#then again this is the family who only ever gives me money bc they 'have no idea what to get me!'

[kittlyns]

.

[nomairuins]

anyways sry its not srs eventually ill get it together . and be a person again. one day

[thefabelmans2022]

anyone have xmas gift ideas for people you don't know very well

[ellecdc]

Can i request something bit angsty? 🥺 its totally fine if you dont wanna write it tho!

I was thinking, wolfstar x reader got into an argument and reader started to occlude and the boys got scared they might be out of line bcs she only occlude when shes really hurting?

this is my SHIT - love me some hurt/comfort. thanks for requesting, lovie 🫶

poly!wolfstar x fem!reader

CW: hurt/comfort, arguing, mention of past family discourse, toxic family memories

“I’m sorry. You did what?” Sirius beseeched, walking into the living room from the kitchen and interrupting the points (arguments) you and Remus were each in the process of making. You gave him an unimpressed look, knowing he wasn’t actually asking you to repeat yourself, he just couldn’t believe what he had heard.

“She gave Mary-Ella over a grand.” Remus muttered bitterly.

“I did not give Mary-Ella money, I loaned her money.” You were quick to correct.

Sirius just scoffed. “Sure you did, dollface.” He sneered, making his usual pet-name burn to the touch. “You are never going to see that money again.”

“What were you thinking?” Remus implored.

“I was thinking that my friend was in a bind and needed help. I hardly think that’s a crime.” 

“You didn’t just loan a little bit of money, though. You loaned a lot of money to a friend who is not reliable in the slightest.” Remus asserted.

“We have been working so hard trying to save up to move. To move closer to Diagon Alley so that Remus can be closer to work, and we can finally get out of my uncles flat.” Sirius added.

“I know we’ve been working hard, Sirius. I know this because I too have been working hard. But I’m not going to watch my friend struggle when there’s something I could do to help!”

“This choice impacted all of us. You had no right to make this decision on your own.”

It was your turn to scoff as you turned to glare at Remus incredulously. You had been trying to stay patient, knowing that this close to the moon, Remus was feeling extra sensitive. But him ganging-up on you with Sirius quickly found what little patience you had running thin. “I 'had no right' to make a decision about money that I made on my own?”

“You have no ground to stand on, buttercup. You’re now out more than a grand because of this choice; we’re all out more than a grand because of your choice.” Sirius growled, tone full of derision.

“If the roles were reversed, Mary-Ella would help me out!” You tried to reason, only for Remus to bark a laugh.

“That doesn’t even matter, dove. Because you’d never be in her position and likewise, she’d never be in yours. She’s irresponsible, unreliable, and a mooch.”

You tried to ignore the burning sensation in your sinuses as you spoke to the back of Remus’ head; he apparently had grown so disgusted with you that he couldn’t even look at you anymore. 

“I don’t like you talking about my friends like that. I don’t understand why we’re making such a big deal about this, I jus-” but you were cut off as Remus stood abruptly and turned on you. 

“We’re making this a big deal because it is a big deal!” he bellowed. “You leave this apartment in the morning and it’s like Sirius and I don’t exist anymore. You conduct yourself like some single woman with no responsibility to anyone else but herself.”

“You’re being selfish. You can’t possibly expect to drop a bomb on us like this and, what, expect us to just reply with ‘yes dear’? You fucked up, Y/N.” Sirius added, arms crossed defensively over his chest and cold silver eyes glared daggers that permeated your entire being. Remus carried on, unperturbed by the effects this conversation was having on you.

You felt like you were seventeen again, like you were eleven, nine, six. You felt like a babe whose hand had been slapped for reasons beyond your comprehension.

Do you ever stop and think about the consequences, Y/N?

You were sitting at the dining room table as your father lashed you with his words, each sentence punctuated with the slamming of his fists on the table. You were standing on the platform having just reunited with your parents after the school year as your mother’s claws dug into your arms, warning you that punishment was to come later if you didn’t smarten up. You were cowering in the backyard as your father screamed at you in front of the entire neighbourhood – a free show for all to enjoy. 

You think crying will earn you any sympathy here? You’re a manipulative little witch if you think that will work on me. Keep crying and I’ll give you something to cry about. 

You felt naked – like your figurative clothes had been violently ripped from your body – and there you stood, stripped bare for all to leer at. Standing before two people...who were meant to love you unconditionally...as they laced their words with venom and spat vitriol at you.

You couldn’t even hear the point Remus was trying to make anymore. It didn’t matter anyway.

He hated you. You were hated. You were a disappointment, a burden, unwanted.

But you couldn’t cry – could never cry. You’d just be manipulating them. You were deceitful. Emotions were deceitful. The way you felt was wrong. And they were right.

Always right. 

So, you did what you always did; you made it quiet. 

You began layering rows of stones around your being. Protection. Space. Distance. Safety.

They couldn’t hurt you from all the way in here, not from the other side of your wall. You’d be safe here. Here in the quiet.

It was safe in the quiet. 

Sirius felt disgraceful at how long it took him to notice the signs of you pulling away from the conversation. Away from them. Away from him.

Remus – always more sensitive than the two of you when it came to the likes of money, combined with feeling extra flustered with the upcoming full moon – had no reason to expect nor recognize signs of occlusion. 

Suddenly, Sirius was fourteen again. Walburga was standing over him with her wand aimed at his chest, but all he could see was Regulus. He had prayed at the time that his brother could hear him begging in his mind:

Turn it off, Reg. Just turn it off. It can’t hurt you if you turn it off. 

Sirius himself sat in an almost constant state of occlusion during his fifth year, knowing somewhere deep in his gut that the beginning of the end of his life as the heir of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black (or the end of his life in general) was near. 

Growing up wasn’t a whole lot easier for you, it seemed. And he knew that when things got to be too much, you did what you needed to do to protect yourself.

He suddenly hated himself. You weren’t supposed to need to protect yourself from him and Remus. It was their job to protect you; just like you always protected them. 

How you protected Remus from wasting away on the days leading up to and recovering from the full moon. You never let him go hungry or thirsty, you always made sure the space was clean and tidy, and you never let him fall into his typical pre- and post-moon self-loathing.

And you protected Sirius from himself; from saying things that he wouldn’t be able to take back, from being the worst version of himself, from losing you and Remus completely. 

He didn’t deserve you.

You didn’t deserve this.

For fuck’s sake all you had been doing was being kind.

Being a good friend, someone that others could rely on, protecting people who meant so much to you. 

All you were doing was being your kind, courteous, protective, generous self that Remus and Sirius had fallen in love with from the very start.

“Moony!” Sirius pleaded, causing the lycanthrope to pause in his tangent. You didn’t even flinch at the sudden change in the atmosphere as Remus looked at Sirius bewilderedly. 

“We’ve lost her.” Sirius murmured quietly, causing Remus to spin to observe you. 

“Well...” Remus began, still struggling to shake off his anger and the need to argue. “But I-”

“It’s enough, Remus.” Sirius hissed quietly, staring at Remus with a look he hoped conveyed no nonsense.

He apparently succeeded as Remus let out whatever breath he’d been holding as he turned again to face you.

“Dove, I’m sorry.” Remus whispered as he tried to move towards you, but you instinctively took a step back to maintain the distance between you; your arms wrapped around your middle protectively as if that was all that was holding you together. 

Sirius’ heart felt like it split in two – and based off of the look on Remus’ face, he wasn’t fairing any better.

“Y/N?” Sirius tried. You didn’t turn to look at him, but you hummed in quasi-acknowledgement.

“Can you look at me?” He tried quietly, but you shook your head no. 

Remus made a pained sound as he tried to move towards you again, ducking his head down in an attempt to make eye contact with you. You didn’t back away from him this time, but your arms tightened in their hold around your middle.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry I...I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. I’m...I was out of line.”

“Come back?” Sirius pleaded. “Please.”

You took a deep breath and turned your face towards your boyfriends, but Sirius could tell your eyes were still foggy – you were still hiding.

“We won’t talk about it anymore. That conversation is done.” Sirius said.

“But-” you started, voice grating from the tightness in your throat, but he cut you off.

“The conversation is done. You did what you thought was right, you were being your kind lovely self, helping your friend when they needed you. We shouldn’t have yelled at you, sweets. I’m sorry.”

Remus made another pained sound and moved closer to you again.

“Dovey, I’m so sorry. Please, can I- would you like a hug?”

Sirius watched as you looked at Remus, seeming to weigh your options before you nodded once at him. Remus needn’t any more invitation and quickly (though gently) made for you, enveloping you in his arms. 

The three of you stayed like that – Remus with his arms around you, you with your arms around yourself and your face pushed into his chest, and Sirius standing helplessly at the side – before Sirius started to notice some tension leaving your shoulders.

“Why’d you go?” He asked you quietly, gently placing a hand in the middle of your shoulder blades and rubbing in a way he hoped was soothing.

“I didn’t want to cry.” You admitted into Remus’ chest, neither boy missing how tight your voice seemed to be, even as your voice barely raised above a whisper. 

“Oh, dolly. Just cry. Cry, okay? Make us feel like tossers, but don’t leave.” Sirius said.

“I didn’t want you to feel bad.” You muttered wetly, finally turning so Sirius could see your red and wet face. 

“But we deserved it. Oh, my love.” Remus cooed as he all but picked you up and locked your legs around his hips, forcing you to move your grip from around yourself to around him.

“I’m not s’posed to make you cry. I’m s’posed to make you smile.” He muttered pitifully, pressing his lips into your hair.

“And cum.” Sirius spoke in the same pitiful tone, brushing a strand of hair from your forehead.

You laughed wetly and the last of your occlusion appeared to slip away which was what Sirius had been aiming for. It didn’t make him feel all that much better though.

“Oh, my girl. I’m so sorry, Pads is right. You were just being your lovely self, and I’m a bastard.”

Sirius watched as your brows furrowed. “You’re not a bastard.”

“No,” Sirius agreed readily, “he was just being a bastard. Both of us were. Do you think you can forgive us?”

You nodded quickly but Remus tsked in response.

“Don’t let us off so easily, dovey. Make us pay for it. What do you need? Do you need a foot rub? You want cake? Ice cream? What about a kitten? You’ve always wanted a kitten.”

You had been shaking your head at everything Remus said until the last one, your curiosity obviously piqued.

Fuckin’ hells, Sirius thought, if she gets a kitten everytime one of us acts like an arse, we’re going to be overrun with cats by next month. 

[princessbrunette]

JJ who is thirsting and horny after the pretty daughter of the Kook family he works for but gets cornered and roughed up by Rafe andhis croonies bc it's Rafe who 'deserves you since you're basically of the same breed, not a dirty Pogue like him', plus you're too good for someone like JJ who only wants you for pussy and money while Rafe is a born protector, all aggressive and territorial, so he's obviously the better choice for you.

I think the boys would genuinely start tweaking if you ever pranced around in that pretty pink frily bikini of yours in your garden amd send them a wave and sweet smile :/

ohhhhh my god. oh my god im obsessed . “while rafe is a born protector, all aggressive and territorial” what if i nutted

୧ ‧₊˚ 🍮 ⋅ ☆

rafe literally wanting to explode when jj shows up as a waiter at midsummers and you all but squeal and run over to him and throw your arms around his neck so excited to see him !! and rafe tugs you away by the arm, gritting his teeth like “you’re here with me, remember?” giving your arm a threatening squeeze but like technically your parents set that up n you can hug who u want !! 🙄

jayj getting kinda spooked when you hug him like that in public because he’s so conscious about your family seeing, he doesn’t wanna get in trouble bc he really needs his job! so he kinda just gives your waist a little squeeze like “uh—hey there, sweetheart, oop, watch the hands— kinda on the clock here but uh, you havin’ fun?” conversing w you before you get yanked away by rafe … 🙄

rafe and his friends roughing him up in the bathroom whilst rafe lectures him :(( “talk t’me, pogue —what is it you really want, nah nah, it’s all good. we’re all guys here.” getting in his face. “is it money? know you don’t have much of that. hey, if i had my wallet, id definitely donate a lil’ something to your cause but uh, this is a new suit.” he pats himself down.

“think i’ll have to pass on that.” jj strains, struggling in kelces headlock.

“what is it then… is it pussy? you…” he huffs out a laugh. “you think she’s gonna give it up for a dirtbag like you? dirtyin’ up that pretty pink bed of hers?” jj doesn’t say anything, continuing to try and fight his way out and rafe just laughs. “knew it, s’always pussy man. you just wanna get right up in there, don’t you maybank. spread those legs and go to town, probably never had anything like that huh? just busted dirty pogue pussy. listen man i— i almost feel sorry for you... it’s so not happening.”

and then jj spits in his face which makes rafe laugh again, pulling back and wiping his face with an amused “oh?”

ofc you walk in at the worst time, brows all furrowed playing with the material of your dress. “what’s going on?” looking between the boys. rafe of course swoops in, joining you at your side with a hand at your lower back.

“i dunno! came in here n’your friend started tweakin’ out, swinging on me. you probably shouldn’t talk to him anymore, babe.”

୧ ‧₊˚ 🍮 ⋅ ☆

[toxictigertonic]

Three count em THREE whole people said they liked my headcanons and wanted more so I'm back with more, this time for how they sleep bc I think it's funny.

COYLE

- Like a damn ROCK.

- But also, extremely vigilant at the same time.

- You could pick him up, shake him, scream in his face, he sleeps. Door cracks open a little? Floorboard creaks? He's up and ready for a fight.

- I really hope he'd sleep in boxers but he strikes me as a butt ass naked kinda guy. Enter his room at your own peril he WILL fight naked.

- Sleeps with his arms to his side, stiff as a board. Dead center of the bed though so good luck if you're looking to share with him.

- Sleeps like that partly bc of military and partly bc if he sleeps on his side he drools.

- Snores like a fucking lawn mower. Has woken people up from a sound sleep bc of it. People are holding grudges.

- The sunglasses and hat stay ON.

- No blankets, no sheets. You can guess how awful this is with the whole sleeping naked thing.

- Sleep walker. Again, awful when you remember that he's nakey.

- One pillow. There is a perfectly head shaped dent in it from his bald ass dome.

GOOSEBERRY

- How many pillows can you fit on a bed? Okay now double it.

- Her bed has the comfiest blankets and the biggest quilt ever.

- Futterman gets his own pillow, so she sleeps on her back with one arm up on the pillow and the other resting on her stomach.

- This is because if he doesn't have his own pillow he'll complain. Also he'll get lost in the mess of blankets.

- She still does the Futterman voice in her sleep. Futterman talks in his sleep. Futterman does not say nice things in his sleep.

- She also talks in her sleep but she's talking about making sure the children are safe or that her pie needs to come out of the oven while Futterman says things about dental hygiene (and how you'll be taught about it whether you like it or not)

- The ONLY one of the prime assets that brushes her teeth before bed. Doesn't wash her face though.

- If she didn't have Futterman to worry about she'd be a side sleeper, pillow tucked under her head and blanket tucked up under her chin.

- She'd have one stuffed animal me thinks. I'd say it's the duck but that feels too simple. How about a mmm ratty old cat.

- Wakes up with the blankets off of her everytime. She doesn't know how it happens but it does.

- Wears the cutest pajama set ever. Futterman deserves pajamas too.

- Sleepytime tea connoisseur. Chamomile with cinnamon and honey every night.

FRANCO

- Again, God help us where do I begin.

- He is my little skrunkly so I say this all with love. Maybe. Potentially. Maybe a little hate.

- Would absolutely spend the money to get an adult sized crib to sleep in. Maybe Murkoff got him one just to make him a little less of a brat (affectionate).

- Sooooo many stuffed animals. So many. From classic stuffies to weird stuffed animals you never would've thought existed.

- He cuddles with the same one every night though, without fail. According to character ai it's a pink elephant so I'm going with that.

- I feel like he'd have a special pajama set for each weekday. Or he'd wear whatever the hell he was wearing during the day to bed. Not sure which.

- If he doesn't have the binky he'll resort to thumb sucking, he won't sleep if he can't have one or the other.

- Also needs sound to sleep, a silent room makes him antsy. Typically has cartoons going.

- (Sad one for those of you who like angst) Dreams about what life could've been like if he had a happy family. Wakes up in tears every time.

- (Cute one to apologize for that) He's clingy as all hell. If someone were to sleep in the same bed as him they'd become his human teddy bear. Good luck getting up this mother fucker has Grip and is so starved for positive attention.

- He wakes up groggy as hell. Give him 30 minutes after he's gotten up bc before then he barely remembers where he is.

- Kicks in his sleep. And they're not gentle kicks either that little bastard is MEAN.

- Drools, sorry not sorry.

- If you pet his head he'll be out like a light :)

Let me know if there are any specific headcanons you'd like to hear out of my noggin because I promise I have plenty. I can talk about these freaks alllll day.

[frostedshore]

I'm a sims 3 girlie and I'm gonna make a long post abt my experience as a NEW sims 2 player. I know nobody cares about this but this is my blog I can do whatever I want!!! And I wanna write appreciation for sims 2.

Ok so first of all, playing ts2 from ts3 is HARD. I underestimated sims 2. Before playing it, I already have prejudice that it will have less content than sims 3 & that the experience of playing sims 2 will be boring bc there is less lifetime goals, no traits, and less gameplay. And I was right. The first time I played sims 2, I found myself getting bored playing with Strangetown. My first gameplay was playing 1 rotation with all of sims 2 strangetown households & I thought to myself "damn i really have to force myself playing with so many households so everybody age up." I closed my game & think so myself "yep. I'm never gonna play sims 2 again." Don't get me wrong, the story of Strangetown is AWESOME. But the lack of gameplay makes me feel like i'm stuck with doing the same mundane tasks again and again for a week with every household (ex: making sure my sims got promoted, taking care of needs, socializing). I admit that going on dates are more fun in sims 2 but it isn't enough to hook me.

Tbh I can't play sims 4 bc it feels like dollhouse simulator. And sims 2 feels a little bit like dollhouse simulator too at first. The reason why I love the sims 3 so much is because of the sims 3 skill challenges. I love that if you play the guitar in 10 parties you will get a bigger tip every time you perform for tips in public. Or if you do an interaction for a certain amount you will get special perks. This is the same reason why I love playing stardew valley and feel so much joy when my character fall asleep & level up their farming/foraging/fishing & unlock new craftables/abilities/gameplay.

But then I tried giving sims 2 a second chance, and this time I play with open for business & this EP CHANGED MY LIFE. OFB is the best sims EP ever. The gameplay is SMOOTH & I've never felt so much joy from playing ANY sims games. It's so awesome bc we can make any business we want! And I eventually fall in love with sims 2 rotational gameplay when I do a BACC challenge & made my own hood with 4 founding families where each family have a role & businesses. Farmers in my hood own a grocery store & my restaurant owner buy his ingredients from them. I also make my 'mechanic' sim service sims, meaning that when I'm playing with another family & their plumbing broke, my mechanic sim (who also run a business where he restore junk cars) will come & fix their plumbing for them. Everyone's life is intertwined and they all need each other. My mayor sim also collect money from the households, and once the mayor have enough money to build a new park, the townies will have more places to visit. So I'm always motivated to make each rotation counts & tried to make as much money as possible.

After playing TS2, i'm not sure how I can go back to playing sims 3. Climbing the corporate ladder with sims 3 job now feels meaningless and sims 3 outings SUCKS. But I am still frustrated with the lack of gameplay sims 2 have compared to sims 3. I just want sims 2 to have all of sims 3 gameplay & it'll be my ultimate dream game😭 (yes now i prefer sims 2 graphics + rotational/aging system + loading screens + the freedom to decorate the hood + etc.) I just need sims 2 to have more skills, opportunities, skill challenges, interactions, and traits & I won't even look at any sims games that are being developed like paralives/inzoi😭 I really do think sims 2 found the formula for the perfect life simulator, but it's flawed. Anyways if you're a sims 3 girlie who only ever played sims 3, do give sims 2 a chance :D You won't regret it!

[obae-me]

ive been sick recently, here are some of the fever dreams and various other stupid thoughts ive had;

1. mammon and mc taking beel to the human realm to compete in eating challenges. he gets free food and they get to laugh at the horrified faces of the judges while he demolishes everything and asks for seconds

2. remember the golden age of a/b/o? demons have a higher sense of smell so when mc first arrived, there was a scent blocker in the summoning spell. This fails at some point and now mc has to hide out with solomon or else the brothers will follow them around like they’re the pied piper bc since when did mc smell so good?

3. mc convinving the brothers that humans molt by doing the pva glue thing. solomon is the only one who knows different and absolutely backs them up

4. freaking out the brothers by sleepwalking/talking. mc opening levi’s door in the middle of the night (he’s still awake, rui-chan just dropped a new episode he needs to analyse) and just dead staring at him for several seconds before barking and walking away. he avoids them for days after

5. going to the human realm and bring back a souvenir for diavolo every time. they’re usually the silly things you can buy when you visit tourist areas but they’re held in as high regard as the royal family heirlooms. a small snow globe with a sunglasses wearing gnome inside is displayed next to the royal jewels

6. sampling every different kind of tea with barbatos like a bucket list (chamomile? thumbs up! darjeeling? hates with a burning passion)

7. leaving offerings for the demons/angels out of habit whenever they do something nice. new beauty routine- asmo finds roses in his room. high grade on a paper- satan finds a small cat statuette on top of a pile of books. loaned a listening ear- simeon finds new pens in his writing desk

8. mc being affectionate without realising. humans can be big on physical contact so it’s can be common to kiss or hug regularly. demons are not like this and they short circuit everytime mc kisses their cheeks in thanks or hugs them in greeting

thank you for your time i’m going back to sleep

Oh no! I'm sorry you're sick! Drink tons of fluids and get so much rest!!

1. I bet you Mammon put some money down on him somehow and became absolutely giddy with how much Beel was winning. He would treat him to a buffet afterwards.

2. Ah yes, the wonderful and semi cursed days of a/b/o. I have no doubt that something about their human drives them all crazy.

3. I love love love the thought of MC and Solomon doing things that freak the demons and angels out a bit, mixing real things with fake facts and no one ever knowing what's true or not.

4. What if the brothers all assumed that only Belphie did stuff like that because of his Sin, and so when MC comes around and does similar things, it freaks them out a bit. Again, I love the idea of a human giving all the powerful demons a bit of the jeebies.

5. That is such a cute thing, oh my goodness. Diavolo being obsessed with cheap cliche tourist souvenirs. He's got mugs and shotglasses with different states and countries on them, the fridge in the kitchen has a bunch of magnets of various attractions. He's got several baseball caps he wears around the castle when people aren't around.

6. So sweet! I love the thought of Barbatos having a little notepad and writing notes on their reactions of different teas so he knows exactly what to serve them and when. (I love me a good earl grey myself).

7. As a person who loves giving gifts, this idea is so sweet. It's like a beautiful equivalent of getting a little gold star. They deserve good things, all of them.

8. I think I've done a headcanon of this particular thing (or maybe not, maybe it's just been on my mind before). But yes! Coming up and giving them a hug when they're sad, telling them they love them before hanging up the phone, all things that makes the demons melt instantly, and MC isn't even aware.

Thank you for sharing your dreams!! I love hearing about dreams! Rest up!!

[mahs-dumpster]

Lady and The Tramp

a/n: do not let the title fool you this is just angst lmao

tw: oc x canon (Maisie Bows x Fellow Honest), uhhhh idk does ghosting counts as a tw?

words: around 1k

Tagging @4necdote bc I told you I'd post this

It had been another wonderful night, Maisie once again did another performance at a local bar, showcasing her new song, and if the applause was anything to go by, she did a good job, and the song was well received. 

Still, there was something odd. Maisie could hear steps behind her as she kept walking back home, she was getting more and more worried as time went on and as the streets became less crowded. Maybe she should’ve accepted when her manager offered to walk with her… 

She needed to do something before whoever it was got to her.

“Excuse m—”

It was then she turned around and kicked the person without any hesitation, making the body of the man who was following her fall on the ground. 

“Wait…” Maisie stared at his groaning figure struggling to get up, until she recognized the locks of ginger hair, fox ears and tail, and she became even angrier, kicking him again, but this time, right there. 

“I can see you're still as feisty as ever–” Fellow groaned, holding in between his legs, incapable of getting up because of the pain he was feeling. 

“I thought you were a creep, and now, after I looked at you I confirmed that you are, in fact, a creep.” She said, while Fellow simply looked at her displeased — and in pain. Maisie turned around without a care, wanting to end this exchange right then and there, but Fellow forced himself to get up and walk up to her, grabbing her wrist so she’d stay. 

“Listen, I just want to talk, ok?”

“Talk about what? There's nothing to talk about.” Maisie laughed sarcastically, getting closer to the man as she glared daggers at him. “You left me, not only that you disappeared. No note, no warning, no nothing. And as if that wasn't enough, I had to find out you've been getting yourself into that disgusting, shady business—”

“I thought you liked my shady side?”

“That's criminal. I should've filed a report to the police.” Maisie turned around, freeing her wrist from his grasp, wanting to go home. Fellow however, didn't give up, and stood in front of her, preventing her from leaving. “I advise you to get lost before I kick you in the balls again.”

“Please.” Fellow tried one more time, suddenly serious, his playful facade gone. “Listen to me for a minute, just one minute.”

Maisie looked to the side and loudly groaned. She appeared to be thinking for a moment, until she looked at him again, still angry, but trying to calm down. 

“What do you want, Fellow Honest?”

Fellow smiled. “I want another chance.”

Maisie laughed, very loudly in fact, she couldn't believe the audacity he had to come to her after all this time and ask for another chance. What does he think she is? Some lovesick lady just waiting for her prince charming to come back?

“Listen, I'm not a fool, Fellow.” She began, walking closer to the man, her eyebrows furrowed as her anger became harder to contain. “I may be a romantic, yes, I dream of love and family and a knight in shining armor but I am not a fool. I can recognize a scoundrel, and after what you did to me you've made it clear that you're one.” 

Fellow sighed, frowning at the woman. He was doing his best to be sincere, to open his heart to her, and yet…

Maybe if he explained himself?

“I didn't have a choice, Maisie, I had to make money to sur–”

“That's bullcrap and you know it! You and Gidel weren't doing the best but I was always by your side, I was willing to do what it takes to help you, yet you were always too prideful to ask for help!” 

“Prid– you yourself were having trouble with your family, how the heck would you of all people help?” Fellow finally had lost his cool. He was doing his best to stay calm, collected and polite, especially because he knew he screwed things up, he didn't have any right to get angry… but still, she wasn't even listening to him! “Maisie, I love you, but I was desperate. I had to think about what the best course of action was, I needed a well paying job for–”

“Have you considered that maybe I would’ve wanted to struggle with you?” Fellow’s ears twitched at that.

“Maisie. There was nothing you–”

“I just wanted you to be with me.”

It was quiet after that. Fellow was left unable to reply as his eyes widened, and Maisie's eyes began to sting, a tear falling without warning, and she hurriedly went to dry her face. She breathed in and out, then, she continued.

“I could’ve tried job hunting with you, we could’ve looked for opportunities together, I don't know, just– anything, I would’ve done anything if it meant you’d be by my side. I just wanted you.” she cleared her throat and regained her composure, her angry facade coming back. “But I can see you never even thought of that. To be honest, you probably never even loved me.”

“Wh– No, of course I did.” Fellow tried to reach out to her, to touch her in any way, to get her in his arms and comfort her like he did years ago, but this time, Maisie walked out of his reach, holding herself as to try and not fall for his supposed tricks. “Ribbons…”

“It's miss Bows to you, mister Fellow.” the cat beast woman spoke, her eyes cold as she looked at Fellow one last time. “I hope this is the last time we speak. Good night.”

And with that, she was gone, walking back to her house as she tried to contain the tears that kept falling from her eyes. Seeing Fellow again was the last thing she wanted, she thought she’d be angry, enraged at him, but she was mostly just… sad. He never loved her, not the same way she loved him.

After all, he was a tramp. A mere scoundrel, and she’d just been one of his preys.

Fellow loudly sighed and crouched down, grabbing a cigarette and lighting it up. He inhaled and exhaled and looked to the sky, his eyes looking at the stars for guidance. He was a fool, he knew that, who in their right mind would let Maisie slip through their fingers? A beautiful, kind, charming and strong woman, with a captivating voice who managed to make Fellow go crazy just by speaking his name. 

He never deserved her, but this time, it was like it was confirmed. She was a lady, after all, and she deserved a well meaning gentleman. Not a money hungry and selfish fox like him.

It was painfully clear now, that a lady like her would never be with a tramp like him.

•••

[Train station, a while after the events of Playful Land, before Fellow and Maisie met]

"Goodness, I'm beat. Those kids did a number on us, eh, Gidel?" Fellow stretched his arms as he said that, the feeling of the new clothes on his body felt great, it was as if he could finally relax after having to suck up to such an annoying boss. Gidel nodded, his clothes still oversized as ever, but at this point, Fellow was convinced he simply liked the feeling of them. "Now, I wonder where we should go..." He said that mostly to himself, grabbing a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it up, but Gidel seemed to take that as an actual question.

The kid got up from his seat and immediately began searching in Fellow's belongings, in the few bags they were able to bring from Playful Land. Fellow complained at him for looking through his stuff without asking, but once the smaller one showed up what he wanted, the ginger immediately shut up.

"Stop, leave that alone." Fellow said, immediately grabbing the small photo he so adored. "What did you want with that anyway?"

Gidel grabbed the hand he was using to hold the photo, and the cat beastman pointed towards the one in the picture, trying to convey what he wanted through his actions. Fellow stayed a moment in quiet, not because he didn't understand, but rather, because he was unsure.

"You know she doesn't want to see me, not even if I was covered in gold." He stared at the picture, a photo he took of Maisie when they first started dating. Even after they broke up he was unable to get rid of it, holding onto her smile for dear life. "As much as she likes you, I'm pretty sure it's going to be hatred by association because you walk with me, Gidel."

Gidel pleaded, his hands locked together as his eyes were closed. It wasn't just Fellow who missed her, Maisie had become an important figure in Gidel's life, and he hated the idea of not seeing her ever again, but now, they were free, they could see each other, so why not give it a try?

Fellow was quiet for a moment, before he sighed.

"Fine. But don't tell me I didn't warn ya later, you ninny."

[headfullofpresley]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 | 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏

Pairing: Elvis Presley x reader

Word count: 3,8K

Series summary: Elvis has worked hard to become the successful adult movie director that he is today and all that hard work is paying off by how well the public reacts to his work and how much money is coming into his bank account, despite the fact that porn is still very much illegal. Working in the adult industry is not something you saw yourself doing despite coming from a place where it always has been out in the open, but you soon find yourself swept up and away by a certain American director and right into the heart of the porn industry. The only question that remains is... will you sink, or will you swim?

Chapter summary: Working on his newest and what he believes his biggest project yet, Elvis flies to Amsterdam to shoot most of it. Everything is going well until he's forced to fire his leading actress on the spot and there's a stop being put to his work. But as he wanders into a cafe for a much needed drink in the bustling city, faith seems to be on his side.

Warnings: porn director!Elvis, European!reader, set in the year 1970 (so some details may be a little off?), obvious mentions of sex/porn etc, mentions of prostitution, Elvis giving reader a lowkey foot rub in public (honestly, he's going to be into feet in this series bc i'm feral), mentions of soft drugs, alcohol consumption.

A/N: hi! this idea was born from an ai but mostly from The Deuce (definitely watch it!), where i took most inspiration from. i'm super excited about this series, and honestly it's giving me a lot of inspiration to write in general again! this is going to be a short series- i'm thinking around 5 parts, but we shall see, hm? no smut in this part, but obvi there will be in future parts, as well as some darker topics. hope y'all enjoy! ❤

masterlist | want to be added to the taglist? just ask!

Who ever said Hollywood was a jungle has obviously never set foot in New York City.

They’ve obviously never experienced what a real concrete jungle is like and they definitely don’t know that the Golden Age of Hollywood has seen its best days. Directors were feeling pressures from the outside – from the public that wanted something different, something more than those cringy movie kisses. The smaller movie theaters were starting to ID their customers because their movies weren’t so family friendly anymore. Establishments that specialized in peep shows were popping out of the ground like weeds. Burlesque clubs were turning into proper stripclubs and people would rather spend their money on naked girls dancing in their faces than on overpriced cocktails at supper clubs.

They didn’t know that the world was changing.

They didn’t know that even though adult entertainment was far from legal, it was one of the most produced and exported and imported products in the country.

They didn’t know. But Elvis Presley did.

Having made his start as a director ten years ago when he was in his early twenties and was nothing but a naive Southern boy from Memphis, he crawled and clawed his way through shitty jobs in New York. From parking cars, to serving drinks in sketchy bars to being a bodyguard at a massage parlor and driving around hookers to their appointments… He’s seen it all, and he’s done it all.

He worked hard to get where he currently was – being one of the most famous porn directors in New York. Everyone knew who he was and everyone respected him. Times Square was home to countless of peep shows, stripclubs and whatnot and you’ll bump into a prostitute every five steps. Elvis never used their services but he was friendly with them, greeting them as if he had known them forever. Which in some girls’ cases, was true.

Most of those girls were looking for a way out, wanting to get off the streets and into the safety of a movie studio, but Elvis has learned from a previous mistake where he hired a girl who had a pimp and the leech tried to get him to pay them more than the other actors. Since then, Elvis stuck to actors and actors only.

The director was doing good for himself, owning his own studio and brand under the name of “Presley Productions”, and living in a spacious apartment in the city, yet he still wanted more.

He wanted to make a movie so good, it would get international attention. He wanted it to be so good that theaters wouldn’t stop showing it and he wanted it to be so damn good that it would get him a shiny, gold award on his shelf.

And whenever Elvis had his mind set on something, he made sure to accomplish whatever it was that he wanted to accomplish.

It would only be a matter of time before Hollywood would get whiff of his work, and who he was, and for him to open up a second studio there. Elvis didn’t believe in “Hollywood first, the world later” though – he was going to knock everyone off their feet, from the housewives in California to the business men in Hong Kong, all at the same time.

 

The script he had written for his newest movie had been done for months now and all there was left to do was the casting. The process went fairly simple and easy – his main actress was Annette Haven and she was a gorgeous brown eyed brunette, but for some reason he couldn’t get used to her.

Granted, he wasn’t the one playing in the movie and her co-star seemed to have no issues with her, so perhaps he figured he was just being too picky because he was so passionate about this project. Annette was friendly during the first few weeks of filming but as they got to Amsterdam, the sex capital of the world, to shoot most of the movie, her behavior started to change.

She was cranky on set, pranced around like she was the Queen and was late for filming almost every single day. To put it mildly, she was getting on Elvis’s nerves and when she showed up high as a kite one afternoon, the director was done with this girl.

He never was a tiran on set and always made sure everyone was doing okay, but right now it was like a bomb exploded and everyone watched and were awkwardly rooted to their places as Elvis had a go at the main actress and fired her on the spot.

“Take the rest of the day off. We’ll figure things out tomorrow,” he announced to the other actors and the crew. He gave them a bitter smile before he turned around and walked out of the studio they rented, angry and annoyed at the fact he lost a full day of filming, his leading actress and money.

He needed a goddamn drink.

 

Amsterdam was a crowded, bustling city and in some ways, it was much like New York but it was different in so many ways too. People were a little more laid back here (and he figured the many coffee shops where one definitely was not drinking coffee but getting high at instead had something to do with that) and instead of running into a lady of the night on a street corner, they were placed behind windows in certain areas. The Red Light District, for example. It was crowded with tourists and while there was a long canal outstretched in the middle of the district, there were shops, bars, coffee shops and sexual tinted business lined up on the sides, drawing people’s attention left and right. The infamous windows were located in the alley ways, the red lights that were on indicating a girl was working at the time. While he was definitely no stranger to sex workers and what the normal citizen would call “wildness of it all”, it was like he had stepped into a different world, yet it felt a little bit like home too.

Spotting a typical Dutch brown cafe on a corner, he stepped inside and was welcomed by the loud rumbles of laughter of men shooting pool and sitting at the tables and the bar and the smell of cigarette smoke and beer. Nobody aside from the waitress even spared him a glance as he sat at a table near the window and the second he looked at the girl that came up to him to take his order, a smirk spread across his face. In the middle of August, it was only natural for the girl to be wearing a pair of shorts and he was glad this place didn’t set any strict dress codes for their employees, because Good Lord, those legs looked like they went on for days. He noticed the red heeled sandals she wore on her feet and her fresh pedicure on her toes, drawing him in even more. The way that black little apron was tied around her waist did things to him and as his eyes shamelessly moved further up and noticed the size of her breasts that were filling up the tight top she was wearing, he could only think two things – first, he needed to get his hands on those things. And second, she would be perfect for the movie he was shooting out here.

Annette Haven who?

“Hallo?!” You spoke again, waving your hand in front of the dark haired man that just sat down by the window when he didn’t respond to you the first time. Instead, he was shamelessly checking you out from head to toe and working in a bar in the Red Light District, you were used to it but it still got you a little annoyed at times. At least some men tried to hide it and most men actually spoke, with actual words. As he excused himself in English and scanned the crowd for a second, you realised he wasn’t Dutch and decided to cut him some slack.

Perhaps he really was a creep, but your boss wouldn’t be too happy if a customer walked out without being served.

Happened before, because while other waitresses accepted the bold and creepy men that came to drink almost every single day, your mother had always taught you to stand up for yourself and to not take any shit from anyone.

Besides, this was 1970. What did men expect? For you to drape yourself over their laps and beg them to take you? Absolutely not.

“A beer’s just fine, honey,”

You bit your tongue to ignore the pet name and flashed the American a smile, looking him in the eye. “Anything else? Something to eat maybe?”

Elvis grinned and shook his head, watching you walk away to get his drink. You were a very pretty girl with a very pretty body and he realised he was going to amp up his charm if he wanted to see what was underneath.

And he definitely wanted to see what was underneath.

 

“There you go,” you said as you came back over to his table and put his beer down in front of him. Before you could make your escape once more, Elvis spoke up.

“You know, your English is pretty good,”

At this, you almost scoffed as you stood up straight and looked at him with a hand on your hip. These Americans were always so full of themselves.

“Thanks. It’s only a language spoken in countries all over the world,” you smiled sarcastically and Elvis grinned in amusement as he leaned his arms on the edge of the table, quirking an eyebrow.

Feisty. He was intrigued.

“I been to Germany back in the day and believe me, they definitely didn’t sound as pretty as you,”

You raised your eyebrows a little at the odd compliment. Didn’t sound as pretty? That was the first time you ever heard something like that. This guy looked exactly what you imagined a pimp to look like – gold rings adorning his fingers, dressed up nicely in a velvet crushed jacket despite the heat outside – yet he used the word “pretty”, instead of something vulgar like most customers did when they’d try to flirt with you.

You knew you had probably judged him too quickly and although you were intrigued by him the same way he was by you, you weren’t going to make it easy on him.

“Let me tell you a secret,” you whispered as you leaned down and closer to him a little, looking straight into his eyes, which you noticed were very blue and very pretty. “You’re not in Germany anymore, sir,”

Elvis let out a laugh as you gave his shoulder a playful pat and raised his glass, a sly smirk settling on his features.

“You got that right, honey,”

As you walked away, he didn’t fail to notice the playful smile you threw his way as you looked over your shoulder.

 

Elvis wasn’t planning on spending half the day in this particular cafe, but for some reason, he was already on his third beer and he just couldn’t leave.

He could say it was because he needed to clear his mind and think of a solution to fix the problem about not having a lead actress anymore, but the little voice in his head told him he was looking right at that exact solution.

You.

He knew it would be risky – you were just a waitress and you probably had never set foot on a movie set in your entire life, let alone an adult movie set, but he couldn’t stop imagining you in front of the camera, in all kinds of positions.

As he watched you move around the place, serving customers, it was almost like he was watching a movie right now. The way you moved so effortlessly on those little heels, the way you avoided customers that were a little too handsy and the way you were laughing with local customers who you’d probably served many times before.

The sound of your laugh was like music to his ears and he wondered how you’d sound while you were being fucked with those gorgeous long legs dangling in the air. Just imagining you moaning in pleasure had a shiver run down his spine.

And while you had pretended you didn’t like Elvis at all and he was just another annoying American tourist, you couldn’t help yourself from glancing into his direction every so often and making your way to his table to ask if he needed anything else.

When you did just that after talking to some locals at the bar, he looked at you and smiled.

“Sit down,” he told you as he nodded to the empty seat across from him as he leaned back in his seat. “Doesn’t the old man give you a break?”

You chuckled softly as he nodded to an older looking, grumpy man in the corner behind the bar. Your boss. He barely did any of the work and just sipped on his beer, watching his waitresses work their asses off.

For a shitty pay, too.

“Hardly,” you admitted honestly with a soft chuckle, noticing that your boss wasn’t paying any attention to you so you sat down opposite the dark haired man that had his eye on you the entire time. “So, what brought you to Amsterdam?”

Elvis was pleasantly surprised as you asked him that. Not only would it give him the chance to keep you at his table longer, but now was also the moment where he would have to tell you what he did. And find out your reaction to it.

So, he just came clean right away. In one way, it was a good test to see how open-minded the Europeans really were.

And if you were a full blown, crazed feminist.

God… please don’t be a fullblown crazed feminist, he prayed mentally.

“I’m here to make a porno.”

A silence lingered between you two, but it only lasted for about three seconds. You nodded your head and chuckled in an amused but friendly manner.

“Are you an actor?”

Thank God.

“No,” he laughed, shaking his head a little as he took a sip of his beer, licking his lips. “I’m the director of the movie,”

You leaned your arms on the table and sat on the edge of your seat, crossing your legs under the table as you swung your foot back and forth a little. Elvis looked at the way your breasts were pressed against your arms for a second before looking back at your face, an excited twinkle in his eyes.

“And why are you not directing your movie right now?” You wondered aloud, tilting your head a little.

“Well,” he let out a laugh as he tapped one of his rings against his glass for a second, looking at you. “My leading actress wasn’t as fit for the role as I thought.”

“Or maybe you aren’t as good as a director as you think you are,” you teased with a grin on your face.

At that, Elvis just looked at you with a raised eyebrow. He could tell you were pulling his tail, but perhaps far in the back of his mind… he wondered if that could be the truth. He decided not to let his insecurities get to him though, not right now, and when he felt your swaying foot hit his leg under the table, he reached a hand down and grabbed your ankle. You widened your eyes a little and stared at him as he gave you a cocky grin and removed your shoe, dropping the red heel to the floor before he put your foot in his lap.

You looked around nervously to see if your boss caught onto you slacking yet, but he was still busy with the locals at the bar. Elvis ran his hand down from your ankle to your foot and pressed his thumb against your sole, making you turn back to him and bite your tongue to hold back a small gasp.

While you certainly never let customers touch you, right now you weren’t trying to get away. Nor could you muster up a smart remark to throw at his head. You’d been on your feet all day, wearing those heels, and the little massage he suddenly decided to give you wasn’t entirely unwelcomed.

“I am a great director, sweetheart, trust me..” he grinned as he looked you in the eye, a kind but mischievous gleam in his blue orbs. This man definitely was bold and for the first time in your waitressing “career”, you were enjoying the attention of a customer. And a tourist, at that. “Some people just can’t resist the many coffee shops in the city,”

You chuckled, nodding your head as you tried to focus on the conversation and not his large hand rubbing your foot under the table.

“Ha! Bet she was A-American,” you mentally slapped yourself for the stutter (and the lame reply) but if he noticed it, he didn’t mention it. Instead he just grinned and caressed his short nails across the arch of your foot a little.

“Who said she was American?”

“Well, if she was Dutch, she could’ve.. resisted the tempting clouds of weed,” you countered back with a small, playful grin on your face.

He laughed as he cocked his eyebrow, his eyes staring intently into yours as he found your pressure point and pushed his thumb into it, making you nearly moan out loud right there in the middle of your work place.

You managed to save yourself with a small groan.

“Think you can do better?”

At this point, your face was flushed and he realised he was slowly breaking through that sarcastic façade of yours. Then again, he wasn’t exactly playing fair with the way he was shamelessly giving you a foot rub and while you had genuinely peaked his interest, he was a little desperate too.

He wanted to finish his movie and make sure it was good. It had to be perfect. And he didn’t want to get a professional actress now that he had laid eyes on you.

Porn wasn’t a strange concept to you despite never having been in a porno yourself. You lived in a city where sex was out in the open for everyone to see and consume and while porn was illegal here as much as it was in the States, it was tolerated. Perhaps it wasn’t such a strange idea for you to dip your toes into the world of adult entertainment.

“I know I can do better,” you said confidently, looking over at your boss who looked your way and you quickly pulled your foot out of Elvis’ grip, slipping it back into your heel. “Just tell me when and where,”

Elvis let out a hearty laugh as he widened his eyes at you a little. This had been easier than he expected – you were offering yourself for the job and while that was certainly surprising, he wasn’t complaining at all. You were perfect for this movie and the fact that you were inexperienced in the industry might even be better for the storyline.

After all, the lead girl was supposed to be a little naive and a whole lot of innocent.

You quickly urged him for a phone number and address when you noticed the sour face of your boss staring at you from behind the bar and Elvis quickly scribbled his contact information down on the back of a paper coaster as he realised he didn’t have any business cards on him at the moment. You grasped it from the table and shoved it in your pocket, getting up from your seat.

“Hold up,” he said after he paid for his drinks and you were about to walk off to the bar to get back to work. You felt him grabbing your wrist and you turned around, looking at him as your heartbeat sped up a little. “I didn’t get your name..”

“It’s Y/N,” You told him, gently pulling your arm out of his grip. You wouldn’t mind holding onto him a little longer but you felt your boss’ eyes burning in the back of your head.

“I’m Elvis. Elvis Presley.”

You nodded and flashed him a smile, tapping the back pocket of your shorts where you had put the coaster in. He grinned and nodded, slowly leaving the cafe, hoping you’d call him and go through with this.

A pretty girl like you shouldn’t have to work in a shitty place like this.

 

You watched him go and the entire time your boss was giving you an earful about work ethics as you stood behind the bar, you barely heard the words coming out of his mouth. Quite frankly, you just weren’t paid enough to deal with this. You liked your co-workers but that’s all they were – co-workers. They didn’t pay your bills and neither did your shitty monthly pay that your boss gave you.

You wanted a change. No, you needed a change.

And maybe it was a naive and stupid thing to do, but for some reason, you had trusted that stupid American tourist.

Maybe he wasn’t even a director at all, but the longer your boss went on and on about your behavior, you decided it was worth the risk.

“You know what,” you interrupted him loudly, pulling your apron off and throwing it at his face. “I quit!”

Your boss threw a string of profanities to your head as you opened the cash register and grasped the amount of money he still owed you. He was too slow, and too fat, to stop you and before he could get to you, you were already halfway out the door. Though ofcourse, you didn’t leave without theatrically flipping him off.

 

You ran down the street, squirming your way through the crowd, and into a phone booth. Closing the door behind you, you fished the coaster out of your pocket and rang the number. You were connected to Elvis’ hotel and then put through to his room after several minutes. As soon as you heard his voice on the other side of the line, you inhaled a sharp breath of air and clenched the phone against your ear.

How bad could the porn industry really be?

The fact that you were a virgin didn’t strike you as a problem. Nobody had to know, did they? You were sure you’d be able to mask it.

Even from the director.

You stared at the people walking by the phone booth and leaned against the glass wall, your next words rolling off your tongue determinedly.

“When do I start?”

taglist: @powerofelvis @breadsquash @generoustreemystic @ab4eva @marriedtopresley @steph-speaks @notstefaniepresley @ellie-24 @dollksj @webbedwebs @re3kin @wivette @eliseinmemphis @18lkpeters @rosepresley @ccab @whatstruthgottodowithit @dkayfixates

[localemofreak]

I’m sorry (not really) but this needs to be said in the MCR fandom- I love every single member, no matter where you come from, but seriously I think this needs to be told.

‼️WARNING: SMALL RANT ABOUT MCR AND THE LONG LIVE THE BLACK PARADE TOUR‼️

I’m sorry but like, I have seen SO MANY people complain and be so ungrateful about this new MCR tour, and it’s genuinely driving me nuts.

(Btw this is copied and pasted from a little rant I made on discord)

Tbh I have seen A LOT of people complaining about the pricing of the tour tickets, and I understand that they were definitely super expensive but like, idk if people realize that literally MCR does not control the prices of tickets, at all- literally the venues do, so they have zero say in the prices- and none of the money goes to them anyway, it goes to the greedy ass venues, and the only money they get is from merch, it’s literally the same with every band- small or big, they get NO money from the tickets, only merch- that’s why bands are always like “please buy merch” bc that’s where they get their money from.. also MCR isn’t a small band anymore like they were back in the day- tickets are obviously gonna be pricey, that’s sadly how the world and economy works.

And I’m aware most of the rage was from the fact of bots buying and reselling tickets for thousands of bucks- is there things they could have done to prevent lots of bots from buying tickets? Most likely, but still- no matter what, it was going to sell out asap, and tickets were gonna be expensive no matter what- MCR cannot control that, it is not their fault. They are a big band, with millions of fans worldwide- they are going to take the easier route obviously with selling tickets, but I’m not denying that you can’t be upset- you have every right to be, but bots buying tickets is NOT the bands fault, so don’t blame them for something they literally can’t control.

And people saying they keep “teasing mcr5 but don’t give any mcr5 shit”, I’m sorry- but they have literally NEVER teased mcr5.. we just have fun as fans and suspect something new and out of the usual MCR related automatically equals MCR5.. but literally the band has never even mentioned, spoke, hinted, teased- ANYTHING about a new album..

And I’m sorry but I dislike these people who are like “if they aren’t gonna do a full tour for ALL fans, they might as well not do a tour at all-“ IM SORRY BUT I WANT TO SEE THEM.. I’m sorry for the fans overseas, but literally- there is people in North America that want to see them, so just because YOU can’t see them.. doesn’t mean the American and Canadian fans shouldn’t get the opportunities to see them. This will be my first ever MCR show I have ever seen and I’ve been a fan for YEARS- and i am so grateful and lucky to be able to see them, but just because they chose to do one section of planet earth (and they will definitely tour more after this, come on- just look at Gerard at WWWY.. is that really the face of a man who never wants to tour again??- MCR is going to do more tours.) doesn’t mean that those people shouldn’t get the opportunity to see them, y’all will still get your clips, y’all will get your photos- even if it was only a European tour, I wouldn’t be complaining about not being able to go, them touring only a small part of one continent in my opinion is better than no tour at all.

All I can really say is, let’s just let it cook- obviously they have things in store for us all, let’s keep the complaining down yk?- because I’m just happy that they are touring once again, no matter where the tour is. I’m just happy we get to see them again.

“They should have given people more time to prepare to buy tickets” Yeah 100% I agree, they should have definitely gave us a warning to save money up, but the people complaining about the tour in its entirety.. like, maybe they want to stay in North America to be close to family??- maybe they have other projects??.. and also maybe it is probably something to bring up the American people after everything went to fucking shit obviously with the election- I think people just need to be glad they are actually doing something instead of complaining and saying they shouldn’t tour at all, because no matter where they tour- fans are not gonna be able to see them, and some fans are, that’s how the world works- and complaining isn’t going to fix anything, in fact- it could cause MCR to either pause or stop the tour altogether in fear of being cancelled or controversy, literally they do not control the prices of tickets or what people do with the tickets- including bots, so don’t go blaming them for something they literally CANT CONTROL.

And honestly, I’m sorry but people shouldn’t be complaining about it being a basically only United States tour- like with everything going on in this country, it was the perfect time- because literally I think a lot of people needed a distraction from all the fucked up shit that’s happening over here.. and MCR is an American band with American members, so it’s obviously effecting them as well- so I really think this is a perfect and good thing for American MCR fans rn.

ALSO people saying “they don’t care” um.. they literally have enough money to retire and live the rest of their lives without doing shit if they wanted too.. they are literally taking time out of THEIR LIVES instead to go tour around and preform for fans, when they could literally just stay at home and raise their kids. THEY DONT HAVE TO DO THIS, this is literally a blessing that they are still touring, because they literally don’t have too, but they CHOOSE TO PERFORM- because they care about the fans, new and old. They want people to be able to experience seeing them live, because they are aware of the impact they make on people’s lives- and tbh, I think they are still VERY humble people compared to their level of fame- they still take pics with fans when asked, sign autographs, all that shit when literally they don’t have too- they still stay down to earth and give fans stuff when they literally don’t have too. So just because they aren’t going to your country, or you can’t get tickets- doesn’t mean nobody else is allowed to have fun and see them. And it’s obvious, they literally have more in store for us all- so people shouldn’t rush to conclusions and be like “oh but they are leaving out the rest of the fans!” No they aren’t.. trust me- they aren’t, they remember you guys, but right now they are doing this- and that’s completely fine, because it’s THEIR BAND, THEIR SONGS, AND THEIR TIME.

So right now, all I can say is- let’s just please stop complaining, because it won’t fix anything.. let’s just be happy that we are actually getting something from them. Please. You are allowed to be upset, but half of the things people are upset about- are completely out of the band’s control.. so don’t go blaming them- when genuinely, don’t they have to do jackshit.

And you guys are 100% allowed to be upset, sad, frustrated, angry- FEEL WHATEVER U WANT TO FEEL.. but literally my chemical romance owes nobody ANYTHING.. they are choosing to do this tour for the fans, when literally they don’t have too. So let’s just be grateful for what we are getting.

(Btw I am not saying that people are ‘too broke’ or hating, or anything like that- I’m just saying, instead of complaining because it literally won’t do anything- I’m just being honest here, we should be happy that MCR is at least still around touring, giving updates, things like that etc- when they literally don’t have too.)

[profounddefendorcrusade-blog]

A Long Rant About The Koffin Trio

Note: So, this is my first (really) long post about this fangame, and to be honest, I was debating whether or not to even publish it. I still decided to do it since not a lot of folks talk about ts!underswap, and I wanted to give my two cents regarding my three favorite characters.

More important note: If you think it's gonna trigger you to read about Harry/Larry and Harry/Larry/KK as a found family, better click off this post. Maybe it's my inner aroace speaking, but I personally don't see the romantic appeal at all. Good for you if you do! I'm not trying to invalidate anyone's opinion; diversity is great after all :)

For those of you who are still here, I will start off by saying this:

Harry and Larry depend on Count Koffin-K for so much. I'm tempted to say EVERYTHING.

He genuinely feels like their father figure. I mean, this sentient fedora gave them a job while they were both living lives that were... bad.

He isn't cruel when they do something stupid and instead just looks deadpan. Sure, Koffin-K's not a perfect boss; he yells at the two of them and insults them (dude really needs to work on his temper), but I found it sweet how both Harry and Larry felt safe enough to tell him the truth here, which to me counts for something (pun intended) ↓

He even pranks them sometimes ↓

Koffin may not be perfect (he's gotta keep up the "evil" persona) but at least he 1) tries to give Harry and Larry a hint that he cares for them (has them both secretly do his laundry without them telling each other) 2) actually admits that he cares for them both equally (in his own way) 3) attempts to solve their disagreement despite him not gaining anything out of it

How they met is also interesting to me.

Based on their backstory, Harry and Larry were clearly hesitant to work for Koffin, but when they actually started the job the next day, I imagine that their conversation went something like this (either during the first day or at some point early on in their career):

H: "Larry, he could be like the dad we never had and provide for us and we could have all da money that we never did, see?"

L: "Huhuhu, yeah! Don't forgets da food!"

...and that's how the parade float came to be. I think Koffin secretly appreciates they made it, even though he says how he wanted the thing "as far away as possible" right after saying this line ↓

He also makes this face later on at the festival when he sees the float again cause it reminds him that the three of them are a family despite Harry and Larry getting on his nerves half the time but I can't include the screenshot bc of the picture limit

Heck, the two even built their house outside the keep, which to me suggests that they don’t ever plan on leaving Koffin.

Harry does mention his mother, and we learn that he's into embroidery (both making me think he's a a 'mama's boy'; maybe she taught him how to embroider)...

...but even on the ts!us wiki, the only relationship dynamic the two have is with Koffin-K himself.

Weirdly enough, we only know that Harry has a mom, but not a dad

Even though he was definitely unaware of this, Koffin liked Harry and Larry FOR BEING THEMSELVES. This is really important to me.

He saw something in them that others did not, even if it was initally just "your names rhyme and you give me the 'goofy henchmen' vibe." He sees them both as useful for what he needs them for. It may not be much, but it's exactly what Koffin's looking for.

In other words:

THE WAY HARRY AND LARRY ARE IS ENOUGH FOR COUNT KOFFIN-K. I mean, why look at resumes of competent potential employees when you can hire two idiots who are just as goofy as you

Exactly why Harry and Larry are so loyal to Koffin-K is unknown, but based on my interpretation, it has to do with 1) them desperately needing a father figure/someone to rely on 2) Koffin giving Harry and Larry a home, food, money, and a job that also allows them to slack off and finally enjoy life, and 3) him making them feel needed. Maybe not appreciated, even though he subtly tried to, but definitely needed. Serving under him became their purpose.

In other words, I think they're so loyal because Koffin "chose" them, even if he did that subconsciously.

Harry got the chance to be more than just a janitor. Imo, he was hesitant to work for Koffin at first because he was afraid that he would lose the only sense of security he had. I think he lived with his mom at the time, considering his low-wage job This explains why he wants to be rich (to make up for all the things he couldn't afford).

It also explains why Larry loves food so much (he literally slept under a dumpster bag and if he was both homeless AND unemployed, it would mean that he had to either be a beggar or eat from the trash. Either way, eating good food was out of the question.

It's also possible that Larry had a janitor job just like Harry (but unlike him, nowhere to live). I say that he might have been a janitor, since Koffin mentions how they could both do better than mopping floors forever, but maybe it was just an assumption on Koffin's side.

Whatever the case, their lives sucked.

There was also this one moment I wanna talk about, where Larry called Koffin-K stupid, and Harry pretty much agreed. So I asked myself why they reacted this way.

Maybe because it was easier to convince themselves that they didn't care about their boss than deal with the fact that he (maybe) always saw them as nothing but 'lowly servants'.

Seriously, Harry said out loud what they both wanted most of all. And that something was for Koffin-K to value them. This was more important to them than money and food COMBINED, considering their entire arc was about learning that Koffin needed them both equally

Maybe they were worried about getting fired, but I honestly don't think Koffin ever wanted to do that to them, no matter how many times they messed up.

Maybe they didn't want to be honest and admit to Koffin that he's a total dumbass so they wouldn't get in trouble with him. I mean, they did want to gain his validation/appreciation/approval/love, so it makes sense that they would do anything to get and remain in his good books.

I think the third scenario is the most likely one, tbh.

Might be a nitpick, but notice how Harry and Larry are walking next to each other here, but Koffin-K's at the back, just sorta... isolated, like he's not their equal? This is why I'd rather see him as their father figure than an older brother. The way I look at it, the oldest sibling is usually in charge, yeah, but there's still a level of closeness and familiarity between the siblings, whereas Harry and Larry hardly know anything about Koffin-K, ESPECIALLY how lonely he really is. Koffin's the one who gave them a purpose, became their boss, and as a result, they began looking up to him. In contrast, the two spend 24/7 together, bicker, and are practically inseparable, like brothers

Larry also explains how Koffin-K doesn't like leaving his study, but clearly neither Harry nor Larry reflected on why that is and just assumed it's because Koffin's 'stupid.' This reaction kinda rubbed me the wrong way at first, but then I remembered both of these dudes are street rats who don't know any better.

Look, I know the Boogiemen were supposed to fit this common "goofy villain's sidekicks" trope, but both of them clearly grew up in poor conditions, have daddy issues (imo), and feel worthless/useless.

That's why they want Koffin-K's attention so badly.

They need a father figure to reassure them that they're useful, important, and loved.

All this makes them three-dimensional and relatable, just like most UT/DR/UTY characters. It feels like everyone in these games goes through some kind of deep arc, and I feel like this is supposed to be the Boogiemen's

Sure, Harry and Larry are funny at first glance, and they're great at being comic reliefs, but at their core, they are misguided guys who come from poverty/homelessness. I kinda wish the feisty four from uty had more going for them just so I could psychoanalyze them all

Even though it's probably been a few years since they joined Koffin, at least some part of Harry and Larry doesn't seem to believe that they can finally enjoy themselves, even if it means doing hooligan stuff and boring chores. That's why they're 'superficial' and goof off and will grab any opportunity to act childish and materialistic.

A typical case of age regression

What lies beyond the surface is incredibly sad to me.

Now, this is sort of like a bonus section bc I want to explain WHY exactly I see Harry & Larry as brothers, and WHY I think they see Koffin as a dad again, maybe it's bc I'm aroace and I see family relationships everywhere, but the stuff below REALLY REALLY reminds me of these types of dynamics:

They threw insults at each other and had a literal fistfight over which one of them Koffin appreciated/liked more

They cried HARD (of joy) when Koffin told them they're both equally useful and useless, so they no longer had to be at each other's throats. He also said how he recognized that they're passionate about being his lackeys, even if their teamwork needed, well, work

I think it's sweet how they built the float 'within their first days of henchmenry,' according to KK. They could have easily NOT included him, but had apparently warmed up to him pretty soon

Harry wanted to call Koffin to save them + I love how he's CERTAIN he'll do it

Both yelled for Koffin (reminds me of Axis calling out for Chujin for some reason)

Larry called Koffin Keep their home (could have easily said that they left it at the keep...reminds me of the times Starlo called The Wild East Clover's home I really need to stop with the uty parallels)

They cheered for him (and got hit in the face with books)

They get in trouble with him

They apparently copied two of his attacks these 3 are so similar except that Koffin is a more 'head in the clouds' kind of goofy while Harry & Larry are more grounded... but still goofy

And this line... "And quit arguing, you two!" sounded so parental, istg

I forgot to mention some stuff:

After Koffin tells everyone to go to the festival, Harry and Larry quickly look left and right, like they're wondering where he is and/or what to do now that he isn't there. Poor guys really are dependent on him and like to be in his presence

They talked about Koffin a LOT throughout this game. Their conversations are either about 1) Koffin and what they're gonna do to please him, 2) Them bickering, or 3) Some shenanigans they get themselves into. Larry even remembers how Koffin-K always says: "If you're slacking, put some hustle into it"

Koffin doesn't treat any other lackey the way he does Harry and Larry, and none of the other lackeys seek his admiration like the two do

Harry and Larry were both jealous af of Chara for getting all the attention (right after they got into Koffin's study Harry said "Now whaddya need us in here for, see?" and I immediately thought that he wanted to add "you have a new favorite child lacky now so why don't assign more chores TO THEM")

Like I'm not sure if they were meant to come across to us players as a family but for some reason that's how they came across to me since day 1

The actual reason why I see them in this light is not just bc I love found family (even tho I do. a lot), but bc I feel like it would give Harry & Larry more depth than a romance between any of them

[willsdreamgirl]

off to the races — tommy shelby x reader ⋆｡˚

tommy x fem!reader

tommy and you are in rival gangs, and the peaky blinders interfere in your business. will you be able to let it rest? or will you give tommy the opportunity to realise his feelings for you through your conflicts with each other?

cw: mentions of guns, knives, hurt/comfort, fluff, angst, smut if you squint, arthur is an ass

a/n: you guys loved the first tommy fic i wrote, so here’s another one!! couldn’t do too much hardcore enemies to lovers bc i’m a big ol softie. anywho, don’t be a ghost reader and enjoy!! 💌

word count: 3.2k

“fuckin’ peaky scum.” “what’s up, johnny?” you asked quizzically. “what’s up? what’s fucking UP? look at this shit.” you leaned over his shoulder to find your crates of whiskey disguised as hardware empty. you sighed knowingly. “can’t even enter bloody small heath without having our shit raided.” “tell me about it.” johnny laughed humourlessly.

you sat in your office, making sure the books were in order. you listened to the silent ticking of the clock. but your peace didn’t last long. “they did it again, eh?!” an angry max entered your office. you took your glasses off and put down your pen. “maximillian, if you must enter my office, do not enter it screaming maybe?” your words fell on deaf ears, max already seemed blinded by rage. “honest to god, i’ll cut every single one of those bastards!” he yelled yet again. you stood up from your chair, clearing your throat. “no need for that, max boy.” “what? what the fuck do you mea-” “i’ve arranged a meeting with the big man.” “who? tommy fuckin’ shelby?” you threw on your coat and made your way to the exit. “yes max, tommy fuckin’ shelby.”

tommy shelby was, at this point, the most powerful man in all of small heath. every government official was on his payroll and he practically had the coppers eating out of his hand. after the sabini incident, rarely anyone decided to fuck with the peaky blinders. you’d known tommy in school, you were even friends with him, but that was before your parents decided small heath was no place for a growing lady and decided to move far away from small heath, far away from tommy. but they underestimated how much spending time with tommy’s family had affected you. your parents were good people, you knew that. tommy’s family got involved in all sorts of illegal shit but made tenfold the money yours made. eventually, you realized that the shelby way was the only way you could create wealth in dirty, old birmingham. no one takes a 13 year old girl seriously when she says she wants to start a gang. so you had to start taking extreme measures. stealing, lying and gambling, to name a few. but your weakness was also your strength. you were a woman. and men underestimated women. no one ever believed you to be a threat, so they let down their guards around you. (it usually only took a glass or two of whiskey anyway) when they were vulnerable, that’s when you struck. over time, you became feared in your city, the girl who fools the men. and here you were 12 years later, your gang, the bishop ryders, being the peaky blinders’ rival gang. now, you were open to forming an alliance with them, reminiscing your time with the shelby family, but you learnt fairly quickly that the tommy you knew before the war was not the tommy that you came to know after. he was bitter, and vengeful, and after an explosion at one of your warehouses where four of your men had died, the bishop ryders and peaky blinders became sworn enemies.

you entered small heath, coppers surrounding the car. you muttered under your breath, “must’ve recognized the damn license plate.” you stepped out of the car. “mornin’ coppers, what can i do for you today?” you said, a fake smile plastered across your face. one of them stepped close enough to you that you could smell his breath. they were trying to intimidate you, of course. “who the fuck are you here to see, eh? such a pretty lady shouldn’t be in these parts of birmingham.” he spoke, a disgustingly devilish glint in his eyes. you spat on the ground next to him and knee’d him in the crotch and you yelled. “i’m here to see your king, now FUCK OFF.” the coppers seemed to back away, the guy you kicked now crouched down in the middle of the road. you got back in your car and resumed driving.

you saw a building with a big sign on it. ‘shelby company limited’, it read. tommy was becoming a pompous arse, you thought. you walked in and took a moment to look around. they had definitely upgraded since the last time you were here. the woman at the desk spoke to you. “oi, do you have an appointment?” you scoffed, a secretary, how… civilized. “who might you be?” “i’m lizzie, mr. shelby’s secretary.” she spoke, proudly. you gasped in faux amusement. “oh! so can you tell your precious mr. shelby that y/n’s here to see him?” she rolled her eyes at your sarcasm. “can’t let random fucking people in without appointments. besides, he’s not here anyway.”

after a little probing, you found out that tommy was in his new mansion, grieving over the death of his wife. when did he get married? you went over to his house, pushing aside butlers and maids to get to his office. you scoffed, for what seemed like the hundredth time today, he really was the king of small heath, eh? you walked in, the sound of your hand on the wood echoing in the big office. he motioned for you to leave without even looking up. “fuck off.” he muttered in that deep voice of his. you cleared your throat so he’d look up. his hand stopped writing for a moment, but resumed writing when he didn’t get a reply from you. you sighed, realising you’d have to vocalize yourself. you took big, exaggerated steps towards his desk. “tommy bloody shelby, sulking in his big house bought with his huge stack of cash. never thought i’d see the day.” you said mockingly. he sighed when he recognized the voice. he looked up, setting the pen down. he spoke, resting his elbows on his desk. “what the fuck do you want?” you could taste the venom in his voice. you laughed dryly. “i should be the one asking you that.” tommy’s eyebrows furrowed. “what are you fucking talking about?” you took a deep breath, trying to keep your composure. the bloody nerve of this man. “don’t fucking play stupid with me, tommy. you don’t think i see how your men are raiding my whiskey crates every fucking day?” he looked ever more confused but spoke slowly, almost cautiously. “what do you mean ‘my men’?” “i mean your bloody men, tommy! fucking peaky blinders!” “my men did no such thing, i assure you. they only do what i order them to. and i have no reason to search or raid your crates.” you scoffed at him and mimicked the way his elbows were on the desk. “now, either you’re not very good at giving orders, or you don’t know what the fuck’s going on within your own organisation. whatever the fuck it is, you better fix it, and you better fix it fast tommy.” he looked at you in disbelief. “tommy shelby doesn’t take orders from anyone, especially not from a rival gang.” “i didn’t think tommy shelby sulked over a girl either, but here we are, eh? now pour me a fucking whiskey.” he got up, and poured you a glass. he looked down into your eyes as your hands brushed when he handed you the glass.

he downed the whiskey in one sip and immediately phoned the small heath shelby co. ltd. office. michael picked up the phone. “hello, tommy?” “tell polly, arthur and john bring their arses here in the next hour. family meeting.” 20 minutes later, the entire shelby family had assembled in tommy’s office. arthur was the first to speak. “what the fuck’s she doing here?” he motioned at you. “i have unnecessary business to deal with because of you fucks.” john stepped closer to you, sizing you up. “you don’t scare me, shelby. fuck off.” he looked at tommy in disbelief. “get off her, john.” tommy replied. “right, so one of you gave our men the order to raid every bishop ryder crate that comes into town. it sure as fuck wasn’t me, so who was it?” everyone looked at each other in confusion, except john and arthur. “you two. you did it, eh?” you looked at them. “we’re not tommy’s fucking guard dogs! we’re equal shareholders of the bloody company and we will do whatever the fuck we see fit!” john yelled. tommy slammed his fist on the table. “god fucking damn it! legitimate business is priority! when i say something there’s a fucking reason! when i tell you to do something, you fucking do it!” even though you’d known tommy for years, this rage was unfamiliar to you. you spoke assertively. “i have no idea how i got roped into this family drama, but it’s affecting my business. i will not have you fucking cunts pull this shit again. you try and i will cut each and every one of you.” you gave tommy a look that told him you meant every word of what you said, and with that, you left.

the next day, you were in your office, going over important paperwork. that’s when you heard commotion outside. you heard fighting, and then you heard a voice. arthur bloody shelby. he stormed in your office, going around your desk. you stood up. “what the fuck do you want, arthur?” he put his hand around your throat and slammed you against the wall. you had a tight grip around his wrist, trying to push him away. you struggled to speak. “insult the peaky blinders one more time and i’ll fucking kill ya.” when you looked in his eyes, you didn’t see arthur. you saw someone completely different. you reached into your coat pocket to pull out a gun, but arthur already had one next to your head. he pulled the trigger, the bullet grazing your ear and embedding itself into the wall. “next time, it’ll be your head, not the wall.” some of your security heard your conflict with arthur and barged into the office and pulled guns on him. arthur, in his rage, shot two of your men on sight. arthur let you go, and stormed out of your office. you’d had enough. enough disrespect. as if it wasn’t hard being a woman and running a gang in birmingham.

you went to speak to tommy. he was in his office this time, and you walked in to find lizzie typing something. “where is he?” you asked frantically. “not you again. like i said, you need to make an appointme-” “where. the FUCK IS TOMMY?” you yelled in her face. she looked at you for a moment, then spoke. “mr. shelby’s in the middle of a meeting.” “fuck his damn meeting.” you barged into his office, to find some copper sitting in front of him. you snapped your fingers to get his attention, even though you already had it. “we. need. to. talk.” is all you said. “get out.” he spoke, and you crossed your arms. the copper sitting in front of him looked at you, waiting for you to leave. “i was talking to you, dimwit. leave.” he said, pointing to the copper this time. he nodded and left quickly. “what brings you here, mis-” “your rabid dog of a brother shot at me yesterday and killed two of my men, in my office, in front of me.” you spoke, oddly calm. “what.” tommy was truly at a loss for words. “yeah. anyway, you’ll be at the epsom derby this year right? i’m gonna kill you tommy. it’ll be fun.” you said, laughing sarcastically. before he had a a chance to respond, you left his office. tommy was infuriated. not only had he lost his wife, he had gained a new enemy who now wanted to kill him, and his brothers couldn’t step up and do tommy’s job for two fucking days.

epsom rolled around, and you gathered all your men, and other men you borrowed from allies. you knew small heath men, so, you knew tommy’s men. you knew their vices: whores, whiskey and cocaine. you brought prostitutes with you, who had several bottles of alcohol and vials of ‘the snow’ on them, and had your men stationed everywhere. the plan was, distract tommy’s men, get him alone with you, and kill him.

as soon as the race started, you saw your plan unfold. all of tommy’s men were either fighting with yours, drunk and high in a corner somewhere or fucking a whore. you scoffed as you remembered aunt pol’s words. men and their cocks never cease to amaze me. truth be told, you missed that family. you missed going with the shelby brothers to steal whiskey from a pub as kids, and you missed aunt pol yelling at the boys, telling you how they were bad influences. and you missed tommy. your tommy. the tommy that would sit with you, talk to you for hours, the one you could laugh with endlessly. and here you were, plotting to kill him. how did it all get so fucked up?

while your men were distracted, you hunted tommy down. he was in the stables, alone, where they kept the racehorses. he turned around as he heard the familiar sound of a cocking gun. he raised his hands. “i’m unarmed.” you walked closer to him, gun still pointing to his forehead. “you and your stupid fucking gang have been doing so much damage to everything i’ve built all along. you got handed this tommy, you don’t know what it’s fucking like to build this from the ground up with your own hands.” you said, your hand on his shoulder. “someone has to pay, eh?” he said, take the hint and getting on his knees. you walked around him so that his back was facing you. you inhaled deeply. “ready?” you said. “give a man one last smoke?” he asked. “fine.” you turned around as he lit a cigarette. “this is the end of the line, eh? i was in this same position a year ago, maybe this is how it’s meant to be. tell arthur and john to stop fucking shit up, tell pol to take care of the boys, tell ada i love her and karl, and y/n? check in on charlie every once in a while? i don’t want him to feel like a lonely orphan, alright?” tommy spoke sombrely. you felt memories rushing back, memories of you and the boys playing with guns, getting drunk. you took a deep breath as you held back tears. tommy smiled when he felt the cold metal hit the back of his head. “don’t go soft on me now, love?” he spoke, you could hear the smile in his voice. your hand trembled as you put your finger on the trigger.

you pulled the trigger, and the bullet hit a hay bale somewhere in the corner. tommy exhaled and opened his eyes slowly. you kicked the back of his shoe, your voice wavering. “get the fuck up.” he stood up, turning around to face you. you hugged him tightly. “can’t bring myself to kill you.” you spoke, your head buried in the crook of his neck. “shh, i know sweetheart. i know.” you two always had an inextricable bond, and without either of you saying anything, both of you understood what the other felt. tommy cupped your cheek with his hand. you felt tears rolling down your cheek, tommy wiping them away. you leaned into his touch. “i fucking hate you, tommy.” he looked at you with adoration. “i love you too, y/n. it’s always been you.”

*a year later*

tommy carried you to your shared bed. you gasped as you felt him leaving kisses down your neck. “tommy-” “welcome to the family, mrs. shelby.” he said, smiling when he heard you giggle. “tonight’s gonna be a long night, eh?” he said, smirking. you smirked back. “oh, i’m counting on it.” you heard abrupt knocking, and then finn’s voice. “uh, tommy? i’m sorry- but um, it’s the russians?” you both looked at each other and instantly got out of bed. he groaned as he put his pants on and wore his gun holster under his blazer. “can’t catch a fucking break. not even on my bloody wedding night.” you rolled your eyes at him, as you wore your own holster, loading your gun and cocking it. “who told you to do business with the fucking russians?” he walked over and kissed you passionately, your tongues fighting for dominance. eventually, you pulled away for air, both panting, his forehead resting against yours. he looked you in the eye. “ready?” “always.”

“welcome to the family, mrs. shelby.”

[chaifootsteps]

I've seen fanart of Stella/Striker floating around and the more I think about it the more interesting it could be

so like, at first Striker has contempt for Stella bc she's another noble, she seems like an airhead but they can both agree that Stolas sucks so he takes the contract. money's money

but then Striker finds out about the arranged marriage. how Stella was forced to give birth to Octavia on top of that and even worse, how she was the one putting in the effort in the bedroom to do what their family expected of them (and then Stolas turns around and claims he was the only one trying). how it made her feel victimized all over again. how she had mixed feelings about Via but maintained enough of a relationship with her that Via didn't know she and Stolas weren't getting along for yrs & yrs on end

how Stolas made her feel unattractive and unwanted and just a prop being used by his family. how she maybe realized at some point that he was likely gay and would never want her, but their families married them off so young Stolas may have just buried the truth about his sexuality bc he thought it was the thing to do

how he always saw himself as the sole victim of the scenario despite him having magic and more power than her, and she was forced to bear his heir for the families sake. how she has to play the part of the socialite and her only outlet is venting to her friends about her sucky husband. how despite it all she fears Stolas turning Via against her because Via takes her after him so much in looks she sometimes feels she doesn't exist. how Stolas mocks her for not reading despite his family never caring if she's well-educated or not, how he can't even respect her material possession which she has to cling to bc they're all she has. and she hates who she is around Stolas - that anger at him is what the family has reduced her to and she never got the opportunity to be anything other than that. how she feels she can't self-actualize in any meaningful way bc being 'Stolas' wife' is all society ever allowed her to be, and then it & Stolas turned around and villified her for not being good at it like that ever would be enough for her

and Stella in turn has her eyes opened to how bad it is for imps. how they have to scrape and scratch to survive, how the imp she resented so much for cheating with her husband has in fact been coerced into a monthly deal for sex, exploited just like her, in return for the spellbook that Stella thought Stolas was supposed to be protecting with his life. not only is her husband far worse than she already thought he was, his power comes from marginalizing imps like Striker, who's sharp-egded and wrathful but also 100% hitting the nail on the head when it comes to how little royals do for themselves and how they literally fuck over the poor.

for this ship to ever work I think Stella would have to give up her royal position, but honestly with how little joy she's allowed in her own life I don't think that's a big sacrifice. maybe once she and Striker are done with Stolas, she escapes the royal system entirely and out into Hell and Striker and her get on good terms with IMP, helping elevate the business with her remaining funds. or maybe she and Striker just have a high old time getting revenge on all the Goetias that screwed her over in the process & both of them become ride or die for each other in the process

(don't get me wrong, I'm BlitzStrike over this ship but it definitely has potential. mostly I just want a 'For everyone personally victimized by Stolas' support group/polycule to happen)

And that's as valid and noble a shipping goal as any!

[thehobbem]

Jane Eyre - Part II

DKZJFBDGHSJAKSJD THIS IS THE WORST MARRIAGE PROPOSAL IN LITERARY HISTORY

*clears throat*

A few days ago I wrote this post about my first thoughts on Jane Eyre. Since people wanted to see my reactions to further events, here I am.

I gotta say: you were all holding out on me, because not only does Jane Eyre have a man more ridiculous than Darcy (by a CLEAR mile), but it also has a clergyman more insufferable than Edmund Bertram, which??? should not be possible???

Okay, so:

I was hoping Rochester would give up on the wedding and confess to Jane about his wife in the attic, but nope! And he would've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling solicitor & brother-in-law. Like. This man is so idiotic, and felt so unbelievably sorry for himself, that he said with his full chest "yeah, bigamy is the solution! :D".

...Very uncomfortable how the narrative attributed the lowest possible vices to Bertha Rochester, while calling her "the creole". The vices weren't outright attributed to her being of mixed ancestry, but it felt like that was what was meant. All very uncomfortable. As uncomfortable as when the landed gentry wanted to visit a Romani encampment to see the Romani people (while, ofc, using the g-slur) as if they were animals in a circus? Hmmm, yeah, tough call!

(Look. I'm not gonna go around publicly denouncing books from past centuries for not being politically correct, bc that is an idiotic way to relate to literature from the past. Society was what it was, and not even the authors we admire so much were above that most of the time. But I can, and will!, look at certain things and go "wow, this aged like fucking milk". I think that's fair.)

AND THEN

Rochester, who can't possibly be thinking straight, proposes that Jane become his mistress!!!! Edward Fairfax Rochester, have you ever even MET Jane Eyre?? Do you know her but at all????

And he's like "me, me, me, what's to become of me, am I to be denied love, doesn't the world feel sorry for ME" and I nearly spit on my kindle, I was so mad XD How is this man, pushing fucking FORTY, putting on this preposterous show and leaving this 18-year-old girl to comfort him?????

(To bring up the sad sack that is Edmund Bertram again: it reminded me when Edmund wrote to Fanny: Maria has brought ruin to their name, Tom has nearly died, everyone is in distress, and he's like "But Fanny. Think of ME!!!" ugh)

But yes, honestly, Rochester's not evil, but he's so. goddamn. stupid. And draMATIC. I love him, he's a riot.

...I do not love how he kept blaming others for him marrying Bertha. Like. Sir. You were an adult and you married her of your own volition. "My father" this, and "her family didn't tell me" that, but YOU looked at her, thought she was gorgeous, and agreed to marry her. So fuck you. Hold yourself accountable, for a change. You man child.

So yeah, Jane runs away, which is totally the right decision, and without any money, which is totally the wrong decision, and ends up eating burned porridge again, and I'm like. If I had a nickel for every time Jane Eyre had to eat burned porridge while starving, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Jane is then saved by the Rivers siblings: Mary and Diana Rivers, who are absolutely precious, and St. John Rivers, who is absolutely

UNBEARABLE OH MY GOD WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME

Me, every time St. John appeared on the page:

Hey. Charlotte? Charlotte. Was this a ploy? Did you bring St. John into the story to have us like Rochester more? Is St. John your way of going "Yeah, I know, Rochester is deranged, and what he wanted to do was morally and legally and spiritually wrong, but look at how boring righteous people can be!"? Was it? If so, it FUCKING WORKED, BRING EDWARD ROCHESTER BACK RIGHT NOW.

*rubs temples*

Also??? aekjsdzcbvsdjfsk I can't: St. John: "I found you employment." Jane: "Really? Which is it?" St. John: rambles on about the will of God or something, for entire paragraphs. Jane, who patiently waited for him to finish: "So? The job?" St. John: "Right! I don't know if you're gonna like it, but" rambles on again about the will of God or perseverance or something, for entire paragraphs. Jane: "Right. And the job?"

SIR FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE TELL US WHAT THE FUCKING JOB IS

THIS IS LIKE MR. BROCKLEHURST ALL OVER AGAIN

...Oh. Oh.

That's the point.

St. John really is Brocklehurst again, I love it: both love to talk about how Christian they are, and how it's important to lead a life of humility, etc -- the difference being, ofc, that St. John is not a hypocrite, fat capitalist pig, he's actually leading by (insufferable) example. And they both make Jane feel bad about her true self, just in opposite ways.

And St. John wants to be a missionary, because of course this insufferable man wants to be a missionary and impose his views on nice people who are just living their fucking lives. And he goes on and on about... idk, bringing light to the unenlightened and saving pagans or whatever, and it's SO pedantic, and it's SO patronizing, and it's SO... UGH.

I cannot believe Jane gave this man a quarter of her entire fortune.

AND THEN

HE MAKES THE WORST MARRIAGE PROPOSAL IN THE ENTIRE ENGLISH LITERATURE

No, I have not read the entirety of English literature, but oh boy am I fully confident in my statement. This is the WORST. Like. Mr. Collins' proposal is a shining beacon of unbridled love and romance next to THIS.

Me, reading his proposal:

"Jane, you weren't made for love, you were made for labour. You were made to be a missionary's wife" QEIARKSHV\CZNB;SAEKFJSDVC I'M GONNA GOUGE MY EYES OUT WITH A SPOON

At least Jane, too, was full aware of the insult XD Love that when she told Diana of the proposal, she repeated those exact words, and Diana was like "Girl, what??? Nu-uh!!!".

But it's all great. She refuses him, and he gets all prickly and assholish about it in the most holier-than-thou way possible, I hate him, but then she hears Rochester's voice in the wind crying out for her, and she hurries back to Thornfield. Sure, we've all been there.

Then we find out karma does exist and is the proverbial bitch: Rochester lost an eye, all of his eyesight, a hand, and his manor. Wow.

And then???? They have the CUTEST reunion ever???? And I was so happy for him???? For them??? Charlotte 😭😭😭👌👌👌

Rochester being all jealous of St. John, and I'm like "no, you're safe, he's the worst, he told Jane she wasn't made for love".

He also holds himself accountable at long last (hard not to, after all that), and he thought Jane was deeeeeeaaaad, and he was inconsolable and I'm a MESS

So all is good in the end: they marry -- LEGALLY! :D -- and have a child, and he recovers his eyesight on the eye he still has, and the Rivers siblings marry and are happy, and the book ends... with a letter from St. John saying he's dying??? WHAT

I love all of it. Specially St. John dying. A few stray observations:

The foreshadowing of future events is very well-planted, nicely done, Charlotte. That horse chestnut tree being split in half by lightning after Rochester proposes marriage to Jane? 👌👌👌👌👌 If I ever saw an omen!

And Jane. So smart, so good, so compassionate, so horny on main, so witty, so brave. May God keep St. John Rivers far away from her forever and ever.

LOVE how Jane begins with an aunt (who knows her and hates her) and 3 cousins (a John who torments her trying to diminish her, and two sisters who don't care if she's alive or not) and ends up having an uncle (who doesn't know her but loves her) and 3 cousins (a John who torments her trying to "elevate" her and two sisters who love her and save her life). The story is obviously very cyclical, and I enjoyed that a lot.

Don't know if I love or hate the fact that Charlotte slapped a "St." in front of the name of the John who wants to be a missionary and is the opposite of the first John XD (Yes, I know St. John is a real name, I've seen it many times before, but it's a bit on the nose here!)

...I wonder if Miss Ingram ever found out that Rochester wanted to marry the governess. I would've paid Charlotte Brontë good money to write THAT scene.

And last but not least: Pilot is the goodest boy in the whole wide world.

[rainisawriter]

hihi! can i request for tsukasa (h&l) with a jealous reader, like tsukasa has been receiving gifts from girls, and reader gets insecure bc she couldn't give him a gift. but, one day, reader finally gives tsukasa a gift and tells him how she felt insecure and then tsukasa just hugs her and tells her that she doesn't need to give her gifts bc (author, you continue:) )

(sorry for my bad english😓)

A Gift for You (Tsukasa)

Word Count: 3,581

Genre: Angst, fluff

A/N: Thank you so much for your request, I appreciate it! ^-^)/ Sorry it took me so long to get this out. I hope you enjoy it and, hopefully, it's what you were looking for~ Your English is fine, by the way, don't even worry~

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You knew what you were getting into when you started dating Tsukasa. Despite being a delinquent, he was one of the prettiest, kindest boys you've ever met and you weren't the only one who felt that way. Girls were always fawning over him, staring shamelessly as he passed. Hell, even some guys couldn't help staring at him.

To your credit, it didn't bother you for a long time. It wasn't until the two of you were in your senior year of high school that it started to chip away at your confidence. The girls approaching him were so pretty, bringing him different gifts every time he headed to or from school. There was one in particular that seemed hell-bent on getting his attention and she just happened to be the most beautiful girl you've ever seen.

You often found yourself picturing them together and you hated how perfect they looked. In your mind, she would look a lot better hanging off his arm than you did. Besides, she was rich and could afford to bring him expensive gifts and baked goods. Your family didn't have a lot of money so you couldn't afford to buy him anything despite wanting to.

It was honestly frustrating.

Did she know that he was dating someone? You didn't want to bother him with something like this so you decided to take things into your own hands. You left school early one day, hoping to catch her before she could approach Tsukasa again. Maybe if you cleared things up and told her that he was taken, she would stop giving him gifts and waiting for him every day.

There she was, leaning against a wooden fence with her phone in her hand. A plastic bag hung from her arm and you could see the top of a red ribbon sticking out of the top - a present, no doubt. You took a deep breath to calm yourself before approaching her with a kind smile.

"Excuse me?"

She glanced up, sent you a disinterested look, and returned to her phone.

Despite finding this to be quite rude, you kept your tone friendly. "Are you waiting for Tsukasa-kun?"

Her eyes narrowed at you as she straightened her back. "Yeah, so what?"

"Well, I just thought you should know he's seeing someone."

"So?" she quirked a brow, hand on her hip. "If he's accepting my gifts, clearly he isn't happy with his girlfriend. I bet she can't even afford to buy him anything he deserves."

You visibly winced at the comment, feeling as if her words were arrows piercing your skin.

"Oh my god, it's you, isn't it?" She smirked, looking you up and down. "No wonder he's seeking attention in other girls."

"Tsu-kun is too nice to flat-out reject someone," you told her, doing your best not to let her words get to you.

She giggled loudly, bringing a manicured hand to her mouth. "Oh, honey, is that what you tell yourself to help you sleep at night? I bet he's only with you because he feels sorry for you! You must know that, right? If you really care about him, you should let him go so he can be with someone who actually deserves him."

Before you could even reply, she turned on her heel and walked away, flipping her wavy hair over her shoulder. You swallowed hard, unable to move from where you stood. Was she right? Was Tsukasa only dating you because he felt sorry for you?

You felt as if you were at risk of losing him. After all, what kind of partner were you if you couldn't even give him a simple gift? Your fists clenched at your sides, determination burning in your eyes.

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"Damn it, you won again!" Fujio groaned, tossing his cards onto the table. He and the rest of his faction were sitting on the roof of Oya High.

Jamuo grinned, wrapping his arms around the stack of snacks and pulling them closer. "Thank you, Fujio-san!"

"Tsukasa~" Fujio pouted at his best friend as if he could somehow fix the problem.

The blonde shrugged from his place on the couch, one arm slung over the back and the other resting over your shoulders. "I told you not to go all in."

His eyes fell on you next and you laughed.

"Tsu-kun did tell you. You should have listened."

"I want to go again!" he declared, eyes narrowed in determination. "All in, Jamuo!"

The shorter boy pretended to think about it for a moment before shaking his head, a grin on his lips. "I don't wanna!"

"Oh, come on! I'll definitely win this time!"

"I'm not taking that chance. These snacks are mine!"

Tsukasa shook his head as the two continued arguing, a smile tugging at his lips. Your eyes fell on him and you also smiled, feeling your heart skip a beat as it did every time you looked at him. The sun was beaming down on him, making it appear as if he were surrounded by a soft glow. It had been a few weeks since your confrontation with that girl, but her words often replayed inside your head.

Your phone vibrated in your pocket and you tugged it out, quickly turning off the alarm you had set. It was time for you to leave but it was always hard coming up with an excuse that your boyfriend would believe. He was frustratingly perceptive, usually able to pick up when he was being lied to. Not only that, but he was also quite protective over you and he didn't like you going around on your own.

You cleared your throat before standing up from the couch, offering your friends a smile. "I need to get going. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," smiled Jamuo, offering you a small wave.

"Take care!" Fujio smiled at you before attempting to take one of the snacks, his hand being smacked by Jamuo. "So mean!"

Tsukasa stood up without hesitation. "I'll walk you home."

"No need," you replied quickly, smiling reassuringly at him when he furrowed his brow. "I'm meeting up with my cousin."

"I can still walk you there."

"It's okay, really. You need to stay here and keep Fujio from losing his mind over his loss," you joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Tsukasa observed you for a moment, lips pursed and brow furrowed as he tried to determine what was going on inside your mind. You've been acting strange for a couple of weeks now and he wasn't sure why. Every time he asked you about it, you told him that everything was fine. He knew it wasn't, but he couldn't force you to talk to him. All he could do was let you know that he was here for you and wait until you were ready to talk.

"Alright," he finally replied, cupping your face so he could bring you closer. "Promise me you'll be careful."

"I promise."

"And if anything happens, you'll call me?"

"I will."

"Good." Tsukasa closed the distance, kissing you gently. "I love you."

Those three words were enough to steal the breath from your lungs, leaving you feeling giddy.

I bet he's only with you because he feels sorry for you!

The words echoed in your head like a mantra, followed by her high-pitched laughter that sucked every ounce of happiness from you. Your smile faltered and you knew that he had noticed it. Before he could question it, you pulled away from him and hurried toward the stairs, your heart pounding in your chest.

'If he wasn't suspicious before, he has to be now!' You cursed under your breath. When you reached the courtyard, you could feel eyes on you and knew it was Tsukasa watching you. As badly as you wanted to turn and smile up at him, you resisted the urge and hurried away from the school.

After the interaction with that girl, you decided that you were going to get a job and save up to buy Tsukasa a gift that would blow all of hers out of the water. With his birthday right around the corner, you were determined to make it one he would never forget. In truth, you hadn't been lying to him because you were meeting your cousin - he was the one who got you the job and he also worked there with you.

You tugged open the door of the bakery, the smell of freshly baked brownies wafting across your nose. Your cousin, Taka, was wiping down the counter, smiling when he noticed you.

"Hey, you ready for the afternoon rush?"

"Not even a little bit," you chuckled, heading into the back so you could put your things away and grab an apron. After washing your hands, you returned to the front just as a crowd of people approached. For the most part, it went perfectly fine, excluding the fact that you didn't get more than a few seconds to breathe. The place was packed, people talking loudly as they waited for their order.

Your cousin nudged you, holding two lattes. "Can you take this to table five?"

"Sure." You carefully took the cups from him focusing on where you were going rather than who was sitting at said table. "Two lattes for Maki-san?"

"Oh my god, it's you."

You glanced up, instantly feeling your heart sink into your stomach. It was her, the girl that insisted on taking Tsukasa from you. She was there with her friend who was just as pretty as she was. Your jaw clenched as you carefully set the cups on the table. "Can I get you anything else?"

She snickered in amusement. "Let me guess, you got this job so you can afford to buy Kasa-kun a gift, right?"

Kasa-kun? Your brow furrowed. No way was she close enough to call him by a nickname.

"You could work here for the rest of your life and still never have enough to give him what I do. Oh and look, it's time for me to give him my gift again!" Maki stood up, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she picked up the bag containing his gift. She sent you a smirk before purposefully knocking over the drink, the lid popping off and the liquid inside spilling out onto the table. "You shouldn't be so clumsy!"

You sent her a deadpan look, well aware of everyone's attention now on you.

She shoulder-checked you as she walked by, her friend close behind.

"I hate her," you muttered under your breath, glaring at the spilled latte.

"Oi, what are you doing?" snapped your managed with a scowl. "Clean that up, now!"

You bowed to him in apology before rushing to clean up the mess she had made.

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You bit your lip as you walked around the jewelry store, scanning the items on display. Most of them were crazy expensive and way out of your price range, but they had a sale going on right now. You had been working hard and had saved up a bit of money, though you did give some of it to your parents to help pay the bills since they were struggling.

What should you get him? You weren't sure but you wanted it to be special, to be something meaningful that he could wear for a long time. Sure, you could just get him some flowers, a card, and something sweet to eat, but those things won't last. They also didn't feel very meaningful to you because of how common they were.

As you scanned the items within the glass case, your eyes landed on a bracelet sitting at the back. It was beautiful. It looked to be made of black pearls with silver crowns and blue pearls at each end. In the center was a silver lion head. It immediately made you think of Tsukasa because of the time Murayama-san had called him a sleeping lion. You thought the term was fitting because he was just as majestic and strong as one. Would he appreciate such a gift or be annoyed by it?

"It's a beautiful bracelet, isn't it?"

You looked up in surprise at the woman standing on the other side of the counter, a friendly smile on her lips. Her name tag read, 'Yuki.' "Yes, it's quite beautiful. Are those pearls?"

She shook her head. "No, they're made of black tourmaline. It's said that these stones work as a bodyguard to shield their wearer from harm, strengthening their immune system and helping them find relief from discomfort. It keeps your chakras balanced and helps to soak up negative energies."

Your eyes widened at her words. That sounds perfect for him, given how much danger he always puts himself in. "And the blue ones?"

"Blue agate. It's excellent for reducing anxiety, despair, and stress which also aids in the healing of one's body, mind, and spirit. As for the lion, it exudes charisma and courage. This bracelet is designed to help you channel your inner lion no matter what situation you find yourself in."

You bit your lip, unsure if you believed in what she was telling you. It sounded too good to be true and, in your experience, such things rarely turned out well. Did you really have anything to lose, though? If it didn't work as she described, it was still a beautiful piece of jewelry to adorn his wrist. And on the off chance it did work, it could really assist him with the life he's chosen to live.

"How much is it?"

"The normal price is fifty dollars, but it's currently on sale for forty."

If you bought the bracelet, you'd be dead broke which meant you wouldn't be able to treat him to dinner as you had planned. 'He can just have dinner with his family,' you decided. "I'd like to buy it, please!"

She smiled warmly at you, nodding her head before unlocking the case. "Would you like the box wrapped?"

You felt embarrassed telling her that you couldn't afford it but she seemed to sense your line of thought.

"It's no extra charge."

You almost exhaled in relief but managed to hold it back. "Yes, please!"

"Of course."

You watched her as she carefully wrapped the box in wrapping paper. She made it look so easy, doing so without tears or creases. It was pristinely wrapped, as if done by a machine rather than a human being, and she topped it off by wrapping a yellow ribbon around it.

"Thank you so much."

"I'm sure he'll love it," she told you with a smile, handing the gift over to you.

"I hope so," you replied, bowing to her politely before leaving the store.

As you approached Oya Koukou, you felt nerves dancing within you like butterflies. Would he like it? Had he seen Maki already and accepted her gift? Did she even know it was his birthday? A million questions filled your mind but you did your best to ignore them, focusing only on the task laid out before you.

When you finally reached Oya, however, you saw your boyfriend standing outside the gates and he wasn't alone. Maki stood in front of him with a gift in her hands - it was tall and rectangular in shape with a giant red bow on top. A frown tugged at your lips as your gaze fell to the small box in your own hands, no doubt much cheaper than whatever she had bought him.

You caught Maki's eye and she smirked at you, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Tsukasa's cheek. Your heart clenched painfully as you turned on your heel, quickly walking away from them. It felt stupid to feel this way, but you just felt as if you couldn't compete with her. You found yourself wondering if you were holding him back, preventing him from being in a relationship that he deserved.

Fingers wrapped gently around your wrist, stopping you in your tracks. You didn't even have to look to know who it was, the scent of vanilla mixing with his cologne wafting across your nose. It was such a beautiful smell, one that you enjoyed deeply, but it couldn't calm your nerves at that moment.

"Hey," Tsukasa called out softly, his hand slipping down until it found its place against your own. "That wasn't what it looked like. She -"

"Really likes you," you interrupted just as softly, unable to face him. "She brings you gifts every day..."

"You knew about that?"

You nodded, lowering your head. "She's really pretty and she has money to spend on you."

"Just what are you trying to say?" his brow furrowed, hand tightening around your own.

"I'm just saying," you took a deep breath, closing your eyes. "That maybe she's a... better fit for you than I am."

"You're joking," he laughed but it lacked any sense of humor. "Is this why you've been so distant with me lately?"

"That's part of it..."

"Then what's the other part?"

You hesitated for a moment before slowly turning toward him and holding out the gift. "I've been working. Here, this is your birthday gift."

His lips parted, gaze flickering between you and the gift as he searched for the right words. "Did you... get a job to buy this?"

"It's not much. Not compared to hers." You muttered the last part under your breath. "Take it."

Instead of doing what you told him, he tugged on your hand, pulling you into his chest. His arms wrapped tightly around your body, one hand going to the back of your head. Your body tensed up at the sudden gesture, having not expected it, but you quickly melted in his warm embrace.

"You didn't have to do that," he told you softly. "And you definitely don't have to compete with Maki."

Your body tensed at the mention of her first name and he sensed it, increasing his hold on you in case you tried to pull away.

"She went to the same elementary school as us," he explained. "She had a massive crush on Fujio back then. She even called me ugly."

You scoffed at this, having seen pictures of him when he was a child thanks to his mom. "You were the cutest kid ever, what the hell?"

Tsukasa chuckled, finally pulling away. "Thank you, hun."

Warmth flooded you at the pet name and you cleared your throat, motioning toward the gift. "Are you gonna open it now?"

"So impatient," he hummed, carefully undoing the bow and handing it to you. He took his time with the paper as if he didn't want to tear it too badly. His brow went up when he saw the jewelry box. "Are you proposing to me?"

"Of course not!" you replied quickly, cheeks darkening at the thought of spending the rest of your life with him. "It's too big to be a ring box."

"Not if it's a big ring."

"Oh my god, Tsu-kun."

He laughed again, the sound pleasing to your ears. After what felt like ages, he finally pulled the lid off and carefully removed the bracelet from the box. He held it up, inspecting it carefully.

You bit your lip nervously, shifting from one foot to the other. "I know it's not much, but -"

"I love it."

"Eh?"

He slid it onto his wrist, eyes shimmering with love as he repeated, "I love it. Thank you so much, hun."

"Really? You really mean it?" You searched his face for any sign that he was lying but you found none.

Instead of answering you, he closed the distance, his hand resting on the side of your neck as his lips claimed your own. Your fingers curled around his shirt, tugging him closer as you returned the kiss, hoping he could feel all of the love you felt for him.

He rested his forehead against your own, a bright smile on his face. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," you breathed out, unable to stop your own smile.

"And for the record," he explained, brushing your cheek with his thumb. "I didn't want to accept her gifts but Fujio talked me into it. Her dad owns a big bakery and she always brings me sweets from there."

"Sweets?" your brow furrowed. "Not jewelry or clothes?"

"No, just sweets." He frowned, pecking your lips again. "You were really worried about this, weren't you?"

"Not at first," you admitted, tugging at the bottom of his shirt. "It wasn't until I confronted her that I started to feel... I don't know, insecure, I guess."

"What did she say to you?" his eyes darkened. "If she hurt you -"

"Nothing," you replied quickly, not wanting to ruin the moment. "It doesn't matter. I'm sorry for being so weird lately."

"Don't apologize. Just promise me that you'll come to me next time. If there's a problem, we'll work on it together. Okay?"

You nodded, brushing the hair away from his forehead. "I promise."

"Good. I won't accept her gifts anymore."

"Are you sure? Fujio will be sad."

"He'll get over it. Now, come here." His lips found yours again, filled with so much love that it stole your breath away.

You realized how silly you had been to let her words affect you. Tsukasa was your boyfriend and he loved you dearly. He was determined to make sure you knew that and never questioned yourself again.