#sorry the game i'm playing is great but it really just keep making me think 'how did da4 fumble it so bad.' and then i get sad

[yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit]

What the fuck it cut off my tags, whatever

I do deserve a treat :( Thank you <3

sorry for ranting, also sorry half the rant was cut off

this is the single worst way i've ever read to describe an erection, frank herbert

[icharchivist]

this game has their abandonned capital due to magical reason still divided between upper city and lower city specifically to showcase a worldbuilding on class and how it was still an important notion of the old hierarchy, even though everything is in ruins,

meanwhile da4 that talks about Solas' rebellion against the Evanuris, which was about ending slavery, never ever showed any idea of class or even society from the old elven ways, and Arlathan itself is a mess of corridors that means nothing leading to status that means nothing

Like yes the whole city is supposed to be gone, at least according to the codexes, but it's not exactly the vibe of Arlathan forrest and we still learn absolutely nothing about the world of the Elven. Because god forbid we give any weight to the (new, retconned) arguments Solas make about "restoring the old world"

[bunny-jpeg]

Hey bunny love , i heard some great things about your bakery so i decided to come and try too , i would like a butter tart with a milkshake please oh and make it nice and sweet with lando norris (💗)

barkey menu!

if you want your own order! check out the original post and i can bake somethin' up for ya! thank you for those lovely request!! did you know that butter tarts are actually from the region of canada i'm from!

additional message from sender: Hey bunny love HELP you see the order that i’ve done i forgot to clarify that i need it in a best friend inexperienced reader x lando , SORRY AGAIN (💗)

butter tart ("let's ruin ourselves for anyone else.") + milkshake (size kink) served by lando norris (formula one)!!

cw: smut/pwp, inexperienced!reader, size difference/kink, friends-to-lovers, missionary, romantic/mushy, gentle sex, marriage pact

you and lando had a deal. by the time you hit twenty-five you two would get married. the two of you had been lifelong friends and at the time thought that no one would actually want to date you two.

so the pact was made.

you had honestly forgotten about it years later. it was a pact you made when you were both dumb teenagers and lando's career as a racer hadn't taken off. by this point you had expected him to find some super hot model to date. not the best friend he's had for years!

until after you twenty-fifth birthday you received a text message.

it simply said, "will be home in a few days, where did you want to have our first date?" and before you could question him about what the hell he was talking about. you remembered his boyish smile when you linked pinkies with him.

lando was beyond relieved to see you. you picked him up from the airport and drove him back to your flat. you had laughed as you merged onto the highway.

"so a date, huh?"

"well, yeah. i mean i wasn't going to show up with a ring!" he laughed, "did you forget or something?" he almost seemed a little hurt.

"no, no." you said, "i just thought you would've found someone else by now! i mean you're surrounded by pretty girls all day."

he shrugged, "yeah, yeah. but none of them are you. i was honestly worried that you would've found someone too! i mean i can't date you if you're already with someone." he laughed once more.

being on a date with him was like hanging out with him in your youth. expect every time he wanted to kiss you, he asked. and when he kissed you. you felt a spark in your gut.

you were just at a local pub you had always gone to. there was no need for fancy first dates. eventually lando had his arm around you while you sat in the booth and the two of you watched the football game.

when you were teens you were especially into it. but over time he made you cheer for the team he cheered for. in exchange you forced him to like your favourite cheesy movie. (which he would admit now, wasn't that terrible!).

"I want to keep kissing you." he said honestly in your ear.

you picked up a fry and fed it to him. when he swallowed it, you turned to kiss him on the lips, "you don't have to ask me, norris. i've seen every mole on your ass."

he laughed and leaned in for another kiss. but before he did, he said, "i want to be a gentleman."

that sentiment lasted all the way to the bedroom. you had wished you had tidied up a little bit more of your bedroom, but you might have just been over thinking everything as you took off your t-shirt.

"lando... please be gentle, it's been like a million years since i last had sex." you admitted as you played with the t-shirt between your fingers nervously.

he looked at you with a curious glance, "who was the last person you slept with? when did this happen?" there was a small curl of jealousy in his gut.

you replied, "i mean like, not since the one, one-night stand i had in my first year of uni... since then it's been a dry spell."

he nodded, he understood. but part of him really wanted to be your first time. but hey, he had an entire lifetime to make up for it! he noticed how you gazed at him when he took his shirt off. "like what you see?"

you chuckled, "yes. you've always been handsome, lando. too handsome for me!"

he shook his head and took off his belt, "no. just handsome enough for you." then pulled down his shorts before he got into bed with you, pulling you down onto the floral printed covers next to him.

he looked nice in just a pair of black briefs. you couldn't believe this was really happening. to have your legs tangled up in his, his lips on yours. hands roaming each other's bodies.

it was something that would've made sixteen year old you blush.

"wait, wait.' he said, "give me a second." then got out of bed, he left the bedroom to go to the living room where all of his belongings still there. he came back with the shiny foil of a condom. he beamed at you, "have to play it safe." before he climbed back into bed with you.

he loved the sight of you. you were so pretty, ever since you two were younger. he always thought you were the prettiest girl at school, even if you didn't believe it. now, he'd just have to tell you every day how pretty you were.

he got his briefs off and the condom on before he put you on your back and got between your legs. he knelt between them with his cock at full attention. he admired the sight of you.

"i can't believe you kept true to your word." you chuckled and rubbed your face as if to wipe the blush off.

he smiled at you, "why wouldn't i? i made a promise." he leaned in towards you and kissed you on the cheek, "i was practically counting down the days. it was hard to keep it all inside, not when i was constantly thinking about you."

"i hate that i'm inexperienced."

"don't care. i have a whole life time to show learn everything with you." his voice was tinged with romance and you felt what you could only describe as love bloom in your chest.

you always had feelings for him, and see them returned made you only feel hot in the face. he kissed at those same cheeks and palmed your breasts.

"someone's into those." you chuckled.

"i always thought they were so pretty." he said almost breathless, "in those stupid dresses you wore in university. remember when i threw my hoodie over you, it was because i didn't want anyone else looking at you."

you remembered them, you were trying something new at the time. and those dresses really made you breasts noticeable. you chuckled, "god, i remember that. or that time you took off your rain jacket and zipped it up to my chin."

"i just thought you were so painfully pretty." he took his cock and rubbed it up against your wet pussy. he used to have dreams about it. he always wanted to sink himself into you and just fuck your sweet cunt.

you held onto the covers under you as you tensed for a moment in anticipation for lando's cock. you held you breath as he slowly sank in. you let out a sharp noise and lando eased your mind with kisses on your lips.

"that's it." he praised with sweetness on his tongue. he thought you looked so beautiful under him, like you always belonged there, "are you okay?" he asked.

you nodded, "yeah, i'm doing great. just... not used to it." you took a deep breath.

lando held onto you and said softly, "don't worry, i'll go gentle. don't want to hurt my wife on the first try."

you looked at him and chuckled, "and what if i'm not marriage material in a year?"

lando shook his head, "i don't wanna hear it." then sealed it with a kiss as he used your hips to rub your against his cock. the movements were small, but slowly building up in a decent peace. he wanted to make sure that he didn't hurt you.

you held his face and continued to kiss him. when he eventually pulled away, you were both soon panting. he rutted up into you and moved your hips at a similar pace. he loved that your expression was starting to change to one filled with pleasure.

he thought you were beautiful even then.

"i've thought about this for years. i always wondered what you'd look like under me, or on top, or anywhere really. i just dreamt about having you."

"you could've asked me out sooner, norris." you smiled at him. you felt a swell in your chest.

lando blushed a little and replied, "i couldn't find the words. but then when i remembered, i knew i had to jump at the chance to have you."

you wrapped your arms and legs around him and said, "well mister lando norris, you have me. now and forever."

he broke out into a grin, it was so cheesy. even though he had his cock inside of you. but he loved it. he loved you. he kissed you again before he started to thrust a little heavier.

the intimacy between you two was strong, but the actually movements were softer. lando's lips felt so nice against your neck and along your jaw. every kiss felt like worship.

his hands explored your sides, almost making you giggle loudly. you could hear your heartbeat in your ears from the pleasure in your veins.

the bed creaked under your movements. you felt the lust warm in your gut. you clutched onto his shoulders as he kept his steady pace. you panted heavily, "i'm close, fuck, lando. i'm close!"

"i know, i know. me too." he groaned as he moved. he was so big compared to you. and you felt so small, but in a good way. he was just perfect for you and you were for him.

you always felt protected by him.

you two kissed once more and you moaned into the kiss. he was panting through his nose as he pressed his cock into you as deep as it would go.

you tensed up around him and his cock twitched inside of you. and together you both came, pressed against on another as orgasm gripped you.

it felt so good.

you could get used to this. the movements slowed to a stop and you broke the kiss to catch your breath. you panted heavily as you tried to pull yourself together.

"so good." he laid on top of you for a moment, embracing your warmth below him. you wrapped your arms around him tightly and kissed his sweaty temple.

you both laid there. it felt nice. maybe you wouldn't mind keeping to the marriage pact you made when you were a teen. it wouldn't be bad to be married to your best friend.

he yawned before he moved off of you, "i gotta get you a nice ring. something as beautiful as you."

-

you didn't get married at twenty-five. it would take about three years before you had your special day.

his fingers interlocked with yours and he held them up towards the stream of morning light through the window. "you know." he said, "i used to write your name with my last name when we were kids."

you chuckled and looked to him, "the crush was that big."

he nodded, "yeah, i mean, you ruined all other girls for me. but i'm glad. let's ruin ourselves for anyone else anyway." he laughed before he threw an arm around you and kissed you deeply.

[kxsagi]

Heyyyyy pretty, hope you're doing great!!!! I have a request (I'm never stopping to haunt you everywhere in your notification) so i don't have any characters in mind for this so you can choose (expect Kaiser) x reader where reader has a plush or merch of them and like wears it or keeps it somewhere obvious around their house cause she's proud of the player/star they became

Thank you beforehand!!!!!💕 and also here's some flowers cause you deserve them💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐

“𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲”

a/n: heyyy lovey i’m doing well and i hope you are too! thank you for the flowers 🥹🥰

i couldn’t choose so i turned this into headcanons instead if that’s okay! (this is my first time doing so asknksnsldnglslkfgs) + i'm so sorry but i love kaiser

ft. isagi yoichi, bachira meguru, nagi seishiro, reo mikage, chigiri hyoma, itoshi rin, karasu tabito, yukimiya kenyu, itoshi sae, kaiser michael

isagi yoichi - “you love showing off your boyfriend’s success”

🧸 you have a shelf dedicated to his memorabilia, including a signed jersey and a plush doll of him, placed proudly in the living room. 

🧸 when friends or family visit, you subtly point it out, saying things like, "oh, that's just his plush. it’s adorable, right?"

🧸 you’ll send your boyfriend pictures of his merch around your shared house, playfully teasing him about how much you’re surrounded by him. 

⚽ he’s a bit shy but incredibly touched, replying, “wow, you really have a whole shrine to me. i guess I’m flattered… or should i be worried?” 

bachira meguru - “you keep his merch in unexpected places” 

🧸 you keep a small plush of him in your car, so when you’re driving, you can glance at it and think of him. 

🧸 you always have his keychain on your bag, a subtle but constant reminder of his accomplishments. 

🧸 his signed soccer ball sits on your desk as your little good luck charm whenever you work. 

⚽ he’s genuinely touched, but also amused, texting you, “i didn’t realize you were taking me everywhere. maybe i should get a tiny version of you to keep in my locker too. that way, i’ll always have you with me!” 

nagi seishiro - “you create little rituals around his fame”

🧸 on game nights, you’ll watch his match with his plush sitting next to you, as if the plush is cheering along with you. 

🧸 after each match, whether he wins or loses, you take a selfie with his jersey and plush, sending it to him with a sweet message like, “you did amazing!” 

⚽ he laughs and shakes his head, playfully replying, “you’re going to have me beat by the plush at this rate lol. but seriously, you make me feel like i’m your MVP every game.”

reo mikage - “you love to surprise him with little gifts”

🧸 after an important game, you’ll gift him personalized items with his jersey number or even something referencing his childhood. 

🧸 sometimes, you get him exclusive limited-edition items from his own brand or the team, showing just how much you support him beyond just the merch. 

⚽ he’s touched by your thoughtful gifts, often pulling you into a hug and saying, “you’re too much, you know that? this means more than you’ll ever realize. i’m so lucky to have you.” 

chigiri hyoma - “your friends know how much you love him and his journey” 

🧸 whenever you talk about your relationship, you’ll mention his soccer career with glowing pride, even bringing up how you proudly display his merch at home. 

🧸 your friends always know which game he's playing next because you can’t help but talk about how excited you are for him. you even have a countdown for his next match on your phone screen. 

⚽ he shakes his head, laughing at how much you talk about him, “you’re so proud of me, i feel like i should give a speech or something. but seriously, i’m grateful you’re always cheering me on.” 

itoshi rin - “you’re his biggest fan, even in private moments” 

🧸 you wear his team’s merchandise (like a hoodie or a cap) while the two of you hang out at home. 

🧸 sometimes, you’ll wear his jersey to bed, saying it’s comfy, but it’s also a reminder of how proud you are of him. 

🧸 every time he scores, you’ll replay the highlights and cheer for him like you’re at the stadium. 

⚽ he grins and playfully teases you, “you’re the best cheerleader i’ve ever had. but, if i’m being honest, i think you wear my jersey better than i do.” 

karasu tabito - “you tease him about how famous he’s become” 

🧸 when you’re out in public with him, you playfully mention how you might need a bodyguard soon since people keep asking for his autograph. 

🧸 you’ll jokingly “fight” over him with fans who try to take pictures with him, saying, “hey, he’s mine, back off!”

🧸 you refer to his plush as "his mini-me" and makes it clear that you’re not jealous of his fame, you’re proud of him. 

⚽ he laughs and playfully pulls you closer, saying, “you’re too cute. if you want, i’ll just stay by your side so no one else can have me.” 

yukimiya kenyu - “you cherish his personal touch on his merchandise”

🧸 you keep a collection of his signed posters and photos framed around the house, often adding little notes on them like “best goal ever” or “miss you here.”

🧸 every time you buy a new piece of his merch, you take a picture of it and send it to him with a text saying, “i got another piece of you.”

⚽ he’s a little speechless and incredibly moved, replying, “you’ve really made me feel like i’m part of your home… and your heart. i’ll never take that for granted.” 

itoshi sae - “you have a soft spot for his signature items” 

🧸 his signed cleats sit on a display stand in your shared bedroom, and you always tell visitors about the first time you saw him wear them. 

🧸 every time he gives you a new item – whether it's his hoodie or a scarf from his team – you wear it immediately and don’t take it off for days. 

⚽ he finds it both adorable and a little funny, sending you a message, “i can’t believe you wear everything i give you like it’s your personal uniform. i must be doing something right.” 

kaiser michael - “you’re never afraid to show off your pride” 

🧸 you’ll bring your plush to any event or social gathering they attend together, saying, “i’m taking my boyfriend with me!” 

🧸 even if the two of you are just relaxing, you’ll throw on one of his team scarves, proudly draping it around your neck as if it’s the most casual thing in the world. 

🧸 sometimes, you even match your outfits to his team colors, always making sure your accessories tie back to his career, as if you're subtly celebrating him wherever the two of you go.

⚽ he raises an eyebrow and chuckles, “is this how it’s going to be now? you’re taking my plush to the grocery store too?” he laughs, adding, “i love it. you make me feel like i’m on top of the world.” 

© 𝐤𝐱𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐢

[patchworkcuddlebug]

Unbecoming

The party was going great. There was a board game on the table, half-played as everyone got too caught up in their drunken conversations. You're happy that you brought your girlfriend too, she really seems like she's opening up. She's talking to new people, and she's had a drink, after insisting again and again that she really wanted to try for herself and wasn't being pressured.

Then you hear it. The friend who always raises his voice a little too high, saying that after having decals up for the holidays, the windows look weird with all that empty space.

You look over to your girlfriend. She looks too still.

You set your soda aside and hoist yourself out of your beanbag. You step just on the outskirts of a conversation circle, her with a friend and the friend's friend.

"Hey, Lorelei, are you okay?"

Docile and obedient, like a good doll. "Yes, m..." She cuts herself off, looking at the others with concern.

"Alright, maybe we should go somewhere quiet." You take her hand, and it obediently lets you lead it away. "Sorry, she's not used to drinking and I wanna make sure she's not overwhelmed by everything y'know?" You quickly explain to the people holding conversation with her, who nod respectfully, looking only a little surprised.

You lead it to the bathroom. You don't think anyone was watching, catching how her movements weren't as fluid as they should be. You close the door behind yourself and take her hands in yours, and she looks so... doll-like. Standing at attention, expression of a tool awaiting input. "Are you fully under?"

She shakes its head. "I'm... still a person. But it's hard. I can feel it. This one wants to be a good doll, Miss."

"Alright, I understand. Are you okay to go back out there?"

She looks down for a second, contemplating only for a moment before looking at you like a good doll. "No, Miss. This one... would feel embarrassed, Miss."

"Alright, let's just... stay in here for a bit."

"Yes, Miss. Thank you, Miss."

You sit on the toilet seat, and it sits on the rim of the bathtub. Her legs are together, hands balled on its lap, eyes forward.

"Is there anything I can do to ground you?"

"...Please use this one's name, Miss."

"Sure thing, Lorelei. Can I hold your hand?"

"Yes..." It catches herself. "...please."

There's a knock at the door. You raise your voice, asking for just a sec.

"Let's head home. I'll text the others and say you weren't feeling well. Do you want us to pretend you drank too much, Lorelei? I'll put my arm around your shoulders, and people will think your... dollhood is just from being drunk."

She takes a moment to think. "Yes, Mmm... yes. I would appreciate that very much."

Nobody says a word to you, some people look at you, and presumably make just the assumption you expected. You lead her to the passenger seat before getting in. After you've driven about a block away, you notice she seems... distracted, not still.

"Hey, uh, now that we're alone... do you want me to keep trying to bring you up?"

She's silent for a bit. "I... want to be a good doll very much."

You take your eyes off the road just long enough to smile at her.

"Empty space."

Finally, it looks still.

[23starii]

Pleasant Surprise - tendo x reader

Summary: He's used to girls trying to get through him to get to Ushiwaka. He knows no girl actually wants to be with him or get to know him. None of the gifts he receives are ever actually for him. Until you approach him one day after practice.

Warnings/notes: insecurity, speculation, rudeness, but, tbh not that much, short reader (shorter than Tendo). Chat I literally wrote all of day two and left to find a divider AND TURNS OUT EVERYTHING DELETED SO I HAD TO REWRITE THE WHOLE THING 😆😆😆😆😆

Day one

Practice was finally over.

Tendo loved it. It was another good day for him and the team.

What he didn't quite loves was-

"E-excuse me?" A tiny feminine voice to his left.

"Can I help you?" He answered, almost rudely. He knew what was to come, especially with the way you held the small, neatly wrapped gift box in between your hands.

"I'm really sorry to bother you, Tendo.." You began, shyly looking up at the taller male.

Tendo almost rolled his eyes. He wanted to just tell you to go away. He couldn't take it anymore. He just wanted to go home, but here you were, a cute girl saying his name with the sweetest voice trying to use him to get to his buddy.

It would be nice not to be looked over for once. Not only was it annoying to have to go through this nearly every day but painful, too. You were so cute and pretty. He recalled seeing you around and watching their practice several times.

"I made this for you. I was wondering if you'd accept it?" The girl brought her arms up higher, showing off the tiny box to the volleyball player.

"Listen-" Tendo almost answered in his usual way, telling girls to just go away because Ushiwaka didn't want their gifts anyway but then he realized what you said.

A gift for him? This was new. You wanted to earn his trust and get close to him just so he could introduce you to Ushiwaka. Didn't you?

Figures.

"U-um, you don't have to.. if you don't want to." You spoke up after Tendo was quiet for some time, thinking.

"Is it for me?" He wondered.

"Yes! It's for you! I made this just for you, Tendo."

Before he could say anything, you decided to keep speaking your mind, making sure he understood the extent of your purpose for being in front of him today.

"I've been coming to watch you practice for some time now.. you're amazing. You're so tall and a great blocker! I can tell you enjoy playing the game very much.. you always have a smile on your face when you play. And I enjoy watching you..very much as well."

Tendo was stunned, to say the least. You spoke without even looking at him. What you said didn't sound rehearsed or bogusly put together.

He wasn't sure what to say or do. He didn't know if he was convinced either.

"I took the time to learn that you really like chocolate too.. so that's why I made it for you. It took me a while to get the recipe right, but I did it just for you.. so I would really appreciate it if you could accept my hard work." You stared at the floor, face flushed and embarrassed, arms stretched out. You couldn't believe you poured nearly your whole heart out to him when he hadn't even said more than one word to you.

"Um.. okay. Thank you very much. I'll make sure to have these later." Tendo took the small box from your pretty hands. He had never been in a situation like this before - he hoped his answer wasn't too blunt or that he made you feel dumb for being here.

"Please! Let me know if you like them! Or if you dont.. I'd be very happy to make more for you!" You bowed quickly before speeding off in the opposite direction, cheeks burning.

You really hopped you hadn't said too much.

Tendo watched you walk away, cocking his head slightly to the his right, puzzled.

Could it be that you really did make it for him because you wanted to give it to him?

Could it be true that you really had been watching him and not Ushiwaka?

"Damn. That girl was really nervous." He hears Semi from his left speak.

"Aw man! You're so lucky, Tendo! She was cute.." Goshiki gushes from his right.

"Yeah, she was.."

Day two

The next day, Tendo walked the halls with the knowledge that somewhere in the same building, there was a girl who made the best chocolates he's ever had.

He hardly thought of anything else since he popped one of the treats into his mouth the night prior. He couldn't believe something so delicious could be made. And just for him nonetheless.

He hoped your words were truthful. He hoped he would see you again that afternoon so he could thank you.

Tendo made his way toward the gym, where he would be partaking in the usual practice routine.

When he arrived and was fully changed into his gym clothes, he made sure to warm up with his teammates.

He stretched and received a few balls, making sure to keep an eye out for you.

The redhead made sure to glance over at the students' section every so often.

Tendo was quite disillusioned to find you nowhere to be seen.

An hour into practice, he figured you just weren't coming. He had been tricked, hadn't he.

Oh well.

There's no way a girl like you would seriously be into him.

He decided to go on as if nothing had happened, as per usual. He continued giving it his all during practice as was expected from him.

.

.

.

Tendo exited the changing room, having his regular school uniform on now. He could hear his younger teammates messing about in the room behind him while he bent down low, grabbing his shows and placing them in front of himself.

"Tendo." He hears the firm, stoic voice of his best buddy call out.

"Hey! Wakaaa!" The lankier boy teased with the nickname, looking off in Ushijima's direction whilst putting his left shoe on.

"There was a girl looking for you." The barely taller male spoke.

"A girl?" Tendo repeated, moving on to his right shoe.

"I thought she was gonna ask me for my autograph. Instead, she asked me about you." Ushiwaka informed, with his usual straight face.

Tendo straightened up his body, finishing up with his shoes he turned his full attention to his friend.

"Where is she?" The redhead asked, picturing your shaky figure holding out the gift he enjoyed so much.

Ushiwaka shrugged.

"She was outside the gym, last time I saw her."

Tendo thanked his friend and quickly made his way back to the gym, hoping he hadn't missed you.

He was relieved to find you curiously standing about right outside the gym.

"Excuse me?" He spoke, stepping to you.

You quickly turn around to meet the boy, your hair whipping the air from the speed.

"Tendo!" You spoke, surprised.

"I'm shocked, I didn't think I'd see you again or have the chance to thank you for those chocolates." Tendo teased, reffering to your absence earlier.

He watched your face twist into guilt.

"I am only able to see you when my club activities end early. I'm so sorry! Did you like the gift then..?" You ramble, apologetically, your cheeks flushing.

Tendo suddenly found it increasingly difficult to hide how flattered he is by your presence.

You took the time to come see him after your own club activities and even asked Ushiwaka about him. And the way you messed with your uniform nervously as you spoke was adorable in his eyes.

"Like it? I loved it!! I've never had anything so good before." His face warmed up.

"Really?? It was a family recipe.. I barely learned it, so I'm glad you enjoyed them!" You gave another sweet smile, almost as sweet as the treats the boy had last night.

"You'll have to teach me that recipe some time, cause seriously, I've never had anything like that before!" He gushed, hoping he didn't sound too enthusiastic.

You blush at his compliments.

"So.. do you enjoy making sweets too, Tendo?" You wonder, hoping the two of you might find something in common, it would be beneficial to keep the conversation going which you hoped would happen.

"Actually, I've never baked or anything like that. But, if it's possible to make something that good, I'd like to learn it."

You were happy that he took such interest in you. You honestly hadn't expected it. You were just some girl after all. It warmed your heart and the tips of your ears.

"By the way, you were looking for me? Ushiwaka told me."

Again, your cheeks flushed and you stiffened up.

"Well, I wanted to see you! I am a fan of yours, you know!" You laughed awkwardly admitting you truly did just want to see him.

Tendo's cheeks warmed further equal to yours now.

You wanted to see him? His fan? A pretty girl?

Could words be ever more flattering? Could you make him any more embarrassed? He seriously couldn't believe it.

You really called yourself his fan.

"Oh, wow. I didn't know I had such a beautiful fan." He sputtered, relieved that he hadn't stuttered. He almost missed your expression after those words.

Your face dropped, and he could see the visible pink hue that coated your pretty cheeks.

"I-Well, you know, I mean.. you're awesome and like also super! And beautiful.. too.." Your eyes widened from your own words. How could one stumble over themselves so damn much?

You internally beat the shit out of yourself. There's no way you didn't totally just blow it.

You almost missed how his eyes widened, too, and he blushed. Tendo looked as if you could eat him right up right then and there.

"Jeez.. you really came here just to flatter me." Tendo couldn't ignore the fact that no one had ever called him beautiful before. You were the first. And damn, it was a really nice feeling.

He couldn't believe it. This had to be a dream.

You couldn't really reply after how badly you stuttered you were surely traumatized from the embarrassment.

"So, how about that recipe?"

The boy eased your nerves by not turning away or insinuating that he disliked you. He wouldn't anyway. No way in a million years would he walk away.

You smiled, taking a deep breath to calm yourself before continuing the conversation.

You gave him a social media account of your choosing so he could contact you.

Tendo asked about your club, and the two of you spoke of your many interests. He even walked with you to your bus stop.

You found that the two of you didn't have much in common, but his interest in your hobby of baking and making sweets just might change that.

It might even create a duo of married chocolatiers.

✧˖*°࿐

[alessiathepirate]

Squid Game

CUDDLES AND AFFECTION (headcanons): Seong Gi-hun x reader

Summary: S1 Gi-hun and S2 Gi-hun are very different - their affection and the cuddles just aren't the same...

Notes: English isn't my first language. I apologize for any mistakes I may have made while I wrote this short story.

This is my first time writing headcanons and my first time using 'you'. I'm sorry if it feels weird, but this is my first attempt writing this format. (I can't really explain it, but using 'you' instead of 'she' for example just sounds off in my first language, so I've never really attempted to use it in English.)

Warnings: angsty but cute (I'm sorry, but season 2 broke me so I'm here to break y'all too)

●●●

♡ S1 Gi-hun is the little spoon; or regardless of the cuddling position, he just likes to be held -- I feel like he needs some kind of emotional security, and the feeling of being held gives him just that.

♡ He has enough issues with the loan sharks, he has enough fear to burry him for a lifetime; so being cuddled in bed or on the couch -- or literally anywhere -- gives him emotional safety. And he craves that, along with the need to be loved and wanted.

♡ Let's be honest here: being in a relationship with someone who has a gambling addiction can be hard: and even if Gi-hun tries to change and avoid gambling for good, there are times when he fails. But being held at night gives him the courage to continue and try again. The fact that you still hug him and hold him - even though previously that day you looked at him disapprovingly - means that you aren't angry and that you're there for him through thick and thin.

♡ S1 Gi-hun is the kind of guy who loves to rest his head on your chest and listen to your heartbeat - and during these moments he thinks how lucky he is to have you; and how impossible it feels that he found someone who actually loves him, even though he feels like he doesn't deserve you.

♡ -- and if during these moments, when his head is on your chest, you decide to play with his hair, you can bet that this man will be out like a light and have the best damn sleep of his life.

♡ S1 Gi-hun is still full of light, laughter and hope. And he isn't afraid of showing his happiness to the world - and with happiness he means you. He likes to hold your hand in public and kiss your cheek here and there. He's also a yapper - he just won't shut up. Not like it bothers you: when you two are in bed he'll tell you stories and jokes; and he feels his heart flutter when he can make you laugh.

♡ Being late is also an everyday occurence with him - so there are times when you'll sit on a bench in the subway, both of you cursing the time, while he rests his head on your shoulder. (You might get his cap too - who knows...)

♡ To S1 Gi-hun you are a getaway from life. Your presence alone makes everything feel easier, solveable and less horrible. He still makes sure you won't ever meet the loan sharks who are after him - he doesn't want them to use you against him.

♡ When you two join the games - and after it's been made obvious that whoever loses, dies - you'll be attached by the hips. He'll hold your hand, kiss your forehead and do his absolute best to look out for you. He'd offer you his own food and water too - he wants you to be strong. Yet you'd decline. You need him strong too.

♡ At night you share the same bed and he hugs you close - no exceptions. He rests his head in the crook of your neck as he gently massages your scalp, so you'd fall asleep easily. He whispers how everything would turn out great in the end - and he still believes that they would.

♡ The moment the possibility of a raid comes up, Gi-hun won't let you out of his sight. He makes the team, including you, build a barricade, and he always wants to be the one to keep watch. It's impossible though - but he doesn't seem to care, all he wants is for you to sleep safely. Yet his plan fails - you never sleep when he keeps watch: you always sit next to him, with your head resting on his shoulder as you two try to reassure each other.

♡ There are times - like after the marble game - when he just holds you as you both cry. No words are said. He just needs the physical reassurance - like you.

♡ With S1 Gi-hun you can see the emotional, psychical change he goes through -- and it's heartbreaking. Suddenly he talks less, he smiles less - the only thing what stays the same is the snuggling. That's the only aspect of himself he never loses.

♡ Sae-byeok's death is the final nail in the coffin - for the both of you. After that you aren't the same and he isn't the same. After Sang-woo's death, it's even worse: you two win, but at what cost?

♡ The loss is obvious: no more yapping, no more sudden kisses, no more puppy dog eyes.

♡ Staying with this 'new' Gi-hun is crucial: he has you, you have him - the only person left worth living for (other than Ga-yeong).

♡ This Gi-hun has a new favourite thing, the only thing what can keep him calm and somewhat happy: you, resting your head on his thighs as he plays with your hair. It became his favourite after a drunken night spent at the river - during which you fell asleep. That was when he promised himself that he'd make you happy again and he'd do anything to protect you from life - which was much darker than he had initially thought.

◇ S2 Gi-hun is the big spoon; he now always has his arms around you, he has you tucked under his arm, close to his chest -- he just wants to protect you from everything.

◇ Nightmares aren't rare at all - in fact, they are pretty common. It doesn't matter who has them though: you or him -- after comforting the other he always stays up afterwards. It's always him, never the other ways around! He just rests his chin on top of your head as he looks around the dark motel room every few minutes.

◇ S2 Gi-hun sleeps with a gun under his pillow, and with a gun on your nightstand.

◇ S2 Gi-hun is no longer a yapper - even if you cuddle, there are no more jokes or fun stories. It's just you and him being quiet while he draws imaginary shapes into your skin.

◇ Every time you two have to leave the motel, he always has a hand on you - hand-holding, an arm around your waist; it doesn't matter. He needs to feel like he's there to keep you safe.

◇ Whenever you two drive around, looking for the Salesman, he has a hand on your thigh. It's him reassuring you that he's there - and if this nightmare ends he won't leave.

◇ If you happen to fall asleep in the car, you can bet he'll put those sneaky locks of hair behind your ears. His fingers would gently caress your face, before letting you nap. He'd still glance at you though and smile at how peaceful you look. This would be the only time S2 Gi-hun smiles - because you are the only person on Earth worth smiling for.

◇ After the Russian roulette? He'll hold you tightly, tighter than before - if it's possible.

◇ S2 Gi-hun doesn't think his own life is valuable. That's why during the games he won't try to save himself - he'll try to save you and all those other players. It leads to a serious conversation full of tears - neither of you should be here, especially without that tracker. You have to explain to him that he matters, he's your everything and he needs to survive and live for you. He promises to try, but his heart isn't fully in that promise...

◇ S2 Gi-hun barely sleeps - he's too scared: a raid might break out and he needs to keep you safe. Jung-bae would be the only one who can speak some sense into him: he tells him you need him too, and alive at that. He sends him to bed, not taking no for an answer, and keeps watch with Young-il. Jung-bae watches how Gi-hun lays down next to you and holds you close with a small smile.

◇ S2 Gi-hun always sleeps with his back towards danger. You always get the safest side of the bed, there's no chance someone could sneak up behind you.

◇ To S2 Gi-hun you are everything: stability, hope, love, happiness... He can't even think about losing you too.

◇ During the raid against the guards, he always has you behind him; either with Jung-bae or Young-il. Gi-hun needs you safe - there's no way you can go with anyone else. He almost sent you away to go with Young-il and attack the guards from behind (that was the safest option for you in his eyes) -- yet that's when you stand your ground and tell him there ain't no way you'll leave him behind. That's when Gi-hun realizes how much you truly care about him - a thought that never seemed important ever since S1. He just lets you hug him as he tries to surpress the tears. A thing never changed - he still feels like he doesn't deserve you.

◇ And when you have to surrender; when you have to give up the fight; he kisses you and hugs you one last time. He promises nothing bad will happen to you, he promises that you will get out alive...

◇ He just hopes that he isn't lying to you...

[writingwisterias]

How would all the different leons (is that right??) React to being playfully told "everybody knows that I'm a good girl officer " "no I wouldn't do a thing like that, that's for sure"

Based off that one lana audio

https://youtu.be/pHevnHyaMeI?si=RN05uIGfZplxRYkR

THANK YOUU!!

HIII!

Lana isn't really in my regularly listened to but I do like this song!! Sorry if it's not great I've been feeling sick as I did this one!

Warnings: Suggestive, NSFW, Minor DNI

Fem!Reader

RE2:

Blushes immediately like he's very caught off guard at first

Kind of likes it as he sees the almost siren look in your eyes and the smirk on your features

When you kiss him with a giggle leaving your mouth your eyes widen as his hardening length

He'll make sure you need to prove what a good girl you are

RE4R:

Confused at first, you've never really acted like this before

Then comes the teasing, his eyebrow quirks up slightly almost questioning you

You giggle and blush as you realise that he's tempting you to prove it to him

Infinite Darkness:

100% plays into it, you've got his attention. His cock is twitching

That's what you wanted right?

He's going to backing you up into the bedroom

"Is that so?" In a very low tone, his eyes narrowing and there's a growing smirk on his face

Damnation:

It's not ignoring you but he's going to give you such little reaction that it causes you to get flustered.

He's almost like trying to catch you out of your own game

Small smirk placed on his face if you repeat it like he didn't hear you.

RE6:

His cock is already twitching

You have those big fake innocent doe eyes as you say it as well

He's stiffling a groan as he tries to think of a logical response

Whatever you wanted from him. It worked.

Vendetta:

After you say he smirks at you

Seeing how desperate you are that you resulted into that

Definitely stirs some type of roleplay dream in him

He's not thought about the fact he was almost an officer in a long time

A welcome distraction at least, specially as his cock grows heavy as he keeps thinking about the tone you used

Death Island:

He's smirking and carrying you to the bedroom

"If that's the case you can prove it to me"

If you are wearing a little skirt hes making you keep it on

Just for distracting him and causing his cock to thicken you are going to have beg and prove your innocence

He has the best punishment lined up to ensure that you will.

[shysuccubusstuff]

virgin! choso pt. 1?:

Content: SFW + NSFW; sub turned into dom! choso + facefucking + dacryphilia + mean dom! choso + Exhibitionism + degrading kink + teaser! reader + female reader, although I would say the NSFW part is rather gender neutral + non proof-reader, sorry if there are any mistakes.

Summary: Choso is one of your classmates, he has always been in the background, keeping himself in the corner of the classroom while the rest spoke. So when the two of you get paired up for a group project, you are already worrying about it, but maybe this is the perfect oportunity for the two of you to get to meet each other?

Word count: 1021 + 941.

Note: I read this one fanfic a few days ago and it was just so good I just had to create my own, huge thanks to the creator @/hellokityish for the amazing work + @/_satanISA on Twitter for the amazing fanart that inspired the prompt. Let me know if you want it to become kind of a series

Virgin! Choso who is the one who approaches first. He is wearing his usual dark clothing, his hair tied on two messy buns, his pale skin making his eyebags stand out. He stands before you, books on his hands, you were waiting for him to speak, but after over one minute with the two of you in silence, you finally decide to speak first.

"Hey, so, we are together for the group project, right?" He looks at you, silently nodding as he moves a few strands of his hair ot of the way. "We can meet up in my house if you want--."

"I gotta stay at home, I gotta take care of my younger brother, would you be ok with coming over yourself?" His face is slightly flushed, hands fidgety as he avoids your gaze.

"Sure! No problem, let's exchange phone numbers so we set a time." He nods, taking out his phone and then sending a message to check if the phone number had been added correctly. "Great! Let's meet up this Saturday then."

Virgin! Choso who turns out to be quite the catch. In contrast with what one might think at first, he's an absolute sweetheart, always walking closest to the street when you walk together. Not only that, but he always holds the door for you, buying you small treats each time you meet up.

Virgin! Choso who starts to make you nervous. At first, you try to hide it, after all, it was probably because you didn't have that much experience having male best friends... right? This small attraction becomes even more difficult to ignore the moment Choso gets truly comfortable with you. He becomes more shameless, making small little remarks, his hands always close to you, if they aren't petting you, he is touching your cheeks, smiling at you when he sees you stuffing your face with the food at the cafeteria.

Virgin! Choso who invites you many times to his home. It was fine at first, I mean, you got to play to all his games and to eat tasty snacks he baked, how could you refuse it? That is, of course, until you see him one day with his younger brother. You find Choso, his back turned against you, it seems he hasn't noticed you yet, as he keeps playing with his brother, his smile completely blissed as he touched his soft cheeks while playing peek-a-boo. It might just be your vision acting up, but he is looking even more attractive than ever, his biceps flexed as he lifts his dear brother to entertain him, smile as brigth as the Sun as he keeps playing with him... You get the picture, right?

Virgin! Choso who keeps acting clueless even despite you try to make him realise your feelings. This complex plan comes all crashing down the moment he rests his head against your shoulder, his eyes closed as the Sun hits the two of you. The room is completely empty as you work on the essay late in the afternoon.

"I'm so tired... The Sun is making me want to sleep..." He snuggled against you, his nose rubbing against the fabric of your clothing. "You smell so nice, did you get all pretty for a date or something?" He teased, although his expression wasn't really that amused.

"Nah, they must be running away because they think you're my boyfriend or something."

"I'm sure you're way prettier and kinder than them anyways, no need to hangout with jerks when you have me right here with you." He stopped his movement, his eyes fixated on you as you turned to look at him. "What? I just said the truth, you're far too good for any of those dudes in the course, so there's no need for you to meet anyone, right?"

"Or what? Maybe I'm just meeting them while you're away--"

"No way, I'm always with you. Hope you're not doing something like that, I'm like, your closest friend if not the closest."

"Are you jealous? Don't worry, I will definitely make some time for you, don't be~" You teased him, but it seemed that his expression only got darker.

"Hey, don't joke about that."

"Oh, are you mad? So what if I got a special someone? Not like you really care, right?"

"What if I do care? Maybe I just want you to be only with me." As soon as Choso said those words, both of you remained completely silent, the heat rising towards your faces as the silence became heavier.

"...Does that mean we're like, a thing or something?" Your words came out as a mere whisper, just barely enough for Choso to hear.

"I... I suppose, just if you want, of course." He got away from you, his face completely red as he looked to the other side. "Not like I want to pressure you or anything. Before he was even able to completely finish your sentence, you rushed to him, your lips finally kissing his. He struggled at first, too stunned to even respond, but soon after he was finally able to respond to it, his lips clumsily corresponding yours, soon having to separate due to the lack of air. "That's a yes... right?"

Virgin! Choso who begins to struggle with seeing you face to face, eyes drifting each time you try to make eye contact with him during classes. Not only that, but he even becomes much shier when it comes to physical touch, avoiding it as if you were made of the finest porcelain.

Virgin! Choso who starts to get bolder as time goes by, his hands wandering arond your body even despite being in public. At first these were just small touches, his hands running your arms up and down, caressing you with great care. But then it turned into something else, his hands began to move lower, first it was around your waist, squeezing it as you kept talking to your other friend. Of course, this silly "game" of yours became a thing since your third date, when you decided to go to the cinema together.

The date started as normal, he bought the popcorn and you both seated as the movie started. As soon as the lights were turned off, your little teasing game began.

At the beginning, it was just you and him eating popcorn, sometimes laughing from what happened in the movie, while other times Choso got a bit bolder, moving his face towards you and leaving a cast kiss on your lips. It was then that your hand started to drift towards his body, what began with just brief contact on his arm, moved further, your hand now drifting to his chest, touching it over his oversized sweatshirt, then it moved under it, touching his bare skin and tracing his slightly toned body. Despite the bold move, Choso stood there in complete silent, his face turning as red as a tomato while he kept watching the film, he got closer, whispering into your ear:

"Hey, that's not... You shouldn't do that, we're in public, you know?" Ignoring what he said, you kept moving your hand, now even further down, and while you acted as if you were searching for the popcorn, sometimes passing your hands just close enough to his bulge, teasing him as he tried his best to stay focused on watching the film, his grip tightening around the fabric of his pants. Just as he turned around to call you out, he was interrupted by your hand grabbing his bulge, it was no longer subtle, of course not. Your hand was grabbing it, well, more like massaging it over the fabric, Choso chocked on the popcorn, then had to cough as he almost chocked again because of the drink. "That's... That's not the popcorn." He put his hand over yours, making sure you were unable to move even an inch more. "Fuck... You know we're in public, right? I thought you were shy but now I know I was completely mistaken." You acted as if he didn't speak, your hand still touching it while your other hand started to make its way towards his face.

"Come on, darling... It's not like the film is good, plus, there's barely anyone here, please~? Just a little bit..." His gaze pierced into yours, face completely flushed as he started to look around.

"Just a bit... but don't think about anything weird, ok?" He moved his hand away, allowing you to carefully unzip his jeans. "Hey! That's... that's not what you said... Fuck, we're going to be found..." Despite his complaints, he did nothing to stop you, simply covering his mouth with his hand. "I swear to... No more than this, I'm warning you." Once again, you ignored his warnings, taking out his cock and kneeling to the cushioned floor in the room. "Don't you dare...-- Fuck..." His words were cut short as soon as you started to trace the tip of his cock with your tongue, letting your saliva run down his shaft, then inserting it little by little into your mouth. "I should... I should have known you wouldn't even care about what I said, if that's what you want, fine by me." He took your head between his hands, abruptly forcing his cock inside you, the tip hitting the back of your throat and making you gag on it. "This is what you get for fucking messing with me, you thinkthat just because I'm less extroverted you can order me around? Know your fucking place." Without delay, his hips started to move, pistoning against your poor mouth, the saliva running down your chin as he kept forcing his cock inside your oral cavity. "I fucking dare you to keep on testing me, bet you love the possibility of anyone finding us right now, seeing you on your knees in the middle of the film sucking my cock like a good little pet." Choso's voice kept resonating inside your head, the slight praise melting your brain bit by bit as his velvety voice kept whispering those foul words.

You opened your mouth wider, letting him mess you up as much as he wanted as he kept pushing your head against his groin, your eyes rolling back as you started to touch yourself over your clothes. "Now you're not even trying to fight against it, oh... someone is getting closer, you think you can keep still for a moment?" Before he allowed you to answer, he was already forcing his whole length inside you, his dick twitching as hot ropes of cum filled your whole mouth.

Choso steadied his hands on your head, petting your hair as you swallowed his essence, at the same time, the person was making his way to the exit. Just as they were about to leave, they turned around, almost as if they were looking for something in the same seating line you both were. Just as you were about to gag on it Choso pulled you by the hair softly, letting you breath as the tears kept falling from your eyes. Then, he wrapped his arms around you, helping you get up and wipping your tears. He then kissed your forehead, peppering a few kisses all over your face, finally cleaning a few strands of saliva that were still in your chin. "Are you ok? Sorry for being so rough, I just... I got a bit angry because I was afraid of them kicking us out and people finding out why. I promise I will make it up to you as soon as we get home, baby." Just then, the film finished, the people leaving the room in complete silence as you two tried to catch your breath.

[cwritesforfun]

Hi!!

So, I'm so desperate for a Emma D'arcy x Fem Reader fic!!

Pleeeasee

Ok here you go: hope you enjoy!!!

Emma D'Arcy x Fem!Reader: Co-Workers or Something More? (Request)

Y/N = Your Name using She/Her/Hers pronouns Emma's pronouns are They/Them ** I do not own any House of Dragon plot points briefly mentioned

Y/N's POV

Getting the role of Alicent on House of Dragon was nerve-wracking. You were a huge fan of Game of Thrones and even read all the released books. You've been working for years towards getting a role in any TV show or movie. You have been in some indie films and when you got the call to be Alicent, you thought you were dreaming. It was amazing. It was probably one of your favorite days to ever exist.

At the table read for the first season, you were pouring a cup of coffee for yourself when you heard, "So you're playing Alicent?" You turn and see someone beautiful staring at you. You felt lost in their soft blue eyes for years if you could. You instead say, "Yes I am, my name is Y/N. Nice to meet you, what's your name?" The person standing opposite you says, "It's lovely to meet you, Y/N. Y/N is such a beautiful name. I'm Emma D'Arcy and I'm playing Rhaenyra." You reply, "Emma is a beautiful name for a beautiful person. Rhaenyra is a Targaryen, so I am jealous." Emma lets out a laugh and says, "I'm flattered. Say, do you want to grab a bite to eat after this?" You nod and answer, "Sounds great." You both take your seats next to each other, and the table read begins. It lasts several hours.

Afterward, you and Emma make your way out to a restaurant that claims to have great cocktails. You arrive, get seated in a booth, and both order drinks. Emma orders a Negroni Sbagliato with prosecco in it and you order a Gin Martini with a twist. (If you know, you know.)

The night carries on with you two discussing your career, your lack of a love life, and dragons. It's a great night with even better company.

The next 10 months as you film season 1, you become close with the cast, especially Emma. You both hang out outside of filming time and you really like Emma. You find yourself dreaming of Emma some nights and you can barely meet their eyes. It's so embarrassing to have a crush, especially on a coworker. Emma also flirts when they get drunk and it's always directed to you. You don't know if they're just drunk or actually like you.

Season One finishes filming and the whole cast is at an open bar. You're sitting sipping your second gin martini and you are starting to feel tipsy. You hear, "Is this seat taken?" You see Emma standing there in all their glory and you shake your head. Emma sits next to you, leans back, and puts an arm around the back of your seat. Should you lean back... or what...? You lean back and Emma's hand finds your shoulder. Emma exclaims, "I was wondering if you were going to move closer." You reply, "Sorry, what was that? I keep getting lost in your eyes, what too cheesy?" Emma laughs and asks, "Is that why you've been avoiding me on set?" You shrug and answer, "Yes, you exist in my daily life and in my dreams. It's hard to look at you after I dream about you." Emma raises an eyebrow, places their other hand on your thigh, smirks, and asks, "And what are we doing in those dreams, may I ask?" You place one of your hands on Emma's hand on your thigh and answer, "Oh you know hot stuff." Emma smiles and asks, "Wanna get out of here?" You nod.

You both leave the party together and head to Emma's place.

When you get there, Emma complains about being hungry so you agree to cook with them. You both cook pasta, listen to music, and dance together. You both eat dinner so fast while laughing whenever you make eye contact.

You both walk to the couch and Emma asks, "Just a question, but when you said hot stuff in your dream with me, does that mean you have a crush on me?" You answer, "It's so embarrassing being a 30-year-old with a crush, but yes I do like you like that." Emma says, "I think the only embarrassing thing would be if I didn't feel the same way... I like you too. I really like you. I want to kiss you, but I know we're both really tipsy." You reply, "We can still kiss tipsy. I give my consent." Emma smirks and replies, "I think if we kiss, I won't be able to stop." You smirk and ask, "OK then what should we do?" Emma answers, "We could just watch a show or sleep."

You both watch a part of a movie until you both start falling asleep and waking each other up. You go to the bedroom to sleep and you wear one of Emma's shirts to bed. Emma is the big spoon and cuddles you as you drift off to sleep.

You wake up cozy and with a raging headache. You groan and twist a little. You hear Emma groan next to you and they say, "Morning. Is it just me or did those drinks really break your head?" You say, "I'm in pain. Yeah... but I liked waking up next to you." Emma replies, "I liked waking up to you too. You're a good cuddle buddy."

You both get up, you borrow clothes from Emma, and you go out to eat breakfast. You eat breakfast sandwiches and start to feel like a human. You go back to Emma's place, get back into pajamas, and turn on the TV to watch something.

Emma exclaims, "Let's kiss." You smile and say, "OK." Emma cups your face gently and you kiss. It's even better than in your dreams when you kiss them.

Part Two

[luveline]

Wait! Hotch x stripper!reader was so good. I want more of their potential relationship!!

"I want a private dance." 

You look up from your seat at the bar in surprise. Yes, you're in lingerie, and yes, you're in a strip club, but the patrons here usually leave you alone at the bar after a few dances. 

"I'm not doing private dances tonight, honey," you say, sipping at your drink, condensation wetting your hands, "sorry." 

"Are you kidding?" 

You wipe a droplet off of your naked thigh. You should've gone into the dressing rooms and changed, but you'd been dancing for a long time without a break, and craved a little drink to numb your headache. "Not kidding. Sorry," you say again, though apologising makes you feel sick. It's not your fault, you're allowed to say no to private dances, but you've learned that saying sorry helps minimise their anger. 

"That's what you're here for." 

"No," you say, looking away from him. "'M just a dancer. Private dances are done at my discretion." 

"You could at least look at me when I'm talking to you," he says sharply. "Don't be a bitch, sweetheart." 

"That's enough." 

You look up, then, at a familiar voice cutting in. Agent Hotchner stands tall, dark and handsome where he stands behind your disgruntled patron. "Talk to her with respect or don't talk," Agent Hotchner continues. 

"Who are you?" the patron asks. 

He doesn't even need his badge. Hotchner just looks at him, waiting. It's impressive how stony one man can look, how much authority he can carry in little but his stance.

The patron throws you a disgusted look and leaves the way he came. You breathe a sigh of relief, though you're pissed too. You explained yourself twice and it didn't matter, but Agent Hotchner's scolding was enough to send him running. 

"Thank you," you say. 

He shakes his head at you. "You shouldn't have needed my intervention in the first place." 

Your chest hurts with a weird queasy shame. "I know, I should've– I mean, what did I think was gonna happen, sitting here." You laugh awkwardly. 

His frown deepens. "That's not what I meant… I'm sorry." 

"What are you sorry for?" you ask, turning back to your drink. You scratch at the salt along the rim. 

"That it happens, Y/N. That you have to deal with it." 

"Thanks, Agent Hotchner," you say. 

"You can call me Aaron, if you're comfortable."  

He'd said the same a few weeks ago. You'd shown up at the BAU to meet Spencer (who'd been indisposed of, playing an intense game of chess against himself) and he offered you a ride home. He insisted you call Spencer first. He did everything he could to make you feel safe, which is more than most. 

"Aaron," you say, tucking your hands between your thighs. What would his colleagues think of him, here, standing opposite of you and your lingerie? Your chest craned forward ever so slightly, the softness of your stomach and your bruised legs? "I don't know why you're here." 

"I have some questions for you." 

"Am I in trouble?" you ask. 

He gives you a look. You imagine it to be something similar to, No, but I might be. It's a nice fantasy. "No. You were a great help with Lawley. I was hoping we could use your expertise again." 

"Is this going to get dangerous for me?" you ask, tilting your head gently to one side. "Snitching?" 

"I'd never let anything happen to you. And if you were to keep talking to the FBI, we could even facilitate compensation." 

"I sell enough of myself." 

He holds your gaze. "I understand. But I'd really appreciate your help with this." 

"Okay." You slip out of your chair. "Can I get dressed, first, or…" 

"Of course. Take your time." He doesn't gawk at you, doesn't stare, only meets you head on with that familiar furrowed brow. "Does it happen often?" 

You let yourself picture him as neither a customer nor an agent with work to do. For a moment, he's a handsome man, striking heartfelt conversation. "All the time." 

You change into your clothes and meet him again at the bar, where he asks you questions about a patron and you answer to the best of your ability. Before he leaves, he gives you his card. "If you need me," is all he says as he goes. You put the number in your phone and tuck the card into your dressing table, wondering what definition of need fits the bill. 

[theoutcastrogue]

That said, the D&D 3.5 Paladin was bad. It was badly designed, it had bad rules, and in conjunction with the other notoriously bad rule, alignment, it could cause havoc.

Now personally, I never had ANY problems with it in my tabletop games. I played paladins and loved it, and I loved it when other people played paladins, and it was great. But that's because, collectively as a group, we took ONE look at that terrible rule where the paladin's code of conduct prevents them from associating with Evil characters or "someone who consistently offends her moral code", and immediately went, "that's stupid, we ain't doing that, it would ruin the game".

We also didn't love the concept of alignment as a cosmic force, and didn't care for Usually Evil Goblins and Always Evil anything. And when a class's signature ability fully depends on whether creatures are capital E Evil, well that affects storytelling, doesn't it? But we all saw it the same way, and we were happily able to change it without any disagreements. In the end we had a Paladin… similar to 5e now that I think of it: completely ignore the Code's association clause, tailor the Code to personal stance or a specific Order, Detect only fiends and undead and the like, Smite anything you want, Fall only if you really fuck up, and never presume that just because you haven't Fallen yet everything you've ever done is justified and correct and anyone who disagrees with you is objectively wrong.

Basically, there were 2 options in 3.5. You either houseruled and/or handwaved things, and in matters of alignment interpretations erred on the side of "what makes the game go",

OR, you played with Rules As Written, and filled the forums with questions like "should the paladin fall?" (one such thread per week, conservatively), "we got into a fight over the Paladin, what to do?", "is it Evil to pick pockets? because we have a Paladin in the party", "the Assassin uses poison, shouldn't that offend my moral code?", and shit like that. Just... pointless strife, all the time. Again, never happened to me, but I was appalled to read about it, over and over and over.

People got intense with 3.5 Paladins (both pro and against) because it was BADLY DESIGNED and had BAD RULES. Its mechanics forced narrative choices on the entire table, and the only way to make it frictionless was having a party where no one wishes to explore a character's bad side ever, no one does things that aren't bad but WotC branded Evil™ in this or that splatbook, and everyone magically agrees all the time on "what is right and what is wrong" and "what is Lawful and what is Chaotic", which is simply impossible. The most subjective thing in the world (ethics!) was presented as an objective cosmic force, and how you interpreted it would determine how much damage the Paladin deals in combat, and whether the Paladin could keep associating with the party, and if the Paladin is still a Paladin. And all that in a game, let's not forget, whose basic, fundamental premise is "kill things and take their stuff". I'm sorry, this is tremendously stupid. It's the WORST design.

I know that for some people it worked as written, and good for them, but for the many many people it didn't work, well it's obvious why.

[sp0o0kylights]

Adopt a Jock Part One / Previous Part / Part 10.1 (you are here)

A03

Chapter 10 is complete and will be fully uploaded to A03 this weekend when I can get around holiday shenanigans. It's very long so tumblr gets it in parts. I'm sure I could make a Thanksgiving food pun there if I tried hard enough but alas I am not Steve nor Dustin.

Apparently, if you stumbled into supernatural shit, you were rewarded with a mountain of legal paperwork so absurdly thick that Gareth was almost positive it included a government-approved execution clause for anyone reckless enough to speak about things better left unsaid

So, here they were: barely a week past the lab incident, eating lunch, keeping their heads down, like their entire world hadn’t been turned upside down.

(He couldn’t even appreciate the pun.)

“She keeps looking over here.” Tiff’s pen tapped out a furious rhythm, her gaze fixed on one Nancy Wheeler, “And she’s been following us.”

“Well according to Steve she knows about--you know.” Gareth said, keeping things vague in hopes it would prevent any visits from men in black suits.

“I’m sure she just wants to talk.” Jeff said with a note of sympathy.

The fucking traitor.

“I’m sure we’re not allowed to talk.” Stewart muttered darkly, pushing his peas around his lunch tray with a fork.

“Only with people who don’t already know.” Grant tried to argue, and that rapidly dissolved into an argument regarding NDA’s and tricky legal language that Gareth tuned out in favor of his new found hobby--doing his level best not to think about anything beyond his lunch and what new D&D character he wanted to play.

His last one died in the prior game, and though Eddie had--weirdly and entirely out of character--offered to revive it, Gareth had waived him off.

They needed some normalcy right now, and if that came at the cost of Gareth’s beloved druid meeting her maker, then so be it.

Plus a new character was a great distraction.

(He was set on playing a noble elf known as ‘Gregg from Accounting’, but a second dwarf named Iron the Chef had been tempting…)

“She’s coming!” Tiffany hissed, slamming her pen down.

Mourning the loss of an easy, drama free lunch, Gareth sighed and prepared himself.

“Hi.” Nancy said, announcing her presence with quiet determination, books stacked in her arms and chin raised defiantly.

No one said a word back.

“Jonathan let me know what happened, and I wanted to say that I’m sorry you got pulled into all of this.” She paused, clearly thinking her words over, before adding; “Steve, Jonathan, and I used to practice.”

Nancy stopped again, this time blatantly waiting for one of them to say something.

She got more stares in return.

“Given that things sound a little open ended, and that there were injuries, I thought it might be good to start up again. Steve suggested if we do, you all should come too.” She finished, bulldozing right through her own awkwardness.

“Practice what?” Grant asked, confused and trying to cover it with suspicion.

“Defensive measures.” Nancy answered.

Seeing their unchanged blank stares, she gathered her books in one arm, formed a finger gun with her free hand, and mimed shooting in such a deadpan manner that Gareth almost burst into disbelieving laughter.

While he was haunted by visions of Nancy Wheeler holding a gun, Tiff loudly picked her pen back up, making enough noise that all eyes went to her.

“You beat my score on Mrs. Click’s practice test by two points.”

“Uh--yes?” Nancy said, blinking at her.

Tiff's eyes narrowed. “I’m kicking your ass on the final.”

Another dumbfounded blink.

“Okay?”

“Tiff’s coping, as are we--no…defensive measures necessary.” Jeff said, in a desperate bid to soothe things over, “We appreciate the offer.”

She nodded, seemingly placated by his response. “Actually, where is Steve? I wanted to talk to him too.” Nancy asked, changing topics with ease. “I haven’t seen him all day.”

“Ah-ha.” Tiff muttered under her breath, as if catching out what Nancy really wanted.

Stewart kicked her ankle.

“He’s with Eddie.” Grant said, covering the sound of their resulting scuffle.

“He’s been spending a lot of time with Eddie lately.” Nancy noted, in that same neutral tone the Feds spoke in. All fake nice without giving a single thing away.

It was a little terrifying.

“We all spend a lot of time with each other.” Tiffany shot back, hackles very much raised and not bothering to hide it. “We’re friends. That’s what friends do.”

“Man, we are vicious today!”

“She’s really sore about that grade.” Stewart covered, offering a sympathetic pat to Tiffany’s shoulder (who looked an awful lot like she was going to bite his hand for it).

Did Nancy Wheeler even know about the weird academic rivalry Tiff had with her? Gareth took one look at Tiff’s gritted teeth, and thought better of it.

“I wouldn't be if I was able to properly finish that essay,” Tiff motioned to the now hopelessly crumpled paper underneath her pen, “ instead of rushing it because I had to pull someone out of a lab--”

“Nancy’s right.” Jeff cut in, in another desperate attempt to distract them all from eating each other. “I haven't seen much of Steve or Eddie today.”

He turned expectantly to his right. “Gary?”

Gareth frowned back at him.

“Why would I know where they are?”

“Oh,” Stewart said, far too innocently. “You haven’t realized you’re their assigned zookeeper?”

Wadding up his napkin was second nature. So was launching it at his friend's head, who expertly (and unfortunately) dodged.

“So you’re saying you don’t know?” Grant asked, a smile creeping across his face.

Gareth opened his jacket, fishing around for a moment as if he was searching for something, before pulling his hand back to show off his extended middle finger.

Pity he actually had the answer.

“They’re in the drama room. Steve sweettalked Mr. Barns into letting them set up early for Hellfire’s game.” He grumbled, ruining the entire effect.

“See?” Stewart said smugly.

With deliberate slowness, Gareth raised up his other middle finger before waving them both in a circle.

“Fuck you, fuck you--”

“Not in your lifetime.” Tiffany answered, to multiple chortles.

“Don’t bother them, Wheeler.” Gareth continued, ignoring the assholes he called friends to turn back to Nancy. “They’re setting up for the Hellfire’s last game of the year and Ed’s is a little…obsessive about it.”

As in he was known to be a complete and utter terror in the days leading up to his grand finales but Gareth wasn’t telling her that.

These games were a big deal for Hellfire as a whole. Precious things they looked forward to and the finale game was something they often worked several months, if not a solid year, to reach.

This year's game had more riding on it than any one prior. Hellfire’s shared sanity, for example, and a shining piece of normality they all found themselves desperately needing.

(Plus the problem of Eddie flunking again--and not telling anyone.

See--Eddie had been touchy the first time he hadn’t graduated and even with the appearance of monsters and government lackeys, Gareth expected this year to be even worse--but the Steve of it all added a rather explosive emotional element.

“You still have most of Hellfire.” Gareth had pointed out, when he’d hitched a ride home a few days prior and found the paper declaring Eddie’s super senior year a lost cause. “You know you’ll still have them after they graduate too, right?”

“Because they’re going to be looking forward to their old pal Eddie while in college, sure.” Had been the clipped response.

“They will.” Gareth said, with a level of assurance he hoped Eddie could feel. “And if that’s the concern, then you’ll definitely still have Steve.”

Who hadn’t gotten into college, and openly admitted to refusing to try now that monsters were back.

“I guess.” Eddie had said, looking like a deflated party balloon.

In typical Munson fashion, he seemed to realize he was giving away more “real feelings” than he’d intended too, and changed the subject with an energy that Gareth knew was fake.

He hadn’t called him out on it though, and equally, he had not called out the mania Eddie had slowly been succumbing to since that fateful day. He’d get over it--Gareth knew he’d get over it--if they could just make it past the point where Eddie’s own brain informed him the world was ending to prove it.)

All of them deserved a break, and a place to put aside all the stupid shit and simply have a good time, and heading off Steve’s nosey ex-girlfriend before she could cause problems would go a long way to help.

“I’m sure they can spare two minutes.” Nancy was saying, mid creation of the exact problem Gareth was hoping to avoid.

“No--uh,” He flailed about for a reason she couldn’t, and the longer she frowned at him the more his brain simply vanished all forms of higher thought. “Don’t?”

Nancy’s expression soured, mouth twisting in a line Gareth very much did not like. “I’m sure they--”

“Tell us what other things you practice. Besides, you know. The pews.” He interrupted frantically.

Under the table his foot struck out, and though he had no idea who he’d struck he hoped whoever it was understood what exactly he was trying to do.

“The pews?” Nancy echoed, after a painfully long moment.

“You know? Pews!” Gareth mimed a gun, and then made “pew” noises while firing it.

Besides him, Jeff gave a very Harrington-like sigh.

(He’d been doing that a lot lately, Gareth made a mental note to mock him for it.)

“You cannot tell me you guys only practice with guns.” Tiffany huffed. She had not been the kicked party, but thankfully, hadn’t needed the nudge to catch on. “What happens if you run out of bullets?”

Nancy gave her an odd, almost calculating look.

“We use whatever else we have on hand.” She said flatly.

Which just boded so fucking well for the rest of this conversation (and Gareth’s life, given he was uncomfortably aware of the things that went bump in the night.)

“Well, give us an example.” Tiff continued, and given the now increasingly concerned looks that the rest of Hellfire was darting between her and Nancy, Gareth knew the rest of his idiots hadn’t caught on.

On a piece of paper he scrawled--and the underlined twice, for good measure;

‘Go. Find. Byers!’

--and then chucked it at Grant’s head. Who thankfully opened it, even if he made a face while doing so, before proceeding to pass the note around as Tiff and Nancy traded increasingly pointed words about weapons training.

“When you’re in a situation, you use whatever you have on hand. I would assume you knew this, given what I heard happened the other day.”

“Yes, but wouldn’t it make more sense to train and carry with backup weapons rather than just hoping you find something on the way? What if the--what if we’d been in the woods?”

Gareth watched the note travel from person to person, until it was dropped back in front of him.

‘You go find him.’ Someone had scrawled, followed by multitudes of doodles, two of which featured army-hat wearing dicks driving tanks.

Then and there, he decided that perhaps his friends truly did deserve death should a similar situation arise in the future.

Useless. They were all useless.

“You’re welcome to make a suggestion, Tiffany.”

“I will. I’ll make a list even.”

“Good.” Nancy smiled, with all her teeth.

“Fine.” Tiff returned, looking half feral.

Was this some type of weird mating ritual between academic types? God, they were scary.

‘Well, that definitely won’t come back to bite us in the ass.’ Gareth thought wryly as Nancy stormed off in the opposite direction of the drama room, tapping the note against the table. He glanced at the rest of the group, who appeared to be attempting to tempt Tiff out of her snit by way of asking her what dramatic bullshit she thought Eddie would be pulling in the finale.

If nothing else, he decided, they’d prevented ruining Eddie’s day--and possibly, their entire night.

Nothing, save more fucking monsters or equally evil government lackeys could manage that.

(Pity that Gareth had forgotten the third most powerful force on the planet when it came to wrecking plans.

Middle schoolers.)

xXx

The day had dragged but they'd made it, and Eddie in turn, had made that wait worth their while.

The lights in the drama room were low.

The entire table had been set up with such care and drama that Gareth almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Goblets lined both sides, each filled with a dark red liquid Gareth knew damn well could not be wine.

Candles--real ones, had been lit, casting shadows across Eddie’s face as he lounged in his throne, a master in their element.

A castle, meticulously crafted out of wooden sticks and painted a dark, forbidding gray towered in front of Eddie down at the end, with the layout of the insides crawling down the table atop carefully gridded paper.

Monstrous figurines stood in a row off to the side, like little soldiers, planted right in front of a plain, if not comically large, cardboard box.

It was elaborate, meticulous, and half the items had clearly been stolen from Steve’s house, if not outright decorated by the man’s own hand.

“Welcome, my friends.” Eddie purred, breaking the spell that had fallen over Hellfire.

“Oh my God.” Grant breathed, jostling Gareth’s shoulder as he pushed inside.

“Dude, you outdid yourself!” Stewart added, voice awed as he took it all in.

“He had help.” Steve confirmed, materializing at Eddie’s shoulder. He leaned forward, adjusting something in front of Eddie, ignoring the immediate angry swat and hissed warnings about “ruining the moment, Steven!”

“Glad to see you putting your mom’s party planning skills to good use.” Jeff teased, but no one missed the way he ran a hand down the table, staring giddily at the spread.

Steve gave him a shrug, but even in the dim light Gareth could see how pleased he looked.

It was magical, and Gareth felt something come alive in his chest that he’d privately thought the manticore had killed.

A childish sort of excitement, bubbling up as he realized he was about to have a damn fine time.

This, of course, is when the actual children came in.

“I made a timeline.” Dustin announced, shouldering his way in between Jeff and Grant to slam down a massive piece of paper.

“Oh my God where did you come from!?” Stewart yelped, started as more and more children suddenly swarmed Hellfire’s table.

“The middle school is literally next door. We walked.” Max rolled her eyes as she took a seat next to Tiffany. “What idiot let you guys light candles in here?”

El fell in right next to her, stealing what was clearly intended to be Grant’s chair.

Who looked like he’s about to say something about it until he caught sight of her delighted face.

Gareth would have laughed at the obvious way Grant’s shoulders slumped as he accepted his fate, if his own chair hadn’t just been usurped by Michael Wheeler.

“A timeline?” Steve asked, before Eddie could surge to his feet and kick the brats out.

(They all watched him jerk anyway, like he’d intended to do just that and barely caught himself.)

“Uh, everything?” Dustin scoffed, waving a beat up folder in the air. “We took it all the way back to when we first met El.”

Next to him, Lucas had stepped up to the table, running a hand down it in much the same way Jeff had. “We decided it might help us figure out where the manticore came from.” He said absently.

A riot of emotion exploded over Steve’s face, made all the funnier by the fact that it was entirely at odds with the setup he’d so lovingly created.

“I’m sorry, did we not hear the Chief of Police? He’s investigating this, our involvement is over.” Steve made a slashing motion with his hand, as if that would hold them all off.

(Gareth, who once watched all of these children fight each other over an arcade score for three consecutive days, knew it was a lost cause.)

Dustin made yet another scoffing sound in return.

Given how often he seemed to make them, Gareth wondered if he had problems with a sore throat.

“I thought we all widely agreed Hop’s investigation skills are terrible.”

“Hello?” Stewart said irritably. “We were about to get started?”

Eddie swung himself into a sitting position and made like he was going to stand up, likely to pounce on the opening Stewart had just given.

Pity Steve once again, beat him there.

“Yes, but he’s not investigating, is he? We,” Hellfire’s jock made another motion, this one a circular twirl of the hand. Gareth was starting to wonder if the gestures are directly linked to his stress level. “already did that part. He can now do the part he’s good at, which is fixing it.”

“He’s not good at fixing it, look at what happened with the demodogs!”

It was at this moment Gareth made his fatal mistake. In hindsight, he should have known better than to ask out loud,

“Okay, can someone please explain what the hell’s a demodog?”

Several protests, groans, and pencils are flung his way for it.

(“Do you know how often that word has been thrown around!?” He’d defend much, much later. “You guys keep saying it but not what they are!”

“If you stopped eavesdropping all the time maybe you wouldn’t be wondering about such things.” Eddie had responded snidely.

“It’s not my fault you keep talking about this shit when I’m right there you asshat--”)

“What, you didn’t think there were actually feral dogs in Hawkins did you?” One of the kids asks incredulously, like he can’t possibly believe anyone is so stupid as to buy into it.

“They were like the manticore, but small and more, well, doggish.” Dustin dismissed, this time with a Harrington flavored hand waive of his own. “Ask Steve, he was there.”

Gareth turned to do just that, D&D campaign be damned (He would not apologize for wanting to know what else might be out to kill them all even if the finale was technically on, sue him) to find Steve had slipped right into mother hen mode.

“No.” He spat, charging forward as he flapped his arms around, like the children are a flock of birds he can scare away. “You are not sucking anyone into this, and we are not getting involved! You heard Hop!”

Mike rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a coward, Steve.”

“I’m not a coward, I’m someone who doesn’t need another near death experience! There’s not a reward if you have five in a row, dickheads.”

Seething and not bothering to hide it, Eddie picked up the massive gold goblet in front of him and took an obnoxiously loud sip out of it.

“I’m also going to remind you that Henderson here,” Steve stopped behind Dustin to rattle his, “is going to camp in a few days? I believe the rest of you also have similar engagements.”

It was Mike’s turn to scoff.

“Lucas is only in summer school until 3 and camp doesn’t start for another two weeks. We have plenty of time!”

“It’s not summer school,” Lucas protested, eyes darting to Max and back as if she wasn’t aware the kid was a nerd. “It’s a creative writing program--”

“Yeah, well, the rest of us are busy.” Steve fired back. “So any theories you have, you can take and shove right up your ass.”

“Why is it always the ass with you Steve? Do you have an ass fixation?”

Gareth watched as Eddie immediately choked on the dyed Mountain Dew he had been chugging down, hacking so hard tears welled in his eyes.

Jeff shared a pained look with Gareth over the table as Grant pounded him on the back.

“I do not have an ass fixation, Henderson--”

“Okay.” Tiffany clapped her hands together, the sound ringing out throughout the drama room.

“Here’s the deal. Summer break is two days away. Steve is right--most of us here are working, if not preparing to go to college. No one needs to go snooping around where we aren’t wanted, and we definitely do not need anymore injuries. Kapeesh?”

Henderson immediately turned on her. “So we’re just gonna trust the guys who fucking started all this!?”

“Given they also have better ways of handling it, yes. We are. Hopper told them about Stewarts goo, they sent some suits in to kill the manticore, and thanks to El’s heads up we caught things ahead of time for once. Can’t we just enjoy that?” Steve was beyond worked up now, repeatedly running his hands through his hair, only to fix it, pick at it, and then repeat the process again. “For fucks sake Dustin, Eddie just stopped limping!”

“I don’t think it’s over.” Mike muttered angrily, pushing a finger against Tiffany’s water bottle.

She grabbed it before it toppled over, glaring at him.

“El, do you feel anything?” Steve spoke like he was invoking a god and not an undersocialized twelve year old.

“No.” She admitted, after a long almost uncomfortable pause. “I do not.”

Steve pointed at her victoriously. “There you go!”

“But--”

“No more buts!” Steve shrieked, before seemingly to realize he’d done so. He coughed, and then said; “I thought you dorks would be storming in here trying to get Eddie to DM for you, not harassing us about the Upside Down.”

“You guys are playing D&D?” Lucas asked, as if he hadn’t been salivating over the spread for the last five minutes.

“I really like your cleric.” Will said quietly to Jeff, having leaned over to look at his character sheet at some point during the argument.

“Will, aren’t you a Dungeon Boss?” Steve asked, to the horror of those around him. “Why don’t you go sit by Eddie, I’m sure you’d enjoy seeing how he does stuff.”

A wince rippled through the members of Hellfire.

There was simply no way Eddie Munson, a man known to be possessive at best, would ever allow any of them to even glance at his notebook, let alone his entire spread laid bare behind his screen.

Those were his secrets--the result of too many late nights and an easy contributor to his failing high school yet again--and this was the grand finale.

Steve sitting next to Eddie had been miraculous enough--and that was with Eddie actively demanding he sit there, in a vain attempt to drag Steve out of his issues.

Fearing the worst, Gareth snuck a glance at their glorious--and notoriously ridiculous--leader.

Eddie sucked on his teeth, the noise painfully loud in the abrupt silence, eyes on Byers the Younger before they drifted back to Steve.

Who clearly had no idea he’d put his foot in it.

Tiff looked ready to break a pencil, eyes glaring a hole in Eddie’s head as if daring him to disappoint the group's golden retriever while Grant, Jeff and Stewart had all magically found something else to look at.

Gareth himself hunkered down, waiting to see how this would play out.

One more painful, pulsing second and then Eddie seemed to come to a decision, rolling out his hand and gesturing Will closer.

“Indeed Baby Byers,” He dropped into one of his many DM voices, something deep but alluring. “come closer and learn from the master of masters. Perhaps you’ll find something here to take back to your own campaigns. Something truly…terrible.”

He waggled his eyebrows at Dustin as Will’s Party groaned, though none of them put up much of a fuss once they saw the sheer smile that overtook Will’s face.

With the unique combination of embarrassment and pride, Will took his place next to Eddie.

Steve beamed in the corner, clearly pleased with himself and it was not lost on Gareth (or anyone else in the know) that Eddie preened only after sneaking an obvious look at Steve’s face.

“God he has it bad.” Stewart muttered, only to hiss when Jeff not so subtly jabbed him with a pen.

Gareth just shook his head, and gave Eddie a grin that said he would absolutely be getting shit for this later.

“Stevie, be a dear and fetch more chairs would you?” Eddie drawled, as he settled back into his throne, baby Byers happily checking out the items he had laid out behind his DM screen.

Which Gareth supposed was Steve’s punishment for inviting the kids along, but then, Eddie may as well have been bossing the jock around all day regardless given the look of the place.

(He’d certainly taken advantage of doing just that while his leg had been healing.)

That was their mess though, and Gareth happily put all thoughts of monsters, murder, men in black and every other awful M word aside to inside pull out his luckiest D20 die.

“Hellfire,” Eddie boomed as the all finally settled, “It's time to show the kiddies how it's done. Let’s roll!”

“And Dustin bitches at me for my puns.” Steve loudly complained as he came back into the room with chairs.

Eddie shushed him again.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Girl's Night Out; Weasley twins x reader

*Author's note*

Okay so another sweet little fanfic I decided to write up this weekend. Now the bond between the twins is more platonic than anything else so no romantic pairings here I'm afraid sorry not sorry. But anyways no warnings in here whatsoever just full on fluff all around and for any anime fans out there, look VERY carefully there's a hint to one of my fav. animes in this fic :) Enjoy my lovelies :)

Taglist:

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@waddles03

@queen-paladin

@plethora-of-things

@psychosupernatural

@remussl0vers

___________________________________________________

5th Year at Hogwarts is probably the most stressful time for any student.  You think they’d at least give you warning of what is to be expected of you but nope.  Every 5th year had to start prepping for the upcoming OWL’s come the Spring term and that would forever decide where we score into our upcoming careers in the Wizarding world.

And yes while I had been cramming and sending our approvals for my specific OWL’s exams, I also tried to make sure that I wasn’t going stir crazy over it.  Me and my friends.  At least once a month we’d all agree to take a ‘girl’s night’ to shut out the world and rant out our troubles.  However this month everyone seemed to be busy with something.

It was Divinations class when I jogged up to meet Angelina and said to her.

“Oi Ang, I had managed to sneak in that muggle game I had told you about, you wanna play it tonight?”

“Sorry (Y/n), Woods asked me to come meet him down by the Quidditch field after classes today. I might be in lines for becoming the next team Captain after he graduates.”

“Oh that’s great congrats!”

“Well don’t congratulate me yet. You know how he is, Quidditch is his whole life. Plus I’m not the only one he asked for.”

“Well I’m sending you my best regards, next to Woods, you’re the best player on the team.”

“Even more than the twins.”

“Especially better than the twins. Just don’t tell them I said that.”

“My lips are sealed. Well I better get a move onto Ancient runes next, maybe we can play the game next month?”

“Sure yeah absolutely. Mrs. Norris hasn’t found the game yet and I shall continue to keep it that way.” She gave me a brief nod before she went down the stairs faster just so that she could get to her next class before she’d be late.

Again I understand if one person can’t make it, we all have lives outside of hanging out with each other.  Plus Angie’s been eyeing the Team Captain position since the start of the year.  She’s been monitoring Wood’s tactics and has been listening a lot more on his calls if there’s ever a player down.  No matter I wish her all the luck (even though she doesn’t really need it).

I was now in the Great Hall when I saw Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet eating their lunch while also doing some homework.  I sat in front of them and greeted them.

“Hey Katie, Spinnet.”

“Hey (Y/n).” they both chorused.

“So over the summer I had discovered a fascinating new muggle product while I was staying with my aunt. Apparently there are these masks of thin sheets that go over your face and it says it helps exfoliate and rejuvenate the skin. And that’s not the best part, they’re also supposed to be scented too. I’ve got pomegranate, tea tree, honey and pumpkin. Which ones shall I put you ladies down for?” but they too looked at me solemnly.

“About that (Y/n) I unfortunately have to cancel staying in tonight. I got caught by Professor Snape passing letter between two Slytherin lovers. Them bastards wanted me to get caught so I’m stuck in detention.” Katie said while grumbling at some parts.

“Oh, that’s fine. I’m sorry that happened to you Katie.”

“It is what it is. That greasy git always seems to favor Slytherin students over anyone else. But if those can be saved for next time, I’d really like to try the pomegranate one.”

“Sure, yeah I can save them. What about you Alicia? Can you make it to the girls’ night?”

“I’m afraid I’m gonna have to skip this month’s get together too. I’m up for the Captain’s position on the Quidditch team.”

“So is Angie. Best watch yourself Spinnet, she’s been eyeing the Captain’s position for a while.”

“We may be teammates but it doesn’t mean I’m gonna go easy on her.”

“I doubt she’d want you to.” Replied Katie.

“Sorry (Y/n), maybe next month?” Alicia assured me unsurely.

“Yeah sure no worries.” I stood up and walked out of the Great Hall, my stomach starting to twist and churn a bit.  Okay so all my roommates can’t make it perhaps some of the other girls from the other houses can still make it.  After all I’m not just close friends with just the girls in my house.

But I was met with the same responses.  They were either too busy with school work, or had to serve detention or were too busy focusing on their OWL’s.  By the end of the day I was exhausted and feeling rather anxious.

The past few months I’ve been stressing about the OWL’s that I’ve actually bitten off more than I can chew so when it comes time to actually take the exams, I’ll probably be the only Gryffindor still working on the exam by nightfall.  Why did I apply and get accepted to so many of them?  Spending time with the girls of my year and having our GNO allowed me to just shut my brain off of worrying about the OWL’s for one night but now no one is able to come.

I sat alone in one of the many hallways on a bench feeling the weight of the OWL’s starting to really overcome me.  Tears of anxiety were burning in my eyes as I tried to keep them in while I tried to control my breathing as well as I could feel my chest starting to constrict.

“Well, well, well look at who we have here?” I softly gasped and wiped my tears away and plasted on my best fake smile.

“Weasleys.” I greeted.

“And what do you think you’re doing up here all by yourself?” asked Fred.

“Oh you know, just sitting here in an empty hallway just pondering the day away and longing for the weekend to start after a long weeks’ worth of school.” From the look on the twin’s faces I knew they weren’t buying my excuse.  They turned to look at each other with a knowing look before coming over and sat on either side of me.

“You wanna run that by us again?” asked George.

“It’s true, really I just….needed to get away from it all.” I don’t know why I’m even trying to continue to lie to them.

“That’s rubbish.” They chorused together.  Normally the twins never got serious but when they did, you just felt it in their tones.  They weren’t angry at my lie but I could tell they were concerned about me.  I mean after all we’ve been friends since the very first train ride to Hogwarts back in our first year.

“Come on out with it (L/n),” Fred said gently shoving my shoulder with his.

“What’s going on?” George finished as he leaned a bit closer to me.  I let out a deep sigh as I allowed my head to drop.

“It seems I’ll be spending another sleepless night in the library studying for the upcoming OWL’s.”

“Again? (Y/n) you still have plenty of time to study. Besides like you said, you’ve already been caught in the library by Filch twice this month. Luckily Professor McGonagall has been there to bail you out but I doubt she’ll allow it a third time.” Said Fred.

“Besides, ain’t tonight supposed to be your Girl’s night with Angelina and the others? You girls never skipped out on your time together since the start of the year.” George asked.

“Yeah that’s what I thought too.” I grumbled.  “I get that sometimes things have to be moved around or people cancel plans, but when its every single one of them……”

“So you’re the only one of our year whose going to be there?” George asked sympathetically.

“Might as well be a party of zero.” I let out another sigh and said solemnly, “Sorry guys but I just want to be alone right now.” I stood up and walked away from them.

Later that night I was the only girl in my dorm and I had books and papers scattered everywhere.  The silence was deafening and I was going stir-crazy, if I had to memorize another timeline or how long it takes to brew Polyjuice potion I might just explode.  I fell backwards on my bed, the sound of books slamming to the ground and parchments falling everywhere.

“Why couldn’t I have made a strict decision? Why do they expect me to know what I want to do with my life at the tender age of 15?” a knock was heard at the door.  I lifted my head, who could that be? Surely it wasn’t the girls they would’ve just walked in? The knocking came again and I stood up and walked towards the door.

I opened it up and saw no one.  I looked left then right but no one was there but then my ears perked at the sound of what sounded like crackling.  Soon enough flying right in front of my face was a small sparkler briefly whizzing much like the Golden snitch before it flew right past me with a whirl before exploding into a tiny but bright pink and orange firework.

Soon the sound of more sparklers came from behind me as they whizzed by me, while most started going off in the room lighting up the entire dorm in various colors and shapes, others danced around me while one in particular seemed to dance around my hands.  When I pulled my hands closer, it followed my hand and when I lifted my hand up, it flew upward before coming back down towards my other hand.

I giggled as I tossed the firework up into the air and then performed a bit of a dance with it before tossing it up again.  After a few times of playing with it, when I tossed it into the air it soon exploded and a message soon appeared in fireworks.

COMMON ROOM. NOW.

The fireworks soon faded and all was normal again except for the smell of gunpowder that now stunk up the room.  Oh Angie and Katie aren’t going to like that but I best not keep whoever sent those fireworks waiting.  I left my dorms and headed up to the Common room.

When I got there, there wasn’t anyone there.  Only the sound of the fireplace going and the occasional school ghost appearing before fading away.

“Hello?” I softly called out.  Suddenly I felt arms take hold of mine as I was lifted up off my feet.

“Target,”

“Acquired.”

“Hey wait what?!” I was then carried away up towards the boys dormitory.  “Fred, George what are you both doing?”

“You know how these stairs work,” Fred answered.

“Can’t risk us sliding all the way back down can we?” George finished.

“You guys seriously can’t carry me like this all the way up to your dorm room.” I said bluntly.

“You doubt our strength?” they both chorused offendedly.

“Besides it’s either this way or over the shoulder and I doubt you’d want that.” George said.

“Unless you really want to.” Teased Fred flirtatiously.

“Oh sod off Freddie.” I grumbled.  Finally we arrived at their dormitory level and yet I was continued to be dragged by my arms towards their room.  “You guys can let go now, I’m not going to run.”

“We know.” They both said together.

“It’s just fun carrying you this way.” Said George.

“If you pipe down.” Fred finished.

“Well it’s not very comfortable for me. My arms are starting to fall asleep.”

“Aww bless her.” Cooed George.

“Guys seriously put me down!” I couldn’t help but laugh as I squirmed but they kept a firm hold on me.  Finally we arrived at their dorm room.

“Now then (Y/n),” Fred started as they finally allowed my feet to touch the ground.

“Come and join us.” They both said together before opening up their dorm room and pushed me in first before entering right behind me shutting the door.  I turned towards them massaging my biceps trying to get the feeling back into them as I snapped at them.

“Okay what the bloody hell was all that about?” they shushed me before Fred spun me around and I took a good look at their dorm room.  I was in awe, fairy lights strung above each of their beds and all around the room, a nice pillow fort was built at the center of their room filled with blankets and pillows, the perfect spot for nesting.  Snacks, drinks and food from the Great Hall was even spread out on one of the tables, and the smell of sandalwood incense encompassed the room.  “Wha…..what’s this?”

“What’s this she says. This here is a girl’s night out.” Fred replied.

“We done our best from how Angie, Katie and Alicia described it.” Said George.

“So what do you think?” asked Fred.

“Guys…..this is……” I covered my mouth with my hands as I was just overwhelmed with emotions.  “This is better than how we get the room set up. But why?”

“Why what?” George asked.

“Why did you guys do all of this? I mean not that I don’t appreciate it but it’s too much for just me.”

“Who says you’re staying here alone?” together the twins took out their wands and their normal pajamas turned into silk ones, with matching silk robes that I had made for all the girls in the group.  Every nightgown was black and had our initials on them in beautiful cursive penmanship on the breast pocket that was on the left side of the robes, and on the right was a stitched animal representing each of the wearer’s houses.  So Fred and George both sported lions representing our Gryffindor house.

“Well are you going to join us or not? I don’t know about you but this week has been brutal.” Fred said as he dramatically fell onto his bed, his hand resting over his forehead.  I shook my head at him and took out my wands and transformed my lounge clothes into the same matching silk pajamas and robe.

“And of course no Girl’s night would be complete without this.” George then pulled out my GNO bag.

“How did you….”

“Ah-bah-bah-bah.” George came up and pressed a finger to my lips. “A truly clever wizard never reveals their secrets.” He winked at me before wrapping his arm around me and lead me over to his bed and our official ‘Girl’s’ night began.

I’ve got to give credit to these guys.  They were willing to have the face masks on (George especially seemed to love the end result. Couldn’t stop touching his face every two minutes to feel how soft it was), we drank the pumpkin juice and fire whisky as we gossiped about anything and everything.  They especially really loved doing the Mad-libs that I had smuggled in.

Most of the food had been eaten pardon the sweets that still laid scattered about.  Fred then pulled out a box and he said.

“You ever tried some of these (Y/n)?”

“If those are Bertie bott’s every flavor bean I already tried it. Swore off of them and you know it after you had given me vomit flavored.” I shuddered remembering that day.

“No, not this time. No these are Elephant on a bicycle. You eat one and it makes you sound like the animal that’s on the candy. Here for example, Georgie try this one.” Fred tossed him a green colored candy and George caught it in his hand before putting it in his mouth.  After a couple of chews he swallowed it before he started chattering like a monkey.

Fred and I both laughed as George jumped from bed to bed like a monkey before coming over to us and pressed himself against my back and began going through my hair.

“Oi I ain’t got no bugs in there you rotter!” I laughed as I playfully shoved him down.  George’s monkey chattering soon ceased as his laughter came back.

“Now you try one (Y/n), I recommend the blue one.”

“It won’t be anything too weird will it?” I asked suspiciously.

“Would I lie to you?” I raised my brow at him.  “Okay better yet don’t answer that but seriously just try it.” I shrugged and reached for the blue one and ate it.  After a few chews before swallowing it I soon felt a tickle in my throat and I began laughing, but it wasn’t my own laughter.  No the laughter that was coming out of my mouth was the sound of a hyena’s laughter.

“What’s so funny (N/n)?” Fred teased as I kept laughing.  Even when I tried to answer, all that kept coming out of me were hyena laughs.  The twins laughed alongside me until the taste was gone and I could finally speak normally again.

“Alright Freddie, your turn.” He went immediately for a white one and after he swallowed his treat his face morphed into a serious manner as he slowly turned toward me.  His eyes staring me down like a predator to its prey.  He then pounced and let out a lion’s roar as he pinned me down to his bed playfully roaring down at me.

Since lions and hyenas were natural enemies, Fred really played the role out well as he pretended to get the upper hand over me.  Growling down at me before i praised him.

“Well done King of the jungle. You bested me.” After letting out a few more low lion growls, he finally spoke up.

“And don’t you forget it, laughing queen.”

“Laughing queen?” I exclaimed.

“That’s right. Hyenas laugh a lot, you laugh a lot so you’re the laughing queen.” He got off of me and I sat up.  I then reached for his pillow before waking him with it right in his face.

“Oh hohoho good one (Y/n)!” laughed Georgie.

“Don’t start something you’re not prepared to finish (L/n).” threatened Fred as he grabbed his other pillow but as he aimed for me, I pushed George in front of me as a human shield and George got smacked in the face with a pillow.

“Oi I was willing to be on your side!” George then grabbed a pillow from his bed and soon a pillow fight broke out between the three of us.  We ran across the entire dorm room careful to avoid destroying the pillow fort, or knocking the incense into the ground.

As I came over to Lee’s bed I was suddenly hit from the back then tackled from the front.  Next thing I knew I was being tickled at my sides.

“NOOO NOT TICKLING!!” I exclaimed as I writhed trying to get away but Fred ensured that I couldn’t.  And to make matters worse, George soon joined in as he had his legs wrap around my ankles so that he could get to my feet.  My laughter increased nearly ten times now that I was being tickled on two of my worst spots.  “NOHOHOH! MERCY!!!”

“Do you surrender?” they both asked.

“YEHEHEHS! I GIVE! I GIHIHIHVE!” thankfully they ceased their tickle attack and I was left a panting mess.  “We…..do not…..do tickle fights….on Girl’s night.”

“You might not but we do.” George said.

“Cause we’re the only ones who know your dark little secret. Unless you’d like Angelina and the rest of the girls to know.”

“NO! No, no, no, no don’t you both dare!”

“Alright, alright don’t get your knickers in a twist.” George said raising his hands in mock surrender.  I straightened myself out and grabbed a few more sweets before heading over to the pillow fort and soon the twins joined me.

After eating our weight in candy, the twins and I just lay there in silence staring up at the fairy lights scattered throughout the dorm.

“Really guys, I can’t thank you enough for doing all of this for me.” I said to them gratefully.

“You’re our best friend (Y/n). It was nothing.” Fred shrugged.

“But it was something,” I said turning toward him.  “Lately this week, the pressure of the OWL’s has really been affecting me mentally.” I felt George take hold of my hand and he gave it a gentle squeeze.  “Everyone expects us to have a career choice already made out to determine what OWL’s we’ll need to take. I mean, you guys already know what you want. Your own joke shop but me…..I don’t know what I want. So I just said anything and everything. And they all accepted me so I’ve got like a dozen of OWL’s to do in such short time.”

“We may act like we’ve got everything in order but we actually don’t. in fact mum isn’t at all too happy that we’re limiting ourselves on our OWL’s.” Fred said to me.

“But it’s nice to know that you think we’ve got our future settled.” I shook my head softly scoffing.

“I’m serious guys, even if you don’t know what’ll happen at least you got a goal set in stone. I literally have no bloody clue what I want. That’s why I’ve been so stressed about the upcoming OWL’s. Because no matter what I may end up passing, I might not want to do that for the rest of my life, or feel like I’m stuck in a rut.” I felt the twins scoot closer to me, George resting his chin on my shoulder while Fred pressed his nose against my temple.

“No matter what your OWL’s determine, you’re still the smartest, brightest witch we know.” Said George.

“Even more than Hermione?”

“Especially more than Granger.” Said Fred.

“And if you ever need a break from the rut you’re in, there’s always room for a potions expert and product sketch designer at our future joke shop.” George suggested.

“You guys would really give me a job in your future shop?”

“We’ll have to speak to the owners.” Fred and George nodded at each other before saying together,

“Owners said yes.” I smiled at them and kissed both of them on the cheek.

“Thank you guys, for everything.” They embraced me between the two of them and for the rest of the night we lay there in comforting silence.

[tubbytarchia]

I’ve recently rewatched dl and I wanted to find out if you had any thoughts on Pearl and Scott’s dynamic.. (double life or general idm)

BOY DO I. SIT DOWN

I've talked lots about Scott before, of how he twists the narrative the most and treats most relationships more as transactional. I will now immediately follow that sentence up with dear god please don't assume I hate Scott he's so interesting and compelling PLEASE don't think I hate him I beg of you I LIKE HIM I don't think he's evil and a villain he's just a bit fucked up like everyone else PLEASE just. believe me

Me ^

Anyway now that that's out of the way. Scott I think has an innate need for connection but denies it in favor of weaving his own narrative that he is in control of, especially so in Third Life where to me, it feels like he sought out to find a tragic love story and he got exactly that, from his perspective anyway, what with the final sequence of him meeting Jimmy again in some imagined afterlife, the one part that was scripted and it shows. Love is a variable that he can't afford the risk of. I think the story with Jimmy that he weaved was more important to him than genuine affection. In Double Life he admits to having whittled Jimmy down to nothing in order to get something from him. But then along comes Last Life

In Last Life, whatever it was, something about Pearl really appealed to him if even subconsciously and he very genuinely cared about her imo. And that was a relationship that oddly enough started as purely transactional yet quickly developed into the most meaningful one I think Scott has had. Even when he faltered in returning Pearl's affection fully, Pearl didn't care and stood by him. Well exemplified by the time he kind of froze when Pearl was boogey killed by Lizzie, but Pearl didn't even think to hold his inaction against him. (Especially fun contrasted with Pearl accidentally breaking the rules in killing boogey Joel for killing Scott lol). ADDENDUM: I forgot that it was because of Scott's encouragement that Pearl ended up killing Joel, which could have been the first indication of Scott having it out for Joel, or he was just being petty (because he very much is, as are many of the others, he's just good at masking it). Nonetheless my point stands when contrasted with Scott freezing up when Pearl was killed by Lizzie whereas Pearl had defended Scott adamantly

But all of that was the variable that Scott sought to avoid, so in Double Life he immediately uses what he can as an excuse to ostracize Pearl, almost as if to punish her for the crime of. loving? And I'm not about to claim that Pearl is wholly innocent but I'd argue that was unwarranted. Cleo and Scott are a great dynamic in a vacuum but unfortunately Cleo is also quite terrible (but then who isn't. It's a death game, they all are. Sorry I have to keep making these remarks because otherwise I get labelled a hater) and unfortunately fuels all the worst traits in Scott while Scott very readily sticks to her. They remain an encouraging pillar to Scott, it's just that the things being encouraged are like. Their ritual to slice each other with axes at full force just to stick it to Martyn and Pearl. Pearl often gets compared to Scott as equally physically harmful but idk personally I don't think the snow bucket compares to start-of-every-session-near-death-axe-crit routine. That's again not to say that she's innocent

Upon Scott spreading completely unfounded claims about her being crazy and malicious, she starts to adopt those claims. What else is she to do to get by? She has been nice to most players and nearly none of them want her around because of rumors despite her causing harm on accident at worst. She comes close to finally finding friends in Jimmy (Tango as well but mostly Jimmy), but ruins her chances by briefly playing into Martyn's "prank" and giving him Jimmy's horn without realizing it's importance to Jimmy, after which Jimmy tells her that she's no longer welcome on the ranch. She's effectively lost everyone and it is 90% due to Scott, not due to her actually acting the way she's claimed to as she only starts to go down that path after repeated rejection (sure she let herself be physically hurt to get at Scott, but it wasn't because of malice or having lost her mind, her doing so was reasonable anyhow but got twisted into something it wasn't. It's still wrong on her part and I do think she goes at least a bit insane as Scarlet Pearl surfaces, but the point is that she wasn't that when Scott started painting her that way)

Even in the very end, Scott retains control. He retained control of not only his narrative but contributed to most others' as well, painting Pearl as the exact character he wanted her to be known as in every POV outside of her own. And as they stand face to face as the last two survivors, Scott denies her any chance to change things, taking his own life instead whilst painting himself as noble in doing so

Scott is incredibly self-sacrificial but only when he gets something out of it, and because it allows him yet more control. He wants to be able to control when he dies, and he also gets to turn it into utmost grandiose statements of nobleness when he does, which then changes others' perception of him accordingly and directly or indirectly allows Scott to get something in exchange. His suicide in DL is no different, it was for him, not for Pearl

In Secret Life Scott also instils the idea of Pearl being untrustworthy in Gem

Wild Life. grrrr. Wild Life.............clenches fist. Pearl's personal hell

I think you can infer I was. scared to say the least about Pearl upon seeing her alliance in Wild Life. In the end though I ended up just being immensely sad and disappointed. Just about nothing worked out for Pearl, only for her trauma to be mocked repeatedly by Scott and Cleo

Pearl imo shows so many signs of regression, and she holds onto Impulse as the one member of her team that isn't actively taunting her, making it a goal for herself to see Impulse win, and it is that: for her, for anything to go her way, not so much for Impulse as much as she does genuinely care for him. She really doesn't spend that much time with him, she just needs a goal to work towards for her own sake. Pearl being unstable, untrustworthy and especially pathetic are all things that continue to get enforced within the alliance, where she's often spoken to like a ticking time bomb and the team's destructiveness gets relegated to her specifically. She recognizes not feeling good about it but she doesn't recognize everything that's at play in the social dynamics of their alliance or the extent of it

She becomes scared of people becoming resentful of her were she to make mistakes all the while Scott and Cleo start enabling her worst tendencies, aka Scarlet Pearl. They don't do this a large degree but they do make an explicit point of it, or at least Cleo does. Cleo is also however, if even vaguely, trying to mend the relationship between her and Pearl, where they occasionally encourage and defend her although it's not to a significant enough degree for Pearl to really realize. After Gem's death, Cleo is also there to help although Pearl is too distraught to appreciate it

While Gem's largely the catalyst for the "pathetic" notion that Pearl adopts to her detriment over the course of Wild Life, it only affects Pearl as strongly as it does due to her having gone through what she has, and because she's in a largely unloving alliance that fuels and reminds her of her wrongdoing. Just compare her mental state here to the one in Secret Life with the Mounders. Although it does have importance to her because she seeks reconciliation, she isn't allowed to forget about Double Life, she's not allowed to heal and grow around the grief of what's happened to her

And the final two notable incidents in her and Scott's relationship are 1. Her being made to feel like she needs to kill Scott, which she doesn't and ends up picking her own method of killing him to retain any semblance of choice, and 2. best summarized by my friend's Pearl POV analysis: "Scott is wearing my clothes. instead of villainizing me, our “reconciliation” has encouraged him to embrace the qualities he thinks I represent. he matches me, and we don’t talk about our past"

I state again that I like Scott, I like Cleo, I don't think they're evil or villains, at the very least in no cut-and-dry way. They're flawed and compelling and although I feel sad for Pearl and see Scott as largely at fault for what's happened to her, I care about Scott too and he's easily in the top 5 of most intricate Life characters to me that I enjoy dissecting

You know like. enjoying any character in any other fandom that is morally reprehensible in any way. I don't know why that's such a wild concept in traffic but sigh. I have to disclaim this unfortunately

[lefteagleblizzard]

𝔙𝔯𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔶 𝔰𝔲𝔭𝔭𝔬𝔯𝔱

Mike munroe x male reader

A request that I received from a really nice person here on tumblr: a small idea I liked for a fic if you like the idea as well. Nothing too big, just a fic about Reader and Chris being brothers and constantly nagging each other about their crushes on Ashley and Mike.

I expanded the request a bit, sorry if I went overboard with it. Hope you enjoyed it.

Tags: set before the event of the game. Male reader. He/him pronouns are used towards the reader. Chris and the reader are brothers. Some very quick shifts of pov between characters. Jealousy. Mike and Jess/ Emily are not together in this. Friends to lovers. Mike is a flirt.

ℳ𝒶𝓈𝓉ℯ𝓇𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓉

Words count: 4000

Can also be found on wattpad and ao3

For anyone interested, I took inspiration from this clue that you can find while playing as Chris.

The music thumps in the background, a mix of bass-heavy beats and voices blending into a dull roar. You and Chris sit at a small, round table near the back, well out of the action but with a good view of everyone mingling.

"So," Chris says, taking a long, dramatic sip. "You actually spent the whole night staring at Mike. Dude, seriously, you're lucky your eyes didn't burn a hole in the back of his head."

You scoff, leaning back in your chair with a mock sigh. "Like you're any better. When are you actually gonna talk to Ashley? She's cool, she's cute, she's well, out of your league but hey, a guy can dream.”

"Hey, I do talk to her," Chris retorts, feigning offense.

"Uh-huh," you say, raising an eyebrow. "It’s a lot if you can manage to squeak out a sentence before turning red.”

Chris chuckles, crossing his arms. "Fine. Why don't you go up to Mike and tell him what you think? 'Hey, by the way, I've been thinking about how perfect your jawline is all night!’ I'm sure that'll go over great." He did a horrible interpretation of your voice to mock you even further.

You roll your eyes, feeling your cheeks flush just a bit. "First of all, I would never phrase it like that. And second, at least I actually know things about him beyond his favorite book."

"Oh, really? Let's see who knows more about their crush. No cheating. No wimping out. Winner gets bragging rights." Chris leans forward, a wicked grin spreading across his face.

"Bragging rights? How about you admit I'm objectively hotter than you when I win?" you echoed, folding your arms.

"Sure. Whatever fantasy helps you sleep at night," Chris said, grinning as he dramatically cracked his knuckles. “I'll go first since I know you're just dying to hear all the juicy Ashley knowledge."

You chuckle. "Go with your in-depth research, Sherlock."

Chris clears his throat, sitting up straighter. "Fine. For starters, her favorite color is purple."

You make a face, unimpressed. "That's it? You think knowing her favorite color makes you the expert here?"

"Let me finish, smartass. She loves thriller movies. She also has this little habit of chewing on her nails when she's nervous."

You raise an eyebrow, genuinely impressed but unwilling to give him the satisfaction. "Okay, okay, not bad. But that's kid stuff. Let me show you how it's done."

Chris rolls his eyes, clearly not expecting much. "Alright, hotshot. Give me your best Mike trivia."

You sit forward, lowering your voice like you're letting him in on a secret. You have always been good at noticing things. Maybe it was a result of growing up with Chris and when it came to Mike Munroe, your crush, the small things were more than just interesting, they were revealing.

For one, every morning, without fail, he was up before the sun. He’d go for a quick run to stay in shape. You’d always catch glimpses of him at college heading back to his room in a tank top, earbuds in, eyes focused ahead and glimpses of sweat on his forehead.

He had this tough, confident exterior. He wasn’t loud like some of the others in the group. He had a way of using humor to deflect, to keep people from getting too close. You saw it when he’d brush off any talk about specific topics.

And then there were his tastes.

He likes his coffee black. Pretends it's macho. He had a surprising amount of nostalgia in his preferences. You couldn’t forget the time you’ve talked together casually on the lodge, his face lighting up as he talked about his love for old action movies.

Chris raises an eyebrow. "Alright. Maybe you’re better equipped than me. But, let's be real, you wouldn't even know where to start."

"Better than starting with nothing," you counter. "Besides, I could charm him if I wanted to."

Chris raises an eyebrow. "What would you even say?"

You grin, leaning in like you're revealing a grand plan. "I'd just walk up and ask him about his football season. Mention that time he scored the winning touchdown. You instead are hopeless"

Chris nods, pretending to take you seriously. "Oh, sure, because that'll definitely make him swoon. Hopeless? Me?" Chris laughs, leaning back with a smirk. "At least I don't have to worry about being mistaken for a stalker."

You both burst into laughter. For all the banter, you know neither of you would really judge the other for these harmless crushes. It's what makes the night so much fun.

From across the room, you caught sight of Ashley standing awkwardly near a table stacked with half-empty snack bowls and crumpled napkins. She shifted from foot to foot, clearly trying to blend into the background.

"Hey, Romeo. This is your chance," you said, leaning closer and nudging Chris with your elbow.

Chris snapped out of his trance, his head swiveling toward Ashley. His brows furrowed slightly, the corners of his mouth tugging upward in amusement before settling back into a more thoughtful expression.

Chris groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "What am I supposed to do? Walk up and make everything even more embarrassing?"

"News flash: she knows you're a loser," but she clearly likes you anyway. Stop overthinking it. Just go talk to her. Be romantic for once. She loves that whole 'awkward and sincere' thing you've got going on."

"First of all," Chris said, pointing a finger at you, "I'm not awkward. I'm, uh, charmingly self-aware. Second, what if I say something dumb? Or worse, nothing at all? I can't just walk up to her and-"

"You're a coward," you interrupted, shaking your head in mock disappointment.

"Yep," he said, popping the "p" and lifting his cup in mock toast.

You were scanning the room until your gaze landed on Mike Munroe.

He was leaning casually against the wall, drink in hand, chatting with a girl you vaguely recognized from English class. His tuxedo fit him perfectly, tailored in all the right places, the dark fabric catching the light just enough to highlight his athletic build. The black foulard tied loosely around his neck was an elegant touch, a little different from the usual bow ties and neckties most guys wore. His hair was perfectly tousled, like he hadn't even tried but still managed to look effortlessly handsome.

You felt your chest tighten. For a moment, your imagination betrayed you, painting a picture of Mike turning toward you, smiling like he did when he told one of his dumb jokes when he got elected class president. You could almost hear his laugh, warm and inviting, as if it were just for you. But reality snapped back into focus when the girl he was talking to leaned closer.

"Mike would never look twice at me like that." You mumble more to yourself without thinking, unable to keep the disappointment from your voice.

Chris, placed a hand on your shoulder. His touch was light but reassuring. "Don't do that to yourself. You're a catch. If Mike doesn't see that, he's an idiot."

You looked up at him, grateful but unconvinced. Chris stood up, brushing imaginary lint off his jacket. "I'm getting us drinks. Let's make it through the rest of this night together, yeah?"

You nodded, watching as he made his way to the bar. You glance around, your gaze landing once more on Ashley and an idea strikes you. Chris is now far away from your position. It’s your chance to do something.

You stride over to her, flashing a friendly smile, keeping your movements casual so you wouldn't startle her. Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed you, but she relaxed as you softly took her arm.

"Hey," you said, grinning playfully as you gently guided her away from the corner.

Ashley laughed, the sound light and genuine. "What are you doing?" she asked, her voice tinged with amusement but no resistance as you led her toward your table.

"Come on, you can't let Chris and I have all the fun sitting in the corner judging everyone." you replied, glancing over your shoulder with a mock-serious expression.

"That's what you two have been doing all night? Very productive." She scanned the place as you reached the table and she managed to spot Chris at the bar, meticulously mixing something with an unusual level of focus. But then her gaze shifted, catching Mike watching the two of you.

Jaw set, lips pressed into a firm line, eyes tracked the way you gently tugged Ashley along. His gaze lingered on your hand before flicking back up to your face. Lips pressed together in a faint, almost imperceptible scowl, as though something about the sight of the two of you together unsettled him. There was a slight tension in his posture, the way his shoulders seemed just a bit too stiff for someone casually enjoying a party.

Chris returned with two drinks in hand. "Okay, I've done it," he announced dramatically. "The ultimate drink. If you don't like it, I'm never speaking to you ag-" He cut himself off mid-sentence when he saw Ashley sitting at the table, smiling up at him.

"I... uh..." Chris stammered, turning an impressive shade of pink.

"You made this for me?” Ashley asked sweetly, taking the drink from his hand before he could respond. “Thank you, Mr. Bartender."

Chris blinks and he lets out a nervous laugh, giving you a quick glare as he hands the drink to Ashley.

She giggles, taking a sip and you watch as Chris visibly relaxes. They share a smile and there's a warm, unspoken understanding between them, a quiet moment that you can't help but feel a bit envious of.

The music shifts, slowing into a softer, more romantic melody. Couples move onto the dance floor, swaying together in a slow embrace. Ashley’s eyes light up as she turns to Chris, her cheeks flushed with a faint rosy tint from the slight inebriation she feels. "Come on, Chris," she says, tugging at his hand. "Want to go there for a bit?"

Chris's eyes dart to you, searching your face for reassurance, his expression almost apologetic. He's asking, without words, if you'll be okay.

You manage a smile, giving him a nod.

Chris lets out a laugh, his tension melting away as he lets Ashley pull him onto the dance floor. They disappear into the crowd, leaving you alone at the table. You watch them go, feeling a bittersweet pang in your chest as you take in the sight of them together, laughing and smiling, fitting together so effortlessly. Chris fumbling his way through the first few steps before finding his rhythm.

They looked so happy.

And you were here instead, alone at the table, your thoughts inevitably drifting back to Mike.

Chris feels his heart race as he stands on the dance floor, his hands resting lightly on Ashley's waist, her arms draped over his shoulders as they sway to the gentle rhythm of the music. Her gaze meets his every so often, a smile warm and genuine, making him feel like the only person in the room.

"I didn't know you had these moves." she teases, her eyes twinkling.

Chris chuckles, shaking his head. "Oh, trust me, I don't. I'm just doing my best not to crush your toes."

Ashley laughs, her grip tightening on his shoulders as she rolls her eyes. "You're doing just fine. I don't mind if you, you know, relax a little."

"Relax? Yeah, I can... I can do that," he says, voice faltering as he tries to ease into the rhythm, matching her movements as the song continues.

His focus wavers after a while, gaze drifting over her shoulder as he catches sight of his brother sitting across the room at one of the tables with Matt nearby.

There's something off about the way you're holding yourself. You're smiling, sure, even laughing at something Matt is saying, but Chris can tell that the smile doesn't quite reach your eyes. It's the kind of forced expression he's seen on you before, usually when you're trying to act like everything's fine when it really isn't.

Matt, on the other hand, seems entirely oblivious, leaning in a bit too close, his face lit up with that typical over-eager grin. He's almost leaning into your personal space as he chats away, looking way too thrilled to have your undivided attention, his eyes never leaving yours. The proximity feels a bit too familiar, too comfortable, with his arm casually resting on the back of your chair.

Chris feels a pang of protectiveness twist in his gut. He glances around the room, half-expecting Emily to appear and pull Matt back to the dance floor, but there's no sign of her. Instead, he spots her on the far side of the room, tipsy and laughing as she spins around with some stranger she's apparently mistaken for Matt. She's caught up in the music, oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend is practically glued to your side.

Ashley notices his distraction, her gaze softening as she studies him. "Chris?" she asks, her voice gentle, bringing him back to the moment. "Is everything okay?"

He blinks, snapping his attention back to her, guilt creeping in as he realizes he's been distracted. "Yeah, yeah, sorry," he says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Just... got a lot on my mind."

Ashley smiles, tilting her head as she searches his face. "You sure? You can tell me, you know."

Chris hesitates, glancing around the room one more time. His gaze lands on Mike, who's slow-dancing with the girl in glittering dress. She's leaning against him, her head resting on his chest, but Mike's attention isn't on her.

His eyes are locked in your direction, his brow furrowed and his jaw set in a subtle scowl that's hard to miss. There's a tension in his gaze as he watches you and Matt together. There's a faint scowl tugging at his mouth, a subtle clenching of his jaw that makes it look like he's holding back the urge to step in but doesn't quite know how to act on it. His brows are drawn together and his eyes flick between you and Matt with a guarded intensity.

Chris frowns, glancing back at you. It's clear now that something is brewing beneath the surface, something he doesn't fully understand but can sense all the same. He looks down at Ashley, his expression softening as he makes up his mind.

"Hey, Ash?" he asks quietly, feeling a bit awkward but determined. "Would you mind helping me out with something real quick? I, uh... I owe someone a favor.”

You were mid-laugh at something Matt had said about his latest sports practice when a shadow loomed over the table. You looked up to find Mike standing there, holding his drink loosely in one hand and the other casually tucked in his pocket.

"Hey, Matt," Mike said, his tone light but carrying a subtle edge like he's asking for a favor he already expects to be granted. "Mind if I steal him for a bit?"

Matt's smile falters, and he glances at you, a bit reluctant, as if he doesn't quite want to let go of the moment he's carved out. "Uh... well, we were just-"

"Looks like Emily's about to make out with that guy," Mike interrupted, tilting his head toward the dance floor. "You might wanna handle that before it gets messy."

Matt whipped his head around, his face paling slightly as he spotted Emily drunkenly giggling and leaning far too close to the stranger. "Shit," he muttered, scrambling to his feet. "I'll, uh, catch you later." he says to you, giving you a quick nod before he disappears into the crowd.

"Yeah, sure," Mike said smoothly, his smirk widening as Matt hurried off. You glance back at him just in time to catch a wicked grin flash across his face as he watches Matt weave his way toward Emily.

He turns back to you and without a moment's hesitation, he slides into Matt's now-empty chair, shifting it even closer to yours with an obnoxiously loud scrap of wood against the floor. He dropped into the seat with a satisfied sigh. His arm resting along the back of your chair but soon sliding fully around your shoulders, pulling you closer to him.

The warmth of his body, the faint scent of his cologne, earthy with a hint of spice, made your thoughts scattered like leaves in the wind. From this close, you could see every detail of his face: the light beard perfectly trimmed along his jaw, the sharp angle of his cheekbones, the infuriatingly perfect way his smirk tugged at one corner of his mouth. He was leaning into his persona, that cocky, playful charm cranked up to eleven and it was doing things to your brain you weren't sure you were ready to admit.

"Well, this is cozy," Mike said, his voice low and smooth. "Didn't think Matt was ever gonna leave. Guy's got some stamina for talking, huh?"

You blinked, struggling to form words. "Uh, yeah. He's chatty"

Mike chuckled, the sound warm and teasing "Chatty? That's the nicest way to put it. Bet he's been boring you to death, huh?"

"Not entirely," you said, though your voice was far too shaky to be convincing. "He's enthusiastic."

Mike raised an eyebrow, clearly enjoying how flustered you were. "You're too nice, you know that? If I had to sit through more than five minutes of that guy's rambling, I'd be asleep in my chair."

You laughed, though it came out a little too breathy. "Maybe I'm just better at pretending to be interested."

"Pretending, huh?" Mike's smirk widened. "So, what about me? Are you pretending to enjoy this little moment we're having?"

Your brain short-circuited. "I... I mean, no. I-uh... you're not boring. Definitely not boring."

"Good to know," Mike said, his voice dipping slightly as he leaned in just a fraction closer. "I'd hate to think I was putting you to sleep."

"You're not," you managed to say, your face burning.

Mike grinned, clearly reveling in your flustered state. "You're cute when you're nervous, you know that?"

“I’m not nervous,” you said quickly, though your gaze flickered away from his, betraying you.

“Sure you’re not,” Mike murmured, his fingers brushing just a little too close against your shoulder, the touch lingering for a beat longer than necessary. “What were you and Matt talking about? You looked a little bored." His tone was smooth but there was a faint edge to it now, like he was testing the air.

You noticed the subtle shift in his expression. His jaw tightening just slightly, his eyes narrowing for a fraction of a second as if he didn’t quite like the idea of you and Matt sharing a private moment.

You shrugged, trying to sound casual. "Just sport stuff and his latest victory for his team. He was just being friendly,” you added, trying to sound indifferent.

You didn’t miss the slight tightening of his jaw, the way his eyes flickered just briefly toward the ground before locking onto yours again.

Mike’s lips quirked into a knowing smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah, he looked real friendly.” The smirk that followed didn’t help, pulling at the corner of his mouth as if he was more amused than you thought he should be.

You raised an eyebrow, narrowing your eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

For a moment, Mike just stared at you, his expression unreadable. “Nothing,” he said too quickly, the innocence in his voice so forced that you could almost feel the tension cracking around him. The grin stretched wider, like a challenge. “Just saying, if I didn’t know better, I’d think Matt was hitting on you.”

Your breath caught in your throat and a flush of heat spread across your cheeks. You tried to play it off, but there was no denying the way your heart stuttered in your chest. “He wasn’t,” you said quickly, your voice coming out a little more defensively than you intended.

"Either way. Figured I'd come over and I don't know... make the night more interesting for you. Prom only happens once, right? Gotta make the most of it. Besides—” His voice softens, his gaze locking onto yours with a sincerity that takes you off guard. "—I've been waiting for an excuse to spend some time with you."

You swallow, feeling the heat rise to your face as his words sink in. "You have?"

"Yeah," he murmurs, his thumb grazing your shoulder in a slow, deliberate motion. "I mean, I could've come over sooner but you were busy with your brother. Then you were with Matt and I figured, maybe it's time I got a little selfish."

The intensity in his gaze makes it hard to breathe and for a moment, all you can do is stare at him, caught between disbelief and exhilaration. "I... didn't think you noticed me like that," you admit, your voice barely above a whisper.

Mike's grin softens, his hand moving from your shoulder to gently rest on your waist, pulling you even closer. "I notice a lot more than you think," he murmurs, his voice low and husky. "Like how you always look away when you think I'm watching, or how you get that little crease in your forehead when you're trying not to smile too much."

Mike makes a silent note to himself to later thank Chris for the insights he’d shared minutes ago.

You laugh, feeling both embarrassed and overjoyed. "Okay, now you're just showing off."

He chuckles, his arm tightening around your waist as he dips his head a bit closer, his voice a soft murmur. "Can't help it. You’ve got me so close to losing it and you don’t even realize it." His fingers press gently into your side.

“Dance with me,” he murmurs, his voice low and laced with a tenderness that surprises you. There’s a quiet intensity in his eyes, a vulnerability that makes your heart race. “Let me be the happiest guy in this place tonight.”

You feel your pulse race at the invitation, your mind whirling with both excitement and uncertainty. "What about that girl you were with?" you ask, your voice quiet and hesitant, unable to stop yourself from wondering.

Mike's smirk returns, his hold on your waist tightening slightly as he leans in, his voice a soft, almost possessive murmur. "She's not you. You’re the only one I can’t get out of my head.” His voice is rough, coated in something darker.

You meet his gaze, feeling your breath hitch as you search his face, trying to process the weight of his words.

He takes his chance to lean in, his lips brushing softly against yours in a kiss that leaves your heart racing. His lips crashing into yours with a desperate urgency that leaves you reeling. His hand slides around your waist, fingers tightening as he pulls you against him. The heat of his body sears through your clothes, and his thumb traces a slow, deliberate line along your cheek, sending jolts of pleasure straight to your core.

When he finally pulls back, his lips are swollen, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, that familiar cocky edge in his eyes. His eyes burn with that familiar, dangerous gleam-a challenge, a promise. His breath is ragged, as if he's barely holding back.

"Still up for that dance? Because I've got this new boyfriend I'd really like to show off." he whispers, his voice low and teasing. His breath brushes your skin, sending a shiver down your spine. He looks at you with that trademark mischievous grin, the one that could melt anyone’s defenses.

A rush of warmth floods your chest at his words, a mixture of giddiness and disbelief. Your heart skips, caught between the sweetness of the moment and the thrill of his presence. The corners of your mouth twitch up as you meet his gaze, and though you can barely keep your composure, you nod.

Mike's grin widens and as he takes your hand, guiding you to the dance floor, you feel as if you're floating, lost in the warmth of his gaze and the excitement of being his.

Note: if you liked this, please leave a comment. I love reading them <3