#so i'd pay to see their reaction to everything in the morning

[n3bismel]

[foxintheferns]

I'd love to see Jacob with a single mama. I'd love it if he imprinted on her while she's playing with her little one on the beach. She could be Charlie's niece who he helped move to Forks to give her a fresh start with the little one. I'm thinkin the kiddo is about 1-2, old enough to walk/play in the sand but still young. I can see Jacob being the best papa ever and the pack just LOVING on the kid <3 Please and thank you! <3

Thank you so much for your patience with this one! Because I made you wait so long, I made it a long one <3. Loved writing such sweet lil fluffy stuff. Please enjoy :)

A/N: AU where Jacob and Bella aren’t toxic & weirdly obsessed with each other, and he has his own life and experiences outside of her! Period.

HOME

You sat on the sand with Lydia between your legs, her wispy, silky auburn hair blowing between your fingers with each soft gust of the salty breeze. You faced the ocean, La Push beach surrounding you in all of its striking glory.

Lydia babbled as she played with the sand, her back to you and her arms and legs quite literally covered in the granules. It would be her second birthday in two months, and you couldn’t understand where the time had gone. She grew so quickly, her chunky little arms and legs getting longer by the day, and you wished desperately that you could pause time.

Your ex boyfriend Noah, Lydia’s father, hadn’t wanted much to do with the raising of his child.

You looked down at the side of her sweet face, the buttery soft skin of her cheek glowing with the orange light of the afternoon. It was despicable that anyone could not want to love this tiny human, you thought, that anyone would even consider leaving her by choice. But that was exactly what Noah had done. His booze and his gambling was far too important to him to bother with the raising of a small child.

It made you angry; you felt a relentless and almost violently intense need to protect her. From everything ugly and awful and false in this world, even if that meant her own father. He had never treated you right, always gone for nights at a time doing who knows what with God knows who. The pregnancy had been an accident, but his reaction was not what you’d expected. He’d seemed to be on-board at first, but was never there for you during your difficult pregnancy. You thought back to how your muscles had ached as you were on all fours scrubbing the bathroom floor that one Saturday night, seven months pregnant and inconceivably exhausted. He had come home after being gone for two days, reeking of liquor and barely having time to slur out his angry question of what you were planning on making for dinner before he’d passed out on the living room couch.

You had been expecting Lydia’s birth to snap him back to reality, to throw things into perspective for him. But the man you had practically grown up with, together since 18, had missed her birth.

“Got caught up at work,” had been his excuse when he showed up at the hospital the next morning. Even the labor and delivery nurse had thrown him a glare.

When Lydia was 3 months old, you were forced to go part-time at the job you’d loved, the one that could actually lead somewhere. Without Noah’s help, childcare was next to impossible. Your neighbor, Jess, a stay at home mom of three, was kind enough to babysit Lydia with her own children for a few days out of the week, but you felt awful not being able to pay her much, if anything, most weeks.

After over a year of trying, of desperately hoping and yearning for the man you had once loved to be a father to your sweet girl, you’d finally thrown in the towel. Noah had made it clear that he had no interest in being a dad, and in one of his more blacked-out stupors, had even remarked that if the two of you hadn’t gotten pregnant, things would’ve been easier. Better.

Noah had been gone 11 days, his longest absence yet.

You’d packed your minimal belongings, gathering Lydia’s too and putting them into her tiny suitcase with strawberries on it.

Your mom had passed when you were 16, and your dad was very much like Noah. Oh, how patterns repeat themselves. You didn’t have much of a support system to fall back on when shit hit the fan.

The one person you knew would answer if you called was your Mom’s brother, Charlie.

“(Y/N)?,” his gruff, tired voice had come through the phone that early Tuesday morning. You knew it was probably only 4am in Forks, where he was, but he’d still answered the phone.

“Uncle Charlie…,” you’d whimpered shakily, “I-….”

You didn’t even know where to begin. Uncle Charlie had always been so good to you, checking in and asking how Lydia was frequently. He’d been one of the few people you’d called to share the exciting news of your pregnancy with, and had been ecstatic, urging that you come visit him and your cousin Bella as soon as you could.

“What’s goin’ on? You okay?”, His voice had become suddenly alarmed, and you’d heard the shuffling in the background of him getting up and out of his bed.

Leaving with Lydia was something you’d been wanting to do for a while, but you didn’t think you could actually follow through with it. Saying it out loud felt impossible.

“I need your help,” you’d whispered, your voice low and on the verge of breaking.

That was two weeks ago now.

You sat on the soft sand with Lydia, her tiny fingers gripping your leg for support as she pulled herself up, and you thought back to the fear you’d felt that day. Charlie had immediately paid for a plane ticket for you and Lydia to fly up to Port Angeles. He didn’t waste a moment in inviting you to come stay with him. He’d been clearly enraged, barely hiding his distaste for Noah’s behaviors once you’d let the floodgates open and told him everything you’d been hiding for months.

“Jesus, (y/n). I thought you guys were doing good…I thought he was different, honey. I’m so sorry, kid,” Charlie had spoken into the phone after the words pouring from your mouth had finally come to a halt once you’d gotten him caught up on the current status of your relationship with your baby’s father. You hadn’t realized it, but you’d been hiding it from practically everyone. Your cousin Bella texted you often, and she knew some of the details of how absent Noah had become, but even she didn’t know the extent of it. You were a single mother, from the moment Lydia was conceived, you’d accepted that. Noah was never a dad to her.

“Mama! San!” Lydia’s tiny voice shrieked out as she grabbed a fistful of sand and threw it in front of her, some of it spraying in the breeze and landing across your chest and arms. She tentatively waited for your reaction. Her eyes scanned your face, her pink cheeks pulled into an ecstatic smile. You laughed, shaking your head, and wiped the rough granules off of your skin as you nodded at her.

“Yes, sand!” You picked up a handful of it, holding it out to show her and letting it spill through your fingers. She shrieked again, excited by your intentional dropping of the sand, and jumped several times, her little legs barely able to lift her half an inch off the ground.

You’d been down at the beach in La Push almost every day now. You’d gotten settled in to the extra bedroom at the Swan’s house, and you couldn’t help but feel like a burden, so you went out with Lydia often. Charlie and Bella had insisted, several times, that they were grateful to have the two of you. That they didn’t feel burdened by your presence. A toddler definitely wasn’t the quietest or most polite house guest, but Lydia was truly the best thing you’d ever done, and you prided yourself that you’d managed to raise such a good tiny human all on your own.

She was kind, and gentle. She loved animals, she loved making new friends. She watched the world around her with curious and eager eyes, anxious to explore and see and feel. She laughed and laughed and laughed; she was the giggliest baby you’d ever seen.

Bella offered to watch her whenever you needed a break, and you hadn’t asked for one yet. She was practically begging to babysit Lydia at this point, which had surprised even her; she wasn’t much of a kid person.

You didn’t want a break. You were soaking up this time with your little one as much as you could. You felt free, for the first time in a long time.

The beach felt like home now, and Lydia seemed to think so too. Every time you walked with her down the dirt path toward the beach, she would screech and try her best to run towards the glistening ocean. You’d been at the beach now for an hour or two, and you reached into your bag to pull out more baby sunscreen for her.

“Lyd, come ‘ere babe.” You reached out, gently pulling her to you, and her eyes landed on the pink bottle of sunscreen. She knew the drill at this point, and gingerly leaned against you as you rubbed the cream across her tiny little shoulders and arms. She giggled and smiled as the cold sunscreen landed on her skin.

“Eeee!” She cried, slapping her small hands against your leg as she pulled her face away in protest to you trying to spread the sunscreen across her cheeks. She still stood in place though, squeezing her eyes shut and pouting as you rubbed it in.

“Thank you, baby. Such a good girl,” you cooed as you snapped the lid of the sunscreen closed and placed a kiss on the tip of her little nose. You continued to pepper her face with smooches until she was a screeching, giggling mess on the sand, her arms and legs flailing every which way. You tickled her, both of you laughing loud enough for the sound to travel over the noise of the rolling waves hitting the beach.

After the tickle attack came to an end, you grabbed some strawberries and blueberries from your bag, pulling open the Tupperware container and holding it out to Lydia. Her eyes lit up (strawberries are her all time fave) and she eagerly grabbed at the berries with both hands. After several minutes of snacking, her mouth and face was stained pink and red, and her fingers were sticky. The sand was still warm, although the breeze was starting to cool off a bit.

“Let’s walk, yeah Lyddi?,” you asked, getting up from your large towel and brushing the sand off of your legs. She bounced around beside the towel, falling a few times onto the soft sand as she lost her balance. You held your hand out and smiled down at her, waiting for her to meet your eyes. She reached out without hesitation, allowing you to envelope her tiny hand in yours, and let you lead her down towards the water.

You walked across the gentle waves, only going far enough so that the incoming swells flowed across your feet and ankles. With each wave hitting the shore, Lydia giggled and gripped your hand firmly, picking her feet up as quickly as she could to run from the water as it approached, only to run back towards it when it receded. You bent down, releasing her hand to skim the ocean water, wetting your fingers to clean the berry juice from her face.

As you were wiping your thumb across the soft skin of her chin, you saw her eyes flicker to something behind you, down the beach. Her gaze was intent and focused, and you glanced over your shoulder to see what managed to catch her constantly fleeting attention. A group of four tall men coming down the beach, kicking a soccer ball amongst their group. Their laughter was just reaching your ears now, and they were coming close enough that you were able to make out their faces.

They were quite large, and all but one of them were shirtless. The image rang a bell: they looked like they could be some of the Quileute boys you’d heard Bella mention were her close friends. You knew the beach was on the local Quileute reservation, but it’d been relatively empty in the days you and Lydia had been spending there, and you’d only seen random tourists walking along the beach occasionally. Bella had complained jokingly to you that these friends of hers were annoyingly always shirtless, impossibly large and tall, and that her boyfriend Edward wasn’t the biggest fan of them.

You smiled when one of them looked down the beach towards you and Lydia, and he seemed to return a polite smile at first, but his face melted into an odd expression when your eyes met. It was an indecipherable look. A look you didn’t understand.

He stopped walking, his body halting while his friends continued to move down the beach ahead of him. For a moment, it almost seemed like he was about to wave or come towards you, as if he recognized you like an old friend. The peculiar expression lingered for a moment before he pulled his eyes away quickly, and you saw his mouth moving as he seemed to speak swiftly to the men around him. His friends stopped walking as well, all turning to face him with bewildered expressions. The eye contact between you had been longer than a typical interaction with a stranger, but you felt oddly unalarmed. You were struck with an odd sensation that felt like you recognized him too.

He was the tallest of the group, his shoulders wide & strong. His frame was long and lean, and he happened to be the only one wearing a shirt, though it was a black cut off tank that didn’t cover much of his chiseled musculature underneath. You brushed the encounter off as random and probably explainable, trying to ignore the odd and unfamiliar sensation that prickled across your entire body like electricity.

You turned back to Lydia, but her curious eyes were still locked on the group behind you, wonder filling her face. A smile crept onto your lips as you watched her blink, her long lashes framing her wide eyes. She was beautiful. She was always so curious, so interested. Strangers made her nervous, like any two year old, though, which is why you were utterly bewildered when she broke away from your grasp and started toddling down the shore towards the group of men. You shot up from your lowered position, chasing after her.

“Lydia!” you called, your feet picking up pace.

It was amazing just how fast a two year old could be when they suddenly decided they had a destination in mind. You caught her under the armpit just as she almost fell across the wet sand in her run, and your knees hit the soft sand as you almost fell yourself. You panted, holding onto her and unable to stifle back a laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

“What the heck! Lyd-,” you started, looking up from where you grasped her. She was frozen, staring up at something.

She’d managed to close the distance between the two of you and the men, quickly enough that the soccer ball they’d been passing around as they came down the beach was only feet away now. You followed her gaze, and saw two large hands come down to swiftly pick up the ball. Your eyes moved up more still, until they landed on the face of the man you’d just locked eyes with moments before.

His gentle brown eyes were wide, his jaw slack and his expression yet again incomprehensible. You still had a smile on your face, and his eyes flicked down to your grin, the corners of his own mouth lifting up slightly. He gestured toward you with the arm that held the soccer ball.

“You’re, uh, Bella’s cousin?” The sound of his voice was rough and deep. Your grin faltered to make way for the suprised expression that came across your face.

“Oh, uh, yeah! Um, you know Bella?” You asked, taking the brief moment to get back up onto your feet and readjust the flowy fabric of your sundress that had gotten ruffled up in the capturing of your tiny escapee. You still held Lydia’s hand, and she stayed unmoving by your side, watching the tall man with the same awed expression. A grin spread across his face, and his eyes maintained the same electric glow they’d had from the moment you’d looked at him.

“Bella’s one of my best friends, yeah. She’s told me a lot about you…and… uh Lydia, right?” He spoke gently, his eyes glancing down at the tiny human to your right. You looked down at her, too, and she smiled timidly up at the man, stepping slightly behind your leg shyly. You beamed back at him, nodding and running your fingers through the soft silky baby hair on the top of Lydia’s head.

“Yeah, this is Lydia,” you replied, ruffling her hair until a soft giggle fell from her lips.

“I’m Jacob Black,” he glanced beyond him briefly and jerked his thumb over his shoulder, “those are my buddies Quil, Embry, and Jared. You’re (Y/N)?”

You glanced briefly over to the other three men, though they were now immersed in their own mumbled conservation several yards away; one of them was watching you with interest and flashed a warm smile back at you.

You nodded, turning back to Jacob.

“That’s me,” you answered with a shrug and a smile. When you met his gaze again, his eyes were intense, almost pained, his pupils wide. That electric feeling ran through you again. The eye contact between the two of you lingered each and every time it occurred, as if it was an inconvenience to pull away from it for both of you. Jacob knelt down on one knee, tucking the soccer ball under his arm. His eyes only broke away from yours to glance down at Lydia, who was still watching him intently from her place next to your leg.

“Hi, Lydia, it’s nice to meet you,” he murmured gently, “I’m Jacob.”

There was a hesitation, and you were just about to encourage Lydia to say hello to Jacob, but to your surprise she broke away from you once more, ambling across the sand and reaching her arms out towards the soccer ball Jacob held under his arm. In her uncoordinated stumbling over the sand, she started to fall forwards. Before you could even begin to reach to catch her, one of Jacob’s large hands came out in a flash to support her, stopping her mid fall.

“Woah, buddy, careful there!” He exclaimed, a chuckle coming from his chest.

At the sound of his laughter, your baby beamed up at him, her expression suddenly delighted, and after a moment, a giggle erupted from her own little body.

Your eyes widened, shocked as you watched her laugh, Jacob’s large hand still holding her up off the sand. His eyes flickered to you as you broke into surprised laughter as well, and soon the three of you were a giggling mess. Lydia adored making adults laugh. It was the phase she was currently in: to laugh at everything anyone deemed amusing, and it was common that she would even fake laugh to get you to laugh, which would often result in a real fit of hysterics from the both of you

You were astonished that she’d warmed to a stranger so quickly, especially such a large man - a category of human that toddlers tend to decide is terrifying for no reason.

As the afternoon started to bleed into evening, you and Lydia got to know your new friends. Lydia was very opposed to moving away from them, interested in the soccer ball and jumping around in the sand. Jacob continued to stare intently at you every moment that his eyes weren’t required to be on something else, and you didn’t mind it. His energy was warm and gentle, and even his friends seemed to find his behavior entertaining, chuckling and whispering to eachother every time Jacob’s eyes lingered on you for a few seconds too long. You couldn’t help but feel the heat rush to your face with his stares. You hadn’t really felt this noticed by someone, a man, in what felt like forever. And he was absolutely noticing you. He was doing more than notice you. He was ogling at you, drinking the sight of you in like fresh air for a suffocating man. His eyes turned gentle and soft whenever they fell upon Lydia, and he spent the time as the two of you spoke truly attending to her and her endless toddler games, showing earnest interest in the shells she had picked up and started to stack on one of his feet.

“Oooh, wow, now that one’s pretty. Definitely my favorite one yet.” He carefully examined the newest purple shell Lydia had found and handed to him for inspection. She smiled and clenched her fists in excitement, eagerly racing to find more shells in the sand to bring to him.

His eyes slowly found their way back to yours as you sat beside one another. You smiled softly, and he returned it, the smile reaching his eyes and crinkling them gently.

There it was again, that electricity.

Six Months Later

It had been a whirlwind, these past six months. Meeting Jacob Black had changed life entirely for you and your daughter. After that night on the beach, you, Charlie and Bella had visited the Blacks’ home a few times, joining them for bonfires and pizza dinners whenever a hockey game was on tv. Bella seemed adamant that you visit Jacob often, even Charlie seemed surprised with how eagerly she encouraged you to join them and hang out with the Quileute boys. You’d met Jacob’s father, who seemed to welcome you into his family without hesitation within moments of meeting you. He had peered at you with an intensely inquisitive expression, something that reminded you of the odd gut feeling you hadn’t been able to shake…that your new acquaintances were far more interesting than they let on. There was just something about them, and it felt like a secret club you were looking in on, one that caused the hushed, private conversations that seemed to happen frequently in their presence. You’d spoken to Bella about your encounter with her friend right after that first night on the beach. As the rest of that week had passed, Bella had begun acting suspiciously around you. Within days of her odd avoidant behavior, she finally sat you down to tell you things that challenged your perception of the world, forever.

Vampires and werewolves.

Insanity, right?

Bella had explained her relationship with Edward, and you hadn’t believed it at first.

Like, at all. Who would?

In fact, you thought she’d been completely off her rocker, crazy.

That was, until she’d claimed that Jacob had something to do with it, too.

“You need to go talk to Jacob,” she’d urged, “only he can explain what you need to know.”

You’d been absolutely confused, unsure what Jacob Black had to do with anything, especially with this absurd tale of vampires.

“I’ll watch Lydia. Go,” she’d insisted, practically pushing you out the front door. You were insanely curious; you’d never had any reason to question Bella’s mental competence before, and with her frantic efforts to get you to talk to Jacob, you had to know what this was all about. You still of course doubted the absurd story, but wanted to get to the root of the craziness, naturally.

When you’d arrived at the Black’s house, it seemed Jacob was expecting you, and he’d grabbed your hand gently, pulling you towards his little makeshift garage in the back.

You’d spent hours with him that night. Jacob had tried, while his eyes watered and his voice shook nervously, to explain the wildly unbelievable, and yet somehow completely sensical and validating reality of his ancestral destiny.

“I know, (y/n). Please, believe me, I know this sounds crazy,” he’d said as he anxiously paced across the garage, his eyes flashing to your face for your reaction.

You’d shaken your head, trying to connect the dots in your mind. It matched up with the absurd story Bella had told you, only this time he was speaking of wolves, wolves with the instinctual duty to protect from the supposed vampires Bella become involved with deeply. Wolves that were not wolves, but men. Men that included Jacob and his friends.

“Come with me,” he’d finally insisted sternly as you’d silently refused to accept the words he spoke, staring at him dumbfoundedly.

He’d led you outside, to the dark treeline, and placed his hands up in front of him before you could protest.

“Listen, I know this is gonna be hard to see, (y/n). I didn’t wanna have to do this but I need you to understand. There’s so much more to this world than you think there is. Please,” he’d begged, pulling you into a tight hug, his eyes wildly urging yours to listen to him, his shaky voice reducing to a whisper against your hair, “I understand if you never, ever want to be a part of this. But you deserve to know.”

You’d shaken your head, bewildered.

“What are you talking about, Jake?”

He stood back and started to pull his pants down, and your eyes widened, your eyebrow cocking up in confusion. A smile flashed across his lips.

“Remember what I just told you. I’d never hurt you, okay?”

Your mind flickered to the story he’d just spent the last hour telling you, but your brain simply wouldn’t allow you to defy logic to consider the possibility that the man was truly actually about to turn into a wolf.

And yet, you stood there with your jaw slacked open and your eyes wide, your body frozen as he stepped back several feet, his body twitching and trembling and twisting oddly before…

A ripping sound rang out, a wildly violent sound that came from deep within his body. The sound echoed against the trees, before it fell hauntingly silent across the dark backyard. Within less than a moment, a massive red brown wolf was standing before you, his huge head only inches away from your face.

Your mind didn’t comprehend the sight, the reality too unreal and too intangible to wrap around and understand. Those same brown eyes you’d come to know and feel safe in stared back at you intently from the massive wolf’s face.

It was the last image you remembered before you’d fallen to the ground, slipping into a shock driven unconsciousness.

When you’d woken, you had been in Jacob’s bed, an ice pack being gently repeatedly pressed to your forehead and neck.

It had been a rude awakening, but one that had forced open your eyes to a world that quickly became home for you, lifting the veil of reality that you’d come know.

Jacob’s next explanation was that of the concept of imprinting. That night, after you’d settled and moved out of your state of shock, started speaking real words again, Jacob expressed why he felt it was necessary to expose you to his world. He’d explained the ancient way of imprinting, what it meant for him, what it meant for you. That first day on the beach, the way he’d look at you, that electricity. It all made sense now.

“It’s you, (y/n). Now that you’re here, I will follow you anywhere. Even if you don’t want to be part of this, I’ll always protect you and Lydia from afar. Always. I can’t imagine a world anymore without you, a life without you. The moment I saw you, I felt it. My heart was yours,” he’d murmured, his arms around you as he rubbed your back to calm your tremors that had come across your body as you tried desperately to adjust to your entirely new concept of existence.

That felt so long ago, now. You’d met the Cullens soon after you were welcomed into the world of the supernatural, joining Bella in her secretive lifestyle of hiding the direct truth from Charlie, only letting him in on what he absolutely needed to know. Charlie was over the moon that you and Jacob got together; he pissed Bella off with how openly he approved of your relationship with Jacob over hers with Edward. Jacob didn’t feel right having you live in a spare bedroom at the Swan house, and had practically demanded you move into a home on the reservation with him. He’d jokingly insisted that it wasn’t his fault, that the imprint had forced him to need you in his sight at all times. You didn’t resist, elated to finally feel welcome in a home with your Lydia. And it wasn’t hard - Jacob made that incredibly simple. He so openly loved Lydia nearly as much as he loved you. Sometimes, you wondered how deeply the imprinting had impacted him. He accepted it and took it on with respect. He never pressured you to be anything but there, in his life. He didn’t seem to mind in the slightest or even really notice how slowly you were allowing him into your heart. The relationship you had with Jacob had begun as a deep and true friendship, but the imprint connection was impossible to ignore, and there was undeniable attraction you felt for him, even beyond his beautifully kind heart and spirit. You held hands constantly, even before you’d established any sort of romantic connection. The first night Jacob had kissed you, you’d expressed your hesitation at pulling him into your life. You’d gotten used to men not wanting much to do with a single mom, after Noah had made it clear that you and Lydia were essentially a burden in his life. You were scared, not only for your own heart, but for Lydia’s. You couldn’t bear to bring another man into her life only for him to reject her like her father had. But Jacob? He’d adamantly refused to let your anxieties overcome you. He loved you, he’d insisted. All of you. Lydia was part of you. So, he loved her. It was that simple to him. He was often just as anxious when Lydia was out of his sight as when you were.

You remember the first time Lydia had called Jake ‘Dada’, several months after you’d been exposed to this world of fantasy. Lydia had gotten so comfortable with him, more comfortable than she’d been with any person, besides you, before. She babbled with excitement every time she heard you or Charlie or Bella mention him, and begged to see him frequently. Once you’d moved into the small red house with Jacob, she’d jump and squeal every time his truck pulled into the driveway at the end of the day.

That day she first said the word, you’d nervously glanced at his face, searching for his response.

She’d been holding his hand, walking along the shore at La Push. It was winter by this point, but Lydia needed her regular beach walk, and was bundled in her tiny red puffer jacket and white hat. She’d stooped down to pick up a shell, gripping it in her small fist, and jerked her hand out to him, dropping the shell into his hand.

“Dada!” She’d squealed as she waited for his approval of the shell.

His eyes had lit up and an expression of utter shock, which had quickly shifted into ecstatic bliss, moved across his features. His eyes had flashed to yours, and he clearly struggled, with everything in him, to hold back a massive grin. He was unsure of your reaction. Your eyes had melted back at him, and you were completely unable to resist the smile that crossed your lips. His dark eyes had turned glossy, and he’d looked back down at Lydia’s impatiently waiting face as she’d stared up at him, grasping the shell and embracing her in a massive bear hug. She’d laughed and shrieked, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck.

At Lydia’s 2nd birthday party, the whole pack had celebrated with you and Jacob at Billy’s house. The rest of the boys had happily taken on the role of proud uncles, practically fighting over who could hold her whenever you brought her over.

Life was peaceful, and you’d taken on a job at the La Push Farmer’s market. Childcare was a breeze now: on any given day while you were at work, either Sue & Charlie or Emily would eagerly babysit Lydia if Jacob was out on patrol or working his shift as a mechanic at the local bike shop. Lydia now had a family that was larger and more loving than you could have ever dreamed for her.

And you couldn’t ignore the fateful gift that you’d received too. Jacob Black was yours, and you were his. And you knew that, without a single doubt, he’d protect you and your daughter with relentless fervor for the rest of your lives.

You were safe. You were loved.

You were home.

[doki-doki-imagines]

Hey can I request the lin keui trio +earthrealm defenders reaction to y/n asking them to eat pineapple to make their cum taste better

author note: the snort I snorted. I suppose this is a sequel to this request. No actions are described. I'm dying this request killed me LMAOOO.

Johnny Cage: -Why is his smile getting so big? Why does it look so wicked? -"Oh, dear-" Johnny purrs out, walking towards you with open arms "I already have the perfect diet to taste delicious." -He doesn't hug you but gets dangerously close, his figure imposing in front of yours. -"Your memory must be playing trick to you-" His lips close to your ear, hot breath sending shivers down your spine, making you arch your body towards his chest. "Let's try it again? Just to remind you how delicious I am."

Kenshi Takahashi: -If he was drinking, he spits. If he wasn't, he coughs, choking on his saliva. -Kenshi knows that he doesn't taste like peaches and everything nice, but… is he that bad? -Nobody ever complained. -Kenshi will act annoyed, dropping the topic the second you bring it up. -Doesn't mean he won't start drinking the juice at any occasion he isn't with you. Kenshi cares about his partner.

Raiden: -His face gets so pale when you tell him that. You were worried he was going to pass out. -If only Raiden likes pineapple… -He gags every time he tastes it. -Raiden wouldn't mind trying different ways, but please no pineapples. -Or he'll just go down on you forever. -One of the few cases where your partner wouldn't mind if you never go down on him.

Kung Lao: -"Dunno what you are talking about. When I kissed you, I tasted fine." -1HKO. -Lao is a teasing shit, but he doesn't mind changing diet to make you happy. -You are lucky this guy eats everything. Ask Raiden. He had to pay for shit that he didn't even think could be cooked.

Liu Kang: -"Don't joke, dear one." "What do you mean? I'm not joking." "With Godhood you get many pros, you know?" "So what? They gave you amazing tasting semen?" "I'd say holy and delicious." "Oh God, Liu Kang!" "You don't need to call me twice." -You lost. Accept it. -Liu Kang will kiss your forehead to sweeten your loss.

Geras: -He knows about this stuff, but Geras thought he already had a good and balanced diet. -He accepts without making a fuss about it. -And maybe go even further, looking in the future to see if there are ways to make it taste even better to you.

Bi-Han: -You told him during breakfast, he choke on his tea. -His brain barely works and you start talking about his cum??? -"You seemed to enjoy it very much both yesterday night and the times before." "But-" "Don't you say another word." -But the damage is done, a woodworm penetrating his head and not leaving Bi-Han alone. -Maybe, for you, he'll do it.

Kuai Liang: -He looks at you, cheeks red and mouth opening and closing like a fish out of the water. -Okay?? Liang will do it because he loves you. -But also, did you have to ask for lunch? With the risk of Tomas and Harumi hearing! -For sure he's gonna ask if something changed the next time you go at it. -The next morning btw.

Tomas Vrbada: -Flat line, he has a poker face but it doesn't seem like he is breathing? You are more worried about his health now. -Tomas just didn't expect this? But he doesn't mind drinking it to make your experience more enjoyable. -Now since you complained once, Tomas has something to say too… -A good relationship includes talking after all, right?

[snowysosturn]

Speeding Car - Matt Sturniolo Part 27

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29

Pairing : y/n x Matt Sturniolo

Summary : After six years with your boyfriend Alex, you start to mentally check out. At a UCLA party, Alex reconnects with his childhood friend Emily, who proposes a double date with her boyfriend Matt. Your attraction to Matt grows as he pays you the first real attention you've had in years, sparking a complicated emotional journey.

Warnings : MDNI, angst, tension, anxiety, mentions of memory loss, suspicion

I didn’t get much sleep that night. Every time I closed my eyes, my mind raced with thoughts about Y/n. Being around her again, especially knowing how much she’s forgotten, made me feel on edge. I couldn’t stop thinking about tomorrow, about being in close quarters with her again, pretending everything was fine when it clearly wasn’t. I rolled over and picked up my phone, the time showing 8:49am, eleven minutes before my alarm was about to go off. I gave up on trying to sleep. I got up, dressed, and went to my desk. Sitting on the corner was a small, dainty gold hoop earring, a few tiny diamonds glinting in the morning light. Y/n’s earring. I never got the chance to give it back to her before everything fell apart.

Picking it up, I rubbed the cold metal between my fingers, feeling the weight of what it symbolized. It could be an olive branch, maybe a way to start over. To give it back to her now, with everything that’s happened, felt like a small gesture. A way of saying I remember. I shoved it in my jean pocket, figuring I'd find the right moment later.

When I walked into the kitchen, Chris, Nick, and Y/n were stood talking casually by the counter. They were already dressed, waiting to go out for breakfast. The moment I stepped in, Y/n glanced up, and our eyes met for a brief second. She gave me a shy, half smile, and I nodded back, trying to keep my expression neutral. But inside, my stomach twisted. It was like being punched in the gut, seeing her like this, so close but still so distant.

Chris was complaining about being hungry, tapping his foot impatiently. "C’mon, let’s go already" he whined, tossing my keys to me.

Nick laughed. "Alright, alright, we're leaving now."

We all piled into the car, Y/n slipping into the backseat behind me. I could feel the tension between us, even if no one else could. It wasn’t awkward, but it wasn’t comfortable either. I felt like a stranger being around her, even though there was so much history between us, history she didn’t even remember.

As we drove off, I tried to focus on the road, but my mind kept drifting back to Y/n, wondering how this day would go, if I’d find the right moment to give her the earring, and what her reaction would be. Would she remember it? Would it mean anything to her? Or was it just another piece of the past she’d forgotten?

I drove to the cafe, the one Nick insisted on, and the same spot we’d gone a few weeks ago, the morning after Y/n and I gave in to each other. The Nook is what its called. The memories of that morning hit me hard as I pulled into the parking lot, the intimacy of the place now a heavy weight on my chest. It wasn’t just about being close to her, it was about the vulnerability it brought, the emotions I couldn’t hide.

We all piled into a booth, Nick and Chris were already chatting and flipping through menus, while I stayed quiet, lost in thought. Y/n sat directly across from me. It was different than last time, almost symbolic of how distant things felt now. Back then, she was right beside me, laughing and smiling, my hand sneakily on her thigh. Now, it was as though a wall had been built between us, one I wasn’t sure how to break down.

Y/n stood up, interrupting my thoughts. "Where’s the bathroom?" she asked, glancing between Chris and me. Nick gave her directions, and just before she left, she looked back, almost hesitating. "If the waitress comes, can you order me the-"

"Blueberry pancakes." we both said at the same time.

Fuck.

The shock on her face mirrored the panic in my chest. I knew. Of course I knew. Those were her favorite. I remembered every detail, every small thing about her, but the fact that it came out so naturally hit me like a punch to the gut.

“How did you know that’s what I wanted?” she asked, her voice soft, laced with confusion.

I froze for a second, my mind racing for something to say that wouldn’t give me away. I couldn’t tell her the truth, not here, not now. So I forced a casual shrug, avoiding her eyes. “I… remember you got them with Nick once.. I’m just good at remembering people’s orders.”

She furrowed her brows, clearly not satisfied with the answer but too polite to push it further. “Oh.. that’s nice, I guess..” she muttered, then turned and headed to the bathroom.

The moment she was gone, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Nick and Chris were still chatting, oblivious to the tension that had wrapped itself around me like a vice.

Why did I say that? Why couldn’t I just tell her the truth? Every time she was near me, my instincts were to protect, to care for her, but how could I do that when she didn’t even remember who I was, who we were? And now she was asking how I knew something so personal about her, something that only someone close would know.

I leaned back against the booth, running my hands through my hair. This wasn’t sustainable. Playing it cool, pretending that things were normal when everything inside me screamed to tell her the truth. But I couldn’t. I had to keep my distance. For her sake, for mine. Even though it killed me to do so.

Nick nudged me, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You good, man?"

“Yeah” I mumbled, faking a smile. “Just thinking.”

About a million things. None of which I could say out loud.

We sat there waiting for Y/n to return, but in the silence, all I could think about was how much harder this was getting. Trying to act normal when everything was far from it. And knowing, deep down, that as much as I wanted to tell her everything, I might never get the chance to.

We finished up at the cafe, the awkwardness from earlier still lingering. I could barely focus on my food, my mind stuck on that moment with Y/n and the damn blueberry pancakes. Why did I have to say anything? The drive back was quiet, mostly just Chris tracking Nate’s flight on his phone, announcing every update like it was some sort of countdown.

As I drove us toward Y/n’s doctor’s office, I overheard her and Nick talking in the back. She was hopeful she’d be able to get her wrist brace off today, excited about the prospect of returning to “normality.” Or at least what she thought was her normal. One thing she did remember was her job, the retail gig she’d stuck with since she left school. I knew how tough retail could be, and part of me respected her for keeping at it for so long. She even mentioned how excited she was to get back to her first shift today, as long as the doctor gave her the all clear.

I pulled up outside the practice, the conversation dying down as we arrived. Chris was still busy with Nate’s flight updates while Nick and Y/n exchanged goodbyes. Y/n unbuckled her seatbelt, giving everyone a smile before she opened the door. As she stepped out of the car, this overwhelming urge hit me.

“Y/n” I blurted out before I could stop myself. My hands instinctively went to my jean pocket, feeling the small hoop earring I’d been carrying. I wanted to give it back to her. I wanted her to remember. Hoping it was some way to bridge the gap between us.

She leaned back into the car slightly, peering her head through the door. “Yeah?”

I swallowed, my mind racing. Do it, just give it to her, I thought. 

“I hope you get your wrist brace off.”

I bitched it.

That was it.

That was all I could manage.

She smiled, looking genuinely grateful. “Thanks, Matt. I appreciate that.”

Then, she waved goodbye to all of us. “Bye, guys. Have a good day! Tell your friend Nate I’d love to meet him.. if I haven’t already!” she added with a little laugh before closing the door.

I watched her walk toward the entrance of the doctor’s office, and all I could think was how stupid I was. Why didn’t I just say what I wanted to say? Why didn’t I give her the earring or at least have a real conversation with her?

Instead, I sat there, gripping the steering wheel tighter, feeling like an idiot for missing yet another chance to make things right. Chris smacked the back of my seat. “Alright, let's go get Nate.”

But my mind was still back at the café, stuck on everything I hadn’t said.

Y/n’s POV

I left the doctor's office clutching a leaflet for physio exercises and clearance for me to go back to work. My wrist was still a little stiff, but at least it was nothing serious. The brace was off, and now I just needed to get my range of motion back.

As I walked out, I realized I hadn’t heard from Alex all day, which was unusual. He’d usually check in, especially after knowing I had an appointment. So, I shot him a quick message, letting him know I was cleared by the doctor and I should be home soon. The message didn’t deliver, but I figured it was because he was in class or had poor reception.

I ordered an Uber to take me home. God, I missed driving. I couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel again, hopefully Alex would be home by the time I had to go to work so I could drive there. 

The Uber driver pulled up and as we drove to my apartment, I found myself thinking about all the things I had to do once I got back to work - catching up, easing back into shifts, and the usual retail hustle.

When the Uber arrived outside my apartment, I noticed my car was still parked in our assigned space. That was strange. Alex usually took it to college since we share mine. Maybe he carpooled with the guys this morning? I shrugged it off not reading too much into it.

Walking up the steps, I reached into my bag, feeling for my keys. As I got closer to the door, I heard something that made me freeze. Laughter. But not just any laughter, female laughter, coming from inside my apartment.

My heart rate quickened, a wave of unease washing over me. Without thinking, I shoved my key into the lock, the sound of it turning felt so loud in the stillness of the hallway. I opened the door quickly, practically bursting into the room.

And there she was. Emily. Sitting on top of my kitchen table, looking disheveled and far too comfortable. Her hair was a mess, and her face was flushed.

Alex stood just a couple of feet away, by the sink. He looked over at me, and for a split second, his face flickered with something. Guilt? Panic? I couldn't quite tell.

Why the hell was she still here?A knot formed in my stomach, tightening with every second that passed. Something was off, very off.

a/n: 3 more parts left, schedule is here

taglist : @muwapsturniolo @anitahunt @sturnfannn @jayde510 @chrissfavhoe @babyalliah-777 @v33angel l @urmom69lol @willowrites @ribread03 @2muchofaslvt @sturnsaver @sleepysturniolo @jcsturniolo11 @jessie-essie @hoeforchrizz @mynbbys @sturniolopanini @mattsturnxoxo @delicatechrry @t77te @sturnsyaper69 @hotdismylife @maggot3647 @ivysturnss @noplaceissafeanymore @mattssgf @yourfavsturniologirl @maethem0nth @sillyponygrl @mattyblover07 @imjusthereforthesturniolosmut @dominicfikeenthusiast @mattsfavbigtitties @ncm9696 @chrisstvrns @schlutt4matty @lvrsturniolo @chrissolos @ilusa @amelia-sturniolo3 @wonnieeluvvr @pussydestroyer100 @amexiass @mystinkylefttoe26 @lizzysmith110 @sturniololovebot @secret-sturniolo @freshythefishy @witchofthehour @stvrnlover @alizestvrnss @beachbabe000 @pinkdyit @pvssychicken @starkeyszn @manals-life

[coyotes-rules-of-change]

Part 2: Adam

This is part of my first series! If you missed the first part, please feel free to enjoy Part 1: Kellen before you continue on with Adam. In terms of content, this is rather new territory. There is a bit of violent content, bullying, slurs. This is likely to be the only part of this series with that kind of content.

Kellen knew about Adam long before he found himself in academic turmoil. The poor kid was the perfect punching bag. Kellen took pride in the fact that this kid skirted the perimeter of any campus space where he saw any jocks. Unfortunately Adam couldn't avoid Kellen when they lived on the same floor of the residence halls. Even when he'd change schedules or leave out the fire escape stairs instead of the main entrance, Kellen would still manage to find him and insult him, shove him, dump out his backpack, throw him in a trash can—basically everything besides throwing outright punches.

Adam came to the bottom of the fire stairs and found his path blocked by Kellen. All he could do was freeze—his fight or flight reflexes worn down to nothing but paralysis.

"Hey nerd, I need something, and you're gonna do it for me."

Adam continued to quake, unable to muster any further reaction.

Kellen smiles. "Glad to see you won't object. I have a paper due tomorrow in my history class. You're gonna do it for me. Here's the rubric," he balls it up and throws the paper in Adam's face. "I'd better get a good grade."

Kellen punched his fist into his other hand to emphasize his point. "See you tomorrow with the essay, right dweeb?"

"Uh... yes." Adam barely manages to get out. He knew the only way to get out of this was giving in and playing along.

"Just yes? I thought I'd taught you respect by now." Kellen took a menacing step closer.

"Yes, sir." Adam looked down as he said it, hoping it would be enough to appease the menace. He waited for Kellen to say more, but he just laughed and walked away. Adam collapsed on the landing. He'd be late for class again but he needed a few minutes for the fear to leave him.

-------------------------

A week later, Adam is loosing sleep. He already maxed out his workload on his own school schedule and now he had another one—well, it wasn't quite as rigorous as his own work but it was demanding, demeaning, and had to always take priority or... well he didn't wanna find out.

Two weeks later Adam is deep into mid-terms. He barely sleeps, his anxiety has risen steadily, and he was starting to slip on his own workload. His roommate Ben is a nerd like him with ambitions to be valedictorian and president of the student senate, etc.���a much more high-profile brainiac. His campus-wide notariety is probably why he never manages to face the wrath of the school's star jock. Ben sees Adam's mental health slipping and tries to check in on his roommate, but he evades. After a few times, Ben gets more insistent and manages to get the truth out of him.

"But that breaks so many rules. You've gotta turn him in."

"You don't understand, Ben. I don't know what he'd do to me and... it's terrifying." Adam breaks down crying for the third time in the course of the conversation.

"Then I can," Ben volunteers, "and he won't take it out on you."

"You're my roommate. He'd still make me pay for it."

"Then we could—"

Adam shuts down his roommate. "Don't do anything. Please, don't do anything. I can't risk it. There's nothing either of us can do that doesn't result in me facing consequences."

Ben, still visibly not over it, decides to let it go. He leaves for the library so Adam can have the room to himself.

Working late into the night and the early morning, Adam gets all the work done but the conversation with his roommate still weighs on him. It's cheesy, but he even looks out his window at a particularly bright star and wishes he could do something about Kellen, wishes there was some way out. But that was never going to work.

Ben returned at a rather late hour—2:30 am—but Adam was still awake even after his room mate returned and went to bed. He finished up around 4:30am and went to get even just a few hours of sleep.

-------------------------

The next day brought sun and warmth. Adam had no time to take it in or enjoy it as he sent the daily batch of assignments to Kellen that morning before breakfast. The jock would send him a message through Snapchat—since nothing was saved there—telling Adam where to meet, or from time to time, where to drop the assignments. He fell asleep in both his morning classes, one of which was review for the midterm test coming up later in the week. Adam was so defeated and exhausted that he didn't even bother with lunch, choosing instead to head back to his dorm for a nap. He hoped that would help him get through the test he had at 2:30.

Ben returned shortly after. He barged into the room expecting to find it empty and found Adam just drifting off.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't expecting you to be here." Ben said from the doorway.

"Yeah, I just needed a nap. Hopefully I don't get too hungry in my afternoon classes."

Ben clearly wanted to say more. Adam was sure that his roommate was still holding back his urge to do something for him with his Kellen problems, but Adam was grateful Ben decided against bringing anything up. After mulling it over for a moment, Ben settles for a different approach: "I'm getting lunch, but I can bring you something before your next class."

Adam was so tired he could cry and the simple showing of kindness. "That would be great. Maybe a burger?"

Before exiting, Ben left Adam with an obviously coded statement of support. "Adam, you know I would do anything in my power to help you right now." But ultimately Ben seemed to respect Adam's requests to stay out of things with Kellen and ducked out without pushing the matter further.

-------------------------

Adam woke up an hour later feeling quite refreshed. He looked over at his desk and saw Ben had returned at some point with a salad. Adam sat up and looked out the window, taking in the nice weather for the first time. He had a half an hour to kill with some last-minute studying and then he had to pick up some assignments from Kellen before his test.

He sits at his desk, eats the salad, then opens his textbook and class notes... but despite feeling renewed by his nap, the words on the page still danced around like he was tired and he couldn't settle in. He must still need more sleep... or he must want to feel the sunshine before his class. It was just so nice out—of course he was distracted. Maybe he'd benefit more today by "touching grass" instead of cramming—after all, mental health was just as important as studying.

-------------------------

At 2:05, Kellen was ready to shove Adam against a wall. At 2:10, he was ready to throw punches at the little punk. This dweeb was always way too afraid of him to ever show up late, but today Kellen knew he'd have to teach a more impactful lesson since respect had clearly not yet sunk into the mind of this geek. He messaged Adam over Snapchat:

WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!!!

After progressively more threatning messages, he finally gets a response—accompanied for the first time by a photo from Adam.

It was a nice day out Thought I'd go out for a run

Something was seriously off. Since when was Adam a runner? Since when did he take selfies, or wear tank tops. Hell, did he have all that muscle tone before hidden under his conservative clothes, or was that somehow new? Now Kellen was as confused as he was angry.

YOU NEED TO GET HERE NOW!!!

Another response, and another picture from Adam:

oh hehe i totally forgot i can be so dumb sometimes i'll run over to you quick, ive already worked up a sweat i can't wait to see you😜

Kellen was dumbfounded, though not as dumb as the new Adam seemed to be. He was suddenly some homo. This was either an elaborate prank or something fucked up was going on here. Before he could process further, Kellen receives another message:

see u soon daddy

Kellen stared in shock. This was a prank for sure, but he wasn't going to stick around for part 2. Instead, he was going to teach this geeky fucker a lesson tonight—and whoever else helped him with this. No one humiliates and defies him and gets away with it.

-------------------------

Despite his fury, Kellen was kinda impressed with the depth of the prank. This fake Adam had set up social media accounts. That last selfie he sent Kellen was even cross-posted on all his socials in their stories and somehow there were bots set up so the pages had thousands of followers and the posts had hundreds of likes and comments. This imposter even looked more muscular than before—probably yet another fake in on the scheme.

Even so, Adam's fate was sealed. Kellen waited until after dinner. He knew the nerd would be studying. After 7pm, he stormed down the short hallway to the geekling's door and pounded on it.

"Open up. You know who it is, so you'd better not ignore me."

The door opened and in a split second Kellen was inside with the person at the door shoved up against the wall, hitting the brick hard.

"Ungh." he moaned.

Kellen had acted so quickly he hadn't taken stock of who had answered his knock. The sexual moan broke his blind rage in an instant and he registered who he had in front of him. He only had a brief moment to register the blonde from the social media pages before he responded.

"Oh, Daddy, that felt so good. I was waiting for you all day."

Kellen is struck by a wave of repulsion. Was he turning this little twink on? He goes to push the imposter harder against the wall, but the homo looks him dead in the eye, bites his lip, and grabs Kellen's dick. He's immediately hard. His rage mixes with his horniness and his desires become carnal. Kellen whirls the little slut around and pulls out his thick cock. Adam is ready, as usual, wearing nothing but a jock strap allowing for immediate access. He thrusts inside his submissive twink and roughs him up as Adam moans louder and louder. At this point the hall was used to it since it happened at least once a night.

Kellen has had such troubles keeping his grades up since receiving a warning from financial aid threatening to kick him out. He's still on the search for a nerd to do his homework, but at least he found Adam. Adam could take anything from Sir as long as Sir didn't leave a mark. Adam made sure he set his boundaries, after all, they both should know respect always goes both ways.

[wastelandlovingscenarios]

undeniable | porter gage x female! sole survivor

a/n: am i finally back on my bullshit, uploading on a random sunday night? this is different from what i usually write, but hey! im definitely writing something. im too tired to revise or edit this bc its 12 AM, so ill look it over in the morning. just thought i'd post something silly.

♡ based off a modern au where gage and the sole survivor are childhood bestfriends in another life.

For as long as Gage can remember, she’s been a burden. Being nearly five years older than her and her guardian -- or her best friend, as she likes to call him -- he’s always felt inclined to watch over her. He doesn’t know why, he knows he doesn't necessarily need to, but the thought of abandoning her feels wrong. So he tries to find reasons as to why -- was it because they both grew up in terrible conditions together and only had each other? Or was it because he knew the moment he let her dumbass go into the real world alone, she’d somehow get herself killed? 

He shakes his head. Finding a reason was nothing but a waste of time, his mind overworking itself more than it already was. He dumbs it down to simply getting used to the routine of caring for her since they were children. If he fucks up his schedule now, he’d have to go through the trouble of rearranging everything around once again and readjust to his new lifestyle. 

‘Yeah,’ he thinks to himself, unlocking his apartment door, twisting the knob, ‘It’ll be nothing but fucking trouble.’ 

Once he pushes the door open, his boots thumping against the tiled floor of his apartment, he sees her sitting on the couch, distracted by the show playing on the television. His eyes darted over to the coffee table in front of her, papers and open textbooks strewn across the poor thing, obviously untouched and just displayed prettily to mimic the idea that she was being productive. 

With a low grumble, he tosses his bag on the counter nearby and takes off his boots before grabbing the remote lying on the couch. She’s so invested in her little show that she barely even notices him walking in with a scowl and an annoyed sigh. Sole jumps when the television shuts off suddenly, a gasp leaving her lips before turning her head to the side. 

“Hey, I was watching!” she whines, already rising from the couch to pick another fight with him. He doesn’t show any reaction and instead, crosses his arms with an unimpressed expression while he holds the remote hostage. 

She tries her best to grab it from his hand but he rolls his eyes, gently pushing her back down onto the couch. 

“Quit watchin’ and start studyin’. Yer not gonna get shit done like this.” 

She huffs angrily, her eyes narrowing at him, “Gage, a little break wouldn’t hurt every once in a while.” 

“And what have you accomplished since I left for work this afternoon?” 

Sole swallows nervously, her mouth going dry at his questions as she opens and closes it, trying her best to stand her ground. He raises a brow, giving her a chance to respond and redeem herself, but he already knows. She was a fool for thinking she could get away with such a lie, knowing that Gage knew her better than anyone else.

“Thought so,” he stuffed the remote in the back of his pocket, “Now be a good girl and finish yer damn work. I’m not paying yer tuition for you to fuck around.” 

Sole groans but listens obediently, pulling the coffee table closer to her. She grabs her laptop and unlocks it, opening her notes before reaching over to snatch one of her textbooks. 

“I don’t understand why you’re on my ass about my studies so much, Gage,” she complains, highlighting something in her book a bit roughly, “You didn't even finish high school, so why does it even matter?” 

He doesn’t spare her much of an answer, walking over to the kitchen to find something to cook for them, “Exactly my point. You wanna be better than me.”  

“But you make so much money, you’re able to provide for both of us!” she throws her hands in the air, desperately trying to prove a point to her stubborn roommate, who seemed to be firm on his words.

“That’s only because I got connections. Now shut your mouth and study.” 

He doesn’t find much in the fridge nor the cabinets, silently setting a reminder in his mind to do a grocery run first thing tomorrow before work. Eventually, he decides to heat up some leftovers they had for lunch and cut up some fruit for her to snack on while she did her work. It’s shit, he knows, but it’ll do till tomorrow. 

He makes his way back to the living room, plopping on the couch next to her and setting the food on the coffee table, maintaining a good distance between their dinner and her work. The last thing he wanted was to spill anything on her laptop and notes -- it would only give her another reason not to be productive. 

He doesn’t say much, but his eyes flicker over to her for a moment, a small smile on his face at the sight of her seemingly focused on her work now, a sense of satisfaction overcoming him. Gage leans back on the couch, pulling his phone out to distract himself while he kept her company in the living room. He takes a few bites of his portion of the leftovers, glancing at Sole here and there to ensure she was still on track. 

It’s a peaceful few minutes, he can’t recall how long, as they both sit in silence, her music playing softly in the background to fill up the white noise. Suddenly, he hears a sigh, sounding a bit defeated, and his eyes set on her sulking figure. 

“Gage, I know that you want the best for me, but I’m nearly twenty-three and you still treat me like a kid.” he stares at her, not showing any reaction but notices how she refused to make eye contact with him, her eyes glued to the screen of her laptop. 

When she doesn’t get a response, she closes her eyes before turning her body towards him, her expression serious, but he can see right through her. She’s pleading, but not in an annoying bratty way like she usually does, so he decides to listen to her troubles. 

She scoots closer to him and he watches, his phone long forgotten in his hand, “I’m really grateful for you and all that, but you need to trust that I can do well in school and balance my time. You can’t take care of me forever.” 

Instead of getting a response like she’d hope for, she was met with the usual silence he often provided her when she tried to set her boundaries. With an irate expression, she turned back to her laptop, her face flushed in embarrassment, feeling like her words vanished into thin air. 

She should’ve known better than to talk to Gage — he was a man of few words and she didn’t know why she expected him to at least say something to show that he at least cared about her feelings one way or the other.

Before she could continue studying to hide her embarrassment and anger, she hears his voice and freezes. 

“I know.” his voice is gravelly, a bit of exhaustion mixed into it, and her head shoots to him, a bit stunned at his broken silence. Her eyes are wide, body paralyzed at the sudden response. There’s a slight flush on his face but she convinces herself it’s the lighting. 

Definitely. 

He knows she’s waiting for more than just that and he sighs, crossing his arms as he makes eye contact with her the best he can without losing his shit, “Just want you to have a good future. Want you to live a better life than what I’m giving you right now before I send you off.” 

Suddenly, she’s overcome with guilt and she immediately leans over to him, her hands finding his as she cuts him off, “No, that’s not what I meant!”

With another breath, she composes herself before speaking. 

“Gage, you’ve given me everything I’ve wanted and needed, the last thing I’ll ever do is criticize your care for me. I don’t plan on leaving your side, even when I get a better life.” 

His heart twinges and his feelings for her resurface, but he pushes it down. 

She pulls on the sleeves of his hoodie, playing with the fabric with her fingers, “I just want you to trust me more. I know I’ve been slacking a bit, but I’d never fail school, especially when I know you’re working hard to provide for both of us and paying for my tuition. I’d never do that to you.”

“Wouldn’t say I’m working hard,” he downplays it, not wanting her to fret about such a miniscule matter. 

She groans, “You work twelve hour shifts everyday. Sometimes fourteen!”

He shrugs nonchalantly and Sole pouts at his stubbornness, smacking his arm with annoyance. Gage bites back a smirk, amused by her behavior and catches her wrist midair, her eyes rolling. Instead of providing her with a response, he digs in his pocket and hands her the remote to the TV and her eyes light up, a smile forming on her pretty face. His heart aches at the sight. It was such a small action but it was more than enough to validate her feelings. 

“Thank you, you’re the best!” she jumped over, throwing her arms around his neck as she embraced him tightly. 

His face flushed heavily and tried to seem annoyed to cover it up but the stutter in his voice and the tenseness of his shoulders gave it away. Gage pushed her away with his hand as he groaned quietly, “I get it, don’t need to be so damn happy about it.” 

However, she pecked his cheek and he froze instantly, his body paralyzed and his voice raising in embarrassment, “Q-Quit it!”

She giggles and doesn’t take much offense to his words, knowing that he was nothing but a big softie for her. As she released him, she smiled at him happily once more before turning to the TV and putting her show back on. 

Gage rubbed the spot where she kissed, his face a deep red as he tried to regain his composure. Suddenly, he pushes down the real reason of why he refused to leave her side for the millionth time, reminding himself that there were several other possibilities other than that. 

‘What a damn burden,’ he thinks to himself, desperately trying to fight back his feelings for her, his eyes glued to her gleeful form next to him. 

Suddenly, her kiss lingered on his skin a little too long, the feeling of her arms around him marking his skin, and he’s left absolutely horrified, realizing that he could no longer convince himself otherwise. 

Maybe accepting it was better than constantly running and Gage thinks it over for a moment but ultimately shakes his head, wanting to do anything but that. 

‘Just a stupid thought. Some stupid fucking feelings,’ he settles for that answer but knows deep down that he’s already lost the battle, his heart hammering in his chest. 

[l-in-the-light]

Hi, hope you have been having a great day! Your posts have always been my favorite, and they never fail to brighten my morning. I'd say it's the perfect way to start the day for me ^^

Today I have a question! Penny for your thoughts on Law and the Revolutionary Army? What might his stance and opinions about them be, and if he wasn't a pirate, would he consider being in the RA? (since there's little to no chance he would want to become a Marine)

Oh, hi! Now I do have a great day, because I read your ask ❤ Sorry that lately I don't post every day. Sometimes something else steals my attention, like sudden inspiration for a fanfic or some of my friends in need of quality time together :D yesterday it was an impromptu pokemon battle on discord with self-invented pokemons lol. I will take this opportunity to (again <3) thank you so much for enjoying my posts, I'm always so excited to see your reblog tags each time! :D

Law and Revolutionary Army, okay, let's go! *rolls up sleeves* I actually watched some analysis and theory vids about RA before, and I had a lot of my own reflection on them lately, so I already have an opinion about it. At times this might go slightly political, so a fair warning!

First of all, let's start with Dragon and his Revolutionary Army. Thanks to Robin, we know their goal is most likely the World Nobles (Celestial Dragons) and we know they have some longterm goals planned. They're basically gathering supplies, allies, weapons and information, and waiting for a good moment to strike. I don't think their attack on Marie Geoise was one of their ultimate goals in itself, because we learned they did it just to get Kuma back (their valuable ally and friend). Everything else was an extra, but they made sure it counts: destroying the symbol of Celestial Dragons (to declare war), cutting them off the food supplies and getting rid of their stock, freeing as many slaves as they could.

They're apparently still making sure the food supplies can't reach Marie Geoise, which we learned from chapter 1126. Interesting thing to note here is that they actually have an agenda behind "riling up rebellion in nations": it's to limit nations that will pay celestial tribute and hand them resources, in other words: to weaken their enemy.

Dragon declares he literally wants to collect his own army to fight for the better world, whatever that might mean to him. He was part of the marines once, but "found no justice there", so he left and created his own army instead. We can't really talk about Revolutionary Army without taking into account his stance on justice.

Seeing from his reaction to Luffy becoming a pirate ("Not bad!") and him and Akainu disliking each other, we can take some guesses here. Dragon's goals are probably: freedom for people, not allowing innocent people to suffer, making sure people in power do not abuse it (an army for hire sure sounds like a good method to at least make them think twice before overusing their power).

And what's their modus operandi when trying to reach these goals? Many people in fandom are frustrated with Dragon and Revolutionaries, because it feels like they're "just there", waiting all the time and doing nothing. They don't go around the world freeing kingdoms and fighting oppressive reigns, after all. What they do instead, is reach out to normal citizens and "ignite the flame of rebellion" in their hearts.

That's because Revolutionary Army doesn't want to be the ones who will win the war, they want the citizens to be the ones who will win their own country and freedom back, and RA will simply help them achieve that, remaining as support.

They're so interesting exactly because they try to empower those that are on the lowest steps of the hierarchy's ladder, they want to give power back into their hands, but for this to work those citizens have to wish for that themselves, try to fight back, and it needs to be their own decision to do that. The power they give them is the power to fight back, defend themselves and demand their own rights and independence. Revolutionaries show to people that common folk are also part of the system and so they have the right to decide how they want the world to look like, even if it's only in their small kingdom. And those of them that want to join the cause and change the whole world to become a better place, are invited to join the Revolutionary Army. That's how Dragon operates. He even makes it clear that it's his rule not to assassinate kings or overthrow them himself, because that's not his job to do; it's up to the people of the nation.

We can deduce that Dragon would rather avoid direct conflicts, bloodshed and anarchy (after all regular kings are not his aim!). What he offers people in need instead is that: an army for hire, and for free! But only to those powerless people who are oppressed. Now we should ask this question: as much as this all sounds very good and noble, is it really a good thing to do? Let's look at the consequences of the attack on Marie Geoise. It was aimed at Celestial Dragons, but who suffers hunger as the result? The nobles?

No, their slaves and servants instead. They would have to go around hungry because there's no way CD would go around hungry instead (and they make a huge deal that they miss ONE meal a day and snacks). And they're still as spoiled as ever! If anything, this only angered them and nothing more. For now, Revolutionary Army achieved only this: to make the life of slaves in Marie Geoise even worse.

Now let's look at Lulusia. Sabo getting involved with them caused the whole kingdom to vanish from the map (yeah, it wasn't his fault, but the fact this kingdom was before freed by Revolutionaries had influence on Imu's/Gorosei's decision). And then let's look at what they did to help Dressrosa: oh wait, actually, they didn't help much. Yes, they supported ciitizens, helping the injured ones and gathering them in safe places (not that there were any real safe places in Dressrosa's disaster).

They also did research and gather evidence from the underground port Mingo was running, which is interesting. Does it mean RA is gonna present evidence in a court against World Government? Or do they just want to trace back their sources so they can steal it for themselves? Anyway, RA did not fight Donquixotes though and did not fight the Marines, with exception of Sabo (and he got heavily scolded for involving himself in the conflict). Was that really the correct course of action? Is that what heroes should be doing? What would happen to Dressrosa if Luffy lost? Would Revolutionaries just allow everyone to die, despite being right there?

Which points me to my own conclusion: Revolutionary Army has lofty, noble goals, they want to help people who are oppressed, but they're not heroes. And they can't be ones. If you have an army, you're automatically disqualified as a hero, because you fight violence with violence, power with power, no matter how you try to sidestep that fact. I'm not saying Dragon is in the wrong, but... what he kinda yearns for is a form of utopia. People should be encouraged to step up and fight for their own good, they should have the means to do that, but what if what they fight for is a mistaken cause? What if years of resentment will lead the people to just keep on oppressing others as the result? It's a logical conclusion to that: you don't want to be oppressed, be sure to raise to the top so everyone is below you (and now you can opress them back). What if those previously powerless people will start to get back on the class that used to oppress them, like what the common folks did to Homing?

Giving power to common people is great, but it will not erase their hatred they collected for centuries, their rage for all the pain they and their close ones had to experience. If you want the world to be truly a better place, then it needs also education, damn, a collective therapy, besides just manpower in an army. But, you know, it's at least *something*, that's why I'm personally not judging RA. They do what they believe is the best thing to do, a first step in the right direction and they mean well, but I think it will backfire, because it's definitely not enough to overturn the world. And power has a tendency to corrupt.

And then we also have Sabo, who kinda went against Dragon's principles when he accepted to be called a Flame Emperor and used the fake news of King Cobra's assassination to encourage people for rebellion.

This might seem insignificant, but it's anything but: Sabo is part of Revolutionary Army, his actions affect RA's public image. If he didn't deny that he killed King Cobra, then it means killing King Cobra was RA's aim.

We will see how it goes in the future, but the recent "fractions" double spread Oda did (above) foreshadows that Dragon and Sabo will kinda go their seperate ways. Sabo took his stance, he wants to fight, not only watch citizens fight. Even if he did that mostly for Luffy, the consequences of that will be longterm.

Now finally I can switch to the actual question you asked: what would be Law's opinion on Revolutionaries. Remember my analysis on how Law taught Luffy what's "the right thing to do"? It was a lesson to always think of the consequences of your actions, to see the big picture. If you want to liberate a whole nation, you need to choose your battles, to strategize the damage, recognize the oppressor's structure of power and strike down the fillars of it so it collapses on itself. Law is a fighter, a commander, a leader. He will not avoid a fight or a war if that's what needs to be done, he won't leave those people to their own fate and will fight with them for the cause (not just offer support!), and he will do what he can to lead them to victory. And he will never accept credit for it. Officially, it's like he was never there, or just part of a nameless "pirate" crowd, no one important.

But if he can, he will avoid conflict and arrange things in such ways it's not even needed. That's how he wanted to get rid of Doflamingo, simply forcing him to give up his warlord status which meant he would have to leave Dressrosa. Just like that, without any blood spilled. But for achieving that, he doesn't shy from doing things that RA would never approve of: kidnapping people, making ransom demands, forcing people to give up their titles by his own actions. Also Law doesn't rile up any citizens, he leaves that up to others. Dragon would not approve of Law's methods, we can be sure of that. And I think Law wouldn't approve of Dragon's actions over Marie Geoise either (starving off slaves), because Law's MO is to always care about the consequences of the actions. In other words, I think Law would think there are better ways to achieve greater results, without hurting oppressed people even more in the process.

Wait a second, you might ask now, but what about Dressrosa? We get the Wano, but in Dressrosa Law didn't care even for a second about the citizens! Well, actually, I think he did initially, his actions and plan were meant to avoid any harm to them, let's never forget that. Later on he did throw it all out of the window for Luffy's sake, I won't deny that. Law might be hero coded but he's not a hero, at the end of the day, and he knows that, he's not a naive idealist like Dragon is.

Dragon voices no regret about starving the slaves for his cause (at least for now), Law on the other hand seemed to make a guilty face expression at the end of Dressrosa, seeing the injured people and ruins everywhere. And that's actually a good thing, that "reality check" is what keeps Law aware that everything he does and every decision he makes will have consequences, and sometimes you need to choose between lesser evil, because world isn't a pretty place, especially the world in One Piece. And idealism often isn't afraid to kill people for it's cause and not only doesn't call it a wrong thing, but calls it A Right Thing To Do. Remember Death Note? That's your unrestricted idealism 101.

Law might tell the Strawhats to just ignore the assault on one of the Flower Capital's districts, but he will never call it A Right Thing To Do. In fact, when Sanji says he can make it work, Law instead trusts him to do his thing. He's flexible in his ways, he always questions, but when it's needed he's firm in his decisions. He just knows sometimes he isn't doing the right thing, but he never loses the direction he aims towards, because if he always questions and seeks and rethinks it from multiple angles it's always for that purpose: to make sure he isn't on the wrong path and if he is: to change it or do better in the future. And seeing the consequences of Dressrosa and how the waves from that spread over the New World, it actually caused a lot of good changes: wars stopped, underground black market took a huge blow, and in longterm: warlord status got erased. And all of that? Is actually thanks to Law and his plan, that was literally the catalyst here. That's why it's 1:0 for Law when compared to Revolutionaries.

Now we enter speculation territory. I do think Law actually might be supporting what RA is doing. Let's think about it: how did RA know that Dressrosa has an underground port?

We learn they sent agents to Dressrosa before, but "they were all turned into toys" (that's revisioning what actually happened - they wouldn't know anything about the toys, because the existance of their agents would be erased from their memories). And they never answer the question: why Dressrosa? And my answer here is: someone had to give them that intel (anonymous intel, most likely) in the first place. Coincidentally they arrive in Dressrosa exactly when Law's plan is taking the stage. I don't think it points towards Law being a Revolutionary, because Sabo has no reaction towards Law, and Revolutionary army has no reason to hide their identities from each other, that's not how they operate at all. And I don't think Law actually cooperated with them either, because the conclusion after Dressrosa clearly took RA by surprise. They got weapons, they gathered important information, it's like this all was gifted to them by someone. And I think it's likely Law was the one who send them the intel, anonymously, or through someone else. Maybe he does support their goal of declaring a war on World Nobles (even if I think he would be kinda disappointed at some of the results of their actions). We saw at Sabaody already that Law isn't really fond of Celestial Dragons, human auctions and slavery; he was pleased with what Luffy did and he also took a stance by freeing Jean Bart.

Would Law join them in the future? I think he doesn't like to work under anyone. Luffy might be also the only person Law ever worked on equal level with. He acts and behaves like a lone wolf, especially when he says things like this:

That doesn't sound like a person who's on a leash, be it Revolutionary Army's, Navy's or Government's. Being a pirate gives Law freedom. If he's somehow with any of those fractions regardless of my analysis, it's just to use them to reach his own goals, just like he took and discarded his warlord status.

And like I said, I doubt Dragon would like Law's methods so Law would have to change them to be part of the RA (and I doubt the main problem here is that he's a pirate, if he wanted to he could have joined them anyway, they did accept former slaves that were pirates before). Also Dragon is playing the long game, and it feels like Law doesn't have that much time to play along with it, because his plans are always moving fast and cause really big ripples. It's not that he's impatient, but it seems like he can't really afford the slow game here.

As for the question you didn't ask: I actually think Law might be part of the Marines, in some way or form. Let's consider this: if he is aiming to overthrow such a big organization, what's the best way to do that? From the inside. Assuming his hate towards government and marines would stop him is not taking his resolve seriously enough, imo. If he is out for revenge, he will stop at nothing, because he is the last person to carry the memory of what truly happened to Flevance. His own resentments would not stop him, he would do that even if he would end up hating himself as the result. "Everything was for that moment", he could declare at the end of it (just like he does in Dressrosa), when he pushes the final blow from the place the Marines expect it the least: their own most trusted people.

Thankfully though he still didn't lose his heart, that's why he does have at least some brakes intact. That's why he cares for people. That's why he cares for consequences of his own actions. That's why he would throw his own plans away or tuck people dear to him to safety over reaching his goals. But he can never forget those goals or throw them away for good. We will see where his storyline will take him in the end.

Of course that's only considering the somewhat popular theories that Law is a member of Sword. I do think those have some really good observations, but the interpretation part falls flat. They got the dynamics completely backwards imo, because Law would not be an underdog to Drake. There, I said it!

[legacyshenanigans]

Just a little something I wanted to do, because it's one of my favourite go-to tropes. 💚😩

Marvolo x MC 💚

Maid at Gaunt Manor MC, I just love this vibe

She had been a maid at Gaunt Manor for a few months now, living in the servents quarters of the estate. The job was fairly standard for the most part, cleaning, helping in the kitchen, general serving, and she made a decent living from doing her job there, though she didn't get much time to herself.

The morning started like any another, with the senior housekeeper Miss Lyons fussing at them all to get ready and start their duties. MC rolled her eyes behind her back as she put on her pinafore before heading over to the main part of the Manor.

She always enjoyed doing her cleaning duties, the Dark Academia feel to the Manor was her aesthetic and she adored looking at all the antiques around the place and the beautifully carved wood work, though she'd seen it all many times now since working there, but nonetheless, she never got tired of seeing it.

There was also another reason she liked her job there so much, and that was the Gaunts eldest son, Marvolo. The two of them would often share looks across rooms, his cheeky smirk as he'd give her glances around the house made her swoon, but of course, she knew her place in this house. The two of them rarely got chances to talk, and even if they did, it would be frowned upon, she'd get an earful from her senior if she was ever to be caught flirting or even standing around talking to him, and she was pretty certain Marvolo would get equal treatment from his parents if he was to be seen doing to the same with her.

She headed into the library room, her favourite room of the Manor, and began dusting the shelves, putting books away, making sure everything in there was tip-top. She stopped for a moment, looking at one of the books she'd picked up. Seeing it was a romance novel, she opened it up, reading for the first few lines. "Good morning" a deep voice from behind her spoke, in a panic she dropped the book, then looked over towards the door, seeing that Marvolo had wandered in, "Good morning, Sir" she bowed slightly "I was just-" before she could finish her sentence Marvolo chuckled and approached, picking up the book she'd dropped and looking at it "Dont panic so much..I don't care that you were enjoying a little reading rather than doing your job" he smirked. MC couldn't help but blush a little and let out a small nervous giggle. Marvolo handed her the book with a curious look on his face "You can borrow it, if you like..Take it back to the quarters with you" MC shook her head slightly "My senior would throw a fit if she saw me with it, she'd question where I got it from" a small frown crossed Marvolos lips "Then you tell her I let you borrow it" MC looked up at him again "I'm not even supposed to be talking to you, never mind borrowing books from you." Marvolo stepped closer to her. She'd never been so close to him before. She felt her heart race a little. "Then perhaps late in the evenings, you could sneak to my room for a couple of hours, And I could read it to you, we could make a nightly thing of it..Could be fun?" A devilish little grin curled onto his lips as he looked at her, waiting for her reaction. MC felt like she must have been as red as a tomato from hearing those words. His voice stabbed her like a knife every time she heard him talk. She whispered coyly "I'd love that..But there would be hell to pay if I got caught" Marvolo reached out, tucking a loose bit of hair that had fallen out of her bonnet behind her ear, before he whispered "The offer is there, when you have the confidence to take it" he smirked once more, he then moved away from her once they heard footsteps approaching, and made his way over to a chair in the house library room, MC quickly picked up her duster and began working on a shelf, acting like she'd been doing it for some time. Miss Lyons entered the room. "There you are!" She scowled. "What's taking so long? You're needed upstairs" MC turned to her, bowing again "Yes, Miss Lyons, apologies, I was just finishing up in here" The older woman clicked her tongue in irritation before noticing Marvolo sat looking at her from the chair "Sorry, Sir. She'll be out of your hair in a moment." Marvolo gave her a fake half smile. "No worries. She's no trouble at all. In fact, she's a very good worker, you're lucky to have her." He narrowed his eyes at the senior housekeeper "And what have you been doing today so far? Other than telling your staff what to do?" MC wanted to chuckle, but naturally she couldn't, Miss Lyons hesitated slightly before speaking "I..I was about to also make my way upstairs. To see to the bedrooms." Another fake smile "Good" Marvolo grinned. "Everyone has to pull their weight around here, wouldn't you agree?" MC could hear the badly hidden panic in her seniors voice. "Yes, Sir. Absolutely." Miss Lyons turned to MC. "Come along now, girl," she spoke before leaving the room. MC gathered her things before going to leave the room herself to head upstairs, she turned back to look at Marvolo, giving him a sweet smile, he returned her smile with a wink and another cheeky grin of his own. MC's heart fluttered as she left the room, wondering if she should take him up on his offer, thoughts crept into her mind of what they could get up to together, in the night, alone in his room.

~

[magentagalaxies]

sometimes being the director of the buddy cole documentary is an emotional rollercoaster for reasons entirely unrelated to actual controversy with the character

basically. this morning paramount took down the comedy central website and made every link redirect to paramount plus (which i do not have). previously you could find clips from every time buddy cole was a correspondent on the colbert report for free on the comedy central website, but not only are those free clips no longer up, paramount plus doesn't even have the colbert report.

so even if this craven attempt to get people to pay ransom subscribe to their streaming service worked, they didn't even take the clips with them!!!

so i was in mourning for a solid few hours this morning bc like if i'd known this was going to happen i would have at least screen-recorded each of the segments even if it meant the audio sync was a little off. but i had no idea this was going to happen and now yet another piece of buddy cole media was lost forever. and i'm used to having gaps in my timeline. stuff like scottland and the lowest show i've only been able to watch bc bellini happened to have a dvd he could digitize. and stuff like the buddy cole funny or die clips, out on the edge, and the ctv royal wedding special i may never see. but when something like this happens in real time after i've already dedicated myself to preserving and documenting the works of buddy cole, it really stings

i know i shouldn't feel like i somehow "failed buddy" for not preserving these episodes. i had no idea comedy central's parent company was going to throw out so much of their content, we're just in a literal hellscape with regards to how corporations value art. but i can't help but feel a little protective of buddy - not protective in terms of controversy, per se, controversy is a natural reaction to everything scott does with buddy cole and i don't always have to agree with everything the character stands for. i've already gotten a taste of being in my own buddy cole controversy, and it was horrible but it also felt like this is what's supposed to happen because we're now able to have this conversation. but being completely forgotten? that doesn't feel natural one bit even though it keeps happening to so much of this character's timeline.

anyway, i pasted the links into the wayback machine and even tho it could load the interface it couldn't load the videos. i found a record of each episode on the internet archive but they're all chopped into 1-2 minute clips, there's an option to "borrow" full episodes and have them mail you a flashdrive but i have no idea how that works and if i'd then be allowed to copy the episodes onto my own computer. i eventually found the colbert report is still available to purchase on itunes for $1.99 per episode - i'd need four specific episodes so that would be more like $8, which isn't too bad, but still stings just on principle. plus, what if that iTunes interface goes down someday? the only colbert report dvds are "best of" and even if i think buddy cole is the best part of anything he's in, the people making the dvds probably don't.

[cusitachusharmuta]

Gift

Selling flowers is nice: you get to people watch a lot, notice when and what they buy, guess who it's for.

It's all fun and games until an absolute beauty of a man enters your shop to buy something.

Doppo was mesmerized. Beautiful, flowy lavender hair, a tall and slim figure and a charming smile greeted him as the person entered his shop.

"Hello?" oh, damn it, his voice is so good too.

"A-ah, sorry, good morning, sir!", Doppo exclaimed, trying to pull himself together. He was talking to a customer, after all.

"Morning," the man smiled at his reaction again. "I'd like to buy a bouquet of lilacs, please?"

***

As he was leaving the shop, Jakurai left Doppo another smile. Surprisingly enough, they managed to have a nice little conversation while Doppo was preparing the bouquet. He learned that the mysterious man is, indeed, the well-known doctor Jinguji Jakurai, which Doppo was surprised he didn't realize earlier.

Looking at the time, Doppo thought that the doctor was probably just getting off work. Weekday date, huh? He wondered who those flowers are for. "Love at first sight"... it's an interesting message to try and send through flowers.

***

As the days went by, Doppo learned more and more about Jakurai, falling deeper in love every day. The doctor managed to stop by the shop every two or three days, either before or after work. "Why does he need flowers before work, I wonder", Doppo thought, giving Jakurai another bouquet. "Maybe it's for decoration". At least he hoped so.

Every day Jakurai bought the same bouquet of beautiful, comparable to himself, purple lilacs, and never told Doppo who or what they're for. He never asked, either. He guessed that it was too personal to share with a simple florist. But oh did Doppo wish to know. Each time he saw the man, he felt as though someone has lit a light inside him. Never before has another person made him feel that way, just so simply smitten. He wished to know everything about Jinguji. He wanted to talk, talk and talk to him until the hour was late and they would both fall asleep together...

What stupidity. No way such a person would ever even consider being close to someone like Doppo, right? And what's with those fantasies, anyway? It's kind of too early to think about something like that. What's next, you're going to imagine your kids?

All sorts of thoughts flooded Doppo's mind when he was left alone. But one though was a constant: "I want him". Not necessarily in the sexual kind of way, more like a way of Doppo wanting his every moment to be with Jakurai. To spend a ridiculous amount of time talking to him, holding him, not just thinking about him as he did now. But it seems like that's all what the man had.

***

One day, as always dropping by the shop after work, Jakurai suddenly declined his usual and asked what Doppo's favourite is. Doppo blinked at him, dumbfounded by the sudden change of plan, as he already went to prepare the lilacs.

"Uhh, tiger lily?", Doppo said after thinking for a moment. Those were definitely his favourite. Meaning a strong desire to be loved, a dare to, almost, seemed like the perfect choice in this moment.

"I'll take a few of those, then. You see, there's a person I'd like to offer them to, but I'm not too sure of my own taste, so I'll just trust you." Jakurai said, smiling at him almost weirdly, in a very gentle way.

Doppo felt his heart shatter. A person, huh. Just like he thought. No chance for him. It's probably some pretty nurse from his hospital or someone else he knows, right? Oh well. He just nodded his head as he started preparing yet another bouquet, picking the best, most vibrant and colourful lilys he had. Soon, after the flowers were ready, he handed them to Jakurai, and received his pay.

"Say, could I get a vase for those? Do you have anything like that?" Weird. Don't you have a vase at home? "Oh, yeah, sure, I'll find you one. Going to the back of the store Doppo, clueless, could only wonder what this all meant. Well, maybe he did, in fact, not have a vase at home.

He smiled, bringing out a pretty clear vase, and putting the flowers inside it. "Here you go", he said.

"How much do I owe you for this?"

"Consider it a gift, on the house", Doppo smiled, seeing as Jakurai frowned his brows at the sudden gift.

"Well, then, I'll take my leave," Jakurai turned around and went to walk out of the shop, the flowers still on the counter inside the vase. "Wait, Jinguji-san, your flowe--". Doppo felt gagged as Jakurai, already standing in the doorway, turned around and winked to him, saying that he may consider those a gift, too, before walking out.

Doppo, once again dumbfounded, stared at the flowers, feeling his face burn up. "For me..?"

[musubiki]

what's Lime's reaction when he first sees Mochi in that fancy dress? I'd imagine he just kinda froze for a moment with his mind going "oh god fuck she's so beautiful I can't believe how gorgeous she is I wanna hug I wanna kiss I wanna-"

PRETTY MUCH THIS!!!!! i havent decided yet at what point in the night he sees her for the first time. because i know for sure he has to be there before them since hes on guard duty, so he leaves early in the morning and mochi + the gang pay a visit to lady magg-lynn for fashion help

so either 1) he sees them when they first come in and "oh my god look at HER" and hes distracted the entire night watching her, constantly getting scolded by other m34th guards to "Pay attention and stop ogling the women, sicko," being angry the entire time that he cant spend every single second he has with her while shes wearing that dress

or 2) (i think i like this more), the grand ball is such a massive event that she doesnt run into him the whole time until hes finally off-duty. taffy probably found him by accident standing guard at one of the doors watching everything, and reported back to mochi somewhere in the party "I found Lime but he says he can't even talk to us now, so..." and so mochi, rather than bothering him, waits for his shift to finish

and he sees her for the first time right at that scene where shes coming down the steps, excited to see him probably saying something about how the snack table has infinite delicious things but he missed the chocolate roses, and the whole time shes rambling hes in a fucking DAZE because holy wow shes so beautiful. barely even listening to what shes saying. as soon as shes in arms reach he grabs her hand and kisses it and says something like "Sorry I left you alone. I'll take care of you for the rest of the night."

Either way hes extremely grabby with her the whole night (more than he usually is) and either has his hand on her back or fidgeting with the sheer ribbons on her hip or kissing her hand or SOMETHING hes obsessed with her

(and to that last point, yes he wants to do everything to her. his first thought seeing her is "wow i wanna rip that dress off her so badly")

[having-conniptions]

Love In The Air episode 10 live reaction under the cut (long post)

Listen I know no one reads these but they make the experience more enjoyable for me. It helps me understand what's going on, keeps me from zoning out and usually makes me notice more details that turn into theories and predictions IT'S SO MUCH FUN

What I love most about the PrapaiSky arc is Sky. Just... Sky.

"My boyfriend's sick." HE'S NOT YOUR BF but yeah I get it your dad wouldn't give you time off because your crush is sick lmao

Oh no he had a nightmare while Pai was there 😭

Fuck that hurts. I'm gonna go beat up whoever did this to Sky and I have a feeling P'Pai is coming with me

Prapai do not even joke about that DO NOT ughhh why is he so insensitive sometimes

And then he's so gentle and sweet again aaaaaa

AND SKY STARTS ACCEPTING HIS HELP, BELIEVING THAT HE'S SERIOUS ABOUT IT 😭❤️

And they're holding hands while sleeping so Sky can feel safe and protected 😭❤️😭❤️

But Sky is still a tsundere / not admitting to himself and to Prapai that he's starting to like him

"You know what I want." - "No, I won't have sex with you." - "So you don't know what I want." THIS EXCHANGE >>>>> Sky needs to understand what Pai sees in him 😭❤️

"I won't like you" *proceeds to smile to himself the second Prapai has left* WHO YOU TRYNA FOOL BOY

THE WAY HE WADDLED TO THE DOOR MY CUTE LITTLE PENGUIN

PRAPAI'S SURPRISED LITTLE FACE AAAA

"I don't like owing anyone" yeah right that's why 😉

My baby is so giggly and giddy but I know he's also so so scared that's why he still pretends he's not interested

It's not that he's not interested it's that he's scared of what will happen when he shows genuine interest because showing someone that you're interested in them always gives them some sort of power over you so you need to trust them first - especially if you've gone through whatever happened to Sky

Another race awww yeah lemme see Prapai in his racing suit again please

Ooooo the guy in the beige sweater is really pretty

That fucking chicken song again lmaooo

OH HI P'PAI

So soft 😭 right up until the "you should be spanked" comment brooo 😂

PRAPAI PRESSING HIS LIPS TO SKY'S FOREHEAD BUT NOT KISSING HIM AAAAA 😭❤️❤️

And Sky's little smile as he thanks Prapai, and Pai softly kissing his hair aaaaaaa

So far PrapaiSky has not been what I expected (though I did figure out pretty early on that they hooked up) but the soft cuddles are definitely getting to me

Great to see Sky feeling better in the morning <3

And PhayuRain being cute <3<3

Tsundere time again here we go lol

His face when Pai told him to smile tho

Awww those girls were adorable

SKY'S SMILE!!!! AAAAA I CAN'T HE'S SO CUTE PRAPAI ALMOST DIES INSTANTLY

And Sky actually gets a little worried hahahaha

Pai's like "I can't believe I'm about to do this" HE'S GONNA KISS HIM

Aw shucks

But yeah he's waiting for Sky to kiss him we love to see it

"Why the heck am I watching a sleeping boy?" LOVE, BITCH

PAI ALMOST KISSING SKY BUT KEEPING HIS SELF-CONTROL, SKY REALIZING HE WANTED PRAPAI TO KISS HIM 🤯🤯🤯

He agreed to go on a date with him and he's all smiley and happy and he's playfully teasing him aaaaa Sky deserves the world

Wow Pai really hasn't been with anyone in two months because of Sky huh

Joy I love you but please stop spreading rumors hahaha

The back and forth in this episode is everything

Bro I'd be so mad if I was trying to focus and someone just stared over my shoulder the entire time

The shoulder kiss 🥰🥰

LMAO SKY AND HIS KNIFE I CAN'T

What is he writing? 👀

Drawing on each other's hands aaaawww 😭❤️

He was so focused he didn't even notice Pai got them dinner

Prapai describing his siblings but actually describing himself lmao

Sky: "Don't call me Nong Sky, it sounds fake" Prapai: "Sky." Sky: *ba-dump*

That almost-kiss and "I'll wait until you're ready" I'M ABOUT TO THROW SOMETHING THEY WERE SO CLOSE

Back to tsundere but we know he's just teasing now because even if he trusts Pai now he's too proud to just give in

THE WAY THEY BOTH LOOK AT THEIR HANDS AWWWW

Bro who sleeps with the lights on

Bonus scene: Pai googling how to take care of Sky because he wants to do everything right 😭❤️ and then he called his mom to ask her for advice awwww 😭❤️ and Sky was taking notes on Prapai bc he wanted to get to know him better? HOW CUTE IS THAT

[dvandom]

Top 10 Hits of the 70s

I lived through the 70s, but didn't really start paying attention to pop/rock music until around 1982 or 1983. But for the last few years, a local Classic Rock station (which, distressingly, is starting to move into the 90s as "classic") has run Casey Kasem's American Top 40: The 70s on Sunday mornings. I can usually manage to catch the top ten, or at least the top five (hey, I sleep late on Sundays). There's almost always stuff that's fairly new to me, even in the top spots, which gives me an interesting view on the staying power of popular music.

Roughly speaking, Top 10 hits of the 70s can be chunked into four tiers, although where any particular song ends up is somewhat dependent on your own experiences.

Tier 1: This is the stuff you could play for a room of high school or college students and a lot of them would recognize it. Whether it's been used in a soundtrack, an ad campaign, or a viral video, these are the songs that have managed to stick around in the public consciousness for fifty years for good or for ill. Not always number one hits, though, sometimes they were just rediscovered later and finally found an audience, or they were "sold a million copies but took a while to do it so never hit number 1" deals.

Tier 2: There's still a good chance of hearing these songs even today, but now you have to go looking in places catering to Gen X and Boomers. They show up on Classic Rock and Easy Listening stations (the Billboard charts had a lot of ballads and dreamy instrumentals in the 70s), or as backing for ads you'll only see during Old People Shows. They might even pop up in store muzak once in a while, or get covered by more recent acts. (For an example of that, a fairly recent cover of "I Got You Babe" has been on college radio of late.)

Tier 3: Here's where it gets a lot more subjective. These are songs that were popular enough in the 70s that someone not actually paying attention to pop music would still have heard them. Pop cultural splashes beyond just the Billboard charts. A lot of these are from Christmas Albums (it seemed everyone was doing them in the 70s)...even if I hadn't been listening to country music in the 70s, I'd have heard the John Denver Muppet Christmas songs, for instance. This tier also includes things that were tier 1 for a while but have faded since and might as well not exist in pop culture today. Number one hits like this made a splash, but the ripples faded fairly quickly.

A lot of these were by acts that jumped on a trend and only had one or two hits before the trend faded and they went back to playing county fairs for a living or the equivalent. But some were just lesser pieces by super-popular groups. For instance, the Bee Gees are remembered enough that Saturday Night Live did a sketch around the group in 2024, and some of their hits are definitely Tier 1 (like Stayin' Alive). But they also had a lot of stuff that had no real staying power, but which hit the top ten purely because people were buying everything they released. A similar modern result would be the case of Taylor Swift capturing the entire top ten recently...I rather doubt all ten songs on that album will be remembered by any but the most diehard fan in 20 years, and if there are any that stick around they might not even be the ones in the top five.

Tier 4: "I have never heard this song before in my life," sort of reaction. Or, if I have, it was only in the context of AT40 reruns or historical music shows like I used to watch on VH1. Things like the spoken-word "The Americans" single, or "I Like Dreamin'" (which was number five on this day in 1977, and I can't recall having ever heard before).

I actually like that Tier 4 songs exist. Not only do I get to occasionally hear new-to-me music that is similar to things I already like, but it also means that our culture of "don't innovate, remake" in mass media hasn't mined out EVERYTHING. There are things that used to be popular and are not being shoved back in our face by aging entertainment executives terrified of being the one to try something new.

[bonesandthebees]

TAGD Ch15 Analysis- 2/2

Wilbur is so protective of him I can't-

Okay okay so first he's hyper-focusing on their surroundings to make sure nobody (especially Jack and Niki) will run into them, then he tries to get them out of the cafeteria as quickly as possible. And when that doesn't work out he tries to de-escalate the situation, then stands in the way of their oncoming fight. He really cares about Tommy:')

And oh Tommy is going through ittt

Poor Tubbo just wanted to have a nice chat and give Tommy a bit of normalcy after everything that happened and Tommy just snapped at him:(

And Jack is going through it toooo

Goodness, everything is such a mess right now and I am so here for it!!

Jack is angry. That is a reasonable reaction for surviving a murder attempt committed by a close friend of yours. Tommy wasn't really helping in calming him down, although I doubt there was much he could do even if he tried. They both say things that they probably don't mean to hurt each other. They're just going through so much

Niki wants to watch the world burnnn>:)

Just kidding lol but it looks like she wants Tommy to pay at least a little bit for his actions. I'd be pissed too if someone did that to my best friend.

I already miss rainduo so much. Why did this all have to happen directly after a bonding moment between them!!? Bones, why must you do this to us?

Aimsey's just trying to stop a fight from breaking out and immediately gets shut down.

And then Wilbur gets hurt. I'm glad it wasn't anything too serious. Hopefully. I'm also glad to see that Niki and Jack are still worried about him, despite them not being on great terms. I didn't doubt that they did, but it is nice to see it anyway.

And now Tommy is protective of Wilbur. They have a crimeboys moment and I'm so happyyyy

"I trust you."

Ahahshdhxhhajdhdhdhdbj he said it he said it he said itttt thank youuuu

And we finally know how old our favorite traumatized Pythia boy is. He's a lot younger than I thought he'd be. I'm curious if there is a reason for this? I get why you did this in stars and especially in strings.

anyways, you are doing amazing bones! this was yet another rollercoaster of emotions and a fantastic chapter!! i am practically buzzing with excitement i can't wait to see what happens next<3

-🧭

protective wilbur for the win lets goooooo

to be fair tommy and tubbo have not had a good dynamic for a while now, and tubbo was advocating for, y'know, murdering the guy who is now tommy's best friend. tommy was under so much stress that morning he just didn't want to deal with anything from tubbo, despite the fact that tubbo was just genuinely worried about him. it sucks for both sides :(

jack is furious about the murder attempt which is understandable! the longer he's had to stew in it, the more pissed he's gotten. and it doesn't help that niki is equally as pissed and the two feed off of each other's anger. the situation was going to escalate no matter what, but tommy's stubbornness definitely made it escalate faster.

aimsey is just the group peacemaker who doesn't want literal fist fights breaking out over breakfast.

even if jack and niki are pissed at wilbur for sticking with tommy, they both expected this. even if they're upset at him, they don't hold the same kind of resentment as they both do for tommy, so of course they were upset when he got hurt. jack especially feels guilty because he was just going to try and shove tommy (which definitely would've escalated into more, but yknow you're not thinking of the future a ton in a fight like that), but he shoved wilbur instead, who slipped and cut open his head! like, that is way worse than whatever jack intended to do, and it wasn't even the right target.

the "I trust you" and hairwashing scene is something i've had planned for agesssss

well the age difference between crimeboys in glass is actually the same as the age difference in stars, it's just shifted. it's a 4 year difference either way. generally when I mess with crimeboys ages in fics, the lowest I go with the age difference is 4 years (strings is an exception and if you've read it you know why). so it was less about wilbur being 22 specifically, and me wanting crimeboys to be as close in age as i could make them for glass without shifting the core of their dynamic. I liked tommy being 18 because it just felt right, so then it was like ok then I'm gonna make wilbur 22

tysm compass anon i'm so glad you enjoyed!!

[thingsyoursistershouldntsee]

Wow. I feel like the universe is laughing at me.

Late last summer I had a dream that I was chatting with a man about sex. And the only part of the dream I could remember was the man wanting to focus on my pleasure and me insisting that it wasn't all about my pleasure and that I wanted to give him pleasure as well. He explained that that was something no partner had ever talked with him about or generally seemed to care about. It was revolutionary to him and the bare minimum to me.

I remember feeling so happy to see him enjoy being a priority to a lover, but honestly I couldn't tell you what this man looked like at all. Because I'm me tho, I at least assumed he was older tho.

When this dream happened, we had just opened up my marriage. And I thought it was just my subconscious being excited to date again and find a man to finally fulfill certain parts of me that had been sorely lacking for the better part of 10 years. I was very unhappy but I wasn't willing to admit it to anyone, let alone myself. Well it wasn't 2 weeks before my ex ruined something I had been so excited about for myself independent of her. Par for the course. 🙄

I told her that I wasn't closing my side of things because I refused to let my hope of finally finding fulfillment die. And honestly? Shit wasn't fair at all. Unfortunately I was devastated by the betrayal she had committed and I couldn't in good conscience put that kind of energy out into the world; I couldn't get under someone to heal from the latest of many many betrayals. I knew that I wouldn't be a good partner and it would just be more polyfuckery in the world. So while I stopped pursuing dating, I began intensely focusing on myself, what I wanted, and healing myself. My ex begged for one last chance and I told her that she could have it, but after that I was done. It was half hearted, I think I should've ended things then tbh. I had no hope or optimism that she would actually be able to do right by me, but I had larger goals we had begun to work at together that gave me the smallest hope she could get it together. Spoiler alert: she betrayed me again and I told her I wanted a divorce. I thought my life was over; the universe had other (extremely unexpected) plans.

I've always had prophetic dreams. Literally my whole life. They've never been all that useful; usually it's a dream with very little context, mostly focused on the surroundings and feelings and thoughts. The problem is that without context, you can't really understand the message that the peek into your future is trying to share. Long story short, I'd forgotten all about this dream. Until this morning, when I woke up and immediately realized I literally had this conversation last night. My words were pretty much verbatim, "it's not all about my pleasure, I want to give you pleasure too." His reaction was much the same; feeling flattered and cared for.

Because I assumed, I was looking for an older man, but other than that being incorrect, everything else felt exactly right; just like my dream. I felt safe and trusting, which is something I really need and really need to pay attention to and to let it lead my interactions.

The universe has given me more than a few shake ups this past year, but it has also given me a lot of blessings. I think I just have to trust in the process at this point. Everything might not unfold as I pictured it, but it will unfold as it's meant to. And right now, my job is just to trust in this. 🥰

[casspurrjoybell-24]

My Mate - Chapter 28 - Part 1

*Warning Adult Content*

Lifting my head tiredly, I squinted to see the other side of the bed was still empty.

As it has been for three days.

The only other person in the room was the older Omega in the chair by the bed.

I disliked her very much.

No matter that she's been making sure I'm eating and staying hydrated.

I have begged and cried for my Mate and no matter what, she won't get him for me.

I had thought 'my heat' was bad before but without Robert around, it's been insufferable.

"Good morning sweetheart, feeling any better?"

My eyes narrowed and my head dropped back down against the pillow.

I wanted her to go away... Mrs. Anne Ellis only laughed softly.

Who'd have thought my Home Economics Teacher would have such a sweet Mate.

The large pink glasses looked like she'd had them since the eighties and the thick baby blue crocheted sweater made me think she had ten cats at home.

She stood up and poured me a glass of orange juice from the cart that stayed supplied with everything I'd need.

I think Mom has been coming in to check on me but I couldn't really remember.

Pushing myself up against the headboard, I accepted the cold drink and greedily took a sip.

Thankfully, I didn't feel so bad today.

My body ached, as well as my head.

Like a hangover, only worse.

I never wanted to go through 'my heat' again.

Mrs. Anne reached out and felt my forehead, smiling when I didn't flinch away or cry out from pain.

"You're lucky it's ending so soon, sometimes it can last up to two weeks."

Choking on my orange juice, I tried not to spill it all over the bed.

Mrs. Anne took the glass, laughing at my reaction to her words.

If I had to endure two weeks of heat and I didn't kill myself first, I'd make sure to kill Robert... that asshole.

Making sure the sheet was wrapped around me, I struggled getting out of the bed... I needed a shower desperately.

"Your Mother brought you some clothes."

Anne pointed out the stack sitting neatly folded on the desk. So mom did come by.

I was stuck between thankful and embarrassed.

If I'm remembering correctly, most of my time had been spent begging for my Mate and whining in need, unable to get many words out.

Between the slick and the sweat, I felt clammy and dirty.

Almost tripping over the sheet wrapped around me, I eventually made it to the bathroom and took a very long, very hot shower.

In that time I thought of all the ways to make Robert pay for abandoning me while I was in such a vulnerable state.

Keying his car was at the forefront.

I'm almost positive he'd cry over that.

I didn't care though, he'd made me cry and go through 'the most painful heat' I've ever experienced.

All because of one comment I had made.

Which had really been a question I wanted an answer to.

Now more than ever.

Fuck a key, a bat will do more damage.

Finishing up in the shower, I sluggishly dried off and went out to the room for my clothes.

Mrs. Anne was gone, probably relieved that she didn't have to watch over me anymore.

It was strange having someone that wasn't my Mate witness me going through 'my heat'.

It wasn't unusual though... Omegas help each other all the time.

I've just always been alone because no one really likes me.

Robert must've sent Mrs. Anne to sit with me after he left without a word.

I don't know why he was so upset.

It wasn't like I lied or accused him of anything.

It was just a question.

Stomping out of the room... fully prepared to throw a fit... I came to an abrupt stop on the stairs.

Why was the pack house still crowded with foreign wolves?

Shouldn't they be gone by now?

Tripping, I caught myself on the banister and cautiously continued down the stairs.

Eyes turned to me, noses flaring as they picked up the last remaining sweetness from my Heat.

It wasn't strong enough to get them all worked up thankfully.

I glared at them all, not in a good mood.

It wasn't hard to find Robert.

His scent stood out to me, even with so many others all over the place.

He was too preoccupied to notice me in the doorway of the den.

A group of wolves around him, all of them wanting my Robert's attention.

Some were from our pack, some I didn't recognize.

My eyes went straight to that blond Omega laughing at something Robby had said.

I bristled, before pulling myself up straighter and walking towards them.

Robert's eyes finally met mine as I was halfway across the room, a smile lifting his lips.

When I didn't respond in kind, his smile fell and he had the right to look nervous.

Pushing through the small crowd, I situated myself between my Mate and that blond Omega.

'Why was he still here? I want him gone.'

Standing on my toes, I kissed the side of Robert's neck where my mark will one day be.

It made the big male groan and I smirked, turning around to face the others that were staring.

"Hello," I chirped sweetly, my smile growing in the face of their surprise.

"Luna," an Omega pushes herself forward, excitedly greeting me.

The title surprised me and I looked up at Robert who smiled encouragingly.

I hadn't expected that they'd want to talk to me too.

My goal was to come snatch Robert away so I could yell at him. Instead, I was pulled into conversation with them all.

Well, except the blond that rightfully disappeared.

They talked about everything, their family, friends, school.

What surprised me the most was how they all quieted down when I spoke, seeming to genuinely want my opinion on everything.

It was so odd, being the center of attention.

I made sure to tease Robby every chance I got, embarrassing him as others laughed along.

They wouldn't dare say any of it to his face but I hoped everyone would start referring to him as Robert.

If only to annoy him.

Eventually Robby had enough, lifting me off the ground and carrying me away.

My protest were drowned out by everyone's laughter.

He didn't put me down until he shut us into what looked like a office.

It wasn't his dad's because I've been in there before.

I wiggled out of his hold and stepped back, crossing my arms and glaring up at him.

He sighed, rubbing a hand down his face.

"Alright, let's talk."