#thank you Veg for proofing this as always

[bookwormscififan]

Taking Control

Read on AO3!

A/N: I wanted to see how writing Mad in control would work, but turns out we both chickened out by the end XD

Warnings: Smut.

--

Let me take control.

Mad had seemed so confident when he asked, and Mare could never deny Mad’s requests, which led to him laying naked on the bed, hands behind his head as Mad stretched himself open in front of him.

“Do you need any help, love?” Mare asked, breathing already irregular as he watched Mad spread his legs a little wider apart while adding a third finger.

“N-no,” Mad gasped, pulling his fingers out and wiping them on the sheets. “I-I’d like you to do something else, though. Could you make… handcuffs?” His face was bright red as he asked, shuffling forward to sit on Mare’s thighs, keeping away from his cock.

“Handcuffs? I mean, sure, but what for?” Mare conjured the cuffs as he spoke, holding them out to Mad with a furrowed brow. “Oh, I think I see the plan here,” he commented as Mad clicked the cuffs onto one of Mare’s wrists, looping it around the headboard before clasping the other wrist, effectively locking his arms there.

“I want to experiment,” Mad began, raising himself to his knees and shuffling forward to line himself up with Mare’s cock. “Your magic is linked to your emotions, right?” His question ended with a soft groan as he lowered himself down, digging his nails into Mare’s stomach.

“Y-yes, fuck, yeah, but what does that have to do with—” His question cut off as Mad slowly lifted himself up again, sinking back down before slowly rolling his hips in small circles against Mare. “God, Mad, starshine, is this your plan?”

Mad nodded, eyes closing as he shifted his position before bouncing again, letting out the most beautiful sounds as his movement got Mare to hit the good spot inside him every time he lowered back down. He slid his hands up Mare’s stomach to squeeze at his chest, moving further to feel the way Mare’s muscles moved under his skin as he struggled against the cuffs.

“M-Mare, you feel so good inside me, god, I could sit like this forever,” Mad moaned, opening his eyes to reveal pupils blown wide, dark pools bordered by honey-coloured amber. Biting his lip, he sped up his movements, practically bouncing on Mare’s cock and grinning when Mare groaned in frustration at not being able to hold Mad.

“S-so, what’s the conclusion you’re looking for?” Mare managed through gritted teeth, trying in vain to buck his hips to meet Mad’s downward motion. “H-How long I can last? Tryin’ to edge me until I beg?”

“Shh.” Mad leaned forward to kiss Mare deeply, slipping his tongue into Mare’s mouth and smiling against his lips. “How about a bet?” Stopping his movements, Mad leaned back to sit upright, ignoring Mare’s grunt of frustration at the lack of friction on him.

“W-What’s the bet?”

“I want to know how long you can keep those cuffs restraining you,” Mad started, glancing up to see the cuffs were slightly opaque. “If you can come without dissolving the cuffs, then you can fuck me until I forget my name.”

Mare swallowed thickly, licking his lips as he flexed his hands. “If I can’t?”

“I-I wanna see how you taste,” Mad mumbled, face flushing bright red as he avoided Mare’s gaze. “I-It always feels s-so good when you do that to me, and I want to-I wanna try it.” He chewed on his lip as he waited for Mare to answer, breath hitching as he felt Mare’s cock twitch inside him, and his shaky breathing almost blocked out Mare’s whispered response.

“Deal.” Balling his hands into fists and pulling against the cuffs, Mare moaned as Mad began to bounce again, hands squeezing almost every inch of his chest as he arched his back, looking an absolute sight to Mare’s eyes. “Fuck, dear heart,” he breathed, struggling against his restraints as he bucked his hips to meet Mad’s, eyes rolling at each sound that punched out of Mad’s mouth.

Mad moved one hand behind him to grip Mare’s thigh, digging his nails into the flesh as the arch in his back changed the angle of Mare’s cock inside him, and he gasped as Mare came almost immediately. Scratching his nails down Mare’s stomach, Mad curled forward as he came, too, the feeling of Mare inside him too good to resist.

“Mare…” he panted, a smile tugging at his lips as Mare ran his hands down Mad’s sides, squeezing at his hips. “Y-You made the cuffs disappear.” Looking down, his cheeks flushed at the hungry look in Mare’s eyes, whimpering slightly as Mare lifted him off his cock.

“Still taking control?” Mare checked, hand resting on Mad’s inner thigh and gently kneading the flesh there. He shifted Mad slightly so he could sit up, pressing his lips to Mad’s collarbone as he waited for an answer. “I’m good for whatever you want.”

“I-I want…” Mad trailed off as Mare started sucking a dark mark into his neck, squeezing at the musician’s arms to make him stop. “I’m nervous to do what-what I said. Can… can you use your fingers, please?” He hummed into the kiss Mare pressed to his lips, closing his eyes when Mare gently flipped them so he was lying on the bed.

“Of course, darling,” Mare whispered, uncapping the bottle of lube and pecking Mad’s lips when he made a sound of protest. “I know you’re stretched, but I want to make sure you’re comfortable.” Leaning back down to kiss Mad again, he slipped two fingers into him, swallowing his moans as he angled his hand just right to make Mad see stars.

“Mh, Mare, please,” Mad managed between kisses, squirming to rock onto Mare’s fingers. “A-against me, please…” his whine turned into a moan when Mare pulled his fingers out to lift Mad, setting him into his lap and snaking his hand back to slip his fingers into him again. “Mare!”

Holding onto Mare’s shoulders, Mad struggled between rocking back onto Mare’s fingers or forward into his hand, where Mare had grasped both their cocks and was stroking them in time with the movements of his fingers. Gently, he nibbled on Mad’s jaw, adoring the sounds Mad let out before tilting his head to whisper into his ear.

“You look amazing like this, holding onto me like a lifeline. I want you like this forever. I want to keep you in my bed all the time, blissed out beyond belief.” He paused when Mad came, kissing his cheek as he followed soon after. “Let me clean us up, then we can cuddle.”

Mad was almost asleep when Mare returned with a damp cloth, cleaning him carefully and getting him under the covers. Crawling into bed behind him, Mare pulled Mad against his chest and nosed at his hair, smiling when Mad nuzzled into his chest.

“You did perfectly, darling, but I think you enjoy me taking control more.”

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

@iamvegorott @brokentimewatch @rattyboyisemo @dungeon-dragons-dragons

[messier51]

return of the raccoon thief!

aka i’ve never actually used one of the security features on my security camera before tonight

so after i left for work my box of groceries was delivered (thanks fedex you are ALWAYS late) and it’s cold out so whatever, it can stay on my porch tonight, delivered groceries have mostly lasted the night before (last time i had this happen it was SUPER cold and some of the veg got slightly frozen)

tonight the (alleged) dish thief has returned and managed to pry open my grocery box, scaring away the cat in the process. eventually he gave up, leaving for a while. cat came back, then a few hours later the raccoon returned! this time when the cat started to run off it spooked the raccoon too, who ended up leaving first. cat went back into her little house, saved the day, saved the groceries.

the THIRD time the thief came back with a friend, and the cat did not stick around, and they seem very determined to get their little hands on my food, so I used the siren feature on my security camera. amazingly, it worked! i have successfully scared them off twice now, but i might have to keep an eye on the camera for the rest of the night D:

sorry food delivery service, this is an unsatisfactory delivery, it is NOT fuzzy thief-proof, and now my stray porch cat is off somewhere in the snowy cold hiding instead of in her warm cat condo

[jhilsara]

Ooooh, those notes were super inciteful, I love that it goes at a slower pace and isn't just a copy of the original. I smell an enemies to lover's trope brewing and I'm living for it! If you want to provide more notes, that would be super cool! But again, it's totally up to you<3

Thank you for reading it! It makes me happy you enjoyed it even though it's just some draft notes. Anyway here is pt. 2- Again this has not been proof read,,, I just word vomit on the doc then clean it up later also I now have MC in place of Mika... I was debating on doing y/n with this or not.

She’s bonded with all the boys in one way, except Sam.

Damien and Matthew were easy. They loved the human world and wanted to know so much. They also just had bright personalities and were eager to finally meet Howard’s granddaughter.

The three of them had done many things together. Movie nights, video games, going out to the mall or a bar. She even introduced her friends to them one night.

Explaining her situation to her friends was wild. Too many prying eyes and a story she tried to keep straight.

They were a group hired by her grandfather to travel around to do research for his company. He had offered his home in exchange for some elderly care.

MC said her grandfather always was an odd bird.

With some demon power help her friends believed it.

Erik and MC go shopping a lot. Erik, she learned was into fashion. He was also great at sewing. He worked full time as a seamstress in a local shop.

They also were very into RuPaul’s Drag Race and watched it every Friday.

They’ve been to the local drag shows and have tipped GENEROUSLY.

James has been planning the reveal/debut of him as CEO with MC. Their plan was for the very beginning of May. Invitations had been sent out and RSVPs were coming back. Including a few news outlets.

Including her father.

James reassured her he wouldn’t touch her. But her father’s words were always more painful than any hit.

Sam was… illusive.

He avoided her like a plague. She mostly saw him at family dinners and grocery shopping he never missed.

Honestly it kind of hurt her feelings.

The next time they needed to go grocery shopping all of the boys were busy except for Sam. So, they had to be alone.

The car ride -silence and awkward Buying food, Sam took half the list and left her. She was in the freezer section contemplating depression ice cream when he came back with his half of the list. “Are you not done yet?” his tone accusing. “No, I am.” She sighs. “Just thinking about something for me to veg out with later.” He quirks a brow. “isn’t ice cream like, I don’t know, sad food?” She nods. S I L E N C E crickets if you will She grabs a pint of lemon custard. “Lemon custard?” Sam She side eyes him. “Yes. It’s my favorite. I’m not big on many other flavors.” “Don’t people usually get like chocolate when they’re sad?” Sam She rolls her eyes and puts her ice cream in the cart and starts pushing. “I like lemon custard. I didn’t know I was gonna get grilled for my depression ice cream.” “I’m not grilling you!” He groans throwing his head back pushing his cart. “I’m trying to have conversation…” He mumbles. She whips herself around in irritation, “Then why didn’t you just stay and shop with me? Or why did you literally say nothing in the car? You’ve had opportunities. OR MAYBE the million times you’ve avoided me?!” Sam steps back, furrows his brows, “What’s that supposed to mean?” She takes a deep breath and turns back. “Just forget it, let’s check out.” She can feel him fuming next to her as they check out and pay for their groceries and loading them into the car. Once inside the car he presses her again. “What did you mean inside?” he all but snaps at her. “Exactly what it sounds like Sam. You avoid me. All the time! So, I find it hard to believe you when you say you’re trying to start conversation when there have been better opportunities to talk to me.” Sam opens his mouth but keeps shutting it. He can’t really argue with the truth. “Point proven. Now can we just go back to you ignoring my existence.” Sam jolts forward in his seat glaring her down. “I don’t ignore your existence. In fact, I’m more than aware. I can’t get away from you.” “That doesn’t make any sense! We never talk, about anything! You’re always hiding somewhere on the roof. Or when I come into a room and you’re with one of your brothers you promptly LEAVE.” “That’s not- fuck.” He groans in irritation. “I’m sorry okay.” Sam “What?” “I’m sorry. I swear-” he sighs “I swear I’m not trying to be a dick to you. I just didn’t want to irritate you more after the whole… kiss situation and then…I don’t know a whole week passed and I didn’t know how to talk to you.” He sighs and runs his hand aggressively through his hair. She sits in silence for a moment. “Are you saying that you were to embarrassed to talk to me?” Sam’s jaw drops and he stutters, “I- no! No that is not what I’m saying!” She’s giggling at him now and teasing, “I think that’s exactly what you’re saying.” Sam scoffs and crosses his arm but a smile tugging at the corners. “Fine. I was embarrassed are you happy?” Sam “Yes! I am actually. Because it was bumming me out that you weren’t talking to me or looking in my general direction… like at all.” Sam sighs, “I really didn’t mean to just avoid you. I didn’t know how to talk to you after a very embarrassing event. Damien and James chewed me out.”

Life gets a little easier with a truce between her and Sam.

Then the announcement party comes.

MC is frantically pulling things together worried something will go wrong. James tells her to breath. All the boys are helping her. “You are just going to make the announcement and I can take it from there okay?” James “While yes that is frightening, I’m more worried about my dad.” MC “Just stick with me. I’ll just be like your guard dog.” Sam “Sam can frighten anyone away.” Matthew Sam shoves his little brother away by his head. “Hey! I just styled my hair dude…” Matthew complains and runs to find a mirror. “Go get dressed okay? We got this.” Erik shoves her upstairs. The beginning of the party goes by way too fast for MC. It’s mostly meet and greet for people she doesn’t know and her friends who she asked to come so she isn’t alone. The boys actively are working. She does constantly feel Sam’s eyes, so she knows he’s actively watching for her dad. When her mother and father enter she clams up. He barely acknowledges her. The event is spent mostly with her mingling with company people and media coverage in the back of the room. It comes time to make her announcement. James stands next to her. “Welcome everyone from Anderson Toy Company! I’d like to say thank you for coming for not only the announcements we will be making tonight, but also for the celebration of life for my grandfather Harold Anderson. We will be doing a candle light vigil for him later this evening.” MC

“Tonight, I know all of you are here to witness me telling you that I am stepping into the CEO position of my grandfather since he selected me. I am here to tell you tonight I have picked and hired a new CEO who will be taking my place in the company.” GASPS and her father’s ANGRY ass face. Like the man is red. “I know you all were expecting me to step into this role, and I was prepared too. After consideration I cannot in good faith take this role. My grandfather left me the option to be CEO but he would have never made me take it if I didn’t want to. He wanted me to follow my heart and find something I was as passionate about as he was making toys. So tonight, I welcome you to regard your new CEO with the warmth my grandfather would have. Please welcome James Anderson.” 

LITERALLY MUMBLES GASPS AND CHATTER AND CAMERAS GOING OFF

James goes into a spiel about the company (and his not relation to MC even though same last name) James also provides for the public documentation that he was very close with Harold and that they had talked about this as an option.

MC steps down as James discusses the future of the company. She tries to find her friends to fuck off and find a drink but her father corners her behind the massive staircase.

“You ungrateful brat!” He grips her arm. “You were left everything and you take it all for granted! You have let our family name tarnish within this company!” Father “Let. Me. Go.” She growls out. “Not until you understand the biggest mistake you’ve made! What are you going to do with that business degree now! And don’t think I’ll be paying those student loans! HA!” Father She starts to shrink back into herself trying to look for anyone to help her. But they’re all engaged with James. Her father knows better than to be yelling in public to make a scene. Suddenly his bruising grip has left her arm and she can see the familiar back of Sam. Sam has stepped between them, gripping her fathers’ hand in a death grip she can hear his bones cracking. “She said let go.” Sam tells her dad in a low but demanding voice. She can see the fear in her fathers’ eyes. “How dare you!” her father growls out as he looks around frantically to see if anyone sees them. “How dare I? I’m not the one threatening and physically attacking their own kid, am I?” Sam has yet to let go of her father’s hand “I’m not hurting her and this is family business!” her father tells him with a glare. His voice cracks though. “Oh yeah?” Sam gently guides MC’s arm up to show the already forming bruise on her forearm. “She fell.” There’s another bone cracking as Sam’s tightens his grip on her fathers’ hand. Her father almost yells. “It’s in the shape of your hand. Now I suggest you apologize and leave before I shatter the bones in your hand and convince James to fire you from your family’s company.” Sam “MC! He can’t do that! I’m your father!” he’s shaking in his shoes. She grips the side of Sam’s sleeve and he looks at her. “He needs to apologize to you. It’s unacceptable.” Sam “I’m sorry! I’m sorry okay just let go of my hand!” Sam releases instantly and glares at the man. “Be a better father. Or she’ll never talk to you again.” Sam He glares at both of them and runs off. He’ll probably make an excuse to leave. Sam turns to look at MC and her whole bodies shaking. The bruise is darkening too. Sam holds her gently to him, rubbing her back gently. “It’s over it’s okay.” He whispers into her hair. She lets out a shaking breath. She pulls back and looks at her arm and frowns. “I can’t cover this up…” she mumbles. “Stay here, I’ll go ask Erik if he has anything he can do okay?” Sam She nods and loosens her grip on Sam to let him find Erik. They both come back in less than 2 minutes. Erik hums in irritation and gently escorts her to his room. “Foul man, I have something to fix this dress wise, but that’s a nasty bruise love.” Erik finds some gloves that go up to her elbows and hides her bruise and also acts as a good accessory. “If anyone asks you had them the whole time. Just gaslight them.” She huffs out a laugh. “Thank you, Erik.” “It’s more than fine. Make sure you go back to Sam before you mingle again. He’s worried, and more than furious about your less than savory father.” Erik She nods and goes back down. Press are surrounding James and he’s taking it like a champ. They have another few hours before her grandfather’s vigil too. She looks around to find Sam and her eyes meet his in the back of the room against the wall. “You good?” he asks her. She nods. “As good as I can be.” He grunts in acknowledgement but his eyes burn where he knows the bruise is developing. “Thank you, Sam. I don’t know what he would have done if you hadn’t come in.” He looks into her eyes, silent and burning. It sends a chill down her back. “I should have been faster.” She grabs for his hand and holds it gently. “You were plenty fast. He could have said or done a lot worse. He has before.” Sam looks over her shoulder and smiles softly back down at her, “Your friends are looking for you. Go on. We’ll talk later.” She turns to look over her shoulder and a couple of them are raising their brows suggestively at her. She rolls her eyes but blushes furiously. “I uh- yeah. We’ll talk later. Thank you Sam.”

The vigil is successful too, everyone who stayed for it, which was a lot, said wonderful words about her grandfather.

After every guest leaves the boys and MC are sitting on the stairs exhausted.

Okay listen, I have so much... like so much more but I can only add so much text to an ask. So again, just let me know if you want more.

<3

[0nlythrowharrybeaux]

Young American - Part 5

FRIENDS, THIS IS A GOOD AND LONG ONE 😮‍💨😏 A little earlier than usual because I will be very busy this weekend, but I hope you like it! Thank you to all of you who read and interact, it means the world to me!

WC: 10.7k

Series Masterlist

Also on an unrelated note, I'm going to 2 more LOT show and was thinking of maybe doing a little merch giveaway? Perhaps a LOT soup tote? LMK if that would be something you're interested in if you were unable to attend any shows! ☺️

Warnings: Talks about Alzheimers, death, depression, cancer, blood, pain, tattooing

Y/N wasn’t really sure what to expect on Monday when she got to the shop in terms of her official friendship with Harry. Since Sunday was her “day off” she didn’t see Harry or even hear from him, but she still felt giddy and nervous as she got through her tasks quickly and eventually got to the drawing table. She had done herself up just a bit more in the makeup department, she always got a little more of a confidence boost when she did her make up. It wasn’t anything crazy, she just added a thin winged liner and a red lip tint with some gloss over it. It stood out a bit since she was just wearing a white tee tucked into her black, high-waisted jeans and her go-to checkered vans adorned her feet. Y/N kept telling herself that it was because she just felt good, she had a little bit of a pep in her step today, but all that flew out the window when she heard the back door of the shop open and she perked up, preparing to see Harry, he was always the first to arrive as she turned back when she heard the steps lead into the studio she was met with G.

“Oh, hey! You’re early!” She said with a smile as she stood and he scoffed.

“Early? It’s 9:30.” He said and she frowned.

“Is it?”

“Yeah.” He chuckled, “Got lost in the drawing, did you?” He asked and she smiled and nodded. She felt a little worried, Harry was never late, “Show me what you’re working on?” He asked and she guided him over. As she showed him the new designs they made some small talk about his grandparents anniversary party and he shared that he had also been out yesterday and was curious about the Halloween party she bit her lip for a second before speaking.

“Ummm, maybe we should go for a drink after work.” She said and he looked at her with some confusion.

“Well I can’t tonight. The boo-thing and I wanted to go see a movie, sorry.” He said.

“It’s cool, we can do tomorrow.” She assured and then the door opened again and in came Rosa, “She lives!” Y/N laughed and Rosa sighed.

“I’m so sorry! I got hella cross faded and it hit right before we were leaving to the party and I was vegged out and eventually just passed out. I texted Harry!” 

“You did not!” She laughed and then pulled out her phone to show proof and as she searched through her messages she frowned and her and G just giggled.

“OK, I thought about texting Harry.” She laughed in slight embarrassment with Y/N and G. They chatted a bit longer and then Vy came in and cheerfully greeted everyone as she rushed to set up for her appointment and shortly after Rosa headed off to open up the shop and Harry still wasn’t in. It was a slow morning for G so he gave her some pointers on some of the new designs she had made so that they could be more tattoo friendly and she took note and as they wrapped up that conversation he let out a big yawn.

“Well, I’m gonna make some coffee, want some?”

“Yeah, I’ll come with you.” Y/N smiled and they walked into the lounge and she started getting out the grounds and their mugs. Suddenly they heard the door open and in came Harry, sunglasses still on his face, his motorcycle helmet nestled in one arm as he ran his free hand through his thick, brown curls. He was wearing some distressed denim, the fit was loose on his legs and his broad shoulders were draped in a worn leather jacket. He was wearing one of his usual t-shirts underneath, but god did he look astounding.

“Hey G!” He greeted happily as he passed by and when he reached Y/N he gave her a little side hug, “Hey you.” He hummed lowly as he pressed his cheek into the top of her head.

“Hey.” She responded with a bashful smile, trying her best to will away the rosy color of the blood rushing up to her face. After a few short seconds of being in his embrace Harry pulled away and headed to the storage lockers to set his things down. When she looked over at G he was smirking at her and she rolled her eyes and continued with adding the coffee grounds to the filter.

“Can you add a little for me?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, of course.” She smiled up at him, “Long morning?” She asked and he sighed as he shrugged off his jacket.

“Yeah, on my way here I got a flat on the highway. I had to get towed to a gas station to fill up and well, you know how tow trucks take forever and charge like hell.” He explained and both she and G hummed in understanding, “But it’s all taken care of now, thankfully.” He said with a smile as he came up beside Y/N to grab his mug out of the cabinet.

“That’s good. Glad to hear you’re alright and everything worked out.” G said and Y/N nodded along in agreement.

“Thanks.” He responded and then he turned to Y/N, “You look extra dolled up today.” He acknowledged her extra effort.

“Oh yeah? Just… felt like switching it up a little.” She shrugged nonchalantly, but internally she was happy that he had noticed. 

“Well, you look good.” He said more quietly, probably feeling a little bit timid since G was in there with them, but it surprised her that his presence didn’t deter him from complimenting her at all. 

“Oh! Ummm, thanks.”  She smiled at him again and Harry smiled timidly at her and she could see G grinning from her peripherals. 

“Did you already talk to Rosa?” He asked with a grin as he leaned against the counter as she started up the coffeemaker.

  “Oh my god, yes!” Y/N giggled and Harry shook his head from side to side.

“At least we know she’s alive. She was in a proper state yesterday.” Harry disclosed and she giggled.

“I can only imagine.” Y/N hummed and she looked to G who was texting fiercely on his phone. She was just waiting for her phone to ding with a longwinded message.

“Speaking of the devil.” Harry grinned as Rosa walked in and she rolled her eyes with a grin on her face, “Morning.”

“Good morning, Harry. Ummm, do you have a minute? Someone is asking for you up front.” She said and he nodded and left with Rosa. 

“OK, I cancelled the movie we’re going for drinks tonight.” He said and and she laughed softly and shook her head.

“It’s cool, it can wait.”

“Maybe it can, but I can’t. I need to know what is going on there.” He said quietly.

“Nothing. We’re friends now.” She shrugged.

“Bull! You hooked up.” He said more quietly and she shook her head.

“Really we didn’t!” He studied her face with squinted eyes, “Ughhh, we’re going to lunch then. I literally cannot wait to hear it all.” He said to her and she giggled.

“OK, lunch.” She agreed.

************

G could not stop smiling as Y/N told him about her time spent at the Halloween party with Harry. It was good that she and Harry were able to put their differences aside and have fun together. He was starting to grow a soft spot for him as she talked about how funny and sweet he was. 

“-and then Vy took us up to the guest room so that I could go to the bathroom without waiting in the long ass line and we just stayed up there talking.”

“Talking you say?”

“Yeah, just talking, and drinking of course, but ummm… he was just really bummed about how we had gotten off on the wrong foot-”

“Still?”

“Yeah, he was so apologetic! And you know, I was letting him know that it was OK and we watched a rom-com turned drinking game…Well, I let him think I was drinking too but I just hate taking Ubers alone if I’m drunk and well he asked if we were friends and I told him that I think we are and he got really happy about that. You should’ve seen how pretty his smile was, I swear my heart grew five sizes just seeing him beaming like that.” She pouted with affection and G cooed, “Then it was just time to go and well, he had driven himself and didn’t want to leave his car so he let me drive his car-”

“The Ferrari?” He asked with shock and Y/N nodded.

“He was so drunk, I thought he was joking! But then he was like I swear I trust you and he wanted to go home so I agreed to drive him. Then he like passed out and I have no idea where he lives, so I had to take him to mine and he stayed the night.” She shrugged, leaving out the part where they shared the bed, “He stayed for breakfast and then left for the shop and that was it.” She said.

“And he remembers all of this?” G asked and she nodded.

“Yeah, he ummm, he checked in the next morning and apologized if he was a handful or whatever, which I assured him he wasn’t and yeah.”

“How do you feel about all of this?” He asked and she shrugged and smiled.

“Good? I mean, he’s literally the sweetest person ever and he’s really proven himself to like, makeup for the beginning.”

“Well, I’m glad you guys are good now because now I can say how fucking good he looked when he came in today. Not really the type I go for but damn.” G said with arched eyebrows and Y/N giggled with warmth in her cheeks.

“Yeah, he did. Didn’t he?” She said giddily before taking her lip between her teeth.

“He was totally flirting with you, by the way. This morning.” G pointed out and her cheeks felt warm all over again as he recalled this detail and recounted it to her.

“Oh my god…he was just being nice.” She waved it off.

“Sure, sure… I might be into guys but I’m not blind. Flirting is flirting in any sexual orientation.” He said pointedly and she rolled her eyes. 

*************

The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet. Y/N was just doing some inventory in the supply closet while everyone else wither worked on their clients or on new designs. She was in the middle of counting the boxes of gloves when suddenly Harry came looking extremely irritated and she jumped a bit at his surprise intrusion.

“Sorry, I just need a moment.” He huffed.

“Alright. Do you want me to go?” She asked him as she set her clipboard down on the nearest surface.

“No. Stay.” He insisted, searching her eyes and she nodded as he looked down to the ground and took slow, calming breaths, but his hands were balled up in fists at his sides. She tentatively reached for one of his hands and he unclenched it, allowing her to take it and she just squeezed gently. He looked back into her eyes and she could see that he was so upset that it looked like he was going to cry.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” She asked gently and he exhaled through his nose.

“Well, first the whole thing with the tow truck. I mean, it was an expense I wasn’t expecting to make and rent is due on Friday.” He explained, he was clearly stressed out about it, “And now, I got a call from the company that’s shipping over my things and they lost some really priceless art that I had. Stuff my grandfather had painted. They’ve been searching but still haven’t been able to track where it went.” He said and paused, that seemed to be what really was upsetting him, he exhaled shakily and she squeezed his hand again, “That’s all I had left of his.” He explained with tearful eyes.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Harry.” She said compassionately, her hand trailed up his arm from his hand and she smoothed over his bicep gently, “That’s super shitty.”

“Yeah. Fuck…I’m so angry I can’t even see straight…ughhh!” He groaned and she frowned and just hugged him. He stayed frozen for a second before he hugged her back. They were quiet for a few moments.

“Want to take a little walk? Get some fresh air?” She asked and he nodded against her, “OK, C’mon.” She said softly as she rubbed at his back before letting go. They headed out through the back entrance and he groaned again when he saw that his bike had a flat again.

“For fuck’s sake!” He exclaimed and sighed as he bent down to inspect the damage.

“Gosh, today is just not your day…” She said and he shook his head.

“Yeah, tell me about it.” He mumbled.

“Well look, one of my aunt’s friends is a mechanic, has his own shop and all. He does his own towing and I think he does tires too. I can call her and see if they can get this sorted out for you?” She offered and he turned to her.

“Do you know how much that might be?”

“Not sure, but cheaper. He never charges us if we need towing, being family friends and all. Or if he can’t work on what you need he can at least refer you to someone who will give you a good deal?” She said and he sighed. Harry hated feeling helpless and limited in what he could do. Things had been better, but he hadn’t replenished his savings enough to be able to deal with an unforeseen circumstance like this twice in one day.

“Yeah, please. Anything would help at this point.” He said and she nodded.

“I’ll call her now. Maybe if they come soon you’ll have it before the end of the day?” She said and he nodded, “OK, let me go get my phone.” She said and rushed back inside. She came back out and they started walking out of the lot with him at her side as she called her aunt and explained the situation. She was more than willing to give their friend, Andrew, a call and soon she hung up as they reached the corner of the street and they lingered there for a moment.

“Thank you.” He said and she smiled.

“I’m glad I could help with at least one thing.” She responded, “You wanna talk about the paintings?” She asked and he nodded.

“My grandfather and I were close. He was into art and that’s how I started to draw and paint.” He explained, “It was something we did together when I was growing up and when I told my mum that I was not going to continue in college to pursue tattooing he was… surprisingly supportive.” He smiled as he looked to her and she smiled.

“That’s sweet!” She hummed and he nodded, his dimple carved into his cheek and it made her swoon with endearment.

“Yeah, I was surprised but he believed in me, you know? Shortly before I started my apprenticeship with Eddie he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.” He explained and she frowned, “It was hard for my nan to look after him on her own and my mum could only help so much with work and all. Like we helped how we could but it was really hard when he’d have bad days, so eventually she got him into an assisted living home but that just really accelerated his deterioration. I would visit every week and we would paint together. He didn’t remember me as his grandson, just as the kid who would come paint with him. Those were the paintings they lost.” He said and Y/N frowned.

“I’m so sorry, Harry. I’m sure they’ll turn up.” She said hopefully and he sighed.

“I hope they do. They mean a lot to me.” 

“Yeah, I can see why. Did he ever get to see you tattoo?” She asked and he smiled and nodded.

“Yeah. He had these few weeks where he was just super lucid, like right before the final crash,” he explained and she nodded for him to go on, “and he wanted a tattoo from me. That was the first official tattoo I gave. He paid me and everything.” He chuckled and looked at the ground as he shared the story with her. It brought tears to her eyes because this one hit close to home because the reason she wanted to tattoo was her aunt, Julie, a cancer survivor and so close to being in remission right now. There was a point in time where they weren’t sure if she would make it, but she had always said that she wanted Y/N to tattoo her before she died and Y/N intended on making good on her promise.

“Awww, Harry, that’s so cute.” She sniffled and he looked over at her when he heard her sniffle.

“Oh, don’t cry!” He pouted and she giggled and swiped at her eye to wipe her tears, “You’ve ruined your eyeliner.” He tutted, looking between her eyes with a small smile and she huffed, “Here, I got it, love.” He said softly as he leaned closer to her face and just swiped the wings away with a little rubbing of his thumbs. She felt her heart pounding hard in her chest as his eyes focused intently on her face to ensure that nothing else was out of place. She did everything to withstand the temptation of looking at his lips, “There. Sorry for making you cry and ruin your pretty makeup.” He hummed before pulling his hands away.

“It’s fine.” She giggled with a shake of her head and he smiled, “What did you tattoo on your grandpa?” She asked.

“A portrait of my grandmother from their wedding day.” He said and Y/N smiled.

“That’s so sweet.”

“Yeah, he was a romantic. He was so in love with her and always went above and beyond for her.” He recalled, “I don’t know, I just really looked up to him and he meant a lot to me, you know?” He asked and she nodded.

“You’ll see, they’ll turn up, Harry.” She spoke with certainty and he chuckled as he looked to the ground as he shook his head, “What?” She giggled.

“You always speak in absolutes. Like you’re just so sure of everything.” He pointed out.

“It’s manifestation 101!” She grinned and he chuckled.

“Hmmm, do you find that things usually go your way?” He asked and she shrugged.

“I’d say so? At least most of the time I feel like I get my way.” She pondered on it for another moment, “I’ll continue manifesting that they find your paintings.”

“Please and thank you.” He said lowly and a moment of silence passed between them, “And thank you for listening to me. I know that none of this stuff really concerns you but I feel better when I talk to you. So thanks for just being here, I guess.”

“Anytime, Harry. What else are friends for?” She asked with a smile and he smiled back. Just then her phone rang and she saw it was her aunt, “It’s my aunt!” She said and answered right away. She informed Y/N that Andrew was on his way to the shop to get Harry’s motorcycle and to just keep an eye on her phone because he’d call her when he arrived. She agreed and with that they made the short walk back to the shop. It was only 30 minutes later that Y/N was rushing over to Harry that Andrew was out back and they went over to meet him. 

Harry handed over the the motorcycle keys and Andrew mounted it not he tow truck and got Harry’s number and let him know that he wasn’t too sure if they had the exact tires for his bike, but he would check and let him know. He said he’d also ask any neighboring shops if they had any in their inventory if he didn’t have it, if not he’d have to order one. Harry nodded and in a moment that Y/N went off to grab Andrew a water from inside he nervously brought up to him his concern about the cost.

“So ummm, do you know about how much this’ll be? Things have been a bit slow for me as I’m new in town and I’m just a little strapped for cash.” He confessed in slight embarrassment, “Or we could do like a payment plan if you’re open to that, or-”

“Don’t worry about it, kid. It’s just a freaking tire.” Andrew said with a steadfast smile.

“A-are you sure?” Harry asked Andrew nodded.

“Yeah, man. We’re good.” Andrew confirmed with a nod and Harry thanked him profusely until he took off. 

He and Y/N did a few tattoos after that and it was around 6:30pm when Andrew called Harry and let him know that he didn’t have any tires that fit his bike in his shop, but that a buddy of his could get his delivery guy to send one over the next day and that he could have the bike ready for pickup by closing time the following day and Harry assured him that was fine and that if he ever wanted to get tattooed he was more than welcome to ask for him, that was the only thing he could really offer him and Andrew said very happily that he might actually take him up on that offer at some point and with that they were squared away. It was closing time and they were all tearing down for the day and before she got to cleaning Y/N came up to Harry.

“Hey, what did Andrew tell you?”

“It’ll be ready tomorrow by closing, he couldn’t get a tire today.” He explained.

“Oh OK, that’s good. Do you need a ride home? Save you a couple bucks on an uber or something.” She offered.

“Ummm, if it’s not a bother that’d be great.” He said and she nodded.

“You got it. Let me just finish cleaning up real quick.” She said and he started helping her sweep as she disinfected the chairs and stations. 

Slowly everyone else started filtering out, calling out their goodbyes. She and Harry only stayed over about 15 minutes after everyone else and they soon were heading out to her car. He settled in and once again, that scent of hers just overwhelmed him completely, it took him over in the best way. It was sweet and fruity and completely intoxicating. As soon as the car switched on her radio started blasting Bon Iver and she rushed to turn it down and he chuckled.

“Jeez, sorry.” She giggled, “I have car concerts so that I don’t get road rage.” She explained.

“It’s cool.” He assured, “That’s me, too.” He chuckled, “I like Bon Iver too, they’re good.” He smiled.

“Sick.” She responded as she waited for her engine to warm up a bit. He was subtly looking around the space and then spoke up.

“You know, this is the cleanest girl’s car I have ever been in.” He pointed out as he looked around.

“Oh really?” She smiled with pride.

“Yeah. Usually they’ve got a mess in the boot and like a whole wardrobe in the back seat and like there’s always like fifty half drunken water bottles for some reason but you can hear a giant Hydroflask clanking around somewhere, though?” He questioned and she laughed loudly, her eyes watering with happy tears. She definitely had friends with that issue, he laughed along with her, he loved her laugh, it was probably one of his favorite sounds. “I mean that can’t be good for the environment, can it?” He posed the question through a giggle and she nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, I don’t know the logic behind that but I do know some people with that issue.” She disclosed as her laughter dwindled into a breathy chuckle.

“Yeah, that’s my sister Or at least it was before she had kids.” He said and she grinned before she bit down her lip and looked over to him.

“Are you guys close?” She asked and he nodded.

“Yeah, pretty close.” He confirmed and then sighed.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you or-”

“Oh no, it’s OK. I just forget that I’m so far away from them sometimes.” He explained and then smiled up at her, “W-would you like to stay over for dinner? I can order something in? Obviously on me, as like a thank you for all your help today.” He offered and she smiled at him.

“Ummm, yeah. That’d be nice. I’d really like that.” She accepted and he looked out the window and exhaled, as if he had been nervous to ask her, and it made her smile, “Let me just text my aunt real quick and then you can tell me where to go.” She said and he nodded. 

After a few moments they were taking off and he was directing her towards his apartment. It was about a twenty minute drive to his place and about ten minutes of driving around the block and joking that the food would arrive before she found a parking spot on his street. Finally, someone left and she quickly fit her car into the spot and cheered excitedly at finally finding somewhere to park. It was around the corner to his building so he took advantage of the walk to call and order their dinner and soon they were going up to his floor in the elevator. 

His building wasn’t all that new looking, but it was still nice and it looked like it had been remodeled inside. Harry also explained that his apartment had been upgraded, so he had some of the newer features and an in-unit washer and dryer which he was extremely grateful for. He pulled out his keys and let them inside before he flicked on the lights at the entrance. She immediately looked around and saw that he still had some boxes up against a wall and packages. He had been here for months already and the place still didn’t really look lived in, it looked like he had arrived a week before and it made her a bit sad for him. It did smell really good and relaxing though and it was very clean, which she was not shocked at, but it was still nice to see that since most guys living on their own tended to be a little messy and gross in her experience. He slipped out of his shoes so she did the same and followed him further in.

“Do you want water or wine?” He asked as he switched on the kitchen lights.

“What are you having?”

“Just water for now.”

“OK, same.” She agreed and he went ahead and served her a glass. She saw that he had no dining table in the spot that was presumably the “dining area". He had a couch though, it was big and velvety, so it looked comfortable. He also had a TV and coffee table before the couch and a rug underneath the coffee table and bordering the couch legs.

“I know this place is a state.” He said lowly as he came up beside her and she smiled up at him.

“I mean, you’ve only been here like four months.” She teased and he grinned and shook his head.

“Hey, in all fairness I do own more furniture, just building it is a bitch.” He excused, “Like my dining table is in there.” He said pointing to one of the larger boxes against the wall. “I built two chairs and just gave up on the other two.” He explained, “It’s hard doing it alone.” He explained and she bit her lip and looked up at him.

“I can help you if you want?” She offered, “I’m quite good with the Ikea furniture.” She smiled.

“Nah, I can figure it out. You’re my guest tonight, not my builder.” He said.

“You sure? I’m certain we can have it done by the time the food comes.” She said and he looked at her skeptically.

“I don’t know, but lets try.” He said and she smiled and he soon brought over a blade to open the boxes and his tool box. She didn’t know she needed to see him carrying a toolbox until he was coming over with it from down the hall that presumably led to his bedroom. They opened up the box and she glanced at the instructions as he set out the parts in the right places.

“Cool! Now that we’re organized, the rest is common sense.” She assured and he chuckled as they started working. There were definitely mistakes and plenty of laughter as they figured this out, but when his intercom buzzed indicating that the food had arrived they were just about to screw in the last leg of the table, “See!” She exclaimed with an uppish grin and he chuckled, “Just hold it for a second so I can screw it in while you grab the food.” He nodded and after a few moments he was dashing out of his apartment to find the delivery person and she was fastening in the final screws for the table. 

When Harry came back the table was right side up and she was smiling to herself as she wiped it down with a rag she had found in the kitchen. It made his heart flutter in his chest and he just wanted to set the food down, go up to her and take her pretty face in his hands and give her a big smooch on the lips, but he refrained from it and just set the food down on the kitchen counter before heading into the cabinet.

“Now I have an excuse to use my plates and cutlery.” He said and she looked to him in some astonishment.

“Ummm, what’ve you been eating out of?” She asked in bewilderment.

“Just disposable plates or like the takeout containers if I’ve order in.” He responded nonchalantly, as if it were the most obvious thing.

Y/N wasn’t sure what about this made her heart hurt a bit more, but she felt so sad for him. She was a firm believer in the need to do nice things for yourself, especially when you’re feeling down. Break out of the routine and not opt for convenience every time, show yourself you’re worth the effort through the little things. And in his case, well she wasn’t an expert but she could see that Harry was a bit depressed. The evidence was all around her. He hadn’t bothered to make this place feel like home yet and it really showed in the way he was living. He was surely having a hard time adjusting to the move, he hadn’t settled in and it was super obvious to her that it wasn’t just because he “didn’t have help” as he’d said before. It was apparent to her that he actually wasn’t bothered to get help with any of this.

“Harry, can I ask you something?” She said as she came over to the kitchen where he was quite literally opening up the brand new box his dinnerware was packaged in.

“Ummm, sure.” He said looking at her with a quizzical smile.

“You can tell me to go fuck myself if I’m overstepping, but ummm, are you…regretful of moving out here?” She asked and he frowned a little at her question, “Like it’s just that you’ve been here for four months and it looks like you’ve just arrived a week ago…” she explained and he did feel a bit offended and was about to tell her to just leave it but then she continued, “and it just… makes me sad that maybe you feel like you can’t make this place your home. Like, I don’t know, like I’ve seen who you are as a person and then I see your space and it doesn’t align.” She said with a confused pout, “It’s like…void of all of the warmth and loveliness that you exude as a person. It’s like there’s no joy here, I guess, and it looks like you just haven’t adjusted well is what I’m trying to say.” She finished as she twisted her fingers nervously together and he sighed, “Sorry, if I umm-”

“No, you’re completely right.” He interrupted her with a frown etching into his expression, “I haven’t adjusted well. And I just don’t have the motivation to just…do it. Do all this. It feel overwhelming.” He shared and she nodded as she listened, “I’m not going to lie to you, it’s been…” he sighed, “It’s been really hard to make this feel like home and I don’t know if it will ever really feel like it.” He said morosely and she pouted. In all reality that’s why he liked being out of his apartment as much as possible; he went to pilates at 6:30 almost every morning and didn’t come back until after the shop closed, he didn’t like being here. It didn’t feel like a home, not in the slightest. There was no warmth, no comfort, no safety.

“Harry, I don’t like that.” Y/N said worriedly, “Is there something that would help? I mean, I just don’t like the idea of you feeling like you don’t have a place to call home. Where you can feel comfortable and safe and relaxed.” She said, “Happy even.” She added, her voice soft and sincere. He would eat her up with kisses if he could, she was too sweet.

“I don’t know, I just think I need to like set everything up, start making it my space, you know? Make memories here and all that. Like actually live here, not just come sleep here.” He said and she nodded.

“Yeah, that’s a great start. How about this? I help you out with setting everything else up and you can do a little housewarming dinner for your friends. Well those of us from the shop and maybe any neighbors or people you know out here?” She suggested.

“Yeah, s’just you guys…” he said with a timid smile.

“Well we’re excellent company. Think about it, you can use your dinnerware-” he laughed at that, “and you can get little gifts or gift cards from everyone so that you can buy more stuff to make this place more homey and we can play games!” She said with a smile and he bit his lip and nodded.

“Yeah, I think I’d like that.” He said softly and she smiled.

“Yeah?” She asked again and he just looked into her eyes.

“Yeah.” He confirmed, and I really, really like you too, is what he wanted to tag in at the end.

“OK! Again, I can help you with getting everything finished up and even organize it if you want!” She said with a big smile and God was she making it so hard for him not to kiss her.

“Yeah, you’re the pro here.” He chuckled.

“OK. I’m gonna shut up now and we can eat.” She said.

Harry smiled and continued opening the box of plates as she opened up the take out containers their Italian food had come in. Everything smelled delicious and he was quick to rinse and dry the plates before handing them over to her to serve the food on them. He opened up the cutlery and rinsed those as well before handing her forks for them to use.They went over to the table to have dinner and used some of the complex’s newsletters as placemats to not stain the table. He brought out the wine and they ate and talked comfortably. He was really glad he had asked her over, it already felt a little more like his home. He washed the plates as she dried them off after they ate and they finished building the last two chairs of his dining table set as a TV show played in the background. It was near midnight when they finished doing that and they had consumed half the bottle of wine too. She was slumped against the wall and let out a big yawn, which he imitated.

“Can I use your bathroom?” She asked and he nodded.

“It’s in the bedroom, which is straight down the hall.” He said pointing to it and she nodded and stood with a groan and she stretched really quick before she started padding over, “And don’t psychoanalyze my bedroom, I’m well aware that it’s really depressing!” He called out after her and she laughed loudly as she headed into the dark room.

“Where’s the light?” She called out and he chuckled as he stood up and went down the hall and into his bedroom, “Behind you.” He said as he came into the dark space, but he was familiar enough with it that he went over to the bedside and switched on the lamp he had up there.

“Thank you.” She said and he nodded.

“And the light in the ceiling lamp just went out yesterday, I have to go buy a new one. I promise I’m not wallowing in darkness.” He said and she grinned.

“Oh shut up…” she mumbled and he sniggered as he let her head into the bathroom as he walked out of the bedroom and started stacking up the boxes that they had opened up. She came back out a few moments later, “Want me to help you take these to the dumpster?” She asked.

“Nah, I got it. There’s a chute down the hall.” He assured and she nodded.

“Harry, I’m sorry if I made you feel bad with anything that I said before. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, I just…well, I…care about you and want you to feel good about your decision to come all this way and t-” she froze as he grabbed her face in his hands, they were just centimeters apart. Y/N felt her heart pounding in her chest, making breathing oxygen a chore and for her stomach to flip with a whirlwind of butterflies. She looked up into his eyes, glancing between them quietly.

“I know, love. Thank you for caring about me.” He spoke so quietly, as if there were others listening in but message was exclusively for her, “Especially after everything I’ve put you through-”

“Harry-”

“I know. I know that you’re over it. I just can’t get over how you do that.”

“Do what?”

“Just…” he sighed, “Make everything better.” He said softly and she bit her lip and he mirrored her actions. He wanted to kiss her and bite on her lip and just make her feel good, as good as she made him feel, but in the best ways he knew how. She watched his eyes trail down to her lips and she decided to let her hands hug around his waist, making sure that she didn’t push him closer in case she was reading this tension all wrong, but she also wanted him to know that she was OK with this. He pressed his forehead against hers. He was mentally counting down from 5 before he just did it and kissed her, but suddenly her phone started blaring loudly and they both jumped slightly in response to the loud sound and he let her go so that she could grab it from the floor, the screen said Aunt Julie, so it was important that she answer it.

“Hello?” She answered, “Yeah, still here. Oh OK, I’ll head over right away.” She said softly, “Love you, bye.” She said before hanging up.

“Is everything OK?” He asked her in concern.

“Yeah, she just got really sick to her stomach and it really takes it out of her after all her chemo.” She explained and he frowned, “We can talk about it another time.” She sighed and he nodded.

“OK. Well, let me know if you need anything?” She nodded in acceptance.

“You too. Ummm, do you want me to pick you up tomorrow? So that you can just take your bike home after?”

“If it’s not too much of a hassle.” He said and she smiled.

“It’s not, don’t worry. I’ll text you, OK?”

“Yeah and ummm, thank you for helping me with all of this.” He said a little bashfully and she smiled a bit wider now.

“Anytime, Harry.”

“OK.” He chuckled and with that he let her out and she assured him that she could get down to her car just fine but he insisted on walking her all the way there. He could tell that she felt a little bit worried, but he didn’t press her for details as she agreed they could talk about this another time and so he just hugged her goodbye and waited until she was down the street before he headed back to his building.

***********

Y/N had a long night, but thankfully her aunt was feeling better in the morning and she was able to pick Harry up as planned. He didn’t press her to talk about what happened after she left his place, which she was grateful for. He did talk about the proposed housewarming dinner though, which was a good distraction, he wondered if maybe doing it as a “friends-giving” type of thing would be convenient and she was really excited over the prospect of that.

Y/N had a busy day ahead of her, she would be tattooing two people in the morning and then another in the afternoon from her new designs. Harry had Ria and their sister coming back at around 11:30, so he wouldn’t be able to sit through her tattoos, but Auree was more than willing to make herself available to pop in and see how Y/N was trucking along. Everyone was really excited for her and kept giving her a dew encouragements as the time for her first client approached.

“Which ones are you gonna do today?” Harry asked as he came over to where she was creating the stencil for her first design of the day.

“Gonna do these poppies as a filler on some guy’s sleeve.” She said and he hummed, “Then the second is the leopard with the heart spots.”

“OK nice.”

“And the final one is the little finger gun one with the heart-shaped smoke at the end.” She said with a smile.

“That one’s cool.” He smiled and she grinned as she continued working.

“Yeah, really liked that one too.” She said.

“I like that tiger you did too.”

“Same! But no one has inquired about it.” She said looking to him almost in disbelief, “I thought that it would appeal more to the men, but maybe I was wrong.” She shrugged.

“They don’t know what’s good for them.” He said and she smiled. Harry really liked her design and he decided that he would claim it for himself. He moseyed his way to the front office where Rosa was checking the rest of the bookings for the day.

“Hey Harry, what’s up?” She asked without looking away from the screen.

“I wanted to get an appointment for a tattoo.” He said and she glanced up at him with a playful smile.

“Well sir, we are pretty booked up until the late afternoon.” She said jokingly with raised eyebrows and he chuckled.

“I’m serious.” He said and her amused smile dropped, “That tiger Y/N did is fucking sick and no one has claimed it so I’ll claim it before someone else does.” He said and she smiled again.

“Awww, supporting your mentee.” She cooed and he chuckled and nodded.

“Exactly.” He confirmed, “So what slots are available?”

“Well sir,” she said playing along again, “we have 5pm or 7pm available for Y/N. Tomorrow we have 11am, 2pm, or 5pm.”  She said and he hummed pensively.

“Hmmm, I think I’ll take the 7pm today.” He said and she grinned and nodded.

“Perfect, I’ll put you on the schedule.” She giggled and he grinned.

“Great. Thanks, Rosa.” He thanked her and walked back to the studio. He finished setting up for his appointment with Ria and then got to working on the stencil. 

Harry was excited for his appointment with Y/N though. All day, he thought about the placement he wanted for this tattoo, he roughly knew the size of it, but the more he thought about it the more he decided that he wanted to speak to her about it first and see what she had envisioned for it when she drew it. Around 2:30 in the afternoon Andrew called him that his motorcycle was ready and Y/N drove him over, it wasn’t too far from the shop and after he came back from that, the day escaped him. Now he was cleaning up his station after a walk-in, it was about his tattoo time. Rosa came to the back and smirked at Harry before she went up to Y/N to inform her she had one last tattoo for the day.

“Oh cool, is it a walk-in?” She asked.

“No, it’s an appointment for one of the new designs.” Rosa informed.

“Sick, which one?”

“The tiger.” She smiled.

“Oh my god, no way! I was so excited for that one!” She said to Rosa .

“Yeah, the client too.” She grinned.

“Oh OK, are they here already?” She asked with an eager smile and Harry smiled to himself as he disposed of the paper towels he had been using to clean his needles with in the garbage can.

“Yeah, he’s here.” Rosa said again with a grin as she saw Harry coming over quietly.

“What is this little grin about?” Y/N asked with a nervous giggle and just then Harry came up and rested his arm on her shoulder, “Harry, someone made an appointment for the tiger!” She said glancing up at him excitedly.

“Oh yeah?” He asked with a smirk and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Why are you both acting weird?” She asked them.

“Y/N, meet your client, Harry.” Rosa giggled and Y/N’s jaw dropped open.

“Stop playing.” She scoffed as she shoved him away playfully.

“I’m not!” He insisted with a chuckle.

“Harry. Stop.”

“I told you I really liked the design.” He said sincerely.

“What’s going on here?” Vy asked as she came up.

“Harry wants Y/N to tattoo him.” Rosa grinned and Vy smirked at Harry.

“Oh really?” Vy said and Harry rolled his lips together for a moment and Vy raised her eyebrows at him.

“Harry, no way! What if I fuck it up?” She sighed and he shook his head.

“You won’t.” He assured, “I mean, I’ve trained you, haven’t I?” He asked with a mildly cocky grin and she giggled, “And if you do happen to mess up, any one of us can figure something out.” He said and she sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Can we have a moment?” Y/N asked Rosa and Vy.

“G needs to hear about this.” Rosa said walking off and Vy giggled as she trailed after Rosa and Y/N looked up at Harry’s eyes.

“Harry, seriously?” She asked with a small and disbelieving frown and he nodded, “God, now I’m nervous.” She huffed with anxiety and he chuckled lowly.

“Why though? It’s just me.” He said simply. He wanted to reach out and caress her cheek with his thumb, it was tempting.

“Exactly! You’re you!” She giggled.

“And you’re you. And you’re fucking good and I want your art on my body.” He said pointedly and she felt her heart pounding erratically in her chest. Just the way he said it made butterflies swarm through her stomach and it made her want to just kiss his pretty pink lips. Suddenly Auree and G were returning with Vy and Rosa to catch up on this little spark of excitement to the day.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

“Of course!” He smiled confidently.

“Jesus, OK.” She exhaled with a timid smile and everyone cheered as she agreed to tattoo Harry, “Let me just go to the bathroom real quick and we can get started.” He nodded and she rushed off. She was nervous out of her mind and as soon as she exited the bathroom G was waiting for her with a grin.

“He so likes you!” He smirked and she rolled her eyes.

“Oh my god, no.”

“He does. And well, if you think of it, this is a little cathartic after everything he put you through you can give him a little pain as payback. It’s cute, really.” He said and she shoved him off playfully. 

“You’re so annoying.” She mumbled under her breath as she came back to her station where everyone was standing around chatting with Harry, “Now, I don’t want anyone hovering because I’m nervous enough as it is!” She announced with a nervous laugh and they all grumbled against it, “Please, guys! It’s too much pressure.” She whined in an exaggerated manner and they chuckled, but agreed to just give her space to do her thing. Harry was happy about that though because he just wanted it to be them. If his apartment was properly set up he would have asked her to do it at his place, but alas it wasn’t ready yet so this would have to do for now. Everyone went about their business, stealing glances of them, but not intruding as she had requested. “Do you know where you want it?” She asked him quietly as she spared him a glance.

“Where did you intend for it to go when you designed it?” He asked and she sighed.

“Harry…” she whined and he chuckled.

“What? I want to consider your artistic vision for it. If I hate that I’ll tell you where I was thinking of putting it.” He bargained.

“Fine.” She said, “Come see the size again.” She said and he followed her to the drawing tables and she showed him the tracing she had done of it. It was the biggest one she had done for her new designs. It went a little over a medium size but Auree was cool with it when she had reviewed them, “Is that size good?”

“Yeah. Now where did you envision it when you designed it?” He asked.

“I was really thinking that it would look really cute on an ass cheek.” She said in the most serious tone she could and they both looked at each other before they burst out laughing and he shook his head as she knocked her head back like she usually did when she laughed and clutched at her stomach as she caught her breath, “Ah, I’m funny.” She exhaled and he giggled.

“Yeah, fucking comical. Now seriously tell me.”

“I was thinking upper thigh.” She said and glanced up at him, “What do you think about that?” She asked him.

“Ummm, I was thinking upper thigh too actually.” He said more quietly.

“Sick, we’re in cahoots.” She smiled, “OK, so let me make the stencil, did you want me to shave your thigh for you - like full client experience? Or can you do it yourself?” She asked and he chuckled.

“I can do it. You just finish that up.” He said and she nodded. It took her about 20 minutes to get the stencil ready and she let him look it over once more before got his pants down and got comfy on the chair, she glanced up at him and he gave her a reassuring nod before she laid the stencil down and pressed it against his thigh. It was thick and muscular and she had a primal urge to just get down there and sink her teeth into it and leave a hickey on it; mark it as hers. In a way, she kind of was marking it at hers. Her art was gonna live on it for the rest of his life. She glanced up at him once again and swallowed thickly.

“Are you sure about this? It’s pretty permanent.” She said lowly.

“I’m absolutely sure.” He smiled with certainty and she smiled at him again before getting the machine and getting comfortable on the stool. 

His pants were rolled down to his ankles and he felt a tiny bit exposed but he didn’t care, the prettiest girl in the world was about to ink her mark into his skin and he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world right now. His spine tingled in excitement as she switched on the machine, he loved getting tattooed and he couldn’t wait for it to be her doing it to him. He watched her for just a moment and then she bit her lip nervously before glancing up into his eyes, his tummy fluttered in excitement and a heat started building inside of him at that innocent little gleam in her eyes.

“Ready?” She asked softly and he nodded almost robotically, “OK.” She whispered before licking over her lips and then focusing on the tiger stenciled into his skin and then she got to work.

She was quiet the first few minutes, really concentrating on getting the outline of it done and then she got to talking with him about his favorite tattoos and they had been at it for about half an hour before she finally asked him why he wanted the tattoo and he was honest, he just really liked it and she smiled at that.

“But I want you to promise me something.” He said and she hummed, urging him to go on, “You’re gonna shelf this design. I want it to be a one of a kind.” He said and she smiled as she continued working.

“I’ll think about it.” 

“Come on, years down the line when you’re a seasoned artist and they feature you on some TV show or Inked magazine this’ll be like a seminal piece that you did and you just never replicated it again because it was a special piece.” He said and she hummed.

“And what makes it so special?” She asked with a grin and he smiled.

“You’re doing it on me.” He offered an explanation and she grinned wider, “Not because I’m all that special,” he added in, “but because you’re so special that I wanted one of your first tattoos.” He explained and she smiled more tenderly at that, “But also because I don’t want people to copy it, I want something that’s uniquely yours, you know?” He asked and she fought her smile of giddiness as best as she could, but he noticed it and he was happy that he had made her feel giddy over that. 

They took a little break around the hour mark because her hand was getting a little sore, after all it was her first bigger piece and she worked more slowly than the rest of them. During that time everyone else came to check out the progress and with great reason praised her about it. The shop was dead, no one had come in during the time she started and now, so Auree just said they could close up early, there had been plenty of appointments and a good number of walk-ins to make up for an early closure. This made Harry even more excited because it really would just be them. G and Rosa lingered a little bit after they started up again and then left after about half an hour of chatting and looking on from afar. 

“So what got you into tattooing?” Harry asked and she smiled.

“My aunt Julie, she’s got like full sleeves.” She explained, “As a kid I just found it so cool.” Y/N explained, “I got into drawing and painting and she told me that she would want to get one of my drawings or paintings tattooed on her. She was always kind of the black sheep of the family, but we were always close.” She said and he hummed, “Wait. You’re not in pain?” She asked out of nowhere since she had started on the final finer details.

“I mean yeah, but I don’t mind it. I enjoy getting tattooed.” He said and she smiled and continued.

“OK, well we were always close and I was around 16 when she got diagnosed with breast cancer. It wasn’t good and she’s been fighting for a while. There was a point where we were prepared to say goodbye, I was 18 then. And her final wish was to have me design a final tattoo for her and I worked on it and ummm, out of nowhere her treatments started working and she got better and ummm I moved in with her for college and took care of her until she was all good to go, or at least as good as it gets. And maybe it was silly, but I made a promise to her that I would tattoo the piece I designed for her on her myself. That’s why when you told me about your grandpa I got a little emotional. She’s kind of been that supporter for me on this journey. Obviously, I finished college, but I was growing my portfolio that whole time and started my Etsy shop. And after graduation I started to search for the apprenticeship and ummm, two years later here I am and she’s been in remissions for almost a year now.” She said with a smile.

“That’s really fucking cool, Y/N. I think she should be your first official tattoo, fuck Ian.” He said and she pulled away to laugh and he chuckled as well.

“Yeah, I want her to be.” She said and he smiled.

  She kept working and it was nearing 9pm when he suggested ordering some food and taking another break to eat. She agreed and took advantage to notify Julie that she’d be late again before she was able to finish up. She maybe had about another half hour of work to finish. She was trying to work faster but Harry didn’t seem to mind, he encouraged her to go at a pace that made her feel comfortable. She ate quickly before resuming and Harry assured her she could pick it up as he finished up his own food. He was taking it like a champ, she could see how irritated and swollen the skin was where she was working, but he was doing well. Well, considering the amount of tattoos he had, she expected him to have some endurance.

“What was your most painful tattoo?” She asked.

“I think the laurels on my lower stomach.The butterfly on my stomach is a very close second. That one hurt just a wee bit less.” He said and she chanced a glance up at him.  “What?!” She gasped in shock and he grinned and lifted his t-shirt and she saw half of the laurels sticking out from under his underwear and well, apart from his extremely toned abdomen, she saw the large butterfly inked into them. “Jesus, Harry.” She giggled breathily and he grinned, “Did you cry?” She asked.

“A little bit yeah.” He confessed and she smiled, “Why are you smiling?” He asked and she pulled away again to laugh.

“I’m not laughing because you cried during your tattoos, I’m just laughing because you’re bonkers, my guy!” She exclaimed through a laugh and he chuckled, “How do your parents feel about your tattoos?”

“They don’t really care anymore. Like when I got my third one in the span of a month and then the butterfly shortly after they just checked if I was alright. Like psychologically because well, I was moving quite fast.” He chuckled and she smiled, “Obviously to them some of them are a bit questionable, but as long as I’m not fucking up my life they’re fine with my choices. How do your parents feel about yours?” He asked and looked down at the tattoo to see it basically complete and then he closed his eyes and winced.

“Starting to feel it, are you?” She asked and he nodded and grimaced and let out a low groan through a pained laugh.

“Yes!” He chuckled and she smiled, “I shouldn’t have looked!” He said and she giggled.

“We’re almost done. I swear.” She assured and he nodded, “But ummm, to answer your question, my parents are not too happy that I have a tattoo, specially with the size of it. I’ll show you sometime. But ummm…we can talk about it another time. Don’t want to dampen the good vibes.” She said and he nodded in understanding and it fell quiet for a few moments. Only the deep buzz of the tattoo gun and the soft music playing from her phone filled the space.

“God, it always hurts when you know it’s almost done.” He said through gritted his teeth and she giggled.

“That’s a fact. I’m just doing the whiskers, OK?”

“Yeah, OK.” He squeezed his eyes shut and after a few moments she was pulling away.

“All done.” She said and he peeked his eyes open to look down at it and immediately flashed his biggest and prettiest smile.

“Fuck, that’s really good.” He exhaled happily.

“Yeah?” She asked with a bashful smile and he nodded.

“Yeah.” He hummed. A bit of blood was dotting to the surface so she grabbed the little water and antibacterial soap mix and spurted it on his thigh and glanced up at him before wiping over it with the paper towel.

“Ready for it?” She asked and he scrunched up his face and nodded.

“Just do it.” He said and held his breath as she gently wiped at the fresh tattoo, but the texture of the paper towel was rough and still made him tense up, but he didn’t let out a peep.

“Wanna take a look in the big mirror?” She asked and he nodded.

“Can’t waddle over with my jeans like that.” He chuckled and she giggled and grabbed one of his legs to untie his shoe and then the next one. Once they were out of the way she pulled his jeans off the rest of the way and draped them over the seat as he hopped down and headed over to the big mirror to inspect the work. He looked really happy with it and was getting all up in there as she took apart the machine and removed the plastic and continued with wiping down each part.

“Are you happy with it?” She asked him as she continued wiping down the machine parts.

“Fuck yeah! Yes, I fucking love it!” He called back enthusiastically and she spared a glance back at him in just his t-shirt and undies. She tried to not linger too long on the strong structure of the backs of his thighs or his adorable and perky butt, but it was sure tempting to stop and stare. She continued wiping down and disinfecting the machine as he snapped a few pictures of his brand new tattoo and kept admiring it, calling back compliments to her on her work. She felt proud of what she had done, also this was the longest tattoo she had ever done and she was pleased that she had made it through it with minimal breaks. She heard Harry coming back over as she removed her gloves and tossed the paper towels she had used. 

“You really like it?” She asked as she turned around, leaning on the edge of the counter of the station, he was just a few feet before her.

“I love it. I really do!” He insisted, “Thank you.” He smiled at her and she smiled again.

“I’m just happy that you’re happy with it.” She said and he came closer to her.

“I really am, I promise you.” He assured as he put his hands on her shoulders and she bit her lip to suppress the gigantic smile threatening to split across her lips. And he smiled and brought his thumb up against her bottom lip, “Don’t hide that pretty smile from me.” He said softly, a small smile of his own played on his lips, “Should be really proud of yourself.” He reassured her and she glanced down out of nervousness and bashfulness.

Harry removed the other hand on her shoulder and placed it right under her jaw and angled her up to look at him. The timid smile melted away from her face as their eyes met. Her fingers tightened around the edge of the counter further in anxiety of what his next move might be. She watched his pupils grow larger as he watched her lips while licking over his own. She was struggling to breathe at this point, she felt light headed and tingly and completely out of control as he leaned in closer until the tips of their noses skimmed together and she let out an involuntary whimper which caused him to grin as their breaths intermingled in the minuscule space between them. She wanted to beg but she couldn’t even speak from how on edge she was. His eyes flickered up to her own for a moment before they fluttered shut and she followed suit as they inched closer together and everything felt absolutely right with the world as their lips met in a tentative and hasty kiss. They pulled back and looked at each other before giving in again and joining in a fiery and much- anticipated kiss.

Harry’s hands grabbed her face tenderly and her hands bunched up into his t-shirt as they moved in sync, the only sound between them was that of their ragged breaths, their lips smacking together in wet little sounds, and soft moans of pleasure at finally relieving the tension that had been building between them. His lips were warm and smooth and eager against her own. Y/N felt like she was floating on a cloud of him, him, him at the feeling of his lips and tongue against her own lips and tongue. He smelled so good and he was so warm, it was coming off him in waves. The entire experience was consuming her. He was a good kisser and all she could do was let him keep going for as long as he wanted. She felt like she was no longer grounded to reality. 

Eventually, his hands left her face but only to tighten up at her hips and help her onto the counter as she draped her arms around his shoulders and squeezed his narrow hips between her thighs to pull him closer as their kiss grew deeper and more desperate. Both of their bodies were buzzing and their brains were fuzzy with overwhelm as the pleasure of their kisses sent a wave of warmth rolling through their bodies. Harry was quickly growing hard and he had nothing over him to tone down the feeling of his arousal, so before he lost control and went too far he pulled back from her lips with a soft smack and bated breaths and she pecked his lips once more and he smiled against them.

“Got the smoothest and sweetest lips, love.” He whispered and she felt her entire body shudder at his words and at the feeling of his thumb tracing along her swollen, bottom lip. Without any warning she rolled out her tongue and licked along the pad of his thumb and glanced up into his pretty, green eyes and proceeded to suck it between her lips, her eyes fluttered shut at the slightly salty taste of his skin on her tongue and she moaned softly, she wanted more. Harry groaned lowly as he watched this unfold and his jaw tensed a bit at the sensation of the warm, wet texture of her tongue against any part of his body. He wanted more too. So much more. But not here. 

“Fuck, baby…please, need you t’stop that.” He swallowed thickly and her eyes blinked open as she gently popped off to see his eyes clouded heavy with lust and his lip bitten beneath his teeth. He wasn’t expecting her to listen right off the bat, it made him smile at her, “Such a good girl.” He whispered and she smiled and hugged around his broad shoulders to pull him closer so that her lips were up against his ear and his arms were still draped around her hips. She leaned a bit closer and her voice was as light as a tickle but it left him burning like a wild fire as her words processed and echoed in his brain.

“I’ll be your good girl.”  

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[sweetescapeartist]

All of what you said are very good points & I know exactly what you mean. It's so weird because Krillin scenarios are easy to write, yet majority of the fandom refuses to do so.

I too have commented on how Goku & Vegeta are obsessed with constantly training (but especially so for Vegeta) and that the series provides proof of such too. And like you said, Gohan always has his nose in the books. Yet oddly enough, the DB husband that is shown to spend the most time with his wife is the the character that the fandom hates the most & spread lies that his wife wants to leave him.

Who is that man?

Krillin A.K.A. "the man your DB waifu secretly wishes she had."

I believe the reason most of the fandom don't make harem scenarios for Krillin is because it's too realistic/possible & they are purposefully blinded by their own false interpretations of characters (& herd mentality from fear of going against lies). An example of false interpretation being how fans purposefully misinterpret Vegeta as an "alpha" in DBZ despite his actions.

What kind of "alpha" throws temper tantrums over the slightest thing, is constantly obsessed with what another man is doing, and even started a family only because he thought it was the secret to his rival's strength?

(The alpha & beta stuff is silly to me & I never cared for it. Most who claim to be alphas are in reality betas. Like Vegeta most of his life.)

When it comes to seeing more harem scenarios for Krillin...? Thb, even tho I'm a NSFW artist & a Krillin fan, I also don't necessarily need to see stuff like Krillin having a harem. (Bet nobody expected me to say that.) But, because of how illogical & hateful the DB fandom is towards Krillin, I feel like people need to make many more harem scenarios for Krillin.

Maybe it could cause a domino-effect if content creators (& myself) keep making positive stories about Krillin & 18 or stories where the neglected wives of Saiyans seek out Krillin, "the only one ever consistently around and on Earth" and has "a job with flexible hours" to tend to their womanly needs. 🤔

Let's check out what the DB series reveals to us about these characters you mentioned, and the evidence to show why having a harem is actually far more realistic for Krillin than any other DB character.

[A kinda long post]

FULL-BLOOD SAIYANS: GOKU & VEGETA

We'll skip over Z Vegeta & Goku. That's way too easy.

Vegeta was evil for a long while, he put Bulma's life in danger multiple times, then Bulma died because of Vegeta wanting a rematch with Goku. Goku was dead at times, so Chi-Chi was alone for 8 yrs in total.

Too easy.

In DBS, Vegeta's actions show that he still would rather train than spend time with Bulma. And we see that Bulma is clearly irritated by such constant neglect from Vegeta.

Once he's finally convinced to attend her party, Vegeta ignores Bulma & coldly tells her to mind her own business when all she wanted was for him to have a good time.

[For context, this is BEFORE King Kai warns Vegeta about Beerus. So, Vegeta isn't acting this way because Beerus has him anxious. There's no excuse for how he treated Bulma here.]

(In the English DUB, Vegeta makes a slight towards Yamcha for no reason. This implies he must have some sort of jealousy to bring up the ex-boyfriend who came to Bulma's birthday party while he, the husband, purposefully refused. Not a good look.)

After the encounter with Beerus, Vegeta's been leaving for days to train always coming back to Capsule Corp stinky & covered in dirt. Vegeta ingores Bulma when she brings up his lack of consideration for her & her valuables until he notices Whis.

When Bulma thought Vegeta was jealous because she was spending time with someone else while he's gone for days, it turns out that Bulma was wrong. VEGETA DOES NOT CARE. He says so himself! His only concern is to get stronger from training & fighting.

[Vegeta best be thankful that Yamcha is such a nice guy. Otherwise, instead of simply dining with Whis, Bulma & Yamcha would be "friends with benefits" while Vegeta is often away training. But, in a NSFW scenario...? 👀]

Now, when it comes to the other Saiyan, Goku will at times lie in order to go train.

One instance, Goku lied about making a lot of money from farming so that Chi-Chi would let him go train. In reality, Mr. Satan gave him money. Later, Goku tells Chi-Chi that he is preparing a party for their granddaughter when he's actually trying to sneak off to train with Whis. Yeesh...

Well... I suppose Goku is considerate in his own way. Goku at least tries to make Chi-Chi happy & apologizes before he leaves to train.

When Vegeta first began his training with Whis, he was gone for over 6 months before Goku found out. Then, Goku had to wait 1 to 2 more months before he could leave to train with Whis. 4 months later, Freeza comes to Earth while Vegeta & Goku are still training at Beerus' planet.

So in total...

• Goku was gone for almost half a year.

• Vegeta was gone for an entire year.

To be fair, Goku does spend some time with his family & does farming when he isn't training. He just trains a lot because he's a full-blood Saiyan raised as an Earthling martial artist.

On the otherhand, Vegeta doesn't have a job, so rather than spending time with Bulma, he is usually training (he's usually shown to be training while at Capsule Corp. & when he often leaves to train with Whis for long periods of time). If food or training isn't involved, it's rare that we see of Vegeta just spending time with his family. And that's not "slandering Vegeta" THAT is what the series shows us. (Believe it or not, some fans really call facts "slander.") But, Vegeta's still a better man in DBS than he was in DBZ.

The bottom line is that being married to a Saiyan is exhaustingly toilsome. This is why we see that Bulma & Chi-Chi are often upset with their husbands. Chi-Chi & Bulma want their Saiyan husbands to behave like Earthling men (like Krillin). However, since Goku was raised as an Earthling, Chi-Chi has it a bit easier than Bulma does.

When preparing for the tournament against Universe 6, Bulma gets irritated with how Saiyans are. Then this scene happens...

Granted, Bulma was giving mixed signals when she was being tongue-in-cheek, but this scene still reveals something to us. The one thing ALWAYS on Vegeta & Goku's minds is training/fighting.

Afterwards, Goku & Vegeta train in the Room of Spirit & Time for 3 days... that's THREE WHOLE YEARS of nonstop training for them.

If they can be without Bulma & Chi-Chi for so long, that reveals that Vegeta & Goku must recieve far more excitement from combat than they do from "sexy time" with their wives.

Honestly, that's just Saiyan genetics. That excitement & pleasure Saiyans feel from battle is called "frisson" A.K.A. "skin orgasms." THIS is why Saiyans love fighting so much.

But, you know what... that actually helps explain why the warrior race had such a low population. Most Saiyan males naturally prefer the pleasure they derive from deadly combat over coitus & family.

- Earthlings prefer sex over combat.

- Saiyan men are the extreme opposite.

SAIYAN-HYBRID: GOHAN

When it comes to Gohan, he spends more time with Videl than what most full-blood Saiyans normally do with their partner. That's thanks to his Earthling DNA. However, despite being a hybrid (or perhaps because of being a hybrid), Gohan still shares a flaw with Saiyans.

GOKU & VEGETA: They spend too much time training & fighting.

GOHAN: He spends too much time studying & working.

Studying and training aren't necessarily bad things, but when they become more important than family, that is where the problem lies. And Saiyans have a bad habit of placing combat or something else above the needs of their partner or family.

(This appears to be less so for female Saiyans due to motherly instincts, but that's a completely different subject.)

Now, you could argue that constantly training to get strong allows them to protect their family or that constantly studying allows for Gohan to provide for his family (despite Videl already being rich). The issue is that the Saiyans have unbalanced lifestyles.

Gohan goes from one extreme of excessive studying to intense training before he quickly gets back to studying because he hasn't yet figured out how to balance his family life with studying & training. Meanwhile, Krillin has things very balanced.

WIFE-SATISFIER: KRILLIN

Krillin balances family life, work, & later added regular training on top of it. Something difficult that good men strive to do.

And most importantly, Krillin keeps 18 satisfied materially, emotionally, & sexually.

*NSFW audio warning!*

And because Krillin keeps his wife thoroughly pleased in EVERY way, we are shown that 18 actively makes efforts to please him in return & in any way she can.

18 still fangirls over her own husband & says he's "He's so cool."

18 still blushes from just thinking about Krillin.

18 still puts hearts in cappuccinos she makes for Krillin.

18 wears an apron with a chestnut on it (Krillin's name pun).

Krillin & 18 started training together more often, forming an even closer bond.

18 is STILL smitten with Krillin after over 10 yrs of marriage! Krillin is definitely doing things right.

Heck, in DBS EP 117, Ribrianne originally had 18 beat. But, Krillin & 18's love for each other was so strong that 18 literally used the "power of love" to defeat Ribrianne!

KRILLIN HAREM SCENARIO:

Bulma, Chi-Chi, & Videl are all "unhappy" "unsatisfied" or "feel neglected" by their Saiyan husbands who constantly obsess over training/studying all the time. However, the women notice that 18 is always well pleased with her man. Krillin becomes a point of curiosity to the "single wives." [Curiosity killed the cat; Krillin ends up slaying the pu$$y! 😸]

BOOM! Instant Krillin Harem! Just as anon said, the stories easily write themselves.

KRILLIN: "Don't worry! Y'all can train & study to your heart's content! I'll take care of things here!"

[As for Hercule...]

Hercule doesn't have any real substance to him. He just uses stolen fame & his above average strength to impress women. Not to mention how cowardly he really is & the fact that his fame beyond being a martial arts champion came from taking credit for saving the world & he continued profiting off of lies.

In comparison, Krillin, the strongest Earthling, is leagues stronger than Mr. Satan. And unknown to majority of the world, Krillin's helped save the Earth multiple times over & continues to do so.

In terms of fame, Krillin is such a great cop that he's even popular among the citizens as a hero (A cop loved by the ppl?! Sounds like he's doing his job right) while others still remember him as highly skilled martial artist. His fame isn't as great as Hercule's, but Krillin's accomplishments & heroics are actually real unlike the con-man's.

While Hercule is often arrogant & uses his fame to lure in women, Krillin is caring and he actually knows how to please & keep a woman.

Just as the world believed Hercule's lies that he was Earth's hero when in reality its been others, DB fans believe & promote lies about Krillin when in reality, Krillin would be the one with the harem.

This was a long-winded response. Anyway, thank you for the question anon!

[handmadecp]

Crown Green Bowls bag build.

( Try saying that after a few drinks hahahahaha )

Hi Guys, real sorry for the long delay on this one, unfortunately real life hit us hard with the passing of our Mother which as I’m sure a lot of you can understand ..it takes it’s toll. However, we are getting back on track and I’m feeling the need to return to the leather. So, as promised, here is the bowls bag. Let’s get straight in.

Pic 1 : This project came about as a request from a family member to fix a Bowls carry bag, turned out it was beyond repair so as a surprise I re-made one completely using the old pieces as the pattern.

Pic 2 : These are the two end sections and one of the inner ‘dividers’ just cut from new veg tan leather 1.5mm thick.

Pic 3 : using dividers I marked a line around the edge and then marked for the new holes.

Pic 4 : finishing the marking out, the same proceedure applies for marking all the holes on all the new pieces.

Pic 5 : next step was to punch all holes on all pieces using a 1.5mm single punch.

Pic 6 : When all the new pieces were cut out marked and punched, it was time to dye them, I chose a walnut color and gave it 3 coats.

Pic 7 :  I cut out a new main body section, transfered all the holes marking with an awl then followed up with the 1.5mm single punch untill i had all the holes made.

Pic 8 : Now all the pieces are ready for the build.

Pic 9 :The main body needs to be thickened up, so, as per the original, I cut a section of card in the shape of the main body and glued it to a nice blue vinyl sheet as shown here, this will eventually become the inner lining. Once dried I trimmed it round the edges glued it to the main body section and continued all holes through these new pieces.

Pic 10 : , I wet the whole thing with a water spray and slowly folded / rolled it and ‘convinced’ it to take the shape I needed, next the end sections were stitched in place using a saddle stitch then I fastened a strap around it to maintain the shape whilst it dried over night. ( I haven’t shown the stitching of these end sections as there are many projects on my blog at ‘Shamencraftprojects showing the procedure, feel free to drop by there and have a look.)

pic 11 : Next day the strap was removed and the case was now dry and holding its shape well.

Pic 12 : view of the inner blue vinyl liner.

Pic 13 : I placed the Bowls in the case and slotted the dividers in between just to give it some time to stretch, for this I lightly sprayed the outside leather with water. ( As the inner vinyl is water proof ). Again..once dried completely the bowls had done their job and they now fitted in easily.

Pic 14 :I positioned the upper straps, marked lightly, ‘scratched / roughed the area they would sit and then glued them in place, here you see me using an awl to carry the holes through

Pic 15 : Here I’m saddle stitching the upper straps to permanently fix them into place.

Pic 16 : The straps fixed in place.

Pic 17 : Folding to see if everything is still lining up,...all ok.

Pic 18 : Now for thelower buckle straps.

Pic19 : Buckles attached ready to close the case and mark their positions, I use the same tecnique to fit these straps as with the uppers.

Pic 20 : Once glued into place Icarry the holes through with an Awl and here I’m Saddle stitching it. I chose Gold colored buckles as I personally think it looks good with the dye color.

Pic 21 : view of the inside during stitching of the lower straps.

Pic 22 : All done, permanently fixed.

Pic 23 : The buckles and straps fit well together and are looking good. N ow for the handle.

Pic 24 : I decided to make a handle from scratch. I folded a piece of leather then..using my own stitch, which is a basic saddle stitch, but after each saddle stitch you take the stitch over the top passing both needles across each other then move to the next and repeat. It holds the leather very well and you end up with a nice looking and very solid stitch, I folded extra end material over on itself to attach the connectors.

Pic 25 : side view.

Pic 26 : You can see here, I have punched stitch holes all around the edges and along the top, these are to hold the vinyl into place but are decorative too. I’ve glued the handle into position with decorative leather pieces to hold the D-rings.

Pic 26a : During the stitching along the top.

Pic 27 : Another angle.

Pic 27a : Here you can see the stitching around the edges and the handle in place. now for the inside.

Pic 28 : You can see here the two ‘dividers’ stitched into the case and with decorative stitching around the edges. these can either lie flat as seen here or can be pulled up and placed between thebowls to protect them.

Pic 29 : this initials tag will be fitted later but this shows where it will go.

Pic 30 : All that remains to be done is to coat the whole thing in Effax leather balm and then buff to a shine,

Pic 31 : and Pic 32 : All done, one new useable and..even if I say so myself, a good looking leather bowls case.

Pic 32 : Well, I finally got to it, sorry about that, I hope you can understand, it’s been a very hard few years, we lost both my parents, two aunties and 2 cousins all close together, but leathercraft is a fantastic hobby for distracting the mind and I am so glad to be back, thanks for waiting. I have a new project starting in the next day or so..I am making a set of saddle bags hopefully to fit on my new motorbike, I will be making a video of the build as I go along and once done and edited I will put it up on youtube under Shamancraft projects so it would be great if you guys could check out my other vids..only a few at the moment but every like and subscribe etc helps me to build on it and each vid gets longer and better as I gain experience. thanks for your support. See you on the next one..watch this space and as always..Stay Crafty.

[silma-words]

14. “Just please be my best friend right now, not the guy I just confessed my love to.” for adrian x mc?

N/A: Thank you for the prompt @detectivedumortain 😊 I don’t know if this is what you had in mind, but I hope you will like it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pairing: Adrian Raines x MC (Ellie)

Rating: PG-13

Warning: Alcohol consumption

Category: Random fluff

Summary: Bloodbound AU (after book 1 – the events of book 2 never happened) – While Ellie is gone out with her friends, Adrian receives a much unexpected message from her after she has had one too many drinks…

Inspired by prompt #14 from Prompt List #1: “Just please be my best friend right now, not the guy I just confessed my love to.”

Words: 2450

**Disclaimer: Characters and background plot are the property of Pixelberry.**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hangover

Adrian was lying lazily on his couch, nose buried deep in the folds of an old worn-out book, when a sound made him jump out of his concentration, drawing his attention to the phone lying face down on the coffee table. He hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting between the device and the page he very much wanted to keep exploring. When the ping was immediately followed by another four, he smiled fondly and dropped the book onto his lap, knowing with certainty who these texts would be from.

*You don’t know what you’re missing*

*Drop your boring book and join us*

*I promise you won’t regret it*

*They have that fancy whiskey you love, Macallan Sherry Oak*

*And play decent music that even you would approve of*

Her texts made him chuckle, secretly filling him with warmth knowing that she was thinking about him on her night out with Lily and a few of their friends. As much as Adrian wanted to spend all of his time with her if he could, he was convinced that they both needed some time for themselves once in a while. Especially when Ellie and Lily were planning to meet with some of their common friends, with whom it was always a little tricky to keep up appearances to make sure they did not find out about the vampire world.

Adrian was not a huge fan of texting, but he couldn’t leave her hanging. That, and he also did appreciate the chance to interact a little with her despite the distance.

*Macallan Sherry Oak, hum? Consider me impressed*

The fact that she remembered which whiskey his favourite was made him smile. She did not lie during her interview: she did have a great memory.

*Sounds tempting, but maybe another time? I feel that I’d enjoy this new bar way more with you alone*

Once he read over his text again, he worried for a second that it might have been a tad too blunt. He really needed to get a hand around these ‘emoji’ thingies, and start using those. It took a few minutes until the phone pinged again with her response.

*Is that a date then, Mr Raines?*

The winking smiley face ending her message eased his worries instantly. Another proof that emojis did actually have a purpose.

*Sure it is, Miss Reed*

His answer was met with a flurry of pictograms, making him smile brightly, before he drifted back to his reading, confident that Ellie would be soon too distracted by her friends to continue their exchange. And he was right. His phone remained awfully quiet for hours, letting him indulge in his ‘boring book’ (her words) and slowly doze off on the sofa.

When he eventually woke up from his unexpected nap, his attention was captured by the flickering light of his phone, indicating that he had missed a few notifications while he was out. A couple of work emails, a few newsflash from his financial news app, and... eleven text messages, and five missed calls. All from Ellie.

He raised up quickly to sit properly and open the messages, a ball forming in his throat at the idea that maybe something had happened. It wouldn’t be the first time. This woman had a talent for trouble. But his worries faded instantly upon browsing quickly over her texts, which were... nothing but a succession of random pictures of her evening, accompanied by random sentences full of typos. The series of text ended with a bunch of random fruit and veg emoji that Adrian was not quite sure how to interpret.

Adrian chortled at this. Well, the girls were having a good night by the looks of it!

Checking the timing of her missed calls, he saw that these had been only a few minutes apart, but that she had eventually left a couple of voice messages. He could not repress a laughter upon hearing her inebriated voice as he started listening to the first recording, nearly able to picture from her pitch the blissful smile that must have adorned her lips as she spoke.

*Hey, handsome! I guess you’re probably asleep or something but... huumm, I just wanted to hear your voice... because I... hum, well... I guess ‘cause I’m missing you like crazy right now and I wish you were here... although tis’ probably best you’re not, you’d probably be embarrassed of my sorry drunk ass right now but... aaarh, I guess I just wanted you to know that I miss you, even if I see you aaaalll the tiiiime and... aaarrg I probably shouldn’t say that... you’re goin’ to freak out and think I’m like some kind of overly needy panda bear clinging to your leg... oh god, why the hell am I sayin’ t...* /end of message/

Adrian’s smile was nearly reaching his ears by the time that first message was cut by the robotic voice, the corner of his eyes crinkled with amusement, but his eyes gleaming with warmth at the sound of Ellie’s declaration. The seconds he had to wait for the next voice message to play nearly seemed interminable.

*Hum, well... sorry about that... hum… right, hum… nevermind! Well, I should probably get going now and leave you to whatever your old ass is doin’ right now but… aaarh I guess I’ll see you soon at work on Monday anyway… or before if you want, or… but if you don’t that’s fine… aaarh ok, that’s me hanging up now, before I get even weirder… byyyye!! I love you!.......... ooohhh sh…* /end of message/

Well. That was a hell of a message. Adrian was beaming, the sound of her voice still ringing in his ears, the sweetness and awkwardness of her ramble warming his body all over. And his heart was slowly restarting after it had jumped and landed with a thud when he had heard her last words.

He had definitely not been expecting that. Neither did she, by the sound of the muttered curse that seemed to have followed. Neither of them had spoken these words before. Neither of them had dared rushing things by voicing their feelings out loud. Although to Adrian, those feelings were as clear as day. Silently expressed in the way he looked at her, touched her, cared for her. But he did not want to presume that Ellie was feeling the same, although he had been desperately hoping so. Hearing her saying it out loud was a relief, an unexpected gift that he was not still entirely sure he deserved.

But what to do now? Should he say it back? Run to find her to tell her he felt the same? She might not even remember saying it, judging by the state of intoxication she seemed to have been under when she called. She might even regret it, or might not have even meant it. The conflicting thoughts now rushing through his head instantly washed down the smile from his lips. Oh God, it was like being a teenager all over again!

He had to go and see her. At least to check if she had made it home ok.

His mood swinging from elation to anxiety as he was replaying her messages in his head, he made his way to Lily’s and Ellie’s apartment, eager to see her but nervous about what he should say. That journey seemed to last forever. So did waiting at the door for someone to let him in, his ears trained on the slow and familiar heartbeat he could hear through the solid wood. Luckily, Lily was quick to answer the door, although she was clearly surprised.

“Hey A!” she greeted him with a smile, before furrowing her brows in concern. “Oh no, what kind of messages did she send you? Did she freak you out?! That was a bit of a struggle at some point to get her hands away from her stupid phone..!”

“No, no, don’t worry Lily”, he reassured her. “I… I just wanted to check up on her as the night seemed to have been quite… wild?”.

Lily sniggered at his choice of words.  “Oh yeah, that was a good night!”, she beamed, gesturing for him to come in, before adding with a grin, “… although I don’t know what Ellie would say right now… I had kind of forgotten the lovely after-effects that overly sweet and cheap cocktails can have on a human organism… and so did she, I reckon.”

Lily giggled a little at this, shooting an adorable apologetic grin at Adrian as if to prevent him from even thinking about blaming her for Ellie’s massive hangover. If she had reached that stage yet.

“Well, may I go and see the damage for myself?” he asked with a grin.

“Be my guest! But I hope you have learnt how to block your nostrils over the years, coz in there... yuk!”

They both shared a laugh at this, as Adrian dropped his coat and jacket on a chair before heading towards Ellie's room, bracing himself as he knocked softly at the door “Ellie? May I come in?”

His call was met by the sounds of ruffling sheets and by an intelligible grumble that he interpreted as a ‘yes'. Slowly pushing the door open, his eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness of the room to find Ellie’s form, surprisingly not tucked in the sheets, but instead awkwardly sat on the floor by her bed. Her cheek was resting on the edge of the mattress, her arms sprawled around her head lazily as if to prevent herself from slipping off to the floor.

Adrian quietly crossed the room to kneel by her side, laying a comforting hand between her shoulder blades while reaching over her arm to brush away the sticky strands of hair from her face, revealing a pale figure staring ahead into nothingness, her mouth slightly open as she was taking in shallow breaths.

“Oh sweetheart…” he sighted softly, offering her a warming smile as her eyes finally seemed to have focused on him. Caressingly gently the burning skin of her temple, he offered: “Do you want to stay down here, or do you want me to move you to the bed?”

It took Ellie a while to answer, as if gathering her thoughts as well as her strength to voice them was beyond achievable for her. She finally nodded weakly, her lips finally moving to let her feeble voice out: “I tried but… couldn’t get back on the bed after I…”.

Nodding back at her to show her that she did not need to say any more, he pressed a quick peck on her forehead before gently moving around to collect her limp body in his arms and deposit her carefully onto the bed. Helping her out of her clothes was the next step, and Ellie did not complain whatsoever during the whole process, focused on keeping her eyes closed to try to ignore what this shuffling around was doing to her stomach. Once he was done, Adrian sat by her side on the edge of the bed, one hand holding hers onto his lap, the other on the side of her neck so he could brush his thumb over her cheek soothingly.  

“Sounded like you had a great night yesterday” Adrian teased, as Ellie looked at him with foggy eyes, attempting to raise a sceptical brow but failing miserably.

“Yes we had… but” she had to stop for a second, her stomach heaving dangerously, “not so much fun now”.

“Yes I can imagine”, he chuckled lightly, his eyes roaming over her features to check everything else was alright.

Lost in the peaceful silence that was filling in the room as she was gradually relaxing next to him, securely tucked in in the bedsheets, Adrian had nearly forgotten why he had initially rushed to her place. That was until he saw her eyes suddenly snap open and her brow furrow, as she broke the silence to ask: “Wait… what do you mean by ‘sounded like you had a great night’?”

Well, at least that answered his previous concern that she might not remember was she had said in her messages. He could just pretend that nothing out of the ordinary happened, and leave it at that, hoping that those words would grace her lips once more in the near future, under better circumstances. Hopefully. Except he did not want to pretend. Or could not.

“You don’t remember calling me last night?”, he asked softly, unable to hide the gleam of expectation in his eyes.

Her frown and confused gaze answered his question before her lips did. “No I….” she started, before suddenly widening her eyes in silent realisation, as glimpses of last night’s drunk endeavours resurfaced to hit her in the face. Eyes wide, she was starting to remember… bits after bits… and then all of it.

“Oh nooooo…”, she muttered, the blood somehow suddenly finding its way back to her cheeks despite the weakness of her body. If the flush of her skin and the thumping of her heart were not enough to ensure Adrian that she was now remembering everything she had said, the sheepish smile that adorned her face as she dropped her eyes to their joined hands was proof enough.

Squeezing her hand a little more tightly, he braced himself: “Ellie, I…”

But as he was about to speak, Ellie suddenly straightened up in the bed, covering her mouth with her hand and she heaved once more, her body violently reminding her that now was not the time for heart-to-heart conversations. No. Now was the time for her to pay the consequences for over indulging on G&Ts and margaritas a few hours before.

Clutching Adrian’s arm to keep herself up, she pleaded weakly, the corner of her mouth curled in a feeble smile that showed that she was admitting defeat: “Adrian, please… just… please, be my best friend right now, not the guy I just confessed my love to…. I’m gonna need you to carry me to the bathroom…”.

If Adrian was a little disappointed, he did not show it. Probably because he knew that now was clearly not the right time to discuss this. And probably because he could see the reassurance in her eyes that she was not going to take her words back. They would get to this part again eventually, there was no point in rushing things just because the alcohol had loosened her lips.

Smiling at her warmly, he simply nodded, pushing the bedsheets away to cradle her trembling body once more in his arms and carry her to the bathroom. She was right. Now was not the right time. He would tell her. Eventually. Just not right now.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag list: @adriansbiss, @itsjustwinter, @shanzay44, @purvishraick

If anyone wants to be added/removed from the tag list, let me know!

@choicesficwriterscreations​

[softlass27]

Flufftober Day 29 – thunderstorm dedicated to @robertssvgden​, because she loves the idea of robron + seb and eve as a family unit, and she deserves nice things x

AO3 link here

As they stood shivering in the schoolyard, Robert glanced above them.

“The heavens are gonna open any second now.”

Aaron tilted his head up to see dark clouds rapidly filling the sky, the wind picking up with every passing minute. They’d been getting weather warnings all day, broadcasters promising that tonight was guaranteed to bring a seriously wild storm their way.

Paddy was stuck on an overnight callout with some heavily-pregnant cows, and Aaron’s mum had called him about an hour ago to say that she didn't feel safe driving on the motorway in this weather, so she was stuck in… some hotel, she was pretty vague on the details. She’d told him she was away to meet with potential new suppliers, but between her terrible lying and the sound of an unexpected male voice in the background, Aaron suspected wherever his mother had gone had nothing to do with work.

Either way, Eve had no one to pick her up or look after her, so his mum had begged him to take her for the night – possibly the weekend. Like she needed to ask.

So now they were stood in their usual spot with the other parents at Hotten Primary, waiting to collect two kids instead of one.

Just as the first few droplets of rain began to hit their cheeks, Eve came out of the doors, her eyes quickly scanning the yard until she spotted them and ran over, schoolbag swinging in the air. When she was just a few feet away from them, a violent gust of wind blew behind her, pushing her tiny body along the last few steps until she crashed into Aaron’s legs with a small oof.

“Windy,” she said, blinking up at them.

“Yeah, squirt.” Aaron took the bag from her before it blew right out of her hand.

“Is Mummy not coming?”

“Her and your Dad are both stuck because of the storm. They can’t come back just yet so you’re gonna stay with us tonight, okay?”

“'Kay,” she nodded, pushing her increasingly wild hair out of her eyes.

“Just need to wait for Seb, then we can get home and out of this crazy weather.”

As the three of them stood waiting for the Year 3's to come out, another, even stronger, gust of wind nearly sent Eve flying to one side; Robert snagging her by the hood of her coat was the only thing that stopped her from tumbling to the ground.

“Right.” He grabbed her securely by the waist and picked her up. “Think I’d better hold onto you before you actually blow away, missy.”

“Wish Seb’d hurry up,” she mumbled, pulling her hood up and tucking her face into Robert’s neck, out of the stinging rain.

“Don’t we all?”

As much as Aaron adored his son, he was a notorious dawdler, always chatting to his teacher or messing around with his mates on his way outside. He’d take the rest of the afternoon to reach the school gates if he could.

Eventually, Seb made his way to the yard, surrounded by his usual gaggle of classmates. Any inclination he’d had to keep chatting to them was swiftly curbed by Aaron’s firm get over here now gesture. He jogged over sheepishly, cramming a beanie on top of his head.

“You get lost or summat?” Aaron rolled his eyes fondly, taking his PE kit from him.

“I went to check if my art project was dry and – ”

“Yep, lovely, you can tell us all about it on the way home,” Robert grumbled, wrapping his free hand around Seb’s shoulder and ushering him towards the car. “We need to get inside before this storm kicks off properly.”

They all clambered in and set off, Robert navigating the usual school run traffic with practiced ease.

“Dad?” Seb asked after a few minutes of driving.

“Hm?”

“Miss Brooks told us this is gonna be the biggest storm Yorkshire’s had in more than 20 years,” he said, wide-eyed. “The biggest since 2003. Was that one really massive?”

“It was, I remember it,” Robert nodded, flicking the windscreen wipers to faster setting. “New Year’s Eve. It put a massive hole in the pub roof n’all.”

“My pub?” Eve chimed in, eyes turning even bigger than Seb’s.

“Yep, it caved right in. I didn’t see it happen though; I was living on the farm, and I had to help my dad get all the animals inside so they’d be safe.”

“Woah.” Seb sounded so impressed, Robert didn’t have the heart to mention that someone had unfortunately died as a result of said hole in the roof.

“2003. That's so long ago,” Eve mused, fingertips following the paths of rainwater sliding down the window. “Years and years and – ”

“Yes, okay,” Robert said loudly. “I feel ancient now, thanks for that.”

Eve and Seb just laughed, like the demon spawn they both were.

“Do you remember the storm too, Dad?” Seb asked, a hand over his mouth failing to suppress the grin on his face.

“Nah, I wasn’t living in the village then,” Aaron smirked. “Was a bit before my time, I’m a lot younger than Old Man Sugden over here.”

“How old are you, Rob?”

“50,” Seb said with a snort.

“100!”

“150!"

“Kids, come on, he’s not a day over 72,” Aaron drawled, only to yelp when Robert briefly took a hand off the steering wheel to swipe at him, which only made the backseat passengers cackle even harder.

The laughter was suddenly cut short, however, when a wayward tree branch hit the bonnet with a loud bang, before bouncing off onto the road.

“Jesus!” Robert jerked the car in surprise, before quickly regaining control and continuing down the road in silence, hands gripping the wheel tightly.

Aaron glanced back to see both Seb and Eve’s smiles had been replaced with slightly nervous looks, Eve biting her bottom lip anxiously.

“It’s okay.” He quickly reached a hand back to pat her knee reassuringly. “It was just a tiny branch, practically a twig, nothing to worry about. We’ll be home soon.”

By the time they arrived in the village, the rain was lashing down, pelting the roof of the car so loudly they struggled to hear themselves talk. There was hardly anyone outside, and the few that were looked like they were quickly retreating indoors. They passed Leyla leaving her office with her head down, tottering unsteadily on her stiletto heels, and David and Jacob quickly pulling potted plants and buckets of umbrellas back into the safety of the shop.

As they pulled onto the drive, the ominous first sounds of thunder could be heard rumbling overhead.

“Okay, inside, go go go!”

The four of them scrambled out of the car and dashed towards the house, Robert fumbling with the keys to unlock the door.

“In your own time,” Aaron grouched, hunching over to shield the kids from the worst of it as best he could.

“Hang on, I can’t feel my bloody fingers.”

Eventually, he managed to get the key in the lock and they burst into the warmth of the house, already drenched in the brief minute it had taken to get inside.

“C-cold,” Seb shivered, peeling off his sodden hat and jacket and dropping them on the rug.

“So cold you forgot how to use a coat peg?” Robert said exasperatedly, picking it up. “Why don’t you two go upstairs and have a couple of nice, hot showers while I get tea started? Eve, you can use our mine and Aaron's bathroom, if you want? Aaron’ll help you turn the taps on.”

“Can I use your fancy shower gel?”

Robert sighed and ruffled her damp hair. “If you must.”

Eve grinned and began to follow Seb up the stairs, only to freeze at a flash of lightning.

“The storm won’t put a hole in this roof, will it?”

“You think Robert would let that happen?” Aaron smiled at her. “Nah, we built our place to be extra strong,” 

“Storm-proof, even,” Robert added from the kitchen.

“See? We’re safe as houses in here, I promise. Go on upstairs, I’ll be there in a minute, yeah?”

Seemingly satisfied, Eve nodded and carried on up the stairs. They heard the sound of her feet running along the landing, presumably to what was unofficially dubbed as “her room”, since she spent so much time in it, before the door gently clicked shut.

“What’s for tea?” Aaron sighed, padding over to the kitchen and hooking his chin over Robert’s shoulder.

Robert hummed and leaned back against his chest while he chopped some veg. “Shepherd’s pie, should warm the kids up.”

“So domestic, you,” Aaron grinned, pressing a kiss to the back of his neck. “I just hope the power doesn’t go out tonight.”

“Me too, otherwise we’ll have to keep them entertained the old-fashioned way.”

“What’s the old-fashioned way?”

“Er… how good are you at shadow puppets?”

A minute later, Seb came downstairs to find his dad frantically plugging every laptop and tablet into its charger.

[vegetacide]

TaG: Bloodlines (Part 9 Bit 1 )

Veg • notables: Due to the length of this part I am splitting it up into two bits.

Any errors in this are strictly my own

Ty to @gumnut-logic and @scribbles97 for the brainstorming help and the encouragement.

Also a special thanks for Nutty for letting me borrow Gordon's talking bird from her fic "The Dentist" (Part 11)

Previous:

Part 1 | Part 2 Bit 1 & Bit 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

Rating and General warning: Mature content head. If you are not a fan of medical issues of a female nature in relation to pregnancy please proceed with caution.

Characters: Virgil, Kayo, (V/K), Jeff, Scott 

Location: TaG-verse AU | Tracy Island

E N J O Y

8-8-8

Part 9 - Dipisahkan (Bit 1)

Week later...

“...and now for international news.  A suspected homicide and fire in an internet café in Istanbul has been downgraded to Death by Misadventure as autopsy reports conclude the presence of a high concentration of narcotics found in  the remains of the establishments proprietor, Berk Demir  The café has long since been suspected as being associated with several black-market smugglers groups and dark web anarchist but to date authorities have been unable to obtain the necessary proof to back the claims...”  

Kayo groaned and rolled her eyes as she flicked off the holo-fed.  She was not in the mood to listen to criminal reports and activities when there was nothing she could do to help.  

There were criminal elements the world over like that cafe, some of which she’d had an active hand in shouting down over the course of the last few years.  From human trafficking, to the sales of banned chemicals or other components that could cause a loose of life and had on some occasions.  

She’d helped where she could, always hopeful despite the odds that it would help bring to  justice the man that had caused so much pain to so many people.  

Whatever it took to protect those she called her family and humanity as a whole, she would do it.  The GDF had simply to ask and she was there. 

Being bound to the villa and watching what was going on in the world though was like dangling a carrot and the best course of action as she sat here and incubated another life was to avoid it at all costs.  

On top of that, the recommendation that she relocated to the mainland and even be further removed from everything was hard for her to swallow. 

After talking to Jeff and Scott that following morning after that little revelation by her OB-Gyn her life had been completely taken from her control.  Grandma had joined the conversation as well and had agreed wholeheartedly that thought the island was a good place for her to recuperate and rest for the time being,  the long term relocation was the best course of action.  

Grandma had been a respected and well known doctor before her retirement but obstetrics and neonatal care had not been her chosen discipline.  If there was a need for something more than just childbirth she didn’t feel adequately suited for the task.  

That with the addition to the island not being equipped with the necessary supplies and it didn’t take much to convince Virgil of their one and only recourse. 

So it looked like she was getting evicted and kicked even further afield from the action that made up her regular daily life. Relegated to a gestational oven, far away from home.  

Tossing the remote on the coffee table she flopped back and stared up at the ceiling.  Bored out of her gourd and feeling completely helpless for the first time in a long time. 

From across the room she heard a chuckle and tipped her head further back to look at her father in law.   

“Lucy had a hard time doing nothing too.  Especially when she was pregnant with Alan.”  He said,  exchanging his data pad for his cane and coming over to join her.  

“Please tell me, you found a way to stop her going insane with boredom.”  Kayo griped, righting herself with a grunt of effort. 

“She tried to take up knitting but with Gordon in the house…. It didn’t go over well.”  Jeff assumed a casual stance though he was favouring his right leg a bit.   After all his time in space, his recovery was slow and his joints were not enjoying gravity in the slightest.

Kayo made a face as she pictured the mess that must have been. “Well,  there is no way I am taking up knitting now,  Gordon is worse now than when he was a kid.” 

Jeff laughed with ease at that,  nodding his head in agreement with her statement.  

“Yes,  it’s best to keep him away from pointy sticks and yarn.  He too easily falls into temptation. “

They fell into a companionable silence. Just enjoying each other's company like they used to do when she was little and she was too annoyed or upset to hang out with the rambunctious brothers. 

It was weird how easily they fell back into the old routine,  Jeff  taking care of Tracy Industries and her doing any number of other quiet activities.

Oftentimes when she came to sit with him,  it was just so she could feel closer to her own father. Wherever he was.  She knew Jeff was aware of it but he always made time for her when she needed the comfort and he never made mention of it either.  Knowing she was trying to put on a brave front in front of the rest of the family.   

“It’s a beautiful day out.”  He remarked,  he’s face turned towards the large open balcony doors, the light breeze tousling his grey hair.  “Would you care to go for a stroll, I could use the company.”  

Kayo grinned and gave a nod.  Getting to her feet on her own steam for a change was a nice boost to her confidence.   Jeff stood close by to help but he didn’t ask or pester her like his sons were want to do and she was grateful for it. 

She loved all her extended family very much but they tended to treat her like she was glass and would break at any minute even her husband.  God, she loved him but his over protectiveness was starting to drive her batty.   

Being the well brought up man that he was, Jeff offered her his elbow as they made their way out the balcony doors and towards the veranda stairs. 

She tucked her hand in the crock of his arm, enjoying the warmth he offered her.  Circling the pool they came to the top of the trail head that led in a gentle descent down the cliff side to the tide pools that sat below the mammoth villa.  

It really was a beautiful day out and Kayo let her thoughts drift as the smells and sounds of their island home surrounded her.  

Tropical birds danced and chirped amongst the tall palms and ferny underbrush and she caught  a flash of iridescent black and a streak of white as something dove across their path.   Stopping to see where it went off to, her and Jeff blinked as whatever it was squawked and chirped and burped at them before something that sounded vaguely like ‘Virgil’  hailed down from further up the path.*

“Did that bird…?”  Kayo asked, slightly confused.  

Jeff just sighed and shook his head.  “I thought Gordon was joking when he said he taught a honeyeater to talk.”

“A what now?”  She was more baffled than ever.  

Jeff just patted her hand and they continued on their way.    

They meandered on at a sedate pace for a few minutes,  taking their time to traverse the well used path in no rush to reach any particular destination. 

Coming around a bend they reached a small lookout where a large outcropping of rock had been worn smooth by the elements making for a perfect place to park one’s backside. 

Jeff grunted as he settled onto the warm, volcanic rock and patted the space beside him in invitation.  

“I’ve always wondered..”  Kayo started,  kicking off her sandals and sighing contentedly as the sun-kissed warmth of the basalt soothed her feet. 

“Wondered what?”  Jeff encouraged,  tipping his cane back and forth between his hands.

“How did you manage it?” The look he sent her and the cant of his head pushed her to elaborate further. “Being away from home so often?” 

“Ah,”  He remarked as he caught on to her meaning. “While Lucille was pregnant and the boys were little.”

His brows dipped down as he thought of how best to respond, his jaw working back and forth as if he was chewing on the answer.  “Funny you should ask actually.”

Her brow arched up as she regarded him,  watching the quirk of his lip as he glanced her way.  “How so?”

“Virgil asked something similar.”  He didn’t elaborate more on that.  Just went back to chewing on an answer for her previous inquiry.  “Well,  I can tell you one thing.  It wasn’t easy.  There were a lot of late night comms calls that made me glad that NASA didn’t charge long distance fees.  And prior to the lunar communications relay being built,  a lot of long, mopey emails that Lucy loved to tease me about to no end.”  

“Virgil’s been barely gone a day and he’s already checked in with me three times…” Her voice trailed off and she pointed  to the heavens.  “You kept going back out there. I just….how? 

She really wanted to know the answer cause she had been asking the same thing to herself all week and she hadn’t been able to come up with an answer. 

“A job needed to be done and I had the skill set for it.  The world didn’t get put on hold just cause we decided to have a kid...and another... and another..” He chuckled to himself. “ And so forth.”

“I just told myself whenever I left,  get it done.  Get it done right,  precisely and correctly and get home.  Keep on tasks and I’ll be home before I know it.  For the most part that worked,  kept me focused.   When it didn’t  there was plenty a night where Lucy was there..”  

He sighed and rubbed at his chest.  An old ache that would never go away and she felt a pang of guilt for bringing it up.  

“You two will figure it out though.”  He added taking a cleansing breath, the sadness that hung in his gaze dulling as he shifted his train of thought away from his dearly departed. 

“It won't be easy,  they will be a few bumps but you’ll manage. Besides on the days when things don’t work,  the little nuget will have four uncles and great grandmother and an ecstatic Grandpa waiting the wings to lend a hand.”

Kayo looked down at her slowly distending tummy, her doubt churning with all the things they could mess up and would mess up.. But Jeff was right.  They weren’t alone. They had a large support system that was just as excited as they were for their little stowaway and they would figure it out.  

A bleep from Jeff’s wrist comms sounded and he glanced down to read the holographic message that had been sent to him. His brows dipped and he took a moment to send back a brief reply before giving her knee a pat.  

“Boys are on their way back. Should be here soon.”   

“Everything okay?”

He nodded as he held out the crook of his arm to her again. “Few bumps and bruises.  Alan sprained his ankle but Virgil saved him from a nastier spill.” 

Before she could ask about her husband,  Jeff raised a hand.  “Virgil is alright too but I am sure Grandma will have them both scanned within a inch of their lives the moment they get home.”  

Placated for the time being, she took the offered limb and they made their way back up the cliff side path. 

When Two finally landed some thirty minutes later, Kayo was chomping at the bit.   True to Jeff’s word though Grandma had both Virgil and Alan in her clutches within moments of them disembarking the massive cargo hauler.  

Alan limping along, Virgil and Gordon each under an arm.   The stretcher had been an option but the youngest Tracy had kicked up a fuss that it wasn’t really that bad.

Grandma had taken one look at the dirty lot of them and all thoughts of complaint had fled in the face of all that Doctor Grandma-feel my wraith energy.  

It was another twenty minutes before Kayo even had a chance to check in with her husband and when she finally managed to get a moment along with him he gathered her up in a hug and it didn’t appear as if he wanted to let go.

He was freshly showered and changed. Hair and skin still a slightly damp and smelling of soap.  

Running her hands up and down his back, her head tucked into the crook of his neck she gave him a gentle squeeze which he reciprocated.  

“Hey,  tough day at the office?”  She said into his ear. 

“Something like that.” 

Taking his hand Kayo tugged him toward the elevator. “Come on,  let’s get you fed and watered before you get called away again.

“That’s supposed to be my job.”  The grin that up turned his lips chased some of the shadows away from his eyes

“Well then,  hurry up and I may let you mother-hen me.  Though I will warn you, I can’t be held responsible if I start throwing things at you.”

“Oh, there’s a challenge if ever I heard one.”  He chuckled, tucking her in under his arm as they passed through the heavy doors into the cab.   

“So,”  She started,  hitting the button for the upper level. “How’d it go?” 

Virgil shrugged with one shoulder.  “Couple amateur rafters got into trouble on a class five that they had no business being anywhere near. Alan lost his footing as we were pulling them to shore.  He’ll be alright in a few weeks,  the rafters on the other hand are going to be getting some hefty fines for trespassing on a private reserve.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to the kitchen.  “Sucks to be them.”  

The awesome scent of roast chicken had Virgil distractedly grunting in agreement and Kayo grinned.  The thought of food had obviously caused his brain to short out and speech had taken a back seat to hunger. 

Coming up to the counter, she peaked around Virgil’s shoulder to admire the spread of food.  Cecilia had been busy.  

The Haitian woman was a genius in the kitchen and the boys had been spoiled rotten lately with her cooking.  

Carb loading had turned into the number one pastime for the brothers and they endeavoured to consume  as much as possible before her departure for the mainland with Kayo.  There had been talk around the table about hiring her on full-time once the baby was born but it usually took second place to food shoveling and breathing. 

‘Cecilia, that smells fantastic.”

“Virgil Tracy, you keep your fingers out of that roast.  It’s not done yet.” The tall woman swatted at his hands with her baster and stole the carrot back that he had managed to pilfer.  “Don’t blame me if you get salmonella poisoning.  There is no way I am going to be held at fault for tossed cookies on the next call out. You hear me?”  

“Yes, ma’am.”  Chastised he took a seat and watched with longing in his eyes as the food guru went back to work 

Kay just rolled her eyes and plunked down onto the stool beside him, tossing a leg over his thigh as she got comfortable. 

He glanced down at it and grinned,  putting hand on her knee and giving it a little squeeze. 

“Comfortable?” 

“Yup.” 

Getting a little distracted Kayo jumped a bit when a cup of tea was placed in front of her. The scent of ginger tickled her sinuses and she looked up to see Cecilia standing across from her with her arms on her hips and a tea towel tossed over her shoulder. 

“Drink up. You need to keep hydrated.”  She instructed, pointing at the cup. “And no hanky panky in my kitchen.” 

Virgil’s hand dropped from where it had slid up her thigh and he did his best to look innocent. 

“Don’t you play coy with me.”  The tall woman scolded, placing a cup of coffee in front of him.  “It’s what got the two of you into all this baby hubbub in the first place and I don’t want it in my kitchen.”

Reprimanded they checked themselves and they both directed their attention at their respective drinks. 

Foot falls down the stairs had Kayo turning to see Scott.   He flashed a smile as he approached, data pad in hand.  

“Hey,  thought I would find you here.” He said,  walking behind the counter to snag a fresh cup of coffee. 

“Food was a necessity.”  Virgil smirked, taking a sip from his own cup. 

“John’s finished making those upgrades to the security system at the house in Parnell and the rota’ has been adjusted for the next few days until you get everything settled.” Scott held the data pad out to Kayo so she could see.

She blinked surprised she was being included in this even though she was the security specialist in the family. Taking the pad she flicked through the information that it provided.  Updated security measures, upgrade gear and protocols.  All things she had improved upon recently when Jeff had come home with little tweaks here and there by John for surveillance and anti-surveillance measures.

She was impressed and it must have shown on her face.  

“You trained Hubbert well.” Scott remarked, a telling comment on his approval of their  T.I security crew.  “He has assigned Baxster and Jenkins to watch over things at the house and escort you to and from your appointments and such.”  

“They’ll do.   They both had advanced hand to hand tactics training and a working knowledge of counter intelligence measure that could come in handy if…”  She paused and corrected herself. “When the media gets wind.”  

“GDF has agreed to lend us a couple of bodies as well so we aren’t stretched too thin. They’ll be made available when needed.” 

Looking into his coffee cup Virgil questioned, “You sure this is going to be okay?” Kayo knew he hated to be a burden on his brothers, preferring to be the one to provide support and not the one that needed it.  

Scott gave his shoulder a pat.  “Don’t worry, we got it. Even with Alan down we can cover things for a few days until you get back.   Aunt Val is aware we are limited for a few days and is making preparations on her side if the need arises.”

Virgil didn’t look all that convinced but there wasn’t much he could do.  His hands were tied as much as hers were.  

“I still don’t like this.”  

“I know, Bro.” Scott gave him a nudge and his large frame rocked slightly with it.  “Pulling you from rotation completely is still an option if you want to take it.”  

He shook his head.  “No, that won’t work. Our effectiveness will go up in smoke and I don’t want that on my conscience anymore than you do.”  

“But it’s my burden to take on as field commander, V.  Not yours.” 

This was just going around in circles and it wasn’t really getting them anywhere.   Kayo nudged her husband from the other side.

“Come on,  take me for a walk up to the lookout.  I want to watch the sunset before dinner and it looks like we have the time.”  

Cecilia who had been busily chopping greens for a salad nodded her head in confirmation when Kayo looked to her to verify. 

“Besides,  I could use a light exercise. I feel like I am starting to resemble a blimp. 

Virgil choked on his coffee and turned to her.  “A blimp? Hardly.”  

Giving Scott a wink,  she took a sip of her tea content for the time being that the heavy talk had been effectively brushed aside.  This was one that she knew they would come to  rehash again later though she knew there really was no use in it. 

They had to do what they had to do. Moving to the mainland though a pain was their only option and Virgil needed to keep doing what he was doing.  As Jeff has said,  the world didn’t stop just because they were with child. 

8-8-8

End of Part One

NEXT

[gameofdrarry]

Wizards Hearts: Golden Scales

Wizards Hearts Game/Fest ran for a full four months, and is now officially over, though we are ever appreciative towards our readers for spreading love to Drarry fics old and new, short and long. 900 comments were left as a result of the game.

Players were sorted and assigned at random to four different teams. All team activities and discussions were completely optional but could yield extra points to help win the game! There were weekly team activities and longer, creative team activities where players could imagine new, fun headcanons in the Harry Potter universe and perhaps a few stories of their own!

Throughout the game, creatures were directed to create their own magical casinos, including locations, menu, games played in the bounds, and other fun activities!

This is the information gathered by our Team 2, self-designated as the casino ‘Golden Scales’.

Activity 1

Golden Scales is located in an old dragon’s den inside the top of a mountain in the Dragon’s Hoard mountain range. Complete with original dragon den furnishings, Golden Scales is accessible via both a golden elevator and three monitored apparition points.

Golden Scales is famous for many of its landmarks and attractions. Most notably, the casino, bar, and restaurant floors are home to well over a thousand miniature dragons who are overjoyed to interact with and cuddle with Golden Scales’ patrons. Four of our miniature dragons were loaned to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1994 and used in the Triwizard Tournament that featured Harry Potter. At the bar, make sure to order a Queen of the Night, our signature cocktail that makes the drinker breathe fire. On your way into the casino, do make sure to stop by the dragon statue in the front lobby. Rubbing the golden ace card held by the dragon has been rumoured to bring patrons of Golden Scales good luck for over three millennia.

Activity 2

Re: Mundungus Fletcher

Re: Game Rules

Bluffing the Dragon :

Everyone is dealt a hand of ten cards

Each person takes a turn guessing what’s in someone else’s hand (for example, “I think person A has more red cards than black cards” or “I think person B has no diamonds” or “I think person C has at least two 4s”)

If people make a guess about your hand, it’s your job to bluff/distract/convince everyone else that the guess is nothing close to accurate

After 3 rounds of everyone guessing, everyone has to place a bet (for example, “I think person A has one of every face card” or “I think person B had only two spades” or “I think person C has no cards lower than a 5”)

Whoever is most accurate wins!

Activity 3

The Dragon Scales Casino is organising a Masquerade and Bonfire night to welcome the season. This event will take place on All Hallows’ Eve, so bring your best mask and your whimsy and prepare for a magical evening. Enjoy the warmth of a bonfire lit by our dragons followed by a spectacular light show performed by them. The decor for this event has carved pumpkins with little dragons sitting inside them and a lot of warm, autumn colors. For your entertainment, we have a treasure hunt for the dragon’s hoard. Each vendor has a different clue, and you must piece them all together to find the hidden prize. We also have a spellcaster who specializes in fire spells, so come one, come all to learn a new fire spell. You can learn spells that change the color of the fire or create fantastical shapes, among many others!

At the bonfire, you can order some of our special foods and beverages. Dragon fries - Spicy fries that make you breathe fire (not literally though) Fire logs - Spicy meats and veg or something on the grill like a korean bbq… Boozy S'mores - A blended concoction of chocolate ice-cream, marshmallows, generous splashes of Ogdens finest and other goodies… For that sweet, warm high. Flaming Dragon’s Blood Cocktail - A mint and dragonfruit daiquiri cocktail with a thin layer of dragonberry rum on top lit by our miniature dragons for that flaming effect! Dragon Bite - A shot of our secret Fireball Tequila with salt and lemon. Dragon’s hoard - chocolate pudding topped with chocolate rocks and some dragon (Cadbury) eggs in a dragon scale textured cup And of course Queen of the night, our signature drink that makes you breathe fire, is always available.

Activity 4

Written by Golden Scales, about Arc en Ciel

Article:

AUROR MISSION GONE WRONG: ARC EN CIEL TO BLAME?

Arc en Ciel Crêperie & Wizarding Casino had prepared for their traditional All Hallow’s Eve celebration. They’d whipped up a few batches of their famous crêpes—some of which made you shoot sparks out of your mouth or made you float off the ground; they’d hired their favoured vampire band; and they had their famous ghosts at the ready. The only thing that they’d not been prepared for was a sting operation conducted by the infamous duo: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.

Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy had been working a case that had taken them all around the seedy underbelly of Paris. They’d been called in from London because the ring leader was one of the top criminals that the DMLE was interested in catching. Their search had led them to a certain vampire, who also happened to be the drummer in the infamous band that Arc en Ciel hired each year for their All Hallow’s Eve celebrations. So, Potter and Malfoy thought they’d dress up as casino guests and finally catch the bastard.

They were playing Farkle, which was Arc en Ciel’s famous game and eating some of their famous Dragon crêpes, when one of the hired ghosts passed through Potter, causing him to slightly choke on his Dragon crepe and what was supposed to be harmless fire shot out of his mouth. The harmless fire turned out not to be so harmless (due to potential crepe ingredients and ghost interaction) and the table started smoking. The other players started to scream, shouting “Fire! Fire!” and the host tried to calm everyone down by grabbing the tablecloth and shaking it vigorously. Unfortunately, this only served to fan the flames, making the fire larger. Potter tried to put out the flames while Malfoy went to chase after the vampire drummer, who had noticed all the commotion and attempted to slip out. Malfoy was not able to catch them, though, because all the guests were stampeding out the single entrance to Arc en Ciel (which has to be a fire hazard).

Now, Potter and Malfoy have to go back to the drawing board, and no one is happy. Readers, you tell us, is Arc en Ciel to blame?!

Memo:

Golden Scales INTERNAL MEMORANDUM Date: 1 November From: Casino Manager To: All employees

Subject: Arc en Ciel All Hallow’s Eve Incident

This is to alert all in-house employees of the incident that occurred last night (see attached Daily Prophet article). While we are fortunate in that our all Hallow’s Eve event was a success, in the wise words of Auror Alastor Moody, “Constant Vigilance!” We have not yet had any issues with our signature beverage, Queen of the Night, but further directions will be sent out to maintenance and security regarding further fire-proofing and charm-proofing measures and a need to revise our emergency escape plans. There is also discussion of anchoring additional safety measures in the lobby dragon. The promotions department already has plans to embark upon an advertising campaign that will highlight the fire-proof nature of our casino, as well as the fact that all our staff is screened for security and also trained in emergency and safety measures. At our upcoming all-staff meeting, each staff person should arrive prepared to make suggestions that might further optimize our position in the cut-throat casino and hospitality industry. Additionally, there has been some discussion about imposing a screening requirement for all customers. Though this information would be confidential, there is also concern that this might discourage some of our more discerning clientele. Thank you for your continued commitment to this establishment. Ellery Badcock

Written by Arc en Ciel, about Golden Scales

Article:

PLAYING WITH FIRE

Known for housing well over a thousand dragons with whom patrons can get up close and personal, Golden Scales Casino seems to have housed something else quite personal last Saturday night. Spotted in a heated argument by the bar, ex-rivals Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy appear to have slipped into their schoolyard animosity once more. Eyewitnesses described the scene as fiery, and not just because they were flanked by four dragons!

While the specific details of their disagreement are not concrete, sources say that it began when some of the fire from the light show veered a bit too close to their table, causing some jostling and giving way to hurled insults. Patrons could not tell who was yelling to start—it was a masquerade event, after all!—until Mr Potter ripped Mr Malfoy’s mask from his face to point his wand at it. No spells were thrown until both had been escorted closer to the exits, at which point one of them let off an impulsive hex in retaliation to another patron who had consumed the Queen of the Night cocktail, Golden Scale’s signature beverage which allows the drinker to breathe fire for a short while. This in turn caused great disturbance near the entrance, throwing off some of the other casino-goers who were involved in the Halloween Treasure Hunt. While an obvious misunderstanding, it is evident that fire is a sore subject for the pair and both resumed their aggressions towards each other, eventually being asked to quieten down or leave the premises.

It appears that while the pair arrived together they made separate exits, both shortly after one another: Malfoy at an apparition point and Potter via the golden elevator. What this means for the pair is yet to be determined, but speculators now wonder if this was simply a night out amongst friends or something that holds a deeper meaning.

A source from within the casino says that both men are return visitors, frequenting the old dragon’s den atop the Dragon’s Hoard Mountain Range multiple times per year; from the visceral reactions to dragon breath, this reporter doubts there is much truth to these claims. Will we see them there again soon? And more importantly, will they be together? Only time will tell…

Activity 5

It was All Hallows Eve, a day that Harry tried to forget. Harry usually spent this day locked up in his room at Grimmauld Place. Ron and Hermione would visit him to make sure he ate and give him company. This year, the duo was busy with their newborn child, Rose, and hence, Harry was going to spend the day alone.

Draco and Harry had struck up a new friendship after Ginny and Pansy’s wedding. Draco knew from the girls that this day was always hard on Harry, and so he took it upon himself to do something fun this year.

That’s how they ended up at the entrance of the Golden Scales Casino. The Casino was organising a Masquerade and Bonfire Night to welcome the season. Bring your best mask and your whimsy and prepare for a magical evening, the pamphlet had read. It was just what they needed to take Harry’s mind off of gloom and doom.

Draco had worn a beautiful silver mask with green feathers and rhinestones. Harry looked equally handsome in a red and black mask that accentuated his emerald green eyes. They met in the front lobby of the casino near the dragon statue. Before walking in, Draco rubbed the golden ace card held by the dragon, which was rumoured to bring patrons good luck. Their masks were a blessing, and not many heads turned.

The boys tried their hand at the casino’s patent game ‘Bluffing the Dragon’, and Draco even won a round and graciously treated Harry to a shot of Dragon Bite. They were sitting by the bonfire, enjoying the warmth and spectacular light show performed by the casino’s miniature dragons when a flame from one of the dragons skimmed Harry’s face, causing him to panic and jerk away, spilling Draco’s drink in the process.

“Watch it, Potter, this suit is Italian and very expensive,” Draco said irritably.

Harry, however, had started hyperventilating.

“Calm down, Potter. You’re drawing attention to us,” he said.

“Shut. Up. Malfoy.” Harry bit out, and soon they had reverted to their schoolboy ways of hurling insults at each other.

The commotion had alerted the authorities, and two burly bouncers approached their table. Seeing this, Draco put an arm on Harry’s shoulder to calm him down, but Harry pushed him away, ripping his mask off and pointing his wand at Draco’s throat. A collective gasp was heard, and then the room went silent.

Draco looked at Harry, eyes wide and full of hurt. Harry, realising his overreaction, dropped his wand. Draco turned on his heel and started leaving when Harry came back to his senses and ran after him, but Draco pushed him and apparated away.

Harry had bumped into another patron who had consumed the Queen of the Night cocktail, causing a coughing cum fire breathing fit. The ensuing commotion was too much, and when the bouncers escorted him to the golden elevator, he went willingly.

The previous night’s debacle was all over the papers the next day. Everyone had a take on what must have transpired. Some called it a lover’s tiff, others a spat between friends, and some even speculated that Harry had been led to the Casino by devious means. Of course, none of it was true, and the only person who deserved to know the truth was Draco. Harry had to set things right—the look on Draco’s face had haunted him all night.

He wasn’t sure if Draco would want to see him, so he wrote him a letter explaining how he’d been lost in his own head. The flames had taken him by surprise, plunging him back to the night in the Room of Requirement when he and Draco had almost perished in the Fiendfyre. He didn’t expect Draco to forgive him, but he had to apologise.

An hour later, Harry’s floo chimed and Draco stepped out of it, wrapping Harry in a tight hug.

[bookwormscififan]

Mine Alone

Read on AO3!

A/N: @iamvegorott gave me a prompt to write the chaos twins getting jealous, with the thought that I could write the two ships at once. This was tricky to write, but it's got some Booky humour in it, so that passes for something.

Warnings: Smut.

--

“They’re just hanging out,” Phantom stated, leaning against the doorframe beside Mare, sensing his seething jealousy as they watched Jackie and Mad at the dining table. “You know that Jackie’s not Mad’s type.”

“They’re too close,” Mare muttered, folding his arms across his chest with his eyes trained on Mad, watching as the scientist talked animatedly beside Jackie, pausing to ensure the hero was understanding before launching into his next ramble.

“They usually sit this close,” Phantom sighed, elbowing Mare in the side. “You’re just in a petty mood today, aren’t you? Finding something wrong with every—” he cut himself off as Mad reached out to trace his fingers along the veins of Jackie’s arms, seeming to be telling him about the muscles there, and suddenly Phantom understood Mare’s jealousy. “You may have a point…” His comment trailed off as he turned to see the empty spot where his brother had been standing, smirking when he heard the bedroom door close down the hall.

“Phan, do you know why Mare’s—” Jackie’s question was interrupted by Phantom tugging him down into a harsh kiss, fingers slipping under the hem of his hoodie to remove it as he led Jackie to the living room couch without breaking the kiss. “Okay, I’m lost,” the hero chuckled as he fell backwards onto the couch, watching Phantom climb over him to straddle his waist, shoving the hoodie over his head before leaning back into an intense kiss.

--

“I was having a conversation…” Mad trailed off as Mare wrapped his arms around his waist, effortlessly lifting him up and pressing him against the closed bedroom door to kiss him. “What’s going on, Mare?” Instead of an answer, Mare just pressed Mad further against the door, slotting a leg between Mad’s own and pushing, letting him feel how riled up Mare was.

“You were touching Jackie’s arm,” Mare growled against Mad’s neck, shifting to lift him slightly, holding him above his head to nip and suck at his chest through his soft shirt. “He’s not strong enough for you. Only I can hold you like this.”

Mad gasped as Mare pulled him away from the door, catching him in a searing kiss as he gently tossed Mad onto the bed, climbing over him and working on removing his clothes as fast as possible. After getting his shirt off, Mad pulled Mare back down by the back of his neck to kiss him again, sliding his hands down to work on undoing Mare’s jeans.

“Jealousy’s a nice colour on you,” Mad breathed against Mare’s lips, pulling away just enough to see Mare’s eyes darken before he hooked his fingers into Mad’s sweatpants, practically ripping them and his boxers off his hips. “Mare!” Mad’s hips bucked as Mare settled between his legs, engulfing Mad’s cock in his mouth in one smooth motion.

--

“You’re mine,” Phantom growled into Jackie’s skin, sitting on his lower stomach with his hands carding through Jackie’s hair. Both were bare, Phantom rocking his hips back just enough for Jackie’s cock to slip between his cheeks. “Every part of you is mine, including your muscles and your strength.”

“Phantom…” Jackie groaned as Phantom sank down on him, resisting the urge to buck up into Phantom. “He was-he was just telling me about the way the muscles work…” he trailed off as Phantom began to roll his hips in circles, moaning at how much Jackie filled him.

“Only I can make you feel this way,” Phantom exaggerated his moans as he began to ride Jackie, hissing as the hero dug his nails into his hips. “Only I can fit you so well, I only know how to touch you, to move against you in such a perfect way.” Leaning forward until only the tip of Jackie’s cock was inside him, Phantom brushed his lips against Jackie’s ear before slamming back down, tracing the veins in his arms as he threw his head back.

“Phan, Phan, bloody hell, only you,” Jackie panted, tightening his grip on Phantom’s hips to pull him down hard with every thrust up, catching the perfect spot inside Phantom to drag out loud and lewd moans. “Only you can touch me like this, god, keep going.”

--

Mad groaned as Mare pulled away just before he came, hands tangled in his hair and face flushed bright red, looking down his body to watch Mare pressing soft kisses to the insides of his thighs, so close to where he needed him most.

“M-Mare, please,” Mad begged, frowning when Mare slid his hands up to grasp his hips, moving around to get handfuls of his ass, lifting him effortlessly before swiping his tongue across his entrance. “Mare!” Mad’s eyes rolled back as Mare pressed his tongue inside, curling just right to make him see stars.

Toes curling, Mad kept his fingers tangled in Mare’s hair as he ate him out, trying and failing to buck his hips toward Mare’s mouth, adoring the strength Mare had to hold him up with just the grip on his ass. He moaned as Mare began to squeeze his hands, bringing him closer and closer to the edge before pulling away again, dropping him back onto the mattress with a sly smirk.

“I only want to see you touching my arms like you touched Jackie’s,” Mare panted, the only sign of his exertion as he worked himself out of his clothes. “I’m the only one who can feel your calloused fingers touching my skin, inspecting my muscles and strength.”

“Only you—” Mad’s breathless statement was cut off by Mare scooping him up, pressing their chests together as he lowered Mad onto his cock, both groaning at the sensation. “Mare, Mare, move, please,” he panted, clinging to Mare’s shoulders as the musician complied, hands on his waist to bounce him, messily seeking out his lips for a heated kiss, moving Mad as if he weighed nothing.

--

“You wouldn’t want to see me touching some other strong man’s arms, would you?” Phantom asked, one hand gripping Jackie’s bicep while the other danced fingers down his chest, feeling Jackie’s grip tighten signalling he was close. “Tracing the veins on some stranger’s muscles the way I touch yours?”

“God, Phantom,” Jackie gasped, watching Phantom roll his body in time with his movements, giving him a show. “N-No, no, I wouldn’t want to see that, I want you to touch only me like that, shit, close,” he panted, whimpering when Phantom leaned forward enough for Jackie to slip out.

“Show me how I’m yours alone,” Phantom said lowly into Jackie’s ear, humming when Jackie immediately flipped them, pushing back inside and setting a furious pace, jerking Phantom off as he littered his neck with marks. “Fuckin’ hell,” Phantom groaned as he came, dragging his nails down Jackie’s arms as the hero continued his movements.

He whined as Jackie bit into his shoulder, pushing deep inside as he came, filling Phantom with warmth and gripping his hips tight enough there would surely be bruises tomorrow. He peppered Phantom’s face with kisses as they both came down from their highs, neither wanting to move, satisfied to stay how they were.

--

“I wouldn’t let just anybody touch me,” Mare grunted, dropping Mad back onto the mattress without stopping his thrusts, holding Mad so close Mad was sure he’d melt into Mare’s skin. “Only you, you’re the only one who can touch me.”

“Mare,” Mad managed to fumble out, mouth slack with pleasure as he snaked an arm up to hold Mare’s cheek, pulling him into a deep and sloppy kiss. “I-I would never touch someone the way I touch you. You’re special.”

Mare held Mad tighter as the scientist came, tightening around him and bringing him over the edge. Mad whimpered as Mare filled him, his release coming in waves before he finally released his hold on the smaller man, kissing every freckle he could get his lips on.

“You’re special to me, too, dearest,” Mare whispered, smiling at Mad’s tired and blissed-out face. Pulling out as gently as he could, he climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom, pausing when Mad grabbed his wrist.

“Stay…”

“I will, I promise,” Mare replied, turning his hand to take Mad’s and lift it to his lips. “Let me get us cleaned up and get you a glass of water, then we’ll cuddle and I’ll read you that book you wanted.” When Mad sleepily nodded, Mare kissed his fingers before dropping his hand, heading to the bathroom.

After cleaning himself off, Mare pulled on a pair of boxers and brought a damp cloth out to Mad, gently cleaning him up before tossing the cloth aside, taking Mad’s cheek to turn his head for a deep kiss, pulling away just as Mad was getting into it.

“I need to get you a glass of water,” he chuckled at Mad’s pout, kissing his forehead before pulling a loose shirt over his head and walking into the hall.

--

“Oh, come on! Really?”

Jackie lifted his head slightly at Mare’s exclamation, hissing as Phantom jumped, tightening around him and making him remember he hadn’t pulled out of the barman. Slowly he rolled off Phantom, sighing when the barman rolled over to lay on top of him, uncaring of the state they were in.

“What?” Phantom asked lazily, adjusting to rest his cheek on Jackie’s chest. “It’s not like Mad got to have some fun in your room.” Effortlessly he caught the apple Mare tossed at him, biting into it before offering it to Jackie, who refused with a red face.

“Yes, my room. You just fucked your boyfriend on my couch!” Mare yelled, throwing his hands in the air before going to the fridge. “My couch! I’m going to have to bleach the thing!”

“Not like you haven’t done it on this couch,” Phantom commented, perfectly comfortable laying on top of Jackie stark naked, thighs sticky from Jackie’s mess still leaking from him. “I’m sure the couch needs more than bleach. I think I’ve got a blacklight somewhere—”

“I own this couch!” Mare was slowly losing his patience, tone rising with every word. “I can do whatever I want on my own furniture! You don’t own this couch! You can’t just fuck Jackie wherever you want in my house!”

“Fine, fine,” Phantom sighed, snapping his fingers to send Jackie and himself away, leaving Mare in the kitchen staring at the clothes still on the floor and the faint dark stain on the couch cushions.

“You left your clothes; I’m going to burn them!” Mare called to the air, taking Mad’s glass of water and going back to the bedroom, smiling when he saw Mad curled up with his head on Mare’s pillow, fast asleep. “I guess there’s no reading tonight,” he chuckled, setting the glass on the bedside table before climbing into bed, holding Mad close and closing his eyes.

--

“I can’t believe you made me do that!” Jackie cried as he pulled an oversized sleep shirt over his head. “I’m going to have to apologise to Mad tomorrow.”

“Relax,” Phantom sighed from his place on the bed, only wearing a pair of loose sweatpants. “I can bet you that Mad’s fast asleep right now, and by the time he gets up tomorrow, Mare will have cleaned the couch.”

“Still,” Jackie persisted, crawling into bed beside Phantom. “He’ll be so upset about it. He loves that couch.”

“We didn’t destroy the couch, Jackie,” Phantom assured him, pulling him down so they were laying on their sides facing each other. “At least, we didn’t destroy the couch like we destroyed the desk in the office of the bar.” He smirked as Jackie hid his face behind his hands, curling into Phantom’s embrace.

“Goodnight, my hero,” Phantom whispered as he kissed Jackie’s head, closing his eyes to fall asleep.

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

@brokentimewatch @dungeon-dragons-dragons @rattyboyisemo

[the-coconut-asado]

A Bit Like Julie Andrews

 A loathsome guest at a dinner party I once attended announced you can make anything taste good with fat.  She said this as I was serving up a chocolate pecan tart promised to the host, and my first instinct was to divert it into her face. I didn’t of course, because violence and whip-smart retorts only ever live in my head. Later on, she invited me into the bathroom to see her new labia piercing. So, mixed messages.

That said, she had a point about fat. I’ve been writing this blog for eight years now and the most shared and liked recipes have lashings of fat and/or sugar in common. No surprises here - as we all aspire to cleaner, increasingly plant based virtue-signalling, how many of us are squirrelling away six pineapple Jaffa Cakes when we think no-one’s looking? Right this minute I am staring longingly across the coffee table at a box of Divine Mint Thins while a sweet potato bakes in the oven. And the rate at which we get through sea salt butter in our house (yep, the one with the extra crunchy salt crystals) is not something I am ever going to admit to my GP. 

But if you all want fat and sugar, then I am here to please. Not necessarily with animal fat, and not always with proper sugar. One of the most versatile oils in my kitchen is coconut, sunflower oil always produces moist and springy sponge cakes and I could almost drink extra virgin olive. And I sometimes supplement no-carb Splenda for sugar in some recipes with zero difference noticed. None of this interferes with the popularity of the finished dish, sometimes it even enhances it - and I am often asked for recipes for dishes I photograph with abandon but haven’t got around to writing up. 

So what follows then is only a bit like Julie Andrews: rather than a selection of my favourite things, it’s a revisiting of some of yours - a Top 4 of those recipes most often requested or dishes shared, fats or sugar included, with a couple of twists thrown in. 

Perfect Roast Pork Belly 

For my money the supreme leader of pork joints is belly - roasted long and slow until those layers of fat melt and the hide turns to the guiltiest pleasure of all: cracking. I used to subscribe to the belief that anything this good was proportionately difficult to achieve - but after many years and attempts, I have found a way as fool-proof and leave-it-alone succulent as you can get. 

My advice is to serve this with creamed corn - fresh corn shucked and simmered in a little butter and cream. Pork and corn are a less-travelled match made in heaven. Cowboys kind of got the hang of it but were seduced into flatulence by the baked bean before the corn craze could really take off. But what the wild west discarded, the barbecue warriors picked up. OK I’m taking The Crown approach to history but you get the picture. Serves 4-6. 

Ingredients

One 2 kg pork belly joint, bone in ideally but not necessary( get your butcher to score the rind)

1 tbsp. each fennel seeds and cumin seeds

1 tbsp, chilli flakes

2 tbsp. Kosher salt

2 onions, cut into wedges

2 carrots cut into chunks

1 leek cut into chunks

200ml sherry or white wine

100ml water

For the creamed corn:

3 fresh ears of corn

50g butter

150ml double cream

Kosher Salt and freshly ground black pepper

How to make.

The night before you aim to roast the pork, get rid of any covering, pat the skin dry, pop it onto a dish and put in the fridge. This will dry out the skin and ultimately product better crackling. 

Heat the oven to 220C (or 210C Fan) and take your belly out of the fridge at least 30 mins before roasting. Pulverise the fennel seeds, cumin seeds, salt and a and chilli flakes in a pestle and mortar. Rub the mix into the scores in the pork rind, then pop into the oven for 25 mins to get the crackling going. 

After 25 mins,remove from the oven and transfer the pork onto a board and reduce the oven to 180C or 175C fan. Working quickly, toss the onions, carrots and leek into the roasting pan and then put the belly joint on top. Pour the sherry or white wine into the roasting pan around, not on, the pork. Return the pork to the oven and roast for two and a half  - 3 hours. 

Check the pork at 2 and a half hours - if you can wiggle the rib bone easily, great, if not, return to the oven for another 30 mins. Remove from the oven again and transfer the roast veg to a bowl and keep warm. Crank the oven back up to 220C and return the joint one last time to crisp up the crackling. 

Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 20 mins before carving

Dutch pancake with caramel apples

Leave It Alone is the best mantra for an easy life in the kitchen. Some dishes were made to be fussed over - risotto, caramel and of course pancakes. But a dutch pancake gives you both time to yourself and a whomping great wow factor when you bring it out of the oven. Thanks to Erin Jeanne McDowell at the New York Times for this little number. (Serves 3-4)

Ingredients

(100 g) plain flour

3 Tbsp. dark muscovado sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp kosher salt

Pinch ground nutmeg

50g unsalted butter

3 eggs

100ml cashew nut milk (or milk of your choice)

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the caramel apples: 

40g butter

75 ml double cream

110g dark muscovado sugar

3-4 apples (granny smiths are good)

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp vanilla essence

Pinch of ground cinnamon

How to make

Heat the oven to 200C fan (210C). Put the butter in a frying pan or skillet that you can use on the hob and in the oven. When the oven is hot, pop the skillet in to melt the butter. 

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Break up the eggs with the milk and vanilla essence then add to the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. 

Peel and core the apples then cut into thin slices and toss in the lemon juice. 

Take the skillet out of the oven (the butter should have melte by now) and pour in the pancake batter. Put back in the oven and set your timer for 20 minutes. 

While the pancake is doing its thing, make the caramel apples. Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the sugar and cream and mix again. Add the apples, stir to coat the apples in the caramel mix, then simmer gently for 5 minutes until the apples soften. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the vanilla essence and cinnamon. 

After 20 minutes, and using protective gloves or oven mitts, remove the skillet from the oven. The pancakes should be all puffed around the edges like a dramatic Yorkshire pudding. 

Pour the caramel apples into the centre, bring to the table and drizzle with double cream while everyone round the table gasps. DO NOT FORGET that the handle is hot so use your oven mitts while handling at the table. 

Stuffed Courgette flowers

This is a romantic dish for me as it reminds me of my first trip to Rome. At the same time it’s tempura on steroids. Cook the whole (usually tiny) courgette with the flowers attached - it may not look as pretty but there is more flavour and nutrition (always handy when you are taking a bath in carbs). Like the Dutch pancake, this dish gives good gasp when it arrives on the table. (Serves 4). 

Ingredients

8 courgettes with flowers attached

250g ricotta cheese, soft goat’s cheese or goat’s curd

6 anchovies, finely chopped

1 tbsp each finely chopped mint and parsley

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the batter:

70g cornflour

30g plain flour

80ml ice-cold sparkling water or lager

400ml sunflower oil for frying

How to make:

Mix the cheese, anchovies, herbs and seasoning in a bowl. 

Taking each courgette, gently splay the petals of the flower and remove the stamens with a small knife. Using a teaspoon,  stuff each flower with the filling then twist the tips of the petals to seal. 

In another bowl mix the batter ingredients and leave to stand for 5 minutes. 

Heat the oil in a deep pan or flat-bottomed wok. Line a serving dish with kitchen paper. Once the oil is hot, take each courgette in turn, dip it in the batter (courgette and flower) and then carefully lay it in the oil and deep fry for a couple of minutes, until the batter turns golden and crisp. Try not to crowd the pan, you can probably fry three at a time. Remove each courgette and flower from the oil and onto the paper lined dish. When all the courgettes have been cooked, remove the kitchen paper and serve while hot, with some quick pickled red onion slices on the side. 

Sweet potato Gnocchi with pesto

Anything a potato can do, a sweet potato can do as well if not better. Plus it’s packed with antioxidants (not red for nothing) and lower in the demon carbs. When in Buenos Aires, gnocchi is traditionally eaten on a Thursday (a ritual they share with Rome) and it’s my niece Luli’s favourite dish. Wonder what she will think of this version? The gnocchi is based on a recipe by Jonny Rhodes (Serves 4)

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato

1 cup plain flour

½ cup wholemeal flour

1 tsp. Ground cumin

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp allspice

½ tsp kosher salt

1 egg

50g butter

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

For the pesto:

1 large bunch basil

1 tbsp, pinenuts

2 fat cloves garlic

25g grated parmesan

½ cup - ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

How to make.

Heat the oven to 190C fan and roast the sweet potato for 1-11/4 hours (the potato should be soft inside and give when you insert a knife). Cool, skin and mash. 

In a bowl, mix the flours, potato mash, spices, salt and egg. Roll into a ball then cover with cling film and pop into the fridge for an hour to firm up. 

After an hour, remove from the fridge and cut into six portions. Dust your work surface with flour then taking each portion in turn, roll into a long sausage and cut 18-20 portions. You can either leave the portions like this or roll each portion over a gnocchi paddle to give it ridges, then place on an floured baking sheet. Repeat with each portion, then cover all the gnocchi and refrigerate until ready to cook.

 Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, working in small batches, add the gnocchi to the pan and continue to boil. As the gnocchi float to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a greased baking sheet. 

Make your pesto, put all ingredients except the olive oil into the food processor and pulse until chopped small. Keep the motor running and gradually add the olive oil until the mixture thickens. Turn off the motor and leave to one side while you saute the gnocchi. 

Heat a large frying pan and add the butter. when melted and sizzling add the gnocchi in a single layer and cook undisturbed for 2 or 3 minutes, until the bottoms are light brown (you may need to do this in batches). Then add 2 tbsp butter, 3 tbsp water and the apple cider vinegar and swirl around the gnocchi. 

Serve immediately in pasta bowls and drizzle the pesto over the top. Grate over some parmesan. 

[pffbts]

grocery shopping with yoongi

GENRE. fluff, angst, crack.

CHARACTERS. min yoongi x reader | no supporting character.

W.C.  1.3K

AUTHOR`S NOTE.  domestic yoongi is my kink but this was meant to be fun one but ended up becoming a tiny bit angsty. liyan, you know me, i`m a sucker for sad fics. but anyway, happy reading love!

[08:16 PM] [the sound of rain is the proof that someone is there with someone]

―your closest best friend, your fellow escaping-for-solitude best friend―min yoongi was currently slouched against the other side of your grandfather`s sixty years old sofa scrolling through his twitter feeds, being the most silent about your existence beside him rather than the crickets which almost barks louder than the dog at the neighbor`s place.

you, on the other hand, had yourself scared to death when you found out there`s absolutely nothing in the fridge for tonight`s dinner. your reflex works faster than your literal brain and so you kick his feet which makes yoongi staying as unbothered as possible. then, at least three seconds later, for your eyes which felt like suns shooting through his phone, yoongi moved aside his phone from his face to lift his brows at you.

“i`ve an idea.” you declared, your chest sticking out in an unladylike way. not that yoongi was bothered by that.

too lazy to speak, your couch partner raises one of his brows this time.

“let`s just skip dinner tonight and binge-watch free`s first season.”

yoongi felt like his insides will collapse any further second if he sees another night of makoto tachibana flexing his muscles in front of his face.

“now now….,”yoongi, finally lifting himself up from the couch, sit at your level with a disgusted face and you knew what that face meant but that also means you were successful in your attempt, “you might get fed by that muscle pig but not me. i need real food.”

“but-.”

like a flash, he gets up from his place and stands beside your sitting self. you, out of habit, tried straightening the creases of his t-shirt at the back.

“wear a pant at least, we`re going grocery,” he mumbles the last part but stayed as loud as possible for the first part.

you attempt to hide your bare legs by stretching the front of your baggy t-shirt while yoongi attempts to hide his face of disappointment and walks off towards the kitchen to probably plan for tonight`s dinner. your evil smile comes to your face as you watch your little friend wiggling his way away from your sight.

“chicken.” yoongi `s voice booms through the grocery store and you look back at him with stars in your eyes, “we definitely, need that.” yoongi gives a little nod at you, along with that a pressed side smile.

sighing heavily, you tug onto his t-shirt`s sleeve, “that`s why yoongi, that`s why i`m telling you we need to get married as fast as possible. see? you even know what i wanted. you would be such a good, loving, sincere and hot husb-.”

“broccolis….yes! we oh so definitely need that too.”

angry at his sudden ignorance, you throw his hand away from your grip and pick up the basket you were carrying and moved to the spice section.

you heard his laughter from other side and almost giggled at yourself too. he should be at least thanking you for calling him hot when all he does is crash at your place to sleep and give you company while you`re busy fangirling over anime boys by cooking your dinner.

but it`s alright, you pull out a packet of powdered red chilli as your thoughts wander back to the times when yoongi didn`t even ask what happened back at home but stayed with you that night when you moved in at your grandpa`s place. he knew what happened instantly. he said he could read what was there on your face. you had laughed at him because of all you knew throughout your life that your face was the hardest to read by everyone you acquainted in your days.

“bullshit,” yoongi had said, “your face is the most expressive. you`re literally like an open book.” but in his mind, yoongi knew your face screamed for help and though he didn`t have his own complexity sorted out, he tried overcoming them just for you. he became your permanent best friend two years ago and stayed the same way till this very second.

yoongi`s voice calling your nickname in that urgent tone snapped you out of your reminiscing thoughts. you walk back to the non-veg section and the sudden sound of rain welcomes you along with a crease filled forehead of yoongi.

“aaahhh, it`s your worst fear.” you give him a sad smile continuing, “it`s raining.”

“and, i thought i would be able to eat our chicken faster than your makoto`s muscle flex.”

you slap his chest and give him a wide-eyed look, “don`t you dare insult my husband. at least he loves me.”

yoongi hums back at you in return while you take his basket from his hand and moving towards the cash counter.

you heard one of the store worker saying to his colleague that it`s going to be a long spell. he confirms that it`s been forecasted this afternoon. yoongi and you both have settled yourself against the exit of the store while the packets filled with your grocery stayed sitting on the floor. at the end, yoongi paid half the total bill while you paid the other. it`s been very usual in-between both of you so you didn`t stop him. you knew it won`t bear any fruit at the end.

“it`s been a long time, right?”

you, who have closed your eyes while listening to the lullaby of the raindrops hitting the road, opens them back at the sudden question from the boy in front of you.

you hum back in reply and it became silent for a while again.

“what are your thoughts about rain, y/n?”

you felt indifferent hearing your name in his voice. it`s not very usual that he calls your name rather than your nickname and so, you stared at him for a long time before it dawns upon you that he has asked you a question.

“i don`t know….i`m not very lyrical like you but all i know is that,” you tried looking away from his face and looked hard at the droplets that have gathered against the glass door outside the store. though you were standing inside the store, you could feel the coldness seeping through the glass and cooling up your skin. “when it rains, it always means that someone is always with you. no matter where you are, alone or not, if it rains, it means you`re not alone. and especially if you`re in pain, rain becomes that someone who listens to your screams when no human does.”

the rain stopped after an hour and when both of you went home, yoongi, while you changed up in your room put free season one on your television and hurried back with silent steps towards the kitchen making the most delicious chicken in his lifetime.

fin.

▶RULES. ▶ REQUESTS/QUESTIONS. ASK BOX

[aurora-the-kunoichi]

Chance Meeting

Chapter Four

Turtles and Reader

 The next few days you found yourself slowing down as you passed the empty alleyway Leonardo and Raphael had left you in, hoping to see large shadows waiting for you. There were so many unanswered questions, and you kicked yourself for leaving so soon just to get some fucking sleep. The one chance in your life to have something exciting happen and you needed your goddamn beauty sleep. Which you didn’t get and haven’t’ been getting the past few nights. So it was just a colossal waste of time and you blew it. You probably would never see them again, never see him again and that stung more than you cared to admit.

Maybe if you went down that manhole looking for them? Perhaps you could find them….or you would get lost in the catacombs of New York’s vast maze of sewers and die alone. Yeah, that didn’t sound like too much fun. They probably weren’t even thinking about you, just an afterthought of another night watching the city. That was another question haunting you, what were they doing out there that night? Were they protecting the city, patrolling for crimes to bust?

You had plans on going home and vegging out in front of the TV like you always do but a call from the Chief of police Rebecca Vincent had you making a detour to the New York police station. She needed you to make a statement and hopefully identify them to keep the assholes behind bars for several years. You didn’t really feel like reliving that horrible moment, but it was your duty to keep them off the streets.

Passing through the metal detector at the front door you were greeted by Rebecca herself and what seemed like her assistant. A warm but firm handshake and you were off to her office, the assistant bringing up the rear.

Entering her office, you gasped seeing the woman you had helped that night sitting on a chair waiting anxiously. Her face was black and blue and puffy from the assault. Her lip was busted but seemed to be healing nicely a dark red scab covering the wound and her left arm in a cast. Her dull green eyes lit up seeing you walk through the threshold and shot to her feet her arms latching around your neck in a hug.

“Omg! It’s you! Thank you thank you thank you!” she babbled between shaky sobs. You could feel her begin to tremble as she tried to hug you tighter but her broken arm prevented a strong grip.

You helped her and wrapped your arms around her completing the embrace. You too could feel the hot sting of tears threatening to spill from your eyes.

“It’s ok, I’m just glad you’re ok.” You whispered trying to keep your emotions in check.

After a few long moments the woman finally let you go looking into your eyes before sitting back down on the chair she had started in.

Rebecca Vincent looked at both of you knowingly placing her hand on a closed manila envelope. |I know you both don’t care to revisit this day but I’m afraid we must. We need each of your statements and a line up has been set up for you both to look at to identify the men that assaulted you. But don’t worry they cannot see you.” Her voice was calm and reassuring, you wondered how many times she had to do this? Probably too many times to count which sent a cold shiver up your spine.

It only took 30 minutes for both of you to give your statements. You had learned the woman you saved was named Luca and she was on her way home from a study group that night. They had come up behind her groping and laughing before shoving her into the alleyway to attack her. Your fists clenched into angry balls listening to her recount the fight she had to put up to protect herself, her sobs reverberated through your skull fueling your rage.    

After she was finished you told your story and you felt Luca reach over covering your balled up fists with her soft hand. She was trying to sooth you as you relived the moment in your mind. Your voice began to falter when you neared the end of your story, you had thought you were going to die where you were saved by four massive mutant turtles. What should you say? You obviously can’t say the truth. They would think you were batshit crazy. Before you could finish Rebecca coughed startling you to a stop. Your eyes met hers, you could see the hesitance in her gaze.

“That’s when the officer found you right?” She finished for you thankfully. You had forgotten she knew about them.

“Yes, yes I’m sorry. It all happened so fast, I was dizzy from the blows to the back of my head and the lack of oxygen. The officer came out of nowhere and saved me tackling the guy to the ground.” You took a few deep breaths, you hated lying but this was something Luca didn’t need to know about. Hell you shouldn’t even know about them.

The walk to the lineup was excruciatingly long. You wanted this over and you wanted them behind bars. Entering into the dark room you looked into a large room behind what you assumed was a two-way mirror that was sound proof. There was a large white board on the wall with measurements to get the assailants height. Rebecca pressed the red button on the wall and told the other person on the next line to send them in.

After a few moments six men marched into the room looking very angry and stood a few feet away from each other their back against the white wall. Your gut rolled in knots recognizing all three of the men who attacked you both and by the look of Luca’s face she recognized them too.

“Ladies?” Rebecca started. “Do you recognize anyone in the line up from that night?”

You both nodded and at the same time answered. “Two, Four and Five.”  

As if they could hear you the last one who nearly killed you laughed and pointed at the mirror rubbing his crotch. “Ladies, I know you’re there. When I get out I’ll find you and finish what we started.”

“Bring it motherfucker.” You hissed under your breath ready to punch the glass that separated you from that scum. If he wanted a rematch you’d give him one. This poor excuse for a human wasn’t going to scare you; you would fight if you had too. He wasn’t going to affect your life, you were no helpless sheep.

“Please note both victims identified perps Two, Four and five as their assailants and please note what Five threatened and his lewd gesture.” Rebecca called to her assistant before pressing the red button again to remove them from your sight.  

That night was the first night in a while you slept well, Luca and you have identified them without hesitation and that idiot pretty much confessed right to the chief of police. Rebecca said with the samples they pulled from Luca when she went to the hospital that night matched all three of the men and would mean a slam dunk in court. Those assholes would be found guilty.

The next day at work was easy, it was Friday and the boss was gone today so the usual stress wasn’t looming in the air. A rep had shown up bringing bagels for the office which was a score for the day as well. Now the day was over and it was time to get out of here for the weekend. Saying goodbye to your co-workers you headed out into the night towards your car. As usual your eyes scanned the alleyway and found nothing but you decided to walk over to it anyways. Not entering into the darkness you stood there eyes drawn to the dumpster that the back of your head had met several times. A phantom pain throbbed unexpectedly and you rubbed it away.

“Are you looking for anything in particular Ma’am?” A voice suddenly came in the darkness catching you off guard.

The familiar faces of Leonardo and Donatello emerged from the shadows their eyes solely on you. This was the first time you had seen them out of their home and without the haze of a concussion. On the back of Leo you could see hilts of twin katanas strapped to his back with his harness and the ends of the hilts were wrapped in blue ribbon with tails whipping in the wind. Behind Donnie was a long bo staff but it looked like it was modified? Like there were electric prongs at each end? Was it electrified?

There was a long silence before you realized you hadn’t said anything back to the two mutant turtles. You coughed sheepishly and stepped into the opening of the alleyway towards the turtles, away from prying eyes.

“I might have been looking for someone? What’s it to ya?” you felt a little bold coming from a good day at work and the look Leo was giving you gave you a boost of confidence. You licked your lips and by pasted the blue turtle making sure to brush up against him slightly to get to Donnie. You had only one other interaction with Leo but there was something with him tonight? His playful posture and his eyes were electric. Out of the corner of your eye you saw him turn to follow your body into his brother’s arms. You heard his tongue click in the back of his throat in a silent retort.

Donnie saw the hug coming so he leaned down accepting your embrace wrapping his arms around you picking you up off the ground. Setting you back down on the ground your feet shuffled back into something hard, looking up you because painfully aware your backside was pressed up against Leo’s hard plastron.

Leo rested his large hands on your hips steadying you but kept you right where he wanted you, against him. Without you knowing he took a deep breath taking in your smell, sweet and intoxicating just like the other night. It hadn’t diminished in the slightest to his delight.

“The lair has been abuzz since your quick presence the other day. We came up here wondering if you wanted another trip down if you had any more questions for us?” Leo leaned down almost whispering in your ear, his lips brushing the top of your earlobe.

He was deliberating trying to make you feel hot and bothered and it was working. Heat, unbearable delicious heat shot to the apex of your thighs when the hot breath from his mouth skimmed over the sensitive skin of your neck. You tried not to squeeze your legs together to squelch the throbbing he had started but your body was moving involuntary at this point and he had noticed. The jerk, what was he getting at? He had to have realized your attraction to him; you were practically drooling that night in their home, which was the only logical explanation for this sexual tension between you two. You had only met them once but he was unquestionably playing to that. The question was, did he return the attraction or was he just playing with you?

Chapter Three

Chapter Two

Chapter One

[handmadecp]

Bike Tool Pouch

Hi Guys, sorry it’s been a few weeks but life and Covid got in the way for a bit after the Large explorer bag. But I finally got some free time to sit down and make something. This time I purchased a pattern from Tony See at Dieselpunk.ro ( ‘ro’ standing for ‘Romania’..I think. ). The pattern is actually for a Bag with either carry handles or a shoulder strap, but I want the main body of this pattern to alter it into a Pouch / saddle bag for my bike to carry a few tools and maybe a spare inner tube etc and I gotta say....it has turned out great. See for yourself and join me in this short build along to see me put this lovely little pouch / saddle bag together. It’s a fairly easy build and I would recommend it to a more ‘adventurous’ beginner. As usual as I am hoping to peek the interest of a few of you to give it a go yourself I will add that Leather crafting can be expensive and can become addictive...in a good way. But Leather, especially in the UK is very expensive, so maybe pick a small project as your first one to keep costs down whilst you learn. That being said, this is an amazing hobby and very satisfying when your skill level increases and you start to see better results. I almost forgot, I have been getting into making videos of me building these projects and I show them on my new YOUTUBE Channel called Shamancraftprojects, I hope you will drop by for a look, My filming and editing skills will improve with time, but they are fun to watch. If you do would you please ‘Like’ Subscribe and click the Bell and click on ‘ALL’ so you will know when I put a new one up. Thanks.  Ok,, lets get into it.

Pic 1: Turned out great, not very difficult to make and recommended for adventurous beginners. I keep getting asked How long it will take,...well, how long is a piece of string ? ..I took 3 days to make this but that’s with normal life getting in the way, so it all depends how long you can give it your attention for really. Let’s crack on.

Pic 2 : As always the patterns are printed out in ‘sections’ which have to be cut out and taped together to make the full pattern, this bit came in two halves which I’ve taped together across the middle with decorators paper tape. All other pieces are treated the same way and then any holes are punched out as per the markings. I have shown this many times in past projects so if you have any issues go check out my archive, I’m sure the information you want will be in there.

Pic 3 : I have used a Walnut water stain dye by fiebings, I use this color a lot, it’s one of my favourites and for me personally it gives leather the color most people expect leather to be..traditionally speaking that is, but feel free to dye your projects any color you wish it’s your project. Once all the patterns were transferred and the parts were cut out of the leather, I first hand stitched the top flap onto the main body as seen here using a saddle stitch.

Pic 4 : For all those out there who have followed my projects from the beginning, six years ago...wow time flies, firstly..thank you and please tell your friends,...anyyyhoooo..for all of you regulars you will remember that I enjoy hand stitching and the saddle stitch is my ‘go to’. My stitching has definitely improved thanks to practice and also to the advice given to me by many people..thanks guys if you are seeing this for all your help and free advice and from videos on youtube. Here you can see the stitching in a nice consistant line, if your stitching is ‘wobbly’ check when you do it how you cross your needles over on the first stitch, if your left needle goes behind the right needle keep doing that...and continue crossing them the same on every stitch. If your fingers hurt a lot, do four or five stitches lightly and ‘then’ pull tight...that’s approx five stitches for one pull...less stress than pulling on every stitch.

Pic 5 : Here I’ve cut a couple of the ‘skirt’ pieces ( just what I call them ) that will stitch to the end pieces to enable them to be connected to the main body as you will see later and also the front strap that will ‘pop’ over a ‘Sam Brown’. on the left are the two pieces that will eventually hold ‘D’ rings.

Pic 6 : On the main Pattern the straps are intended as carry handles as you will see if you watch the Build Tutorial Video put out by ‘Tony See’ at Dieselpunk.ro. But as I’m making it into a Tool Pouch I have used the part of the strap that will be stitched to the main body but I have cut it in half and shortened the strap to take a buckle. In this pic you see the strap cut in half and positioned ready for stitching after a buckle is fitted.

Pic 7 : if you zoom in you will see here that the strap was cut in half, however, since doing this I realise that cutting it isn’t necessary if you just remember to make one end shorter whilst leaving it longer on the other end so you can cut it to the required length later. Also here you can see the shorter ‘button’ strap is fitted. If you would like to see the build in more detail I have a four part build video with audio on Youtube  ‘Shamancraftprojects’. titled ‘Bike Tool Pouch PT1, PT2, PT3, and PT4. I also have a shop now on ‘Folksy’ where I sell a lot of my projects, this one is for myself but I will be making more of these. I no longer have a shop on ETSY and for anyone wondering why, after being on it so long, they were taking 3/4s of my money on each sale and ripping me off in other smaller charges, seemed like more every week, so I’m now on ‘Folksy’. That being said..lets carry on.

Pic 8 : Stitching the ‘D’ring holders and ‘skirts’ on to the end sections starting on the smaller underside piece then fold the top over and stitch the upper one ‘over’ the under one.

Pic 9 : Here is what I call the ‘skirt’ as it stitches around the edge of the end section on one side and then stitches to the main section on the other side, hence the two rows of holes.

Pic 10 : Here I am putting on the ‘Skirt’, (mainly because I can’t remember what it’s called hahaha ) ...onto the second of the two end sections. It’s a simple thing to do, you just find the center mark on the two pieces which are marked on the pattern, so make sure to look for them on your pattern and to mark them on your leather as these are the starting points for the stitching.

Pic 11 : Once the ‘skirt’ is attached the next step was to attach the ‘D’ ring holders on as seen here. I bought the ‘Kit’ of buckles,rivets etc from Dieselpunk.ro also.

Pic 12 : Next I attached the end pieces to the main body, I used a clip to hold the two edges together leaving the four holes I neded to stitch, as seen here on the main body one end is already done, the outside holes are to be stitched to the end sections.

Pic 13 : Here, I’m stitching an end section to the main body using the saddle stitch.

Pic 14 : Another view showing the outside stitching now incorporating the ‘left over’ outside holes as I go around the outside.

Pic 15 : Once done they should pull to shape like this.

  Pic 16 : Now the buckles and ‘Sam Brown’ need fitting.

Pic 17 : The Buckles and Sam Brown are fitted, very easy to do even for a beginner and I think a Beginner ...once they can stitch, should be fine making this. ‘Stays will be fitted later to hold the straps better.

Pic 18 : Here I’ve fitted the ‘stays’. Now to make some straps to attach the bag to the Bike.

Pic 19 : As I’ve said, straps are no problem to make, I just cut two small ones and riveted them to the bag and then fitted buckles to them and riveted the straps to them as shown here.

Pic 20 : Plenty of strap here to connect it to the frame of the Bike.

Pic 21 :  Ta daaaa, I always wanted one of these on my bike to carry tools, spare inner tubes, puncture kit, gloves, hat etc. There’s more room than at first appears in this neat little bag. I recommend this project for beginners, but practice the saddle stitch first. You don’t have to use veg tan but I would recommend using a firm material that will last. I can re water proof this bag and treat it with balm now and again to keep it in good condition, I coated this in Effax Leather Balm. Hope you have enjoyed this small project, after the explorer bag I wanted a quick easy project and this fit the bill nicely. More to come, watch this space. I hope some of you will have a go yourself. ‘till next time...Stay Crafty, Stay Safe.

[manishbhutada]

Where we Eat – How it affects our Spiritual growth (& why I’m uneasy @ someone’s home)

We know that ‘we are what we eat & that we become what we eat’.. but is it true that we reprogram our spiritual-self based on ‘Where we eat’? Our spiritual progress is in a directly-proportional relation with what, how & where we eat.

Ever since my childhood.. and more so as I grew older.. I have always found it uncomfortable eating at someone else’s home.. even If they were close family or friends.. I was comfortable with the idea of eating at a restaurant occasionally, but eating at other ppl’s home/s always made me nervous. I found myself very uncomfortable visiting ppl’s residences or personal spaces. At any Grahpravesh or functions (as is customary for the host to show the guests their new homes) I would not enter any vacant private rooms or move around the house even with the host in the company (what business do I have there I often wonder).. I would restrict myself to the common public area only. When invited to someone’s place I would feel so awkward.. I would restrict myself to sitting in a living area with my body tugged-in and feeling dysfunctionally awkward of my current situation.. even drinking offered water would be a struggle, let alone eating. Saying this, there would be people places & homes (sometimes completely unknown.. complete strangers) where I would find myself completely at ease.. I could be at a few such homes & locations for ages.. I could spend time with these people (acquaintances or strangers), eat & relish what was offered to me.. I would feel in my own comfort zone… STRANGE.

Then I would wonder why? Why I was so different from my parents, wife, sister or all those spiritual gurus who bless others homes so frequently.. they would be so at ease & I.. so difficult with myself? It was never the grandeur or the humbleness of the hosts home/place or their type of food which made this change in me.. I could be at a palace with the most scrumptious meal & still feel out of place.. or be super comfortable at a very simple home eating dal-chawal with my host.. & vice-versa (although I have never been a dal-chawal person all my life.. the way to my heart is through my stomach.. but what food/cuisine pleases my heart any given day has always been a mystery.. in simple words.. I’m difficult with my food).Was this a problem in me? Was it because I was an introvert & my parents, wife, others extroverts? But again, my grandparents were similar to me.. and I have come to know with time there are so many like me.. so.. nothing is wrong.. I am not strange.. thank god.. but why do I behave this way?

I have solved this puzzle in the past few years but it still very difficult to explain to my hosts why I find it difficult to be at their homes or eat with many observing at a party (even if it’s at my own home).. I don’t even try with 95%.. I don’t have to. Leading an extremely timed lifestyle makes it easy for me – I simply have 10’s of other commitments always,, so that still continues to be my saving grace.. and most hosts know this.

Let me quickly summarize the superficial excuses why many like me don’t eat at random homes & parties: - Veg/Non-veg, egg/egg-less, allergy headaches; - Hygiene & cleanliness; - Mood attitude & behavior of the cook while preparing & serving.. which later alters the mood & behavior of the eating guest; - The devouring of the nourishment from the food with so many hungry eyes gazing (grazing might be the accurate word :)) the food being served.. their thoughts feelings energies all getting attached to the common displayed food which makes a ‘khichdi of the spiritual energy’ of the displayed food once consumed;

Now let me tell you the actual reason why ppl like me find it difficult eating at random hosts & parties… coz of the ‘Puristic nature of our spirituality’.. (not literally, but saying so as I’m lacking a word which can better explain it here).. meaning? Let me explain using the spiritual philosophy of Yoga: Our Sthool Sharir (physical body) connects to our Atma via our Mann Buddhi Chitta ego (Sukshma Sharir – spiritual body). The physical body’s energy requirements are fulfilled by eating food which in turn fulfills the energy requirements of our spiritual self. The food we eat not only provides calorific energy for our physical body but it also keeps spiritual energy markers.. i.e. the process of cooking food preserves or destroys physical energy sources of the cooked food.. whereas the mood of the cook while cooking, the source of food, the thoughts of ppl watching the served cooked food, etc changes the spiritual markers of the food.. in turn changing the way the food energy modulates spiritual patterns of the consumer.

If we introduce too many new things in our daily routine our brain gets confused and eventually gets exhausted & shuts down. Similarly.. spiritual energy derived from the consumed food nourishes the sukshma sharir.. if there is a khichndi of spiritual energies in the consumed food.. the sukshma sharir gets confused.. so a puristic sukshma sharir would waste resources weeding out random unwanted spiritual inputs from the consumed food energy.. its simpler for such puristic spiritual sukshma sharirs to keep the source of their food energy aligned to their own spiritual sukshma sharir energy needs.Why fill the brain with unrequired information? It is very difficult to unlearn what is learnt.. memories & experiences stay long in the brains. Similarly, why take unnecessary baggage of unrequired spiritual experiences of others which may not directly contribute in our own spiritual journey..  it is difficult to clear out unrequired spiritual influences from the sukshma sharir. Why create a mess unnecessary when it can be avoided in the first place.. hai na. Travelling in a lighter vehicle (our sukshma sharir) helps us reach the destination faster and with less fuel burnt.. adding too many ppl & luggage (unrequired spiritual inputs) in the car would slow us down & burn more fuel. Unless of course, you’re a bus (a Guru) with abundant fuel energy and plenty of place for many fellow travelers (lok kalyan). A bus is not always better or worse.. a lighter car can also do the job & vice versa.. it depends on what every vehicles purpose & chosen path is.

Let me give you another analogy: a person with ‘O+ve blood group’ can easily receive blood from anyone.. but someone with a rare ‘AB –ve blood group’ would have problems receiving blood from other blood groups. So certain awakened spiritual beings like Gurus can take the spiritual profile of everyone in their personal stride while in their own spiritual journeys.. and there are others like me who are very ‘Puristic’ in their approach of spiritual growth. Not that one is better than the other.. they are just different. Just like having an ‘O blood group’ would not make someone a better or worse person compared to someone with an ‘AB blood group’..  they both are the same but their needs different.. similarly here as ‘purists’ our spiritual paths & needs a little different..  that’s it. So what makes ppl like me comfortable to eat at our own homes? Family members are bound together by their prarabdhs.. they share similar spiritual traits.. grandparents, parents, siblings, spouse, kids have similar patterns of spiritual consciousness.. they may be on separate individual spiritual journeys but have certain commonalities. Even if not similar, with time our spiritual personalities and needs automatically get adjusted to these differences, our sukshma sharir learns to differentiate as it adjusts to the shared living. Regardless, we may still like eating XYZ cooked by our mothers & ABC cooked by some1 else in the family.. we may prefer sitting with some specific person in our family while having meals.. similar spiritual personality types at that moment in your life journeys you see.

‘Namak ka Rinn utarna’? Why do we take gifts to invited parties.. why do we invite others for lunch/dinner when we were invited by them.. marriages B’D parties functions - why counter invites or gifts? Namak ka Rinn utarna. We want to reciprocate energy exchange for what we consume. Gurus repay this Rinn (debt) by sharing wisdom.. elders by their blessings.. close family & friends with their good wishes.. Mandir Prasad consumption by Dakshina.. restaurant food by paying the charges which the restaurant feels is appropriate for their food services. Eating at appropriate restaurants is OK with me.. and I’m not a hypocrite coz of this.. how? Mom often asks why I’m so fussy with home invitations when I enjoy eating at select restaurants? When eating at a restaurant it is just the physical body energy needs which get taken care off (& the taste buds ).. the complete fee for the food & service charges as decided by the restaurant negates most other energy markers. Regardless, I would be wary eating the same food if other eyes are grazing over my ordered food.. or if the waiter doesn’t seem happy (I try not to argue with the cook or waiter).. it’s not full proof (& I do have my share of misadventures with energy crossfires) but it mostly negates other effects.. regardless.. lesser the better. There’s a reason why restaurant food is not called Prasad and why we don’t pay fees for Mandir Prasad.

Why is it that refusing to accept offered Prasad (which is made with pure bhakti for the divine) is considered ‘paap’? How does eating or not eating Puja Prasad adds or alters our spiritual journeys? So how is eating Prasad different? Why we should accept puja Prasad? Prasad is supposed to be cooked with pure bhakti towards the supreme while cooking.. i.e. the spiritual energy of the cook, the prepared Prasad food & the consumer all are in alignment with the supreme.. all focused to the Ishta Devta.. there is no mix-up of spiritual frequencies.. all 3 energies.. the cook, prepared Prasad food energy & the consumers energies are all in alignment with the ishta devta for whom the Prasad was prepared & offered. Our Sthool sharir (outer body) is doing puja with our Mann Budhi & chitta (sukshma sharir) concentrated on our Ishta Devta. So consuming offered Prasad & digesting to harvest the energy from the Prasad completes the circle of worship to fully benefit in terms of energy quotients. Not accepting the Prasad would make the spiritual benefit of the Puja incomplete for the devotee {As always conditions apply you see.. all this true if Puja & Prasad all done with pure bhakti in the hearts of the hosts & the guests.. if not this is just superficial talk needing no explanation}.

This blog’s getting long.. so let me just add a few random pointers for you to ponder upon (I might cover each of them at length in separate future blogs): - Languages, religion & spirituality get processed in similar ways in our brains. Certain languages derived from certain source codes are more aligned with certain religions & their associated spiritual (or not) patterns. I don’t know much about foreign languages.. but I can tell you that languages from the Indian subcontinent have a similar source code.. they come from the same source.. some still very close in their resemblance to the source & others little away. So, (thinking talking & brain processing with) the Indian sub-continent languages are more suited to the spiritual paths (which we loosely call religions) derived from the womb of the Indian subcontinent. Putting simply.. brain processing in Latin or English would make it difficult to achieve spiritual growth through the ways and processes researched developed & fine-tuned over the centuries in the Indian subcontinent.. it would make it a KHICHDI of sorts for a beginner.

- Our educational backgrounds contribute to our spiritual personalities & vice-versa. Let me give you my own example.. a doctor degree in health matters makes me want to look deep within and explore; my puristic behavior comes from my PhD (mastery & focus on a single area of interest); pursuit of an MBA is reflected in my lateral thinking across spirituality.. multi-cuisine food habits; my interest in learning anything new & different.. a sign of exploring solutions to my spiritual needs by different means.

I take a top-down approach to my spirituality.. I connect to the supreme.. & through the supreme, I get connected to all. My parents& others in my family, spiritual Guru’s.. they take a collective bottom-up approach to spirituality.. i.e. they connect the life-force energy with others.. and in so connect spiritually with the supreme. Next time if you find someone like me behaving interesting at your home or party.. it is not necessary they are acting pricey or high-headed.. it could simply be that their spiritual profile is needing them to be so. Jai Maa Annapurna Devi.

PS: I am glad I have a successor to this puristic lifestyle of mine.. my younger daughter is already showing many similar signs. Just like my mother has had a hard time thanks to my special innate ‘nakhrae’ (as she would often call them).. I’m looking fwd to how my wife deals with these ‘nakhraes’ of our little darling. Perhaps she would read this & it would help.. perhaps all my hosts read this so I don’t have to explain or feel awkward to make them feel awkward coz of my awkwardness at their place. I love all of them.. it’s just that some of us have different spiritual needs.. some of us are highly spiritually attuned.. please understand.. won't you 