#these were so fun!! so many easter eggs

[mayhapsmayo]

What if HotGuy: The Seige was inspired from an 80's superhero comic book? And what if that comic book had an ad page in it?

[softspiderling]

god, it's brutal out here | r.c.

summary:

“And yet you’re still thinking of your ex,” Barry finished the sentence, rubbing his chin. “Why don’t you get back together with her?”

“She doesn’t want me.”

“God, fucking Country Club,” Barry snickered. “You’re fucking dense.”

OR; 5 times your friends share their unsolicited opinions about your and Rafe’s break up.

pairing: rafe cameron x reader

warnings: mention of c*caine

word count: 5,4k

author’s note: the long awaited sequel of so obsessed with your ex! this can be read as a standalone fic, but there are little easter eggs hidden all over, which will be more fun if you read the first part! it's a little bit longer than I had planned, but there was no way around it. I hope you enjoy it so so much!!!!

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

I Wheezie

“Hey Wheeze.”

You had accepted the facetime without looking at your phone, keeping it rested on a shelf while you were halfway into your closet, trying to find a dress.

“Does Rafe have a new girlfriend??”

Pausing, you shut your eyes, letting out a silent exhale before you picked up the phone, giving Wheezie a wry smile through the camera.

“Nice to see you too.”

The girl only looked at you, unimpressed and her arms crossed. You sighed, running a hand through your hair, knowing you didn’t have a way out of this conversation. Grabbing your phone, you sat down on your bed.

“Yes, Rafe has a new girlfriend.”

“I knew it!” Wheezie shrieked, throwing her arms up, and you only shook your head in exasperation. The tendency for drama clearly was in the Cameron genes. Wheezie frowned, getting closer to your phone as she looked at you.

“Why am I more upset about this than you are?”

You bit back another sigh. “Because Rafe and I are broken up, Wheeze. He’s allowed to date other people, matter of fact, I’m really glad that he has moved on.”

“Bullshit!”

“Wheezie!”

Wheezie rolled her eyes, but she sat back down, crossing her arms over her chest again. “I don’t like her.”

“You don’t even know her,” you sighed, rubbing your temple, feeling a migraine coming on.

“This is crazy!” Wheezie exclaimed. “You and Rafe never should’ve broken up in the first place! Rafe is probably only dating her to make you jealous so you’ll take him back.”

You couldn’t help but snort at that, Wheezie clearly watched way too many rom-coms. She frowned at you.

“Why are you laughing? This isn’t funny, this is, like, super un-funny.”

“Because, Wheeze,” you started, plucking a feather out of your pillow. “This isn’t some 90’s rom-com where I see Rafe with Rebecca and suddenly a sad song is playing. This is real life. We are broken up.”

“I still don’t understand why.”

“Remember when we used to fight all the time? And I was just always sad?”

Wheezie was quiet, her lips still pursed. “Yeah. But that doesn’t mean anything. Couples fight all the time, doesn’t mean you just have to break up.”

“Yes, couples fight all the time and they don’t have to break up, but it was the right decision for me and Rafe,” you said, your tone final. Wheezie looked at you, her frown slowly smoothing down.

“If you say so,” she muttered, not quite convinced. She stared down at her chipped finger nails, before she looked up again. “Can we still talk?”

Your eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Of course we can still talk, why wouldn’t we?”

“I don’t know… I mean, you’re gonna find a new boyfriend and maybe he has a younger sister as well and then I’ll just be your ex’s younger sister.”

“Wheeze,” you said, fondly, knowing where she was coming from. You had been in her life for most of her teenage years, it must be weird not having you around anymore. “We’ll still talk, no matter if I get a new boyfriend or not, even if he has a cool younger sister, or even three.”

Wheezie smiled, rolling her eyes at you. “You’re so dumb.”

“Yet you still want me around,” you teased. “How about you, Sar and I go get some ice cream and then to the movies this weekend?”

“Sounds good,” Wheezie replied with a big smile. She paused when someone called her name from somewhere in the house, before she turned back to her phone. “I gotta go, Rose needs me. I’ll text you later.”

“Alright, Wheeze. Talk to you later, be good.”

Wheezie waved into the camera, before the facetime ended. Your smile dropped and you tossed your phone on your bed with a sigh, letting yourself fall back on your bed. Even six months after the break up it was still hard to talk about Rafe, and now that he had a new girlfriend, you thought it’d be easier to get over him, but all it did was hurt more. It didn’t help that Rafe was still texting you every now and then. Nothing scandalous, just small texts, but you never replied. You both agreed on no contact after the break up, because you thought it’d give you a better opportunity to heal. You should’ve known he’d break it. Picking up your phone, you unlocked it, swiping to your messages.

Rafe [11/30/23: 1:43 am]: couldn’t sleep. remember when we took out the boat at two am bc we both drank a red bull at ten?

Rafe [11/30/23: 11:22 am]: sorry, i was drinking. didn’t mean to text you. hope you’re doing good

Rafe [12/25/23: 2:44 pm]: merry christmas. it’s weird without you.

Rafe [01/01/24: 01:02 am]: happy new year’s.

Rafe [01/05/24: 9:56 pm]: are you really not gonna text me back?

Rafe [01/27/24: 3:07 am]: i miss you

Rafe [02/12/24: 12:05 pm]: saw you at the party last night. you looked so fucking pretty. took everything in me not to talk to you.

Rafe [03/01/24: 7:12 pm]: idk if you care or not, but i still wanted to let you know. i’m seeing someone

You never replied to any of the texts, knowing it was for the better. You could block him, but you never brought it over your heart to do so, telling yourself you wanted him to reach you in case of emergency, but deep down, you didn’t want to block him.

Just incase.

II Barry

“Want some C?” Barry asked as greeting, presenting Rafe a small baggie with white powder in it as soon as he walked onto the lot.

“Nah,” Rafe declined, already feeling jittery enough without it, “Won’t say no to a beer though.”

Barry let out a grunt, tossing the baggie on the table, disappearing inside the trailer. Rafe took a seat in one of the chairs, running his hand over his buzzed head, bouncing his leg nervously. He had needed to get out of the house for a while. Ever since Rebecca pulled the picture out of the drawer, he couldn’t stop thinking about you. Again.

Which is fucked up, really. He thought he got over you, he didn’t want to be the guy who thought about his ex while having a whole ass girlfriend. The door to the trailer opened with a slam, Barry exiting with two beer cans, handing Rafe one of them. The can was ice cold in his hands, and the cold liquid helped with his racing heart. He let out a sigh, rubbing a thumb over his eye brow. Rafe took another gulp of the beer, almost drinking the entire can in one go, while Barry watched him, assessing.

“You good?”

Rafe nodded, setting the can on the table.

“Yeah, jus’ stressed.”

“Work, or…?”

Barry trailed off without finishing his sentence and Rafe didn’t answer, wiping a finger over his jaw, which was clenched to the max.

Barry eyed him skeptically, leaning back in his chair. “How’s Mrs. Country Club?”

Rafe let out a loud sigh, tipping his head back, like he always did when he was annoyed with Barry.

“Barry, I don’t know if all the drugs you’re taking are starting to get to your memory, but we broke up.”

“Don’t be fucking rude,” he said, kicking Rafe’s chair. Not hard enough for it to tip over, but hard enough for Rafe to grip onto the arm rests, glaring at his friend. “How’d you know I wasn’t talking ‘bout your new girl?”

“Because you always call her Becky,” Rafe pointed out, giving him a look.

Barry shrugged, taking a sip from his beer. “You still know who ‘m talking about, so what’s the problem?”

“Problem is, it’s disrespectful. You know that’s not her name.”

“You’re still hung up on your ex while dating Becky, so who’s really disrespecting her?”

Rafe’s head shot up and the glare he sent Barry was deadly.

“Fuck this shit, and fuck you,” he snapped, pushing himself up from the chair, but Barry grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

“Boy, sit down.”

Rafe scowled at him, before sitting back down, crossing his arms over his chest like a petulant child. He did not come all the way out to the cut to get called out like this.

“If you came here to be coddled, you went to the wrong person.”

“I don’t need to be coddled,” Rafe muttered with an eyeroll. “Just wanted to let off some steam.”

“So?” Barry snorted, waving his hands around. “Steam away.”

Rafe scoffed, scooting down in his chair, shaking his head. “Do you think I want to think of her? I fucking hate feeling like this. Bex is nice, and she’s hot. And yet-”

“And yet you’re still thinking of your ex,” Barry finished the sentence, rubbing his chin. “Why don’t you get back together with her?”

“She doesn’t want me.”

“God, fucking Country Club,” Barry snickered. “You’re fucking dense.”

“Nah, you don’t fucking get it, “ Rafe sneered, leaning his head in his hands. And he didn’t, not really. Which really wasn’t his fault. Rafe just didn’t want to talk about the break up with his friends. Physically couldn’t. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t told anyone why you broke up. Just made it feel all to real, he guessed.

“Nah, you’re right, I don’t,” Barry said, shaking his head. “All I know is, one day you’re all fucking sunshine and the next you’re more emo than that Friday girl.”

“What?” Rafe asked, lifting his head to stare at Barry in confusion.

Barry waved him off. “You know, that freaky girl from Netflix with the black lipstick.”

“Do you mean Wednesday?”

“Yeah, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, all the same to me,” Barry huffed. “Point is, life’s too fucking short to do things that don’t make you happy.”

“Bex makes me happy.”

Barry gave him a long, hard look, squinting his eyes at him. “Yeah, right. Whatever makes you sleep at night.”

Rafe stared back at him before shaking his head, finishing the last of his beer before crushing the empty can in his hand, declining to answer, because he knew he couldn’t convince Barry.

He wasn’t even convinced himself.

III Topper

top [05/03/24: 4:06 pm]: gonna be at alex’s later tonight with rafe and rebecca just fyi if you wanted to come

mrs. rafe [05/03/24: 4:57 pm]: k, thanks for letting me know

—— NEW MESSAGE ——

top [05/04/24: 1:37 am]: can you pick me up?

It was Saturday night, a little past your bedtime for a night in. You were getting ready for bed, exiting the bathroom when your phone buzzed in your hand. Lifting it, you read the new text, not quite believing he’d make you do this. What the fuck was he thinking asking you to pick him up? Shaking your head in disbelief, you typed out an answer.

mrs. rafe [05/04/24: 1:41 am]: topper no

Before you could put the phone away, your phone already buzzed with an answer, and you nearly didn’t want to read whatever lame ass excuse he came up with, your hand stilling when your eyes flit over his text.

top [05/04/24: 1:41 am]: please, i don’t want to get a ride with rafe and rebecca

top [05/04/24: 1:41 am]: she asked me so many questions about you and i can’t be around rafe rn or i’ll tell him

mrs. rafe [05/04/24: 1:45 am]: … fine

mrs. rafe [05/04/24: 1:47 am]: you’re so annoying

Cursing Topper and yourself for not going to bed sooner, you put on a sweatshirt and grabbed your keys and purse, typing out another text before you headed out of the house, getting into your car.

mrs. rafe [05/04/24: 1:49 am]: be there in ten

top [05/04/24: 1:50 am]: omg i owe you <3

Barely ten minutes later, you pulled up in front of Alex’ house, looking out for Topper, before you spotted him underneath a tree. You rolled to a stop next to him, giving him the most unimpressed look.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Topper groaned, getting into the car, shutting the door behind him.

You rolled your eyes, pulling off the curb without another word, driving towards Topper’s house.

“I’m really sorry for asking you to come get me, but Rafe was looking for me and I had too much to drink already to lie in his face,” Topper said, leaning his back against the headrest, shutting his eyes.

You desperately wanted to know what Rebecca had asked but you didn’t want to come off as the nosy ex, even if this was Topper. So as nonchalantly as you could, you asked: “What did you talk about?”

“Jesus,” Topper said, running a hand through his hair. “She asked me how you guys broke up and wanted details, too. Was super insistent, I was kinda scared actually.”

Okay, so just normal sussing out the ex, you could deal with that.

“What did you say?”

“That it was a mutual break up and I didn’t know why you broke up, just that you suddenly disappeared from each other’s lives.”

You sighed. That was the vaguest answer you’d ever heard.

“Why didn’t you just tell her why we broke up?”

Topper glanced at you, his brows knitted together.

“How can I tell her something I don’t know?”

“What?”

You slammed on the breaks, nearly sending Topper flying through the windshield because the idiot hadn’t buckled up, while you stared at him.

“What do you mean you don’t know why we broke up?”

“I don’t!” Topper exclaimed. “Rafe refuses to talk about it and you never told me either.”

“Because I assumed Rafe has told you! It’s been like six months!”

Blinking at Topper, it took you a few seconds to process, jumping when someone honked their horn at you, when you remembered you had stopped in the middle of the street.

“Shit,” you muttered, shifting gears to keep on driving, eyes flitting to Topper repeatedly.

“So…” he started. “Why did you guys break up?”

You gripped the steering wheel so tightly your knuckles turned white, letting out a deep breath. When you had left to come pick Topper up, you hadn’t expected having to tell him why you and his best friend had broken up.

“I was getting so worried about him. He was so stressed about the company every day, took home so much work and Ward was breathing down his neck to keep the numbers up. I told him that I thought he should take a step back, maybe take a break or something, tried to convince him of going on a trip or something, but the more I said, the more he seemed to be pushing himself into work. It got so bad that we were fighting basically every day, and it just wasn’t working anymore. It felt like we were going in circles.”

You cleared your throat when you felt yourself getting choked up, vision turning a little blurry from the tears in your eyes.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Topper exclaimed, patting himself down, looking for some tissues.

“Don’t worry about it,” you snorted, wiping your tears away with the sleeves of your sweatshirt. You were so wrapped up in trying to retell the break up, you hadn’t even noticed that you already reached Topper’s house. “I shouldn’t even still be getting so worked up over this after all this time,” you sniffed, turning your car off.

Topper looked at you, with that typical look on his face and you rolled your eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that. I can’t believe Rafe hasn’t told you.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Honestly? I think he might be in denial about it.”

You scoffed at him, shaking your head. Why was everyone so hung up over your break up?

“It’s been six months.”

Topper didn’t reply, his hand on the car door and you expected him to bid you good bye, but that was too easy.

“… Do you think you guys will get back together?”

“He has a girlfriend, Top.”

“Still. I don’t think that Rafe and Rebecca are gonna last very long.” Topper looked at you, pressing his lips together, before shaking his head. “Sorry. Thanks for coming and for getting me home. Text me if you need anything, okay?”

You nodded, giving him a small wave, and waited until he got out of the car, shutting the door behind him, before you turned your car on, pulling off.

“What the fuck,” you muttered to yourself, wiping the rest of the tears off as you drove home.

IV Kelce

“Kelce!”

Kelce looked up from the pool table, a smile growing on his face when he saw Rafe come down the basement, his friend wrapping an arm around him for a brief hug.

“Happy birthday, man,” Rafe said, handing Kelce a bottle of the expensive whiskey he always drank when he was at Rafe’s but too stingy to buy it for himself.

“Ah shit, you didn’t have to,” Kelce uttered, though his eyes were sparkling as he looked at the bottle in his hands. He handed the pool stick to one of the guys next to him, leading Rafe to the bar. He grabbed two glasses from the shelves, pouring Rafe and himself a good amount, offering one of the glasses to him.

“Cheers to you.”

The two clinked their glasses, before sipping on the whiskey. Kelce really enjoyed it, too, with the way he closed his eyes, and Rafe only snorted in his glass. Kelce peaked his eye open, shoving his friend fondly with a grin.

“Rebecca here?”

“Yeah, upstairs.”

Kelce hummed in thoughts, nodding absentmindedly. He stared into his glass, swishing the amber liquid around before he spoke up again.

“You know she’s here, too, right?”

Rafe tensed, knowing exactly that Kelce was talking about you, but he had expected it. Firstly, because you and Kelce had always been friends, and secondly because he had heard Sarah making plans with you to go together. Didn’t mean this felt any less of a punch to the gut. He really hoped he wouldn’t run into you, because he wasn’t quite sure what he’d do; all he knew was, that Bex wasn’t gonna like it. Rafe cleared his throat, forcing himself to sound nonchalant.

“I figured, yeah.”

“That okay?” Kelce asked, and Rafe was starting to get annoyed, rolling his eyes. Why was Kelce questioning him about you on his damn birthday? He tried to dampen his anger though, not wanting to ruin the night.

“Yes. It’s your birthday, man.”

As soon as those words left his mouth, Rafe knew he did a shit job of hiding his emotions, and Kelce eyed him suspiciously.

“I don’t get you guys,” he sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. “You got a new girl, but you still haven’t gotten over your ex, clearly, but every time I mention her, you act like it’s the worst thing in the world, but neither of you have said a bad word about the other.

Rafe scoffed, though his heart started to race at the thought of you talking about him. He wondered what you had said, if you cared enough to ask about him, or if you had long moved on.

“Are you ever gonna tell me why you guys broke up?”

“Maybe next time.”

Kelce gave him a wry smile, knowing this was Rafe avoiding the topic again. He lifted his head when more people starting coming down the basement, curling his hand around Rafe’s shoulder to give him a squeeze.

“I really hope you figure it out bro, because this right now is not it.”

He then excused himself to welcome the new arrivals and Rafe gripped his glass, before downing it in one go.

“Alright, who wants to get destroyed in a round of pool?” he asked, clapping his hands together as he approached the pool table. Anything to stop himself from going upstairs to look for you.

V Sarah

“Oh my god, I thought you were gonna keep talking to her forever!”

You gave Sarah a look. She hadn’t even waited a minute after you left Rebecca on the couch before she started talking about her.

“I don’t have a problem with her.”

Sarah groaned, linking her arm with yours as to not lose you in the crowd that has formed in Kelce’s house. You were glancing around, hyper aware that you could run into Rafe any second, but you didn’t want Sarah to notice.

“I don’t understand how you can be so chill. Did you not see the picture she had in her purse?”

You sighed, brushing your hair back over your shoulder. Was this ever going to stop? “Sar, please.”

“Hello?? That was super freaky.”

“Maybe she was just cleaning up and wanted to throw it in the trash and forgot it in her purse.”

Sarah laughed dryly, shaking her head. “Bullshit! Admit that you find it weird.”

“Okay, maybe it is a little weird,” you admitted. “But don’t you do things that are a little weird sometimes? Maybe she’s just a little insecure. Which I wouldn’t blame her for, you’re so mean. Shouldn’t you try and be her friend or something?”

“Why? She’s not gonna be around much longer anyways, and I already have a friend.”

You rolled your eyes, fishing your keys out of your purse to unlock your car. Again with the sentiment that Rafe and Rebecca weren’t gonna last much longer. You decided against deeming that statement with an answer and got into your car, with Sarah getting into the passenger seat.

“Do you want to grab some burgers?” She asked, buckling up, like she hadn’t just told you that your ex and his new girlfriend weren’t gonna last.

You gave her a look as you tossed your purse to the back.

“What do you mean do I want to grab burgers? I thought you wanted to leave because you’re meeting John B early in the morning.”

Sarah blinked at you, before she reached out to give you a shove on the forehead. “I was lying so we could get away, stupid.”

“Oh my god,” you groaned, starting your car as Sarah protested.

“What? I was getting weirded out by you being all besties with Rafe’s new girlfriend. I don’t even understand how you can be so nice to her knowing she’s all up on your man.”

“Pray tell, who’s my man again?”

“Don’t even,” Sarah huffed. “You guys dated forever, I know you still love each other. And let me tell you one thing,” she said, raising her eyebrows at you. “If you got a new boyfriend? Rafe would not be this nice to him like you were to Rebecca.” With that, Sarah crossed her arms over her chest, settling back against her seat.

You only sighed, starting your car in silence.

“Do you want to get burgers now or not?” you asked, extending a peace offer while looking over at Sarah. She glowered at you, before nodding with an eyeroll.

“Yes.”

BONUS + I Rafe

“I did, at the party last night… She said she’s happy that you have me, that she was worried about how you work too much.”

Rafe pushed the pasta on his plate around with his fork, too engrossed in his thoughts to even think about eating. He didn’t even notice how Dennis had stopped talking. Rafe looked up from his plate, only to see Dennis look at him intently, an amused grin on his face.

“Sorry, were you saying something?”

“I was saying a lot, but you seemed like you were on a completely different planet,” Dennis noted, wiping his mouth with a napkin. Rafe winced, putting his fork down.

“Sorry, I have a lot on my mind.”

“I can tell,” Dennis mused. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Something like that.”

Rafe sighed, leaning back in his chair. Ever since you broke up, Rafe has been assuming that you didn’t care about him anymore, that you had long moved on from him and your relationship. He thought that you resented him, blamed him for the break up, which was honestly the main reason why he went back to the dating scene so quickly; to get over you. But hearing that you still cared about him? Enough to be nice to his new girlfriend and even ask about him? He wondered if there was still a chance for him and you to be together again.

If it weren’t for the fact that he already had a girlfriend.

“Can I give you some unsolicited advice, son?”

“Do I have a choice?” Rafe asked with a wry grin and Dennis only let out a belly laugh, shaking his head.

“Rafe, most relationships these days end because of your own ego, from both parties. No matter how big the fight or problem seems, will it really be that important in hindsight?” Dennis asked him. “How long have you an your girl been together? Almost 5 years, no?”

Rafe nodded, not daring to correct Dennis. He had never outright told him that you had broken up in the first place.

“See, that’s half a decade. I can assure you, in another half, you’re not even gonna remember this fight.”

Yeah, I don’t know about that, Rafe thought.

“Do you love her?”

Turning his ring on his finger, Rafe let out a soft exhale, before nodding. “Yeah, I do.”

“See. Problem solved.”

Rafe lifted his head to grin at Dennis.

“Thanks. Is it okay if we cut today short?”

“Sure,” Dennis said, waving Rafe off when he reached for his wallet. “Lunch is on me. Go get your girl.”

“I will,” Rafe promised, pushing his chair back to stand up. “I just gotta take care of something else first.”

BONUS + II You

You were staring at your phone, text thread with Rafe open. It was Saturday night; you and Sarah had went out to a small beach party. Sarah had gone to fill her drink back up and you had used that time of solace to overthink. About Rafe.

For the past few week, you couldn’t stop thinking about him. And you blamed your friends for it, really. First Wheezie, then Topper and then Sarah? Somehow all of them said that the break up was the worst idea, and even though you had always second guessed the choice to break up, this was the first time you actually actively regretted it.

The way Sarah seemed so sure that Rafe and Rebecca weren’t going to last long. Maybe you were wrong and they weren’t as happy as you thought. But then again, it wasn’t any of your business, was it? Who were you to put your nose into their relationship?

God, you shouldn’t be doing this.

“How long does Sarah need to fill her drink back up?” You muttered to yourself, finishing your vodka soda and burying the cup in the sand next to you, when you heard foot steps approaching.

“Finally! I was about to send a search group out for you!” you exclaimed, standing up and dusting the sand off your lap. “Seriously, how long does it take for-”

You froze when you turned around just to see Rafe standing in front of you, instead of Sarah. Swallowing thickly, you blinked at him, caught off guard.

“Rafe, hey,” you said, opting for casual. “Sorry. I thought you were Sarah.”

The corners of Rafe’s mouth twitched. “Yeah, I could tell.”

You looked at him, sighing a bit wistfully (mostly) internally, before you shifted on your feet nervously. “It was nice to see you,” you said, and it was true. “But um… I think I’ll go look for Sarah.” You gave him a small smile, before walking towards, and then past him.

“You’re still worried about me.”

You let out a startled laugh, pausing mid-step to turn back to him. “What?”

“You told Rebecca that you were glad that I had her and that you worried I work too much.”

“Of course I’m still worried about you,” you huffed, brushing your hair back. “You can’t be surprised about that.”

Rafe looked at you, and you could tell that this was news to him.

“Rafe.”

Rafe let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead. “You didn’t reply to any of my texts. I thought you were mad at me or somethin’.”

“I didn’t reply to any of your texts because we said we’d do no contact for a while.

“Still,” Rafe muttered, kicking a rock. “I didn’t think it would be so easy for you-”

“And because you were happy with Rebecca, do you think it’s easy for me to see you with someone else?”

“I broke up with Rebecca last week.”

“What?!”

Mouth agape, you stared at him and Rafe only rubbed the back of his neck. “She… Wasn’t what I wanted.”

“Oh,” you only said, letting out a soft exhale. “I’m sorry about that.”

Rafe sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets. His gaze was trained on the floor for a bit, before he lifted his head to look at you.

“I want to try again… I want us to try again.”

“Rafe…”

You swallowed thickly, your eyes wide and you didn’t move as Rafe took a step towards you, reaching for your hand. Your fingers were cold in his but they quickly warmed to his touch, and the way he laced his fingers with yours, felt all too familiar.

“I love you. I never should have agreed to breaking up. It was arguably the second stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”

“And what’s the stupidest?” you asked, corners of your mouth lifting.

“Not listening to you when you were just trying to help,” he answered, looking down at you, so vulnerable like you hadn’t seen him in a long time. “I rearranged my schedule at the company so I could take on less work, take more time off and relax. Take the time to get us to where we were before it all went shitty.”

Your heart was in your throat as you listened to him talk, unsure what to say.

“Rafe, I don’t know… “

“Baby, please,” he begged, squeezing your hand. “Do you love me, still?”

You scoffed. “That’s not fair.”

“Why? Because you do?”

“Of course I still love you,” you mumbled, looking up at him through your lashes. “Do you know how hard it was for me to ignore your texts? To see you with another girl, so happy?”

Rafe shook his head, lifting his hand to tuck your hair behind your ear. “I wasn’t. Not really.”

You let out another sigh, looking at the way your hands were intertwined, how your heart had stopped racing, before you nodded, looking up at him. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

A smile spread across Rafe’s face, so big it was so uncharacteristic for him.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

It was like that word switched a flip inside of him, as he grabbed you by your nape gently, to kiss you, slotting his lips against your, and as your lips touched, it felt like you were finally home again. You only pulled away to breathe, both of you staring at each other like you couldn’t quite realize this was happening.

Sarah [05/11/2024: 10:45 pm]: (sent to 4 contacts) [picture attached: blurry photograph of you and Rafe kissing at the beach]

Topper [05/11/2024: 10:46 pm]: thank god.

Kelce [05/11/2024: 10:51 pm]: FINALLY!

Wheezie [05/11/2024: 10:59 pm]: !!!!!!

Barry [05/11/2024: 11:02 pm]: read at 11:02 pm

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

author's note: sooo.... what are we thinking?

[birchleavesdawn]

Bitter Taste

Fromis_9 Saerom x Jo Yuri x m!Reader 4.2k words Warning: Watersports, Food play Authors notes: Fulfilling a couple of pretty old requests. The first one is a bit of a vague request and I don't really know what someone would be looking for for that so I hope this story is different enough. This will have at least a part 2 as I like the characters and already have the next part completely mapped out. Will see about anything beyond that. There is also a few easter eggs related to the title of the fic (song) in there, if you know the song maybe you'll catch them.

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Another night on your phone. Eyes exhausted from having the same empty conversations over and over, just for the tiny chance of spending a boring night with someone you'd never see again. Your finger tapped on the same apps you did every time, hoping it would be different, but knowing it would be the same.

Enough of this.

*Ring*... *Ring*...

"Hello?"

"Hey Captain. You busy tonight?"

"Why? Did daddy's luck run out on his dating apps? I knew it wouldn't be long before I was hearing from you again." You could hear her grin through the phone.

"I'm tired of those girls. I just keep swiping, I need something new."

"Well, I'm working right now but I get off in an hour. Why don't you pretty yourself up and come meet me here. I know how we can have a little fun."

*Click*

Saerom was a bit of a wild card. She had gotten you to try many things you would never have even thought possible on your nights together. You couldn't begin to guess what she had in mind, but you were looking forward to something, anything different.

She texted you the address, it was one you recognized and It wasn't very far. After a quick shower, you put on something nice and headed down. A short walk and a couple minutes on the subway and you were there.

Sweet Indulgence Adult Ice Cream 19+

So she was working at an ice cream place now? You wondered what the 19+ meant. Maybe they sold alcohol? The bell chimed as you entered the shop. Saerom was leaning behind the counter on her phone.

"Oh! Hey there handsome. I'll be with you in a minute." She smiled and walked into the back room.

You took a seat near the front, deciding to wait there for her return, taking a chance to size the place up. It was small but not too small. There were three tables in the middle of the floor and two booths on the left wall. A glass counter ran through the middle of the room, filled with various flavors of ice cream. Basically it looked like any standard ice cream shop, with the only difference being the big "19+" written next to the milkshakes on the menu.

Yea must be alcohol. You thought.

That's when you noticed Saerom's coworker pop up from below the cash register. A short girl with shimmering blonde hair tucked neatly into her hairnet. Large, expressive eyes and a smile that was warm and inviting. She looked cute. Like a puppy. "Yuri" was written on her name tag. You watched her, hard at work, unsure if she was even aware of your presence.

Saerom reemerged a few moments later, walking to the door, pulling the blinds shut and flipping the open sign to closed. She whispered something to the other girl who then promptly disappeared into the back where Saerom had just come from. Saerom then made her way over to you. You stood up from your chair to meet her. Without saying a word she grabbed your face and licked firmly up the side of your cheek before growling quietly in your ear. She lifted up her white tank top and flashed you her breasts, before pushing them into your chest. You could feel her erect nipples poking you through your shirt. They probably spent a lot of time like that in such a cold place like this.

"Wow I guess we're getting right into it?"

"You have no idea how badly I want you right now." She grabbed your crotch and gave it a firm squeeze.

"But..."

She let go of your crotch and pulled her shirt back down. Leaving you confused.

"I thought we could play with Yuri tonight. She's pretty cute right?" Saerom said

You turned to look towards the back, the young blonde girl was now standing there, a bright smile on her face, wearing a frilly white apron with nothing on underneath. Her perky breasts were on display, along with a clean shaven slit that peeked out from below the bottom. Her legs were slender and shapely. You turned back to Saerom, who had a big grin on her face.

"So, what do you say?"

"Well she seems pretty excited and you know I'm not one to disappoint a lady. Especially one that looks like that."

"Great, then pick a flavor and Yuri is going to begin preparing our milkshakes."

"Chocolate cookies looks good."

Saerom nodded to Yuri.

Yuri spun around, revealing her perfectly plump backside. You caught Saerom staring out the corner of your eye, her mouth open, a lustful gaze. You really couldn't blame her, Yuri's body was incredible.

Yuri bent over the freezer, sticking her ass out as far as she could, and pulled out the tub of chocolate cookies ice cream, before carrying it into the back.

Saerom approached you once again, now fixated on the tightness on display in the front of your trousers. She breathed hot air into your ear while playfully biting your lobe. Her hands going for your belt.

"I'll make this quick. But don't worry, this is just a taste of what's to come." She winked.

Saerom wasted no time. She dropped to her knees, pulling down your pants and underwear, exposing your stiff and twitching member to the cool air. She took your head between her lips. She bobbed her head, quickly and forcefully, sucking hard while swirling her tongue. Your hands reached down to hold her, feeling her silky black hair slide through your fingers. You moaned softly, watching her move her head, sliding her glistening lips up and down your cock. The sloppy sounds of her movements were only outdone by the soft moans she was making as she worked. She knew exactly what you liked.

"READY!"

You heard Yuri shouting from the back. And once again Saerom let go of you, your shaft slick with her saliva, now feeling exceptionally exposed to the frigid air. She rose and straightened herself out.

"We'll finish later. For now let's enjoy our shakes."

"You're really just going to leave me like this?"

"Of course!"

Saerom motioned to the back.

You walked in after her, following her lead. The back of the store also looked like any ordinary ice cream parlor. Stacks of boxes labeled cups, spoons, bowls. The freezers and mixers sat along the far wall, a large refrigerator filled with various types of milk on your right, and a large steel door that clearly led to the walk-in freezer beside it. What caught your attention though was the floor to ceiling curtain that was hiding another part of the room. On one side of it, there was a steel chute that came from behind it and then led to the countertop where several milkshake glasses stood. Each one was filled to the brim with a thick, creamy shake.

"Grab your shake and give it a taste!" Saerom said excitedly.

"It should be that darker one there at the end."

You grabbed the shake she pointed to, and gave it a taste. The rich chocolate flavor was sweet and delicious. You hadn't expected ice cream to taste this good.

"Mmmm." You hummed, taking another sip.

"I like it."

"Like it?"

"Love it!"

Saerom laughed, pleased by your reaction.

"That's so good." You said, wiping a bit of it from your lip.

"I've never tasted anything quite like it. That bitter taste. Is that the alcohol?"

She looked confused. "What do you mean? There's no alcohol in this."

"Wait, really?"

"Of course not, silly. I wouldn't do that to you." She was now grinning ear to ear.

"So then, why did she call this the '19+' menu?"

"That's because of our secret ingredient."

Saerom motioned to the curtain.

"Would you like to see?"

Your curiosity piqued, you nodded.

She took hold of the curtain and drew it back, revealing the real reason for the 19+ on the menu. Yuri was knelt down on top of a small wooden platform with a thin mattress atop, her legs spread wide, her hands resting on her thighs. The steel chute that you had seen from the other side of the curtain, now entirely visible, was attached to the platform between Yuri's legs.

"I think you've figured out what's going on here, but why don't you let me show you anyway. Yuri, are you ready?"

"YES MISS SAEROM" Yuri shouted, her voice dripping with excitement.

"Now the girls who work here will often do this part on their own, but for the sake of the demonstration, I'm going to help her."

You watched as Saerom stepped forward and took Yuri's chin in her hand, leaning in and planting a passionate kiss on her soft lips.

"I'm going to make you feel really good." She whispered in her ear, before taking a step back and slapping her ass.

Yuri yelped. "Thank you Miss Saerom."

Saerom then climbed up onto the platform and moved behind Yuri, squatting down. She pulled Yuri's ass up to meet her face, spreading her cheeks and sticking her tongue inside.

"Mmmmm." Yuri moaned, closing her eyes.

Saerom's tongue danced around inside Yuri's asshole. Spreading her spit and getting her ready. After a few moments, she stopped and stood up.

"I can still taste the chocolate cookies ice cream you asked for. Good choice!"

Saerom reached forward and grabbed a spoon and a small white tub off the shelf in front of her, opening it and placing it on the platform next to Yuri's leg.

"We're going with classic vanilla for this one."

She then scooped out a spoonful of the ice cream and smeared it on her finger, pressing it against Yuri's rear, and then pushing her finger inside with the ice cream.

"Hnnng" Yuri groaned.

Saerom continued, working her finger deeper and deeper inside Yuri's asshole until she had the whole thing buried. She then slid it out slowly, letting her anus tighten around it.

"How does that feel?" She asked.

"Mmmmmm" Yuri responded, unable to manufacture any words.

"Yuri is really sensitive. It's how she's able to produce so many drinks over the course of a day."

Saerom scooped another glob of ice cream, pressing it into Yuri's asshole. Once again pushing her finger inside.

She repeated the process a couple more times before deciding that that would be enough. Yuri was starting to tremble now, her body beginning to shake as the effects of the ice cream began to take hold.

"How are you doing, baby girl?"

"I'm doing good, Miss Saerom." Yuri whimpered.

The ice cream had already begun to melt from Yuri's asshole, coating her pussy and running down the back of her thighs before being collected by the chute below her. Saerom dipped her finger in the melted liquid, bringing it to her mouth and giving it a taste.

"Mmm. Just right." She said.

She then turned her attention to Yuri's cunt, rubbing her fingers over her folds.

"And what's going on down here. Is it time yet?"

"Yes... Miss Saerom, I think so."

She gave her lips another pass over before sliding her fingers inside, eliciting a low moan from Yuri. She then removed her fingers and brought them up to her own mouth, savoring another taste of her favorite girl.

"You taste delicious, Yuri. Like a little angel. So sweet and pure."

"Thank you Miss Saerom."

Saerom then turned her attention to you.

"Why don't you come up and get yourself a taste straight from the source?"

She motioned for you to approach. You eagerly climbed up onto the platform and crawled behind Yuri, her beautiful ass and pussy now just inches from your face. Her sweet smell was intoxicating.

"Come on, take a bite." Saerom encouraged.

You reached out, taking hold of Yuri's ass cheeks, squeezing them together and spreading them apart, the melted ice cream having left them looking glossy and inviting. You stuck out your tongue and licked along her crack. You could feel her body twitch slightly at your touch. You followed the trail of vanilla down the curve of her ass, the smooth skin sliding under your tongue. She tasted amazing. You pressed your tongue to her cunt, licking the melted ice cream from her lips before finally sliding your tongue inside. Her pussy was warm and offset the cold of the ice cream. The taste was even better than her asshole.

"That's it. Get nice and deep." Saerom cooed. One of her hands had found its way into the front of her pants, she was visibly getting off to the sight of you tongue fucking her baby girl.

You pushed your tongue deeper into Yuri's pussy, feeling her clench and squirm. You danced your tongue around inside her, her moans growing louder.

"Ahhh. Ahhhh. Ahhhhhhh." Yuri had become a whimpering mess.

Saerom reached her free hand down and rubbed Yuri’s clit. Yuri's hips began to rock and sway as she fucked your face.

"I'm gonna cum, Miss Saerom."

Yuri's breathing was labored, her moans desperate. You felt her pussy clamp down on your tongue. Her legs were shaking, losing their ability to hold her weight. Before you knew it a stream of her nectar was pouring out of her, filling your mouth, splashing all over your cheeks and running down your chin then collecting in the chute between her legs.

"Good job, baby girl. That was wonderful." Saerom praised her. "Look how much we got!"

She ran her hand through Yuri's hair and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"You were a perfect little angel for our guest."

"Thank you Miss Saerom."

Saerom turned to you, seeing the mess Yuri had made on your face, a look of pride washing over her.

"Here, let me help you clean that up."

Saerom pulled you close and licked your face clean. Taking her time to lap up every last drop.

"Mmmm." She moaned. "God it tastes so good."

You could feel her hot breath on your face. She kissed your cheek, while her hand returned to your crotch, massaging your cock through the fabric.

"Alright I've waited long enough. It's my turn now."

She didn't wait for a response, instead she threw you down onto the mattress next to Yuri, who was still recovering from her orgasm.

"Clothes off. Now." She commanded.

You hastily pulled off your shirt, throwing it to the floor. Your pants and underwear following.

"That's it. You're always so good."

"Now get over here on your knees. I want you to look into my eyes the whole time... or so help me..."

She pulled down her skirt and kicked off her panties. Her pussy looked so inviting, juices had already begun leaking down her thighs. You wasted no time, crawling over and stopping before her feet.

"Wait. No touching yet. I've been holding this in all night."

You sat there obediently, your cock painfully hard. Saerom took a step towards you and lowered her folds to your face, an intoxicating scent of lilac and yearning emanating. Grabbing your hair with both hands, she tilted your head back, forcing your mouth open and giving herself full access.

Suddenly a warm stream hit your tongue, catching you by surprise. You made sure to keep your gaze locked with hers just as she directed, disobeying her when she was like this would only spell bad news for you.

Her golden liquid flooded your mouth. You swallowed as fast as you could but the stream was relentless. The pressure causing it to spill out over your chin, down your chest and falling onto your twitching member. You could feel her fluids warming you on the inside and out.

It tasted like heaven, sweet and bitter and everything in between. She looked down at you, satisfied. 

"Drink up, baby." She said between hitched breaths, her grip on your hair tightening.

She finally ran out and lifted herself from your face, leaving your mouth and nose drenched. She licked the sweat from her lips, taking a moment to admire her work.

"Fuck!" She exhaled.

She ran a hand through her hair, pushing it back out of her face.

"Look at the mess we've made. Tsk Tsk. You know I can't have you inside me all filthy like that."

Saerom stepped over and sat next to Yuri, who had managed to sit herself up and had been enjoying the show.

"Yuri, darling, could you do me a favor and clean our friend's cock for me? But do not let him cum."

"Of course Miss Saerom."

She got to work immediately. Her eyes grew wide at the thought of tasting Saerom's juices on you. She wrapped her small, soft hand around the base of your cock and gave it a firm squeeze.

"It's so big! And the smell..." She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "It's so good!"

She licked her lips, before leaning in and taking the tip of your shaft into her mouth. She swirled her tongue around, coating your head with her saliva. You let out a quiet groan. After the blue balls you'd been getting all night, the mere contact from her mouth was almost enough to push you over the edge already.

Saerom was clearly enjoying the show, a satisfied smile on her face. She leaned in and whispered something in Yuri's ear. Yuri's eyes lit up again. She nodded and went back to her task, wrapping her lips tightly around your shaft.

"Now that's a good girl."

The way she looked down at Yuri with such adoration, such pride, it was enough to make your heart melt. You could tell she cared for her deeply.

Yuri continued, bobbing her head up and down your shaft, her tongue working furiously to clean you. She was making quite a mess with her spit leaking down her chin. She didn't seem to care one bit.

Saerom leaned in and kissed Yuri on the forehead.

"That's enough, my sweet."

Yuri released your cock with a wet pop. Your shaft now absolutely coated in her drool.

Saerom turned her attention to you. "I think you've earned a reward, don't you?"

You nodded, the ache in your loins was getting completely unbearable.

"Go on then. Come and take it."

Saerom lay back and spread her legs, showing off her glistening pink slit. You crawled between her legs, and pressed your tip against her opening.

"That's it. Don't hold back."

That was all you needed to hear. Those words producing a feral response deep inside you. You thrust your hips forward, burying your cock inside her, causing a gasp to escape her lips. You were on top of her, your body moving entirely on instinct. Hands grabbing at her thighs, pulling her close, trying to get deeper. You could feel her nails digging into your back, her teeth on your neck. The sounds of her moans were enough to drive you crazy.

"Ah.. f.." She bit down on your shoulder, her moans muffled, unable to get any words out.

Your thrusts were growing more erratic and less controlled. You were both losing yourselves. The tension inside her was building. She clung to you, her arms wrapped around you tightly and her breath hot on your neck. Her walls were pulsating, clenching around your shaft . You could feel her orgasm approaching.

"Aaaah." She cried out, her eyes rolling back. "I'm going to ..."

"Fucking do it then." You growled. The feeling of her pussy spasming around you. You kept the pace steady and guided Saerom through her orgasm. Her body shaking and trembling beneath you.

"God damn you're beautiful." You whispered. "But I’m not done. Ready to go again?"

She summoned the last remnants of her strength to offer you a delicate nod.

You rolled her over flat on her stomach and pulled her thighs together, placing your knees on either side. You admired the sight of her glistening backside for a moment, the sweat beading down from her ass and her shoulders before coming to a rest in the small of her back. You took a fistful of each of her cheeks to support yourself, before slowly tracing one long line up the length of her back with your tongue. The saltiness of her sweat paired well with the bitterness of her piss that still lingered in your mouth.

"Ah..." She gasped, shivering as a reaction to the surprise sensation.

You pressed the tip of your cock against her asshole, feeling her muscles clench. You plunged forward, the pressure giving way and the head of your shaft slipping inside. She let out a loud gasp as you slid deeper, continuing until your hips met hers.

You began to thrust, her ass was clenching around you. The wet slap of your skin on hers filling the air. She was gripping the mattress with everything she had left, causing her knuckles to turn white. You picked up the pace, feeling her insides stretch around you. You reached under and took hold of her breast, squeezing and pulling at her nipple. She let out a low moan as you continued to pound her.

"Fuck me harder." She panted, her voice strained.

You did as you were told. Thrusting faster and harder, slamming her into the mattress. She was a writhing, whimpering mess beneath you. Her voice growing louder, the sounds escaping her becoming increasingly animalistic. She was reaching her limits.

"Fuck. That's it. Make sure you cum inside me."

Her body was tensing up, the pressure inside her growing. You could feel her muscles contracting around your shaft, gripping you like a vice. You could tell she was going to burst at any second. You picked up the pace. Thrusting even harder. You wanted her to explode.

Saerom's whole body began to shake. You could see the strain on her face. You continued to fuck her. You couldn't stop. She was cumming. Her whole body convulsed, her screams echoing off the walls. You continued to pound her, driving her body into the mattress, not letting up. She was lost in the throes of pleasure. The orgasm had completely consumed her.

Her voice was hoarse. You couldn't tell if she was even making any sounds anymore. She had stopped moving, her eyes rolled back and her body limp. You continued to pound her ass, until your own release finally came. You let out a loud growl and thrust forward one final time, burying yourself as deep inside her as you possibly could. You could feel the warmth of your seed flooding her insides, the excess spilling out onto her aching pussy.

Saerom lay there motionless, but breathing heavily. You could feel the aftershocks of her orgasm still rippling through her body. You gently pulled out, releasing your hold on her and letting her fall back down flat on her stomach.

You collapsed beside her, panting, both of you completely spent. The next thing you knew, Yuri was standing above you, smiling. She handed you each a glass of water, which you happily accepted and chugged it down.

"Thank you Yuri. You've been wonderful."

She simply smiled and bowed.

"Well, I suppose we should clean up and be on our way." Saerom said, having partially come back to her senses. “As much as we’d all like to sit here for a while, it’s getting late.”

"Yes. It's quite late and we have a busy day tomorrow." Yuri chimed in.

"By the way, I promised Yuri that you would take her home tonight. I'll tidy up here, why don't you two get going. I don't want to keep Yuri up any longer than necessary."

"Ahh.. what?"

"Don't worry, you've already made her cum so she shouldn't be any trouble. Plus she can make herself useful. Now shoo. Get dressed and get out of here."

Saerom and Yuri dressed while you did the same. Once everyone was presentable, you took Yuri and headed for the door. As you walked out, Yuri handed you a new shake in a to-go cup.

"This is the one we just made together!"

"I can't wait to taste it." You replied, smiling.

You held her hand and walked her home. You enjoyed the silence, not saying much on the way, but enjoying each other's company.

When you finally arrived back at your place, you unlocked the door and motioned Yuri in, following close behind. You both kicked off your shoes and made your way into the kitchen, where you put the milkshake down on the counter.

"I only have one bed, but it's pretty big. I'm assuming that after tonight you won't mind sharing one anyway. You go on in, 2nd door on the right, I need to find a spot in the freezer for this milkshake."

You watched Yuri walk away, admiring the way her hips swayed, before heading over to the freezer. You placed the shake in empty corner and shut the door. You then made your way to the bedroom. Despite only being about 30 seconds behind her, she was already fast asleep on your bed. You made sure she had enough blankets before crawling into bed next to her. A moment later, you were also fast asleep.

[bixels]

Portal 2 is still the perfect game to me. I hyperfixated on it like crazy in middle school. Would sing Want You Gone out loud cuz I had ADHD and no social awareness. Would make fan animations and pixel art. Would explain the ending spoilers and fan theories to anyone who'd listen. Would keep up with DeviantArt posts of the cores as humans. Would find and play community-made maps (Gelocity is insanely fun).

I still can't believe this game came out 12 years ago and it looks like THIS.

Like Mirror's Edge, the timeless art style and economic yet atmospheric lighting means this game will never age. The decision not to include any visible humans (ideas of Doug Rattmann showing up or a human co-op partner were cut) is doing so much legroom too. And the idea to use geometric tileset-like level designs is so smart! I sincerely believe that, by design, no game with a "realistic art style" has looked better than Portal 2.

Do you guys remember when Nvidia released Portal with RTX at it looked like dogshit? Just the most airbrushed crap I've ever seen; completely erased the cold, dry, clinical feel of Aperture.

So many breathtakingly pit-in-your-stomach moments I still think about too. And it's such a unique feeling; I'd describe at as... architectural existentialism? Experiencing the sublime under the shadow of manmade structures (Look up Giovanni Battista Piranesi's art if you're curious)? That scene where you're running from GLaDOS with Wheatley on a catwalk over a bottomless pit and––out of rage and desperation––GLaDOS silently begins tearing her facility apart and Wheatley cries 'She's bringing the whole place down!' and ENORMOUS apartment building-sized blocks begin groaning towards you on suspended rails and cement pillars crumble and sparks fly and the metal catwalk strains and bends and snaps under your feet. And when you finally make it to the safety of a work lift, you look back and watch the facility close its jaws behind you as it screams.

Or the horror of knowing you're already miles underground, and then Wheatley smashes you down an elevator shaft and you realize it goes deeper. That there's a hell under hell, and it's much, much older.

Or how about the moment when you finally claw your way out of Old Aperture, reaching the peak of this underground mountain, only to look up and discover an endless stone ceiling built above you. There's a service door connected to some stairs ahead, but surrounding you is this array of giant, building-sized springs that hold the entire facility up. They stretch on into the fog. You keep climbing.

I love that the facility itself is treated like an android zooid too, a colony of nano-machines and service cores and sentient panel arms and security cameras and more. And now, after thousands of years of neglect, the facility is festering with decomposition and microbes; deer, raccoons, birds. There are ghosts too. You're never alone, even when it's quiet. I wonder what you'd hear if you put your ear up against a test chamber's walls and listened. (I say that all contemplatively, but that's literally an easter egg in the game. You hear a voice.)

Also, a reminder that GLaDOS and Chell are not related and their relationship is meant to be psychosexual. There was a cut bit where GLaDOS would role-play as Chell's jealous housewife and accuse her of seeing other cores in between chambers. And their shared struggle for freedom and control? GLaDOS realizing, after remembering her past life, that she's become the abuser and deciding that she has the power to stop? That even if she can't be free, she can let Chell go because she hates her. And she loves her. Most people interpret GLaDOS "deleting Caroline in her brain" as an ominous sign, that she's forgetting her human roots and becoming "fully robot." But to me, it's a sign of hope for GLaDOS. She's relieving herself of the baggage that has defined her very existence, she's letting Caroline finally rest, and she's allowing herself to grow beyond what Cave and Aperture and the scientists defined her to be. The fact that GLaDOS still lets you go after deleting Caroline proves this. She doesn't double-back or change her mind like Wheatley did, she sticks to her word because she knows who she is. No one and nothing can influence her because she's in control. GLaDOS proves she's capable of empathy and mercy and change, human or not.

That's my retrospective, I love this game to bits. I wish I could experience it for the first time again.

[lukolabrainrot]

Welcome to My TedTalk

Hellooooo, I know I have been a little MIA lately... needed a little break after the energy shift from the rollercoaster last week. But I am still here lol and I have been marinating on quite a few things the last couple of weeks. So below are my thoughts. As always, everything here are just my thoughts and speculation from the information I have seen. Others might interpret information differently, and that is fine. Note: This will be another one of my long posts lol

Let's start with the obvious. October was a ROLLERCOASTER. It started off soooo strong, and the closest I think we have ever come to L/N publicly announcing they are in a relationship. And THEN... It was just total whiplash the rest of the month. Not a fun feeling right?? And I think a lot of people have started to feel like they can't trust L/N and have sooooo many questions on why October went the way it did. I think a lot of people are also feeling very frustrated because we have gotten so many clues/crumbs/Easter Eggs that haven't really led anywhere. All your various feelings around everything lately are valid. But L/N are allowed to do what they want (obviously) and if crumbs/Easter Eggs are all they want/can show us rn, we have to accept that. October was a rough month for me as well on this ship, which is why I took a couple breaks. We have to remember that we choose to be on this ship, we don't HAVE to be. It's totally valid if you're feeling overwhelmed/not having fun on the ship anymore, you can always take a break and come back if/when you want to. WE DO NOT KNOW L/N. NONE OF US. These are celebrities whose lives are very different than ours (which I know is obvious, but I thought it was important to note). They are human though and allowed to be imperfect, and we get to choose how much energy we give to them. And I have said this multiple times, but they do not owe us anything, and DESERVE to have a private life. We have so many questions related to them, and the fact is, we are never going to have all the answers. And you know what, that is how it should be imo. We are not owed every little detail of their life, and honestly, we got lucky we even got crumbs. THEY DID NOT HAVE TO DO THAT. They will go public WHEN they want/can.

People have talked about this before, but we got an AMAZING tour from them and sooooo much content. SOOOO MUCH. And we got addicted, and then were were cut off cold turkey, and papgate was a total grenade that threw everything into chaos. However, L/N were OBVIOUSLY hiding behind their characters during the WT (no one can convince me otherwise). And we talk about blurred lines between them and their characters, but L/N ARE NOT Polin (although there are a lot of similarities with their stories). There were definitely blurred lines between them and their characters yes, but neither of them are their characters and are a lot more complex and complicated. Lastly, I think because we got soooo much content from them, and they were obviously using their own personal relationship/feelings for each other to promote their characters and the season, L/N kind of lost control of their public narrative related to their private lives. I think that, and leaving everything open to speculation (STILL), was their biggest mistake. But like I said, everything has to be on their own time, and they do have good teams to handle this stuff.

I think we all know this already, but in case it's not obvious... DM has a personal vendetta against N, they do not like her getting positive attention, and I can't stress this enough, THEY WANT HER TO FAIL. 1000%. I think there are a lot of complexities on why this is the case, but you can make your own conclusions on why this is happening. But it IS happening. And you should never get your information directly from DM. They are a sensationalist, tabloid blog. THEY ARE NOT A RELIABLE NEWS SOURCE. THAT IS A FACT.

This fandom has turned INCREDIBLY toxic, and most of the drama is coming from WITHIN the fandom and in-fighting. We don't have concrete answers about ANYTHING related to L/N's romantic lives. Shipping should be fun and low stakes, because ultimately, who they are dating doesn't REALLY matter. That is their personal life, and they are not defined by who they are dating. But like I just mentioned, I think L/N leaving the wolves to mass speculation was one of their biggest mistakes, and has now led the fandom to where it is and this mass speculation and interest in their dating lives, which is feeding the tabloid frenzy and rumors.

Alright, now that I got that out of the way, on to my thoughts on everything the last couple of months:

Firstly, I HIGHLY recommend, if you haven't already, reading through this entire post by @fiamat12. It is incredibly enlightening and well laid out! Couple things I want to add/note:

The paparazzi are a money hungry machine, constantly looking for opportunities that will get them the most money. Ethics... out the window. Ethics/respect doesn't get them money. As long as there is a demand for "candid" photos/videos of celebrities' private/personal lives, and unless laws/regulations significantly change around them, this industry will continue being this way. This means though that the material they circulate is not always what meets the eye. It is just a moment in time with very little context, and in general, a total violation of privacy. However, unfortunately, it is a beast celebrities have to navigate, and sometimes they play games with them to protect their privacy.

L has not been seen in real time (via paps or people in public) since Sorrento. THREE MONTHS. And although we joke that L has just been holed up in their house (yeah I said it), L has definitely been out in public living his life. And y'all, people WANT to see him. I know he doesn't stand out as much as N and can blend into the crowd more, but there is NO WAY no one has seen him in three months. There is some strategy in place here where he has been able to keep a VERY low profile, and I think some of these side characters are part of that strategy. And no one can convince me that his low profile has NOTHING to do with the fact that him and N are together.

2. Alright, side characters... let's first get to the A of it because it's pretty obvious to me. I'm going to keep this short. She plays games. This isn't new. There are VERY likely NDAs in place. This isn't new information either. And she LOVES attention by stirring the pot. Therefore, any time we give her any engagement, we are feeding the beast.

3. Onto JD... this post basically summarizes my thoughts. NOTHING about JD has been private. There isn't anything to protect there from the masses. IF JD (and I'm not saying he is) was her serious partner, there wouldn't be so many public games with the two of them. There are a lot of games, and if this was a serious relationship she wanted to protect, she wouldn't be throwing him and her to the wolves. She just wouldn't. But L... she doesn't mess around about him. Although L/N have given us crumbs, they have obviously not been totally honest about their private relationship with each other (which is totally valid), because there is a lot there they want to protect from the wolves.

4. So if you have made it this far, you can see there is a LOT going on, and it's complex. And although L/N have maybe not been totally honest about everything, they don't have to be and there are reasons. And that doesn't therefore mean they have been totally disingenuous about each other and aren't to be trusted. I personally don't think they have. However, they want to protect their privacy. Even though October was a rollercoaster, in no way do I believe L and N are hot and heavy with A or JD. There is just too much evidence to the contrary that L/N are in a serious relationship BTS, and likely have been for a while. Here are some of the reasons I have come to this conclusion:

THE RINGS (everything about them)

The photo of L in her house while she was getting ready with a ring on his ring finger (we can argue all we want, those are his hands and that pic was VERY intentional)

N's TIME article

The October 3rd and BRB story from L (HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING LIKE THIS ON HIS PUBLIC ACCOUNT IN A LONGG TIME)

The coordinated travel posts from L/N when they were going to NY

Chaos week from N in early August (that was about L, no one can convince me otherwise)

BLESS THE TELEPHONE (That was how I knew they were together and had been for a while likely... can't exactly explain it)

TalkTalk, Juna

The recent Polin pic they BOTH shared to their stories (they were both really emotional looking (N was absolutely beaming and looked like she had tears in her eyes) and the pic was VERY interestingly cropped 🤔)

All the "boyfriend" pics of L on N's IG page (I did a whole post about this that you can find if you scroll through my page)

The Polaroid(s)

THE WHOLE WT (which is why a lot of us are still here despite all the noise and emotional whiplash)

And trust me, both L and N know what people are saying and how people are interpreting the information they are putting out to the public. THEY KNOW. So if there was NOTHING going on between them, that would have been corrected atp and they wouldn't have fed the flames. But it hasn't and they have... They'll go public when they are ready/can. Until then, we just have to sit back, relax, and wait and see how everything unfolds.

And THAT is where I am with everything atp. Of course, we're all going to interpret the same information we are seeing a little differently, which is fine. This is just my interpretation of the information.

And if you made it to the end... thank you for coming to my TedTalk 😅

[confused-wanderer]

We all know Damian’s not one for physical or verbal affection. So I raise you: drawings

Drawings and paintings are the easiest way inside Damian’s mind. The more angry or disturbed he is, the more details the drawing is and the palette depends on the emotion. Fear? Bright lights with one pitch black spot. Anxious? A mixture of dark and light colours.

No matter what he draws, the batfam always looks for how detailed it is. On days he’s happy or content the drawing looks a bit abstract, like too many ideas were flowing and he didn’t mind making a mess (not having a specific direction) of his drawing.

But it’s also how he shows affection.

On Dicks birthday he once painted the entire circus along with a little dick laughing and swinging on the trapeze with his parents with the crew doing their acts and the animals having fun.

That was the first indication Dick had of Damian’s change in behaviour that showed him he was willing to open up, to care and change…even if it took time.

Jason found a particularly striking portrait of his favourite scene from a book, painted with a magnificent splendour with every detail and symbolism present, with the characters drawn just as he’d imagined. It’s so beautiful he hangs it in one of his most visited safe houses, and it isn’t until later when he realises it could have been the reason Damian stole his favourite book which contained notes on each scene.

Alfred catches a glimpse of Damian painting something he insists is for Bruce’s eyes only, but the palette was a mixture of bright colours.

Only on his parents death anniversary, when all his siblings are in town and sitting in a room with Bruce when he taps on Dick, Jason and Steph’s shoulders and asks them to come with him. They’re hesitant at first but the vulnerability in his eyes finally wins them over.

Damian knows how to draw, but not how to present, especially when everyone’s watching and he doesn’t know how they’ll react, or rather how Bruce would.

So they help him figure out how he wants to show Bruce, and on his request together take the painting and unveil it in front of Bruce when they’re all standing on the Balcony.

It’s a picture of the entire family, with all the newest members and in the background homages of their superhero identities, along with Easter eggs for poison ivy, Harley, the justice league and so many others.

But in the centre was Bruce, standing in the centre of his parents and all the other members in order from oldest to youngest, surrounding him.

It was the first time Damian learnt that tears aren’t always a bad thing.

[shixcherie]

Rum To My Whiskey | Jung Wooyoung ☆

~ ~ call me chérie ☆

☆ Navigation | Kinktober List

☆ Day 01 : Drunk Sex

↬ [ Synopsis ] : He called you the rum to his whiskey, his partner in crime and his best friend. All it took was a few shots, a risky bet, and a night of unexpected passion to tear down those walls. Best friends won’t be best friends after this wild night, I guess.

Word Count : 1.8k Genre : Non Idol Au, Smut, Angst. Pairing : Best Friend! Wooyoung x F.Reader

WARNINGS : Pure smut (18+), a bit of plot, both are switch!, praise, dirty talk, making out, neck kisses. Biting and marking, pet names (angel, baby, babygirl), whiny Wooyoung, marking, mentions of alcohol consumption (rum, whiskey, shots).

Tag list OPEN! - let me know if you want to be tagged for this Kinktober list

☆☆☆ NOTE : First fic of Kinktober is hereeee!!! It's also the very first fic I've written for this blog. It's a bit long because I'm planning to hide some Easter eggs here and there. And of course, the first fic has to be about Wooyoung, as this man singlehandedly dragged me into the world of ATEEZ. Hope you enjoy it, ma chéries! ☆.

Being best friends with Woo for years has taught you one thing, this guy is un-fucking-predictable.

One minute, he's all giggly and smug, teasing you to no end, and the next thing you know, he’s riling you up so much that you somehow fall into his trap.

This time, his game was a bet, a wild one at that. The bet was to seduce Yunho, the hotshot you'd been eyeing all night at this masquerade-themed party, and drag him into the nearest room for a steamy session. The catch? You couldn’t take off your mask.

It was a bet that would come back to bite you in the ass later.

But, after having god knows how many shots of Havana Club’s finest, you weren’t in the right state of mind to form a responsible thought. All you wanted was to prove Woo wrong. So, you went through with it. And you won! The mask stayed on the whole time while you and Yunho had your fun.

After winning a bet, downing 20 shots, and having a wild session with Yunho, the last thing you expected was to find yourself in an extremely intimate position with your best friend, Jang Wooyoung.

Then how did you end up like this, your back pinned against the wall in Woo’s bedroom, legs lazily wrapped around his waist, while Wooyoung left open-mouthed kisses along your neck, occasionally biting just enough to make your toes curl?

Everything happened so fast, you can barely recall how you both got here.

“Woo…aa..aa” you moaned, trying to form actual words, but all that escaped were breathy sounds. Your fingers tangled in his now messy hair as you tried to make sense of the situation unfolding right in front of you.

“Oh, you poor baby” Woo cooed softly into your ear. “How is this too much for you, when you enjoyed Yunho’s monster dick so much, huh ?” You could hear a hint of jealousy in his voice as he brought up Yunho.

Why is Woo angry ? When did I mention about Yunho’s dick to him ? Aren’t we best freinds ? Why is he almost ready to fuck the soul outta me ?

Were you confiused ? Yes.

Are you complaining tho ? Fuck No!

This wasn’t the first time you two had gotten a little too close. You’d kissed in the past, with Woo’s logic being: Best friends who love each other , Kiss each other. And honestly, you never saw a problem with it. After all, there was no way either of you would catch feelings, right?

But there was something about the way he kissed you, the way he touched you, and how your body eagerly responded. It didn’t make sense to you, but you enjoyed it. So, you never stopped him but you both never crossed the line, ofcourse.

Wooyoung and you were like a well-crafted cocktail, always mixing together perfectly. Over the years, you’d made countless bets, each one a shot of daring mischief, setting each other up with other people, yet somehow, you always returned to one another like the sweet allure of rum after a long night. Your connection was like a fine whiskey, smooth and warming, leaving you both craving the intoxicating spark that only each other could ignite.

You were the Rum to his Whiskey.

—

He leaned in closer, capturing your lips with his. They were just as soft as you remembered, fitting perfectly against yours. As his lips pressed deeper, a wave of heat surged through you. His hands gripped your waist tighter, pulling you even closer as your back remained pinned against the wall. You could feel his hardness pressing against you, heightening the electric tension between you.

With a playful smile, Wooyoung teased your lips with his tongue, coaxing you to let him in. You opened up, and he dove deeper, his tongue dancing with yours in a sultry rhythm. Pulling him even closer felt impossible, but you did it anyway, soft moans escaping your lips as you kissed him hungrily, savoring him like never before.

“You’re so perfect” he murmured against your mouth, his breath hot and heavy. Every kiss ignited a fire within you, making you crave more of him and this moment, where nothing else mattered but the two of you lost in each other.

“I want you so badly, baby. I can’t control myself anymore” he admits eagerly, his words slightly slurred as he pauses for your response but continues to pour out his heart. “Every time we kissed, I felt something different, something I couldn’t quite explain. It was more than just a kiss; it was like waking up to a desire I never knew I had. Each touch sent my mind into a frenzy, but I had to hold back because we’re just fucking best friends!” His frustration seeped through his confessions, his eyes slightly glassy.

He leans in closer, his breath warm and tinged with alcohol against your skin. “And when you walked out after being with Yunho, the way you talked about him, saying his heavenly and huge dick that literally showed you stars, damn baby, that felt like a punch to the gut. I can’t share you with anyone, not anymore.” His gaze locks onto yours, a mix of vulnerability and drunken desire swirling within them. “I’ve tried to ignore it, but I can’t. I want you, all of you, only for myself. All for myself.”

A faint memory crosses your mind.

“Woooooo, that was amazing! I had the best time with Yunho. He literally showed me stars; his dick is hugeee!” you exclaimed, nearly tripping as you made your way back to Wooyoung. Just as you were about to hit the ground, he caught you mid-fall.

“Careful, babe. I can see he’s taken your ability to walk properly” he replied snarkily, a hint of jealousy creeping into his voice, but somehow it went unnoticed by you. You both walked out of the club as the party began to wind down and people started leaving.

Woo’s house was close by, so you had already decided to crash at his place for the night. But your wobbly form wasn’t going to make it there, so Woo decided to give you a piggyback ride.

“I think I like him.” you murmured sleepily, hanging on Woo’s back. The confession made something stir inside him, his grip tightening just a bit.

“What if I like you more?” Wooyoung muttered, his voice low but playful, hoping to gauge your reaction.

You smirked, half-asleep but aware enough to tease him back. “Then stop talking and show me, Woo.” Your voice was soft but daring, the challenge hanging in the air between you two.

__

“Can I have you, baby? Please? Or do I have to wait all night while you keep teasing me?” Woo whined, a playful glint in his eyes as he leaned in closer, desperate yet teasing.

His girthy cock was now out of his pants, slowly rubbing against your soaked clit, sending shivers all over your body, heightening your arousal as the warmth of his skin against your core made your breath hitch.

“Soaking wet already, angel? All for me?” he teased, as you slickly glided against his hard length. All you could manage was a breathy "Mmmhmm." Your body was on fire, an urgent craving making you whiny and eager in a way you’d never felt before.

“I never realized you wanted me as much as I want you, Woo. I can’t wait any longer, so stop teasing and just get inside me already” you breathed out, the words falling from your lips in one swift rush, eager for him to fill you completely.

That was all he needed to hear. Without wasting a second, Wooyoung slammed his entire length into your heat in one swift motion. A high-pitched scream escaped your lips. “Nnnngh! Woo… too much… but don’t stop… please” you panted, your fingers gripped his shoulders fiercely, scratching down his back with each thrust, anchoring yourself in the moment.

He lifted your hips slowly, teasingly, until you were right at his tip before slamming you back down, hard. The sudden thrust sent a wave of pleasure rippling through your entire body, making you tremble in his strong grasp.

“You’re taking me so well, baby,” he groaned against your ear, his voice dripping with lust. “So tight, so warm… feels like you’re made just for me.” His words were like gasoline to the fire already burning inside you.

Each thrust grew rougher, the heat between you two intensifying as your bodies moved in perfect sync. The air was thick with his grunts and your breathy moans along with the wet, delicious sound of your bodies claiming each other. His pace quickened, and with every slam of his hips, you could feel your body being pushed closer to a mind-numbing release.

“You’re so tight… fuck, baby, you feel incredible” he growled against your neck, his hot breath sending shivers down your spine. His lips grazed your skin, leaving a trail of heat in their wake as he kissed, licked, and nipped his way up to your ear. “I can’t get enough of you.”

Your head fell back, every inch of you on fire. “Woo… I’m so close… I need you” you gasped, barely able to get the words out as your body tightened around him.

His grip on your hips was bruising, pulling you down onto him with an urgency that left you breathless. “You want me to make you come, angel?” His voice was thick with desire, words dripping with lust as he slammed into you harder. “I want to feel you fall apart on me... give it to me, baby. Show me how much you want me.”

The way he spoke to you was enough to send sparks through your body. “Please, Woo... I need it” you whimpered, desperate for release.

His hand slid down between your bodies, finding that sensitive spot and rubbing slow, teasing circles. “I can feel how bad you want it. Come for me, baby. Let me hear those pretty sounds when I make you come undone.”

The combination of his words, his touch, and the relentless thrust of his hips sent you crashing into a wave of ecstasy. Your body trembled as you came undone around him, screaming his name as the pleasure overwhelmed you.

You both crash on to his bed. Tiredness taking over both of you.

“That has to be the best sex I’ve ever had in my life” you admit, teasingly adding, “For a best friend, you’re not too bad.”

Wooyoung stayed quiet for a moment before softly confessing, “I like you, more than just a friend. I don’t want to share you with anyone else, not anymore.”

His words, sincere despite the drunken haze, struck a chord with you. “I like you too, more than a friend. But... do you only like me? Not love me?” You couldn’t help but ask, hoping for more.

He chuckled, a hint of mischief in his eyes. “Nah, I’m too drunk to say ‘I love you’ right now. But when I sober up in the morning, I promise I’ll say it. I want to do this right from here on out.”

With a playful giggle, you felt a sense of warmth and excitement wash over you. The moment felt perfect as the night faded into a peaceful end, leaving behind the promise of something beautiful yet to come.

~ ~ Chérie ☆ signin’ off

Disclaimer : This is totally fictional and not a real depiction of the ATEEZ members. It's all just for fun only so please don’t take anything seriously and keep the mood light around here.

© ShixCherie.

[thydungeongal]

My experience with playing ttrpgs is that the role of the "game master" in modern ttrpg culture often has the expectation of being something like a blackjack dealer or a parent hiding the eggs for the easter egg hunt. Playing strictly non-hierarchical skirmish combat games really opened my eyes to how much more fun it is when everyone at the table is just *a player* and nobody has a disproportionate responsibility to craft a satisfying play experience for everyone else. I haven't read much of the AD&D rules but I get the impression that at the genre's roots this wasn't always as significant an issue. Do you think rulebooks in the future can do more to roll back this assumption??

So, to my understanding older editions of D&D specifically inherited the idea of the referee as an impartial arbiter of the rules from wargames, so while in many ways the early days of the hobby were all about putting a huge party of disposable freaks up against a gauntlet of challenges, the DM's purpose wasn't to leer at you from behind the screen and go hoo hoo hee hee at each PC that died.

Now, these toxic memes about GMs and players basically being in a constant competition of one-upmanship have been around for a long time and I don't think we'll ever be completely rid of them, but they tend to come in waves. And there are people trying to actively improve upon the culture: my personal contributions mostly amount to reminding people that, hey, the GM isn't a special guy you can just saddle with all the work of learning a game, the other players at the table should also make an effort; the people at @anim-ttrpgs just made a post about what the role of the Narrator is in their game, Eureka (and why they picked the specific term Narrator); and at least on the indie side of things there is generally a better culture of treating the facilitator/referee/MC as another player who is there to bring the game and work together with the others to make a cool story happen.

This also means that it is our moral imperative to go "That doesn't sound fun at all, why would you do that?" whenever people tell us their stories of just shitting all over their GM's prep or punishing their fellow players for perceived infractions.

[thighguys]

Phan Fic Recs #3!!

here is the requested long fic list! these are all 100k+, not all of them are finished (i didn't put any on here that aren't actively updating tho) and all of them are SO good so i hope you enjoy :)

Silver Arrows To The Heart by @evermorepeyton (137k WIP)- this one is a duplicate from the other list but there might be a few on here, ignore that<3 anyway this fic is AMAZING!!! dan and phil formula 1 drivers au- they're both on Mercedes and lots of awesome teammates to lovers hijinks ensue<3 this one gets a special shoutout for having some fantastic female characters (who are dare i say just as intriguing as dnp themselves?) and also bc the author is a beautiful human who i love<3 a super fun fic and very in character for both of them (somehow lmao, you wouldnt expect it with racecar drivers but somehow it works so well)

dancing on the blades (you set my heart on fire) by kishere (123k)- imagine all the 2009 phan lore but if dan and phil were figure skaters. yep, it's a yuri on ice au where dan scores a spot in the famous Lester training gym and meets phil, who is one of the most well known figure skaters in england<3 fantastic fantastic fic, such perfect vibes and lots of great lester family cameos<3

Strictly Come Dancing but make it GAY! by @natigail (176k)- the final duplicate from the medium list<3 this fic is AMAZING!!!! this is the one that got me back into phanfic in general afterhaving not read any for about 6 years, it's a strictly come dancing au where phil is a hot pro dancer and dan is a celebrity/gay activist, and they accidentally become the first gay couple to compete in scd<3 FANTASTIC outfit and dance descriptions, i listened to all the songs while reading it and it was honestly so lovely i felt like i could see it so clearly<3 also- the lore references are AMAZING lol i felt like a pro every time i found a little easter egg. amazing fic, i HIGHLY recommend it<3

A Semester Abroad by @everything-is-as-it-was (162k WIP)- this one is really fun!! lots of domestic phouse vibes as it is about an american college student who gets stranded in England after a study abroad housing situation falls through and who gets accidentally taken in by these two random british guys with a REALLY weird house... sooo funny, it's really quite cute and i highly recommend giving it a read! I love outsider pov and this has an abundance of funny moments because dnp are Weird

Broke, Gay and New in Town by @natigail (347k)- do you want the softest, cutest, most magical and compelling story to ever exist??? literally look no further because right here is the dan and phil stardew valley au and it is SO CUTE!!! dan inherits a farm from his grandfather and decides to ditch his boring life to go and run it, and he has so many adventures along the way. oh yeah phil is there too and hes SO CUTE and they fall in love :3 seriously so cute, also you don't need stardew valley knowledge to enjoy this it is independently perfect (i have never played the game and actually learned what it was From this fic so ur good lol)

linger on by dizzy, waveydnp (184k)- this one is so so so sweet... non youtuber au where 33yo phil has been living with his parents, but when his dad dies his mom decides to sell the house and phil has to find somewhere new to live. so ofc he becomes roommates with some guy called dan, and ummm they fall in love? honestly they are SO perfect in this fic, i adore it<3 highly recommend

L'Histoire Française by danfanciesphil (105k)- suuuuper fun teachers au! phil is a history professor and dan is his TA. this fic is SO FUN!!!! genuinely adore it lol, it's one of the first phan fics i ever read and it has stayed with me forever<3

So Many Stars by transdimensional_void (152k)- another teachers au :) dnp meet when they both become english teachers at a school in japan and this is VERY cute <3

okay there's the list!! sorry this one is shorter than the others haha, there are too few long fics in the phandom :( but all of these are so so lovely and i hope you enjoy! lol some distractions may be needed during these trying times <3

[fireflyinks]

karaoke and cowboy hats

colt seavers x costume designer/manager!reader

there will be multiple parts, this is part one !!

a/n : so so so much fun to write, and probably one of my longest and favorite fics i’ve ever written. i love colt and ryan gosling, and tried to add as many easter eggs from “the fall guy” as possible

summary : colt always seems to be misplacing his costumes pieces, which has him constantly coming back to the costume manager and designer, y/n. the two decide to hang out for once outside of set.

contains: this is just purely fluff and good vibes, no smut, cursing, “will they, won’t they”, part two will have more romance dw

word count : 3.7k

Working with Tom Ryder was one of the most difficult tasks one could be assigned. He was arrogant, narcissistic, and overall just a complete asshole. I had the misfortune of being the costume designer and manager for the up and coming film “Metalstorm”, and Jody, the director, insisted on the most cliché cowboy get ups imaginable, plus a gold metallic touch. Having worked with Ryder many times previously, I knew he would hate this. I had prepared myself for one of his meltdowns long before it actually happened, but it still somehow caught me off guard.

“What the fuck is this?” He stormed into the costume tent, causing me to jump up from my seat in panic.

“Ryder... Jody insisted you wear this.”

Ryder looked down at his attire in utter disgust. “Don’t try to blame anybody but yourself. This is your fault. Are you trying to embarrass me? Do you have some personal vendetta? I’ve never even worked with you before!”

It stung that he didn’t even recognize me from our previous jobs together, but I tried to ignore it. Looking at Ryder’s get-up, he didn’t even look half bad. The gold metallic suit went great with his complexion, and the cowboy hat added a charming touch. But he wasn’t having any of it.

“You have to wear it. It’s not an option. This is your costume.” I tried to act brave, as if his harsh voice didn’t effect me one bit.

“You’re fucking delusional if you think I’m going to be caught dead wearing this. Say goodbye to your job, nobody speaks to me like that. I’m Tom god-damned Ryder.”

The tent’s entrance opened, revealing a very angry Colt.

Colt and I were sort of close, as close as most coworkers get. I didn’t think we’d never hang out outside of set, but I considered him sort of an ally. When he wasn’t performing a dangerous stunt, he’d talk to me about whatever was on his mind and listen to me ramble on and on.

“Just leave her alone, Ryder. She’s not here for you to bitch at.”

It would be hard to deny the fact that I had a small crush on Colt. He was everything I could want; charming, tall, handsome. But in those moments, as he defended me, I could feel it turning to a major crush.

Anger pulsed through him as he walked over to Ryder. I’d actually never seen him so pissed off before. Colt, the easy going, overly sweet, fall guy, was bowing up on Tom Ryder.

I could tell Ryder wanted to say something back, but instead he bit his tongue as he strutted past Colt, making sure to bump shoulders with him on the way out.

Colt shook his head, making eye contact with me. He had a sorry expression on his face, genuine pity for me.

“Ignore him. Ryder’s a jackass.”

I giggled, “That’s an understatement.”

He chuckled, “Anyways, do you have any extra hats? I somehow managed to lose mine, and I already have some stunts I need to do.”

Colt nervously twiddled his thumbs, embarrassed of his clumsiness. It was our third day on set, and he’d already misplaced his hat.

I nodded, smiling. Colt was always losing his props and costume pieces in previous projects we’d worked together in, so I’d remembered to bring extras. Turning around to reach into the bucket of hats, I pulled one out and handed it to him.

“Thanks. And again, just don’t let Ryder get to you. I know you’ve worked with him before, but don’t take anything he says personally, okay? If he gives you any problems, just let me know, alright?”

It wasn’t surprising that Colt remembered me from past projects, but it still felt nice in contrast to Ryder’s forgetfulness.

I nodded, smiling. “Thanks Colt, I really appreciate that.”

My cheeks burned a light crimson shade, and I tilted my head down, hoping he didn’t notice.

As he walked out of the tent, I added “Let me know if you need another hat or anything. I brought extras just for you.”

Colt looked back at me, smirking. “I will definitely need another one, thanks sweetheart.”

The simple nickname made my head spin. Yep, this is definitely a major crush.

—

By day five of filming, Ryder had become okay with his costume. Well, maybe not okay, but definitely impartial. Perhaps because his ego had realized how ridiculously good the suit made him look, or maybe Colt had spoken to him alone about the matter.

Part of me hoped it was the latter.

My job as costume designer and manager was really simple; fix and replace shit all the time. Especially Colt’s shit. When day six rolled around, he had lost three hats, his metallic jacket, and somehow a singular shoe. I’m not kidding, he had stumbled into the costume tent, peg footed, hobbling on the shoe he’d managed to keep. I didn’t mind though. In fact, Colt was one of the few people that actually visited me in the tent, instead of walking in, grabbing their belongings, and quickly walking out, not saying a word or acknowledging my existence. Colt’s visits slowly became one of the only things I looked forward to during filming.

On day twelve, when Colt came in to the tent without a cowboy hat once again, I mustered up the courage to ask him the one thing I never thought I’d be able to ask.

“Do you want to hang out sometime. You know, just me and you? Outside of set.”

The sides of his mouth quirked up. “I’d love that actually. But I do have one request.”

I furrowed my brows, listening intently. “If me and you go out, you have to wear a cowboy hat.”

My mouth dropped open in protest, but he argued on. “You’ve seen me in these stupid things so many times, too many times to count. I’m completely and utterly embarrassed. Maybe I want to see you sporting your southern spirit for once.”

“I’m from Wisconsin!” I giggled, shaking my head rapidly. “I am not wearing one of these things in public.”

Colt rolled his eyes, “Fine, but you have to wear one around set for the rest of filming. Deal?”

I sighed, remembering that I barely ever exit my tent other than at lunch time and when leaving set for the day. “Deal.”

“Karaoke, seven, tonight. I’ll text you the address.”

Colt turned to leave, and I grabbed his shoulder, pausing him.

“I don’t have your number.”

“Oh, yeah.” Colt chuckled, pulling his phone out of his pocket. We exchanged numbers, and he laughed at the excessive amount of repetitive digits in mine.

“And I’m expecting our deal to begin right now.” He said, glancing at the bucket of hats behind me. I sighed, picking one out and placing it upon my head.

“Happy?” I asked, holding out spirit fingers beside me.

Colt beamed, “Perfect.”

He turned and left the tent, and I pulled out my phone and began to update Colt’s contact name, only to sigh and pocket my phone again. Apple somehow doesn’t have a cowboy hat emoji.

—

When my Uber lazily pulled up to the karaoke bar, anxiety pooled in my stomach all at once. I shouldn’t have been this nervous, and I knew I was making this out to be something that it wasn’t. A date.

But what exactly was I supposed to think of this as? Hangouts happen at people’s houses, dates happen at bars. Plus it didn’t help that it was Colt and I alone. I look down at the sun dress that I donned, running my hands down the skirt. This wasn’t too formal, right?

I stepped out of the black car, thanking the half asleep driver, and walked toward the bar. I opened the door and automatically spotted Colt sitting by himself, drinking a small, lean glass of something colorful. The bar wasn’t exactly packed, but it wasn’t empty either. Numerous people danced around as a man in a orange and green polka dot button up did a bad rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”.

Making my way towards him, the anxiety filled my stomach even higher.

“Hey.” I said nervously, sitting down beside him.

Colt looked at me, examining my attire. “You look great.”

I blushed, shrugging. “Thanks, you don’t look too bad yourself.”

He smiled, taking another sip of his drink.

I wasn’t too keen on getting drunk because we still had to go to set in the morning and the last thing I wanted Colt Seavers to see was me throwing up in a bush, but a drink or two couldn’t hurt.

“You want a drink?”

“Sure,” I grabbed the bartender’s attention, “Can I please get a margarita?” She nodded, scrambling to assemble the cocktail.

“So I’m guessing you don’t drink much?” Colt asked, his lips in a sly smirk.

“What makes you say that?”

I chuckled, drinking the last of what I assume what his first drink and ordering another. I then learned the bright liquid was a sunset on ice.

“Well you ordered the most basic drink known to mankind. I mean, at least make it spicy.”

I guess that was true, but I didn’t like experimenting with my orders much. I didn’t enjoy drinking much in general due to the effects it would have on me later.

“I like what I like.” I shrugged, thanking the bartender as she handed me the margarita.

We sat in silence for a moment, until Colt turned to me. “So, what are we singing?”

I coughed into my drink. I hadn’t even thought of what I was going to sing yet.

“Funny of you to assume were doing a duet.” I said slyly, playing off the fact that I was trying to pull a song out of my ass.

Colt raised his eye brows. “Okay, then go and serenade me.”

I nodded at him, walking over to the DJ and requesting “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood. Once Polka Dots was done singing his heart out, the adrenaline had kicked in and I felt as if I ruled the world. Or maybe I just wanted to rule Colt’s world.

The small crowd clapped along as I sang, and I say Colt’s smile through the audience every time I tried to execute one of the runs in the song.

Afterwards, I walked over to him, slightly embarrassed but also proud. “How’d I do?”

His face was covered in amusement. “It was... entertaining.”

I giggled, punching his arm lightly. “You’re the one who told me to ‘sport my southern spirit’!”

He sighed, shaking his head sarcastically. “The cowboy had would’ve made it complete. You missed the opportunity of a lifetime.”

“I think I’ll live. Now it’s your turn!”

I motioned towards the DJ booth, and he stood up turning back for a split second to wink at me.

I was expecting something silly. Maybe Total Eclipse of the Heart, or Sweet Caroline. I was terribly wrong.

By the time the first notes blared out of the speakers, I knew I was doomed.

Wise men say only fools rush in

But I can’t help falling in love with you.

It’s like he’d searched my brain, found my favorite love song of all time, and decided he was going to make me fall in love with him by singing it.

His voice wasn’t perfect. There were parts that were off key and shaky, but the bigger picture was beautiful. I never thought I could fall in love with someone in a karaoke bar.

Once he was done, my shoulders dropped and the tension left my body. It had been so unexpected, the tune had snuck up on me and now I felt head over heels to the man who had sung it. I wasn’t the only one who loved it, the crowd was going crazy.

“How’d I do?” Colt asked me, sipping the drink that had been waiting for him. This had to have been his third drink, and I could tell he was tipsy from the way he spoke.

“It was great.” I wanted to scream ‘It was amazing! It was perfect! Please marry me!’ But thankfully I did not.

“‘Glad you liked it.”

We sat in silence for a moment before I got the guts to ask.

“Why that song?”

Colt hummed, as if asking me to repeat my question.

“Why’d you pick that song?”

He grinned to himself before shrugging. “I just like the song, I guess. It’s one of my favorites.”

It could’ve been my habit of overthinking and examining everything to the smallest detail, or it could’ve been the psychology course that I took in college and obsessively studied over for months, but Colt’s excessive blinking in those moments told me there was a good chance he was lying to me.

Why would he lie over a song?

“It’s one of my favorites too.” I smiled. I’d find out why he lied to me later.

Colt grinned to himself in satisfaction.

We sat there for another hour, and Colt drank two more tequila sunrises, which meant I was now his designated driver.

At about nine, I decided it was time to leave.

“Colt, I’m gonna give you a ride home, okay?”

Colt nodded dizzily.

“Did you drive here?”

“Yeah, here.” He clumsily handed me his keys, almost missing my hand. I stiffened a laugh. “Diane! Close out my tab, please.” The waitress handed him his card quickly.

We stood up, beginning to leave, when Colt turned back to the bartender. “Thank you, Diane, those drinks were great.”

I waved goodbye to Diane as well, reading the “Amy” on her name tag with a smile.

I got him into the car slowly, and began driving him home.

“Hey, y/n?”

I hummed, waiting to hear what he was about to say. Chances are it would be something ridiculous, and I was all here for it.

“You’re really pretty. Have you ever been told that?”

I blushed, and prayed the dark car shadowed me enough for him not to see.

“A time or two. Thank you, Colt.”

He leaned the passenger seat back, and I thought for a moment that he would go to sleep.

“Where are you staying?”

He turned his head to me, and shrugged. “Can we just go to yours?”

I lifted my eyebrows in surprise. Colt Seavers, in my small temporary apartment that I was providing to stay in during the time we’d be filming. It wasn’t a mess since I’d only been staying in there for about two weeks, but it definitely wasn’t guest ready.

“Sure, why not?” I fumbled with my phone, pulling up my GPS app and getting directions to the apartment.

“Can I tell you something, y/n?”

I nodded slowly, ignoring the way my stomach felt when he said my name.

“I actually didn’t lose all of those hats.”

What?

I furrowed my eyebrows, whipping my head to look at him. “Then why’d you keep getting new ones from me?”

He hiccuped, smirking. “I just wanted an excuse to see you.”

If my face was a crimson shade before, it was a tomato now. I felt bad, like I was using Colt’s drunken state to get answers out of him.

“Did you like my song?” He looked over at me, waiting for my answer intensely.

My lips quirked up into a soft smile. “I did. ‘I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You’ is actually one of my favorite songs.”

This made him giddy. He giggled like a school girl, and then stiffened a laugh myself.

“I know.” Colt said under his breath.

So he did know.

“How’d you know?” I pressed Colt for answers. I knew that if he found out he’d told me any of this while drunk, he’d be mortified, but I just couldn’t help my curiosity.

“I heard you listening to it one day on set. I was outside of your tent, about to come in to tell you that I’d lost another hat, but I stopped and listened for a while. You were singing along, and you sounded so good. That’s why I wanted to sing a duet with you.”

At this point, I’m the color of a fire truck.

We pulled up to the apartment, and I unbuckled, getting out. I walked over to Colt’s door and opened it for him.

“Very chivalrous, thank you my lady.”

I giggled, helping his wobbly frame out of the car. “You’re welcome kind gentleman.”

We walked into the apartment building, making our way up a flight of stairs. Well, I made my way up them, Colt tripped over himself with each new stair until he made it to the top. At one point, he almost fell all the way down them, and dragged me down by my arm with him, but he managed to catch himself.

I brought him to my room, closing the door behind him. It was small, the kitchen and lounging room directly next to one another, separated by no wall. There was a door that led to the bedroom with a bathroom connected.

Walking into the kitchen, I grabbed a plastic cup form the cupboard and filled it with water. I handed it to Colt, who turned his nose up at it like I were trying to feed him poison.

“You have to drink water or you’ll regret it in the morning, Colt. You still have to go in for filming, remember?”

He sighed, taking the cup from me and drinking it all at once. “I’m starving.”

I thought for a moment about what he could possibly find to eat in the apartment. Nothing. I’d pretty much been eating take out since I arrived to Sydney.

“I’ll order a pizza.”

I pulled my wallet out of my purse on the kitchen counter. Colt shook his head, reaching in his pocket. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay.”

“You got the drinks, Colt, it’s fine.” I insisted, grabbing my card.

Colt handed me his entire wallet, “I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing I made you pay for it.” his drowsy eyes said otherwise, “Please, just let me.”

I sighed, taking his wallet from him, “Thank you.” I said under my breath.

Colt only winked at me, lazily walking to the couch and plopping himself on it.

I ordered the pizza, assuming he liked pepperoni because who doesn’t like pepperoni?

I sat down beside him on the couch once I was finished. He was flipping through the different options on Netflix, his face was focused intently to find something.

Colt Seavers was on my couch. Well not necessarily my couch since the apartment was only being rented for me, but you get the point. We were on the couch together, tryin to find a movie to watch with pizza on the way. This realization made my cheeks feel hot once again.

“Here we go.” Colt chuckled as he clicked on the block buster film “Bad Cop, Good Dog” starring the one and only Tom Ryder.

“Get him off the screen, I might puke.” I giggled, attempting to grab the remote from him. Colt held it as far away as his much longer arms could manage, and I gave up.

“This is such a horrible film.” Colt told me, his eyes laser focused on the screen still.

“Then why are we watching it?”

Colt thought for a moment. “The way he talked to you the other day isn’t anything new. I’ve seen him talk to pretty much every one on every set we worked on together just like that. I just couldn’t always save them like I did you. It’s easy to think he’s some big, powerful guy, but in reality, he’s a pussy.”

I stayed silent for a moment. It felt nice, knowing that he still cared so deeply about the way Ryder had treated me.

“That’s nice and all, but it still doesn’t explain why exactly were watching this.”

Colt shrugged, “Oh, I just like making fun of him. We can watch something else if you want to.”

I snatched the remote from him, “Please.”

After a few more minutes of searching, I decided on the 1998 classic “The Parent Trap”.

“This movie never made any sense to me.” Colt crossed his arms as the movie started.

“Why?”

“Well, first off, what judge arranged this custody system? I mean seriously, how did both parents just up and leave with one kid?” He slurred so horribly that I had to fight a laugh as he spoke.

“It’s just a movie.” There are a few movies that I would defend with my life, this is definitely one of them.

“You can’t just use that as an excuse. Just because it’s a movie doesn’t mean it’s allowed to just defy all logic.”

“Colt,” I turned to face him, “You are working on a sci-if space cowboy movie with aliens. I think that makes the parent trap sound pretty reasonable.”

Colt chuckled, “Touché.”

My heart fluttered as I looked at Colt, lazily snuggled into my couch.

There was a knock at the door and I hopped up, walking through the kitchen and dodging Colt’s wallet, grabbing mine instead.

I paid for the pizza and brought it in, met with the sight of an extremely hungry Colt waiting impatiently at the counter.

“You didn’t use my wallet.”

I sighed, putting mine back in my purse. “I’m a big girl, I can pay for my own things.”

Colt shook his head. “You’re absolutely kicking my ass at the chivalry game.”

Grabbing a slice of pizza, I went back to the living room. Colt followed quickly behind me, and we got about one-fourth through the movie before I could tell Colt was getting extremely tired.

I got up, and went to my room, grabbing a blanket and a pillow.

“Here.” I handed them to him. Colt smiled up at me gratefully.

“Thanks.” He made himself comfortable, before leaning back and closing his eyes. The couch wasn’t very small, which was surprising since the apartment was so compact. This is why I didn’t feel bad about having him sleep on the couch. He didn’t complain either.

“Goodnight.” He mumbled, drifting off.

I smirked at him, walking to the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water to place beside the couch. I also grabbed the bathroom’s trash can. He was going to have a terrible hangover.

“Goodnight Colt.”

I had gotten a date with Colt Seavers for the small price of humiliating myself in a southern style for the rest of filming. I’d say that’s a pretty good deal.

Or maybe it wasn’t date and I was delusional, but Colt ended up sleeping on my couch, which is pretty sweet if you ask me.

[and-claudia]

Against All Odds pt. 13 (Joel Miller x fem! reader)

General Warnings for later on: The main story will have an age gap between Joel and the reader (Reader will be 25 once we get to the main storyline), this will also be your warning that it will eventually be an x pregnant reader (if that’s not your jam, I’m sorry) there is also going to be more graphic/trigger parts later on so please always to be sure to read the warnings BEFORE reading. This story will also be 18+ and TO BE ON THE TAGLIST YOU CAN NOT BE AN AGELESS BLOG (i do actually check that) also there first hand full of parts are all prologue so Joel won’t actually be in it for a bit

Warnings for this part: storms, smut, fingering, possible accent kink if you squint (idk if that's even a thing tbh)

So like I said this is a small tribute to my online bestie turned IRL bestie @fan-g0rl we became friends over a part of my Mandalorian fanfic that was titled "The Storm" and so I wanted to do this part as a little easter egg for her... I didn't mean for there to be smut at the end of this either it just kinda happened...

word count: 4200+

Taglist Sign-Up (read my rules carefully before filling it out)

gif not mine

A couple of weeks and many miles later: 

"Hey Joel, I know it's risky, but we need to find proper shelter for tonight... those updrafts are gonna be a storm here soon." I said, nodding over to some clouds in the distance. 

"I was afraid of that... keep an eye on them, okay?" He said. 

"I will." 

And true to my word, I did. And just as I predicted, they formed into storms. And big ones at that. We were in the country side where clearly some farmers had lived. Joel pointed out one of the houses situated up on a hill that would give us a good vantage point on the storms and would keep us up away from any flooding. The back half of the ranch house was still mostly intact, and we were using that as our shelter for the time being.

"I don't like the look of that..." I said from where we had found shelter for the night. "What are you looking at?" Ellie asked. 

"You see how the whole storm is spinnin'?" 

She nodded.

"It's a supercell. Which means hail, heavy rain... maybe a tornado." 

"Tornado?" Ellie asked nervously. 

"Yeah... not super likely, but possible. That's why Joel's out looking for a storm cellar. This big of house is bound to have one somewhere. The worst-case scenario is we hold up there for the night. It'll be safer than here." I explained, trying not to scare her. 

“How will we know if there’s a tornado coming?” She asked. 

I sighed, “Honestly, we probably won’t. Before the outbreak, and even from what I remember in some of the QZs, they had sirens that would go off if there was really any hazardous weather heading for an area, not just for tornadoes but now, especially for us being out here, we’re kinda just relying on our eyes and ears to know. We don’t even have radar anymore.” I explained. 

“Fun.” She said, clearly nervous. 

“Don’t worry, I doubt anything is going to happen. It’s been getting too cold already. I think we’re just going to get a lot of rain, probably some hail. Hopefully, the hail core won’t pass directly over us.” 

She nodded just as Joel was coming back. 

“Find anything?” I asked. 

“Yeah, it’s around the side of the house. I checked it out. It’s empty, save for a few mice.” He said. 

I nodded, “If you want any shot at catching dinner, you should go now before that storm hits.” I said, not taking my eyes off of it. 

“Actually, I found some cans down there brought a variety back that weren’t bloated.” He said, squatting down and setting them down on the ground. 

I glanced over and saw the variety he was setting out. Some of them actually didn’t look half bad. 

“What’s the storm lookin like?” He asked, coming to stand beside me as Ellie went over to raid the selection of cans. 

“We’re definitely getting rain, maybe hail. That thing is spinning like a top. I think we’ll be okay here, though. It’s been too cold for anything, I think…” I said with a sigh, finally turning to look at him. 

He nodded, “Okay, worst-case scenario, like I said, the cellar is just around the corner.” 

“So, what’d you bring up?” I asked, walking over to join Ellie in looking at our options for dinner. 

We all picked out our dinner and then sat together, watching the storm roll in. There was a lot of cloud-to-ground lightning in it, and it was stunning. By the time we were done eating, the storm was fast approaching. I went ahead and told Ellie to get some rest while Joel and I watched the storm come in. Joel was being our usual lookout, despite the fact that we hadn’t seen any signs of any people in weeks. I was still keeping an eye on the storm. 

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen a storm like this.” I whispered to him as we sat on the old back porch. 

“It’s really something.” He said, nodding before looking over at me. I was sitting in the doorway, resting my head against the frame. 

“Hey, come here.” He said, nodding me over as he adjusted the way he was sitting so I could come over and sit between his legs. 

I smiled and got up to walk over. I sat down and settled down between his legs, leaning back to rest against his chest. The lightning continued to put on a show in front of us and the rain had finally started falling. The pitter-patter of it on the roof was slowly lulling me to sleep. 

His arms snaked around my waist, allowing him to rest his hands against my small bump. I smiled as his large hands cradled it so gently, and I relaxed even more into him. 

“They’re getting bigger.” He commented. 

“Gee, thanks.” I said with a small laugh. 

“Hey, it’s a good thing.” He said, pressing a small kiss to the side of my head. 

“I know, means everything is assumingly okay in there.” I said, bring my hands to join his. 

About a week ago, I had expressed to him how scared I was that something would go wrong with the baby. The QZs didn’t have the best prenatal care, but it was at least something. Out here, I had nothing. There was no one who could check on the baby and make sure everything was going the way it should. And with this being my first baby, I literally had no clue what was normal and what wasn’t besides the obvious, common sense stuff. 

“Have you felt them yet?” He asked. 

“I don’t think so… at least not that I was able to be like that was definitely the baby.” I explained. 

“I’m sure you will soon.” He said, rubbing my bump slightly. 

I shifted some and moved to undo the button and zipper of my jeans, and once I did, I relaxed back into Joel. 

“Feel better?” He teased. 

“Mhm, much better. I am betting I’ve got two more weeks before these jeans cut in too much for me to wear them.” I said, sighing. 

I felt him nod, “Okay, we’ll figure it out.” 

Despite the loud claps of thunder, I was getting quite tired, but I wanted to stay awake until the storm passed, just in case something happened. A small yawn slipped past my lips, and I heard Joel chuckle behind me. 

“Getting tired?” He asked, his voice low. 

“Nope.” I said, shaking my head, but another yawn slipped out. 

“You should go get some sleep.” He said.

“No, I’d rather stay here with you.” I said, leaning my head to the side to rest on his shoulder so I could turn my head and look at him. 

“We haven’t seen anyone in weeks, not even evidence of others… just tonight, leave it be and come lay with me. Please?” I said, giving him my best puppy eyes. 

“You make it hard to say no to you when you do that…” He said, leaning over to kiss me. 

He had become much more affectionate the past few weeks, and I wasn’t complaining in the least. I was loving it. 

“Come on, before I change my mind.” He said, dropping his hands from my bump to my hips and giving one of them a small tap. 

I scooted forward and stood up, then turned to offer him a hand up. 

“I’m the one that’s supposed to be helping you up.” He said, but took my hand anyway. 

Once he was up, I quietly led us back inside, never dropping his hand. I looked over to where Ellie was and found her fast asleep, using her backpack as a pillow. Joel and I settled down together and eventually fell asleep as well. 

When I woke up, I sat up and noticed Ellie was gone. 

“Joel!” I said, shaking his leg harshly to get him to wake up. 

He woke with a start and looked around panicked for a moment before focusing on me. 

“What? What’s wrong?” He asked, his voice raspy from sleep. 

“Dude, what’s wrong with his voice?” Ellie asked as she walked in through where the back door should be. 

I let out a huge sigh when I saw her and rested my head in my hand. 

“Oh my god, Ellie, where were you? I woke up and didn’t see you anywhere. It scared the shit out of me.” I said. 

I wasn’t trying to make her feel bad for it. It had just truly scared me. 

“I’m sorry, I woke up and really had to pee… I just went out back. I didn’t mean to worry you.” She said. 

“It’s okay. Really, just wasn’t prepared for you to be gone… and actually, now that you mention it, I’m going to go do the same.” I said before standing up and stretching. I cringed slightly at the sound of my joints popping. 

When I got back, Joel was more awake, now sitting up, leaning against the wall. 

“Mornin’” He said when I walked in. 

“Good morning. Sorry for startling you awake.” I said. 

“S’okay. Rather you do I, and there be nothing wrong, then not do it and something be wrong.” He said with a nod. 

We ended up packing up and raiding what cans we could before setting off again. We actually found some more shot gun ammo in their cellar as well that we were all shocked hadn’t been raided. Our best guess was the house was falling into disrepair before the outbreak so no one really ever considered raiding it.

There was a new chill in the air now. That storm was probably the last big one of the season. The leaves around us had already changed and slowly were falling from the trees. I knew that as it got even colder, our pace would slow even more, which made me even more nervous about the baby than I already was. I was really starting to have doubts that we would make it there in time. 

A cold front came through within the following days, forcing us to double up some of our clothes as temperatures dropped. Luckily, we had managed to find some warmer gear at Bill and Frank’s that survived the crash back in Kanssas City. I was also greatful that I had remembered to find a jacket that was too big so it would fit me as the baby grew. 

Conversation, as we walked, varied from stories from before the outbreak to what we would be doing if the outbreak had never happened to the baby and everything in between. 

“So, what were you doing before everything happened, Joel?” Ellie asked as we walked along. 

“Nothing, I just did my job.” He said bluntly. 

“Which was… building?” She asked, causing me to smile. 

“That’s right. Houses, stores, that kinda thing. We were called contractors.” He explained. 

“That contractor,” Ellie said in a dramatic voice, “That’s pretty cool.” 

“Yeah, we were pretty cool. Everybody loved contractors.” He said, and I actually let out a small laugh. 

“What’s funny?” He asked, looking over at me.

“Nothing.” I said, shaking my head with a smile. 

“It’s obviously something, please share.” He pressed teasingly. 

“Well, I don’t have much experience with them… but everybody definitely did not love contractors. I can vaguely remember us having one come to look at our foundation or something, and I swear my pa complained about him for weeks.” I said with a laugh, causing Joel and Ellie to do the same. 

“Okay, so maybe not everyone loved us.” Joel conceded. 

Once the laughter ended, Ellie looked over to me, “I’m just curious because you’ve talked about him after the outbreak, but what was your dad like before it? Was he the same?” 

I shook my head, “No, he was so different before everything.” I said, picturing what fuzzy memories I could. 

“He was a fairly stereotypical dad, honestly, but when I was little, I swear he hung the moon. He would go to work every weekday, come home, eat dinner with us, have a beer, then go sit in his recliner and watch whatever game was on, but definitely preferred watching NASCAR.” I said, remembering sitting with all my brothers around the TV, watching the different colored cars go around the track. 

“What’s NASCAR?” Ellie asked. 

“Racing, like in cars. It was honestly pretty boring most of the time. They just went around an oval track… but honestly… I would give just about anything to watch one more race with all of them…” I said suddenly, feeling tears well up in my eyes at the sudden feeling of missing them. 

Joel must have seen me wiping my eyes because his steps fell into rhythm with mine as he put his arm around my shoulders as we walked. 

“What about you, Joel? Were you a NASCAR fan?” I asked, trying to distract myself. 

He shook his head. 

“Not really. I was more of a football guy.” He said. 

“My brother played. I got dragged to so many high school games. But I was way too young to actually understand what was happening.” I said. 

“Wait, is it that hard to understand?” Ellie asked. 

That led us into a long conversation that was mostly just Joel trying to explain the rules of the game while Ellie and I listened, nodded along, and asked questions. To tell the truth, I was getting more confused the more he explained but I just continued along with it. 

The next day, we decided to just walk for half the day and stopped after a few hours to rest. Since finding the additional ammo, Ellie had been itching to learn how to use the shotgun, and Joel was finally giving in. He had set up a makeshift shooting range in an open clearing and was finally trying to teach her how to use it. I sat back, watching the two of them. Ellie let off a few shots, each one of them missing the target Joel had set up. 

“Wide right. You’re flinchin’.” He said to her. 

“The target’s too small.” She said with a little frustration. 

“I made it bigger than I should’ve. Eject the cartridge.” 

She did as he said, “And I am not flinching.” She defended herself. 

“Mm-hmm.” He hummed in response. 

“This rifle just sucks.” She said, looking over at him. 

“Okay, give it.” He said, moving away so she could pass it to him. 

She handed it to him and then stood up to walk closer to me. 

“It doesn’t aim right. You’ll see.” She insisted. 

“Mm-hmm.” Joel hummed again as he adjusted his position. 

“Deep breath in, slow breath out. You squeeze the trigger, like you love it.” Joel explained, making me stifle a laugh behind my hand as Ellie shot me a funny look. 

“Steady… nice and slow.” He continued to narrate. 

“You gonna shoot this this or get it pregnant?” Ellie said with a sigh. 

Before I could stop myself, I chimed in, “Oh, trust me, that���s not how he did it.” 

Joel took his shot but then immediately looked over to Ellie and me. Ellie was giving me a disgusted look, and I was covering my mouth, trying not to laugh as Joel gave me a look that just said, “Did you really just say that?”. 

“I am so sorry! It slipped out before I could even think!” I said, finally letting my laughter out. 

“That was single-handedly the most disgusting thing I think you have ever said to me.” Ellie said. 

I couldn’t even apologize because I was laughing so hard. By this time, Joel had stood up and was walking over to us. He just shook his head at me, clearly trying not to smile. He handed the gun back over to Ellie. 

“Oh, and it aims just fine, by the way.” He said, nodding behind him to the target he had hit perfectly. 

“You dick!” Ellie said upon seeing that. She went back over to where they had been shooting from to try a few more times. 

“I cannot believe you said that.” He said, finally letting his smile show. 

“I swear it crossed my mind, and before I could stop myself, I was saying it.” I said, finally regaining my composure. 

“I mean, it is the truth…” He teased, nudging my shoulder. 

I closed my eyes, resting my head against his shoulder with a dreamy sigh. It had been a while since he and had sex like that. Honestly, it would still probably be a while before we were able to do it like that. Between traveling, the unknown of what was actually in Jackson, and being pregnant, our sex life was on hold for an undisclosed amount of time currently. 

“Have you thought about what might be in Jackson in terms of like a settlement, like what it’s like there?” I asked as we watched Ellie. 

“A little, trying not to get my hopes up, though.” He said, and I nodded in understanding. 

“Same… but there are two-no wait, three, yeah, three things I am hoping to get once we are there.” I said. 

“Oh yeah?” Joel turned to me and picked my head up from his shoulder, “And what are they?” 

“One, a hot meal. Now, don’t get me wrong, you’re a great chef out here,” I said, teasing and putting my hand on his knee, “But let's be honest, we’re eating what would have been roadkill pre-breakout. I want a real, true hot meal.” 

Joel let out a small laugh and nodded, “Okay, fair enough, that does sound really good. What else?” 

“A bed.” I said bluntly, and he smiled at that with a nod, clearly agreeing, “I don’t even care if it is just a few blankets on the ground and a pillow. I just want a bed that isn’t just the hard ground.” I said. 

“I agree.” He said. 

“Lastly, this one is a more recent desire, I must admit. But if I am able to still,” I leaned in closer to whisper in his ear, “I want to be properly fucked on that bed.” 

I pulled back just enough to see his reaction, and he was smiling at me. 

“I think I can make that happen, darlin’.” He said, leaning in. 

I leaned up to kiss him, smiling into it. I hadn’t even heard the gunshots stopping until I heard Ellie’s voice, causing us to separate. “You two are disgusting.” She said, shaking her head and causing us to laugh. 

We all packed up and gathered our stuff before making our way out of the clearing for the night as the sun began to set. Finding shelter was getting harder because of the cold and the morning frosts that were now happening consistently. We were pretty far from any old towns, so actual buildings were few and far between. Luckily, there was the occasional cave and that is where we were holding up for the night. 

Joel rummaged through the can and found us each one for dinner. He even spoiled us tonight and heated them up carefully over the fire. He handed Ellie’s to her, then brought his and mine over to me to sit next to me while we ate. 

“I hope this can hold you over in terms of a warm meal.” He joked, handing me the warm can. 

“It’ll do for now.” I said with a smile. 

When he sat down, he was oddly close, not that I really minded just caught me off guard a little. As did him, leaning over to whisper in my ear. 

“If you promise to keep quiet, I have something that can try to help hold you over until I can properly fuck you again.” He whispered before causally leaning back away from me as if nothing had happened. 

I looked over at him but he was as casual as can be. 

“Do you want first watch?” Joel asked once we all finished up eating. 

“Sure.” She nodded. 

“I’m going to go refill the waters before Yn and settle in for the night.” Joel told her, collecting all of our canteens before disappearing. 

When he got back, I had already cleared an area for us too far away from the entrance to the cave but not too far away from the fire. I told Ellie goodnight before settling down with Joel. His back was to the entrance of the cave, and I was in front of him with my back to him as he held me from behind. 

Suddenly, his face came a little closer, and soon, his lips were on my neck. I small gasp escaped my lips. 

“Gotta stay quite, darlin’.” He said, his southern accent slipping out way thicker than it usually does. 

I bit my lip to keep myself quiet and melted into Joel. His hand then slipped under my shirt and began trailing up towards my breast before I stopped him by gently grabbing his wrist. 

“Joel…” I whispered cautiously. My breast had become very sensitive the past couple of days, and he knew that. 

“Sshh, I know, I’ll be gentle. Promise.” He whispered. 

And true to his words, he was extremely gentle as he groped at my breast. By this point, I had rolled onto my back so he could kiss my lips instead of just my neck. We lied like that for a bit before I began to get impatient. As much as I was enjoying this, I needed something more, or this would be a huge tease. 

Then, as if he had read my mind, his hand slowly retreated away from my breasts and went down to my already undone jeans. 

“Turn back to your side.” He said gently and I did as he requested and went back to how we were originally laying.

“Gonna stay quiet for me?” He whispered lowly in my ear. 

I nodded. 

“Good, girl.” 

His hand then dipped under the fabric of my panties and went straight to where I wanted them the most. He hadn’t even properly touched me, and my back was already arching slightly with anticipation. 

His fingers gently ran through my folds, feeling how wet I already was. 

“Damn, darlin’ all of this for me?” He asked. 

I bit my lip harder, trying not to moan in response to what he was saying to me. He’s usually not one to talk much during sex, but when he’s in the right mood to, his voice is sweet like honey, saying filthy things in the sweetest, smoothest southern accent. All I could do was nod in response. 

My breathing hitched as he slipped his finger into me. I pumped it only a few times before slipping in a second one. My whole body stiffened at the feeling. 

“Relax, darlin’, I got you.” 

That was all it took for me to become absolutely putty in his hands. He continued to fuck me slowly with his fingers. When his thumb found my clit and began circling it slowly, I knew I wasn’t going to last much longer. 

I sigh left my lips before I whispered, “Joel… m’close.” 

“Go ahead, come for me, sugar, just keep it quiet.” He said. 

That pet name, mixed with the accent and the magic he was working between my legs, sent me over the edge as my walls gripped his fingers. He continued to pump them in and out of me, helping me ride my orgasm as long as possible. When my body finally stilled and relaxed back against him, his fingers stilled before gently pulling out. Without any hesitation, he brought his fingers to his and sucked them clean. I lay there for a few minutes, coming down from my high and catching my breath. 

Eventually, though, I sighed, knowing I would need to change out of these panties and go to the bathroom. Luckily, I still had a clean pair from when we rinsed clothes last. I patted Joel’s arm that was around me. 

“I’m going to go to the bathroom real quick.” I said, sitting up once his arm loosened. 

He knew what I was about to go do and sat up, grabbing my pack for me and handing it over. I found what I needed and put them in my back pocket to not alert Ellie of anything that had just happened. 

“I’ll be right back.” I said, leaning over to kiss Joel one last time. 

“We can rinse all the clothes tomorrow night and dry them by the fire.” He said before I stood up, to which I nodded to. 

I made sure that my footsteps were loud enough to alert Ellie of my approach so as not to startle her. 

“What are you doing? I thought y'all went to bed?” She asked, looking over at me. 

“Yeah, I just had to pee.” I said, and she nodded as I walked past to find an area to do my business and change. 

Once I got back, I put the old pair in my bag to get rinsed tomorrow before settling back down with Joel. His arm snaked around my waist, and I scooted back until I was flush against him. A content sigh left my lips as my eyes slipped shut, and I drifted off to sleep. 

taglist:

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if your name is red, it is becuase that tag does not exist, and you will be removed from the taglist soon

[greensagephase]

Miguel and Gabriella | Easter 🐇

Disclaimer: I know not everyone celebrates the day but as someone who does, I just had this on my mind and couldn't help the fluffiness. I just love thinking about Miguel as a dad to Gabi 🥺 so these are just some random thoughts on it, if only things were different! I also want to add that I know some people celebrate differently, or have different takes/opinions on it or on certain traditions/activities, so please take no offense from this post. This is based on things my family used to do for the kids of the family when we were all children, so a lot of this was normal for me growing up.

This is meant to be a lighthearted post on Miguel being a dad to Gabriella and embracing his dad energy, so I hope you enjoy it for what it is. Thank you! :)

Masterlist

In an alternative timeline, Lyla took the photo with the bunny filter because it's almost Easter and she thought it would be funny. Miguel is grumpy about it.

In this alt timeline, Gabriella didn't die. That means Miguel had the opportunity to introduce her to the Spider Society and the fact that he's Spider-Man. So when Miguel returns from the mission to HQ, what's the first thing Lyla does? Show Gabi the picture, of course, which makes Gabi laugh. Miguel can't even be grumpy about the picture anymore. The sight of his daughter laughing, along with the endearing sound of it, erases any negative emotion regarding the photo and the mission. Miguel is just a happy dad!! 🥹

With Easter around the corner, I'm imagining Miguel and Gabi going shopping for her Easter dress. Miguel lets Gabi choose whichever one she wants. She probably chose a lilac-colored one (crying over a dead fictional child rn).

Because Gabi knows of the Spider Society, I imagine she knows the HQ building very well and it's like a second home to her, and due to that, Miguel plans a BIG Easter egg hunt for her and the other spider kids like Mayday. He makes it clear it's open for anyone. It's just a little fun time for the kids!

I'm imagining him and maybe a few other spider adults going to HQ at night to set up for the next day and when the kids arrive they spot Easter eggs everywhere. There's spider webs in corners with cute little Easter eggs stuck in them. Other Easter eggs are simply hanging from the ceiling with strings of web, and of course, there are more hidden in less obvious places to make things fun for the kids.

I don't know if Miguel would give Gabriella her own web shooters, at least not until she's older, and that's if she asks for them. Or, maybe he does but he has a whole lecture with her about using them appropriately. If Gabi doesn't have any web shooters, I can see Miguel carrying her on his shoulders so she can get the Easter eggs up on the ceiling. The whole time Miguel is grinning from ear to ear, loving Gabi's cute giggles of excitement due to the egg hunt (give me HAPPY DAD MIGUEL CONTENT, SONY, I'M BEGGING YOU).

And when Gabi is on her feet, running with her Easter basket in hand (also gifted by Miguel, of course 🥺), Miguel simply runs along with her, probably encouraging her and giving her little hints sometimes - "Mija, look, there's one right there!" and "Gabi, look up, mija!" and "Good job, hija, you found another one!"

Miguel is just having so much fun during this whole thing, he's smiling the whole time as he accompanies Gabi from sector to sector finding Easter eggs with the other spider parents and their kids.

And by the end of the egg hunt, him and the others probably prepared some food for everyone to eat and the kids are all talking about where they found eggs, or how many they found. It's just a wholesome moment for the Spider Society and those who decided to participate.

Okay, and also, with Miguel being so happy and having full on dad energy, he probably arranged for there to be some kind of Easter egg hunt for the teenagers, too (for those who celebrate or for anyone who wants to participate just for fun), because they're still kids but of course, he knows that a lot of them will be like, "I'm too old for easter egg hunting," so Miguel makes it into some kind of competitive Easter egg mission and that's how he gets some of them to participate. Miguel's just smiling in amusement as he watches the spiderlings go through it (I like to think even Hobie joined just to do the opposite of what Miguel expected from him, which was to not participate - Hobie and Pav probably won tbh)!

At the end of the day, everyone goes to their respective universes. Miguel and Gabi go home. Gabi's basket is full of Easter eggs and she's still full of energy because she's had a lot of candy at this point (and Miguel knows she's going to pass out asleep by like 8:30pm). They arrive home and Miguel is smiling because there's still one little surprise left for the day that will keep Gabi entertained while he cooks dinner for the two of them.

As soon as they step into their home, Gabi sees it. Another Easter gift basket, Spider-Man 2099 theme, the one she saw at the store a few weeks ago. It's sitting right on the floor and as soon as Gabi's pretty brown eyes land on it (no, seriously, crying over this child rn. She's so sweet ����), she's off. She's immediately all like, "Daddy, look! It's the basket we saw at the store the other day!" and Miguel just stands a few feet away, smiling fondly at his daughter's excitement. "Si, mija, mira lo que te trajo la coneja!" ["Yes, mija, look what the [Easter] bunny brought you!"]

Miguel helps Gabi unpack her basket (we have Lyla taking pictures of them) and afterwards, while Gabi plays with some Spider-Man 2099 action figure, Miguel happily cooks dinner for them. 🥕🐇🥕🐇🥕🐇🥕🐇

I'm gonna go and cry about Miguel and Gabi

[winterdaphne2]

Gay Easter Eggs in BBC Sherlock

(I trust the above requires no explanation.)

Perhaps someone has done this before, but I wanted to put together a compilation of gay easter eggs in the show that I’ve seen other people point out and/or have thoughts on myself. So here it is!

When I say “easter eggs,” I’m thinking of small clues that the show creators included in the set designs, music choices, and other details of the show to reference that Sherlock and John are in love. I’m thinking of things you could miss at first, especially little clues that often require a bit of extra information or require observations across episodes to understand.

Of course, there’s also lots of subtext woven into the show, moments where interpreting the dialogue or visuals in a certain way tells us something about Sherlock, John, and/or the state of their feelings for one another. I’m not sure if I can clearly define “subtext” versus “easter eggs” and explain what distinguishes them, but at least to me, several of the things I’ve listed here seem a bit different from what people often refer to as subtext. Maybe subtext is about uncovering the layers to a piece of dialogue or an action that takes place in plain sight and seeing how that impacts our interpretation of the story, but easter eggs are about spotting smaller, hidden details. I’m not trained in literary or film studies, though, and I’m not trying to be doctrinaire about this at all! This list is just for fun, anyway. (The above image might not actually count as an easter egg, but I couldn’t resist including it here. Indulge me.)

The more I read about this show and the harder I look, the more I think that hardly anything is there on accident. All these easter eggs must have been included on purpose. The creators knew they were telling a love story all along.

I’ve linked to the posts where I initially saw people point these out or to other good sources, and for some of these I’ve added my own commentary/observations/interpretations. I’m sure there are many other easter eggs that I’ve missed! What have you spotted?

John’s PIN in TBB – When John tries to pay for his groceries at the beginning of the episode, we see that his PIN is 743. In ASIB, Irene’s code to unlock her phone is SHER, which would be 7437 on a phone keypad. So, John’s PIN is a clue that he is or will be in love with Sherlock. Source: @loudest-subtext-in-tv, here.

Shaftesbury Avenue, 20m from Piccadilly Circus in TBB – While investigating in Chinatown, Sherlock and John bump into each other at what used to be a cruising spot for gay men in London. Source: @the-signs-of-two, here.

Archer the American in ASIB – In the scene where the American CIA agents try to get Sherlock to open Irene’s safe, the head CIA agent pressures Sherlock by threatening to have one of his men shoot John. The agent says: “Mr. Archer, on the count of three, shoot Dr. Watson.” Ordering someone named “Archer” to shoot John could be a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle’s poem “The Blind Archer,” which is about Cupid and describes Cupid shooting two men who sound an awful lot like Sherlock and John. Source: couldntpossiblycomment, here.

“¿Dónde Estás, Yolanda?” in TEH – The song that plays during the scene with John and Sherlock’s disastrous reunion at the Landmark restaurant is a cover of the song “¿Dónde Estás, Yolanda?” performed by the band Pink Martini. The Spanish lyrics to this song are about searching for a long-lost lover, which is fitting for the scene where John sees Sherlock again for the first time since his fall. Notably, the creators didn’t use the first of the two versions of this song that Pink Martini has released. The band’s first version appears on their 1997 studio album Sympathique and features a man singing about a woman. Instead of using that version, the creators used the version from Pink Martini’s 2011 compilation album A Retrospective, in which China Forbes performs most of the vocals. So, the creators deliberately chose a remade version of the song in which a woman sings about a woman. They chose a gay song about searching for a long-lost lover for Sherlock and John’s reunion. abrae (@tea-and-liminality on tumblr) has a meta with more to say about the use of this song here.

John’s “oscillation on the pavement” in TEH – In TSOT, John observes a potential client standing outside 221B and trying to make up her mind as to whether to come in. Sherlock tells John “I’ve seen those symptoms before. Oscillation on the pavement always means there’s a love affair.” In the previous episode, John came to visit Sherlock at 221B but hesitated on the pavement outside, staring at the door and trying to decide whether to go in. Sherlock’s comment, “I’ve seen those symptoms before,” is a hint that we, the audience, have also seen those symptoms before—with John in the previous episode. Source: @bidoctor, here. (I saw someone else point out that last part about Sherlock’s hint to the audience, but I can’t find that post, sorry!)

Lilac dresses in TSOT – While planning John and Mary’s wedding, Sherlock chooses lilac-colored dresses for the bridesmaids. When John tells Sherlock that he likes the bridesmaids in purple, Sherlock pointedly corrects him by stating that the dresses are lilac. Apparently, “In Victorian times, giving a lilac meant that the giver is trying to remind the receiver of a first love.” So by dressing the bridesmaids in lilac, Sherlock is trying to remind John of his first love: himself, Sherlock. My heart breaks. Source: @asherlockstudy, here.

Putting the horns on Mary and Janine in TSOT and HLV – In TSOT, there’s a shot where Mary gives Sherlock and John a thumbs up before they head out on a case. The way Mary is standing, the horns on Sherlock’s cow skull thing on the wall behind her are placed right over her head. (I always thought this shot looked pretty weird, but now I see that it must have been intentional!) In the HLV scene with Janine at 221B, there’s a moment when Janine steps in front of John in the frame to kiss Sherlock, and her movement positions the horns right over her head. “Putting the horns” on someone means cheating on them. So in both cases, placing the horns right above Mary’s and Janine’s heads indicates to the audience that Sherlock and John are the real relationship in this show. Source: this post from multiple users on the @sherlockmeta blog.

The architecture of Sherlock’s mind palace in HLV – In the mind palace scene after Mary shoots Sherlock, the architecture of Sherlock’s mind palace is based on locations from ASIP. Sherlock literally built his mind palace out of places from his first case with John, illustrating that his relationship with John is what grounds him and that it means everything to him. abrae has some very helpful screencaps of this here (and I would recommend that whole meta, btw!)

The glasshouse scene in TAB – In TAB, the Victorian John tries to ask Sherlock about his sexuality and sexual history while they’re sitting in a glasshouse. In Victorian Britain, “glasshouse” was another term for a military prison. So John, a military veteran, asks Sherlock about his sexuality in a setting that represents where he would have been sent if he had acted upon his homosexual desires at a time when homosexuality was criminalized. Source: @haffieliesel, here.

What do we say about coincidences? The universe is rarely so lazy.

[allywthsr]

BABYFEVER | (h.lewis)

summary: Y/N sees a TikTok from side+ and gets severe babyfever

wordcount: 1k words

pairing: harrylewis x singer!reader

warnings: none

notes: Y/N is watching this TikTok, literally freaked when I saw it🥲 enjoy and comment your thoughts!

You lay on the couch in the living room, having finished the studio session for today, while scrolling on TikTok and coming across a new side+ TikTok where AI generated the sidemen and what their baby would look like. Harry was the first to start and your ovaries screamed. You‘ve never seen a baby as cute as that and the way Harry was holding it? Get out of here. You needed that, right now.

You‘ve been together for ages as well, and both of your parents annoyed you with a: ”When’s the first baby coming“ weekly. Both of you never felt ready or mature enough to raise a small human being that relied on you, you could barely take care of yourself. Often forgetting to do chores like washing your clothes or bringing out the trash. Don’t get me started on how often you didn’t want to cook, so you just ordered something in, getting takeout way too much. How were you supposed to take care of another breathing thing. You literally gave little Herb to his parents, because you didn’t have enough time to care for him the way he deserved to be cared for.

You loved the trips you took spontaneously or the festivals you could visit without thinking twice. That would change, you weren’t sure if you were ready for this, it was a big responsibility.

But seeing him holding that baby made you forget all the worries, and wanting a baby right now, you needed to see him caring for a child and cuddling with a small human.

He was already the best caring boyfriend you could imagine, massaging your shoulders after a long day, bringing you snacks throughout the day when you worked on new songs in your little home setup, cuddling with you when you craved human contact, and giving you space when you didn’t. He watered the plants when you forget or made the bed when you had to hurry and overslept again. Sending you sweet (or horny) messages when a sidemen shoot took longer than expected and you couldn’t watch your favorite movie as you planned.

And now imagine this man with a kid. It would be chaos but good chaos. Trying to make you breakfast with his little mini-me for you, would end up with flour all over the kitchen floor and the toast black instead of a nice crispy brown. While they go because they had an important ’meeting‘ with the stuffed animals, you had to clean up but you wouldn’t really mind.

Spoiling your child with clothes and toys he found while shooting a sidemen video in central London. Just like he said he would be the fun uncle that gives the sidemen kids candy under the table, he would be the fun dad that could never say ’no‘ to anything and give them candy over the table, because he was the dad and could do anything he wanted.

Comforting them in the middle of the night when a nightmare occurred or the diaper needed a change. Getting the morning cuddles in before both of you had to get up. Your baby laying on his chest and enjoying the skin-to-skin time with their daddy, a hand constantly on their back to comfort them.

He would use every chance to talk about his baby, whether in a sidemen video or on the podcast when the topic was a completely different one.

The way he would sit down at the small table for a tea party dressed as a fairy or play football in the morning on the still wet grass while you prepared breakfast.

He would freak out of excitement on special occasions, like Easter or Christmas, probably more excited than your child.

He would buy way too many gifts and colorful eggs and hide them around the house and garden for your kid to search for when they are older and acting all surprised when they found something. He would definitely hold the egg basket when your baby would say: ”dada hold“, your heart clenching at the thought.

He send you way too many videos on Instagram of dads putting shoe prints with boots and flour on the floor, acting like Santa left them, always telling you how he wanted to do that with your future kids. Drinking the milk, eating the cookies they left out, and putting the carrot for Rudolph back in the fridge. He wouldn’t help with wrapping but definitely chose the gifts, many of them.

So when Harry came through the front door and shouted out a loud: ”Y/N, I‘m home“ and stood up and walked in his direction.

”I want a baby.“

Harry was on his way to greet you with a hug and a kiss but froze in his movements and his eyes widen.

”You, you you you you want a what?“, his stuttering got the best of him.

You chuckled and went to hug him but him being too shocked to hug you back.

”A baby, Harry“, you put your hands on both sides of his head. ”I saw the side+ TikTok where you looked at the AI babies, and that was the cutest thing ever, imagine a small you running around the house.“

It was like a light went on over his head, now understanding where this sudden baby fever came from.

”Let’s get to work then“, he said and scooped you up before carrying you to the bedroom.

[beatriceportinari]

Another year, another outfit to die in! Happy birthday again Izuna!!!!!!

Like last year, I played with someone else's lines for these charming patterns, thank you so much Lena @elhnrt ! I had a ton of fun :D

Check the readmore for pattern references and explanations, there are some easter eggs in there :)

(x,x,x,x)

My goal for this piece, in addition to playing with patterns and textures and adding some Naruto references, was to add as many death flags as possible.

The idea of having Izuna in a fireman's coat is obviously not from me. I've always like the idea of Uchihas in fire resistant clothes, and the opportunity for a thick texture alongside a reversible double pattern is very appealing. I used the image of the second reference as a base, with skulls on one side and stylized lightning patterns on the other (visible inside the sleeves and collar). Both were common immagery of firemen coats.

The actual skull pattern is taken from the third reference. I'd seen this one before and before even learning anything abt it it was too beautiful to pass up. Those white and navy gradients are absolutely delightful and I enjoyed using my gel pens for them very much.... This particular type of imagery with skulls and bones in a field is called Nozarashi, inspired by Buddhist representation of death and transience.

The lightning pattern itself is a reference to water and lightning dragons :) Like Tobirama's iconic jutsu, it's one of the hints of what's abt to happen to our little guy. The scabbard is also decorated with dragon motifs for the same reason.

The background pattern is taken from the first reference, another fireman's coat with an illustration of Raijin, the thunder god. He is often representated with drums decorated with tomoes. It works nicely as a standard looking sharingan illustration, with a reference to Tobirama's hiraishingiris with the thunder imagery, like the thunder patterns inside the coat.

If you're interested in this I recommend the book linked in the second reference! It is entirely about skeleton motifs in japanese clothing of the early 20th century.

[fahye]

Hello!

I’m re-reading A Power Unbound and I just want to thank you so much for these ridiculously wonderful characters. I have been wishing/hoping/waiting/making sacrifices at the Altar of Enemies-to-Lovers for the Ross/Hawthorn pairing since page 119 of ART (literally 😂), so I can’t even express how excited I was to finally read a whole book about them! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

The magic system in The Last Binding is fascinating to me, and I wondered what research you did that informed your choices, especially about the objects chosen to represent the Last Contract. The knife, coin, and cup harken back to (what I understand to be) some ancient Celtic symbols. Was that intentional, and if so, were there any books or other resources that you found helpful in fleshing out the magic system?

Thanks so much for the gift of your writing! It’s brought a lot of joy to the past year of my life.

Peace,

K

thank you!

and the symbolism of the cup, coin and knife went through some journeys during the writing of the trilogy: when they first popped into my head in the first draft of AML I was just like uhhhh need some nice magical archetype objects, they can be changed later if need be. but as I was developing my ideas about the overarching plot, and the themes of the trilogy as a whole, I realised that I could use them very deliberately for their tarot suit symbolism.

so each book and each romance thematically resonates with the base theme of the suit of tarot cards corresponding to the contract-piece most actively being sought after in that book. thinking about it in retrospect I could have swapped the knife and the coin and still had it work, but ART always had to be the cup. and I did want the two rings -> coin thing to happen in AML, because that commingling was ALSO a theme thing and also just....fun. to lay the clues of addy's ring and the ring in the clock literally in chapters 2/3 and have them lurking in the text to be discovered.

so yes! tarot. and then I got to fuck around some in APU with the idea of a fourth piece/s corresponding to the wands suit and the theme of willpower. that was in the nature of an easter egg for anyone whose pattern recognition had perked up all WHERE IS THE WAND, FREYA, YOU HAVE LEFT NEGATIVE SPACE IN THIS TEXT!

I did fill the space. just in a less obvious way.

(and to answer your other question, nope, the closest I got to reading books to flesh out the magic system were 'a children's book of cats cradle patterns' and 'a book on the history of a wide variety of trees and the use of their wood'. I am also very much on the beginner/amateur end of tarot knowledge, so I was going off the way I personally interpret and use the suits. and also vibes. so many vibes.)