#this is a re-do on an older post from a few years ago

[goodnightmemes]

GLADIATOR (2000) SENTENCE STARTERS

❛ At my signal, unleash hell. ❜

❛ What we do in life echoes in eternity. ❜

❛ After two weeks on the road your incessant scheming is hurting my head. ❜  

❛ There is always someone left to fight. ❜

❛ The gods must have a sense of humor. ❜  

❛ A soldier has the advantage of being able to look his enemy in the eye. ❜

❛ Don't get too comfortable. I may call on you before long. ❜

❛ If only you had been born a man. What a Caesar you would have made. ❜  

❛ Let us pretend that you are a loving daughter and I, a good father. ❜  

❛ This is a pleasant fiction, isn’t it? ❜  

❛ I will not believe that they fought and died for nothing. ❜

❛ Will you accept this great honor that I have offered you? ❜

❛ With all my heart, no. ❜  

❛ You are the son that I should have had. ❜

❛ You are lying. I could always tell when you were lying because you were never good at it. ❜  

❛ Is it really so terrible seeing me again? ❜

❛ Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time I do what I have to. ❜

❛ I searched the faces of the gods for ways to please you, to make you proud. ❜  

❛ What is it in me you hate so much? ❜

❛ Your fault as a son is my failure as a father. ❜

❛ I would have butchered the whole world if you would have only loved me! ❜  

❛ Take my hand. I only offer it once. ❜

❛ At least give me a clean death - a soldier’s death. ❜  

❛ As your mother was there at your beginning, so I shall be there at your end. ❜

❛ Ultimately, we’re all dead men. ❜  

❛ As always, your lightest touch commands obedience. ❜

❛ Who are they to lecture me?  ❜

❛ It’s an idea, greatness. Greatness is a vision. ❜  

❛ I will give the people a vision and they will love me for it. ❜  

❛ Fear and wonder - a powerful combination. ❜

❛ He will give them death, and they will love him for it. ❜  

❛ ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?! ❜  

❛ I am required to kill, so I kill. That is enough. ❜  

❛ I wasn’t the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. ❜  

❛ Win the crowd, win your freedom. ❜   

❛ Do you believe you'll see them again when you die? ❜

❛ You will meet them again. But not yet. Not yet. ❜  

❛ I didn't know men could build such things. ❜

❛ All my desires are splitting my head to pieces. ❜

❛ They said you were a giant. They said you can crush a man’s skull with one hand. ❜  

❛ Go, and die with honor. ❜  

❛ We who are about to die, salute you. ❜  

❛ If we stay together, we survive. ❜

❛ Why doesn’t the hero reveal himself and tell us all your real name? You do have a name? ❜  

❛ I will have my vengeance in this life or the next. ❜  

❛ He shouldn’t be alive. This vexes me. I am terribly vexed. ❜  

❛ If they lie to me, they don't respect me. If they don't respect me, how can they ever love me? ❜

❛ I wouldn’t want to be your enemy. ❜  

❛ I knew your brother would send assassins. I didn’t know he would send his best. ❜  

❛ I have been living in a prison of fear since that day. ❜  

❛ The gods have spared you. Don't you understand? ❜

❛ Today I saw a slave become more powerful than the Emperor of Rome. ❜  

❛ They oppose him, yet they do nothing. ❜  

❛ Forget you ever knew me. Never come here again. ❜  

❛ You have a great name. He must kill your name before he kills you. ❜  

❛ We mortals are but shadows and dust. ❜

❛ What am I going to do with you, you simply won’t die. ❜  

❛ Are we so different, you and I? You take life when you have to, as do I. ❜  

❛ I only have one life left to take and then it is done. ❜  

❛ The time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end. ❜

❛ I will not make a martyr of him. ❜  

❛ I hope my coming here today is enough evidence that you can trust me. ❜  

❛ Let my men see me alive and you shall see where their loyalties lie. ❜

❛ I will not trade one dictatorship for another! ❜

❛ Because that was the last wish of a dying man. ❜  

❛ Do you remember what it was to have trust? ❜

❛ It’s a dream, a frightful dream… life is. ❜  

❛ You risk too much. ❜  

❛ I have much to pay for. ❜  

❛ I am tired of being strong. ❜

❛ Was I very different then? ❜  

❛ I have felt alone all my life, except with you. ❜  

❛ Sometimes royal ladies behave very strangely and do very odd things in the name of love. ❜  

❛ He was betrayed, by those closest to him… by his own blood … they whispered in dark corners and went out late at night and conspired and conspired… ❜  

❛ Tell me what you have been doing, or I shall strike down those dearest to you. You shall watch as I bathe in their blood. ❜   

❛ Are you in danger of becoming a good man? ❜

❛ As for you, you will love me, as I have loved you. ❜  

❛ Am I not merciful? AM I NOT MERCIFUL? ❜  

❛ A striking story. Now the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. ❜  

❛ I think you have been afraid all your life. ❜  

❛ Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back. ❜  

❛ That makes us brothers, doesn’t it? Smile for me now brother. ❜  

❛ There was once a dream that was Rome, it shall be realized. ❜  

❛ Is Rome worth one good man’s life? We believed it once. Make us believe it again. ❜  

❛ I will see you again. But not yet, not yet… ❜

[skykind]

A Clone Wars Episode Deep Dive

I didn't discover The Clone Wars fandom until 2021 and only started watching the show in mid-2023 (finished a few months ago), and I want to discuss and analyze all sorts of odds and ends—years after most people watched. This includes cool stuff in episodes I think some fans understandably skip when doing re-watches and therefore no longer remember well, but I’m digging into one of them anyway. So, have a long post about S2:E11, "Lightsaber Lost," and then come talk to me about it if you’d like!

This episode is saying three things at once, and the closer you get to the symbolic message meant for mostly adult audiences, the wilder things get.

The literal plot: Ahsoka’s lightsaber is stolen, and she recovers it with the help of a Jedi elder who teaches her life lessons along the way.

The morality tale for young viewers: gun control (a bold choice).

An eerie interlude for older viewers: A pair of brief scenes—only 45 seconds or so in length combined—communicate the future purge of the Jedi order via symbolic visual storytelling and a speech that’s being broadcast in the background. No dialogue required.

I'm going to focus on this third bullet point, but I also recommend a re-watch for the gun control angle. (Hint: if you think the writers are only arguing for handling guns responsibly, you haven’t taken the Jedi’s current context into account; also, the writers aren't referring to literal in-universe guns—Ahsoka’s lightsaber is the gun.)

Back to the episode’s message for older viewers: Split over two scenes, the audience watches Ahsoka chase a bounty hunter in possession of her lightsaber, then the bounty hunter partially damage and destabilize an enormous levitating billboard so she can get away from Ahsoka, and finally Ahsoka tumble down and precariously cling to the billboard’s screen. The billboard shows Palpatine delivering a—likely prerecorded—speech that is meant to sound supportive of the Jedi, but is instead priming Coruscant residents to believe anti-Jedi rhetoric; just before this two-scene sequence ends, Palpatine also begins to explain why he needs more executive power in order to support the Jedi.

It's great to pinpoint an example of Palatine's propaganda, but what does the visual storytelling communicate, with this speech for a backdrop?

Note: the text of Palpatine’s speech, shown in captions in the following screenshots, is not in alt text as that would chop the speech up between image descriptions, and is instead in a single paragraph after the final screenshot.

Palpatine's Speech

"I have no doubt that the Jedi are doing their very best to ensure the safety of every citizen in the Republic. The accusations that the Jedi created the Clone War to give themselves more power over the government is absurd and I will not stand for it."

Ahsoka as Symbolically at Palpatine's Mercy

After a scene break, Palatine's speech picks up mid-sentence and we see just how small and vulnerable Ahsoka is compared to Palpatine's soaring and vast projection. She appears entirely at his mercy, and somewhat at the mercy of Coruscant as well.

Palpatine's Speech, Resumed

"…Count Dooku and his droid army. To support the Jedi's efforts in the war, I ask the Senate to pass these new laws, giving more jurisdiction…"

The Genocide to Come

As this speech is broadcast to Coruscant, the seemingly trustworthy and dependable Chancellor of the Republic symbolically collapses beneath Ahsoka and leaves her stranded over a chasm. All while Palpatine spreads propaganda that will eventually convince the public to support her people's genocide.

Perhaps the best way to describe this is:

An unarmed Ahsoka struggles to hang onto the edge of a high precipice, that precipice is a symbol for Palpatine—and in a few years, Palpatine will shove the entire Jedi order off the edge of a much higher cliff.

Given how the sheer visual scale of Palpatine in this second scene represents the power he can wield over the Jedi—as the staging emphasizes Ahsoka's relative smallness and her physical vulnerability—it's clear the Jedi will not be able to rescue themselves when this future betrayal comes; Palpatine has amassed too much power and put too many plans in place. And no one who's bought into Palpatine's propaganda will try to catch the Jedi when they go over the edge.

Ahsoka’s Survival

Ahsoka’s individual survival of Order 66 is signaled here by her ability to get off the levitating billboard, but nothing about the staging suggests this comes down to unique skill—any number of well-trained Jedi could have gotten out of her predicament when the right opportunity (a single speeder that veers out of its lane and passes unusually close to the screen) presented itself.

In both “Lightsaber Lost” and "Victory and Death" (S7:E12, see below), her survival involves flinging herself through open air (and into an out-of-place flying vehicle), a nice nod to Ahsoka’s association with flight and Morai, though I feel like that’s a coincidence (?) as of season 2. Or maybe not. I have no idea if Ahsoka’s symbolic associations—flight in the case of “Lightsaber Lost,” rather than Morai specifically—were planned out in advance.

What About the Propaganda?

Returning to season 2, we come to the final big-picture takeaway of the "Lightsaber Lost" scenes: I’ve referred to Palpatine’s speech as something that plays in the background because Ahsoka doesn’t pay attention to his propaganda, even though it’s literally in her face. What does this mean if we treat Ahsoka as a stand-in for the Jedi, and Palpatine’s speech as a stand-in for his growing threat to the Jedi?   In these scenes, Ahsoka first doesn’t pay attention because she’s trying to stay alive in precarious circumstances, just as Jedi across the galaxy are kept distracted from the big picture by trying to keep themselves, their Padawans, their troops, and civilians alive as war swallows up the galaxy. Then, Ahsoka is distracted by tracking the bounty hunter who has her lightsaber; in the context of this episode (which asks, ‘who should be allowed to use a lightsaber, and when?’), Ahsoka’s lightsaber also comes to represent Jedi’s efforts to fight the Clone Wars as ethically as possible. It presumably takes more time and effort to fight a war when you’re concerned with morals, at least when the opposition is perfectly happy to commit war crimes.   By tossing the Jedi into a war, Palpatine keeps them too busy to systemically search for the Master Sith (in addition to Sith stuff diminishing the Jedi’s ability to use the force), as their time is eaten up by upholding the equivalent of the Geneva and Hague Conventions (etc.) when almost no one else is, by protecting as many other lives as possible, and by staying alive.

And The Clone Wars communicates all of this in a minute! Though I’ll admit my final point about Ahsoka’s lightsaber representing ethical combat is a stretch. I love it when TV shows and movies make full use of visual storytelling, and The Clone Wars is fabulous at it.

Whew—and that’s that! I’m grateful if even a single person has read this far and would love to know what you think, but regardless, I had fun analyzing this episode and organizing my thoughts about it. Cheers to the Clone Wars fandom.

[booksandabeer]

Stucky, Fandom Longevity, and "Primacy Bias"

There’s this post that's been floating around the past few days about how the Stucky fandom in its heyday produced fic and art masterpieces like they were all collectively possessed by an unprecedented spirit of creative insanity. It’s a good, fun post and I agree with the person who wrote it. (not rb'ing because I didn't want to hijack their post with something that's only tangentially related).

It was indeed a magical time and the creative output in both quantity and quality in the two-year period following the release of CA:TWS is—with perhaps a few exceptions—unmatched by anything that I’ve seen before and since. However, going through the notes on that post, I noticed something that left me a little irritated and quite frankly sad since it is in congruence with, and to a certain extent the confirmation of something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

For one thing, there are so many people in the notes expressing sentiments along the lines of “it was such a wonderful time; I wish I could go back; I miss these fics; I want to read these fics again,” etc., etc., you get it. And it feels a little silly pointing this out, but…you can just do that? Almost all of these fics are still right there, waiting for you to be (re)read. Yes, a lot of people left the fandom after The Great Devastation of 2019, but their stories didn’t just disappear. It's not like there is now a big, black hole where the Steve/Bucky tag used to be on AO3. So, if you miss these fics and you want to revisit them—just do it. Chances are the authors will be delighted that people are still finding and enjoying their stories all these years later. And—since apparently this needs saying, too, judging from the notes on that post: A lot of people seem to be very concerned with losing ‘coolness points’ for openly admitting that they still miss the ship and often feel tempted to dip their toes back into the Stucky pool. I don’t know how to tell you this, but if someone tries to shame you for simply enjoying or missing something, they are an asshole. Not to mention that all this is happening on tumble.com—'coolness' doesn't exactly live here. And that is a good thing, to be clear. Fandom is not about being cool. It’s about being as enthusiastic, as silly, as absolutely fucking unhinged about the things you love as you want to be. So, stop caring what other people think and enjoy yourself.

The other thing is that there seems to be a pretty widespread misconception that the Stucky fandom hasn’t produced any good fanworks after 2016.

First, that is patently and demonstrably untrue. There is so much incredibly good fanfiction and fanart still out there. Not as much as back in the day, sure, but it still exists. And more is being posted every day! Even some of the OG Big Names are still around. One of the most beloved Stucky series that started all the way back in 2014 was updated as recently as December of last year. The artist, who I believe the op is referring to as creating ‘baroque’ paintings, posted their latest Stucky art not even two months ago.

Second, I find this “primacy bias” more than just a little insulting to the many hardworking and incredibly talented people who are still putting their blood, sweat, and tears into creating for this community. And it’s one thing if people who have long left the fandom believe or say something like this, but it’s frankly irritating when I see people who are still very much active—and therefore definitely should know better—feed into that same false myth. Yes, it sucks that the Stucky ship isn’t as big as it used to be, but that doesn't mean there isn't any 'fresh talent' to be found anymore. I’m also not saying we shouldn’t still celebrate and recommend older works—I do it all the time! And it sure as hell doesn't mean everyone has to reblog absolutely everything all the time, either. Your blog, your rules.

But maybe we should put a little more focus on the good things, on the creators and the community we have now, especially if we want that community to still exist in another ten years. I mean, imagine you’re a person who’s just gotten into the fandom (because yes, there are indeed still new people discovering Stucky all the time) and one of the first things you’re being told is “eh, nice that you're here, but you’re about 7 years late; the big party is already over.” Does that seem like a fun space to hang out in to you?

So. Let’s all—and I do not exclude myself from this because God knows, I love to complain—spend a little less time mourning the ‘good old days’ that are never coming back anyway, and instead focus our attention on enjoying and appreciating both the incredible treasure chest of an archive we have AND the wealth of high-quality art and fic that is still being created by this wonderful community every single day. With this in mind:

🥳🎊Happy Stucky Week 2023!!! 🎊🥳

*I want to make it very clear that this is a general thing that’s been on my mind lately and that I’m trying to work through here—probably not very coherently. I'm not trying to tell anybody 'how to do fandom' and I’m most definitely not vagueposting about any particular incident, person, or group in this fandom. This isn’t a callout post. It’s an I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this and I don’t know what else do with them post.

[audreyscribes]

"Sand Sugar" Young! Gaara x Older Sibling Figure! Reader- Naruto Fanfic

Author's Note: I was looking at my old devianart page, looking for an art I did years ago and I found the small amount of fanfic works I posted there. The basis of the story was too good and much like what I did for the Clarisse x Reader fic, I thought why not post it here? For archival purposes. So here it is. Please enjoy and thanks for reading! NOTE: This was originally once a "Gaara x Big Sister OC" that was posted in 2014 but I have re-edited it to be a Neutral Gender Reader fic instead. I am also not that deep into the Naruto fandom or too much of the lore. I did at one time watch all of S1 and S2, but that was years ago so don't expect too much.

You sighed as you walked through the Village hidden by Sand. It was one of those days that you had to walk around following your gut. After a while, you found yourself at the playground. You stared at the entrance of the playground, wondering if your subconsciousness wanted to bask in the nostalgia of a long gone childhood; before you had aspirations, before you realize the reality of living as an adult. 

Not knowing what to do else, you decided to lean against the wall, watching a group of kids play ball. Their laughter brought a small smile to your face, before you caught something in the corner of your eye. Your eyes wandered to a kid with red hair alone by his wholesome.

You stared at him before your eyes narrowed down in worry. Why was he out there alone? Where are his friends or his guardians? His parents or siblings? You did a quick scan around to have some indication of company belonging to the boy, yet nothing stood out to you. 

You heard the ball fly and your head turned back to the playground. The ball that the group of kids were playing rolled to the lonely kid as he stared at it like it was a foreign object. So foreign yet so familiar.

After a few seconds, he picked it up and seemed to want to give it back to the kids but you quickly caught the look of absolute fear and disgust, as they yelled something about a demon or some sort. They all ran away as the kid seemed awfully depressed as he watched the kids run away from him like he was going to kill them. 

Your heart clenched at the face he was making ad before you knew it, your feet had carried you over to him. You made sure to make your footsteps known before you gently touched his shoulder. Yet he jumped still as if he was spooked. His head whipped towards you and stared at you with frightened, wide eyes. The sand seemed to rattle and you thought it was the wind, but the voice in the back of your mind whispered something else.

You didn’t want to scare and agitate  him any further so you took a step back, hands up in the air with the best non-threatening gesture you could muster. You saw his tensed shoulders drop slightly and the agitated sand from before, seemed to go silent almost. A suspicion and realization was forming in your mind, but you were committed and crouched to his level. You gave him a smile, your hands still open for him to see.

He seemed to relax more, making you smile more. 

“Hey” you greeted first. 

“Hi…” he said, a bit afraid like he wasn’t used to talking to people.

“What’s your name?” you asked him.

“G-Gaara…” and you blinked at the name. So this was Kaze-Kage's son? From what you’ve heard, he has one of the tailed beast inside him; the Shukaku. Now you were starting to get the picture and the voice in your mind was becoming more right. 

“Hey Gaara.” you greeted once more, “My name is [first name].”

“Hi…” He said meekly.

“Why are you out here, alone?” you asked him, a bit worried. He looked down like he was about to cry. Immediately, you begun to panic while feeling like an idiot. Trying to cheer him up, you searched through your back pocket. It was a weak gesture but you grabbed a bunch of objects and held it out to him. He looked at your hand while you slowly revealed some candy to him.

“Here…want some?” you asked, stuttering with your heart beating against your chest with cold sweat prickling on your skin.

He stared at it before shaking his head. You were confused and more worried, as you kept up your appearance and tilted your head at him, “You don’t like candy?”

He shook his head, “No…I like candy.” He said, “But I don’t know if it’s poisoned or not.”

That threw you in for a loop as you blinked at him in surprise. He already knew about food having poison in them? This kid’s life must be tough. Was your thought before it transitioned to “man is this what being generations of ninjas have to deal with?" To the horrifying thought, “Oh dear Kami, someone has tried to poison before.”

You looked at the colourful sweets in your hand, pondered for a moment before you looked at him, “I promise there isn't any poison in them, but if you’re not sure, why don’t you pick a few out and I’ll eat it, okay?”

He stared at you before looking at your hand. He seemed to ponder and probably thought you were bluffing before pointing a few out. True to your word, he picked those up the most colourful candies and you opened your mouth. He slowly unwrapped one before dropping one inside. You closed it and chewed it, crunching it. You then grinned and tried not to show how you were going to regret this decision, “Come on, did I say to pick out a few more?” 

Gaara looked at you bizarrely before you opened your mouth waiting and he quickly unwrapped a few ones and it wasn’t long before your mouth was stuffed with candy. You then puffed your cheeks to exaggerate how much candy you had and imitating yourself as a hamster. Garra giggled and the sweetness of it almost made your heart burst (Nooo, it wasn’t the rush of sugar that was sitting in your mouth, what were you talking about?)

After a while, letting it dissolve, you then opened your mouth to show him it was all gone. You waited for a few minutes while playing Tic-Tac toe in the sand, before Gaara seemed to be convinced there wasn't any poison in it. He looked expectantly at the candy and you patiently held them out. He seemed to ponder the flavours and colours before he picked one up and tentatively ate it. His whole face brightened up as you giggled. Without thinking, you softly patted his head as he seemed surprised but quickly seemed to enjoy it. You tried not to let your face falter as you felt your heart breaking at the reaction, even more so as he tentatively held your hand to lean his head more.

You got up before you held your hand to him, leading him home. A ninja appeared in front of me as Gaara yelled “Yashamaru”.

You merely let go of Gaara’s hand as he ran up to him. Seeing as he knew the ninja and he was happy, you began to leave; now that Gaara is now with his guardian.

(you wondered where he was this entire time…was he watching you this entire time? But if that was the case, then he should’ve appeared earlier… questions begun to fill you and the sugary sweetness of the candy in your gut begun to turn bitter-)

You turned around to go back to your own home and give yourself a long teeth brushing session, when you felt a tug on my leg. You stopped to look down and saw Gaara, looking at you with his light wide, turquoise eyes. You then knelt down to his level as he gripped your arm like an actual child. You smiled softly at him, tilting your head to the side as you saw Yashamaru not too far away. “What’s wrong Gaara?”

He looked down like he was struggling to say something but you waited. He looked up like he was a bit hesitant but he finally got the courage to speak, “Will I ever see you again [f/n]-Nee/Nii?” 

You blinked at Gaara; thinking me as his older sister already but you merely smirked at him. You messed the top of his head, tickling him. “Of course! All you have to do is call me and you’ll see me~” you said, giving him a grin. 

He beamed before giving me a hug. You admittedly froze for a moment before you returned back with a warm hug and a kiss to the forehead before he ran to the ninja waiting for him. You stood back up while waving him good bye as he did the same. (You could see Yashamaru silently observing and deducing you from over his shoulder and you had a feeling you were going to be interrogated later).

When they were out of sight, you merely sighed to yourself before smiling. Whatever it may be, you had a feeling you were going to this kid no matter what, for a long long time.

[milaisreading]

🌱🩷: 6th story is here, you all! Hope you like it!

Pairings: Itoshi Sae x Isagi's sis!Yn (Post Blue Lock tl)

Warnings: Reader uses she/her.

⚽️Blue lock belongs to Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura⚽️

🎄Dec 15th🎄

"Good game, you two." Luna smiled as he patted Isagi and Sae's backs. The duo silently nodded, one giving of a slight smile as he thanked the older, while the other let out a indifferent 'Thank you.'

Another game between Barcha and Re Al had finished, with the 2nd team winning. Both players showed a different level of excitement. While Isagi was elated, this being his first match and win in the new team, Sae was completely stoic about it. It was just another game for him at that point.

"Say, want to get some food?" Sae asked as Luna and the others left to go to God knows where. Isagi looked back at the older and shook his head.

"Nah, my big sis and I have plans to go and eat something together. Thank you for the invite." Isagi said politely, surprising Sae with his first statement.

"(Y/n) is here? I thought she was in Italy with Oliver." Sae said bluntly. Now it was Isagi's turn to look at Sae in surprise.

"Since when are you on 1st name terms with my sis? Do you two know each other?"

"No.... uh, you mentioned her a few times. The 1st name must have slipped out." Sae said, trying to rationalize it with Isagi.

'Right. He doesn't know that (Y/n) and I met each other years ago.' The red-head thought as the younger looked at him suspiciously for a moment.

"Ook? But it's still weird-"

"Yoichi!! That was a great game!" The younger got cut off by a very familiar voice and someone pulling him into a tight hug.

"Big sis! Did I make you wait too long? Sorry about that." Isagi smiled, turning his attention to (Y/n), Sae only watched them silently.

"Ah, not really. I had to go to the toilet and freshen up a little." (Y/n) said calmly, then pointed behind herself.

"Oh! By the way, those kids over there asked for you. They seem to be big fans." Isagi, intrigued, looked over to where she was pointing. And, true to her words, a group of kids were looking over at Isagi while holding papers and pictures.

"Uhm.. big sis..." Isagi said nervously.

"Just go and make their day, striker." She laughed, nudging Isagi into their direction. (Y/n) kept on looking at her brother as he approached the group and started talking to them, excited how relaxed her brother looked.

"So, you are here.... In Madrid." The older Isagi jumped in surprise as Sae moved to stand next to her, looking bored as usual.

"Ah~ Sae-san! Yeah, I am. Good game, you did amazing as usually." (Y/n) smiled at the taller, who silently nodded his head.

"Thanks. I wasn't much into the game tho, Barcha are easy to beat when they play against us."

"Really? They were doing good, too." (Y/n) said back.

"Maybe to watchers. For us players it was a different situation." Sae said back, causing the girl to blush in embarrassment.

"True... But,still! Amazing job. You and Yoichi make a solid duo on the field."

Sae nodded along, glancing at the younger Isagi before looking back at the older.

"Yeah, I am thankful you made him agree to join Re Al, and not some other team. But, enough of that. How have you been? I thought you were in Italy with Aiku." Sae held himself back from gagging at the other's name. He hated him ever since (Y/n) and Oliver got together again.

"Oh... I have been fine, and Oliver is back in Italy. We... we kind of decided to break it off." (Y/n)'s face dropped for a moment, something Sae took notice off.

"You two broke it off?" Sae repeated again, trying to hide the slight smile at those words. Now was not the time to be petty.

'I will do that later.' He thought.

"Yeah, we just didn't work out. I came here to Madrid for a little change because of that." She said absent-mindedly. Sae raised an eyebrow at that as an idea hit him, but as he was about to say something, the redhead noticed Isagi returning to where they were.

"Say, your number didn't change, right?"

"Hm? No, why?" (Y/n) asked, but before she got an answer Isagi came back.

"Sis, can we go and eat now? I feel like dying." Isagi said, grabbing (Y/n)'s wrist and pulling her away.

"Sure, but Sae-san, would you like to join us?" (Y/n) glanced at the older Itoshi, who shook his head.

"Nah, I am not hungry. Enjoy yourselves, you two."

Sae sent them a mysterious smile and turned to walk away, confusing the two Isagis.

"I will never understand Sae-san." Isagi pouted as (Y/n) chuckled a little, watching as the redhead walked off.

"True, but I guess it's part of his charm."

☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄

Later that night, (Y/n) was back in the apartment her and Isagi were sharing for now, looking at her plans for tomorrow.

'So, tomorrow I have my first 3 shoots... I hope this goes well.' (Y/n) bit her lip nervously. Was this a good idea? Sure, modeling sounded like a lot of fun and the manager she found said she had a good future in this field, but...

"It's also so risky...but I need to find a job. I can't depend on Yoichi here." She sighed. (Y/n) was about to put the phone away when a message popped up.

"Huh? Sae?" (Y/n)'s eyebrow raised, remembering she never really deleted his number in all these years.

'Let's go and get lunch tomorrow. I have a day off.'

(Y/n) looked at surprise at the message, which confused her a little. Why was she surprised? Sae was always straight forward. And it's not like lunch meant anything. He probably just wants to thank her for helping him. Or, so she thought.

🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️

The next day both met up at a local restaurant that wasn't far away from (Y/n)'s last shoot. The lunch had to turn into a dinner as (Y/n) finished later than expected.

"I am sorry again-"

"You apologized like 5 times. It's fine, I know that you can't control these things." Sae said calmly, finding her flustered expression both amusing and adorable.

"Still, let me pay for the food as an apology-"

"No. Now, let's talk about something else. Did you adjust well in Madrid?" Sae quickly changed the subject, resting his head on his hands.

"Yeah, I would say I am doing well so far. I have been here for a month and I can't complain. I just hope this modeling thing works out, so I can stop burdening Yoichi."

"I am sure it will. I mean, you do have the looks for it, and brain, too." Sae said nonchalantly.

"Thank you!" (Y/n) said back, fighting back another blush.

"I just don't want to go home yet... you know."

"Mhm." Sae nodded along as she spoke a little bit more.

"But enough about me. What about you, Sae-san? Aside from football, how has life been?"

"It's been good. Rin and I have been talking more and more lately."

"Really?! I am so happy to hear that. It would have been a shame if you kept that icy attitude around each other." (Y/n) smiled as Sae nodded along.

"It's been better. In fact, my life got a little bit better since yesterday."

(Y/n) blinked a little, surprised by the low tone he used.

"Well, I guess winning against your rivals does that." She said back and Sae fought the urge to slap his face.

'This girl is so oblivious!'

🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️

This all happened exactly 6 months ago. By now, it was already December and Madrid was all but decorated and prepared to celebrate the coming holiday. Isagi had left the capital to visit Japan, and most of the team went back home. The only one who still stayed in Madrid was Sae. (Y/n) had planned to leave om the same day as her brother, but was held back by a last minute shoot. In the past six months her career has taken off too. Granted, it did take a while till some brands started hiring her to model their things, but it happened, and (Y/n) couldn't have been more greatful. She would still get flustered when Sae would tease her about a new billboard picture of herself. Speaking of which...

'Sae...' (Y/n) held back a blush as she walked towards their meeting spot. A small and secluded area at the Christmas market. Over the months they grew closer, and although (Y/n) didn't want to fall in love again, she did. Was it Sae's sense of humor? His personality? Looks? Or all of them together? (Y/n) really didn't know what exactly made her fall for him, but she did.

And although she wanted to say how she feels, she couldn't bring herself to do so. After the disaster with Oliver, she didn't want another one.

"That's what I get for forgiving a cheater..." (Y/n) sighed sadly, feeling her heart break a little.

'But... I really like Sae...'

🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️🎄☃️

"You... you really didn't have to. I didn't get you anything." (Y/n)'s red was tomato red as she stared at the bouquet of roses that Sae gave her. Both were sitting on a bench, not looking at each other, only sending short glances once in a while.

"It's just flowers, you don't have to get me anything." Sae said softly, glancing at the her.

'Cute.' He smiled behind his scarf.

"But still, thank you. I didn't get flowers in years." (Y/n) smiled happily, causing Sae's smile to drop a little.

"Didn't Aiku buy you them? I thought boyfriends did that."

Surprised by both his words and the bitter tone, (Y/n) kept quiet for a moment.

"No... not really. But, I never really asked him to buy me them either." She answered truthfully.

"That's a stupid excuse. He shouldn't wait for you to tell him that, no wonder he is alone."

"Sae, aren't you being too harsh on him now?" (Y/n) asked softly, looking over at the older Itoshi. To her surprise, the footballer had quite the scowl on his face.

"I think I am not harsh enough. I mean, he cheated on you. He deserves it."

"It's in the past, I am over it."

"But I am not." Sae argued back, causing (Y/n) to go silent. The older Itoshi took this opportunity to finally say what he thought for years.

"I wasn't honest with you for all this time. Mainly because I know you just got out of a shitty relationship,but also because I didn't want to put all of my emotions on you at once." Sae took as deep, (Y/n) still looking at him.

"I liked you for a while now, and I distanced myself when you announced that you and Aiku are back together. I knew he would do something stupid again, but I really hoped I was wrong. For your own sake, (Y/n). But now, after all of this, I really can't hold it in me." Sae took a deep breath and looked away again. (Y/n) felt her heartbeath quicken as she registered his words.

'He...he likes me?!' She thought.

"I don't expect you to like me back or anything. I just hope we can stay friends if you don't feel the same. And, I hope you know that guys like Aiku aren't worth your time." Sae finished as (Y/n) looked away. Her emotions were all over the place, it was all so overwhelming. But amidst all the turmoil, somethings she couldn't deny were the relief and happiness she felt from Sae's words.

'I am such an idiot... but it had to be said. I would have gone insane if I kept it all to myself.' Sae thought. (Y/n) moved the bouquet to the side and inched closer to Sae, resting her head against his arm.

"I like you, too. I am glad it's mutual." Her words were quiet, but loud enough for Sae to hear them. He felt a soft smile grace his face as he leaned into her.

"Thank you..."

[lightofraye]

I had this as an ask--I think the person was going around a bit to get some folks' input, which doesn't bother me. But I decided to grab the full screenshots and point to the part that had sparked a conversation among some folks. I even had a couple of followers ask for my thoughts.

Now... this did come up in a little group chat amongst me and a few others. We all have thoughts on it.

Oh I should probably go to the part I'm talking about. My bad.

The tweeter--HanmeiCui--tried to capture all that was said during Radio Company's little BBQ dinner during AustinCon. And folks were intrigued by Number 8.

"Fans asked him what he misses most about Texas and he said, I don't? I am still here all the time. I am here now, I was here a few weeks ago and then a few weeks before that. My whole family's still here my mom and dad are in Dallas I often visit them."

HanmeiCui also added: "So I kind of… I didn't catch what he said after that but I got the idea that he thinks of himself more like commuting, instead of permanently moved out."

Given he doesn't have any property (none that we have to officially verify ourselves with public records anyway) in Austin or Texas as a whole... FBBC is... something. Sold, not sold, either way, the brewery won't be back. Maybe a small taproom to keep incompetent brother-in-law Gino busy after he ran FBBC into the ground. Ahem. Yes, there is a house on the FBBC property but... near as we can tell, no one lives there.

The Ackles sold the rest of their properties--the condo, the lake house, etc. Also sold the Colorado condo.

Near as any of us could tell... no properties in Texas.

It had been largely assumed that if Jensen did visit his parents, it was likely without Danneel in tow. So if Jensen does visit often as he indicated, he may just be staying at a hotel, a friend's guest room (Steve does have a place in Austin), or the like.

I mean, Papa Ackles is 75 now. (Oh dang, his father is just a couple of years older than mine.) I imagine Jensen would want to see his parents a bit more. And for a while, he had the free time to do so.

A lot of folks have interpreted the statements in a few ways. One was a kind of professional "He's trying to keep the ol' boy Texan persona" going. Another was "Maybe he's trying to get re-established back in Texas without the wife." A third was "Maybe he has a place in secret in Texas"!

My thoughts?

I want to believe it's number two--getting re-established in Texas without the wife. (Come on, you know I'm an anti-Danneel. Why are you reading my stuff?) He's certainly made a few decisions this past year and a half that have me poking at the game board of life and going "Hmm...."

Such as his Social Media changing from a mix of family and business to strictly work posts (and frustrating his stans in the process, heh); such as Danneel going completely radio silent on her IG (but still commenting on others, hmm); such as selling all of FBBC without a new location in place; buying a mansion across the darn country and so far away from most of his friends and family; to seemingly abandoning CMP to Danneel to destroy.

There's still a few things we're not seeing. A few things we're not aware of. I could speculate until my face turned blue. For now, I'm content to sit and wait and observe the chess board.

[ladylooch]

Birthday Suit - [Mack X David]

A/N: Happiest of birthdays to our 👢 anon! We are so grateful to you for providing us with Our Little Family! Personally, I'm grateful for you support, friendship, and always talking AUs in the DMs. I hope you have a wonderful birthday. Please know that you are loved and appreciated here 😘

Timeline wise, Mack and David have been hooking up for a few weeks at this point, but are not dating. 

Word Count: 4.3k

Late on a Friday night in New York City, Mackenzie Hischer stuffs the gold key to her apartment unit into the lock, flipping it open and dashing into the darkness. The minute the apartment air wraps around her skin, she feels herself beginning to decompress. She just spent the last six hours smiling and laughing, shaking hands with sponsors, to help keep her job funded for the next year. She knows it was all a huge success, with discussions beginning to happen as early as next week for more features she will do later in the year. At this rate, her schedule is almost completely full, which is impressive for a first year journalist in her field. 

Her right hand wraps around the heel of her red pump, sliding it off her foot. She drops down three inches, then pulls the other one off. Her bare feet savor their freedom, ceasing the non-stop cramping she has been trying to shake off since hour three. Mack  moves to her bedroom, throwing herself onto her bed in a tired heap. She pulls her phone out, beginning to scroll through the 50 notifications she has from various apps. 

The first place she goes is to Messages. She bites her lip, not seeing anything worth responding to right now. She clicks into her message from David. The last time she heard from him was three days ago after she stopped by for a post-game romp. He had asked her to stay, she said no, so he asked her to text him when she got home that night. His last message was:

Glad you’re safe. Sleep well 😘

She re-reads the message again, then sighs, flipping over to Instagram to doom scroll through her friend’s various Switzerland themed posts. She checks the time, realizing most of them are getting ready to start their Saturdays. Photos of European markets, the ski slopes, and pastries fill her feed until she gets to a post from the New York Rangers, wishing their #14 a happy birthday. She perks up, slowly moving back into a sitting position. 

It’s David’s birthday.

He didn’t mention that when she was him last, nor has she heard anything from him today. She double checks the date on the post, then contemplates. Should she text him? Should she quick try to order something for him to have ready for when she sees him next? Ugh no. That’s not appropriate. She scrolls past the post, not sure how to handle this new information. Her sister posted a picture with David and Stella, saying happy birthday to Stella’s favorite Ranger. Mack chuckles at Connor’s pouty response on his wife’s post. She hovers over the heart button, then likes it. She scrolls up to the Rangers post and likes that too, then takes a screenshot. 

Before she can think it through fully, Mack sends the picture to David.

You up, birthday boy?

Mack tosses her phone to the end of the bed, closing her eyes to give them a rest while she waits to see where the rest of her night is going.

I’m older than you, but not that old.

Mack giggles. Her body awakens at fleeting thoughts of the last time his hands were on her. The sex keeps getting better and better every time they have each other, surprising considering how glorious their first time was. If Mack was honest, she’s starting to crave his skin on hers at the most inappropriate times, but tonight isn’t one of them.

Are you up for one more birthday present?

Mmmm, what do you have in mind, Mackncheese?

Mack bites her lip, looking over at her dresser where various, unused pieces of lingerie are resting in a drawer. No she doesn’t have a gift he can take home with him, but she has herself, willing and interested. She is thankful her makeup is done and presentable. All she needs to do is put on a little more lipstick, then she changes into a blue teddy she’s been wanting to wear since her spontaneous purchase of it in Paris. 

Going with modestly, she takes a few pictures with her silk robe, letting it fall slightly off her shoulder so he can see what’s underneath. 

Any interest in coming this way?

Give me twenty minutes.

She smirks at his instant response, then falls back onto the bed. Men are so easy. Every minute passes painfully slow. Her heart rate accelerates then evens out. Her stomach dips and swells in anticipation of seeing him. This all feels dangerously like crush territory, but she figures that’s normal. They are regularly hooking up, so it’s natural to be excited about seeing him.

When fifteen minutes have passed, she gets up, heading out to the living room to wait for him in the kitchen after pouring herself a quick glass of wine. She sucks it down, then runs her tongue over her teeth, feeling the warmth spread out from her chest to the rest of her body. It’s a minuscule buzz that takes away any waining apprehension about letting him see her like this. 

Ron buzzes up to her apartment, asking if she is expecting a “David Carlson” again. Mack blushes but allows Ron to send him up. She adjusts the tie of her robe, then waits for his confident knock on her door. A smirk stretches her lips, then she rolls her neck, allowing her greedy need to begin to consume her body. All she wants is for him to touch her tonight, stroke a fire and frenzy in her core, put it out, then leave her to fall asleep in a satisfied, uninterrupted heap. 

Mack opens the door for him. He grins at her, stepping forward immediately to carefully back her into the apartment again. He kicks the door shut with a slam that makes Mack jump a bit.

“Sorry.” He mumbles against her lips. “Gonna kill me sending pictures lookin’ like this.” Mack holds onto his huge shoulders as he continues to walk them backwards. Her body buzzes with his hands on her hips. The back of her knees hit the arm of her couch. He sets her down onto it, then pulls apart the satin robe. 

“I didn’t know it was your birthday today.” Mack murmurs. “I would have bought you-”

“I don’t like my birthday.” He cuts her off. “Plus this is a nice present.”

Warmth fills Mack’s chest as he steps back to take her in. Her pink nipples are budding through the blue lace, catching his attention. Then he glides his gaze the rest of the way down her. He takes her hand, then pulls her back into a standing position. His hands come to her hips, twisting her so her back is to him. 

He kisses the vertebrae of her neck, then raises his fingers to the collar of her robe, slowly maneuvering the silk down her warm skin. Mack shivers at being fully exposed. The robe gets tossed onto the plush, arm chair, then he steps back again. Mack stands there for a moment, feeling his hot gaze troll over the curves of her ass. She looks over her shoulder at him, watching as he drags his eyes begrudgingly from her ass to her face. 

He steps forward, bringing her lips to his at that angel. He pulls her hips flush with his, letting her feel his hard arousal press into her ass. David forces his tongue into her mouth, lapping and swirling to taste her fully. The fingers of his right hand glide past her stomach, feeling over her belly button, then hovering above her clothed core. He pulls away before he presses the tips against her clit. Mack’s eyelids flutter, losing the battle to stay open. It’s only been three days, but she is drunk on how he touches her.

At this rate, he is ruining her for anyone else, but Mack doesn’t particularly care. 

David’s lips cover hers again. His other hand slides up her chest to grip the side of her neck. He holds her head steady as he rolls two fingers into her clit and makes love to her mouth. Mack’s body leans into his, her back pressing to his strong chest. She brings a hand behind her butt, giving his thick shaft a squeeze. David grinds his hips into her hand as she sighs a moan to him. His fingers slide from her clit to her entrance. He moves the wet fabric aside there, feeling how soaked she is for him. 

He pulls away from her mouth in a lust haze, watching the widening and softening of her eyes as he slips a finger inside of her. 

“Fuck, honey.” He groans when she drags her swollen bottom lip between her teeth. “You’re going to look so good getting fucked on this couch.” He grins down at her, then kisses her softly while sliding his finger out of her. He pushes at her hips, but Mack shakes her head, turning in his grasp.

Her hands work their way from his shoulders down his chest as she falls to her knees in front of him. Her eyes trail down from his to his zipper. She licks her lips, kissing his bulge over the denim of his jeans. David holds her face as she slides him from his unbuttoned pants. She rolls her hand up the hard velvet, then kisses the tip to hear him hiss. While maintaining eye contact, she lays her flattened tongue at the base of his cock then licks a straight, seductive line up. She is patient in her pursuit to his tip, hugging the thick vein at the bottom of his shaft until his head knocks back towards the ceiling, then she sucks his pulsing head between her lips. His knees lock into place and he sways slightly forward, resting a hand on top of her head for balance.

“F-fuck.” He blinks, exhaling heavily, then looking down at her face. Her wet cheeks collapse inwards as she sucks him harder. His head rolls back towards the ceiling again. Mack increases the tempo, adding her hand around the remaining length that won’t fit in her mouth. She strokes her hand and mouth simultaneously. “Honey, you’re a star.” He murmurs to her.  “You suck my cock like it’s your favorite thing to put in your mouth.”

“Maybe it is.” She murmurs, sucking his tip while letting her hand fall away to grip one of her breasts. 

“Holy…” He trails off, rubbing at his jaw. He collects his bottom lip against his pointer finger, pulling it down as he moans again. Mack relaxes her mouth more, taking in as much of him as she physically can. His hand comes to the back of her head, resting there respectfully as he praises her. “So fucking good, honey. Shit, I could come down your throat right now.” He moves his fingers around to her chin, cupping it and pulling her off him. “But that’s not why I’m here.” His eyes darken.

“Why are you here?”

“To hear you scream my name while you ride me.” He smirks, giving her his hand to help her back to her feet.

“Sure, but only because it’s your day.” She teases, taking his hand and leading him towards the hallway to her bedroom. David raises an eyebrow at her taking him to her bed. He hasn’t been there yet. They’ve mostly fucked and fooled around on her couch. But tonight, Mack wants the comfort of her King mattress, not to awkwardly fumble around on the couch.

Mack looks around her bedroom with fresh eyes, realizing how feminine it probably looks to him. It’s mostly white, with accents of pastel blues and pinks. The comforter is huge and cozy, perfect for cold nights like this in the winter. David flips the light on when they get in. Their hands drop as Mack goes to the side of the bed, watching him as he soaks in her space. He fingers a fake plant coming out of a vase on her dresser, then chuckles at her with a questioning look.

“It’s art.” She cuts him off before he can say anything.

“Sure, honey.” He murmurs, then goes to the picture on her dresser of her parents and sisters. He places it face down. “Not gonna let Captain Hischier see what I’m about to do to his daughter.” Something about the gentle respectiveness of this entire moment has a searing heat sizzling in Mack’s core. She watches him look round the room, noting the art on the walls, the soft rug beneath the bed and the plush, coziness she has created by filling her bed with pillows. He’s so fucking sweet and hot and good. Mack can’t hold back the urge to touch him, stretching her fingers out anxiously by her hips. 

David turns back towards her and Mack rushes around the bed to reach for him. They meet in the middle with a renewed frenzy of hands and lips. Their heavy breathing engulfs the room as they touch each other, awakening a new urgency. 

“Smells good in here.” He murmurs as he backs her up.

“It’s a vanilla candle.” She breathes out.

“Mmm, sweet like you, honey.”

He reaches his hands under her thighs, lifting her up onto the bed easily. He crawls on between her legs, forcing her back towards her pillows. When she doesn’t move fast enough, he picks her up around the waist, hauling her with him, then drops her onto her pillows. Together, they shove them off the bed, letting the decor fly to the left and right so they can get comfortable together. He grips her chin, kissing her deeply, letting his mustache tickle at her nose before he kisses over to her jaw, yearning for her throat so he can feel her moan vibrate on his mouth while he grinds his bare bulge between her legs. 

“As much as I love this… it’s gotta go.” He smirks, pulling off the strap of her top. He kisses the line it dug into her shoulder, then follows the falling cup down to her nipple. He sucks it into his mouth, releasing it with a slurp, then repeats those actions with the other side. 

His hands drag the teddy down her body, revealing new slices of her skin to kiss. Mack dashes her fingers through his hair as he licks back up her stomach. He hovers over her mouth again, smiling when she takes his hard cock in her hand. 

“Had to take a break there.” He murmurs, thrusting his hips forward into her hand.

“You about done?” She whispers. 

“Mhm.” He kisses her nose, then rolls to the side of her to take off his pants, but not before grabbing a sleeve of condoms from his back pocket. He rips one off, then slaps it in her awaiting palm. He tosses the rest onto her nightstand. Mack raises to her knees. David brings a hand to the back of her knee, then trails it up her thigh to her ass. He massages the full cheek there, watching her hand roll the latex down his shaft. He adjusts it slightly at the tip then pats her butt to hop on. 

They watch each other as David grips the base of his shaft for her, guiding her wet heat down him. Their mouthes drop open in unison, little noises spilling out as she settles down on him. 

“Oof.” Mack mutters. David notes her discomfort, lifting her up gently, keeping her up at a lesser depth until she moves his hand away. She settle down on him completely again, then moves her hips forward and back along his abdomen. David’s legs harden under her resisting the urge to push them further until she is ready. Mack tries to breathe through the stretch, but it is painful. So much that she can’t ignore the pure terror at the thought of him thrusting up into her this way. “Maybe not this position, actually.” Mack mumbles. 

“Okay.” He says, helping her off him. “What do you need?” He cups her face, kissing her lips. His thumb presses into her lips. She kisses it, closing her eyes for a moment, trying not to be disappointed she can’t give him what he wants right now. 

“Um…” She shakes her head, distracted by the dull ache settling between her legs.

“How about you lay on your back, honey? Then I can control the depth.” 

“Okay.” She nods. She bites her lip, laying down. He smiles gently at her, kissing her lips.

“I’m big.” He reminds her. “If it’s not good for you, then we need to stop. Okay?”

“Yes.” She agrees.

But that’s the last they need to hear about anything not being good for her. David wets his fingers with his mouth, rolling them through her folds, focusing on her entrance, then presses his plumped head into her pussy. Mack swallows him more comfortably, stretching in a delectable way that has her hips trying to list off the bed. 

“Behave.” He mumbles above her, smirking at her eagerness. 

“I don’t like to behave around you.” She mewls back. He chuckles, then rocks his hips in a way that has Mack gasping. “Oh.” She moans.

“Fuck, you feel like heaven.” He mumbles into her mouth. “Made for me.” 

Mack cups his head, fingers rushing through his black hair as she holds him to her throat. His thrusts are slow but deep, wakening her up and softening her resolve. Her walls contract around him, pulling him deeper than he is trying to go, which makes him groan in appreciation for how well she has adjusted to him. His hips roll deeper into her, curly hair tickling her clit with his thrusts creating an erotic sensation that has Mack’s eyes rolling back into her head.

“Right there.” She whispers. “Keep going… don’t stop. Please.”

Her words fall from her mouth like breath, escaping without her trying to push them out. His arms come under her shoulder to hold her neck, other hand bringing her leg around his hips. Their bodies move like a wave, hips thrusting and colliding with each other in blissful slaps. Mack crunches up, kissing along his shoulder for a moment. Her head falls down, only half on the pillow as his thrusts explode through Mack’s core. David pulls away from her neck, looking down at her face. His hand moves from her hip, bringing the pillow more under her head to keep her comfortable. Mack’s eyes close, she moans loudly, then comes with a bang around him.

“Oh my god.” She squeaks as he works her through every flutter of her orgasm. He is biting down on his bottom lip to keep focus, then slows his thrusts when he feels her relax down into his arms. “I wanna ride you now. I can do it.” She practically begs him. She wants to watch him come undone under her, because of her. 

“Yes, honey. Whatever you want.” He smirks, then hits his back again. His hands reach for her, helping her climb on top, not that she needs it. That first orgasm was great, but she’s chasing another high already. 

She lines herself up with him again, gliding down him better now that she is sickened from her first round. She drops down on him, forcing her ass cheeks to slam into the top of his thighs.

“Oh fuck.” David groans, running a hand over his face. His other hand comes to her hip. “Look so good up there.” He compliments her, top lip curling up in a slight sneer as she moves slowly on him. “You got more in you than that.” He demands, slapping her ass. “Give it to me, girl.” 

Mack rolls her eyes, leaning over his face, palm pressed into the bed below him. Everything around him is girly and feminine, but his dark, masculine presence overshadows all the frills and fuss, taking over her room and senses like he owns the damn place. But he doesn’t and Mack thinks she should remind him of who is in charge here.

“Keep your hands on the bed.” She murmurs, kissing along his nose. He pulls his hands away from her hips, letting her fuck him the way she wants to. 

Her hips snap and roll, forward backwards, up and down, working his cock like a seasoned vet.  His hands grip into fists on the bed, taking some of her comforter in his palm, wrinkling it against his skin. Mack sits up, pressing her biceps into her breasts to make them tight and bounce right over his face. David is speechless, for once in his damn life. He raises his neck, trying to catch a nipple. Mack puts her hand on his neck, forcing him back down. 

“Be good.” She snaps at him. He laughs, eyes rolling back into his head.

“You know, honey. I think I like this version of you the best.” He grits out. “Fucking me like that. Shit.” His eyes close, a blissed out smile covering his mouth as she falters slightly from how good she feels stuffed full of him. He opens his eyes feeling her legs struggling a bit. “Don’t quit on me now, Hischier. Not when I’m about to cum this fucking hard.” His teeth are mashed together, words barely getting out through the thin spaces. His hips begin to move under her, pressing her up when her legs give out a bit more. It feels too good. Mack has to surrender to him, knowing his powerful thighs can do the rest of this job easily.

“C-Can’t help it. Touch me. I need you.” She begs, reaching up to hold her breasts. David’s hands fly to her hips, then he forces her into a tight rhythm, hard and fast, punishing almost, until they both fly over the edge into the abyss. David gushes into the condom, savoring her ripples, careful as he works her up and down his cock a few more times to finish himself fully off. Mack collapses onto his chest like goo, unable to hold herself in any type of position except horizontal. David’s hand goes to her hair, holding her cheek on his shoulder as he tries to catch his breath. 

“Happy birthday.” She whispers to him. David’s face gets lost in her hair to kiss her scalp.

“Thank you.” He responds quietly.

In ten minutes, the aftermath of their sex has been washed from their bodies and they lay together in silence, soaking in the warmth of each other’s skin. Mack’s eyes droop, tired from a long day, ready to surrender to the tiredness that collects in her veins. Beneath her, David’s chest rises and falls consistently. His hand trolls up and down her arm, until he twitches hard, inhaling deeply to awaken himself.

“I should go.” He mumbles, rubbing at his face with his free hand. He drops a kiss to her head, then rolls out from under her.

A big yawn stretches his lips apart as he works his jeans back into place. He pulls down on the bunched up crotch, then rushes the zipper back into place. He looks around for his shirt as he buttons himself back up. Mack watches him from the comfort, warm cocoon of her bed, feeling bad that he has to drag himself back across town after 1:00am.

She should let him stay. It’s the decent thing to do.

“What’s your day tomorrow?” She inquires. 

“Ah, day off again. Coach is giving us some rest.” He yawns again, leaning down to pick up his shirt by her dresser.

“Oh… Well, maybe you want to stay then?” He pauses with his shirt at his biceps. 

“I…” He trails off, then licks his lips. He drops his arms and cocks his head at her. “You’re gonna have to ask. You don’t get outta this by making some half assed statement.” Mack hides her grin, rolling her eyes to seem annoyed.

“I just don’t want your blood on my hands when you tiredly drive off into a ditch.”

“In New York City?” He chuckles.

“Okay, fair. Or onto a sidewalk and killing innocent people.” 

“So I would be staying over purely for safety purposes?”

“Mhm.” 

“Okay, but you still got to ask.” 

“Ugh! You’re so annoying. Will you stay? Pleeeease.” She huffs at him.

“Okay, geez, I’ll stay.” He holds his hands up at her, making a show of dropping his shirt.“You just want me safe for my dick.” He jokes as he works his jeans back off so he is naked again.

“Is it that obvious?” She wonders, batting her lashes at him.

“Yeah.” He nods. “But I’m okay with it.” He walks over to the light, switching it off to allow darkness to take over the room.

Mack grins, collecting him back into her arms as he crawls under the covers with her. 

“This is a nice bed.” He compliments her.

“Mhm. It’s the one house thing I always spend good money on.” He nuzzles his stubbled cheeks into her chest.

“Could get used to this.” He mumbles against her left breast. Mack presses her lips into his hair, rubbing his shoulders with her fingers.

She could too.

Fuck.

Read more Mack and David here.

[empressgeekt]

Trolls - Accidental Knight and the Time Travel Bodyswap

okay I'm on moble. So apologies in advance.

I recently found a fic on Ao3 about brozone swapping bodies with their younger-selves (specifically during the split up fight) with what I'm guessing is their post TBT selves. I link it when I have the time.

Here's my taken on this awesome concept. In the Field of Forgetmenots AU! Highly recommend looking at the posts for this au before reading on ward. You have been warned.

The plot starts with Floyd's POV. He's in the background of his brothers fighting after Branch's first show. Part of him wants to intervene but at this point he knows it will do nothing. He sees little Bitty standing off the side looking terrified, as he walks over to comfort the young trolling, his vision twists and blacks out. He comes too with a dirt ceiling overhead, with a numb body. He thinks he's been drugged by a crazed fan then kidnapped, and tries to get off the bed he's on only to fall to the floor when his limbs begin to burn with pain. He's found by a green trolling with blue hair and eyes, and he struggles on floor finally seeing the paleness of his limbs and paralyses he feels. A scarred dulled troll comes in. It takes a moment of his fussing for Floyd to realize that he's staring at his grown up baby brother. His grown up baby brother who lifts him with ease and sets him on the bed while checking over his body.

Branch was worried when Keith came running in saying that Floyd fell. The Knight had taken in his older brother (plus Clay) to help Floyd recover from the damage the diamond bottle did to him. Its been a few months and sadly Floyd is still weak and adjusting to the after effects. He can't walk, unable to keep himself warm, and has flare ups when his body re-crystalizes, that for all they know could be fatal. Not to mention, all the psychological damage the kidnapping did, and Floyd insisting that he's fine when he's really not. Needless to say, when Keith comes to tell Branch that Floyd is on the floor panicking, he reacts with urgency. The knight drops what he's doing (making breakfast), and rushes to tend to his brother he runs through all the checks, Flare up? Nope. Nightmare? Doesn't seem like it. He doesn't feel any injuries. However, Branch is extremely concerned when Floyd starts talking like he's confused about the date and how big Branch got. He makes a plan to take Floyd to the hospital to get checked out.

Let's switch gears over to Clay. He's first in heated fight with John and Spruce when his world becomes fuzzy and suddenly he's waking up with his face on top of a work desk. He jerks up, finding himself in an office. A boring office. A troll walks in, calls him "Mr. Clay" says their his assistant and ask if he's okay before telling him about Branch taking Floyd to to hospital so he might need to pick up Keith from school that day, then they leave. Clay is left with many many questions, but it's okay on top of sad books he's read many mystery novels he's fully prepared to handle this. If this was his office it had to have a calendar. He is not pleased to find the date is over twenty years passed what it was a few minutes ago. Then everything that the assistant mentioned settled. Floyd was in the hospital?! Branch had to take him? Branch could take him? And who the heck was Keith?! Why was Clay picking him up from school?! During this spiral, Who of all trolls walks in but Princess Viva (or Captain Viva as he would later learn she was called). Clay asks why she's here, and he learns that Viva heard about Floyd and thought to check in on her Boyfriend. That was not the answer Clay was expecting.

Flipping back to Floyd. Hospitals already freak him out, and now he apparently had a chronic condition, that doctors still weren't sure how it works. Even worse he can see how worried Branch is over this. As such he just doesn't mention the Time travel/amnesia thing going on. Last thing he needs is to stress it baby brother out, especially since it's obvious that Branch had been taking care of Floyd since the diagnoses that he can't remember. On top of taking care of a kid no doubt. Even if Floyd isn't sure how Keith is related to them (He doesn't call Branch dad or Floyd uncle, and doing the math it would mean that Branch would have to have had Keith while he was a teenager), it's clear that Branch is raising that kid. Branch's girlfriend (doesn't that just bring many colorful images to mind) meets them at the hospital. She takes over, calming Branch down easily, and talking to the doctors, who much too everyone's relief nothing physical has changed since Floyd's last appointment. Branch has to leave for work after that, but Poppy takes Floyd back to the hideout he suddenly lives in.

Clay is left reeling, through out the day he's trying to learn all about this modern day. He'd completely forgotten about needing to collect a trolling from the school until his assistant mentions it. He runs out of the admin building looking for the school. It took a nearly twenty minutes to figure out where the school was, and by the time he arrived the teachers were getting ready to look for either him or Branch. He apologize profusely, but thankfully the head teacher assumes his questionable behavior was due to Floyd being hospitalized. Then Clay is saddled with Keith, a little Green and blue trolling that the teacher calls his brother. Clay doesn't really know where Keith came from (he thought his parents were dead), but doesn't question it out loud. He's been a big brother before he can totally take this kid home...if he knew where his new home was. No one was living with grandma now, clearly. Thankfully, Keith knows the way. Clay tries to make conversation, but Keith only really either stares blankly or looked slightly confused. Geez, didn't that make Clay feel good about his relationship with this new youngest brother. Did he ever spend time with this kid?

They arrive at the bunker, finding Poppy and Floyd inside. Keith lights up as Poppy running over and beginning to tell her about his day. Clay however, doesn't pay much attention to this red-headed version of Viva, rather he hones in on his younger brother who's in a wheelchair and looks on the brink of death. Clay demands to know what happened, while Floyd tries to deflect saying weird dream. Clay knows he's lying right away. Thankfully Poppy has pulled Keith into the kitchen to start on dinner and homework. Clay comes clean about not remembering any of the passed 20 years, Floyd breaths a sigh of relief know that it isn't his sickness that caused the memory loss.

Clay: Do you know the kind of day I had? I'm a CPA! twenty years down the line and I'm a CPA, John would hate that! It's a boring job. But I love it. and I'm dating the crown princess apparently.

Floyd: You thought your day was weird? I can't walk Clay. I've been questioning my own sanity since i woke up. Because I have a TBI and could lose my mind any second.

Clay: TBI? How'd you get a TBI?

Floyd: I don't remember. Poppy and Branch have been tip-toeing around me having some sort of accident. But they won't tell me what. and I'm scared to ask because it would make me look crazy!

Branch would come home at that point. They both are surprised by the Forest Guardian Armor, and Clay even more freaked out seeing the scars, muted colors, and blinded eye that Branch was sporting now. Keith is over joyed and greets Branch warmly. It's obvious these two are close in ways that this grown up Branch isn't with his older brothers. Dinner is served but it doesn't comfort the elder two brothers.

Why don't we check in on Vacay Island for a second. Spruce one moment was fighting with john and the next wakes up one morning next to a Giant yellow woman, who claims to be his wife. Brandy immediately figures out her husband doesn't remember the last twenty years. She explains everything to him using family photos to prove everything. Spruce is lost in confusion, as he listens he had no choice but to believe her, he certainly wasn't in his teenaged body anymore. It hurts to learn that the last night he remembered was the night his family broke apart, and only after 20 years was his brothers comfortable enough to reconnect. Then Brandy mentions that Floyd was kidnapped....suddenly Spruce, or Bruce as Brandy tells him he goes by, needs to see his little brothers. Make sure that their all okay. Brandy agrees and he wonders how on earth his heartthrobness managed to charm his goddess among mortals.

And finally let's get to the eldest. John was in his grandmother's pod, terrified and angry, then he was waking up in a transportation critter in the woods. In the mirror his older self stares back, and he's scared all over again. Time has passed but he doesn't know why or how. Thankfully he finds the journals his older self kept. He spends the day learning what had happened over the passed 20 years. He breakdown when he reads the entry talking about the empty destroyed tree. Only to relax when he reads about the reunion and freeing Floyd.

Rhonda has been watching all of this and sneses something wrong with her owner, against his will she drives strait to troll village.

Once both him and Bruce arrive at the same time and end up explaining that both have the same memory loss. Shockley learning that both Clay and Floyd are the same. Grown up Branch is weird and it hurts to learn where the main scar came from. Floyd is horrifying to his older brothers, they just want to bundle him up and never let anyone touch him. they all talk in Floyd's room about what they need to to do to get their memories back...none of them notice Keith is listening from behind the cracked door.

Branch confronts them at dinner that night. It isn't pretty. Branch is not going to put up with the "We're trying to protect you" routine. And to their shock, takes charge of the room, saying that he and them already had that fight about that topic, and how he doesn't need them anymore. He had Poppy and Keith, and the only reason that Floyd is staying here because branch knows he can't take care of himself. He'll help them, but he won't tolerate arguing. they need to settle their teenaged issues with each other. Because if Keith has to deal with their fights like Branch had to endure, he'd kick them all out.

I'm not sure about how the ending would work yet, but all the brothers would be brought back to the moment they left. And vowed to stay together as a family. In one time line, Branch would have the brothers he deserved.

[holo-squad]

Announcing: Holoween 2024

It's that time of year again! 🎃✨

Halfway through October and with Halloweeen fast approaching, I'm very excited to announce the second annual Holoween: a celebration of La Sirena's intrepid quintet of Emergency Holograms!

(This time with haunting art by the inimitable @regionalpancake!)

Do you have a spooky tale set on La Sirena that features the holograms somehow? Maybe some meta about their preferred costumes or fanart of the same? A story where the EH's need to dress up to save the day?

Then this is your opportunity! On the 31st of October and the week following (until 6th November), post your story, art, meta, or whatever else you might come up with and tag them as #holoween2024 or tag this blog so I can find them and reblog them here!

Since we're all probably busy with the various -tobers we're participating in (and Halloween is only a few weeks away), there are no sign-ups or minimum requirements.

Wrote a spooky hologram drabble? Post it on the 31st! Got a post that simply has a list of the holos and the costumes you imagine they'd wear? Tag it as #holoween2024! 8k fic you wrote three years ago? We'd love to give that a (re-)read! Brilliant post you submitted to last year's event? Looks like it's time for a reblog!

After all, what better time than Holoween to practice a little resurrection? 🕯 👻

Any work you think would fit and you'd like to share (or share again), simply get it ready to post/reblog between the 31st October and 6th November, tag this blog, and I'll reblog them all here!

If you have any questions or you want to sign up so that I can remind you about posting closer to the time, just shoot me a message.

The AO3 collection for all Holoween fanworks can be found here. It's not specific to a certain year, so older works are welcome just as much as new ones.

If you have any more questions, maybe they'll be answered in the Collection FAQ (the post is from last year, but everything except the tag still applies), or else just send me an ask and I'll get back to you.

🦇👻🎃 Let's get ready for a Happy (and spooky) Holoween! 🎃👻🦇

[sophietv]

It's not about kaylor but I really want to know about the song all too well. Who is it about? I think Jake G was PR. And the lyrics doesn't fit the Taymily narrative either. This song and the relationship seems very important to her. It hurt her badly. I am asking you because you always make very informative and reliable post that makes sense and closest to the truth.

Also who is Dear John about? Is it really John Mayer? Her only straight relationship I believe in is Joe Jonas.

Hi!

Thank you sooo much for saying that! It means a lot. I really can't claim that my theories are always 1000% right, but I do make a lot of research before posting, and try to cross check everything.

2. I must admit that when you asked the question, I did not have real solid theories or evidence to give you. I was even bending toward telling you that the song might be about Lizz since the timestamp of the song on Spotiy is 5:27 = Lizz birthday.

3. Considering that Taylor wrote this during Speak Now Era and that Lizz was present during that Era, well it doesn't fit the narrative of the song being about a relationship that has ended some time ago. And also, it would have been really weird to write this song during rehearsal where Lizz was present, if it was about her...

But thanks to you! I did a lot of research to try and find evidences (I read all the timelines but I'm not that well verse in what came before Kaylor and Swiftgron).

I asked what my groupchat thought about this.

Re-read the Taymily Masterpost (X)

Read and watched Taymily interviews

And now! I can say with more confidence, that I'm pretty sure this song is about Emily Poe, her fiddle player that worked with her from 2006-2008.

Now. Here's the evidences:

First. As pointed out by my group chat, the song does not seem to fit Tayliz dynamic. It seems to be talking about a complicated relationship with someone older.

As by the lyrics "you said if we were closer in age, maybe it would have been fine"

So first thing I did is look back as to when it was written.

Here's a piece of interview I found:

Thanks to this post: (X)

We know that she wrote it during her reheasal in 2011.

Because here's when David Cook started working with her:

And here's the date of his first show in the Phillipines:

February 2011....

Then, I did a little digging on what was going on with Emily at the time:

And oh does it get interesting!!

Here's an Emily's interview I found (X)

And here's what she was doign in February 2011!!! (I'm excited of the evidence I've found, does it show lol) :

"Two thousand eleven was a big year for me. I became engaged in February, graduated law school in May, took the bar in July, and Eli and I were married in November.”

What did Taylor said?: "I was feeling terrible about what was going on in my personal life"

What if she just learned about Emily's engagement???

And to make it even more interesting. Here's a journal entry with the first lyrics of All Too Well:

Confirming that it was written in 2011.

This is inchteresting.

But it gets better!

Because, before last year, Emily's Pinterest was public. And on her wedding board, she did save a picture with a red scarf....

It's not Emily, it's just a picture that she had saved in her Pinterest. Thanks to Kate for giving me this!

But what if the red scarf was really just to tie the song to Jake???

Here's another interesting thing I've found in the Taymily timeline:

This letter is from the video she made to Emily when she left, with everyone having "I love you Emily" signs.

It says:

“Emily– I feel as if our relationship has been taken to the next level over the past few months and with much contemplation I decided I would bestow upon you one of my most prized possession: my flamingo bandana. This is a 3rd generation family heirloom and i suggest you frame it. I think it will look perfect in your apartment with the cat pillows. Enjoy”

Inchteresting....is the red scarf a bandana??

Also. We know that All Too Well was really significant for Taylor and that for a long time, she was not able to sing it without crying...

So it's about a relationship that had a big impact on her life.

Very recently. Like in June, Taylor performed the song Breathe as a surprise song and very clearly cried during that performance.

The next day, we learned that the day before the show, Emily did this post on Facebook:

Breathe was heavily rumored to be about Emily back when Fearless came out. But Colbie confirmed it with Fealess Taylor's Version in an interview when she said that it was about something that was going on with one of Taylor's band membre.

So yeah... this would make way more sense being about Emily and having Taylor be emotional singing it for a long time.

Than the song being about a relationship that lasted 3 months.

Of course I can't know for sure for all her relationships...

But most of them I believe was PR. Like the one she had with Jake.

Thanks for the question! It was really interesting doing all those research!

ADDITION!! : It just hit me but! The line "And you call me up again just to break me like a promise"

Fits perfectly with Emily calling her to tell her about the engagement! omg...

SECOND ADDITION: This morning when I woke up, I thought about two things that points to Emily!

1. Taylor turned 21 in 2010, 2 months before writing All Too Well.

"And you call me later and say sorry I didn't make it and I say I'm sorry too" from The Moment I Knew

to two months later:

"And you called me up again just to break me like a promise"

2. The night Taylor sang Breathe and looked devastated after Emily's Facebook post. She also sang All Too Well looking REALLY MAD.

People have all noted it.

Look: (X)

This solidifies even more that All Too Well is about Emily for me...

[realmofvoxtv]

Theories about Vox's and Alastor's Past

SPOILERS: If you have not watched episode 8 or just season one please read this post later. Also these are theories. These may predict future plot reveals idk.

Trigger Warning: Brief mentions of a toxic/abusive relationships. I mention Valentino too. Please continue with caution. Also, I mention Alastor's possible past as a killer.

So, we got a pretty BIG reveal in episode 8. Which is the photo below:

So, Vox and Alastor have more of a history than what many people believed. Let's first take some notes about the photo.

1. Alastor has his pilot suit

2. This photo is in black and white

3. Vox's screen looks different, it looks like an older model.

4. Vox and Alastor are pretty close together (this is important later).

Ok, let's talk about a few things.

1. Alastor's pilot suit.

This could be reference to the pilot. Or maybe his change is a reference to how, apparently, Alastor has made a deal and may not even own his soul.

2. The photo is in black and white.

And 3. Vox's screen likes like an older model.

Given how Vox seems to be ALL about updating and keeping up with the times, I don't think he was like pretending to be old fashioned for Alastor in recent or present times.

So, odds are this was AGES ago in hell. Like shortly after Vox died. I would say 1950s-1960s.

4. Vox and Alastor are pretty close together.

Now I think this is something important to mention. So far it seems like Alastor has this disconnection from most other males. Alastor mentions his mother in the pilot, but he has yet to mention his father.

He has this hatred for Lucifer (Charlie's DAD and Lilith's HUSBAND).

And at BEST Alastor respects Zestial (A powerful and OLDER MALE overlord). And at WORST he fears Zestial.

Sidenote: Look at that scene between Zestial and Alastor. It really looks like Alastor panics when he realizes that he (Alastor) is losing the respect of people in hell.

So given all of this, Alastor having mostly female friends, and mentioning his mother. But not mentioning his father, and even seeming to feel this need for respect and control (check back on his song in episode 8). I really do think it's possible that Alastor had a father who was in his life. But his father may have instilled fear and the need to gain respect, and perhaps the way Alastor was raised. Alastor felt the need to gain control in his life. (Sidenote: If he did indeed hurt/end people while alive, it's possible that was the driving force).

So the fact that Alastor was standing so close to Vox. And long enough for a photo to be taken? (Sidenote: If this is an old photo, I'm sure this photo would have taken a while to snap. Also is the camera being held by someone else or on a tripod or something? (Remember that this is probably in the 1950s-1960s)). This is important. This tells me that Alastor and Vox, at the time, trusted each other.  

So what happened?

Well, let’s go over Alastor's history since we have more of that as of now. 

Alastor lived through the Great Depression, and died AT LEAST after the 1920s my best guess is 1930s - 1940s.

He arrived in hell, and according to Vaggie in the pilot, and Mimzy, he wiped out some of the most powerful and eldest Overlords with ease. 

IMPORTANT: I think Alastor made this deal shortly after he appeared in hell. His power had to have come from somewhere.

And seven years ago, he disappeared. And only recently he has re-appeared. 

Also despite killing overlords and hating new stuff, he allowed Vox around him for that photo. 

Now about Vox. It's try to make some sense of his timeline. Apparently the first tv's appeared in 1927. But they only become really popular around 1946 - 1951. So it's likely that Vox and Alastor DID NOT meet each other when they were humans. So, he likely fell some time between 1950 - 1960. HOWEVER, if Alastor did encounter primitive tvs in 1927 to whenever died. It make sense that Alastor would originally accept Vox's presence. 

IMPORTANT: I am now sure that Vox died at least before 1970s. As that’s when colored cameras were popularized. And again that photo was in black and white.

So, what happened between them. Well I have some ideas and supporting evidence. 

1. Vox and Alastor made a bet/deal and Vox won. 

We hear in episode 2 from Valentino that Alastor owes Valentino and Vox something. It is possible that Vox and Alastor similar to Husk and Alastor. Made a bet, in which whoever wins gets the loser's soul. However, Alastor lost and maybe since he doesn't own his soul, he's able to attack Vox. Meanwhile Vox is shocked, as he's weirded out that Alastor is still able to move and (apparently) still has his soul. Perhaps in this theory Vox thought that Alastor found a loophole. 

Perhaps Valentino gets involved, and that's how he loses his antenna. Maybe Alastor realized that his secret may be out. And he brought out an angelic weapon trying to end Vox and Valentino. But instead, he has to flee. Also, Vox has a crooked antenna too. Maybe a result of Alastor?

Also, in episode 2, Vox says that they must prevent Charlie from making a deal with Alastor. Interesting...

IDK though where Vox inviting Alastor to the team fits in this theory. Maybe this battle happens after Alastor rejects Vox's offer. 

2. One of them saved the other's life

In episode 8, while Alastor sings he taunts the idea that people would think that he would die and, thus, cares for the people in the Happy Hotel. What if this is something that happened between Alastor and Vox. What if when Vox was a younger sinner, he was nearly killed and Alastor came to his defense. Or perhaps it was the other way around. 

And Alastor realized that with him not owning his own soul, that he may be forced to kill Vox, like the oldest overlords. So, he cut off Vox. As he was maybe starting to care about Vox (doesn't have to be romantic). 

And perhaps that's why Vox invited Alastor to join his team (Which for sure had Vox and Valentino, idk about Velvette). As Vox wanted to have his pal back. 

Then Alastor attacks Vox to send the message to Vox. 

Also, in this theory. They were likely friends. (Remember the earliest tvs were made in 1927. So, Alastor likely had no problem with Vox's technology as it was around when he was alive, but just not common in most households. )

How close Vox and Alastor are in the photo, does support this theory. Especially since Alastor does seem to have this mistrust around males. 

Also if Vox saved Alastor's life. That would explain Valentino saying that Alastor owes them something (aka his afterlife).   

3. Alastor tried to swap places with Vox

It's possible that Alastor got close to Vox, and maybe offered Vox a deal. Which was intended to trap Vox and maybe Alastor was hoping that whoever owns his soul would instead want Vox to take leadership. And possibly free Alastor's soul. 

Remember how Vox mentioned to the other V's that they must prevent Alastor from making a deal with Charlie? Perhaps Alastor is going to order Charlie to take his place in his deal. (Remember, Charlie's only restriction is that she wouldn't hurt someone. Taking his place in his deal, doesn't directly hurt anyone). 

Anyways, Vox realizes what Alastor wanted. Maybe he tries to get Alastor more involved like joining his team. And Alastor keeps pushing a deal. And maybe Alastor or Vox snap and then they battle. 

In this theory, Alastor allowing Vox to be so close to him in a photo. Likely would've been an act to pretend that he trusts Vox. 

Also, in this theory, maybe Alastor was training Vox to be like him. That way he would be the perfect replacement for his deal. This would also explain Vox's similarities to Alastor. 

Maybe whoever owns Alastor's soul, realized his plans and intentions. And that's why Alastor disappeared for 7 years. He was being reminded to never betray them. 

4. Perhaps Valentino and maybe Velvette, drove Alastor apart from Vox and vice versa. 

We know Vox invited Alastor to join his "team". That hints that at least one more V member was in the team. Likely Valentino. 

Remember Alastor's possible past with his father and his fear/hatred of certain male figures. It's possible that such a male sinner like Valentino drove a divide between Alastor and Vox. Perhaps Valentino even framed Vox or Alastor. Which drove them to battle. Vox and Valentino get hurt. And Alastor disappears for 7 years.

So even though in this theory, Alastor once trusted Vox. He doesn't anymore. 

So that's all. Share your thoughts below!

[studywithsilver]

Older pictures from this semester

15.06.2024

Did I underestimate university? Uh, yes. Yes, I did. To the point where I was so busy I couldn't make any posts...for the whole first semester of my first year. Finals just finished yesterday, and they were relatively alright, but I was a bit nervous because it was my first time ever doing a university exam. I had to miss a midterm because I caught the flu a few weeks ago, but I did get permission to re-sit it sometime. We also had essays to write and a group presentation, which thankfully, went alright. I met some new people and made some friends :) it was interesting getting to know everyone and their different personalities and I feel like I made an effort to be much more social, compared to my more reserved personality in school. I'm still introverted, but it feels nice to interact with people.

I met a STAY friend as well :)) we bond over SKZ a lot now and it's pretty nice to be able to fangirl and talk about stuff. Signed up for a poetry competition as well about two months back and won a place, which was honestly, really unexpected. One of my friends persuaded me to join an orator contest as well and our final round is in about two weeks, and I really do have to finish my speech. University is such a different experience, honestly. But it's academia, and it feels nice to have a space to learn and grow, along with some interesting people.

[marzipanandminutiae]

Re: age preferences in shared housing.

I'm in my mid-30's in a VHCOL city and have lived with anywhere from 2-7 roommates for my entire adult life. At this point in my life, I would prefer not to live with someone in their early 20's. It has nothing to do with age-gap discourse and everything to do with the fact that I am old, cranky, and tired.

I was not a good friend in my early 20's, and there was a lot of learning and growing that I would do over the next 15 years to make me a better person today. I have no problem having a coworker or friend who is in that life stage, but it is another thing entirely to have it follow you home. (I recognize that bad roommates come in all ages--I am talking about the specific learning experiences that come with living on your own for the first time, like the 23-year-old who did not understand that the city in fact WILL shut off your water if you buy weed with the money your roommates give you to pay the utilities.)

That being said, we don't list a specific age preference in our posting. We are far more likely to describe the current makeup of the house as "quiet, clean professionals in our early-to-late 30's, prefer dinner parties to house parties" and let people self-select out.

We had a very nice 22 year old guy interview a few years ago, and on paper he would have been a good fit (quiet, clean, stable job). However, he brought his mother to the roommate interview, and all of us kind of balked at that. We were not interested in living with his mother and had concerns about how he would handle conflict/communication without bringing his parents into it.

I would consider interviewing another candidate in their early 20's again, but not without reservations.

(Please do not read this as combative--we are typically on the same page about most things. I just wanted to offer another perspective from someone in a similar housing situation.)

I appreciate your perspective! And I think we're on the same page about this, too.

The key here, IMO, is what you said a few paragraphs up- it's not really about age, but behavior. Someone on their early 20s is statistically more likely to be in their Partying and Irresponsibility Phase, but it's not a guarantee. My worst problem housemate was 35 (expected everyone to cater to intrusive needs they had not expressed in the initial housemate interview and walk on eggshells around them; fell back on their trauma as an excuse when we politely tried to have open conversations about the issues at hand, as a house where everyone's wellbeing was taken into account). And I've lived with some extremely conscientious 22-year-olds. A few more tidy than I am, in fact.

Also, what I've seen more of is twentysomethings who don't want to live with anyone older, not the other way around. Which I'm struggling to interpret in any manner besides the discourse-adjacent Anyone Over 25 Having Contact With Anyone Under 25 Is Creepy. I guess they might be trying to be considerate if THEY want to party, but like I said, these groups are mostly more on the hipster queer student side.

[animasola86]

A few changes are coming...

Hello, dear followers of this very blog.

The title of this post says it all: I am in the middle of re-structuring a few things around here because my focus has shifted a little.

About a year ago I started this blog as a home for my Hogwarts Legacy hyperfixation, I took a deep dive into fanfiction, into oneshots, into smut essentially. I wrote so many things centered around Sebastian Sallow it's almost embarrassing in hindsight. But I am not embarrassed, I am actually quite proud of having been able to write so much, of having a muse to guide my creative (and dirty) thoughts.

It's been a real blessing.

But as you may have noticed, my focus, my fixation, has shifted, fizzled out a little.

It started when I began writing for Professor Sharp, dipping my toes into the older man/younger woman dynamic, and to be quite honest with you, I am still knee-deep (or even deeper) in that trope. It's always been a passion (a secret kink?) of mine to have an age (and size) difference between characters, so eventually I moved away from that particular character as well and focused on characters of my own.

I'm still currently writing my original story Innocence Lost over at @animasolaoriginal (about a cowboy and a girl, a slow burn love story), but the smut writer in me has yearned for something more, so I posted a few Smut Drabbles, very short little smut scenes I couldn't put into my story yet (or ever).

And from that very sentiment of having little outlets for my horribly dirty mind, grew another idea for an original story, something I'm still working on (I'm eight chapters in already), and this time I will finish it first before I post anything, I'm forcing myself to do that, yes I will (famous last words, huh? Don't quote me on that...)!

What I'm trying to say is, this blog, that has been focused around HL and Sebastian Sallow, will turn into the smut blog it has always been, but no longer featuring our beloved freckled pixel boy. I kept my smut drabbles neutral, dropped no names, no descriptions, just, well, faceless porn really, so anyone could imagine any character in the male and female characters portrayed if they wanted to.

I find freedom in doing so, being able to write anything and not put it in the confines that is writing for British characters set in the 1890s without having to put them in various AUs all the time.

And so I'll continue writing what I like, and I hope you will follow along.

I know most of you probably also follow me for my HL screenshots that have mysteriously stopped appearing as well. I still have my vast library of posted screenshots, don't worry, they will stay (everything will stay, this is just about future content), but if I ever dive back into the game (which, tbh, I haven't played in a long while, haven't even updated yet or checked out the new photomode), I will post new screenshots on a sideblog I will have yet to make.

Just to keep this blog cleaner. And smuttier.

Imagine finding my screenshots of pretty Scottish landscapes or cute Magical beasts (or broody pixel boys) and then scrolling down to find a filthy little smut drabble right under it. It just doesn't mix well anymore. (It never did, but I only realize that now, oops, sorry to everyone who probably stayed away from my blog for that very reason).

So, to wrap this up: I will remain a smut writer, if you are in need of a little erotica to spice up your day (or night), you will always find something of the sort right here.

I'm also not leaving the HL fandom, I'm still an active follower (read: lurker), and I feel like my time has come to let other people contribute to it. And if you follow the #sebastian sallow smut tag, you'll find a lot of authors that still mainly focus on him, so if you don't want to imagine him in my anonymous smut scenarios, you'll find plenty of other sources around here, don't worry!

I, for one, want to expand my horizon a little, look into other fandoms. I've read so many fanfics/oneshots centered around characters like Joel Miller (who I loved ever since playing The Last of Us for the first time), Arthur Morgan (who inspired my cowboy phase tbh) and even characters I never knew I needed in my life, like Simon "Ghost" Riley (who I didn't even know before because I never played Call of Duty), but this is tumblr, you are exposed to a lot of things if you allow them in - and it's been an absolute blast to find new things to obsess about.

So I hope that you, dear followers, can forgive me for branching out, for turning this once HL-centered blog into not just a multi-fandom blog, but a place for smut enjoyers of all types.

Because I found my calling, and it's writing porn. It is what it is.

TL;DR:

Future screenshots will find a new home in a yet to be announced sideblog.

The content will become more neutral, so that anyone can imagine anyone in the roles of the protagonists.

(I may still write for specific characters in the future, to be determined which one, maybe I'll return to write for Sebastian Sallow or Aesop Sharp one day, who knows, I still have some unfinished WIPs after all...)

There will always be smut. Because smut is life.

And with that, I thank you very much for reading this far. And I thank you for sticking around, for enjoying my content, in the past and in the future, hopefully. Thank you for your patience with me and for joining me on new adventures!

Cheers!

[sensei-venus]

A New Beginning (Tanner Buchanan x Chubby!Actress!Reader) Ch.1-

Summary:

Reader hasn't been in the media spotlight for almost two whole years. Some unknown event caused the young star to step out of the limelight. Leaving costars and friends in shock and concern.

But life goes on and so does the world.

But what happens when she comes back, emerging from the shadows to come back to the fame? Starting back from where she left off.

She comes back to star in Cobra Kai alongside her old costar from a past movie.

Tanner is in shock at the news that his old costar is back in action, on set of his show.

Why is he so shocked about the news? What will happen when he realizes her new role in the hit show? With things suddenly start to change for the two of them?

————————————————————————

"Will you at least look at the offers? Please Reader, it's been almost two years of being on hiatus and I don't know when these offers are going to suddenly stop." Reader's manager Hannah said in a pleading tone.

Reader rolled her eyes before groaning into her soft fully pillow. Hicking the covers over her head and digging her body back into the bed. The constant pestering of the older woman was wearing. The urge to just fire her to get her to shut up was overwhelming. All the young star wanted was to be left alone. To be left to her own devices for as long as she could be.

The sound of a clock ticking somewhere in the room was the only thing to be heard. The door to the room had yet to be re opened and shut meaning Hanna had not left. She stood at the end of the bed watching over the girl with an annoyed look. Lips tuned into a frown the longer she stud waiting for some sort of reaction if any. Reader always acted like this.

Or she had been for the past two years.

With a loud huff she sprang up from the bed, throwing the covers and blankets off the bed. For a split second, it looked like she was about to throw a pillow at the unsuspecting woman. At the last minute, she dropped it back on the bed.

She wore only a pair of shorts and an overly big t-shirt that fell to her knees. It pooled under her belly just a bit. She yanked it down as she walked away from the bed and across the room. Straight up ignoring her manager as she passed her by on the way to the walk-in closet. A heavy thump in her steps while going into the closet. Hands roaming the multiple racks of clothes. She wasn't looking for anything fancy, it wasn't like she was going out today.

It had been weeks since she stepped foot out of her home, only walking around her in closed yard.

Away from the prying eyes of people and the media that were always around the corner ready to catch sight of her.

Ready to take and post any picture they could get of her.

All of a sudden her gut felt twisted, those thoughts weighing her down. Hand resting on a shirt that she would pull down and had to her arm. Quickly found a pair of pants to go with it.

"I would really appreciate-" Reader slammed the closet closed in Hannah's face leaving her face to face with the closet door. She rolled her eyes while clenching the iPad in her hand. She flicked her finger over the screen and looked at some of the offers that had been sent.

Eyes looking over every single one with detail. She raised her eye and made a small hum sound. Reader struggled to put on the pair of pants for a second, one foot stuck as she hopped around a little. The sound of Hannah's weird noises coming from the door. She stopped what she was doing and raised a brow.

"Okay you got me, what are you making those sounds about." She started to put her pants on again.

"One of the offers has one of your old costars in it. I just think that's pretty interesting, I thought you might be even just a little interested in that one." Her voice was almost teasing. The closet door was slowly opened.

"Who is it?"

"Umm a guy, I think you worked on a movie together a few years ago. I thought you guys got along pretty well, at least from what I remember when you two were on set together."

Hannah handed the tablet over to the girl with a little sass put in. Reader took it from her, looking at her then the tablet. The open tab was of a screen write from a tv show. Squinting and reading over the front page she quietly read out loud "Cobra Kai...." She read a little more into the script. Eyes glancing over the content sheet. She admitted to not knowing much about the show.

What stuck out to her was the cast list at the front of the script book.

"Tanner Buchanan?"

"Yep wasn't that the guy you were friends with?"

"Yeah, we got along pretty well on set. Sadly we didn't get to spend much time off the lot together because we were both so busy. He always had me laughing though." Her voice grew distant "I miss that a lot I guess." She quickly gave the tablet back.

She rubbed her hands together as she walked over to her bedroom's large windows. A good portion of her bedroom wall was large windows that over looked her back yard. The yard was beautiful with amazing green grass and lushes flowerbeds. One of the things she did during the last two years was maintain that beautiful garden. Taking every moment she had not cooped up in the house to work in that yard.

One of her hands pressed at the glass, eyes with worry. A shaky breath leaving her lips "Do you really think this is a good idea? Me going back out there after so long, after what happened?" Uncertainty built up inside her. Heart pounding her chest.

"These offers are going to stop coming sooner or later. You need to pick if you are done with this career or if you want to try and somehow save it. Get back out there before people start to forget your face. It may have been two years but soon it will be three, four five, ten even. This could be your last chance to get your face back out there." Hannah pleaded.

The room was dead silent for a few minutes.

Hannah to scared to breathe for fear of scaring the girl off.

This was the most the girl had done in months now. Months of not even looking at job offers from even some of the best companies out there. She wasn't wrong that the offers would dry up soon.

But she could only push her so much before she would break again.

"I want to um..." Reader couldn't quite get it out the first time she started to speak "I would like to try and take this job on. But I can't promise anything."

" I can't promise that I will be okay…”

Hanna gave a small smile even though she knew Reader wasn't watching her. Her eyes were too busy elsewhere. Trying her best to not even look her in the face while thinking.

"I'm not asking you to be perfect Reader, I'm just asking that you try your best."

There was a long pause.

"I can try..."

Sorry for such a short chapter, I just wanted to get this part established first. Next chapter will be longer!✨

[sh0ek0]

it's supposed to be fun, turning twenty-one (part 3.5)

please find the other parts via my masterlist or the #sh0ek0 tag, I'm having some trouble with my posts not showing up in the tags and I think the links are messing this up

genre: little bit of angst, dk if this counts even as a hint of fluff given the overall storyline?? just a small drabble content warning: hints of abuse, hints of toxic relationship, emotional dependency, nothing too explicit I guess, aged up characters, college au pairing: Megumi x reader word count: 2.8k A/N: Part III was quite long and almost a year too late and I realized that I don’t love it as much as I thought I would. This one's shorter as I’m not sure if I should continue with the series, the last part didn’t perform as good as the first two and I'm unsure where the story is going from here. Anyways, I hope you’ll enjoy this summary: after the party two weeks ago, the encounter with your ex has left you distraught. You feel re-traumatised and have barely slept or eaten since. Your friends are doing their best to distract you on your birthday, but even after everything he did to you, all you can think about is him.

"Happy birthday!!!" your friends chant in unison.

"Blow out the candles," Nobara squeals as she places the huge cake she and Yuji carried in in front of you.

Tears start to form in the corners of your eyes and a smile spreads across your face as you look at your friends. 'Don't forget to wish for something,' Toge signs to you, and you shake your head, telling him that you could really use a wish right now, before taking a deep breath and blowing out all the candles at once.

"Guys, I don't even know what to say," you croak, obviously touched by the successful surprise.

"You don't have to say anything," Maki says as she leans over to you, "in fact, don't say anything and don't tell us what you wished for, otherwise it won't come true."

You look around you and feel how warm and fuzzy your heart is starting to feel. You had spent your birthday on the couch with Maki today, watching a whole series of Halloween movies in anticipation of next week and eating so many snacks that you already felt sick by the time it was evening. Still, she had managed to convince you to go out for a few drinks to celebrate, so you ended up in your favourite bar. 

And now you were sitting here at your favourite table by the big window in the front, surrounded by your friends who hadn't texted or called you all day to keep up the illusion that they had forgotten your birthday. Maki, Nobara, Yuji, Toge, Yuta and Choso were all gathered around the table, with you in the middle.

Even some of the seniors had shown up, Gojo and Getou and even Hakari and Kirara had stopped by to wish you a happy birthday. Gojo was far too enthusiastic as he hugged you, lifting you off the ground a little as he did.

"You’re officially allowed to drink now, congratulations!" Gojo grins as he sets you back down and Getou just shakes your hand, scratching the back of his head with his other hand as he gives you an apologetic look for his boyfriend. "Happy birthday, y/n, I hope all your wishes come true," he says, squeezing your hand before pulling you into a gentle hug.

"Thank you," you chuckle, but you're quickly distracted by Kirara and Hakari shoving a huge bouquet of flowers into your hands.

"Wow, thank you guys, they’re beautiful." Don’t tear up again, what’s up with you tonight?

"I picked them out, Maki told me which ones were your favourites." You squeal a little as Shoko squeezes in between them. She had just come in and her clothes were still wet, but she hugged you anyway. She was so busy with med school that you hardly ever got to see her. Even though she was two years older than you, you got along really well with her and you loved spending time with her, even though you had far too little of it.

You chat with the others for a moment, listening to Shoko's stories about her day at the university hospital, or Getou's tale of how Gojo drank alcohol for the first time on his twenty-first birthday, and how he was so drunk at the end of the night that Getou had to carry him back to campus, walking for almost half an hour with him slung over his shoulder.

"Hey, I never drank again after that, so you really can't complain," Gojo protested and you saw how Getou squeezed his side, pulling him into his arms.

After a while, the small group decides to move on to the bar, and you thank them again, giving each of them a quick hug before returning to your table to sit with your friends.

As happy as you were at the surprise, and you were so happy, the grin seemed to stay on your face as Nobara handed you the knife to cut the cake, you still noticed how that feeling of emptiness came over you. 

Your cheeks were flushed with excitement, and as the knife slid through the cake and you lifted the first piece out, delighted to see a pink colour under the icing, strawberry being your favourite flavour, you couldn't help but think of Taylor's words.

It’s supposed to be fun, turning twenty-one

But it was only for a split second that you allowed yourself to think of him. Megumi, who wasn't here with you to celebrate your birthday. Your first birthday in two years without him. And yet, for the past two weeks, every time you looked in the mirror, you couldn't help but think of him, because you had to get up two hours earlier to cover the bruises he left on your neck with make-up.

Your skin was now only a pale green, it would heal soon. But the many wounds he had left on your soul didn't want to heal so quickly - almost every night you woke up from your sleep, the first week you had spent in Maki's bed again because you couldn't sleep alone. By now, the situations in which he had left you behind, traumatised and alone… they had piled up. 

Of your friends, only Maki had seen the extent of his actions the morning after the house party, she had spent an hour trying to talk you into reporting him—to no avail. And if the others had noticed how meticulously you'd been covering your neck for the past two weeks, they didn't seem to let it show. Well, except for Choso and Yuji at least, the two brothers were even more protective than they already were before, taking turns in walking you home from your classes.

A few days after your argument, Yuji even came to you and apologised, especially for what he had said to you in the end.

"What he did to you isn't your fault."

How badly you needed to hear those words, even if you had trouble believing them. 

"You always think of the others first, don’t you?", Nobara mumbles as she takes the knife out of your hands, puts a huge piece of cake on your plate and brings you back to the present, "Even on your birthday."

"I was raised to be polite," you say, chuckling as she nudges your side. 

"Being polite and considering yourself not important enough are two different things," she hums, and you knew she was right. You were also aware that she was not only referring to the cake here.

It had been raining all day, next week was already Halloween, and soon after that it would start snowing. You weren't ready for the dark season, at least not now, not in your state of mind. You should probably really start talking to someone, maybe even someone whose job it was to talk. You might be able to get some therapy sessions through the college administration and you decide to ask Shoko about it when you have the chance.

You zone out as you overhear your friends gleefully chatting, and you listen in silence as Maki tells the story of how you sulked half the day, between movie marathons and getting ready, because no one had wished you a happy birthday yet. You eat your piece of cake, concentrating so hard on not letting your facade crumble, until...

Ding!

Ding! Ding!

Almost hesitantly, you reach for your phone, but none of your friends had even noticed it. It was far too noisy in here for that, and anyway - it was your birthday. Probably someone who just remembered you and wanted to reach out before the day was over.

If only your eyes hadn't already fallen on the name that popped up on the screen.

Your heart starts beating faster.

You couldn't just walk out now, could you?

It would be utterly foolish of you, after your last encounter, to go out there alone. It was dark and it was raining, and if you told your friends who just messaged you, they wouldn't let...

"Guys, my mum's been trying to call me, but I've got no signal in here," you announce, already rising from the table, though not without first reaching for your jacket, "I'll try to call her back."

"Say hello to her from me," Yuji says and couldn’t help but grin, "and tell her that, despite her doubts, you loved the surprise." 

You look at him, a little confused, but then decide to just smile and nod. Great, it really didn't even take you two seconds to feel guilty about lying to your friends.

As nervous as you already were, you did your best not to trip over your own legs as you made your way through the people scattered all around the bar, laughing and chatting.

Three short messages and you had already forgotten all the nights you woke up next to Maki, drenched in your own sweat. You had forgotten how many meals you had skipped and how many cigarettes you had smoked at your kitchen window. The only thing your brain could focus on at the moment was Megumi waiting for you outside. 

You step out into the cool night air, goosebumps creeping up your spine as you pull your jacket tighter. The rain was beating down on the awning attached to the wall above the entrance to the bar, and as you waited, staring at your phone, a few cars drove by, but otherwise the streets were empty. Unlike the many bars and restaurants in the street, from here you could look into their brightly lit interiors and see couples or whole groups of people sitting around the tables, talking and laughing.

After a few minutes of waiting, you rummage in your purse for a cigarette and a lighter, but when you hear a familiar voice behind you, you flinch and drop it, straight into a puddle.

"Hey." You turn to see Megumi coming towards you in the dim light of a street lamp. You feel your heart pounding in your throat and your palms starting to sweat. He was completely drenched, the hood pulled down over his face, but the rain was dripping from the strands of hair that were sticking out and falling in his face.

"Hey," you reply, barely audible. You felt the anxiety creep up to you for a moment, but you tried to pull yourself together. Still, it seemed to show on your face when your eyes met his, and you weren't surprised at how worried he looked. Worried and tired and somehow — guilty.

For a brief moment you just stared at each other without saying anything. It was so strange, but what was the right thing to do in such a situation? You were confused, your body was sending you so many signals to escape the scene, to go back inside and leave him standing, and at the same time you were longing so much to feel his warmth and to forget everything that had happened.

Then, out of nowhere, Megumi takes a step towards you and pulls you into a tight embrace. You inhaled his scent, completely ignoring how soaked he was. He rested his chin on your head and you felt him take a deep breath before he planted a kiss on your hair.  "I know this doesn't mean shit," he murmured into your hair, "but I'm so sorry, baby." You freeze. "I’m so sorry for hurting you."

He sounded like a broken record. He was sorry every time he hurt you and then he did it again.

"It’s okay," you promise, sounding so heartbroken "it’s okay 'Gumi."

Was it okay? It wasn't like he broke your favourite CD, or stepped on your foot, or forgot about your date. When you looked in the mirror after showering, you could still see the marks of his fingers on your neck.

One,

two,

three,

four.

And a fifth where his thumb had pressed down, keeping you from taking another breath.

You stand there like that for quite a while, motionless, while he just holds you in his arms. You listen to the rain while tears ran down your cheeks, so overwhelmed by your own feelings. You didn't want this moment to end. You didn't want to deal with reality, and you certainly didn't want to deal with what would happen after this. "I missed you," you mumble into his chest, and it was the truth.

He doesn't answer.

He’s quiet, as usual. You always had a hard time reading him, you never knew for sure what was going on inside of him. But right now you could hear his heart beating faster and you feel his hand trembling as he stroked your back soothingly.

"'Told you I’ve got something for you," he mutters, drawing one arm away and fumbling in the pocket of his hoodie.

You pulled back and dared to look at him for real this time. He didn't just look tired, he looked exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes, his cheeks were sunken and his lean, muscular frame seemed to have lost a little bit of weight.

"Turn around," he whispers as you just stare up at him through big doe eyes. You think about it for a moment, but then you do as you are told. You weren't sure what was going to happen, and as his arms wrap around your body and you feel his fingers first on your collarbone and then on your neck, for a split second you feel panic rising up again.

Until you realize that he is brushing your long hair aside and you feel cold metal and a delicate necklace against your skin.

With skilful hands he closes the clasp at the nape of your neck and your fingers immediately run to the spot on your collarbone to feel for the silvery heart-shaped pendant.

"Happy birthday," he whispers into your ear, sending goosebumps down your spine for the second time tonight. Without a word, you turn around, searching his face for any sign of rejection, but finding none. Your eyes glisten as they meet his and a smile tugs at your lips, before you finally kiss him.

He seems surprised by your reaction, but after a moment's hesitation he returns the kiss, his hand gently moving upwards to the back of your head, pulling you in even closer.

"Thank you," you mumble against his lips, still smiling, "I love it, it’s so pretty." 

You were not ready to let him go. You were afraid he would leave and you didn't know when you would see him again. Not only had you not heard from him for two weeks, you hadn't seen him on campus either.

"You should really go back inside." You heard Megumi say.

"Please don't go yet," you beg, looking up at him, "I want to see you again."

"You've been out here too long, they'll wonder where you are." He was right. You looked down at the ground, upset that he had managed to get you so completely hooked again in such a short time. How were you going to pretend that everything was all right for the rest of the night?

He looks down at you, trying to read the expression on your face, before pulling you back in, gently brushing a strand of hair from your face. "Text me when you're ready to leave, OK? We'll work something out." Your face lit up immediately upon hearing his words.

He lets go of you, leaving you unsure if you should kiss him again or not, and before you can even decide, he moves away from you. You take a step back too, hurt that he would just leave you like that. But instead of frowning, you just smile at him, without it ever reaching your eyes.

"I'll text you," you say, turning around just as he takes your hand and pulls you back, hugging you tightly and planting another kiss on the top of your head. He holds you for a moment and you can almost feel how hard it is for him to let go of you too, you could sense how bad he was feeling at the moment and how he tried to memorize as much of you as possible. Your scent, the way your body moulded just perfectly into his own, how your soft hair felt against the palm of his hand.

"I love you," he breathed against your hair, almost too quiet for you to hear.

But you heard him. 

For the first time in months, you heard him say it without you saying it first. 

For the first time in months, it felt like he meant it.