#tagging this because I want people to stop being weird and mean towards her

[tit-mouse]

The longer I think about it the more I seriously ship link and yona

[dykedvonte]

Mini rant below and in the tags, the only time I’ll talk about this and my personal take on it.

The way people talk about hypothetical male Anya on Twitter and the idea of how Mouthwashing would play out if the genders were swapped makes me remember how people still don’t take sexual assault and rape with male victims with the same gravity, especially when the perpetrator is female.

[p-taryn-dactyl]

I saw you were taking Ambessa request so I've had something in mind for weeks now because I just love that milf. Sorry for the bad spelling and grammar.

Ambessa x priestess! Reader from a country she helped conquer. The country is run by the priestesses so when the reader is brought to Ambessa with the other priestesses Ambessa finds the reader interesting because she's the only one not scared.

This can a series of you want it to beI've asked so many people and they never end up doing it or they go inactive🥲

a/n: hi! i really like this prompt and hopefully i did it justice 🫶🏻 if y'all want this to be a series it can be! also, this is for all requests, if you want 🌶️ plz mention it in request bc i feel weird just adding it word count: 1.7k warning(s): i mean ambessa is not exactly the best person however she's hot; mentions of blood and battle; suggestiveness; use of y/n; manipulation? tag(s): @thesevi0lentdelights @sevyscoven

all things end

The halls you once danced through as a child were now stained with blood, smeared with the resistance of your people. Noxian soldiers formed a wall around you and your fellow priestesses as you were paraded through the halls of the castle, the survivors of the Noxian invasion, desperate for a glimpse of their leaders, formed a crowd. The soldiers pushed through the people, their skin stained with blood and their weapons drawn. Your kingdom wasn't one of war, your people unfamiliar with the craft of violence. To Noxus, you were soft, a country pliable enough to shape in their vision. You knew where the soldiers were taking you, the path one you had walked every morning since becoming a Priestess of Zhritsa. The center of the castle, where you would go to do your morning prayers, to feel the sun through the stained glass window on the ceiling, to hear the requests your people would bring to you. It was the hub of your government, the place where decisions happened.

Now it was where Ambessa Medarda waited.

Following Zhritsan custom, you and your fellow Priestesses wore white veils of mourning, the pure fabric growing dirty as you dragged your feet towards what you assumed was death. A mask of marble weighed heavy on your face, grounding you to reality. In one last act of defiance, you had convinced your fellow priestesses to follow you in donning your ceremonial crowns, sending the message of being the true rulers of Zhritsa. The attire of the Priestesses of Zhritsa was rumored to have scared off countless conquerors, the ghostly movements of the veils and the emotionless masks where only the eyes could be seen were now your only hope in making the Noxian invaders leave.

Suddenly, the soldiers stopped, their spears hitting the ground rhythmically as they parted, revealing Ambessa sitting upon the middle throne, her posture comanding and confident. Upon seeing all of you, you noticed an unsettled expression flash through Ambessa's eyes before it was replaced by the stare of the Wolf. She stood, waving her hand through the air.

"Lift your veils and remove your masks, I belive I am owed the faces of the former rulers of this...quaint kingdom."

Your resolve grew stronger as you lifted your veil, your hands steady as you removed your mask, your eyes glaring straight ahead at the warmonger. Your fellow Priestesses, however, shook with fear as their veils were raised and their masks removed. One of your sisters dropped her mask, the shattering of the marble echoing throughout the chamber. Noxian soldiers moved forward as if her clumsiness was an attack, you moved just as quick, standing in front of her, your eyes daring the soldiers to get closer as your Sister picked up the shards of her mask with shaking hands. Ambessa watched you with careful precision, making her way down the steps of the throne, her steps surprisingly quiet. The soldiers stood down as she grew closer, your defiant gaze now settled on her. She smirked lightly, removing her war mask, raising an eyebrow.

"There. Now we can all see each other." Her eyes held a type of humor that didn't amuse you. You didn't ignore the way blood was splattered across her towering form, reminding you of the countless lives of your people she slaughtered to get where she is. Ambessa grew closer to you, her eyes analysing you. Your eyes never left hers, willing to die in one last act of resistance for your country. The Noxian soldiers had stripped you of any weapons, even the ceremonial knives with blunt edges. However, in your stance in front of your Sister, you, as stealthily as possible, had picked up one of the shards of the broken mask. You lunged forward, the pathetic excuse of a weapon in your hand, aiming for her throat. Like it was a simple game, Ambessa maneuvered expertly, grapping your wrist and twisting with just enough force that the piece of mask fell from your hand where she kicked it away. Her grip on your wrist was firm, yet not painful as she pulled you close to her. You had to look up to see her face, her expression one of withheld laughter.

"She'll come with me. Take the others away."

The soldiers acted immediately, grabbing your Sisters and pulling them out of the room, their cries sending daggers into your soul. You struggled against Ambessa's grip on your arm as she too started leaving the room.

Was this how you were to die? Alone and by the hands of Ambessa Medarda? Surely she was dragging you to certain death, as a wolf has no mercy. Yet as you were pulled through the familiar halls of the castle, you felt her grip grow softer. Soon it was as if you were holding hands with the woman who was covered in the blood of your people. She stopped in front of a familiar set of doors, your stomach dropping as you realized you now stood in front of your chambers. Ambessa turned to look at you, cocking her head slightly and raising an eyebrow. Her hand left your wrist, instead now taking its place on your lower back as she pushed you forward lightly.

"Open the doors, my Lady." Her voice held a mocking tone, yet you detected a hint of warmth, sending your mind spiralling in confusion. You wanted to defy her, stand your ground against letting her into your room, but your eyes fell on the sword hanging from Ambessa's hips. If you could prolong your life by even a few minutes, you would. Holding your head high, you twisted the handle, pushing the doors open, revealing your room. Ambessa stepped in first, looking around before walking over to the balcony, where you could see your kingdom in almost it's entirety. Cautiously, you went to stand next to the imposing woman, some of the fight drained from you as you imagined your Sisters being tortured under the Noxian soldiers hands. Was it because of your outburst that they were taken away?

In your thoughts, you had grasped the railing of your balcony, your eyes unfocused as your thoughts spiraled.

"Don't tell me you've lost that fire in your eyes." Ambessa's rich voice broke you from your spiral, her words causing you to spin around to face her, bringing the anger back to your face.

"Why?" You spit out, "Do you want to watch it die out as you kill me in my room?"

Ambessa almost looked taken aback, like she didn't expect the venom dripping from your words. Still, she carefully composed herself, moving so now she caged you in on the balcony with her muscular arms. Her eyes were glued to yours, making you unable to look away. There was a light smirk on her lips as she spoke.

"There it is. I have no interest in killing you, Y/N. You've caught my interest with your fire, your willingness to fight back even though," she interupted herself with a laugh before continuing, "there was no chance of you winning. I admire that." You stood frozen as her eyes examined your face. Being this close to the general, you felt your anger slip slightly, feeling heat rise to your cheeks as you realized just how intimidatingly beautiful she was. It bothered you, how someone who's committed such horrible acts could be one of the most beautiful women you've ever seen. Ambessa took a step back, her arms no longer caging you in and you felt annoyed at yourself for being disappointed.

"We're going to be here a while, my soldiers and I. I would rather not have to spill any more senseless blood," She walked back into your room, expecting you to follow her and you did, "You've shown strength while others reek of weakness. Know this, young one, this isn't an act of mercy. Keeping you alive keeps stronger enemies at bay." She sat on your bed, leaning forward on her knees and clasping her hands together as she continued to pierce you with her gaze. You didn't know where to go, a stranger in your own room. You just returned her gaze, once more holding up your chin as you responded.

"And what is the price for this act of 'non-mercy'?" You decided that if she was letting you live, you would at least be yourself, cocking your head to the side and raising an eyebrow. You also crossed your arms, a grounding position for you as Ambessa just smiled at your petulance. She beckoned you to stand in front of her, positioning you so you know stood in between her thighs. One of her heads took it's place on your waist while the other cupped your chin and held her face in place so you were now eye to eye. Her touch sent chills down your spine, a flash of anger going through you as how your body was reacting to your countries conqueror.

"Show me more of your fire, teach me more about Zhrista so that my protection isn't just at the surface. All I ask is loyalty and all your needs will be met."

All my needs? Your mind supplied unhelpfully, making you unintentionally blush as you pushed those thoughts away, though it was hard with how Ambessa's eyes were looking into yours, awaiting an answer. You still held contempt for the woman in front of you, however your mind thought through Ambessa's offer. Your kingdom was a beautiful one, yes, strong only in trade and exports, your military lacking in skills of war. Ambessa's presence, while slightly annoying, could help strengthen your people's safety. You thought about your fellow Sisters, your certainty of their deaths fading away as you continued to examine Ambessa's expression.

You came to a decision, one that would change the course of your life and the trajectory of your kingdom forever.

Boldly, you got as close to Ambessa as you could without being in her lap, reveling the slight surprise her eyes radiated. You felt her grip on your waist tighten as you nodded, silently giving your agreement.

If she wanted your fire, you would set her ablaze.

a/n: hi! i hope this wasn't awful, im still new to writing for arcane, let alone ambessa (love her so much, it's a concern). thank you for reading!!

[bonny-kookoo]

Yoonkook

𝓓𝓸 𝓡𝓮 𝓜𝓲 [Part 1]

There's something happening.

Tags/Warnings: Vampire!Yoongi, Vampire!Jungkook, Human!Reader, Angst, poly AU, emotional confusion, blood (duh), fluff, romance

Length: uh 2k I think

There is no taglist for this fic.

-> Masterlist

🩸.━━━━━━━━━━.❤️.━━━━━━━━━━━.🩸

True to what you've told him in the car, you didn't really reply to any of Jungkook's messages for the rest of the day of the donation.

And while the vampire had been a little worried, Yoongi had reassured him that you seemed competent enough to seek out help if you need it, and that he shouldn't feel bad for taking the chance of your donation. You'd done what you did because you clearly wanted it- not because you felt obligated to do so.

And today, you've begun to be texting a lot more.

Jungkook is glued to his phone the entire day it seems like, and Yoongi can't say it upsets him too much. Jungkook craves friendships and social contact sometimes- something that doesn't come too easy when in a situation similar to his. People infected with vampirism tend to be avoided, no matter the circumstances of their initial infection.

It's like people stop listening after hearing that yes, it can be infectious- healthy people without the infection simply take that fact without looking into it, and run with it.

It's how the stigma had evolved in the first place- parents telling their children not to believe anything they teach about vampirism in schools, churches call infected people demons, and the elderly refuse to be taken care of by vampire staff at care homes or hospitals. Most companies won't even hire people with the infection, and they don't have to- there's no law protecting vampires, after all.

So, Jungkook has been rather lonely.

Apart from Yoongi and Seokjin, he doesn't really have any friends, and his parents had cut contact the moment he was diagnosed. So Yoongi can understand how excited he must feel at the prospect of making a new friend. And he also can't deny that he himself isn't at least slightly interested in you as well.

"How is she doing?" Yoongi asks as soon as he notices Jungkook's facial expression darken a little. The young vampire scratches the edge of his chin for a second, before he answers.

"I mean, she said 'good', but I don't know." He hums to himself. "I feel like I should like, maybe check? Ah, I don't know, this is so weird.." He mumbles more or less to himself, and Yoongi becomes interested.

It couldn't be that Jungkook and you.. no, could it?

"If you're really that worried, ask her if you can visit." Yoongi shrugs, well aware his partner won't really be able to rest easy unless he's got proof of your wellbeing. He's just compassionate like that- he's awfully empathetic towards everyone around him he cares about. It's something that's used for personal gain left and right- and Yoongi hates it.

Though he hopes you're not one to use him.

"Or.. what if we invite her over so she can eat with us?" Jungkook asks. "I don't want you to be alone." He complains, while Yoongi sighs.

"You know I don't mind being my myself, Jungkook." He reassures the younger vampire. "Go and visit her, it's not that big of a deal.." He mumbles to himself as he puts the last dishes on the side to let them dry.

"I mean, I know you don't mind it." Jungkook offers, hugging his partner from behind. "But that doesn't mean you should be so okay with it. You deserve to have friends too."

Yoongi is quiet for a moment, simply enjoys the close proximity, before he sighs. "Alright. Ask her what she likes to eat, we can order something in." He caves in, making Jungkook smile and eagerly run to grab his phone again so he can text you the new idea for the night. "Ah, and if she wants to drink something she can sleep over on the couch!" He calls to Jungkook, who gives an agreeing reply back as he texts you in the living room, sat on the couch.

Only a few hours later, you're calling Jungkook, who suddenly gets up to look out the window of the apartment the two vampires live in where he can see the bus stop. "Are you wearing the pink coat?" Jungkook asks into his phone, earning Yoongi's attention, as the younger vampire sighs. "You were supposed to tell me when we should pick you up! It's raining so much!" He whines in complaint, rushing to grab his own jacket and an umbrella, before slipping into his shoes to walk out the door, leaving Yoongi to search for the mentioned pink coat- and he finds it, standing beneath the somewhat shielded bus stop. You're stubborn, that's clear- he'd told Jungkook to not give away any hint at their address to you, because you'd surely go out to get here yourself instead of asking for someone to pick you up instead. And it turns out he was right.

Yoongi helps you take off your coat as you step inside, thanking him for the kind gesture before you slip out of your shoes. "Sorry-" you start, somewhat fixing your hair a bit. "-I just didn't want either of you guys to drive in that weather." You laugh, making Yoongi shake his head.

"No worries." He brushes it off, before he leads you into the living room. As you sit on the couch, you look around- noticing how long they both must be living together already for the entire apartment to look this.. alive.

"You have a lot of workout equipment." You notice as the oldest vampire sets a glass of water in front of you before Jungkook enters the room as well, jumping over the back of the couch to sit on it next to you.

"Yeah, that's mine, but Yoongi uses it too sometimes." He shrugs. "Mostly me though. It's like a hobby."

"Oh, that sounds nice." You agree. "You're very conscious about your body?" You wonder, and Yoongi chimes in from the side as he sits down as well, though a bit further away from you.

"He has to be, as a vampire." He says.

It's quiet for a moment, since you don't know what to say to that, really. You've noticed while Yoongi doesn't wear any identification at all, Jungkook still has his ID tag on his wrist, meaning that he's not been infected for long enough, or hasn't been evaluated either. "Oh, don't worry about that." Jungkook suddenly says a bit bashful, having noticed your eyes on the silver bracelet around his wrist. "I'm totally fine to be around. I just.. haven't gotten around to get tested yet." He tries to justify.

"Oh no, don't worry, I didn't mean to stare!" You wave him off. "I was just in thoughts." You laugh.

"Then think about what you want to eat first." Yoongi tells you a bit roughly, making Jungkook sigh as he leads you to sit on the couch together with him to look through the takeout menu on the little tablet he picks up from the coffee table.

"Yoongi just sounds a bit mean." He reassures you. "I promise he's actually a really nice guy."

"Have you been together long?" You wonder, tapping on the items you'd want to eat.

"Uh.. kind of? It's hard to explain, really." Jungkook chuckles. We're.. we have like a platonic, but also romantic kind of relationship. I know it sounds kind of weird." He sighs a bit uneasy, but you shake your head.

"Not at all, don't worry." You shrug him off. "I mean, if some people can have sex but not a relationship, why can't others have it the other way around?" You just say, making Jungkook look at you almost in wonder, before he snaps his attention back to the tablet when Yoongi reaches over his boyfriend's shoulder to tap some items into the order himself, resting his chin on Jungkook's shoulder for a moment.

"Oh, let me get my wallet real quick-" You move to get up to fetch your bag- but a hand grabs at your sweater easily, keeping you on the couch. You look back to spot Yoongis eyes on you, chin still on Jungkook's shoulder, before he shakes his head and stands up properly again, letting go of both of you.

"Don't bother. It's fine." He reassures you, leaving to do something in the kitchen you can't see.

"Alright, next time you come over to my place then, and I'll cook." You tell Jungkook. "Please- or I'll feel bad eternally, and you'll never hear the end of it! I'll haunt you to pay back the food, I swear!" You threaten the vampire, who can't help but laugh at the finger pointing at his chest.

"You're cute." He comments, causing you to laugh as well.

Later on, you're all a little tipsy from the beer, and sluggish from all the food you've eaten. You're nodding off against Jungkook's shoulder as the movie slowly comes to an end, your eyes closed as unbeknownst to you, Yoongi adjusts the blanket over your shoulders to make sure you stay comfortable.

You're very easy to be around, even for him- and he's actually not that social, usually hates anybody visiting at all. But he'd invited you simply to kind of pay you back- but now that you're here, he doesn't actually mind you all that much, if at all.

Jungkook seems very comfortable with you as well- the younger vampire having easily fallen into conversation with you as you two drank and laughed over jokes only you two seemed to understand. But even then, you always remembered and attempted to make Yoongi feel included.

And maybe that's the most unique thing.

It's only one single day, a little more than five hours, and he already has an odd feeling about you. And the weirdest thing about it, is that he feels so good around you it's intimidating to him. He never really felt so drawn to a person before than he does to you- he wants to hear you talk even if it's about nonsense, he wants to know how you feel, what you like, what you hate, what annoys you, and what makes you happy.

For a second, truly so, he thought it was just some.. dumb sexual need. A fantasy almost that his mind, or rather dick, came up with- because you are, absolutely, pretty. He'd never be able to deny that.

But he doesn't actually really think about that- not entirely at least. You get along so well with Jungkook and himself, as if there's nothing different about them compared to you at all. And maybe, just maybe, there's a chance at this already odd relationship he has with Jungkook could become just a bit weirder, because in a way, Yoongi can't help but feel like nothing is impossible when it comes to you.

Though, that creates a new predicament.

How does he propose this idea, without potentially scaring both of you off?

[oscconfessions]

people should stop portraying book as some little shy girl who "made some mistakes in the past but is ok now" or whatever because that's so booooring and just barely scraping the surface of her character. she should be allowed to be mean to people and have negative emotions and be wrong sometimes, actually.

canon book in tpot also kinda has this problem where she's just portrayed in the most boring way possible that's not like. ooc but just like the super watered down version of her from bfdia. modern bfdia gets like a pass for this because yeah she's supposed to be portrayed as a pushover on that team. but keeping her that way is so weird because it just goes back on the "development" (using that term VERY lightly because the show is kind of weird about her character during the time) in BFB that literally shows she doesn't want to be a pushover anymore and wants to start actually standing up for herself and her friends (her not joining back with pencil for iance and her calling out taco for abandoning the team).

i think bfb portraying her at a negative extreme is good because it manages to be reasonable within her character (it's not really written WELL but that doesn't mean it's ooc some of you just think of it as ooc because you expect book to be some nice little polite girl all the time even when bfdia has shown her being incredibly petty at times and not, in fact, nice all the time) while still going out and doing something unique w/ her and giving her more glaringly obvious flaws. i wish these flaws were shown more post-bfb because Hey, book can be a better person and not at that extreme negative and still have flaws. that's how you make her actually interesting instead of generic nice all the time character who has no issues #57. tpot really wants to show that she's changing from her past and improving on these flaws without actually /giving/ her the flaws that she's supposed to be improving on so she doesn't get any of the development that the show wants her to get/acts like she's getting.

anyways where was i this was suppsoed to be about fanon book. i like that people acknowledge her nerdiness but i dont think people get how annoying she is about it like she literally said (in front of lollipop) that lollipop was being "so out of character" and she literally has snarky definitions of the other contestants written inside of her that's so fucking obnoxious of her and i love it. and like these are still there in bfb (like her saying black hole sucks as a person because he's a pushover) so like i think it's reasonable to carry this over to tpot. maybe lessen it a bit because y'know she is actively trying to make friends but you can make her a bit of an awkward ass to people because it's funny

basically just...... make her worse. no more "cute awkward girlfail" book that's been done time and time again i want to see her suck and i want to see her be lame in a non-endearing way. tpot 10's "redemption" (FOR LACK OF BETTER TERM I DON'T THINK IT'S A REDEMPTION) scene with her and price tag talking is too happy and wholesome i want to see her have to face the ugly truth of her actions after trying to avoid her past for so long and i want her to have negative feelings towards people from her past even if unjustified and i want her to be selfish and i want her to feel bad about her own feelings (this is all said lovingly) so that when she finally moves on from it there's an actual impact on her character. you can't just treat it like she's "turning over a new leaf" with just not if you're gonna have her be the Usual Book throughout tpot. as i said earlier she doesn't get any character development like how the show says she does because there's nothing to change about her

oops again this was supposed to be about fanon. well i just really hate(?) tpot book and her impact on the way the fandom portrays book. give her back her charcter flaws and problems pretty please stop woobifying her!!! i don't think she was some awful person in bfb (i think she was. somewhat right in bfb but that's not what this is about) but i don't think her actions back then should just be brushed off because "oh that's the past and she's clearly changed!" WE DON'T EVEN GET TO SEE HER CHANGE THAT WOULD'VE BEEN INTERESTING TO SEE HER ARC IS SO SLOPPILY RESOLVED GRHGHRGJHGGHJH sorry folks i really hate #that scene in tpot 10

Also she's a butch lesbian that's not related to any of this but she came to my house personally and told me this

.

[quin-ns]

Inevitable (Kang the Conqueror x Reader)

Word count: 1.8K

Summary: you don’t know kang, but he knows you

Tags: antman and the wasp: quantumania spoilers!!, canon divergent, avenger!reader, one-sided affection, soulmates (kinda), denial

Request: anon: “Ohohoho the DRAMA of a Kang fic okok so how about an avenger who’s super powerful, and loves Scott as a friend and is a good person and has a strong moral compass, somehow they end up in the quantum realm with scott and cassie etc…. And when they meet kang it’s like he knows her… he shows her them in the future being lovers etc… it’s almost like they’re soulmates and she is horrified, she thinks he’s good looking but nuu he’s a bad guy…. How will it all turn out o.O”

A/N: loved this prompt- I did deviate a towards the end but still hope it lives up to expectations. kang was fun and interesting to write for. complex villains are the best ngl lol

Misc masterlist + main masterlist

You didn’t blame Cassie for her invention going haywire and pulling you all into the Quantum Realm. Still, it wasn’t exactly ideal.

When you, Scott, Cassie, Hope, Janet, and Hank all got sucked into the Realm, you all got separated. You, Scott, and Cassie ended up together thankfully. You could only hope that the others were all together as well.

The three of you did your best to stay out of trouble. Except that’s exactly what you got into because, well, who knows? Avengers seem to have bad luck. If you were superstitious you’d say that you and Scott both being there amplified that.

There was an attack by what you thought was a sun—you all quickly found out it wasn’t—and then some big purple… thing. You were saved, but then next thing you knew, you were being captured by what Cassie called quantum people.

Great.

They separated you and brought you to their weird town. It was a marvelous setting, but you didn’t exactly get to admire it all that much. The people surrounded you and chanted loudly, spiking your anxiety. At first you were scared, especially when they poured red ooze into your mouth. You suddenly could understand them.

The leader, Jentorra, warned you that because you were from above, he would be hunting you. The Conqueror. He didn’t sound like someone you wanted to be captured by.

The attack was sudden. Ships shooting blue lasers descended. Robots, or what you thought were robots, began to go after people. It was a mess. Some of them evacuated, some fought. You, Scott, and Cassie ran. You all knew that you were the targets and you couldn’t get captured. Not before finding the others. You saved as many people as you could along the way.

There was a giant floating metal head—MODOK is what it called itself—that stopped you.

Turns out, it was an old acquaintance of Scott (and sort of Cassie). Darren, they called him, showed his—maybe this was mean, but it was true—hilariously ugly giant face. He took you to a tower and divided the three of you into cells. Scott cracked some joke about how he had been in jail four times—one more than Cassie.

Darren revealed that he worked for the Conqueror, who built him into what he was. As it turned out, the Conqueror built a lot of what you were seeing.

You were pacing around your cell, trying to devise a plan, when the sound of heavy footsteps began to echo through the hall. It caught your attention. You watched as a man in a green and purple suit approached Scott. His face was veiled in blue and his eyes shone with the same color.

He walked right up to Scott’s cell and they began to conversate. You were diagonal to Scott and next to Cassie. You weren’t sure if the man even saw you.

You heard Scott tell him he was an Avenger, and the Conqueror casually asked if he’d killed him before. “I’ve killed so many, they start to blur together…” the Conqueror mused.

Scott asked who he was, the Conqueror told him he was the man who had lost time. He began to explain that he had a plan for Scott.

You couldn’t fully hear him, and you decided to speak before you could think to stop yourself. “Hey, if you’re revealing your evil plan, can you clue us all in?”

The Conqueror fell silent. He turned to face you. The moment he laid his eyes on, a chill ran through your spine. The blue mask was gone. You could see him more clearly now. The look on his face… there was recognition in his eyes. Sure, he said he’d killed the Avengers in other universes, but this didn’t seem like that.

“Oh, you…” the Conqueror said, seemingly surprised. Pleasantly surprised. “MODOK said there was one he never met. I didn’t know it was you. I should’ve, though.”

The fact that he was handsome threw you. You were expecting someone… scarier looking? Or more alien. Although you supposed not every villain you dealt with after Thanos would be like him.

“Am I that much of a surprise?” you asked, raising your brows.

“A bit,” he admitted. “You look so… well, like you.” The Conqueror approached your cell, Scott forgotten.

“Okay, what does that even mean?”

“I haven’t seen you in so long,” he sighed out. There was a longing in his eyes that seemed so out of place given everything you knew about the man. “It’s good to see you.”

“I don’t know you,” you told him, shaking your head.

“Oh, but you do,” he replied smoothly.

The barrier on your cell dissipated suddenly. The Conqueror extended his hand out to you, passing easily through the barrier that had once been.

“If you would come with me, Y/N.”

You hated the way he said your name. There was an unearned sense of familiarity. Despite the allure in his tone and the gesture of his hand, you ignored it. The Conqueror let out a sigh. He turned on his heel and began walking away. Slowly. Waiting for you to follow him like he knew you would.

You looked to Scott’s cell. His eyes found yours. He didn’t speak, but he was trying to warn you silently.

That was Scott, always looking out for you. But if you had a chance to negotiate, maybe get you all home unhurt. You had to try, right?

You stepped out of the cell. The Conqueror hadn’t gone out of sight. The moment he heard your movement, he halted his own. You didn’t know the man, but you could see the victorious smile he wore before he even turned to face you.

“I knew you couldn’t resist,” he said knowingly. You began walking towards him cautiously. “I have something to show you, dear. I think you’ll find it quite enlightening.”

You stopped next to him, jaw clenched. “Who are you?” you questioned. “I want a name.”

“Kang,” he revealed. “You can call me Kang.”

You nodded. Okay, that was something. You waited for him to lead the way, and he did. He didn’t offer his hand again, he realized you had no intention of making contact with him.

You looked over your shoulder one last time. You couldn’t see Cassie from the angle you were at, but you gave Scott an assuring look. The one he returned didn’t quite match your confidence.

“I have to say, I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Kang revealed once the two of you were alone.

“Yeah, because this is what I had on my schedule today,” you replied sarcastically.

Kang let out a laugh. It was short, but genuine. It was an odd sound to hear from someone who’d sent an army to take out civilians. That reminded you that you in fact should be scared of him.

You arrived in what appeared to be the center of Kang's tower—or whatever the hell he wanted to call it. It didn’t matter what it was, it was where he had been leading you.

“What’s on your mind?” the Conqueror asked, looking your way. You were put off by sincere curiosity.

“Okay, what is going on?” You couldn’t keep it in any longer. “Why did you bring me here? Huh? Why just me?”

“Nice to know some things never change,” Kang said, mind distant for a moment. Then, his gaze refocused on yours. “You always were a curious one.”

“Stop talking like you know me!” you snapped.

Kang remained eerily calm. “But I do. That’s what I wanted to show you.”

Without further word, Kang turned his attention to—well, you weren’t sure what it was. Your best guess was something similar to a projector. He did something, you couldn’t tell what, but suddenly beams of light shot out of it.

In front of you was a projected image of… you? You weren’t alone, though. At your side was the Conqueror himself. His arm was around your waist and your head was resting against his shoulder. You were both dressed formally. You couldn’t tell where the two of you were or what you were looking at, though.

The way the projection displayed, you were staring into your own eyes. It was unnerving to say the least.

“I liked this universe,” Kang spoke up. You nearly jumped, suddenly becoming aware of the fact that he was at your side in reality as well. “We had a lovely wedding.”

Your head snapped to him, unable to believe his words. Kang looked at you and let out a content sigh. “We’re married in a lot of universes. And even in the ones where we aren’t, we’re bonded.”

“You must’ve forced me.” It was the only explanation you could think of. “You say you’ve killed the Avengers—I’d never abandon my friends to love someone who’d do that.”

“There was no force.” He sounded briefly offended before regaining composure. “As for the ‘why’?” Kang allowed a small smirk to cross his face. “I won’t spoil the ending, dear, but I’ve seen it. I’ve seen every ending.”

“Why are you showing me this?” you asked.

“Because, I need your help. Well, you and your friend. Scott, right?” he finally recalled. “I need to get out of here,” Kang explained.

“I saw what you did to those people,” you argued. “Why would I help you?”

“My future directly impacts yours,” he explained simply. “If I get out of here, you could come with me.”

You let out a mocking laugh at that. “No way. I already told you, I’d never be with someone who has done the things you’ve done.”

He looked offended. Hurt, even? But it wasn’t like you lied. There was even a flash of anger but he regained composure.

Kang stepped close to you and you stepped back. Behind him, the holographic image changed. You and Kang. Then it changed again, then again. Picking up speed. You were watching as your future in hundreds of different universes played out. Different paths, different lives, but they all ended up the same way. With Kang.

He was proving a point.

“You and I are inevitable, Y/N. In every universe where we exist,” the Conqueror revealed calmly—calculating—and continued to approach you.

You shook your head. “No,” you stated firmly.

Kang tilted his head slightly, eyeing you curiously. “You really believe that, don’t you?”

It was right in front of your eyes and yet you refused to accept it. “I know it’s not true.”

“You don’t know anything,” he dismissed passively. Like he just knew he was right and didn’t see the need to genuinely argue. “Not yet, at least.”

It wasn’t until Kang’s hand rose to your face, his gloved hand brushing your cheek, that you’d realized you had fallen still in front of him.

“But you will see,” he revealed in a way that you could only label as ominous. “You always do.”

[kyhgwts]

part2 of my steddie short story!

And again, because i am so so so so so thankful. I did not at all expect for my short story to get so much love! It makes me so happy people are enjoying what i write. Being a writer has honestly helped me a lot, i start to feel like a mom when i’m texting now. All my friends write in run on sentences, and it gets me so mad! But enough of that. I just wanted to say thank you, to everyone who interacted and helped me to get to this point. Tags: @e0509 @tayhar811 @kellynickelsgirl00 @jessetalexis-blog @steveharringtonsnailedbat @cherrycolas-things @playfuloutcast @forksloree @beckkthewreck

______

‘You’re starving our poor girl’ Eddie says, Steve just makes a grunt rolling his eyes.

‘She’s not starved, i fuck her when she asks’ Steve said in defense.

‘Only when she asks? She’s a shy girl yeah? She’s not gonna always tell you Steven, you got to be able to read her’ Eddie says.

You had been asleep, Steve coming home early. Steve leans against the counter his head hanging through his arms.

‘Read her?’ Steve asks, Eddie rolls his eyes.

Steve had never really been the type, he was all consensual king. Sure he had fun in high school but he liked to leave that behind.

‘Yes read her. You’ve got to be able to tell when she wants something.’ Eddie says, and Steve really hates he has to say this.

‘i dunno how to do that’ he mumbles turning around to the fridge, opening it and getting a bottle of water.

Eddie grins, because he can tell Steve is embarrassed. He knows Steve doesn’t like to admit that.

‘Well first off, she’s shy. But surprisingly when she wants something it’s very obvious. Last night i realized she does this thing with her hands.’ Eddie says, mocking your movements of twisting your fingers together.

‘She does that when she’s anxious’ Steve says, Eddie shakes his head.

‘No sir, you are wrong. She does it when she wants something from you. I mean, it doesn’t always have to be sexual. But she does it before she’s about to ask you.’ Eddie says, Steve gave a weird look.

‘How did you learn this in one night’ Steve says raising his eyebrow.

‘Okay, so anything else?’

‘i think she has a daddy kink’ Eddie adds on as if it was nothing, Steve holds up his hand.

‘Wait wait wait, slow down. A daddy kink? what the fuck do you mean’ Steve says, Eddie stares at Steve a little bit longer to see if he’s joking.

‘oh dear god,’ he mumbled ‘you know, and you’d think you were the virgin’ Steve mouth hangs open.

‘It’s not my fault you-‘

‘i’m what?’ Eddie says, Steve cowers.

‘I don’t know! sex god i suppose, you know everything’ Steve says, Eddie actually laughs at this head thrown back.

‘Steve, do you not know what a daddy kink is?’ Eddie asks, Steve narrows his eyes.

‘Well- yeah? She calls you Daddy that’s what-‘

‘Not just that, it’s like…’ Eddie thinks trying to find his words. ‘She likes to be taken cared of, and babied’

‘Babied?’ Steve furrows his eyebrows.

‘Okay so… how is she gonna start doing that do we have to tell her’ Eddie laughed, Steve was so lost.

‘No if you just get her far enough in her head she will, it’s all about getting her to that space’ Eddie says, Steve nods.

‘I’m gonna go wake her up’ Steve says, walking off to his room. Eddie just grins watching him.

—

You were under Eddie as he kissed down your throat. You mewled, hands in his hair.

Steve was watching you two, and it enlightened something in him.

The noises you were making as Eddie practically attacked your neck, it made Steve rethink his whole life.

During sex, you had never really been like this to Steve. You were so desperate and clingy towards Eddie. And sure you were with Steve too but, it was different somehow.

‘mm’ want em off’ you whine pulling at your t-shirt, Eddie quickly got up from your neck pulling your shirt off. Leaving you in only underwear.

‘These’ you protest pulling your underwear down, before you could fully pull them down, your hands were stopped by Eddie.

‘You gotta slow your roll pretty girl’ Eddie says laughing, Steve’s eyes widen when you obey.

You whimper when Eddie began to circle your clit with his thumb. Making you twist your fingers, Eddie noticed and turned to Steve. Steve nodded to tell Eddie he understood.

‘What do you want princess, hm?’ Eddie asked, the way he asked it made you feel embarrassed and comfortable all at the same time.

‘You’ you whine, you try to move your hands but Eddie grabs both putting them above your head. You make a pout, making him laugh at you. Eddie pulls down your underwear, you now smile in triumph.

When your underwear was off, and thrown on the floor Steve almost groaned. The way you had been acting towards Eddie was making Steve insane.

You whine, bucking your hips when his fingers swipe up your pussy.

‘Look, she’s already wanting me again and i just helped her last night.’ Eddie teased, making you furrow your brows together in annoyance. Eddie turns to Steve.

‘Now steve, this, is what you do for consent.’ Eddie begins, turning back to you.

‘We gotta make you a safe word, what’s your favorite color sweetheart’ Eddie says, Steve is about to say it but Eddie throws a hand back to stop him.

‘Brown,’ you mumble.

‘S’ like your eyes’ you say smiling fondly, Steve rolls his eyes.

‘Did you tell her to do-‘ Steve didn’t really quite get was going on, obviously.

‘Steve, baby imma need you to shut the hell up.’ Eddie says, Steve shuts his mouth immediately.

baby

‘Alright, brown is your safe word okay, so anytime you want me to stop, you say that word alright?’ Eddie says, you nod breathlessly.

‘Steve, i want you to watch her very closely. You’ll notice she gets more distant, okay. That’s a sub space,’ he explains, Steve nods. ‘and don’t ruin it or i’ll murder you’ He threatens quietly so you don’t hear.

‘Okay’ Steve whispers, turning to watch you. You were looking up at Eddie like he owned the world. Your eyes blown wide and puppy like.

Your hands flew out to grab onto him, clawing at his shirt trying to pull at it. You went silent when he began to pull his shirt off swiftly, throwing it to the ground.

You smile sheepishly, feeling his stomach and his abs. He grins as he pulls off his boxers. Your eyes now look down at that, your stomach churns.

He was big, very big actually. He wasn’t as long as Steve, but he definitely beat Steve in thickness.

Steve could see your eyes, you looked so distant. 

You wanted to clench your thighs to relief yourself but Eddie’s hands held apart your thighs. You huff out a frustrated sigh. Eddie looks up at you and laughs, you had the meanest look on your face.

‘what do you want, hm? Sweet girl?’ He says, hands rubbing up and down your thighs.

‘you’ you whine, Eddie shakes his head.

‘you gotta be more specific sweets’ Eddie says, you stare at him with annoyance.

‘you know what i want.’ you say sassiness filled in your tone, hands moving to grab him in your hands. He immediately takes hold of both your wrists and slams them above your head. You whimper trying to move your hands, his grip tight.

‘It isn’t hard. why do you have the need to be a brat? huh?’ he says, Steve can see your eyes go big and wide. Steve trusted Eddie, and he knew Eddie would never hurt you.

‘m’ not a brat’ you protest meanly, squirming in his hold. He leans down mouth right next to your ear.

‘If you keep that attitude up, i won’t even consider letting you come. Do you hear me?’ he says, your eyes go impossibly wide and you whimper nodding your head.

‘Now. Let’s try again, what would you like?’ he says, voice so threatening.

‘your cock’ you whisper, he breaks out in a grin. Steve shocked as hell, not once has he ever heard you talk like that.

‘good, that wasn’t so hard, was it?’ he says, you shake you head. He then let’s go of your hands, and you fall limp. Eyes dazed, he smiles at you.

‘You remember that safe word sweetheart? i’ve got to make sure you know you can change your mind’ he says, you shake your head furiously. Confused as to why he would even ask that, because all you could think about right now was him and his cock.

‘Let me hear it.’

‘brown’ your voice was so fragile, extremely soft. It didn’t even quite sound like you.

‘Good girl’ Eddie whispers, tapping the side of your thigh. You try to stifle the whimper, but it obviously failed when you can hear Eddie chuckle slightly.

You felt his tip swipe through your folds, making you whimper. Eddie smirks, his grip on your hips so tight it hurt. But it hurt good, so good. When his tip slipped into you, you hold your breath.

He was taking his time with you, letting you get so wet and needy you wanted to punch him. You groan, pushing down your hips.

‘more.’ you protest, Eddie looks up at you.

‘i’m not sure you can take it’ he challenges, you make a frown. Shaking your head, you push on his chest.

‘i can’ is all you say, now mad at him. He looks at the emotions on your face. You actually looked starved of sex, like Eddie could see it on your face.

‘You sure? look how small your poor pussy is baby, think she can take it?’ Eddie asks, you nod humming.

‘Yes!’ you didn’t mean to shout, quite frankly you were just mad. So far in your sub space that you didn’t care if you were acting like a brat. You just wanted him, and punishment didn’t seem too bad.

‘You’re mean’ you protest, Eddie raises an eyebrow.

‘oh?’ Eddie looks back at Steve, wondering if he’s catching this. Because this is the most he’s ever seen a girl in a sub space. Steve looks pleasantly surprised, staring at your face which is full of emotions.

‘Is that what you want? for me to be mean? is that why your so wet hm?’ he asks, you whimper nodding your head.

‘have i cracked the code, sweetheart?’ Eddie grins, you make a confused face which is cut short when he slams into you.

Your face is contorted immediately, pleasure and pain thrown at you all at once. Steve eyes are burning a hole into you. He can’t look away, you are so beautiful.

Your mouth is shut, you can’t bring out coherent words. You try and pull Eddie down to you, wanting him closer than what he already was.

You couldn’t get enough of him, never in your life have you felt this way during sex. It was a whole new experience.

‘Fuck sweetheart, you’re swallowing me’ he says lips now close to you ear, as he kisses down your neck.

‘move.’ you whine pushing down your hips, your eyes glossed over. When he slowly pulled out, and then back in again you choked on a moan.

You didn’t understand what was happening, you were consumed by his smell. And hypnotized by the way he was making you feel.

He gave you a slow pace, and he knew what he was doing. Sooner or later you would burst, showing exactly what you were wanting and what was on your mind.

Steve moved over to get a better look, hand now helping him get off. Your eyes wandered over to Steve, and he looked so pretty. You hear Eddie chuckle, making you look back to him. He’s looking at Steve.

‘She really likes that view, she nearly crushed me with how hard she clamped down on me.’ he says, knowing how embarrassed it would make you feel. And sure enough, your cheeks were bright red.

Eddie groans when your legs wrap around him, pulling him closer. It was a sight to see for Steve, he needed to stop being soft with you because god was this truly amazing.

‘You just can’t get enough can you?’ Eddie asks, you were going to give a quick answer. But Eddie already saw it coming, and he smashed into you. Leaving you a whimpering and suby mess.

Your no longer there, eyes squeezed shut as Eddie held you and pounded into you. The repeated hit to your spot had your eyes starting to water.

‘come on baby, i can feel you sucking me up. Your so close’ he says. You cry, hands flying to his hair.

‘I- i can’t-‘ your breathless voice making Eddie smirk.

‘Can’t what?’ he asks, teasing as he lifts up your leg over his shoulder. Still making a brutal pace on you.

‘I- i don’t know’ you sob, Steve is alarmed by your sob immediately looking at you.

‘Come on honey, i know you’ve got it. You’re being so good for me, don’t you like being good for me? hm?’ he says, and you melt. Body going limb as your tears rack through you.

And you weren’t sad, you just felt so good. It was so overwhelming to the point you didn’t know what to do. Searching for purchase, you hold out a hand to Steve who immediately grabs it. You cry out the feeling in your tummy so close to pushing it out.

‘Come on sweet girl, let go. Show Stevie how much you love being controlled and fucked till you can’t breath’ he says, and you hadn’t even realized what you said.

‘Daddy’ it was a soft sob, that alerted both Steve and Eddie. Eddie looked back at Steve grinning. Steve looked like he was red in the face, like he enjoyed it all too much.

‘Daddy?’ Eddie asks smirking as he kissed you, you cry into the kiss. Nodding your head, he pulls away. Somehow making his hips snap quicker.

‘Please! feel so good’ you groan, and before you know it the feeling in your tummy snaps.

You shake and cry in pleasure, head spinning. The white noise playing in your head as your vision goes black. Your hands are holding so tight on Eddie’s arms he thinks it might leave bruises.

Eddie let’s put a string of curses, the feeling of hot pleasure rolling into your pussy. For a moment, while your head clears and your vision comes back, the room is silent. But then you realize it’s just you, because you can hear mumbles.

Your eyes focus on Eddie, who breaks out into a grin.

‘There she is!’ he says leaning down and attacking you with kisses. Your breath is starting to become steady, your heart still racing.

Steve comes in, giving you a sweet forehead kiss. And you didn’t know what to do with yourself, love coming from all angles. You just lay there, comfortable and soaking up the love.

Soon enough Steve is taking you to the bathroom. Eddie cleaning the sheets and getting knew ones, When he’s done, he joins the both of you in the shower.

Your head still felt light, so free. You didn’t understand how just sex made you feel this way. When you all got out and changed, laying in the bed.

‘I need to do it next time’ Steve says, smirking at you. Eddie grins when you blush. Steve holds onto you tightly, arms wrapped around your lower waist. Eddie’s front right up against your back. His hand laid lazily across your stomach his head above yours. Steve’s face buried in you neck.

‘i’m tired’ you whisper, voice soft with a hint of rasp.

‘Good thing we’ve all got tomorrow free, eh?’ Eddie says, you and Steve hum in agreement.

And for the first time in your life, you actually felt so comfortable and completely free. The sleep was unmatched.

[another-whump-sideblog]

Fixing Tracy -- Cursed Knowledge

TWs in the tags

Masterlist

Molly keeps her promise, and Tracy finds that the achiness and other symptoms have faded a lot by the next day. At least she won’t have to feel like that ever again.

What would it be like, if your priority was your own health and happiness?

Molly’s words keep intruding into her thoughts, which is especially weird because Tracy already knows the answer. She would be a different person if she prioritized herself. So why does the question loop in her mind?

It doesn’t matter. She needs to escape, to get back to Alicia. But… when she had a chance to escape, she failed. She doesn't even know why!

She takes a deep breath. That train of thought goes nowhere. Just… think about it logically. Stop being stupid and think of it like a puzzle to be solved instead of a potentially hopeless situation.

Okay, the main obstacle in the way of escape right now is that she can’t hurt Molly. Since she doesn’t know why she can't hurt Molly, the logical next step towards escape is to figure out the reason, right?

How does one figure out why they couldn’t do something, though? She knows she was interrupted by a memory that made her lose focus, but she doesn’t know why that happened. It’s not like being violent is so out of the ordinary for her. She’s always been able to do what she had to do, so why can’t she now?

“…hey.” Molly pulls Tracy from her thoughts and sets down a plate of eggs and toast in front of her. "Um.. how are you feeling?"

"Better. Uh… thank you. For not keeping me like that. And for breakfast." She's not really grateful, of course, but keeping Molly happy certainly can't hurt anything.

Molly sits down. "So… do you want to talk about why you're so sure you can't get sick?"

"I don't get sick."

"...Most people do get sick sometimes, though, right?"

She's waiting for Tracy to answer, so Tracy gives a quick nod. It would feel like Molly's talking to her like she's a toddler if she didn't know that Molly always talks like this.

"So why are you different?"

"I don't know why, I just know that I don't get sick."

"But how do you know that? If it was just that you've never been sick before, why would you be so sure that you can't get sick now or in the future?"

Tracy eats some of her eggs. "I just know."

Tracy knows she's being frustrating, causing the conversation to go in circles, but Molly doesn't seem annoyed. "While you were… feeling not so great, you said that you weren't sick because you're not weak or pathetic. Do you feel like people who get sick are weak and pathetic?"

"...I guess."

"Why?"

"What do you mean, 'why'? If you're sick you're obviously weaker than normal, and you need people to take care of you."

"And… that's pathetic?"

"Yeah? Y'know, you're not my therapist, you're my kidnapper. I don't want to play whatever game this is."

"You seem frustrated."

"I am! Can you let me eat in peace?" 

"Of course. I'm sorry." Molly starts eating her own breakfast.

They eat in silence for a bit, allowing Tracy to go back to her predicament. How does one figure out why they couldn't do something?

The options can be broken down into two potential answers: it was either something about trying to give someone a concussion, or something about Molly specifically.

The first seems more likely. She's never given anyone a concussion before, and it's a bigger deal than slapping someone or pulling their hair. It's… only human that she hesitated. It's only human that she thought back to how it felt when it was being done to her.

So, how can she fix being human? How can she make hurting someone seriously feel the same as slapping someone or pulling their hair?

"What're you thinking about?" Molly asks.

"Just enjoying my food." She eats the last bite of her breakfast.

Molly takes Tracy's now empty plate and stacks it on top of her own. "I'll go wash these. After that… Do you wanna play chess?"

"...sure. I'll set it up while you're doing that."

Molly grins widely and goes into the kitchen.

Tracy finds a chess board with the other board games, puts it on the table, and sets up the pieces. She can multitask, it shouldn't be too hard to play chess while figuring out how to turn off the part of her that cares about causing someone brain damage.

Molly finishes with the dishes quickly and sits down across from Tracy. "Do you want white or black?"

"How good are you at chess?"

Molly laughs. "We've played chess together before, when I was your therapist. Do you remember at all?"

Tracy shakes her head. She really doesn't remember anything from those sessions.

"How about we just do rock, paper, scissors for who plays white. Does that sound good?"

Tracy nods. Molly plays rock and Tracy plays scissors, so Molly ends up with the first move.

Tracy has to remind herself not to get too engrossed in the game, no matter how much she enjoys chess. She still needs to be focused on escape. How can she fix the part of her that hesitated at hurting Molly?

If she can just fix that, she can retry what she did last time. Grab some handcuffs from the backpack, catch Molly by surprise, hit her head hard enough to disorient her, take the cattle prods, restrain her, take the keys, and escape. 

Molly will probably be anticipating her trying something like that, so she'll be on guard. She's already started taking the backpack with her when she goes to the bathroom, which she didn't do before the incident. Tracy could've tried that strategy long before Molly accidentally left the restraints when she went upstairs… but it would've failed, because she hasn't fixed the part of her that hesitated.

"You've always had such an aggressive playstyle." Molly once again interrupts her thoughts. "I'm more like Alicia, I prefer to focus on defense."

Tracy's stomach drops. Molly may have played with Tracy before, but she's never played against Alicia. “How do you know that?”

Molly winces. “Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Is there any answer to your question that could make you happy?”

“No, but not answering it doesn’t make me happy either!” Tracy tries to keep her breathing under control.

“I think… you’re happier now than you would be if you knew.”

“That’s not fair. Why do you get to decide that? Why can’t you just listen to me? I want to know! I hate not knowing, I hate looking back on private memories and wondering if you were somehow there! I hate wondering if Alicia is safe from you or if you're watching everything she does!" She sweeps the pieces off the chess board and lets them clatter to the ground. It doesn't make her less angry.

“...I'll tell you if you can calm down, dear."

"That's not fair!" 

Life isn't fair. Calm the fuck down.

"You stalked me and won't even tell me how and I'm supposed to not be upset about that?? Why is everyone allowed to get angry but me!? Why are you allowed to kidnap me and shock me with cattle prods and restrain me, but me getting upset is too far?? Tell me, now, or– or–"

What can she threaten? She's completely powerless, even over her own emotions. Now that she's opened the floodgates, she finds herself sobbing uncontrollably. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you–"

"C'mon, just take some deep breaths. In… and out… In… and out…"

Tracy abruptly stands up, sending her chair flying, and flees to her room. She locks the door behind her despite knowing that Molly must have a way in and starts throwing things. The spinny chair, books from the bookcase, clothes, pillows, anything she can find.

All she achieves is tiring herself out. She screams until her throat is hoarse, but Molly doesn't even knock on her door or try to talk to her. She punches her mattress until her arms are sore, and still, nothing happens. Her rage is meaningless. She's not even going to get punished, much less listened to. No one cares. No one cares at all.

She cries until she's emptied herself out. That should be calm enough for Molly, right? She takes some deep breaths, unlocks the door, and exits her room. "I'm calm now. Tell me."

Molly is sitting on the couch, staring at Tracy. "I… I had a lot of things. It was a lot of hacking, mostly. Um…" she takes a shaky breath. "You're going to be upset."

"Yeah. Did you not know that when you did it?"

"I… I don't know…" She closes her eyes. "The cameras. The cameras that your parents set up in your house, I watched through those."

Tracy feels like the wind has been knocked out of her. She thought she was too exhausted and numb to feel anything, but she was wrong. She's not even sure what she's feeling, but it's definitely something besides exhaustion and numbness.

It was violating enough to have her parents watching. It never even occurred to her that the footage could be being watched by someone else. What if Molly wasn't the only one? God, Molly probably didn't even have to do anything but guess the password a couple of times! Tracy wouldn't be surprised if the password was 'password' or one of their birthdays.

"So… Alicia…"

"There aren't cameras in her foster parents' house," Molly confirms. "I follow her foster parents' social media, and I can access Alicia's email, but… that's it."

Tracy doesn't remotely believe that that's all, but she does believe that there isn't a way for her to watch Alicia anymore. "If I asked you to unfollow them and log out of Alicia's email, would you do it?"

"...yes. But it would mean I wouldn't be able to tell you how Alicia is doing, would you be okay with that?"

"Of course I'm fucking okay with that!" Tracy snaps. "I already asked you to leave her alone, but I guess you don't care about my wishes as much as you pretend you do." She's proud that her voice is able to sound cold despite the fire raging inside her.

"...I thought that as long as I didn't contact her–"

"Let me make it clear, then. I don't want you to have anything to do with her. I don't want you to surveil her in any way. I want you to be completely clueless about what's going on in her life."

"Okay. I'll do that. I'm so sorry, Tracy."

Tracy doesn't dignify that with a response. She locks herself back in her room. She doesn't think Molly will actually stop stalking Alicia, but… there's a chance. That'll have to be enough for now.

There is another small comfort– the cameras were only meant to make sure she and Alicia followed the rules when their parents weren't home, and her parents turned them off when they were able to keep an eye on her and Alicia in person. If Molly's main source of information was the cameras, she didn't see the worst of it. She didn't see Tracy at her most vulnerable. She tries to remind herself of that, but it doesn't make her feel any less violated.

Maybe Molly was right. There was no answer that could've made her happy, so she shouldn't have asked.

tag list: @whumpyourdamnpears @watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees @iamheretohurt

[gilbertscocteaus]

thinking about that scene in kaze to ki no uta where gilbert is just having fun playing tag with some adults, specifically this one girl called sophia/sofia and she's like, treating him so well, and gilbert doesn't have a mother so auguste KNOWS that the poor thing (7 years old) is seeking her attention in replacement for anne marie's neglect, and so he just goes and says "okay fun is over i need you to come here now" and someone (rebec) mentions how gilbert's light "faded" at that very moment.

"that look isn't normal in a child! that's the face of resignation, he's suppressed all his instinct to fight ..."

and then gilbert (who is 7 at the time, it's been 2 years since the abuse started) walks away with auguste.

there's SO much to say starting with the fact that gilbert's attitude is nothing like the one we're shown in the actual timeline (this is from a flashback) and he's, basically, a whole different person in comparison, which fits with the way auguste raised him.

since his purpose was to make a "perfect masterpiece", he had to strip gilbert of who he was from the root, first attacking his "survival instincts", then treating him as if he was incapable of doing anything or learning anything despite the fact that gilbert taught himself to read (at like, 6-7) because he was interested in art, and so on, auguste is just taking away bits and pieces of gilbert to make him what he wants him to be, but he's never clear with what he's demanding of him so gilbert is a mess

the scene also highlights how he flinches at the sight of auguste, and looks nervous when he approaches him and sofia, but when auguste gives his final veredict (that "playtime is over") he just leaves without saying much, because he knows it's pointless, auguste will do anything to drive the people who care about gilbert away even if they will never do anything to stop the abuse. gilbert knows this subconsciously, i doubt he can explain it, but i think there's some level of acknowledgment on his part.

gilbert is not entirely lost at this point though, he's on his way out but he has some of his instincts, he knows that auguste means danger (also shown by their first meeting, gilbert just keeps repeating "danger, he's dangerous, he'll do something to me". this eventually stops as gilbert realizes auguste is the only person around him who "cares" -it stops after their encounter, the one right after bonnard kidnaps him- and instead of pushing him away, he starts to want to be around him more, the evident fear is no longer there, but auguste still haunts his decisions and the way he interacts with others -serge-)

now, remember rebec???? he knows about the abuse, he's definitely worried about the impact it has on gilbert, but he never does anything to stop it because auguste is a close friend of his. i won't go into detail but. that's realistic!!!! okay ending this point to add:

i think the way gilbert was written and described is really good, and as much as i HATE auguste he's also pretty well written too in a weird way. he has many flaws, but he's a perfect "villain" for this i think.

think of humbert humbert from lolita as a base, both of them use flowery language to make their acts sound less terrible (auguste constantly describes his acts towards gilbert as art, as "necessary for his development", as something that's right despite it not being so)

see 41:50 - 43:40

(it's not really evident in this scene i think? but you can see the way he speaks about it, he makes it sound as if it was something necessary, as if it was something that gilbert will benefit from even though it's just abuse)

gilbert IS a different person than he was years ago, and the only person to blame is auguste, that one scene i mentioned at the beginning is just a transition period between point A (rejection, fear, gilbert doesn't want to indulge in this) and point B (acceptance, he's actively seeking it even if he hates it)

gilbert has never wanted to do this, all he wanted was to be held by someone because everyone around him neglected that need, as serge said once: "he was starved (of love) and i could provide him with that"

but, eventually, he learned to suppress that need and, as the world changed his view on him (hypersexual behaviors that were previously encouraged are now seen as strange and gross, gilbert doesn't understand why the change) gilbert just had to go with it, accepting that he would always be seen as someone bad no matter what, he thinks he's broken in some way, that he will corrupt others if they dare to help him, which i think it's a key point to understand if you want to understand why he acts the way he does towards serge:

"doesn't he hate it? if he does, why is he pushing serge (the only person who ACTUALLY helps him) away?"

because he doesn't THINK he deserves it, he thinks he's going to corrupt serge if he does, everyone thinks that, everyone stays in their lane, no one has ever done anything to stop it and when they tried they were pushed away by auguste, and gilbert wanted auguste's approval! he wants him to like him! so he continues, and the cycle never ends ...

[my-castles-crumbling]

Anon Advice Asks - February 1st

anti-jegulus anon (new), second opinion anon (new), Elaboration Anon (new), the anon, crash out anon (new)

Anti-Jegulus Anon

Hi Cas!! I hope you're doing well. I promise I'm asking this in the most genuine way, and I hope you don't take it the wrong way because, like probably all of us, I hate ship wars in fandom. They're just SO stupid.

I've had this problem for a while, and I don’t know what to do about it. I think it's the reason I often see people hating on Jegulus everywhere. But for some reason, I feel genuine disgust and hatred toward that ship, and I have no idea why. I can't stand it. I have it blocked everywhere, yet it still shows up EVERYWHERE.

Do you know how stupid it is that I feel like this? It’s just a freaking ship. Like, come on, let people ship whatever they want and move on. Don’t be stupid and immature.

But I feel GENUINE hatred toward that ship. I've tried to like it—I’ve read fics, looked at fanart, and engaged with content in general—but each time, I hate it a little more. It makes me so angry because almost all the "big fics" in the fandom are Jegulus (yes, that makes me bitter too. WTF is wrong with me?), and I can't even enjoy them.

On every Jily post, someone has to comment something about Regulus or Jegulus, and it feels impossible to escape. It's really affecting me. I would never publicly rant about it because, honestly, people should just stop hating on what others like to ship. But personally, this is really getting to me. What the hell?

I'm so tired, but I don’t want to leave the fandom because it's my only source of happiness. What should I do?

Hi!

Okay first I want to say, to anyone else reading this, we aren't going to attack anon. Anyone who does is going to have their comment deleted.

So...I mean, you're allowed to dislike a ship as much as you want. There's nothing wrong with really disliking a ship. You don't need to like...be mad at yourself for that or try to force yourself to like it. There's plenty of ships I don't like, too. You're doing the right thing by not adding to stupid ship wars, and that's what's important. You're more than welcome to not consume fandom content that you don't like.

I think the thing is, you can't let it get to you, though. Block the tags and block the people who are talking about it, and focus on the ships you like. And...if you really dislike it THAT much, I'd maybe try to think about why? Is it that you don't like what canon Regulus stood for? If so, that's valid and nothing to be ashamed of. But if it's seeing James with a man...that might be something to think more about, you know? I would never say that disliking a ship is an indicator of morals, but you keep saying you HATE it, and that makes me think like...to have that much passion about it? Idk. You still don't have to like the ship; there are plenty of queer ships I don't like, but I'd just think about the WHY.

Good luck!

_______________________________

Second Opinion Anon

Hey, Cas!! I hope you’re doing well! I need a second opinion. I feel like an adult woman thinks I’m friends with her. I’ve been friends with A since we were in the nursery and we’re sixteen now. Because we’ve been friends for so long I know her family very well. Her mom, M, is really sweet and nice to me. I consider her a second mom and I think she considers me a third daughter. When my friend has plays and stuff she invites me to go with her but not our other friend. At first I thought she was just being nice, and that’s probably what she thinks is going on too because she’s a family lawyer and would definitely never make a kid uncomfortable on purpose, but it started getting weird. During A’s performance of The Sound of Music, she told me how she’s ashamed of her mom and stuff. And then while my friend was changing out of her costume for Our Town, she told me she had a trust fund set up for both her daughters but not to tell them. I don’t know if I’m being paranoid, but it feels weird that a forty five year old woman would be telling a sixteen year old a secret like that and not expect them to tell their friend.

Hi!

I think the thing is, whether or not she's intending on making you uncomfortable, she is. It may be that she feels a maternal connection with you, or something like that, but the problem is, there is an inherent power different between a sixteen-year-old minor and a 45-year-old adult. If you feel comfortable, next time she says something like that, I would say something like, "oh, I'm not very good at keeping secrets, please don't tell me anything like that!" or "oh I don't know anything about that, I'm too young to talk about that kind of thing!" even just change the subject or walk away. If you really feel like it, you can even say, "I don't feel comfortable talking about this, I'm sorry!"

But if you don't, I would start trying to avoid time alone with her.

If things persist, this is something you can talk to an adult about, to see if maybe you can get help talking to her about. You don't deserve to feel uncomfortable, whether or not it's intentional.

You are allowed to set boundaries, no matter your age and the age of the other person <3.

_____________________

Elaboration Anon

hi cas!

my dad is kinda awful sometimes and i’ve been wondering if what he does counts as emotional abuse

do you know how to figure out if a parent is being emotionally abusive or just an asshole?

i’m probably gonna return with an elaboration on what exactly he does, but i’m still uncertain if i should even consider calling it abuse, like it could definitely be worse

and i do love him, and he can be lovely sometimes, it’s just the consistent ways of hurting me are kinda overwhelming

Hi!

So I'm not a professional and I'm not sure exactly what he does, but I'd try looking here and here to look at the lists of types of abuse and signs. I hope this helps a bit!

___________________

The Anon

Heyyyy, it’s the/thé anon again! (Fun fact, typing that makes me laugh a little cuz it’s like, I’m the anon. So special, roll out a little red carpet for moi.)

ANYGAYS

Good news, I’ve started setting up boundaries. Maybe not explicitly saying they’re ’boundaries’, but nonetheless that’s what they are. I’ve reduced how long I stay on call with them, I also have established that when I’m crafting I like to not be on call (works pretty well, cuz I can just say I ‘need to focus’ or some crap so they understand)

And like I said in my last ask, I did actually take my sharpener out of my pencil case. And forgot about it for a week until they asked for it. Only problem, i immediately went ‘here I have extra pencils’ and handed them one.

My class also ended up having a present or come in and talk to us about relationships. Friendships and family relationships along with romantic relationships and what-not. Thé entire thing felt super awkward, because when it got to toxic relationships it felt like each thing the presenter mentioned, I could think of a time my friend/bf had done.

Today’s ask feels much sorter, damn. Guess that’s gotta be a good thing tho, huh? Alright well uh- have an amazing dayyyyy :)

Ahhh I'm so proud of you for setting some boundaries! I hope you're proud of yourself as well. Please keep me updated!

__________________

Crash Out Anon

Hi! You're allowed to dislike whatever ship you want. Ships aren't real, and disliking a ship isn't an indicator of moral values. As long as you aren't participating in all of the stupid ship wars drama, you're fine.

And for the record, I've been accused of fetishizing trans people for writing trans reg and I'm trans so like...I get it. Just ignore it, you can like or dislike whatever ship you want.

[ravenzeppeli]

Claimed

Chapter 32 - 5 Month Mark to Forever |La Squadra x Reader|

Warning: strong language, threats. MA.

Ghiaccio's POV

Ghiaccio assumed that he would just be picking you up and taking you to his place this Saturday, his hand gripping your bag as he stood by the door, his eyes on his capo, Risotto. "What is it?" His eyes darted over to you, a small smirk on your lips as you kept your eyes on Risotto. Something weird definitely was going on, considering how pleased you looked.

"Risotto has amazing news," you said, your voice smooth, almost giddy. "He was waiting to say it. It's just a quick something before we go." Your eyes suddenly landed on Melone, who was watching you carefully in his seat right by Risottos.

Melone wore a confused expression on his face, his thin eyebrows pulled into a low scowl as he studied your face, attempting to read you. "What's the news, boss?" He muttered to Risotto, keeping his eyes on your face.

Prosciutto and Formaggio sat next to Melone, Illuso, and Pesci being sat across. Everyone seemed to be here despite it being Saturday morning. Did Risotto call everyone here? Now Ghiaccio was starting to grow worried.

"I'll allow you to say it," Risotto muttered as he leaned back in his chair, red eyes scanning the room. "Go on and tell them. The decision is final regardless."

"Oh God, what is it?" Pesci questioned, panic filling his wide eyes. "Are you pregnant?"

Illuso let out a laugh, a wide grin appearing on his lips. "It ain't mine, so I'm good. I'm sure I'll be a good uncle and stepfather."

"She's not pregnant," snapped Prosciutto, giving Pesci and Illuso a glare. "She's on the pill."

You rolled your eyes, stepping forward, leaving Ghiaccio to stand by the front door all by himself. Goddamnit, he just wanted to take you to his home and celebrate these past five months with you. Sharing you with six other men was was fucking annoying. He'd rather just share you with Melone and Pesci only.

"So, who's going to start taking me on side missions with them?" You questioned, causing the room to fall silent. "Because I got approved. I can go with you all to beat people up. I will now be throwing the punches."

"You will be in the car and following behind," added in Risotto, raising his eyebrows at you. "Stop saying you're going to throw punches. I'll take the deal off the table and put you back on computers permanently."

"She did knock Formaggio out cold before," Illuso added in, his eyes scanning you up and down, a grin creeping on his lips. "I'll take you. You can join me when I go, and when Formaggio and I go, then so can you."

Ghiaccio blinked, sitting down your bag by the door, unable to process what was going on. From his understanding, you were their girlfriend, and despite the fact that you had a stand, you were going to stay working behind the scenes. Because you were their girlfriend. Girlfriend meaning that you needed to be fucking protected and away from the violence of their job. Goddamnit, why was Risotto suddenly allowing you to tag along? He didn't like this one bit. This would put you in danger.

Formaggio scoffed, "I let her knock me out. Fuck it, we'll start taking her with us. She can tag along and stand behind us." He shrugged, letting his eyes land on you. "You gotta listen to us."

"This is complete bullshit," spat out Prosciutto, his hands balling into fists. "She literally runs away when I punish her. She can't handle what we do."

"I only left because I can't punch you in your fucking face like I want," you replied calmly, a huff escaping Ghiaccio's lips as Prosciuttos head snapped towards you. "Next time I'm going to punch you." Goddammit, you just couldn't help yourself. Saying things like this to Prosciutto was a bad idea, and despite that you still mouthed off to him.

As Prosciutto went to stand, Risotto stopped him, his arm extending as he pushed Prosciutto back down onto the leather. "Both of you stop it," snapped Risotto, his voice growing dark. "You two need to fucking get along. No more fighting. We are supposed to be a fucking family. Act like it."

The authority in Risottos' voice caused you and Prosciutto to back down, the two of you looking away to stare at the ground. You and Prosciutto seemed destined to never get along, never being able to surpass a week without an argument breaking out. Ghiaccio felt bad, seeing you having to force a relationship that you didn't want. Did you even want him? He wasn't that much of a jack ass. He felt as if he treated you fairly well.

"She could get hurt," Melone muttered, eyes darkening as he stared at the ground. "Does she even know how to shoot a gun?"

"She can shoot a gun," Pesci blurted out, causing your mouth to slightly hang open, forming a perfect 'o' as you stared at him with disbelief. "Uh.. I mean. I think she can." He went to quickly get up, only to be stopped by Melone leaning forward, placing his hand on his leg. "I'm sorry, Y/N!" He covered his face with his hands, clearly hiding something.

Aside from Pesci, who was hiding his face, you had six pairs of eyes on you. Even Ghiaccio glared at you, wondering what in the fuck you could possibly be hiding. Well, you had a life before them, clearly you knew how to shoot a gun. Perhaps Luca taught you.

"Did you really think that Pesci put like, three bullets in that guy?" You spoke suddenly, causing a quick laugh to immediately escape Formaggios lips. "He always shoots twice, and he always shoots in the head."

How did you know how Pesci fucking shot people!? Ghiaccio shared no parts of his work life with you, despite you knowing and being active he didn't feel comfortable sharing his criminal activities with his girlfriend. He did not want to fucking scare you, he was so scared of you fearing him. All along it turns out, you really weren't scared of them. You weren't fucking scared of their crimes. In fact, it seemed like you wanted to be involved.

Why? He couldn't understand why you wanted to be involved, why you wanted to get your hands stained red just as theirs were. The men were fine with you working from home. All seven of the men were fine with providing for you and letting you presume any little hobby you had. Couldn't you learn how to bake or sew? For fucks sake, couldn't you take up fencing? Protesting would be pointless, it was clear the decision had already been made. Did Risotto want you to get killed? This was beyond fucked up.

"Are you going to punish her?" Prosciutto questioned, voice low as he turned towards Risotto. "She just admitted to killing someone without telling us. She probably forced Pesci into lying as well."

"I did not force him," you added in, "I begged." Illuso let out a sigh, shaking his head at you as he put his finger to his lips, indicating that maybe you needed to shut up. Melone and Prosciutto seemed very pissed off. They weren't keeping quiet about it like Ghiaccio was.

"The only reason I took her was because she shot two men dead in front of me. Her stand also stitched up my head that was busted open," Risotto spoke, his eyes on Prosciutto. "She can ride along with Illuso and Formaggio. She isn't riding along with you, so it isn't any of your concerns. My decision is final."

"Why?" Melone muttered. "Why are you doing this to us? I fucking love her Risotto! If she fucking dies out their then so help me God I will die too!" He snapped, causing you to snap your head towards him.

"Hey, stop being dramatic!" You snapped back at him, squinting your eyes at him. "If you do that, then I'll have to come back to life and die again."

Pesci suddenly raised his head, his eyes landing on you. A look of pure confusion was spread across his face as he stared at you. "What does that even mean!? You aren't making any sense!" He spoke in a panic, his words slightly jumbled. "I-I, goddammit! She didn't force me to lie! She just.. she.. she didn't get hurt! She knows how to kill!"

Ghiaccio wanted to speak up and side with Prosciutto, especially considering he wasn't on board with this. Today marks five months of you being on the team, and tonight, he planned on seeing if you wanted to take that final step. Aside from Melone giving him a few blowjobs and him pleasuring himself, he hadn't had sex in seven years. He was fucking nervous, and he wasn't going to fuck that up by siding with Prosciutto right in front of you.

"I'll be fine," you replied, brushing Pesci off with a simple shoulder shrug, causing him to just stare at you with a frantic look in his eyes. "You all should worry less. It's so annoying. How about you instead find a reason to be happy about this?" You just.. you weren't like anyone he's ever fucking met. You were.. something else, for fucks sake.

"Girl, you aren't helping your case," Formaggio snapped lightly at you, keeping his voice filled with an ounce of sweetness. "Illuso and I will train her and take good care of her."

Melone scoffed, his glare setting on Formaggio. "You and Illuso take terrible care of her. You'll get her killed!" Suddenly, his eyes set on you. "You'll come with Ghiaccio and I."

Before Ghiaccio could make a statement, you stepped forward. "I would much prefer Illuso and Formaggio."

"Are you fucking serious?" He questioned, his hands balling into tight fists. "Are you seriously going against me? I said you're teaming with Ghiaccio and I."

Pesci went to speak, but Illuso lightly smacked his arm, shaking his head. "Nah, Pesci, we can't get involved if these two fight," he heard Illuso whisper to Pesci. "We gotta stay the fuck out of this."

Ghiaccio silently agreed, stepping back slightly, keeping his eyes warily on Melone in case he did decide to hurt you. He wouldn't let you get hurt, but would Melone ever dare to hurt you? No, he was possessive and clingy, but in no way was he abusive towards you.

"I actually want to learn something. You'll hold me back. Illuso and Formaggio will actually train me," you replied, causing Melones jaw to instantly lock. Oh fuck, why in the hell did you fucking insult him like that? Ghiaccio wanted to put a muzzle over your goddamn mouth! "Look at the time, hm? Looks like I gotta go." You turned away, walking towards the front door.

"Melone isn't done speaking to you, girl," Prosciutto snapped, his glare resting on Risotto. "Can we please privately discuss this in your office?"

Risotto nodded once, "it won't change my decision." He stood up, giving you once last glance before he turned away, walking down the hallway. He had no footsteps. His steps were always so silent. Prosciutto followed, deciding to keep his eyes off of you, heavy footsteps stomping down the hall.

The sudden slam of Risottos office door caused Pesci to jump slightly, a shaky sigh escaping his lips. Despite the room being two less, the tension was still extremely thick, causing Ghiaccio to just want to grab you and leave.

"Nag nag nag," you muttered under your breath as you walked across the wooden floor, the door now inches away from your grasp.

Melone let out a low laugh, shaking his head. His laugh was unsettling, causing Ghiaccio to shift uncomfortably by the door. Goddamnit, why did he always act so fucking creepy? "That's fine.. it's fine to not listen to me. I'll see you Monday, I love you." The whites of his knuckles were showing, his teeth clinching together.

The look on your face was one of panic, only Ghiaccio being able to see your face. Ever so slightly, his head tilted to the side as he watched the panic leave your face as you turned around, you forcing your face to go blank. Hm.. did Melone scare you? He should watch the two of you more. "Well, I can go with you some days." Formaggio snorted, causing you to glare at him.

"What?" He questioned, a grin appearing on his lips. "Don't be spineless. Are you going to let Melone walk all over you? Looks like you are our little girl, hm?" The words were harmless child's play, just Formaggio joking around with you as he always does, but it was clear his words pissed you off.

"Fuck you and Melone," you snapped suddenly, Melone instantly standing up. "I am in control of myself!"

Melone walked towards you slowly, his hands unballing, fingers slightly tucked in as he made his way towards you. "What is your fucking problem today? You don't act like this. This isn't how you act." As he stepped over to you, he got in your face, leaning down to meet you eye length. "Did I do something to you? Do I deserve your disrespect?"

"Do I deserve to be treated like a child?" You questioned back, staring up at him. The stiffness in your body was straight as a board, your eyes hard but close to breaking. When it came to defending yourself against the men, you did a good job, but Ghiaccio's never seen you have to defend yourself against Melone. Usually, he was doing whatever he could to please you, not getting in your face and expressing his disappointment with you.

"I see how you wanna be," muttered Melone, shaking his head. "You hate me for wanting to protect you? Fine. I'll just give you space. Since you fucking hate me all of a sudden. I guess I'm not strong enough to train you. I guess I'm not man enough for you." Despite the calmness in his voice, he could sense a deep anger behind each of his words.

"Melone, it isn't like -" you began, only to be cut off by the sound of him walking out the door, slamming the door shut behind him. You let out a huff, turning your attention towards Formaggio. "I didn't really mean fuck you."

"Nah, you're gonna fuck me," Formaggio replied, your eyes squinting as you crossed your arms over your chest. "Wait. No, I'm gonna fuck you. You don't get to do the fucking around here little lady."

Illuso snickered, smacking Pescis thigh. "Hey Pesci, do you fuck Y/N or does Y/N fuck you? Does she ride you?"

"Leave him alone," you snapped, shaking your head as you turned your attention towards Illuso. "He doesn't want to talk about sex. Talk to him about boats, not sex!"

Formaggio scoffed, followed up by an eye roll from Illuso. Ghiaccio was ready to fucking go, having to sit back here in silence as he always does grows very annoying. The men have no respect for his relationship with you due to the fact that he hasn't slept with you yet. Aside from Melone and Pesci, the other men would ignore him or brush them off when it came to matters concerning you. All that was about to change tonight.

"You're in trouble," Illuso spoke, a grin appearing on his lips. "He's never gotten onto you like that before. Looks like you might be getting in trouble when you see Melone again."

Ghiaccio almost wanted to laugh at how ridiculous that sounded. Despite Melone being very angry with you, he loved you too much to ever lay his hands on you. The most prized possession in Melones life was you. He wouldn't dare lay an improper hand on you. He just rolled his eyes, leaning down to pick back up your bag off the ground.

"Let's go Y/N," Ghiaccio snapped, grabbing the doorknob, yanking the front door open. "What's done is done. It can be discussed on Monday! We're all off this weekend so let's be fucking off!" The fact that they're still standing here annoyed him, he was ready to have you to himself.

"Bye guys," you muttered, walking out the front door, Ghiaccio following behind you. The nervousness he felt over tonight as well as the entirety of this weekend engulfed him, silence falling over him as he opened his passenger seat for you, guiding you into his car.

Fuck.. he hoped that he could please you. That he could make you cum and possibly lay on his chest afterwards so he could caress your cheek as you fell asleep in his arms. All he wanted was for you to like him suddenly, and he couldn't believe that. He couldn't believe that he was finding himself falling in love again. Goddamnit, this was so fucking terrifying. He waa really starting to want this to work so badly.

[neverbelessthan]

15 QUESTIONS FOR 15 FRIENDS

I was tagged by @adickaboutspoons and @edsrosetattoo. Thank you for thinking of me! ❤️❤️❤️ I love this shit. And sorry for taking so long to do it, I had so. much. uni. work.

Are you named after anyone?

Katharine Hepburn. And my mother gave me her middle name ('her' as in my mother's, not 'her' as in Hepburn's - although, Houghton? What a bitchin' middle name jfc), which has pissed my sister off literally from the day I was born because she got given a(n arguably lovely) random middle name instead. Suck it.

When was the last time you cried?

Today.

Do you have kids?

Yep.

What sports do you play/have you played?

I’m an equestrian (dressage, specifically) although I’ve been out of it for a while because I had to have some surgeries, also because I’m broke, and horseriding is basically like burning money. Also figure skating. Group sports are the devil.

Do you use sarcasm?

I honestly wouldn’t know how to get through life without sarcasm. I’m like, 75% sarcasm (in person, at least - online I tend to be a bit more sincere because I generally obsessively re-read anything I post or comment before letting it loose in the world and if it comes off too sarcastic in my own head I’m like dude … stop being a dick).

What is the first thing you notice about people?

I’m hyper-sensitive, and I have acute sensory-sensitivity issues, so generally I pick up on the minutia of how someone presents at any given time (sometimes because it’s all my brain can take in, because wider general observations are too much), like I’ll pick up on shit people aren’t even aware that they’re putting down. Ask me how much fun I am at parties.

What’s your eye colour?

Brown. Very much towards the uniform brown/black end of the spectrum though, not hazel.

Scary movies or happy endings?

Neither.

Any talents?

I’m weirdly excellent at claw machines? Someone pointed out to me the other day that I’ll need to budget half a suitcase and a not-insignificant amount of my travel budget to The Claw Machines because Japan is full of them, and it honestly hadn’t even occurred to me. And by ‘weirdly excellent’ I mean weirdly excellent - like I can’t remember ever having started on one and not ended with a sizeable audience. I recently had a worker at one stop me mid-game to open the box and reshuffle the toys and then watch over my shoulder because he thought I was cheating. I’m also really good at mimicking people’s handwriting. I don’t have a gag reflex. I have full-body hyperextension, so I can do weird/terrifying joint-related things. Are we supposed to be picking weird stuff? I do have normal talents but they’re boring.

Where were you born?

Sydney, Australia.

What are your hobbies?

Sculpture, photography, crochet, knitting. I like small-scale art - miniatures, origami. Music (I play the piano, cello, guitar, and sing). I like plants (hoyas, particularly). Is travelling a hobby (my brain would like me to accept that no, it’s a coping mechanism for escaping the nihilistic futility of existence :)? I’m doing two university degrees right now, so I find that my hobbies don’t get much bandwidth and when I’m not reading about neuroscience or philosophy I’m usually just staring into the middle distance letting my brain power down for 5 minutes. Is that a hobby?

Do you have any pets?

I have a cat. And some tropical fish. And a semi-domesticated water dragon named Richard.

How tall are you?

5’2”. Or, as people often enjoy pointing out: pocket-sized.

Favourite subject in school?

I hated my school, and therefore generally hated all subjects by extension. I loved anything creative: art, music, drama, creative writing, but I was too much of a social weirdo to not get bullied about it all, so I stopped bothering because I wasn’t willing to make/do what I really wanted to because I was too terrified of getting shat on about it, and there didn’t seem much point in doing any of it halfway. Plus it was an academically selective smartypants-assface school, so they didn’t put much stock in anything creative, unless you could top the state in it, and I didn’t really want that sort of pressure, thanks.

Dream job?

Some sort of very well paid, very infrequently required consultant.

I tag, with absolutely no pressure at all (and with profuse apologies to anyone who hates these things or who has already done it and i somehow missed you doing it because i’ve been buried under research and only on here sporadically the past week): @jessystardust, @majesticartax, @follows-the-bees, @theangelyouknew, @iamadequate1, @jeffsinnbythesea, @tositandadmire, @ameryth74, and literally any other mutuals who I haven’t tagged and who haven’t done it that would like to do it. I get such insane social anxiety about participating in these things, but also I love them: The Horrors. Also I know that I didn't tag 15 people, but … anxiety (I've tried to not include people who I've already seen tagged, and have literally gone through the last 50 or so posts of the people I have tagged to try and make sure they haven’t already done it, because i’m an idiot, and you know, being an idiot like that takes time).

[darklingichor]

Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett

Tis Hogswatch season on the Disc and those auditors of reality are sticking their collective hoods into the human world again. This time, they hire the assassin's guild to kill The Hogfather, the personification of the holiday spirit. Meanwhile, belief in this spirit seems to be waning in the Disc's children and he cannot be found.

What follows is Death trying to preserve belief in The Hogfather by performing the role himself, The Death of Rats and Quoth the Raven bringing in Susan because her Grandfather seems to have lost his mind, and she delving into the underworld of childhood myths, and Unseen University dealing with odd things popping up due to some excess belief hanging around.

I have heard a lot about this book just by following the discworld tags on tumblr, so what I had expected was a sort of Christmas special, a sort of send up of the "we must save Christmas" thing. I mean, yeah, there is a little of that vibe, but I should have know that it wasn't going to be that simple.

This book is dark, like original Christmas Carol dark, and I love it!

I read that people use to write Sir Terry Pratchett and say they hope that the real Grim Reaper is like the Discworld's Death. This would cause him to stare at a wall for several hours.

And I have to say, I understand both sides of this.

The Disc's Death is committed to being fair. He comes for all, no matter what. His timing might not seem fair, but you will go whether you are a king or a peasant, a tube worm or a God (unless you're Rincewind). And, for the most part, he does his job with something akin to empathy. He speaks to every sentient soul he collects. In his way, he very much cares for them. He acknowledges when a death is cruel or unfortunate, or untimely, even if he can't do anything about it. Then there are the ones he actually steps in and changes, which have their own problems.

Of course people want real Death to be like this, who wouldn't want an entity that sees your life as valuable at the end if it, not because of accomplishment, but just because you lived?

At the same time, I can see why people wishing for a character who, while fascinated by and affectionate towards humanity, doesn't really *get* it and bends the rules with sometimes not great consequences to be in charge of the transport of their soul, and all of that before even considering that sometimes he just kinda stops doing his job...would cause some serious wall staring.

That being said, I think he is one of my favorite characters.

I love Death as The Hogfather, he approaches it with the same mindset as he does The Duty - fair for all. And if a gift or a circumstances goes against something Death can do, he does it anyway because the Hogfather could do it. His commitment to keeping humans human is so cool.

I have to say:

It was so much fun to read him talking to the kids in the department store. I have never read such realistic kid conversations than the ones that have been written between Death and kids, in both Reaper Man and in this one, the wonderful rambling of the kids and the indulgent confusion of the grown up, it was great!

Susan has developed into another one of my favorites.

I'll admit, in Soul Music, I sort.of found Susan to be a little annoying, at least at first, in this one, she has cultivated a normal as a governess. And had grownnout of the teenageery "I will be right, even if I'm wrong" mindset (please understand that the reason this sort of thing sets mybteeth on edge is because I went though this phase as a teen and looknback at it with continual facepalming).

I love how she has adjusted her mindset to all of the mythical and solidly weird things about the world. Almost a flexible theory of logic, that will bend and twist to solve whatever illogical thing she is facing. It's like she says to herself "Just because what is going on is insane, it is no reason to behave irrationally." So, of course when facing down monsters under the bed she has a plan and a fireplace poker. When dealing with gods and assassin's, she finds logic that will work in that situation. It's seems the only thing she can't fully use this on is her Grandfather, which makes their interactions so much fun to read.

I have to say, though, the assassin's Mr. Teatime, the unsettling in-between space where he and his crew operated, and the overall commentary on class structure and the imbalance of wealth - that depends on it staying that way- to actually *keep* the system in balance is why several sections of this book have the feel of the creepiest parts of A Christmas Carol.

Teatime makes me think of the ghost of Christmas future if the future were if everyone disregarded the well being of their fellow man. The auditors and Death's efforts to stop them, along with Albert trying stem Death's generosity reminded me strongly of the part where Scrooge asked Present why the gods want to make things harder on the people that already had it hard and he was told not to attribute things man comes up with to the gods. In this case, it is more, don't attribute what man has come up with to the gods, and don't attribute the manipulations of faceless entities to man.

The gang Teatime lead and the ends they meet in the unchanging realm read almost like a horror movie and they are haunted by fears of their childhoods made Manifest because of what Teatime is trying to do. That last one might be a stretch, but that's what it reminded me of. On the flipside of that, I love that Susan and takes on the task stopping it, because I think that Susan would think that Scrooge was being far too dramatic needing four ghosts to convince him to stop being an jerk when a proper threat would have done the trick.

The best part of this book is just how balanced the satire is with the silliness, when things get heavy there is an interlude in Unseen University dealing with the Varuca Gnome, and helping the God of Hangovers.

I loved this book!

[madaboutmunson]

Cryptic Cupid - Part 6 (Eddie's POV)

Part 1 | Part 5 | Part 7

Sequel to Raspberry Riddle So this is set in a government-operated hospital after the events of season 4 but everyone is alive.

Each part has a different POV, Robin, Steve, or Eddie.

Tag List: @marivictal

Apologies for the delay in posting fic updates, some not good stuff happened and I couldn't write for a while

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Eddie pockets the paper, waits until he hears the other door close, and then opens his own for the psychologist, who takes her regular seat. She clicks her pen, Eddie’s brain registers it as a starting gunshot, and he begins pacing backwards and forwards in front of her, looking between her and where he is walking intermittently.

“Did you hear about this morning? I think he’s trying to kill me, man.” Eddie says in desperation, “You gotta help me.”

"By he, you mean…."

"Who-who do I mean?" Eddie says in disbelief and gestures wildly at his now closed door to the hallway, which is still being swamped with pop music, but the Psychologist simply looks over the rims of her glasses at him, making him sigh and sit down, "Steve, my only fucking neighbour, that's who I mean." He says in a much calmer, resigned tone.

"You feel that Steve is a threat to you?" She says very seriously, looking at Eddie intently.

"A threat?! To my life? Undetermined. To heterosexuality? Yes!" Eddie runs a ringed hand down the side of his face, exasperated, "If the clothes clinging onto him within a thread of their existence were not enough. He is shimmering. Or extra shiny or something. Guys don't naturally glisten, ok?! He's doing this on purpose, and-and that smell when I opened the door. What even was that ok? Some weird pheromone potion thing?"

"Why would Steve do those things on purpose, do you think?" She says, scribbling away on her pad. Eddie bets she's just fucking doodling because she's already written off Eddie as insane, and honestly, he wouldn't blame her. He felt insane. One minute he's into Steve and wants him as close as possible the next, he wants nothing to do with him, to never speak to him again, remove him from Eddie's reality.

"Well, I don't know, do I? I don't know what to compel a guy to slather himself in some ungodly lotion…to make his muscles look bigger or more defined, maybe? I don't fucking know," he says with a groan as he kicks his legs over the arm of the chair.

"Well, let's start there, then. What benefit would Steve have in making his muscles appear bigger and more defined?" 

Eddie reclines over the back of the other arm of the chair, so he almost looks like a letter 'm' draped over it, pinching the bridge of his nose, "So people look at him more, I guess?"

"Did you look at him more because of it?" She says, crossing one leg over the other like Steve does when he knows he’s right about something. Oh, gods! Stop thinking about that prick. Nope, especially not that, do not think about his prick. NO! NO! Ok. La-la-la-la. Eddie quickly sits up in his chair again with a huff and rubs his face with his hands.

“Yes, regretfully, I did look at him more because of it, but it wasn't on purpose, you know?” He laughs awkwardly, looking at the psychologist, “It was a lot like I couldn't help it. Like my eyes kept going back there, and I didn't want them to, right? No way!” Eddie says, waving his hand in front of him.

“Ok, let's talk about that. Do you feel out of control of yourself, Eddie?” She asks, flipping a page of her notebook, making Eddie's eyes dart towards it.

“I’m not sure what you're getting at”, Eddie says nervously. The last thing he wants is to be sent to Pennhurst on top of everything else. He didn't feel like anything else was controlling him. He just wished he didn't have the longing for Steve that he did. The kind that feels like a demonic hand reaching into your body, pulling at your insides like a visceral web of puppet strings, Whilst Crazy On You by Heart plays in the background. Dragging you into the gravitational pull of the only celestial body that your brain will permit you to think about, despite your kicking and screaming because you know all this can result in is doom and heartbreak. And in this case, that neutron star was Steve Fucking Harrington.

“You say you didn't want your eyes to look at Steve, but they did. That sounded to me like perhaps you felt out of control. Am I wrong in that assumption? You can be honest here, Eddie.” She gives him a small smile of reassurance. Eddie is at odds with himself with what he wants to say. Of course, he could lie, but then what is even the point of this shrink here? If he tells the truth, he has to admit things to himself again that he felt like he’d just started to get over. Though today would indicate, apparently, he had not. At all. She flicks back and forth through the pages of her notes and looks up at Eddie again, “If you feel uncomfortable or want to talk about something else, we can. I’m taking your lead here.”

Come on, Eddie, time to put your big boy pants on. This woman can help, and she’s the only unbiased person you can talk to because everyone else seems to have fallen in love with King Fucking Steve too!

Eddie squeezes his eyes tight and screws up his face, he doesn't want to do this, but he has to figure it out. Finally, he releases and takes a deep breath, “Ok, so. I liked him, no,” he shakes his head, “I like him, in a non-platonic way. I’m usually pretty good at this, you know, having feelings for people that I know don't like me that way back. It's happened hundreds of times. I can accept that it is unrequited,  push it down, and be a bit morose about it, you know? Then bounce back and move on with my life. This ain’t my first rodeo.”  He laces his fingers together and grips his hands together tightly, “But this is different, and I don’t know if this is because it's Steve, or because we are both trapped in this place, or because I know he was pretty instrumental in saving my life. I can’t seem to get to acceptance; it keeps feeling possible. Still, after I tore into him like that…” Eddie looks out of the window for divine assistance with the next thing, as he can hear her scribbling away, and to not fall apart when he says it. “because of this.” Eddie just about keeps the crack in his voice at bay as he gestures to the scars on his face, “How could someone that fucking scintillates find someone as damaged as me attractive, let alone any feeling bigger than that? By damaged, I mean, let's face it mentally, I'm obviously fucked up, but physically speaking, I wasn't a work of art, but I had a shot at being kinda cute, I guess.” he says with a shrug.

“Is that what you are looking for? Something more than attraction?” She asks with her pen poised.

Eddie shrugs, “Yeah. But, I mean, isn’t that what everyone wants? To be loved for who they are?”

She gives him a half smile, “Let's take everyone out of the equation and let us take out what you think you should want and deserve out of it. What, in a world where anything you want is possible, would you want from a non-platonic relationship?”

Eddie folds his arms and leans back in his chair, thinking for a while, “I guess where I could be myself…Entirely!!" He emphasises loudly he didn't want to be a watered-down Eddie. The person that loved him would allow Eddie to be the weird, nerdy, loud, feral, romantic, furious, kind, disgusting, thoughtful, annoying, and tender guy he was. That's not to say they should accept it all, but that they didn't give him a hard time about it. Maybe Eddie might even balance out a little more or have the time to learn the tells when he was doing one too much. Someone that loved him enough, so he had time with them, time to learn, more than a few secret dates, or a quick affair in the woods or his van, "And so could they, and we’d still love one another, plus, you know, the other stuff” Eddie smirks shyly and then quickly tries to hide it with a cough.

She frowns at him a little, “Without knowing exactly what you mean by other stuff. Though I think I might be able to hazard a guess. The first part of what you said isn't an unreasonable request. In fact, it's actually a very healthy thing to aim for. Well, provided that the personalities in question don't hurt one another.”

Eddie sighs and runs a hand through his hair, “Yeah, well, I already did that, didn't I?” She says nothing and simply looks at Eddie, waiting. He's out of his seat again, slapping his hands on his knees as he gets up to walk around the room. "I said mean things because I thought his advances were out of pity, and if seeing my new face wasn't enough to break me, that thought sure was" he grips the back of the chair and leans over it to look directly at her, his weight shifting to his stronger leg. He knows where the next thing he says will take this conversation, right down apology avenue, then making a right onto self-hatred boulevard. "I know what I did was wrong, and I am sorry about it, but I can't bring myself to talk to him because now I know all those times he was staring at my face, it wasn't because he liked me too. It was…". Eddie feels the tears threaten to rush forth. He fights them back by shutting his eyes, biting his lips together and taking a deep breath. It was no good crying about this. It wasn't going to change his face. It wasn't going to magic away the past. All it would do was make him mad at himself for not being able to finish a sentence talking about his new permanent face feature. "It was because of these marks from those monsters". Eddie finishes looking at her intensely. Not because he has bad feelings towards her but because he is focusing on the now. He is trying to stay in the moment.

She shifts in her seat, and for a second, a look of pity flashes on her face but disappears before Eddie can call her out on it. She flicks back through her book. Her eyes scan the pages until she finds what she's looking for, "Now, by all means, we don't have to talk about this, but you mentioned in one of our early sessions about what happened at the ice cream store. That you…felt there was something there but didn't get a chance to pursue it?"

Eddie shakes his head. What didn't she understand about this, "That was before the Upside Down happened. So you know, less to be put off by then", he tries to cover it up with a laugh.

She flicks back to the present area of her notebook, "Ok, what is it about Steve that makes you think he's so superficial?"

"Er…well, that's easy", Eddie scoffs, "He was super popular at school and still kind of is. He focuses on his appearance a lot, so looks are important to him."

"Is appearance not important to you too?" She asks quickly, pulling a rushed answer from Eddie.

"No. I couldn't give a shit…I mean, other than my current problem making me feel hideous," Eddie wraps his arms around himself as she raises an eyebrow at him, "Well, ok, that's not true. I like to wear certain things and look a certain way. I guess" Before he's even decided if he's finished his sentence, she's asking another question.

"Right, so if you had come out of the upside down unscarred and Steve had the scars you had, you'd find him repulsive too, right?" She asks with no emotion, just like she was asking him what size shirt he wore or something mundane like that, but it still makes Eddie feel uncomfortable, almost sad, imagining his scars on Steve's face.

"No, of course not", Eddie volleys back, a little annoyed.

"Oh, but you'd pity him, stop liking him, but pretend you still did?" She says to him like she's stating the obvious.

"Of course, I would feel sorry for him, but he'd be alive, so ultimately...No it wouldn't matter to me," Eddie says, folding his arms and frowning.

"But it would matter to Steve, wouldn't it?" She says finally, and Eddie realises he's walked right into this one.

"Ok, ok. I get it. But I don't think you understand the difference between the two of us. Steve could have, like, anyone, you know? Everyone likes him. He's easy to get on with and normal," Eddie says with a smile.

She crosses her arms over her notebook and leans towards him, "Eddie. Do you think you are a better person than Steve? Or maybe you wouldn't be so kind and thoughtful if you were as popular as Steve?"

The question almost floors Eddie, "No. I'm not better than Steve. He's a good dude. Most popular people seem like bulldozers, you know? Take out anything in their path to get where they are going and don't care about the destruction in their wake. Steve isn't like that. He's good" Eddie goes to say something else, but the music from the hallway seeps into his room. He'd been blocking it out for most of the session, but the soft piano intro steals his words. He knows this one. His Mama used to sing it to him. Obviously, amending some of the lyrics to fit his own appearance, as she danced with him around the kitchen when his Dad was out.

Why do birds suddenly appear

Every time you are near?

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you…

Oh god, that punches him right in the gut, and he swallows hard, shaking it out of his head.

"Everything ok, Eddie?" She says, getting out of her seat to move towards him.

"Yeah, just the song got me, is all," He says, forcing a smile, "He's been playing stuff all morning."

"Do you want me to ask him to turn it down?" She asks kindly.  Eddie almost nods silently for a second so someone can finally stop Steve and this weird mission he seems to be on, but Eddie is as curious as he was impulsive, was this just a mistake or was Steve trying to say something? Eddie shakes the ridiculous idea out of his head. It's just a song that doesn't mean anything.

"No, that's…I mean, it's fine." Eddie gives a small reluctant smile, "So yeah, It's not that I think I'm better than him. I just think he's out of my league" She narrows her eyes at Eddie.

"And yet you went back every day for an ice cream that you didn't eat, pretended you needed his help to be close to him, and learned to sign to encourage him to do the same because Steve is losing his hearing?" She asks much more softly, the gentle music a backdrop to a quick flick through Eddie's fonder memories with Steve.

"I guess I was so enraptured I just went for it. Well, more like nudged to see what he'd do. I couldn't help it. When someone gets a scent of a maybe from someone they've entirely lost the plot for, they might look past all the things that would usually tell them not even to try.”

"Someone like you?" She asks, and he nods a little sadly.

"Someone like Steve?" She asks, trying to catch his eye, and Eddie straightens up and looks at the closed door between them, and instead of trying to block him out entirely for the first time in a long time, he wonders what he's doing on the other side of it. Could he? Unlikely, but what of anything they'd been through had been likely. None of it. Even his closest confidantes liked Steve. They hadn't said as much, but if Steve was trying to be mean to Eddie, the people he loved, that loved him unconditionally, his brothers in music, and his Uncle wouldn't like him. Eddie pulls the paper out of his pocket and uncurls its scrolled-up edges to read it. 

Beautiful homes and ruins (8 letters)

"What's that?" She asks, leaning forward, trying to get a better look at the paper.

Eddie gives a shrug of a smile, remembering better times, "It's a crossword clue, you know, the cryptic kind. Sometimes Steve would ask me for help with them, though I figure he already knew the answers for most of them."

"I've never understood those," She says with a sweet laugh, "Want to talk me through one?"

Eddie's smile broadens at the prospect of being helpful rather than hurtful or doing something stupid. He crouches down next to her and unfurls the paper again.

"So immediately what jumps out at me is the word ruins, which makes it likely this might be an anagram. That leaves us with the three words left over. There is no anagram of and that means beautiful homes, so there must be an anagram of homes and that means beautiful, right? So this one is…" and Eddie freezes when the answer illuminates in neon lights in his head, "it's er…um…handsome. Yeah, the answer is handsome," he says quietly as a blush races across his face.

"Oh, the way you explained it made it seem quite straightforward. Maybe I'll attempt the cryptic ones in tomorrow's paper?" She smiles kindly at Eddie, who is still staring at the paper in his hands, slowly stepping back to his chair before he slumps down into it with a thud.

"Yeah," he says softly, but his brain is being anything but gentle, rifling through his memory banks, the answer to clue the last time he sat with Steve had been adorable. Eddie wonders if these clues had never been part of his puzzles, much like his riddles had never been written on the bubblegum wrappers. Things were starting to stack in favour of maybe he did stand a chance with Steve, perhaps he'd been looking for an excuse to self-sabotage, and the shock of the scars had given him that in spades. Eddie's stomach flips as the maybe glows brightly in the distance, in the middle of a barren wasteland, where his insecurities lay in wait in the shadows that littered the path to his iridescent possibility.

His heart thumps deeply in his chest. He knows that apologising is the first step. He turns his attention back to the psychologist, "If nothing else, I'd like to apologise to Steve but, cards on the table, I am terrified of it being thrown back in my face." He says with a hard swallow, "So I guess maybe what I'm asking is what is the best way I can do that? Bearing in mind the last time I spoke to him, I was a total asshole, but I was hurting, and I know that doesn't excuse it, but under normal circumstances, I would never speak to him like that. Never." Eddie knows she sits in there with Steve, too, she has insider information, though it's all confidential, but maybe she could throw him a fucking bone here.

"Well, I would say the most important part of an apology is that it is genuine. So you aren't apologising to be forgiven, but rather apologising because you are sorry for hurting the other person. So no matter what happens, be kind, be calm, and above all else, tell the truth." Eddie gives her a smile of thanks. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about today, Eddie?"

Eddie's eyes go to the ceiling, "Well, just in case this goes well…what are the rules around, um, fraternising with other, um, patients?"

"You know, I don't think I've read any, to be honest," She says, closing her notebook, and Eddie has to press his lips together to hide the enormous grin that almost erupted onto his face.

"Ok, great. Then yeah, I'm all done for today. Thank you," Eddie says, getting to his feet and opening the door to let her out, and as he does, he hears a new song fill his room.

You're everything I hoped for

You're everything I need

You are so beautiful

To me

He peers around the door to see the lonely boom box in the hallway but no Steve, just a closed door. He excitedly crosses the hall and presses his ear to the door in case Stevel has company, but all he hears is the sound of occasionally muffled sobs. Eddie's heart sinks at the thought of Steve crying over something he's done. A simple sorry was not going to cover this; he had to think of something grander. He turns on his heel to walk back to his room to begin brainstorming and rehearsing, but a step in that direction and the tape stops with an audible click indicating it has finished. He hears the door behind him open and immediately starts to panic, and is about to lunge towards his own door when a sequence of sounds that seems to weld him to the spot meets his ears. A soft gasp, joined with a sniffle, and finally, a frail utterance of his own name leaves Steve's mouth, "Eddie?" and even with the fear creeping up his spine, not a single atom of Eddie can leave Steve this way.

[rubberduckyrye]

hey I just wanted to thank you for the v3 cast age post. I'm a nsfw author and I've had people tell me several times I'm writing porn of minors (even if none of my works are tagged underage) going as far as calling me a pedophile and I'm SO GLAD there's a sensible person talking about it because I was too scared to put it out there

People like you are half the reason why I made that post. The other half ofc to debunk the derail that Antis were trying to start to use to enable their own ableism towards Gonta, but that's still only part of it.

People are so weird about teenagers and sex, it's unreal.

Anyway, so it turns out, the V3 cast are likely to be college students and not actually high schoolers! They're probably the oldest KG contestants, actually--if we assume it took a good few years for Kirumi to eventually he asked to run the entire country during the Crisis. I'm not going to assume the Prime Minister asked her to do that only a few months on the job, after all.

Still! Feel free to RB the post if you like. Spread it around, silence the arguments of those who only want to use "BUT THEY'RE MINORS" as a means to harass people. We're all tired of it.

Also, I recommend reading my "Fandom stop being Ableist about Gonta" post, because I'm salty.

[raviolitin]

why do you support captain charming at all if you view hook’s actions as sexual harassment???

It all comes down to the fact that the way I interact with captain charming is in the most heavily fanon way possible, my interpretation of Hook is not the same Hook as depicted in canon in any way shape or form.

Second of all, the way Hook ‘flirts’ (obviously meant to just be banter by the writers) with David doesn’t seem directly unwanted or unreciprocated to me. Emma and Snow tell him to stop multiple times, while people like Regina kind of have apathy to the whole thing and David’s reactions read more to me as him being flustered because he’s being flirted with by a man for the first time. I view is reactions more as a complicated disgust with himself because he’s letting a man and pirate flirt with him and he isn’t mad about it, but oh god he should be mad and what would everyone else think if they knew. obviously that’s very heavily fanon, but that’s my personal interpretation of how David would react to actual flirting if Hook was the one doing it.

Killian is such an odd character because I sometimes forget that he is the way he is in canon, because the Hook I write in fics and depict in edits isn’t the same person, which is common in just about every fandom space. Honestly I think Hook is the only character I don’t get mad about the mischaracterisation of, because god is he a mess.

I also think that him being with David actually gives him way more of a chance to change and grow from that. From the start, David has put his foot down about that kind of stuff. One of their first interactions is David literally physically attacking him because he flirted with Snow, and the entire time they’re on Neverland he doesn’t stop berating him for how weird his behaviour towards women is.

This means that David would never be with Hook in any way shape or form, unless Hook changed that and he stopped doing it. David’s strong morals are good for Killian in my opinion, because he can do nothing but become the best person he can under his influence.

Hook getting with Emma is annoying because, as i said, it feels like he’s being rewarded for his incessant flirting that she says she doesn’t like (even if she changed he mind on this, Killian can’t be sure she has). He gets the girl in the end, which makes me angry because it’s not like one of those stories where he stopped and THEN she realised she loves him, because throughout the whole s3 finale he’s still flirting and commenting on her body.

The fact that Hook actually hates David, unlike the way he’s always liked Emma, means almost all of his flirting is left unspoken because of both his anger towards him and the fact David’s in active danger throughout the whole neverland arc and they’re barely speaking in 3b. Killian is put in a position where flirting is very hard, which means he doesn’t do very much of it (and if we’re going with canon, he does none of it).

So, in Hook’s mind, when he does get with David, he doesn’t associate ‘getting the guy’ with harassment and flirting, but rather with heroic acts like saving David from dreamshade. As a result, he goes into his redemption arc with the mindset that flirting doesn’t work, that winning someone’s heart takes more than constantly being sexual towards them. The way I view it, that means the toxic cycle of behaviour probably won’t continue, and if it does, David would have a stern talk about it because he’s not letting Hook be that man again.

Obviously, captain charming has not and never will be canon, but this is just how i view it.

Also, I have no problem with cs shippers! Just want to clear that up, what I said is more of a problem with Killian’s development, rather than his actual relationship. Captain Swan isn’t a bad ship, but Hook is definitely a bad character, which sours the ship as a whole in my opinion. (I only tagged it as anti captain swan because I didn’t want captain swan shippers to have that clogging up their tag)