#so today i worked like. just short of 11 hours i think? + only took half of my lunch

[thegreatbeyondmp3]

it is sooooo crazy how my manager has wanted me to do everything else the past few weeks leading up to [redacted work event] but now that we're getting like. dangerously close to it happening, they're starting to freak out bc barely any of the prep is done.

like. oh? the prep? the things ive been wanting to start working on, but have been unable to, due to a myriad of less important + less time sensitive tasks that you were prioritizing for some reason? it's not done? woah

[penultimate-step]

Lately, I've been thinking about the effect of real-world time on perception of media. Or, wait, let me start from the beginning.

When I was 11, I read the book Ender's Game for some school assignment or another. I don't remember ever considering Ender a relatable character, but certainly my understanding of the events was shaped by being of an age to see the protagonist not so much as a young child but as someone of my peer group, someone who could have been slotted amongst my classmates without anybody batting an eye.

Over a decade later, I read the sequel, Speaker for the Dead; it takes place many years later, when Ender is in his thirties, and my feelings about the in-universe time skip were undeniably shaped by the real life time gap between my reading of the novels. Reading the first book back then and then the second book now created a feeling where it's almost like, I'm browsing the facebook page of someone I had known in middle school but lost contact with, checking up on how they're doing today. The real-time factor caused me to perceive it less like a timeskip, and more like a reunion - the feelings were closer to "oh wow, that's my boy! I haven't seen him in years! Wonder what he's up to?" Which in turn gave me a better position to appreciate the parts of the narrative about him struggling to find a place in his adulthood than I would have been had I perceived it more strictly as a quick skip from 11 to 20 to 36.

While musing about this, I considered a VN I played a few years back, which took place over three in-game days - except at the end of one in-game day, the game would lock you out from progressing for 24 hours real time. So that as the in-game investigator protagonist was ruminating on the information that had been discovered that day, the player would be forced to do the same. In this example, by forcing the player to experience the same timeframe as the in-game characters, the sense of it being an in-depth and extensive investigation increases, even though without the forced pauses the game would be short enough to blow through in a handful of hours real-time.

Which brings to mind how time effects things in long-running serial works. It's well known that an audience which watches an episode or reads a chapter week by week has a very different experience than one binging through whole seasons or volumes at a time, but I wonder if the real time relative to the in-universe time makes that effect stand out more? Fight scenes, for instance, have been known to take up several chapters in certain manga or webnovels. What does it do to the reader's perception, if from their point a view a fight takes a whole month, while for the characters they read about it's only been a couple hours? Readers might feel that the situation is more stressful, since the pressure of the fight has been ongoing for a long time for them, while in-universe it was a rough afternoon but no more than that. Contrastingly, when a series skips ahead or otherwise has long periods of time for characters that feel short for readers, it can feel like no time has passed and everything is still the same, unless the author really stresses the differences in world-state that occurred offscreen. Because the reader hasn't changed at all.

No conclusion here exactly, I just think it's interesting how often an audience's response to a work, the emotions felt, are more closely tied to their real-life timescale, something almost completely out of the author's control, as opposed to in-universe time, which can be intentionally shifted or played with for the sake of the narrative.

[allthelovehes]

Unholy*

Summary: You follow a course through your job and the teacher who's giving the course is everything you've ever dreamed of.

Pairing: teacher!harry x reader

Word count: 6.2K

Warnings: Pussy eating, protective sex, squirting, p in v.

A/N:  This is partially based on a true story. Nearly everything but the smut is what actually happened and I just had to write it.

Ever since starting your new job, you must attend an internal program at headquarters for three-ish months, completely designed to train you for all the ins and outs of your position. It’s not like you have to go there every single week. But you have a perfect little schedule; you go to headquarters two weeks in a row, two days a week followed by a week where you practice all you’ve learned. Then two weeks of your training, two days a week and you repeat it over and over again for 11 weeks total. 

Since headquarters is an hour and fifteen-minute drive from your home, they offer you to stay the night at a hotel near them so you don’t have to keep on driving back and forth. They also pay for your dinner in the restaurant of the hotel and since you’re not the only student taking the course who lives relatively far away, you made some friends and all eat together. After dinner, you all hang out, down a few more glasses of chardonnay, and have a great night. 

The course itself is presented by two men, Chris and Harry. Chris is a couple of years older than you are and Harry is roughly the same age. Both of them are a treat to look at so whether you like the course or not, there’s always something interesting to occupy your brain with. Although if you’re truly honest, you do have a favorite and it gets worse when the end of the three months is in sight.

***

It’s the second to last week of your program. Normally you travel by train, read a book while you’re at it, and enjoy the peaceful start of your day. But today was different, you’re a bit in a hurry and decide to take your car and make the long ride yourself. Putting up some music and singing along at the top of your lungs.

Traffic isn’t as bad as you expected and instead of being stuck in your car for over two hours, it only took one and half hours. Normally the route is packed with traffic, causing a lot of slow-riding cars and traffic jams. But again, today was different.

Being 55 minutes early before the start of your training, you’re left with some more time to yourself. The book you normally would read on the train is in your bag anyway. So you grab a cup of coffee, pull the book out of your bag, and start reading to somehow still get a bit of the quiet morning you’re used to. 

You just finished reading your chapter when the door of the room swings open. You look up and your eyes meet the pretty green eyes you’ve grown to adore. You never imagined you’d still crush as hard at 26 as you did at 16. It’s like the teen inside you is awakened by Harry’s chocolate curls, green eyes, and puffy lips. 

“Good morning!” You greet him.

“Good morning. You’re early!” He chirps with a warm smile on his face. He always seems cheerful, just happy to be here. It makes you feel so welcome in this company. “How long have you been here for?” He adds.

“Not more than 15 minutes I think, honestly didn’t really track time.” You answer.

“Did the elevator work when you got here? I just had to climb the stairs.” He continues, there’s not even a shortness of breath even though he just climbed all 17 flights of stairs to reach the level on which the company is located. 

“You’re kidding! How are you still breathing?” You joke, but you’re actually not kidding. If you had to walk all those stairs, you’d be out of breath by the time you reach the 5th floor. Harry however just laughs at your statement before he puts down his backpack behind his desk. 

He made up this little routine of settling down for the day. First, he places down his backpack and takes out his laptop. Then he opens his laptop to boot it before he pulls his sweater over his head. This man doesn’t like to wear coats, he just puts a sweater on top of his outfit and uses that to keep himself warm. 

You thought you sort of removed him from your mind after not seeing him for a couple of weeks. Harry went on a well-deserved vacation and Chris took over during that time. So the last time you actually saw Harry was 5 weeks ago. But the second he pulled that sweater of his over his head, pulling his shirt a tiny bit upwards in the process had you melting right in front of him. The waistband of his boxers peeks out from his pants. You immediately recognize the brand he’s wearing by the colorful print on them. And let’s not even get started about his delicious happy trail. It’s a good thing his view is blocked by the fabric of his sweater because you for sure are struggling to keep your eyes to yourself.

“So, would you like some coffee?” He suggests as he folds his sweater over the back of his chair. You’re quick to agree on his offer. “Cappuccino right?” 

“Yes, please! I’m surprised you remember how I like my coffee.” You giggle, feeling a blush creep upon your cheeks. 

***

Throughout the entire day, you can’t help but notice how Harry’s eyes meet yours a lot more often than he does with your classmates. Whenever you look at him, his eyes are already on yours. He compliments you when you’re working on assignments and you just feel like there’s a mutual connection there. 

His distance to headquarters is even bigger than yours, so they offered him a similar deal as they did you. If he has to work multiple days in a row, he can stay the night in between in the same hotel as you all do. He gladly took upon the offer, for him it’s at least a two-hour ride home and that’s if he doesn’t include traffic. And since he works 5 days a week, it’ll save him a lot of time.

During the lunch break, you and your friends are making plans for the evening. Many of your nights in the hotel are spent drinking some wine and just catching up with each other. And today’s plans are like no other. Harry can’t help but overhear you guys talking about the hotel and starts bragging about the room they gave him. 

“I slept in room 405 last week. Apparently, all rooms on the fourth floor are deluxe rooms with a bathtub, double bed instead of a twin bed, and a filled mini fridge.” He joins your conversation, immediately planting the idea of asking for room 405 when you check into the hotel later today.

“I never had a bathtub during any of my stays. But all six times I slept in that hotel, I never slept on the fourth floor.” You reply.

“Don’t worry, you’re not missing out. The tubs are too small anyways.” He reassures.

“Your legs are just too long to properly fit into any tub.” You pointed out. 

***

All of you enjoy your dinner together. Harry is always left at work for a bit longer after you’re done with the class so he can prepare for the next day or finish up some other leftover work. And to the question of whether he will join you all at the dining table, his answer is always the same. “If I make it in time, I’ll happily join.” 

And today was one of the days he made it in time. He sits next to you in the only chair that’s unoccupied. Your friend shoots a glance at you, and that’s when you realize she made sure you sat next to the empty spot.

All of you welcome him to the table before starting small talk.

“Oh, by the way, Harry, I meant to thank you for your advice.” You start causing a confused look on the man’s face.

“My advice?” He asks. “What did I tell you?”

“When I was checking in I asked for room 405 and now I ended up in a deluxe room just like you told us about earlier today.” You giggle.

“Hold on, what room are you in??” He asks, clearly even more confused than he was at the beginning of this conversation.

“407.” 

“Ah, right! You got me confused for a second as I am booked in room 405 again.” He explains. “So, we’re practically neighbors!” 

Your brain spins a bit at how coincidentally it is of you asking for the exact room Harry is in. And on top of that, you are indeed practically neighbors. Suddenly you feel glad that you aren’t actual neighbors for the night, cause the rooms are very noisy and there’s a dividing door between every other room, allowing them to connect two rooms if needed. You’re not sure what your nighttime activities will turn into, once you’re left alone in your hotel room with just your unholy thoughts of the man next to you. 

Your food gets served, you and Harry both choose a different dish. He chose the tilapia filet and you went for a steak. Both are served with some veggies and fries. 

“That steak looks good.” He says as he puts a bit of fish into his mouth. 

“Would you like to try some?” You ask him to which he agrees. His fork is all covered in the sauce that comes with the fish. So, you cut off a piece of steak and hold your fork out for him to take it. He hums softly as the taste of the steak hits his tastebuds, sending vibrations through your fork. 

Harry insists on you trying some of his fish too. So he cuts a piece of, similar as to how you did it and holds his fork out for you to try it. 

You’re not much of a fish eater but you can see how people like this particular dish. It’s good as far as how good fish get. 

***

After hanging out with your friends on the terras, drinking some wine. All of you decide to call it a night. It’s nearly 11 p.m., and all of you need to be up bright and early the next day for your course. 

You hop into the elevator together, all of you pressing different buttons for different floors. Soon enough you’re the last one standing as you’re the only one whose hotel room is located on the top floor, and Harry’s of course.

Your pace slows down when you reach room 405. A deep voice is heard on the other side of the door. This confirms your suspicions, Harry is still up. It seems like he is currently on the phone with someone as a one-sided conversation is heard from his room. You decide not to snoop around, for all you know he’ll walk out the door any second and see you lingering around his door. That’d be weird.

Once you reach your door, you open it with the card and enter the room. You were smart enough to turn on the air conditioning before heading down for dinner so the room was cooled perfectly. 

You let yourself fall backward on your bed with a deep sigh. This massive crush on what essentially is your teacher was unexpected. And now you’re full of nerves, jitter, and a lot of unholy thoughts to think about.

You open up your book and try to set your mind in another direction. You have to face the man you’re thinking about tomorrow and above all you need to be able to concentrate. 

After 45 minutes of reading your mind is still on the one topic it was before. So the plan to distract yourself failed miserably. The only other option you can consider is taking a cold shower, cause there’s no way in hell you can masturbate to the thought of him and look him in the eye tomorrow.

You hop into the shower. You start at your regular temperature and decrease the temperature with small steps to end with a cold shower. Your hands travel over your body and you notice how sensitive your skin is. You take some soap and spread it all over your skin. Once your hands reach your breasts you give some extra attention to your achy nipples, pinching them between your fingers. You moan softly, god that feels good.

You realize what you’re doing and stop immediately, turning the water ever colder causing you to nearly squeal at the temperature. You step out of the shower and wrap a towel around your body. 

As soon as you’re all dried up, you crawl back into your bed and grab your phone to scroll mindlessly through TikTok. First, you clear your notifications but you notice one particular Instagram notification that catches your eye.

harrystyles liked your story 8m ago

It’s fucking past midnight, what is this man liking your Instagram story for?? As if you weren’t thinking about him enough already. 

You decide to get out of bed and go outside for a little midnight stroll. The cool and fresh air will do you good. You take your AirPods out of your bag so you can listen to some music while you're at it. 

You’ve been walking for about 25 minutes when you step back into the elevator and press the button to the fourth floor. Harry has finally disappeared from your mind, I mean, he’s still there but just less present. You are tired and just need your sleep.

Room 407 is two-thirds down the hall, luckily the floor is covered with carpet so your feet don’t make as much sound. You don’t want to wake anyone up at this ungodly hour. Nerves kick back in the closer you get to room 405. What if he’s still awake, or what if you woke him up when your door fell closed on your way out?

The sound of a door opening is heard and you’re too afraid to take your eyes off the floor. It takes every bit of strength in you to lift your head up, but when you finally do, your eyes are met with the ones you’ve been thinking about all night. He’s changed out of his dress pants and blouse and into a plain white shirt and some grey sweatpants.

“Oh, hi.” You mumble. Fuck, you think. You did wake him up on your way out. And now he’s here to complain about it.

“Hi.” He replies in a whisper. Harry heard you walk through the hallway, at least he was hoping it was you. But now that he’s standing eye to eye with you, he suddenly becomes nervous and doesn’t know what to say.

“I hope I didn’t wake you up when I left my room.” You apologize. 

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve been struggling to fall asleep anyway.” “Yeah, me too. I’m gonna go give it another try though.” You point to your door, gesturing for you to leave. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Wait!” Harry whisper-yells. “I- uhm. Do yo- uh.” He stumbles over his words. You turn your body back to him, looking at him with your big eyes.

“Do you wanna come with me to my room?” He finally asks and he holds out his hand for you to grab. You’re taken by surprise but after looking at him for a bit too long you grab his hand with a little nod and let him lead the way. 

He closes his fingers around yours and takes a couple of steps back to his room, opening the door with his room key. He steps inside the room, holds the door open, and pulls you in by your hand. The door is slammed closed right after you’re through the opening and Harry's strong arms push you against the door. 

“Hi.” He says giddy when looking at your lips, earning a smile from you.

“Oh fuck, just kiss me already.” You demand, and he is eager to please. 

His lips crash onto yours and his tongue slips inside your mouth. He’s gentle but demanding, it’s nothing like you ever thought it would be. This kiss makes you realize what people mean by melting when they’re being kissed. It’s like every inch of your body becomes one with his.

Your fingers graze his hair, pulling him closer as his hands find their place on your hips. He pushes his body flush against yours, earning a moan from your lips. The fingers of his right hand sneak under the hem of your shirt to dig into your skin. 

He pulls away after what feels like minutes of making out, panting slightly. His fingers play with the hem of your shirt and he looks down.

“Can I?” He asks to which you agree. Your shirt is pulled over your head in a swift motion, revealing your peach-coloured bra. Suddenly you feel glad you decided to put on a bra when you went for a walk because you nearly decided to not wear one.

“Fuck.” He moans at the sight of you. His hand comes up to cup your left breast through the padding of your bra. “You’re so beautiful.” He kisses your neck, up to your ear. You gain confidence from his words and let your hands travel over his chest, down his sides all the way to the hem of his own shirt. You look him in the eyes for permission. 

“Do it.” He whispers in your ear while he keeps on kissing every inch of your ear, neck, and jawline. You pull the shirt over his head revealing his perfect abs. You can’t help but put one hand flat on his stomach to feel his muscles and moan softly. Your eyes meet his and he has a beautiful smile plastered across his lips. 

His lips are back on yours and his fingers hook in the waistband of your jeans. He’s greedy to get you out of your clothes as soon as possible. He opens the button. His left hand grabs your face and he kisses you passionately on your lips as he puts his right hand in the back of your jeans to squeeze your bum. 

“Hmm, you feel so good.” He squeezes your flesh one more time before he pushes the fabric over your ass. You step out of your jeans and push him further into the room. Your lips reconnect. 

Harry leads you to the chair in the corner of the room and pushes you down in the chair. Your eyes fall down his body and stay glued to the tent starting to form in his sweatpants. His fingers wrap underneath your chin to pull your face up. 

“Eyes up here, baby.” He says. He spreads your legs to stand in between them and strokes his hand over your inner thighs, to your stomach, and up to your lips. He puts his thumb against your lips with his fingers resting on your cheek. You open your lips and softly suck on his thumb getting it slightly moist. 

He takes his finger back out of your mouth and his hands explore down to your chest. Both hands grab one boob each and massage your skin through your bra. He makes sure to flick his thumbs over your hardening nipples every now and then. 

You sink further down into the chair, practically laying on your back with your bum on the edge of the seat. Your feet are tucked around his waist and your legs are spread open to reveal your clothed crotch. Harry is standing right in front of the chair, causing his crotch to gaze over your most sensitive spot when he moves close enough. 

You moan at the pressure he’s applying to your chest. His big hands fit perfectly around your tits and it’s all you’ve been thinking about. Well, not all, but you get the point.

He pulls down the cups of your bra, to expose your breasts. Your nipples are hard and needy. His lips attach to your right nipple to suck on them before he lets go and gently strokes his fingers down your stomach, back towards your inner thighs. The soft touch of his fingertips tickles, sending a buzzing feeling straight to your clit.

He kneels in front of the chair you’re sitting on and wraps his hands around your waist. He places a couple of kisses on your thighs, right next to your core. But never touching where you need it most. He’s making you all needy, drawing moan after moan. 

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Harry asks. But the view in front of him already gives him the answer he is looking for. You’re dripping through your panties, completely ruining them and every touch is rewarded with another moan coming from your lips.

“Mhm, fuck yes.” You half moan.

Harry finally places a kiss on the wet spot forming on your panties. You immediately put your hand in his hair. After a few more open-mouthed kisses on top of the fabric, he finally pulls them to the side. He lets out a low moan at the sight and smell in front of him. 

He attaches his lips to your core, leaving another open-mouthed kiss on your labia before he sucks the juices into his mouth. Another loud moan escapes his lips, you’re sure anyone who’d walk by would be able to hear the both of you.

“You taste so fucking good, baby.” Harry moans. He pushes your panties further to the side and you help him hold them there, giving him full access to taste every single inch of you. He licks up from your bottom all the way to your clit and you can’t help but whine. He continues to gently lick around your clitoris, making sure not to apply too much pressure at once. It feels like pure ecstasy. 

His hands stroke the insides of your thighs again while they travel to your core. With two hands, he spreads you open to allow him to stick his tongue inside of you. He pushes in and out of you a few times before his tongue travels back to your clit. Licking and sucking softly, building up the pressure. He for sure is taking his time with you. His eyes are locked on yours to gauge what you like and don’t like. But so far you seem to have entered another world. With your left hand locked in his hair and your head thrown back.

Harry starts to put more pressure on your clit with his tongue making you all squirmish. Your soft moans go up in loudness. His lips leave your clit but his finger is quick to stroke circles around it before he inserts his finger into your pussy hitting you right on that spongy part. His finger pushes in and out of you and his tongue gently swipes from left to right. 

He applies even more pressure to your clit, sucking on the sensitive bud every now and then. His one finger inside of you pumps in and out, building up a faster pace. More juices start to spill from your pussy so he licks from down all the way up to your clit again to collect your wetness and slurp it all up. It’s a sign you’re coming close to your orgasm. Your legs start shaking around his shoulders and he continues his work, going faster and sucking harder.

Soon you can’t contain your moans and your orgasm hits you harder than it has ever done before. Harry’s fingers don’t seem to slow down though, and his tongue is still attached to your sensitive clit. Your moans turn into high-pitched whines mixed with curse words falling from your lips.

“Fucking hell, please” You moan, trying to push his face away from your cunt. His finger falls from your pussy and he softly caresses your mount with a flat hand, his lips are still attached to your clit but he stopped sucking as he moans loudly. The vibrations of the sounds he’s making shoot right through your body. He completely removes his face from you and wipes the wetness from his chin. 

“God, I wanna do that again. You sound so fucking pretty.” He tells you before he connects his lips to yours. The tangy taste of yourself is all you can focus on, making you feel dizzy. 

Harry looks you up and down. He gets up off his knees so he can finally drop his sweats to the floor. The erection in his loose-fit boxers makes you curious, but it gives you a good idea of how big he is. 

He holds out his hand for you to help you get up from the chair. His arms wrap around your body once you’re on your feet and he kisses you deeply. His hands take hold underneath your bum. 

“Jump.” He commands and you listen without a second thought. You wrap your arms around his middle and his erection softly presses into your core. You moan and nestle your face into his neck. Your hips try to grind down on him, although you’re not as successful as you’d hoped. Harry walks to the end of the bed to place you down. 

“Let’s get you out of these.” You say as you put your fingers into the waistband of his boxers. You pull them down so he can step out of them. He pushes you on your shoulders, tipping you over so you’re lying on your back and his hands hold your knees to spread them open again. With one hand he pumps his cock a few times and with the other, he pushes your panties back to the side before he pushes the tip of his cock through your folds. 

“Shit, a condom.” He curses. “I don’t know if I have one.” He says honestly. It’s not like he thought he was getting laid during his work trip so he didn’t pack any. He rushes to his wallet in hopes of finding one in there. He opens the coin section and is happy to be greeted by a silver foil. He takes it out before he returns to you and puts on the protection. 

He goes back to what he started. He rubs the tip of his now rubber-covered cock over your clit, stimulating the sensitive nub. You immediately are a moany-mess again before he slides his tip down and inters your cunt. He pushes in and out, going deeper with every thrust. His thrusts are gentle as he knows you’re close to being overstimulated. 

His hands hold your thighs down before he starts moving back and forth at a faster pace. He bends down to attack your right nipple with his mouth. He sucks sharply and licks over the hard bump. 

The bed starts squeaking loudly when he holds you down around your hips to be able to fuck up into you faster. His skin slaps against yours making the most erotic sounds audible in the hallway and possibly in the neighboring rooms. 

Harry wraps his hand around your neck, not really applying pressure but just holding you in place as he trusts into you slower but with more power. Smacking his pelvis against your clit with every trust. Your panties slipped back down covering half your labia again. 

“Let’s get these out of the way.” You laugh. Harry pulls out so you’re able to remove your underwear but he’s back inside of you as soon as possible. He’s bucking up, trying to hit your G-spot every time he pushes in. And he knows he’s doing a good job as your moans went up a pitch again. 

He grabs your hips and keeps fucking you hitting your G-spot hard every, single, time. The trusts change from hard and deep to soft and fast. Giving you a whole other sensation. He keeps switching between the two different paces until he finds you squirming underneath him again. He bucks his hips hard and deep into you and after a few more trusts you reach your second orgasm, screaming and squirting all over him. 

You were about to apologize but Harry has already attached his lips to your cunt to lick up all the leftover juices. He’s moaning loudly as he’s trying to clean you up. Your own moans become quieter and turn into soft hums as you nestle your hand into his hair, grabbing him tightly. 

He starts assaulting your clit like he used to when you were sitting in the chair. His tongue is doing wonders on your overstimulated clit and it only takes a couple of strokes of his wet muscle to get you to reach your height again. This time however it feels shorter and less intensive, but still your moans picked up again. It’s like music to Harry’s ears.

“Fuck, Y/N, you are so fucking perfect.” He moans, kissing you sloppily. His hips meet yours and both of you hum to the feeling. Harry takes a hold of his cock and guides it back inside of you. His hips grind over yours, giving you way too much stimulation but god does it feel good. 

He places his left foot on the bed next to your bum and starts pounding into you. He puts one of his hands on top of your mouth as you can’t contain any of the sounds you’re making. Harry knows it’s already too late when it comes to waking up the neighbors but he doesn’t wanna keep bothering them all night.

Never have you been fucked this hard, fast, and deep all at the same time. It’s starting to feel overwhelming and you can’t stop whining at how good you feel. Harry keeps miraculously pounding into you as he starts to moan loudly himself as well. 

His moans send shivers down your spine, he sounds otherworldly. The deeper his moans get, the sloppier his trusts become. He spills all of his cum inside of the condom before his moans quiet down and he pulls out. He’s panting loudly and he gently swats the back of your thigh twice. He rubs his cock up and down your pussy one more time before he kneels down again and licks your pussy clean. 

“Stay where you are.” He says and places a quick kiss on your lips. He walks to the bathroom to toss the condom and grab a damp towel to properly clean you up. He dabs the lukewarm towel to your overstimulated core and softly strokes the fabric down once or twice. He puts the towel down on the floor where all of your juices squirted in an attempt to minimize the mess.

“There, now let’s get comfy.” He says and gets into bed. “Do you want a shirt?” He asks to which you nod. He gets up to grab his white tee from before and hands it to you. It smells deliciously like his skin in the best way possible. You put it on and it reaches up to your upper thigh. 

Harry lays back down in bed and you crawl next to him. He naturally opens his arms for you to cuddle up to him. 

“I‘ve never been fucked that good.” You chuckle as you take a deep breath. The room smells and looks like sex but neither of you seems to care. 

“Hmm, you felt so good.” Harry’s ego boosts at your comment. And if he’s honest, he’s never been with someone he enjoyed so much and he simply can’t wait to do it again. “I hope you’re going to stay the rest of the night, right?” He asks. 

“I didn’t plan on getting up, I’m way too comfortable here.” You reply to which Harry only pulls you in closer. He places a soft kiss on your forehead with a soft hum. 

“Goodnight, baby.” He whispers to which you answer a simple goodnight. 

***

You wake up the next morning with Harry’s body wrapped around yours. The sound of your alarm was ringing from the nightstand. It’s a good thing you charged your phone last night when you were trying to sleep otherwise it would’ve been out of power and therefore not been awakened. 

“What time is it?” Harry asks, his voice low and sexy as he’d just woken up. 

“7:30.” You answer, to which he shoots up. 

“Shit, I forgot to set my alarm. I need to be at work in an hour.” He sighs, but actually, he doesn’t really care. He has the most beautiful girl lying in his bed, breakfast can wait for once and he can also head to work half an hour later, he already prepared everything for today anyway. 

He lays back down and rolls on his side to face you. 

“Hi.” He says. 

“Hi.” You reply, and both of you laugh softly. 

“So, I hope you have no regrets from last night. I didn’t mean to push you into anything you didn’t want.” Harry says, to which you take his face between your hands to pull him closer. You connect your lips to his. 

“Not one single bit.” You reply before Harry deepens the kiss. His cock is already hard, as most men wake up with an erect member. But the beautiful girl in his T-shirt next to him is making him lose his mind. 

His hands travel down her side and cup her pussy. One finger gently slides between her already damp lips and rubs circles around her clit. 

“Har, we don’t have time for this.” You whine and he knows you're right. He sighs before he takes his fingers back from your pussy and licks the tip of his finger clean. 

“I’m sorry. You’re just irresistible.” He flirts. 

“It’s gonna be a long day then.” You joke, neither of you had thought about having to go through today and act like nothing has happened. 

“We’ll see about that.” He argues as if he doesn’t think there’s going to be a lot of tension. “Let’s just get ready for breakfast.” He says and gets out of bed to get dressed. 

You sit up and think for a bit. All your stuff is two rooms down the hall and you don’t feel like getting into your nasty clothes from the day before, especially those panties which are ruined. 

“Can I borrow your sweatpants for a bit?” You ask Harry. “I need to go to my room to get ready.” You explain. He grabs his sweats off the floor and hands them to you. You’re now wearing the complete outfit Harry was wearing when he pulled you into his room. 

“I’ll see you in a few minutes.” You say before kissing him once again and head out to your own room. 

You took a quick shower to rinse off the sweat of the night before, brushed your teeth, and got dressed in a fresh set of clothing. 

When you’re all set and ready, you grab your room key and exit your room. You walk the short distance down the hallway to Harry’s room and raise your hand to knock on his door but he already has it opened before your hand can hit the wood. 

“Let’s go get some fuel.” He says and grabs you by your hand. He leads you all the way to the elevator. He pressed the button to the ground floor where the breakfast buffet was. 

The elevator stops at the second floor. You quickly pull your hand back as you know there are classmates sleeping on that same floor. And since Harry and you haven’t discussed anything about how to move forward, you’d rather not get the confrontation in the middle of an elevator. However, luckily it wasn’t someone either of you knew. 

Once the both of you enter the restaurant, Harry a few steps ahead of you, you notice all your classmates who also slept in the same hotel already sitting at your designated table. 

“Wow Harry, we thought you had already left. You’ve never been this late before.” One of them recalls. 

“Yeah, you’re always the first to eat and the first to leave.” Someone else joins in. 

You don’t know where to look or what to say. It feels like getting caught as you are well aware of the reason why Harry hasn’t eaten yet. Both of you decide to go fill up a plate with a delicious breakfast and just try to ignore the comments. 

“I feel like we’re already getting caught.” You tell him as you stand next to him putting some eggs on your plate. 

“Don’t worry your pretty head over it, there’s no way for them to know.” He reassures. 

You sit back at the table before Harry does. He’s in line for the coffee machine. 

Your friend looks at you. “Spill. The. Tea.” She mouths so no one can hear, but you can see. You giggle to yourself and shake your head no. But she just knows something is up. 

Harry walks back to the table with two cups of coffee. He puts the black coffee in front of himself and the cappuccino next to your plate. 

“Thank you, ba-“ You quickly stopped saying what you wanted to say, hoping no one had noticed. You look around the table but there are no suspicious looks. Harry places his hand on your knee and squeezes softly. 

“You’re welcome.” He says. 

Taglist: @justmystyles @bitchybabyharry Let me know if you want to be added to my taglist! 🤗

[crheativity]

Hi! Thank you for doing this event! This is such a cute prompt idea, I love it! Would it be alright if I use it in the future?

And could I request Ruggie at 11:38PM in the Savannaclaw laundry room?

WARNINGS: None! Very cute and wholesome :D COMMENTS: Hello! Thank you so much! I don’t mind at all hehe, these are fun to write :D I hope you enjoy this, sorry it took so long!!

It had been six hours and twenty-seven minutes since Ruggie Bucchi went AWOL. 

Typically, on a busy day like today, he’d send you a short text explaining that he’d be busy for a while and couldn’t chat. He always messaged you as soon as he could after that, so that you knew he was free again. 

Only this time, he hadn’t texted you back. 

For the first little while, you figured whatever he had been doing was just taking longer than he’d thought. But when four hours had come and gone with no sign from him, you started to get a bit nervous. At five hours, you were checking your phone every couple minutes. At six, you’d put on your jacket and rushed out of Ramshackle. 

The night was cold and eerie as you slowly made your way to the Savannaclaw dorm. You kept your eyes peeled for any sign of Ruggie as you got closer and closer, but there was no sign of him.

Upon arriving at Savannaclaw, you carefully made your way to Ruggie’s room, keeping as silent as possible. You figured that in a dorm full of beastmen, they probably knew you were there anyway, but you still didn’t want to disturb them if you could avoid it. 

You finally stood in front of Ruggie’s room, thinking hard. What if he’d just forgotten to text you, and was currently enjoying some much-needed rest? You hesitated.

Well, if he didn’t want to be disturbed, he should’ve remembered to text me.

You knocked on the door.

Silence.

“Ruggie? It’s me.” You kept your voice low and quiet as you knocked again.

Still nothing.

“I’m coming in.” You paused and waited for a protest. Nothing came, so you opened the door.

Ruggie Bucchi was not in his bed, nor in his room.

He was simply gone. 

You felt your heart start to race. Where in twisted wonderland was he?!

You pulled out your phone, scrolling past the slightly embarrassing amount of texts you’d sent to try and get his attention. He hadn’t sent anything to insinuate what exactly he’d be doing.

You thought back on your conversations earlier that day, trying to figure out where he could possibly be. Ruggie had been complaining about all the work that he had to do for Leona. More specifically, he’d been making fun of Leona for not knowing how to even wash his own clothes. 

Wait. Wash his own clothes…

You turned and hastily made your way to the Savannaclaw Laundry room, racking your brains for anywhere else he could be.

Turns out, thinking of other options was entirely unnecessary. 

Curled up on a pile of freshly dried laundry, Ruggie Bucchi lay fast asleep. His hair drooped messily over his eyes, arms still clutching a half-empty laundry basket. He looked eerily peaceful. You weren’t sure you’d ever seen him this relaxed before. You pulled out your phone and snapped a quick photo, before shoving your phone in your back pocket and crouching down beside him, looking through the washing.

You grabbed a clean, lukewarm blanket from the pile and gently draped it over him. He, still asleep, snuggled into it with a cosy smile on his face.

“I love you.” He mumbled. 

You froze, unsure if he was awake or asleep. If he was awake - or at least, half awake - then what he said could’ve been legit, right…? Or maybe it was just him dreaming of someone he loved, like his grandma or something. It didn’t necessarily mean you… did it? You were suddenly very aware of how fast your heart was beating.

You sighed and sat down next to him, adjusting yourself until you were also comfortable. It was late and you were starting to get tired. 

Might as well stay here for the night, you thought. I can give Ruggie an earful tomorrow…

You tossed another blanket over yourself and shifted until you were comfortable. As sleep slowly began to pull you into its warm embrace, you could’ve sworn you felt a calloused but gentle hand take yours.

♥ Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it! ♥

[ellesthots]

Fateful Beginnings

XVII. “orientation”

parts: previous / next

plot: back in the godforsaken city, you attend orientation and set up your new apartment.

pairing: battinson!bruce wayne x fem!reader

cw: 18+

words: 2.3k

It could've been the sun blasting from your windows waking you up, but you lived in Gotham—instead it was the sound of shouting and piercing whoops with a sprinkle of taxi honks that made you rub the crust off your eyes. Mar was already awake and stood impatiently by the door. She looked up at you and grinned when she saw you sit up. "I ordered some donuts for us, figured you might wanna eat."

She almost looked like a little dog waiting to be let out; she was short with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes, rearing to get out the door and feel some adventure. Huh. She reminds me of a cocker-spaniel. The clock read 11:05, and you jumped out of bed to get in the shower. You thanked her for ordering them before rushing to get your body clean. The water in the W’s shower was absolutely scalding, and it reminded you of another inequality in the city—only the rich people got fast-heating water. You cringed as you put the hotel shampoo and conditioner in your hair, then fought with the hair dryer that was too closely connected to the wall, and stepped out to Mar's lap covered in powdered sugar. "Here! I saved you these."

Since you signed everything virtually, Mar insisted on taking your bags to your new apartment for you. Much to your chagrin (you were feeling strangely jet-lagged from the day before) she was being convincing. "Just let me take them so you don't have to worry while you're at orientation. That's rent you're wasting!"

"I don't have a bed, I don't have anything to even sleep on in there yet, Mar." You shoved your arms through a sweater and pulled up your trousers.

"Won't they be giving you that welcome stipend or whatever today? How long is orientation?" Mar was always ready to get things moving, and you vacillated between appreciation and admonition.

"I mean I think so, and it's only until three." You furrowed your brow. "Maybe we could go to Target after and pick out some stuff?"

She clapped her hands and squealed. "Mmhm, perfect. Meet me at Jonson Street Target at 3:30?"

In the taxi to GU, you emailed her the information and messaged the apartment about a guest coming to get your things set up. You arrived at 11:58 and rushed to the Challey building, arriving sweaty and out of breath but on time. Dr. Vry was wearing a black velvet (?) sweater with a leather skirt, and had bright red lipstick. Her gray hair was up in a ponytail that sent a wash of neroli-scented air your way. "My protégé!" She wrapped you in a hug and led you by the elbow down the hallway to her office. Why does she keep calling me that? I didn't even get the interview with her billionaire.

"I'll be here. You dear, will be down the hallway just so." She pointed a few doors down to a vacant room with a sturdy desk and chair. You could've sworn it used to be a study room, and even pictured you and Mar studying for an exam there on class conflicts and inequalities.

The orientation was lackluster, but you hadn't expected much anyway. The doors creaked just as much, the cobwebs were still very much present, and the hallways were completely devoid of life. Your position was extremely straightforward: come in at least 8 hours a week to be available for any clerical work she had, and the other seven would be used up at weekly city hall meetings (two hours) and remote work. She took you down to the print room to meet one other lonely soul, Bridgit, explaining that you would bring your column to her by the end of the workday Thursday for printing. "The only thing you have to worry about is writing about whatever is happening at the meetings per week. And staying below the fifteen-hundred word count of course." She laughed like it was supposed to be funny and you and Bridgit followed suit.

By 2:30 you had completely exhausted even your boss's endless capacity for conversation, and she sent you on your way. Right as she was going to shut the door to her office you remembered the check. "Oh, Dr. Vry, the uh, I'm sorry, was I supposed to receive the initial payment today?"

She laughed again and shook her head. She waved her hand in dismissal only someone with six figures in their savings could manage. "It will be mailed to your new apartment by the end of the week." She smiled at you and shut the door. You held your raincoat limply in your hands. You only had twenty dollars in your account.

You got a taxi back to the W. 2:45. You went to the front desk and prayed this would work. "Hi, when I scheduled online I booked out through the end of the week but I don't need the room anymore. Can I cancel and get a refund?"

"Name?"

You told him and he clicked away. "Room 208?"

"Yes." You sat your hands on the edge of the desk behind a row of pens and flyers. There was a children's play at a private school close by. The Muppets. You wondered how they would accomplish that.

"Card ending in 5620?"

Fuck. "Oh I'm sorry, that card doesn't work anymore. Is there any way to get cash?" You bit your cheek to keep the anxiety at bay.

He shook his head slightly. "I'm sorry, but we have to... well, I could..." The man leaned into a mic nearby. "Manger to the front desk please."

A lady with a plastic smile arrived swiftly. Her eyes met yours with a blank, wide stare. "How can I help you?"

"She says the card she booked with doesn't work anymore and wants a cash refund."

"Oh, was there a problem with your stay?" Her teeth were blindingly white and ridiculously straight. You nearly had to squint back at her.

"No no, I just don't need it anymore." You gripped the edge of the desk hard barely out of their gaze. Please please please. The manager clicked a few buttons on the computer and scanned her badge. She flashed another beaming smile at you before skirting away. After what seemed like an hour but was likely only a few minutes, the manager entered. “Yes ma’am.” After a very tense nod, the desk clerk opened the register and began counting hundreds. "One hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, five hundred, six hundred, seven hundred, eight hundred,"

When he handed you 1800 dollars you felt faint. You handed over the key and thanked him before pocketing the cash and taking a taxi that had just dropped off a couple at the hotel. "Jonson Target, please."

3:01 you pulled up to the curb. Mar was perusing the dollar items when you walked in, and you both made quick work of finding your way to the home aisle and packing everything into a cart. A mattress, a frame, a sheet set, a comforter, pillows, a throw rug, a lamp, hangers, a bedside table, and two beanbag chairs cleared off that section and the cart. You grabbed another and headed to the hygiene section, grabbing toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothbrush, toothbrush holder, toothpaste, lotion, cleanser, moisturizer, towels, and finished off with some multi-surface cleaner, rags, and a swiffer. The total came to just under a thousand, leaving ample room for Ubers and food until your first paycheck. Exhausted, you ordered an Uber Pickup to take you to your new abode: The Moore.

The driver was a big, burly man with a big, burly pickup. You both squeezed into the back seating and he blasted some music neither of you had ever heard. When you pulled up to the front steps he was kind enough to help you out, bragging the entire time about his muscularity. "You know, city folks don't know much about this but I spent all my summers bucking hay in Georgia." You both humored him, since he was able to carry both the mattress and frame in one smooth trip. 5:30 and you and Mar were just getting out the mini toolkit provided by apartment management to begin assembling everything.

The apartment was massive compared to your last one. No longer a studio, you were upgraded to a bathroom with a full XL tub and a one-bedroom master. The queen bed fit well, and after everything had been assembled (much to your exhaustion), the apartment still looked somewhat empty, but inhabited. When you and Mar finally settled into the beanbags in the living area, you groaned about forgetting a tv. Mar asked if she could take a shower, and you moved to the bedroom and set up your iPad in the meantime.

Hi hunny. How is the new place? Your mother wants pictures ASAP ( as soon as possible ).

It's good! I'll send some pics in the morning, I'm tired from setting up the place all day. Orientation went well too. Doesn't seem like I'll be too drained there.

Mar stayed the night again, and you pestered her about if she really wanted to stay here or not. This wasn't the longest you two had been together—during your first year of undergrad here you both had been exceptionally close, sometimes spending a week flip flopping between the other's apartment. "I just don't want to be asking too much of you." You threw the comforter over you and grabbed your phone. She was slathering on some moisturizer. "Y/N." She gave you a look as the pads of her fingers pressed along her cheeks. She's right. She's never had a problem with being straightforward. She skipped over to bed with you and got under the blanket. "This gives us time to talk about the juicy stuff."

Oh no. Mar had been trying to get you a partner since the first time you both had a conversation. Extremely flirtatious and non-monogamous, her most used apps were Tinder and Uber. It had taken you a minute to get used to that coming from a smaller town, and only ever having been on a smattering of first dates and had a brief 'boyfriend' in high school. "Are you finally in a relationship yet?"

"No." You shrugged and tried to change the subject to a funny meme you'd just seen on Scypher. She shook her head and leaned in closer. "What about Ryan? Jade?" With every shake of your head she grew more exasperated. "C'mon Y/N! Get it together!"

"I'm good on that." She gave you another look and you reaffirmed. "I'll even pinky swear."

Mar held out her finger with a knowing look. You put out your pinky and moved to her hand, but stalled. You let it fall back into your lap and then pulled the covers over your head. "Okay fine. I don't completely hate the idea of dating." This created an hour more of conversation detailing all your past dates, including the coffee situation with your friends back home, and culminated in such a dense feeling of loneliness you nearly wanted to cry. The moment was short lived however due to her inclusion of the most frustrating man alive.

"I know you don't want me to say it, but what about Bru—"

"Absolutely fucking not." You mimed throwing up and passing out and she playfully slapped your arm. "Christ, dude. Last time you were here he literally chased after you."

"Last night you thought it was stalking."

"Yeah but the more I thought about it," She looked off into the distance for dramatic effect. "I wouldn't mind being invited to Paris for your birthday."

A laugh slipped out of you which eased the tension. Mar was persistent but not rude, and she had sensed this was a soft enough spot for you she didn't push it past that. You both fell asleep quite similarly to how you did the night before, but this time you didn't have to wake up for anything. Dr. Vry had told you work did not officially begin for you until Thursday evening when you were to go to the first city hall meeting to gather report. She hadn't given very specific instructions, just handed you a PRESS badge for security clearance and told you to use your phone and a notebook. She called it 'adapting to the times'. You tried not to focus too much on the logistics as you fell asleep—would you interview someone or would you simply give a summary of the meeting's happenings—and most importantly, you made sure not to zoom in on a particular aspect of the affair Dr. Vry was especially fanatic about: Bruce Wayne's attendance. You loathed how he was the last thing you thought about your first two nights back. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right, and it certainly didn't make you want to stay here any longer. What would you say? What would you do? Would he pretend not to know you? Would you pretend not to know him? What if you tripped again?

The rumination lingered in your dreams and you woke up the next morning feeling like you'd napped about five minutes. Checking your phone saw that you had slept until noon, and Mar was still sound asleep in bed. You got comfortable. This was going to be a long week.

[strawberrybasilsorbet]

Jilytober Day 11

Missed yesterday, but I'm hoping to go back when I have time! In the meantime, here's my try at today's @jilytoberfest prompt:

October 11th Prompt: 🎶“Uncovering feelings unfound”🎶 - Out of the Blue by Katie Pruitt

Lily peeked out from behind the corner of the cricket shed before surreptitiously lighting her cigarette. Smoking wasn't prohibited, but her break wasn't officially supposed to start for another twenty minutes; it had only been thanks to some fairly pitiable wrangling — and a promise to take on her Friday shift — that Anne had agreed to cover the last hour so that Lily could decompress.

Closing her eyes, Lily leaned her head back against the shed and sunk to the ground, taking a long drag. It was only half-past noon, but some blokes had made a mess of one of her tables at the pub last night, and she hadn't finished closing until after one in the morning. She was already looking forward to sinking into bed.

In the distance, she heard a splash and a shout. It sounded like some kid had flipped his canoe again. She snickered a little; Anne would definitely be more annoyed about switching shifts now that she needed to get her hair wet.

It had been a long summer. Seventh year was going to be expensive — she'd need money to pay the application fees if she wanted to try for a Healing apprenticeship, to pick up a set of dress robes for the Leavers' Ball, to make a deposit on a flat rental after she finished Hogwarts — and Lily was trying to save as much as she could. Most mornings, she got on the bus for her day job at the nearest holiday camp, only to take the 5pm back to Cokeworth, eat a quick supper, and start her evening shift at Oscar's pub. Lily didn't mind hard work, but after six weeks of both jobs, she was beginning to feel run down.

At least she didn't have to spend much time at her own place. Between Tuney's sniping at home and Sev's lurking around the park, hoping she'd forget his horrible behavior at school now that his pack of Death Eater-wannabes wasn't around, it was hard to get a moment's peace.

She took another drag. Maybe she could talk Oscar into putting her on the early side tonight. He owed her, after the amount of mopping up she'd done yesterday...

"There you are, Evans!"

Lily jumped and opened her eyes. She thought she'd heard...but that made no sense...

"Potter?" She blinked. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Improbably, James Potter — wearing a fairly convincing set of Muggle clothes, although his orange checkered polo shirt clashed horrendously with a pair of short, salmon-pink trousers — was striding toward her from the nearby woods, looking far too cheerful for the August heat. "Looking for you!" he said affably. "It seemed a nice day for a visit, and we'd been getting on well this summer, so I thought—"

"Potter, I'm at work." She stared in surprise.

He had the grace to turn a bit sheepish. "Oh, I'm sorry, Evans," he said, looking around. "Is now is a bad time?"

"No, I just—." Lily blushed. She'd given Potter her address earlier this summer — only so he could practice with the Muggle post, of course — and suddenly, she realized that she'd been writing him rather a lot.

Potter made a surprisingly charming pen friend. His letters, full of witty jokes and updates about his summer with his mates, were a welcome connection to the magical world and a relief from her tense avoidance of Sev and Tuney. More than once, she'd found herself looking forward to reading them as she came home from the pub, or scribbling quick replies by wandlight so she could get them in the mail before she caught the morning bus to camp.

"I just — how did you get here, anyway?"

"I stopped by your house," said James, shrugging. "Remember, you gave me your address? Someone — I think your mum? — answered the door and said that you were here." He still looked abashed. "I guess she might not have expected me to come by, but she said you might not be home until quite late, so I thought—"

"That's alright—"

"I can visit another day—"

"No, it's really okay, Potter," said Lily, who by now was quite red. Somehow, it wasn't the fact that Potter had showed up at her job, but the unflattering color of her uniform swimsuit that was on Lily's mind. She hadn't brushed her hair this morning, and she'd been sweating in the heat... "They're not too fussy here, and I'm basically on my break, anyway. It's nice to see you." She took another drag on her snuck cigarette, trying to look a bit less flustered. "You just showed up a bit out of the blue, that's all."

"Literally," said Potter, with a playful smile. He gestured toward the cloudless sky. "Stashed my broomstick in the trees back there."

She groaned theatrically at the terrible wordplay, knocking him with her shoulder. "Too scared to take the bus, Potter?"

"Oh, certainly. Petrol is too advanced for me, I'm still grasping bicycles."

She grinned. She knew perfectly well that Potter had likely passed his Muggle Studies exam with flying colors, as he did most of his others. "If you stick around until 5 o'clock, I'm happy to show you the ropes on my way back to Cokeworth."

"Gladly," said James. He peered curiously around the shed, taking in the archery setup, large lake, and row of cabins just beyond the cricket field. "What do you do here, anyway?"

"It's a holiday camp," Lily explained. "Families come to play games and get away from home for a bit during the summer."

"They don't holiday abroad?"

"God, you're posh." Lily rolled her eyes. "Why go to France, honestly, when you could stay at camp and win the donkey derby?"

"The what?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," said Lily.

"I have to see this. You run a donkey derby?"

"Not me personally," Lily said, giggling. "I'm hopeless with animals. I mostly serve lunch or take shifts dragging the little kids out of the lake."

"Why are the kids in the lake?"

"Oh, we do canoeing on one half and swimming on the other. Except sometimes the canoeing turns into swimming, because there's always some troublemakers flipping their boat on purpose."

James grinned. "Good for them."

"I'm appalled," Lily replied. "Are you trying to make my job harder, Potter?"

"In this weather?" said James. "Nah. I'm giving you an excuse to cool off, I expect."

James's eyes flickered to her swimsuit and quickly away. Lily swallowed, suddenly wishing she'd finished her shift after all. "I'm tied up tonight," she said, "but if you were to come back another day...if I took a night off from my evening job, I mean, and you wanted to go for a dip?"

James looked up. "Yeah," he said, a bit too eagerly. "Just because it's so hot, I mean," he said, smoothing out his tone. Lily noticed, amused, that his voice had suddenly got a bit deeper. She put out her cigarette, noticing that her earlier exhaustion had vanished.

"Well, alright then," she said. "It's a date." James gave her a dimpled smile. She hadn't noticed how sweet his smile was, before.

Where had it come from, this strange new fondness between them? Was it a fleeting thing, driven by Lily's exhaustion and James's boredom — destined to fall off with the autumn leaves when they returned to school, and to the old habits of their old stomping grounds? Or, maybe, could their letters be turning into something, well...a little bit more, maybe, lasting, or...

"Can anyone come to these holiday camps?" James asked, interrupting Lily's train of thought. "Because if donkey derbying is allowed, I want to kick Sirius's arse."

Lily threw her head back with a laugh. "With a day pass," she told him, "but if you've got a connection on the staff, she can probably sneak you in for free."

[jungkookjeon0007]

Nights in Vegas | CH. 11 (JJK FF)

☆ summary: When Olivia flies to Las Vegas for her first ever BTS concert w/ her best friend, she was expecting to make lots of unforgettable memories... What she wasn't expecting was to end up with the lead singer, Jeon Jungkook, knocking on her hotel room door only to find her in nothing but a towel. What will happen when the golden maknae wants to see her again? Will it lead to heartbreak, or a promising future for them both?

☆ pairing(s): jungkook x olivia.

☆ ratings: (18+) for detailed sex scenes + harsh language.

☆ genre: smut, angst, fluff.

☆ word count: 4.26k.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

Morning of the Concert.

The members have all been working double time to get ready for tonight's first show, however, two of them in particular were also making sure to spend long nights with both Olivia and Lacie. The boys had been up since 5 am and since today was so important, everyone is busy with preparations. There were last minute wardrobe checks to be done, run throughs of the choreography for each of the songs being performed, and a soundcheck 2 hours before the concert would begin. The members were exhausted, but love what they do so they are pushing through regardless of exhaustion.

. . .

[Olivia's POV]

I stayed the night with Jungkook in his room as Lacie had Hobi in ours per usual. I was sleeping soundly when all of a sudden, the alarm began to sound throughout the room. I grunted as I rolled over to shut it off and as I looked at the alarm, it read 9:45 am.

Shit! We slept in!

I quickly ran down to my room because I knew Lacie was still asleep and used my key card to get in, "LACIE WAKE UP!" I threw a pillow at her face as she started to move around and grunt.

"IT IS 9:45 am! WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE FOR OUR APPOINTMENTS!!!" I yelled as her eyes popped up and she sat straight up in the bed.

I immediately went into the bathroom and after taking the fastest shower of my life, went to my suitcase to pull out the first outfit I could find which was a white t-shirt and black leggings. I needed to at least make this look like I tried, so I tied a knot in my shirt and paired it with my brand new blue Jean jacket and silver slip on Vans.

Next, I needed to do something with my wild and crazy hair, so as Lacie was picking out her outfit, I went back to the bathroom and put my hair in a simple but cute pony tail then started on my makeup. I was aiming for all things quick and easy and went with a natural look.

Once I was all finished, I took a quick look in the mirror and was impressed at how good I did in the short amount of time I had. Walking back into the bedroom, Lacie was finishing up with her outfit and coincidentally, it was similar to mine. Black leather leggings, converses, and a comfy shirt all paired with a jean jacket.

Great minds must think alike.

. . .

[Author POV]

The two friends made it to their first appointment with only 2 minutes to spare. They walked in and the employees grabbed each of them to take over to the massage chairs that had jets for pedicures. As they sat down and got comfortable, Olivia and Lacie's phones received text messages simultaneously.

Shooting each other a confused look, they checked their phones:

Jhope 😎: Hey hey, is everyone here?

Lacie 💗: Yep. I'm here!

Olivia 🌼: Yes sir. I am here also! 👋🏼

Jhope 😎: Ok, perfect. But, we're missing one more person. 🤔

Jk 🐰🖤: Oh, yes hyung I'm here. I just thought you were referring to the girls, sorry. lol

Jhope 😎: I wanted to make this group chat so JK and I could ask you both something together.

Lacie 💗: Okay, what is it?

Jk 🐰🖤: Well, hyung and I were talking..... after the show we want to take you both out for some dinner. We wanted to see if you would like to go on another double date with us. We really enjoyed that when we did it the first time because it was so much fun.

Olivia 🌼: If Lace is okay with it, I am perfectly okay with another double date. It was a lot of fun the first time and we all haven't been on another for a few days so I think it will be great. 😊

Jhope 😎: Yay, that's one! How about it Lace, wanna go to dinner with us?

Lacie 💗: Well of course I'd love to come on a double date! Sorry I didn't respond right away, I got lost in this massage chair. 🙌🏼😩

Jk 🐰🖤: Umm, massage chair? What the heck are you two doing at 10:30 am in massage chairs? 😂😂

Olivia 🌼: 😂😂 we are at the nail salon getting mani pedis before the concert. We have a few appointments today actually. 😊

Jhope 😎: Ahhh, ok. Well go have fun and relax, we will see you both later. One of the security guards will come and find you 10 minutes or so before the show ends and bring you backstage.

Lacie 💗: Okay! Sounds like a plan. We will see you guys in a bit. Have a good day Hobi!! 😘

Jhope 😎: You have a good day too sunshine. ♥️

Jk 🐰🖤: Eww, get a room. 🤪 Since they can be sappy, we will too.. I hope you have such a great day baby and I cannot wait to see you tonight. ♥️

Olivia 🌼: Aww you're the sweetest. 🥺 I cannot wait to see you either Kookie. I wish you the best of luck on your concert! All 7 of you will do amazing! 💗

Lacie put her phone down and turned to find Olivia who was already looking at her.

"What is it?" Lacie asked as she laid her head back on the chair.

"Nothing, I just think we are so lucky to have them."

"But?" Lacie asked, knowing she wasn't telling her everything.

Olivia continued, "I just hate that this will end in the next week or so. I don't want this to be over."

Olivia's smile slowly faded as she glanced down at her hands in her lap.

"You honestly never know what could happen between now and then, Liv. Just don't think too much about it right now and enjoy the present moments. Okay?" Lacie gave her a warm smile as she smiled back nodding. "Okay, I will."

By the time they were finished with conversing, it was time for them to move over to the other side of the salon to get their manicures.

. . .

[Olivia's POV]

We got back to the hotel around 1:30 pm with our fresh sets of mani pedis, hair done, and the cutest outfits to wear for the concert.

We both sleepy and decided that since the concert did not start until 6pm, we wanted to lie down and take a nap for about an hour or so. We crawled into our beds and as soon as my head hit the pillow and my eyes shut, my phone vibrated with an incoming call from Jungkook.

"Hello?" I asked in my sleepy voice.

"Hey, what are you doing right now?" He asked in a hurried voice.

"I am just getting back to my room and was going to take a nap for a bit, what are you doing and why do you sound out of breath?"

The other end of the phone went silent for a second, then he spoke again. "I am coming to your room, I'm so sleepy and want your cuddles."

I sat up confused. "I thought that you had rehearsals and a busy schedule today?"

"We did, but they sent us back to our rooms to get some rest before tonight and I wanted to spend that time with you."

His voice brought me from my thoughts. "Liv? Liv, are you there?"

"Oh shit, yes I'm sorry. You can absolutely come to my room I would love to cuddle while we take a nap."

I could hear him smiling through the phone, "Ok, I will be there in 5 minutes."

The call disconnected and I sighed heavily, lying in my bed staring at the ceiling as I listened to Lacie snore.

»» 5 minutes later.

There was a soft knock on my door and when I got up to open it, I was met with the most beautiful smiling boy standing in front of me.

"Hi beautiful." He said as he smirked at me.

"Hello Kookie, come on in." I smiled, stepping aside as he walked into my room.

As I shut the door and locked it, he turned to me, wrapping his arms around my waist with our foreheads touching. He closed his eyes, sighing in contentment, "I have missed you so fucking much. It feels so good to have you in my arms."

He kissed my nose and I smiled, loving every second as I ran my hands through his hair like always. "I have missed you too, so much. Would you like to get in the bed and cuddle, we are both so exhausted and definitely need sleep."

He lifted his head and looked at me with a smile on his face, then whispered. "How did I get so lucky to find you?" I smiled at him and look down at the floor while biting my lip.

He continued in his soft voice careful not to wake Lacie, "Of course I want to cuddle and fall asleep with you. But..." He grabbed my chin softly, making me look at him. "If you keep biting your lip like that, I won't be able to hold myself back from doing more than just sleeping."

Silence.

I've never heard him talk like that, but shit was it not the hottest thing I've ever heard. I could tell my face was crimson red because of how he was smiling so mischievously. I cleared my throat, immediately changing the subject, "Ahem right, let's go take a nap then shall we?"

He chuckled turning around to follow me, "Whatever you want baby. Your wish is my command."

[that-one-weird-kid-from-school]

Oh me oh my, I really fucking hate time!

Yeah, I know, I have been complaining a lot about time recently, but even if I made 3 2-mile long posts a week for 5 months and 11 days straight about how much I despise time, that would only show a third of my pure hatred for time.

Every day I go to sleep; and every time I go to sleep, I never expect to wake up tomorrow, I never expect tomorrow to come, yet every time I do; every day when I am thrust into reality, it never feels right, it always feels like this shouldn't be happening, but I just gotta deal with that and wait until I fall back asleep only to eventually wake up again, wake up tomorrow.

Up until soon, I did not think of anything when I went to sleep, I wasn't expecting tomorrow, blissfully not thinking about time, but I now think about time, and the more that I think about time, the more I despise it; so recently, when I go to sleep, the only thing that I think about is how much I wished and begged for tomorrow not to come, to not wake up tomorrow.

But tomorrow always comes.

But today, I had a plan to outsmart time: if I willingly chose to sleep all day, then there wouldn't have been no tomorrow, because tomorrow never came, because I slept through all of tomorrow.

So that is what I tried to do, when I felt myself waking up, I chose to not open my eyes, I stayed in sleep mode, I stayed in my blissful state of mind where there is no time for so long; but eventually, I have been woken up at 1:30 PM, apparently, the package that I ordered has arrived; the plan has to go on hold, I need my beads.

And so, I went outside to get my package; on the way there, I got new string, and also, I saw an amazing notebook, it worked perfect for my plan; also, that was a fine notebook, and I know what I'm saying, I have seen my fare share of notebooks, I have a whole library of notebooks, that notebook was very thick, but sadly, it was a yearly notebook, so I need to wait for the next year to come.

That journey took a lot out of me, I did not drink any alcohol but, every minute that passed, I felt less and less sober, my brain is fogging up every moment that I don't watch piercing fail reaction videos; in the end, I went home half the man I used to be, but at least I got my beads; but when I checked the time, I saw that it was 5 PM, how the fuck did that happen, I went outside immediately after I woke up; the crazier part still was when I got distracted for about 10-30 minutes, it suddenly got to 9 PM, like, no fucking time has passed and now it's dark!

I swear, time really wants me to fucking die.

But, I can hear you from the other side of the screen, with your little nose, saying something like, "I get it, man. Time is an ever-present force that affects us equally. No matter how much we run away from it, we can never escape, time always catches up. And even if we die, time will still keep going; if the entire human race dies one day, time will still exist forever more. We are nothing but ants trying to lie in such an immovable reality called time." Shut the fuck up; you don't know what we're saying, you bitch-ass; go get some real problems and then talk to me.

Or you might be saying something like "what's your deal with time, dude? i get how it feels when you lose track of time and then it flies by. but when you pay attention to it, it is pretty reliable. i don't see why you hate time so much" To that I say: good for you, go sit in the corner right there and be ignorantly blissful and don't bother me; I don't want to explain to you the horrors that I experience every day, but in short, I have a fucked up sense of time, 5 hours ago genuinely feel like yesterday; and trying to make a reason to that is a fucking nightmare.

It really seems like time wants me to die earlier than I would usually do, but I won't do it yet, I have a job to do; if I hear another word come out of your goddam mouth, I swear to fucking god, I'm gonna punch your chest so hard that it breaks your internalized clock; we'll see who's laughing now when that constant ticking and tacking drives you so mad that it leads you into doing desperate actions!

I swear, this time thing is going to be the death of me...

[hirik0]

Back to you part 3

part 1 | part 2

Makarov/Yuri

Makarov | 11 pm Liverpool, England | 2 months later

01:00 am Moskau = 23:00 pm Liverpool | Time zones guys... why did i think the need of time zones is a good idea?

Makarov is enjoying his drink in a high priced bar in Liverpool, and that its the same bar Yuri had frequently visiting is pure conicident. And Jack is constanly looking towards him and Makarov knows that his man in England Artyorm is slowly getting iritated by Jack. "Who is this dude thats looking over?", Artyorm asks, ready to get rid of the staring man on a wimps notice, but Makarov just has a pleased smile on his face. "A nobody", Makarov says very unintressed, but he is enjoying this so much, because it looks like today Jack is here with colleuges. "He looks towards us 15 times in the last 5 minutes", Artyorm points out, clearly not buying Makarov a nobody. "I know", Makrov says with a pleased smile, oh that Jack can't even start shit makes this so much better. "So you know who that is", Artjorm says rolling his eyes. "Yes, hes a idiot", Makarovs answers unhelpfull, before emtyinghis glass. "Boss, who is this and is he a problem", Artjorm presses the matter further. "He is an old enemy from before I started my carrer", Makarov gives a simple breakdown of who Jack is with out mentioning Yuri or a gay marriage. "Do we need to get rid of him?", Artjorm asks ready to order a hitman by now. "No, hes not even in our line of work", Makarov says not being abel to holt back his laughing when Jacks phone falls to to ground. His burner phone told him, that a sertain person just posted about his party night in Moscow. The dropping of the phone also seems to calm down Artyorm. "Why hes your enemy?", Artyorm ask clearly not understanding how such a person could do anything that makes him a enemy to a the boss. "Ruined my friendship with a close friend and took this person out of our workline", Makarov explains because Artyorm joint after Yuri left. "You do friendship?", Artyorm asks suprised, only knowing a cold hearted sastistic version of Makarov that helped him to rise the rangs quickly. "In my old live", Makarov answers not minding the implication. Jack is angrly storming out of the bar and Makarov smiles satisfied oh, his was the best idea he had in a long time because what ever Jack trys to do he will look like an absolute ass if he is rude to him.

When Jack is coming back after a short time in he is fuming, starring daggers towards Makarov who is very pleased with the situation. Oh he needs to ask Milena what Yuri said at the phone, to make the other man getting this visibel angry. The other people at Jacks table start to ask him questions, questions that Jack clearly dont want to answer and is it so clear to Makarov that Jack wants to storm over and scream at him. "Damm, must be a hell of a phone call", Artyorm wispers getting cold shivers about Makarovs extreamly good mode. Their work day was shit, Makarov looked like hes ready to brutaly murder the next person that breaths wrong just 2 hours ago and now he's a kid ripping open presents. "Oh I bet it was", Makarov says toasting towards Jack who looks like is is ready to comid a murder by now. "YES my husband is leaving me", Jacks sudenly screams, hearebale for the whole bar, its clear that Jack can barely hold is rage in check. Makarov smiles just grows bigger oh, this must be a gigantic hit for Jack massively overblown fragile ego to have attmidet this so publicly. Artyorm makes a digusted sound clearly not having a good opinion about gay people. "He married your old friend", Artyorm states his face still showing digust. "Yes", Makarov simply confirms in a tone to signal the topic is over with this, Artyorm opens his mouth as if he wants to say more on the topic, but stops himself.

Yuri | 1 am Moscow, Russia

Yuri is drunk and enjoying the music, looking much healthier then two months ago, slowly building back up muscels again, having goten a hair cut he likes and he stoped crying himself to sleep 2 weeks ago. He is partying with a old friend Milena and her friends who are celebrating a bacherolette party today. Milena, who inharied her late husbands money is giving him another glass of a very colourfull shot. He emptys the shot, midly gaging at the teribel taste that gets worse with every shot before looking at the groupe of Milenas friends dancing or what they call dancing. "Im not drunk enough for what ever they are doung", Yuri says when he looks at Milena again. "Are you saying the soon to be bride cant dance?", she asks him playing to be disapointet in him. "Well not after 7 Magaritas", Yuri states his opinion getting her to laught. "So you meet Vladimir again with the both of you living in the same city again?", Milena asks him sudenly of course knowingthe answer alreadywho else would have given Yuri her number? "Yes, I meet him at 'the box ring' again", Yuri answers giving her all the information she needs. "Oh, did you see Vladimir fight?", Milena ask him getting a suprised look from Yuri. "He still does that?" She nods as a answer no need for the both of them to talk about his in a full club in Moscow. "You have a 'ticket' right?", Milena ask him refering to a entry card to the pit, making Yuri chook on his drink being sudenly reminde that Makarov gave him one of his whore cards. Being to busy planing his way to force Jack to sign the fuckign divorse papers. "He gave me one yes", Yuri answers cant stop his face from blushing and now Milena knows that there must be more to this then Yuri is telling her. "You got on from him personaly? I thought he only ever gives them to 'dates'", Milena says confused, also a bit disgusted. Seriously Makarov need to get his shit together if he want Yuri to stay. "Its only for 'dates' if you give it back, allegedly", Yuri recalls what Makarov shoutet after him while he put on his boots. Milena breaks in a drunk giggel, tears are runnig down her face and she needs to hold her stomach, Yuri giving her a dipleased look just makes it better. "Im.. Im laughting over Vladimir not you", Milena pants out when she gets it back together. "Vlad was speachless when I asked him the about the 'dates", Yuri says before emtying his drink. "No a speachless Vladimir and I missed it, shame", Milena says pouting. Yuri is again looking at the other people they are here. "You think they are done?", Yuri asks some of the woman barely able to keep on their feet now. "I think they are, the bride looks like she is about to fall asleep on her feet", she agress graping her own half full glass, to finish it. Milena looks at her phone how did the other woman get this wasted already at barely 1:30 am before a notification from Instagram is poping up. "Oh, shit Makarov commeted on Instagram", Anna say and Yuri is moving clsoer to her, so they can read it together.

Sombody took the news really bad and embarrassed themself.

They both grin at each other over this comment, till they see the soon to be bride fall over her own feets landing on her ass on the way to their table. "Time to get them home." Yuri can hear how defeated Milena sounds, this will be so not a easy job. Herding a group of clearly drunk woman to their hotel.

3:40 am | Moscow, Rusia

Yuri is done. They needed nearly an hour to get the bachlorette party to the hotel, he needed to carry the Bride for the last 10 minutes. The other woman stayed in row after Milena told them she will not bail them out of prison if they get arested. He just finished his late shower, in Milenas penthousen guest bathroom. Just a towl around his hip and in a drunken thought he craby his phone, taking a picture in the mirror. He then chooses the contact that is simply an M and sends the nude. He is not even sure if Makarov has the phone this number belongs with him or if he's traveling with another burner phone. But drunk Yuri is of the opinion it dont matter when Makarov is seeing it, but that he will see it. He puts on a old T-shirt and a pair of boxers before leaving the bathroom. "Your divorce phone has a missed call. Its from Mr. 3 minutes", Milena tells him, refering to his phone with his british number he is mainly using to talk with his lawyer. "Oh god, why did he called me?", Yuri asks cunfused Jack didnt spend one thought to him for 10 months, why does he start now. He puts the voice mail on speaker, knowing he will have to inform his laywer about this.

"Yuri, you really think you can hide behind your Lawyer? Huh, dont get where you sudenly get this confidence from. You really think your old friends want a worthless piece of shit like you back? Milena is only hanging out with you out of pitty and when she drops you will crawl back to me anyway. So you better get back home where you belong. Oh and you really think I will sign this papers just because your Psycho friend is showing up at my favorite bar? Pathetic, cant even believe he does something like this for you." End of voice mail

The first think Yuri notices is how absolutly angry Jack sounds. "Cant believe you married this douche bag?", Milena comments, giving Yuri a full glass of water to drink. "I was younger und dumber", Yuri says sacasticly. "Okey but who does he mean with pscho friend, im pretty sure he told you all of us are psychos at somepoirnt", Milena says before drinking from her own water. "I think he means Makarov, Jack said 'he does'", Yuri concludes and honestly it only can be Makarov anyway because he is with Milena and is not sure who of his old friends are even still alive. "He sound so angry, wich means he could do nothing with Makarov beeing there", she points out with a big smile. "I think my new voice mail on the british phone also pissed him off", Yuri sniggers, knowing exactly what the what the first part of Jacks rant refered too. "What does it say?", Anna asked before taking another sip from her water. "That I can't reach the phone right now and that if you're my soon to be ex husband to please talk to my lawyer and sign the good damm divorse papers", Yuri say with a big grin on his face making Milena laugh.

02:20 am | Liverpool, England

Makarov finally can finish his work day the last important mail, arived 20 minutes ago. He looks at his phone seeing that he got a text from Yuri 40 minutes ago. Yuri never used this number since he gave it to him in a stalker way, broken into Yuri appartment and leaving a note with his and Milenas phone numbers there. Yuri never aknolege that this happen so why did he now? Makarov feels himself blush Yuri send him a nude. Yuris, nacked chest with water running down, only whereing a towel. And Makarov cant look away, being fully captured. Thinking back to the day 2 months ago when Yuri layed in his bed ogeling. The time the tought about what would happen if he didnt ask Yuri for breakfast, how they all turn him on so much, how he got off on them. And now? Now he had something new for these kind of thoughts he try to squish every time they pop up. "God fucking damm it, Milena was right, I'm having a bi-panic because of Yuri", Makarov curses in to the thankfully empty room. The worst is Yuri just send a picture nothing else so what is he suppost to do with this? Well the not helpfull part of his brain is clearly has a lot of ideas, telling him to look a the picture again. He looks at the picture again, noticing more details, how Yuri is bitting his lower lip, his eyes half closed, how the towel is low in his hips. How easly the towel could slip down because of gravity or Makarov could cause it to fall to the ground, how this would make Yuri grin dirty at him through the mirrior. Makarov is half hard, just from a few thoughts. Oh hes fucked, when the fantasys of the photo and the memory are merching to one big dirty fantasy. He wants Yuri in his bed again so badly and he will do what ever is necessary to reach it, by all means necessary.

[smoshblr-aita]

Confession:

TLDR: I went on an outing with a friend recently and don't know what to make of it.

We were going to get dinner together. We met at a mall and took transit together, and I followed her around since this was her city and I was unfamiliar with how to get around by foot. Honestly, it felt like a normal outing at first, she showed me around downtown and we took a detour walking to our dinner place, taking a nice scenic route weaving through the river valley.

We arrived at a ramen place slightly before 8 PM. It's a place that she recommended, so we went, and the food was delicious. I've never had a hangout with her like this before, we only knew each other from a club we were in together for 3 years, and we both were on the executive team together.

When we talked to each other, it was endless. We talked for so long that we didn't even realize that the restaurant was closing around us, in fact, the waitress had to inform us that the restaurant was past closing (10 PM, it was 10:15 PM when she notified us) but there was no rush for us to get out. I've only had two people in the past that conversations had happened like that: with previous crushes. Sometimes we can just talk and talk and never stop. I think this is where the rosy atmosphere started.

After dinner, we wanted to go and see the fireworks happening in her city that started at 11 PM. We walked downtown, and thought that we wouldn't watch them because it was so busy and a bit uncomfortable due to so many drunk people on the streets. But as we were walking back to the train station, the fireworks started and we stopped by the side of the road to watch it together. I noticed that we were closer now, physically - her and I's arms were touching.

When the fireworks finished, it was a mad dash for the train station and it was quite scary. I've never seen so many people trying to pile onto a platform at once. I didn't want to get lost in a city I was unfamiliar with, so I suggested that we hold hands to not lose each other, and we did. I swear I did this with innocent intentions, but as the night went on, I think it spurred more romantic gestures after. When I hold hands with someone, I like to use my thumb and trace the outline of the other person's index finger. She returned the favour in kind as we held hands.

Getting in the train car was interesting too. Miraculously, thanks to my assertiveness of getting through the doors quickly, we managed to find seats, not together, but across from each other horizontally. There were some drunk people on the train, so I don't know what overcame me, but I used my legs to traps hers around mine so that we only faced each other - sort of to protect her if you will, while we were sitting.

A few stops before our station, she suggested we get up and move towards the doors. This was the worst as we were squished together. However, our hands were wrapped around each other's waists. When the train lunched forwards I would hold her tighter and closer to steady her.

When we got off, I thought we would stop holding each other since it wasn't as crowded anymore, but she still held onto my hand. I don't know what to make of this - was she enjoying this too? There wasn't a reason to hold hands now. We walked a short while to the parking lot where we had parked our cars.

We showed each other our cars - I gave her a tour of my new one since she hadn't seen it before. In my car, we spent another hour talking. I rambled on and on about my interests and even talked about Smosh(!), and she listened. I showed her my Spotify playlists, we talked of musicals, favourite artists, and that when I come back to her city in a month's time, we should hang out again. We would plan to go hiking together, as that's something both of us want to do.

...So when the time came to say goodbye, I felt us linger. She had work tomorrow morning - or rather, today, it was near 1 AM. I didn't want to keep her out longer, she leaves for work at 6:45 AM. This is what happens in parking lots to me with girls - queer lingering in a place that I intend to leave, with her in my car. There's something left unsaid in the rosy atmosphere, anticipation. When we both got home safely, we texted each other.

I'm not sure what to make of the whole outing, it felt like it evolved into a date when I reflect on it. Does she like me? What just happened? Do I like her? I've been replaying the evening in my head trying to make sense of it.

.

[whentherewerebicycles]

good morning! I crashed hard around 9 last night and woke up at 5. ran to the grocery store before 6 and honestly I might start doing my shopping then! I was the only person in the store apart from the employees and it was very peaceful. today is thursday and I do not expect to hear about the job today—for whatever reason I feel convinced it will either be friday or (much more likely) monday or tuesday of next week. I think/hope asserting that aloud will help me get a little mental distance from it today, as yesterday was kind of a queasy anxiety day that did not feel good.

I haven’t double checked my schedule yet but I think this is what today looks like:

6-7:30 coffee, lounge, look at job postings

7:30-8:30 log on at work, send a calendar invite and email about that june meeting, update my list of april/may projects

8:30-9ish I did not go for a run alas I lay in bed looking at patio furniture 😔

9-9:30 shower/get ready

9:30-10:30 work on articulate course

10:30-11 AS mtg

11-12 LF (I have to be camera-on but I don’t need to be especially attentive as it’s a giant group meeting so I can keep working on the new course)

I think there’s an onboarding session shortly after that I was supposed to observe but my lead took that project yesterday so maybe I don’t have to go idk

1:30-2 DR mtg

then sometime this afternoon my sister and I are going to go trail rollerblading, which should be fun and maybe a little terrifying since I haven’t skated since last summer. I would also like to do at least a short walk with the dogs at some point! oh and that reminds me—recently I read an article about the #1000hours challenge (which I think is a parenting tiktok phenomenon?) where families try to spend 1000 hours a year doing activities outside together. it’s obviously a bit gimmicky and I’m sure people are insufferable about it on social media haha but I do kinda like the idea of challenging myself to find more ways to spend time outside every day, especially as the weather gets nicer. I want exercise and social outdoor time to be a big part of that (I have some ideas for summer activities I want to try) but I also just like the idea of doing more casual hanging out and working outside. my sister got me a hammock for my birthday and my HOA just installed a big communal picnic table right outside my place so I think some future IUI cycle goal might be to build a habit of reading outdoors for 30 min a day on a regular basis. I’m not actually aiming for 1000 hours but I like the idea of trying to spend 2-3 hours outdoors most days this summer.

mm okay at this point I’m just procrastinating on starting the day sighhh. time to get up and face my job again.

[felinecryptid]

Chasing Pasts in Shadows

part 3 | part 4 | part 5

"Great, fantastic." Will massaged his eyebrows. "We can't do anything more today, anyway. We just execute protocol and leave, because we are already an hour late for debrief."

"And my date after that."

"I don't think your boyfriend minds you being late, Max, he worships the ground you walk on." Mike sniffed.

"Who said I'm talking about Lucas?" Max smirked.

"No, no, Max, you stay away from my sister, or Dad and Jonathan will chase you away with guns. She doesn't need another rebellious influence in her life, Mike is enough as is."

"Will!" Mike protested. Will ignored him.

"You say that like Hop doesn't scream '3 inches!' whenever I come over."

"When did that happen? I thought you were still in the 'silent glare' stage?" Will hefted the heavy bag, handing it to Max, so she didn't have to come in. 

"A few months ago, Byers. Wheeler watch out, he is coming for your title," Max took the bag easily, walking away. 

"What title?" Mike called back.

"'The Most Oblivious'!"

"Fuck off!"

"Can't, we work together!" Mike glared at her till she turned the corner.

"Mike, hold these tripods and these cables." Will handed them, their fingers brushing.

"Thanks."

His own duffle slung over his shoulder, they returned to the place of interest.

Max had assembled some of the components right outside the door, waiting for Will to take them in. He and Mike quickly got to work, Will putting some of the cameras on their stands, connecting with the EVP mics and putting a piece of bread in specific spots, while Mike pointed out areas of high activity to focus on, like the knife block, and the island counter, while Reyes kept watch from a corner, finishing up sometime before evening. 

"-and turn on the system at 11:30 pm by pressing the black button on the camera nearest to the door. That's for today, we'll be back tomorrow to get the footage, and put more up after investigating more rooms," Will explained, putting his layered flannel back on. They stood at the gate, while Mike and Max put the rest of their special equipment back into the trunk. "I hope you understand why. It's just we were short-staffed today-"

"Oh no, no, it's okay, totally my fault," Reyes smiled as he reached for his wallet, pulling out a bill. 

Will's eyes widened as he saw the '100' on it. "Sorry, I don't have enough change-"

"Keep it, boy. You kids have more use for it than I do." Reyes gave a nod and started back in.

Will shuffled back to the car, a hundred dollars in hand. Max and Mike were done with the packing and pulling the car around to leave. Will got in the passenger side, his regular seat when Mike drove.

“Reyes tip you?” Max asked him from the backseat, tapping away at her phone,

“Thirty-three percent.”

“Damn, he was seriously that impressed with our half assed job?”

“I don't know, at least he wasn't a Karen about us upping the pay for the rest of the investigation.”

“Do you think Dustin would know what to do?” Mike asked, pulling onto an asphalt road. Finally the dust road was behind them, Will’s asthma could rest now.  

“I think we all need to come up with a plan now. All of us have never had to be on-field at the same time, so first of all we need to divide tasks, and assign partners.”

“I don't want to hear strategy while returning home,” Max hit the back of Will’s head lightly. “If we have to talk about work, at least read the info Dustin sent about the Reyes so we don't have to hear his rant about being ‘the only one smart and well prepared, about clients, locations and hauntings’, because he will chew us out for leaving the cameras unattended and the battery thing, as if we should be able to tell the future.” 

Will rubbed his head, “Alright, alright. If you interrupt with your stupid quips, I'll push you out of the car.” Will pulled up the google docs Dustin had shared with him, scrolling down to get an idea of how long it was. “What the fuck, why is this thing more links than text?” 

“Just read. I mean, how should I even know? I just don't want to get another rant about ‘not following protocol’.”

“Half of these links are for different profiles on Facebook.” Will muttered, scrolling down. “There’s a floor plan here, now definitely Dustin will be pissed.”

“Is there anything about Emily?” Mike peeked at his screen.

“Keep your eyes on the road, don't look down,” He scolded. “I'll try  to find somethi- Oh here, a page for someone named Emily Grimrose. It says she was 48 and married to Javier Reyes. She was apparently a stay at home wife and made a lot of knitted things to sell. There’s an alarming amount of Etsy stuff here. The usual selfies with weird angles that make her have a triple chin, some family photos with people who look like her extended family, a trip to some exotic place with lots of water, baking charity sales- wait wait wait, here's something weird, she posts stuff with fun, cute captions underneath, but this photo has a link with it. And that link looks like it leads to some weird occult website. Lots of crystals, incense, herbs and the like.”

“What?” Max leant from the back to get a better look at the picture. “She looks like she's in a dentist's office.”

“Is there anyone tagged in the photo?” Mike asked, thankfully not looking down at Will's phone this time.

Will checked. “A doctor named Amanda Maguire.”

“Maybe it’s her dentist’s name?” Max ducked back to flop sideways on the backseat.

“No, no, the dentist’s office belongs to Robbie Matthews, who has posters all over the city. Very popular dentist, no doubt expensive.”

“How did you know?” Mike asked, driving around a slow car. “Keep up with the speed limit, dick!” He said through the window.

“Just reverse image searched it.” Will was confused. “Amanda Maguire is a gynaecologist. I've never heard of her, or seen her. Why would someone who has a lot of money go to a gynaecologist who isn't well known?” Will scrolled further. “Oh shit.”

“Cut the dramatics, Byers, just spit it out.”

“Emily was pregnant when she died,” Will said, holding out the photo where the caption proclaimed “It’s time for the second trimester!” and showed a smiling Emily with another older woman, Dr. Amanda.

___

why do i keep ending at weird reveals? also lmao will really hates facebook for some reason

i have the entire thing planned out but i do not know how many chapters this will be sorry ;-;

aight disclaimer: i dont know shit about the service charge in america for anything, much less ghost hunting, so i tried my best to calculate it by using the minimum wage and product usage and wear and tear, the same way id do it here. if its too less or too high, lemme know

as always, this was betad by free version of grammarly and hemingway editor, so point out any errors you find

i cant seem to post in time but i do post around 1800 ist (i swear im trying to be more regular)

let me know if you like or disliked something :)

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

I know I’ve been offline for a while, but this whole month has been a rollercoaster and I feel like it's finally slowing down, so I figured I would give you a small life update before finally getting around to editing part 10! I haven’t gotten to read your new post, Eleanor, but that’s because I’ve been saving it as a reward for finishing up everything in part 11 and editing part 10 haha! I can’t wait to finally read it either later tonight or tomorrow!

Onto the more serious stuff, I suppose! Well, as I said in my last post, we started this month out getting rained on by our upstairs neighbors twice in the same week and someone damaging our front door locks (presumably to break in and steal while we were out). Great way to start February, I know! Thankfully, my brother Mike - technically, he's my sister, Honey's husband, but I call him my brother since we’ve known each other for so long - came over to fix the door and help us with our ruined ceiling tiles. Then, my great-aunt (91yo) got sick with the stomach bug and, while she is still recovering, she’s feeling well enough to not need someone with her 24/7. On top of staying with her for a while, I started three jobs in the first week of February (housekeeping and dog walking for a lady in town and PCA work for a bedbound woman in the area) only to have the first lady take my housekeeping hours away because she claims her mother could do it instead. Honestly, I was glad she took those hours back because I could barely tolerate the way that she was over my shoulder the entire time I was there. She knows that I've been a housekeeper since I was 16 and that I knew what I was doing, but I’ve come to discover that she’s a bit of a control freak in all aspects of her life, so I am more than willing to let someone else handle her housekeeping 😂

Next up, my sister, Honey, and her family got a new puppy named Vanya and she is the sweetest, most loving little crackhead in our family. She loves to snuggle and gives people dirty looks if they tell her she needs to go back inside, but she has a weakness for peanut butter and listens to whatever my niece tells her to do. Vanya isn’t even a year old and they've only had her for a short time, but I will hurt anyone who dares look at her wrong because she is the fluffiest little angel and I adore her

A small, more emotional dip in things came when my Uncle Doug came over with a truckload of all of my grandparents' and Uncle John's belongings. Uncle Doug moved into their old trailer before they passed and, since the three of them have passed away, he owns the house and wanted to see if we could go through all of their belongings since he is trying to fix the place up and has no space for everything. I don't know where he thinks we have the space for everything in our apartment, but we took it all nonetheless and used our old, practically unused computer room as storage as we went through 67+ years worth of my grandparents’ things. There were a lot of emotions for me and my mom to go through and even more things that my mom didn't know her parents and brother still held onto - my great-grandmother's high school diploma and things from her business among those items - but we really loved going through the disorganized chaos that was dropped on us on a random Thursday!

Now, onto today! After all of the chaos and stress that February brought us, I feel as though things are finally coming to a point where I'm ready to keep going with the way things had been. Today, Honey and Mike came over with my old laptop, told me to set it aside for a while, and brought me out to his truck where they showed me the project they had secretly been working on for months now: an actual PC just for me! It glows and so does the keyboard and mouse they got for me, and I just can't get over how cool it is! They told me it was much deserved because of all that I do for the people in our family, but I still don't see how even though the two of them and my mom took the time to explain it. I don't do any of the things I do for recognition or gifts, so it's very hard for me to accept such an insanely expensive gift for something I do out of love for my family and those around us. I know it certainly wasn’t cheap, I’ve wanted one for ages now and done hours and hours of research trying to find a good, cheap one. I suppose I'm still reeling from it all. It will definitely take me a while to adjust to everything, especially having a mechanical keyboard in place of my old laptop's keys, but I now have an actual desk and setup that I can write at and I couldn't be more excited to start this new chapter in my writing journey. It feels like a step in a better direction, if that makes any sense at all haha!

Anyway, I hope you aren't upset with me for taking this super long break; I really hadn't intended for it to be this long of a break, but I can't say that I didn't need it with everything else going on in my life. I should have the next part up soon after I get all of the editing done and get a moodboard made up for it. I just wanted to fill you in on all that's happened during my little break from everything on the internet. I can't wait to read your new story once I get everything finished! It should be a great reward after all the work I'll be putting into everything! I hope everything has been going well for you and that you have an amazing day! 💕😊

[thatforgottenbasilisk]

in love i've always been a mercenary

Chapter 1 (AO3) (My Fic Masterpost)

Originally Posted on 11/25/2022

Rating: T

Summary:

In many possible timelines, Gran Torino was once a villain who worked under All for One until they married; some time after that, they divorced rather messily, and Gran Torino ran off to become a hero with his ex-husband's nemesis, the Seventh holder of One for All Shimura Nana. After this, he very rarely goes back to his villainous ways, and he does legitimately try to redeem himself and atone for his past.

This may, at first glance, appear to be one of those timelines. It is not.

(crossposting chapter 1 in honor of the imminent release of chapter 2)

It's nearly four in the morning, and Nana has been awake for thirty six hours straight. In half an hour, she will be leading the charge into one of All for One's main safehouses- they have to act quickly, just in case he catches wind of their plans, which is in his modus operandi.

Always one step ahead, always infuriatingly smug when she thinks that finally, finally she might have caught him off guard, only to lose and barely escape with her life.

Every single damn time.

Not now, though, because they've never found information and then used it to their advantage with so quick turnaround before- she and some of her sidekicks, ones she trusts to keep themselves alive but not enough to tell them everything, they've become a brutally efficient takedown machine.

She doesn't for a minute suspect that she'll be able to take out the big bad, though. Not here. Not now. Not today. She'll settle for crippling his empire instead.

She's getting all of them into position, making sure that they're all in teams of three, and drilling into their heads that none of them are to separate- either they all chase a runaway villain, or none of them do. Nobody is to be left alone, not when there is a significant chance that that could lead to them getting their quirks stolen right from under them- or worse, end up quirkless and dead.

No matter what, their invasion will be damaging, there's no need to try and exacerbate things at such a cost. She's the only one going in alone, because she's the only one whose quirk can't be taken.

She's also the only life that she's willing to risk.

She radios the two teams to make sure that they're in position, then checks the time- right on schedule. She waits, for just half a moment, in the silence of the early morning before calling the go-ahead.

Then all hell breaks loose.

She launches herself off her rooftop vantage point at the same time as Team Alpha bursts into the windows and Team Beta breaks down the doors. Nana chooses the somewhat subtler approach of bursting through the nearest wall.

Everybody inside is running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off, circling around directionlessly, screaming incoherent nonsense that doesn't do anything but give away their locations. She incapacitates as many at once as she's physically able, putting them in relatively gentle chokeholds so she doesn't accidentally commit murder here, all while shooting off tranquilizer darts like it's an arcade game with infinite ammo.

It's not hard to clear out the room she's in, what looks like the lobby of the place, and soon she's going deeper into the compound. It looks like a repurposed warehouse from the outside, and for all she knows it could be true, but somewhere as important as this has to have been modified, somehow.

She steps through the door whose lock was so old and rusted it hardly took any use of One for All to break it completely. It creaks loudly when she nudges it open, and the room that it connects to is completely empty, though it's clear that someone left in a rush. There are two more doors, though one of them leads to the zone that Team Alpha is already taking care of, and the other leads to Team Beta. It had taken quite a bit of effort to get the floor plan of the place in such a short span of time, but it had also been worth it, considering how off-guard everybody here seems to be.

Unfortunately, she doesn't hear much from behind either door, so she has no idea who she needs to help, who might have a bigger problem on their hands than she'd had to deal with. She won't be paralyzed with indecision, though, so she decides to go left, towards Team Beta.

Just when she reaches the door, though, her radio crackles to life and she stops to answer, just in case it's Team Alpha.

"Adamant responding, come in."

"This is Crimson Riot from Team Alpha reporting, we're all clear here. Sweeping for evidence now."

"Ten-four. Heading to Team Beta now."

"Ten-four."

She puts her radio back and goes back to getting the door open to Team Beta. It's locked, though that barely delays her, and she snaps the handle open easily. Bursting inside, she's relieved to see one sidekick putting one last villain in handcuffs, while another fiddles with her walkie before looking up at her and stopping.

"All good here?"

The sidekicks all nods, and she smiles and says "Good." She strides forward to look around, but there's nothing immediately obvious in here that she thinks she should be concerned about. There are only papers and desks, implying that this location is merely for bureaucracy, which makes no sense- why put that sort of operation here, instead of a building downtown? She knows that All for One owns a great deal of those, so what makes this place so special?

The takedown, too- it took about an hour and a half, maybe, and it's gone far too smoothly for her liking. Sure, she'd figured that everyone would be somewhat off-guard, but this is still All for One's organization. She expected quite a bit more resistance than she got.

Her radio crackles again, and she's nearly relieved that something probably did go wrong, after all- and she shouldn't be relieved at that, of course not, but at least it proves this whole thing wasn't a setup.

At least, if something really is going wrong.

"What's your status, Team Alpha?"

"Riot again, I think we found something big. You might want to get in here."

"Will do. Team Beta is secure."

"Ten-four."

Nana clicks the radio off and motions to the team she's with in here. "Ante, with me. You two keep everything secure, keep bagging evidence."

The aforementioned Ante walks over to join Nana at her side, while the other two sidekicks nod their assent. She goes through the connecting door to the other room with Team Alpha to see what they must have found.

Crimson Riot is standing in front of an overturned shelf, behind which sits a set of closed elevator doors. It doesn't seem to need a keycode to get in, just the press of a button- whoever modified this place must have been very trusting.

"I'm going down. You four, tag and bag everything else. You find another access point, don't go in. Make sure nothing comes up after I go down." She gives the orders while pushing the elevator button and waiting for the doors to open- the sidekicks all confirm right when she steps inside.

The doors close, and she sees only two buttons- one for the ground floor, the other for the basement. She clicks the latter, and the elevator groans to accommodate.

She expects to be standing there for a bit, suspecting that the basement must be further underground than it is, but the elevator isn't moving for long before it's stopped. She supposes that this makes sense, given how close they are to the coastline, but it's still a little strange.

She walks out when the door opens, seeing nothing but plain, boring hallways. She takes a second to test her radio and, as expected, there is no signal. Looking around, she'd expected some kind of mad science or something down here, torture chambers at the very least, considering how inconvenient it must have been to modify this warehouse- just dedicating this space to bureaucracy seems a waste. Still, there could be something horrific that earns the space it keeps underground behind any of the doors around, so she walks ahead, keeping her guard up as she goes.

All of the doors she comes across are unlocked, and they all lead to pristine, empty offices. It's a little unnerving, how empty it all is, but she keeps walking. It's entirely possible that this base is newer than she'd anticipated, and some resources still have yet to be moved in- the whole thing reeks of being a set-up, but she'll cling to that alternative explanation as much as she can, considering how well it's gone so far. At least she hasn't found any other access points to the warehouse above- nobody's going up and flooding her sidekicks with villains that they can't handle, as far as she knows.

As she moves deeper in, the rooms seem more and more well-used; she finds a couple of knickknacks on a couple of desks, various open files and scattered papers, even a little cactus in the corner of an office. Still, there are no people, which worries her- even if they all evacuated, that still means an alternate means of escape besides the elevator, which makes her worry about her sidekicks more. Should she go back and check on them? No, no, they can handle themselves, she should trust them more, and besides, if there was some sort of siege going on upstairs, she's close enough to the ground floor that she would be able to hear it.

She dispels her nagging doubts, and continues on, opening another door to find an office with a desk and somehow, a person inside.

"You're under arrest on authority of Pro Hero Adamant. You have the right- "

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Pro Hero Adamant." He cuts in, sending her a sardonic little smirk. The man at the desk doesn't even stop rifling through its drawers, flipping through files while barely glancing at their contents.

"Why not? I clearly have due cause. Give me one good reason I shouldn't arrest you, here and now."

"Because I'm the only one here who knows which files are important and which are just junk. I'm not talking if I'm in handcuffs, and besides, I think you'll find I'll be quite a bit more cooperative than the average goon. I'm surprised you haven't recognized me yet, honestly."

Nana narrows her eyes in suspicion at the stranger, looking critically at his face, hoping for some spark of recognition. That spark comes not from his face or voice, but from the wedding band that reflects cleanly off his finger.

All of a sudden, she knows exactly where she's seen him before. Never in person, but a few months ago, she'd managed to find an informant with a huge amount of information that he'd just barely managed to get ahold of- he'd been murdered shortly after, but that doesn't change the fact that she still has access to a file full of the information of All for One's husband.

Civilian name Torino Sorahiko, villain name redacted- possibly unknown or defunct. The file had noted that he had stopped going on assassination jobs for All for One shortly after their engagement, so most likely retired from that aspect of the villain scene. He's supposedly mostly a secretary for his husband's operations, which doesn't mesh with the scars roping over his knuckles and clear care he still takes in his musculature- but it's still technically possible. There was little other information, but a grainy photograph had been included, and the man in the photo had had more than a passing resemblance to the person standing in front of her.

"Torino Sorahiko."

"He did say you were sharp."

Nana sucks in a breath through her teeth- All for One has enough of a grudge against her to give his own husband a description of her? She supposes it's not too surprising, logically speaking, but she still doesn't like it one bit.

"Oh, don't be like that. It's not like he's gone around spreading your information to everyone- I don't even know your real name."

"I'd like to keep it that way, villain. You said you'd talk. Talk."

"Efficient, too. Most of the stuff here's crap- nothing worthwhile has been moved here yet, considering how new this base is. It's meant to be a lab for the Doc, running experiments and some kind of shit like that; don't ask the details, I don't care enough about his necrophilia to take notes. As you can probably tell, the 'lab' bit's still in development, AfO's supposed to be coming in later this week to get the real underground part started, but up here's all offices for on-site data processing and number crunching. There is, however, a file full of old tax forms connected to the accounts used to pay for this particular endeavor somewhere in this desk, if I can just find it." With this, Torino shuffles through the contents of the desk drawer faster than before.

"... You call your husband by his villain name?"

Torino stops, and looks at her with a deadpan stare. "No, he was born with that name, obviously. What, you think I'm just going to give you his legal name? There's absolutely nothing connected to it, it'd be better if I gave you a list of pseudonyms instead."

"And why are you telling me all of this? Just... betraying his whole organization?"

Torino smirks, and pulls out a file folder. He holds it aloft while walking out from behind the desk towards her. He smacks her on the chest with it, and allows his teeth to show in his little grin.

"Next time you see All for One, tell him I said I want a divorce."

-----

Nana's seen Torino a few times since then. Always alone, usually in some bar or another, gathering intel, same as her. They meet eyes, on occasion; he's the one who always looks away.

Tonight, though, something is different. She walks into a dive bar famous for loose-lipped criminals and villains, hoping for more information on a couple of dead-ends of hers, and spots Torino in the back corner. She takes a seat at a booth, and waits for someone to sit across from her, hoping for protection in exchange for information. Someone always takes her up on the unsaid offer, even if it takes an hour or two of nursing the same beer over the whole time. She never comes in costume, but these kinds of people can tell a civilian from someone who has skin in the game.

Tonight, she waits and she sips on her beer, hoping for someone who's got something pertinent to take the bait. Occasionally, she glances over at Torino, nursing an old fashioned and seeming not to have noticed her at all.

She watches, for a moment, as he downs his drink and stands, not even wobbling slightly- must not have been here much longer than her, or else he's a hell of a drinker. Maybe both, for all she knows. He walks away from the barstool and towards the door, she assumes, until he makes a detour towards her own table, sliding in across from her like he was meant to be there all along.

"My files do anything?"

No preamble, not even a greeting, just a question. She respects the audacity of him, walking up to a Hero who knows damn well wants him in handcuffs and being rude while he's at it.

"Got some offshore accounts frozen. A couple of properties seized. Nothing crippling, in the long run." She's not telling the entire truth- there were a couple of holes in the identities attached to those tax forms, holes that are being exploited by investigators as they speak, but she wants to see his reaction. She wants to see if she made a mistake in letting him go.

His mouth twists in obvious displeasure, with no hints of relief or anything of the sort. Good. He passes the first test.

She ignores how his eyes widen in clear surprise- he must have thought she'd be more obvious in her lie, or else that he would have ended up doing more damage in his divorce announcement. Maybe he thought she would exaggerate the damage done to his empire, but she doesn't want him to go back to All for One with a bluff that he would be all too willing to call.

"That all you wanted from me?" She continues, not even giving him a chance to respond to the half-truth. She got all the response she needs.

He sighs, and looks around suspiciously before answering. "When I gave you that, I may have... overestimated the amount of favor I have over him. Apparently he's pissed, and nobody's going to risk picking me over him. They've got enough sense for that, unfortunately for me."

"So you need help."

"Don't say it like that."

"You're asking me to protect you?"

There's a hissing noise as Torino grimaces and sucks air through his teeth. "Not protection, per se, I just... I need a job where I know I'm not gonna get jumped by a bunch of punks looking for trouble 'cause they think I'm weak without him."

"Not security detail, just security."

"Exactly."

"Well, I can't put you in witness protection, because that would entail you giving up a whole hell of a lot more information than you have, plus- "

"I'd be dead before I could even think of a new name. Yeah, no thanks."

"I also can't arrest you without rumor spreading about you giving up info. Besides, a trial would be in neither of our best interests, you for obvious reasons, and me because the very existence of your ex would best remain under wraps. Peace of mind and all that."

"Right. So is there anything you can do, or am I just wasting my time?"

Nana thinks it over, wondering how to keep Torino both semi-free and out of trouble- surveillance would be necessary, to keep him from crawling back to All for One and reinstating himself as the terrifyingly efficient mastermind behind the mastermind, the chess master advising the puppeteer. She would need to keep him close, possibly keep him under her own eye for the time being, and all of a sudden she's got it.

"I've actually got an opening at my agency. Secretary work, nothing you're unfamiliar with. If I were to offer you the position, though, I can't risk you siphoning information off to any friends you've got on the wrong side of the law."

"If I take your offer, that's it, isn't it? No more contact with any of my contacts, cut everything I've got off at the bud- just a leap of faith?"

"Just a leap of faith. What do you have left to lose, Torino?"

She stares him dead in the eyes, waiting on tetherhooks for his answer. She feels like she knows what he's going to say, but everything still moves in slow motion as he mulls it over.

"Nothing. Not anymore."

"I'll be honest, Torino- I don't trust you as far as any of my sidekicks could throw you. I've got an apartment near my agency that I use during busy times, holidays and such. It's also my officially listed address, and as far as anybody knows, my only address. Between you and me, you're going to be under house arrest there until I feel I can trust you. As for what everybody else thinks, I just got a new roommate. Seem agreeable?"

This offer is, in itself, a test. If he agrees too quickly, it's a trap; if he doesn't agree at all, he was definitely planning on stealing her agency's records. She knows exactly how desperate he's presenting himself to be, so she knows exactly how he would naturally respond if he's telling the truth.

Torino waits, thinking it over, clearly not all that enthused at the idea of bunking with her instead of whatever bachelor pad he's managed to scrounge up in the time since the raid.

Eventually, he sighs in seeming defeat and repeats his words from before.

"Leap of faith."

"Leap of faith," Nana agrees, and Torino holds his hand out.

Nana shakes it evenly, which marks the real beginning of everything else.

-----

Torino is an unexpectedly considerate roommate. He cleans his own messes, does his share of the chores, and altogether doesn't make a fuss.

Nana herself feels like she's going insane, living in this apartment for the foreseeable future instead of her own home, with her own husband and son. She's done this before, and she knows that in the end, it'll be temporary, but living here still grates. It's glaringly impersonal, the few personal effects she's left here are just barely enough to keep her from going on a massive spending spree to make it feel more livable.

Torino's own belongings are minimalist, as well, so he hasn't contributed anything interesting to their shared living space.

She actually rarely sees him when she's here, even when she knows he's here too- he just holes up in his room, alone, keeping unnaturally quiet. This, in combination with how stir-crazy she's getting, has prompted her to do something a little drastic.

"I don't get why you're dragging me along on your shopping spree. It's your apartment."

"You live there too, I'm sure you've got some opinions!"

Torino rolls his eyes in the middle of the IKEA as he dutifully pushes the cart along. She digs through a nearby bin of throw pillows and holds up the most offensively bright one in hopes of a reaction; his expression is a carefully schooled mask of neutrality, and there is an awkward moment of silence before Nana takes that as acceptance and tosses it into the cart.

"Fine. I'll just pick out whatever I want, if you're so intent on not saying anything."

"That's what I'm trying to tell you to do in the first place."

Nana rolls her eyes and internally accepts his challenge. She's going to get him to engage with her, one way or another; all while she's decorating the too-bare apartment. Efficiency is something that she's usually a big fan of, and today's no exception- the apartment is something she's been meaning to decorate every time she's stuck in there, and she wants to get Torino at least a little bit out of his shell. She understands that the man's a villain with a body count, but he's also clearly expressed that he's willing to give normal life a chance, and that in itself shouldn't be a punishment.

So she'll beat him over the head with friendship until something gives. She's never been in the business of needless self-flagellation for the past; in her opinion, the past is atoned for in the productivity of the future, and honestly, Torino seems like he'd be willing to try. She just needs to give him some semblance of a support network so he doesn't go sliding back.

The first step in that is to aggressively befriend him until he's got at least one person in his corner, with or without his consent. That's the true heroic approach to the situation, in her opinion.

She finds the most garishly bright and stupidly annoying decorations in the place and hopes for any reaction at all from Torino. A soy sauce dispenser shaped like what seems to be a gnome, a potted plant that's barely clinging to life, and several mugs with horrible puns, all for not even a twitch.

As they're walking around, Torino's stopped paying attention entirely, almost completely absorbed in his phone. Nana catches a glance at his screen to see that he's texting someone with the contact name "Hisashi." She doesn't know a Hisashi, and while she would normally not care about it, Torino's old contacts are all villains, so she feels morally obligated to say something.

She doesn't want to seem invasive, but if she brings it up later, that might imply that she's gone through his phone or something, which would definitely be the wrong move. She sneaks a quick look around to see if there's anyone in earshot before she asks, full of faux casualness.

"So who's Hisashi?"

Torino shoves his phone into a pocket while the tips of his ears turn red.

"Just a fling. A quick rebound. He's some accountant or something, not sure on the details."

This seems to check out, considering that there had been time between the divorce and him moving in with her that it's entirely plausible. She nods and continues her mission to attack him violently with friendship, which starts with provoking a reaction to something in this store.

It isn't until they've almost reached the exit that she sees Them.

A bin full of Them, guaranteed to get a reaction, labeled with the innocuous name of "Blähaj." Large plush sharks almost spilling out of the massive bin, all the same blue and white with a mouth just barely defined enough for her to be able to move it around by squishing it. She snatches one from the bin, and holds it up to Torino's face.

"Ragh! He wants to eat your face! Oh no! He's going to get you! Run!" She slowly inches it closer and closer to Torino, who just gives it an unamused, deadpan stare. Eventually, she gets close enough that he leans back to avoid it making contact with his face, and Nana smiles to herself, just a little bit.

"Do not touch me with that thing."

"But look at him! He looooooves you." She teases while wiggling the shark in the air.

"Where are you even going to put it? Wasn't this trip specifically for stuff in living areas?"

"He will have a place of honor sitting on the back of the couch."

"He's going to fall off and be lost forever within a week."

"Ha! Ha! You called him a 'him!' I've converted you! You love him!"

"That's part of my master plan. I am pretending to love it so you'll let your guard down and then I'll return it like the waste of money it is."

She clutches the shark protectively against her chest and gasps. "You wouldn't dare!"

"I would."

"We're getting him and you will not return him."

"I'll wait until you've forgotten about him behind the couch."

"There's only a 90-day return policy. You'll be too late."

Torino shrugs and responds, "If you say so."

She puts the shark in the cart, and Torino pulls his phone back out. Small steps.

[hospitalterrorizer]

diary412

11/9/24

saturday

another short one today.

got the bass written in the song, made the guitar sound better #cool.

didn't draw a lot, today, instead i watched 2 caveh zahedi films, in the bathtub of the world and i don't hate las vegas anymore, i don't hate las vegas anymore wasn't about vegas so much, since his art is all about him, it's just him trying to get through to his family, his half brother and father, trying to get them to take ecstasy with him so they can all trip and be happy together and communicate openly, it doesn't go that way really, they trick him into thinking they took it, it's interesting seeing someone get their wish fulfilled by people lying, willing so much for that to be the truth they also just go with the lie. there are some shots that happen by total accident it seems like, they're intensely beautiful, like when the camera operator loads in pre-exposed film so you get these two shots overlaid basically, one's upside down almost, technical failures, those are really beautiful looking to me, in a textural way, lovely moving images. it's a shame he doesn't do that on purpose, because it looks so good.

seeing him try to convince his family to take drugs is strange, he's trying to much to manipulate them to do what he wants because he thinks it will be good and that god is on his side, since he believes in god and that what god wills will happen and he's trying to really make sure god is willing or not willing things, rather than letting them be. this is a common theme in his work. or running theme. i should have said running. anyhow, he, in the film says, i want to learn to surrender, he does not learn to surrender it feels like.

in the bathtub of the world was much better, a video diary thing, it made me reflect on what i do here, whether or not i am similar to him or not. i don't want to be, i don't think what i do is even a quarter, or 8th, or 100th as invasive as what he does. that's part of it, but i also don't think i treat my partner badly, which he does. he seems to relish in when she cries because it's interesting. it only upsets me deeply when i have to write about it here, because it is going on, because it makes me feel like i have failed and i want to reflect on my failures. caveh will say things like, my wife is being a total bitch right now, and it's not evident why. it's not a real image of him entirely, but it's strange how he thinks he can transmit that in film, in these autobiographical works. especially in film, you will never understand someone in something that is an hour or so.

but there is a really great scene in the film set to pavement and it showed me this song:

makes me very nostalgic, for some reason. it reminds me of when i saw snow the first time i suppose, or, the first few times. once was on the side of the road, on the way down from somewhere, with my mom's ex boyfriend who was very kind to me, we made snow angels on the side of the road, cars passed, we had little angels there in white though. i'd never seen anything like that in my small life. there were maybe other times between then and the next time...i heard actually, technically i saw snow when i was a baby i think, i do not recall of course, but in 98 i think there was strange snow in vegas. anyhow, years later, we had snow at school, late elementary i believe, was the time, i can't recall the grade. we got out, and there was snow!! the ground was white, everything was pretty, the naked arms of trees. it was a beautiful time, the lovely sky so grey. in this song she sings, black trees with empty arms. it brings me to that.

the open curtain, yes, very good, growing stranger, onto the final section now, it's hard to make much out, as it's gotten into this very strange romance arc, not really romance, more, desperation, sadness, descending into madness, or the descent is completed, there is this sequence of passages, regarding the marriage ritual, numerous things dawning on the second protagonist, about her parent's murder and these mormon symbols. very insane stuff, makes me so curious. rudd being the symbol of the knee, on the temple garb, where her family are all other symbols which are kinds of openings, wounds where the hand of god and jesus reach through, he describes something insane, the presence of god being subcutaneous, really incredible thought put into writing, but her family dead because of their symbolic transmission into the other side + being the instantiation of those symbols or perhaps the inversion of meaning, the closing off of the veil, preventing things. then all the ritual sacrifice stuff returning. just insane to me. there's some sequence that must be remembered, if any should ask you after you are married to recall this sequence, there is a particular way you must kill yourself? mormonism seems death obsessed. confusing too.

but now i am just doing my face up before sleep, i cut my hair a little more let's see how i feel about that tomorrow, and i also need to talk to my friend about some writing things tomorrow in the morning,

so,

byebye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[suckitsurveys]

Will you be single over winter? Nope.

Are you mad at anyone right now? Everyone and everything.

Do you add random questions into surveys when you take them? No. I’ll sometimes delete ones if I can’t figure out to reply to them though lol.

Where do you wanna live when you grow up? I am “grown up” and living in Chicago is fine.

Are you wearing jeans, shorts, sweatpants, or pajama pants? I’m wearing jeans.

Would you get married if you could right now? I am married.

Do you consider yourself spoiled? Yes, but not in a bratty way. I am spoiled with love and being able to afford nice things or having help getting nice things.

Do you get annoyed when you see someone you don’t like? Yes I do.

Could you see yourself dropping out of high school? I've been done with high school for a while.

Is there anyone you want to see right now? Not at this very moment. I’d like to be home though.

What were you doing 12 a.m. last night? I was asleep.

Would you go out in public looking like you do now? Yes, I already left the house.

Do you think you will be in a relationship 3 months from now? Yes.

How was your weekend? It was okay! Saturday Mark and I went to his mom’s house and Sunday was very chill; just did errands and a couple chores and Mark and I went to get his hair done and grabbed lunch.

Are you a mean person? No. I can be, but not overall.

What woke you up today? My alarms.

What is something you disliked about your day? It’s only 9:30am, not a lot has happened.

Have you kissed anyone whose name started with a T? Nope.

Did you date anyone last summer? I’m married.

Where will you be twelve hours from now? At home. I don’t have to work tomorrow so I’m going to stay up a lil later than usual.

Do you remember the first time you kissed the last person you kissed? Yes.

Have you ever slept on a couch with that person? Yes, several times.

Have you written a letter to a soldier? Nope.

Ever been in a perfect relationship? The one I am in now is pretty perfect.

Is the last person you kissed mad at you? He’s a lil disappointed I spent so much money on Sabrina Carpenter tickets, but I don’t think he’s mad at me lol.

How do you feel about the person who texted you last? I love him more than life itself.

What are you looking forward to? This weekend! I took off tomorrow and we’re going to the apple orchard and then Saturday is SNL!!!!!!!!!!! and then Sunday is Mark’s birthday and we’re going camping into Monday, which I also took off. Happy 4 day weekend to me!!! I’m also looking forward to Novemeber; I’m seeing Sabrina Carpenter AND Billie Eilish within two weeks of each other. One in SLC, the other in Chicago. Both with my best friend!!!!!!!!

Do you think you are an argumentative person? Nope.

How did you feel when you woke up today? Tired and in pain. My back hurts.

Have you ever had a best friend who was of the opposite sex? Yeah.

What time did you go to sleep last night? Around 11:00pm.

Where did you buy the shirt you’re wearing now? Torrid.

What color are your eyes? Green.

The last song you listened to? I don’t remember.

Do you believe change is always good? I mean, change is constant and we are all adaptable.

Where are the majority of your clothes from? Places that sell clothes.