#real lock and key jewelry

[dumbass-fae]

✨️🪞Glamour Magick🪞✨️

Glamour magick is a spell that you cast on yourself to change how others perceive you. 

The key to this working is to manifest your intent. It's a placebo effect. If you believe it is real, it will become real (in a sense). 

Normally glamour magick is preformed while getting ready for the day, night, or an event (school, date, outing exc. exc.) Which means it blends into the mundane. 

You can create oils and blends anything your heart desires, even magickly infused foods and drinks, or you can use what you already have: shampoo, hair brush, makeup, moisturizer, toothpaste exc exc.

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A good place to start is with:

color magick/correspondences

♡Red- confidence, romantic love, strength 

♡Pink- self love, kindness, platonic love, softness 

♡Orange- creativity, energy, sucess

♡Yellow- happiness, joy, positivity 

♡Green- luck, healing, money manifestation 

♡Blue- peace, calm, clairity, communication 

♡Purple- imagination, intuition, peace

♡Brown- friendship, security, stability 

♡Black- protection, banishing

♡White- clensing, peace, truth

♡Silver- healing 

♡Gold- sucess, wealth

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Moving on, we will get into more correspondences/enchantments in glamour magick. 

Bath/Body 🛁

• Shampoo- clenses negativity 

• Conditioner- restores positivity 

• Body scrub- removes negative energy

• Lotion- (varies by scent), softness

• Hair oil/ leave in conditioner- protection 

• Deep conditioner- restores positive energy 

Skincare 🪞

• Facial cleanser- removes negative energy 

• Facial scrub- clenses negativity 

• Moisturizer- protection, restores positive energy 

• Serums- (varies by ingredient), locks in good energy 

• Spot treatments- conceals what you do not wish to be seen 

• Eye masks- clairity

• Lip masks- sweetens your words 

• Suncreen- protection 

Makeup 💄

• Mascara/eyeliner- see through lies, enhance your eyes beauty 

• Lip products- people will listen when you speak, sweeten your words/influence

• Eyeshadow- (varies by color)

• Concealer- to hide what others should not know 

• Highlighter- to apear more radiant/glowing 

• Blush- to appear innocent and soft 

Other 🐚

• Toothpaste/Toothbrush- clense negativity

• Hairbrush- remove negative energy 

• Nail polish- (varies by color) 

• Glasses- to see what others cannot 

• Hair- Braid your hair with your intentions 

• Perfume- (varies by scent) 

• Clothing- (varies by color) 

• Jewelry- (varies by intent) 

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Remember, affirmations and enchantments are key to glamours 

• say or think corresponding affirmations while doing your skincare or makup 

• enchant everything you use with intentions, you could even put sigils on them 

• enchant your jewelry for a specific purpose

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This is from my personal grimoire, thus my own opinions on glamours.

you can reblog with other glamour related tips and tricks 💕

[the-soliloquies-of-sadists]

#392

“Well Lucas, I had pretty much given up on you.  But here you are.  And for some reason, you are in my home wearing clothing.  This is not the way to beg me to allow you to service and serve me once again….  That’s better.�� You will need to be disciplined for that.  Remind me before you leave to punish you properly….

“I see the envelope.  Hand it to me. 

“What the fuck are you doing.  Get back there and crawl to me.  It may have been only a few months since I dismissed you, I can’t believe you are forgetting the basics.  Don’t make me regret offering you a second chance.

“Atta boy.  I was surprised when I got the call from Dyson at his leather shop telling me that you were in and wanted to be fitted for that cock cage.  Get back on your knees and present your pecker to me….  Eyes down.

“Dyson did a good job.  Most cages aren’t fit well.  Faggots can easily pull their shaft out and give it a tug.  This one is nearly impossible.  And after I pierce that dickhead of yours, the cage will work even better with the lock, as the jewelry secures you inside.  Your useless pecker won’t be coming outside to play for a long, a very long time.

“This envelope doesn’t look tampered with.  That’s good.  It contains a pair of keys, each in its own smaller envelope.  On the back, Dyson signed his name across the seal….  Here you go.  Add this envelope to your pile of clothes.  That’s his way of telling me the key is secure.

“That envelope, or one that I markup, is to be always with you.  If there is an emergency, a real emergency, you may open it up and remove the cage.  If that should happen, I am to be notified immediately.  If you can contact me prior, do so.  You got that?

“Good boy.  Come with me down to the work and playroom.  You may walk. 

“…This is my key here.  Come over to my worktable.  See all the keys I have?  There’s 18 here.  Yours will be number 19.  Each are screwed down.  That’s why I have this drill here. 

“…There.  Yours is now just like the other slaves’ keys.  None of them are marked.  And if you notice, none have been unscrewed.  The reason for that is that all screws are stripped so they can’t be easily removed.

“I said there are 19.  Sixteen of them are the keys to slaves that have walked away from serving me.  That option is always available to you.  Number 8 is on the other side of the country.  You’ll meet number 15 next weekend.

“Now that’s done.  It’s blumpkin time.  Come with me into the shitter….  And don’t worry, I’m not going to shit in your mouth.

“Help me take my pants off….  You better be ready to do this.  You back out now, you better just go away,… permanently.

“…Kneel there….  Here, get that mouth over here.  I see you are weary.  To take your mind away from the idea of blowing me while I take a dump, let me give you something you can focus on.  I need to piss real bad.

“Get your mouth on it.  Man, you have a very talented tongue.  Now hold still.  There!  That feels so good.  Going forward, I want to have all my piss go through you first. 

“You’ve been drinking me on every visit.  It only makes sense.

“You hear that?  You smell that?  You get to smell my rank farts before I do.  Heh heh.

“I can tell you are squirming on the inside.  I know you are repulsed with the idea.  Good.  You knew this moment was going to be happening from day one. 

“I’m done pissing.  Go ahead and suck.  …To the root.  You know how I like to be blown.  Do it. 

“When I first brought you home from the bar, I fucked you the entire weekend.  Your answer to two questions led us to today.  I asked you what your favorite part of your time here was, and you said that you liked the non-stop fucking of your ass with my gigantic dick. 

“Every time you came by afterwards, I could tell you wanted me to fuck you long and hard.  I purposely haven’t.  I told you that I don’t fuck after the first time, unless you agree to give me something in return.

“It’s all about balance.  You want something from me, you have to offer a sacrifice.  I told you I demand a form of monogamy from you.  That would be monogamy of your dick or monogamy of your cunt.  You could have any man I allow have access to your dick, even yourself, and that your cunt would only be used by me.  A lockable butt plug would be installed.  Or, you could have your cunt available to any man I allow, and your pecker would be unavailable and locked up to all, again even yourself. 

“Seeing you in that cage tells me that you made up your mind.  Going forward, you’ll service men who will give you their loads.  Next weekend you and I will be going on a fishing trip with slave number 15, where both of you will serve and service me and a few of my buds.

“The second question I asked you that night, was what your limits were.  You remember what the only thing you listed?...

“No. No.  Keep up with the blowjob.  Don’t start easing up.  Give it the attention I deserve.  Yes, there you go. 

“You only gave one limit.  It wasn’t animals or kids or women or even something really gross like dead people.  Those would be an immediate no for me too.  No, you just said ‘poop’. 

“No, I’m not going to make you eat out of the toilet bowl, so you can relax.  In fact, let me flush that down.

“Sit back.  Keep your eyes down.  I need to finish up here….  Oh fuck.  I’m out of toilet paper.  I forgot to get some when I was out.  Damn.

“Come with me back into the playroom….  I said, ‘Come with me.’  Lay on the fuck table.  I need to plow that hole.

“Well, that got you smiling.  Yeah, I just hate to see an erection go to waste.  Especially considering the amount of throat slime you put on it. 

“Reach up and hold your legs….  There’s the cunt.  And here’s a little gob of my spit.

“Right to the root!  Goddamn!  Like I told you on that first weekend, your cunt was made to be fucked.  It takes the long dicking of my eight inches with just enough struggle.  That look of ecstasy on your face tells me you are enjoying this…. 

“I should be pissed off.  But I’m not.  A bitch like you should have some moments of heavenly pleasures.  These moments come from my dick taking care of your hole.  You can expect my dick in your ass two or three times a day.  Yeah, I can go multiple times.  You get this intense pleasure.  But it can stop at any time.  All I have to do is… pull out.

“Damn!  After six or seven thrusts, there’s just the beginnings of a gape.  It’s hungry for more!  It needs to be fucked.  Doesn’t it boy?...  Don’t worry, my dick will take care of your ass. 

“That’s what it will be doing day in and day out.  But that requires balance.  It can’t be all me taking care of the needs of your ass.  It has to be balanced with you taking care of the needs of mine.

“Bring your legs down.  Get off the bench and get under the rim seat.  You have some work to do.

“Don’t fucking say a word.  You do NOT want to disobey me on this.

“I see the heavenly bliss on your face went to terrifying fear in only a few seconds….  Good.

“No, lay behind me on that four-inch riser.  I don’t want your torso between my legs.  And I don’t have to worry about you beating off, not that I expect you to be remotely hard doing this.

“Your head goes between those two padded pieces of wood.  That’s to keep your head from moving side to side.  That four-inch platform is designed to elevate the seat so that it fits my legs.  This will allow me to sit on your face for a good long time.  The other thing about this platform are the two holes on both sides of your neck.  That’s where this neck lock gets secured… like that.

“You cannot pull out.  I don’t expect that to be an issue now, but later once we get to the end of your full toilet training, that’s a different situation.

“Get that tongue ready.  Stick it out.  I better feel it go to work….  Now bitch!  Lick!

“Remember, you are the one who decided this on our first time together.  You said this was your limit.  It’s all about balance.  You take care of my ass, and I’ll take care of yours. 

“You can knock off the gagging.  You are going to be down there for a while.  Reach around and stroke my cock.  Feel how rock hard I am.  Think about the fucking you are going to get once I am cleaned up.  Oh yeah.  After we are done here, I am so going to destroy that ass, just like I did that first time.  It’s all about balance.  You are gagging from disgust, and I am rock hard aroused.

“…You know, I thought you were going to say something different about what your favorite part of the weekend.  I thought it was waking up next to me both mornings, with you in my arms and my cock either in your cunt or snuggled up next to it.

“Did you like that?  Flick your tongue twice across my asshole for yes or once for no….  Thought so.  I enjoyed that too. 

“After you clean my ass, we’ll go up to my bedroom and I’ll fuck you there, just like that first weekend.  And afterwards we’ll just stay in bed for the rest of the night.  Yeah, that’s what we’ll do.  Normally slaves should be locked up, and I use that cage over there for those slaves.  But you are going to get your first night in my bed to wake up in my arms.

“You can look forward to that too.  But we need to balance out the tender caresses you will receive from me….  Keep licking….  It’s decided then.  Tenderness from your loving daddy will be balanced against the cruel beatings from your sadistic master.  And I have just the belt to do that with.  Yeah, we’ll get you welted up and bleeding before I fuck you again. “Mmmm, I like that idea.  A lot.  Let go of my cock.  I don’t want to cum too early.”

[yourheart-inmyhands]

What's your opinion on Yan! Pantalone (this man has been rotting my brain since the trailer came out😩), with a darling who just outright refuses his gifts (necklaces, dresses...) or maybe even breaks them?

Also could I be 🍂 anon? :D

Of course you can be 🍂 anon :D i love having new anons! welcome to my blog :3c

Warning: this post contains mentions of yandere-themes, including implied being held against will, mentions of being forced to wear things, and other potential topics. Please read at your own risk!

It frustrates him to no end, to him money is everything and it was something he worked all his life to achieve. Seeing you break things that cost a fortune, one-of-a-kind items worth more than your own life, it takes every ounce of strength in his body to not strike you. It’s even worse to see you just refuse them, not even caring enough to destroy them, simply turning your head and crossing your arms. 

Pantalone will try alternative methods, instead of simply presenting you with the gifts, he just sneaks them in with the rest of your things. Sometimes he even asks the other Harbingers to gift them to you just to see how you’ll react. It’s subtle at first, a ring or pair of earrings tucked in with all your other jewelry, it’s a perfect fit amongst everything else, looking like it belonged there.

It only escalates from there, with more obvious things like shoes and clothing items making their way into your wardrobe, a new decorative piece for your bedroom, large ornate jewelry that you know for certain wasn’t there the day prior, and much more. It’s almost suffocating the way he slips things into place as if they had been there all along.

Pantalone stares at you with a blank face, all emotion voiding his gorgeous features the second you raised your arm, launching the new necklace he had bought you at the pristine floor below. He had been expecting this, hence why the first he had given you was a fake, once intended for you to take your anger out on. He’d already visited your bedroom before coming to greet you, tucking the real one in amongst all your other jewelry. He knew you were likely to smash that one as well, but at least this way he got the small satisfaction of knowing it made it to your bedroom and sat in with all your other decorative pieces.

Your best bet to avoid further punishment is to just let him place these items in with all your other belongings. Even if you never acknowledge them, just letting Pantalone put them in your room is enough to satiate him. If you should continue to refuse, you can expect things to escalate. 

Pantalone will take to more permanent measures, buying jewelry with locks or latches that you can’t undo without a key so that you cannot remove it. Try as you might to get out of it, but Pantalone will leave you walking around in broken jewelry for a week just to prove a point. That or he’ll buy exact duplicates to replace the first one with until you grow tired of breaking them.

[strawberriianime]

Your Love Is My Drug

✰ rockstar! choso x reader

✰ cw: 18+ content, descriptions of sex, unprotected sex, nipple play, fingering, creampies, lots of dirty talk, slight choking, choso smoking & with a dxk piercing !

You clutched your phone sighing looking at the concert tickets your best friend had shoved in your face. "My favorite band is coming and you have to come with me! I don't wanna go alone!" she exclaimed squeezing the tickets and jumping up and down. "Yeah, fine I'll come." you smiled slightly as she hugged you tightly. "It's Friday, at 8:00 pm we can meet up at the venue! I'll take both tickets with me, but I'll see you later bye!" she waved walking out your front door. You flopped down onto the sofa chair pulling your knees to your chest laying in complete silence nothing but the tick tick of the clock on the wall filling the room. Friday. The concert is in a couple of days, giving you 4 days to prepare. If it wasn't for your friend you definitely wouldn't go, but being the good person you are you would hate to disappoint her.

Friday

The day has finally come, instead of counting down days, you were counting down hours, minutes even seconds. Dragging the sheets from your body, considering you laid in bed all day wasting time and made your way to your shower stripping the clothing you had lounged around in. The warm water slid down your skin as you exfoliated and washed your body. You did your skin care as well before turning off the shower and wrapping a fluffy white towel around you. Drying and moisturizing your body, you begin putting on your outfit and your jewelry. After styling your hair you looked at the time 6:26, meaning you need to get a move on. Putting the last few belongings in your purse, you grabbed your keys locked your door, and made your way to the venue. Fortunately, it was close to your apartment so you could walk there. Upon arriving, you could see the large crowd of fans some wearing merchandise, some dressed as their favorite member but you were looking for your friend. Almost on cue, there was a tap on your shoulder causing you to look back at the unknown person. "I'm glad you made it! C'mon let's go check-in, we got really good seats!" she grabbed your hand dragging you through the crowd.

Just your luck, the seats were in the front row giving you an up-close view of the members. The stage was still empty as music was being played through the venue to warm up the crowd. "Ah! I can't wait to see Mahito he's my favorite!" your friend squealed as the lights began to dim, spotlights replacing the main lights. You twisted in your seat nervously as you heard the riff of a guitar watching as four people made their way on stage. The crowd began cheering loudly, almost louder than the music that was playing on stage. Smoke filled the venue as the lights flashed down on the members causing the fans to scream even louder than before. "I can't believe I'm seeing Mahito in person in real-time!" your friend exclaimed causing you to chuckle. Looking up at the stage, your eyes were met with the member who had his hair pulled up into two spikey pigtails. You quickly looked away, shuffling In your seat once more. As the show went on, you prayed over and over again for it to end and finally the lights came on. "Aw I can't believe it's over already, I love The Cursed Spirits is it bad I want to put tickets to their next show too?" your friend sighed as she followed you out of the venue. "Well goodnight, get home safe okay." you smiled at her softly hugging her. Just as you turn around you feel your phone buzz.

*new message from +1 (867) 584-5421*

___? *read*

You sighed ignoring the message, feeling your phone buzz once again.

*new message from +1 (867) 584-5421*

I know you read my message. Just talk to me...please? *read*

*new message from +1 (867) 584-5421*

Please, I will send a security guard down to escort you just wait somewhere. I just want to talk to you, please.

Fine. I'm standing out front. *send*

You sighed once more standing with your arms crossed and waiting until you were approached by a bald man with a goatee wearing a pair of black glasses. "Are you _____?" you nodded your head in response as he led you to a black sprinter that was parked in a dark alleyway. Getting in, you were the only passenger to your luck. He slammed the door before hopping in the driver seat and pulling off to who knows where. After about 15 minutes, the van stopped and the door opened. Looking around you were at a fancy hotel, probably the fanciest one in the city. You followed the bald man to the elevator, waiting as the music filled the silence between you two. The door opened as he led you to a room in the back of the hotel. He disappeared leaving you to knock slowly at the door.

After about a minute you hear soft clicks before the door opens allowing you to walk into the spacious room.

"It's been a while" that familiar voice rang causing you to turn your head. You let out a deep breath before responding, "What do you want?" you stared up at him. You'd be lying if you were to say he didn't get even more attractive or perhaps it's the fact that it's been too long since you last seen him. "I want to work on us," he stated. "Work on us? There is no us? We broke up six months ago." you huffed eyebrows furrowing slightly. You watched him make his to the chair, pulling out a cigarette in the process before lighting it ablaze. "That's what I want to work on. The fact that there is no us," he said blowing out the smoke and leaning into the chair. "Choso, we broke up," you replied. "And we can get back together." he took another drag of the cigarette. "I still love you. I know you still love me, if you didn't you would have gone back home and ignored me. I didn't force you to come here, I just asked nicely." he blew the smoke of the cigarette out. He wasn't lying, you did have feelings for him still. He can tell by the sudden contortion of your face that you were in deep thought.

He put the cigarette in the ashtray putting it out and made his way over to you. You felt his cool hands grab your face suddenly making you look up toward him. His soft lips made their way to your own as he began kissing you gently. Standing on your tippy toes you pulled him in closer, deepening the kiss missing the feeling of his cold lip ring on your warm lips. "Jump" he demanded as you followed his strong hands gripping onto your lower thighs. He swiped his tongue across your bottom lip making you open your mouth slightly as this tongue slid against your own. You moaned into the kiss as he began walking over to the countertop, sitting you down gently hands now finding their way to the plump of your ass. Your hands fiddled with his shirt signaling him to remove it granting you access to his toned muscular chest. Breaking the kiss once more, you quickly removed your own top and fortunately, you hadn't been wearing a bra. He peppered kisses from your lips, down to your jaw to your collar bone finally stopping at your full breast. Taking his right hand he began tweaking your sensitive buds before replacing his hand with his warm tongue making you arch your back slightly. He sucked greedily at your nipple making sure to leave the bud satisfied before switching to your left. He sucked at your left bud, using his free hand to snake its way to your bottoms pushing down the material along with your panties. You felt a finger swipe at your slit and gather the juices that had quickly formed, "So wet already. Fuck I missed you so bad." His ring finger circled your entrance accompanied by his middle finger before he pushed both fingers in causing you to let out a series of moans. He sucked at your neck as he began moving his fingers in a "come here motion" "Fuck." He groaned the sound of your own arousal turning him on even more as each thrust of his fingers released a squelching pop noise. He could tell you were close to cumming as he pulled his fingers out making you let out a disapproving sigh. "Need you to cum on my dick baby, not on my fingers." He quickly shuffled out of his pants causing his hardened dick to spring free, precum leaking over the piercing. He rubbed his dick up and down your slit using your juices to coat his tip, the feeling of the cold metal brushing against your clit was just enough to almost make you cum on the spot. You arched your back slightly, letting out a high-pitched moan as you felt him push himself into your heat. "Fuck I missed this pussy so bad" His words alone were more than enough to get your juices flowing. "Always nice and wet for me, shit have you always been this tight." he pushes into you creating a steady pace. You wrap your legs around his waist, pushing him in even deeper than before feeling his piercing nudge at your G-spot. "Ah fuck fuck fuck feel so fucking good I can't" You throw your head back as his hard rough stroked continues to make your legs grow weak. "Who's pussy is this huh?" he groans in your ear rough strokes choking you up. He wraps his hand around your throat, tightening it just enough to allow you to still breathe. "I-It's yours" You throw your head back feeling your release build up. "Pussy so wet fuck, I'm gonna cum. Are you still on the pill?" his thrust never slowed down going faster and rougher than before. You nodded your head. "Good I'm gonna fill you up with my cum, and down waste a single drop" he tightens the grip on your throat fucking into you roughly his thrust getting more sloppy. "Fuccck" With a final snap of his hips he feels you pulsate around him causing him to cum deep inside you. The room was silent as you both caught your breath, a comfortable silence. "So are we back together?"

[lullabyes22-blog]

Snippet - Scrub My Brain With Bleach - Forward but Never Forget/XOXO

Vi pays the price for snooping...

Forward but Never Forget/XOXO

Snippet:

As she moves to go, her foot catches something under the desk. It's a trunk, the wooden surface scuffed by frequent use. But the design's exquisitely ornate. The lid's inset with a mosaic of mother-of-pearl. It depicts a blue-haired sprite in a grove, a green dragonfly cradled in her palms. The motif is repeated in a band around the brass rim, where the dragonflies open and close their wings, their iridescent patterns shimmering as if in flight.

It reminds Vi of the folktales of Janna, passed into her tiny ear by Mom at bedtime. How the dragonflies were Janna's eyes, their luminous wings bearing the sparks of her magic. How they flitted through the old gardens of Oshra Va'Zaun, bestowing the Goddess's favor. How, should the light catch their wings just so, they'd grant a boon on a lucky soul.

And a kiss of fortune, upon their lips.

Jinx, Vi guesses, chose the box for its whimsy as much as its utility. She's plainly taken pains to keep it tidy. Despite the scratches on the varnish, its structure is solid, and its brass lid is freshly gilded. There's a padlock, burnished to a lustrous gleam, and a keyhole in the shape of a dragonfly's thorax. The key itself is a golden cruciform dangling off the chain that seals the lock.

For a moment, Vi wonders if the trunk is, in fact, a trousseau. Jinx hardly seems the type. Her idea of wedding finery would involve explosives more than lingerie—if she bothered to put anything on at all.

And yet the possibility's not as outlandish as it'd been while Vi was knuckling sleep-crumbs from her eyes in the guestroom.

The trunk is clearly a cherished possession. Maybe Jinx keeps her favorite jewelry here. Maybe she's got a cache of special grenades. Maybe she's hiding a skeleton. Or three.

Maybe Vi's a nosy, meddling shit.

But she can't help it. The trunk's so much like the hope-chest in Caitlyn's attic. Hers was a varnished lilac beauty, lined in rose-petal velvet, and neatly packed with sentimental relics. Her grandfather's bifocals. A pearl brooch from her mother's wedding day. Her father's favorite stethoscope.

And a threadbare pair of Vi's hand-wraps folded around a wispy strip of Caitlyn's panties.

Vi has teased her mercilessly over the last item. There was something so ticklish at the idea of the prim-and-proper Caitlyn Kiramman, with her fastidious manners and her blue-blooded airs, holding her very first fuck-me panties close to her heart—much less in the love-knot of Vi's grubby bindings.

"Just a memento," Caitlyn had squirmed, flushing scarlet. "Don't let it go to your head."

Vi smirked, thoroughly enjoying the display. "My head's the last place that's going, Cupcake. Never thought my wraps would rub shoulders with you skivvies. Let alone your granny's good silver."

"Oh, shut it!" Caitlyn snapped, flushing darker still. "If you must know, they're a reminder."

"Of what? How hard I rocked your world?"

"Not... precisely. I just wanted something real. To help me remember."

Vi was confused. "Remember what? I'm right here."

"I-I know." Caitlyn's lashes dipped. "But things could have turned out differently."

"How d'you mean?"

"That night. On the Bridge. It could have gone... terribly wrong."

"Yeah," Vi admitted, quieter. "But it didn't."

"Because of you."

"Huh?"

"Because you chose to come back." Caitlyn's eyes were shining, but earnest. "You chose to come back for me."

"It's not like you gave me a choice, Cait."

"But there was a choice." The sheen faded from Caitlyn's eyes. Only the earnestness remained. "You made yours. And I made mine. And I'd never have pictured it would lead to..." She trailed off, the flush creeping higher, except now the shyness was subsumed by an almost wistful wonder. "What I'm trying to say is: I wanted to keep a part of you with me. A part that's mine, and mine alone. So that if things ever went sideways, I could always remind myself: 'Caitlyn Kiramman, you took a leap of faith once. And it was the best thing you've ever done.'"

She'd looked at Vi then, and the naked emotion in her eyes was the sweetest torture. Vi's own face flamed. She was used to being the forward one in the flirtation game. To having the upper hand. Not being the one caught flat-footed and off her game.

"That's all the bindings are," Caitlyn whispered. "A reminder. Sometimes... even the craziest leaps can lead you home."

Against her will, Vi's eyes misted.

"Crazy leap, huh?" she managed, trying to regain her bravado. "Is that all I am to you?"

In reply, Caitlyn kissed her. Vi kissed back, a little roughly, just to prove a point.

When they parted on gasps, Caitlyn was smiling.

"You are," she breathed. "And I'd have you no other way."

They'd kissed, and kissed some more, and fallen into bed. But the shocky sweetness of the confession had never left Vi.

Not since.

Vi shuts her eyes, fighting the burn of tears again. In her hands, the trunk is heavy. The weight of a past. One that doesn't belong to her, not by a long shot. Whatever's inside is meant for Jinx, and only Jinx. Vi has no right to open it. Has no right, even, to be here.

Except there's a small voice in the back of her mind.

Wait.

Jinx's past, and the future, have always been tangled. Last night, the knot pulled taut, and her sister had nearly died. Vi had been dragged into the middle of it. So had the rest of the city. Maybe there's something in here that'll clue Vi in on how to unravel the mess. To keep Jinx from repeating her mistakes. From falling into the trap of believing her greatest failure was a childhood lapse that broke everything.

Or believing her only worthy gift is the power to fix it.

Maybe, just maybe, Vi can help.

The key fits into the lock with a delicate click. It turns. The padlock springs open. Vi lifts the lid. Inside are, in fact, mementos. But they're mementos of a life Vi's never seen. An eclectic mix of salvage, toys, and tools. Broken clocks, their innards dissected. Wind-up insects, their cogs and sprockets disemboweled. Half-empty canisters of spraypaint. A small cache of fireworks. A pile of old, dog-eared children's books.

Basically: a heap of shiny.

Vi recognizes her sister's magpie habit of hoarding glitter. The junk stuffed under Powder's bed was of a similar stripe: gears from Vander's old watch, diodes from garbage chutes, fistfuls of colored glass from the arcade, and a single, shiny golden gyroscope.

Vi's fingers touch the gyroscope, and the memory strikes her like lightning.

Ekko.

This was the gyroscope he'd gifted Powder, the twilit afternoon at the reservoir. The day he'd planted a smooch on her little sister, and stirred up a shitstorm when Vi caught them in the act. The day their world, tilting at precarious angles, had not yet gone sideways.

The day is gone, but the gyroscope is here.

Carefully, Vi lifts it out. She's stunned that it's survived the transition of past to present. The gold plating is untarnished. The mechanism is well-oiled. The tiny blue marble at the center, its facets winking, is still intact. As if, throughout the years, Jinx has treasured it more than all the deadly detritus in her possession.

Vi can't fathom why.

At the very bottom is a silk pillowcase. It's stuffed with mysterious flotsam. A small silver pendant shaped like a bird, its eyes made of tiny turquoise cabochons. A set of child-sized brass knuckles, the surfaces etched with a filigree of skulls. A plastic baggie stuffed with leaves, each one browned and crinkly with age.

And—what the fuck?

The curvature of a disquietingly sleek red object with a trigger that, when clicked, sets a row of gears whirring.

It takes a moment for Vi to recognize it as a vibrator.

"Shit," she says, and drops it fast.

It clatters back into the pillowcase, whirring. Vi switches it off, and knots the top tight. Her face smarts. She can't believe her little sister has a sex-toy. One she's seemingly designed to her own specs, judging by the unusual curves and polished contours and the silent-as-fuck mechanism meant to keep her old man from finding out.

Jinx, the Daddy's Girl. Jinx, the terrorist. Jinx, the sorceress.

Who, apparently, has been getting her rocks off.

"Goddamnit," Vi mutters. "I need to scrub my brain out with bleach."

[hbyrde36]

Chapter 1: Under My Skin

Written for the @strangerthingsreversebigbang

Art (coming soon!) by @glitterfang

Beta'd by @penny00dreadful

Rating: E | WC: 5937 | Chapters: 1/2 | AO3 Link

Not for the first time, Eddie was really regretting his decision to book a client on a Friday night, and a new client at that. 

It wasn’t as if he had anything better to do, exactly. There were no dates on his calendar, and going out to random bars and clubs on the weekends to look for quick hookups had begun losing its appeal lately.

But it’d been a long week, and he’d much rather have been getting ready to plop down on the couch with Chrissy to split a bottle of red wine while they watched Drag Race, than preparing to do a cover up for some idiot who’d gotten his girlfriend’s name tattooed on his body, only to fall victim to—The Curse. 

Ask any tattoo artist and they’d be the first to tell you, there was no surer way to guarantee a breakup than to ink your significant other’s name on your body forever. 

And yeah, it probably wasn’t fair to judge the guy before they’d even met, but there were only two kinds of people who tended to make that particular mistake—dumbasses, and hopeless romantics. He just kind of assumed his client fell into the former camp, rather than the latter.

Eddie had just started wiping down the front desk counter, which doubled as a display case for the various accessories and body jewelry they carried trying to kill some time between his last appointment and cover-up-guy, when Chrissy came walking out of her studio.

It was one of the biggest perks, in his opinion, of owning their own shop. Not only did each of them finally have their own work spaces—no more having to listen to other client conversations or fighting over a single bluetooth speaker—but being their own bosses also meant they could decorate and customize their own studios to their heart’s content. 

The main area of the shop was a bit of a catch-all, much like his and Chrissy’s shared apartment. It featured neutral walls lined with a mishmash of all the things they loved, sprinkled in and amongst odd antiques, knick-knacks, and various pieces of unique artwork. There was everything from vintage vinyl record jackets tacked to the wall, to faux taxidermy mountings of creatures that had never existed in real life. 

Entering Chrissy’s studio was a little like stepping inside a Lisa Frank notebook cover. All vibrant rainbow colors and aggressive animal print. Eddie had painted the walls himself, color matching the exact shade of fuchsia as the adjustable chair he’d custom ordered just for her. He was no interior designer so she’d taken it from there, and though the finished product was a little too bright for his tastes, even he had to admit it was still pretty fucking metal. 

Eddie’s space was the polar opposite, featuring dark stained wood furniture and a style of decor that could be best described as a slightly more grown up version of a teenage boy's bedroom. Band and movie posters lined three of the walls, but instead of being held up with thumbtacks, or scotch tape, they were neatly laid in matching frames with thick black edging. The remaining wall held a gallery of photos. Him and Wayne from their last fishing trip, one from when he and Chrissy had received the keys to the parlor unlocking its doors on the first day that it was theirs, and an old snap of him and his high school bandmates standing in front of their homemade banner, among many others.

It wasn’t until Chrissy came up to lean on the counter with her jacket zipped-up and her purse slung over her shoulder that he realized something was up.

“Don’t forget to lock up when you're done.” She said, tapping her nails on the glass. “Oh! And can you stop and pick up some oat milk on your way home? We’re out.” 

“Wait, where are you going? Didn’t you have a client booked tonight too? I thought we were in this together, Cunningham!”

“Not anymore.” She said cheerfully, leaning across the counter to rest her elbows on the glass, leaving an ink smudge on the exact spot he had just finished cleaning. He swatted at her with the damp rag and she jerked back with a giggling-gasp.

“Mine had to cancel.”

Eddie groaned. “I hate when clients do that.”

She shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me. It’s like a free night off I wasn’t expecting.”

“Not exactly free, since canceling means not paying in full.” He grumbled.

“Oh lighten up! It’s not like we’re that behind on bills or anything.”

“Tell that to the electric company.” He said, mostly to tease her, though he couldn't help glancing up at the excessively large and kitschy skull chandelier he’d found on Amazon that definitely didn’t use high efficiency light bulbs, but he had sworn at the time was worth it for The Aesthetic™.

“Why are you always so grumpy?” Chrissy asked, jutting her lip out in a dramatic reenactment of him pouting. 

Not that he was one to pout. 

“I’m not!”

“Look at your face, you're grumpy right now!”

“That's because y- you’re…” He cut himself off with a sigh. 

He couldn't begrudge her the time off, he’d be hightailing it out of there just the same if it had been him. 

“Just get out of here.” He said, conceding defeat.

She beamed. “Okay! See you later!” She said, all but sprinting to the front doors. “Don’t forget about the milk!”

“Wait, why can’t you–” He started to ask, but she was on the other side of the door before he could get the words out.

“Oh forget it.” He mumbled, stashing the glass cleaner away where it belonged. 

About fifteen minutes later the bell above the door chimed, signaling the arrival of what Eddie assumed to be his last customer of the day. 

Except, it couldn't be.

It couldn’t possibly be because the Adonis that had just entered his humble tattoo parlor was, quite frankly, bonkers hot. There was no way, absolutely no way someone had this guy—this guy—so obsessed with them that he went and got their name tattooed on his perfect body and then just… let him go. 

It was unthinkable.

“Hi, you must be Eddie. I recognized you from your Instagram.” Pretty-boy said with a shy smile.

“Steve?” Eddie asked, blinking hard, completely unable to mask the tone of disbelief.

The other man nodded.

Shit, okay.

So this was him—Steeeeeeve Harrington. This was the guy. 

Maybe there was something wrong with him? There had to be a catch, a series of very red flags or something because all Eddie could think about at that moment was, if he ever got a chance with Steve? He’d never let him go. 

Get it together, Munson!

The bright side, of a sort, was that Steve smacked of straight guy energy, so it was unlikely Eddie would even be in the running for a chance anyway. Better to just put it out of his mind.

Though, he supposed he could still… look. It's not like looking ever hurt anyone. Not that he made a habit out of ogling the clientele. Of course, none of his other customers had ever come in wearing vintage Levi’s that fit their ass like a glove, not to mention the way they fit around his–

“Eddie?”

Fuck. 

Had Steve been talking this whole time while he’d been off daydreaming about what those sinfully tight jeans might look like on his bedroom floor?

“Yeah.” A soft chuckle fell from Eddie’s lips as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “S- sorry, man. Spaced out for a second there I guess.” 

What the fuck was wrong with him today?!

“It’s okay. I was just asking if the plan was still the same? In your last email you suggested we should do this over two appointments.”

Work question… yes, good. Focus on the job! 

“Right. With what we talked about I'd like to concentrate on just the outline today, maybe a little shading, and then in six weeks or so once that’s healed have you come back for the color. If you’re still alright with that?”

Eddie could do the whole thing in one shot if Steve really wanted to sit that long, but with something like this he didn't want to feel rushed. He’d done a few concept sketches after emailing back and forth with Steve about what he was looking for, and honestly what they’d come up with wasn’t really his usual style. He could do it, he was more than capable, but he had to wonder why Steve had picked him, out of all the tattoo artists in the city. He’d seen Eddie’s Instagram, so he knew the kind of work he usually churned out. Hell, Chrissy would have been the more obvious choice for this.

Of course, now that he’d gotten an eye-full of Steve in person he was glad he hadn’t tried to pawn him off on her. He was also really hoping Steve would agree to the split sessions, it would give them an excuse to see each other again.

“Whatever you think is best. I’m putting myself in your expert hands.” Steve said, a hint of a blush coloring his cheeks.

That was… interesting. 

Maybe Eddie had been a little bit hasty in his initial straight assessment?

Steve’s deposit had been paid, and they’d already gone over pricing through email so there wasn't much to discuss as far as that was concerned, After signing some paperwork and getting the other man’s ID scanned into the system there was nothing left to do but walk Steve back to his studio and get this show on the road.

“You can go ahead and take your shirt off, get comfortable. I’ll show you the stencil I drew up and if it looks good we can put it on and get started.” Eddie said, gesturing to his client chair.

He leaned over his desk while Steve got situated, taking a second to gather his thoughts, as well as add a small finishing touch to the transfer sketch before turning back to his client. The sight made his throat go dry. 

It shouldn’t have been as hot as it was. 

At Eddie's direction, in preparation, Steve had shaved his chest. More specifically, Steve had shaved half of his chest. The side Eddie would be working on, that sported the existing tattoo, was bare—smooth as a baby's bottom. The other side was… 

It was…

Jesus Christ.

It should have looked ridiculous actually, and it was a little funny, but honestly all Eddie could think when he stared at the untrimmed side of Steve's upper body, resplendent with the most glorious chest hair, was that it was a travesty, a crime even, that he’d never get to see the whole thing grown out in its full glory. 

The lack of a shirt also highlighted the fact that Steve was incredibly toned, much more so than he had initially appeared even through his slim fit henley. 

Eddie shook his head, praying it had suddenly become an etch-a-sketch and he could clear out his thoughts by sheer force. 

He truly didn’t know what had gotten into him. It was hardly the first time he’d worked on someone he found attractive, but usually he didn’t notice it quite this much. When you pierce and tattoo for a living you get used to seeing a lot of bare skin, including occasionally, areas typically reserved for romantic partners. Professional hazzard, but it’d never been a problem for him before. He was an artist, this was his craft, and bare skin was just another kind of canvas.

He blamed it on his current dry spell, self-imposed as it was. 

It was easy enough to go out on a Saturday and find a guy or girl to bring home for the night, but he was so tired of one night stands and meaningless hookups in bar bathrooms. Where was the substance? He wanted companionship. He wanted a partner. He wanted to fall in love. 

Eddie cleared his throat and crossed the room to hand Steve the stencil, busying himself with raising up his stool to the proper height and pulling on a pair of thick black neoprene gloves while the other man looked it over.  

“It’s great.” Steve said. 

“Good.” Eddie quietly let out the breath he’d been holding. “Alright I'm gonna put this on and have you take a look at the placement, make sure you like it, then we can get started.”

Eddie squeezed out a dime sized amount of the stencil gel and rubbed it into Steve’s chest, laying the transfer paper down in just the right way so that the final design would sufficiently cover what was underneath, assuming he had scaled it right. 

It was perfect. After a quick check in the mirror, Steve agreed. 

While they waited for it to dry Eddie double checked his set up to make sure he had everything he would need for the session.

“Ready to get started?”

Steve took a deep breath and blew it out slow. “Yeah. I am.”

His reply felt heavy, like maybe he was talking about more than just the tattoo. Had they known each other at all Eddie might have asked about it, but they were basically strangers, and it wasn’t his job to pry. 

With steady hands he set the needle to Steve's skin and got to work. 

They weren’t at it for very long before Steve started to squirm. 

Eddie ignored it at first, he could tell the guy was trying hard to keep himself still, and he wasn’t really moving enough to actually disturb the work. Sometimes it took a bit for clients to sink into the feeling, to let the pain fade to the background enough that they could relax a little bit or at least be able to keep their body from trying to react to the odd sensation. But then he noticed the light sheen of sweat spreading over Steve's upper body, and would have sworn he could somehow feel the other man’s pulse quickening beneath the hand he had pressed so closely to his heart, even over the vibration of the tattoo machine.

He should probably stop and do a check-in, suggest a breather or some water. It wouldn't be the first time a seemingly tough muscle-bound guy had struggled to sit for him. 

He opened his mouth to say something about it, lifting the needle as he took a quick glance up at Steve’s face, but what he saw had the words dying on his tongue. Steve was staring back at him, face flushed, breath coming quick and shallow, bottom lip trapped between his teeth. 

That… did not look like a face that was in pain—or rather—it didn’t seem like the pain was unpleasant. 

Fuck.

Eddie flicked his gaze quickly back down to his hands, the needle, fighting the urge to look lower. 

He shouldn’t. 

It wasn’t right.

The professional thing to do would be to ignore the reaction completely. 

But Eddie was a weak, weak man.

He looked. 

Just a quick peek, less than a half-second that his eyes wandered south, and immediately he regretted it. 

Oh fuck, fuck, fuuuck.

Suspicion confirmed. Steve was hard. He was also huge if the unmistakable outline was any indication. Eddie bit his tongue, fighting back the groan that was trying to fight its way out of his throat. 

Those jeans should be fucking illegal. The only thing worse would’ve been a pair of gray sweatpants. Now he was the one sweating.

“Sorry.” Steve said, voice strained.

Eddie stilled, lifting the machine away from Steve's chest again before looking back up to meet his eyes. 

“For?”

Steve raised an eyebrow, challenging him to continue to pretend he hadn’t noticed. 

“It’s fine, really. It… happens. Everyone reacts differently to the pain.”

Steve let out a high pitched and breathy huff of laughter. “It wasn’t like this last time.” He muttered under his breath.

Eddie tried hard not to read into that, not to think about what the difference might be.

“Do you need to take a break?” 

“No,” Steve swallowed hard. Eddie watched, momentarily mesmerized by the bob of his adams apple. “But, uh, can we talk or something? To distract me?”

He sounded so vulnerable, and a little embarrassed. It was enough to snap Eddie out of his daze. The last thing he wanted was for the person in his chair to feel uncomfortable. Talking he could do, it was one of his best things. 

“Sure, what do you want to talk about?” Eddie asked casually, getting right back into his line work.

“You.” Steve answered quickly, pausing to clear his throat. “Um, I mean, did you always want to be a tattoo artist?”

Eddie chuckled. “Yeah, pretty much. I used to spend all my time, including the time I should have been using to study or do my homework, drawing, sketching, painting, you name it, and it just kinda developed from there. I gave myself my first stick-and-poke when I was about 15. My uncle was pissed. Not about the tattoo exactly, but he was worried I wasn't being safe enough about it—sanitary and stuff. Of course, he wasn’t wrong. So, Wayne took me out the next day and we got a book about it, and he bought me all the right materials. Even let me practice on him when I graduated to a tattoo machine.”

“He sounds like a really great guy.” Steve said.

“Yeah, he is.” Eddie could feel the wistful smile spreading across his own face. “Not just anyone could step in and raise someone else’s kid like that. Just wish I got to see him more. I go back to Indiana to visit him a few times a year, but it’s not the same.”

“I don’t see my family very much either, but we’re not close.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. My parents, they’re–” Steve trailed off as if looking for the right words. “Well, let's just say they're not as supportive of my—life choices, as your uncle was for you.”

“Oh?”

“I, uh, came out to them a while ago… as bisexual? They didn’t take it very well. Said I was just going through some kind of phase or crisis or something. Sorry, this is probably, like, way too much information to share with someone I just met.”

“No. it’s—Okay, maybe to a normal person it might be but I've never been what anyone would describe as normal. And… I get it.”

Eddie didn’t really have to say it. The outside of the shop sported every kind of pride flag you could think of. There were pictures right behind him on the wall of him and Chrissy at their first ever pride parade right here in the city. Not to mention his social media profiles, where he had a bi  flag right next to his age and pronouns in his bio. Steve knew, was the point, and Eddie was glad he’d felt safe enough in his shop—with him, to talk about it.

“Wayne was really good about that too.” Eddie said softly. “I’m sorry your parents weren’t.”

A comfortable silence settled between them after that and Eddie left it unbroken, better to let Steve decide which direction their conversation went from here—if he wanted to continue it. He seemed more relaxed already and his… predicament had mercifully gone down as they spoke. 

“When did you—how did you… know?“ Steve asked after a while.

“Junior High.” Eddie answered quickly, smiling to himself as he indulged in a little nostalgia. “Kinda the opposite of the usual story, I guess. I thought I was gay. I had such a crush on this boy a grade above me.  Nobody that would have given me the time of day mind you, I was a band geek and a huge nerd, but he was very nice to look at. Then he changed schools. I was heartbroken of course, which is my excuse for why I let this girl drag me under the bleachers during gym class. One second we were just sitting there talking and the next she was in my lap with her tongue down my throat.” 

“And?”

Eddie shrugged. “And I didn’t hate it. I reacted exactly the way a young boy reacts when a pretty girl is kissing them and grinding in their lap. Honestly, it blew my mind a little bit—had to reevaluate my whole world view.”

Steve hummed in understanding.

“It’s still mostly men for me but–” Eddie sighed wistfully, “Women.”

“Women,” Steve agreed reverently, letting out a soft laugh. “It was a bit more recent for me. A friend took me to a gay bar—dragged me there actually.” He started to shake his head, stopping instantly when he seemed to realize he might be moving too much.

Good boy.

Eddie smirked. “I bet you were popular.”

“You could say that. I’ve never had so many people offer to buy me a drink in my life.” As Steve went on he began to rub his hand along the chair's armrest, mindlessly drawing patterns into its surface with his long fingers.

“It’s funny, at 25 I didn’t think I had anything new to discover about myself, at least nothing big, but after that rather eye-opening evening I had to, like you said, reevaluate some things about myself. It wasn’t a huge shock I guess. Like, I had found guys attractive before—friends, celebrities, whatever, I just thought everyone felt that way.”

“Ah, the bisexual’s fallacy. Sure I think about other dudes sometimes, but only the normal amount.” Eddie said.

“How was I supposed to know it wasn’t!”

Eddie stopped tattooing as they held each other's gaze, both managing to keep a straight face for only a second before simultaneously dissolving into hysterical laughter. 

Figuring it was as good a time as any to take a short break, Eddie stripped his gloves off and slid across the room on his stool to a small mini-fridge he kept tucked under his desk, stocked with water and juice—something he always kept on hand in case a client got lightheaded.

As they sipped their drinks and both took an opportunity to stretch, Eddie decided it was finally time to put his foot in his mouth.

“So, how are you enjoying things on this side of the field? Someone as pretty as you, I'm sure you get asked out a lot.”

“No, uh, I don't know. I- I haven't really been out on any dates with guys.” Steve stuttered out nervously. “Kissed a few, but that’s all.” 

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Eddie said. He meant it too. Not only was Steve something special to look at, but he seemed like a nice enough guy. He deserved to be taken out and shown a good time. Maybe he was shy.

Steve laid back in the chair, puffing his chest out as he got back into position while Eddie slipped a new pair of gloves on. 

“Why, you offering to show me the ropes?” Steve asked, pointedly raising an eyebrow.

Eddie’s mouth went dry. 

Okay, not that shy then. Surely it was just fun friendly flirting though, right?

“Don’t tempt me.” Eddie teased back. Two could play this game.

“Why not?”

“First rule of the trade, or at least the Munson doctrine, no dating the clients.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Steve said, and without even looking up Eddie could hear the smile in his voice, a hint of–challenge accepted–in his tone.

The next hour flew by as they continued to chat, both remarking on the differences between small town life and city life, as well as lamenting how expensive it was, and how neither of them thought they’d still be living with roommates in their mid-to-late-20's.

For a while Eddie waxed poetic about Chrissy, who of course filled the roles of bestie, roommate, and business partner, which tickled Steve to no end. 

He told the other man how they’d met, apprenticing at the same tattoo parlor at around the same time. and wound up bonding for life almost immediately. They were total opposites on the surface but deep down they were remarkably similar. Eddie didn’t go into too much detail, as it wasn’t his story to tell, but alluded to the fact that he and Chrissy had the shared experience of being born to shitty parents, only to be raised by another family member. A grandmother in Chrissy’s case.

It meant that they understood each other more than most, and yeah, being around one another 24/7 also meant they got on each other’s nerves a lot, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.  

At some point Steve’s cell phone began to ring from where it was shoved in his front pocket. He apologized profusely for forgetting to switch it on silent before they’d gotten started, but Eddie assured him it wasn’t a big deal. 

Or—it wouldn't have been, except either it was some kind of emergency, or someone who was intent on reaching Steve immediately, and continued trying to call three more times. 

“We can take a break if you need to get that.” Eddie offered.

Truth be told he could use a little breather himself. All this time of being essentially face down in Steve’s incredible chest was getting to him a little bit, not to mention the way his forearm lightly brushed along Steve's stomach whenever he braced himself across the man’s body. The feel of their bare skin touching was almost too much, and more than once Eddie felt himself breaking out in goosebumps. 

“Yeah, I think we’d better. It’s gotta be my little brother and knowing him he won’t stop calling until I answer.”

Eddie busied himself removing his gloves and taking a long drink from his water bottle while he flipped through a few drawings on his side table, trying to look like he wasn’t hearing every word of Steve's side of the conversation. 

“Hey buddy, I'm a little busy right now. What’s going on?” 

Steve paused, listening attentively to the voice on the other end of the call. 

“Dustin, he’s not abandoning you. Just because he wants–”

Sighing as he was abruptly interrupted, Steve somehow made the huff of breath sound both annoyed and fond.

“Well, did he actually say he didn’t want to play D&D with you anymore?” 

Eddie’s head snapped up of its own volition. Did the most gorgeous man he'd ever seen in real life just say D&D?

“That’s what I thought.” Steve said with a satisfied tone. “It's gonna be fine. I’ll come see you tomorrow, okay? Tell your mom I said hi.”

“Sorry about that.” Steve said, addressing Eddie this time, rolling his eyes as he ended the call. “Teenagers.”

“Pretty cool little brother if he plays Dungeons and Dragons.”

“Oh no.” Steve groaned. “Not you too! He and all his little friends are obsessed with it.”

“I used to play all the time with a group back in high school. We still try and get together for a one-shot at the holidays when we’re all back home visiting.” Eddie paused, concentrating for a second on wiggling his fingers into yet another set of gloves. There wasn’t really all that much left to do, another 20 minutes or so and he’d be done with the outline. “Was he alright, your brother?”

“Yeah, he’ll be fine.” Steve replied as he sat back, getting into position. “We, uh, technically we’re not actually related—I'm an only child. But I used to babysit Dustin when he was younger and when he grew up I just sorta stuck around. It’s only him and his mom at home and I guess I thought… I dunno, like, maybe I could help? I drove him to his first school dance, taught him how to do his hair, shave, that kinda stuff.”

“That's… that’s really sweet, man. I’m sure he appreciates having you around.”

With every new thing he learned about Steve, Eddie felt like he was in deeper and deeper trouble. He’d been having a tough enough time keeping it together with simply lusting over a hot body, but now Steve was turning out to be this sweetheart of a guy and, client or not, Eddie thought he might just be worth breaking all the rules for. 

“He’s worried his friend group is falling apart because one of the guys is going out for the basketball team. He’s afraid if Lucas gets in good with the jocks he won’t want to play with them anymore.”

“As a former outcast and enemy to jocks everywhere, I can understand his concern.” 

“Are you saying we wouldn't have been friends in high school then?”

“Steve, Stevie, please. Please don’t tell me…” Eddie trailed off, stopping what he was doing and gasping for dramatic effect–hand over his heart. “Oh god, you were captain of the sportsball team weren’t you?” 

Steve giggled, his beautiful eyes sparkling with it. “Basketball, to be exact. I was the co-captain of the swim team too.”

“I knew it would never work between us.” Eddie tutted, shaking his head as he got back to tattooing. “Are you reformed, at least?”

“Once a jock, always a jock, I'm afraid. I’m a personal trainer now.”

It explained a lot, and the perks—pun absolutely intended—of Steve's day job were undeniable, but as hot as the mental image of him pumping iron was, the idea of Steve palling around with toxic gym bros all day was almost enough to have Eddie second guessing everything.

“Don’t worry though, I don’t like gym bros any more than the next guy.” Steve said conspiratorially. “My clients are mainly older women looking to maintain their strength and mobility as they age.”

Aaaaand Eddie stood corrected. “Lucky ladies.”

Jesus Christ, could this guy get any more perfect?

Steve shifted in his seat, starting to get antsy after keeeping still for so long. 

“Just a few more minutes, almost done.” Eddie murmured, tongue between his teeth as he concentrated on a spot near the curve of Steve’s collarbone.

“Do you do a lot of these? Cover-ups I mean?” Steve asked. “My roommate is the one who actually suggested it. For some reason I just never thought about it as an option.”

“I don’t know if i’d say a lot, but a fair few, yeah.”

“You, um. You can ask about it… If you want.”

Eddie glanced up in surprise. He would never have brought it up without being prompted, it just didn’t feel right, but he couldn’t deny he was curious, and if Steve was okay with it then–

“Okay, I'll bite. Who’s Nancy?”

“My fiance’. Well, ex-fiance’ now. We broke things off a little over a year ago.”

“That’s rough, I'm sorry.”

“It’s okay. Honestly, It’s… I should have probably seen it coming? We were high school sweethearts—got together before we really knew who we were on our own. But I was dumb and in love. I got the tattoo and proposed. I was so happy that day, but looking back it was so obvious that she’d only said yes out of pity or guilt, not because she really wanted to spend the rest of her life with me.”

The part of Eddie that believed in true love—and all that cheesy shit—was sad that a couple who had been together for so long, who had essentially grown up together, hadn’t been able to make it work. Selfishly though, a small piece of him was happy to learn that they’d been broken up for quite some time, lessening the chance that, if he did somehow gather the courage to ask Steve out when the tattoo was done, he wouldn’t be on the rebound.

“It was tough. I felt like a failure for a long time, like I was having to start my whole life over from scratch when I'd thought for so long that she was it for me, but it's actually been… good. We weren’t right for eachother, I can see that now. As much as it hurt, I'm grateful she had the courage to break things off when she did.”

“I’m glad you’ve been able to come to peace with it.”

“Getting this tattoo feels like the final step into letting that life go, y’know?”

Eddie nodded. Steve’s demeanor before they got started made so much sense now.

“Is there some significance to the design?” He asked, making his final line and setting the machine down. He wiped at the excess ink on Steve's skin, raising his head just in time to see the way the other man’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah, Robin. She–she’s everything to me. Like a best friend, but more somehow. I don’t think I really knew what unconditional love was before her. She’s like, another piece of my soul or something. I don’t know what I would do without her.”

Eddie froze. 

The tattoo design was a bird—a robin.

A robin.

For, Robin.

How could he have been so stupid! 

Of course, Steve was getting one girl’s name covered up with something to represent the new one. 

Jesus Christ, they were both idiots.

Eddie for getting his hopes up, and Steve for making the same mistake—twice. At least this time it was a symbol and not a name, so if he and the latest potential Mrs. Harrington didn’t work out, at least he wouldn't have to worry about covering it up.

“Everything alright?” Steve asked.

The question spurred Eddie back into action. He spread the foam soap over Steve’s chest continuing to clean the finished tattoo while his heart crawled up into his throat. 

“Yup. All good.” Eddie forced the words out.

That's what Steve must have meant about not going on dates, he already had someone at home. Why hadn’t he just said that before though? And why had he flirted with him? 

Maybe he’d felt funny at first about admitting to being with a woman after all the talk about being bisexual. Not that Eddie would have judged, but he knew a lot of people did—bi erasure was so real. He understood that, but it didn’t make it hurt any less that Steve had, inadvertently or not, lead him on. 

Eddie gently patted the newly cleaned skin dry with a paper towel and carefully applied a square of Saniderm over the area, smoothing it out as he gave Steve his usual spiel, albeit a little robotically, about how to care for the tattoo over the coming days and weeks.

He quickly turned his back when he was done, telling Steve he could get dressed, and feeling stupid as all hell for being this upset about a guy he barely knew. He’d felt something though, potential—a spark. It was more than he’d felt for anyone in a long time.

Steve got quiet, looking a little confused with the sudden 180° Eddie’s mood had pulled. He felt a little bad about that as he brought the guy back out to the counter, but it wasn’t as though he’d suddenly become unprofessional. He was just… no longer being overly friendly.

After confirming the date for his second session, Steve paid his balance and Eddie walked him to the door.  

“Have a good night, Steve. Call the shop if you have any concerns or questions about aftercare.”

Steve bit his lip. “Oh, I… okay. See you in six weeks then.”

Eddie forced a smile, waiting until Steve was out of sight around the corner to lock up, and slunk back to his studio to disinfect it so he could finally go home and sulk.

Chapter 2

All my thanks to @penny00dreadful for all of your wonderful beta work, and cheerleading, and support, and just generally being THE BEST 💜

[chaos-bites]

📯 Subtle Heimdallr Worship 🐏

Learn about/practice a method of self-defense (weapons included)

Own a ram horn - faux or real; own/craft real wool items (blankets, sweaters, scarves, etc.)

Light a bonfire; gather around it with loved ones or enjoy its warmth on your own

Decorate your space with fairy lights, a pretty lamp, or some kind of light fixture that you like

Keep a picture of him in your wallet

Get a candle that reminds you of him (no altar needed)

Wear jewelry that reminds you of him

Place a protective rune (or bindrune) at the entrance of your home or space

Invest in household security options (security camera, Ring doorbell, alarm system, etc.)

Have a plan in place in the case of home invasion or medical emergencies (legally storing a weapon in your home, learning CPR, or keeping a tourniquet in your car, for example)

Stay informed about the happenings in your area; keep up to date with world news (take a step back from it if it gets to be overwhelming for you, please)

Make sure to eat a good breakfast to start off your day; try to include meat, bread, nuts, and veggies/fruits if able

Drink something energizing at the start of your day, be it coffee, tea, or something else; dedicate the first sip to Heimdall by raising a glass in his honor

Start a collection of keys and locks - new and old (antique shops are a great place to find these)

Practice mindfulness and self-awareness; try to look at situations with a more nuanced and objective perspective

Have a stuffed animal ram, seal, horse, or rooster/chicken

Have imagery of gates, watchful eyes, ram horns, rivers, the World Tree, Asgard, rainbows, the Milky Way (some scholars believe it to be the OG representation of the Bifröst bridge), the sky, golden teeth, golden maned horses, swords, and shields around

Teach someone how to do something new; educate someone about a topic you're educated about; generally openly share knowledge with others

Be willing to learn about new things; be open to corrections from others; practice not taking constructive criticism personally

Learn about different logical fallacies; learn how to properly argue/debate respectfully with someone

Assert your boundaries with others; take time to learn what your boundaries are and where you draw the line

Ground yourself regularly; make sure you take time throughout your day to reconnect with the present moment

Stand up for what you believe in; attend protests or activism events (be safe, please)

Try to attend social events or hang out with loved ones; put yourself out there if you can

Step outside of your comfort zone; if you're scared, do it scared (reasonably, of course)

Drink/make mead; if unable, drink something with honey in it, such as a tea or warm milk with cinnamon and honey

Exercise/care for your senses; don't blast music in your ears, take breaks from looking at screens, sit in silence once in a while, etc.

Take your promises more seriously; try to always follow through on promises (and especially vows) that you make

Acknowledge your inner strength and resilience; be sure to appreciate and celebrate how far you've come; you've overcome before, and you overcome again

Take time to simply sit and observe your surroundings; listen to the sounds of birds, watch leaves fall from trees, notice the feeling of your feet on the ground, etc.

Practice different forms of divination (you don't only need tarot cards or runes for this, I've literally used Uno cards before; practice with a variety of forms until you find one that suits you)

Learn more about Norse runes; once comfortable, practice using them

Do things that benefit your future/make things easier on your future self (getting chores done ahead of time, setting money aside to save, looking into future careers/education, exercising your body and mind, etc.)

Engage in activities that stimulate your mind (reading, writing, solving puzzles, learning about something new, playing card games, etc.)

Learn to trust your own judgement and intuition; this takes time and comes with lots of practice which is ok

Practice learning when to speak and when to hold your tongue; sometimes it's better to simply listen

Practice finding your voice and speaking up for yourself; advocate for your needs

Explore things you find mysterious and intriguing; replace fear of the unknown with curiosity

Allow yourself to bear an air of mystery; try not to give away all the cards in your hand, so to speak

Go stargazing

-

This is my list of discreet ways to worship Heimdallr! I may add more in the future, but this is what I currently have. I hope it's able to give people some good ideas! Take care, and stay safe, everyone. 💜

Link to Subtle Worship Master list

[beanghostprincess]

Dropping some silly Shuggy content bc it's how I cope-

Shanks was found as a baby in a treasure chest. Buggy was semi-force-adopted off the streets at about 6/7. Roger really just went "Anyone gonna parent these kids" and was already signing pretend adoption papers furiously before anyone could so much as breathe.

The Roger crew tried to teach the boys school-like things, but Shanks HATED it while Buggy was just gobbling itt up like a dehydrated horse in a desert oasis.

Buggy LOVED reading (and still does in the present), but he has a soft spot for fantasy stories and fiction. He worries the others would make fun of him for it, but Shanks is Not Having That. He offers to be the one to ask for those books on the condition that Buggy read to him before bed. He acts put out and huffy about it, but Shanks can see him blushing every time he snuggles closer or asks a question.

Roger knows damn well about the truth bc he too sometimes joined story time. Buggy has that Performer Energy down to a SCIENCE.

It gets out eventually, and the crew tries to tease Buggy for it ((even though they didn't tease Shanks, and the redhead Will Remember That)). The guys ask if Buggy likes them bc he wants to be a princess, to which Shanks goes surprisingly nuclear, going on about how if Buggy was ANYONE'S princess, he'd be HIS because the princesses are smart, brave, strong and beautiful, and their knights need someone to be the brains and drive. Buggy is the brains and Shanks is his knight. Pirate princess and pirate knight!!

A few hours later, once he has successfully calmed Buggy down and Captain has punished everyone for bullying his kids, Shanks has the BRILLIANT idea of getting "married".

"Princesses can be flashy, but the warrior queen from the last book was SO COOL and I think you'd make a better queen than a princess because queens are SUPER SMART and lovely and strong and just like you!"

"You think so...?"

"Mmhm! So we just gotta make you a queen! How do princesses become queens?"

"Don't they get married?"

"Oh yeah! Then let's be married! That way you can be MY queen and I'll be YOUR king!"

They sneak into the treasury, looking for rings. There are none - at least, none that would fit. ((Shanks stole one for Buggy when they get bigger)). So they decide to do the next best thing!

They drag Roger onto the next island, make rings out of dandelions, have him officiate, and marry each other with flower rings so they're king and queen now. Then they make a wish on the dandelions.

They consider it their Real Marriage. It was officiated and everything, and they still refer to each other as Husbands ((or Wife when Buggy's feeling more femme)), and everyone is absolutely flabbergasted when it comes up in conversation.

Shanks lost his band when he gave his arm up for Luffy, but Buggy sent an 'anonymous' gift with a replacement. He wears it on a necklace now.

Buggy wears his ring on a necklace as well, or sewn into the inside of his hat or in a jewelry box he keeps under lock and key, depending on the day.

The breakup they had post-execution was smoothed over, they have an open marriage, and they still love one another in the sweetest, most cavity inducing way imaginable.

((PS, Luffy, once crowned King, mentions to Shanks that he was the closest he had to a dad. While Shanks I'd emotional, Luffy grins at Buggy and goes "so should I call you mom or dad?"))

Shooting me would've been less painful than reading this because now I am sobbing crying and shaking on the floor and I will never forget this. The whole concept about Buggy loving to read and Shanks doing it for him always makes me go insane, but the crew making fun of Buggy and Shanks protecting him without hesitating? Not even once? And telling him that they should get married? Okay. Wow. Okay. I need a second. Because this is just,,, So sweet. And Roger and Rayleigh would literally die when they told them about the idea. Like they would probably have a tiny heart attack from how cute these kids are. Rayleigh would probably go "Isn't it a bit too soon? Think about it first you idiots-" but Roger is already planning everything because his impulsive romantic ass can't wait for his kids to get married lmfao. Also, non-binary/genderfluid Buggy my beloved because me too, Buggy, me too.

[stardustbarbarians]

Enchanted

A Daniel Wagner / Samuel Kiszka fic

Summary: Sometimes it takes some meddling to see what is right in front of you.

Tags: fluff, love spell au, very light angst, low-key funny

Words: 10.8 k

Author's Note: Happy (late) Valentine's Day!! I literally got the idea for this one the day of the holiday and proceeded to write this, thinking it would be at max like 2,000 words. So, yeah, this one kinda got away from me. Anyway, this is dedicated to @ofthecaravel for being more enthusiastic about this idea than I was (she also made the cover pic so everyone say thank you, Karou). Title taken from Enchanted by Taylor Swift. Please enjoy!! <3

+++

When Danny had the idea to go to the art fair near his house, he hadn’t thought he’d be walking away with an honest to god love potion. I mean, those aren’t real, right?? It’s all just made up for awful rom-coms and Disney movies. So, when that witchy woman had stopped him and gave it to him for free, he thought nothing of it. 

He had been weaving through the various booths, eyes catching on all the colorful and sometimes gaudy wares these artists were trying to pedal. Some of them were honestly good, others were just clearly trying to make a quick buck. Danny bought a few things; a few jewelry pieces he thought were cute and a fresh squeezed lemonade. 

“Danny?” a woman had spoken up, catching the drummer’s attention. He tensed up at being called out, hoping he wouldn’t be recognized but knowing it was always a possibility every time he left his house. 

Schooling his features to be warm and inviting, Daniel turned on his heel to face the woman. She was what Danny could only describe as a “contemporary witch”, complete with long, black hair and a revealing yet classy black dress and a wide-brimmed black hat. Danny had to suppress his scoff at how on the nose she looked, glancing around her clearly witch-themed, yet populated, booth. But, it clearly worked to help sell her goods, so who was he to judge. 

“Hey!” he responded, abandoning his wandering and making his way over to her. She smiled widely at him, her eyes lighting up as he approached. 

“Oh, my god. My friends are never gonna believe me,” she rushed, her tattooed hands fluttering to her chest. 

“How about we get a picture to prove it to them?” he offered, having gone through this enough times over the years to know that that was what most people were after when they spotted him. 

She nodded, searching frantically for her phone. When she pulled it out from behind the register, Daniel noticed two things. One; her hands were shaking. Two; her lock screen was a picture of him and Sam posed together. It was a picture of them on stage, embracing and beaming at one another and - wow, is that really what he looks like when he smiles at Sam? 

They took their picture, her asking for a hug from him which he happily gave her. 

“So, what brings you over this way?” the woman - ironically named Greta - asked, leaning against the table she had set her register up on. Danny worried for a second as her long hair passed over a candle, only for him to realize it wasn’t real. 

“Had a free afternoon to myself, thought I’d check the art fair out,” he answered honestly, a shrug of his shoulders tacked on at the end. 

She nodded acceptingly. “Find anything interesting?” 

Danny held up his fingers, wiggling them to show off the rings he purchased as well as shook his cup of lemonade in front of her, smiling. She laughed, her head tipping back a bit to show off a moth tattoo that rested under her clavicles. 

“That’s all, huh? You must be pretty picky.” She looked him up and down, her eyes feeling strangely like they were able to see past his physical form. Danny blamed that on the witch-themed booth she ran. 

Danny shrugged again. He didn’t think he was, but then again maybe he was. 

“Here,” she blurted out, jumping up from her perch to brush past him to go deeper into her booth. Daniel watched as she stopped in front of a display of bowls that held vials of various shapes and sizes. Each one was sorted by color, some of them even seeming to glow which made Daniel do a double take. There was probably just a light fixed at the base of the bowl to give them that effect. 

“On the house,” Greta chirped before tossing something at Daniel. He instinctively caught it, letting out a breath of relief that he had. When he got a proper look at it, Danny realized that she had thrown him a vial of baby pink liquid that had been sealed in a teardrop shaped glass vial. The top was a gradient into Barbie pink and formed to a point, sharp enough to probably kill a man. Daniel turned it over in his hand, the liquid sparkling in the light of the sun streaming in through an opening in the tent he was in. 

“What is this?” he dumbly asked, already knowing what the hell it was. 

“A love potion,” Greta flippantly answered. When Danny snapped his head up to look at the woman, he saw the mischievous glint in her eye that never reached her soft smile. 

Daniel coughed on his own spit as he swallowed wrong. He covered it up by taking a few sips of his lemonade. He had no idea how to react to that. 

“Uhh… that’s really kind of you, but I can’t take this.” 

“Nonsense. I insist,” she pressed, waving off his concerns with a wave of her hand. 

Daniel looked back and forth between the woman and the vial in his hand, weighing the pros and cons. Then he realized how ridiculous he was being. It was a kind gesture and love potions weren’t real. 

He tucked the vial into his pocket of his jean jacket and smiled. “Thanks!” 

“My pleasure,” she answered, that devilish gleam back in her eye as well as that feeling that she was seeing through him rather than at him, “and trust me, you will be thanking me later.” 

That made Daniel chuckle a bit nervously. She was starting to creep him out a bit; time to make a quick exit. 

“Right, well. Maybe I’ll see you at one of our upcoming shows!” Danny politely suggested, already backing out the way he had come in. 

“Of course! Talk to you later!” Greta’s last sentence sent a shiver up Danny’s spine. It felt like a promise rather than a send off. 

With one last quick smile, Danny got his ass out of there and trotted down the booths to get away. He definitely wanted to toss that so-called “love potion” away now. There was no telling what was actually in it. He’d just throw it into the next trash can he saw. 

+++

Daniel did not toss it away. Instead, he forgot about it completely and left it in his jacket pocket. It stayed there for a month, silently waiting for the next time someone would wear that jacket and find it. 

“Hey, Dan!” Danny was in his kitchen taking some ibuprofen for the headache he was fighting when he heard Sam call out for him. 

With a big gulp and a gag he didn’t even try to suppress as he felt the pills catch on the side of his throat, Danny responded with a shout of his own. “Yeah?!” 

“Can I borrow a jacket?! It’s cold as balls out and I don’t have one!” 

Setting his empty glass of water in the sink, Daniel ran a hand through his curls. Sam had stopped over at Danny’s before the band’s scheduled studio time so the two of them could carpool. 

“Yeah!” he shouted back. He went through a mental checklist to make sure he had everything he needed before he left, adding Sam to the bottom of that list. 

“What the fuck is this in your pocket?!” Sam called out again, breaking through Danny’s concentration. 

“I don’t know! I’m not over there!” 

It was quiet again for a moment, Danny quickly going through his checklist again as he passed by his laundry room to grab some socks from the pile. 

“Can I drink it?!” 

Daniel, starting to get a little frustrated by Sam’s antics already, huffed out in exasperation. 

“Go ahead!” he screamed harsher than he had meant to. But, really, how the hell was Daniel meant to know what the fuck Sam was talking about. It probably was a shot of fireball or something he never drank. And if Sam wanted to be tipsy while they recorded… Well, it wouldn’t be the first time. 

“It tastes like bubblegum!” Sam excitedly exclaimed, his voice louder as Danny was just around the corner from where he was stationed by the front door. 

“That’s great, buddy,” Daniel dismissed, walking past him briefly as he went to grab his sticks from the living room. Doing the pat down on his pockets to make sure he had his keys and wallet, Daniel finally rounded the corner to his front door only to see Sam sprawled out on the ground. 

“Sam?” Danny cautiously asked, hoping Sam was just being theatrical over how long Danny was taking to leave. 

But then he didn’t answer. Or move, for that matter. 

“Sammy?!” Daniel was distraught now, tossing his sticks to the side as he kneeled down next to Sam to shake him. 

He still wasn’t stirring, but at least his chest was moving. Daniel frantically searched for a pulse, lifting up his hand to check his wrist. That was when he spotted the nearly empty teardrop shaped vial in Sam’s hand and Danny’s heart sank even further. 

“No no no no-” Danny chanted under his breath, pressing his fingers into Sam’s wrist. His heart rate slowed a bit when he was able to feel Sam’s pulse in his fingertips. He sighed deeply, feeling his shoulders sag in relief. 

“C’mon, Sammy,” Danny implored, grabbing his friend by the shoulders and began to shake him. It wasn’t hard, but it was enough to make his head loll around his shoulders. 

When that didn’t work, Danny bit his lip as his brow knit together. He had an idea, but he’d feel awful for going through with it. With another sigh, Daniel resigned himself to it. 

“I’m sorry, Sam,” he murmured, pulling his right hand off the bassist’s shoulder. He reared it back and smacked it smartly against his friend’s cheek. Cringing at how loud the slap resounded in the echo-y chamber of his vestibule, Daniel smoothed his hand back over the pink mark blossoming on Sam’s face. 

It worked, to Danny’s utter relief. 

Sam’s eyes fluttered open as Daniel caressed his fingers across the angry outline of his hand, groaning as he lifted his hand to his forehead. 

“What the hell happened?” Sam grumbled out, sitting up on his own. Danny sat back onto his heels, raking his eyes over Sam to check for any signs of danger. 

“You drank the vial in my jacket and passed out, I guess,” Daniel tried to explain, the concern leaking through his tone. Sam still had yet to look at Danny, his eyes having shut once more as he sat fully upright. 

Huffing out a laugh, Sam looked at the vial in his hand, a drop of that baby pink liquid slipping out of the opening and splattering onto the floor. He turned it over in his fingers a few times before he spoke again. “Hell of a rush.” 

Daniel couldn’t help but snort, his worries easing significantly at the joke. Sam was going to be ok. Maybe a little groggy, but ok. That Greta girl should count herself lucky nothing worse had happened to Sam or else he’d bring down hell around her ears for hurting his best friend. 

“Alright, Sam. Let’s get you up or else we’ll be late for studio time,” Danny grunted out as he hauled Sam up to his feet by his arm. 

“Right, right,” Sam quietly answered, his hair flying out around him as he shook his head to presumably clear it. 

And that was when Sam looked at Danny for the first time since he fell. 

“I’m so fucking in love with you.” 

+++

“Hey, guys, we might want to reschedule.” 

“Yeah? And why is that?” Jake was the first one to look over at Daniel. And when he did, Danny watched as his entire body went rigid as his eyes flew wide open. 

“Something wrong- oh my god.” That was Josh, this time. And just like Jake, Josh’s eyes got comically wide as he took in the sight of Danny and Sam. 

And Daniel really couldn’t blame them. He’d have the same reaction if he saw his little brother clinging onto his best friend as if his life depended on it. 

Sam had long since jumped into Danny’s arms, his arms and legs wrapped around Daniel as if he were a monkey and Daniel his favorite tree. He had refused to get down, Danny having tried to fight him in the parking lot before entering the studio to get him to walk on his own, but Sam was having none of it. Even on the drive over, Sam had tried to climb into Danny’s lap a few times all while gushing about how pretty he thought Danny was. He finally got Sam to stay in his seat after promising to hold his hand as he drove. But as soon as they stepped out of the car, it was no holds barred. 

“What the hell is he doing?” Jake asked, his eyes still locked onto his baby brother’s strange behavior. 

“I’m holding the love of my life!” Sam answered for Daniel. And if Daniel’s face wasn’t burning before, he was certain it was set ablaze by that. And the worst part was Daniel could tell Sam was using a genuine tone. 

He watched the twins look between the two rhythm section members, their lips pursing as they took in the sight. Daniel wanted to hide his face in his hands, but they were currently holding his obnoxious best friend so he couldn’t. 

“Oooooooooo-k. Umm, what the fuck is going on?” Josh had abandoned his station at his microphone, setting the equipment down on a chair to his left before he joined Jake at his side. 

Danny sighed, his eyes closing in shame. He wanted to look everywhere else but at the twins and their calculating and bewildered gazes. 

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.” Daniel let out a squeak after he spoke, Sam surprising him with kisses he placed on the side of Danny’s neck where his head was nuzzled. He tried to pull away, but Sam just chased after him with his lips. 

“Try us,” Josh answered, his arms crossing over his chest as his hip popped out. Jake was idly fiddling with his guitar, probably not even aware that he was playing at all, but his eyes never left Danny. 

With a deep sigh, Daniel launched into the story of Greta and her stupid fucking love potion. While he was explaining, he knew his story sounded made up. I mean, for god’s sake, the titular character shared the name of their band. It just sounded like he was caught in a lie. The only thing he knew would work in his favor was the potion vial that he had the foresight of bringing with him. 

It was a fight, but Daniel was able to wrangle Sam off of him and set his feet on the floor. However, the man still refused to let go of him completely. So Daniel had to live with Sam resting his head on his shoulder and wrapping his arms around Danny’s torso. With his hands finally free, Daniel was able to fish that vial out of his pocket and toss it over to the twins. 

Josh caught it, Jake watching it sail over towards his twin with his eyes. Daniel watched as they inspected it, the baby pink liquid still shimmering in the light. He pointedly ignored Sam and his embarrassing antics. Or, at least he tried to. It was very hard when he kept peppering kisses all over Danny’s cheek and neck as he spoke sweet nothings into his ear. Danny felt shivers dance their way across his skin, his veins warming at all the contact and compliments. But he refused to indulge in them. Sam was not himself right now and he would be damned if he was going to take advantage of him. But, they still felt nice. 

After a few seconds of turning over the evil liquid, Josh tossed it back over to Daniel. 

“Alright,” Jake started, pulling the cord out of his guitar, “we believe you.” 

“Really?” Danny was truly bewildered. He thought the twins were going to think it was some kind of stupid prank they were trying to pull on them. He was actually relieved they did. 

“Yeah. We’ve never seen Sam act this way before. Plus he’s a dog shit actor,” Josh answered, a laugh escaping his lips after the last sentence. Danny had to agree; he’d seen the movies Josh had made where Sam was the lead. There weren’t that many. 

“Oh, thank god. Because I need help.” Daniel’s tone was desperate, his hands trying to pull Sam’s off his waist. But every time he tried, Sam would just slide them back into place. He eventually gave up, huffing in resignation as Sam giggled in his ear. “Yeah, I’m gonna be honest with you on this one. I don’t know where we’ll even start,” Jake bluntly pointed out, placing his guitar on its stand. 

“What if you two try to contact the people who organized the fair and see if you can find the woman who sold me the…” God help him, “...the potion.” 

“Yeah, alright. What are you going to do?” Josh was already pulling out his phone, not looking at Danny as he spoke. 

“I’m going to see if maybe she posted that picture and contact her that way,” Daniel explained, having to shove Sam’s hips away from his own in order to get his phone from his back pocket. 

“Sounds like a plan. But how about we don’t do this here,” Jake posited, his eyes sliding over to where their producer and mixer were watching raptly as Sammy placed yet another series of kisses onto Danny. 

They all agreed. They wanted to spare both men as much embarrassment as possible and also minimize the possibility of this leaking and sending the wrong message to their fan base. 

Daniel offered up his house considering it was the closest. 

“And I’ll drive lovebug here, too.” Danny hooked his thumb towards where Sammy’s face was pressed into the side of Danny’s, a dopey smile on his face as he nuzzled deeper into Danny. 

“I don’t think you have a choice,” Josh so helpfully pointed out, trying poorly to suppress a laugh. 

“Yeah, ha ha. Let’s go,” Daniel sharply ordered, trying once more to rip Sam’s arms off of him and failing. 

“No, no, wait. Let us get one video for blackmail,” Jake quickly requested, already having his phone out and pointed at the two. 

Danny, knowing that there was no way they’d relent, groaned and let Jake record his misery. 

“Alright, Sammy. Tell us how you feel about Daniel,” Jake prompted, the laugh in his voice barely contained. The youngest perked up at the question, his smile getting brighter. 

“Well, where do I even begin! There’s so much I feel about him,” Sam cooed, resting his chin against Danny’s shoulder as he spoke. Danny felt Sam’s hair slip off his own shoulder as Sam tilted his head to get a better look at Danny. 

“Why don’t you start with the physical,” Josh, that bastard, piped up. Danny shot him a glare, Josh only responding with an “innocent” smile. 

“Oh! That’s easy! He’s got these beautiful dark eyes that you can easily get lost in. They’re this gorgeous shade of amber brown that have this nice green in them that remind me of moss in the forest. Oh! And when they catch the light just right they’re so bright and I get butterflies. And speaking of butterflies, when he smiles at me I can’t help but feel like I’m going to pass out from how beautifully warm and overwhelming it is-” 

“Alright,” Danny squeaked out, his voice cracking as his face began to heat up, “that’s enough.” 

“No, no, we’re just getting to the good part. Sam, what else about Danny do you like?” Danny bared his teeth at Jake. He knew it was ineffective, what, with his face burning as bright as a stop light. 

“Oh, his arms are really nice. I love it when he picks me up because then I can feel them flexing and it makes me all dizzy.” Sam’s voice was dripping in honey. It was so sweet it made Danny’s stomach ache. 

“Really? And what about his freckles?” 

“One of his best features, definitely. They get all dark and prominent in the summer when he gets more sun. He’s got 137 of them!” 

“Alright that’s-” 

“And what about Danny’s personality?” 

“He’s the sweetest guy ever! I swear, he’s so sweet he gives me cavities. Like this one time, I was feeling really down in the dumps and then Danny went out of his way to get me a case of my favorite beer and made me laugh so hard I nearly pissed myself. He just knows me sooooo well. And also he takes care of Rose the best and he is always so gentle and loving with her… what isn’t there to love?” 

“Ok, show’s over. We’re done here,” Daniel firmly decided, reaching out to yank Jake’s phone away from him and end the recording, holding it out of Jake’s reach as he tried to grab it back from him. 

Danny tossed it back at him when he was done, watching the guitarist nearly fumble the device to the ground. He shot Danny a confused look at his shift in mood, but he didn’t respond. He simply held onto Sam’s arms as he turned the two of them around and made for the door. 

As they walked to the car, Daniel pointedly did not think about the fact that Sam apparently just seemed to know how many freckles Danny had off the top of his head. Or how that made his heart flutter within his chest. 

+++

The car ride back was considerably less dangerous than the drive over; Sam hadn’t tried to climb into Danny’s lap since he preemptively laced their fingers together. However, Sammy hadn’t stopped talking. And it wasn’t his usual babbling, no. It was much worse. 

“I love you.” 

“I know.” 

“I love you.” 

“I know.” The shock of it had worn off at the thirtieth time Sammy had confessed it to Danny, that first time making the drummer jump out of his skin. Now it was just getting annoying, like the beep of a smoke detector. 

“You’re really hot,” Sam giggled, leaning his head across the consul and bumping it into Danny’s shoulder. 

Danny just groaned, throwing his head into the headrest behind him and asking god what he did wrong to deserve this cruel and unusual punishment. It was one thing to toy with his destiny, it was another entirely to play around with his emotions. 

“I hope we fucking crash,” he whined, the light turning green and taking his foot off the brake. 

“I hope we fuck.” 

Daniel felt his foot involuntarily slam down on the gas, forcing the both of them to jerk back in their seats as the engine loudly revved like an animal letting out a warning growl. Danny whipped his head over to Sam briefly, taking in his lashes batting flirtatiously and his wolfish grin. The driver felt his heart pounding in his chest, ripping his eyes away from his distracting passenger and forcing himself to look at the road. 

“What?” he croaked out, not really wanting to hear it again but also wanting to know if he heard Sam right. 

“You heard me,” was all Sam spoke in response, a dangerously flirtatious edge to his words that made Danny’s heart lurch in his chest. 

“Just… Just keep those thoughts to yourself, ok?” 

“Ok!” Sam cheerfully agreed, settling back down onto Danny’s shoulder. That was another thing about this that was driving Daniel slowly insane: Sam did almost everything Danny asked of him. 

He was so, utterly fucked. 

+++

“Ok, so Greta must be a popular name among artists or something because the fair organizer said there were about thirty booths registered under that name,” Jake explained after hanging up the phone. He tapped his pen on the pad of paper he’d been writing on idly, turned towards Danny’s spot on his couch. Sammy had tackled him onto it, curling up right against his chest like an oversized dog and refused to move. 

“Did she give you the list of businesses, too?” Danny asked, having to crane his neck to look over at Jake. 

“Yeah, and I was able to cross off a few of them already,” Jake answered, swiping away at his phone again.

“Nice work,” Danny praised, his eyes darting back to his phone. He and Josh had taken on scrolling through Danny’s instagram mentions in order to try and find the famed Greta. And, Jesus, people really loved tagging him in shit. They had been at it for hours and were still only finding posts from about two weeks ago. 

“Is this her?” Josh hoisted his phone up into Danny’s field of view. Danny squinted as he analyzed the woman’s face. 

“No,” he groaned, his frustration mounting as they had zero luck. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t like Sam like this, it was just… It was too much. Yeah, maybe Danny had been dreaming about this exact scenario for years, but this wasn’t how he wanted to get it. He’d felt guilt slam into him with every touch Sam bestowed upon him as he remembered that Sam wasn’t in control of his actions. It was that stupid fucking potion that was making Sam all cuddly and cute; the normal Sam would never do that. The normal Sam wouldn’t repeatedly confess his love for Danny in a myriad of ways, or kiss his neck and cheeks, or cling to him every second of the day. No matter how badly Danny wanted it to be true, Sam just wasn’t in love with Danny like the drummer was in love with the bassist. 

And that was the time that Sam decided to stir just enough to burrow deeper into his embrace with Daniel, grumbling something under his breath that was reminiscent of a cat purring. And just like it never happened, Sam fell back asleep again. Danny watched for a bit too long as Sam’s chest rose and fell with each even breath he took, his face held in a content smile as he dreamed away. 

“Man, I haven’t seen him curled up with someone like that since we were kids,” Josh commented, taking a break from his endless scrolling to crack his neck and stretch. He had watched the whole thing, Sam’s stirring and Daniel’s flush creeping onto his face as he gazed down at the cozy bass player. 

“What do you mean?” Danny had moved his own phone out of the way to properly look at Josh. The man had taken to sitting on the floor with his back against the couch that Sam and Danny were laying on. 

“The last time he looked that content while sleeping was probably when he was about eight-ish; that was when he stopped taking naps with mom,” the singer explained, his eyes cast upwards as if searching the farthest reaches of his mind. 

“What, are you calling me his mother?” Daniel felt his face pinch into one of disgust as he remembered what Sam had sprung on him during the ride over. 

“No, what he’s saying is Sam has always liked to cuddle, but only feels comfortable doing it with certain people,” Jake clarified, not even bothering to look up from his notepad. 

“Yeah, he’s never done that with us. And, now that I think about it, he’s never done that with his girlfriends, either. At least, from what I’ve seen, anyway,” Josh added, rambling just a tad at the end. He even brought his hand up to his chin as he thought, his fingers stroking the hair on it absently. 

Daniel had no idea what to do with that particular bit of information, so he elected to shove it into his mental box labeled “The Sam Incident” to be ignored until further notice. It was starting to become alarmingly full. 

He went back to his scrolling, his eyes beginning to burn with how long he’d been staring at the screen. He wasn’t aware that he’d taken to running his fingers through Sam’s hair and absently playing with it as he focused on finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. 

Right when he was about to take a break and grab something to eat, he spotted her. 

“AHA!” he exclaimed, bolting upright and rudely jolting Sam out of his peaceful slumber. The bassist even grumbled, rubbing at his eyes and shooting a grumpy look at his personal pillow for the violent awakening. Danny felt the sympathy ache in his chest for Sam, rubbing a soothing and apologetic hand over Sam’s arm. Though, with how frizzy and staticky his hair looked, Daniel had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at Sam. 

“You found her?” the twins asked simultaneously, Danny feeling briefly like he was in The Shining as they both gave him the same expression as he looked between them. 

Daniel nodded his head, turning his phone around to show the others. Sam took the opportunity to sleepily and unceremoniously flop himself down against the drummer’s chest face first, wrapping his arms around his waist. Danny instinctively placed his hand onto his back to steady him, rubbing it as Sam mumbled something into his chest that Danny could not understand. 

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Jake, ever the impatient one, urged Daniel. He pushed away from the table he was stationed at, making his way over to lean over the back of the couch to watch the drummer’s screen. 

danielrwagner: Hey, so uhhh

danielrwagner: This is going to be a strange question but

danielrwagner: Are you the woman who gave me a vial at an art show a month or so back? 

Daniel had set his phone down onto the couch, figuring he’d have to wait a while for a response - if he ever got one, that is. What he didn’t expect was for his phone to buzz almost immediately afterwards. 

StarshineGreta: Hi Danny!

StarshineGreta: Yes, that was me

StarshineGreta: Why did someone drink it? 

danielrwagner: Yeah

StarshineGreta: Who was it?

Daniel swallowed nervously, glancing down at Sammy who was still wedged into his chest and showing no signs that he was moving anytime soon. 

danielrwagner: …Sam

Call from StarshineGreta 

“Guys, what should I do?” Daniel panicked, his heart rate kicking up in speed inside his chest as his ringtone started to cheerfully chirp in his hand. He frantically looked back and forth between the twins, looking for their help. 

“Answer it!” Josh screeched, his thunderous voice that Daniel normally heard echoing through stadium speakers just as loud and commanding in his living room. 

With a nervous bite of his lip, Danny did as he was told. 

“Hey, Greta. Just so you know, you're on speaker with… with the whole band,” Daniel greeted, making sure to give her the courtesy of knowing that everyone could hear her. But, it seemed that she didn’t even register what he had said. Instead, she launched right into it. 

“Alright, how long ago did he drink it and what are his symptoms?” Her voice was nearly clinical if it weren’t for the clear enthusiasm dripping off her words. 

“He drank it at about ten this morning-” 

“And he’s acting like a lovesick puppy and won’t leave Daniel alone,” Josh interjected, leaning over so that he was closer to the phone to be heard. Though that wasn’t really necessary since the man had shouted, anyway. 

“Yeah, Sam won’t stop touching and cuddling him and if he tells him to quit it he gets all mopey and sad,” Jake added, flashing Danny a grin that Daniel merely glared at. She really didn’t need to know all that. 

The beat of silence that followed made Danny’s nerves spike into the stratosphere. What he didn’t know was that Greta had merely muted her own mic so that she could laugh as boisterously as she wanted to without being heard. 

“Interesting. And how much did he drink?” 

“Pretty much the whole thing. There’s about an eighth or so left in the bottle, I’d guess,” Daniel informed, feeling as if the vial in his pocket got heavier as he thought about it. 

“Wow. Ok, wow. No wonder he’s so clingy,” Greta replied, her surprise seeping into her tone. 

“I wouldn’t call him that-” 

“Dan. Try standing up.” 

Giving Jake a disgruntled look, Daniel tried exactly as suggested. As he did, Sam’s arms tightened around Sam and pulled him back down towards him. “Nooooooooo,” he had whined out in protest, his brow knitting together in a grumpy frown once more as he looked up at Danny through his lashes. 

“No,” he said again, this time more firm and accented by Sam’s grip readjusting around Danny’s ribs to pull himself even tighter against Danny’s chest. 

When Daniel looked over at the younger twin, he was met with a small yet smug smile of victory. 

“Shut up,” he lamely shot back, wanting to cross his arms over his chest but being prevented by a certain bass player. Instead, he just settled his free arm back onto Sam’s back right below where his hair stopped in the middle of his spine. 

“Is it a problem that he drank so much?” Josh asked, completely ignoring the exchange that happened between Jake and Daniel. 

“Not really, no. The effects will just be stronger than if he had just drank the recommended amount,” Greta explained. 

“Will it last longer?” Daniel quickly interjected, the horrifying thought of having to deal with Sam acting like this for a month causing panic to lance through his heart. 

“I don’t think so. Maybe a few extra hours, but it should be worn off by tomorrow evening.” 

“And how come your potion actually works? Like, why isn’t yours bullshit like the other ‘love potions’ out there?” Jake so delicately questioned. 

“Normally, most of mine are but… well…” Daniel did not like how her tone shifted from confident to apprehensive, “I won’t sugar coat it. The potions I make are meant to amplify what emotions are already inside someone. They can’t manufacture love or hate or happiness if they don’t already exist in the person who drank it.” 

After she finished her explanation, the room went silent. Daniel felt as if his mind was beginning to overheat inside his skull as he tried to process the information she had just dropped onto them. 

“I don’t get it,” Daniel croaked out, feeling as if his mind was halting all function as he stared blankly down at his phone. 

“Do you have that potion on you?” Greta’s voice wasn’t scheming, per say, but it was clear she had a plan. 

Daniel dug into his front pocket, fishing out the aforementioned vial. He held it up into the air, looking at it and wondering how something so unassuming could flip his world on its axis. 

Before the drummer could even respond to Greta, Jake had swiped it out of his hand so quickly Danny could only blink dumbly at the man. 

“Josh!” he called before tossing it towards the man. 

“Wait-” was all Daniel could get out before the singer had uncapped the vial and tossed it back like it was a shot. 

“Ooh, bubblegum flavored,” Josh cooed after he swallowed, flipping the vial in his hand after he replaced the cap. 

Daniel just sat frozen in place. Great, now he was going to have to deal with two Kiszkas attached to his hip at all times and he wasn’t going to be able to do anything-

“How ya feeling, Josh?” Jake had asked in a voice reminiscent of a gameshow host from the 70s. 

“Honestly, Jake, I feel no different. Daniel, I love you, man, but not like that,” Josh answered, pointing at his little brother curled up into Danny’s chest like an overgrown cat to prove his point. 

“So, that means…” Jake prompted, holding out his hand as if to cue Daniel to understand. It didn’t work. 

“I still don’t get it. And now I’ll have two of you on top of me-” 

“Oh my god,” Josh impatiently groaned, tossing his head back in frustration as he scrubbed a hand down his face. 

“Jesus, you’re dumb, Dan,” Jake added, exasperation of his own causing him to pinch the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. 

“I’m sure he’ll figure it out eventually,” Greta optimistically offered, her voice cutting through the groaning from the twins. 

“But, wait, what should I do? Is there anything I can do to help Sam? Or, like, cure him?” Danny inquired, electing to ignore the twins and their antics. 

“You’re just going to have to wait it out,” Greta answered, her voice not even remotely sympathetic to Danny’s plight. 

“Thanks for the insight, Greta.” Jake leaned in towards the phone again, giving it a two fingered salute. 

“Yeah, and thank you for the free blackmail!” Josh was smiling as he waved at the phone, his tone chipper and not at all matching the devious words he spoke. 

“Any time, boys!” 

And with that, the call had ended. 

“Well, we best get going,” Josh sighed as he got to his feet, stretching his arms over his head. 

“Yep. Seems like you and Sam need some time to yourselves.” Jake had playfully nudged his baby brother on the shoulder with his hand, Sam only responding with a half-hearted grunt of annoyance at being jostled. 

“Wait, hold on-” 

“Goodbye, lovebirds!” 

With a slam of the door that carried with it a sense of finality, Daniel was left alone with a love-drugged Sam. In his house. Alone. 

“I thought they’d never leave,” Sam yawned, mimicking his older brother from earlier as he stretched his arms above his head, his face pinching together as he did so. Daniel pointedly did not look at the sliver of tan skin the bassist exposed above his waistband as he stretched, a playful teasing of his happy trail poking out briefly. 

“Uh, what?” 

“The twins! I thought they wouldn’t take the hint,” Sam playfully implied, his hands tracing up from their perch on Daniel’s stomach to his pecs. And that was when he realized that Sammy was straddling his hips and looming above him with a look in his eye and a smirk on his lips that was anything but innocent. 

Danny was stuck in his position on the couch, feeling like those butterflies they displayed in glass with those pins that pierced through their wings stabbing through his own limbs. He felt frozen, caught between his own animalistic desire and his morality; the angel and devil on his shoulders waging a war. 

“Are you hungry?” Daniel squeaked out, his voice breaking as he shoved Sam off of him and bolted off the couch. He felt like his face was on fire as the rest of his skin prickled with its own heat. He stood himself on the opposite side of the room, all but pressing his back to the wall. He didn’t care what that witch or the twins said; Sammy would never do that. 

He’s not himself. 

Once Sam recovered from Danny tossing him into the couch, Sam turned those sultry eyes back onto the drummer. “Yeah. For you.” 

Daniel gulped. Sam’s voice had purred out of his lips, matching the very clear bedroom eyes he was shooting Daniel. And Danny was not liking how his body was reacting to that. 

“I’ll order sushi,” Daniel quickly stated before bolting out of the room and away from Sam as fast as he could. 

+++ 

Dinner was an ordeal. Daniel had to essentially manipulate Sammy into eating, which made him feel like garbage. But, he tried to reassure himself by saying it was for Sam’s own good. And if Danny had to use his powers of suggestion over Sam to do it, then it was just a means to an end. To be fair, it wasn’t like he was forcing Sam to do something like make out with Danny or anything like that. It was just getting him to eat his goddamn sushi. 

It also didn’t help that Sam had scooched his chair right up beside Danny’s and would move closer to him each time Danny had tried to move away. And then Sam had tried to feed Danny his food. Which was… an experience. 

“C’moooooooooon Danny! It’ll be cute like Lady and the Tramp!” Sam whined, waving his chopsticks in the air. 

Daniel, knowing his willpower against Sam was weakening, relented. He huffed out a “fine” and half-heartedly opened his mouth. Sam squealed excitedly before gently picking up a roll with his chopsticks and placing it between Danny’s lips. Daniel figured the pain of Sam’s nagging was worth the pleasure of seeing his brilliantly excited smile as Daniel chewed his sushi. 

“Ok, ok, now me!” Sam exclaimed, setting down his chopsticks before opening his mouth wide and sticking out his tongue like he was about to get his tonsils checked. 

With an exasperated yet fond sigh, Daniel selected a sushi roll and brought it up to Sam, cupping a hand underneath it to catch it if it fell. As he placed the sushi on Sam’s tongue, Daniel made the mistake of looking his friend in the eyes. When he did, his breath hitched inside his throat. Daniel could feel as the air around them crackled with a charged energy that sparked to life as their gazes met. And Daniel felt himself unable to tear his eyes away from Sam as he slowly pulled his chopsticks away.

When Sam slipped the food into his mouth and began to chew, that was when Daniel was able to look away. 

That was a few hours ago. The two of them were once again cuddled up on Danny’s couch, Sam trying his absolute best to get every part of his body touching every part of Daniel’s. They had thrown on a crime procedural show; Bones or Law & Order, Daniel didn’t know. He was far too distracted by how Sam kept attempting to get Danny to kiss him or let him blow him or an assortment of other things that made his face glow bright red. 

He’s not in his right mind, Daniel had to keep reminding himself. And he would not break to love-drugged Sam no matter how many times he would flash Danny those puppy eyes that would normally make him fold like a house of cards under a slight breeze. 

“Daaaaaaaanyyyyyyyyyy,” Sam sang, wiggling himself onto Danny’s lap in order to plant himself right in front of Daniel’s field of view. He would no longer be ignored, despite the fact that Sam had always had Danny’s full attention; he just was acting as though he hadn’t. 

“Sam, I’m trying to watch this,” Daniel weakly protested. He had no idea what the plot of the episode was, much less the actual name of the show. 

“Watch me instead,” Sam whined, his shoulders slouching as he theatrically threw his head back in frustration, “you’ve been ignoring me all day.” 

“That’s not true-” 

“It’s like you don’t love me.” And that was what finally caused Daniel to break his facade. He looked Sam right in the eyes, taking in the pout of his lips and the dejected nature of his eyes. Daniel isn’t ashamed to admit that he felt his chest ache at the sight. There was genuine heartbreak in Sammy’s eyes that did nothing to quell the guilt that had been thrumming through Daniel’s veins all day. 

Sam could not have been further from the truth, really. Daniel did love Sam. Like, embarrassingly so. He felt it swelling in his chest every second that he spent with Sam, even when he wasn’t with him. Actually, that was when he felt it the most, when Sam wasn’t with him. Those were the moments when he found himself wishing for the man to be near, feeling his heart long for his calming and wonderful presence. 

But, he knew Sam didn’t feel that way about Daniel. Danny knew Sam the best out of everyone on earth; he’d be able to tell who Sam was in love with. It wasn’t Daniel. 

“That-That’s not…” Danny didn’t know how to answer that. He really didn’t. He had no idea if Sam would remember anything from this after the potion wore off. He really did not want to risk the most precious thing in his life. 

Instead, Daniel just gently lowered Sam’s head down into the crook of his neck, wrapping his arms around Sam in order to pull him as tightly against his chest as he could. If he couldn’t say it, he’d show it. 

Sam calmed down after that, apparently perfectly content to just exist inside of Danny’s personal space. It wasn’t long after that Daniel felt drowsiness creep up on him. Despite not doing much moving around considering the human ball and chain known as Samuel Kiszka was attached to him all day prevented that, he was still exhausted. Emotionally, that is. Who knew having the love of your life falsely confessing his love for you would be so draining? Danny sure didn’t. 

“Alright,” Danny yawned, reaching for the remote to turn off the tv, “time for bed.” 

“Carry me,” Sam murmured, already half asleep against Danny. 

“Sam…” Daniel protested with a sigh, knowing that he was going to anyway but hoping Sam would change his mind. 

“Please, baby,” the bassist whined, moving his head so that one eye poked out from his curtain of hair to give Danny that wretched Puppy Look. 

Like the whipped man that he was, Danny just sighed as his shoulders sagged in defeat. After shuffling around Sam’s limbs to better fit around Danny as he stood, Daniel walked the two of them up to his bedroom. Danny decidedly did not think about what this would look like to an outsider. 

“When did you get so heavy,” Danny grunted halfway up the stairs. 

“It’s not nice to comment on a lady’s weight,” Sam shot back, his face still completely nuzzled into Danny’s neck. The breath of his words made Daniel have to suppress a shiver. 

“Oh, I didn’t know I was talking to a lady.” 

Sam giggled, the vibrant and gorgeous sound making Danny’s heart soar. 

Jesus, he was so doomed. 

+++

It had taken some master level bargaining on Daniel’s part, but he was able to convince Sam to leave him alone long enough so that they could each finish their nighttime routines. Daniel had just loaned Sam a pair of his sleep shorts and a shirt to use as pajamas; the shorts were just a bit too big on Sam and caused the waistband to sit dangerously low on his hips. Daniel found himself having to force his eyes to focus on anything other than that sliver of skin on Sam’s abdomen, which was an incredibly hard task. 

Daniel was far from surprised when Sam had climbed into the bed next to him and proceeded to wrap all of his limbs around Danny. It was like the man had managed to find the exact places where he would fit perfectly against Danny like he was meant to be there. Frankly, it was driving Daniel mad. 

“Don’t I get a kiss goodnight?” Sam hummed directly into the drummer’s ear, able to feel the vibrations in his best friend’s chest that was pressed into his side. 

The question made Danny sigh. He knew what would happen if he said no. 

“You’re going to keep going until I snap or give in, won’t you?” Daniel addressed the ceiling, unsure if he was speaking to Sam or god at this point. 

“Yep,” Sam replied, popping the P in the word. Daniel could hear the mischievous smile in his words. 

Now, it was just a matter of weighing Daniel’s conscience against his desire to get some goddamn rest. And, well, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to kiss Sam. But, once again, not like this. But… well, it wasn’t like they hadn’t kissed before. It happened a few years ago when they were both drunk; the both of them had laughed it off afterwards, but neither of them spoke of it again. Danny was sure that if he had explained to Sam that he was only doing it to get him to relent so that he could sleep, Sam would understand. Hell, this would be far from the first time Danny had done something Sam had asked of him to get him to shut up so he could sleep. 

“Fine,” Daniel had begrudgingly agreed, the word sighed out. But, before he could tell Sam that he was only going to get a quick peck and nothing else, Sam had pounced. 

Danny’s cries of protest had been drowned out by the press of Sam’s unfairly soft lips, his facial hair not an unpleasant bristle against his skin. But, no matter how good it felt, Danny couldn’t allow this to continue. There was just one small problem: Sam had managed to snake his hands from where they had wrapped around Danny’s torso to his head. He felt those lithe fingers weave their way into his curls, locking him in place like a boa constrictor did with their prey. No matter how… how hot that was, Daniel was the one in his right mind. He was the one responsible for his own action, so that meant he had to… to… oh, dear lord, Sam’s tongue was soft; feeling like the finest velvet money could buy. It beckoned Daniel’s own tongue, gently pleading with it to slip inside Sam’s mouth. And, truly, who was Danny to argue? And, god forgive him, Sam’s mouth was so warm and inviting, it should be a sin. 

Daniel blames his fixation on Sam’s mouth for the reason he failed to notice just how long their kiss had lasted. What finally broke him out of his trance was when Sam’s thigh slipped its way between Daniel’s own, brushing against his interested dick and pulling a surprised yelp from his lips. 

Fighting against Sam’s, admittedly strong, grip on his hair, Daniel pulled away from Sam. He made sure to physically push away Sam’s thigh from its spot between Danny’s legs, knowing that should have been his first act. He was out of breath; another indicator for just how he had failed to be responsible. And looking into Sam’s confused and hurt eyes did nothing to help the guilt mushrooming within his chest. 

“You’ll thank me later,” Daniel explained, even sounding out of breath as he tried to put as much distance between himself and Sam as the love-drugged man would allow. Or you’ll hate me later. 

“But what about here and now?” Sam whined, closing the precious distance Danny had built up. 

“You got what you wanted-” and fucking then some, “-just go to sleep.” 

“Daaaaaaaan-”

“Go to sleep, Sam.” Daniel snapped, immediately regretting his tone as soon as he saw the genuine hurt in those amber eyes. 

With a scowl, Sam settled down into the sheets. What hurt the most, though, was when Sam had retracted all of his limbs from where they intertwined with Daniel’s, flipping on his side to face away from his best friend. Despite having wished for it all day, Danny had no idea it would hurt so fucking much. 

Even though he wanted to so fucking badly, Daniel did not reconcile the situation. It was for the best, he had to tell himself. This way, Daniel would be able to actually sleep and Sam wouldn’t be as weirded out towards Danny when he inevitably snapped out of this spell. 

It was for the best. 

Then why does it feel so wrong? 

+++

Daniel had gotten no sleep. 

Despite how much he tried, it seemed that every time he closed his eyes he was met by the image of Sammy’s disappointed face. He knew, deep down, that it was the right thing for him to do, to push Sam away like that. But that really was a thin comfort when the hurt in Sam’s eyes before he disentangled himself from Danny was still playing on loop in his head. Isn’t that what he had been trying to avoid this whole time? Hurting Sam? And, somehow, he had managed to do just that. It was frustrating and exhausting and Danny just wanted to get some fucking sleep. 

Through the night, however, Sam had managed to intertwine himself once more with Danny. It felt like a hollow victory. And when he eventually, slowly, woke up, Sam had seemed to be completely over their spat from the night prior. 

He had simply stretched his arms over his head, his hair a mess of tangles and static, and asked Daniel about breakfast. How Danny had wished that he could just brush off what happened the night prior. 

The rest of the day had happened much like the day before; Sam refusing to let Danny stray too far from his touch. It had been inconvenient as Danny tried to go about his day with another person attached to him at the hip. However, he was able to adapt by lunch time. Sammy was still whispering things in his ear that made his blood simmer in his veins and did nothing to suppress his guilt at what images and scenarios his brain supplied him with. 

Daniel had resigned himself to the fact that his day now would revolve around Sam entirely. He had wanted to go to the grocery store to restock his fridge that was becoming barren, but he knew there was the possibility that someone would recognize the two of them and their… compromising position. 

So, instead of going out and being productive like he had wanted to, he sequestered the two of them to his house. They settled on a Harry Potter marathon, Daniel once again unable to focus on the screen whatsoever with Sam pawing at him continuously. Daniel had ordered food and plopped the two of them on the couch. 

By the fourth movie, Sam had fallen asleep in Danny’s lap. Daniel, now with those doe eyes off of him, felt that he was finally able to end his guise of watching the screen. It had reached the late afternoon, that golden light sun streaming in through the windows of his living room and highlighting the lazy dust mites floating in the air. Most devastatingly, however, was how that sun had focused on Sammy’s profile. The man looked angelic, ethereal in a way that should not be feasible for a mortal. His hair glowed a golden hue, making it look like a halo was crowned onto his head. It made Danny’s heart ache within his chest. 

Daniel had been so distracted by how gorgeous his best friend looked that he failed to really notice that Sammy was beginning to wake up. 

“Daniel?” Sam’s voice was gravelly again. Danny felt his eyes focus on Sam’s, snapping him back into his own mind. 

“Sam?” 

“Wh… What happened?” Sam had lifted himself off of Danny’s chest, sliding a hand from where it rested on the small of Danny’s back to grab at his head. He blinked rapidly, sweeping his eyes around the room as if it was foreign to him with a grimace on his face. 

“How much do you remember?” 

There was a pause before Sam responded, his eyes sliding their focus in on Danny’s. “Remember? Dan, I’m not missing any time.” 

And if that didn’t make Daniel’s blood run cold. 

“So… So…” Danny couldn’t spit it out. No matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn’t say that Sam knew everything. That would make it real. 

“So… what happened?” Sam prompted again, seeming to be more lucid with each passing second. 

Danny involuntarily gulped, feeling a cold sweat breaking out across his skin. Why was he so nervous? It wasn’t that hard to say what happened; he already told the twins. So why the hell was it so difficult to look Sam in the eye. 

“You… You remember that vial from my jacket that you drank?” 

“Mhm, tasted like bubblegum.” 

“...Yeah. Well, that uhh…” 

Oh, for fucks sake! Just say it! 

“It was a love potion,” Daniel rushed out, the words all mushing together to sound like one long word. 

Another beat of silence passed between the two, Sam staring down at Daniel from his perch in his lap and Daniel looking everywhere he could that wasn’t Sam’s eyes. He really wished Sam would move, it would at least help the raging blush on his cheeks. At least slightly. 

“Oh, sick!!” 

Finally, Daniel looked Sam in the eye. Of all the ways he had forecasted that Sam would react to that information, enthusiasm and whimsy was not even on the list. He had expected Sam to get awkward, to politely remove himself from Danny’s touch and make an exit as quickly as possible. He had far from expected Sam to link his hands behind Danny’s neck and eagerly inquire about the potion. 

“Dude, that’s so cool! You know what this means, don’t you??” 

“...No?” 

“Magic is real! And we just proved it!!” Sam’s smile was huge, bright enough to outshine the sun. 

“Sam-” 

“So, like, how does it actually work? Like, I remember that conversation we had with the witch about it only affecting those who already are in love, or whatever, but did she say the actual mechanics of how it worked? Like, is there a special ingredient that it needs to work?” Sam reminded Danny of a puppy in that moment. His eyes were bright and full of enthusiasm, his entire body buzzing with an energy that made it impossible for him to sit still. 

This time, it was Daniel who failed to give a timely response. His mind was too busy reeling over what Sam had glossed over during his rambling to properly process the man’s question. Realizing that the reason Sam was looking at him so expectantly was due to him waiting on the drummer, Danny shook his head to force it to work. 

“H-Hold on,” he began, taking a hand that had rested on Sam’s waist and bringing it up to his forehead, “you… you remember that conversation?? You were asleep!!” 

Danny hadn’t meant for his voice to come out like a screech, however he was just so damn confused that he really couldn’t focus the brain power on proper speech etiquette. 

“What?” Now it was Sam’s turn to knit his brow in confusion. “Oh, yeah! No, I was just faking it. It’s an old trick I pull out sometimes to get out of work; I started doing it so that Jake, Josh, and Ronnie were stuck doing chores instead of me.” 

Daniel felt like he was losing his mind. How was Sam so goddamn chipper about this?? 

“Ok. Ok. Oh my god.” Daniel forced himself to take a breath. It felt as if his entire world was crumbling beneath his feet and his brain was struggling to keep up with the rapidly shifting terrain. 

“So, you remember that whole conversation.” It wasn’t a question, though Danny had intended it to be. 

“Yep!” Danny felt a piece of his soul die at the chipper tone Sam used. He elected to ignore it. 

“And… that means you understand how it actually works…” 

“Apparently better than you did, Danny Boy,” Sam snarked, a playful grin that bordered on flirtatious spreading across his lips. 

Danny could only stare incredulously at Sam. 

“And you’re ok with it??” 

“...Yeah,” Sam answered slowly, “I already knew I was in love with you.” 

And that, right there, was how Daniel Wagner died. In retrospect, he had a good go of it. He was able to follow his dreams, be a rockstar. If he had to pick one, he’d say his one regret in life was ever befriending Samuel fucking Kiszka. It would have saved his life, after all. 

“Danny?” 

Sammy’s voice snapped him out of his cardiac arrest, pulling him back to the present. 

“Y-You… You…” Once again, Daniel felt like his brain was melting out of his head and pouring out of his ears. This can’t be real. Like, it just can’t. “You already… me??” 

“Yeah…” Sammy was looking at him strangely, as if Danny were the one acting weird. 

“You realize what you just told me, right??” 

“I don’t understand why you’re acting so surprised. You already knew this.” 

Danny tried to follow Sam’s logic in his head, he really did. He was still under the spell. He had to be. It was the only way Sam’s behavior made any sense to him. 

“Sam… you were drugged, ok? I don’t know exactly how, but those… your… actions were not your own,” Danny tried to explain, careful and gentle as possible. 

Then, it was as if a lightbulb went off inside Sam’s head. Daniel felt relief hit him; finally Sam got it. They could move past this and save their friendship. 

“Daniel, look at me,” Sammy slid his hands from behind Daniel’s neck to rest them on the sides of his face, positioning it so that Danny had to look at him, “I am not under any spell right now. I am in my sane mind, do you get me?” 

Danny opened his mouth to speak, but Sam cut him off before he had the ability to protest. 

“I am so fucking in love with you. Like, so fucking in love it’s probably illegal. And that was why the potion worked. Because I am in love with you. If I wasn’t, it wouldn’t have worked at all… do you understand what I am telling you in very clear, not-able-to-be-misinterpreted words?” Sam had said every sentence slowly and with a gravity to it that left no room for debate. They were spoken as fact; as law. Just how energy cannot be created nor destroyed, Sam Kiszka was in love with Daniel Wagner. 

Yet Daniel still had a hard time grasping the concept. 

“But… all that… that cuddling and-and kissing and all that… you’ve never acted that way before,” Daniel reasoned, believing this to be the work of the potion and hard evidence to support that belief. 

Sam just laughed, the noise warming up the ice that had frozen in Danny’s veins. 

“I always wanna kiss you, Daniel. The only reason I hadn’t yet was because I didn’t think you wanted me that way. And before you try and say it was the potion forcing me, it just never occurred to me to not act upon my feelings.” 

Danny was still apprehensive, unable to fully grapple with the concept that Sam wanted to kiss him at all times. But, he was beginning to see what everyone had been telling him the past 24 hours. 

“...Prove it.” 

With nothing but a quick “ok” spoken under his breath, Sam wasted no time launching forward and locking his lips with Danny’s. His hands slid from Danny’s cheeks to the back of his head, manipulating it so that Sam could tip it back and deepen the kiss. Once again, Danny felt dizzy. But, unlike the other kiss the two of them shared last night, this one was quick and urgent. Sam had something to prove and he was not about to let Daniel walk away from this without getting his point through Danny’s thick skull. 

It was Sam who eventually pulled away, having to gasp for air. 

“Holy shit,” Danny panted, his head feeling woozy as he took in the sight of his best friend looking absolutely ruined, yet giddy just from his lips. 

“Yeah,” Sam breathed in response, his smile turning dopey as he laughed. 

“You… You love me…” 

Danny watched in real time the excitement and shock that flooded Sam’s eyes. 

“Oh, thank fucking god,” Sam quickly uttered, throwing his head back, “YOU FINALLY GET IT!” Sam had taken to shaking Danny by the shoulders. 

“That’s actually great news because I’m also in love with you,” Daniel admitted, a giddiness of his own flooding his veins at finally being able to say those words out loud to Sam. 

“I would fucking hope so, you dense idiot.” There was no malice in Sam’s words. Quite the opposite, really. He had leaned back down onto Danny’s chest, burying his face into Danny’s neck as they embraced. 

“Wait… when did you-” 

“Truthfully? When we graduated.”

Daniel started to process what that meant. Since we graduated…

“YOU MEAN WE ACTUALLY COULD’VE FUCKED THIS WHOLE TIME??” 

+++

Tag list: @doodle417 @sammykiszkasunusedshoes @jmks-housewife @ageoferin @alwayssotiredbutneverofyou @etoilesnoor @ascendingtostardust @godlygreta @s0livagant @gretavanflowerpower @morganic-goods @dannythedog @baguettejuliette @fan-girl-97 @gaby-gvf @age-of-nyahh @mzbrightside @myownparadise96 @xserenax-13 @sammysvanfeet @loofypoofy @chalametpwk @seventieswhore @razorbladekiszka @capturethechaos @unfortunatelykristin @welightthefire @gretavanfleas @sammiejane22 @satanplayshisfluteforhim @starsasone @writingcold @tearsofbri @gretasmokerising @streamofstardust @lunaindigoraven @jakeydoesit @tripthelightfandomtastic @sunfl0wer-power @wingedgardener2000 @gretavanbitches @teddiie @gardensGateDaisy @sparrowofthedawnsworld @angelbabyyy99 @sammysprincess @whollyfreeamongststars @gretaswhore28 @l0rdoffli3s @kay-jordan @lightmyloverry @kenzie18 @gotavansleep @roosterbbradley @freckled-wonder @flower-power-anthem @Gabyvanfleet @Sarakay-gvf @Mamalikes-gvf @josh-iamyour-mama @st4rdust-ch0rds @pr41sethemoon @fallonfatality @earthlysorrows @jessicafg03 @rossy1080 @hippievanfleet @spark-my-nature @hayley1623 @schleeble @gretavanflipflop

[missamyrisa2]

Miss Amy needs to be trapped in a tickle machine that scans her thoughts and tickles her exactly how she loves. All the feathers, fingers, and power washing, attacking her strong but ticklish body. It will know to tap on all the metal jewelry on you and the flower belt, give kisses near your ears and neck. When it needs to increase your sensitivity, it will give you a gigglejob to make your body more ticklish after.

All while its inventor watches and takes notes to improve on the design 💡

ghhhaaaaa~~~ nottt me thinking that it wouldn't be just the tinglyyyy scanning beams though of course it would also have those for the fine-detail data such as cataloging twitches and squirms from residual tickles and tickles causing ripple effects, buttttt I'm also sooo seeeing this wicked machine having a feathered halo which slides outttt and slowlyyyy approaches with the machineyyy buzzzz, and it aligns to my head sliding over and fitting itself snugly. With a hum the flufffyy circle begins working its craft to extract the thoughts I try so desperately not to confess, like this specialized area of the mind which retains the things I want to shout louder than anything but also dreadddd and keep under lock and key ~ and it's not just the halo because with teasing clicking the device extends visual teasers, like heart-shaped sunglasses going over my eyes ~ and big padded muffs over my ears. And with a machineyyy gyration the collection of implements begins extracting alll that information, my body thrashing and struggling in the apparatus as it is probed and teasingly interrogated with methods I can't possibly resist ~ the scanners go wild consuming the data, tingling beams over my body with fingers gliding along hot spotssss, feather probes dipping into my navel and underarms~ all my strength counting for nothingggg ~ the metal tapping sounds and verbal coos which meltttt meee piping in through the muffs to facilitate the extraction further ~ as is a single feather going up and down my royal area, edging me along as it downloads information about these very treatments. The sound of kissy lipssss filling my ears both through the muffs and when they pop offff because the machine already has an array of synthetic lips swirling about, ready to overload my hot spots with sensual ticklesssss ~ and behind them the robotic hands bring forth my mostttt dreaded but loved tickle outfit, the one I teaseee my ticklees with so much ~ solely so it can dress me up tease me to bitssss and make me sooo wanttyyy only to strip me back down and edge until I'm mushhhh ~ at which time the halo will come back out for another deep-dive over my whimpering ticklewrecked self~ Real-time tickle data extraction and deployment, what a crazyyyy amazing machine~<33

[raccoonsrummagerostrum]

Yautja x reader Valentine’s Day special <3

Yautja x reader fluff

Minor Warnings: Dead animals, bones, blood

Major Warnings: none

Word count: 1,041

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading. I'm very surprised that anyone is reading these, but I have very much enjoyed writing them. Please stay tuned for more. And if you have any requests feel free to send them my way. 

The culture divide between you and your yautja was more like a gaping chasm. Yautja culture was completely unlike modern ooman culture, and ooman culture was straight up baffling to yautjas. 

Because of this the two of you found yourself explaining many things to each other. Through this your lover had learned about ooman food, jobs, the concept of a home, movies, music, and many other things. While you learned about blooding rituals, clan marks, the honor code, bad bloods, and space travel. You both had learned so much about the other and their culture. All this knowledge would culminate in Valentine's day.

The topic got brought up when the two of you were watching TV and a jewelry commercial came on. Your lover asked about it and you explained about the holiday, and how it acts as an opportunity to do something special for the people you love. The gears in your lover's mind began to turn, meanwhile you panicked. 

What were you going to do? You had just explained about the holiday so obviously they would expect you to do something. You needed a plan.

You decided to do something that your yautja would understand. Thinking back to everything you've learned about their culture and everything they've done for you. You remembered all the gifts they've gotten you. Every time they’ve returned from a hunt they would bring you a skull. They would often save the biggest skull for their own trophy, but nevertheless they would always bring you something. Sometimes they would give you the biggest skull, just to show you how much they love you. So you decided that to demonstrate how much you love them, you would get them a skull. Only one problem.

You yourself are not a hunter, and even if you were you would only be limited to the animals on earth. So you did what modern humans did best. Online shopping. You were a bit surprised that you could actually buy a real lion skull for a reasonable amount. It wasn't cheap, but when put into perspective of everything your lover does to bring you a skull, the price felt like peanuts. While you were there you bought some shark teeth and some bone beads to top it off. 

Once the package arrived you went to work stringing the teeth and beads into a necklace. You knew that symbolic body adornment was a very prominent feature of yautja culture so you thought this would be a nice addition to their hunting armor. As well as a substitute for a ring. You hadn't previously discussed marriage with them. Not like the yautja even have a concept of marriage. But your heart fluttered at the thought of this necklace symbolizing your relationship with them.

--

After your detailed explanation of this ooman holiday, your lover's thoughts were racing. Ooman culture had always confused them, but you had seemed excited for this holiday so they wanted to do something special for you. So they decided that they would do things the ooman way. They threw themselves into research about ooman traditions. Spending hours on the yautja net reading every article they could find about ooman courtship. Eventually they hatched a plan

Sneaking onto a small local farm they collected a coo (Cow) for the main dish. They gathered some early blooming flowers from the nearby forest, and lastly lifted some chocolate chips from your kitchen. While you were out they spent the morning of the 14th cooking. Well, as best as they could. 

They nearly set the place on fire, searing the meat. And there was a lot of blood to clean up. And Then they heard your key in the lock, they scrambled to set the table. But at last everything was perfect. 

After kicking off your shoes you scurry to your bedroom to grab the stashed gifts for your lover, avoiding the kitchen in the process. There your lover waits for seconds then minutes. They grow inpatient, and almost go looking for you, before they hear your footsteps headed toward the kitchen. 

Surprised is an understatement. Coming into the kitchen you saw your lover, standing awkwardly on the other side of the table. Laid out on the table where two plates decorated with two rather lage stakes, there were glasses of what you hoped was wine, and a cup of chocolate chips which made you giggle. The centerpiece of it all was the clean cow skull. You smiled, admiring all the work done, and trying not to notice the still messy kitchen. 

Your lover gazed at you from where they stood, loving the way your face changed from startled, to surprised, to a quiet joy. Their gaze drifted town to the brightly wrapped packages in your hands. They walked over to you and gently rested a hand on your shoulder which snapped your focus back to them. Words failed you as you smiled up at them. And remembering what they've learned for the ooman articles they quickly moved to pull out your chair. 

What followed was a delightful evening though slightly awkward evening. Your lover tried and mostly fumbled an attempt to be a chivalrous and attentive ooman partner, which resulted with you politely giggling, trying not to hurt their feelings. And you tried to play the part of supportive yautja mate despite how confused you were, and how forgiving your lover had to be. 

But the only thing that really mattered was that you loved the effort your lover had put into pampering you. And the thought you put into the gifts that they loved. 

By the time dinner was over the two of you could hardly keep a straight face, your lover had revealed that they had read that oomans are very attracted to food delivery so they had considered trying it. You didn’t have the heart to tell them the truth, but just assured them that the dinner was the right choice. And you confessed that you had not hunted the lion yourself. But assured you that they didn’t care about that. 

To end the night the two of you made your way to the couch for your favorite activity. Cuddling under blankets, and making fun of bad ooman TV. <3

[foone]

I closed the cell door behind him. The handcuffs were gone again, of course, but we'd long since run out of real pairs and zip ties we had on us, and didn't particularly feel like exhausting the storage room's supplies. Davis started giving him the talk about getting a phone call and all and the perp suddenly says "Look" with the kind of loud voice you can hear in your teeth.

He pulls out a locket from under his shirt (didn't Davis already search him? Why am I surprised...) and holds it up to the bars. "Look here, and listen."

I step forward and look at the odd object. It looks uncomfortable to wear against your skin, but I was never much one for jewelry anyway. No one was much surprised the tomboy became a cop, after all.

It's a crystal shape, like two pyramids attached together. It's a sort of shimmering black color with a tinge of red around the edges. But in the middle...

I look closer. There's a circle, beige, with wispy lines of white and orange mixed through it, like a badly mixed coffee with way too much milk. I momentarily get the feeling like I'm looking down from a great height.

I shake my head. Davis is asking what it is. The suspect shakes his head and puts it back under his shirt. "Just tell your boss this: Where is Venus?"

Weird little creep.

You go back to your work, trying and mostly failing to explain how that arrest went. You're pretty sure an official support shouldn't use the phrase "somehow" and "apparently" that many times. You're certainly going to have to explain this one, no way is this going to be accepted without further review.

Your near-antique desk phone rings. It's the chief. "I just got off a very stern phone call. I need you to let out the prisoner in cell 13 immediately. Don't worry about procedure, I'm sending this as an order in writing, just give them any shit you confiscated and show them the door. And I mean immediately. I'm coming down there now to sign the release papers that were just faxed to me, I want them out of the building in less than 5 minutes. Is that understood?"

You gulp. "yes sir. I'm on the way over now."

You're not even surprised when you unlock the cell that the fucker is in there playing on his phone. You personally confiscated that, you're sure. Maybe the geek had a couple phones, and hid one of them? You did a pretty comprehensive pat-down... Ew.

Davis walks up with the goods bag, but he's got his usual confused look twice as bad at the moment. Before he can even say the problem, you can see it from what he's holding. Or rather, what he's not. The transparent bag is empty, the seal is still in place.

Before you can even explain that you've somehow lost his stuff, the perp is standing up and telling you not to worry about their stuff. The Chief is still on the way and he's supposed to be here for this, but from that phone call it sounded like he didn't want any delays. You turn the key in the lock, and the mechanism engages, automatically sliding the door open.

Your oddest arrest of your career (and there has been some competition!) walks out the door, tugs at his shirt, and says a quick dismissive thanks, before heading down the hall towards a glowing exit sign.

The Chief finally shows up as he's walking away, and is visibly out of breath. You hand him the clipboard with the papers to sign, and he wheeze out a thanks, after a coughing fit that leaves him buckled over and giving you the most marvelous view of his shiny, shiny bald spot.

"so who was it who called to spring that jerk, if you don't mind me asking?"

"it was a conference call. That was the director of NASA and the President"

"of... NASA?"

"no, of the country."

"oh, my. Can he order the release of a prisoner?"

"I mentioned exactly that while I was on the phone, and I'm not sure of his exact wording but it was something like 'shut up, do it now, or there'll be a Black Hawk dropping a squad of marines in your parking lot in 15 minutes, and they'll do it for you.'"

"Jesus!"

"so I said 'yes sir, will do'. He said the DOJ will figure out the justification later."

"This isn't over, is it? We're gonna be doing paperwork and lawsuits over that little fu... freak for a while, aren't we?"

"probably. But get this: The president himself told me not to mention this to anyone, but since you were there I think you should know. Besides, I haven't signed anything yet... Remember how the director of NASA was on the line too?"

"yeah, that was odd. What's this guy, some renegade astronaut who's late for his flight or something?"

"no idea. But apparently his magician talents don't end with pulling rabbits from hats and escaping from your handcuffs. They think he somehow palmed the planet Venus."

You blink slowly. "what"

"yeah. Whole damn planet is gone. NASA is not happy. The military is very worried."

"about Venus?"

"No, more about what else he can do, I imagine. If he can grab a planet out of the sky, what could else can he do? Borrow a tank? Steal a nuke? Drop the moon on DC?"

"I see their point."

Your walk-and-talk comes to its end as you arrive back at your office. You look at the big windows, and you can see the strange man still crossing the parking lot. He pauses by a squad car, then looks back at the window, before giving you a big thumbs up.

The Chief has to stop you from running after him, as he opens the door to your car and drives off. "Don't. We'll figure this out, I'll get you another vehicle. I am not getting an angry call from the dang president TWICE in one day."

You're never going to finish the paperwork from today, you can feel it in your bones.

[detective-an-official]

[Night-time is when Amia chooses to wander most. She doesn’t usually try to steal when she’s just wandering from place to place. There’s rare occasions where she does, but right now? Not in the mood. At night, Amia wanders around an empty mall, looking into each direction. The stores are blocked by gates… all except for one.]

ehehe~

[Amia always has a key in her inventory. Said key is usually used to unlock the gates in the mall. That means anytime she breaks into one, she always has a way of getting into a store. The store Amia chooses to enter today is none other than a jewelry store. Amia turns the lights on.]

alright, there we go.

[Now Amia can just hang around here until dawn. She hops on to the table to sit down, taking out a jewel from their stand… well, a fake jewel, anyway. All of the jewels in the store are fake. Just plastic that happens to be cleverly disguised as the real deal. No way would Amia take any of those. Still, Amia finds herself coming back again and again anyway.]

[Maybe because as a phantom thief, she too is a fake. It’s what comes with having an act put up at all times.]

@phantom-thief-amia-official

[An had decided to scope out one of the abandoned malls around town. While it’s not exactly a good target for a phantom thief, it can’t hurt to check and see if there might be any clues. Hell, maybe their base of operations is here.]

with my luck…? yeah, right.

[An mutters to herself bitterly, taking out the key to the mall from her pocket. She unlocks the door, sighing as she wanders around the walkways, glancing at all the locked stores. It’s almost sad, in a way. How many memories were made here, only for everything to be locked up and forgotten? An frowns, deciding not to dwell on it.

When she doesn’t notice anything, she sighs and almost turns back. That is, until she hears shuffling coming from the store beside her. That is suspiciously unlocked.]

eh…? wh-who’s there…?!

[Against every piece of training she’s ever received, An creeps closer, crouching under the slightly open gate and making her way into the store.]

[jymwahuwu]

Don't worry I got plenty of rest, my days and nights are just flipped

I had a sudden brain rot and wanted to share a concept of a reader that's very go with the flow kinda person (loosely based around a rather humorous comic where mc just agrees with his Yan, the name of it escapes me but yeah)

Like we all know Jing Yuan is definitely lucid as a yandere but acts like he isn't, very clever of him.

Can you imagine how funny it would be for him to break into reader's home and is like "you can't lock the door, I made a spare key"

Reader's like "oh, sorry about that. I forgot to make a copy for you, do you want tea?"

Him coyly bringing up the idea of marriage but then reader agrees and the next thing he knows they're getting married (a lovely ceremony and celebration), the whiplash of it throws him off so bad but he hides it well.

Comes home with a baby Yanqing and reader just says that she's was actually going to bring up the topic of kids when he got back from war but this works out fine.

Maybe he wants to give Yanqing siblings, reader just nods before mentioning today would be a good time to try for a baby.

TW: yandere, non-con

Glad you noticed!! Yan! Jing Yuan is absolutely lucid and pretends he's delusional so he can play the chessboard naturally. Like, you really are his lover. This is definitely more convenient than using violence and threats, and it is gentler, which suits you. Does Jing Yuan know that his behavior is actually harassment? Yes. Does he care about this? No. Does he know the real reason for your crying? Yes. Does he still want to fuck you even though you're sobbing? Yes.

This scenario LMAO This will be a yandere comedy. You're at home drinking tea, but Jing Yuan breaks into your house and says naturally "Hey you can't lock the door. Your boyfriend just couldn't get in.", and shows you how many spare keys there are. You calmly apologize and tell him to sit down and make him some tea.

He's not going to assume the wedding can't be held, and here are only two options for you:

(1) You accept and hold a romantic wedding (means that a lovely ceremony. mimi will appear in your wedding photos, and many people from xianzhou come to congratulate you.)

(2) You don't accept but have a sweet wedding ^^ (means that he will force you to change into wedding uniform and jewelry, and non con you)

And the baby part. It's really good that you agree to everything here, just like people always agree to those privacy terms. General is satisfied with your cooperation. Jing Yuan doesn't have to add some darker parts to your life in this case.

[the--helen]

 Every heartache eats you, bite by bite. 

Status: Closed

Where: around the streets

When: ~4am

With: @matthewbaudelaire

He had come home angry very quickly after leaving, she wasn’t sure what exactly had caused the state and did not dare ask while she sat on the couch, drapes pulled over the windows, no lights shining aside from a scented candle that filled the room with the smell of sandalwood. He explained to her his latest research on the topic of their future, but no success, and more refusals to even have it considered. He needed to leave the city tonight, still having around 5 hours of darkness before the sun came up. He had explained it all then pressed fingers to the back of her neck, peppering kisses along her face and lips before dragging his teeth down her neck and embracing her small frame with his other hand to her side. Helen could feel his fingers moving along her skin, but not register it as her mind was going blank. When she came to a short while after he had left her with new small bruises where he had held her, the room’s air left cold caressing her naked skin. She bent down and took his boxers, her own in tatters. Another pair to throw away. At least he always bought her new things to substitute the old ones and she was showered with all kinds of beautiful clothes and jewelry.

An old phone was sitting on the dining table and she looked at it with confusion, knowing she should remember something important about it. But the fog was too deep and she felt an urgency to breathe fresh air. Her heart began to beat fast, knowing that the windows would be bolted shut and the door locked as it always was when he left her alone in his apartment. Sitting on the floor her breath started to get stuck in her throat and sweat started forming on her skin, the feel of it icy and painful, almost as if burning her skin. She pulled a T-shirt over her head and hoped this would help, hugging herself a bit, but the feeling of something crushing her wasn’t going away.

Helen sat as a statue for what could have been days or weeks, or years…or perhaps it had been not even an hour, mere minutes or seconds. She was not sure and could not be sure. As if a millennia later, she stood on her feet and went to get the phone, wishing to call him and ask him to come back home and hold her and kiss her and stay with her until she fell asleep. Holding the brick device in one hand she could rationalize just a tiny bit more than a moment ago and knew that she shouldn’t have it there… along with the keys. Keys to their apartment, they weren’t in Nashville anymore. With a start, trembling fingers pushed the key in the lock, almost breaking it in half but it was unlocked and she knew Alexander wouldn’t mind her leaving as long as she let him know where she was at all times, with whom she was. He had told her that before leaving, she remembered that.

Her feet were in flip-flops she didn’t remember putting on, but they sounded quite cheerful as she walked in otherwise mostly silent streets. The fresh air was like a lifeline and she took deep gulps of it as she walked aimlessly down mostly unfamiliar streets. Her eyes were wandering over everything around and concentrated on absolutely nothing as she subconsciously pulled the neck of the top to clean the residue of a red liquid. She wasn’t cold and she wasn’t hot. She was nothing, but also continued to feel like everything inside her was on fire.

Another corner to turn and she was utterly lost but instead of panicking she stopped and sat at the curb, elbows on her knees, eyes on the road in front of her. There were voices somewhere in the distant and some light inside the buildings around, but no real proof of life at this hour. At least not to her, not now. It was peaceful and she felt as if she could be the last one left in the world. It was a nice feeling for her, imagining that. Despite its sad undertones it was a nice thing.

Her pale eyes followed the silhouette moving on the other side of the street, unfocused. Her mind was still not fully cleared and she did not remember yet that she shouldn’t be out alone after… an hour. What was the hour? And perhaps she should have stayed put in front of her building as it was very possible whoever walked past could take her away and she would be sad, right? A sound between a chuckle and a sigh filled with disappointment escaped her, air through her nose. Her irises returned to the silhouette. She thought she said hello but she wasn’t sure. Maybe she asked where she was or not.

[strawberrynida]

Presenting the NANA collection and my influence: [Now Sold Out]

A few months back, I created the NANA collection based on the anime/manga "NANA." As I was reading the manga and watching the anime, I found myself entranced by the contrast between punk/pretty, black/pink, their fashion, and jewelry. I knew I HAD to create a jewelry collection that was inspired by the characters!!!

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This necklace was inspired by Nana Osaki's spiked black choker, her wear of paperclip chains (in other magazine publications, pictured below with an orange scarf), and the roses that surround her on stage. I knew I had to find a way to make a rose blend into an otherwise very punk choker! I could picture Osaki wearing these on stage or with a beautiful red gown. I added black onyx crystal within the paperclip chain to make it cohesive and mix the punk style with elegance.

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These three necklaces were heavily inspired by the key/lock chains that Osaki and Ren wear, and by the key to their respective homes. Nana, Hachi, and Ren share a deep bond that is reflected by lock and key; e.g., even when Ren and Nana depart, Ren continues to wear his lock chain. However, I wanted to make necklaces that were a little more intricate than a simple lock/key on a chain, so I added other little concepts into the necklaces such as roses, black and red beads, and even crystals.

The Amethyst key was inspired by Nana Osaki wearing purple (occasionally) and the sewing pin attached to her chain (seen above). Below, I provided pictures of Ren wearing his chain, and an example of the significance that a key holds in both Nana's Osaki's and Hachi's lives (the key to their apartment)!

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And of course, I can't mention Nana without talking about Nana Komatsu aka HACHI. These three necklaces reflect Hachi's bubbly style!!! Hachi didn't always wear pink, but I felt like I had to make them pale pink. I knew that these necklaces needed a white beaded base as Hachi usually wore a very simple necklace with white beads and a flower in the middle. But, for my collection, I decided to add real roses, to match Nana Osaki's rose necklace in my collection. I could have added daisies, as Hachi is drawn with yellow flowers, but I felt that as she matured in the manga, those flowers didn't represent her very much.

Obviously, I added a strawberry as a center charm for the third necklace, but I included rose Quartz to represent Hachi's sweet nature, desire for love (romantic and platonic), and hopefulness.

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And finally, this Viviane Westwood-inspired necklace! I had a hard time remembering if Hachi ever wore a Vivienne Westwood necklace, but this necklace did represent both Nana's. Nana Osaki for her love of the brand, and Hachi for her love of white pearls.

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Well, folks, that's it. Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoyed the necklaces and the inspiration behind each piece! Sadly, these necklaces sold out. I am a one-person-owned shop, so I do not have the means to produce these on a larger scale or recreate them. However, I do commissions (and you could ask me to recreate them as closely as possible) or simply wait for another drop (which I may do in the near future). Bye bye <333 love yew <333