#thaaat. is his name right. again i know almost nothing about him

[bobbinalong]

brainy for donation reasons. i think he came out very cute but i also don't know much about him, so you can be the judge of that.

[movidita]

18+ mdni

You were a total tease. Those thigh highs and shorts skirts, revealing soft plush thighs Professor Grimes was more than eager to touch.

Long locks cascade down your back, almost reaching your bum. Tits practically spilling out of the tiny tops you strategically picked out. Plump lips begging to be kissed— to be bruised and swollen around his cock.

Every day in class, he’d put you on the spot, so he could watch you squirm in embarrassment, something that made his slacks tighten. And didn’t you know it? You knew the effect you had on him, you knew exactly what he did the second class was dismissed— the curtains pulled shut, you also never failed to miss the tent in his pants.

It wasn’t like you were any better, hand in your panties the second you got to the bathroom stall.

You needed him so bad. Your fingers were nothing compared to his, you thought. Whenever he’d hand out papers, his hand would linger on your desk a few seconds longer than everyone else’s. Your fingers would be nothing compared to his cock, you knew that. The unmistakable hard-on he constantly had around you didn’t fall on blind eyes— yours were wide open, practically drooling at the sight of your professor.

The next day in class, you’d been tasked with essay upon essay. You’d barely gotten a sentence down on the page before he’d dismissed the class, far too busy daydreaming about him and his fingers and his mouth and his dick.

Everyone had risen from their desks, leaving papers on his table on their way out. You were the last to stand up, hesitantly walking forward with your empty page.

You dropped it on his desk, turning away in a second and heading for the door, interrupted by the call of your name. Spinning around to face him, he was now stood up. You took cautious steps towards your professors desk, fidgeting around on your feet as you awaited your scolding.

“This is it? Two words?” Professor Grimes turned the paper over, inspecting it.

“I’m sorry— I just uh— I didn’t—” You were at a loss for words. What could you say? Sorry Professor I was too busy thinking about you fucking me? No, you couldn’t say that.

“Sit back down. You can start again, maybe then I won’t fail you.”

You huffed but ultimately complied, snatching back your paper and sitting at the desk.

Almost fifteen minutes had passed, and now you had two sentences, the only thought running through your mind being about your professor, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy your teacher.

“Sir, I really cant do this. I know nothing of the topic.”

He stood from his desk, walking over to stand by yours and tower over you. “Alright, I guess we’ll just have to think of something else you can do to earn your grade.”

“Please, I’ll do anything.”

He smirked, going over to the door and pulling the small curtain that covered the window shut.

Professor Grimes was back at your side in a second, pulling you up onto your feet and smashing your lips onto his.

You had no complaints, more than happy you were finally getting something more. Your hands eagerly roamed his body, just as his did yours, cupping the backs of your thighs and moving you to sit on the desk, his hard-on pressing right up against your covered cunt.

You moan into his mouth, eagerly unbuttoning his slacks just as he reaches underneath your small skirt to pull your panties to the side.

The man let out a breathless groan before pulling away from your lips and staring down at you. “Are you sure?”

“Yes— Yes, please.”

He chuckled, “Alright, greedy girl.” In a second his tip was poking at your entrance, precum from his cock smearing over your soaked cunt.

When he finally entered you, you let out a harsh moan, fingernails digging into his shoulder whilst your head rolled back.

“Fuck!”

Your professor continued to pump in and out of you, only driving you further and further to your release. “Mmgh, Sir!” You whine, orgasm impending already.

“Thaaats it. Good girl.” He praised, hip’s stuttering as he came inside of you, “Shit.”

Your own orgasm came quickly after his, juices mixing together and moans filling the air. Your own hips shake as you struggle to maintain closure.

He gently pulls out, pulling his slacks back up and smirking down at your still trembling form. “I guess you’ve earned yourself an A.”

[talesofstyles]

Drs Styles

paediatric heart surgeon harry, husband harry and dad harry. honestly the holy trinity.

warning: they did it in the car. bloody animals.

Harry

“Move your car, please!”

“What are you going to do? Write me a ticket?”

“This is in the interests of safety for the children!”

I look at the time in the car. I’ve still got about twenty to twenty-five minutes to watch this drama unfold at the school gate. I just wish we had popcorn because drop-off and parking situations at the school gates are always more entertaining than Good Morning Britain. 

The school gate is a strange social scene, and honestly, I don’t blame my wife for trying to avoid it like a plague. Sometimes, you don’t even have to talk to these people to know everything about their lives and more. I swear there are more gossips in the class WhatsApp group and daily playground chattering than in the copies of The Sun and Daily Mail combined. You know who’s married, who’s getting a divorce, whose husband shagged the au pair again, whose party you haven’t been invited to, even who’s looking for a builder. 

I see the school caretaker chuckling to himself as he sweeps the autumn leaves off the pathway, no doubt also enjoying our morning entertainment. 

“Why is Mrs Chambers screaming like that?” Alma, our eldest daughter, asks from the back of the car. 

“Because that man parks his car in a drop-off zone,” I reply, still watching him as he removes a child from his car seat. “Do you know who that is?”

“I think the boy is your classmate,” Alma turns to her sister.

Fiona, our youngest, peers over to inspect. “Oh yeah, that’s Rufus and his dad.”

“Do we like Rufus?”

“Not unless we like boys who pee down the slides,” Fiona scrunches her nose up. “He stood at the top and peed down like a waterfall. I haven’t gone down the slide ever since.”

I shake my head and let out a chuckle. “M’sure they’ve cleaned it up since, button.” 

Did you know that choosing a school for your child after nursery can be a head-throbbing, stomach-twisting, heart-pounding experience? Well, it can. How is one supposed to choose a school anyway? According to the proximity? Leavers Results? Adorable uniforms? Parents’ agendas?

After many, many discussions and visits through more schools than I can count, we ended up with Thomas’s Kensington. It’s a great school, and only ten minutes away from our home, making school runs easier. The downside of this school is the fact that it costs us an arm and a leg and that they’re always trying to rip us off any chance they get. Also, they only take the kids until 11, so after that, we’ll have to look for other schools again. But since our girls are only seven and five, we can worry about that later. 

There’s a strange mix of parents at this place. I went to school up in the North and the school gate scene is nothing like this. Here there are more au pairs, fancy cars, nicer clothes and people coming with impressive tans from their last weekend break in Antibes. The kids here are suited up too: the PE kit is the size of a small weekender bag, and we put them in uniforms that make them look smart, hoping that will increase the size of their brains. A child walks past our car with a cello case, another with a hockey stick. It’s a different land here. One that my socialist in-laws constantly tease us about and one which my mum was hysterical about because she was scared her grandbabies would be little Tories. I promised her I’d keep them grounded by only giving them plain hobnobs. None of those luxury chocolate covered ones.

Jokes aside, my girls are happy here. They’re thriving. They learn French and Spanish and Mandarin, even if they share a class with kids who have ridiculous names like Kitty and Archibald. 

A knock at my window calls me to attention. I wind it down.

“Are you Fiona’s dad?” A mum asks me.

“I am.”

“It’s about Ophelia’s riding party this Saturday at the riding stables.” 

Like I said, it’s a different land here.

“I thought we RSVPed to that?” I look at her in confusion.

“Yes, you did, but we have to change the food options as one of the partygoers is allergic to nuts. I’m making everyone aware and we need to let the guests know that they can’t bring any nuts on the day.”

A dirty joke is right there on the tip of my tongue and I’m trying my hardest to keep it in. My wife would definitely find it funny though, I’ve got to remember this and tell her later. 

“Noted,” I mean, I wasn’t going to send my daughter to a party with a packet of cashews anyway but I nod politely.

“And just gift vouchers for gifts please. Smiggle, if you can.”

Again, I nod, biting my tongue at the presumptuousness. But then I suddenly panic, because we haven’t entered the realms of pony riding just yet. Do I have to buy jods and boots? If I don’t, will my daughter be the odd one out? But Ophelia’s mum saunters off before I’ve got the chance to ask.

“Do I have to go to that party, daddy?” Fiona asks. 

“Well, we’ve already replied, poppet,” I tell her. “Did you not want to go?”

“I’ll go if I have to.”

I don’t answer because I get distracted by a vacant space. I edge the car forward so my girls can hop off. 

“I love you both. Have a good day, make good choices.” 

“Bye daddy! We’ll see you after work!”

***

Evelina London Children’s Hospital is our second home. Of course, as a children’s hospital, we try to make the place as fun as possible as not to freak those little patients out at being ill. It is bright and primary coloured, and each ward is decorated according to its own theme with different colours and lovely artworks. There are televisions and toys almost in every corner. We have a giant slide on the ground floor, and even the bins are shaped like red London buses. The aim was to help the children to forget that they’re in a hospital and take their minds off their sickness.

Since my wife and I are in the same department, our offices are next to each other, both overlooking the Thames. It’s nice up here. Would’ve been nicer if we could sneak in a quickie, but that’s practically impossible with our shared secretary’s desk sitting literally in front of our doors. 

Speak of the devil.

“Good morning. Here’s your tea,” my secretary follows me into my office with a cup of tea and a tiny plate with a couple of rich tea fingers. “Clinic until 3 pm, scheduled PDA ligation in the laboratory for 4 pm and then evening rounds on the wards.”

“Mornin’ Rhonda, you look lovely today,” I greet her cheerily. She’s a stern-looking woman who definitely likes her tea as strong as tits and who has probably never cried in her life. With such severity, she runs a tight ship, but she secretly has this affectionate side in her too. Not only is she a great secretary, but she also takes care of us in a way as a grandma does. She makes us tea, feeds us in between surgeries with biscuits or nice baby cheeses and crackers just so we wouldn’t starve. 

See that sofa over there in the corner of my office? Rhonda got me that. It was around the time when I had just become a new father with the sweetest, most gorgeous little baby who did not sleep. Alma wasn’t a fussy baby though. For some reason, she just wouldn’t go back to sleep after her midnight feed for months. Believe me, I tried everything. I changed her nappy, I swayed and jiggled and rocked and sung her to sleep. Odd nonsensical songs like, ‘Alma darling go to sleeep. Sleepy sleep sleep. Pleeeeease. I’m so tirrrred. My eyeballs may actually exploooode. I don’t want you to see thaaat.’ And she would just look at me all wide-eyed like I’d lost the plot. Those were song lyrics? That was rubbish. Please don’t give up your day job. Also, it’s not sleeping time. I’m awake. I’m ready for life. Come on, entertain me, old man. Isn’t this nice, just you and me? Tell me everything you know. EVERYTHING. 

Except of course she didn’t say all that. She would just stare at me and I had no idea what was going on in her little head. 

I took over my wife’s patients at the hospital during her maternity leave, so I had longer hours at the hospital. One day Rhonda found me napping on the floor between surgeries, so she sweet-talked some porters into looking for any old sofas on the go and paid to have this one reupholstered. She even bought me a fleece throw for it too. We really don’t deserve her.

“You hittin’ on me?” She deadpans. “Yer wife not doing it for you these days?”

“It’s the blazer. I’m a sucker for a blazer.”

“If I’d known, I would’ve worn it more often,” she replies. “Did my nice dress yesterday not give you the fanny flutters?”

“It’s schlong shiver for me,” I roar with laughter. “And it’s the tartan, makes you look well old.”

“YN, yer husband’s a bloody git, did I ever tell you that?” Rhonda says loud enough for my wife to hear, and I can hear my wife’s laughter from her office next door. “Drink your tea. Your first clinic appointment is in twenty.”

“Yes ma’am,” I salute her. 

***

The Arctic ward in the Evelina is home to many of our imaging, heart and kidney services. The name is probably giving it away, but everything is decorated in blue and white to go with the theme. We have several zones, and since paediatric cardiology clinics are held in the Walrus zone, I spend a great deal of time each day looking at walrus and snowflake decals. 

“Doctor Styles!” I hear a little voice shouts in excitement as I walk towards the waiting room in the outpatient ward. I smile, because I recognise that voice even before I see the little person.

The waiting room is very open here compared to other hospitals. There’s a sea of noise, snacks, tiny juice boxes and colouring pages. There’s also always a look of expectation, judgement on the faces of parents and guardians every time I walk in. They want to see if their doctor is old or qualified enough to see their children. There’s always one child who has the whole gang with them; parents, two sets of grandparents and even several aunts and uncles, and there’s also at least one child running around in circles out of boredom. 

This little lad bounces off his chair and hurls himself at me in a way like a little puppy would when its owner comes home from work. I put an arm out, hoping that he’ll apply the brakes but no such luck and he bundles himself into my arms. “Nice to see you, mate.”

His parents smile as they watch their son’s antics, who then runs off as I shake their hands. I turn around to see what caught his attention, and I can’t help but chuckle when I realise it’s my wife. 

“Doctor pretty Styles!” He exclaims excitedly as he bundles himself into her arms. She gets a mouthful of curls in the process. 

“Hi Rory,” she greets him as she runs her fingers through his curly mop. 

“Oi,” I pout as I walk towards them. “You don’t think I’m pretty?”

“Your wife is prettier,” he says with a shrug, his tone matter-of-fact.

She laughs and gives him a high-five. “Rory, you are officially my favourite patient.”

She is right. Rory is one of our special patients for sure. We’ve both known him for about six years now, ever since Rory’s mum gave birth to this tiny human next door at St Thomas and his heart was literally broken. I remember watching proudly from the theatre when my wife replaced two of his valves when he was born. It was in our early years of training. Long time patients like Rory almost always feel like family. We’ve seen all their parents’ tears and watched over their children throughout the years. They send us cards and wine every Christmas and despite all attempts to keep a professional distance, their kids do feel like our own.

Rory shrugs off his dinosaur rucksack and unzips it, pulling out a drawing of a blue whale and an opened packet of KitKat. I like that the whale wears a top hat and appears to also don a moustache. 

“I drew you both a picture. Only one though, because I figure you can share,” he says with a big toothy grin and hands the packet of KitKat to my wife. “And I’ve got half a KitKat here. Do you want it?”

“I’m good for now. Keep that KitKat for later on the tube,” she smiles and waves at Rory as she begins to walk away towards the fetal cardiology ward just down the hall. “Bye Rory, thanks for the picture.”

“Bye doctor pretty Styles,” Rory replies, making my wife laugh as she walks away. I give her a wave and a wink. 

“Hey Rory, did you know a blue whale has a heart the size of a small car?” I ask him and his eyes widen.

“No way! That’s mega!” He exclaims. “Do you think you could operate on a whale heart?”

“I would need a very big ladder,” I tell him. “And a wetsuit. I’d give it a go though.”

A senior nurse from the outpatient ward, Florence approaches us with a junior nurse trailing behind her. “Dr Styles, always a pleasure.”

I smile at her. “Florence. How are we today?”

“Busy as usual,” she replies. “We’re about twenty minutes behind I’m afraid. We had Dr Goodridge in this morning and you know he likes to talk.”

“He always runs over,” I chuckle. “Well, don’t worry. I’ll skip lunch and get us back up to speed.”

“I’ll make sure to send some snacks for you. Here’s your chart, your files are already in your office. And this is Alice, your nurse today. She’s newly qualified so might need some instructions.”

The new nurse looks terrified so I smile at her to try and calm her fears. I totally get that. When you work in medicine, unfortunately, you’ll realise that there are a lot of rude self-important wankers. 

I look down at my chart and find Rory’s name on the top of the list. “Well, look who’s coming with me to the exam room.”

Rory reaches out to hold my hand and we walk towards the examination room. His parents follow us closely, carrying the usual coats and devices that people do when they know they’re bound for a hospital waiting room. I see them inside and sit behind the desk.

“So, young man, I hear we’ve had a touch of drama with you. Can you tell me what happened?”

I’ve actually already got the information in the file, but I like the way this kid tells a story. He reminds me of my youngest. 

“So… I was at school and we were doing PE and I wasn’t really feeling it because it was cold and really we should have been inside but Mr Witter makes us go outside because he used to be in the Army apparently and he says we should get used to the cold but that’s what they do in prisons.”

I smile. “Go on.”

“And then my heart started running.”

“You mean racing?”

He nods firmly. Racing isn’t even the word. It sprinted to the finish like Bolt at 252 beats per minute, three times the speed it should.

“It felt like bubbles in my chest and then the school went crazy panicky and they called the ambulance and they brought me to the hospital but not this one, it was another one and it wasn’t as good because you weren’t there and they had really bad biscuit.”

His mum adds. “And they gave him some drugs to bring it back to a steady rhythm; they were close to shocking him.” Her voice trails off and both parents’ faces look drawn and pale remembering the incident.

Rory looks absolutely unbothered by this. To be fair, we have put this little man through everything. We’ve cut his chest open more times than is necessary for someone so small, we hook him up to machines and put him on treadmills. His resilience and character amaze me, and I really can’t imagine what it feels like to see your child so vulnerable and helpless, to be paralysed and weighed down with such worry.

“Alright then, little man, we need to make sure that your heart is working as it should. This is Alice, and she is going to take you over for an ECG and we just need to make sure your tick-tock is in good shape.”

Rory nods and jumps off the chair. His dad offers him a piggyback, and his mum smiles at them. I can hear Rory offering that half KitKat to Alice as they leave the room. 

His mother turns to me as the door is closed, her shoulders relaxing, allowing herself to breathe. “And how are you?” I ask her.

“You just think it’s done and then something like that comes along to scare you,” she says with a sigh.

“Let’s have these tests and then see if it’s anything major to worry about,” I try to calm her. “Episodes of rapid heartbeat is quite common in Rory’s case, and we can look into drugs to remedy that if necessary.”

She smiles, nodding.

“Did you have any other questions for me?”

She studies my face for a moment too long. “I… well, it will show up in Rory’s records soon, but my husband I are… I mean we’re getting a divorce.”

I pause for a moment. Of course, I know these things happen in life, but I’ve known this couple for years. I’ve seen them at their lowest ebb, bound by friendship and their love for that boy. I really do feel sorry for them.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I mumble.

“We just… we’re terrified about telling Rory.”

“He doesn’t know?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “We’re scared of breaking him. I mean, look at him. All of this stuff he’s been through and he carries on like nothing has happened. We don’t want to upset him.”

“It took a team of us the best part of six years to build Rory’s heart. There's a warranty on that workmanship,” I reassure her. “Have that chat with him. He’ll be fine.”

***

“Have we got time for dinner first?” I turn to my wife as we walk out of the hospital. We don’t normally have the luxury of ending our shift at the same time, but today is exceptional. We have parents’ evening at the girls’ school so Rhonda made sure to clear up our schedule after our evening rounds at the ward. 

“No, but we can raid M&S and eat in the car?”

I’m starving and I almost cry with relief at the suggestion. “Always knew I married the right woman.”

She chuckles. “Damn right you did.”

We leave the car at the hospital and she drags me along the walkways to Waterloo, the breeze biting at our cheeks. I pull her into M&S, dodging the marching commuters and grab a basket. 

“I’ll look for some wine,” she says before she saunters off. “Oh and I want sushi. None of that crap with the mayonnaise please.”

“Alright.”

I skipped lunch today so the whole place calls to me. I start taking very random things off the shelves: a packet of raspberry iced buns. That’ll do. I also take some hummus for my wife because she bloody loves hummus. I’m not even joking, I’ve seen her down a whole pot of it. Then I take some sushi as requested, some coleslaw, a family bag of mature cheddar and red onion crisps and a trifle. I hope I don’t bump into Rhonda. Next are cheese twists, noodle salad and cocktail sausages. 

It takes me a while to notice that there is a man right next to me with a roll of yellow stickers in their back pocket. Hello there, you are one of my favourite people tonight. Have I managed to find that sacred hour when all the food is being marked down? He labels some prawns with dip and even though I get a little squeamish about eating fish near its expiry date, I put it in my basket. I then follow him around the corner. Now, this is dinner. I put all sorts of random food in my basket and smile at the thought.

Ooh, knockdown pizzas. I should get a pizza. That’s tomorrow’s tea sorted, the girls will love it. Although I can’t help but wonder, what’s the limit for us to feed our daughters frozen pizza in a week before they get taken away from us? But eh, we might be able to get away with it if we give them frozen peas on the side. 

“Look at you,” says my wife, depositing two bottles of red in the basket. 

“Yes, it’s me. I’m the yellow sticker bitch.”

She snickers as we turn to head for the tills. “Excellent work.”

***

“Mr and Mrs Styles, welcome.”

“Mrs Ebner, always a pleasure,” I shake the headmistress’ hand who’s standing at the door. 

“Busy evening?” My wife asks her as she shakes her hand next.

“Always,” the headmistress replies with a smile, then proceeds to speak like she’s reading out of brochures. “But such a wonderful opportunity to connect with our parents and build on the special relationships we have with our school community.” 

Two uniformed minions appear.

“Lewis, Maggie, could you please show Mr and Mrs Styles through to the drinks reception?”

They both nod in unison. The boy holds his arms out like a waiter showing us to our table. We follow them through the school’s grand corridors to the main hall. It’s the one thing I like about this place. It’s very Hogwarts-like with hefty engraved name boards and sepia photos of successful sports teams. In the hall, a throng of parents mill around waiting to see respective teachers. It’s the same every year. We all dodge the people from the PTA trying to sell us quiz tickets, and the bowls of crisps out of hygiene concerns.

“Red or white?” Asks a lady in an apron.

This right here is the very reason we get through parents’ evening. From the look of the bottle, it’s decent wine too. I think that’s where a good proportion of our fees is going. 

“Red, please.”

We both take our glasses and walk to the corner of the hall. It’s essentially a holding area without the background music. The idea is that all the parents will get on and create a party vibe but it just becomes a strange family gathering. As terrible as it sounds, it’s sorted into cliques: parents who know each other via NCT groups, the international expat brigades who keep to themselves, the parents who’ve ostracised themselves by gossip, the ones who you know regularly brunch and ski together.

The boy from earlier suddenly appears in front of us. “Mrs Hughes is ready for you.”

I put my hand on the small of my wife’s back as we walk towards the classroom. Fiona’s teacher first and then Alma’s straight after. Right, we can do this.

“Mrs Hughes, we meet again,” I shake her hand. I’ve got no qualms about Mrs Hughes. She’s a seasoned teacher who likes a slack and sensible moccasin and we’re familiar with her since she taught Alma two years previously. When we enter the classroom, Lewis bows in reverence, taking his leave and I wonder whether to tip him. 

“It’s always lovely to have another Styles girl in my classroom. Fiona is a particular delight.”

My wife and I smile proudly. I’m sure Mrs Hughes says this to every parent here about their child, but that’s always nice to hear. 

“She talks a lot about you,” my wife says. “She seems to have settled in well.”

Mrs Hughes opens up a couple of books and it’s classic Fiona. Alma is ordered and neat—if she makes a mistake then she erases it completely and she underlines things with a ruler and listens to instruction carefully. She gets that from her mum. Fiona though, on the other hand, she’s all me. She has more wild abandon about her; no rulers, no rubbers. She puts giant crosses through things that don’t work and likes her bubble writing decorated with doodles of many, many cats.

I glance around the classroom as Mrs Hughes talks to us about standardised scores. The theme of the school is to show you how smart and educated these children are. Look at the copperplate handwriting, their reproductions of Van Gogh and our languages corner where they’ve all had a go at telling us what they like in French. I spy a contribution from my girl. J’adore les chats et le gâteau au chocolat. 

I’ve lost track of the conversation so I try to catch up.

“So to push Fiona into those top scores, perhaps we can look into tutoring? For maths, in particular, so she can grasp some of the concepts a little more tightly,” says Mrs Hughes. 

My wife and I look at each other confused. “Uh, I don’t think there’s a need, right? She’s only five.”

“It’s never too early,” replies Mrs Hughes. “We run an after-school tutoring club on Tuesdays that would help.”

Back when I was a youngster, clubs were fun endeavours that involved matching baseballs caps or were a chocolate biscuit that you had in your lunchbox. Maths tutoring session was not a club.

I ask her. “Is it free?”

“It’s fifteen pounds per session.”

See? My point being this should be a parents’ evening, not a sales session.

“Well, then it’s something to think about,” says my wife. “It could be that Fiona catches up with people throughout the year.”

“Possibly,” Mrs Hughes nods. Still, though, she proceeds to go into her folder and passes me a form. Sneaky. “Fiona has also shown great interest in languages and art. Her pictures have been a joy.”

Mrs Hughes goes to a file and pulls one of Fiona’s drawings. I glance down at it. It’s a standard child piece of art. The grass and sky are strips of colour to the top and bottom. It’s a family portrait, and we are as tall as the broccoli style trees. Wait, hang on a second. I count the number of people in the picture again. Is that-

“And Mrs Styles, I gather congratulations are in order,” she says with a smile. “Such lovely news.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Fiona told me it’s a boy,” she adds, and the sheer terror on my wife’s face at the realisation is priceless. “You must be very thrilled.”

I study the picture. There’s a house in the middle, and standing in a line in front of the house is our family. The one slightly taller than the broccoli tree is me. I’ve got my white lab coat, and I look like a serial killer because I’m holding a scalpel with the size of a butcher’s knife. Next to me is my wife, also with a white lab coat, but instead of a scalpel, she’s holding a very chunky baby who rather looks like a basketball with a head.

“Oh dear,” I chuckle. “Guess now we know what she’ll ask for Christmas.”

“Yeah,” my wife shakes her head. “We’re not expecting.”

“Oh, I apologise,” Mrs Hughes says with a sheepish smile.

“No worries, Mrs Hughes,” I tell her. “So, what else has our girl been up to here? Besides gossiping of course.”

Mrs Hughes laughs under her breath. “Well, in class, Fiona is attentive, bright and very helpful. She is a credit to you both.”

***

“I swear your daughter, Styles.”

We’re sitting in the car now. Finally done with parents’ evening, still laughing at the slightly creepy, chunky basketball baby in Fiona’s picture and the fact that three people, including Mrs Hughes, have congratulated us for the ‘baby’.

“You haven’t called me Styles in years,“ I turn to her with a grin. “Not since medical school.”

I can’t help but flashback to the good ol’ days when we had matching university hoodies and we’d test each other on the parts of a kidney whilst walking into lectures, sitting next to each other, sharing pens and cans of Lilt. 

“Well, after that I became a Styles too,” she chuckles. “Would be confusing then, wouldn’t it?”

“True,” I laugh under my breath, then I grab her hand and pull it to my mouth so I can kiss her knuckles. “Thank you.”

“What for?”

“For being a Styles.”

“Aw, aren’t we soppy tonight?” She smirks. “Alright, stop the car.”

“What?”

“There,” she points to a dark empty spot and I oblige. 

Then, before I can even ask her why, she reaches over and grabs me by the collar. Pulling me close to her and gives me a kiss. I kiss her back, and I smile when she bites gently on my bottom lip.

“Oi, oi. Something’s got you randy.”

The next thing I know, she undoes her seatbelt and then rolls her trousers down her legs along with her knickers, fumbling and giggling at the awkward movement. I push my seat back and pull my trousers down. 

“Don’t fall on gearstick now,” I joke as she climbs over to straddle me. “Well, unless you want to, of course…”

She laughs as she lowers herself over my lap. I really can’t believe what’s happening here.

“Mrs Styles, we’re about to have sex in a car. Around the corner from our daughters’ school.” 

“I know,” she says with a smile before she runs her tongue along my neck. “Not our first rodeo though.”

“Oh right, we did it in our Volvo years ago, didn’t we? Thought the suspension couldn’t take it.”

“And it turned out fine. Told you that you needed to have more faith in the Swedes, they’re a reliable breed.”

“I love it when you talk about Sweden.”

“Ikea.”

“Fuck.”

“Meatballs.”

“Billy Bookcase.”

She throws her head back in laughter and I take this as an opportunity to run my tongue along her collar bone. She gasps. I reach down to lift her before I slowly lower her over my cock. We both sigh as I enter her, a long exhalation with our lips barely touching. 

“Viggo Mortensen.”

“Isn’t he Danish?”

“Tomato, Tomahto.”

I smile at my wife and push my hips up, silently telling her that we don’t need to talk about Swedish people anymore. She grabs onto the car seat and levers herself up and down. I look at her in the eye, a goofy smile still plastered across my face.

But then I squint. Light. Bollocks, what’s that? Where’s that light coming from? Crap, that’s bright. Shit. I see the flash of a hi-vis jacket, a knock at the window and someone shaking their head.

Oh sodding fucking bollocking shit wank.

[theficplug]

Taking Erik To The Beauty Supply Store 2 / Barber Shop With Erik

Erik Killmonger x Black Reader

Warnings : mature/sexual conversations?

it's a regular day in the stevens household. going to the beauty supply store again & the barber shop but hey it's fun cause it's you and your man.

First taking Erik to the beauty supply store fic:

“I could beat the brake off her lying ass. First of all, I should’ve known something was up cause she asked me if I’m natural. I said yes. She said well I normally do relaxed hair.. Then said you got to have your hair washed and blow dried already… Talking about she was going to have me serving 90s Nia Long. This bitch got me looking like big momma when she came home for that motherfucking party.” You continue your rant as Erik moves around the room looking for your body butter and your fluffy shoes to put on for the day.

You wanted a cute 90s pixie cut to go along with the theme of the maternity shoot which was like the cheesy 90s mall style set with the faded backdrop.

180 dollars and a lopsided , almost a golden bob later and you are still thinking about snatching her out of that salon.

“I’m gonna try and trim it up myself and dye it before the maternity photos tomorrow. But I’mma get two wigs just in case I mess up.” You explain to Erik as he begins to spread the body butter up your legs leaving a golden glow on your skin.

“Not you down there cackling after getting some hang time on the locs you been growing since high school... It’s quiet, ain't no back talk.” You banter with him and he stops massaging your legs to give you a look and laughs softly before giving you a retort of his own.

“You got a lot to say for somebody that can’t even lotion they ashy lil knees.”

“Your daughter been pushing against my organs for 8 and a half months. I don’t wanna hear nothing unless its about my push present. You know that I like rings… My engagement ring looking reeeealll lonely.” you say to him as you dangle your hand in front of his face.

“You look so fucking good today baby… Say, Big Fine, lemme get your number… I’mma eat the f-” he trails off kissing your legs and letting his tongue trail up it and you grab his chin softly.

“Boy if you don’t come on before you be late for your appointment… Can I stop and get a blue raspberry slushie first though?” you ask him and he sighs softly before giving you a small smile and nodding.

“Yeah, hold on let me grab your shoes and purse and then we can go.”

“And obviously yes when we come back before I install that lace front you can beat, duh.” you reply to him before giving him a peck to his lips.

After he grabs everything and helps you down the stairs. And with his help of putting you into his big ass truck you two are on your way.

“We’re going to get my hair cut first cause I already know you’re going to want to go to 2 different stores and it’s only gon’ take him about 15 minutes at the most to line me up.”

He wasn’t lying with the way that you liked to scan every section of the store before you left because to be honest where else were you going to get a pair of skittle shorts, bomb ass lip glosses, and a cute little panda hand sanitizer holder all in one place?

“Okay, sounds like a plan.. The way that I was supposed to have a hot girl summer this year and ended up with a damn its too hot for me to even put my clothes on mom summer. You really were not playing about trying to start a family on your birthday.” you joke as you crunch on your goldfish and look over at Erik.

“I think you just got finer through this whole thing. Watching my baby grow my baby is something surreal. In the beginning watching you go through all of the morning sickness and the body aches and stuff. I felt so bad you know not being able to physically take on all that was going on with you. I aint gon’ never not be appreciative and awe of you.” Erik replies with a serious comment that you were not expecting and you’d be damned if the hormones aren’t doing their thing.

“I really did not expect you to say that. Baabbbee, come on. You know I cry about everything right now. Love you.” you lean over to wrap your arms around him gently and kiss the side of his face while he’s focusing on the road.

“I love you too…. I think I’mma get my locs cut off soon. I don’t know why I’m ready to get a fade and just call it a day.” he questions before looking over at you briefly

“Either way you still gonna look good. I knew you before you even got your locs so you’re gonna look even better now because you grew into your head. Dee be cutting the fuck outta your hair even though he been bald for a good 40 years.” you say and it causes Erik to let out a loud laugh and shake his head.

You eventually ended up ordering a blue raspberry lemonade slushie, a hotdog and fries because Sonic basically took all of Erik's money at this point in your pregnancy.

The rest of your ride was chill as you both swayed to the music or turned it down for a little chat every now and then.

In public was always very protective of you but especially since becoming pregnant he has been hovering over you like a lion waiting for someone to even look at you for too long.

He hops out of the sleek matte black truck first to help you out and sling his arm around your waist with a hand resting on your belly.

You feel some eyes on you as you walk through the door. Your multi-coloured sundress that showcased your back, flowing with you.

Some of the men, new to the shop you assumed, were eyeing you down before Erik looked over their way and nods at them and they pretended to check their phones.

“What's up E? Damn lil sis look like she’s about to pop! How you feeling baby girl?” Dee greets you and Erik as you both walk in and some of the regulars in there say hey to the both of you.

“I’m alright Dee. Baby is just really ready to see the world. She has been kicking up a storm at times. I think we might have a little athlete here.” you reply and you watch as the greyed man with freckles across his cheeks and bridge of his nose eyes crinkle as he finishes cutting the man's hair sitting in the chair.

“I remember when I became a father for the first time. Shits wild because you think that you know everything there is to know and then when you actually see your baby take that first breath. It’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.” He continues as he shows you a photo of his 4 children and you give him a small smile.

“Ooh, they’re beautiful.” you compliment him as you settle into your seat and scroll on your phone on your phone waiting for Erik to be next.

Some time went by and the men seemed like they were trying to keep their conversation in a hush and you can see some eyes on you as they talked back and forth.

“I’m just saying if you want a threesome with your girl and you expect her to be okay with letting another woman into her bed. You need to match her energy. Could you imagine your girl asking you to bring a whole nother man into your room if that’s not what you’re into? Instead of asking for it. Maybe try bringing toys into the situation. Could spice it up a notch and be in both of your comfort zones. Personally, couples vibrators seem to do the trick just fine.” You advise as you look up from scrolling on your Pinterest feed.

The little huddle of them in front of you stopped talking and immediately looked up at you in silence before Dee’s laugh broke it.

“I don’t know about bringing another man in. That ain't my thing but I get what you're saying. Which ones would you recommend?” The one named Leron asked and you notice Erik is now paying attention , looking from you to them to make sure they stay respectful.

“You better let them know , baby girl! That’s how that baby popped into fruition. She got you with the tantric breathing, huh E?” he jokes and Erik cracks into a smile, his golds gleaming as he looks at you.

“She not wrong. Engage in what your woman like too. Yoga, talking during sex, giving as much as you receive from her, all that. ” He says casually and shrugging and you give him a small smile cause this man done come so far from when you met him.

After he finishes lining up his beard, Erik pays and you’re on your way to one of your favourite places.

“You look so sexy. Your beard is all lined up crisp and stuff. I told you that beard oil was gonna even it out.” you say to him and kiss him below his ear . His hand gripped your thigh gently and you repeated it again.

It didn’t take long before you were at one of your favourite places.

You turned to Erik and asked him to buy a stocking cap for you to try on the wigs that you liked and wanted to see before you purchased it.

You slid on the stocking cap over your hair before grabbing a cute little 27 piece pixie cut wig just to try it on and see what it was giving . You finger combed it and turned to Erik to ask him how it looks.

“Like you finna start singing “Truth is i’m tired. Take me to the king. Here’s my offering-” .” You hold in your laugh as you push Erik’s chest and he grabs your hands.

“I can’t stand your ass !” You say cracking up and Erik grabs the stocking cap from his pocket that he brought himself and slides it over his locs.

You watch as he grabs one of the bobs from the mannequin and sits it half cocked on his head before shaking it side to side.

“What’s cooler than being cool? Ice cold. You know what to do doooo. You know what to doooo.... This is your grand daddy. This is your grand daddy.” Erik starts acting like Andre 3000 and Mr. Brown. You swear this man was gonna make you push out this baby with how hard you were laughing at him.

“Why are you moving your lips like thaaat? What’s your name? B.O.B, so they calling you Bob? Stop playing nigga you know that I’m known for the bob.” you sing the nicki minaj lyrics to him and both of y’all get a good laugh before he takes off the wig and places it carefully back on the mannequin.

He looks over at the one that looked the most like your hair before you got it cut and slides it on.

His expressions changed and he narrowed his eyes at you before putting his hand on his stomach.

“Whew, my god E. You did this to me and for what? My ankles looking like cornbread huh? Look at this shit bae! If my nose swells for real in these next months, we fighting. Damn, I’m getting thick. I look like I'm pregnant in the front and the back. Can you get me two shrimp po’boys and some fries on the way home? ERIK, wake up- You our baby look like Stitch in this ultrasound? Stop playing , im for real.” he sounds exactly like you and mimicked your expressions to a t.

You giggled softly and snatched his wig off leaving him standing there looking crazy in the cap.

“You wanna fight?” You ask him before walking up on him like you’re on bad girls club and swinging the wig at him.

He helped you put the wig back on the mannequin and kissed both of your hands before continuing through the aisle with you.

You both ignored how many times the employee passed by or watched you as you grabbed some of the products from the shelf and put it into your little cart that you wanted to try.

“You wish this was you, huh? You wanted to be Future from 8 Mile so bad, huh? ” you ask Erik , laughing as you point to the full lace faux locs wig that’s in front of you and he shakes his head.

“She got you down bad. This you?” he asks you as he points to the lil gold church wig that’s sitting on the top shelf and you suck your teeth at him .

“You wanna dip dye your hair for tomorrow? A pretty auburn colour would look so good on you or even a baby blue?” You ask him as you move away from the wigs after deciding to put a off black lace front straight wig in your cart and another in sandy blonde with deep waves.

You scan the shelf of dye as Erik wraps his arm around your waist and takes a look.

“This one looks good right here.” He adds as he hands you a colour called Electric Blue.

“This is gonna look so good on you bae.” You compliment him and he leans down to kiss you softly.

“You only tryna compliment me cause you want me to help you install that wig. You think you slick bae.” he calls as he walks off towards the hair care products for his locs.

“Well, if I’m finna use the little energy I have to retwist your hair you could at least extend the helping hand!” You call after him.

“I haven’t tried peppermint oil yet but it should be good to add to my mix? Look, I found this small ass bonnet. She’s gonna be able to match us.” He says walking back to you and showing you the lilac bonnet in his hand and you swear you were about to tear up again cause all 3 of you were gonna have matching bonnets and durag.

“If she takes after both of us she’s gonna have a head full of hair. To cover that melon from your side.” You tease him

“Come on and grab your butterfly wings for your eyes so we can go home and finish our show. I’mma cook them snow crabs for you too.” he says to you and you can see him watching you like you hung the moon in the sky yourself as you venture off.

You grabbed the edge control, lashes, a new lipstick, earrings, glosses, Got2b spray, and some accessories for Erik’s hair before meeting him at the counter.

It took him all of two seconds to pay for your beauty supply store addiction and you were off on your way back to the crib to love on him.

Erik was currently standing behind you while you sat in the chair in his old large tshirt and held down the wig to the Ghost Bond glue.

You were talking him through helping you finish the install because you just didn't have the energy to do it.

“Okay you gon’ take a lil piece and wrap it around the wand. But please be careful baby. This one goes from like 0 to a 400 degrees so fast.” you warn and watch in the mirror as he takes the first piece and follows your instructions.

You watch him for a while focusing on your head and asking if you liked the way that it’s turning out. You smile softly at him and nod.

“I'm so grateful , you know. “ you say to him with a pout

“Damn, I was just about to send you a do you like me back yes or no text after this too.” he jokes and you shake your head.

“I’m tryna be serious and appreciate you-” you are cut off by him leaning down and pushing his plump lips out for a kiss from you

“I love you too. 2 more weeks and I get to have my two babies in my arms. What more could I want? ”

Tag list: @doublesidedscoobysnacks

@chaneajoyyy

@mirandkimy

@doitforthevine67

@dasia21

@depressionandfandomsinc

@wholelotta-melanin

@theesotericqueen

@mbakuwife

@spookys-girl

@teardropzih

@bigchoose

@ceo-of-baby

@sweetpeachjones

@lost-ssoull

@shyblackgurl

@nijajoha

@imayhavemisunderstood

(Long post. Sorry I'm still learning how to do the read more thing! Sorry for being gone from here for so long. This one really helped me ease back into writing especially after how much love the first one received!)

[velvetmel0n]

First Time For Everything

Summary: Sleeping together counts as anger management, right?

Rating: Explicit

Word count: 3.5k

Warnings: It’s 3k+ words of smut, idk either ya’ll but uhhh penetrative sex, sex in a hallway, mutual pining?? Don’t know how that happened but we also got some good old fashioned thigh riding and a teensy bit of almost-but-not-quite-exhibitionism and Poe’s hot for it, fight me

A/N: Given my URL is anyone surprised I wrote for him first? No

The first time it happens it’s angry. Or it starts that way, at least. 

You’d been arguing about something, maybe nothing at this point because it seemed all the pilot had to do was breathe in your direction some days and you two were at each other’s throats, hurling insults and accusations back and forth and you think that you might hit him this time, actually hit him. Slap him across the face so that your hand leaves a red, stinging outline on his cheek or punch him hard enough to hopefully break his nose and not your hand. But that’s not what happens.

What happens instead is that he crowds you, pushing into your space and you’re wishing you had the Force because you would knock him back into last Tuesday and- and then he’s kissing you. His mouth comes down hard against your own like he’s trying to wordlessly continue the argument, chapped lips working yours and demanding a response from you.

Maker help you, you give him one.

You dig your nails into his shoulders, scratch them down the arms that he’s using to yank you closer to him when he licks into your mouth because you’re still angry with him and the stunts he pulls. He shoves you harder against the wall in response, hard enough for your breath to stall in your throat, hard enough that your skin prickles and something twists in your belly, heat suffusing your body.  

And…and that might be the precise moment when all that anger you kept stoked for Poe Dameron starts to spiral into the type of lust that you can’t ignore, can’t just pretend like it’s not burning a hole through the pit of your stomach. Not when his tongue is down your throat and his hands are in your hair, on your hips, grabbing fist fulls of fabric and pulling. 

Your head is starting to spin from the combined effects of lack of oxygen and the feel of his stubble abrading your skin and you can’t quite remember why kissing him is such a bad idea. Why you had always tried to cut yourself off from whatever feelings you may or may not have for him like they were a gangrenous limb. But for as hard as you tried to push them away you still got nervous whenever he took off, knowing he was a good pilot but also knowing he had no problems almost killing himself for the possibility of saving the galaxy. It happened before and it’s bound to happen again; it almost happened today for crying out loud and if you were the self analyzing sort you might think that that’s the reason he got on your nerves so easily. 

But he keeps eating at your mouth, nipping at your lip and a groan, quiet and rough, slips from him when your fingers twist in the curls at the back of his neck and you nip him back. And just like that you aren’t able to think about anything else that isn’t getting him to make that sound again.

His mouth finally breaks from yours and then he’s at your throat, mouthing at the sensitive skin under your ear and swirling his tongue against your flesh like he wants to see how you taste here, too. One of your hands move to grip the collar of his stupid, bright orange flight suit like a lifeline when he continues down the column of your neck, only dimly aware of the fact that you two are in some shadowy alcove and caring less and less about the chance of someone catching you two. 

Then he shoves a thigh between your own and you don’t care at all.

You stop breathing for a moment, suspended in time before your hips stutter into a roll and all that air you’d been holding whooshes out of your lungs in a long sigh. “That’s it,” They’re the first words he’s said since corning you against the wall, his tone dark and low. Almost…soft. At odds with the way he’s been working your neck over with his teeth, no doubt leaving marks that you’d find later after you’ve come to your senses.

 “Thaaat’s it,” He praises again, one of his big hands falling to your hip to wrench you harder against him until your clit is mashed against the meat of his thigh. Heat floods your system, his name little more than a puff of air leaving your lips and you’re helpless to stop yourself from grinding down. Your hands scramble to grab something, anything, ending up catching his face and pulling him back up to you, muffling your moan against his lips.

You feel like you could melt into a puddle right here against the wall, reduced to some quivering mess, and you want nothing more than to drag him down with you. He’s palming your breasts through your shirt now, finding your nipple through the fabric and pinching. You can feel the bulge of his cock against your thigh and the heat of it makes your mouth start to water and you want to go to your knees for him and take him into your mouth because… Well because you want to make him shake and pant and moan. 

And then you hear the voices.

 And instead of breaking apart, of doing the smart thing and running away before anyone catches you, the bastard grins at you. It’s a sharp, almost devious slash of white teeth in the shadows as he replaces his thigh with his hand. 

“They won’t know we’re here if you don’t make any noise,” He mutters at your ear and the urge to hit him is back as the voices draw closer, panic rising in your chest just as fast as the whole aroused, willing-to-jump-Poe-Fucking-Dameron-in-a-hallway thing had. 

“Let me go!” You hiss, afraid even that would alert whoever was coming, but to no avail. You try to stand on your tippy toes, try to crane your neck to see if they’ve turned down the hallway yet, and all the while Poe is working his hand into your pants with a renewed sense of urgency, like the threat of being caught excites him. 

Because of course it does.

This was insane; ridiculous, dumb, quite possibly the worst decision you have made in the past three months, maybe longer. You hate him and you hate his stupid, reckless- oh. The breath leaves your lungs when a single, calloused finger runs along the length of your slit. You hadn’t been expecting him to completely fucking bypass your underwear, hadn’t been prepared for the feel of it. 

Poe’s mouth falls open as he watches your expressions, watches the way your eyelids almost slip closed and your teeth sink into your lip. “I knew you liked me,” It’s a taunt, but it’s breathless and there’s no real venom behind it, the pilot too wrapped up in how wet you are for him. How soft, how hot. You’re practically dripping into his palm at this point and if he’s being honest with himself he wants to drown in it.

“You’re such a bastard,” You’re rocking your hips towards him all the same though, trying not to whine because he’s- he’s playing with you now. Just spreading your slick around, avoiding your clit entirely might you add, like he can’t get over the fact that it’s for him. You grab at his flight suit again, needing to hold onto something as he keeps petting you, dragging his fingers along your slit and over your lips, acting like he has all the time in the world despite the voices growing louder and clearer and you think you might actually cry if he keeps this up. 

Your head starts to loll back against the wall as he keeps rubbing at you, giving you just enough stimulation to set your teeth on edge, but then he’s grabbing your jaw and leaning closer, pressing his forehead into yours. “Look at me,” It’s stern, more of a command than anything else. If this was any other time, if you weren’t in a hallway and if his hand wasn’t between your legs, there’s a good chance you would tell him to fuck right off on principle. But here you are and his hand isn’t stopping, and, embarrassingly, something about his tone is just…just working for you.

So you manage to pry open your eyes, vulnerability rocking through you when you meet his gaze head on.  His eyes are dark and hungry, pupils blown out and flickering around your face like he’s trying to catch every little bite of your lip, every flinch when he touches you in just the right spot. He looks so absorbed in what he’s doing, staring at you hard like he’s trying to read your fucking mind or something and it’s affecting you just as much as his fingers are.

“Poe,” You try to appeal to him again, hearing footsteps now and your voice is high and tight from fear and the fact that he’s decided that pushing a finger into you at this exact moment is the best course of action. And, inanely, you think that nothing has felt as good as this. Then he presses the pad of his thumb against your swollen clit and begins to rub little circles into the bundle of nerves and you stand corrected; nothing has ever felt as good as this. You desperately try to suck in enough air, a whine building in your throat.  He shushes you, giving your jaw a short squeeze you take to mean as him telling you to shut up and, miraculously given the current set of circumstances, you manage to swallow back any noises you’re attempting to make. 

 You’re unable to look away from him when he begins to feed another finger into your soaked pussy and starts to leisurely pump them in and out, never once breaking eye contact with you. Dimly you realize that the footsteps have turned down some other corridor before they reached you and you really want to say that that’s the main reason you start sagging against the wall, hips rolling as best they could with the somewhat awkward positioning.

He seems intent on dragging your pleasure out for as long as possible but the chance of getting caught is still very much present and despite your hazy brain, you know you might not get lucky the next time. 

You tackle his suit with shaking hands, trying to remember how to breathe because he keeps filling you up to the knuckle with his fingers and you can feel the rough drag of them against your walls. You fumble the zipper once, twice, yanking it down on the third try- and you can’t stop the disappointment that bubbles to the surface when you see he’s wearing a shirt underneath.

You lean forwards and begin to mouth at his neck all the same, smiling against his skin when you feel the hand between your thighs stutter, stalling for several moments while he’s distracted by your mouth on his skin before he resumes fucking you with his fingers. You keep going, sucking and nibbling marks to match your own while your hands run over his torso appreciatively, wishing you two weren’t in a hallway so you could take your time to explore him. 

Instead you keep heading towards your destination, tugging his zipper down further so you’re able to push your hand into his underwear. You decide to forgo any teasing and wrap your hand around the hard length of him, preening when he makes a noise that sounds somewhere between a choke and a moan from low in his throat. His free hand comes up to brace himself on the wall beside your head and he leans into you, breathing harshly while you stroke him.

Stars, he’s thick. Thicker than you imagined he’d be- not that you imagined this, not like you fantasized about what his cock might be like when you were keyed up and couldn’t sleep, or at any other time of day for that matter. No, not like that at all. 

You peek down and you’re just able to catch a glimpse of the tip between your bodies, and fuck he’s pretty too. Ruddy and weeping underneath your palm as you twist and pull and swipe your thumb through the beads of pearly fluid collecting there, wishing they were on your tongue instead.

“Let me fuck you,” He breathes, thrusting into your first. He presses his lips over yours before you can answer in an open mouthed kiss. “Please let me fuck you,” It’s a ragged plea against your mouth and how could you possibly say no to Poe Dameron begging?

“If you don’t I swear I’ll stran-strangle you,” It’s less threatening than you wanted it to be, your voice keening and needy, but it got the job done and that’s all you could ask for given your current state. He slips his fingers from you and you can’t stop yourself from whining with the loss, with the promise of what’s about to replace them. 

He doesn’t waste any time, his hand replacing your own and the anticipation of it all has your toes curling in your boots before he stops short, the blunt head of his cock just…Just slipping across your folds, coating himself in your slick. You can’t help but squirm because yes, it feels amazing because the head of his cock keeps sawing over you clit but you want him inside, dammit. You’re about to goad him more, wanting to tell him that if he doesn’t get on with it you’re going to blast him in his pretty face, when he finally pushes into your weeping cunt.

You stop breathing, sure that you’ve never been more full in your life, and he’s making another of those choked off, moaning sounds from somewhere in his chest. He mutters something you don’t catch over the sound of your own blood rushing in your ears and then he’s moving, slow and steady at first but picking up steam until he’s pounding you into the wall. Thankfully he still has enough sense to slap a hand over your mouth because honestly, you shouldn’t be held responsible for the sounds you’re making right now.

You claw at his shirt, his suit, trying to keep him as close to you as possible. He moves his hand from the wall to slip under your leg, hitching it up as much as he could with your pants pulled tight around your knees and something about that slight shift in angle has you locking up when he hits some magical spot that you didn’t even realize you had, squeezing your eyes so tight a tear leaks out because now he’s slowed down again. Letting you feel every ridge and vein of his cock as he drills it into that spot over and over again and you really, really do not have time for this but it just feels so good.

You try to tell him you’re about to cum, you really do. But he still has his hand over your mouth and the most you can do is let out some pathetic whimper against it. The muscles in your abdomen tighten and he shuffles impossibly closer to you, not so much thrusting as he is grinding into you now and keeping delicious pressure on that one piece of you that had you seeing stars and your clit is pressed up against his pubic bone and just like that it’s over. 

Your eyes flutter and roll back into your head while you claw at him, sobbing into his hand as your body melts down around him in a rush of heat and wet. His head pops up from where it was resting on your shoulder, watching you through almost delirious eyes while he works you through it, hips doubling down until you almost can’t take it anymore.

He isn’t going to last, not after that. Not after the sounds you made, how absolutely wrecked you were as you shook in his arms. “Wh-where do you…where do you want it,” He slurs, trying to keep it together for just a little bit longer. He doesn’t remember to take his hand away from your mouth until you mumble something against it.

“Insi-side,” He can’t exactly cum anywhere else and expect to keep this little tryst a secret, but you think it’s nice that he still asked. Maybe there is a gentlemanly side of Poe hidden somewhere after all. Hallway-fucking not withstanding. 

At your words he makes a noise that sounds almost painful and hunkers over you, curling his body around yours and goes to town with his hips plowing into yours. You wrap your arms around him and hold him close, catching his jaw with your hand and dragging him into an open mouthed, sloppy kiss. 

Something twists in your gut then, pulling tight like an electrified wire that runs the length of your spine and you have a moment of disbelief. The only sounds are harsh breathing, Poe’s hips slamming into yours muffled by the thick fabric of his flight suit, and the obscene sounds of his cock disappearing into your body, and you think that you might actually cum again.

Again.

In the hallway.

This couldn’t be real. You had just gone too long without getting laid and are having some sort of hyper realistic fever dream to compensate. But then Poe shoves himself as deep as he can go and fucking stays there and the wire holding your entire body together at this point just snaps. Your pussy clenches around his cock and then it’s just bliss, complete bliss, because you feel him jolt against you, how he’s throbbing and wow you really didn’t think it would feel this good to have his warmth coating your insides but it does. You’re still trying to regain the ability to breathe properly when he starts talking. 

”Fuck,” You’re consoled by the fact that he sounds as wrecked as you feel, but he keeps going, murmuring like he was in a daze while he mouthed at your skin. Not really doing anything in particular, but like he wanted to just…feel you. Ghosting his lips over your pulse point, running his tongue over the corner of your jaw. Kissing your shoulder. He tells you how good you felt, feel around him because he hasn’t pulled out of you yet, how perfect you are at taking him. 

You soak up the praise like a sponge, the words going straight to your head and making you want to purr. You have to return to reality though, and you’re only allowed a few moments of being blissed out with a complimenting, affectionate Poe before you snap out of it. 

“Okay get off, get off, get off,” You chant, trying to push his shoulders and pull up your pants at the same time. “We need to go.” His cock slips from you with all the jumping around you’re doing and you aren’t prepared for how empty you feel without it, how fucking bereft. Nope, you aren’t dealing with that right now. No way. You’d deal with your sudden, apparently emotional attachment to Poe Dameron’s cock when you aren’t at risk of getting caught with your pants down. Literally. 

The pilot can’t help but chuckle at how frantic you are, unceremoniously yanking your pants up and trying to smooth out the wrinkles, trying to make yourself look as presentable as possible. All he has to do is tuck himself back into his pants and zip his flight suit, meaning all of his concentration can be on you. Warmth blooms in his chest and he wants to kiss you again, just kiss you. 

He really didn’t plan on this to happen when he followed you, honest. He was just continuing the fight, dogging your heels in a way he knew would have you seeing red. Maybe he’s a masochist -or a sadist, considering- but he loves it when you’re angry. Not because of anything real or meaningful; the kind of anger that comes from pushed buttons and butting heads, the kind that makes your eyes light up and all your attention focus on him and him alone. Schoolyard tactics sure, but it was the one surefire way he had of monopolizing your time and he wasn’t above using it to his own selfish reasons

“See you around, Dameron!” You toss the words over your shoulder as you speed walk away from him, trying not to break into a run back to your room in your haste to get away from the scene of the crime… and your feelings, but that’s neither here nor there.

He frowns at your retreating back. A few minutes ago he was Poe. He was Poe and you couldn’t get enough of him, were almost climbing him like a tree in an effort to get closer and if it wasn’t for your pants getting in the way, he was sure you would have. 

But he doesn’t start to follow you again. As much as he wants to, he just stands there in the hallway, looking lost before he collects himself. You’d talk about this later, whatever this had just turned into because he doesn’t want it to end. Not even close.

[koreanmadeingreece]

Why, why, why (10)

University student!Yuta x reader

Genre: slight enemies to lovers au, a bit of angst, a lot of fluff, and several mixups

Summary: You just got into uni and decided to move in with your childhood friend!Taeyong at the city where you are going to study. As you’re about to start your new, adult life, you meet his friends, and you realize that not everyone likes you. Nakamoto Yuta in particular almost seems like he hates you.

A/N: In this fic, Jonghyun from NU’EST appears for a while (just to avoid confusion). Also we’re so close to the end guyyyyys!!!!

Warnings: Some making out hiiihihihiihihi (also I think some fu and shi words?)

Word count: 1.7K

Part 10/11 (I think) First / Previous / Next

Taglist: @melitadala @chxotickpoptrash @aiforyuu @fineapplehoe (let me know if you’d like to be tagged!) (also idk a friend informed me that my tags weren't working so I'm redoing all of them in all my posts sorry about thaaat)

During the next few days, you barely went to your classes. You didn’t want to see anyone. You didn’t even spend much time with Taeyong, as he reminded you of what had happened. You took a few days to yourself, just to let yourself calm down after the storm. After about a week, you were ready to come back in touch with the rest of the world.

On Monday, first thing in the morning, you stopped by the café where Jonghyun worked, and got your regular coffee. By some sort of miracle, there wasn’t much work, so he was able to steal a few minutes for you.

“Jonghyun,” you said.

“Yeah,” he replied, noticing how you got all serious.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For disappearing this week.”

“It’s okay. It happens. I just need you to be okay and to tell me if there’s anything I can do to help.” He was reassuring towards you, even though you had practically ghosted him all this time. Sure, you texted a few times, but you were never actually there.

“Can you be any more perfect than you already are?” you joked.

“Only when I’m with you.”

It was true that you were dating for almost three months and things had started to get more serious as time went by. For the next few weeks, you tried to spend more time with him, inviting him over to your house when you knew Taeyong wouldn’t be there. Thankfully for you, he had a busy schedule as a third year. Sometimes you knew he went out on purpose, just to leave the house for you. He was the perfect friend.

At the same time, you had started seeing Yuta less and less. You tried not to be home when you knew he’d be there but tried not to be entirely rude and saw him every now and then at uni or sometimes you stopped by when the guys were out. You kept your distance, to keep things from going the wrong way.

You knew that Yuta probably wondered why you stopped seeing him so suddenly. You trusted that it would be forgotten as time went by, and that you’d eventually find a way to casually coexist around each other without fighting or disrupting your well-being. Because that’s what it was, a disruption. Before you even came, he was fine, and you were too. Before you decided to get to know him, things were quiet. Sure, you fought sometimes, but nothing happened.

You had fucked up, and you knew it pretty well. Sometimes you’d see Yuta around uni, talking to his friends or heading to a class, and he’d steal glances from you. He’d slow down his walk to see if you’d talk to him, but you rarely did. You noticed how every time he waited for you, but you never gave him any attention. You hated to do this. You didn’t want to avoid him either. But, with the way things had turned out, you didn’t have any choice.

A few days later, you finished class earlier than usual and found Jonghyun at uni. His classes were over for the day, and you decided to spend some time together. You invited him over, as you knew Taeyong had at least one more class before he headed home. In that way, you’d spend about three hours alone and you’d have the house to yourselves. Both of you wanted some alone time, considering that your relationship was more stable than ever. Jonghyun was happy to follow you home. You opened the windows to get some light in and brought him a cup of his favorite tea. You sat for a while, discussing how your day was, when he decided to put some music on. It was a relaxing playlist with artists that both of you liked.

You sat next to each other on the couch, your legs on top of his lap. When his hands started caressing your legs, you knew it was time for more. In a quick movement, you climbed on top of him, spreading your legs on each of his sides. You placed your lips against his, slowly luring him into your mood.

“Wait, what about Taeyong?” he asked, as you were in the living room.

“His classes end at 8PM. Don’t worry about it.” You continued kissing him and started to grind on his crotch.

He was eager to respond, slowly starting to suck your neck. “I want you, Y/N.” You loved how his voice sounded when he whispered to you. You felt wanted, desired.

You didn’t waste any time and unbuttoned his shirt, seeing his bare body underneath you. You loved the sight of him desperately wanting you, panting from the excitement. You let him take off your shirt as well, and briefly got up to take off your pants as well, staying in your underwear. You sat on top of him again, somehow embarrassed by the way he was looking at you. He glided his hand from your chest to your stomach, admiring how you looked, then went lower, getting it inside your panties. You wanted him, and moaned his name as his body touched yours, his fingers inside you. His lips went from your neck to your chest, sucking your skin. You were ready, and you wanted him. For the next few seconds, all you wanted was him.

~ ☼ ~

Taeyong decided to skip his last class and head home early to rest. “Yuta, are you coming?”

“Sure.” And so, the guys headed home in Yuta’s car, since Taeyong asked him to help with some stuff he needed to carry. Yuta parked in front of the house and got out of the house to help Taeyong.

“I’ll bring the stuff. Can you go unlock the door for me?” Taeyong asked, giving Yuta the keys.

Yuta went ahead and unlocked the entrance door, then went up to your apartment. When he realized what was going on in the living room, it was too late.

~ ☼ ~

You moaned Jonghyun’s name, as his fingers worked magic inside you.

“Y/N are those-” Jonghyun had heard the keys on the door, but the damage was already done. Yuta had walked in, seeing you on top of Jonghyun, him sucking your breasts. He froze. He looked you dead in the eye for a second that seemed like eternity, and walked out of the door, closing it behind him. You immediately got up and put your clothes back on, leaving Jonghyun alone to get dressed too. You stormed out of your apartment, only taking your keys with you.

“Taeyong,” you said as you saw him at the entrance, “where’s Yuta?”

“Y/N what happened? I sent him to help me, and he came back running. He didn’t take his car. I think he left.”

“Fuck, Taeyong.” You went towards the street to find him, but he had already disappeared.

“Y/N, tell me.” Taeyong approached you.

“I screwed up. He saw us, Taeyong.”

“You mean, like, walked in on you?” he asked.

“Yeah. I thought you’d finish at 8. Fuck. I should have asked.”

“Whatever’s done is done now. Go to Jonghyun and I’ll find him, don’t worry,” Taeyong said, giving you his stuff. At that moment, you knew you’d have to give Jonghyun an explanation. You didn’t know what to say though. Why did you storm out? Why did Yuta run off and why did you chase him? Suddenly, it hit you. You were wrong all this time. Jonghyun wasn’t the one who you wanted to spend more time with. Jonghyun wasn’t the man you actually wanted.

You went back inside, determined to clear it all up. It was your fault for not seeing this earlier anyway. “Jonghyun, I need to talk to you.”

“I was wondering how long it’d take you. Apparently around three months.”

“What?” you asked, surprised.

“At first I didn’t know, I noticed it at the movie night, but I wasn’t sure.” He paused. “I brushed it off. I thought I was just misreading things. When you stormed out right now, that couldn’t be my misinterpretation.” He grabbed his jacket and headed to the door.

“I’m sorry,” you said.

“It was amazing while it lasted.”

“Yes, it was. You are perfect, Jonghyun, but I’m not the one you should be with.”

He smiled at you. “I know. I just would have appreciated it if you had told me sooner.” He was right, and he had every reason to hate you.

“I didn’t know myself.”

“More like you didn’t want to admit it.”

“Yeah, that too.” You paused. “I’m sorry. Again.”

“Yeah.” With that word, he left you alone in the living room. You hoped he’d called you names, cursed at you, but he didn’t. That was partly the reason you were more certain than ever about your choices. You weren’t madly in love with each other, and no matter how perfect your relationship was, you couldn’t have stayed together for much longer.

You grabbed your phone. You called him, but he wasn’t answering. You called Taeyong. “Where are you?”

“I went over to Yuta’s. He’s not here.”

“Fuck. I called him and he’s not answering either.”

“I know. I called him too. Don’t call him for a while, and maybe he’ll reach out to me. I’m coming back in a few minutes.”

Taeyong opened the door and found you crying on the couch, waiting for him. “I fucked up, Taeyong.”

“No, don’t cry. We’ll find him and we’ll settle it, okay?” he wrapped his arms around you.

“I’m a horrible person. And stupid. It was him I liked all along and I blew my chance.” You leaned on his shoulder and stayed like this until you calmed down.

The next morning found both of you sleeping together on your bed, just so you had company to get through the night. You opened your eyes, your head hurt from all the tears you shed the previous day, and you knew that Yuta would be in a similar state if not worse. You were determined to end this once and for all.

[lovelykei]

Cliches come in three’s✨

Okay maybe I went a bit crazy with this one.. I just got so much information from @i-sleep-like-napoleon  that I couldn’t help but let the inspiration flow. Not to mention I feel really strongly about mental illness and self harming so I really wanted this to make her happy. I can’t do much, I’m just a girl on tumblr writing stories, but if I can make just one person feel better about their body or their scars or just themselves in general. That’s enough for me. This is another flower shop request!  I hope you guys like this one aswell!❣️

__

It was too much. Lately things just keep falling apart. Sure maybe some of them were minor inconveniences like your pants ripping yesterday. But we all get overwhelmed when the tide gets too high. Which is why you now found yourself leaning on a tree behind your school. Your eyes fluttered close as you took in your surroundings. The birds, the wind blowing through the trees, the grass swaying back and forth. Within minutes you were knocked out. Around 1 hour later you woke up wrapping your jacket tighter around your body. Your eyes shot open as you looked around frantically, until you saw a familiar bed head. “I didn’t have a jacket so when I pulled it closer to me I got surprised and that’s why I jumped, hey aren’t you in the volleyball club I think I’ve seen you around before” you were rambling. The dark haired male looked at you, his mouth hung open as he kept staring at you. “And now you’re staring it’s because I’m rambling right? Yeah I uhm do that, ramble I mean. Sometimes I just get nervous and /this/ is making me nervous.. it’s like some cliche romcom and...” your rambling was abruptly cut off when the male infront of you let out a hearty laugh. “I am in the volleyball club yes, I’m Kuroo Tetsurou and practice started 5 minutes ago but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving you here by yourself.” He stood up and dusted off his pants before turning and getting ready to leave. “Just give me back the jacket later, we gotta keep the romcom trope going after all” and just like that he was gone. “okay if an animal starts talking to me right now I’m pulling up to school in a princess dress tomorrow” you muttered to yourself before standing up and dusting yourself off.

-

It had already been about one month since you met Kuroo and....you haven’t talked since. So much for you romcom. Infact you hadn’t seen him around at all, you thought about going to the gym to give him his jacket back but..there’s people in the gym. And kuroos jacket was extremely comfortable, since he was so tall the jacket really wrapped your whole body up. Maybe that’s why you were getting punished, karma was coming for you because you stole an innocent mans volleyball club jacket you thought as you looked outside. The sound of the rain hit the windows, harshly reminding you of the umbrella you forgot to bring. When the bell rang you slowly packed your stuff up, there’s no reason to rush out in the rain anyways. But no matter how slowly you moved you were now at the door. The last shield from the pouring rain outside. “Now is when he should show up, this is key point in a romcom, walking home in the rain” you muttered to yourself as you pulled your hood over your head. “You forgot your umbrella? We should come up with a name to our movie already” you turned your head so fast you almost gave yourself whiplash. He motioned you closer with a smirk and unwrapped his umbrella. “Let’s go princess, your knight in shining armor is here” you weren’t about to deny the shelter that came with the umbrella. “I’ll have you know I’m n o t a damsel in distress and I could run home in the rain-“

“Oh okay I’ll just go then-“ “hold on you didn’t let me finish. I could run home in the rain but this is important plot development, after this the crush phase starts” you said and grabbed ahold of his arm. “No no the crush phase started after I gave you the jacket” he voiced and opened the door for you guys to go out. “Maybe but then we would’ve had to be simping from a distance, you know seen that at the lunch line or by-“ you were rudely interrupted by the loud crash of thunder booming through the streets. Naturally when someone is scared they will cling onto the nearest thing, that’s just how it works. So there you were practically hanging of off Kuroo. “You’re scared of thunder? So now according to the laws of romcoms I’m obliged to atleast hold your hand-” he paused to wrap an arm under your thighs supporting your body. “But apparently we’re not writing a slow burn so we’re skipping to second half of the movie, where you desperately throw yourself into my arms.” “This thunder won’t last forever and when it stops-..” you muttered against the crook of his neck before once again getting interrupted by the booming sound. A shiver ran down kuroos spine as your breath hit his neck. “Hey we’re in the second half of our romcom, call me Tetsurou” Kuroo wanted to rub your back and tell you everything was gonna be alright, but he still had to cover you guys with the umbrella. Almost as if you could feel his dilemma you spoke up again. “Thank you for calming me down ku-Tetsurou. You can call me y/n”

—

Since the day you walked home in the rain with kuroo you guys had built some type of relationship. Constantly bumping into eachother in the most cliche ways. Suddenly you’re partners in chemistry class? You didn’t even know you guys had that class together. You got locked in the storage room together, 2am calls became a thing when he found out about your bad sleeping habits. It was one of those 2am calls that led you to your current situation. You and Tetsurou were sitting on your roof, stargazing and talking about everything and anything. “Can you imagine yakus face when he realized lev ran away??” He leaned back, holding himself up with his hands as he laughed. The moonlight shone on him making him seem almost ethereal. His hair fell lazily over his face and his eyes, his hazel eyes shone beautifully as he gazed up at the moon. “What were you doing sleeping by that tree? You know the first time we met” he asked softly and looked at you. A soft smile spread on your face as you recalled that day. “escaping. When reality gets too overwhelming I escape” you replied softly leaning back to look at the stars. “Do you ever..escape in other ways..not by just taking a nap against a tree?” Although his tone was light you could feel an underlying troubled tone. “You shouldn’t ask questions you already have answers to” you whispered back. The stars in the sky suddenly shone just a bit too bright, or atleast that’s what you told yourself when you closed your eyes. 1..2..3..4 you started counting, trying to even out your breathe when you felt Kuroo lift your hand. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. “W what are you doing?” Your voice shaked ever so slightly. “Kissing your scars” “I’ve never seen that in a uhm.. in a romcom” you tried to joke and pull your arm away from him, but he held it firmly. “Then this’ll be the first one, I’m not done yet keep still.” He made his way all the way from your wrist to your shoulder, kissing each scar individually. You were frozen, 6 months ago you never would’ve thought you’d be sitting on your rooftop with the volleyball club captain while he kisses your scars. “T that’s alright Kuroo y you don’t have to keep kissing them im fine now” the words awkwardly fell through your lips. “That was a while ago, I mean.. not thaaat that long ago but still uhm a while ago, sometimes we just do stuff and then the stuff is done and you end up with scars but truly I-“ Fireworks. Butterflies? Fireworks and butterflies? You weren’t too sure what was going on in your heart and tummy. All you knew was that Kuroo Tetsurou was kissing you, his soft lips molded perfectly against yours and you couldn’t help but melt in his embrace. You had never been kissed like this before, with so much love and sincerity. It was addicting, and you never wanted this to stop but eventually you had to pull away. “We’re at the part in the romcom where I can do that right? I can cut you off with a kiss?” His eyes met yours, his forehead was resting against yours and his hand was softly cupping your cheek. “Cliches come in three’s” you whispered against his lips. Kuroo didn’t reply he just made a sound of uncertainty. “Giving me your jacket, walking home in the rain, kissing under the stars our three key cliches” the blood rushes to your cheeks as you were explaining. The quiet that followed did nothing to calm your nerves and you were just about to start over analyzing when his silky voice rang out. “I like that, that’s our movie name then Cliches come in three’s” he placed another innocent peck against your lips before pulled you on top of his chest as he laid down. “Let’s stay like this for a while” Who were you to deny the shelter that came in the form of kuroos arms.

[miss-tc-nova]

The First Move - Eraqus x Fem!Reader

It’s a little on the long side for my normal stuff, but meh. Eraqus brings out the lighter side of my writing at least. 

~~~~~

                Groaning, I kick at the alarm orb to shut it up. Dragging myself into the bathroom, I wash up and get ready for the day. I find Bragi and Hermod, both also groggy, in line for the bathroom when I step out.

                “Have you seen Eraqus?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

                Hermod shakes his head sleepily and Bragi replies with a tired smirk, “Nah. He’s probably waiting for his babysitter to wake him up.”

                Heaving a dramatic sigh, I prepare myself for the first challenge of the day. I approach the door next to my room and bang on the door. “Era. Eraqus, wake up!”

                “Just let him sleep in and deal with the consequences himself,” Urd yawns, coming upon us along with Vor and Xehanort.

                “I can’t,” I grumble. “Even if Eraqus gets punished, we’ll still get a lecture about looking after each other from the Master.”

                “So you’re a push over,” Xehanort yawns to which I scowl. “You wouldn’t have this problem if you stopped babying Eraqus.”

                “I don’t know if you can call it babying when she can literally throw him out of his room,” hums Urd. Vor giggles.

                Ignoring the rest of their jeers, I push my way into Eraqus’s room. The boy is sprawled across his bed, still fast asleep. Reaching down, I shake him. “Hey, it’s time to get up.” He’s resilient today. Huffing, I rip the pillow from beneath his head and beat him with it. “Wake up, you lazy bum!”

                He snaps awake, trying to cover his head. “I’m up! I’m up!”

                I throw the pillow on top of him. “You better be. Now go get ready.”

                Pushing himself off the bed, he stretches. “Alright, I’m going.”

                Eraqus and I have been friends for a long time. I’ve known him since before our training days. So we’ve been stuck together for years. There’s not much that I don’t know about him, down to his ridiculous habit of chewing on the strings of his robe. And I’m sure he knows all my little quirks. We know each other so well, I could probably pick him out of a line up by his bare ass. He’s been there for me for so long; I’ve probably grown mildly dependant on him, even if it looks the other way around.

                With other students and staff, I collect my breakfast in the cafeteria. I do my usual and gather breakfast for him as well, knowing that the slacker will get here when the food’s all gone. Before long, the others begin to gather at our usual table.  

                An arm reaches over my shoulder for the spare plate. Out of reaction, I move the plate further away and look back, but I didn’t expect him to be so close. My eyes catch on his, mesmerized by the flecks of silver scattered throughout his magical gray irises. I feel the warmth climbing up my spine. I’ve considered having feelings for him before, only to push them aside in favor of not ruining a friendship or distracting ourselves. So I’ve tried to ignore the fluttering in my chest and push aside the fantasies that intrude on my mind, but he makes it so difficult when he’s stupidly adorable and charming and I’m digging a hole.

                “Excuse you,” I grumble and turn away; hoping that he didn’t see the working blush across my face.

                He sits beside me and the sad puppy look comes up. “B-But!”

                “Nu-uh. I got this,” I tell him, trying to maintain my cool, especially in front of the others. “I got up, got ready, came down, and picked this out myself. This is mine.”

                “But!”

                I push my now empty bowl towards him. Eraqus gets the hint and scurries away with the bowl to dump it in the dirty dish bin. Returning, he sits attentively, hoping I’ve been appeased. I let my eyes roll, but relinquish the plate to which he happily digs in. I notice the snickers and glances from the others but elect to ignore them. Only a few short moments later, I drag Eraqus and his half-eaten bagel to class.

~~~~~ 

                My knees give and I end up on my ass, sighing in relief. Master Odin chuckles and tells us that training is done for the day. My partner in training flops down beside me, leaning against my back.

                “You were great today,” he huffs. “That blizzard spell was strong.”

                I huff between gasps, “Didn’t stop you from breaking out of it.”

                His head tilts back to rest on my shoulder, his wavy hair brushing my cheek. “Thank goodness. The last thing I want to be is a popsicle.”

                “Might make studying in peace a bit easier,” I say, poking at his face.

                “Oh come on. You’d get bored if I weren’t here.”

                “I do have hobbies outside of being bothered by you.”

                “You enjoy it.”

                I glance away in an attempt to hide my grin. “Whatever. Now get off me. You’re all sweaty.” Standing up, I leave him to flop onto his back from where he gives me a goofy grin. I raise a brow at him, hands on my hips. “I’m gonna go shower.”

                Throwing his feet over his head, Eraqus is back on his feet. “’Kay. Then you’ll do my homework after right?” I throw a glare at him and he puts his hands up with that cheeky grin. “Sorry! I mean help; you’ll help me with my homework, yeah?”

                Ignoring the lazy boy’s mischief, I amble off with Urd and Vor to clean up.

                “You know he’s using you, right?” Urd comments on our walk. I glance at her. “Everyone, including Eraqus, knows you won’t let him fall behind.”

                I sigh, “Considering I seem to be the class leader, I don’t know what else you expect me to do.”

                “Part of being a leader is encouraging people to stand on their own,” Vor sings, dancing a few steps ahead. But she suddenly turns back with a Cheshire grin. “But there are other reasons you dote over him, aren’t there.”

                “What’s that supposed to mean?” I snap.

                “Oh nothing.” She continues skipping down the hall and even Urd won’t stop smiling. They quickly change the subject despite my insistence.

~~~~~ 

                “For the love of-Eraqus!” I tear the book from beneath his face, which subsequently collides with the table.

                “Ow!” He sits up, frantically turning in his seat. “Fire! Daybreak Town! C! What subject is this?!” Regaining his senses, his silver eyes turn on me. Even though I’m standing over him with my arms folded, he sighs in relief and lets out a chuckle.

                “For someone who sleeps in on a regular basis, you sure take a lot of naps,” I growl. “Honestly, if we hadn’t been friends since we started walking, I would’ve left you two grades behind.”

                Propping an elbow on the table and resting a cheek against his palm, he answers, “I dunno. Just because you have ambition doesn’t make you mean. You’d probably drag me along by my feet even if we’d never met before.”

                I shake my head. “Gods, they were right.” He raises a brow. “You’re just using me because you’re lazy.”

                “Oh I dunno about thaaat,” he replies nonchalantly.

                I close my book and reach for another. “I really should just let you fall behind. Even if the Master lectures the rest of us, you might actually-”

                The second book slides away from me. “Woah woah. Okay, hold on. I’ll take it seriously.”

                “Oh really?” I scoff.

                “Yes. I swear.”

                I glance over him briefly. He genuinely seems to mean it, but I can’t be sure it’s not just my soft spot for him. “Prove it.”

                The boy glances around in search of a way to prove he’s serious. When it appears he’s got nothing, Eraqus looks to me, a look of uncertainty on his face. Before I can brush off his failed attempt to convince me to stay, surprise jolts through me like a thunder spell when he takes my wrist and pulls me into his lap.

                “E-Eraqus!” My skin is on fire and the rate of my heart is climbing.

                “Wait! Just-!” He taps at the book in my hands. “Explain the whole worlds-separating thing to me again!” Strong arms around my waist, he hugs me to him. “Please! I’ll pay attention this time!”

                Seeing as I’m not going to get free of Eraqus’s stronger grasp without some force and he’s practically begging me, I relent. This is so incredibly awkward, yet I find it notably comfortable. Even as I read aloud and explain the text to him, my thoughts keep trying to draw me to the closeness of the situation: his body against my side, the arms that never release me, his chin against my shoulder—my insides are a complete wreck. However, Eraqus is true to his words, focusing on our studying and participating in the conversation. It’s only after maybe an hour that his attention lulls.

                “And that’s how your ancestors settled Scala Ad Caelum,” I say, closing the book. “And that should be everything on our history homework.” His eyes blankly continue to stare at the book. “Eraqus?” Reaching up, I tap a finger against his nose. The boy flinches, his grip tightening on me. “You promised to pay attention.”

                “I am,” he grumbles, rubbing his face against my arm. “Uh, you said my ancestors settled Scala Ad Caelum.”

                “How?”

                “Uh…” He’s got no answer. “Okay, I started zoning out a bit near the end. I’m sorry.”

                It’s impossible for me to stay angry at that sheepish smile and I return it. “At least you made some progress.” I don’t know what possesses me to do so, but I let my fingers slide into his hair, pushing his bangs from his face. He emits an expression of serenity and I feel my temperature leap. My hand recoils and I pray that flush I feel isn’t visible on my face. “We should start our magic homework.”

                He peers up at me and my brain goes on high alert. His eyes are burning; the steel color almost molten. “I think we should take a break.”

                His voice is far more serious than usual and I’m sure he can see my fluster now. Still, I let my instincts react to his words rather than his tone. “Eraqus, we can’t keep-”

                “Just ten minutes.” I’m not going to be able to resist if he keeps talking like that. “There’s something else I want to focus on for a bit.” Before I can object, a hand behind my head pulls me closer. My heart might just explode and I’m terrified he can hear it as clearly as I can. “You know, I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting, for you to break. But you’re far more persistent than I thought.” My words catch in my throat, making me unable to respond. “And I just can’t take it anymore.”

                I can barely get his name out. “Eraqus?”

                I never would’ve come close to imagining just how soft and warm his lips are. Even if they are soft, there’s still form behind them which he uses to lead the kiss. My insides are turned to absolute mush and, had my mouth not been occupied, I’d be begging him for more.

                The kiss breaks with a soft click but no one backs away.

                “I really like you,” he whispers as if speaking any louder will ruin everything. “And I really, really want to be more than friends. And I know you do too. So please just admit it already.”

                I take a deep breath. For so long, I doused all budding emotions for this boy the moment they came up. I went about life as normal while convincing myself that he was just a close friend. But I guess there was a seedling that I’d missed, one that’s been growing in the background and hiding in plain sight, because I can’t find a reason to say no.

                “I don’t want to be just friends,” I admit.

                In the privacy of this moment, in the intimacy between us, that’s the brightest smile I’ve ever seen Eraqus wear. “Good.”

                He pulls me in again and I let myself indulge in the weightless feeling of bliss. And Eraqus is happy to let me lead, to let me satiate the hunger that’s bloomed within me. I never knew just how much I wanted this until he handed it to me and now I may never let him go.

                “I told you he was gonna make a move today.”

                With my entire body on fire, I tear away from Eraqus to see our classmates entering the study room. There’s the utmost look of smug victory on Xehanort’s face.

                “Hey guys,” Eraqus greets as if we weren’t just caught making out and I’m not still on his lap.

                Bragi walks past Xehanort. “Please. It was obvious she was in control.”

                “What are you guys…” I trail off because I’m not sure I want to know.

                Hermod leans against the wall, smiling. “They had a bet on who was going to confess first.”

                Vor pipes up, “Bragi was betting you’d make the first move.”

                Eraqus’s chuckle resets the fire crawling across my skin and he nuzzles up against my shoulder. “Then I guess Xehanort wins,” he hums.

                Xehanort looks all the more smug and Bragi’s jaw drops. “No way!”

                My face burns even more and I try to hide some of it behind a hand while the victor replies, “Boom. I win. There was no way she was gonna cave before Eraqus. Now pay up.”

                Bragi glowers as he digs through his pockets. “For years, you’ve taken the lead on almost everything but the one time I need you to be assertive, you let the class clown beat you to the punch.”

                I open my mouth to retort, but Eraqus just laughs. “He’s right, you know.”

                In retaliation, I pinch at his cheeks. “Oh yeah? How about I make you do the rest of your homework by yourself?”

                He turns it around on me with a sly smirk. “If I do, can I have another kiss?”

                “Looks like the class clown’s got our fearless leader on the ropes,” hums Urd, pointing out my returning blush.

                “I think it’s cute.” Vor earns a glare.

                Hermod finally kicks off the wall. “Okay guys, I think that’s enough. Let’s leave the love birds alone.” With that, he ushers the class out of the room, leaving me alone with Eraqus once again.

                “About that kiss…” Eraqus says suggestively.

                I turn on him, slowly drawing my tongue along his bottom lip. This time, it’s his turn to appear flustered. “Shut up.”

                “Yes ma’am.”

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

The Successor

And...that’s what happened...

...

...Dammit...Why Hiroko, why...!?

She showed no hint of fear last night...It’s almost as if...

She knew she’d forfeited her life as soon as she agreed to help you...as soon as she spoke Haiji’s name.

But why!? Why would she make that sacrifice! She’s so...Stupid!

Probably because...she cared more about you than she ever did for Haiji...

Hiroko has a son...but to her, you were like her own daughters...

...It’s....my fault...

Komaru...? No, don’t say that, I-

Sh.....she’s....dead....because....of me......!

It’s my fault It’s my fault It’s my fault It’s myfault It’smyfault It’smyfault It’smyfault It’smyfaultIt’smyfaultIt’smyfaultIt’smyfaultIt’smyfaultIT’SMYFAULTIT’SMYFAULT IT’SMYFAULTIT’SMYFAAAAULT!!!!!!!!!

KOMARU!

KOMARU! PLEASE CALM DOWN!

Gah...!

*Toko desperately attempts to console the struggling Komaru as she suffered a mental breakdown, with Mikan rushing over to help her.

IT’SMYFAULTIT’SMYFAULTIT’SMYFAULTIT’SMY--

*SLAP!!*

...

...

P-Please...!

Please, don’t do this to yourself!

*Toko, ignoring the rest of Komaru’s injuries, lunges at her and hugs her tightly.

Please...Please Komaru...!

...

I-I don’t mean to c-cut in at this important moment...But...

I-It’s getting pretty late, a-and visiting times are almost over...

N-No...p-p-please....don’t go away...!

*Komaru grabs Toko’s skirt, desperate to keep her close.

I’m not leaving...

I’m not gonna leave her side. Not now, not ever again!

...

...Th-That’s fine...I’ll make an exception.

I’ll leave. Only one of us needs to be here for her, and I prefer it be Toko.

O-Ok. But please, don’t make too much noise.

*Mikan walks away to tend to other patients and Nagisa leaves the nurses office.

...*Sigh*...Never leave her side, huh? Reminds me of something...

Huh!?

Wh-What’s going on!?

I-Is this for real?

Huh?

*Nagisa walks briskly over to the lounge area where Sayaka and Hina are watching a news broadcast on TV.

Reporter: Sightings have confirmed that the tower that once stood high in the sky, has now been reduced to nothing more than a high pile of rubble. Towa Tower was the base of operations for the Towa Group before-

Towa Tower is gone!?

Someone apparently bombed the place...!

You don’t think...Haiji...?

No, that doesn’t make sense! What am I thinking!?

Right...Why would he blow up his own tower?

...

Dammit...

*Nagisa leaves quickly.

[Hope’s Peak Meadows]

Hmhmhmhmhmmm!

So you really did come back?

Course I did. Didn’t I say I would?

You never said anything about blowing up a building before you did.

Are you here to scold me?

If that tower’s gone, then it gives us an advantage, right?

Not exactly. Haiji could be anywhere in Towa City right now. We’d have no way of knowing where.

But his base of operations is destroyed, so he’s suffered a loss, hasn’t he?

The more you provoke him, the more dangerous he becomes. Even though it seems like he’s hit the limit to how insane he’s become, he’s nowhere near it.

He’s already amputated a person and killed someone, among many other things. We can’t make this worse for ourselves...

I’m sorry Monaca, but the truth is...

I really can’t trust you. I don’t think you’re going to betray us or anything, but doing things like this separate from us really doesn’t help you.

Last I checked I wasn’t part of the team anymore.

Last I checked everyone hated my guts...

It’s because you go off on your own, doing your own thing.

I’m not saying what you did was wrong, and you just wanted to get back at the people who wronged you...

But it seems more like all you want to do is ruin other people’s lives and destroy everything just for the sake of getting a kick out of it!

If you’d just talk with everyone, we could come to agreements on what to do and how to go about doing it!

...Nagisa...?

What...?

You’re...not talking about the tower anymore...are you...?

...

I...I was nothing more than like a virtual pet to my parents...You know this...

But...Of all the grief...and the strife...and the pain I’ve suffered throughout my life...

Nothing...Absolutely nothing I went through...was worse than that...

[Flashback]

Don’t be mad, Nagisa. The one who sent Mr Servant on his task was me.

...Huh? M-Monaca!? What did you say!?

Ahem, liiike I said, I was the one who asked Mr Servant to help me.

Wh-What did you tell him to do?

I asked him to bring Ms Komaru Naegi all the way back here.

Y-You’re lying right? Th-This is...some kind of joke, right?

Sorry, it’s the truuuth.

Lies! Why? Why would you do something like that!?

Oh, that’s too bad. No matter how smart you may be, you still don’t understand it, hm?

But I guess that’s to be expected. I never actually gave you a proper explanation.

E-Explanation? What are you talking about? What needs explaining? We’re going to make a paradise, right? And...And that’s why we caused this revolution, right?

Sorryyy. Monaca doesn’t care about paradise or anything like thaaat.

...What?

Oh, I guess you could say the paradise I want and the one you want are different things.

I have no interest whatsoever in a paradise where kids can live peacefully. 

S-Stop kidding around Monaca! What the heck is this?

Sorry, but this is all for the sake of the successor to Junko Enoshima.

Huh? Successor...?

Yes, the second generation of Big Sis Junko. That’s what I’m after.

My aim is different than Mr Servant’s. But we agreed to work together at the beginning.

So, don’t get so jealous, Nagisa...

I-I don’t understand...What are you talking about Monaca?

It’s fine, it’s fine...You just have to keep doing your best for my sake.

Right? For Monaca’s sake.

...Huh?

Nagisa: ...ah!?

Monaca: Mmm...chu...mmm...

Ehee...I totally stole Nagisa’s first kiiiss!

Wh-What are you doing?

You love Monaca, right? You can’t live without Monaca, riiight? You love me sooo much, sometimes you even have perverted thoughts about me, riiight?

S-Stop...Please, stop!

You’re glad you got to kiss Monaca, right? If you work hard, I can do other things too, you know...

So you’ll listen to Monaca’s little request, right?

D-Don’t come near me! Get away from me!

You have such a hard time, everyone has high expectations of you because you’re so smart. And you even have high expectations for yourself. And you’re always suffering from that, right?

I said, don’t come near meee!

*SLAP!*

But Monaca won’t expect anything of you.

...What?

From the very start, I never expected anything of you. That’s why I kept the Successor a secret. After all, you’re just a weak, weak little child who nobody expects anything from.

I-I said get back!

*SLAP!*

Maybe nobody expected anything of you in the first place.

*SLAP!*

You probably just THOUGHT they did.

*SLAP!*

Maybe it was all a misunderstanding.

*SLAP!*

Don’t come near me! Get back! GET BACK!

*SLAP!*

You hit a girl...How uncool. But...

Monaca loves how uncool and worthless you are, Nagisa! Monaca loves you most in the whole wide world.

Nagisa: Mmm! MGH!

Monaca: Chu...mmm...mmm...

Nagisa: Mmm...mmmnn...

*Nagisa falls to his knees.

If you want Monaca to have high expectations of you...you gotta listen to Monaca’s requests, okay?

For Monaca’s sake...kill all the adults. Risk your life for Monaca.

Isn’t that nice, Nagisa?

...

At the time, I was willing to lay all the blame on the servant...

Because...I just couldn’t believe that you were so hell bent on slaughtering countless innocents.

Sorry...you make it sound like killing a bunch of adults was my idea and mine alone...

I killed adults for the sake of making Towa City a paradise...Because I thought that’s what we all wanted!

But clearly...I was wrong!

But even after you revealed your true nature, I still held onto hope.

And what did you do? You crushed it...!

You jeered at me, you broke my soul! You ripped my heart in two, you tried to break me mentally by using my past trauma against me! 

You even forcefully kissed me, which by the way, is SEXUAL ASSAULT, we were FUCKING KIDS Monaca!

...

Not my best moment...I’ll give you that...

But...it’s too late for apologies...Isn’t it? That was so many years ago now...and I’ve been gone for a while...

...Actually...I don’t think so...

Huh? What, you think I can be redeemed or something?

That’s not exactly what I’m saying.

Despite all you had done, I still see you as a former friend. In fact, I asked Toko and Komaru to not hurt you too badly.

I was blinded by my affection for you and I believed in your goodness. But even if that was a lie, the abuse that you suffered was very real...

So...while I have a chance...a chance to make amends with you...I want to take it...

...

My reason for coming back...my REAL reason for coming back...was because I realized something.

Outer space is empty. A place with no hope and no despair. I went there to escape from it...

But life without Hope and life without Despair is no life at all...

Right now, I just want to up and do something...but I don’t know what.

But if there’s anything I can do to let you know that I’m on your side, at least for now...then tell me.

Actually...I had something in mind...

*He whispers something in her ear.

I see...I’m sure I can do that...But will you help me?

Sure thing...

Then let’s get started...!

[vios-rockland-corner]

Life in Rockland 1

[Author’s note:  “Life in Rockland” is a creative writing project utilizing a specific OC in place of the MC for the “Rumors of Rockland” series.  I do not own any part of the Rockland universe, only my OC.  Fair warning, creative writing is not my forte.  This is a means of practice and a fun way to enjoy the content further].

Sasha Holmes is new to Rockland and just had quite an interesting day.

 Setting: After game events

Play: Rumors of Rockland- Article 1

[Spoilers below for RoR Article 1]

Sasha’s Choices:

[“Like the guy from Resident Evil?”]

[“Ah ha, what exactly do you have to do to look like you’re from around here?”]

[“Are you serious?”]

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

“I can’t believe you’re still not unpacked yet.  Hasn’t it been almost a week since you moved?”

The voice came from Sasha’s laptop.  She was busy multi-tasking while video-chatting with her best friend Pierce.  Well she could see his face IF she turned over from rummaging through boxes and laying out things on the floor.  Some might consider this rude, but Pierce just found it a little hilarious.

“Look it’s a lot of stuff okay?  Besides, I was busy this week going back and forth with work preparations and trying to get the layout of the place,” Sasha said with a huff, looking over her shoulder at the computer.

“Sounds like too much work. You should’ve just stayed home. What’s wrong with waiting a few more years before moving out?”

“Nothing.  Nothing’s wrong with it.  I just...”

“Wanted to break your best friend’s heart?” Pierce gives a very exaggerated pout.  Sasha turns around and smiles coyly.  She crawls over to the computer and lays in front of it, resting her chin on folded arms.

“No.  Even though you kind of deserve it sometimes.”

“I COULD always go easy on you in pool you now?  I don’t mind toning it down.  You’re not gonna beat me otherwise.”

“First off, I don’t want a pity play from you.  Second, you know damn well how close I got last game.”

“Yeah, only to hit the eight-ball into the complete opposite pocket you called. Gotta say, it was almost impressive how you hilariously made a masterful bounce into the wrong fucking pocket,” he grins, holding back his laughter.

“Well I mean that counts as skill doesn’t it?”

“Yeah like scoring a basketball shot for the other team.”

“Whatever, jerk.”

“But back on topic…”

“Okay yeah, look.  I love my hometown, my parents, and even your obnoxious butt.  But I just…didn’t want to get rooted.  I didn’t want to be living with my parents the whole time.  I didn’t want to know ONLY my home.”

“You worry too much.  The rest of the world’s not going to get up and leave if you take too long to hit the road Sasha.”

“I know that, but I wanted…a challenge.”

“A challenge?  You?  I thought you liked everything neat and controlled.  You want to throw things out of wack now?”

“Nothing elaborate.  Just a life challenge.  Take care of my own expenses and start from the ground up.  Meet people on my own and establish a career.”

“I feel like you’re letting your childhood slip away here.”

“Pierce, we’re not kids.”

“YOU sure as hell aren’t.  You always took freakin part-time jobs during college, and full-time jobs in the summer. I had to DRAG you out to the pub and parties for your own sanity.”

“Well moving and covering the cost of living is EXPENSIVE, Pierce.”

“Jesus, how much did you have saved up?”

“Enough so that I could get a place living by myself,” Sasha smiled proudly.

“Not that I don’t think that’s an impressive achievement girl, but I think I would have felt a little better if you had a roommate.  You’re out there by yourself I mean.”

“Look I worked hard for this, so I want my privacy.  I also didn’t really feel comfortable with finding a roommate way out here.”

“You didn’t pick your roommate in college either though.”

“Yeah, but that was our local college Pierce.  I had friends and family right nearby, so if things got weird I had help.  I’m a few hours away from all that now.”

“A ‘few hours’ you say.  It’s like, you’ve gone too short a distance to even warrant a move, and yet just far enough to making it a hassle with visits.”

“I disagree.  I think it’s the perfect distance.  I wanted to be able to visit home, but I didn’t want the temptation to go running home every chance I could get.  Not impossible to go home though.  The point here Pierce is for me to be ‘independent,’” she huffed.

“Whatever.” Pierce rolled his eyes.

“Say what you will, the deed is done.”

“So uh…Rockland.  Why?”

Sasha shrugged.  “No particular reason.  Just seemed like the best choice.  I looked at job advertisements for surrounding areas by distance, looked at their reviews and job pay and what kind of areas they were located at.  The job in Rockland was just better pay from my current job, and the place is small but still attracts tourists.  Means I don’t have to worry about being overwhelmed, but at the same time it SHOULD have just enough amenities and attractions to keep me entertained.”

“Oh?  Entertain yourself huh?  Last I checked that was my job.  Isn’t your idea of fun sitting at a café and going through files?” He smirked.

“Very funny.  Did you forget all the movies we’d watch together too?  I don’t need a buddy for that, and I’ll find other hobbies here. Maybe I’ll start running again.”

“Well good.  Not like you’re gonna get any excitement from your current job.  I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to push yourself to do something a little more interesting.”

“Thaaat’s what the hobbies are for Pierce.  The job is just for stability.”

“Could have added a little more drama to your life if you’d just decided to follow your namesake.”

“Pierce, literally no one in my family has ever been a detective.  DESPITE our last name.  It’s just a random name picked by a random author for a character that became randomly popular.  It is not a go ahead to pursue a career in criminal justice.”

“Seriously, why has NO ONE in your family ever tried to be a detective?”

“Because it requires you to see a lot of messed up shit?  I think I’ll pass.  I mean…if it makes you feel better, I had a great uncle who was a PI.”

“Really?? What was that like!?” Pierce looked a little excited.

“Honestly?  From the stories I heard, he just got a lot of crazies paying him.  People paranoid about being stalked or just using him as a way to harass others.  Wasn’t exactly fun work.”

“Bummer,” he said in a dejected tone.  “Well, I guess if you’re in a place like Rockland, probably wouldn’t get much action anyway.”

“What makes you say that?  Haven’t you been here before?”

“Just SOUNDS plain to me.  LITERALLY makes me think of rocks.  Yeah I’ve been there.  But that was like, when I was a kid?  Just visiting.  Was never for long.  Uncle was there.”

“Right.  Younger you was probably also too busy running around and sticking his hands in the dirt to actually pay attention to what was around you.”

“Yeeeeep that sounds like me,” he smirked.

“Well, I don’t know if the place has changed since you were little or you literally just have zero awareness of what’s around you, but I wouldn’t EXACTLY call this place boring.  Not after today.”

“Oh?” Pierce leaned in, curious.  “I’m so sorry, what WAS your day like dear Sasha?”

“Well, I was…looking for a place for a regular hangout.  I found this one bar in the Town Central.  At least it felt a lot more welcoming than some of the clubs around here.  Most of the people in general seem friendly here…but they can tell I’m new.  Like…ALL of them can tell.  It’s a little nerve-racking.”

“Look if you didn’t want to want to stick out like a sore thumb, you should have moved to a city.  I told you that.  Much easier to blend in there.”

Sasha shook her head.  “No, I didn’t want to get overwhelmed like that.  The best city choices were too big.  Then I’d really feel lonely.  It’s not bad here, I just…have to be sure I make a good first impression is all.  I don’t…think they hate new people?”

“You JUST said they were friendly, didn’t you?”

“Yeah but…see the bartender…” Sasha shook her head again, “No, no you know what?  I think I was just getting jittery since it’s a new place.  Forget it.”

Pierce tilts his head. “What about the bartender?”

“He…OH!  His name,” she quickly recovered and laughed.  “His name is Whesker!”

“Like Resident Evil Whesker?” Pierce chuckled.

“EXACTLY LIKE RESIDENT EVIL WHESKER!  Dude even knew what that was!”

“SHIT FOR REAL?!  That’s actually pretty sick.  Points for the bartender.  What’d you order from him?”

“Nothing, actually.  Him and the other bartender had to do something out back.  Didn’t actually get to drink anything the whole time I was there.”

“Boo.  Points deducted.”

Sasha chuckled, “Well I mean they were busy.  I wasn’t really mad.  Kind of got distracted with this one guy having…a mental breakdown?”

“Woah.  Like, what do you mean?”

“I mean he was…really off kilter.  Not gonna lie, dude was kind of terrifying.  He kept cussing up a storm and saying he was gonna slit someone’s throat. He did SOMETHING awful.  Could not figure out for the life me what EXACTLY he did. He had a friend with him and I was certain this dude was going to punch him in the face or toss him across the room. He didn’t though.  He just…kinda…slumped down into a weeping mess. It was weird.  He said something about drinking.  I think the dude was an alcoholic.  It was kind of scary to watch.  At first I was kind of quivering from the raw temper he had.  Then…I felt a little empty.”  Sasha went a little quiet.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Pierce said in a reassuring tone.  “Dude was probably just drunk.  Lots of people probably get a little emotional when they’re drunk.  Met a ton of guys who say a lot of shit they don’t really mean when they’re wasted.  Did he go near you?”  Pierce looked a little concerned.

“Oh no, no I didn’t get caught up in any of that.  His friend I guess took him to some place to cool off.  The alcoholic kept saying something about disappointing someone for…whatever he did.”

“That’s good.  If you were to guess what he did though, what would you say?”

Sasha shrugged.  “Maybe he got in a fight?  Broke someone’s nose?  Or maybe he’s got a gambling problem?”

“Yeah.  Could be those.  He could also literally have just spent all his paycheck on booze, and now he’s gotta figure out what to do for rent.  I’ve seen that a few times.  Whatever the case, just…keep your distance Sasha.  Dude was probably just being overly emotional, but I suggest you stay away from wildcards like that you know?”

“Oh yeah don’t worry.  I don’t do so great anyway with very…loud people.”

Pierce laughed. “Yeah I know.  Just saying that if it’s a small place, you MIGHT spot him again.”

“I’ll be careful.  Should be easy to tell if he’s been drinking again anyway.”

“Sounds like his friend can keep him under control.  Don’t worry, I’m sure the next person you come across won’t be as scary Sasha.”

“Well…by all accounts…I suppose you’re not wrong, even though I feel like you should be,” Sasha laughed nervously.

Pierce cocked an eyebrow.  “The heck is that supposed to mean?”

“I..ummm…I never thought I would say this in my entire life…”

“And that would be?”

“….I met a drug dealer.”

Pierce blinked. “YOU.  Met a DRUG DEALER?  You are shitting me right now.”

“No, no this is a thing that happened.  Right after the alcoholic left.”

“What, you parked close to the back alley and he came out to hassle you?”

“No this was in the bar.”

“Oh, oh so you’re telling me that a drug dealer just walked right the fuck up to you and said ‘Hey wanna buy some drugs?’” Pierce was grinning and trying to hold back his laughter.

“…Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“YES!  I’m not joking! This happened!  And the dude collects snow globes and friendship bracelets too!” Sasha blurted out, exasperated.

Pierce burst out laughing, “NO FUCKING WAY!  No, I’m not believing that shit for a second.  Sasha you must have misinterpreted something there or this dude was just fucking with you.”

“THERE’S NO WAY TO MISINTERPRET THE LINE WORD-FOR-WORD, ‘You want to buy drugs, kid?’”

“Sasha no drug dealer is going to deal that stuff in public.  Cops eat at those places too.”

“Yeah, about that…apparently the cops here are either inept or can be ‘persuaded.’  I don’t know. Tyler’s plan was apparently to give them a blow if he got caught.”

“Okay one, who’s Tyler?  And two, which blow you talking about?”

“Tyler is the drug dealer and…both?”

Pierce stares for a full 10 seconds, stunned.  He then burst out laughing again, falling over on his side this time.

“OH MY GOD!  OH MY FUCKING GOD! Sweet innocent Sasha left home for no less than a week and you’re already hooked up with the world’s nicest drug dealer.  Oh man.  Sasha I take back what I said about Rockland.  Sounds like a riot.”  He had a large Cheshire grin on his face, but was holding his sides from laughing so hard.

Sasha rolled her eyes and said in a deadpan tone, “Well I’m glad through this long conversation, the thing that finally seems to get you to approve of my move is my association with a drug dealer.  Of all things.  Your reaction also makes me understand Dylan’s pain even more now.”

Pierce sighed, “Oh man, that just, that just made my day.  Thank you….wait who the hell is Dylan?”

“You’re welcome, and Dylan is Tyler’s friend.  He was mostly horrified about how open Tyler was.  Probably one of the more sane people in the bar that night. He dragged Tyler away at the end.”

“Aww, so you didn’t get any drugs?”

“No?  No number, no drugs.”

“Why would you NOT get drugs?!”

“What th-YOU KNOW ME!  That’s not me.  Plus my parents would have a heart attack if I tried anything.”

“But Sasha!  It’s not enough to just not buy a product from a vendor whose actions you don’t approve of.  You gotta purchase from their competition whose conduct you prefer!”

“…Okay I get what you’re saying.  Like if I want to support humanely raised animals, buy the food in the store that’s only from farms with humane raising tactics.  But, Pierce…you’re talking about DRUG DEALERS here. That’s ALL illegal.”

“Same difference.  I’d rather pay the friendly snow globe collecting drug dealer in the bar than the creepy freak in the dark alley.  It’s how you make the world a better place Sasha!  Illegal or not, not like they’re going away.”

“You are…just…I think I understand Dylan’s feelings even more now.”

“Let me come visit sometime.  You can take me to see Tyler.”

“Oh hell no!  If I have any say in this, I’m gonna try my hardest that you two never meet.  I will NEVER hear the end of it otherwise.”

“Boo.  Fine, be that way.  …Hey can I tell your parents about Tyler?”

“NO.  You’ll make THEM start to question my choice in coming here.”

“Okay okay.” Pierce settled down.  “So in summary, you walked into a bar where the bartenders dipped out, an alcoholic was in hysterics and the drug dealer was trying to get you in his books….Eh, you know when I say it out loud it doesn’t sound like the craziest bar ever. May even be pretty normal compared to some standards,” he grinned.

Sasha chuckled, “Yeah, I think I’ll pay the place another visit sometime. It was…interesting.”

“You could use a little spice in your mundane life girl.  Sounds like this place could be a gem.  Let me know who else pops up there next time, kay?” he winked.

“I will.  Have a good night Pierce.”

“Say hi to Tyler for me!”

“GOOD NIGHT Pierce.”

Sasha clicked “End Call.”

Sasha sighed.  She felt emotionally exhausted.

Her eyebrows furrowed.  “Did I forget something?  I think that was all the news.  There was something though…” Sasha thought to herself.  Something was nagging at her.

“The…bartender?  What am I…oh no I mentioned his name!  Pretty sure that was it,” she chuckled.

Sasha looked at the boxes and just shook her head.  She’ll finish it later.  Right now, bed sounded like the best idea after all that excitement.

[eclipse-ofthe-sun]

Dent

Okay! So this is my first time writing in a year (yikes) and i don’t think it’s thaaat good in terms of Great Fics™️, but! I had fun writing it, and I love LinkedUniverse and wanted to do something for it, so here y’all go!

(Also sorry for the weird spacing, I’m on mobile and it just decided to do that)

________

There’s a dent in Time’s armour.

Twilight keeps staring at it, hoping it might magically fix itself. What it means might just resolve itself. But alas, nothing changes, despite the past two hours of staring. He sighs.

He’s starting to get worried now. Wild and legend still aren’t back from trying to find potion ingredients, and he really doesn’t need anyone else added to his list of worries. He doesn’t know what he’d do if anyone else got hurt. If anymore of his family was hurt.

——

It was a pack of moblins; they’d stumbled upon the camp one otherwise uneventful evening. Time and Twilight on watch. While Twilight was happy nothing bad had happened the past few days, Time was suspicious. Group of travelling Links, not getting into a skirmish or battle in almost a week? Hylia wasn’t so kind.

“I’m going to take a patrol around the perimeter.” He stands and stretches, “howl if you need me.”

“Will do. Careful, old man.” Twi nods as he turns to leave.

“I always am.”

Time walks into the woods, slowly patrolling in a circle around the clearing where the sleeping heroes reside. His sword sheathed, but eye sharp.

Never sharp enough, it seems.

He’s just about to break the tree line to where he can see the faint glimmers of the campfire once more, when there’s a snap! behind him. He turns around and draws his sword...

Only to be hit full force by a huge spiked club and flung into the clearing.

It all goes dark.

Hylia is fickle indeed.

——

Twilight sighs. Again. After Time had been thrown into the clearing and the moblins started to pour from the trees, he went in to high alert and immediately woke the rest of the links, who jumped into action right away. A difficult and adrenaline fuelled battle later, they were left with a couple more bruises and cuts to their names, and an unconscious leader with a nasty chest injury. Dark blue and purple cover his torso, which is loosely bandaged to help keep his broken ribs secure, and they were pretty sure he also had a concussion from the landing. He hasn’t even woken up once in the 12 hours it’s been since the attack. Time’s shakey breaths are loud and clear in his ears.

Twilight has a horrible thought that it might stop.

Warriors comes to sit next to him, supposedly done with his previous task.

“How you holding up?” He slings an arm around Twilight’s shoulder.

“How am I holding up? Time’s unconscious, and two more of the team have been gone for Hylia knows how long looking for potion ingredients that may not even exist in this Hyrule.”

Warriors looks at him. “I know. That’s why I asked. You’re overthinking everything – I can tell.”

A third sigh.

“Sorry. I’m just... stressed.”

“We all are. But it’ll be fine - we always pull through, don’t we?” Warriors flashes him a smile.

“You’re right. Thanks, Warriors.”

There’s a dent in Time’s armour. But dents can be restored.

[misstinfoilhat]

It’ll be a breeze pt. 1

A 7DS fic that I started a while ago, but I lost inspiration and wasn’t sure if I would continue it. Until I got this prompt from ‘my favorites anime blog’ and I finally figured out how to move along. It will come in several parts as I finish them!  myfavourites-animeblog  Hey^^, Do you take requests? I really like your fictions on AO3 so I was wondering if you could write a seven deadly sins fic where Meliodas gets paralyzed and he or elizabeth can't heal him. Chapter title: This fall I don't know if I survived A bright light blinded Meliodas as he sluggishly pried his eyes open. His body felt strangely sore. Painfull even, which, he was happy to say that he hadn't really felt in centuries. Not to this extent, anyway. Usually, it wouldn't be much worse than a dull aching in the part of his body where the injury was located, until inevitably, he would transform into his demon form, patching his body back up for him. If he was incapable of doing that, the sunrays of Elizabeth's Goddess healing ability would take care of it shortly after. Was this the sensation he had convinced himself that he missed so greatly? He had to re-think that. But that would have to wait. The first thing on the agenda was to figure out where in the world he was. Or, what might be more accurately, out-of-this-world, he thought, as his brain finally was able to connect with his body, letting him prop himself up on one elbow and shading his eyes from the intruding brightness with his other hand. The room he had waken up in was grand. Likely some kind of foyer with white and black checkered marble flooring, bronze walls with golden details. Human-sized paintings of godlike figures decked the walls and the room was filled with luxurious furniture. A staircase was located in the middle of the room, leading up to a second story, out of sight from where he was sprawled out on the floor. The staircase also held the answer to where the offending light source came from. At first glance, it appeared to be coming from the large stained glass windows at the wall where the stair parted ways into two different directions. At a second glance though, it was clearly illuminating from the beautiful, if not slightly intimidating, woman who stood three steps up. Meliodas lowered his head back to the floor, fighting off a spinal headache. When he was finally fairly certain that he wasn't going to throw up, he raised his head again, squinting his eyes to rid himself of the double vision and locked his eyes with the celestial beauty. She was tall, at least 5'10, with bright, light hair. It almost seemed silvery, sparkling graciously in the shimmering of the gloss that radiated around her and enveloped her shoulders. Just like a certain girl he had known for a couple of years now. Her curvy figure was gracefully draped in an elegant white dress, flowing seamlessly around her and held in place by golden, braided bands, gently tracing her dress all the way to the floor. Meliodas felt a flicker of familiarity. Almost like a dèja vu, coming and passing too quickly to knowing for certain if it was real or not, looking into her splendid copper eyes. His own emerald green, trickster gaze lowered to the ethereal woman's bosom for a quick assessment, before blinking rapidly and rubbing his eyes in a long rehearsed aversion, returning to meet her eyes with the innocence of the child he knew he looked like. “Yo,” he greeted merrily, trying and failing to push himself off of the floor. His elbows wouldn't fold far enough behind him, for him to put his palms to the floor, without the blood in his head seemingly wanting to burst out of his ears, making him dizzy and nauseous and he imagined he could literally taste his spine. “You're injured,” she noted. It was more of a statement than a question. Her expression remained as stoic as it had been for the few minutes he could remember being there. He couldn't be sure if this was a friendly visit or not. “It would appear so,” he answered her chipperly, while the searing pain of what could only be a stab to his lower back screamed for attention. He hid his face in his arms once more, gritting his teeth and flinching, unable to keep from giving the wound exactly what it wanted. What had happened? He remembered waking up at the boar hat like any other day, snuggling his face to Elizabeth's back as she sighed softly in her sleep, before he got up, got dressed and went down to make some coffee. Ban was fast asleep, hunched over one of the tables as usual with a half-full jug of ale still clutched in his right hand. Diane, luckily remaining under Merlins shrimping spell, was cuddled up against King on Chastiefol by one of the windows. King looked at Meliodas with terrified, bloodshot eyes, frozen in fear of waking her by any slight movement. Meliodas had chuckled, giving him the thumbs up as he entered the kitchen to continue his quest for caffeine. Nothing else came to him. It was clouded by a black fog that he couldn't see through, no matter how hard he squinted at it. The confusion on his face must have registered at the tall woman, as an invincible string seemed to tug at the creek of her mouth, forcing it into a reluctant and crooked smile. “I've taken your memories, dragon sin of Wrath- Meliodas.” So, they had met before, then. He should probably apologize right away. “Oh, well, that's a bit inconvenient, miss...” Nope, no name, so he tryingly added, “...iss?” She closed her eyes with a humorous smile on her lips, folding her bat-winged sleeves in front of her and walked the few steps down the stairwell. To Meliodas chagrin, he realized she was standing barefoot in front of him. Even if he was a 3.000-year-old demon, unable to age by the curse put upon him by his father, he felt a little bitter that he couldn't have stopped aging after he had grown to a somewhat more desirable size. At least, so he could reach the dishes at the higher shelves in their kitchen. Ban, that stupidly tall son of a bitch, had taken a liking to lift him up so he could get them for himself, mockingly exclaiming an “uuup-si daisy”, whenever he did. A blow almost harder than having to ask him to get them for him in the first place. He wasn't a particularly prideful person, which a series of up-the-skirt incidences had clearly proved and left no doubt about. But still, even he had to draw the line somewhere. “I'm sorry, I can't recall your name,” he finally admitted. “Meliodas, that part of your memory, I have not taken,” she said wistfully, coming to a stand only a few centimeters away from him. “I know. Someone else did, though,” he chuckled, winching noticeably at the burning it left in his lower back. “I'm afraid there's a lot I can't remember anymore.” “That should be understandable. It's about 1.500 years since we last met, after all.” If that was not a hint, he wouldn't have known one if it had punched him square in the jaw. Meliodas wracked his brain for the answers. From what he had gathered up to this point, specifically from her ability to extract from his memories, this woman must be either a mage like Merlin or a Goddess, which was more likely. Especially considering the crew he surrounded himself with at that time, half a lifetime ago. Half of his lifetime, anyway. But wait, a Goddess? That could only mean...

“Panacea?” he asked in slight disbelief, looking up at her unblemished face that looked as pure as it had a kiloyear ago. “I don't understand. Why did you bring me here?” Panacea lowered herself to one knee, lending him a hand to get back up. When he wasn't able to reach for it, she propped herself down behind him instead, carefully turning him over and placing a hand under his knees and his shoulders, lifting him up bridal style. “Oh, thaaat's degrading,” he uttered as his face scrunched up in pain, unwillingly being carried by the unfaltering arms as they started up the stairs. “Where are we going?” “To my chambers,” Panacea answered, ignoring Melioda's expressed of embarrassment. “You should lay down for a bit. We'll discuss everything after you rest.” “If you would just heal me, we could save ourselves some time,” Meliodas suggested with his never-faltering positivity. He was sure that there was a good reason for her to take his memories and bringing him here, but being in the Goddess Kingdom of Theòtita, he was unable to use his own demonic powers of healing, which left him at the mercy of his genetically-caused enemy, while being in such a reduced state of health. “As I said, we'll discuss everything later.” Meliodas decided to accept the delay. He did feel exhausted, and from what he could remember, the Goddesses had some excellent beds.  

He was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. These Goddesses had a few things figured out. He could only imagine that said pillow had been stuffed with angel feathers. If it was the high quality of it, or if it was plain fatigue from the pain of his injuries, wasn't really important at the time. Even if it hurt to lay on his back, and even if he was in one of the most vulnerable positions he could possibly be in, he couldn't help himself from descending into a deep, fever-induced sleep.

Luckily, the sleep was dreamless, as far as he could recall. The last thing he wanted, was for Panacea to witness the way he tossed and turned by the horrid dreams that usually shattered his mind, tearing him away from the comfort of his bed who he shared with his beloved Elizabeth and throwing him back through 3000 years of losing everyone he had ever loved. It was surprising how significant the number was. He was a demon, after all. When he woke up, the quilt had been pulled over him and a cold cloth was placed on his head. Strange, he thought. Why wouldn't she just heal me? He felt compeletley over the novelty of being cute and sick at this point. Mostly, because of the lack of slightly gullible nurses who would brush their breasts across his own chest while tending to him, or bending over while cleaning up the glasses of water, he would accidentally knock over from time to time. 'I'm kind of a sleaze bag, aren't I? …Oh, well.' He pried his eyes open, wanting to rub the sleep out of them, but his arms felt even stiffer after staying still for... how long? He looked around the room, searching for a clock, but all he could find to give him any indication of time was the window. Which, truthfully, wouldn't tell him much, as the sun never set in this place. They didn't even have the same sun as they did in Britannia. Their sun was called Chrysì Theà- Golden Goddess, and it would never go down. Time went by differently in the Goddess realm than what it did back in his world. An hour in this place would be felt like a minute at home. Well, actually, his home was somewhere entirely different from Britannia. There, it was the other way around. An hour in Brittania was a minute in, well, Hell. Even so, he knew he would be able to tell the time from where the sun was located in the sky, even if that didn't help him much, as he had no idea where it was when he came here. In the end, he gave up on his quest for the concept of time and let himself drift back to sleep.

To be continued.

[atypicalkataangist]

North and South (Part 1)

Type: Twoparter - Part 1 [Family] Summary: Aang has a rather long talk with his girlfriend’s father. Word count: 1748 Author’s note: Here we go, first part of a two-parter. Takes place after the last scene of the last graphic novel. Some context again, if you haven’t read it: The whole book is  pretty much about the conflict between progress and tradition. A bad guy named Gilak is defeated in the end and there is a big feast where everyone has fun. This is where this story swoops in :D It’s not thaaat cheesy this time, but the next, shorter part will be :) Have fun!

We've spent the whole evening sitting around the fire in gran-grans igloo, eating and chatting in a cheerish manner. It was a blissful evening after some really rough days; but Gilak had been defeated and balance had been restored to the south pole - for now.

The hours passed and from time to time, more and more people left to go to sleep, such as our hostess gran-gran and her husband and my former waterbending master Pakku. My subsequent waterbending teacher however was there too, showing quite a bit more affection towards me than Pakku; Katara sat next to me, held my hand uninterruptedly, snuggling closer and closer into my side, the later it became. She was gorgeous when she was asleep, I mean, she was gorgeous all the time and I have no idea how I deserved someone as great and beautiful as Katara, but seeing her sleep emitted an aura of calmness and peace I've never seen anywhere else.

It was about midnight, and the only people who were still sitting around the campfire were Me obviously, Katara, who had fallen asleep a while ago with her head resting on my lap, Sokka and Toph who were asleep as well, and Chief Hakoda. He has had a pretty intense conversation with Zuko and the earth king about their cooperation in the near Future, and even though it was a really interesting topic to talk about and kinda my job as the Avatar, I wasn't able to focus on what they were saying with the love of my life resting her sleepy head onto my body. From time to time I would touch her face and caress her soft skin with my fingers, or stroke through her hair quite gently. Of course I was tremendously careful with not overdoing it- the last thing I wanted was to wake her up now, so I spent most of the time just watching her sleep peacefully.

After everyone else had left, the igloo became awfully quiet so that I was able to hear Katara's breating and gentle snoring without much effort. I didn't want the Situation to become awkward; it must be a strange view to watch your daughter's boyfriend watching your daughter sleep. But it didn't even seem that his attention was on us, or rather me, but on his thoughts. He rubbed his forehead, making an exhausted facial expression. I wanted to help him. And to disrupt the awful silence that seemed to grow more and more for each passing second.

"Chief Hakoda", I said. "What's wrong?"

He just shook his head. "Outside.", He whispered, first pointing at his daughter, than to the door of the igloo. I nodded and he stood up to leave. This was a tricky situation. If I moved too much, she would wake up. Then I got an idea. I lifted up her shoulders and her head with extreme caution, bending a cushion out of thin air to rest her head on, which allowed me to withdraw from under her, replacing the air cushion with a real one and tossing a sabretooth-snow leopard fur over her to keep her warm, even though I hated animal skins. She instinctively tugged herself in in her sleep and I couldn't help but smile, kneel down before her and kiss her forehead before standing up again, leaving the igloo's inside and my sleeping beauty behind.

Outside, everything was as silent as it was inside, not one person screaming, not one lonely wolfbat howling to the moon, nothing. Hakoda stood there in the middle of the street, watching me clearly in the eye as he confessed to me:

"Avatar Aang... I'm scared."

"What is it, Chief Hakoda?", I responded quietly, honestly surprised by hearing Hakoda, one great warrior, saying something like that.

"What will the future hold for us? You're the master of balance, right?"

"Well..." It wasn't that easy. "My task is to maintain balance in the world, yes."

"So what shall I do now? Obviously I can't deny the progress happening everywhere in world... And the change it brings with itself. But if I embrace it too much... Well, we saw what would happen. Gilak was just a pawn in a giant game of ideology. But if I denied it, all of it, and returned to the style of living from before the war... Well, soon there wouldn't be a tribe to lead anymore. We would live in the shadows of the other nations, irrelevant and completely forgotten one day. I Just... Please, Aang. Help me."

This was a really tough question and there was no perfect answer for it, that was for sure.

"Hakoda...", I said, "there's a dark and a bright side to all of this. The dark side is that there is not a solution to all of this that will make everybody happy. Yes, there will always be people like Gulik who have a craving for nostalgia, and there will always be the risk of being crushed by the changing world if you're not willing to change with it. But the bright side...", I stopped for a second to get the words into the right order in my head, "the bright side is that there doesn't have to be a perfect solution for any of this. But you can at least try your very best to keep progress and tradition in balance. I mean, Sokka and Katara, your own children, have completely different views of the world and come along amazingly- because they balance each other out, living in... Well, almost, perfect harmony. That's the key, Hakoda. Balance. I understand better than anyone else that maintaining balance can be breathtakingly difficult to almost impossible from time to time, believe me. At least if you try it on your own. But you're not alone. You have world's most amazing children, you have Malina, you have your tribe's loyality.... And you have me, Hakoda. The Avatar will be there if you ever need me, I promise.", I finished, bowing down, showing my respect and how serious I was about promises like that.

He looked me straight into the eye and I could feel... relief spreading out inside of him. "Thank you, Aang.", He whispered as he came closer to me and drew me into a hug which caught me by surprise.

"You're very welcome, Chief Hakoda."

He loosened up on me, laughed and held me by the shoulders. "How many times do I have to tell you? Just call me Hakoda, Aang."

I blushed a bit. "Yeah, sorry, Hakoda."

"But don't get too much used to it."

That was confusing. "Hm? Why?"

"Come with me, Aang. Let's talk about something else." He roamed through the streets in a slow temper and I walked next to him as he continued to talk. It was pitch black out here at this time of the night.

"I can feel it, you know? I can see how much you love her, Aang. Call it fatherly Intuition, but I guess even your friend Toph could see that you love my daughter from all of your heart."

Now I blushed a lot. "Yeah... I guess I really do."

"And I know for sure that she loves you in the same way. The sparkle in her eyes when she saw Appa in the sky told me everything I had to know. But I guess you already know that, too."

"I... I think so, yes. I can feel it too. Sometimes I wonder why though."

He suddenly stopped and turned to face me. "You wonder why? Aang, I've known my little girl longer than anyone else and I know why she loves you so much. You're everything she ever dreamed of. You're sweet and loving and caring. Just like she is. But you're also mysterious and so incredibly wise and powerful. You're the Avatar and you're something special, and I know that she realized that the day she freed you from the iceberg. That's why she loves you so much, Aang. And that's why you love her so much. It was destiny that she would save you from the iceberg and that you would save her by helping her unfold her full potential."

His words made me feel warm and comfy inside. God, I really loved her. There was no doubt. Not the slightest.

"That's what I meant in the beginning, Aang. Don't get used to call me Hakoda. One day... Well, on day you will call me Dad."

I was barely breathing. "What... What are you saying?"

"I want you to know that, if, or rather when, you're going to marry my daughter, you have, and you will always have my support and my blessing.", He ended with a smile of pride.

I was in no condition to speak. Marrying... Marrying Katara. It was unbelievable. Too great to even think of. "Hakoda... Dad... I... I this is way too much... Thank you. This is probably one of the best things anyone ever said to me."

"However... there is one condition. She is my daughter and you being the Avatar and all could make things a bit more complicated, I'm sure you'll understand this. I know, you would never, ever Intentionally get her hurt, Aang."

"I... I would rather take my own life than to hurt her, Sir.", I stated coldly.

He nodded. "I know that. But you're the Avatar. You getting into trouble is kind of your duty to the whole world. I know I can't ask you to let go of everything dangerous in your life, it would tear you apart. All I want is Katara to be safe. So do you promise me to do keep her safe at all times when she's with you, Aang?"

I gulped and nodded. "I will. I promise you, I will. I will do whatever it takes to protect her. Without her, I... I couldn't live. Even if it means to bring the whole world in danger... again... even if I have to give up my inner priciples... I love your daughter more than anything, Hakoda. I would sacrifice it all, if necessary."

He simply smiled at me and hugged me one last time. "Welcome to the family, son."

[canyousevmyheavydirtysoul]

on the 7th day of 🎄, canyousevmyheavydirtysoul gave to you...

Mistletoe with Panic! at the Disco.

Spencer:

Parties weren’t really Spencer’s thing. He got annoyed enough at regular parties, where everyone would get drunk and make bad decisions, hook-up with random strangers, etc., but the one he was currently at wasn’t a regular party. It was a Christmas party. This meant that due to the copious amounts of mistletoe hung all over the place, there was more making out than usual. Great.

Making a disgusted face and swiftly dodging a tipsy couple who were so engrossed in the act that they almost fell on top of him, he shuddered and made his way to the bathroom in an effort to avoid mingling.

The bathroom was already occupied, but Spencer couldn’t tell since the door was unlocked, so he made his way inside.

“Oh,” he said in surprise upon seeing you sitting on the bathroom counter, legs dangling off the edge as you played a game on your phone, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise someone was in here. Excuse me,” he apologised, gently bowing his head as he began to retreat.

“No,” you called out, “it’s my fault. I should’ve locked the door. I just didn’t think there was anyone else who wasn’t… preoccupied,” you chuckled, tucking your phone away.

Spencer chuckled too. “Don’t feel like mingling either, huh?” he nodded his head to gesture at you.

“Nah,” you confirmed, “my friend dragged me with but then left to make out with some guy. And I’m not about that life, so the bathroom seemed like the safest option. Looks like I’m not the only one who thought so.”

“You most definitely are not,” he smiled, before moving forward and extending a hand, “I’m Spencer.”

“(Y/N),” you smiled, shaking his hand.

Right at that moment, you heard the unmistakeable voice of your friend calling your name, and you shot Spencer an apologetic look.

“I have to go make sure she’s okay,” you said, hopping down and exiting the bathroom, “Nice meeting you.”

“You too,” he nodded.

Once you had left to help your friend, Spencer realised that he should probably do the same and go and check on Brendon. He found him 15 minutes later, in the middle of the dance floor, drinking a red liquid from a clear cup.

“Spence!” he exclaimed happily, clapping a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Did you get lucky yet?”

“No,” Spencer sighed, “and I don’t plan on it.”

“You’re no fun.”

“You’re fun enough for the both of us.”

“True,” Brendon grinned, “But still. Live a little,” he shoved his friend back. Obviously, it was meant to be a light shove, but since Brendon was drunk, it came out harsher than intended.

Spencer bumped into someone, and they both turned to face each other.

“I’m so sorry… (Y/N). Hi.”

“Hi,” you lightly giggled.

“DUDE!” Brendon yelled, “LOOK UP!” You both did, eyes going wide. “MISTLETOE! YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!”

Dallon:

“So did you find anything yet?” (Y/B/F) questioned, handing you a mug of hot chocolate.

You folded your fingers into a zero and clicked your tongue. “Nada.”

“Seriously? How hard can it be?”

You scoffed. “Very hard. As proven by me still not having found anything,” you huffed, taking a sip and wiping away the excess cream that had gotten on your nose.

“It’s Secret Santa, (Y/N),” she said, “You’re making it way more complicated than it’s supposed to be.”

“Yeah, but this isn’t just for anyone. It’s for Dallon,” you argued, “I wanna get him something nice.”

“You mean you wanna get him something that’ll make him climb into your bed,” (Y/B/F) smirked, raising an eyebrow.

“Hey, if that happens as a result, then I won’t complain.”

~

It was the day of (Y/B/F)’s Christmas party and you still hadn’t found the perfect gift for Dallon. Nervously smoothing out the slight creases in the skirt of your dress, you walked up to her door – empty handed.

When you entered, (Y/B/F) was the first person that saw you, and she waved. After noticing the lack of gift in your hands, her eyes went wide and she held out her hands in expectation, to which you responded with a shrug and a hopeless look.

Excusing herself from the group of people she was standing with, (Y/B/F) quickly made her way over to you.

“What the hell?”

“I know, I know,” you sighed, letting out a groan of frustration and balling your fists.

“You couldn’t have at least gotten him a voucher or something? Why show up with nothing?” she interrogated.

“Because if I’m not gonna get him something that he likes, I might as well not get him anything at all,” you explained your logic. Your eyes caught sight of Dallon a little way off, looking hot as hell, and you bit the inside of your cheek.

“You better explain that to him,” she shook her head, “He’s standing over there.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“Of course you did,” she sniggered, pushing you off in his direction.

Gathering your confidence and taking a deep breath, you approached him.

“Hi, Dallon,” you smiled.

“Hey, (Y/N),” he returned your smile, face lighten up once he saw you, “How’re you doin’?”

“I’m okay.”

“Just okay?” he raised an eyebrow and you broke eye contact, tucking your hair behind your ear.

“Yeah… Listen, here’s the thing,” you started, and he leaned in closer, concerned, “I drew your name for Secret Santa, and because I wanted to make sure that I got you the perfect gift and not something lame like people usually do for this thing, I spent the entirety of the past month trying to hunt down the right gift, and as a result,” you held out your hands to show their emptiness, “I still haven’t found anything. And I doubt I will, so I ask you… What do you want for Christmas?”

Dallon furrowed his eyebrows as he contemplated your words for a minute. “I’m glad you asked, (Y/N).”

And with that, he took two steps backwards and yanked you along with him, planting both of you right under the mistletoe.

Brendon:

Brendon stood against the wall across the room from you, frowning as he watched you converse with some random partygoer. The two of you were standing dangerously near to some mistletoe, and just the slightest step from either of you would ensure lip-locking, and Brendon was not okay with that.

Especially since he’d been trying the entire night to get you under one of those darned things.

“You do realise that you’d have a better chance of kissing her if you actually went over and talked to her, right?” Dallon chastised, sidling up next to his morbid friend.

“You do realise that I like you a lot better when you shut up, right?” Brendon sassed, eyes not wavering from you in the slightest.

“Hey man, I’m tryna help you here,” Dallon defended with a scoff and a glance in your direction, “Because you seem to be doing a pretty shitty job on your own.”

“Thanks,” Brendon smiled sarcastically, glancing over at the taller male momentarily and sighing, “I just need to time it right. There were lots of times where I came this close,” he held up his middle finger and thumb a millimetre apart, “I just need to keep it casual and move at the right time.”

“Good luck with thaaat,” Dallon chirped, clapping Brendon on the back before swaggering off to grab a drink, leaving his friend to wallow in morbidity once again.

For the next half hour or so, Brendon never took his eyes off of you. He was waiting for that perfect moment, but much to his displeasure, it never seemed to come. You’d constantly get roped into conversations with randoms – most of which lasted a good few minutes – while he’d be left huffing in the shadows.

Currently, you were involved in a chat with Joe, while Pete was keeping Brendon company. Brendon was trying his hardest to pay attention to what Pete was saying – he really was – but the prospect of you accidently walking under the mistletoe with Joe put him on edge. Pete seemed oblivious to the fact, however, and was hammering on about the trip to Vegas he just went on.

“Dude, you have to check this out,” Pete chattered, hurriedly fishing his phone out of his pocket and pulling up a video from his trip.

Being polite, Brendon tore his gaze away from you for an agonizing 30 seconds, something he immediately regretted doing once he looked back up, and saw you standing under the mistletoe with one of your close guy friends, Leighton.

“No!” he exclaimed, and at the speed of light, he jumped up from the sofa he had been occupying with Pete, and sprinted towards you.

When he was within reach, he literally reached out and pushed Leighton away from you, causing the poor guy to topple to the floor. You were so in shock from what had just happened that you just stood there, mouth agape.

“Hey, (Y/N),” Brendon panted, flashing you a dazzling smile, “Huh, would you look at that?” he pointed up, “Mistletoe. You know what that means?”

“That you literally shoved Leighton out of the way for a chance to kiss me?” you chuckled, bringing a blush to the singer’s cheeks.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, casting his gaze downwards.

“It’s okay,” you reassured him with a smile, “Right, Leighton?” Your friend, still on the floor, shot a thumbs-up into the air in confirmation, “But if you wanted to kiss me, all you had to do was ask.”

“Really?” Brendon said, voice and eyes full of excitement.

You nodded. “But I guess stalking me the entire night is another way to do it. Anyway… c’mere, you dork.”

Ryan:

Ryan knocked on your front door to signal his arrival, and you stood up from the kitchen barstool and made your way over to open up.

“I gotta go,” you spoke into your phone, “Ryan’s here.”

“Oooo,” (Y/B/F) chuckled, “Have fun. Use protection.”

“Shut up,” you growled, hanging up after you heard her laugh.

When you opened the door, a smiling Ryan, who looked adorable in his matching gloves and scarf, greeted you.

“Hey, Ry,” you greeted, pulling him in for a quick hug before shooing him inside, out of the cold.

“Hi, sugar,” he beamed, removing his coat, gloves and scarf once inside your toasty house.

“Thanks so much for agreeing to help me out with this,” you shot him a thankful glance as you walked back into the kitchen, pouring both of you a cup of coffee from the pot that had brewed not too long ago, “(Y/B/F) was supposed to come over to help last night, but something came up. Wedding things,” you elaborated, and he nodded in understanding.

“It’s really not a problem. I’m always here if you need me,” he said with a sweet smile, gratefully accepting the hot beverage.

“That’s sweet,” you gushed, grinning as you took a sip of coffee, “Shall we get started, then?”

“Yeah! Just tell me what you need me to do,” he stated, following you as you moved from the kitchen to the living room, where all your boxes of decorations were.

“I was thinking we start with the walls, and then move on to the tables; I think it’ll be easier that way,” you explained, gathering the streamers and fairy lights from the box, “Let’s do streamers first.”

~

Just over an hour later, you and Ryan had managed to decorate almost the entire room for your Christmas party tonight; you were just putting the finishing touches on one of the garlands hanging from the wall.

“Annnd, done!” you exclaimed happily, clapping your hands together as you stepped back to admire your handiwork, “It looks wonderful, don’t you think?”

“It does,” Ryan agreed, holding up a hand for you to hi-five, “We make a good team.”

“Yeah, we do,” you scoffed proudly, smacking his hand.

“Is there anything else you need my help with or are you sorted?”

“Nah,” you shook your head as you surveyed the area, “I think we’re good. Thank you again.”

“Anytime, sugar,” he said, giving you a hug. He began to walk away but backtracked a moment later. “Oh, I almost forgot!”

“Hm?”

Much to your surprise, he leaned down and captured your lips in a short, sweet kiss. Even though it only lasted for all of three seconds, it left you completely stupefied.

“Wha…” you began.

He pointed up at the greenery hanging from the ceiling. “Mistletoe.”

Looking up, you grinned as you realised that you were standing directly under it.

“Bye, (Y/N). See ya tonight.”

_______________________________

Thank you for reading x

[rockingbrooklyn]

Sinister Smile- Dui (Star Crossed Myth) (SMUT)

Finally, more smut is here.😉😉😉 Based on anon request : can i have a Dui smut please? something like him getting jealous? I hope I managed to put your fantasy into real with this. And I hope this is enjoyable!☺☺

“Ack!”

The moment Adriana entered her house, she bumped into Dui. Not just Dui, but Shadow Dui. The house in complete darkness, his presence and the crooked smile on his face- everything about the situation was so sinister that her senses told her something was wrong. She was in for one hell of a night. What she’d done, she didn’t know, but she knew she was in trouble.

“So you’re finally back sweetheart” he whispered coldly into her ear, his hoarse tone sending shivers down her spine.

“H…hi Dui” she said.

“A simple ‘hi’ is all I get after waiting for you so long?” Dui said, pinning Adriana to the wall.

“I missed you Dui…” she replied, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Yeah right you did!” he hissed, pinning her arms above her with a light thud, “After spending the day with Leon, you missed me, isn’t it?” His eyes blazed with anger. It hit her then.

She protested, “Dui, it isn’t what you think at all!”

“So what is it honey?”

Shadow was being so incredibly polite that Adriana feared his next move.

“Leon was the one who asked me out to the coffee shop. He said he wanted to check out this part of the city. So I agreed to go with him. But Dui, I promise it’s nothing like you think” she explained, eyes teary due to fear. Dui was violent when he was angry and his wrath was something that she didn’t want to see.

“Did your agreement include letting him touch you and flirt with you?”

“N-no! You know how Leon is! That’s his way of talking and he loves to piss out on others faces!”

“So now you’re supporting his behaviour…”

“Dui, no! Please believe me!” Adriana wailed. That made Shadow release her as he backed away and was replaced by Dui.

“Dui!” she screamed and tightly hugged him; crying herself out.

“Adriana…don’t cry…”

“I’m not cheating on you, if that’s what you were thinking. I swear Dui, I was thinking of you all the time I was with Leon. Believe me.”

“Alright I never said you were cheating sweetheart. I just…..I just don’t like seeing you with other men. I hate all of them, especially that Leon. I have my own set of insecurities, because those two parts of mine are always in conflict. One loves you so dearly and the other always doubts my capacity to love you. But Adriana, I’ve promised I’m never gonna hurt you. Even now, I didn’t mean to scare you or accuse you of anything. It’s at such times that I can’t control Shadow. And he gets the better of me…..” Dui said, head hanging low.

“Dui I love you as you are- even if you are insecure. I consider both of you as a single man, whom I love so much.” Adriana said, kissing him on the forehead.

“Ada, I promise I’ll make up for that drama earlier. Do you forgive me, please?”

“Yes Dui.”

“You won’t regret saying this….” he said, eyes glowing devilishly and his sinister smile returned…..

20 minutes later…

“Nghh Dui!” Adriana moaned, fingers running through Dui’s hair as he licked and sucked on her.

“Baby you’re so hot and wet…does this feel good?” Dui asked prodding her clit.

“Y-Yeah!”

“Great, ‘cuz I’m gonna make you feel even better…” he said, burying his face between her thighs. Each lick sent waves of ecstasy down her spine.

“Ahhh! Dui w-what’s thaaat?!” Adriana screamed in response to a new sensation- a vibrator.

“Man, humans are such geniuses! Even we gods didn’t think of making something this handy and pleasurable.” Shadow said, with a smirk.

“Ughhh Dui n-no! Stop that it’s too mu-ah much!” Adriana’s back arched.

“Now, now…what’s that subject wich you study on Earth? Sauce? I guess salad? Or something like Silence?”

“D-do you m-mean Science?” she asked between breaths.

“Yes my princess. Science”

“DUI!!!” she half-screamed as the vibrations became faster.

“Sweetheart, do you know what Science says?”

“Wha-aahh what?”

“That Vibration is necessary for sound to be produced.”

“Whe-ere d’you even read that?!” she exclaimed.

“In one of your journals. But I understood that statement now. VIBRATIONS PRODUCE SOUND, eh?”

“Ahhhhh!!!” her voice gained a few octaves as the vibrations gained frequency.

“So that means more vibrations produce more sound” Shadow said evilly and put the vibrator on maximum speed.

“Duiiiii please…aaaannnn…please s-stop it I can’t take anymore…Ahh!”

“Humans are so observative….hehe…my girl’s making so much of sound here. I wonder how did people test it huh? Like this?”

“Dui….I’m coming!!!”

“Come hard baby. Lemme see that beautiful little face of yours.”

Adriana screamed out loud in completion as Shadow licked up her secretions. Her breathing was heavy, her eyes lidded and lips parted. He placed his lips onto her as she struggled to catch her breath.

“Are you ready for more baby?” he asked, taking a hard bite of her bottom lip, drawing out a little blood. She nodded in anticipation, watching carefully. Suddenly it felt as if the moment had been fast forwarded as she was flipped and slammed into roughly.

“Ughhhhh!!!!” Adriana screamed.

“Aahh baby you have no idea how sluttishly warm and wet you are!” Shadow growled.

For a moment, no words were exchanged as he thrust deep into her, which sent her body wobbling weirdly. Though he was being uniform, his frustration was not letting him find her right spots.

“Dui….unghh faster!”

“I see my princess wants more” he said, thrusting forcefully and choking her neck, earning strangled gasps from her.

“Such a dirty girl you’ve become. I bet Leon taught you that didn’t he?”

“NO!”

“No worries cuz I’m gonna give you so much more than that Leon can ever dream of”

At this point he was pounding into her, yet failing to bring both of them to the peak. Her screams echoed throughout the room.

“Dui, please….ahh….d…do it r-right…make me feel good…” she moaned.

And he stopped thrusting completely.

He asked, almost furiously, “Did that Libido Lion give you Viagra or something?”

“Don’t stop please Dui….”

“I swear now I’m going to lose it if you get so desperate.” His growl was animalistic. His face, the most frightening, twisted in anger at the thought of Leon.

“Dui move”

But, he didn’t. Just what was he doing? Being some bastard who’d had a hemp-overdose? He was fucking her like a maniac. What was the difference between him and Leon if he did so? And just because he was jealous? How was it even valid? Would Adriana like this? Clearly not. Being wild, yet gentle. Being passionate, yet caring. Being bold, yet sweet. Being reckless, yet considerate. That was what she loved Dui for. And if he tried to be someone else and claim her, would she want him at all? Nope. That wasn’t how he was supposed to do it.  That wasn’t how he wanted it to be.

“Dui what’s wrong?” Adriana asked. That snapped him out of his daze.

“Babe, I love you” he said in the gentlest tone and thrust deep into her. Bending forward, he planted soft kisses all over her back and neck while keeping his assault in moderation.

“Mmmph!” she moaned each time he oscillated his hips forward. Dui brought his head onto the nape of her neck and littered her skin with light bites. Locking their fingers together, he set a uniform oscillatory motion. Their fingers scratched the linen together; their pants came out as one. Eyes closed, they chanted each others names.

Dui gasped. “Adriana…mmm…I’m really c-close”

“Cumm…ing!” she breathed out.

A last bite of her earlobe set off her orgasm, then his.

“DUI!”

“ADRIANA!”

Their screams shot through the seductive air of the household; their climaxes hitting them in recoil, leaving behind two panting lovers. Dui withdrew himself from her and collapsed on one side. Adriana followed suit and snuggled into his arms.

“Sorry if I was rough before” Shadow apologized. She gave him a peck on the nose.

“What was that now?” Tsundere Shadow blushed, burying his face in her hair.

“I love you so much Dui.”

“Even when I’m like this?” he asked, the sinister smile appearing again.

“Yes even if you are like this.” She said, and kissed his nose once again before hugging his chest tightly. He smiled, tightening his hold on her.

Any doubts that Dui had before, got extinguished that very moment. He may not be the best boyfriend, but he had Adriana by his side. The girl who loved both his personas entirely. The girl who was always there for him, in spite of his rude and frightening attitude. The girl who loved his sinister smile as much as him. The girl whose smile made him feel manly and loved. And he would do everything in this world to protect that smile

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☆~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Link to Masterpost

[brightlotusmoon]

TMNT Headcanon: “The future only belongs...”

Hi hi hi. *bounce*  Soo, you know I couldn’t help myself and started headcanoning and head-writing as soon as “When Worlds Collide” was over, and I wrote this bit over the past week while writing other stuff, and it’s going to be a really long fic with actual science and characters wondering Hey yeah why is that a thing because heck off writers the fans may as well do better than you. Also my husband is like Donnie level nerd/geek for physics, chemistry, engineering, astrophysics, biology; and I have a habit of randomly asking him strange things that he randomly has the answers to. And generally when I come to him and the first thing out of my mouth is something like “So if a character has electrokinetic powers what sort of stuff could they do around the house?” I expect a realistic answer that takes two hours and includes a visual lesson on electrons and photons. Sooo yeah, here’s a sneak peek at a fic that is tentatively titled “Electric Youth” because I was a child in the 1980s, but it could change (if you don’t get the reference, try to guess) as the story happens. Also if you want, comment or PM me or PM me at FFnet especially if you know stuff about electric-powered superheroes.

 Electric Youth (Part Four of “The Sunshine Child”)

 It had could have been different, in that span of a few seconds.

“No! Wait a second, guys, wait! No no, WAIT! BISHOP, NO, NOT YET, LISTEN TO ME!”

And Utrom Bishop had paused. He had paused just long enough to see the electricity suck back into Michelangelo’s skin like water into sand.

Panting, Mikey had kept his hands raised, pleading, words stumbling over each other. “Just…just gimme a while, please. Look. Give the cannon to Donnie, okay? We-we’ll keep it in the lair, and if I start to overload we’ll use it, just please please don’t drain me right now, please, what if we still need these powers, come on…!”

And something apparently shifted in Utrom Bishop. His robot head twitched. He lowered the energy dampening cannon. “Very well. But you understand I must let the Council know.”

“Yeah, sure, tell them whatever! I promise, I’ll be good! I’ll learn to control it.” A massive breath of relief expelled from Mikey’s whole being. He was quiet, save for his loud breathing.

Raph had stopped smirking and was staring at his brother, whose eyes were still wide and huge.

Utrom Bishop hefted the large gun into Donnie’s hands, eyes narrowed. “Do you trust him?” he asked.

Don blinked. “Well, considering his excitement and his desperate promise to commit to controlling himself, I do trust him. Mikey has matured a lot.”

Bishop sighed. “Remember my warning. You do not want to lose him again.”

“O-of course not. Never.” And Donnie’s eyes widened. His fingers tightened against the white weapon, as the Salamdrian commander stepped forward.

Leonardo blinked at his ceiling, crossing his ankles and settling deeper into his pillow. It was still hard to sleep. That had happened. All of that had happened earlier. He could hear the threats of Newtralizer, he could hear Mikey’s sudden scream of agony as he was electrified and disintegrated mid-leap…

With a frustrated huff, Leonardo sat up and threw back the covers. Tea, damn it.

It was getting warmer as spring ended but the lair’s floor was cool on his bare feet as he walked to the kitchen. Tea.

He was heating the kettle and reaching for one of the calming herbal blends when he heard the scrape of a chair. It wouldn’t have alerted him, if not for what sounded like static shock and a whispered “Ow again, damn it.”

“Mikey?”

He turned around, and his little brother looked up almost guiltily, his toe still grinding into the floor and his finger still bouncing rapidly on the table countertop – the metal countertop. Leo blinked.

“S-shouldn’t you not be doing that?”

“M’tryin to figure out how,” Mikey said earnestly. Then Leo understood. Mikey had been randomly touching things, sliding his feet against things, waiting for the static shock to tell him what was safe. But what if nothing was…

Sighing, Leo walked over and gave his brother a one-armed hug. “I’ll admit, this is gonna be weird, Mikey. Are you sure you did the right thing in stopping Bishop?”

“Dude, are you even serious right now? Of course. I got this. I mean, I will. Get this. I said I would, didn’t I? I’m cool. I’m all good!”

Inwardly, Leo chuckled. Mikey trying to act smooth when everyone knew he wasn’t was always adorable. That was one of his real talents, calming down a situation with wit and strange banter until de-escalation.

“Don’t laugh at me, Leo, I’m really really trying this time.”

Sometimes he forgot just how empathic Mikey now was. “Sorry, little brother, it’s just…well, you’re my little brother. It’s not that I don’t believe you’ll be fine, I’m just always going to worry about you.”

Mikey grinned sleepily and nodded. The water boiled. Leo went and poured his tea.

“Hey,” Mikey said, “can you put a tea bag in a mug for me, since you’re there? With regular water? Actually, make it cold.”

Leo raised an eyeridge. “Okaay…”

He brought the mugs to the table and handed Mikey the cold, barely seeping tea. Mikey clutched it with both hands and stared at it. Slowly, a trickle of light blue electricity emerged from the skin of his hands and crawled toward his fingertips. Leo watched, fascinated. The static jumped from Mikey’s fingers to the porcelain, wrapped around it, and if Leo had blinked he would have missed the steam rising.

“Well,” he said, “That’s one way to practice.”

“It worked!” The grin Mikey gave him could have lit the room. “I did it! YES!” Happily, he sipped his tea, feet swinging, and Leo laughed.

Little things like this, he realized. Little tiny things like heating up a mug of water, not huge incredible things like…like battling an elecrokinetic reptile man or blowing up bits of a bug alien spaceship. Or creating a force field to hold back an explosion inside of a damaged bug alien spaceship. If he weren’t living electricity, able to move literally like lightning, he wouldn’t even be here.

That was the other thing. And no matter how many times Raph and April and Karai had gone over it, Leo still wasn’t sure. There had been a visible surge in electrical energy from all over the alley, they said, and then it all just…gathered and coalesced and…BOOM. And then there had been a Mikey from the ground up, from the skeleton up, screaming into existence and suddenly ready to run, like a newborn wild creature. There had been no fatigue, no confusion, just there and whole as if he had never been gone. That was what Donnie had been mumbling about on the way back to the lair, after dropping Mona Lisa and Karai off at the Mutanimals’ warehouse. Granted, Don himself had been in such shock over Mikey making such a grand entrance that he had somehow forgotten Mikey was alive (had brought himself back to life?) and couldn’t stop shaking his head while they waited for Raphael to say goodbye to Y’Gythgba (and it wasn’t like he wouldn’t see her again, but then Leo remembered how Karai had nudged him). It didn’t make sense, none of it made sense, April had reached out to Mikey had had to pull back as if electrocuted, she could barely sense him under the crackling strangeness and the darkness of it all.

“Leo, yours is getting cold,” and he blinked, remembering to drink his tea while watching Mikey stim and fidget and carefully spin his mug while murmuring, “I did it, I’m the best, I’m awesome” under his breath.

It was giving Leo room to think. The way he could move. The sheer ability to turn into energy and move in a blink, was that going to cause problems? It had saved him when he jumped from Dregg’s exploding ship. But was it costing him anything? Could he be in pain? April had said that Bishop’s warning of a burn out killing Mikey seemed extremely serious, but how well did Bishop know the turtles’ mutations or Newtralizer’s powers? And this was Michelangelo they were talking about. He had lived through some bizarre things. And, Leo mused, he had this odd talent for…attracting weirdness. He was just good at supernatural things. The demodragon seal, for one, they still hadn’t figured that out. Kavaxas may have been woefully out of touch by assuming the seal couldn’t be fixed (and with chewing gum for that matter) but perhaps Mikey just…had that aura. And it made sense, Leo decided, since after Splinter’s death Mikey had gotten spiritually very powerful, enough to become nearly telepathic. This, though, was nothing like that. This was physical actual energy. And it still affected Mikey; he had still had to avoid being shocked by Newtralizer. Donnie said he was going to test that; could Mikey eventually absorb external electric shocks, did he create his own energy or did he draw it from the environment, and where in his brain did he instinctively control his energy. Leo had filtered out the longer words, already exhausted.

And now he just couldn’t sleep, and now he was watching Mikey play with raw electricity like a toy, and—

“Mikey, what are you doing?”

Leo nearly inhaled tea and looked up.

Donatello was standing at the table, arms folded. Mikey had apparently been playing with the water, literally playing with it, Leo watched as plumes of steam danced across the table. Mikey’s face had the frozen whoops face of a child caught with a cookie. A grin stretched across his face, his eyes still wide and innocent as he looked up at Donnie.

“Heeeey, Dee. How’s it going?”

“Michael…” and Leo immediately ducked his head so he wouldn’t laugh; Don only used that form of their little brother’s name when he was really irritated, “…what did I tell you when we got home earlier?”

“Thaaat I wasn’t allowed to perform any electricity tricks and I was supposed to wake you up if I felt like my powers were overloading and I needed a release?”

Really? Leo frowned. He didn’t remember that conversation.

“And what are you doing?”

“Yeah, but, Leo started making tea and…”

“Leo, can’t you sleep?” And Donnie turned worried eyes to Leo, who straightened and looked nonchalant as he could. “Actually, I couldn’t sleep. Too wired up from what happened today.”

“Heh,” Mikey giggled under his breath. “Wired. Heh.” And Leo rolled his eyes, even as he smiled. Well, it was true.

“You wanna see wired, I was wired, I was wired like a boss and it--”

“Mikey…” and Donnie sounded like a disgruntled yet resigned parent.

“Sorry, Dee, I couldn’t help it.” And Mikey sounded exactly like a chastised, actually apologetic, hyperactive child. Leo inwardly slapped himself; he was obviously loopy.

“And I decided to make tea,” Leo said, as if he were a hand slapping against the table ending whatever standoff between parent child. “And I heard Mikey, uh, experimenting with his powers. He asked if I could put a teabag in cold water, and then he heated it up. And he was really proud of himself, Donnie, I--”

“Wow, actually, that sounds awesome,” Don interjected. He sat down. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that.”

“Really?” Mikey’s smile turned megawatt. Ugh, puns, Leo thought, there will be an overabundance of energy puns in this house forever. He smiled to himself. It would be worth it if they really did find a way to control Mikey’s powers.