#since then they did change their style a bit from their earlier works which makes sense with wonho leaving

[harstyle]

the styles' nanny: part two

Summary: Harry finally realizes his mistake, but is it too late? Featuring a strange encounter with Jamie’s mother, another sad drinking session and an unfiltered conversation that changes everything.

Pairing: plussize-nanny!y/n + older-singledad!harry

Word-count: 10.2k

Warnings: age gap (13 years), mentions of alcohol and drinking, kissing, mentions of sex

here’s part one!

A/N: guys!!! It’s been three months!!! I hope you haven’t completely lost interest in this story :( I’m sorry I’ve kept you waiting for so long, I just didn’t expect so many things to come up (plus somewhere along the way I lost motivation). I also hope you enjoy this second and (at least for now) last part. No smut, but maybe in a blurb/oneshot of some kind? Anyway thanks for waiting and happy reading!

—

I’m resigning. I will stay until we find a replacement but not longer than necessary. I thank you for your generosity during my time working for you, but I’m ready for a fresh start as I think it’s what would be best for me right now. 

I’ll see you soon,

Y/N

That was the text Harry had received at 11am, just one hour ago. He’d called profusely, probably ten times in total, and sent out a pathetic amount of text messages that had all gone ignored and unanswered. 

Harry had lashed out— he could see that now; he’d been horribly unfair and he had taken advantage of Y/N’s inability to express herself in situations of distress. Harry’s worst trait was his short-temperedness and while he had gone through years of therapy to work on it, sometimes it took ahold of him in ways he couldn’t realize until after the fact.

Of course the last thing he’d wanted was for her to resign, which was exactly why her message had twisted his stomach a bit more intensely than he would’ve liked; he had no idea how to rectify this situation. Most things in his life went as he wished and if they didn’t, he found it was easy to make it so they did. But not now— no, he had to think about this carefully.

It had turned one when his phone rang; he was typing away in his office, trying to distract himself.  Her caller ID flashed on his screen, but it wasn’t her voice that caught his ears— it was a man’s. A man’s who’s name was Andrew.

“I’m from the viper,” he said, and Harry could swear he started seeing red, “your friend Y/N got a little too drunk for me to feel comfortable sending her away on her own. Is there any way you could come pick her up?” 

Harry couldn’t help the string of curses which left his mouth as he gathered his house key. “Is she okay?” He asked, only to receive a conflicted hum. 

“She had too many martinis and she was crying earlier. She said something about a fight.” 

“Yeah, okay. Thanks, man. Will you keep an eye out until I get there?” 

“Of course.” 

As Harry got into his car, he felt the overwhelming urge to chastise her, to keep talking until she finally listened to him when it came to her own safety. Not even one day had passed since he’d had to pick her up the last time— no lesson learned, no regrets.

But then, as he neared the bar, the rational part of his brain advised him against it. Y/N was no child, she was aware of her actions and she knew what was best for her— so for Harry to act high and mighty would be wrong and uncalled for.

He needed to just be there for her. Drop the barrier and be there.

He was ready to offer that to her.

—

Y/N could swear her eyes were playing tricks on her. It wouldn’t be unrealistic, really, her vision had become blurry about an hour ago— but, well, she would probably recognize that silhouette anywhere. He wore jeans and a shirt and his hair was still styled for work; Andrew was pointing at her, and so his green eyes followed. When he spotted her, Y/N felt naked under his gaze.

And before she knew it, he was walking toward her.

“What are you doing here?” She demanded, lower lip jutted out in a pout. Y/N had gone drinking in the hopes of distracting herself— and yes, maybe it wasn’t exactly working, but it definitely wouldn’t start working if he was physically here.

“Andrew called me. Stand up, I’m taking you home.”

Andrew was somebody she‘d met a few hours ago. Originally he‘d flirted with her, asking questions about her as she sat at the bar willing to answer all of them soberly— but once eleven had struck, all she could talk about was Harry. Y/N wasn’t fond of airing dirty laundry so she‘d left the gory details of their fight out, but Andrew knew of a fight.

She was starting to regret it now that Harry was here.

Instead of doing as he’d asked— or ordered, more like, she leaned into the booth further.

“No.”

His eyebrow raised, “no?”

“I don’t leave or go out with dickheads. You taught me that.”

He looked ticked off and it satisfied something within her that had been needing it all night. When he breathed a sigh, eyes closing momentarily, she knew she had him.

“Y/N, would you please humor me and let me take you home? We can keep talking in the car, but not in front of these people.”

“What if I don’t want to go home, huh? Why are you always telling me what to do like you have the right? You’re not my dad.” Her words were slurred and her expression loose. Then she laughed to herself, giggled actually, ridiculously loud. “That’s funny, of course you’re not my dad cause he’s dead! Dead, six feet underground, you know? Probably lower, cause he definitely didn’t go to heaven! He’s, like, really deep underground.”

Concern warped his features.

“Y/N,” he warned, “please.”

She’d turned heads.

“But you know what you and my dad have in common? Yelling. Just yelling, for no fucking reason— yell yell yell, make it feel like my fault even though it isn’t. Right? That’s what my dad used to do to my mom, you know that? That’s why he’s in hell.” 

She was pointing an accusatory finger at him, slurring even more than before.

“And you know what I said to her when she left him? That I would never let a man treat me that way. Never! Promised, hand on my heart and everything, I promised. But you’re different, aren’t you? Cause I like you, cause you’re not like my dad.” Her face fell again into the surfaces of her palms, “you’re not like my dad, but you reminded me of him. And I feel— feel like I’m betraying my mom.” Y/N hiccuped quietly, stumbling over a few words.

The gravity of her words were not lost on him— in fact, he’d never felt as guilty in his life.

“Hey,” he beckoned her to look at him, placing his tentative hand atop her arm, “we’ll talk about it. About everything. But not now. Not here.”

“You’re so confusing, you know that? One second you’re really nice to me and then— and then you aren’t.”

“Sweetheart,” he grasped her face as a last attempt to catch her undivided attention. Harry thumbed at her cheek and stared dutifully into her clouded eyes, “let me take care of you tonight. I’ll make it better.”

In all fairness, she’d lost the fight the second his eyes had met hers. There was something about them, maybe their deep shade of green or how effortlessly she could read them, that could probably persuade her into doing anything.

“Fine,” she mumbled after a minute, letting Harry wrap an arm around her waist as they walked. On their way out Y/N said goodbye to Andrew and stayed quiet otherwise, choosing to give Harry the silent treatment. Harry knew he couldn’t expect her to speak to him, so he didn’t force it.

As they drove, Harry couldn’t help glancing over every once in a while to study her expressions. There was barely a moment she wasn’t staring out the window watching cars drive by; even when his hand instinctively landed on her thigh she didn’t react, only moving it away slightly from his touch.

“Are you driving me to my apartment?”

And although both of them knew he’d really been directed toward his house, Harry still pretended to have chosen to take another route. “Course,” he muttered hoarsely, trying to mask his embarrassment with a quiet cough. Y/N sighed, her eyes pressing shut for a moment as she tried to let the guilt roll off of her back. He doesn’t deserve your sympathy.

“Where’s Jamie?”

He clicked his tongue. “Still at my mother’s.”

“Oh.”

The stubborn thing she was, Y/N refused Harry’s help getting out of the car. Instead she opened the door by herself, almost tripped when she jumped down from her seat and kept a distance anyway. Harry still watched, though, ready to help if needed.

Y/N unlocked the door (failing to find the keyhole several times) and kept it wide open for Harry to follow behind. The first thing she did was toe off her shoes followed by falling into bed.

“Y/N, have some water.”

“Stop telling me what to do,” she uttered, but accepted the glass of water anyway.

He ignored her. “Are you hungry?”

“I’m tired.”

“You can sleep as soon as you’ve changed and washed your face.”

She groaned, pulling a blanket over her head, “Harry…”

“Y/N.”

That stern mention of her name was enough to get her out of bed, limbs pretty much hanging loosely from her body as if she had no control over them— and honestly, it felt like she didn’t. Her eyes closed as Harry wiped a cool cloth over her face, ridding it of a light layer of makeup and sweat, everything that had accumulated at the bar. There were times she leaned into him, forehead falling to his shoulder and arms wrapping instinctively around his waist for support. She could swear that for a moment he’d pressed his lips to her forehead, but the daydream she was in barred her from really registering it.

“Why’d you go out drinking again?”

“Wanted to.”

“Told you not to do that. I meant it.”

“Well people keep hurting my feelings,” she mumbled, “and drinking your pain away is kind of a tradition in my family, so.”

Y/N had never really shared personal details about her family to Harry, but… well, the words were flowing right out of her mouth and the memories reincarnated newly in her head. She was referring to her mother, the former alcoholic in the family. Growing up her mother had drunk so much that she’d almost died from liver failure. As a small child Y/N had promised herself never to end up like her, but she was starting to understand more and more why her mother spent so many years drinking.

Harry‘s thoughts stayed internalized, but he made sure to make her feel heard. Rubbing over the top of her eyebrow, his breath hit her forehead as he spoke,  “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. You didn’t deserve it.”

Her eyes peeked open, the previously warm towel no longer warm. Harry ran it under water again. “Deserve what?”

“Everything, especially the way I behaved earlier. I should’ve taken a moment to myself, instead I lashed out on you.”

It wasn’t until now that Y/N noticed the close proximity between her and Harry— obviously she knew he was cleaning her face for her, but it didn’t really click until now, she supposed. She could see everything, but it didn’t really matter; there was nothing about Harry, especially on him, that could deter her from thinking of him as the most beautiful man alive. Imperfections and all.

The towel met her neck this time, the other side held upright by his steady hand. She could feel his thumb tracing shapes on the surface of her skin and although she was trying very hard not to think of him in any inappropriate way, the image of his hand wrapped around her throat awakened something horrible within the confines of her intoxicated mind. It stayed there.

It was self destructive how often she spent thinking about him, really.

“You still there, baby?”

And he was so gentle— whenever he wasn’t yelling at her, of course— and soft, knowing the lines of what she could handle and what she couldn’t. No man had ever been this considerate and while it may just be his nature, it meant everything to Y/N. As the boundaries had begun to blur more and more, it became easier to misinterpret normal gestures for something more, something so much realer than it could ever be.

But he was calling her baby, and nobody had done that before.

“Yeah.”

“You were much more mouthy back in the bar,” he breathed out, an amused smile tugging at his lips. “Don’t wanna yell at me anymore?”

“No, I‘m not like you.”

“Ouch.”

Harry was humoring her and while it was really really nice; this whole thing, the gentle touches and the giggles shared in between a serious conversation, Y/N couldn’t let it get to her head.

“You were really mean to me and I didn’t do anything.”

His eyes searched for hers, but hers were stuck to his chest. “I know. I don’t know how to make it up to you, but I’ll spend a long time trying, I promise. You’re so sweet to me, so nice, I don’t mean to hurt your feelings. You know that, right?”

And although her heart was still furiously bleeding out, she was willing to ignore that for now. Throw bandages on and refuse a trip to the hospital because really she was just fine. There was just something about how he spoke to her that made it feel like she was floating— like she really was fine. 

“Yeah.”

“Good, it’s very important to me that you do.”

Y/N’s eyes nearly glazed over when she thought about Harry being like this on the regular. It was a dangerous game they were playing.

 “Look at me,” he breathed, beckoning her to do so with the grip he still had on her throat. Her eyes looked so innocent in this moment and although Harry knew Y/N was nothing if not tainted, she looked like she’d never been touched by the realities of life. “So pretty, you know that? So beautiful.”

She felt smaller in his gaze. “You think so?”

Y/N didn’t think anyone had said that to her ever. Nothing of the sort.

“I know so.”

“Thank you.”

“How about we go find you something comfortable to sleep in, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Y/N shook her head, willing to rid herself of this weird tension in her body before allowing Harry to lead her back into the bedroom. She sat on the edge of the bed as Harry retrieved some clothes and looked up at him expectantly when she could barely keep upright.

“You sure?”

“I physically can’t stand up, Harry.”

And though he looked torn, he ended up reaching for her sweater to pull it over her body, revealing the lacy bra she hid underneath. Y/N’s breasts had always been the biggest ones amongst her skinny friends and growing up she often felt ridiculed for it, though she supposed she could count on Harry not to judge. They were just there, so why pretend like they weren’t?

For Harry, taking off Y/N’s sweater was a completely different experience and although he didn’t wish to be a creep, he couldn’t help but letting out an awkward but knowing cough when he accidentally stared right down them. He hastily threw the shirt he’d brought her onto her torso, scared of what would happen if he were to delay it any longer. Harry prided himself on being a respectful man, but being with Y/N had always tested that quality of his.

“What?” She asked, a touch of feigned innocence to her tone, and he rushed to shake his head.

She knew what.

“Nothing.”

“M’kay.”

“Stand up for me?”

Y/N felt less amazing about her thighs, to be frank. She couldn’t really explain it, but they weren’t visually pleasing to her; cellulite littered the back of them and she obviously didn’t have a thigh gap, but that had become less of an issue. Y/N felt like her thighs had no real redeeming quality. It was a destructive way of thinking, she would admit, but… well, she’d carried that around since childhood.

As Harry pulled down her jeans, she felt void of anything. She didn’t exactly feel great, but better than when other guys had taken off her trousers. It was probably his age. She figured maturity increased as age did, and if Harry were to dislike the look of her body, he would be graceful about it.

“Hold onto my shoulders and lift your right leg.”

He got on his knees in front of her, pulling one leg in after the other. After doing so successfully, he allowed her to get under the covers.

“I’m still mad at you,” she mumbled into the covers, eyes fluttering to a close.

He hummed, “I know.”

“But thank you.”

“Don’t have to thank me for taking care of you.”

“Mhm,” she breathed, “it’ll be the last time, I promise.”

Sleep was pulling at her eyelids.

“Last time what?”

He received no answer. Upon a closer look, he saw Y/N completely overtaken by sleep. Her lips were situated in a pout and her foot peeked out of her thick comforter in the way he had already seen last time he’d brought her to bed.

He allowed himself more time to watch over her this time, scared that if he were to leave it would be the last he saw of her. The anxiety settled on his chest in heavy waves and the image of a precious Y/N was slipping further away from his mind. He had been a horrible person, allowing himself to become the type of man he’d always tried not to be… and he couldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t let this be that with her. He couldn’t bare it.

Harry had always thought of himself to be tattooed with imperfections. As he stared down at Y/N’s sleeping body, he couldn’t help the guilt that wrapped around him like a torture blanket. To him, she was perfect. She was kind and beautiful, she carried her heart out on her sleeve and overcame her past to grow in spite of painful trauma.

What he didn’t know, though, was that she thought the same of him. She thought of him as the most capable person, strong and kind. Her heart yearned for him in ways no one could comprehend.

She thought of him as everything but instead of embracing it, he’d pushed her away… and now both of them had to suffer the consequences.

—

Harry had stayed the night, but he hadn‘t slept; he‘d spent the night lying on Y/N‘s uncomfortable couch with various thoughts swirling around in his head. At eight he‘d stood up, started preparing breakfast and wasted time looking through social media to distract himself from the girl sleeping in the next room.

Y/N slipped out thirty minutes later, surprised when she saw Harry moving through her kitchen as though he knew it like the back of his hand. She coughed, not knowing where to put her arms and folding them in instead.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he tried to smile, “I hope you’re hungry, I made you a bagel with eggs if that’s okay.”

“That’s… yeah,” she swallowed a lump in her throat, stepping close to the counter, “thank you. You didn’t have to.”

“My pleasure. You—“ he pointed at the side of her face, “you have something there.”

“Oh, I—“ Harry reached forward to swipe at it, wiping his finger clean on his trousers and stroking her cheek once for good measure. “Thanks. Probably toothpaste.”

“Probably.”

Silence decorated their next few seconds, awkward glances and uncomfortable tension felt down to the bones. Then Harry straightened up and breathed in, simultaneously Y/N opened her mouth.

“I—“

“Are you— oh, sorry.”

“No, you go on,” she urged, waving a dismissive hand at him.

Harry smiled, “are you okay?”

“Uh, yes. Yeah, I am actually. Bit of a headache but that‘s expected. Thanks for…picking me up, I guess. I didn‘t want to be a burden, but I kind of told Andrew about you and he got a hold of my phone…“

Harry’s eyebrows drew together, “no, I’m glad he called. You should always reach out to me when you’re in trouble.”

“Yeah, but last time didn’t go over very well, so…”

Harry cleared his throat. “Right, I’m sorry about that. I was out of line, but that doesn‘t mean I don‘t want you to call when you need help getting home. There’s nothing more important than your safety, Y/N.”

“Yeah, but…” Y/N shook her head, overwhelming thoughts swirling endlessly inside rendering her speechless. There wasn’t anything she could say to efficiently express these concerns to him— Y/N had always been bad at communication and the last thing she wanted was to poke the bear even more.

“No go on, tell me.”

“I just… I don’t know. I felt like shit after last time.”

“I know,” he breathed out lowly, “I know you did, and I’m sorry. I didn‘t mean it.”

“But clearly you did if you felt the need to say it. I mean, it doesn’t just come out of nowhere, those accusations. You felt them. And I was thinking about it all day yesterday and… you were probably right, we are too unprofessional.”

“No, sweetheart. I enjoy our dinner sessions and I appreciate that you feel comfortable to talk to me when something bothers you—“ It didn’t matter, though. There was nothing he could say to change her mind.

The words that left her mouth were mostly involuntary. They were a protective barrier, a reason to say no, back off and a clear indication that she had no capacity for this. And although it hurt somewhere deep within her chest to express them, to become a viscous reminder of last night, especially when Harry’s eyebrows drew together in deep regret, it needed to be said.

“Harry, I meant it when I quit last night.”

A reasonable response was lost on Harry. For a moment he needed to think, to gather his thoughts— not that there were very many. He had to admit, he’d hoped they would gloss over her drunken text and pretend as though it hadn’t been. He’d hoped that Y/N felt a small spark of embarrassment when she thought about it, that she looked back on it with regret. Alas, she didn’t.

“Oh.”

He pulled back, shoulders tensing when the gravity of her statement had pulled him down along with it.

“Yeah. I mean, I love working with Jamie, I do, but I—“ I’m scared that I’ll form an attachment I will never recover from. I’m scared of the proximity we share, of how sometimes you let your fingers brush over my thigh. I’m scared because I don’t know what you mean, scared because psychoanalyzing doesn’t work on you. Or maybe— maybe I’m scared of love. With you. Or with anyone. Maybe I’m not capable of being loved. And maybe I’m not even capable of loving and maybe— just maybe, this will be the end of me. And for what? For you to say that the affection you extend to me is customary? That I have a tainted perception of reality, of love? Because I know I do. I know I do, and yet hearing it from you would hurt much more. And so maybe… maybe in this case, finding out isn’t worth the hassle. You’ll probably find I’m not either.

There was so much to say and such little capacity to say it. All Y/N could think to do was sputter words she didn’t mean and hope he understood because the alternative was ridding herself of every. little string of dignity she still possessed and she simply couldn’t do that. She couldn’t allow herself to unfold in front of the only person who’s perception of her she wanted to nurture. No one had stayed. Even if he would come to leave, she wanted him to leave with a sound picture of her.

“But you…”

“I can’t.”

“You can’t… because of yesterday?”

“No. I mean, I guess that was a bit of an eye opener, but I—“ Y/N breathed in, “I think I’m getting too attached to you. You and Jamie.”

His eyes widened just a bit and he took a small step toward her. It was so small she hardly felt him entering her space. “I don’t mind that, Y/N, you don’t need to quit—“

“I do though,” she interrupted him, a stern undertone to her voice. She coughed and said again, “I mind.”

“I think you’re still angry about yesterday.”

She had to contain the urge to roll her eyes, “I’m not. This is separate from that.”

“So it’s the attachment that’s the problem?”

“Yes.”

Harry scoffed, “that’s ridiculous. There’s nothing wrong with attachment.”

“It depends on what kind, doesn’t it?”

“Enlighten me then.”

Y/N’s mouth closed. She couldn’t do that.

So she deflected.

“Harry, my contract says that as long as I stay long enough to find a fitting replacement—“

“Fuck the contract, Y/N,” the volume of his voice almost caused Y/N to flinch into herself, “I know what my contract says. What I don’t know is why you’re giving up a job that you love, a job that pays you well, for reasons you can’t even explain to me.”

“Is my resignation not enough for you? Would hearing my reasoning really change anything if I will keep insisting on resigning no matter how often you’ll advise me against it? I doubt it matters. I doubt you would even so much as give a shit, Harry."

Y/N shook her head, tears building in the ducts of her eyes. Her father had been of great emotional abuse, her mother had spent half of her life drinking herself to liver failure and her brother had moved to Madrid as soon as he’d turned eighteen, leaving Y/N to fend for herself in a household that contained not one ounce of love— and yet this felt worse. This felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest, dropped on the floor beating and bleeding.

“You think I don’t give a shit? Really?” Y/N couldn’t help rolling her eyes, huffing when he tapped her on the wrist, muttering with a steady furrow in his brow, “don’t roll your eyes at me.”

“You know why I’m quitting and yet you want to hear it come out of my mouth. I’m not going to do it.”

“I don’t know.”

She almost laughed, “sure”

“Sweetheart—“

“Don’t call me that.” She gave him a sharp glance before heading back to her bedroom, arms falling to the sides of her timid frame. Harry stopped her just short of the door, a steady hand gripping around her wrist. She couldn’t help the gasp that left her mouth, built up tears finally streaming down in heaps— embarrassment brewed in her stomach and she couldn’t bare to look him in the eye anymore. Harry’s touch elicited a spark on her skin, blistering with uncomfortable heat. “What?”

“You’re being rude. I really think you should consider this.”

“There’s nothing to consider, okay?!  I… I feel too much for you, there’s too— there’s too much, okay? There’s too fucking mu—“

What would transpire between them next was a kiss. Initiated by Harry.

It was barely a kiss, more of a brushing of the lips— tentative movements, gentle breaths. It was the minimum and yet it was more than enough. There was an electric feeling that dragged through Y/N’s entire body as she closed her eyes and let herself feel. Harry didn’t seem very much like a gentle lover— generous, without doubt, but Y/N had always pictured him as a pin-to-the-wall, bite-to-the-lip type of man and she quickly received confirmation when he began squeezing her hand as if feeling restrained.

Y/N hadn’t kissed many people; less than five, probably, but she could say with certainty that this was already better than all of the other ones combined. She knew why. She knew the reason was that she genuinely liked Harry, that he made her feel things she’d never felt before.

But then again, Harry was her boss. He was off limits, taboo. And he was absolutely out of his mind right now.

“Wait.”

His breath fanned against her chin. “You don’t want me to?”

“No I do, I just—“ she shook her head, thoughts in a disarray like they’d never been before.

“Tell me to stop and I will.”

Her mouth opened but nothing came out, merely staggered breaths as she tried to regain the ability to think. The interruption came when Harry’s phone rang on the counter.

He groaned, took a glance at the screen and broke away when he saw his mother’s name flash as the caller ID.

“Yes?” He called into the speaker, frustration molding his features as he kept on listening. “Yes, okay, tell him I’m on my way. Give me twenty minutes… Love you too, bye.” When he turned to her, phone slipped into his back pocket, she could tell that he yearned to say more, that he yearned for her to say more. She knew he would halt his actions, leave time for her to get her words out before he left for whatever emergency he’d been called in for, that if she only said something he would consider putting her as a second priority after his son. She knew that he would make her feel important. But she said nothing. And nobody, not even the most patient person in the world could work with nothing. “Jamie’s asking for me. I need to go get him.”

She only nodded.

He sighed, running a tired hand down his face. “Alright. I need to go. I’ll see you around, Y/N.”

She stood at exactly the same spot as Harry slammed the door shut, unwavering.

Her heart was still pounding as the words she should’ve expressed minutes ago died on her lips.

—

Résumés had been sent to him, interviews were lined up, and Y/N had received no reply back. She hadn’t received anything, really, just a text on Thursday that he would arrange for another babysitter to come in for Jamie while he left for his late meeting, to which Y/N had typed a dry ‘ok’ and left it to sit in her inbox.

The week had started fresh and Y/N had finally left home again (only to her classes, but still). After days of not working, she was scheduled to pick up Jamie at two thirty and hoped for these last weeks to resume seamlessly. She’d gotten the car from the house, locked the door back up again and made the ten minute drive down— everything was fine.

Until now. Until Y/N set foot on preschool grounds and noticed another woman hugging her arms around Jamie’s shoulders. She seemed unfamiliar at first— glasses tipped back on her long blonde hair, a pencil skirt concealing her toned legs. Y/N had no idea who she was dealing with until she took a closer look and recognized this woman to be Stacie. Y/N had seen a picture of Stacie up in Harry’s study— she seemed to have changed a little, but the structural features she associated with her still remained intact through all these years (big blue eyes, defined cheekbones).

As soon as Jamie’s eyes set on Y/N, though, Stacie’s hands were torn away from his shoulders as he ran for her. She got on her knees, his familiar smile melting away all of the cold spots she’d developed in over a week of not seeing him.

“I miss you!” Jamie pulled away to plant a kiss right on the top of the apple of Y/N’s cheek, something he only started doing recently. She guessed he’d only really learned how to. “Daddy said you pick me up today.”

“I missed you too, buddy. I see somebody else came to see you?”

“Oh, Stacie. She wants to take me home but daddy said you pick me up.”

“Yeah, okay. Do you want to wait a second while I talk to her?”

Jamie nodded, moving to stand next to her (small hand clutched in hers, of course) while Y/N greeted Stacie. Well, greet was a bit of an exaggeration; she didn’t get to before Stacie decided to introduce herself first.

“I’m his mom, I called Harry in the morning telling him I’d come for pick up. I have a packed schedule, so I’d appreciate it if you could let go of my child.”

Y/N almost laughed, the audacity of this woman a damn near mystery to her. “Wait. Don't talk about him like some sort of property. Harry never told me about anyone else coming to pick up Jamie.”

“He must’ve forgotten. He’s a busy man, I’m sure he would confirm—“

“Well then let’s call him, shall we?”

Stacie wanted to interject, she could tell, but Y/N had dialed way too fast for that to happen. The phone only had to ring once before Harry picked up, his voice coming in clear.

“Hey, you‘ve got Jamie?”

“I’m here at preschool but Stacie showed up before me and wants to take him home. You didn’t tell me, so I…” she trailed off, hoping he’d fill in the blanks.

It seemed to take a minute to click. “Stacie? His mother showed up at school?”

“Yes, was this arranged beforehand or…”

“No. No, don’t let her take him home. Shit, we talked about this last week, I don’t—“

“You… you talked about this last week?” The confusion dripped from Y/N’s voice and all she could hear was Harry’s attempt at concealing profanities. “What did you talk about last week?”

“It doesn’t matter. Just get home, tell her to call me to clear this up. I don’t want Jamie knowing Stacie is his mother yet, okay? So just get out of there before she tells him herself.”

A frown settled over Y/N’s features before she continued to end the call, scoop Jamie up into her arms and walk away after quick word. Stacie protested, but both her and Y/N knew she wouldn’t do much more than that in fear of causing a scene.

Y/N failed to pay attention to Jamie as she fastened the belt on his seat, only registering when she looked back into the rearview mirror and noticed the little pout starting to pull at his small lips.

And when he finally asked her, little quips of fear polishing his quiet tone:  “is Stacie my mum?”, all Y/N could do was pretend she hadn’t heard and hope he would forget, knowing he wouldn’t.

—

Y/N bombarded Harry with questions the second he‘d unlocked that front door.

“Y/N—“

“No, I’m entitled to know this time. I’m entitled to know when she ambushes us at preschool. Don’t you want me to know what I’m dealing with if it happens again? That woman almost fucking kidnapped him—“

“Calm down, Y/N. Sit down and I’ll explain it to you.”

She huffed in annoyance, listening nonetheless. She set herself down on one of the kitchen stools and tried to take control of her breathing. She watched as he took a seat opposite her.

“Stacie came to visit last week on Wednesday. She’d called beforehand, asking if it would be okay. She came and we had dinner, we talked some things out while Jamie was in bed. She apologized, asked if we could start working things out again. I agreed under the condition that she would approach the idea of Jamie as a friend first. She said that she would respect my wishes and that she wouldn’t come near him unless I gave my permission. That’s it. So far all Jamie knows is that she’s a friend of mine. I didn’t—god,” Y/N felt bad when Harry buried his head in his hands, itching to reach out in comfort. She chose to play it safe, settling a gentle touch over his thigh. “I know I should’ve known but it seemed real when we spoke last, you know? I didn’t think she’d do this.”

Y/N hadn’t seen Harry this distraught over anything. “I’m sorry. That’s heavy.”

“It’s—“ he sighed, “it’s something I keep having to deal with. All she wants is to have him on the weekends, have him pose as her cute son. But she doesn’t actually care about him.”

Y/N couldn’t do much more than nod. She was caught between playing the comforting role and being honest. She wasn’t sure if this was the place, if her opinion would be welcomed or if it would contribute to Harry’s sorrows. “She seemed… uncooperative when I spoke to her at school. Like she was in a rush or something, it scared me.”

“Yeah, she’s hardheaded.”

“Right.” Y/N pulled her hand away when Harry lifted his head, clearing her throat and averting her eyes. The change in her behavior didn’t go unnoticed, though he knew he shouldn’t ask. “So when you talked… when you agreed to working things out, you meant that in a friendly manner? Or were you going to be… a couple again?”

“We… I don’t know. We kissed— well, she kissed me a few days ago when we met up again for a playdate with Jamie. Never discussed it any further.”

“Do you love her?”

Y/N had begun to hold her breath in, but she didn’t notice it.

Harry did. He noticed the suction of a deep breath and he noticed how his own hands got clammy with sweat.

Harry looked skeptical, as though there was something on his tongue ready to peek out tentatively, only it couldn’t because he had to spare her feelings. Because there was little Y/N, intimidated by everything she’d ever had to face in her lifetime— little Y/N who had rejected him and still expected loyalty. Little Y/N who couldn’t have him, but had always wanted to.

“I think a part of me will always love her. I mean, she gave me Jamie and he’s… the best thing to ever happen to me, really. I love him, and I will always love her for giving birth to him. I will always love her for the good parts of our relationship.”

Y/N hated herself for hating his answer. It was a perfectly reasonable answer, truthful as Y/N expected, yet her mind wandered past the barriers, past the barbed wire. She couldn’t fully grasp how he could still love her— and yet she understood perfectly. There was Jamie, of course, but there were many other things. There was her hair, her bright complexion, the beautiful curve of her hips and the effortless look of her makeup. There was the fashion, the business-casual look that seemed to mesh so well with Harry’s. There was this calling when Y/N pictured the two of them standing side by side, almost like they were destined to be together. She could imagine it perfectly, the many years they had spent together. She could see it. And it looked perfect.

Y/N coughed, head nodding along to his words as if she were listening to instructions and not some heartfelt confession. It seemed instinctual, though.

When it came time for her to speak, she let a smile mold her lips into a perfect crescent moon. She never thought faking a smile could hurt more than a physical injury, but she’d been proven wrong. Everything looked intact— Y/N was sure she almost seemed unaffected from the outside. She wasn’t, though, and she wondered if Harry would recognize that.

“That’s… yeah. I get that.”

This was the first time Y/N actually felt the age gap between her and Harry. He sat here, ready to air it out. He spoke about his concerns, about the state of his son, and the only thing she could fret about was herself. Her sadness had no weight, it was too insignificant in comparison to his and it made her feel pathetic. It made her feel young and stupid and pathetic.

Harry deserved better than this. He deserved careful consideration, security for his child. He deserved trust and honesty, a sort of transparency Y/N couldn’t afford to offer to him yet.

“That’s not to say that I want to approach her in that way, especially after today, but…” he trailed off, only finding his words when it’d clicked that she wasn’t responding, “I just want you to understand that it’s complicated.”

Y/N nodded. Then she cleared her throat, ready to rid herself of this spotlight. She always messed up in the spotlight.  “Um, Jamie asked me if Stacie was his mum today. I didn’t answer, but you might want to think about what you’ll say to say to him next time. I also sent you a few résumés, I’ve talked to a few people and have set up interviews, the first one is scheduled for tomorrow—“ she visibly flinched when his hand came down on her thigh, “please, Harry. I can’t. Please just let me finish this.”

“Okay.”

A deep breath, “it’s scheduled for tomorrow after you come home from work. Do you want me to come on the call, or are you okay interviewing yourself?”

“I’d like you to come.”

“Okay. I’ll stay longer tomorrow.”

“Can we talk about us now? Properly?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

Harry almost laughed, “there’s a lot to talk about. We just added on a good bit today.”

“I’m quitting. That’s it.”

“You know, I don’t understand why you insist that there’s nothing going on—“

“Because there isn’t,” she snapped. “There isn’t. I’m going to check up on Jamie.”

She was teary-eyed as she slipped from the stool, ready to conceal it all for the ball of sunshine sitting in the living room. She could do it all for Jamie— she would do it all.

Before he could say any more, Y/N disappeared behind the door. Harry could hear the two of them converse in the next room and his heart felt heavy as the gravity of the situation dawned on him. Harry had always known what to do— he was a CEO, for god’s sake. He was trained to find solutions, take control of seemingly unfixable problems, to make life easy. And yet, this girl thoroughly baffled him. He had no idea what the fuck to do anymore.

And yet, he was determined to keep trying.

—

Two people had interviewed over zoom and Harry had hated every one of them. His excuses were vague, something about the lack of experience (even though they both knew that Y/N hadn’t had any when she’d started either) and the supposed ‘wrong vibe’. One time he’d criticized a woman for her ‘ridiculously shrill voice’, at which point Y/N had rolled her eyes and proceeded to walk home in a fury.

The next day Y/N showed up again, ready to interview three more people. She sat beside Harry as he set up the video call and listened as he asked questions. Y/N was mostly in attendance to listen and give her honest feedback by the end (she really did want to find someone spectacular for Jamie), so the difficult part came later. For now she could be quiet.

This woman, aside from qualified, seemed very kind. So far, it’d been the best candidate.

“So how flexible is time for you?”

“Very. I do online classes for uni, so I can very well manage my time how I see fit.”

“That sounds fine. And you’ve had plenty of experience, I see.”

“Yes, I started babysitting when I was fourteen, so for more than ten years now. The last family I worked for just moved out of the country, which is why I’m looking for something new, but I was with them three years.”  

This woman had nothing but good evidence she would be the best for the job; no doubt better than Y/N. She had the experience, she seemed mature, she looked kind— she would act in a professional manner, something Y/N had never quite figured out yet.

That didn’t matter to Harry, though, because as soon as she’d gotten off the call, he muttered a ‘no’.

“Why not?” Y/N asked, bewildered by his blunt response, “she was literally perfect for the job.”

Harry lifted his shoulders in a shrug, busying himself with his laptop, “just didn’t feel right.”

“Okay, this is just getting too unreasonable at this point. You didn’t like the lack of experience, fine, that one woman’s shrill voice, fine— but this? She just didn’t feel right?”

“I don’t expect you to understand—“

“No. We’re not doing that.”

“It’s a feeling, Y/N. When I interviewed you, I got the feeling that it’s right, that I’d feel safe leaving Jamie with you. It takes trust.”

“But she’s— she’s so qualified, she—“

“Experience isn’t everything. It’s important, but not everything. You weren’t experienced when you came for your interview but you gave me the right feeling. Thus you were qualified for the job.”

And she understood, really, but it still fucking pissed her off. “That’s fucking— you’re being too picky.”

“For good reason.”

“At least two of the people we interviewed were qualified enough for a test run.”

“We still have about fifteen to go and there’s no rush.”

Y/N found this ridiculous. She muttered under her breath, pushing some hair back with a sweaty palm.

“Why is it that everything I do makes you angry?”

“Because you’re fucking infuriating.”

He breathed a chuckle, “that’s nice,” and closed his laptop. “Are you hungry?”

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me. I’ll make your favorite pasta.”

“I don’t—“ but Harry had already gotten to work, tuning her voice out without much trouble. He smiled at her, almost mocking.

“Do you have another job lined up?“

“Uh,” Y/N didn’t want to admit no, that she hadn’t even begun looking properly (save for that one café down the street from her apartment), knowing the consequences and aware of the tiring reprimanding from Harry ahead. A pitied glance. A pathetic speech. “I’ve applied.”

“Where?”

“A cafe.”

“Where?”

“You wouldn’t know it.”

“Are you hired?”

She huffed, “no.”

“Where else?”

“Um, a… another café. It’s in... near my apartment.”

“Would be bad if it wasn’t,” he quipped, paying her a shortened glance from over his cooking pot. “Do you need help?”

“No.”

“Financial help, maybe?”

Y/N groaned, “no.”

“Because I wouldn’t mind sending you some money—“

“Harry,” she cut him off in an instant, glaring daggers at him, “I’ll just send it back. I’ve saved up enough to get by for a few weeks.“

“That doesn’t exactly ease my—“

“Can we just— can we not?”

And they didn’t. Harry closed his mouth— forced it closed, actually— having to clench his jaw to stop himself from voicing unwanted thoughts.  Y/N looked away, pretending this conversation hadn’t happened at all. It was easier that way, to pretend he hadn’t conveyed such an open and honest display of care, to pretend that it hadn’t ripped her heart to shreds.

There was so much he wanted to say, but he couldn't. It was the first time in a while that Y/N stayed (somewhat voluntarily) after her shift, and he couldn't risk pushing her away further.

For now, he had to be okay with this.

—

Y/N couldn‘t keep her eyes off of Harry, images of last night flashing in between conflicting thoughts.

She was in bed. She was clutching her blanket, a wet spot and the outline of her body marked by sweat on the sheets. He‘d looked so real fucking her, he‘d sounded so genuine whispering into her ear as he thrust up into her cunt.

He‘d called her a good girl, and she‘d run with it, afraid to look back.

But it hadn‘t been real, had it?

It‘d been a dream. But god, was it a good one.

Would he do it all the same? Would be hold her close, spreading his fingers over the expanse of her breast as he kissed her neck? Would he glide them up, and wrap them around her throat? Would he— fuck. No. She couldn’t.

But he would. And they‘d look so pretty resting there. And she‘d feel so pretty as he overwhelmed her with his presence, his chest pressing against hers. He‘d look so right as he danced along the fine line of praise and degradation— the line of rough and sweet, cold and warm. Because he would know. He would know exactly what she would need.

Wouldn‘t he?

He would. As she watched him move through the space of his living room, she knew he would. She‘d always known, really.

And Jamie wasn’t here anymore, he’d fled up the stairs. And Y/N really, really shouldn’t be here with him alone.

She was biting on her nails, eyes cast downwards in avoidance as Harry read his book on the other end of the couch. He had an arm stretched along the back of the couch and her legs were tucked to her chest as she scrolled on her phone, trying her hardest not to let her gaze run wild. It proved especially difficult when his arm fell mere inches from her legs. And when he touched her, warm thumb rubbing comforting circles into the cold of her skin, she couldn’t help biting her lip.

“You okay?”

“Hm? Yes. Why?”

A smile stretched his mouth wide, “just seem distracted, is all. Squirmy.”

“What? No, I’m fine.”

God, she was feeling small under his gaze.

“You sure?”

“Yes,” she mumbled. Harry saw her eyes, though, tired dark circles resting where they don’t belong. He saw how they widened, how desperate they seemed for something she didn’t want to disclose to him and he wanted so badly to satisfy that need for her. “I should go home.”

His grip tightened ever so slightly. “Would you like me to drive you?”

“Um, no. It’s okay. Thank you.”

But she failed to move.

Y/N had shut him out for so long that the effect he’d always had on her multiplied by ten. It was much much worse and the finger on her leg burned through her skin with ease.

“Sweetheart?”

“Hm?”

“Come here,” he demanded softly, watching as a war unfolded on her face. He could read her like a book, sensing the exact moment her heart won and her head gave up. He pulled her to him, fingers dancing up and down her shoulder. “You seem tired.”

Y/N cleared her throat, tips of fingers holding onto the edge of safety and threatening to let her cascade into the depths of danger. “I had three classes in the morning and I’ve been writing this paper, so—“ she allowed him control as he made her face the other way, legs outstretched, her back just inches from his chest and his hands massaging her tense shoulders. Her eyes closed in pleasure at the sensation. “And last night, I—“

“Last night you what?”

“I had… I had this dream and—“

She didn’t want to finish and he didn’t need her to.

“Is this okay?”

His voice felt soft and comfortable against her neck. “Yes, thank you. You’re good at that.”

He hummed.

“I really should go home though,” she mumbled, getting quieter with each word. She knew she wouldn’t dare push him away now, but she supposed it was more about convincing herself that she’d tried. “Cause I have classes early in the morning.”

“It’s only seven.”

“Yeah.”

Harry snickered quietly, her awful try at resistance not surprising him in the least. He had never seen her quite like this though, weak and smitten in his arms, on the verge of purring like a cat.  He definitely couldn’t complain when she inched closer and dropped her head so it could rest comfortably on his shoulder. 

“Can you do my arms?”

“Of course, baby.”

She could’ve melted. In fact, she probably had without noticing.  

And when she felt his lips pressing to her skin… well, then it was game over.

“Is this okay?”

She nodded promptly, heart racing.

Y/N was tired of rejecting this feeling, tired of pretending as though she didn’t want Harry’s affection. Because truly, it was all she wanted, all she’d longed for.

A love like his would feel so great.

“You look really beautiful, you know that?”

“Thank you,” she squeaked, sensing Harry’s chuckle rolling against her back at the response.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

“Me neither.”

“You’re the one who keeps running.”

“I know.”

“Why?”

Y/N took her time answering, grateful when Harry didn’t rush her. He would sit here waiting for an hour if he needed to, she was confident in that. There was no hurry, just soft hands on scalps and warm kisses on necks— Y/N hadn’t experienced such an overwhelming feeling of comfort in the arms of a man.

“I’m scared to stay.”

He sounded unfazed, giving her a surge of confidence when he asked, “why?”

“Because we’re such different people. You’re a dad, a very accomplished ceo. I’m a student, so much younger—“

“Don’t make me out to be so old, love.”

Her eyes rolled. “A little younger than you. And last week when I saw Stacie, I don’t know… it did something with my brain, I guess. You seemed so right together, you know? I didn’t want you to wake up one day and regret anything, don’t think I could bear that.”

“Look at me,” he muttered, tilting her head so that he could pin her down with a stern stare, “I couldn’t regret you, sweetheart. I regret much in life, but I wouldn’t regret you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Eh, I’m a pretty good judge of character.”

“Harry,” she warned, “I’m not the most lovable person once you get to know me.”

“I doubt that,” he retorted.

“Past experiences have proven as much.”

He gave gentle strokes to her cheek, a glaze he didn‘t expect overcoming her eyes, pulling him in, “so let me show you.”

Y/N’s breath hitched, his nose mere inches away from hers. “Show me what?”

“How easy it is to love you.”

Time stood still, but it couldn’t not have with a statement of that kind. It seemed so easy for him to brush off concerns as something undeserving of thought, to create an allusion of simplicity where it didn‘t belong. Those words meant everything to her.

“You must know how wonderful that sounds coming from your mouth.”

Harry breathed a chuckle, nose nudging against hers softly. When he asked for permission, Y/N couldn’t deny him of another kiss.

And if it could’ve gotten any better than their first kiss, then it definitely had. There was a newfound sense of freedom and security with this kiss, unspoken thoughts reduced to small details rather than what had been when they’d spent time together last.

When they parted, nothing needed to be said. They already knew it all.

—

A month later.

“Y/N, will you hand me another bowl for the soup, please?”

As Y/N fulfilled Harry’s plea, she couldn’t help but let her giddiness dictate her movements. Things were fresh, things were good— but they were also scary. He was scary. Anxious butterflies spread in her lower tummy at the mention of his name and infested it with the low sound of his voice.

She waited by his side as he tidied up, ready to be of assistance. It was pathetic, really, how awfully smitten she’d become for him.

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

She hummed in reply, scared that if she were to speak all that would come out was a squeak. Harry chuckled, smirk molding into his cheekbones as he grasped Y/N by the waist and pushed his lips against hers in a gentle kiss. His hand slid lower, giving her a squeeze.

“Are you nervous?”

“Yeah.”

“It’ll be great, I promise. And whatever he says, we’ll work it out.”

“Okay,” a surge of confidence rode her to sunny dry shores, shoulders sacking in comfort, “yeah, okay. I trust you.”

“You ready then?”

“Yes.”

Things proceeded as they always had; Y/N and Jamie shared funny anecdotes of their day as Harry mostly listened, admiring the two of them with love filling his eyes. It wasn’t until desert had come that the setting changed, unbeknownst to Jamie, and Harry took the lead.

“Jamie, we want to talk to you about something.”

Jamie stared between the two of them, waiting.

“Do you remember when you came home from school and told me about Katie and Josh? That they’re boyfriend girlfriend?”

“Yes, they still are.”

Harry chuckled, “and do you remember what I said when you asked if I had a girlfriend?”

“You said that you don’t.”

“I did. And while that may have been true for that moment, things have changed.”

Her heart melted and sank all the same when his little green eyes lit up, “do you have a girlfriend now?”

“I do,” Harry laughed, “you know her.”

“Who?”

Harry smirked, motioning to Y/N with a nod of his head to draw Jamie’s attention away. Jamie’s gaze landed on Y/N and in the matter of a second it filled with excitement. His mouth dropped open in surprise.

“Are you okay with that?” She asked, timid at first but becoming more confident when a genuine smile imprinted small dimples in his cheeks, a feature he’d been lucky enough to receive from his father.

He nodded, full of movement, and hummed in confirmation.

When Y/N and Harry had put Jamie into bed later that night, and had vacated to the kitchen to enjoy a glass of wine together, things finally fell into place. The thought of happiness within a relationship was no longer a distant one— no, it had become a reality. Harry had kept up with his promise, he had shown her easy, he’d shown her effortless, and while there was no doubt in her mind that hard times were still to come, she was confident that no matter the circumstance, her gratitude for his open portrayal of love could never be put into question.

“I love you,” she shared, eyes glassy, head tilted. “You don’t have to say it back, but I just want you to know. I think I’ve loved you for quite some time, I just didn’t want to realize it.”

The silence was short lived.

He placed his glass back down on the table and smiled, though to her it almost looked awkward. “Wow.”

“I know, you don’t have to… cause I know it’s a big deal, so you don’t have to say anything.”

“I do too,” he then offered, hand traveling to rest on her knee. “I love you.”

“Really?”

“I do.”

This stumped her.

And now it was her turn: “wow.”

Harry’s laughter spread everywhere on Y/N’s skin, engraving itself into her soul and staying there to be kept and remembered forever.

“Good. Now that that’s cleared…”

She couldn’t deny him of a passionate make-out session, hands on thighs and lips everywhere they fit, everywhere they felt right. A moan slipped from her mouth, his smirk molded into her hot skin.

“Move in with me,” he muttered, dirty against her mouth, “we’re finding a new nanny for Jamie and you don’t have a new job planned yet. Just focus on university, move in with me, with us. Let me take care of you.“

“Harry—“ his mouth collided against her neck, her eyes closed shut, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Why?”

“We’ve only been together—“

“Doesn’t matter, I’ve fought for a long time to have you. I believe in us, I trust this.”

“I…“ Y/N felt torn— on one hand, she really wanted to move in with him. On the other, was that really wise? To move in with a man after a month of dating him? Albeit this was Harry, and she trusted him too. Fully. It was herself she didn’t trust. “Are you sure?”

And when she looked into his eyes, there was no not one ounce of doubt in them. They welcomed her.

“Jamie would love it just as much as me.”

“Would he?”

“Are you kidding me? He loves you so much.”

“I love him too,” she played with a strand of his hair.

“Then move in with us.”

A smile began to pull at her lips. “But I pay for groceries.”

“No,” he mumbled, “you’re too broke for me to let you do that.”

“Harry!”

“It’s true!” He laughed, massaging her thigh. “Baby, I don’t expect you to pay for anything living here. I’m more than capable—“

“I know you’re capable, but I just… I was taught not to burden other people.”

“You’re not burdening me,” he insisted, finger sliding under her chin, “it’s okay to let other people do things for you. It’s okay for others to show their love.”

“I know that.”

“So please don’t worry about it. Focus on your studies and make me proud in that way.”

“I need to make money somehow.”

“No you don’t. I’ll support you.”

“No,” she breathed right away, “I won’t depend on you for money. You’re not my… my sugar daddy.”

“Why not?” He grinned, “you call me daddy either way—“

Y/N’s eyes rolled, “shut up.”

“Told you not to roll your eyes at me.”

“Sorry.”

Harry hummed, “try it for a month. If you want to move in after, you can. If you don’t, I’ll help you find a new place. Or I’ll pay your rent while you’re here so you don’t lose out on money.”

Comfortable silence dictated the next few seconds as Y/N thought about her boyfriend’s offer, and then: “fine. We’ll try it for a month.”

Harry’s smile widened, “yeah?”

“Yes.”

“You won’t regret it."

He'd been right.

--

The end! Would love to hear your feedback :) but also like… don’t be too harsh cause I can’t handle it

tags:

@tpwk-mia @gem1712 @behindmygreyeyes, @sinarainbows @infixinfinity @adkmermaid2399 @daphnesutton @imaginexxharry @bry211 @haliastyles @watarmelon212 @impossibleme @cali-888 @dreamybabbyy @evie-119 @cumuluscranium @c-a-b3002 @buckybarnessimpp @freckles-things @harryedwardstylesluva24 @ihavesimpedovermanyfictionalmen @angelbunny222 @ivegotthecinema @harryscowgirl

I hope I didn’t forget anyone!

[minus-plus-zer0]

Beauty Pageant Headcanons

♡ Genre: Fluff ♡ Pairing: Bakugou x Reader

You entered the U.A. Cultural Festival's beauty pageant, with Bakugou acting as your coach.

How the hell did this happen? Well, you both lost a bet with Ashido, that's how.

The girl ships you two pretty hard, and although she doesn't always say it directly, it's obvious from her behavior. She rigged the bet in her favor just to get you together like this.

Bakugou's livid, but you hold him back from committing murder. You're really good at keeping Bakugou out of prison, it's like your second Quirk at this point.

So instead Bakugou turns his attention to you, and he starts ranting about how it's not TECHNICALLY murder if they don't find the body, but you're not having it and you're really just fighting for Ashido's life here.

Ashido knows not to invest in life insurance, but instead to invest in YOU. That's why she's letting you deal with this while she scurries into hiding for the foreseeable future.

Anyways, you and Bakugou are stuck together. Lucky you!

He's blaming you for this, since he knew it was a trap by Ashido. But you were just too cute and sweet, too willing to go along with whatever Ashido was planning, and that's what got you into this mess. He's really trying to convince you to not defend her at every chance, like you do with EVERY Bakusquad member he attacks, but it's hard to find his arguments persuasive when her life is in mortal peril, so you dismiss his anger pretty easily.

He HATES having his anger dismissed, and this only makes him more pissed. You try to calm him down, like you always do, all sweetness and smiles.

You're actually not even 100% against the idea of entering a beauty pageant, so it was easier to convince you than it was to coerce Bakugou into even being here. He can't understand your giddiness right now, it's more confusing to him than Ashido's.

But Bakugou is yelling your ear off while you check out the various clothes available on the clothing rack. You're trying to find something real cute and your style, but there's nothing that catches your eye. You're still looking through the racks and you're a little worried nothing is gonna look good on you.

Bakugou notices you worrying and he criticizes a lot of the outfits available here. He's got an eye for fashion, given that his parents work in the industry. But he usually doesn't pay attention to fashion magazines, models, beauty pageants, it's all stupid useless shit to him. That's another thing you disagree on.

But you're a bit embarrassed about wearing any of these outfits around him, knowing he's so critical. Regardless, he's grabbing some clothes off the rack and pushing them towards you and directing you to the changing room to try it on. Shyness be damned.

You put on the first outfit he gave you, but it's showing a bit too much skin and you're wondering what the heck was running through his mind while he picked this.

He's telling you to show yourself already so he can judge it but you're no fool. You say you can check it over yourself haha, no need to see this and to embed it into your memory forever haha!

Well he doesn't agree. "Stop being shy and get over here!"

"Make me!"

He can't exactly do that, now can he? He's flustered at the thought.

"...Can you please come out? I won't fucking judge you, alright?"

'Please' is a rare word coming out of his mouth, and you're one of the few he tells it to. So you do as he asks.

You emerge from the changing area, wearing the outfit he picked. He's checking you out in a thoughtful and not creepy way.

"That one doesn't work," he says, paying no attention to your offended expression. "Try the next one."

This goes on for the next few outfits. You didn't know what he was looking for, but he wasn't getting it. To be honest, you weren't really fond of how some of the outfits looked on you either, which made the whole thing more disappointing. Your earlier giddiness is gone.

"Can we stop?" you ask. "It feels like I'm ugly no matter what I'm wearing."

Bakugou opens his mouth to speak, then closes it. He looks like he's thinking his next words over carefully. Then, the words fall right out of his mouth before he can stop them.

"You're NOT ugly. They're all gorgeous, but none of them are the best. We need the best to win."

You're shocked he just called you 'gorgeous', but he's shoving you back into the changing room before you can keep looking at his embarrassed face.

After trying on some more outfits and being repeatedly shoved around by a red-faced Bakugou, you emerge one final time. Still red, Bakugou is now grinning like a serial killer and you hope that means good things.

"Perfect." Bakugou's grabbing your hand and he's pulling you out of the dressing room. "We gotta go practice your routine!"

Before you can even comment on his reaction, you're at an adjacent private training ground for contestants. You're distracted by trying to get him all tomato-faced again. You're pinching his cheeks saying "Where did that other guy go? The one whose face could change colors? You looked so similar, was he your cousin?" but Bakugou's warding you off and telling you to work on your form.

You spend a few hours perfecting it until Bakugou's finally happy. By the end, you're questioning Bakugou about why the heck he even cares so much, but he's telling you that it's getting late and you both should shower and get some dinner.

Post-shower and dinner, you're looking around for Bakugou who's been avoiding you all evening. You're a little hurt. You text him asking him why he's ignoring you. He finally texts back, saying he's not ignoring you and to come over.

You're allowed into his dorm room, and he's waiting for you on the balcony. He's out here alone in the dark, with the balcony lights on and with nothing but his phone. His screen shows your texts.

You take a seat beside him and then pinch his cheeks.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For avoiding me like I've caught a disease! Bakugou, I thought we were buddies?"

He's grumbling to himself. "I wasn't trying to hurt you, dummy."

"Then what were you doing?"

He's looking away from you and you're trying to catch his expression. Then, he finally meets your gaze, embarrassed but determined.

"I know you care a lot about this crap, and it'd make you sad if I didn't even fucking try to help out. It's not my fucking thing, but I'll make sure you win."

He looks a little torn before he says the next thing.

"Because I love you, alright?"

You're kissing him now and he's shocked, you almost wish you could've taken a photo of that cute flabbergasted face before he pulls you in by the collar, kissing you back. It's his first kiss and you stole it right from under him, and he couldn't be happier.

The big day comes. You've prepared as much as you can with your (now) boyfriend the night before. Ashido is nowhere to be found, she'll likely in the crowd somewhere.

You complete your routine as planned, it's very cute and it's very you, but it wasn't a crowd favorite. Nejire ends up winning anyways. Bakugou doesn’t get it, all he’s seeing is you after the contest is over, happy as hell he picked out that outfit for you because you look great in it as he's kissing you passionately.

To him, he still knows you're the best in his heart, and that's what matters most. He's happy knowing that he got you and that Ashido's days are still numbered.

You enjoy the rest of the Cultural Festival, and you and Bakugou make sure to find some private alone time now and again…

Until Ashido texts you, saying "So have you asked him out yet?"

[storiesofsvu]

Decadent Desires Ch 6

Emily Prentiss x reader warnings: language, mentions of alcohol, sexually charged conversations, teasing/banter. Smut, sex toys, minor bondage, spanking. A guest star of Anthony DiNozzo! I didn't really want to bring in a whole THIRD fandom into this but it ended up working out really nicely and I can play around with it in future chapters too! It feels like it's been ages since I've updated this so clearly the last week was a long one lol. Remember how I said I wanted to be a chapter ahead from now on with my series? Yeah that quickly did not happen. LOL. I'm gonna try to keep up with it, and I promise y'all won't wait longer than a week between chapters, I just need to hunker down and write!

Working for Heather meant that you worked insane hours that could change at the drop of a hat, but it also meant that you could essentially make your own schedule whenever you wanted. You could do most of your job from home or a hotel, as long as you had Wi-Fi you were in the clear, you spent a lot of your time gallivanting around D.C to finish whatever tasks you needed to. Shuffling your schedule around constantly meant that you were more than given the liberty to a Thursday afternoon off and that is exactly why you were meandering down Wisconsin Avenue with Tony in tow. Some of your friends questioned why you always went shopping with him, but the truth was he knew style, understood expensive taste, always told the truth if something looked bad and the entire experience was more efficient. If you went out with your girlfriends on a shopping spree you got dragged into twelve stores you needed nothing from and had to wait while they tried on countless amounts of outfits. With Tony the most that would happen would you’d have some extra browsing time at L. Priori because he got distracted by the watches.

“You got some big White House party coming up or something?” He asked, taking a sip of the coffee you’d bought him earlier.

“Huh?” You glanced over your shoulder as you picked up the small bag, “no.”

“We’ve done jewels, we’ve done shoes,” he pushed the door open for you, holding it while you crossed through the entry way and back out onto the street, “you dropped off three dresses for alterations and looked through the catalogue of what’s coming in…”

“I just want to revamp my closet a little bit, make sure I’m prepared for summer, you know how many extra garden parties I end up at.”

“And your boss is okay with that amount of cleavage?” He asked with a smirk and you rolled your eyes, “I think you’re bullshitting me.”

“I got a little carried away doing spring cleaning and tossed half my closet.” You bluffed, “I work so much I forgot I actually wore the other shit and now need to replace it.” Veering off to the side your hand tugged open the door to Jaryam and Tony followed you inside.

“When’s your next date?” He asked with a grin.

“I never said anything about a date.”

“Then why did you just drag me into a lingerie store?”

“Oh please,” you scoffed, “I didn’t drag you anywhere, you love this shit. I just want some new pieces; you’ve got the right eye for colour and the masculine fetishistic imagination to tell me which ones I’ll look the best in.”

He chuckled darkly, not bothering to disagree with you as you made your way further into the shop, he was a pace behind you, fiddling with a price tag when he scoffed and you turned back to him with a raised brow, “I’ve heard you complain about the prices in Victoria’s Secret and that’s got nothing on this, a thong for a hundred and fifty dollars?”

“It’s… about the quality.” You shrugged, “thirty dollars for a scrap of fabric that falls apart in a month made in a sweatshop isn’t a good investment.” You picked up the pair that he was looking at, reading through the tag, “something hand stitched made with quality fabric that’s going to last? Worth it.”

“Hmm.” He replied, surveying you for a minute as you put the thong back on the rack, “you know, I noticed when you picked up the coffee that you used a black card…”

“You’re really working those sleuthing skills today, aren’t ya?” You teased back with a grin, moving onto a wall of lace bras.

“It’s not exactly a difficult mystery.” He smirked, following you, “fancy shoes, nice jewels, new clothes, expensive lingerie,” you turned back to face him, an unimpressed look on your face and he practically caged you into the wall, “who’s your daddy?”

“Ew, Tony, fuck off.” You groaned, shoving at his chest as he laughed, “coffee and meals can be turned into a write off. I used Heather’s card.”

“Bah! Fine, keep your secrets. I’ll just run your financials when I get back to the office.”

Now it was your turn to laugh, “they call you a very Special Agent DiNozzo?”

“Why yes, yes they do.” He smiled, getting a little smug about it and you shook your head at him.

“Then explain to me how running my financials would let you in on whose card I’m using.” You asked, watching as he opened his mouth to give you some witty response but he couldn’t find one, gaping for a minute before he let out a defeated huff and you tugged him in the other direction, “now c’mon, I know you have a good eye for lingerie.”

“Now that, I will not deny.” He replied with a smile and you did roll your eyes as he followed you deeper into the shop.

You combed through practically every shelf in the place, trying to figure out what kind of styles you were going to settle on before Tony started to share his opinions. He reminded you how good blue looked on you when you picked up a soft pink set and suggested the lace florals over lace butterflies. You were narrowing it down between a handful of choices and he was quick to intervene when he noticed you were eliminating all the variation.

“Wait,” he cut in, swiping the one you were trying to put back on the shelf, “keep that one. Get rid of this one.” He plucked the peach set from your collection, tossing it into the return pile.

“It’s cute!” You protested.

“Exactly. Everything you’re keeping is ‘cute’, you’re playing it too safe and I know that’s not you. The lilac one is the nicest, little hint of lace for a bonus, so get it.” He started flicking through the rack you had your favourites on, “keep the teal one for the crystals, plus it matches that pair of heels you bought. The rest of this batch can go but add these to your buying list.” He picked up a lacy black and red set that was mostly see through and included a garter belt, handing it off to you, and a gorgeous deep green set. “That’ll look great with your skin,” his brow furrowed for a second as he examined it, “wait it’s not your size, you’re what?” His eyes were suddenly on you and you groaned,

“Stop staring at my tits.” You stated dryly as he turned around, grabbing another one of the green set from the shelf.

“Thirty four C, right?”

“I don’t know whether I should be impressed or grossed out that you were able to figure that out.”

“They don’t call me Very Special Agent DiNozzo for nothing.” He grinned and you rolled your eyes.

“I’m going to go try these on.” You scooped up the remaining sets, “not for your viewing pleasure! Occupy yourself.”

You weren’t surprised in the least when all of Tony’s recommendations were right and you were happy to be leaving with a variety of options. Returning from the dressing room you found him near the till looking through accessories and he shot you a cocky grin as you placed all of his choices down on the counter. You shuffled the shopping bags in your hand over to the other one,

“Can you hold this?” You asked, handing him your purse as you pulled Emily’s card from within it, passing it off to the cashier. Once the purchase was completed and the cashier was wrapping up the lingerie, she placed the card down on the counter and out of the corner of your eye you saw Tony making a move for it, managing to swipe it up before he could get to it.

“Hey!” You swatted the back of his head and he grimaced.

“Ow. That was worse than Gibbs.” He muttered.

“You fuck around and you’ll find out.” You returned but he was too busy on his phone to really pay attention.

You took your purse back from him, tossing it over your shoulder as you thanked the clerk and added the bag of lingerie to the others with your shopping and the two of you made your way back onto the street. You jumped when Tony’s fingers prodded at your side, digging into your ribs.

“C’mon… let me know something, please.” He batted his eyes at you, “I just helped you pick lingerie; I deserve to know something. Doctor? Artist? App developer? Congressman?”

“Nope, nope, nope and hard nope.” You replied with a huff and he groaned so you finally turned back to him, stalling in your steps, “what I will tell you, is that she most definitely outranks NCIS, so you can officially drop it.”

“Ohoho… a new lady friend…” It was his turn to slow in his tracks, eyes lingering in the window of the next shop, “you need any special accessories for that?”

“Tony you’re insane if you think I’m taking you into a sex toy store.”

“Meh, doesn’t really matter since you’ve already covered that step.” He grinned and your brow furrowed.

“What?”

“Swiped your phone and went through your emails.” With a laugh he tossed the device back to you as you let out a gasp, “peach flavoured lube, nice. Nipple clamps? Kinky, didn’t realize you were into that kinda pain.” That earned him a hard punch on the arm, “but that double sided dildo with vibration? Now that sounds like a real party.”

“Anothony DiNozzo!” You scolded and he let out a small whine of a scoff, gesturing toward the sex store.

“I’m the perfect person to give sex toy recommendations, c’mon.” He protested and you sighed.

“Tony. You are a straight man. What could you possibly known about sex toys for me to use with another woman?”

“One of those wand things, Hibachi?”

“That’s Japanese barbecue, but nice try.”

“The wands!”

“You’re going for Hitachi.”

“Close enough!” He exclaimed, gesturing with his hands, “the big one’s better but I think they sell smaller ones too, more portable.” He waggled his eyebrows at you and you sighed.

“Think? Tony, pull your head outta your ass. Any self respecting person with a clit already owns one of those.”

“Really?” He smirked at you and you did your best not to groan.

“I’ve got three, a mini pink, a mini green and the big one, which yes, is far superior. Can we go now?”

“Fine.” He groaned, feigning annoyance, “you dragging me to a nail appointment next?”

“No, I was gonna buy you a late lunch.”

“You were? Or is your mommy dearest gonna buy lunch.” He exaggerated the word, nearly moaning as he said it and you immediately grimaced.

“Please don’t ever do that again.”

“Yup, that one felt wrong coming out. My bad, that’s on me.”

**

Emily turned down dessert service, asking for the cheque instead as she gave the server a soft smile, picking up her cocktail once again as she turned back to you. In turn, you finished your drink, placing the glass down on the table as you stood, your hand coming to squeeze at Emily’s thigh softly as your lips brushed against her cheek.

“Give me a five minute head start, I’ve got a surprise for you.” You scooped up your phone, shooting Emily a wink as you sauntered away from the table in the direction of the elevator.

Her eyes followed you through the entrance of the lounge, narrowing in on your ass as you pushed the elevator button and the sparks began to fly through her body. It hadn’t been a particularly long week, but it was very safe to say that you had been on her mind more often than not. Images of your naked body strewn across the bed floating into her brain, making her cheeks flush while she was torturously bored with paperwork. A too long tedious conference call lead to her zoning out, daydreaming all the things she wanted to do to you, the noises you made echoing through her mind. It was almost a given that night that she had a rather self soothing shower when she got home, pulling her laptop out when she finally crawled into bed to take a look at what fun things she could buy to occupy your time with in the future weekends.

Emily settled the bill, slowly draining the rest of her cocktail until she was certain she’d given you enough time to do whatever it was you had planned before she finally left the restaurant. The key card beeped against the lock and she stepped inside the suite, letting the door swing shut behind her before she made sure it was locked. She stepped out of her heels, dropping her purse on the side table in the entry way before rounding the bed into the suite, catching a glimpse of you laid out on the bed and her lips twitched up into a grin.

“Well that certainly is a welcome sight.”

“Yeah?” You asked, sitting up and shifting onto your knees, “you see something you like?”

“I see plenty I like.” She walked up to the foot of the bed as you crawled on your knees to greet her, your hands settling on her hips as one of hers curled around the back of your neck, pulling your lips to hers for a kiss.

Her tongue easily slipped into your mouth when you let out a satisfied groan, both of you relaxing into the kiss, lips dancing with grace against each other. Her hand slipped into your hair, pulling out the pins to let it fall loose around your shoulders, pulling at it lightly. When her teeth scraped against your lip you couldn’t help but moan, your hands drifting up her body as you slowly began to unbutton her shirt. She broke the kiss to help you untuck the fabric from her pants, letting it drop to the floor behind her before her fingers began to trace the lines of the teal lingerie set, floating over the gems decorating your chest.

“You like the crystals?�� You asked, small grin on your lips and she nodded.

“They’re gorgeous.”

“They’re Swarovski.” You replied with a near smirk and she let out a huff of a laugh.

“You really went all in, hey?”

“Just wanted to make sure I looked nice and pretty for you.” You shrugged coyly and she chuckled, giving you a once over.

“Well you do.” She leant down, kissing you gently before her hands nudged at your shoulders, “you’re not the only one who brought something fun, lie back princess.”

“I noticed.” You replied, a gleam in your eye as you dropped into the pillows, an arm extending to the nightstand where you picked up a silk tie, “multifaceted, curious as to what your intentions are.”

“First…” Emily rounded the side of the bed, “I want to see what’s under that gorgeous bra.” She nodded at you and you sat up, hands flying behind you to unclip it, gently tossing it to the side, “good girl.” She plucked the fabric from your hands, picking up a longer one from the nightstand before kneeling on the bed. “Give me your hands.” She instructed and you held your hands out for her, wrists gently pressed together as she began to wind the fabric around them, “is this okay?”

“Absolutely.” You replied, looking up at her with darkening eyes as she tightened the silk.

“Do you have a word?”

“I’m fond of peach.”

“Perfect.” With a wicked grin she placed a gentle kiss on your wrist before guiding you to lie back with your arms over your head and she looped the shorter piece through your bonds, securing the other end to the golden bar of the headboard. “No surprises there.” She purred as she slid off the bed, letting out a satisfied hum as her eyes dragged over your body.

“Hm?” You raised a brow, watching as she moved back to a spare chair.

“Just how pretty you look tied up like that.” Emily tossed a grin over her shoulder, “but you are going to need to roll over for the second part of your treat.”

You nearly let out a whine when her hands came to her belt buckle, eager to be able to see both what was coming next and what she had under her clothes. Instead of risking it you decided to behave, rolling onto your stomach, your arms stretching over your head as you twisted it to the side, just barely able to see Emily under your arm. She had busied herself with getting rid of her clothing, a neat pile forming on the small bench next to her bag as she pulled out the strap, swiftly stepping into it and securing it around her hips. Your mouth was practically watering already and then she reached into her bag again, pulling out a crop with a cute little heart on the end and you had to hold back a moan.

Emily could see the way your body tensed, how your hips ground down into the bed as she reapproached it and a dark chuckle escaped her lips. Kneeling on the bed behind you her hand grasped your ankle, spreading your legs further apart and you did your best to arch your back, presenting yourself to her.

“Such obedience.” She murmured, letting the crop lightly trace up your inseam as you let out an airy breath.

Emily slowly trailed the crop up and down your legs, just the slightest hint of touch that she knew you were absolutely begging for in your head. She could see the way your body twitched whenever it got close to the heat between your legs and a wicked grin took over her lips. The crop finally came up over the swell of your ass, softly circling and tracing patterns on your skin and you finally let out a whine. Since this was the first time you’d actually made a louder noise, Emily figured this was the time to both give in and start to really tantalize you now. She raised the crop, swatting it down onto your ass and you let out a low moan.

“You like that?”

“Mmhmm.” You eagerly nodded into the pillows and the crop trailed across to the other cheek, repeating the circles before coming down harder on that side and your breath caught in your throat.

“Ohh…” Your fingers interlaced, squeezing tightly, “harder, please.”

“My little princess likes it rough.” Emily husked from behind you, “somehow I’m not that surprised.”

The crop came down on the same spot harder than the first before she flicked it over your other cheek, swatting just as hard, watching the way your body reacted, jolting at the touch before grinding your cunt down onto the bed. She brought the head of the crop between your legs, pushing the fabric of your panties into your pussy, rubbing the leather up and down your folds as you moaned, arching into the touch.

“Fuuckk…”

Emily chuckled darkly, bringing the crop up before hitting your ass with more force, smirking at the louder moans leaving your lips, the way you were pulling against your bonds, wishing your hands were free. The sounds of the spanks echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls as your moans grew louder and longer, every time the crop was brought down onto your body it grew from a tingle to a pleasurable burn. Emily continued to trail the leather across your skin, occasionally her hand gently rubbing across the spot to sooth the burn, little praises and coos leaving her lips. The tingles each time she spanked you began to build, growing together with each hit of the crop until there was a fire building right under your skin, whimpers and whines leaving your lips as you buried your face into the pillows. Every swat of the crop made your entire body shiver and you were nearly about to start begging for more when she moved it back between your legs.

“You really like this, hmm?” She asked, pressing it against your cunt again, “making such a big wet spot on these nice panties.” She rubbed it harder against you, watching the way your wetness continued to soak the fabric, “you know, I’d take them off and stuff them in your mouth if you didn’t make such pretty noises…”

You groaned softly, your hips rocking back toward the touch, a little whimper leaving your throat when the crop nearly rubbed against your clit. Emily hummed softly, lifting the crop up before bringing it back down, this time onto your pussy and you couldn’t help the noise that escaped you.

“Oh fuucck…” Your head buried deeper into the pillows, your eyes scrunching shut as you felt your pussy fluttering around nothing, your clit nearly pulsing already, juices smearing across your underwear.

Emily’s hands grasped at your hips, flipping you onto your back watching as your legs instinctively fell open for her to see the growing wet spot on your panties. She brought the crop back to your cunt, rubbing it harder against you as you started to whine, resulting in another swat that brought a gasp from your lips.

“You like this even more, don’t you princess?” She asked with a grin and you nodded, “you want your pussy spanked too?” Spank. “Think you can come from just this?” Spank.

“Fuck.” You groaned, “more, please.”

“Always such nice manners.” She praised, her fingers slipping into the waistband of your thong, tugging the fabric down your legs and tossing it behind her. Her hands soothed up your legs, spreading them even further apart from each other as her thumbs dared to brush the edges of your cunt. “Such a pretty pussy. God you’re just fucking drenched already.”

Emily picked the crop back up, rubbing it through your slick folds, pressing harder as she brought it to your clit.

“Please.” You whimpered and she chuckled softly.

The first hit was on the gentle side, her eyes tracing up your naked body, watching your face for any sign of discomfort but all she found was a look of sheer pleasure. Your eyes fluttering shut, mouth falling open as breathy moans escaped them, it was all she needed to bring the crop down even harder the next time.

“Fuck.” Your body twitched off the bed, cunt pulsing as more juices dribbled out of it.

“That’s it princess.” Spank. “You’re doing so good for me.” Spank.

“Oh god…” Your hands clutched at the silk ties as your body shivered, pleasure building higher and higher with each time the crop hit your cunt.

“I know you’re close.” Spank. “Just a few more.” Spank. “Pussy’s so wet.” Spank. “Let go for me.” Spank.

“Fuck!” You cried out, your back arching off the bed, pulling against the restraints as your orgasm shot through you, pussy pulsating around nothing as your juices dripped onto the bedspread.

“That’s it.” Emily cooed, the crop gently rubbing against your cunt, smearing your wetness all around it and your thighs. “So pretty when you come for me.”

“Please…” you whimpered, “need you.”

“You want more?” She asked, gently spanking your pussy again and you whined.

“No, please! Need your cock.” You were absolutely begging, pussy fluttering, feeling so entirely empty. Despite the powerful orgasm you needed to be filled, stretched around Emily to finally feel completely satisfied.

“So needy tonight.” Emily teased, dropping the crop to the side as she climbed over you, running the tip of the toy through your folds, “this what you want?”

“Mmhmm.” You nodded furiously, “please.”

“Alright.”

Emily didn’t hesitate, knowing you were absolutely drenched she sunk her cock fully into you until her hips met yours and you let out a very satisfied moan. She pulled back just enough to sneak her hand between your bodies, turning on the vibration on the base of the toy, just against her clit and a breathy sigh escaped her lips. She rolled her hips, pulling out until just the tip was left inside you and set a steady pace, fucking you thoroughly. Each thrust of her hips had your body twitching up off the bed, pulling against your restraints as you ached to touch her, pleasure shooting through your limbs.

“Fuck.” You groaned, “feels so good.”

Each thrust of her cock the head brushed right over your g-spot, pulling louder moans from you each time as your pussy began to clench down around her. You could feel your juices smearing across both of your bodies as she fucked deeper into you, picking up the pace as she knew you were getting close again.

“Are you going to come again for me angel?” She cooed, her hands gliding up your body to toy with your nipples, pinching them and rolling them in time with her thrusts.

“S-s’close.” You moaned, your hips rocking up off the bed to meet hers with each thrust.

Your hands tugged against the silk ties again, gasping when Emily’s lips wrapped around one of your nipples, sucking it into her mouth for her tongue to flick patterns across it. The double, nearly triple sensation if you counted the vibrations hitting your clit each time your bodies met was nearly too much, your pussy making almost more noise than the ones coming from your mouth. All you could do was whimper and whine, your head too fuzzy to get actual words to come out, the coil inside you got tighter and tighter until Emily’s teeth sunk into your chest and it burst through you.

“Fuck!”

Your body trembled, the tingles shooting all the way from the tips of your fingers to the tips of your toes as Emily continued to fuck you. Her eyes fluttering shut as she let out a low swear, now focused on chasing her own release. She sunk fully into you, pressing the vibrating part of the toy directly against her clit and it gave you the opportunity to roll your hips against hers, grinding the base harder onto her. Your teeth sunk into your lower lip as your eyes scrunched shut, another orgasm bursting through you from the sensation and Emily let out a soft cry.

“Oh god.” Her hand slipped between your bodies, switching the vibrations off before she sat up.

Emily panted slightly, attempting to catch her breath as she reached out, swiftly undoing the ties and your arms were finally free to drop to the bed. You let out a soft groan, flexing your hands before Emily caught them in hers, examining your wrists to make sure you hadn’t pulled too hard and hurt yourself. Once satisfied that you hadn’t she let them drop and shifted on her knees, slipping out of you and watching your juices dribble onto the bed.

“Mmm…” you sighed, your lips curving up into a grin.

“What?” She asked with a raised brow.

“That was hot.” You replied, “kinda wish you could come inside me though.”

“Well…” she leant over you, kissing you before nipping at your lower lip, “I’m sure that can be arranged for next time.”

_____________

@mickey-gomez @momlifebehard @daddy-heather-dunbar @maybe-a-humanbean @rustyzebra @leftoverenvy @kades95 @dextur @supercriminalbean @emilyprentisssluvr @lex13cm @zizzlekwum @emobabeyy @riveramorylunar @scorpsik @onmykneesformarvel @inlovewithemilyprentiss @regalmilfs4me @ara-a-bird @five-bi-five-mind @inlovewithmiddleagewomen @hotchs-bitch @ollysmulti @kmc1989 @irishavengersassemble @hopedoesntknow @venromanova @waitaminuteashh @noahrex @imlike-so-gaydude @wittygutsy @cx-emerald-cx @momily @nilaues @borinxnovak @soverign @v3nusxsky @blackbird-brewster @mccdreamys-writes @l4yne @obsessedwjill @supercorpstan97 @asolitaryrose3 @honeyycatt @trauma-factory @lisqueen @mrs-prentiss @whitewinewithice @d33pd3sires-blog

[20doozers]

★Bonfire★

TW: fluff, teasing, some cuddling, gn!reader (mostly), overall just bill fluff, nicknames like ‘baby’ and ‘Schatz’, bitte/please Schatz/darling

“You’re so weird bill.” You chuckled softly, teasing bill for wanting his s’more’s to not have chocolate on it. He rolled his eyes in return, resting his head on your shoulder as you two sat there. It was a late night in the summer and your family had decided to have a bonfire/barbeque, so you brought bill. There was alcohol, s’more’s, some hotdogs, etc. it was nice, a small summertime gathering with family and friends and a few other people you and bill didn’t know.

“I just don’t like chocolate, I think it ruins it.” Bill huffed as he leaned against you, pouting as you teased him.

You slid an arm around bill, your hand resting on his slim and pale waist. He had chose to wear a cropped tanktop and a pair of black sweatpants, not wasting too much effort since it was summer and makeup would melt off anyway. He loved little gatherings like this, it was always fun to spend quality time with you and your family and meet people. Your family liked him too, finding his style unique, your grandparents and older family members spoiling him with random sums of money and heaps of compliments, even getting plant based things so bill could enjoy the food too since he was vegetarian. Bill always felt so loved and special.

Your hand rested on his waist, gently rubbing the skin there as bill leaned against you. The fire was warm and crackling, the orange glow illuminating the area. It was almost dark, the sun slowly falling below the horizon as darkness settled onto the yard. You sighed as you looked at bill, kissing the top of his head and giving his waist a reassuring squeeze as he took a bite of his s’more, the sticky marshmallow sticking to his lips as he chewed which caused you to chuckle. He was so cute, the orange glow making him look oh so adorable to you as he ate his s’mores.

Yet bill soon grew tired, after all, helping tend to a fire and helping out with the food and such was hard work. So bill eventually looked up at you, noticing how focused you were on the fire.

“Y/n…” bill murmured quietly, wanting your attention.

“Yes, Schatz?” You questioned softly, raising an eyebrow as you looked at the sleepy boy, his attitude a stark contrast of his sassy, silly self earlier.

“Can we go to bed bitte..?” Bill asked quietly, earning a small chuckle from you as you gently kissed his forehead.

“Of course..”

You two made your way inside, going straight towards your room since bill was so tired. He changed into pajamas and so did you, before crawling into bed with you.

He sighed as he climbed on top of you and basically collapsed on your chest with a small huff which caused you to wrap your arms around him and pulled the blankets over the two of you. You two laid there tangled in eachothers limbs, one of your arms holding him while you gently carded your fingers through his hair. You let him fall asleep, knowing the poor boy was exhausted.

“Sleep well baby..” You whispered, gently pressing a kiss to his head. You only received a sleepy snore in response, causing you to chuckle as you continued to gently play with his hair. You gently braided and unbraided his hair, your fingers gently brushing through his soft ravenette locks, softly combing the knots out with your fingers. He was so adorable, his pajamas which consisted of an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants, his pale skin looking oh so fitting in comparison to his more gothic style.

He was yours to marvel at, and you loved the boy dearly.. maybe even more than you loved bonfires.

I hate this fic wtf. Anyway my weekly fic is done. Im sorry about it being so short but im toughing out a writers block and just overall a bit busy with family and mental health or whatever. Im trying to write as much I can but its kind of hard to. Love you guys!

Tags: @itsmealaiah @goreishgorinthgoreofshits @cosmicck @tomssexdoll @cherry-rawr @madzandmore @billskeis @kaulitzswhxre (let me know if you wanna be on my taglist!)

[gakusbearemoji]

Dive into You

wrng: cringe! fluff, idc I put my soul into it so it’s good , reader is turning 20

You have always been a little bit spoiled. Your father paid your tuition, being a coach at your school, your mother still did your meal planning and cooked for you while paying for groceries. You just had to attend classes and at least graduate. Not too hard, right? Sadly, there were a few more terms than that. Your mother didn’t care what you did, but your father cared very much. So much so, that he scares off every guy who has ever tried to date you. Because of this, you have been single your whole life. Since you were turning twenty in a month, you wanted things to change before your age did.

You were going to get a boyfriend. You had about twenty days to do so. Seems hard, but putting your best foot forward you worked to change. You started caring about your style, wearing clothes that match aesthetically and having moisturized skin. You even noticed in yourself that it had made a difference. You liked this version of yourself better, so you kept onto the routine.

And it seemed to have worked, because when you walked into the library, a boy with frizzy, dark brown hair stopped you. “Uhm, excuse me ma’am? Could you help me with something?” He spoke softly, almost entrancing you to listen deeper and make sure you knew what he was saying. “Yeah, what do you need help with?” You questioned, the boy staring at his feet. “I know you’re in my creative writing class, can you help me with our projects? I just don’t understand the prompt.”

You cracked the boy a soft smile, leading him to a table in the library. “Of course! Here, first let’s see which one you’ve picked.” The boy progressively opened up to you, smiling and laughing at your jokes. “If you just follow my specifics, you should easily get an A plus.” You put your hand on his shoulder, and you noticed how the tips of his ears turned red. “T-thank you. My name is, um, Anton.” He spoke, making you smile even wider. “My name is Y/N, it’s been very nice to meet you. If you ever need help again, just ask.”

You walked away, leaving the boy staring at where you were sitting before. He was missing you as quickly as he met you.

-

“Let’s go, hurry!” Your father shouted, blowing his whistle from around his neck. You had finished your work yesterday, so you decided to sit in during your father’s swim practice. “Have you boys ever heard of a stroke? Cause instead of doing one, you're about to give me one!” He screamed, everyone in the pool climbing out.

Your eyes went wide as you saw probably the best sight of your life. Anton climbed out of the pool, hair wet and clinging to his forehead, with tight swimming shorts on. “ANTON! Get over here.” Your father shouted, Anton dragging his body slowly towards him. “Yes, Coach?” He muttered, looking up through his soaked bangs. “Talk to me like a man! Look me in the eyes and promise me you’ll fix this before regionals.”

“I..I promise.” He spoke, your father rolling his eyes. “Like. A. Man.” You had enough of watching your father verbally abuse that sweet boy, so you went up to him. “Dad, leave him alone! He’s trying his best.” You held onto Anton’s arm, batting your eyelashes. “You’re so mean.” You pouted, Anton’s face burning once again. Coach narrowed his eyes at Anton, almost baring his teeth at him. “Ten backwards, Lee.” He shouted, You let go of Anton as he walked away. “Thank you.” He mouthed to you, making you smile in return.

-

“Y/n! Hey wait.” He shouted, making you turn around while you were walking to the canteen. “I just wanted to thank you for helping me out earlier. I- I mean, Coach did give me a lot of back talk about it but I was able to get him to leave me alone.” He smiled at you, making you giggle. “My dad is like that. You just have to have tough skin. Anyways, want to have lunch with me today?”

Anton followed you to your mat, sitting under a random oak tree to enjoy your meal your mother made for you as always. Anton was eating a bag of chips from a nearby vending machine, his legs crossed as he admired the scenery. “So, you seem to like swimming. Never took you as the type. I thought you’d be a bookworm.” You stared at the water fountain in the field, admiring its flow. “Yeah, I’ve always found it easy to swim. The water is kind of my safe space.” Anton stared into your eyes, admiring their glow and how it reminded him of a beam of sun hitting the water, the reflection as warm as your presence.

You turned to look at him, making him redirect his gaze to the roots of the tree. “I’ve got to admit, you're starting to grow on me, Anton. I think we should hang out more.” You suggested, making Anton smile widely.

-

He gave you that same wide smile as he entered your dorm, large as ever, though your roommate was home. “Hi, Sullyoon. Me and Anton are just going to be in my room, so we’ll be out of your hair.” You rushed into your bedroom, slamming your body on your bed. “Ugh, it’s so comfortable here. Do you want to watch a movie? Here, you pick.” You tossed the remote to Anton, crawling under your sheets. “Just, nothing cheesy.”

The movie ended, and you ended up with your face against his chest. Suddenly, he got up to take a phone call. You sat down, facing your floor and waving your feet. You heard shushed talking, “Yeah ... .no just give me time. I'm doing it right now, so be ready for it, ok?” Anton giggled, saying bye and hanging up the phone. He came back into the room, and your mind started to race.

Was this all a prank? Did he know you were desperate for love and was using you to prove a point? You started to get a sick feeling in your gut. “Uh, I think you should leave, Anton.” You whispered, still staring at your feet. “Oh, uhm, yeah. Of course, sorry if I overstayed my welcome or anything. I’ll see you tomorrow?” He awkwardly gathered his things, standing at your door awaiting an answer. But you didn’t say anything.

-

The next day, you completely avoided Anton. You didn’t let him walk you to class in the morning, you didn’t eat with him during lunch. Worst of all for him, you never showed up to his swim practice. Because of this, his performance was off. His times were leaps behind, and his dives were uncoordinated. He couldn’t stop thinking about what he could’ve possibly done.

His coach blew the whistle to insinuate practice was done, everyone leaving the pool. “Anton! What is up with you? You can’t fall behind this close to regionals.”

“I’m sorry, Coach. I’ll do ten.” He sadly mumbled, inhaling deeply before turning around to get back into the water. “Wait.” He turned back around, an evident frown on his face. “You don’t have to do anything extra. I understand. Just take a rest day, okay?” Anton smiled with his eyes, drifting to the locker room.

-

After Anton was finished changing, his coach called him into his office. “Yes, sir?” He whispered, sitting down into the chair. “I give you my blessing.” He spoke sternly. Anton sat there in silence, processing his words. “To date my daughter. But god forbid you try anything.” Anton sighed, looking into his coach's eyes. “Thank you sir.”

-

You were wrapped up in your sheets, messy hair and tears rolling down your face. You really had a magic ability of pushing everyone who cares about you away over the dumbest things. You wanted to call Anton, to say sorry. To tell him it was wrong to avoid him and you were worried over nothing. But you weren’t even sure he would answer.

Sullyoon knocked on your door, making you groan. “What is it?” “A boy is here? He says his name is Anton.” Your eyes blew wide, jumping out of your bed. You put a hoodie on, going to open the front door. Anton stood there, confidently staring into your eyes. “Y/n, I just need to say I’m sorry. Whatever I did to deserve this, I am so sorry. These are for you.” He handed you a bouquet of bellflowers, with a note attached.

“Let me take you out tomorrow, to you know, make up for my mistakes?” He suggested, smiling carefully. You pulled him by the collar into your apartment, pressing your soft lips against his warm ones. “I think I’d like that a lot.”

<3

[synergysilhouette]

Disney's revival era: an Alternate Timeline

A bit of a weird idea; I wanted to write an alternate universe where the Disney revival era made different choices with their films, and whether or not it paid off for them. I'm starting with "The Princess and the Frog" since I consider it the start of the era more than "Bolt."

(Edit: I've since made posts about remaking the renaissance and post-renaissance eras, but since those came out before the revival era, they don't exist in the same AU. Maybe I'll tweak this post so they do.)

The Princess and the Frog--In this timeline, Disney catches onto the "If we put 'princess' in the title, it'll reduce our box office" thing faster and changes the title to "Frogs." This outrages the black community, who also criticizes Disney for making the two leads frogs for most of the film. This results in a story overhaul, with the story being renamed "Cursed," and Tiana no longer turns into a frog when kissing Naveen, but she does gain the ability to speak to animals. This version of the film doesn't reveal his identity until the end, with Naveen going by Lawrence and the human "Naveen" we see is actually Lawrence working with Dr. Facilier to scam Lottie as well as woo Tiana to give them back Naveen. Naveen himself cannot discuss the curse, and must promise to help Tiana when he becomes human again by kissing a princess. Naveen's treatment as a frog also draws parallels to the treatment of people of color at the time, since Naveen is depowered here.The film ends up making about $400 million and still getting Disney out of their creative slump, as well as Ne-Yo's "Never Knew I Needed" being an actual song in the film (because it's so good and so underrated). "Tiana" becomes a Disney+ series that helps to promote the platform when it first debuts. It also got a Broadway adaptation in 2013, with Anika Noni Rose reprising her role when it debuted.

Tangled--In this timeline, Glen Keane's seminar on the benefits of 2D and 3D tilts favor in 2D's way, and he persuades Disney executives David Stainton and Dick Cook to make it by making the art style fuller akin to the Rococo paintings the film was inspired by (check out Lisa Keane's concept art for it). Kristen Chenoweth is kept on as Rapunzel, making some discourse on the internet later on when it was revealed Idina Menzel also auditioned for the role. The movie also finalizes Bastion instead of making Flynn Rider, due to concern that he'd be too similar to Naveen, and Beneditch Cumberbatch is cast as him (apparently he was supposed to be British, so I kinda jumped on this opportunity). "You are my Forever" and it's reprise are never cut here, and the movie also utilizes the darker original concept (no idea what it was; I heard about it and it sounds intriguing), with fans and critics likening it to "Mulan," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and "Pocahontas" for it's tone. The film makes about the same amount of money the original did, and makes Disney reconsider retiring 2D. The success inspires a Broadway production MUCH earlier, which makes many report that it's at home with Disney's renaissance adaptations on Broadway (with Mandy Moore making her stage debut as Rapunzel), and a TV series (with tighter writing) on Disney+ in 2019, which also helps bring in subscribers with "Tiana."

Winnie the Pooh--I wouldn't change much, other than the fact that it got promoted more and made about $200 or $300 million at the box office, prompting Disney to make "Goodbye Christopher Robin" a bit earlier.

Wreck It Ralph--Similar to "Tangled," WIR goes through the "2D or 3D" discussion, with 2D winning out in order to give it a retro vibe and appeal to a wider audience, taking inspiration from 90s video games and TV series. Critical response likens it to Pixar, and praises Disney for a particularly successful original film, making Disney open to more original stories in the future.

Frozen--Disney can't hold back the 3D desire any longer, and believes that the winter atmosphere makes "Frozen" the ideal film to showcase it. The Norwegian influence is more obvious and accurate here (versus a more vague Scandinavian influence like in the OG timeline) and they keep Elsa and Anna as sisters while still making Elsa the villain, though redeeming her at the end by using the mirror from the original fairy tale to explain her villainy. Here, Anna accidentally ruins Elsa's coronation (as originally stated in the wiki during the film's development), and when Elsa flees, she returns, more powerful than ever, to ruin Anna's coronation, making an ice palace out of the Kingdom of Arendelle and trapping Anna, just as Elsa felt trapped. Elsa also has two looks: her blue skin and dark hair when she uses her powers, and white skin/hair when she doesn't, though by the end, it's shown that the hair/skin color can mix and match (black hair with white skin and blue skin with white hair being fan-favorites, I'm sure). Hans isn't a twist villain, and Kristoff's design draws comparisons to Bastion, and the producers lean into the theory that they're long-lost brothers. Hans has much less brothers, instead it just being five, and his journey in the story is essentially the opposite of Anna's, where he wants to be distant from his family. By the end, Elsa does let Anna keep the throne--and the citizens understandably agree. The film still becomes the phenomenon it did IRL, and it POSSIBLY leads to Disney discussing a sequel much sooner.

Big Hero 6--The film has some significant changes: Fred and Wasabi are of partial Japanese heritage, (with the film attracting attention for having a predominately Asian cast, and Honey Lemon might have some Chinese ancestry mixed with her Latin roots; plus "My Hero Academia" debuting the same year in Japan helps boost both in popularity), Gogo is a convicted felon on parole to mirror her comic counterpart, head of story Paul Briggs and co-writer Robert L. Baird reading the entire run of the series, and inspiration is taken from X-Men and Teen Titans for the show, with Wasabi, Fred, and Gogo being superpowered individuals (Fred's draconic powers, Wasasbi's qi manipulation, Gogo's superspeed) while Hiro and Honey Lemon are human nerds. Yokai is also more present, with the plot twist of his identity being revealed earlier. It's also noted that Yokai took inspiration from Amon from season 1 of "The Legend of Korra," which has earned both praise and criticism for what some consider copycating. Baymax is Hiro's creation like in the comics, and Tadashi dies a little later in the film for more dramatic effect (the longer you know someone, the more it hurts). It's production goes smoothly, and it's moved up to a Spring release to better coincide with "Frozen" and it's success with it's message of sisterly love. The directors also advocate for it to be 2D, but Disney making $1 billion with "Frozen" makes them hesitant to do so, so they reach a compromise, making the film a hybrid style (somehow developing the tech earlier). This art style, combined with the superhero craze and positive reviews, pushes the film to make $1 billion, or something close to it.

Zootopia--The decision to make the film about a dystopian future where predators are oppressed ends up being the final cut. The film ends up being a bigger sleeper hit than the OG version, since it received controversy in certain countries for the USA making what was perceived to be a propaganda film about human rights and a jab at those specific nations. Of course, the controversy only heightens interest in the film, though Disney tries to smooth this over by clarifying that it wasn't meant to be a propaganda film, though some criticize them for not speaking up for oppressed people in said countries. The 3D art style is kept the same.

Moana--This version makes a few changes: "Moana" takes place in a specific land, (though I personally haven't decided if it's set in Samoa or Tahiti), Moana is a grown adult by this point and has a couple brothers, but not as many as in the concept art, and Maui isn't portrayed as obese and is more athletic, with Dwayne Johnson and Jason Mamoa's figures being a primary inspiration. Moana also practices wayfinding and navigating the seas under Tala's supervision before she goes to find Maui. Moana also isn't as headstrong about seafaring; she still wants to do it, but her mother tells her the story of her father much earlier in order to quell her, and her own accident makes her more hesitant. Maui also isn't a catalyst for all the bad events of the film; Te Fiti's heart is instead taken by selfish seafarers, with the overall message of the film mirroring a love for nature and others. There is also a bit of flirting between Moana and Maui, but the crew wants Moana to focus on her self-finding journey (plus Auli'i is still 14 while Dwayne is 44, so they wanted to avoid controversy), so nothing is concrete. Originally it had the "2D or 3D" crisis, but reached a reverse-"Tangled" situation, now being made as predominantly 3D with 2D watercolor elements. Dinah Jane (who auditioned for Moana IRL) sings the commercial version of "How Far I'll Go" instead of Alessia Cara. It meets the same financial success, with some saying that Moana took all the positive qualities of Ariel and Pocahontas without being held back by her predecessors' flaws. The film also gets a Broadway adaptation, being seen as a standout for it's diversity on the stage, as well as postponing news of a remake and resulting in the sequel being greenlit earlier rather than a show being considered in the interim.

Ralph Breaks the Internet--No major notes, but the references do heighten the Disney princess films and ignite conversations about whether or not critics have treated them unfairly. The film was also argued to be hybrid or 3D animation, but the concern of disconnect made them keep it 2D. It makes about the same in box office.

Frozen II--POSSIBLY released earlier if Disney didn't wait 3 years to greenlight a sequel (I'd put it at 2017 if they decided IMMEDIATELY to make a sequel), but Disney didn't make the mistake of using super young kids for test audiences, and production is MUCH smoother. As such, the more serious aspects of the film are kept, and Hans joins the gang here. The Northuldra are more characters than plot devices, and are diverse in terms of phenotype and genotypes; originally Disney had them mirror Indigenous Americans, but in my version, their Sami influence made some members of the tribe also have European features. Queen Iduna comes from these European members (I feel like that's easier to believe than her coming from the members who appear more Native American), and Elsa doesn't stop living in Arendelle, traveling instead. Agnar and Iduna get their flashbacks to show their relationship, as well as reducing Agnar's criticism as a terrible father. Plus there are FOUR songs marketed: "Lost in the Woods" is made more theatrical than rock-influenced (not that I hated it; it just wasn't right for this film), while edited versions of "Show Yourself" and "The Next Right Thing" (ie an Anna and Elsa duet of "Show Yourself" and lyrics that suggest Anna has been separated from the group in TNRT rather than suggesting the loss of certain characters) are exhibited to be the award contenders. Of course, "Into the Unknown" is still an exec favorite, with "Show Yourself" being a last-minute submission to awards. The film earns significant praise and is still a phenomenon, albeit less of an underrated one. The success of this film leads to the Broadway show being retooled in order to include some elements of the plot and the Northuldra, as well as making about $1.5 billion at the box office thanks to more positive reviews than the OG timeline "Frozen 2" and COVID not being a factor if it was released in 2017.

Raya and the Last Dragon--Right off the bat, the film again goes through the "2D or 3D" question, with 2D winning out, particularly thanks to Scott Watanabe's concept art (not shown here; this is Ryan Lang's). Rather than an amalgamation of Southeast Asia, Kumandra is a land made of five lands inspired by distinct cultures. Raya is the daughter of an emperor influenced by the Vietnamese empire, and the guardian of the dragon gem. Raya originally seeks to restore her land and the others as one nation of unity when the gem is broken and stolen, but recognizes the new nations as independent after realizing that her land (nicknamed "Heart" mockingly by the other regions) may have been too oblivious to the suffering of other people. This film is a musical, and while Kelly Marie Tran still plays Raya's speaking voice, the film takes inspiration from "Tarzan" and "The Lion King: The Gift" by having songs placed over the scenes rather than the characters singing themselves, representing their thoughts. Sisu also comes off a lot more serious and wise, being a mother-like figure to Raya rather than a sister. The voice cast better reflects the SEA culture, and a tighter world/message allows for better word of mouth--plus it's amazing music makes it an instant classic. The diversity and positive reception actually puts it's box office at similar figures to "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train."

Encanto--Mostly the same, except tighter in story. Antonio, Isabella and Luisa spend more time with Mirabel throughout the film to emphasize the family bonds (rather than just Mirabel with Alma and rushing through her relationships with everyone else), and we see more insight into Pepa and Julieta's dynamic. The film makes a bit more money given that it's a phenomenon, but COVID keeps it from doing anything too record-breaking, sadly. "Raya" and "Encanto" being released in the same year to massive success is marked as a legendary year for diversity in Hollywood. It still remains a 3D film.

Strange World--Overhaul, overhaul, overhaul. The story and visuals are more ambitious, and is more science-fantasy than sci-fi. Firstly, the film goes for the hybrid style of animation, since it fits sci-fi genre (or sci-fan in this take) so well, and Ethan is older and is almost the main character instead of his dad (I wanted to make him the main character, but a Disney protagonist in their 40s is pretty rare). The main cast are humanoid aliens that take influence from comic books and anime, mainly the Kree, Tamaraneans, and the Saiyans, with the main theme being rejuvenation and family, essentially a cross between "Moana" "Atlantis," and "Encanto," (with a touch of Fox's "Avatar") with Avalonia's culture being influenced from lesser-known European and Afro-Asiatic cultures. The Clade family works as mercenaries hired by a mysterious benefactor to destroy a rebel group that seeks to threaten Avalonia--but when the truth comes out, they may find themselves rogues in order to save their world. Disney actually promotes this movie like CRAZY due to COVID, and it makes around $300 million, with praise going for it's plot being unique among Disney films. Disney's sequel fever is a bit altered due to this (ie Zootopia 2 being released in spring of 2025 instead of fall, mirroring the first film's release date).

Wish--Disney utilizes MANY original concepts, such as human Star (who's the son of Magnifico and Amaya here), while Amaya is the evil queen from the get-go, and Magnifico struggles between good and evil due to his trauma. Asha's friend group is more prominent, and she's a much more shy and reserved protagonist. Asha's design is influenced by the Mowry sisters, who both have their own past with Disney. Disney uses the Anderson-Lopez team for the music since they already were working on a Spain-inspired film for Disney (not sure if Julia is entirely to blame for the music, though, and should their use in "Wish" affect their work with the "Frozen" franchise? Julia still sings the end credits song, though). The filmmakers EXTENSIVELY watch classic and modern Disney films, as well as "Enchanted" (because duh), and try to use abandoned concepts from other Disney films to use for "Wish." They opt to make the film 2D with 3D elements (ie magic and effects) to acknowledge Disney's history. The film achieves over $600 in box office, and Asha is inducted into the Disney princess line, as well as the movie earning praise for it's depth and tackling of complex themes such as wishes, dreams, and loss, including how what you want and what you need aren't synonymous. Currently undergoing a stage adaptation, something Disney wanted to keep under wraps but was eager to announce to carry over the 100 years celebration.

I know this is a bit of an odd post, and I'm sure others would have more creative ideas on an alternate timeline, but I wanted to utilize what we had. Perhaps I'll come back and edit this to include scrapped Disney movies.

[quibbs126]

Oh yeah, I made this earlier

It was spurred on by that ask I answered earlier, and I finally got around to making that Crème Brûlée redesign

I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think she turned out quite the way I wanted to. I feel like maybe she looks too much like the original and that I didn’t get to put in the piano motifs, and so she still looks kind of plain

I think one reason may have been because of my own drawing style, and how I draw small but with thick brushes, which made designing the top a bit difficult. But it isn’t all bad, and people on Twitter seemed to like it too, so I guess it might not be as bad as I thought

Now I guess I should talk about the redesign

So obviously first, gender change. This was done because I just thought that a female design, particularly a skirt or dress, would lend itself better to having some piano motifs

I think in the original conception, her skirt was going to have piano keys, but I forgot about that when drawing this. However her skirt is supposed to somewhat resemble the cups that crème brûlée is served in, at least in the pattern

Her hair I wanted to keep straight as another possible piano thing with the rectangular keys, as well as the fact that the dessert has that brittle burnt layer. I think she was originally going to have bangs, but the design fell through and so I eventually decided to copy the original’s front hair, though I wanted it to look more symmetrical. Crème Brûlée’s a perfectionist, I don’t know why he has uneven hair like that. Sure he’s a perfectionist when it comes to pianos, but still, why does he have that hair?

Schneeball ended up being a good reference for what I was trying to do, and it’s why she has her side bangs like that and why her hair looks like that. She was also originally going to have a bun, but it didn’t end up matching the hair, though I was eventually able to come up with a ponytail that worked

I kind of like the original CB’s hair color change thing, so I wanted to keep some of it while also simplifying the amount of colors used and where the lines are. I also just couldn’t get out the top dark bit

She wasn’t originally going to have such dark dough, though it was going to be more saturated and dark than the original, but when I was coloring, I was thinking that her dough should be a color that doesn’t interfere with her various hair colors, so it ended up just going all the way down. I like it though. Also her freckles are supposed to be like the burnt flecks in the dessert

I didn’t feel like changing the eyes, other than me just not knowing how to properly draw Crème Brûlée’s eyes. I did change the color so it fit better, and she ended up with that dark brown

I do have to admit, I think the top is the weakest part, and I really didn’t know what to do with it other than I suppose give her a cardigan. The puffed sleeves came from Schneeball, though I think she worked it better. I was also kind of just slapping colors on for her shirt and jacket until something looked nice, and that was my best result

And yeah, that’s about it for her. Aside from appearance and gender, she’s supposed to be the same as the original Crème Brûlée, since I like him. Maybe she’ll get tweaked later down the road, but who knows?

[yourroyalhoneyness]

Just let me love you …alright

Tags: Fluff, Light, Romantic, slight nsfw if u look closely, writing errors, some angst I guess

Summary: it's has been almost a year and in that time. Noah and Mirage have gained feelings for one another. Mirage makes known his feelings and has implied them by dropping many hints. Noah on the other hand doesn't always take the advancement of mirage. But would love to be with the mech. However, is a fear of what may happens if he is miss reading things right.But Mirage is determined to be by Noah’s side. But is Noah ready to take this leap of faith like the ones before? And start something more than the friendship they possess.

Mirage is a big flirt and also possessive of his human crush. but will back off when told to However it is not for long. But will push some boundaries

Basically, best bros in love

Excuse the long delay. Along with the same writing and, spelling errors if there are any. I may try doing these more frequently. Also Along with some ask and request. They are welcome. I Will get try to respond to all of them. However, it is not guaranteed that I will. Same with me staying consistent in story, character, fandom, and writing style. I will also be posting my art, news, and more stories /fics. First story yay. Still learning how to write and find My writing style. Would appreciate some tips and advice on how to improve in the future. Gentle Constructive Criticism, please. So that is all for now. Hope you u guys like ❤️.

Mirage was annoyed. Which was odd cause, he did most of the annoying toward Noah. Not the other way around.

Why was Mirage annoyed with Noah? Well, it was because of his human companion. Has recently been avoiding him a lot lately. But most of the time they are in the same place with the same people. And Noah somehow still finds any way to avoid him. For example, he would spend more time with work in the garage fixing other people's things. And on missions with the Gi.Joe agents and the Autobot, Along with spending time with Noah's family. Yet somehow even spending time with the same people, in the same space. The small human in some way managed to keep his distance from Mirage.

It has been at least a year. Since, the almost invasion of Unicron and fought against the terrcons. Since then they had gotten close. Not as close as Mirage would have liked. But they had grown their relationship. To have an opportunity to be more, Than friends more the boys. At least that is what Mirage thought.

Until his so-called best ‘friend’ started avoiding him like the damen Cosmic Rust. He misses spending time with his human.

He has noticed a change between himself and the other. Going from getting closer to one another.To feel like strangers again. It was the most annoying thing in Mirage's life.

Usually, the two of them chat on their nightly drives. And chat as in Mirage flirting with Noah. And Noah tries to not get flustered along with trying to talk about something else, and sometimes Noah throws back a bit of his charm.

It has been a few weeks since they have been on a is acceptable nightly Drive whether they were talking or not.

He wants to be more for Noah than just to be his friend. More than best friend even. He wants more of his attention and his time. And wants to do the same for Noah and so much more. The mech gladly do so much more if the small human asked him so.

Don't give Mirage wrong he loves to talk, but with Noah it's different. A lot of things were different whit, Noah, not only because them being from two different worlds. Literally. But he felt comply differently with Noah than any other person.

Mainly more different from any topical crash that Mirage has ever had.

****

Noah was fixing a neighbor's car that was brought in. Earlier, this morning, and has yet to be removed from the task. Said, a neighbor was being a bit handy and too close to Noah. When bringing in her car. Mirage was fighting to keep his engine from growling loudly. Especially when she gave her opinion of Mirage's alt mode. Now that in general would be the thing to get to him. But no it was the way she was interacting. mostly her just flirting with Noah.

Noah didn't seem to mind or even notice that factor. But the silver mech did. That was another reason why he was annoyed with the small human.

Mirage was in his root mode. On his side of the shared garage arms crossed and pouting. watch Noah working on his talent. Putting more of his weight against the wall to meet it. Changing his posture to a different one of his more relaxed ones.

“Bud, you need to give that handsome head of yours a break,” Mirage suggested

Noah didn't turn his attention from the car he was working on.

“Not now I’m basically almost finished with this car.”

Mirage caught Noah's tone sounding slightly...vex.Oh, now this gave a reason to get Noah out. And the silver mech just how. “Come on sweetheart you and I both need to get out of this garage. Also, you have been working non-stop since this morning and it's almost midnight.”

Noah knew Mirages was right it's has been a while since they'd been on night drives. He understood been avoiding his friend for a while but he had a reason. He knows that the silver Bot had a point. Along with being right he and Mirage had to get out of the garage at some point. Also having to stop avoiding the mech, and talk to him eventually about it too.

Mirage always found a way for him not to say no to him. Knowing the mech also needs to get out, Noah did indeed very much need a break right now.

Slumping forward slightly smiling, signing turning to meet Mirage's gaze. “Let me get my jacket and clean up real quick k.”Fighting a smile as wide as Mirage was.

****

The drive was silent. Silents that they knew had to be broken at some point

But something played in the back of his mind even now. Something like a lack of certainty, or doubt. The Porshe had something also on his mind and knew something was going on in Noah’s head also. And he wanted to get down to it and find out if it was maybe the reason why Noah was avoiding him too.

“Hey, sweetheart is there something on your mind you want to talk about, don't lie to me.” It was stated as more of a statement than a question.

Mirage had a way that made Noah's heart flutter whenever called him a pet name especially when saying it in such a charming tone.

Noah knew he can not dodge it and he didn't want to lie about it. It made his stomach churn. Just thinking about it. Mirage could sense he needs a min and perhaps even give him a slight push too.

“How about I go first...hm, is that ok with you bud.”

“Ok, yeah...sure,” Noah answered. he don't let it show, but he could help but feel his flutter with hope. Still, Noah had doubts.

They stopped at a secluded Cliff looking towards the outskirts of the city. Noah jumped out. So, Mirage could change back to his root mode. Sitting down far from the edge. Then place the small human in his lap. So they would meet each other gaze. Smirking at the sight of the flustered look on Noah. Also making sure to place one of his arms around his waist mostly to keep Noah from falling...or escaping.

“I like you, no, that's not right Noah I love you, and have been wanting to tell you for such a long time but...if you don't want me then anything more than friends. We will, I will forget ever had this conversation...alright.” Mirage feels a weight lifted from his shoulders. But he knows Noah feels the same but if he tells him that he just wants to be friends and doesn't have the same. Then that, that. However, the look on Noah’s said that Mirage was mostly right about Noah having the same feelings. Though there was something else. That looked like... doubt.

Noah was not sure if this was a dream or not. Mirage love...him.

"You love me?"

"Yes, you there no one else here. Or that I love like you."Bring his servo to place toward Noah's head. Having a Smile worth a million Watts. Look at him like he was the most precious thing in his life.

Noah still has a hard time believing every. Why him? "But why me?"

"What do mean by why you? Noah why not you!?" Mirage kind of felt offended by that statement. What did he not make obvious that he had feelings for Noah? He was almost taken aback. Still grinning but had a slight hint of concern.

Noah still struggling to get that Mirage means every word he was saying. He loves Noah. Out of anyone he chose him. He felt his heart for flutter just at the thought but still had the same thought playing in the back of his head.

"Mirage you can have anyone else in the world hell even in the Univers. I am just some guy. In a world that doesn't even comprehend a relationship that we may have. You can do so much better than me." He paused looking back at Mirage noticing a different expression. He's heard stories from him and the other Autobots about them being able to be in the same-sex relationship on Cybertron and it saw as the norm. But on Earth is different not everyone can comprehend a relationship ,like that let alone one with both a human and a Cybertronian both presented as male.

Noah lowered his head look down. He felt like he wanted to scream and cry. But Mirage was having nuh of that. Left his head, bringing him close than ever before. Still have that amazing smile that Noah had always loved.

Noah couldn't help but lean into the touch.

"I love you, I want you, and only you. Because no one likes you. I don't want better when I already have the best. You are amazing and when we are together. I don't feel like that around anyone else only you. And when we are together we're both even more awesome. I don't want anyone else. I want you and only you. I don't care what others have to say about it. And if my sappy speech doesn't convince you otherwise yes. Guss I just going to have to show you." If Mirage had to put in neon signs no one understand that .he gladly did whatever but there is no one like no one that got with his rhythm so fast no one sees ever felt this. particular way until he met Noah.

Noah felt almost beat out of his chest. This was real and Mirage meant every word. He closed the space between his and Mirage's lips.

Mirage doesn't hesitate to start moving his lip plate in sync with Noah's lips.

Then parted from each other. Mirage had to fight not to chase Noah's lip to reconnect them back together.

Then Noah spoke, "Are you sure it's me you want?" He just to make sure one more time that this was real and that this was actually.

"Noah yes, I'm sure you are my boy. My best friend. You made me whole. Fuck you have been inside me. Noah no joke I love you, and have no intention of letting you go." Resting his head lightly on top of Noah's bringing their head foreheads together.

Noah gave a slight giggle "I love you too much. Rj"

"Good, Oh and Noah"

"Yes, mi amor."

Ok, That did something to Mirage's Spark.

"Don't ever purposely try avoiding me ever again trust me you will regret it next time"

Noah couldn't help to suppress his laugh. But did promise he would never do that again.

The end

Or is it?

[cosmica-galaxy]

an idea just came across my mind. so what if the alliance and the mimics found out the human is an Extremely good weaponsmith due to they came across their hidden stack of hand-made weapon by the human? - Orphic

Camron would be intrigued by the human's pile of weapons and craftsmanship. Each one is lovely cared for and tended to with a master's discipline. It makes him "ooh" and "aah" at just how SHINY these weapons are! He even uses them to cut clear through paper and a drinking cup! These are awesome, human!! Why didn't you tell everyone earlier!? . DJ would probably find all of the various weapons awesome! Some have unique patterns mixed into the design and others are even GILDED. How cool would it be to kill some skibidis with drip like THIS! He pretty much begs to keep a knife or a gun from your collection, to which the human will let out a slow sigh before offering him one of their best knives. It makes his whole year! . Vee is enthralled by the human's hidden talent for crafting weapons of various backgrounds, degrees, and grades. From knives, to revolvers, to automatic fire arms...this human was pretty skilled for making these weapons IN BASE. Usually they come from a manufacturing factory elsewhere and are shipped with new units to get them armed and ready to fight. Knowing that you make your own weapons with your own two hands...it's overall impressive. He may even slip a fancy-looking pair of knives out of your collection to add to his own personal armory. . Buddy only discovered your talent when he becomes the guinea pig for your own "mimic armor enhancement" project. He finds himself wearing multiple designs, prototypes, and styles of armor to help protect his body from attackers. While he appreciates the concern, he feels that he can handle assaulters well without any needed aid. Still, he endures and even finds some of the armor worthwhile. Like the sabatons to keep his "shoes" off the sizzling asphalt in the hot summer or protector claw casings for the icy winters. . Pal was intrigued by his human friend's talent in working with metal and such, but he would have never guessed that he was going to be getting some new outfits as well! The human fitted him out with some sharp metal on his clawed hands and gripping feet, and when asked to change the arms into their wing form, the metal changed with the arm! Forming large blades on the bony parts of the wings! They were also pretty light, since they were made with something the human called "obsidian", which was really sharp! He can't thank the human enough for giving him such a cool protective outfit! . Fiend was a bit more resistant to the proposed changes from the human weapon smith. What? He doesn't need an upgrade! He's fine the way he is! But he still goes along with it regardless, because he can't help but be close to the human at this point in time...in what other scenario would the human be so close to him and touching him?? But then, the human starts to slip on armor and he gets a little finicky. Until the fasteners were in place and the human stepped back did Fiend finally relax. Looking at himself, he surprising finds himself admiring the large scythes that were in place on his arms. The human seemed proud of their accomplishment. Fiend also seemed to like them too, as he rotates the blade around to get a good look at the red-tinted edges that go into a black reflective blade. Not gonna lie...that is pretty damn cool.

[strawbrygashez]

P1 Doe x P3 Dude HCs cuz they’ve been on my mind :3

•While P3 is a DOG when it comes to more revealing clothing on his partners, he thinks P1s Doe style is super cute. I imagine her clothes are very modest like lots of long skirts, baggy sweaters, cardigans, etc. The only odd thing she might hear about it from him is that he says the “librarian look really does it for him” 🤦‍♀️

Since she dresses modestly a lot of the time, it makes the times where she shows a bit more even better for p3 👍!!!! She’s usually embarrassed when she’s dressed in ‘less’ but he makes sure to tell her & show her she’s absolutely gorgeous.

•I’ve seen a couple things where ppl make P1 Doe more obsessed with god/religion more than I’ve seen with p1.. so it makes me think she’d probably ask P3 to come to church with her pretty often. P3 of course groans about it and whatnot but if he’s not busy, he’ll come with anyways. He doesn’t really listen to the preacher or whoever tho and just kinda man spreads next to her on the bench & just fiddles around with whatever he can or he just falls asleep 💀

P1 Doe would shove him awake if he did fall asleep & started snoring.. or if she could tell P3 fell asleep at all. (P3 is thankful for his sunglasses bc it makes it harder for her to tell if he’s dozing off or not)

I think eventually she’d go less and less because her paranoia about everything would get less extreme the longer she’s with P3 :0

•Usually P3 ended up with or chased after more confident, flirtatious women in the past so when he gets feelings for P1 Doe, he really has to actually work on getting close to her and changing his approach to flirting 💀 He might struggle a bit with not trying to come onto her too strong but he gets it eventually LOL he wants something really meaningful with her anyways :3

•I think like P1 Dude, P1 Doe wouldn’t have had many relationships in the past. Maybe a crush here and there and a attempt at dating once or twice but nothing ever really worked. She has no idea how to go about dating and flirting bc like P1 Dude, she’s awkward and just doesn’t understand people a lot of the time. So again, P3 is gonna have to take it slow with her & reassure her a bunch.

Part of me thinks she’d kinda feel worried and bad about ‘not being a good girlfriend’ and she’s confused why P3 even bothers with her when she’s ‘the way she is’.

•Kinda going along with prev point, since she doesn’t have a lot of dating experience, when p3 does start to get handsy, she’s SWEATING so bad. Her hearts going crazy, she’s not sure what to do. Not even if it’s like a 👀😳 moment but like just him wrapping a arm around her while they watch tv together has her dying (at least earlier on). She’d eventually get used to him touching her and her touching him but yea.. she just isn’t used to psychical touch at all LOL

•Going back to the clothes thing again somewhat, she tries to remember what P3 points out that he likes on her, so she can wear it around him more.

Like with all pdudes, I think when they get a s/o they really love, it helps them remember to take care of themselves more often. So like.. I think sometimes she’d start to remember to actually brush out her hair & maybe even do it up/try a new hair style in hopes he’d like it :,) NOT SAYING SHE’D DO IT ALL THE TIME.. she’s still p1 so she’s gonna have wild hair more often than not but I dunno I think she, like p1 dude would as well, would wanna try to put effort into ‘looking nice’ for their s/o.

•They are definitely a opposites attract kinda couple. I can see the other pdudes being kinda taken back when they find out they are together but also.. pdudes dont give much of a fuck about which Pdude is with who 💀

P3 won’t shut up about her around the others tho. Every other sentence out of his mouth is about his “beautiful, smart girlfriend”

The other Postal Doe’s all gave P1 Doe a look when they found out P1 Doe is with p3 of all pdudes like “really? Him?” But I think she might stand up for him a little bit even 🥲 and tell them he’s actually not that bad and a sweet guy when u get to know him. Now I dunno if they’d actually believe her or not tho 💀

[henrysglock]

Hi! You said I could ask you questions if I had any (I’m sure you explain stuff I’m about to ask in other posts but I don’t have the time to go through alll of them rn SORRY IF IT FEELS REPETITIVE TO EXPLAIN)

So I read your big timeloop post (super super cool post btw LIKE OMGGG MY BRAIN IS BRRING) and you mentioned some stuff that I don’t rlly know about (guessing it’s TFS stuff) anyways! I wanna know what you’re talking about because I wanna make sure I fully understand everything you’re talking about. And I’m sure I could look some of this up but I’d prefer hearing your thoughts/personal takes on it because it helps me understand stuff better

Anyways I was wondering if you could explain more about “The Attack on Mr Newby” ? As well as tell me what we know about Brenners dad so far? you explained quite a bit of it in that post- I’m not sure if you covered it all, and sense Brenners dad seems to have to do quite a bit with his motives I wanna know as much as I can abt him

ALSO whose inmate 58361 and what purpose did they have in the story? Was it just someone Henry killed to appease the MF?

Okay yes!! Absolutely. Buckle in. So the attack on Mr. Newby was an event in The First Shadow. Patty and Henry are in the Creel attic using his powers to search for her mother. Midway through, the Mindflayer attacks and possesses Henry/puts him into a vision. Hearing Patty's distress, Mr. Newby comes up to help. He ends up being the target of Henry's powers (while he's possessed, much the same as it was with Prancer earlier on). Although Henry fights the Mindflayer off (with some help from Definitely Not Patty), Mr. Newby loses his eys and breaks several bones falling through the attic floor after he's dropped when the possession connection is severed. He later tells Patty, who was completely convinced that Henry did all of that of his own accord out of malice, that she has to save Henry from the Mindflayer because he was fighting it/it wasn't his fault at all.

All we know about Brenner's dad is that he was the captain of the USS Eldridge, which was the ship in the Philadelphia Experiment. It vanished into Dimension X when our Brenner turned 15 (October of 1943...yes, on our Brenner's birthday), and Captain Brenner was the sole survivor. He returned to our dimension with an altered blood type (the same weird blood type Henry has...which sounds like a development that came about when he went missing in a Nevada cave system about a year before moving to Hawkins, around the same time that he began having hallucinations and violent tendencies from the Mindflayer) that caused his body to reject all transfusions of normal blood types. We're not given a reason that the blood type changes after exposure to Dimension X, just that it happens. Captain Brenner told our Brenner everything he knew about Dimension X, and succumbed to his injuries shortly after. Evidently, our Brenner didn't like his father very much, given that Captain Brenner tells us that our Brenner told him he hates him. However, Captain Brenner's disappearance and death is, supposedly, our Brenner's motivation irt Henry and the lab kids: Finding someone who will let him into Dimension X so he can solve the mystery of what, exactly, happened to his father.

Inmate 58361 was a prisoner that Brenner brought in for Henry to "feed" on, since he surmised that Henry gains strength from killing Vecna-style after hearing about the animals. Henry refuses to hurt 58361, and Brenner makes a pitch at him about how animals can't consent to testing the way people in the prison system could. Fucked up, huh? Anyway, all this happens after Henry agrees to break out of HNL to meet Patty at the school play so they can run away from Brenner together. Henry, still resistant to Brenner's demands that he kill and worked up by Brenner's psychological tormenting (the hollering, the insults, the Everything), lashes out to escape. 58361 gets caught in the crossfire as Henry goes after Brenner and the guards (though mind you—Henry stops short of killing Brenner or the guards, despite EVERYTHING). 58361's eyes go, which we can see in the bloodstains on the sack over his head when the attack happens. This makes him super important, because it shows that Henry's natural killing style is not Vecna-style. It's actually far more similar to El's style that we see in ST1 with Connie and the lab goons, which has major implications about what we see in the massacre irt One's kill-style. tl;dr: 58361 was meant, by Brenner, to be a food sacrifice to the Mindflayer/Henry. Henry refuses to kill him, but ends up hurting him by accident while trying to free himself from the lab.

Whew. LOTS of stuff. Saw the play 4 times in person (and like 5 more times on tape...for legal reasons this is a joke) and it's STILL a lot to take in especially when it comes to fitting it into filmed canon.

[foxes-that-run]

I Did Something Bad (on 29 April 2016)

Taylor wrote Gorgeous, Delicate and Did Something Bad around the same time (see Making of Video), there were all recorded in September but refer to earlier events. In the 29 April 2023 Eras show Taylor added High Infidelity to this story which refers to 29 April.

Timeline

See 2016 timeline

2 January: Harry is on a Yacht with Kendall in the red shirt.

2 February: Harry wore this blue St Laurent shirt on his birthday

11 February - Kanye releases Famous, Taylor & Harry seen in LA

20 February Harry wrote Sweet Creature on the 20th

21 February Calvin started Ole, a bitter song about about cheating. CH wore Harry's shirt in the MV and the red one was included also

28 February: Harry Tweeted you can shake an apple off a tree. His instagram had been B&W for 2 years since OOTW was released October 2014. He posted a colour photo on the 25 Feb 2016. It stayed colour from 7 May.

March 15 - Taylor and Calvin have heavily photographed beach holiday. She repeats this move in 2018 with Joe.

April 29 - Taylor refers to an affair on this date in High Infidelity. as HS and TS were both in LA on that date. Taylor and Kendall were at Gigi Hadid's birthday the night before. Harry's Kiwi music video also includes a kid dressed like Taylor on that night.

May 2 - the met gala was the key date while she was with Joe. On midnights she changed it to 29 April. CH and TS were barely seen together in 2016 and this seems it was over in April. Harry left to shoot Dunkirk. Taylor wrote and recorded IDWLF

29 April 2017 - Our boy celebrated the anniversary of this particular secret rendezvous by getting papped 3 times in the same shirt. They also released Me! and the HH tracklisting on that date.

There is a great detailed post about this here.

Rattata sound

The Rattata sound at the end of I did something bad is also suspiciously similar to a Rakaka sound in a leaked Harry Styles song. In Harry's song, he has a secret rendezvous with an ex who phones him unexpectedly and he picks up on the way home.

This raises a question on the timing of the events of Pick You Up and Did Something Bad, PYU refers to his sister’s birthday which is in December, they were at the VS show 3 December 2014, the songs may be about different days. Taylor was in Australia on Gemma’s birthday 2015. Now we don’t talk seems like they weren’t talking in January.

Calvin's bitter song was' Reggae themed - Ole,

Lyrics

Taylor has said she was inspired by the Stark Sisters in not having remorse for actions.

I never trust a narcissist But they love me So I play 'em like a violin And I make it look oh so easy ... If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothing I don't regret it one bit, 'cause he had it coming

The opening verses set a vengeful mood and highlight the grievance TS had over the Narcissist (CH) taking credit for her work on This is what you came for.

I never trust a playboy But they love me So I fly him all around the world And I let them think they saved me They never see it comin' What I do next This is how the world works You gotta leave before you get left

Here TS has also referred to HS as a playboy who wanted to save her and sets the mood for how angry she feels at the situation..

They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one They got their pitchforks and proof Their receipts and reasons They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one So light me up (light me up), light me up (light me up)

'they're burning all the witches' also appears on the stairs in the video for Ready for It, another song in the first half of the album that are about HS.

In later songs, Adore You Harry includes "I'd walk the fire for you"

2016 and Reputation posts.

[lokisbur]

Find it on AO3 and on SWA!!

The cut is to avoid AI to scrap my work, even if I modified my parameters.

The prompt is from here.

A nice breeze was flowing between the buildings, bringing with it the smell of spring and freshly cut grass.

It was a wonder, really, how they managed to rebuild so fast and even have nice grass growing again.

Inko was standing in the middle of the buildings, calmly looking around and watching workers all around busily continuing their work for the one-year festival.

She walked toward the biggest building, the one with the best view of the city, and started to climb up the stairs.

She could've taken the elevator, but what was the fun in that? Especially since they had decided to give the new building so many windows to light up the place and make it livelier for both the students and teachers alike.

The staircase also allowed her to see all the people outside and within the more secured ground, complimented by the grass she smelled earlier.

It was filled with stands being built and with students bustling around, 1-A, no, 2-A included.

The kids had face so much in such a short time, and then continued on the very second they were allowed to! A nice break of routine like a festival was the best possible thing to happen.

With a smile on her face, she continued to climb up the ungodly amount of stairs. But doing some cardio can only be good for her.

Once she finally reached the top, she pushed the service door to the rooftop, letting the much stronger wind blow her hair around and glad to receive a way to freshen her a bit. The sun blinded her for a second as she stepped out, but it was nothing compared to the man she could see the back of.

Her man.

He had gone through hell too. As much, if not even more than the kids back on ground level. And damn if she was to let him go on his own after everything. So she had confessed. Not in the best of places nor at the best of times, but she did. And the end result was what they had now. Among other things, of course.

She got closer to him, sure that he had heard her come. He was still a bit on edge, always expecting something to happen. But he hadn't moved or cringed, or reacted in any way she could notice, at least. And this was an improvement.

He was just... standing. Straight, maybe a bit too much, his hands in his pocket and his body close enough from the border to look down to what was happening underneath, but not too close for an accident to happen. She couldn't get what he was thinking at times. Especially when he would just stand like that at the top of a building. And any building, really. But she knew that her presence would not be brushed away. She even liked to think it was soothing.

After a few minutes of sight-seeing, he finally moved by pulling his hand out of his pocket and letting it down, inviting her to take it, which she did eagerly. She liked his hands. They were rough from fights, the skin on it having ben cut and bruised many times. But he was oh so gentle with them. When they would brush against her skin in the mornings, or stroke through her hair to style them in a way she had never tried before, or when they would hold her hands, cold and shaky on bad days, looking for comfort, but oh so warm and strong on the good days. They were the latest, today.

When she got close enough, she grabbed his arm and held onto it with both hands, putting a bit of her weight on his side. She stayed like that for a while, looking at the city at the bottom of the hill. It was breathtaking.

The view had changed so much. Almost everything had been destroyed, and yet, a year later, a good part of the city has risen from the rubbles, stronger than ever.

She had hoped so. It was bound to be a nice day, and she liked to see him happy. He deserved it and she would make sure that he did get this happiness.

She was still worried, sometimes, that she wasn't enough compared to the other. That she was just putting a balm on forever opened wounds and nothing of all this was fully real or reciprocated. But before she could go down this lane, her hand was squished gently, and her face moved towards the sky.

She knew of two. The normal sky, the one everyone was accustomed to. And the one she adored, the one encased in darkness, smiling at her, in unison with his smile. The one she never grew tired of. The one that was shining at her and enraptured her.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Everything is alright."

He let out a chuckle. She loved that too.

It took her a moment to notice, but he was currently bending toward her, hand steady under her chin and tilting it slightly. Oh. She rose up on her tiptoes suddenly in order to meet him sooner but miscalculated her speed.

What had supposed to be soft kiss ended up in both their faces smashing into each other and making her lose her footing, not that she had any with how she had been standing. She didn't stumble long though, as the hand holding her face swiftly moved down to her side in order to hold her closer.

"Let me do the bending next time," his low chanting voice said.

She pouted a bit, "I wanted to meet you faster. I'm allowed to reach you too." She received a kiss on her hand at that.

"Inko, it's easier for me to bend down than for you to reach up like that," he pointed out.

"I know, but I like doing it," she retorted. "Example number 1."

At that, she rose up again and took his face in her hands to lower it to her height. Finally coordinated, their lips met in a soft embrace. "Example number 2," she murmured to his lips, before kissing him more passionately, breaching the soft opening with her tongue and letting him taste her lips.

"You taste sweet," he said, finally allowing them to take in a breath.

She had eaten cotton candy earlier, a small gift for having helped their son's class put up some decorations. She knew he still wasn't allowed to eat too sweet things, or anything too hard on his stomach for that matter, but she still could make him taste those wonders in another way.

"I know," she smiled. She let herself stand normally again, looking at him one more time before turning around and pulling him with her.

"Now come on, Toshinori, they're about to start the festival soon and I don't want to miss it!"

She felt his hand hold hers tightly, not needing to turn around to see him smile again, his hearty laugh was enough.

[noirapocalypto]

ᴛʜᴇɴ & ɴᴏᴡ - ꜱᴠʟᴇᴍ

I saw the trend floating around, and I wanted to participate. I want to talk a little bit more on just how important Salem has become to me. 🖤

The picture on the left is one of the very first portraits of Salem I had taken. I think I had made him a bit earlier, but I officially introduced him to Tumblr on January 24th, 2022 (four days before his canon birthday, which funny enough, wasn't assigned until way after). And the portrait on the right is one of my more recent ones, that I've taken last month (June 19, 2023).

When I made him, he was just a side character. A little project that sparked when I discovered the genre of music I would eventually associate him and his character with. I wanted to create something that I thought was unique at the time. I wanted to do something different from the usual character tropes that I usually do. I didn't expect to fall deeply in love with his entire concept.

(Left picture: taken September 9, 2022 - Right picture: taken June 22, 2023)

I've always defaulted to female characters in any type of game where I could create and customize my character. I just never questioned it and felt it was what I should do, but I never really connected with them. I'd play around for a while, then get bored and move onto the next OC. And so on.

Salem wasn't my first male character, he was actually the last of my main six. But for some reason, the moment I started writing through his eyes, it just felt right. That's when the questioning started. What did that mean for me? Why am I suddenly far more comfortable writing through the perspective of a male than any of my hundreds of female characters I've been writing for all these years? Why am I now suddenly wanting to default to playing male OC's? I began to explore things through him, things that I've come to find out I really enjoy and connect with. Things that make me happy and feel right. It was through Salem that I figured myself out a bit more, that I wasn't what I was told I was my whole life by people around me. I think that's one of the reason he's so special to me. I found myself through my character.

But not just that, I also found people that mean the world to me through Salem. My social circle expanded--I now had people that shared the same interests as me, that liked what I had to create, that encourage me and support me. People that I could be myself around. I met my best friend (hi, bestie 🖤) because of Salem, who at the same time, met his best friend in their OC, whom Salem loves as much as I love mine. I met friends from all over that I care for deeply and love very much--people I would have never met otherwise. That's one of the reasons this fandom is important to me and why I stick around, no matter how hard things get.

(Left picture: taken September 9, 2022 - Right picture: taken July 11, 2023)

I know VP was never really my strong suit. A lot of my shots are very plain and simple, most of them are just portraits. In fact, I feel my style hasn't really changed much since my beginnings in this fandom. I'm never really going to be able to make all these elaborate set ups or be able to tell his story through virtual photography. My brain just doesn't work that way. I struggle a lot trying to improve and "catch up" with everyone else. And I'm growing to accept that. I think it's okay, that my talents and skills are stronger elsewhere. I just want to be able to capture him and share him with the rest of the world--to participate in the joy and camaraderie of loving the things we create so dearly.

While Salem isn't a self-insert, he does have a lot of me in him. Which I think is why I latched on so hard. He's all of my interests and beliefs personified. He's what I would like to be, how I would like to look. And he'll always be with me. Salem will forever be my main OC. Doesn't matter the fandom, if this one is still alive and kicking years from now--or if I've moved on to different media--Salem will always be my muse and he will always live on through my stories.

[adarkrainbow]

As it turns out, I should never say "never" because despite what I claimed earlier, I still have one more "Hansel and Gretel" post to make! This one I wanted to make for a long time but simply forgot about, and so I'll make it now to conclude my long series of "Hansel and Gretel" posts. (I also do think it is time to make a new masterpost soon)

And in this post, I want to talk about Neil Gaiman's Hansel and Gretel.

"What?" you ask. "Neil Gaiman did a Hansel and Gretel story? When? Where?". And indeed, many people seem to have overlooked it, but the author of pieces such as "Coraline", "The Graveyard Book", "Sandman", "Stardust" and many more has done an illustrated book for children retelling the story of Hansel and Grtel - with accompanying illustrations by Lorenzo Mattoti. Illustrations that do set the tone for the story, since they are black and white illustrations in the style of shadow-puppets, presenting small, featureless characters in vast, enormous, dark landscapes.

It was released all the way back in 2014 (October or November if I recall well?)

Given this book as made for children, and not much talked about, it is a bit hard to get, and is not placed on the same shelves as Gaiman's other adult and teenage-oriented works. I personally only could have an experience of the story by listened to "read-through" and audio versions of the book, unable to get any physical copy - but maybe it is just because live in France? I don't know.

But of course I cannot ignore what Neil friggn' Gaiman would have done with "Hansel and Gretel". Neil Gaiman is famous for his fairytale-inspired works, but to my knowledge most of what he did was either fairytale-fantasy (Coraline, Stardust), either dark, mature and twisted retellngs of fairytales (Snow, Glass, Apples ; The Sleeper and the Spindle). I think it was the first time Neil Gaiman did a straight retelling of a fairytale, directly aimed at children.

Which is fascinating because I read something about it in a book recently. Remember when I told you about this book about fairytale villains - a book which disappointed me because it wasn't a character study and more of a general look at the publication and "sanitization" of fairytales today. Well this book still contained fascinating parts and tidbits - and one of them was an explanation that, the rewrite of a classic fairytale for children was one of those "initiation rites" or "obligatory steps" in a writer's career. The writing - not the invention, but the rewrite - of a famous fairytale is one of the most common "exercice of style" a writer can perform. Because they are forced to keep the basic story, the main plotline, the core tale, and can't change it too much... But they have to shine by the little details. The tone of the story, the way they fill some plotholes, or how they smooth or erase certain details, or certain traits they give to the characters. Little details, little changes, but that reflect how well they handle a story or what message they want to carry through the tale.

And what are those small changes Gaiman brings to the tale? I won't copy-paste the whole story here of course, but be warned of spoilers as I will break down the little things Gaiman added or changed compared with the original tale.

The opening of the tale pecises that it was uring the time of the reader/listenr's "grandmothers", or perhaps in the time of their grandmothers' grandfathers. All in all, it was back when "we all lived at the edge of the great forest".

There is an explicit mention that Gretel is the oldest sister, Hansel the youngest, and they are two years apart. Gretel used to be called Greta, and her birthname is Margaret ; while Hansel's birthname was "Hans", which his parents turned to Hansel because "they could not make it shorter".

Neil Gaiman depicts a specific family life for the children. Hansel and Gretel did not go to school, because school was far away from the forest near which they lived, and it needed money - too much money for the humble life of a woodcutter. However their father "taught them the way of the woods", while their mother taught them skills such as sewing, cooking and cleaning. Hansel and Gretel's parents were not the best in the world - their mother was bitter and sharp-tongued, and their father was a sullen man always eager to be away from his little house. But the children were happy as long as they could play in the forest, climb on trees, swim in nearby trees - and have enough food. The narration details the different foods and meals the family could afford during the "better days", when their father was paid well for his wood. Regular meals involved cabbages, fresh bread, eggs, things of the sort - and when they had more money, their father bought meat from the butcher, or a live animal that they killed and ate themselves. But even then, there was still some beast to capture in the woods - some rabbits to catch or ducks to find. The narrator insists "There was always food". [Oh yes, forgot to mention - no stepmother here, Gaiman reused the original story involving only the children's mother]

The reason for the family's bad situation is explicitly referred to as a war followed by a famine. It began when soldiers arrived and stole the cabbages, the chickens and the ducks - they were men motivated by a mixture of anger, hunger, boredom and fear. The local farmers were either taken and forced to be new soldiers, or killed by other soldiers - their fields either burned by the war, or left to rot since nobody could tend to them. Hansel and Gretel's own house was located far away from the war, and their father never knew why the soldiers went fighting or who they were fighting - all they knew that was there was the war, and the soldiers were fighting. But the household felt the effect of the war as the butcher lacked meat to sell, the baker didn't have any more flour to bake, and the family could only have scarse and bad or stale food.

The dialogue where the mother convinces her husband to abandon the children relies on emotion vs logic. The mother acts purely and entirely out of logic - and even claims it herself. She says that it is better for two people to die than four ; she explains that if the father doesn't eat and deprive himself for his children, he won't be able to cut the wood/earn money and they'll all die of starvation ; she also adds that it isn't about killing the children, but about losing them in the woods. Maybe some kind stranger will help them and care for them! she says - only for the father to reply in anger "Maybe a bear will devour them!". But despite's the father emotional refusal, the mother still ends up convincing him somehow. (There is also the mention that Hansel was listening to the conversation because he was so hungry he couldn't sleep - though he said nothing and refused to complain, given he knew how difficult the situation was)

The clue that makes Hansel understand his father accepted their mother's idea is because one morning he claims he will take the children into the woods and teach them how to cut the wood - something which is unusual since before their father always refused to let them accompany him to work, saying the woods were too dangerous for children.

The father here asks the children to sit down in a grove of birch trees and wait for him: he creates a small fire for them to sit by, and even offers them his lunch, promising to return for them. Hansel knows he won't - but Gretel stays convinced that they must wait and that their father is merely "delayed", until finally she has to admit he won't come back. (Hopefully Hansel had prepared the pebbles)

When the children return to their house, their father (who has been noted to have a crimson face and teary eyes, as if he had been crying and drinking) is so happy he offers them two syrup-covered cherries. This is no random decision, as they are kept in a jar in the house - a jar which once was full but now is almost empty. And as the children slowly savor their cherries, their mother, pale and with pinched leeps, looks hungrily at the four leftover cherries in the jar...

The next attempt at losing the children (and this second one is the successful one) happens a few weeks after the first. This time Hansel is caught unprepared, as their father announces he takes them in the woods one morning, right now, on the spot, without Hansel having heard anything the night before. This is why he must use one of the two freshly-baked loaves of bread their mother baked them for the morning.

There is an insistance on how deep and far their father takes them, compared to the first time. They pass by creepy trees that look like "scraping and scratching hands", then their father helps them cross a river, showing them where to go and where it's too deep ; they reach a deeper part of the forest where the enormous twisted trees as like "giants frozen in time", and there is the poetic line of the thorns and brambles of the forest constantly gripping the clothes of the kids, as if to try to keep them here and prevent them from going further.

The second time they are abandoned, it is Gretel who is the first to admit and recognize their father won't be coming back - showing that she learned from her first experience.

When the children discover the birds (wood pigeons) eating the bread, while Hansel says nothing, Gretel takes pity upon them, commenting that even the animals of the forest are hungry.

It is not a bird that attracts the children to the house - but the sweet and warm smell of gingerbread, that Hansel catches first, and then Gretel. A smell of honey cakes, and ginger, and spices, that makes their stomach hurt and makes them run with hunger towards the source of the scent.

The house of the witch is described as smaller than the one of Hansel and Gretel, and made of fresh gingerbread. It is decorated with green and red candies of hard-sugar, and the window panes are also clear sugar.

Like in the first-edition version of the Grimm tale (which obviously seems to be Gaman's main source), the witch does have a creepy little rhyme as she comes out of the house "Who nibbles my house? Is it a mouse?" she says with a gentle and amused voice), and the children do not answer, speechless (but their mouth too full). However, as the narrator points out, they are relieved after a moment of scare, to see that it is "no ogre or monster" that comes out of te house, but a "kindly-faced old woman with dim eyes", hobbling around and using a cane/stick to walk.

The inside of the house is described as having just a single room, with a "huge brick oven" on one end. The other main furniture of the house is a table, though later the text also mentions two little beds prepared for Hansel and Gretel (but that are quickly removed after their first night), and the witch's own bed.

The meal the old woman first offers the children is made of candied fruits, cakes, pies, cookies, biscuits, and all sorts of other delicious treats - but as the children note, there is absolutely no meat. When asked about it, the old woman has a long explanation which is FILLED with creepy foreshadowing. The woman says that she has grown too old and too short-sighted to be hunting animals in the forest. That now, all she can do is "lay her bait" in the forest and hope it catches something - and she complains that even if she does manage to capture something, the creature will be too scrawny and need a good fattening up. "But now that you are here, perhaps now there will be meat once again".

The deep sleep the children fall into after their first meal at the woman's house is explicitly caused by drugs that the old woman placed in their food. Now, the VERY interesting thing in Neil Gaiman's retelling is that nowhere the word "witch" appears in the story. It is clear that the old woman has magic - but she is never called anything else than "the old woman", leaving her true nature more ambiguous. The only "reveal" the narrator tells us after confirming that the children were drugged into sleep, is that the old woman was much stronger than she let them believed - as she had a horrible, "sinewy" strength to her.

Hansel is locked up in a cage with rusty metal bars, inside a stable behind the house - with nothing in it but straw and a "few ancient, well-chewed bones". Every day she serves him lots of food, "cakes, potatoes, candied fruits, puddings, gruels, crumbles" and many more dishes. She also stays by his side until he finishes everything - and carefully listens to make sure he eats every dish until there is nothing, poking him with her stick if he ever complains about being too full or unable to eat. Gretel, meanwhile, finds herself chained to the table and unable to leave the house - in fact she doesn't see her brother until the end of te tale, staying alone with no contact with him for a very long time. The old woman forces Gretel to clean the house and cook for her, and if she doesn't do her chores quick enough, the old one beats her and insults her.

Neil Gaiman adds a fascinating detail to the way the old woman treats Gretel. When she is in a good mood, she promises to care for Gretel, and to protect her as she will grow into a woman. She also promises to teach her all her secrets, three of which are explicitely named: to call the birds down from the trees (implying she might have sent the wood pigeons devour their food, though it is a subtext monly) ; to ensnare travellers (the scent of the gingerbread house was described in ways implying it was much more powerful than regular gingerbread scent should be) ; and to make sure anyone that comes to the cottage never leaves. But, as the narrator points out, an hour or so after each of these promises, the old one would be back to scolding Gretel and telling her she was a good for nothing. Gretel in turn barely speaks to the old woman, merely saying one word or two, to the point the old woman starts to believe she might be a "half-wit".

One month or so after first being imprisoned, the old woman decides to eat Hansel because she has been running out of patience - but she still doesn't want to eat Gretel apparently. In fact she has this horrible line, "We will roast your brother, but do not be sad: I'll give you the bones to chew, little one." And when, after playing dumb, Gretel pushes the old woman into the oven, there is another great line: "The girl had learned more from the woman than she thought."

After burning the old woman, Gretel steals her keys from under the woman's pillow and sets herself and her brother free, and they hug in the sunshine... But Neil Gaiman insists on the fear and slight trauma the two kids went through. Gretel doesn't just push the old woman and lock the door - she holds the door tight, she listens until the horrible screams of the woman die out, and still then she fears of letting go of the door, fearing the hag would somehow come back from the fire and crawl out of the oven. And when she sets Hansel free, she is puzzled and she marvels at two things 1) at how her little brother turned into a "plump young man" (after all she hasn't seen him for a whole month, during which he was force-fed fattening witch-food) and 2) at how he mysteriously holds a little bone in his hand, as if his whole life depended on it (the reader knows why Hansel clings on to this bone ; Gretel does not).

The children still make sure the old woman is truly dead: they return to the house (now filled with the smell of burned human flesh), and once the oven cooled down they open it to see the charcoaled, blackened husk of their tormentor... And a little iron key that, as they discover, opens a chest beneath the old woman's bed. Said best contains all the treasures she took from the many travellers that came to her house: gloves, hats, rings set with rubies and diamonds, gold coins and silver coins, chains of gold and of silver, pearl necklaces, clothes of satin and silk... The children quickly replace their old rags with new clothes from the chest, put all the jewels, gems and coins they can in a big bag, and leave the house.

Since Neil Gaiman based his retelling on the first-edition version of the tale, there is no duck to help the children cross the stream. They simply come across the same river they had encountered at the beginning of the tale, and use what their father had taught them then, so as to cross in the most shallow area of the water. They then return to the part of the forest they are the more familiar with - the one where they played and climbed on trees. And fnally they return home...

They do not dare get too close to their home, but they still call out to their parents. Their father answers, overwhelmed with joy, confessing he couldn't sleep or find peace ever since he abandoned them, and that he searched for them every day. The children ask where their mother is - explaining they brought enough riches for her to eat whatever she wants, go wherever she wants, and never fear hunger again. Their father silently gestures at the grave he dug for her. Here the narrator offers several reasons why their mother died: maybe she died of hunger? Maybe something "ate her from the inside". Maybe she died of anger? Maybe she died because of the loss of her children? But ultimately, as the narrator concludes, we will never know.

After doing the traditional conclusion about how the family never lacked anything again, always had food on their table, and solved most of their problems with the newfound wealth, the story goes on for a few more paragraphs. It explains that Hansel and Gretel each ended up marrying happily (though the story does not mention who they married), and that there was so much food at their wedding feasts that the guests "had their belts burst, and fat dripping from their chins". The fairytale concludes with: "And the pale moon looked kindly upon them all."

[natsubeatsrock]

Ranking Fairy Tail Death Fakeouts

I'm not posting frequently enough to make joke posts.

We've had quite many death fakeouts in this series. 

That statement alone is an indictment on Hiro Mashima, who has gone on record to say that he enjoys writing characters in situations where it seems they died but survived.

I figured I'd rank as many fakeouts as I remember from best to worst. 

I tried to limit myself to situations where it was clear that we should think the situation led to death. However, things got out of hand. (You'll see.) Bear in mind that some involve groups of people who we thought died.

While this is my ranking, I tried to stick to these criteria in ranking them.

Should they have died otherwise?

Does their return make sense?

Is the series better for their return?

We're starting with the best version of this trope. 

Fairy Sphere was the best death fakeout, and I'm not sure people would expect it to fit these criteria.

Everyone on the island thought they would die. They accepted their fate in Toy Story 3 style when the Black Dragon came and blasted Tenrou Island, leaving only a crater. 

That's good games, folks.

However, the return makes sense. Those members were at a sacred spot for their guild. While we know Mavis' body isn't on the island now, we've seen her powers at work earlier in the arc. Mavis using one of the guild's most powerful spells is reasonable. It activated because of their shared spirit, leading to the Grand Magic Games.

I've criticized Mashima's handling of training in series, especially in the Grand Magic Games. Their return was a genius idea. Time skips happen often in anime and manga, but few function as this did. The heroes have to play catch-up with the rest of the world. The execution wasn't the best, but this was one of Mashima's best ideas in the series.

Speaking of Mavis, I think her death fakeout was the best individual example. This might be because we didn't get enough reason to believe there was anything past her death. If you could make a phantom image of yourself, wouldn't you put yourself in your prime? We had no reason to believe she died at the age we saw her. 

I'm not the most supportive of Zervis, but I like this as a death situation. The good news is that she didn't die from the curse of contradiction. While it's a bit sketchy, I do like that there are attempts to keep her alive as soon as possible.

Her continued existence as Lumen Histoire (I prefer this name to Fairy Heart) was foreshadowed amazingly. It was a situation that affected all the major arcs from its mention to the end of the main series. Of course, after escaping Lumen Histoire, she continues to impact the series for the better. The Larcade/August situation is a mess, but I don't think it hurts Mavis' return.

Speaking of which, Lisanna's fakeout was also really good. (Shocking, I know.) Let me start by admitting that this one is hurt by her lack of importance in the series. She hasn't taken out any major villains or caused dramatic character changes (unless you read my stories). It doesn't matter since we never really were led to think she would become a super relevant character.

As for the other aspects, she passes with flying colors in my book. She should have died on the mission based on everything we know about the situation. No one in the guild operates under the assumption otherwise, and it is taken for granted for two in-series years.

However, we never see her die in the manga. We hear about the events and get flashes of what happened. However, Mashima never shows us that she died, even after the series was extended past Phantom Lord. While the anime shows more of what happened, the director admitted he never planned to treat Lisanna as dead. Edolas as an escape for Lisanna makes more sense than people give it credit for.

Next up is Irene, whose situation is interesting. I should be madder about how that was handled. There didn't seem to be a reason for her to kill herself, especially given the justification of actually loving Erza. While Acnologia brutalizing her body was too much, that felt like the nail in the coffin. If she wasn't dead before, she was dead then.

However, the return itself isn't nonsensical. Irene was impressed by Wendy's enchanting skills during their battle. No wonder she would want to tag along with her temporarily. I do prefer this justification for Irene. She still wants to find a body of her own to host. I'm glad she's selfish about it.

This aspect was one of my favorite things about the sequel. It was great to see how Wendy and Irene interacted with each other. Often, it would be Wendy accounting for Irene in situations or Irene intervening in places where Wendy needed help. I wasn't a big fan of the resolution, but I did appreciate that it tied into the Knightwalker situation.

The last of the good returns is Gajeel. His death was another situation that was treated as a given. He was being taken to 'hell' at the end of his fight. This was almost a tragic end to the best ship in the Big 4. We recognize their mutual feelings only to be ripped out of their hands just as soon.

The genius of this moment comes in the timing of events. It's hard to explain this, but the events of the arc all overlap in weird ways. This fight happens as Natsu and Lucy hope Brandish can negotiate peace with August and Irene's meeting with Acnologia. While the portal closes, Irene is casting Universe One. The spell changes the continent's shape-up, so it's not out of the realm of possibility this brings Gajeel back into commission.

Honestly, Gajeel doesn't do a whole lot past his return. He certainly puts work in, especially in the sequel. However, he's not impacting the series like several other characters mentioned before, along with others to come. Though, even at this point in the series, he's nowhere near the focus of the series. Not to mention, he's always been a secondary character, so no meaningful change there.

Other people wouldn't count this, but I'm putting Silver next. I say I'm not sure because this is a rare example of a fakeout of a death fakeout. Silver was killed by Deliora all those years ago. However, he was brought back to life thanks to Keyes, who used him as a puppet and experimental rat. This makes sense as a reason for him to return. 

However, the lead-up to this revelation is pretty messy. We're led to believe he's Deliora for some time, among other things. (We'll get to him soon enough.) His most meaningful impact is giving Gray Demon Slaying magic. His role involved setting plot points before their fight, like freezing Sun Village and capturing Natsu.

I'm not a fan of Jellal's return. This could be a higher ranking. The circumstances surrounding his supposed death are reasonable enough to think he died. We'd probably assume he was gone forever if it weren't for Mystogan showing up during Fantasia. Nirvana justifies his return. He's arguably made the most impact of anyone on this list.

So what gives?

Petty as it sounds, this version of Jellal bores me. Look at how Jellal acts before Nirvana and how he acts after it. Of course, this is because of what happened in the Tower of Heaven arc. However, I wish there was a way we could keep Jellal's snarky attitude while also being a heroic figure. Thank goodness Crimson Starbird wrote Kidnapping Erza. Speaking of which, his ranking is saved pending his joining Fairy Tail. It's a cliche ending to his arc, but a welcome cliche for a fan favorite. 

Moving down the rankings, God Serena is up next. This is another situation like Silver, where he died but was brought back to life. I don't like him or his return. I plan to talk about this later, but his death is made worse by the final battle of the main series. We're supposed to believe the power of eight dragons couldn't beat Acnologia. Yet the power of seven fire dragons can get the job done? No dice.

His importance in the sequel is to be noted. It certainly was a shock to see him come back. However, I don't think anyone was clamoring for this former member of the Spriggan Twelve to come back into the series. Brandish and DiMaria were more popular characters. I'd take my chances with the Dragneels coming back again. (You can tell this is a personal list.)

We have another fakeout in this list of death fakeouts because we have Igneel, Metallicana, Grandeeny, Skidarum, and Weisslogia. That's right, I'm putting all the dragons on this spot. This is another spot that feels like cheating because they did die all those years ago. All we saw was their last spurt of energy. That was enough to go toe to toe with Acnologia and destroy all the Face statues.

I want to like this one more. This was one of the best moments in the series. Still, I can't say that it makes sense for them to be back. I appreciate that this was hinted at, but the hints were cryptic. I'm glad the dragons destroyed the Dragon Seeds and Natsu's dreams. I can't put them any higher in good conscience.

I wish this next one was at the bottom, but I can't lie. I hate what happened to Ultear. I've talked about that much already. Last Ages might be the only thing I hate more than Nalu in Fairy Tail. That said, I can't act like it makes no sense to exist or that the results are shocking.

I can say that I'm annoyed by the future implications of this moment. I'd rather Ultear not be an active character in the series than see what's happened. Whenever I see Ultear do something, I can't tell if Mashima regrets his decision or is doubling down on it. This isn't anywhere frequent enough to piss me off more.

I'm going to throw Deliora next on this list. I'm not sure who counts for this list anymore. Let's start with the positives. His death was very well explained. The plot to revive him was interesting. 

However, this arc is among my least favorite in the series because of what happens when the ice melts. Outside of a version-dependent last roar, Deliora was always dead. While Moon Drip and Deliora's legacy matters moving forward, the real Deliora doesn't.

We're in the bottom three now. Fitting that the only man to be guild master three times is up next. Makarov's situation is a bit too weird. He only survived based on the technicality of Tenrou Island joining the continent when he went out. You probably didn't know that was a part of the deal. That's right. The only reason this can be justified isn't even common knowledge.

Honestly, there wasn't enough reason for Makarov to come back. The benefit to his return is that Erza can go on the Century Quest without worrying about being the guild master. I know that the Ghost Dragon Slayer was part of the guild, but that's not enough reason for him to not have passed leadership to the next generation.

This is another shocking addition to this list, but our second to last person is Kageyama. Technically, he was the first instance of this happening in Fairy Tail. During the Lullaby mission, he was about to free them from Erigor's trap, but he was stabbed before he could do anything. I could see this argued as not truly being a death fakeout. However, I'm counting it because it wouldn't make sense to interpret his absence as not being a death. Then again, we are talking about him here.

You could also argue that his situation isn't as bad as other characters we've mentioned. However, he earns this spot because, by coming back, he causes more problems for the Strongest Team. Let's get this out of the way. Natsu should have left him in the trap, regardless of his feelings. But by being brought along, he betrays the group's tenuous trust in him and endangered guild masters from all over the land. If he threatened them, I'd bump him higher on this list. He served as a glorified delivery boy. Erigor could have been in the same place as him, fought Natsu, and lost. Nothing serious would have been lost.

But he's not the worst. The undisputed worst death fakeout was only ever going to one person. You know her. You love her, but nowhere near as much as she loves Gray. That's right, Juvia's death fakeout is the worst. (I can hear the Gruvians coming for me from a mile away.)

I've also discussed this situation too much for any person's sanity to be intact. But let's review what we've gone through in this list. Some character's death (fake or otherwise) makes sense, but not the return. For others, the return is pretty sensible, but not the death. Many characters are saved by their relevance after the fact. Whatever the case, some aspect of their situation has reasonable logic. The best characters make sense on all accounts.

Juvia's in a league all her own. Juvia's death was under ridiculous circumstances that strained believability. Her return was arguably just as bad, if not worse. I've heard plenty of people talk smack about Lisanna's comeback. You can't tell me with a straight face that this is better. At least people didn't expect Lisanna to return at all, least of all the chapter after she was revealed to have died. That would be enough to earn this spot on its own.

What cements it for me is that Mashima decided to shoehorn her into nearly every arc of the sequel. I won't go so far as to say I wish Juvia was dead so the ship wouldn't happen. But is Juvia living to fuel one of Mashima's sloppiest ships ever to head towards being canon that good a tradeoff? By the way, this whole situation shaped Gruvia's current trajectory. Considering that happens to be one of the worst things about the sequel, I feel comfortable putting this return at the bottom of this list.

Let me know what you think. If I left anyone on this list, I'd be shocked to find out.