#that must have been a fun convo lmao

[doublxpresso]

Face-off

Part 1 - Lu Guang & Qiao Ling

page 7 - 8

page 5 - 6 < . > page 9 - 10

main post

[noicevibes]

𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐥'𝐬 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, pt. i

In advance, I apologize to those who have already seen this post. I’ve had to transfer it to a new blog thanks to a seemingly permanent ban on my former main blog, @/niicevibe. So this is just copy & paste from there. Sorry!

masterlist | taglist pt. i | pt. ii | pt.iii

pairing -> albedo x fem!reader

warnings -> 18+ (minors & blank blogs dni), virgin!reader, virgin!albedo, pwp, vaginal fingering, handjob, oral (m. receiving), brief deepthroating (🙏🏼), safe experimentation (& unsafe piv sex lmao), creampie (multiple, implied), impregnation (?), cock warming, aftercare; brief convo of menstrual cycles & periods; mention of blood; uhhh it’s a bit comedic at times, lawls, but this is pretty vanillz, y’know?

character mentions -> klee, kaeya, traveler, paimon, lisa, sucrose, iris, timaeus

wc -> 14.5k

Most folks would argue that taking the advice of an explosives-loving ten-year-old over that of a time and experience-hardened adventure is idiotic; that accessing Dragonspine and braving its subzero temperatures from the route at Wyrmrest Valley rather than through the adventurer’s camp by the Snow-Covered Path was reckless— not just for you, but for those who would have to come up in the mountains and search for your body (to which you easily scoffed at; adventurers do have their penchant for dramatics, after all). Whatever she thought your goal had been when you initially asked Iris for directions with your map had been of no consequence, disregarding her noisy efforts of convincing you to go her mapped route.

“Look, I’m not some adventurer— I’ve got one destination and it’s right here, now tell me the fastest way of getting there, not the adventurer’s way.”

Before the ensuing argument could take another turn for the worst, a familiar face had appeared between you. Well, below you.

“Miss ______, Miss ______!” You’d flinched then, not expecting to see a child at your side so suddenly, but upon recognizing who it’d been, your heart settled.

“Ah, Klee!” You’d dropped onto a knee, grinning as you sweep her into your arms. “Just the sweet, helpful face I’d been hoping to run into!” She’d giggled at this, taking a second to cling to you just a little tighter before finally letting you go. “Say, do you think you could help me with a teensy little problem?”

“Of course!” she’d cheered. “Spark Knight Klee of the Knights of Favonius, at your service, Miss ______! How can Klee help!?”

Reaching behind you and snatching your map out of Iris’s hands, not forgetting to shoot the woman an obvious look of disdain, you’d turned back to Klee, your smile having returned instantly.

“Well, I’m trying to find your brother’s lab,” you’d explained, “but this is the first time I’ve ever been to Dragonspine. He once marked it for me on this map, but I’m having trouble figuring out the fastest route there. You must have the best route, right, Klee?”

“I do! It’s true!!” She’d immediately stuck her nose into the parchment, with you pointing at the small, inked on “X” sitting near one of the Waypoint markers. “Ooh, yes! If you go along this snowy beach, and up a biiiiiiig hill where this bright red light is! You’ll find big brother Albedo in his lab! Klee was just there!”

“Oh, I see! He wasn’t busy, was he?”

“Nuh-uh! He and I just ate lunch together! But now I have to go back to Mondstadt to see Grand Master Jean…” At this, she’d sighed.

You made a silly face at her, lip jutted into faux suspicion. “Did you blow something up again?”

“No!!” she’d been quick to argue, though just as quick to relent. “… yes... I went fish blasting again...”

You’d chuckled. “Atta girl, Klee. If you ask me, they deserve it. Those fish never bite.”

And so thanks to Klee’s quick guidance and no thanks to that useless, no fun Iris - Klee had agreed with this statement - you were on your way through Wyrmrest Valley, passing by a strange cave filled with the bright red light the young girl had mentioned (thanks to Albedo, you knew it to contain the heart of Durin from the old stories of Mondstadt) and trekking up a snowy hill with the hood of your coat pulled tight over your head. You don’t take much of a break until you reach one of the Waypoint markers, a ten minute standing siesta against it to catch your breath and absorb its warmth before heading due east toward the black “X” on your map.

The closer you get to the mouth of the cave, the thinner the layer of soft snow covering the ground beneath you gets, until eventually, your snowshoes sound against planks of wood bolted deep into the hard, bare earth. You heave a sigh of relief, your calves having been burning almost too fiercely for you to continue. Having received such a stroke of luck for having found where you were headed… you remind yourself to not to take it for granted.

Knocking the snow off your boots off as best you can before entering, you soon spot the person you'd climbed all this way for, standing with his back to the opening and before an easel. You decide to leave your arrival unannounced, suddenly rising onto the toes of your boots to lighten your steps on your way over to him, but even despite your best effort, he still greets you.

"Hello, ______. It's nice to see you today."

"Hi, Albedo," you reply, trying hard not to sound too disappointed. "Um... how did you know it was me? You didn't even turn around..."

"Not many people brave travelling up Dragonspine just to come and visit me," he explains. "Klee, Kaeya, the Traveler and Paimon whenever they return to Mondstadt, they all greet me normally-- but when you come and visit me in Mondstadt, it's usually without notice, and, you always try to sneak up on me."

You move around from behind him to see his face. His eyes flicker onto you, while his mouth quirks into a small smile in welcoming you before returning to the canvas.

"... do I really do that every time," you ask, your embarrassment showing through your awkward grin. He nods, another brush stroke leading up the canvas. "Oh... sorry about that."

"There's no need to apologize, ______. I look forward to your visits."

Despite the cold still managing to sting your cheeks, they're quickly warmed by his words.

"Are you able to stay for a while today? I'd like to show you the conclusion of that last experiment you saw me working on, but I'd also like to finish this painting and show you it, as well."

"I saved the entire day for our visit, so don't rush anything on my account, okay?"

"I don't want to keep you here too late," he says, dipping a new, smaller-tipped brush into his paint palette. "Dragonspine is less friendly at night."

Less friendly? you wonder, thinking back on how you had to run from a Frostarm Lawachurl only twenty minutes ago. I suppose from the perspective of someone with a Vision, this makes more sense.

"Worst case scenario, I could always sleep here," you reason. Off your shoulders, you slide off your pack of supplies, and attached to the bottom of it by a pair of two thick leather straps, "since I brought my sleeping pouch with me, just in case."

"I see. Well, that does bring me more comfort than having you hiking along this mountain in the dark. Which way did you come from, anyhow?"

"The path near the heart of Durin." He immediately sighs.

"Klee. Ever since she decided to wander around the base of the mountain, it's been through that route that she's come, rather than staying on the one the Adventurer's Guild paved out."

"But the map shows it to take twice as long to get up here?"

"That's because the other paths are twice as dangerous."

"In all seriousness, Klee bombs fish for fun, so I don't think her taking a Frostarm Lawachurl down with her Pyro Vision is much of a problem, nor is it one of her biggest concerns."

"Even though that isn't the point, and not exactly a fair comparison... I have to agree. After all, I've seen it done." Your eyes widen in awe of the girl. "______, please. If you come up here again, use the safe route. I don't want to hear of anything happening to you on account of you coming to see me."

"We've been friends for a long time now, Albedo, and I appreciate you always worrying about me, I do, but really," and you place your hand on his shoulder, "you don't have to. You deal with enough stressful things. I would never dream of burdening you with such an awful feeling."

"It's because we have been friends for so long that I worry, ______. It would bring me a peace of mind for you to stay safe, no matter where you go."

All the choice words you had to say die on your tongue, deciding against starting a meaningless argument. Besides, it goes the same for you, too. Even though he has a Vision and he's a skilled fighter, you always worry when he's alone up here. Especially after that incident with his imposter.

You sigh at him, taking your hand back and moving to collapse on the edge of his cot. You yank your thick, woollen coat off of you and lay it next to your pack on the floor. "Fine. I'll take the long way here next time. But if I freeze to death, that is on you."

"It's a deal, then," he says, and you instantly roll your eyes.

"Oh, before I forget," and you reach for your pack, "I brought you something."

You have to stifle a laugh when his head whips toward you. "By any chance, is it more sweets?"

"Don't sound too excited, Albedo," you say; "you might not like this one this time."

"Was it you who made them?" he inquires.

"Naturally."

"Then I will like these ones, too."

You decide to relish in the heat created by his flattering words for an extra second before pulling out the tin. Filled with soft, white gelatin balls rolled in coconut, and at the center, a sweet jam filling, "Supposedly, the idea of them came from Fontaine, but this one is an old recipe I found from cleaning out my relative's attic the other day. They are called "coconut macaroons”.”

Standing, you open the tin and present them to him, watching his eyebrows raise as he studies them.

"Would you mind holding it for me to eat?" he suddenly asks, and in raising his hands to where you can see them covered in paint, you nod, no other words needed from him.

"Of course," you say.

Tucking the lid beneath the tin, you use your other hand to pluck one of the balls out, and hold it closer to his mouth. He gives it a light sniff per his usual routine with the food you bring him, before parting his lips to bite into it. It seems to surprise him, just how soft and sweet the treat is. Up until now, or at least in the past six months, most of what you've made for him had been either a pastry of varying textures or different kinds of cakes or biscuits, though based on your description of the new dessert, he hadn’t been expecting such a moist sweetness to it.

“So? What do you think?” He spares you a glance before leaning forward. You bring it a little closer, having drawn back to give him room, and he takes the rest of it into his mouth, his lips grazing over the tip of your index finger. “O-Oh…”

You don’t miss this. As slight as the contact had been, it still managed to freeze you in place as it registered. It was just an overextension, you fool, you tell yourself, internally shaking your head. If it wasn’t for what happened earlier, you wouldn’t have even thought it to be anything but innocent. After all… it’s not just bringing him some sweets as to why you’re here… Get your head out of the proverbial gutter, ______!

“It’s delicious,” he tells you earnestly, his turquoise eyes seeming to be shining just a little brighter. “By comparison, I think this might be one of your best creations. Did you make the jam middle yourself, too?”

“Yes,” you say, thankful that he’d decided to ask about it so as to settle your heart down. “A seventy-thirty ratio of valberries to regular berries, and refined sugar from fresh sweet flowers. Not too sweet, but not too tart either, right?”

“The perfect balance,” he agrees with a small nod. Your gaze zeroes in on the skin next to his mouth. “Thank you for bringing these, ______. I’ll definitely be enjoying them.”

“… you’re welcome,” you murmur, your brain a little slow in responding properly.

If you hadn’t bothered to visit Timaeus by Mondstadt’s alchemy station in an attempt at hunting Albedo down for the purpose of giving him these sweets, you wouldn’t have overheard the conversation at all. But it would only appear that the gods are seeing fit to serve you reminders until you bother to ask him about it. Now, it simply seems like you’re only buttering him up with the treat in order to get an answer out of him.

Which isn’t true! you’re quick to remind yourself. B-But… maybe it’ll help?

“Um… you have a bit of coconut on your cheek,” you mumble, internally sighing at the fact that your tone still remained near that of a whisper.

“Oh, thank y—” he halts in raising his free hand to remove it, nearly having forgotten about his painted hands. “______, would you actually mind, again, removing it for me?”

You set the tin down in the empty space of a small wooden table. “S-Sure.” Truly, it doesn’t need much focus to simply reach out and brush the shaving away, but you can’t hold a steady enough hand that you might’ve risked dropping the tray of sweets.

What's with me all of a sudden?! you’d wondered.

For as long as you’ve known him, both you and Albedo held a mutually platonic relationship. Before, it barely teetered on the line of coworkers and friends, you being a simple records clerk for the Knights of Favonius, and him, being their chief alchemist, until you mustered up enough courage to send him a personal gift during one of Mondstadt’s winter holidays; touched by the gesture, he sent you a beautiful landscape painting of his of Dragonspine.

Normally, with how busy you’d always been with the Knights’ affairs, you wouldn’t have bothered to approach him in the first place, but after a short conversation about him with Kaeya, you learned that not being too hasty so as not to startle him - in this case, first sending him a gift as a greeting of sorts - was the smarter move.

It had been almost three years since then. And in those three years, you’d never felt so strangely behaved around him until now.

Damn those chatty women, you mentally curse. It’s all I can think about now! How stupid.

“______?”

You jump, not realizing you had zoned out. “Y-Yes.”

“You were shaking,” Albedo says, the slight drop of his brows almost barely noticeable. “Are you feeling alright? Are you cold?”

“Oh, n-no—” quickly and carefully, you brush away the coconut with a swipe of your thumb. “I’m not cold.”

Albedo goes silent, his eyes suddenly wandering across your face. As naturally as possible, you avert your own, and retake your seat at the edge of the mattress, knowing full well of his curiosity.

How would you even phrase it? It’s personal, isn’t it? Inappropriate? Er, invasive? Not only in regards to the relationship you had as both coworkers and as friends, but just in general— you just don’t really ask people this.

You groan, relenting to his wordless wondering. “… this might be a bit of an… awkward, personal question.”

Albedo has to hide his relief when you finally decide to speak again. He didn’t want to pry, despite that curiosity. You’d looked uncomfortable, after all. Or, “embarrassed” might be a more choice word to use.

“Inquiry is never awkward, ______. It’s an opportunity to learn more. What is it?”

You hold back a bated breath. No, really— it’s an awkward question. Maybe not for you it won’t be, but for me, yes.

“Right… well…” You clear your throat. “Earlier today, when I was speaking to Timaeus to find out where your laboratory was, the people who were behind me started a conversation that… involved your name.”

“I suppose that’s not uncommon, considering where you were.”

“W-While that is true, I assure you that it hadn’t nothing to do with the practices of alchemy.”

Albedo pauses, sparing a glance at you before finally setting the brush down into a somehow non-frozen glass of water. There were many things within the master alchemist’s laboratory that defied reason, this being of the few that genuinely shocks you the most considering how frigid his Dragonspine lab tends to be, even with multiple lanterns and a large fire always going. He turns to the basin of water and dips his hands in, the water quickly turning an off blue shade from the paint, and abandoning the canvas.

“Oh. Then, do tell. I’m rather curious to learn why I came up in their conversation, if not for that alchemy.”

“Ye— oh, boy.” An exhale leaves you sharply, an embarrassing heat suddenly spreading across the back of your neck. “O-Okay. So, you know how you were created as an artificial human, right? Wait, don’t answer that,” you interrupt yourself as he’d gone to speak; “of course, you know. Archons, that was stupid of me— well, i-it’s not common knowledge, naturally, but people have been making up their own theories since, obviously, you don’t age, and so I overheard some of the theories today, like you’re a secret god or a cursed human or a very well-designed, micro-versioned Ruin enemy with sentience, but then the talk about these theories got them to asking more personal, inappropriate-for-public-conversation questions, like—”

“________.” You gasp a little, out of breath from your tangent. “That was a very long sentence. Please, ask me your question before you go unconscious from poor oxygenation.”

You nod, cheeks hot.

“… a-are you able to reproduce?”

Albedo blinks at you. If he’s surprised by your question, he doesn’t show it— in fact, the only change he does show is one of inquisition. Curiosity. As if the thought of siring children had never once been a thought in his five hundred years of existence. Perhaps he could easily assume the answer is “no”, considering his “genetic make up”, for a lack of a more appropriate term— he hadn’t been nicknamed “the chalk prince” for simply his last name, after all.

But then, on the other hand, he retains identical biological functions to humans such as yourself— tear, saliva, and mucus production; urination and defecation; having the ability to bleed— so perhaps it stands to reason that his body contains the same chemical makeup in his ejaculate as any common male, too, no? Maybe, it might even be of a more concentrated design; a textbook definition of “virility”. And while he knows he’s quite capable of this type of fluid production, he’d only allowed himself to venture on that end of science (read: pleasure) once, and through a private venture. It hadn’t exactly been an experiment to perform in front of others, being frank.

Albedo has lost himself to thought, this much is easy for you to tell. His brilliant gemstone-like eyes have lost their shine and had gone out of focus, a hand has raised to hold his chin and ground him. You don’t bother to speak, waiting for him to exit his mind on his own. Eventually, his thoughts begin to spill out and off his tongue, his murmuring quick to join the crackling fire in filling his cliffside laboratory.

“… perhaps I should proceed with a plan to test this theory, though… a long term experiment of nine-plus months is slightly untenable in consideration to my main objective… There are numerous considerations… although… a willing, fertile participant would surely be necessary…” To your surprise, his concentration breaks, his gaze flitting toward and onto you.

You shiver, knowing full well it isn’t from the cold.

“A-And just what is that look for?” you ask, your voice having cracked with concern.

“… nothing in particular,” Albedo says. He has yet to blink, eyes seemingly stuck on you.

“In case you didn’t know, you were speaking out loud again, Albedo— I heard that last bit.”

“Oh. Perhaps I should explain, then,” he says. You instantly pale at his words. “Regarding your question, I can only partially answer it right now. I don’t know whether I am capable of reproduction. When Gold entrusted me with find the “truth and meaning of this world”, for many years, this had become my sole purpose and drive. After that, perhaps I might fully be free to investigate and experiment the rest that life has to offer. I see, however, that this has piqued your interest. In all honesty, I am curious about it, as well.”

“S-So then… what do you plan to do?” you ask, immediately wishing you hadn’t.

“Seeing as I don’t have any other experiments to tend to, I’m currently weighing the pros and cons on my decision to begin this one. The parameters and necessary criteria are relatively straightforward. Quite obviously, it wouldn’t take many, if not zero, tools or supplies. Really, there’s only one other factor necessary for investigation.”

“And that’s that ��willing, fertile participant” you mentioned before,” you say, expression and tone both deadpan.

“Exactly.”

“You know, sometimes, you’re a little too honest, Albedo.”

“My apologies,” he says.

“I… didn’t mean it as a bad thing,” you mumble, looking away from him and at the opening to his lab, outside raging a sudden squall that could easily rival the old record in Dragonspine’s storm history. I guess I’ll be staying overnight here, after all. “I’m perfectly used to your honesty by now, considering how long we’ve known each other for.” What great timing. Comedic, even. Ha, ha, ha.

“I suppose so.” A pregnant silence has you shifting in your seat, suddenly favouring you putting your weight onto your hands while the waiting continues. You huff at him. “Based on the simple fact that you and I have been in close relations for as long as we have, _______, I have a proposition.”

You swallow, offering a small nod for him to continue, but before he does, he travels through his laboratory in search of something— a clipboard full of parchment that he brings along on his way back toward you.

“Firstly, am I correct in assuming that your menstrual cycle is regular, and you’re in decent health?”

“Albedo,” you start, tone unintentionally harsh. “Now it’s your turn to get to the point and ask your question.”

“… right, then.. Would you engage in coitus with me— for the sake of this experiment?”

“Archons alive,” you mutter with a shake of your head, “isn’t there some other way for you to figure it out?”

“Nothing so conducive. I’ve already had to eliminate the possibility of collecting a semen sample and examining it beneath the microscope as there’s a probability that the results would end up showing no evidence of impact; the samples may look textbook but may be inert. Even more, I sincerely doubt that the focal strength of the lens would be enough to see the sample’s cellular makeup on such a microscopic level.”

You instantly hate that he has such excusable, sound logic so readily available.

“I suppose I understand why you’re having doubts about committing to something like this. While I’m not privy to your stance on having children, nor can I fully understand the complexities that may stem from making the decision to go through with pregnancy, I can at least empathize from the standpoint of being one of Klee’s guardians— being a parent isn’t easy.”

“No, it’s not,” you agree. “Albedo, i-if we go through with this, and you do end up being able to reproduce, this is exactly what would happen. I would get pregnant. I would become a parent. I really don’t know if I’m ready to take this risk…”

To your surprise, when you sit up on the edge of his bed, you catch his sour expression in your peripheral vision— it’s not one that you see often.

“Are you under the impression that I would toss you aside when the experiment was done?”

You open your mouth to speak, but only single syllable, unintelligible sounds come out. “I—”

“At the very least, I understand what the end result would mean should it be a positive one. You and I would have created a life together.” Your skin prickles, eyes wide and trained on your lap. “It is not a short term commitment. I wouldn’t allow myself to be held any less responsible for that life than you, ______. In this case, I suppose the parameters need to be corrected— not “nine-plus months”… I should allot for two decades, give or take a few more years…”

“T-Two decades,” your fried brain finally allows you to say. He hums, the dejected look on his face slowly morphing into one of fondness.

“It’s strange, but… I find myself eager to get started.”

“I-I… haven’t even said “yes” yet,” you murmur, eyes daring to rise to meet his. Instead, your lips immediately part.

Being the kind of “person” he is, Albedo had been created with multiple human intricacies left behind. Most times, his expression is calm, complacent, untelling— that of a gambler’s dream. There have been few occasions that have drawn out those different, pocketed looks, but you have experienced of him things like anger when his friends and comrades were injured; joy when Klee or the other Mondstadt children are with him, or when he receives your gift of the week; frustration over a failed experiment or an unexpected result; and most recently, disappointment, when you assumed he would abandon you and the child you both might make. And you thought that one would be the most shocking.

But this… What he wears now… is purely desire; a resultant lust having overcome him by the multiple prospects dangling before him like a carrot on a string. Should the experiment be successful, he would learn that he, an artificial being, is capable of procreating with a pure human. Zygote squares dance before his eyes, hypotheticals of traits and genotypes spread across sheets and sheets of parchment— would they be born male or female? Would they look like him or like you? A thought he believes strange crosses his mind— he only hopes that the child would have your eyes.

You know him well enough to figure that he’s going over every possible outcome and theory, always so entranced by them that he would jot them all down later. Now, it seems there’s only one thing stopping him from being able to get to that stage in the experiment. You.

And so, you nod. Albedo’s lips part, relieved.

“I need verbal consent from you to begin this experiment, ______.”

“Yes, then,” you say, your voice trembling. “I give my consent. Let’s… try and make a baby.”

Your attempt at making the situation less stiff and formal somehow seems to work, the skin near Albedo’s eyes suddenly crinkling into a soft, appreciative smile.

“Thank you, ______. If it’s alright, I do have a few more questions for you before we begin.”

“Mm… hm.”

“Are there any physical restrictions I should know about? Present or past injuries that may affect you during intercourse?”

“Um, no, none that I can recall,” you say after a moment of consideration. He jots something onto the clipboard.

“And your last menstrual cycle,” he goes on, “when did it end?”

“I-I—” you blink rapidly, not expecting him to consider such a thing as necessary input, spluttering as you wrack your brain for an answer, “m-maybe… ah… It was… nine days ago, I-I think.”

Albedo nods, writing another set of words down. “Then that’ll put you in the fertile cusp…”

“… f-fertile cusp,” you repeat, watching him intently.

“Yes— from what I remember when I studied cellular anatomy, the first twelve days after the cycle ends is when fertility is at its peak.”

“No, I-I know that, it’s just…” And you can’t stop the small laugh that escapes you. “It’s all so formal and proper. I know it’s for the sake of collecting data for the experiment,” you quickly add, “but having intercourse… having sex… isn’t such a stiff affair.” But then you laugh again, apologizing under your wheezing breaths when you notice the unintentional pun you’d made, somehow made funnier as you know Albedo wouldn’t have caught it, himself.

He ponders your words, though it doesn’t take him long to acknowledge the truth in them. For as unknowledgeable as he is on these human intricacies, the colloquial term of “making love” surely didn’t involve note-taking or detailed inquiries— he’d figured this much. In exchange for you having become a willing participant in this fool’s experiment, you at least deserve a memorable experience.

“Ah, my apologies. You’re right. While I know of the act, engaging in coitus and its technicalities is something I’m unfamiliar with. “Making love”…” Your skin prickles at the sudden change in intonation. “It’s a romantic endeavour, isn’t it. Done between… loving partners.”

Even though it had been the first question to have asked you, he found himself pushing it further down the list, preferring to subject you the other eight questions ahead of it— have you had any other sexual partners recently? Why is it he couldn’t simply say the words?

“It can be, yes,” you say. “Some people have sex rather suddenly, too, and it’s not always between lovers. It’s not always romantic, either, but it deserves passion.”

It’s because you don’t want to know if she’s been involved with anyone else, he realizes, somehow brought to the conclusion without a second thought. Anyone else besides you.

Albedo sets the clipboard down next to the bed. How is it possible to have found yourself at such a conclusion, he wonders. But then he regards his memories, his past thoughts, managing to find your image dancing before his eyes and recall your words ringing in the space between his ears. He remembers the joy stemming from each of the many times you’d come to see him— out of the handful of people he’d bother to get involved with, get to know closely, you were the one whose company he enjoyed the most.

Never forcing himself into uncomfortable social settings, or into the public limelight whenever he achieved a new feat that might’ve deserved to be celebrated; always respecting his desire to keep his number of relationships to a bare minimum, aware of just how exhaustive maintaining them gets for the man— you made knowing you so much easier for him. Those same human emotions he’d have certain trouble in understanding were explained and shown to him just as naturally as it had been to breathe, yet the one bit of you he hadn’t yet seen a side of is love. Adoration. The same kind of fondness he feels deep down in his heart when he looks at you.

Be it for the sake of or borne through the results of this experiment… I’d like to experience it from you, if only once.

Now, standing before you, arms straight down at his sides, the tips of his fingers skim across the ends of his pant legs as if… suddenly shy.

Your eyes quickly dart over to the paper, and despite it being upside down, you can still make out some of the words of the unanswered first question. Realizing that he must’ve intentionally skipped it, you decidedly take one of his cold hands into your yours and force your fingers between his. Gaze lidded, he stares down at them, his thumb rising to rub into the fleshy part of it.

“I haven’t been with anyone else, Albedo,” you whisper, flexing your hand in a gentle squeeze. “You would be my first.” He swallows thickly. “And… I think this is why I’d been nervous to agree to this, but… this is your first time, too, right?”

“Yes,” he says, just as quiet. “It is.”

“Then…” You tug lightly on his hand, and with little resistance, he moves toward you, only a single, clumsy step necessary to find himself between your legs. Startled by the closeness, he raises his other hand to your shoulder to brace himself against you. “I’m glad. If it were anybody else, I don’t think I would have agreed.”

Albedo’s eyes wander, and the hand pressed against your collarbone travels in tandem, sliding to hold you by the underside of your jaw— something he’d seen while in the city of Mondstadt. He thought about it often. “And why is that?” Does it feel nice? He wishes he could read your mind, but it becomes telling in your warm gaze, in your sweet smile, in the way that under his cool touch, he witnesses your flesh turn feverish, made worse only by the thumb that caresses your cheek. You like it. You like him— he thanks the God who heard his wish.

You lean your weight into his palm, eyelashes fluttering. “Kiss me, Albedo. Let me show you why.”

He nods, a stiff gesture. Your warm hands drag him from his frigidity, placed on either side of the smooth porcelain of his face, and into you, your lips parting only far enough from each other that his may fit between them. It is almost a too perfect fit, he notes, even when you’re moving them.

You encourage him to move along with you, chin nudging his lightly enough that he gets the message, and his thin fingers shift to wind almost desperately through your hair, pulling himself closer into you that your chests nearly touch. For a moment, he sways, put off balance by his lilted stance between your thighs, but then you shuffle backwards on his mattress, leaving enough of a space opens that he’s able to kneel on it. You smile against his lips, taking in a soft breath through your nose.

Albedo, as someone who had only ever witnessed a proper kiss once during a walk through Mondstadt, and who had only ever read about them in the few romance novels he’d dared to borrow from Lisa out of pure curiosity, could only follow your lead. Sure, Klee had often given him a few pecks on his cheek here and there as she grew up, but in his almost five hundred years of existence, this had been his first kiss. So gentle, so warm, so plush— oh, your lips are so nice to feel, he thinks, his own cheeks slowly heating up.

A hand leaves him, lamely skirting down the curves in his shoulder and trailing over the heavily adorned end of his sleeve, only to jump to claim his waist by the material of his indigo shirt. Your fingers curl into the fabric, dragging him further onto the bed with you; he relents by swinging his other leg over yours, effectively straddling you.

Albedo feels light-headed. Oh, is the sound he makes when he finally realizes why. I need to breathe. A giggle finally has him pulling back, you, watching as he struggles to catch his breath with a slight smirk on your face.

“If you take smaller breaths through your nose, or, when we stop, you won’t lose your breath as fast,” you quietly explain.

“… I know that,” he murmurs, nudging into your lips with his. “But I don’t want to stop.” Your eyes widen in shock at his bold - for him - admission. “______… teach me how to make love to you.”

Truly, you wouldn’t have expected those words to come from him, not in a million years. It leaves you startled, hot, like one of the dying embers in the cave’s fire brought to life by the fierce wind. You take a moment, pulling your hands away from him to let out a deep, shuddering, embarrassed breath into your palms.

“… w-what makes you think I know much more than you,” you say, quieted and muffled by your own hands.

“I’m simply aware of how vast your capacity to show tenderness and appreciation to others is. That is a form of love, isn’t it?”

“A more innocent kind of love, maybe,” you answer, dropping your hands to rest on his knee. “That part is easy, since it can just come naturally… but this—? I haven’t… I only know a little of what to do…”

“Then, shall we keep learning, together? I’ve read that intercourse can be painful, and I don’t wish for you to experience that discomfort. Will you show me what you know?”

“O-Of course, j-just… don’t expect me to be good at it, okay? I… I’ve only read about these things.”

Gently, his lips press to the corners of yours, making you squirm restlessly beneath him. Naturally, the books you had read had been from Lisa’s personal collection, and were not of the safe-for-work variety. Hardly educational and deeply inappropriate, it certainly left an imprint on your mind’s eye— even more so considering you were about to do some of those things with him.

In steeling yourself, Albedo notes how the look in your eyes have changed. As if you’d remembered something important, “Albedo, switch places with me.”

He nods once, his hands shifting to settle at your waist. With surprising ease and a knee pressed into the mattress once more, he turns, spinning you atop him. You’re easily startled by the motion, grabbing at his shoulders to steady yourself until he settles.

“I think I quite like this,” Albedo admits, once he’d gotten comfortable. “You, sitting on my lap.” You kiss him chastely.

“… it’s one of the best seats I’ve ever sat in, that’s for sure,” you murmur, hands smoothing across the exposed skin on his arms. You pause, suddenly flushed with an embarrassed warmth. “Th-that came out too easily, I—”

“No,” he interrupts you, and the hands holding your sides offer you a gentle squeeze. “I liked that, too.”

A dry chuckle leaves you, but not at his expense— you’re nervous to start what you’d sought to do, your heart beating anxiously beneath your ribcage as you slide a hand back up to his shoulder. Keeping yourself balanced against him, you slip your free hand between the two of you to finally, finally address the obvious, growing bulge settled between his thighs.

Albedo chokes, elbows buckling from where they hold him upright when your palm, curved like a cup, rests against the dense tent of his black shorts.

“_-______, what—”

“If, maybe, you thought I never noticed…” you lean into him, and in pressing your lips to the shell of his ear, “of course, I noticed.” Pride swells in your chest when you feel him suddenly tremble underneath you, his eyes wide.

Your smiling lips find his one last time before you’re sliding off of his lap and onto the floor between his knees. Confused and slightly dazed, Albedo goes to grab your arm and stop you. “______, what are you doing now?”

“… do you trust me?” you ask, rather than providing him with an explanation.

“Of course I do, but—””Then,” you carefully pry his fingers away from your arm and set it back in his lap, “let me try something. Work with me, okay?”

After a moment’s hesitation, he finally relents in the form of a nod, and it takes but one more steeling breath for you to commit.

Once more, your hands slide up his torso, creeping along his chest until reaching the golden belt slung over his shoulder. After a minute of trying to figure out how to unlatch it, you sigh defeatedly. “Albedo…”

“You should’ve just asked in the first place,” he tuts, staring down at you through lidded eyes.

“I didn’t think a belt could be so complicated— what is it even for?” you rhetorically add in a murmur.

“It pins my coat shut,” he still replies. You refrain from making eye contact when he finally undoes the pin from the backside of the belt, and with a click, the two pieces around the flap of white fabric from his coat separate, slipping over Albedo’s shoulders and landing on the ruffled blanket behind him. “There.”

“Good. Now, take your coat off.” He complies, shrugging it off of his shoulders and letting it slip down his arms. Your hands lift from your lap and skirt across his, trailing up his clothed thighs and up his waist, and tucking beneath the hem of his indigo shirt to take the zipper of his shorts between two trembling fingers. “…a-and lift your hips up,” you mumble, upon pulling it down and unclasping its neighbouring button.

“Okay.” You’re quick to drag them away from his hips when his ass rises off of the bed, the clinking of his metal accessories jingling when they hit the floor before you. Your jaw falls open— with your eyes trained lower than where his knees sat parallel to the mattress, you hadn’t at all notice that you’d pulled down more than just his shorts. “______…”

“I-I didn’t mean to move that fast,” you swear, eyes wide and struggling to stay on his. He looks at you, waiting for your next move with his teeth pinching the inside of his cheek. “But, um…” You dare to glance down, and sigh. “… there really isn’t a point to me being nervous anymore. It’s… You… are right in front of me now.”

“That’s right,” Albedo says. You have to hide your surprise when he leans forward to touch your cheek with his cold, gloved fingertips; a supporting gesture, one with his own brand and level of comfort that he could muster. “You have me right here in front of you.”

Somehow, you find yourself being grateful in the silliest of ways, unable to help the way your mind takes you to the time of Albedo’s creation. Proportionate in every beautifully normal way, from the length of his torso to the expanse of each of his creamy white thighs; from the average length of his cock and its surprisingly wide girth, to how its head seemed to glow with rouge and how his balls hung before you in near perfect spheres— you almost ask him to undress the rest of himself, but as your gaze traveled even further downward to where his knee-high black boots both end and begin, squeezing the flesh of those same thighs you’d begun to adore, you stop yourself.

No, these should definitely stay on.

“You asked me to show you what I know, right?” Albedo blinks down at you, where your eyes rest on his twitching shaft almost too intently. You wet your lips, and finally wrap your warm fingers around his base; he flinches. “Then… what I know is that… supposedly… men really like this part,” you murmur against him, lips then pursing atop his blooming head.

Albedo involuntarily hisses, a hand rising to rest on the crown of his head in disbelief while the other fruitlessly clutches at the sheets beneath him. Having hoped to catch him off guard, you’d poked your tongue out and aimed it at the small slit in the centre, succeeding when his hips leap upward under your soft strokes.

“I-I’m beginning to understand… w-why — ahh…”

It tastes a little salty, you note. Gently, you curl your tongue beneath the head of his cock, and run it along its soft ridge, eliciting the softest of moans from the man sitting above you. In the corner of your eye, you watch his eyes flutter as the pleasure registers and his hands search for a new place to anchor themselves.

“You can touch me, too, Albedo,” you tell him, dropping your head a little lower to flatten your tongue against the base of his shaft. You drag up, sure to collect the small vein pulsing at his underside as you make your way to the top again, “I don’t bite, after all,” before collecting him into your mouth as far as it would let you, your mouth immediately hollowing around him following your words.

You smooth out your tongue beneath him as your cheeks puff out before contracting, a torturous set of suctioning squeezes that has Albedo squirming in place. You shift your hands to rest atop his thighs, only pressing down whenever he bucks just a little too much for you keep up with.

You draw back only slightly, the underside of his cockhead having quickly become the new target of your ministrations. Albedo’s hips roll, an automatic reaction he decided he didn’t care that he had no control over— your lips, your tongue, the heat of your mouth, the hot breaths you let out over his aching erection, oh— he wanted more of it.

Few things exist in this world that he desired as achingly so, if only the positive results of an experiment that led him closer to Gold’s expectations of him and the well-being of his friends. In the now, he simply desired you.

Albedo gasps, and as if on instinct, he lurches forward to hunch over you, almost throwing himself off of the edge of the mattress, and wind his fingers through your hair from behind. “-_____!!” For a moment, you panic, your hands flying up to brace yourself between his thighs, not having expected such a knee-jerk reaction from the alchemist that had him hitting the back of your throat. “Hngh!!”

As deeply as possible, you inhale around him, though very little air passes into your lungs. You shift higher onto your knees, your hands tapping against Albedo’s thighs in alarm the longer your throat remains constricted by his cock. But his head is thrown back, lips parted in pure awe and relishing at how tightly you’re able to wind around him, and how fast the strange burning sensation he’d only felt that one time before in his long life creeps up on him—!

Before he can warn you, and before he can even register what was about to happen, Albedo comes, his hot seed spurting heavily down the back of your throat. His groans are deep, filled with a vibrato that would almost tickle if not for the immense pressure. Lost in his pleasure, it takes him a moment to register that the strange flapping on his legs had been you, pleading for him to release your hair.

His hands fly up from you instantly, his groan sharp when you pull off of and away from him, swallowing thickly. “-_____—” your attempt at a proper first breath has you coughing a little, massaging your throat from the outside as if it would soothe what had just been done to the inside. “A… Are you alright? I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to…. do that.”

But you’re shaking your head, hand raised to wave him down.

“It’s… not your fault,” you tell him, your voice testing. “Honestly,” and you spare a chuckle, “that just meant I was doing something right.” Albedo frowns in his own confusion.

“Your pain was… a good thing?” he asks. “That’s slightly illogical.”

“I meant before that part. Your reaction… It felt good in my mouth, didn’t it? It must have… considering how quickly you came.” Hesitant, his concern for you still ever present in his expression, he nods. “I promise I’m okay, Albedo. But… we should keep going, hm?”

Albedo watches you, still knelt between him, his thoughts racing and unpinnable, most of them plaguing him with the guilt that he’s hurt you— but you only smile, your eyes squinted, and the tears collected along them threatening to spill. He enjoys it when you smile.

“Before,” he starts, his tone hopeful in his brand of emotion, “you said I can touch you.” You nod, your chest heaving with your breaths. “Does that permission still stand?”

“Wh— Y-Yes, of course, it does,” you answer, eyebrow raised in confusion. Albedo smooths his hand across your cheek, his thumb running along the soft skin beneath your one eye to clear away the bit of tears that finally fell.

“Then, I’d like to try touching you to get a similar reaction out of you,” he explains. “I’d like to make you feel as good as I just was.”

Lips parted, you consider his request. While a part of you desired nothing more than for him to reciprocate what you had just done to him, it’s difficult for you to attempt to escape the embarrassment it would bring you. Whether he would’ve been knelt before you, pushing your thighs apart whenever they might go to squeeze his head between them, or if he’d pull you to sit above his face, hold you in place, and—

No, no, no-no-no— either of those things are just too much to get him to do for his first time! you think, trying desperately to cast the details of Lisa’s personal collection out of your head to no avail. If your desire wasn’t showing before, it certainly should be now. So… i-if he wants to do this, if he’s really serious about it…

“… please, then, ‘bedo,” you murmur, leaning just a little deeper into his gloved palm. “Please touch me.”

Over and over, Albedo has managed to surprise you, though more than anything, it had been his astute eagerness that has thrown you for a loop. Despite his usual claims of lacking most human emotions, he seems to have no trouble displaying lust before you. Whether it’s expressed in regards to the promise of achieving positive results, or, as the potentially deluded area of your brain suggests, in regards to him harbouring a positive emotion, one aimed toward you, you weren’t privy.

This time, the surprise comes from him when he gently pulls you up onto your feet, him now standing with you, and spinning you on the spot to take his former place on the bed. You blink, slightly dizzied by the motion, and make to press your palms down flat to steady yourself, when Albedo leans into you, one of his own hands coming to rest next to yours. The other, however—

“Lift your hips up, ______,” he says, his thumb pressing forward to shove the button above the zipper to your trousers out through the hole, “and take off your jacket.”

You nod, swallow the lump in your sore throat, and shift your weight onto your hands that allows him to slide your thick, woollen tights down to your ankles, all in a single moment. Unlike you, however, he’s left your undergarment sitting askew around your hips— somehow, you manage to dub this even more embarrassing than if you were left half nude.

“I’m still right here in front of you,” he reminds you, once more leaning forward into your space, chin tilted toward his chest. You straighten your back, enough so that you’re able to meet his lips, and he gratefully obliges you, his own eyes shuttering closed upon contact. You part from him, grinning softly.

Albedo’s lips part to allow the tip of his glove’s middlemost finger to become pinched between his teeth— he pulls away, the dual-coloured leather falling against his chin before he discards it to the cave behind him, and reaches down between you. You catch his hesitation and decidedly remain silent until he finally moves, a curious hand coming to rest just above your pubic bone. Your breath barely hitches when his fingers curl to dig beneath the elastic banding on your underwear, only to pause with a single pad resting only an inch away from—

“I believe I asked you to remove your jacket,” he murmurs, eyes trained to where his hand waits.

“I— oh, I, o-okay, right…” Careful not to bump him, you begin shimmying out of your moisture-wicking sweater, tugging your arms and head from the holes, and tossing it behind Albedo, leaving you sitting in a half-as-thin turtleneck.

“Good. I’m going to begin now.”

You barely get a nod out when he’s already pressed down atop the flesh above your clit, your body jerking forward at the sudden burn of pleasure. In favour of helping Albedo chase his own release, you woefully chose to neglect the potential of your own, but this didn’t mean it hadn’t been sitting idle up until now, waiting for him to do something about it.

In all your time of knowing the man, you never would have thought you would see him make such an erotic expression, and having been blessed to, you still haven’t recovered from it. Brows knitted and eyes squeezed shut, teeth pinching his bottom lip through his failed self-restraint; you’d never seen a rosier red before than on those smooth porcelain cheeks of his— it sent waves of warmth to pool in your gut, a blindsiding strike against you as you became forced to wait your turn.

“From what I recall from my anatomy studies, the clitoris has over ten thousand nerve endings, so in a state of arousal…” He swirls his finger against it again and you jolt, your own hand rising from the bed to clutch at his wrist. “… the effect becomes heightened when it is physically stimulated.” His eyes flit up to watch your reaction when he moves lower, the tip of his soft digit catching under its hood; your trembling lips have parted, and your eyes are barely open to see him. You only feel when two of his fingers have dipped into you— your wide eyes snap up to him, cheeks flushed at the sudden squelch. “I see you didn’t even need physical stimulation for this— you’re quite wet, ______.”

Your grip on his wrist is shaky when it tightens; another indication of your arousal, Albedo notes. He doesn’t move his fingers as you had expected him to — they solicit themselves before your entrance, swimming in the slick that has gathered there, his reach managing to stretch far enough that it nudges your throbbing clit — and your mind immediately equates the emptiness within you to torture when you begin clenching around nothing.

“I-I don’t know if you’re teasing me on purpose, Albedo,” you start, your nails suddenly biting into the flesh of his hand, “but I’m begging you to stop.”

Your ears ring a little when the softest of chuckles fill them; you shoot a glare up at the alchemist. “No adverse effects to your cognition. If tempered, a high percentage persists, even under that same duress—” You whack his arm, at least hard enough that even he would feel it. “Ouch.”

“This isn’t a live anatomy study,” you joke at him, though the same bite you threw at him along with your knuckles are present in your tone. Albedo blinks, before his lips spread into a thin, almost apologetic, line.

“A habit,” he says with a shake of his head. “I’ll try to be more conscious of it.”

“J-Just… be less embarrassing about it,” you plead, turning your head away.

“Hm? Why is it embarrassing?” Albedo straightens, his back holding him upright instead of his other hand— he pinches your chin between two fingers, and turns you back toward him. “Sexual intercourse is an embodiment of what it means to be human, no? Without procreation, life would end.”

“Y-Yes, that’s all true, but… it’s not why I’m embarrassed. I-It’s not even you getting all technical while your fingers are—” as if cued, they slip into you once more, a gasp fleeing your wide open mouth in shock. “A-Albedo!?”

“So, is it me that you’re embarrassed over?” You wince, his fingers curling upwards as if searching. “Is it what I’m doing to you that’s made your body so warm?” His wrist turns, his other knuckles catching on your clit again and making you lurch into him. “Is it that my hand is so deep in your heat that’s making you look at me with such delirium?”

Your body spasms; you huff at him when he draws back.

“W… what are you even saying,” you pant, your hold on him faltering.

“I am only curious as to why you’ve been staring at me with such blatant adoration. I don’t believe I’ve done anything out of the ordinary to deserve it, and yet…” His own eyes move to meet yours. “I find myself enjoying having your attention on me.”

You could’ve quite literally melted on the spot, if not for the bitter chill filling the cave.

Albedo shifts before you, and seats himself to your right, his sole gloved hand curling around the underneath of your one knee to be thrown over his lap, the other remaining behind to slide up toward your hip. His fingers tug at the elastic of your underwear, collecting them around a knuckle and drawing them down your raised hips to your ankles, the wrinkled fabric pooling around the toes of your left foot.

“Keep your eyes on me, ______,” he says, barely audible. “Watch closely.”

You manage to amaze yourself at just how wet you’d truly become by his hand, the cloth surrounding your cunt and the blistering winds of the squall offering enough muffling that you hadn’t heard the squelching, and only felt it. You didn’t think it could get more embarrassing, but now, the sounds were out in the open, the progressively more intense smacks from his palm hitting resounding before you and belting between the stone walls. But you keep your eyes on him still, just as he’d asked you to, and let the heat continue to bloom.

His attention on you is somehow daunting— bottom lip caught between pearl-white teeth and brows furrowed; usually bright eyes darkened in his focus, occasionally flitting up to see the kind of expression you wear with each new ministration.

You shudder beneath him when the smooth skin of his thumb presses against your clit again, his fingers still curling and stirring your warm insides. An eyebrow raises, pleased by your reaction— Albedo rolls the pad of his finger against you in the hopes that you keep squirming beneath him, that your soft and barely controlled moans keep escaping you, all for him, all from him. Somehow it’s everything and not enough for you, though it shows when you roll your hips toward him and against his wetted wrist.

“I-It’s… how… can you can be… so… calm through this…!?” You pant, your fingers tightening at the breast of his shirt. Shivering beneath his languid touch, Albedo lets you keen against his smooth hand in a slow grind, his three middle fingers carefully pumping in and out of you, each draw pulling back more and more of your slick.

Eyes blown wide, Albedo takes his free hand and guides your lips back to his, tongue unhesitant in pushing past your gritted teeth to find your tongue. A moan escapes you when they curl together, your thighs instinctively trying to press together to curb the heat that starts pulsing between them. Albedo pushes them back open, eyes lazily shifting to the side in time to watch you begin to shake.

“Calm?” he repeats, having pulled away, and with a single stroke, you seize, both hands jumping to grasp at his wrist in an attempt to steady yourself through your first orgasm. “With you?” He presses his lips to the side of your head, a soft groan escaping him the tighter you manage to clench around his digits. “I’m not calm at all with you. Especially as you are now.”

“A-Al… bedo,” you whine, clutching at his shirt like a vice, nails barely digging through the fabric to reach him, but where you touch burns, only spurring him on to keep you sobbing until you reach the end of your high.

“Your voice is very pleasant when you orgasm, ______.” You seethe a harsh breath through your teeth when he retracts his fingers, and as if through a fogged lens, Albedo stares at his pale fingers coated in your release, watching it glisten under the glow of the fire as he turns them. “Hm.”

“… Albedo?” you call, voice hoarse but questioning.

“The viscosity is almost slime-like,” he notes— of course, he would, you think, biting back a chuckle. But then he does the unimaginable, though in his case, you’re surprised at yourself for not have expecting it— he tastes it, tastes you, his tongue poking out to lick up from his knuckle to the tip of his index.

“A-Albedo—””The hydrogen potential is rather acidic,” he goes on, completely disregarding your huff of impatience at being cut off, “but it’s more mild than I expected. It seems there isn’t enough here to collect as a proper sample, however. Before we continue, I’d like to—”

“A-Another time!” you half-heartedly promise, knowing exactly what he’d been about to ask you. Genuinely hoping he won’t actually hold you to your word, “P-Please, Albedo— I’m already exhausted from the trip here, and after all of this, I-I don’t know if I’ll last until the end if you were to do all of that again…”

“Oh. Was it that enjoyable?” he asks, and to your disbelief, he licks the rest of his fingers off before curving his head to better meet your gaze. Instantly, you’re scowling at his knowing glance. “Very well, then; I don’t mind postponing that until “another time”.”

You wheeze tiredly.

With a hand resting against your lower back, he places his other against your sternum and gently pushes you backwards and down into his mattress. Slipping his leg out from under you, he then straddles your one thigh and carefully lifts your other out in front of him. You instinctively flinch, your gaze quick to travel down to where Albedo’s erection sits atop your skin. As if testing, he shifts his hips forward, and drags his dick along your leg.

You barely catch the soft, wounded breath that passes through his parted lips, eyes squeezed shut once more as he ruts himself along you. Your own breathing is weak, both heart and mind stupefied by the scene before you— you can’t help yourself from reaching for him, for it, and cup your hand over its pretty curve.

Albedo gasps, instinctively reaching to steady himself against the bed when your thumb starts rubbing along his blushing cockhead.

“Albedo,” you call to him, voice thick with a sudden want the alchemist hadn’t been prepared to hear. “Albedo, please… I’m ready for you. I want you.”

In turn, you hadn’t been prepared for his eagerness— the way he helps you scooch further back on the mattress, and how easily he’d seemed to fit himself in between your warmed thighs; how sweetly he stares down at you, his pale pink lips curving into the slightest of smiles when you start uncontrollably grinning at him, and how soothing and gentle his touch is when he runs his cool hands along the burning flesh beneath your turtleneck. You shudder in your anticipation, a strong pulse beating from the center of your abdomen just wildly enough for him to feel it when his palm rests atop it. He maneuvers his knees beneath you, and in pressing his hips to meet your pelvis, his own arousal finally nudges into yours, the both of you flinching with a desperate keen.

A single hand comes down to rest on the bare skin of your midriff, hidden beneath your shirt, the other curled around the base of his erection to poise himself before you. “T-Then… I’ll deny you no longer.”

A strangled hiss passes through clenched teeth as Albedo rocks his hips forward, the head of his cock gently fitting just past your folds. You can’t help the shocked gasp that flees your parted lips; you take up the bedding in an iron grip to brace yourself as his own tightens around your hip, him pushing past each ring of muscle with a heavy breath and the smallest of grunts— he’s hot, and incredibly hard, and it sends a rippling ache through your core the longer he takes in fully sheathing himself within you, through no fault of his own. Your nerves have made you tense and tighten up, made you tremble around his throbbing girth so intensely that he’s forced to take pause with a choked breath—

“S-Sorry!” you gasp out, blinking rapidly between him and the ceiling. “S-Sorry, Albedo, I-I just—!”

“I know,” he interrupts, voice slightly haggard. “T-Take a moment. Breathe, ______.” You nod, likely too many times than necessary. “Does it hurt?”

“… y-yes, but…” You sniffle. “There’s pleasure with it, too. For my first time, i-it’s to be expected…” The alchemist stares down at you, unsure of his next move, but then you raise your shaky arms from your side to reach for him, hands taking the cool skin of his cheeks into your palms. “I-I need a distraction,” you murmur. “Kiss me, Albedo, a-at the same time.”

“… alright.”

Albedo lets you pull him down toward you, slowly so as not to hurt him, as well, allowing him to shift around you and reposition himself. At the last second, he leans forward out of your hands to claim your expectant lips on his own, immediately parting them with his tongue. The gesture had sent a rush of heat through you, miraculously allowing Albedo to thrust his hips into yours just a little more. Your moan is sharp into his open mouth, a whine more than anything else, and your shuddering has your legs threatening to either give out beneath him or curl around his slim waist— he notices this, and instead denies you from choosing on your own when he lets himself tip forward until fully sheathed, swallowing both your tongue and your voice when you cry out past his lips.

I-It hurts, you can only exclaim in your thoughts, your entire body lit up like an Inazuman firework when your legs kick out behind him— it hurts.

Willing yourself to focus on anything but where the pain pulses most, you search around the cave once more, chest heaving from a lack of air, mindlessly identifying the many small objects scattered about the laboratory— flasks and beakers, pencils of various lengths, jars of full and half-empty oil paints of all shades, piles upon piles of paper weighed down by miscellaneous paper weights— “______?”

You tear your gaze away from the inactive air gas burner sitting on the furthest table, and force it to meet that of the man’s lying above you. “H-Hm?”

“Are you alright?” Albedo asks. In the corner of your eye, you spot his one arm beginning to tremble. “You went quiet.” Shakily, you lift your arm to support it by his elbow; he spares it a glance before looking to you again. “______?”

“I-I’m… I’m okay,” you say before sighing, knowing you sound unconvincing. “Are you?” He hesitates in answering.

“… a human’s internal temperature is normally around thirty-seven degrees, but s-somehow—” Albedo exhales, and through squinted eyes of your own, you see one of his twitch in his struggle to adjust “— it feels much hotter i-inside you…” Despite your best effort not to, you laugh, your free hand rising quickly to try and cover it up, but it flies loose; somehow, Albedo finds himself displeased with your reaction. “______…”

“I-I’m sorry, I-I just wasn’t expecting that kind of answer, though maybe I should have…” You reach up to hold his face in your hand. “But you’re okay? You aren’t hurt at all, right? I know it’s a little… t-tight.”

“All the more reason why if either of us should be more in pain, it’s you,” he tries to reason, but you shake your head.

“I just… needed a moment to get used to you,” you tell him in earnest, “and I think laughing helped. You’re bigger than your fingers, after all.”

“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” he immediately says.

“It’s only n-natural that it would hurt a little— d-don’t worry, okay?” He nods, albeit reservedly. “C… Can you try moving now?”

“If you’re sure?” And you nod back, your hand still wrapped around his arm providing a squeeze of encouragement.

“Please.” With a nod, he gently forces his hips from yours before thrusting back into you. Your grip on his forearm falters, dropping in favour of holding his wrists, instead.

While he knows a human’s autonomic functions obviously accounted for it, Albedo still found it amazing how easily you’d seemed to swallow him back up. Maybe it had been your laughter— you just needed a moment to loosen up, and not just physically. Despite everything that had already happened, you’d still been in disbelief that it did happen in the first place, and with Mondstadt’s chief alchemist; your dear friend.

Your own hips shift, your joints twisting to give rise for your thighs to press against Albedo’s sides. Albedo groans softly, soft hands moving to curl his arms around them and pulling you even tighter against his pelvis. You jolt, a strange sensation suddenly blossoming where his cockhead presses upwards— you just knew that curve of his would mean some kind of trouble for you.

“… oh?” Looking away from his strained expression, you find him focused on your lower abdomen, where he decidedly places his hands over. He presses down around it, your soft flesh pooling beneath his thin fingers.

The smallest of gasps escapes him when he readjusts his stance to the edge of his mattress to push back into you, only for the imprint of his cock to, once again, reappear beneath your skin. He pauses to look to you, and though you look unharmed, you’ve bitten down so intently on your knuckles, your nose scrunched and eyebrows bunched toward each other, in an attempt to suppress the sounds threatening to leak from you.

“______,” Albedo calls. When your only reply is a weary glance and an overwhelmed huff, he leans over you, his hands taking yours from over your mouth to pin them at either side of your head against the mattress. But the movement hilts him deeper inside you, tearing a whine from your throat and sending a shiver through your body. “… are you alright?”

“I-I—” Albedo rolls his hips ever so slightly. “’m f-fine… It… jus’ feels… hngh… g-good.”

“I’m glad,” he pants, shoving his fingers between yours and pressing them further into the duvet. “I was worried you were in pain.” Drawing his hips back, he slowly drives back in, lips parted and jaw hung when the immense sensation of your engulfing warmth overtakes him.

“N-no pain,” you promise, giving his hands a light squeeze each and him, a curdling smile. “Y-You can… m-move faster, Albedo...”

“If you’re sure, then,” he murmurs.

He drops onto his elbows, hands still claiming yours and his lips only inches away from each other— it doesn’t take him long to decide to claim them, either, pressing into you and prying your willing mouth open with his tongue. You don’t try to contain the moan he bullies out of you when he begins sucking at your tongue, in the same moment he draws back once more and thrusts into you as if sheathing his sword. Your body tenses, eyes flying open when you feel the head of his cock reach the deepest part of you—oh, this part hurts, you think, squeezing his hands just a little harder, and once more, he stops, turquoise eyes joining yours in a panic.

“That hurt this time, didn’t it,” he says, eyebrows turned down in concern.

You nod a little, and take a deep breath in an attempt to slow down your pounding heart. “Y-Yes,” you say. “You just went a l-little too deep…”

“I’m sorry,” he immediately says. He lowers his head to rest his cheek against yours, his lips brushing against the shell of your ear when he kisses the side of your head, “I won’t make that mistake again.”

You whimper in response, and nod probably more times than you’d meant to. It takes a moment for the initial shock and discomfort to fade, but then you’re nodding again, this time, in encouragement. Albedo takes your words into account, supposing that he just might’ve underestimated his own length in contrast with your depth… He’s hesitant to move again, though he knows it comes down to the amount of self-restraint he can muster, wanting nothing more than to continue with you.

Albedo startles when you take matters into your own hands and roll your hips up, slowly sliding yourself up and down his length with your features still verily pinched, though certainly, they’re steadily masked by that same pleasure you’d mentioned feeling earlier; no longer a stranger to the sensation himself, he dares to thrust his hips once more, a little more controlled, yet with his expected inexperience; jerkish.

It doesn’t hurt you anymore, you realize when one of his strokes manages to pull a shaky moan out of you. No longer are your breaths coated with your discomfort; Albedo finally found a rhythm that kept him steady and you, painless— one that only draws out more and more of your whines and whimpers and his heavy breaths to be pressed into each other’s skin; one that has your arms wrapped around each other like vices while he continues rutting into you, your fingers digging into the flesh over his shoulder blades to ground yourself atop the creaking bed—

“Can… can we move?” Albedo suddenly asks in separate, laboured breaths, his arms uncurling from around you.

“M… ove?” you repeat, your head too occupied by him to register what he means— “We’re… already moving,” you jokingly manage to conjure. But you relent. “… ’kay.”

Huffing, Albedo slides his arms beneath your shoulders and sits you upright over his thighs. The non-exhausted part of you is startled when he rises onto his knees to crawl closer to the wall the length of the bed touches, finally sitting back down with his back now leaning against it. Still having been connected with you when he unfolds his legs to shove them beneath your ass in the other direction, the jostling finally tears a long groan out from you when he manages to nudge something especially sensitive within you. Albedo sighs deeply, his hands coming to rest at your hips to ground himself when you clench around him.

“Hold onto me, ______,” he instructs, giving you a gentle squeeze. Your limp arms give rise to wrap around Albedo’s shoulders, holding him tighter to you and burying your face into the crook of his neck. You press your lips against his porcelain skin, leaving slight nips behind until you feel him shiver, and his hands drop under you to lift you off the mattress.

A strangled cry spews up from your throat when he sheathes himself into you again, burrowing itself beneath Albedo’s ear and strangely sending a shiver down his spine— he’s already said it before, but he tells you once more just how beautiful you sound when you peak; tells you how good it feels when you squeeze and keep him trapped inside of you.

Golden strands slip through each of your trembling fingers when you run them through his loose hair, having untied the band around it, and Albedo groans almost appreciatively from the sensation of them skimming across his scalp. Your balance in your knees is barely there, and your thighs are just strong enough to remain lifted off Albedo’s lap while he bucks up into you, but you’re gasping, the world suddenly turned on its axis when he spins you back onto the mattress, empty.

Dizzied, you look to him, meet his half-lidded, glossed over turquoise gaze, and swallow thickly when he hovers over you, his tip carelessly twitching against your pelvis. Is he… trying to hold himself back? you wonder, watching his lower lip become bullied by his upper teeth biting into them. With hot, trembling fingers, you guide him back inside you before reaching up between his arms and cradling his face in your hands, pulling him down to meet your lips. You swallow his heavy breaths until they turn into moans, hips driving into you, unrelenting, and only then do you part from him.

“P… please,” you beg, thumbs sweeping across his warm cheeks. “Please don’t hold back from me.”

“… b-but you… you’ve gotten so… so t-tight—” he chokes on his words. “�� s-something… something is — hahh… I-I don’t wan… want to finish so… fast…!”

A sudden tension twists through your gut like a fire had been ignited there; you stretch your arm out across the messy sheets, small gasps escaping you with each of his thrusts, reaching for any semblance of stability along the thick duvet of his bed. His movement is fast, a hand suddenly darting out to pin your hand down before you.

“I-It’s okay,” you call out, your voice turning an octave higher than normal when he anchors himself deeper into you with a single, sharp thrust. “… I-I’m there, t-too!” You pant through gritted teeth, sucking in little air as you try to orient yourself— “I wanna hear you, ‘bedo,” you gasp out at him, “you sound so… beautiful…! I wanna hear you when you… c-come…! haah…!!”

He gasps again when you’ve suddenly tightened around him, his erratic pistoning into your wet cunt slowed by your own incoming high.

“Really?” he bites out, brows furrowed in concentration. Your nods are frantic, your hips rising to meet his with each of his thrusts, hips battering into yours almost painfully. “T-Together, then?” he groans, and allows you to further wind yourself around him, arms curling around his back, legs hooking around his waist, cunt fluttering and pulsating almost cruelly until the tears of pleasure formed along your eyelids finally spill over and roll down your cheeks when you finally peak.

“I’m… c-coming… hngh!!”

“C-Coming!” Albedo cries out through his teeth and into your shoulder, fingers forcing yours deeper into the blanket, hips stuttering sharply into yours for a last time as euphoria claims him. “______!” He finally goes still, relishing in the relief the snapping coil in his gut brings him when he spills inside you. You wince through your own gracious release, the head of his pulsating dick rutting lightly against your cervix with each of his tremors and jerks— Archons, it’s so h-hot! you mentally whine, eyes squeezed shut and arms wrapped tight around his back, holding him ever closer to you.

He had never experienced such a strong release of emotion as intense as he just did. It’s startling to him, maddening, that he’d never bothered to seek out such a feeling after that first time all those years ago— but now that he’s gone ahead and done such a thing with you? It stopped being an experiment to him long ago.

“______, I…” Albedo pants against your fast-rising chest, your heart beating too quickly for your own breathing to keep up, and presses his lips to it. “That felt wonderful…” Your arms, weighty from your exhaustion, slip from behind him until your elbows hit the mattress beneath you, only the tips of your trembling fingers deigning to remain behind to drag across his ribcage.

Delirious and still swimming in what pleasure remained from your shared release, you give a jerky nod of agreement, and turn your head ever so slightly to him to press your own lips against his hairline. The softest of laughs hits his ears, a sound that might’ve gone unheard under the howling winds outside the laboratory, but the existence of the five senses and your presence meant his hypersensitivity exists only for you right now— it’s loud and clear enough and he relishes in the fact that he’d been the first to hear it in such a circumstance.

A small part of him can’t help but wonder what Gold would say if she saw him neglecting her final task; if she saw him laying here with you. “Show me the truth and the meaning of this world”— he’d yet to even create a footing deep enough in preparation for the assignment. Simple hypotheses existed tucked between leather bindings and were only disturbed on relevant occasions. Should another note be added inside those bindings after today? His chin tilts your way as he ponders this, cheek smushed against your bicep while you struggle to catch your breath.

“… ‘bedo…” Pulling himself onto his forearms, he watches your throat bob when you swallow in your contemplation. “… in keeping this experiment honest, I… I think I need to tell you that… it’s going to be hard for me to call this… just that. An “experiment”.”

He hums, a wordless urging for you to keep speaking. For a moment, your eyes keep on searching the ceiling above you, half-lidded but bright, trying to pick your next words out carefully.

“I… I think I’ve tried not to acknowledge it all this time… and those women today got me to thinking about much more than whether or not you’re… fertile. Our relationship as coworkers, as friends— have they been the only kinds, all this time? I’m well aware that me cooking and baking for you and my doting on you whenever you’re in the city has far extended past my duties as the Knights of Favonius’s Records Keeper. And, at least in my eyes, it tiptoed the line keeping me from seeing you as just my friend. I just didn’t wish to acknowledge it.”

“… may I ask why?” he murmurs.

“Either… it was because I knew I’d be embarrassed if my feelings and emotions for you weren’t able to be reciprocated. That it would likely change our dynamic. I wasn’t prepared… to experience that distance from you if that was the result.”

Albedo agrees wordlessly, when his gaze falls from yours.

How should he even begin to articulate what his thoughts and logic are telling him to say to you? Through all his years awake and existing in Teyvat, he’s never had to bother with or confront his emotions— other than pure investigative curiosity or wholesome fascination, before coming to Mondstadt, he never experienced the warmth that those who would grow close to him would feel. The love and appreciation from Klee for taking care of her as her “big brother”; the camaraderie shared by Kaeya and the other Knights he’s associated with; even the admittedly strange kinship he once shared with Gold before abandoning him to his own devices— and then, despite swearing himself to his reclusiveness to Dragonspine, his visits to his Mondstadt laboratory would have him encounter you.

In being as work oriented as you are, you still often found yourself frequenting his laboratory to deliver field reports from those same Knights, and in knowing his more reserved nature, you respected it, discreetly leaving small gifts of thanks on behalf of yourself and the others; treats, should he “fancy a snack break?”; offering to run errands for him and his assistants in your downtime— if not for you making the decision to appear before him, he likely wouldn’t have bothered to ever make conversation with you. Most of his other relationships within the Knights of Favonius had always been strictly work ones, which he had been satisfied with.

The two of you hadn’t bothered to separate, in all definitions of the word, keeping his seed plugged inside of you with his flaccid cock. Holding onto you, he rolls, pulling the bedding up from under him to pull over you— he’d seen you had begun to shiver. Seeing the appreciative smile you’d put on for such a simple gesture that needed no thanks, Albedo finds he’s thanking himself for not deciding to keep his distance, after all.

“Maybe in the beginning, this would’ve been the case,” he admits. You nod, as if you were expecting this response. “In the months you first imposed yourself in my life, I had been content on holding the same distance I did as with the others, with you. You made it… complicated, I’ll say, to want to hold that distance any longer when you made it quite easy to be around you.”

“I-I knew it sometimes made you uncomfortable to have to be around a lot of people at once,” you murmur, turning onto your right to see him. “I offered to Grand Master Jean to liaison for you and your team while you were all within headquarters and if I wasn’t busy… though, it was really so I could see you more… even if it’d been from a distance…”

The corner of Albedo’s mouth twitches. “I still have that first gift of yours.”

A bashful grin slowly replaces your attempt at a poker face. “I’d hung that painting you gave to me in return above my bed, you know. It… sounds very silly to say out loud, but… when I found myself missing you, I put it there in the hopes that I’d see you in my dreams during the times you were away.”

“It’s illogical, but no. It’s a… sweet gesture. Not silly at all.”

Your cheeks instantly grow warm. “I’m… relieved to hear you say that.”

It takes a while for you to warm yourself up again — as if sensing your sensitive state, Dragonspine saw to it to up the ante on the blizzard — before the two of you can clean yourselves up.

To say the process isn’t as embarrassing as everything else that had transpired would be a lie; feeling and seeing Albedo’s cum drip out of you — and onto a damned sample dish, by his request — had been mortifying. What you hadn’t expected, however, was that after he’d collected his sample, he’d sat you down on the edge of the mattress once more, rags and a newly warmed basin of water at his side to tend to you. And while he did, to distract yourself, you’d found your eyes stuck over on his incomplete painting and the supplies littered on the small table next to its easel.

Now, as the two of you lie facing the ceiling of the cliffside laboratory, you suddenly giggle, prompting Albedo to turn toward you.

“What is it?” he asks, breathlessness evident at the tail end of his words.

“It’s just… the water in your painting glass,” you say. “It still isn’t frozen, and here I am, carefully turning into a block of ice.”

A small chuckle escapes him, too. “Slime Condensate and Mist Flower Corolla extract. The condensate is viscous enough that the extract won’t freeze it completely. Because it tiptoes the line of a solid and a liquid, it won’t cross the threshold, even if I were to take it out into the harsh weather of this mountain.”

You hum in thought. “Is it… edible?”

“If the recipe was tweaked, I’m sure it could be. Why?”

“It could be patented and made for the adventurers that try to come up here. Their drinking water freezes, and they can’t eat the snow or it’ll change their internal temperature— if it could stay a singular temperature while they’re up here, it might make them last a little longer.”

Albedo’s gaze goes toward the glass. One of the two brushes sitting inside shifts from the stiff breeze that blows into the cave, clattering against the rim. He lets out a hum of his own, before looking back to you, eyes seemingly glittering.

“Want to run another experiment?”

masterlist | taglist pt. i | pt. ii | pt.iii

�� noicevibes please don’t repost! reblogs & comments are always appreciated.

[jusst-you-race]

convos between lando and charles if car lando was canon? thank u and congrats!!

here you go! i had fun with this one if you can't tell lmao... thank you anon! for the ccc snippet prompts

Charles image.png 

These are your boxers, non?

Lando uhhh wtf? 

wierd that u think their mine?

Charles Lando I bought them for you as a joke present for your birthday 

Lando oh 

yeah 

fuck 

um 

haha wild where did u find those

Charles Under our couch

Why are your boxers under our couch?

Lando thats crazy i have no idea 

must be like 

magic or something 

Charles When were you getting naked in my apartment?

Lando dude its not just urs dont say it like that it makes it wierd 

Charles Oh so you were getting naked in Carlos’s apartment then 

Are you two fucking?

Lando gjhljksfif

what

no 

wtf charles 

no 

thats so stupid 

carlos is gross 

i would never 

yuck 

Charles How long have you been fucking?

How come you did not tell me?

How come Carlos did not tell me?

Lando what i literally just said we arent 

Charles Yes and it was sooo convincing 

I can’t believe the two of you would keep this from me 

Lando we arent!

its just that its 

kinda new 

Charles How new?

Lando like 

tqwo months?

Charles Two months?!

That is not new! 

I cannot believe this 

You are both dead to me 

And you fucked on my couch

I have the worst friends 

Lando sorry?

Charles I am going to yell at Carlos later 

I hate you both

Congratulations though! 

Lando uh... thanks...?

[collegetennisoriginstory]

All I can say after the update is… Tobin I will take your hand in marriage IMMEDIATELY. Tobin is the only IF RO that makes my heart go pitter patter thump thump drum drum beep beep <3 I adore them. THE LOCKER ROOM SCENE. The honest conversations with MC about their new relationship with their own queerness. The delicious ~sexual tension~ during and after the match 😭 i could spend an ETERNITY reading Tobin’s scenes and it would still never be enough of them. ty for their creation and for the options in this update for MC to simp a lil over them lmao they deserve it

And SAM don’t think I forgot about you and how fun/adorable it was to see you immediately become the hall’s favorite. Can’t wait for the rest of the weekend, MC/Sam bestie time, and that damn confession *shakes fist* hand over that heart of yours, o’connelley. It’s time.

also I love how all the ROs have such varying reactions in regards to jealousy (but did I have to read them in the code because I refuse to hurt Tobin or Sam EVER, yes. Yes I did). MC sweating over Sam and G interacting while G is cool as a cucumber was very funny, and so was Rayyan’s curt poutiness. Tobin and Sam both swallowing how they feel in their own ways was P A I N F U L.

anddd I know writing the matches, especially for doubles, must be an unbelievable amount of work but it genuinely pays off because all the different variations are so fun to play each time. I’m on the edge of my seat for every match

AHHHH THIS ASK GIVES ME LIFE!

I love love love that you enjoyed the Tobin scenes (and the convo about their queerness, it will be explored a little more as the relationship unfolds--if it does--and I am beyond excited to get to explore that further, especially with someone as mature, but new, to their sexuality as Tobin!)

Spoiller below.

MC can jokingly say to Tobin in the locker room that kissing them is life changing, but that's more true than they suspect!

And as for Sam being immediately folded into the hallmate gang... I'm sure no one is surprised ;) and yes it's going to be a weekend of laughs/fun/possibly a bit of angst! Sam's confession.... hopefully they gear up the courage and bite the bullet already!! (They can certainly tell theyre not short of competition at Cargill 👀)

And as for the varied jealousy reactions... God there's more variation in there than I think most people will get to experience, but worth it I think, because each character is so different, and approach relationships with the MC so differently! I hope it yields new scenes and new nuances each time folks play a slightly different romance route :)

Finally, writing the tennis matches always take much longer than I myself expect them too--and I always end up wondering if I've gone into too much detail/made them too long, but each time I'm like nah it's a significant match! Except I've been saying that about every match so far (save for maybe the Deepal match). I think so far the feedback has been that people appreciate the variation and the length of the matches and that they continue to feel thrilling, but I promise to keep calibrating them as I write!

Thanks again for your wonderful message, love it so much! 😊

[tired-lamb]

Never Alone (On Christmas Day)

A TLG christmas fic brought to you by yours truly. Takes place in a modern human au, where the Guard are young adult age range. For the purposes of this story, Kion works under Rafiki who runs a store (idk what he sells).

Merry Christmas TLG tumblr! I wanted to put something out for the season, and speedwrote this in like. 2 hours max last night. Due to that very reason, the following christmas tlg fic is extremely messy, rough and all over the place, for which I apologise. I tried brushing up whatever I could in the morning, and though it’s not my best work I’m still pretty satisfied with it. Hope you enjoy either way, and Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to you!

[ THE greatest(s) of all ]

best bud!! 6:21 p.m.  [ Image attached depicts Bunga, Ono, Beshte, Timon and Pumbaa all facing the camera. The house and their surroundings are decorated with Christmas lights and wreaths. Bunga holds the camera up, and the rest are seated behind him, posing. ] best bud!! 6:21 p.m. merry christmas eve guys!!!!  emergency no. (fuli) 6:25 p.m. aww, you guys spending christmas at timon and pumbaa’s huh? best bud!! 6:25 p.m. you BET!! @Kion wish you were here dude You 6:27 p.m. Wish I could too, Bunga, but Kiara’s bugging me to spend it at her’s You 6:27 p.m. Esp with the baby on the way literal teddy bear 6:30 p.m. Due in a couple of months, right?  literal teddy bear 6:30 p.m. Must be hard :( hope you still have fun there, Kion! We’ll miss you emergency no. (fuli) 6:31 p.m. you sure you don’t want me to drop by or anything?  emergency no. (fuli) 6:31 p.m. I know I whine about how you guys always wanna ruin my christmas me time but I seriously could come over if you want You 6:32 p.m. Nah, it’s fine. Besides, I don’t think Rafiki will let me off aaand you’re also like a bunch of kilometers away from me, Fuli. You 6:32 p.m. Idk why but it feels like this year everybody wants to keep me busy around this time best bud!! 6:32 p.m. whaaat why would they do that  emergency no. (fuli) 6:32 p.m. 🙂 literal teddy bear 6:32 p.m. Lmao You 6:33 p.m. ?? You 6:33 p.m. Ignoring whatever that was, I gotta go. Rafiki’s calling, seems like someone’s got a problem with his shit again, lol.  local braincell 6:33 p.m. late to the convo but goodluck with the baby and rafiki, kion! we’ll miss you :( You 6:34 p.m. Let me guess, Timon and Pumbaa fussing over you again?  You 6:34 p.m. Ok, seriously gtg now. Bye guys! Merry christmas eve :)

.***.

Kion really didn’t mind that his Christmas might get wiled away thirdwheeling his sister and Kovu, and definitely doesn’t mind that all his best friends are spending Christmas without him. Definitely doesn’t mind that even his other friends, like Jasiri and Janja, are also busy with plans for Christmas. He also most definitely doesn’t mind that he’s stuck working with Rafiki in his spiritual-y shop, and that Rafiki has unusually been working him to the bone these days. Doesn’t care that the snow and the Christmas lights call to him, or that everytime his friends send him photos of their celebrations, his heart aches just a little bit. 

Nope. Definitely doesn’t mind. 

Kion sighs, nearly letting the box of ornaments in his hand fall to the ground. He manages to save it just in time, however, and lets out another sigh, this time of relief, because he just saved himself another scolding from Rafiki. From somewhere around the extremely-messy-despite-his-best-attempts shop, he hears Rafiki laughing heartily with a customer. The sound fills the air, and as much as Kion hated to admit it, it pierces through his heart in a negative way. He can’t help it; it seems as though the entire world, including even his own boss, is enjoying this season. The entire world, but him.

He makes his way towards the main counter, finding Rafiki and the customer he had been laughing with. He places the box on the table with a loud oomph, alerting the other two of his presence.

“Ah, Kion! Kion! Come, meet Mrs. Janna!” Rafiki calls to him loudly, even though he’s right next to him. Kion forces a smile, because he doesn’t want to dampen other people’s mood, and faces the ‘Mrs. Janna’ in question.

She’s an old lady, evident by the smile lines and crow’s feet on her face. Despite this, there’s a general warmness to her that you don’t usually find in older people, something akin to a crackling fire in the winter months. Mrs Janna smiles at Kion, genuine unlike Kion’s own. Kion thinks she knows his smile is only for pleasantries, but doesn’t seem to mind. 

“Habari, Kion?” Mrs. Janna asks, her voice deep and grounding. It reminds him of the recordings he heard of his grandfather’s voice.

“Sawa, Mrs. Janna, thank you,” Kion responds, trying his best not to let his despair seep into the conversation. He should get a hold of himself.

Rafiki laughs once more, giving Kion a pat on the back which feels more like a slap than any pat Kion’s ever gotten. 

“Kion here is unhappy these days, I won’t let him off work! Ah, Janna, what can you-a do? When the season arrives, that is when people come! Am I not right, Kion?” 

Kion lets out a nervous chuckle. “Well, I wouldn’t say unhappy, but definitely a bit lonely.” 

“Ey, ey, Kion,” Rafiki says, moving on from the previous topic, “Mrs. Janna here has found someone who can help us! She is interested in working with me, isn’t that right, Janna?” 

Mrs Janna nods, her eyes sparkling for just a moment. “Indeed, Rafiki. I do have someone who’d like to come and work here, though she’ll be arriving after the New Years. Maybe then Kion might not be so unhappy, perhaps?” 

She looks to Kion, half teasing and half serious. Kion appreciates the sentiment nonetheless, and responds in the affirmative. Better to say yes than anything else, he supposes. 

It’s not long before the two are lost in their own conversation, something about old times and how things have changed so much. Kion decides to leave them to it and visit his favourite corner of the store; the little nook where their biggest window lies. 

It’s a little elevated, and sits right where their staircase turns. Kion has to climb up a bit in order to get to it, but he manages in the end, and it’s worth it. It doesn’t have much space, just enough for Kion to sit in peace during his breaks, but the view outside is what makes it Kion’s favourite corner. The roads lie some way beneath the window, strangers passing by. These days, the numbers have multiplied. He credits it to the Christmas season, and how there must be families visiting relatives in their small town. Now, sitting in his space, he remembers that he, too, will be visiting his own family this Christmas.

He’s not totally bummed out that he’s spending it with Kiara and Kovu; just that he wishes he could spend it with his friends instead. He loves his sister and brother-in-law to death, but Kiara’s moodswings are more frequent nowadays due to the pregnancy hormones. Kion hasn’t visited in a while to know how bad it is, but he’s dealth with her period hormones before, and Kion would rather do anything but go through that again, thank you very much. 

Alas, the only other option is to stay in his apartment and hole up, since all his friends are out of town. He supposes that visiting his family, even if it means thirdwheeling, is still worth it. 

Today, Kion finds himself watching the snow fall on the streets, snowflakes occasionally decorating the window beside him. Rafiki and Mrs. Janna’s conversation can still he heard from where he is, but slowly the sound muffles and Kion feels his eyelids grow heavy. He knows Rafiki will call him back to work soon, but just for now, he lets his body shut down. 

Just for now. 

.***.

The big day has arrived, and boy has it kept Kion busy. Texts and notifications flood his phone screen before getting cleared out for later. Rafiki orders him about with customers here and there, the store bustling with company. Somehow, the loudest sound in the store isn’t Rafiki’s voice today, and Kion finds his ears nearly bursting with how much chatter he can hear at once. Outside isn’t any better, as snow collects itself in piles and trucks blare horns as they come to clear the pathways. People are shouting here and there, wishing each other a merry Christmas, and families flood the streets with little kids running around in mufflers and big, poofy jackets. 

It’s the busiest the town ever gets, and will ever get. Kion’s become accustomed to it, though the sight of friends and families and their joyful faces as they spend the day together does sting just a bit. He gets more than a dozen texts from his friends, all of them wishing him a merry Christmas. Amongst them lies his sister and his conversation, where Kiara is going on about something that Kion can’t comprehend because his mind is in a whirl when he’s in work mode. It can’t be that important, if Kiara’s not calling him about it, and so Kion decides to read through the messages once he gets his break. 

“Kion! Where are you?” Rafiki calls from somewhere. Kion chuckles to himself, glad that his Christmas is at least starting with someone familiar. 

.***.

dada kiara 3:16 p.m. Hey Kion! Merry Christmas little dude :] dada kiara 3:16 p.m. There’s been some change of plans, so is it alright if you meet me and Kovu at this place?  dada kiara 3:16 p.m. [ Embedded: link to location ] dada kiara 3:17 p.m. We won’t be home by the time you come, so just meet us here and we’ll go back home together dada kiara 3:17 p.m. Ok??

dada kiara 4:00 p.m. Boy you better see the message 

dada kiara 4:32 p.m. Kion. 

dada kiara 5:12 p.m. Don’t blame me if you find our door locked

dada kiara 6:46 p.m.  I hope you’re on your way now at least

[ 2 Missed calls from dada kiara ]

You 7:43 p.m. 👍

.***.

Kion groans to himself as horns blare at him and his taxi in the middle of traffic because of course there would be traffic on the busiest and most celebratory day in all the year. He opens his phone for what feels like the twelfth time, the bright screen burning into his retina as he scrolls through all the unresponded messages. He booked a taxi the minute he got off work, and somehow despite being two hours into traffic, he still has no energy to reply to all his friends and family. 

Why did the meet-up place have to be on the busiest street? 

He lazily scrolls through his chats, trying his best to ignore his driver’s cursing and horns that were still blaring at Spirits know what. His fingers pad his screen, finding their way to his best friends’ and his groupchat. Without actually wanting to, Kion opens it. 

[ THE greatest(s) of all ]

local braincell 5:20 a.m. merry christmas everyone! best bud!! 5:20 a.m. ono why are you up local braincell 5:20 a.m. I could ask you the samw question

literal teddy bear 7:01 a.m. Samw literal teddy bear 7:01 a.m. Merry Christmas everyone!!

emergency no. (fuli) 10:07 a.m. why in spirits’ name are you three up so early best bud!! 10:10 a.m. damn merry christmas to you too ig emergency no. (fuli) 10:10 a.m. yea yea merry christmas to you too loser best bud!! 10:10 a.m. um ☝️ if I recall I’m not the one spending christmas ALONE?? best bud!! 10:11 a.m. so really whose taking Ls here local braincell 10:11 a.m. if you don’t get your ass in the car this minute then it’ll be you emergency no. (fuli) 10:11 a.m. LMAOOO thanks ono 🫶 local braincell 10:11 a.m. <3

literal teddy bear 3:20 p.m. [ Image attached: A photo of Bunga, Ono and Beshte in Timon and Pumbaa’s garden. Bunga is running away from Ono and Beshte, who have big snowballs in their hands. ] best bud!! 3:24 p.m. HEY

best bud!! 6:58 p.m. This message was deleted. best bud!! 6:58 p.m. wait nevermind wrong group emergency no. (fuli) 6:59 p.m. This message was deleted.

Kion is just about to type a message, when he finds himself lurching forward. He nearly hits his head against the back of the front seat, mumbling curses to himself. His taxi driver apologies, blaming a car or two in front of him. Kion doesn’t respond, instead going back to his phone. Where before there was the groupchat with his best friends, his keyboard open and ready for a message, there now lies a black screen. 

Kion knows it’s not that deep, but somehow it manages to sprout tears from his eyes, and before he knows it there’s streams flowing down his face while he tries his best to keep quiet so his driver doesn’t make a fuss. He misses his friends. He was going to meet some of his family, but somehow he misses them too. It’s as if he’s been aching for them the entire day, the entire season. Christmas without them doesn’t feel right, and Kion feels a hollow, aching pain inside his chest. His friends were somewhere celebrating while he was stuck in traffic, a mess both physically and mentally. He missed his home— his true home. 

Unfortunately, the road itself doesn’t give him any time to wallow in sadness as his driver is now speeding through. Kion hurriedly rubs tears away, trying his best to look composed, and finds that they’re no longer stuck in traffic. He recognises the area now, and quickly sends his sister a message saying he’s almost there. He takes a deep breath, maybe two, and the thought of meeting his sister in a couple of minutes manages to cheer him up just a bit. 

The taxi soon halts in front of the location, and Kion is slightly surprised to find that the place he’s meant to go to is some basement belonging to the house right in front of him. After double-checking with his sister, he pays the driver and makes his way towards the basement door. 

He takes in another breath. 

Two.

No time to sit in self-pity, Kion, he tells himself, just.. enjoy the moment. You can call your friends later. Don’t be whiny about it.

He pushes the door open and leads himself down the staircase, groaning to himself once more when he finds the room dark and otherwise empty. He’s just about to look around for a light switch and call his sister, when all of a sudden the room bursts with warmth, joy and light as the actual lights turn on, too. Kion blinks a couple of times courtesy of the sudden change, but soon he’s opening his eyes to find—

“MERRY CHRISTMAS!” yells Bunga, Beshte, Ono and Fuli. His friends. His friends that he thought he would be spending Christmas without. His friends that he thought were faraway and not right before him. His friends that he somehow got because Spirits does Kion not deserve them at all.

“Hey, I know what you’re thinking,” Bunga says, a stern glance directed towards him, “and to be clear, you do deserve all of this.”

Kion sputters, still recovering from the shock. He takes a look around the basement itself, and finds it well decorated, with some cakes set on a table and a beautifully lit Christmas tree behind his friends. He struggles to find his words, and is left with his mouth agape.

“How— but— Kiara..”

“Kiara helped us plan the entire thing, and, just to be clear, you’re still spending the rest of the season with her,” Fuli explains, making her way towards Kion and giving him a good pat on the back in an attempt to bring him back to reality.

“However, you will be spending tonight and the next two days with us,” Ono continues, a wide smile painting his face. “We’ve already planned everything out, and we’ll be having a huge slumber party right here for tonight.”

“The blankets and pillows are arriving in a bit, we had to rely on your sister for that too,” Beshte says, a sheepish grin on his own face.

“But— wait, whose basement even is this?” Kion finally gains enough of a hold on himself to say.

Here, Bunga steps forward and proceeds to perform elaborate moves before proudly standing in front of his bestest friend.

“This would be my uncles’ brother’s sister-in-law’s friend’s basement! They talked it all out; said we’re lucky enough to get in even for a night.”

Kion is still trying to digest everything in when he feels his phone buzz and sound a notification. It’s a message from Kiara.

dada kiara 8:27 p.m. Tell your friends we’ll be there in a bit, yea? dada kiara 8:27 p.m. Hope you enjoy little bro <3

He can’t help but smile, feeling a little silly about all his worry a couple of minutes ago. He looks back up to his friends, all surrounding him, radiating joy, love, and home. He feels the same things bursting in his chest, and Kion can’t help but give in to his impulses. Just this once.

He tackles all of them down to the ground and pushes them into a hug. A flurry of laughter fills the air, and it’s the best Christmas gift Kion has ever gotten.

Still squeezing them as best as he can, while stretching his arms out too, he thanks them and thanks them, before finally screaming and yelling as loudly and as lovingly as he can—

Merry Christmas.

[el-moscorrofio-y-el-mercachifle]

What do you think would have happened to change the course of history as we know it in the show if the guy who accompanies his friend for the betty-aura maria double date was genuinely interested in getting to know her (at least being a friend to her)...maybe they had a common interest in say finance or books or music. Betty wrote in her diary that men seek for desirable women and she didn't feel like that. What if this guy made a decent attempt to connect to her and wanted to see her again. Your opinions are so interesting and I want to hear your thoughts. Thank you and have a good day.

Omgggg I looooove this question!! But also it's so complicated to answer because this supposes to alter a LOOOOT! On one hand we can go for the realistic route of "if Betty hadn't had her hope of love fully crushed and she had actually seen that another man could have had an interest in her, she wouldn't have beeb so utterly blind and devoted towards Armando" especially because the night of the doubke date is the night that Betty gives on on love. On the other hand, we can also take the also canon but less realistic view of "Armando and Betty were destined to be and once Betty fell for Armando there was no going back nor person that ever made her doubt it," given that they share a canonical psychic or soul bond. In other words, would Betty give it a chance with someone else, or would her love blind her to anh other possibility but Armando?

Although I DEFINITELY think that a love rival would have spiced things up and quickened Armando's realization of his own feelings, which I loooove and it's why I DESPERATELY wanna write about that lmao. After all, he did have the biggest jump in his own feelings for Betty when he learned about Nicolás, except that this would be an even bigger kick in the face because he doesn't yet have the embargo excuse! And also, he could actually get to see a real peak of Betty being courted. I've actually been trying to write a short story based on the idea of a rival!

Anyways, let's see!

Imagining that the guy, Rafael (canon name) actually liked Betty would imply that we need to re imagine his whole personality lmao that canon ratman is canonically too uncool for my girlie, but let's say that he is a now a cool guy. He's charming, fun, and actually not superficial. He's open to friendship

He doesn't immediately reject Betty at all, and is in an active conversation with Betty through the whole night. He doesn't leave early, and let's say they even dance a little. They're in a friendly convo but there's no romantic spark.

In any case, Aura Maria is still happy for Betty! She's enjoying her time with the other guy but she's happy to see that Betty and Rafael are getting along, even if she's a bit sad that there's obviously no attraction between them

Anyways, Betty gets a little later home, and when her mom asks about how it went, Betty is so happy to tell her she had an actual good time! She writes in her diary that she had a good time but can't help but feel a little disappointed, because she noticed the guy wasn't into her like that

At this point it's where the major change happens, because this is the night that Betty is fully convinced that she will never experience love, that men only like beautiful women, that the powerhouse of her life must be work, and that Armando is the only man who will ever want and need her, even if it's only because of her work

In this scenario, Betty isn't as pessimistic as she was in the novela. She is just a little sad, but she didn't give up on love fully, because she wasn't fully rejected and mistreated like in the novela. She actually has a bit of hope because the guy and her exchanged numbers.

This supposes a BIG change because it's due to the devoted mentality that Betty agrees to do everything Armando asks for

Given that the dude is from Medellin, this would imply that they cant see each other often, and their relationship, fully platonic at first, would be mainly through phone

So this means Armando doesn't really have to know about him for a while

Obviously Aura Maria would mention Rafael and their night out all together to the rest of the Cuartel, but Betty would shut all of that down arguing that they just ended up as friends

But this is definitely a source for the Cuartel to gossip and tease her! They would definitely ask her if she's now over Nicolás, and she'd say no

Betty and this dude's friendship would continue for a while, but at the same time, Betty spends most of her time with Armando, which also furthers her crush on him, because after all, I really don't think Betty would ever fully love another man

(This is mainly because it's heavily implied in the show thay Armando and Betty share a special psychic connection and that it's probably faithed to be, like when Armando yelled her name and she heard it all the way to Cartagena lmao I don't think either of them would have been happy with any other partner)

There would need to be a point in which Rafael comes back, and that would probably be when things really get going!

Him being away is the main reason why I don't think it would fully develop into a relationship. Betty just wouldn't be able to lower enough of her barriers like that

It'd be interesting to see when him comjng back happens, but for the fun of it, let's say this happens before the embargo. Just to change this up a little from the canon "Nicolás is Betty's bf" canon paranoia

Imagine this dude coming over to Ecomoda one day showing up with a bouquet for Betty. Aura Maria would be sooooo happy for her and would so quickly call her to her office to tell her he's there!!

Would Betty accept these flowers?? Probably she'd be a bit hesitant but get them at the end. She's kinda flattered with them but remember she still has so many barriers up because of the trauma she went through

What for Rafael and any other man may be a simple gentlemanly and romantic present for their lady love, for Betty it can be a painful reminder of what happened. It's not thay she doesn't want to give herself the opportunity to love, it's just that fear will always remain after such trauma

With Armando, after all, she was already fully devoted and trusting of him because he had demonstrated through actions, words, and even conversations with Mario that he appreciated and trusted her fully, and even when their relationship started Betty continued to be full of doubts but she loved him so much that she couldn't close herself to the experience. He made her feel safe enough to lower her barriers and push herself through her doubts. With Rafael it's hard to get to this level of trust and safety when they basically just communicated through phone for a while

Anyways, imagine Betty coming back to her office holding this big bouquet of roses. Imagine Armando's stunned face for a moment, before asking what is that and why she has it, before Betty laughingly and dismissingly saying a friend got it for her

Imagine his killer stare. Just imagine that lmao

His deadfaced, teeth gritted, muscle tensed, sarcastic and dry comment of "what a romantic 'friend', right?" Lmaoooo

He'd totally spiral. He'd be in a terrible mood the whole day!

Imagine he goes out of his office because he's so angry and the first thing he hears Bertha and Sofia talking about is Rafael lmao

He's definitely go as far as to ask Aura Maria about this dude once he finds out they're friends

He'd be so angry and mortified with no apparent reason as to why when learning those two had been on a date, dancing and chatting and having fun

Ohhhh, imagine that same day Armando actually gets to meet him!! Perhaps Rafael goes to Ecomoda yo invite Betty to lunch

Lmao imagine Armando witnessing that and making up something like a lunch meeting just so she doesn't go

To me this scenario is soooo hilarous, the idea of a rival kills me because it's so full of potential for funny jealous Armando and Mario teasing him about it lmao i want a full fanfiction of this😂😂

Anyways, I don't really think this would become a full relationship. There may be some interest between the parts but I don't think it'd be strong enough to become a relationship and they can always use the distance excuse

Maybe Rafael realizes that Betty's appearence is a deal breaker after all, after months of only talking through phone and basically forgetting how she looks. It wouldn't be such a stretch, after all, it's basically Armando's situation in the sense that they like Betty's personality very very much but they can't break past her appearence

Armandk was forced to see past that due to the embargo, but Rafael can just walk away. He has no real attachment, and ghe "situationship" can easily be broken up becauseof the "distance" between where they live

But the simple fact of knowing that Betty can actually be desirable for other men, see it first hand, and that she's interested in dating, will definitely make Armando be extra alert

It's also the realization that Betty is sweet, kind, and devoted to other people. It's basically the same realization Armando has when he first heard about Betty havin a bf, except that he is now seeing it with his own eyes!

Would this quicken things? Feeling wise, absolutely. Action wise? Hard to say. Armando still has so many prejudices and his own barriers up

Although it would definitely later be fuel for Calderón's tease and further of Armando's paranoia.

Something like "Well, maybe her crush on Nicolás is stronger than we thought, after all she also rejected that other dude. And an uggo of such magnitude giving up an opportunity like that? It has to be love!" Every time Betty rejects Armando or tries to break up

On the other hand, if this man turns out to be more Michel like, given that he is introduced so early in the story, he could change everything. It all depend on how his personality and goals are, but given that he's a canonical asshole and this scenario supposes re inventing him completely, it opens so many possibilities

Since he's a blanck slate, how do we want him to be according to what story we want? Is he carefree and laid back? Protective and serious? Fun and trusting?

Because if we go full Michel mode, he could have wanted to make Betty his gf and take her away from that toxic work environment to take her to work where he does, resulting in Ecomoda collapsing under Armando's bad decisions

Would they be happy? No, Betty and Armandk are faithed to be and they definitely wouldn't be happy without each other

This whole idea of Rafael offers soooo many scenarios, depending on when he shows up, what his intentions are or end up being, in what point of Betty's arch he appears, etc!

So much fanfic material omg

The question made me crack my brain open trying to put a single answer to a vlear scenario but since there are so many choices I put a bit of everything. I think it endedup being more scrambled than of usual lmao

Thank you for the question!

[amberlynnmurdock]

daredevil/charlie fans: I MET CHARLIE AT FANEXPO PHILLY THIS WEEKEND AHHH!!!

my friends and i did the group photo op with him and Vincent and it was quick but they both made it a point to make sure they greeted us :’) such a treasured moment.

the real juice for me was meeting Charlie at the autograph table. i wanted a pic with him but since i met him and got one in 2016, i thought having an actual convo with him would be more fulfilling this time around. and it sure was 😭💘

fanexpo was not organized at all. they oversold his tickets but Charlie was gracious enough to honor each one!! he is an ANGEL. i waited for 6 hours to get his autograph! and you wouldn’t even know if he was tired or annoyed, he was SO NICE to everyone and was smiling the whole time. he shook everyone’s hand and held eye contact. he was amazing.

so i wore a shirt i got from an Etsy shop called MustardYardPress. it has a pic of Matt on hearts and says “Matt’s Girl”. i was hesitant to wear it but decided it was fun and casual enough for the con. I’M SO GLAD I WORE IT! one of the staff at his booth said he’s going to love it and i was like really?! i didn’t want it to be weird. so finally it comes my turn. he smiles at me and asks how i am, says it’s nice to meet me and SHOOK MY HAND FJFJDHHDHD. there was a mom and daughter before me and idk why but he asked if i was in their photo op LOL. i said no i was in a different one, and he smiled and was like ohhh okay did you have a good time then?! i said yes !!! then he asked if i want this personalized (i got a daredevil season 3 print) and i said yes please he asked my name and then he saw my shirt. HE POINTED AT ME AND WAS LIKE THAT’S SUCH A GREAT SHIRT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT. YES HE SAID IT TWICE FOR EMPHASIS LOL. I said thank you I wasn’t sure if I was going to wear it! And I didn’t know what to say after that so I thanked him for still being here after all this and he was like ohhh no worries it’s totally fine and I complimented his bracelets and he goes “people have been giving me shit all day” LOL I said well that must be nice to get free shit and he laughed LMAO then he shook my hand again and I was like thank you so much and I wanted to make sure I got to say bye so I waved and said bye!! Be safe!!!! And he waved back saying bye as well 😭 IT WAS A SMALL BUT MEANINGFUL MOMENT TO HAVE !!!!!!!!! I love him so much he’s seriously one of a kind and I can’t wait to keep supporting him when Daredevil: Born Again comes out ❤️❤️❤️

[basofy]

i havent seen anybody else mention this connection so idk if anyone noticed but i get sad whenever i think about it

FUCK i wrote a whole damn anaylisis but tumblr is super stupid and cant take many tags so heres this

#not a vent this time just analysis #but ive had this in mind for a while and im on so much coffee right now that i wanna ramble

#theres this aspect in their interaction where garth bullies jack over his most sensitive aspect #which is his lack of knowledge and his issues with his age #and like this goes for the whole thing#it was odd to me to see garth being verbally hostile cuz he never was in the original#not even in rando land #and as i see it now he is just using this agaisnt jack to make him feel like he needs his art to feel older #for whatever freaky reasons, ive seen many interpretations of this thing on garth's part #i like the thought that he's a big attention seeker lmao #regardless of intentions this must've had consequences on jack or so i think #so when it comes to jack i think he might be affected not only cuz of the porn #but also must have felt really insulted by this #and like i keep thinking that if jack were to get mad at garth it would be because of this #(and i do actually want to see him get mad at garth ) #cuz i think he wouldnt realize for a while that the porn thing was wrong

#not to mention how the fuck did garth know this would work on jack????? #the MAGS #the convo starts with jack being all sneaky about the magazines #being a kid or teen that DOESNT like to be one and wants to grow up too soon #while also being the only companion that wouldnt poke fun at garth even if just a little LOL #this makes him tragically the perfect target for whatever he was doing #im NOT saying jack asked for it but that it was easy for him to fall for it #and ive been thinking about my friend's theory that garth might've grown up the same way #not exactly by being groomed i mean #theres so many cases of kids and teens that purposefully put themselves in situations that arent for them #which jack was doing as well and what garth did was worsen that #and if this were the case then he would perfectly know that hypersexual teens HAAATE being reminded of their age #i speak from experience (not a good thing) #and honestly i can completely see garth as someone who would say yea i was addicted to porn at the age of 14 and turned out alright (LIES)

#i know i get annoying with this thing #half the fandom found it funny the other half doesnt want to think about it which i understand #but i keep thinking about it cuz i care about both characters and i care about the themes here too

also also leaving this old analysis i did on twitter here too..

it's 5:35 am rn LOL

[everythingrevealedpod]

hullo!

Ive just listened to the latest ep of the pod, it was wonderful!! Halla's point on how parasocialiaty is defined by what it lacks, to be very insightful , ive always had a slight issue with how parasocial relationships r discussed in scholarship and the rapidly changing nature of media does not help.

when u guys were talking about how different artists develop different styles of parasocial relationships with their fans, like how the nature of a harries relationship with harry styles is in a way different from the parasocial relationship we have with matty or the relationships swifties have with taylor. And how artist actively foster these relationships so in a way they are a two-way street (please lmk if I'm misunderstanding ur points, cause I'm listening to the pod at work so I may miss some key info),

Anyway, this reminded me of a convo I had with a prof of mine, we were talking about the narrative and meta-narratives that artists (specifically singer-songwriters) present to the public (cause all famous people r presenting a narrative that's y they're famous)

I think this narrative/ meta-narrative really affects the establishment and nature of the artist/ audience parasocial relationship. I think that for an artist to be "stan-able" they must present a meta-narrative, so there is,, something MORE for the fans to know about them. For example, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay have huge fanbases and can play arenas but don't really have stans because they only present a narrative (i.e. the music/ album). Whereas artists like Harry styles and most kpop groups actively foster a parasocial relationship by presenting a narrative (i.e. the music/ album) then a meta-narrative, for harry this would be his vague allusions to queerness, for kpop groups this would be the slow reveal of their real personalities (cause a lot of kpop groups r given explicit "roles" by their management like "the cool one" "the childish one" "the leader" etc). This meta-narrative allows for dedicated fans to "know" the artist better than fan who "just" listen to the songs. Personally, i think matty presents a third kind of "post-meta- narrative" so his narrative is the album then his meta-narrative is the onstage/in-interview performance art then his post-meta-narrative is his reflection on the performance art. I think the main difference between artists who have a meta-narrative and artists who have a post-meta-narrative is that we don't know what harry styles the person thinks about "harry styles" the performance, whereas id argue that we know what matty the person thinks about "matty healy" the performance.

I dont have a super cohesive point to end on but I do think that matty presenting a post-meta-narrative gets lost in translation when the 1975 gets exposed to wider audiences (like the swiftes) who take the red-pilled, toxic masculinity, meta-narrative Matty presents, as the end all be all.

anyways, i LOVE the pod, i hope yall keep it up and have fun doing it!!!

first off OMG HI IM JUST SEEING THIS SORRY IF YOU SENT IT A WHILE BACK! It’s Halla btw lmao. seconddddd, okay that’s a very good point you’re making about Stan-able celebrities, so to speak. Because, as we were talking, in the back of my head, I was thinking about my second favorite artist, Father John Misty, whose music is lowkey similar to the 1975 in a lot of ways. And it’s definitely shaped me as a person a lot. He’s been my top artist on Spotify wrapped stats for years. HOWEVERRR, I don’t have the same relationship to him/ his art as Matty and the 1975. I think it’s precisely because of the meta-narrative that you’re pointing to!

perhaps that’s part of what Matty has in mind when he says “feeling personally addressed.” Even little things like referencing their own earlier discography or tongue-in-cheek jokes about lyrics. “You can’t figure out a heart you were lyin’” “it’s just like I’ve lost my head.” Not to mention Notes tracks that have samples of ABIIOR in the back/ signaling the end of Music For Cars era etc. all of those things feel like building a narrative that the fan can participate in, and is likely to make you more immersed in the music and the artist. So yeah 100% I think this is a really great thought and if you don’t mind us referencing it on the next ep (it’s gonna be a part 2 of this conversation but more centered around consumerism in fan culture) I’d love to bring it up with Zoe!

[eldritchmochi]

Coping Skills Info Dump!!!! Anytime all the time omfg, I live for that fic, it has rewired my kinky disabled brain

cs info dump u say?? and i was given no specific topic for said info dump?? unfortunately this means im gonna talk about my bf because i have One (1) topic of convo lmao

SO part of what has me struggling to pick cs back up is the past 8 months of flirting with my boy leading up to him deciding no we are dating now has given me SO MANY THOUGHTS wrt the wizards early relationship and ways i could have better developed it given what my demi disabled ass has gone thru since christmas

one of those things is more emphasis on the intimacy inherent in someone else touching your cane (not a euphemism lol). its there a little but i think id like it to hit essek like a mack truck how much he likes it to really lean into the kink ive created. the second rope scene where essek hands caleb his cane to hold while he undresses could have been SO MUCH BETTER had caleb casually leaned on esseks cane rather than holding it as a weapon the way i described. at the time, that was the only way i had seen someone hold my cane for me but my boy just does not and i bluescreen every single time. i know better now. i could make it SO horny now and i rly wanna lol

another thing i wish i had brought in earlier is the concept of horny paperwork. not only is it absolutely hilarious but it is a thing in kink, yes-no-maybe forms you fill out with a new partner as part of negotiation. in hindsight, i think cs!esseks characterization falls too much towards avoidance in his anxiety over intimacy when i really really like him as Must Plan Every Detail kinda anxious too (ala rts). in combo with how he's just. incredibly baffled by the extent of his boner for caleb, i could absolutely see him taking "research" notes and searching for empirical quantitative data from the very start

the last thing is leaning in harder to esseks anxiety over intimacy and how different it feels compared to his previous relationships. again something that i touched on but am now qualified to ramp up significantly considering i have spent the last several weeks losing my mind over how the dating cliches are cliches because apparently people really do desire to do them, they dont do them because theyre cliches they (i) want to do them??? and i think that would be a very fun theme to explore in the early-mid section of cs, and would give me good jumping off points for scenes between essek and his guides (and verin, and maybe other friends of esseks which is another thing i wish to have done different, is give him a few more friends from the get go this man is too introverted aaa)

so there ya go, the Problem ive been chewing on since like, may lmao

[slytherinshua]

Ah I loved that, thankyou!! I feel like Yechan would hate me tho because I LOVE to tease. I am a menace to my younger sister (I once convinced her for about 5 mins that she didn't actually know what her middle name was, but then again I'm am extremely gullible and my brother has convinced me of things that I have believed for years 😭). He would definitely be so supportive though and I feel like it would be so interesting to have convos about music with him!

Sangyeop definitely strikes me as the reliable "I'm here if you need me" type of of guy. He would definitely be such an interesting person to talk to, the amount of random knowledge that he must know could keep me entertained for hours lol

I need Wonsang to help me through my fears even now lol. He's so sweet and I could see him being so patient with you while trying to get you to face them, why is he not in my life 😭😭

Songwriting with Gwangil would be so fun! And the amount of inside jokes you would probably have is amazing. I definitely agree with you, I think his hugs could solve anything and I absolutely need one lol.

I'm glad piano has been going well! How are you finding the teacher, do you like them? Ooh that's cool, do you have a lot of arm muscles from that? I always imagine that tennis players must have insane muscles but I could be wrong lol. That's so interesting that you lived overseas, can I ask where you lived? I'm sure it must have been hard to adjust! 2 of my best friends also lived overseas with missionary parents, but I don't think they struggled too much since the were so young and then moved back while they were still in primary school. I'm good! Not up to much either lol. I went on a mini roadtrip with two of my friends (funnily enough the ones I just mentioned). It was really good, but also really funny to see them interact with eachother since they are sisters. One is a year older than me and the other is a year younger, so being in the middle of it always very fun. I still live with my brother, but even then we hardly interact lol. Somedays the only interaction we have is when he's filling his bottle up before he goes to bed at like 1am and that's very short lol. We definitely have the same (broken) sense of humour, there was a period of time when we were constantly rickrolling each other and we both became very paranoid messaging each other ahaha. That's definitely the thing with family though, they are so annoying and some days you just want to slap them, but you also love them so much and would fight for them. If anyone touches my baby sister (who is only 3yrs younger lol) there will be hell to pay 😡😡

lmao yechan would lose patience fr 😭😭 my older siblings always gaslit me when i was little OMG like they fr convinced me my nose was blue and now they wont let it go even now like 13 yrs later 😭😭😭😭😭 yeah sangyeop is so sweet and reliable :( and hes so smart too i feel like he'd advice for anything!!! wonsang is the sweetest like stop.... im so sad :( gwangil has so much fun around the people hes close to but he can be so quiet to others i love him </3

i really like my teacher!! i had her back in 2020 too so its not completely new <3 i don't lol it doesn't take as much strength as you would think to hit the ball you just need to practice to get the timing right and accuracy down then its pretty easy in terms of strength!!

yeah i lived in the philippines for 3 yrs and i've also been to some other south east asian countries like indonesia, singapore, and cambodia <3 i remember having so much fun living in the countries and i would make friends really easy but the problem was i would always be moving away so i was never able to keep any friendships. even now im scared to make in person friends cause im scared im just going to move away again, so that's why i only have online friends :( its like a security net ig... cause i know we wont just lose contact one day <//3 omg that's so fun i miss roadtrips!! and i miss having in person friends too lskdjsk

yeah i live with my two closest brother and sister in age but sometimes we don't even see each other in a day not because we go outside but because they're sleeping... 😭 i love broken senses of humor tho like i fr have a teenage boy sense of humor with my best friend 💀💀💀 sibling relationships are so precious imo and so unique to any other relationship out there cause they could be so different from you that if you weren't siblings you would never be friends. but because you are you get along with them and love them to death <3

[panelshowsource]

it's strange to you that people talk about not having seen charlie brooker in a while because he might be on a future episode of a show that hasn't been confirmed let alone aired yet? seems a bit unfair

charlie's certainly been very busy writing and producing lots of series! some people may not know he created the beloved cunk on britain and is now working on cunk on earth, he worked on the death to 2020 mockumentary, off the back of bandersnatch he wrote and produced a kids show for netflix called cat burglar. he's a busy man! but we were used to seeing him in the panel show sphere for so long that naturally the once-every-couple-years appearance doesn't fulfill the painful nostalgia sadly

hahahahahahaha that is soooooo funny to think about and i can hardly disagree with you. but omg victoria in the woods? VICTORIA? pleaseeeeee 😭

glad you're having fun! :')

i do remember it! i was (and am!) a huuuge doctor who fan and got into panel shows as a kid because i was following people like tennant and (speaking of problematic "comedic" behaviour of the noughties) barrowman, who would sometimes appear on them, and i feel like i remember — am i remembering correctly? i swear this happened — barrowman was on quiz night and ran on stage and ate shit? like he fell face first into the floor? something like that, and the whole studio went silent! that sticks out in my mind hahaha

that show is a prime example of how a 12yo american girl can know who, like, clare balding is. because people ask me allllll the time if i understand british cultural references and socio-political history, and i'm telling you shows like quiz night were how i absorbed some of the most random names and events! i also think quiz night was on the more adult end of the spectrum — compared to, like, the actual content of buzzcocks, wilty, argumental being easy for a kid to digest because it was mostly just adults shouting at each other about meaningless things — but quiz night felt like more of a brain exercise at that age, following more adult convos and banter than some of the other shows

still, even then i really never liked chris moyles. don't get me wrong, there's a fair share of 2000s/early 2010s british comedy and general british telly content i really love or just have strong nostalgia for, but there was a strong lad/ladette culture at the time that resulted in tons of homophobia and fatphobia, "taking the piss" that was actually just bullying, clarkson, you know what i mean — and chris was always one of the voices at the forefront of keeping that culture popular in radio and comedy, in my mind. so i always had a problem with him, even way back. honestly, i don't really like any of the big name djs like him, chris evans, johnny vaughn, etc. is he even a big thing anymore? i don't really know how his career trajectory went after leaving radio one

LMAO he must because i've seen plenty of his other outfits and they are certainly not grey, this is another one of his silly inside jokes — and by inside, i mean with himself — and i gotta admit it's worth a chuckle hehe

well no one's perfect :)

—

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[fff777]

reaction part 1 to wayv working at haidilao ep 2

hendery really is a MESS he had no idea how to present the menu tablet to the customers and jingmin still did all the work lol

apparently the customers so far have been real haidilao customers and already two of them have recognized wayv so that makes me think that wayv are perhaps more popular than i thought in korea

clapping for hendery after he did the bare minimum

jingmin coming back and apologizing to the customers for hendery's awkwardness lol. i get it though. this is just a fun bit for wayv but this is actually jingmin's job.

hendery walking like a video game character when he was standing in front of a seat and kun and yangyang told him to walk forward lol

dejun diligently scooping the food (possibly the shrimp paste) into the pots for customers

hendery: do you need recommendations? customers: yes hendery: this friend will help you dejun: yes

dejun didn't know how to explain 貢菜 and was like "...it's good"

jingmin says that the staff are allowed to give customers dishes on the house for special events like birthdays and such

this group of customers had one friend who came late and she asked for the same sauce as her friends, so kun went over to mix some more :3

dejun also offering to make sauce for the table he's helping <3

hendery saw jingmin helping customers with their coats and hendery was like I CAN HELP

this table was asking yangyang questions. the lady who knows sm idols probably told the others about them. they were asking him if he was only working for a day, another asked if he was maknae :3

HENDERY STRUGGLING WITH THE COKE CAN this man is HOPELESS like dude all that happened was that the tab was a little bent X'D and dejun opened the can with no problems 真係大驚小怪!!!

kun: who wants the coke? male customer: me kun: ah i'm sorry, men have to pour their own drinks YOU MEANIE

dejun offering for the customers to have kungfu noodle performance

i fucking hate this XD hendery painted 224 on plates with peanut sauce as a celebration for february 24 and gave it to the customers

lol the shifu putting on music on his phone for the performance

wayv will start the performance with some one direction lmao. i am yangyang here, i am trying so hard to be hype but my cringe barriers are too low XD

meanwhile kun doing some noodle performance for another table

kun: real talk, i learned this this morning

at least kun's noodles are actually edible and he put them into the hot pot

time for hendery the disaster lol. at least the customers are having fun XD

hendery: how was it, was i cool? dejun, in english: yes hendery: i know

hendery and yangyang playing hand games but messing up

dejun asked these customers if they knew wayv and the lady on the left said she was a fan! she said she'd even gone to nct nation concert and like them from debut! :D

birthday time!

kun got assigned to sing the haidilao birthday song

sowoneul marhaebwa~

a big group came in and hendery very loudly greeted them and this customer was like "hendery?!" and hendery went "???"

there's another table where the customer recognizes kun and yangyang. i just realized that it's probably because people who are interested in chinese food are more likely to be interested in chinese pop.

dejun: 唔好嚇親人啦 hendery: 我別人嚇親啊, 好緊張 and then hendery was like touch my heart bro, feel how fast it's beating

also i noticed the three camera people in the seat behind that big group? it must feel a little uncomfortable to be eating there on that day ^^;;

another canto convo between hendery and dejun. hendery was feeling idle and dejun was all "well you just have to see what they need" but he was saying it...a little cutesy. anyway dejun said that that large table was at haidilao for the first time so they might need recommendations. and then as he pushed hendery to go he reminded hendery once again not to scare them lol.

dejun: who even are you

these two customers asked for kun and yangyang's recommendations on soup

THIS FUCKING GUY I CAN'T WITH HIM

the customer was trying to input numbers and asked for help and hendery kidnapped yangyang just as he walked past.

yangyang figure it out. can i make an ipad baby joke? lol

this customer on the right was like "...so handsome" and yangyang got embarrassed hehe

it's getting busy now it must be around proper meal time (lunch or dinner)

hendery greeting a new customer cutely lel

yangyang suggested that hendery ask the big table if they want sauce and hendery was like "i asked...they didn't want :("

LOL offering photocard stands to the customers

[platonic-qpr-selfshipping]

Walk and days!

-Saskia-Robin

thank you for sending these in!<3

walk - what do you usually do when you spend time together? is there any place you especially like to hang out at? maybe somewhere that holds a deep meaning for both of you for some reason? for Cyno

we often find peace and fun in walking around, going through places we've mentioned or are just discovering, as well as sitting down to enjoy nature and have a conversation about what we've been doing recently or whatever we've been thinking about. gardens and anywhere that isn't that crowded is our favorite choice when we want to talk or lie down for a bit, but we also enjoy visiting some bookstores or markets to find something for us or just have a nice time!

days - how often do you text each other? who is the most likely to send a random meme without context at 3am? are they more the type to text you a simple "good morning", run up to your house and shout it at your window or somewhere in between? for Lucifer (i know he technically isn't in my f/o list but. everyone from obey me is just so. i want to get along with all of them)

I stopped for a bit before writing the answer to this one to make obey me daily missions and i just got a Lucifer UR in a random free pull, I- okay yes I will talk about you. I like to imagine he kind of developed a "they are part of the family, must protect" type of bond with me, but we would still see each other quite often so when we chat it's for either tell each other very specific stuff ("would you like to go get groceries with me tomorrow?", "remember the meeting with Diavolo this evening", etc) or the deepest convo you've seen in a while lmao there's no inbetween. It's just us relying on each other. Sometimes I'm too far away or scared to go to him in person, meanwhile he might find it easier to let some things out in chat. If it works, it works. The next day we greet each other with a soft good morning and a pat on the back (he's getting a hug from me later)

[bonesandthebees]

Glass Divine! I think this was my favorite chapter so far. I love angst so much. The second Wilbur got that vision I just started going crazy. Right off the bat, I got the suspicion that Wilbur's vision is a self fulfilling prophecy. The only reason he tried to escape was because he got that vision, which causes the vision in the first place. Also worth noting that Wilbur is so quick in his thought process. There is no doubt in his mind that Clara wants him to escape. Having him immediately go "I understand Clara" was clever, because it really conveyed how quick he was to come to that conclusion.

I'm suspicious that the vision might not actually be from Clara, and that it might just be a nightmare, based off that convo with Tommy about nightmares. He brushes off Tommy's question about how he tells the visions from the nightmares, which means that we the reader don't get that info either. So I think Clara actually can't reach him, and he's so desperate for her that he takes his own nightmares as visions.

However, if that theory is wrong/Wilbur is right, there's a lot of interesting implications. Clara really can reach that far into Kristin's domain. That makes me wonder what the dynamic between the two goddesses is. How territorial are they? Are they at odds just because their followers are?

Similarly to the whole self fulfilling prophecy thing, there's a line from Tommy that really interests me. He goes "I'm not playing your stupid game" when Wilbur starts pestering him. Then, he's actually honest to Wilbur. Doing so kind of destroyed Wilbur's plans of bothering him and bothering him - by unexpectedly giving Wilbur what Wilbur wanted on the surface, he was refusing to play Wilbur's game, the game being their sarcastic back and forth. So he was telling the truth when he said that.

Then obviously, there's the escape attempt. I won't go super in depth about it since I have limited time, and other analyzers could probably delve into it better than I could. Here's my thoughts:

Wilbur is going to regret that. I know that's pretty obvious, but I think it will be something that haunts him. Something that makes it hard for him to connect to Tommy, because even when Tommy is ready to forgive him (if Tommy is ever ready) or at least when Tommy still wants to be friends, Wilbur is going to feel immense guilt that impedes that friendship. It's going to stick with him. It's also definitely going to have some immediate consequences. I'm expecting things to get worse for Wilbur. The only question is how much worse?

And poor Tommy. He must be going through so much right now. He's going to have issues over this.

-🔥

is it really seeing the future if you're the reason that future happens? if it's your choices that lead to that result in the end? would it have still happened if he hadn't seen the vision? all fun questions for a possible self-fulfilling prophecy indeed

I'll clarify right now, wilbur can clearly differentiate between a normal dream and a vision. I mentioned it briefly in the first chapter, but he's always extra hazy after waking up from a vision. also, he just has a sense for it. so no he wasn't mistaking a normal dream for a vision. he's been the pythia for 10+ years now, he knows how to tell the difference between them.

interesting implications for clara and kristin's relationship indeed hm :)

yup! tommy wasn't going to play wilbur's games by not giving into the taunts. wilbur was trying to goad him and he refused, and instead just gave wilbur the outright truth.

oh yeah wilbur's gonna feel a lot of guilt about what he did for a long time to come lmao

we'll see how tommy's handling things very very soon :)

[beesilent]

hello there bee bee, i see you enjoyed me and sui's convo (even tho im an anon) so i decided to have a little chat with you because why not 😉, anyway you only playing ikevil is like me only playing ikepri tbh- and hey i see you also know obey me 👀...(that reblog you had-)

OMG WHOS YOUR FAVE?!? I HAVE BEEL, LUCI, AND DIA WITH ME EIXNWISJWKSKAKS-

but anyways who was your fave in ikevil tho? i mean i didn't play ikevil yet and im still stuck on my fave between william and harrison 🤔.

so in conclusion, you literally summoned me 🧍🏻‍♀️.

your cool btw, i like ya ☺️🫶🏼 (platonically)

- 🐷

Hehe HI there piggy anon🤗 Sorry for taking a while to answer, I've been busy but I really appreciate you coming to talk to me, you're fun ^^

YEES I love obey me!!!!! It was one of my first otome addictions!! I don't really play the game anymore but I don't think I'll leave the fandom anytime soon lol I love that chaotic family too much ESPECIALLY Belphegor🙈 I know he's a little shit but like he's my little shit, I love him an insane amount because he was my confort character for the longest time, forever my number one 🥹

Tho I must say Beel, Levi and Mammon are all right there at second place, so YOU HAVE GREAT TASTE! I don't like lucifer that much because I just see him as a grumpy dad tho lmao and dia is 👌

So ummm not so surprisingly Ellis is my fave in ikevil 😆 I swear I like other types but he's just so belphie coded to me, how am I supposed to resist that?? But I wouldn't like ikevil as much as I do if I didn't liked all the characters, it was the first ikeseries game where I had an interest or curiosity on every single character available! Harrison makes me feel giddy just like Ellis, I desperately want to hold hands with or hug Elbert and Liam, William and Alfons intrigue me a lot, Roger feels like an older brother or father to me, and then Victor I BEG YOU TO ADOPT ME SIR- oh and Jude. He's rude but I like his design a lot and he's growing on me so yeah ☺️

But Leon was one of my favorites in ikeprince! His route was my first and I just fell in love with it!! But I don't really like chevalier or Gilbert, they make me wanna throw hands with them 😔

Thanks for summoning my ramblings lol you seem cool too, hope you don't mind me reblogging stuff from 10 different fandoms all the time😅 and I hope you enjoy Tumblr! 🫶🫶