#struggling with whether or not to call scott

[star--stilinski]

at first, stiles didn't even notice it. the way his heart would race and his cheeks would flush; he was used to having that reaction around you. so used to it, in fact, that he had stopped letting it be a distraction. you'd giggle at his joke or look up at him through your lashes and he'd blush, fidget, move on. like his own little routine.

what got distracting was when he had made the sudden realization one day: you're hot. 

the two of you had been friends for so long, crushing for almost that whole time, that by the time stiles looked up and saw you in your bikini, it was too late to turn back. he was a goner.

literally-he was out of lydia's backyard and in her half bathroom before you could even ask him to help with your sunscreen.

holy shit. he gripped the sink, glaring at his flushed reflection. get yourself together, perv. so she's got nice tits. really, really nice tits and thighs that could suffocate you and jesus her hips-

no! nope, no no no nonono. it is way too early for this. get real. she's seen you recite the entire opening crawl of the force awakens. she is not going to do that with you- woah! or that! get it together. get it together. get it together.

and so stiles marches back out where you and your friends are gathered, playing marco polo. you glance at him and smirk in that way the tells him you're totally cheating, only proven true when allison calls out "marco!" and you slide past her in the water without joining in the choruses of "polo!"s from all over the pool.

stiles stiffens. your goddamn smirk. 

this is going to be a loooong day.

☆

and it was. a long day that ended in his right hand wrapped around his cock and a fantasy he wouldn't repeat even if there was a gun to his head. 

but that was over, and it was three days later, anyway. the pack was meeting at the movies to see a new romcom, which the girls were excited for, and the guys were... hoping it had a good soundtrack. it's not that they didn't want to go, it's just that their time- well, stiles' time could be better spent on things like useless research and avoiding his homework. that was his mindset walking into the theater.

now, he's about three inches from having no mindset at all. you're sat next to him, too close for him to remember a single detail of the movie, and you're wearing a tank top. low cut. lace trim on the top. prettiest color he's ever seen.

and stiles can see straight down it. 

every time he glances over at you, whether it be an excuse of reaching for the popcorn or making a joke or listening to you talk, he has a view down your top right to where your tits are pressed together, rising and falling subtly with each breath. he wonders what the smooth skin of your breasts would look like covered in hickeys. he imagines the sounds you'd make if he had you pinned down, mouth enveloping your pert nipples. he-

he gets up a little too hastily when he rushes out of the theater, into the quiet hall.

"god," he mumbles, tugging his own hair. "fuck."

he has to will his blood to cooperate before he can show his face again.

☆

it's getting worse. 

stiles is chewing on the cap of the marker he has in his hand, eyes darting all over his murder board.

"wouldn't they hunt in packs? this fable here, it reads... stiles?"

stiles turns on his heel, watching you now as you sit on his bed. he's been avoiding looking at you lately, since just recently he had a close call when you hit your knee on scott's coffee table and whined a dramatic 'ahh', leaving stiles to imagine that noise, that face you made in other scenarios.

it's been harder (ha, ha, yeah, no pun intended. he's struggling.) since you asked to come over and help with some research he was doing after a meeting with deaton. you sat all pretty and focused on his bed, twirling and tucking and sometimes tugging your hair when you read out of a book he had borrowed (stolen) from the argent's.

so when he looked at you now, it was with great mental strength. especially when you started rattling off a really smart point he didn't think anyone else would notice that he had realized twenty minutes ago, giving him some time to zone out and watch as you gather your hair behind you, tying it up in a ponytail while you look up at him through your lashes. giving him a second to imagine you looking at him like that with your lips wrapped around his cock, letting him guide you by the ponytail-

stilinski! great. mental. strength.

he turns back to the murder board and nods, eyes squeezed shut as he feels the familiar heat spread all over and his jeans get tight. "yeah, that's- i know, that's a good point."

he hears you shift, the way you get noticeably quiet. "stiles, are you... is everything alright? you seem off."

he shrugs, nods, shrugs again. swallows. "yeah. just a bit tired, that's all."

he can feel your disbelief, but he'd rather feel that then disgust. you both sigh at the same time, and the evening moves on.

☆

it's pretty much every time he sees you now. he's a mess, unable to choose between relieving himself and willing his dick to cooperate. you've made a mess of stiles, and he's dying.

you're wearing leggings today, talking to scott while stiles watches from the bench. coach is barking orders at a couple of stray lacrosse boys, and stiles is lucky enough to have dodged his attention this evening.

game night is usually when he's free of the hold you have on him, too busy gnawing on his goalie gloves and tracking scott across the field. but you and allison showed up early (curse scott and his happy relationship), so his pea-sized brain has time to imagine sliding the buttery fabric down your legs, kissing exposed skin as he goes. he'd definitely pay close attention to your thighs- he thinks about those more than he'd care to admit, and he's aware of how idiotically insecure of them you are. 

because of his train of thought, he doesn't realize you've caught him staring until it's too late. you're prancing over excitedly and leaving scott to smirk at stiles all knowingly, and stiles resists the urge to flip him off.

"you gonna play, 24?" you nudge his foot teasingly with your own. he looks up at you and feels those telltale signs as he fanaticizes about tracing the line of your jaw with his finger, both of you panting softly as he coos at you while you whine pathetically. he has to blink away the thought before he can speak.

"um, i hope not. it's an important game." he leans back a bit and you tilt your head, clearly mulling over your next words. he fills the space in the meantime. "but if i do, i'll be sure to keep away from the ball."

it's music to his ears when you laugh. finally, finally he's blushing about something normal, having regular fantasies instead of these hormone fueled pornos that seem to be on repeat in his head lately. he smiles up at you and you take a small step closer to being in between his legs.

"i don't mean to bring it up so randomly..." you avoid his eyes, fiddling with your hands. "but i was just wondering if i've done something to upset you?"

he blinks. "what?"

"it's just that you've been distant and honestly, you're acting kind of like you're allergic to me. if i did something or there's something going on just tell me. it's kinda driving me crazy." you ramble, brows drawn together in discomfort. 

stiles' eyes widen and he shakes his head, standing. his heart skips a beat when you have to tilt your chin up a bit to keep his eyes. "no, of course not. i didn't know... i guess i've... it's just-" he sighs and rubs the back of his neck. how is he supposed to explain this? 'oh, hey, girl i've been super into for a pathetically long time, i've been imagining what you'd look like if i pinned you to my bed and drove us both insane from a sex marathon! that's cool, right? not objectifying at all!'

you frown, crossing your arms. "just tired?"

it's bait, he knows it is. the same excuse he used less than a week ago to keep you from figuring him out. you're a clever girl and he's stupid when he's horny, so he has to play his cards right here. if you think he's lying, things will only get worse and there's a hefty chance you'll distance yourself. but if he tells a lie a little too well, you're going to be around him constantly again. either way, he's starting to wonder if he's a masochist from the amount of pain he's going to inflict on himself.

"it's nothing, really. i didn't mean to get distant." he clenches his jaw as he gauges your reaction, which is a less-than-ideal-but-not-terrible pout. he wants to smooth the lines of your forehead with his thumb and make you laugh again, but he has to focus. "let me make it up to you?"

you turn your face away (very, very not good) and huff. "no, don't worry about it."

stiles cringes internally and bites the inside of his cheek. how can he un-dig this hole he's in? "no, no, i want to. i shouldn't have made you worry. that's my fault. i'll pick you up tomorrow, we can get food. my treat."

you turn back to face him, and the way your bottom lip just barely juts out tells him you're playing it up, but he doesn't mind. he's come to realize that you like to feel earned, and he's more than happy to earn you. he takes a breath, eyebrows raised. "what are you thinking?"

you drop the pout (much to his relief, he was just starting to imagine you using that face on him when he makes you tell him exactly what you want him to do to you) and put your hands on your (perfect, sexy) hips. "i'm thinking that if you didn't mean to get distant then it was subconscious, and it's going to be more of an effort to be around me than not."

so clever. god, you're so hot when you use critical thinking skills. 

stiles sighs and shuffles a bit. "yeah, okay, i can understand where you're getting that but it's wrong-"

"but it isn't. you've been proving it right all week and-"

"hold on, no i haven't, i've just been-"

"-you definitely lied to me in your room a few days ago-"

"-there's no way you're actually believing-"

"STILINSKI!" coach's voice booms over both of you, halting the beginning of an argument that probably would have only turned stiles on more. he whips his head around to where the entire team is gathered, and realizes he was so wrapped up in you that he tuned out everything around him, including the team rallying together to talk strategy before the game started. he blinks, distantly hearing you mumble a mortified "oh." and skitter off, leaving stiles to be completely embarrassed alone.

"would you like to join us or are you too busy harassing the young ladies in the general area?" coach's tone is strung with impatience, eyes wide.

"ah..." stiles glances to the spot you just stood in and then back to the team. "no, coach, 'm coming."

"fantastic." he drawls, before turning back to the team and continuing his rant. stiles is half-listening, half-daydreaming about 'making it up to you' in many different ways, positions, and places. for many hours.

yeah, he's dead. for sure. you're killing him.

☆

although making it up to you currently involved a lot more clothing and a lot less begging, stiles was having a really good time. sat in his room, arguing about book to movie adaptations, both of you holding your own milkshakes. with all his time spent avoiding you out of... sex-driven fear? he really forgot how much he enjoyed your company.

"you wouldn't get it," you shake your head stubbornly as he stands and sets his milkshake on his desk so he can use the dry erase board in his room. "you don't read books."

"i do-"

"yeah, i don't count the bestiary."

"that's besides the point, anyway. i don't have to read the book to know whether the movie is a good adaptation or not!" he starts writing down movies he knows are heavily based off of books while you crawl across his floor to his desk, sneaking a spoonful of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. he's too busy to notice that the half-melted treat dribbles off of the spoon and spills above the cut of your tank top (the same one as the movie theater, actually) and onto your exposed thighs.

"fuck." you hiss under your breath. stiles turns to see what caused your quiet outburst, but his brain screeches to a halt at the sight of you.

perched on your knees, you're glaring down at the mess that's been spilled on the top of your tits and thighs, white sliding down to the line where they're pressed together. stiles doesn't even blink, just stares with a slightly open mouth at the sight of you. a small noise leaves his mouth and he can feel the tent in his sweats, but he's a bit frozen.

you look up when he makes the strangled grunt, looking caught with his milkshake in your hand, as if that's his issue right now. "uhh... whoops? i swear, it just flew into my hand! how crazy is that...."

your joke trails off as you really see his face. his eyes are dark and hungry, almost predatory as they sweep over your body, hanging on the spills that you made. his mouth shuts and his jaw clenches. his hands are curled into restrained, white-knuckled fists. and...

he's hard as a fucking rock.

it's easy to tell, with his grey sweatpants, and you feel your mouth water at the sight.

"it's fine." he mumbles, voice dry. you take a second before you realize he's talking about the milkshake. both of you are bright red. you force out a breath and he seems to come to, turning back around quickly. "uh, s-so, harry potter-"

"is that because of me?" you blurt, getting hotter in the cheeks every second.

"is... oh. um, i'm sorry, sorry, fucking shit-" he's not facing you.

"stiles."

stiles quiets, turning to face you finally. your stomach swoops and you shuffle barely closer. his adams apple bobs.

"yeah. it... it is"

that's it. a simple confession, but it feels like a chord being snapped between the two of you. your confidence grows. you made stiles like that.

"are you gonna do something about it?"

his head snaps up, eyes wide as he looks at you. "you want me to?"

"why else would i ask, stiles?" you sound almost exasperated, like he's taking to long. he swallows and drops to his knees in front of you.

stiles. is crawling towards you. on his knees.

"are you... do you really?" he's close, so close now. looking into your eyes like they'll answer for you. like they contain every 'yes' you've been too scared to whisper.

which, honestly, is probably not far from true.

"i do. i really, really, d-"

his lips are on yours before you can finish, one hand cupping the back of your neck to bring you closer. you let out a muffled noise of surprise, mouth opening on it's own accord as stiles takes the kiss deeper, tongue exploring your mouth hotly.

"you're impossible-" stiles gasps, going in for more before he can finish. "-to be around-" his teeth nip your bottom lip. "-when i can't have you."

his lips leave a wet kiss on the corner of your mouth, so passionate that he misses, and he continues that trail onto your neck until he finds the spot that makes you squirm. his hands go to your waist, pulling you closer and knocking your knees together. you feel dizzy with want, barely registering his words.

"what-" you gasp, blinking and leaning into his demanding mouth. "what is that supposed to mean?"

stiles groans against the skin of your neck, kissing lower, closer to the sticky mess you made just minutes ago. "i can't think... can't even... fuckin'... breathe when you're near, y'look so pretty. j'st wanna make you-"

he interrupts himself again, opting instead to lick the ice cream off the top of your tits like he's starving. you gasp as the feel of his tongue against your skin, pressing your thighs together to try and relieve some of the sudden pressure shooting down your stomach to your core. he's barely making sense and he still has you all foggy brained, swaying just a bit under his touch.

"you-you've thought about this? befo- oh-" you stumble, as he tugs lightly against the low cut to give himself better access to the sweetness melted onto your skin. he laughs, seeming to clear up a bit.

"yeah. you kidding me? i've basically been-" he's kissing back up your neck now, seeming to track a path to your lips. "-perpetually hard for the past three weeks."

you swallow thickly and he captures your lips. stiles tastes like vanilla ice cream and it's the most tempting sin, luring you over the edge. enticing you to do things you'd normally pretend you weren't into. he runs a hand down the side of your body, squeezing your hip lightly. "you're torture, you know that?"

"i could say the same to you."

he smiles at you, like a sap, like a saint. you feel your mind fall into his hands and your heart nestle against his ribcage. you no longer belong to yourself. you never have. and neither does he, it seems, as his eyes wander all over you.

"wanna move to the bed? i can clean up your thighs..." his tone is low, clearly suggestive in a bad-pickup-line way. you nod, giggling girlishly and stiles hauls you up to gently lay you back on his bed, tugging your tank top off on the way. his eyes linger on your chest before moving along, kissing a wet trail down your body as he hooks his fingers into the waistband of your shorts. "god, look at you. you're gorgeous."

it's not like you're wearing lingerie and sexy makeup- you went to stiles' place to lounge, so you're wearing your lounge bra and some comfy shorts. stiles looks at you, though, as if you invented beauty. he sighs contentedly as he pulls your bottoms off slowly, eyes drinking in your stomach and hips and thighs like you're the first woman to have them. once he's got them far off enough, his hands press your hips back down and his eyes meet yours.

"not to late to back out. well- obviously it's never too late, it's just... okay, this is me asking for consent. i was trying to make it sexy, but it sounded a bit rapey."

you laugh breathlessly and nod at him where he stands, towering above your almost-naked form. "stiles, please stop talking and fulfill both of our fantasies already."

stiles grins and tugs his shirt halfway off before stopping abruptly. "wait- both?"

you roll your eyes. "stiles, why would i be so... so..."

"obedient?" he offers with a cocky smirk. you flush.

"agreeable, if i didn't want this?" you nibble your lip as he pulls his shirt the rest of the way off his body, getting on his knees at the edge of the bed and spreading your legs. your body moves pliantly under his hands. the sight of it all is downright promiscuous.

"well," stiles presses a kiss to the inside of your knee. it would be sweet if not for the sinful way his eyes are preoccupied with the wet spot on your panties. "i heard girls find consent sexy. maybe i screwed that one up a bit. what do you think is sexy?" 

he asks in that absent tone that tells you he's storing away information as he kisses further up the inside of your thighs more fervently. you let out a breath that feels too shaky too early and watch as his pink tongue swipes out to lick up some ice cream spill. it makes you clench around nothing. 

"any day now." his hand is gently rubbing your thigh as he moves to lick and suck almost crudely at your other thigh.

your eyes narrow slightly. "gimme a second."

he gets closer to where you're literally soaked for him, nibbling lightly at the plush flesh of your inner thigh. you shove down a low whine of impatience to avoid your already growing embarrassment.

"your attention to foreplay is- i like it." you admit softly and he hums, licking a stripe of ice cream out of the way. taking a second to think, you continue. "i like the... the desperation. how you took me without really... um... i like it when you just do what you want, i mean."

it's difficult to form a single thought once stiles presses a kiss against your clothed clit, being sure to add plenty of pressure. almost like a reward. "what if you don't like what i want? will you tell me to stop?"

you nod, chest rising and falling heavily with every breath. you glance down at stiles, and a small sound leaves your lips when your eyes catch his hand down his sweats, slowly stroking himself. he flushes. 

"you.... can't i help?"

he lets out a small moan and his eyes flutter as he halts his movements. "i don't- i don't have a condom."

against all better judgement, you shake your head and thread your fingers through his messy hair. "it's okay. just pull out, yeah?"

his brows shoot up, and you wonder for a moment if he's about to cum in his pants. but then he nods and rises, standing in between your legs now. his fingers deftly tug off your panties, pocketing them in his sweats (for "safe keeping") and his lips part silently once you're exposed to him.

your legs begin to close, feeling suddenly too naked and too insecure for his hungry eyes, but his hands catch your knees easily, even giving you a little tap as a sign to scoot further onto the bed.

before you comply, curiosity takes over and you tug at the strings on his sweatpants. "wait, what about you?"

he tilts his head. "what about me?"

you narrow your eyes, fingers dipping under the band. "can i take these off?"

"oh!" his brows shoot up, as if he forgot about himself altogether. "oh, yeah, of course. please."

you waste no time pulling his bottoms off, his cock springing out. it's flushed and leaking, looking properly erotic in the dim lighting of his room. your eyes flutter up to meet his and you wrap your hands around him, pumping twice.

stiles moans, hips twitching into your hands on their own accord. "holy shit."

part of you just wants to finish him that way, positively fucking hooked on the look he has, pleasure pinching his pretty face all tight. he pants and pulls your hands away, eyes squeezing shut for just a moment. "y're gonna make me cum, holy shit."

"i'm sorry, you just..." you fluster, laughing a tad at the both of you. he shakes his head, though, so you fall silent and let him crawl over top of you, kissing you deeply. he unhooks your bra with a bit of struggle and you both have to cooperate to get it off of your body. you giggle, and his eyes are locked on you as your smile slowly fades.

"don't be sorry," his voice is gentle, "i've imagined that so many times it should be criminal." he kisses you again and you feel his fingers graze along your stomach. stiles pulls back far enough to see your whole face and you wonder why- then his thumb is circling your clit.

the high-pitched gasp you suck in is not as embarrassing as the louder whine that leaves your lips once he's slid a finger into you, eyes closing for a moment to soak in the bliss. it feels like heaven, for a long moment. but his fingers are slow. too slow. and even when you cant your hips, he doesn't speed up enough to have you seeing stars (like you know he can). instead, he has you writhing impatiently. "you're... stiles, please."

it's whiney and pathetic, but stiles seems to stifle a smirk when he hears it, covering it with a sympathetic pout instead. "i know, pretty girl, i know. you gonna ask nicely?"

and you knew you gave him permission to do whatever he wanted. but you didn't expect to be into it. your lips part and you almost tell him to shut up and fuck you already. but you're hot with embarrassment and something else he can totally feel when your walls clench around his torturous fingers. so instead, you opt for falling right into his hands.

"please, stiles, fuck me already." you whisper, lips brushing against his when you speak. "please."

"there we go." he presses a peck to your lips and slips his fingers out. "such a good girl."

you aren't given any time to process that and the fact that it made you throb like a personal whore- stiles is already swiping his tip through your folds, making you gasp when it catches on your clit. he's panting heavily as he lines himself up, and you're a little surprised when he finds your hand and laces his own against it. 

then, he's stretching you open and you're seeing stars, just like you knew he could make you do.

stiles is sweet, but he's not exactly gentle. hips rolling into you and his tongue pressing against your own. a hand pinning you to the bed and keeping him upright, the other tweaking your nipples or teasing your clit. he's all over you, pulling back every once in awhile to watch the way you arch your back and gasp out unintelligible pleas. his moans are about as pathetic as yours and he hisses "fuck" into your ear when you clench around him tightly. your dance goes on like this for a moment, and he's rambling horny nonsense constantly.

"stiles, 'm close-" you whimper, free hand pulling him closer by the hair. he gasps out and his hips snap roughly. 

"yeah, me too. jesus, you're so perfect. look at you." he pushes some of your hair out of the way, eyes meeting yours. "you gonna cum for me?"

you nod, eyebrows turning up as you feel the warmth crawl up your belly. your free hand tugs at his mussed up hair again and his expression matches yours. he speeds up and you gasp and whimper, pliant under his body as he fucks you into his mattress.

"stiles, fuck, stiles, i'm-"

"that's it, there you go, hooooly fuck." he holds your hips down when you finish, rutting into you with an open mouth. he's got his forehead pressed against your own, swallowing each others desperate moans as he rides you through your orgasm. stiles' moan is sudden and loud when he pulls out in a rush and finishes on your cunt, his tip pressing into your overstimulated clit and making your legs twitch.

you gasp out a breath and sink into the mattress, sighing contentedly. when your eyes flutter open on heavy lids, stiles is gazing at you. he leans down and kisses you, soft and sweet and full of a confession long coming.

"that was..."

"amazing." he finishes dazedly, hands running over your bare skin anywhere he can reach. "want me to use my mouth?"

your brows raise. "stiles, i just came."

"i know." he sighs, playing with some of your hair. "it was so fucking hot."

"you said you've been perpetually hard for three weeks?" you attempt to change the subject, but stiles only grins wider.

"yeah, so i've got plenty more fantasies to play out before i'm out of steam."

you shove him lightly, fighting a flustered smile. "just- give me a second, you dog!" 

"awooooo." stiles deadpans an imitation of a howl, nuzzling into your neck. "let me know when you're ready. i'll just be here. naked. on top of you. in the mood to make you pass out from orgasms. willing to learn every kink you have- which, hey, the praise kink was a good guess, right?"

you groan, pushing him off of you. your face is flushed red and you snatch his nearby discarded t-shirt when you sit up. "that was so out of left field."

"yeah, but was it? i mean, you-"

"i'm getting in the shower, stiles." you stand and take a few steps away from him before you turn to gauge his reaction.

his eyebrows shoot up from where he sits on the bed. it makes you bright fucking red when his eyes trail down and he watches a bead of his own cum slide down your inner thigh. he licks his lips.

"i'll come with."

☆

this is from the vault, so if you've read it already, that's why! don't be afraid to interact with it anyway, i love crazy readers and feral responses sjdjsaskdj

[kitchenisking]

Things To Do On The Dates You Aren't Having by lielabell - (Rating: Mature, Words: 5,557)

"So are we dating now or what?" Stiles asks the third time he finds himself doing the obligatory postcoital cuddling with a certain sour wolf.

the engagement by bibliosexual - (Rating: G, Words: 1,595)

“Stiles,” Derek growls the next morning, “why did Wanda just call me to congratulate me on my engagement to you?”

“Uh, because we are engaged?” Stiles tries. “We’re having a spring wedding with two flavors of cake, or did you forget? By the way, you still need to buy me a ring.”

Hypothetically Speaking by KaliopeShipsIt - (Rating: Not Rated, Words: 2,916)

“Soooooo, Daddy-O. Hypothetically speaking. Do you think you could potentially see yourself loving a magical werewolf grandbaby rather unexpectedly begotten via the carnal jubilation that is one man shoving his dick up another guy’s ass?”

Textual Promise by Areiton - ( Rating: Explicit, Words: 1,828)

Derek stares at the text for a long time before he goes for a run. Because this? From Stiles? This isn't something they do. 

He still says 'ok'.

My Sea to Your Shore by Aquila_Star - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 66,178)

The setting was idyllic, but when he looked down at the poor animal caught in the trap, struggling for its life and its freedom, he saw only how its desperation mirrored his own, the trap he was caught in just as unforgiving. Unlike the rabbit, Derek's trap was not the result of random bad luck. It was a trap of his own making.

As he headed back to the house, he couldn't help but wonder if there was someone who could wrangle him from his trap, and whether he would survive to see his freedom.

kids say (and do) the darndest things by EvanesDust  - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 7,787)

Have kids, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. ...or the one where Stiles and Derek's kids had no shame.

Nothing's Ever Worth it if it Doesn't Scare You by In_Over_My_Head  - (Rating: Mature, Words: 3,707)

Running had become his default reaction to Scott. Whenever he had a stupid plan or didn’t listen, mostly whenever his moronic actions put the pack in jeopardy…again. Stiles ran now, ran because he knew that if they did what Scott wanted someone would get hurt. They’d just gotten Kira back and now Scott wanted to put her in danger by fighting something without all the information. 

He knew Argent would try and help, to change Scott’s course of action, but it wouldn’t work. Maybe, since Cora was back, Peter might show up too. Sometimes he could get through to Scott. The problem with that was Peter always had an ulterior motive, and Stiles only figured it out half the time. Peter was dangerous, but Scott didn’t seem to get that either. God he missed Derek, missed knowing there was someone that would listen, that would get what he meant and actually try to help.

I know what you did Last Hot Girl Summer by Arver7 - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 6,908)

Stiles thinks he wants a Hot Girl Summer after a break-up. What he gets is definitely a hot girl summer and so much more.

"good boy" by quackquackcey - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 10,807)

Stiles doesn’t think his senior year can get any worse with his best friend turning rabid every full moon, until he finds himself stuck with a massive black wolf overnight that doesn’t even like jerky.

But on the bright side, the hot guy with the half-dying sister he met at the gas station seems to be in town for a bit, so there’s still a chance that his senior year, his supposed best year of high school, isn’t a complete lost cause…right?

That is, if he can manage to juggle the sassy wolf that he takes care of at night and the hot guy that asked him out on a date for some reason.~ 🐺

Finders Keepers by inhystereks - (Rating: G, Words: 3,340)

“Sorry, I know I’m kind of staring, but she didn’t tell me you were so good-looking,” Stiles babbled, wanting to hit himself even as the words left his mouth.

“She,” the guy said, something in his expression shifting. “Laura.”

“No,” Stiles replied with a frown. “Lydia. Who’s Laura?”

“My sister,” the guy said, brows furrowed once more. “Who’s Lydia?”

“My best friend,” Stiles said.

[rainbowsuitcase]

My favorite bits from Top Gun Memos

which is a really cool book about the making of Top Gun! I did my best to make this post accessible, but please tell me if something could be better. Emphasis is mine.

This is a part 2, find part 1 here!

Tom Cruise almost fucking died. And "self-induced CPR" is my new favorite phrase.

(Transctiption: “It was a really nice sequence that Tony designed, and we executed, and it didn’t get into the film.”

Robert G. Willard, who worked on special effects, said the dummy made to look like Goose helped pull Cruise underwater. “They just got a dummy, and stuffed a picture in the face card, behind the glass, and it was enough to look like Goose.” It was made of foam, and when he saw them adding water to make it sink lower in the raft, and even weights, he said he warned them. “I told them, too much weight and you will lose it. I was overruled.” End Transcription.)

(Transcription: He saw what happened from the ship. “All of a sudden the dummy starts to sink, waterlogged, and Cruise’s leg is wrapped around one of the shrouds of the parachute.”

Kauber saw it happen but was too far away to react. Two other Navy rescue swimmers, Daryl Silva and John Butler, were closer. “They free-dove down there and cut Cruise loose. It’s lucky they got to him in time.”

They had knives as part of safety gear, which they used to cut him free.

In the roughly 40 seconds it took to bring him back up, Kauber had swum closer to the life raft, and was there when they surfaced. “Cruise had inhaled a lot of salt water and we threw him up into the Zodiac. “He looked like he was unconscious, but he came to. I think he landed either on his stomach or his chest, because once he hit the side of the rubber boat, it was like a [bold] self-induced CPR, [end bold] and it forced all that water out.”

They got Cruise to the ship and out of the costume. The actor was still struggling to regain his strength when Scott — unaware of the severity of what had occurred — yelled that he wanted to get another take. Cruise began yelling at the director that he wasn’t going to do it, using some “choice words” for Scott. “It’s the only time I saw Cruise lose it with Tony Scott,” said Wade. “He was pissed.”

“I remember Cruise being adamantly opposed,” said Kauber, with a degree of understatement. “He was raising his voice to Tony Scott. As far as the actual conversation, it revolved around whether he’d get back in the water,” said Kauber. “It scared the heck out of Cruise. He was that close to being crab bait in San Diego Bay.” End Transcription.)

2. He isn't making a documentary, you guys.

(Transcription: It was also out of the realm of possibility, which irked the Navy guys.

Technically it was possible for an F-14 to fly inverted, but it wasn’t something they would do and they would never be that close to another aircraft. The pilots — increasingly comfortable around the director, who was in their milieu — told him as much. Scott revived the line he’d used earlier in production: He wasn’t making a documentary. [bold] Pilots would sometimes restate it to each other: “He isn’t making a documentary.” [end bold] End Transcription.)

3. Again, I need to know who. Just for my personal amusement this time.

(Transcription: Everyone was shown aerial clips, without sound, including film shot of the actors when they flew in the F-14s. G-force had not been kind to them, and the shots documented a fair amount of airsickness. Baranek said he could hear the young men in the room cajoling each other. [bold] When one of the images showed a particular actor vomiting, another called out, “That’s some of your best work, right there.” [end bold] End Transcription.)

4. On shooting the cockpit close-ups.

(Transcription: Meanwhile, something had gone awry with the gimbal, which controlled the cockpit set. They had designed it to operate hydraulically, Willard said, “but we bent something the first day.” That didn’t change the fact that the heavy cockpit set had to be moved, and with an actor inside. “We ended up doing it all by manpower,” Willard said. The faux cockpit was held up mechanically but shifting it was hard physical work.

[bold] “There were six guys jockeying Cruise and Edwards around like Egyptian pharaohs,” [end bold] recalled Heatley, who was there to help work on dialogue. “There was a circular light around them and Art Scholl’s photography in the background. It was incredible.” End Transcription.)

5. Now I want to watch it again, just to see if I can hear this.

(Transcription: Hall began building a library of “great animal sounds” that were more dynamic. She focused on animal roars, specifically lions and tigers, and mixed in monkey screeches and parts of an elephant trumpet to get a slight scream. [bold] “So if you see a jet flying across the screen it might be a mix of 15 or 16 monkeys and elephants,” [end bold] she recalled. “It was a lot of fun.” End Transcription.)

6. The only sex scene I ever felt the need to look away from didn't need to happen.

(Transcription: Exhibitors thought the relationship with Maverick and Charlie was too light. [bold] “We felt we needed that sexual thing, for Maverick to bonk Kelly,” [end bold] Scott said in an interview years later, although by all accounts the director was not part of the “we” when it happened.

[bold] “Nobody thought it needed that,” said Weber. “‘We’ were done.” [end bold] End Transcription.)

7. Reviews!

(Transcription: “An empty-headed technological marvel,” wrote Michael Wilmington in the Los Angeles Times. The overall impression left by the movie was that of a “Disco War,” he continued. “Like disco, it evaporates from your mind minutes after you leave. Even though it’s an irresponsible movie (but one that has hit written all over it), it’s hard to get offended. [bold] The deepest impulses behind Top Gun are not political but sexual. You can tell by the number of scenes set in the shower.” [end bold] End Transcription.)

(Transcription: Reviews abroad echoed a similar theme to the early reviews stateside, but with some cheeky British perspective. “For a classic American hero, you couldn’t find anyone better than fighter pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell,” columnist Pauline McCleod wrote when the movie was released in Great Britain on Oct. 3, 1986. [bold] “He’s about as manufactured as American processed cheese and his fellow countrymen just LOVE him!” [end bold] Cruise had played the role “with great skill,” she wrote, noting it was the No. 1 film in the U.S. End Transcription.)

8. Is Tom Cruise one of the most hated men in the American acting community? It's not impossible!

(Transcription: During a 2014 appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Kimmel asked Cruise about the first time he had traveled the world to promote a movie.

The actor said that it was during the foreign press junket tour for Top Gun, which he said took four months. They’d spend weeks in every city they visited in Italy, France, and Japan. Cruise told Kimmel he was the one who came up with the idea of premiering films in other countries, though he said, “It took me a few years to get it going.” Kimmel quipped, [bold] “So all these other actors must want to kill you.” [end bold] End Transcription.)

[ceratedfish24]

raises mic 2 u. snowangel headcanons?

(I have one that i'll share: their relationship p much kicked off in limited life when, one night, skizz couldn't sleep, so went out to the beach to get some air. coincidentally there was a certain fish in the water... Scott made and carved an intricate netherite sword for skizz as an apology for the boogey kill. it couldn't exactly be used on the LiL server (op + had some Old Galactic enchants like loyalty, which is non-applicable on the Life servers), but it carried over into every other server skizz joined. with that rather over-the-top gift, the conversation... spiralled. and ended with them the next morning making cookies and being gay)

That is SO cute and they ABSOLUTELY bake together. Skizz can’t follow a recipe he doesn’t make every other day to save his life. Scott doesn’t need a recipe. He knows most basic recipes by heart.

My personal headcanons?

Scott is REALLY good at hiding that something’s bothering him, but Skizz can read him like a book. Skizz might not be the most observant person, but his people skills are like no other. Scott used to be surprised and dismissive whenever Skizz called him out on it, but now he just collapses into Skizz’s arms, knowing that there’s no point in hiding that something, no matter how small, is upsetting him.

Skizz has mentioned that he could fall asleep in Scott’s arms, and so I absolutely headcanon that, when Skizz can’t fall asleep, he lays his head in Scott’s lap and asks Scott to sing for him. Scott will drop anything and everything to do this whenever asked.

Scott bought Skizz a whole new wardrobe. Dragged him to every store and made him try on so many clothes. Skizz was just happy to be there. He struck over exaggerated poses every time he showed Scott a new outfit. Scott clapped and cheered and hummed and hawed the whole time.

Scott and Skizz have completely different family favorite dishes. Sharing them with one another is a very important part of their relationship. Skizz comes from a world of meats and roasted vegetables and biscuits and gravy. Scott comes from a world of various pastas and steamed vegetables and different ways of serving rice. They like their own food, but they really love the other’s food, and cooking for each other and with each other is always the highlight of their day.

Scott loves to go all out for the holidays. Whether it’s Halloween, Christmas, Valentines, New Years, whatever, he goes all out. Skizz isn’t the type of guy who’s self motivated to put up decorations, but he does enjoy the decorations and putting work into something that makes his hardworking sweetheart of a partner so happy.

Skizz and Scott are both very social people. They’re the ones who put on holiday parties and Friendsgiving every year. Most couples would stress out about this and divide tasks unevenly and get frustrated, but I genuinely don’t think Skizz and Scott would struggle with this. With their experience, Skizz would immediately have a prioritized list of everything that needs to get done, Scott has a vision about how he thinks it should look, Skizz inherently trusts Scott’s vision and helps Scott get everything he needs, and then Skizz and Scott work together to make it all happen and it’s a hit every time. Scott is so grateful not to have to take complete charge of every event he wants to put on, and Skizz is so grateful to have someone with such an artistic mind grace his life like this.

Scott is a book lover, so Skizz built him a beautiful old-fashion style bookshelf. Skizz swears that Scott loves the bookshelf more than he loves Skizz.

These two for SURE go for walks. They’ll walk anywhere. They love to walk through parks. They love to walk on boardwalks. They love to window shop. It’s one of their favorite ways to wind down together.

They share a scarf when it’s cold. Skizz often forgets that they are sharing a scarf and will try to wander away or bend down. Scott is offended every time.

Skizz is not the type of guy to start a fight when it really matters. When it comes down to it, Skizz is a professional at de-escalating a situation and handling it maturely. In a game, though? Skizz will defend Scott’s honor to no end, die about it, and dramatically fall over with declarations of loyalty and peace with his decisions.

Scott isn’t the type of guy to start a fight either. He is the type of guy to get you fired if you insult his man badly enough, regardless of whether or not your career is relevant to the offense you’re being fired for. Nobody ever knows that it’s him who does it. Not even Skizz realizes this is happening. Scott didn’t start this feud, but he will end it and in one single move.

Skizz isn’t usually a sweets guy, but Scott is a “what if we got a sweet little treat🥺” guy, and Skizz gives in every single time.

Scott is a passenger prince, and Skizz willingly sets up the passenger seat with blankets, snacks, drinks, and stuff to do. Scott never expects it, and he’s grateful every time.

Scott is a clean freak. Skizz isn’t a dirty person, but he’s also not a clean freak. It doesn’t bother Skizz, and Scott uses it as an excuse to have something to do when he’s overwhelmed and Skizz isn’t home.

Skizz took Scott to a carnival, and it was the first time Scott had ever been on a ferris wheel. He’s not particularly afraid of heights. He just has never had much a reason to go on one. It seems like such a two or more people activity, and Scott just never had someone else want to go. He doesn’t realize that people aren’t exaggerating how romantic it can be until he’s up at the top with Skizz’s arms wrapped around him.

Their first kiss happened because Skizz offhandedly said something that made Scott laugh, and Skizz unconsciously zeroed in on the sound of Scott’s laugh and kissed him without even thinking about it. The sound of Scott’s laugh and the mirth in his eyes was just too overwhelming for Skizz. He pulled back immediately afterwards, but Scott wouldn’t let him go.

I know they’re the same height, but Skizz is slightly taller to me.

Skizz will kiss Scott ANYWHERE. Scott’s hands are a common place, but anywhere that is Scott and that is available in the moment is free game to Skizz.

Skizz didn��t know how to dance before he got with Scott, and now they dance everyday, even if it’s just swaying while one of them hums with a frozen lasagna in the oven.

Skizz loves cheesy mugs, and Scott keeps indulging him. They have a dedicated mug cabinet. Everyone else keeps calling them crazy, but Scott insists that no one can talk about his boyfriend like that.

Skizz was not a jewelry guy before he met Scott. Scott gifts Skizz so much jewelry, and Skizz can’t deny that Scott knows what he’s doing. That man has taste. Every piece so naturally enhances Skizz’s style, and, best of all, they always remind him of Scott, wherever he goes. He got his ears re-pierced for Scott.

Scott is a ring gay irl (we are KIN), and I completely headcanon that with his character. Skizz takes notice of the rings he wears the most often and buys him so many more. Every one that Skizz buys him is Scott’s favorite. Skizz knows Scott’s ring size per finger by heart. This information will be very useful when Skizz wants to propose.

Also, with the amount of work Scott does everyday, Skizz totally bought him a gorgeous blue pen with Scott’s name engraved on it. The ink shimmers without glittering. It’s just enough dramatic flair. Scott has not used a different pen since Skizz gave this to him.

Skizz is a complete sports head. Scott can’t name even one single sport, but he will be damned if he doesn’t support Skizz’s interests. He makes so much food every time Impulse comes over to watch a game. He buys tickets to see local games. He has NO idea what’s going on, but, if it’s men’s sports, he’ll point at the player he thinks is the hottest. Skizz will then, playfully, blow up about why Skizz himself is the hottest, thank you very much, and lather Scott’s face with kisses that tickle. Scott may not know sports, but he does educate himself a little on Skizz’s favorite teams and their players and history. He’s nothing if not supportive.

They’re not a “I need to bite you” couple, but Scott is a “I need to feel you” partner. He’ll sporadically and frantically grab onto Skizz throughout the day. It’s his dose of exercising his right, as Skizz’s boyfriend, to have casual touch with Skizz without it seeming weird. At first, Skizz would stop what he’s doing or saying whenever it happened and ask Scott if he’s okay. Scott’s response is to stare into space for several seconds and then return to what he’s doing. Now, Skizz doesn’t so much as bat an eye when this happens. If anyone asks why Scott does it, Skizz will say that Scott has magic powers and is “analyzing my genetics to figure out how I’m so sexy”. Scott will say “cause I can and no one thinks it’s that strange. Could you imagine if you did it to Skizz? Weird. I’d have to kill you.”

Skizz is a sitcoms guy. Scott is a musicals guy. This does not stop them from getting entirely too invested in the other’s preferred form of media.

Scott loves to take pictures of Skizz, but he always forgets to take pictures of himself. He’s very subtle about it. His camera roll is full of pictures of Skizz, both photogenic ones and not. When Skizz is gone at night, whether working late or on a trip, and Scott can’t sleep, Scott scrolls through his favorite pictures of Skizz.

Skizz tends to be an “in the moment” guy, but, when Scott is particularly photogenic and in amazing lighting, Skizz yells “STAY RIGHT THERE. DON’T MOVE. DON’T CHANGE YOUR EXPRESSION.” Scott will freeze, but his face will do that thing he does where he’s smiling like everything’s okay, but his eyes are wide and unsure and looking around frantically. Skizz will then spend over five minutes trying to find his phone, which is in his pocket the whole time.

Skizz gets frustrated when he has bad days. He sighs a lot and gets more pessimistic than normal and gets angry about little things. Scott’s response is to cup his face press his forehead head to Skizz’s and take deep breaths until Skizz leans into him. Then, they talk about Skizz’s day.

Scott gets teary eyed and anxious on his bad days. He frets about things he usually doesn’t, and he over analyzes every little interaction he has with everybody. He bites his nails, does chores, and grabs onto Skizz more often. When Skizz starts seeing these behaviors, he hugs Scott really tight for several seconds and then softens the hug as a way of releasing all the tension in Scott’s body. Scott melts every time, and he usually falls asleep ten minutes later, exhausted from all that stress.

Scott’s hair is naturally blue. Skizz didn’t know this until he wanted to dye his own hair the same shade just to get a reaction out of Scott. When he couldn’t find Scott’s hair dye, he confronted him about it like a kid who just found out that their parents put the cookie jar on a shelf they can’t reach. Scott laughed so hard.

Skizz is an outdoors person. Scott is not. Scott does it anyway, because you can’t keep your outdoor dog (Skizz) inside all day. It’s just not healthy. He tries to release bugs back into the wild, but he screams every time they move. It always makes Skizz laugh.

Scott has a playlist for absolutely everything. He has never played his Skizz💙 playlist in front of Skizz. He has absolutely played it in front of Cleo, Joel, Gem, Lizzie, and Martyn to the point where they are so sick of it. They unwillingly know every song on that damn list. Joel and Martyn are working together to play it in front of Skizz. It will never work.

Y’all, Skizz has angel wings and Scott has snow owl wings from Empires SMP Season 1. They can preen each other. Their bed is specifically made for people with wings. Also, both of their wings come from divine sources. I’m sure there’s some kind of holy oil or something that Scott washes his wings with once a week that Skizz knows nothing about. Skizz’s wings are so messy. Scott is appalled. He has to teach Skizz proper wing care.

Thank you for reading my ramble!! I wrote a lot because I didn’t want to give you like three if you were expecting more, but then I couldn’t stop💙🩵

[mikelogan]

Hello. 🥺I hope you can still remember me! 😂 would you mind provide me the specific tutorial on how to make these HQ gifs especially this post: https://www.tumblr.com/sinnersmovie/781373995991826432/the-pitt-2025-created-by-r-scott?source=share ? 🥺 the quality is really nice! I have the problem of gif making, the thing is that I have followed many tutorials on how to make HQ gifs but it always turn out differently even tho I follow every step.. I am too confused. Literally, so desperate to fix the problem 😭 not sure what did I do wrong..

yes, hi!!! so, for this gifset from the pitt, i can walk you through my process on capturing footage and coloring, but if what you're struggling with is quality, the most important part is the file and definition of the footage you're working with.

i personally almost exclusively use 1080p footage with a decent file size. a file can be HD and still vary in size from a couple hundred megabytes to several gigabytes. this will also depend on the length of the episodes (half-hour episodes vs. an hour-plus). since we're talking specifically about my gifs of the pitt, my DLs of the episodes are all in the 2-3.5gb range, give or take.

i know there are gifmakers that swear by 4k footage and i certainly won't deny that gifs made from 4k files are stunning, but i've already spent a lot of money on external hard drives and don't have the space to spare for the frankly massive sizes of 4k movies and tv. besides, most 1080p quality gifs turn out perfectly well!

below the cut, i'll show you how i capture, gif, and color scenes from the pitt like this:

note: this tutorial is beginner-oriented!

step 1a: once you obtain your file (this is not a piracy tutorial lmao, but if you google "piracy reddit" you can find a lot of reputable suggestions for sites to peruse), it's time to screencap or clip the scene(s) you want to gif. i would say that, from what i've seen, most gifmakers use screencaps, but i highly prefer taking short video clips (which i keep and usually label for future use/reference), so i'll be showing you that version. if you would prefer to screencap, please check the "beginner tutorials" tag on my resource blog @gifmakerresource

step 1b. i only use windows pcs, so i can't give any specialized info regarding macs, just as a disclaimer. i use the program VLC Media Player, both for clipping scenes and as my regular media player on both my laptop and my desktop. to initially set up vlc's recording capabilities, i used this website (please just ignore all their annoying advertising for movavi).

step 1c. now that vlc is set up to record footage played through it, i open my video clip (ctrl+o) and navigate to the scene i ultimately want to gif. i typically recommend recording an extra 5-10 seconds before and after the clip, especially if you need to convert the clip afterwards.

step 1d (optional). depending on the file format of your episode, you may need to convert the clips you take before photoshop will accept them. for example, a vast majority of the files i download are mkv files, but photoshop works best with mp4 files. for this, i use another program called HandBrake. once downloaded, i add whatever file(s) i need to convert, select the appropriate preset (which is almost always "Super HQ 1080p30 Surround" to maintain as much of the original quality as possible). you can select where the converted files automatically save for organization purposes, just like with vlc.

step 2. now that we have the clip we want to turn into a gif, it's time to bring it into photoshop. to do so, select file -> import video frames to layers. once you select your video clip, photoshop will pop up with a little media player with a few controls. here's what that looks like:

the box on the left that i've highlighted is what you'll adjust depending on whether you want to load in the entire clip or a specific range of the clip. with the way i clip scenes, i have quite literally NEVER used "from beginning to end." instead, i use the toggles on either side of the progress bar (circled in red) to select a specific range. you don't have to be overly precise with this as you can always delete extra frames, so i'll navigate using those little arrows until i roughly have the shot i want to turn into one gif and click okay. i would not recommend checking "limit to every x frames" because while this can help with file size, it will make your gif appear choppy. make sure "make frame animation" is checked.

this is what photoshop looks like after clicking OK:

across the bottom are the frames. make sure that "forever" is selected at the bottom left rather than once or three times. this makes sure that wherever you post your gif, it will play continuously. the 0.04 below each frame is the frame rate -- at this setting, each frame plays for four tenths of a second. this might vary depending on your source material, but i HIGHLY recommend using 0.05-0.06. we're not going to worry about that yet, though, so don't bother changing it right now.

over on the right under "layers" are, you guessed it, each frame's corresponding layer. now, i could go more in-depth on this, but i don't gif using frame animation. i used to a very long time ago (over ten years ago), but i use a series of actions to convert to timeline animation. before doing that, however, i execute a couple more steps first.

step 3 (optional). i may be a slob irl, but i'm extremely organized and neat on my computers, so the first thing i do is use an action i created to select all the layers and put them into a group. to manually do this, you can either click on the first (or last) layer and then click on the last (or first) while holding down shift OR you can go to select -> all layers OR you can use the keyboard shortcut alt+ctrl+a. i just turned this process into an action to save time.

step 4 (optional). delete any excess frames. because i don't bother with being extremely precise with photoshop's media player, i usually have to trim off extra frames at the beginning and/or end of my gif. to delete frames, select the first frame and either hold down control and click each one or hold down shift and click the last one to select everything in between. once the frames you want to delete are selected, click the little trashcan below the frames (near the left side just before the horizontal scrollbar).

note: to watch your gif at any time, simply press the spacebar. press it again to pause.

step 5. while everyone's process is different, i prefer to crop my gif to its final proportions here. there's nothing wrong with doing it later, but sharpening and coloring can take longer at larger dimensions. the width of a single gif in a row on tumblr needs to be 540px. two gifs in a row are both 268px wide. three gifs in a row are 177px, thus making tumblr's gutters (the small transparent spaces separating gifs) 4px.

step 6. this is when i sharpen my gif and convert it to timeline animation. when it comes to sharpening, i think everyone probably does it a little differently. here's how i sharpen my gifs (which i turned into an action to save time) and here's the sharpening tutorials tag on my resource blog. as with most things gifmaking-related, i recommend trial and error. try different things until you find what you like! once again, to save time, i turned that sharpening tutorial (and its base sharpening) and the timeline conversion into a single action.

to convert your gif from frame animation to timeline, you need to select all your layers and all your frames and select "convert to video timeline" from the menu after clicking these three lines:

this is what i have once i've run my action to sharpen and convert:

you can adjust how zoomed in your timeline is with the slider at the bottom and if you're having issues with playback (though especially with larger/longer gifs, it always takes a while to load before playing smoothly) click the gear icon near the top of this screenshot and make sure it's set to 100% and to loop playback.

(group 2 is my vivid sharpening per the tutorial i linked, so if you don't use that, yours won't look exactly like this.)

step 7. time for my favorite part: coloring! now, i'd recommend taking a look at coloring tutorials as every show and every movie is going to be different. even separate scenes in the same episode can have totally different lighting. i have a bad good habit of saving just about every psd (photoshop file that contains all coloring adjustment layers), so there are times where i can just reuse a coloring i've already made rather than having to color each gifset from scratch, but you might be surprised just how much i DO color from scratch.

in several of my other gif tutorials, i explain and go step-by-step through my entire coloring process and why i use the adjustment layers i use, but as i said, what works for one scene may not work for another, so the best thing i can recommend is to familiarize yourself with commonly-utilized adjustment layers. play around with them, see what each one does, and over time, you'll be able to recognize which ones to use and when to use them. the adjustment layers i use are brightness/contrast, curves, selective color, channel mixer, gradient map, vibrance, hue/saturation, photo filter, levels, and exposure. the bolded ones are the ones i use on almost every single coloring.

on the navigation page on my resource blog, you can find a lot of tutorials that are specific to one or more types of adjustment layers and i encourage you to check those out as well as explore the navigation page itself.

here's an overview of my coloring for the pitt:

and here's a visualization for you of what each layer does:

(top to bottom, left to right) no coloring, brightness/contrast, adding curves, adding selective color 1 (black, neutrals, and white), adding selective color 2 (blue and cyan), adding gradient map (b&w set to 25%), fully colored, without vivid sharpening, and a comparison of the original to the full-coloring.

step 8. it's time to save! i HIGHLY recommend using this save action from @anyataylorjoy as it's a total lifesaver. if you save your gif right from here, photoshop will automatically set your frame rate to 0.07. while i used to gif at 0.07, i cannot believe how slow and choppy that looks now. all of my gifs are now 0.05, which is what this action does in part. without this action, you'd have to save your gif here and then open that file, change your frame rate, and re-save.

once this action has finished running, you go to file -> export -> save for web (legacy). here are my save settings, which do make a difference:

just remember, to be uploaded to tumblr, a single gif must be below 10mb in size. # of frames, #of colors, and dimensions all play a big part in the size of your gif. here's the finished gif at 540px:

to sum up, what's most important when trying to make high-quality gifs is the quality of your footage. generally, the larger the file size the better, but you do not have to use 4k instead of 1080p. and a 3gb 1080p file will likely look higher quality than a 300mb 1080p file. sharpening and coloring go into it, yes, but they're probably not going to make or break your gif.

as always, if you have additional questions or need clarification on any part of this tutorial, please let me know! i don't believe in gatekeeping and will always help to the best of my ability (it just might take me a few days).

[kuroko-no-cuties]

How Kuroko and Akashi would react to their girlfriend calling them a short king 👑

AKASHI…

Would completely freeze at his desk. He’d slowly turn his thankfully monochromatic maroon gaze towards you before uttering a slightly amused/offended…

“Pardon me?”

You struggle to hold in a snicker as you reiterate your previous sentence. “I said, ‘Don’t overwork yourself My Short King. You should take a break.’”

His eyebrow twitches and you’re not entirely sure what that means. Even though Bokushi isn’t in command any longer, normal Akashi can still be rather unpredictable when he wants to be. That’s why you’re pretty dumbfounded once your normally composed and calm Akashi let’s out a loud “PFFT!” and presses a fist to his mouth to fight the growing smile on his lips.

“You’re rather remarkable darling…I’m…not quite sure how to respond to that…” to which you bat your eyelashes and reply, “Well how about by taking a break an spending some time with your darling?”

He snickers once more (wow twice in one setting, what a giggly boy he is today) and stands up from his desk to take you by the hand.

“So be it then.”

Now, Akashi Seijuro is…Akashi Seijuro. He’s not gonna let some little crack his girlfriend made about his height get to him. He will, however, make a conscious decision to straighten his back and hold his head high around you, just to make it clear who is actually the short one in this relationship.

KUROKO…

Would look at you confused but immediately see that you’re trying to tease him and just pretend he didn’t hear you.

You poke his cheek and snicker, “Oi, I know you heard me Tetsu.”~

“…”

“Come on, My Short King, answer the question. Where do you wanna go to ea-“

“Would you mind not calling me that. Please.”

He replies in his usual soft tone as he keeps his gaze focused on the novel in his hands. You bite you lip as you attempt (and fail) at holding in a snort. You can’t really tell if he’s just refusing to play along with your little game or if he’s genuinely upset that you made a crack about his height. You mull over whether you want to take it easy in him or not. You decide to end the short jokes, but concluded that one last little teasing nudge wouldn’t hurt. You throw your arms around him and kiss his temple. “Aww sorry Tetsu-kun. I didn’t mean to make my little blueberry angy~” you coo in a baby voice while nuzzling his cheek.

Kuroko bristled from underneath your arms. If there was one thing that ruffled his feathers, it was being treated like a child. He experienced more than a fair share of embarrassment at getting demeaning head pats from Murasakibara that one time at the street game. And let’s not even talk about how “Dad” picked him up like a toddler in front of his whole team. So yeah…jokes about his stature aren’t exactly his favorite things. He knows you’re just messing with him and trying to have some fun so he decided not to take it too seriously- however that doesn’t mean he’s gonna let you off the hook Scott free.

He closes his book and slowly stands from his desk and you mistakenly take it as a sign to continue on to the topic of food.

“Ah great! So where do you wanna go? I was think about this cute new cafe that ju- kya!”

And just like that the phantom sixth man has you pinned against the wall. His hands in either side of your head. He leans in, slowly to emphasize the height advantage he actually has on you, while biting back a smile at the flustered look on your face.

“Sorry, but who exactly is the short one in this relationship?” He whispers, his baby blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Uhh…I…”

You’re at a lost for words. Did your invisible simple vanilla, blue boy Tetsu seriously just kabedon you? And size you up? Who is this kid?

After seeing you’re dumbfounded expression, Kuroko takes it that you’ve learned your lesson. He lets out a soft snort as he gently reaches for your hand and pulls you along out the door.

“Sorry, I decided to get you back but maybe I went a little too far. Anyway, let’s go to that cute cafe you mentioned, Shorty.”

….no seriously….who IS this kid?!

[jayflying]

I think people should be more insane about the narrative potential of Empires season 1 happening immediately post-Last Life, actually.

Now obviously there's the Flower Husbands reincarnation romance from Third Life, that's just canon.

But does Scott remember that this isn't his first time struggling against the forces of corruption? And does his self-sacrificing streak carry over between lives for a reason?

Does the Ocean Queen still remember, deep down, that she was once called Queen of Shadows?

Does King Joel of Mezalea remember how much blood is on his hands? How much of that blood is his wife's?

Does Farmer Queen Pearl choose to be peaceful because she remembers how little the path of violence brought her?

Does Jimmy the Codfather remember how poorly it went the last time he went to war against a red-bannered king? Does he recognize that he is still a harbinger of conflict, whether he wants to be or not?

Do any of them remember? Do any of them understand that they remember, understand why they have these memories and feelings and impressions of each other that don't seem to come from their own lives?

[thislovintime]

“Peter, My name is Scott and I’m 37 years old. I was wondering, as you look back on your experience in the 1960’s, how much of the political and social ideas of the youth movement and counter culture are still valid today and whether or not you feel the same about those ideas now as you did back then. Scott” “Dear Scott, I won’t go nearly so far as to say that everything that came up in the 60’s was valid, but as far as I'm concerned, the 60’s were to what will come as Greece was to democracy. Remember that in the 60’s the political officeholders had lost all touch with the needs of the nation…kind of like the Bush administration now. Back then the voice of the establishment, Life magazine, was discovered to have doctored photos falsely indicating that LSD caused chromosomal damage. That proved what we (then) kids already knew: that those at the top preached fair play and honesty, but had no more need to honor those concepts than what would give them the next dollar without too much trouble. We saw perfectly clearly that we were on our own, that no one in authority cared about us. Now, like any bunch of kids left to their own devices, some, many, went off the rails. Every false step by somebody walking around under the cloak of the liberal hippy 60’s was used as a pretext for dissing the entire generation. Those of us who were truly interested in liberty, fraternity and equality, however, knew we were onto something good and real. What had been called democracy was, and to some extent still is, a pretext for wrapping the will of the greedy and aggressive in a mantle of public acquiescence. Now, the business of wresting power away from those who make a specialty of wielding it will be a long and protracted struggle, with a lot of setbacks along the way. The outlines of the new style of governance are only dimly perceivable, and won't become clear for a long time to come. In the meantime, our job is to practice the principles of fairness and service to the extent possible. One thing is clear: there is a much higher joy in service than there is in acquisition of wealth. (Remember that it isn't money that's the root of all evil, it’s the love of money.) Hanging together in brother - and sisterhood is so happy-making you want to sing right out loud. Yeah, I feel the same about those ideas as I did then…in case you couldn’t tell. heheheh, Peter” - Ask Peter Tork, 2008

“It’s only fear, lies and bad leadership that keeps us all from loving each other and from seeing each other clearly and purely with the eye of the mind and the love of the heart.” - Peter Tork, 16 Magazine, December 1968

[shotoyami]

hi! loving your writing so far so i thought i’d drop a request in the box :)

could you maybe write a scott summer’s x male!reader where they’re both younger (as in students themselves at the x-mansion) and Scott is struggling with migraines and the reader helps him out/comforts him?

whether your write it or not, thank you for you time and have a good day!

prenotes: this is so super cute, for real. Scott needs the biggest hug guys, please, someone hug this man because his supposed wife isn’t hugging him enough (all the love to Jean, but move over, Scott’s my man).

Thank you so much for the request, anon<3

pairing: young Scott Summers + young male reader

warnings: one mention of “pills” (ibuprofen)

genre: fluff, because obviously

notes: idk what I was trying to do in terms of perspective, so please disregard that if it’s a bit confusing… migraines suck, that’s fairly well known, but I imagine it’s horrendous for Scott since it’s from a mutation. like, take a normal migraine and multiply it by a thousand. ouch.

word count: 700 +

Migraines hurt a lot guys

Ever since the arrival of new students, the new generation of x-men, Xavier’s school is just the fullest it’s ever been. Life spread all throughout the mansion, so many classrooms filled. This, of course, is a great thing, especially for those who feel a bit outcast– especially for students like Scott.

Being surrounded by people who are different, like him, was immensely relaxing. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he wasn’t still scared of hurting others, no, but it certainly helped to be surrounded by the support of other people scared just the same.

The best support system for him being his best friend, (y/n), a boy around his age, a fellow mutant who’s still learning how to control his mutation.

Now, every mutation has its setback (or, in some cases, setbacks), and for Scott that is horrible, horrible migraines. Like, seriously, killer migraines.

Today is one of those days, where Scott has locked himself in his dorm as a consequence of such. His curtains are drawn, every sound that would be happening daily is completely absent.

A soft knock comes to his door. “...Scott, it’s (y/n). It’s 2 p.m., the professor was looking for you.” His best friend’s voice calls, causing Scott to groan and, reluctantly, get up to open the door. He must’ve looked pretty bad, because (y/n) would wince at the sight of him. “Yeesh…alright, migraine day for you, Scott?” He only slightly nods in response before retreating back into his dorm and collapsing onto his bed.

(y/n) carefully walks into the room, closing the door softly and slowly setting down the work he’d gathered onto his friend’s dresser. He glances over at Scott, who’s hiding from the world underneath his blanket, and chuckles softly. “Gosh, Summers, you act as though your migraine is eating you alive.” He jokes, and receives a glare in response. With a sigh, he sits on the edge of his friend’s bed. “So, have you taken any meds yet? Eaten anything? If not, I don’t mind grabbing something for you real fast. That should make you feel a bit better.” Scott huffs, but grumbles to himself. “What was that?”

“I haven’t.” He mumbles. (y/n) hums in response, nodding, “I’ll grab something for you then. Oatmeal? Soup? Mac and Cheese?” Scott blinks at his friend. What a particularly specific list of options. “...mac and cheese.”

(y/n) nods in understanding and slowly rises. “Wait for me, I’ll be right back.” When he leaves, Scott is left in silence yet again.

Silence. A usually comforting sound, something to be considered peaceful. But, not right now. Never when a migraine was raging. Scott frowns to himself, hearing the sound of a clock ticking somewhere. It was rather grating, the sound of that clock. Right as he was about to make a complaint of some sort, the door to his room opens again, causing Scott to softly hiss.

“Sorry, sorry. Should’ve warned you with a knock, huh?” (y/n) swiftly apologies, walking in carefully with the warm meal. He brings the bowl over to Scott, offering a spoon. “I grabbed some ibuprofen too, so don’t scarf it all down at once, alright?”

His friend sat silently, allowing Scott to eat in the sound of peace, or at least as peaceful as anything can be with a migraine. About halfway through the bowl, (y/n) hands him a couple of pills. When the food is finally finished, Scott lays back while his friend moves the bowl somewhere in in the room.

He just lays there for a bit, resting his eyes while he silently hopes for the medicine to kick in as quickly as possible. After a few moments, the bed sort of shifts, causing Scott’s eyes to snap open. “Gosh man, calm down. This ain’t the first time I’ve done this– no homo.” He shoots (y/n) a glare in response, which causes the other teen to chuckle. “I’m sorry, maybe a little homo. C’mere.”

(y/n) pulls Scott against him, wrapping himself comfortably around the other teen. The two sort of melt into one another, and Scott finally feels himself relax a bit. “Get some rest, Scott.” Is the last thing he hears as he slowly starts to slip away.

[awkward-walking-potato]

How would Kurt and Scott react to an s/o who is the definiton of sunshine aura. Someone very approchable and friendly, very empathetic and creating space where others feel heard and understood. Constantly praising friends and family to give confidence and know how to make anyone happy with their acts of kindness. I feel like these two need this kind of s/o the most

Here are some headcanons for how Kurt and Scott would react to having an S/O with a "sunshine aura":

Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler)

1. From the moment Kurt meets you, he's drawn to your warmth and positivity. Your sunshine aura is like a magnet for his kind heart. He finds himself naturally gravitating toward you, eager to bask in the comfort and joy you radiate.

2. Kurt is in constant awe of how effortlessly you make everyone around you feel seen and valued. He often watches you interact with others, a soft smile on his face as he marvels at how you lift people’s spirits with just a few words or a kind gesture.

3.Your empathy and kindness make Kurt feel incredibly lucky to have you in his life. Whenever he feels down or insecure, your encouraging words and unwavering support help him feel better about himself. He deeply appreciates how you always know exactly what to say to make him feel loved and cherished.

4. Kurt loves to playfully call you his “little sunshine” or “Sonnenschein” in German. He’ll often joke that you could brighten even the darkest corners of the mansion just by walking through them. Your positivity is infectious, and he can't help but be in a good mood when you're around.

5. Inspired by your kindness, Kurt often plans romantic surprises for you. Whether it’s teleporting you to a beautiful, secluded spot for a picnic or writing you sweet, heartfelt notes, he loves finding ways to show you just how much he appreciates your sunshine aura and the happiness you bring into his life.

6. While Kurt adores your empathetic nature, he’s also aware of how much you give to others. He makes it a point to ensure you’re not overextending yourself or neglecting your own needs. He’s always there to remind you that it’s okay to take a break and let others take care of you for a change.

7. Your constant praise and confidence-boosting for others inspire Kurt to be more open and generous with his own compliments. He starts to express his appreciation for his friends and teammates more often, knowing how much it means to them because of how much your words mean to him.

Scott Summers (Cyclops)

1. Scott is immediately impressed by your ability to connect with everyone you meet. As someone who sometimes struggles with opening up, he admires how effortlessly you make others feel comfortable and understood. He sees you as a crucial emotional anchor in the team, someone who balances out the intensity of their missions with genuine care and compassion.

2. Scott often feels the weight of leadership and responsibility, but your presence is a constant source of relief for him. Your sunshine aura helps ground him when he’s stressed or overwhelmed, reminding him that there’s more to life than just duty and responsibility. He finds peace and relaxation in your company, something he doesn’t take for granted.

3. Scott has always been hard on himself, but your consistent praise and belief in his abilities help him see himself in a better light. Your words of encouragement give him the confidence he sometimes lacks, and he often reflects on your affirmations during tough moments, knowing that you see the good in him.

4. While Scott may not always be the most outwardly affectionate, he shows his appreciation for you in more subtle ways. He’ll make sure your favorite snacks are always stocked, leave a cup of coffee on your desk in the morning, or give you a reassuring squeeze of the hand when you’re comforting others, silently letting you know that he admires and loves you for who you are.

5. Scott is very protective of you, especially because of your empathetic nature. He worries about you taking on too much of others' burdens and makes it a point to check in with you regularly. He’ll gently remind you to take care of yourself and is always ready to step in if he feels like you’re giving too much of yourself without receiving enough in return.

6. Scott often thinks about how lucky he is to have you in his life. He’s not the best with words when it comes to expressing his feelings, but he tries to show his gratitude through his actions. Whether it’s spending quiet time together, making sure you know he’s there for you, or supporting your endeavors, Scott makes sure you know how much he values your light in his life.

7. Your positivity and kindness bring out a softer, more playful side of Scott that most people don’t get to see. When you’re alone together, he lets down his guard, sharing laughs and lighter moments that contrast with his usually serious demeanor. Your presence makes him feel comfortable enough to let go of his worries and just enjoy the moment.

[the-clumsywitchtarot]

Pick-a-Song Quick General Tarot Reading

Just a Quick Message... or you could pick all the piles. No one's stopping you, be a rebel.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 1 - Love by Musiq Soulchild

Card: 8 of Pentacles

If it's burdening you walk away, whatever it is. If it's a job consider getting a new one, if it's a relationship you may want to ask yourself if it's worth being in a situation that drains you (this goes for all relationships whether romantic, platonic, familial, etc.). And most importantly ask yourself if you're missing out on better because you're afraid to leave what you already have behind.

Pile 2 - A Long Walk by Jill Scott

Card: 4 of Swords

Take a break. This card signals a need for rest but not just physical rest, a mental one as well. If you're dealing with some heavy things right now consider putting them down for a while (not abandoning them) to allow yourself time to process things. You could be someone that just started therapy, inner child healing, or some other inner work and find that it's quite overwhelming. Take a step back and allow yourself to recalibrate then go back to it when you're ready. You are not weak or experiencing a setback because you can't go full throttle into the work you're doing on yourself. You're just human and dealing with things you've never dealt with before.

Pile 3 - Butterflies by Michael Jackson

Card: 2 of Pentacles

This card is typically associated with making a decision about which of something to choose. For example should I move to Rome or New York, or should I work at Company A or Company B. But for you I feel like this card is showing a struggle deciding between acting out of emotion or your mind. To phrase it better, you sometimes have trouble choosing between what your head is telling you and what your heart is telling you. If you engage with the divine in any capacity you may want to call on them for help when you find yourself in these situations. You can also call upon on your ancestors and/or spirit team for guidance. Meditation may be helpful too when considering how you should approach something.

I hope your reading resonated, please feel free to let me know which group/song you chose!

- Erika, The Clumsy Witch

[firequeenofficial]

I miss the Ranchers. That is all I have to say.

-

When they finally managed to put out the mansion, Jimmy slipped away from the others, finding a quiet spot to hide away. He just needed a moment to breathe. He'd been struggling ever since he'd first seen Tango with Etho, Skizz and Impulse.

He'd never felt anything like this before, like a part of him was missing, broken off, stolen. He saw Tango laughing with his friends, and his heart ached. He had once made Tango laugh like that. He had once been the person Tango relied on. Now, he watched his soulmate, his Rancher, with the others, and it was like he didn't even care, or didn't remember. He hadn't even reacted when Jimmy had called him, "Rancher".

He wondered whether Joel felt the same way watching Etho. He didn't think so - Joel had barely stopped laughing since he'd found him, except to rage about the mansion being set on fire, of course. Besides, Joel wouldn't even remember Double Life.

He sat at the top of a hill in the south-east corner of the world, watching the sun rise beyond the border. He was grateful everyone seemed to want to base close together this season; it left plenty of free space to hide away.

He hated this. He hated being one of only three people who ever remembered each season. He hated Grian for forcing this on him. He hated the Watchers for forcing it on Grian. More than anything, he hated himself for not being able to do anything but whine about it. Grian was his brother, he should have been able to help him, but there was nothing he could do.

He wondered if Pearl felt anything, watching Scott with Martyn. Was there any part of her that missed him, even though they'd done nothing but fight the whole time they were soulbound? She couldn't remember Last Life, he knew, but did some part of her long for it anyhow? He wished he could speak with her about it, but she would probably just call him silly. No one else pined after their alliances from previous seasons, after all. It was just him that was so pathetic that he longed for the first person to be genuinely gentle with him.

That didn't make it any easier, after all. It didn't make him long any less. It didn't make Tango suddenly mean nothing to him.

He missed him.

That was the plain and simple truth of it. He missed Tango. Void, he missed him so damn much it hurt.

He sighed and dropped his face into his hands, fighting back tears. He was completely alone, but he still couldn't bring himself to feel it all, not so strongly, not all the way.

He just had to move on. It was that easy. He just had to let the Bad Boys be his new people, and he had to let Team TIES be Tango's new people, and he had to leave it at that.

He could do that.

Jimmy took a deep breath and leaned back slightly, turning his attention back to the brightening horizon. A breeze ruffled his hair.

The pain lessened, just slightly.

"Jimmy?"

The pain came back full force, and he froze.

No. No, he couldn't be here. Not now, not when he'd committed to letting him go.

Jimmy didn't turn. He didn't say anything.

After a moment's hesitation, Tango sat down beside him. Jimmy didn't move. He didn't look at him.

"Wow, what a view." Tango's heart clearly wasn't in the observation, though.

Silence was Jimmy's only response.

Tango apparently decided that beating about the bush was overrated. "Are you upset with me?"

Jimmy closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at him. "No." That was true, at least. He was upset about Tango, not with him.

The blazeborn let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. I would hate for you to be mad at me. I don't know how I'd do this without my Rancher."

Jimmy was so surprised that he snapped his eyes open and his head around to face him. "What?"

He was met with a smirk that he'd learnt to adore. "What, you didn't think I'd forgotten, had you?"

He remembered. He remembered! Jimmy could have cried with joy! Tango remembered him!

But Jimmy didn't cry. Instead, he let out a loud, jubilant laugh and launched himself at his Rancher, throwing his arms around Tango's neck. The pair fell to the ground, both laughing, clinging to each other. Jimmy buried his face in Tango's neck, holding on like Tango might disappear the moment he let go.

"You really did think I forgot, didn't you," Tango realised, and held him closer.

"I thought I lost you." Jimmy's voice was muffled by Tango's shirt collar.

Tango huffed a small laugh, running his hands through Jimmy's hair. "We're in this together, buddy. Even if we're on different teams, you'll always be my Rancher."

This was what Jimmy had been missing. Two whole seasons, he'd searched for this. For something who cared for him no matter what, in thick or thin, even across lifetimes. Tango was... exactly what he needed. Exactly what he wanted.

Jimmy sighed, his breath shaky. He was going to be okay.

Whatever happened this season, he was going to be okay. He could face whatever with his Rancher by his side.

They were going to be okay.

[undercoveravenger]

Motivators

Pairing: Isaac Lahey x Scientist!Male!Reader

Requested: Yes

Request: “okay for the spooky request could you write Isaac lahey x scientist reader who doesn’t believe in the supernatural but they are hunting a ghost and reader and Isaac make a bet where if they do find the ghost reader owes Isaac a kiss or something”

A/N: This is the third fic in the 2023 Spooky Month event! The next post will release on Tuesday, October 24th. Hope you enjoy!

-----

While your best friend Scott McCall and his pack were no strangers to your lab, you still found yourself a bit on edge with Scott’s beta, Isaac. You had known of him before he was turned, and he had seemed nice enough the few times you had interacted with him, but there had always seemed to be something off, even after Scott had told you the truth about his friends. You weren’t sure exactly why Isaac made you so uneasy, but the weight of his eyes, whether glowing their infamous werewolf gold or his pretty every-day blue, was ever present and unreadable. 

Even now, with the rest of the pack off investigating the most recent victim of a vengeful spirit, Isaac lingered, perched on one of the spare lab tables pushed against the wall and watching you intently. 

“You didn’t have to wait here,” you say, ardently refusing to look at him, studying the strange glowing sample they’d brought you through the viewing lens of your microscope. “You heard Scott- He thinks he’s got a lead. You could’ve gone with him to check it out.”

A soft huff escapes Isaac and you can hear him shift behind you, moving from his seat on the opposite table to come lean against the one you’re working at. “No,” he says quietly, “I needed to be here.” He’s silent for a minute and you almost think to press him further when he continues, “I know you don’t need me to be here, but I need to be.” He clears his throat awkwardly when you look up at him, but he presses on, in spite of the thick blush clouding his cheeks. “I worry about you a lot when I’m not around you, y’know? Not just that you’re just a human, but that you’re you.”

You studied Isaac for a long moment, a sort of self-satisfied amusement creeping through you as he fidgets under your gaze, clearly having said more than he meant to and exposing his emotions in the process. 

“You really think that you’re going to catch this ghost?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest as you watched him. 

He nodded, grinning shyly, “Yeah. With you and Scott working together to find it? No way we don’t.”

Whenever you’d caught Isaac looking at you in the past, the look in his eyes was always intense, but he was unreadable in the same way that the old Latin tombs that Allison had swiped from her family’s archives for you had been. But in the same way you had learned to decipher those ancient books, you were starting to see the meaning behind those lingering stares and Isaac’s looming presence. He’d never seemed malicious to you, not even before he’d joined Scott’s pack, but now you could see that determined distance for what it was.

You rolled your eyes and turned back to your sample, but couldn’t stop the edge of your lips from quirking up as you spoke. “You find it and I owe you a kiss.”

While you were no longer looking at him, you could pick out the exact moment Isaac realized what you’d said since you could hear his sneakers squeak against the floor as he struggled to catch himself from falling. “I- I, uh, I-” he stammered and you could practically hear how flustered he was. “I’m- I’m gonna go call Scott and see if his lead panned out. Y’know, we uh, we really need to get rid of this ghost thing before it hurts someone else. We should- We should really do everything we can to catch it as soon as possible, right?”

You couldn’t help but laugh as he hurried out of the room, and you laughed even harder when you were able to pick up the excited whoops echoing in from outside of your lab from Isaac and Scott over the phone line.

[renjunniex]

Thank You, For Being You

Isaac Lahey x Fem! Reader Series

Ice Pick

Omega Part 1 | Omega Part 2 | Shape Shifted | Abomination | Venomous | Frenemy | Restraint | Raving | Party Guessed | Fury

Prompt: Y/n haven’t seen Isaac since that night and it’s been effecting you more than she care to admit. However, after finding out Derek is turning teenagers, she has more dangerous things to worry about.

a/n: So i don’t think there’s gonna be a lot of issac and y/n in this chapter :(( but i hope you guys still find it enjoyable! I really love writing her friendship between Scott and Stiles. I know we've seen a lot of the bond between Stiles and y/n so im excited to add more to the bond of Scott and y/n this time!

*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧*⁠.⁠✧

It’s been a little while since that night on the full moon, Y/n hasn't seen Isaac or Derek so she couldn’t even ask the so called ‘sour wolf’ on whether Isaac was okay or not. Y/n finally told Scott about what happened on the field that day and it was nice for the two just to talk about everything. Everything ended up including how she felt about Isaac, which was definitely embarrassing to come clean about. She still remembers the slight tear that had traveled down her face as Scott held her hand. Scott had made it clear that everything was okay and when she saw Isaac again, she would be able to talk to him about everything for real.

To say she had dwelled on it the last few days would be an understatement, it plagued her mind every second of everyday. Where was he? Was he okay? Was he mad at her?

Y/n grumbled in frustration, giving her cheeks slight taps, she could worry some more later. Right now, she would just let herself be entertained by Allison dominating Scott at the rock climb.

“For a werewolf, he’s really bad at this,” Y/n said, looking at Stiles.

He laughed, “Yeah, at this rate, I could beat him.”

“Okay, don’t get too ahead of yourself, you can’t even beat me.” Stiles looked at her, “Uh yeah, that’s because you cheat,” he sassed back.

“How do you cheat at rock climb,” She exclaimed.

Stiles folded his arms, “You just do,” by now Scott had joined the two bickering friends along with Allison, “Alright you two, chill out.” Y/n pointed at Stiles accusingly, “He started it!” The boy gasped in horror as if the accusation had pierced him but before he could make a comeback, Coach had already called for him.

“Alright, next two! Stilinski, Erica, let’s go!”

Y/n's expression dropped, Erica was called. The poor girl was never good at these types of things, not to mention, she could tell the girl struggled with being in front of other people. It didn’t help that half the school took any opportunity to laugh at her. In the end, Y/n did truly feel bad for her, she tried to reach out but every try was a failure. Erica would get these big ‘deer stuck in headlights’ eyes and stutter off an apology before escaping through to the nearest door.

Y/n's attention went to the two of them as they started to make their way up the wall. Stiles surprisingly made his way up and down pretty fast, he whipped around when he hit the ground to send her a smug grin. Erica on the other hand, barely made it off the ground before she had started to hyperventilate.

“Erica, you dizzy? Is it vertigo?” Y/n gave Coach a confused look at the suggestion and she wasn't the only one.

“Vertigo’s a dysfunction of the vestibular system of the inner ear. She’s just freaking out.” Lydia explained with a roll of her eyes. Everyone continued to look up at Erica.

“I’m fine,” she called out.

“Coach, maybe it’s not safe,” Allison voiced her concern, “you know she’s epileptic.” Coach’s head snapped towards her in shock, “Why doesn’t anybody tell me this stuff?” Y/n raised an eyebrow at him, “It would be in her file.” He waved his lacrosse manager off before going back to Erica.

“Erica, you’re fine. Just kick off from the wall,” he explained slowly, “there’s a mat to catch you.” She nodded ever so slightly before slowly separating from the wall and gliding down towards the mat. Coach supported her weight as she regained her balance. “You’re alright, shake it off,” he said lightly. Y/n reached out to take her hand but she had already started making her way through the crowd. She could tell the girl was embarrassed. How could she not be? Half the class was chuckling at her misfortune like it was some kind of comedy show. Walking up to Scott, Y/n's eyes kept burning into her back, making sure she was physically okay.

“They’re all such jackasses,” she remarked. Scott’s attention was now on his best friend, he agreed before his shoulders dropped in concern.

Soon enough class was over, Y/n was in the girl’s locker room when she felt her eyes glow. She hid her face from the rest of the girls but Allison must have seen because her hand was on her friend's shoulder in a second, “Y/N what’s wrong?” Shaking her head, she shrugged the brunette's hand off slightly. “I don’t know, probably nothing, I still haven’t really learned to control it,” she suggested. It convinced the dark haired girl enough because she turned back to her gym locker to continue what she was previously doing. Y/n did as well, opening her locker she looked in the small mirror she had attached to the door. Examining her face slightly, her eyes glowed once more, this time something in her mind snapped. She flung her body around, staring at the door.

“Erica.”

Allison looked at Y/n once more, “What?” She questioned. She never got an answer, the girl had already sprinted out the door. Allison called for Y/n, following her down the hallway.

“Scott!” The glowing eyed girl screamed noticing his figure just barely before he disappeared into the dark gym. She followed him, feet slamming heavily on the gym floor. The sound of others rushing towards them could be heard as Scott caught Erica just before she hit the ground and Y/n reached her as well, supporting her weight to the best of her ability. She had starting seizing, shaking uncontrollably in Scott’s arms.

“Set her on the ground,” Y/n urged, Scott nodded and hurriedly placed her on the floor as gentle as he could. By now others had joined them, including Allison and Stiles both with worried expressions. “Put her on her side. Put her on her side,” Allison repeated. She looked at both of the worrying teenagers, “How’d you guys know?”

The two made eye contact both shrugging, “I just felt it,” Scott said and Y/n nodded.

~

“Boyd.”

It was the next day, in the cafeteria and right now the time was being occupied by Stiles. He had dragged Y/n with him to talk to Boyd, another kid in their class who worked at the ice rink. Currently said spastic boy was trying to get the keys to the rink from Boyd. However, things weren’t going as planned.

“You got the keys?” Stiles asked his body turned half away facing towards the windows of the cafeteria. Boyd stuck his hand out keys dangling making Stiles smile. He grasped the keys from the boy’s hand but to no avail Boyd didn’t release his grip. Confused Stiles tugged again. No progress.

“This isn’t a favor. It’s a transaction,” Boyd reminded.

“Right, yeah,” Stiles replied retrieving his wallet from his pocket, “Absolutely,” he placed a twenty dollar bill on the table. Boyd gave nothing but an unimpressed look, “I said fifty.”

“Really-,” stuttered back Stiles, “I remember twenty. I don’t know. I have a really good verbal memory. And I remember twenty. I remember that distinctive ‘twa’ sound. Twa-enty.” Boyd cut him off, “I said fifty,” he said firmly.

“With a ‘fa’ sound. Hear the difference? If you can’t, I can demonstrate some other words with the ‘fa’ sound.”

Y/n's head rolled from side to side, “Yes trust me, he remembers,” she concluded with annoyance. She didn’t even care if they actually got the keys or not. She didn’t even want to go, well not now, she had before. Before Stiles had invited Lydia at least. Y/n didn’t mind the red haired girl, or she didn’t hate her that is, but Scott had also invited Allison before hand. Originally, it was just meant to be the four meaning Stiles and Y/n were gonna be the other pair since no doubt Allison and Scott were gonna have one another’s attention. Now that Lydia was invited, she was for sure gonna be the one left out. She wasn't angry at either of the boys or girls, just a little bummed that one of her favorite activities was now going to cause her to be an awkward fifth wheel.

Stiles blinked rapidly, “No, no, no. I think I’m recalling it now. Maybe I just got it confused with forty.” He slowly placed another twenty on the table. Y/n could practically feel her eyes roll into the back of her head ‘this was getting to be too idiotic’ she thought. Boyd stayed silence, slowly putting a Dorito in his mouth causing her to snort. Boyd smirked pushing the bag towards the girl and she gladly took one. Giving him a slight nod, Y/n leaned back in her chair to finish watching the train wreck in front of her. Stiles let out a defeated huff, “Come on, man, have you seen the piece of crap Jeep that I drive?”

“Have you seen the piece of crap bus that I take,” Boyd countered effortlessly.

Y/n reached into her bag and quickly grabbed a ten dollar bill from the side pocket, “Here, I’m growing bored of this back and forth your trying to pull with him,” she said to Stiles sliding the cash across the table. Boyd smiled wide, reaching out once more keys in hand, this time Stiles needed no effort to take them from his hand. Cocking an eyebrow over at her he stood from his seat, “What’s your problem?”

“Sorry, I’m not exactly excited to be a fifth wheel,” she snarked before looking back at Boyd, “Thank you, you’re the best. Sorry about him.” The boy acknowledged her statement before returning to his act of eating.

“What do you mean ‘fifth wheel’,” Stiles questioned confused. Y/n scoffed at him, “I mean exactly what I said,” she gestured her hand back towards their usual table, “you invited Lydia. Scott, Allison, Lydia, you,” she counted on her hand then motioned to herself, “Fifth wheel.”

He mocked her scoff, “Oh, please, you’re not going to be a fifth wheel.” He wrapped his arm around the girl, “You’re our girl, you know that. We’re never just gonna leave you out.” Y/n rolled her eyes, “Maybe not intentionally but Scott’s like a lost puppy dog around Allison and you’re no better when it comes to Lydia.” She saw a slight smirk rise onto the boy’s face, he tilted his head towards her, “We’ll if you’re that jealous we could always invite Jackson to keep you company.”

Disgusted, she made a face, “Ew gross, I wouldn’t be caught dead hanging out with Jackson especially not by choice.” He hummed, “You’re not denying that you’re jealous.”

Y/n jabbed his gut causing him to recoil slightly, “I’m not jealous. Why is that even the first thing that comes to your mind? What, are you trying to make me jealous, Stilinski? Have all these years you harbored a crush on me, huh?” She teased, “Are you in love with me, Stiles?” He jumped back, “Don’t you even start with me, no, to all of that,” he waved his hands motioning to her figure.

“Wow didn’t realize I was that ugly,” by now she had reached where Scott was sitting, taking his apple she bit into while listening to Stiles ramble, “THAT is NOT what I meant and you know it.” She assumed Scott had been listening in on the whole discussion since he was wearing an amuse look on his face. Stiles had sat across from the two, pointing at her like a disappointed parent, “Got em’,” he finally concluded placing the keys onto the table, “Pick you up right after work tonight and we’ll meet at the rink, cool?” Scott’s attention was already caught somewhere else and so was hers.

As if it was a whole different person, Erica strutted through the cafeteria wearing an outfit Y/n would’ve never even considered that she owned. Her hair was done and her makeup as well. She made her way to a table where sat two random boys as she reached over and grabbed one of their apples, biting into it. Her dark red lipstick smeared slightly and she wasted no time wiping it away with a sultry smirk.

“What,” Lydia had joined her hands lightly slapping on the trio's table, “the holy hell is that?”

“It’s Erica.”

The three never even had to look at each other before they dashed into the hallway together, jumping down the stairs and out the doors they found her once more but this time she was with someone. Derek. She was getting into Derek’s car, staring the three down as if she was some kind of Bond villain. Once she was fully in the car, Derek sped away. Y/n and Stiles both just sighed as her shoulders dropped, while Scott’s jaw tighten.

“Well now there’s three,” Y/n remarked monotonously.

~

After school Y/n joined Scott at his work. While the girl didn’t work there, she often kept him company on his shifts, thankfully early on Scott had gotten Deaton (his boss) to agree to it. Provided that she of course didn’t mess with anything, which she never did. It was just a great way to make sure Scott’s homework would actually get finished, plus it gave Y/n somewhere to be instead of just home alone.

When Peter was alive, Scott had gotten shot and Deaton had taken care of it, he had also kept Peter from taking Scott. To this day Y/n and Scott still don’t understand what exactly happened. How exactly Deaton knows about how to heal Scott. Actually, when she found out that Deaton knew something about the supernatural, he was her first choice to ask about what’s going on with her. Y/n just never found a good time to ask, hence why she ended up asking Derek. Scott has also been trying to have a talk with Deaton about everything, which is where she was right now.

“Hey Doc.”

Deaton turned to face Scott. “When are we gonna talk about… the thing that we never got a chance to talk about?”

“Ah, yes. We never did get a chance to talk about that, did we?” Y/n perked up, trying to listen to the quiet conversation going on across the room. Scott shook his head in response to Deaton’s question.

“Now is definitely a good time.”

“Thank God.”

“What do you think? Two dollars?” Y/n tilted her head, what the hell? Apparently she wasn’t the only the only one thrown off by the statement. Scott’s eyebrows scrunched together slightly, “Two dollars?”

“Ah you’re right, two-fifty more a hour. It seems like a pretty good raise.” Y/n sighed, apparently now wasn’t a good time to talk about what the two actually wanted to know.

“That’s not exactly what I was… wait two-fifty more a hour?” Scott was cut off guard by the offer, “Done, don’t forget to clean up the cat cages.” Deaton shook his hand and left the room before Scott could come to terms with what just happened.

“Damn, he just cleaned your clock, you know that right?”

“What?”

Y/n rolled her eyes and chuckled, “Nevermind.”

~

After Scott had finished his shift, Stiles arrived to pick both of them up. They were on their way now to the ice rink now, Y/n was still grumbling and whining in the back seat as he was driving. He looked at her from the rear view mirror and Scott twisted back to see her as well, they both laughed at the small fit she was in the process of throwing.

“Come on, Y/N. It won’t be that bad, we’re not gonna leave you out,” Scott reassured tapping her knee as she turned up her nose at them.

“Yeah, brighten up, plus we could still call Jackson to come hang out with you, if you want,” Stiles laughed.

Y/n moaned, “No, absolutely not.”

Scott had glanced at Stiles slightly, had she been paying attention she would’ve seen the sly look they exchanged before Scott turned towards Y/n once more, “Are you sure you’re not jealous?” Y/n felt herself choke on air, clearing her throat she said, “Why would I be?” Scott shrugged, “I don’t know, you didn’t have a problem with this idea until Lydia was invited. Maybe you wanted Stiles all to yourself.” Y/n snapped her head down from looking at the ceiling to now both boys and she saw the cocky smirks they were both wearing. Y/n scoffed and kicked both their seats, “Bite me.”

“Hey, what did Roscoe do to you?”

To be honest, this isn’t the first time the three have had this back forth (all joking of course), since Melissa has had Y/n in her care for so long she’s always treated her and Scott like the two were siblings. Stiles on the other hand, wasn’t allow in her room because he was a boy. Melissa had always given him a slight look when he would get too close as well. Those two things eventually dissipated and became less of a concern as they both got older. The inside joke between the three, did not unfortunately. After Scott had found out about her slightly different rules when it came to Stiles, she were teased tremendously for supposedly having a crush on the boy. Every time brought both boys pain to the gut.

The three arrived at the ice rink, Scott leaving and holding his door opened for her as Stiles came around the side to join them. Allison and Lydia had shown up already waiting for the trio. The boys went to unlock the doors as Y/n followed close behind, when they finally got them unlocked they turned to their best friend both playfully biting each side of her shoulders.

“Ow, what the hell was that for?”

“You said to bite you,” they synced.

The girls walked up, Allison reaching for Scott and Lydia barely acknowledging Stiles before walking past them both. Y/n gave him a pointed and mocking look, he gave the girl a push before closing the doors and they both made their ways towards the rink.

Y/n sat down in the bleachers, little bit away from where Lydia and Stiles were currently sitting. She knew they were talking but quite frank she couldn’t really hear them. Y/n had brought herself a book because even though her best friends spent the whole day stressing that she wouldn’t be sidelined, she knew them way better than they thought she did. Y/n glanced at her phone and debated on maybe calling someone to pick her up, but who would she even call?

Jackson? Absolutely not, even if she did, he wouldn’t come get her and she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from punching him in the face if he did.

Danny? No, she didn’t want to bother the poor boy.

Matt? No way in hell, he gave her the absolute creeps.

Isaac? Now that, was a maybe, however the boy was in the wind. Y/n didn’t even know if he had his phone or if he would even pick up. She haven’t spoken since that night at the police station and considering Erica’s behavior she was skeptical that the Isaac she knew would be the one to show up.

Y/n sighed, placing her phone back next to her, with her hands at her cheeks and elbows on her knees, she watched Scott and Allison walk off towards the rink. Eventually so did the silent pair that was on her other side. Deciding it was best to just suck it up, she got off the bench and stepped onto the ice. It was one of her favorite activities after all. Y/n twirled and skated, playfully messing around in the corner while the other four did their thing, all in their own worlds. That is, until she heard a scream. It was truly deafening, terrifying, unlike anything she had ever heard before. Y/n placed her feet in stopping position and scanned to find the owner of the scream, only to find Lydia on her hands and knees screeching at the ice below her.

Y/n all make her way towards the screeching girl, inquiring on if she was alright, searching for any sign that something was wrong but nothing. All that could be done was Stiles holding her while she whaled.

~

The next morning at school, Y/n was leaving class alone. She had kind have been avoiding Stiles and Scott today, only talking to them this morning while on the way to school. She hadn’t realized it before but she felt more hurt by being left alone than she originally thought. After what happened with Lydia everyone decided it was time to leave and when she got home, she quietly made her way to her room mentioning to Scott about just being tired. She had laid in bed for a couple hours wide awake, just thinking.

Was she jealous? No, she couldn’t be, despite the jokes, she didn’t actually like Stiles nor Scott like that.

After Y/n had pondered for a little bit, she had found her answer.

Was she scared? Maybe. But scared of what?

...

Being replaced.

For the longest time, it was just Scott, Stiles and Y/n. The trio. Always together, always there for each other. They did everything together and sure she knew eventually they would find partners and maybe other friends but it never dawned on her that if the boys each found someone, she would possibly be fazed out. She knew they would never intentionally do anything to push her away but that didn’t stop her worrying.

Y/n's thoughts were cut off by a slam to the lockers. She rounded the corner to see Erica backing up Scott against the lockers. Allison was in the distance too, she was witnessing everything. Y/n didn’t know what exactly was happening but she knew that it was nothing good. She marched towards the two, grabbing Erica’s shoulder.

“What do you think you're doing?”

Erica finished her sentence to Scott, he gripped her wrist and pulled her off of him. She snarled at Y/n before turning her back away from the glaring girl.

“I’ll tell Isaac you said hi.”

Y/n felt herself falter, Scott noticed that her whole demeanor changed as well. He looked down and grabbed her hand squeezing it.

“I haven’t seen you today, we haven’t seen you,” he clarified. Y/n took a shallow breath, “Yeah just had a lot on my mind.” He kept his gaze on her, “Is it about Isaac?”

She shook her head.

“Is it about the ice rink?”

Y/n hesitated, before slowly nodding. Scott sighed, before pulling her off to the side, “We weren’t kidding when we said you’re not a fifth wheel.”

“I know, it’s not really that,” she mumbled, staring at her feet.

“Then what’s the matter?” Y/n shrugged, swaying like a child before mumbling her answer once more, “I just kind of feel like I’m being replaced.” Scott was taken aback by her answer, he had no clue what to say. There was an odd silence in the air for a little while before Scott finally figured out what he wanted to say, “What made you feel like that?”

All Y/n could do was shrugged once more. Talking about this was so hard. She finally sighed, “Okay, before I start, I’m gonna say this once and only once. No, I don’t have a crush on Stiles. Look honestly it’s just the fact that he’s trying to integrate her to be a part of us. I know it sounds silly but it’s true. It’s completely different with Allison, she’s your girlfriend, plus I’ve never had any problems with her. Lydia’s just I don’t know, she’s not awful, definitely better than Jackson. I guess since she’s not Stiles’ girlfriend, I get annoyed because with you two it’s different. You guys are DATING, of course I expect you guys to be in your own world but Stiles… she doesn’t even acknowledge him half the time so I know all his attention is going to be him trying to get hers. At least if they were dating it would be the same situation but it’s not. He’s-.”

“Okay, okay, hey look at me. Calm down, at this rate you're gonna make the lockers fly off the wall,” Scott joked holding her hands.

Y/n wiped the tears she hadn’t even realized began falling, “Sorry.” Scott moved his hands to her shoulders, “Don’t be sorry, now what were you going to say?”

Y/n took a deep breath, “He’s supposed to be my single buddy, you know, the friend that becomes your pair when the other starts dating someone. I guess in the end, I don’t really feel like you’re trying to replace me but Stiles is.”

“No, no, no, look I know I don’t need to say it but I’m going to, we’re not trying to replace you. Y/N, you’re our best friend, we’re family. Nothing and I mean nothing, could ever replace the bonds we share with you.”

Hearing that made her feel so much lighter, she knew deep down she was being ridiculous but maybe to keep her from imploding she just needed to hear that. That she was important.

“You’re right.”

“And I’m gonna talk to Stiles.” Y/n eyes widened, “What, no! Don’t do that, it’s fine!”

“Too late. Now come on let’s go to lunch.”

Scott had that goofy grin, that grin that says ‘I’ve got everything planned.’ “Also, you didn’t need to say that you didn’t have a crush on Stiles. I know you only have eyes on Isaac.” That caught her off guard, Y/n choked on her air, her head shooting up to look at Scott who just had that stupid smug smile on his face.

“Shut up.”

“It’s true! Even before all this happened, I remember when you two got assigned for that project together. You wouldn’t stop talking about it and you would mention him one too many times for it just to be because you had a project together.” Y/n felt like her heart was gonna beat out of your chest. She knew that he knew but she didn’t know that he knew all that.

“Is it that obvious?” Y/n said meakly.

~

During lunch, Stiles had rushed in to point out that Boyd was missing from school today, meaning Derek had gotten to him. That’s what you were dealing with now, the game plan. It was already after school and Scott was sending Stiles to Boyd’s house. He was also trying to send Y/n as well but she wouldn’t budge, not when there was a chance to see Isaac. To see him okay.

“If he’s not home you call me, got it?” Scott instructed as the three headed down the hallway.

Stiles had slow his pace which Scott noticed immediately, “What?”

“Maybe we should let him. Boyd, you know? You said Derek’s giving them a choice, right?”

Scott grabbed his shoulder pulling him down the hallway, Y/n trailing right behind them, “We can’t.”

“You got to admit, Erica looks pretty good. The word 'sensational' comes to mind.”

Y/n scoffed, “Yeah, because she was basically manipulated into believing that this would fix all her problems. Sure she heard what Derek warned her about but I can guarantee she wasn’t listening. Big difference. I would put money on it that Derek is brushing it off like he did with Scott ‘If you listen to me, you’ll be fine.’ He won’t give them answers just false security.”

“How do you think she’s gonna look with a wolfsbane bullet in her head,” Scott argued as well.

Stiles took both their comments to heart, “Alright, all I’m saying is maybe this one, isn’t totally your responsibility.”

“They are,” Scott disagreed, “You know this thing is gonna get out of control and that makes me responsible.”

“Not to mention, could we live with ourselves if something happened to them, knowing we could have possibly helped them?” Y/n added.

Stiles’ hands clapped to his sides, “Alright, I’m with you guys. And I also got to say this newfound heroism in you two is making me very attracted to you.”

Y/n and Scott scoffed, “Shut up.”

“No, seriously. Do you want to just try making out for a second? We could take turns,” he suggested gesturing to them three as she pushed him away, “Just to see how it feels.”

“How about I take my fist to your face so you can see how that feels?”

~

Scott and Y/n had reached the ice rink to see Boyd finishing out his shift. Y/n had hurried closer, calling to him to get his attention.

“Boyd!”

“We just want to talk,” Y/n pleaded.

At the sound of your voice, Boyd’s head had tilted up towards her.

“Hey, come on, Boyd, please,” Scott begged, “Did Derek tell you everything? And I don’t just mean going out of control on the full moons. I mean everything.” Boyd had shut down the machine he was using, “He told me about the hunters.”

“And that’s not enough for you to say no,” Y/n asked. Scott continued her point, “Whatever you want, there’s other ways to get it.”

“I just want to not eat lunch alone everyday.” His statement froze her, she hadn’t considered something like that but still.. this wasn’t the best way.

“Trust us, Boyd, if you’re looking for friends, you can do a lot better than Derek,” Y/n said.

“That really hurts, Y/N.” Derek. Of course he was here. Scott had turned around making sure she was behind him but that didn’t stop her from seeing him.

Isaac. He was okay, well at least she thought so. Y/n were right though, he definitely wasn’t the same boy from before. Now, he not only dressed differently but he wore a different expression entirely. The sweet smile Y/n adored was gone, replaced with a smug smile. “I mean if you’re gonna review me at least take a consensus,” Derek motioned to the two teenagers beside him.

“Erica, how’s life been for you since we met?”

“In a word… transformative,” She roared, literally. Y/n and Scott adjusted their stances already seeing where this was going.

“Isaac?”

“Well, I’m a little bummed about be a fugitive but other than that, I’m great.”

Y/n scoffed, “Let me add to that. Did dear old Derek tell you the whole reason Scott is in this mess, the whole reason all of us are in this mess, is because of his family.” She had moved next to Scott by now, pointing at Derek, “Did he tell you that the only reason he’s an alpha is because he decided to be a selfish prick and slash his own uncle’s throat? Even after he said he wouldn’t for Scott’s sake?” Her rant had caused an awkward feeling to fall in the room. The two teenagers clearly looked slightly uncomfortable at the new information, Derek had cleared his throat before staring back at Scott. Y/n crossed her arms, looking at Scott before facing the newly formed pack, “I guess he didn’t. Hm, interesting, don’t you think?”

Scott had taken a few steps forward, “Okay, hold on. This isn’t exactly a fair fight.”

“Then go home, Scott,” Derek smiled.

With a growl, Scott had punched the ice denting the surface, “I meant fair for them.”

Isaac and Erica had no problem advancing towards Scott. He had taken Y/n's arm and quickly moved her closer to the machine and Boyd, out of the way and safe. Scott turned and without any effort flung Isaac across the rink, moving on to slam Erica into the side of the ice rink machine. That didn’t stop the two from getting back up and trying again. They had actually had a second where they got the upper hand, pushing him in between them before Isaac flung him away just like Scott had.

“Isaac, stop! Leave him alone!” He ignored her, his focus completely on Scott. It didn’t matter, Scott beat them down again and again, until they finally stayed down.

“Don’t you get it? He’s not doing this for you, he’s just adding to his own power, okay? It’s all about him. He’s makes you feel like he’s giving you some kind of gift, when all he’s done is turn you into a bunch of guard dogs!” Scott yelled, slinging them across the ice and back to Derek. They laid there in shock of what Scott had just done all by himself.

“It’s true. It is about power.” Derek started making his way towards Scott now, transforming, his eyes glowing that blood red and fangs growing. He slashed at Scott, punched, kicked, beaten down Y/n's best friend. Y/n couldn’t believe her eyes, it was brutal, it made her shake out of fear for the boy. She had to do something but she didn’t know what. All she knew was that she was afraid, afraid of what might happen if she didn’t do anything. Y/n glanced at Isaac and Erica, still sitting on the floor their attention now switching from Derek to her. She could see it in Isaac’s eyes, he knew she was about to spring into action.

“Y/N, No!”

Y/n ran as fast as she could on the ice, reached for Derek’s hand before he could slash at Scott again but it was useless. He threw her like trash, away from them. Y/n landed with a loud crash and a groan from pain. She heard her name being called from a few different sources but she couldn’t tell. Everything got fuzzy. Only it wasn’t from the throw it was like from before, with Lydia. Her senses were basically rendered useless, she couldn’t hear anything and everyone looked slightly blurry. Y/n knew they were looking at her though, she knew they could see it.

Her eyes glowing.

Before Derek could notice her, before he could stop her, she picked her head up and that’s when her sense came back. Heighten, stronger and clearer than ever.

“Get away from him!”

Y/n slammed her hands on the ice, causing it to ripple like it was water, it traveled towards Derek knocking him off his position on Scott’s throat. He fell to the floor and an energy pushed him into the ice by his throat, almost like someone was stepping on his now. The ice cracked underneath him but Y/n didn’t care. She rushed to Scott putting his head in her lap.

“Scott are you okay?” He lightly nodded, coughing up some more blood. By now Derek had risen up, staring at the girl in shock. Y/n shot him a glare, “Leave, or I’ll do it again. And this time, I won’t stop.” Derek had slowly backed away going to his two new betas, who were now staring at her as well. Erica tried to tend to Derek but he just brushed her off, Isaac on the other hand, he kept staring at the girl even when Derek tried to guide him out. Y/n couldn’t tell if he was concerned for her or scared of her. Boyd had gotten down from where he was sitting getting ready to join the others.

“Boyd, please don’t, we don’t want to see you get hurt,” she pleaded one last time.

“You don’t want to be like them,” Scott warned

“You’re right,” Boyd lifted his shirt, revealing his bite, “I want to be like you.”

~

Y/n had gotten Scott back to the clinic where he was worrying about his wounds from Derek, “Why aren’t you healing?” Y/n shrugged even though he was mainly talking to himself, she rounded the corner to see a guy on the table, slashed.

“It’s from an alpha,” Deaton said coming from the shadows, “I think maybe we better have that talk now.”

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a/n: I don't have much to say other than I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! let me know what you think!

taglist: @somiaw

[equallyloyalandlethal]

Given that I've been hyping up people reading and commenting on fics, and I'm working on the sequel to this fic, I figured that I would post a new photo edit for it.

Tough Like Dandelions [135k | Complete, 18/18 | M Rating]

A story of growth, change, and healing after a new enemy steps onto the field that threatened to decimate not only the McCall pack and those adjacent, like Theo, but the supernatural world as whole. This rising faction of hunters used science to develop a new type of weapon that the pack has no defense for, proving to be their most dangerous opponent yet. Caught in the crossfire of it is, predictably, one Liam Dunbar, which meant that Theo isn't going to get any rest any time soon.

Theo Raeken/Liam Dunbar centric, alternating POV, pack dynamics feature prominently.

Chapter 1 Excerpt:

“Liam!” Theo’s voice ricocheted off the trees as he moved through them, shoving his way through the brush.  Nothing answered. Another, louder, groan filled the dusk-dark woods, dripping with the chimera’s pent-up frustrations as thoroughly as his shirt, plastered to his skin and sticky, was soaked with his own sweat. He turned, feet carving semicircles in the Preserve’s soft dirt. Whether he flared his eyes or not, nothing jumped out at him, no piles of shredded clothes, no signs of a struggle, no blood. Everything looked entirely as a forest should. His animals bristled in unison, not that he paid much mind to the coyote. Its chittering was always the same, driven by the taste of copper and a need to survive at all costs, neither of which were much use to him anymore. Theo shoved them back, pinching at the bridge of his nose. This was the last of Liam’s preferred spots that he could think of, and he had found nothing to suggest the wolf had been anywhere near here, or any of them, in at least a week. That in and of itself was nothing horrible. Any other day, he might be inclined to just guess that the little bastard was doing better, not needing to disappear from the weird pressures of being in a pack with people that cared. His fangs poked into his lips, the fresh tang of blood quickly coating his tongue and disappearing as the wound healed. Any other day. With a tamped down growl, he started forward, trudging through the undergrowth with all the tact of an enraged bull — much to his coyote’s very vocal displeasure.   Of all the times for Liam to play hooky, he had to choose the one-time Theo was actually getting some fucking sleep. His inner wolf huffed at him, annoyed at his annoyance, at which he rolled his own eyes. So, what if he had been Scott’s first call, post Mason? He shook off the little wave of pride rushed through his limbs. It meant nothing. The too-soft smirk on his face twisted into a loose scowl.

[rjzimmerman]

Solar Farms Have a Superpower Beyond Clean Energy. (New York Times)

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

It’s not your average solar farm.

The glassy panels stand in a meadow. Wildflowers sway in the breeze, bursts of purple, pink, yellow, orange and white among native grasses. A monarch butterfly flits from one blossom to the next. Dragonflies zip, bees hum and goldfinches trill.

As solar projects unfurl across the United States, sites like this one in Ramsey, Minn., stand out because they offer a way to fight climate change while also tackling another ecological crisis: a global biodiversity collapse, driven in large part by habitat loss.

The sun’s clean energy is a powerful weapon in the battle against climate change. But the sites that capture that energy take up land that wildlife needs to survive and thrive. Solar farms could blanket millions of acres in the United States over the coming decades.

So developers, operators, biologists and environmentalists are teaming up with an innovative strategy.

“We have to address both challenges at the same exact time,” said Rebecca Hernandez, a professor of ecology at the University of California, Davis, whose research focuses on how to do just that.

Insects, those small animals that play a mighty role in supporting life on Earth, are facing alarming declines. Solar farms can offer them food and shelter by providing a diverse mix of native plants.

Such plants can also decrease erosion, nourish the soil and store planet-warming carbon. They can also attract insects that improve pollination of nearby crops.

Pollinator friendly solar can pay off for business, too, potentially saving money and giving projects an edge for approval at a time when communities are increasingly wary of vast solar farms. Developers are taking note.

But there’s a broad spectrum of pollinator friendliness and little agreement on what efforts should count. Standards are often nonexistent. Some big projects are limiting pollinator habitat to tiny corners of their sites. Ecological value varies widely.

Communities may not understand the difference, and corporate marketing may exaggerate. That’s led to accusations of greenwashing.

Pollinator habitat on solar farms is “a serious work in progress,” said Scott Black, executive director of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a nonprofit group that is working on an effort to bring some clarity by certifying solar sites.

“It’s not fair if some people are truly stepping up to do this right and another company is barely doing anything and saying they’re pollinator friendly,” he said.

“If you build it, will they come?” he asks in his research. So far the answer is a resounding yes, if you grow the right plants.

In a study published late last year, his team found that insect abundance had tripled over five years on test plots at two other Minnesota solar sites. The abundance of native bees grew twentyfold.

The results come amid a global decline of wildlife that leaders are struggling to address. Some of the most well-known insect species are in trouble: Later this year, the federal government is expected to rule on whether to place monarch butterflies on the Endangered Species List. North American birds, for their part, are down almost 30 percent since 1970.

But at this site, called Anoka County Solar, acoustic monitoring has documented 73 species of birds, presumably attracted by the buffet of seeds and insects. Some build nests in the structures supporting the panels.

Mammals are showing up, too. Mr. Walston checked a trail camera before leaving, hoping to discover the occupant of a remarkably large burrow: A fox, he thought, or a badger. No luck.

(It’s trickier to make solar sites friendly to large wild animals, in part because developers are nervous to let them near expensive infrastructure, but efforts are underway there, too.)

What makes this meadow possible is the height of the panels. A prairie restoration firm had told ENGIE, the owner and developer, that taller panels would allow for a sharp increase in native vegetation species, providing much more ecological diversity, said John Gantner, the director of engineering and delivery for ENGIE’s smaller-scale sites.