#there's this really cool one that reminds me of shark teeth in a way

[awolfnamedluna]

realised I haven't mentioned that I'm getting a few necklaces (chains mostly) and bracelets soon!

I AM BECOME BABY CHRIS

[radio-star8]

do you have any headcanons about the alternate bens like Mad, Bad, Zarro, etc? I'd love to hear them if you have any 😭😭

SRRY THIS TOOK SO LONG FOR ME TO ANSWER I FORGOT ABOUT TBH PLEASE FORGIVE ME 🙏

Anyways here's a shit ton of headcanons and storylines

Bad Ben:

Story stuff--

His grandpa Max is not gone, just evil

Instead of the plumbers being intergalactic peacekeeping organization they are a anti-alien army set on separating Earth from other alien species.

Grandpa Max instills this idea that aliens are all bad into Ben and Gwen's head from a very young age

Grandpa Max adopted Ben into the plumbers organization way earlier. So he's kind of an alien butt kicking machine.

He's not a celebrity like Ben 23 but everybody knows who he is, He's seen as Earth's protector but not a hero.

He finds out that he's a quarter Anodite around the same time as Gwen (15). Well Gwen embraces her alien origin Ben is pissed and feels betrayed.

He decides to work with a different faction of the plumbers to separate himself from Grandpa Max

This faction works more with infiltrations rather than first line responders (if that makes sense)

Ben would currently be working on how to get rid of Gwen, Kevin, and the rest of the plumber kids including Argit who are seen as illegal aliens and are basically on the run.

Ben hides the fact that Gwen is his cousin and that he is a quarter and  Anodite. Cuz if it ever got out it would ruin his rep.

Personal--

I think he's super self-absorbed he'll take an extra few seconds just to look at himself in the mirror and sigh dramatically

He has a dog named Buster (or something stupid like that)

As mentioned Buster is the only living thing he actually seems to like.

Doesn't name his aliens

His favorite animals are dogs or sharks

He thinks he's funny and that he has really good one liners but he actually kind of sucks at it

He seems like the type of guy to have a TikTok page centered around thirst trap POVs

He's actually not the goalie on his soccer team

I think instead of a smoothie guy he's more of a shake enjoyer

Same goes for chili fries... He probably eaten animal style fries from In-N-Out or something 🙏

He definitely litters

Grinds his teeth while he's sleeping

Would definitely ask for the manager

Physical--

Negative Ben:

Storyline--

His Grandpa Max is alive and well. There's no such thing as the plumbers but there is an task force specifically for alien activity which he is part of.

Aliens are not very common on Earth whatsoever and Earth never becomes a open planet. There's no undertown or anything like that.

Ben got the Omnitrix way younger I'd say around 7-8

At first he wanted to be a hero and use it for good but when immediate success didn't follow he gave up

They did not go on a giant summer road trip, the escape pod crashed in Grandpa Max's backyard or something like that

Grandpa Max is very bitter that he never got the chance to have the Omnitrix and Ben knows this very well.

As for Gwen she's never had an interest in the alien shenanigans and is more focused on normal life. She pretends to be dumber than she actually is secretly practicing magic with her friend Hope (aka negative charmcaster)

I think Gwen would be besties with Michael Morningstar and is dating Kevin who's this beach blonde jock.

Kevin is not a mutant in this timeline. Gwen basically uses him for money and to look cool. (We love toxic gwevin)

Ben has no ambitions in life and rarely ever uses the Omnitrix for anything. Since Earth is a closed off planet he kind of has no need.

His azimuth is dead and vilgax seems to not be in this timeline either

I think Ben is a super toxic person he reminds me of the sad boy flop version of Nicole from class of '09 if that makes sense

I think he has a super toxic relationship with Julie and then goes on to date Kai who in this timeline is a celebrity (she's a famous singer) the second him and julie break up. I think he would probably cheat on Kai with Hope (she's the same age as Gwen and Ben in this timeline)

Since they both got played they would leave his ass and he would be alone forever (possibly some toxic benrook, or bevin action)

In an effort to rehabilitate Rook and Ben both Grandpa Max teams them up to run missions and whatnot.

In this timeline Rook is a con artist, he is  ostracized from his home planet. (His parents hate him lol). And in an effort to not go to jail he agrees with Grandpa Max to team up with Ben.

I believe this Ben also has an Albedo who is super happy-go-lucky and was a big fan of azimuth and really wants to get to know Ben who is just not having it.

Personal--

He is definitely incel

He room is so messy you can't see the floor

He names his aliens really stupid stuff like "nightstalker"

Only uses aliens that he thinks are cool

Favorite animals are cats or wolves

He really likes horror movies (favorite yt channel is probably dead meat)

He spends most of his time drawing anime characters or something like that

Favorite genre of anime is harem animes

he will verbally insult you but if you even dare say that he looks kind of funny he'll start crying

Has like 3,000 followers on Twitter

He's very scared of spiders

He's definitely the type to laugh at you for being uncomfortable around bloody or gory scenes.

"it's fake, besides it's not even that scary... I could probably do way worse"

I think he says edgy stuff like that all the time

Lives on monster energy and coffee

Physical--

This is a lot cuz I really like Negative Ben idk he has a hold on me anyway...

Benzarro:

Storyline--

I think Ben had the spark as well as Gwen so they both were super into magic.

I also like to believe that Earth is more of a magic realm than it is a planet.

I think the virus that turned Ben into a zombie was not in undead thingy but more of a mana absorbing parasite.

Ben is still alive but has been reduced to Benzarro

I think before the apocalypse Ben and Kevin were really close (possibly dating) so when Ben started to get sick this caused Kevin to completely shut down and run away

Ben and Gwen were also way closer in this timeline than they normally are. So it explains why she would devote her life to a cure and assisting Dr. Animo.

Ben is also patient zero most likely because the Omnitrix not only carried dna of multiple aliens but also a parasite.

this also means that Ben got the Omnitrix way later I'd say around 14-15

as for Grandpa Max and the plumbers I don't think that there is really a need for them but I do believe that Grandpa Max was still there before the apocalypse trying to train Ben the best he could.

I feel like Grandpa Max doesn't have a very good connection with his grandkids on like Grandma Verdona who decided to stay on earth and train her grandkids.

Obviously she fleas the planet after the plague starts to take over and Grandpa Max is missing

As for the state of Kevin: he is camped out in some cabin in the forest trying to survive the best he can. He lives with Cooper who is basically his best friend through all of this.

I think Kevin is a full mutant in this (I'm using the rooters retcon for this) him as well as Cooper our immune to the virus since they have no magic spark. (They're basically the cure)

Personal--

He's very popular around school and stuff.

Definitely the golden child of the family

The names of all aliens end with "y/ie"

So like. "Goopie" "Shiny" "Helpie"

Favorite animals are horses

Before he gets infected he'd probably be the type to say that everybody's overreacting and that he doesn't need to wear a mask cuz he's built different... he's got magic and stuff

I think he's zones out a lot

As a zombie he gets lots of weird food cravings

Has tried to eat the other bens

He still remembers everything before he was infected but the parasite has basically made his brain mush

He still remembers Gwen and Kevin very fondly

Contrary to popular belief his favorite color is yellow

Physical--

cw blood

Mad Ben:

Storyline--

I haven't exactly figured out what caused the a post-apocalyptic landscape that mad lives in but I think it would have something to do with a plumber war that caused a possible nuclear (???) fallout

when Ben first finds the Omnitrix he's traveling with Grandpa Max and Gwen. They're kind of aimlessly roaming the desert in search of civilization.

The Omnitrix was in Plummer custody before everything kind of exploded and was just found in an abandoned building by Ben

Grandpa Max is extremely sick and ends up leaving Gwen and Ben so he can go pass on without them having to see.

they later get separated as Gwen is picked up by Verdona.

Leaving then to fend for himself for a little bit. 

Maltruant comes along and leads Ben him to Bellwood (or what's left of it)

him and vilgax then train Ben. I like to think the conditions are tough like Ben still has to hunt for his own food and fend for himself. As well as the fact that he probably gets punished for doing stuff wrong

Side note the vilgax the trains mad Ben is mad vilgax so when he is taken to go fight in the ben war he meets prime vilgax and thinks he's hella cool.

Mad Vilgax is a militant kind of commander who Maltruant specifically tracks down to train Ben and afterwards Vilgax dips

Rook kind of just arrives one day. He is badly injured and Ben kind of takes him in. They're both like 12 or 13 at this point

Ben and Rook develop a friendship until Ben is offered the position to start digging for pieces of maltruant

he starts to yell and get angry at Rook and basically is super toxic.

basically after the two part episode in Omniverse Ben goes a little stir crazy in jail and with the help of Dr Psychobos breaks out.

He runs away to try and find Gwen who at this point is very infamous.

there is an entire cult surrounding her as her followers believe that she has the divine power to save them and bring them to salvation.

this is obviously because she is an anodite. When Verdona took her she led her to the cult and basically made her their new center of worship.

anyways the reason why he's trying to find Gwen is because he knows she's magical and in his stupid little brain that means that she can bring him to Maltruant

he would probably take Kevin hostage (somehow idk that man's a tank) leading gwen to confront him and they would have a big fight

Rook has also been looking for Ben this whole time

Personal--

He has a really bad anger issues that he's had since he was a child

Stiles his hair with motor grease

His favorite animals are hawks

Doesn't name his aliens

He skilled in many different fighting styles so is still versatile even without his omnitrix

The only reason why he has a newer omnitrix is because azimuth is a cruel bitch and gave it to him

Ben sees at azimuth as a god

Ben is the only person in Bellwood to have a mattress and a bed frame

Bro definitely has scurvy

Definitely snores

If he ever tried chili fries he'd probably throw up

His vest used to be a jacket he wore as a kid but he ripped off the sleeves to make it cool

Definitely would wear his dirty shoes around the house.

Most definitely would wear his dirty shoes on the couch

Physical--

Okay that's it sorry it was so long I just really like yeppin if you guys have any more requests about anything feel free to ask. Hopefully I won't forget about it next time 🙏

[jumexju]

REQ !! : Can you write a denji drabble/fic where denji sees readers SH scars and comforts them? if this makes you uncomfortable please ignore!!

COLUMBA

Pairing !! : Denji / Reader

Fic Type !! : One-Shot, Comfort, Fluff

CW !! : Mentions of self harm scars & depression.

Summary !! : Denji comforts you after seeing your scars.

Note !! : Depression/Self Harm scars shouldn't make anyone uncomfortable, we should accept people with their scars and not despite them. This blog will always be a safe space for my fellow depressed and anxious ppl.. ❤︎

✦ MASTERLIST

“_____?” 

You turned to look at Denji who was sitting at the edge of your bed, his eyes looking at you with curiosity. “Yeah?” 

“What are those?” the blond asked, getting up from the bed and walking towards you. You were in the middle of fixing your hair, wondering what he was talking about. 

“What d’you mean?” You looked around wondering what he could’ve been talking about. You were still looking until he softly took your arm in his warm hands and ran his fingers along the prominent lines on your skin. 

“These.” His honey eyes inspected the healed wounds, wondering how it is that you’d acquired them. 

It was then that you were reminded of your past. The moments in which you felt completely swallowed by the dark shadow of emptiness and solitude. “Oh.” You hadn’t meant for him to see them yet. It was hot so you had absentmindedly took off your sweater, completely forgetting about your scars. How could you explain it to him? 

Would he think they were ugly? 

What would he think of you now if he knew your past? 

“They’re scars,” You sighed, allowing him to see them instead of pulling your arm away from him. 

A look of curiosity flared upon his face, “Where’d you get ‘em? In a fight?” He seemed to think they were cool.. If only he knew. 

“They’re self-harm scars, I..” You looked away from his eyes and down at your arm. You couldn’t bear to see the look on his face when he realized. “I did them.” 

Denji’s brows knit together, “You cut.. Yourself?” He tilted his head a little, struggling to understand. “How come?” 

“I was in a bad place, mentally. I felt like that was the only thing I could do..” You tried to explain it to him but you wondered whether he would understand. “I still feel the urge sometimes, but I don’t do it anymore though-” 

“You can come to me if you ever feel like that y’know? I don’t mind.” Denji’s amber eyes met yours, his hands holding yours while he assured you of this. You smiled a little and pulled him into a hug. Honestly, Denji felt bad that you had gone through all that, growing up the way that he did — he could empathize with you. Many times he wondered if he’d ever get out of the slums, but now that he had, he knew that there was hope. 

He only hoped that you had found the same hope now. “If you ever feel like doin’ it again jus’ come t’me, okay?”  You nodded and pulled apart from him before gazing into his eyes. 

“You really don’t think they’re.. Ugly?” 

A look of confusion washed across his face, “Ugly? Hell nah..! I actually think they’re kinda cool,” He smiled when he heard your chuckle in response to his words. 

“Cool? How?” 

“Well, they’re kinda like battle scars if y’think about it,” he smiled, his pointy shark teeth shining at you. He wasn’t always this optimistic but you could tell he wanted to make you feel better about your scars. 

“You don’t think they’re a little.. Off putting?” 

He shook his head, “They’re part of you n’ I care about all of ya, I ain’t gonna hate them jus’ cuz you were goin’ through a hard time!’ His warm words reassured you. Truly, Denji was being genuine. You could feel it through his words and the things he said. 

You could feel it through this moment. 

Denji hoped that his words were enough. That you could feel what he was saying and receive it well. He could never hate you for things that you couldn’t control. Maybe he was a little stupid at times, but he always knew the right things to say to you. 

He could always comfort you when you needed it.

[yan-lorkai]

hii:3

I've been reading some of your posts and i absolutely love it!!!

Anyway this ask might be a little similar to the one where the mc loves biting the obey me brothers

Can you do one with the obey me bros where the mc has very sharp teeth like a shark? Also it doesn't have to be everyone but i especially want leviathan and satan<3

(I have a feeling i made this too long..😭)

.⁠｡��*⁠♡ A/N: Mc with sharp teeths, my beloved. I actually remembered Kirishima from Bnha when reading this lol, he was such a sweetheart and his little teeth were so cute 😭🥺. Also don't worry darling, it's not that long and even if it was, I don't care! I hope you like this!

Satan

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Your shark-like teeth were always a point of fascination among the demons of Devildom, they used to love looking at your mouth and got a vision of your precious teeths. It wasn't an everyday occurrence that a human had sharp teeths like yours, a trait shared with so many demons. However, it was Satan who found himself inexplicably drawn to this unique feature of yours.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Satan couldn't help but delve deeper into understanding the biology and significance behind them, he likes looking at it and he always wondered how would feel if he kissed you. Would the sharpness be enough to hurt his tongue? Do the sharpness hurt your mouth by the way? He got to know everything that is to know, though he do thinks you are so cute with sharp teeths.

⠀

Levi

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ While Satan's attention is gradually caught up with you, Levi's is the opposite. The moment you open your mouth to say anything, even if it's not even him you're talking to, he notices your teeth and he's enchanted. Your teeth, as sharp as a shark's, remind him of his many favorite characters from animes and games and he automatically associates you with them, it's love at first sight.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ As your friendship blossomed into something deeper, Levi came to cherish your unique trait as just another endearing aspect of who you are. Your teeth it's not the only thing he likes about it, in fact he could make a 30 pages powerpoint of things he love about you, he could rank 100 different things. He loves you a lot. And he also may or may not want you to bite him with those beautiful teeths of yours.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Despite the acceptance you found with Satan and Levi, sometimes you wished you had normal teeth. People used to make fun of you because of it, either because they were jealous or because was too different from the normal they were used to. Though Satan and Levi helped you overcome these doubts when they found out about it.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Saying again but Levi would really make a long and convincing powerpoint about it and Satan would fight your enemies. And then they both would do things you like to make you feel happy and loved, and if you want to spend time only with one of them, that's ok too.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Levi's gonna show you his favorite characters who inspire him to be better and do better, and tell you how beautiful and cool you are. You may or may not cuddle as well as he tries to rebuild your self esteem and tries to make you smile and laugh more.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Satan by the way relies more on his words to convince you that what he's saying is the absolutely truth, he has no reason to lie after all - even if he had a reason, he wouldn't. He genuinely like you and it's quite rare for him to truly like someone. Though he also praises you more everytime you smile and laugh in his presence, enough to make you flustered and giddy.

[the-grove]

Powders PokeGang

Okay so I actually am having a really hard time to bringing my team down to 6. Part of the issue is that Gen 9 brought a lot of designs that I like. But there are a lot of older mon I also really really like. So I'm gonna have to make some choices. That being said the first mon on this list is an evolution of my favorite pokemon that made me love it even more so to start off the list

Anhilape (Fighting/ghost)

From an early age our system wan enamored with Mankey, especially Ash's Mankey from the anime. Primeape was a pretty cool evolution of the concept. It was mostly a bigger mankey with bigger muscles but it worked. Monkey's are a favorite animal of mine. In part due to the fact Monkey was a nickname for us growing up. It was associated with our deadname but despite our dislike for that name, Monkey is still a name that bring us joy. Anhilape is a fantastic evolution of primeape, keeping the basic core concepts while also going through a larger transformation then its previous chain. The wild flowing hair, the angry grumpy look(That also kind of looks tired and adorable) the way the fur looks like shaggy wisps. And one of the best details, it lost one of the bands on it's wrist and the other one broke, it's just overflowing with power. Not to mention it's signature move, Rage Fist, is such a fun and powerful concept.

2) Sharpedo (Water/Dark)

I think sharks are cool, I think explosions are cool, it's a shark torpedo. Whats not to love. I love it's aggressive yet adorable face, it's pointy teeth. Sharks are an animal that multiple members of the system love, Princess and I especially. Plus it has such smooth skin. 3) Mimikyu (Ghost Fairy)

Mimikyu is scary and adorable, it's powerful, it's lonely, and misunderstoodd. I love the child like doodle on it's disguise. Mimikyu reminds me a lot of my memories from my source. I would love a plush one that I could hold on days when I feel especially bad. Maybe one day.

4) Grafaiai (Poison/Normal)

Another monkey like pokemon. While called the Toxic Monkey pokemon it's actually has visual inspiration from Lemur(especially the Aye aye) and the Slow Loris. It is also inspired by graffiti artist, hence the wicked cool eyes, and the bright colors on its fingers. It is such an adorable mischievous little creature. Strong Contender for favorite mon. 5) Farigiraf (Normal/Psychic)

Girafarig was a pokemon I hadn't thought too much about. It was cute but never my favorite. It's evolution however is super cool looking while also adorable. The way the heads have combined give it two super cute/cool looks. When the second head is open, you can see the adorable face of the first and it looks Cozy in a Hoodie. When the second head closes its mouth, it looks a bit alien, mysterious and cool. It's a bit spooky but not too spooky. Alright before we get to number 6 I just want to say this last pick was the hardest choice. I had 5 Pokemon I was considering. I could easily see myself switching them out depending on the challenge or what. But I have to have 6 so here we go 6) Infernape (Fire/fighting)

HAD TO DO IT TO EM TRIPLE MONKEY. Okay so Infernape is another one of my favorite pokemon. I am a big fan of Sun Wukong and characters and concepts inspired by him. I also find it interesting how Infernape I feels sort of out of place on the rest of my team which as a darker feel to it. Infernape brings some much needed warmth. So while I do have some favorite types(Ghost, Fire, Fighting, Dark, electric you know spooky types and types that *POP*) my team was picked with not really thinking of typings in mind but rather the individual pokemon without much else in mind. So I want to talk about the 4 honorable mentions that could Have taken Infernapes place. 1) Tinkaton- This new mom is an adorable little menace and I would love to come up with schemes with it. 2) Mr.Mime- I have a love of mimes and clowns so Mr.Mime just seemed fitting, Mr.Mime is actually probably the least likely one to have made it on the final team. That doesn't mean I don't like him, but yeah. 3) Vikavolt- Vikavolt would have been my electric representation on the team and it actually shared a quality with sharpedo. They are both animals that have modern weaponry as a design influence.

4) Gengar- Gengar is the OG Ghost pokemon. I's design is simple yet perfect, chubby little ghost. Would also be on the Menace squad with Tinkaton , Grafaifai and Mimikyu. Probably had the highest chance alongside Tinkaton to make it

-Powder Signing off

[witchywriterlythings]

Something This Way Comes

Chapter One: My Best Friend is a Goat and You Don’t Want To Know About the Math Teacher

The first time that I realized that my roommate wasn’t human, I will admit I considered calling my mom and asking her to pick me up.

We’d moved in together on a Sunday, the day before school started. Officially, it was because the teachers hadn’t arrived until the day before, but I figured it was so we didn’t have time to get into trouble before the semester even started. I wasn’t complaining, I wanted more time to spend with my mom before I wouldn’t be seeing her for months. Even if it meant dealing with Smelly Gabe, my asshole of a step-dad. I put up with him for my mom, afterall it was hard on her before he showed up trying to provide for us on only one income and what I could scrounge for with the odd job from our neighbors. And it seemed she really cared about him, despite how sometimes her scent flashed with fear. It never stayed for long though, so I just kept an eye on the situation.

Anyway, I had arrived first and set up my side of the room away from the window so there wasn’t anyone between me and the exit. I didn’t know what type of person my roommate was going to be after all, and I didn’t like being boxed in. But I didn’t have to worry about that, as the guy who walked through the door as I was hanging up my "shark tooth" collection box was definitely not a threat.

"Oh, hey man. I’m Grover…um, Grover Underwood? Are you Perseus?" He might have been taller than me if he wasn’t bending over crutches, trying to balance a box in one hand.

I reached out to grab it for him before it fell, before realizing part way through I shouldn’t just go grabbing at people’s things. "Do you want help with your stuff? You can just call me Percy." 

He relaxed as he held out the box for me to take, watching as I put it on the bed for him. It was open at the top and when I peered inside, bad habit of curiosity, I saw a collection of succulents like the "plant mom" in the apartment below us had. Aside from knowing they were called succulents, I had no idea what any of them were. "Don’t worry, they don’t really have any pollen if you’re allergic."

I waved him off even though I appreciated the thought. "Nah, man, I just wasn’t sure what you didn’t trust the orientation leaders to move. My mom helped me with most of my stuff, but I had to stop some of them from grabbing some boxes too."

Grover smiled with all his teeth and despite my earlier assessment, I almost bared my own at the threat. I had to take a deep breath to remind myself that was just how some people smiled. "Cool." 

We settled into a comfortable conversation after that, talking about schools we’d been too. Apparently Grover had been to quite a few himself, though no where as many as me. He didn’t seem like he was judging when he brought it up, turning it more into how stupid the system was and how schools never really accommodated his crutches as much as his guardian hoped.

"It was a lot worse when I was younger, if you can imagine. Some schools didn’t have elevators if they were old enough." He shuddered as if imagining all the times he had to climb up and down those stairs. 

I tried not to laugh, but a snort got through before I could help it. It wasn’t that I thought his struggles were funny, but I could just imagine baby Grover with his oversized crutches glaring at the stairs all dramatic like. I went to explain, but he waved me off. 

"You don’t seem like the type," he said as if that explained everything. 

That was my first clue that something was wrong. Humans just didn’t seem to understand my humor most of the time, thinking it was too dark or not giving me time to explain what I found funny. But those who were part of the world we didn’t talk about, that we didn’t give names to, like the pretty women in the water who liked to braid me seaweed crowns with shells or the ones in the trees who thanked me for cleaning up the trash around their roots in Central Park—they let me explain. They were patient and even when they didn’t understand, they would just ask if I meant to be mean and if I said no, they would believe me. 

There were others too, but I didn’t really think about them as much. They made my mom nervous.

So the idea of someone being so accepting of me, of wanting to be my friend right away without even getting to know me first, it set off alarm bells. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he wasn’t what I thought he was. Maybe he wasn’t sent here for me. Maybe he wasn’t a satyr. 

Then I saw him on enchilada day in the cafeteria, his shoes basically slipping off his feet as he moved faster than humanly possible to get to the front of the line. I slipped out into the hallway feeling like someone was sitting on my chest and doing some monster reverse CPR, stealing all of my air. I could feel the panic rising into my throat as my brain screamed at me to call my mother. Tell her they found me. Tell her goodbye, after all, why would they let me go when they realized what I was? Best to keep me where they could keep an eye on me under the guise of ‘training’. 

My instincts stopped me, though. Something deep in my gut telling me I didn’t have to run from Grover, at least not yet. To stick around and see what happened. When I finally got my lunch, I expected Grover to have finished already, maybe be saving me a seat somewhere no one else wanted to sit. 

"Hey Percy!" And yet, there he was, sitting at a table right by the door, with his crutches and bag saving me a seat despite that table being a prime spot for some of the more popular kids. They loved to stick their legs out to trip people who had to walk by them to leave. He was blatantly ignoring Nancy Bobofit throwing apple slices at him, even going as far as to catch one and pop it in his mouth while staring directly at me. 

"Hey G-man," I said with a wide grin as I slid into my seat next to him feeling lighter than I had all week. "You a big fan of enchiladas then? I thought you had a note for gym, but guess you got some super secret skills." 

He shrugged as he brought a forkful to his mouth, drawing my eye to his still full plate. It must have grown cold while he was waiting for me. My brain finally shut up. "Enchiladas, man. Worth being sore for, you know?" He wrinkled his nose at the sight of my hamburger, which wasn’t a surprise considering it was barely cooked. I had a deal with the lunch ladies after all, they wouldn’t question my food choices as long as I didn’t die and I wouldn’t question what they were growing in the gardens under the headmaster’s nose.

I had seen reactions from disgust, to concern, to blatantly ignoring my plate. Grover looked at my mostly raw burger, saw the red juices making the bun soggy, and wrinkled his nose. "I don’t get how you can eat that, it used to be a cow you know." I grinned sharply, half expecting him to flinch away but he rolled his eyes at me as I took a big bite and hummed happily. "You could at least get your dead animal away from my enchiladas." 

The first time I realized our new math teacher wasn’t human was the second she walked in the door announcing that she was our new teacher. "He was weak willed and had a nervous breakdown, which I find pathetic. You won’t find the same weakness in me."

I almost laughed at how obvious she was being, but that would have drawn attention to myself and my mom always reminded me not to do that. I mean, what else could a demon grandmother who looks like she drives her motorcycle into lockers and runs over students for fun be but a monster? If she wasn’t teaching at Yancy, I might have believed her to just be a funny old woman, but I had never seen any of the faculty wear anything but business attire for the first month of classes and she strolled in with a leather jacket without anyone questioning it? 

Monster. 

What really startled me about seeing a monster at Yancy was how frequently Grover tried to step between us. He would ask questions if her gaze turned to me, sitting on the opposite side of the room because of course she’d change the seating chart. He’d throw a pencil at Nancy Bobofit’s desk and get her to whip around to see who it was, drawing Mrs. Dodd’s into comforting her favorite student. 

Despite Grover’s best efforts, she was always singling me out in class. Once, after a late night detention, I even mentioned that I didn’t think she was human. Grover, being the absolute legend he was, agreed without hesitation. 

"Thanks man. You’re my best friend, you know that right?" I might have fallen asleep before he could respond, but he seemed to be having a good morning when I woke up so I had hope he thought the same. Even if he was most likely a goat boy. 

So to summarize, so far my best friend is half goat and my math teacher is a demon-grandmother most likely intent on eating me if she ever gets the chance. I wasn’t sure why she was waiting, it wasn’t like I was hiding from her, but we got to the field trip to the MET, or Metropalition Museum of Art for those of you who aren’t New Yorkers or live under a rock, before anything happened. 

We listened to Mr. Brunner, the latin teacher who held us at sword point while we did review and was one of my favorite people at Yancy, talk about the entire Greek and Roman section before we finally settled in front of a young girl’s steele. 

I was only half listening as Nancy kept shoving my shoulder with her own even when I tried moving away from her. I knew that if I snapped at her, it would be my fault somehow that Mr. Brunner got interrupted. I mean yes, I would have been the one to talk but… "Would you cut that out?" 

Mr. Brunner didn’t even flinch as he wheeled around to look at me. "Mr. Jackson, did you have something to say?" He always looked at me like he expected me to rise to his expectations, no matter how many times I failed to meet them. It was nice for someone to believe in me besides my mom. Grover didn’t count, he wasn’t an adult. "Would you like to explain what this scene represents?"

I stepped forward to get a better look at what he was pointing out when I felt irony push a laugh into my throat. I coughed it down, wouldn’t do to tip everyone off that I though this was funny. "That’s the titan lord devouring his kids, the gods. He received a prophecy that one of them would kill him and take over as king, so he decided to eat them all. He missed the youngest and so he freed his siblings and they klled the titan lord." 

"How does this matter? What job is going to ask us why Kronos ate his kids on our resume?" Nancy and her friends giggled behind their hands, but quickly shut up when Mr. Brunner’s gaze shifted to them. 

Grover snorted. "Busted." 

"Mr. Jackson, do you have an answer to Ms. Bobofit’s question? The first one, if you will." Of course Mr. Brunner wouldn’t let me get sassy and say ‘the MET might need tour guides, you know’ and wanted me to give a real answer. 

I stared at the steele as I tried to come up with an answer that would satisfy him. All prophecies are self fulfilling? Abusing your kids is a bad idea because they might end up killing you? Abusing anyone is a bad idea because they might end up killing you? I ended up shrugging and avoiding his gaze. "I don’t know, sir." 

There are a lot of things in my life that I hate. I hate Smelly Gabe and the way he seeped into every part of my life, until even months into school I can still smell him on me even if no one else can. I hate that my dad can’t come visit or even send a sign to let us know that he’s watching because if he does, I will be known. And I can’t be known. 

But one of the things I hate the most is when I lose control. 

"Percy pushed me!" Nancy screamed from her spot in the fountain. 

"Did you see—?"

"She flew back—" 

"Did he even—?" 

"The water—" 

Grover didn’t even flinch, despite how precise my powers were in my anger. How the tendrils wrapped around her ankle and up her leg while no one was paying attention. He simply stepped between me and Mrs. Dodds when she arrived, her scent spicy in a way it hadn’t been in months. "I did it! I pushed her!" 

Something inside me screamed No! Mine! at the thought of Grover taking my punishment, but another purred at how brave my saytr was to defend me against a monster. "It’s okay," I assured him, "I got this." 

He didn’t look like he believed me, but he let me go all the same. I was right to chose him. He was a really good friend, my best friend, and now he was stuck with me forever. 

I made my way up the steps into the museum, not even bothering to let Mrs. Doods lead as I made my way to the Greek and Roman section. "It’s fitting, don’t you think? That they have the two together." 

"You know why I’m here, honey, so why don’t you just hand it over and I’ll make it quick." Her lips were black when I glanced over my shoulder, but she wasn’t fully transformed yet. I had time. "Or I can take you to my lord and he can tear you to shreds a thousand times."

I shrugged. "I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t have anything. I’ve been here, at school, all year." I picked at the skin around my nails, admiring the pretty green Grover had painted them for me last weekend. He’d gotten a lot better at it. 

"Insolent child, I will revel in your blood!" 

Another thing I hate is being caught off guard, being watched when I didn’t know. Mr. Brunner showing up as I was shoving Mrs. Dodd’s leather jacket into my backpack was unexpected, as was the sword in his hand. 

I made sure not to turn in his direction when I left, allowing him the peace of mind that he was hidden by the entrance of the exhibit. But I could still smell his fear souring the air, though it wasn’t as pungent as I expected from what I thought was a human. I hated being wrong. 

Master Post Next>

[adelaideriedesel]

Paint, Shark Teeth, and Butter Making - Week 2: January 19, 2024

Today was field trip day! I started my day by going over to the house with Midge and Judy to do the opening duties like turning on the lights and taking the water out of the dehumidifiers. The sink on the first floor and one of the bathtubs on the second floor actually work so that was convenient and also very cool. I then helped Midge set up one of the activities: butter making! There were little plastic jello cups of heavy cream that we wrapped with napkins so they were ready for little hands. 

This was a homeschool co-op so there were 22 kids ranging from infant to around 10 years old. At first when the families were making their way into the visitor center, we were all a little nervous as the energy was through the roof. My role was to go through the stations with one group and see how field trip day runs for them. It consisted of watching the movie all together and then split up into two groups. One group would start with a craft of bird house coloring and butter making and the other would start the tour of the home. Then they would switch! My group started with the bird house coloring which went smoothly and then we went into the kitchen to make butter. A demonstration was led by the docent Ann on how to make the butter and what life was like during the 1800s. All one has to do to make butter is shake… that’s it! We were handed saltines and tried our homemade butter, which was honestly very good. 

After the craft making section of the day, we had a tour of the downstairs led by Judy and then the upstairs led by Ed. Some of the kids had great questions about the home and how old every object in the room was. Answer: very old. 

We then celebrated Ann’s birthday with some delicious drumsticks and sighing in relief once the field trip was done. We ate lunch after and Tracy showed me the bins I would be working on for the rest of the day. There were three blue storage bins with many ziploc bags with excavation sheets on the top. The excavation took place in 1998 and honestly probably hasn’t been looked at since. It took me a second to figure out which bag corresponded with each sheet, but it was just on the bottom corner in very light pencil. Once I figured that out I got to work organizing the bags and seeing if all of them were accounted for. We are missing one bag, but they may be in another bin. There were also two bags that were mislabelled, so I will be fixing that next week as well.  I then put all of the information from the excavation sheet into an Excel spreadsheet. This is because it will be easier for Tracy to pull up information in case she needs it, and the paper will eventually become illegible or destroyed so it is imperative to digitize the information. Also who doesn’t love a little organizing as well. 

Tracy told me it would be a lot of rocks which I was fine with, but I uncovered a much more human story. There was a rusted tube of black paint, a shark tooth, and very old hangers among ordinary things like nails and burntwood chips. It was a very nice reminder that even though it did look like a bunch of rusted stuff, this is evidence of someone’s life once lived. These people who once inhabited this beautiful mansion had hopes and dreams and liked to paint and look for shark teeth just like many of us do today. This is exactly what I had hoped for my internship: to understand a little more about the deBary’s livelihood and humanize the past. It is very easy to think that these people are so far away from us, but really people have always been people. 

From my last blog post, I said I was going to go to the pool, but that ended up not being on today’s agenda, but I’ll go next week. Stay tuned for that post!

The photos are of the old paint tube, the shark tooth, and of Ann's birthday celebration!

See ya for another exciting day next week!

Adelaide

[handcalfieetherington]

another blog ok let’s roll.

Maximilian Madsen was name placed on my board of things to research, on google classroom, he’s an illustrator and concept artist, and I do wish to take a path in illustation, the first thing I saw when going through his gallery was the sheer variety of styles he’s able to work in.

his artwork shows an insane variety of skill sets with his line work and shading as he’s consistently able to change up his style and aesthetic for different projects and personal pictures, however one thing I notice about his work is that his shadows for a lot of pieces tend to be on the harsher side with dark shadows and black spot adding an extra sense of edge to a lot of his work.

more general overviews aside I’m going to cover the specific character pieces that REALLY stood out to me, starting with this sheet of characters in a very stylised look.

 I really enjoy the very exaggerated and cartoonish proportions ere specifically the lankier ones up top, they give me a very strong Tim burton vibe specifically  jack skelington from nightmare before Christmas

as well as that the shorter limbs also remind me of the art of Jhonen Vasquez creator of “Johnny the homicidal maniac” and more popularly invader zim, so maybe these will also be worth doing research on at some point 

(side note but I love zims design it’s expressive and fun to see be animated.)

moving on we have this next piece

I really love the colour design and aesthetic of the cloak itself, it makes me want to design a character a more complex cloak, maybe one in espionage or info gathering? as well as that I really enjoy some of the shading and colouring here’s it’s very detailed and adds to that mysterious vibe in a way.

onto the final design that caught my interest.

this design specifically is real cool, the shark styled hoodie paring with the character having sharper teeth and shown to be a bit of a scrapper through them holding a baseball bat is some really good storytelling through design, as well as that smaller details such as the rips in the fabric around the knees of his trousers and the way the belt is slanted down to look more messy add some more character and further compliment the punk aesthetic.

Artstation - Maximilian Madsen (no date). Available at: https://www.artstation.com/denimecho (Accessed: February 27, 2023).

[rueririn]

Episode 8

Actually including a scene of Nami getting her Arlong tattoo reminds me of Koala in such a heartrending way. I wonder if one day we'll get my dream scene of the Sun Pirates-- Jinbei definitely, but specifically the ones that joined Arlong-- meeting Koala again. Also a Koala-meeting-Nami situation that we so sorely need.

"Finally I get to cut something" ZORO

Damn the Arlong title card with the sun logo on P and sawtooth sword at E is really cool.

Zoro and Sanji fighting together!!! I really love the opla fight choreo it's so satisfying.

Also Usopp hitting Chew in the face and then getting chased across the island is hilarious always. They're doing a magnificent job upscaling the physical fights which some may believe are the weaker parts of Mangapiece-- but Usopp's battles, the tactical, trickery ones, are always the most entertaining fights in the show to me. I hope they get it right, because right now opla Usopp is in severe need of some character.

Zoro and Sanji bickering back and forth until Buggy talks then they in perfect unison yell 'SHUT UP' is the funniest thing actually.

Oh Buggy's feet are on a raised platform. Okay. I think the implication is he didn't move it because his head wasn't around. Fair enough I guess?

opla luffy being smart is a very good decision for fights. Comic logic can't help him as much because he's not starting out in an anime, he's starting out in a realistic setting and turning it bizzare. He's not going to wear shark teeth, he's going to destroy the pillars. He's going to still be fun and silly while defeating Arlong's Empire, but more in the way a teenager would have fun wreaking havoc, rather than Mangapiece's childish shenanigans.

"All great fighters call out their finishing moves." SANJI??? I'm absolutely dying here. Zoro's absolute bafflement before going, yeah, you're gonna fit in just fine. Love that Sanji mirrored Luffy's lines though, it's the SanLu version of the 'heroes share their meat/alcohol, but I want it all' joke.

Kinda sad to me that the fights are a bit anticlimactic, but it's a bit of just me, I think. The fights feel like just one good hit is enough to take the enemies down, and that's... not enough for my shounen heart. Maybe for the mobs yes, but not for the big guys.

Okay I love the chain of Usopp talking his tales at every stop, and people actually listening to him because he's charismatic in that way. It starts a fun saga of Usopp the Brave Warrior of the seas, and it'll be really fun to see all this build into Sogeking and God Usopp eventually.

It is absolutely adorable that the other four just stand at the side listening to him talk shit like the indulgent proud idiots they are. Luffy even goes along with it to start a cheer and it's the cutest thing ever.

COBY STANDING UP TO GARP AAAAAA TWT HELMEPPO TOO

garp using haki garp using haki garp using both observation and armament haki i repeat garp garp garrrrppppppp

also Garp throwing his cape back to some poor random soldier back there that gets engulfed in it and momentarily struggles to get it off him is midlly hilarious

"You were testing me? Couldn't you have gone a bit easier?" "Where's the fun in that?" HAHAHA SAVAGE GARP

Nami's got visible stab scars around her tattooo!!!!!!

I never realized how much I wanted this for Coby and Luffy's relationship. Them having a rocky duality all the way to the end of East Blue, where their tentative friendship has to officially be blacked out because Luffy's officially wanted now. Him coming to show Luffy his wanted poster to mark the moment they'll truly be enemies next is a much stronger developmental checkpoint than his mangapiece sendoff in Shells, and it really builds upon Coby as the future of the Marines and someone who'll eventually be standing against Luffy at the endgame of One Piece. Love it.

Bounty reactions!!! still some of my favourite parts of One Piece in general. Always love when we get snapshots of the world.

Dying at Zeff putting the poster under 'employee of the month'. shame he's not pasting it to the main mast for the whole restaurant to laugh at too.

Wait, Alvida? Holy shit, Alvida meeting Buggy and she's not slimmified? I don't know if this means opla isn't making her slim (mangapiece her already ate her fruit at this point, but who knows, they might make her find the fruit with buggy instead), I really hope they're not making her slim because honestly that doesn't add to her character much, but I love the idea of opla keeping her appearance as it is just with the addition of her powers. She's already gorgeous.

Helmeppo having a swordsman-based dream to build upon a goal of him going toward Zoro the same way Coby's going toward Luffy. Love that.

Shanks and Mihawk lmao. That whole scene is so wholesome.

OHHH they surprised her with the tangerine trees on the ship! That's is so sweet I am going to scream.

And then they turned back around and surprised Luffy with the Straw Hat jolly roger on the sail!!! I love them all. Them being so happy that he's happy is making me happy. All around serotonin boost.

Zoro is smiling so much I am falling in love and I'm aro. This is our silly happy pre-timeskip Zoro. Who said he was too serious, look how happy he is that his crew is happy!!!

Oh we're skipping Loguetown? I'm very conflicted!!! SO many important foreshadows in the town of beginnings, from the failed execution to dragon to smoker and tashigi. But, at least we kept the barrel scene!

Overlaying their dream declarations with them saying it as kids is so beautiful. Holy shit.

WE ARE plays again!

Smoker does give us a cameo, but we don't get a confrontation. Makes me wonder if the 2nd season we'll get will begin with Loguetown arc, rather than going straight into Alabasta Saga. Probably. Too many important scenes there.

All in all: opla's great. I love it. Definitely are quite a few things you should dismiss because it's not a 1-to-1 adaptation, but rather an interpretation, of Mangapiece. Am I sad about things that are cut? Yes, but am I obsessed with what they added, what they enhanced? Absolutely. As a story of its own, it's solid and fun, and definitely evokes the emotions of experiencing One Piece for the first time all over again, which is all it needed to do.

Pirating OPLA, thoughts

Episode 1

Garp being at Roger's execution is a nice touch

Really like how full Luffy's dinghy is-- crates of fruit, a barrel of fish instead of just one barrel of apples--- all makes sense. All the tiny details removed from manga that are just added onto opla for realism-- like the way the execution stand works, too, with the people cranking the manual lift to get roger up there. It's all very cool and makes the setting feel more piraty than mangapiece.

Our beloved Zoro tried to go to Sixis on a cruise ship. This is a good way to casually mention Zoro earlier (plus that's Ace's first island so it actually lines up on the One Piece map to be around Dawn Island--)

"it's worth more than the rest of our loot put together" a nika mention that can be interpreted as just a devil fruit mention

"You should never let anyone tell you what you can't do. If I did that, I never would have left my village to go find the One Piece." Luffy referencing Garp like this is so funny to me

Unlike mangapiece, Luffy invites Coby along before knowing his dream to become a marine. This makes me sad because now I wish la coby joined the crew

opla Shanks is weirdly more serious than mangapiece Shanks. Not necessarily in a bad way, just different. That's the attitude I'm takign for most of opla anyways.

Adding the Mr 7 and Zoro fight here is actually really cool

Beta Nami outfit aaaaa they moved the pre-orange town ship-stealing scene to serve as her introduction scene and that works so well for her.

I love that they all naturally congregated in Ririka's bar. Everyone congregates and chaos occurs. Really like how they switched things up while never really taking things off course.

"PIRATES SPREAD DISEASE" poster on the wall

Coby sliding under the table once a fight breaks outajslkdjalsijdsakj i love him pls

ADORE the barfight. It's Zoro vs Baroque Works but bite-sized and with everything we love about the most consistently badass member of the crew. Thank you.

Zoro really pulled a reverse on Helmeppo lmao. "Three swords? I only need one" proceeds to get curbed by zero swords

oh! Zoro introduced himself as pirate hunter. that makes him different from mangapiece where he explicitly says at some point that he never called himself that. But it fits the opla characterisation so fair enough.

Luffy popping out of the manhole to yell 'thanks' at Zoro just sends me. Makino taught him well.

Nami being the most independent and capable girlboss up until the second Luffy literally crashes into her life and ruins her plan is actually 100% compliant with the basis of their relationship.

Oh is this the ass naked Helmeppo scene everyone's been yelling abo--- oh it is. ok.

I've never realized how badly I wanted a Nami and Luffy fighting together scene until now. I just realized how little of those we get in Mangapiece. Holy shit.

Romance Dawn trio just has this really satisfying trio cohesion that I can't describe. They're forever my favourite trio in the strawhats and opla does a magnificent job of bringing justice to what the manga couldn't give them with its chapter and page limits, since their only trio time together without being dragged around by handicaps was in the gaimon arc.

Makes me a little sad that Coby's involvement in Shells gets cut down a little, but that's fine I guess, he got plenty of touchup in his introduction scene.

Luffy holding back laughter when he sees Helmeppo's hair. Zoro chuckling because "yeah I might've done that" and Nami just being speechless. They're so stupid i love them

Garp going silent when he hears a straw-hat pirate stole the map to the grand line. I like to think this could imply Roger also stole his map once upon a time, but for now I'm just laughing at Garp internally screeching "that STUPID GRANDSON it's been ONE DAY"

[dollslayer]

Sweeter Endings

Sugar Daddy!Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: Still reeling from the financial realities of losing your mother you turn to a lucrative website for help and get more than you could have bargained for.

W/C: 5,325

Warnings: Smut (no minors 18+ only), light D/S dynamics, brief mentions of alcohol consumption, unprotected sex, swearing

A/N: NO MINORS, I wrote this for @donutloverxo 's Sugary 4k Challenge (Congrats!!) I love sugar daddy AUs so I was really excited to write this!! If you like it then please like/reblog/comment I'm all ears! Also maybe check out my other stuff if you want! Cheers!

Main Masterlist

____

The saying ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’ was truer than you’d ever imagined and you found out the hard way. Life had hit you hard last year. You had watched your mother succumb very quickly to cancer. A cold that just wouldn’t go away turned into a doctor’s visit turned into three months left to live. Having no one else in her life, the cost of her funeral and medical bills fell to you. The bills outweighing the inheritance you had no choice but to drop out of school.

One year later you were hanging on by threads to keep yourself off the streets without turning to a loan shark or selling yourself. Stocking shelves at a bougie grocery store in Soho by day and bartending in Tribeca by night had you working six days a week. What free time you had you were too exhausted to do anything with. Something had to give or you were going to collapse from the stress, you just didn’t know what.

A couple weeks ago you had been casually venting about how broke you were with a coworker when she jokingly suggested signing up for one of those Sugar Daddy sites. You laughed along with her but it sounded better than getting a third job. You had quietly asked one of your roommates to borrow their laptop saying you needed to look at job postings only half a lie, really and locked yourself in your room.

You were just gonna check out the website, maybe sign up and poke around, it didn’t mean you were committing to anything, just looking. You remembered first looking at the website once your shitty wifi loaded it, promising ‘beautiful and successful people making mutually beneficial connections’. You balked after reading that but you couldn’t look at any profiles without making one yourself so you had set to work.

After making your profile you hadn’t gotten any hits in about a week so you shrugged it off. You couldn’t keep hogging your roommate’s computer anyways so you set off back to work. Your days at the store wore on into endless nights at the bar and you wondered what other options you really had when you had no degree and no experience in any relevant field.

___

6 o’clock on a Thursday night, the typical after work crowd begins to roll in. The bar you work in is upscale, classy. Definitely trying to lure in the businessmen that worked in the area and their wallets. It annoyed you to deal with the same type of customers you did at the store all over again but with the high end crowd came good tips so you couldn't complain too much.

It was busier than usual when a group of men in suits walked in together asking for a booth. You saw a lot of business meetings take place over whiskey sours in this place so you didn’t think much of it. You tried your best to keep tending to your regulars when a pair from the group came over.

One of the men had deep brown eyes and a sly grin that when split gave you the perfect view of the gap between his teeth. He was confident but he had a kind look to him. His friend had dirty blond hair and a beard that clung to his perfect jawline and you’d be lying if you said you hadn’t snuck a second look. You turned your back and continued filling orders to distract yourself when one of them cleared their throat behind you.

As you turned to face them you found it was the blond calling after you. His face held a hint of surprise but it was quickly replaced by a look of amusement as he smirked and one brow lifted, like he knew something you didn’t. He was like any other typical customer for you, professional and handsome, probably over-confident in himself. You returned his smirk and prepared your best charming banter. Time to earn those tips.

“Something to drink for you, gentleman?” You offered.

“We’d like a round of scotch for the table over there. You don’t mind bringing it over, do you sweetheart?” the brown-eyed man asked.

“Of course not” you answered. Pricks.

“Good girl” the blond said with a wink. Creep. A hot creep but still. Before you could ask he took his card out of his wallet and put it on the counter for the tab.

____

A round had come and passed, soon they’d asked for another but this time it was just the blond that approached you. You lifted your eyebrows in anticipation of an order.

“You here often?” he asked. Ugh, not even a good pick up line.

“Am I here at my job often?” You retorted with a playful smile.

The man’s shoulders shook as he chuckled. “Sorry you just uh, you look familiar that’s all. What’s your name?”

You supplied him with it and asked him if he wanted another round of scotch. He nodded.

“Smart girl, I’m Steve by the way.” He laid down his business card which you picked up with a look of challenging curiosity. Steve Rogers, CEO of Shield inc.

Oh. You didn’t recognize the name but you definitely knew the company. It felt like a quarter of their employees stopped in for a drink throughout the week and it was prominent enough of a company that you read about it weekly. Play it cool, these types want to feel like an every-man at the bar but still wanna feel important.

You raised your eyebrows again in recognition. “Nice to meet you, Steve, I’ll have your round right out.”

“Good Girl” he winked again at you. Okay so it’s hot, but he’s a total stranger and you don’t even know him. Stay on your game.

___

10 o’clock came around and things were thinning out slightly, regulars made their way out, awkward Tinder dates and rowdy young 20-somethings made their way in. The party of businessmen was still around but they were hopefully wrapping up after the 2 more rounds they’d had. Steve approached the bar once more and you preemptively picked up the bottle of scotch.

“Whoa, easy, girl! I’m here to pick up the tab” He said, taking out his wallet.

“What’s the name on the tab?” You decided to play dumb but based off the grin on his face he knew you were playing with him.

“Steve. Rogers.” He replied, his tone was stern but his eyes told you he was in on the joke.

You cashed him out and left him to sign his receipt so you could make more drinks. You saw him move in your peripheral and turned your head to see his face.

“Have a good night, sweetheart. I’ll be seein’ ya” he promised.

“Take care!” You smiled back.

A few minutes later you circled back to collect his receipt and found three $100 bills staring back at you. You blinked dumbly in disbelief, who the hell leaves a 200% tip? Looking around to see if Steve was still here he was nowhere to be found. You had no choice but to pocket the money.

____

Another week went by and left you wondering how much energy and concentration it would take for you to just evaporate, since that seemed easier than going to work today. Sadly still in solid form, you punched in at the store and stowed your things in your locker.

Your upscale customer base was a mostly pretentious and successful group of yuppies so even though you were grateful to not be on the streets you were constantly reminded of the professional success you couldn’t help but feel that you were missing out on. Stuck instead to listen to incessant whining ‘is this organic? I won’t eat it unless it’s organic’.

The upside of this job was that the time went by quickly because you always had so much to do. Plus with how monotonous the work was it was easy enough to zone out. So much so that you hadn’t heard someone calling your name and approaching you. A hand softly touching your shoulder snapped you into the present.

You looked up, startled to find a pair of blue eyes staring back into yours. You took a step back and processed who it was. “CEO guy?” Steve?

“‘CEO guy?’ I thought I recognized you, ‘barmaid’ or should I say… ‘stock girl?’” He joked using his fingers to make quotations.

Now that you thought about it, the store isn’t that far at all from the bar, it would make sense if he’s in the area. You smiled and tapped your nametag in response.

“I just came in on my lunch to grab a few groceries” looking down at his basket it held some protein powder, some eggs, and one lonely banana. “Clearly, I’m single. But you’d know that already, wouldn’t you?”

Your brows twinged together in confusion. What is that supposed to mean?

“Excuse me?”

He edged a little closer to you and lowered his voice “SeekingConnection.com?”

Your eyes widened in shock. The fucking Sugar Daddy site! I forgot about that! Surprise was quickly replaced with humiliation. You looked down and away as you felt your cheeks heat up.

“I don’t mean to embarrass you” Steve placated, “But I gotta say, I’m pretty hurt you never responded to me. I sent that message weeks ago and let’s just say I’m not used to rejection.” He kept his tone light, letting you know he wasn’t mad.

“I-I um, I’m sorry, I don’t have a computer and they don’t have an app, I was using my roommates’ computer and I guess I forgot about it…” You admitted.

Steve nodded in acknowledgement. Please say something to salvage this conversation. Please.

“Well,” Steve rummaged in his pocket for another business card. “You got a pen on you?”

You dug around in your apron and came up with one. Handing it to him you watched as he wrote on the back of the card. He held the card and the pen out to you.

“That’s my number, I’d ask for yours but I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable, you already look like you wanna sink through the floor” Not helping, but I do. You took them from him and tucked them away in the pocket of your apron.

“You do have a phone right?” You only glared at him in response. “Well, if you check your profile, you would’ve seen I asked you out to lunch, offer still stands. Just text me when you’re free”

Should I even say yes? I mean, the winking the other night was weird but he’s good looking and at least somewhat considerate. I mean, it’s not like I had any other intention when I signed up for that site. What the hell. right?

“I… usually work mid shifts so I don’t know if lunch is doable, they only give me half an hour but, maybe we could do coffee? I’ve got tomorrow off from the bar I could meet you” you suggested.

If Steve felt pity for you he hid it well behind the wide smile he made when you offered coffee instead.

“There’s a place around the corner from here, just up a block, you know it? I’m off tomorrow at 6, why don’t you meet me there?”

“Sounds like a plan.” He winked at you again and started walking away. What the hell just happened?

____

You did end up borrowing your roommate’s computer once again when you got home to look up Steve’s DM. Sure enough, there he had been in all his internet glory. ‘Steve, 33, CEO. likes: art, conversation, whiskey. Digging around further on his profile you found that he owned several houses here and in Europe, he had a dog that was cuter than he was, and that he was ‘Seeking deeper connection’. All of these things piqued your interest.

‘Hey, Doll. Saw your profile and I had to ask, what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this? Kidding, of course. But maybe you’d care to tell me your story over lunch? Your profile says we’re both in New York. - Steve’ Sent three weeks ago. Fuck.

You had texted him earlier to confirm, which is how you found yourself walking up the sidewalk towards the shop with a mind running rampant with nervous thoughts. What if he just wants to feel big about himself in comparison to me? What would I even really have to offer the relationship? A college dropout working two dead-end jobs with no social life. You needed to snap yourself out of it. You were just meeting for coffee doesn’t mean anything.

Pushing open the door you found Steve waving at you from a quiet corner. He was still in a suit, presumably coming from work himself. Even the buttons on his shirt looked expensive. You were wearing dirty jeans and a worn pair of work boots paired with a flannel. You couldn’t have looked more different if you tried.

“I waited for you to order,” He said. You smiled up at him, only now realizing how tall he was in comparison to you. He ushered you both towards the counter where you both placed your orders. You moved to take your wallet from your purse but he had already beat you there.

“Really? As if I’d let the lady pay, and on the first date no less?” He said playfully.

“Oh, so this is a date now, is it?” You kidded.

Steve shoved his hands in his pockets and gave you that boyish grin and a shrug. The pair of you made your way back to the table and waited for your drinks to be brought over.

“How was work?” You asked, “What exactly is it that your company does?”

“We offer security and surveillance software domestically as well as international. Stadiums, airports, other government buildings. Things of that nature. And work was fine, thank you for asking” Steve said with a genuine smile. “How was your day, doll?”

“Oh, my day was fine, more of the same but y’know,” You answered half-heartedly.

“You know, you never answered me, what’s a funny, pretty gal like you doing on a site like that?”

Embarrassment hit you again, this time maybe accompanied with a hint of shame. You were saved momentarily by your drinks being delivered. He seemed truly interested and since he was paying you supposed you owed him an answer.

“I was going to Columbia and I had a pretty good internship when my mom got diagnosed with cancer. She died three months later and since it was only always just the two of us I ended up footing the bill. I was on partial scholarship but between the hospital and the funeral I can’t really afford the rest of tuition on top of working for free so here I am” you explained, “Oh my god, I’m sorry I’m totally oversharing aren’t I? You probably don’t wanna hear about a bummer like this, sorry”

You tried to laugh to ease the tension you thought you’d created. Braving a look at Steve, he looked thoughtful and only a little bit like he pitied you. You could live with that.

“I’m really sorry about your mom, mine also got really sick before she died, I know it must’ve been hard. What were you in school for?”

___

You and Steve talked for hours, trading anecdotes of childhood and talking about each other’s interests. You had a similar sense in humour so you got on swimmingly. The evening seemed to be coming to a close as the night sky sent in through the window.

Being with Steve was probably the most relaxed you’d felt since before your mom was diagnosed. It became difficult to focus on anything but your financial situation and even though that’s what brought you here in the first place you had managed to forget all about it.

“So look, us getting together wasn’t exactly the most conventional on meet-cutes but to put it bluntly,” He said, “The CEO life makes it hard to meet real people and it gets kinda lonely, I mean, you saw my grocery basket” You both laughed at that. “You need money and I need company, I feel like we could help each other out. Whad’ya say? Think you could put up with me?”

You knew what this was but hearing it put so plainly was a little surprising. At least he was to the point.

“So if I said yes what does that mean, exactly?” you inquired.

“Well,” he started, “We take care of each other. Let me cover some of your bills at the very least, make it so you’d be comfortable quitting at least one of your jobs. And you’d keep me company, we go on dates, maybe you could come over, there’s the occasional work event or charity gala I’d need you on my arm for. Thoughts?”

God I can’t even imagine what it’s like to work only one job anymore. Maybe I could even save up and go back to school. He’s cute and he seems sensible, why not?

“Could we maybe take things slow? What you describe is something I’m down for but I don’t want to make myself completely dependent on you. But I’d love to be there for you, and I have to admit, the thought of only working one full time job is pretty crazy to me” You laughed.

Steve swallowed and placed one of his large, warm hands over yours.

“I can do things the old fashioned way, if that’s what you’d feel good with. I gotta say though, with looks like that it’s not gonna be easy” he jested.

You smiled shyly and looked away. You both stood to leave and he held the door open for you.

“I’ve already got your number from when you texted me earlier but I’ll talk to my assistant about my schedule and maybe I could take you out to dinner this weekend?”

“I um, I’d really like that. It’s a date” You stated.

“Oh, so you think this is a date now?” He jested.

You lightly punched him in the arm and he took the opportunity to pull you closer to him. You looked up to find his face inches from yours. You could smell his aftershave and his deep voice gave you goosebumps when he spoke next.

“I kinda want to kiss you goodnight, would that be okay?”

You could only nod as he shut his eyes and closed in. Your lips met in one perfect, chaste kiss. You sighed and leaned into his hand as it briefly cupped your face.

You broke apart and made promises to see each other soon. You felt like you could’ve floated home as you boarded the subway, caught up in the swarm of newly forming feelings.

_____

You sat in the break room when your phone buzzed to life, ‘Saturday at 7?’

You were about to type out a yes when you forgot you worked closing at the bar. Your thumbs moved quickly to tap out the reply ‘Working, sorry :/ the pitfalls of bartending. Sunday at 7?’

You were nervous telling him no and asking to change plans. You hated not being able to make things work but you only just met the man and the weekend tips were killer, it’s not like you could turn the shift down.

‘Ah yes, almost forgot. Sunday works too, I’ll text you the details. What’s your address? I’ll pick you up’

Oh, God. Steve can’t see my building! His cufflinks probably cost more than my rent!

‘I’ll just meet you there, don’t worry about it’

‘Not a chance, doll. Just tell me where and I’ll come get you’

You let out a worried sigh but knew you had to let it go. You sent him your address and went back to work.

____

Saturday was maybe the longest day in your entire week, in fact you loathed it. Mornings at the store followed by running immediately to the bar. Last call in New York was 4am so it’s a good thing you didn’t try to make brunch plans with Steve for Sunday. But ultimately both your shifts passed without major incident and now it was Sunday and you tried to ready yourself the best you could.

The place Steve mentioned was fancy, you knew that much from a quick search. Panicking instantly upon realizing you don’t really have any nice clothes you turned to your most fashionable roommate for help. She loaned you a cocktail dress that was revealing enough to draw interest without giving everything away. You just hoped Steve would like it.

‘Downstairs, doll. Silver BMW’ you exhaled. Hoo boy, here we go.

____

Steve handed his keys to the valet and rushed around to open your door for you. You held his hand and you clambered onto the sidewalk in your heels. His warm hand on the small of your back as he steered you towards the doors was a comforting weight.

Dinner has been lovely so far, he chose a place that wasn’t completely white-glove but was upscale enough to make you feel only a little underdressed.

You joked back and forth with him over the course of the meal, talked about your lives, and even found out you both have a guilty pleasure for cheesy rom-coms. It wasn’t until dessert and your third glass of wine came that you realized how much time had passed. You frowned slightly thinking of the early morning ahead of you followed by a long night at the bar.

“What’s wrong, doll?”

“Oh, nothing I just didn’t realize how late it was, I’ve got both jobs tomorrow it’ll just be a long day that’s all” you tried to wave it off but Steve frowned in response.

“Quit the bar” he stated.

“What?”

“Quit the bar. This is your card, I’ve already loaded $3000 on there. Put me in touch with your landlord and I’ll get you taken care of.” He slid the card across the table to you. Your name printed on the front. This got real very quickly.

“Steve, that’s.” You were in shock, a loss for words almost “that’s too much, I don’t know what to say.” You felt embarrassed taking the money. You knew that was the essence of your arrangement but actually taking his money had you feeling uneasy.

“Honey, this is what I’m here for. Let me take care of you. Give up your late nights. I wanna take you out on the weekends and you’ll need to be available for events. You can stay at the store if you want but quit the bar, you don’t need it.”

You took a deep sigh. He did say he wanted you to be comfortable quitting one of your jobs; it's just making the change that scares you. But something about Steve felt safe so you nodded and looked up to him.

“I’ll put in my two weeks”

“Good girl” he patted your knee and you involuntarily clenched your thighs. He smirked at that but let it go.

____

A few months had come and gone since that night and your time with Steve had been great. Only working the one job gave you so much more free time. You'd spent a good chunk of it just trying to form a normal sleep schedule but all the time you spent with Steve made it difficult. Not that you minded especially since your allowance was monthly but he’d showered you with gifts here and there.

They started off small, perfume, chocolates and flowers, or a simple pair of white gold hoops that reminded him of you. They gradually became pricier and more elaborate. You’d felt guilty accepting it all at first but he was insistent you deserve the best. He had even mentioned you moving out maybe finding a better place but you reminded him you needed to go slow.

He’d also been nothing short of a gentleman. Out in public at least, you’d learned the hard way that he was an absolute animal in bed. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep your hands off of him.

Something you had appreciated about Steve is that he never made you feel bad or less than for being broke. Never held his money over your head like leverage. You’d felt equal to him in all aspects, understanding you had just as much say as he did.

Still, there was a small nagging voice in the back of your head that reminded you Steve is not your boyfriend. This isn't a relationship and he's looking to get something out of just like you are. But if you were being honest you were catching feelings, it was hard not to when the man was giving you the fantasy. You decided to push that voice aside whenever it came up and let yourself be swept away. Maybe that would bite you in the ass but for now you were happy.

____

You were buzzed into Steve’s building and on the elevator ride up to his penthouse your phone buzzed. ‘I have to make a quick call- I’ve got a present waiting for you in the living room.’ You couldn’t help but feel giddy.

The doors opened and Steve was nowhere in sight but as you entered the living room a bag from Chanel and the Apple Store sat on the table. Oh god, what this time? I swear this man is too much.

You opened the smaller bag from Chanel first and found a beautiful black and white evening bag. It was sleek and simple, very much to your tastes. You were nervous to open the Apple bag, Steve always went overboard. Shakily removing the paper you pulled out the slim case in disbelief. A MacBook Air and a pair of AirPod Pros. The man well and truly spoiled you.

“You said you didn’t have a computer.” His voice came from behind you and startled you.

“Steve, this is too much. You’re too much.” You swung your arms around his neck and kissed him.

“Nothin’s too much for you, doll.” He kissed the top of your head.

“Think you could take a couple days off of work? I just got off the phone and confirmed plans for my house in Nice.”

A trip? France?? Oh my god. How is this my life? You felt so overwhelmed that you grabbed Steve by the collar and brought his face down to meet you in a kiss. His tongue swiped your lips and you granted him entrance. Moaning into his mouth your hands traveled up into his hair, pulling softly and coaxing a groan out of him.

He guided you to sit on the couch and brought you down into his lap. You ground down onto him and felt his hard-on through his slacks. Your hand moved slowly to undo the buttons of his shirt as he kissed down your jaw towards your neck. You sighed softly when he found your sweet spot and started sucking.

He helped you take off his shirt while you got started on his belt and undid his pants. He lifted himself off the couch slightly to move them down to his knees, taking his briefs with them. His cock stood proud and an angry red, leaking at the tip.

“I wanna ride you, I can’t wait.” You pouted as you writhed against him in need.

Steve tutted at you “that’s no way to get what you want. Ask me nicely, baby. Beg to ride my cock,”

You ground down even harder and whined. “Please, sir, please let me ride your cock. I need to feel you, I can’t wait any longer please.”

“Good Girl” Steve's hands flipped up your skirt and found your panties, ripping them to shreds. They were La Perla and had cost a pretty penny but he didn’t care.

He lined himself up and brought you down harshly gripping your hips. You moaned loudly in surprise and satisfaction and wasted no time moving back and forth. Steve made you feel so close and connected to him whenever he fucked you but he still made you feel sordid and dirty. You couldn’t get enough of the feeling, you’d gladly chase it.

His eyes were hooded as watched you chase your own pleasure and giving him some in return. His hands kneaded your ass and smacked it just to get a gasp out of you. He grabbed the back of your head and brought you in for a searing kiss that was all teeth and tongue. He’d nip at you and lick the pain away.

His hips met yours, finding your rhythm and speeding you both up when he gripped your hips.

“Can’t wait to have me, you had to fuck me on the couch huh?” Steve panted, “my dirty girl. So fuckin’ gorgeous.”

You put your forehead against his and went harder, pushing your clit to grind against the muscles of his abs.

“Only yours, sir.” Your orgasm was building. Steve was a pretty relaxed dom but you still needed permission.

“Sir, please let me cum I can’t wait any longer” you tried your best to slow your movements a bit.

“I think you can hold it baby, I wanna enjoy you a little longer”.

You could only whine in response and tried to slow your pace but his grip on your hips and his own movements pushed you further and further towards the edge. You tried to squirm out of his grasp but his hands only tightened. It felt like forever until Steve finally gave you permission.

“Go on baby, cum for me you earned it. Fuck your self on my cock and cum all over me”

Your movements were frantic, desperate to chase your orgasm when finally the perfect angle of his cock inside you and your clit against him set you free. You cried out above him and dug your nails in deep.

Steve held you firmly in place and started slamming into you from below, finally letting himself think about cumming. All you could do was hold on for mercy. Moments later he brought you down onto him one final slam as he came inside of you with a cry.

The only sound in the room was both of you trying to catch your breath. You sighed again and collapsed against him, nuzzling your face into his neck. He kissed the side of your face and let you make yourself at home while he caressed your back.

____

One shower and two more orgasms later you were both clean and made your way to the kitchen. Steve was gathering the ingredients for dinner when you hugged him from behind. Your head resting against his back. Steve twisted around and hugged you in full. You both stayed like that for a moment until you looked up at him.

You were so content. Moments like this where you were just domestic were some of the best between you. It wasn’t about money or material, it was just the two of you making dinner and enjoying each other, no barriers.

“Are you really going to take me to France?” Your voice came out muffled against his chest.

“Of course, doll. After dinner I want you to use your new laptop to buy some outfits for the trip. I left my card in your new purse.”

You lifted onto your tiptoes and kissed his nose.

“You really do think of everything, don’t you?”

“What can I say? I’m a planner” he retorted.

You didn’t know it yet but Steve was going to ask you to become official while you were there. He wasn’t worried in the slightest. In fact he’d never been so sure about something in his life.

[klapollo]

Same anon but. I. I can’t believe there a people that take fall out boy lyrics seriously. How do you listen to a song or even like see Pete and think “this is Midwest dad metaphors and wordplay to the extreme”?? Like i love them but their lyrics sometimes remind me of drunks in the one moment of clarity they get before passing out

i THINK there's a few factors at play here.

-obviously a lot of us were literal children when we first heard these songs so the nostalgic veneer of cool probably carries over a lil

-some of the songs ARE really evocative even if the lyrics are kinda silly or over the top. like my favorite fob song is headfirst slide into cooperstown and i think a combo of the vocals (see below) and the production/orchestration push it from "peroxide princess shark teeth teacup wedding band hee hee hoo" juvenile-y stuff into something that sounds super emotionally wrought

-patrick's vocals are absolutely KEY i cannot stress this enough. like you ever listen to a hall and oates song and it SHOULD be so much sillier than it is but daryl hall is just putting his whole daryl hallussy into the song and it comes out cool? or even a beastie boys song where they're being so dorky SO aggressively that it feels awesome? patrick's blue eyed soul/super intense/whatever you wanna call it singing style coupled with his keen sense of musicality really help. like this might just be me but when pete does his spoken word bits himself like on get busy living or 20 dollar nose bleed i find it so (God help me) cringy and way less compelling than when patrick is singing. i honestly do not think they would be nearly as successful if he wasn't the frontman even if pete is "the face" of the band.

[plainbrunettelbl]

ABO (A) Half Shark Kirishima Eijiro x (O) Reader Forever Love

Word count: 4921

Warnings: None. 

Title: ABO (A) Half Shark Kirishima Eijiro x (O) Reader Forever Love

Summary: You go to the beach and meet a strange shark tooth Alpha. 

(Gif not mine) 

🦈-Summer was here and you were ready to enjoy the sun. 

🦈-You wasted no time packing a beach bag and driving to see the gritty sand and blue water. You wore a pair of sunglasses, you were glad you did since the sun was high in the sky and it wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon. 

🦈-You all but leaped out of your car and dashed across the sand. You adored summer and missed the feeling of sand under your feet. Before you could get fully sucked in by the sparkling waves you made sure to put on a thick layer of sunscreen. 

🦈-You didn’t want to mess with skin cancer. 

🦈-Once you were all lathered up you set your beach towel down and sat on it until the sunscreen had soaked in a bit. As soon as your phone beeped telling you it was time you were running into the blue water. 

🦈-The cool water was a shock to your body but you embraced it the feeling.

🦈-You were heating up a bit sitting on the beach so it was really refreshing having the cool water lapping against your skin. You should have brought a tube but you were in a hurry to get to the beach so you left it for another time. 

🦈-You pushed all your thoughts away and simply floated. 

🦈-It was twenty minutes later that you opened your eyes. You paused as you looked around and saw that you were farther from the shore than you thought. You weren't the greatest swimmer around so you started to panic a bit but your focus on the distance between you and the shore was pushed aside when something brushed against your foot. 

🦈-You looked down and gasped. A grey fin and shark teeth greeted you. You swiftly kicked at the figure and tried to swim away. You didn’t get very far before a red-headed man sputtered up in front of you. You paused your escape and gaped at him. 

🦈-“Why did you kick me?” He whined, rubbing the top of his head. 

🦈-“Why did you touch my feet?” You argued, if you weren’t using your arms to keep you upright you would have thrown them in air. 

🦈-“I was interested in your second hands.” He frowned, pushing his crimson hair out of his eyes. 

🦈-You spotted silver skin scattered around his tan hand. It almost reminded you of scales. If that didn’t alert you to the fact that he wasn’t human his gills did. Three neatly lined gills fluttered on his neck. The sight was intriguing. 

🦈-“My second hands? You mean my feet?” You asked, still gliding your arms around to keep you upright now that you weren’t floating on your back. 

🦈-“The second hands you have keeping you afloat. I have a tail and you have second hands.” He pointed out, lifting his tail higher to the surface to show you.  

🦈-His tail reminded you of a shark, grey on the sides but white in the middle. If his sharp teeth were any indicator you would say he was some type of shark male hybrid. If he were to turn around you would probably see a shark fin on his back. 

🦈-“Are you gonna eat me?” You almost slapped your self at the stupid question that escaped your mouth. 

🦈-“What?! Why would I eat you? I don’t eat humans.” He huffed, obviously offended you thought he would eat you. 

🦈-Not only have you met a half-human hybrid but you managed to kick him in the face and offend him in all of but five minutes. You wouldn’t be surprised if he decided he did want to eat you. 

🦈-“Then what do you eat?” You asked, tilting your head at him. 

🦈-He drew his head back, surprised that you asked him such a question. Weren’t humans supposed to be scared of someone like him? This is the most human contact he has gotten in decades. His Alpha was oddly quiet in your presence. 

🦈-Was he observing the strange human too? Nevertheless, this human wasn’t afraid of him, he found that admirable of her. He didn’t have many friends. His best friend was a tan puffer fish that was annoyed at him half the time. 

🦈-“Fish, like any other shark.” He said, grinning at the thought of feasting on the scaly creature, his razor-sharp teeth making an appearance again. 

🦈-“Oh.” You replied, your brain trying to catch up with everything. 

🦈-“What do you eat?” He asked, curious about what humans consume. He sometimes saw humans licking a cream-like treat or eating something round and long on a stick. He was interested in what this little human ate. 

🦈-“Ummm… food? Red meat? Vegetables?” You said, not sure what he wanted to hear. 

🦈-“Is red meat good? Better than fish?” He asked, excited by this new information. 

🦈-“I can get you some if you want. I know they sell kabobs on the pier.” You thought, remembering people walk by you with some in their hands while you waited for your sunscreen to soak in. 

🦈-“You would bring me some!” His eyes sparkled, excited at the thought of trying something other than fish. 

🦈-“I mean yeah, I could.” You answered, trying not to blush over his excited face. This male shark hybrid was a handsome one. It was the least you could do, you did kick him in the face and offend the poor guy. 

🦈-“Wait, but then you would have to leave. How do I know if you are coming back?” He narrowed his eyes, not eager for this sweet-smelling human to leave yet. His Alpha pushed forward and nearly growled at the thought. 

🦈-In truth, the poor male was attention-starved. He was a pretty intimidating guy, all the sea life tended to stay away from him. Now that he had someone’s attention he didn’t want them to go away. He didn’t have to dwell much on the thought of you leaving before a soft sound invaded his ears. 

🦈-It was a gentle ring that made his whole body warm. You were giggling at his brooding face. 

🦈-“Of course I am coming back. Now that I know you aren’t gonna eat me I can pester you with all sorts of questions.” You smiled, thinking of all the tales he would have about the deep blue sea. 

🦈-This would be an interesting friendship… or more. 

***

🦈-Your friendship has bloomed over the last two weeks. It was tradition to come down to the beach whenever you could and buy him a kabob before making your way down to the pier. The main pier was busy and bustling with people but the small one meant for the local fishermen was still pretty vacant and empty. 

🦈-You tried to stay in the water the first week but it just wasn’t practical. You had to wash and dry your swimsuit so many times it was tearing at the seams. Floating on a tube was better but it still had its drawbacks. 

🦈-Your fingers and toes would winkle like raisins. 

🦈-Eijiro was fascinated by your feet and wouldn’t stop trying to touch and nibble on them. You had noticed pretty quickly that although he wasn’t interested in eating you he had some sort of fascination with softly nibbling on you. 

🦈-When you asked him about it he said it was a shark thing. He has grown up with his parents doing it so he thought it was normal to do so to his new human friend. 

🦈-You had just sat down at the pier and dipped your feet into the cold water, not even a second later a sharp pair of teeth were nibbling on your toes. You let out an airy giggle, already used to his odd behavior.

🦈-“Save the chewing for your kabob, Eijiro.” You teased, lifting your toes out of the water and leaned down to show the steaming kabob to him. 

🦈-He was quick to burst out of the water and snatch it up with his sharp teeth. He reminded you of a human version of jaws when he did that. 

🦈-“Thank you, Y/N. You know you don’t have to keep buying me meat all the time.” He said while nearly chomping on the wooden stick. 

🦈-“I don’t mind. If I didn’t spend it on you I would spend it on something else. Like this bracelet. I saw it while walking down the pier to get your kabob. It caught my eye and I instantly purchased it.  It’s too big for me but I like the color.” You hummed, showing him the threaded black and red bracelet on your wrist. 

🦈-In the time it took you to respond he had already finished his kabob, he made sure to put the stick on the pier. You would take it later and throw it away properly. 

🦈-“Oh, that’s a nice bracelet.” He commented, not taking his eyes off it. 

🦈-He peered at it with an awed look in his eyes. Completely unrelated he lifted his hand to mess with his hair, showcasing his empty wrist. Silently hoping you would spot it and say something. 

🦈-“Oh! Would you like it? I don’t think I can wear it without worrying it would slide off. You have a bigger wrist than me so it should fit you better.” You offered, taking off the red bracelet and dangling it on your finger above him. 

🦈-You never saw him move that fast before. The bracelet was already snatched out of your hand and on his wrist in the blink of an eye. You were right, it fit more snug on his tanned wrist than yours. 

🦈-“Make sure not to lose it. I bet it is a whole other story losing something in the sea rather than on land.” You thought, swishing your legs in the water. 

🦈-“I won’t take it off.” He nearly growled, something primal lurked in his eyes.  

🦈-Your Omega was nearly purring at the look. You merely nodded and shifted your eyes to the blue sky. You noticed there were a lot more clouds in the sky than normal, you hoped it didn’t rain. 

🦈-“What happens when it rains? Do you go back to your cave and wait it out like a regular human?” You questioned, looking down into his ruby eyes. 

🦈-“Sometimes I stock up on fish when it is just a small shower. If it starts lightning and thundering I usually chill in my den until it passes. You don’t want to be out in the open when lightning strikes down.” He commented, holding back a wince. 

🦈-“Huh. I hadn’t thought about that.” You said, kicking your feet out and splashing his face with water. 

🦈-He retaliated by catching on of your feet and playfully chewing on it. His teeth were tickling you, you reach down and grab a handful of his red hair. You tried to yank him off but he wouldn’t budge. He was a stubborn shark when it came to his prey. 

🦈-Not that you were prey to him. He just considered you to be his. Especially after your little gift to him. To give shark-kind a gift it meant you had started the courting process. The next time he saw you he would give you one back, to solidify your courtship. 

🦈-“Quit it Eijiro! You’re tickling me.” You laughed, leaning down even further, your face inches from his. 

🦈-Once he felt your soft breath on his face he let go and tilted his head up at you. Now it was your turn to fell his breath on your face. The closeness was enough to make your Omega swoon. You felt your mind was playing tricks on you when you heard a gentle purr coming from him. 

🦈-It was like you were in a trance, your eyes caught his lips and it was all you could focus on. You slowly felt yourself leaning even further down to him. He was leaning forward as well. His breath coming out in big pants. 

🦈-His tail was swishing rapidly in the water. Almost like a puppies tail would when they get excited. 

🦈-“You trying to drown yourself, girl!” An older man’s voice called out from the distance. 

🦈-You quickly put both of your feet on Eijiro’s shoulders and pushed him down. You would have been worried if he was human but since he was half-shark you knew he would be safe. Safer than someone finding out his kind existed. 

🦈-Sure there were shifters on land but people held major prejudice against them. You could only imagine the type of hysteria if humans found out they were surrounded by shifters on land and in the water. 

🦈-Maybe it was because you knew a few shifters and that was why you didn’t freak out when you first discovered him. 

🦈-“I thought I saw a crab!” You yelled, turning to look over your shoulder. 

🦈-An old man with a long fishing pole made his way down the pier. He wore a yellow raincoat with boots to match. He was the definition of fisherman. 

🦈-“Well, that’s good to hear. I hope to catch a lot of them tonight. Supposed to start raining soon.” He drawled, tipping his yellow hat up at the sky. 

🦈-While he was talking you still felt the warmth of Eijiro’s shoulders on your feet. You tapped him on both shoulders, silently telling him to swim away. His response was to slide a hand up your ankle. He wasn’t leaving until you were. 

🦈-“Oh. I better get going then. I wouldn’t want to get caught in the rain.” You said, leaning one hand down to clasp his hand and squeeze it before pulling your feet out of the water and slipping back on your flip flops. 

🦈-You made sure to grab his kabob stick before leaving. You shot him one last look. He was still submerged under the water. His face reminded you of a wounded puppy. You were leaving so soon. Your Omega was whining at the ordeal but there wasn’t much you could do. 

🦈-You didn’t bring your swimsuit so you couldn’t swim with him. Plus the rain wouldn’t have helped matters either. He would have to go back to his cave anyways. 

🦈-“See you later, little crab.” You softly said, giving him a half-smile.

🦈-You turned around and began walking back to your car. You couldn’t believe you were about to kiss him! Your heart was pounding in your chest. He was your friend, not your boyfriend!

🦈-You had to get your emotions under control. You both were from two separate lands, it would never work. You pushed down your sadness and kept walking down the pier, leaving a sad shark behind. 

***

🦈-“Hey, Y/n, do you have the paperwork I told you have done ready?” One of your Alpha coworkers asked, peering over at you in your small cubical. 

🦈-“Yeah, I just finished typing it up.” You replied, leaning over your desk to get the file. 

🦈-Your scent must have wafted her way. 

🦈-“Are you seeing anyone? Your scent smells different. Kinda reminds me of the ocean.” She prodded, eager to hear some gossip.  

🦈-You instantly flushed, your little trips to the beach must be affecting your scent. It was usually a soft peppermint smell. Now it was intertwined with a hint of saltwater. 

🦈-“N-no, I’m not seeing anyone. I think it is just because I am spending so much time at the beach lately.” You answered, handing her the file over your cubical wall. 

🦈-“Oh, well you should go on a few courting dates. Nothing better than summer love.” She grinned, thinking of all the Omega’s she could court this summer. 

🦈-“I’ll let you know if I do.” You said, looking back over at your computer screen. 

🦈-Should you start looking for a potential Alpha? You had no reason not to look for one. At that moment a certain shark-toothed male popped up into your head. 

🦈-No! He was off-limits. You should focus on Alphas you could actual court. 

🦈-It was decided, you would start looking for a potential mate. 

***

🦈-“So, have you eaten here before?” You asked, looking up from your plate of spaghetti, you speared a big meatball and brought it to your mouth. 

🦈-You had met him on a dating app. You didn’t know that he was vegetarian until he was ordering at the start of the date. You had placed your order before him so it was a tiny bit embarrassing eating meat in front of him. 

🦈-“Yes. They have a really good vegetarian selection here.” He said, looking down at his meatless meal. 

🦈-You had to admit that this Alpha was very attractive. He had had shoulder-length brown hair, glowing golden eyes, and a strong jawline. He would have made your Omega melt if it wasn’t for someone else. 

🦈-During the meal you found yourself comparing this Alpha to the sliver skinned one that seemed to take up your thoughts. 

🦈-Your Omega couldn’t help but nick-pick at him. 

🦈-He didn’t love meat like a certain someone, his teeth are dull, and he doesn’t have spiky crimson hair. He was nothing like her Alpha. Yes, her Alpha. She had started calling him that after your last encounter. You tried to correct her but she wasn’t having it. 

🦈-You tried to listen to the Alpha sitting across from you but your heart wasn’t into it. Your heart seemed to feel heavy lately, it might have had something to do with your absence from the beach. You hadn’t been back to the pier for a whole week. 

🦈-Your heart was telling you it was time to reunite with the muscled male. You finally submitted to those thoughts. You would go to see him tomorrow. 

🦈-That had your Omega purring and bouncing around. She was finally gonna see her Alpha!

***

🦈-Your Omega was jumping around excitingly as soon as you pulled into the beach parking area. She was gonna see her Alpha! You had an image of her rolling around on her back happily. You, on the other hand, were a bit nervous stepping out of the car. 

🦈-You knew going to the pier wasn’t an option. 

🦈-Your Omega had cut off that train of thought as soon as it appeared and wouldn’t even let you consider it. She wanted you in the water and as close to her Alpha as you could get. You knew this absence was hard on her so you didn’t argue.

🦈-Since your other bathing suit was beyond repair you went out and bought a new one. 

🦈-A solid red one. It was a tiny bit more revealing than your other one but once you saw it you knew it was the one. Your Omega chirped in agreement, stating that it matched Eijiro’s eyes. You felt pretty confident in it. 

🦈-You had paired it with a white cover-up. You grabbed your beach bag and made your way down to the sand. The instant your feet touched the sand you felt a pair of eyes on you. You knew whose eyes they were. 

🦈-You knew if you looked out into the water you would catch a glimpse of him but you stopped yourself. You knew if you saw his red hair peeking through the waves you would skip putting on sunscreen and dive into the water. 

🦈-You didn’t need to deal with a sunburn along with your confusing feelings. 

🦈-So you lathered up and waited, much to your Omega’s disappointment. You made sure to put on a lot because you knew as soon as you stepped into the ocean Eijiro wasn’t gonna let you out of his grasp for one second. 

🦈-From the intensity of his gaze, you were half thinking he was gonna drag you under and take you to his cave. 

🦈-Once your sunscreen was dry you finally headed towards the water. The water was cold as usual but it wasn’t the reason why your skin was covered in goosebumps. Your heart was pounding each step. Once the water went up to your waist you started swimming further from the shoreline. 

🦈-You were barely halfway to where you usually meet up when you felt his touch on your ankle. Just by the grip alone, you knew he was just as touched starved as you. This week without him made you miss his gentle caresses on your legs and the oddly comforting way he nibbled on you. 

🦈-Once you swam far enough for the shore he yanked you down. Your eyes stung at the saltwater but that didn’t stop you from looking at him underwater. His smile was big and wide, his razor-sharp teeth on full display. 

🦈-He didn’t waste a second pulling you into his arms. The cold water was long forgotten when you were tucked safely in his warm embrace. If you weren’t already holding your breath it would have been taken away. 

🦈-He couldn’t hear your Omega’s purring but he felt the vibrations coming from your chest. 

🦈-He instantly let out his own warm purr. He was so happy you finally showed up! He was worried you had somehow forgotten about him. That maybe you didn’t enjoy his company as much as he enjoyed yours. 

🦈-He swore he wouldn’t even care if you never brought him another piece of red meat again. As long as he had you in his arms he was satisfied. He didn’t hold himself back from nibbling on your neck a little now that he had you wrapped up in his grasp. His Alpha telling him that this was the spot he planned to mark when he bonded to you. 

🦈-He tapped his shoulder, signaling that you needed air, with reluctance he led you to the surface. 

🦈-He wanted to be underwater with you forever. Everything faded away when you were under the blue currents together. 

🦈-You broke the surface with a tiny gasp. 

🦈-“I’m so happy you’re back! I missed you.” He breathed, still not believing you were here in his arms and not somewhere on land where he couldn’t see or hold you. 

🦈-“I’m sorry. Things came up.” You said, not quite meeting his eyes. You didn’t want to see the sadness lurking in his ruby orbs. 

🦈-“That’s fine. I am just glad you are back.” He said, acting like he wasn’t desperately searching for you the entire week.

🦈-“You know I will always come back for my little crab.” You joked, hoping to lift the mood a bit. 

🦈-He laughed, playfully pushing you away. You laughed along with him, the heaviness in your chest from the past week finally lifting. 

🦈-“I’ll show you a crab!” He chuckled, making his hands into claws and pinching you. 

🦈-You giggled, trying to pinch him back. Something caught his eye, his gaze was focused in the direction of the shore. You turned to look and saw a blond surfer dude riding a wave. His hair looked a little familiar so you said so. 

🦈-“Huh, his hair reminds me of the Alpha I went on a courting date with. His hair was brown though.” You hummed, looking at the guy fall off his board. 

🦈-“Courting date? You went on a courting date?” His voice dropped a few octaves, his eyes turning hard. 

🦈-“Yeah? Is there a problem?” You asked, your eyebrow lifting. 

🦈-“A problem! Yes! We are courting Y/N!” He exclaimed, pulling his arm out of the water and pointing at the bracelet you gave him.

🦈-You tilted your head, confused. Did he think it was a courting gift? He couldn’t have. For it to be a courting gift it would need to be made by you. You were sure you told him you bought it from a shop on the pier. 

🦈-“I didn’t make it. It isn’t a courting gift, Eijiro.” As much as it hurt your heart to say it, it was true. 

🦈-“Yes, it is! If you give me a gift it means you want to court me. I accepted it so we are courting. I even have a gift for you.” He said, lifting up his other gift. A pearl bracelet sat on his wrist. It was obviously made for you since it looked way too small for his thick wrist. 

🦈-He slid it off and put it on you. The white pearls glistened under the sunlight. 

🦈-You looked at it in awe, the bracelet was beautifully made. The warm mood was broken when someone called out to you from behind. 

🦈-“You okay out there?” A voice yelled. 

🦈-You turned to see the surfer you both were talking about holding onto his board and look at you. He was about 20 feet from you so he couldn’t see your little red friend. That didn’t mean you didn’t shove the poor boy underwater.

🦈-Eijiro didn’t mind, he was just enjoying the feel of your hands on his shoulders.

🦈-You looked around and supposed you were a bit too far from shore.

🦈-“I’m fine! I’m a great swimmer.” You yelled back, smiling at the nicely tanned boy. 

🦈-While your swimming did improve a little after you started hanging out with the shark boy you still weren’t expert level. You only felt safe so far out in the deep because you had Eijiro by your side. You knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to you. 

🦈-The surfer gave you a nod and smile before turning his attention back on the upcoming waves. 

🦈-It was apparent Eijiro didn’t like that your attention was off him. He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you down under the water with him. Before you could blink the saltwater out of your eyes his lips were on yours. 

🦈-In an instant, all of your worries and fears washed away. You sank into the kiss with a delighted purr. You brought your hands up and weaved them through his hair. Your legs wrapped around his waist. You tried not to smile as you felt him slightly nibble on your lip. 

🦈-The only thought running through your mind was that you knew Eijiro wouldn’t be your summer love, he would be your forever love. 

Bonus: 

🦈-You sat on your pier and waited for your Alpha to come back. That’s right, your pier. After you bonded with Eijiro you both found out he would be able to shift between human and half-shark. With his new second hands, he was free to join you on land. 

🦈-The first thing he did was rent a boat and became a fisherman. The boat was just a cover while he shifted into his half-shark form and rounded up fish to sell. It wasn’t long before he was bringing in some money and together you both purchased a beach house with its own pier. 

🦈-Right now you sat on the pier with a huge metal pot by your side. Usually, you would eagerly hold it in your lap but your baby bump wouldn’t let you. 

🦈-Not too long after you moved into the house the both of you found out you were carrying a pup. Eijiro’s nearly passed out in happiness that day.   

🦈-The one thing about this pup was that it loved seafood. Now Eijirio was a fan of red meat but his pup couldn’t get enough of the sea. Poor Eijiro was devastated when your pup wouldn’t let him cook red meat in the house anymore since it made you want to throw up at the smell. 

🦈-Still, he happily gave it up for the time being, anything to make sure you and the pup were both comfortable. 

🦈-Tonight was seafood boil, that was where the big pot came in handy. Your lovely Alpha was out hunting the savorly little things. Your mouth was already watering at the thought of them. Like he heard your thoughts, Eijiro popped out of the water proudly holding up a big net filled with your latest craving. 

🦈-You could have sworn your eyes were sparkling. 

🦈- “I caught a lot just in case you are still craving them tomorrow.” He happily stated, pulling himself up on the pier. His tail was gone in seconds and in their place were his strong calves. Once he was situated on the deck he put his net into the pot sitting by your side. 

🦈-“Thank you, Alpha! I am so excited!” You beamed, looking down at the pot. 

🦈-It seems your pup was excited as well, they were dancing up a storm. You lovingly rubbed your stomach before standing up and reaching for the pot. Eijiro was quick to brush your hands away and picked up the pot. 

🦈-He wasn’t about to let his Omega carry ten pounds of shrimp while pregnant with his pup. His Alpha nearly growled at the thought. He might have been a little overprotective of you now that you were with pup. 

🦈-The sun was dipping in the sky, everything was orange and blue. You leaned against your Alpha’s side as you walked back to your home. You couldn’t have been any happier. 

🦈-“I love you, my shark boi.” You said, nuzzling into his side. 

🦈-“I love you too, Omega.” He grinned, leaning down to place a kiss on your head. 

This was my first time writing a sort of shark/merman AU. Please tell me what you think of it! I might write more for it when summer hits. 

That being said, please wash your hands and stay safe guys! 

Please reblog and leave a note. Both really help motivate me to write more. 

[madi5on]

TeenieBeenieDirtBags

I'm sick as a fucking dog right now. I've coughed up 3 tonsil stones so today has been blessed for sure. None the less, as usual I am chatting with my best friend. I told her of the new and improved tumblr. Obviously this brought her back to 2014 chat rooms with boys roleplaying vampires and slaves. Oh, what a time it was to be alive. Uncensored online content that kids could focus on and the adults paid no mind. Let me remind of you the 2 girls 1 cut situation. I am blessed to not have seen the video, but even that is mild for what most of us teenie beenie dirt bags have seen.

I've read everywhere that kinks are hereditary so can you really shelter you kid from the things they have to control over liking. They're going to search it out some way. You know. If they really wanted to. I personally have been having kinky fantasies since the literaly 6th grade. That's when I started writing smut about kinky vampires and fanfics about being a slave. Pain gives me pleasure. Putting me down makes me cum.

My first orgasm was given to myself at 14 by aggressively rubbing my clit until it was sour and irritated. This graduated to boiling it with the shower head on the message setting. That's still a guilty pleasure when I can get it. Just because my first orgasm was when I was 14 doesnt mean I hadn't been trying for ages. Well, it had only been about a year. My first boyfriend and I did alot of cool tricks and such. My mom made fun of his shark teeth but I liked the way they made my lips bleed when we made out. I read The Fifty Shades Triology when I was in the 6th grade. That's when I learned what kink and 'the lifestyle' was. My pour mother had no idea where her books went.

I remember being 7-8 snooping in my mother's closet and finding her lingerie for the first time. It was a breastless shiny red bodysuit with black nipple pasty tassels. I pulled it out and said "Mommy what's this? It's pretty." She ripped it out of my hands and said it was hers. Don't touch it. Then I found her flogger moments later. I said "Oo", before whipping myself over and over on my arm hard. She said "No, don't do it like that. It's for tickling!", and run it nicely over my arm. I thought to myself. I can't wait to have one of my own tickle whip.

I am a proud owner of a glass flogger with faux leather strips knotted at the bottom. She's a banger for sure.

I'm unsure of what else I would like to add to this. Kinks are fun when you know what yours are. I've been blessed to know I've been a little freak my whole life.

[real-fanta-sea]

Hello!!💚😊 do you still write kiss requests?? For Trevor/Mike ship and can I request something for 'bury the hatchet' mission with 11 or 57 number? I really love to see how Trevor saves Michael so😍😱

Thank you!💗

Hi sweetie! I'm sorry it took me so long, but it's finally here! Find it under "keep reading". If you prefer AO3, click here to read the fic. tw mentions of violence, kissing, kinky old men

"Get the boyfriend!"

"The WHAT?" Michael huffed out, along with a small puff of fog, as he crouched behind a thumb stone that felt too small to shield him. Of all things, why would they think they were dating? Like, that were the signs? Can't two guys share a trailer, a bed, a shower, a coffee mug, cigarettes, whiskey bottles and take-out receipts without arising suspicion? Can't two consenting adults watch each other read a porn magazine while relieving stress? Is it a sign of marital status to carry someone over a threshold while high on... whatever was Trevor high on? Michael cringed inwardly as a bullet grazed the top of the stone and made the falling snowflakes find refuge on the back of his neck. There was no time to mull that over. The crunch of footsteps and angry commands closed in, and he had to act fast.

He did the math frantically. His pistol still had 16 bullets ready to be planted into the brains of whoever he aimed at. There was another full magazine in his jacket pocket. Good. Michael peered above the top of the stone, now chipped into a monstrous row of teeth. The silence has been ruptured by the sound of breaks. Judging by the urgent stomping, there were far more than 33 men to bury that night. Michael ducked and ran towards a statue of an angel reclining over another piece of stone, big enough to hide him under its sorrowful wings. Finally able to stretch out, he took a deep breath and cracked his neck. He remembered the last time he had to fight off so many people and cursed when he shot a look back towards Brad's grave. At that time, there was no blanket and a cup of hot coffee waiting for him. At that time, dance macabre was all too real for comfort. But it was not a time to die; he convinced himself. Not in the freezy shithole called North Yankton. Not without a fight.

Just when he peered over the side of the sculpture, the world around him slowed down into a strange state of blue trance. He shot four men in a matter of seconds, retreated to his cover, and resurfaced again behind a different piece of stone. All he could feel was a stinging sensation on his face as he collapsed with snowflakes, a soft crunch of virgin snow below his feet mixed with the recoil of the gun in his hand, going off in time with the rhythm of his heart. He wouldn't have minded if the state of focus and tranquillity remained his primary state of being. To be faster than others, not feeling the bullets licking skin and flesh off of his body, killing without remorse - he missed such balance in his retired life.

Not many voices filled the graveyard when Michael finally threw his pistol away and snatched a gun from a random unlucky henchman whose blood was rapidly cooling on the ground. The relative silence unnerved him. The math didn't add up, and even when he cracked his neck again to relieve some of the pressure, the popping sound didn't fill the space enough to be comfortable again. Only when he ascended from the aisle, ducking, eyes darting all over the dark place, he noticed how fast he was breathing and that his hands were shaking.

Fuck it, he thought to himself, that one extra burger, coke and pizza every now and then, when he couldn't sleep, did hurt after all. Maybe Mandy was right to nag at him for smoking too. Before he could make an oath to himself to start exercising once he got away from the situation. Before he could even turn around in awe, the bushes behind his back rustled and gave birth to a furious Chinese man. The newborn didn't spare a second to hit the back of Michael's head with something Mike later identified as the butt of his gun and knocked the dumbfounded Michael unconscious.

It didn't take long for Michael to wake up, but the world was swirling around him into a smudged black-eye blue mush, and it reeked of puke. There was a horrible echo of voices nagging in his throbbing head, and it took a lot of him to recognize two twitching shadows dragging him through the muddy snow. For a split second, he felt weightless as the shadows threw him inside a gaping black space and the thunder of the van door being shut made him shriek in pain.

For what felt like an eternity, his existence was reduced to watching a streak of orange light running towards his chest and vanishing before it reached his head. Michael scrutinized the small cut out in the wall that divided his dark cell and the cockpit of the van and marvelled at the sounds emerging with every blink of the orange light. The slight rocking of the vehicle only served to make him more nauseated in between his scattered thoughts. Why haven't they killed him was among the first coherent questions his brain was capable of producing. Why would they want him alive? The light blinked away rapidly and brought about the noise of radio static and two voices fighting over what frequency to tune in. Get the boyfriend. Why was the question coming back then?

Michael groaned as the deafening sound of Channel X pinned him to the ground again. Boyfriend. He recognized the music. He remembered. They thought Trevor would pay whatever price they demanded in exchange for his safety. A bitter chuckle escaped his lips, and he didn't try to stop it for a change. How they could still think that after witnessing their bickering at Brad's grave, Michael wasn't entirely sure. What he knew with paralyzing certainty was that no one was coming to save him, and it was Trevor's fault. In between the blinks of light and throbbing pain, his memories ran back to the moment Brad unknowingly shielded Trevor as it often did in the past ten years and wished once again Dave either pulled the trigger a second later or aimed for Michael's head.

He didn't know whether to be annoyed or thankful when screeching breaks interrupted his daydreaming session. Judging by the high-pitched angry Chinese, they either had some very unfortunate flat tyre, or they ran into trouble. Or, which was something Michael didn't want to think about, they arrived at their lair and discussed the best way to make a chop suey from his guts. He shifted slightly, shaking off the inappropriate thoughts his mind offered him. It did him no good to think about alternate universes where all his problems were gone, and he was roasting under Los Santos sun by his pool.

The sliding door opened, and Michael was immediately hit into the face with a sluggish white light and smell of iron. Just one glance at the tiles plastered all over the walls, hooks idly clinging in the draft, and he knew exactly where they were. A shiny tray with a handsaw grinned right back at him from the centre of silhouettes of men. Oh god, he was so screwed. So fucked over. He made a mental note to kick Trevor in the balls when... IF... he sees him again. A pair of hands grabbed his ankles and pulled him out of the car, his head bouncing off the ground when it hit ice-cold concrete. Michael shivered. Was it really all there was for him? Would the famous Michael Townley, the phantom of the north, end up minced into Flormart burgers? A curse escaped his lips when he imagined the limp, tasteless slice of pickle and an unnaturally orange slice of cheese tiredly melting on his flesh in someone's microwave. He could withstand any torture but that.

"Hey you, you are awake, aren't you?"

Michael winced inwardly and squinted his eyes against the bright light. "Oh, am I? I didn't know! Are you a doctor or something?"

There was a prompt leathern shoe planted into his face. Michael hissed upon contact, the smell of cheap shoe glue imprinting into his memory. So much for a well-meant, friendly sarcasm.

"Ok, I got it. I'll shut up."

"You better should, pig!" There were several snorts around him, obscured by the bright light. Michael's cheek throbbed. If he was a pig about to be made into bacon strips, he swore to take them with him. The guy who kicked him circled around like a shark.

"Now, tell me. Where does your boyfriend keep the drugs?"

Michael just snickered and shrugged as best as his tied arms allowed. The shadows stepped closer, towering above him. He felt another kick; this time, the shoe bit into his ribs, making him hiss.

"ANSWER!"

A pair of hands yanked him onto his knees. The floor crushed into them, a painful reminder he should have picked up yoga when his wife told him so.

"I DON'T KNOW!"

The sole of the shoe pushed into the middle of his back, stretching his muscles to their capacity. Michael's forehead was pearled with sweat. He could barely breathe. Any further, and he was sure he would throw up.

"Do you think we are stupid?"

The pressure worsened. Michael gasped for air.

"We've seen him carry you over the threshold, and we know from a reliable source you share the bed with him,"

A picture of Ron shaking in the middle of a hostile office, surrounded by the same shadows, flashed through Michael's mind before he blinked it away. Another mental note was taken. Kick Ron's balls right after kicking Trevor's.

"AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO CLAIM YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHERE HE KEEPS HIS ASSETS WHEN WE KNOW YOU SQUAT ON HIS DICK EVERY NIGHT???"

"Believe it or not," Michael gasped and tried to turn just enough to look the bastard who stepped on him in the eye, "I don't know anything. Oh, and it's not me who squats; I am more of the top kind of guy."

It occurred to Michael the Chinese guy who led the interrogation had a strange sense of symmetry because before he knew it, he had another pulsating bruise spread over the other side of his ribs. He wanted to think the remark was worth it, even though his body told him otherwise.

"Hang that fag on a hook - let's see if he remembers with more blood in his brain."

For a second, Michael panicked. There were too many hands grabbing and groping him, turning him, and he remembered how he, as a little boy watched spiders do just that with flies in their webs, both horrified and fascinated. He has always considered himself a spider in such situations. Oh, how the turntables! He now was the fly, and the spider was walking away.

"HEY, WAIT!"

The hands kept him floating in the air, and the man stopped in his path, turning around.

"Hm? What is it?"

Michael's eyes rounded, even though he desperately tried to fight the trepidation. "You are terribly wrong about this. I am not his boyfriend, just an acquaintance. I have no idea how you guys are affiliated, but whatever this is about, it all runs down to money, right?"

The man folded his arms on his chest slowly, visibly taking pride in Michael's panic, but his thin lips kept shut.

"I'll pay you if you release me. Generous money, actually. That's what you guys want, right? That's what everybody wants."

The man took a few steps closer, right under one of the beaming tube lights. Michael gulped when he saw the grin on his handsome face. It took him a surprisingly low effort to come close to Michael and grab his jaw in a vice grip.

"Have your whining ever worked on anyone?"

Michael shook his head ever so slightly. He got a shark-like grin in response.

"What we want is to know where your lover, Trevor Phillips, keeps his merchandise and take what is contractually, thus rightfully ours. Tell us, and maybe we will let you go."

His eyes were as black as Trevor's when Michael last saw them, yet there was no shadow of affection in these. The man who looked at him was by all means already dead inside. The hand slipped away from his jaw, but Michael could still feel where his new friend left purple imprints.

"I thought so. Never mind, after the night spent upside down, I hope your point of view will change. HANG HIM!"

All of a sudden, there was a roar of an engine from somewhere above. Michael tried to locate the sound, but it glided away, much to his captors' disdain. There was a cacophony of stomping and foreign words bouncing off the walls, mixing in with the cry of sliding door and hum of the engine coming back.

"HEY!"

His voice was too weak against the noise. No one noticed him twitching; no one cared he was still there.

"HEY, MOTHERFUCKERS, WHAT'S GOING ON!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" was the answer from one of the men, along with a sting of a gunstock on his eye. Michael didn't need answers anymore, though, as the barking of shots and cries of mowed down men crept through the open door. Not so silently, he cursed Trevor for dragging him right into the middle of mafia wars, something he had no desire to see up close. Leaving him in the graveyard alone with a mob? One kick in the balls. Letting them kidnap him and hang him like a piece of ham? Two kicks in the balls. Letting the mafia kill him in a shoot out? Thousands of years of haunting Trevor and another kick in the balls as soon as they both reincarnate. Gunshots from outside closed in on him.

Michael tried to break free from the ropes but only managed to swing back and forth.

"Oh FUCK, I'm going to KILL HIM! YOU'RE SO DEAD, TREVOR!"

"MICHAEL!"

At first, Michael thought he was hearing things. In his state of panic, his brain couldn't get a grip of how the hell Trevor knew where to find him, let alone come and rescue him after he almost shot him. Then he thought that some kind of vessel must have busted in his head, for the familiar voice was accompanied by an even more familiar tall outline topped by a crown of ruffled dark brown hair. He couldn't help but blink rapidly a couple of times, dumbfounded in the middle of the slaughterhouse.

"JESUS, MIKEY!!!"

There were rushed steps, a sound of a gun falling to the ground, followed by two trembling hands cupping his face. Michael closed his eyes and relied on other senses to confirm his suspicion. First, there was a smell of late-night coffees, morning cigarettes, diesel fuel and cheap soap he bought for Trevor not so long ago. Second, there were two big hands, fingers brushing around the edges of his bruises in a way they did years ago when they both were different people, but somehow they did remember how to soothe him. Third, there was a deep-set voice trembling with worry whispering his name. And finally, when Michael opened his eyes again, there were the amber eyes, glazed, terrified and hurt. There was no doubt anymore. Trevor came back for him.

"Oh god, I was so fucking afraid!"

Michael couldn't keep angry when faced with the first shy tears welling in Trevor's eyes, but his ability to speak left him as they fell down and disappeared into the blackness of Trevor's shirt. So instead, he let Trevor's hands caress him, oddly at peace with the gentle touch on his face.

"To think I almost lost you again!" Trevor bit his lip. Something about the droplet of blood blooming under his teeth left Michael breathless. "I was so angry, infuriated much, yes, but then I imagined you laying there with Brad and..."

Trevor gazed into Michael's eyes with such urgency it immediately reminded him of their first kill. The fear mixed in with the red gleam in his eyes, the sense of irreparable, coming back from the past to haunt them. Lost in thought, Michael didn't register the swift movement right in front of him and was caught by surprise by a feeling of having his lips pressed against Trevor's.

They were hot, trembling, and tasted of cigarettes and blood, a mixture Michael desperately tried to forget about. Where they first gently touched his, as if they couldn't believe he was still alive and well, they pressed harder in mere seconds, making Michael's eyes flutter shut. It was difficult for him to admit, but Trevor's lips were the only drug Michael craved for long and lonely ten years. For once, he let his nagging reason get hushed by the shy movement of Trevor's lips, and all the hatred slipped his mind momentarily.

At length, Trevor broke the kiss, and still holding onto Michael's cheeks, he gently propped his forehead against Michael's. Michael let him take a break, listening to his shallow breathing, and their thoughts were buzzing almost audibly where their skin touched.

"Oh god, to think I almost lost you..."

"It's ok, T; I'm still hanging on."

"Yeah, but what if I didn't turn around and follow that convoy? What if they killed you?"

"You could say I would hang around for a bit, and then they would kick me out."

Trevor raised his head and furrowed a bit. "What's that with you and emphasize on hanging?"

Michael raised eyebrows at him and waited till the realization would dawn on Trevor. It took three seconds for Trevor's eyes to round and his mouth to form a perfect 'o'.

"Oh, yeah, uh, I see. Wait a moment, sugar."

Michael's feelings on Trevor holding a knife were usually on the border between panic and deep fucking rooted urge to run for the hills. When Trevor approached him and swung it around his face, Michael was momentarily inclined to the second option, twitching nervously under the cold gleam of the knife. Trevor eyed him with palpable exhaustion.

"Stop wiggling goddammit, do you want to get cut?"

Michael pouted at him.

"Hey, don't give me THAT face, pork chop! It wasn't MY idea to tie you up and hook you here!"

Trevor's knife slowly cut through ropes, murmuring as it bit through thick threads. The very tip brushed against Michael's leg, leaving goosebumps in the wake of its cold touch.

"But I have to say this is kinda hot, eh?" Trevor's grin was back, the brightest light in the room. "How about we try it again when we get back home?"

"What the FUCK are you talking about, Trevor?"

Trevor leant in, still grinning, his knife gliding against Michael's waist.

"I mean, I will send Patricia shopping,"

The knife dipped lower, slipping under Michael's shirt. He gasped, inwardly cursing for giving Trevor the tiniest bit of gratification.

"then I'll take some nice silk rope,"

The dull side of the blade ran through chest hair lush between trembling peaks of his nipples.

"tie you up and make some sweet, sweet love to you, cupcake!"

Trevor's lips were so close, his breath on Michael's lips again, who was petrified with anticipation. His heart hammered against the patch of goosebumps on his chest, and if the last bit of rope didn't snap and let him slide off the hook, Michael would have leaned in himself and stole that kiss. But, instead of the sweet release, he was sent to the cold ground head first, folding like a rag doll upon impact.

Not only Michael sustained another hit on his head, swearing and kicking around, not unlike the turtle Amanda bought for the kids and that he and Jimmy used to torture by putting it on its back, laughing about the way it tried to turn over, but it was Trevor who was laughing his lungs out, folded in half. Michael tried to stab him with a menacing glare, but it didn't help in the slightest. Gathering the last shred of strength, Michael scraped to his feet and balling fists full of Trevor's jacket, he threw them both against deadly green tiles.

Trevor's laugh died out soon after the impact, but the grin remained despite Michael pinning him down. At first, Michael's intention was to beat him up, partially to let the frustration out, partially to get revenge for the stolen kiss, but he was taken aback when Trevor's hands closed over his fists and squeezed gently.

"Whatcha gonna do, Mikey?" Trevor uttered in an irresistibly husky voice that sent shivers of excitement to all the wrong places, "Beat me for saving your life?" Michael growled.

"You fucking..." but the words he wanted to say got sucked back into the vortex of emotion running free in his ribcage. No, beating wasn't what Michael's mind supplied him with when it came to what to do with Trevor. He could barely resist the vivid pictures of Trevor, hair running down his slender back, undressing in front of him, leaving marks on his neck and long scratches speaking volumes about how Michael liked to celebrate their victories. And then, on that day, Trevor was there. Older, but just as tempting, daring, enclosing Michael in the smell of both freedom and slavery with each exhale. Michael took a deep breath. He couldn't help but give in to the craving.

Trevor yelped when Michael crashed his lips with his so hard their teeth clinked together. That was the thrill he wanted to relive, and as soon as Trevor's hands rested against his lower back, pulling him closer, Michael surged deeper and dared to brush his tongue against Trevor's. The choked moan he managed to draw out fueled his fingers in their haste, letting go of fabric and instead bury themselves into Trevor's hair, pulling him closer. Trevor's skin could have combusted any second with the heat it emitted, and Michael couldn't resist yanking him closer, eager to get burned once again.

"Mikey... Jesus Christ!"

Trevor could barely breathe, so much Michael could tell by the heaving of chest caught between the wall and his own body. He was proud of the trembling in Trevor's touch, of shallow breaths and flushed cheeks right in front of him. He still got it.

"What?" Michael grinned impishly and let one of his hands slide down Trevor's back and squeeze him. Trevor yelped in surprise but didn't try to wriggle out of the embrace and even giggled when Michael let his hand rest there. Trevor leaned in closer, his breath sending shivers down Michael's spine as it touched his ear.

"Let's go home, cupcake."

[bump1nthen1ght]

Deep Blue Sea (Shark Merman x Reader) Chapter 2

Pairing: Gender Neutral! Reader/Shark Merman

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Soulmate AU

Warning: Slight description of Animal Violence. Nothing too graphic, but if the genre of stuff you see on Shark week isn’t for you, skip over the part denoted by the *******

Word Count: 3530 words

Summary: You learn more about Cruz and about yourself

Prologue

Chapter 1

“-and then he just leaves. What do I even do with that?”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh,” Your roommate hums, refilling up your glass of wine. “And you don’t have his number, so you can’t call or text him right?” You take a large sip, nodding and trying not to spill wine on your pajamas.

Well, kind of.

You hadn’t told anyone about Cruz, not even your family, because frankly you didn't know where to start. But when you walked into the apartment, sullen and dragging your feet, your roommate, Caitlyn, had offered wine, ice cream, and a willing ear. That's when the floodgates opened (with some modified details, of course).

“We’re meeting at our usual place in a couple days, I just…”Another sip of wine,”...hate sitting here, not knowing what he’s feeling, what I did, how I’m feeling.” You set down your glass and throw yourself back against the couch, sinking into the cushions. “I feel so stupid, like a fucking teenager, and I hate it.” Caitlyn sets her own wine glass down and nudges the half-empty ice cream carton towards you.

“It’s for the best your feeling all this now, then you can come at ‘im all composed and articulate. Really throw him off his game.” You grab a spoon and the carton, Caitlyn patting your shoulder as you take a pathetic bite.

“You’re right but I-I don’t even know. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“Sounds like this guy’s got you hooked. At least that’s a start right?” Caitlyn hums, pressing her chin into her palm. “To be completely honest, Sam took a couple days to warm up to me. And I never told her this, but she gave me hardcore pretentious vibes on our first date.”

Caitlyn gives a long spiel about her awkward first soulmate date (“Seriously, who brings up ‘the superiority of vinyl’ on the first date!”), and if you were in the mind to be a good roommate, or hadn’t heard this story before, you might’ve listened closer. But only one question was occupying your thoughts; Did Cruz like you?

--------

You arrive at the boardwalk an hour early. You don’t immediately go to the tidepool, instead choosing to take a long walk on the beach, taking a moment to calm your racing heart and collect your thoughts.

You like Cruz. You like him as much as two people who just met can, despite a less-than-romantic first impression. But does he like you?

You never thought you would have to ask your soulmate that.

There’s a small thwap as you slap your cheeks, heat simmering your skin even as the cold water laps at your feet.

This is ridiculous. You’ve talked twice. Caitlyn and Sam have a thriving relationship (You should know, you share a wall with Caitlyn) and even they got off to a rocky start.

The pit grows in your stomach, thinking of Cruz’s disinterested stare as he swims into the open ocean. The weight of it almost sinks to your toes.

You shake your head, slapping your cheeks once more.

Today is a new day. Just go through the motions _____.

You reach the tidepool, setting down your picnic blanket and bag. You grab one of your notebooks and prop it open as you bite into an apple. You’re 30 minutes early, might as well get some reading done.

The waves crash and pull against the rocks, pleasant studying ambience, but is interrupted by several clicks and abrupt, out of rhythm, splashes. You look up, immediately in awe of the sight.

About 50 feet away from the entrance to the tidepool is a pod of dolphins, breaching out of the water. You grab a pencil, your phone, and your notebook, tiptoeing through the tidepool to get a better look.

Good choice wearing water shoes today.

From closer up, you notice the distinct lack of dorsal fins and realize they must be Northern White Whale Dolphins. 60 of them have congregated in a group, most likely scouting for easy food or taking a rest.

Their pod is pretty small though. What are they doing so close to the shore?

The pod continues to play as you take shaky photos with your camera, trying to balance your notebook and pencil in the crook of your elbow. Through your viewfinder, you spot a familiar shape, not 30 feet from the pod, peeking his head out of the water. Cruz’s black eyes narrow into focus before he fully submerges. Your eyes widen as you lower your camera.

The water above Cruz rushes as he swims closer and closer to the pod. You tuck your phone back into your pocket as you finagle your way up to a nearby rock. You need a better view, and it might be best to be out of the water while this happens.

The dolphins haven’t noticed Cruz yet, still gliding along the waves. There's a quick flash of his strong back before he dives even deeper into the water. The rock slightly digs into your stomach as you lean over to get a better look.

What I wouldn’t give for a drone right now.

Before long, there is a burst of clicks, the largest dolphins quickly surrounding the group and issuing them away. They’ve spotted Cruz, but one is a little too slow.

Cruz’s dorsal fin cuts through the water, close enough to the surface that you can make out the details of his determined face. His eyes have latched onto the slowest dolphin and his speed increases exponentially. His long tail flicks back and forth as he gains on it.

*******

The dolphin flips into the air, trying to gain distance. But like a flash Cruz’s large hand shoots out of the water, getting a hold of the dolphin’s tail, and pulls. You see his shoulder and tricep bulge as the dolphin thrashes in his grip. His head once again breaches the water as he digs his other clawed hand into the dolphin’s side, raking into it as he pulls the dolphin closer to him. The two tussle and wrestle against each other, going in and out of the water as the dolphin tries to push Cruz away.

But Cruz is limber, keeping a tight grip on the dolphin as he maneuvers his body alongside it. His torso raises up as he pushes the dolphin down under the water and into submission. Cruz then yanks the dolphin’s front upwards and out of the water, grip still tight on it’s rear, before opening up his maw and tearing into the dolphin’s neck. He rips his head back and forth until the dolphin stills, a large pool of red slowly cascading around them.

*******

Your pencil hangs loosely in your fingers as you watch, eyes locked on Cruz. You think the struggle must’ve lasted only 20 seconds, but in the moment, it felt like hours. Cruz’s chest heaves as he takes another bite, serrated teeth easily ripping the flesh, as casual as the lobster roll from your last meeting.

Blood drips from his mouth and covers his claws. His cards his fingers back through his hair, leaving crimson streaks that shine against his black locks. Cruz bites off another mouthful before heaving the dolphin onto his shoulder.

As a large science nerd, you’ve always enjoyed watching nature in progress. But a new, exciting, vaguely uncomfortable feeling stirs in your gut as you watch Cruz suck in his fingers, picking out stray bits of meat from his large, sharp teeth. A feeling like a shiver rushing down your spine and heat in between your legs.

Oh my god. Why was that the hottest thing I’ve ever seen?

Cruz turns away and submerges himself, giving you a nice shot of his defined back muscles as he sums up his hunt. You can’t take your eyes off his form moving just below the water, even as your 5 PM alarm goes off.

You knew Cruz was larger, and far stronger, than you, but seeing him in his element reminds you just how easily he could tear you apart.

God, and I kind of want him to.

As he swims further away from the shore, you see two black dots in the distance. You take out your phone again and open up the camera to zoom in.

Speaking of huge. Holy shit.

The focus is a little blurry, but it’d be hard for you to miss the massive mermaids. With only their shoulders and up out of water, they still tower over Cruz by at least a head each. Both have long black hair, intertwined with what looks to be seaweed and various types of shells. The one on the right is holding two larger masses over her shoulders, positioned the way a lumberjack would hold a fallen tree. Cruz reemerges with his dolphin in tow, frighteningly small.

Cruz’s gestures indicate they’re having a conversation, mostly one-sided. The dolphin on Cruz’s back bounces as he talks animatedly, his hunt small when compared to the two weights the right mermaid carries. With your old phone you can only catch a glimpse of the left mermaid’s lips moving. Cruz’s energy dims as she continues and he seems to sink deeper into the water.

The left mermaid holds out her hand. Cruz hesitates, then throws his dolphin into her arms. She swings it over like it weighs nothing and then shakes her hand as if to shoo him away. The right one rumbles with laughter. Cruz nods, solemn as the two submerge and swim away.

Cruz stays there for a minute, looking out at the horizon. When he finally turns, his movements are lethargic as he swims towards the tidepool.

You scramble down from the rock and quickly tiptoe  back to your blanket, fumbling to stuff your notebook and pencil back into your bag.

Cruz glides in, his eyes not meeting yours, locked in thought.

“Hey Cruz.” You wave, struggling to catch your breath from your impromptu rush.

Cruz slowly looks up at you, still slightly downcast.

“Hey. Sorry I’m late.” You  shake your head furiously.

“It’s no problem! I got her kind of early, and then I saw you hunting and didn’t want to bother.” Cruz’s eyes widen a bit, before her recoils into himself and sheepishly rubs the back of his neck.

“Oh, sorry. You probably didn’t want to see that….” You once again shake your hands and head back and forth.

“No! No I-, I actually thought it was super cool!” Cruz quirks his eyebrows.

“What?”

“Yeah! It was like my own personal Shark week. Like wow, you looked amazing out there.”

Cruz’s cheek tint a cerulean blue, the corners of his lips turning up at the sides as he fiddles with his fingers.

“And those dolphins are the fastest kind around here, but bam! You were on them like a firecracker, kind of wish I had a slow motion camera.” You laugh, before realizing Cruz probably didn’t understand half of your analogies. “You looked uh, you were really good at it.”

Well duh, you idiot. He’s a shark.

“Thank you.” Cruz shoots you a tiny smile, blush still running across his face and down his neck. The ensuing silence is only slightly uncomfortable, as Cruz’s blush stays strong and you're sure you develop one of your own. You try and focus on something else to calm down, but catch a glimpse of his biceps, and fail miserably.

“Oh, that’s right.” Cruz reaches over and sticks his hand in between two nearby rocks. His brow furrows before his eyes light up, and he pulls out a….handbag?

It’s loosely sewn together with kelp, made of some sort of seal skin and closed with a seashell button. Cruz pops it open and begins to rummage inside.

“Gotcha.” Cruz pulls something out of the bag, before turning and hiding it behind his back.

“Uh, whatcha got there?” Cruz smiles, his blue blush painting his face from top to tip.

“I found this thing and thought you um….might want to look at it?” Cruz pulls his arm in front, revealing a reflective white shell, just a bit longer than his palm.

“It’s not a crab, but I thought it was neat looking so….”

You slowly move towards him, gesturing to ask if you can hold the shell. Cruz nods, almost shoving it into your hand.

The color is completely white, sharp, almost polished-looking. It carves into several rings before sloping into a point. It’s empty, the inside free of any sand or tiny algae.

“Do you know what it’s called?”

You look back to Cruz and nearly brush your nose against his. You realize how hot his body heat is as he leans over you to look at the shell. Your shoulders just barely touch.

As if dipped into boiling water, your face alights into red and your body convulses to jerk away from the heat.

“Yeah-Yes! Actually I do, it’s-it looks like a Kellets W-Welk. Well, the remains of one’s shell anyway.”

Cruz stays close, letting out a small “Ohhh.” as he squints his eyes to get a closer look. It’s the most on-land you’ve seen him, with the water lapping at the base of his tail. Sitting down, your head only comes to his clavicle. The uncomfortable burning stirs in your gut.

“Is it a hermit crab?”

“Not, it’s a sea snail. They're not really on land like crabs.” You brush your thumbs over the shell’s ridges. “There are quite a few varieties of sea snails around here, lots of beautiful shells. Their babies look pretty cool too.”

Cruz nods, eyes intent, and it reminds you of the elementary kids you saw when working at the aquarium. Your heart skips as you futilely try to fight the smile on your face.

“Can you eat ‘em?”

You chuckle and Cruz’s face grows a darker shade of blue. “Yeah, you can. You’ve got a good eye for snacks huh?”

Cruz pouts playfully, blue still awash on his cheeks. “Maybe, but I’m not always thinking about food.” Just as he finishes, you hear his stomach rumble. You stifle your laugh with your hand and Cruz grabs his stomach angrily. “Sh-Shut up! It’s almost dinner!”

The two mermaids flash in your mind. You see Cruz handing over the dolphin as they swim away. Then you see Cruz, furiously cracking open crabs with a single-minded purpose. The smile drops from your chin.

How often does that happen?

Cruz was small for a Great White. You hadn’t even thought about why. You don’t even know if you want to.

“They’re pretty tasty, but their shells are a lot more fun.” Cruz furrows his brow again. “Here, let me show you.” You scoot yourself closer to him, putting the white shell against his ear. His eyes widen and he leans backwards a bit from your closeness, but the shell still lingers by his ear. “Do you hear it?”

Cruz stills, furrowing his brows even deeper, but then they rise in surprise. He leans back towards you, tentatively grabbing your wrist and pulling the shell closer.

“Its-”

“The ocean.”

The same childlike wonder from before flushes on his face as he looks at you, bringing your stomach a flutter. Cruz presses his head down closer to the shell, the bottom of his cheek now touching your palm. Cruz’s skin is cool against yours, slightly damp, and you feel the hint of roughness as his chin brushes against your wrist.

“How-How did you-”

“My mom showed me once. I mean, technically it’s the echo of the blood coursing through your ear, which reverberates and sounds like waves crashing. But it’s still a neat trick.”

“Oh, I see….”

From this close, you can see the small freckles which dapple Cruz’s cheeks, peppering across the bridge of his nose and up onto his forehead. Specks of dark blue, black, and green contrasts against his light gray skin, like the setting sun catching the pulling tides.

In the moment, you long to touch them.

So you do.

It’s so….soft.

As your thumb brushes up his jaw, the mottled colors are overwhelmed and overshadowed by Cruz’s furious blush. Cruz moves away so quickly that he unfurls his grip on a nearby rock and loses his balance. He braces himself and hisses as his thin skin nicks the corner of a rock.

“Oh my god, I’m so-so sorry! I just- oh my goodness are you okay?” You retract the shell closer to your chest, your other hand outstretched to steady Cruz. When he flinches away, you pull it back. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have invaded your personal space like that.”

Cruz's chest heaves but he doesn’t move or say anything. From the corner of your eye you spot a tiny bit of blood leaking onto the rock.

“Oh shit, wait I-I should have something.” You whip around to your backpack, shuffling and pushing aside your notebook to find your emergency first aid kit. Water wells in the corner of your eyes as you frantically search. You desperately try to will the tears away.

Stupid, stupid, stupid stupid-

Your inner insults are interrupted when your fingers brush against the familiar plastic fabric pouch. Before turning back to Cruz, you hastily wipe your eyes.

“Here, this should help.” You hold out the small thing of gauze and an antiseptic wipe. Cruz slowly takes them, fiddling with the gauze until it's undone. He picks up the antiseptic package with the tips of his forefinger and thumb, eyes squinting as he tries to read the small text.

“That’s to clean the wound with, to get the gross stuff out.” Cruz’s eyes narrow even further, brushing his thumb over the paper wrapping. Tentatively, he plops the unwrapped wipe on his wound. He looks back, clearly confused. “You have to unwrap it first, then wipe it.” His blush returns as he jerks his eyes away from you, embarrassed with you watching.

“I could do-”

“I’ve got it.” Cruz snaps, finding the perforation and ripping it off quickly.

“Okay, but it’s gonna sting-”

“Ow, shit!” Cruz curses as he presses the wipe against the apex of his cut, whining and biting his lower lip.

“If it’s hurting that means it’s working.” Cruz nods, but he hastily wipes the wound and sighs as he crumples it up.Cruz wraps his cut with medical precision, reminding you of boxers right before a match. He cuts the gauze short with a snip of his teeth

“Wow, you're really good at that.” Cruz snorts.

“I don’t need any jackasses going into a frenzy anytime soon. That would be the perfect end to this shit day.”

Your heart freezes as your stomach drops, and you recoil into yourself. The nausea of guilt washes over you. And then that makes you feel even worse, and so the cycle continues.

Cruz notices your sheepish, downtrodden stare, and frantically waves his good hand.

“Wait, shit, no, thats-thats not what I meant. Uh…” He loses track of his sentence, mouth agape as he looks for words. “I mean….thank you.” He fiddles with his claws. “For the bandage, a-and the food a couple days ago. This is...nice.”

You’re almost embarrassed by how quickly his praise perks you up, rolling over your tense muscles like a masseuse.

“Thank you for the shell, it was very thoughtful of you.” Cruz sputters.

“I just passed by it on a swim, it wasn’t a big deal. The reefs got a ton of them, so, y’know.”

You don’t know, but it’s cute watching him fumble with his words. He’s so bashful for an apex predator you saw kill a dolphin not 20 minutes ago.

“I could even-well, it’s close that we- we could go sometime? You and me?” Cruz fiddles with his claws once more, and you wonder if it’s a nervous compulsion. “It’s a little ways away from the coast but with me carrying you, we could probably see a lot.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.” Cruz’s nervous smile is much more lopsided than his regular one. It accentuates the dimple on his left cheek.

“I would love that.”

-----------

You decide to meet up early on Saturday to get a head start on the sunlight. You leave the boardwalk giddy, your nerves tingling pleasantly with pre-plan jitters. All this energy means you might have to spill to Caitlyn once more, just to let it all out. You’ll most likely tell her you two are getting breakfast by the beach, maybe stop by an aquarium.

Looking at all the coral and the crustaceans. Just me, in Cruz’s arms-

You stop, your nerves bubbling up under your skin, like steam is blowing out of your ears as you think about what is in store for Saturday.

You’re still not sure how Cruz feels about you. But there isn’t a show of a doubt now; You have a crush on him.

----------

Cruz sits in the water, cracking open a leftover oyster he had left in his bag for emergencies. Emergencies like being so flustered he can't possibly go back to the pod, not without looking incredibly suspicious.

He brushes his thumb over his cheek, and it’s almost like you're there again.

So….soft.

[thosewickedlovelies]

An Ode To Marcus Moreno’s Arms

Pairing: Marcus Moreno x GN!Reader

Rating: Mature

Summary: You’re a training specialist in swordsmanship at Heroics Headquarters, so you see a lot of Marcus Moreno.

Tags: Reader has a vivid (sexual) imagination, but there’s only a few brief sections.

Word Count: 2,272

A/N: This started out as an ode to his arms, but his arms are connected to the rest of him, so. Alternative title: In Appreciation of Marcus Moreno

My assumption/headcanon of his powers are telekinesis, plus general exceptional physical prowess and weapons skills? Idk, we weren’t given much, but those feel like solid abilities for someone implied to be the super among super heroes. Idk what this is but I regret nothing.

More content/worldbuilding set in this universe 💗

--

Marcus Moreno’s arms were capable of many things.

You knew this because you saw them on an almost-daily basis. You were one of the training specialists at Heroics Headquarters, one of a large, ever-expanding staff of instructors who were experts in their respective fields of combat or weapons. Your job, essentially, was to be a superhero minus the powers- and use your abilities to keep the Heroics in top form.

Your expertise was swordsmanship, which meant you spent more time with Marcus than any of the other heroes. All of the physical trainers and specialists sparred with the Heroics in mock villain showdowns, but you also helped them hone specific skills. You were here because your skillset and abilities matched Marcus’s.

So you’ve had plenty of opportunity to behold his arms at work.

One would think that they’d be most enticing mid-action, but it was a cosmically ironic fact that there was never really a wrong moment to ogle. How that man could make merely unsheathing his swords so erotic was beyond you.

But by now you’d seen it from every angle. You were as familiar with Marcus’s technique as you were with your own, and knew well the cycle of muscle contractions which rippled up his whole body. It started with his legs: setting his stance, primed and poised on the balls of his feet. Then every muscle in his torso, his clinging t-shirts sliding over taut flesh as they rode up with the lifting of his arms- his arms. Biceps suddenly incredibly present and visibly straining past barely-existent sleeves, tendons flexing rigid and obvious, a tangle of pathways you wanted to map with your tongue.

This show was best when he had started his day with tactical theory sessions, because then his expressive face got involved. Oh yes, it wasn’t enough for him just to be built the way he was, his face had to go and be attractive as well.

Tedious strategy debates with Miracle Guy during these sessions never failed to get under his skin- you could always tell how much steam Marcus had to let off based on the clench of his jaw. Or the way he’d drag his bottom lip over his teeth, nostrils flaring in an almost-snarl. When that happened you knew he gripped the hilts of his swords a little tighter, because you’d see the ridges in his wrist dip and pull like piano strings perpendicular to the line of his gloves. The blades would sing little sharper on those days, his arms freeing them in a jerk rather than their usual smooth, deliberate slide.

It was amazing you ever made it beyond unsheathing your weapons.

But oh, were you glad you did, because watching Marcus Moreno fight was truly a treat. The control he had over his body was remarkable; even when his limbs flung and stretched, they were to ready to contract again at a second’s notice. “Fight” was really too limited of a term for it- Marcus manipulated his body in an incredible harmony of mind and muscle, using his weapons- including his telekinesis- as extensions of himself.

You wondered sometimes how fine his control over his telekinesis was- if he could use it on himself. If he did use it somehow to give his blows that devastating extra speed and strength.

It was easy to understand, after witnessing him, why battle is often described as a dance.

On particularly ruthless training days, his tan skin would gleam with sweat. It would bead and trickle along the pulsing veins in his arms, drawing your attention even more, and salacious scenes would flash behind your eyelids: those same glistening forearms visible in your peripherals as they box you against a wall, that same intent glitter in his dark eyes as they come closer and closer, breathless, his chest heaving into yours-

You never let on to any of this though. You were a master of the blade, and had trained too thoroughly to let the appearance of an opponent get to you. Besides that fact, you would never do anything to risk your place with the Heroics. Although you were an authority figure, they were still superheroes, and thus unlike anyone else you’d worked with- it made for a challenging, stimulating dynamic in which you were constantly both instructor and student.

Even outside of the training arena, Marcus’s arms were a sight.

Holding data pads or writing utensils as he led the Heroics in discussions of group tactics, deftly manipulating characters onscreen or scribbling things on a whiteboard. Sometimes he would go to these sessions straight from physical training, and the cooling sweat on his skin would raise goosebumps all along the smooth flesh.

You observed how gently his arms could move in yet other circumstances.

Training specialists often joined in when the Heroics were given new gadgets to play with. And although these days tended to be slower, they still made you sweat. Watching the caution with which Marcus handled the gear at first, the slow care he reserved for things with which he was still becoming familiar. The precision and that control he always kept- even when his frustration slipped out in the form of snarky remarks, he was always conscious of his movements. As he gained confidence, the surety would return to his motions, his shoulders squaring in quiet triumph- his broad, broad shoulders, which you had imagined far too many times propping up your thighs while his hands and mouth were otherwise engaged between them.

You wondered if Marcus would treat your body like something new he had to master. If his hands would probe and caress with the same thoroughness. If the same wicked delight would steal over his features as he learned how best to coax you toward his desired goals; if his fascinated smirk would change after the thousandth time he had taken you apart.

It didn’t help that these sessions highlighted that he was a kind, competent teacher. His teammates exasperated him sometimes, but Marcus was the first to step in when one of them was struggling. A light touch to rearrange their stance, an encouraging word or smile. If you hadn’t personally felt the power thrumming under his skin, you would have never guessed that such a soft man was capable of his immense abilities.

Occasionally you had to remind yourself not to get all dopey-eyed when he was instructing the kids. If you thought he was patient with the adult Heroics, it was nothing compared to how he interacted with their younger counterparts. Equally firm and joking in turn, he taught them every trick he knew while desperately hoping they would never have to use the knowledge.

Some days were easier for him than others- the times they practiced with weapons could have unexpectedly diverting consequences. Marcus let Guppy hold his katanas, once- she was fully capable with her shark strength, but the vision of the diminutive girl brandishing swords that were taller than she was, her face aglow with a ferocious grin, had all the others in fits.

You swore he was suppressing laughter himself as he carefully took them away from her. His hands, already distracting enough, looked comically vast compared to hers as he delicately maneuvered them to pluck the swords from her grasp. Something about the sight of his thick fingers, resettling themselves around the hilts with reflexive ease, made your mouth dry.

His fingers squeezed other things, too, and it made flames leap low in your belly every time.

Lime wedges, on the rare occasions he indulged in drinks stronger than wine at the Headquarters bar. His friends’s shoulders, in affection and farewell, after relaxing with them at said bar following hard days. You longed to be one of those who Marcus slung an arm around in jest, a laugh shaking his shoulders and sparkling in his eyes. Would his skin be as warm as it was while swinging a weapon? What would his body feel like softened in mirth, instead of vibrating with focus?

You didn’t blame him for his more formal attitude during work hours. His days were busy, and you rarely saw him off the training mats. You had shared a few evenings with him on nights when the bar was quieter, though. He was perfectly friendly, treating you just like anyone else he was getting to know.

Tonight was one of those quieter nights, but you didn’t do more than cast a quick glance at the small group sitting in the corner before slumping to the bar. You were worn out today, and just wanted something strong and solitary before going home.

You sighed into the numbing wash of your drink, your eyes drifting shut. Nobody would bother you this evening; it wasn’t that kind of atmosphere.

Except- the barstool next to yours scraped against the floor.

You inhaled deeply, preparing to politely rip into whatever idiot was assuming you needed company- only to have the words struck off your lips by the apprehensive brown eyes of Marcus Moreno.

“Hey,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’m sorry to bother you. You can tell me to march right back to my table if you like, but uh, I just wanted to see if you were all right. After today.”

You could see that he genuinely meant it- he was perched only partially on the barstool, ready to take off again if you said the word. But his gaze was curious, concerned.

You brow furrowed. “After today?” you echoed, too caught off-guard to think of anything else. What could he mean? Nothing special had happened today. He’d disarmed you, sure, but it wasn’t the first time that had occurred in the eight months you’d been working with him.

Marcus shifted uncertainly. “You just seemed...tired. Reflexes slower than usual,” he noted wryly. “And, well. We have matching bags.” He pointed to his face, where dark shadows were visible beneath his eyes. He offered a self-deprecating, tentative smile, conscious that he was treading in new territory.

It takes you a minute to process. In all the time you’ve spent observing his fighting techniques to perfection, you’d never considered that he could have been using those same opportunities to observe you. It provokes a funny feeling in your chest, twisting your breath up in your lungs like tangled ribbon.

“Oh,” you murmur, surprised but unoffended by his mention of the bags under your eyes. “Well...I am tired today, I guess.” You took a sip of your drink, gauging his interest, hesitating before continuing. “My sister broke her hip, so she just moved in with me for while she heals. It’s been...a stressful transition,” you admitted.

He angles himself toward you, attention fully committed and eyes widening in sympathy. “Oh gosh, that’s terrible. Do you need some time off? I can clear it with the boss for you, work with Santino for however long you need.” He seemed to straighten up, as if ready to spring away and take care of it the moment you answered.

“No, please,” you chuckled in appreciation of his earnestness. “I might need a few shorter days, but neither of us need me fussing over her 24/7.” Both you and your sister were strongly independent. It meant that you had often been at odds when you were younger, but you were all each other had now, and had made efforts to improve your relationship.

Marcus nodded in understanding, settling again. He seemed at a loss for if he should leave or say something else, so you made the choice for him.

“Tired of getting your ass kicked in my lessons, Moreno? You know Santino doesn’t work you as hard.” Your fellow swordsmanship instructor was slightly younger, a newer hire who was still a little bit in awe of the Heroics.

You didn’t usually speak so flippantly to him, but his eyebrows arced high at the challenge, a smile tugging on his lips. “Sounds like somebody needs a reminder of who kicked whose ass today, ma’am.” Rolling right along with your apparent newfound playfulness.

You pinpointed, suddenly, what was different about him tonight, why this interaction felt different compared to your others. There’d always been an air of deference about him before, as if even outside of the arena he considered you a superior. But tonight he was just treating you like a peer, a regular person. Maybe it had taken your excessively dragging day for him to come to terms with the fact that you were a regular person, but the ice finally felt like it had broken between you and you just...talked, after that. For longer than both of you probably intended.

“Shoot, I have to go get Missy,” Marcus realized, catching sight of his watch. “But you- you’ll be here again? I mean, I see you here a lot.” He stumbled over his words.

Did he? It was true that you were often at the bar at the same time, but for him to acknowledge that meant that he actually noticed you. Remembered your presence.

“Yeah, I’m here pretty regularly,” you confirmed, cautiously hopeful.

“Good. I mean, I’ll see you, then- next time.” His voice rasped low, but there was a nervousness in his expression. He twisted his jacket between his large hands.

He wanted to see you again. “Yes.” You smiled at him, surprise and pleasure shining through. “I’ll see you next time,” you said with conviction.

His eyes crinkled in answer, and your breath caught. Your ordered yourself not to watch him leave the room.

You drove home with a quiet grin on your face.