Loki in the MCU, which spawned from the DM apologizing for her slowness in playing out Astrid’s turn, as she had never played a Ranger before because she thought they were useless.

Poor Hawkeye.

The bandit captain tried to ambush Astrid, hit her with one of two scimitars, and failed his dagger roll badly enough to stab himself.

Claus - incredibly inspired by Udaji’s music and heroics - saved Mountain from dying.

Udaji keeps rolling really well on attacks and damage...if only I could shuffle some of those over into Perception.

Astrid got the killing shot on the bandit captain.

I looted his body, and found (2) scimitars, tattered leather armor, the queen piece from a set of dragon chess, and (7) silver.

I took the chess piece, and nothing else.

Astrid found footprints leading back to the bandits’ camp, so we took over it for the night.

We leveled up! Woo!!!

Zone of Truth. Zone of TrUTH. ZONE OF TRUTH-

And College of Creation. This is gonna be fun!!!

[nightglider124]

Box

A Valentine’s oneshot considering I haven’t made a new one in 2 years. In true me style, it is dickkory. Obvs lmao.

It is also being written for the dickkory edition valentines fic challenge thing that @ships-bynoa came up with. (such an amazing thought bc who doesn’t love just binging dickkory oneshots??)

This is set in *arguably* my favourite universe with my two losers; the DCAU. 

Happy Valentine’s y’all <3 <3 <3

Trudging up the stairs, Dick cursed under his breath at the snow sliding off of his shoes and onto the carpet just outside their apartment. He shivered and sniffled, praying for the icy Winter to take its leave already.

As he approached the front door, he reached into his backpack for his keys, his fingers numb and trembling from the obscenely arctic temperature on the street.

Grasping the set of keys, he felt the warmth of the building begin to tickle his cheeks. As he fumbled for the correct key, he glanced out the windows of the hallway, shaking his head at the raging snow blizzard that showed no sign of slowing down.

He sighed; glad that he was home from work rather than still trying to fight his way through the blinding snowfall.

His long charcoal pea coat had endured well against the weather and his neck hadn’t been completely exposed either on account of the dark blue scarf he had wrapped around him, courtesy of Kory the previous Christmas. 

But, since the snowflakes had started melting, the dampness was beginning to seep through and redeliver the sharp cold bite.

Inserting the key into the lock, he turned it until he heard a click and opened the door to the apartment he shared with his girl.

He shut it closed behind him and turned to the coat rack, unraveling his scarf and hanging it up; shortly accompanied by his coat which he hurriedly shrugged himself out of. 

Dick shuddered and muttered, “God, I hate winter...” 

Lastly, he dropped his work backpack to the ground, beside the wooden shoe bench. He promptly dropped his set of keys in the basket atop of it and slid his frozen feet out of his shoes.

He glanced down at the unusual shaped plastic bag he’d also brought home, peering inside to check on the gift he’d brought home for his love. His hand snaked into his backpack to retrieve the second gift too.

Dick knew he didn’t need to check the third gift, having patted his back pocket almost a thousand times that day to make sure he didn’t lose it.

Rolling his shoulders back, he took a long, deep breath, steeling himself before making his presence known to his lovely girlfriend. Tonight was important and he tried hard to quell the nervous fluttering of his heart. 

He shook his head and turned the handle leading into the main area of their apartment.

The moment the door opened, he was hit by a rush of heat; the familiarity of the it, soothing his ruffled mood caused by the outdoors. Every muscle in his body relaxed as the atmosphere that simply was home washed over every inch of him. 

His fingers, cheeks, toes and nose all started tingling at the sudden change in temperature and he snuffled again as feeling started to return to his nerve endings. 

Dick grinned as his eyes caught sight of his girl, busying herself in the kitchen as she prepared what smelled like dinner. He reached into the plastic bag and slipped the bouquet of roses he’d bought for her out of it, tucking the heart shaped box of chocolates under his elbow.

Suddenly, he caught a whiff of the aroma lingering in the air. It was absolutely heavenly; there was a sweetness with a spiced kick and he could smell the delicious scent of chicken noodles.

He raised a brow as she turned around to face him,

“Babe, are you cooking?” He asked incredulously, being well aware of her lack of culinary skills by now,

Kory beamed at him, her hands clasped together and he felt himself melt a little at the utter beauty that she was. Her long red hair was down and draped over her shoulders. Her skin was glowing a little brighter than usual and she wore a loose, lemon off the shoulder sweater with some of his grey sweatpants; that silver bangle he’d bought her years ago still adorning her wrist like it did every single day. 

She giggled and flipped her hair so it cascaded down her back, “No, don’t worry.” She paused and moved aside to reveal Chinese takeout boxes and containers, “I ordered takeout.”

Dick grinned and wandered over to her, “You know the way to my heart.”

“So it would seem.” She smirked,

He juggled her gifts and leaned in, cupping her cheek and giving her a tender kiss on the lips. Kory hummed against him and pressed her palms against his broad chest before she sharply pulled back,

“X’hal! You are freezing, Dick!” She exclaimed, her concerned eyes checking him over,

“Good thing I have you to warm me up then, huh?” He cheeked,

Kory shook her head at him whilst he chuckled and held the roses and chocolates up to her,

“Happy Valentine’s day, Kory.” He smiled, thrilled with the way her face lit up,

“Oh, Dick...” She crooned, accepting his tokens of affections. She deeply inhaled the fresh fragrance of the roses before placing them on the counter alongside her box of chocolates.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and peppered kisses all over his still cold face, “And Happy Valentine’s day to you as well, my love.” Kory whispered,

“Hope you didn’t miss me too much today. Sorry again that I couldn’t get it off work-”

Kory kissed the tip of his nose and spun away from his grasp, “Do not worry. You are home now and that is all that matters. Besides, you are off tomorrow, yes?”

He gave her one of his signature lopsided grins, “I am.”

Her emerald orbs glimmered with mischief, “Then we shall make up for lost time.” She paused, “But for now, let’s eat before this food goes cold.”

Dick smirked as she started to dish up the rice, noodles, dumplings and other cuisine treasures onto both of their plates. 

“I’m just gonna change real quick, okay?” He mentioned as he ambled toward the hallway leading to their bedroom,

“Hurry or I shall eat your portion.” 

He offered up a fake gasp, “You wouldn’t dare!” 

“Mm we shall see...” She giggled as he jogged through the apartment,

Kory hummed a quiet tune to herself as she carted their plates over to the coffee table, briefly looking out the window at the snow storm continuing to billow through the streets.

She scurried back into the kitchen to grab their drinks as well as balancing the extra boxes of Chinese food for them to pick out of if they wanted to, without having to trek back and forth from the kitchen.

The Princess placed everything down on the coffee table and turned back to spread the fluffy grey blanket of theirs across the entirety of the couch, intent on making their evening a cozy one.

Happy with her work, she sat down on the couch and tucked her feet under her, curling up with her plate as she used a fork to shovel some noodles into her mouth.

Dick sighed as he came back out, wearing a simple black t-shirt and a pair of navy sweatpants, seeing as Kory had stolen his favourite grey ones. 

“That’s so much better.” He exhaled, running a hand through his slightly damp locks of ebony hair,

She flashed him a smiled and eyed her flowers on the counter, “Dick, could you please put my roses in some water?”

He nodded and drifted into the kitchen, reaching for the glass vase by the sink and filled it with fresh water from the faucet. Dick collected up the bouquet of roses and carefully placed them inside, tweaking them slightly so they were spread apart a little more.

Carrying the vase over, he propped it on the corner of the coffee table, happy with the loved up expression on Kory’s face.

He grinned as he sat beside her, pulling the blanket over him before reaching for his plate of food. Whilst he started scooping some chow mein from his dish, Dick picked up the TV remote and began skimming through their movie choices.

“What do you feel in the mood for?” 

“Something romantic.”

“Of course,” Dick smirked, “How about... Pretty Woman?”

Her eyes twinkled with excitement, nodding exuberantly around her mouthful of sweet and sour chicken.

Dick chuckled and pressed play, idly watching as the intro of the movie played through. He noticed Kory shuffle out of the corner of his eye and place her plate on the coffee table for a moment,

“Oh!” 

He turned his head to see her leaning over the side of the sofa, reaching for something,

“I almost forgot your gifts.” She murmured, pushing some of her auburn locks behind her ear.

Dick grinned and sat forward, placing his own plate on the table as well. He twisted to watch as she brought forth a large blue box which he took immediately when she passed it over to him.

Raising a dark brow, Dick opened it up and his mouth dropped in surprise,

“Kory... are these-”

“The lighting fixture upgrades you desired for your bike? Yes.” She told him, sounding quite pleased with her gift to him,

He shook his head, eyes scanning the inside for the pieces he needed to add more to his motorcycle. Dick gave her a bewildered laugh,

“How did you-”

“Victor mentioned that you were talking about them recently so I thought I would get them for you instead.” Kory informed him,

“This is amazing, babe. Thank you.” He mumbled, his tone laced with affection for the alien Princess sat beside him.

She nodded and her expression shifted to a sly one, a smirk springing to her lips. 

“There is... something else as well.” She murmured, presenting a small wrapped rectangle shape.

Dick quirked an eyebrow at her but took the gift nonetheless. Unwrapping it, he felt his eyes go wide and a heat spread to his cheeks that continued to drip down his neck at what he saw.

“Love Coupons?” He asked, chuckling,

She crawled closer to him so that her shoulder brushed against his and her eyes fell upon the small coupon booklet in his hands.

“I saw this mentioned on a television advertisement and proceeded to ask Raven about them. She told me it was a small book that is given to a loved one and contains the vouchers to claim hugs and kisses and breakfasts in bed...” She trailed off and watched as he opened it up, “However... I thought I would... make it more interesting...”

Kory nipped his earlobe and he felt his heart beat faster within his chest and he gulped as a thrill shot through the entirety of his body.

Dick kept flipping through the pages, the grin on his face only getting wider the more coupon options he stumbled across. She laid a hand on his back and rubbed in circles as they peered at Kory’s gift together.

“I hope these are valid from the minute you give me this.” He whispered,

She breathed a small giggle, “Oh? Do you have one in mind?”

He tilted his head from side to side before skipping back a few pages and pointed to the coupon.

“This one, definitely.” 

Kory blushed and grinned, “You always want that.”

“You’re extremely good at it; that’s why.”

“Any others?” She cooed, briefly playing with the locks of black hair at the base of his skull,

“There are a couple already I want to use tonight, actually.” He mumbled, inclining his head to kiss her jawline,

“And if I perhaps say... coupons cannot be used in conjunction with one another?” Kory purred,

“I’m sure you’ll make an exception for me.”

She gently smacked his shoulder and laughed, sliding back over to her edge of the sofa to continue watching their movie and eat their meal. Kory leaned forward, intending to pick up her plate but Dick stopped her with a soft hand to her upper arm.

“Wait, Kory?” 

Her emerald gems focused on him and she smiled, “Hm?”

Dick swallowed the lump in his throat as he stared back at this gorgeous woman who had agreed to be his lady so long ago. It was now or never and he knew it.

“I’ve... got something else for you.”

“Oh?” She giggled, “You just had to outdo me on gifts, didn’t you?”

He briefly chuckled before reaching into the pocket of his sweatpants, clasping it tightly in his hand before pulling it out. Dick held a wine colored box, coated in velvet which he gazed at for a long moment before he offered it to Kory,

She smirked and lifted a thin, manicured eyebrow, “I thought you already did the key thing, Dick?” 

Kory laughed to herself as she popped the lid open to look inside.

She froze as her eyes zeroed in on the object, carefully slotted within the soft cushioning inside. Her heart stopped for a long moment before thudding repeatedly beneath her breast.

There sat a beautiful silver ring with a small crystal lining within the band. In the center, a diamond was lodged, glittering in the dim light of their living room.

Kory swallowed, her throat suddenly having gone dry along with her breathing becoming somewhat shallow and labored.

She had been on earth long enough to know what this meant and what Dick was desiring from her.

Her eyes swiveled from the box to him, now down on one knee beside the couch, a small, shy smile gracing his lips. His deep blue eyes held a strong flicker of hope adjacent to the speck of anxiety that no doubt revolved around the uncertainty of what her answer would be.

“Kory... I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather spend the rest of my life with. I can’t imagine having anyone else next to me when I wake up in the morning and I don’t ever want that to stop...” He sucked in a deep breath, his eyes locking with hers, “Will you marry me?”

Kory felt tears prick her eyes, emotions welling and throbbing deep inside of her. Her lip trembled as she was overcome with love and devotion to this wonderful man kneeling on the floor before her.

“Yes.” She whispered, “Of course I’ll marry you, Dick.”

An elated smile broke forth onto his face and he retrieved the box from her to take the ring out, gently holding her left hand and sliding it onto her slender finger.

Kory matched his expression and slid onto her knees before him, cupping his face with both of her hands and pressed her lips to his igniting that spark between them that was always present beneath the surface. 

Dick’s hands came to rest on her waist and he pulled her closer to him, tilting his head to nip at her lower lip.

She pulled her head back, breaking the kiss and rested her forehead against his, 

“I love you... so much...” She panted, her eyes flitting between gazing at him and his lips,

Dick brushed his nose against hers, “And I love you, Kory.” 

He took a deep breath and smiled nervously, “And I can’t wait for you to be my wife.”

She giggled and stroked her fingers against his cheek, “A truly wonderful Valentine’s day, Dick...”

“I know... how will I top it next year?”

Kory burst out laughing, with him soon joining as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and cuddled him close, reveling in the utter warmth that was her love.

[seungminty]

Tipsy Nights and Heart Eyes // Changbin

prompt: You’re an emotional drunk and really really love your boyfriend (so fluffy it’s ridiculous + ot9!crack)  1.7k

bc I’m always an embarrassing drunk and our boys are the sweetest ever

-mads<3

“So that’s why I believe that the BBC should continue to be licence-free instead of switching to the state for its income.” I nodded along with my colleague, hoping my face didn’t show my internal screaming that had continued throughout the whole riveting 20-minute conversation. I smiled gratefully when he said he was going to go find an intern he wanted me to meet, and I only just managed to stop myself from bolting out the door. 

Why the hell I agreed to go to this stupid office party I had no idea. Well, actually, it was probably because everyone at the office thought I was no fun. What they didn't know is that I am also defensive as hell, so damn right I stormed into this packed club 30 minutes late, wearing the sparkliest dress I could find and ready to party. However, the night didn't turn out to be as wild as I thought. A colleague had latched onto me early on, boring me half to death and barely letting me get a word in. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him return with a reluctant looking intern in tow. I looked from them to the group of colleagues doing shots in the corner, weighed up my options, and bolted towards the drunken huddle. 

That’s how I ended up 20 minutes later, downing my 5th shot of some neon alcohol, singing an out-of-tune ABBA song and trying very hard not to fall off my bar-stool. My bemused eventually colleagues decided, much to my complaints, that they should probably call me a taxi. I managed to mumble out my boyfriend’s number, and only caught the beginning of the phone call before I was dragged away by our very funny, yet very drunk receptionist to dance. We danced and danced, cheered on by the rest of the club-goers, and for the first time in a long while, I felt relaxed and happy in front of my coworkers. I was so happy in fact, that I was about to attempt a cartwheel when I felt a soft hand clasp the wrists of my raised arms. I turned round to find the amused, yet concerned face of my boyfriend, who I was so happy to see that I immediately wrapped my arms around him, before peppering kisses all over his face. When he overcame the shock, he chuckled, and after grabbing my hands again, whispered in his familiar honey-like voice;

“I think it’s time to get you to bed love, before anyone gets seriously injured.”

I pouted but allowed him to pull me towards the door. As we passed them, I mumbled some sort of farewell to my colleagues, who for once, looked sad to see me leave and cheered me on as I clumsily left the club, but not before I gave them one last air punch as I exited the door. Changbin wrapped his arms securely around my waist and shoulders while I rested my head in the crook of his neck as he walked -more like dragged- me back to his car. I hardly had my seatbelt on when I felt all my giddy drunkness start to evaporate, leaving behind a wave of tiredness. Through my half-shut eyes, I saw Changbin look over at my suddenly crumpled state, letting out a chuckle before he began to reverse out of his parking space and head home.

‘You look super pretty, by the way.’

I smiled as I shut my eyes, the sounds of the car engine and Changbin’s soft humming lulling me to sleep. I was only half-awake when I felt my car door open and Changbin reach across me to unbuckle my seatbelt before helping me out the car. Managing to open my eyes, I quickly realised that no, this wasn't my apartment block, but the dorms. I opened my mouth to object but he seemed to read my mind, as always.

“No, I’m not leaving you at your apartment just because I have work tomorrow. My girlfriend can’t even walk straight, of course, I'm not going to just ditch her.”

My heart swelled at his words, and that was promptly followed by a very strong urge to throw up. Luckily we managed to reach the dorm without any incidents, except an encore of the ABBA songs from myself.

We passed a shocked looking Woojin as we tumbled into the living room, and I was promptly ushered to the sofa and told to sit down to wait for Changbin to find my pjs, and at this point, I was more sleepy than anything else, so I did so without much protest. My eyes were once again half-shut when I felt a soft blanket get tucked around me, and the sofa dip next to me. I opened my eyes and did slightly over-dramatic gasp as I saw Jeongin giving me a shy smile, looking slightly wary due to my drunken state. 

“And what do you think of you’re doing this up late young man?” I attempted to use my best mom voice, trying my best to remain stern even though I was pretty sure I added in a few unnecessary words just there.

Jeongin just gave me a sheepish smile and walked away, probably feeling a bit awkward, leaving the newly arrived Hyunjin and Jisung laughing their asses off on the sofa opposite me. I frowned, before attempting to throw a cushion at them. Obviously, I failed miserably, only adding to their giggle fit. I was preparing my second pillow attack when I felt someone gently grab my arm and lower it. I looked up and saw a rather blurry Woojin. Once my eyes caught up I notice he had a cup of steaming tea in his hand, which he gently set down on the coffee table in front of me. 

‘Here, for the headache you’re gonna have in about 4 hours.” He held out a couple advils, which I took with a big gulp of tea. I immediately screamed like a little bitch when I realised how damn hot the tea was, once again setting off the giggle twins in the corner, who I'm pretty sure were filming me now. Woojin looked concerned, rushing away to fetch some cold water as I whined, but I'm pretty sure I saw him biting back a laugh. A few minutes later I was curled up on the sofa, with a now thankfully lukewarm cup of tea, surrounded by fluffy blankets, and pretty much most of the boys who were probably waiting to see what dumb thing would come out my drunk mouth next.

They probably didn't expect me to burst into tears.

“Y-you’re all just so n-nice!!! I’m sorry for never really speaking to you, I r-really love you all so much and oh my god you’re just so nice! Jeongin you’re now my son so you ever need anything just ca-” My drunken sobs were cut short by Changbin’s arms wrapping around me and lifting me up princess style up off of the sofa while I sniffed pathetically. I caught a glimpse of the group of very confused and concerned boys behind us, and fortunately so did Changbin.

“Don't worry, shes just an emotional-ass drunk. I got it from here. Come on princess weirdo, I think it’s time for bed.”

He gently sat me down on the bed and began wiping off what was left of my makeup with a wet wipe as I sniffed and babbled on like a damn toddler.

“Your friends are the best.”

“I know.” He smiled gently, finishing with the wipe and helping me into my cosy pjs.

“Like the best best. Especially Woojin. I’m sorry I cried but he brought me TEA! I had no choice!” I exclaimed, getting slightly emotional again.

“Hey now, I thought I was the best best, should I be worried?” He pouted adorably at me, but I could see the hint of humour in his eyes. 

“No no no. You’re the best best best. My cutie-pie. My little cutie pie honey bun.” This got a full-on laugh from Changbin, and I even detected a hint of rosiness on his cheeks, and I forgot that sober yn is never really one for pet names. He tried his best to hide his blush as he climbed into bed and lifted the covers and tucked us both in. I sighed contentedly as I lay down on his chest with his arms wrapped firmly around my torso, and decided to deem the night an overall success. Before I drifted off to sleep, I heard him whisper softly,

“Okay, Princess. I'm your honey bun.”

Bonus 

“Morning sunshine.” I stirred as I heard Changbin mumble in my ear, before peppering my face with kisses. I smiled and began to open my eyes, noticing the cute little breakfast laid out on the bedside table, but then the headache hit.

“Morni- ohhhhhmygodmfhgf” I smashed my head back into the pillow and winced at the searing pain behind my eyes. I heard a tiny chuckle come from my boyfriend, causing me to reach my arm out to hit his shoulder for laughing at my pain.

“What did I do last night?” I asked once I could think straight again. I was greeted with silence, which I took as a bad sign.

“Oh no. It was bad, wasn't it?” I groaned, finally opening my eyes fully to see my Changbin biting back a smile.

“Well, you sang ABBAs entire discography, almost gave yourself a head injury, burnt your tongue, tried to attack Jisung and Hyunjin, cried for a bit, called me your cutie pie honey bun and then snored like an old man all night, but overall not your worst.”

I facepalmed, already cringing at the conversation I was bound to have with the rest of the boys.

Changbin laughed at my reaction, and I couldn't help but laugh along with him. He took me in his arms again and cuddled us both back up in his soft blankets.

“Hey don’t feel too bad, I heard you were super popular with Jisung’s snapchat followers.”

[yoosungs-hairclips]

heya!! i wanted to request hc’s for RFA with a methyphobic mc? i get rlly nauseous and terribly anxious (shaking, stuttering, sweating, tearing up, etc) when alcohol is around me or mentioned. my mom was a pretty horrible alcoholic, and that’s where it sprouted ^^;; my friends and family all think i’m weird for it, but i experienced a lot of trauma bc of alcohol, so it makes me feel rlly bad when they don’t try to understand. i was hoping for a bit of comfort through this!! thank you so much!!

yes of course!!! im so sorry that your friends and family say that, that is totally valid and it’s awful that you have to experience that! i’m super sorry if some of these sound repetitive or basic, i tried really hard to convey how much the RFA would care about you and respect your phobia, but i’m only human haha.

1,899 words, 10,051 characters

Yoosung

it comes out when you’re playing LOLOL together with some mutual friends of yours

one of them mentions how they just got back from buying beer from the nearby 7-eleven and how they’re gonna get wasted later that night

you want to say how uncomfortable you are, but out of fear of seeming “uncool” to yoosung’s friends, you stay silent even though you’ve been talkative all night

after around 10 minutes, the friend actually does bust out some of the beers and starts drinking

that’s when you start to really get nervous

as soon as the match is over, you start scrambling for any excuse to log off for the rest of the night

yoosung notices this, and since you two are literally in the same room, he spins in his chair and starts asking you what’s wrong

you remind him that he forgot to leave the match and it’s still going on,

but he doesn’t care about that dumb game right now.

he just wants to know what’s wrong and what he can do to help

after a lot of hugging, you finally tell him about your methyphobia

he’s a little taken aback, as he’s never heard of it.

but when he thinks about how much his friend was mentioning alcohol he gets

really irritated at his “friend”

you have to tell him that his friend didn’t know and that it’s okay but he still insists on telling him how uncomfortable he made you

after a long back and forth, you realize there’s no stopping him

as if he read your mind, he immediately shoots up to his computer and starts typing

then, when he’s taken care of that, he takes your hand and starts reassuring you again

he’ll never let any mention of alcohol touch your ears again, not if he can help it

and he means it.

he’s really glad that you told him so he can try preventing something like this ever happening again

he never, ever wants you to be uncomfortable.

that’s the last thing that you deserve.

Zen

you’re trying to catch up on social media and your favorite TV shows when you hear keys clicking outside the apartment and the door creaking open

as soon as you look over, you see zen stumbling in

from the look on his face and his posture, it’s easy to tell that he’s had a horrible day on set

you try to comfort him and make conversation, but he only mumbles in reply while getting a beer out of the fridge

moments after he pops it open, your palms start getting sweaty and you freeze

you try to tell him that that makes you uncomfortable, but your voice only comes out as murmurs

“did you say something, jagiya?”

mkfadgmkklgadbmlwfklmbfmklfwkmlbaefl

you try again, stuttering out a more coherent statement on how mentions of or especially the presence of alcohol make you extremely anxious

right away, his eyes go wide and he sets his drink down

he sits down next to you on the couch and looks in your eyes, staying silent but you know what he’s asking

you gulp, take a deep breath, and tell him about your methyphobia and what it means

he has to ask a few questions, such as why this came to be and the like

when you tell him about your mom, he’s disgusted with her

he can’t believe it? how did such a wonderful person come out of such a bad family situation?

you really cannot believe he asked that when he came from a bad family too

after a lot of talking and venting from you, he promptly throws out all his alcohol and promises never to drink any or mention it to you again unless you’re okay with it

if you ever start panicking while eating out he’ll be by your side in a flash, rubbing your back and giving you breathing exercises or whatever you need

he’s 100% supportive of you, and he’ll give up any bad habit he needs to if it helps you at all

Jaehee

it’s a sunday, and a lot of families came to the café after church together

it was packed all day

when you get home, you try to unwind by binging jaehee’s bottomless collection of zen DVDs

she’s a little late, telling you she has to get something from the kitchen really fast and asks you if you want anything

you refuse, you’ve had dinner and you already have water

she understands, and dashes off

after about a minute of you setting up the DVD, she comes back with a cheese plate and a wine glass

as soon as you see the crimson liquid in the glass, your hands start to vibrate and shake furiously

you try to hide it by holding them tightly, but she notices before you tuck them away in your pockets

“is s-something wrong?? did i do something??”

she’s, so worried,

you’re a little hesitant to tell her but you’ve been dating for a few months and you have to tell her eventually, right?

through shaky breaths, you explain your methyphobia and why it came to be,

everything.

she never interrupts you, purely focusing on listening to you until you’re done after about 3 and a half minutes

afterwards, she apologizes for never asking if you’re comfortable with her relying on drinking wine as a stress reliever

she says how she doesn’t blame you in the slightest for not telling her sooner, it’s hard to trust people with such sensitive information and she would have struggled with it too.

you have a really long conversation about your lives and everything you struggle with talking about to others

you both forget all about the DVD

after you tell her that you’re starting to get sleepy, she dumps out the wine, puts the cheese away, and gives you honest to god the tightest hug you’ve ever gotten from someone.

as well as a kiss on the cheek heehee

she gives you a lot more cuddles that night

and when you’re both awake, she delays the shop opening so she can do as much research on methyphobia as a woman could possibly do in one morning

she’s very sensitive about it afterwards, and always makes sure that you don’t get reminded of alcohol (when she can help it)

Jumin

you’re playing with elizabeth the 3rd and waiting for jumin to come home when you get a call

speak of the devil!!

you pick up almost instantly, asking him how work is going and telling him what elizabeth has been doing all day

he lets out a small .. nose exhale? of a laugh before telling you that he actually called you to inform you of a sudden change of plans for the afternoon/evening

you’re really excited! you’re usually just stuck in the penthouse all day, without anything to do

so any chance to get out is a good thing, especially with jumin

right? eh

he continues, saying how he has to go to an event for work purposes

it turns out there’s a nearby wine tasting and there’s a lot of potential customers there

as he went, the smile on your face slowly fell until he said the word “wine” and any sign of joy was smacked out of you

your head started spinning, you were spluttering trying to think of an answer

“o-okay, i’ll s-s-see yo-you the-there”

fuck. shit what the fuck

he notices your panicking, but decides not to say anything and save it for later

“i’ll see you later, yes. have a good afternoon, my love. excuse me.”

and he hung up

and you sat down

and tried to gather your thoughts

fuckkrignnrjgts.df.g.t.gnntghntg/h.mgfnue3rnfnnsae943203t0reend what the, god damn,

you try to rationalize. you don’t have to be there for long. as C&R’s heir’s wife, you have to go to a lot of events

and all you had to was hold on to his arm and look pretty

if just most of the people there saw you with him, you could probably sneak off and go home early

so that’s what you decided on.

you picked out your dress, got one of the maids for advice on accessories, and you were ready to go

you were in the middle of psyching yourself up to leave when the door opened and your husband walked in

he commented on how nice you looked already, and excused himself to go change

it was about 10 minutes before he came back out and started to dial driver kim’s number

you had to say something

“w-wait.”

??

then it all came spilling out, the fact you couldn’t come to the wine tasting, your past alcoholic mother, and your horrible case of methyphobia

jumin stood there paralyzed for about 5 seconds straight before straightening up and

“okay. i’ll see you tonight then.”

??????????? WHAT

you really did not see that coming

he just… accepted the fact you couldn’t go

he could see the surprise in your face

you told him how you really expected him to be more dramatic about it, making a big show about how you had to be there.

“i’m hurt that you thought i would ever force you to do anything you would not like to. your comfort is more important than my image, MC.”

you basically imploded on the spot

jhhohOOOOOH  my god

you thanked him profusely, and told him to have a good time

he gave you a kiss

and then headed out

when he came back, he gave you a lot more affection than he did before

“affection” can mean whatever you want it to 👀👀👀

to be honest, i’ve been thinking for a while and i really just couldn’t think of a scenario about 707 drinking or bringing you into a situation where people are drinking? im sorry, i tried my best doing random HCs i thought of. it’s a lot less coherent than the other ones, but it’s better than nothing.

707

when he finds out, he’s shocked

what!

because you don’t really take medication or anything for your phobia since… you don’t need any honestly, there was no way for him to know via background check

he’s very sweet about it

even though he’s constantly memeing and joking around, he’s extremely cautious making jokes about alcohol

if anyone DARES to make fun of you for it or degrades you

honey

they’ve got a big storm coming

he’ll probably put a photo album of his cosplaying going on their phone for the next few months

lol

this boy understands anxiety, so if you ever are uncomfortable because it’s been mentioned or someone around you is drinking, he’ll either try to distract you with jokes or if need be, ZOOP you out of there right away and calm you down

he’s so much more protective of you, especially in public

if you tell him to stop he’ll stop though

he just wants you to know he’s always there for you

because you’re always there for him

[firebirdsdaughter]

Heh heh, whoops…

… Realised I forgot to do a Ryusoulger Raw post.

So… Y’all get to hear my initial reactions to the subbed version! Yay! XD

Let’s a-go!

In no particular order and w/ many typos:

Naohisa peeling the banana for Ui bc she’s so busy staring. XD Ui, I know Asuna is beautiful, and the boys, too, but please remember to eat?

Well, that’s either really convenient, or Naohisa knows more than he’s letting on. This is Sentai. It could be either.

Aw, poor Melto. Come here, I’ll give you a hug. ^^ Sometimes I’m a good mother.

I think I already waxed about why I love the way Banba immediately, like, flies to this guy’s side in the tags of Ryuu’s gifset, but it still holds. Believes he can’t trust people and that kindness is weakness, but still can’t stop himself. I am really hoping for an episode/something way down the line where he has a ‘I would have turned into a monster w/out Touwa and the rest of you’ moment. Might just write one myself, eventually. ^^

And the coincidence, one of the true heroes of Toku, saving the day is also still hilarious. Like, if Banba had been one block over.

Why was he even on this street to begin w/?

Why is Touwa here? I find it hard to believe Banba would at all be interested.

No, actually, I know why. Bc plot.

Aw, he came bc he loves you two and is constantly anxious. Melto is absolutely the type of person who is afraid to let the people he loves out of his sight bc what if they didn’t look both ways before crossing the street and got hit by a truck???? And I doubt Biker Dad’s death helped that at all. Kou and Asuna are all he’s got left of his ‘family’ and he’s secretly terrified of losing them, too. Hey, Melto, I think I just got an idea for an angst tidbit for you, and I’m really sorry.

Aaaaand the youngest brothers are at it again. XD Dorks.

My ‘age’ order for this family is Naohisa, Banba, Melto, Asuna, Kou, Touwa and Ui. Age in quotes bc obviously the canon ages are completely wild. But I think I’ve done the fam break down before, so I won’t go into it again. ^^

I mean, gotta hand it to Wyzul. It’s a situation where acting blatantly weird and out of place works. Like, it’s a legit acting job. People in special events/games. Ren fairs. Yes, he’s acting really evil and suspicious, but that’s easily explainable as that being the character. Another pretty good plan. Very Sentai, but actually a good plan.

OH GOD NO! IT’S A MIMIC! DX

I don’t actually play Dark Souls, but…

Okay, but I wouldn’t be getting too comfy, yet. You’re missing one, and he happens to be the most stab-happy out of all of them. Like, I’m sorry, but as a villain, I would be celebrating while Banba was unaccounted for. I’d be checking the back stairwell.

This confirms that the chibis are merely going in colour order and have no bearing on the focus character.

Mother¡Melto makes another appearance, in a small way. ^^

I don’t know, Asuna. Given that none of you remember how you got here, I think it’s very valid of Melto to fear this was a Druidon trap.

Kou takes a moment to look majestic. XD HAve you been taking lessons from Banba? ^^

This is so obviously suspicious. Like. It’s obviously magic. Touwa and Asuna win the doofus award this ep. At least Kou figured it out eventually.

Touwa is the super winner of the award, though. Asuna had the sense to snap to it when told there were Druidon. XD

Honestly, she probably needs the protein and calories. Her super strength might mean she burns through energy faster than other people.

Actually, I dunno if that makes sense.

Mother¡Melto again. XD ‘Don’t eat mystery meat!’ is kind of like he’s telling her not to take food from strangers…

Yup, Touwa’s a dumb. ^^ I love how in the character blog, Yuito was like ‘he would have gotten scolded if his brother was there.’ XD Probably one of the reasons they didn’t want Banba in Wonderland w/ them. A) he would have snapped Touwa out of it too soon, and B) given how the chests open in their own, they didn’t want to reveal too much about his past, I guess? Though I wish they would tell us at least a little more. Keep it slow, absolutely, but I’m hoping for some more concrete hints soon.

A for effort, Melto. You tried.

Also, oh, Kou. ^^ Cutie. So it is limited—bc they had to stay trapped in the ‘box,’ it couldn’t actually grant Kou’s wish. But it sure tried. Kinda like w/ that Yummy that was destroying people’s dreams when it tried to attack Eiji, and the world came out of his mind.

Aw, he’s fine. The boy is durable. ^^

Kou, now is the time when you assume this is not the real world, you dork. XD

Aw, did Banba help clean up? Actually, there’s no indication if he did or not, but it’s sweet to think he did. ^^

I mean, he’s got a point. It could have a backlash. My recommendation would be to poke it first. Though since Kou crashed into it before, it’d probably just be impervious…

Oh, don’t remind him of that, that was (obviously unintentionally) kinda insensitive of her… Well, it did say that she sometimes has a habit of saying the wrong thing/speaking so bluntly she has trouble communicating… We haven’t really seen that yet, but I think it’s kind of coming into play here, since Melto’s bio, and this ep, establish that Melto is self conscious and doubts himself in comparison to the others… So that probably hurt him a lot  more than she intended it too.

But bc he’s Melto, he didn’t communicate that, so she had no way of knowing and no chance to reassure him she didn’t mean it that way.

God, Banba’s got a compulsive apologising streak, Melto has an inferiority complex, neither likes admitting hurt/weakness, esp to people they care about… And then there’s Asuna being too blunt and saying thing w/out thinking, Kou and Touwa are probably in the ‘bottle things up’ boat, too, just of the Stepford Smiler/Snarker variety… Any more of my quirks you’d like to spread out amongst the team, Toei? Like, maybe Gold is constantly terrified he’s bothering everyone?

Sorry (exhibit A XD) that got a little nonsensical. Right now it’s mainly Banba, Melto, and Asuna who are exhibiting some of my habits (apologising [for ex. rather than thanking someone], a slight inferiority complex compared to more “successful” friends, an in ability to read social cues and saying things w/out thinking).

And I love them for it. DX Really gotta write more Melto now!

Aaaaaaaaand… Now I’m crying all over again. DX I mean, hi Biker Dad and all, but poor Melto… TT^TT

This poor baby… DX Like, you can tell that for a fraction of a second, he’s almost like ‘oh my god, you’re alive?!?!?’ And… Then the memory hits him. DX

And then he promptly logics himself out to ‘I’m hallucinating.’ Oh, baby… DX

I know it would’ve broken the illusion, but… I wish Melto could’ve hugged him. Let the boy hug his Biker Dad. DX

Or, if not, can someone please hug someone??? Please?!?!?

Aw, he’s scared, though. I mean, I totally think he was the anxious, ‘oh my god what if I turn around for a moment and they fall of a cliff?!?’ sort of person before, but losing their Masters magnified that. He loves them so much he was afraid of something happening to them before, but now that something terrible has happened to someone else he loves, it’s even worse.

Basically, he was already terrified of something bad happening to the people he loved, and then something did, validating that terror.

Inferiority complex probably didn’t help. It’s not exactly resentment toward people perceived as ‘better’ (though there is some in it), but feels like a failure on the part of the one w/ the complex for not being ‘good enough’ or able to ‘catch up.’ He knew they were good at fighting, but was terrified by their recklessness and feared he might not be strong enough to help them one day, or something. Not sure any of that made sense.

I do like the idea of Biker Dad inside the Blue RyuSoul just being like, ‘oh no, Melto is worrying himself into a corner, maybe it will help if I astral project and give him a pep talk.’ Might be cute if the Masters’ souls are still semi ‘present’ or ‘aware’ in the RyuSouls.

…

… Ooooooo. I just got an idea. Kinda like in that Magiranger episode. Like, the trio get trapped in some ‘magical dimension’ or something again, and, like, the Masters are somehow there, or their souls come out of the RyuSouls somehow… Anyway, could have something like when… Houka, I think it was, didn’t want to leave that place bc it seemed like their mother was there. Could also include friendship bc maybe the final straw for them finding the will to go isn’t just ‘we need to protect the world’ but also, on a more personal level, the Tatsuis and the brothers? Like, if they realise that the boys are getting overwhelmed in the real world, esp if the brothers are partially fighting to try and rescue them, and are about to get defeated, and meanwhile Ui’s in the line of fire bc she’s trying to help civilians and doing everything she can, too… Could be cute. And heartbreaking.

That was a bad explanation, I’ll try to be more concise later.

Why… Is he explaining this?

Again. I wouldn’t be celebrating while mister handsome murder boy the Majestic Knight is still at large.

I like how it’s still saying ‘here, here.’

Wow, Melto can jump!

Oooo. They came out of the fire! Cool effect.

I’d question how Biker Dad knows this, but he’s dead, so maybe he’s omniscient now. I dunno. I’m inclined to give more leeway to people knowing weird things if they’re dead. Bc they’re no longer tied to this plane, ya know?

Anyway.

…

……

……… Butt. DX

AAAAH! DX Poor baby. He’s all like ‘I did it, dad!’ and briefly forgets that it was an vision, and then of course Biker Dad is gone, and it… TT^TT

Ah, yes. The perfect way to get me to stop crying. Cut directly from sad, introspective Melto to Banba tenderly caressing the lid of some random box. XD

Now, I will not grow out of that joke. XP Ryusoulger here, making me jealous of inanimate objects like pros.

Must everything he does be so very attractive? And by that I mean sexy? But for some reason I am very self-conscious about that word???

Touwa still wins the super doof award.

And now, Melto does math. I think.

XD Kou’s crash into the dome was useful! Though I’m impressed Melto could have any estimation of what the height of that was. ^^

I really like the little collars of the suits. I really do.

AH. I FIGURED IT OUT. THE LITTLE ‘LIFE BLOBS’ ARE SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT THE MINUSAUR!

(pictures at the bottom)

CUTE.

XD Using the Minusaur’s power against it. ^^ Nice going Melto.

I guess it’s not technically him piloting alone—though he does seem to be the one in control…

XD Wyzul and Crayon’s reactions are so funny. ^^

Touwa just lying on the grou w/ his arms folded is still funny.

Banba just… Freaking teleports behind Kou. How did he even find them? Did he walk down the street carrying the box while fully transformed? XD

Banba interrogating the mooks is hilarious bc, esp in most recent years, they can’t actually talk. The most recent exception I can think of is Kyuranger’s mooks.

XD The absolutely unnecessarily fancy sword twirling he does just to point it in the other direction. <3

I mean, I guess it might seem a little silly, but… Isn’t there a belief in Shinto that all things have souls, even inanimate objects? So… Not so far afield, really. Though that does kinda make it sadder that Banba just smashed it. DX Requiescat in pace, antique miniature garden box. Thank you for your sacrifice.

Most easily defeated Mimic. Ever.

Asuna and Kou are either staring into my soul, or thinking about how cool Banba is, and I find both to be valid.

Touwa, don’t be mean. DX Ah, dorks.

This scene is really cute. Y’all here turning into a family w/out noticing, between the younger sibs teasing Melto and then goofing off among themselves, Banba just walking behind them like a tired babysitter and even shooting a look at Melto like he’s trying to make sure Blue’s still w/ them… Cuties.

Also, Touwa bouncing. ^^ <3

The soft piano version of the theme song definitely helps, too. ^^

That hug is still available if you want it, Melto.

And yes, I’d like to think it was. ^^

Still wondering what was up w/ that hooded person. They’re in the opening. They can’t just forget they exist! What happened in the rest of that secene w/ the brothers? Not even Touwa has mentioned it. Did they get their memories of the encounter wiped? Or is there something more?

Preview:

I like the opening shot of Asuna playing a carnival game while the boys watch. Like, it’s so cute and family-y. Melto’s so excited for her like a proud mom and Kou seems to trying to perfect his strategy. XD

Asuna once again finds herself talking people out of… That.

At this point, I don’t care how short that Banba sulking scene is or how little it relates to the plot. I just want to see it. ^^

That’s all, folks! Virtual mochi for anyone who read all that! I really liked this episode, and I’m glad for Melto getting a chance to be very heartbreaking, too. Next episode is an Asuna ep, and while I’m a little cagey about it bc of the short summary we saw at first, I’m willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt and not jump to conclusions about how they’re going to handle it. Hoping we’ll see Anky Mom, too, though there haven’t been any shots of her in the previews… Well, it wouldn’t make much sense if they didn’t eventually bring her back in some way. Still hoping for more concrete info about the brothers’, and specifically Banba’s past. Not all at once, but you could slowly start giving us more. Though it’s not that pressing, and is mainly bc I’m an impatient baby—they’ve got time to do it. And then there’s mysterious hooded person who is in the opening. Gaisoulg? Master Gold? Probably too old to be Gold, but who knows. It does seems strange that not even Touwa, the more friendly of the two, has brought it up to the trio. You’d assume he’d mention ‘oh, yeah, mysterious cloaked man came and sought us out and [something something]’ Makes me very suspicious of cloaked man. Did he wipe their memories? Threaten them? Just plan ask them to keep him a secret? Is he friend of foe? Is he Naohisa? Who knows. But I’d like some clues. At some point.

Lastly, the screenshots I promised, of the life blobs, and the thing everyone else probably already noticed:

[catboythanatos]

hello i am HERE for cecilos week... ive had a helluva day so everyone say thank you last week me for writing most of this bc i could not have written anything today omg. im SO excited to do this prompt week and to see all of the great content everyone’s gonna make!!!!

Day 1: Fashion/Science!

Cecil Palmer was … an interesting character. Carlos had only been in Night Vale for about a week now, and he was avoiding the radio host like the plague. The embarrassment and surprise of hearing his name on the radio so much had scared him away, and while he was a little intrigued, he would just rather avoid that problem entirely until Cecil inevitably forgot about him and moved on.

He had only formally met Cecil once, and he had been in the middle of some ... very important science at the time. Carlos would probably describe Cecil as a man who was not tall nor short, not thin nor fat, but that's about as far as he could go, since he did not make eye contact once during their entire encounter, out of the nervousness of never knowing which eye to look at, which was heightened by the fact that Cecil seemed to have three.

The day of that encounter, he was teased by all of his coworkers when they heard about it on the radio, and he had not gone back to the radio station since.

But of course, you can only successfully avoid someone for so long…

Out at the Ralph's buying groceries, something caught Carlos’ eye. It wasn't polite or proper to stare, so Carlos refrained, but he glanced down the aisle a few times to catch glimpses.

The person was facing away from Carlos and into the aisle. The outfit they were wearing was eye-catching in almost every way imaginable. Their shirt, a red crop-top, had long, semi-transparent bell sleeves that stretched down almost to the floor, and their pants were a shiny metallic silver. From these two things alone, Carlos was given the impression of some sort of avant garde fashionista, but then there was more. To top the whole outfit off, they were wearing lime green crocs. Now, Carlos didn't know enough about fashion to really make any assumptions, but it certainly caught his eye, to say the least.

The person turned, and he quickly turned back at the macaroni and cheese on the shelf in front of him so he wouldn't be caught looking. He didn't realize that the person was walking towards him until he heard:

“Carlos! Hey!”

Carlos looked up, and was surprised as he met Cecil's eyes.

“O-oh,” he said. “Hi.”

“You shop here? Wow, that's so crazy, right?”

Carlos ignored the fact that this was the only grocery store in Night Vale, and the fact that Cecil was being awkward. He found himself staring at Cecil's exposed midriff.

“Carlos?”

“Uhm. Yeah.”

“How are you settling in?” Cecil shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and his wispy sleeves swayed across the floor.

“Fine,” said Carlos. “Um… It’s good. Everything is… good. You know, science… and whatnot.”

“I'm glad to hear it. Anyway, I, um, should finish on with my grocery shop here, and leave you to yours.”

Carlos nodded, turning to the mac n’ cheese again, wishing he was wearing a lighter jacket. It was hot in the Ralph's today.

“I do need some macaroni, though.”

Cecil reached for a box at the same time as Carlos did, and their fingers brushed up against each other. They each pulled away, laughing awkwardly.

“I’m sorry--”

“I--”

“No, you go ahead.”

Carlos didn't move. He looked from Cecil's hand, up to his face. His breath caught in his throat.

“Sure,” he choked finally, grabbing the box off the shelf without looking and dropping it into his cart. “Thanks.”

---

After that second encounter, Carlos was only more determined to avoid Cecil. Well, truthfully, he wanted to spend more time with him, but he was getting feelings he didn't know how to react to and thought it would be easier to pretend that he didn't exist. Of course, listening to Cecil detail their interaction over the radio certainly didn't help.

He was lucky to have been in the car, by himself at the time of hearing the broadcast, because his fellow scientists would definitely have teased him, both for the way he acted and the way Cecil talked about him.

The next time Carlos saw Cecil, he was wearing a polka-dotted button-up tucked into a high-waisted skirt, and the fuzziest looking jacket Carlos had ever seen. He wore round, purple sunglasses, which had a third lense that covered his forehead. Previously, Carlos had been sure that the eye on Cecil's head was just a tattoo or something, but this was mildly disturbing evidence to the contrary. Or he was just very committed to the aesthetic, which did not seem unlikely, given the rest of his outfit choices.

“Hi, Carlos!”

“Cecil, hi!”

Despite not wanting eye contact before, Carlos felt mildly intimidated suddenly that he wasn't able to see Cecil's eyes. It made him feel vulnerable, for some reason. It was Cecil's outfit in general that probably intimidated him, though.

Carlos looked down to the sand-strewn pavement beneath their feet. Cecil wore knee-high black boots with a heel too high for Carlos to even imagine walking in. It definitely made him appear tall, which normally, he was not.

“How's … science? Have you found anything particularly scientific recently?”

Carlos took a small breath and allowed himself to detach from the situation. Science was something he could always talk about, no matter the circumstance or situation.

“Lots of things,” said Carlos. “...Almost everything, actually. Your town is… incredible.”

Cecil laughed, and Carlos looked up to see him blushing, and also sweating. A lot.

Carlos was sweating too. He wasn't sure if it was for the same reason.

“Everything here is… strange,” Carlos continued. “And beautiful.”

Cecil’s breath audibly caught in his throat. Carlos realized what he had done a little bit too late to stop it.

“What kinds of things?”

Carlos was glad that he couldn't see Cecil's eyes at that moment, because he would definitely not have been able to handle the eye contact.

“E-everything.” He faltered. “Science things, I mean. Like, um, the materials. And the sunsets being out of time. And loud? The sunsets are also loud.”

“They can be quite loud,” Cecil agreed. “The materials, though. You mean the materials you found in my studio?”

Carlos blanched. There hadn't really been any materials. He had been there to meet Cecil that day, and he had gotten flustered and grasped at straws for an excuse. “Um… Yes…?”

“Did you learn anything new about them?”

Carlos shook his head. “N...no.”

Cecil scratched an itch on his leg, and his hand left an imprint on his velvet skirt. Carlos stared at it. “No…” he repeated absentmindedly. “I'll, um, I'll tell you if I find anything new,” he said, promptly fleeing.

Carlos wasn't sure if it was him, or Cecil, or what, but something about Cecil was overwhelming in an unprecedented way. He would never judge someone on what they wore, or their appearance, but something about Cecil and his outfits were just… distracting. He considered himself too busy with work to unpack the reasons and feelings behind that for a long time. An entire year, actually. Apart from chance encounters here and there, he would not see Cecil without strictly and explicitly stating scientific reasons. Not that he didn't appreciate Cecil's affections… he just didn't know how to deal with them. Luckily, that only lasted a year, and it only took one near death experience to open up his eyes.

On their first date, Carlos selected one of his most stylish lab coats, in an attempt to impress Cecil with his fashion sense. Cecil had looked so dashing in his tunic and furry pants.

Carlos later learned that avant garde high fashion was not exactly Cecil's grand inspiration. He was a lot lazier with how he dressed than Carlos had imagined. Sometimes he would even sleep in one of his over-the-top outfits and wear it again the next day. He did consider himself ‘spared from the sphere’ (a notion which terrified Carlos greatly) but he wore mostly whatever he found comfortable and suiting for the day. He didn't even own a mirror, which initially struck Carlos as peculiar. This wasn't to say that he put no effort in, of course not -- he definitely went over the top for aesthetic purposes frequently. But he didn't own a mirror. He just sort of looked down at his outfit and decided, ‘sure, this works.’ Or maybe he didn't even look at all. It fascinated Carlos -- who typically spent a lot of time fussing with his hair and clothing in the mirror every morning. Many things about Cecil fascinated Carlos. But his fashion sense… Carlos had different feelings towards it than just fascination.

Night Vale was incredibly scientifically fascinating, but Carlos’ interest in their fashion wasn't really scientific. It was one part awe and two parts envy. Carlos envied Cecil. He tended to dress in ‘scientific casual’, as he called it, but he had more of an affinity for fashion than he let on…. But he had never been able to express himself that way in the outside world. He already got made fun of enough for having pierced ears… he wouldn’t dare venture into clothing items considered ‘feminine’ by the world. In Night Vale, though… no one judged. Everyone was accepting. It still took him quite a while to build up the courage, to stop hiding behind the comfort of his jeans and flannel shirts and lab coats, but he eventually brought it up to Cecil, a few weeks into their relationship. Cecil was understanding, and more than happy to help.

The first time he went clothes shopping with Cecil, Carlos almost started crying right in the middle of the store. Crop tops, skirts, sequins, glitter, tights, stilettos -- anything you could dream of -- and it was all unisex. There were dresses made for men and dresses made for women. He could wear whatever the hell he wanted and nobody would question him. No one would shout expletives at him in the streets, no one would misgender him, he had no family here to judge him... Cecil, despite his total sense of normalcy with all of this, seemed to understand perfectly. He threaded his fingers through Carlos' at his side, and softly asked: “Anything you wanna try on?”

Carlos’ eyes gleamed. “So many things.”

---

When he walked into the lab for the first time in a dress, he was greeted with the first catcall he had heard in quite a while.

Carlos felt a little embarrassed, but he didnt feel threatened by wolf whistles coming from his coworkers.

“Damn, boss!”

He laughed. “Got it, Nils, I’m hot. But I'm here to do my job -- be professional. I'm also,” he said pointedly, snatching his lab coat and goggles off the desk, “taken.”

Nilanjana whooped. Another scientist rolled his eyes. “Trust me, we all listen to the radio. We know.”

Carlos didn't know what to say, so he just winked at them, giving a little twirl of his dress. Nilanjana shot him a smile. “On a serious note, though,” she whispered, “I'm glad to see you embracing Night Vale fashion. It suits you.”

Carlos looked down at the dress, grinning. He thought so too.

[imagineproduce101]

Zhu Zhengting Mafia AU

you worked in the 101 doing a lot of field work, esp. recon

even though you were fairly young, you had been raised around members of the 101, and so you had both the knowledge and the skills

one night, you were just walking to the convenience store to pick up some food when you heard a girl scream

and obv you were concerned, so you ran in the direction of the scream, only to find a girl maybe a few years younger than you crouched on the floor, three guys standing menacingly a few feet away

pulling out your gun, you quickly intervened, and the three guys ran off, not wanting to get involved in a scuffle

you quickly hurrried over to the girl to make sure she was okay, and helped her to her feet

she explained that she lived just a few blocks away, so you walked her to her apartment

her older brother was home, and when he opened the door, you felt your heart eXIT YOUR BODY???

bc wow he was super cute and hot and wow at the same time

the girl you’d helped thanked you and hurried inside, leaving you to explain the situation to the brother

after explaining, the brother thanked you as well, and quickly introduced himself as zhu zhengting

and just before he was about to close the door, he paused

“have i met you before?” he asked curiously, peering down at you

you frowned, looking closely at him, and shaking your head

the incident quickly left your mind as life moved on, and you were tasked with bigger missions

SVT was getting a lot bolder in the jobs that they picked up, and the leaders of the 101 definitely weren’t happy

and that meant that you were getting a lot busier too, with your own jobs getting harder

as a recon agent, your job was to scout out locations for potential operations or transactions to ensure that they were neutral and safe

but recently, there had been more and more set-ups where you’d actually had to draw weapons and call for backup

one night, you were coming back to the 101 hq after a job when you got a text from daniel asking you to come to his office

“ah, (y/n),” daniel looked up from his desk with a small smile, “please, take a seat.”

there were two seats in front of daniel’s desk, one already taken, so you hurried to take the empty one

as you did, you heard the quietest gasp from next to you, so you quickly turned your head

and sitting next to you was zhu zhengting

“i see you two have met before,” daniel smiled, “now, i have a sort of proposition for you. zhengting works in surveillance; he’s second in command there, and certainly has extensive experience. recently SVT has been encroaching on our areas, and it’s been impacting the efficiency of the surveillance team. that’s where you come in, (y/n).”

you raised an eyebrow, seeing where this was going 

“you’re an expert in stealth and undercover. i’m asking the two of you to partner up-- you’ll both be doing surveillance on the ground.”

you sighed, leaning back in your chair as you flipped through the file that daniel had given you

he was right-- the surveillance team was getting fucked, hard, but they didn’t have any agents experienced in actual field work

“fine,” you agreed

after daniel wrapped up the meeting, the two of you got to your feet and zhengting showed you the way to his own office where the surveillance team worked

“hey, you’re the one who rescued my sister, right?”

you glanced over at zhengting, who was just looking over at you casually, eyebrows raised

“oh,” you nodded awkwardly, not really knowing how to respond, “yeah, that was me.”

zhengting nodded and shot you a smile that had your cheeks heating up

“thank you for that-- i don’t think i could ever get over someone hurting her.”

as soon as you entered the surveillance office, you were instantly greeted by the other members, whose names you promptly forgot

once you’d gotten introduced, the two of you looked over your first mission file

working together, you soon found that the two of you actually got along fairly well

after the two of you sucessfully complete your mission, daniel is very smug 

and continues to assign the two of you on missions

and of course, since the two of you are spending so much time together, you get to know each other quite well

zhengting is actually a super cute, cheerful guy who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time

and you really respect how much he does for his younger sister

the two of you have a tradition of going to get food after a mission, and the more missions that you go on, you realize that maybe,,,, kinda,,,, sorta,,,, you like zhengting

like, on top of how incredibly cute he was, zhengting was just so caring and respectful and like wow what a man

frightened by the feelings and the idea of liking someone you were working with, as soon as you figured it out, you marched into daniel’s office and demanded a partner switch

daniel just kind of smirked at you

“you’ll thank me for this later, (y/n)”

and so you had to endure being around zhengting and his stupid caring mannerisms and sweet gestures and why did the world hate you like this

one night, quite similar to the night when you’d first met zhengting, you were walking to the convenience store when you heard a familiar scream

without thinking, you raced towards the sound, hand darting to where your gun was, and fuck, your gun was still with zhengting from your mission the day before

but by the time you realized this, you were already in the alley with no other options

zhengting’s poor younger sister was curled up in the corner, five men standing menacingly over her

you heard one of them yell something in chinese and kick her side, which made you charge forward with little thought

“hey!” you shouted, barreling forward

but before you could really do anything, someone was grabbing you from behind, shoving cloth over your eyes

obviously, you struggled against them, but you were unable to get free as they bound your hands behind you with some kind of plastic, probably a zip tie

you felt yourself being shoved forward roughly, and faintly heard zhengting’s sister scream

soon, the two of you were shoved in a vehicle, the door slamming loudly

bending over, you pushed the cloth over your eyes up slightly to be able to see and glanced around

you checked to make sure that zhengting’s sister, who whispered that her name was jia li, was alright, and she quickly nodded

“i’ll get us out of here somehow,” you whispered to jia li, who looked to be on the verge of tears

thinking quickly, you asked jia li to turn so that you could grab her cell phone from her back pocket

after unlocking it, you dialed zhengting, knowing he always picked up when his sister called

“so, where are you chaps taking us, anyways?” you asked the men in the front of the van casually, hoping zhengting would recognize your voice “i mean, it isn’t very often that one is kidnapped.”

“shut up,” the man driving grunted, “minghao, get the bitch to shut up.”

you quickly squirmed to hide the phone under your leg as someone, minghao, probably, reached back to shove some cloth into your mouth

once the guy turned forward, you grabbed the phone again, doing your best to type out something to zhengting

“irs (y/n), tsken by svvvt, stay on line.”

zhengting texted back immediately

“I have euiwoong tracking ur location, when you get to the svt location i’ll get you all. please stall until i call this number. stay safe.”

you quickly murmured the plan to jia li, reassuring her that she would be okay and explaining that you’d do all the dangerous stuff to stall for time

as the van came to a halt, you shoved the phone into your undershirt/bra, so that the svt wouldn’t notice it

“okay you two, get out of the van,” a voice that sounded like the driver’s growled, and you felt yourself being yanked out

“wait, wait, i need to go to the bathroom,” you said loudly, “like, really badly. just drank a bunch of coffee, you know how it goes.”

the men whispered furiously amongst themselves

“jun, take them to the fucking bathroom,” the driver groaned, obviously the leader of the operation

you hid your smirk, feeling someone shove you forward

“here.”

“can i uh, maybe get the blindfold off?” you drawled, and winced as someone hit you across the face before roughly yanking your blindfold off

“don’t try to fucking be smart with me,” the man-- jun-- growled

you just rolled your eyes and went into the one-stall bathroom, standing there for a few minutes awkwardly to kill time

the punch to your cheek had been hard, and the area was already puffing up a little

you winced at the sight of it in the mirror, knowing that it would form a nasty bruise

“hurry up in there!” jun roared from outside

“yeah, yeah, sorry,” you shouted back, taking a deep breath before stepping outside the bathroom

the blindfold was tugged over your eyes and you were shoved forward, the two of you rejoining the group

jun had a bruising grip on your arm, dragging you forward

you and jia li were taken down a long, long hallway before being stopped roughly

“take the sister in first,” you heard someone say

“wait, no,” you cried out frantically, trying to wiggle away from jun, “take me first, please.”

“shut up,” jun shouted, kicking the back of your knees sharply to make you sink to your knees

the impact almost made you cry out and you gritted your teeth, silently apologizing to jia li

you were kneeling on the cold ground probably for fifteen minutes before jun hauled you to your feet, the two of you entering a cold room

the blindfold was tugged off of your eyes again, and you blinked as the bright lights entered your eyes

“well, well, well, who do we have here?” choi seungcheol raised an eyebrow at you from across the metal table, hands folded calmly, “we aimed for zhu zhengting’s sister, and we got his partner as well.”

you gritted your teeth, racking your brain for something to say-- you knew that your identity was well concealed, and if word got out that you were working surveillance, you’d be fucked

“oh, yeah, i’m his partner,” you laughed awkwardly, blurting out random words, “zhengting really is the perfect boyfriend, you know? caring, compassionate, great se--”

“wait, what?” seungcheol stood up, slamming his hands down on the table, “xu minghao, explain yourself! you said they were zhu zhengting’s partner!”

“i mean, you’re not wrong,” you said quickly, rolling with your incredibly stupid statement, “i’m his partner, as in, his significant other.”

seungcheol groaned, burying his head in his hands as you cackled internally, incredibly amused at how gullible the SVT was

“why are we being kidnapped?” jia li asked bravely from her spot next to you

you were impressed with how brave jia li had been throughout the entire thing, and the question she’d asked was a smart one

seungcheol sneered at the two of you

“for what else?” he sat down again, composure returning, “for information. zhu zhengting has been evading us for months now, and we need information about how he works, when he does jobs and the like.”

well shit, now you were really glad that they didn’t know you were zhengting’s partner

“why not just capture zhengting? isn’t this kind of a hassle?” you asked, frowning

a slow smile spread across seungcheol’s face, “ah, but you see, this is the least hassle. zhengting is good at what he does, i’ll give him that. there’s no way we could capture him directly. but holding his precious sister hostage-- and apparently, his significant other as well-- well, he’ll have no choice other than to turn himself over.”

jia li clearly looked panicked, and was about to cry, which made seungcheol smile even more

then, out of nowhere--

“Shimmy shimmy shimmy yay, shimmy yah, Bad girls gon' swalla-la-la”

you looked over at jia li incredulously-- her ring tone for zhengting was swalla?

“what’s that?” seungcheol looked at you sharply as your chest began playing the song

“oh, my phone--” you smiled over at him, “can i answer it? it’s zhengting.”

“put it on speaker.” seungcheol ordered, motioning for someone to clip off your zip ties

idiots

you produced the phone, tapping the ‘speaker’ icon and quickly shouting so that any of zhengting’s words were drowned out

“zhengting, please!” you said loudly, “we’re being held captive.”

luckily, zhengting caught on quickly.

“where are you?” zhengting asked roughly, “are you safe? did they hurt you?”

you glared over at jun, “kinda, but we’re fine. they took me and jia li.”

“oh?” zhengting coughed loudly, “am i on speaker?”

“yes, zhu zhengting,” seungcheol said loudly, “come and collect your possessions, before we do any serious harm to them.”

“don’t you dare lay a finger on either one of them,” zhengting growled, his tone of voice sending a slight shiver down your spine-- this wasn’t acting, zhengting was serious, “jia li, we’re about to move in-- please stay safe, find cover and let (y/n) do the work.”

you frowned as zhengting said something in chinese, but instantly looked over to where jun and minghao were standing, hands darting to their guns-- how could you be so stupid? they both understood chinese

“jia li, (y/n), get down!” you heard someone roar, before the crack and sharpness of bullets being fired started

you leaped over to shove jia li down before grabbing your chair and bringing it down on the guy standing behind you, who crumpled

you grabbed his gun and dragged jia li to a corner, crouching down as fighting broke out

the members of the svt rushed out of the room with weapons drawn, completely abandoning the two of you

“jia li, stay in here and take this,” you said, grabbing the gun of a someone else who was also unconscious, “you know how to shoot?”

jia li nodded quickly, and you hugged her before getting to your feet and running out the door

the svt had taken you to some kind of abandoned building complex, with one-story buildings forming an odd square

“jia li’s still in there, someone get her out!” you shouted, spotting huang justin, who you knew was dating jia li

justin nodded, racing off in the direction of jia li, and you sighed in relief, knowing that justin would keep jia li safe

you could hear the sound of gunshots and yelling before a much louder sound took over-- a helicopter was circling the complex

sticking your head out from behind the building, your eyes widened as you caught sight of choi seungcheol and his team, seungcheol holding zhengting in a headlock

“cover me,” you yelled to sanggyun, one of your sharpshooters who was next to you, before darting out into the open space of the square

“let him go!” you shouted over the loud sound of the approaching helicopter, its blades creating a frenzy of wind

you charged forward, raising your gun and firing shots at the group

true to his word, sanggyun managed to clip seungcheol in the shoulder, and he fell back into jun, letting go of zhengting

you continued firing, getting closer and closer

svt wasn’t firing back, clearly almost out of ammo as they waited for the helicopter to touch down

you managed to hit jun in the leg, yelling in success as he crumpled over

the helicopter touched down, and the barrage of shots from you, sanggyun and the other 101 members made seungcheol and the svt abandon zhengting in favor of running towards the helicopter

as the helicopter rose into the air, you raced forward to zhengting, panicking when you saw that he was bleeding

so much was going on as you looked to the sky, lungs burning, the noise of the helicopter drowning everything out

the winds whipped your hair in your eyes, but you could barely make out xu minghao with a pair of binoculars to his eyes, focused on you

you quickly realized that your cover was about to be broken, and as you raced up to zhengting, out of breath, you shouted the sentence that would change your life

“kiss me!”

zhengting’s eyes widened as you barreled into his arms, lips crashing against his

as soon as you made contact, it was like the world was melting away as zhengting’s hand slid from your shoulders to curl in your hair, kissing back roughly

as the two of you stood there kissing, the wind blowing through your hair violently, you realized a few things

one, you were kissing zhu zhengting, who you’d been majorly crushing on since, frankly, the first time you saw him

two, he was kissing you back

three, he didn’t know that you were actually kissing him because you didn’t want your cover to be blown

and four, he was KISSING YOU BACK

as the two of you parted, your lungs still burning but now for an entirely different reason, a slow smile spread across zhengting’s face

“holy shit,” he whispered, reaching up to smooth your messy hair, “you have no idea how long i’ve been wanting to do that for.” 

he ran a finger over the now bruising spot where you’d gotten on the cheek, frowning

the two of you were leaning forward for another kiss when jung sewoon cut in

“we gotta go, don’t want to risk anything.”

the two of you traded looks before parting

you jogged over to join sewoon and zhengting rushed towards jia li, making sure she was alright

“i told daniel that putting you two together was a bad idea,” sewoon grumbled,  “you keep getting into trouble.”

you just grinned at sewoon, who sighed and climbed into his own car

you got into the car with jia li, zhengting and justin, who had come as backup, you taking the front seat

jia li and justin were cuddled in the back seat, half asleep, and you smiled at the adorable sight

“so,” zhengting looked over at you as he started the ignition, “not that i’m complaining, but why did you kiss me?”

you felt your face heat up as you avoided his gaze in embarasment

“well, when jia li and i got captured, seungcheol thought i was your partner,” you began explaining slowly, “and i didn’t want them to know that because i thought they might try to pull something, so i may, uh, i may have said that we were dating.”

zhengting chuckled at that, glancing over at you again as he stopped at a red light

“you know, partner, dating,” you grinned half-heartedly, shrugging, “idiot bought it, and when i got you in the complex, i saw xu minghao looking at us, and i didn’t want to blow the cover.”

“oh,” zhengting looked down at the steering wheel, knuckles turning white

you instantly backtracked, realizing how he was interpreting it, “wait, don’t misunderstand!” zhengting looked up at you, obviously upset, “zhengting, i genuinely like you, and yeah, i might have kissed you in the spur of the moment, but i really do like you.”

zhengting looked over at you thoughtfully before breaking out into his boyish grin

“well then, you should date me,” he said brightly, before giving you a wink, “we wouldn’t want to  break your cover, would we?”

“you’re an embarrassment to your family, ge,” minghao grumbled from the back of the car

you and zhengting traded glances before breaking out into laughter, your hands meeting over the center console of the car to intertwine

ok this ended up being really long and i actually thought this would be a really short mafia au hahaha i rlly thought

[trickstercheebs]

writing-prompt-s:

One day, you lose your wallet, and it is found by a mob boss, who figures out that you aren’t in such a good place financially, and takes pity on you. So they start anonymously sending cash, clothes, and furniture to you in the mail, eventually, the mob boss sends you a letter to stating that they bought you a house, and it lists an adress. What do you do?

so here we go, doin this prompt bc it sparked a interesting scenario in my mind.

but im doin a twist on the mob boss so lets go

Today had already started off horribly for you, more so than the usual bouts of bad luck. It felt like everything that could of gone to hell had and did so with enthusiasm. You woke up late and barely made it on time to work, but you had to skip breakfast in order to do so. Thinking that was the end of it was a stupid mistake you found out later.

When your lunch break had finally rolled around you were practically running on empty and rushed out to make the most of your hour break..Which was ruined midway when your boss informed you that your hours were being cut again via text. He knew you needed all the hours you could get, your rent was due next week and you barely had enough as it was to pay for that let alone eat.

And now to top it all off, you had lost your wallet while storming back to work to try and plead your case to your boss to get your hours back. You only had ten or so minutes to find the damned thing before someone nabbed it and you lost everything else, which at the rate today was going wouldn’t surprise you. But still you scrambled to comb over every inch of ground between your work and the fast food joint you ducked into a while ago. Time was running out and with it your financial stability and ability to fight off the urge to break down into tears over how fucked you were about to be.

Just before the tears could start, you felt a heavy hand rest on your shoulder followed by what was the roughest voice you have ever heard physically. A chill set up your spine as you turned to look up at the speaker. And you had to really look up, which naturally gave you a good view of a very very finely tailored suit of heathered coal and blood red rust.

“ ‘Cuse me, but I think you dropped this back there a little while ago. Figured it was yours after seeing you just about crawl into traffic..”

A Demon..none of the demons you worked with or knew..looked as intimidating as this guy did now..It could of been thanks in part to the pair of thick horns curling out from under his hat..Or maybe the burning coals peering down at you from beneath the brim of his hat. This guy clearly ran with the Mob that you heard talked about in soft whispers. No one human or demon crossed them, if you ran into the wrong one you were guaranteed to be scrubbed from existence shortly after..You had been woken up one night to such a “scrub job” and promptly felt the fear of god enter your soul. The next day it was as if nothing happened, no one wanted to acknowledge it out of fear they’d be next. And here you were being directly addressed in public no less.....you were very suddenly aware of how quiet the streets had gotten.

You’re jogged from your fear induced daydream by a gentle tap on the forehead by something soft, your wallet no less. The Demon was grinning down at you softly, likely having a idea what was going through your head and finding it a bit funny.

“Relax, just felt like helping a poor soul out, just seeing you scramble about like that on the ground just felt like a cry for help..”

You nod and gently take your wallet out of his hand, giving a weak thank you in reply before getting up off the ground at last. Another thank you slips out before you remember the time..shit you’re going to be docked more time if your shitty boss catches you coming back in late...You let out one last hasty thank you and excuse yourself to get back to work before rushing off. The Demon gives you a wave and watches your flight back to safety, the soft grin slowly slipping back into a frown before he fishes a sleek phone out of his pockets and dials up a number.

“Hey, it’s me..yeah I got a job for you, nothin special just a info job for today..”

Out of his breast pocket he pulls out a small slip of paper..a receipt bearing a name. He quietly lists it off to his underlings and hums a soft tune, walking on his way towards his destination.

Back at work your boss unfortunately doesn’t care to hear your sob story about needing more hours..He threatened to outright fire you if you kept badgering him on the matter. You drag yourself back to work and soon forget the encounter, you’re still alive and hell he even helped you find your wallet..Maybe today was finally picking up? The rest of the day passes by thankfully without further incident and soon you come home to pass out, thanks to your boss you now had the day off tomorrow..So least you can sleep in right?

Elsewhere, in a rather stately but comfortable looking office a folder is handed over the desk to a pair of awaiting hands, the demon from before quietly flips through the papers contained within..Every bit of info about you from the last several years openly splayed out for his eyes to glean over..That same small frown deepens the more he reads..You were broke, and that was putting it very gently..How you were even able to eat let alone scramble like that was a surprise to him. He had seen dozens of other pitiable souls like you in this city and passed them by, but you for some reason had struck a chord with him, and that struck him as odd. He had gotten far in this business listening to that little voice in the back of his mind about things, something about you rang right with him..Setting your file on his gut he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“ Can’t believe I’m doing this..must be going soft or something.”

Picking up his phone once more, he began dialing a few more numbers, it’d had been a while since he had done some “charity” but something about what he was doing felt..nice. Could be the idea of helping a lost soul in need..or maybe he had taken a liking to you? He couldn’t quite tell just yet, but he’d be keeping a keen eye on you to see what happened next.

The day you had been dreading all month had finally come..you barely had enough money, actually scratch that, you had nowhere near enough now to pay this months rent. You were fucked and you knew it, your landlord was a jackass and hated tenants who didn’t have their money on time...You knew he hated you already, you’ve been late several times in the past and dreaded telling him you were going to be late...again. Gently knocking on the door you mentally braced yourself for the verbal attack that was about to happen. The door’s whipped open and a tall gnarled looking demon cranes his neck out to look at you.

“What are you doin here kid?”

“Ah..I’m here about the rent? Mine’s due today...and uh I need to tell you that I-”

“You’re already good for this month kid. You that sleep deprived that you forgot already paying me?”

“wh-What? I...already paid?”

“Yeah, just got the money this morning. You’re good this month, finally on time for once...Go get some sleep, you look like shit.”

Before you can question him further the door’s slammed shut, leaving you bewildered..but happy? How did you even get the money, hell how did you even manage to get up early to pay? You’d heard of sleep walking but this is something else..But you weren’t about to look a gifted horse in the mouth, you now had some spending money, which meant something to eat besides peanut butter sandwiches and ramen. Running back to get your wallet, you decided to make the most of your day off and get some actual food from the store down the block. That night you practically stuffed yourself on eggs, bacon and pancakes, even having some for tomorrow morning for a actual damn breakfast. Being full on something that wasn’t fried or 90% sugar and carbs you actually felt...human for once. You knew it likely wasn’t going to last but, you’d enjoy it for what you could.

The next day at work was quiet, not that you minded that at all, you got to chat with your coworkers about things and stupid stuff you overheard from customers while on job. It was nice, hell even your boss seemed to leave you alone today, he was usually on your ass about something, or one of the others about some menial task he didn’t think you were doing right..When you got home though you were met with a surprise waiting for you on your doorstep.. A hefty looking box was resting against the door with your name and address on it? You don’t remember ordering anything..maybe it was a package from your parents, which in of itself was rare these days..Dragging it in you searched for a return address and only found..nothing? Least nothing but the shipping company’s address. 

Carefully checking the thing for anything dangerous you took the risk and opened it..Waiting a few minutes with the window open as a just in case you soon got over your fear of “death by mail” and rifled through the box’s contents...All of which were clothing? Nothing used, and all in your size strangely enough. Several brand new pairs of jeans, several cute looking shirts and even a nice jacket to boot! You searched the inside again more thoroughly to find any trace or reason behind this gift package..Who would be this nice?? All of this looked fairly expensive...then again you only ever bought clothes used or on sale..everything looked expensive to you nowadays. Shifting things around something in the jacket got your attention..hidden in one of the pockets was..a thick looking envelope?

“oh god please don’t let this be drugs...or something gross..”

Poised near the window again if it was indeed drugs..or something disturbing hidden within, you delicately peeled the letter open...Only to see several thick wads of cash crammed in..along with a note.

“Here’s some spending money. Use it wisely, and have some fun.”

It was hand written..elegant as hell and neat, you admit you stared at the note and cash for a good solid ten minutes as you internally blue screened at the brick of cash now in your hands. Was this reality?? Did you accidentally get hit by a bus and not notice and now this is the afterlife? A thousand explanations blurred through your head trying to make sense of why you now had all of this in your lap. It only got worse when you thumbed through the cash and found out you had been randomly given eight thousand dollars. Your bank account never held that much in years...and now you’re fucking holding it in your hands with no clear explanation as to why or how. Tears of joy and confusion slowly worked their way down your face as you sat on the ground taking it all in. You felt numb but excited all at the same time, you had no idea what the hell you were going to do with all of this...The rational part of your head said to save it and maybe spend a little, the note did say to have fun right?

The next day you went out and bought yourself some shoes, nothing fancy or stupid..but some durable sneakers you had been eyeing for months now, hell you bought two pairs in your favorite colors. Walking out with the bags in hand you felt elated somehow, you knew it was silly but it was something you’ve always wanted. After work you went out to treat yourself at a new eatery you heard some of your coworkers gushing about last week. The food was rich and hearty and good god you ate until you felt like you were about to burst inside. You even got some to take home and eat for lunch tomorrow it was so good..You tipped well, because why not? They were working as hard as you were after all, you went home in high spirits once again.

It went like that for close to a week, you spent close to a thousand or more on yourself getting some things you’d need but could never afford..and maybe a few things you just died wanting..The rest had been carefully deposited into your account, not all at one because you were ungodly afraid of being questioned about where the hell you were getting so much money. You felt nice knowing you’d have something of a decent living for a while. And just as your figured things were back to normal, during your day off you got a heavy set of knocks on your door.

Scrambling after the second set of knocks you open the door to see a tired but gruff looking man standing in your doorway holding a clipboard and staring you down.

“Delivery’s here, you ordered a bed and couch set yea? Me and the boys are here to confirm your order and help set things up.”

“...wh....Who? Wait I never ordered anything like that...?”

“This your address though right?”

Seeing the bewildered look on your face he shows you the order form..it is your name and address. You decide you can’t really tell this guy no, judging by the steady tired glare he’s leveling your way. You confirm and he asks for a signature. Once that was taken care of he vanishes back down the stairs for several minutes, only to come back up with a few other strong looking men and women hefting up a mattress and what looks like a frame? You get out of the way and they slip in with practiced ease and one starts setting up the frame while your old mattress is stripped and taken out.

“Forgot to mention, paid for removal as well. Pretty good tip to boot..We’ll be back inna sec with the new couch..you want it in the main room right?”

“Y-yeah..thank you.”

The bed was set up in record timing and soon a brand new, very plush looking couch now stood in your front room..The old weather beaten couch you got off the curb long since gone with the old mattress you bought years ago as well..Both looked so soft and comfortable you almost felt wrong sleeping or sitting on either..It felt like you were in someone elses house almost now..Feeling a bit out of sorts you decide to head out for a little while and maybe get some air..possibly something to eat now that you had the spare cash for it.

Walking down the street you were slowly heading towards one of your old favorite places to eat, a old style burger diner sort of deal. The food was amazing and pretty cheap despite the quality of the food being so good. As you walked towards the doors you felt a heavy hand clap down on your shoulder, making you squawk out in surprise and turn to see a familiarly scary sight. He was donned in a sea blue and lavender suit this time, but those horns and eyes were still the same.

“Hey long time no see! Heh, sorry about scaring ya just now, bad habit of mine movin quietly like that..”

“N-no problem, just made me jump a little is all..but yeah it’s been a while huh? H-how’ve you been?”

“Busy as a bee these days, you know how it is. No rest for the wicked and all that. You know this place? Been running around all day and forgot to eat, now I’m paying for it big time and I’m dyin for something good.”

“Oh..yeah I love this place..it’s got some good burgers and fries..”

“Well then you’ve twisted my arm, let’s head in and find us a seat huh?”

Before you can ask him to clarify what he means by us, there’s a thick arm wrapped around your shoulders and gently herding you inside alongside its massive owner. The brief silence that meets your arrival is short lived but not unnoticed as you’re swept inside. Looking about your newfound friend peeks down at you for a second.

“Hey you wanna grab a booth together or you wanna do your own thing?”

You dwell on it for a second or two...honestly you were curious about this strange demon..for someone as big and damned terrifying they somehow also managed to look..friendly all in the span of a few seconds. And it wasn’t like he’d kill you or something in public...possibly.

“Sure I don’t mind a booth, lead the way?”

With that he resumes steering you towards a free booth and the both of you slip in to get comfortable. After a moment he slips his hat off and for the first time you notice he doesn’t look....well that damn scary, you’re blaming demon magic for the burning coal eyes possibly. Other than the long faded scar tracking over one eye and cheek he looked..nice even.

“There something on my face?”

...Course he caught you staring, you falter for a second but manage to catch yourself fast enough to not look stupid as hell.

“I was just thinking, I never caught your name from before..and I never told you mine..haha, I guess I was just a bit scatterbrained that day and more focused on not being late for work..’’

“Hey no worries, happens to all of us..And shame on me for not bothering to introduce myself sooner. Name’s Desmondias Neri, pleasure to meet you.”

He offers a large hand for you to shake over the table and you smile before shaking and introducing yourself in kind, you quietly notice how damn small your hand looks in his..Then again you’re fairly short to begin with..most demons were just unfairly tall.

Before you could dwell on it more the waitress comes to get your drink orders and tell you about specials, Desmondias flips through the menu a brief moment as you rattle off your usual order..A cheeseburger with bacon and plenty of fixings..along with onion rings and tots..Listening to your order he hummed softly, apparently interested at the choice enough to just about order the same only double the meat and with extra fries. The waitress walks off to put your orders in and he grins at your surprised face.

“What? Told you I haven’t eaten almost all day, I could practically eat a horse by now..and what you ordered sounded pretty good.”

“Well I can’t really argue that..they have good onion rings here, if I could I’d eat here every day but it’s a bit of a walk so I only go when I got the time..”

The next several minutes are spent with you both happily chatting about your lives and favorite past times..its strange how easy you find yourself talking to Desmondias..like a old friend you ran into after not seeing him for years. The food comes sometime later and you both dig in all the while still chattering away..He breaks it up briefly by asking if your day after the wallet incident got any better? 

You pause to clear your throat and eagerly tell him about all the strange shit that had been going on to you since then, with so very few friends outside of work you had been dying to tell someone else about this strange occurrence. Desmondias looks about as shocked as you were when you first got the gifts.

“Really? All that happened? Jeeze someone must really like you then, you sure it’s not some secret admirer in your apartments helping you out or something?”

You let out a laugh at the thought of someone being smitten with you enough to give you eight thousand dollars along with other things..You don’t tell him that of course, instead you tell him you’d be surprised if someone who could afford to do all that was living in such a run down complex like that. It wasn’t much of a secret that the area you were in now was effectively the slums..Only dead broke or immigrants bothered living where you were..and you were deadass broke...well were deadass broke. 

While you were going off about it all you failed to spot the thoughtful look pass over Desmondias’s face..The rest of the meal goes over fairly well and soon the two of you are heading back out the doors feeling happy and well fed. Your new friend has donned his spooky demon eyes hat as you’re now calling it once more, but that big grin ruins the evil look as he gently claps your shoulder.

“I think it was my lucky day running into you, haven’t had a cheeseburger that good in a long while..And you were right about those onion rings, I’ll have to remember this place if I’m ever hankering for more fast food.”

“No problem, was nice to be able to sit down and grab a bite with you, haven’t had this much fun inna while myself. Wouldn’t mind meeting up with you to do it again if you’re ever in the neighborhood...”

“Was that you asking me out on a date just now~?”

“Wh-!? No no! I just...I just meant if, if you know if you wanted to, that’s all!”

You could feel your face flush up as a deep well of laughter works its way out of Desmondias’s chest, somehow it sounds nice hearing him laugh, the thought’s immediately pushed aside however as he catches his breath.

“I know I know, I’m just teasing ya calm down..But yeah I’d love to do this again with you sometime, I could use the downtime to relax..I should probably give you my number right?”

“Yeah that might help..I can give you mine as well, I got my phone out so just put it in through here”

A few clicks later and a test text and now you both could call one another at your leisure.. Turning to head home after waving goodbye you hear Des, the nickname he put himself down as and told you he preferred it of all things, calling out to you as he walked the other way.

“See ya soon then for our next date! Hahaa!”

You feel your face blush hard as his laughter rings out over your indignant yelling, but the smile on your face stopped any forced venom from seeping into your angry cries at him as he fled homeward.

A month or two passes by, you and Des keep in contact with one another via texts and silly pictures off and on. You do meet up to eat at the diner more than once, Des has taken to calling it his “burger date” which after the first few times has grown on you. Your anonymous admirer has since then given you another eight thousand dollars..you’re still gobsmacked about whoever this is doing this out of the blue..You tell your demon pal about it and he’s as clueless as you are about the entire thing and wonders if the next installment’s going to include a ring. You nearly choke on your food and he apologizes through a fit of giggles over nearly killing you.

“Well I mean if someones givin me that sorta cash they must have a thing for me right?”

“Yeah but I’m not about to marry some stranger whos being my...well my sugar daddy..Or sugar momma if it’s a woman..Hell I’d just want to know who’s doing this so I could find out why and maybe thank them? Maybe get to know them and all that, I just wanna know why they’re doing all this for me..”

“You’ve got me man, I’m still surprised they’re keeping it up this long without dropping in to finally introduce themselves..maybe they’re shy?”

You shrug and pop another onion ring into your mouth...whoever this mysterious benefactor was, you dearly hoped they’d reveal themselves sooner or later.

Another week passes and one day as you come in from work, you find another thick envelope..it’s different from the ones you were used to seeing full of cash, it was a manilla one this time and it felt rather sturdy with whatever was inside. Taking it to open on the couch you dumped the contents into your lap. Inside was a very ornate looking letter and some official looking documents...

The letter itself simply said “Enjoy” in that same flourishing calligraphy you’ve come to know as your admirers handwriting. The documents themselves were what looked like.....a deed to a house somewhere uptown and statements saying it was paid for..Along with that was a letter of acceptance to a new job nearby that you could only dream of getting..

Your heart stopped beating..or was it beating so fast you couldn’t feel it anymore, with the level of shock you were now in it was hard to tell. That same numbness of disbelief was slowly setting in..A house, a actual literal fucking house was bought and paid for you..Along with a job that’d more than pay for its rent and everything..

Scrambling to find your phone you sent a alarmed text to Des explaining what just happened and advice for what to do..Several minutes pass by at a agonizing pace before he responds. He’s just as shocked, and asks if you want to go check it out? He even offers to come with in case it’s some shifty nonsense..and frankly you could almost kiss him for the offer. You were scared shitless of going to this place alone..but with Des beside you it should be fine..and hell you’d have a witness if they turned out to be creepy and murderous..

You get dressed and agree to meet Des at the nearby subway to head on over together, you’re clearly nervous and Des does his best to calm your nerves as you both make your way to the address. When you arrive you find out it looks...nice, beautiful even. The neighborhood is quiet and serene, you can even spot a park nearby as you both walk to the given address.

“This looks like the place...you ready to go in or do you need a moment?”

“Nah I’m fine..let’s check it out..maybe whoever’s behind all of this is inside waiting for me...”

“Well...only one way to find out right?”

You nod and the two of you walk for the stairs, Des placing a hand on your shoulder gently..a gesture that you’ve come to appreciate as his demonic warmth seeps into you. It helps shake off the chills of fear trying to set in as you reach for the door and undo the lock with the key the letter enclosed.

Beyond the door was...nothing, well nothing but a empty hall and living room. A few carpets littered the floor but it looked clear of anything else. You looked around to see if anyone was lurking about, anxiety growing as you couldn’t find another soul in the house. Des on the other hand remained in the living room, simply watching you run about searching.

“I don’t get it...Wouldn’t they be here if they’re giving me something like a damn house?? What the hell is going on...I thought..I thought they’d be here..”

Des..let out a long sigh before slipping his hat off and looking at you square in the face.

“They are here though...I uh, got something to tell you. It’s me..I’m the mysterious secret admirer.”

“ ...w...what? What? No it’s...It can’t be?”

“It is though, it is me..Remember that day I found your wallet? I found it half open in the hands of some shitty pickpocket who was just about to throw it away after seeing how little was in there..He tossed it at me after saying it was a waste of effort and took off..After I found you I might have done some digging and found out just how right he was..”

“You..you just somehow found out how poor I was and sent me shit..was this all out of pity???”

“Only the rent the first time was, I admit that..And maybe the clothes and cash but I saw you out later shopping and...and well..”

“Well what? What are you talking about?”

“You looked happy..something about seeing you smile like that struck me dead and I couldn’t stop thinking about it..about you..I know that sounds creepy I’m sorry. I was just planning on sending you the couch and bed and leaving it at that for good..But then I met you at the burger joint and thought it was fate telling me otherwise..I had fun that night..and getting to know you since then only made it more so...”

You felt what shock and anger that had set in slowly dissipate as he talked..Sure you were still pissed that most of this was a gift of pity..a gift that you really really needed but still.. But the bigger fact that you had apparently got a demon smitten with you doing nothing shoved that anger aside as your face flushed a bright pink..

“So..so all those times you kept asking me to go for burger dates were..were actual dates?? Wait wait...wait how the hell are you able to afford all this? All that money you gave me this whole time..How aren’t you broke Des??”

He gives you a small grin at the question before standing up straight, almost proudly so..

“Well..I mean I am..sort of the Head of the Demon Mob for this side of the city. That kinda helps out alot actually, what you got is pretty much pocket change for me in the long run..”

“wait..wiat you’re the..I’m dating the actual fuckin head of a mob??? The fucking Demon Mob???”

“Yeah, why else would I wear these suits? I know they make me look good but in summer they’re absolute hell to deal with..But yeah, I’m the head of the mob..and we’re kinda dating...If you want to that is.”

“...Well..I mean..I don’t mind it? You’ve been so sweet and fun, and who else out here is going to give me a damn house?? I got a house over taking a demon mobster out for burgers and stupid memes..”

“Hey that’s not all that..I like the way your face crinkles up when you laugh at some stupid joke I tell you..And the way your eyes light up when you’re talking about something good that happened to you that day..”

“Oh god..sh shut up..shut up you’re going to make me blush talking like that...jeeze Des, you’re a huge sap for a demon..”

“You’re already red enough in the face to be mistaken for a imp though..heheh..And what can I say? Can’t help it when I’ve found someone worth spoiling with affection and shit..”

“...pfft, alright fine..You win you big nerd, I’ll take the stupid awesome house..”

“Was hoping you’d say that~”

You couldn’t help but grin back at Des’s stupid happy look now plastered on his face. When you told him as such he snorted and moved to scoop you up into a hug as you squeaked at him in surprise, much to his delight.

The next week you were settled in at last, Des and a few of his helpers gladly assisted you moving in and getting some more things to fill the place out. They had all been dying to meet the person their boss had been gushing about for months now, much to Des’s dismay at them all telling you about it.

In the span of a few months your life had gone from hell to..well surprisingly comfortable. The job turned out to be working alongside Des’s men as a intern in the accounting department, it paid fairly well and you got along with everyone just fine. In a way you had joined the mob and life couldn’t have been better, you made sure to tell Des as much whenever the two of you went on a “Burger Date”.