#the first four are by far the most developed out of all of them and i think overall its. smoke-paws whos got the most thought put in2 her??

[ketchuppee]

During the 2008 recession, my aunt lost her job. Her, her partner, and my three cousins moved across the country to stay with us while they got back on their feet. My house turned from a family of four to a family of nine overnight, complete with three dogs and five cats between us.

It took a few years for them to get a place of their own, but after a few rentals and apartments, they now own a split level ranch in a town nearby. I’ve lost track of how many coworkers and friends have stayed with them when they were in a tight spot. A mother and son getting out of an abusive relationship, a divorcee trying to stay local for his kids while they work out a custody agreement, you name it. My aunt and uncle knew first hand what that kindness meant, and always find space for someone who needed it, the way my parents had for them.

That same aunt and uncle visited me in [redacted] city last year. They are prolific drinkers, so we spent most of the day bar hopping. As we wandered the city, any time we passed a homeless person, my uncle would pull out a fresh cigarette and ask them if they had a light. Regardless of if they had a lighter on hand or not, he offered them a few bucks in exchange, which he explained to me after was because he felt it would be easier for them to accept in exchange for a service, no matter how small.

I work for a company that produces a lot of fabric waste. Every few weeks, I bring two big black trash bags full of discarded material over to a woman who works down the hall. She distributes them to local churches, quilting clubs, and teachers who can use them for crafts. She’s currently in the process of working with our building to set up a recycling program for the smaller pieces of fabric that are harder to find use for.

One of my best friends gives monthly donations to four or five local organizations. She’s fortunate enough to have a tech job that gives her a good salary, and she knows that a recurring donation is more valuable to a non-profit because they can rely on that money month after month, and can plan ways to stretch that dollar for maximum impact. One of those organizations is a native plant trust, and once she’s out of her apartment complex and in a home with a yard, she has plans to convert it into a haven of local flora.

My partner works for a company that is working to help regulate crypto and hold the current bad actors in the space accountable for their actions. We unfortunately live in a time where technology develops far too fast for bureaucracy to keep up with, but just because people use a technology for ill gain doesn’t mean the technology itself is bad. The blockchain is something that she finds fascinating and powerful, and she is using her degree and her expertise to turn it into a tool for good.

I knew someone who always had a bag of treats in their purse, on the odd chance they came across a stray cat or dog, they had something to offer them.

I follow artists who post about every local election they know of, because they know their platform gives them more reach than the average person, and that they can leverage that platform to encourage people to vote in elections that get less attention, but in many ways have more impact on the direction our country is going to go.

All of this to say, there’s more than one way to do good in the world. Social media leads us to believe that the loudest, the most vocal, the most prolific poster is the most virtuous, but they are only a piece of the puzzle. (And if virtue for virtues sake is your end goal, you’ve already lost, but that’s a different post). Community is built of people leveraging their privileges to help those without them. We need people doing all of those things and more, because no individual can or should do all of it. You would be stretched too thin, your efforts valiant, but less effective in your ambition.

None of this is to encourage inaction. Identify your unique strengths, skills, and privileges, and put them to use. Determine what causes are important to you, and commit to doing what you can to help them. Collective action is how change is made, but don’t forget that we need diversity in actions taken.

[grumpypixistix]

The lab assistant

Scientist!Miguel O’Hara x Shy!Reader

Warnings- Face sitting, slight corruption kink, slightly perverted!Miguel (if you squint), co-workers being dickheads, semi-public sex (let me know if I missed anything! )

MINORS DNI 18+

You had been working at Alchemax for a few months now. A few of your colleagues were generous enough to introduce you to the workplace and the other workers, but there was one person you couldn’t keep your eyes off of.

Miguel O’Hara.

When you first introduced yourself to him, he had already taken a liking to you. Something about how shy yet sweet you were made his pulse quicken and his cheeks burn. The way you smiled at him as you tried to introduce yourself, nervous about your first day at Alchemax. But you quickly felt at home when Miguel began to bond with you by taking over your “tour” of the place, making great conversation. Soon enough, your shell had cracked and you started talking about your personal interests, how you got hired, etc.

About a week after that day, he went home and couldn’t stop thinking about you for some reason. He didn’t know what to make of it, thinking it wasn’t too serious.

But then you started appearing in his dreams.

Miguel would dream about leaving marks everywhere on your body to claim you as his, fucking every ounce of innocence out of you.

And when he would wake up in a cold sweat, his cock was nearly on the verge of exploding, precum dripping everywhere. He felt guilty about it afterwards, it was just wrong for him to think about his colleague like that.

But you plagued his mind consistently. The dreams slowly turned into daily thoughts that he finally caved into, fisting his cock at least four times a day to the thought of your body. But you had no clue what he was doing after he got off of work. You just assumed that he only saw you as a co-worker and nothing else, maybe even a good friend.

But God, were you so far off from the truth.

As you entered the building for another shift of the week, your boss had approached you with some new information.

“I’m really sorry this is a last minute notice, but I need you to stay a little later. I tried to get some other people to stay instead, but all of them couldn’t do it… but on the bright side, Miguel volunteered to stay, so you won’t be completely alone.”

Great, just what you needed. A longer shift after your horrible week.

Even though some of your colleagues were nice to you, there was a group that wasn’t as generous as them. Some of them claimed that you were too clumsy or stupid to be an assistant, others claimed you were like a lost dog or a prude. Whatever they said, you tried not to pay attention to it too much. But there were days where it would get to you, and this week happened to have a bunch of those days.

You just nodded at your boss and shot him the best smile you could muster up.

“Alright then, that shouldn’t be a problem, sir” You said in a friendly tone.

“At least Miguel will be here with me… maybe I can talk to him, get my stress out” You thought to yourself as you walked off to start your shift.

When you walked into the lab and took your coat off of the hanger, you could hear some voices from the other side of the room.

“Oh great, look who’s here.”

“God, I don’t even know why she’s still here. She should’ve been fired months ago, she doesn’t even know what she’s doing.”

“I’m surprised Miguel even hangs out with her, she’s such a prude.”

“Hell, you should’ve seen the look on her face yesterday. She practically bursted into tears when we called her useless.”

The other comments stung a little, but what got you the most was the part about Miguel. Sure, you had developed a small crush on him, but that had nothing to do with your guy’s friendship. The fact that the other colleagues had judged your bond just to get a laugh hurt you more than you felt it should’ve.

God forbid if they ever found out about your feelings for Miguel… you couldn’t help but become paranoid over the idea.

As you tried to ignore the group across the room and focus on your tasks, it seemed that one of them had read your mind and called you over.

Shit.

“Hey, newbie! Come over here real quick, we gotta ask you somethin“ One of your colleagues called out.

Your heart pounded hard inside your chest, quietly gulping before walking over to the group with a small sigh.

“What do you need?” You asked gently, silently praying it was something work-related and not just making fun of you again.

Some of the others chuckled and chattered a little bit before falling quiet.

“Sooo, you’re friends with Miguel, right?” The female colleague from before asked.

Your palms began to grow sweaty as sirens went off in your mind, biting your cheek before answering.

“Yeah, why?” You raised your brow at your co-worker.

Your co-worker slowly smiled. Oh no.

“Well, we were just thinking… with the way you act around him and all… you definitely have a thing for him, don’t you?”

Your whole chest sunk to your stomach, wishing this was just some horrible dream and that you would wake up soon. Trying to play it off, your eyes widened at the question and you shook your head vigorously.

“What?? No, he’s just my friend-“

“That wasn’t my question. I asked if you have a thing for him” She cuts off coldly.

Some of the others snickered quietly, making your throat close up as you tried to hold your emotions back. Your face contorted into confusion at the strange question, the others taking notice of it.

“Oh my god, she’s clueless” One of the colleagues muttered with a small chuckle.

Your co-worker lets out a small laugh as she noticed your face, clicking her tongue and shaking her head.

“Here, let me dumb it down for you: do you ever fantasize about having sex with Miguel?”

Your whole face flushed bright red as it clicked into your head, slowly shaking your head.

“N- No… that’s… that’s wrong” You stuttered, looking at your co-worker.

She stares at you with a raised brow, not believing you at all.

“Okay, sure… but you still like him, right? Being a prude and all, surely you at least have a crush on him.”

“Please, don’t call me that-“

“Or what? Huh? You gonna run off to your little boyfriend and cry in his arms? I’m sure he’ll baby you, he does every time he sees you” She hisses.

The feeling in your throat grew even stronger, your eyes slowly beginning to water. But you didn’t want to prove her theory, so you just stood there silently, not knowing what else to say. As the silence grew more, some of the colleagues just laughed.

“Wow… you really are stupid, aren’t you?”

“Who’s stupid?” A voice emerges from the entrance of the room, making everyone fall silent.

It was Miguel, standing with his arms crossed and his brows furrowed. The group of colleagues weren’t laughing or smiling anymore- instead, they actually looked nervous. The female coworker looked over at you for a quick moment before flashing a smile at Miguel.

“Oh, nothing! It was just something we were talking about from yesterday. Right, hon?” The co-worker said in an overly sweet tone, forcing herself to smile at you.

You froze, not wanting anymore conflict with the group, so you just went along with it. You quietly nodded your head and looked over at Miguel, giving your best smile.

“Mhm, it was just stuff from yesterday” You mustered up as your voice shook a little.

Miguel didn’t buy it at all, seeing how your eyes glistened, tears threatening to leave them at any second. He shot your co-worker a glare before looking back at you, a sigh leaving his lips.

“Ah, alright then… do you have the paperwork from last week? I just wanna make sure everything is right” Miguel spoke to you, his face softening a little.

You quickly nodded and walked away from the group to your clipboard that was in one of the desk drawers, skimming through the pile of papers to look for the documents. The group just watched as you eventually found the papers Miguel was referring to, handing them to him. He took out his glasses from his coat pocket and put them on, reading the sheet of paper. After a few moments of silence, Miguel took off his glasses and looked over at you, handing the paper back.

“This is perfect. Thank you, sweetheart. I don’t think I’ve ever seen paperwork better than this and I’ve worked here longer than anyone else has” Miguel praised, a gentle smile formed on his lips.

“Thank you, Miguel. That means a lot to me” You hummed in appreciation, returning the smile.

The praise alone made you forget about the whole situation from earlier, but the smile comforted you even more. Your cheeks burned up as you felt your whole body tingle, a small smile creeping up your lips. The feeling Miguel made you have was insatiable, you just couldn’t get enough of it. You wanted more of him, to have his lips on yours…

You almost forgot that there were other people in the room. Almost.

The sound of low muttering made your head turn towards the group, the co-worker giving you a dirty look before the group parted separate ways. You set the paper on the table and Miguel leans down to whisper in your ear.

“We’ll talk about this later.”

Your head spun when you felt his warm breath tickle your skin, almost not realizing what he just said. When you finally processed it, you looked at Miguel and nodded a little. For once, you were actually kind of glad your boss made you work later.



After hours of working and following Miguel around for assistance (as he asked for your presence), it was time for the others to go home. Usually, you would be getting off at this time, but since you had to stay later, that meant you would have to pick up dinner on your way back home. You didn’t really mind since it would save you time and energy to make food at home.

Plus you didn’t mind since it meant you could spend more time with Miguel.

Speaking of which, you couldn’t help but notice something was a little off with him. You assumed it was because of what happened earlier, because he seemed a little more tense than normal. But after everyone had left, he looked over at you, glad that the two of you were finally alone. You were finishing out today’s paperwork, slouching over the desk as you tried to fight off your tiredness. Miguel walked over to you and gently took the pen out of your hand, turning your chair around to face him.

“Everyone left, it’s just us. Now… about what happened earlier…” Miguel started, bending down to your height, “Tell me. What exactly did they say to you?”

Your face burned up a little as his face was inches away from yours, struggling to find your words. He just stared at you, waiting for an answer. But after a few moments of silence, his face softened and he let out a small breath, resting his large hand on your thigh.

“I won’t say a word to anyone, I promise. I just want to know what’s wrong… when I got here, you were on the verge of tears” Miguel spoke softly.

The feeling of his hand on your thigh made your chest flutter and your stomach turn, trying to keep your composure as much as you could. He was only just trying to comfort you… right?

“They… they were asking me questions…” You began, still debating whether or not you should leave out a few details.

Miguel hummed a little as he listened to you, his other hand now on your other thigh as he gently caressed your skin. Your stomach felt fuzzy and warm, avoiding eye contact with him.

“Questions about what? C’mon hermosa, you can tell me” He coos, tucking a small strand of hair out of your face.

You swallowed hard and bit your lip hard before answering hesitantly.

“They were… questions a- about you.”

Miguel stopped and looked at you, gently grabbing your chin and forcing you to look up at him.

“What did they ask about me?”

You stared up at him for a few moments and finally spoke again.

“They… they were asking if… I liked you” You whispered quietly.

That caught Miguel off-guard.

His eyes widened at you just the slightest, analyzing your face to see if you were messing with him. Once he noticed your flushed cheeks and nervous look, he knew you weren’t joking. After a moment of tense silence, Miguel licked his lips and started talking.

“…Do you?” Miguel asked lowly, looking down at your lips and up at your eyes.

His question had you in a slight panic, weighing out the odds. If you told him how you felt, it would either change your entire friendship or you would be stuck working alone for the rest of your time at Alchemax. Either one of those options sounded horrible, but if you didn’t tell him now, you were certain the group from earlier would do it eventually. Your heart raced so quick, Miguel swore he could hear it clearly. A shaky sigh left your lips and you nodded at him.

“Yeah… I do” You mumbled, scared that he would react negatively.

But instead, Miguel just chuckled softly and smiled at you, his hand cupping your face and his thumb dragging down your bottom lip.

“That’s good to know… because I’ve also liked you for quite some time now” Miguel responded, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

Your eyes widened at his response, a look of hope on your face as you slowly smiled.

“Really?” You squeaked.

Miguel chuckled again and nodded at you, his eyes flicking down to your lips.

“Of course I do… how could I not?” He whispered, his face slowly inching closer to yours.

Your face flushed all the way to your ears, finding yourself drifting towards him. Closer, closer and closer until you finally feel his warm lips on yours. It felt like hundreds of fireworks were exploding in your chest, slowly wrapping your arms around him and holding Miguel close. You were almost afraid to let go, and he seemed to notice this. Miguel gently moved his hands down to your waist, pulling you up out of the chair and into his arms. The more you kissed him, the harder it became for Miguel to keep his composure. He wanted to take things slow with you, not wanting to scare you away. But God, was it a challenge for him to just keep his hands on your hips.

After a little bit, Miguel finally broke the kiss to catch his breath, already panting softly. He looked at you and let out a groan that awoken something inside you.

“Shit, do you have any idea what you do to me?” Miguel huffed quietly, his thumbs barely peeking up the hem of your shirt and rubbing the bare skin of your stomach.

You just stared up at him, your mind still foggy from the kiss you two had shared moments ago. You shook your head with a quiet “No…”

Miguel sighed and looked down at your chest, his cock twitching inside his pants. He didn’t even bother hiding his erection anymore, moving your hips against his to show you the effect you had on him. You let out a gasp at the strange feeling, your fingers digging into his shoulders as your whole body felt hot now.

“I can’t help it… you’re just so fucking sweet… you haunt me in my dreams, I swear to god. Every night when I go to bed, all I can dream about is you and that fucking body of yours… all just for me.”

Your eyes widened at his words, not expecting him to say those kind of things to you. Normally, you’d be freaked out or even scared… but something about the way Miguel looked at you made you feel different. You weren’t sure if it was from the kiss earlier or your feelings for him in general, but you felt… ready in a sense. When Miguel saw your eyes widen at his words, his face dropped as he suddenly became worried.

“…Was that too much?” Miguel whispered gently, his brows furrowed together.

You slowly shook your head and placed a soft kiss to his cheek.

“No… I- If anything, I… I sometimes have dreams about you, too…” You admitted with a quiet tone, looking away.

Miguel nearly went off the rails when you told him that, his pants feeling tighter around his dick. He moved you closer to him once more, moving your hair to the side.

“Mierda… Tell me about your dreams…” Miguel mumbled against you, pressing slow kisses to your cheek and down your neck.

Your thighs pressed together as a wet patch formed in your panties, your stomach flipping as you felt his lips against your skin. A shaky breath left your mouth, nearly moaning from how good it felt to have Miguel treat you this way. It was definitely wrong, but it felt so right. If anyone else had stayed with you two during the late shift and caught you like this, you’d be fired on the spot.

But nobody else was here. Just the two of you.

“S- sometimes I dream about you k- kissing me like this… and even…” Your voice faltered as you quickly grew shy again, biting down on your lip.

Miguel kissed and nipped at your neck, leaving little marks on your skin.

“Go on, Cariño…”

You swallowed before speaking again, letting a soft moan slip out.

“Even… touching me…”

Miguel moaned at that, causing your head to spin even more. You felt so hot that you swore you were going to pass out, but luckily you didn’t. He moved up to place a firm kiss on your lips, pulling away to look at you.

“Have I done anything more than just touching you in your dreams?” Miguel muttered lowly, his lips wet and raw.

You thought for a second before slowly shaking your head with a small breath.

“I always woke up before… before I could find out…” You answered Miguel.

Miguel frowned at that, looking at the marks on your neck before making direct eye contact with you. He sighed and shook his head, clicking his tongue.

“Well… do you wanna know what I’d do to you in my dreams?”

You nodded at him, genuinely curious as to what he dreamed about when you weren’t there with him. His forehead pressed against yours as his lips were centimeters away from your lips, his hands trailing from your waist down to your ass.

“In my dreams… I’d have you sit on my face and I’d make you cum over and over again until your legs give out..”

The image Miguel just gave you nearly made you collapse. You felt weak to your knees, a gentle whine escaping your lips. Miguel squeezed your thighs and kissed you once more, his hands moving up to the hem of your shirt. He parted from you to look at your face.

“Can I?” Miguel asked, wanting to make sure you were okay with this before he went any farther.

You looked at him for a few moments before making a decision, whispering out a small “Yes” to him. He took that as his green light and gently took your coat off first before moving to your shirt. He rolled the material up your body and over your head, helping you take your shirt off. Once you were topless in front of him, Miguel’s eyes scanned your chest. He muttered something quietly in Spanish before letting out a breathy sigh.

“Have I ever told you just how beautiful you are?” He coos softly.

Your face burned up as you felt vulnerable in front of him, but when Miguel spoke, you slowly started to become more comfortable. A bashful expression appeared on your face as you just shook your head.

“Not entirely…”

Miguel hummed gently as he pressed a kiss to your forehead, reaching towards your back to unclip your bra.

“Well… I think you’re the most gorgeous person I’ve ever met… every time I see you, it’s always hard for me to look away. Shit, baby, it’s even hard for me to look away in my dreams. I wouldn’t give it up for any other view… you’re so fucking beautiful, sweetheart” Miguel spoke in between kisses to your face and lips while gently kneading your exposed breasts.

You couldn’t help but moan at his words mixed with his touch, kissing him back each time he placed a kiss onto your soft lips. Miguel couldn’t get enough of the sweet sounds you made, craving even more from you. His hands moved down to unbutton your pants, taking off every last piece of clothing on your body before leaving you completely naked in front of him. Miguel’s breath hitched as he looked at your body.

It was even better than he imagined in his dreams.

Miguel placed small kisses down your neck and collarbone until he made it to your breasts, gently kissing and sucking one while his hand toyed with the other. The sensation made you moan a little louder, biting down on your lip to contain yourself. Miguel seemed to take notice of this and removed his mouth from your nipple.

“You don’t have to be quiet, muñeca… it’s just us. I wanna hear your pretty moans.. god, I’ve been dreaming about this for so long…”

As soon as he said that, his hands gripped your hips and he stared at you with nothing but lust in his eyes. Suddenly, he placed you on top of him as he laid down on the large table in the room. You could feel the tent in his pants right against your wet pussy, a low whine leaving your lips which caused Miguel to groan softly.

“Want you to sit on my face, querida… please…” Miguel begged softly, his hands still on your hips.

You let out a whimper at his request, reluctantly moving so your hips were directly above his face. You were hovering over him, not knowing what else to do. Miguel let out a quiet sigh, not wanting to wait any longer. He wanted to taste you… he had to taste you.

“You’re hovering, sweetheart. Lower your hips for me, ‘kay?” Miguel instructed, looking up at you from between your legs.

You looked down at him, slightly embarrassed from the position you were in. Regardless of how shy you became, you obeyed Miguel anyways, slowly lowering your hips a little.

“Is this g-“ Before you could even get your question out, Miguel’s mouth immediately attached to your clit.

You let out a loud gasp and moaned, Miguel’s tongue exploring your folds and licking up your juices. He let out a low growl that sent vibrations through your body, making you squirm and cry out.

“Joder, nena, sabes tan dulce… todo para mi~” Miguel moaned, his head moving up more to lick and suck on your clit again.

You whimpered as he sucked on your clit again, afraid that you would crush him if you moved your hips any lower. Miguel’s hands moved up to your ass and groped it tightly, his tongue poking your hole and sliding inside of you. The warm and wet feeling made your hands slam down on the table, trying not to drop your hips directly onto his face. Small pants left your mouth as his tongue fucked your hole and his nose brushed up against your sensitive clit, moaning as you kept your eyes shut tightly.

That’s when you felt Miguel’s hands grip your hips and his tongue slips out of your pussy, making you whine in response. You gasp as he pulls your hips down with such force, your eyes widening as you look down at him.

“Ay, Cariño, what did I tell you ‘bout the hovering? Stop hovering and sit on my face” Miguel scolded, spanking your ass as he goes back to licking and sucking your poor abused clit.

You cried out as you felt a new wave of pleasure form inside you, sobbing as he hit all of your spots with his mouth.

“Miguel~! Mig-“ You gasped, pulling his hair with one hand as the other stayed on the table for support.

But Miguel could care less if you suffocated him. Hell, he wanted you to. The sound of his name coming from your lips nearly made him cum in his pants right then and there. Every pretty noise that came out of your mouth was better than his dreams alone, not wanting you to stop. Miguel kissed and teased your clit more, savoring your taste as much as possible. His breath grew heavier and heavier as sweat trickled down his temples, burying his face in your pussy.

Miguel’s mouth left your clit with a small ‘pop’ as he re-entered his tongue inside your soaked hole, making you rut your hips against his face. The way his nose bumped your clit and his warm tongue stuffed inside you made your eyes roll back, your legs twitching already.

“God, don’t stop~ please don’t stop, Miggy~ feels s’good~” You begged pathetically, your shy demeanor now leaving your body.

Miguel moaned against you and spanked your ass hard once more, his fingers digging into your thighs. His own hips twitched against nothing as he listened to your pleads and moans, fucking you with his tongue relentlessly. With the way you begged so nicely for him to keep going, Miguel swore he could feel his precum seeping through his boxers and pants. How could he refuse you?

“Miguel-! I- I think I’m-“ You tried to warn him that you were close, your legs nearly giving out on you.

If it weren’t for Miguel’s large hands holding your hips up, you definitely would’ve collapsed on his face. But you were so desperate to cum, continuing to grind on his face as he licked a fat stripe from your hole to your clit. He caught his breath and looked up at you for a moment, his eyes dark and full of arousal.

“Go ahead, princesa… cum for me” Miguel moaned, going back to sucking your clit.

With just those words alone, the coil inside your stomach broke. You cried out loudly as you came, chanting his name over and over again. Your legs shook and you nearly collapsed onto him, Miguel catching you just in time. He licked up every drop of your release, making sure to not let it go to waste. You whimpered as he continued to lick your sensitive pussy, becoming overstimulated from his tongue. Your hands pressed down onto the table to hold yourself up, catching your breath as you carefully crawled off of his face.

As you sat down on the table next to Miguel, he sat up straight and faced you, panting heavily. Your eyes widened as you saw his chin was soaked from your juices, a dark blush forming across your cheeks. Miguel noticed your face as he finally caught his breath, a small laugh leaving his lips.

“How do you feel?” Miguel asked, licking his lips and wiping his chin off with his coat sleeve.

A soft breath left your mouth as you looked at him, a sheepish smile forming on your face, “I feel… I feel like that was the best thing I’ve ever experienced..”

Miguel chuckled and leaned over to you, placing a tender kiss to your lips. You melted against him and returned the kiss, slowly pulling away to look at him.

“I’m glad I could make you feel like that… say, uh… our shift actually ended like… 10 minutes ago” Miguel spoke as he checked his watch.

Your eyes widened as you looked around for your discarded clothes, Miguel quickly grabbing them before you could get off of the table.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, I got it. Just sit for a little bit, catch your breath” He mumbled, putting your clothes back on for you.

Your chest fluttered as he did so, smiling at him in a loving way. Miguel noticed this and chuckled as he helped you put your panties back on.

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing… I was just wondering.. do you wanna stay the night at my place?” You offered, moving your hips a little as Miguel clothed you.

Miguel grinned widely at the offer, placing a peck to your forehead and nodding.

“Of course, I’d like that… I’ll buy dinner for us on the way there. My treat for this” Miguel hummed, putting your shirt on and placing soft kisses to your knuckles.

Your smile widened as he said that, pulling him in for a kiss. Miguel wrapped his arms around you as he kissed you back, his forehead pressed against yours as you two pulled away. He helped you off of the table and the both of you made your way out of the building, holding your hand and rubbing his thumb across your skin.

“Oh, by the way… I heard everything that happened with your co-workers. I was listening the whole time” Miguel admitted, looking over at you.

Your head whipped over to him, a surprised expression on your face. “You were-??”

“Yeah, but don’t worry about it. I actually got promoted as a manager a few weeks ago, so…”

Your eyes widened as a small gasp left your lips. “Wait, so that means-“

“That means you won’t be having to deal with them for much longer. I know those assholes have been messing with you since you got here… plus, everything they said about you is wrong. You’re the best worker this place has to offer and those dickheads have been here longer than you have” Miguel responded to you, placing a kiss to your temple.

A grin formed on your lips as joy filled your chest, squeezing Miguel’s hand.

“Thank you, Miguel… that means everything to me.”

“Of course. I gotta make sure my girl is okay.”

You let out a laugh as he said that, placing a soft kiss on his cheek as you walked with him down the street.

“So, is that your way of saying I’m your girlfriend now?” You chuckled.

“Only if you want to be” Miguel answered with a smirk.

You gently smacked his shoulder with your other hand and scoffed playfully, earning a laugh from him.

“Of course I do, Miguel.”

“Good. Because I’m not letting you go.”

[spicymancer]

What was the process like for designing the ActiRangers, their civilian and suited forms? Their suits look so cool, it’s definitely clear you have a lot of familiarity with the genre while also having great ideas on how to innovate and add your own unique elements! Did they go through lots of conceptual iterations, or did they come pretty naturally? Any particular teams that inspired you, like SPD or RPM with their numbered members?

So the Actirangers started out as characters designed for a private little Tokusatsu OC jam I did with some friends! The design I submitted was Pink, (hence why she's kinda the main character of the story)

(Real name and certain background elements redacted for spoiler reasons)

So Pink's suit was the first one designed, hence how she's kinda the most basic of the Rangers. I had just got done watching Birdie Wing and Love After World Domination and thought it would be kinda fun for a golf themed sentai hero.

She was originally going to be ActiRanger 5 before I thought of the "Four/Fore" golf pun.

The rest of the team was then designed from there with each of their sports in mind and some general vibes.

I don't think they went through all that much iteration, though I will say since I tend to draw them in Black and White I sometimes mix up which parts of their suits are their color and which parts are black.

I wanted to give them each some kind of Power Weapon so I stuck to stick sports and also Table Tennis. (I am still weirdly fond of the old Penny Arcade Paint the Line comics)

As far as Power Ranger teams that inspired them, Mighty Morphin' is obviously the biggest inspo. (The Dan Mora run on the Go Go Power Rangers comics is awesome.) Time Force, S.P.D. and RPM were all on my mind as well.

For the Gambit Gang I was struggling to come up with a fun villain theme and eventually figureod out that the enemy to the "Sports" team had to be the "Chess Club". (Insert joke about polycules and board games)

Gray in particular was conceived at this point when I and wanted an Evil Ranger on their side. Chess Knights having a vague horse theme, he obviously had to be Polo! His design draws pretty heavily from Mystic Force's Koragg which is still IMO one of the sickest designs Sentai has ever cooked.

Wow that got a little more long winded than I inteded but I hope y'all enjoyed this little peek behind the curtain of the ActiRanger's development!

Thank you all for enjoying my silly OC comics and doodles!

[jiminrings]

four seven eight, phase three: intermission.

wordcount: 3k

glimpse: jungkook hasn’t had any drinks so far, but he’s the rawest he’s ever been.

alternatively, jungkook has three separate conversations while he’s at the club.

[ part one, intermission, part two, intermission 02, finale — complete series masterlist, from phase 1 to 3 ]

Yoongi always finds some way to piss Jungkook off.

Your husband isn’t sure if he’s just that easy to piss off or if Yoongi really is an extremely annoying person that gets on everyone’s nerves (his especially), but regardless, your friend always finds some way to set him to the edge.

Jungkook almost bended a fork with his teeth when you called out baby along with your subsequent request for him to pass the sauce, but even before he could reach for said container, Yoongi (who was sitting on the other end of the table) dashes over to your seat to give you sauce and piss him off in the process.

He almost grabbed Yoongi by the hair that one time when you were on your last shot on your film camera and you wanted to take a photo of them, but right at the last second of you taking it, Yoongi told him there was a cockroach by his feet which immediately made it look like Jungkook was bowing to him. He’s already ripped up the picture as soon as you got it developed, but the anger at the seemingly surface-level tricks he pulled on him always ate at him.

Jungkook only texted Yoongi awhile ago, and while he wasn’t expecting an immediate reply given the time difference, he almost wished the latter didn’t even respond in the first place. 

you’re hwayoung’s godfather

look after her while i’m gone

The two of them have been civil, maybe even friendly at best, since yours and Jungkook’s month-long break before Hwayoung came along; Jungkook doesn’t expect much from Yoongi except for the bare minimum — the problem is that Yoongi himself wants to go above and beyond.

i know that

i don’t need you to be gone for me to look after hwayoung lol

Jungkook huffs at the insinuation, brows immediately knitted as he tries to focus his eyes on his phone that seems to be the brightest source of light in the dimmed, packed club.

?

He can admit to himself (to you too, but never to anyone else especially Yoongi) that he can sometimes go overboard looking in between the lines. It’s this nagging feeling in Jungkook’s brain that he needs to analyze everything from all angles when it concerns you and the people who are fond of you. It’s this irritating quirk of his that he himself hates because he can’t be placated at the thought of something, someone, getting in between the two of you.

Especially if it’s Yoongi, even if he’s already sworn up and down that he’s moved on from you.

Most especially Yoongi, who’s close to his family in more ways than one, now that he’s left for the meantime.

i’ll take care of y/n too dw :)

Jungkook seethes at that, his thumbs already moving on their own accord to type out a reply he barely has the consciousness to discern. He can’t bring himself to read in between the lines now; now, when he’s apart from you and Hwayoung and there’s neither a husband nor father figure at home, and now, when everything dawns on him that everything that’s happening now is real.

go fuck yourself

Everything in and out of Jungkook’s reach is real. The fight you had two days ago was indeed real, and what reminds him of that is your messages that only detail about Hwayoung and nothing else. Yoongi being h*mself which is an annoyance within its own, is real and is proved by the laughing reaction that he only attached to Jungkook’s very genuine, very offensive profanity.

Jungkook doesn’t have it in him to entertain the possibility that Yoongi’s only messing with him as per usual. He doesn’t have the energy to detangle the complicated knots in his mind that all point to him being the reason for his own undoing.

The only energy that your husband has at the moment is to switch apps, regulate his breathing, and head straight to the live footage from the security camera in Hwayoung’s room. Jungkook feels sane again (maybe even the feeling greater than contentment, but not more than happiness) when he sees the two of you pop up on screen, your laughs immediately drowning out the blaring music.

“My pretty girls,” he mumbles under his breath, his thumb twitching to switch between apps again and finally have the courage to actually talk to you about what happened and not just fawn over how Hwayoung’s breezing through her milestones while he’s been gone.

He hasn’t had anything to drink yet, and while he’s relieved at that, there’s a sense of cowardice that creeps up in Jungkook’s throat. He feels pathetic and unsurprisingly, characteristically weak when it comes to you.

Your husband settles for pushing the button that makes the security camera ding, indicating that he’s indeed watching you and Hwayoung, before he screws his eyes shut in fear that you’ll only scowl at him through the screen.

You don’t.

Instead, you only smile lightly. You’re tired and you’re filled with pent-up sentiments because you can’t exactly gossip to Hwayoung how her dad has been frustrating you to no end lately, and yet, you still smile for him because she’s watching.

There’s a knot that forms in his throat when you prop Hwayoung in front of the camera and coo at her to wave because he’s watching. There’s this unmistakeable sting behind Jungkook’s eyes because he’s reminded yet again that everything’s real; that unlike him, you’re not weak. 

You’re filled with so much love as evidenced by the way you look at Hwayoung with no fear at all of messing everything up, and it makes Jungkook choke over nothing. You have your fears too, but not one of them comes close to the degree that his doubts are in — perhaps you do have a fear of losing everything just like he does, except the resounding difference is that you’re not a coward like him.

Namjoon’s jostled him atleast three times for the past ten minutes and he’ll succumb to his friend sooner or later, but not now when Jungkook rethinks every word he’s ever said and how he misspoke, not now when he’s made the mistake of even calling Eunsu as his muse when he can’t even grasp the weight of the word when he calls someone else that in front of his wife.

Jungkook’s still a coward, with or without a drink, but he’s in the latter state when he brings out his other phone to finally call you.

He sees you flinch silently through the security camera, gaze averting from a napping Hwayoung on your lap to your phone that’s ringing. You purse your lips in hesitation yet you don’t quiver, accepting his call but not without looking straight at the camera before you do.

You’re neither unattached nor resigned with Jungkook — you’re simply stuck in the middle with him, even if the demarcation about who gets the shorter end of the stick is unclear.

“I didn’t mean anything I said last night,” he admits straightly, sparing no time as his chest tightens.

“You sounded like it,” you frown, absent-mindedly stroking Miso’s fur who just conjured out of nowhere at the exact time your husband called you.

“At the time, yes,” he sighs heavily, the knot in his throat refusing to unravel even if he’s already baring his truth. “But at that time too, I was beyond stupid a-and emotional. I wasn’t thinking straight, and I know me being drunk shouldn’t be an excuse,” Jungkook swallows, his hand cupping the air instead of a shot glass reminding him of his stupidity. “I was out of it. I couldn’t keep everything in check.”

Your voice remains hushed, but you don’t have it in you to discern if it’s only because Hwayoung is sleeping on your lap, or if talking to Jungkook lately robs you of your will to be on the same level as him.

“You could’ve told me as soon as you felt… that way, Jungkook.”

He sucks in a breath, chewing on his bottom lip as he tries not to cry rethinking about your fight. “I did try to, but as soon as you did, you asked me if taking care of Hwayoung felt like a chore to me.”

“Does it?” you ask again, ironically coinciding with Jungkook’s point that it makes him chuckle lightly. You were always so stubborn — almost always similar to his temperament.

“I respect you a lot, Y/N. You put a roof over over our heads, you put food on the table, you have everything figured out.”

“Jungkook,” you mumble, sensing the inevitable conjunction that separates the both of you further.

“But I’m the one who knows what I’m feeling the most, not you,” Jungkook sighs shakily, voice hushed even quieter than the way you look at him silently through the screen. 

He can see you, but you can’t see him. 

“We’re both parents to Hwayoung at the end of the day but in that— in that same day, you spend more time being the working parent while I’m the stay-at-home parent,” he confides, his tone gentle and slow unlike the way his drunken nature persuaded him otherwise. “Taking care of Young-ie isn’t a chore for me. Yes, it’s repetitive. I-it could be exhausting and draining but that’s what it comes with being a dad. I’m her dad. I’m the one who’s with her. I’m bound to feel this way,” he pauses, breath hitching. “I’m not asking you to forgive me right away for all the shit I said. I’ve been unfair springing all of this on you on such short notice.”

You look straight at the camera, bottom lip quivering as you wrap your head around Jungkook’s sober vulnerability.

“I’ve been unfair too,” you mutter, eyes downcast because even if you can’t see Jungkook, there’s a false image of him that floats in your mind, belittling you for not being enough. “I didn’t see it from your point of view.”

There’s only silence between the two of you, the noise of the club being expertly drowned out even through the distortion of the line.

“You can forgive me tomorrow or next week, even— but the sooner the better, of course,” Jungkook chides playfully after a few seconds, smiling to himself when he visibly sees the tension melt away from your shoulders.

“You’re annoying.”

“I’m asking you to give me a chance, baby. Give me a little leeway,” Jungkook pleads, in between light chuckles and strained desperation that an honest, sober husband like him could give to you while you’re long-distance. “Give me a little time to figure out a balance. I-I can’t be the best husband and dad that I want— need to be if I can’t figure myself out.”

“I get it,” you nod, your thumb unconsciously adjusting the wedding on your ring finger that’s become slightly askew. “But you promise me that you’ll come home, Jungkook,”

“I promise.”

“You have to promise me too that there’s no one else.”

“Y/N,” Jungkook tuts warningly, his confused frown at you being genuine in nature as if you could see him in real time trying to digest your paranoia. “Where’s this coming from?”

“Promise me,” you repeat again with a short-lived whine, the stirring of Hwayoung on your lap making his heart soften and your call interrupted.

“I promise.”

Jungkook relaxes into his seat, eyes still fixed on the security app on his phone as he watches you rock his daughter to sleep, pointing to the camera every now and then to tell her that her appa’s watching. 

Namjoon and Eunsu come over with drinks, and as much as there’s a momentary wave of relief that washes over Jungkook because he’s seeing familiar people, there’s a dubiously-coated type of tension that replaces the knot on his throat.

“Ah, my pretty producer,” Eunsu hands him his drink, looking past the platinum wedding band that Jungkook hadn’t dared to take off even once the whole trip, along with his phone that displays his family in full brightness. “I believe we haven’t met properly.”

[red-riot-unbreakable-heart]

Shoto Todoroki x Reader | First Kiss ❄️🔥💋 PART 7

Previous Chapter: Part 6 | Next Chapter: Coming Soon!

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Ship: Shoto Todoroki x Fem Reader! 💋

Genre: Fluff, Romance, S*xual Tension, Smut

🚫🔞THIS IS AN ADULT BLOG CONTAINING EXPLICIT CONTENT. MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, A18+ ONLY.🔞🚫

CW: MDNI!, A18+, kissing, romance, sexual tension, spicy scenes, lemon. This chapter is very tame compared to the others!

Link to My Master List

The Party

You all rush back to the 1A dorm, your laughter spilling into the crisp night air as you congratulate each other for coming up with such a genius plan. You all trust Hatsume to do her part here – after all, she is the prodigy of the Support Course! At this point, Mineta doesn’t really have a choice but to participate – he’s already in way too deep (Or too high, for that matter).

You spread your arms wide as you run, the inky black sky above you blinking with a smattering of golden stars. It feels good to be young and reckless. You cackle as Monoma reaches out and grabs your hand, holding out his other to Toru. She takes it (or you assume she does – it’s hard to tell in the dark), and you feel Mina’s fingers interlace with your free hand. The four of you must look wild – a group of Japan’s most promising heroes in training locking hands and laughing under a perfect evening sky. You want to freeze this moment in your mind – take a snapshot and tuck it into the golden locket of your heart.

When you finally reach the dorm building, the four of you are breathless and wheezing. The rush of being young and pulling off a crazy scheme continues to pump through your veins as you take the stairs two at a time. When you finally reach the common area, your breath catches in your throat as you take in the scene.

It looks fabulous.

You have successfully blacked out the windows, causing the space to feel cozy but oddly illicit. Shoto has leant some of his expensive throw blankets to the cause - the navy woven squares are scattered across the room. Each blanket has been tastefully draped across the backs of the couches. Shoji and Tokoyami have arrived early, and are using their quirks to string up fairy lights around the space. The tiny lights give the space a warm, soft glow that fills your heart with an odd nostalgia. It looks like a picture book or a Pinterest board – fabulously cozy and sweet. You long for Shoto – it would be so saccharine to snuggle up to him under the tiny, blinking lights.

“Where did you get those!?” Mina says in awe, pointing at the lovely lights as Dark Shadow fastens the cord to a window frame.

“Hatsume from the Support Course popped by earlier and passed them along. I guess she developed them for underground missions or search and rescue? They’re super sturdy - battery powered and non-flammable.” Shoji says, tapping a fairy light bulbs with one of his dupliarm fingers. “So far they haven’t shown any sign of exploding or anything, so we figured it would be safe enough to hang them up.”

“They’re so cute!” Toru squeals, dancing around the room with her invisible arms thrown wide as she takes in the space. “This looks incredible guys!”

“Thanks again for all of your help!” you say to the guys (and Dark Shadow, of course!). As they finish hanging up the lights and grab seats on the couches. Dark Shadow is careful handling the lights, but given you’re all in a safe space his strength doesn’t really matter.

“It’s an honor to be part of this illicit evening.” Tokoyami says stoically, Dark Shadow grinning above him.

The Shadow butts in with his quivery voice. “Fumikage wants to kiss a girl tonight!”

If the bird boy could blush, his cheeks would be on fire right now.

“Dark Shadow!” He admonishes, pinching the bridge of his beak with two fingers.

“What!? I’m only telling the truth!” Dark Shadow squawks out, shrugging his staticky arms towards the heavens as he smiles mischievously.

“Oh really!?” Mina sidles up to where Tokoyami is perched on the edge of a couch cushion. “And what lucky lady’s caught your eye?”

“It’s no one’s concern!” Tokoyami refuses to look at Mina or to meet her gaze.

Dark Shadow buzzes excitedly in between the two and whispers conspiratorially into Mina’s ear. “He has a little crush on Tsu!”

“DARK SHADOW THAT IS ENOUGH!” Tokoyami says loudly, shoving his hands in his pockets as he gets to his feet. “We’re going to go back to my room until you decide you can behave.” He stomps off to the dorms, Dark Shadow hovering behind him and shooting Mina a thumbs up.

“Well that would certainly be an interesting couple!” She says impishly, rubbing her hands together.

“Mina.” You say, rolling your eyes. “Cut it out with the match making – we’ve got a secret party to pull off!”

“Fine, fine.” She waves you off, making her way to the kitchen to set up the booze.  “Come on, guys. The party planners get the first drink of the night!” You and Toru cheer as you follow her to the kitchen.

“Nieto, Shoji – you want drinks?” You call over your shoulder, watching as Nieto takes the seat next to Shoji and starts up a conversation about Present Mic’s latest English lesson. They both shake their heads.

“I think Koda’s bringing some soda and ice tea – I’ll wait for that.” Nieto says, throwing you a peace sign. For the billionth time, you wonder when he became so damn loveable. Never in a million years would you picture yourself getting close to the blonde haired idiot.

In the kitchen, Mina and Toru are measuring out their glass bottle of booze – pouring small amounts into red, yellow and blue solo cups. “Guess who bought the paper goods?” Mina smirks as you reach for a cup.

“It was Midoriya, wasn’t it?” You swish around the amber liquid in your distinctively All Might colored cup.

“Bingo.” Mina takes a swig from her own cup and makes a face. “This’ll take some getting used to – hey! Sip it slow, Toru!” Mina admonishes as Toru downs her cup in a few gulps. You both look at her incredulously.

“What? I thought it would be better to get it over with! But yuck it burnsssss!” She squeals, crinkling the yellow cup in her invisible hand.

You sniff at your own cup – the scent is strong. You’ve sipped alcohol before at fancy family parties when your parents have allowed, but you’ve never had a full cup to yourself. You take a tentative sip and aren’t surprised when you agree with Toru – the stuff definitely burns on the way down. You make a “yuck” face. Maybe you’ll just stick to soda tonight.

You place your cup on the kitchen counter and reach for a bag of chips. You easily pop open the bag and start pouring the crisps into a large bowl to place out for the crowd.

“Okay. So Sato’s bringing desserts, Koda’s handling soft drinks, Shinsou’s handled the playlist…” You rattle off, slipping your phone out of your pocket to check your notes app to remind yourself of everyone’s rolls and responsibilities. You have a text from Shoto – you open it up to reveal a photo of his new whale plush.

Shoto: Kuchihiro is ready to party.

He’s added a disco ball emoji and you feel insanely proud of him for using emoji’s so liberally these days.

“You’re making that face at your phone again.” Mina snickers.

“What face?” You say, closing your phone and putting it back in your pocket. “I don’t make any phone faces!”

“You so do.” Toru says, draping her arms around Mina’s shoulders. “Lately you have this goofy lovesick look whenever you open up your phone.”

“I do not!” You say defensively, trying to laugh it off as heat floods your cheeks.

“Whatever you say!” Mina says brightly, rolling her eyes as she opens up a bag of pretzels and pours it out into another brightly colored bowl. “Let’s get back to your list…so Shinsou’s handling music, the guys have snacks and drinks covered. Oh! And entertainment will be MC’ed by yours truly!” Mina says, closing her eyes and posing dramatically with her cup of booze. Her tiny horns quiver in excitement.

“How could I forget that.” You say, rolling your eyes. Internally, you’re grateful for the change in subject. You don’t know how much longer you can keep Shoto a secret from your girlfriends. It’s so tempting to spill every juicy detail of your hookups to Toru and Mina. You long to tell them about the way he kisses, the dirty (and sweet!) things he’s been known to say in bed, how the velvety weight of his cock feels in your palm when you get him off…But no. Not right now. There’s too much at stake with UA’s no-dating policy. The less people who know, the better.

Focus on the party, dammit.

“I can’t believe this is actually happening!” Toru shrieks, doing a little jig around the kitchen.

“Alright guys – remember Hatsume is gonna buy us as much time as she can. That being said, we need to keep an eye on the clock and on our phones. It’s likely we won’t get a ton of warning if one of the teachers catches wind of our party and decides to bust us. Is everyone’s phone charged!?”

Mina and Toru both hold up their phones – at 85% and 25% battery, respectively.

“Toru!” You cry out, scooping her phone out of her hands and plugging it in to a nearby wall charger.

“What!? You and Mina have phones. Everyone in the dorm has phones! We’re fiiiiinnnneeee.” She draws out her last word and smacks her lips at the end. Oh, god. The alcohol is already kicking in. “Just three hot ladies against the world!” She cheers twirling. You and Mina lock eyes and Mina hesitantly puts her drink down on the counter. It’s probably best if you’re both sober to pull off this plan.

A few moments later Sato, Koda and a girl you don’t recognize join you in the kitchen. The animal hero holds quite the collection of beverages in his broad arms – iced teas, sodas, and lemonades catch your eye. He smiles happily as you help relieve him of the drinks, thanking him profusely.

Sato’s stacking tupperwares and trays of baked goods up on the counter – the heavenly scents of brownies, layer cakes and cookies dance across the room. Toru bounces around in excitement and praises the boys for bringing the provisions.

Mina pulls the mystery girl over towards you and Toru. The girl is rather pretty – she’s average height with long, glossy black hair that falls past her shoulders. She’s wearing a lovely light pink sweater embroidered with purple tulips. It pairs nicely with her flared blue jeans and tiny floral belt.

“Girls! I’d like you to meet Fumiko Fujita, my new friend from General Studies!” Mina waves her hands enthusiastically and points at the terrified Fujita, who’s biting her lip and looking at the ground. “She’s a little shy, but she’s excited to join the party and get to know everyone! Mind entertaining her for a sec while I go ask Shoji to hang up some streamers?”

“Uh…sure. What’s up?” You say uncertainly as Mina skips away to the other room. Who the hell is this chick?

The poor girl’s grey eyes dart up at you and Toru before she looks back at the ground.

“Hey.” She says quietly, thumbing at the edge of her sleeves anxiously. You take mercy on the poor nervous girl.

“It’s nice to meet you! I’m Y/N, and this is Toru Hagakure.” You say, taking a step back to give her some space.

“Hey there!” Toru bubbles excitedly, hiccupping a bit at the end. “Mina didn’t mention anyone from General Studies would be coming. Do you know our friend Shinsou?”

Fujita glances up at Toru and seems to relax when she registers that your friend is completely invisible.

“We were in separate classes. He ended up transferring into Class 1A, right?” She has a lovely voice – soft and sweet.

“Yes, he did recently. We’ve just started training with him and he’s really great!” You say, trying to keep the conversation flowing. “He’s told us a bit about the General Studies program and it sounds like you guys get to learn a little bit of everything which is super cool. I heard you recently did a work-studies with leading companies across Japan. How was that?”

Immediately she perks up and her eyes brighten as she babbles about participating in a work-study with a leading Hero PR Firm up North. She’s really quite likeable once the dialogue gets going. You get the feeling that she thought all you Hero Course students you would likely be pompous jerks. You’re more than happy to prove her wrong.

You chat for a few more minutes, asking questions about her experience in the General Studies course and about her passion for Hero media. Toru adds in a tipsy comment here and there, and a few minutes later the three of you are giggling like good friends.

“Sorry I was so nervous earlier – I’ve never really spoken to anyone in the hero course.” Fujita says genially as she accepts a cup of iced tea from a wobbly Toru. “I wasn’t sure what to expect. But you all are…well, normal people.”

“Why wouldn’t we be!?” Toru asks in surprise. Fujita looks away and blushes, embarrassed.

“I dunno…sometimes when the other courses talk about you guys they make it sound like the hero course is full of self centered powerful jerks. I think a lot of people in General Studies are jealous because they didn’t make the cut for the hero program.” She says thoughtfully, sipping from her cup.

“Is that how you feel?” You ask, feeling a bit hurt those other students in the school feel so poorly about your class.

“No, not really. I was never aiming for the Hero track. I applied directly to General Studies so I can learn about all aspects of the hero world and take classes in both the Business and Support programs. Plus this school has the best student library in the country. Actually, that’s where I met Mina.” She says thoughtfully.

“Aw it makes me feel bad that the other courses think we’re jerks.” Toru says sadly, draped over the kitchen counter. 

“Not everyone does! Just a few.” Fujita assures her, reaching to grab a handful of pretzels from the bowl. “More than anything I was intimidated to come to the party since I don’t really know anyone.”

“That’s valid.” You nod, grabbing a few pretzels yourself. “So did Mina invite you to meet new friends, or…?” You’re honestly not really sure why Fujita is here. You’re happy for the company and to meet new UA students, but it seems kind of random that Mina wouldn’t encourage the girl to bring along friends from the Support Course.

And, speak of the Devil! Mina appears – a blur of pink as she dashes towards you all and grabs Fujita by the shoulders, causing her to squeal in surprise.

“Come on Fumiko! We need to go prep – I have a list for you just like you asked!” Mina steers the girl out of the kitchen and towards the common room, which is rapidly filling with students from classes A and B. She gives you and Toru a wave and a wink as she frog marches Fujita out of the space.

“…a list?” Toru wonders as she takes another sip from her cup.

“She’s definitely up to something.” You say to your invisible friend, watching Mina pull the General Studies Course girl to an empty corner of the room to whisper conspiratorially at her. Toru giggles and hiccups next to you, drooping back across the kitchen counter. You sigh and pour her a glass of water.

Class A has begun to filter into the common area, with guests from Class B coming in one at a time in order to avoid raising suspicion amongst the UA faculty and staff.

You wave to Midoriya as he arrives with Ochaco and Tsu. Tokoyami eventually re-emerges from his room and joins the party alongside Eijiro and Momo. Everyone is dressed to the nines – wearing their nicest little outfits and smiling widely. The girls are all done up in makeup the likes of which can never be worn in the classroom or in combat practice. Everyone has a happy glow about them – excited to be part of a fun evening in.

You grin as you join the group, passing around bowls of snacks and welcoming people in.

“Wow, you guys have really outdone yourselves!” Ochaco cries happily as she accepts a bowl of chips. “I know I was discouraging the party idea in the beginning, but honestly I’m so glad you ignored me and went through with this! It feels like it’s gonna be a fun night!”

“And you even got Class B to come out for this, ribbit.” Tsu adds, waving at a cluster of Class B students sitting on one of the couches. “This will be great for Hero Course morale.”

You smile and happily accept their compliments, excited to see where the night takes you all.

And that’s when you see Shoto Todoroki enter the room.

Your mouth is practically watering as you take him in - he looks incredible. He’s traded his usual sweatpants/t-shirt combo for a pair of khaki chinos that nip in to accentuate his delightfully narrow waist. His beautiful pale skin stands out in contrast with his navy blue polo shirt. It looks cozy like it’s made of a comfy textured sweatery material. He looks so goddamn delicious and slutty in this little outfit that you wish you could whisk him away to your room and make him cum all over again.

As if the outfit wasn’t enough, there’s this…

… Shoto is wearing his self proclaimed “Squirtle Squad” sunglasses inside.

You have to stifle a laugh as you realize he’s wearing the glasses he bought for himself and his whale plush as a bit. The sunglasses look completely normal (definitely RayBans or some other fancy pants brand that only a Todoroki could afford). But you know he’s wearing them for you as a continuation of the joke. This makes it even better – Shoto is far too practical to needlessly wear sunglasses indoors. It’s almost as if he’s flaunting your connection out in the open for everyone to see. It makes your heart warm and fuzzy and a laugh bubbles up out of you despite yourself.

Hagakure turns to you with interest. “What are you giggling about girl?”

You can’t help yourself – you subtly point at Todoroki as he steps into the common area, looking stylish and cool with that typical neutral expression of his.

“Ohmygod!” Toru lets out in a rush. “Todoroki is looking like a snack tonight! Hubba hubba!” She grabs onto you and shakes you a few times.

“Toru, you need another glass of water.” You say, laughing as you disentangle yourself from her invisible arms.

“I am perfectly sober again, thank you very much!” She huffs, pulling away from you so she can keep staring at Shoto. “Todoroki wearing that cunty little outfit sobered me right up.” This comment has you absolutely wheezing with laughter.

“I’m gonna go say hi to him and ask why he’s wearing sunglasses inside.” You tell her, sauntering your way towards Shoto.

When you make it across the room to greet him, he’s leaning over a bowl of pretzels, carefully selecting the most pristine, unbroken pretzel stick he can find. You give him a moment, watching as he chooses a pretzel and raises it to his sunglasses-covered eyes to examine it closely. It must pass whatever visual test Shoto is performing, because he pops it into his mouth and starts to chew.

You stare for a millisecond at the way his strong shoulders shift beneath the cozy sweater material of his shirt. You long to run your hands across him so you can feel the hard muscles of his back. Ugh if only you could peel that shirt off of him so you could kiss each sharp divot of his spine. You recall earlier the way his back had trembled against your bare chest as you’d jerked him off in your lap. Maybe the two of you could sneak off somewhere and do that again…

You shake yourself from your daydream and reach up to tap him lightly on the shoulder. “Hey there, stranger.” You say behind him. He turns to you and - despite the mouthful of pretzel – he beams. His entire body practically lights up as your eyes meet. You want to tell him to cool it – stop being so goddamn beautiful and looking at you so openly where everyone can see.

“I see we have a card carrying member of the Squirtle Squad in our midst this fine evening.” You say, crossing your arms with a smirk. His smile grows impossibly wider and he flips up the sunglasses to rest on top of his head. The motion pulls his bangs up in a way that would make most men look goofy. But on Todoroki, the hairstyle is devastatingly hot.

“You caught me.” He says quietly. “I even wore blue. Have you ever heard of cosplaying? I just learned of it on the internet this morning. I’m cosplaying as Squirtle.”

Oh this sweet baby boy. His eyes glint with excitement and you wish you could pull him into a hug he’s being so soft and open with you right now. You settle for something simpler. You reach your hand out to the pretzel bowl, letting your pinky brush against his as you fish out a broken pretzel stick. He shivers at the contact. You bet he’s half-hard in those tight pants of his. You shake your head quickly, trying to clear it of your horny thoughts. You try not to think about what’s under his attractive clothes – it would be ideal to make it through this night with dry panties, after all.

“I have heard of cosplaying! Just wait until I take you to a Comic Con, Shoto. I’m gonna blow your mind.” You tease, giving him a tiny wink. You quickly reevaluate your surroundings to make sure no one is seeing how downright flirty you’re being with Todoroki.

“You already did this morning.” He admits, cheeks rosy with a blush. “You seem to find new ways to blow my mind almost daily.” He absentmindedly adjusts the sunglasses holding back his two toned hair.

“You better get used to it.” You intone softly. Izuku, Ochaco and Tsuyu make their way towards you to greet Todoroki. You quickly take a step backwards from Shoto to put some distance between the two of you. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”

“Woah, Todoroki! Nice sunglasses!” Izuku Midoriya is bouncing on his heels with excitement as he makes his way towards you and Shoto. Your private conversation comes to a quick halt, Shoto purposefully taking a few steps apart from you as well so that no one will sense your mutual attraction.

Midoriya is eager to chat with Shoto and ask his opinion on the latest battle strategy class your class has undergone. Shoto eagerly sinks his teeth into the topic. He’s told you multiple times of his admiration for Midoriya and of how highly he values their friendship. You smile softly and let them yap, taking the opportunity to make your way back to Toru with Ochaco and Tsu in tow.

“Do you plan on playing Spin The Bottle tonight, Tsu?” Ochaco asks, munching on a few pretzel sticks she’s snagged from Shoto’s pretzel bowl. “I’m undecided!”

Tsu blushes a light pink and holds her face in her hands. “I don’t know if I’m ready for something like that, ribbit. And I like all of our classmates, but it would be awkward to kiss someone for the first time in front of the whole entire class.”

“Yeah, I agree.” Ochaco says, finishing her last bite of pretzel. “I would be a little embarrassed! But there’s something kind of thrilling about the game, ya know?” She turns her face towards you. “What about you, Y/N? You think you’ll play?”

“Mina, Toru and I have been planning this party for so long, that it would be weird if I didn’t play!” You laugh, waving Toru over to your group. She’s a little ways ahead chatting up Ojiro.

“If you could choose anyone in the class to kiss, who would it be? Who do you hope gets picked for you?” Ochaco is bouncing excitedly at your side. She’s just as bad as Toru tonight – so much enthusiasm and teenage horniness.

“Huh.” You say, trying not to let your eyes stray towards Shoto. “You know, I really haven’t thought about it.” You quickly try to divert the conversation to another topic. “Did you know that Shoji and Tokoyami did most of the decorating in here?”

“They did a great job!” Tsu says, admiring the many streamers and decorations that the boys have hung up. “Tokoyami is so talented with that Dark Shadow of his, ribbit!” Hmm, interesting. Seems like Tokoyami’s crush on Tsu may not be totally one sided. You smile lightly as Toru skips towards you all.

“Ojiro better be my Spin The Bottle kiss!” She whispers urgently to the three of you. “He’s looking like an absolute snack in those corduroy pants. It would be a shame for them to stay on him the entire night.”

“Toru!” You squeal, scandalized alongside Tsu and Ochaco.

“What!?” Toru laughs mischievously. “I’m just saying – an ass that fine deserves to be admired up close. Naked. And I volunteer as tribute!”

“Oh my God!” Ochaco laughs. “I didn’t realize Spin The Bottle involves booty!”

“Just my version!” Toru cackles as she turns to look at Ojiro over her shoulder. “I am going to absolutely wreck him someday. Tail and all.”

This conversation is making you feel hot around the collar. You change the subject quickly for all of your sakes. “Ochaco…who would you choose to kiss? Midoriya, right?” You side eye your friend as she blushes and stammers.

“Oh I don’t know about that! W-we’re just good friends!” She plays with her hair, un-tucking and than re-tucking her bangs behind her ears.

“Good friends can kiss!” Toru says loudly, and you roll your eyes as you glance around for some water you can pour down her throat.

The four of you chat and giggle together as other classmates continue to roll into the party. Snacks are being passed around and the overall atmosphere is jovial. Members of Classes A and B are mixing nicely, and you realize with a start that there has never really been an opportunity for the two classes to get together and just socialize before. All of your interactions are for training or competition purposes. This is the first time you’ve all really been able to let loose and mingle.

Eventually, Neito comes to join the little group. He laughs and teases and jokes alongside you all as if he’s always been a part of the crew. It’s as if the past few months of teasing and goading Class A have never happened. You notice that he’s bouncing around with a frenetic energy, constantly craning his neck to see over the crowd. You guess he’s nervous and waiting for a curtained purple haired Shinsou to make an appearance.

When Shinsou does finally make his way into the common room, you’re the first to see him. He strides into the room with a bored look on his face. His expression instantly brightens as classmates across the room shout greetings.

“Shinsou, my man!” Kamanari shoots him finger guns from across the room where he’s chatting with Jirou and Tokoyami.

“Hey Shinsou!” Izuku calls out with a wave from where he’s still deep in conversation with Shoto.

You watch a small smile stretch across Shinsou’s face and you recall what he was like when your class first met him – a shy guy convinced he needed to be a loner. It’s funny how much he’s grown in such a short time. He’s now on friendly terms with almost everyone, waving and sharing greetings with the bulk of Class A and B and he makes his way through the crowd.

You notice something else important, too - Shinsou looks…hot.

Wow, you’ve totally never noticed how attractive he is before. He’s all angles and brooding, but in a kind of slutty way!? He glides through the room surveying the scene with intense, sleepy eyes framed by thick lashes. He’s wearing a slouchy oversized sweater that accentuates his broad shoulders in just the right way. His black skinny jeans pull a bit at his thighs – he’s clearly bulked up a lot in the past few months that he’s been in the hero course. It looks as if he hasn’t gotten around to buying new clothes to fit his more muscular frame. His jeans tuck down into dark purple high top vans.

You can’t help but stare. Huh. You’ve only really seen him in various school uniforms. You’ve never taken care to wonder how Hitoshi Shinsou dresses himself for a social outing. And now here he is, looking like some skater out of an American high school dramedy.

You glance over at Monoma and he’s clearly spotted Shinso as well. He’s practically got heart eyes as he drinks in Shinsou’s emo outfit. As Ochaco, Toru and Tsu discuss Mount Lady’s latest city rescue in detail, Neito leans down to whisper in your ear.

“God. He’s looking absolutely sinful.” He chews on his thumbnail absently as he watches Shinsou scoop up a handful of chips while he chats with Momo. “I’ve never seen him gel his hair like that before. It looks so…good.” Neito chokes a bit on the last word.

“You’d better get it together.” You whisper back conspiratorially. “Go and talk to him about the playlist or something.”

Neito’s eyes brighten and he nods furiously. “Yes. Of course. You’re a genius. Let’s get this show on the road.” He rolls back his shoulders and rearranges his facial features into something akin to confidence. You’re hit with a sudden realization.

“Neito were you…a theater kid in middle school!?” You chuckle as he readies himself to go greet his crush.

He shoots you a look. “Now is not the time for me to regale you with tales of how I played Link Larkin in my middle school’s production of Hairspray.” This dramatic bastard. He takes a moment to stretch and shake out his muscles, eyes focused across the room on an oblivious Shinsou. You stifle a laugh. “Shut up! I’m mustering strength to go seduce the man of my dreams!” Neito snaps at you, but he’s grinning.

“You’ve got this.” You say to him under your breath, giving him two thumbs up.

He puts a hand on your shoulder and squeezes lightly. “Here’s hoping!”

“Alright ladies. I’ll see you in a bit for the main event!” He says briskly to your group, waving goodbye to the four of you as he strides across the room on long legs.

You watch him approach Shinsou with his usual “Phantom Thief” bravado. You never realized how much Monoma is truly faking his confidence. Up until now, you truly thought he was some sort of wild psychopath who lived to make everyone’s lives a little difficult. But now you know the true Monoma – the anxious teen who doesn’t believe he truly deserves to be in the hero course. The classmate who is trying way too hard to overcompensate for what he views is a “lesser” quirk.

Shinsou’s mouth quirks up at the corner as Monoma comes into his line of sight. The blonde cracks a joke and gestures expansively at the room before throwing an arm around Shinsou’s broad shoulders. You guess he’s probably making a comment about how Class A thinks they have the best dorm or something like that. To your surprise, Shinsou laughs at whatever Monoma is saying. His face is open, his expression light. He looks up at Monoma with soft eyes. Huh, maybe there’s a chance for that Class B weirdo after all.

Neito approaches Hitoshi with a loose wave that he hopes is oozing confidence. Momo waves goodbye as she’s forcibly pulled away from Shinsou by Kamanari (whos’ ranting about needing her opinion on some tea). Neito is grateful that the interruption has left Shinsou wonderfully alone.

“Ah, is that my eternal vampire lover? Finally come to collect what’s his?” Neito jokes as he rolls up to greet his purple haired friend. He stretches his arms up and gestures at their classmates around the room. “These folks have no idea that we are the masterminds behind Cloak and Dagger Melodies.” Hitoshi smirks and Neito decides to push his luck. He slings an arm around Shinsou’s strong shoulders.

Hitoshi smiles at him, eyes soft. “If I was a vampire, I’d have drained you of blood a long time ago.” He mutters in that gravely tone of his.

Fuck. Hot tendrils of arousal shoot straight through Neito’s gut in response to that little comment. His brain short-circuits as he pictures Hitoshi’s sharp canines biting into the delicate skin of his neck.

“You ready to rock this place?” Hitoshi says, a little louder. He digs his hand into his back pocked and pulls out his phone. He swipes it open and pulls up the Cloak and Dagger Melodies Spotify playlist in a swift motion. Neito watches from over his shoulder, arm still wrapped around Hitoshi and his plush oversized sweater.

“No passcode security on your phone? My, Hitoshi, you like to live dangerously.” Neito quips flirtily.

Hitoshi’s eyes flicker up to meet Neito’s. “I have nothing to hide.” He says softly, flicking his thumb across the screen and opening up “Settings.” “What’s the name of Mina’s speaker?”

“Oh – it’s, uh, the one you’d expect it to be.” Neito says in a strained voice, pointing at the phone screen. Hitoshi looks down at the list of Bluetooth devices ready to connect and his eyebrows quirk upwards.

“You can’t be serious.” He says, disbelieving.

“I’m afraid I am.” Neito says somberly.

Hitoshi selects the device labeled “EijirosThiccBootyCheeks” and hits connect. His phone instantly pairs with the speaker. Perfect timing - Eijiro Kirishima walks by and greets them both with an easy smile on his way to the kitchen. As he strides away, Hitoshi and Neito’s eyes linger on his backside. Kirishima’s tight fitting jeans accentuate the plump curve of his ass, which bounces a bit with his springy steps.

“Christ.” Hitoshi chortles into his free hand, barely able to hold back a bark of gravely laughter. “He really does have ‘thicc booty cheeks.’”

Neito slides his arm off of his friend’s shoulders so he can stifle his own laughter. Once Kirishima is fully out of sight they dissolve into giggles, gasping for air each time they lock eyes with each other.

“Mina really is too much.” Hitoshi says once they’ve calmed down a bit. “She better get to kiss the hell out of Kirishima tonight during Spin the Bottle. If she doesn’t, even I’ll be disappointed.” He opens up Spotify again and kicks off the playlist. Music swells from the speaker on one of the common room tables, adding a sweet ambiance to the room full of chattering students.

“Yeah it’s crazy those two haven’t become a couple already. They’ve been pining for each other for what seems like forever.” Neito says, patting the wrinkles out of his button down as he comes down from his laughter high.

Hitoshi catches his eye meaningfully. “It’s funny, I feel like there’s a lot of mutual pining going on in the Hero Course lately.”

Neito doesn’t know what to say. He can’t piece together if Hitoshi is referring to the two of them, or if he’s talking about the other almost-couples in Class A: Jirou and Kamanari, Izuku and Uraraka…

He opens up his mouth to ask Hitoshi to clarify what he means, but is interrupted by - “Hey guys, do you want some bevvies!?” Toru appears out of seemingly nowhere, bearing two half-full All Might solo cups smelling strongly of alcohol.

Hitoshi shakes his head no. “I think I’m gonna grab some coffee from the kitchen. I could use the caffeine.”

“I’ll probably have another iced tea. But thanks, Toru.” Neito says warmly. She nods (well, based on her body language one can assume she’s nodding her invisible head in understanding) and moves on to the next group to pass around her drinks.

“You’ve certainly seemed to hit it off with Mina, Y/N and Toru lately.” Hitoshi says thoughtfully, smiling smugly at Neito. “I guess us Class A folks aren’t as bad as you made us out to be, yeah?”

Neito makes a show of crossing his arms. He puts on a theatrical scowl for a moment, then drops it. “Honestly…it’s been really nice. I feel like I can be myself around them. Like how I am with you. You all have a weird way of making me feel…less insecure about myself. I don’t need to posture or put on a show for you guys.” Neito looks at the ground, a bit embarrassed. He wasn’t expecting to get so vulnerable out in the open, in the middle of Class A’s common room.

Hitoshi’s still smiling when Neito looks up to meet his eyes. His mouth looks so impossibly soft – Neito wishes he could just lean in and press a kiss to Shinsou’s perfect cupid’s bow.

“I like seeing you like this. You deserve friends who bring out the best in you.” Hitoshi says simply, pocketing his phone. Neito doesn’t have time to react before Hitoshi grabs his sleeve and pulls him in the direction of the kitchen. “Now come on, let’s get some caffeine before Mina starts wrangling everyone up for her screwy little game.”

As Hitoshi pulls him through the crowd, thumb brushing softly against his wrist, Neito feels like he may be in something close to heaven.

Everyone is munching on the chips and pretzels, chatting and laughing. Toru has been passing around small cups of liquor in regular intervals until the bottle is completely empty. When it’s split between all of the people at the party, the alcohol doesn’t really amount to enough to make anyone truly drunk. It’s almost everyone’s first experience with drinking, and a few of your classmates are buzzed and giggly.

As everyone continues to socialize, Mina and Toru work together to peel off the liquor bottle’s dark label. When they’re done, you use a liberal amount of cheap dish soap to rinse and clean out the glass bottle in the communal kitchen sink. You roll up your sleeves to avoid soaking them in the hot, soapy water as you try to get all of the sticky label residue off of the smooth glass. When you’re finally done, Neito holds out a helpful hand, taking the bottle from you so he can towel it dry.

Hitoshi sits on the kitchen counter with his long legs crossed. He’s sipping on a hot cup of coffee, an amused smirk on his face as he watches you all prep and pass the bottle around reverently. From time to time he turns to ask a question to Fujita, who is perched on the counter top next to him. She’s babbling animatedly about what his old class is up to in General Studies, and he seems more than happy to add to the conversation whenever she pauses for a breath.

It’s nice, having all of your friends new and old gathered together in the small space. The conversation flows easily and there is a warm buzz of familiarity and fun hanging in the air. Neito finishes drying off the bottle and holds it up to the light, grinning at you. His eyes flicker over to Hitoshi and his smile squiggles nervously.

Finally, Mina turns to all of you in the kitchen. She claps her hands together like she’s about to pray. She looks up at you all over her steepled fingers and says in an ominous tone.

“Fam. It is time.”

Ten minutes later, most of Classes A and B has been wrangled into a vague circle formation in the common room. Chairs have been dragged into the mix, but most of your friends are sitting on the floor. Those who don’t want to participate directly but are eager to witness the game stand on the sidelines in small pockets. 

You sit with Toru and Fujita from General Studies to your right. Neito and Hitoshi sit on your left. Everyone is buzzing with energy and maybe a teensy bit of alcohol.

Mina, of course, is at the center of everything. Her bright pink skin naturally draws all attention onto her. She brings up her hand to signal for everyone to stop talking, and unsurprisingly the whole crowd listens. She’s got a natural aptitude for leadership, making her an ideal future hero.

“Here are the rules!” Mina holds the bottle above her head like it’s a sacred trophy. “Each round, one person will be chosen to spin the bottle. If you get picked, you’ll stand in the center of the circle and lay the bottle on the ground and give it a hard spin. Whoever the bottle points to, you’ve gotta kiss. Seems easy enough, right?” She grins broadly at all of you, bouncing on her toes in excitement.

“What if we don’t want to kiss someone in the group?” Sero asks skeptically, raising his hand. “Can we get another spin?”

Mina’s eyes flash as she turns to him. “Nope. By joining this circle, you consent to kiss whoever the bottle chooses – no redoes. Of course, you can say no at anytime and bow out of the game. But once the bottle is spun, you don’t get another try.”

“Fair enough.” Sero concedes, settling back into his seat.

“Here’s an important rule - we’re all going to be respectful of each other here. Don’t make things weird – no groping, no butt grabbing, and no tongue. Just because someone kisses you during the game, doesn’t mean they have feelings for you or owe you anything else. Got it?” Mina gives you all an intense look and the group nods in unison. “I’ll serve as the master of ceremonies and select each spinner. We ready to rock and roll?”

“I think we need a demonstration!” Denki calls out from across the circle, eyes bright with mischief. He practically crackles with electricity as he calls out in a teasing tone “Why don’t you go first, Miss ‘Master of Ceremonies’?”

Mina smiles back, all game. “Of course. Watch and learn, everybody.” She saunters to the center of the circle and makes a show of placing the bottle on the ground. She bends over lithely, shaking her ass as she does so. A few people wolf whistle and she turns to give you and Toru a conspiratorial wink. She’s such a showman its ridiculous. You briefly wonder whom she’ll get. Will she be disappointed when the bottle doesn’t land on Eijiro? After all, the odds of having the bottle land on your first choice has got to be slim to none…

She gives the bottle a wicked spin and the game is officially afoot. The glass bottle whizzes across the hardwood floor as everyone watches, captivated. It spins for longer than you expected, turning end over end before it finally seems to start losing momentum. Everyone in the room seems to be holding his or her breath, eyes on the bottle as it skitters to the left and then stops dead…right in front of Eijiro Kirishima.

If Kirishima is surprised by this turn of events, he doesn’t show it. He grins up at Mina as he gets to his feet.

“Weren’t you teasin’ me earlier about this, hoping you’d get to kiss me?” He says loud enough for everyone to hear. Mina smiles and shrugs. You see her glance quickly at the General Studies girl then back up at Eijiro. Huh, strange.

“So, how chivalrous are you going to be right now?” She says slyly, inching towards him on tiptoes. He laughs and leans down to give her a soft kiss on the cheek. The gesture is so gentle and caring that it makes you envious. You wish that Shoto would kiss you like that in front of all of your classmates.

“Good enough for the game?” He asks as he stands back upright. He’s flushed as he looks down at her with bright eyes, his mouth quirked up in a shark toothed grin.

Mina looks up at him, eyes half lidded. She smiles slightly as she shakes her head no.

“Sorry, Eijiro. We need to kick off this game with a little more spice!” Mina cries out dramatically, moving back towards her classmate.

“Wha-?” Kirishima doesn’t have time to react – Mina’s throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him full on the mouth with gusto. Eijiro’s eyes are wide with shock, but after a second he’s kissing her back sweetly. His hands come up to cradle her face so he can kiss her better. It’s a kiss that feels too special - like it should be private.

The whole thing lasts maybe 15 seconds, and then Mina breaks the kiss and hops away as if she’s been electrified. Everyone cheers and she shakes her head as she comes back to herself. After a shaky breath, she takes a sweeping bow.

Kirishima, however, is standing in the center of the circle looking uncomfortable and lost. “Oh jeez that was so embarrassing Mina!” He practically whines out, covering his blushing face with his hands.

“What are you talking about!? Letting a girl kiss you is super manly.” Mina calls out above the roar of the crowd. She leans in closer to him and whispers a quick “Sorry Eij.”

He shakes her off and goes back to take his seat, blushing the whole way and avoiding her eye contact. Midoriya pats him on the shoulder empathetically, and all of the other guys are clearly glad they weren’t chosen first.

“So that’s how it’s done!” Mina glances guiltily at Eijiro before grabbing the bottle off the ground. She waves it in the air enticingly. “Who’s next?” She scans the crowd of classmates before deciding on her first victim. “Kaminari, how about you?”

Denki looks up with a start and points to himself. “Me?” He’s now also patting Kirishima consolingly on the back. “Why not Sero? Look at him – he’s dying to be chosen!”

Everyone turns to look at Sero. The long haired boy is absentmindedly scrolling through Tumblr on his phone. Feeling eyes on him, he blinks up at the group in surprise: “What?”

“He’s not even paying attention!” Mina points at Sero accusatorily with the bottle. “Jeez Sero. Leave the circle if you’re not gonna engage.” She turns back to Denki, hands on her hips. “You’re always bragging about what a suave ladies man you are…so why not put your money where your mouth is?”

“Ugh, fiiiiine.” Kamanari groans, making a show of getting to his feet. He stretches catlike before reaching out to grab the bottle. He shuffles slowly to the center of the circle, grumbling all the way. His face gets a bit pale when he realizes that everyone’s eyes are eagerly watching him. Ever the little attention whore, he quickly shakes his nerves off and gives the bottle a gentle spin. It clatters on the floor and turns around lazily a few times, and then seems to gain speed. Weird.

The bottle turns a half dozen times before coming to a complete and utter stop. It’s pointing at Jirou.

Holy shit this is a wild development!!! You reach out and grip Toru’s hand to convey your surprise.  It’s known by almost everyone in the class that Kyoka Jirou and Denki Kaminari have been pining for each other since the start of the year. It’s almost embarrassing how head over heels they are for each other - they bicker almost constantly.

Denki stares between the bottle and Jirou, dumbfounded. His mouth hangs open comically and he makes no effort to shut it.

“Oh my God!” Jiro groans, leaning forward so that her dark bangs cover her eyes. “Really!?”

“Hey!” Denki says, sticking his nose up in the air. “You should be thrilled to get to kiss me! I’m a catch!” Denki stomps over towards her. He’s frowning now, but he keeps walking towards her. He gets to her side of the circle and reaches down a hand to help her up.

“I swear to God if you electrocute me or some shit…” Jirou threatens, grabbing his hand and allowing him to haul her to her feet.

“I have perfect control over my quirk, how dare you imply - ”

“Shut up and kiss already!” Sero calls out, bringing an early end to their bickering. It seems he’s abandoned Tumblr in favor of live entertainment.

“Fine!” Jirou and Kamanari yell at him in unison. They take a moment to glare daggers at Hanta (as if it’s somehow his fault that they’re in this situation) before turning to face each other.

Denki is a bit taller than Jirou, so he has to stoop down a bit as he sidles up into her personal space. You see him gulp down his nerves as he gets in closer to her, steeling himself. He raises a hand to brush her bangs out of her face before leaning in to bestow a gentle kiss on her punk black lipsticked mouth. Jirou closes her eyes and leans into the kiss. You feel your heart tighten at the image of your two friends finally acting on their feelings.

“Finally!” “Let’s go!” “Great job, Chargebolt!” The guys from Class A are all cheering – they’ve been listening to Denki moon over Jirou for the better part of a year. Sero and Kirishima are particularly annoying as they whoop and cheer. You laugh along with the rest of the crowd as the two break apart. You secretly wonder if everyone would cheer if you and Shoto were to kiss in the center of the room.

Jirou flips Sero and Kirishima the bird before stomping out of the circle in her thick combat boots, her face scarlet. She leaves Denki standing dumbfounded in the center of the circle; his face looks like he’s overused his electrification quirk. He weakly gives his friends a thumbs up before chasing after Jirou. You can hear her stomping down and out of the Class A dorm building – she must be headed for the quad.

“Well, looks like our lovebirds have flown the coop.” Mina glides across the floor to collect her bottle once again. “And speaking of birds…Tokoyami, you want to go next?” She turns to where your bird heteromorph classmate is leaning casually against the doorframe as he chats with Momo and Todoroki.

“I’ll have to pass.” Tokoyami says simply, turning back to his conversation. Mina pouts, glancing at Tsu quickly before deciding to move forward with the game.

“Well then why don’t we get someone from Class B in the mix…” She pretends to scan the crowd. You have a feeling you know where this is going, and sure enough… “Monoma, how about you? Want to try your luck with the bottle?”

You have to admit, Monoma is a pretty good actor. If you hadn’t known that this was all part of a greater scheme, you would have honestly believed that he’s surprised when Mina picks him out of the crowd.

“Yeah, Monoma, get up there!” Kosei Tsuburaba from Class B calls out, hyping up his classmate. Pony Tsunotori cheers for him as well. It’s almost funny how, for once, Monoma doesn’t seem to be fueled by his typical unhinged confidence. You almost feel a little bad for him as he wordlessly gets up, clearly trying to shake his nerves.

“What? No bravado about how superior Class B is over Class A?” Mina says somewhat skeptically. It’s clear to you and Toru that she was prepared to put on quite a performance with Monoma at this stage of the game.

There’s a glint in Monoma’s eye as he registers that she’s trying to bait him. His mouth stretches into a smirk as he takes a step towards Mina.

“Of course I’ll prove that Class B is superior at everything.” Monoma lets out a laugh, but it’s not as unhinged as usual. You notice his eyes dart to look at Shinsou as he steps forward. Shinsou is surveying the scene with sleepy eyes, looking almost bored. You wonder if he’s putting on an act as well.

When Mina holds out the bottle to Neito, her smile is genuine. “Yeah, I’d like to see you try.”

Monoma takes the bottle in shaky hands and gathers his nerve. The thick glass makes a resounding clunk when he places it to the ground. He manages to plaster a wobbly grin to his face as he spins it with a flourish. The bottle clatters across the floor, spinning faster than ever before. Everyone cheers as the glass vessel goes round and round, eager to see who will get picked.

You can see Monoma’s jaw twitch nervously as he watches the glass spin, no doubt praying that it will land on a special purple haired hero. You wonder at what the odds could be. There must be over a dozen people sitting on the floor around you…how likely is it that Monoma will get his kiss?

To your astonishment, the bottle finally stops spinning and lands so that it points squarely at Shinsou. Okay, Mina definitely has some explaining to do. This game is absolutely rigged and you have no idea how she’s pulling it off.

An “ooooo” gushes from the crowd of students sitting around the circle and throughout the common area. A few people snicker as Monoma’s face flushes beet red, he seems to be frozen in place. For a moment, you worry that he may pass out. His eyes dart rapidly between the bottle and Hitoshi. He seems stuck, unsure of what to do next.

Shinsou, however, is calm as all hell. He rolls his eyes at the snickers and jibs flowing in from around the circle as he gets to his feet. He walks slowly towards his friend and then turns to address the crowd around them.

“Seriously, guys. Stop being so childish, this is no big deal.” He says in his gravely tone, sharp eyes bouncing around the room before settling on Nieto.

Shinsou abandons his usual s cowl, smiling genuinely at the blonde. “Now come here.”

Hitoshi doesn’t need to use his voice quirk to get Nieto to step towards him, almost dreamlike. Your jaw nearly drops as you watch the scene – Hitoshi looking at Nieto adoringly in front of the crowd as he slips his hand under Monoma’s chin and brings their lips together. The students around you cheer, unruly.

Shinsou closes his eyes and winds his other hand around the nape of Monoma’s neck, bringing the blonde even closer. Monoma’s eyes are wide and unbelieving, but after a moment they slip close as he looses himself in the bliss of kissing his best friend. The whole room cheers and wolf whistles, but the two boys are seemingly in their own world. Shinsou kisses him again and again and again with no sign of letting up, turning the simple kiss into a full on make out session. Classes A and B are now absolutely rioting, and Shinsou takes a page out of Jirou’s book, lifting his hand to flip them all the bird as he slips his tongue into Monoma’s mouth.

“Alright you too – get a room! You’re allotted kiss time is up!” Mina calls out, tossing a throw pillow at the interlocked couple with precision. “And I said no tongue in the rules! Jeez!” They break apart in surprise and Shinsou spares her a glare over his shoulder before walking casually back into his seat. Monoma still looks like he might pass out, glancing around at them all nervously with a punch drunk expression. His eyes are unfocused and for once he’s blissfully silent. He makes his way back to his seat on wobbly legs, sinking into the floor next to Shinsou. Shinsou avoids eye contact with his friend, but throws an arm around his shoulders, holding him close.

Mina tries to spare their new friend some embarrassment and calls the attention back to herself. “Okay everyone, who’s next? Let me see…” She grabs the bottle and points it around the circle as if discerning the next player via witchcraft.

“Oh Tokoyamiiiii!” She sings as she once again catches the eye of Tokoyami. Damn girl is persistent. If it were possible for him to blush, his face would be bright red right now.

Tokoyami looks alarmed as Mina points directly at him. Dark Shadow on the other hand looks delighted. Tokoyami bats Dark Shadow’s pleading face away from him as he responds, “As I said before, I am perfectly content sitting this out.”

“Aw, Tokoyami…I insist! It’s just one little smooch from one of our fine classmates! Everyone here is so hot, you truly cannot lose.” Mina bats her eyes at him.

“Mina…” You whisper shout at her. “Mina don’t push anyone to do this. It’s challenge by choice, remember?”

Mina nods in your direction but continues to poke at Tokoyami. “Dark Shadow seems interested! Why not just take a chance?” She wedels.

“Can we please, Fumikage?” Dark Shadow says hopefully. “I want us to join the game!”

Apparently Dark Shadow’s opinion holds a lot of weight here, becauseTokoyami finally sighs in resignation. He hangs his head low as he holds out a hand, palm open and waiting for the bottle.

“Yay!” Mina skips over and pulls him to the center of the circle, placing the large bottle squarely in his hand. She slinks back to the sidelines, watching eagerly as Tokoyami considers the bottle in his palm.

Dark Shadow buzzes exuberantly as he hovers over your classmate’s shoulder. The pair stares intently at the bottle as Tokoyami gives it a gentle spin. The crowd looks on silently, and you can hear the quiet scrape of the glass against the floor as it spins end over end. He closes his eyes, waiting to hear the bottle roll to a stop so he can meet his fate.

The glass slows to a stop, lurching a bit and rolling across the circle to point at Tsuyu Asui. Everyone gasps appreciatively and Tsu just lets out a feeble “Ribbit?”

“Ooo Tsu! You’ve been chosen!” Ochaco cheers loudest of all as she pushes Tsu up to stand. “Go on!”

Tokoyami cracks open an eye and stares at the bottle, and then at Tsu. Dark Shadow makes a squawky cheering noise and smiles widely. Meanwhile, the bird hero is standing rigid, arms glued to his sides as he steels himself for what’s to come.

The crowd claps enthusiastically as Tsu walks slowly to the center of the circle. She doesn’t look uncomfortable with all the attention – if anything, she’s looking a little intrigued. Tsu is always a steady, calming presence in your class. Tokoyami takes a few wary steps towards her, becoming more comfortable the closer he gets to her. They stand a foot apart, staring at each other.

“Well this certainly is interesting, ribbit. I honestly wasn’t planning to participate tonight.” She looks up at him with her wide froggy eyes and tilts her head to the side, waiting to see what he’ll do.

“I feel the same. I really wasn’t planning to be involved with this coming of age nonsense.” He sighs, glancing at Dark Shadow who’s hovering excitedly over his right shoulder. “But since it is you, I gladly accept my fate. I hold you in very high regard.”

Tsu lets out a sweet little “ribbit” and blushes. She’s wearing a cute green t-shirt and wide-legged jeans – overall she’s downright adorable. You’re certain that Tokoyami agrees, because Dark Shadow is staring at Tsu with heart eyes.

“You sure you’re okay with this, Tokoyami?” She asks, shuffling closer to him. Dark Shadow is practically vibrating with excitement overhead, hands over his mouth to keep from babbling at them.

“Yes. I find the terms of the game agreeable.” Tokoyami says, serious as ever. “Let’s do this.”

“Go on Tsu!” Ochaco calls out, clearly still tipsy off of her tiny cup of alcohol. “Kiss him!”

Tsu stands up on her toes and plants a virtuous smooch on Tokoyami’s beak. It’s swift and sweet and causes everyone to let out a little “awwww!”  Tsu really is the cutest with her wide eyes and sweet smile.

Tsu blushes, Tokoyami looks frozen in place, and Dark Shadow cheers loudly over the din.

You start to wonder who has the bigger crush on Tsu here…Tokoyami or Dark Shadow? After a moment Tokoyami shakes his head a bit as if to clear out some cobwebs. He nods curtly to Tsu and mutters a barely audible “thank you,” causing her to blush more brightly.

Your eyes survey the crowed and everyone looks to be in good spirits, exciting to see their friends having fun in the game. The only one who looks out of place is – surprisingly – Kirishima. He’s got his arms crossed and is glaring at Mina, who’s waving to him flirtily from across the circle as she stands to scoop up the glass bottle. Huh. That can’t be good.

Your attention is drawn away from your red headed classmate as you watch Tokoyami and Tsu clear the center of the circle and return to their spots. Everyone continues to applaud until they resume their places – Tsu sitting next to Ochaco, Tokoyami returning to leaning against the doorway.

“Alright, now that was a truly thrilling pairing! Let’s see who we have next!” Mina surveys the crowd, searching through the upturned faces for her next victim. Finally, her dark eyes seem to land on who she was looking for because she instantly lights up. Her mouth settles into a wicked smile as she zeroes in on her prey.

“Ah, Todoroki! You’re up!” She calls out, pointing at him with the thick bottle. The room goes unexpectedly silent and Shoto looks at her with surprise. He’s not even sitting in the circle. He stands halfway between Momo and Tokoyami, clearly in the middle of a conversation with the former.

Shoto looks around, confused. As his head swivels around to survey the room full of watching faces, his sunglasses slip off of his head and fall to the ground. He reaches down to scoop them from the floor before hastily stuffing them into his back pocket. He looks both bewildered and lost.

“But I’m not in the circle.” He says blankly, blinking at her with Mina uncomprehendingly.

“Doesn’t matter, I’m tapping you in!” Mina says cheerfully, beckoning him to take her place. “I know your upbringing was a little unconventional given that your dad is the Number 2 hero, so we’ve gotta make up for lost time. You can’t miss out on this youthful right of passage!”

Shoto looks overwhelmed and doesn’t seem to know how to say no. He awkwardly shuffles to take Mina’s place in the center of the crowd. Your blood runs cold. For some reason you didn’t even consider the possibility of Shoto participating in Spin The Bottle. You figured he’d watch from the outskirts or be off chatting with some of your classmates. But now here he is – the unexpected center of attention in an outfit that makes him look like an absolute snack.

You glance around and see that most of the women on the room are gazing appreciatively at Shoto’s outfit as well. He’s absolutely beautiful – the way his pants support his round ass, the way his soft shirt stretches across the swell of his chest muscles. You wish you could claim him somehow…cover him in hickies or walk past him and muss up his hair. If only you could wrap your arms around him in front of everyone…you’re longing to do anything to declare him “mine!” resoundingly.

But that’s not how this works. And that’s not how this story gets to go.

All you can do is sit back on your heels and watch as Shoto spins the bottle.

Oh please pick me! Is all you can think, as he holds up the bottle in his delicate grasp. You pray and you beg and you bargain with the Spin the Bottle gods – hoping for some token of favor to be thrown your way. You can tell he’s trying not to glance your way as he sets the bottle in the center of the circle and gives it a rough spin.

The bottle turns around and around, the sound of rolling glass reverberating through the silent common room as it twists on the hardwood floor. Everyone seems to collectively hold their breath. Shoto might be the most attractive person in the hero course – all aristocratic breeding and soft hair. Who’s going to have the honor of kissing this demigod!?

When the bottle finally rolls to a stop, you can’t believe your eyes. For a brief moment, your heart swells when you think you’ve been chosen. But then your excitement quickly dissipates when you realize the bottle is pointing slightly to your right. Everyone’s head snaps up to see that it’s pointing at Fumiko Fujita, the girl from the General Studies Course.

Oh, crap.

“Oh!” She says nervously, a giggle bubbling up in her throat as she turns to look at Shoto through long eyelashes. You try not to glare daggers at her – she has absolutely no idea that you’ve been hooking up with Shoto. Also she’s nice! You had enjoyed her company so much earlier, and you can’t let yourself hate her for something out of her control. You can’t blame her for coincidentally being chosen as his spin the bottle partner!

But at the same time…the bottle was so close to pointing at you! You feel a deep ache at the unfairness of it all. Had the bottle listed a few centimeters in the other direction, it could have been you. It would have been a cosmic sign that the two of you were meant to be together, the Spin The Bottle gods covering you and Shoto in their favor. But unfortunately, that’s not how this is going to play out.

You want to reach for Shoto, to tell him that you very much do not want him kissing this girl! You bite your lip hard to keep yourself from saying something you might regret.

You take a few calming breaths and try to let it go, but the way she’s looking so pleased with herself is making you absolutely furious. She’s got an adorable blush spreading across her cheeks and she’s pulling at her light pink sweater sleeve absentmindedly, embarrassed.

Shoto stares at her blankly before turning to Mina. You can see that he’s silently begging her with his eyes to intervene. She shrugs and tilts her head at the General Studies Course girl, motioning for him to get it over with and just kiss her. Begrudgingly, he gets to his feet and shuffles towards her. You’re both pleased and annoyed to see that many of the other girls around the room are fixing Fujita girl with baleful gazes, no doubt envious of her position. 

Shoto leans down, holding out a hand for the girl to take. She accepts his help, letting him delicately pull her to her feet. She can’t help the way that she’s smiling ear to ear as she stares down at her dainty hand in his.

Shoto stands a full head taller than Fujita. She looks so petite and delicate next to his muscled Pro-Hero body. For a moment you feel self-conscious about the bulky muscles you’ve been working to build up in the hero course. Next to this tiny General Studies Course girl, you must look like a hulking beast of mass. She’s so girly and sweet looking, and it’s not lost on you how good she looks with Shoto. It’s clear to everyone in the room that they would make an attractive couple.

Shoto glances quickly in your direction, but you doubt anyone else has noticed. They’re all to focused on this newcomer – no doubt wondering what her deal is and if she has a shot with Shoto.

“Are you alright with this?” Shoto asks her softly, and the girls around the room giggle at the sweetness of it. You note that he hasn’t dropped her hand, her tiny manicured fingers are encased in his strong grip. You zero in on her manicure – her nails are a deep navy blue. Coincidentally…one of Shoto’s favorite colors. Her nails match his stupid hot sweater.

“Yeah.” She says breathlessly, looking away before focusing her eyes on his lips. She uses her free hand to twist a lock of her hair around her fingers nervously. You practically roll your eyes, this girl really is pulling out all the stops. She’s a walking fuckin’ cliché.

“Okay.” Shoto whispers. He leans down slowly to plant a soft kiss on her mouth. She cranes up her neck to meet him halfway, moving to her tiptoes so she can attempt to match his height. The kiss is chaste and only lasts a few seconds before Shoto pulls away. He drops the girl’s hand and makes a hasty retreat to the other side of the room. Despite the briefness of the interaction, Todoroki’s tender approach has left all the ladies swooning.

Even Kirishima is impressed, whispering “So manly!” under his breath. You laugh at this despite yourself, and watch as Shoto rejoins Momo and Tokoyami outside of the circle. The girl from General Studies retakes her seat, and babbles dreamily to Toru. The invisible girl is buzzing with excitement, nodding and waving her arms encouragingly as Fujita gushes about her big kiss with Todoroki.

There’s a strange mix of emotions rolling in your gut – jealousy of the girl Shoto got to kiss publically, gratitude that he kept it short. You wish that he would have just kissed her on the cheek. You know that if he had kept it simple, Mina and the crowd definitely would have pressured him into doing more. You have a sour taste in your mouth about the game now – the pressure and the stakes seem so high for something meant to be fun and silly.

You shoot a jealous look at Fujita. You wish that you could be gushing right now to everyone about how wonderful and hot Shoto Todoroki is. You want everyone to know that he’s shared your bed and held you, that you two have been intimately entangled. You want to brag and blush and make the Support Course girl as jealous of you as you currently are of her.

You wonder what Shoto is thinking, how he’s feeling. You look over at him and your eyes meet across the room, a chasm between you. You want to run over to him and ask for reassurance – are you a better kisser? Did he enjoy it with her? He’d rather be with you, right? But obviously you stay where you are. His face is impassive as usual; he tilts his head to consider you before he turns back to his conversation. You notice the sunglasses poking out of his back pocket, forgotten.

Everyone has resumed chatting and there’s a steady hum of babble in the room. The room is buzzing with excitement and giggles about game. Your classmates are eyeing Mina eagerly, wondering who will be up next.

You glance up at Mina who is sitting beside you. You become startled when you realize that she’s staring at you with a funny look on her face. She reaches over to grab your arm. “Hey, Y/N. You okay!?” She takes in your stony expression and shakes you for a moment.

“Wha - ? Oh, yeah. I’m fine.” You plaster a smile on your face. “Dang this game is a rollercoaster.” Your expression turns stormy as you remember the way she pushed Tokoyami and Shoto to participate against their wishes. “But don’t push people so hard – this is supposed to be fun. You can’t force people to do whatever you want.” You scold.

She shrugs and gives you a knowing half smile. “Sometimes people need a little push!” She starts to notice the room getting quieter as everyone waits for her to call out the next participant. “Speaking of which…you’re next!”

You look up in surprise as the crowd around you cheers and starts to chant your name encouragingly. Mina scoops up the bottle off the floor and holds it out to you expectantly.

“Come on, Y/N!”

“Y/N! Y/N! Y/N!” Your friends chant around you.

You can practically feel Shoto’s gaze burning into your back as you stare down that problematic glass bottle.

Shit.

End of Chapter 7

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Links To All The Previous Parts:

Part 1: Linked Here

Part 2: Linked Here

Part 3: Linked Here

Part 4: Linked Here

Part 5: Linked Here

Part 6: Linked Here

My Master List

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Author Notes:

It's me! Hi! I'm the author, it's me!

Yesssss sir we're so back!

I'm gonna be honest, I hope that people aren't disappointed with the lack of smut in this chapter! I promise that the world/plot building will absolutely DELIVER in Chapter 8 with a steamy scene - trust meeee ;)

What I want you to take away from this chapter as a reader - this story is about relationships and connection. I think this chap shows that friendships can come from the unlikeliest of places! Like Monoma is fully integrated into the gal squad - who would have expected that!? We're also starting to see some different sides of characters come to light - we see a more toxic side of Mina, we see Shoto becoming more comfortable and soft with the Reader, we also see Hitoshi become more confident among his peer group and show affection towards Monoma. I plan to build on these tiny developments in the next chapter or so!

I also hope y'all enjoyed the little cameos from other UA characters and ships. Tokoyami x Tsu isn't really a ship of mine but I thought it could be a fun little moment for the chat. (I LOVE Dark Shadow so honestly this bit was all for HIM).

Also please please PLEASE can someone set their Wifi name to be EijirosThiccBootyCheeks. I swear I would SCREAM.

I have most of Chapter 8 planned out so hoping to turn things around a little faster this time!

Stay safe and enjoy the holidays!

XOXO,

RedRiotUnbreakableHeart ❤️

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❄️🔥THE ICYTHOTS🔥❄️

Want to join or be removed from the tag list - let me know! Once again, this is an ADULT ONLY blog. The IcyThot club is exclusively dedicated to the Shoto's First Kiss series and will only include A18+. Do not request to be added unless you are over 18. If your blog is ageless/your age isn't listed in the bio you cannot be an IcyThot member! I'm also adding the "sexual content" label/tags.

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[serpentface]

Four (relatively) distinct types of livestock guardian dogs in the Imperial Wardi region. (Left to right: hnorai dam, chin-tsimouna, dírgrahdain, and chin na Hittsanaedi)

Dog breeds in the modern sense of the word in which a dog is selected for highly specific physical traits and carefully bred to retain 'purity' is virtually nonexistent in this setting (and where similar practices occur, it's usually as an outlier situation surrounding a single dog rather than as a standard practice). Most working dogs first develop out of landraces via natural selection, and are bred according to their function above all else. Their forms are the results of natural pressures from their environments, the demands of their jobs, genetic isolation (or lack thereof), and often some degree of selectivity or preference for coloration or features.

These are the four types that occur within the region, all derived from a progenitor landrace guard dog (the last common ancestor of all four contemporary types probably existed about 950-1000 years before present). All share commonalities of a large size, rain-resistant hair, notably dense winter coats, a loud and deep bark, thick muzzles, and strongly sloping chests. They must be able to hold their own (usually through intimidation but occasionally in fights) against large predators that often physically outmatch them- lions, king hyena, hyenas, and wild dogs being most threatening to livestock. They also may have additional functions in dissuading theft and poaching of livestock by humans, and they may sometimes double as basic guard dogs of homes or villages.

Dogs here are bred almost entirely according to their function (you breed LGDs with LGDs, it doesn't usually matter if they look different or come from different stock), with the main exceptions being 'breeds' that are aspects of important cultural heritage or that have specific culturally/regionally preferred aesthetic traits. The chin-tsimouna is the most common of the three and is the result of minimally selective breeding (though some populations form unique strains or have a selective local status), while the other three are semi-isolated heritage types (the hnorai dam for some North Wardi groups, the dírgrahdain for most of the Hill Tribes, and the chin na Hittsanaedi among Ephenni Riverlanders).

---

Hnorai dam: Very rare in the contemporary, with undiluted animals of this stock surviving in some of the most isolated parts of the region's north. This type is distinct for typically having a somewhat stockier build than the others, solid coats, pointed ears, and a tail held upright and curved when relaxed. Most are solid white, gray, or black, and will often be assigned to horses of matching color. This is also the most 'basal' of the regional LGDs, a dog close to this in form (but probably not with solid coloration) was the common progenitor of all other livestock guardian breeds in the region. Variants on 'hnorai dam' are the common name, simply meaning 'guard dog' in the North Wardi language (as they are often used as village/household guards as well as livestock guardians).

Chin-tsimouna: This is the most ubiquitous type, occurring region-wide (and beyond) and used by a variety of peoples (throughout the core Imperial Wardi sphere and among the Cholemdinae, with some usage among the North Wardi, Hill Tribes, and Wogan). They have the most significant foreign ancestry (largely from Burri and Yuroma dogs) and most frequent 'crossbreedings' with feral populations. Due to these factors, the look of these dogs is highly variable (with the 'chin-tsimouna' name functionally being a catchall for any LGDs not of an otherwise specified type). There ARE some broad commonalities (beyond strictly the underlying features common to all these LGD types). The ears are rarely pointed, and usually are bent or lay flat. Fawn coloration with a melanistic mask is by far the most common, with white, gray, and black dogs coming in second (often semi-selectively bred or chosen to match the coats of their charges). Solid colored chin-tsimouna are very rare. There are numerous regional names for type-variants, but 'chin-tsimouna' is the most common descriptor for the overall type, meaning 'horse-dog' (in reference to their typical charges, who they uniquely live among).

Dírgrahdain: This is the native livestock guardian dog of the Highlands. They are the most physically distinctive from their counterparts, and their traits are among the most consistent (due to rarity of feral dog populations in their native range and their status in shared cultural heritage encouraging maintenance of their distinctive traits and discouraging crossbreeding). The most distinctive features are a dense mane, pointed ears, and tightly curled tail. An extended melanistic mask is highly common, and very pale 'evil eyes' are favored in this population, believed to be the most frightening to predators and evil spirits. The name dírgrahdain means 'liondog', mostly referring to their mane. [Extended dírgrahdain post here]

Chin na Hittsanaedi: This is the 'youngest' of the distinct types, and derives from a period of significant crossing between dírgrahdain and chin-tsimouna within the Ephenni riverlands (region south of the soutwestern Highlands, between and around the convergence of the Erubin and Nedachemi rivers) due to significant interaction and overlap of territory between the Ephenni and the West Rivers Hill Tribes under Imperial Burri occupation. The curled tail and pale eyes of the dírgrahdain is common in this population, though the pointed ears are rare and the 'mane' is less developed or absent. Most other traits are typical of the chin-tsimouna type. Dogs of this stock are mainly used in rural parts of the province of Ephennos, and their significance to aspects of modern era Ephenni cultural identity dissuades intentional breeding with both of their progenitor types. The name chin na Hittsanaedi means 'Riverlands dog' (more literally 'dog of the Riverlands').

[citrusandrottefruit]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Steve probably should have had surgery after Vecna ​​died, because Hanahaki's roots seemed deep, but he chose to alternate between Max and Eddie's hospital rooms. There was no time to waste on his own health.

His parents were back this time. They had sold their house and bought a huge apartment for Steve, who wanted to stay in the city. His parents didn’t even question it, they just demanded his time for a week before leaving with a big hug and the promise of a trip somewhere nice that summer. If he had been a little younger, Steve would have been happier, but after so many years of neglect, all he could think was that this was as far as he was going to get.

A side note, an afterthought. They cared about their son, just not as much as they should have.

Steve's new apartment had four bedrooms, more than he needed, but he was glad his parents tried so hard to make up for it, because it meant he could offer Robin a room when she graduated and there would always be room for the kids. And Eddie and Wayne, who stayed with him while the government found them a new place to live.

Eddie made a joke about Steve's parents being more powerful than the government, for being able to find Steve a great place to live so quickly in a broken city while he and Wayne had to wait.

Wayne was usually around, and despite being a somewhat taciturn man, it was easy to see the love that overflowed for Eddie. It made Steve think of his mother, who had loved and suffered so intensely that she had developed Hanahaki.

And yet, she was not with him.

The cough got worse.

One day, Steve woke up in the middle of the night, struggling after yet another nightmare of torture. Some days, it was easy to forget about Vecna ​​in favor of that hour beneath the Mall, with his life in someone else's hands. On days like these, Robin was needed more than ever, but her parents didn't want her away so much, so sleeping in his new apartment was hardly an option. Calling her wasn't a good idea either, because all it would do was stress her out and they'd end up up all night on the phone. So he resigned himself to taking medication and going out to the balcony, longing for the fresh, clean night air.

He would turn on the TV or music, but he didn't want to wake Eddie, so he just stood outside with his eyes closed and imagined being alone again when Wayne and Eddie left, then tried to imagine what the trip with his parents would be like, if it were to happen. Steve still wasn't sure if he wanted to go, but it might be nice. Maybe he'd get something out of being away from Hawkins for a while. Maybe the coast would make it easier to breathe.

As lost in thought as Steve was, after years of trauma it was impossible not to be aware of the sounds around him, so when Eddie opened the bedroom door and started walking down the hall, he heard it. He stayed silent, not wanting to disturb Eddie.

Of course, Eddie didn't care and showed up a few minutes later with some tea.

For your cough, man.

After that, it became almost a ritual between them. Eddie was always there when Steve woke up startled, and Steve reciprocated. They always had nightmares, so who went to who depended on which one of them woke up first.

Sometimes they would stare at the stars in silence, other times they would talk. Most nights, they would end up in Eddie's bed, in one of the spare bedrooms, without touching each other.

Steve's room, which was definitely his and not a temporary arrangement, felt too intimate.

At the same time, Eddie began asking more and more about Steve's throat, about his shortness of breath, if he was okay, when he planned to go to the hospital. The questions became so frequent that Wayne noticed, too.

The feeling of being cared for was too much. Feared and desired in equal measure.

Eddie shouldn’t even be doing all this, because he was still bandaged, still covered in pink scars, still had a long way to go in physical therapy.

For the second time in his life, Steve felt suffocated by love.

This time, Steve almost hated it. Because he was in love with Eddie, because Eddie didn’t know the things Robin knew. Even if he loved Steve back, how could Steve demand that Eddie take care of him?

Mr. Harrington had reasons to stay with Mrs. Harrington. Although no one talked about it, Steve was sure that his father had been the trigger for his mother’s Hanahaki. And maybe if she had never left, chasing her father across the country, trying to be happy with him to stay alive, maybe… Just maybe, Steve wouldn’t have been alone and maybe he would have been healthy.

Neither Eddie nor anyone else had a good reason to pursue any kind of happiness or emotional stability with Steve.

In addition to the burden of living with a chronic, progressive disease that would possibly become terminal at some point, being emotionally involved with someone with Hanahaki was very complicated. It required loyalty, responsibility, patience, a willingness to accept endless arguments and a desire to reconcile.

Communication was essential. Making sure the other person felt good and loved, comfortable and safe. All of this was too much work, too demanding.

Loving Steve was a prison.

I'll try to post part 3 soon. I've already written the ending, but I'm thinking about how to connect this part to the ending, which will be happy.

[brucewaynehater101]

Space Emperor Tim decides to take a break from Earth. He fills out the paperwork that he developed as Robin for official on break status. He fills out the paperwork for vacation from WE. He finishes his active cases and very valiantly restrains himself from taking up new ones. His version of vacation reading is a file cabinet of cold cases so he puts those together for his personal entertainment for his vacation. He sublets his civilian apartment. He makes rigged bets with Jason, Dick, and Stephanie to get them to watch over his part of Gotham while he's gone.

Then he, Kon, Cassie, and Bart jump in the spaceship and head for the empire. They have new costumes to show off and laugh at one another about. They are going to decompress and Cassie will be searching the empire for a therapist for each of them. While she understands Tim's reluctance, Gothamite, she would like the team birb to at least get some healthier coping mechanisms figured out. She would honestly like all of them to have some better coping mechanisms.

The thing is though that Tim never actually, verbally told anyone he was going anywhere, much less leaving earth. The only one who did actively let anyone on earth know was Cassie, she told her mom and she let Greta, Anita, and Cissie know. All four have been promised souvenirs. Mrs. Sandsmark let Diana know that Cassie would be on vacation and unavailable for hero things for a bit. Kon is distant from the Kents, if they even know he exists given Clark's hot and cold attitude towards him, but to be polite Kon left a letter for Ma and Pa that he was going on vacation with his team. Bart's guardian situation is also very up in the air so he didn't bother to tell anyone. All the Bats are in the dark. Only Young Justice even knows that Bart has a spaceship. And turns out that Tim is the only one who uses his official on a break paperwork. And Bruce never read any of his (very edited) reports from his time with Young Justice.

The first clue that the Bats get that Tim isn't actually there in Gotham is from a reporter who asks Brucie how Tim is doing on his vacation?

Meanwhile Tim and his life partners are touring the empire and they've added another planet. And there's an imperial design contest for the best palace for the empire because the empire is hoping that if their baby has his own home here in the empire instead of living out of his ship or using the residences of their former leaders, he might stay for longer periods of time or be there physically more often. Tim is trying to discourage the palace thing as a waste of resources and get people to design gardens instead. Bart may or may not be conspiring with scientists to create a Death Star without the planet destroying capabilities as his own entry to the imperial palace contest. Kon is making sure Tim doesn't notice Bart's plans by dragging Tim through markets and looking for the best examples of ugly-cute baby emperor and consorts merchandise. So far the winner is a set of dishes and each piece has what is presumably their very stylized faces on them. Cassie is taking her turn of being the imperial bodyguard and making sure none of their fans get too overzealous. She is absolutely getting the dishes for the people back home.

Fuck. I love this so much.

Also, referring to YJ as Tim's life partners??? Yes. Absolutely. Idc if people ship them or just see them as a queerplatonic poly relationship. They are for sure life partners. That's the most adequate description for the four of them. Even if some of them choose to date some of the others, if they all date each other, or none date each other, they have a very special bond. No matter the distance or time apart, they are life partners. Gods, I'm vibing with that description so much.

Anyways, Tim being the only one to fill out his vacation/time off paperwork makes so much sense. I also hc that half of the reason he "hides" so much is just that he forgets he has to inform people of shit. He's so used to not telling people what's going on with him that he legitimately gets surprised when they get mad or worried at him because of it. He also goes out of his way to keep tabs on his loved ones and doesn't quite understand why he would need to inform them since they don't need to tell him about their plans. For this hc, I think that YJ had some bumps with this tendency of Tim until they worked out that they just need to ask him. They have a gc where they will ask Tim questions to keep everyone up to date.

Also, hell yeah to the merch and plates ideas. I wonder how YJ is going to explain where they got plates of the core four's faces (since some folks, perhaps Dick, will ask where to get more).

If Tim did request for gardens, I'd love to see what different ones look like. Since they are alien planets, they probably have different ecological systems. They would also have separate ideas on what's considered "beautiful" or worth keeping in a garden-like exhibit.

Thank you for also going in-depth on Kon, Bart, and Cassie's backgrounds. It was cool seeing how they communicated with their respective social groups

[flawseer]

#18 - "Fire"

Smaugust 2024

The last few submissions have been mostly visual, but today I want to do something more text-based. I'm always looking for opportunities to ramble ad nauseam about my headcanons and thoughts, but am usually hesitant if I don't think I can make a subject interesting or particularly insightful.

A few months back I was playing with the thought of publishing a speculative analysis on Pyrrhian dragon breath weapons, and how they might differ between tribes. I got up to the conceptualization stage, but then @sidyashchiy-na-plakhe came out with a better and more put-together version of what I was thinking about and touched on some similar points, so I filed those plans away to not step on any toes. If you're enjoying this type of deliberation, I recommend that you check out his take, as it is very thoughtfully put together with some cool visuals.

But, seeing as I have no other ideas for this prompt, and since it's been a while since then, I'm going to air out my scrapped draft here. I guess this is a mixture between canon information and headcanons, with a bias toward the latter.

General Information

Each of the seven Pyrrhian tribes is capable of using a kind of orally-discharged means of attack. For the purpose of this deliberation, I am going to refer to all of these as "breath weapons", even though not all of them are activated via exhalation. It will make things easier to talk about.

There are three general factors to each type of breath weapon, those being potency, range, and start-up time. In the case of fire breath--the most ubiquitous type of breath weapon on the continent--these would roughly correlate to the temperature of the flames, how far they can travel from the source while maintaining their shape and intensity, and for how long the fire must be stoked inside of the user before it can be expelled.

How developed these factors are differs for every dragon, but the two biggest determining modifiers are constitution and age. Being physically fit will make your breath weapon more efficient--and thus stronger--because you have better control over your breathing after exertion. As a dragon advances in age, the three factors all increase proportionally. A Mudwing hatchling can produce a puff of flame very quickly, but it will barely heat up the surrounding air. An elder meanwhile might take several minutes to get their fire going, but when they do, the result will be fearsome and devastating.

Fire is the most common element on the continent, with four of the seven tribes being able to command it. I will go through those first and then follow up with the other variants .

Nightwing fire is a dark purple in color, due to a slight variation in the gas component that fuels the flames.

The flames have no particularly outstanding properties strength-wise, but they emit comparatively little light, meaning they don't stand out as much against the night sky. This makes them ideal for low-profile ambushing, but very unsuitable as signal flares.

If a Nightwing ignites an object, the flames will gradually lose this characteristic as they will begin to consume the air around them and turn into ordinary, orange fire.

Nightwing flames are sometimes colloquially referred to as "Moonfire".

Sandwing fire is, on average, the least powerful among all the fire-breathing dragons. In terms of potency and range, flames emitted by a Sandwing of 20 years will be roughly equivalent to those of a twelve-year-old from the other fire-breathing tribes.

Their unique advantage is that Sandwings can produce these flames extremely quickly, usually within seconds. If readying fire takes a dragon 30 seconds, an equivalent Sandwing can do it in 5.

While for most other dragons the use of their breath weapon is a deliberate and calculated affair, the severely reduced start-up time allows Sandwings to "shoot from the hip" without having to commit to the action, making them less predictable in combat.

A popular Sandwing combat technique is to open a fight by blowing a quick plume of weak fire into an opponent's face and then using the resulting distraction to strike with their venomous tails.

Skywings command the strongest and purest variation of fire among all tribes. Their flames come out very straight and can maintain their shape over vast distances.

They can "cook" their fire by holding it inside themselves for longer than necessary. While this becomes unpleasant or even painful if done for long, it will increase the temperature and purity of the resulting flames far beyond what any of the other tribes are capable of.

Flames emitted after doing this for long enough will come out with an intense blue color that can cut through stone.

For dragons afflicted with firescales, all of the fire they breathe will be like this, as their bodies are already channeling flames at all times to fuel the burning scales.

Because Skywing fire is so intense, it is at times difficult to control. Skywings who become emotional will often start smoking from their nostrils involuntarily.

Mudwing fire, sometimes referred to as "moody fire", is very temperamental. Its strength will vary widely based on a number of different factors, not all of them fully understood, making it appear random at times.

The most commonly understood factor that influences a Mudwing's fire is the ambient temperature. Mudwings will struggle to produce flames in environments that are too cold (close to freezing weather, very cold water, etc.). This can be partially mitigated by ingesting hot stews, soups, or beverages before fire usage.

A factor that isn't as well documented is that the Mudwing's fire breath and their uncanny healing factor are fueled by the same source. This means a Mudwing's fire will be strongest when they are healthy, and begin to diminish if they become injured, as their body will divert resources away from the breath weapon to prioritize keeping itself alive, functioning, and mobile.

Mudwings hatched from blood eggs have a tendency to develop poor breath weapons, as their super-charged healing factor--while potent enough to outpace most damage sustained from fire--is even more resource-hungry than that of a regular Mudwing.

Icewings don't breathe fire. Instead, they are able to exhale a stream of frost magic. There is nothing I can think of to scientifically explain all the properties of frostbreath as they are presented in canon, especially with regards to Queen Battlewinner. Ice that makes you lava-proof? Nah, this is straight-up magic. All Icewings are born with a small piece of magic and this is how it expresses itself.

Contrary to popular belief, frostbreath is not stronger than firebreath. In terms of general characteristics, Icewings and Nightwings are actually roughly equivalent.

What makes frostbreath more overtly lethal than fire breath is the magical component. When frostbreath comes in contact with living tissue, it will form ice crystals on and inside the surface. All flesh in contact with these crystals will gradually turn necrotic. This process is very painful.

The crystals are very persistent and it requires sustained exposure to intense heat to melt them. The best way to accomplish this is via prolonged bath in warm water (close to boiling). This method, if applied quickly after the injury, will usually result in recovery after a few hours of bathing.

Getting hit while in a situation with no access to warm water is very dangerous and potentially lethal. If treatment does not begin soon after, the crystals will begin to spread, killing more tissue and making recovery increasingly less likely, especially once the injury spreads to internal organs.

It is not uncommon for soldiers who get hit by frost breath and are caught out in the open with no treatment options to cut off the afflicted body part to minimize tissue loss.

Icewings are more resistant to frostbreath than other dragons, but not fully immune. They can succumb to the same injuries.

If an Icewing suffers an intense burn, particularly in and around the face, they become completely unable to exhale frost until the burn begins to heal.

Rainwings do not have a breath weapon. Instead, they produce an acidic venom within their bodies, which can be administered through biting, or launched at targets through a pair of collapsible, hollow fangs.

The gland that produces this venom needs sunlight to develop properly. Once the Rainwing has been exposed to sufficient sunlight, venom production will begin, and may even continue without further exposure, but it is recommended to sunbathe for at least 5 hours a week to keep the gland healthy and the venom potent.

The venom is strongly corrosive and able to dissolve most organic materials like wood, plant matter, and flesh. It is potent enough that, if it enters another creature's blood stream directly (via bite, an open wound, or the eyes), that creature will die within seconds.

The venom's lethality will rapidly decrease once it separates from the user. If it hits surface tissue and has to burn through layers flesh, it will usually lose too much of its toxicity before it reaches the blood stream (though it will still function as acid and be excruciatingly painful).

Rainwings are immune to their own venom, but not the venom of other Rainwings. Mixing a sample of venom with the venom of a close blood relative will cancel out the destructive properties of both.

Seawings are amphibious dragons who prefer to live in water, but can also go on land and exist there in relative comfort for a decent while. Their body contains an organ that stores water, from which it periodically draws to keep the Seawing's skin from drying out.

When under duress, a Seawing can forcefully expel the contents of this organ through their mouth as a pressurized jet of water. While this is not very destructive, it can momentarily stun aggressors and allow the Seawing to retreat to the safety of a nearby lake or river.

If the blast is held inside and charged up similar to the fire breath of other tribes, the Seawing is able to draw from their body heat to increase the water's temperature to scalding degrees.

[astonmartingf]

DEATH OF A BACHELOR ; F1 DILFS

the grid's most handsome and eligible bachelors— now taken? exactly this is that. i don't have time to think of a good punchline so it'll have to wait.

started: 03/01/24 ended: 03/23/24

amfg 8.6k words total. smau + written. contains angst, fluff, implied smut(?), crack(?), drama, controversy, and conspiracies. reader is faceless. can be read in any order. enjoy reading (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

ADORE YOU ; KR7

. . . your relationship with kimi was always civil, not too close like friends, but not too far apart like strangers. somehow you got stuck in a situation leaving both of you confronting your feelings for each other.

HAVEN'T MET YOU YET ; JB22

. . . slowing down as the high life of the party, jenson turns a new leaf and thinks optimistically about his plans in the future concerning his love life.

MISERY ; MW2

. . . fuck sebastian vettel and fuck his goddamn race engineer who he can't help but think about all the time. he's bitter, jealous and in misery.

GREEDY ; SV5

. . . at the height of his career all vettel wants is to win. with four world championships on his back, his ego- out of the world, surely that's enough for a room in your life.

VOODOO DOLL ; LH44

. . . hamilton is a penchant for opposing teammates, and after the previous one he somehow got stuck with another, but after years of dominance new emotions develop between the two.

NEW PERSPECTIVE ; FA14

. . . twenty years into his career, alonso faced a lot of changes. but it was all because of you, that he looked forward to at the end of everything.

amfg yay! to my first series ever finished... here's to more series and writing. i hope you enjoyed reading these as much as i wrote them 🫶

[multifan2022]

Fearless 6

PART 1 PART 5

Masterlist

"The first thing you will learn today is how to shoot a gun. The second thing is how to win a fight." Your voice rang out through the shooting range, as Four passed guns out to each person. You caught the way Tris tried desperately to make eye contact with him. Trying to not feel satisfaction when he didn't look her way. "Thankfully, if you are here, you already know how to get on and off a moving train, so I don't need to teach you that."

Christina chuckled a little before looking your way, "Can you teach us the tuck and roll? It was flawless." You blushed slightly at the praise, something you weren't use to. You nodded and laughed a little "You will all develop your own way of getting on and off without completely fucking yourself up over time. IF you pass, so stay focused." 

"Initiation is divided into three stages. We will measure your progress and rank you according to your performance in each stage. The stages are not weighed equally in determining your final rank, so it is possible, though difficult, to drastically improve your rank over time."

You watch Four as he stops behind Peter, a gun in his own hand, the same one everyone in the room is holding. "We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice, which we define as the failure to act in the midst of fear," says Four. "Therefore each stage of initiation is intended to prepare you in a different way. The first stage is primarily physical; the second, primarily emotional; the third, primarily mental."

"But what..." Peter yawns through his words. "What does firing a gun have to do with...bravery?" Four flips the gun in his hand, presses the barrel to Peter's forehead, and clicks a bullet into place. Peter freezes with his lips parted, the yawn dead in his mouth. "Wake. Up," Four snaps. "You are holding a loaded gun, you idiot. Act like it."

He lowers the gun. Once the immediate threat is gone, Peter's green eyes harden. You dont even try to hold in the laughter that bursts from your lips at his face. You were sure if the gun had been pressed any longer he would've shit himself. You only laugh harder when his cheeks turn bright red. 

"To answer your question...you are far less likely to soil your pants and cry for your mother if you are prepared to defend yourself." Four stops walking at the end of the row and turns on his heel. "This is also information you may need later in stage one. So, watch Y/n." When he turns back to you, he winks before walking to lean against the wall next too you. 

You face the wall with the targets on it—one square of plywood with three red circles on it. You stand perpendicular to the target with your feet roughly shoulder width apart. Holding the gun in both hands, and fires.

 The bang is so loud it should hurt your ears but they are dead to the noise now. "For a right handed shooter, the left hand holds the forestock, elbow pointing down. The right hand holds the grip, elbow pointing out, but not exaggerated." You explain while demonstrating what you mean. 

You turn and fire a few more times, each time just making the hole at the center bigger. All their heads crane to look at your target, most in awe, while Peter just looks more pissed. "Its your turn, Four and I will be around to fix stances and answer questions... As long as they arent stupid." You say looking directly at Peter and then with a small smile at Christina. 

Watching Tris try to shoot is.. painful. She has almost emptied the clip and hasn't hit the target once. While you're in a terrific mood (wonder why) you know she will grate against that. As you walk towards them you hear Will, the Erudite boy speaking too her. "Statistically speaking,you should have hit the target at least once by now, even by accident." He is blond, with shaggy hair and a crease between his eyebrows. 

Hes struggling enough as is, he doesn't need to be correcting anyone. "Is that so?" You say sarcastically as you step between them. You lean to the side and look at his target, which he has only hit once. Looking back to him you try to keep your voice flat, it doesn't work but you tried. "Maybe you should worry about your own target kid.." 

His ears turn pink on the egdes before he turns back, Tris shoots one last time catching the end of the target.. Barley. 

She turns back to him with a smug look on her face, "Guess I got it". You scoff but before you can speak Will says "So you see, I'm right. The stats don't lie." Again you scoff, this time rubbing the muscle that connects your shoulder to your neck. 

"Will.. Sweetheart... Your Erudite is showing.. Tuck it away for me quick yeah?" You say before turning your back to him and clapping your hands together once. "Tris.. You hit the target once.. Barley hit the target once.. If that was a person it would barely qualify as a flesh wound. Depending on how big their clothes are it wouldn't even be a flesh wound.. Do NOT get cocky. Do something half ass right because your angry does not mean anything." 

Walking away from the two you can feel her eyes on you. When you look ahead Four is staring back at her, you roll your eyes before addressing the group. "In the field, the chances that you will be angry are slim. It is more likely that you will be scared, nervous or anxious. None of that should matter as a Dauntless. Your bravery and courage should overshadow everything. So when you do something in anger and it somehow comes out correct, don't take it seriously."

"Take it seriously when you can pick up any weapon and use it as an extension of yourself.  Guns, swords, bow staff.. A metal pipe you find laying around, you need to be able to pack everything besides your job and your life away." You look around refusing to look at Four again, when you see that they all have finished the ammo that has been provided you dismiss them for lunch.

 You take your lunch break in Toris chair, the stinging sensation of your new tattoo present as the ink sinks around your thigh. Tori chuckles and rolls her eyes as you roll to your stomach to get it finished. Some would be ashamed, laying here in your underwear but not you. The finger bruises on your thigh bring you nothing but joy. 

"So.. you and Four still going with this whole friends with benefits thing?" Tori asked while lining everything up. When the buzzing restarted it stung a little more than normal, due to the tenderness of your flesh. You nod and close your eyes allowing yourself a small moment of peace before having to deal with Eric who you know will be at training. 

"I dont see why you two dont just admit you have feelings for each other and get together. Spare us all the long drawn out drama." You smile at Toris bluntness, she always has such a way with her words. 

"My feelings aren't the only ones in this scenario, we both know Four doesn't like me like that. I'm just enjoying it while it lasts." You wait while Tori wipes your leg down, before standing up and handing you the shorts that will now be covering very little of your legs.

Tori looks at you incredulously "That boy has just as many feelings for you as you do him. Your both stupid. But I will be here, the ever wise old lady to hold your hands through whatever drama you both cause."   

You laugh again, feeling free for the first time in a week. The feeling is fleeting though as Tori opens her mouth and asks "How is Tris?" Your face falls and you sigh loudly, "Shes making it hard. She cant walk one line, one minute shes practically hiding behind the others begging to not be seen. Then the next shes in Fours face yelling. She cant shoot but when she clipped the edge of the target she acted like she got a bullseye first shot. I don't know how to deal with her if I'm honest. Im not Tori Wu." 

The dark haired woman in front of you steps up and cups your cheeks. "You are strong Y/n, you can do this. You have too. I don't know what but something is happening, you need to be prepared for it." 

After answering a few more of her questions, all about the new girl you tell her you need to go. Really you needed to go ten minutes ago, but who's counting?? 

When you step into the gym you take a breath to apologize for being late. But when you see Four pressed up behind Tris, his fingers pressed against her stomach as he 'instructs' her you stay quiet. Instead just making your way through the punching bags watching. Stopping only to correct Al's stance, without touching him, before walking away. 

Your showing your weakness by caring so much for him. That voice crows in your head as you keep walking. At this point you've been there a half an hour and Four hasn't noticed. When you stop next to Christina you can feel Tris's eyes burning into the back of your head. "You're doing everything right besides how you're making a fist." 

Christina stops looking down at her hands before releasing her fingers and looking back at you. You smile and congratulate her in your head, if shes silent that means shes learning. Just as you hold your hand up to show her how you want her to do it you hear Tris mumble 'How many ways are there to make a fist?' 

Taking a calming breath you slip into work mode. The mode that sets you apart from the others, the one with no feelings, no worries. Just a solid perfect work ethic. "Your wrapping your thumb around the end of your hand leaving it straight when it should be down. Wrapped over the first knuckle of your pointer finger." 

Showing  her what you mean, you watch her do it and see the annoyed look on her face. You laugh a little before continuing "I know its uncomfortable, but I promise dislocating or breaking your thumb is a lot worse. Plus once it becomes a habit you wont even think about it." You catch a few other students fixing their mistakes around you, which is encouraging. 

"Next your stance is pretty good, but I prefer having a more solid base. You stand squarely facing your target, then drop the foot on your dominant side back and out to an angle, 30 maybe 40 degrees. You should keep your feet a comfortable distance apart, but the exact difference is a matter of personal preference. Some people are taller and can keep their legs further apart like myself. But your on the shorter side so you'll want to be closer." 

The entire time you speak to her you show her with your body how to move. That small voice in the back of your mind is screaming about how you can teach without touching them. How that means Four wanted to touch her, he never touches people. You keep talking over it, trying to be the perfect teacher. Trying to show yourself why you are here. 

"Now the last and most fun part." By this point over half the class is listening to you. Four has stopped walking around and is just watching you teach, but you're studiously ignoring him.

 "The first thing to remember is that the punch should go straight forward, rather than out to the side. The idea is to send your fist out and bring it right back to its original position, with as little extraneous motion as possible.If you flare your arm out, like in the movies, your target will have plenty of time to avoid or block the strike—and you're going to leave yourself wide open to getting a punch in your own face."

"The full punch motion stems from turning your hips." After demonstrating again you watch as Christina does it, smiling at her and offering her a high five. You turn to watch the others and feel pride bloom in your chest as they all start performing the task correctly. 

"Good job Tina.. Peter, Al and Will.. You are all doing well. Keep it up, that's how we work our way up the board." You saw the shock on everyone's face as you congratulated Peter, but you needed to be as unbiased in the 'classroom' as you could. If he failed it wasn't going to be said that you had it out for him. 

You were not going to tarnish your reputation, because of some spoiled brat whose parents told him he was better than others. He would fuck up, and you would be there to catch him. But until then you have to do your best to treat everyone equally. Even Tris. 

After ten more minutes you dismiss them for the night. Reminding them when they need to be in their dorms and not to go out without someone. You make your way out in front of the group, still trying to avoid what is sure to be an awkward conversation with Four.

~

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~

@coolestgirlhere @everydayisordinary @hannahbeezz @cat-lockwood @parkmiraesworld @leclerc13

Boring part, sorry guys! Ill try harder on the next chapter!

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if I asked my boyfriend to kick his boyfriend out of our communal living situation and out of our polycule due to “incompatibility”?

submitted 5/22/2024 ~💔🌈🏚️<- to find

I (26F) am considering asking my boyfriend O (32M) to kick out his other partner/boyfriend E (36M) from our communal living situation and our polycule, because E is not compatible with either our relationship or the group as a whole. Here’s the situation: The three of us currently live in O’s childhood home (his parents died and he inherited it), along with four other roommates who are not in the polycule. All of us split the bills evenly, except for E because he was recently fired from his job as a mechanic, so he pays a much smaller amount, which means all of us have to increase the amount we pay in order to keep up. This would be fine except E is not looking for a job and this is causing financial strain on all of us. It’s a large house and it’s very old so it tends to need a lot of maintenance, currently we have to get the roof repaired because a section of it caved in during a snowstorm (that part of the house is roped off because it’s still not fixed of course) and just my luck, my room happened to be on the floor below this, so O has me sleeping in his room because he’s worried floor above my room may have rotted from exposure due to the caved in roof. This will be relevant later. Now, here are the specific reasons why I want E out of here (aside from financial strain):

Everyone in the house is part of the same religious group. We are a neo pagan group (details not necessary for this but feel free to ask questions, but just know that we have some agreed upon beliefs and practices that we’ve developed over the past three years) and many in our group, including O, practice witchcraft. E, however, is a hardcore atheist, and is condescending towards us whenever we partake in our various practices. O thinks that E can be persuaded to respect us and that it’s just a matter of time, but I do not think that’s probable. O is the elected spiritual leader in the house (one: because he’s held these beliefs longer than most of us and brought us together, and two: it’s his house), so only O can kick someone out for religious reasons. We can vote to kick someone for abuse, but nothing E has done is technically bad enough.

He should be kicked from the polycule because I think he is using O either for sex or to make up for something he did back when they were in a situationship. The past between those two is very intense because it’s linked to E discovering his identity and it was O’s first relationship. It ended very badly on horrible terms, but they decided to give it another shot for whatever reason. E had an intense vendetta against me from the very beginning and he thinks that I’m delusional for believing O is in love with me because when O liked E it was “very different”. E has his own bedroom, but spends most of the time in O’s room, typically to have sex. Sometimes they want me to join in with them, but I usually decline because I’m suspicious of E’s intentions and I do not trust him. The one time I did agree to join in led to my unplanned pregnancy. I also think E is cheating on O because whenever O leaves the house, E brings over his ex B (33F), and those two hook up (or at least I assume they do because they lock themselves in the bedroom for hours).

On the cheating note, E has been getting checks in the mail from B, but he hasn’t been using this money to contribute to the bills, but rather stashing it away into a “project fund”.

B is dating my ex A (28F) and I know B has been gossiping to her because A has been posting to her private insta account long rants about “another perfectly good lesbian turned by dicks and witchcraft”, which could ONLY be referring to me because as far as I know, she hasn’t had any relationships in between ours and her’s and B’s. She is radfem and tradcatholic so the statement isn’t a surprise, but she only started posting that stuff After B started coming over, and she was kicked from the house for being intolerant, so it’s odd for her to start ranting about me now.

I think it’s unfair that my ex was kicked out for intolerance while I was still dating her, even though I objected (it was a toxic relationship and I was in deep), but O hasn’t kicked out E despite E also being intolerant and dating one of us.

[bengals-barnesbabe]

“Pick Up Lines” w/ #9

Pairing: Joe Burrow x Black!FemReader

Word Count: 670

Warnings: Minors DNI, literal crack with a heaping sprinkle of smut

∗ ࣪ ˖༺ ♡ ༻˖ ࣪ ∗

“Joe, what trait would you say you find the sexiest about a woman?”

It wasn’t the most common question he got from these press conferences, but the newly single quarterback was definitely intrigued.

He let out a light chuckle then quirked the side of his lip up. “Confidence, no brainer.”

₊˚ˑ༄ؘ

The concept of women throwing themselves at him wasn’t foreign to the quarterback, but for the last few years he’s been taken. So now being one of the NFL’s hottest eligible bachelors, Joe has the opportunity to entertain himself with all the attention on him.

It started with making eyes with women in clubs that were too shy to come up to him. Then short makeout sessions during his teammates parties. And some showing up to his open practices just to fawn over the work he puts in at the gym.

It was fun until it got boring, he was waiting for that one girl with the ability to keep him on his toes. So far he was flat footed. Until he got a DM from you.

At first glance it looked like a regular fan account that’s obsessed with him, but two things stood out: your picture and your bio.

The picture was of a brown skinned woman wearing his orange jersey showing ample cleavage, head tilted down with a Bengals SnapBack on top of a head of tight black curls.

Your bio only said one thing: ‘Slut for JoeyB and JoeyB Only’

Without glancing at the time, he taps on the dm and indulges in what he thought was gonna be pure flattery.

_joey.bde: Confidence huh? You sure you’re ready for that?

Joeyb_9: I’m ready for anything

_joey.bde: oh yea

_joey.bde: those balls look heavy, want me to hold them for you😊

Joeyb_9: come on give me something original, I thought you were a slut for me😉

_joey.bde: ever met someone that could take all 9👅

Joeyb_9: depends how you want it baby

_joey.bde: down my throat, on my knees in your locker room after a game😈

Joeyb_9: fuck you really are a slut, got anymore

_joey.bde: I have more holes if you’d like to fill them☺️

Joeyb_9: yea you’d be a pretty little cumslut for me wouldn’t ya

_joey.bde: I’d do anything for you daddy🤤

Joeyb_9: prove it😏 *address*

₊˚ˑ༄ؘ

“So any new developments in your personal life since we last spoke?”

Joe’s face flushes with heat as he thinks about the photos of you in his phone; your pretty face and tits covered in his seed as you suck on his thumb, his fingers buried in your cunt and his favorite you completely fucked out asleep in his bed.

“No, not really. I’m just chilling for now.”

∗ ࣪ ˖༺ ♡ ༻˖ ࣪ ∗

*nsfw under the cut - minors dni*

“Joey please, I can’t.” Your cries turn into breathy moans as he stuffs your cunt with four of his fingers.

“Come on give me one more then I can give you my cock.” He says lightly kissing your cheeks then slowly bringing them down to your neck.

“Don’t you wanna be good for daddy, so suck it up and come.”

Your French tips dig into the bed as his thumb rubs slow circles on your clit. “Fuck I’m gonna-!”

His other hand comes up to your tits squeezing and tugging at your nipples, “yea that’s right, let me hear you.” His voices muffled as he sucks on your neck.

With one last curl of his fingers, your body shakes as you come for a third time. The whine of his name in your throat goes silent due to overstimulation.

Joe removes his juice covered fingers and puts them in his mouth. “Fuck you taste so sweet.” He moans.

Your mouth agape watching him while still feeling the after effects from your orgasm. “Wanna try?”

Lazily shaking your head, he bends down and kisses you, your tongue licking around sucking your juices from his mouth while he just smiles, then pulls away. “Good girl.”

a/n: procrastination at it's finest everyone :) main masterlist

[autumngracy]

"Trump is better for the economy, though!"

Aside from almost every major economist agreeing that Trump's economic plans would actually make things far worse than they are now, this man can't even manage his campaign's, his businesses', OR his personal finances.

Case in point, here a list from Public Opinion of his failed business endeavors:

"Trump's companies have filed for bankruptcy at least six times. This is no exaggeration. Digital World noted this in its SEC filings. This excludes additional business failures that might not have declared bankruptcy, but closed owing vendors, employees and others."

"For the record, here are some of Trump's noteworthy business failures."

Trump Airlines — Trump borrowed $245 million to purchase Eastern Air Shuttle. He branded it Trump Airlines. He added gold bathroom fixtures. Two years later Trump could not cover the interest payment on his loan and defaulted.

Trump Beverages — Although Trump touted his water as "one of the purest natural spring waters bottled in the world," it was simply bottled by a third party. Other beverages, including Trump Fire and Trump Power, seem not to have made it to market. And Trump's American Pale Ale died with a trademark withdrawal.

Trump Game — Milton Bradley tried to sell it. As did Hasbro. After investment, the game died and went out of circulation.

Trump Casinos — Trump filed for bankruptcy three times on his casinos, namely the Trump Taj Mahal, the Trump Marina and the Trump Plaza in New Jersey and the Trump Casino in Indiana. Trump avoided debt obligations of $3 billion the first time. Then $1.8 billion the second time. And then after reorganizing, shuffling money and assets, and waiting four years, Trump again declared bankruptcy after missing ongoing interest payments on multi-million dollar bonds. He was finally forced to step down as chairman.

Trump Magazine — Trump Style and Trump World were renamed Trump Magazine to reap advertising dollars from his name recognition. However, Trump Magazine also went out of business.

Trump Mortgage — Trump told CNBC in 2006 that "I think it's a great time to start a mortgage company. … The real-estate market is going to be very strong for a long time to come." Then the real estate market collapsed. Trump had hired E.J. Ridings as CEO of Trump Mortgage and boasted that Ridings had been a "top executive of one of Wall Street's most prestigious investment banks." Turned out Ridings had only six months of experience as a stockbroker. Trump Mortgage closed and never paid a $298,274 judgment it owed a former employee, nor the $3,555 it owed in unpaid taxes.

Trump Steaks — Trump closed Trump Steaks due to a lack of sales while owing Buckhead Beef $715,000.

Trump's Travel Site — GoTrump.com was in business for one year. Failed.

Trumpnet — A telephone communication company that abandoned its trademark.

Trump Tower Tampa — Trump sold his name to the developers and received $2 million. Then the project went belly-up with only $3,500 left in the company. Condo buyers sued Trump for allegedly misleading them. Trump settled and paid as little as $11,115 to buyers who had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Trump University or the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative — Trump staged wealth-building seminars costing up to $34,995 for mentorships that would offer students access to Trump's secrets of success. Instructors turned out to be motivational speakers sometimes with criminal records. Lawsuits and criminal investigations abound.

Trump Vodka — Business failed due to a lack of sales.

Trump Fragrances — Success by Trump, Empire by Trump, and Donald Trump: The Fragrances all failed due to being discontinued, perhaps as a result of few sales.

Trump Mattress — Serta stopped offering a Trump-branded mattress, again likely due to slacking sales.

Truth Social — This existing Trump business owes big money, and may well be breathing its last.

And then of course is his long history of stiffing contractors, restaurants, and even entire cities for their event venues he used for his rallies—as well as some of his own followers—

—such as the case where he promised a greiving hispanic American family that he would pay for the burial of their daughter, Vanessa Guillén, a servicewoman who had been brutally murdered by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood in 2020, but later told his chief of staff not to pay for it after learning it would cost $60,000, reportedly saying "It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!"

[cowboybarzy]

enemies to lovers with mat with D 13 and D 22. media girl x star player where mat loves to get under her skin because he’s dumb and can’t admit he likes her. she breaks up with her horrible bf and one night when she is out with the team something changes

thank you so much for the request!! this turned out very smutty but also a long part of plot so I hope you like it <3

13. “Let me help you forget that jerk.” & 22. “Do you feel what you’re doing to me.”

word count: 6.5k

warnings: drinking, jerk ex boyfriend, SMUT (18+)

"Oh, hey guys." The elevator door opened and a bunch of laughing hockey players stumbled out.

"Hey, (y/n)! Not going back to your room are you?" Oliver broke from the conversation to greet you.

"Yeah, actually. Kinda tired," you replied, hoping the stained tears you'd just dried in the bathroom weren't that obvious.

"Oh, come on. The night is young. Come out with us." He pointed to the guys behind him, including Mat, who looked at you with an expression you couldn't make out.

"Had a bad night so far, I think I just want to stay in," you said, shaking your head and forcing a smile.

"Well, what a better way to end it with a drink?," Matt Martin chimed in, his charming smile almost convincing you.

"I think she doesn't want to come. So let her be," the other Mat said, not even looking at you, and turned away from you and started shooing the guys in the direction of the exit. The guys let it go and with a wave they started following Mat.

As you watched them walk away, the tone in which Mat had said it sunk in and the sadness you had just felt turned into anger. Looking back on the relationship you had with Mat over the past few months, you could tell you really didn't have any. You were friendly with all of the other guys, coming to work was always a blast and with being around the team so often you had developed many inside jokes and gotten to know most of the very well. Except Mat. You could tell he had a problem with you but you didn't know why when everyone else was so nice to you. When you walked into a room and Mat was joking around and acting goofy, this side of him immediately stopped when he saw you. He was always acting quiet and when it came time for you to film content with him, he was acting like his normal self when the camera was on, but the second it was off and it was just the two of you, he was back to quiet and mumbled backhanded comments.

"You know what," you snapped out of your thoughts. "I think this night does call for a few drinks."

Wally turned around with a victory shout and threw his arm around you when you caught up with them.

***

"Alright, now tell me why you're downing these shots like you want to black out." Wally's face was already a bit blurry when you moved your head too quickly, but you finally forgot your boyfriend. Sorry. Ex-boyfriend.

That's right. After three years, you finally saw through all of the red flags and gaslighting and had enough of his bullshit. Or maybe it was the fact that you caught him cheating that made you realize all of these things.

"Oh, no, no, no. I am not drunk enough to spill my secrets to you." Wally acted all offended and again tried to the information out of you and finally flagged down the waitress to get you more shots. She delivered quickly, placing four more shots in front of you.

The first went down easy, so the second should go down just as smoothly. But you never got to that. "I think you've had enough to drink," Mat's voice carried over all of the noise from the bar. Your head snapped in his direction and you saw him staring at you intensely.

"He speaks." You lifted the little glass in the air. "And who are you to tell me I've had enough to drink?"

"You couldn't even get that question out without slurring, so maybe that." His stare somehow got more intense the longer you stared back. It might have something to with the fact that you crept the shot glass closer and closer to your lips.

"You don't like me. And I don't listen to guys who don't like me." You closed your eyes and took the shot. "Anymore."

"And there it is. Boyfriend?" Wally got your attention again and slightly pushed him.

"I don't wanna talk about him." You pouted and while Wally grinned victoriously, the other guys went back to their own conversation. A few moments passed, where you started to fast track through your memories of your relationship. The good and bad ones, but the bad ones stood out. "Why are all guys such idiots?"

All six of the guys turned their head, looking at you with a playful smile. "Yep, I am suddenly extremely aware that I am sitting at a table with just guys. Excuse me."

You stumbled through the bar to the bathroom, your head was spinning like crazy, not just because of the alcohol but also because despite how your ex-boyfriend mistreated you these past few years, it was still a loss you felt deeply. He was an ass, but you loved him and that didn't just go away in a night. You had no idea how long you stood in the bathroom, trying not to fall over but also gossiping with a few girls that found you in the bathroom with whom you had now become friends with.

A loud knock and call of your name disrupted the rather nasty conversation about your ex-boyfriend. You slowly opened the door to reveal Mat standing there with a glass of water. "You ok?"

"Why do you care, Mathew?!"

"Oh my god, are you the cheating boyfriend? She told us how cruel you are so get the hell out of here! You don't deserve her!," the blonde girl, whose name you'd unfortunately already forgotten and who was one of the sweet girls listening to your little rant, pushed herself through the door and in between the two of you.

"What?," Mat said perplexed looking at you for help.

"No, that's just Mat. What do you want?"

"You've been in here for a while. Thought you might need some water."

"No, thanks." You turned away, walking deeper into the bathroom to sit on the little couch. Your head started spinning again. Why was he being nice to you?

"Here." When you looked up, the girls were gone and only Mat stood in the bathroom handing over that glass of water that looked absolutely delicious. You crossed your arms, pouting, to which he rolled his eyes and placed the glass on the counter. "He cheated? Don't tell me you're still with him?"

"No! I might have stayed with him longer than I should have, but I do have some self respect. And, again, why do you care?"

"Jesus Christ, (y/n), why the hell do you think I don't care?," he shouted at you to which you let out a loud chuckle.

"Are you kidding? You hate me. Fine. I don't care." You did. "But don't come in here pretending to care and make a fool out of me."

"What are you talking about?" You scoffed, jumping to your feet, the alcohol giving you the courage.

"What am I talking about? Are you kidding? You never talk to me. You never even look at me. You stop joking around when I'm in the same room. You're visibly in pain when I have to take some pictures and videos of you. I don't know what I ever do to you, but whatever. I don't care anymore. Clearly it's your problem."

He sighed, then took a deep breath. Still never looking directly at you. "See, you're not even looking at me now! So get out. Have a laugh about my little break down in here but leave me alone!"

"I don't hate you," he simply said, making you even more angry. He was so insufferable. Always brooding, giving you dirty looks and now he says he doesn't hate you? That's exactly what you told him, listing every time he made you feel small and unliked by him.

"From day one! I walked in, thinking this was going to be the best job ever and yes it is! But the one guy I actually wanted to like me turned out the best the biggest asshole. But that's not what everyone else says about you, so why are you so mean to me? You're not like this with the rest of the social team, so it must be me! What did I do to you? Why is it just me?," you continued to now yell at him. But he stayed silent. He was on edge though, itching to tell you but fighting to hold back whatever he wanted to say. "You know what? I have had too much to drink to have this conversation right now."

"No you didn't," he replied, pressing his lips together.

"What? Were you not there starring daggers into me while I took like six shots with Wally?"

"I had the bartender switch to water. Half the time you were drinking water. Not counting your Long Island iced tea, you maybe two shots." Hm. Maybe that's why you didn't feel as drunk as you normally would be after that many shots. Your surprised faced actually made him chuckle for a split second. "Yeah. Wally didn't notice either. On that, why the fuck were you taking shots with Wally?"

"Because he offered. And he likes me. And I like him." He looked like you just stabbed a knife in his heart. "Why? You jealous?"

He didn't answer and your heart skipped a beat.

"Why'd you do it?," you asked quietly, concerning the fact that he had made the bartender switch to water.

"Why do you ask so many questions?"

"Maybe if you would answer one once in a while I would have so many! So why did you do it? Why are you jealous?" Silence. Again. And you started to get annoyed again. "God, Mathew would you just answer the damn question! You are such a difficult person. Why did you-"

"Because I like you!," he yelled back, shutting you up.

"W-what?," you asked, very confused. "That doesn't even make sense."

"I know." At least he admitted it. His face grew soft and he closed his eyes for a second. "Let's go, I'll walk you back to the hotel."

"No! I'm not going anywhere with you," you protested, crossing your arms again. He rolled his eyes.

"Come on."

"No. Not before you explain to me why the hell you would say you like me when these past few months clearly state otherwise."

"I-." But he wasn't able to say more than that.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Disappoint you brushed past him heading for the door, but before you could make it, his hand grabbed you by the arm, spinning you to face him. His large hands grabbed you by the sides of your face and pulled you into him until your lips met.

The act caught you off guard so it took a couple of seconds to react, but when you did you practically melted in his touch. All the pain you had felt from your breakup suddenly vanished and only warm fuzzy feelings remained. His lips were so soft and warm, you wanted to explore them further. He must have felt the same way as he began to open his mouth with a sigh. His tongue brushed over your lips and elicited a small whimpering from you in response. You quickly became addicted to his touch and lifted your own hands to feel him.

"Holy shit." You both ripped apart turning to the familiar voice. The bathroom door was open and in the frame stood Ryan who was desperately trying not to laugh. "Sorry." But just as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared again.

Stunned at what just happened, not only the kiss but also that you'd been caught, you stood in that bathroom silently. Your brain went 100 mph, but to your surprise after the eventful day you had, the only thing in your mind was that kiss.

Mat broke the silence first. "Will you let me walk you back now?"

You only managed to nod and let Mat guide you out of that bathroom. He went to go talk to the guys quickly, letting them know that you'd be leaving. You were too embarrassed to face the other, knowing that Ryan probably told them what he saw, so you awkwardly stood by the exit until Mat came back to quickly escort you outside.

"Your purse."

"Oh." You accepted it, hanging it over your shoulder. You didn't even realize you forgot it. "Thank you."

The short walk back to the hotel was silent, even the elevator ride up to your floor and up until you reached your room. "Thanks for walking me back. Good night."

You started closing the door, but Mat interrupted. "I don't hate you."

"Okay."

He chuckled. "That's it? No millions of questions?"

"You're confusing me. And I'm tired. It's late? I don't even-"

"It's 11:30," he answered your thought looking at his watch.

"Oh. What? That's it?"

He chuckled again. "Yeah you were drinking at lightning speed."

"Well, I was trying to forget a certain someone."

"I'm sorry," he said. "Sorry that he cheated on you. You don't deserve that."

You tried to smile as a thank you, but it turned out very sad. Mat's hand reached out to brush some hair out of your face and your heart clenched at that gesture. "Did it work?"

"What?"

"Forgetting him?"

"The alcohol? No." It was definitely not the alcohol that helped you forget him, but the person standing in front of you. You thought he understood what he meant when his hand came up again to brush that same strand of hair out of your face again, but lingered slowly creeping back to the same place it was nested when you kissed at the bar.

"Want some help?" He suddenly stood very close to you. In the last few minutes he had entered your room enough to push you in and have the door close behind the two of you. And you hadn't even realized. You only had eyes for him. Or his eyes, which sparkled a desire full green. The tension that had been building ever since your fight at the bar almost became unbearable, which is probably what gave him the confidence to ask the question and for you to reply as you did. "Will you let me help you forget that jerk?"

You took the last step needed to stand flush against him and within a second your lips were on his. This kiss may have started out as passionately as the one at the bar but it quickly grew into something hotter.

Mat pushed you further into the room until you stumbled into the dresser onto which he lifted you with ease. You legs wrapped around his hips tightly so he had no room to escape, not that he had any plans to do so as his tongue licked into your mouth. You couldn't hold back a moan as Mat devoured your mouth like he couldn't get enough of you, your fingers digging into his soft brown hair.

You kissed for endless minutes, but when Mat eventually pulled away, your chest heaved, lungs pulling in much-needed oxygen. He breathed harshly, his mouth not retreating too far so you could feel him breathing against your lips. He nibbled on your lower lip, the feel of his teeth sinking into your swollen flesh making you moan softly. "Such pretty sounds," he mumbled in between teasing bites. "All for me?"

"Mhm," you whimpered, nudging your lips closer to his, desperate for his touch. He chuckled, but couldn't help but kiss you back, him too needy to feel this passion again.

More kisses, moans, and whimpers passed until you slowly inched your hips to the edge of the dresser until you finally met his. A deep groan rumbled through Mat's body upon contact and with his big hands he placed on your ass he pulled you even closer, rubbing his growing bulge against your quickly heating center. The layer of both of your jeans got in the way of the best possible friction and both of you realized that the clothes issue needed to be solved as fast as possible.

His mouth broke from yours to explore your jawline and neck. Just as your hands moved from his hair to open up his jeans, one of his hands moved to pull you v-neck down one shoulder, exposing more skin. Small moans climbed up your throat as his tongue started nibbling and licking your skin. "Mat," his name was barely a whisper, but he heard it and picked up on the plea to speed things up. He stepped away just enough so you could comfortably take off your sweater and bra in which time he pulled his pants down.

You didn't have a lot of time to react to the sight of his erect cock straining his underwear that already looked too tight from his thick thighs before Mat stepped back into you capturing your lips for another intoxicating kiss. You arched your back when his grabby hands got ahold of your breast, massaging it and rubbing your nipple between his fingers.

"Do you feel what you're doing to me? How could you ever think I hated you?," he asked out of breath as he continued to rub his hard cock over your center.

"Well, there is the time you-"

"Let's not get into this now, eh?" You laughed, but agreed since what he was doing to you felt way too good to stop. "But let's get you out of the pants and onto this extremely comfortable bed."

With that, he lifted you in the air walking you over to the bed and throwing you onto the mattress. Before dropping to his knees with a mischievous grin, he tore his sweater off then got to work on tearing your jeans off as well.

"God, I have been waiting to get my hands on you since the moment you first looked at me," he groaned as if he couldn't believe this moment was real.

"Then why-"

"Shush, I wasn't being mean to you," he interrupted.

"I was going to say, then why are you talking so long to take me?" The right corner of his lips curled up and his eyes darkened before finally also taking your panties off and grabbing you by your ass pulling you to the edge of the bed.

"Oh, honey, you're so wet" Mat rumbled, his fingers exploring your drenched folds, spreading you open for him while you trembled. "And who are you dripping for?"

"You." The word only a whisper.

"No one else on your mind?"

"No," you moaned bucking your hips into his touch. "Just you."

"That's right." He finally circled your clit, dragging a strangled moan from your mouth, before spanking the little bundle of nerves, making you jerk and cry out. "So sensitive and responsive," he murmured. "I've dreamed about your pussy—and it's even better than I imagined," he confessed distractedly before ducking down, wrapping his lips around your clit and sucking until you were squirming beneath him so badly, he had to pin you down to the bed.

Pleasure washed through you in waves so overwhelming, your hands grabbed Mat's soft hair to keep yourself steady. Your whole body quaked, your hips bucking up against his face while he sucked your clit into his mouth, his tongue teasing the tip of it until you felt like you were going to shatter apart. But he wouldn't let you come so fast and continued teasing you. Mat licked at your pussy, his tongue digging into the depths of your hole as far as he could go, before using the tip of his tongue to tease your clit.

"Oh, god! Mathew," you moans grew louder at the sounds of him eating you out, something you ex never liked to do (not that you were thinking about him at all), and the thoughts of how hopefully he'd be fucking you numb in just a few minutes. If he was that good at foreplay, how good was he at the actual fucking part?

Just when you thought he couldn't get any better, he ripped his head out of your grasp and lightly slapped your clit, making you cry out. "So sweet," he mumbled, admiring your pussy again after having a taste. His fingers explored the sensitive tissue again before sinking one and then another finger into you. You moaned and squirmed, grabbing the sheets for some support.

"That's it. I can feel you squeezing me, you're close, eh?" You could only hum in response, still squirming beneath his touch. "Then come for me, honey."

Mat's fingers worked in and out of your hole slowly, dragging against your sensitive walls like he was reveling in how tight you were. His tongue brushed against your clit, making you moan and whine, the pleasure he offered so exquisite, you felt certain you were going to come soon. When his fingers pressed against that spot inside you, you abruptly screamed as you finally came. Your hands clutched the sheets then captured his hair again as you bucked your hips up violently against his face, his mouth never relenting even as your entire world shattered around you. His kept fucking you with his fingers, his mouth sucking on your puffy clit as pleasure coursed through you in wave after overwhelming wave. Your legs shook on either side of his head, the rest of your body trembling while Mat worked you through your orgasm.

Then, when the pleasure began to subside, Mat didn't relent. His fingers were still plunging in and out of your pussy while he licked furiously at your sensitive clit. You squirmed, whining at the overstimulation, but he only raised his head for a moment to stare up your body at you.

"One more," he rasped, pressing a kiss to your clit. "Gimme another one, honey," he said, greedy hunger in his voice. Then he spoke no more because his mouth was busy eating you out like a starved man. When he added a third finger to your cunt, fucking you harder with his fingers curled inside you, pressing against that spot, you felt the tension coiling inside you again. Mat was relentless, his tongue lashing against your clit, and it wasn't long before you came again.

If you'd thought your body had trembled and shook through your first release, it was nothing compared to the quaking shudders of your second orgasm. You screamed your throat raw at the overwhelming pleasure consuming your body and mind, and all you could do was hold onto his head and ride it out with him.

When you finally started to come down, you saw him licking your arousal from his fingers, his green eyes heated when he caught you staring at him. He smirked at your slumped, limp body and began to rise. He climbed on top of the mattress, pulling up with him, so your entire body now lay next to him.

"Gimme a minute," you huffed, still catching your breath, to which he chuckled.

"Take your time." With one hand under his head, he grinned at the ceiling. What he was saying earlier was the truth. He did like you and cared for you. He pinned for you and lusted after you. He just couldn't express that in the workplace and that somehow turned into passive aggressiveness. But he would apologize for that later. For now, he was just happy that after months of fantasizing you were actually lying in bed next to him.

"Thank you," you finally said waving your hand around. "For that."

Another laugh, one that made your heart skip a beat, left his mouth. "You sound like it was your first time being eaten out. And you're welcome."

When you didn't answer, only cringed, he sat himself up on his elbow looking down at you. You were strangely comfortable with being naked around him. With past boyfriends or hookups, you always quickly found something to cover up with. "How long were you with this jerk?"

"A few years."

"And he never once went down on you?" His perplexed face suddenly made you feel ashamed. Not about yourself but that you kept up with your ex for so long.

"Not never. He just didn't like doing it. And I haven't enjoyed it with others either so it wasn't a big deal," you admitted, though after what you just went through, you might have some reevaluating to do.

"Jesus Christ, (y/n)! You wasted your time with him. He should have been at your feet, worshipping you, thanking whatever god he believes in that you even looked at him let alone touch him. You especially deserve so much better." Your heart clenched and that fuzzy warm feeling in your belly returned. Since you had no idea how to respond, you kissed him. First softly, almost hesitant, but that feeling only grew stronger and within a few minutes you had pushed him back into the mattress and climbed on top of him.

You moaned into Mat's mouth, kissing him harder, your drenched center settling over the bulge in his pants. Your breath hitched in your throat and Mat took the opportunity to nip at your lower lip, making you moan again before you began rocking against his hardness. Renewed arousal flooded through your body, your skin heating while you kissed him until it became too much and you had to wrench your lips away from the handsome hockey player so you could gasp for air.

"Mathew," you cried softly, his name falling from your mouth in a whispered plea while your hips kept grinding down on his cock. He felt so big and thick beneath you and you didn't know what you wanted more, to keep grinding down against him or feel him fill you up.

Mat pressed his smile against your jaw, teasing your skin with kisses and little nips of his teeth, making you gasp and moan and clench down around nothing while you worked your pussy against his bulge.

"My mouth not enough for you, honey?" he rumbled teasingly in your ear, his hands sliding down your sides. He grabbed your ass with his big hands, kneading your soft flesh while helping you rock against him, dragging more moans from you. "Do you need my cock?"

"Yes, yes, please," you begged in a whining voice. Your pulse was thrumming beneath your skin and throbbing in your clit. Your hands pressed into the mattress next to his head and you used your grip as leverage to grind down harder on his bulge, pressing your clit against the fabric of his boxers until you were a whimpering mess. "Need it, please!"

"What do you need?," he whispered roughly.

"Your cock."

"Say my name. Who's making you feel like this?" His voice was rough in your ear sending more shivers down your body and directly to your clit.

"Mathew. You, Mat. Please, I need you."

His hands on your ass moved quickly to lift you to your knees just high enough so he could wiggle out of his underwear.

"Condom?," you whispered quickly before anything further progressed. His head dropped back in agony before he cursed. "Fuck."

Your head dropped to his chest, spinning as you considered the sides of the argument. "Sorry, I didn't actually plan on anything happening anytime soon."

"It's okay," you whispered, then kissed your way up his neck to his lips. "It's ok, we don't need one. I'm clean and on the pill."

"Me too. You sure?," he asked breathlessly in between more intoxicating kisses. "We don't need to do anything tonight."

"No, please, Mathew," you begged, lowering your hips onto his cock, sliding up and down his length. "I need you, please."

"Fuck! I would never say no to you, honey." Mat's gaze darkened before your eyes, a sound rumbling deep in his chest almost like a possessive growl. Then he was diving forward, capturing your lips in a searing kiss while his hands went back to your ass. He used his arm around your back to lower you down until the tip of his cock brushed against your dripping folds. "I'm gonna fuck your sweet pussy bare," he promised, bullying your clit with his tip until you were moaning and squirming on top of him. "I'm gonna fill you up with my come until it's dripping down your thighs."

Words escaped you, so you nodded your head, which felt light and fuzzy with how aroused you were. Your hands braced on Mat's shoulders and you stared deep into his eyes as he guided you to start sinking down on his cock. You gasped when you felt the head of his cock press inside your tight hole. You moaned when he was buried all the way inside of you, loving the feeling of his thick cock splitting you open, stretching out your little pussy. It was nearly overwhelming, just how much you had to stretch to accommodate him, but you enjoyed it too much to stop or protest. "So big," was all you could mumble, your lashes fluttering as you tried to keep holding his gaze through the feeling of his hardness stretching your inner walls.

Mat rumbled a pleased sound in his chest. "Ya like it, honey?" he asked, his lips curling in a devilish smirk that made you want to kiss his mouth hard. "Like feeling my big, fat cock splitting open your tight cunt?"

"Oh god, oh god," you mumbled, moaning while you slid down more of his length before lifting up and pressing down even further. "Feels so good—s'good, Mat," you muttered, still holding his gaze even as your eyes threatened to close from the overwhelming pleasure.

The moment felt too intimate to cut off the connection of your held gaze, so you stared into Mat's eyes as you worked yourself up and down his shaft, taking him impossibly deeper.

"F-fuck, oh fuck," Mat groaned, finally breaking eye contact to bury his face against your chest, like he was overwhelmed by the feeling of being buried inside you. His breath was hot against your breasts as he sucked in deep gulps of air, breathing in your scent while his hands gripped your hips so hard, you thought he might leave fingertip-shaped bruises on your hips—not that you minded. You shivered and clenched around his stiff cock, which only made him grunt in pleasure. "Feel so fucking good, honey," he rumbled, his voice muffled where it was pressed to your sternum. "So warm and tight and fucking perfect around my cock."

"Mhmm," you murmured, rocking your hips in small movements, feeling his cock drag against your sensitive inner walls. You were pressed so close together, you felt a shudder pass through Mat's body and continue through yours. It wasn't long before you were both writhing together, reveling in the feel of each other. "Feel so full—so full of your big cock, Mat," you said in a breathy whisper. You raked your nails through his hair, as he held you to your chest as your hips moved against his tiny thrusts.

"That's right, full of me," he mumbled possessively, nipping at your neck, moving back down to your breasts. He kissed your soft mounds while you rocked on top of him, his hands bringing you down harder and harder on his cock. Steve sucked on your nipple, lapping at the tight peak before giving the same attention to the other. "You feel better than I ever dreamed, honey," he rasped, looking up and catching your eye, depthless emotion filling his green eyes.

Shy heat filled your face and you smiled, warm pleasure curling through your limbs and pulsing insistently between your thighs. Your inner walls clenched down around Mat's cock, like your body was possessive of the feeling of him inside you and never wanted to let him go.

"I'm sorry," he whispered against your ear, pressing small wet kissed along your jaw. "Sorry I've been a bit of a jerk."

"So you admit it?" Your response sped up his thrusts to which you let out a surprised squeak which turned into a string of moans.

"Why don't you accept my apology for now and let me fuck you mindless like you deserve and we can talk about the rest later." His voice turned rough and possessive again, one you already loved as you pussy clamped down on his cock, so you nodded.

In a quick maneuver, Mat had turned the two of you around, lifting one of your legs. "Good girl."

He didn't give you a chance to react before he mercilessly started pounding into your sweet flesh. It was better than you ever could've imagined, the feeling of his hot, hard cock sinking into your tight cunt. His hips were smacking your thighs, his balls slapping against your ass with every thrust as he fucked you. You reveled in the feel of him, your arms and legs wrapped around him and dragging him deeper into the cradle of your body.

Mat's face hovered above you and you could see the way it was contorted with pleasure. The way he was fucking you—so possessively, you knew he was serious when he'd told you he had liked you all along. "Fuck," he choked out the whispered curse, pressing his forehead to yours. "Your pussy feels so fucking good gripping my cock."

You tilted your head up for a kiss, pressing your lips to his as you pulled him closer with your legs, rocking up against him. "More, please—need you, need more," you begged against his mouth, your breaths mingling until you didn't know where you ended and he began.

Giving you what you asked for, Mat pulled his hips back, dragging his cock along every sensitive inch of your cunt, before slamming back inside. His breathing was harsh in your ear as he let out stuttering moans, almost drowning out the sounds of his hips smacking against yours, his balls hitting your ass. "So good, so good, honey, so fucking good," he chanted against your check, his breath hot on your face.

Your face pressed into his neck, lips sucking on his skin until you knew you were going to leave marks, too far gone to care as your tongue darted out to taste him and soothe him. Your legs locked around his waist, your feet hooking behind his thighs so you could draw him deeper until he was fully seated in your cunt and he couldn't pull out more than an inch.

"Oh god, that's it. I'm so close," you mumbled as his thrust slowed but doubled in strength. Words escaped you, your lips forgetting how to do anything but kiss and moan and whimper and whine for Mat. Your head felt hazy, however not from the alcohol from earlier, but on Mat's cock and the dirty words pouring from his mouth.

"Yes, need you to come for me, honey. Need to feel you come on my cock," he muttered, picking up the pace of his slow grinding until he was rutting into you as much as your legs would let him. "Fuck, I can't stop, baby, 'm gonna come." He grunted and groaned, the sounds of his pleasure and his words filling the truck cab. "Come on my cock, baby," Mat rasped as he pounded his cock deep in your hole, grinding his pubic bone against your clit with every thrust, sending you careening toward the edge.

The desperation in Mat's voice and the way his cock pummeled a spot deep in your pussy that had your back arching into him, grinding your clit on him, pushed you over the edge. Your nails dug into his back, desperate to be anchored to him as it felt like you were free-falling through pleasure. Pressing your face into his neck, you muffled a scream, sobbing your release as your cunt rhythmically clamped down hard on his cock.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, that's it baby, that's a good girl," Mat praised, rutting into you harder, fucking you through your orgasm as he chased his own.

His fingers dug into your soft flesh so hard you were sure he'd leave bruises and that thought only sent more warmth curling through you, joining the aftershocks of your orgasm. "Please," you begged, your mouth finally remembering how to form words. "Come in me," you whined, squirming beneath him.

"Fuck—yes," he grunted, thrusting hard and pinning you down onto the mattress with his hips. "Take it, honey, take my come," he bit out through gritted teeth as you felt him start to come deep in your pussy. You moaned when you felt his cock twitch inside you, his come filling your warm hole. He panted, as he thrust a few more times, shallowly, until he was spent. Mat collapsed on top of you while you reveled in the feel of his come coating inside you. "So good for me, baby," he praised, turning his head enough to kiss your cheek.

Your arms and legs felt heavy and loose as your full body relaxed, drifting in the aftermath of a mind-blowing orgasm, feeling sated and happy. Running your fingers through Mat's hair, you hummed in happiness. Unable to stop yourself, you planted little kisses on his neck. He made a contented sound in his chest in response, his thumb sweeping over the back of your hand.

He still stayed buried deep inside you, brushing his lips over your face, your neck and collarbones. You enjoyed it, almost more than what you just did, breathing him in, staying in your fantasy just a little bit longer.

You suddenly snapped back to reality, realizing that while he had just been very sweat and caring, he did behave like a jerk these last few months. You pushed him off of you, pretending you didn't feel the extreme emptiness when his cock slipped out of you. "Get off me."

Mat laughed, sitting up on his elbows as he watched you scramble to find a shirt to cover up with. "Oh, come on, honey. Can't we enjoy this moment?"

"One phenomenal orgasm does just erase these last few months and prove that you actually never hated me," you explained in a snippy tone, blushing when you realized you admitted how good he'd made you feel.

"I'm pretty sure I made you come three times." You rolled your eyes, throwing his sweater at him before finally reaching your sweater and pulling it over your head. "Should I prove it to you again?"

Let's just say that that night and many other nights he continued to prove to you over and over again that he did in fact like you. Maybe even more than like.

[hannieehaee]

SINGING LOW (teaser)

18+ / mdi

summary: despite everyone within the industry knowing mingyu to date around a lot, what didn't meet the public's eye was his undying crush on you, his label mate, and his need to fill the you-shaped hole in his heart with any girl who'd give him the time of day.

content: idol!mingyu x hybeidol!reader, pining, mingyu's kind of a slut, smut, afab reader, reader is a 97 liner, dry humping, a lot of made up shit abt the industry lmao, mentions of other idols, oral sex (f and m receiving), penetrative sex, angst, fluff, etc.

(^ no actual content warnings in the teaser)

wc: 1.7k (teaser) 13k (full fic)

FULL FIC HERE

Or you can check it out on my ko-fi today by subscribing here and going on the fic here

a/n: this is not connected to my lil idol!mingyu x idol!reader series just fyi <3 also i decided to open a ko-fi!! (stop booing me pls T-T) here's a link to the details! anyways hope u enjoy this ive been thinking of this trope for a while <33

masterlist

Mingyu could still remember the day he met you. Well, maybe not met, but it was the first time he ever saw you face to face. It was at some awards show back in 2017. MAMA, was it? Or maybe the MMAs? Well, that didn't matter much. All he knew is that on stage, you had caught his eye.

It was only about a year into his debut, so he still wasn't too used to this scene. He simply sat back and enjoyed the pretty sight in front of him, knowing your group (and you) by name, but not having had the pleasure of meeting you personally by then. He hadn't met many people thus far, actually. At the time, most of his friends in the industry consisted of the twelve other members of his group. Coming from a small company, it had been hard for any of the members to begin to disperse and befriend their peers in the industry. Sure, they all had friendly acquaintances with other idols, but nothing could really compare to what they had with one another.

It wasn't until somewhere around 2017 that Mingyu had finally found a group of friends outside of his twelve members that he could trust. He had always been an outgoing guy, befriending anyone who'd look his way. He reasoned that someone had to be the icebreaker in every social situation, and he had given himself that job. Despite being a charismatic extrovert, however, most of these friendships did not stick. He developed many acquaintances, and maybe even situational friendships, but he had not really considered anyone a friend until meeting one Jeon Jungkook.

Jeon Jungkook was simply the tip of the iceberg. Some believed Mingyu had taken the man under his wing, while others believed the opposite, but it had in fact been a mutual aid. They had both felt a bit lost at the time they met, bonding over the many things their lives had in common. Their age being one of them. At first it was thrown around as a joke, the idea of forming a little group with the many other 97-liners within their industry. But that joke became reality soon after when Mingyu had met Yugyeom backstage during his group's most recent comeback at the time. The three soon became four, taking in a Cha Eunwoo, and then a Jaehyun from NCT. Even some of Mingyu's own members joining, having the privilege of being born on the great year of 1997. This was how you eventually entered the picture.

Mingyu had already known you, well, more so known about you. Despite being the same age, you had debuted a couple of years before Seventeen, which gave him the opportunity to get to know you as an idol before he did personally. He still remembered the days in the green basement, watching comeback shows with the members as they prepared for their own debut. There had been a specific day when your group had been presenting their newest comeback, which was also the day Mingyu first caught sight of you. You had caught his eye immediately. There was just something about you. He might've developed a slight interest in you from that moment on, hoping for the day in which he would become one of your peers.

Upon debuting, Mingyu had only seen you in passing for the first few years, the closest contact being a quick and informal introduction between your groups as you cruised through the backstage hallways of MNET. You looked even better in real life, he had to admit. But sadly, there was no one-on-one interaction between you that day. Nor was there during any of the following encounters throughout the next few years. It wasn't until a few years into the creation of the 97 squad that Mingyu had the pleasure of meeting you personally.

It was sometimes Jungkook who brought in new members to the friend group, but it was mostly Mingyu who would take the liberty of befriending the aforementioned members in order to introduce them into the group. It was mostly due to Mingyu's extroverted personality, which allowed him to strike up conversation with anyone at any time, unlike Jungkook who was a bit shier in that aspect. It had been Jungkook, however, who had first introduced the two of you. It had been backstage of MAMA or MMA, he wasn't completely sure. Mingyu also wasn't sure how you and Jungkook had met; he'd never bothered to ask, but upon your first meeting it had seemed like the two of you were close friends already. Mingyu had to admit that upon that first assumption, he was a bit jealous of his proximity to you. This was immediately followed by the realization that maybe Mingyu's previous infatuation in you went further than mere interest in you as a fellow idol, but it was maybe a bit of a crush. Regardless of what Mingyu had felt at the moment, he knew that he wanted to see you again.

For some unknown reason, you were not present in the following 97 gathering soon after your introduction. This struck Mingyu as strange, seeing as you were also a 97, and a friend of Jungkook's, so why would you not be present? It was soon after revealed to Mingyu that you had yet to be offered a spot in the now renown 97 squad. Jungkook had assessed that all the dating rumors that would come attached to the inclusion of a girl in the group were simply not worth it. He wanted to save you both the headache and the scandal. It seemed like a pretty reasonable decision. Mingyu, however, was not the most reasonable of people, often allowing his decision-making to be led by impulse rather than calculated choices. Which was why Mingyu had found himself walking up to you next time he spotted you at yet another comeback show, promptly asking you if you'd like to meet some of his friends sometime in the following week, claiming it was tradition for all 97s to go for a drink every other week. He felt like he was inviting you to join into a cult, or at least that's what you said to him it had felt like. But you had still agreed, giving him your number so that you could be privy to the details of the meeting.

Your admission to the friend group came very naturally, having already met a few of the members and easily befriending the rest. Yes, it had come with some controversy at first, but Mingyu had come to learn that you were quite strong-minded, not allowing a few rumors to get in the way of your personal life. It was easy for the two of you to grow close after that. Despite having befriended the entirety of the group, you and Mingyu seemed to form a more special bond, even seeking each other's company outside of group gatherings. It was all platonic, of course. Mingyu had quickly realized you did not seem interested in that way, so he tucked his crush deep within him, choosing to offer a friendship to you instead, never speaking of his crush to anyone. This was how the two of you came to become best friends.

This repression of his feelings, however, did not come without its consequences.

Mingyu was a hopeless romantic at heart. This meant that his crush never really went away. It actually worsened over the years that he knew you. But you never acted like anything other than a friend to him. You would always treat him the same way you did Jaehyun or Eunwoo. He was just another one of the members of the friend group to you. Yes, you two were closer in nature – calling each other the best of friends within the industry – but Mingyu did not want to risk that closeness just because of a selfish crush.

The repression of his feelings was also met with other things. Mingyu was a very loving man. He needed to express his love to everyone around him or he would physically explode (Okay, not really, but he swore that's what it felt like to him). He had a loving family to tend to by taking care of them financially and spending every waking minute away from work with. He had his thirteen best friends to shower with playful affection during and out of work. He had his 97-liners to play around with in between work schedules. What he did not have, however, was that one person who was his and only his. Someone to give the type of love that you reserve for only that one special person in your life.

Mingyu found himself seeking this person out since the beginning of time. Many would call Mingyu a womanizer or a player due to the high volume of relationships he had been involved in during his life. It wasn't like that, however. Not at all. Mingyu would date a girl he liked, would be happy with her, but would ultimately realize that the spark he was looking for was not there, causing him to regrettably end the relationship. He was often met with curses directed his way, but he felt it was best to try and end it amicably if he did not see a future there.

His most recent relationship had been with a former staff member. She was funny and sweet, and also pretty easy on the eyes. They got along very well when she first got assigned to Mingyu as part of his personal team. It started as a friendship, but it didn't take long for Mingyu's hopeless romantic tendencies to seek her out in a romantic way, something to which she obviously agreed to immediately. Mingyu had no issue getting women on his side. He had never dealt with rejection all his life. Being handsome, talented, funny, and even rich from a young age, it was rare to be met with anything but enthusiastic responses left and right. The relationship did not end amicably, however. Mingyu should've known better than to date someone who technically worked for him. I mean, he had been through this before (with one stylist, one MNET staff member, and a former Pledis recruiter to be specific), so he should've known by now that mixing business with pleasure was a bad idea. But his romantic tendencies couldn't be helped. He had too much love to give, and no one to give it to.