#she’s always been pretty shitty but I also feel SORT OF bad for her because the kind of shit she says now makes it seem like she’s in some

[scawch]

hate when people say “love unconditionally” like mfer if someone does you wrong and they hurt you, you shouldn’t have to owe them a single fucking thing. if someone is a bad person that are not owed any kind of fucking love whatsoever. no one should ever be told to love unconditionally and have to follow through with that to people who have abused them. the only reason UR saying this is because you are borderline abusive to your children and now that some of them are old enough to refuse to deal with you being a terrible person and these new cultish beliefs you’ve gotten. of fucking course it’s the people who constantly will hurt other people in some way or other who always end up saying” you should love everyone no matter whaaaat” like

this fucking lady is talking about how people would say “hey maybe you should not take ur kids ACTUAL BEDS AND DOORS away, because it’s an awful way to treat children and it’s a good way to get these children to end up resenting you big time for treating them so terribly and they won’t trust you and will end up trying to get away from you as soon as possible” and she’s like “well that’s their fault for not loving unconditionally” WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??? yeah yeah sure whatever hey, quick question- does your unconditional loving include murders and people who cause mass genocide or just you and other parents who abuse their children?

shove ur conditional love up ur fucking ass

[supernovafics]

series masterlist | last part — next part

pairing: modern!college!steve harrington x fem!reader, bestfriend!eddie munson x fem!reader

word count: 2.9k words

warnings: explicit language, nothing else really?

summary: your life goes back to normal— how things were before you knew steve— and it’s fine (or at least that’s what you keep telling yourself)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN | ❝𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆❞

Spring Semester 2017

“This is how villain origin stories are born,” Robin said with a loud sigh as she closed her laptop for the time being. “Apartment hunting. Why does this suck so much?”

“Because everything’s severely out of our price range,” You responded, looking up from your own laptop. “Also, there are barely any three-bedroom options.”

“And the ones that are available and in our budget are very shitty,” Vickie added and you nodded in agreement.

The three of you were sitting on the carpeted floor in your dorm room. Living together for the next school year had been jokingly and playfully talked about in the very early stages of your friendship with Robin, but then as the months passed, it settled into an idea that actually became serious; mainly because of how much sense it made. And then Robin introduced you to Vickie and another friendship, and roommate, was born. 

Eddie was also set as a fourth roommate for a bit, but then he told you that he and Chrissy decided to live together for junior year, so it became settled that it would only be you, Robin, and Vickie. Which sounded great, and you were already excited about it since you hated living alone, but the apartment-hunting part quickly proved to be a lot more of a nuisance than any of you had expected.

“Fuck it, let’s just do a four-bedroom, then,” Robin said, shrugging. “There are a bunch more options for those, anyway. Like, the one I showed you guys yesterday. That place was perfect.”

“Did I miss the moment when our fourth roommate magically appeared?” Vickie asked, a playful smile on her face. 

“We can easily find someone else in one of those, like, Facebook group things.”

“That’s honestly not a bad idea,” You responded, already going to pull up Facebook on your laptop. 

Robin smiled. “Thank you. I always have great ideas.”

Vickie gave her a look. “Do I need to mention the ‘donating blood to get concert ticket money’ idea you had a week ago?” 

“No, that’s okay. We don’t need to discuss that low point.” 

You were the one who showed them Talia’s posting on one of the “searching for roommates” groups. She seemed nice and interesting and both Robin and Vickie thought so too. The three of you put together a quick message— briefly introducing yourselves and that you were looking for a fourth roommate— and sent it.

“Okay, fourth roommate, check,” Robin said once you pressed send. “Now, we have to get the place that I showed you guys yesterday.”

You laughed a little. “Let’s wait until she actually says something, Rob.”  

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Spring Semester 2018

Initially, it felt equivalent to a family meeting. Well, more so what you imagined a family meeting would be like because the four of you never actually had to have one before. 

But then, it actually felt like you were giving some sort of speech or presentation because of the setup. Robin, Vickie, and Talia were on the couch and you were standing in front of the TV and explaining everything to them. 

You kept in most of the details— you and Steve agreeing to fake date, your feelings for Eddie being the reason behind it all, and how it was only meant to go until Spring Break. 

Aside from the fact that they all seemed shocked to learn that you had feelings for Eddie, their collective thought was that the entire relationship between you and Steve had seemed so real.

“We were just really good at faking,” Was your response to Vickie specifically saying how cute you two had looked together; especially during the one reality TV night where Steve came over and picked the show.

You remembered that night pretty well, but you didn’t remember any specific moments where you had felt as if you and he had to “play up” the relationship or lay the PDA on thick since Eddie wasn’t around that night, so you weren’t sure how that moment was considered a definingly cute one for the two of you. 

“Were you good at faking or was it not really fake?” Robin asked, giving you a certain look. 

“Definitely fake,” You didn’t hesitate to answer because you deliberately didn’t want to think about her question too deeply. “We’re not even really friends, and he just went on a date last night. Hence the Eddie punch.”

Eddie was still sleeping in your bed. When you got back from Steve’s place, you weren’t in the mood to wake him up or tell him to shift over and make room for you, so you spent the night on the couch. 

“Damn, it kinda sucks that we’re never gonna see him again. He was the only one that liked when I made the pumpkin cheesecake cookies,” Talia said.

Vickie laughed a bit. “The only reason we don’t like it is because that's clearly a Fall cookie, Tal, and it's Spring right now.” She then looked as if she thought of something. “Hey, but at least you won’t have to get stuck on a team with Eddie for game night anymore. We’re back to individual stuff or you being the referee.”

Talia smiled. “Thank you for reminding me.”

“Wait, that just made me remember something,” Robin started. “Guys, I need you to please hear me out on this one,” She paused for what seemed like dramatic effect. “I think it's time to bring back Monopoly.”

There was a collective groan that immediately filled the air upon hearing her suggestion. Monopoly was a near friendship-ending game for you all, and it was only meant to be played on the rarest of occasions; which actually meant never. 

You sat down on the small loveseat then, glad that the subject had been shifted and that your speech, mixed with a Q&A, was over. “Robin, why do you wanna ruin all of our friendships?”

She quickly shook her head. “Come on, it’s been months. We’re all much more mature and reasonable adults, and I doubt we’ll have any arguments like last time.” 

Before any of you could respond with any sort of rebuttal, your bedroom door opened and out walked a tired looking Eddie. 

“Somehow, I heard the mention of Monopoly and I’m here to immediately veto that suggestion.” 

Robin rolled her eyes at him. “Go back to sleep, Munson.”

The game night conversation continued, and from there, things were normal. And you didn’t mind the normalcy that your life settled back into over the next few days and then weeks— even though, at one point, the thought of it bothered you and you had missed a lot of the things that came along with fake dating Steve. Now you knew there was no point in missing any of it; in fact, it felt kind of dumb to. 

Your classes got more and more intense during the entire month of April, so there wasn’t that much time to think about Steve or wonder what he was up to. However, the moments you did think of him surprisingly hit hard. 

When you all ended up playing Monopoly at game night, after Robin’s many begs and pleads, you thought about Steve and how different things would’ve been if he was there. You imagined him as a pretty competitive Monopoly player, and felt almost certain that he would’ve either had the biggest rivalry with Robin or formed some sort of alliance with her; she was the one that actually ended up winning after an intense and exhausting seven hours of playing that night. You wished that he could’ve been there. 

And then there were the reminders of him that were left around— his t-shirt that you’d never gotten around to giving back to him, his sunglasses that you didn’t realize you’d stolen until you were finally finishing unpacking your stuff from the Mexico trip, and the bear that he got you for Valentine’s Day that you refused to ever get rid of, but you eventually stuffed Hartford away in your closet instead of leaving him on your desk to make things feel easier. 

Anytime one of those moments happened where you randomly thought about him, you immediately reminded yourself of the rule and simply buried yourself further in whatever school assignment you needed to focus on, or made abrupt plans with Eddie, Robin, Vickie, or Talia. 

It was late in the month when Talia wanted to set you up with a guy from one of her classes, who she claimed would be “perfect for you.” Initially, you were hesitant— more so leaning toward no than yes— but he had the Talia stamp of approval, so you let it happen. She gave him your number and there were a handful of text messages shared between you two that led to a museum date a week later. 

It wasn’t terrible. But, your heart wasn’t in it at all, and neither was your head most of the time. And by the end of it, more specifically as you were in the elevator headed back up to your apartment, you realized that you probably wouldn’t see him again. 

When you walked into the apartment, you spotted Talia in the kitchen and the entire apartment smelled amazing; which, of course, didn’t surprise you at all.

“Hey, what are you making?” You asked as you pulled off your jacket and hung it on one of the empty hooks next to the door. 

“I got bored, so I decided to do a quick roasted chicken. It’s in the oven now,” She said, shrugging as if that was entirely normal. It would never not amuse you how her boredom would always spur on elaborate meals. “So, how was the date?”

“It was fine. Good, actually,” You answered after the briefest moment of hesitation. “He was pretty cool and we had a lot in common and stuff. But, I don’t know… It just didn’t feel right, I guess. My head was in a different place a lot of the time. Thinking about other stuff.”

“About Steve?”

Hearing her say that, surprised you. “What? No. I haven’t talked to him in like a month.” 

She gave you a quick shrug. “That doesn’t mean that you can’t think about him.” 

“I guess that’s true, but I haven’t really thought about him,” You said. It was a small lie that you were okay with telling because you didn’t want to admit or even ponder what it meant that you did think about and were so easily reminded of him sometimes. 

“I’m kind of surprised that you two aren’t friends or something,” She told you as she went to grab something from the fridge. “I don’t think I could do a whole fake dating thing with someone and not, at least, be friends with them after it.”

You leaned back against the counter. “We came up with a bunch of rules when we started it, and that was one of them.”

“To not be friends after?”

“Not exactly that, but pretty much, yeah. The rule was to go our separate ways once the fake dating was done,” You shrugged. “Becoming friends was the last thing on both of our minds when we came up with that since we were basically strangers at the beginning of this. And when we were ending things, we both knew that it would be impossible to be friends after because of all of the lies that started this.” 

She looked at you then. “But we all know the truth now, though. So you two could be friends and none of us would question it.” 

Talia’s words made complete sense and they were something that you should’ve realized and thought about a lot earlier than this moment. You were quiet for what felt like forever because you didn’t know what to say in response. Your immediate reaction was to still say no, you couldn’t be friends with him, but if she followed up and asked why, you knew that you wouldn’t have an answer. 

When the oven started beeping, it felt like a very “saved by the bell” kind of moment. Talia pulled out the chicken from the oven and let the conversation shift from there. “You got back from your date just in time, by the way. You wanna try this?” 

“Of course, I’ll never turn down anything you make.”

You went to your room first to change out of your date outfit and put on some pajamas instead and then you joined Talia back in the kitchen. The chicken was quite literally perfect, which didn’t surprise you, and you retreated to your room for the night after you finished eating, while Talia put on a documentary that she had to watch for one of her psychology classes. 

As much as you tried to focus on anything else as you lay in your bed, you inadvertently spent the rest of the night thinking about Steve— it was too hard not to. 

You thought about every moment that you had been reminded of him over the past month— how it hadn’t felt like much at first, but when you thought about it all at once, it was a lot. You also thought about what Talia said and why you and he weren’t friends even though it was pretty obvious that you should be— what else could explain why you both had prolonged and dragged out the conversation in his car the night you two “broke up”? Neither of you had wanted to let the inevitable happen. 

All of this was about more than just following the rule to you. Of course, it was about more than just that. 

Deep down you knew exactly why you couldn’t listen to what Talia said— why you couldn’t text him, go to his place, or do anything else to lean into that short-lived friendship you two had that you actually had a feeling was still there— but right then you refused to admit it. 

Instead, you grabbed your phone and put on a random podcast just so you could use the noise to drown out your thoughts and force yourself to fall asleep.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

It wasn’t until a few days before finals that you thought about Steve again. It was kind of hard not to because you ran right into him— or more so tripped over him. 

The campus library during the week before finals week was probably one of the worst places to be, but you were in a last-second search for a book that you needed to do an essay on and you refused to buy it online because, for some reason, it was way too expensive.

Your eyes were trained solely on the spines of books as you searched for the one in particular when you tripped over something in the middle of the aisle. It wasn’t a full-on fall, just a very awkward stumble, but it somehow felt just as embarrassing. 

You let out an abrupt yelp in the middle of your stumble and heard a voice before you even got to see what caused you to trip. “Oh, fuck, I’m sorry.” 

You recognized Steve’s voice immediately and it sent a surprised jolt through you as you turned to look at him. He was leaned back against the long bookshelf with his legs stretched out and there was a textbook opened in his lap. He must’ve just been sleeping because you saw him rub his eyes and let out a quick yawn.

He looked up at you as he crossed his legs under him instead of having them stretched out in the aisle. He seemed as if he was surprised to see you too, but from the look on his face, you could tell that he saw it as a good surprise; you weren’t sure if you could say the same just yet. “Shit, now I feel worse knowing that I just did that to you.”

That got the smallest smile out of you. “Yes, you should feel a thousand times worse for almost ending my life.”

“I’m sorry.” 

“Why are you sleeping here?” You asked. Both of you were keeping your voices low because you were on one of the quieter floors of the library. 

He shook his head. “I’m not sleeping. I was taking a break from studying for a test and just resting my eyes for a second.” 

“So sleeping?”

“A very brief nap,” He corrected.

“Ah, okay, got it,” You nodded, words coming out completely sarcastic. “Sorry for interrupting your very brief nap then.”

“Sorry for almost killing you.”

“Thank you.”

You knew that you should’ve let the brief conversation end there. You should’ve looked away from him then and continued searching for the book you needed to find. But, you didn’t. 

Instead, after the briefest moment of lingering silence between you two, you sat down across from Steve. The book and the essay that you needed to work on became the farthest things from your mind for the time being.

You didn’t have the strongest grasp on what you were doing right then and why you were doing any of it, but you decided not to question it. Instead, you simply did what felt good in the moment. 

You leaned back against the bookshelf opposite Steve and crossed your legs as well. “Hi.” 

He gave you a questioning look at first— maybe he was also expecting the conversation to end in that previous spot; like it would’ve with any other two people who weren’t really friends that had just randomly bumped into each other. 

But then, he was smiling, a genuine Steve Harrington smile that felt really nice to see. “Hey.” 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

a/n: ….. i'm sorry for the cliffhanger !!!!

next part!

taglist (lmk if you want to be added or taken off<333); @eddiernunson , @loulouloueh , @the-aster , @blckburd , @totally-bogus-timelady , @yujyujj , @irhdifartzamfyaa , @mochminnie , @munsonssweets , @blckbrrybasket , @xprloki , @definitionwanderlust , @dwcode , @sun-fiower-seed , @keerysfolklore , @damon-loves-pie , @lodeddiperrodrick , @bisexual-and-intellectual , @munsonburn3r , @negomi123 , @khena , @facexthexsunshine , @seatbacksandtraytables , @suckerfordylansstuff

(if your user is crossed out it means i can’t tag you</3)

[quillyfied]

Happy Halloween and Happy Ghostfuckers, time to dig into the chest cavity of this episode and not come back out until the next! Another banger of an episode; someone in the Helluva Boss tag called it the Truth Seekers of season 2, and I am so inclined to agree, actually. Equal parts reaction and analysis, and 100% spoilers, like, did that even need to be said?

First: MILLIE MY BELOVED. After a season and a half (over five whole years) of some pretty lukewarm development and attention, having this episode start off with Millie being her happy cheerful self is already such a breath of fresh air, especially given the relentless nonstop personal drama Blitzo and Stolas have been part of for the last couple of episodes. It’s great that this episode is starting after a brief time skip, too; feels more natural for an audience that has had three months to process it all. Watching Millie step right into emotional support is amazing, too, for reasons that have been hinted at before; Happy Campers was so good for her and Moxxie’s characters and I’m prepared to fight about it. Having one of the few women in the cast be relegated to “emotional backbone” doesn’t feel as bad when she’s already expressed insecurity about her importance in life, shown that being an unbelievable badass doesn’t always give her the kind of attention she wants, and isn’t afraid to knock the people in her life down a peg when they aren’t supporting her back. Yes that was just from Happy Campers, and this episode reinforces that with further excellent context. But sshh. We’ll get to that later. Time to watch Loona and Moxxie breaking down because they’re sick of Blitzo’s shit but not to the point of leaving him yet (because they love him too shsshhhshshsh).

Interesting that after a few weeks of moping, NOW is when Blitzo is starting to ramp up his destructive behaviors; what tiny glimpses we were allowed to get in the mission shorts showed a Blitzo that was coping but seemed to be holding it together (you’ll pry the idea that Blitzo’s inability to work the crystal in Mission: Antarctica is directly related to his confidence, not his skill, out of my cold dead rotten hands). This sudden left turn into emptying IMP’s bank accounts and forcing Moxxie and Loona to act out his grief with him appears…new. Maybe lying around eating ice cream and cheese (bro) like a sad sack while watching human television isn’t a new behavior, but the Blitzo-level catastrophic destruction masquerading as retail therapy reads to me as a sudden snap, maybe due to the proximity of a certain lunar cycle. It’s certainly looking on par with running three rings to Wrath and maxing out someone else’s credit cards on shitty horse riding lessons (something that, based on the vague timeline I’ve been able to wrangle out of this godforsaken show, Millie wouldn’t have been present for, though to be fair it’s not like Blitzo ever really has a measured emotional response to anything).

(Viv, if you’re listening, consider this a brief cosmic request for Secretary Stolas to help poor Moxxie with this paperwork. Please. PLEASE. PLEEEEASE.)

I love too that Millie’s approach as default team Emotional Intelligence isn’t to meddle, either, because that also shows maturity on her part; letting the grown ass adults around her handle their shit while still being sweet to them is such a good and necessary component of the IMP team. Hang on having another Millie Feelings Moment while trying to have some sort of chronology here.

…it’s entirely purposeful that Bethany Ghostfucker has Charlie’s hair, right? Because they share a voice actress? Which means…Blitzo has now cosplayed some reference of Charlie…THE STREAMS THEY ARE CROSSING.

I also love how nOTHING could have prepared me for realizing that Blitzo’s outfit in this episode is a cosplay. Of a HUMAN. WHO FUCKS GHOSTS. I don’t know why I am so surprised at how literal the title is; this show continues to both sicken and delight me XD (raunchy humor isn’t my thing and Blitzo was definitely pushing it for me this episode, but also…it’s so nicely balanced with the real emotional breakdowns that I can’t even be mad about it)

Anyway, back to Millie and her Emotional Genius: very glad that she realizes what Blitzo is going through requires a little more babying than usual, and VERY glad that she and Blitzo already have an established system for when he needs to be babied and she doesn’t initially cave to it (I will be buying that magnet, thanks Spindlehorse). I also love how Millie encourages Loona to step up and help Moxxie (who also desperately needs some help, but Millie really can’t focus on him right now because she needs to focus on the root of the problem, which is Blitzo), essentially through begging but also just by being her usual kind self. And that quiet little moment of Millie using Loona’s name for maybe the first time ever is just…mwah. Chef’s kiss. No notes.

Sidetracking again to wonder why the subject of ghosts is just now coming up when Blitzo literally has an alert light labeled “Ghost.” Like. I feel like Blitzo believing in ghosts while Millie staunchly does not is such a good dynamic to play with, but also why is this the first that it’s being addressed. XD Okay, I get it, throwaway gag from the first episode that is becoming relevant now and maybe didn’t have that much thought put into it when it was first made, but I can dream. Or pick relentlessly at tiny details while completely missing the bigger picture. It’s fine. I’m fine.

What I’m not fine with is how Blitzo can completely trash the van in nearly the same way two episodes in a row (assuming that IMP going on the run is happening in Mastermind, which is far from a given, but phwoar would it be maximum emotional impact, to have an episode showing IMP finally moving into their shitty office and how much it means to them, only to have it ripped out from under them the next episode LOLOLOLOL). I’m mostly irritable that my prediction was untrue :P Although I am glad that the prediction that this hotel guy was Leviathan was disproven, because let’s be honest, that would make no sense. Some rando infestor demon, though? Totally on point. Also makes sense why he “falls” for Blitzo’s bullshit disguise; he knows they’re imps because he’s also a demon. Something new to play with. Though it’s interesting that even when Rolando goes rooting through Blitzo’s head, he still doesn’t seem to know either of their real names. Informational blind spot? Would make sense, with how the fight goes down, but later. Later.

Side note to wheeze with relief because when I first watched this episode, it was without subtitles, and I thought Igor was wheezing Blitzo’s name. Him saying “bitch” makes more sense actually. That’s fine. It was much creepier thinking he was saying Blitzo’s name actually XD

Listen. Listen. We know that Blitzo sort of self-medicates with sex and sexual humor. We know that he’s loaded his confidence eggs into the competent at sex basket, because his competence at emotions has a body count (literal). Much like how it was painful to watch Blitzo operating at maximum asshole behavior at the beginning of Apology Tour what with his relentless insistence at returning his relationship with Stolas to safter, sexier ground…watching Blitzo try to distract himself with a sexually charged silly new hobby is equally painful. Because for him, sex is surface level, because anything deeper is dangerous (lord above please ignore the innuendo IGNORE IT). If sex happens to come with emotional attachment, he ruthlessly severs it. But Blitzo being horny isn’t the problem, it’s his disregard for the people that get caught up in his horniness (and he certainly knows how to weaponize his raunchy humor and sexual charisma when it suits him). The Scooby Doo antics are hysterical, but watching Millie start to buckle under the strain of indulging Blitzo is as fascinating as it is inevitable. We already know Millie doesn’t have infinite patience even for Moxxie. So to watch her reach her limit with Blitzo when she might be the only person in IMP whom we have never seen snap at him…delicious. Absolutely the best. And GOOD ON HER for snapping at him for cutting her off, which is a thing he does all the time with everyone ever but rarely gets called on (because he’s waltzed off at that point usually).

And, as I dearly hoped, it’s Millie that starts to really get through to Blitzo, not by being gentle, exactly, but by being her refreshing blunt-not-bludgeoning self. She gives Blitzo the reaming he deserves, but doesn’t belittle him about it; she just points out that his behavior is harmful, draws a boundary, and leaves. Exactly what Blitzo needs…though his brain is certainly going to fuck with him about it first, because lol rejection-sensitive dysphoria being exacerbated by fucked up haunted trauma illusions is a BITCH.

When the gif for this episode dropped and it was Blitzo sliding down a ventilation shaft, I never saw a single other person remark on the dark liquid in the corner of the gif sliding down the shaft after him. I didn’t say anything about it either, just noted it and freaked out quietly every time the gif passed me by. NOW KNOWING THE CONTEXT OF THE DARK SLIDING LIQUID MAKES IT WORSE. I already suspected it was blood (Hellborn blood to be exact). I did not suspect that it would be THAT MUCH BLOOD. Though it’s interesting that Blitzo doesn’t recognize it as such, never calls it that, never seems to realize it. So. Maybe it isn’t blood (spoiler: it’s not blood, I am just dumb and didn’t realize what it is until a third viewing, good job me), but it sure as hell resembles Hellborn blood enough that I have the heebie jeebs. And the visuals are just SO CREEPY—Blitzo is practically drowning in it as he’s dumped into a waking nightmare, and like. Blitzo is an assassin by trade now, and we know IMP did a lot of in-Hell contracts before switching to corner the Sinner market, so there would ostensibly be a lot of Hellborn blood on his hands, but he doesn’t care about that. A job’s a job. The blood he feels guilty about…well…we know, okay, I won’t insult y’all’s intelligence by rehashing it, because it’s about to be made real damn obvious anyway.

THE HAUNTED MILLIES BEING ALL THE TIMES SHE COULD HAVE DIED IN PREVIOUS JOBS THOUGH. Bless the people smart enough to pick that up and throw that spaghetti at the wall because folks it STICKS, it’s so obvious and SO GOOD. And SUCH a neat little insight into Blitzo’s head, too: he cares SO MUCH about his employees, his family, and it does actually haunt him, how many close calls they’ve had. It does occur to him that his actions affect others. It’s just never bothered him, certainly not to this degree. I fully blame Apology Tour and Verosika for getting him started on considering how his actions have consequences for other people, how he “hurts other people’s fee-fees” but also routinely leads his team into dangerous situations where his mistakes could cost them all. And these phantom (lol f-word) versions of Millie not only driving this home through the visuals, but saying the quiet part out loud, asking Blitzo if he realizes this about himself? If he’s ever loved someone without hurting them? FUCK.

I said so many times I wanted Blitzo broken in half; I have FEASTED, friends, because Blitzo’s issues are bigger than Stolas and if he doesn’t address them, he won’t ever be happy with himself, let alone with anyone else, romantic or platonic. ALSO, feast upon the intersecting themes between Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel, because “you think you can change?” immediately put me in mind of “addict trash like you doesn’t change,” which…I believe whole-heartedly is something that Val said to Angel, maybe even said in that moment, but the framing of it and Angel’s character arc made it so clear to me that Val’s words had become Angel’s own. Except Angel started proving him wrong. He started struggling, however small and desperately and weakly, to change who he was, to become someone he actually liked instead of what everyone else wanted and liked. Blitzo is in the same boat. Because both of these shows are so much about how hard it can be to become a better version of yourself, especially in a world that’s set against you being that person, that will hurt you for daring to be better, to be different, to be YOURSELF. What Blitzo is going through right now is the emotional beat-down that every person who has ever wanted to self-improve despite (or maybe even because of) trauma or mental illness puts themself through. If you’ve ever been this mean to yourself and driven yourself to a sobbing panic attack, clap your hands (clap clap).

And then the low blow. The tearjerker. The cry-maker.

Teenage Blitzo running to his mother. Calling out for Mama. Telling her about the scary dream he was having. AND SHE COMFORTS HIM. She never turns on him, she’s never angry, she never even flinches as she’s burning alive in front of him. Ghosts aren’t real (sad) and we aren’t ever going to meet Tilla except through other people’s eyes, most likely Blitzo’s, but that double-edged knife of knowing that Blitzo both was so loved and loved so hard back, only to be the one who got her killed…we’ve known as an audience for a while now that this is the biggest burden on Blitzo’s soul, the one thing he may never forgive himself for and can’t conceive of anyone else forgiving, because it’s what’s Fundamentally Wrong with him: he makes everyone’s lives worse. How can he love when he is so completely destruction incarnate? How can he reach out to Moxxie, to Millie, to Loona, to Stolas, to Fizz, when the person dearest to him crumbled to ash in his hands and it’s his own fault?

How can Millie look at him and tell him he’s wrong, that he made her life better?

Fuck hang on cry break FUCK I forgot to remove my eye makeup before doing this lolololol

Okay. Pivoting to scrutinizing this flashback, because the first thing that is immediately apparent to me (besides how hot Millie and Blitzo are DAMN) is how much older and more tired Millie looks. Millie in particular. We’ve become accustomed to Millie looking a certain way, so the new look is certainly exciting, but it’s the expression that’s really the kicker here. She looks hardened and badass, but so, so tired. She’s tired of just being the muscle. She’s tired of scraping by for a buck, and fewer of them than she deserves. My theory that Wrath is saturated with imps of a similar skill set is correct; my theory that Helluva Boss isn’t going to address the class/race issues they’re drawing on in any meaningful way might yet be disproven. Because Millie doesn’t have horrific family trauma. What she has is what every imp has: systemic oppression and its accompanying insecurities. We got hints of this back in Happy Campers, when she was so thrilled to be the center of attention and important and liked, and NOT for how well she kills people. Now it has further context, and is why Millie being the Emotional Support of the team is so important to her as a character: she never thought she could be anything else. She never let herself believe she could be anything but someone’s underpaid goon that was going to die an early death and be as meaningless as everyone told her she was. Until Blitzo and IMP carved out a space for themselves and moved to THE TOP RING IN HELL. The one where Lucifer lives, the one where the Goetia seem to congregate, the one ring that, despite being a flaming hellhole (lol) that is full of weird dead humans and is constantly being beset by angels at least once a year, is considered the one place imps can’t make their mark. Gosh this episode is so important for making so much of that thinly-veiled subtext all throughout Helluva Boss into text, for underlining Striker’s compliment to Blitzo for making a name for himself by owning his own business, for saying EXPLICTLY AND OUT LOUD that imps aren’t even good enough for the shittiest, most moth-eaten office in Pride.

I’m still not holding my breath on Helluva Boss actually solving anything socially within itself, because that seems like a tall order. But it is no longer too much to ask for Stolas to grapple with some pretty heavy questions about his behavior and his preconceived notions, his internal biases and the ways he has hurt Blitzo in return. SECRETARY STOLAS PLEEEEEASE, I AM BEGGING.

Anyway. Time to drool over the fight choreography, first of this fight between Millie and Blitzo, because it’s GORGEOUS. They have what I was hoping so hard for them to have: fighting as a love language XD Blitzo and Millie understand each other on a pretty instinctual, almost primal level; their fight is a dance, not just because they’re both good at it. It’s an extension of their friendship, or what will become their friendship. Their bodies are their most basic communication tool, Millie often through touch and snuggles, and Blitzo through either fighting or fucking, depending on what’s needed. They both have killer instinct, which Moxxie’s anxiety often chokes out within himself and which Loona hasn’t really had the chance to hone.

I also love that moment before Blitzo tips the pool table, the whole “reputation is everything” “Oh yeah? So what’s your reputation?” Because. BECAUSE!! Millie is an exceptional assassin, but in this fight in particular, she is so different from how she is in the rest of the show. She’s a proper Wrathian imp assassin, angry and hard and relentless. Compare that to the beginning of Ozzie’s, when she scuttles into frame holding an axe in her teeth and screeches about how she’s still so jazzed up, clearly amped and so much more joyful than she is during this flashback. Again, said it at least twice, will say it once more: she looks so exhausted, like she’s burning herself out just to make it. And she isn’t a unique case in that regard by any means. It’s working for Blitzo that makes her unique, that gives her joy in her work instead of making her rely on how other people see her. Sinners already don’t care about her or her feelings; her next meal isn’t contingent on appearing as hardened and badass as possible, it’s on a Sinner having a grudge, which is an exclusive meal ticket that only Blitzo could have weaseled them into.

I also want to point out that this fight between Blitzo and Millie? Pretty well mirrored by the fight between Millie and Rolando!Blitzo. The way Millie blocks him with her forearm, the way she slams him into the wall—those are things Blitzo did to her, back during their first fight. Granted, Millie getting the coolest anime punch-stop of all time is something that’s all hers, because Millie is so special and had no idea until she found a new life. She is the happiest imp there ever was and she kicks no less ass for it.

(WHERE IS MY TIMELINE, IMP WAS AROUND FOR A YEAR BEFORE THEY GOT THE BOOK AND THE OFFICE. Unsure of how long after meeting Loona and Moxxie this meeting with Millie takes place, and this does scramble around the timeline of how long Blitzo had the book before Stolas calls to make the arrangement, and where does Moxxie and Millie’s marriage fit into this? They’ve only been married a year, so probably started dating pretty soon after meeting…still have no idea on when Stolas and Blitzo’s first time happened and how long after that was Loo Loo Land. I will tie myself into knots over this, must stop now.)

Anyway. Putting the fights to bed for the moment, gotta get in on those good good BFF snuggles, which will go immediately into Blitzo’s Trauma: The Movie. After Rolando does the honor of driving home the point that yeah, imps have it real fuckin’ bad in Hell canonically and textually and said out loud and everything, thanks for asking.

…oh. Right. Rolando dissolves into black goo. Blitzo wasn’t crawling through a tunnel of blood. It was a tunnel of Rolando. That’s somehow worse. Ah well. My point about Blitzo’s regrets and visually looking like he’s wading through Hellborn blood stands.

Small detail that’s standing out to me in this episode: how much Blitzo is holding his chest during the Rolando fight. Wondering if he’s cupping the pendant he almost lost, or if he’s injured in the chest pretty badly. Which is SO IRONIC if true, because. Y’know. Feelings. His are hurting.

Gosh this fight with Rolando is so scary, though. We’ve never seen infestor demons before (unless you count the Glam sisters, but they weren’t in their element, so to speak), and the power differential between Rolando and Blitzo and Millie is pretty stark. Different from the fight between Striker and Millie and Moxxie, Striker overwhelms with skill. Rolando is overwhelming with power. Don’t you just hate it when higher-class demons have special powers that reinforce the hierarchy? Bullshit. Anyway. THE FIGHT TAKING PLACE NEAR THE POOL IS SO GOOD. Because why wouldn’t an Envy demon have the water advantage? They’re literally fish people. And it’s TENSE OKAY.

BUT NOT AS TENSE AS BLITZO’S TRAUMA: THE MOVIE IS ABOUT TO BE.

I find it particularly significant that Rolando licks up the scarred side of Blitzo’s neck and then says a few minutes later that Blitzo’s level of insecurity is “intoxicating.” Yeah I imagine he’s super tasty to demons who feed on that kind of thing. See previous horrific trauma hallucination. Which I now have reason to believe wasn’t based entirely in reality; we already know all the Millies didn’t die that way, and now a snapshot of Blitzo finding the pendant in the wreckage. He didn’t watch his mom burn to death, not the way he was forced to watch in this episode. Goddamn. Rolando is an asshole, huh?

The Cash backslap really took me aback, actually, not just because Blitzo flinches away from it. The stills show that Cash does it while holding Blitzo’s still-burned wrist in his other hand, so this is really soon after the fire; one has to wonder if Cash did it because Blitzo caused his mother’s death, or if it’s just for the circus. Hard to get a read on Cash, no idea what his attitude towards Tilla is besides a gleeful willingness to use her to manipulate his son. I suppose I’m also shocked because I never really doubted that Cash probably hit Blitzo at least a little, but…a backhand, to me, reads of casual violence, something that’s done without much thinking about it. The way Stella reared back to backhand Stolas and we know by her shocked expression that he’s never caught her wrist to avoid the impact before. Terrible comparison, by the way, and by terrible I mean great but causing me emotional distress. I hadn’t suspected that Cash was likely just as physically abusive as he was emotionally abusive towards Blitzo. Nice to have the confirmation. I hate it here.

Okay, because I haven’t seen the screenshots anywhere yet: first scene of Millie and Moxxie is from Murder Family when Moxxie unties them. Second…I don’t know, actually, and I’m embarrassed to admit that. Maybe Truth Seekers? I could make the argument for Exes and Oohs if Moxxie was in a wedding dress, but I’m not sure. Any of the many times Blitzo has intruded on their time together, I suppose. And, fun fact: the shots that are playing in Blitzo’s eyes when Rolando forces Blitzo’s eyes open are the ones of Fizz and Verosika in Ozzie’s again. In case that was information you wanted. It’s also upsetting that Loona in LA is part of the reel of Blitzo Thinking Everyone Hates Him, because the fight in Spring Broken at least makes sense to flashback to. Though I do keep forgetting, constantly and with an insistence that infuriates me, that Loona and Blitzo were also having a fight during Seeing Stars and when she kicks him off of her at the end, it’s while Blitzo is apologizing for threatening to replace her.

I find it very interesting that there’s a split-second of Barb that cuts in when the Stolas part of the reel plays; it’s so fast, but right after Blitzo pulls away from Stolas’ hand in Ozzie’s, there’s a second shot of Barb as she’s yelling at him in Happy Campers. Significance? Probably that their separation hurts him just as much as his current one with Stolas, he’s just had more time to try and get used to it. Or represses it more.

Oh hey. Blitzo in his head is back in uniform, crystal and all. Nice. I didn’t even realize it. (…Crystal and all. Like it’s become part of his self-image already. HMMM.)

So interesting that Rolando chooses the most obvious pressure points to try and get to Millie…without realizing that coming out of Blitzo’s mouth, it completely robs them of power BECAUSE of their heart to heart. Millie already knows in her core that Blitzo rejects that image of her, because it’s an image of himself that he also rejects and he refuses to let her wallow in it. Their friendship is built on, well, building each other up in that way. Why in fuck would Millie listen to this asshole wax on and on about how she’s a lowborn inbred hick (what the fuck dude) when he’s currently possessing the guy who helped her break that image of herself? Like. Come on, asshole, use your brain, not your bigotry. But I guess that’s also the point of this episode, showing with explicit clarity that IMP is special because of all the anti-imp sentiment they’ve had to wade through and dismantle within themselves, so why would a supposedly “superior” demon think he had to hit any harder or more precise than that? Also. Though. The careless way Rolando is just throwing around Blitzo’s body is pretty sickening.

Special moment of silence for how Millie knows that Blitzo can take a beating that few others can and uses that to expel Rolando. I’m not crying. It’s fine.

“You’re dead, Bethany!” This is. Such a weird thing to say. Especially when you just went on a pleasure cruise through this guy’s deepest darkest fears. You can pull out what haunts him in the night, but not his name?? Counterpoint: he didn’t CARE to pull out Blitzo’s name. Because he’s an imp.

The knocking Rolando into the pool thing was hysterical, though. Such an anticlimax. Right before the electrocution and the eye-popping and all. Lol.

“FUCK hotels!” Says the man who was casually cosplaying an aspect of the princess of Hell who runs a hotel. I love these shows. I love the casual interplay between them. A crossover one day would be the best thing ever.

“I’ve never had a real friend that I didn’t want to fuck.” That is such a blisteringly honest thing for Blitzo to say that I don’t think he expected it to come out of his own mouth. And I love that Millie knows it has nothing to do with her and everything to do with Blitzo, and how Blitzo feels about Stolas. I just don’t think Blitzo realized he felt that way until he said it out loud.

And wrapping this all up with a nice bow with some Loona and Moxxie character growth, where she ACTUALLY takes care of him instead of leaving him to his own devices! Giving half a shit prevents arson, folks, love to see it.

This had the exact structure of Truth Seekers that got me hooked on this show in the first place: cutting the raunchy humor (which is hit or miss with me, usually don’t like it overmuch) with really deep, complex, and honest character moments. The way Blitzo mentors both Moxxie and Millie in different ways while still relying on them is just so satisfying. Even more satisfying is seeing Blitzo change from a one-note loud pervert into a complicated guy who has real feelings about other people and doesn’t actively want to hurt the people he cares about because he DOES CARE. He’s a fuckup, and he’s trying, and it’s so, so, SO good.

I’m sure I have forgotten to wax eloquent about something or other, but it’s almost four hours later and definitely almost five thousand words into this thing, so I’m gonna cut myself off here. Toodles! See you all in November for Mastermind, which is gonna be FINE I’m sure!!

[morinuu]

☀︎｜tamaki x female reader drabble. you're a client and jealous asf. pining for tamaki lol. angst? maybe. mention of nsfw but nothing's reealllyyy happening. also u have ear piercings & you know haruhi's a girl.

your hands trembled a bit as you stared at the butter knife in held between your fingers, stopped mid-action from spreading the jam on your bread any further.

ouran had the tendency to make you feel lonely, rejected. generally... unhappy.

although there was one thing existing within the grand corridors of ouran that shone like the sun, blinding, immediately burning all of those emotions away. a tall boy whose smile seemed contagious, never failing to make your chest feel fuzzy and warm, as if you'd met a saint before entering heaven.

his blond hair almost radiated a halo surrounding his head, one you could never help but stop and admire.

but you knew you wouldn't be entering heaven, not when you couldn't defeat the disgusting, vile jealousy that sat in your throat whenever his hands would pat her head. or when his words would compliment her 'cuteness! purely adorable manners!' and whatever else he found just delightful on her.

so maybe he wasn't actually burning the negative emotions away. perhaps he was replacing them with others, and not with better ones.

it took a while before you realised tamaki suoh had been waving his hand in your face to bring you back to the conversation.

"miss yn?"

you blinked your thoughts away and looked back at the boy in front of you. with a quick cough to clear your throat, you nodded at the boy and finished spreading the jam on your toast.

"sorry, what were you saying?" you asked with a gentle voice, trying to seem unaffected by the thoughts occupying your brain viciously.

you didn't want to think you disliked haruhi, because she wasn't a bad person. nor had she done anything wrong. she wasn't the problem.

tamaki was.

he and his stupid amethyst-like orbs that sparkled in the sun under the cherry blossom trees during that shitty event the host club was partaking in. his long slender fingers that didn't hold a single scratch on them, proving just how little they'd physically struggled. his delicate pale neck that would be painted a bright pink whenever haruhi did anything.

he was the damn problem.

because you wished his eyes would stare down at you lovingly instead, while his pretty fingers swiped up your folds and played with your clit, his neck and ears flushed because he was rutting his hips on you, panting because of you.

haruhi wasn't to blame if tamaki refused to smear your lipbalm by kissing and licking your mouth in the changing rooms before he had to entertain another client.

so why was she such an irritating sight?

"is everything okay, dear? you haven't finished your tea yet and our date's almost over. that's unusual for you." he frowned slightly and moved a bit closer to you, brushing your hair out of your face to caress your cheek tenderly, as though you were to break.

you always would take the opportunity and lean into his palm, closing your eyes a bit to pretend that any of it was real. he made it seem real every time. and every time you fooled yourself without failure.

'he remembered my tea order!' last week.

'he noticed my haircut!' the month before.

and all those other small, teeny tiny specks of attention he paid to you - they all contributed to your delusions.

"everything's fine, tamaki. i'm just a bit tired. thank you for asking." you assured him and thrived in the feeling of his warm hand on your cheek for however many seconds he'd keep it there before inevitably having to stop.

you wished you could lean just a bit more to the left and peck and bite his fingers as softly as you could.

"if anything is on your mind, remember you can always share it with me, darling. you know i care for you." his hand moved up to caress your ear, the pad of his fingertips tenderly playing with all sorts of different jewellery you'd inserted throughout the surface, before it moved down to your jaw and finally completely separated from your face to rest back on his lap.

oh how you hated (or, tried to at least) his gentle stare and angelic voice that spewed lies in your face shamelessly for money.

that same stupid voice that suddenly got honest and passionate only for the first-year girl disguised as a petit boy.

'liar.'

you shook your head and gave a polite smile, repeating to him that "everything's fine" because you'd rather have the earth swallow you whole than admit your stomach was twisting and turning with raw, sinful envy.

tamaki opened his mouth to say something else, but just before his melodic voice could escape his throat, a yellow dress worn by his next client came into view. 'oh, right. end of appointment.'

"until next time, dear." he chuckled a bit before kissing the back of your hand as farewell.

he might've been called a prince in his club, but your type was always 'the dickheads' as your mum called them. in an ironic way, it made complete sense.

you stared at him walking away while trying to finish your aforementioned tea but to no avail. it was too bitter on your tongue, despite it being your favourite drink of choice, and you couldn't help but feel guilty. because you knew the reason you couldn't stomach it anymore wasn't because it'd gotten cold.

but because just before he went to sit with his next client, he went to check on haruhi.

because he would never turn to look at you the same way - or at all really.

it felt like he belonged to her, with her, and your pathetic attempts at getting closer to him were just an example of you being impudent.

you knew tamaki would never be yours.

and you didn't hate haruhi, but you really fucking wished she would disappear.

[qprstobin]

Stobin Different First Meeting AU where they go to prom together. This was meant to be an au post and turned into a mini fic oops (written completely within a tumblr post so sorry for the poor quality)

(edit: realized I should link the fic I was inspired by for those who don't follow me and so didn't see me reblog it earlier)

Steve doesn't necessarily want to go to prom, right? Like yeah, he'd been imagining it for a while, but now that he was very, very single it just didn't have the same shine that it used to. And he really wasn't ready to start dating yet. However, he didn't want to just, not go to prom, and also knew it would seem really weird (and pretty fucking sad) if he didn't go.

Which leaves him in a conundrum.

He thought for a while that maybe he would go with one of the junior cheerleaders. While he didn't have any close friends anymore, he was still friendly with plenty of people. There were girls that wouldn't be going to prom unless they had a senior boyfriend - some he had even gone on dates with in the past who wouldn't think a single prom date meant that he wanted a new girlfriend.

However, he is pretty sure most of those girls would have... other expectations for the night. And honestly? He isn't quite sure that he was ready to get back on that horse either.

... Not that he thought women were horses.

He's pretty sure men are normally the ones called horses in riding metaphors.

Anyway.

That left him stuck. He couldn't just not go to prom, but also didn't want to wind up trapped on an actual date with someone. So who could he ask?

His solution ended up coming from an odd place.

Robin Buckley was... quite honestly, kind of a weirdo.

She was cute, in an alternative sort of way. She never took any of his shit (he wasn't completely sure she even liked him) but also reluctantly laughed at the snarky shit he said under his breath during their Film History class. And not in the fake giggly way girls did when they were flirting, but didn't actually care about what he was saying, just the way he said it. She actually seemed to think he was funny. Even if that revelation seemed to piss her off.

The only reason he was even in Film History that semester - and therefore, knew who she was - was for the easy A. He got to watch movies in class, and watch movies for homework. He was willing to plow through a couple of shitty essays in exchange for a class that he didn't feel like a complete idiot in.

(Well, he was pretty sure Robin thought he was an idiot about movies, but just because he had trouble remembering the names and shit of characters, didn't mean he couldn't analyze the themes, fuck you very much, Buckley.)

They had gotten assigned a project together early on, and it hadn't been completely terrible. She had quickly taken over doing most of the writing portions, but hadn't thought all of his ideas were terrible. By the end of the project he thought they were even sort of having fun together.

He'd always been one to try his luck, take a little more than he was given. So, after that assignment was over, he started sitting next to her in class, not wanting that easy, if sharp, camaraderie to end. Robin rolled her eyes at him and asked him what he thought he was doing the first time he did it, but she never sent him away.

They ended up chatting more and more during down times, passing notes to each other and sharing sly comments under their breaths during the movies. Steve often had trouble paying attention at school, his mind easily wandering away, and it was almost as bad during most movies, but Robin helped keep him on track.

The class turned into one that was done for the easy grade, a last ditch effort to improve his already hopeless GPA, and became one he actually enjoyed.

The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of going to prom with Robin. It made the night seem a little less unbearable.

He thought about making a big deal out of asking her, because he knows that's what girls (and even Nancy) had enjoyed for past dances. He quickly scrapped that idea, however, because not only did he not want to put pressure on her like that, but also she seemed to hate public spectacles like that.

Or at least when aimed at her, they both enjoyed watching drama unfold in the halls a bit too much to say she hated it completely.

So Steve waits until the end of the day, their film class being their last, to pull her into an empty classroom. She follows him without question in a show of trust he didn't realize she had in him. The notion warms him, and for some reason makes it more difficult to get the question out.

"Why do I feel like you're about to try to sell me drugs or something?" Robin asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He squints at her in offense.

"Why is that your first assumption?!"

"I don't know! Why else are you pulling me out of the hallway all secretive like, making sure no one followed us, into an abandoned classroom," she asks, throwing her arms into the air.

"The classroom isn't abandoned, it's the end of the day! Also, who does drug deals on campus, that's just stupid?" He asks rhetorically, before waving one hand through the air, as if trying to erase the current thread of conversation. "That doesn't matter, you're distracting me."

"Well then, get on with it! Some of us have practice we need to get to."

"It's like talking to the kids," he mutters to himself, "Whatever. I wanted to ask - will you go to prom with me?"

That stops Robin up short. There's panic in her eyes now, though Steve isn't sure what exactly put it there. Was his reputation that bad that even band geeks are terrified of getting asked out by him?

"You want to go on a date? With me?" she asks slowly, disbelief coloring her voice, though it doesn't hide her unease.

"No, I want to go to prom with you," he scoffs, "Not go on a date with you."

"That is a date, dingus! The person you go to prom with is literally called your date!"

"Okay, sure, maybe, but I don't actually want to date you," he said, rolling his eyes at her.

Like, okay, he understood his reputation for being... what did she call him last week? A 'huge effing rake'? But that didn't mean that he was trying to date any girl that looked in his direction. A lot of girls looked in his direction. That was too many women, even for him.

Robin relaxes a little at that.

"Then why are you asking me to prom instead of someone you actually want to date?"

"Because!" he says, resisting the urge to flail his hands back at her. "I don't want to date anyone right now. Most people I ask are going to expect all these things from me - they're going to want dinner, and at the very least a kiss at the end of the night if not more, or another date the very next day. Because Steve Harrington is supposed to want those things!" He takes a deep breath and runs a hand through his hair to calm himself. "But right now? I really don't."

"Well then, what does Steve the Hair Harrington actually want?" She had relaxed fully at this point, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

"I want to go to prom with someone I consider a friend, someone who makes me laugh," he says after a moment of silence. "I want to dance badly to really corny pop music and drink just enough spiked punch that I don't remember how much I hate wearing any sort of tie. Then I want to go get milkshakes or go see a really trashy midnight horror flick, just because I'm having so much fun I don't want the night to end."

That small smile has grown into a reluctant grin on Robin's face. It makes her eyes shine and her freckles pop. Steve thought that if he was in a better place, if they had met at a different time, he could have fallen in love with her.

But they had met now instead, in some shitty public school elective course, and she was the closest thing he had to a friend that wasn't a snotty middle schooler.

"That sounds... like a lot of fun, actually," she says, mischief sparking on her face. "Who would've known the hidden depths hidden behind all that hair."

"Hey!" he protests half-heartedly, unable to keep a grin of his own off his face. "So what do you say? Wanna go to prom with me?"

"I guess," she sighs, acting like it was such a trial to go to prom with him. Him! But her next words make up for it. "Since we're friends, and all. However, I still expect you to buy me dinner, though you can keep the kiss goodnight to yourself."

Steve can't help the giddy laugh from spilling out of him. For the first time in weeks, he is actually looking forward to prom.

[prettyrealm]

itzy yuna as a bestfriend

overall:

first of all, yuna wants her bestfriend to be super pretty and attractive, she does her very best to provide emotional support to others so she wants someone who can handle her trauma dumping and provide heavy emotional support in return, she tends to hold herself accountable in her friendships and takes them very seriously, she won’t neglect you, she’s not the type to leave you on read for long periods of time and she’ll make sure you two don’t spend too much time apart even if she’s extremely busy. she wants to be there through everything and hold onto you through ups and downs, she wants the friendship to feel meant to be, but at the same time, she’s very guarded and holds herself back as she’s been betrayed by a friend before and fears it happening again. she’s the type to continue listening to your troubles, even if they’re “annoying.” Like, if you keep going back to your shitty ex knowing you shouldn’t, but still keep needing to vent, she will listen to you genuinely. she’d pretty much be happy to help you through any emotional mess. she also has a problem with lying to keep her friends happy though, like she won’t tell you to straight up dump your trashy ex if she thinks it’s hopeless anyway.

strengths:

she will be the #1 most comforting person to talk to. “everything is gonna be okay” and many compliments. she’s very good at saying what you want to hear. she won’t say anything to hurt you. she’s the type to not give advice at all actually and will let you do what you want and support you through your good and bad decisions. she won’t push her opinions onto you. she’s a big spender. let’s say there’s a super expensive and fancy restaurant that she wants to go to, if she knows you can’t afford it, she’ll pay because she wants to share that experience with you. she may even have sort of a motherly vibe, she wants to take care of her friends for a long time. she wants to be in almost constant communication and won’t ever make you feel unheard. if she’s on tour or working a lot she’ll be sure to text you whenever she can. extremely willing to do things she doesn’t like as long as her friend does, “if you like it, I love it.” If you’re yuna’s bestfriend you will genuinely feel loved by her.

weaknesses:

she’s not much of a girl’s girl - at all, she’ll listen to your problems, but she’s secretly judging you hard and may even vent to other friends about you even if she isn’t telling you directly what she thinks, romance >> friendship - as much as she’s there for her friends, her love life will always come first, she definitely makes herself come across a lot nicer than she actually is to your face, she tends to build up resentment and won’t ever communicate - she gossips instead, (considering her love life comes first, if she’s dating, she would 100% be complaining about her besties to her partner), she’s a very big liar, she really wont ever tell you what she’s really thinking. she’s shallow - she wants her friends to be young and pretty like her, she’s okay with earning more money than you, but you have to be on the same level of her socially and appearance wise.

what type of friendship does yuna want?

she wants a bestfriend that has the same beliefs as her (if she’s religious, she could prefer friends to be of the same religion), she likes being the one people feel they need to go to, she wants to be able to ask anything of you and for you to just do it. like, if she says “hey, l need you to make a fake account and stalk my ex on instagram” or if she needs you to lie to someone for her she needs to know she will be able to ask you to do that, she needs a lot of reassurance that you’ll stay by her side and not leave or betray her, compliments and saying nice things to each other is super important to her. I think to her, friendship is more about feeling emotionally happy in the moment, so her actual opinion of you and your actions doesn’t matter, therefore honesty and being up front isn’t that important. it’s about making each other feel good when you’re together, and feeling supported when you communicate and need each other. to yuna, that takes precedence over everything else.

[macdenlover]

Question for ya about genderbent mac and gender/sexuality performance. Assuming she would have a similar repression then coming out experience, would you change her appearance/presentation? I feel like in recent seasons mac's changed so much so I'm curious how you'd represent that in your art!

okay so! @bitseventimes made some really good points in this post about this idea already so i’m kinda piggybacking.

short answer: not really? i’d keep her presentation pretty in line with canon mac so she’d be rockin the tommy bahamas shirts the same seasons as him. i think my version of fem mac would have always been sorta masc except for the few occasions she’s had to put on a dress. but she’d complain about it the whole time. I think her evolving relationship with gender expression and sexuality over the seasons would be less visual and more internal/behavioral.

long answer: unfortunately i don’t think it’s really possible to do a perfect 1 to 1 genderswap parallel that carries ALL the nuances of a character’s relationship queerness/gender expression while still keeping that character recognizable. so it’s okay to bend the rules a little. my headcanon is that fem mac was always a tomboy but saw femininity as a shitty obligation you have to deal with once in a while for show, similar to canon mac’s relationship with having sex with women. i think i saw someone hc that fem mac would wear dresses to church to be closer to god and like yeah. that’s exactly it. overall her demeanor and interests and style would stay pretty close to canon mac. i think early seasons mac would feel ashamed for not being as put together as other girls and especially denise who always has perfect hair and perfect makeup and mac can’t even put eyeliner on without almost blinding herself. and that combined with repressed lesbianism would manifest into this misogynistic pick me “i’m not like other girls” mentality. she’d still have just as much cognitive dissonance as canon mac—convincing herself that dudes like natural girls better anyway but also of course denise has gotten laid so many times she always looks like a whore. and then that changes when mac comes to terms with being gay. (some of the misogyny is still there though this is it’s always sunny in philadelphia). anyways she starts fully embracing the butch thing with more confidence in the later seasons because turns out bitches really dig it. but if denise wants to do her make up every once in a while she sure won’t complain. if you really want to explore queer repression in relation to hyperfemininity it’s wayyy more interesting through denise’s character and it fits really well with whats already established in canon dennis. mac’s performance of femininity would exist as this external factor but denise’s performance of femininity would be so much more internalized and rooted in her self worth. mac takes her heels off 15 minutes into the party because she’s impulsive and it’s irritating and denise bears through the pain because if she can’t be beautiful then what is she whats the point? denise would belittle mac for not putting enough effort into her appearance but deep down she wants the strap so fucking bad would be sort of jealous of the freedom mac has with her appearance and she’d grow more and more resentful toward her in the later seasons after mac comes out.

sorry this turned into a macdennis analysis post and i’ve flown way off the rails from ur ask 😭😭😭 but hopefully you get what i’m saying

[igglemouse]

Monday morning starts shitty because it starts with my shitty breakfast. Yogurt. Which is fine, really, but in the end it's just mush with flavor, isn't it?

Flavorful mush. Sorry for the language, I really am, but there just isn't much going on over here. I feel bad for inviting you into my life.

I don't want this to always be about how crappy my life is because that's not fun but...my life does suck? You'd think someone with magical abilities would have a few more adventures to talk about but as I've mentioned, I'm pretty much banned from practicing my magic thanks to my parents which leaves me almost completely alone. Almost.

I spend a morning or two in my shower contemplating my loneliness. It helps. I think.

I'm not going to just sit at home and mope all day although I guess I could. Whose stopping me?

Either way, I pull myself outside and back to the buffs, the shore of the buffs at least, and just enjoy a mildly chilly day.

My friend texts me, wondering if I want to meet up and I let her know sure but later because I do have a few things I want to get done...

Which is more collecting. Oh? You thought it would be something interesting?

So off I go...collecting metals, herbs, fruits, whatever. You never know when you might need something for a spell. I think?

I want to teach myself. I'm not allowed to be taught in the realm but no one is stopping me from teaching myself and my standards are not high. I'd be content with just a minor spell to tie my shoes, to be honest. Just anything to remind me of my heritage.

But I did not come to the bluffs just to collect rocks and plants...

Once again I was drawn to the castle of Chevalier but this time I had gathered the courage to enter, or rather, something had invited me inside. After all, the gate to the wide double was left open, daring curious visitors like myself.

The doors were unlocked, in fact, a gentle nudge welcomed me into its walls and a few more steps had me deep into what I could assume was a foyer of sorts.

If this is a place long abandoned then I must wonder why its candles are lit and why its floors are clean and yet if someone lives here why would they leave the doors unlocked? Either way, the warm glow of candlelight is appreciated although it's clear to me that someone lives here. Perhaps they are not here right now? On vacation?

My curiosity pushes me forward, deeper and deeper into the castle, moving as softly as possible because with every passing second I realize that I am trespassing. Some flittering thought through my mind, a warning really, nagging at me to turn around, to go home, there is nothing to be found here but trouble and danger and yet I push on.

Into a room, down a ladder, and into a larger chamber. The castle is cleaned here too. Not a speck of dust or a smudge of dirt. Whoever lives here or maintains this place must have an entire team of maids.

I'm eager to learn more and I am just as eager, for whatever reason, to meet the owner of this place...

But as I take another step into this peculiar estate another warning flashes through my head. Except this time the voice doesn't belong to me, that I am sure, and its message is clear.

"Leave."

Message sent, message received. I'm out of here.

So it was back home for me which meant back to my jewelry. There is a such thing as too much adventure after all.

For today I'm working on a bracelet and hoping to sell it because I do need the simoleons. I really, REALLY, need the simoleons.

Eventually I finish a rather poorly made bracelet and before I can despair about my pitiful situation my friend stops by.

Triple V, is what I call her, and that stands for Valerie Van Villet.

Valerie and I have a lot of common as we've grown up together and she's basically my best friend but our shared destiny is because her parents also practiced the dark arts which of course means she's also been expelled from the realm.

Usually, we don't talk about magic, but the topic of the castle has popped up since I could not help but mention my little exploration trip.

"What do you think's there?" I ask her because she knows a lot more about this stuff than I do. She has taught herself well, she's no master, of course, but she knows a few spells. All self-taught.

"Definitely a vampire," she is sure, as if it was is as obvious as 1+1=2. "Nosferatu, as they are called."

"Here?" My question is because it is well known that vampires are close to extinct. That's another story for another day. Maybe. "In such a castle-"

"It's Cyril," she says again, her confidence clear. "I-I'd stay away from him. I believe there's some pact amongst the magic council to leave him be for what he did in the great war but...last I've heard is he's been resting...if he fully wakes-"

"Vee, that place is maintained. No dust, no spiders, if Cyril is-"

"Likely some cleaning service that's hired for the place. I'm sure Cyril has someone take care of the place..."

Well, I'm sure she's right. She has more connections with this kind of stuff than I. She's also right that it wouldn't be a good idea to run into him there. Vampires are said to wake up with a terrible thirst after all. My family has a long and quite troubled history with their kind as well...

"There is power in their blood, you know," Vee finishes my thoughts. She does this a lot. I sometimes wonder if she's plucking them from my mind.

"Yes, I know..." and that word lingers. My mother, she had used the power of blood, a dark art for certain, to gain more power. Human blood, while powerful, paled in comparison to that of vampires at least when it comes to certain rituals.

"Do you ever think that using dark magic makes you evil?" She asks, this is a question I can tell she has thought some time about and one that I need to consider a bit more before answering and so my reply is simple.

"Dunno," okay, really simple.

"Yeah," she takes a deep breath. "All our lives we've been told our parents were horrible people but-"

"Vee, my mother hunted vampires to extinction and regularly sacrificed the blood of innocents, vampire or no, for her rituals," I clarify, a little firmly.

"Yes but-"

"My father manipulated physics just to rule over the Realm and he killed other spellcasters, anyone who questioned him."

"My father wasn't so bad..." was her response, a correct response. Her dad was caught up in it, guilt by association really because he had no idea that teaching my mother blood magic would make her insane or maybe it was her lack of sanity that sought out such a magic? Chicken or egg thing, I guess.

"Either way, they are the dark arts for a reason, aren't they?"

"Yea..."

It was good that Vee left shortly after because I worry about her sometimes. I worry about what she might be teaching herself, especially with the sort of questions she likes to ask.

It's likely nothing though, she's a good friend and a good person and a curious soul. So much of our families legacy has been denied to us as well, I don't blame her for wanting to claim at least pinch of it...

Episode List - Next

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for being mad that my girlfriend broke up with me?

So I (23 M) got with my ex (23 F) about 5 months ago— we met through a college program, and really hit it off! It was just friends at first but I pretty quickly caught feelings, because she was just so down to Earth with me I really felt like I could spend forever with her. I wasn’t gonna say anything yet, because I felt like we hadn’t really known each other for that long. But then, some stuff happened in my city (don’t worry we’re fine), and thanks to that we didnt meet up for a good while. I ended up finding out she went to the next city over to escape a bunch of riots (I don’t blame her) so I drove out to make sure she was okay. Which she was!

I took her back home after telling her about what she missed— she was originally going to go to her parents house, but with some convincing on my end she agreed to go back. After such a long couple of days, I realized she always made me feel safe and comforted in ways no one else could. So I confessed to her, which she accepted, and we started dating! It was really nice, and super romantic. I felt like I found the perfect person and I thought she did the same.

But less than a month or so into the relationship, she completely turned on me! Getting mad about how I moved on from the previously mentioned from the crazy stuff happening in my city, yelling about her living in my house now, and not wanting to date anymore. It was like she completely forgot our friendship and relationship all. And I tried helping her get back to where she was, and sometimes she’d wake up like her anger had never happened, but after a few days it wouldn’t stick and I’ve given up on trying to make her remember anything. At first she was sort of OK with dating but it quickly turned into a on-again, off-again thingy.

She constantly complains about things— she complains mostly about my hobbies (I’m really into gardening and botany, which she says is “weird”, and I don’t know what she means by that…?), and she also complains about our neighbor, who I’m on really good terms with (apparently my ex and my neighbor (41 F) had bad blood in the past, but I had no clue!!!) In fact, she complains about my other friends (23 F and 22 NB), saying that the former is a “self-absorbed prick” and the latter got “brainwashed” by me after we became friendly. I feel like I can’t spend time with my ex around my other friends anymore or even mention them because of how vocal her anger is.

She claims to have constant nightmares and blames them on our negative relationship, and I was getting really fed up with it because she just lashes out in anger instead of talking ANYTHING out with me. We got into an argument recently, and because I was so angry I had told her that I didn’t like her now and I wished she went back to how she was when we first started dating. She was really hurt, and I didn’t mean to hurt her that way, but she ran off before I could apologize. It’s been days and she still hasn’t come home, but she texted me and told me we’re through (if it wasn’t clear enough). I’m pretty frustrated she has just been lashing out at everything and not communicating with me. It makes me feel shitty and I don’t get why she acts like this.

I’m afraid I’m being a dick for being mad she left without ever talking things out, but I wish she gave us a proper chance! So AITA??

What are these acronyms?

[esta-elavaris]

A/N: This was originally drafted before the news clarifying Lucanis’ sexuality came out – and also without my having finished the game yet. I do want to write a full fic of him one day with these new things in mind, especially as someone on the ace spectrum who loves to see representation in media because it so often goes unexplored or even written oddly robotically.

I do think when the news hit it ended up fitting into the original idea really nicely, and it presented my first opportunity to explore this as a personal concept in a fic, but I just wanted to get my disclaimers out of the way first! As of writing this, I’m not far beyond the Weisshaupt boss battle, and I’m trying to have this story reflect what Rook knows as of this point, but please keep that in mind if there’s something that happens later that I haven’t been able to take into account. I’ve more or less been able to avoid spoilers so far and I don’t want to seek them out!

Also as a final warning – there are vague themes of sexual assault in this chapter – nothing happens to Rook or any other character featured, nothing is depicted, it’s solely surrounding the fact that she and Lucanis will be on a job hunting down a man who likes to assault women, but it is a component here so if that’s going to make you feel shitty, please give this one a miss!

Rook had never been well-versed in matters of the heart. Or even just plain old ‘versed’ at all, really. Not because of a line of tragic failures, and not even really to her own great remorse, it had just never been particularly relevant. Nor pressing, nor all that interesting to her. Sure, every now and then she’d indulge in a trashy romance novel or two – much in the same way she’d grab a cake or a bottle of wine after a bad day – but beyond that, and a few semi-interesting diversions that served little other than to pass the time – matters of romance just never had a way of sticking out much in her mind.

And then came Lucanis Dellamorte.

Most people would probably be wiser if they were beginners when it came to romance. A handsome but bumbling market seller, a pretty serving girl who laughed at all of their jokes, that sort of thing. But Rook had always stood by the concept ‘go big or go home’, and she was quickly being forced to come to terms with the fact that she wouldn’t be able to get Lucanis out of her head even if she wanted to. The fact that she didn’t want to was becoming more difficult to grapple with as time stretched on. Mostly because the feelings were turning out to be anything but mutual.

It was understandable, wasn’t it? There were no two ways about that. He’d been through a lot, and they were all still going through a lot – only Lucanis had the added burden of a spirit spitting poison in his ear at every possibly opportunity, too. Love, relationships, even lust, were all likely (and painstakingly understandably) the last things on his mind.

She’d just...thought she’d caught hints. Early on, in the beginning. Otherwise she’d never have been so daft as to hope. Surely? He’d remembered how she liked her coffee, ever since that time in Treviso when she’d stupidly rambled on about how long it had been since her last first kiss, but...in hindsight...that was just how he was, wasn’t it? After all, that came after she’d trailed along by his side, watching as he carefully picked up wares from the market that would suit all of the others. Unless he also had a secret thing for Bellara, Harding, Neve, and Varric, it seemed that it was more just his way than a display of secret feelings.

No, the only stone-solid indication that she’d clung to regarding any sort of affections he had for her wasn’t even all that sturdy at all. When he’d admonished Teia, and asked her not to flirt with his...colleague. That pause. It was upon that pause that Rook had placed all of her early hopes. And that had just been incredibly stupid, hadn’t it? Perhaps not in the moment, when there’d been enough recent kinda-sorta hints to bolster her hopes, and there seemed to be this tangible...trajectory between the two of them. But then that died off, and she clung to that denial, and those little moments, blaming the situation they were stuck in, the fact that everybody here viewed her as their boss, and what all that he had gone through. As well as the fact that none of it was over.

Until he started flirting with Neve.

And then she had her answer. It hurt – because of course it hurt, but she did what she could to convince herself it was for the best. Logically, that was the truth. Emotionally, it took a bit of doing. More useful than the hurt, however, was the answer. Now she knew that his lack of response to her flirting long after – probably too long after – he stopped initiating it wasn’t shyness, not a desire to draw things out. It was merely a lack of interest. A polite lack of interest, at that, which was gentlemanly of him, she supposed. Though she still cringed whenever her mind flung the memory of the final time she’d tried at her. And yet I’m still here. He’d said nothing. Gods, he’d probably felt awkward as anything, all while she’d thought she was making an emotional statement that he could trust her. Trust this thing growing between them, that turned out to only exist in her own mind.

But, after a little private moping, she endeavoured not only to forget all about it, but to forgive herself. These were extraordinary times, but she was only a woman. Who wouldn’t swoon a little upon meeting Lucanis Dellamorte? Maybe the times even contributed, her mind trying to cling onto any sort of pleasant distraction it could amidst the bloodshed, the blight, and the vengeful evil gods. Yeah, a crush would’ve been a welcome distraction. Maybe he’d even understood that. Maybe that was why he’d been so polite in his quiet rejections.

So she acted accordingly. Though she remained polite to him, friendly even – because she would never be the type to punish someone for not being attracted to her – he no longer became a de facto member of her party when she ventured forth from the Lighthouse, which she at least hope he met with relief. Of course, she still journeyed out with him here and there, but now it was just about as much as she did any other. Sometimes she even took Neve along, too, braving the woman’s disapproval over her choice to go to Treviso first, and when she did that she always tried to give the two of them their space

Third wheeling was no fun in general, but third wheeling while trying to shove down unwelcome feelings towards one of the latter two wheels was torturous. It was a good thing she was a mage, and could seldom justify having two of three in her party be ranged combatants, if they didn’t want to leave their scraps bloodied and sore.  

Lucanis just...didn’t make it easy. Not on purpose, but through sheer virtue of existence. Every time she managed to dull the sadness down to a dull, numb sort of detached disappointment, he would do something. He’d prepare a meal that he recalled she’d particularly liked a week or two before. He’d appear at her side with coffee when she’d been too mired in work to justify sleeping. He’d make one of those dry, deadpan jokes in that voice of his. And it didn’t mean anything, not beyond anything platonic which was meaningful enough in and of itself. He noticed things, he was a Crow, it was part of the territory. And he was funny. He couldn’t help that. But none of it just made things particularly easier, and the sooner she got over this ridiculous crush, the sooner she could stop worrying that she was being too obvious and continuing to make him uncomfortable.

And then he approached her with the job.

“Rook.”

She had no idea whether he’d purposely approached silently, or whether she’d been too engrossed in the work before her to notice him. Ordinarily she worked in solitude, taking what she referred to as busywork to the Lighthouse’s central meeting hall only when she knew she had to make an effort to be available to the others living here, should they have need of her. At that moment, she was strategizing – going over everything they had to do, and working out the best order to go about it all in, depending on what was most pressing, who she would have need of, and where she’d have to be. From there, she could work out a plan of action that would make the most sense, a task at a time, until the impossible and overwhelming felt at all tackle-able.

“What can I do for you?” she greeted with a little smile, straightening up from where she’d leaned over the table.

“Is it so obvious I’ve come for a favour?” he asked, a certain reluctance taking hold of his entire body language.

“More business, I’d say, than a favour. I’ve developed an eye for these things – with everybody here, I mean. It’s not personal. You just look all business and-“ she was growing dangerously close to rambling and stopped herself short, sighing and forcing what she hoped was an encouraging smile. “I’m all ears.”

Lucanis did not laugh when she punctuated her final statement with a gesture towards the pointed ears that protruded from her long crimson tresses.

“I’d…call this a favour. Given what she’s asking,”

Seeing that this was no time to insist on making jokes, Rook shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

“I think we should probably sit down, then.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “But not here. Somewhere more private?”

As he spoke, his dark eyes flitted about the hall, pausing briefly upon any and every entrypoint that might find them interrupted by one of the others.

“My…quarters?” she suggested slowly, hoping he wouldn’t misread the suggestion.

But he didn’t hesitate. If anything, he seemed relieved, his shoulers loosening a little as he motioned for her to lead the way. They walked in silence, right up until the door to her quarters was shut behind them, and they sat upon the couch that faced the window.

“This is where you meditate, then? To go and meet with Solas?”

“Only when he’s very lucky.”

If he needed time to build up to asking for this favour, she could grant him that.

“He has a type, then,” Lucanis quipped half-heartedly.

He referred to the Inquisitor – a fellow redheaded elf, with missing vallaslin.

“Look at how that ended for her,” Rook muttered.

Surely that wasn’t what he wanted to discuss? Non-existent flirtations between herself and Solas? Fen’Harel would sooner stab her than kiss her – thankfully.

“...and he’s not the only one,” Lucanis sighed, “with a type, I mean.”

“I’m...not sure what you mean, Lucanis,” she said slowly, staring at him.

“Teia has written with a contract. Not the usual sort. It’s more personal than that, I think, from what I can glean between the lines.”

Did he need time away, to go and handle this personally? No, that couldn’t be it, surely he wouldn’t be so nervous just to ask her for that – she wasn’t a slave driver. She would’ve made a piss-poor Shadow Dragon, had that been the case. But she got the sense he was building up to something, and that to interrupt would quash his momentum, so she only waited, quietly and patiently, for him to make his request.

“Someone in Treviso, someone with wealth, is...having young elven women kidnapped. For reasons it doesn’t take much imagination to piece together. A group of those who live in the alienage have banded together to have a contract put out on him.”

“That doesn’t sound so different from usual Crow business,” she replied, quashing the sense of nausea and outrage that threatened to rise within her.

“How many alienage elves do you think can afford a contract with the Crows?” he asked drily, and then faltered. “I mean no offense, Rook.”

“None taken, you’re right,” she mused quietly. “But I never thought your organisation was so scrupulous about where the gold came from, so long as it was there. And this is a good deed, is it not?”

“The best deed,” he said quickly, “And the Crows don’t have scruples, but I have suspicions. Teia wants us to handle it, with as little fanfare as possible. Either she’s given them a steep discount...or she’s covering part of the cost herself. Either way, it’s not our way, but she knows we won’t ask the same questions the others in Treviso might, if it’s assigned to them.”

“I’m in. Of course I’m in.”

“Rook,” he sighed. “He works...cleverly. We’ll need to lay a trap, tempt him, and then kill him once he walks into it.”

“I don’t feel right about asking Bellara to be part of this,” she admitted quickly.

“Bellara would be no good to us here. He doesn’t like the tattoos – think it makes them look less pure,” his lip curled.

...Oh. Of course. Lucanis’ eyes were trained keenly on her face, and he hardly seemed pleased or even all that relieved when she finally understood what he was asking. She’d spent so long in Arlathan Forest these last couple of weeks, among elves that were far more elf-y than she, that it had impacted her logic, forgetting that to many humans, one elf was the same as another for all intents and purposes. The worst intents and purposes, as far as this particular bastard was concerned. But now her logic was in full working order.

“I’ll do it.”

“Rook.”

“I’ll do it!” she repeated firmly. “Of course I’ll do it. Did you think I wouldn’t?”

He breathed a tired, humourless laugh. “I didn’t doubt for a second that you would – but I don’t like it.”

“I might be a little offended if you were too enthusiastic about it,” she said, and when he didn’t laugh she sighed. “It’s just another job, right? We face worse every day.”

“That’s different,” he said doggedly, shaking his head. “We run into battle, with daggers and swords and we handle it. That’s more straightforward. You won’t be able to carry weapons – they’ll smell a rat from a mile away.”

“I’m a mage, I don’t need weapons.”     

They helped, sure, but they weren’t vital. She could get by.

“It’ll just be the two of us, or else the risk of going detected is too great. You staging the trap, me following along in the shadows.”

“...Oh.”

“If that changes things, I can-”

He watched her closely – so closely, in fact, that she couldn’t even take a chance to try and discern how he felt about the two of them working alone together without it falling under his scrutiny.

“No,” she interrupted. “I was only surprised because I assumed I was going it alone.”

“You’d have...alone? You’ll be the death of me, Rook,” he sighed, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose.  

It felt dangerously like a return to their old ways, before things had gotten strange between them. That, in and of itself, was probably dangerous.

“I take that as high praise,” she smiled a little. “We should leave soon, right? Before he gets it in his head to take another?”

“Probably, yes,” he sighed.

“Tonight then,” she said, slapping her thighs as she rose. “I’ll go and prepare.”

A/N: More parts of this pairing to come -- and then I'll post 'em all on AO3 when this is done!

Dividers by cafekitsune.

[purplehalnw]

So I've finished the 13th Doctor's seasons and I was really worried starting out because I've heard a lot of people say the writing is shitty. But now that I'm done... I don't really have anything to be angry at tbh. Like I'm not an expert reviewer so I don't know, it probably is more egregiously bad than I think it is but it just feels like... Nothing. Only like a couple of the episodes have left big impressions on me. A lot of them are just freaking boring and it really comes down to the fact that the characters are so freaking dull.

I saw one person say "they just split one personality four ways with Graham getting most of it" which I think perfectly describes my feelings towards them. Ryan and Yaz have virtually nothing to their characters except for some factors that are barely addressed like Ryan's dyspraxia and issues with his father and Yaz's crush on the Doctor. Like hell even freaking Dan feels like more of a character than them somehow.

And the Doctor herself... Obviously I'm not blaming Jodie Whittaker, she did really well with what she was given, but to me at least she just feels like a toned down version of the 11th Doctor. And like I'm just really disappointed because I was kinda excited to see her Doctor because I had heard that the writers intentionally wrote her as autistic which I thought would be interesting since all the other Doctors were just accidentally written that way. And I can see the seeds of some interesting plotlines. Like they use the Timeless Child plotline as a sort of explanation for why she was and always felt so different from other people of her species and essentially why she acts so autistic. They could've used this as an opportunity to really analyze her behavior and you know create some allegories for neurodivergence or just have her companions explicitly acknowledge how the way she acts aligns with autism. But no they don't do that and obviously a big part of all this writing is the fact that they have a shorter amount of episodes but they don't know how to properly use that time. They mention how the Doctor is socially awkward and doesn't really know who she is anymore but they don't properly delve into her psyche like in previous iterations. And this is because again they have three companions so they have to give all of them something to do but again because there are three of them neither of them can get a great deal of focus either and just ugh.

Like the Doctor should've just had Graham, and maybe his wife Grace who I'm still kinda disappointed they killed off in the first freaking episode, as a companion. Because pretty much all of the Doctor's companions have been women in their early twenties and I think it would've been interesting to switch things up like this. Also again with Grace I feel like it would've been more impactful if we had gotten a full season or even half a season with her before she died. Oh and I would've liked for Graham's cancer to play more of a role with it maybe coming back and him going on constant adventures with the Doctor and trying to do as much as he can before he dies. It would've been really interesting to see a companion die of something completely normal yet unavoidable after having survived all of these dangerous adventures. It would've been really sad to see the Doctor just trying to keep it all together and make Graham happy when she can't do anything about him slowly dying in front of her.

Overall the 13th Doctor's seasons were just full of missed opportunities and it's incredibly saddening.

[supernovafics]

series masterlist | next part

pairing: modern!actor!steve harrington x fem!reader

word count: 1.3k words

warnings: explicit language

summary: a lunch that was supposed to take your mind off of work brings about even more stress because it turns out you're the only solution to the one problem you wish you didn't have to handle

PROLOGUE | ❝𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒐 𝒐𝒏❞

There were certain moments in your life that felt like defining moments. Moments that you’d later look back on and fully understand just how impactful they were in the grand scheme of things. 

Those instances were a rarity, but when they would happen, they were painstakingly obvious. It was almost as if you could feel some sort of shift happening. Your life beginning to turn in a specific direction that, as it’s happening, you could never tell if it’s good or bad, but you knew that you’d probably find out sooner rather than later. It was always a weird feeling, a little jarring.

You experienced that exact feeling at lunch with Jessie— your longtime friend and current Director of the movie you were working on as the Production Coordinator. The lunch was supposed to be simple, and it started out as such; the weather in Los Angeles was nice and surprisingly not unbearably hot for mid-April, which made you both sit outside of a cafe that was almost always busy, but they served the best sandwiches so it made sense.

It felt good to have at least a small break from all of the pre-production tasks that had been consuming pretty much every single moment of your last few days. The closer actual filming got, the more hectic everything else seemed to get. 

And it seemed as if that sentiment was proven to be even more true when Jessie told you something that turned the simple lunch into anything but simple. 

“You’re joking, right?” Was your immediate reaction. 

Everything she had said to you had to be a joke because there was no way that she was asking you, or more so telling you, that you’d be Steve Harrington’s assistant for the next three months. 

But, you also fully knew that it couldn’t be a joke because it sounded both insanely unbelievable and way too real to just be some joking story that Jessie cooked up in her mind. 

Steve’s assistant, who was six months pregnant, would be on bed rest for the entirety of her final trimester due to stress. And because of the untimeliness of that situation, she had no time to hire a replacement for the time being; which, of course, included the three months of filming that was set to begin in a week. And that was sadly where you came in because, like most Hollywood actors, Steve could not function without an assistant, and that sent Jessie and the producers that had invested so much in the film into a frenzy because he was now close to pulling out of doing the movie if he didn’t have a good assistant for the duration of filming. 

All of that sounded the perfect amount of insane to be true. 

“You’re the only person that I trust doing this,” Jessie told you, further confirming that all of this was not some sort of sick and twisted joke.

You simply looked at her for a few moments before responding. “He’s notoriously known as an asshole, Jessie.” 

You had already been mentally preparing for having to deal with him in passing while on set, and now apparently you were going to have to deal with him even more than you anticipated. The thought made you want to scream. 

“You’re the only person that I believe will be able to fully handle him,” She said. “And most of the stuff he asks you to do, like getting lunch or coffee or whatever, can be pawned off to some production assistant. But I know that if I just assigned a random PA to him, they’d fold under the pressure because, yes, he’s an asshole, and they’d probably cry at the first shitty thing he says to them. And I know you won’t because you’ve been in this industry long enough and have probably dealt with people worse than him.” 

You hated how much sense that made. But still, you couldn’t accept it all just yet. Your job consisted of you solving problems or trying to stop them before they’d arise, so of course you’d attempt to solve this. 

However, you quickly failed to think of any solution because every potential solution you thought of only led to another problem. 

If you let him quit the movie that would be horrific because production would be pushed back a handful of months and a shit ton of money would be lost. And it also sucked that he was actually an insanely good actor and was probably the perfect person for the role.  

Or if you waited until he found a replacement assistant that met his “perfect standards” or whatever else— which with the way he seemed, sounded like it would take weeks upon weeks— the same issue would happen of filming being stalled and money going right down the drain. 

There really was only one solution to the problem, and it truly sucked that you were it. 

“You can say no,” Jessie told you, putting a pause on your thoughts, and before you could tell her that there was actually no way you could say no, she continued. “But, if you do this, I promise I will make you the Assistant Director on my next movie, which is going to be filming in Europe for six months right after this shoot ends.” 

“No way.”

Jessie nodded at your surprised words. “Yes, I found out about it a couple days ago. The original director they had backed out, so they asked me and I actually really love the script so I said yes. And before they started looking for a new AD too, I told them that I already had the perfect person in mind.” She smiled at you, and hearing how much she believed in you never failed to make you want to cry at least a little bit. From years ago at your first real paid job in the film industry where you were a PA on a movie that she had been the Assistant Director on, she completely saw your potential and never failed to tell you that. “And I know you’ll absolutely kill that job just like you’ll kill this whole being his assistant thing while also doing your actual job.”

That was where you felt it. The shift. That weird feeling hitting you like a ton of bricks as you considered Jessie’s words and let them fully sink in. 

You pushed around some of the last bits of food left on your plate before looking up at your friend. “He knows that being his assistant won’t be my only job, right? That I’ll have a shit ton of other things on my plate during filming.”

“I’ll make sure he knows that,” Jessie said with a nod. “The assistant part of this doesn’t take precedence over you being the production coordinator. That’s much more important.” 

“Okay��� Okay, good,” You responded and then after a breath of silence you let out a sigh. “I’ll do it. Of course, I know I have to; there’s really no other options. But, I won’t like it one bit, and I reserve the right to be mad at you for making me do this for, at least, the next twelve hours.”

She laughed at that. “Yes, I fully deserve that.” 

“But, before I allow myself to be mad at you I first have to say that I love you and I can’t believe you think I’m good enough to be AD, and thank you so much.” You said and then took a long sip from your refilled drink that had yet to be touched in the past ten minutes. “I’m experiencing so much emotional whiplash right now I feel like my mind is gonna explode.” 

“You deserve it,” She said and then let out a small laugh. “Not the emotional whiplash. I meant the job. And even if you said no to being Steve's assistant for filming, I obviously would still want you to do this. You’re the only person I could imagine doing this.”

You let her words sit with you as the two of you finished the rest of your lunch, the conversation happily shifting to something that was not work related. And you continued to let them sit with you once you both parted ways and you were in your car. 

You thought about how you knew this would be a moment you’d think back to years down the road because of how much was about to change. 

Once you made it through these three months you’d move onto doing something that you never even imagined yourself doing, but you felt completely ready to take the leap. 

That felt pretty defining. 

Still, though, you first had to survive three months of being Steve Harrington’s assistant, and that sounded like it would be hell.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

next part!

[collidescopeeyes]

Hi !! Any chance that you're going to write about sett or kayn? Just wondering ehehe, I love your fics so much and I always read them time to time. It fills that void in my heart ｡⁠◕⁠‿⁠◕⁠｡

I have an Order of Shadows (Zed and Kayn/Rhaast) harem fic I've been chipping away at! Unfortunately my mental and physical health has been pretty rock bottom the last few months so I haven't been up to writing much. As for Sett, I had a vague idea for a Roulette Wheel chapter where Iso becomes a pit fighter at his establishment while also unwittingly moving in with his mom, leading to Hijinks, but alas it stayed 90% an idea. Please enjoy this random out of context scene from the 10% however

“You're living with my mom?” He hisses as soon as the door shuts, and it is indeed a hiss; there's some animalistic noise rattling in his chest while he speaks that makes it difficult to be sure which word in that sentence he's actually stressing. Maybe all of them.

You shrug so hard your shoulders go up to your ears, equally agitated. “How was I supposed to know?! This was before I even fucking met you!”

He gestures harshly to his ears, then back towards the door to the dining room, pinning you with a wildly incredulous look. “We're the only two Ottari Vastaya in this entire city, you didn't think?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know that?” You demand. “Why would I assume everyone I meet with fucking animal ears is related!? They could've been fucking…fox ears, or wolves, or something, I don't know, and I'm not going to assume because I'm not about to be some sort of cat-boy racist!”

He squints at you. “Cat boy?” He repeats.

“Cat man, whatever,” you wave a hand at him.

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “That's not–whatever, not the issue. You can't tell her. About any of it. You, me, the pit, anything, y’hear me?”

You narrow your eyes at him. “Are you asking me to lie to her?”

“I'm telling you to lie to her, as your fucking boss,” he snaps. "It'll break her heart if she finds out."

“Maybe you shouldn't be in a profession that would break her heart in the first place,” you shoot back, scowling.

His lip curls. “Hey, fuck you. What other option do I got, trying to make a decent living for the both of us in this fucking town? You think I haven't been down that road, huh? Who's going to hire a beast-blooded bastard?”

You regret your words immediately. “I didn't mean…I'm sorry, that was a shitty thing for me to say.”

He deflates in turn. “I…fuck.” He turns away, raking a hand through his hair. “Honestly, you're not wrong. She deserves better than being lied to, but I just…I don't feel like I've got much of a choice, y'know? If she knew where the money came from she wouldn't take it, and I ain't going back to watching her kill herself on shit jobs for shit people. Did enough of that growing up,” he says with a scowl.

You sigh. “Sett, I’m historically pretty fucking bad at keeping secrets,” you inform him. “Literally, the only secret I've managed to keep came with a magic shock collar.”

His face scrunches in the way it does when he's not sure if he wants to ask what the fuck you're talking about. “What?”

You wave a dismissive hand at him. “If I talk about a certain point in my life I start…well I can't say what happens, but…y'know what happened to Junbei?”

He blinks. “The bouncer who got glassed? Or the guy who got a razor slipped into his food cuz he was fucking around on his wife?”

You nod. “Yes. Anyway, it's a whole thing, it's not really important.”

“That seems pretty important,” he argues, face scrunch intensifying.

“Anyway, we need to get our stories straight,” you say, blatantly changing the subject. “I've been pretty vague about my work, so I don't think there should be any contradictions, except–” you pause, staring off into space. Then you cringe.

“What? Iso, what?” He asks, alarmed.

You cover your face, groaning. How the fuck are you supposed to explain that she's been trying to set you up with her son? How the fuck were you going to explain that you dodged said set up by telling her you were interested in your cocksure boss, who is apparently also her son? You'd have to leave the country. You'd have to throw yourself into the nearest Void Rift and hope to whatever God had jurisdiction that you didn't fucking embarrass yourself in whatever universe you got spat into next. “Nevermind, don't worry about it.”

“Iso…” he says warningly. You ignore him and go back into the dining room.

[comfortless]

"held back by a leash that no one’s ever thought to untie, constantly growling and leaping at anything that gets too close just to simmer down to whimpering and begging the second he’s pet just once" ??? 😩 This is so real and relatable (I'm crying in the corner of my room). Lord have mercy, I need to kiss every ridge and groove on your brain.

The way I giggled when you mentioned his fleshlight is crazy. I was actually thinking of saying something similar but then I decided against cause the message would've been too long. I was trying to decide if he would be the type of man to get one of those insanely realistic sex dolls. Maybe he felt particularly desperate to have something in his bed (something that can't just get their clothes and leave before he wakes up) or he would just be curious. If he actually got it, by being impulsive, now he has this thing in his house and kind of regrets it. Yeah, it's soft and doesn't look bad, but it definitely doesn't look like a real woman either. It gives him the uncanny valley effect and puts it out of sight for now. How would he even get rid of something like that? Is it recyclable?

I've got brainrot when it comes to this man, I know. I might start reading Letters to Milena by Kafka so I can yearn more accurately for a man that doesn't even exist. This time I have no nice poems to quote but I feel like Konig is very much Sleep token coded. Idk what type of music you like but their lyrics are yummy.

P. S. Your fics are like vitamin D + Omega 3 getting me through this shitty British weather with my sanity more or less intact. Lots of consensual kisses!

oh my gosh and you are more brazen than me because i thought the same, just… kept that to myself!

if he has the money why would he settle on some little silicone tube when he could at least have something to cuddle up with, too? it isn’t like he has visitors often (or at all), though there are some nights when he definitely feels pathetic and disgusting for having it: haphazardly shoves the doll in the closet and settles for his hand instead…

also much to ponder in regards to his impulse control…! for the most part, he probably considers himself to be pretty rational; reasons with every decision by thinking well, x happened so then comes y. his dating life is shallow at best and utterly devoid of anything at worst, it’s… reasonable that he would have some sort of outlet, even if he knows that buying the damned thing has basically sentenced him to never having any sort of stable relationship. if some sweet woman actually gave him more than just the time of day, if she actually wanted to be with him but… she sees that mimicry of a woman’s warmth lying in his bed? she’s either laughing at him or immediately making up some excuse to leave. and if that happens, then of course he’s got to find a way to get rid of it. he’s tossing it in a hole in his backyard or burning it. sorry environment. this is König’s world now and the sex doll can no longer be in it..!

he would never pull something comparatively ridiculous in his career, maybe a few mistakes here and there but he plays a character when he’s König. and König is all menace or indifference, never the pitiful thing that gets so wound up over his own purchase he’s got to destroy it at all costs. though in the time that he did have it… the soldiers around him are certainly aware that he had some ‘girlfriend’ he spoke rather highly of at home that always had her legs open for him. he never seemed in higher spirits, though…

Letters to Milena is sooo quotable for him. i will give you this one: “Auch ist es vielleicht nicht eigentlich Liebe wenn ich sage, daß Du mir das Liebste bist; Liebe ist, dass Du mir das Messer bist, mit dem ich in mir wühle.”

i have an entire ridiculous playlist that is just… all over the place with songs that remind me of him, perhaps i will give Sleep Token a chance and throw a few onto it! ^^ i am always looking out for König-coded songs… Never Land by Sisters of Mercy is possibly my favorite to suggest when it comes to him. <3 the full length is my go to but - a fragment encapsulates it almost as well!

burying you in a world of hugs right now, anon! pleeease send your weather my way! it is HOT here! your messages are vitamin C and a lovely cup of earl grey to me! <3 i am glad that you appeared!

[idontplaytrack]

Can I request super flirty Amber x reader where Amber's flirting with reader but they are oblivious and eventually Amber can't take it anymore and kisses reader

Pretty Girl

Amber Appleton x fem! reader

Warnings: fluff, coarse language, kissing

Amber calls reader ‘pretty girl’— always have. But when exactly did that take a turn and become flirting instead of being platonic?

As the thunder roared outside, you were wrapped up under your blanket, comfy— no, sick and exhausted. You had just started your period the night before and have been tormented by the cramps ever since. The pain was so bad, it made you nauseous. You were also, hungry, bloated and craving all sorts of things that you wanted to eat, but at the same time…not really. It was confusing. You hated it, all of this— How terrible you were feeling. So much for a peaceful weekend.

Somehow, you felt yourself dozing off so you snuggled closer to your pillow and hoped you’d fully fall asleep. But hey, of course not. You felt the vomit creeping up your throat before you leaned over the bed and the trashcan, barely making it and letting it spill into the plastic under your mouth. It’s not like you much of anything left in your stomach, but did that stop you from feeling absolutely shitty? No way. Lazily cleaning off your mouth with a tissue you’d grabbed from the box on your nightstand, you stayed on your stomach, and just slept. Tried to, at least.

You woke up after what must’ve been no more than an hour, the rain had started to pour which would typically be the ideal for staying in, getting cosy and just lazing around. But now, you wanted nothing more than to get out of bed and do something with your day. Alas, you could not exactly move. The doorbell rings, making you groan. “It’s pouring out there. Who is it?!” You shrieked, scarily near tears.

The intercom buzzes, “It’s Amber!”

Shit.

You quite literally forced yourself out of bed and walk downstairs, your knees nearly buckled when you first stood up. God, why’d she have to show up now? You got to the door as fast as you could and opened it to let her in.

“Took you awhile.” She says while stepping into the house, “Hi, pretty girl.”

“Sorry.” You muttered, “I’m not—”

“Feeling too well?” She finishes your sentence, “I figured. Wish you would’ve told me.”

You slowly sat down on the couch, groaning, “How’d you know anyway?”

“Honey, I’ve known you, what? Fifteen years now? Give me some credit.”

“So you just figured out I was on my period and decided to show up at my door with…chocolate chip cookies?”

“Yeah, I took a guess.” Amber chuckles, “It’s not that hard to predict it, you know? You always get it around this time of the month.”

“Oh, how nice of you to know that.” You scoffed, leaning forward and burying your face in your hands.

“Did you eat anything?”

You gulped, “Nope, not since dinner last night. Also, I threw that up so please don’t talk about eating.”

Amber sits down beside you, a hand on your head and massaging it, “I’m sorry.” She then guided you to lay on her lap carefully.

You smiled at her a little, it quickly falls though, when you felt another cramp. “Are you sure you don’t want to take something for it?” Amber asks you softly.

“I can, but it’ll just come back up in a few minutes so I’d rather just wait it out.”

You haven’t seen Amber in awhile, honestly. But you knew she had like three part-time jobs that last time you asked her about it. So you figured that was what she was busy with. Oh, and by ‘awhile’, you meant like— at most two weeks. You two haven’t spent much time apart ever. And that’s considering the fact that she has her own little group of friends. You saw them pretty often too, and you knew them but you never really got that close with them even after all this time. But because you were Amber’s best friend, you were always hanging out with them anyway.

Damn, maybe you should really just open your mouth and talk to them more. They were really nice people.

“What’s wrong?” Amber asks, noticing that you’ve gone quiet.

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking about…stuff.”

“Oh, yeah? What kinda stuff, honey?” She looks down at you, bright smile on her face while her eyes formed into little crescents. Her hand was still stroking your hair.

“Random things…I dunno. Like how I gotta talk to your friends more and stop just floating around.” You hummed, “How I haven’t gotten to hang out with you for like two weeks because you’ve been working so many shifts. God, I hope you’re getting enough rest.”

Amber chuckles, “I’m fine. I quit the third job.”

“You did? When?” You ask, absentmindedly playing with the ring on the fingers of her free hand.

“Uh…” She says, her hand in your hair stops moving. You sulked, and she continues the soothing gesture but not without a tiny little laugh. “Like, three weeks ago?”

“Wow, and what have you been up to lately that I couldn’t get to see you?” You joked.

“Shut up, babe.” She giggles. You gasped dramatically and instantly paid for it when you got attacked by yet another cramp, “Babe? That’s a new one.”

She nearly snorted, laughing. Amber’s brows were raised briefly, “You really are so…”

“Don’t yell at me.”

“I’m not gonna yell at you, when have I ever done that?” She squints.

“Well, my mom just did this morning after I told her my cramps were terrible.” You scoffed.

“Do I look like your Mom to you?” Amber couldn’t help but laugh, “Has the pain somehow jumbled up your brain so bad that you’re just saying anything and everything?”

You didn’t know what to say to that you just kept quiet and snuggled more comfortably against her lap, now laying on your side. “Maybe.”

“That’s okay, pretty girl.” You could hear the smile, “I’m sorry you’re not feeling good.”

————

As you laid sleepily in her lap, Amber’s mind started to wander— seemingly recalling every single time she had hung out with you, analysing each day out, and night in…desperately trying to figure something out.

“You’re so pretty.” Amber says, tucking some hair behind your ear.

“Shut up.” You laugh, “I just tried to eat a donut while the wind was blowing in my face. Now I have powdered sugar in my hair.”

“I said what I said.”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Ams.” You didn’t think too much into her little compliment— she says stuff like this all the time. Just to make you smile and giggle. “You’re pretty too.”

~~~~~

Walking through a crowded flea market, your eyes checked out each stall closely, not wanting to miss a good buy. Somehow, you feel an arm wrap around your waist. “Be careful. There’s a lot of people around.” It was Amber. Typical Amber being a worrywart.

~~~~~

“Amber?” You say in a hurry once she picked up your call.

“y/n, it’s 1:30 in the morning.” Amber replied, obviously just woken up by you, “What’s wrong, y/n?”

“Can we go get ice cream?”

“What?” She could not believe her ears. Amber could not believe that you called her at this hour just for that. But hey, she was so relieved that was all it was. Relieved that you weren’t sick or hurt.

“Can we go get ice cream? Please?” You repeated yourself.

“Okay, pretty girl.” She laughs, “I’ll pick you up in fifteen minutes.”

You squealed, “Yay, okay.”

~~~~~~

“Amber, can you help me do my hair? I like when you do it.”

“Okay.”

~~~~~

“Amber, will you please do my makeup? I suck at it.” You groaned.

“Sure, honey.” Amber had her usual smile on her face, “Turn around.”

~~~~~

“Need some help?” Amber asks, watching you struggle to put a necklace on by yourself.

You finally saw her in the reflection and said, “Please.” Handing it to her, she took it from you and pushed your hair in front of one shoulder. Smoothly, she puts the necklace on for you in a matter of seconds.

“There you go.” She smiles, leaning her chin on your shoulder for a beat, her eyes looked at the heart pendant on your necklace then somehow wandered onto your chest. Mentally chiding herself, she gives you a quick hug from behind and then unwrapped her arms, “You ready for your date?”

“Not really.” You admit.

“Aw, you got this, pretty girl.” She gives you a squeeze on the shoulder, “Ben’s really nice.”

“You would know.” You managed a chuckle, “You insisted that you met him first.”

“Of course. He has to be good enough for you.”

~~~~~~

You were at the mall with Amber one Saturday afternoon after having spent the night at her place in the spur of the moment. Actually, that was the last time you saw her before today. So, anyway…because you didn’t have a change of clothes, you were wearing Amber’s clothes. Which was very, very different from your own style.

“Will you stop?” Amber laughs, swinging your hand as she held it, “You look good, okay?”

“Pfft, right.”

“Right.”

~~~~~

Or maybe…the defining moment was right now. Seeing you so pale, so disheveled. Yet, she was completely enamoured by you. She didn’t tell you though. She couldn’t. Because she knew how you’d react. You’d just think she was joking and brush it off. Nothing romantic’s happened between you and Amber, but yet lately, there’s always been the presence of tension from Amber’s point of view.

You on the other hand seemed completely oblivious to her being a little distant for the past two weeks while trying to work through her feelings and piece together what on Earth she wanted to say to you. She could only pray this wasn’t one-sided. Amber loved you too much to mess things up, that was why she said she was busy and didn’t see you for those three weeks. But at the same time, her patience was slowly but surely growing thin. Yet she still couldn’t quite figure out exactly when her calling you ‘pretty girl’ started to have a different effect on her— when she started to get excited to call you that, hoping you’d react the way she wanted you to. But you never did. So she threw in a new nickname, and you were still way too chill about it.

————

Amber didn’t know where that courage came from but…

“y/n?” She said quietly, wanting to get your attention but didn’t want to startle you.

Your eyes came into focus again, meeting her face, “Yeah?”

“I’m in love with you.” She reveals, and before you could even process her declaration, you feel her lips on your own— so soft, and so gentle. So addictive. Fuck.

You’d completely just gave into it, letting her take control as your hand reached up to cup her cheek. It was a bit of an odd position, but you were evidently still in too much pain to move.

“You do?” You tried breaking away for a second to speak but she doesn’t allow it, eagerly reconnecting your lips again. Amber did nod her head, reciprocating with increasingly passionate kisses.

“I fucking love you. I’m not sure when it started, but I am.” She literally speaks into the kiss. And upon hearing that, you could not let her lips go. That was all Amber needed from you. She didn’t even need to hear it— she was too riled up for that now, wanting nothing more than the constant feeling of your lips against hers.

After a mutual breakaway several minutes later, you were breathless and so was she. “So…” She started. “I meant every word I just said. Everything I just did. I want you, y/n, to be my girlfriend.”

“Okay.” You nodded, unknowingly, teary-eyed. “I’m sorry I didn’t realise sooner.”

Amber smiled so widely hearing your response, “It’s okay, pretty girl.” Now in tears, she sniffles and presses a sweet kiss to your forehead, “I have you now.”

“You do.” You nodded, mirroring her smile.

“I love you.” She says, her palm pressing lightly on your lower abdomen to give it some warmth and relief. “Does that help?”

You nodded almost too sleepily, “Yeah. Can you keep doing that please?”

“Of course.” Amber agrees, “Close your eyes, get some rest. I’ll wake you up when lunch is done.”

“No, don’t get up.” You slurred.

“I promise I won’t. Not until you’ve fallen asleep. Then, I’ll make us lunch. Okay, pretty girl?”

“Okay, Ams…okay.”

She chuckles over her words hearing how sleepy you were, “Okay. Sleep tight.”

————

🏷️ Tag list:

@ashecampos @auliisflower @cheesysoup-arlo @frogs00 @reneeswif3 @ludoesartnstuffs @pda128

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I’m distracting y’all from the fact that the AJ x reader x Capri isn’t even halfway done six days later

Also don’t know how to write a flirty Amber— I’m sorry🥲

[my-castles-crumbling]

Heya, Cas!

So I have a long one for you.

Basically, I have a friend (N) and a (now ex) girlfriend, (H)

Recently, I found myself questioning everything about my relationship with both of these people.

So on H: I genuinely value her, but I’m not necessarily sure our relationship was meant to be romantic? I think it was always a bit forced. But she’s genuinely so awesome. On Monday (11/11), I ended things with her. It was really hard, and I felt like a shit person, but I knew I had to. I felt so shitty because I’m pretty sure she still likes me, but I didn’t want to hurt her more by keeping whatever’s going on. I am to messed up, but I didn’t want to lose her l, so we’re going to discuss it more on Saturday (11/16) when I see her again. I don’t even know why I did it, I just don’t think our relationship was ever meant to be romantic. I sobbed that night, I genuinely was too mixed up to think straight.

But it also could’ve been because of N.

Me and N made ‘gay’ jokes with each other all the time (nothing serious of course, I’m not a douche), but every once in a while I’ll think about it for a bit too long. Like, it will keep me up thinking long. I try to ignore it, but I don’t know, I think I might like her. But that’s also a problem, because I’m bad at differentiating platonic and romantic feelings, and I don’t want to lose her. She’s been there for me a lot though, even when I talked to H, we had gone skateboarding immediately after so I could blow off the shit feeling. She made a joke about us kissing that night, while the wound was still fresh, and I laughed in spite myself, and then felt kind of bad. I didn’t tell her though, I didn’t want her to feel guilty.

I’m actually lowkey freaking out because a) what if I still like H and just don’t know it, and b) what if I like N instead, and I have to live with that.

I’m just a little mixed up, and I’ll probably update you on saturday, or whenever I get around to it.

Kind regards,

Skateboarding anon!

Hi <3

While I can't sort your feelings out for you, I think it's awesome that you were honest with yourself and took a step back from H. It sounds like you need to take some time to think through how you feel, and I'm so glad you're giving yourself that time, rather than just forcing a decisions. I really think that's the healthiest thing to do, and it's awesome that you recognized that.

Please send me an update if you think of it!