#quote is from the body keeps the score

[traumatizedjaguar]

“-regardless of whether home is safe or frightening”

[paigesfuturewifey]

authors note! this is my first fic on here and i’m scared cause some of yall writers are SO GOOD ITS INTIMIDATING don’t judge too harshly ill get better i promise also this is short SORRY

“fuck!” you groaned loudly, dribbling the ball once more before bouncing it over to the ref.

this was your second foul of the night, and you were starting to think these refs were good for nothing.

the sound of paige bueckers clapping her hands obnoxiously loud only further heightened your frustration, taking the hem of your jersey and wiping your mouth.

“can’t keep up?” paige brushed her front up against your back as one of her teammates went to take the out-of-bounds ball.

you laughed dryly and turned to her, gesturing up. “look at the scoreboard, bueckers. you’re down by six.” you held your arms up, trying to create a barrier between paige and aaliyah but ended up grunting when paige got the ball, taking a step back and letting the ball fly.

“three.” she corrected the score with a smirk as she ran backwards to get back on defense. you huffed, getting the ball from your teammate and dribbling it down the court.

you looked the court over once, wetting your lips as you visualized the play you wanted to run in your head, the corner of your lips lifting.

paige makes sure to stay in front of you, but you took a jab step, as if she were going to drive forward, but mimicking paige earlier, you took a step back and let the ball fly.

paige jumped up, reaching up to try and block it but it was already gone and swishing through the net, making the crowd erupt in cheers. “can’t keep up?” you re-quoted her, holding up a three in the air as you jogged back to the other side of the court.

this is how the rest of the game remained, the two of you exchanging baskets and throwing insults at each other that only fueled the other more and more. and the fans absolutely ate it up.

somehow, somewhere along the lines, uconn ended up being up by a point with less than a minute left in the fourth, and that left a bitter taste in your mouth.

the timeout was called by Geno, and you made your way over to your teammates.

“bueckers, they’ve been letting l/n handle the ball all game. i need you to start playing hard man-to-man defense on her. we cannot afford to lose this lead, got it?”

“yeah, i gotchu.” paige nodded, squeezing the gatorade bottle into her mouth.

the two teams made their way back onto the court, and like you expected, paige was on your ass like she had been all game.

she was guarding you closely to the point where you could feel her abs press into your arm through her jersey. ignoring the heat that shot through you, this made you smile in amusement, looking over at how close she was in proximity to you.

you pressed your shoulder against her, trying to create space between you two, “nervous?” paige had the audacity to ask, earning a scoff from you.

“i don’t see anything to be nervous over.” you glanced her up and down, waiting for the ref to give your teammate the ball to throw in. “maybe,” you turned your entire body to her, “if you were nika muhl..” you could see how your words caused her to tense slightly, “or azzi fudd,” you whispered, leaning slightly forward to speak in her ear, “or kk arnold.”

paige’s jaw clenched, shaking her head. she couldn’t help the humorless laugh that escaped her lips, giving you credit where it was due. you were playing mind games, and you had her right where you wanted her. “fuck outta here and fuck you.” she muttered lowly.

you smiled sadistically, “do it yourself, bueckers.” you responded in the same low tone, and you watched as paige’s eyes darkened visually.

you smirked.

in the next millisecond, you were passed the ball, and it took paige two seconds slower than it normally would have for her to react. those two seconds was all you needed to dribble the ball down the court, passing it to your teammate who was open at the corner of the court. she let it fly, scoring the three just in time for the buzzer to loudly ring throughout the entire arena.

cheers roared throughout the crowd and you went to celebrate the win with your teammates, exchanging a hug with a few of the members of uconn.

you walked down the line as you high-fived the uconn team, though you noticed paige lingering around a little long. you narrowed your eyes, arching a brow when she spotted you.

when you guys got to each other, she held your hand in place, pulling you slightly away from everyone. “here’s what’s gonna happen next, you listening?” she looked into your eyes, waiting for a response.

all you could do was nod meekly. she nodded at your nod, licking her lips before she leaned into your ear like you’d done earlier. “the next time i see you, it’s gonna be in my hotel room, and you better hope your ready for me, l/n.”

[aemondsbabe]

Praise | Taunt Part 2

summary: michael has been tutoring you for weeks and the closer you get to him, the stronger your feelings seem to grow but does he feel the same way about you?

pairing: michael gavey x reader

warnings: mature/explicit, 18+ (minors dni!), no use of y/n, afab reader, profanity, dirty talk, breast/nipple play, teasing, degradation/dumbification, oral (f receiving), fingering, piv sex, unprotected sex (technically the reader is on birth control but it's not mentioned in this part), angst (michael is in his sad boy hours for a lil bit), creampie, light cum play, light choking, daddy kink, dom/sub vibes, discussions of mathematics, michael being a lil clueless (aw, bless) -- let me know if i missed anything!

word count: 9.8k i will not apologize, i am not sorry

a/n: i have to say, i've grown so attached to this little pairing and i hope y'all love them as much as i do!

TAUNT | Part 1

MAKING AMENDS | Bonus

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“Fuck this,” you mutter, jaw clenched as you yank over the next page of your statistics textbook, practically ripping the page as you flip it over. You can’t help but grumble, each page of notes you flip through only adding to your foul mood as you hunch over your desk, numbers and letters swimming together in your vision. “Ugh!” You toss your pencil down, rubbing your temples as it clatters across the desk before falling to the floor. 

“Oi!” Louise sits up against the pillows on your bed across the room, tugging off a headphone as she looks at you, resting her own textbook on her lap, “You doin’ alright, babe?” 

“I’m gonna fail the final,” You groan, head in your hands, “I’m gonna fail it, and then fail out of Oxford, and then I’ll have to go back home and then my parents will kill me.” 

“You’re not gonna fail,” she sighs, pushing herself up so her legs dangle over the bed, “You’ll be fine. You were so worried about that last quiz and you nearly got a perfect score, remember?” 

You let out a petulant whine, one you’d be embarrassed about if your head wasn’t pounding, and lean back on your wooden desk chair, bleary eyes staring up at the ceiling. “That was before we started consumer mathematics,” you lament, chest heaving with a sigh, “I have no hope now.” 

You can feel Louise jokingly roll her eyes behind you when she huffs out a laugh as she slips off your bed, coming to stand behind you, her face upside down as she looks down at you, a hand on her hip. “Why don’t you just text Michael? I thought he’s been helping you.” 

Just hearing his name makes your heart feel funny in your chest and you sigh, sitting back up before turning to look at your friend, “It’s…complicated.” Inwardly, you can’t help but cringe at yourself; the situation is anything but complicated and yet it somehow feels impossible. 

“Explain,” Louise commands, leaning back against your desk with her arms crossed across her chest. She laughs when you groan, pushing your shoulders back from where you’ve curled in on yourself, forcing you to look at her, “Babe, I love you, but it’s Michael Gavey. How on Earth is that man ‘complicated?’” She asks, cocking her hip as she does air quotes with her hands. 

“Because I like him!” You blurt out after a second, hiding your face in your hands, “I like him and I don’t think he likes me and every damn time we study, we just end up fucking and I can’t keep fucking him because I like him!” The words rush out of you before you have time to think about them, your whole body deflating like a balloon as you release weeks worth of tension. 

Your head snaps up in shock when Louise giggles, your mouth hanging open even as the corners of your lips threaten to quirk up into a smile. “How dare you!” You admonish, playfully slapping at her hip, “I’m pouring my heart out to you and you laugh!” 

“Sorry, sorry!” She shakes her head, breathily laughing as she tries to get herself under control, “I’m sorry! I just…what do you mean he doesn’t like you? That man is in love.”

“What?” Your eyes narrow as you stare up at her, “How do you know? I’ve tried flirting with him and he doesn’t ever seem to respond to it.”

At this, Louise shakes her head and shoots you a concerned look, “I don’t think he’s the type to get flirting, hon.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you honestly think anyone has ever flirted with him?” Louise asks, giving you a pointed look, “I don’t have anything against the guy, but come on. You’re gonna have to hit him over the head with it.” 

“Yeah, okay,” you acquiesce; in your weeks of getting to know Michael, you’d learned that while he wasn’t clueless, he was definitely not as experienced as he had first appeared, “That still doesn’t mean he likes me, though.” You point out, raising an eyebrow at your friend. 

“Do you really not see the way he looks at you?” She smirks, “I’ve said two words to the man but, trust me, he is smitten, babe.”

You look away, biting at your bottom lip as you think over what she had to say. Your eyes scan over the surface of your desk, unfocused, as thoughts bounce around your head. Louise simply pats your shoulder before going back to your bed, resting on her stomach as she resumes reading through her book. 

You’re quiet for a moment before your eyes land on your phone, sitting temptingly on the corner of your desk. You glance back and forth between it and the still-opened textbook in front of you, frustration rising in your chest once again at the mere sight of the various formulas on the pages. Finally, with a sigh, you grab your phone and flip it open, quickly scrolling to Michael’s contact. 

“U busy now?” You text quickly, pressing send before you have a chance to second guess yourself before setting the phone down quickly, practically dropping it on the desk as if it were burning you. 

Not even a minute later, although it feels like an eternity, it vibrates. You hesitate for a second, tempted to just slog your way through this chapter on your own. Finally, you sigh and reach for your phone, not wanting to sacrifice your newly-improved grade or your situationship with Michael. 

“In my room. Why?” He replies, always concise and to the point. 

“Need help w the new chap,” you type, biting your lip as you shuffle through letters on the small keyboard, “Can I come over?”

“Sure, see you soon.” His reply comes quickly, making your heart race. 

With a nervous sigh, you push yourself up from your chair, groaning as you take a second to stretch before striding over to your small dresser. “I’m going to his,” you say, glancing over at Louise, “I’m officially waving the white flag on this chapter.”

“Wear lingerie!” She says quickly, practically skipping over to you and leaning against the wall next to you.

“What?” You laugh, shooting her a questioning look, “Why would I do that?”

“Duh!” She huffs with an eye roll, “Put in some effort to fuck him and it might help get the message across.”

“How do you know we’ve been–”

“Your room is right next to mine,” she points out, looking at you tiredly, “And the walls in this ancient building are thin as paper. Come on.”

“Okay, okay,” you put your hands up in surrender with a laugh before pulling open your underwear drawer; as convoluted as Louise’s plan was, you couldn’t exactly see a downside to fancying up a little, “Any suggestions?”

“Hmm,” she hums, shuffling through the small pile of fancy lace you had shoved in the corner of the drawer, “Ooh, these!” She chimes victoriously, holding up a lacy bra, “This color always looks so good on you, you’ll make his head explode.” 

With a nod, you grab the bra and matching underwear from her, “If this doesn’t help, I will be holding you personally accountable.” You laugh, seeing her politely turn away from you in the corner of your eye as you begin pulling your clothes off. 

“I mean, it is still on you to actually say something,” she chuckles, peering out the window as she waits for you to change, “Honestly, if it was me, I would’a locked that shit down ages ago. The sounds I hear coming from this room…” She jokes, shaking her head.

“Sounds?” You ask, your face flushing as you hurriedly clasp the thin bra behind your back, “You can hear us?”

“You two are not nearly as sneaky as you think,” she laughs, “I mean, who would’ve thought that little nerd had it in him?”

“He has hooked up with people,” you defend, pulling on a t-shirt and skirt, short enough that you knew it would make the blond’s head spin, “He’s not totally helpless.”

“Hookups are different than boyfriend dick,” Louise points out, shuffling back on your bed until her back was resting against the wall next to it, “And based on all the screams I hear from you, Michael has boyfriend dick.” 

With a laugh, you roll your eyes, not even bothering to question her as you shove your things into your backpack. Sitting down at your desk chair, you pull your small mirror over and give your hair and makeup one last look over, glancing back at Louise as she continues, “I mean, come off it, babes. You don’t even make those noises by yourself.”

“You can hear me?!” You squeak out, whipping your head around.

“The walls are paper thin!” She laughs, “I’m sure you can hear me too, and everyone else. You honestly think that doesn’t go both ways?”

“Ha ha,” you say dryly, slipping on your shoes before standing and grabbing your keys from the small hook next to the door of your room, “I’m going, can you lock my door when you leave?” 

“Yup!” Louise chirps, not bothering to look up from her phone as she waves you off, “Go get that nerd dick!”

With a sigh and an eye roll, you pull your door closed.

You make it to Michael’s in record time and pause in front of his door, giving yourself a minute to calm down before you nervously knock. 

Almost instantly, the door swings open. The thought that he might’ve been perched next to it, waiting for you to show up, makes your chest squeeze as you murmur a hello. 

“Hiya, pretty.” He says lowly as you move past him, closing the door and watching as you dump your backpack by his bed. His room wasn’t much different than most other guy’s dorms you’d been in – sparsely decorated with only the essentials, although you did appreciate the posters and pictures Michael had hanging up. There were all sorts of different ones pinned to the dark wooden walls, from bands he liked to small polaroids of his pets from home. Every time you were here, though, your heart couldn’t help but hurt a little as you never saw pictures similar to some of the ones you had up – ones with friends. 

“Needed some help from little old me?” He teases. 

“Yes, oh my God!” You sigh, your dramatics making him crack a smile as he takes a seat at his desk, “This new chapter is doing my head in!”

“Alright, alright love,” he murmurs, signature smirk poised on his lips as his blue eyes peer at you from behind his glasses, “Get your things, I’ll see if I can help.”

With a nod, you pull your notebook from your backpack as he turns to the chapter in his own textbook. As you move, you can’t help but glance at him from the corner of your eye, taking in everything from the dark red t-shirt he wore, complete with a cheesy maths pun on the front, to how ruffled his golden hair was, like he’d just woken up from a nap. Maybe the light was playing tricks on you, but you swore you saw him glance over at you a time or two too. 

“Haven’t heard much from you this week,” you start, pulling up the extra chair he kept in a corner of his dorm room, “How’ve you been? Oh! And how did that paper for your calculus class turn out?” You ask, glancing at him as you flip through the pages of your notebook, looking for where you’d left off. 

“Oh, yeah,” he clears his throat, leaning an elbow on his desk, “The paper was great, actually. Thank you for your help by the way,” his lips curve up in a sheepish grin, “I’ve always been a bit shit at writing.” 

“Yeah, no problem,” try to ignore the way your stomach twists at his gratitude, “I’ve always been shit at maths so it works out.” You joke, pride filling your chest when he chuckles. The longer you’d spent working with Michael, the more comfortable the two of you became, and slowly but surely he’d let his guard down. He was still the same cocky, downright arrogant prick in class but when it was just the two of you, you couldn’t help but notice that he’d grown…softer. Those sharp, taunting edges of his had been smoothed a little, sanded down by jokes he shared with you rather than sarcastic jabs directed at you. 

“Mmm,” he hummed, those blue eyes you’d grown so enamored with sparkling with mirth, like he was always just one step ahead of you, “Don’t sell yourself short, baby. You’ve improved a lot,” your cheeks flush and the butterflies in your stomach roar to life, whirling around wildly at the simple compliment, “Not nearly as much of a dummy as you were a few weeks ago, yeah?” He finishes, lips tugged up in a viciously smug smile as he watches the way your eyes grow wide, the way the pink hues making their home on the apples of your cheeks bloom ever brighter, extending almost all the way to your neck. 

“Michael,” your voice is hoarse as you croak his name, desperately willing your mind to stay on track, “C-Can we focus on the notes, please? I really do need help, I mean maybe later we can–”

“Don’t get yourself in a tizzy,” he says, blessedly cutting off your nervous babbling, “What’s giving you problems, pretty?”

“Uhh,” you fumble, kicking yourself internally as you scramble to reset your brain, “The stuff we went over last week,” you flip through your notes, finally pointing your pen at the hastily scribbled notes you’d taken in class, “The monthly investment stuff; I guess the formula Professor Davies went over just seems really complicated to me. Like, I was having a really hard time following it in class with the way he was explaining it.”

Michael nods his head as he listens, his eyes quickly scanning over your notes before flitting to the accompanying pages in his nextbook as he lets out a sigh. “Ahh, okay,” his fingers brush over yours as he takes your pen, once again sending your mind into a flurry as you blink, desperately trying to clear the fog that seemed so determined to invade your brain, “So, remember the compound interest formula we went over earlier?” 

You nod as he peers over at you, admittedly only halfway listening as your heart hammers in your chest. “Uhm, y-yeah,” you nearly whisper before clearing your throat, “Yeah.” You nod once more, trying to keep your voice steady as you watch him scrawl notes on your paper; your eyes glaze over as you observe the way his long fingers hold your pen, making it all too easy to imagine those same fingers sliding into your mouth and holding your tongue down as he whispers filthy things into your ear, skirting their way into your underwear and curling just right against –

“It works similarly,” Michael continues, hunched over the textbook as he copies down a sample problem, “So, the monthly investment formula is basically just the yearly salary over twelve months. I think the formula is getting to you, but it’s not really that complicated in practice.”

You nod your head dutifully, his voice sounding muffled to your ears as your thoughts continue spiraling, lewd thoughts of his fingers and cock playing like a video on the backs of your eyes. He hands the pen back to you as he finishes copying down the question, gazing at you expectantly as you look over the problem. 

“Okay, so, uhm,” you stammer, eyes desperately scanning over the page as if the answer will magically reveal itself to you, “So…you’d divide these…?” You ask timidly, already knowing you’re wrong. 

“You aren’t paying attention at all, love,” he says, not even needing to question it as he shakes his head in mock disappointment, “What’s going on in that pretty head, hm? What got you so distracted?” He rasps, one hand moving up to brush a strand of hair behind your ear, even that simple action damn near causing you to whimper. 

“I don't,” you swallow, mouth dry as your eyes flutter shut for a half second before reluctantly meeting his, heart pounding wildly in your chest as the smirk on his face makes a graceful reappearance when he sees the glazed over, near empty look on your face, “I don’t know.” You finish finally, voice breathy despite your best efforts.

“Hmm,” he hums again, trailing that hand down your neck and the side of your arm before finally letting it rest atop the thigh closest to him, his touch practically burning your skin, “I think I have a pretty good idea of what’s taken over that empty fuckin’ head.”

Before you even have a chance to reply, his hands are on your hips. He firmly pulls you into his lap, lithe frame disguising his true strength as he settles you atop his thighs. 

“Michael, I–”

“Hush,” he commands softly, warm hands skirting over your waist as he tugs you back into him, your back pressing into the familiar expanse of his chest once again, “I know exactly how to help, pretty girl.” He whispers, his breath fanning over your cheek before he presses a light kiss there, trailing them down over the side of your neck as his hands slip under the bottom of your t-shirt. His touch makes shivers cascade down your spine as you feel his hands ghost over your stomach before they cup your breasts; he lets out a pleased hum when he feels the delicate lace of your bra, which does nothing to hide your already pebbled nipples as they press against the palms of his hands.

“I think,” he continues, chuckling darkly when he already hears small whines escaping past your lips as he continues massaging your breasts, “You need that wet little cunt played with, hm? I know she’s already dripping, pretty.” His voice is rough as he speaks, his hips grinding up into you, making you mewl on his lap as you feel his cock already poking against you even through the jeans he wears.

“P-Please,” you whine brokenly, embarrassed to already be reduced to such a state, “Please, Michael, I need…fuck, I need something, anything, please!” You’re used to begging for him by now, the two of you have hooked up enough over the past few weeks that you know he loves how whimpery and desperate you get, loves to hear the little hitch in your voice when you beg and plead with him so. 

“Not Michael,” he grunts, roughly pinching at your nipples through the thin fabric of your bra, just enough to make you cry out and squirm on his lap, “Try again.”

“Oh–,” you gasp, unable to stop the way your hips desperately wriggle on his lap, tantalized by the feel of him, even through all the layers of clothing between you, “Sir! Sir, please!” 

He huffs out a laugh, low and raspy in your ear as he trails one hand up, poking it through the collar of your shirt to wrap it lightly around your throat – not enough to choke you, but just enough to remind you of your place. “Someone must be feeling extra stupid today, hm? Haven’t been sir in weeks, love, you know that.” 

A hungry whine claws its way past your lips as your head tilts back onto his shoulder, your eyes squeezing shut as your cheeks heat up, trembling in his lap. This has been his favorite part, experimenting with that one little name it takes so much for you to say. It’s funny really, eventually he’d admitted to only hearing it in a porno, not something he could attribute to his string of experiences with one night stands. You’d just been the first person he’d been intrigued about enough to try it on; he was hooked the moment he saw your reaction and had slowly worked it into your little routine, requiring you to day it, to beg him so prettily with it, before he’d ever give you what you wanted. 

“Come on now,” he groans, the movements of your hips finally getting to him, “Tell me what I want to hear and I’ll keep this precious cunt occupied so that that little head can work properly.” His hand abandons your breast, a laugh rumbling through him at your cries as he trails it up one thigh, slipping it under the bottom of your skirt. 

“Daddy!” You finally blurt out, the ache in your core finally growing too big for you to keep denying, “Please, daddy, please, just… fuck, just do something!”

“Shh, shh, babygirl,” he coos, half laughing as he slips his hand up under your skirt, cupping your throbbing center over the thin lace of your panties, groaning when he feels how hot and wet you are under his touch, “No wonder you can’t think straight, hm? So messy.”

You whimper helplessly in his lap,  hands scrabbling before they tightly cling to the forearm he has halfway under your skirt. “Oh, fuck,” you breathe heavily, head swimming as his fingers press down on your aching clit before circling the bud slowly, the lace of your underwear only adding to the fire building within you, “Oh, my God!”

Michael grunts lowly into your ear as he twirls his fingers against you, nipping at your neck as he rocks against you from below. “Here’s how this is gonna go, love,” he whispers lowly, speeding up the movements of his long fingers against you, “If you can get the formula right, you can come…”

“Wha–!” You splutter, your chest already heaving as you struggle to catch your breath, nails digging into his forearm as you feel the knot in your stomach already beginning to tighten; Michael had made it his mission over the last few weeks to learn every little thing that made you tick, and Christ, if he wasn’t a fast learner, “T-That’s not–”

“If you can’t get it right,” he continues, smirking against your cheek as he presses his fingers ever tighter into the column of your throat, “Then I’ll just keep edging and edging you until I’ve gotten my fill of those precious fucking noises you make, hm?”

You struggle in his hold, not getting very far as his touch has already reduced your muscles to jelly. Your hips keep rutting up into his fingers despite your feeble attempts to stop yourself, knowing he absolutely means to make good on his threats. With a defeated whine, you let your head loll to the side on his shoulder, burying your face against the pale expanse of his neck. Squeezing your eyes shut, you breathe in his now-familiar scent, although that only serves to put you more on edge. 

Michael suddenly moves, sitting up straighter in his desk chair and bringing you with him, causing you to yelp a bit. He keeps a steady hold on you as he leans forward, his fingers never ceasing their circular movements on your aching clit as he tilts you forward, angling your head so you’re once again face-to-face with the textbook and notes still laid out on the desk. 

“Now,” he starts, resting his chin on your shoulder as his eyes scan over the pages in front of you both, seemingly wholly unbothered with your current state, “What’s the first step?”

You can feel your eyes stinging with unshed tears as you blearily look over the paper, your eyes not really focusing on anything as you feel the knot in your stomach pull tighter and tighter with each movement of his hands against you. 

“M-Michael, I–” Your voice sticks in your throat, your hips moving entirely of their own accord in his lap as your walls clench desperately around nothing, that familiar growing ache nearly taking over your entire center as your breath hitches. 

“Ooh,” he murmurs with saccharine sympathy, quickly pulling his fingers from you just before you fall over the edge; you can feel him smirking wickedly against your cheek as you twitch against him, letting out mournful little whines, “That was a close one, wasn’t it, pretty girl?”

The room feels as if it’s spinning as you come down from your almost-high, your walls throbbing as low cries slip past your lips. “F-Fuck…” you sigh hoarsly, hips still pathetically twitching against his jean-clad lap. 

“I know you know this,” his breath is warm against your cheek as he angles his head toward yours, blond hair tickling the side of your face as he peers at you from behind his glasses, “Be a good fucking girl and tell me which step is first and I’ll touch you again.”

Your eyes frantically scan over the problem as you will yourself to remember something, anything, from one of Professor Davies’s lectures last week, your hands abandoning Michael’s forearm to white-knuckle the edge of his desk instead as you try to steady yourself. 

“Y-You, uhm, you multiply,” you start, swallowing heavily as something finally seems to click together in your brain, “You multiply the exponents, daddy.” 

You practically preen under his touch as you feel more so than hear the pleased hum he lets out. “Very good,” he drawls slowly, pressing soft kisses against your cheek, “See? I knew there was something going on in that head of yours.” You know he’s taunting you on purpose, pulling out every trick he knows will make you blush, though you can’t bring yourself to care as you feel your heart soar with his praises. 

A loud moan tumbles past your lips as he resumes touching you, his fingers once again teasing your clit through the thin fabric of your panties, the aching bud now all the more sensitive to his touches after you were denied an orgasm. You nearly double over on his lap as pleasure immediately zings up your spine, your muscles tensing in his hold. 

His hand abandons your throat and pulls out from under your shirt completely as he reaches for your pen and quickly scribbles down the first step of the formula, easily multiplying the numbers in his head before setting your pen back down. 

“Now then, what’s next, love?” He chuckles meanly against your cheek as you whine. He groans appreciatively as he feels your arousal leaking into your panties, soaking the fabric against his fingers while his other hand comes up to cup your breast over your shirt, feeling your aching nipple pressing against his hand even through the fabric. 

This game continues for what feels like an eternity, his fingers delicately teasing you right up to your breaking point before he cruelly yanks his hand away as he quizzes you again and again until you slowly but surely work your way through each step of the problem. 

You’re a sweaty mess on his lap now, skin damp and flushed as he pulls his hand away for what must be the hundredth time, although in reality it’s only the fifth. You let out a feeble whine, long past begging and pleading as you know it won’t do any good. 

“You’re so close,” he teases, chuckling to himself at the double meaning of his words, “Just need to solve it now, pretty baby. The sooner you do, the sooner I’ll make you come.” He promises, patting his fingers over the soaked patch on your panties just enough to make you jump. 

“D-Daddy, please!” You sniffle, no longer trying to reign in the tears streaming down your cheeks as your center aches and clenches, empty, “Please, I need–”

“You need to answer the fucking question,” he grunts through clenched teeth, one hand still cupping your spasming center while the other shoots up to your neck, angling your head toward the paper once more, “You asked me for help, love. And I’d say this is helping; looks like that empty little brain is able to recall information after all.” He teases, smirking cruelly as he ruts against your ass, taunting you with his hard length yet again. “Come on,” he continues, urging you on, “You’re doing so, so well for daddy. Just need the last little bit.”

Your head spins as you look at the paper and you halfway wonder if your fingers have made intents in the wood of his desk yet, “It’s, it’s the yearly salary,” you say quickly, voice high-pitched and breathy, “T-The yearly salary over twelve, fuck, m-months.” You rush out, squeezing your eyes shut. 

Somehow, more blood seems to rush to your cheeks as he gasps in fake surprise, really laying it on thick for you. “Oh, what a good girl!” He praises, arms wrapping around you tightly as you squirm in his hold, his warm body pressing against yours only making your need greater, “I knew you could do it, that’s right, love!” 

Quickly, he multiplies the numbers you indicated, mumbling under his breath as he quickly thinks through the equation. A few seconds later, you hear your pen moving against the paper as he scribbles down your answer, circling it with an over-done flourish. 

“You’ve done it!” He coos happily, pressing kiss after kiss to the side of your cheek, trailing them down your jaw and neck, “You want your prize now?” He asks lowly, trailing his hand back up your thigh slowly, fingers just barely skimming over your throbbing center. 

All at once, you seem to come back to yourself as the fog lifts momentarily behind your eyes as your desperation drives you. You nod your head frantically as you turn on his lap, finally facing him and relishing the sweet, proud smile spread across his lps. 

“Please, Michael, daddy,” you ramble, pressing kisses against his cheeks and neck before he finally angles his head and catches your lips with his; the two of you sigh into the kiss, yours morphing into a desperate whine as you press your chest against his, shivering as your nipples peak from the warmth of his body alone. His tongue licks along your lower lip before he gently nips at it, chuckling as you mewl into his mouth as his tongue meets yours. You kiss him frantically, sighing happily when he delicately sucks your tongue into his mouth before you pull away with a whimper. “Please, please, I need it,” you murmur against his lips, clinging to his shoulders, “I can’t wait any longer, please!”

He shushes you with a soft laugh, hands skimming over your waist. “D’you want my mouth or my fingers, pretty girl?” He mutters softly, holding you steady on his lap.

“Mouth!” You answer instantly, making him chuckle at your desperation, “Please, please!”

“On the bed,” he commands, giving you one last kiss before pushing you up, helping to steady your shaky legs, “Good girl.” He praises again, patting your ass teasingly when you finally steady yourself enough to cross the room, stopping to kick off your shoes quickly before sitting yourself down on the bed.

Michael follows after you, smirking as he kneels on the bed, one foot still on the floor. He smiles and cups both of your cheeks, kissing you once more like he can’t get enough. “You, pretty girl, are very overdressed,” He drawls, waiting for your subtle nod before pulling your shirt up and over your head, tossing it to the floor by the bed. “Holy…” his eyes are wide as he stares at your chest, taking in the way the delicate lace perfectly cups your breasts, nipples visible through the thin material, already hardened from his earlier ministrations. 

Upon seeing his reaction, you get bold. Smirking, you pull up your skirt, spreading your legs as you draw your knees up to your chest, giving him a perfect view of your matching panties; the lace, long since soaked through with your arousal, practically glimmers in the low lamp-light of his room. 

“Fuck,” he whispers, one hand adjusting his hard length, straining against his jeans as his blue eyes sweep over you, taking in every flawless inch, “To what do I owe the honor, hm?” He finally collects himself, smirking again as he reaches out to lightly skim a finger over the soft silk of one strap of your bra. He’s never seen you in something this nice, and certainly never a matching set, the sight of the soft lace against your skin would be enough to make him finish in his jeans if he weren’t careful. 

“Wanted to wear something special for you…” You say with a small shrug, heat rising to your cheeks once again as you look up at him shyly through your lashes. 

He tilts his head to the side, clearly not picking up on the deeper meaning behind your words as he squints his eyes at you, confused. “Why…why would you wanna wear something special for me, love?” He questions softly, his voice coming out more as a breath than words. 

“Michael,” you sigh, squirming under his affectionate gaze as you gather every ounce of confidence in your body. You swallow as your eyes dart between his, your heart quickly speeding up in your chest; you take a deep breath, Louise’s words echoing in your head, “I…I really like you.” You say simply, carefully watching his reaction.

“You…do?” He asks slowly, eyebrows shooting up in surprise, his eyes widening as he watches you nod with a shy smile. “Why me?” His voice is smaller this time, his whole body seeming to deflate as he sits back on the edge of his bed, shoulders slumped as one foot still rests against the wooden floor. 

“Why wouldn’t I like you?” Your eyebrows knit together in confusion, head cocking to the side as you move closer to him, placing a hand on his knee. 

He sighs heavily, glancing up at you before looking down to where your hand rests on his leg, “No one really does.” He finally sighs, his eyes downcast.

Without thinking, you move closer to him, pressing yourself against him as you practically climb into his lap. This time, it’s your turn to gently cup his cheeks, your thumbs resting just under the gold rims of his glasses as you angle his head toward you. “I do,” you say softly before frowning a bit, pulling away just an inch, “Do…do you not feel the same way?”

“No!” He says quickly, shaking his head as he grabs at you, pulling you back toward him, “I mean yes! I mean,” he sighs frustratedly, running a hand through his hair as he swallows heavily, “I do like you, I– Fuck, I don’t know who I’m kidding, I’ve never liked anyone this much,” he says softly, smiling as he watches your eyes grow wide, “I just…never thought a girl like you would want much to do with me.”

“What does that mean?” You whisper, heart hammering so hard in your chest you’re sure he can hear it with as little distance as there is between the two of you.

“I…,” he pauses, chuckling bitterly, “I guess I always assumed you’d wind up with Catton or…or one of his little minions. Everyone does.” 

“Everyone?”

He tilts his head up to stare at the ceiling for a second, like he’s willing himself to tell you some deep, dark secret. Finally, he fixes his gaze on you again, one hand fiddling with the seam at the bottom of your skirt. “He was my friend once,” he begins, his voice soft and uncertain, “I don’t think I ever meant much to him, he just took me in as some charity case. To help the weirdo loner boy, I guess.”

You stay silent as he pauses, watching him carefully as he speaks. The corners of his mouth twitch before finally dropping into a frown, his eyebrows pulling together as if he were in pain. 

“I don’t know what happened in the end, to be honest,” he continues, blinking his eyes as he shuffles through memories, “I think maybe I wasn’t falling in line enough – I didn’t just blindly follow him like the others. He must’ve gotten tired of it cause one day I got to school and everyone just acted as if I wasn’t there, even mates I’d had before. They all just got pulled into his orbit and left me.”

“Michael…” you coo softly, thumbs lightly brushing over his cheeks.

“And then, one night I went to the pub with– with Oliver.” He practically spits his name, nose twitching with anger. 

“Oliver?” You question, the name ringing a bell as your eyes narrow, trying to picture his face, “Oliver Quick, you mean?”

He nods, eyes flitting around his room before they settle on you again. “He was my friend…I thought he was anyway. Way back at the start of term,” he sighs, lips pulling up in a sardonic smile, “We went to the pub one evening to celebrate finally finishing some paper or whatever, and…you were there.”

“I was?” You pull back from him a fraction of an inch in shock, your eyes flitting over his face.

“Mhm,” he hums, nodding his head, “Sitting at a table with Catton and all the rest of the cunts.”

“Felix and I were never that close Mich–”

“And I got up to get another pint and when I got back…he was gone.” He continued, huffing out a bitter laugh. 

“Oliver?”

“Yep,” he nods, hands gripping your waist more firmly as if he’s trying to anchor you to him, “He’d gone to sit with you lot and never so much as looked my way again. Then, once Professor Davies’s class started, I…Fuck, I liked you from the minute you walked through the door on the first day, love.”

“You did?” You smile at his confession, thinking back to all those months ago.

He hums again, resting his forehead on your shoulder as he buries his face in your neck, glasses smushed against his cheek, “‘N then I realized where I knew you from and I…lost hope. Got jealous. Doesn’t matter I just…I was so determined not to like you.”

“But…you do?”

He hums again, nodding against your cheek, “I remember kicking myself when I agreed to tutor you,” he laughs, breath fanning over your neck and collarbone, “But you’re really not like them, hm?”

You shake your head emphatically, holding him tighter to you as if that will somehow better prove your point, “I’m not.” You say simply, pressing a kiss to the side of his head. 

The two of you stay silent for a moment before Michael’s shoulders start shaking a little; you pull back a bit, worried that he’s upset until you see he’s laughing, gazing at you as if you were some ethereal being. “I cannot believe you fucking like me,” he laughs, damn near giggling, “No one bloody likes me.”

You can’t help but laugh with him, leaning your forehead against his. “Well, fuck them,” you say firmly with a cheeky grin, “I like you enough for every damn idiot in this school.”

The two of you laugh together for another moment before you feel that familiar heat building in your belly again, never able to stave it off very long when you’re in his presence. Michael must feel it too, one second you’re laughing with him and the next his fingers are threading through the hair at the back of your head and pulling you in for a hard kiss, pressing his lips desperately against yours as if he’s trying to prove to himself you won’t disappear. You whimper softly as his tongue licks into your mouth, swallowing his groans as you move your lips fluidly against his before he pulls away quickly.

“Gotta fucking taste you, love,” he whispers roughly, hands blindly searching for the clasp of your bra. You feel it pop open a moment later, a low, victorious hum sounding from his chest as he finally pulls it off, tossing it off the bed to land next to your shirt, “Fuck, I love these tits.” He groans hotly, quickly kissing down your shoulder and chest before taking a pert nipple into his mouth, making you gasp loudly.

“Oh, fuck!” You moan, eyes squeezing shut as you finally feel his mouth on you, head spinning at the way his tongue teases over your sensitive nipple before he sucks it into his hot mouth, “Michael, please, need it!” You whine pitifully, rutting yourself down on his thigh. 

He guides you back gently, coaxing you to lay down on his bed as his hands push up under your short skirt once more to quickly pull your panties down, tossing them over his shoulder. “Not Michael, baby, remember?” He asks teasingly, pushing your thighs up and hooking his hands behind your knees. 

He guides your knees up and up until your knees are pressed against your chest, all the while pressing soft kisses to the backs of your thighs as he peers up at you over his gold-rimmed glasses, strands of blond hair resting against his forehead. 

“Please, daddy!” You correct yourself quickly, not wanting to take any chances of him teasing you further. You wiggle your hips in his grasp, making him chuckle lowly as he presses kisses closer and closer to where you want him. Giggling, damn near giddy with the excitement of having his mouth on you, you reach down and gently pull his glasses off and reach up to set them on the small table beside his bed. 

“Shh, you’ll get it,” he promises, breath hot against your slick folds as he uses his thumbs to spread you apart, groaning appreciatively when he sees how wet you are, how your pussy clenches tightly around nothing, “You earned it, my love.” 

The pet name sends you into a tailspin almost as much as the feeling of his warm tongue pressing against your clit does. You let out a long, satisfied moan at the feeling of it, arching your hips up into his mouth. 

His groan of satisfaction vibrates through you, only adding to the sensations of his lips and tongue on your aching center. “Fucking hell,” he mumbles, releasing his hold on one thigh to run two long fingers through your slick, gathering it as he teases your entrance, “It’s been far too long.” He groans, speaking more to your throbbing core than you, the thought sending another zap of pleasure swirling up your spine. 

“It’s been, like, a week!” Your giggle turns into a breathy moan as he kisses your clit, gently suckling it between his lips as he carefully slips two fingers into you, immediately crooking them up against the spot that he knows will drive you wild. 

“Too long,” he grunts into your folds, tongue sweeping over the length of you before he teases it at your clit. “Fuck, if I could eat this sweet little cunt every day, I would.” 

Your eyes roll back in your head and your back arches as he feasts on you, shaking his head back and forth to bury his face further into your heat. He growls into you as he licks into your entrance, removing his fingers for a moment to fuck his tongue into you, savoring your sweet taste while the tip of his nose rubs perfectly over your clit. 

“Fuck, fuck, oh, fuck,” you gasp, body jerking and twitching as pleasure floods through you, the knot in your stomach growing dangerously tight at just a few touches, “D-Daddy, I’m— oh, fuck!” You cry, arching your back as he slips his fingers into you, expertly fucking and curling them against that rough patch within you, making stars dance behind your eyelids. 

“Y’getting close?” Michael murmurs around your clit, sucking it into his mouth and laving his tongue over it before letting it slip from his lips with a wet pop, “S’okay, my love, come on. You don’t need to ask for it, baby girl, you’ve earned it, just come.” He coaxes, slipping a third finger in beside the first two and grinning when he hears you cry out at the added stretch.

You breathe heavily, chest heaving as you pant, wanton whimpers and whines spilling past your lips as your fingers weave into his golden hair. Michael’s eyes roll back in his head at the feeling, so pleased with himself that he can make you feel this good, that he can pull these sounds from you that he groans, long and low, into your cunt as he licks and sucks at your folds, flicking his tongue over your swollen bud. 

“Can feel you getting tight, pretty girl,” his lips move against your clit as he speaks, “This sweet cunt wants to milk daddy’s fingers, doesn’t she? Fucking let her, baby, come on.” 

The knot inside your belly implodes on itself as your body loses all sense of rhythm, every muscle contracting and relaxing as waves of pleasure finally wash over you. You can feel your walls pulsing around Michael’s fingers as your high consumes you, a garbled moan of his name leaving your lips as you shake against him. 

He doesn’t let up, digits pressing tightly against the spot inside you as he lewdly spits onto your cunt, loudly slurping it up as he continues to fuck you with his fingers, sucking your still-pulsing bud into his mouth as he does. 

“T-Too much!” You whimper, squirming in his hold as you feel yet another high quickly building within you, “Michael, d-daddy, please!” 

“Hush,” he huffs, speeding up his movements enough to make you squeal as tears spring to your eyes, “You know what I want, baby girl, give it to me, let yourself have it.”

You grunt loudly as another wave consumes you, your eyes tightly squeezing shut when you feel yourself contracting around his thick fingers yet again. You’re so lost within yourself, you barely hear the slick, sloshing sounds emanating from your heat, but you certainly hear the deep, proud moan that Michael lets out, eyes widening as he watches your cunt squirt around his fingers, droplets wetting his wrist and the sheets on his bed. 

You’re practically sobbing by the time he slows his fingers to a stop and gingerly pulls his fingers from you, shushing you gently when you whimper. “What a good girl,” he says softly, noisily licking his fingers clean of the evidence of your release, “Did so good for me, baby.” 

The soft praises help you come back to yourself, brain returning to your body in just enough time to get a glimpse of Michael’s face before he buries it in your neck, a blush creeping across your cheeks from the shine of your release on his lips and chin. 

“Thank you.” You whisper tiredly, eyes slipping shut as he presses kisses to your neck and jaw. 

He laughs softly, leaning on his side next to you, one hand tracing up and down your body as he looks you over. “You wanna keep going or did I wear you out?” 

You keep your eyes shut even as a playful smile slinks across your lips, a small giggle slipping past your lips as you wiggle your hips enticingly, making him chuckle with you. 

The bed shifts suddenly, causing you to peek one eye open. “There she is,” Michael laughs when you open both eyes fully, watching as he quickly pulls his t-shirt over his head, throwing it to the floor to join yours. He stays on his knees as he unbuttons his jeans, giving you plenty of time to take in his pale chest and stomach, covered in a light wash of blond hair that tapers off to a trail, disappearing beneath the denim around his slender waist, “Want my cock, baby?” He asks, leaning back down beside you as he kicks off his jeans and boxers, cock springing out and resting hotly against your thigh. 

Biting your lip, you can’t help but reach down and stroke him gently, a soft sigh leaving you at the sight of his perfect length. Michael grunts next to you, his head tilting back ever so slightly as he finally feels some stimulation on his cock. The delicate sound makes your heart race, knowing you could bring him such pleasure from such a simple touch. A blush blooms on your cheeks as you gaze up at him through your lashes, eyes wide as you smirk and wiggle your hips enticingly. 

He smiles at you, eyes sweeping over your form admiringly, before finally meeting your eyes, slightly squinting as he looks at you without his glasses. 

“I’ll take that as a yes?” He teases, chuckling as you nod eagerly and tuck your behind your knees, holding your legs up to your chest as your skirt looks around your middle. He leans in and kisses you softly, a certain emotion behind his movements that hasn’t ever been there before. He keeps you close as he moves, never taking his lips off of yours while he maneuvers himself on top of you, slotting himself between your thighs with a pleased exhale. 

Your back arches as you feel him slide his cock between your folds, the head slipping perfectly against your clit. You grasp onto his shoulders to anchor yourself, mewling into his mouth as his hands grab onto the backs of your knees once more, holding you open for him. His lips trail down your jaw and neck, stopping to nip lightly at your skin, before continuing downward to your breasts. He licks and kisses over each one, paying special attention to your nipples and laughing softly at the cacophony of whimpers and whines you make as he teases them with his tongue. 

“I’ve got you,” he sighs, pulling back just enough to grasp his cock, notching the head inside your opening, just enough to make you gasp and squirm, “Y’wanna go dumb on my cock, babygirl?” He says lowly, resting his forehead against yours as he bends down enough to make the muscle in the back of your thigh ache with the stretch. 

“Oh, please!” You breathe, canting your hips up in an attempt to get even just a bit more of his cock into you, “Please, daddy!” 

With a growl, Michael slowly slips inside you, humming deep in his chest as he does, his eyes slipping closed as he savors your tight, wet heat. 

“F-Fuck,” you squeak out, eyes rolling to the back of your head as he fills you completely, his girth stretching you to the brim, leaving no part of you untouched, “You feel so good!” You whine, eyes fluttering as you try desperately to remain focused on him, never tiring of the expressions he makes when he’s inside you. 

Slowly, he begins thrusting into you, groaning lowly as your fingers grip tighter at his shoulders. His blue eyes roll back in his head, brows furrowing as he slowly speeds up, rocking into you in a perfect motion. 

“Feels so good,” he gasps out, ardently biting and sucking at your neck as he does, angling his hips to make sure the tip of his cock presses against that sensitive spot inside you, “So fucking tight, shit.” 

The two of you move together, his hips smacking against the backs of your thighs as he plunges in and out of you. You can’t help but blush when the wet, squelching sound of your cunt begins drowning out the sharp gasps leaving your lips every time he thrusts back in, the tip of his cock brushing deliciously against the very back of your heat. 

A rumbling laugh sounds in his chest as he hears it too, making you flush somehow deeper as he fixes you with a filthy grin. “Little pussy loves me, huh?” He rasps, groaning at the sight of you trying frantically to answer, your mouth hanging open as useless whines and moans warble past your lips. “She does, hm? Pretty cunt loves daddy’s cock.” 

“Yeah, yeah— fuck!” You mumble, nodding your foggy head as best as you can as you gaze up at him longingly, breasts bouncing along with his thrusts, “L-Love it, daddy, fuck!” 

He moans softly and grinds himself against you, driving you nearly insane as the small thatch of hair above his cock rubs against your clit deliciously. Your arms shoot out, wrapping around his neck tightly and dragging him down to you, needing something to hold onto as your walls clench down hard on his length, every thrust into you making you see stars. 

His hands drop from your knees, arms locking around your neck in turn, pulling you up to him. Your legs lock tightly around his waist, the two of you as pressed together as you can get, your breasts pressed tightly against his chest. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispers hoarsely as his fingers tangle in your hair, pulling your face back just enough to meet your eyes, “So pretty, so good.” He chokes out, eyes frantically darting between the two of yours, chest heaving as he pants. 

You mewl harshly as his thrusts speed up even more, eyes nearly crossing as the head of his cock pounds perfectly against each sensitive spot inside you at the same time his abdomen grinds against your sensitive, swollen clit. You claw desperately at his back as you feel your walls clench and pulse around his length, well aware you won’t be able to hold on much longer but unable to warn him. 

Fortunately for you, Michael has committed your tells to memory, even in the few short weeks the two of you have been intimate. “Come,” he commands harshly, gasping out the word just as you feel his length beginning to twitch inside you, “Fuck, come love, come.” 

You nod your head wildly, rutting your hips against his as you shiver, your walls growing ever tighter on his length as you hang helplessly over the edge of your high. 

“I fucking love you,” he grunts suddenly, squeezing his eyes shut and burying his face in your neck, mouthing uncontrollably at your neck as he keeps mumbling, “I love you, I love you, I love you so—shit, so fucking much! Fucking come, babygirl, come!” 

Your head spins at his confession, heart hammering wildly in your chest as your high slams into you. You seize under him, shaking and crying as you pulse around his length, tears leaking into your hairline while you moan loudly, hips rutting wildly against him as you pull him somehow closer with your legs around his waist. 

In the back of your mind, you hear him grunting harshly into your ear, squeezing the life out of you while he trembles, thrusting harshly into you one, two, three more times before stilling, hard cock pulsing wildly as he empties into you, flooding your walls with his warm spend. 

Both of you pant harshly, a shiny sheen of sweat covering you. After a moment, you finally relax and your legs slip from around his waist, flopping lazily onto his bed. 

You let out a breathy laugh as you look over him, his head still resting against your chest. His blond hair is messy, sticking up in all sorts of ways from where you’d run your fingers through it. Slowly, he relaxes against you too, slumping against you as he sighs tiredly, eventually matching your own spent laugh. Yours eyes slip closed after a moment and you let out a relaxed hum when you feel him tracing shapes onto your shoulder. 

“I love you too.” 

You giggle when his head instantly shoots up, tired eyes immediately meeting yours as he squints, “Y-You do?” The shock on his face is clear and he blushes so heavily the pink color extends all the way to the tops of his ears. 

“For someone so smart you can be really dense,” you laugh, grinning as he sheepishly smiles at you, “How could I not?”

“Say it again,” he asks softly, a clear need in his eyes, “Please.” 

“I love you, Michael Gavey.” You murmur, pushing a strand of hair off of his forehead. 

He preens momentarily, shoulders seeming to square off with a newfound confidence before a familiar smirk lights upon his face. “No need to be so formal about it, love,” he quips, slowly pulling his softening length from your soaked core, shushing you sweetly as he does, “Daddy will do just fine.” 

You roll your eyes with a laugh, playfully smacking his shoulder. “I’m trying to be sweet and you’re being an ass as usual!” 

He snickers softly, biting his lip with a groan when he leans back to watch his cum slowly leak from you. “Well, lucky I’m your ass.” He smirks, laying beside you as he rests his head on his pillow. 

“Oh, so you’re mine now?” You ask blithely, skimming a finger down one of his long arms. 

“Mhm,” he hums, surprising you by lifting one of your thighs; you whine when his fingers connect with your center once again, gingerly gathering his cum leaking from you before pressing it back in slowly, working it into you with a smirk, “And you’re all mine, gotta make sure to claim you properly.” 

You shudder at his words, biting your lip as you feel a familiar fog invading your mind once again. You don’t bother protesting, not even attempting to make a quick quip as you lean in and kiss him softly. A hot hand against your cheek makes you pull back, smirking when your eyes finally focus on his fingers, still shining with your combined juices. 

“Jesus,” he breathes as he watches you take his fingers into your mouth, your own hands holding him steady at his forearm as you greedily suck at his fingers, “I fucking love you.” 

“I love you too,” you giggle, finally pulling off his fingers with a soft pop, letting his hand rest against your waist as the two of you lie contently together on his bed, facing each other. 

You see his eyelids begin to droop tiredly, a small sigh leaving his lips as he relaxes, “You know, you do have to actually help me study later.” You point out, laughing as he groans sleepily. 

“Only if it ends with you on my cock.” He mumbles, pulling him closer to you as his breathing begins to even out. 

“Like it hasn’t ended that way every time before?” You jokingly question as you let your eyes trace over his features, taking in his strong nose and jaw, smiling at the way his lips are still quirked up at the edges. Eventually, your eyes begin to droop too and you snuggle into him, breathing in his familiar scent as you drift off, something woodsy yet bookish, mixed with something that’s entirely Michael.

Your Michael.

tagged lovelies: @helloworldiamnotarobot @drakonflames @marysucks-blog @watercolorskyy @valeskafics @iamaegontargaryenswife0 @aemshaircare @1997babyyyy @lovellies @fan-goddess @cl-0-vr @kittendoll05 @beautbuck @officerbrowneyes

(tags are based on your answers to my google form; if you were mistakenly tagged, please contact me & update your answers on the form! thank you!)

[fictionalmenxyn]

What it’s like dating the Task 141 and Los Vaqueros

Ghost

He is definitely protective of you, if your both shopping he definitely would either hold your hand or be pretty much glued to you.

Definitely eye balls people if they look at you in a flirty way, he will show them that your his whenever your in public

If you enjoy reading he’ll probably look at the books you read and what genres then look for more books like that

If you are a couple and your not apart of the Task Force, he’ll definitely buy you books as a gift before he leaves

And if you’re not awake before he leaves and he doesn’t wake you up he’ll leave a note like ‘to keep you company while I’m gone -Si x’

If your into fitness and athletics let’s say you’re in for fun. He will ask about what type of fitness or sports your into then he’ll ask the boys about how to play or somethings to say about the sport

If you enjoy a sport like football he’ll grab a ball and you’ll end up playing either one vs one or if the boys see you’ll play a proper match

Or if your on the gym side rather than sports. He’ll ask what type of day is your workout like for example if it’s Wednesday it would be leg day. And if it was he’ll do the workouts with you.

After a long day he’ll go to your room and lay with you on your bed. Talking about anything that may come to mind or he’ll ask how your day went and what plans are for tomorrow.

If your aching from training or working out, he’ll offer you a massage. He doesn’t show it but he loves to do small things like this he knows you love the small things in life and he enjoys seeing your pretty face smile at his act of kindness.

Then when it comes to night time he’ll depending if he has had a rough or stressful day he’ll let you hold him. Resting his head on your chest as he wraps his arms around your waist. On other days he’ll hold you close to him and god for it you need the toilet in the middle of the night cause there is little chance you can escape his arms.

The only time he’ll sleep is when he is with you. You are his safe place and you know it. You give him all of your love and respect because you know he deserves it.

Like mentioned before he loves to show his love with acts of kindness and when your in private he shows his love with touch. Weigh it’s just simply holding hand or holing your small body against his huge body.

PDA: 10/10 he knows your his and he’s yours but some people don’t know that so he shows it. Although he isn’t a fan of kissing you in public he’ll show other people your his in other ways. It can go from waist grabbing, hand holding, hug from behind or an arm around your shoulder. But for the person looking at you suggestively or flirting with you. Except him to give his famous death glare or a ‘she’s taken’ maybe a minor/small threat depending how much they are flirting with you.

Soap

He loves to give you hugs wherever and whenever. No matter who’s there and who isn’t

If your making a snack or pouring a drink he’ll come up behind you and give you a hug and a kiss on the cheek

When your both working out together if you do, he’ll mess around if it isn’t training

He’ll gently push you over if your doing a plank or push ups. But you get him back whenever you can. You’ll use your leg and somehow flip him over when stretching.

When it comes to movies, he’s the man to be cuddling. If you want to watch a romantic/girly he’ll at first complain but once it’s on and it’s either white chicks or the notebook he will watch it to the very end. Even after the movie he’ll quote a few things and the other lads will look at him confused while your laughing.

If your not apart of the military when he comes back he will either plan a date for you both or if your more introverted he’ll make or attempt a nice meal and you’ll both watch your favourite movies.

If your into sports, for a laugh he’ll buy you a Scottish jersey. And if your both watching the match and Scotland score expect to have a headache because of how loud he shouts.

When it comes to night time he likes to spoon and the thing is you both don’t mind being big/little spoon. As long as he is touching you and knows your by him he’ll feel safe.

And in the middle of the night if you feel thirsty or need the toilet he’ll wake up and ask if your ok and then he’ll say ‘hurry up I’m already gettin’ cold’ you smile and be as quick as you can because you also don’t want to waste any more time not in each others arms.

Feel like his love language is either touch or quality time. Whenever your with him he wants to be active and have fun so when your both tired later you both can cuddle together.

PDA: 5/10 feel like he knows your his and he’s yours but every so often your get the kiss on your cheek you he’ll hold your waist

Gaz

I fell like he is definitely a wind up. Like he’ll tickle your sides when your cooking or something. Or he’ll make some flirty comment to you in the middle of public but he’ll whisper it.

He treats you like a princess, he’ll buy you your favourite chocolate and if you aren’t in the military he’ll definitely buy you trinkets from each place.

Like Ghost, after a long day of training or maybe after a mission. If your aching he’ll offer to massage you. And he’s really good at it as well.

Feel like he’s the type to help you cook when your together. And he loves it especially if it’s baking, usually it would end with you two covered in flour but the food you make comes out perfect.

If your a quiet person he’ll like to lean against you while you read. Or if you paint he’ll plop himself next to you and admire your art and after will compliment it followed with a flirty comment.

Loves going on small dates like going to the seaside and buying fish and chips. If you both feel competitive you’ll go mini golfing or bowling. At the end of the date he’ll ask for your opinion and if it was good he’ll keep note of what you enjoyed and where you enjoyed it.

If your in the military with him just know he will come and hang out with you in your room. He’ll knock then let himself in then walk over to your bed and lay there. He’ll ask what your up to and make a conversation.

If you two are working out. You both would go on runs together or hike. Then when you get back you’ll both hang out in the break room. You could be simply reading maybe watching tv. But he’ll be by your side now matter what.

But if you want some alone time he’s completely fine with it as he knows if your the type to enjoy alone time he’ll give you space till your ready to hang out again.

Feel like his love language is physical touch and quality time like Soap. But when it comes to physical touch it could simply just be yours/his head on one another’s shoulder.

PDA: probably 6/10 feel like he’ll hold your hand and kiss you on the top of your head but he knows the public wouldn’t like to watch you two make out.

Price

Feel like he’s a male wife (idk if it’s the correct term) but when your ill, injured or bedridden he’ll clean the whole house, wash the dishes, vacuum around the place. He’ll definitely make you a nice breakfast to have in bed too.

Feel like he’s a good cook, he has a small little cabinet with his seasonings and will cook a feast when you don’t feel like it.

If your at base, every morning he’ll make a coffee or tea and bring it to you with a small biscuit on the side (bourbon,custard cream or whatever you like)

If he reads the news paper and your next to him you’ll rest your head on his shoulder. He’ll place a hand on your thigh and gently squeeze it ever so often from habit.

If your up before him you’ll do the exact same as you both treat each other with respect and kindness.

If your on the quiet side (introvert), he’ll buy you something you enjoy doing and maybe he’ll join in that activity or attempt it. If it’s reading he will gift you a thick book or a book set and when it’s night time and your reading he will sit with you and hold a small torch for you while you read. Sometimes he reads along with you.

If your on the active side, he’ll offer to go to the shooting range if your at base. Or he will time you in running if you enjoy it. If you go to the gym he’ll join you and if you lift weights and he sees it’s easy for you he tells you to put more on and he’ll spot for you

When it’s night, he will hold you close to him and he will kiss you and say ‘night, love’ and you’ll say the same back and cuddle together all night long.

Feel like his love language is gift giving or quality time. He loves seeing your face light up when you see something he bought you and especially if you had been wanting said item for ages. He also love spending as much time with you as possible but you both respect privacy when needed.

PDA: 3/10 feel like he won’t need to worry as he knows you’re more than capable of telling people to leave you alone but if they won’t leave he’ll come over and make you walk away.

Alejandro

He’s definitely a romantic person but he’ll be as romantic as possible but to your comfort. He’ll hold you next to time in briefings or his hand on your thigh.

Every morning when you make yourself and him breakfast he’ll hug from behind and kiss you on the temple and say ‘good morning hermosa (beautiful)’ and you’ll give him a kiss. If you need or ask he’ll help you cook breakfast or any meal.

You live when he cook with you. Cause he looks so good doing it, in fact whatever he does makes you go giddy. He’s just that type of man.

He makes you feel happy and he knows that so he proud that he is capable of doing that.

Loves teaching you Spanish if you can’t speak the language. Every so often you remember a word and you say it like ‘how’s your day going, Estimado? (My dear)’ And he’ll smile and then tell you about his day. Sometimes you say words he hasn’t taught you and he’ll ask how you knew it and you’ll laugh and say google translate and he’ll laugh with you.

If your athletic he’ll ask what things your into and then you’ll either teach him or he’ll teach himself from the rest of the team or YouTube. Then one day he’ll ask to play and you’ll both be playing that sport for hours.

After a long day he’ll run you a nice warm bath and place your pyjamas on the sink counter and ask if you want to watch a movie after.

Feel like he’s the type to take you to a restaurant for your date but he knows if your not into experience places he’ll take you out to a nice small and quiet restaurant and he’ll pay for you.

In the night he will wrap his arms around your waist while you place an arm on his chest and your head in the side of his neck. Sometimes your play with his hair and he’ll smile at you and give you a kiss.

PDA: 9/10 he knows your his and he’s yours but sometimes these people either don’t care or don’t know so he’ll show them. And if they don’t care he’ll give them a few words and a curse word in Spanish.

Rudy

You love him so much! He’s such a sweetheart. Every morning he’ll give you a kiss and compliment you.

He’ll ask how you are and how your feeling. Then you will ask the same for him and you want to give him all your love because that is what he does with you.

If your a introvert he will ask what you enjoy doing. If for example your into pottery or clay he’ll buy some or take you to a local pottery shop.

If your extroverted once again he’ll ask what your into. If you enjoy sports he’ll ask if you watch any and what team you support and he’ll learn about the team and sport.

He’ll take you out on dates, they would be fun and enjoyable ones as well. He’ll take you to the beach and have a picnic then go swimming in the ocean or something like he’ll take you to a museum, art gallery or aquarium depending what you like most. And he’ll ask mid way through if your ok and if your enjoying the date.

After a day out he’ll ask if you want to go get some ice cream if you didn’t have dessert or didn’t go out to eat.

When it’s night time. He brush his fingers through your hair and ask how your day went. If you couldn’t tell he loves knowing about how you are and how your day went. He likes to know if your well and happy if your not he’ll ask about it and comfort you.

When it comes to sleeping you both hold each other close and you kiss his forehead and whisper a good night.

His love language might be either words of affirmation or acts of service. Thought the day you will tell him you love him so much and that he makes you happy. And he’ll do the same back. With acts of service, feel like if your feeling bad or overwhelmed he will clean up a pile of dirty clothes that you forgot about or he’ll make you your favourite snack and will watch whatever movies you want.

PDA: 4/10 he doesn’t show it but you can tell when he’s jealous or worried about you cause of the person looking at you or trying to flirt with you. But you are capable of telling the person your taken and not interested. If they keep going he will tell them that you already said no and he’ll give you a kiss on the temple and you’ll both walk away.

Hope you like this, idk if this is what you think of each character but this is what I feel like they will be like in a relationship I will make more of these if you enjoy them! :)

If you want more feel free to ask what type or I’ll probably come up with something but still feel free to ask! :D

[phasmophobia-territory]

Canon YANDERE/POSSESSIVE Obey Me (part 2)

[diavolo | barbatos | lucifer | leviathan | satan | asmodeus]

Diavolo

"You say the cutest things."

"However, please don't encourage me. I'm already at the limits of my self-control."

"Honestly, I'd like to lock you away and keep you to myself for all eternity."

Barbatos

"I wish to be by your side, much more than anyone else"

"If I'm being honest, I can't help wanting you all to myself"

"*chuckle*This is our little secret, understood?"

Lucifer

"You see, the fact that you were born into this world makes me happy."

"With that said, you'd better not try to run away from me, understand?"

Leviathan

"What? Is someone asking to see you?"

"...*sigh* Maybe I'd better ask Crowe to step in?"

"You know... tell him to trap us inside my room until you manage to get the highest score possible at some FPS game you're not good at?"

Satan

"Getting to spend this time alone with you only makes me want more of it."

"I don't want to share you with anyone else."

Asmodeus

"So you're not even going to deny it? How disappointing."

"Maybe I should go ahead and gobble you up right here and now. Then no one else could have you, could they?"

"You wouldn't be able to think of Belphie anymore. Your body, your mind, it would be all mine."

♡special thanks to @yanderewulf and @acaribeau for helping me find yandere/possessive satan quotes!♡

♡notes: a lot of these are from events/cards, with Lucifer's quote being from a birthday call. but i still believe these are very telling of their true nature.♡

♡if you want to see more content like this check out the yandere masterlist! and if you want to learn about this blog check out about the blog!♡

♡and please consider REBLOGGING and COMMENTING if you like this ^_^♡

[misscammiedawn]

it’s literally your own fault that you have trauma from personality play, idiot. why the fuck would you EVER engage in intense kink with people you didn’t trust/people who didn’t believe in hypnosis/etc. and not practice the most obvious safety precautions during lmao. moronic behavior honestly.

Wasn't 100% sure if I should reply or delete-- My rule is to delete anon-hate without a second thought and the moment the word 'idiot' was brought out it fell into that category. So firstly, no sympathy/support either for the message or the circumstances please. I'm not here for that and it undermines the point if people focus on that.

Buuut here's the thing. I know. This isn't an accusation or an insult or even mean. Everything you say is in the body of the Ethical Personality Play post. Like-- uuuh--- I dunno what to say? Congrats, you read the post?

Fact is these events happened 15+ years ago and the community lacked the support, education and structure that it has now. I'm trying to help build something which I needed back then. Will I save everyone? No. Can I help like one person? I hope so.

But like, I was a self-destructive moronic idiot 15+ years ago and I am sorta open about it?

Like here are direct quotes (key quotes bolded):

I have experience with this fallacy myself. In utilizing hypnosis to ignore my triggers I did severe damage to myself and I am now plagued with intrusive memories and nightmares of events that happened during scenes that I was able to effortlessly indulge in during the scene but as they say "The body keeps the score" and I was in fact doing further damage to myself. Something which my partner at the time was not equipped to deal with because I'd failed to disclose or even treat the situation as worth being safe about. Now I am just burdened with further damage by ignoring my brain's defenses on my existing pain.

Likewise I want to note the power imbalance that comes from play like this. A motivated hypnotee can fling themselves into this arena and do harm to the hypnotist. This does fly both ways. A hypnotee not advocating for themselves or exercising their agency will make a hypnotist accessory to the damage. This is a sin I have committed.

...look... I don't want to be an old lady yelling at the kids for doing things when I did them myself at that age. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't pretend I didn't see the allure on both sides of the watch.

I just... there weren't 20+ year experienced hypnosis veterans who had been in my character play abusing position when I was growing up. No one warned me. I learned all this the hard way and I hurt people. People I loved. Moreover I hurt me. In ways that will never heal. I just want to spare anyone I can the pain of going through this.

So--- like

Yeah. You read the post and understood it. I'm glad you read the post and understood it.

The landscape was different back then but that's no excuse. We were a fucking dumb child who wanted to be anyone but ourselves and acted recklessly because of it. We were a dangerous and toxic hypnotee and we should have known better.

That's the lesson. That's the point. I'm not here to ask forgiveness from the people I hurt or sympathy for the fact we fucked up. We just want to help build framework that didn't exist when we were starting out.

History on the hypnokink community is a topic that probably does need to be taught-- but if you're young enough that you've never known a place without framework, education and support then I'm glad, honestly. It means a lot of good people, dedicated people, have done work building houses my silly little essays can only manage to move pebbles with. I'm glad for that. Really.

The post isn't there for you to think "Poor Cammie :(" it's there for you to think "What an idiot, I'm never going to be like her"

So-- yeah-- I don't post anon-hate as a rule-- so thank you for the fan mail. Knee-jerk reaction aside, it makes me happy that you got the point.

[captain-krow-drozdov]

Two For The Price Of One

(Linked Universe/BOTW Wild/Link AU)

BOTW Link Has Two Braincells Souls

1. The Hero That Died 100 Years Ago (Link)

And

2. The Artificial Sheikah Soul From The Shrine Of Resurrection/The Player (Tech)

Upon Finding Out From The Old Man That Having Another Person In Your Head Isn't The Norm They Decided That Link Gets To Keep His Name And The Artificial Sheikah Soul Will Now Be Dubbed Tech (Once Joining The Chain Link Picks Up The Nickname Unity And Tech Picks Up The Nickname Wild).

Unity/Link Still Has Amnesia But Ends Up Gaining A Lot Of Their Memories Back Pretty Quickly After Finding All The Picture Locations And Wild/Tech Literally Just Got Here When They Woke Up In The Shrine So It Was A Learning Process For Both Of Em.

Unity/Link Is Good With Swords, Shields And Most Weapons Whereas Wild/Tech Is Good With Archery, The Sheikah Slate(Mental Connection Go Brr) And Stealth. Unity/Link Has The Heros Spirit And Wild/Tech Is Just Here For The Vibes And To Be A Chaos Enabler. (Unity/Link Was A Domesticated Chaos Gremlin By The Time He Died And Wild/Tech Is Going To Un-Domesticate Him If It's The Last Thing He Does)

They Are Unfortunately Both Idiots/Chaos Gremlins And Socially Awkward And Will 100% Play Mental Rock Paper Scissors The Loser Has To Deal With Socializing.

Wild Ultimately Looks The Same But Also Has Some "Something Supernatural Is Going On There" Vibes Like Sharper Teeth, The Fact That Their Eyes Glow/Eyeshine, Scary Good Night Vision, Always Cold, Movements/Vibe Just Off Enough To Trigger Some Primal Fear In Strangers, Their Blood Has A Faint Glow To It And When Wild/Tech Is In Control The Blue Glow In Their Eyes Is Brighter And More Noticeable.

Mentally However, Unity/Link Looks Like He Did Back When He Was A Knight Before The Calamity Hit And Wild/Tech Looks Like A Sheikah Recolor Of Unity/Link But They Have Ancient Technology Markings Near Their Eyes And Where Any Visible Veins World Be As Well As Blue Fire Eyes That Glow In The Dark Similar To Guardians/Ancient Tech.

At This Rate Unity/Link & Wild/Tech Are On "Do Not Separate" Levels Of Chaotic Head Roommates. They Can Actively Switch Out Who's Driving The Body At Will And With Enough Focus Can Copilot The Body.

They Are Actively Keeping Score Of Who Is Closest To Figuring Out That There Are Two People Behind The Mental Wheel Of The Champion Link (Four And Zelda/Flora Have The Highest Scores).

{I Offer Incorrect Quotes For The General Dynamic/Vibe Of These Two}

~

Wild/Tech: If you See Me Talking To Myself, Go Away! I’m Self-Employed And We’re Having A Staff Meeting!

~

Unity/Link & Wild/Tech: Am I a Boy? Am I A Girl? It Doesn't Matter. I'm Going To Burn Your House Down.

~

Unity/Link: Name A More Iconic Duo Than My Crippling Fear Of Not Being Worthy Of Being The Hero And My Anxiety. I'll Wait.

Wild/Tech: You And Me!!!

Unity/Link, Tearing Up: Okay.

~

Unity/Link, Trying To Put His Knight Training To Use: Ok We Need A Plan...

Wild/Tech, Currently In Control Of The Body Pulling Out A Bomb Arrow: We Have A Plan. The Plan Is Burn Everything Until We Are All That's Left Standing!

Unity/Link, Fighting And Losing To His Pyromania Demons: That'll Work =)

~

Unity/Link: Wild/Tech...

Wild/Tech, Bloody And Bruised From A Recent Tumble Down A Mountain Due To Ignoring Shield Durability While Shield Surfing: Oh No, 'Wild/Tech' In B-Flat.

Wild/Tech: You're Disappointed.

~

Wild/Tech: So That’s My Plan.

Unity/Link, A Trained High Ranking Knight: Are You Alright With Constructive Criticism? I Don’t Want To Sound Mean.

Wild/Tech: No, Go Ahead, I Want To Hear It.

Unity/Link: It Fucking Sucks We Are Going To Die.

Wild/Tech: That’s Not Very Constructive Of Your Criticism.

~

Unity/Link: I Prevented A Murder Today.

Wild/Tech, Who Watched The Whole Exercise Of Self Restraint Go Down: Really? How’d You Do That?

Unity/Link: Self Control.

~

Wild/Tech: I CAN'T DO IT UNITY/LINK!

Unity/Link, Laughing: I CAN'T EITHER!

Wild/Tech: I CANT FUCKING DO IT ANYMORE

Unity/Link: WELL I'LL TELL YOU WHAT WILD/TECH, YOU CAN GIVE UP NOW, OR YOU CAN FIGURE IT OUT. BECAUSE I CERTAINLY CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT YOU, AND I KNOW YOU CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT ME.

Wild/Tech: . . .

Wild/Tech: I Appreciate It,

Wild/Tech: BUT LOOK WHAT WE'RE DEALING WITH MAN-

Unity/Link: Wild/Tech-

Wild/Tech: YOU GOTTA DRAW THE LINE SOMEWHERE!

Unity/Link: Wild/Tech We Gotta-

Wild/Tech: YOU GOTTA DRAW A FUCKING LINE IN THE SAND DUDE. YOU GOTTA MAKE A STATEMENT.

Wild/Tech: YOU GOTTA LOOK INSIDE YOURSELF AND SAY 'What Am I Willing To Put Up With Today?'

Wild/Tech, Motioning To Calamity Ganon: NOT FUCKING THIS!

[charsoamerican]

OK so I made a Taylor Swift, the inheritance games playlist

The Way I Loved You - giving tfg when Avery was mad over jameson being over protective

I Can See You - such a hot song but also describing averyxjameson relationship perfectly

Bigger Than The Whole Sky - describes Avery and Toby’s relationship so well and just them especially the lyrics “You were more then just a short time” and “Everything to come has turned to ashes” so yeah

Sparks Fly - totally avery talking about Jameson like “you’re the kind of reckless that should send me running” and “get me with those green eyes baby as the lights go down, give me something that will haunt me when you’re not around” and “my mind forgets to remind me that you’re a bad idea” LIKE

Mine - fr just the lyric “you made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter” think about that is literally perfect

Long Story Short - it’s so perfect and also this song can literally be a summary of the romance in the whole series but anyway THESE lyrics; “no more keeping score, now I just keep you warm” and “if the shoe fits walk in it til your high heels break” fits Avery perfectly, she was literally broke and turned into the worlds richest teenager overnight, like she obvi didn’t know everything immediately

Evermore - it’s like sad but stillllll “in the cracks of light I dreamed of you” because when she was in a coma the first thing she heard was Jamies voice and then “it was real enough to get me through” because they never really called it love in thl but it was there (omg that was so cringy forget I said that)

Call It What You Want - literally this whole song is just perfect for them every lyric is perfect but what stood out to me was “you don’t need to save me, but would you run away with me?” Because she didn’t need Jameson to protect her by preventing her from doing things, but she still wanted to do it with him instead

Fearless - idk but there is just something so fitting with the name of this song like jameson literally took her hand and drove her head first fearless “you’re just so cool, run your hands through your hair” also *reminder* Jameson is cool, but on serious note, “I don’t why but with you I’d dance in a storm in my best dress, fearless” bc yes

Mastermind - them. they literally are masterminds. “And the first night that you saw me I knew I wanted your body” also this line “you see, all the wisest women had to do it this way, because we were born to be the pawn of every lovers game” works with how she felt like Jameson just thought of her as part of the game and not a human with feeling in tig

Wildest Dreams - I just feel like they would literally do anything for eachother and this is totally not on this playlist because of the “he’s so tall and handsome as hell” line and it’s also definitely not about Jameson 😳

Lavender Haze - the lyrics are just so perfect like “I’ve been under scrutiny, you handle it beautifully” and “I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say” AND “They’re bringing up my history, but you weren’t even listening” THESE LYRICS OH MY

Midnight Rain (“he was sunshine I was midnight rain” because Jameson is literally golden retriever on the inside and Avery is very chill and yeah this is just me fantasizing soo)

Wonderland (this song literally IS jameson and Avery. Get ready for me to basically quote the whole song “Didn’t they tell us don’t rush into things? Didn’t you flash your green eyes at me? Haven’t you heard what becomes of curious minds?” LIKE WHAT? I’m convinced jlb wrote this romance based off of this song and also “didn’t you calm my fears with a Cheshire Cat smile?” His smile is literally described as “a Cheshire Cat smile” in the first book before Avery starts calling it devastating. “We found wonderland, you and I got lost in it, life was never worse, but never better”

Anti-Hero - literally should be jamies theme song. People always are like “Grayson is so depressed he deserves better” but what about Jameson?? Like he literally blames himself for Emily’s death and basically sh when jumping off the cliff. He always compares himself to Grayson. Like the lyrics “pierced through the heart but never killed” he literally is almost if not just as much broken as Grayson is but he’s just better at hiding it and covering it up with a smile, but I do think Grayson needs therapy desperately like jlb please help him

You’re on your own kid - This song fits Avery soo well like after her mom died no one really could take care of her, I mean I know Libby did, and I love Libby, but it was just different? And also when she inherited the billions of dollars everyone hated her pretty much so yeah. I think the lyric “Everything you lose is a step you take” it just is Avery

Paris (it just relates to Avery and Jameson sm, like the lyric “I’m so in love i might stop breathing, drew a map on your bedroom ceiling” Avery made a point about how they want to go places together. “Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours”

Other ones that I’m too lazy to explain

Style

Vigilante Sh*t

Forever Winter

I Did Something Bad

Don’t Blame Me

Paper Rings (I’m a big xandermax and nashlibby stan)

London Boy

Getaway Car

Miss Americana and the heartbreak prince

Blank Space

[rottenpumpkin13]

To say Zack's smile lit up a room was as much of an understatement as comparing it to the sun.

"Your own personal gift of the goddess," is what Genesis said, pinching his cheeks late one night in his office. The older man had been scatter-brained under the pressure to finish some overdue mission reports.

Zack had insisted on helping him. Not to score any points with the notoriously headstrong Commander. No, he was confident that his friendship with Genesis had surpassed the need for superficial pleasantries. He had offered out of genuine concern over his friend's well-being.

He had sat in the chair opposite Genesis's at his desk, reading over his fellow SOLDIERs' reports while lending his ear to the man's every frustration and grievance he had with Sephiroth.

"Getting through to him is useless, Zack," he said, brandishing yet another bottle of expensive liquor—of which Zack declined yet again.

"He would never care to understand, not when I've shown him nothing but venom." He sighed, pausing to gather his thoughts. "How are you supposed to tell someone you think so highly of that you're nothing but a jealous, infantile man who never means to truly hurt him?"

Genesis was drunk. Zack knew that very well, which is why he would elect to forget this conversation as soon as he left the office.

He extended his sincerest advice, assuring that everyone had their flaws and ways of showing someone they cared. He even offered to talk to Sephiroth for him, making sure he wasn't really mad at Genesis for their most recent disagreement.

Zack walked back to his dorm that night, periodically raising a hand to his face, touching the spot where the leather had lovingly pinched the skin.

He shook his head, musing at the way something as simple as kindness could persuade a cold, drunken heart to air all their secrets to the first stranger to offer them a smile.

It happened again the following day.

The consequences of playing the middle man.

Zack nursed the cold can of soda between gloveless fingers, swirling it periodically to keep his hands busy. He wasn't particularly thirsty, but Sephiroth had given it to him after remembering how much Zack enjoyed the drink.

"Sorry, am I keeping you?" Sephiroth said after the minute of lukewarm silence proceeding twenty minutes of venting about his problems.

Zack snapped back into beat at once. His lips stretched into his signature smile as he felt the pep naturally sink into his voice.

"Of course not! Sorry, man, I was just thinking about the mission Angeal's forcing me into next week." He laughed, then took a big swig of the soda. "He says it's gonna help me with my focus problem."

He placed the half-empty can on Sephiroth's desk and leaned back.

"He says I have a focus problem. Can you believe that? Me? Zack Fair, quote, incapable of showing discipline when casting spells."

He made sure to sprinkle in an Angeal voice impression at the end, a detail which made Sephiroth laugh softly.

"Careful." Sephiroth rocked himself on his swivel chair. "If you keep that up, he may be inclined to set you up with Genesis for materia training."

Zack threw his head back dramatically, letting out an exasperated groan before slamming it into his hands.

"Well! It's official! I'm doomed."

Sephiroth laughed even more, a sound which calmed Zack's heart.

"I'm sure he'll be merciful, puppy."

Angeal wasn't.

The locker room door slammed open, squealing on its hinges. Zack trailed in, pulling the knit top of his uniform that had stuck to his body. He was drenched in sweat and thin lines of blood scattered about his arms and face.

His heartbeat was an incessant beat that screamed in his ears, blocking him from hearing anything other than the sound of his nerves wrecking havoc on his body.

Angeal followed him in, throwing open the door with enough force for it to slam against the wall.

"Zack."

Zack ignored him.

"Zack!"

He whipped around, wiping a trail of blood from his face.

"What?" He replied as calmly as he could, even though his tone was anything but.

Angeal could hear the disdain that shook the younger boy's voice. And maybe that's what set him off.

"Do you have any idea how reckless that was!? The point of the exercise was to test your own strength and skill against–"

"–Against the summons, yeah, yeah I know." Zack avoided Angeal's pinning gaze. "And you're scolding me for...? For what? Not letting the other guys die?"

Angeal shook his head, perplexed. "They wouldn't have died, don't be ridiculous. You know we were monitoring you for that exact reason."

"Well that didn't work, did it!?" Zack shrugged harshly. "Because Kunsel has a broken leg and Nicholas might as well have been hit with three consecutive sleep spells!"

"They're being treated!"

"They would've been getting buried if I hadn't stepped in!" Zack shot back. "Is that the honor you're always in my head about? Because it certainly wouldn't align with my dreams!"

Zack turned his back and started toward the showers.

Angeal followed him. "Your dream of being a hero? That wasn't heroic, Zack, that was stupid and you could've gotten killed."

Zack whipped back around. "But I'm alive! That's the line of logic you're following here, right? Or Is it different just because you're my mentor!?"

Angeal hesitated, eyeing him up as if scanning his body for any signs of a severe injury.

Head trauma, probably.

"What's gotten into you? You're not usually like this, Zack. What's wrong? You can tell me."

Zack laughed, and it even surprised him when it came out of his mouth. It sounded so... tired, laced in a type of bite uncharacteristic of Zack's ever present kindness.

"I'm sorry, Angeal." He rubbed his eyes. "I'm just...." He looked up at him. "Tired. Honestly. I can't stand to see people at their worst when I know I can help. I didn't mean to disregard your orders or anything so...Sorry, I guess."

Angeal nodded slowly.

"You're going to die eventually."

Zack jerked his head back. The remark brought him back down immediately.

"Huh!?"

Angeal looked exhausted.

"I'm not being mean, Zack. It's just something you need to watch out for."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

Angeal huffed. "It means that the more you continuously throw yourself in the fire to save other people, you neglect your own life."

He reached out, moving aside a stray, gel-coated strand of hair from Zack's face.

"There's actually a line between honor and stupidity, believe it or not."

Zack clenched his jaw, opting to keep his mouth shut.

"What you did out there was brave, but if you want to be a hero, you also gotta learn to value your own life."

Angeal was slapping his shoulder and telling him to "hit the showers and go rest" before Zack had the chance to get another word in.

All he could manage was a half-hearted. "I do value my life!" as Angeal disappeared out of the locker room.

When he was left alone with his own burbling thoughts, Zack finally let his shoulder slump. He sighed, exhaling through his mouth.

He looked down at his hand, noticing a small cut on his finger that he hadn't felt before. A rivulet of blood stained the digit.

Zack stared at it far longer than he needed to.

"Don't I?" He whispered to himself.

He looked up, his eyes finding his reflection in the mirror beside him.

Genesis's words came inching back like smoke clouding whatever negative thought pattern that threatened to shake him.

Zack reached out, pressing the bloody finger where the glass met the reflection of his face.

He traced a line of red across his mouth in the mirror.

It formed a smile.

[unstabull]

Thinking again of a post I saw saying that crona "clearly needs mental help NOT a friendship," and I really severely disagree with that. For one, none of the adults around crona are willing to extend such help. They're kinder to its abuser than they are to crona itself. Secondly, having a friend when you're being abused and have been alone for so long is exactly what you'd need. I was once again reminded of this comment whilst reading the book "The Body Keeps The Score" about childhood trauma. This quote particularly reminded me of crona and maka.

this is exactly what maka was trying to be for crona, a deep loving relationship. She wanted to save them and show them how to feel safe. And if she'd been allowed, I know she could have saved crona from the extended abuse and subsequently saved it from having to trap itself on the moon alone, to suffer more abuse. which it only did for her, for maka. Because she's the only one who ever reached out to it, and the whole world matters less.

[happiness-of-the-pursuit]

2023 Fic Round Up (Part 1: Fic List)

I have been tagged in about a million different round ups of sorts, so here's Part 1: A Comprehensive 2023 Fic List sorted by month posted (if a multichap, I listed it the first month it posted), featuring the major details and a single-sentence summary/quote (so a fun challenge for me).

I'll post Part 2: Favorite Quotes and Part 3: Channeling Nora Holleran to Bring You My AO3 Data over the next two days (for the data I want to wait til the last possible day).

Without further ado, here is my 2023 Fic List:

January:

Nothing, I was still a lurker.

February:

Prince Henry and FSOTUS Alex Claremont-Diaz Answer the Web’s Most Searched Questions (T, 2.4K, YouTube Script Fic)

10 Things Alex Claremont-Diaz Can’t Live Without (T, 3K, YouTube Script Fic)

10 Things HRH Prince Henry Can’t Live Without (T, 2.5K, YouTube Script Fic)

March:

Prince Henry and FSOTUS Alex Claremont-Diaz Take a Couples Quiz (T, 5K, YouTube Script Fic)

The Super Six Take a Lie Detector Test | Vanity Fair (M, 7K, YouTube Script Fic)

Baby's First Pride (E, 10K, WIP Multi-Chap)

Post-canon, canon-compliant (ignoring bonus chapter) look at the Super Six celebrating their first pride after the emails—I want to come back and finish this (I got interrupted by Life) but my writing has evolved a lot since March and I'm daunted by all the editing I'd have to do, lol

ALEX CLAREMONT-DIAZ COMMUNES WITH HIS ANCESTORS WHILE EATING SPICY WINGS | Hot Ones (T, 3K, YouTube Script Fic)

April-June

Trying to survive the end of the school year as a teacher before I left my job :)

July

PRINCE HENRY SENTENCES US TO THE DUNGEONS WHILE EATING SPICY WINGS | Hot Ones  (M, 3K, YouTube Script Fic)

August

FirstPrince Sings Queen, Lil Nas X, and Taylor Swift in a Game of Song Association | ELLE (T, 2.5K, YouTube Script Fic)

Claremont 2008 (M, 26K, Complete Multi-Chap, Canon Divergence)

A world where Ellen gets elected in 2008 instead of 2016, and the friends-to-lovers path that puts Henry on. If you want to relive the early 2010s, enjoy epistolary fics, or want a glimpse of a world where Alex & Henry go to college together, you might like this.

September

How well you play...that's up to you (M, 4K, FirstPrince Week)

Grey's Anatomy-Inspired AU, where Alex & Henry are both surgical residents—currently a one-shot, but I plan on writing a multi-chap prequel for this at some point.

Keep this Love in a Photograph (T, 2.6K, FirstPrince Week)

Post-Canon: Henry finds Alex's old photo album and they take a stroll down memory lane.

The Starwand (T, 1.7K, FirstPrince Week)

Three vignettes from Alex's life (two featuring Henry) where a sparkler makes an appearance—both a kid fic of Alex and Alex with his kids.

Somebody Call 911 (M, 2.4K, FirstPrince Week)

College AU where Alex is sneaking around with Henry behind his roommate's back—until it all goes to shit.

October

Sets on the Beach (M, 4K, FirstPrince Week)

Crack Treated Seriously, Alex and Henry are on rival queer beach volleyball teams.

Water over Blood (G, 3K, FirstPrince Week)

Post-Canon 5+1 of five times Henry's niece loved Alex, and one time she loved Henry

L(ate) S(leepy) A(morous) T(exting) (M, 1K, FirstPrince Week)

Text-fic of a missing moment from the book, because I am convinced that Alex did, in fact, study for the LSAT (it's just more realistic if we're to believe he scored well enough to get into NYU)

November

Freaky Friday (I woke up in my enemy's body) (M, 9K, Halloween, Huh?)

Canon Divergence, Freaky Friday-Inspired Body Swap AU, Crack Treated Seriously: Between Cakegate and Alex's visit to London, the boys swap bodies and proceed to learn a lot about each other. And themselves.

December

Alex Claremont-Díaz Answers Your Questions | Actually Me |GQ (M, 2K, YouTube Script Fic)

Super Six and the Siren's Call (T, 111K Total, Posting Bi-weekly)

The Percy Jackson AU, co-written with @read-and-write- and @inexplicablymine. Quests and Greek References abound! Check out more @auntiepezzasupdates

(Dil)Do It Yourself (E, 16.7K, New Traditions Advent Calendar)

Alex attends a DIY Dildo Workshop for the holidays, where he meets Henry, who's helping to lead the workshop—and eventually, helps Alex in other ways. The tags will tell you all that you need to know.

Thanks to @rockyroadkylers @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @kiwiana-writes @welcometololaland and anyone else who tagged me that I missed! I was waiting to post all my fics for December before I did this :) Since I'm pretty late, I'll tag @ssmtskw @matherines @affectionatelyrs and an open tag to anyone who's made it this far and wants to do this!

[insanelyadd]

I’ve a feeling that Collector’s resentment of their siblings due to their imprisonment for hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of years would not probably never go away. We’d like to think that amount of time wouldn’t be anything to a being as old as the universe, a mere drop in the ocean, but… it could very well be the opposite.

Quoting Dream of the Endless, from Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman”:

“Can you have any idea what it was like? Can you have any idea? Confined in a glass box for three score years and ten. A human lifetime. Time moves no faster for my kind than it does for humanity, and in prison it crawled at a snail's pace.”

And Dream was only trapped for a few decades.

On another topic, I can see Collector seeing Luz as a much healthier big sister figure (he probably already sees King as a big brother). Reached out to them despite everything they did, and even sacrificed herself to protect them. Odds are, at least one of their siblings are going to become very spiteful of that, especially since Collector might potentially disown them for leaving them behind. Might even try to find the first excuse to end her…

“Oh, this mortal was given the Titan’s power! Abd there’s tiny residual energy from it in her body! We’d best kill her, or she’ll become half-Titan again and try to kill us! Whoopsy, them’s the breaks! Sorry, Collie!”

Oh, I don't think they were imprisoned for that long. I have some evidence to support this, so I hope you don't mind me rambling about my timeline a bit in this answer.

I think the Collector was imprisoned for 2-5 thousand years and no more than that. Bat queen very obviously was the Titan's palisman and very much was the one who built King’s island and she said it's only been thousands of years, not tens of or hundreds of thousands. King was also incubating this entire time. Also, Bill. Bill claims to have been alive to see Papa Titan die, which means he must be as old as they have been dead plus a decade or so. Since he never personally slayed any Titans, I hc he was a child during this time, and I also HC that he managed to be long lived because. Well, it's quite morbid and horrifying, but hunters do normally eat the meat of the creatures they kill. And that's how I think he could have lived for thousands of years.

Also yeah he absolutely should feel resentful towards them, since they completely fucked up everything. Personally, I feel a bit merciful about his time imprisoned, and I usually imagine that until a tablet is activated, they are completely in stasis, a dreamless sleep. If the activated tablet is destroyed and no other tablet is active, then they go back into stasis. I HC it this way because the tablet feels like a Titan made Collection spell, and Collection spells keep the Collected in stasis. Still, there was a significant amount of non-stasis time with just Belos, which is perhaps 5x longer than what Dream went through in Sandman, with my current favored estimate being 350.

You're so right, I'm sure the Collector feels like King and Luz are like siblings to him. But he might also want to not associate them that way because of past experiences.

I think, though, that the Collector is prone to being easy to forgive, and if the circumstances are right, he might forgive his siblings. Depending on your characterization of the four of them, one to all might qualify for life shattering betrayal forgiveness (infomercial voice). Like with my own interpretation of the Archivists, Satellite and Solari were both young teens when everything happened, they had no say in what happened, they argued against what the elder two chose, and they would give up everything to keep their brother safe. Especially since their plan for if their brother returns is to take him and run away from Crescent and Penumbra. I think the Collector might forgive them.

I mean, he forgave belos who lied to and manipulated him for hundreds of years, who attempted to kill him basically, who did it all again just a few hours before he tried forgiving him. It's a reoccurring character flaw, but I think if any of the Archivists would turn against the others for the Collector and/or didn't participate in what happened to the Titans, then there might be a bit worth forgiving? Since at least then, he'd have people to live with who can raise him without worry they would die before he physically ages even a single year (that's a lot of pain for a small child).

They're far too young to be living on their own. It's not good for childhood development to be without a caretaker.

But if your version of the Archivists aren't worth forgiving then. Well. Obviously, he's justified for being as resentful as he wants to be and never forgiving them. This is still the case even if some turn out to not be completely vile bastards, but the Collector’s endless forgiveness and trust just doesn't show up at all wrt to his terrible siblings. Because they still were horrible to them.

My interpretation is just one where there may be room to forgive two of the four, mostly for practical reasons like the protagonists of the series being far better off fighting only two adult Collectors especially if they have the help of another two (though they might, justifiably, not be warmly welcomed to stay or drop by whenever they want). And also, genuinely by complete coincidence, their backstories and actions all sort of put them in a gradient of culpability for their terrible atrocities, and the twins just both happen to be on the low end, with Satellite being the absolute least evil.

[extraliga-related]

Do you have any info on Eduard Šalé? I was charmed to pieces by his draft day interview on ESPN and as someone who is likely to see him often in the Pacific, I'd love to know more about him!

FAVORITE CZECH EXTRALIGA ROOKIE!! YES!!

Prone to essay, so... be warned?

Ambitious kid from Brno who was first brought onto the ice by his grandpa. Usually the youngest kid on the team since he kept on joining the next higher tier as an underager. Led to coaches not expecting too much from him, so he put the pressure on himself and made it his goal to not fall into the habit of improving just one area at a time. Quote from when he was 15:

"I'll have to keep working on everything, though. From skating to shooting to stick-handling and so on. Everything needs to be improved all the time."

and when asked about relying on his talent:

"Even those who are talented still have to work hard to get somewhere."

And now we can see where it already led him!!

______________

Got the attitude that he doesn't care about individual rankings or numbers, whether or not he's leading the top-scorer list, just about contributing to the team and succeeding as a unit. No time to contemplate the future but rather focus on each game individually and once it's done it's done, no use to dwell more than a day when all you can do is make adjustments and try again.

Was ranked among the top 5 players for the draft early on, dropped after his numbers in the league didn't add up to much (7+7 in 43 games). Criticized for not producing even though he was statistically among some of the most productive forwards given his ice time averaged about 12 minutes while perpetually being on the 4th line.

It's not on him that the league is inherently hard to play in for U20 candidates and he knows it. Wasn't deterred and kept his frustration in check even whilst enduring a 24-game drought. While the U18 WJC didn't go so well for the whole team, they came back swinging in the U20 WJC and brought home a silver medal. Did admit to crying after losing the final while a teammate vehemently tried to deny it. A kid who's in touch with his emotions! And not afraid to show them!

______________

Some Facts:

previously had the choice to decide between a football/soccer, tennis, or hockey career

was indeed among the top-scorers in Juniors (U16 -> 4th at 21+33 in 38 games; U17 -> 2nd at 27+24 in 39 games; U20 -> 2nd at 42+47 in 39 games)

was only 2nd 2005-born player to step on Extraliga ice

named Tomáš Plekanec as one of his hockey idols, scored his first Extraliga goal against him & his team

aforementioned goal happened while both the youngest (Šalé) and oldest (Jágr) player in the league were on the ice

scored a hattrick against Třinec despite only getting 10 minutes of ice time on the 4th line that game when he was 17, making him the 2nd youngest player to do so

Extraliga Rookie of the Year 2022

does not know how to celly

______________

Already got prior connections to Seattle!

The man who announced Seattle's pick is Robert Kron, another Brno native. And one of the first people to congratulate him was the Kometa Brno legend himself, former goalie and current scout for Seattle, Sasu Hovi. Speaks perfect Czech, once scored a goalie goal, and met Šalé before as he's still around whenever there's a special event (or scouting to do).

______________

Had reasons to describe his game ahead of the draft, might as well tack an amateur view on here:

Left shooting LW (with the option to switch to C) who's still growing into his size but already knows how to efficiently utilize it.

Got the agility and intelligence to read and predict the play, allowing for a commendable transition game resulting in plenty of chances for him and his teammates to score on. Actually channeling all those skills at once (throughout a full match) and cashing in on said chances is something that'll come to fruition further along his path of development.

His stick-handling/shot release is a sight to behold. Can adjust his hands/body any number of ways, fooling the opposition, and still have it land exactly as intended. That is if he doesn't hesitate too long, which has happened. Once he's got the visual analysis while maintaining a fast pace down? Better look out! Needs to apply the same initiative and foresight when skating without puck.

And that penalty shot... 👀

[archaicbro]

Mitch Marner as a case study for values-based coaching + mental aspect of athletic development:

His coach, Dan Noble, talked about the role of parenting in athlete development, and used Mitch as an example of how parents should be selective of who handles their kid's development as an athlete.

Noble cites Mitch's childhood skating coach, Rob Desveaux. Desveaux notably didn't want to take Mitch on at 4 y.o., but would eventually prove to be instrumental in helping Mitch develop (and re-find joy in hockey upon entering the OHL). [Read]

“Watching from behind the glass, Paul and Bonnie saw their son drift back into the joy he’d shown playing minor hockey. They saw the smile he’d worn when he pretended to be Sidney Crosby playing mini-sticks in the corner of the Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Complex in Bowmanville, Ont., where he’d go to watch his older brother play. The pressure was gone. He was home, having fun, playing the game he loved. “There’s no problem here, Mitch,” Desveaux told Marner after they got off the ice. “You just have to get back to normal.””

Noble refers to that scoring slump in London. He observes that what Marner needed was "to remember what his game is, and what makes him special. It wasn't like he was broken, he just needed a reset."

“Even [when] I look at Mitch as a kid being at the Hill Academy, to being just rambunctious, energetic, and transitioning through his time to London, he'd face (?)—and this is the one that we always talk about, which I think is pretty cool—is that Mitch has gotten better every year of hockey. He never stays the same.

There's always been something that he's done or added. But when I think about it, like in London, he hit a scoring slump, his first year there. First time in his life, I don't know how many games it was, but he had no points and was just struggling.

This is pretty well-documented. He left, came home, went back to his coach, and all they did was reset, they went through this reset process, and talked about his game. And it wasn't like, skating around cones, or drill-based—it was his mindset. He needed to remember what his game is, and what makes him special.

It wasn't like he was broken, he just needed a reset.”

Noble notes kids should be able to own the process, and parents have to ensure their kids DON'T believe they're better than anyone on their team. Kids should also be encouraged to have a role on their team, and learn how to be accountable about their interactions.

Quoting a mentor: "If your child never played sports higher than the level they're playing right now, what would be the things that you would want them to take from this experience?"

He also notes that, in his interactions with his own son, he ensures to let his son know that he could call his old man out if Noble gets too intense, so they could have a very open dialogue about it.

Interestingly, Noble also talks about the importance of complete recovery for athletes (i.e., you're off = you're off), and identifying training objectives (i.e., specific training objectives to get desired outcomes v "get stronger" platitudes). [article]

“"It's tough," he said of the move. "I got to thank my [personal] coach Dan Noble for that one. That's a lot of groin stuff [we do] in the summertime. I try and take care of myself the best I can and keep my body loose. [I'm] kind of loosey goosey out there I guess. I always joke around with [Alex Kerfoot], the best groins in the league. (Smiles) But knock on wood."“

From Noble:

“Here's the funny part. People would look at a guy like Mitch... Even how much Mitch skates, like, Mitch won't step on the ice until mid-June, late June, and even then it's very light. They (Mitch and Connor McDavid) understand that less is more.”

More on Marner's physical development: Noble repeats what's been said about Marner's training in response to comments he's received his entire life about his size.

"He had the mentality: "I've got to go in there, and prove people wrong."" [Other quotes]

“Part two: He's always been told he's too small. At every single level. They've said that he'd never be able to do what he had done at the previous level because he's too small.

When he got to the Leafs the first year, they're like, wow, he needs to get stronger, he needs to put on 20 pounds. They want him at 185 lbs. I'm like, he's 156 lbs. This is insane.

I just said to Mitch: You need to remember who you are as a player, and what makes you special. And we stuck to our process. And we adapted—but he had the mentality: "I've got to go in there, and prove people wrong."”

That kind of mental toughness extends to Mitch Marner's outlook on constant setbacks, including the playoffs, and accountability:

“Every year, there's been adversity. Last year, with the playoffs exit, there was adversity. It's the thing, he's never looked to be bailed out.

Mitch, it's always been going back to "I need to get better." It's not work harder, he's like, "What do I need to do to get better?".”

Mitch's willingness to evolve his training to become a better hockey player has been noted by Sidney Crosby's long-time trainer, Andy O'Brien, who praised Marner's physical and mental adaptability. [A little reference to the onside thing mentioned by Marner above]

He [Andy O'Brien] talked about how Mitch is adaptable as a player from a physical perspective, but also a mental perspective. And he talked about our training style.

And I think, again, this is a part of, the on-ice part with Rob and I. Rob and I coach very similar, but Mitch is always given a problem to solve. It's never "Here's a piece of paper, follow this.". In a lot of our warm-up stuff, it involves things from a cognitive level, it involves things from a physical level.

There's no rep count—[there's] working through this, and finding it. Doing a front roll to a single leg jump. It's just warm-up, but then you watch him do stuff like what he did this year, how he stays onside and does the splits and spins around. People are like, how [did] he do it? These are the types of things that we do in our training.

We still lift weights, we still squat, we still do all that other stuff, but we build the mortar between the bricks, mentally, and physically.

Bonus: Variation of the front roll to single leg jump Noble mentioned; except here, Mitch goes > forward lunge > back roll > single leg rise [Video]

The host cites a study where the top 10% of athletes across major sports leagues (e.g., MLB, NFL, NBA, etc.) said they prefer to have guidance from their coaches; he notes the study's implications for child athletes.

Mitch exhibits this complete trust in his trainers, but it took TIME.

There's also an element of play to Mitch's training. Blending traditional methods & what can make him better while staying true to what makes him exceptional.

Noble: “There are some times where I won't tell Mitch what we're doing today. I just throw him curveballs. He'll know the theme—he always understands that, but sometimes it's about creating chaos within that environment. Sometimes it's about creating routine and structure, and then sometimes it's about pushing them outside their comfort zone and then having them do something they hate doing.

And I think that's [the] part people miss. There is so much more to just getting bigger, stronger, and faster. If bigger, stronger, and faster was the only tangible factors to performance, then the guys that test the top of the NFL combine would be the best player every year, and we all know that's not the case.

That's a piece with me with Mitch. The other thing though, Mitch has a like, with myself and Rob, Mitch has never said no to anything we've asked him to do, because he trusts us. But it took time to build that trust. It took time for us to understand him as a human, him to know we care about him.”

From The Athletic:

Cirelli, 24, and Marner, 25, are friends who have trained most summers together in Toronto since they entered the NHL. It’s a pretty eclectic and dynamic group at Dan Noble’s Noble Sports & Performance, also including Michael Dal Colle, Taylor and Darren Raddysh, and Ciampini, who played last season in Austria. They’re like a “band of brothers,” as Ciampini put it, with Marner and Cirelli the alphas when it comes to competitiveness, battling in everything from handball to “H-O-R-S-E” to medicine ball volleyball.

Noble talked about creating an environment conducive to learning, where children feel cared for by their peers and teachers.

He also notes that the real wellspring from mental resilience and mental toughness is from having connections.

“And I think that's where a lot of people miss. There's a study based on learning in the classroom. The number one thing that kids need to learn, or to be in the most conducive learning environment was they need to know that peers care about them, and that their teachers care about them. Those are the most important things. Didn't matter what their educational qualifications were, the types of technology, it was caring and connection.

And someone talked the other day about how mental resilience and mental toughness is so misguided. In the US, you see the shit they do in football, and it's not doing anything. And he (unknown), I'm a big believer in this, is that mental toughness and reslience comes from connection. When you're connected to something, connected to a bigger purpose, is that you know "I'm gonna jump in front of a shot for this team because we're connected and I care about this, I care about this team, I'm connected to the big picture that's been painted".

And that's what we try to build within our program, is that there's a connection to a bigger purpose here.”

Lastly, Noble notes that while he's sure Mitch will leave a lasting legacy, Mitch's impact on the people he cares about is of great personal importance to himself.

“As much as a guy like Mitch is gonna leave off a lot of records, and stats, and a book one day, and hopefully a Stanley Cup ring, the impact that he's had on his teammates, the impact that he's had on his family, his friends, his people, is far greater and what really truly matters to him.”

My personal takeaways:

1) Child athletes are CHILDREN FIRST, and must be developed holistically (e.g., taught they're not better than anyone else on their team, to have a role that supports their teammates, to listen to their bodies and trust their instincts, etc.)

1A) Corollary to that, children should be able to trust the adults in their life. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's so incredibly important, not only to child athletes, but children across their spectrum to know that adults can provide them stability as they grow up.

2) A recurring theme I noticed: Mitch's problems aren't about his skills, it's his mental state. From age 10, to his scoring slump in London, to 2018/19, and 2021, all of his slumps are attributable to mental slumps AND the need to redirect his focus. [Twitter] [Tumblr]

“Coach's Comments: People are naturally drawn to Mitchell and he has a unique ability to make those around him better. He is a gifted athlete and demonstrates a clear love to participate in all sports and training activites. He is extremely energetic and highly competitive but at times he needs to be refocused and directing his energy accordingly.”

But once he comes home, resets, and gets reminded that he's loved, and that hockey is supposed to be fun, he bounces back.There are better quotes for this, but linking the Zeus thing because it's recent, and quite frankly, endearing [Sportsnet]:

“I don't have any kids, and people are probably going to think I'm crazy, but, yeah, it's my guy," Marner explained, en route to history.

"He doesn't have a damn clue what I do for a living. He doesn't have a damn clue what anyone thinks about me. He just loves me for being his dad and buzzing around outdoors with him. So, that's why I put him on there — for the little remembrance to have fun.”

“Just try and do what he does out there at the field. Just buzz around and chase down the ball and be a big force.”

I have A LOT of thoughts about this, but I have work :)) So I'll end this thread here for now.

Huge thanks to Molliteum's The Difference Maker Podcast for the great interview with Dan Noble.

Podcast: Apple | Soundcloud | Youtube | Spotify

If you want to learn more about Coach Noble's training philosophy, follow GRIT Athletics, the performance center he founded with Mitch Marner. It's worth noting Noble also works with Anthony Cirelli, Erin Ambrose, Brianne Jenner, Natalie Spooner, and Laura Stacey, among others.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube

[postmariannizm]

such a great quote. from The Body Keeps the Score

[trenchgardens-ooc-ooc-ooc-ooc]

Ahem. May I order a bit of uhh 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and a side of 25 for Calixtus? :>

YES!

What memory would your OC rather just forget?

Realizing that they were never as impartial as they thought, and everything that came after that. Their scale breaking, their self punishment, all of that.

But if they had the choice, they would forget all their life from the Nuclear Plant and just keep the few times they had positive interactions with their siblings. Doodle chains, notes left between swapping, the drawings they hid between the sarswapagus and the wall, stuff like that.

What's something about your OC that people wouldn't expect just from looking at them?

Man. If you already know about cherubs? probably how social they are. I don't think it's a nature thing nearly as much as a nurture thing. They, as a mediator cherub, know that their life is dependent on keeping their black and white counterparts from killing themself to kill the other, a very very real threat. They have an extremely fine tuned, almost hair trigger, ultra specialized sense of when a storm is brewing. An intuition about when they're going to swap back and see Calfuray's dollhouse covered in slime, or Calbhach's chemistry set covered in claw marks. It kept them alive in the Plant, but it's so specialized to their siblings that in a social area with other people they get so many false positives. And resolving conflicts was a universal life or death situation for them, so if they can't resolve a conflict, they start to spiral pretty fast. Their body goes into adrenaline mode.

What is your OC's fatal flaw? Are they aware of this flaw?

Their devotion to settling scores is going to get them killed one day. Especially with their siblings. Or at least it would have if the trolls didn't help them. They're always riding on the coattails of their siblings. They know they put themself in danger by trying to appease them, but they've yet to process that its not life or death anymore, that they can just let their siblings figure it out on their own.

When scared, does your OC fight, flee, freeze or fawn?

Fawn. Fawn so hard.

How far is your OC willing to go to get what they want?

What they want? Not far. For most of their story their own self is basically a footnote. "and also calixtus was here." What they feel they need? to the ends of the earth. They do really stupid shit to follow their siblings around.

How easily could your OC be convinced to do something that goes against their moral compass?

It would be extremely difficult, and they would need to feel like they've been punished enough after. They have to feel like they gave their pound of flesh, sometimes literally, depending on how much cherub eyes weigh.

What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

They got so much more scared. Originally they were way more calm about everything.

Would your OC ostensibly be able to get away with murder?

God absolutely not they would turn themself in.

Do you have a specific lyric or quote which you associate with your OC?

Not sure, but I feel like Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears, and Thumbnail - Louie Zong & BDG are very Calixtus songs.

My songs for their siblings are Alien Blues - GAWK for Calfuray and Presser Diamond Co. - Teddy Hyde for Calbhach.

What's an AU that would be interesting to explore with your OC?

Human au, though I just got the idea of a Rain World Iterator au and thats gonna be in my brain for a while... and a Gem (SU) au... theyd be like some kind of color change gem i think.

What is your OC's weapon of choice? Have they ever actually used it?

I said this before but i think its 1/4staffkind. aka rodkind i guess.

Is your OC self-destructive? In what ways?

My oc tore out three of their eyes out of guilt and continually sacrifices their mental stability for two people who really do not seem to care for them, and do not treat them well in the slightest.

If you met your OC, would the two of you get along?

I don't know... Hm. I'd try to be friendly, I think we would end up like most of my classmates where they know me and kinda like me but we arent really friends?

How does your OC want to be seen by other characters?

Impartial, or not at all. They're agoraphobic. They have alexithymia like 1340s Europe had the black death, their exterior is just an extention of their inner self though and they just... can't deal with the horror of being perceived, especially by their siblings. They can't perceive their Self, so they don't trust any of their gut instincts on what is right or wrong or correct or not, they just accept what people say about them, hold it as fact. Calfuray says they never treated her caringly, so that must be true.

Does your OC have a faceclaim? If so, who?

My oc's faceclaim is... YOU!!! under all that skin :0)

What is your OC's pain tolerance like?

Bad.

What is the worst thing you have put your OC through story-wise?

Yes.

Is your OC more cold and detached or up close and personal?

They try to be as detached as their siblings are, but uh. Fail.

How does your OC behave when enraged?

This is the first time I have ever considered Calixtus experiencing this emotion...

I think Calixtus is scary when enraged.

Does your OC have a tendency to get jealous? If so, how does this manifest?

I think they do. I think they get kind of clingy.

Does your OC have any illnesses or disorders? How do they handle it?

OCD, they don't handle it very well, I don't think they realize its a problem until Continua at the least. I feel like Lykoii would recognize it as something and they'd end up trying to become ok with unbalanced, unresolved, and nuanced situations. and also not flipping the lightswitch an exactly equal number of times in both directions. Stuff like that. (they cannot handle asymmetry in their own actions, experiences, and living situations, if they lose track of if they opened the last door with their left hand or their right hand they might have a panic attack)

What character alignment would you consider your OC to be?

Lawful Neutral.

What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

Guilt. also guilt. points at their blindfold...

What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?

They could have decided that the Pressure of Calfuray's inevitable predominion didn't need to be on the scales...

What is your favorite thing about your OC?

I fucking love cherubs. I love horrible nuanced sibling situations, I love lateral hermaphroditism in sexually dimorphic species, its such a fun design structure, I just love this creature.