#they made each other rich and it's so obvious it's gross
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goldenpinof · 1 year ago
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i was just rewatching the first heartthrob video from 2018 and tell me why phil’s reaction to dan choosing the guy for money at 10:41 is the exact same as dan’s reaction to phil choosing the guy for money in the new video at 15:10
why are they like this!!
they are the same person! capita£ester!
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todayontumblr · 2 years ago
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Friday, June 16.
The Toad Who Never Made The Team
...and other important animal images.
Spare a thought for this poor little guy on this most Friday of Fridays, June 16ths. Because while most of us are winding down from school, university, or the workplace, and gearing up for a sunny weekend in June, others are not enjoying such a good time. Indeed, for some, they are heading into Saturday and Sunday left with no choice but two days to face one of life's hard truths, to ponder it—to look it square in its cold, uncompromising eyes. Take, for example, the tale of Toad who never made the team. This here poor fellow is one of a handful of stories from the rich tapestry of life to be explored in other @important-animal-images. 
We've all been there: you set your mind to something with the utmost strongest of determinations. This goal is fixed to your thoughts as if it were written on little bits of paper, and stapled to your eyelids. From the moment you wake, you are out of bed, like a Rocky montage or a LinkedIn hustler bro's post, and swigging eggnog, jogging, boxing the air, putting one step in front of the other in pursuit of that dream. That was the case for Toad, who wanted, more than anything, just to make the team.
There were obstacles, sure, but he didn't let them stand in his way. For Toad, being an amphibian meant he was not the obvious pick for a (human) men's 11-a-side soccer team. The fact he hibernates each winter was also not ideal for a side that would be playing on pitches up and down the nation during the cold, dark winter months. The fact he was smaller than the balls that the players would be kicking for 90 minutes was also not in his favor. As the main prey of snakes, including Toad on a soccer team would increase the risk of serpent attacks mid-match. And mid-match serpent attacks are the last thing coach needs when in pursuit of The Championship.
Unlike others in their family, toads are only capable of a slight hop, and not jump, which leaves them at a serious disadvantage when it comes to heading the ball, whether in attack or defense. They also have lovably short legs, which, while endearing, is not a good fit for a soccer player. The fact Toad eats his own skin is, while not unhelpful for a budding athlete, per se, really kind of gross—and unlikely to win friends in the dressing room and fans in the stadium. But for Toad, it mattered not. He was going to kick balls, and score goals, or die trying, dammit.
And try he did. He hopped with everything he had and kicked as hard as his comical legs would allow. But it, sadly, mattered not. When coach blew the whistle and gathered his squad around the team sheet for tomorrow's big match, eleven names were listed. Toad's was not among them. He was crushed, his dreams shattered in an instant, and as he went to ribbit a most forlorn of ribbits, he stopped, paused, and fell silent. Because, he remembered, he is a toad. And toads do not ribbit.
When you try your best and you don't succeed..., he hums to himself softly, consoling his broken spirit with the soothing lyrics of Fix You, by Coldplay. We can only hope he gets back to the training ground, gives it all he's got, and that we may see a change in his fortunes next year. Then, perhaps, we will see a happier sequel to this in later @important-animal-images. 
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Better luck next year champ x
*P.S. It's not all so gloomy for our animal comrades, however. There's a rumour going around that this cat is having two kittens, and will need a hand or two in deciding on some baby names.
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respectthepetty · 2 years ago
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based on new info from ep 2 (namely Pisaeng is rich, he and Pearmai have been friends for a while)... what if their marriage is one of convenience? what if they have to get married for their families' businesses? but Pisaeng really likes/loves Kawi and Pearmai likes/loves the girl she was sitting next to in class.
Anon, this is an accurate representation of me reading your ask:
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Anon, who are you?!
SHOW YOURSELF!
SHOW YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!
Because this is the wild ass theories I live for!
Like . . .
Why has it taken Pear and Pisaeng TWELVE years to get married MOSTLY since they have known each other since they were kids?!
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And more importantly, like you stated, when Pisaeng openly declared he doesn't like Pear, at least not like that (and he made sure to clarify that with Kawi).
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And in the original trailer, Pear and Pisaeng were on a rooftop in their wedding attire looking STRESSED as Pear smoked a cigarette.
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Pear might like Pisaeng (or not), but we know she won't fall for Kawi.
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But why did the entire crowd look so uncomfortable when Knot asked if Pisaeng and Pear were dating? Especially her friend who quickly gave Pear an excuse to leave (the meeting).
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Beyond the obvious grossness of Knot saying Piseang would "score" with Pear coming directly after the dating comment, Pisaeng's reaction seems like a mix between annoyance and exhaustion.
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Because it has to be exhausting that everyone makes assumptions about Pisaeng's life because he is handsome and comes from a prominent rich family even though he works and perhaps has to stay closeted.
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Especially when all the girls are fighting over him yet the one guy he smiles at shows obvious hatred towards him for unknown reasons.
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That hallway discussion!
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Kawi: You have a thing for me or something? Pisaeng: I do. Pisaeng: I think you're cute. Pisaeng: I like you. Kawi quickly turns around Kawi: Are you being serious? ten seconds go by of them staring at each other Pisaeng: HELL NO! Pisaeng: I want to pee! I need to use your bathroom. starts to unbuckle his pants and threatens to pee in the hallway
And Pear's best friend is at the pre-wedding party, but no matter what timeline, Pear and Pisaeng are absent from their own wedding shenanigans.
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Yet Pisaeng shows up drunk to Kawi's! Why would he skip his own party to drink alone the night before his wedding?
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Perhaps because it WAS a marriage of convenience for the handsomely rich guy whose parents might be traditionalists.
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Well, until his feelings for someone else got in the way.
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Say, like his best friend and best man.
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Damn.
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*putting on the tinfoil hat now*
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lettersfromcats · 1 year ago
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August movies!!
hi doreen !!!
ive decided to watch at least one film a day this month for no reason, but i have been having fun. since i don't use letterbox to give proper reviews i thought it'd be fun to start documenting my thoughts on each one for the month :) (ratings based on intuition alone) (this will take a while/ in progress)
-the cabin in the woods: 6/10 i really wanted to like this cause i liked the vibes and it seemed right up my alley- i love a horror comedy; but i found myself really bored halfway through. i do like the premise but i think the characters were a bit too archetype-y for me, which i get is the point. i still found it enjoyable and i would watch it again- just probably with other people, i think it's a group watch film.
-the virgin suicides: 9/10 i'm using this to work through some of my watchlist and this was on there for a while, we talked about watching it and i was not disappointed. the exploration of grief from the peripherals really struck me as well as the depiction of girlhood. i understand the criticism of the girls stories being told by the boys but to me the film seemed very self-aware and deliberate in that depiction (and i do love an unreliable narrator). the utter foreboding that hung over the mystical haze of memory throughout the film was enchanting and i mean the cinematography and soundtrack, impeccable. i can't move on without mentioning the symbolism of the elm trees, it's as if a literary technique was designed specifically to get me to like a film. the elm in itself has such interesting mythos and history which maybe wasn't deliberate beyond the obvious symbols in the film, but still is really interesting, for example, in norse mythology, the first woman was made from an elm and in america elms became a symbol of war and liberation during the revolution.
-girl, interrupted: 10/10 started with simon and garfunkle and still got better. incredible performances from any lesbians idea of a stacked cast and jared leto dies at war so win-win. the depictions of illness while i can't say are flawless, never feel like the intentions are wholly mocking- (though i obviously can't speak for everyone) and are devastating when brought to focus. and there's a homoerotic friendship so i was always gonna like it.
-purple hearts: 0/10 i dont even want to talk about it, i was watching it ironically and i couldn't even bring myself to have fun. the politics are beyond confused and seem to boil down to a centrist mush of love everyone despite their flaws (racism) and war's okay if the soldiers are big pouty white men. the romance was even rushed i don't know how anyone enjoyed it.
-the lighthouse: 8/10 exactly my type of artsy bullshit, robert pattinson and willam defoe shine in this weird, gross, claustrophobic, anxious masterpiece and i was having a great time. so much and so little happened but the delirious descent into madness was wonderful and a little bit gay so score.
-saw: 10/10 i finally watched it and as i predicted am obsessed, i just love a horror that is just a little ridiculous. i want to keep billy in a cage and feed him carrot sticks, (is he an animatronic or a puppet? how does he cycle???) jigsaws motivations make no sense and honestly good from him, i'd go batshit crazy if i were him too. the editing is so 2000s i can't stop thinking about it. the bathroom trap is where i want to go when i die. the horror was a lot less visceral than i was expecting; i think the contained nature of the traps really just creates such tension, especially between the characters stuck together, which is so compelling to me. the reverse bear trap is crazy i love it and what lesbian horror fan isn't a little in love with amanda. im so glad i hadn't had the twist spoiled for me because oh my god. also score slapped: hello zepp.
-old: 4/10 so silly i think more rich people should pay out of pocket to make bad films unintentionally. i watched with my siblings and i love nothing more than tearing apart this sort of thing with a captive audience who have to find me funny or be bored.
-extra ordinary: 8/10 i didn't know this was Irish until it started and what a pleasant surprise it all was. such a fun watch i really enjoyed it. the supernatural elements were the good side of corny and the romance was cheesy but heartfelt, with quintessentially irish humour just a really easy to watch, fun little film.
-piggy: 7/10 i really enjoyed this despite the not-great dub i was watching. i like how the bullied girl revenge trope was subverted and saras character felt very real, her reactions to events came off as very genuine and the suspension throughout is pulled off really well. i do get the criticisms of it being a drawn-out short cause i did find it a little slow at times but not having seen the short i didn't find the plot at all diminished. i liked the aspect of detachment from the killings emphasized by none of them being on camera while the emotional impact remained as well as the almost haunting presence of the killer and his intentions.
-the florida project: 9/10 another one that's been collecting dust on my watchlist for a while now i was absolutely enchanted by every aspect of it. the honest depiction of childhood and a very american poverty was striking. the gorgeous use of colours brought the vibrance of childhood back even in the dilapidated americana of it all. the acting really shone, willam defoe slayed of course but the kids are what make it special. and that final shot.
-we're all going to the worlds fair: 8/10 such an interesting film, nothing has ever quite captured the echoing loneliness that existence on the internet can create like this before. i loved the aspect of the accidental acting in search of connection, to me the lead-caseys-personal experience reads as completely honest without necessarily pointing to the spooky aspects being beyond her own mind. the film's atmosphere remains evenly eerie throughout, actually spooking me a little at times. the incredible, universal isolation of each character was really well portrayed with no conversations taking place without some barrier (a screen, a door) and i loved the framing of the fair itself, especially in contrast to the bleak monotonous world of empty snowed-in woodland and soulless frosty towns that casey occupies. the lead actress did such a good job portraying casey and her shifting identity and breakdowns. the director's transness cannot be ignored and the film as an allegory for dysphoria works so well. all this set to the droning instrumentals of alex g creates such a foreboding ambiance i couldn't help but love. definitely one of my favourite watches so far.
-shiva baby: 8/10 oh boy so stressful but also really fun. im starting to really like rachel sennott, looking forward to seeing more of her in stuff soon; speaking of bottoms looks like it's gonna be so good.
-red, white and royal blue: look, we know this is not my kind of thing, i get why people like it but for me this one especially with the indescribably weird political message is just not good, i didn't like the book and i don't like the film. gay people should have cheesy bad films though so its fine.
-when harry met sally: 9/10 this is one of those films i always thought i'd get round to eventually and i was suprised how much i liked it. really really cute, made me believe in love again or something. meg ryans hair was stunning also.
-marry my dead body: 7/10 i definitely enjoyed watching this but if i was being haunted by a twink drastic things would happen and they would not be good. i liked the characters well enough and the mafia(?) plot was fun, action sequences were okay and i'll be charmed by most ghost plots plus a kooky grandparent? great film recipe.
-juno: 10/10 knew i'd love this and boy did i! everything about it was just so charming, the dialogue and mannerisms of the characters (except jason batemans who was so so scary), the soundtrack, the aesthetics and did i mention the soundtrack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love kimya dawson so much. just a wonderful little film.
-submarine: 8/10 i'm a fan of richard ayode but i think this is his only directorial work of his i've seen and i have to say i really enjoyed it. the cinematography was really cool, i liked the use of symmetry and colour, especially the assigning a colour to each character, that's my shit; stand-out shot for me was the dream sequence over the dam drain thing- i love a water motif used to represent inner turmoil of a character- olivers basically kendall roy if logan was welsh instead of scottish. i know people love the score but i never got into the artic monkeys cause i'm not a huge fan of alex turners voice so a series of songs written and performed by the man didn't exactly stand out to me, but they seemed lyrically cool. i love the awkward stilted dialogue and the oddity of the main characters, they're not exactly likeable but that for me doesn't detract from the film. also his dad was a freak called lloyd and i love him.
-bound: 10/10 i mean what can i say, it's a lesbian crime thriller and if you don't think im gonna love that you're crazy. the plot is really compelling and corky and violet are an even more compelling. i enjoyed it. (also add this to my list of really good films made in 1996)
-bombshell: 2/10 lazy liberal feminism, i watched for margot and kate
-bones and all: 10/10 cannibalism in media <3<3<3 i also really enjoy a bit of Southern Gothic in my films so this was always gonna be a hit with me, even if i had to look past timothys presence. from the start the atmosphere is intense, the rural desolate setting, the immediate social and then literal isolation of maren really keeps the foreboding building only broken by the sudden violence. cannibalism works so well here as queer coding (and everywhere else, don't get me started). the weird balance of such realistic settings and this unchangeable almost supernatural aspect of biological 'survival cannibalism' is so interesting; and the romance element of the film worked really well for me.
-werewolves within: 6/10 a fun little horror comedy, i thought i would like it more but the humour wasn't quite my thing, a little millenial maybe. i still enjoyed it and it was a nice film to watch with my mam.
-as above, so below: 7/10 subpar acting and script writing made up for by such a good concept, Dantes Inferno as the catacombs absolutely slayed, and i was actually pretty spooked a couple times which doesn't usually happen to me beyond overreacting to jumpscares, which while im on the subject the jumpscares here were really well done, didn't feel lazy to me at all. it does need to be said that it really feels like they had a good concept but needed to work the script and plot more, the horror could use some backup from a better-written storyline and better justification for the character's endings.
-primal fear: 8/10 young edward norton was a real standout here. definitely an interesting legal mystery thriller, i think the twist would probably be more impactful back in 1996 (good year for film), it felt a little played out at this point but still very well done.
-slums of beverly hills: 7/10 i love a good coming-of-age and also natasha lyonne so i definitely enjoyed this. don't love the way some topics were glossed over but what can you do.
-fifty shades of grey: bad.
-vampires suck: 6/10 a funny little parody, mentioned the black eyed peas.
-weird: the al yankovic story: 7/10 daniel radcliff as a freak strikes again. definitely my favourite musician biopic i've seen so far. charming in its ridiculousness.
-ginger snaps: 9/10 a coming of age horror which conflates the begining of puberty to the transformation of warewolfism. i really appreciated the body horror elements as a cronenberg fan and i just think the horror was done really well. the two main characters were played so well and it was quite funny at times. i liked the interpretation of lycanthropy as a disease and the route of cure the characters used. would definitely recommend!
-insidious: 5/10 while i didn't find it especially scary i think the horror was well done and the plot was actually quite interesting! astral projection is quite a unique look at a ghost story and i loved that it was a person being haunted not a house, it was a good subversion. i did watch for leigh whannell and he made such a fun supporting character among some pretty meh main characters. definetely not a bad film!
-no hard feelings: 6/10 so fun! im so glad more stuff like this is coming out again and i mean jennifer lawrence slayed so hard. weird how people are such prudes about female nudity still, it wasn't like she was being overly sexualised in the scene but people are making such a huge deal out of it, i thought it made for a funny moment. i really enjoyed the characters and their relationship felt very real and cute! also depicted modern teenagers as very scary which i approve of.
-ghost world: 8/10 a really interesting look at two girls stuck in limbo between high school and adulthood. i really liked the depiction of enid avidly avoiding confronting moving on and how she inadvertently hurts everyone around her by being so casually selfish and how shes contrasted by rebecca (also scar jo slayed here gave absoloutely nothing, such a good character). the aesthetics of the film were really fun, with the delapedated city really highlighting the girls and also how fun the costuming was. steve buscemi also had a standout performance in which he was an awkward freak and a pretentious asshole about music! what a slay.
i really enjoyed doing this, it kind of forced me to actually engage in the media i was consuming past the casual level i usually find myself on. and it sure beat watching tiktok for six hours before bed.
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goldentournesol · 4 years ago
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Operation Make Believe
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(Spencer Reid x Reader)
The one where Spencer and Reader go undercover as a couple at a fancy restaurant to catch a prolific unsub.
Length: 5k 
A/N: enjoy this lil fic while i take a short break from my series :D
masterlist
“Okay, so we’re looking for a guy who targets rich heterosexual couples.” Morgan stated from his seat at the round table. Looking at the photos almost made Y/N sick, she nervously twirled one of her rings around her pointer finger.
“He’s quite violent, too. Removing the men’s fingernails and chopping off the women's’ hair? That’s a pretty specific signature.” Emily spoke, glancing at the file.
“So let me get this straight, this man has killed 7 couples and we’re hearing about this just now?” Rossi questioned with indignance.
“Unfortunately, local PD has found it incredibly difficult to track this unsub down. That’s why we’re being called in.” Hotch replied, without even a twitch to his brow.
“So the guy’s good, how are we gonna get him?” JJ asked, leaning back in her chair.
“We know he frequents the local high-end restaurants because that’s where he picks his couples, he almost always picks victims who have just gone to dinner together, judging by the contents of their stomachs thanks to the autopsy reports. We should canvas the restaurants first and ask waiters if they find anyone suspicious. After that, we are sending in two undercover agents to try and lure him out.” Hotch explained and then a short silence ensued.
Y/N looked up from her file to find most of the team’s eyes on either her or Reid, “What?”
“You and Reid are the obvious candidates.” Hotch put it simply. Y/N glanced at Reid nervously, who happened to look just as nervous as she felt. He cleared his throat.
“Can I ask why us?” Spencer inquired.
“You two are the most compatible, considering your friendship and how close you are in age, and it would look the most realistic. We need to be as realistic as possible with this unsub, he is extremely picky. Make it believable. Wheels up in 30.” Hotch answered, straightening the files on the table and promptly leaving the conference room.
Spencer and Y/N both flushed and avoided each other’s gazes until they were on the jet.
“Hey, are you sure you’re okay with this? I’m sure Hotch would understand if you’re not.” Spencer leaned over to ask softly once the briefing had ended and everyone settled in for the flight. Y/N looked from the window to him.
“No, yeah, yeah, I’m totally fine with it. I was just a little nervous because I haven’t gone undercover before, but how hard can it be, right?” She sent him a small smile and a shrug, hoping it would hide the nerves.
It turned out to be very hard.
Standing in front of a gross bathroom mirror in a police precinct, she analyzed herself in her fancy dress and elaborate makeup and some part of her found herself wishing it was real. All of it. She wondered what it would be like to actually go on a romantic date with Spencer. If she was being honest, it wasn’t her first time wondering that. Not long after she’d joined the team, she found herself growing more and more attracted to a certain endearing genius. At first it started as a normal friendship, but then he got too sweet, too good to be true. She found herself living in daydreams with him too often. Those daydreams never quite disappeared, they just seemed to permeate other aspects of her life.
Love made you stupid, she was aware. There was not a single moment that passed by that she wasn’t thinking of Spencer. She couldn’t help it, she was like a moth drawn to a flame. Except the flame was Spencer, and she’d never wanted to be burned so badly before. But she’d learned to suppress her feelings. They were coworkers and close friends after all. A romantic involvement could ruin both those relationships if it ended badly.
But now her team was depending on her to act extremely in love with Spencer and she wasn’t sure she could do it without actually raising suspicion to the fact that it was real the entire time. So it’s safe to say she was panicking a little.
“Y/N? We’re ready, you feeling okay?” Emily stuck her head in through the door to ask.
“Huh? Oh yeah, totally ready. I’ll be right out.” Y/N checked her makeup, made sure her earpiece was well hidden, and adjusted her fancy dress to hide her firearm one last time before stepping out. Across the room, Derek immediately finished up his conversation with one of the local officers just to walk over and provide her with a whistle of approval.
“Damn, Y/L/N! Looking good!” Derek outwardly announced, making her cheeks redden immediately.
“Oh shut up, Morgan, I’m still armed.” Y/N snapped back, although he was unable to take her seriously with her flushed features. He sent her a signature dazzling smile and she found it hard to keep one off her own face. 
She turned a little to see Spencer staring at her with wonder. He was dressed in a black three-piece velvet suit with a bowtie. He looked simply exquisite. They both smiled wide as they neared each other, Spencer extending his hand to her in the most gentlemanly of ways. She let her hand slip into his, somewhat glad for the support he gave her because of her high heels while simultaneously getting butterflies at the slight touch of his hand.
“You look beautiful, Y/N.” Spencer smiled and spoke quietly to her, proud that he wasn’t a stuttering mess just yet.
“And you look...expensive.” She let her eyes roam over his outfit before letting out a harmonious laugh. Spencer couldn’t help but grin in response as he adjusted his waistcoat with his free hand. They’d decided that Y/N would be the one carrying a firearm instead of Reid because her dress hid it better than his suit could have.
“Alright, kids, settle down. Now, let’s go over the plan. You’re going to go into the restaurant, sit at a table where you can be sure our unsub, George Mendoza, has a perfect view of you. You’ll have to make it super believable, he has to believe you guys are head over heels for each other.” 
Shouldn’t be hard, they both thought, sharing a glance even though they didn’t mean to. 
Morgan was really selling this. Y/N wondered if he knew…
But then again, if Garcia knew, Morgan knew. She also may have been forgetting that she was on the A team of profilers and just maybe the heart eyes she often gave Spencer gave her away already.
“Now, we know he corners his victims in the parking lot. We have to make sure he follows you out. Prentiss and Morgan will be by the door to follow you two out and hopefully ambush Mendoza.” Hotch explained and the two of them nodded.
“Got it.” She said, already shifting her weight from one foot to the other, the heels making her feet ache. Spencer noticed and dropped her hand, only to wrap his arm around her waist in hopes of steadying her and giving her the extra support she needed. JJ and Emily shared a knowing glance as they watched the subtle interaction between the two lovebirds. Y/N smiled to herself but avoided looking at him in order to keep the redness of her face at a minimum. 
Spencer led her to the black SUV parked outside and they both hopped into the backseat, with Morgan and Emily in the front.
 “Ready?” She asked, looking over to see a nervous-looking Spencer beside her as the car came to a halt in front of the restaurant.
He took a deep breath and nodded, “Ready.” He got out of the car and jogged around it to open her car door. She mirrored his actions and took a deep breath as well before plastering a huge smile across her features as she stepped out of the car. Morgan and Emily drove off to keep from blowing their cover. She and Spencer walked towards the greeter behind the podium, her arm tightly wound around his.
“Reservation for Dr. Reid.” Spencer spoke confidently. Y/N had to keep from biting her lip at how much she loved the sound of that. 
The greeter smiled, “Right this way.” he led them to a table and Y/N was in Mendoza’s direct line of sight.
“I’ve got eyes on Mendoza. He’s sitting with a woman and two bodyguards are guarding his table.” She spoke with a smile to Spencer and also to the team through her earpiece.
“I’ve got him.” Morgan confirmed from wherever he was, apparently he could see inside the restaurant.
Spencer turned to look ever so discreetly and pretended to be looking for the waiter. He noticed Mendoza ogling Y/N and it made him feel sick to his stomach.
“Do you wanna switch seats with me?” Spencer asked, visibly uncomfortable.
“What, why? Are you okay?” She replied.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m...fine, I just thought you might be more,” he cleared his throat, “comfortable if he wasn’t looking at you.”
Y/N’s heart fluttered in her chest for a moment before glancing over to Mendoza, “Well, I’m fine, besides I think it’s better this way..that I’ve caught his eye.” She said with a slight roll of her eyes, making Spencer break into a grin.
“Don’t switch seats, that’ll look suspicious.” Emily spoke into their ears, “Now, don’t be so stiff. Relax, order some food or some drinks, whatever.”
“Alright, alright...relaxing.” She spoke mostly to herself and looked up at Spencer. Somehow looking at him made her feel at ease. His soft brown eyes brought her the reassurance she needed. Her gaze was intoxicating and Spencer could feel his hands starting to sweat as he wiped them on his pants. 
 “So this place is really, really fancy.” She said as she looked over the menu, which she could barely understand, “Wonder why he likes it.”
“He has an intense fixation on rich couples. Perhaps he sees his parents in the couples he chooses.” Spencer said, looking over the menu as well.
“Stop talking about the case!” Morgan’s voice boomed into their ears.
“Right, right! Sorry!” She whispered, “Okay, okay. Spence, tell me about these dishes, I have no idea what to order.”
“Um, okay. Well, I think you’d really enjoy the gnocchi in roasted red pepper sauce, Rossi’d made the same sauce and you’d really enjoyed it then when it was paired with pasta. Also the flavor of gnocchi is pretty neutral so it pairs really well with pungent sauces. Did you know that gnocchi originated in Northern Italy because the climate was better suited for growing potatoes rather than grain?” he continued to speak about gnocchi and all the different sauces one could eat it with.
Morgan had every intention to interrupt Spencer’s ramble but then Emily noticed the heart eyes Y/N was giving him, “Wait, no stop. Look at her, she’s into it.” Morgan chuckled and shook his head at the couple.
“Sorry...you should have stopped me.” Spencer ended his spiel, shyly taking a sip from his glass of water.
“Stop you? Why would I ever do that, you know I love your little tangents. Being with you makes me feel smart, actually. Except when you go on about quantum physics, I cannot keep up with that no matter how hard I try, I’m sorry.” She laughed and Spencer felt his confidence returning, “I can’t believe you made gnocchi sound so good. Now, I have to try it!” She grinned at him and Spencer swore he saw her eyes twinkle.
“What will you get?” She smiled at him, playing with her earring, a nervous tick of hers. Was she really that nervous? Why did she look so good doing it?
“Spence?” She noticed him zoning out slightly but he zoned back in.
“Huh? Oh, sorry um, I was a little distracted.” He blushed a little.
“Oh, by what?” She glanced over her shoulder to see if there was anything distracting behind her.
“Nothing, you just look very pretty.” Spencer complimented and she could not control the intense rush of blood that raced to her face. 
Morgan and Emily both drew in breaths through their teeth, “Daaaaamn, pretty boy’s got moves.” Derek whispered to Emily, their mics off.
Y/N giggled bashfully and looked down at her menu, shaking her head. This is all an act, Y/N. Get it together! Spencer reveled in her flushed cheeks for a moment before glancing down at his menu again, “I’ll probably just get the steak.”
For the next hour, they both made small talk with more encouragement from Emily and Derek. When the food came, she leaned closer to him and he fed her a piece of his steak, completely overlooking the fact that he’d just shared his fork with someone else. The sight of the two of them acting so hopelessly lovesick nearly made Emily and Derek sick themselves. During dinner, Spencer had migrated closer to her and they could barely keep their hands off of each other without any prompting from their earpieces. Y/N now had one hand on Spencer’s thigh and the other was intertwined with his as he draped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer ever so slightly. 
Hey, he was probably never going to get to do this again, might as well enjoy it.
They giggled together over stories of their pasts, “I’m serious, my leg was on fire and Morgan had to put me out!”
“Oh come on, you expect me to believe that?” She laughed, her head leaning onto his shoulder.
“Yes!” He exclaimed, laughing. In the midst of her laughter, Spencer felt the overwhelming need to press a kiss to her wonderfully flushed cheek, so he did. He placed a soft kiss to the side of her cheek and made sure to linger enough to feel the warmth radiating off her skin. The feel of his lips on her cheeks almost sent her in a spiral but she refused to meet his eyes, knowing that her eyes would most definitely give her away. Give away the longing and yearning she felt. She almost didn’t want to catch Mendoza because she knew that meant she’d have to give this up.
“Okay, lovebirds, Mendoza is losing interest. You have to up the ante somehow.” Derek spoke into their earpieces. Y/N was a little confused as to what more they could do to get his attention back to them, but she could practically hear the gears turning in Spencer’s head. She suddenly felt him separate himself from her and get up to walk around their table to be on her other side.
“What is he doing!” Emily whispered to Derek and he shrugged.
“Spence, what are you doing?” Y/N asked as he stood before her, offering his hand just like earlier in the evening.
“Y/N, do you trust me?” Spencer whispered as she put her hand in his. She felt him tug on it for her to stand with him and she finally nodded.
“Of course I do.” She whispered back, glancing around at people’s gazes who were now stuck on them.
“Then just go with it.” He smiled mischievously as he knelt down onto one of his knees. Y/N immediately caught herself hoping that it wasn’t the knee he injured before she realized what was happening. Her hands flew to her mouth in genuine shock. He was proposing, well, not actually proposing, but still! In his hand, Spencer held the ring she usually wore on her pointer finger, he must have taken it off without her noticing.
“Y/N, I have never doubted for a second that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. From the moment I met you, you consumed every piece of my mind, body, and soul. And at first I was afraid at how willingly I’d give it to you, but then I realized that there is not another person on this planet that I’d rather have my soul. You are the light of my life, Y/N. When I wake up in the morning, you’re the first person I think of and when I fall asleep, my thoughts are only occupied by you. There are around 170,000 words in the English language, and no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to express to you just how much I love you. Y/N, will you marry me and make me the happiest man alive?” Spencer stared up at her, hoping the weight of his words would somehow reach her through the guise of the assignment.
Y/N stood there, tears gathering in her eyes from the sheer overwhelming-ness of it all. Never had she imagined (because she has imagined it, if we’re being honest) that the day Spencer Reid would propose to her, it would be fake. The tears slipped out, she felt like sobbing at the artificiality of it all. Luckily those tears were in her favor to sway external witnesses. She suddenly remembered that he’d asked her a question.
“Yes! Yes, a million times yes!” A heavy sob escaped her and Spencer quickly slipped the ring onto her finger. Spectators clapped wildly and cheered for them. That definitely caught Mendoza’s attention. 
She threw her arms around his neck while he hugged her waist to lift her off the ground slightly. Spencer momentarily allowed himself to believe that this was real. In a moment of giddiness, he set her down again on the floor and pulled her in for a celebratory kiss by her waist. It took her a moment to realize what was happening, but soon reciprocated the tender kiss. Although it was short, it was unlike any other kiss she’d had. They pulled away from each other when the clapping and commotion had died down. Spencer had smiled graciously at people who were congratulating them, while she was still completely dazed from the kiss. They both went back to their respective seats, Spencer now back across from her rather than beside her.
Emily had lowkey been hitting Derek’s arm as they kissed, a moment she and JJ were surely going to tease Y/N to the ends of the Earth about.
Y/N had just barely composed herself enough to wipe the remnants of tears from her cheeks which resulted in a low whisper coming from Spencer, “Are you alright?” She nodded and flashed him a smile, one that told him just how not fine she was, but Spencer decided to let it go for a moment. He hoped he hadn’t crossed the line with the kiss.
“Good job, kids. You are definitely back on Mendoza’s radar.” Morgan spoke into both their earpieces.
They waited another 10 minutes before making their exit, their meal already paid for. Spencer had his arm tight around her shoulders as they walked out of the restaurant and pretended to wait for the valet. Derek and Emily still had eyes on Mendoza inside, who waited exactly one minute before he and his bodyguards were on the move.
“Mendoza’s on the move. Y/L/N and Reid, get ready for the signal.” Emily spoke, still in their hiding position.
Y/N took her gun out of her thigh holster and kept it out of view. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand as Mendoza approached them from behind.
“Congratulations to the lovely young couple. Can I just say how well you two suit each other?” Mendoza’s slimy voice began and it made their skin crawl.
“Now!” Emily spoke and both she and Morgan emerged with their firearms raised at the three men.
Y/N swiveled around and aimed her gun at him, “FBI, hands up, now!” She yelled and Mendoza’s men came forward to attack the two of them when they all heard the clicks of Emily and Derek’s guns from behind them.
“Uh-uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Derek taunted. Mendoza visibly deflated and Spencer was quick to cuff him and read him his rights.
“George Mendoza, you are under arrest for the murder of 14 people…” Spencer went on as Emily and Derek cuffed the other two men. Y/N took a deep breath as she watched her teammates stuff them into police cars. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Hotch.
“Nice work, Y/L/N.” He gave her an approving nod and led her back to one of the SUVs. She immediately relaxed back into the seat and took off her heels.
On the jet back to Quantico, Y/N was teased quietly by Emily and JJ but they could tell that something was off about her. She wasn’t as bright as she usually was. Her eyes didn’t shine with the triumph that came with solving another case. Instead she was reserved and proceeded to retreat into herself when the teasing had stopped.
Oh how she wished it was real. She found herself keeping the ring on her ring finger rather than returning it to its rightful place on her pointer finger. She wanted to live in the daydream for as long as she could. Spencer’s words swirled around in her head with no shame or trepidation. She didn’t have an eidetic memory, but she would remember those words forever. Hearing them over and over seemed to have cracked and broken her heart and she was frantically trying to piece it back together. On the far side of the jet, Spencer was in a pool of regret. He wouldn’t have kissed her if he knew it’d make her uncomfortable. She has barely spoken to him since they closed the case and it didn’t seem like she would be talking any time soon. 
Hotch had given them two days off to cool off from the case and get some much needed sleep. Y/N thought that spending time away from Spencer would somehow heal the cracks in her heart, but they only seemed to make it worse. She knows she shouldn’t have cried into that tub of ice cream, but she couldn’t help it. She thought back to her friend who’d just gotten engaged the previous month and while she was never the jealous type, she found that feelings of envy were inevitable. She wondered if Spencer had meant anything he’d said. What did it mean if he did? No, no, she wasn’t even going to entertain the thought that he might feel anything for her. That would only lead to false hope and possibly deeper heartbreak.
But…
The way he’d looked at her when he said he loved her. That couldn’t be faked, right? She was a profiler for goodness’s sake, she should have been able to tell, but it was abundantly clear that her feelings for Spencer got in the way of her profiling skills.
Going back to work was relatively easy, except for the fact that she couldn’t look Spencer in the eye without hearing the words he’d said to her. It was ridiculous of her to even consider the fact that he might have not been just acting. She’d spoken barely two words to him and Spencer was itching all day to speak with her, but he just couldn’t. They were both avoiding each other for the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, their coworkers noticed the obvious shift in behavior. It was so unlike the two to be so awkward around each other. JJ had even caught Spencer doing a 180 and returning to his desk as soon as he saw Y/N at the coffee machine.
Something must be done.
They’d all decided to leave quietly 15 minutes early, minus Hotch and Rossi who were already cooped up in their offices. They hoped the empty bullpen could give them the privacy they needed to talk about whatever they needed to.
“Hey, Em, could you look at this for me? I think--” Y/N trailed off as she glanced up from her paperwork to see an almost completely empty bullpen, “Oh, where did everybody go?” she asked herself and technically Spencer, who also seemed to be totally engrossed in his work.
“Hm, I think everyone left already.” Spencer stood from his desk, bones cracking as he did so.
“That’s weird…” she shrugged and tried to get back to work.
“Um, so what did you need Emily for? I could take a look at it if you want.” Spencer offered, walking over to her desk and leaning on the side of it.
“Uh..y-yeah, sure.” She stammered as she looked for the file she just set down, having him in close proximity was making her mind go numb for a second, “Here, um...I think it was filed in the wrong folder. I’ll just--uh..give it to JJ tomorrow or something.” She swallowed, avoiding his eyes as she showed it to him. 
“Hold on a second, I think...this...goes in here with this case…” he trailed off as he grabbed a folder from his own desk.
“Huh, someone must have accidentally placed it on my desk instead of yours.” She nodded.
“It was probably Anderson.” They both said at the same time, making them both laugh.
 It felt right to laugh with him again. Spencer’s heart skipped a beat when she finally looked up and grinned at him. He felt like the air was somehow restored to his lungs. He watched as she shyly looked back down and tucked some hair behind her ear. He cleared his throat and fumbled with the file in his hand.
“Hey, I--uh...never got the chance to apologize...for uhm, how things went when we were, y’know undercover.” 
Wow, real smooth Spence. Great job.
He watched as her brows furrowed together, eyes lifting to meet his, “What do you mean?” 
“I...shouldn’t have...kissed you, I’m sorry. I just thought...I don’t know, it seemed like most couples usually kiss after proposals and I thought if we didn’t kiss it would have looked weird. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Y/N.” He apologized and Y/N’s heart might have definitely exploded in her chest. Here was this sweet, sweet man who was apologizing because he felt like he made her uncomfortable, as if that’s the reason she’d been acting weird.
“No, it didn’t make me uncomfortable at all!” She laughed it off, shaking her head. My God, Spencer Reid, there really is no one else like you. 
He fought off a relieved smile, “Oh, it didn’t?” She shook her head, laughing wholeheartedly now.
“No, on the contrary, I quite liked it, Dr. Reid.” She rolled her eyes, still giggling.
“Why have you been avoiding me and acting all awkward then?” He laughed with her.
“God, Spencer, did you really think I was being awkward because you kissed me?” She spoke, her arms lifting up and coming back down in disbelief.
“Yes!” he nodded, crossing his arms and shifting as he leaned on her desk, “I thought I’d made you uncomfortable…”
“No...Spencer, that’s not it at all…” She smiled softly but it began to fade as she stared at him.
There are around 170,000 words in the English language, and no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to express to you just how much I love you.
“Then what is it, Y/N? What’s going on?” He pursed his lips, wanting to absorb any and all the pain she’d ever felt in her life.
She had to know.
“The things you said...while you were uhm...proposing. Did--did you mean any of them?” She looked up at him with the largest doe eyes he’d ever seen. Her eyes began to shine with tears as her shoulders tensed with anticipation.
He shifted again uncomfortably at the question and her unfaltering gaze, “I--uh, I did, actually.” The heat rushed to his face and ears, “I definitely did mean them, Y/N. Does--does that make you feel weird?”
“No, no, not in the slightest,” her face broke out into another grin, this one with hints of relief, as she stood up from her desk chair to be at eye-level with him, “actually, if I’m being honest, I wanted you to mean them.”
Spencer smiled as he uncrossed his arms, “Is that right?”
“Mhm.” She hummed, placing both her hands on the sides of his neck, his hands now resting comfortably on her waist. She watched as his gaze never left her lips.
“Can I kiss you?” His eyes briefly flickered upwards to hers for permission.
“Please do.” She smiled before he connected their lips.
It felt right this time. She knew it did because she could finally savor the feeling of her stomach doing somersaults. She knew because she could finally know the feeling of his large hands roaming the expanse of her back in efforts to pull her closer. She knew because she could finally feel the incredibly soft tufts of hair at the base of his neck as she weaved her fingers through them.
In the distance, Hotch and Rossi simultaneously checked the bullpen through the blinds of their offices at the suspicious silence. Both of them shook their heads and laughed at the blooming of young love.
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the-2-queers · 3 years ago
Text
TomanTweets p.5
masterlist
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Mikey laughed as Chifuyu finished telling the story of Baji almost killing them both on the ride over here.
“Honestly, it’s like you’re trying to kill me. Do I mean so little to you?” Chifuyu sarcastically asked with a dramatic expression.
The look made Baji flinch, but it was so fast almost no one caught it. Keyword ‘almost’.
“Oh stop being so dramatic, Fuyu. We got here without any harm, didn’t we?”
“YOU CAUSED AN ACCIDENT!!” Chifuyu yelled, causing Baji to groan in annoyance.
Before they could continue to argue, Draken spoke out,
“Okay, quit it! Chifuyu, you knew what you were getting into when getting in the car with him-- and Keisuke learn how to fucking drive and not crash into something. Maybe then Chifuyu wouldn’t have a reason to complain so much.”
The two both quite downed, but Baji still threw a few cuss words at Draken under his breath. Chifuyu sighed, getting up from his seat mumbling about going to find Hakkai and left.
Mikey snickered next to Baji.
“Something funny?” The guy growled. The blonde lazily shook his head and raised his hands in surrender.
“Dude just do something at this point,” Baji raised a brow at Mikey’s words. “The sexual tension is worse than those two.” Mikey nodded towards his sister and Draken. The couple were sitting next to each other, Draken with his arm around Emma, and Emma playing with his hand.
The two onlookers cringed at their skinship. Draken glared at Mikey.
“What’re you talking ‘bout?”
“Oh Kenchin, don’t you remember before Em’s and you started dating? You two were so gross and embarrassing, remember Eddy.” Emma giggled while Draken coughed.
“But you, Eddy, are just a different breed.” Mikey leaned closer to Baji, who in return, pushed his face away.
“What’d you mean?” Baji sweated.
Emma chimed in this time. “C’mon Baji, it’s obvious you like Chifuyu. Well obvious to anyone else But Chifuyu.”
Baji felt his face grow hot. It was true, he’s been harboring feelings towards the blonde, but those feelings had to be pushed aside because Chifuyu never saw Baji in that way. How does he know that? Well, that’s because Chifuyu was currently dating Kazutora. If he really had feelings for Baji, then he would have turned down Kazutora’s offer…
“Well-”
“Well nothing. Ya know what? You just need to get laid to release that tension.” Mikey said, draping an arm around Baji.
Baji protested, “I can’t just ask Chifuyu to fuck, dumbass.”
Said blonde scoffed playfully, “That’s rich calling me a dumbass, coming from you.” Baji let out an annoyed “Huh?”, Mikey continued, “But, who the fuck said I was saying to asked Chifuyu. Damn ya That whipped for him?”
Baji wanted to punch the smirk Mikey was giving him.
Draken spoke out again, before they could start landing any hits.
“Mikey, he’s not a whore like yourself,” Mikey gasped dramatically, “but he has a point, Keisuke. Do something about your feelings, or get laid.” Emma blinked before turning her head to her boyfriend.
“Oh is that what you would have done if I, me bitch, didn’t make the first move.” Emma pouted.
Draken snapped to her, “What’cha going on about? I was the one who asked you out because you were doing the most just to get my attention.”
“I was not!” The couple continue to argue, forgetting about the other two spectators across from them.
Mikey clapped a hand on Baji, “Let’s go, once they start fighting it just gets worse, or they start sucking each other’s face and I just know, I don’t want to be here for the latter.”
Baji nodded, getting up with Mikey, and sneaking away without the two noticing.
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In your version of LotR, how long have Grima and Eomer known each other for? Grima has obviously been in Edoras for some time. Has he known Eomer since the latter was a child? What was their first meeting like? I have this image of Eomer being a surly teenage shit, giving Grima buckets of 'fuck you' attitude, and Grima giving him attitude back, but secretly thinking 'yeah, I kinda like this one, might try and make him King'.
I’m so sorry! I saw your asks under that one post and meant to reply then I got swamped and it got buried so now we are here. Thank you for asking again! :D :D
This became a MONSTROSITY of a response. It’s so long. I make minimal apologies.
-
In Swimming Through Fire (STF) I have it that Grima has been in Edoras for around seventeen years (there’s a bit in a recent chapter when he says that and Theoden is like “never say that again, it makes me feel old” and Grima is like “I understand” and Theoden is like “you’re forty one, you’re not old, calm down”) - he and Eomer and Eowyn all washed ashore in Meduseld around the same time or within a year of each other. Depending on when they all arrived.
So yeah - Eomer has known Grima since he was eleven-ish and Grima was around twenty-four.
When Grima first showed up, he had no title, no land, no connections, no anything save his wits and some approximation of an education (Grima can speak Westron which in Rohan definitely constitutes a sign of an education of some sort. Like I’m not sure Eothain can speak Westron—at least, he never does it in view of the reader). Truly, in LOTR, Grima is one of the few “self made men” we see since Tolkien loved his nobility and The Right Bloodline shit—even in the hobbits who are supposed to be more the “every day” person (i.e. the audience, to a certain respect), it’s all upper class, posh, rich as Cressus gentle-hobbits with the exception of Sam.
Grima and Sam, working class people unite.
Anyway.
When Grima arrived, I have it that he was taken under the wing of Theoden’s seneschal and therefore yes, he was part of the king’s household, but he wasn’t anyone in particular within it. Therefore, I don’t think he had much to do with the royal family until he was older and gained notice for being good with languages, clever, having a knack for legalese, and scathing sarcasm. (Theoden: these are the most valuable assets you have. Grima: thank you. they’re also, coincidentally, the only assets I have.)
In general, I assume he was probably in his early thirties when he started shifting from lower-non-important member of the king’s household into that advisor/law-speaker-adjacent sort of position.
(Grima’s position in the court, beyond “advisor,” is so flipping ambiguous because he’s such an Unferth figure…for obvious reasons of literally being based on Unferth.)
Therefore! I don’t think Grima and Eomer really were aware of each other in any sort of meaningful capacity until Grima was somewhere between thirty and thirty-five and Eomer sitting at seventeen to twenty-one.
Eomer also would have been shadowing his cousin, or someone like Erkenbrand, as a page/squire figure to learn how to run his marshalate and Be A Lord for much of this time. At least until his uncle deemed him old enough to step into his inheritance in a proper way. Therefore he would have been absent for large swaths of time from eleven to twenty (or whenever Theoden decided Eomer was of-age enough to take over as Third Marshal).
So! All of this said.
Technically their First Meeting:
Grima, twenty-four, no idea what he’s doing: Who are the sprogs?
Yrmenlaf, Theoden’s senechal: the king’s nephew and niece.
Grima: disgusting.
Yrmenlaf: ??
Grima: children in general. Gross concept. I’ll keep out of their way.
Yrmenlaf: maybe don’t say that in front of the king.
Grima: I can’t help it that anything under the age of fifteen is a disease carrying vector that secretes many fluids and is sticky. That isn’t my fault.
Yrmenlaf: I’m not introducing you to my grandchildren.
Grima: thank you. I don’t want to meet them until they’re properly adjacent to adulthood.
[...]
Eomer, eleven, confused about life: Who’s this?
Yrmenlaf: my new assistant. Don’t talk to him. He’s mean.
Grima: /hiss/
Eomer: …. K
[...]
Eomer, seventeen, visiting his uncle: why is your new advisor so…wet?
Theoden: he’s just born that way, don’t judge him.
Eomer: like a drowned rat.
Theoden: be nice.
Eomer: a small, drowned rat.
Theoden: he’s six foot two or three, sister-son. He’s not small.
Eomer: so tiny.
Eomer: miniscule.
Eomer: I’m seventeen and could probably bench press him.
Grima: No you’re seventeen and going to budge up at the table because the adults need to talk about important things. Scoot, ya wee scag.
Eomer: HEY.
Grima: Is for horses, now go.
Eomer:
Eomer: I hate that I actually think that’s kind of funny.
-
But in all reality, I think Eomer is probably more in his late teens and early twenties, figuring out his marshalate and what it means to be a good lord, when he comes to notice Grima in any sort of meaningful capacity beyond just “some guy who works for my uncle”.
Like, it’d be at this point where Grima as advisor/law speaker/whatever else he does, has an impact and a role to play in Eomer’s life. From figuring out alignment of policies and strategies for things like food savings for winter, how to address issues like coin clipping (if they have coin in Rohan, could be a non-monetary society), guild/craft oversight, weights and measures, customs/trade, court/legal jurisdictions etc. etc. on through to things like the day-today politicking of court.
Though, I don’t see Eomer particularly involving himself in the schemes and skullduggery of court Politicks. He’d remain aloof a) from a moral and ethical standpoint and b) he’s just not that interested in it.
Grima’s going on about some scheme or other and Eomer is like “I just…don’t care. Also I mean, it’s morally dubious at best. But mostly, I just…find this very boring.”
-
I can see Eomer, when he is a young marshal, not particularly liking Grima but having respect for his capabilities and his work. Which is something I was trying to get at in early days of STF where Eomer comments on how he thinks it a real loss and a damn shame, to put it lightly, that Grima has switched sides because he is so good at his job.
It’s that weird sort of fundamental respect when it comes to their work that I think allows something of a relationship to build later. Because Eomer is like, “yeah you’re a slimy git and an oathbreaker to boot, but you are phenomenally good at your job and are hard working and have an actual talent for management” and Grima also is like “I think you’re a brash, headstrong, testy, tructulant sort of man but you are smart and see more than you let and are more capable than people might first assume” — so they have this weird sort of quasi-respect for each other.
I can see, in pre-oathbreaking and treason years, someone coming to Eomer being like “here’s this really complex situation and problem, how do we fix it?” and Eomer being like, “I hate it, but we should tag Grima in on this. He’ll have some good insight/ideas.” I don’t know that Eomer entirely trusted him, but not from a thought that Grima’s selling them all out, but more form a thought that Grima is out for himself and will sell you to Satan for two corn-chips if it would advance him up the political ladder in any shape or form. And Eomer isn’t wrong. But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t work with the guy when he had to.
For STF, I think Grima started noticing Eomer’s capacity for potential king-ship more recently. Like three or four years before the fics take place. Because by that point, Eomer’s more at home in his role as Third Marshal, he’s taking a lot of things on as his uncle ages and Theodred is distracted by various court and family issues. Grima also knows everyone’s sins and little secrets - so he knows Theodred is a skirt chaser and likes his dice and his cards, which is all fine, but his head isn’t as in the game as it should be. Eomer’s sins and little secrets are less concerning because Eomer has a much stronger sense of duty to his people and his role as lord. Trying to live up to a dead war-hero father will do that to a person.
-
Aside from STF, I dooooo have a fic that’s on the back burner where it’s like Summer 3018, so six to eight months before Feb/March of 3019 when Helm’s Deep et al happens, and Eomer and Grima have to work together on something or other and Grima keeps thinking it’s a damn shame Eomer isn’t the one in line for the throne. He makes occasional comments on this and Eomer is like “nope, going to stop you right there.”
(Grima: it’s a hypothetical, my lord. They’re fine. I think through hypotheticals all the time. Hypothetically, if my older brother died tragically, what would I do. Hypothetically, if I were a king of a hypothetical country, how would I rule it, how good would I look with the crown on…
Eomer: I’m really getting a sense of who you are in this conversation.
Through the course of their working together Eomer does get firm, undeniable proof of Grima’s treason and blackmails him back to the light side with it.
Denethor: FINALLY someone thinking strategically.
Eomer: I felt dirty the entire time I did that.
Denethor: Welcome to being the necessary ruler people need. Not everything is about having Honour and Nobility and suchlike. Sometimes, you have to do things that aren’t great, but they’re required.)
At some point, Eomer does start thinking that his cousin might not be the best fit for king and has a LOT of conflicting emotions about this and questioning who his ultimate loyalty is to: his family or his people. Grima is sitting there with a pina colada going: don't mind me. I'm just here.
Anyway, I’m not sure what I’m doing with Theodred in that fic, but there is a lot of Grima going ‘hmmm Eomer would make a Great king’ which quickly devolves into less high minded thoughts.
-
Anyway, thank you so so so much for the ask! If you made it this far down lol, you’re a real winner. I definitely had a blast answering and just…really love talking about these two. <3 <3
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boldlyanxious · 3 years ago
Text
Boop
Jasonette July prompt 12: dare
My masterlist
Jasonette July
Marinette, Jon and Damian were happy to be together again even though they had only been apart a couple weeks. Marinette flew back in from France arriving after Jon had stopped back by from Metropolis. She knew they had been together a couple times since she had been home but it still felt great to have them all back together again. It was so weird not seeing them every day. They finally gave up their wonderful New York apartment since they were all graduated from university and getting jobs soon.
It was really weird at first to live with two guys she barely knew but they ended up getting along great and she had been desperate for a place to live when her place flooded. The landlord had offered her another apartment at the same price but it was really gross and too far away. The flooded apartment, she was told would take too long to repair so they could get rid of the lease. She passed it 6 months later and people were living there and it had a fitness center, coffee shop, and a water garden. She looked online and the rent was 3 times what she had been paying. She was pretty angry, but she ended up with 2 besties from the situation that she probably wouldn’t have gotten to know very well otherwise.
Tonight they were celebrating being back together again. Marinette barely had time to look around Damian’s house because he and Jon were rushing her. She was shoved into a room and Damian gave her a dress that his (sorta) sister helped him pick out and they had food ready for them to eat before they rushed out the door. The plan of the evening was to celebrate job offers and all of them being together again. Marinette wasn’t even given a chance to rest so she was reeling a little from the flight still. But she wasn’t going to pass this up. Jon was always willing to go out and have fun, but Damian feeling in a partying mood was rather rare so they were going to enjoy it.
It was loud in the place even though it was not a large New York club. Marinette had loved going to those so much it had probably eaten into her budget far too much. It was always better going with the guys because they wouldn’t let her pay. They knew she had a much tighter budget. Actually it was mostly Damian paying the covers and the tab without ever saying anything. She was pretty sure that he paid more rent than her too but he just told her that there was already an extra room and she more than made up for it with her constant cooking and she did more of the shared chores.
She knew his family had money, but she had a feeling she had no idea how much money until she saw the house. It was massive and the grounds went further than she could see. She never really talked about it because he didn’t. It was so much different from the people she knew growing up. Chloe who talked about the money all the time or Adrien and Kagami who didn’t talk about it but they were kept separate from others by their parents. She had never even met Damian’s family and they didn’t live that far away. She knew they talked but they didn't tell him how to live all the time.
They got drinks as soon as they were in the door and they did not go slow. Marinette was making up for all her time being considered a minor while living in New York when she left France right as she reached the drinking age there. She could finally drink in public here and they kept feeding her fun fruity drinks and laughing at her stumbling on her heels while still loopy from her flight. She didn’t care though. It was pretty standard for them to all pick on each other a bit it was all in good fun.
She pushed Jon towards a girl who had been watching them. He looked terrified and he tried to fight against her pushing him. He managed it but then she stumbled. She knocked into Damian who kept her on her feet but her arms still swung around wildly. Then she knocked over a drink. She looked back at them sheepishly but they were already looking at her grinning. They would not let her out of a dare even after having just gotten off a plane from Paris. They had been doing dares for knocked over drinks for a couple years but she had gotten a lot more of them that they had. She was significantly better about being more careful now, but It only took one little stumble to ruin her good streak.
---
Jason sat in the corner of his favorite bar looking sullenly around at the noisy crowd around him. He saw Damian across the room and wondered if his presence was responsible for some of the overly excited younger crowd. He may not care about his presence in the media, but they certainly cared about him. He was rich and single and a new college graduate, so he must be looking to mingle. Of course the Demon Spawn wasn’t interested in the crowd around him. He was perfectly happy with Jon nearby. Jason didn’t think he would ever want or need any other friends but as he glanced back he notice a girl with them.
Initially he thought that maybe she was trying to get close to one of the boys but not only did neither seem very interested in the beautiful girl but she seemed to be hanging around with them and bantering. He looked back up and saw her trying to encourage Jon to approach a girl at another table who had been looking their way. Jason nearly lost his foul mood when he saw her stumble and flail around being propped up by Damian. He could see their maniachal looks from across the bar and thought she was begging. But she soon squared her shoulders and took Damian’s fresh drink and drank it until it was only ice left.
She looked around and he looked back down at his drink so he wouldn’t be caught watching her. He finished his drink and signaled the bartender to make him another. He didn’t realize she had moved from beside his brother and friend until he glanced that way and saw her walking right his way. She seemed to be focused on a spot behind him as she walked. He looked back away again as he received his drink. When the waitress stepped away the girl was right behind her and looking right at him.
---
Jon and Damian laughed as they watched Marinette walk across the bar to complete her dare. She looked back at them several times hoping they would change their minds but they were more interested in laughing at her than anything else. She didn’t know anything about the angry looking man sitting alone at the end of the bar, but Jon and Damian knew that at least her fears about him lashing out at her were false. She had never met Damian’s brother so it was a bit fun for them to find a way to play a joke on both of them at once.
Marinette froze as she made eye contact with the man in front of her. He would have been very nice looking if her were smiling but he looked like he had had a very long day and just wanted to be left alone. But Marinette didn’t want to face the consequences for not doing the dare. Damian and Jon would never let her live it down. The man watched her standing there but he didn’t say anything and neither did Marinette. That was part of the challenge. She wasn’t allowed to say what was happening. She reached over to him and tapped his nose with her finger.
“Boop,” she said, as she touched his nose.
She almost expected him to yell or be angry. But she figured she could get away from that. But he just let it happen; he had no interest in causing a scene. As if he knew exactly what she would do he reached out and grabbed her arm before she could retract it. The way he held on caused her to lean heavily on the bar next to him. His face didn’t look angry, she almost thought he had a hint of a smirk. He loosened his hold but didn’t release her arm completely.
“Where did Damian and Jon find such a lovely friend to send to poke the bear?”
“Wha--do you know them?” she asked.
“I do. Do you feel like getting them back for tormenting you?”
He let his fingers slide off her arm but he leaned close to her. She leaned in close to him too.
“What did you have in mind?”
---
Jon and Damian watched, laughing as Marinette approached Jason. They expected to have an epic reaction from both of them to leave them with a story to tell in the future. But when Marinette reached out for Jason and didn’t pull away they didn’t know what to think. The two leaned close and seemed to be talking. They couldn’t see Marinette’s face, but Jason looked pretty serious. They hadn’t expected him to be very angry but maybe he was telling her off. Maybe they should have made it a comment to him rather than actually touching him even if it was a rather innocuous action.
They quickly decided he wasn’t angry and was possibly hitting on their friend when he reached over and pulled her close to him. Marinette went willingly and rested her weight against his thigh while he put his arm around her and the other he motioned for a waitress so they could order drinks. Marinette didn’t look back to see them at all. She continued talking close to Jason, and he was just as engaged with what Marinette was saying. They waited around trying to decide whether to go pull her away to hang out with them again but she didn’t use the signal that she wanted a rescue so they didn’t think she would be grateful for the interference.
---
“Are they still watching?” Marinette asked.
“Yeah. But they are trying to not be obvious about it.” He leaned down close to whisper in her ear. “Do you want to give up or do you want to up the ante?”
“I’m having too much fun to give up now.”
“Glad you think I’m such a good time.”
“Very funny. They always get me with dares. Its about time I got them back for it.”
“Well, I’m all for it. Did you want to leave with me?”
“I think you may have the wrong impression about what is going to happen here.”
Marinette pushed back from him slightly.
“I don’t have the impression that anything is happening after. But I would help you give them the impression. I am the delinquent brother after all.”
“So we would just walk out the door together as a joke.”
“Its all up to you. We could give them a show and stumble out together or just exit together and call them to meet you out there.”
Marinette considered carefully for a bit. She still thought it was unfair of them to enforce the challenge when she was fresh off a plane. Both of them had had a relaxing day before going out where as Marinette was still on Paris time and off a 9 hour flight. She made her decision and then moved in on Jason before she could back out. If he was shocked he didn’t show it. She held onto his collar while his hand slid to the back of her head. She was almost sorry that their kiss was far more chaste than it appeared to those around them. It was also far too brief. Jason just waited until her friends watched in shock before they separated and he took her by the hand and they left the bar.
The car he had called was already waiting so they were in it and off before they could be followed out. The other 2 would have to call a car still before following after them. Marinette laughed in the back of the cab and Jason grinned back at her. She recognised Damian’s house when they got there. It made sense that he would know that was where she was staying.
It was barely five minutes after Marinette and Jason arrived before Jon and Damian burst into the room they were in. Marinette had set the scene when she heard them rushing their way so her hair was partially pulled down and she had her legs resting over Jason’s. His arm was around her on the back of the couch and they had a movie started.
“Hey, did you guys want to watch a movie with us?”
They tried to act put out by the turn of events but after a moment they laughed at the turn of events. They joined the other two on the couch, but from that moment on they never made Marinette do another dare.
Taglist
@jasonette-july-event | @theymakeupfairies | @emjrabbitwolf | @vixen-uchiha | @trythisagainlove | @trippingovermyfeet | @tbehartoo | @adrestar | @zynna
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trashytummiez · 3 years ago
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Could you write a story about Mina and Kirishima having a date where their appetites get the better of them, so they wind up all full and burpy?
Kirishima had always been meaning to ask Mina out on a date but every time he tried to work the nerve to talk to his pink-skinned classmate the butterflies in his tummy would always get the better of him and he'd always chicken out. So when she ended up asking him out instead it certainly made things a lot easier. She always knew how to make everything look so much easier than it was after all.
The two ended up going out to dinner which Mina insisted was really casual. Kirishima still kept trying to mind his manners all throughout dinner but unfortunately the red haired boy also had one of the most immense appetites within UA. Meaning despite his best efforts he ended up eating quite a lot more than he intended to eat but he just couldn't help himself. The food was simply way too good and the well-meaning boy ended up eating a whole heck of a lot more than he intended to eat on his first date with his long time friend.
But to Kirishima's surprise whereas most girls might have been turned off by his voraciousness Mina was right there with him every step of the way. He knew the pink girl had a pretty big appetite of her own but he never imagined in his life that she could ever pack it away an ounce as much as she had done on their date. It was surprisingly disarming and only worked to help Kirishima relax that much more around her which only encouraged him to eat even more as the night went on.
By the time they were back at Kirishima's place both teens were stuffed to the brim. "Unngh man I'm stuffed..." Kirishima groaned heavily and placed both hands atop his belly. He'd eaten so much that his tummy was bulging out as though he swallowed a beachball that rode his t-shirt up and exposed his bare stomach. It churned noisily while Kirishima rubbed it to try and soothe that persistent ache. His stomach felt so incredibly heavy and taut after eating so much in one sitting. "How're ya holdin' up Mina-chan?"
"Unnnnnnngh..." was the only reply he got when the bloated pink girl flopped down lazily onto the couch next to the red haired boy.
When Kirishima glanced over at his date and saw how much she'd managed to eat in full he couldn't help being impressed.
Mina's tummy was huge.
Like Kirishima she looked as if she swallowed a basketball. Though it was notably smaller than Kirishima's belly due to the strength of his stomach and his overall endurance it was nonetheless big enough that her own top was riding up and her shorts were both unbuttoned unzipped and even tugged down a little to give her big perfectly round tummy some much needed breathing room. But because of the nature of her acidic quirk much of what she had eaten was already well more digested than what Kirishima ate. Which was why Mina's stomach looked much softer and more sloshy than Kirishima's rock hard stomach.
"Dude I can't believe how full my tummy is right now," Mina said rubbing her belly and giving a strained huff in the process.
Kirishima couldn't help snicker at her adorable use of the word 'tummy'. "Heh at least we know you could kick Kaminari's ass if he tries to challenge ya to an eating contest," he said encouragingly.
Mina giggled but that soon turned to a sickly groan when the giggling made her tummy jiggle and slosh heavily.
Kirishima saw that and scratched the back of his neck bashfully. "My bad."
But Mina waved her hand dismissively and smiled at the sight of Kirishima's larger belly. "I'm still blown away by how much you managed to eat over there. You almost look pregnant!" She teased and gave Kirishima's big belly a teasing pat.
Kirishima blushed both from the joke and from Mina's hand thumping his tummy like that. Unfortunately that pat she gave disrupted some of the pressure that was brewing in his stomach. It wasn't long into his binge eating that Kirishima felt the need to burp really badly. But because he was around Mina he didn't want to embarrass her or gross her out with his crudeness especially if he wanted there to be a second date. All dinner long Kirishima desperately needed to burp but had been holding it in all night. He knew if he tried to let out muted ones to relieve pressure it would all come rushing up. And he knew if he gave any closed mouth burps those would still be loud enough to draw attention.
So when Mina's pat tried to work the pressure up his throat Kirishima desperately willed himself not to burp hoping instead he could excuse himself for a moment to leave long enough to let loose clear of Mina's earshot. Mina looked at him with confusion when she saw Kirishima clamping a hand over his mouth and looking mildly nauseous.
"Are you okay? You're not about to be sick are you?" She asked obvious to Kirishima's gastric distress.
All Kirishima could do was nod desperately in the hopes to holding back the pressure.
But then a thick gurgle erupted from Mina's own bulging tummy. And without a moment of hesitation Mina threw her head back and gave a huge throaty burp that completely caught Kirishima by surprise.
HHHRRRRREEEEEEERRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUURRRRAAAAAAAAAHHPP!!!!!!!
Kirishima was in awe. Not only was Mina even remotely embarrassed by letting out a big unladylike burp but she looked almost as proud as she did relieved the way she moaned in satisfaction and gave her belly such a hearty pat of relief after. Her tummy jiggled and sloshed heavily from the pat she gave it.
"Ohhhhhh yeah I needed that good god," Mina moaned contently then casually let rip another hearty burp. She turned to Kirishima and tilted her head. "Sure you're okay? You're sweating bullets."
Unfortunately since Kirishima was so awestruck he had almost forgotten how turbulent his tummy was getting when he tried to assure her that he was okay. Because the only thing that exited Kirishima's mouth was a giant burp that was infinitely louder than what Mina had just let out.
BBBBRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHRRAAAAAHHP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All that gas Kirishima had been holding in came violently rushing out of him like a bomb. That had to be one of the biggest burps Kirishima had ever let out. And the relief he felt was immense. But with that monster freed came all the pressure behind it.
Kirishima palmed the side of his bloated belly and brought a fist up to his mouth in time to give an incredibly deep closed mouth burp Mina could hear rumbling quite loudly in Kirishima's mouth. Then Kirishima gave an even longer and deeper closed mouth burp that made him wince from how hard it was to hold back from exiting his mouth.
He wearily blew the gas off to the side and sighed heavily giving his tummy a few hearty pats of his own. But he nonetheless blushed and gave a bashful, "'scuse me. Sorry but I really needed to get that out..."
Mina giggled loudly. "What are you apologizing for dude? That was a great one! Bet that felt amazing too!" She patted Kirishima's belly a few times then started rubbing it a little firmly. "Got any more in there?"
Kirishima was blushing immensely from having his tummy rubbed by his pink skinned crush. "Umm...p-probably..." he said timidly. Her rubbing was not only deeply sensual when his belly was so heavy and full but it was stimulating his stomach muscles enough to circulate more air in Kirishima's stomach.
He turned his head and gave a really big burp that he couldn't hold in.
BBBRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHP!!!!!
Mina giggled some more. "Wow you really were holdin' back all dinner weren't you!" She said and gave Kirishima's tummy a few firmer pats.
"Well I was..." Kirishima paused to give a really deep burp that left him panting. "...AAAAAAUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRHP!!!! Ohhhh man...but yeah, I was tryin' not to embarrass you."
Mina tilted her head in confusion. "What by burping? Who cares? I'm not Momo dude! I wasn't gonna get grossed out or anything."
"Yeah but we were also in...buuuuuuuhhhp...unf...in public. It's not manly to potentially gross other people out when they're tryin' to enjoy their meals."
Mina simply gave Kirishima a smile and teasingly poked his belly button a few times which made him blush even harder.
"You're too cute sometimes," she said which earned a bashful smile from the muscular boy. "Well either way if ya gotta burp don't hold back dude! I'm definitely not gonna," Mina said.
And right on cue her own belly gave another thick churning sound which made Mina's face tighten.
That was until she gave a thick rumbling burp that rolled out of her for a few seconds. But Mina maintained that look and held up a finger.
"Mph wait there's more," Mina said in a concentrated tone. She gave her glutted tummy a few pats which drew Kirishima's eyes to her bulging pink belly watching its flesh ripple with each pat she gave and slosh like it was full of incredibly rich jelly. She gave another low rolling burp and followed it up a few shorter ones.
BRRRAAAAAAAAARRRUUUUUUUURRRUUULLLLP!!!!!!
HRRRRUUUUUUUuuuuuuurrrOOOOOOOORRrrlk!!!
BrrrrruUUUUHP!!
As none of the burps gave Mina any relief she huffed in frustration that almost resembled a mildly nauseous pout.
"Ungh hate when they get stuck like that," Mina complained gently stroking her tummy from side to side while it churned noisily. "Kirishima you wanna gimme a hand?"
The bloated red haired boy tilted his head in confusion. "Ummm...whadduya mean?"
"I mean literally gimme your hand silly!" Mina said and grabbed Kirishima's hand. The boy yelped and went as red in the face as his hair when Mina placed his hand right against the dead center of her utterly engorged belly.
It felt so unbelievably soft to the touch and was so fast at digesting that her tummy almost felt a little squishy the way Kirishima's hand sank mildly into her bloat.
"There ya go! Now all you gotta do is push down!" Mina explained.
Kirishima gulped thinly and anxiously. He'd never touched Mina's flesh so intimately before and something about holding her belly just made Kirishima feel incredibly funny. But in a pleasant sort of way he couldn't describe.
Pushing thoughts aside for a moment Kirishima took a nervous breath then did as Mina asked by pushing down into her tummy.
Straight away a rush of gas worked its way up her chest and Mina this spunky pink skinned girl expelled a burp so loud that Kirishima almost mistook it for a dragons roar.
AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUURRRRHHHHHRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOORRRHHHHHPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kirishima was amazed. Not only was such a monumental burp easily a record breaker but he could feel Mina's tummy rippling under his palm from how intense that burp was.
Mina looked dazed but oh so relieved when it ended the way she slumped in her seat and nearly went cross eyed.
"Ohhhhh wow...that felt amazing..." Mina moaned.
Though he was still blushing Kirishima gave a fang-y grin. "Dude that was manly!" He said and gave Mina's jiggling tummy a few pats.
Mina hiccuped from the patting then grinned at Kirishima. She subtly gulped down some air which made her tummy feel mildly tighter under Kirishima's hand. Then Mina burped that air back up in the form of the words "Th-AAAAAAAAAAANNK . . . YYYYOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!"
Kirishima was taken aback by Mina burp-talking so effortlessly and really stretching the 'you' out for as long as she could. It left her panting when she finally finished and managed a weary giggle.
She seemed to be helping Kirishima to get more comfortable because the manly boy took in a few gulps of his own and gave an even louder response to Mina's crass antics.
AAANYY...
T-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMME...
DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kirishima successfully burp-talked the words 'anytime dude' with his eruptive dialogue getting louder with each word until he pushed out a really loud finish.
Both teens broke into a fit of laughter at their incredibly juvenile antics. Mina's tummy kept jiggling the more she laughed but with all that gas let loose it didn't hurt as much to laugh as prior. When the laughter subsided Kirishima smiled fondly. Because he was so much more comfortable now he began to gently rub Mina's belly.
The pink girl closed her eyes and sighed contently while Kirishima's hand gently stroked up to the roundest peak of her tummy and down all the way to her delicate lower tummy without reaching too low in case that made his date uncomfortable. But at this point Mina didn't appear uncomfortable with anything. She sighed happily and leaned against Kirishima and leaned further into his hand.
He continued to gently rub her belly and feel that odd warmth throughout his body. Kirishima couldn't explain it but the sight of Mina's tummy so big and round and the feeling of it brought an indescribable pleasure for the boy. A feeling that was more subtly matched by Mina whenever she caught a glimpse of Kirishima's belly in its bloated state.
Neither one could put into words what they were feeling. But they both knew that they very badly wanted to see the other getting stuffed like this again in the future.
Which all but guaranteed there would be a second date. And a third. And a fourth after that.
But for now both teens could very comfortably say this first date couldn't have gone any better.
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thebeautyoffanfics · 3 years ago
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hello!💙💙i hope im not bothering you but may i get a tsukasa or mitsuba x reader where their s/o loves to draw but never lets them see and one day they steal their s/o sketchbook and dont see any drawings of them and the boys are a lil dissapointed but their s/o has a secret sketcbook that they always keep with them filled with the boys portraits?? it would be rlly cute!!(feel free to ignore tho!)💙💜
tsukasa yugi x gn!reader, mitsuba sousuke x gn!reader
a/n: no worries, you aren’t bothering me at all!! This is a super cute prompt, so thank you so much for requesting! (i love writing mitsuba too,,, just gotta love the sharp-tongued, short-tempered characters <3)
warnings:
word count: 1,471
Tsukasa Yugi <3
He thinks the fact that you can draw is super cool!! Probably more so than you do, to be completely honest- he’s extremely enthusiastic about it, but that also means he’s extremely annoying about it.
Lots of “let me look, let me look!!” “I wanna seeeeeeee,” “(Y/N), pleaaaaseee, what’re you drawinggggg?”
“Tsukasa, I love you, I love you very much. But, I promise you, if you don’t shut up and let me draw in peace-”
“:((“
So, of course, if you don’t let him see it, our gremlin of a boy is going to look through it one way or another. Pestering you relentlessly didn’t work, trying to slip it casually into a conversation didn’t work, so! You leave him no option!
One day, when you’re minding your business in class, Tsukasa checks your locker. Maybe, just maybe, you left it in there?
Hmm… empty- next stop!! Bookbag!
His eyes practically lit up, his expression excited, practically screaming “found it!!”
Tsukasa would open the sketchbook, silently wondering what on earth you could have drawn. His only experience in art was… well- with things that weren’t intended for art. It wasn’t ever proper “art” either. Just a lot of smearing. But anyway-
A part of him sort of hoped it would be something with him. Maybe even a little doodle, it didn’t have to be a fully colored, lined, amazing piece. Just little doodles, cos you loved him so much, and he infested your mind like the little parasite he is… y’know….
So, as he flipped through the pages, admiring your style- amazed with every little doodle, every little pencil marking, every little detail- he kept an eye out for anything that could have even vaguely resembled him. Yet, once he reached the end, he was rather certain that there was nothing. Tsukasa felt a bit disappointed, pouting despite the fact that you weren’t there to see it.
“Tell me how I knew you were up to something,” You sighed, looking at the boy seated next to your bookbag, the last pages of your sketchbook flipped open. He ignored the comment, placing your sketchbook to the side, then hugging you. You returned the hug, giving him a confused glance.
“What? It’s nothing incredible, but was it that bad-? I don’t even know everything that’s in that, so-”
“You didn’t draw me :(((“
“You didn’t ask me to???”
Still, you couldn’t help but laugh, well aware of the other sketchbook you had stored in the more secure part of your bookbag. Patting his back, then letting go of the hug, you bent down and grabbed your sketchbook and bag. Replacing the sketchbook he had flipped through, you then reached in and grabbed the other.
Somewhat embarrassed, yet know he already found out about your artistic abilities and would probably be glad to see himself, you handed him the sketchbook. “I’ll have you know, I’m not exactly overjoyed with you right now. But, since you’re a sneak, I’ll let you look at that one.”
Tsukasa opened the sketchbook with renewed energy, excited to see what was inside it. Was it him?! Did he actually infest your mind?!! Was he a good model??
Uncharacteristically, his face was slightly warm as he looked over the first page. It started off with a fully finished drawing of him- a very strong start, if he did say so himself. Not only was it him, it was awesome.
He flipped through the rest of the pages, happiness and excitement practically radiating off of him. You could have sworn you saw his eyes sparkling.
“THAT’S SO COOL, (Y/N)!!” Tsukasa would yell after shutting the sketchbook, throwing his arms around you happily, making sure that the sketchbook didn’t get damaged as he did so. “You did draw me! You drew a lot of me!!”
“Ahah- yeah. You’re… cute, after all. Why wouldn’t I draw my boyfriend?”
Mitsuba Sousuke <3
Nosey little dude, but on a more casual level than Tsukasa.
“I’ve shown you my pictures, so you should show me your drawings.”
“That makes sense,”
“So, show me.”
“Nope!”
“(Y/N)-”
Though amusing, Mitsuba will start to pout after a while. “Tch- it’s not like I wanted to see it anyway. It’s probably lame.”
“Awesome then! That doesn’t make me want to show you any more than I previously did~!”
Insert Mitsuba sticking his tongue out at you-
Still, Mitsuba does understand where you’re coming from. After all, he never shows you pictures he’s taken of you. Therefore! It’s only logical that you wanted to draw his cute face!! He muttered this, crossing his arms, yet pretending that it was no big deal to him. Nope, those little comments and attempted glances were nothing-
“Mmh? You’re cute, yes.”
“That’s not what I- whatever, pervert. It’s clear now. You don’t want to show me, ‘cos there’s raunchy art in there! Pervert! Creepy, you’re so creepy-”
“Then aren’t you a pervy creep for wanting to look in my sketchbook?”
“I-”
Mitsuba may have not talked to you for the rest of the day- but it’s fiiiine, he’s fiiiiiiine.
Especially since, by the end of the next day, Mitsuba passed your locker, planning on returning to the class from a bathroom break. As he glanced over at your locker, not fully shut because of your bookbag shoved into it, an idea crossed his mind. It wouldn’t take long… a little peak wouldn’t hurt. Just to make sure his s/o wasn’t a pervert, of course! Not out of personal interest!
So, he grabbed your bag, rummaging through it until he found a well-used sketchbook. His interest peaked, as he grabbed it, opening it up and flipping through the pages.
Some of the pieces were similar to pictures he had given to you, but he didn’t spot anything of him. Sure, your art was impressive, and he was rather content finally getting to see it, but-
But where was his cute face?? Not even his name??? No dreamy “(Y/N) Sousuke” written? Nothing.
Well, it’s not like he cared anywa-
“Really, Mitsuba? You needed to use the bathroom?”
“AH-” He yelped, shutting your sketchbook, as if that would make it seem like he wasn’t just flipping through the pages in slight awe. “Shut up, pervert! I went to the bathroom, I just- you were being suspicious.”
“By drawing?”
“YEs.”
You laughed lightly, though embarrassed as you took the sketchbook from him, putting it back into your bookbag. To be completely honest, your heart was beating a bit faster, slightly nervous that he found your art ugly. It wasn’t anything in comparison to his pictures, you thought..
And, when you turned around and caught a glimpse of his slightly disappointed face, your heart beat even faster. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” He said, somewhat defensively- well, that much was normal.
“Sorry, it’s probably disappointing- I know my art isn’t the greatest, but it’s definitely improved over time. There are things I need to study, but-”
“Hey, don’t assume I’m upset with your art, dummy. It’s…” He blushed slightly, looking away from you and shoving his hands in his pockets, “it’s really cool. I’m impressed.”
“Then why are you pouting?”
“I’m not pouting.”
You raised your eyebrows, making Mitsuba flush further, opening his mouth as he thought of what to say in response to that expression. “I just- well, you were weird about it, so I figured there was something about me- something weird or suspicious. But, it’s all perfectly normal.”
It took a moment for you to get behind his words- but, after getting behind Mitsuba’s extremely indirect way of saying things, you understood what he meant. He wanted you to draw him. After processing that, you bit your lip, wondering if you should actually show him your other sketchbook… a glimpse at his slight pout, though it was now confusion at your conflicted expression, you turned around, rummaging through your bookbag.
Then, you pulled out another sketchbook, and pushed it against his chest. “Since you’re so insistent. Just go ahead and look through it, I guess.”
It was Mitsuba’s turn to raise his eyebrows, as he took the sketchbook, and opened it up. His face burned, as he flipped through the pages. They were… filled with him. It genuinely made his heart pound, looking at the array of doodles, line art, and fully finished pieces- occasionally, a small heart or smiley face would be doodled alongside them. If he didn’t find your art incredible before, he definitely did now. Of course, he’d never admit it to your face, but his expression was enough for you to understand.
“A-ah… gross- idiot. Of course, I should have known a pervert like you would draw such a cute face. It’s obvious.”
“Right, right. Honestly, just give me a penny each time you call me a pervert, I’ll be rich in no time-”
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kairos-polaris · 4 years ago
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Miraculous Ladybug. Ah, the show that can't deliver its promises, teaches the female mc wrong lessons, is so sexist and racist it hurts and still calls itself "woke" and says they promote "girls power". I was so angry I wrote it at 1 am with little to no light to see what I was writing.
Mlb has a lot of problems. I won't be talking about the plot because it will be too long.
So here we are!
✓ Who is the main villain? Is it Chloé/Lila or Hawkmoth? The grownup man who chose to terrorise Paris and abuse people in their most vulnerable times? Or two teenagers who need a more strict discipline and help from adults, not their peers? Both Chloé and Lila made mistakes but they're kids who can change. I don't want to say they don't have to be punished for their actions, they do. You can't change a person if they don't want to and making them face consequences of their actions is an important part of growing up. If Mlb writers really cared about teaching their viewers that people can change, they will start a redemption arc for Chloé after Antibug and after Volpina for Lila. But, apparently, they decided that letting kids change their behaviour and grow up to be a better person is boring, right?
✓ Gabriel Agreste. Abuser, control freak, magical terrorist. And yet some people believe he deserves to win. He's not only a bad person but a bad villain too! Most of his actions have no sense and work only because the writers said so. Why did he think that creating a supervillain is a good way to lure out a superhero? They could be in different country/city. Both Miraculouses could be hidden in someone's attic! Plus from New York special we know that other heroes exist. How could he be so sure they wouldn't be the one to fight his champions?
And why did he akumatize himself? He had no way of knowing that Ladybug saw his book. He saw Adrien take the book. All he had to do is to say something like this: "It's a very important book Adrien. Your mother found it years ago in her attic. This book was a great inspiration for me". His akumatization was too convenient for the plot.
✓A lot of people blame Marinette for causing so much akumas. Are you okay people? Hawkmoth is the one who creates akumas. What a surprise! No one other than him can do that. Repeat after me: upsetting someone doesn't equal to using their feelings for your own gain. Chloé deliberately humiliated or angered someone and it still doesn't count as causing an akumatization because it wasn't her goal. I don't mean to say it wasn't wrong but she didn't send an akuma. She is a spoiled rich brat who doesn't care about the consequences of her actions. Lila came close to actually causing akumas but it's still Hawkmoth who sends out butterflies and uses completely natural and normal feelings and emotions against everyone. Please, don't shift his blame on teenagers.
✓ Sexism is everywhere. From civilian interactions to heroes' costume designs. So here's a list of problems I've remembered at 1 am:
Writers show Lila or Chloé trying to kiss Adrien or invading his private space in a bad light. How dare they harass him? And then we have Chat Noir act the same towards Ladybug! And unlike Adrien Marinette actually says "no, I don't like you. Don't touch me like that". Adrien knows that he makes her uncomfortable but he doesn't care. "She loves him but can't accept it" isn't a good reason to continue harassing her. No means no. Not "continue asking me" or "I'm playing hard to get". Disgusting.
Only rivals Marinete has (excluding Hawkmoth because he's Ladybug's rival) are her love rivals. Lila, Kagami, Chloé. Why can't we have a character who rivals Marinete in her passion: designing? It's not "girls power" to have girls in question fight over one rich white sad boy.
The whole Gamer episode. Marinette won fair and square. She deserved to take part in the tournament. Was it okay for Max to be upset? Yes, he spent a lot of time training. Was it okay for him to be angry at Marinette? No, it's not her fault she was better than him. Some may say that she entered because of Adrien (another issue I will mention later) but it doesn't make her less skilled.
Every girl who has a crush is shown obsessive. Marinette, Chloé, Lila, Kagami - Adrien, Rose - Prince Ali, Ondine - Kim. We weren't shown Alya having a crush on Nino but I'm sure she would be just as obsessive because writers can't believe girls can have crushes and not be obsessed with them. I would also like to mention that having two characters of colour with no previous chemistry is kinda racist.(I could have just missed it because I'm not good at noticing flirting. If you noticed Alya and Nino flirting before Animan I would edit this part). They also don't talk a lot if it's not about Adrinette. Their purpose is to push main characters to each other. That's it.
Boys are really nice to their crushes even when akumatized. Both Silencer and Evillustrator were gentlemen. Nathaniel literally took Marinette on a date! Exceptions are Adrien and Felix. Adrien is just perfect (not my words) and Felix is Adrien's evil twin. He was used to: a)show how great Adrien is; b) say "Ladybug would punch Chat if she were truly uncomfortable"; c) to make fans hate him because they prefer PV Felix and Astruc hates him. Do you know why point b is the most harmful? Because it enforces the stereotype that women are always willing and consenting and they have to go to ridiculous lengths to take that consent back.
Suits. Every girl has a skintight suit with little to no details. And did you see how skinny Rena Rouge is compared to Lady WiFi? Or how Ladybug's suit has only one colour? The show doesn't even try to make clothes look more fashionable. They have three (!) designers, two models and Chloé is the Style Queen's daughter. They didn't even try!
✓ Making fun of Marinette's anxiety so often. It's offensive to people who have the same problem.
✓ Master Fu. He's an awful person who pushed his responsibility on children without explaining anything. There was no point in hiding his identity. What if they were akumatized? Well, Paris would be doomed anyway. No Ladybug to purify akuma, no cure. And we saw how dangerous akumatized Chat was in Chat Blanc.
Do you know what would happen if he revealed his identity in the beginning? There would be no Stoneheart 2.0, Marinette and Adrien would have a better understanding of their powers, a support system, a reason to get away to transform.
✓ Chat Noir and Ladybug not knowing who the other is. I've already explained why the akumatization excuse doesn't work. How can you trust a person you don't know? They would be able to support each other in their civilian lives. But they wanted a love square and that's why revealing won't happen in a looooong time.
✓ Sexualisation of minors. Have you seen Mister Bug? Or Lady Noire? They are 14/15! It's gross and disgusting to lust after teenagers. And what about numerous shots of Ladybug's backside? Or how thin Marinette is?
✓ Teaching wrong lessons. First they bash Marinette for not trusting Chloé and then they bash Marinette for trusting Chloé with the bee. How dare Marinette not have fun while fighting her friends? And then several minutes later: How dare she have fun while fighting her friends? Or how she was basically told her feelings don't matter by Madame Bustier in Zombizou. And blaming her for everything bad that happens in the show.
✓ Marinette's whole character revolves around Adrien. It's most obvious in the future special about China. She will go there not to learn about her heritage and her mother's culture but to be with Adrien. Almost everything she does as a civilian is about Adrien. They don't let her move on even when it's hurting her. Wouldn't it be much better if she tried to grow as a person, spend more time on her hobby. Maybe find Hawkmoth?
✓ Another issue is that they don't even try to find Hawkmoth. They treat only symptoms and one day it won't be enough. We had one episode where they were close to finding him. But Gabriel was akumatized so no lead again. Very convenient for the plot.
Why does Mlb have such a big fan base? Why is it so popular? So much wasted potential it physically hurts. But the most important question is why do I spend so much time and energy on this show? Please, send help. I can't continue doing this.
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captainsolare · 4 years ago
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Sol! May I request some William angst for your event please? Hm maybe Roll 4 times for AU, 1 time for dialogue, and 2 for trope please 🥺💕? Thank yoh in advance!
A/N: Lyra! Yes of course! I hope you enjoy it :) It was interesting to write a Western AU William 😂 The dice really made this an angsty one
Bonus: listen to 'jupiter' by Wrabel
Warning: Drunk man makes a gross comment and grabs your arm
William Angst + Western AU! + First Love Reunion + "Try that again, I dare you."
William’s chest felt heavy as he rode into town, he had known that coming back here might affect him, but he hadn’t thought it would be this much. The buildings looked like they hadn’t aged a day, but he knew that wasn’t true, it had been years since he had set foot here. His life as a bounty hunter didn’t lend well for settling down, and so he had left this place and a piece of his heart with it. However, a job was a job, and he had received reports that a notorious outlaw had been spotted in the area, and William wanted to be the one to catch him.
He half prayed that there was another option, somewhere else he could stay for the night, but the sun had long sunk over the horizon, and the only place open now would be the saloon and conjoined inn your family owned. He hopped off his horse, tying him off on a post. There was a water trough nearby, so that should be suitable for the time being.
You didn’t see him come in, his hat pulled low over his eyes; if you had, you most certainly would have dropped the glass in your hand, sending it tumbling to the wooden floor below. He grabbed a spot at a table in the corner, heart clenching at the familiar face behind the bar. You still looked as beautiful as the day he met you, but you looked happier than the day he left, the day he broke your heart. Something about the way your eyes crinkled as you chatted with a miner at the bar made his heart ache, you were so close to him yet so far at the same time.
One of the saloon girls interrupted his thoughts by asking for his order.
“Just water please.” He said hoarsely, trying to ignore how much he wanted to grab a seat at the bar and talk to you.
“Yes sir! That’ll be right out.”
She returned swiftly, a cool mug of water set upon the table. “Are you stayin’ here long cowboy?”
William looked up at her, a forced smile on his face, “No, just for the evening.”
As he looked up at her, the light happened to reveal his face to her, her expression changed, and she hurried away to tend to other customers. He sighed softly, taking a sip of his water. He was used to this happening, people had almost always reacted to his birthmark this way, some people were convinced he had some sort of plague. The woman’s reaction was another painful reminder of how much he missed you; you were the only person he’d ever met that had touched his face with tenderness.
-
You were at the bar, fulfilling orders and chatting with customers when a particularly unruly man sat at the stool in front of you.
“Hello sir, what can I get you?”
The man smiled wickedly, it was obvious he was already drunk, “Are you on the menu?”
The question made your skin crawl but you forced yourself to smile, “I’m afraid not sir.”
William narrowed his eyes, that was the man he was looking for; now was not the time to act though, there were too many people around to risk getting in a shootout inside the saloon.
The man wouldn’t take no for an answer though, and when you were turned for a split second he lunged to grab your arm.
William was over in a flash, grabbing the man’s arm with a vice-like grip.
The saloon went eerily silent as all eyes were fixed on the scene at the bar, “Try that again, I dare you.” The words were dripping with such venom that William surprised even himself.
The man let your arm go, but fixed William with a defiant grin, “Or what? Is this your lover or something?”
The corners of William’s mouth twitched, “Do you know who I am?”
His smile faltered, but the man’s voice was even as he spoke, “No, why does that matter?”
William smiled wickedly, knowing his prey was about to be caught. “Maybe this will refresh your memory.”
He tilted his hat up from his face and the man instantly paled.
“Y-you, you’re him. You’re the bounty hunter, William Vangeance, bringer of vengeance.” The man’s voice shook and he tried to squirm away from him.
William chuckled, “That’s right Slim, I am. And now I’ll be taking you to the sheriff.”
Slim didn’t put up much of a fight as William led him out the door.
-
You stood frozen in place, memories rushing back to you all at once. A cold December night, a letter slipped under your door, running after him, begging him to stay.
The buzz of the bar soon returned, and you took a deep breath, trying to recenter yourself after the shock of seeing William again. You had long given up on him returning, but lo and behold he had, at least for tonight. Would he leave in the morning? Probably. It seemed as if he had only come for his quarry, but some part of you hoped that it had been more, that he had come to see you as well.
-
Hours passed, and you were closing the saloon. You swept the floors, and wiped off the tables, now all that was left was to wipe down the bar.
There was a knock at the door and you opened it to find William standing there, an uncertain look on his face. You were tempted to yell at him, take out five years worth of frustration and anger and regret on him, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do so. When you searched your heart, there was only sadness left where William was concerned, he had been your first love and he had left you cold and alone, with only the silhouette of him on his horse receding into the distance and your memories.
“I didn’t think you’d come back.” You said, your voice just above a whisper.
William glanced down at his feet, regret filling his chest, “I didn’t either.”
You lingered in the doorway for a long moment, then stepped to the side.
“Want a drink?”
He nodded and walked in, and you locked the door behind him. He took a seat at the bar as you made what he asked for, pouring water for yourself.
“Thank you for earlier.”
William shifted on his stool, “Of course, I couldn’t stand to let you get hurt.”
That’s rich, coming from the person who broke my heart. You wanted to say, but instead you forced a smile, “Well, I appreciate it.”
You and William stared at each other, both unsure of what to say.
“You look well.” William spoke up after a while.
Your lips twitched from the irony, “I’m making do.”
Silence prevailed once more, and you stared at your water glass, trying to will the dam of emotions to stay intact. You took a deep breath, clenching your fists on the counter.
“Why did you leave me?”
The question was soft, but it was filled with pain so sharp William could feel it cut him.
“You know why.”
Your head whipped up, eyes alight with anger.
“No I don’t. You were here one day and we were happy, and the next day you were riding off on that damn horse.”
“I--”
You didn’t let him finish, “I could have come with you William!” Your voice began to break, tears threatened to fall.
“Being a bounty hunter is dangerous work.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Do you have any idea how I worried for you once I found out what you were doing?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Are you?” You sucked in a breath, chest heaving, “Are you sorry for the way you broke my heart into a million tiny pieces?”
William stood, hand slammed on the counter, his voice strained, “It broke my heart too! I never wanted to hurt you Y/N.”
You blinked at him, “Never wanted to hurt me. So why did you? I would have gone anywhere with you, followed you to the ends of the earth, left all of this behind. I wouldn’t care if it were dangerous or uncomfortable, because I would get to spend my days with you!”
“I know! And that’s the problem,” He took a pained breath, “You don’t deserve a life like that Y/N! You deserve to be safe and comfortable and happy and I can’t give that to you.”
“I don’t want that, I just wanted you.”
William blinked his tears away, “I wanted you too.”
“Then why?” Your voice was soft, all the bravado and tension from before quieted.
“I’m not good for you.”
You laughed darkly, “William, that’s crap and you know it.”
William pulled a few bills from his pocket, setting them on the counter.
“Think I could get a room for the night?”
“Talk to Tracy next door.”
“Thanks. I’m sorry for the trouble.”
“This isn’t over William! Please don’t leave yet, are you leaving in the morning?”
“Goodbye Y/N.”
He walked away, heading for the door.
“Please don’t go.” You whispered, if he heard, he gave no indication he did so.
The door opened and closed, and you collapsed on the counter, for the first time that night, allowing yourself to cry.
William watched from the window, heart torn to shreds as he watched your shoulders shake.
“I’m sorry Y/N, I really am.”
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addicted2escapism · 5 years ago
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Make it Double | JJ Maybank
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Pairing: JJ x Reader
Summary: You’re a Kook, who was introduced to JJ by Sarah, and you’re so similar to each other it’s like having two JJ’s around. The Pogues are slowly going insane from your antics.
Warnings: none
Distancing yourself from the Kooks to hang out with the Pogues was probably the best decision of your life. You were so fed up with the stuck up rich kids from your side of the island that meeting new people was like finding gold at the end of a rainbow. Or at the bottom of the ocean. You had always been a bit of an outcast amongst Kooks, only truly getting along with Sarah and managing to maintain civility between everyone else. You just weren’t good at acting prim and proper. Being with the Pogues allowed you to let loose.
They were hesitant to open up to you at first, which was understandable considering all the shit Topper and the other boys continuously put them through. Eventually, though, they came to realize that you were not a spoiled brat who couldn’t get their hands dirty.
The first time they realized this, you were drunk, so it kind of didn’t count. There was a party at The Boneyard, but instead of assuming your usual spot with the Kooks, you were dancing with Sarah and the Pogues. JJ was making sure that your red solo cup stayed full, until he grew a conscious and decided that maybe it wasn’t the best idea to give you alcohol poisoning. So you were throughly drunk, even when the party was beginning to wind down. The Tourons were getting called back to their hotels and the Kooks wanted to hold an after party in the comfort of their three story homes.
Since the Pogues had hosted, it was also their job to clean up, but you were not having it. You wanted the party to go on forever! JJ was closest to you, so you snag him by the arm and dance backwards towards the water. He smirks, letting you pull him away, dancing slightly to your imaginary music.
“JJ!” You begin, and then pause to let out a burp. “Let’s swim!”
JJ’s smirk transforms into a full-fledged grin as you turn around and start running (stumbling) towards the water.
“Little Kook wants to swim in the freezing cold water with all her clothes on?” He questions, but moves his feet to match your speed. “If you say so!”
“No! JJ!” A voice calls out from farther up the beach, which you recognize as Sarah. Her warning is too late, though, because you splash into the water, with JJ right on your heels. You didn’t seem to care that your clothes were going to be absolutely soaked, traveling deeper and deeper into the water until you actually had to swim to keep your head above the surface.
“JJ, she’s drunk! Come back!” Another voice yells, your hazy mind is slowly able to decipher that it’s Kiara. You call her name, your hand shooting out of the water to wave at her, but you couldn’t wave and swim at the same time. The lack of control over your body movements plunges you under the water, but a firm hand grabs your arm and instantly hauls you back up. When you surface, all the Pogues are yelling things like “Jesus, JJ!”, and “come back, now!”.
“She’s fine, I’m holding her up!” JJ hauls you back to shore, making a show of his hand holding onto your arm. You laugh and agree with him, too drunk to fully comprehend why everyone was so concerned.
The second time, you were fully sober and could actually attest to your actions.
“Are you sure that she’s gonna be cool with fishing in the marsh?” Pope questions, looking to Sarah for an answer. Everyone was loading up John B’s boat with enough supplies for a full day out on the water. You had texted Sarah earlier that day wanted to hang out, but she had already made plans with the Pogues, so naturally she asked if you could come along.
“Yes, Pope, I am totally confident in that fact that she can handle being on a boat.” Sarah deadpans, staring at him disapprovingly. She understood why the group was reserved towards you, because from the outside you came off as ever Kookier than her. You came from a large family, a descendant of old money, meaning generations have gone by without anyone having to work a single day in their life. You never liked to talk about it, but you were much richer than her. It seemed like after years and years, you were the first one to break the mold of your family and actually care about something other than wealth and reputation. Unfortunately for you, your family’s reputation had tainted yours from the moment you were born.
“We know, we’ve seen her on very expensive boats.” JJ snorts, digging through the cooler of beer that Kiara had brought.
“Then what’s the big deal?” Sarah argues, looking to John B for backup. “You guys accepted me! She’s not really any different.”
“No offense, Sarah, but her house could put yours to shame.” John B adds, extremely unhelpfully.
“You know what? I’m going to invite her, and you can see for yourselves that you’re all being ridiculous.”
After about a half hour of being in the marsh, the Pogues realized that they were being ridiculous. You weren’t grossed out every time John B dumped a net full of fish straight onto the boat, in fact, you were actively helping. Kiara and Pope had taken to reading and listening to music, sprawled out on the back half of the boat, away from where JJ was trying to chase you and Sarah with live fish.
“JJ! Stop! Ew!” Sarah squealed, attempting to use John B as a shield. To her dismay, he reached down and picked up a fish as well, turning on her with a mischievous grin. “No, not you too!”
She called your name for help, but you were too busy being cornered by JJ. You didn’t know what he planned to do to you if he actually caught you, but you weren’t too keen on finding out. So you dart to the left and scoop up a fish of your own, trying not to shiver from the slimy texture of it between your fingers. JJ looks at you in surprise as you discreetly tilt your head towards Sarah, who had resorted to running to Kiara for help. JJ nodded, understanding what you had in mind, and turned towards Sarah as well. With his attention drawn away from you, you released your fish back into the water, feeling a bit bad for keeping the whole net just laying on the deck for so long.
Sarah screams out something about being betrayed, noticing that JJ had let you go, and that you were doing nothing to help. Fortunately for her, you weren’t planning on a single betrayal, but a double. You run across the boat, the fast movement making JJ and John B turn towards you. Sarah takes the opportunity to grab John B and push him off the boat, who latches onto her and drags her into the water with him. When you head for JJ, he already knows what you have in mind, so he captures you in his arms before you can push him and jumps off. When you surface, you can see Pope and Kiara looking at the four of you judgmentally. You laugh them off and start sparring JJ in the water.
If you were a bit of a Kook outcast in the beginning, you were completely ostracized now after choosing Pogues over Kooks for months. Even your family started to notice that you would go out with friends and come home “looking like you were from The Cut”, which, to be fair, was exactly where you had been. But you didn’t like their tone, and spent less and less time going to Kook functions. Pogue life had made you a complete wild card.
You couldn’t hide the fact that you were a Kook, though, but you weren’t trying to. It was quite obvious because of your clothes, your phone, and the car that you drove. You simply liked to think about the resources you had access to as a way to help the Pogues if need be.
Once the Pogues looked past your rich-kid exterior, they realized that you were very much like them. And then a certain Pogue started to like you. As in, like you. It was JJ, of course. You both found it easy to be around each other, and more often than not whenever one of you did something a little questionable, it was because the other was spurring them on. When you and JJ were together, you were an unstoppable force that the Pogues struggled to control.
“Guys, please, don’t break anything.” John B sighs, watching you and JJ play fight while he stood in the kitchen, making a peanut butter sandwich.
“We won’t!” You assured him, not wanting to disrespect his house or anything in it. You blocked a “punch” from JJ and swiftly ducked under his arm, laying a “punch” of your own into his abdomen. He gasped and stumbled backwards in fake pain, and you took the opportunity to kick him in the leg. JJ’s leg fights with yours, swiping you off balance. You yelp, realizing that you’re actually going to fall, but JJ reaches out and catches your arm just in time. You open your mouth to thank him, but the only thing that comes out is another yelp when he picks you up and slams you onto the couch.
There’s a loud crack, and suddenly the couch drops out from underneath you, dipping at an unnatural angle.
“Dude!” John B cries out, taking his mediocre sandwich and running over to you. You climb off the couch to assess the damage yourself.
“JJ, why’d you throw me like that!” You accuse, shoving him to the side. He fights you off and annoyingly bats you on the arm.
“I didn’t think you’d break it! How heavy are you?” He retorts, dropping to the ground to look underneath the broken sofa.
“Sorry, John B.” You sigh, squeezing his shoulder. You also take the chance to kick JJ again while he’s down.
Kiara’s dad had offered everyone the leftover food from The Wreck, so that’s where you all went to feast for dinner. You’d offered to take them out somewhere for fun, but they all felt strangely about accepting things like that from you. It made sense, but you wished that they wouldn’t view it as a handout. Everyone sat in silence, enjoying their food and each other’s company. The silence was broken when a French fry hit you on the cheek.
“JJ.” You start, not even bothering to look up from your food to see if he really was the culprit. “We’re in a restaurant.”
Quite the hypocrite, you pick up the fry that hit you and throw it back. It hits him right in the forehead.
“Guys, please, don’t start.” Kiara warns, mostly pleading with you since JJ was a complete lost cause. You nod, your days of etiquette training in the Kook academy wasn’t for nothing, and fixed JJ with a glare. He got the message and returned to eating his food, leg pressed snugly against yours.
“You two are going to get us in serious trouble one day.” Pope states, shaking his head as he munches on a carrot stick.
“Hey, at least she has a good effect on JJ. Look at him, he’s quiet as a mouse.” Sarah teases. You snort and JJ rolls his eyes. Both of you have heard this conversation before.
“In my defense, she instigates!” JJ throws you under the bus and you gasp incredulously.
“Me?” You object, ready to argue about who’s the real troublemaker in the relationship. All of the Pogues groan and complain, but the fondness in their eyes show that they’re happy to have you.
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beelsnack · 5 years ago
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Obey Me! Boys and an Insecure MC
Alternate Title: Coping mechanisms? In my demonic dating sim? It’s more likely than you think.
I honestly didn’t mean for this to be so long, but hey.
CW: Depression, self hatred, unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Lucifer: It was subtle, but nothing escaped the notice of the Eldest. He saw them fidgeting with their tie before heading to class, watched the frown tug at their lips when all they managed to produce was a rumpled tangle of silk. Caught them poking ruefully at their acne scars in the reflection of their D.D.D. Heard the frustrated sigh as they tried to sit in a way that hid the meat on their abdomen. But, above all, he paid close attention to those comments.
“Wow, I can’t do anything right, can I?”
“You would have to be a professional makeup artist to fix this mess, haha!”
“It’s alright, you can say I’m ugly.”
That was it. Lucifer stood from his seat at his desk, an errant paper fluttering to the ground in his wake. The Firstborn made his way over to where they were sitting, working away diligently on their laptop. Their breath caught in their throat when they turned to face him, and Lucifer fought back a sadistic grin when he felt them shudder at the feeling of his gloved hand sliding beneath their chin. He would file that away for later.
“That’s quite enough.” his voice was low as he lifted their face. They averted their eyes, clearly uncomfortable, but he kept his hand where it was. “Self-deprecation is unbecoming on anyone, but I certainly will not have it marring that beautiful face of yours.”
Nothing escaped the notice of the Eldest. Especially not the shy smile they wore as they bade him goodnight.
Mammon: Call him an idiot all you like, but if there was one thing that a solid gambling career had taught Mammon, it was how to read a person’s tells. The way they stood with their arms folded and body turned inward said they were trying to hide. Their habit of avoiding mirrors told him they hated the way they looked. The twinge of resigned sadness on their face when they carefully deflected Asmo’s blatant flirting made it obvious that they thought they didn’t deserve it.
It must have been particularly bad one night. The two of them had made themselves comfortable on the bed in preparation for movie night, but instead of cuddling up next to him like they normally did, they sat far enough away that Mammon had to actually scoot forward to jab them in the shoulder.
“Hey, what gives, human? Why’re you all the way over there?”
“I’m just feeling a little warm.” they shrugged, pulling their knees to their chest. They were trying to pull some reverse psychology bullshit by purposefully staring him in the eye while they lied to him. Mammon snorted.
“You really think you’re going to fool me like that? You’ve got at least a millennia until you can even think of lying to The Great Mammon!” he opened his arms and his voice softened when he spoke. “Come here.”
They hesitated - eyes flicking back and forth between him and a knot in the branches that made up their bed frame, nervous - before they tucked themselves into his waiting arms.
He leaned his cheek against the top of their head, inhaling the sweet smell of their freshly-washed hair and internally purring (maybe externally, but you wouldn’t be able to get him to admit it) when he felt them snuggle in a little deeper and release a pent up sigh.
Mammon stayed silent, absently stroking the back of their neck. Words had probably done the damage, and they definitely weren’t going to fix it. He knew that from experience. But shielding his human from their own poisonous thoughts for a few moments was a good place to start.
Levi: Self-deprecating comments were one of Levi’s main forms of communication. It was a defense mechanism, a low-level shield someone would cast when the enemy was ridiculously OP but the game didn’t give you a retreat option. He knew this mechanic.
But when he heard them use it, it made him angry.
How could someone as amazing as them - smart, pretty, brave, loved gaming, made sure to feed Henry 2.0 when Levi was at a Sucre Frenzy concert - think they were anything less then perfect? No, more importantly, who hurt them so badly that they started thinking that way?
He felt like he did that one time Mammon had dropped one of his limited-edition Ruri-chan figures from a balcony. Someone damaged something precious to him, and he wanted blood.
Of course, that would involve talking about feelings and other mushy, normie stuff, and he just wasn’t ready for that. So, he did the only thing he could think of.
Leviachan: Hey, you down for a raid? There’s this new set of armor - it’s suuuuuuper rare, and you’re the only one good enough to get through the dungeon with me!! Pleeeeaaaassseee?
Satan: These little reading dates had started without him really noticing. One day, the human had came into the library seeking a quiet place to study and finish up their homework. Then, they came in with a human world book that Satan had never heard of tucked under their arm and were more than willing to talk about it. This lead to the two of them huddled on the sofa with their noses buried in the same book, and the human surprising Satan by being able to keep up with his reading speed. And here they were.
Satan had chosen a detective novel that he was positive they would like, and the both of them had taken advantage of a quiet Sunday morning to let themselves get absorbed into the story. Satan had his long arms wrapped around them holding the book, and they were leaning against his chest as they flipped the pages. An easy routine that the two of them had fallen into.
He felt them sigh heavily against him and he quirked an eyebrow. “Something wrong?”
“Huh? Oh, no, I just...” they trailed off, gazing out the window at the dusty purple sky before snapping back to the present. “The love interest in this book is amazing. I’m a little jealous of them.”
“Jealous?” Satan echoed, looking down at the small frame curled up in his arms. “Why would you be jealous?”
“They were able to do so much with their life. They’re so young, yet they’ve got their life sorted out, they’re smart, beautiful, charismatic, and they’re confident in themselves despite all the shit people put them through...” they sighed again, and this time Satan heard the note of self-hatred on the exhale. “I can’t do anything like that.”
“Now where did you get that idea?” Satan said incredulously. “In the few months you’ve been here, you have excelled in every class you’ve taken, stood up against all of us in our true forms at least twice each, solved a murder, and convinced me to stop plotting to rip Lucifer’s throat out. All while adjusting to life in a world where most of the citizens could kill you by poking you a bit too hard. I would say that goes above and beyond ‘having your life sorted out.’“
The blush that bloomed across their face was so hot that Satan was able to feel it through his shirt, right next to his heart. He chuckled softly as he bent down to kiss their hair. 
“I could write for eons about how amazing you are and it still wouldn’t be enough.”
Asmo: Emotions fell right into his area of expertise, and even if they were immune to his charm, Asmo still could smell their emotions like a perfume. And their low self-confidence reeked like rotten fruit. A beautiful arrangement that had been abandoned and left to decay.
The Avatar of Lust was an inquisitive soul (Lucifer would call it being nosy, but whatever.) He was also a firm believer in the theory that you can tell everything you need to know about a person by their skincare routine. So that’s what led to him sneaking into their bathroom while Mammon had dragged them out on one of his stupid get-rich-quick schemes.
“Oh, I don’t think so!” Asmo cried in alarm as he picked up the bottle of human world acne treatment. “They might as well be washing their face with snake venom!”
With a scoff, Asmo kicked the waste basket out from beneath their counter and tossed the face wash in. Bottle after bottle followed it, and Asmo was just about to dump the last bottle of what he assumed was straight rubbing alcohol when he heard the door open.
“Asmo, what the fuck.”
“Darling, we need to have a very serious discussion about your choice in skincare products.” Asmo grimaced as he glanced at the label on the bottle before unceremoniously dropping it into the bottle graveyard. “Can you even pronounce some of these?”
Ah, there it was. The sickeningly sweet smell of self-hatred. Asmo fought the urge to recoil as they practically dove for the trash can.
“Asmo, come on, I have gross skin as it is, don’t take away the only things keeping me from looking like a slice of pizza.”
The sound of glass breaking echoed somewhere in the back of Asmo’s head. That rotten smell was rolling off of them in waves, but he fought off his aversion and knelt down next to them.
They nearly hit the ceiling when Asmo clasped their hands between his own. “Now, now, none of that.”
“None of what?”
Asmo giggled. “You know I wouldn’t bother associating myself with someone unsightly.” one of his hands moved to gently cup their jaw. “You poor thing, you’ve been ruining that lovely face of yours.”
“I didn’t think I could make it any worse.” they muttered, looking away as Asmo stroked a thumb over their cheekbone.
Asmo’s heart clenched, and he leaned forward to kiss them gently on the forehead. “Oh, I can’t stand hearing that kind of talk, especially coming from you. That settles it, then.” he stood with an air of finality.
“Settles what?” they tilt their head in a manner that reminded Asmo of a very adorable puppy.
“We’re going to get you some proper skincare products, and I’m going to spend the rest of the night making you feel like the divine beauty you actually are.”
It was only for a second, but Asmo swore that overpowering smell of rotten fruit was replaced with something just a little fresher.
Beelzebub: Normally, the Avatar of Gluttony wouldn’t complain about someone not eating. More for him. But he didn’t like the way the human was pushing food around their plate without actually eating any of it. They usually loved fried bat wing, too.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, keeping his voice low so his brothers wouldn’t butt in. “Aren’t you hungry?”
They laughed sheepishly, pushing their plate towards him. “Nah, not really. I was snacking all day. Here, you can have it.”
“But I just heard your stomach growl.”
Shame flashed across their face before they looked up at him with a grin that didn’t quite make it to their eyes. “I guess, haha. Just trying to watch my figure, you know?”
Before Beel could swallow down the mouthful of bat wing - when did he even pick it up? They had stood from the table and excused themselves, saying something about having a lot of homework.
It was a few hours before they got back to their room. What had started as them doing their homework in the living room had turned into Mammon begging them to help him study, which then somehow turned to Mammon challenging Satan to a pillow fight. Finally, they had decided to give up and do their homework in their room.
Something delicious wafted out of their room when they opened the door. The source was an overly full plate of food - with extra bat wing, they noticed - sitting on their desk. Blinking in confusion, they shut the door behind them and approached the plate. When they got closer, the note tucked underneath the plate came into view.
Please eat properly. I don’t want you to starve.
-Beel
Belphegor: He never would have called himself needy or touch-starved before. But after spending so long stuck in that attic room with his only interaction being with Lucifer, Belphegor couldn’t seem to get enough physical contact. Especially with the human.
He knew he didn’t deserve their affection, not with how he took advantage of them, manipulated them, murdered them. But the human had enough room in their heart to forgive him, and he would take any ounce of affection they were willing to give.
But it still stung when they flinched.
It was only for an instant, but Belphegor could feel the instinctual tightening of muscles when he draped himself over their shoulder. Feel them jump when he bumped shoulders with them in the hall. Feel their heartbeat speed up when he decided to use them as a body pillow.
“You know you can tell me no, right?” he murmured sleepily as the moment passed and the human settled down.
“Would you stop if I did?”
“Hm...” he hummed, cracking open one amethyst eye to peer at them. “If you don’t like me touching you, why do you let me do it?”
The human sighed, scooting down from their position against their headboard so they were face to face with Belphegor, who still had his hands around their waist like they were a giant teddy bear.
“It’s more like...I can’t believe you want to touch me.”
Now that woke Belphie up - well, as up as he could be while still doing his best impersonation of a koala. “What?”
They laughed, but it sounded strained. “Come on, Belphie, look at me. I’m all...jiggly.”
“So?”
Silence. They looked at him like they were trying to solve a puzzle, and he met their gaze like he was trying to figure out why they couldn’t figure it out.
“It’s not like it matters,” he shrugged, snuggling down into the soft blankets and holding the human a little bit tighter. “I like touching you because you’re you. You being soft and warm is a side benefit.”
“Belphie - “
He yawned, and they genuinely couldn’t tell if it was fake or not. “Shh, I’m going to sleep. You’re my pillow, so don’t talk. Especially if it’s negative stuff like that.”
Honestly, that was the best nap they’d had in a while.
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skinks · 4 years ago
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Food for thot.....Richie getting rug burn on his face from getting pounded into the carpet. Yes its before an interview and yes its is from a tiktok but I don't know anyone that would appreciate this like u would. Thank u 😔
no, thank YOU!!! WOW!!! I know @pineapplecrushface wrote about Eddie having face rug burn in this post here and it’s such a funny concept I want it for Richie too.
Like, the heat comes from the fact that they couldn’t even wait to move to the bed. They’re cuddling on the couch, sweet kissing turns hotter, heavier, they’re rolling off the couch and knocking shit over on the coffee table, wrestling like they always used to. But now Eddie’s shoving himself up and noisily ripping his belt through the loops like grabbing a snake by its head behind the metal fangs. Both of them panting and swearing and laughing, Richie goading him on like c’mon slugger, c’mon baby, let’s see you go the fuck to town, except he gets more than he bargained for because Eddie’s going NUTS like I wanna, Rich I really fucking wanna, on your front, your knees, let me, and Richie’s already trying to turn over, kicking his pants down his sweating thighs and grinning so hard he can hardly reply back yeah yeah yeah fuck me through the floor, Eddie, ‘course I’ll let you, you can do anything you put that batshit little mind to.
And y’know, Richie grabs a leg of the coffee table for purchase but that’s getting shoved across the floor with the force of it too. Movie’s still playing. Feels briefly surreal, the sound of a chic Soderbergh heist chopped up roughly between the louder sounds of fucking, and of getting fucked. His other hand’s ripping scores against the pile of the carpet, knees are burnt, glasses are nearly bent against his face until he pushes them up and off and Eddie takes them away because his hand is there, suddenly, grabbing Richie’s fucked up hair like he can’t bear not to be touching him everywhere for reassurance now that Richie can hardly see.
Eddie’s everywhere, the glide of his thighs and the scrape of his shoved-down jeans burning open the insides of Richie’s spread legs, the stretch and pressure angling down tight into his stomach as Eddie presses his cock balls-deep and yanks hard on Richie’s hips at the same time. Pulls up, buries himself hard in Richie’s body and holds him there for a moment to grind the ridges of his abs right against Richie’s lower back, mossy with dark hair flattened to his tailbone. Eddie moans between his shoulderblades and Richie chokes into the carpet, Eddie holding him fast and pushing, pushing, socks rasping against the carpet to brace themselves.
It’s one of those fucks of a lifetime, every time he swings his feet up next to Eddie’s on the coffee table he’s gonna remember how he was so glad Eddie kept him face down and ass up, cause otherwise his entire dick and balls would be chafing a slick band of precum into the carpet too, burnt and red as their skinny little forearms got as kids, when they’d attack and grab at each other with both hands, twisting opposite directions til it hurt, because violence was the only way to touch each other with an audience back then and apparently the habit takes some breaking.
Now they’re good at breaking all their worst habits together. They can touch each other gently, even in public. After Eddie’s rubbed him raw against the floor and come so hard in short, sharp, knocking thrusts that left him shaken and incoherent against Richie’s aching shoulders, after he grabbed his own discarded shirt and, still hard and throbbing, coaxed Richie to buck his cum into it instead of the carpet—he smooths some aloe vera into Richie’s stinging cheek. They were still both naked and dripping, but he insisted.
Eddie’s always achingly sweet when he feels he’s gone too far, still sometimes forgetting there are ways to love each other rough that aren’t cruelty, and ways to care for each other soft that aren’t coddling.
It’s nice though, nostalgic for the times spent just the two of them, when the need to compete against and for each other’s attention waned and Richie could make a production of kissing Eddie’s twisted forearm better. Big smacking kiss between the red imprints of his own fingers, to match the burn in Eddie’s face as he grabbed at Richie’s noodly arm to give one back, never to be outdone.
“Hold still,” Eddie murmurs now. “I’m kissing it better.” He cups Richie’s other cheek and draws him down to kiss long and slow where the arch of his dark stubble turns an angry pink underneath. Puts his other arm around Richie’s shoulders and kneels there next to him on the bed, held right back around his waist. Gentling his lips all over Richie’s face.
“You kissing me better, baby? You little sex demon.”
“Yeah. You feel better?”
“I always feel better now. You kissed me all better.”
“Loved you all better.” Eddie turns him so he’s kissing at Richie’s broad, smiling mouth. “God. Gross. I love you so fucking much.”
“Ghh-huh. Ah. I love you, Eds.” For a moment Richie stares at him, helpless. One of his eyes always squints up harder when he grins, but Eddie likes being able to see the crinkly corners when Richie’s not wearing his glasses. He strokes them. Richie makes a tiny noise. “And they say I’m the sap.”
“You’re a fuckin’ pine tree.”
“Yep!” Richie sticks his tongue out gleefully, straight into Eddie’s mouth.
“Don’t say it—!”
“You climb me, and I get you all sticky!”
Eddie wheezes as Richie nuzzles into his shoulder, tightening his arms around Eddie’s waist. His sore cheekbone is hard and hot against Eddie’s cooling skin. “What are you—giggling about?!”
Richie falls back to the mattress, tugging Eddie down with him. The breath shudders through Eddie’s punctured, healed chest like there’s still a hole there and he squeezes his eyes shut against Richie’s collarbones. He shakes with it sometimes, how much of this he gets to feel and have and keep to himself, overwhelmed giddiness lurching his stomach out miles above his body. That’d be bad. He’s already lost a couple organs just for loving Richie Tozier, but the difference is—he can live without the organs.
Eddie squeezes Richie’s thigh between his own and hides his crumpling face in the fuzzy ditch of his broad chest, in case Richie thinks he’s upset and stops laughing.
He pinches the soft give of Richie’s tricep. He’s hugging Eddie so tight, his little yelp buzzes Eddie’s ear. “What are you fucking giggling about!”
“I have—I have that promo thing tomorrow, I’m gonna look like I made out with a brick wall!”
Eddie’s jostled with the gusts of Richie’s laughter. He keeps his eyes closed. He supports Richie’s career, he really does, but no matter how hard he tries Eddie can’t seem to stop providing juicy fodder for talk-show stories. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, it’s okay, you can get them to cover it up before—”
“No! No way, and pass up walking out there like Harvey fuckin’ Dent because my hot as hell boyfriend railed me across the floor like a lawnmower?”
“That doesn’t—you don’t fuck lawnmowers, how do you fuck a lawnmower!”
“Very carefully! You sound like one sometimes, though, Jesus, how you get all revved up. Okay, something about carpets matching drapes, or—wait, wait, Dented? Harvey Dented? Dented my ass, or something, there’s a joke there, I promise—”
Eddie gives in to the snort building up in his sinuses. Richie’s whole face is pink with happiness when Eddie levers himself up onto an elbow for a look at him, not just the rug burn like a strawberry birthmark blooming from his temple to his jaw.
“That’s weak shit,” Eddie says. Richie’s grin only gets wider when he sees Eddie’s laughing too, so Eddie nudges a kiss against his endearingly goofy-ass overbite. “Two-Face is obvious. You wanna do a Batman joke, it’s gotta be like—you wanna know how I got these scars?”
Richie shrieks with laughter at Eddie’s nasally Joker (really just an imitation of Richie’s, and thank fuck it’s improved from sounding vaguely Pennywise-ish, that’s a real mood-killer) and piledrives him over into the bedspread. “Genius! Genius, holy shit, you know it gives me such a boner when you do Voices! You wanna know how I got these scars? Well, one day, Daddy Kaspbrak came home all riled up and wanting to play—”
Eddie pretends to gag though his laughter, rubbing at the backs of Richie’s squirming thighs with his heels like a cricket. “Do not call me Daddy Kaspbrak when we’re naked—or ever, what the fuck—”
“Whipped his belt off—”
“No!”
“Hey Eddie, you wanna know how I got this jawline?” Eddie’s careful with Richie’s sore cheek, even as Richie’s gnawing at his throat. Cups his hand to it for protection against Eddie’s own stubbly jaw. Then Richie’s groping at one of Eddie’s asscheeks, lifting his thigh, and, shit, looks like this afternoon might be a twofer. “Do ya, Eddie?”
“Fine, how?”
Richie waggles his stupid eyebrows. “Lemme show you the workout!”
“Oh, Christ—don’t hurt your face,” Eddie gasps, but Richie’s already moving south.
-
The host asks about Richie’s face—obviously. It had faded a little from that vicious red, but not enough to escape attention, especially since his entire shit-eating demeanour was clearly begging for enquiry.
“What happened, man, you get in a fight?”
“No—no! Look at me, dude, I can’t even get heckled without being like yeah, you’re right. Y’know, you’ve got a point. If someone tried to fight me I’d probably join in.” Richie grins and glances at the camera. “Nah, I’m more of a lover.”
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luxaofhesperides · 4 years ago
Text
there in the tower.
A Sleeping Beauty inspired dark fantasy fic.
for ORV RARE PAIR WEEK 2021 @orv-week; day one, prompt: fairy tale
also on ao3.
. . .
They say that the dragon is guarding a princess. After all, dragons will always kidnap princesses and no one else. Who else is so valuable? So important in the kingdom? So weak? So when the dragon flew through the sky and curled around the base of a large tower, it seemed obvious that there was a princess inside, awaiting rescue.
Here’s the thing, though: Na Bori is not a princess.
She’s a seamstresses daughter, a common girl who doesn’t attract much attention from others. So why had the dragon taken her?
Of course, Lee Jihye had no way to know for sure that Na Bori was taken until she actually goes to the tower, but Na Bori had disappeared and a dragon appeared the next day. There were investigations, of course; nobility keeps track of their daughters and what bloodlines they marry into. Every princess and noble girl in the continent is accounted for. People have speculated that there may be a missing princess, perhaps born out of wedlock, or a sickly, weak girl who had never been introduced to society. And then they wondered if they should even bother rescuing the kidnapped girl if they weren’t respectably nobility.
Lee Jihye had to run out of town because of that one. Apparently starting a bar fight and smashing a chair over a marquis’ son is a bad move.
The barely suppressed panic thrums in her chest, filling the empty spaces between her ribs as she continues her journey to the tower. 
No one has seen Na Bori since the dragon appeared. No one had looked, either. Who would care for a seamstresses daughter? But Lee Jihye has been besides Na Bori for years, has grown up with her, has never known anyone so bright and clever and kind. 
The thought of Na Bori gone forever, trapped in a tower because  no one cared to look  makes her furiously blink tears out of her eyes. No one else is looking, but Lee Jihye. She would never stop until Na Bori was safe by her side again.
Here’s another thing: Lee Jihye is not a knight. She is training to be one, under the instruction of an old warrior who has settled down to live the last years of his life in peace. There are other knights and princes traveling to the tower, fighting beasts and bandits in order to rescue the poor maiden trapped besides a dragon, hoping to gain glory and honor for their deeds. Lee Jihye just wants her best friend back.
It’s easy enough to avoid them; Lee Jihye’s been dodging them for weeks, knowing she’s too tense to handle anyone’s company. These nobles are planning to gain fame or riches or a wife out of this. The last knight who had said something about pitiful women always clinging to their saviors got his teeth knocked out and a concussion from how hard Lee Jihye punched him. She left him lying on the side of the road, fists shaking as she desperately tried to erase thoughts of Na Bori married to a pig like him. 
The less time spent with others, the better.
She cuts down another branch in her way and dives deeper into the forests that surround the castle.
“But what if you get sent far away?” she asks, stabbing her needle especially viciously through the fabric.
Lee Jihye is rather happy that Na Bori doesn’t want her to go. The rare occasion where Na Bori clings to Lee Jihye instead of the other way around are moments memorized and held onto fondly. She knows that there is no one in this world closer to her than Na Bori, knows that she’s the person who knows Na Bori best, but it’s nice to hear that she’s wanted.
Smiling, Lee Jihye reaches out and takes one of Na Bori’s hands, stopping her from tearing through the fabric. “I’ll still come back,” she promises, “Where else would I come home to?”
“And if you get hurt?”
“I’ll just get strong enough that nothing can hurt me.”
Na Bori is mollified, and it shows in how she relaxes and finally sets down her sewing. “You still have a long way to go then. Strong knights don’t cry over a little tumble down the hill.”
Lee Jihye flushes and scowls. “Hey! It was my first assignment and it was a steep hill. I hit a lot of things on the way down! It hurt! If anything, it would be weird if I wasn’t
  crying when she wakes up. Lee Jihye faintly hears Na Bori’s voice whisper, “Crybaby,” but it’s only wistful thinking. Forcing her aching body up, Lee Jihye wipes away her tears and prepared herself for another agonizing day cutting through the thorny and impossibly large brambles that block entry to the tower. 
“Okay,” she tells herself, “You’re almost there. Na Bori is waiting for you, so you can’t give up yet.” 
Many of the others have turned back. She no longer sees other groups making their way to the tower. It’s been eerily silent for the past two days. 
If she had been anyone else, if she had been sane, Lee Jihye would have turned around too. The entire area felt unwelcoming, downright hostile sometimes, and made every nerve in her body scream at her to turn around. A heavy pit of despair grows in her stomach and the hopelessness it causes makes her physically sick a few times.
Still, Lee Jihye presses onwards.
The longer it takes, the more she worries, her brain providing morbid images of Na Bori’s body rotting in the tower, or being eaten by the dragon, or any other terrible thing that could happen to kidnapped people. It has Lee Jihye on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and she’s been teetering on that cliff for a few days now. 
There’s no doubt that the area around the tower is full of dark magic. It gets into her head, twists around her bones, squeezes the air out of her lungs and slowly suffocates her each day. It gives her nightmares, makes her relive memories that feel like they’re happening again, like Na Bori is there with her only for wakefulness to destroy the illusions. Lee Jihye has only been in this dark magic infected forest for two days. Na Bori has been missing for a week and a half. 
The fear she feels for Na Bori and what she’s had to endure only makes things worse.
Lee Jihye hacks through another large thorny bramble and continues in deeper, ignoring the weariness that makes her want to collapse and never get up. Thorns have caught on her with each step she takes; most of the cuts clot up quickly, but the rest leave a trail of blood to guide her back out. 
The tower doesn’t look any closer.
She lifts her heavy arms to cut through another branch.
Na Bori shrieks and jumps onto Lee Jihye, clinging with all her might. Startled, Lee Jihye stumbles back a few steps, trying to regain her balance without dropping Na Bori. She wraps her arms around Na Bori, holding her up, and looks around for the source of her distress.
Crawling across the road is a centipede.
Lee Jihye can’t help but laugh, easily carrying Na Bori away from it, continuing down the road to her house. 
Na Bori, still holding onto Lee Jihye and making no moves to get down, smacks her shoulder. “Don’t laugh!”
���I can’t believe you call me a crybaby when you jump into my arms as soon as you see a bug.”
“It’s a perfectly reasonably fear! Nothing should have that many legs, or those weird eyes, or pincers, or--ugh!” She shudders, scaring herself by imagining the very things she hates about bugs. 
It’s cute, how insistent she is that bugs are weird, gross, and wholly unnatural. Lee Jihye has listened to these complaints for many years, and she wouldn’t mind listening for many years more.
“Don’t worry,” she says, adjusting her grip around Na Bori’s waist. “I’ll always be here to rescue you from the evil, scary bugs.”
Na Bori tucks her face into the crook of Lee Jihye’s neck. Her warm breath sends shivers down her spine; it takes everything in her not to stumble or drop Na Bori. 
“My valiant knight,” she says, and Lee Jihye can hear the smile in her voice. 
Who needs kings and queens? The only person she ever wants to dedicate her sword to is already in her arms. And if asked, Lee Jihye would gladly dedicate the rest of her life.
It’s just. There are little moments between them, where Lee Jihye thinks Na Bori also wants more, wants to push the limits of their friendship into new territory, but what if it’s just wistful thinking? They’ve shared what feels like their whole lives together, and there’s no guarantee that Na Bori wouldn’t leave one day. But if she stayed… If she stayed, Lee Jihye would give
up and let the brambles consume her body. She doesn’t know how long it’s been, how far she’s gone. Dreams and reality feel the same and she can’t quite tell which is which anymore. The tower is still the same distance away it was when she first saw it rising above the brambles. 
Everything hurts. Her ears are ringing. She’s been bleeding sluggishly for days now, always torn apart by new thorns. There’s no point in trying to patch herself up when the next set of brambles is ready to rip her flesh apart.
The tip of her sword drags through the dirt. She’s given up trying to cut a path through to the towers. Instead, Lee Jihye settles for twisting between the branches, uncaring for the thorns that reach out for her greedily.
Whatever dark magic saturates this place is slowly killing her. Lee Jihye doesn’t know much about magic as she’s never had a talent for it, but she knows enough to understand that this is incredibly powerful and dangerous magic. 
What does it have to do with Na Bori?
The answer is: nothing good. Who cares about the specifics? All Lee Jihye has to know is that the magic is going to (if it hasn’t already) hurt Na Bori. The need to save her from this, to bring her back somewhere safe, is what keeps her going despite how painful it is.
As much as her body screams at her to give up and just lie down until she withers away, Lee Jihye pushes forwards, ignoring every ache and cut and bruise.
She will get to the tower. 
Na Bori will come home.
Their hands bump together and they both reflexively jerk away. The air between them is awkward for a moment, then Na Bori laughs and picks up the last apple slice and brings it up to Lee Jihye’s lips. 
"Here,” she says sweetly, and Lee Jihye takes a bite, watches the juice trail down her fingers and wants more than anything to lick it away, to press kisses against Na Bori’s nimble hands, wants
to cry, to scream, to just be done with it. The tower looms above her, no closer and no farther, mocking her and she twists herself through another bramble, wincing as a thorn drags along her arm, beads of blood beginning to
fall into the river. The colorful leaves line the banks of the river and Lee Jihye watches as Na Bori carefully shifts through piles of leaves, searching for the mushrooms that she needed for dinner. 
“Jihye, come here!” she calls, waving her over. 
And Lee Jihye goes, as she always does. “What is it? Did you find
a way in, but it’s all just stone. No doors, no windows, just stone. She finally got past those horrible brambles, and now that she’s at the tower she can’t find a way in. It’s too tall for her to climb with her how exhausted she is. There’s no way up.
Lee Jihye can’t help but cry, screaming in frustration as she presses the heels of her palms against her eyes, trying to breathe through the sobs that force themselves out of her chest.
The magic has only gotten stronger. Dreams, memories, reality, it’s all mixing together. One moment she’s walking through town with Na Bori, the next she’s trying not to gut herself on a large thorn. One moment she’s cutting down a branch and the next she’s waking up then walking past the brambles then waking up and seeing Na Bori smile then waking up and waking up and waking up but she can’t remember falling asleep.
Is this a dream? Is she awake? Is the tower before her real or is this just another illusion?
She’s come all this way. She can’t go back, not without finding a way in that fucking
tower over her and Lee Jihye is sobbing as she watches they push Na Bori into the river. The one holding her back is laughing meanly, saying something about how no one would care about what happens to them, just two poor common girls who only have each other, bet their parents wouldn’t even notice them gone.
N a Bori is coughing up water in-between insults, and Lee Jihye whimpers as her arm is twisted more and more and any more will hurt her, will break her bones, their hands are too big and strong and no one is coming to save them and
"Get up Jihye!”
There is a dragon curled around the tower. It’s smaller than what she expected. Smaller than what she remembers. It stares at her, but it doesn’t attack.
It looks just as tired as she is.
“Hey,” Lee Jihye rasps out. “I just want her back. Please.”
The dragon huffs and drops its head to the ground. There is a collar around its neck, digging into its flesh. Dried blood colors the edges of the collar, and Lee Jihye feels sick to her stomach. Whatever magic is taking place here is vile enough to hurt a dragon, a creature of pure magic from the core of the planet. 
Killing the dragon would be an act of mercy.
Lee Jihye approaches. It watches and doesn’t move. Its golden eyes are so tired; the dragon has already given up.
She raises her sword.
They are seven years old when they first meet. The new seamstress in town is delighted to see that her daughter will have a friend her age. She waves the two of them off to play and goes back into her store, ready to get started on mending clothes.
Na Bori grins, bright and lively; it’s the biggest smile Lee Jihye has ever seen, and she’s instantly enamoured. 
"Hi! I’m Na Bori. Wanna play?”
"Sure! I’m Lee Jihye, I live down there,” she points behind them to the cluster of houses near the fields, “and you’re the first person I’ve met who’s my age!”
Na Bori doesn’t waste any more time talking. She grabs Lee Jihye’s wrist and drags her along. It’s the first touch she’s felt from someone outside her family that didn’t hurt. She’s gotten used to hiding from the local bullies and crying when they were done with her, but Na Bori’s hand around her wrist is what makes her feel like she’s splintering apart.
It’s a good feeling. 
She follows along behind Na Bori, and remembers that kind touch whenever she thinks about why she loves Na Bori so much.
The collar falls to the ground. It was hard work cutting through it, but just because Lee Jihye doesn’t have a talent for magic doesn’t mean she can’t use it. It’s all about mana direction and intent. This forest is full of mana that feels rotten and wounded, but it is mana nonetheless, and Lee Jihye has spent days in it. It’s easy enough to focus on the memory of the first kindness another child showed her and use that to fuel the intent of  help  rather than  harm .
The dragon blinks and some life returns to its eyes. It watches her carefully as she sheathes her sword and wipes the sweat off her brow.
“I helped you get out of the collar. Please help me too.”
And it does. 
The dragon nudges its nose against her stomach and lets her climb on. She holds onto it’s large horns as it ascends and circles the tower. There is a single window in this entire tower, up at the top, and it is there that the dragon stops, using its claws to dig into the stone walls and cling to the tower so that Lee Jihye can climb in through the window.
It rumbles at her softly, and Lee Jihye pats its nose. “I’ll be back soon.”
The inside of the tower is dark save for the light that comes in through the window. It’s full of books and bones, strange symbols drawn on the wall and the floor. There is a man collapsed against a table, gaunt and covered in dried blood. His chest moves, the only sign that he’s not dead, and symbols are cut into his skin, turned black from channeling dark magic.
Lee Jihye doesn’t hesitate to run him through with her sword. He dies silently, not knowing the danger he was in the moment he stole Na Bori away.
That is, if Na Bori is even here. If she isn’t, Lee Jihye is going to have a breakdown, then go out and continue her search. But she’s sure that Na Bori is here. 
She has to be. 
In the back is another set of stairs that winds up, and Lee Jihye climbs them, leaving her sword out just in case.
It’s much darker up here, but still Lee Jihye can make out the bed and a person lying in it. There’s a table besides the bed, full of sharp objects she doesn’t know the use for, and small vials of blood. Dread fills Lee Jihye and she approaches the bed to get a closer look at who is on it.
Na Bori sleeps peacefully.
Her arms are bare and full of healing cuts. Lee Jihye collapses, half-laughing half-sobbing in relief. She reaches out and shakes Na Bori, trying to rouse her from her slumber, but Na Bori doesn’t stir. 
She’s as still as a corpse. 
Lee Jihye shakes her harder, then pats her cheek. “Bori-ya? Hey, Bori-ya, I’m here. I’m here to take you home. Wake up, will you? Please, wake up.”
Na Bori remains motionless. She’s never been a deep sleeper, or a still one. Seeing her so still and silent terrifies Lee Jihye. 
“Please,” she whispers, grasping one of Na Bori’s hands and pressing her forehead against it. “Please, wake up.”
Lee Jihye sobs. She went through all this and now that she’s here, it doesn’t matter. Because Na Bori is stuck in a magical sleep that Lee Jihye can’t wake her from. 
Desperate, Lee Jihye pulls on the rotting mana around them. Blood drips from her nose as she pushes herself through exhaustion and pain, letting the decay take root in her body as she tries to use magic to break Na Bori out of her enchanted sleep. It hurts so much, behind her eyes, in her throat, around her heart. It hurts but there’s nothing else she can do, so Lee Jihye keeps pulling the mana in, then pushing it into Na Bori through their joined hands, wishing  wake up wake up wake up come back to me please I missed you so much please come back I want to go home please don’t make me leave you .
She’s not made for magic. Doesn’t really know how to use it and it takes a toll on her body. She barely notices that she’s stopped crying. She just doesn’t have the energy to make tears. 
Lee Jihye resigns herself to death. Better than leaving without Na Bori. She slumps over, slowly losing her strength. Na Bori sleeps on.
They were supposed to have a future together. She wanted to find the courage to confess to Na Bori, to make a life with her, to become a knight for her. She wanted so much but she’ll never get it because their story ends here.
These are her final moments. She’s allowed to be greedy. Lee Jihye leans down and kisses Na Bori; their first and last kiss. She presses her lips against Na Bori’s mouth and just stays there, tired and weak.
Na Bori takes a breath. 
And she kisses back.
"Why do you want to be a knight? Isn’t it scary?”
Was it? Lee Jihye had always thought the stories of adventures and fighting monsters was really cool. She says as much to Na Bori, who scrunches up her nose.
“But what if you get hurt or run into a really scary monster?” she asks, clutching the skirt of her dress in her fists, knuckles white.
“Then I’d fight back and come to you so you could help me! Being a knight might be a little scary, but I’d also be strong enough to defeat any scary thing that I find.”
“Would you save me if I was in danger?”
Lee Jihye grins and grabs Na Bori’s hand to link their pinkies together. “I promise that I will always save you.”
     Na Bori has to support Lee Jihye as they both stumble down the stairs and make their way to the window, where the dragon is waiting. It coos at them, concerned, and Lee Jihye manages a weak smile that seems to reassure it. 
They somehow manage to get onto the dragon, holding onto ridges of its back as it takes off and flies them away from the oppressive force of black magic.
“Jihye?” Na Bori murmurs from behind her, arms wrapped around Jihye’s waist as she leans against her back. “Thank you for coming to save me. I kept dreaming of you and our promise.”
 “I told you didn’t I? I’ll always save you.” Lee Jihye wishes she could be cooler when she says it, but she’s exhausted and the relief of having Na Bori with her makes her voice small and weak. 
Na Bori presses a kiss to the back of her neck. “Sleep. I’ll take care of you until we get home.”
Feeling like a child again, experiencing her first kind touch from another, Lee Jihye relaxes against Na Bori, and lets herself drift off as her heart splinters and fractures, then comes together whole.
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