#the fact that you spend so much more time reading than watching a movie sort of makes the connection a bit stronger in a way

[ew-selfish-art]

DpxDc AU: What’s an adoption paper or two between bros?

Danny is starting to realize that since Jazz left the house for university, his parents aren’t really good at well, being his parents. They’re obsessed with his alter ego to the point that they ignore his normal ego, and that uh, hurts his feelings. Like, a lot. Meal times have gotten weirder and more inconsistent, and he’s starting to wonder if they suspect what’s really going on with him.

They’ve started to say “You know you can tell us anything” these days when he sees them outside their lab (which isn’t frequent) but the normal amount of ghost hate speech hasn’t changed. If anything it’s gotten worse. Just like everything else.

Danny joined the whole-ass justice league to fill his spare time after high school and his parents are literally none the wiser. Like, he's a part time high-school senior at 17 and a full time international hero. His parents only comment on the fact that the menace Phantom is costing them a lot in airline tickets as they try and apprehend him all over the world. Hell, they caught Ellie for a second when he was in Morrocco and it got ugly fast. She's a junior member now but mostly spends her time with some doofus that has a magic traveling house.

And really, he's fine with his schedule of going to school, going ghost and making a difference, and then returning to a dramatically silent house. Really.

Then one day his new friend and co-team lead Red Robin makes a brief mention about his own childhood of neglect and Danny makes a joke, "What, no adoption papers for the homies?"

He laughs as he says it but something in his leader's eyes looks sharp, and Kon is sighing in the background something that sounds suspiciously like dear Rao you've done it now.

Next time Danny is on the Watchtower, he's brought into a meeting with Red Robin, Batman and various other JL team leaders.

"Adoption papers are very much for the homies. I've also included the option of emancipation, as you'll see in the green folder, but I am one hundred percent serious about adopting you."

"Red, you're like, 3 months younger than me." Danny deadpans.

"Adoption is for the homies and I'm emancipated. And If i'm reading Batman correctly, you're facing three outcomes right now."

"Three?"

"One: I adopt you and you become my legal dependent. Two: Batman adopts you and I become your legal brother. or Three: You emancipate yourself while allowing us to provide for you while your housing situation is sorted out."

"... Uh. Door one?" Danny is having too many feelings. Why does batman look disappointed? What is Jazz going to say? What on earth???

"Welcome to the Drake Family." Red shakes his hand up and down, the grin on his face feral and the plan towards being emancipated from the Fentons and adopted by his boss is a weird one.

But eventually, a few weeks later, he's had a pretty delicious dinner by his new adoptive grandfather-tler and is watching a movie with Tim and Kon on the couch and he's just so happy and comfortable and warm...

"Will this make Kon my dad if you two get married?" Danny laughs and it's the closest he gets to being disowned.

[love-and-war-on-cybertron]

Teach a bot to kiss: Rodimus

I rewrote this a couple times and I might just do so again. buuuuut for now.~

Rodimus taps against his desk, venting out a rush of hot air. His focus is far from the stack of data pads and he is trying to keep it even further away from the human sitting on said stack. Your focus is on your own human size data pad, trying to help him out. Optics lingering on your mouth, your lips. The shape, the color, the way they purse when you're thinking too hard. He wonders if they are as soft as your hair. Or more plush like your body when he carries you. Your lips move as you silently read to yourself, a flicker of your tongue behind teeth makes Rodimus give up any attempt to focus on work.

A few nights ago, Swerve hosted a human movie night. You had called it a rom com. Swerve and you loved it. Most were perplexed, but the snacks and drinks were worth a stay. Then there was the scene where two characters embraced each other and started smashing their intakes together. Being the only human aboard, and thus defacto human expert, the bots asked you questions about the strange act. The closest any of them came to understanding your flustered explanation was a data transfer without cables… and data. Just sensitive nerves of the lips.

Rodimus spent every night since tracing the lines of his derma, wondering what it would feel like to kiss. More specifically, what kissing YOU would feel like. Curiosity leading to more research of rom coms. More research leading to more curiosity. Curiosity leading to want. There was one teeny tiny problem. Actually there were multiple problems, including the fact he was the captain of the ship. No doubt in his mind that Ultra Magnus could pull at least ten codes on what that was not permitted from his memory. The biggest problem, is the smallest.

You. You are small.

Most organic species are diminutive compared to Cybertronians, humans especially so. Rodimus thinks it's adorable, who knew there was something smaller than a minibot? You are tiny and soft and fragile. One wrong swipe of his hand had already sent you to the med bay. If he picks you up and squeezes too hard, if a bot isn't paying attention to where they are stepping, if you fall off their shoulders. Just being around his kind is risky. When has Rodimus ever shied away from risk?

It wasn't like you two hadn't been dancing around some sort of mutual attraction. Snarky innuendos, compliments, any excuse to spend time together. There was something there. Rodimus may not be able to do a data transfer with you, but he had a mouth, and you had a mouth. could he kiss you? Would his size be an issue? what if he didn't like it? What if you didn't like it?

"Can you show me how to kiss?"

Looking up from the datapad, you give Rodimus a questioning look. Clearly doubting you heard correctly, "What?"

He carefully takes the datapad between his thumb and index, placing it to the side, his optics focused on you, "Show me how to kiss, like in the movie."

"Oh… Oh um…. wow." You take a moment and run your hand over your hair, "You want to… learn how to kiss?" He could practically hear you panicking internally. See your temp rise the same way it did when he would teas you.

"Yeah. Cultural exchange." Rodimus chuckles, tapping his digits against his face plate. The way he says that has you narrowing your eyes and catching onto his game.

"Cultural exchange?"

"Cultural exchange."

"Alright… pucker up."

After explaining why you said that, a little bit of snark, and a little bit of thinly veiled flirting; Rodimus had you in his hands, lifted up to reach him better. Your eyes flickering over his helm, his finials, the lines of his hands. Anywhere but his optics.

"Nervous?" he asks.

You pause, a hand on his chassis to steady yourself. Eyes finally meeting his gaze, "Yeah…"

His spark flutters at the soft tone you take. "Yeah… me too." Rodimus watches as you find a comfortable position, glancing up at him. He doesn't want to say too much and make you change your mind. "I'm gonna… just… you stay still, okay?"

Rodimus nods and keeps himself still as possible, feeling the rapid beat of your heart through your hands on either side of his face plates. Carefully lifting yourself close, his other hand comes to steady you. It reminds him how fragile you are. A kiss to his chin doesn't give much sensation, but Rodimus' spark still jumps and chases his thoughts away from those thoughts. A kiss to his helm and he dims his optics with a hum. Intakes hitch when your lips find the corner of his mouth, making him turn his head. Brushing against your mouth before he jerks back.

"Sorry." He mumbles, shifting slightly. Patience was a virtue he struggled with. One kiss in and Rodimus wants more, to kiss you back, like they did in the movie. You just offer him another smile and kiss again. The metal here has some give to it, smooth, warmer than the rest of him. Which was a lot to say for a bot that already ran hotter than most. From the corner, to the center; small pecks trace the seam of his mouth.

Rodimus dares to give in and kiss you back, his movements restricted and stiff. Hand flexes slightly against your body. He doesn't like being passive, and shifts, hand still cupped against you to avoid another trip to medical. Every peck from you is followed but a gentle nudge back from him, the puckering eludes him. Doesn't stop the bot from pressing against your cheek, trying to mimic what you did earlier. It takes a couple tries to properly judge how much pressure he needs. It's more nuzzling that your typical kiss. A good first try for a cybertronian. Soft. So soft. All of you, but your lips especially so. Rodimus gets bold, trailing kisses. With enough nuzzling to find the right spot, your neck. His engine revs in response to your gasp. That was a good sign, he was doing something right. Another and your muttering something, pushing him away.

"That's for another day Roddy." You press your forehead to his chin and ignore his pout.

Rodimus presses a kiss to your cheek again and you can feel him purse his lips, getting a little better, "So I'm the greatest kisser you ever had, right?" "Oh my god…"

[enwoso]

HOW DO I SAY GOODBYE || alessia russo

WARNINGS: upsetting themes, talks of death, overdose, suicide, grief etc. please do not read if any of these make you uncomfortable.

masterlist

read pink skies first before continuing!

"so how you feeling?" alessia asked a slight wince on her face as she asked, she knew it was a sensitive topic. something you always tried to deflect whenever asked but she wasn’t asking about you personally - well maybe she was kind of - but she was more directing it at your injury.

as she flopped onto her bed in the room she’d called home for the past five days while being on international camp. you on the other line, your room dimmed as you lay in your bed the soft hum of your tv playing in the background. the room you hadn’t left in three days.

getting called up to play for you country was a special feeling that never went away each time it happened but playing with your best friend for england, well there was no feeling like it.

so naturally when alessia seen your name also on the team sheet she was ecstatic, however that quickly went away within four hours as it was quickly announced that you’d withdrawn because of a knee injury and would instead spend the international break rehabbing at arsenal.

alessia had, had her suspicions about your knee injury that seemed to of popped up out of nowhere but nevertheless pushed it to the back of her mind and instead just focused on trying to help you get back into the swing of playing football again.

little did alessia know in that moment was that you’d already played your last match together.

“yeah it’s- um its getting there” you nodded, but it coming out as if you were trying to convince yourself that your knee was getting there. alessia humming with her usual bright smile as she gave you some positive notes to help spur your recovery on quicker. the words going over your head quicker than she said them.

alessia spent the next hour telling you everything that had happened that day, like she’d done the past five days. filling you in on every detail from the silly jokes ella had told her that made her laugh, to her telling you about how grace reminded her of a sloth cause of how long she’s hug her for to even the coffee she’d drank this morning with lotte.

you sat listening to her little ramble, the way she couldn’t tell you the jokes ella had told her without a giggle slipping out in between each word and the way she tried to sound so agitated by graces hugs you could see the adoration in her eyes and the way her lip quirked.

some of her words morphing into one as you lay, an empty feeling filled your chest as you laid in your room, the same hoodie on with the same toothpaste stain on it, your hair in the same messy bun from days ago that your hood covered.

“and your still coming to watch tomorrow right?” alessia asked, the match being a late afternoon kick off at wembley as you hummed a small response as alessia’s smile grew just that little bit bigger.

“yeah.. think leah said she had the tickets and all that sorted” you told alessia as she made a little joke about your organisation skills, you not being one for planning more just someone tells you the time and date and you would show up.

“good, well i’ll come by yours after and we can watch man on fire” alessia smiled, knowing a groan was going to come from you about the choice of movie. it being the blondes favourite at the moment meaning you had seen it at least six times already.

“you and that film! i’ll agree only if you bring the jammy dodgers!” you say with a small smug smile, knowing the blonde couldn’t resist and the fact they were your favourite biscuits — alessia couldn’t say no.

“fine! i’ll stop on the way and get them for you!”

YOURNAME🩷 good luck today lessi, go show wembley how much of a star girl you are!

delivered 01:44pm

YOURNAME🩷 and sorry i can’t make it to see you play — just not feeling too good today.

delivered 01:45pm

maybe if alessia had of seen that message the day wouldn’t have progressed the way it did but she’s didn’t see the message. she thought you were sat in the stands with leah, like you’d told the blonde the night before.

instead the game kicked off, the scheduled time of two thirty. alessia in the starting line up even getting herself a goal as she celebrated with the fans and her teammates. pointing to the corner where you were supposed to be sat.

expect you never got to see the goal.

as what alessia didn’t know was that while she was kicking a ball around a pitch in front of ninety thousand people that there were a group of paramedic’s trying to shock some life back into your body.

coming to the end of the game the team was doing there usual lap of honour as alessia spots leah in the corner of her eye with one of the coaching staff which works with england but as the blonde scanned the area for your face you were no where to be found.

“leah? where’s y/n?” alessia asked concern laced her voice. a small flash of confusion took over leah’s face as she paused her conversation with the staff member, “did she not tell you?”

“tell me what exactly..?” alessia trailed off hurrying leah into an answer as she didn’t exactly know what leah was trying to get at.

“that she couldn’t make it, said she didn’t feel too great. i thought you knew already, she told me she had messaged you” leah shrugged before walking off and leaving less stood slightly confused - did leah not ask why you weren’t coming?

“wait- leah…” alessia called out but leah couldn’t hear the blonde. an uneasy feeling took over alessia’s body. something didn’t feel right as the whole stadium seemed to fall silence in her ears as she made her way over to the tunnel. the fans scream for her as well as a couple of her teammates calling out her name but it was no use alessia didn’t hear them.

getting back to her spot in the changing room, she rummaged through her bag for her phone. a sigh leaving her lips when she saw your message but still her mind was still filled with panic.

it wasn’t like you to just message out the blue that you weren’t coming to the match and even if you couldn’t make it you’d watch and live update her through messages.

alessia refreshed her phone thinking maybe your live updates hadn’t come through but no, nothing. just the two messages.

by this point the rest of the team was coming back into the changing room as alessia rushed around trying to get changed and on her way to your apartment. her mind not seeming to be able to rest without knowing if you were okay.

“less you don’t need to be in that much of a hurry we aren’t going out till six!” ella joked as she sat beside the blonde, a little giggle coming from the brunette but soon her smile dropped when she saw her best friends look of panic.

“what’s wrong?” ella asked as alessia sighed, “nothing i just promised y/n i would go and see her”

“right. how's her knee?” ella asked as alessia hummed a small nod, “it’s good- erm i need to go tooney. i’ll call you later yeah” alessia rushed out and before the brunette even had a chance to respond the blonde was out the changing room door.

a few glances to the door from the other girls as they then looked to ella who just shrugged, not knowing the answer to their questions that their faces were asking without even saying a word.

three knocks of the door was all it took before the door slowly opened, a face appearing which was definitely not who alessia thought would be answering the door.

“oh- alessia?” your mum slight surprise in her voice, clearing not expecting the blonde to be stood at the door. alessia stood her hands filled with all your favourite things that you like when your not feeling too good as well as your beloved jammy dodgers.

“hey mrs y/l/n, is um y/n in- i told her i was coming by after my game..” alessia trailed off, noticing the slight change in your mums face. a sadder look appearing as your mum looked towards the floor.

“i’m sorry alessia, i think it’s best you come inside” your mum took a deep breath in as she moved deeper into your apartment, alessia clicking the front door shut with her foot.

there being a strange feeling in the air as she walked down the small hallway, it being littered with small reminiscences of you. your shoes that you would always leave by the door, alessia forever tripping over them any time she came over.

the place felt eerie as alessia followed your mum deeper into your apartment. alessia had a strange feeling in her stomach, the same stomach dropping feeling when you get caught breaking your mums case a child.

expect this was worse.

a vase could be glued back together. a life, not so much.

“take a seat love” your mum pointed to the couch as she sat on the one opposite alessia as she sunk into the soft couch.

your mum taking a few deep breaths still looking at the floor before looking up towards alessia, tears building in her eyes. alessia’s head was spinning, something had happened. but what, well she was probably wishing the day never happened.

“um there’s no way to really say this but- um y/n, she’s-” your mums voice was shaky as she spoke, alessia on edge as her knee bounced up and down awaiting the next words.

“is she okay?” alessia asked it coming out as a whisper as her bottom lip began to wobble, fear taking over her body. watching as your mum shook her head no.

“i’m so sorry less.. but she’s gone”

the words fell on deaf ears as alessia almost didn’t hear what your mum had said it seemingly not wanting to go into her head but once it did her body crumbled like a brick wall. as her tears fell, your mum getting up immediately and wrapping the young girl in a hug.

“no, no- she, no” alessia choked out over her tear as your mum tried her best to soothe alessia as they both cried in each others arms. "she's at peace now sweetheart" your mum whispered into alessia's hair as she soothed the blonde as she sobbed.

the pair stayed in each others arms both choked up with tears, as once grieved the lost of their daughter, their own blood while the other grieved the loss of their best friend, a sister maybe not by blood but sisters by hearts.

alessia was the first to move as she looked to your mum with puffy red eyes, your mums face mirroring the same puffy eyes. "how'd- she. just how?" alessia managed to get out, part of her didn't want to know how or what you suffered but the other part would put her head to rest knowing you were not longer in pain.

"she- overdosed, they tried - they really did try to save her but she was already gone" your mum explained as a shiver went down alessia's spine as an image appeared in her brain as she shook her head trying to rid of it.

"i should have realised- with the injury she supposedly had- i-" alessia rushed out as she brought her hands up to cover her face, a pout forming on your mums face.

"alessia its not your fault, you weren't to know, y/n wouldn’t have blamed you." your mum comforted the blonde englufing her in a hug, "she's no longer in pain anymore"

the two of them stayed like that for a few moments later until alessia calmed down a little, your mum offering to make her something warm to drink. the afternoon had been a lot of the blonde to have to come to terms with.

your mum had walked off to make alessia a cup of tea, the blondes eyes wet as her bottom lip jutted out as she wondered her way towards the bathroom, stopping slightly as she reached your bedroom door.

her fingers lingered on the door handle as hesitation filled her body wondering if she should actually cross the threshold. a small movement and her foot was across the carpet as she made her way deeper into your room. her eyes filling up with tears once again, it smelled just like you.

alessia's hand dragged across the bedding which was made neatly, the room was spotless which for you was a rare thing. the softness of the blanket as alessia gripped it, as her legs seem to get weaker and a single tear slid down her cheek as her body slipped down the side of your bed. she stayed in your room, not wanting to move from the comfort of what was once your space.

alessia couldn’t tell you how long she stayed slouched down the side of your bed, in your room. maybe it had been ten minutes, three hours or maybe even a week.

she’d sat and cried with your mum and then she came and sat in your room, where many of days and nights had been spent. alessia’s eyes felt heavy, they were dry and puffy and most definitely red.

as she sat taking in the memories as she stared at the wall where small little photos scattered across the wall, as sense of emptiness filled the room. replacing the usual warmth she would get each time she entered. boxes already filled the room with your things packed in like you had never even existed.

alessia sat her legs outstretched, her fingers toying with the edges of two letters one had just been folded over, the other had been placed in an envelope. alessia’s name written in the nearest of handwriting, a little heart as the dot on the letter i in her name.

she’d read the one that had just been folded over, it being a short goodbye letter. one you probably scribbled in less than twenty minutes but it did reference the other neater letter having the answers that alessia would probably want to the questions that circled in her head.

like why. why’d you leave so soon. why didn’t you tell alessia you’d been struggling for so long. just why.

but she couldn’t bring it in herself to even open the other one, she didn’t think her heart could handle it reading it right now.

“oh less, i’m so sorry” alessia’s head slowly turned to the soft coo of the voice, it was her mum. a sad smile across her face as carol came closer. alessia not making any attempt to move, she couldn’t.

alessia’s mum wrapping her in a tight hug as the walls crashed down again, “she’s gone mum, what am i supposed to do without her..” alessia choked out through tears and sniffles as carol shushed her trying to calm her daughter down.

“let’s get you home, yeah?” carol asked as she pulled away from the hug, alessia still filled with tears as she nodded. small hiccups coming from her as she tried her best to pull herself up from your bedroom floor.

the envelope still held tightly in her hand, as she took on last look around your room. knowing it would probably be the last time she’d ever step foot in there.

a heavy sigh coming from alessia as she looked towards the small teddy that was laid in your neatly made bed, a little bunny that you couldn’t sleep without. every away day, every tournament that small bunny would come with.

alessia took a step towards the little bunny teddy, a little hesitant at first but then slowly reached out to it picking it up and lifting it up to her face. the soft fur as it sunk into her skin, it still smelling just like you. it feeling like you were stood right in front of alessia and boy how much she wished you were and that this wasn’t the reality she was facing now.

but unfortunately it was.

the drive home was long even though it was only a fifteen minute drive, the rain tapped against the glass as carol tried her best to converse with her daughter but alessia was having non of it just the occasional hum as her head leant against the cold glass.

alessia felt empty. she'd cried enough tears to fill a bathtub twice over and now she just felt numb. her eyes were sore, red as well as puffy. she'd lost a part of her.

when alessia finally got home she changed into different clothes feeling a little lighter but her whole body soon felt heavy again as she sat on her couch, your small bunny stuffy in her hand as she looked at the photo of the two of you from the euros final that held pride of place on the blondes tv cabinet as the blonde picked at the food her mum had made for her.

“are you sure your going to be okay on your own less? i can-“ carol asked as she stood leaning against the kitchen island, having sorted out alessia some dinner making sure the blonde actually had a hot meal in her especially after todays events.

“yes! i’ll be fine mum, i just- just need some time. i’ll message if i need anything” alessia’s tone coming across as snappy at first but once she realised she mumbled a small sorry before her tone got softer again. carol opening her mouth to say something but alessia quickly shut her down. “i promise mum, i will”

with that carol nodded, making the blonde a hot drink before leaving, kissing alessia on her head as alessia watched her mum walk out of her front door, waiting the door to click shut.

as soon as it did, she scrambled around placing the hot drink on the coffee table as she found her phone. her eyes glossy as she tapped away at the screen looking for a certain contact, a voice she needed right now.

“hello?- less?.. less?” ella paused, a hint of confusion as to why alessia hadn’t said anything.

“ella-“ alessia voice was shaky and she knew if she said more than two words she’d crumble again.

“less what’s up? how’s y/n, how’s her knee?” ella rattled out as the background noise got quieter, alessia wincing slightly at the sound of your name as she let out a few sniffles — it obvious to ella that something was up with her best friend.

“less, what’s happened? are you okay?” ella spoke fast as she was trying to get answers to her questions. the panic in her voice was evident.

“its y/n- she’s- she’s um” alessia tried to get out fast as she sobbed but she couldn’t bring herself to actually say the word as it hadn’t even processed in the blondes head that you were actually gone.

“woah- slow down less, you not makin’ any sense!” ella tried her best to calm alessia down, telling her to take deep breaths on the other side of the line, as her mind raced with what the end of the sentence was going to be.

“y/n- she’s gone.”

“what do you mean she’s gone? gone where?” ella asked her mind freezing as it hadn’t clicked what alessia meant as in reality that was the last thing she expected her best friend to even mean never mind actually say.

“she’s dead, ella.”

alessia

liked by leahwilliamson and 1,092,635 others

alessia today has truly been one of the hardest moments of my life - stepping back onto the pitch and not seeing you there. not being there to walk out onto the pitch with. not being able to watch you eat your jammy dodgers on the coach there.

y/n, you were one of the truest friends i ever had.

when you lose a true friend, the hardest part isn't the big moments, it's the small ones - the ones you take for granted. it's the everyday things which were boring but they made so fun, and so meaningful.

we were european champions together, we travelled to the other side of the world and made it to a world cup final, we played together for the same club. we did so many cool things. but you know what i miss most?

is just seeing you everyday, sitting for hours drinking coffee, your passion, your energy each day even when maybe i wasn’t in the best of moods — you knew how to brighten my day.

you touched so many lives in just 24 years. you wanted to change the world more than anyone i've ever known. you wanted football to be for everyone. this is very close to my heart and everyone who knew y/n personally. i'll be honest it's taken me a while to actually type this, it's still very raw for me.

with y/n y/ln in your life you were never alone. she was always there for others, she always found a way. she was always the one cheering the loudest for others. if you could bottle her energy, the world would be a much better place.

but with a little help her spirit, her warmth, and her legacy will live on. we will make sure of that.

i'll miss you forever. keep painting the skies pink my friend. i love you.

with love, your alessia<3

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[spinningwebsandtales]

Imagine Going To A Pumpkin Patch With All Might

Yagi "All Might" Toshinori X FemReader

Rating: G

Warnings: None it's all fluff

Word Count: 2.1k

(A/N:) I had a lot of fun writing this if y'all couldn't tell by the word count. XD Slowly but surely I'm breaking down the writer's block wall so keep being patient as I try to write all my Halloween ideas and not make them crappy! Until next time happy reading! ~Countess

The hallways of the college were decorated for Halloween and excitement could be felt through the whole building as students discussed plans and costumes. While Halloween was one of your favorite holidays you were not as excited this year as you didn't know if you were going to get to spend time with your boyfriend. Dating All-Might, Japan's most anticipated hero, had it's difficulties. Not just from the fact that he was an exchange student but he had become super popular, not just at school but the surrounding area. He had a heart to help anyone and everyone. It's one of the main reasons you liked him as well, but sometimes you wish that you both could spend more time together. You sighed and readjusted your books, when said books were scooped from your arms.

"You need to invest in a book bag," a deep voice spoke.

You laughed, "Why would a I purchase one when I have you around?"

"I guess that's one of the reasons why I am here," All Might agreed while wrapping your shoulders in one gigantic arm. "Thinking about anything in particular?"

"Just Halloween. It's coming up quickly and I honestly don't know what I want to do. It's looking like I'll be staying in and watching scary movies."

"You don't want to do something together?"

"It's not that I don't want to with you, but you are always so busy and need I remind you that you are pretty far behind in your studies," you elbowed him in the ribs.

"You and Dave keep reminding me about my school work," All Might grinned sheepishly.

"That's because failing grades are scary Toshi. It is Halloween but that's no excuse."

"Think the teachers will give me a break if I tell them I'm tardy all the time because I'm doing hero work," he sounded hopeful.

While you knew some teachers understood, you could think of at least two or three who more than likely sold their kind hearts for a strong cup of coffee.

"It's not looking good for you," you finally replied causing the giant of a man to groan.

"That's besides the point. We'll spend Halloween together no matter what happens," Toshinori straightened up lifting you up with one arm while the other still held your books. You laughed slapping at his arm.

"Even if someone needs the great All Might," you asked and he deflated. "I'm teasing. You wouldn't be you if you didn't drop everything to go help someone."

You brushed dust from his cherry blossom jacket and picked a few specks of debris from his golden hair.

"Want to go and do something together today," All Might set you back down.

"Let's make a deal. You do really good in your classes today and we'll go to the pumpkin patch once we're done. I've been wanting a couple pumpkins to carve and I heard they have all sorts of fun things to do and delicious treats. It's a little bit of a drive but I think it'll be really fun."

"Sounds like fun let's go. But we aren't driving I can get us there much faster!"

"I thought you couldn't fly," you glared thinking that he lied to you when you first met him.

All Might raised his hands in surrender, "I can't but I can jump really high and really far really fast."

"Do you want me to get whiplash?"

"You'll be safe I promise," he flexed and you couldn't help but laugh.

"Okay I trust you. It'll save me some money in gas anyway and I'll get a big bag that you can carry so we can bring everything we buy back to the dorms."

All Might walked with you until you both arrived at the door of your first class. He handed back your books and leaned down enough to where you could kiss his cheek and he returned one on your forehead.

"See you after school," you whispered already missing him as he turned around.

"It's a date," he waved his broad shoulders seeming to hold up the hallway alone. You worried one day those shoulders would carry too much of a load and break him down.

Class always seemed like it went by really fast but since you had plans that you were excited for, the day dragged along and you were beginning to get antsy. Impatiently you were the first out of the door and headed straight to your dorm to find a bag for All Might to carry the pumpkins back. You eventually had to borrow one but you found a smaller backpack for yourself so he wasn't the only one being treated like a pack mule. Racing through the halls and exiting out into the courtyard there stood the larger than life hero in training. He was doing squats and jumping in place, warming up for the journey.

"You made it," he grinned widely and you couldn't help but smile big in return.

"I did and I found a bag," you held up said bag. "It should be big enough for you to wear and have plenty of room for a couple of pumpkins. I also brought a bag for myself because it wouldn't be fair to you."

All Might scoffed, "Who's the boyfriend here?"

"Obviously not you," you retorted and he laughed loudly.

Shrugging on the bag he opened his arms waiting for you to come close. An autumn breeze brushed past you causing you to shiver.

"Hold on I need to go grab a hoodie."

Before you could race off All Might slipped off the bag and removed his plus ultra jacket before holding it out towards you. You started to protest but he plopped it onto your shoulders and waited for you to place your arms in the sleeves. Once you did he nodded in satisfaction and put the backpack back on. He waited again with his arms stretched wide and this time you stepped close. He scooped you up carefully, cradling you close to his warm chest. He gave you a gentle squeeze and brushed hair from your face before he braced his legs and jumped into the sky. You screamed taking handfuls of his shirt in your hands and clung to him tightly. Your hair whipping around in the wind, it felt like you both were floating before he started plummeting back to the earth. You screamed again, causing him to laugh. You could have punched him if you could release the death grip you had on his poor shirt.

"You didn't say this would be that scary," you screeched. "We keep falling and I'm pretty sure we just left my stomach on the ground back there!"

"It's fun! Open your eyes!"

"Absolutely not I may lose those too!"

"You won't I promise. I have everything in control okay."

You eased your eyes open but you didn't ease your grip. Holding on tightly you gazed at the sky you both were soaring through. The ground seemed so far away but the view was amazing. Birds passed by, squawking in annoyance at the man in their skies but you finally let loose laughing and screaming every time you both would fall back down towards the ground. True to his word All Might was in complete control. He never crashed down and he made it to the pumpkin patch gate in record time.

Placing you back onto solid ground, he held your arm until the jelly in your legs solidified. The elation and fear had you so wobbly it took a long time for your nerves and adrenaline to calm. Laughter came from children and adults of all ages inside the fenced in area. When you were finally ready All Might took your hand, lacing your fingers together and lead the way.

"I've never been to something like this before," he said while taking in all the sights.

"Never," you seemed surprised.

"Japan guy here. I came from a big city," he replied.

"Sorry I forgot," you flushed in embarrassment.

"It's okay. What do you want to do first?"

"Let's pick out pumpkins last, cause there's so much to do and with it being your first time let's explore everything," you pulled him towards a petting zoo.

With goats, bunnies, pigs, and animals of all shapes and sizes All Might got to pet all sorts of little animals. The rabbits were both your favorites as their ears reminded you both of All Might's hairstyle. A goat tried to eat his jacket he was letting you wear. But when a volunteer brought you both handfuls of food, the goat forgot about eating your clothing. After the petting zoo you saw a few games everyone was playing. All Might won first place in the strength game and fortunately asked for the smaller prize since you both would have to carry it back to the college. Next you spotted a corn maze and you both bet on who would make it out first. You were in the lead for the longest time until All Might jumped into the air and landed at the end startling a bunch of parents and children. It took thirty more minutes until you made your way out to see him standing there with a couple bottles of water and a smug grin.

"You totally cheated," you accused.

"I reworked the rules," he replied holding out a water bottle to you.

"Cheater cheater pumpkin eater," you taunted and he pulled the bottle away. "Okay okay I'm sorry!"

All Might chuckled giving you back the water bottle and kissed your cheek gently. His stomach rumbled and you decided it was time to get some delicious treats. It was starting to get late and it would take some time to make it back and the college did have a curfew for the students. Sipping on hot apple cider and munching on kettle corn you and All Might finally made it to the pumpkin patch. Orange gourds as far as the eye could see and you wanted the two most perfect pumpkins.

"Divide and conquer," you asked tossing your empty cup into the trash can.

All Might shook his head, "I rather us enjoy this together. We already made the corn maze into a game. We won't get to stay much longer."

"Hand in hand then."

He nodded. The sun was starting to wane as you both looked amongst the rows for the best pumpkins. All Might spotted one first and with a nod of approval from you he plucked it up and placed it into the bag on his back. Not much longer after him finding one, you were able to find one. Perfectly round and orange it would become a perfect jack-o-lantern. All Might took it from you once you picked it up from the ground and placed it in the bag with the other pumpkin. He didn't let you get far before taking your hand again. Making your way to the entrance you paid for the pumpkins and said goodbye to the volunteer.

All Might scooped you back up and instantly was back in the air. You weren't as scared this time, though you still clung to him tightly. The weightlessness feeling and the warmth of All Might was comforting. You gazed across the horizon as the sun set further. The sky transforming into an orange and lavender sky, you could smell the new season in the air. All Might gave you a light squeeze as he heard you sigh. You didn't want the day to end and as he landed on the campus lawn you wanted to go back in time immediately. You gave him back his jacket and turned to go back to the front doors when All Might spun you back around. He kissed you deeply there on the front lawn. His cheeks wind kissed and your hair tussled into knots it was perfect. You didn't know what had happened to him, to bring All Might to America but you were thankful he was there every day. You held on tightly, not wanting the kiss to end but eventually you had to pull away. He brushed a tangled lock away and gazed at you lovingly.

"I'll see you tomorrow," you asked.

"Tomorrow," he replied before kissing you again. "And the next day and after that and after that and forever after," he laughed still giving you gentle kisses.

"I'll hold you to that," you warned teasingly.

"Please do."

When you closed your dorm room door, you melted. Halloween had become one of your favorite holidays once again and you wanted to spend every single one of them with All Might.

[reallychaoticwoo]

Would it be too much if I asked for another one? Could you please write something for ateez with a dyslexic partner struggling to learn Korean? Love you 🥰

Omg yes absolutely! I'm also dyslexic myself so some of it might be speaking from experience haha😂 this one may be a bit on thr longer side.

As before, this is SFW. Fluff, slight angst, lots of words of affirmation here.

Hongjoong:

Hongjoong knew how you were feeling, well, at least for the most part. He'd remembered how long it took him to learn English, and even still, he knew he still had more to learn. Seeing you sitting at your desk, shoulders deflated, writing, and erasing again and again. He came up behind you and rested his hands on your shoulders, placing a gentle kiss on your cheek. He pulled up a chair next to you, and for the next hour, he tried finding ways that would help you learn how to write without struggling. After that hour was up, he made you take a break, turning on a k-drama. You smiled, cuddling into him, knowing that even when taking a break, he was still helping you learn.

Seonghwa:

He's been sitting next to you for hours while you studied. He refused to leave your side, even after you insisted he didn't need to stay with you. He took it upon himself to provide you some sort of comfort and company while he kept himself busy building his newest Lego addition. After a while of him watching you become more and more frustrated, not understanding why, when you spelled a word, it wouldn't translate correctly. He decided to step in. Pulling you onto his lap, he laid out some of his loose Legos and helped you spell out different words with the small pieces. You were beyond grateful for him.

Yunho:

When you told him you planned on learning Korean, he immediately knew that he'd be spending all his free time helping you. He'd seen how easily learning a new language could frustrate his band members and even cause them to self-doubt. He wasn't going to let you think bad of yourself, especially knowing you'd struggled with dyslexia your whole life. He made fun games, movie nights, and even dates all around you, learning in the most stress free way possible.

Yeosang:

Yeosang didn't really understand why you didn't ask him for help in the first place. You knew he loved learning and even teaching, especially if it meant more one on one time with you, away from everyone else. When you finally came to him to admit your defeat, he hugged you gently. He took every single chance to reassure you that you weren't less than. In fact, you were extremely smart for how much you've already learned in a short amount of time. Just because you were struggling to write didn't mean you weren't learning how to converse. And he was in awe of how well you spoke, looking at you with love in his eyes every time you asked him a question in his language.

San:

He'd spent every single night he was available laying on your bed, quizzing you, giving you head pats and sweet pecks on the cheeks after you got an answer right. He'd also struggled with dyslexia believe it or not, and he brought out all the techniques he used to use to help him when he was learning English. You felt so much better knowing how he had overcome it and spoke so fluently now that you would have never known he struggled if he hadn't told you himself.

Mingi:

He had walked in on you one night while you were sobbing over your laptop. You'd felt like you would never be able to fully learn Korean no matter how hard you tried. Speaking it was one thing, but reading or writing it? You were far too stupid for that. Why wouldn't your brain just work correctly? It shouldn't be this hard to just write what your prompt were asking you to. God, you're so stupid. He knew that look all too well, and it broke his soul seeing you feel that way. He shut your laptop and lifted your chin to face him. With the most sympathetic look in his eyes, he pulled you into the biggest, warmest hug and rubbed your back in small circles. Telling you with the softest voice, "Don't let that voice in your head win. You are so so smart. We just have to find what works for you. I'll be here every step of the way."

Wooyoung:

Wooyoung decided to open up to you about his struggles learning English when you'd mentioned how hard it's been for you to learn Korean. From that night on, you both decided to study together, helping each other out when you didn't understand something. You came to realize a few study dates in that he was also dyslexic and didn't even know until you brought it up to him. Continuing your study dates, you both would find new ways to help each other learn, eventually leading to the two of you learning faster than either of you thought you could.

Jongho:

He'd been waiting for this moment, probably for a little too long. He'd done research on dyslexia and some of the best ways to help things click for you. While he was a bit more stern in his approach to teaching you, (a set schedule he absolutely would not let up on) he didn't fail to consistently remind you how proud of you he is and how well you were doing. During your breaks, he would bring you coffee or tea and ask you about things that made you happy to ease some of the mental load. To him, you were not only full of kindness and love but you were also full of so much knowledge you weren't even aware of. He was in awe and oh so proud.

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

This is purely fictional and does not represent the mentioned idols in any way.

Thank you for reading ✨️🖤⛓️

[peapodbond]

tease tidbit tuesday

but once again it is a full part and ah, thanks to @leashybebes for saying that she's kind of lowkey obsessed with this, because so am i.

that was us part five

who decided the first wedding anniversary gift should be paper? what do you even get for that?

it's paper or clocks, depending on the list you look at.

clocks are better?

depends. if you think of them as keeping track of all the time you've spent together, yeah.

god, you're such a romantic.

abby spends the rest of the day sending photos of watches to tommy. they immediately nix any watches that are skinny or square; abby's never seen sam wear one and they all look sort of… industrial. she bets it's exactly the type of watch that his firm would give out for the big anniversaries.

tommy vetoes a few companies because they're ripping off their designs from someone else. when abby asks when he got into watches, he tells her that jordan has a collection.

that's interesting. tommy had dropped jordan's name a few months ago, mentioning that he'd met a guy at the bar and they'd been on a few dates, but not much since. she's assumed it was going well because there was no text about them breaking up, and she and sal haven't been recruited for another bachelor style grindr lineup, but it's nice to know it didn't just fizzle out after a few dates.

now that she's got a watch picked out, it's time for her to do a little digging on tommy's new beau. even sal has been tight lipped, which has meant problems in the past — mike, for one, but there was also colin — though, to be fair, a lot more had been wrong with colin than just the fact that he didn't like tommy's best friend. in the list of crazy exes, colin was definitely at the top.

what's sal think of jordan?

they get along, abby, relax.

how well?

they're at the race track together right now, actually.

sal's into horses?

no, they're both into go karts.

aren't those for kids?

go karts, not bumper cars. they can still go pretty fast.

oh brother.

yep. gina and i are going to have dinner while they're out.

say hi to gina for me! it's been a while.

she says hi, and you still need to tell her what you thought of the time traveller's wife.

talk to you later, tommy!

do you two think eight months is too soon to move in together?

tommy, no, that's a reasonable amount of time.

it's kind of slow, actually.

sal, you asked gina to move in three months after meeting her.

we never officially lived together but sam asked me a few weeks after our six month anniversary.

aside from her questionable taste in supernatural movies, haven't regretted it once.

you watch twilight every year on her birthday.

sal, that's adorable. tommy, if you want to ask jordan to move in, you should.

she watches them, i read. and yeah, you should ask him. i think you have a good shot at landing the guy.

i hate you.

what happened?

abby, two days ago i walked in on those two in the middle of — well, let's just say it wasn't a pg rated movie.

don't exaggerate, sal. besides, you were the one who came in without knocking.

tommy! don't you lock your door?

i have a key. which i am debating returning.

that'll teach you to wait for someone to come to the door.

he's got a point, sal.

i'm leaving you weirdos now. gina and i have plans.

chicken shit!

i have to run too tommy, i've got to pick the girls up from the barn. just ask him! it'll be great.

thanks, abby. no thanks to you, sal.

jordan's out.

sal's text comes in just before a flurry from tommy, and abby scrolls through them curiously. ah, home renovation questions. once they'd started talking again — really talking, not the quick catch ups at bar nights — tommy had told her that most of the changes he'd made to the house had been done between relationships. she wonders if he's clocked why he does it that way, but she is very much not a therapist. she's also not going to get into that with her ex-fiancé.

he wants to know if she thinks a pale grey could work in the downstairs guest room (study, she'd suggested when he bought the place, even though neither of them had had an office job) or if it would clash with the yellow she'd picked for the living room. abby checks the time and gets him on a video call, making him walk her around the house. they decide that the grey will work, and abby reminds tommy again that he's been meaning to get rid of the tile and wallpaper combination in the laundry room.

sal is busy sending abby a rundown of everything that's happened in the last twenty eight hours. it's — a lot. tommy and jordan had gone out to dinner, some little indian spot that was jordan's favourite, and right before tommy could ask jordan to move in, jordan had told him that he'd gotten a promotion that meant he'd have to move to sacramento.

they'd argued — mostly about the fact that jordan hadn't mentioned a move and a promotion was a possibility, but also about the fact that jordan had suggested, once tommy said that he'd wanted him to move in, that tommy come to sacramento instead. tommy had asked if jordan expected him to give up his seniority in the fire department, his house, to follow jordan to sacramento, and jordan had said that he'd probably be moving again in a few years so it wasn't as if it was permanent —

and tommy had come home single after dinner instead of planning a day for jordan to move in.

i mean, it's not like i can blame him for taking the promotion, tommy texts later, when abby manages to get him talking about it. i knew his job was important to him. we just never talked about what that would mean. he didn't even talk to me first. not that he had to, but—

it would have been nice to have been asked.

if i'd known he was approaching la as an expiry date, i wouldn't have hoped for so much in the relationship.

that's just the kind of guy you are, tommy. one day someone is going to want that as much as you do.

yeah, sure. any chance you and sam want a platonic third?

i need someone to help me with the girls' show tack in two weeks, but we're good. besides, since you don't want to move, you should really ask sal and gina that.

[shattered-world]

They utterly despised each other in real life. And they're Irish twins, not actual twins.

They sure did! I did a bunch of reading after I watched the movie so you, my dear anon, are about to get a ramble of questionable organization that you did not ask for.

First off, yep. Irish twins; siblings born within 12 months of each other (neat term, I didn't know that). Caracalla was born in April 4th 188 AD; Geta was born a year later on March 7th 189 AD, 11 months later. Fun little fact!

Second, I don't know if it would be possible to overstate how much they hated each other. Like, wow. As far as I can tell, this likely partially stemmed from how their father dealt with their succession (although I am by no means knowledgeable on the subject, so take this with a grain of salt if you don't already know this lmao). Emperor Severus gave Caracalla the title of Augustus or co-emperor when he was 10, but Geta had to wait more than a decade longer even though he was only a year younger. I'm sure there was other stuff too, but I can't imagine he was pleased about having to wait— or that Caracalla was very happy with suddenly having to share power he'd had for 11 years.

They did almost reach a compromise of dividing the empire in two and each ruling half, but for a reason I don't understand their mother convinced them not to. Who knows, maybe Caracalla wouldn't have murdered Geta if they'd done that (I doubt it). They also split the palace between them and lived in constant terror of being assassinated, and for good reason given that Caracalla tried and failed to kill his brother, organized a peace meeting, and then had Geta killed in his mothers arms. Insane.

Also when their father died neither of them were in rome so they had to journey back and on the journey they never once stayed at the same place or shared a meal. And they only ever met in their mother's presence. And Caracalla declared a damnatio memoriae, attempting to erase his brother from history (he did a pretty good job too). And a lot of other things that are not relevant to this ask!

Side fun fact; Caracalla is a nickname! He was originally named Lucius Septimius Bassianus and then renamed Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. The nickname comes from a tunic he wore.

I can't imagine what the two would think of this fandom lmfao. Maybe they'd finally be in agreement re: killing us all. Thankfully, they've been dead for 1800 years and I don't think they care. Also thankfully, while the historical guys fucking hated each other and weren't actually twins, the ones I care about are fictional. Fictional, twins, very pretty (seriously their designs oh my god), and with a fascinating relationship.

Also, I'm choosing to take this ask in good faith, but if sending it to me was some sort of attempt to convince me to stop shipping them... sorry! Maybe direct your attention to things you enjoy instead of spending your time worrying about what others do; i guarantee your life will be more enjoyable. But if you did send it just to tell me some cool facts, I'd love to keep talking about them!

[attyisavailable]

Any random headcannons you have for Cole and Anon? Those two are also my faves.

Sorry this took a while to answer. My drafts kept getting deleted, and it was a pain in the yk to keep rewriting it 😞🙏

ANYWAY- Cole and Anon headcanons (both with and w/o Marshmallow!)

Cole🔪

-He has a tendency to clean the entirety of his house often. Sometimes, his (totally normal) hobby makes it so he gets stains on his clothes and in his house. He can't have anything be dirty, especially when you visit! God knows what wrong ideas that'll put in your head.

-Prefers psychological horror rather than supernatural horror. It thrills him much more, plus he loves seeing what messed up things people come up with.

-Also loves thriller movies. I mean, how silly is it to watch a movie in which there's a dangerous person around? You won't have to worry about that, there's not anyone like that in the city.

-Knows how to bake, cook, and do all sorts of neat tricks with food and cooking supplies. Can make a delicious velvet cake, though sometimes you'll see the stains on his clothes but not a single cake in the kitchen.

-Isn't too into arcades or places like that, he just prefers reading at home or doing something where there aren't many people nearby. Genuinely, he just doesn't like interacting with people much.

-(If you're AFAB or have a uterus) He's pretty educated on female anatomy. He doesn't find it weird when someone is on their period, God no, he'd be a jerk if he found simple human anatomy odd. Well, there are odd parts about anatomy, but not that. Plus he's great with cleaning up blood—don't ask—so you wouldn't have to worry about stains.

-Knows all sorts of weird facts, like how it takes around 75 to 155 espresso shots to kill someone.

Anon👾

-Along with being a germaphobe, he's also a neat freak. Likes having things in certain places where he can always expect them to be. That way, it won't be such a hassle to look for something so small, like his glasses.

-Constantly tries getting you to play different games, none of them similar to the others. One day, he'll try getting you to play Resident Evil, the next he'll make you play Animal Crossing.

-Ever since turning into a lemur, he never got rid of the urge to swing from branches. To fix this issue, he often goes to a nearby playground to hang out on the swings and play games on his phone.

-SPEAKING OF PHONES AND LEMURS, he once accidentally dropped his phone as a lemur.. while he was climbing a tree. He was absolutely devastated, especially since there's no way he could get it repaired without having the employees look at him weird, wondering why an animal was in the shop.

-He can't focus on games while you're around (also mentioned in his phone-fling I believe), he'll constantly try stealing glances and that'll make him lose whatever game he's playing. If you ever mention it, he'll go on a ramble about how you're more attractive than a game with good graphics.

-Knows how to draw but doesn't know anything about animation. He wants to learn how to animate in order to create a game of his own, though it's difficult when he spends most of his time playing rather than working on his own project.

-Has a collection of fatass plushies in a corner of his room. He calls it his cuddle corner, but he mostly just collapses onto it if he doesn't wanna bother with his bed.

[ominus-potato]

Rebound search- cut scene

In the latest part of the pining Mario series, there was a scene I began to write where Mario and Mr Puzzles would go to the movie and accidentally hold hands and all that junk. However, I decided to cut it out because it wasted too much time and was mostly a whole load of nothing.

Anyway, here is that cut scene:

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

Mario thought to himself for a moment before his face lit up with an idea. He turned to Puzzles.

"Hey! We don't-a need to base today on some silly romance movies. The people in them are clearly stupid and boring if those are the type of locations they meet their true love." He gestured to the notepad for emphasis, "We should pick somewhere entirely new! Somewhere that no silly romance character has ever met their love interest."

Mr Puzzles looked at Mario with curiosity; a confused smile appearing on his screen.

"Okay then... did you have anywhere in mind?" He asked.

Mario froze. His mind went blank and his face buffering as he tried to think of at least ONE place they could go to meet someone.

Meeting someone. That was the goal of this whole thing wasn't it? Mario knew this and he wasn't intending on skewing from Mr Puzzles' plan; but so far, his feelings for the TV hadn't changed in the slightest. If anything, they had only grown stronger! Going shopping, having lunch, spending time alone-  just the two of them, talking, laughing... Mario was having an amazing time with Mr Puzzles.

The Italian turned to take in the sight of the TV standing in front of him, looking down at him expectantly.

"Well? Where do you suggest we go?" He asked again.

Mario snapped out of his thoughts and stammered.

"Uhh... w-we should go..."

The, already small, logical side of his mind desperately tried to think of a place where he could actually meet someone new. Somewhere that would allow him to finally move on from the TV and see him as nothing more than a friend. That would be the healthy thing for him to do.

Unfortunately, Mario was anything BUT healthy.

He was just too tempted by the prospect of him and Puzzles spending more time together! Selfish as it may be, he didn't want to move on. At least, not right now. Mario just wanted to enjoy what little time he had alone with Mr Puzzles. Even if it was just platonic.

"W-we should go to the movie theatre!!" Mario declared with false confidence.

Mr Puzzles gave him an odd look, tilting his head slightly as he stared at the Italian, dumbfounded.

"Why would we go there? The whole point of a movie theatre is to sit in silence and not talk to anyone. That doesn't seem like a great place to meet someone."

Mario looked around nervously as he tried to come up with some sort of half-assed explanation as to why the movie theatre was actually a great place for meeting new people!

"Well, err- Mario thinks the movies will be a good place to go because... Mario really likes TV! We already know this and the movie theatre is really just one big TV screen that everyone watches! Plus, there's food which Mario also likes so that means that whoever is at the movie theatre has lots-a in common with Mario!"

Mario gave Puzzles a nervous smile, hoping that he wouldn't detect the uncertainty in his tone or notice the sweat beading at his forehead.

Puzzles' eyes narrowed as he looked down at the shorter man, seemingly trying to read his expression. A deafening silence fell over them before eventually, Mr Puzzles spoke up.

"Alright then..." he said cautiously.

Mario's face lit up and without thinking, he grabbed Mr Puzzles' hand and began to lead him to the movies.

Only once they had arrived did Mario properly register the fact that he and Puzzles had their fingers intertwined. He hurriedly let go, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he looked away, a light blush on his cheeks.

Once he had calmed down Mario cleared his throat, "Uh... so what movie would you like to see?" He asked, smiling nervously at the taller man.

Puzzles glanced down at him and let out a huff.

"Mario, we're not here for the leisure of seeing a movie. Look around! See who's here on their own and what they're going to watch. Then simply buy us tickets to the same movie." Puzzles explained.

He looked around, trying to wean out anyone who was there alone. His attention darted to the digital ticket booth where a man had just began selecting a movie. Puzzles grinned, grabbing Mario by his shoulders and spinning him in the direction of the man.

"There! See? There's someone. Go over to him, talk to him, then get us tickets to the same movie. I'll get us some snacks."

Mario was unsure as he looked between Puzzles and the stranger he was supposed to approach. Was this really the best way to go about this?

"Mario doesn't think that-"

"Just trust me Mario. This is going to be your best chance at meeting someone at the movies." He crouched down to Mario's level, looking him in the eyes with that screen; and Mario thought it was just oh so pretty.

"You want to move on from your feelings don't you?"

The question was meant to be rhetorical. Mario knew this. But as he stared deeply into Mr Puzzles' hypnotic screen, he found himself getting lost in the bright colours and captivating shapes. The question repeated in his mind as he mindlessly gazed into Puzzles' digital eyes.

Does he want to move on?

Mario wasn't sure anymore. These feelings were so confusing. One minute he hated them, the next, he was eternally grateful to have them. One minute he wanted to do nothing but wallow in a ball of self pity, then he'd be enthusiastically following Puzzles to the ends of the earth. The love he held for the TV had been putting him through hell these past few months but now, being alone with the man, Mario had just forgotten about all of the pain and anguish he felt over him. And all he could think about was how good it felt to be in his presence.

"Well I'm afraid this is going to be your best chance of moving on."

Puzzles voice snapped Mario out of his daydream and brought him back to reality. He blinked, slightly dazed before sighing.

"Okay..." he said.

Mr Puzzles smiled and stood up, making his way to the snacks whilst Mario watched him leave. He eyes remained fixed if the TV man for just a moment before he turned around to go and buy their tickets.

As Mario approached the digital ticket booth, he saw that the man Mr Puzzles had spotted earlier was finishing off his purchase. Mario hopped over his shoulder to get a peek at which movie he was here to see.

Lady and the Tramp

Mario mentally scoffed. Of course. Rerun day. Every so often, the cinema reran old movies decades after they first aired. It was stupid in Mario's opinion but what did he know?

Mario pushed aside his opinions and instead mentally prepared himself to talk to the man in front of him. This is what Puzzles asked him to do after all.

The Italian took a deep breath and was about to make conversation with the stranger before he was suddenly met with an overpowering stench. Mario shut his mouth instantly and scrunched his face in displeasure.

This guy STANK!

My god did he even know what a shower was??? Mario probably wasn't one to judge but that didn't stop him. There was no way he was going to talk to this stinky loser.

Eventually, the guy left and Mario bought two tickets for Lady and the Tramp. Even if he wasn't planning on talking to that guy, the movie could be pretty good! He just needed to make sure he got seats that were far away from him.

[anime-fan-05]

Hey taking advantage of the fact that there are people asking for headcanons of nana, could you make headcanons dating Ren?

Nana ~Boyfriend headcanons~

Manga/anime: Nana

Warnings: nothing

(Y/N): your name

H. Ren

Ren is a very insecure boy, even if he covers this insecurity with a veil of bravado and by acting tough. In fact, when you two are alone, he's much more shy around you than he's in front of other people: he sometimes just needs to be reassured and consoled and advised by you

What does Ren like to do most with you? Nothing. Or rather, everything. He enjoys doing every activity with you, from cooking dinner to doing laundry with you. In fact, whenever he's available, you two can do all sorts of activities together

Ren loves when you come to see Trapnest's concerts, and he always gets you tickets in the best seats and access to their dressing room: there's nothing he likes more than seeing you come to him after the concert is over. Furthermore, he would also like you to listen to his band's rehearsals, but Takumi the other members are against it because he gets distracted watching you, so he doesn't play well. Plus, know he wants to take you on tour with him every time, and, if his managers are against it, he'll insist until they allow it

I think Ren's first love language is quality time: since he's always very busy with Trapnest, he thinks the best way to show you affection is to spend as much time with you as possible. In fact, whenever he has free time, he stays with you, doing all sorts of activities together with you, like cooking, teaching you to play the bass, reading or watching a movie

Ren doesn't call you by any particular and imaginative nickname. In fact, he usually calls you by your name, but he sometimes uses classic nicknames for you, such as "love", "darling" or "dear". However, he only does this in some specific cases: for example, when he's jealous, he uses "darling"; when he comes home upset from a busy day, he calls you "love" (sometimes also "my love"). Instead, when he's in a particularly sweet mood, he calls you "beauty"

💮 Rules 💮 Masterlist 💮

[rivalry-trope-enjoyer]

In this life... (Pt. 1 ?)

Summary: Getting married and married life with Welt Yang, domestic, fluffy and wholesome hcs <3

The Proposal:

It took him a while to propose! Taking into consideration how much he's seen within his lifetime, he was very patient and methodical as to when he would be able to pop the question. It kept you on edge, but when time came down to it, it was more than worth it.

It was a private proposal, but extremely personalized and thoughtful gesture. He snuck in an extra scene in a preview of his new Arahato animation with just the two of you at the screening where the mechs shoot fireworks instead of rockets that spelled out the question into the stars.

Welt was so nervous about it the entire time on what you would say. While drafting out a plan, March and Himeko definitely teased him a little bit about the unique idea, but neither could contain their excitement for when it would happen.

When you said yes Welt couldn't believe what he was hearing, smiling fondly at you and barely able to contain his excitement. He holds your hand gently and presses soft kisses against your knuckles, swearing to you that you won't regret this as well as several other sweet promises to be the best husband he could be for you (and boy does he fulfill that promise).

Once word got out that you've said yes, March gave the idea to celebrate accompanied with a commemorative photo.

The Wedding:

Everything runs smoothly thanks to him.

It was a collective effort for the both of you to plan it, fulfilling as many wishes as you had on any possible wedding dreams you’ve had, while also combining it with some of his own!

He volunteers to do lots of the nitty gritty as to how those dreams were to be fulfilled, making the calls and scheduling, it takes off lots of pressures off your shoulder (bless him).

The venue would be on the space station, a beautiful display of the galaxy and well-decorated area. There would be ships that would help get various friends across the galaxy to arrive and watch you two get married and to celebrate!

His vows are very sweet, the kind that’ll pull not only your heart strings but the audience’s as well, every word carrying it’s weight in gold.

March is wailing at this point.

The reception to the two of you was such a blur. Both of you were in a collective daze over the fact you were married, and your dreams made you question if what just occurred was a mere dream, too.

Yet waking up to a peacefully slumbering Welt, your now husband, was an indication that this was as real as it gets.

The Life:

Welt is such husband material;;

Even before you two were married, he already starts calling you his spouse, his lovely wife/husband before the day even comes <3.

Lays awake at night talking about all the sweet and domestic things to happen in the future, adopting any pets, possibilities of children to raise together.

Welt wakes up earlier than you without fail, and you wake up every morning to the smell of freshly brewed coffee/tea wafting in the bedroom that he prepares for you, ready for the second you wake up.

It’s his way of waking you up gently if you have places to be <3

Some days he’ll wait for you in the kitchen reading up on some past history studies or comic books just so he can share a nice morning with you before he has to do any sort of work.

“How did you sleep last night, honey?” “I hope it’s not too early for you” “Any thoughts for dinner later tonight? I was thinking of going on a grocery run later in the day” “We could go and see a new movie together. It’s about…”

Welt wants to spend as much time with you as possible as your husband. He wants to make sure you’re feeling loved and cared for every second you’re together <33. Now that he doesn’t do as much of the adventuring as he did years prior, all he has is time, and is intent on spending it all with you.

There was one time where Welt was running late for a task at hand and he was rushing to get out of the house. He managed to do everything he needed for you but forgot to dress for the bad weather he had to greet him.

“Wait, dear, you forgot your scarf!” once you manage to stop him by tugging at his coat sleeve, you quickly wrap his token scarf loosely around his neck and messily draping over his shoulders.

Such a simple act of kindness and Welt was absolutely smitten. He gives you a small peck on the lips, not having much time to thank you before bolting off to work.

Welt started leaving behind his scarf on purpose so you could help him with it. It felt like an act of endearment, although he’d never admit it he forgot on purpose until you just wordlessly figure it out on your own.

“Oh, honey… you could easily do this yourself, you know.”

“But like all things in my life, my love, it’s much more fun with you.”

[queerextremity]

i think one of the reasons i really like steve is the fact that he contradicts everything that you initially thought should be true about him. I’m not just talking of how i, before watching the cap trilogy, expected him to be some sort of walking toxic masculine propaganda, but he ended up being quite the opposite of that—that's already been discussed many times. i’m talking about all the subtle ways his storyline is written. when you think about it (and that’s probably the reason why steve is a very “safe” male character to me), he kinda goes through a character development that’s archetypically usual for female characters.

trying to fit in within the army, being rejected and mocked because you’re weaker and different, but later proving your strength by staying kind, persistent and clever is a story many old feminist media pieces used. i think of that scene from the first movie when peggy, after steve tells her about his life, says she knows what it’s like to have the doors closed for her. she does point out the reason why so many women are so passionate about steve (and why he’s really popular within the lesbian community, where attraction doesn’t really play a part). and i think it’s just so fundamentally different from the way i expected to read his story—as a typical patriotic male-centered superhero movie—and why it stuck with me when I saw it.

and i know we’re all joking calling bucky a damsel in distress, but when you think about it, he really does fit into the archetype of a superhero love interest. and steve does spend a lot of time trying to save him. and i, the great hater of this trope, find myself loving them tremendously. the thing is that, outside of their relationship, bucky has his own complicated and deep character conflict, and you would care about him no matter how the story handles him. in a world where such superhero love stories usually require the hero to be strong and powerful, and the love interest to be helpless and bleak, we have the cap trilogy. it plays with so many tropes that are so outdated even for superhero cinema that they should get boring, but it makes them interesting, dynamic and complex and refreshing.

that’s where it becomes impossible to ignore the romantic undertones of their story, because a lot of it is just familiar like that. adding that they are much more emotional in their relationship than the bros can handle. so we’re probably stuck with people trying to prove something to themselves by discussing steve’s sexual life in she-hulk, for example. it’s just that our society isn’t ready to accept male characters who are vulnerable and humane to their very core, and that’s another interesting way to look at these movies.

[peaceofflights]

Being in a Relationship With Wally Clark Would Include:

A/N: Someone asked me for a part two to “Falling in love with Wally Clark�� where reader confesses their feelings to Wally. For that, and to understand some of the context I suggest going back and reading “What’s Three Years in the Eyes of Eternity.” which is bookmarked on my page!

Warning: this one delves a bit more into your physical relationship, nothing is too explicit. However, if you don’t like don’t read.

Being in a relationship with Wally Clark would include:

•You expecting things to change a lot, but in reality they don’t. You still do pretty much the same things as before… with some added perks.



•Holding hands everywhere you go. If Wally thought you were a hand holder before, he had no idea. It makes you feel connected to him to hold his hand, even if you’re doing absolutely nothing.

•If you’re in a conversation with other people holding pinkies, that way you aren’t too on top of each other.

• Coming up with the most ridiculous nick names for each other. They start off cute, but eventually just start getting really weird.

“Awe, my honey bear”

“Life is short puddin’ pop.”

“My adorable little doo doo”

“The cutest Sasquatch in town.”

•All of the forehead kisses. It started because your friends wouldn’t stop making gagging noises every time you two kissed. So now every time he has to part from you he leaves a very sweet but overly dramatic kiss to your head.

•He’s kind of the obsessed with you. When you’re across from each other either in the cafeteria, Football Field, or Theater you can often catch him staring at you. I mean he did this before your started dating, but instead of pretending to look away or do something else if you catch him; now he’ll give you a wink that of course leads to a lot of blushing on both ends.

•You’ve taken to calling him your puppy dog, since of course he is! At first it was just to other people but once he accidentally heard it come out of your mouth he couldn’t stop beaming. So from that moment forward he was to referred to as puppy.

•If you don’t call him puppy when your alone he’ll get mad.

“Um excuse me!? Who is Wally? Do we know a Wally? I am your puppy? I’m a good boy.”

It’s absolutely ridiculous, and he’s mostly kidding, but it’s just really adorable.

•The two of you do a lot of the same activities you did before you started dating; trying to find good movies to watch in the library, playing endless games of hide and seek, creating your own secret language. However, there are also some new things you do too…

•Yeah… LOTS of new things.

•It starts out pretty innocent, but after the homecoming dance things moved a little faster than they should have.

• Clothes were removed, hands were found in inappropriate places.

•Which brings you back to today. Neither of you by any means are blushing virgins, your college years were good to you. But you both agree that you have your entire after after life to spend together, you don’t need to spend every moment jumping each other’s bones.

•However, you two definitely aren’t saints and your new found physical relationship is one you love exploring.

• Though sometimes Wally’s age and slight less experience leads to some interesting situations. It doesn’t matter how many times you remind him, it feels like every morning you wake up to find some sort of new bruise highlighted on your skin. Which then leads to the never ending bullying of your friends.

•Look he’s your puppy and adore him, but also it would nice if you could go anywhere without being covered head to neck in hickies.

•Though his smirk when you bring it up you helps you realize it was in fact NOT an accident.

•He brings you gifts to make you smile. Sometimes it’s a poorly painted canvas he made in the art room or him serenading you to your favorite song, but it made you realize that you need to step up you girlfriend skills. Which leads you to finally letting him teach you to play football.

• It’s the first time you really focus and attempt to learn the rules and even if you aren’t very good you’ve never seen him so happy.

[compacflt]

Okay maybe I totally missed it in the story, but I’ve gotta ask: how did Jake find out about Ice and Mav?? I know there was a line about “figuring out who Bradley’s dads were” in Debriefing, and it seems like Jake definitely knows by the carrier for the mission, given how he reacts when Bradley says he’s gay and that they “hate him for not being able to hide it like them”, but when was the discussion about exactly what Ice and Mav are to each other? At what point did Bradley tell him, and how long did Jake spend staring at a wall and saying “huh” in a dazed sort of way???

i admit i made it confusing on purpose and i admit there isn’t much of jakes reaction but yes

it’s the third “he was my dad.” specifically about ice. whereas the other two are about goose & mav. because, you know, there are three of them. dads, that is. ice just happens to be the third

Jake canonically doesn’t know what’s up with the holy dad trinity because he doesn’t even react to seeing goose btwn ice (fucking cdr of the pacflt) and mav (his fucking CO) in that old top gun photo —only cares about goose. clueless-ass mf. and the homosexual little “what is with these two!” during the first practice dogfight.

but i bet there were clues. a lot of little things that eventually came together.

a.) scrolling through the navy times on his laptop in bed cause he’s bored one night, tilting it over so bradley can see the screen and read the headline, ‘RADM tom Kazansky named pacific fleet commander,’ just randomly asking “whaddaya make of this guy?” and next to him bradley freezes and almost refuses to speak and then snipishly says, “he’s gay.” / “what?” what a wild thing to say! / “i just know it. he’s gay. look at him. hiding it like that.” / “what a weird fucking thing to say about a guy you’ve never met, bradshaw!” / and bradley going all silent and sullen the way he does sometimes and saying “well i don’t think anything of him. whatever.” / and then both of them put it from their minds and never talk about it again.

B.) all the quiet little dad-related breakdowns over the years. Father’s Day is never happy when bradley’s around. jake made the mistake of asking him why, once. he said something to the effect of “well with three of them you’d think id be statistically likely to get a dad who wasn’t unbelievably fucked-up or dead but nope! it’s three times as bad as usual!” and refused to elaborate. bradley is often annoying this way.

c.) the fact that capt mitchell, maverick, who looks like a gracefully-aging movie star, is by all accounts nice and charming and mostly-ish respected, and yet apparently chronically single, a confirmed bachelor for as long as most officers can remember. hondo knows something, clearly, but he’s being very cagey about it, apparently out of loyalty to maverick. even on day ONE of the special training detachment at Top Gun, there are rumors. Some more mean-spirited than others (looking at you, harvard) which Jake tries to shut down, because he remembers being on the receiving end of mean-spirited rumors like that, and rumors about a guy like maverick probably aren’t true. ‘I’ve heard about him. Whispers. Watch him the next time we hit the Hard Deck. He’ll flirt with Penny the bartender, and she’ll flirt back, but he sure as hell won’t take her home. You know what I mean.’ Yeah right. dangerous to make comments about a man like maverick. jake keeps his mouth shut.

d.) but then there’s the way bradley acts around him. They’ve met before and they know each other and there is not only bad blood between them, it’s blood that’s been simmering for a while and just now boiling over. Three dads. the maverick-related rumors. hmm…

e.) that picture of goose and mav and ice. OKAY. Now we’re getting somewhere. Bradley’s dad… LTJG nick bradshaw… FLEW with maverick. Looks up the obituary online and reads the news reports he can find in the archives. Maverick was behind the stick when goose ate it. Okay. Two out of three dads found and accounted for. (Because they’re broken up, and because jakes still heartbroken, this fact will be used as ammunition. “Or that maverick was flying when his—“ “YOU SON OF A BITCH!” et cetera et cetera.)

f.) on the flight deck shaking hands with the commanding officer of every commanding officer jake has ever dad—admiral tom kazansky, come to wish the aviators good luck, and to sanction their attack. this is, like, a big deal. like a really big deal. like, makes you wanna stop and ask him for a selfie to post on your LinkedIn to advance your career kind of big deal. but out of the corner of his eye… jake’s noticing Bradley on the verge of a dad-related breakdown. bradley doesn’t seem to care how much of a big deal it is to have the privilege to shake the hand of the commander of the pacific fleet. isn’t even looking. something big and hateful between them. something like bad blood. oh oh oh. wait. It’s coming together.

g.) poking fun at him. psyching him out. what’s a little pre-suicide-mission hazing between exes? what is with you, bradshaw? you’re, like, freaking out over here..! —and Bradley, looking for someone—anyone!—to trust, tugging him into his cabin on the aircraft carrier and bursting into tears and crashing down onto the linoleum into jake’s arms and saying “he was my dad…!”

h.) bingo.

[peachyomega]

Askew 💕

Summary: STRICKPAGE (Taking place 2 weeks after Revolution)

This is a follow up to my other fic Love Me Not, but you don't have to read that one to enjoy this one.

Rating: NC-17

Characters: Hangman Adam Page X Swerve Strickland

Warnings: Bondage, Desperate Longing, Slight Dom/Sub, Mirror Play, Tragic Bfs, Sad Boy Hours

Words: 2228

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Swerve stood before the costume racks and sighed bitterly. Someone had come in during the show to “tidy up”. They had taken all of the clothing Swerve had left strewn across the locker room floor, and hung it all up. “Great. So fucking helpful.” he grumbled.

Deciding there was nothing else for it, Swerve began sorting his things from what was on the racks and removing them from the hangers to toss into his bag. He must have been doing this a little too aggressively since he heard a stitch pop at the shoulder of one of his newer sweaters as he pulled it down. He cursed under his breath and threw the thing roughly into his duffel.

He had brought out more things than he usually did because he could not decide on an outfit for his run-in that night. He and Prince Nana spent nearly an hour before his cue trying on different combinations of clothes, with Swerve snapping at Nana more than once. Swerve wanted to look as tough and intimidating as possible while also showing an edge of sex appeal. He had ultimately decided on his big, black, fur lined coat (oiled, bare chest underneath) and paired it with some distressed boot cut jeans that looked straight out of 2003. The y2k era’s aesthetics were returning to the fashion world, and he thought he resembled a character from a Blade or Underworld movie in his getup, which suited him just fine. 

He had watched his entrance on the monitors afterward and felt he had nailed the vibe he was going for well enough, but even so he didn’t feel very pleased with himself, or with anything really. Something dark that he was failing to suppress was itching away at the back of his mind, casting a gloom over his mood, and causing him to have a bubbling, frustrated anger toward practically everything else. Even Nana had left the venue early without him, likely aware that would have been the best bet for him tonight.

Swerve had no one he could talk to about what was bothering him, which made the situation feel all the more looming and hopeless, coupled with the fact that he was pissed at himself for even feeling this way… About him…

It had been two weeks since they’d last seen each other. Two weeks since their post-show tryst in the hallway. Two weeks, and yet Swerve could still remember exactly how his rival’s lips had tasted. He found himself having involuntary flashbacks of that night almost constantly. It was to the point that he was spending his days in an unfocused, frustrated haze, and his nights in a writhing mess in his sheets. He was unable to escape his fixation on the cowboy, even in his dreams.

Swerve’s eyes landed on his gold and silver arm warmers lying amongst the mess of clothing on the floor, and he stooped to pick them up. He ran his fingers along the smooth, stretchy fabric and watched how it shimmered in the locker room lights. He recalled random memories of the last time he’d worn them, including an image of his fingers grasping soft, golden curls…

“Fuck!” Swerve shouted in frustration, tossing the gear away from him. Did his every thought have to be so consumed with Hangman? He didn’t even know when he’d see him again, and he missed him this much already? A part of him felt so lost. His and Adam’s feud had dominated the better part of the last 6 months of his life, and to be completely cut off from it all now seemed cruel. Swerve felt like he was infected by his heartache. Like he was actually sick with a disease he had no idea how to cure. As his misery threatened to boil over he heard a soft shuffling behind him.

Before he could react, he felt warm palms spread across his upper back and linger for a moment before they pushed him forward roughly. Swerve’s chest collided with the wide, wooden locker door in front of him, and his breath came out in a whoosh. He tried to turn himself around, but his wrist was grabbed and his arm was twisted and pushed into his lower back, pinning him in place. Swerve cried out in pain and protest before he felt another hand wrap around his locs and pull, forcing his head back.

It only took a moment for Swerve’s surprise to turn into fury, and he began struggling forcefully to free himself until he felt lips against his ear, and breath on his neck. “Swerve…” his assailant whispered.

Swerve froze. He tried to turn his head, his eyes bending back as far as they could to try to catch a glimpse of who was behind him, but he didn’t need to see him to know. “Adam?” He asked breathlessly.

Adam didn’t respond, but drove his knee between Swerve’s legs from behind, and bent down to retrieve something from the floor. As he straightened up, he pressed a kiss to Swerve’s bare shoulder. “Give me your other arm.” He said.

Swerve hesitated. His mind was still trying to comprehend the situation he was in, but it seemed his body wasn’t struggling to understand at all. The small contact of Adam’s warm mouth against his bare skin was enough to make his cock begin to stiffen with excitement, and he decided to give in to what Adam had asked of him. 

He let his right arm go slack and Adam immediately snatched it up and began wrapping something around both of his wrists, binding them. “What are you…?” Swerve began to ask, before Adam shushed him. Once Swerve was properly bound, Adam leaned in to press his body against him. He ground his hips against Swerve’s ass, and Swerve felt Adam’s cock growing hard against him before his hands began roaming over his body.

Keeping Swerve pinned between himself and the door, Adam groped him all over. First his chest, then his sides, his stomach, and his hips. He squeezed him hard there and thrust his own hips against him roughly. His hands wandered hungrily back up to Swerve’s chest and he began rubbing and flicking his nipples until Swerve whimpered so softly Adam barely heard it. 

“I think you can do better than that…” Adam murmured against Swerve’s ear. “I want you to moan for me.”

Adam reached down and smoothed his hand over Swerve’s growing erection, causing him to gasp. Swerve closed his eyes and let his head fall back against Adam’s shoulder as he rubbed his cock through his jeans.

Suddenly Adam yanked on Swerve’s bound wrists and spun him away from the wall. He walked him over to stand in front of the locker room mirror, staying behind him. 

As he took in their reflection, Swerve’s eyes found Adam’s and he wanted so badly in that moment to turn around and kiss the cowboy. Two weeks had been far too long to go without seeing him after all they had been through, and Swerve didn’t look away from Adam as he undid Swerve’s pants with one hand, peeling them away from his hard cock.

Once it was free, Adam took it in hand and squeezed, which caused Swerve to cry out a low moan. Adam’s eyes fluttered shut at the sound “Good…” he praised.

Adam began slowly working his hand up and down Swerve’s shaft, watching Swerve closely in the mirror. His other hand wrenched down on Swerve’s wrists again, forcing his back to arch.

A pleased half smile played on Adam’s lips as he watched his captive’s body strain and bend in the mirror’s reflection. He picked up his pace on Swerve’s cock as he said “You look so good tonight, Swerve. So fucking good.”

Swerve could do little more than pant in response. Adam was showing zero restraint in the attention he was giving his cock, which was now leaking warm precum. His hands slid slick and quick over Swerve’s cock over and over, faster and faster, almost like he was trying to overstimulate him on purpose.

As the sensations were starting to become too much, Swerve cried out again, much louder than the before, and thrashed against Adam’s hold.

Adam bore down on Swerve’s wrists again to make him go still, but he finally stopped touching him. They both watched as Swerve’s wet, swollen cock bounced and throbbed in response to its sudden release. Adam chuckled darkly. “Did you miss me?” He asked, turning his face toward Swerve’s and planting a biting kiss against his neck.

Swerve worked to catch his breath for a moment before responding. “Yes… Why are you back?”

Adam met Swerve’s eyes again in the mirror. “It’s been hard for me to stay away, suspended or not. I missed you, too.” 

With that, he moved in closer and guided Swerve’s face to his. He kissed him, long and deep.

Swerve met Adam’s lips eagerly. Kissing Adam like this felt like the first sip of water after a long drought, like the first gasping breath after almost drowning. 

He lost himself in Adam’s mouth, his tongue writhing out from between his lips to caress his lover’s. Adam responded by forcing his tongue into Swerve’s mouth, licking anything inside of him that he could reach. They went on like this with increasing intensity until Adam’s hand resumed its hold of Swerve’s cock. Swerve moaned into the cowboy’s mouth as he went, and this time it wasn’t long until Swerve felt like he was about to cum. He tried to keep kissing him, but Adam broke away and returned his eyes to the mirror. “Watch yourself as you cum, baby.” He said.

Swerve watched Adam’s face in the mirror before his gaze drifted lower, taking in the sight of Adam’s hand pumping away at him.  Adam watched, too, as Swerve’s hips seemed to shudder and a series of massive cum jets burst out of his cock, falling sloppily to the floor and soaking Adam’s hand. Swerve moaned and spasmed through each one, but kept his eyes on himself just as Adam had instructed.

When he was done, Adam released him, and he sank to his knees on the floor, panting. Swerve lifted his head to look over at Adam, but was surprised to be met with his hard cock being shoved into his face instead. Adam guided the tip past Swerve’s lips and into his panting mouth.

Swerve coughed at first, shocked at the abrupt invasion, but he quickly recovered after hearing the noises Adam made in response to feeling his tongue. He pushed his tongue out of his mouth to lick along Adam’s full length. Adam pushed himself deeper into the mouth his tongue had just explored so thoroughly moments before.

Swerve caught sight of himself in the mirror. Hands still bound behind his back, pants falling down his hips, his used cock still glistening with cum while his lover thrust himself into his mouth, all the while kneeling in his own mess. He felt desired, sexy, and slutty in the kind of way that only passionate, dirty fucking could make him feel, and he loved it. 

He rolled his eyes up to watch Adam’s face, let his jaw go slack and his tongue hang out, opening his throat up to take Adam deeper.

Adam panted and whimpered as he thrust into Swerve’s lewd, drooling mouth. He tried to keep his strokes short, but Swerve seemed to want to take him as deep as he possibly could, and Adam couldn’t hold on for long.

Swerve gagged a little as Adam came down the back of his throat, hot cum filling him up to the point that he couldn’t draw breath. Adam lingered inside him a little too long once he was spent, and Swerve had to pitch forward, coughing and spitting onto the floor as he tried to catch his breath.

Adam leaned down next to him “Are you alright?” he asked. He moved to untie Swerve’s hands. He had used one of Swerve’s gold and silver arm warmers to bind him. He took the thing and tossed it back across the room. 

Swerve rubbed his wrists, which he now realized were sore. Adam reached out and took them instead, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles into Swerve’s skin.

He gave Swerve a small smile.

All at once Swerve became overwhelmed. He felt tears begin to prickle behind his eyes, and he lunged forward to wrap Adam up in his arms. Adam was startled for a moment, but wrapped his arms around Swerve, too. They sat in their embrace for several moments while Swerve’s tears silently stained Adam’s black T shirt. “What’s wrong?” Adam finally asked. “I’m sorry I was so rough with you, I just wanted–”

Swerve cut him off. “It’s fine. That’s not it. I’m sorry, I just– I’m so happy to see you. Too happy. Adam… I know it was only two fucking weeks, but… Don’t leave me alone for that long again, okay?” He gave Adam a weak smile, the overhead lights making the tears on his lashes sparkle.

Adam’s smile was wide, and he chuckled low in his chest. “Okay, I promise. Fuck a suspension! My bitter rival needs to see me on a regular basis, and who am I to deny him?.” 

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Thanks for reading 🥰

[bokettochild]

Opera house AU

I can actually see Linkle being pretty close to Wind and Aryll. She's just as responsible with them as Wars, but more open to Shenanigans. The four have the most intense board game nights ever seen, there's more double dealing, backstabbing and gerrymandering in their average game of Settlers of Catan then the 2020 US Election

Well, since you asked (suggested?)

Happy late birthday! Here is the Catan fic we've been chatting about!

There are many ways Warriors likes to de-stress after a long day at work. Running into his twin sister outside of his apartment though, is not one of them.  

 It’s not that he dislikes his job, in fact, he’s very fond of it. He likes acting, he likes the opera, and most importantly, he likes his boss, his co-workers, and even most of his fans. His agent, not so much, but that’s neither here nor there; almost nobody likes their agent. The only people he’s heard of who like their agent are Legend and Ravio, and that’s only because Dot is their so-called ‘agent’, if only on paper. The girl isn’t fully qualified for the actual job, but he’s half a mind to sign with her once she is, if only to get away from the Dragmire agency.  

 Regardless of future plans though, he loves his job. He has no intention of leaving, even if balancing rehearsals and college is a bit of a struggle on some days. Today is one of those days though, and after spending all day working with Sky and Time on choreography, the only thing he wants to do is make dinner for himself and the kids, kick his feet up, and finally read something other than a textbook. No, check that, maybe watch a show with Wind; Aryll too if she’s interested, although she usually isn't. Still, he has the feeling if they start watching anything, she’ll come out for snacks and cuddles, which he doesn’t mind in the least.  

 He’s running down the list of movies they’ve been wanting to watch as he climbs out of his car. Some of them are action, some thriller, a couple mysteries at his insistence and of course some pirate ones for Wind. Usually, he’s not so keen on that sort of thing, but he supposes the whimsical part of his brain has been gathering dust for the last while, and he could probably tolerate a pirate movie tonight, after sufficient begging from his cousin and maybe the promise to get the dishes done for the next week.  

 Right, dishes.   

 Heavens, he needs to talk to the landlord about when the new dishwasher is supposed to be installed. He also needs to wash and put away the dishes from last night, because he’d had an assignment due and hadn’t had time once the kids had gone to bed, and this morning he had to drop them off at school, so there wasn’t time then either. Honestly, you’d think three people wouldn’t use that much kitchenware, but the full sink waiting for him in the third-floor apartment would indicate otherwise.  

 Warriors sighs. Keys in the front door but know not yet turned, he takes a moment to just... lean against the doorframe and sigh.  

 It’s been a long week.  

 “Link!”  

 The sound of his name, his birth name, even spoken by a familiar voice, makes him start, and he goes from leaing on the door to slamming his head against it in surprise, keys already ripping out of the lock and brandished like they could actually do any harm. Well, they could, but not as much as a proper weapon. He hates city rules; back home he could have a switchblade on him and no one would think anything of it!  

 He doesn’t need a weapon though, at least at the moment, because the person standing behind him is his twin sister, and honestly, even if he was properly armed, she’s almost as good with a switchblade as he is, and she’d probably be able to dodge an attack even if he did make one. As it is, the blonde woman stares at him, bright eyes hard for a moment and smile frozen as she takes him in, but then it’s gone and she’s all sunshine and madness again, something wild in her smile that has him on edge for a whole new reason. A reason that has nothing to do with mistaking her for one of his stalkers. “I‘m so glad you’re home! I brought something for you and the kiddos!”  

 Loosening his fingers, he lets most of his keys fall free again from between them, door key still in hand as he fumbles for the knob, wary of turning his back even if it is his sister. Especially if it is his sister; she’s unpredictable at the best of times, and he’s not sure she won’t pull something if he’s not looking. It wouldn’t be malicious, but it would be incredibally annoying, and they both know it. Her attempt at an innocent smile as he finally slides the key into the lock says that she knows it, and she doesn't regret it either.  

 “Do I want to know?”  

 A shrug, but her smile lingers, bright and chipper, and he can’t help how the sight of it makes him smile in answer.  

 “Is it chaos contained, or something nice?”  

 “Can’t it be both?”  

 “No pyrotechnics in my home. I will kick you to the curb and block you from all social media; even the opera one.” Linkle pouts, which would be effective from any of their other sisters, but considering they’re nearly identical twins, it just makes him snort in laughter instead. “Well, is it a nice surprise, or one that will make me disown you?” he chuckles, pulling the door open, and then wincing when it squeaks.  

 He needs to talk to the landlord about that too, he supposes. Mentally, he adds it to the list: dishwasher, squeaky door, and the flickering hall lights. Honestly, he swears no one in this building talks to the guy anymore! If he doesn’t call, nothing’s ever done about these things!  

 He must sigh aloud, because Linkle starts shaking her head, clucking her tongue like Mother used to when they were small. “You need to find a better place to live.” She ducks in through the door without invitation, but he holds it open for her all the same. It has to be tugged firmly so that the lock clicks back into place again, but it’s long since become habit to do that; it’s an old building, the door frames warp with time. Honestly, pulling the door shut is the least of his worries about this place.  

 “It’s cheap.”  

 “You have kids living with you.” She reminds him.  

 He shrugs, juggling his bookbag, keys and the grocery bags he’d grabbed on his way home, in order to find his other apartment key; the one for his unit, not just the front door. “Know another place where I can rent a clean three-bedroom apartment; I’m all ears.”  

 His sister’s fist makes contact with his shoulder in answer, but he’s been fielding punches from Sky all day, and it honestly hurts far less than the skyloftian’s blows. Usually, he dodges Sky just fine, but he’d been a bit off his game today, and he’s pretty sure he’s got some nasty bruising under his shirt as a result, although admitting as much to Time, or Sky for that matter, is out of the question. They'd been worried enough as was. He’s fine, honestly. The skin is tender, and the muscles will be sore, but letting them know that would just upset his co-worker, not fix it. And would’ve made Time’s scolding to them both far more intense.  

 He knows, beneath that harsh veneer, that their director is a kind man, but on days like today, it’s easy to forget that. Maybe he needs to text Twilight and tell him to let the old man watch Legend for a day, that might get him to ease up.  

 Linkle, beside him, must get tired of him fumbling his keys one handed, because she snatches them out of his hand with a put-upon sigh, flicking through them until she finds the right one and unlocking the door for him. Honestly, he doesn’t mind. If anything, it means he can re-distribute the weight of the grocery bags between here and the kitchen counter.  

 “I’m home!” He calls, stepping into the door and sliding his shoes off onto the mat. Linkle has to crouch to untie her steel-toes, but those too join the three other pairs on the mat as he moves to the kitchen, relief washing over him as he sets the groceries down. There’s shuffling from down the hall, one or both of the kids busy in their rooms. Like their old hound, Linkle starts towards the sound immediately, back-pack still slung over one shoulder while he turns his attention to putting away food and starting a pot of water for pasta.  

 No pyrotechnics, he reminds himself. No destruction. Linkle wouldn’t actually, he thinks- he hopes, but he’s still got no clue what her “surprise” is. Knowing her though, she’ll tell the kids she has one, then hold it over their heads through dinner. Ah well, better to get food on the proverbial table sooner rather than later, that way the eager nagging won’t last forever.  

-  

 Warriors isn’t the best cook, not by any means, but he’s managed to keep himself and his kid cousins alive this long, and while he’s under no delusions that his work in any ways lives up to Granny’s cooking, the kids are happy, and well fed, and that’s really all he can ask for. Sure, food is messy, and yes, there's dishes left, but Linkle, sweet, sweet Linkle, his bestest twin sister, has bribed their cousins into washing the dishes before they can have their surprise. Neither question it.  

 He could have asked them to help, but putting his feet up while they work never sits well with him. Aryll pushing him into the family room and into his recliner while Wind scurries around the kitchen, cajoling Linkle for clues, well, that’s a different matter! The girl won’t let him get up!  

 “We’ll hurry!” His youngest cousin promises, yanking on the lever on the side of the chair and making him laugh as his feet are literally swept up in front of him onto the footrest. Linkle cackles too, but then Aryll’s bouncing over to the kitchen, voice shrill. “Wash faster, Wind! I wanna see the surprise!”  

 He laughs at the two, soft, so they don’t hear and think he’s making fun of them, but he can’t help it. Likewise, his twin does the same, moving to climb into the recliner opposite his own. “Oh dear, poor Link! No dishes for him to wash!”  

 “Poor me,” he sighs, sinking into his chair and blessing his past self for buying the set. It was a bit of a splurge, but it’s proved to be worth it over the years, and a great delight at the end of a long day. He’s just letting his eyes slip closed- not to sleep, but to rest them long enough that light doesn't hurt- when a flick to his nose has him blinking up at his sister again with a huff. “Seriously?”  

 “Don’t go sleeping now, there’s still a surprise,” she scolds.  

 “For the kids,” he rubs at his nose. That hurt. “It doesn’t have anything to do with me.”  

 “Did I say that?”  

 “Linkle.”  

 “I didn’t say that.”  

Another sigh. “No, I suppose you didn’t.”  

 “It’s for all of us,” she says, but her voice is low, conspiratory, and there’s that twinkle in her eyes again.  

 He has some concerns, but he doesn’t speak them. No. Instead, he humors his sibling while the kids clean up, and then when they've all gathered again in the family room, Aryll squishing up beside him and Wind flopping down in an ungraceful pile of teenage boy on the floor, he turns to stare pointedly at his twin. “I believe there’s a surprise someone owes us?”  

 Another sly little grin, but the backpack is opened, and a brightly colored parcel, somewhat badly wrapped and definitely scuffed, is produced and dropped into Aryll’s lap. “There we go.”  

 No cue needs be spoken, little hands are already tearing away paper, and while neither of the two younger ones is really sure of what it is once the paper is gone, Warriors can’t help the deep belly laugh that explodes out of him when he sees the familiar box. “Catan? Linkle, are you kidding me?”  

 “I thought the kids-”  

 “Oh, sure! ‘The kids’!”  

 She’s laughing too, although she’s trying so hard to pretend that she isn’t. “Yes! You never have any good family games here-”  

 “We have Monopoly!” Their young cousins chorus, but the words get drowned out by his twin’s own.  

 “-so, I thought I’d get you one!”  

 “You’re a glutton for punishment, you are.” He laughs. “Was it not bad enough, me handing you your ass all those years as a kid? Need me to do it again, do you?”  

 The kids are exchanging a look, confused but amused, glancing between the two adults with expressions that he’d dare say are amused, in their own way. They both definitely take after their mum; he swears Wind’s eyeroll is just the same as the diva’s aunt when she was left out of a conversation by her older siblings, his own mother included. Still, he takes his time teasing his sister for a moment more, before finally both twins decide to explain how to play to the kids, who are all too eager to learn now in the wake of their banter. 

 “So, it’s pretty simple,” he opens the box as he speaks. It’s a new one, the game, and doesn’t nearly crumble under his fingers, but he’s dreadfully careful all the same, out of habit. The pieces sit in their little plastic cubbies within for all of a moment, before a flick of the wrist has the box spilling onto the coffee table where they can all reach. The ‘thief’ piece rolls off the side, and Wind dives for it, but honestly, Warriors isn’t worried about it. “I’ll show you how to assemble it, but play is easy enough.”  

 And assembly is easy. Their old game was so used it was warped on the edge of the frame (Lilly had spilled water on it when she was tiny) but the ocean painted pieces fit nicely together with this one, and after a quick shuffle of the hexagonal land tiles, he lays them out at random into the frame. Well, mostly at random. The desert tile goes in the middle, because it always does. Linkle snorts at him for it too.  

 “Desert in the middle.”  

 “It’s not a rule.” She points out, as if she wouldn't protest if he'd done anything ese. 

 “House rules. My house, my rules.” He’s not mad though, even if his tone is flat, and Aryl is now the one rolling her eyes as Wind sighs at them, head propped up in his hands and making his cheeks squish adorably.  

 “You two are ridiculous.”  

 “We’re adults,” he corrects, continuing to set the tiles, “which means we take the time to be dumb when we can.”  

 A brow raises in answer, the older of his two charges leveling him with a Look. “I have video evidence otherwise.”  

  “And I have baby pictures I’m happy to leak,” he tugs his cousin’s ear in response, “don’t make me use them, snickerdoodle.”  

  That seems to get the kid to stop with his threats, which is for the best because he most certainly does not want Linkle to have all the details about his work life. Wind, he doesn’t mind knowing, Aryll too, but his twin is a whole other matter; he doesn’t want the chaos from work to spread to the family. He’d ever lie it down. 

  “So how does play work?” Aryll asks, already spilling out the packets of little wooden buildings and roads into neat piles along the edge of the table, color coded because of course she does. 

  Warriors grins at her, setting the box aside and resisting, barely, the urge to shove it on Wind’s head. He’s an adult though, a responsible one, and he will not display such behaviors. No, he’ll just kick their asses in game with a smile on his face. “Well, now that the land is spread out, which you do at random, we have to lay the number tiles, here-” he picks up the back, tugging it open and spilling it into his hand for the middle schooler to see, “-out on top of the land pieces.” 

  “Also, at random,” Linkle adds, swiping one. “You place them on whatever order you get them, on every land piece except the desert one.” 

  “What goes there?” Wind asks, fidgeting with the ‘thief’ he’d picked up off the floor. 

  The eldest mischief maker reaches over a smile on her face as she plucks the wooden figure from his fingers. “Our lovely knight of course!” 

  “It’s a thief.”  He corrects, still laying number tiles with Aryll’s assistance. 

  “Knight.” Linkle corrects, knowing she’s wrong and purposefully causing problems on purpose because that’s what she does. As kids, they never would have dreamed of challenging the ingo of the game, even if their terms hadn’t been quite what was in the rulebook. As adults though, Linkle delights in opposing everything he has to say, as if doing so makes this more fun. She’s not wrong either; the easy, mindless bickering is relaxing in its own way. It definitely distracts his attention from anything else at any rate. 

  With a roll of his eyes, Warriors puts away any extra pieces. He debates placing them neatly in the box, but then decides, screw it and drops them it to land how they will. He can worry about it later. Or not at all. Losers are the ones who clean up the game, after all, so it might not even be is problem. “Okay, so, play goes like this.” He grabs a tiny wooden house from one of Aryll’s piles; blue, because they don’t have purple. “Each player takes a turn laying a house on a corner where three of the land tiles intersect,” he sets his down between a forest tile, a brick quarry and a sheep pasture, “usually with the knowledge that when we play, whatever resource tile your piece is touch is the resource you’re going to be earning during the game.” He plucks a matching blue road from the pile Aryll has pushed in front of him, setting it down beside his house, facing in land and already starting a path towards where other desirable tiles are. “The way it works is that, when each player rolls the dice, if the number on the dice matches the number on one of your land tiles, you get a resource card for every house touching that tile.” 

  “So,” Linkle picks up, setting down a green house a fair distance away from his, on forest, field and pasture tiles, “because I placed my house near a ten a three and a four, if any of those numbers are rolled, I get the resource for the land tile.” 

  “So, four means a sheep?” The youngest holds up the deck of cards she’d sorted through, apparently while no one was watching, offering the mentioned resource to the older girl. 

  Her cousin nods. “Yep. And because Wars is touching a nine a six and a five, if any of those numbers are rolled, he gets what’s on those.” 

  “What’s the thief-knight for?” One sun-browned finger toggles said figure back and forth in the midst of his desert wasteland, big sea-green eyes staring at the older two.  

  Warriors chuckles. “Well, if you haven’t noticed, all the number tiles have numbers from two to twelve on them; all the numbers you can roll with two six-sided dice; but there’s one missing.” 

  Those green eyes fall to inspect the board, Aryll popping up to lean over the table, likewise searching until both blonde heads are popping up in time with each other. “The seven?” 

  “Yep,” he pops the ‘p’. “If you roll a seven, there’s no land tie for that, so you move the thief to someone else’s land tile and get to take one of their resource cards.” 

  “But whatever number you put the thief on, if someone rolls it after, no one gets whatever resource it is. The knight has that depot under siege, and nothing gets in or out!” Linkle adds, with enough drama that really, she could have been an actress. If she was better at following orders anyhow. Time wouldn’t, and can’t, tolerate her as is. 

  The younger of his two cousins nods, slowly. She’s still processing, but they’d really dumbed the game down a bit. Honestly speaking, he doesn’t remember most of the official rules, although in playing it with others, he’s since learned that there are many ways and some rules that are held as golden by some and disregarded by others. In the long run, he doesn’t suppose how they play matters much, as long as the core basics stick, and he’s not going to overwhelm the little guppy with finite details. As is, she’s grabbing for the red pieces and shuffling the pile of wood her way, prompting her brother to do the same with the orange ones. 

  Of course, Wind chooses orange. He should have seen that coming. 

  “So, I place my house, and then this….” 

  “Road,” he supplies. “It has to touch the house, but you can put it between any two of the pieces.” To illustrate, he motions to his own set up, tapping carefully the other two possible routes for the wooden highway to follow. 

  Aryll nods, setting down her house, between a field, a pasture and a mountain quarry, big blue eyes looking up at him expectantly. 

  He nods. “Perfect.” 

  “What are these though?” Trust Wind’s eyes to fall on the printed ships set around the board at the edges of the land tiles. You can take a child from the sea, but you can’t take the sea from a child it would seem. “Can you sail around in this game?” 

  “No,” and while Linkle turns a questioning look at him, he still shakes his head. “Not this version anyway, although I think someone told me once that there is a version for that. I could be wrong though. In this version though, those are what we in the game call ‘ports’.” 

  The deadpan stare is worth all the effort he’d put into keeping his face straight for that line. 

  Laughter overtakes him at his cousin’s obvious “no really!” and Warriors has to be terribly careful not to disturb the board in his mirth. “The sails on the ships will tell you what trading discounts you can get by putting your pieces there. See,” he leans over to read the one under Wind’s finger, “this one says that you can trade for any resource if you give up three sheep.” 

  “What if I don’t have sheep?”   

  “You suffer.” 

  Linkle snorts. “You have to make sure you get sheep somehow then.” 

  Wind nods slowly. “So, you can only trade if you have a house on the port?” 

  “No,” his sister shakes her head, braids flopping against her shoulders. “As a rule, you can trade any set of four like cards for one card of any other type, even if you’re land locked. The ports just mean you get discounts, but they come with a disadvantage too, because by having your house between two land tiles and the ocean, you get one less resource than if you were on only land.” 

  “Is it worth it?” Aryll pushes, chewing her lip. He should tell her not to do that.  

  Linkle shrugs. “Depends really. It can be a lifesaver, or it can ruin you. Depends on how you play your cards.” 

  “And speaking of playing cards!” He’ll let Aryll be tonight, she’s not hurting herself so it should be fine. “Here are your purchasing menus!” He hands out the reference tiles to the two younger, in their chosen colors. He doesn’t grab any for himself or Linkle though since they don’t really need them. “You can trade resource cards for more buildings and roads, or upgrade the buildings you already have into cities. These tell you what resources and how many of them you need to do that, and how many points you get for each one.” The rest is self-explanatory, and the kids nod, apparently already catching on. 

  His sister grins. “Now, Wind, place your house and road. Once we’ve all placed one, we get to set out a second one wherever we want.” 

  “What about the shield cards?” Their youngest holds up the deck of painted cards, backed with the image of a round shield. “How do we get those?” 

  “They’re called development cards,” he explains, taking them and setting them beside the board, carefully, so they don’t scatter. “You can get them by giving up a sheep card, wheat, and some ore. They allow special moves, extra points, or sometimes, if you get the monopoly card, you can steal all of a single type of resource card from everyone else.” 

  “Everyone?” 

  “Me, Linkle, and Wind, yes.” 

  “Sweet. I want that one!” 

  He chuckles, tugging at her ear as well, a little gentler than with her brother. “There’s only two of those ones, pumpkin, so chances are slim for most games, but I like your enthusiasm.” 

  She takes that news with a shrug, easy as can be but no doubt already looking forwards to the chaos she could cause by robbing the lot of them. It’s easy to miss with her sweet face and big blue eyes but the younger of his two charges is just as much a terror as her older brother, if not more so on some days. 

  Wind places his houses, and the rest place their second ones, and then with a quick review, and a reminding that “cities” double earnings- because he’d forgotten to mention it until Wind asked why they mattered at all- they start playing. 

  Taylor Family Rule’s state that youngest and ladies go first, but also that, when that becomes a source of contention (as the only brother among six sisters, he did kick up a fuss on occasion about being last every time) then all roll dice for the highest number, and the winner goes first. Maybe out of pity for him, Linkle elects to call for the second option, but it doesn’t matter, because Aryll rolls an eleven anyways. Luckily though, he’s second after her, something she’s quick to cheer about. 

  The kids catch on quick. And much like the cursed game that is Monopoly, it’s not long before the wheedling tones and puppy eyes start turning on him, although Linkle opts for the more direct option of threatening him, point blank. His sister knows, just as well as he does, that weakness such as one sees in those who crumble to cute faces, is a quick path to defeat. Aryll and Wind are cute, but they’re not cute enough to make him budge If anything, just to have him teasing them and reaching out to tickle their sides until they’re screeching at him to stop. 

  As is his habit with Catan, as something of the family champion, Warriors put’s every resource into expanding his territory, building out roads to block the others from building outwards at all, which, unfortunately for Wind, works all too well against the older of his cousins. Linkle, on the other hand, is too used to him, and is building out from two locations, meanwhile Aryll quietly builds circles around her favorite pieces, long winding roads that circle back on themselves, and while that means he’s cut off from her space, he’s not too worried about her out-building him either. 

  And then Wind manages to settle a house in a pasture, and sheep enter his fold and he starts trading for development cards. 

  Really, they should have expected the kid would take unlimited delight in controlling the knight-thief (they have compromised with that horrendous name). Actually, the fact that he keeps rolling sevens would imply that the thief, too, has an affinity for Wind, something that makes the rest of them all suffer exceedingly. 

  Another seven is rolled, and when Wind’s knight-thief lands on Linkle’s only source of brick (arguably the most in demand resource in this particular game) his twin sister starts glaring. “No.” 

  “Yes.” Wind replies, smugly reaching over.  

  A hand blocks his access to her cards, splayed over to try and protect them. “Wind.” 

 “Linkle.” A bright flashing grin that says he knows he’s won.  

  Warriors and Aryll share a look, and, while the two are fussing at each other, trade a few cards. He’s finally established the longest road, effectively blocking Aryll on one side of the board, opposite from her sibling, and surrounding the smaller of Linkle’s settlements so that she can’t build out and towards anything on that side of the wall. In a way, he and Aryll have established a truce as a result of his ‘protection’, but Linkle and Wind are beginning to go at each others’ throats. 

  He trades a sheep to his youngest cousin in return for more wheat. Might as well start converting settlements to cities, and looking at Aryll’s little pile of cards, he imagines Wind is soon to be challenged for his right to control the thief-knight. 

  “Child, I will end you.” 

  Wind smiles sweetly, fluttering his lashes a bit at the woman. It reminds him of how Legend reacts when he’s especially pissed. “Brick please!” 

  There is only one brick in Linkle’s deck of cards. A overwhelming amount of sheep and wheat fill her hand, but tragically, her forest tile has been blocked frequently, and no one is trading her ore. 

  That’s the downside, he muses as he slips Aryll another sheep, if you don’t build quickly, you lose fast, and really, Linkle ought to know that by now. He taps silently at one of the littlest’s ore this time, which she gives him readily.  

  Aryll, unlike him, had built around the tiles she’d chosen in the beginning, and built thickly. She may not have a twisting road like he does that blocks others one way or another, but she’s got ore and wheat coming out of her ears, and ran out of city pieces ages ago. 

 Technically, the game should have ended when one of them reached ten points, but Taylors never play that way. They play until overwhelming defeat is left to all but one. It’s more fun that way, he muses, sitting back, now out of his chair but resting his back against it all the same. Aryll, predictably, settles against him, squirrelling her way under his arm and propping herself against his shoulder. He doesn’t mind in the least, hand lifting to toy absently with her hair while their siblings bicker.  

  “Do you want me to fix your pigtails?” They’re coming loose. 

  She shakes her head, humming a bit. “No, Imma just pull ‘em out later anyways.” 

  Right, because it’s getting late. He glances down at his watch, it’s 8:38. It should be okay, the kids usually get their homework done before dinner, and they can stay up a bit later tonight, it being a Friday and all. If anything, they’ll be waking up just fine in the morning and it will be them hauling his ass out of bed in the morning! 

  Ignorant of their exchange, of cards or words, Linkle continues to try and convince Wind to take literally anything but her precious bricks. “You’re killing me here! I barely got any building done!” 

  “Well,” Wind returns, fingers inching forwards while royal blue eyes are fixed on his face, “you should have thought about that before you became a peasant!” The card is whipped away, and just as quickly, deposited in the bank as a new orange house finds its way onto the board. 

  Linkle groans, head sinking. “Why me?” 

  “I don’t know,” the voice of their youngest is muddled with a wide yawn. “Warriors warned you, but you didn’t listen. Looks to me like this is your fault.” 

  Aryll is officially his favorite. 

  “I give,” his twin sighs, looking at her desolate kingdom and meager profits before glancing up at them. “Another win for you, I guess, Link.” 

  “No,” Aryll’s smile is wide as she blinks innocently up at the older girl. “I win.” 

 Wait, what? Warriors glances over, counting. He has less cities, yes, but he has the longest road and more settlements and- 

  “I have the biggest army, and the most cities, and-” a development card is flashed, and then another, and three more! “Five bonus points.” 

  “So you do.” He finds himself saying, blinking dumbly down at her where she’s still nestled against him, smile innocent and devious. He’s not sure if he’s feeling more betrayed or proud of her right now. 

  Linkle is giggling like a mad woman. “Oh this is golden! Link lost Catan to the baby! On her first game!” You’d think she was the winner from the way she crows. “This is the best! Absolute best! Wind, you’re forgiven, now help me take a photo to memorialize this moment in family history!” 

  Despite anything he says (and really, they’re toke complaint’s anyways) they do take a photo of them, the board, and Linkle’s wild smile as Aryll flaunts and preens before the camera like any good Taylor would. They take a few more, funny ones of the boys cow-towing to the tiny champion as she drowns in Warriors’ recliner, and all sorts of the like. Honestly, silly photos are basically required in this household. 

  It’s only when Aryll can’t keep smiling past her yawns that he decides bed-time is in order. “Linkle, Wind, you’re on cleanup.” 

  “You lost too!” 

  “I did,” he stoops, scooping up their winner in his arms and smiling as she comes willingly, arms wrapping tight around his neck, “but it’s the winners bed-time, and as winner, she deserves to be tucked in nicely, not ignored. So have fun!” And without further ado, he heads down the hall, eating the losers in the dust. Or rather- leaving the losers amid the tiny wooden houses and cardboard tiles. Eh…it doesn’t have the same ring to it. He likes leaving them in the dust more.