#then took a shower because I’ve been walking all around a very gross city and sweating

[ghostickle]

I walked a fuckin hour n a half to the interview/background check thing today then walked to target to get a new brita filter because we have not had access to clean water for almost a week now and I walked an hour and a half back to the apartment and my body hates me

[crowdedimagines]

Familiar Love - Harry Styles

harry and y/n have a hard time staying out of each other’s arms, not that there’s a place they’d rather be Famous!Y/n

“Well well well.” Harry grins, opening his door wider to his home for me. 

“Why are you acting all surprised? You invited me here.” I get on my toes to steal a fast peck from him as I walk by. I walk into the living room I have grown very familiar with over the years. Harry’s London home never changes, his one taste of consistency.  

“Of course I did, we’re both in London at the same time.” 

“I know.” I roll my eyes, backing up the stairs to his room. He matches my steps evenly, pacing us like predator and prey. I slide my jacket off my shoulder, ditching it for the floor. His eyes never leave mine. If I didn’t know this house so well, I would be on my ass by now. 

“It’s been a while since this has worked out.” He presses a stolen kiss to my cheek, then another and another, “I’ve missed you.” 

“Missed me or a muse?” I bite down lightly on his earlobe, he backs me into his bedroom finally. 

“Always miss you.” 

“That’s right, you are pretty obsessed with me.” I smirk. 

“M’not obsessed with you.” He defends, finally pulling his face away from my neck. 

“Well your discography would beg to differ.” 

“Shh.” He works on the spot he knows would normally occupy my mind enough that I couldn’t banter. The spot just below my ear where my neck and jaw meet. 

“Temporary Fix, Perfect, Change Your Ticket-”

“Alright alright” Harry rolls his eyes, dimples showing up on his cheeks while he fights a smile.

“-and that’s not even counting your solo career” I tease, letting him back me onto his bed. “Only Angel, She-” 

“You’re such an ass sometimes.” He shakes his head, as if in disbelief, but his smile only grows wider. 

“What?” I scoff feigning shock, “You love my ass.” He presses a kiss to my collarbone. 

“Yes, I do. Now shut up so I can love on you for the first time in eight months.” 

-     -     -  

Harry and I were the worst and best things to ever happen to each other. We met when we were too young. My career had just started, I had a singular album to my name and was lucky to open for any band that was on a tour. Harry was a couple years into One Direction by the time we met. 

It was on a red carpet, thankfully not my first, but my first time being on the carpet for an award show that I actually had a nomination for. This was huge for me. My album had done well, but never expected a recognition like this. 

I met Niall before I met Harry. I had bumped into him walking in and he complimented my music, even claiming one of his mates ‘couldn’t get enough of it’. When he said that I wasn’t expecting him to walk me over to meet the rest of the band. Harry had been the ‘mate’ Niall had been referring to. 

I lost that night, to Ariana Grande, who in my own opinion deserved it more than me. That night didn’t feel like a loss though, because I got Harry out of it. We quickly became friends, texting, calling, facetiming any time we got the opportunity. One Direction was touring on a constant cycle, and I had just finished mine. I was in the process of writing my sophomore album, Harry flew me out and I ended up staying for the rest of the tour. 

It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that we started dating, the calls and giddy smiles were enough already to clue in everyone around us. I was able to get a glimpse at the world he lived in with his stardom, and soak in every second he wasn’t on stage. It didn’t take long for fans and the public to catch on. A few too many paparazzi pictures at each concert venue to avoid. 

Both of our managements allowed us to openly date, officially coming out to everyone with PDA and everything. It was amazing. I flew back home to Los Angeles to record my second album and before I could blink I was touring it. 

Things got hard for Harry and I at that point, we could never manage to be in the same city, or get time off to visit the other. My name was quickly becoming a household one, and One Direction had yet to ever even stall in popularity. 

It broke us both completely that after three happy years together, we had to call it quits. Neither of us were ready to give up our lives and it was no longer working to never see each other. We both needed to feel loved, and on opposite ends of the planet it wasn’t enough anymore. It was only a few months after our split that One Direction went on hiatus. 

Harry and I remained close. Some would say too close. It started with just being friendly whenever we saw each other at events or things with mutual events. It took one slip up that sent us back into each other’s arms. It was a New Year's party, we agreed to be with each other, because we didn’t have anyone else to kiss at midnight. 

Once you get a taste for someone you never stopped loving, it gets pretty hard to stop. So that’s how it all began. Harry and I decided to see each other, date, love, fuck, anytime we both happened to be in the same city. It didn’t happen as often as you would think. We both still had home across the world, and varying tour schedules. We both had on and off again partners, that then the deal would be off, but neither of our partners were ever in the picture for very long. For years it went on like this. It was heartbreak all over again though, once we knew that someone had to leave. 

-     -     -

“Well, that was fun! It’s been a while, Styles.” I let out a sigh to try and gain back my breath. We practically just ran a marathon. Maybe two. He does the same, a grin plastered to his face. 

“Too long.” He tilts his head to press a kiss to my bare shoulder. 

“Well I do believe a plane works two ways.” I turn on my side to face him, my head resting in my palm. 

“Mmm, I’ve been stuck in the studio. I’ve been working on new stuff.” 

“Ooh, a new album perhaps?” 

“Yeah, it’s been a whole process trying to get all my thoughts out and sorted.” He clears his throat. 

“So why not go to Jamaica like you did for your first? A new environment that you can just throw yourself into it.” I question. 

“I don’t know, it doesn’t feel like that for me. I did that because it was the first time I was doing music without One Direction. This time it’s a little more on me and how I feel.” 

We catch up for nearly an hour before we both feel gross from our previous activity and decide to take a shower. Together obviously. 

“Mum and Gem are coming over for brunch tomorrow.” He states. 

“Hmm?” I turn away from the shower head to face him again. 

“I think they’re going to be here close to 10:00.” 

“Do you want me to leave?”

“No!” He places a hand on my hip, trapping me between him and the cool tile on the walls. “Never.” 

“So what do you want?” I ask, tilting my head up to fully look at him. To read every expression that crosses his face as the water pours over both of us. 

“I want you to stay. Have brunch with us.” 

“Are you sure?” I ask, pressing a kiss to his peck. 

“Yeah, if you can.”

“My fitting isn’t until 2:00 so that should give me plenty of time.” I smile, “Are you sure they aren’t going to think it’s weird that I’m there?” 

“They won’t think it’s weird. They’ll both be thrilled to see you. I swear everytime I pick up the phone they’re asking me how you’re doing.” 

“That’s funny considering how often that Gemma texts me.” I smile. 

“So you’ll stay for brunch?” 

“Mhm.” I pull him down to my height for a kiss. 

-     -     - 

“Well if it isn’t the one that got away.” Anne teases as she pulls me in for a tight hug. 

“Fuck-” Harry sighs, letting out air as if he took an actual physical hit. 

“Hi, Anne.” I laugh. 

“You just get more and more beautiful every-time I see you.” She holds my face in her hands and she studies me closely. Over the years Anne and I have only grown to be more close, even though I am no longer dating her son she still treats me as family which I can’t help but love her for. 

“Let me give her a hug!” Gemma pushes her way in and pulls me in tight against her chest. 

“Gem!” I grin. 

Harry and Anne walk into the kitchen together with Gemma and I following, arm in arm. I remember this from years ago. The Styles family would like to make brunches together every couple of weeks when they could. 

Obviously if Harry was touring or over in the States they couldn’t, but when they could they make the most of it. Everything is made from scratch, together. Nothing is decided until everyone gets there that morning. 

“How do we feel about waffles?” Gemma asks. 

“And eggs.” Harry adds. 

“And bacon.” Anne adds. 

Everyone turns to me waiting for my request. 

“And fresh fruit.” I smile. 

We all get to work and quickly become a well oiled machine. Them it’s not too surprising due to them doing this over the years, but I have to say I am able to jump in with ease. 

I cut up various fruits arranging them as beautifully as I can. A vibrant display of colors on the platter. 

“Excuse me, love.” He presses a kiss to my temple, a steadying hand at my waist as he reaches for a knife from the island. 

I prepare everyone’s drinks around the table as well considering my task went the quickest. Shortly, everyone joins me and we dig in. Everything tastes immaculate. 

We dive into conversation, the table never getting quiet for a second. Something I love so much about this family. There’s always something to be said.

“Well, I actually should be going it’s one o clock now, and I still need to drive to the other side of town.” I pick up my plate from the table. We’ve all been done eating for a while now, but the conversation kept us at the table. 

“Where are you off to?” Anne asks. 

“She’s got a fitting with Gucci.” Harry grins. 

“Wipe that smug little grin off your face.” I smack his shoulder lightly. 

“Gucci?” Gemma grins even wider than Harry did. 

“I am going to be the new face to the brand.” I smile, feeling pink raise up on my cheeks.

“For the whole company?” Gemma cheers. 

I simply nod as I grab a few other plates off of the table as I go. 

“Can I come with you?” Gemma asks, the two Styles siblings following my into the kitchen. 

“Why didn’t you act like this when I modeled for Gucci?” Harry asks, his jealous side coming out.

“Harry, you got a cologne, but she’s getting the whole company!” She huffs, “Do you know what cool clothes she’s going to be trying one?”

“I’m not getting the company!” I roll my eyes, putting the dishes in the wash. 

“You didn’t answer the question.” Gemma smirks. 

“Yes, Gem.” I laugh, “As long as you can be out the door in five minutes.” 

Gemma leaves the kitchen and goes back to tell Anne, leaving Harry and I alone. 

“You’re coming back here after, right?” He asks, trapping me against the counter. 

“Yeah, of course. I’ll actually be in London for almost the entire campaign. You’re going to be sick of me soon.” I smirk. 

“Never.” 

-    -    -

“I am OBSESSED with that yellow jacket you had on!” Gemma sighs dreamily as we enter Harry’s flat several hours later. “It’s to die for!”

“Well, I can see if I can get it for you after the shoot.”

We make our way to the living room where Harry is settled in on the couch with a book. 

“An angel.” She turns to her brother, “Did you know this one is an angel?” 

“You give me too much credit.” I laugh. 

“Thanks for the reminder, Gem.” Harry chuckles. 

“Okay, now I will get out of your hair. I’ve already stolen all afternoon with you. Hopefully see you soon!” She pulls me in for a hug, “Love you.” I let Harry walk her to the door to say their goodbyes. 

Harry comes back after a few minutes and pulls me down in a hug on the couch. He lets out a deep sigh into my neck, pulling my head in even closer. 

“You okay, babe?” I ask, taking note of his obvious mood. 

“Mmm, I was just thinking while you were out.”

“And what were you thinking?” I pull back so I can get a good look at his face. It’s always been an easy way to see how he’s feeling. 

“I was just thinking that we’re both in such a better place than we were all those years ago. I don’t tour every year anymore, and I’m signed with good management that actually lets me make my own decisions.”

“What are you saying?” I ask, wrapping my arms around his neck and studying his face closely. 

“I’m saying that you only tour ever other year, at max. I do the same now. Why can’t we make this work for real again? We’re both more established now and have the right to chose when and where we do things. I know, we make time for each other when we’re in the same city, but there’s nothing saying we can’t be in the same city. I could live in Los Angeles full time. I could live with you. Or we could both go to New York. I don’t care, as long as we can be together.” 

“Harry, you’re sure about this? We haven’t truly been together in a long time. I love spending my time with you, truly, but I don’t want you to uproot your life just for me.” I clarify. He’s saying what I’ve wanted to hear for years, but I just want to make sure we’ve thought things through before I give either of us false hope. 

“It wouldn’t just be for you, it would be for us. I love you so much, I feel like I’m wasting time. It seems like a waste to know exactly who your soulmate is, and not do everything in your power to make it work.” 

“I love you, too.” I press a fast and passionate kiss to his lips, “Although, I do have one thing that I think we should change.”

“Anything.” He answers, his eyes all gooey and lovey making me break out in a grin. I couldn’t keep a straight face over how I’m feeling if it tried. 

“Let me move here.”

“What?” He asks shocked.

“You love London and being close to your family more than anything, I could never ask you to change that.” 

“But-”

“And I love being close to them too. If today proves anything, you are my family.”

“Let me make the move” I grin. 

“Happily.” Harry’s dimples are on full display. 

“Hey, isn’t that another song you wrote about me?” I tease.

“Oh, shut up.” He rolls his eyes, pushing me back against the couch. 

plz give me some feedback! i thought this was so cute 

[oblxvion]

euphoric | eren jaeger (1)

-> pairing: eren jaeger x f!reader

-> wc: 5.4k

-> warnings: use of marijuana, smut, praise kink, degradation kink, spit kink, oral (f and m receiving), fluff

you were stressed. it was almost the end of the term, and you had spent the past two weeks studying and prepping for your exams because you needed those grades. you had been slipping a lot in your classes but you managed to bring your grades up with the help of your good friend armin. he was extremely smart and honestly, without him, you didn't even want to think about what your grades would be.

“ugh, sasha, i can’t study any more.” you groaned, bringing you head down to into the vast sea of review that you had been going over as per armin’s request. “i need a break, i feel like my brain is going to fucking explode.”

sasha looked over up from her phone and laughed. “it’s gonna be worth it, i promise. once you finish these exams, you’ll be able to relax for a bit. do you wanna smoke later ‘cause we’re all getting together later at eren’s, i forgot to tell you.”

you hadn’t checked your phone in the past few hours so you didn't know that there were plans that had been made. 

you didn’t move your head as you contemplated the thought, it sounded like fun to see everyone and ignore the work you had for at least a bit. exams weren’t for another week and a half, so you should be fine.

“yeah, i'll come.”

“yay! i’ll text the group chat and let them know that we’re gonna leave at around 6.” she squeals as she grabs her phone and starts typing away a text that you soon receive as well.

“ok, i need to nap first. plus it’s like 4 so i’m gonna pass out for a bit.” you got up from the kitchen table and made your way over to your bedroom, beginning to get comfortable. “wake me up at 5.” you yelled so she could hear from her room.

“you got it.” sasha yelled back. you could tell that she said that with food in her mouth. 

“typical.” you chuckled as you felt your body drift off to sleep.

“y/n! hey! wake up! it’s 5:30. i lost track of the time.” sasha tried to shake you awake in which you grumbled in response. 

“ugh, ur so timely.” you joked as you made your way out of your room, and into the shared bathroom. wow i look like shit you thought to yourself as you turned from side to side trying to see all of what you looked like in your oversized sweatshirt and shorts.

there was not enough time for you to get ready to look at least presentable, but you felt gross so you turned on the shower and threw your clothes into your hamper. you put on some music because who showers without music and you made sure to shave because it had been awhile since you had and you wanted to feel clean.

once you had finished, you grabbed a towel and checked the time on your phone. 5:40. perfect.

“y/n, we have like 20 minutes,” sasha called from her room. “do you think you can be ready by then?”

“yeah, i just need to dry my hair and throw on some clothes and i should be good.” you said as you walked into her room, she was pretty much ready to go, and dressed in shorts and a baggy t-shirt. no one really dressed up for these sessions because everyone was already super comfortable with each other.

“ok i’m gonna go change, i don't know if i’ll have enough time to dry my hair though.” 

“you’ll be fine. plus, we can be a bit late, they wouldn’t start without us anyways.” she says with a smile as she puts on a sweatshirt.

you made your way back to your room and threw on a pair of sweatpants, a loose fitting tank top and your favorite pullover. as you made your way back to the bathroom to dry your hair, you found yourself stressing once again about your exams to which you took a deep breathe and reminded yourself that you needed to relax and this was a well deserved break. 

after you finished drying your hair, you quickly ran a brush through it, and put on some deodorant along with your favorite perfume.

“ok sash, i’m ready.” you called from the bathroom as you fixed your appearance for the last time. 

“perfect! i ordered us an uber because i don’t really wanna drive and i know you don't like driving high.” she says as she grabs the last of her things and we make our way out the door and to the bottom of our apartment complex.

“soooo...” 

you look at her as the uber pulls over to the side of the road. “so what?”

“have u been seeing anyone recently?” sasha looks over to you as she gets into the uber after you. 

“how could i? i’ve literally been studying nonstop. i wish though.” you say with a sigh. you had been so preoccupied with studying and getting your grades up that you haven’t had the time to see anyone except friends. “why do you ask?”

“oh, it’s nothing really. i was just curious, you know, being your roommate and all.” somethings up, she’s clearly trying to pick at something and this does not go unnoticed by you.

“ok,” you laughed and shook your head. “whatever you say.”

before you knew it, you both arrived at eren’s apartment complex. for some reason, you felt anxious. you knew the boys that were going to be there but you had this gut feeling that something was going to happen.

the two of you made your way up to his floor and knocked on his door which was opened almost instantly as if he were waiting.

“sasha!” connie exclaimed, embracing the girl into a bear hug. “hey y/n.” 

“hey connie.” you smiled in response. it was really cute how the two of them were so close, it’s almost like they were twins. you made your way into the apartment and saw jean and eren, arguing over god knows what.

“hey guys!” you say as you walked over to the two of them, hugging them both. 

“y/n! it’s been a while. how’s studying with armin?” jean asks as he pulls away from the hug.

“god. don't even get me started. i am in hell. armin’s being so helpful though.” you chuckle as you walked over to eren, who was looking at something on his phone but quickly shoved it away when he saw you coming towards him.

“hey y/n.” he says with his boyish smile as he pulls you into a side hug and you notice that his hand lingers for a bit longer than normal but you smile in response.

“so, can we smoke now that they’re finally here?” connie asks as it was very clear that he was getting impatient. 

“yeah, yeah, let’s go to the deck.” eren’s apartment had a deck with was extremely nice and over time, it had become the signature smoke spot for you guys. it had an outdoor couch and a few chairs along with a small table which was perfect.

you made your way to your favorite spot which was the right corner of the couch so you could be close to the edge of the balcony and look out at the view of the city. everyone had their signature spots, it was like an unspoken rule but everyone followed it. eren next to you on the couch, sasha, jean and connie in the three chairs on the opposite side of the table.

there were some blankets already outside along with a speaker that eren played some music on to set the vibe. 

“since you guys were taking too long, i rolled us a joint so we could smoke sooner.” eren said as he sat down next to you.

“aw, how kind.” you tease him as you nudge yourself against his shoulder, earning a chuckle from him. “dibs on first hit.” 

“aw, c’mon!” jean whined, knowing that you always give the blunt to eren right after you hit. 

“i get priority since eren is my best friend.” you smirk and wait for eren to say anything but he just laughs and shakes his head. 

you and eren had always been close ever since you started school. he even introduced you to everyone, which was the reason why you were here with them now.

eren took out his lighter and lit the joint and passed it to you. you took it between your pointer finger and thumb and took a long drag. 

oh how you had missed this feeling. the feeling of being high with your friends. you passed the blunt back to eren as he took a hit himself and you exhaled the smoke.

the joint was passed around the circle until everyone had gotten a good amount of hits and it was finished. you felt your high and you leaned back into the couch as you closed your eyes.

“tired?” 

you opened your eyes and looked over to eren who’s eyes were red, just like yours. “no, just relaxing. this is nice. i needed this.”

“yeah, i noticed. armin told me that you’d been really stressed lately so i texted asking if people wanted to smoke but you didn't respond so i assumed you were studying,” he says as he stretched his arms and placed them just behind your shoulders.

“thanks,” you laughed as you stared into his turquoise eyes only now noticing how pretty they were. you had looked him in the eyes before but this time it felt different and he felt it too. but your staring was soon broken by sasha’s wails of being hungry.

“there’s food in the fridge, i had takeout last night so there’s probably some leftovers.” eren nods his head towards the inside of his apartment. sasha stood up and made her way towards the food as connie followed her.

“hey! save some for me!” he yelled as he chased after her. all that was left was you, eren and jean. there was clearly some tension in the air but you decided to ignore it.

“ain’t no way i’m gonna be third wheeling right now.” jean huffed quietly and joined the two inside. 

third wheeling? you ignored it because jean obviously knows that you and eren are close friends, nothing more.

oh, how you were wrong.

eren looked over to make sure that there was no way for the others to see the deck and he moved his arm down towards your shoulder. you were shocked by this, but in a way, it was comforting. 

“y/n?” he asked staring off into the distance.

“hm?” 

he didn't respond so you took it upon yourself to look up at him.

“what’s up?”

no response once again.

your lidded eyes becoming heavy as he looked down at you with a tender look on his face. he leaned his face closer to yours until your noses were touching.

“eren?”

his lips connected with yours, igniting a feeling inside your chest that you had pushed away when you first became close. you melted into the kiss and kissed him back in a slow and sensual kiss. eren pulled back and tucked your hair behind your ear as he went back in for another kiss. you didn’t know what to do but the feeling that this gave you, it wasn’t like any other kiss you had before.

“wanted to do this for a long time.” he whispers and rests his nose on yours. 

you didn’t know what to say in response so you pulled him back for another kiss that was interrupted by the three of them coming back out onto the deck. you pulled away quickly, hoping that no one had seen what just happened. eren kept his hand on your shoulder, but no one had asked about it so you just let it slide.

it had been a few days since you had last seen eren. everyone was texting in the group chat about plans for the upcoming days but you had to study, or at least try to study. the kiss that you and eren shared had been replaying in your head ever since it had happened. you knew that he was high and he may not remember it, but it still bugged you and you had to know.

but most importantly, this kiss had sparked feelings inside you that you had pushed away so long ago and it was beginning to get hard to consume them. eren was constantly on your mind, and you couldn’t focus on your work. 

you needed to talk to him but you didn't know how because you didn't know that he had these feelings for you and you didn't know that you still had those feelings for him. you realized that you were ignoring these feelings that you had for him because he was your close friend and you didn’t want that to ruin your relationship.

it was driving you crazy. you needed to talk to him. 

you grabbed your phone and clicked on eren’s contact and called him. it didn’t even finish the first ring.

“hey y/n! what’s up? how’s studying?” he said and you felt your heart swell at him saying your name, which never happened before until now.

“hey, can you come over later? i need to talk to you,” you sigh. this is it, you need to know if he truly had those feelings or he was just playing with you.

“yeah, of course,” he stammered. “is everything ok?”

“yeah, everything's fine, i just wanna talk to you.”

“ok, i can get a ride now if you want me to.” is he eager?

you looked at the time and remembered that sasha was out with connie and jean so she would probably not be coming back tonight.

“actually, yeah, that sounds fine. see you soon, eren.”

“ok, i’ll text you when i’m close.”

“ok,” you ended the call and placed your phone down, taking your head in your hands. you’re overreacting right? he definitely feels for you, why else would he kiss you?

“i need to shower.” you said to yourself, trying to ignore the thoughts in your head.

as you got out of the shower, you heard your phone get a text, which you assumed to be eren. walking back to your room, you heard a knock at the door and you froze. you were still in a towel and debating whether or not you should open the door for him, which you did because you didn't want to leave him standing out there.

“hey y/n, oh,” he stops and looks you up and down. 

“sorry, i just got out of the shower.” you say as you open the door and motion for him to come inside. “can you just wait a sec while i go put some clothes on?”

“oh, uh, yeah. i’ll wait in the kitchen.” he looks around and scratches the back of his head nervously. his hair was tied back into a messy bun like usual and wearing gray sweatpants with a black shirt and his chain peeking out from under it. “you good?” he asked as he took off his shoes.

oh my god, was i staring?

“oh, yeah, i'm fine. i just spaced out a bit, sorry.” you chuckle nervously, tucking a piece of your wet hair behind your ear. “i’ll be right back.”

“take your time.”

you made your way back to your room and threw hung your town on your closet door as you looked for clothes to wear. you opted for a pair of pajama shorts and an oversized t-shirt that was sasha’s but for some reason, it was in your closet. once you had finished changing, you made your way over to the mirror that was across for your bed to make sure that you looked fine.

“ok, breathe.” you exhaled and opened your door calling for eren to come into your room.

he came into your room, still clearly feeling awkward about your interaction from before. “nice room, i like the led lights you have.” 

“thanks,” you laughed and sat on the bed, motioning for him to come sit next to you, which he did.

“so, what's on your mind y/n?” he asks, leaning up against the headboard and trying to get comfortable. 

“i don’t know, i've just been thinking about some things recently, and i can't seem to get them out of my head.” ok, good start.

“like what?” he looks over at you. oh no, don't look at me like that.

“the kiss we shared a few days ago, it’s been in my head on repeat.”

eren looks confused and looks towards your mirror, “is that a bad thing?”

“huh? i mean no, it’s not, i just don’t know what to do because these feelings have come back that i pushed away from when we became close because i didn’t want to ruin our friendship. but right now, it’s consuming me and i don’t know what to do.”

“well, i wouldn’t have kissed you without having feelings for you, y/n. i don’t know how you didn't notice it. i’ve been kinda bad at hiding it.” he said calmly as his gaze remained in front of the two of you. “but if you didn’t like it, we can just forget about it. i didn't mean to make you uncomfortable.” he turns to look at you once again. 

“no, i enjoyed it actually, but...” you trail off nervously, feeling your face becoming hot. you tried to turn away but his hand grabbed your chin and turned you back to face him. 

“but what?” he says softly, looking into your eyes which caused your heart beat to pick up. he thought it was so cute how you were getting so flustered by him.

“but i don’t want to be played...” you averted his gaze.

“y/n, i would never play you.”

you look back at him, now knowing the answer that had been bothering you for the past few days. it took all your strength to not kiss him right there but he beat you to it, closing the gap between the two of you. in that moment, all your worries had washed away, feeling content and glad that you had this conversation with him. the kiss soon escalated into you and eren sliding your tongues into the others mouth. you felt yourself getting hot once again but this time, a completely different reason. eren brought his hand that was on your chin behind your head, pulling you deeper into the kiss as you melted into his mouth once again, whimpering at the feeling. eren could feel it go straight to his dick that was now straining in his pants, trying to contain himself because he didn't know whether you wanted this or not.

“let me show you how much i care for you, yeah?” he says as he pulls away for a brief second. 

“eren, please,” you whimper as his lips met yours once again but this time with more passion. eren then moved so he was on top of you, caging you in his arms as he continued to kiss you. “i want you.”

“’want you too, baby.” the pet name going straight to your core. eren moaned as he moved from your lips down to your neck, gently kissing and sucking to leave a mark. he then placed his hands at the bottom of your shirt, looking at you as if he was asking with his eyes for permission to undress you, you nodded your head vigorously and lifted your hands up so he could take it off. 

“no bra? it’s like you’re begging me to fuck you, angel.” he then brought his lips down to your left nipple, gently sucking on it while taking the other between his fingers, moving it around earning a moan from you at the feeling. he then moved over to the right and did the same action. “you’re so beautiful.”

“ohmygod please, please,” you knew you sounded desperate, but you couldn't help yourself. you had been denying the fact that you had wanted this for so long.

“use your words, tell me what you want.” he groaned and came back up to kiss you, relishing in the feeling of your lips against his.

“’wanna feel you,”

“where, pretty girl?” he sat up at looked down at you with a smirk on his face, he knew where you wanted him but he wanted, no needed to hear you say it. 

“’want you inside me eren, please,” you whined arching your back so he could get the message. he chuckled and brought himself back down towards your sternum, placing wet kisses as he made his way down to the waistband of your shorts. 

“can i?” he looked up at you and immediately saw the approval in your eyes. “you don’t know what you do to me, do you?” you whimper at his remark, lifting your hips up in the process so he could take your shorts off easier to reveal your thong and the painfully obvious wet spot. he placed a finger on your slit, dragging it down slowly, teasing you.

“stop teasing me,” you whined, trying to prop yourself on your elbows but to caught up with the euphoric feeling that you couldn't. eren slowly took off your panties to tease you even more, and threw them behind him onto the floor.

“fuck, baby. this all for me?” he looked up at you with his jade green eyes meeting your e/c ones. he could feel the precum running down his shaft, struggling to keep his composure.

“yes eren, all for you.” your breath hitched as he spit onto your needy heat, bringing his tongue down to your clit, giving it a few kitten licks before he quickened his pace and wrapped his left arm around your leg to keep you in place, not once breaking eye contact. “fuck, keep doing that, holy shit!” you could feel him smirk against your core, and if it couldn't get any better, you felt a finger at your entrance before sliding in. “eren!” he felt so embarrassed to be rutting his cock against the bed but the noises you were making were sinful and he couldn’t help himself.

you began to feel your stomach tighten as he added another finger into your hole and picked up the pace. the sensation was incredible, the feeling of his tongue on your clit and the pace of his fingers going in and out of your pussy. your slick was dripping down his fingers, it was driving him crazy. he felt you tighten around his fingers, you were close.

“’gonna, ‘m gonna cum eren, please,” your release was so close, you just needed one more push.

“c’mon baby, cum for me.” he groaned against your pussy, sending vibrations throughout your whole body and you felt the coil snap. the moan you let out was pure sin and eren thought he was going to cum on the spot. “that’s it baby, good fucking girl.” as you got down from your high, you realized that he didn’t stop, you were sensitive, eren knew that but he needed one more from you.

“eren it’s too much, fuck,” you cry out as he brings his mouth back down to your heat and you can already feel yourself getting close again, and he could tell. you came even quicker this time, your juices gushing all over eren’s tongue. he lapped all of it up, not letting a single drop go to waste, and then taking his fingers covered in your slick into his mouth.

“you taste so good, i couldn’t get enough of you.” he whispers as he comes back up to kiss you. you could taste yourself on his lips and tongue. you reach down towards his throbbing cock, but he shook his head. “this is about you, baby.”

“please?” you look up at him and he couldn’t say no. he knew that he would not last long if you did as much as place your tongue on his tip. noticing that he didn't say anything, you took this as your chance. you flipped him over so that you were on top, and you could feel how hard he was. you grabbed the bottom of his shirt and helped him take it off, revealing his perfectly toned chest with chiseled abs. he threw the shirt to another place in the room, pulling you into another kiss shortly after. you moved from his lips down to his neck and down his chest stopping at his sweatpants to pull them down along with his boxers, revealing his swollen tip leaking with precum. he was larger than average and it excited you every bit. you smirked to yourself, and placed your lips on his tip, his breath hitched at the feeling.

you began to slowly drag your tongue down his shaft, maintaining eye contact with him, just like he did with you. you then took him in your mouth seeing how his legs tensed, you began to go even further. 

eren was trying so hard not to grab your head and push you onto his dick, afraid that he was going to ruin the moment with you and be too aggressive. you then took your mouth off with saliva connecting from his tip to your lips and then went back down taking him all in your throat before bobbing your head up and down, coming up for air while jerking him off. the sounds he was making went straight to your warmth, making you wetter by the minute.

“keep doing that, fuck y/n,” he groaned as his will vanished and he took your hair in his hands beginning to help guide you on his dick. he ran his hand through his hair and looked back at you, knowing that this image will forever be imprinted in his head. his legs tensed and you felt it, he was close. “fuck, i’m gonna cum, i’m gonna fucking cum.” he groaned as he shot thick white ropes of cum down your throat, you gladly took all of it and opened your mouth to show him that you did. 

“fuck, you did so good, so good.” he pulled you up towards him as you laughed into the kiss, and suddenly you were back on the bottom. “but now i’m gonna fuck this pretty little pussy, yeah?” he aligned himself with your entrance and your mind became fuzzy with the feeling of his tip right where you needed him most. he slowly pushes himself in but you didn’t need to adjust, and he began to move at a steady pace.

“oh fuck,” eren threw his head back at the sensation of finally being inside of you, the way your walls grazed his dick, pulling him back him. it was addictive, and he couldn’t get enough of it. “you feel so fucking good y/n.”

“fuckfuckfuck, ’m gonna cum eren.” the feeling came back embarrassingly quick but you didn’t care, the feeling was amazing.

“yeah? you’re gonna fucking cum? cum on my cock. cum on my fucking cock.” eren growled as his chain was in your face. hearing him be so demanding and aggressive set something off and you felt yourself release but this time it was different, arching your back at the feeling. eren was taken aback by the fact that he made you squirt, it was the hottest thing he had ever seen.

“that’s it, squirt all over my fucking cock.” he rode you out of your orgasm and continued to plow you into the mattress, picking up his pace. he was close but not quite there yet. you had taken into account that eren was aggressive in bed but he was being gentle with you at first, and you loved every bit of it. you wanted to make it more interesting. before you could even think, your hand met his cheek, and eren looked at you with a shocked expression but his eyes grew dark with lust. 

“fuck me like you mean it, jaeger.” you growled, hoping to get a reaction out of him. and oh boy, did it get a reaction.

“yeah? fuck you like i mean it?” he slapped you across the face, and then grabbed your cheeks and spit into your mouth. “swallow it.” if you thought you couldn’t get turned on anymore, you were so wrong. you rutted your hips against his, moaning at the sensation. this side of you was so different, and eren fucking loved it. he grabbed your throat, squeezing it and making you look him in the eyes as he fucked you with force.

“look at you, never knew you could be such a slut.” the name made you clench around him like a vice, earning a groan from him. “taking my cock so fucking well.” the feeling of you tightening around his cock for the 2nd time that night was making him lose his mind, he wasn’t going to last any longer and he knew that you weren’t either. he brought his hand that was around your neck down to your neglected clit and began rubbing circles as his pace became erratic. he was so close and so were you, but he needed you to come with him, he had to feel that feeling again. 

“fuck, i’m so close baby. fucking cum with me,” he moaned as he brought his head to your neck, you brought your arms and wrapped them around him, bringing him closer to you. before you could even comprehend, you released your juices, spraying all over his pelvis as he came shortly after you, painting your insides white. he stilled, trying to catch his breath but to his shock, you flipped him so that you were on top once again.

“not done yet.” you moaned as you began to grind yourself onto his cock. eren still so sensitive from his past orgasm that he was barely holding on by a string. seeing you on top of him, the way your breasts bounce and the way you look from this angle is driving him insane. he knows that he’s not going to last like this, the way you’re riding him, he grabs onto your hips and guides you.

you’re so overstimulated, you can’t even think straight. eren is trying so hard not to cum before you, but your pussy is milking him dry and before he knew it, he came inside you once again, legs shaking from the overstimulation. you lifted yourself off him and began to frantically rub your clit as you squirted all over his chest and pelvis. eren stared at you in awe, the way you looked like when you came and knowing that it was from him was a huge boost to his ego.

you finally collapsed onto his chest, trying to calm your breathing as he wrapped his arms around you. the both of you basked in this silence, thinking about the sex you just had.

“hope i wasn’t too rough, i kinda got carried away.” eren chuckled as he ran his fingers down your back, earning a laugh from you.

“no not at all, i really liked it actually.” you looked up at him, placing your chinos his chest. 

“I'm glad, been wanting to do that for a while,” he paused, as if he was looking for the right words to say. “i really like you, y/n.”

your heartbeat quickened, and you gave him a quick peck on the lips. “i really like you too, eren.” you blushed, “stay the night.” you didn't have class the following morning, so it was fine.

“ok, will do.” he squeezed you tighter, and you utterly being exhausted, you felt yourself drift off to sleep. eren gently moved you over and walked into the bathroom, finding a small towel and cleaning you and himself up. he grabbed you a new pair of underwear from your closet and the his shirt on the floor, dressing you before he put his sweatpants back on.

you felt the bed dip and a pair of arms bring your back to his chest and press a kiss to your cheek.

“’night y/n.”

© all content belongs to oblxvion 2021, do not repost or change.

[sarahlynnirl]

Losing my best friend - Sugar Daddy culture is not empowering

I finally feel strong enough to talk about this and hopefully get some love, support, and reassurance from other women who agree that this is fucked up. I’ve never been “terfy on main” before so here goes. (TW child abuse + SA but no graphic descriptions of SA)

My mother is a narcissist who financially and emotionally abused my father and myself, with some additional physical abuse of me, for as long as I can remember. My dad made plenty of money but my mom controlled it all and made sure it didn’t go towards anything for me beyond the bare minimum required not to look obviously guilty of child abuse and neglect. I met Kiara (not her real name) when I was a junior in highschool and she was a freshman. Her mom was a single Korean woman doing her best to support Kiara and her 2 sisters while also running a Korean restaurant. My first jobs were a summer camp counselor and fitting room attendant at Forever 21. I would spend the last scraps of my paycheck making sure Kiara was able to order a full meal when our friends went out to dinner, buying her little gifts, and generally trying to keep us both as happy and healthy as possible.

When Kiara graduated highschool her mom drove her into Koreatown New Jersey, got her a room in the apartment of an acquaintance, and basically left her to fend for herself. Kiara spoke barely any Korean. She began working at a Korean salon where she met Ariana (not her real name). She had a NY cosmetology license, not an NJ one, while Ariana was an illegal immigrant from Korea so they were both overworked, underpaid, forced to work overtime, paid under minimum wage, and deprived of their tips. They couldn’t report or complain about this since they were both working illegally.

Kiara had to pay rent for the one room she occupied despite her land lady yelling at her, walking into her room while she slept, banning her from having friends over, and reporting to her mom if she spoke to a guy on the phone or a guy dropped her off. I was working at a restaurant in my college town on top of my classes and doing my best to keep surprising her with little gifts, but neither of us had enough disposable income to afford to visit each other. This was really difficult for me as she was my favorite person in the world and I was used to spending every second with her when we both lived in upstate NY. Ariana got them both to start using SeekingArrangement for one time meet ups with Sugar Daddies where they were paid anywhere from $200-2000 for sex. “The first time I ever did it I walked out of the hotel and just screamed because I was so disgusted and I was thinking about his wrinkly skin touching mine and all I wanted to do was get in the shower and scrub it off but I had $1000 cash in my hand for a couple hours of work which was so crazy and kinda made it all worth it ya know?” - Ariana to me

I was immediately skeptical and a little grossed out but Kiara genuinely seemed happier. She was buying new clothes for herself, ordering food to the apartment when she was hungry, and taking trips into NYC to have fun with Ariana and her friends. By the beginning of the summer of 2019, Kiara had found the Sugar Daddy who she would establish a long term agreement with and who ultimately ended up completely supporting her. I’m not going to say his name here but if people want to know it just ask, I am willing to share. He moved her into a much nicer much bigger apartment with Ariana as her roommate. He paid for me to fly up and visit her, and all of our activities during this vacation. I’m so sorry I’m so sorry I’m so sorry. I wish I shoved the money back in her hand before it was too late, I wish I worked harder and longer hours and got us an apartment in Florida and paid both of our rent. I’m so fucking sorry I didn’t listen to my instincts and allowed her to brush off my concerns. It was the most freedom we had ever had, I ran around NYC by myself while she was at work, and my ex took the bus to NJ from upstate NY and joined us for a few days. I feel so selfish but I also didn’t know how bad things would get.

One night Kiara and I went to NYC for dinner with her SD and she took the bus back to the apartment because she had to work early the next morning. It made sense for me to stay in the city because I was supposed to visit my friend at NYU the next morning. In the Uber to his apartment alone with him he was drunk and high and I very clearly looked scared shitless. At this point she was 19 (but she had looked that way since age 17 and I doubt he would have minded if she was lying about her age), I was 21 and he was 44. He seemed offended by my discomfort and was basically like “jeez relax I’m not gonna touch you, I really care about Kiara I think she’s so amazing, just go to the guest room and sleep, make a left to walk to NYU when you wake up.” I peaced the fuck out of there early the next morning.

After that summer Kiara and Ariana quit their jobs at the Korean salon and sugaring became their sole incomes. Ariana was still doing one time meet ups, not nearly as financially stable as Kiara, and got herself into a lot of credit card debt that to my knowledge she’s still in. At this point Kiara was flying down and staying with me in Florida so often that people at my college thought she went there too. I also wasn’t working at this point because college had gotten harder and my ex was fucking up my mental health real bad. He had given me a coke problem and Kiara sending me “grocery money” was enabling me to continue. I wasn’t honest with her about where all the money was going. During Halloween week we didn’t know that she couldn’t just snort molly (MDMA) with the frequency I was doing coke, she ODed, my guy best friend took us to the ER, it was so fucking scary, she got IV fluids for 2 hours and made a full recovery, she stopped doing molly, I kept doing coke. I’m so sorry :(

In November her SD paid for us to take a trip to Cancun Mexico. He was with us for the first part of the trip and this is where things started to get really bad. He tried to be my friend and act the way a boyfriend of my best friend who was my age would, but it was creepy and wrong and I was so uncomfortable. He asked about my drug use in a way that was gross and shamey and basically him seeing me as the “coke whore” stereotype...while continuing to buy me more coke. He also brought and gave us ecstasy pills. He asked really invasive questions about my relationship with my ex, why I stayed, my sex life, etc. It felt like an uncle asking me these questions, I did NOT wanna talk about any of this with him. But from what I did say it was very clear to someone with 44 years of life experience that I had an abusive mother, an addictive personality, and was in an unhealthy relationship. He offered to set me up with an SD friend of his looking for a sugar baby. I of course declined because I always knew this was a boundary I wasn’t willing to cross. No matter how bad my addictions got I would NOT give up that piece of myself in return for money.

In this part of Mexico, drugs that were only given with a prescription in the US were available over the counter. Kiara and I got a little box of 1mg Xanax with my money. My ex had given us Xanax a couple times in NY and we had fun with it, but at this point in time we did NOT have a problem with it. We had bought one bar, broken it in half, and each took half one night of Halloween week and called it “xanpires”, but this wasn’t something we were scripted or buying regularly from plugs. We went to dinner with her SD, we got up to go to the bathroom, and she immediately slipped and hit the ground. I was like woah did you take one of the xans and forget? Because we were supposed to tell each other if we were taking one so we could look out for each other. I was never mad at her! I never wanted money from her! I was just a little concerned, and once I determined that she was safe we thought it was kinda funny that she had taken a xan without realizing and started joking around about it. Her SD of course didn’t understand how a 19 year old and 21 year old girl joke with each other because he was a creepy old man, decided that we were “arguing”, and got up from the restaurant, walked across the street, bought a 90 count bottle of 2mg xans and gave it to me. This was honestly the most irresponsible way someone has ever treated me in my life, and this is coming from someone with an abusive and neglectful parent. Google “benzo withdrawal” if you’re not familiar with it.

We went to a different hotel, and Kiara and I both took xans and blacked out. I passed out on the guest bed, while Kiara was awake but in a conscious blackout. I woke up on the couch on the balcony (which was fine, it was comfy and I saw the sunrise over the beach. The gross part was that meant her SD had picked me up, put his hands on my body while I was unconscious and carried me out there). I remembered that at one point I had woken up, wanted to go to the bathroom or get something from inside, caught a glimpse of what I thought was them having sex, and went back outside. I mentioned it to Kiara and she had no memory of it whatsoever, she thought all she had done was gone to sleep. She was rightfully pissed the fuck off that her SD had taken advantage and done things with her while she was blacked, screamed at him, he gave us a half ass apology, and bought us more stuff (buying our silence). He finally flew home and we got to enjoy the trip with just each other, but I was careless with the dosage of a drug called tramadol, and I ODed with my head in her lap...I’m sorry. When I woke up I was hallucinating, hearing voices, crying hysterically and terrified. Kiara called my ex who asked how many mg I took, told us I was 100mg short of the amount that would require medical attention, made me laugh, and told me to go to sleep. I recognize how scary and unfair to her this was and I really do take responsibility for my actions. The day I was supposed to leave I did ecstasy, hooked up with a guy from Canada, and tried to skip my flight. She was mad because like yeah what the fuck. She got me on the flight, the ecstasy comedown hit, and there’s pictures of me crying in the airport because I hated when we fought.

I was supposed to stop in Miami, then fly back to my college town but while in Miami I texted my granny that I was “sad and really didn’t feel good and could she and my uncle visit me at the airport and bring my uncles dog?”. Her parenting instincts went off that something was very wrong, made me skip the flight, picked me up from the airport and took me to her house where I immediately threw up and ran an extremely high fever that night. She said it was one of the scariest nights of her life and she kept checking on me to see if I needed to go to the hospital. She drove me back to my college town where my guy best friend took me to the ER and it came out that Kiaras SD, in addition to giving me drugs, had also allowed me to drink Mexican tap water throughout the entire trip. I was treated for that + given chlamydia meds just in case since I’d had unprotected sex in a foreign country. I was fine, promised to do better, Kiara forgave me, things started to go back to normal. Except I had begun taking Xanax daily to deal with the anxiety of the illness...and she had a trip to Bali planned.

During that trip things managed to get even worse. She was there with her SD and another Korean friend and her SD was pressuring her and guilting her into sex, isolating her from her friend, going through her phone, and becoming extremely aggressive. She would call me crying and having panic attacks and I would walk out of class to try to comfort her over FaceTime. She did not have panic attacks before this trip. She begged to go home early because something was very wrong but he said it was a waste of money and kept her in Bali until the planned end of the trip. I think it was almost a month. She sent me a recording she secretly took of him screaming at her and her saying “don’t touch me, don’t grab me like that, leave me alone”. When she got back to the US I was begging her to stop. I was so worried for her safety. I said the money wasn’t worth it, we’ll get jobs, please just stop. I’m pretty sure he read those messages. We also had a suspicion that he had installed spyware on her phone but were never able to prove it. At this point I also reached out to my dad for help and his response was basically “I don’t care, not my problem, focus on school”. I reached out to my granny who absolutely cared, but her response was “I’m sorry but I can’t afford to support her, I have to focus on taking care of you, if she won’t stop this you’ll have to stop being friends with her”.

I went home to New York for winter break, suffered through my first round of Xanax withdrawal and was truly trying to get better but my ex manipulated his was back in my life and got me addicted again....but now this bottle of 90 had run out. I went back to my college town, got scripted, and was copping street bars when my script inevitably ran out early. What comes next is blurry for obvious reasons. We moved to the town in Florida my granny lived in and got an apartment together. The female friends she made in our town (my current home) she got most of them into sugaring and using SeekingArrangement. Things deteriorated super fast at this point. I was struggling hard, failing my online classes, and eventually got completely financially cut off by my parents. My granny was paying my half of the rent and my puppy’s vet bills but I was too embarrassed to admit I couldn’t afford groceries. Kiara was pressuring me hard to go on SeekingArrangement but I still refused. I would sit on the floor of the bathroom in a towel after I showered and just cry because the steam made me nauseous and dizzy since I wasn’t eating.

I met my current boyfriend and something just started to click: I didn’t wanna live like this anymore. The mom of a friend from this town who also refuses to sugar landed me an interview at the gym I currently work at, I fought for the job, and I got it. Now I knew I didn’t wanna be completely fucked up all the time anymore but I was still doing enough Xanax to keep me out of withdrawal. The 2mg that had blacked me out at the beginning were now just barely enough to keep me functional. Kiara and I were fighting frequently and bad by this time. She and her partner in sugaring, Mena (not her real name but pretty close to it, fuck this bitch fr) were expecting me to keep how they made their money a secret....from friends and guys that I saw every single day. They both very obviously did not work and were flexing new cars, designer clothes, and cash all over their social media. Kiara thought she could cover her ass by saying she dealt drugs but it was also obvious that she wasn’t putting the time into that to come up with the amount of money she had. The only one dealing drugs was me, and not enough to do anything flashy, just enough that in addition to my work money I was usually getting enough to eat. But there were still some times when the previous weeks paycheck had run out and I was having my first meal of the day at 3pm after someone had bought adderall from me. We had our serious serious fight where she threw my stuff in the lawn and I lived with my current boyfriend full time for about a couple weeks since my bedroom at my granny’s was getting refloored when this happened.

By January 20th he was concerned by my Xanax problem and wanted me to seriously try to stop. At the time I started tapering because I wanted the girlfriend title but I’m forever grateful for him giving me a reason, even if it was a shallow one, because I just needed to START. We tried to reconcile once, despite boyfriend and guy best friend begging me not to, and of course the same problems reappeared, we had another serious fight and haven’t spoken since.

Now the fog is clearing and today I’m 96 days clean of xanax, 16 days clean of all benzos, and 19 days clean of gabapentin (what was keeping me from having a seizure while quitting benzos). But it’s hard because being out of the fog means feeling all of my emotions, even the really bad ones. This past week I’ve been waking up and crying sitting in front of my mirror trying to put my makeup on for work and it just drips right off and I have to start over. She was my best friend for 8 years. My favorite person. My partner in life. I loved her more than anyone.

My boyfriend and guy best friend are pretty uncomfortable when they hear someone express an opinion of me that’s “Kiara’s side of the story” and I don’t correct it. Both of them saw exactly how bad it got near the very end and don’t get why I don’t defend myself more or tell people about her letting my dog eat dab (THC) wax while she was supposed to be watching her and having to be rushed to the animal hospital TWO separate times. (She’s a Pomeranian and the highly concentrated THC was super dangerous to her tiny little body). Yelling at me and giving me the silent treatment because less than 48 hours after my SA she expected me to drive her to a hair appointment in Miami and I woke up late and didn’t get her there on time with traffic. Me begging her to be there for me when it felt like everything was falling apart and I self harmed for the first time and her leaving me to go on a vacation to Orlando with a girl we didn’t even really like. Me not wanting to sleep in the apartment alone after my SA and her not letting me sleep in her bed anymore, her and Mena just dumping me at the neighbor’s so they could continue to sugar, party, and see guys our age at night (this sounds super awful but neighbors roommate —> current boyfriend. He kept me safe until I felt better, was really sweet and careful, and I was the one to make the first move). There’s more but I really don’t like talking about it, after the abuse she went through and I assume is still going through, I expect her to be pretty damaged and not have it in her to treat people right all the time. Not exposing every bad thing she’s ever done to all our mutual friends and acquaintances is kind of my last gift to her.

I also admit that sugaring wasn’t responsible for everything that went wrong. Loving an addict is difficult and exhausting and I went through it myself with my ex. I was also out bi and she was “probably straight, maybe a little bi-curious” in her words. But when she was drunk or on Xanax she’d kiss me first...we had done more than kiss but only during 3somes with a guy. I don’t know, I think I loved her more than I was supposed to and some of the stuff she’d say made me think she saw me in a way she really didn’t. When we first moved to this town I had a thing with a girl and expected it to be no big deal but things here were different than up north. I got called the d slur for the first time by someone who wasn’t joking. It was like getting slapped I was so shocked and hurt, I truly didn’t think that happened anymore. I think she saw what happened to me and kinda closed off that part of herself because she didn’t wanna experience that herself. She stopped making out with me at bars and parties after that and it made me sad and maybe a little jealous. But I really do blame her SD for basically “breaking her”, for handing me that first bottle of free Xanax, for a lot of other little things that I can’t possibly include because this is already way too long. This is my first time even saying this much. Feel free to add your own experiences or thoughts on this or anything you’d like. [I’m prepared to get death threats or called a SWERF or whatever but I don’t care, now that I started talking about this I’m not going to stop.]

[urijihoons-blog]

Bokuto: Clarity

/ Kōtarō Bokuto x reader /

genre: angst ish to questionable fluff

wc: 2604

summary: You end up somewhere familiar, but not with someone familiar. One things for sure, the truth will come out soon enough.

warnings: mentions of anxiety

a/n: You guys!!!!!!!! I’m so glad you all love this fic 🥺 your comments and likes and reblogs encourage me so much!! Thank you so much for your love!!!! 💗💗💗

pt3

///

You wake up in a daze. No, you wake up... in a hotel room? The suite looked just like Bokuto’s, is that where you are? You hoped so.

You picked up your head, peered around the room looking for his things to confirm your suspicions, and lifted your upper body to lean on the headboard of the bed. Suddenly, there are footsteps coming from the bathroom area. “Bokuto?” You inquire, anxious to see his face while you could blame it on the alcohol. A laugh comes from the hallway, and it isn’t his. Oh, oh no.

Atsumu comes around the corner, shirtless and basketball shorts, with a cup of water. He laughs when he sees the horror on your face, thinking it’s a joke. You check your clothing frantically, everything is still buttoned, zipped, and tied. You look up at him, still terrified of the blank space of time from the bar until now, “We didn’t... did we?” Atsumu laughs even harder but then notices the look of panic in your eyes. He straightens up, coughing while handing you Tylenol and the cup of water. “No, of course not. You’re Bo’s girl.”

Those words stung. “Not anymore.” Those words, they really stung. You hadn’t actually had the thought of it being completely over until now. It’s hitting you, wave after wave. Everything went wrong, and now you, you’re suffocating-

“Y/N,” Atsumu’s at the edge of the bed, looking you in the eyes with fear, “please breathe. Take a second and breathe.” You try to hold it in, and take deeper breaths but your heart is pounding so hard in your chest, it feels as though it’s going to burst. The next thing you know, you’re on the ground hugging your knees into your chest as tightly as you can. Your eardrums cut out all other sounds, they were just echoing your heartbeat. With your face turned into the carpet, you’re sobbing breathlessly. Atsumu jumps up and grabs his phone, eyes scared to no end. “I’m calling Kuto, now.”

“N-no, please d-don’t.” You say as strongly as you can. You lift your head and force your breaths to become decently even. “Please give me more time.”

“You know,” he looked down at you with a concerned look, “you need to talk to him soon.”

Your eyes furrowed in distress before saying, “Why should I? It’s quite obvious what went on between them, why should I do anything for him?” You wiped some spare tears still leaving your eyes from your panic attack. “I don’t want to see him-“

“Your first thought when you woke up here,” he motioned around the room, “was that you were with him.” Atsumu stated bluntly, he lifted an eyebrow, “You think I didn’t hear the hope in your voice when you called for him?” You blinked, completely stunned at how he read you so easily. “Also, from what I’ve gathered these past couple of weeks, Tamra isn’t very trustworthy when it comes to telling the truth.”

“She didn’t have to tell me anything,” you sighed heavily, hugging your knees again. “I saw it, ‘Tsumu.” You tried to blink away the tears yet again. “And it wasn’t just a ‘She was close to him and he was close to her’ type deal. It was a ‘She was only wearing a towel and he was shirtless in the hotel suite by themselves, ready to get their room service’ type deal.”

Atsumu looked honestly shocked. He started talking with his hands, “Well, that doesn’t make much sense.” He slightly raised his voice, and you realized he was talking more to himself than to you.

“What do you mean?”

“Kuto, is a simple, oblivious man. When Tamra started talking to him after some of our practice games, they only talked volleyball. I honestly just thought they became friends.” Atsumu pulled his hand to his chin in thought. “They never hung out outside of the courts, unless we all went out to the bar down the street, but even then it was always in a big group.”

“So what are you trying to say to me?”

“What I’m trying to say is that Kuto has texted in our team groupchat about looking for you in the city. He’s given us your complete physical description and told us to call him if any of us see you. We’re told to take you to him as soon as possible.” Atsumu tries to hold in a giggle at the whole situation. “He seems like he’s going out of his mind right now.”

Your face froze. “So, why haven’t you taken me to him? Or even told him that I’m here?”

His smile diminished slightly, “Because of how you were talking about him at the bar.” His face became serious. “You were,” he paused, taking a deep breathe, “ are, so hurt, Y/N. And as much as I don’t truly think he did this to you, there is the smallest of possibilities. And if he did, which God forbid if he did, I don’t think he should have the satisfaction of being able to see you at your lowest. I wanted to sober you up, talk to you first, and then figure it out from there.” Atsumu talked with such kindness, your respect for him instantly grew. “So, what do you think you want to do?”

You sat there for a couple of minutes in silence, ‘Tsumu waiting for your response. You finally looked up, certain, “Call him, and tell him to come here.”

//

“She hasn’t come back to the bar.”

“She hasn’t come by the airport.”

“Her suitcase was left in the hotel, so maybe she’ll come back here?”

No one knew where you were, which Bokuto didn’t expect them to. He just wished for a different way. Wished that he could’ve explained it when he had the chance, wished he wasn’t in such a damning situation in the first place. Bokuto should’ve never trusted Tamra, he should’ve listened to his friends, and now he pays for it.

~

It was the third day of training camp, and Bokuto was completely focused. His practice matches were getting tougher, ralleys taking longer. After a while, he was becoming tired.

“Hey, Bokuto right?” A small voice perked up.

Bokuto turned to face a short, young woman, petite, with a kind smile. She wore a track suit, but not for his team, must’ve been another team’s manager. “Yes?”

“You’re doing great out there! I’ve heard of you before but I didn’t expect this.” She laughed, clutching her clipboard.

Bokuto laughed, scratching the back of his neck. “Thanks!”

He walked back towards his teammates, who were taking a water break, when he heard one of the guys say, “Kuto, I wouldn’t get too close to her, she’s bad news.” Bokuto furrowed his brow in confusion, waiting for the rest of the reason.

“Yeah,” another piped up, “I heard she tried to break up Ushijima and his wife, uh, Kate.”

“Guys, she probably just doesn’t have any friends! She seems nice enough, and you know I would never do anything to hurt, Y/N.” Bokuto’s expression was playful, but his words were dead serious. He truly believed what he said. “Plus, Toshi gets a big head sometimes, I bet that girl said two words to him and he got flustered.” Bokuto laughed, his team looked around for a second and they laughed too, trusting him.

So for the next week and a half, Tamra would speak to Bokuto every once in a while. Always something nice, always something about volleyball. Sometimes about his own experience, other times about how he helps lead the team. Never once did he actually think there was anything going on, because he trusted himself to recognize the signs. He didn’t want anyone other than you, so he didn’t worry about anyone other than you. A couple days later and Tamra has started going to the bar with the whole team. Everyone cutting up, acting like old friends. Everything seemed fine, but then it all went to hell.

Tamra:

‘Kuto, can I come use your shower? The hotel staff says that mine won’t be fixed for a couple of hours and I feel gross.’

Bokuto:

‘Yeah, that’s fine. I’m in room 428.’

Tamra showed up shortly after, and he had just gotten out of the shower. She knocked, and he answered, allowing her to step in. “Thank you so much, I just feel gross.”

“No problem, I understand the feeling.” Bo laughed sheepishly, looking through his drawers for a shirt. He heard her stomach growl, and laughed a booming laugh. “Someone’s hungry?” He looked over at her, and she nodded, giggling. “I haven’t eaten dinner either, I’ll order room service.” She bowed her head slightly in thanks. “What do you want?” He asked, standing to grab the menu from beside the dresser.

“I want.. a burger, and fries, and..” she paused, staring at him trivially. She took a couple of steps forward. She was a breath away from him. “You.” Faster than he could stop her, Tamra kissed Bokuto, hard. Her hands grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him into her unwillingly.

He grabbed her arms and wrenched them off of him. “No.” He breathed hard, using the back of his wrist to wipe his mouth. His eyes darkened slightly with anger. “No, do not do that again.”

“But, I thought-“

“No, you thought wrong. I have a fiancé, remember?” He looked at her confused, as if she hadn’t heard him talk about you for the last 2 weeks at all. Her eyes looked desperate. “How-“

“I’m so sorry!” Tamra blurted, holding a hand to her chest. She looked as if she had been wounded as she turned her face away. “I am so so sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I guess, I just wasnt thinking. Please forgive me, I don’t want this to be held against me.” As fast as the anger came, it also left. Bokuto felt bad for her, and she looked ashamed of herself enough.

“Okay. Just do not do it again. I am only a friend.” He said, and walked towards the hotel phone. “Once you’re out of the shower, the food will be here, but I would rather you go to your own room to eat.”

“Okay, I can do that.” She said in a small voice.

Bokuto watched her stalk towards the bathroom, and went about ordering room service. What he didn’t see was the sly smile on Tamra’s face, or her calculating moves up until this point. She had made herself look innocent, but in reality, she had a plan. She wanted the scandal, and the chaos that came with it.

~

‘And she got it.’ Bokuto thought to himself. ‘She definitely got it.’ A sudden buzz took him out of his head, saved him from his thoughts. He lifted the phone to his ear, not even bothering to look at the caller. “Y/N?”

“No, but I do need to talk to you about her. Come to my room, ASAP.” Atsumu said calmly.

Bokuto looked at his phone, not believing that Atsumu really wanted to help. “I’m confused, you weren’t at the bar tonight, what do you know exactly?”

“Come to room 317, this is important.” Atsumu seemed very serious about this.

“I’m on my way.”

///

The hotel room was cold, so you had to cover yourself in the bed’s blankets to keep from shivering. Everything felt too foggy. You were sobering up quick, the thought of having to look him in the face making you shiver on its own. A knock came from the door and you glanced over at Atsumu, the mix of emotions becoming too much. He was already looking at you, waiting for the okay. You steadied yourself, giving him a nod. He moved swiftly to the entryway of the suite, and opened the door. You couldn’t see him, but you could hear his voice. “What do you know?” Bokuto rasped, walking in. He followed Atsumu’s gaze and finally found you, his golden eyes softening.

You froze under his intense stare. His eyes taking the sight of you in. You hadn’t even thought to have taken a look at yourself, you probably looked how you felt, like a train wreck. He took a step toward you, and you made sure to stay still, knowing, with the look on his face, he was hurting too.

“Y/N?” He took another step forward, lifting his hand as if he was holding it out for you.

Atsumu, grabbing his car keys, sighed. “Well, I’ll let you two talk this out.”

Bokuto turned toward him, his face flashing with anger, making him stop in his tracks, “We will have our own talk later.” Atsumu opened the door quickly, leaving in a flash.

“Don’t be too upset at him.” You whispered softly. Bokuto turned his complete attention to you, sitting on his knees by your bedside. “He only did what he did to help me, and you.”

A silence fell between you two as you stared at each other. Bokuto looked disheveled, his hair down, his clothes were wrinkled, and his face. Oh, his face, so sad. And his eyes were not as bright. He looked tired. “Y/N,” he muttered softly, “please let me explain.”

He waited for your permission, but you sat there silently. “Will it make everything better, or worse?” He looked down, his mind, no doubt, moving hundreds of miles a second. You spoke up, and he looked back up at you. “Because tonight, I was broken. I felt as though I was forgotten, that I wasn’t needed in the same way that I need you. I felt as though I had been replaced.” You breathed shakily, tears already forming in your eyes. His expression dropped immediately, tears streaking down his face. “Will what you say make me forget these things? Will what you say to me make me see you clearly?” You looked down at your hands, holding them together, as if they were holding you together. The flesh around your ring turned white, along with your knuckles, because of how tightly you pressed them.

Bokuto’s left hand covered your own, and you noticed a small glint of something shiny. There, on his ring finger, was his wedding ring you had chosen. Your breath hitched as you stared at his hand, at his finger, at the ring. “Y/N,” he started, but you already unclasped your hands and was holding his.

“You,” looking him in the eye, “you put it on.”

“Of course I did.” He smiled sadly, wiping a tear from his cheek. His eyes suddenly shot up and looked at his hand frantically, bringing his hand back. His fingers grazed his ring, “If you don’t want me to wear it anymore I can take it off, I would understand-“

“No!” You said hastily, his eyes getting wide. “No, it’s okay.” Your eyes softened, and you gently grabbed his hand and brought it back down to your lap. “Do you like it?”

He chuckled slightly, putting his other hand on yours. “I absolutely love it.” You smiled at him and he smiled back, but then his eyes glazed over. His face fell, and you knew what was going to happen next. “As much as I don’t want to, we have to talk about this, so we can move on.” He spoke timidly. “So we can be happy again.” You sat there, unmoving. He waited for your permission to continue. You nodded firmly.

Will you have the clarity you want- you need? You hope so.

///

Part 4 will be the last chapter and should be up in a couple of days :))

Update: heres part 4 :)

[kalimagik]

Tumbling Walls

Ron Weasley x Reader

Word Count: ~3.7k

A/N: This Ron piece was requested by @siriusly-addicted-to-writing​ with the prompt: “Who hurt you?” My requests are opened! So send in any ideas you have that you would like to see me write! I love writing for Ron so much and hope you guys enjoy reading for him just as much! Feedback is always welcome! Happy Reading <3

Michael Corner. His words were burned in the back of your head. “I don’t love you. I never did.” He had used you. Used you as an emotional punching bag, used you as an object, used you for your body. It had been nearly 3 months, but they were still there burning. You had given him everything because you thought he was the one. The two of you had talked about marriage for god’s sake! You moved across the country, to London for him because he got his dream job. You took a job you detested. You even moved in with him, but now it was like you were starting all over again and London was brand new, tainted, but new. That little snot.

“What can I get for you today?” you asked your what felt like the millionth, table of the day. Everyone who seemed to come to this restaurant where you worked was gross. They were those types of old, privileged men who thought that they could have anything they wanted. At the end of every shift, you had to shower twice just to get the gross feeling off of your skin.

You thoughtlessly made it through your shift, not even upset to be walking into the pouring down rain if it meant you could get away from that place. The rain pounded on the pavement as you opened your bright yellow umbrella. Your mind wandered to your mum’s offer to return home. You could help her as a healer for the wizard population in your town, but that wasn’t what you wanted to do. In fact, you didn’t really know what you wanted to do.

You’d spent the last few years after Hogwarts, after the war, trying to figure out just that. But when you reconnected with Michael randomly in other parts of Europe while traveling, you were swept away. You were together for nearly 2 years… So figuring out what you wanted to do was put on hold when you decided to fall in love.

The rain wasn’t letting up. Your feet were soaked. You could apparate to your flat, but most of the tenants were muggle, so that wasn’t an option. Just like how you couldn’t use any magic at work. Stupid statute of secrecy. Okay, you did understand the reasoning for it, but you were just flustered about the rain. It was England though, so the dreary weather can only be expected. You were so preoccupied mentally that you didn’t even notice the blur of bushy brown hair coming at you.

“Oof!” you groaned as you bounced back from slamming bodies into another on the street. “Merlin, I’m sorry.” You let the wizarding slang slip.

“Oh, I didn’t see you there,” a familiar voice spoke at the same time.

“Hermione?” you asked, looking under the hood of her rain jacket.

“Y/N! Hi! When did you move back? I haven’t seen you since- since-” Hermione’s voice trailed off. Mostly everyone’s did when the last time they saw each other was shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts.

“I’ve been back for almost 9 months,” you thought, 3 of those miserable…oh well.

“How haven’t I seen you yet! What are you doing? I'm so happy I ran into you. Why don’t we get out of the rain and we can catch up?” You just nodded, knowing Hermione was not someone who would take a no from you. “Excellent! There’s a little pub over here. It’s clean, quiet, and quite nice overall.”

You were not planning on doing anything but going home and showering as you still smelled like the restaurant you worked in, but this would be better than spending your night wallowing in self-pity.  So, you followed Hermione down the London street and into the dry pub, feet and socks completely soaked through.

“So,” Hermione started, settling into a seat and taking off her coat. “What have you been up to? What are you doing now?”

You sat there thinking about your sad existence. You didn’t want to talk about Michael and you didn’t want to particularly talk about your dead end job or the tiny flat that you had moved into. “Uhhh…I’m making ends meet. Looking at some different jobs.”

Hermione ordered you both a beer and when the waiter brought them, you held it tightly in your hand, enjoying the coolness of glass.

“What about you?” you asked, taking a sip and looking at Hermione, hoping to get the focus off of your life.

“I’m working in the ministry now. It’s a lot of work, but I like it a lot. I like being able to make a change in the ministry and rebuilding our community.”

“That’s fantastic. Everyone always knew you’d do important things.”

Hermione laughed at that. “I don’t know. People still ignore me when I talk about having rights for house elves, but that’s one cause I refuse to relinquish.”

“Hermione!” a voice said from behind you.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I was meant to meet Harry and Ron here tonight. Running into you was just a happy accident! I’m sure they’d love to see you. Over here!” Hermione waved to them as you felt the two boys got closer.

Oh great, more people from school. And you still hadn’t showered, so you still felt the stares of all those gross old men.

“Look who I ran into today,” Hermione grinned, motioning to you.

“Y/N! Blimey! How long has it been?” Harry asked, hugging you. Yes, he was hugging you. You weren’t even that close with the trio in school. But, having familiar faces around was refreshing.

“Hello,” Ron nodded in your direction. You were surprised when you felt little flutters in your stomach. You hadn’t had a feeling like that in months. You had always had a crush on Ron, but just from a far. You were much too nervous to ever act on it. He had all of these wild adventures and you just went through school focusing on well, school.

“Hi,” you responded quietly. Harry sat next to Hermione, which left Ron to sit next to you. Conversation flowed easily, you laughed for the first time in months. You felt like you had a place where you belonged since moving to the city.

You fell in with Hermione, Ron, and Harry easily over the next few weeks. You still kept her flat and job to yourself, but you had people to spend time with after work and on the weekends! No to mention, Hermione was helping you look for other jobs. She didn’t know you were serving, but she did know that you were unhappy with what you were doing. It was nice. And none of them knew about Michael either, even though they all went to school together.

You grew closer with each of them in their own way. You felt comfortable with each one and you were happy to call them your friends. Hermione would always hold a special place in your heart because she was the one who invited you to the pub that day, but you and Ron’s relationship grew exponentially. He would joke and mess around with you like he had known you for years. There was this magnetism about him that just pulled you in. That crush reemerged, but you weren’t ready to let anyone in again.

You were definitely healing, but part of that healing meant that you built a stonewall firmly around your heart. There might as well be barbed wire and electricity reinforcing the wall that it was closed up so tightly. With all of that, your heart still fought against the wall, beating hard each time the red head made you laugh. You kept him at an arm’s length, but your elbow seemed to be bending a little more with each interaction.

Then, a night out happened.  You had finally felt as though you could let loose. You wound up at a pub with the trio and Ginny after going to a pop-up wizarding club. The lights and the music and atmosphere were more than you could ever imagine. It was the best night that you had had in forever. You didn’t go overboard with drinking or anything but you had a good buzz going on. You felt great!

“Harry and I are going to go get us some drinks,” Ginny announced, getting up from your little table in the corner.

“Oh! I’ll come! I need to use the loo,” Hermione responded, following behind the other couple.

Ron slid further into the booth, resting his head on the red leather. “I reckon that was the best night I’ve had out in a long time.”

“Work does sound like it has been busy for you and Harry.”

“Most definitely. I don’t understand why people can’t just follow the rules. It would make my life easier.” You chuckled at the casualness in his voice. “How has your week been? We didn’t see you aren’t much in the evenings.”

“I had some long shifts.” You kept it all vague, but that didn’t stop Ron from noticing how you were holding back. He could tell from the tone of your voice. At this, he rolled his head to look at you. You sitting there, playing with your fingers.

“You look really nice tonight,” Ron admitted, taking in your side profile.

“Thanks.” You avoided his eyes, but his blue eyes were just asking for you to look deep into them. Those alarm bells were going off in your head. You were not going to let yourself be swept away again.

“I don’t know if you are actually getting how beautiful you look.” He smiled softly. “You’ve actually looked beautiful every day from the moment we reconnected.”

Your cheeks felt warm as you took the salt shaker in your hands to preoccupy yourself. “I was wearing a polo and khakis when we met again.” You snickered, remembering how much you had just wanted to go home and shower.

“Yeah, but you can really work khakis,” he flirted. He’d been flirty before, but something about this felt different. And where were Ginny, Harry, and Hermione. Getting drinks didn’t usually take THAT long. Those alarm bells were getting louder as Ron moved a little closer to you.

Your heart and your head were saying very conflicting things. One was thinking ‘there is a very cute boy sitting close to you AND flirting with you! Go for it!” and the other was saying ‘remember the last time that you let a boy get this close to you!?! That didn’t end so well!!’ It was very confusing and made your head hurt.

Before you could listen to either one, Ron was a mere centimeters from you, eyes flashing between your own and your lips. “I’ve really liked seeing you again.” He whispered. “I know we weren’t close in school, but I really wish we would have been.”

You breath hitched in your throat. This was literally like a childhood dream coming true. You closed your eyes and let his lips connect with your own. It was sweet, but quick, because you pulled away, eyes shooting open again.

“I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No, no, it’s not you,” You shook your head, gathering your bag. “I do have to go, though.”

“I thought we were all going back together! Bloody hell, it’s 1 in the morning. Just wait for all of us.”

“No, no! It’s fine, tell the others I said goodbye! I’ll see you all soon.” You rushed towards the door, not even noticing that you were running past Harry and Ginny with glasses in their hands for all of you. You didn’t stop at the door when Hermione asked where you were going. The moment you stepped outside, you darted in the alley and apparated just a block or so from your flat.

The cold nipped at your skin. Merlin, you left your coat back at the pub. Your lips still tingled, asking for the connection once again. Ignoring the feeling, you briskly walked to your apartment building and stuck the key in the door. You were almost to the safety of your small, but warm flat when you heard the familiar *pop* of an apparating wizard.

“You left something back at the pub,” his soft, deep voice called out to you. You didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was, but you really weren’t sure how he knew where you went.

Slowly turning from the door to your apartment building, you faced the redhead that you had just left. “Thanks,” you whispered. “How did you know where to find me?”

“Hermione has known where you lived all along,” he chuckled. Your eyes widened at that comment. She always was the brightest witch in your year, figures she’d find the truth about this out. “But, if you wanted to keep it to yourself, we figured that we should let you.”

“Doesn’t make me feel much better now,” you mused.

“Why’d you run away?” he asked, jumping straight to the punch, your coat still in his hand. He had been a Gryffindor after all, bravery and looking for action.

“I had something to do. I need-needed to water my plants,” you lied. Gosh, you were awful at lying.

“At 1 AM?” Ron raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, they’re on a weird watering schedule. Keeps me up all night,” you joked.

“Why have you been keeping us at an arm’s length? I thought we were all becoming great friends,” he continued.

“I’m not doing that,” you lied again.

“Bollocks Y/N! You are. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you stop short before the end of a story. Or how you keep all of your answers about the last 2 years as vague as possible. Part of me felt like we were creating something, building up to something. We clicked, Y/N. You can’t deny that.”

You looked at your feet, keys still dangling on your fingers.

“Who hurt you?” Ron asked directly. “I remember you in school. You may have been quiet, but you were so full of life and so full of potential.”

You couldn’t bring yourself to look up at him. How could this boy read you so well? You’d given him nothing to work with. But, him remembering how you were in school struck a chord. He’d noticed you…

“It had to be pretty bad if you refuse to open up to anyone.”

You closed your eyes, breathing out deeply as you laughed to yourself. Bad didn’t even begin to cover it.

-

London felt like a whole new world. It was so exciting to be back in the city and starting a new life with the boy that could potentially be your forever. You had never felt more optimistic or hopeful about the beginning. Everything was falling into place. Michael started his job with Gringotts and was making good money, so that gave you time to shop around for a job that you truly wanted.

Michael was to meet you for lunch at your favorite little café, so you figured you would get there early to put your name in. You felt giddy with excitement. Michael said that he had some news for you and you could only imagine it was something like talking to your dad to finally ask for your hand.

You ordered an iced tea for yourself and tea for Michael along with a few appetizers for the both of you. Your 2 year anniversary was the next week. This would be a romantic day no matter what. He’d been working so many hours, but that was part of being newer at the bank.

Glancing at your watch, you watched as the hands moved from 11:45 to 12:15. You may have been early, but now Michael was running late. He didn’t show up until 12:30.

“Hello, hun,” you greeted him, standing to kiss his cheek. “Work was busy I’m assuming.”

“Yes, it was.” Michael was being short with you, how odd.

“At least you managed to get away. I ordered some of your favorites. I hope you don’t mind. You said-”

“I need to tell you something, Y/N.” Michael cut you off.

You looked up with him at bright eyes. Maybe he was just nervous. And going to ask you something that would change your life forever!

“Go ahead,” you responded calmly, hiding your excitement.

“We are breaking up. I’m breaking up with you.”

The words stung as he spoke them. You didn’t understand. Where was this coming from? He had literally asked you to come and live with him here. Before you could even stutter or ask, he stood up again and left. You were left there alone.

Not wanting to break down in the middle of a London café, you made your way to the flat you shared through glossy eyes. Maybe you should pack? You couldn’t stay there. You didn’t have the money to afford that flat. Where would you go? Why did he do this?

Instead of putting your things in bags and flying around in a blind rage, you sat on the couch. Emotions were swirling around inside you, but you just sat there and stared at the wall, unsure of what to do.

Michael returned to the flat promptly at 6:30, when he usually did. “Oh, I didn’t think you would be here.” The shock was evident on his face.

“Where else would I go?” you got out in a hoarse crack. “Why are we breaking up? I think you owe me that.”

“I don’t love you.” He stated simply. “You were a good bandage for a while, there when I needed you, but I’m sorry. I don’t love you. I never did.” You’d been holding back your tears all evening, but it was no use anymore. They came flowing like a waterfall.

“I’m sorry, Y/N.” He wasn’t actually sorry. You could hear the lack of emotion in his words.

You just shook your head at him. You couldn’t look at him once more. You wanted to scream and cry, but he didn’t seem to care at all, so why should you. Why should you show him and give him the satisfaction to know that he had broken you?

You stood up straight, wiped the tears quickly. “Go out to dinner. I’ll be gone by the time you get home.”

-

Ron stood at a small distance, watching you see a past memory flash across your eyes. You had built that wall for a reason, but maybe it was time for it to come down was all Ron could think about when he looked at you.

“I was hurt,” you whispered. You were still standing in the street, but you didn’t want him to see your sad flat. “Badly. I can afford to let someone else in, not when I gave my everything already.” You shook your head.

“You should talk to someone about it.” Ron offered. “It won’t hurt you so much then.”

“I don’t like to relive it.”

“Can you at least tell me who?” Ron asked, walking closer to you.

“You might know him.” You scrunched up your face. You didn’t really want to talk about your ex, but it was starting to boil over inside of you.

“Please tell me.” Ron asked again, eyes pleading with you.

“It was Michael Corner…” After the name, everything spilled out of you like word vomit. Meeting him again, the 2 years you spent together, the break-up, the fact that you didn’t even really know why he broke up with you, everything. You wouldn’t be surprised if Ron walked away right after that. It was a lot for anyone to handle.

When you finished, you searched Ron’s face for any sign of, well, anything. Any feeling, any inkling of what he might be thinking. “Say something?”

“That bloke deserves a swift punch in the gut.”

The bluntness surprised you so much that you just started to laugh maniacally. How could the simple words improve your mood so much?

“Would you like a cup of tea?” Ron then asked as he moved close enough to rub your arms with his hands. “You’re freezing.”

You nodded at him, agreeing that getting out of the cold was probably a good idea. You gave in. Ron already knew you lived in the building, so there’d be no use in trying to convince him to go somewhere else at nearly 2 AM. Once the kettle was on the stove and you settled onto the lumpy couch, you felt relaxed.

“I just have to say it,” Ron broke the silence. “What Corner did to you was terrible, but he is missing out. You are brilliant and funny and amazing at making the most out of a shitty situation.” He rambled.

You just chuckled in response, playing with a nonexistent thread on the couch. “Thanks,” was all you managed to say.

“I’d like to take you out sometime. If you would be okay with that, of course.” Ron followed.

You felt the walls around your heart begin to crumble. As if each word that Ron spoke, another stone was being pulled out of its place. It was loosening its hold. Your heart wanted to break free.

“Of course, after your story, I understand if you aren’t ready. I’ll wait until you are, but you should know that I will have flowers delivered here every day until that time. Just so you remember that I’m waiting around.” He chuckled at his own idea.

The smile that grew on your lips was real and genuine. Your heart was fluttering so wildly that it bashed against your walls from the inside. But when you looked Ron in the eyes, those blue eyes that looked so concerned for you, the wall just imploded. Each side surrounding your heart, well, the walls fell down.

“I’d like that,” you responded simply.

“Brilliant,” Ron got out as the kettle began to whistle, signaling the boiling water. “I’ll go prepare us some tea and then we can pick a date and time for our date and then you can leave the rest up to me.”

You watched, feeling content, skin burning with warmth as the boy who wiggled his way past your walls poured you a cup of tea.

[imaginethatneathuh]

The Hermit: Technical Boy - American Gods

Technical Boy x child!reader, father-child

Technical Boy needs to get away from the Drugs gods for a bit and comes across a kid.

Part of @dragon430’s Tarot Troop.

TW/CW: Blood, skull-cracking, hospitals, swearing, near-death experience (and making light of it), drugs, sex, starvation, adoption, fostering.

Word count: 3.6+ K

•

Sometimes, Technical Boy just needed some air. Everybody does, but with him, it was more of a necessity so he wouldn’t blow up at someone.

Sex (the druggie) had been teasing him a lot more than usual and he hated it. Sure, Weed and Coke tried to get her to stop, but she started doing it behind their backs, and if Technical Boy told Weed about it, he’d be a snitch. He did not want to be known as a snitch bitch amongst the drug gods. That would be a nightmare.

He could have asked for Weed to help him calm down, but he didn’t feel like calming down that way. He wanted some peace, not to get high.

So, here he was, walking down some random street in some random city because he didn’t want to be anywhere near the druggies.

Yes, they’re his best, and only, friends, but he doesn’t always want to get high. Being around them, usually meant getting high off them. Sometimes, it’s nice. Sometimes, it’s not.

Technical Boy, in a dice hoodie with the hood up and black sweatpants with fire at the bottom, stared at his phone, scrolling through the news.

It was a lot of shitty stuff.

He wasn’t surprised by that. The others, “family” of the druggies, were at it again. Those of that sort, those with the brown hair and eyes, it’s like they were born to create chaos and discord in the world.

Technical Boy rolled his eyes, scoffing. He slipped his phone away and stuffed his hands in his pockets. The god turnt to the sky, eyes closed.

As he walked, passing by an alley, Technical Boy heard quiet sniffling.

Instead of stopping, he kept walking.

There were plenty of homeless people in the world. Not everyone is lucky enough to be born into wealth or lucky enough to be able to keep their homes. Some people get shitty deals.

Nothing he could do about it. Nothing World would allow anyway.

Still, the god noticed that the sniffing was much higher pitched than normal, adult sniffling. He had an entire database of sounds at his fingertips, and as a part of him and his domain. It sounded like the sniffles of a child crying.

He stopped and hung his head.

‘This had better not be a kid,’ he thought to himself.

He didn’t like children, in theory. He’d never actually met one but from movies and shows, they seemed insane. It’s likely, upon meeting one, he wouldn’t know what to do.

Technical Boy wasn't good with regular adults. Dealing with a child would be impossible.

So, instead of assuming he was right and the sniffling was coming from a child, he decided he was wrong and approached the alley’s mouth as if an adult was in there.

“Hey, man, you okay?” He asked.

The god peered in, trying to make out anyone.

Something small shifted around. It was far too small to be an adult like he’d hoped. The small thing poke its head out from underneath a small, makeshift cave of junk. It quickly hid after seeing the god.

Technical Boy looked around and sighed, shutting his eyes.

‘It takes, in total, from 0-18-years-old, $284,570 to raise a kid, and a good chunk of a parent’s day to take care of a kid,’ he thought. ‘I have the money, but I don’t have the time.’ He opened his eyes and looked at the makeshift shelter. ‘Why the fuck is my first thought taking care of the kid? I could drop them off at a home or something. That’d be easier.’ He walked closer, trying not to scare them. ‘But the foster system here is fucked. The kid could get hurt, be abused, or die.’ As he approached, he noticed the kid watching him. ‘But there are tons of good families who foster and adopt, too. They’re not all bad. 1.5 million kids have been adopted and roughly 140,000 kids are every year. So, there’s a good chance the kid will become a part of a family.’

The kid pushed themself away from the opening and into their shelter.

“Hey,” he said. “Hi, are you okay?”

Technical Boy knelt down and watched for the kid.

“Leave me alone. I’m fine. Go away,” they said.

There was a silence. The god did not leave.

“Please, go away?”

‘The kid sounds weak. Like they haven’t eaten in days. When was the last time they showered or took a bath, too? I can smell ‘em even from over here.’ Despite the disgusting alley floor, Technical Boy seated himself.

“Nope. Can’t. Brain won’t let me.”

An old, rusted out can came from the shelter, flying straight at Technical Boy. He easily dodged it.

“Wow, you’re a dick,” he joked.

He heard a small huff.

Slipping his hands into his pant pockets, he found candy, probably chocolate, that he’d forgotten about.

‘This is so not healthy for a kid,’ he thought, playing with the wrapper in his pocket. ‘But, it’s better than nothing.’ He took the candy out, finding a Snickers. ‘Called it.’

“Hey, you like chocolate?” He asked them.

More shuffling from the shelter. “No. Especially not from a stranger.”

“Here.” He tossed the Snickers into the mouth of the shelter. “Have a Snickers. It has nuts.”

A thin hand reached out and snatched the candy quick as a whip.

The tech god raised an eyebrow. “Thought you didn’t like chocolate.”

Another can came from the darkness and he dodged it again.

The kid unwrapped the bar and used the wrapper to fill a gap in their home. Hungry, they scarfed the candy down.

‘So small. The kid must be starving.’ Technical Boy continued to watch the mouth of the shelter, his concern for the kid growing.

“You always around here?” He asked.

A small piece of glass was thrown at him but it didn’t get very far, falling an inch or so away from him.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Technical Boy stood up and brushed himself off. “I’ll see you later.”

He knew it would be impossible to convince the kid to come out of their hole and come with him on the first meeting, but he hoped to convince them to go into foster care sooner rather than later. If he tried to tell the authorities, the kid could get hurt or worse.

He left the alley and the kid watched him do so.

•

Technical Boy, in the druggies’ kitchen, placed an apple and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a bag.

Weed walked in, smiling. “Whatcha doin’?”

He looked over, a water bottle in his hand. “Nothing,” he said, turning back to the bag. “Just making a bag of food.” He cracked open the bottle and closed it again.

“Who’s it for,” they asked.

The tech god shrugged, putting a small stack of crackers and a container of cut cheese in the bag.

Weed wrapped their arms around his waist and rested their head on his back.

After closing the bag, he placed a hand on Weed’s, chuckling. “I’ve got to go, Weed.”

“First, tell me who the bag is for,” they mumbled.

He shrugged again. “I don’t know,” he said before he turnt around to face them. “But, as soon as I learn what their name is, I’ll tell you.” He booped their nose with a smile. “Promise.”

Weed giggled, sleepiness in their eyes.

Coke rushed in and grabbed an apple off the table, one from Weed’s garden. He stopped before he left and turnt around. “Are you two having cute times without me?” He asked, with a goofy smile.

“No,” Technical Boy said as Weed rested on his chest. “I was trying to leave, but Weed is sleepy.”

Coke bit the apple and walked over before picking Weed up. They wrapped their arms around him, nuzzling into him.

“Thank you, C,” the tech god said, earning a nod from Coke who practically ran out of the room with the apple in his mouth and Weed in his arms. “Don’t fall!” He shouted after them. Technical Boy picked up the bag and left for the alley.

•

The kid shoved a few cans into place on their mountain of junk. Technical Boy watched them work for a little, not wanting to interrupt until they were done. When they finished and started to head into their home, he approached.

“Hey, kid,” he said. “Brought you something.”

The kid, at the mouth, stared at him like a deer in headlights before rushing into their cave.

Technical Boy sighed and walked to it. “Ya know, I ain’t gonna hurt ya, kid.” He dropped off the bag of food at the mouth of the cave before sitting down farther away.

They snatched it up as soon as they thought he was far enough away.

Technical Boy sat, crossed-legged, and watched for any signs of anger..

“You trying to poison me?” They asked.

His brow furrowed in confusion. “What?”

“Cap’s been opened.” The water bottle rolled to his feet.

He rolled it back. “Nope. I opened it for you. Those fucker’s are annoying and the ridges hurt.”

The bottle slipped into the darkness.

The kid, inside, sipped on it. “Tastes gross,” they said, pulling a face.

“It’s bottled water. It never tastes right.”

The two sat in relative silence as cars drove past and the kid ate. The occasional pedestrian peeked into the alley, giving Technical Boy odd looks, but he didn’t particularly care. He was used to it.

As the kid finished, they asked, “Why’d you come back?”

“Felt like it.”

“Why’d you bring me food?”

“Felt like it.”

“Are you a rapist?”

“No. You?”

They laughed a little. “No. Are you a peadophile?”

“No. That’s gross.”

“Are you going to tell the police where I am?”

Technical Boy sighed. “If I wanted to do that, I would have done it yesterday.”

“You gonna kidnap me and sell my organs on the blackmarket?”

“Sounds like too much work,” he said, stretching. “I’d rather hire someone to do that for me instead.”

Crunching came from the dark hole. It wasn’t cracker crunching. More like, a horse mowing down on a carrot or apple.

“This tastes good.”

“Yeah, a friend of mine grows their own food. Doesn’t like the food from stores. I’m pretty sure they want to start raising livestock, but, I don’t know.”

“Mhmm,” they said before tossing the core over his head into a nearby dumpster. “Do you think you could bring more?”

Technical Boy nodded. “Definitely. If my other friends don’t eat them all first. But, harvest was good, so I doubt they’ll all be gone.” Technical Boy pulled out his phone and texted Weed. “I’ll text them to hide some of the apples from the others just in case though.”

Carefully, the kid peered out, staring at his phone.

“There. Done,” he said, putting his phone away. “They’ll hide some for ya.”

A can came at him but he ducked.

“You told them?” They growled.

Technical Boy put his hands up in surrender.. “Woah, hold your horses there, kid. I haven’t said shite to anyone. I just asked them to put some of the apples away, that’s all.”

Inside the hole, they looked him up and down. “Can I have my can back?”

“No, it’s mine now.” The god pulled the can behind him protectively.

The kid giggled.

A text popped up on his phone. Technical Boy looked down at it and rolled his eyes.

“What?” The kid asked.

“Nothing, just my boss being a dick.”

The container Technical Boy had filled with cheese rolled out on it’s side.

He opened it to find a few crackers and some cheese. “I made the bag for you, kid. Not for me.”

“I know. I just don’t want you to be hungry.”

“Thanks.” He smiled softly and ate the cheese and crackers even if he didn’t really want to.

“My name’s not kid, ya know,” they said. “It’s Y/N.”

“Technical Boy.”

“That’s a weird fucking name.”

The god shrugged. “Should a kid your age be swearing like that?”

They shrew a can at him. Instead of dodging, he caught it and put it behind him with the other can. “Mine,” he said.

“Nuh-uh!” They said. “Gimme my can back!”

Technical Boy shook his head. “Nope. You threw it away meaning anyone can claim it. So, I did.”

Y/N huffed. “Dick.”

•

Weeks passed and every single day, without fail, Technical Boy came to Y/N’s little home with food and conversation. Once or twice, he brought clothes and blankets. He very well couldn’t let the kid freeze. What kind of person would he be if he did? Even though both Media and World didn’t like his disappearing acts and he got repeatedly scolded and punished for it, he didn’t care. For some reason, he found he had grown rather fond of the rude kid. He liked to believe they had begun to like him, too. Even if it was just a little, itty-bitty bit. The god no longer wanted to let them go into the foster system, rather, he wished to take care of them himself. But he knew Y/N wouldn’t agree, no matter how much they liked him. They were much too independent for that.

Since he’d started coming, little Y/N had grown in both width and height. No longer skin and bones, they moved around more and even left the confines of their home for more than building.

“I’m stronger now, so I can kick you better if you try anything,” they had claimed.

Technical Boy chose to see this as them trusting him more.

•

Technical Boy dropped off a bag of food at the mouth of Y/N’s home and sat farther away.

Y/N came out, sitting in front of the mouth in the light. They opened up the bag and smiled.

“Apples,” they mumbled.

Technical Boy smiled as they rifled through the bag. “Yeah, that’s the last of ‘em, though. Won’t be more until the next harvest.”

“Thanks.” Y/N looked up and gave him a pained smile before looking back down.

He shrugged and played with one of his confiscated cans. “It’s whatever, kiddo.”

Y/N tossed him a fruit snack baggie. He caught it but dropped his can.

“Ya gotta stop doing this, N/N,” he said, opening the baggie. “You need to eat more than I do.”

They flipped him off.

As he ate the gummies, he watched Y/N scarf down everything. At least that hadn’t changed.

“How are you feelin’? You think you’ll be okay here during the colder months? They are getting closer,” he said.

They looked up, some jelly on their mouth. Y/N wiped it away. “I’ll probably be fine. More fat means more insulation. Plus the blankets you gave me.” They picked at the sandwich. “Are you still going to come, even when it snows?”

“Of course, kiddo. Come rain or shine, hail or snow, I’ll be here until you don’t want me to be.”

Y/N stared at him for a while before crawling into their home. Inside, they rummaged through their things, pulling out bits of scrap and pushing away blankets. After a while, they found what they had been searching for and returned to the outside world.

Outside, they stood up and walked over to Technical Boy. They presented him a beaten up and squashed Snickers bar and refused to look at him while doing so.

Gently, the god took it from them. A Snickers bar, just like the one he’d given them when they first met. A strange, warm feeling spread throughout his chest and he smiled.

“Thank you, Y/N.”

Instead of going back to the cave, they plopped down next to him and wrapped their arms around one of his. They nuzzled into his arm and held on tight.

It was a rather odd sight. A much larger, muscled man with an odd style choice and a clean visage being clung onto by a small, dirty child no older than 10, no younger than 5.

Looking down at the kid, Technical Boy knew he had to protect them, no matter what. This was his kid now. They had been for some time.

•

Another day, another bag for Y/N.

Technical Boy did as he always did, placed the bag at the mouth of the makeshift shelter and sat down opposite of it.

But, Y/N did not come out.

The god waited for a few minutes. When they still had not come out, he called for them. Still, there was no response. Technical Boy stood and walked over.

Placing a hand on the top of the mouth, he looked inside. “Y/N, hey, are you okay?”

Y/N lay limp in the makeshift nest.

“Y/N?” He nudged their legs with one of his hands.

Still, they didn’t respond.

Crawling a little into the small space as best he could, Technical Boy shook Y/N’s shoulders. “Y/N, wake up. Kid, please. This isn’t funny.”

Nothing.

At this point, the god had gone from fine to freaking.

Wrapping an arm around them, he pulled them out of their shelter.

A giant, bloody gash spread around their eye and eyebrow. He could feel blood on the opposing side like they’d been hit with something and cracked their head on concrete. They were cold, freezing really.

‘Please, be okay,’ he thought.

Their back pressed up against his chest, Technical Boy, through his tears, gently smack their cheek.

No response.

He calmed his breathing, shutting his eyes tight. ‘They can’t be gone. Not yet.’

Hoping beyond hope, Technical Boy checked their pulse, pressing his fingers to their neck over one of the carotid arteries.

After a few minutes of silence, he could feel a faint heartbeat.

They were alive.

The god let out the breath he’d been holding, sighing in relief.

His kid was going to be okay.

He stood up. Picking them up bridal-style, he held them close.

“It’s gonna be okay,” he whispered to them. “You’re gonna be okay.”

•

Pacing in the waiting room, Technical Boy picked at his lip.

‘I should have asked them to come with me,’ he thought. ‘I should have made them come with me. This could have been avoided if I had just taken them. They’d be fine right now if I hadn’t wanted to respect their autonomy. The streets are no place for a kid.’

He sat down in one of the chairs, elbows on his knees. His hands interlaced in prayer and he bowed his head. Though he trusted his technology to save them, he couldn’t help but pray they would be okay. Almost immediately, his heel started bouncing against the tile.

“Mr Brown?” Someone asked.

Technical Boy looked up and then stood. “Are they okay?”

The person smiled, probably a doctor, and nodded. “Their skull had been cracked open and they lost a lot of blood, but they’ll be okay,” they said.

“When can I see them?” He crossed his arms, watching the doctor for their reaction.

“You can go to the room, but they won’t be awake for some time.”

“That’s fine. I just- I need to see them.”

They nodded, smiling sympathetically, and gestured for him to follow them.

•

The doctor showed him to Y/N’s room and gestured for him to go in.

Technical Boy, as soon as he laid his eyes on them, sighed in relief.

The bandages surrounded their head and one covered the gash around their eye and eyebrow.

He walked to their side, his eyes never leaving them. As he got to their side, he gently cupped their cheek and rubbed it. He knelt down.

“I’m sorry, N/N. I should have given you some way to contact me or something,’ he whispered to them.

���

The first thing the kid felt when they woke up was something in their arm. It wasn’t painful, just weird. The second, and more enjoyable, feeling was someone holding their hand and the warmth coming from it. Y/N groaned slightly and opened their eyes, only to find Technical Boy gripping their hand, asleep, with his head resting on the bed.

The view looked strikingly similar to their dad when they were younger.

“Tech?” They asked, struggling to get the nickname out.

When he didn’t respond, they nudged him. He groaned a little. Struggling, Y/N got up, feeling a little lightheaded, and, still gripping Technical Boy’s hand, they tugged on him.

The god groaned again and rubbed his eye with his free hand. “Hey, kiddo,” he said, looking up at them. “How ya feelin’?”

They tugged on him again and mumbled something.

“What?”

“Hug.”

Technical Boy chuckled and leant forward, hugging them tight.

Y/N hugged back, nuzzling into his neck.

“You fucking scared me, kid,” he said. He rubbed their back gently as he broke away from them.

Y/N immediately took his hand back, not wanting to be seperate from him. “Feel like I got hit by a brick and cracked my skull open on the sidewalk before crawling back home,” they rightfully complained.

Technical Boy rubbed their cheek, concerned. He dropped his hand and took their other one into his. “I know you probably prefer being on your own, but I really care about what happens to you and I don’t want you to be on your own,” he said as he looked them in the eye.

“Whatcha sayin’?”

“If you want, my place is plenty big for two people and it’s always open to you.”

Y/N was quiet. So quiet, in fact, Technical Boy thought they might have shut down like they always did when he said something they didn’t like and didn’t have something to throw at him.

“Will it be safe?” They asked.

He nodded.

“Okay, but I’m not calling you dad.”

Technical Boy chuckled lightly. “I wouldn’t expect you to, kiddo.”

[robinrunsfiction]

Okay but basement gerard being in awe that he can get the reader off with his fingers (female pronouns if thats okay :) )

Experiments

Pairing: Gerard Way x Female Reader Rating: Mature (light smut) Requested By: Anon Word Count: ~1900 Author’s Note: I really liked working on this story! Sometimes writing smut can get difficult because I feel like I’m writing the same thing over and over, but this request gave me a different focus

You and Gerard sat on the cool ground next to the pond hidden deep within the park that was halfway between each of your homes. It was where you regularly met up to hang out and pass time together, but when you called him today to see if he was free, you had something specific in mind. You had been chatting happily about a movie that was coming out soon, but now there was a lull in the conversation so you decided this was your chance.

"Hey Gee, can I ask you a question? It's ok if you don't wanna answer," you asked. You couldn't help how the words came out, but they seemed anxious.

Gerard shifted nervously at your sudden change in tone. "Umm, yea, of course."

"What do guys think of girls with no experience, if you know what I mean."

Gerard's mind went blank for a moment before the question registered. "Oh! Umm, I dunno. I mean, I umm don't have much experience either, so I don't pay attention when other guys are talking about stuff like that. They can be kinda gross."

"Oh," you paused, considering the next question on your mind. The real question that you were beyond nervous to ask. "Because I was thinking... ya know how last year I went out with Scott? Well we didn't do anything, umm, under the clothes ya know, and I kinda wanna at least... have a little more experience in that regard before we move into the city for school. So I was wondering if," you drew out the last word, before closing your eyes so you wouldn't see his reaction, "you wanna maybe experiment a little bit? Together?"

When you opened your eyes again and glanced over at Gerard, his cheeks were rosy red, much like your own, and he wore a look of surprise. "Really? Me?"

"Yea, I trust you Gee. We've been friends for a long time and we don't have to go very far if you don't want and if not, that's ok -"

"I'd love to," he said, cutting you off. "I mean, I'm happy to help," he smiled nervously. "Sooo, when do you wanna start?"

You swallowed hard. You would climb in his lap and start making out with him immediately, but that would make your feelings for him obvious, and you wanted to keep those separate. You liked Gee, a lot, but you were pushing those feelings aside for the purposes of this endeavor. "Whenever," you shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant glancing up at him. 

He nodded and then started to lean in. Your breath caught in your chest as your lips met his. They were as soft as you'd imagined as they moved against yours. Then one of his hands was cupping your cheek, before sliding back to run through your hair. You leaned into him, clutching at his t-shirt, soft from years of wear. You decided to take things further as you deepened the kiss, as your tongues moved against each other. Your head was spinning as his other hand found your bare knee.

Suddenly you heard a noise in the distance, and even through your lust-filled haze, you realized people were coming up the path toward where you were. You pulled back and smiled at Gerard, who looked equal parts stunned and delighted as a family walked by on the path behind you.

"Wow, I, umm," he breathed as he ran his hand through his hair.

"So far so good," you smiled.

"Yea, do you wanna go someplace less... public?"

"My parents are home. Shit, I forgot I told my mom I'd be home for dinner tonight," you said glancing at your watch.

"Do you wanna come over to my place after?" Gerard offered.

You smiled as you tucked your hair behind your ear. "Yea, sure," you nodded.

"Cool," he replied, running his hand through his hair.

"Ok, I'll see you soon," you said getting up and Gerard scrambled to his feet as well. 

You and Gerard walked back to the park entrance in silence, your hands brushing occasionally, but you weren’t sure you wanted to grab his hand. You didn’t want to scare him off. Before splitting off and going your separate ways, you gave him a hug and headed home, your heart pounding in anticipation of the rest of the night.

When you got home, you tried not to rush through dinner with your family before running up to your room to change. When you went to prom the previous year with your boyfriend at the time, you bought a cute lace bra and panty set, but since things didn't go the way you'd planned, they remained unappreciated in your drawer. You pulled your shorts back on, and threw on a zip front hoodie. You took a moment to check yourself in the mirror before rushing to Gerard’s house.

You went around the back door like usual and rocked back on your heels as you waited anxiously for Gerard to let you in. It felt like forever when he finally opened the door, hair still damp, as he had apparently taken a shower.

“Hey, come in,” he greeted you, nerves evident in his voice as you followed him into his room. He shut the door behind you as you stood a few feet apart, unsure who should make the first move.

“Soo-” you started.

“(YN) can I tell you something before we go any further?” Gerard cut you off.

“Yea, of course, anything,” you replied.

“I just want you to know, I just wanna be honest… I really like you (YN), as more than a friend. If that complicates things and you wanna go, that’s ok.”

A smile broke out across your face. “That’s more than ok Gee. I… umm... the reason I asked you to do this with me was because I trust you and I like you too. I was trying to tell myself that I could pretend I didn’t have these feelings, but if there’s no reason to pretend I don’t, then...” you shrugged.

In an instant Gerard closed the distance between you, grabbing your face in his hands and kissing you deeply. When you pulled back for air you took a step back and unzipped your sweatshirt, letting it fall off your shoulders and onto the floor.

Gerard looked awestruck as he took a step toward you, tentatively placing his hands on your bare waist. “You’re so beautiful (YN),” he said softly.

“Thanks Gee,” you smiled, looking up at him through your lashes.

“Do you wanna,” he nodded toward his bed.

“Yea, sure,” you said, taking his hand and walking over, climbing onto the Star Wars sheets. He climbed in over you as your lips reconnected. You laid back as he caressed your side, seemingly unable to get enough of the feeling of your soft skin.

He pulled back and looked up at you. “Can I?” He asked, nodding toward your chest.

“Yea,” you breathed, as his hand connected with the lace material of your bra. His touch was gentle and he started to kiss on your neck. “Gee you’re making me feel so good,” you murmured.

“Good,” he said against your neck as he continued to press kisses against it.

“You can umm,” you said nodding down, and Gerard took the hint, reaching behind you to undo the clasp of your bra. He fumbled with it for a moment before it came loose and you discarded the garment.

“Shit,” he said under his breath. “Sorry, you’re just so beautiful, it’s… wow,” he said with a goofy smile, making you laugh.

“Again, you sure know how to make me feel good,” you smiled.

"That's all I wanna do. I wanna make my girl feel good," he said before leaning in to kiss you again.

Your mind was spinning again. 'My girl' he said. He called you his girl. You were so happy, you couldn't help but smile into the kiss.

Eventually his hand ran down your body to your hip. Desire and excitement was running through you, but this move made you nervous.

"Hey Gee," you said breathlessly. "I'm not ready to go all the way, but if you wanna… use your hands," you trailed off.

He looked up at you, and he smiled. "Yea, I can do that."

He sat back and you watched as he carefully unbuttoned and unzipped your shorts, as if he was unwrapping a present on his birthday. You lifted your hips as he slid the denim material down your legs, and he dropped them somewhere near your bra as he took in the sight of you laying in his bed, only in your underwear.

He smiled as he laid his body over yours, his thigh rutting between yours, and your hips moved against it, seeking friction. You and Gee made out like this for a while before he trailed his kisses down your neck and his hand found your hip again.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

You nodded. "Yea, really sure."

As he traced the skin just above the waistband with his fingers, you couldn't help the soft gasp that escaped your lips. He looked up at you wide eyed as you started to blush furiously. But then he slid his hand under the waistband and ran his fingers gently between your legs. Tentatively he let one finger trail down and then it dipped slowly into you. 

You let out another gasp and Gerard's eyes were back on you. "Are you ok? Do you want me to stop?"

"No, no, please don't stop," you moaned. 

He started to move his finger in and out as your legs spread further apart. You glanced down and saw Gerard was watching your reaction. Then you felt a second finger pressing in and you covered your mouth with your hand as another moan escaped your lips. Then after pumping in and out a few times, he brought his thumb to massage against your clit and your back arched off the bed. 

You had never felt this good from head to toe before, like every part of you was electrified. You had your eyes closed and bit your lip as the realization that it was Gerard, your friend, the guy you liked more than anyone else in the world, that was making you feel this way. Not much longer your back arched again as you came around his fingers, moaning his name.

As you opened your eyes, you glanced down at Gerard. He was looking up at you awestruck. "Gee that was incredible," you panted. "I've never felt like that before."

"Really?" He asked as if he almost didn't believe it.

"Yea," you nodded excitedly as he shifted up and kissed you again. He wrapped his arms around you rested your head against his chest. You both laid silently, enjoying the moment together.

"Gee?" You asked softly.

"Hmm?" He hummed.

"Did you mean it when you called me your girl?"

He looked at you adoringly and nodded. "Yea, I mean, if you wanna be?"

You nodded back. "Yea, I really do."

He replied simply by leaning in and kissing you deeply, a smile on both of your faces.

[honey-hippie-harper]

Before Gatlon Falls (Re-upload)

This was @alecjamesartino ‘s birthday gift! <3 and it’s basically the night before Ace destroyed Gatlon city x’DDDDDD Because that thing was awful but I’m really interested in how it happened :) and to this day I still like to think she is, too, and that she liked this gift and wasn’t pretending :3

Also, writing about the young Anarchist is pretty fun.

Tag list (tell me if you want to be in or out): @healing-winston-pratt @obsidianfr3sk @nodrianbcyes @alecjamesartino @everyone-has-a-nightmare @razzmooncake

Before Gatlon Falls

Honey Harper’s couch had always been uncomfortable, ever since Leroy had moved in with her when he dropped out from college, but it’s not like he had any other place to go.

It’s not like he could complain, either.

Some nights were worse than others.

This one was particularly bad, given that the AC had broken down again, the fans made a lot of noise and filled the apartment with hot, suffocating air. Nevertheless, that wasn’t the only thing that was preventing him from sleeping.

There was so much noise.

So much noise.

The...fucking fans.

And also Alec.

Alec was making too much noise, even though he wasn’t making any. He had been making too much noise since the mayor’s wife had fallen lifeless on top of her dead husband and he said nothing; Alec, quiet as he was, had been making too much noise since then.

He was making too much noise now.

All the furniture in the room, except his couch, of course, had been moved towards a corner, and David and Alec Artino laid by his side, on the floor, lost in a sea of blankets and pillows.

Alec was sound asleep, his arm wrapped around his brother’s body, illuminated by the warm lamp light, because David wasn’t used to sleeping in the dark (or, more likely, he didn’t like it), even though he was like 11.

Somewhere in this apartment, hidden in a box at the bottom of the closet, there was a helmet, waiting for the sun to come out, only to be worn by Alec, who was either very delusional or very…

Serious about this.

Leroy wasn’t sure, but what he was sure about, ironically, was that he didn’t want to know.

One could only stare after so much blood had been shed. On one hand, prodigies had spoken up, and it had been thanks to them, who were led by Alec…

On the other hand, the point of no return was a drastic measure and, also, an uneven path that could either turn out to be very effective or very tragic and chaotic.

Besides, Leroy didn’t know what he should believe anymore because, being an esceptic, it wasn’t that easy for him to believe everything Alec said, especially when that everything involved a helmet being the answer to all of their problems.

But if it was…

If it was...maybe they were screwed.

Just maybe.

Alec knew that, because he had been the one to suggest it, aware of his actions and its potential consequences.

That’s why Leroy wondered how he could be sleeping so calmly. Actually, when he explicitly asked himself that, he could hear Alec’s voice in his mind:

“Because I know we’re not wrong.”

Which, maybe they weren’t.

Just maybe, again.

With the sound of the fans getting on his nerves, Leroy rubbed his hands over his face, which was sticky thanks to the sweat, and it made him feel gross to the point he actually considered taking a shower at this moment, in the middle of the night, until he realized that would be useless, because he would take a shower, and then he would come back to the couch, where he would sweat again, and it would be like a circle of failure.

Leroy stayed there, his eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling and thinking about how much he hated the fans, the AC and the summer, until he heard a mildly loud thud, coming from Honey’s room.

She was usually loud during bad days, throwing things around accidentally or bumping against things as if she had planned to bump into them. Over time, Leroy had stopped getting up to go check on her, because she wasn’t a baby that needed to be fed every two hours; she was an adult, meaning she wasn’t his responsibility (even though he was staying in her apartment).

That time, however, he felt the need to do it.

Leroy groaned quietly, and then he started heading towards her room which, obviously, was as hot as the rest of the apartment, and the door was ajar.

There was nothing worrying or weird happening in there, but Honey was crouched down on the floor, cursing between her teeth as she tried to pick up her makeup stuff from the floor, putting it inside her cosmetic bag; Leroy thought about helping her…

Before his attention was drawn towards the dress.

The mannequin was standing across the room, next to the twin bed; it was a long dress, with black and yellow stripes, and a sort of cape that looked like the wings of a bee. The pins and needles around the waist and the borders allowed him to know it wasn’t finished yet.

On the floor, Honey tried to take a small set of eyeshadows, but her hands were so shaky that it slipped from her and, when it fell onto the floor again, the one in the champagne shade shattered, so Honey took a deep, laboured breath and rubbed her forehead until she left a reddish, mildly swollen trace in her skin.

It wasn’t that severe, but it snapped Leroy back into reality, as he knelt down next to her and took her by the wrists before she could do any more harm to herself.

“Go wash your face and drink some water. I’ll manage.”

Honey took her time, just staring at the floor, until she decided what to answer and said:

“I’m okay.”

 Even if she wasn’t.

Teary-eyed, Honey looked at the dress she was making, to which Leroy followed her gaze, and they both just...observed in silence, and it seemed like it had a life of its own.

At least, until Honey scoffed and, taking her hands away from Leroy’s grip, she finished putting her makeup inside the bag.

“Is it too much?”

If it were another person, it would’ve been too much, but it was Honey.

Nothing was ever too much for her, and Leroy had grown to accept that. He would only wear a shirt and a lab coat, but of course she would sew a wholeass dress just for this ocassion. Even if she was as unsure and scared as everyone else, and even if she was the one who had cried herself to sleep for the last few days because, although not scared of death, she was terrified of uncertainty, or having to hide the rest of her life.

“Because that’s not living.” She would say. “That’s like...being a ghost, hidden behind a curtain.”

“It’s too much.” Leroy confirmed, trying to shake the intrusive thoughts out. “But it’s not like you care about that, do you?”

“I wanted it to be pretty.” Honey responded, although Leroy could feel some sort of emptiness in her tone. “I’m going by Queen Bee, you know? And it had to look...I don’t know. Special. Like...a queen.”

Then she stood up, and Leroy watched her as she walked around the mannequin, shaking some inexistent dust off of the fabric.

“Unlike my prom dress, which was pink.” She said, wrinkling her nose. “...Not that pink it’s an ugly color. I just don’t think…”

She swallowed, and then she, suddenly, started working in the dress again, not as if she had forgotten Leroy was still there, but as if she didn’t mind his presence at all.

“...I mean, it’s my color but I don’t like it...and to be prom queen...you have to fit in. And I’ve always been like… an outstanding actress, not to brag. Can you imagine? I even convinced myself I loved that ugly dress. Crazy.”

Sadly, for what Leroy could tell, she was yet to convince herself she loved this.

All of this.

This whole situation.

“Harper.” Leroy said, getting on his feet too, and putting his hands inside his pockets. “Are we…?”

“Whatever that you’re going to ask, don’t.” She cut him off, deliberately, as a hasty breath escaped her mouth.

Maybe, in her mind, the phrase hadn't sounded that harsh, but when Leroy received it, it did. It sounded, in fact, as harsh as it could, and she seemed to have noticed that, because she avoided eye contact, and Leroy focused on light breaking through her curls.

"We're gonna die." She whispered.

Her voice was breaking, but she didn't cry.

"But I'm tired of being a freak, Leroy. I don't wanna be a freak anymore." Honey said, and Leroy could tell she meant every part of it.

Even the dying part.

"... And he's all that I've got."

This time, he flinched, but not because he hadn't expected it, but because, somehow, he knew it was coming and, yet, something itched when she said it.

Something almost hurt when she said it.

But when Leroy tried to open his mouth, trying to phrase what he wanted to say without sounding like he actually cared or was way too offended, a voice came through the doorway, hoarse and sleepy.

"That looks nice." Said Alec.

And since he had arrived late, he referred to the dress.

The compliment, however, went unnoticed, as Honey just pressed her lips together and continued sewing.

Alec, arching an eyebrow, turned back at Leroy.

"Do I happen to be… Missing something or…?"

So he was asleep.

It was the night before the big strike and Alec was sleeping. Right there. Next to his little brother.

That was so Alec.

And Alec was just so… Him.

It was insane, and almost terrifying to watch and experience.

"It's just that…"

"I don't feel good." Honey said, rubbing her forehead again, this time twice as hard. "Can we… Can we pray?"

To put it lightly, Leroy didn't consider himself a believer, but Alec did. Sometimes, he dared to say, a pretty devoted one, even if he did question some biblical passages and talked about how the translations of the Bible could never be fully trusted.

Still, when he heard that, his lips became arched into a smile; a kind, understanding smile.

"Of course we can pray, Miss Harper." He said, before turning at Leroy to ask:

"Would you like to join us?"

And in that moment Leroy knew that wasn't how he wanted to spend his sleepless night, but, somehow, he was unable to think of any other way, and so he agreed, even though he didn't know how to pray.

-.-

Of course, Alec didn’t want to annoy David, so they ended up going out, to the balcony, where they lit a candle, because Alec wanted to.

Being outside, Leroy felt he was finally able to breathe, because the summer weather felt less hot, to the point it was actually bearable; Leroy wouldn’t have minded sleeping here, if the balcony had been more spacious.

But they weren’t here to sleep. They were here to…

Pray.

A gust of wind struck them, so Honey cupped her hands around the candle’s flame, caringly; her hands were still shaking and, obviously, Ace noticed that, as he smiled in a very understanding way, and he looked up towards the sky, and the stars reflected in his green eyes.

Alec’s smile weakened for the first time in a long time, as he took a deep, deep breath and let the air out in a sigh, putting his hands together, as if he meant to rub them together...but he didn’t.

Instead, he looked down, towards the candle, and then towards them.

“I can see why you’re hesitating.”

“Alec.” Honey said, in a soothing voice. “We’re not hesitating. We’re just…”

He chuckled a little, perhaps with the intention of interrupting her.

“I’m not saying hesitating it’s necessarily bad; hesitating, in fact, is something I consider...human, almost powerful.” He explained.

Because of course he saw it that way.  

“If I had a coin for every time I’ve seen hesitation in my own eyes, I’d probably be...far, far away from here.”

“Why don’t we go far away then?” Honey snapped, shifting her position. “We could...I don’t know...maybe...Alec. Your brother. He’s so young. He’s...Alec…”

“I know.” Alec nodded, solemnly. “And since he’s so young, he’s exactly the reason why we should stay. Think about the children.”

For a moment, his expression darkened, and he could see him, as Ace Anarchy emerged from the shadows, and it held Alec by the shoulder.

And his soul became bold and bigger, while at the same extremely small, like a single grain of sand.

And Alec spoke, with his lips pursing and quivering once.

“Think about the children. “ He repeated. “Think about those who are like us; those who turned out to be like us; those who were mistreated; those who suffered; those who desperately tried to be heard but couldn’t because they were deprived of life; think about the ones we lost on the way, and those who trust and believe in us…”

Leroy felt the need to speak, as Honey was starting to scratch her thigh, like she always did every time she was too nervous.

“There was a child inside of the mayor’s wife...what if that child was a prodigy?”

“But what about the damage they’ve done to us? “ Alec spoke, frowning. “Those were bad people. They killed the ones they didn’t like. They mistreated us and banned us from places just because they could...what about that damage? What about the damage they did to babies who were already born, but killed at hospitals because they were prodigies? As if that were their fault? As if that made them monsters?”

Speechless, Leroy looked down.

“...What about us?”

What about us?

That was an excellent question.

“What about us.” Leroy repeated, as a statement instead of a question.

“What about me?” Alec pointed at himself. “...what about the...celebration held by the ones who wronged me, when they thought me dead? What about all those broken bones when they decided to surround me at school just because it was thought that prodigies couldn’t feel?”

He turned at Honey.

“What about you? What about the people who turned their backs at you just because they knew? How they mistreated you? … What about your family who said it was your fault and made you believe such….beautiful powers were something hideous until you decided the right thing to do was hiding them? "

“Oh, Alec.”

“But what about the sound of your voice? ...How you stand there and speak up? Don’t you like how your voice sounds, Honey Harper?”

“I do. I really do, but…”

“And what about you, Leroy?”

What about you.

“Wasn’t it ironic? How they hurt you because you were just a normal human being and then hurt you again because now you were a prodigy? What about that?...Why should we be okay with that?” Alec’s voice trembled.

“...Why should we allow it? Why should we let the same thing happen to David, who is young? Or the ones who will come after David? Or the ones who didn’t even get to be David’s age? Or the ones who died suffering, trying, hurting or hiding? … What about them? What about the ones who didn’t do anything? Why should we be like them?”

As silence filled the balcony, the candle kept burning, and Alec took a deep breath, again.

“I refuse to be like them. I’ll never be like them...and, since we’re working together, and we know that we’re worth it...then, there’s still hope for this world. And there’s still hope for us, although not for the ones who acted and became evil through time. “

Upon saying that, he held their hands towards them, slowly.

Honey was the one to put her hand on top of his’, and Leroy the second.

Then, Alec squeezed them, closing his eyes, as he said something and Honey answered it, because Leroy had no idea what that meant.

“Dear Lord…” Alec looked up at the sky. “You, who made the stars, and then made those stars turn into us...and you, who chose us to be the ones to fix the wrongs your people have managed to create….please send us a sign if we’re doing something wrong, before Gatlon falls.”

Squeezing his hand tighter, hiccuping and lowering her head, Honey started mouthing a prayer, but Leroy couldn’t help but look up at the stars too.

Send us a sign if we’re doing something wrong, before Gatlon falls.

Maybe the omnipresent entity told something to Alec, because he was the one who knew how to talk to it.

However, it didn’t say anything to Leroy.

He just knew that, for the first time, this felt real, and this was happening and, maybe, if Alec was speaking the truth, this could be the last night they spent alive.

And then…

Leroy didn’t know what came next. After death.

God didn’t send any sign either, as they prayed together.

The candle light, however, did die.

But Leroy wasn’t superstitious.

That had been just the weather.

The summer breeze.

The night.

The night before the strike.

Send us a sign if we're doing something wrong.

And God didn't talk back.

[itzagothamcitysiren]

Welcome to the Family

One more chapter after this one! I’ve been waiting to reach this point honestly. I feel like this story’s just been super depressing and I can never get into the mood when writing it lol. But I’ve been really excited about what happens in the end of this chapter (It’s one of my favorite tropes) so i hope you all like it as much as I do! 

Love Is a Burning Thing and It Makes a Fiery Ring pt.6

           Dick Grayson never thought in a million years that he’d be where he was today. He was sat up on a stool, elbows on the counter, in the kitchen of his new apartment. His tongue stuck out as his eyes scanned over the laptop screen once more. After giving it one last read through, the vigilante hit submit, the page fading from the screen and into the hands of fate.

           He leaned back into the stool stretching his arms out with a yawn. Letting one hand drop down to his head he gave it a good scratch, ruffling his hair as he did. His other hand fell forward to slowly shut the laptop closed. His eyes scanned around the room noting how the main room of apartment he found himself in was still in a disarray.

           The blur that had been the last two months was finally over and it seemed like a certain weight was lifted off his shoulders at the thought. But as he looked at the floor that was littered with boxes, he couldn’t help but feel a new one placed in its spot. The days of staying in a cramped hotel in one of the better areas of Gotham were no more but he wasn’t sure if this was more intimidating.  The act he just did alone spoke to how the times were changing and the future would be unknown.

        ��  He could easily be back at Titan’s Tower a playing hero and shrugging off responsibility. But after Jason’s death, after the night he and Halley left the manor, Dick found himself unable to even consider it. He knew things wouldn’t get better if he tried to ignore it; if he did exactly what he did last time.

           So for once taking Alfred’s advice, he didn’t run. He didn’t stay in Gotham, but he didn’t run away.

           It wasn’t too hard finding a decent apartment in Bludhaven. Bludhaven wasn’t the nicest area but it wasn’t anything either Dick or Halley hadn’t seen before or that was fine because the rent was cheap. Dick did have a decent amount in savings but he wasn’t going to go all out and get them the nicest penthouse the city had to offer. The two bedroom apartment was a fixer upper but they’d be comfortable. And a little handy work neither hurt anyone.

           And as per the request of Alfred, it was only about a thirty minute drive to Gotham. Dick would’ve preferred to move a little further, not quite Metropolis far, maybe Central City far but he didn’t have the heart to move to far away from the older man. Granted, Dick did live with the Titans but he’d always come home to visit but as of now the thought of going back to Wayne Manor wasn’t an option. No matter amount of work Alfred put in as the middle man, the negotiator, Halley and Bruce just weren’t going to make up any time soon.

           Dick looked down at his watch, noting the time and groaning. He wasn’t surprised that he was still in the kitchen alone, the second plate of waffles and bacon he made still untouched. With a sigh and heavy head, Dick stood up from his chair, the metal feet squealing against the tile.        

           He made his way down the narrow hall, stopping at the first door to the right. He knocked a few times, only hearing a soft mumble to wait, before getting the okay to open the door. Dick peered into the room, just as unpacked as the rest of the place and frowned.

           “You aren’t dressed yet.” He stated.  His tone wasn’t one of question, or surprise or even annoyance. If Dick could place an emotion to it he would simply place it as acceptance.

           Halley looked up from the pile of clothes she had tossed onto her bed. She knew she should’ve been dressed, ate and out the door at least ten minutes ago but she couldn’t find it in herself to move any faster. The shower she had taken took longer than expected and the task of digging out her uniform out of whatever box it was hiding in forgotten the night prier.

           She didn’t know what to say, spotting her blazer and skirt in the pile and pulling it out. She threw it up the bed making sure it landed on the one spot that clothes didn’t take over before going back to dig for her white button up and knee high socks. Halley heard Dick let out another sigh before joining her in her search.

           “Look, I know you don’t want to go but it’ll be good for you.” Dick tried, making sure he was careful with his words. He didn’t want to witness another melt down like the one she had a couple of nights ago.

           “I know.” She said, pulling out one of the socks as he pulled out the button up.

           She knew he was right. She knew she couldn’t just waste away inside the house all day long. It wasn’t even like she doing anything productive to defend herself with. She’d just sit on her chair by her window and read all day long. Her room was still for the most part, completely packed in boxes still.

           She pulled out the last sock before bunching her clothes up and moving to the bathroom across the hall. She hurriedly through her clothes off and replaced them with her school uniform still unamused that she agreed to return to school. She, unlike Dick, didn’t think she was ready. She didn’t know how to face the world after Jason, and then her fight with Bruce. What if people questioned her? What if people asked why she was no longer living at the manor? What if people asked about Jason?

           She shook her head, throwing the pjama’s she had been wearing in the hamper. Moving to brush her teeth she finished within seconds and walked out of the bathroom. Dick met her in the hall, her backpack in one hand and her shoes held in the other. She quietly thanked him before grabbing the shoes first and slipping them on before the pair headed down the hallway.

           “Did you send in your application?” She questioned as she saw the food left for her on the counter. She knew she didn’t have time to sit and eat so she instead picked up the waffles and began nipping at them.

           “Yup.” Dick nodded, grabbing his keys off from one of the end tables near the door. “So hopefully we’ll hear back and I’ll be the newest member of the Bludhaven Police force.”

           “Gross,” Halley scrunched up her nose as she followed him out of the apartment. “I can’t believe you’re going to be a cop.”

           “Well one of us needs a job to pay the rent.” Dick rolled his eyes at her.

           “I get that but like a cop? In this city? I can’t believe I’m saying this but like they’re worse than Gotham cops. At least Gotham as Jim.”

           “Yeah, well Bludhaven’s going to have me, thank you very much.” Dick smirked smugly as they excited the apartment building and moved towards where Dick’s car was parked.

           She quietly sat in the passenger’s seat, finishing off the waffles and wishing she had given herself to eat them upstairs and with syrup but shrugged. Maybe tomorrow she’d be more prepared. Maybe tomorrow she wouldn’t be trying to prolong the inevitable.

           She still was uncertain about returning to school, knowing she only agreed to return during a moment of defeat. She regretted agreeing with Dick and couldn’t help but be bitter at him swopping in to cease the moment. Her arguments were just retorted back to her by him. The drive to the school for close to forty minutes. It was so close to the end of the school year, she could just finish her work from home, they’d understand. But no, Dick found an answer to everything. He didn’t mind the drive and the teachers wouldn’t let her work from home, he knew because he asked.

           She questioned his sneaky and underlining ethics but tried to get over it. It’d been close to two months since Jason’s death and even in her grief, she knew she had to start moving on to some semblance of normalcy. But it didn’t take long for her to wish she could turn back and smack the girl who thought that. From the moment Dick dropped her off and drove away, she wanted nothing more but to crawl back home and hide in her room. She was quick to realize that there was no normalcy without Jason walking the halls besides her.

           The school year had been so close to being over and she was about to graduate; her and Jason were about to graduate. She had been accepted to Gotham University alongside him. She had maintained her grades all year and it had paid off as she was accepted into the university’s journalism program. But now, now, she could care less; the only thing she could care about were the whispers peeking through her ears as she walked the halls.

           Her hands clenched onto her binder, holding it firmly to her chest for some form of comfort as she felt almost naked from the eyes staring at her. She could hear two girls mumbling to the other. The words skiing accident and that’s so sad picking up in her ears as she walked past them.  She shot them a look silencing them immediately with it. But that was just them though. It felt like everyone she walked past even teachers were gossiping and whispering about her. People knew she wasn’t staying at the manor anymore, they knew about Jason and they talked; they pitied her.

           She pressed through it for the first three classes of the day and hoped that it would settle down. She hoped people would move on from the topic like she was desperately trying to. But she found it only getting worse. The moment she had settled into her journalism class and tried to bury herself in her make-up work she felt like her body was being stabbed by pins and needles.

           “I would’ve gone to the funeral but it was private, I’m so sorry,” Dylan began, sitting next to her immediately after walking into the room. He knew she was here; he had heard talk about her in the halls and had been trying to find her all morning. “I’m here if you need to-,”

           Halley knew he didn’t mean any harm, she truly did but it was the first time all day someone had tried talking to her besides talking about her behind her back. She knew he was just concerned, and knew that he just wanted to be there for her but this was the exact opposite of what she wanted. This was why she left Wayne Manor; she needed to stop being reminded of Jason.            

           “I don’t need to talk!” She found herself lashing out at him.

           They both froze as they felt all eyes on them. For a split second, Halley felt herself subconsciously reaching into her pocket to call Dick to pick her up but instead panicked and stood up as she saw her teacher begin to approach their shared desk. Before anyone could say anything else or come any closer, Halley rose up from her seat and grabbed her backpack.

           Without asking permission she exited the room and practically fled into the halls. She quickly made her way out of the English hallway to avoid any attempt at Dylan or their teacher coming after her. She was relieved as the halls were empty as the classrooms where filled with students. She was grateful for it for she felt tears starting to leak down from her eyes and onto her cheeks. Her chest felt tight and she couldn’t breathe, having to loosen the neck of her collar just to feel like she wouldn’t pass out.

           She heard voices approaching from up near an adjacent hallway and panicked again. Pushing the door open to the lady’s restroom a few steps back she entered, making sure to lock the main door for privacy. The dripping water in the sink echoed as she tore her backpack off and let it fall to the ground. She roughly hit her back against the wall, sinking to the ground without a care of sitting on the bathroom floor.

           She let a hand run through her hair, releasing it from its braid and scratching her fingers against her scalp. Her hands felt numb and tingly as sweat formed at the back of her neck. She tried to take even breathes to steady herself but found herself in the middle of a full panic attack.

           “Great,” she scolded herself, letting her head drop into her hands.

           As she let herself cry she felt her heart stop at the sound of a flushing toilet and bathroom stall door opening. Her eyes widened and she jolted up to stand defensively. Her eyes narrowed at the culprit; it was Sam Bennet.

           The black haired girl walked out, sparing her a glance before moving towards the sink to wash her hands. Halley’s breathe hitched, waiting and dreading for the next few moments. People were going to talk. People were going to know that she got caught crying in the bathroom.

           “I’m sorry about Jason.” She spoke, causing Halley to frown and wipe away her tears.

           Sam didn’t expect to get a response back so she instead moved to use the hand dryer. Once they were dry she rubbed them on her skirt for good measure before moving to stand next to Halley. Halley moved to unlock the door assuming Sam would want to leave in order to rush and tell everyone what she just witnessed. Although, Halley was surprised when she made no move for the door. Instead the girl slid down against the wall, sitting next to where Halley previously sat.

           “I know what it feels like,” she frowned, already gripping her phone tightly in her hands.

           ‘Excuse me?” Halley asked, narrowing her eyes down at her.

           “I know what it feels like.” She repeated herself but more confidently. “I lost my older sister a couple of years ago. You know, the one that went to school with Dick. It was a mugging gone wrong. Mom and Dad haven’t been the same since; pretty sure if they didn’t think it would look bad they’d be divorced already. My dad works in city hall, so you know his main concern is that.”

           “Oh.” Halley said lamely, unaware of this and unsure why the girl was opening up to her. She found herself sinking back down in her spot without a word. She pulled her legs back and close to her chest, wrapping her arms around them as if for comfort. Biting the inside of her cheek she blinked a few times as Sam continued,

           “Yeah, I was a freshman when it happened and if this school’s good for one thing then it’s good for news spreading fast. Everyone talked about it. Gave me their fake pity. The school even had an assembly about it. They had one for Jason too but you hadn’t come back yet. Everyone all of a sudden was friends with him though.  A bunch of fakes.”

           Halley let herself sneak a peek at Sam with a frown. Her voice sounded earnest and honestly almost reminding her of Jason himself when he’d comfort her over something. Her lips pressed together firmly not sure how she felt about that.

           She and Sam weren’t friends. They barely had a conversation over the last two years of Halley being in Gotham. Halley had always made sure to keep Sam’s attempts at conversation one sided as she always perceived the girl as obnoxious. And she was; she had been. Even with the conversation still being one sided, this-, this wasn’t the Sam Halley had grown to have a distaste for.

           Sam could sense the girl’s indecision radiating off of her. She scoffed to herself. She knew they weren’t friends, not matter how many times Sam had tried engaging her in conversation. She understood why Halley wanted nothing to do with her; Sam wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. She was barely her own cup of tea. Her fake façade she wore daily to try and fit in, and make people not pity her like they had her freshman year made the people who weren’t shallow stray away.

           “Who am I to talk, right?” She let a breath out, snorting as she did. “I turned into one of them as some twisted way to pretend my sister’s death wasn’t a big deal.” She shook her head, looking to the side.  She felt her face loosen from its tense, scrunched up expression. Halley was looking at her.

           Sam shrugged, her eyes soft, “But it was a big deal, you know? You obviously know. I looked up to her and wanted to be her so I guess I just forced myself too.” She said with a sigh, not quite sure where she was going with this.

           “Look I’m sorry to blab your ear off, especially now.” She said, slowly standing up, realizing how it was pretty gross down on the floor. She scrunched her nose up again, flattening out her skirt once she was standing. “You don’t care about me or my life, we’re not friends. I shouldn’t- I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone now. Just take my advice and don’t listen to them out there. You of all people are better than to listen to the things they say.”

           Halley looked up at her at this. Not quite sure how to respond but knew she had to say something. Sam was being nice and Halley felt guilty for not at least thanking her.      

           Sam made her way to the door gasping when she heard the squeak of shoes against the tile and her arm being grasp. She turned her head to see Halley standing now behind, a light frown on her face as she looked down at her shoes.

           “Thank you. I just- I’m not the best with words during these types of situations. I’ve-,” Halley bit her lip, letting go of Sam’s arm.

           She felt her heart pumping in her chest as she debated if it was okay to open up to a complete stranger. Sam was known to gossip and know everyone’s business and Halley wasn’t looking to be vulnerable with someone who would just immediately plaster her life throughout the halls. She didn’t know Sam. She only knew her actions.  

           Halley truly thought to herself though. What did it really matter? She was out of here in no time. She’d never see these people again. And if anything, she could just pack up and leave. She had no ties here. She had no consequences.  

           But she couldn’t kid herself. Of course she had ties here. She had consequences. She had Dick, the Titans and Alfred. She couldn’t just leave them over something so stupid and childish. Like Sam said, she was far better than that. She didn’t want to think about the state she’d send them in if she just up and vanished because of a couple of things said in the halls. She had to be better. She promised herself she’d get better.

           “I’ve been working on myself.” She admitted, finding a voice from within. “I- I’m so used to just lashing out and saying and doing things I instantly regret- so I’m just trying to think before I speak.” She let out a breath like Sam had down moments prior. “Thank you for talking with me.”

           Sam nodded in acceptance and understanding. She knew what it was like during the first stages of adapting to life after losing someone so important. She bit her own lip, looking around the room quickly, herself thinking of her actions before going back to her rambling self. She gripped her phone again, holding it to her chest before looking at it for the time. It was almost their lunch period. She brought a smile to her face, trying to look as welcoming and honest as she felt.

           “You want to get out of here? My mom’s out of town, not cheating on my dad, and my dad’s at work, not fucking his secretary, so no one’s at my house until late tonight. We can order a pizza or Chinese food and watch movies? Like I said, I know we’re not friends but beats being stuck here for five more hours.”

           Halley sighed, looking around the room like Sam had. She rolled out her options before her and it wasn’t even a debate. Dick would surely kill her for ditching on her first day back and she’d most likely get in trouble with the school as well but she really didn’t find it in herself to care. She looked at Sam, matching her smile, feeling forced at first but slowly it felt natural.

           “I know a really good Chinese place not too far from here. We can stop on the way?”

[black-quadrant]

at long last, i give you chapter 2 of my demon AU! not as thrilling as chapter 1, unless you like a bunch of exposition! we’ll get to the juicy stuff soon enough. thanks for the interest and motivation to build out this AU!

He could have sworn he hadn’t consumed a drop of alcohol last night. Even a skeptic like him could assume spirits and real spirits would mix as well as oil and water, but ultimately he was staying sober for his friends in case they got themselves into some kind of actual real living trouble beyond their impulsivity to raise the dead, or... whatever.

So why did he feel completely hung the fuck over? Every muscle in his body ached, even ones he didn’t know he had, or hadn’t used since he was forced to play team sports in school (those were the days... not).

Nevertheless, he peeled himself out of bed, bracing himself for the morni-- er, afternoon. After... noon? With a soul-deep groan, Neku dragged himself into the shower, using that time to scavenge his memories of last night, picking up every mental fragment until he'd reached the end of the evening, where he crashed into bed. And the next conscious anything was a disturbingly vivid dream about being assaulted in said bed by what vaguely looked to be an arguably pretty boy packing a full set of gnashing teeth and ultraviolet whorls for eyes. The kind of nightmare vision appeal that made you hard for danger, the kind of unnerving midnight visitor that people wished would steal in and violate them in the comfort of their own room. And what followed... that made Neku stop everything, and crank the shower dial to blast himself with ice water.

He did not have time to indulge sordid fantasies. That was a hell of a dream though; he couldn’t recall the last time he’d dreamt so vividly. He’d have to... circle back around to that one later.

Right now he needed to rejoin society, and hopefully the flood of city stimuli will dilute and filter out this undercurrent of indistinct eeriness.

A cup of coffee was a good start. That, and an apology, both for bailing on his friends, and for, well, his friends. Taking to the streets, armed with his headphones (he never left home without them), he cranked up the volume until he could no longer hear Shibuya and meandered the all too familiar path to Wildkat Cafe.

He’s taking a gamble here at the shop being open, as it’s known for its proprietor’s inconsistent (putting it lightly) hours, but he’s in luck; it’s open, and Mr. H, upon spotting him, waved him in.

“’Ey, Phones!” He didn’t need hear him to read his lips and know he’s greeting him by his exasperating nickname. He used to think Mr. H simply forgot his name, but after countless attempts to try to replace it with his actual name, and even going without his headphones for a week to train him out of it, he’d resigned himself to his unchanging fate. But such was the nature of nicknames, right? You don’t always want them.

“Hey, Mr. H.” Draping said `phones’ around his neck, Neku strolled in, making his way to the counter where the barista was stationed, currently cleaning down the counter. “I, uh... wanted to say sorry for last night. I--”

Neku paused abruptly as a shadow fell over Hanekoma’s expression, smothering the air of congeniality he had about him. It’s the first time Neku’s ever seen him look so aggravated. It’s not until Hanekoma spoke that he realized he was staring past him.

“Does he know you’re stalking him, J?”

“You’re always ruining my fun, Mr. H.”

Neku spun toward the source of the undeniably snide tone, finding himself gawking at the face that starred in his tawdry dream last night.

“Hello, Neku.” He smiled with normal human teeth. A small comfort.

“... what the fuck?! Where did you come from? There was no one here a second ago.” Neku cast Hanekoma a wide-eyed glance full of disbelief. “...was there?”

Hanekoma barked out a laugh and shook his head.

“Who the fuck is this? Why do you know my name?” Something deeply, disturbingly intuitive Neku refused to acknowledge told him he knew the answer.

“I’m hurt. We met just last night.” It’s then that Neku noticed the petite violet horns seated atop that fluffy head. They couldn’t be bigger than two inches. It’s not like it’s out of place for the season, but it’s a bit too campy for Neku’s taste. Just as he was about to mock them, something brushed his arm.

A legitimate demon tail, complete with spade tip.

“Seriously? You’re wearing that out in public?” He swatted it away, eliciting a squeak of alarm from the little weirdo.

“Gentle. It’s not a costume prop.”

Neku backed himself up to the counter, again looking to the barista for help.

“You know damn well you’re not supposed to be in the RG.” He regarded said little weirdo with such familiarity that he was chastising him. RG? Too much is happening at once. Neku slammed a hand on the counter. "Hello?? I did not meet you, not last night or ever.”

The blonde simply smirked.

“Joshua... that ring a bell?”

The name, combined with his tone, struck him like lightning, and all at once the image flashed back into his mind. Horrorterror teeth, clawed hands, unmistakeable purple eyes--

“...holy shit.”

“There’s nothin’ holy ‘bout him--”

“Mr. H, would you like me to spill your secrets?”

“Which one?” The barista countered with a grin, and Neku literally and figuratively stepped out of their crossfire and snatched Joshua by a horn, cringing at discovering that it’s fixed to his skull. Joshua hissed, but didn’t move.

“Tell me now.”

“Don’t you remember? Your friends didn’t close the door. But don’t worry, I closed it behind me.” Neku released his grip and took a step back, finally understanding. It wasn’t a fever dream. Wasn’t even a normal dream. It had happened, it--

“You were in my bedroom--” Neku’s face went beet red. Joshua giggled knowingly.

“No, we didn’t do that. That was me feeding you some... prospects. Or perhaps it was a premonition?”

“You’re fucking gross.”

“Anyway,” Hanekoma interjected, “Joshua here is, I guess what you would call a demon.” Joshua huffed at being outed.

“This,” Neku gestured vaguely at the `boy’ “is not what I saw last night. Last night I would believe what I saw was indeed a demon. This is just a campy ruse.”

“Well, technically, you’re spot on.” Joshua affirmed, his sinuously long, slender tail swaying behind him, not unlike a cat’s. “Clearly you’re not a demon enthusiast or you’d know that we can take human shape, so that we can walk among you...” Joshua slunk over to the counter, tapping an empty mug in a silent entreaty for coffee. “Just like angels...right, Mr. H?” Hanekoma ignored him for the espresso machine.

“... okay... okay, okay, this has crossed over from fucking weird to goddamn cursed. I have so many questions I don’t even want the answers to, but I’ll summarize all of them: what do you want?”

Joshua, leaning casually against the counter, turned to Neku with a delighted grin.

“You. I like you. You’re a one in a million find in this city.” Behind the counter, brewing Joshua’s cup, Hanekoma scoffed. “You’re sensitive on an energetic level. I’d like us to spend some quality time... and I have been so bored. I was drawn to you because I can see you are bored, too.”

Neku opened his mouth to protest, but he instantly thought better of it. He’s not sure how Joshua could smell the utter ennui on him, but he’d chalk it up to Demonic Shit because he was getting a massive headache from information overload.

“As fun as hanging out with you and being tormented at night sounds, I’ll pass. I’ve got a life to live that I’m not going to piss away entertaining a demon masquerading as a human. The horns and tail are doing nothing for you human passing, by the way.”

“You want to send me back then, Neku? Do you even know how?” This motherfucker. Neku grit his teeth, biting back the urge to slap the pretty off his face.

“Besides, you won’t even see me during the day. I’ll make myself absent to the eyes.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I can hop between... dimensions. We’ll say dimensions. You won’t even know I’m there.”

“So you can stalk me some more?”

“Alright, boys, simmer down. `I’ll make your cup a’joes for the road, an’ you can go out an’ get acquainted.”

“You’re not off the hook.” Neku said sharply. “You’ve been suspiciously quiet about this the whole time. Obviously you two are acquainted. What is your relationship to this little cryptid?”

“I’ll tell ya all ‘bout it later, Phones. You have my word.” He pushed the cups forward. “On the house.” Hanekoma never offered free coffee. This did not bode well for Neku, who could tell he’d have to put up with a pet demon until he learned how to slam dunk him back to his own dimension.

“...fine. Are you gonna put away the costume props?”

“No one but you will see my very real extensions of myself. There’s my compromise.”

Neku rolled his eyes.

“You have to get the hell out of here if I go see my friends. I am not explaining you. That’s my compromise.”

“Brr... so cold.” Joshua cozied up to Neku’s side, clearly intent on testing his boundaries (and his wrath). “Take me out to lunch, and I will tell you anything you want to know.”

“I can’t believe this...”

Those purple eyes, for a split second, flare with the glow of last night.

“Oh, Neku... you will. You will.”

[thebestestboyo]

How Remus Started Working For Patton: Part Two

Masterpost

Tw: Swearing, brief vomiting mention, mention of burn scar

"What do you mean you lost a bet?? Who was this guy???"

Virgil was seven shades of anxious, pacing back and forth after he had helped Remus get to their beat-up couch, since Ree couldn't really walk well by himself still.

"His name was Patton, and I'd let him cut open my stomach with a butter knife. Oo! I wonder if my organs would splatter like the ones at Logan's lab?"

"Ree, now isn't the time for your gorey science friend. If Patton is who I think he is, then he knows dangerous people."

"Ah you worry too much! He couldn't hurt a fly, he showed up to the bar in a sweater and a cute little skirt. He has great legs." It was hard not to be at least a little insulted at Virgil's prods at Pat, when he was such a sweet guy. "And I didn't see his brother well, I think his name was something to do with D? The memory is hazy."

"Please, please tell me you're not seriously saying that you met Demetrius and Patton Crim. Please."

"Virg, I never got their last names. How would I know??"

"Because they're on the news every other day???"

Before Remus could reply, he felt a surge of pain in his stomach, beginning signs that all that alcohol he had drunk, was going to be undrunk, whether he liked it or not. "Bucket. Please."

As much as Virgil clearly wanted to still argue with him, he definitely wouldn't want to clean up Remus's puke. Sighing, he went and grabbed the designated 'chuck bucket™' and brought it over to Ree.

He was also nice enough to hold back his long hair, knowing that it took forever to get puke out of hair. (He would never admit it, but Remus remembers when Virgil grew out his hair down to his shoulders during their college years. It was cute! But Virg cut it again since he was tired of being mistaken for a girl).

"Sorry Vee. I guess I let my impulse get the better of me again huh?"

"No shit Sherlock." Most people would take that as an insult, but Remus knew that was him calming down a little, which he was thankful for. He didn't want to give Virg an anxiety attack over him.

"So who are these guys? You said they're on the news?"

Virgil had begun to run his fingers through the knots in Remus's wavy locks while he spoke, his voice evening out as he did. "Mmhm. Which you would know if you actually watched the news with me!" There was a slight tug on Ree's head, playful.

"You know I only watch it for the murder stories! And anyways, watching too much of that bull makes you nervous, you know that. Its good I drag you away from it, otherwise you'd never leave the apartment."

"Ha ha, very funny. But I'm serious. They're bad news."

"Regular gang stuff or worse?"

"Worse. They have control over most of downtown, and who knows where else. As far as I've picked up, they're notorious for kidnappings, grand theft auto, money laundering, the works."

"Ah, so saucy gang members." Ree nodded in complete serious, taking the hint.

"The sauciest. At least for our city."

"Yikes. So THAT'S why you don't want me going downtown. I was imagining you worked in a strip club or something and you didn't want me to stumble upon it." It wasn't really a jab, more of a tease, which Virg immediately picked up on.

"Nah, more like I didn't want you to come across all your fangirls from highschool. That's their terf, and they can smell your musty ass from miles away."

"I'm not musty! Unless you're talking about mustard, which I may have fell into on occasion."

"Gross! Take a shower you pile of burning trash!"

"If you take off your headphones you introverted bat-spider amalgamation!"

Laughing softly, Virg picked up the 'chuck bucket™' and tossed the contents into the trash can, his almond milk eyes shining. "Excuse you, I'm clearly a vampire. That's the only explanation I will take."

"Nah, you'd have to be hot for that to work."

"Hey!"

Remus only stuck out his tongue, stretching out his sore muscles before he could stand up, even if he still needed to hold a hand on the wall for balance. "I clearly have all the attractiveness out of the two of us."

"If attractiveness is now a synonym for repulsiveness then sure."

Gently pushing Virg on his way to the bathroom, the two only laughed, the danger that Remus had put himself in forgotten for the moment, but not completely.

On the other side of the city, Dee was working through all of the paperwork that came with being the head of a gang, which is surprisingly more than you think. Checkbooks, money from protection fees needing to be sorted and seen to, it was awful. The older Crim was just about ready to set it all on fire just to get rid of the hassle.

"Dee...?"

Thank goodness, Patton was here. He wouldn't have to work on this for a while yet, but Pat usually wasn't up this early, epecially after the two of them had gone to a deal, nevermind the fact that Pat had gotten ridiculously drunk. He usually took the next day off to nurse his hangover, and to get back some of the sleep he missed.

"Yes Patty?"

"Can I ask you a question please?" Turning his head, he could see Patton in his pajamas, blanket still around his shoulders to keep him warm.

"Anything you wish. What's bothering you?"

"Do you think Remus will be angry to realize who we are? You did just essentially mark that he's part of our gang, even if it's subtle." It must have been bothering him immensely, usually he would have hidden a couple puns in his sentences by now.

"I'm unsure Patton, he was drunk and so were you, so he might not even remember it."

"Oh..."

That was the wrong thing to say, Dee noticed that almost immediately. That just wouldn't do, not on his watch. "Come up and sit by me. I know you're probably cold, even with that blanket."

Patton shuffled quietly over, sitting up on Dee's lap like when they were younger, and Pat would have a bad dream. It didn't matter how old the two of them got, Dee would never stop him from doing this.

Rubbing Pat's back soothingly, he let him lean into his chest, arms wrapped around Dee's middle. "I just thought he was nice. He didn't seem scared of either of us, but I can't tell if it's because he didn't know, or was just too drunk to care."

"I will admit, usually the people you insist those we give a ride to comment on my face. He didn't even mention it."

Feeling a chord of guilt at scaring Pat's potential boyfriends away, he held him closer to his chest, the burn scar on his face feeling the same as it did ten years ago, hot and painful.

As if he had read his mind, Pat turned his head up to look at Dee best he could. "Its not your fault you know, we both knew what it would mean to start up the gang. And if people are scared of your scar, that's not to be blamed on yourself!"

"That's besides the point right now Patty, but I appreciate your positivity. Would you want to pay a visit to Remus later, to sort this out? I don't think we'll fix this while you're half-hungover."

Nodding, Patton just curled up further into his brother's frame, drifting back to sleep. Dee waited till his breathing was even and soft, before he lifted him up, bringing him back to his bedroom and tucking the blankets around him.

"Sleep well, I love you Pat."

And with that, Dee was once again stuck with all the papers. Fantastic.

It was going to be a long morning.

[thgfanficinspo]

Fear of the Water - Ch. 7

AO3 LINK

Annie + Finnick Origin Story set during/after 70th Hunger Games

masterlist

(ANNIE)

It’s almost impossible to sleep. Not that I normally sleep well anyway. Still.

I have one of those dreams that’s only two minutes long but actually lasts for an hour or two in real life. Finnick’s in it. He doesn’t do anything. Doesn’t even look at me. He’s just there. And it’s nice in the dream but it’s sad when I wake up.

I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do now. Keep moving? Stay put? I unpack my things and lay them out again. I get one deep sip of water cause I have to be careful about saving it until I find a source (maybe that’s what I’ll do today) and I eat one slice of dried apple. And then I notice the dirt and the blood under my fingernails and my hands start shaking.

My mother, she butchered me . . .

Shut my eyes. Don’t want to see the blood, see the boy exploding, feel hot drops of blood splatter against my face. Take deep breaths through my mouth to keep from gagging.

It’s a long time before I feel okay again. I’m just opening my eyes when a cannon goes off. I clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming.

I count the bricks in my little cave to calm down again but I keep losing my place and have to start over.

I don’t think I’ll finish counting before the sun goes down. I’ll have to wait to look for food and water tomorrow.

(FINNICK)

My patron last night bought me and Cashmere as a set; I think it’s easier to deal with when there’s another victor with you. Misery loves company, as they say. But it’s also fucking awkward. Plus, it’s ridiculously expensive to buy a night with one victor, so buying two on the same night practically never happens.

We stay in the lady’s apartment long enough to see our tributes onscreen and make sure they’re still alive before making our way back toward the training center. Shine, Cash, and Piers are sorting out supplies and making a plan of attack. Annie is nibbling at some dried fruit.

We stop off at a coffee place on the way.

“That lady was disgusting,” Cashmere says as we wait for our orders. She pulls two blackberry-flavored cigarettes and some matches out of a pocket I didn’t know she had and lights them.

“Mm,” I hum in acknowledgement. She really was gross but I don’t waste my time thinking about her and what she wanted. I never do. When it’s over, it’s over, and there’s no point in reflecting on the experience.

Cashmere hands me one of the cigarettes. “Thanks,” I say. We smoke silently for a little while, watching all the Capitol citizens walk by. Girls giggle when they see me; men wink at Cashmere. It’s nothing new. “Who’s your favorite to win?”

She taps the excess ash from her cigarette on the ground. “I like my girl’s chances. But that pretty one from District Nine is one to watch. You?”

I shrug. “Don’t know.”

This is what conversations are like the day after you see a patron together. You’re too embarrassed about everything we did to look each other in the eye but we can’t ignore each other without being crushed by the silence. Plus, we have to look fun and flirty for the people that walk by.

My awful attempt at small talk is interrupted when a female tribute gets stuck under falling bricks from a decrepit building nearby. Her lower leg breaks with a loud snap as a particularly jagged stone lands on her shin. She barely has a chance to scream before a larger rock rolls onto her stomach and starts to crush her. It takes about a minute for her to die.

“That’s thirteen gone,” Cashmere says absently. “Eleven to go.”

The Avoxes are the only ones in the common area when I get back to the training center. They’re cleaning puke up off the rug; I assume it’s Broadsea’s.

“Did I miss anything important?” I ask, nodding at the television. There’s nothing interesting going on right now, so Caesar Flickerman is interviewing a Gamemaker named Seneca Crane about the inspiration behind the arena’s design.

It’s more elaborate than usual this year: it looks like an abandoned city that nature has reclaimed. It rains perpetually, and no place is completely dry. There are a handful of high dams, but in heavy rain they overflow somewhat. There’s nowhere to swim, so Annie and Piers don’t have any advantage there.

Somes points at the chalkboard; Girl 10 has been crossed off the list. Greer makes a few gestures to let me know that both Annie and Piers are still alive.

“Thanks.”

I sit down on the shower floor like I always do and lean my head back against the wall.

My arena was a heavy forest dotted with swamps.

There was this endless chorus of crickets and cicadas – it never stopped. Not to mention all the other damn bugs that would fly right into my eye or buzz around in my ear. All the bugs bit, but some of them carried diseases. Tributes bitten by the disease-bugs got sick and a few of them died.

There were these mutts in some of the swamps – gators, I think they’re called – that would come out of the water at night and attack. One of them killed Tethys, my district partner. It took her foot first. I couldn’t get to her in time to stop the bleeding or distract the mutt before it circled back for her. It took a while for the gator to kill her, but I doubt she could feel anything except the cold, dry sensation of losing blood.

Most of the water was unsafe to drink, and a good amount of the tributes died from dehydration or infections they got from drinking the bad water. The Careers and I were sure to boil our water to kill any germs. We didn’t have to worry about whether or not someone would see our fire – no one in their right mind would attack the Career pack.

And then one day at breakfast this enormous parachute came floating down from the sky and landed in front of me. A trident.

I knew in that moment that I would survive. I could use spears and knives as well as anybody, but I grew up with a trident in my hand. I knew I had lots of sponsors – they sent medicine when I was injured, fresh bread when I was hungry, even a sliver of soap to wash myself off – but this told me just how many there really were. But a trident?! Weapons of any kind were unheard of, but this?

It took two days for my allies to turn on me. They didn’t consider me much of a threat at first, since I was only fourteen and no one under sixteen, no matter how skilled or sponsored, had ever won. I defeated them allies fairly easily; I’d been expecting an attack and I knew what their fighting styles were. It only took another two days to find the remaining tributes and kill them.

I had it easy compared to some of the others. Most of the others, actually. I considered myself lucky for the first few days after I won. Thank God I didn’t have to deal with some of the shit the others had to. It evened out in the end, more or less.

Caesar Flickerman is talking as I exit the bathroom. Something menial. “Is she counting?”

“It looks like it,” Claudius Templesmith replies. “But I’m not sure why.”

I start rifling through the clothes in my closet.

“She’s most likely in shock,” Caesar says. “It happens from time to time.”

I don’t really pay attention – why should I? – until I catch a glimpse of Annie Cresta from the corner of my eye. It’s only for a millisecond; the feed switches to more entertaining footage of the boy from District 6 climbing to the top of a massive barebones building at least eight stories high.

“Shit,” I hiss under my breath.

Tributes go into shock pretty regularly; someone cracks up at least once every other year. I’m not surprised that it happened. But it bothers me that it happened to Annie. She was a bit weird to begin with, so I shouldn’t be shocked, but it’s still unpleasant.

Shit.

Piers probably should have killed her at the bloodbath – or at the very least, let the boy from 3 finish the job. The Games have barely started and I’m already so tired; I don’t know if I have it in me to watch Annie get herself killed in some awful way.

I avoid Mags for most of the day because I just don’t want to face her right now.

I eat dinner with Blight and Gloss at a popular restaurant, which we pretty much shut down for the night because so many of my adoring fans would otherwise flood the place. They cluster outside instead; Peacekeepers have to come in to keep them all in line. I’d really rather eat alone in my room but the president likes for his victors to be seen enjoying all the pleasures that the Capitol has to offer. And I hate to admit it but the food is actually good.

Blight brings the new kid with him. Timothy Something-or-other of District 6, victor of the 69th Hunger Games. I feel obligated to make a lot of sex jokes because it’s 69 and I’m the Finnick Odair.

Timothy doesn’t talk very much, nor does he make much eye contact. Blight and Gloss start filling him in on things he doesn’t ask about – the annoying victors, the protocols for being out in public, the politicians and socialites who get handsy when they drink.

“Brutus sucks, Gaius sucks,” Blight says as he pours us each a fresh glass of wine. “They’re both from Two. Actually most of those guys are awful.”

“Broadsea and Eefa fucking suck,” I add.

“And Leetha. Leetha is the goddamn worst,” Gloss says, shaking his head.

Timothy’s voice is scratchy. “Which one is she?”

“The redheaded lady from District Five,” I answer. “Thinks she’s the smartest person in the world. Don’t ever have a conversation alone with her. You’ll try to pull your ears off.”

Timothy swallows hard. He looks twitchy and hungry and tired. Bet he’s already addicted to something – alcohol maybe, or more likely morphling, since that’s the drug of choice for his fellow victors from 6.

The rest of dinner passes without anybody saying anything interesting. I trudge back to the training center and pray Mags has gone to bed already. I just don’t want to see her.

No such luck. She’s sitting on the couch facing the television when I come in. She smiles. “I haven’t seen you all day.”

“Yeah, I’ve been busy,” I mutter. She pats the seat beside her, silently asking me to sit with her. But I don’t want to I stand by the couch with my arms crossed over my chest and my eyes pointed straight ahead.

Then she asks the question I’ve been dreading all afternoon. “Have you seen Annie?”

“Yeah.

We watch the Games in silence for a long time. There’s nothing going on this late; most of the tributes have gone to sleep. But I keep watching.

“What do you think?” Mags finally asks.

“I don’t think anything.” I try not to be snappy but it still comes out with some aggression. She must know I don’t want to talk about this. “I’m going to bed.” I give her a kiss on the cheek as I leave to show her that I’m not really mad at her. But she knows that already.

“Good night, Finnick.”

“Good night, Mags.”

I don’t have any dreams tonight.

[larryfanficwriter98]

Chapter Eight

Harry woke up the next morning drowsy and exhausted, but he grinned when he saw Louis still fast asleep beside him. Yesterday Louis and his friends had been in the pit at the show and after the show, they had hung out in the park then went back to Harry's and hung out. They got to know each other in person without a phone screen in the way. Around 10 they had all retired and not wanting to get made fun of or teased he took up big spoon rope since he was bigger than Louis. He was broader and taller so it meant Harry was the big spoon. Just like he had been with his ex a few years back. Harry looked at Louis, studied his sleeping features, and couldn't believe someone so cute and small had such a big personality. He also could remember his softer more childish features from years ago when they were teenagers.

He could still remember the way his whole body stopped working when he saw Louis. He had been 14, almost 15, and had just come out to his family a few days prior. Then there he was kissing and snogging for the first time with Louis in a closed-off hall after obviously flirting and staring on both sides. It was a perfect kiss too just like yesterday’s, well except it was a lot more awkward since Harry was 14 and never kissed anyone. No wonder Harry felt an instant connection to Louis, they felt an instant connection to each other. They had met so many times prior that Harry would believe in soulmates at this point.

Harry climbed out of bed after kissing Louis' cheek then walked into his closet. He grabbed some clothes for the day then headed to the bathroom to start his morning routine. Afterward, he headed downstairs and started on breakfast hoping he had his heart-shaped waffle iron here and didn't take it somewhere else. Finding it under his many many skillets he plugged it in then got to work on the waffle mix. Minutes later he was flipping the waffle iron to start the cooking when he felt arms wrap around his waist from behind and he grinned.

"Good morning Lou." Louis hummed as Harry turned in his arms and wrapped his arm around Louis' shoulders.

"I feel exhausted even though we slept for like...10 hours."

"That's the jet leg hitting you. You just need a bit of breakfast, some fresh air, and something to do to distract yourself from it. It'll go away in a few hours. Probably around 12."

"Damn and here I thought we missed the jet leg when we took a flight that would let us sleep to get adjusted to the time zone change."

"You beat the worst of it. That's always the best way to travel so you're able to sleep and wake up to the city's morning. I'm surprised you guys thought of it."

"Liam, Niall, and Zayn planned it." Louis told him as he sat on the countertop as Harry went to go get the bacon from the fridge.

"So what do you want to do today? There's Universal, Disney, a zoo, an aquarium, museums, there are a few beaches not far from Orlando. Or we can just stay here, I have an indoor and outdoor pool, a game room, tons of movies with a movie room in the basement. Tampa is only an hour and a half drive as well. How do you want to spend our first Valentine's day together?"

"How about we just explore the town and see what we find to do. You can take me to the places you go to when you're here."

"I actually don't stay in Orlando that much unless I have shows here. I  bought the house when I was 19 and was dating my ex. We went to Universal a lot together so much so that he convinced me it was a good idea to buy a house here. Of course, now I know it was because he needed somewhere to cheat on me that wasn't my LA home. For obvious reasons. If I wasn't in Manchester then I was in LA and he lived in LA so I stayed there a lot. Whenever he came to visit family or cheat I went home to visit my family."

"He made you buy a home in Orlando so he could cheat on you?" Louis asked

"Well, his reasoning was because we went to Universal so much because he liked it but yeah it was also to cheat."

"Did he tell you he cheated when you broke up?"

"No, actually I found out when I came to Orlando and walked inside my room to see him fucking a girl in my bed. I knew he was bisexual, but his reasoning was because I wasn't having sex with him even though we had been together for quite a long time actually. Also since it wasn't a guy he wasn't technically cheating."

"Please tell me you dumped him after that."

"Actually no. I stayed with him for another six months and in those six months I had been guilt tripped each time he was hard into giving him a hand or blow job. I broke up with him when he tried to talk me into having sex with him before I was ready. He had been pushing it for a month and this particular time he just wasn't taking no for an answer. I realized what he was doing. I told him to grab his stuff and leave." Harry told Louis who stared at him

"Who stayed with someone who cheated on you then was manipulated and talked into performing sexual acts because he didn't want to wank in a shower? What a dick head. I am- if someone has ever done that to one of my sisters I'd have murdered him. If he still alive because your sister is scary."

"She doesn't know what happened. Well, she knows it was because I wouldn't have sex with him, but not everything." Louis wrapped his arms and legs around Harry and pulled him in close to his body, Harry's hands falling to his hips smiling at him.

"Well just know that he was an asshole and a selfish prick and I never want you to feel obligated to do anything you don't want to. Because trust me I get hard pretty easily, but that doesn't mean I am going to pressure you in any way. I forced myself my first time, I wanted to get over with and I regretted it minutes later. I wasn't ready but I was 18 and I had convinced myself and forced myself to go through with it when I was drunk at the pub. It was in a dirty dingy bathroom with spit, water, and precum as lube, and never again will I trust a guy who said 'Relax I got this' with his hands down my pants. My dick and ass were sore for days because of the dryness. So trust me when I say if you ever feel ready with me I will be sure to make it very very special and memorable and you will be the most comfortable person ever. No matter what position we take."

"First..ew...that just sounds gross and horrible. If you ever spit on me I will sue you. I don't care what the reason is if you dare spit on me I will sue you. Do you understand." Louis laughed as he nodded, "Good. Secondly, I trust you and am comfortable with you more than I have been with anyone. I, unfortunately, came into fame as a virgin, and also my first boyfriend was a manipulative verbally abusive ass. So it's harder to trust anyone, believe me, there have been times when I've wanted to just get it over with too, but you don't know who to trust anymore. The media offers people money for a story, even if it's not true. I trust you though. I've always felt you to be trustworthy and honest. I'm not worried about you going off to any media outlet that offers you money, which is why I refused to make you sign an NDA when my lawyer and label wanted you to when we started face timing."

"I can sign an NDA-"

"No. I trust you. Besides if you were going to say anything you'd have done it by now. You have enough information to make a few million."

"Really? I don't have that much that isn't exactly common knowledge." Louis said

"You have enough." Harry said with a shrug as he moved to out a skillet on the stove to start the bacon as the waffle maker timer went off.

"Want my help?"

"Please tell him no. We would like it to be edible." Liam said as he and Zayn walked into the room with Niall following only moments later

"I got it. Go sit with your friends then after breakfast we'll leave for town. We'll explore together."

"Sounds good." Louis said, leaning over to press a kiss to Harry's cheek before  jumping down and sitting on a stool, "So what are you lads doing today?" Louis asked his mates

"Us three have a taxi coming in an hour so it can take us to a car rental since it was closed yesterday when we landed." Zayn said

"I have three cars in the garage you can drive. A 2013 Audi S8, a 2011 Mercedes SLK, and a 2011 range rover. Then my car that I'll be taking today is a 2015 Audi A5. My newer car that I bought for my 21st birthday."

"Are you sure you want them to drive? They're not the best-"

"Excuse you. Who has an accident here and who doesn't?" Liam said looking st Louis

"An accident that wasn't my fault. He hit me when I was parked."

"Still an accident." Liam said

"I'll put you guys on my insurance for the week, it's not that big of a deal. If anything happens it's not like I can't afford it. I hardly drive them anyway. I drive my new Audi and my new Range Rover all the time. I've sold most of my other ones and I've been meaning to sell these three. I just keep forgetting about them. The keys are up on the key hanger in the front entrance." Harry said with a shrug

"Are you sure?" Niall asked

"I'm positive. Rental cars are a pain in the ass don't even bother. They require so much and for international travelers like you guys it could take hours before you're approved. So just take one of mine."

~~~

After a wonderful breakfast of heart-shaped waffles and bacon for everyone Louis took a shower and got dressed in black skinnies and one of his graphic tees the boys gave him over the years. It has a graphic of a vanilla cone and on the shirt, it read "vanilla is for ice cream". Louis loved this shirt and didn't think much of it as he pulled it on then headed downstairs. The front door was opened and when Louis stepped outside he saw the garage was opened. He headed inside and saw all four shiny cars well taken care of and all of his mates in one of the three cars mentioned while Harry leaned against an Audi.

"Niall is going out on his own so he isn't third-wheeling anyone so I'm letting him pick the car first much to Zayn's disappointment."

"Niall can come with us."

"I offered, but I think he just wants to explore on his own. Is he ever away from you three?"

"Not really. Zayn and Liam have monthly date nights and they've been busy planning their wedding. So it's been very coupley at the house."

"The wedding is what..three months away now?"

"Yeah. May 14 to be exact. You're invited by the way, as my plus one if you want to come."

"They told me I was invited, they actually asked if I would sing their first dance song for them then I told them I can ask Ed himself to do it and they got excited. So remind me to call Ed in a few hours, I want to get him before he goes to sleep as it's only 5 in London."

"Sure so about 3?"

"Yeah, about 3 or 4. Around the time we end our exploration and go to the shops to get groceries for our romantic dinner tonight."

"Sounds good."

"Well, are we ready to go? The lad knows to lock up before they leave, they have the codes for the security box outside, and they have a house key. Also, they each have mine and my security team's number should they need anything. As well as copies of insurance cards."

"Already?"

"Paper temporary ones. You have one too in my glove box but figured since I'll be driving for now you won't need it right away."

"Then yeah I'm if you're ready." Harry pushed off from the car and opened the passenger side door letting Louis into the car before closing it once Louis was settled in the seat.

[sneezysmonsterlovin]

Harpy Boyfriend

A/N: ok first of all, Is taloned a word?? It’s probably not but i’m still going to use it. Secondly, I know this is super late but I couldn't decode between Iseth or a doll boyfriend and I ended up just writing whatever came first. 

Warning: Uh, Tsundere boy? Idk. 

Kind of edited? I spellchecked it but that's it

Word Count: 1,806

I rarely do moodboards or whatever they’re called but, that's what I picture in my head as i’m writing so 

  It was ridiculously hot, you thought bitterly, wasn’t it supposed to be fall?

 Having finished your shift half an hour ago, you stood outside of the flower shop waiting for Iseth. He’d promised to pick you up and take you out for lunch, as an apology for how his sisters had treated you when he introduced you to his family.

Male harpies were rare, and Iseth was the only one you’d met, let alone seen. They were usually very feminine looking, and but not hard to differentiate from females. After all, most female harpies were basic plain colors unless dyed. Males, especially Iseth, were born with larger, brighter colors.

This is what brought you out of your thoughts, Iseth’s bright blue feathers shimmering in the scalding hot sun, pearly white skin painted with purple stripes to accentuate his cheeks and wide, golden eyes. He was honestly beautiful, and if the words that fell from his pretty hardened lips, pointed in the shape of a sharp beak, hadn’t been so nasty you’d probably have fallen for him long ago. 

“Disgusting. Why are you wet? It hasn’t rained in weeks. Are all humans as gross as you?” His forehead was creased in a scowl, one that matched your own as you wiped your brow clean of sweat.

“It’s all humans. And I’m only this ‘gross’ because you took so long getting here. What were you even doing?” Yes, he’d offered to take you to lunch, which had surprised you just as much as seeing him walk here. He was always one to mind his appearance, and never wanted to risk walks through ‘dirty’ streets like the one you worked on in case he ruined his outfit.

“Ungrateful.” He snarled, face scrunching up cutely. “My car broke down, so we shall be walking.” And with that, he turned abruptly, tail feathers flaring up dramatically. “Come on then. They close in two hours.”

 You simply rolled your eyes, used to your friends attitude by now.

The two of you had met when you were children, and he’d been just as salty then as he was today. Though, that didn’t seem to stop all the non-humans and humans alike from fawning over him like a bunch of lovesick fools. It wasn’t really a surprise, he was rich and gorgeous after all. What was a surprise, however, is that he never seemed interested in any of the beings that threw themselves at his feet. But, to each his own, you came to the conclusion he wasn’t interested in anyone romantically, and stifled the small bout of feelings you held within you for the bitter young male.

Yes, it was true. You cast a sideways glance at the harpy beside you, standing tall and flaunting his grace proudly. Iseth knew he was beautiful, you’d realized years ago, and wasn’t afraid to show it off. Honestly, someone so self centered and angry wouldn’t usually have stolen your heart so easily, but after a year or so of knowing him, when the pair of you were just tots, he’d started expressing his insecurities in his own silent, subtle ways. He wasn’t quick to judge and always seemed to know what you needed, and had been there for you through thick and thin, just as you had for him.

“When you’ve finished gawking at me, would you enter the building?” The sour note to Iseth’s melodic voice snatched you from your thoughts as it seemed to be doing a lot recently. Your eyes flickered from his eyes to your surroundings, and you realized that Iseth was holding the door open for you.

“That’s a first.” You said with unhidden surprise as you carefully stepped through the door, scanning the shops insides. It was a cute café, you realized, with soft yellow curtains and pastel tables. The register, sat in the center of the room with a rather handsome freshwater mer sat inside a large tub of water with wheels. You’d seen mer tourists in similar contraptions, made to allow merfolk a way around land.

Iseth approached the counter just as cockily as he did doing anything, and you followed behind, trying not to stare curiously at the mer.

“I know that look.” Well, so much for going unnoticed. Your eyes snapped up to meet the merman’s, feeling guilty that you’d done something rude. “Yes, I own this little café. My name is on the store’s  front, after all. What can I do for you?”

“A small raspberry lemonade, Cas. The human wants the same.” You sent a glare at the skimpy order, roughly jabbing Iseth in the ribs.

“You said we were getting lunch!” You whined, having skipped eating during your break so that you’d be ready for the usual absurdly large meal Iseth usually bought you two. Iseth huffed, shoving your arm away from him grumpily but maintaining eye contact with the mer.

“To go.” He was ignoring you! Though, you pouted, it wasn’t uncommon.

“Coming up.”

   After paying for your drinks, Iseth had said nothing more to you and began to lead the way out into the humid streets. You followed behind, trying to figure out where he was taking you, but gave up after he turned onto an unfamiliar street you didn’t recognize. When the pair of you finally came to a stop, you were standing at the edge of a road, having walked a bit out of the city. You were honestly exhausted from the long walk, but the view was almost enough to get you bouncing about your feet again. The lemonade had warmed a bit, and wasn’t nearly as cold as it was at the beginning of your walk, but Iseth had insisted that you waited until you arrived at the spot before you drank any of the sweetness inside the cute jar.

“They’re late.” Iseth scowled, glaring around the street angrily. You turned to peer at him confusedly, before he turned back to you, sour expression never sweetening. “Go ahead and drink it. I doubt the food will get here before your drink is ruined.” He’d leaned over the railing as he scoffed, plucking a pair of fold-out chairs out of the bushed and jerking them open. “I’ll have them fired for this.” He grumbled the last bit quietly, but you could tell he was genuinely upset.

“Iseth, how’d you find such a nice spot?” You tried changing the subject, sitting in the chair Iseth left for you. His shoulders were hunched as he leaned his chin into his hand.

“I....I looked it up.” He mumbled, twisting his head around awkwardly. You realized he was avoiding eye contact, which was just as out of character for him as his suddenly shy whisper. “I thought, I could pick you up and take you to get the drinks, and then drive you up here, but the car broke down and...” He trailed off. You watched as he slumped, turning to look at you tiredly. “I had to reschedule to food delivery, but the flowers had to be cancelled. And now, we’re sitting up here, in what was supposed to be a romantic setting for lunch, but not only was the weather horrid today, you’re probably exhausted and starving, and all I’ve got to offer you is lukewarm lemonade.”

 His scowl had softened, but you didn’t like this expression any better. It was a sad one, with cloudy eyes and a heartbreaking frown. He dropped his hands to push himself off his chair, feathers ruffling and tail drooping down lower than you’d ever seen. “Forget it. Let’s just go home. This was a stupid idea anyway.”

“Iseth, it wasn’t stupid.” You frowned, pulling yourself out of the chair though your legs ached in protest. “It was sweet. This is a wonderful view, and I like lukewarm lemonade better, anyways.” You laughed softly, reaching out to touch your friends shoulder. His scowl returned though, and delicate clawed hand reached up to shove your hand off quickly.

“No it wasn’t. This whole day was pointless. It’s time to go, come on.” He plucked the chairs back up, and began to trudge back the way you both came.

You frowned sadly, slowly making your way after him. He’d gone through so much trouble for you, but why? He’d always had a flare for romantic settings, that was just who he was, but he’d never been this upset about it being ruined. Usually he’d just complain about how people always ruined his plans, make the best out of what you did have. It was strange to see him so upset, and it made the small pouch you kept your feelings for him surge unhappily, wanting nothing more than to comfort him.

Iseth walked you back to your house, taloned feet clicking against the ground almost like heels. When you’d arrived, he turned to you with a misty eyes, and you almost dropped the now empty jar in your hands.

“I-I know this wasn’t as great as I hoped it to be, and I really wanted to do this after lunch but I promised myself I’d do it today.” He blurted out, bringing his hands together and scratching at the soft down that trailed along his arms and spread out into larger silky feathers.

“Then tell me after dinner!” You perked up, reaching out and placing a hand on his shoulder. “We can eat, then watch a movie, and you can tell me afterwards! It’ll be fun, I promise.” You gently tugged Iseth closer, and the harpy boy slowly stepped closer, wrapping his wing-like arms around your shoulders and hugging you tightly.

“Yeah..” He whispered, shakily sighing out. “That’d be nice.”

And so, you brought Iseth in, giving him a set of comfier clothes to change into while you made dinner. He showered, and once you’d finished making his favorites, you went to shower as the food cooled.

When you came downstairs, he was looking through the movies, looking up to smile softly at you when you announced dinner ready.  The pair of you sat down, cuddled up into your old couch with your respective plates laid across your laps. Iseth started the movie, one that you’d both enjoyed plenty of times before.

As the movie progressed and dinner eaten, you noticed Iseth was slowly inching closer to you, nervously initiating a cuddle for the first time. You simply grinned contently, reaching out and wrapping him in your arms. his feathers were awkward to move around, but he managed to move them around, finding a comfortable position for you both.

The credits roll, and as you turn to take a peek at Iseth you notice him already looking at you. “Iseth?” At his name, he opened his mouth slowly, words fluttering into the air before he could take them back.

“I think I’m in love with you.”

[gccdnews]

Did you see JESSICA DREW from MARVEL walking around Limbo? The CISFEMALE looks like ALICIA VIKANDER, and is NINETY SEVEN years old. I’ve heard she can be VIRTUOUS & WITTY but also COCKSURE & REACTIVE. When I think of them I think of HELPING THE INNOCENT BY HOSPITALIZING THE GUILTY, RAISING SPIDER-BABY, THE GREATEST QUIPS OF ALL TIME BITCHCAKES. They’ve been here WITHOUT their memories as an PI & FIGHTER at BAKER STREET INVESTIGATIONS & UNDERGROUND FIGHT CLUB for SIX MONTHS. I heard they’re seeking a sanctum.

// whew. jess has a history™. it's long af and spans nearly a century so im not gonna go into crazy detail, but it's still lengthy. and i'm also gonna modify just a bit to fit in with the mcu for plotting reasons and stuff. if you don’t really care about her full history then there’s some bullet points toward the bottom.

she was born in england in 1924 and brought as a small child to the transia (it's a small, fictional slavic country) where her father was conducting research. unfortunately due to her being a small child, she contracted uranium poisoning from her father's work and had to be placed in a cryogenic chamber and treated with radiation and a highly experimental serum derived from the blood/genes of various species of spider.

she spent decades in stasis, educated subliminally with special tapes. when she was finally awakened she had only aged into her early teens, but she'd developed superhuman abilities.

grew up, moved away, met a dude, fell in love, then accidentally killed him with her powers. so yeah that kinda torments her still to this day. well, when she still remembered it anyway.

got recruited into hydra who she was led to believe were the good guys, had her memories suppressed, was told the high evolutionary basically a "god" figure, idek evolved her from a spider into a human woman, had an agent pretend to fall in love with her, etc etc. basically got gaslit and brainwashed into becoming a high ranking member until she was put out on a field assignment and told to assassinate nick fury. during the mission he told her what hydra really was and she dropped their asses.

got her memories back from mordred the mystic, then lived in a shitty apartment in london for a while. ended up breaking into a convenience store across the street at one point to get some food, but got noticed by shield agent jerry hunt who pretty much hounded her until she dyed her hair and created a secret identity to hide from him

did the hero thing for a while, moved to l.a., dated jerry, became a bounty hunter, moved to san francisco, became a p.i., superhero'd some more, met carol danvers 😍

went on a mission to finally take down longtime archenemy morgan le fay, and did so, but not before some morgan did some magic shit and separated her soul from her body ?? so she goes to the sorcerer magnus and has him cast a spell to make everyone who ever met her forget she existed.

not long later she was found and revived by two hero pals, breaking the spell, but she was left comatose. dr strange gets involved, abra cadabra, jess ain't a cadava'. but she is however, powerless.

continued working as a p.i. until an encounter with the new spider-woman mattie franklin somehow restored her powers, which came back slowly and were very unstable. meets jessica jones, accidentally zaps tf out of her, then works with her to save the new spider-woman.

eventually struck a deal with hydra to spy within shield so she could get her powers back but the skrull queen veranke was behind it and manipulating her so she could learn to perfectly impersonate jessica. jess ended up held captive for two years aboard a skrull spaceship while veranke took her place.

she and the rest of the captives got saved but because of the havoc veranke wreaked, she didn't exactly receive a warm welcome back.

spent some time rebuilding her reputation until she was invited to join the avengers (for avengers 1 in the mcu, let's say). they did some good work and she eventually fell for clint/hawkeye. they dated a while but things went sideways when he cheated on her (but obvs that's subject to change depending on who picks him up, just leaving that in for now bc it seems kinda noteworthy).

skipping comic spider-verse stuff bc how does that work with the rp, idek.

left the avengers after that and mostly stayed out of their business so she wasn't around for ultron or civil war and instead got back to her roots with some good ol fashioned p.i. work. may have crossed paths with the defenders and other street level heroes during this period.  

then of course, came the snap. jess was one of the ones that vanished. using this instead of her death during secret wars in the comics. when everyone came back she joined all the others to fight thanos and damn right she was part of that moment with all the female heroes like she should have fucking been irl.

when things settled down after y'know, dying, she realized that she wanted to be a mother and raise a child, and almost never got that chance. instead of waiting, she got herself artificially inseminated. which was good too tbh because like, look at her luck with men and imagine getting stuck in one of those relationships she'd been in so far. way better off doing it on her own smh

got invited to an alpha flight maternity ward by her captain marvel but when she went there it ended up getting overrun by skrulls and being super fucking pregnant she called carol for help, but the maternity ward was apparently in a black hole?? bc ofc it was lol. so jess protected all the women there, had an emergency c-section to give birth to her son gerry, then popped right off the table to finish kicking skrull ass. carol got there just in time for jess to collapse into her arms after the fight. headcanon — there was always a crush there but this was the moment jess fell hard.

had a liiittle teensy falling out with carol tho so she ended up kissing roger gocking/porcupine right in front of her during a battle that ended up repairing their friendship. then she went on to have a party announcing she and roger were dating but lbr she did most of this sub/consciously hoping to get a rise out of carol. but her spider-baby ended up crawling out a window and roger was the one to find and save him and there were some actual feelings there too, so. complicated. she kind of distanced herself from everything else to focus on p.i. work and raising her son.

not much later, jess realized her radiation immunity was gone and her powers were killing her, so she had roger take gerry to an upstate farm in case her condition could potentially harm her son, then set out on the search for a cure. that search of course, leading her to limbo city, nevada.

upon her arrival however, her memories quickly started to fade and by the time she woke up the next morning she had no specific recollection of memories. just innate and instinctive knowledge like her emotions toward people she was familiar with, emotional trauma that manifests mostly in her dreams, maternal instincts/yearning, her abilities both physical and learned, her interests and likes/dislikes, etc. things that come naturally to her, for the most part.

interestingly though, the town’s magic seems to have cured her??

gonna say she speaks english, romanian, german, hungarian, symkarian, russian, bulgarian, polish and spanish fluently, and knows a bit about a number of other languages.

incredibly intelligent, she is after all the daughter of a genius, raised among scientists conducting research, and her knowledge/intelligence was only maximized by her stasis education tapes.

exudes a high concentration of pheromones that can attract or repulse people, to put it simply. and ignore the original heteronormative connotations bc women aren't typically the ones she wants to repulse, and men arent always the ones she wants to attract. it's difficult to control but she learned over the years. even now without her memories she has innate control over it, but if she manages to work up a sweat (which isn't all that easy for her tbh) or misses a shower or two, well… it's gonna kick in.

she probably can't do it anymore in limbo because she can't remember how, but with her pheromones she learned to control them so well she was able to elicit fear, anxiety, attraction, hatred, pleasure, etc. and even used them to convince the hulk to make her a sandwich once.

fucking loves butter. she's been known to eat the stuff straight up. and a lot of it. lucky thing she has a spider-metabolism.

hc: she loves making puns, especially spider related ones. she also likes to annoy her spider-friends by spider-throwing the word spider in front of everything though it's obviously a joke, unlike in her cartoon where im pretty sure she was dead serious lol

hates rats. so much. she will tear down a whole skrull army but if one shapeshifts into a rat it's over okay, she already lost.

allergic to flerkens. which is great for visiting her bestie/crush, and her pet flerken chewie.

still has her suit but hasn’t worn it yet in limbo. she found it under her bed a couple days after “waking up” in limbo but put it right back because she figured it was probably some weird sex thing and maybe wasn’t even hers so, gross, yknow?