#they were my fucking bread and butter back in high school

[peepingwizard]

it's fucking 2 am. i wish i had an answer for this

[daisyblog]

Chapter Four: Harry

Show Me Love Summary

Trigger warnings:  18+, anxiety, strong language, undiagnosed/struggling with learning difficulty. 

< Chapter 3

Harry

Even though it was a Sunday, it didn't stop my body from waking up early. It was like routine, every morning my eyes would open at 7am. Occasionally I'd let myself fall back to sleep for a lie in, but that was rare. 

Apart from our group outing to play mini golf on Friday, the weekend had been rather calm. The boys and I stayed in last night, ordered pizza and played a few games of Fifa. I hadn't heard from Evie much yesterday, but I knew her and the girls were having a girls night so I didn't want to disturb her too much. 

The flat was quiet this morning, which meant the others must have still been sleeping. Stretching my arms above my head, I debated whether to go for a run before I decide how to spend my day. Tip toeing out of my room, my shorts hung short on my lower hips, I could see Niall walking down the corridor from his own room. 

"Styles!" He greeted as he walked towards the kitchen, ruffling his hair out of his eyes. 

"G'morning". My feet followed him, going straight to the fridge to prepare my protein shake for after my morning run. "Fancy a run?".

Niall thought about it, nibbling at his bottom lip and his eyes squinting as he weighed up his decision. "Nah fuck that!".

I smiled to myself as my hands continued to add the power and milk into the shaker. "I'll be about half hour". I explained as I looked down at my phone to check the time. 

"How's Evie?". A wide smirk appeared on his face. Like he knew something I didn't. 

My shoulders shrugged as I shook my bottle, mixing the power and milk together, the noise filling the comfortable silence. "Good, I guess". 

"Taking her on another date anytime soon?". Niall wiggled his eyebrows in a playful manner making my smile appear, which made me curse at myself for showing some weakness in this moment. 

"It wasn't a date!". Was the only thing that I managed to say to defend myself, that sounded pathetic when I heard it. Niall sent me a look that screamed that he didn't believe a word that I just had said. "It wasn't!". 

"Evie thinks it was". He spoke with confidence, no stutter that would make me doubt him as he moved around the kitchen. 

I watched as he placed two pieces of bread in the toaster, before reaching for the butter out of the fridge. "She does?". 

"No but your face just told me that I'm right and you like her". I rolled my eyes at his effort to catch me off guard. Annoyed with myself for not being able to hide my feelings. "You two are driving me fucking crazy...why are you both holding back?". 

I swallowed thickly as I crossed my arms over my chest, and my shoulders shrugged as I thought carefully. "I've got a lot to lose if things didn't work out...I like the friendship I've got with Evie and I'm worried about losing her completely if we took a different path". 

Niall scratched at his nose as he stood opposite me, mirroring my stance. "But what if it would work out and you don't give it a chance?". I couldn't deny it, his words made sense and he was right because as the saying goes 'you'll never know unless you try'. Niall took my silence as a cue to continue. "At least think about it". 

I gently bit at my bottom lip as I nodded in response, not trusting myself to speak after the turn in conversation.

---

As my feet ran around the local area to the flat, my mind was distracted from the events of the last few weeks to this morning's conversation with Niall. 

I'd never had a serious relationship, sure I'd been on a few dates and drunken nights at a party while in high school and the beginning of university. But if I was relationship material was something I couldn't answer and if I was being honest with myself, that was a huge factor in why I was hesitant with taking things further with Evie. 

As I ran around the corner that took me back to the beginning of the street, my phone buzzed in my pocket making my legs slow me down to answer it. 

Mum.

"Hi Mum!". I naturally smiled as I saw my Mum's name flash up on the screen, despite not living too far away I still missed seeing her everyday. 

"Harry, how are you my boy?". Her voice was cheery, full of warmth and love. The type of love that was infectious and one you wish you could share with everyone. 

My pace had turned into small steps as I walked alongside the pavement, holding the small device against my ear. "I'm good Mum, missing you and Gem". 

"We miss you too darling...I was thinking maybe I could come visit in a few weeks, I'll make you and the boys a homemade meal". A smile filled my cheeks as I thought how happy Niall would be about that, he always said how much he missed his own Mums cooking. 

"We'd like that...especially Niall". I chuckled as I thought about it. "We don't always have time to cook a decent meal". 

I could hear some movement through the speaker as I assumed my Mum was moving around the house. "Well I won't have my boy and his friends hungry...and if there's anyone else you'd like to invite over I can cook for them too". 

I knew what she was hinting at, but as much as Mum meant nothing by her questioning towards my love life, it was something that I needed to figure out first before mentioning a name to her. 

My silence around the topic must have been enough for her to move on. "How's your classes going? You're doing so well and I'm really proud of you...but I want you to be happy too". 

"They're going well...more than well actually, I'm averaging an eighty and I absolutely love the modules and topics so I just need to keep up the work". Although I couldn't see her, I knew she was smiling on the other end of the phone. 

That was the thing about my Mum, as much as she was proud of me and Gemma getting good grades, that was just a bonus. Our happiness was more important than a grade to her. 

"You're a clever one...I'll give you that". Her smile could be heard through her tone. "Well I won't keep you talking for much longer because I'm sure you have plans ahead of you". 

"Thanks Mum, I'll speak to you later". I slowly began to say my goodbyes as I saw the flat building appear in front of me. "I love you". 

"Bye my love...I love you too darling". The call ended. 

---

Once I'd got back to the flat, I showered straight away to wash away the sweat from my morning run and replace my once damp clothing, with fresh ones. My light blue denim jeans, a basic white tee and my washed out white vans. 

As I exited my room and walked towards the shared living room, I was pleasantly surprised to see Evie standing there with Bella. Our outfits unintentionally matching, expect she wore a knitted beige cardigan over her white t shirt. 

Evie turned to face me as I approached the group, now realising that I was the only person missing from the gathering. Her smile did not go unnoticed and I felt my inner confidence feel flattered at the sight. 

"Nice of you to join us Harold!". Louis teased causing the others to notice my presence. My middle finger greeted him as he continued to joke at how long it took me to get ready. 

I found myself standing next to Evie by the entrance to the room as the others were trying to decide where we were going for lunch. "How was girls night?". 

Her smaller frame meant she had to look up to my taller presence. "Much needed...it was nice to have some girly talk and spend time with them". I watched as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and her fingers found her necklace pendant again. 

"I'm glad you enjoyed...but I will admit I missed our chats". Her teeth immediately bit at her bottom lip, causing the shade to go a deeper shade of red. Her smile itching to break through. "Had to settle for conversations with these idiots". 

Evie stifled out a giggle at my teasing, knowing it was harmless banter towards the boys. "If it means anything then I missed our chats too". Our eyes shared a look, her blue and my green communicated silently. 

"What are you two whispering about?". Louis called us out to everyone, meaning all eyes turned to us. 

"How much fucking time you're wasting deciding where to eat...let's go to the local and have a Sunday roast". Evie quickly bit back and the mention of a roast dinner caused a loud appreciation from the others. 

Niall reached for his jacket from where it lay on the sofa. "This is why I love you Green...a Sunday roast is just what my belly needs!".

The local pub was only a short walk from us and Louis and Niall were even more impressed by the choice, as it meant they could have a beer with their lunch. Walking against the slight wind, made me appreciate that I'd grabbed my jacket just before we left as it sat on my shoulders. 

Evie and I walked together just behind the others. It was a comfortable silence as we listened to the others talking in front of us. As our legs guided us, I could feel our hands brush against each others occasionally as they dangled by our sides. 

I squeezed into the end booth seat next to Evie as she took a seat next to Lily. I felt Niall's stare burn into me but as much as I tried to ignore it, he continued until I looked his way. 

His smirk as his eyes flickered from me to Evie spoke for him. Luckily the others were too in grossed in what Bella was showing them on her phone to notice Niall making heart gestures with his hands.

"Oh we should have a movie night on Friday...we could host it at ours". Bella spoke towards Evie and Lily, from where she sat opposite them next to Zayn. "What do you all think?". 

"Sounds good to me". Lily's gentle voice agreed as she reached for her glass in front of her. 

"Just don't pick shit films like last night". Evie's voice from next to me directed her comment back to Bella. I had a feeling she didn't like the film choice from their evening last night. 

Whilst the girls bickered back and forth about what they considered a good film, I was relived to see the waiters walking towards us with plates covering both hands. 

After the group had eaten our lunch and paid for the bill, Lily explained that she was going over a friend's house for the evening. Niall and Louis were going to stay in the pub for an extra few drinks and Bella and Zayn had left to go back to our flat. 

"As much as I love your company, I'm going to go because my bed is calling along with an episode of friends". Evie reached for her bag before standing up. 

"Can't tempt you to stay with a drink Green?". Niall fluttered his eyelashes at her as he rested his chin on his fist. 

Evie shook her head with a small giggle at Niall attempt to get her to stay. "Sorry Horan...if you want to see me in class tomorrow then this gal needs her rest". 

"Fuck off Eve...you'll still be late so you may as well stay with us". Niall teased her on time management, his back hitting the chair he sat on. 

"Fine you caught me...you're boring me so I'm leaving!". The loud laugh that left the Irishman caused others to turn and look. 

I explained to Niall and Louis that I'd meet them back at the flat later on, as I was going to walk Evie home to make sure she was safe. Walking off behind Evie, not giving them a chance to make a teasing comment about it. 

The cold breeze circled us as Evie and I walked side by side in the direction of her flat. As the wind picked up around us, I noticed her arms wrap around her petite frame to try and keep warm. I shook off the jacket that my shoulders held and placed it around her. 

"It's alright...we're nearly there". Evie went to slide my jacket back off her shoulders. 

"Eves keep it on your shivering". I insisted as we began to up our walking pace, eager to escape the cold air. 

Her shoulder gently bumped against my upper arm due to her height. "Such a gentleman". 

"What can I say? My Mum raised me well". I grinned down at her as we walked up to her brick building. 

As we stood outside, I was expecting her to say goodbye and I'd continue my walk to my own flat. But the hesitation was intense as I waited for her to say something. "Do you want to come in?". 

I wasn't aware that I looked like I was trying to think of a reason to say no, until I could see nervousness build in her eyes. "Yeah...sure...I'd love to". 

I followed Evie up the flight of stairs until we reached the second floor and as we approached the second door on the left, Evie rumbled through her bag to find her keys before unlocking the door. 

As I closed the door behind us, I watched Evie walk around her space in comfort. She placed her bag down on the side table in the hallway before kicking her shoes off and leaving them to settle where they landed.

I took suit and flicked my own shoes off and putting them neatly together so nobody would trip over them if they came home. 

Evie opened the door to what I assumed was her room and approaching carefully I was surprised at how cosy she had managed to make the small space. Fairy lights along the wall above the double bed that was pushed against the wall. Different style cushions covered the bed and a large sage green rug covered the hard wood floor.

"I'm going to make some tea, do you want one?". Her soft voice broke me from my thoughts as she now stood in the door frame. 

"Yes please!". She smiled at my eagerness towards the warm cuppa. 

I smiled as I saw framed photos hanging on the wall. One included Evie standing between Bella and Lily, the three of them cuddled into each other as they widely smiled at the camera. Another one was of her and Niall, from a night out. It was captured as they were laughing historically over something, each holding a drink in their hand. 

The last photo caught me by surprise. A picture I had forgotten existed. It was from our first year at university. A group photo of us all taken in girls first flat that was part of the university. Evie was standing between Niall and I as we huddled together. But what caused my heart to warm was with a pink sharpie pen the word 'family' had been neatly written above.

In the corner of my eye I spotted the wooden guitar sitting still on its stand. I knew Evie could play the guitar well, Niall had told me how she was good competition for him. I hope one day she'll play for me, I'd like that a lot. 

"This is exactly what we need after being out in the cold". Evie walked back into the room, two grey mugs held by her hands before she placed them down on the table next to the bed. "I hope you don't mind but I'm going to change into something comfier...I think Zayn may have left some stuff here if you want to me to go find you something too". 

Before I could even respond Evie mumbled that she was going to look in Bella's room. I let out a small laugh as I watched her move quickly out of the room. 

"Here there's a pair of shorts, I'll go to the bathroom to get changed and you can change in here". Again, before I got a chance to say a word, Evie was gone again. The only way in could describe her movement was moving a thousand miles per hour as she got distracted by different things.

I carefully rolled my jeans down my legs, they screamed in gratefulness as I replaced them with the loose black shorts. Neatly, I followed my jeans and placed them on top of the chest of drawers. 

"That's fucking better...I hate the feelings of tight jeans". I watched as she threw the once worn jeans and t-shirt towards the laundry basket, but missing it and the clothes landing to the side of it. Evie now wore a pair of beige pyjama shorts and black sweatshirt. 

The sight of her bare legs as the shorts sat high on her hips made me break eye contact and focus on her reaching for her mug of tea instead. Before opening the duvet she took a large gulp before placing it back down and climbing under the duvet. 

Evie glanced to where I stood, and I realised I looked out of place as I hadn't said a word or moved an inch. "Are you going to stand all night?".

"I was planning on it actually", I said with humour attached to it. 

"Ha-fucking-ha! C'mon get in, I want to watch Friends". She pressed the buttons on the remote with urgency as her eyes followed the movement on the tv.

I slid in next to her, my back met the plump pillows behind me as I rested my head against the fabric headboard. I recognised the Friends episode as the one after Ross and Rachel go on a break. 

"We were on a break". I mimicked the line that Ross repeats once Rachel finds out he had slept with another woman the previous night. 

"You watch Friends?". Evie's voice was curious and the way her lips curved into a grin made me release that she was happy about it.

My shoulders involuntarily shrugged as I scratched the skin at the back of my neck. "Meh...I've seen a few episodes". 

"Yeah alright...you just quoted the line not even thirty seconds in". I got called out on my attempt to play my love for the series down.

"I've got a good memory!". I held my hands up in surrender as she bumped her shoulder with mine, as we were now a similar height lying next to each other.

We were a couple of episodes in and it was great to hear Evie belly chuckling at the series playing in front of us.  If someone had said to me a couple of weeks ago that Evie and I would be lying in bed together on a Sunday evening watching reruns of Friends I'd have called them a liar. 

My mind thought back to my conversation with Niall about never knowing if I didn't try. Although it pained me to admit that Niall Horan was right, I couldn't deny it.

"Do you want a cuddle?". I asked as I turned to look at her. My inner self swallowed itself at how cringey that sounded out loud. "M'sorry that sounded so much smoother in my head".

A laugh escaped her lips. "Are you forgetting when I asked you to cuddle me last week? Cringe is an understatement". 

"You were drunk and upset...a valid excuse if you ask me". A fair argument compared to my attempt to make a move. 

"Do we need an excuse to cuddle?". Her question held some flirtation as the infectious smirk appeared on her lips. Testing me to see who would make the move first. 

With a genuine smile covering my mouth. I lifted my arm as a signal for her to move over. Without thought she rested her head on my shoulder, her arm gently landed on my chest and surprisingly I felt her leg overlap with mine as our skin met. 

"No excuse needed!".

---

Taglist:

[irlcats-bracket]

Bracket 3 FINAL

PRICETAG and BANDIT versus PUMPKIN FLUFF MARIE

PRICETAG

also named price in another submission

shes fat shes a terrible bitch and shes the love of submitter's life. they dont technically know her breed but she looks like a calico kinda. white and black and brown all over. their favorite spot to kiss her is the little brown diamond on top of her head, but she has all kinds of pretty markings. she'll cuddle submitter but not their parents and hisses at anyone else. hence the bitch. its SO funny. she doesnt "meow" so much as she chirps and yells. u touch her n its the worlds loudest MRAP. submitter leaves for work and they go "bye price!" and she goes "meep" and they say "i love you!" and she goes "mow" and it always makes them smile because she rarely does it to anyone else. shes so fat. she has a big ol premidorial pouch because shes 100% indoor and u can hear her claws go clicclicclic on the floor because shes so heavy. she likes to climb on peoples back. she chases moths but no other bugs and likes to make friends with neighborhood critters. she hates bellyrubs from everyone but submitter. if they leave their door open at night she creeps in and lays in the worst possible spot and makes it impossible to sleep. she makes the best bread loaf. shes so fucking round. SPHEREICAL. submitter love her more then anything ❤❤❤❤❤❤ (here submitter said that i can shrink it if i want to but no fucking way i am shrinking things abt a cat aside from their name maybe)

shes named after a canadian hockey player. submitter hates hockey. thanks uncle C dhsbdjjsjsjsjs

PROPAGANDA

THATS MY FUCKING CAT!!!!

GO VOTE FOR MY CAT!!!!!

how could you possibly vote against this face 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 shes the roundest, bitchiest cat in the whole world and shes my best friend. stealer of cream cheese and hearts.

submitter also provided a small collection of Pricetag looking very orb-like, but i hit the picture limit and so i can't show it in the post

perceive price orbs here

below i am only leaving the orbest price (in my opinion)

vote for price orb. shes practically a perfect circle. what more could you want

also look how polite she is

BANDIT

submitter's sweet baby boy. He passed away recently, and submitter misses him dearly. He was the softest cat they'd ever pet, and that's not just them being biased. His fur was silk. He was the friendliest cat too, and when he heard new voices he was always up to come meet people. He also enjoyed being around people, and you could always find him in a room with the family. He enjoyed terrorizing the family dog whenevr he got riled up (dont worry, she enojoyed it too), and he loved to bother submitter's parents when they started working from home. Any call submitter had with their folks, he would always make a background appearance, yelling quite loudly. He also had some of the loudest snoring theyve ever heard, and they're so lucky to have a small audio recording of him sleeping. Submitter had him since they were 8, and he was nearly 17 years old when he passed away. Submitter tries to sleep with a crook in their knee so if he's ever lonely, he can come cuddle.

PUMPKIN FLUFF MARIE

also known as Pumpkin Spice Latte

She's a adorable, a total diva down to the way she walks. Loves tummy rubs if she knows you, if she doesn't she'll probably just run and hide. She makes a little chirping noise and submitter loves it. She also loves running full speed around the house. Pumpkin doesn't really eat people food, not a big fan. She will however steal the bacon off your plate and lick the butter off of any food item.

PROPAGANDA

Some Pumpkin fun facts for propaganda:

her favorite type of toy to play with are springs (the cat toy kind). When we got our new oven we found at least 3 behind where the old one stood.

She's my first pet and the whole reason I lived through my sophomore year of high school.

I named her Pumpkin because years ago a classmate asked me what I'd name a cat if I ever got one and for some reason, I said Pumpkin.

Alongside bellyrubs she also loves being brushed

I am told that she is me in cat form

I swear she's a cryptic. She'll just appear and she'll be staring into my soul. I do not know where she goes or where she comes from but I'm a little afraid to question it.

She used to spiderman climb up our window screen and we had to patch it up

She likes to watch the birds and bunnies in our yard with her brother Binx (or by herself), it's the only time she tolerates him

Okay some more fun facts:

She likes to lay on visitors shoes. If your shoes are on the ground they are now in her laying range.

After my grandpa passed she slept with my grandma for the longest time.

Every time I sleep in the living room I wake up with her on top of me.

She's my very first pet, one I was convinced I was never going to get (I have loved cats my entire life but we've been a no pet household until her)

When we adopted her, she was the only cat who actively tried to get my attention via hoping on the cage and meowing. Which when you're dealing mental health problems and feel as though you're unwanted is just the best fucking feeling in the world.

Her original name was Harriet. I wanted to keep it or at least change it to a different human name because I thought it was funny but my grandma told me no.

[cru5h-cascades]

Ah... the Serafina series...

Ight so in middle school I'd avidly read the books from this series that I could get my hands on (which were only two out of the four OG books: Black Cloak, which I owned, and Twisted Staff, which they had in the school library) (I read Black Cloak more since I had easy access to it) and gah DAMN these were my bread & butter back then after I grew out of the Spiderwick Chronicles (which I might make a post like this soon because I loved that series, or at least the original 5 books). I dunno I just like the kinda dreamy feel of these books I guess. After 8th grade, I wasn't as interested in these books anymore and I didn't bother get the other two (oh boy... the stuff I missed out on...) and shoved these books into the backseat of my mind. But then a few months ago, I remembered this series out of nowhere... and then realized how weird the series was (or at least the two books I actually read), and things only got weirder after I decided to look up the series & see what I missed out on...

Here's just some of the stuff I either randomly remembered from the books I read or found out via Google:

The first & second book keeps repeating the same line (something along the lines of "she was a creature of the night" or whatever), or at least a lot towards the beggining of Twisted Staff & a lot towards the end of Black Cloak. Like we get it bro this kid's the decendant of catamounts (or, as I'll be refering to them as, werecats, 'cause that's what they basically are). Like I wouldn't mind if this line was in the books once or twice but for me personally, it feels kind of excessive.

Changing Serafina's look after she turns into a big cat wasn't that nessisary, nor did Beatty have to choose a singular, specific big cat for Serafina's big cat form. Panthers can mate with mountain lions (and the same applies for other big cats and cats in general) Serafina should have just been able to turn into a panther/mountain lion(?) hybrid and could have kept her original human form traits because people can look more like one parent than they do the other. It's how genetics work.

SERAFINA FUCKING DIES IN SPLINTERED HEART?? AND COMES BACK TO LIFE? Girl's got some major plot armor. Dare I say kid's maybe even a Mary Sue (doesn't think people will like her for her two tone hair and junk, managed to beat up two grown ass men with magic powers, got her werecat powers even if we were told in the begining of Twisted Staff that Serafina couldn't transform, and has survived near death experiences and was brought back from the dead)

I'm probably forgetting some more stuff but damn... this series was weird. I feel like some stuff should have been handled better, tbh, specifically the stuff I just listed. I liked what they did with Serafina's abilities in the first book, with her having big cat-like abilities while in human form, and I feel like they should have built up upon that concept instead of just giving Serafina her big cat form when her mum specifically says it wouldn't be possible for her to transform. But damn... not even my nostalgia for this series can stop me from critisizing the series like this. Of course, I, a teen in high school, isn't quite the main demographic for the series, so I might be looking too far into this. Like for middle schoolers, I can see them enjoying the series for what it is (I should know 'cause I was one of them), but yeah looking back on these books, they were kinda weird. I liked them, and they're fun to look back at, but still weird.

I know they made some graphic novel adapations of the series (or at least one for Black Cloak) last year. If anyone reading this has read what's been released so far, how is it? I kinda wanna know :D

[seiya-starsniper]

20 questions for fic writers!

TRIPLE TAG THREAT from my faves @arialerendeair @bazzybelle and @honeyteacakes, I love you guys so so so much!!!!! 💖💖💖

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 36 in total published, a whole bunch more in drafts!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

167,076 which is crazy when you consider 146,736 are just from THIS YEAR

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The Sandman, currently! I have a couple of WIPs for other fandoms but I just haven't gotten around to them.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Dreams for a Dozen Cats - 527 kudos A Dream for a Viscount - 513 kudos and if I get burned, at least we were electrified - 504 kudos Wake Up & Smell The Flowers - 457 kudos Let's conspire to ignite - 397 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! I've been bad about it lately, but I love responding because I absolutely adore the dynamic of being able to communicate with my readers. It's just a tiring exercise and I have to be really in the mood to do it! But I absolutely love and adore every comment I receive 💖💖💖

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A sweet dream - it's the only one where I've used the tag Main Character Death! The ending is quite hopeful, but the death is in fact permanent, take care if you choose to read it!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hnnnnnnngh I have absolutely no fucking idea because they almost all have really happy endings! That's like asking me to pick a favorite child. Honestly though, if you want sappy and sexy romance throughout an entire fic with literally zero conflict, then my happiest ending is probably A Dream for a Viscount. If you want ANGST ANGST ANGST with a massive payoff and a lot of hurt/comfort leading up to a soft ending, my happiest ending is the one in and if I get burned, at least we were electrified

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not on AO3! In my ff.net days though, whew lordy the salt was strong whenever I wrote somebody's NOTP and dared to publish it. Those were some interesting days.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Well, seeing as I am a mod for @monsterfucktoberbingo....I think you can probably guess what type of smut I write LMAO. I do write quite a bit of omegaverse too just to spice things up 😄

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I have! Back in my ff.net days, my teenage self LIVED on the high school fandom crossover fic. I shall never return to those days ever again, but I had a good time. I also recently wrote this Dreamling/SnowBaz crossover for my beloved @bazzybelle💖💖💖

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge! I never really participated in fandoms where fic stealing was common thankfully.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! I have absolutely no idea what site it ended up on, but I've had my fics translated into Russian and Chinese.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not in a really long time! When I was a teen, I used to RP characters with my friends as a writing exercise, and then that would turn into a fic! I also absolutely LOVED the round robin fic culture back in the old livejournal days. (can you tell I'm dating myself heavily lmao)

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

00Q hands down. I'm still reading old favorites to this day. Although, I will admit Dreamling is a pretty damn close second considering *gestures vaguely(

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oh lord, I have quite a few, published and unpublished. Most of my published unfinished WIPs are just rotting on ff.net and I've made my peace with them. Unpublished WIPs...I have quite a few SamBucky fics that never made it out of drafts and I'm really sad about that because I really loved that ship at one point :(

16. What are your writing strengths?

I have a few I'm pretty proud of: - Succinctness: I can tell a whole story in under 10k words. One-shots are my bread and butter. - Angst: Do you want to cry? I'll make you cry and wring your soul out with no regrets. - Fluff: On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you want to feel soft and like you're snuggling with a cloud, I can do that for you too. Fluff is such a delight to write, because I like to feel good, and I love making others feel good too 💖 - Dialogue: I love writing dialogue. It's such a delight to try and figure what a character would say when placed in ~situations~

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Whew lordy, here we goooooooooooo: - Longfic/Multichapter fics: I can and have written longer fics, but it's highly demotivating for me. I am struggling so hard to finish my multi-chapter fics right now, it's a nightmare. I'll get there, but... - Descriptions: I AM SO BAD AT MAKING SETTINGS AND DESCRIBING HOW PEOPLE LOOK. I'm sure some people will disagree with me, but I some days I truly hate my inability to describe things the way I want to, or the way I've seen other people be able to. It is a thing I am working on, for sure, I know it's just a matter of practice. - WIP hell: I start and stop things at the drop of a hat. Rest in pieces to all my ideas stuck in partially written states - Plot Summaries: I can write a whole thing and be utterly unable to give you a plot summary. Save me hahahahaha

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I LOVE IT. It's not for me since I only speak English, but I love coming across it in fic.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Yu-Gi-Oh!

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

...heh. I thought this was gonna be harder but it's definitely and if I get burned, at least we were electrified. This fic dragged me out of lurking in fandom to full on writing and participating again. It's my most canon-adjacent fic. It's got angst and action and feelings. It has tentacle sex. It has the Corinthian being indulged within an inch of his life. This fic is a love letter to myself, it the reason I am here, in sandman fandom, writing as much as I am. Is it my best written story out of all my fics? No, it was my first fic after a long writing hiatus and while I consider it a well written piece, I also like to think my writing quality has increased since I first wrote it. But it is my favorite fic, for all the reasons above, and for the sheer joy it brought into my life then, and in the subsequent months after.

Tagging: @valiantstarlights @five-and-dimes @chaosheadspace @ironwoman359 @silver-dream89 @rosaren2498 @bruce-wayne-simp @acedragontype and whoever else wants to do it!

[shaunsummers]

Tek's Birthday!

Resting her cheek against her knuckles, Rebel's eyes widen as she listens to Tek. Compliments, cash money, more reasons to shoot her a text. "Yeah, I can send you some pictures. Maybe, I can craft you a costume, since you like my work. You could be my mascot." With a flattered smile rising, and just enjoying the high of being around her, her stare is only interrupted by a spark of self consciousness. It was always in the back of her mind. Loving her...Rebel never stopped; but it just was never something that happened. Maybe that would change. Who knew? A conversation for a later time, perhaps, but, today was the day for the best mutha fuckin' birthday ever. Tek was her go-to, her best friend, the ride-or-die homie. She deserved as much.

"Oh, yes." With a big grin, Sierra looks over at her, holding the bowl of ready simmer meatballs. "Rebel made the butter. Get ready to taste colors." She lets out a small chuckle but her face soon turns serious. "...Wait, you're staying here, right? You're not driving home?"

Sitting back to enjoy the displays of shameless confidence, Siren cackles at the 'microwave' comment. This one was fun. A pity they never had the chance to hangout during high school, she could of seen them being easy friends back then. "Well, go you for getting your fuck on. But I get it. Breaking the tops is a special type of reward." She smiles over at her, flicking the cigarette over the tray. Though, the edge of her lips start to drop as she inhales another drag, her mind going in a less humored direction. "I get that shit about Ash, though. More than I should. She's a fucking swamp monster." The term being taken from Devin and stocked in the pile of ever growing phrases to refer to her as. "We dated, too, actually. Not that I'm proud."

-----------------------

"I wouldn't mind helping you set up a site or something too, if it really gets going! There's this girl I know that just makes keychains of nerd stuff and they sell like hotcakes, like ten bucks a pop!" Tek beams, her mind already racing with ideas. It wasn't just that it was Rebel—though that was reason enough to want to help—she really did believe in her talent. Even when she was in high school and they were being silly and playing dress-up, her costumes were always really well-made and she'd figured Rebel bought them. With a few years added on, Tek was only more impressed. And for what she knew, people were mostly ordering stuff online from randos, so why couldn't Rebel be one of them? She could personally vouch for her awesomeness on top of that. And with rich kids? She could probably charge more, too. It could be something!

It took a moment for all the wild ideas to stop ricocheting in her brain and bring her back into the moment, but she eventually realizes the rest of what Rebel said. "Be your mascot?" She laughs, mirroring Rebel by propping her elbow against the couch, resting her chin in her hand. "I could do that. But if you make me something, I'm paying you for it. Hey! I can be your first...Georg..ian?...customer! You gotta show off the product to make those sweet, sweet sales." The thought of putting up flyers full of pictures of herself while wearing one of the costumes tickled her, but the prospect of having to stick around a little longer to take them was appealing. Of course she'd stay longer if Rebel wanted her to.

"Shit, you have to. I don't think I've ever seen you totally shitfaced." Quinn laughs, staring up at Shaun. "Stay! Stay! Stay!" She pumps her fists in the chant. At some point, Shaun always seemed like she started to have the stick a little too far up her ass, so the chance to see her get messy was tantalizing.

"Uh..." Shaun had no idea they were about to get completely blitzed on edibles in addition to the drinking. She'd figured she'd eat some bread, sober up a little, and wiggle her ass right on home. She didn't know the bread would be full of weed. "I don't know..." Shaun unconsciously and inquisitively trails her gaze to Lilith. It was Rebel's house, sure, but for some reason it felt like her call.

Beatrix already had the cannon fully loaded to dive into the top conversation, especially with the implication of Siren sharing the hobby—shit, maybe Shaun did have one hell of an inflexible type—but at the mention of Ash again, she can only stare, flabbergasted. "Wait, what?" Beatrix gawks, her jaw nearly flying off its hinge. "Before or after Shaun?"

Her head was already calculating it, though, and besides that, Siren's hollowed stare said enough. "Jesus Christ...God damn it, I knew Shaun was leaving stuff out, that fucker." Aware she was leaking information just a little, she shrugs with a slight grimace. "I know a few things...believe me, she wasn't forward about it. But I did not know that." She sits dumbly for a moment, just trying to process the sheer depth of the dyke drama.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" It spills out of her brazenly. "Jesus, didn't you hear anything about her when you were dating Shaun?" Surely, her foray into dating a fucking 22 year-old when she was only 15 wouldn't have fallen completely off the radar. Especially so soon after their breakup. Beatrix thought it was demented even back then, and Ash had always creeped her out, even initially when she pretended to be decent—she just had a little too much of a To Catch A Predator vibe—but only being two years younger than Ash had been...even now, she couldn't imagine thinking of a 15 year-old as anything other than a kid. Not to mention how manipulative and psycho she was. Just the thought makes her outwardly shudder.

[signalwatch]

Ape Watch: King Kong (1933)

Watched:  06/11/2023

Format:  BluRay

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Merian C. Cooper / Ernest B. Schoedsack

So, last week Stuart sent me a link to a doc on YouTube to watch.  It was, roughly, a 3-part series on King Kong (1933) and the impact of the film over decades.  I texted him 15 minutes in to the first part and said "there's no way I don't wind up watching Kong this weekend", and, indeed, I'm a man of my word.

We all have our foundational films, and King Kong, in it's very roundabout way, is one of mine.  

Growing up in the 1970's and 80's, and in the wake of the 70's monster craze, Kong was more or less a household name, concept, etc...  Everyone had an idea of King Kong as a giant ape liberated from an island who winds up in Manhattan and wreaks havoc, winding up atop the Empire State Building.  

My first exposure to Kong's full story was in a hard-back book my dad read to me (and, I assume, my brother) when I was about 5.  Only later would I learn it was an official novelization worked on by no less than Merian C. Cooper, director of the film.  

I was probably six when my folks let me watch parts of the TV broadcast of the 1970's version of Kong when it aired on television, and I was fine until someone got stepped on in Manhattan, and then, boy-howdy, was I not okay.  

But the story always stuck with me.  When I was in high school, AMC or TCM showed the original 1933 movie.  I managed to get the VCR working to record and watch it, and.. man.  It was like lightning.  

I had grown up on Star Wars and Star Trek and Indiana Jones.  FX movies were my bread and butter.  I almost cried the first time I saw Blade Runner because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  And 1933 King Kong is an FX film.  It's *the* FX film that would pave the way for 60 years of filmmaking.   And, most certainly, there's an uncanny vibe to the world of Kong and Skull Island, of stop-motion beasts in their jungle setting, battling for life and limb as a helpless Fay Wray looks on, or a horde of unnamed sailors gets wiped out, man by man.  Dinosaurs came alive, from the T-Rex to the Pterodactyl,* moving in incremental steps, jerky and somehow still organic.  Imperfect but buyable in layered effects shots using mattes, rear-projection and techniques I've not quite sorted.  And all oddly beautiful with care paid to make sure their environs and lighting sold the world of Skull Island.

But it's also a story with a deeply complicated central figure in the eponymous antagonist.  

Like Frankenstein in the popular culture, it seems many who watched King Kong and spoke about Kong thought of him only as a brute.  In this case, he's merely a monster who steals a (white) woman and causes damage to polite society.  He's shown as kind of a stupid creature who climbs Empire State Buildings because he's dumb, swatting at planes because he's not as smart as "us".  Just as Frankenstein was painted as a raging, mindless monster, so too is it seen as unseemly behavior from a beast.  

And neither that take on Kong or the other on Frankenstein shows any ability to watch a film or understand a story.**  So it's weird that's what wound up as the popular version in the zeitgeist, ultimately becoming what Frankenstein was in the Universal pictures in the latter-era.

But that's not Kong at all.  He's an animal of great intelligence, but an animal reacting to his own world to protect the most unique thing he's ever seen, and will surely accidentally destroy given another 72 hours in his care.  Fay Wray's Ann Darrow is not the same as that of Naomi Watts in 2005 (which I think is a good performance, and a more romantically empathetic take), but Wray's feels like the more organic take.  She's a NYC girl, and she's going to fucking die.  In the jungle.  At the hands of an unimaginable creature.  

But that doesn't mean Kong isn't fascinated and the words of Denham about Beauty killing the Beast are any less wrong.  It's a movie about a deeply fucked-up situation for an animal who never asked to be put in that situation.  Something to ponder when you hear about circus or zoo animals "rampaging".  

Animation was about 35 years into it's existence when Kong brought its stop-motion version of 3D life to the Silver Screen, and it's amazing to see the sympathetic posturing, expressions and motions of the character as he sorts out his world and Ann.

I mean, this is the stuff I got at age 5 being read the book, and that I grokked watching the 1970's version. But the movie invites the critical examination of so many things, from the value of the dollar for a thrill, entrapment and display of living beings for that same thrill, and - of course, the pursuit of that thrill for audiences ending in innumerable deaths and feeling no reason to dwell upon it.  And, also, the curious state of leaving the people of Skull Island minus the god they've feared for decades (assuming there's no other gorillas, which seems an illogical bet).  

This is maybe far less heady, but it's also interesting to see Fay Wray in 1932 or so, with the lovely but striking features necessary to work in film, and with a profile not entirely unlike Gloria Swanson and others, needed to make an impression in celluloid that could lose detail in the lighting (see Norma Shearer, who made them re-do her screen test because they didn't get how her nose would play on screen).  But, man, is Fay Wray so good as Ann, especially in that first NYC scene.

Anyhow, go watch King Kong (1933).  It's an astounding film to this day, with no narrative drag and spectacle after spectacle.  

And then here's the podcast from the time Stuart and I watched TOO MANY KONGS.

*fun fact:  Pterodactyl isn't a dinosaur, but a Pterosaur

** and don't get me started on Bride of Frankenstein as a fucking love story

https://ift.tt/C0Tg9bE

from The Signal Watch https://ift.tt/1HmuDKq

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

Yeah, and like, these things aren't unrelated either.

I was a part of the push for Prop 8 at the time, and you want to know what happened IMMEDIATELY? Several major religious groups in the state bused in over 10,000 volunteers from out of state to run their opposition campaigns and within a few weeks there was a formal ballot challengr to Prop 8 that allowed a judge to suspend its implementation. It took MONTHS to overwhelm these campaigns with the local manpower we had, and the fighting was ultimately so narrow that it was more or less a toss up come challenge day whether or not we'd win. We did thank fuck, but it never really got past that.

And stuff like that is NORMAL in CA. Has been for decades. In fact, I guaran-goddamn-tee that when this year's ballot measures were added, the same thing happened because the same thing ALWAYS happens. The Eastern Orthodox community, the Jegovah's, the Mormons, the Evangelicals, their have the kind of stranglehold over not just the CA electoral process but over EDUCATION in the state, with huge swaths of children below high school age attending religious charter academies rather than public schools (this is not a choice, it is literally the only way to get an education in many parts of the state where public schools are so underfunded they are literally built as temporary pop-ups made out of fucking shipping containers or emergency military shelter surplus equipment. My mother's high school was designed by the same architect who designed fucking Alcatraz prison and it SHOWS.

So are we surprised then, when CA local politics always seems to swing along the lines of the religious leadership? Where the local Catholic diocese goes, so goes the state as one might say. What else could happen? In most counties, those church communities are where the food panties are, they host medical clinics in areas without hospitals or EMS, they run in-home care for the elderly and disabled, they provide housing assistance and manage the IPV shelters. Everywhere you turn in those counties, if something is coming in to save lives, it's coming in thru the fucking church and ministers, so when the ministers tell their congregation something about the political moment THEY BELIEVE IT AND WHY WOULDN'T THEY????

You've been abandoned by your state to the point that every year 200pacres of land you and your loved ones live on is razed to the ground with not a fucking finger lifted to help you and an ambulance ride to the county hospital takes 2 hrs and there isn't a fire station for 50miles. Why WOULDN'T you side with the only people to give a damn if you starve to death or your kids die of chicken pox and sepsis????

But to the national stage, CA is a Blue State TM which means that what comes out of CA is Blue State Stuff and gets picked up by other Blue States TM around the country. It means presidential candidates look at what we vote for and assume that's what we WANT and not what we are forced to tolerate. It means watching democrats mock the idea of rural-specific political oppression and need-meeting while fascist republicans hand out loaves of bread and jars of peanut butter in Shasta County. It means the local skin heads dropping bodies in the woods out back of the only public elementary school that serves farm worker families including the local migrant population and NO ONE GIVING A FUCK that this means 8 yr olds are finding the butchered remains of hate crime victims. It's the local school districts suspending kids for political speech and literally NOT GIVING A FUCK that this is explicitly unconstitutional even when that is explained to them in detail at school board hearings. It's the textbooks in my science class in 2004 that were - no exaggeration- published in 19-fucking 54, six years before my mother was born.

The second I saw those ballot measures this year I knew what would happen because it always happens, but that has NEVER stopped people from acting shocked or angry WITH ME for pointing that out as if I'm CAUSING it rather than just EXPLAINING it.

And if a state that the whole goddamn country thinks is as solidly dark blue as they come, then what exactly do we think is happening in states that aren't that solidly predictable on the national electoral stage?

This is an enormous country, and it would be impossible for a federal government to directly and without compromise, meet the needs of every version of existence within it. But my god, the refusal to even TRY makes me wamt to light things on fire.

One day I'm going to sit down and walk people through what it actually means to "be a swing state" because people act like it's this unpredictable uncontrollable phenomenon but like. It's just a function of our electoral system manifesting in un-gerrymandered or under-gerrymandered districts.

[burgundybmw]

Ahoy Sailor!

Masterlist

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2,427

Warnings: Reader is described to have curly hair, could be natural or a perm, it's the 80s hahaha.

Summary: Steve hated the Scoops Ahoy uniform. It was tacky, lame, and totally ruined his best feature. It was a walking red flag to any girl that walked into the ice cream shop, leaving Steve alone in a sea of people without any hope of a date. Until a girl walks in he's never met before, and for whatever reason, the uniform doesn't seem to be a problem. In fact, it's the opposite.

Author’s Note: This is essentially a love letter to the Scoops Ahoy uniform. Babygirl Steve is my bread and butter.

There were a few things Steve Harrington hated in his life. One, the fucked up monsters that ruled the Upside Down. Two, when he forgets to restock on his Farrah Fawcett spray. Three, Billy Hargrove's entire existence, and finally, the stupid sailor uniform he's forced to wear at Scoops Ahoy. The last two were related. If it weren't for that mullet wearing asshole he'd be sitting pretty at the public pool. He was captain of the Hawkins High varsity swim team, been a certified lifeguard since he was 15. This summer was supposed to be a breeze. It all came crashing down when he walked into the Hawkins Pool house on his first day and saw Hargrove's smug face in the locker room. Steve took one foot inside of the threshold and immediately walked out. His dad was forcing him to get a summer job, teach him responsibility or some other bullshit. It's not like he was ever home to make sure he actually did what he asked, but Steve knew his parents had spies all over Hawkins. A bunch of bored soccer moms who had nothing else better to do than snitch on him. So now he was stuck inside of Starcourt Mall, slinging ice cream in the world's ugliest uniform known to mankind. It was ruining his life, something his new coworker Robin took great joy in reminding him daily.

"I believe that's strike three Harrington, you're out!" Robin teased from the back window. She had that stupid white board out, of all of Steve's failures clearly on display. It was the uniform's fault. Steve knew he had game, he had no issues getting girls back in high school. He may no longer hold the title of King Steve, but it wasn't like he was a total loser. How was anybody supposed to take him seriously in a sailor uniform? The dumb hat ruined his best feature. Stupid Scoops Ahoy protocol, stupid Billy Hargrove, stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Laugh it up Buckley, one of these days I'm gonna score and you're gonna eat your words!"

"Gonna capture your white whale, Captain?"

"That's messed up Robin, you shouldn't talk about women like that"

"It's a Moby Dick reference, dingus" Robin rolled her eyes, placing the whiteboard with a fresh tally mark behind the counter.

"Well if you want to talk about di-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there before I vomit"

Steve couldn't help but laugh at her a bit. He liked working with Robin. She was a cool girl, even when she liked to annoy him with her scoreboard. It could have been worse, he could have been stuck with Hargrove all summer. She filled a void he had in his heart since Dustin went to summer camp. The other kids only used him to get into free movies, didn't stay to chat very long. He missed the little butthead. The kids were all planning a surprise party for him when he got back, but that was still a couple weeks away. Till then, he had to make do with what he had. Virtually alone in a sea of people.

Steve thrived in crowds. He liked talking to people, getting to know them, and the Starcourt mall was full of potential. If only this sailor uniform didn't scare them away before he could even open his mouth. It was getting ridiculous. Nancy had dumped him a little over seven months ago and he had zero luck with women since. He didn't start seriously trying until spring break, it took awhile to heal his broken heart. Steve was beyond ready to get back out there, find the other fish in the sea, capture whatever dick whale Robin was talking about, some other shitty nautical metaphors.

He really needed to get laid.

"Heads up Ahab, new customer on board" Robin whispered as she refilled napkins in the dispensers.

Steve turned around to see a girl standing at the counter. She hadn't noticed him yet, too busy peeking at the ice cream flavors in the freezer. He hadn't seen this girl around before, definitely didn't go to Hawkins High with him. She looked about his age, maybe a year above or below him. She had her hair pulled up in a bright yellow scrunchie, delicate curls framing her pretty face. Steve always had a thing for curly hair, loved the idea of tracing the ringlets with his finger. Liked the idea of tracing hers.

"See anything you like?" Steve asked in a cool voice, or at least what he thought sounded cool. He's afraid he's lost his touch recently.

The girl popped her head up to see who spoke to her, noticing Steve's presence for the first time. Her glossy lips formed a small o shape, and he couldn't help but wonder what they would taste like. Steve was getting ahead of himself, one step at a time.

He watched her eyes slowly look up and down his uniform, it took everything in him not to shrink with embarrassment. Yet, when they made eye contact once more it wasn't the look he expected. Usually girls would be stifling their giggles at him, not in the endearing way either. It was always the you look ridiculous but I'm not going to be rude and laugh in your face about it act. This girl didn't have that. She looked embarrassed yes, but not for him. If Steve didn't know any better, he might have thought that she liked the uniform on him. That was impossible though, nobody liked the stupid uniform.

"I definitely do" the girl replied, a modest smile on her face.

"Well we have an ocean of flavors here at Scoops Ahoy, what are you feelin' today?" More nautical puns. Maybe he was a loser. A full fled member of the loser's club. If Mike were here he'd be laughing in his face at the moment, little jerk. What did Mike know about anything? Thought he was so high and mighty getting his first girlfriend, as if that's the mightiest achievement in the universe.

Now Steve was comparing himself to a 13 year old. Oh how the mighty have fallen...

"What flavor's your favorite? I can't decide. Everything here looks delicious"

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to judge..." Robin had asked him the same question their first shift together and she went on a 20 minute rant on why Steve was totally 100% irrevocably wrong. How someone can be wrong about their favorite flavor of ice cream was beyond him.

"Pinky promise I won't" the girl held her manicured finger out for him, her nails painted the same color as the scrunchie in her hair. Steve looped his finger around hers and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"It's mint chocolate chip" he had the full defense on his choice at the tip of his tongue. Mint chocolate chip was an excellent flavor of ice cream, most people just didn't give it a chance. It didn't taste like toothpaste, that always mind boggled him. Chocolate and mint go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly. Like peppermint patties or shamrock shakes and some other third thing.

"Really? I don't think I've ever met someone who's favorite was mint chocolate chip" she pulled her finger back as she said it, Steve missed the contact.

"Trust me, it's great. If you haven't tried it, give it a shot"

"I don't know, seems like a big risk," she looked down at his name tag, before slowly dragging her eyes back to his face, "gonna sell it to me Steve?"

Now, Steve knew when a girl was into him. Maintaining eye contact, physical touch, teasing. It's flirting 101. He just had no idea how he managed to do it right this time. Steve didn't try anything special, didn't lay it on thick. It was like he didn't have to try. For whatever reason, this girl didn't seem bothered by the uniform. He wasn't going to waste the one opportunity he's had in months.

"Well, I am certified in the frozen confectionary arts, Miss?"

"L/N, Y/N L/N" she definitely didn't go to Hawkins then. He would have recognized the name if she had.

"Alright Miss. Y/N L/N, mint chocolate chip is perhaps the best flavor of ice cream we sell"

"Really? Do tell" Y/N asked with teasing grin.

"Oh we constantly sell out of the stuff. This tub right here we got in this morning, fresh is the best. I hear the CEO of Scoops Ahoy himself keeps mint chocolate chip in his office everyday because he loves it so much" Steve is talking out of his ass. He doesn't even know if Scoops Ahoy even has a CEO. It's a corporation, so he's sure there must be someone at the top of the frozen food chain.

"That's some high prasie"

"Who doesn't like to be praised?" Steve does. Too much if he's being honest with himself.

"Fair enough" Y/N began, twirling one of her curls around her finger, "one scoop of mint chocolate chip in a dish please "

"Any sprinkles or fudge?"

"Do they cost extra?"

"It's on the house, for taking the risk and all that" Steve was glad his manager was a total flake and never showed up to work. He could get fired for giving away free ice cream, it wouldn't have been a total loss though.

"Then I guess I'll do both"

Steve grabbed the scooper from his belt and gave it a little twirl, earning a giggle from the girl on the other side of the counter. He was on cloud 9. For the first time since he started this lame job he might finally have a shot at adding a tally to the You Rule side of Robin's stupid board. Y/N was clearly into him, as long as he didn't fuck up in the next few minutes he was as good as gold.

"Here you go, one scoop of mint chocolate chip for the lady" Steve said as walked back to the counter. If he was paying better attention, he would have noticed the forgotten white board edge behind him. But Steve wasn't paying attention, and he clocked the board with his hip. It fell to the tile floor with a loud thunk and slid across the floor to the other side of the counter. Right in Y/N's line of sight. He could only watch in horror as she picked up the board and read the incriminating marks on the white plastic.

"I-I can explain that" Steve stuttered, placing the cup of ice cream on the counter.

"Oh yea?" Y/N asked, her grip on the whiteboard remaining steady.

"Yea, well, you see" Steve was floundering. He knew he couldn't come up with anything that didn't seem like total bullshit, because that's all it would be. Bullshit. A shiver ran down his spine at the memory of Nancy and Halloween. Steve didn't want to be bullshit, so he was left with only one option. Honesty.

"It's a scoreboard for me. Every time I hit on a girl and fail Robin puts a tally on the you suck side. If I manage to get a number or a date it would go on the other side. As you can see, I don't have the best luck. I swear it's this stupid uniform, it's cursed" Steve refused to look at the girl as he spoke, his face flushed red with mortified embarrassment. It was all over now, Steve was sure of it. He hadn't felt that pathetic in weeks. Not since his dad laid into him, calling him a fuck up for not getting into Tech. A certified loser he was.

"Well, apparently the girls of Hawkins have shit taste"

"What?" Steve and Robin asked at the same time. Robin had been pretending not to listen during the entire interaction, but she finally blew her cover then. Steve was also in a state of shock. Moments before he was convinced Robin would another black line to his never ending shit score.

"If I'm being honest," Y/N began as she reached over to grab one the dry eraser markers beside the cash register, "I actually dig the uniform. Don't know why, but there's just something about those little shorts and that tie that I like"

Steve was struck dumb. Static in his brain as he watched the girl write something on the board. He didn't know what he did to finally get some positive karma in his life, but he wasn't about to question divine intervention now.

"I guess it's true what they say" Y/N said with a wink as she capped the marker, "ladies do love a man in uniform. Well, at least this one does"

She handed the board to Steve and grabbed her scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream. He looked down to see one single tally mark on the You Rule side of the board, alongside ten digits and small heart beside her name.

"I don't know your schedule, but I'm free this Saturday night. I hear St. Elmo's Fire is really good" Holy mother of God. Steve had a date. A date with a pretty girl for the first time in eight friggin months.

"Saturday's good for me, maybe I can get you dinner instead of ice cream this time" Steve had to work until 5 on Saturday, but maybe with a bit of groveling Robin would be willing to cover the last two hours solo.

"Dinner and a movie, sounds perfect" Steve watched as Y/N took a single bite of her ice cream, her tongue swirling around the small red plastic. He couldn't keep his eyes off of it.

"Yea, perfect"

"See ya then Sailor" Y/N turned to walk outside of the shop, her hips swaying with every step. As soon as she was out of earshot, Robin raced to get behind the counter. Her eyes scanned the board Steve still held in his hand, her eyes nearly bugging out of her skull.

"Holy shit, you got a date!" Robin gasped with barely contained surprise. Holy shit was right. For the first time since Steve started at Scoops, he praised the company uniform. It managed to charm the one girl in Hawkins that was into silly sailor get ups. It seemed like things were looking up. Steve grabbed an old receipt and a pen, quickly jotting down Y/N's number before it got destroyed. A proud, and slightly smug, smile on his face.

"Still got it"

Tag list:

@cevans-winchester , @lalalalemonade11 , @esoltis280 , @celestialsxturn , @thatredlipped-classic , @musicmoviestv , @panagiasikelia ,

[jirolcvr]

can i request something with cc!karl ,

maybe he just losing his shit bc you wore an „inappropriate” outfit that was showing too much and he just gets so fucking jealous

Beat The Heat

(Yandere) CC!Karl Jacobs x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Toxic behaviour, slight slut-shaming, yelling (at reader), toxic jealousy.

Notes: I’m sorry for not updating for like, 20 days. School’s been rough and this imagine has been sitting in my drafts half-finished for like 15 of those 20 days. But I hope you enjoy, this one’s definitely intense. :)

It was a hot summers day, mid-July with high humidity. You had been stuck in the house all day lounging around, it being far too hot to do much else. With just your luck, the air conditioner had broken. You sighed deeply, brushing your hair out of your face. Your boyfriend, Karl was in his room streaming, probably too distracted by whatever he was playing to notice the heat.

You decided to get a snack, maybe something to drink to get your mind off the fact that you were absolutely melting in this house. Opening the fridge, you realized that you and Karl didn’t have much to eat or drink. Leftovers from probably a week ago, butter, ketchup and other condiments, and a little bit of milk. You didn’t even have any bread or cereal, your go-to meals when there was nothing to eat were toast or cereal.

With a sigh, you shut the fridge door and left the kitchen. Maybe you should go to the grocery store, the car’s air conditioning and hopefully the grocery stores air conditioning would be just what you needed. You quickly went upstairs to change, putting on a pair of a little higher than mid-thigh shorts and a simple tanktop, nothing fancy, but it might help beat the heat.

Grabbing your keys, you were about to leave when you thought of Karl. What if he came down from streaming and noticed you were gone? Karl was always very protective and if he saw you were gone without him knowing, well, he might just start putting up missing person posters. You grabbed a pen and quickly wrote him a note: “gone 2 the store, be back soon!! <3”. And with that, you were out the door and in your car with the lovely air conditioning.

Half an hour later, Karl ended stream and made his way downstairs to look for you. When he didn’t see you, he looked in the bedroom, bathroom, your office, with still no sign. He walked back out to the kitchen where he saw your note on the counter.

“Thank goodness..” Karl muttered to himself, worried that you had left him or something like that. With one last look at the note, he plopped down on the couch and started scrolling through Twitter, soft laughter leaving him whenever he saw something funny that either his friends posted or someone else posted.

With a deep breath, you picked up all the grocery bags in your hands and shut the car door with your hip. Walking up to the front door, you slowly opened the door, with a bit of a struggle. You smiled when you saw Karl sitting on the couch.

“Baby! How was stream?” You asked as you set the grocery bags down. Karl turned off his phone and walked up to you with a smile, not yet noticing anything.

“It was great, I think everyone really enjoyed it.” Karl replied, “You went grocery shopping?” You nodded, taking out the things that went in the fridge first so they didn’t go bad. As you bent down to put a bag of apples in the bottom drawer of the fridge, Karl noticed what you were wearing.

“You went grocery shopping in that?” Karl asked. You bent back up to your regular height as you finished putting away the stuff that was in your hands.

“Uh, yeah. It’s really hot out, so I chose something that wouldn’t made me feel any hotter.” You explained to him, a slight bit of concern laced in your tone. Why was he asking?

“Don’t you think that’s a little, uh, risqué for the grocery store?” Karl asked again as you put another couple things in your hands to put away.

“Risqué? Not really, everyone was wearing stuff like this, it’s like a fucking heatwave out there.” You explained, putting a couple of cans inside the pantry. Karl felt anger bubble up inside of him. Why weren’t you paying any attention to this?

Karl sighed deeply. “Will you stop putting away stuff for a second so I can talk to you about this?” Karl asked, annoyed.

You didn’t turn to look at him, still continuing to put things away. “I only have a few things left to put away, then we can talk, okay?” You said with a soft smile. You heard Karl’s fist slam down on the table, making it shake and make a loud noise. You jumped slightly and turned to him.

“What’s wrong?” You asked hesitantly, not walking any closer to him. He scared you when he got like this, his anger often times overruled his mind and he snapped. But you still loved him, you loved him more than anything like he loved you.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?!” Karl exclaimed, his voice suddenly a lot louder. “What’s wrong is that my girlfriend is dressed like a slut to go fucking grocery shopping.”

You fought down the tears that were about to well up in your eyes. “It’s just a tanktop and shorts, baby. I promise I wasn’t trying to dress like a… like a slut.” You managed to choke out. You knew there was no use in trying to calm Karl when he got like this, but you loved him too much to not try.

“Oh sure you weren’t. I bet you were just waiting for some guy to come over and hit on you in the dairy isle.” Karl spat. You stepped closer to him and continued to hold back your tears best you could.

“I promise that wasn’t it at all, Karl.” You said, your voice wavering. “What can I do to make you not mad at me?”

Karl thought for a moment. “You don’t go out without me and I make any final decisions on what you wear. I’m not letting anyone even look at you.” Karl said.

You nodded slowly, looking down at the ground. You felt ashamed, even if you really hadn’t done anything wrong. That was the power Karl had over you, he could make you apologize for something you never did.

Karl pulled you into his arms and held your body against his, kissing the top of your head softly. “I’m not letting anyone go near you, you’re mine.” You closed your eyes and nodded. That was his special version of “I love you”. As unsafe as you should have felt, you felt beyond safe in his arms. And maybe that was your downfall.

[shemarmooresfedora]

Rebuilding Family

Summary: Y/N and Spencer were college sweethearts at Cal-Tech but once Spencer got accepted to the FBI Academy, he ended things between them deciding it was not fair to make Y/N wait for him. When they meet again years later, he discovers something unexpected.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem! Reader

Warnings: swearing

Masterlist

Chapter 6

Spencer slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the morning light seeping in through the curtains. Jo was resting peacefully on his lap just like how they were during the movie. Unexpectedly however, Y/N was leant up against his shoulder, softly breathing. Spencer wished he could stay like this forever, this is how it should have always been. But then, he noticed the time on his watch and realized it was Monday morning.

Jo was tightly clinging on to his right arm so he slowly lifted his left hand and nudged you slightly. You mumbled and dug yourself further into the crook of his neck, clearly not awake yet.

“Y/N, it’s Monday and it’s 7:30 in the morning,” he whispered.

Your eyes shot open and you quickly distanced yourself from him.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to-well you know,” you gestured to his shoulder.

“Josephine, baby, you need to get up now. Mommy forgot to set an alarm for school,” you gently shook the kid awake.

You lifted Jo up as she was beginning to wake and carried her upstairs to dress her.

“Do you need me to do anything?” Spencer called out.

“Could you pack her lunch? Give her a juice box, a fruit cup, a bag of cheez-it’s, and a PB&J please,” you shouted back.

Spencer ran to the kitchen, grabbing the empty dinosaur lunch box from Jo’s backpack. He grabbed an ice pack out of the freezer to keep the lunch box cool inside, putting in a fruit punch juice box and a diced peaches fruit cup with a spoon. He poured some cheez-it’s into a ziploc bag and sealed it shut. Then, Spencer located the peanut butter in the cupboards, slathering it on to the other slice of bread.

“Crust on or cut off?” he yelled upstairs.

“On is fine! Thank you!” you replied as you finished brushing Jo’s hair, starting to head downstairs.

“Jo, grab your lunch box from Spencer and thank him for making you lunch, put it in your backpack, and grab a pop-tart for the road. Mommy just needs to grab her work bag,” you said, putting on a tan blazer and pinning your hair back with bobby pins.

Jo nodded and thanked Spencer, grabbing a strawberry frosted pop-tart and running out the front door with her backpack.

“You know pop-tarts have only three grams of protein but are high in refined carbs like high fructose corn syrup. Studies show they actually can make you hungrier,” Spencer stated.

He wasn’t intending to take a jab at Y/N’s choice of breakfast for Jo this morning but you certainly took it that way.

“I’m sorry, have you raised a kid?” you asked sarcastically.

“No but who’s fault is that?” he snapped back, immediately regretting it.

Your hands fell from where they were adjusting your hair in the mirror. You did not look at him or say a single word as you collected your purse and laptop and began to walk to the door.

“Y/N, wait! I didn’t mean that,” he pleaded.

You inhaled and turned around.

“You don’t get to sit on your high horse and act like I didn’t do you a favor, Spencer,” you clenched your jaw.

“A FAVOR?” he asked incredulously, “You call missing six years of my daughter’s life a favor?”

“You’re seriously going to look me in the eye and tell me that if I called you seven years ago saying I was pregnant, you would have quit the FBI and moved back,” you questioned.

“I-”

“Even if you did quit, you would have ended up resenting us for not getting to fulfill your dreams so yeah I did you a favor.”

“So you think our daughter is some massive burden that you ‘took the bullet’ on? If you truly think that, then maybe I’ll just fight you for custody.”

“I was fully aware of my options back then. I chose to have Jo because she was my dream. But she clearly wasn’t yours because you left me the second you had something better lined up. And I’d like to see you fucking try to fight for custody, news flash! Your name isn’t on the birth certificate. You have no legal rights over Jo. But how dare you even threaten to take my child away from me over a fucking pop-tart, you asshole,” you stormed out the house, slamming the front door behind you.

The feeling in Spencer’s chest now the exact opposite of when he woke up this morning.

-

Please call me. I’m sorry, I was out of line.

You had a multitude of missed calls and texts from Spencer that you didn’t reply to but that was the first one he sent. One of them said he was being called away on a case so luckily he wasn’t showing up at your door every day.

It was Saturday night and Jo had fallen asleep on the couch watching Tom & Jerry cartoons. You clicked the TV off and carried her up the stairs. You tucked her under her dinosaur comforter and kissed her forehead.

“Bedtime story, Mommy,” she mumbled.

“Okay, which one?” you asked, looking at the bookshelf.

“Caltechia,” she said, opening her eyes slightly.

“What?” you furrowed your brow.

“Spencer told it to me. You know the one with the goofy knight that loves the elegant queen and pretty princess of Caltechia,” Jo stated matter-of-factly.

You smiled softly, “I’m sorry, Baby J, I don’t know how that one ends. Maybe Spencer can finish it for you some day. How about The Very Hungry Caterpillar instead?”

She nodded and her eyes fluttered shut once again as you began to read.

-

After flicking the lights off and gently shutting Jo’s door, you returned downstairs to grade some papers.

You got through about five when there was a soft hesitant knock on the door. You sighed, closing your laptop. Your TV was on as background noise and the lights in the living room were on so it was obvious you were home and still awake. You already knew who it was without even looking.

You opened the door slightly to see Spencer standing there with swollen puffy eyes and nervous fidgety hands.

“Can we talk?” he asked quietly.

You opened the door all the way and plopped yourself back down on the couch.

“Jo is sleeping so if you came here to yell at me again, save it,” you huffed.

“No, I came here to apologize. I wasn’t trying to criticize your parenting. I was just stating a random fact I read, it was stupid. I’m sorry. And I’m also sorry that I escalated the argument instead of trying to defuse it,” he spoke softly.

“I’m sorry too. I should have known that it was just another statistic. Some things never change,” you laughed softly.

“But Y/N, you knew that I had a father that abandoned me and my worst fear was becoming him and you still kept Jo from me anyways,” he whispered with watery eyes.

“You know how you claimed you broke up with me to protect me? I thought keeping Jo from you so you didn’t have to make that decision was kind of like protecting you. You can’t abandon a child you didn’t know existed.”

“Well, I know about her now and I’m not abandoning her. I don’t want to. Can you please let me be her dad and not just her father?” he pleaded, wiping away the tear that rolled down his cheek.

“We can tell her at breakfast in the morning and you can come with us to the park tomorrow. I guess we could work out some days that you can drop her off at school or pick her up and keep her for dinner. But she sleeps here, I’m not budging on that for now. She needs some consistency if we are going to spring this on her,” you replied.

“Yes! Yes! Thank you,” he excitedly whisper-shouted.

Without even realizing what he was doing, Spencer pulled you in for a hug. He soon realized when you tensed in his arms.

“Oh-uh I’m sorry,” he stuttered, pulling his arms back, “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

He awkwardly waved as he made his way to the door.

“Good night, Spencer.”

“Night, Y/N.”

You pulled back the window curtain a little to watch Spencer walk out of your driveway. He had his back turned to you but you saw him pump his fist in the air and jump up and down a few times before collecting himself and beginning to walk away with a smile on his face. You laughed to yourself. Still the same old goofy Spencer.

[pantstomatch]

Top 5 comfort foods and/or

Top 5 movies

comfort foods! ok, so I'm the kind of person that, uh, stops eating when I'm upset, so I don't know if I'd call them comfort foods? But...

5. pasta. specifically pasta with red gravy even though it gives me so much heartburn and I regret it all night, but like any kind of pasta with a huge slice of garlic bread.

4. pizza. specifically upside down pizza which almost every pizza place around me claims to be the "original inventor" but upside down pizza here is pizza dough, mild provolone, and then the sauce on top.

3. buttered everything bagel.

2. frosted brown sugar pop tarts.

1. creamed hamburger. look, everyone is probably going to think this is gross, but my mom grew up with this and she always made it for us too and it was always a super simple cheap meal, but basically it's just ground beef browned in a pan, then you make a roux with the fat out of flour & milk, and then you pour it over mashed potatoes, and you can judge me all you want but just cover that bad boy in salt and it's my favorite thing ever.

movies:

5. Fast & Furious (4) - the entire franchise is my kryptonite but if I had to pick one it'd be this one. they get the band back together!

4. Blues Brothers - my dad taped this off TV when it was the movie of the week and I spent all of my childhood convinced this was every kids' favorite movie. car chases! singing! comedy!

3. Pitch Perfect 2 - again, I will watch the entire franchise with great happiness, but I think this one is my favorite. Das Sound Machine!

2. Ghostbusters - I don't know, I just think it's neat.

1. Newsies - I sent away for the little booklet of lyrics from the cassette tape folks. I saw this a couple times in the theater in my teens. I went to see the broadway show with my bff from high school and was... disappointed. But only because we were so in love with the film version, it's so perfect, and they changed a lot of probably unimportant stuff that I did not want changed. Some of it for no reason I could figure out? Lyric changes?? Why??? Why touch perfection and just fuck it up entirely. Anyway, I know a lot of people love the musical but it doesn't even come close to the movie, sorry.

[ncssian]

A Favor: Bonus Scene Two (Gwynriel)

Masterlist

a/n: this picks up right after nesta leaves gwyn’s apartment in Part 24. warning for discussions of sex, obviously.

***

As soon as the apartment door shuts after Nesta, Gwyn releases a breath and turns to Azriel with a wide gaze. “Do I really have to teach you guitar?” she says.

“Of course not.” He rolls his eyes. It was a throwaway line meant to get Nesta off his back, and even she didn’t entirely believe it. He moves toward the kitchen to get a glass of water, still shaken from Nesta storming into Gwyn’s bedroom like that. Not that she interrupted much. Gwyn still has a long way to go before she can handle anyone touching her between her legs, Azriel thinks.

He never asked Gwyn what a twenty-seven year old woman was so afraid of sex for when she first suggested her proposal to him. She looked so scared that he would question her that he couldn’t bring himself to poke even a little bit. Not that he needs to poke. He’s not a fucking idiot, and Gwyn’s thighs had been trembling in involuntary fear under his hands earlier. She’s been hurt.

For her sake, he pretends to remain ignorant and incurious, but right now his grip on the glass in his hand is so tight it might shatter. His face remains cool as he pours himself water.

“Why didn’t you tell her the truth?” Gwyn hops up onto the kitchen counter and swings her freakishly long legs. “About what you get out of our deal?”

“I don’t expect you to teach me sex for free, obviously,” Gwyn blabbered the day after they got back from the ski lodge. “You can ask for something from me, too. Even money, if that’s your thing.”

Prostitution was not Azriel’s thing, though he wouldn’t knock it. The truth was that his brain had started turning as soon as Gwyn told him about her idea, and now it couldn’t stop. Oddly enough, this opportunity was perfect.

“Tell Nesta that I’m using you as a rebound?” Azriel nearly snorts on his water. “Did you miss the part where she almost cut my dick off and choked me with it?”

Gwyn hums noncommittally. “Being a distraction from your ex is better for me than it is for you. It’s insurance that you won’t get any funny ideas.” She narrows her teal eyes at him. “If you find yourself moving on from Nesta’s hot sister, you better tell me right away. I’ll end this whole thing quickly and cleanly.”

“Why?” He thought moving on from Elain was the goal, one he was unlikely to achieve.

“You know.” She crosses her arms in an X over her chest like she’s warding him off. “You might catch—feelings for me.”

This time Azriel really does snort on his water, hard. His laughter turns into coughing when it slips down the wrong pipe, and liquid dribbles onto his shirt. Gwyn just sits there and stares at him in vague disgust.

When he’s done choking, he wipes his mouth with the hem of his tee and gasps, “Even without Elain, you wouldn’t need to worry about that. Trust me.”

Gwyn wrinkles her freckled nose in distaste. “I would be offended if I wasn’t so relieved.”

He’s still chuckling when Gwyn says cautiously, “By the way…” She chews on the inside of her cheek. “Did you really ghost Elain?”

Azriel is no longer amused.

“When you said you broke up with her, I thought you actually broke up with her,” Gwyn continues. “I didn’t know you were one of those guys.”

Shame tinged with embarrassment floods Azriel, and he doesn’t have the slightest idea why. Why does it matter what Gwyn of all people thinks of him, especially when she doesn’t have all the details?

He thought he was making things easier for Elain by leaving without a word. He thought she would let him slip out of her mind after a couple of weeks just like he slipped out of her life, and that it would be better than having to hear him dump his insecurities on her.

He knows now that he was only making things easier for himself. Knows that if he had stayed and talked things out with Elain, she would have convinced him to stay. If he had called her at all in the past two months, he would have gone running back to Velaris like a sailor answering a siren’s song.

She’s always been a siren—which is why he can’t regret doing what would have happened eventually anyway. Even without that Vanserra bastard or some other man, Elain could never have been a permanent fixture in Azriel’s life. Little details sprinkled throughout their time together confirm that for him now.

That doesn’t mean Elain deserved it, or deserves it now. Azriel knows that.

But all he can think of to say to Gwyn is, “Yeah, maybe I am one of those guys.” He puts his glass in the sink. “You still want me as your teacher?”

Gwyn shrugs, looking away. “It’s not like I’ve got any other choice.”

Azriel would disagree. He says what he’s been thinking since they got back from Cassian’s birthday trip. “Wouldn’t you rather do this with someone you love and trust?”

“God no,” Gwyn snorts, providing no further explanation.

Azriel can understand being hesitant to admit sexual inexperience to a crush, but it doesn’t stop him from judging Gwyn’s new man. If this coworker of hers is so great, wouldn’t she be able to trust him unabashedly with her insecurities? Wouldn’t he readily accept her for all that she is?

Ugh, he’s been dipping into Nesta’s reading collection too much lately. “Alright, then.” He leans against the counter opposite Gwyn. “Let’s talk about learning. You clammed up in bed back there after ignoring my suggestions and shoving my head between your legs.”

“I clammed up because of my best friend barging into my room and catching us together,” Gwyn defends.

“Your pussy was dry as bread before that,” he retorts. Ooh, now he wants toast.

Gwyn turns a furious shade of red while Azriel starts looking around for bread. He finds it sitting by the toaster. “Can you not say that?” she hisses at him.

“What?” He looks up from dropping bread into the toaster.

“You know…” She glances around cautiously as if someone might overhear. “Pussy.”

“Pussy,” he says again, just to be annoying. Gwyn’s shoulders turn inward in embarrassment, and he has to hold back a grin. Yeah, she’s definitely not ready for oral.

He finds a butter knife and some peanut butter. “I told you to start easy and you ignored me. You tried jumping into the deep end without learning how to tread water.”

Gwyn scoffs. “And what does ‘treading water’ entail again?”

Azriel shrugs, plucking up his finished toast. “Making out, heavy petting, freshman-year-of-high-school kind of stuff.”

“I’ve done that before,” she mutters indignantly. “Maybe not in my freshman year, but I’ve done it.”

He wonders how long ago that was, or if it was before she was—hurt.

“Besides,” Gwyn goes on before he can push the matter further, “I’m not budging on kissing. I want to save that for the man I actually like.”

“You don’t like me?” Azriel raises a brow, slathering peanut butter over his toast. “You definitely don’t act the same with me as you do with other men.” Or at least that’s what he assumes. Up until a short while ago, he never would’ve been able to imagine timid Gwyn having the guts to ask anyone for sex ed. That’s got to make him special, right?

But then Gwyn waves him off and says, “That’s ‘cause you’re not a real man. I knew you before puberty.”

Azriel nearly drops his toast. “Wow, the nerve of this woman,” he mutters with wide eyes. If she keeps this up, he’s going to start regretting ever going to the same school as her. “That’s not what you said when you were going on about how attracted you are to me.”

“I said you were attractive, not that I was attracted.” Gwyn’s blush is more from irritation than shyness now. “You do the job, but you’re no Max.” She giggles at saying his name. Actually giggles. “I’ll only kiss Max.”

“What kind of stupid ass name is Max?” Azriel grumbles through a mouthful of peanut butter.

“It’s short for Maximillian.”

He chokes. “Jesus, that’s even worse.” He’s doing all this work for some guy named Maximillian. Maybe he should just go home and let Nesta give him the beating he deserves.

Except thinking about Nesta only reminds Azriel of what a coward he is, because he fears facing her again almost as much as he fears facing Elain. “By the way, could I…” he starts hesitantly.

Gwyn gives him a judgmental sneer. “You don’t want to go back to the cabin, do you?”

He shakes his head.

“You can’t stay here,” she responds, crushing his hopes. “I have plans tonight, but even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t let you be such a wimp.” She hops off the counter and comes over to him, surprising him by grabbing both of his shoulders. “Azriel,” she says somberly.

He swallows his toast roughly.

“You have to grow some balls,” she continues. “Not just for your sake, but for the sake of every poor woman in your life. Also, all this drama is personally a turn-off for me, which is detrimental to my sex education.” She wrinkles her nose. “Do better and all that, you know?”

Damn, okay.

Instead of standing there like an idiot, Azriel manages to say, “Fine, I’ll go.” He shoves the rest of his toast into his mouth and dusts off his hands, heading for the living room.

“Wait, you don’t have to leave right now—” Gwyn follows after him. Azriel is already on the couch, pulling a stray notepad and pen on the coffee table closer to himself.

He clicks the pen. “When’s that library guy planning to take you out?” he asks, starting to write.

Gwyn hovers near him, watching the notepad over his shoulder in confusion. “Um, this Saturday. Just a casual coffee shop thing.”

“Then I’ll see you on Friday.” He scribbles down some bullet points and labels the page LESSON PLAN. “Until then, think about a way to enjoy foreplay without kissing. Here are some suggestions so you can practice.” He tears the lined paper out of the notepad and hands it to Gwyn.

Her eyes skim over the page, brows rising with each point she reads. “Is all this really necessary?”

Azriel remembers how he barely brushed his lips against Gwyn’s core before having to pull away and kiss her quivering thigh instead. He can’t have sex with an unaroused woman, and he definitely can’t do it with a terrified woman. “Foreplay is absolutely necessary,” he says, getting up from the couch and stretching to his full height. Where Elain used to only reach his chest, Gwyn’s head almost reaches his nose. It amuses him for some reason.

“Do you like movies?” he adds. “I’ll take you to the movies on Friday.” Preferably something boring and played out, so the theater will be empty and she won’t be paying attention.

Gwyn’s eyes widen. “Is going on dates also part of foreplay?”

“It can be,” Azriel shrugs. It will be when he does it. He drops a hand onto Gwyn’s head and ruffles her hair. “I’d love to stay and help you study, but I have to go and grow some balls.” He mock-frowns at her as he heads for his shoes and keys. “See you later, Gwyneth.”

***

a/n: wait why do i wanna write the movie theater scene now… pls help me im just trying to finish this damn fic im getting too old for this

tagging: @hellasblessed @sjm-things @thewayshedreamed @drielecarla @valkyriewarriors @superspiritfestival @aliveahaahahafuck @cupcakey00 @sayosdreams @rainbowcheetah512 @claralady @thebluemartini @nessiantho @missing-merlin @duskandstarlight @lucy617 @sleeping-and-books @everything-that-i-love @cassianscool @swankii-art-teacher @wannawriteyouabook a favor: @awesomelena555 @julemmaes @wickedqueenoffantasy @poisonous-bloom @observationanxioustheorist @gisellefigue08 @courtofjurdan @theoverlyenthusiasticwriter @wolfiixxx @cass-nes @seashade @royaltykxx @illyrianundercover @queenestarcheron @monstrousloves-explodinggalaxies @humanexile @that-golden-lyre @agentsofsheilds @mercy-is-alive @cassiansbigwingspan @laylaameer01 @verypaleninja @maastrash @bow-dawn @perseusannabeth @dead-on-the-inside666 @jlinez @hungryreadingaddict @anidealiveson @planet-faerie @shallowhighwaters @ghostlyrose2 @chosenfamily-valkyriequeens @rarephloxes @readiajin @nessiantrashh @live-the-fangirl-life @ifinallygavein @xoblivisci @sjmships @jungtaekwoonie-is-life @lysandra-tiara @lanyjoy-13 @post-it-notes33 @loosingdreams @fromthelibraryofemilyj @18moneytoad @dontgetsalmonella @champanheandluxxury @togreblog @arinbelle @ladygabrielli1997 @meridainthedisneyland @moodymelanist @pixieelea @teagoddess99

[waithyuck]

PUPPY

pairing: werewolf!lee jeno x reader (f) *halloweenie special*

genre: smut, supernatural au

word count: 4k

warnings: mature content, excessive explicit language, sexy times (meaning sexual content), I used the word ‘penis’ ONCE and only ONCE, mentions of a knot, knotting (I’m sorry), slight impreg kink, cumming inside, unprotected sex, blood, aggressive behavior, other stupid cliche werewolf things that are most definitely prob in hundreds of fics, jeno does NOT like being called a puppy even tho he’s called it oNCe

a/n: the first release of the dreamie halloweenie series! I hope this one sets the tone for what’s to come 👀 sorry to anyone who hates werewolf cliches and for the extreme lack of any substance or plot lmaoooo anyway I hope y’all enjoy reading

| next >

~10/10/2020~

~~~~

“are you cool with jeno staying the night?” your brother shot out, startling you as he spoke, not even looking at you as he spread too much peanut butter on a slice of bread nestled in his hand.

you looked up from where you were sitting at the kitchen table to face your brother, not saying anything in reply as you got lost in your thoughts.

jeno was an oddball. he was nice and he wasn’t creepy or even that weird, he just had his moments that were just well, odd. he was your brother’s friend of about six years; they met in their second year of high school and have been inseparable ever since. because of that, you have also been surrounded by jeno in all that time as well.

in the first couple years, you didn’t notice anything strange about him. he seemed like a normal and healthy young teenage boy. he was incredibly handsome, so of course your poor soul developed a small crush on him that only grew as the years progressed.

since you paid such close attention to him, you could pick out the oddities in his behavior occasionally pretty well. just from that, you’ve deducted that his sense of smell was almost god-like, like he could smell things that a normal person couldn’t.

now, you supposed that it wasn’t that weird that he had a good sniffer; there were probably tons of other people in the world with the same ability...but it wasn't just his sense of smell that had you curious.

sometimes he would act strangely at night; not often, but enough to have you questioning it. he would either disappear completely without a word or come up with a half-assed excuse to leave and then run away like a frightened animal.

it was just plain odd...and you couldn't get over it, no matter how much you tried to will yourself not to think about it.

snapping out of your stupor, you felt your heart jump at the thought of jeno coming over, even though he’s been here countless times, but you didn’t let it show and you shrugged your shoulders.

“it’s not like I have a choice in the matter,” you stated truthfully, looking down to pick at your nails. “you would have just said he was coming over anyway if I said no.”

your brother smiled at you, beaming as he placed the bread down and patted your head.

“you know me so well, y/n.”

you rolled your eyes, shoving him away. “yeah,” you retorted, slightly annoyed. “It’s not like you’re my brother, or anything.”

he didn't say anything further and you left him alone with his sandwich, getting up and making your way to your room where you could successfully hide for the rest of the night. before your cold make it far, you heard your brother yell something about jeno coming around 8, but you didn't say anything back and just minded your own business all the way upstairs to your room.

you pathetically holed yourself up in your dark room for about four hours, only coming out to quietly sneak to the bathroom and then you would go back into hiding once again.

even when you got word that there was pizza downstairs, you ignored it and continued to watch horror story narrations on youtube.

you just couldn't deal with being in the presence of your long time crush today. it took everything in your power to stop yourself from going downstairs and being potentially spotted, but you managed to pull through successfully and be a pathetic hermit in your room.

it was around 3 a.m. when you were finally finished with watching youtube videos, and you felt gross. you supposed that the two boys would be sound asleep by now, considering your brother never ever sacrificed his beauty sleep for anyone. you grabbed some clean clothes and gathered them in your arms before trudging tiredly to the bathroom, swinging open the door without a second thought, not realizing that the light was already on when you got there.

your heart almost jumped out of your chest as your eyes bulged out of their sockets.

“holy fuck!” you screeched as you took in the sight of jeno, in the middle of the bathroom completely naked, stroking his painfully hard cock right before your eyes. you couldn’t tear your eyes away from the show and you accidentally discovered that there was something not right about the way it looked...

your mouth fell agape and you barely heard him gasp loudly before trying to cover himself with the closest towel.

“jesus christ, y/n!” he yelled back, both of you not even considering your sleeping brother that was just three rooms over.

your eyes stayed glued to where he was covering himself with the towel, still thinking about the oddity of his dick. it seemed to be swelling at the base, which was definitely not normal for a human penis to do.

“what the fuck is wrong with your dick?” you blurted out unapologetically, causing a blush to cover his entire face and neck. you tore your eyes from his covered crotch to look at his eyes, which were now a shocking shade of bright yellow. you jumped back, dropping your clothes on the floor as you watched him breath heavily, most likely trying to calm himself down the same as you.

“oh my god, what the actual fuck is happening?” you murmured out loud, your eyes wide and never leaving his own as he stood silently in front of you. “am i dreaming? am i fucking high?” you tried to reason out as to why you were seeing what you're seeing, but jeno didn't give you much time to think before he spoke.

“you’re not dreaming,” his voice came out low, almost like a growl, and you felt your heart freeze up. “I dunno if you’re high...but what you're seeing is as real as it gets.”

your mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping out of water, trying to formulate the words to say next. your brain literally couldn't think of anything except his abnormally large and weird dick.

“okay…” you trailed off, your hands coming up to rest over your racing heart. “so then I’ll ask again: what the fuck is up with your dick??” and then you quickly added, “and your eyes??? I'm so confused right now, jeno.”

he sighed heavily and turned around, giving you a full view of his ass before he gathered his clothes to get dressed and cover himself. you really should have looked away, but your eyes wouldn’t listen to your internal screaming no matter how hard you physically tried to stop staring.

when he pulled his shorts on he finally turned to face you once more, forgoing a shirt much to your dismay (but really, you were dying on the inside at the sight of his abs). he stared at you for a second, his eyes back to their natural deep brown color.

“...there's a lot we need to talk about.” was all he said before grabbing your wrist in his scorchingly warm hand and dragging you out of the bathroom and down to your room. you didn’t protest and you let him practically drag you all the way there, closing the door behind him and guiding you to plop down on your bed. jeno walked to the opposite side of the room, distancing himself from you as much as possible.

“um..so,” he started hesitantly, trying to form his words correctly. “I’m uh, I'm a werewolf.”

your eyes bulged out of your head in disbelief, but you didn't say anything in reply. you both stared at each other across the space of your bedroom, not uttering a single word.

at first you were ready to call him crazy; there was absolutely no way that it was true. but then you thought about his eyes, his sense of smell...and then thought about his cock...holy shit wait, was that a fucking knot??

“um, yeah, it was…” you heard him say suddenly. you jumped out of your skin at the sound of his voice, not expecting him to reply. did you say that out loud by accident?

“you did.”

okay fuck, you needed to stop thinking and pull yourself together. what were you supposed to say to that? ‘oh cool, your cock has a knot and you’re a fucking werewolf, that’s super, jeno!’

jeno went on to explain the ins and outs of being a werewolf to you over the next twenty minutes, the small pink blush on his cheeks never truly leaving as he went into detail about everything. he even corrected certain cliches that were not true, a scowl making its way to his features with each inaccuracy you brought up.

“so...my brother doesn’t know?” you questioned quietly, looking down at your lap.

“no one knows besides you and my family.” he confirmed, and you looked up again to see him lean against the wall behind his back, eyes gazing sharply at you.

you panicked slightly, thinking that holy crap, now that you know, he's gonna have to kill you so the secret doesn't get out.

“oh my god,” you whimpered out, “are you going to kill me now?”

you watched his eyes widen before he choked, coughing violently before composing himself. he straightened his posture, but still didn't make any move toward you, still keeping his distance.

“what?!” he practically shouted, startling you. “of course not! why would I do that??”

you felt your face grow hot and you looked away once again, wringing your hands together on your lap. you shrugged, murmuring quietly, “i dunno...I thought you'd kill me to keep the secret, well, you know, a secret…”

you heard him sigh exasperatedly before hearing his soft voice grace your ears from across the room.

“I don't kill people, y/n.” he sounded slightly sad, and you then felt bad about assuming something so terrible of him. “the only time I kill is when my instincts become too much to control, and I snap.” his head hung low, but he quickly added. “but I’ve never actually killed a person, even if my instincts were screaming at me to.”

you tried to wrap your mind around what his wolf instincts were like; he only briefly touched on that topic earlier, seeming like he didn't want to talk about it too much. you being yourself, of course you had to pry.

“so like, what you’re saying is,” you started, your hand cupping your chin in thought as you pondered over your thoughts. “that if you were to like, hypothetically, snap right now and go all feral, you would want to kill me?” the question came out inflected as a statement, but you nonetheless awaited his answer patiently as you took in the sight of his face going through about five different emotions in the short span of a couple seconds.

“I don’t think…” he trailed off, looking down at the floor while clenching his fists. “I don’t think killing you would be my first instinct,” he looked up at you, his eyes blazing a slight yellow again as he seemingly stared into your soul. “...if you catch my drift.”

at first you were completely confused, not sure what other instincts he could express while being feral, but then it all clicked and it had your body heating up at the thought.

“oh.” you simply retorted, your eyes glazing over at the implication of him pinning you down and taking you as he pleased. “oh, fuck. you’re fuckin’ serious?”

his eyes were dark as he drank you in, his nostrils flaring slightly as he subtly sniffed the air between the both of you. dear god, you hoped that he couldn’t smell the sudden arousal that consumed you. you watched his eyes glow into a bright yellow and you felt your instincts screaming at you to run, but you held his gaze as he let a low growl escape his mouth.

“y/n,” he said, low and strained as he tried to fight his animal instincts. “you need to leave if you don’t want this, right now.” his words were final, no room for questioning.

you briefly tried to think it over; what would actually happen if you stayed and let him have you? you could probably die, first and foremost, but you shook that thought away even though it was a very real and serious possibility. you couldn’t deny your arousal at the whole thing, being taken like a bitch in heat by a guy you’ve been thirsting over for a while now. you may not get the chance to fuck a werewolf again, so you quickly made your decision.

“I’m…” you trailed off, dragging your gaze down to his neck and collarbones where you could make out the sweat forming on his perfect skin. “I’m staying, jeno.” you spoke softly to him, watching his brow furrow in confusion before smoothing out again.

you made your way to him and he stiffened up, watching your every move like a predator as you tentatively stopped in front of his panting form. reaching a hand up, you caressed his face, your breathing shaky as you leaned in closer.

“you can have me, puppy.” you threw in the last little jab with that sudden nickname just for fun, your heart soaring at the sound of the deep growl he let out upon hearing it. you fought the smile off your face as he practically pounced on you, pushing you over to the bed and pinning your body underneath his in one swift movement.

“I’m a puppy, huh?” he questioned darkly, his glowing eyes roaming over your face before his head dipped down to nose at your throat. you whimpered softly as his teeth nibbled on your sensitive skin, earning a satisfied growl from him.

you felt your shorts stick to your core from how insanely soaked you had become, and you grew hot at the idea of him pulling them down to find that you were, in fact, pantieless. he had your wrists pinned down against the mattress, not allowing you to touch him much to your annoyance. you tried to struggle against his supernaturally strong hold, but was met with a deep snarl in response. you immediately grew pliant underneath him out of pure instinct.

he pulled back, sharp canines prominent in his mouth as he fixed you with his glowing stare, red swirling with yellow in his bright irises.

“don’t fucking move,” he spat, his voice coming out low and gutteral, causing a flood of your own arousal to escape you down below. his nostrils flared for the second time that night, and he breathed in deeply at the scent of your wet and begging cunt. “be a good girl and take what I give you.”

the statement was final, and you barely had time to nod before he was tearing your t-shirt in two, biting the skin of your shoulder. his sharper teeth did not sink deep into your flesh, but when he drug the canines across your skin, you felt them rip you open. you let out what could be considered a poorly concealed scream, but it came forth as more of a moan as you felt hot blood trickle down your arm.

your shirt was in ribbons, and he looked extremely pleased as he took in the beautiful sight of your naked breasts, no bra in his way. he watched as your chest heaved up and down in anticipation, and he released your wrist to gently trail both of his hand over your body.

“your tits are so pretty,” he murmured, diving down to take one of your nipples into his mouth. he worked your other boob with one of his hands, kneading it and flicking your sensitive nipple.

your back arched into his touch, and you tried your best to stay as quiet as possible in fear of your brother hearing you.

he suckled hard; nibbling your nipple and dragging his teeth along it, causing shivers to run up your spine and your core to clench around nothing. your shorts were without a doubt ruined at this point.

your nails scratched down his back and he continued to ravage your chest, alternating between both of your breasts and teasing your sensitive buds with no remorse. it felt like hours of play, but eventually he pulled back to roughly grip the fabric of your shorts and tear them down your legs, exposing your dripping core to his hungry eyes.

you whined as he stared at you, reaching your arms out towards his own pants, wanting to see his cock again now that you were laying there, desperate and pouting for it.

his eyes shot to your face, smirking as he watched your brow furrow and your lips purse, your hands trying to grab at him from your place on the bed.

he didn’t allow you to pull his shorts down for him; instead he hooked his own thumbs in the waistband and pulled them down slowly, exposing his cock inch by inch before it finally sprung out, slapping against his stomach proudly.

your mouth watered at the sight of him once again and you moved to try to sit up, but didn’t get very far. he grasped your non-bleeding shoulder and roughly shoved you against the mattress once again, not saying anything. the stare he gave you oozed enough dominance for you to clearly get the message that he was trying to send.

jeno didn’t waste any time spreading your thighs open, two of his fingers immediately swiping through your embarrassingly wet slit before easing inside your tight hole. the stretch burned at first, considering he was starting you off with two fingers instead of one, but you welcomed the slight pain that mixed with the pleasure of him reaching up with his thumb to graze over your throbbing clit.

jeno thrusted his fingers into you gently at first, gradually picking up the pace as he went along. before you knew it he was adding a third finger, stretching your more than you’ve been stretched before.

you gasped at the feeling, your back arching off the bed as you cried out while he started finger fucking you with earnest.

“shhh, baby,” he said quietly, his movements never ceasing. “just gotta open you up for me, make sure you can take my knot.”

you held back another moan at that, thinking of how his cock would stretch you open, and how full you would feel with his knot nestled inside you.

he abruptly pulled his fingers from you, causing your back to arch again as you protested the loss of stimulation. his strength amazed you, and with one hand on your belly he pinned you down completely, sucking on the fingers of his other lewdly while stating you in the eyes.

after licking his fingers clean, (which caused heat to crawl it’s way down your belly), he kissed you sloppily on the mouth once again before gripping your waist and roughly flipping you over onto your knees.

your chest was flush against the mattress as well as your face, and your hips were lifted high in the air and you could feel the heat radiating off of him as he positioned himself behind you.

his nails drug down your sides and he gripped one of your hips with his hand, using his other to position himself at your leaking entrance. you wiggled your hips in anticipation, whining as he drug the head through your folds before slowly sinking inside you.

your fingers gripped the pillows as he bottomed out, his knot already slowly forming at the base of his shaft. it stretched you ever so slightly at the entrance of your core, and you whimpered out in pleasure as he started thrusting in and out.

the small form of his knot caught on your entrance with each precise thrust, and you were finding it very difficult to stay quiet. jeno’s breaths were heavy and every so often he would let out a soft growl as he felt his tip pound gently into your cervix.

your small whimpers were short and staggered, escaping your mouth with each thrust, which spurred him on to create a faster and harsher pace. he leaned over your back and didn’t relent as his cock punished you pussy, and when you let out a cry that was just a little bit too loud, he shoved your face right into your pillow to silence you.

“shut up,” he panted, a rumble low in his chest following his words. “just fucking take it.”

you nodded your head in response to the best of your ability, biting your lip to keep quiet as the presence of his hand left the back of your head.

he seemed to be getting close now, and you could feel yourself teetering on the edge as well. it was uncommon for you to cum without any clitoral stimulation, and you were amazed at his ability to reach all of the most pleasurable spots inside you.

you felt your stomach tightening up and you gasped sharply when you felt his cock press right against your sweet spot, making you reach your high almost instantly.

you clamped around him, barely registering that he buried himself completely inside you and was now stretching you to the max with his fully developed knot. the pain of the stretch only intensified your orgasm, which had you screaming into your pillow to muffle your cries of ecstasy.

jeno growled loudly as he came shortly after, biting the back of your neck aggressively and painting your walls with his cum, emptying completely inside of you while his knot kept a single drop from escaping.

he withdrew his teeth from you, surprised that it didn’t break your skin, and gently moved the two of you to lay on your sides as you basked in the afterglow of what just occurred.

your chest heaved as you fought to catch you breath, you pussy still stretched to its limit as you laid with him. you reached an arm around to caress his face, a small show of affection as you smiled in bliss.

after catching your breath, you sat in silence for a bit, just bathing in each other’s warmth, before you had to go and open your big mouth again.

“so your knot is supposed to like, plug me up?” you questioned, your voice still sounding slightly out of breath as you panted. “to make sure I get like, hypothetically, pregnant or whatever?”

he groaned in response and gripped your hips tightly, his hips bucking and causing his still painfully hard cock to sharply jab against your sensitive insides, making you yelp.

“dear god, y/n,” he whined, his nails digging into your skin. “don’t say things like that, fuck.”

“oh, so you like that idea?” you teased, turning your head to try to look at him to the best of your ability considering your current position. “fucking me full of babies?”

his eyes stared down at you intensely, the color of his irises brightening up as he growled lowly at you. he suddenly gripped your hips and turned you both over, his body completely laying on your own as you were pressed against the mattress on your stomach.

“keep talking, y/n,” he growled out lowly, his hips pressing tightly against your ass, the head of his cock kissing your cervix. “I’ll fuck you again right now, and give you my fucking babies.”

he couldn’t see you, but you smiled contently, preparing yourself for another intense round with this beast of a man. there was a small chance that you would actually get pregnant, considering the IUD you had…but the thought of it had you ready to go at it again.

in some fucked up way, you were content with this, and you threw your hips up to grind back against him, grinning even wider as he pinned your body down even harder.

jeno fucked you like an animal until the sun came up, and your brother was none the wiser.

[tonystarksfavoritedaughter]

Crazy Rich Avengers

Chapter 1:

Summary: You and Peter have been dating for a little over 6 months and have not yet met the Avengers. You were getting curious as to when you would meet them, until you get an invitation from Tony Stark himself, inviting you and Peter to Wanda and Vision’s wedding in Hawaii over Spring Break. You thought that it would be nice to go and finally meet everyone, but what will you think after you’ve been tested by the team?

*Based on the movie Crazy Rich Asians, each chapter will be a different scene from the movie. There will be 15 chapters. Also includes a GIF from the movie scene at the beginning of each chapter.

A/N: I’ve had this series planned for a little while now, and I just got this chapter done and edited and I feel really good about it. I didn’t know if anyone would want to read this until I posted about it yesterday and got some really good feedback, so thank you all who liked it and asked to be on the taglist so much! This chapter is the first scene of the movie, just some things are switched up to fit Peter and the Avengers. Just note that this one is kind of short and nothing much really happens in this chapter since it is just the beginning, but hopefully the next one is a bit juicer. 

Warnings: swearing and fluff 

Word count: 2166

Chapter 1

“Okay class, make sure to email me those presentations by Monday. I don’t want to keep reminding you guys over Spring Break because I’ve still got a life outside being a professor.” The whole class laughs at your professor’s bluntness. It kind of reminds you of your friend from high school, who would always spoke her truth, even when no one asked for it. You packed your things and waited for a clear space to exit your row. Who knew so many kids would be in a business class? Not you apparently. You were a culinary student at the Institute of Culinary Education or ICE for short. Your dream was to become a baker and own your bakery, hence the business class. This was your last class of the day, and you couldn’t wait to see your boyfriend. You two had been dating for a little over six months and it was the best six months you could ever ask for.

You exited out of the classroom, finally, and made your way towards the elevator. On the way down, you looked through your messages and saw that you had five new texts from Peter.

Peter: Hey babe! I’m out of my photography class now. (1:15)

Peter: Waiting by the couches (1:15)

Peter: I miss you (1:17)

Peter: I’m hungry. Let’s go to that pizza place for lunch. I really want some of their cannoli’s (1:20)

Peter: Y/NNN!!! WHERE ARE YOU??? (1:23)

The elevator stopped at the lobby and you walked over to Peter, who sprang out of his seat and practically ran over to you. He hugged with the force of what you assumed felt like ten tons just based on how tight he held you. You laughed at his clinginess and pushed him off of you.

“Dude my class ran like ten minutes late. What’s the matter with you?” you laugh.

He held your hand in his own and smiles at you. “Just missed you is all. Did you see my text about the cannoli’s?”

“Yeah I saw it.”

“And?” he asks hopefully.

“Aaaaaand what?” you played dumb just to see his cute pouty face.

“Can we get cannoli’s?”

“Yes, we can get a cannoli.”

“Ah! You’re the best! Cannoli’s!” he yells at an insane volume for someone who’s just walking down the street. This earns you both a weird look from the people on the sidewalk. You were about to kiss his cheek until he just took off down the street with your hand still in his. You guessed you never knew he liked cannoli’s so much. Maybe you should try out a recipe and make him some one day.

You get into the pizza restaurant and sit down across from each other and waited for the waiter to take your order. You order your drinks; Peter gets Diet Pepsi and you get a Sprite. Both of you talk about how your classes went and held each other’s hand while you talked.

“So, I’ve got to do this project for my class,” Peter began, “And my camera is at the Compound, so tomorrow I’ll be a little late getting home.”

“Okay, that’s fine. Oh! Speaking of which,” you slam your palms on the table, which makes Peter jump a little. “When am I going to meet them? I mean we’ve been dating for going on seven months now, and I still haven’t met them. And I know they know about me because I got a message from Nat telling me happy birthday two weeks ago.” You raise an eyebrow at him waiting for his answer.

“Speaking of said topic, that reminds me. We got invited to Wanda and Vision’s wedding. And it is next Friday in Hawaii, which is perfect because a) we don’t have classes because it’s Spring Break, and b) I know Hawaii is one of your bucket list places.”

Your jawed dropped for several reasons. One, it’s Wanda and Vision’s fucking wedding! You never met them, but from the way Peter talked about them, you could tell they were meant to be. You always thought that they were like what you and Peter had times one hundred.

“Are you serious? They’re having their wedding in Hawaii?”

“Yeah. They thought that since Mr. Stark – “

“What can I get you two today?” the waiter asked breathless. You didn’t even realize how busy they were.

You looked up at him, “I’ll have a slice of the cheese pizza please?”

“And I’ll have two slices of the meat lovers. And can I get three of your best cannoli’s please?” Peter smiled at the waiter as he wrote down your order.

“Alright that’ll be right out.” He walked away almost jogging to get your order in. Goodness they were slammed.

“As I was saying,” Peter continued. “Mr. Stark has one of those beach houses in Maui and so, they thought that it would be the perfect place for them to tie the knot.”

“Wow, so, we’re invited? Like we’re going to Maui and attending the wedding? And meeting everyone?” you asked now slightly worried.

“Yeah,” he drags out confused. “That’s what kind of what ‘You’re Invited’ means.”

“I know, it’s just…this will be the first time I’m meeting them and I always imagined it would be at a like Sunday dinner type of thing. Not a fucking Avengers wedding!”

“It’s okay, I know they’re gonna love you no matter what.”

You take a sip of your drink, “This is also works out for another reason because MJ has been asking us to come see her ever since she moved to Kahului.”

“All the more reason to go.”

You both get your food and Peter immediately starts on the cannoli’s that he’s been longing to eat and practically moans at the taste of them. You get the check and pay and tipped extra for your waiter, because they need to be paid way more than minimum wage. The two of you walk out and head home so you can spend the rest of the night together.

“So, when do we leave for Maui?” you ask, swinging your intertwined hands between the two of you.

“Umm, I believe on Saturday.”

Today was Thursday so that means that you only had tonight and tomorrow to pack for a whole entire week. “Shit! I have almost no clothes washed, are you kidding me?” you yell. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“I just found out this morning!” he yelled back.

“Okay, well it’s a good thing tomorrow I don’t have classes because now I have to do laundry all damn day.” You reach your shared apartment and go to change clothes and you go straight to the laundry room, faster than Peter could imagine. All of your good, cute clothes had to be air dried and so that’s what you did first. After half hour of folding, and drying, and hanging up clothes non-stop, Peter came in wrapped his arms around you.

“Baby, you’ve been here for forever, come sit down with me,” he pleaded.

“I will once I have all the clothes done, but until then,” you pat his cheek. “I can’t.”

He sighs an ‘okay’ and plants a kiss on your cheek and walks away. About twenty minutes later you had gotten all the laundry done and went to join Peter on the couch. He was watching reruns of Brooklyn 99 which was one of your favorite shows. He put his arms out and made grabby hands and you leaned into his touch. You laid your head on his chest with the rest of your body sprawled out on the couch. He put his arm around your shoulders and kissed the top of your head. You looked up and kissed his lips and sat up just a bit straighter. One of his hands went to the back of your neck and the other rubbed your thigh, and you relaxed even more into him. Your right hand carded through his hair and the other sat splayed on his peck, slightly gripping his shirt. You two stayed like this for what felt like hours, just basking in each other’s comfort. You pulled back to breathe and gave him one last kiss before going back to your original position, laying on him.

“What do you wanna watch?” He yawned.

“Well since your yawning and –“ you yawned this time. “And so am I, let’s just take a nap.”

He hummed in agreement and led you to your shared bedroom and he changed into just a pair of sweatpants. You laid down and he did shortly after. You turned, facing him as your chests were touching. You stared at him for quite a long time before you even realized that you were. His face scrunched up that was so cute you wanted to take a picture.

“What?”

“Nothing. You just look cute,” you said back.

“I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“Nope. I do,” he challenged.

“That’s impossible because I love you to Jupiter and back,” you kissed his nose, ultimately shutting it down because you were tired. School had kicked your ass this week and you hadn’t really had anytime to just lay with Peter. You scooted down a bit so, you could lay your head on his chest, your legs intertwined, as he held you against him so tight that nothing could slip in between you two.

The next morning you had woken up extra early to make some French toast for you and Peter. You got out the bread and butter and the rest of the ingredients and started cooking. Since you were the one who was in the culinary department, the silent agreement between you and Peter was that you would cook, and he would clean your mess. You tried to not make too much of a mess, because you weren’t that mean. After a couple more minutes you got breakfast done and at that exact moment you put the toast on the plate, Peter comes waddling out with his hair a mess. It was almost like it was scripted like a scene in a movie.

“I smelled French Toast,” he smiled.

“Mhm, I thought that I would be nice and cook breakfast for you this time.” You pecked his cheek and gave him the syrup.

“Eat up and get ready for a long day of packing suitcases, babe,” you winked at him.

“Oh boy.” You didn’t hear his sarcasm often, but when you did it always made you chuckle.

He went over to the couch and you followed setting up the coffee table and turning on Spongebob to watch as you ate. You turned towards him and smiled and received a kiss on the nose. Today was going to be a good day, you thought.

It was now four thirty in the evening and you and Peter were packing up all your belongings into your suitcases. “Okay so you need your swim trunks, flip flops, sunglasses, and what else?” You ask.

“Is that just for swimming?” You nodded. “Then yeah I think that’s it.” You went over to his drawer grabbing his trunks out along with your swimsuit. You had all your clothes spread out into separate piles consisting of swimwear, pajamas, nice shirts, casual shirts, and wedding attire. Peter grabbed all of his clothes and stuffed them into his suitcase and you did the same. After that you went to the bathroom to grab all extra stuff that consisted of teeth and hair products, and everything in that category. Peter went into the kitchen to the medicine and started to pack anything that might be needed for allergy’s and whatnot. You figured you would pack your purse of carry on items before you left tomorrow morning.

After two hours of packing and double checking, and once the bed was cleared, you flopped down face first and groaned. “I’m so exhausted,” you huffed.

“Aww, is my baby tired?” He asked this as he pressed feather-light kisses to your neck that always made you shudder.

“Yes,” you say as you awaited a kiss on the lips. He happily kisses you, slow and lovingly, and you feel like you could stay there for eternity. He pulls away for minute to catch his breath. “We should probably figure out what we want to do for dinner.”

“How ‘bout leftovers? There’s still some enchiladas or lemon pepper chicken in the fridge.”

“Ooooh, let’s do chicken.”

You get up from the bed to heat the chicken up in the oven. “Imma make some garlic cheesy rice too!” You shout from the kitchen.

“Sounds good, baby.”

You two make your dinner and eat in a comfortable silence, watching TV. You both decided to watch one more episode of Parks and Rec before calling it a night, and Peter figured it would be smart to go to bed early since you would both have a long day of checking flights and meeting the Avengers tomorrow; and that was tiring by itself.

Tag-List: @randomstufflol29​ @spideyspeaches​ @binnotjin​

[shurisneakers]

shut in [3]

Summary: When your high profile mission goes terribly wrong, you’re forced to hide in a safehouse with a man you’ve never met before. With seemingly nowhere else to go, you’re forced to work together to figure out who is trying to have you assassinated before it’s too late. (Sam Wilson x Reader, Hitman AU)

Warnings: cursing, implied abuse, ptsd, fighting over beds

Word count: 2.2k

A/N: every part i introduce more anonymous characters smh. i also appreciate feedback so if you would like to, please consider dropping me an ask or comment ly guys!! also if you want to be on the taglist, it’s mentioned at the bottom of the chapter.

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Previous Part || Shut In Masterlist

“Don’t make me shoot you, Wilson.”

“It doesn’t have to end this way, agent.”

“How’s it looking out there?”

“There’s been some talk. Apparently Serpentine isn’t very happy that their intel is dead. They’ve got people looking out for you everywhere.”

A frown adorned your face. Sam was leaning forward on his arms, head turned down as he listened to Ransone.

“How dangerous is it?”

“I would say that everyone’s a little wound up. Best not to go anywhere even a little populated.”

“Noted.” It would blow over in a while. The media coverage of Pierce’s assassination would die down with the changing news cycle soon.

“I can have someone pick you up wherever you are. Just tell me where.” 

“Don’t bother. We won’t be here for too long,” you responded, Sam nodding in agreement. Once it quietened down you could leave, go back to Ransone without blowing your cover.

“Whatever makes you happy. Just let me know when you’re out.”

The click of the call ending took with it the only noise in the room.

Sam picked up the phone to remove the battery, discarding it to maintain your security. Burner phones were useful, but you didn’t want to take any chances.

“Wait,” you cut in, holding your hand out for it, “I need to make another call.”

The both of you were seated at the dining table. A piece of paper lay in front of you, playing the dangerous role of being the mediator. 

You were trying to ration out your supplies and create a schedule as a way of finding middle ground. Things were more or less calm for the last two days, but the fight over the bedroom was wading into territory that could only be solved by a good old middle school fistfight.

Currently you were figuring out a meal plan so that you could establish some kind of routine. With bread as the only uniting factor, the other three components were going on a rotation. You had reached all the way till Saturday before running out of possible combinations.

“I’m just saying-”

“Don’t.”

“We’ve exhausted all edible options, it’s the only combination left-”

“I will not hesitate to fatally wound you.” You were only half kidding. The ridiculousness of the ideas he was proposing was entertaining, and you knew he wasn’t being serious. It was hard to catch a moment where he was. 

“Fine. But in case we get to the point where peanut butter and jelly is the only thing that’s left, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”

“I would rather die than shovel spoonfuls of plain jelly and peanut butter into my mouth.”

“Your survival game is weak,” he chided, tsk-tsking at you.

You only rolled your eyes at him, moving on to the next subject.

Bed.

“Easy, we just alternate days. You got the last two days, so I get the next two and then we just switch everyday.” Sam eased back in his chair, arms crossed behind his head leisurely.

“How long do you think we’ll be here?” you asked, writing down the plan he had just presented. The bed wasn’t queen sized with memory foam or any kind of privilege like that, but it definitely beat the couch with its odd lumps and depressions.

“A week tops. Anything more is just excessive.”

“Hello,” you said, voice low, even though you were well out of earshot of Sam. He was eying you from the living room window. If he was as good as he claimed he was, he’d know how to read lips and you couldn’t afford to have him do that.

“Code?”

You turned your back to the window, facing the large trees that loomed before you. “1993. It’s me.”

“Y/N?” He sounded suspicious, a little shocked, and you understood why he would be.

“Living and breathing.” You toed at a rock that lay ahead of you.

“Word on the street is that you’re dead,” he pointed out dryly.

“Not me; Pierce. I escaped. It was a trap.” When the rock you were playing around with escaped after a particularly hard kick, you started pacing up and down instead, “Ransone put a hit out on him because he thought he was leaking information.”

“How on earth did he come to that conclusion?”

“Don’t know. He was dead before we got there.”

“Who is ‘we’? You got someone there with you?” You didn’t realise it had slipped out during your conversation. 

“Another one of our guys. Apparently I was a backup in case he didn’t show up, but he did, so now we’re stuck together.” You averted your gaze to Sam who was still observing you from the window brazenly, intently. 

“Where are you?”

“We’re safe.” 

“Alright.” He sounded like he understood, albeit not entirely convinced. “Stay low.”

“Will do.”

With that you hung up the call, dropped the phone to the ground and crushed it under your boot heel. When you were convinced that it was sufficiently useless, you turned on your heel, making your way back.

You walked back into the house, beelining to the kitchen to make up for your missed lunch, only to be greeted with Sam sitting on the couch looking at you inquisitively.

“Who was that?”

“Nobody,” you answered straightforwardly, opening the cabinet to get two slices of bread.

“If it has somethin’ to do with this situation we’re in then I need to know who you’re talking to.”

“Just drop it. It has nothing to do with you.” You found the jar of peanut butter he had already opened, using a butter knife to spread it along the bread.

“Somehow I’m finding that hard to believe.”

“Believe what you must. I’m going to take a nap,” you answered evasively, chewing absentmindedly on the sandwich you had just made. You didn’t bother to look at him as you headed towards the bedroom.

“Hey now, hold on a minute. Who said you had bedroom privileges? You’ve been using it for two days.” You stopped in your tracks, face scrunching in annoyance. “If you’re keeping vital information about my life from me, then I think I deserve to not have a fuckin’ backache when I wake up in the morning.”

You quickly weighed the pros and cons in your head, imagining how the next few minutes would pan out if you just said ‘no’ and left. But in every imaginary argument you proposed, the bottom line ended with him prodding at you until he either got the information that he wanted or the bed.

Frankly, the bed was something you were willing to sacrifice to get him to stop meddling in your business. It seemed like the only reasonable way to get him off your ass.

“Fine.” You spun around to face him. “We’re making an arrangement.”

“Whoever has the bed has to forfeit TV privileges for that day.”

“Sounds reasonable. None of those three movies can be played more than twice in a row.”

That was more to preserve your sanity than anything. You had already seen each of them once, bordering on thrice for Die Hard. Sam’s fault, not yours.

“We should have a codeword. In case there's danger or something. Or maybe if you just want to be left alone,” Sam suggested, finger pointing to the blank space left at the end of the paper. “But it’ll be like solitary confinement since it’s so fuckin’ quiet here.”

Almost on instinct your mind flashed to images of dark cells. Quiet sobs. Blood stains on the wall, originating from clawing at it. Sunlight through one small window at the top. Utter loneliness except for yourself.

You could remember the soreness in your legs from curling up into a ball for hours, rocking back and forth. The smell of drain water collecting in the basement where the cell was.

Isolation.

“You got any suggestions?”

“Huh?” You forced yourself back to the present. Your knuckles had a dull ache in them from holding the pencil too hard.

“Do you have any ideas for a codeword?” Sam repeated, looking at you intently.

“No, nothing off the top of my head.” You shook your head, trying to regain focus. You loosened your grip on the pencil, letting it fall to the table.

“We’ll just leave it at ‘Brooklyn’ for the time being.”

“Yeah, okay,” you agreed to whatever he was saying. It was just a precaution in case something major happened. It was rather unlikely that you were going to use it anyway. 

Codewords weren’t uncommon in your business, but it was mostly used for missions or other professional standings. Regardless of being less adventurous than what you tended to work on, this was work at the end of the day. 

“Is that all?”

“Yeah, I think we’re done.” His chair scraped loudly against the ground as he got up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going out for a while. Need to shake off the possible osteoporosis.”

You didn’t bother asking where he was going, ears following his footsteps as he walked down the hall to the bedroom, probably to get his jacket that he hung up in the drawer.

You left the paper on top of the mini fridge, alongside the car keys and a few dollars you had nabbed in the hurry from Pierce’s house.

Staring around you at the silent room, you realised that there really wasn’t much to do. It wasn’t like you to have so much time on your hands. You could always go for a run or test out some of the weapons hidden here. 

You had the rest of the house to explore, plans to draw up, a post mortem to assess what went wrong on the mission, even though the last option wasn’t possible without Sam’s cooperation.

Fuck it, you decided. Couch it is.

Kicking your feet up, you grabbed the TV remote to flip to the news station. The town rarely had anything to report on but it would be worthwhile to know what exactly was available around. Possibly assimilate in the crowd in case you wanted to be hidden.

It took you a few minutes of mindless surfing through static channels till you found it. It seemed like a scene right out of a Hallmark movie; the reporter was holding a microphone to a child who looked like he understood nothing of what was going on.

You were barely paying attention as it flipped from segment to segment, other things taking precedence in your mind even though you willed yourself to relax. There really wasn’t much to make a note of other than a few good samaritans and how utterly boring the lack of content was. A few occasional glimpses of stores and other resources available in the background were the only interesting part.

You were starting to drift off by the time it reached the breaking news of the evening. Sam had already come back when the sky slipped into twilight. He barely acknowledged your form lazing on the couch, only offering you a greeting and a goodbye as he made himself his dinner to take to the room.

Your eyes were just about closing when the breaking news of that evening came in. It was all politics. People you knew from old missions waving and smiling their way to lead their country as if the dubious acts they committed behind the scenes to get there was erased.

Until you suddenly jolted awake, eyes wide open.

“Wilson. Wilson!” You hit the cushion furiously to get his attention when he didn’t respond the first time around.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

“What?” he yelled in response, mild irritation in his voice. You knew it sounded like you were shouting bloody murder even though no one was around other than you two, but you didn’t care.

“Look at this!” You couldn’t stop gawking at the screen. “Fuckin’ unbelievable.”

“What? What do you wa-” He stalked into the room, ready to tell you to stop yelling but stopped mid sentence when he finally saw what you were so concerned about.

“Reports claim that the victim was attacked early in the afternoon at his villa. Officers say they found multiple signs of a forced entry, following which he was shot dead. So far no arrests have been made but the police have since released photos of two suspects of whom, they claim, have reason to believe orchestrated the attack.”

On the right side of the screen flashed yours and Sam’s picture side by side. Old mugshots from a petty offence you committed years ago for which Ransone bailed you out.

“The pair are said to be on the run after escaping before law enforcement arrived. If you have any tips on the whereabouts of-”

You turned to look at Sam. His stare didn’t budge from the TV as they once again reminded the public what you both looked like.

Years of anonymity, working in the shadows and creeping around to avoid being recognised only to have the entire country know what you looked like.

“Well, shit,” he finally exhaled. “Somehow I think our stay here just got extended.”

Part 4