#tristan ward loves

[byronvera]

way to motivate yourself to do anatomy practice: draw your specialest little guy

[pitaenigma]

I've spent an upsetting amount of time thinking about why Rain sucks so bad. I read Ward as it updated, as I had a lot of interactions with the fandom, as I discussed it daily with other people who, like me, were way too intense about an online web serial. But the one conclusion I agreed with most of them about was that Rain sucks. Like, in a story about a group of people who all need redemption, he's the only one in the group who doesn't seem to have any of that past person in him. The story tells us he does, with exchanges like

“Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Natives, Middle Easterners, then gay, trans,” Tristan rattled off. “Deeper than that,” Rain said.  “I had to start with re-figuring women and how I thought about them.  I’m still pretty shitty, as much as I’m trying, because I hear you rattle that off and my first thought is ‘some of these aren’t like the others’ and I have to stop myself.” “You’ve said a few things,” Chris said. “Probably.”

But we never actually see him like that. We never see Rain go "trans women aren't women" or quote Ace Ventura or something like that. He is a fairly milquetoast character who doesn't have much going for him in the way of character traits, which is a little odd in a group like Breakthrough where every single member is a flavor of fuckhead.

It is Very Bad Literary Analysis to blame something on the author, but I do have a theory about how this happened. Wildbow has said he considered Rain for protagonist of Ward, and parts of that still come through in the text - the first big arc relates to him, a lot of the secret mechanics that the story unveils are first hinted at through him (he's far from the only member of Breakthrough with power fuckiness, but we never see Chris, T&B, or Sveta deal with entities in the very direct way he does) - but he is also fairly flat as a character, and doesn't have *that* much to do. I suspect Wildbow, when planning Ward, was dealing mostly with the contingent of fans he spoke to: A few die-hard nerds on Cauldron in the few channels he frequented at the time, people on r/parahumans, his IRC friends... While he was aware of the worst parts of the fandom he didn't have to deal with them directly. Rain, as planned, was not a problem in his eyes. Actually writing Ward forced the worst parts of the fandom (yes, worse than Amy stans) to his attention, as many of them were interacting with the parts of the fandom he interfaced with. I think Wildbow realized that if he had a main character, one who is vital to the narrative, say these bigoted things, he would encourage the worst parts of his fandom, and I believe Wildbow is someone who doesn't want to encourage the bigots. I'm highly critical of him, but he is someone who dislikes bigotry to an extent that he'd try to fix it. I think some Ward choices come from that, and I think Rain being kinda dull is part of that. However, another part of Wildbow is that, as much as he "improvises" these stories, he does have a hard time letting go of plot beats if he likes them. The worst example of this is the plague at the end of Ward, timed perfectly with COVID, that had half the fandom in a state of constant outrage. So he kept Rain, figured he'd do something interesting with him, but didn't really figure it out by the time Rain entered the narrative in 2.5. He didn't re-figure who of5 was, he just worked on his instincts and tried to write his way out of where he got except he never quite did and the result is that Rain is someone we are told was totally a bad person offscreen, where the guy we get is basically an average egg.

[umathurwin]

get what i want ’cause i ask for it (not because i’m really that deserving of it)

rafe cameron x f!reader; nsfw 18+

Summary: Rafe is so close to receiving the CEO title of his father’s company, he can taste it. But before he can have his dream job, he has to complete the most grueling task he’s ever been given: watch over the bratty heiress of their partner company, who’s decided to make his life hell.

He’s persistent. But so is she.

A/N: tags, warnings, and more on ao3!

“So,” Rafe started, striding into his father’s office and getting way too comfortable in the chair. Ward’s clients would expect nothing less than Memory Foam under their pompous asses, of course– how could you not sink down and kick your feet on the desk? “What’s next for me? Corner office with big windows? Company Lexus? A solid-gold bathroom?”

“I’ll be frank. What the hell are you talking about?”

“When I’m CEO of Cameron Development. Duh. I’ve been hearing the rumors about Maurice retiring, and you’re gonna need someone to fill his role…”

“Easy . You haven’t even been working here a whole year,” Ward reminded him, smacking the peppermint gum Rafe hated. “And your office has big windows!”

“I’m just being cliche. It’s the title that I really want, Dad.”

“Why should I give it to you, though? You’re barely even old enough to be out of college, if you’d gone.”

It stung, when his father reminded him that he hadn’t gone to school. He swallowed anyway. “Don’t need to, not with my work ethic. I take the job you gave me really seriously. All the departments love me, we’ve had great numbers the last three quarters, I’ve secured five deals that we’ve missed out on in the past,” he ticked off. “Tell me why you shouldn’t give it to me.”

Ward leaned back in his chair, tapping his pen on the desk rapidly. “Okay, you’re right. I agree. And I actually think I have something in mind that’ll really prove to me you’re worthy of totally running this company with the CEO title.”

Rafe all but purred. “Name it.”

“I should warn you, this is… probably gonna be the ultimate test of how loyal you are to Cameron Development.”

“Jesus, am I gonna have to fight a Jedi, or something?”

“Remember when I ran errands when you were younger, and you acted like it was inhumane torture to watch Sarah for 45 minutes?”

He sulked, already rubbing at the space between his eyebrows. “Oh God. You hired her, too, didn’t you? And here I thought my job was a special offer. Are you giving one to my cousin Tristan, too? Y’know he sits down when he pees?”

“I’m not hiring your sister. Or… your cousin,” Ward sighed. “We have a huge offer coming up soon. We’re teaming up with Kerrington Design to build on the northern side of the island, meaning we’d have properties in every zone. I cannot stress enough how important this bid is, Rafe. Josephine Kerrington will be working with us for the next month or so while we iron out details.”

“This all sounds great so far,” Rafe said. “Where do I come in?”

“Josephine mentioned that she was bringing her young daughter, and that she doesn’t feel comfortable with her being alone. I offered for you to watch over her while she’s here.”

“What?!”

“Look, I know you—”

“Hate dealing with kids? Yeah, I do,” he groaned. “Dad, you realize I have actual work to do around here? I have that O’Brien meeting coming up! How am I supposed to get stuff done with someone playing Webkinz in my office?”

“You love Webkinz.”

“Good Lord. Sure, when I was six!”

“Like I said before,” Ward started, tone carrying a warning out to his son that matched his tilted head, “this is an ultimate test. I’m counting on you to be a good babysitter.” Ward’s phone trilled, forcing a wince onto Rafe’s face, and the older man leaned forward to glance at the screen. “Ah. That’s her now. They’ll be arriving today, so be on the lookout for them, eh?”

Rafe stood up, smoothing out his pants. “Yeah, well, if there’s gonna be a child on the premises, I’m getting a cup of coffee right now.”

“Probably a good idea,” Ward conceded lowly, waving his son out of his office. “Mrs. Kerrington, good morning, it’s so great to hear from you…”

Rafe stepped out and went to the floor’s coffee station, noting an unfamiliar young woman getting herself a cup from the stack of thick cardboard. The company rarely hired people under the age of 25, so he was pleasantly surprised to see someone his own age.

“Morning,” he greeted to get her to turn around, and fuck, she was cute. “I don’t recognize you. New here?”

“You could say that,” the girl cocked her head a little. “Do you know every person who works here?”

He smiled. “Oh, I do a lot of paperwork on all levels. Surely I would’ve remembered you.”

She returned his grin. “You’re sweet. I’m Y/N.”

“My name’s Rafe. Your morning been good so far?”

“So far,” she repeated him in response, returning to her empty cup. “How about yourself?”

“Fine. Just dreading later,” he sighed, reaching behind the supplies in the cabinet to find the mug he’d hidden back there.

She made a little humming noise. “Why? What’s later?”

“Ah, nothing, I just have to babysit some CEO’s daughter for a few weeks. I hope to God I’ll be able to get any work done with a kid running around here, but I’ve got a little sister. I think I’ll be fine.”

The girl nodded, a little slowly to be seen as normal, but she was cute enough that he brushed it off. His eyes trailed down to where she was about to pour the coffee into her cup and he reached out to hold her wrist and stop her actions. “Wait, whoa!”

She gasped, jumping back. “Hey, watch it!” she shook her head, pouring her cup while still a few feet away from him. “It’s hot coffee, dude. What’s your deal?”

“If you pour the powder creamer first, it dissolves when you pour the coffee in,” he explained, shaking his head. “Too late now. You shoulda listened to me.”

“Well, it really doesn’t matter when y’all have thousands of these,” she reached for a coffee stirrer. “You micromanage a lot of shit around here, or am I special?”

He scoffed. “I practically run this place, sweetheart. You should be thanking me for bestowing my wisdom on you. Now, don’t you have something, I dunno, administrative to do?”

“Administrative?” the girl parroted, setting down the stirrer. Her tone was amused, but her eyebrows were still in her hairline. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to talk to women like that?”

“My step-mother,” he corrected, “is a useless witch. So, no.”

Her mouth fell open. “I guess this company is run by an absolute pig.”

He clenched his jaw. Who is this girl, and how dare she speak to him like that? “You better watch how you talk to me before I–”

“Rafe!” Ward called, interrupting his son’s threat and joining the two young adults at the coffee bar. “I see you’ve already met your partner for the next few weeks. How are you, Miss Kerrington?” he turned to warmly address her, reaching out to take her hand politely and shake it. He either didn’t notice the horrific tension between them or was desperately trying to cut it.

The girl smiled. “I’m doing just fine, Mr. Cameron.”

“Please, call me Ward,” he insisted, stepping aside to grab a cardboard cup.

Rafe finally found his voice. “So, Josephine Kerrington…” he started, anxiously looking between her and his father.

“Is my mother,” Y/N finished, tilting her head smugly. “Rafe, was it? Why don’t you show me to your office?”

***

He tried to keep his back straight as he showed her where he worked, and she looked around nosily the second she was inside. While she snooped around his belongings and photos, he took another look at her.

She was wearing a lavender floral dress that was just too short to be considered professional, though those rules clearly didn’t apply to her. When she spun back around to look at him, he had to snap his gaze back up quickly to not reveal he’d been staring at her ass.

“So, Y/N,” he started sheepishly. She set her coffee on the table and he ran over to put a coaster under it. “I think we got off on the wrong foot—“

“Water under the bridge,” she interrupted. “Could you Airdrop the Wifi?”

Rafe stared at her face, expecting her to burst out laughing at him. “I understand all of those words, separately.”

She sighed. “You have wireless internet here, no?”

“We do.”

“And I assume it’s password protected?”

“That’d be a correct assumption.”

“And I also bet it’s harder to type than ‘cameronwifi’?”

He scrunched his face. “It’s some combination of letters and numbers, so yeah.”

She pressed her lips together. “Figured. Open up contacts on your phone.”

Rafe obeyed, though he didn’t know why. Curiosity, maybe? She put in her number then guided him to the Wifi tab and held her phone up. The password to the internet auto-filled on her device and she was already skipping away to use it.

“What? I don’t get a ‘thank you’?” he snorted, putting his phone back in his pocket.

“Why? You didn’t even do anything!” She flopped on the couch. “Feel free to text me, now that you’ve got my number.”

He scoffed. “Are you hitting on me?”

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Yeah right, nerd. If I did hit on you, I’d probably comment on your Marlon Brando slicked hair. Heavy gel, in this decade, it’s a sexy and modern choice.”

There was no holding back now. “You’re a brat.”

“Get used to it.”

“Why should I? It’s not like you do anything.”

“You say that like I’m not important.”

“Of course you’re not important here. You—You don’t even have a title!”

“Ah, that’s just not true,” she corrected. “I’m a CTA. Chief Tactics Associate.”

Rafe rubbed at his forehead. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means what I say, goes.”

He snickered. “Is that so?”

“Glad you find it funny. Why do you think I’m even here? My opinion means a lot to my mother, and if I run to her and tell her I don’t like how things are run at your company, she’ll pick up her business and run to the next development firm that’s eagerly waiting to spring properties up on the island.”

Rafe’s stomach turned. With how important this deal was to Ward, she really had the upper hand on him. “Fine. Just stay out of my way while I work, and we should get along alright.”

A smile curled up on her face. “I’ll try my best, sir.”

***

She did not.

When confronted by his son, Ward was not sympathetic. He eventually gave a half-hearted apology but not before bursting out laughing in Rafe’s face. His only defense was something like, “Josephine’s exact words were ‘young daughter’. How was I supposed to know she’s able to vote?”

“I sure love finding you in my office all the time,” Rafe announced sardonically to the girl lying on his comfy leather couch watching loud Tik Toks.

He knew why she hovered, of course. Even if his father hadn’t twisted his arm into watching her, he was one of the few people in the building within ten years of her age. It made sense that she’d linger around him, even if she was a nuisance most of the time.

She didn’t look up from her phone. “It has the best view. Big windows.” She reached into her shirt, dipped into her bra and pulled out what looked like a USB until she brought it to her mouth and sucked.

Rafe reached down to snatch it from her hand and stuck it in his lapel pocket. “Not in my office.”

She waved her hand around annoyedly, letting the tiny wisps of smoke escape from her lips. “Vibe killer. I’ve got another one at home.”

“I’m sure you do,” he muttered, sniffing the air. “Wait. Is this mint? They don’t make JUUL pods in that flavor anymore.”

“I get ‘em from Europe,” she explained impatiently.

He huffed. “How stupid of me,” he noted before stalking over to his computer. He looked around his desk and noticed things were not as he left them. “Goddamnit, quit messing around with my stuff! I’ve told you before, I care ab–” he stopped himself, and the pause actually garnered her attention.

Rafe picked up a stack of documents and inspected them carefully. “Wait. These are the quarterly verification logs?”

“I know what they are. Title at the top and everything.”

“Y/N, I’ve been trying to get these back from credentialing for months. I email them twice a day, they don’t even blink at me. Is this what you did during my meeting?”

“Yeah. I saw you typing one up earlier, so I paid their department a little visit when I was bored. Can I have my JUUL back as a prize?”

Rafe laughed. “I thought you had another one at home.”

“You called my bluff.”

He rolled his eyes, but still reached into his jacket and tossed her the stick. She caught it and took another rip, looking behind him and shaking her head wistfully. “Just imagine what else you could get done if you had a pair of tits to weaponize with every half-witted employee you have crawling around here.”

Hmm. Maybe he didn’t have to imagine.

***

His least favorite part of what he did was dealing with the shareholders, by far.

He gets it. A critical part of the job was kissing rich ass despite them knowing the least about what’s best for the company, because money makes the world go round. But the meetings he was forced to sit in on were like pulling teeth, and every minute he sat in those rooms was a performance. He nodded along, looked over papers and presentations, pretended not to notice the older men had no idea where they were, and shook hands until they slapped their thighs and announced it was time to head out.

Today, the meeting ran over, because none of those antiquated bastards have any concept of time. His skin itched, watching the clock tick minute after minute when he should already be getting back to work. When they finally noticed, Rafe pretended to receive a critical phone call to escape without dealing with their falsely pleasant goodbyes.

Rafe rested his forehead on his office door before going inside. For a moment, he forgot everything that was going on in his life, and prepared himself to enjoy the rest of the day in peace and quiet.

Except, he couldn’t, because Y/N was sitting in his chair, feet kicked up on his desk, with one of his lollipops in her mouth. He deflated, walking over to see what she was doing. Rafe groaned when his eyes landed on a coloring book and some crayons in her lap, and was especially peeved that she was too focused on Aurora’s hair to look up at him.

“What are you, five?” he sneered, picking up a completed Ursula and Ariel sheet off his desktop. “That’s you,” he said, pointing to the villainous witch.

Y/N’s eyes flicked up annoyedly and she took the sucker out, letting it clack on her teeth. “Yeah, and you’re so mature.” Without breaking eye contact, she placed the glistening lollipop right on his desk.

“Damnit, you–,” he sputtered, picking up the candy and remorsefully throwing it away. He swiped at the wet spot that remained and brought his fingers to his lips without thinking. It looked like the wood was too dark to show a stain anyways. “You win. Just, please get up.”

She waved around to the many empty chairs in his office. “Sit somewhere else.”

“It’s my office,” he scoffed. “Get up. Or you can sit in my lap, if you want,” Rafe added with a smirk.

Y/N grimaced. “Do I need to go to HR?”

“Best of luck with that, doll. The Lead HR lady is my godmother.”

She paused her coloring to look up at him. “Tell me, is there anyone in this building you don’t have a familial relation to?”

“Our CTA.”

“You’re funny.”

“I know. That’s why I thought you’d jump on the offer to sit on my lap.” She ignored him again, returning to coloring the pink dress. Rafe glanced at the stack of manila envelopes on his desk and an idea popped into his head. “Say, has my father shown you the mail room here?”

She lifted an eyebrow–he almost laughed at how easy she was to entertain. “Mail room?”

He nodded. “Yeah, real shiny place. There’s tubes all over the building that we shoot letters into that all lead to the mail room downstairs. It’s a really cool set-up, and I think you’d like it.” He looked at his desk again, feigning surprise. “Oh, hey! And these need to be sent out anyways. They don’t fit in the chutes, so you have an excuse to snoop around there.” He picked up the stack and held them out to her, fully expecting her to snort and tell him to shove them up his ass. It’s what his sister would do.

But to his complete surprise, she nodded wordlessly and set her colors down. She took the envelopes and skipped out of the office on a mission.

Shit. Maybe he could make this work.

***

Two hours later, Rafe burst out of his own office, crashing right into his father.

“Hey, I was just coming to check on you,” he greeted before noticing Rafe’s sour expression. “Whoa, what’s wrong?” Ward asked, holding out a hand to his son’s chest to slow him down.

“Oh, nothing. Just that Y/N painted her nails in my room earlier,” he huffed. Likely because she wanted to cover up the scent of her dab pen, he really wanted to add on. “I made her count reams of paper to make her leave, but the room still smells like chemicals. Getting a migraine.”

“Did you open a window?”

“No, Dad, and I also didn’t try spraying Febreze, so don’t ask,” he snapped.

Ward pressed his lips together, eyebrows lifting softly. “Come sit in my office for a little?” he offered.

Rafe nodded, pressing the up button himself. His phone in his pocket chirped to indicate a text message, but he didn’t move. The phone buzzed over and over, beeping so many times that they were cutting themselves off.

Ward blinked. “Gonna check that?”

“Nope. I know it’s just Y/N.”

“Why is she sending you so many texts?”

“I made the mistake of giving her my number in case she needed anything. Now, she sends me fifty iMessage games if I’m not paying attention to her.” The elevator doors opened again to the top floor. “Dad, you don’t realize. She’s the most annoying pest I’ve ever had to deal with.”

“Worse than your sister?”

Rafe hesitated. “She gives her a run for her money.”

***

Y/N bounded up to Rafe the following day, looking from the phone nestled in the crook of his neck to where the cord led back to the desk. She brought a freshly pink-tipped finger to the hook switch and pressed it, ending his call.

“I got the signatures from the guys in accounting,” she announced, pulling the papers out to show him. “Have you actually seen them? They are literally the palest people I’ve ever met.”

Rafe sputtered with anger, slamming the phone back in the cradle. “You didn’t have to do that! I was on hold with a stupid robot.”

“I wanted your undivided attention,” she shrugged.

He massaged at his temples. “Whatever. Thank you for the signatures, I suppose. Say, are you having any trouble with the Wifi?”

To his dismay, her face brightened. “Oh, right! I wanted to ask IT if you can change the password for only the router in your office, and the answer is yes,” she giddily explained, pointing to the white box pinned to the ceiling above her.

“Um, okay. What’s the new password?”

“It’s ‘misskerringtonlovesanal420’, no caps, no spaces.”

He sighed. “Are you serious?”

“Well, I’ve never actually tried doing it. But I wanted to see if I could make the IT guy squirm and he totally–”

“I meant, is it seriously the password?” he stopped her, tired of being reminded that every touch-starved man on the premises was at the sheer whim of this girl.

“See for yourself.”

Click click click. “Ugh, really?”

“Tell me you wouldn’t do this shit if you had the freedom to.”

He didn’t respond to that. It seemed he’d have to try a little harder to keep the girl busy and out of trouble. Rafe slipped a hand into his lapel pocket and pulled out a folded $20, extending it out for her. “If I give you this, will you go to the cafeteria downstairs and get us both turkey sandwiches?”

She took the money and slipped it in her bra, already on her way out. “Yes, but we’re getting rotisserie chicken. They’re so much better.”

“Wait, I want turkey!” he called after her.

“Too bad!”

***

Rafe woke up late.

He’d spent the last week working double time to make sure Y/N stayed out of trouble and his normal tasks were fulfilled. It was no wonder that at some point he’d break and the back-up Pinball alarm would fail him. Why the fuck this had to happen the morning of his O’Brien meeting, he’ll never know.

He ran into his building in such a hurry he felt the soles of his shoes wearing down. He didn’t stop for the doorman, the HR intern, and sure as shit not for his father, who all tried to strike up a conversation.

“Dad, please, I can’t talk right now,” Rafe huffed out to the last one, clicking the elevator button over and over. “I’m super late to a meeting with–”

“This is slightly more important,” Ward insisted. “There was a cyber attack. IT is taking care of it, but something got in through our Wifi, and our emails have been a mess all d–”

“Wait,” Rafe interrupted, ignoring the car arriving at the ground floor. “You said the Wifi?”

“Well, yeah. They said there was a leak at our security company, and any routers with passwords that haven’t been reset in the last month were affected. They’re routinely reset four times a year, so we just got unlucky.”

Rafe was so stunned he had to be pulled onto the elevator by his father. “Is everything alright?”

He tossed around what to do here. If he admitted Y/N dicking around had accidentally protected his router, he’d run the risk of exposing not only how he’d been getting her to do his work but also how he really hadn’t been monitoring her too strictly. Hell, she could’ve done the opposite and totally fucked over their security if she wasn’t careful.

“Yes, actually, I was having trouble and changed my own router last week,” he lied, words fumbling out in a jittery string. “Guess I just got lucky. God, how is this elevator so slow?”

Ward raised his eyebrow at his bouncy son. “Is everything alright?”

“O’Brien meeting in negative two minutes,” he shouted, looking at his watch and slipping through the crack between the barely-open doors. “Damn Irish.”

“It’s funny because we’re actually Scottish!” his father called after him, but Rafe really didn’t care.

He threw open the doors to his own office and waved off a dazed Y/N to run behind his desk. “Hey, Bossman,” she greeted him, clearly oblivious to the rush he was in. “I had a great idea for us to do.”

Rafe dug through his desk drawers, sorting through Sharpies and Post-Its looking for the USB drive holding the O’Brien floor plans. “Lemme get back to you on that.”

“Are you sure? It’ll only take a minute.”

“Y/N, I can’t right now. I’ve got a meeting that I’m already late for, and it’s really important that I–”

“Oh, that? I moved it.”

He halted in his tracks, blood colder than ice. “You moved my meeting with the O’Briens?!” he asked, wiping sweat off his forehead.

“Yeah,” she answered bubbly. “I wanted to get a chocolate croissant at that bakery down the street but they close early in the day, so I called and asked those guys if they’d be okay with the same time tomorrow. All I had to do was say it conflicted with Kerrington business, and they were cool with it. Ready to go?”

Rafe was… fucking flabbergasted. Not only did she take it upon herself to move a career-altering meeting without his permission over a fucking baked good, but she’d used her name to persuade the O’Briens into compliance. He thought back to the wifi– she’d just unintentionally saved his ass, twice, in the same fucking day.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I looked at your calendar first. You’re not busy.”

He couldn’t help himself. Rafe lunged forward, taking her face into his hands and planting a big kiss on her lips. She made a surprised squeak before relaxing into his touch and returning the favor.

When he pulled away, her eyes were still shut for two seconds too long. “Yeah, I could go for a Kouign-amann. After you,” he said, waving his hand out to the door.

***

Rafe had just finished the yellow cross on his Rubik’s cube when his father knocked on the door of his office. He waved him in with two fingers but went right back to diligently solving his puzzle.

“Where is Y/N?” Ward asked, taking a seat in front of his son’s desk.

“Out to lunch with her mother.”

“And you didn’t go with her?” he teased.

This got Rafe to look up from the cube, but he still shot his father an exasperated glare. Not only did that sound like a nightmare and a half, he was a little uneasy about being around her.

He’d acted a little rash yesterday when he was pumped full of adrenaline and stress, he’ll admit it– though, if he had made her uncomfortable with the kiss, she didn’t act like it. She went right back to the hellion force of nature she was before (like forcing him to play 20 Questions with her, and when the person was revealed to be Ghandi, going on a long rant about his problematic behavior as if she hadn’t chosen the man herself). Kinda why he was enjoying the rare peace and quiet he just lost.

“Why’d you stop by?” A much more pleasant way of saying why oh why are you in my office and what’s the quickest way I can get you out.

“At some point I want you to complete the follow-up for the Carroll’s. I know they’re a-holes, so feel free to not put this high on your priority list. I could care less if it gets done by the end of the week, if I’m being honest.”

“Oh, so you haven’t been honest before?” Rafe snapped, getting too frustrated and slamming the Rubik’s cube back down on the desk. “And you mean you couldn’t care less,” he tacked on.

Ward pursed his lips together and tried to hold back a snort. “Okay, let’s make a deal. I won’t use either of those phrases anymore, and you quit taking out your annoyance with Y/N on me.”

“Not really fair, since her antagonism in my life is very much your fault.”

“C’mon, you’ve been doing a great job so far! Is she that hard to get along with?” Ward sighed. “She’s a cute girl who could charm birds out of trees and y’know, she reminds me a lot of you.”

Rafe winced. “That’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Oh, hush. You’re both hardworking, loyal, and heirs, obviously.”

“How is she hardworking? All she does is traipse around the office and make messes for me to clean up.”

“Really? Because, from what I’ve heard around the office, you’ve turned her into your little administrative assistant. Are you sure that’s what Mrs. Kerrington wants?”

“I don’t know what Mrs. Kerrington wants!” he groaned, rubbing at his forehead. “If you didn’t notice, she kind of dropped a teenager off at my doorstep and made me figure out how to balance watching her and work.”

“She’s an adult,” Ward muttered, sinking down in the chair.

“Those are not mutually exclusive,” Rafe snapped back, then shook his head. He leaned forward and started working on the Rubik’s cube again. “Whatever. I’m over it. Not really, but I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” His eyes darted up to the clock on his wall. “You’ve got a Zoom call with the West Coast in ten minutes, anyways.”

Ward checked his watch and jumped up when he realized his son was correct.

***

“How did you even manage to get into my computer?!” Rafe shouted, slamming his hands on his desk and standing up.

“Your password was literally your last name and birth year, doll,” she explained, far too casual for someone who hadn’t just turned his entire desktop set-up to various shades of pink and purple. He didn’t fail to notice how she was picking up on his mannerisms these last few weeks. “And the password hint was ‘name and year’. Have you ever taken a computer safety class in your life?”

“Stop talking to me like I deserve to have you snooping around my stuff! Change it back!”

“Absolutely not. How could you work with it before? It was so dull and… default settings.”

Rafe scrubbed his face with his hands, realizing it didn't relax him at all. “I am genuinely so tired of your presence,” he admitted, waving a hand and trying not to clench it in a fist when she giggled at him. “I’m serious! You constantly get in the way. I don’t even know why I put up with you.”

“Because my say is the last stop in this agreement, and you’re in charge of keeping me happy.”

He grimaced at the reminder. “Right. You’re the gleaming epitome of nepotism. I get it.”

She all but gasped. “Are you joking? And just what does that make you?”

“Hey, I actually work here. I’ve put in effort to get where I am.”

She barked out a laugh. “Yeah. And I’m sure daddy had nothing to do with it.”

“I’m on the Board of Directors here!”

“Which your father also assembled!” she shouted, then shook her head with a smile. “Actually, y’know what? I get it now. You hate me because I’m you.”

He spat at the assumption. “We are completely different.”

“No, we’re not. We’re both spoiled nepotism babies who overvalue our importance. I just don’t give enough of a fuck to lie about it. Tell me, do you hate seeing yourself when you look at me? Is that it?”

Rafe exhaled heavily through his nose, trying to refrain from storming out and knocking over a vase on his way out. “Is there any particular reason you’re always such a pain to me and an angel around everyone else?”

Y/N raised herself up on her tiptoes to (unsuccessfully) get closer to his height. “Because I like making mean guys suffer. And because you’re so cute when you’re mad.”

“And you’re just cute enough to get my shit done for me.”

Yeah, that was fucking dumb to say. Her jaw dropped the moment the words regretfully tumbled off his tongue and not even slapping his hand over his mouth could save him.

“Wait, that’s what you’ve been doing? You were using me to get your fucking work done?”

“Y/N, no, I–”

“And just when I thought we were kind of getting along for a minute. Do you think I’m just a tool for you to use?”

Kind of. His mouth hung open dumbly for too many moments, because she scoffed in disgust and pushed past him.

He called at her and tried to grab her arm, but she yanked away again. “If you follow me, I’m telling my mom what a chauvinistic louse you are.”

Rafe waited for the mischievous grin to creep on her face, but it didn’t. She was cold. He’d fucked up.

In immaculate timing, a new secretary hire knocked on the barely open door of his office. “Mr. Cameron? Miss Kerrington? The board meeting starts in four minutes,” the intern informed the two, just poking his head in enough to get the words out before disappearing.

She huffed one more time, spinning around and marching out of the room. He was conflicted, since he was mandated to be at the meeting but was terrified of pissing her off. He chased her down the halls, wanting to at least be present for his own damnation.

He only caught up to her just as she joined the groups of execs, far too late for him to attempt to stop her again. He held his breath as he watched her take her seat next to her mother. His face was hot, waiting for her to spill the beans and get his ass in immense trouble.

She… didn’t, though. She just sat down, looked at her phone under the desk, and shifted in the chair to get comfortable.

“Rafe? You alright?” he heard, and he looked down to see his dad waving him towards the table. “Let’s get this started.”

***

“And to recap, these are the outsourcing companies we plan to use. Contracts are already underway…” Mr. Henthorn droned. Or… Hawthorn. Who gives a crap.

“Why isn’t Upwards Lumber on this list anymore?” Josephine asked. “I thought we agreed on them in our earlier phases.”

Ward hesitated, looking around to his team before answering. “Well, last week we were informed Upwards wasn’t able to handle projects of this size anymore.”

Josephine’s eyes narrowed. “I thought they worked with the Ambetter building downtown?”

“They did. But apparently a year and a half ago, they were heavily audited and half their workers were laid off due to failed drug screenings. Upwards is really only able to handle small commercial projects until they rebuild their crew.”

Drug screens are just elitist, targeting bullshit, Rafe thought, and Ward looked over with a stern blink as though he could read his son’s mind. Probably not the time to be making any kind of statement anyways.

Josephine stiffened. “Well. Bullet dodged, I suppose. Kerrington doesn’t tolerate drug use of any kind, at any level.”

Ward agreed with her imperative demand, but Rafe had to hide a smirk behind his fist. It was one thing for Y/N to obnoxiously hit her JUUL in his office, but if mommy saw the dab cart that sometimes stuck out of her bag, it’d be a little harder to explain.

He looked up to Y/N. Sure, she was fuming and likely going to snitch on him any minute now, but she still had a sense of humor, so he expected to share at least a moment of amused, knowing eye contact. To his surprise, though, she was completely slumped down in the chair. Her gaze was down on the table and she picked at her fingernails, hiding from everyone else in the room. Rafe’s eyebrows furrowed, and he looked over to Josephine, who was shooting her daughter a fiery glare.

The daughter who was a bratty, uncontrollable mess. The one who had pretty condemnatory dirt on Rafe and, knowing her character, was being oddly silent about it. The one who’d been dropped off for him to essentially babysit for the last few excruciating weeks.

Babysit.

The pieces assembled themselves in his brain so quickly he nearly got vertigo in the swivel chair. That’s why he’s had to fucking watch her this whole time– because she needed watching. No wonder she didn’t snitch on Rafe for whoring her out for paperwork. She was never there for him to entertain and keep happy; he just had to make sure she wasn’t sneaking off to do drugs. And really, he hadn’t done a great job at it.

He didn’t bother beating himself up, since his directions were incredibly unclear and he’d been expecting to watch a fourth grader to begin with. Regardless, the tension in the room was palpable and the respective girl’s face had already turned a burning pink.

The moment the meeting was over, Y/N did the least annoying thing she’d done since the first day she stepped into the building. She stood up, stormed out of the meeting room, and disappeared for the rest of the day.

***

Showing up to the office in the dark had a much different energy than during the daytime. The area was quite nice, so it wasn’t like she felt particularly unsafe going in, but without the doorman greeting her and pulling open the massive front door, something felt off.

Although, it was nice that no one was there to watch her vomit in the receptionist’s trash can. Helena would be pissed come Monday morning, but Y/N was currently more concerned with how much better she felt after getting that out of her system.

Muscle memory is the only thing that got her in the elevator and pushing the right button. When she reached the desired floor, a wave of his aftershave and cigarette smoke hit her nose. She floated on the scent, lost in the way it wrapped around her, until it carried her right into the office of the man she was looking for.

Of course, she didn’t barge in. Rafe didn’t notice her arrival right away so she remained in the shadows to watch him work. It was outlandish, how attractive he was—he was focused hard on some stack of papers with one hand scrubbing at his temple and the other occasionally taking the cigarette that rested between his lips and ashing it. The smoke escaped his mouth in aggravated sighs, curling around his head before disappearing into the room. He’d cracked open a window in some attempt to hide the smell, but it only breezed its way into the hall. This close, it wasn’t even nauseating, but more like a cologne.

From her spot, she could see that he’d unbuttoned some of his shirt to reveal his lean chest. It was strange, seeing some indicator that he was capable of relaxing. He’d had a stick up his ass since the day she met him, so imagining him exhausted and popping the top few buttons on his shirt was almost… endearing.

Her balance was, as expected, not up to par. She leaned a little too far one way, and before she knew it, she stumbled right into the light as well as Rafe’s eyeline. He called her name confusedly, and when her head snapped up, she caught him stubbing out the cig as he stood.

“It’s cute,” she noted, nodding at the ashtray and trying not to trip over her own feet as she got back up. “You, putting out the cigarette. Like I don’t smoke in your office when you’re not here.”

Rafe waved his hands around and tossed the window open even further. “Lighting a cigarette is more serious than hitting your stupid Brass Knuckles pen. What are you doing here so late?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I work here,” he bit back. His gaze trailed down her body, taking in her immodest party dress and heels. “I see when you go out, you wear even less than you do at work. Astonishing.”

“I can wear even less, if you���d like.”

His eyes narrowed, and he ignored her flirting. She was speaking far too quickly and clearly to be just drunk. Rafe took a step forward and inspected her eyes. Sure enough, her pupils were blown wide to accompany her pink cheeks. “You didn’t only drink, did you?”

Y/N’s lips curled up gently. “Would you be mad if I didn’t?”

“Of course not, sweetheart, but…” he straightened her clothes and made sure she was okay otherwise, “were you planning on going home like this?”

She shook her head. “I was out with my friend Mona and figured I’d crash at her place. Which I was going to do, until I noticed I was near your office and decided to pay a visit.”

He sighed. “Well, I’ve got to get you home safely.”

Her eyes flew to the back of her head. “What’re you, my dad?”

Rafe bristled. “No, but mine is in the building, and so is your ball-gripping mother. We kinda need to get you the fuck out of here.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, they’re not on this floor, though. That’s why you felt comfortable doing this.” Y/N reached into his lapel pocket and pulled out a solid red Bic lighter. She brought her thumb up and spun the dial, sparking it just a little too close to their faces.

He annoyedly snatched the lighter out of her hands. “Why did you come here?”

She bounced up on the tips of her toes and pulled at the back of his neck for a kiss. It felt good, charged, but his rational brain pushed her away immediately. She pouted.

“Y/N, stop. We absolutely cannot do that.” He wasn’t sure how to finish his sentence, but a Rolodex of options cycled through his mind. Because you’re barely 18 and I’m about to be 22. Because I’m basically your babysitter. Because our parents would kill us. Because you look like you’ve taken both cocaine and molly and it seems you’ve forgotten you were quite mad at me eight hours ago. Because the charge I would catch would be astronomical. Take your pick.

“Why not? We’ve kissed before. I thought it was a good kiss. I think about it a lot. Don’t you?” She still had a firm grip on the nape of his neck, so she toyed with the hair that brushed against her fingers.

Rafe weighed his options, quickly doing the math of when she’d probably started partying to when it should wear off and she’d crash. “Of course I do,” he admitted, honestly, because there’s a chance she’d forget half of this night anyways. “But not here. Is it alright if we go to my place?”

She smiled, letting her hand fall around his shoulder and down his chest. “You don’t still live with daddy, huh?”

He let out a soft laugh, reaching behind himself to grab his wallet and keys. “Nope. C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

***

By Rafe’s estimation, she only had about five more minutes of hyperactivity before she crashes and the alcohol takes over her system. She’ll lose interest in trying to get in his pants, and want nothing more than a warm bed, which Rafe conveniently had to spare. His apartment was seven minutes away, so the timing should work out perfectly.

But that didn’t mean she was going to make it easy for him.

She was relentless. Playing with his tie in the office elevator, winking at him when he opened the car door for her, reaching to rub his thigh while he pulled out of the garage onto the streets. He couldn’t very well stop her without revealing his plans to dump her off and go right back to work, but holy fuck she was making it really hard to focus on driving.

Getting her inside his apartment was easy enough, like she was trying to remain casual in public. As soon as they were inside, all bets were off and she was back to being the horny brat she was in the car.

He got her in one of the guest rooms, and she seemed oblivious to his attempts to get her asleep. Y/N tried pawing at his clothes, but he stopped her, taking her wrists with a tight grip. “Ah-ah. Listen to me,” he ordered, and she obeyed with an impatient sulk. “I have some questions. Can you answer me, sweetheart?”

Y/N nodded impatiently, and he smiled when she held a long blink. A good sign.

Rafe guided her backwards, switching her wrists into only one of his hands. “Which of your friends does your mom like the best?”

She froze. “I– what?”

His now-free hand came up to stroke her cheek, gently moving back to card through her hair. “Just answer me, pretty girl.”

“Her name is Samantha.”

Rafe nodded, pushing once more until the back of her knees hit the bed. “Good girl. Does she live in town?”

Y/N nodded, eyes big and innocent. “Yeah, uh, she does.”

He finally led her down until she sat on the mattress, and she took the initiative to climb in herself. He carefully joined her, not lying down with her but remaining close to keep her on the line. “Have you seen her in the last month?”

“Yes… why are you aski–?”

He shushed her, having her get comfortable and continuing to pet her hair. “Don’t worry about it. I’m trying to help you.”

Fortunately, she was already shutting her eyes and wiggling down further into the bed. He placed a kiss on her forehead and brought the throw blanket from the foot of the bed to her body. It probably wasn’t comfortable to sleep in that dress, but it did not feel right to undress her in this state.

And now, it was back to the office.

***

The elevator stopped at the third floor, which confused Rafe, since most everyone on that level should be home. His back stiffened when the doors opened to reveal Josephine Kerrington. She looked exactly the same as she did during the day, not a pin out of place. It almost amazed Rafe, how kempt she looked even this late at night.

“Oh, hello, Rafe,” she greeted, a warm yet hollow smile on her lips. “You’re here quite late.”

He hummed, watching the doors shut and ignoring the air between them warming up. “As are you.”

“Well, your father is a busy man. He loses track of time so often you’d think he doesn’t know what it is. I had to use a bathroom on another floor or he’d try to pitch ideas while I pissed.”

His eyes widened, and he didn’t try hiding the chuckle. Damn, Y/N’s mom was pretty funny. “Yeah, working with Y/N has been the least intense job I’ve gotten from him since I was fifteen.”

She looked at him. “How is she doing, by the way?”

Rafe inhaled, thinking back to the last couple of weeks, and to the last hour and a half he’s had. “Y/N… is a delight. She’s fun to be around, but sometimes distracting because of her charm.” Okay, okay, dial it back. “Fortunately, she’s out of my hair for the night so I can get some work done. Said she was at a friend’s house, a… Sarah? Savannah? Samanth–?”

“Samantha?” Josephine asked, turning back with a pleasant nod. “Good to hear. She’s got some terrible influences, like that friend Mina.” Damn, can’t even get the name right, Rafe thought. “You’re a lovely young man, and I hope you’re rubbing off on her.”

He winced at the innuendo, but smiled politely. “Thank you Mrs. Kerrington.”

When the doors shut, he all but clicked his heels together in glee. “Rafe Cameron, CEO. Good ring to it.” The elevator beeped in agreement.

***

Y/N wasn’t in much after that. Josephine made semi-regular appearances, but the deal seemed to be coming to a close and there was little reason for them to be around anymore. He would rather rake hot coals over his body than admit this, but he really missed the chaotic energy she brought. Things almost felt dull without needing to chase her around the building making sure she behaved.

And, y’know, without his unpaid intern.

It was Ward’s idea to have a celebratory closing banquet in the office building, but Rafe was almost certain that it was Y/N’s idea to make it casino night-themed.

Some poor team of interns had been tasked with turning the office into a Vegas-adjacent venue and knocked their job out of the park. Employees were given chips and sent out among the poker, craps, and roulette tables stationed with stiff-standing dealers clad in maroon bow ties. Cocktail waitresses went around taking drink orders and accepting chips as a tip (playing along pointlessly, as the chips were clearly from a children’s game).

He heard her before he saw her– a fake laugh laced with discomfort only he could detect in her voice. His head whipped over to see Y/N, clad in a ridiculously fitted red dress, clutching her clear plastic cup tight enough to force the color out of her knuckles while she spoke with her mother and others.

He grabbed his drink and abandoned the Texas Hold ‘Em table to pull her into the shadows. Josephine was so wrapped in her conversation he didn’t even need to request he borrow her daughter– no wonder she was so out of control.

If she didn’t want to be alone with him, she didn’t make a point of it. She was quiet in the elevator as he observed her and sipped his drink, leaning against the railing in the car, nervously bouncing her toe in her heel. When they arrived at the floor, she skipped out in front of him and beat him to the unlocked door.

Rafe drained the rest of his vodka soda and tossed the cup into his trash, pushing his hands into his coat pockets. “You lied to me,” he started, and she lifted her shoulders. “About why you were here.”

She didn’t waste a moment denying this. “And? You would, too.”

“No, I would not!”

“Really?” she raised an eyebrow. “If you were in my shoes, you’d run right to your caregiver and tell him how your mother won’t allow you to be alone for literally five minutes? That she’d requested a watchful eye on you? Or would you find a way to get them to tolerate your every whim without pushback? Frankly, the idea kinda handed itself to me when you were a misogynistic dick to me the first time we met. That was just dumb luck.”

“Dumb luck, huh?” he asked, stepping towards her. “What would you call having a coked-out teenager stumble into your office and beg you to fuck her? Is that just luck?”

She didn’t respond. He could see in her eyes she was trying not to look away, to show any apprehension, but he’d spent just too much time around her to not notice.

“Had anything to drink tonight?” he asked, taking one more step towards her until they were less than a foot apart.

Her attitude was back in a flash. “With my mom around? Yeah, a Coke Zero.”

He smiled even though he’d just been snapped at. “Good. You don’t need to be using that kind of stuff anyways.”

“Okay, Father Holy,” she rolled her eyes, and he had just about had enough of her shit.

Rafe grabbed her shoulders and pinned her between his body and the wall forcing a gasp from her. “I try to help you, over and over,” he sighed, almost disheartened. “And you’re still a little brat.”

His hands were all over her and she whined, arching into his touch and trying to get a feel of her own. He held her wrists tight and shook his head. “Yeah, right. Try behaving for once in your life and maybe you can touch me.”

Her hands fell down to her sides without fighting, and he ran his hands along her nearly-bare chest. His fingertips slipped under the straps and hem of the fabric as he savored the feeling of her skin under his palms, and he watched as goosebumps erupted over her collarbones. “You want this?” he checked, another chance for her to back out before he began to ruin her.

She nodded fervently, but when he just raised an eyebrow, pleading affirmations spilled out of her lips like a stream.

With the green light, Rafe tugged down the top part of her dress until her breasts were exposed in the cool office air. He played with her tits, switching between sucking on one nipple and using his fingers to toy with the other.

This wasn’t enough for either of them, so his attention and desperate hands went downwards. He got sick of trying to pull down the panties without undressing her fully, and ripped them right off her legs. He stuffed the torn fabric into his coat pocket and she gaped. “You owe me a new pair,” she breathed, moving her legs apart for him anyways.

“If only I could afford it,” he muttered, bringing his fingers to her now-exposed clit. “Do you know why I put up with your shit?”

“‘Cause I’m cute?” she smiled, but it quickly dissolved when his movements sped up.

“Oh, yeah. But also, I got a little promotion this morning,” Rafe said, leaving a fat wet kiss anywhere his lips could reach on the exposed skin of her collarbone. “You inadvertently made me CEO. Everything in this building is mine.”

Rafe used his legs to push hers even further apart, open her up for him even more.

“And in this moment,” he smacked her clit, and she cried out. “That includes you.”

He expected a snarky comment at this point, but he seemed to subdue her enough to continue rambling.

“I’ve dreamed of how I’d handle your ass for weeks,” Rafe admitted. “I think the only solution is to keep you under my desk with my cock down your throat. Put that smart mouth to some good for once, mm?”

She whined, pushing back against him for more friction.

“Fuck, you like that?” he asked incredulously. “It’s one thing for you to let me tame you, but you’re taking enjoyment in this? Kinda makin’ it hard for me. Never would’ve guessed you like being used like a doll so badly.”

“You’re mean,” she pouted, actually pouted at him and he grinned wolfishly.

Rafe shook his head. “No, baby, being mean would be binding your hands together with my tie and forcing you to cum until you cry.” She had no counter to that.

The fingers on his other hand pushed into her mouth, past her teeth, and she involuntarily sucked. “Good girl,” he cooed, not letting up on the strokes to her clit. “That mouth has done nothing but cause me trouble the last few weeks. Show me what good it can do, hmm?”

She nodded softly, obediently, and flicked her tongue over the digits, allowing him to pet at the inside of her cheek. She whimpered when he dipped his other fingers into her cunt, bringing them right back to her clit to keep her on the edge.

He thrusted against her thigh and gave her another little slap right where she was most sensitive. Rafe toyed with her swollen, glistening clit until she was breathing heavily and her legs were losing their stability. Had he not pinned her body tight against the wall, she’d collapse into a shaky pile of pleasure. He noticed her eyes rolling back into her head and pulled his fingers away, watching her gasp and whine at the loss of contact.

“What?”

“Need more,” she sniffled.

Rafe shook his head, almost chastising. “I know what you need.”

He was going to return to what he was doing, he wasn’t that mean. But he must’ve had her closer to orgasm than he’d anticipated because she got shameless.

“Please, please, Rafe, oh my God,” she whined, squirming under him. Her hips bucked up to try and get traction against his hands but he pulled away just in time. “Touch me again, please, I’ll do anything. I need it, please.”

His eyebrows had never been higher. He pushed his tongue along his bottom teeth amusedly. “Sweetheart, I didn’t even have to ask you to beg,” he pointed out, voice light and adoring. “But since you did anyways, I’ll help my girl out.”

She preened again, this time allowed to make contact with him. He placed a hand on her hip and pulled his cock out, already flushed and leaking and really fucking hard. Rafe dragged the precum on the tip along the entire head before bringing it to her cunt, dragging them together slowly. She cried out again at the new contact.

“Doesn’t this feel good, pretty girl?” he asked, angling just right to apply pressure on her clit. Judging by the full-body shudder he got out of her, the answer was yes.

“I want– oh fuck– more, please,” she said. He laughed a little. She knows what she likes.

“Tell me exactly what you want me to do, baby.”

“I want your cock inside me,” she begged, blinking up at him with long, fluttering lashes. “Wanna feel you stretch me open. Don’t you wanna use my cunt however you like? That’s all I want.”

Good fuck, who could resist that? He buried himself to the hilt, sending his brain to a skittering halt and hers into a frenzy. She grabbed at his back, whimpering with every inch, every drag that he stretched her open. He didn’t even register that he was getting scratched by the same nails she’d obnoxiously painted in his office just a couple weeks ago.

“Oh, wow,” he finally groaned, withdrawing and thrusting back in, letting his brain adjust to the feeling of holyfuckI’minsideherwereallyshouldn’tdothis. “I could fuck you forever. You sure you don’t want an administrative job around here?”

Her fingers made their way back up to his shoulder, head thumping against the wall. “Bite me.”

“If you insist.” He leaned in and gently sunk his teeth into the soft flesh of her neck, kissing the skin right after. He led all the way up to her ear until she was shivering and his strokes didn’t miss a beat.

Y/N’s cunt clenched around him, and he saw white. “Goddamn, sweetheart, if we’d been doing this sooner, I would’ve let you do whatever the hell you want,” Rafe groaned, moving her hair out of her face.

She can’t let anything nice stay nice, though. “Slut,” she teased, smirk disappearing with a deep stroke.

His eyes narrowed. “I’m the slut?” he asked, pulling out and forcing a whine from her.

He moved her over to his desk, shoving her over the edge and pinning her there. Rafe pushed her head against the solid wood by the nape of her neck. “I’ve wanted to bend you over like this since I laid eyes on you,” he muttered, removing his hand and sliding it down her back.

She turned back, batting her lashes at him as he lined up his ruddy tip at her core. “Mm, you should’ve. So forbidden, would’ve been so hot.”

Rafe didn’t answer, just pushed his cock into her and a soft cry escaped from her lips. She tried to bite down on them but he laughed and sank all the way in until his hips were flush with hers. “We’re over three floors away from the rest of the office. Be as loud as you want, princess.”

And she did. Honestly, it wasn’t the best advice, because hearing her cries and whimpers for his cock further in her was only making him lose his rhythm and chance of lasting more than five minutes. He felt her reach down and play with her clit, and normally he’d reprimand her for doing this without permission, but it seemed like torture with how close she already was.

Feeling her cum around his cock was un-fucking-real. He finished shortly after, pulling out to paint her inner thigh with his own spend. He amusedly watched it drip down her skin, down the legs she could barely even stand on.

“Job’s still on the table, baby,” he reminded her, tucking himself back into his trousers. “Anything to keep you here and doing that more. Blackjack next?”

[a-secret-bolton-vampire]

I absolutely adore Worm and Ward and there are very few things I'd actually complain about either of them. Some of the best fiction I've ever read. But there is a recurring thing within both stories that kinda just feels really shitty?

On occasion, we will get a character (mostly women) who is insinuated to be queer in some capacity only to then firmly deny it in a way that just comes across as slightly mean-spirited and queerbaity, despite having a ton of well written canonically queer characters?

Assault implies Battery is into women and she gets really upset by that. Cassie and Chastity... I mean, even with Cassie's long-winded explanation about how they are totally just besties that ends up reading even more like they are gay and just not out to anyone else. Or when Swansong argues with Damsel about fantasies of having servants and mentions having "cute girls too", only for her to shut down when Damsel asks if she's more "worldly" by saying "we're talking about Rain." Or when Imp taunts Vista/Canary/Sophia/so many others with lesbian innuendo. Or when Regent body-snatches Sophia and has her "confess" her love to Emma to ruin her life. Or, to a lesser extent, when Taylor kisses Rachel and Lisa to cure them of Bonesaw's agnosia plague and Lisa says "no tongue". And this isn't even getting into the writing of character's internal thoughts or even the narrative structure that is so incredibly queer despite that (somehow) not being the intention.

In all these cases, it really feels like there is nothing that could be changed by simply... making them all queer? Battery is into women too, cool, that's fine, doesn't change the fact she loves Assault. Cassie and Chastity are practically girlfriends at this point there is absolutely nothing lost by making them such. Ashley wanting girls in her power fantasy without deflecting away from it again, changes literally nothing in the narrative. Or if Imp really is flirting with every girl she comes across. Or if Sophia and Emma maybe did have a crush, mutual or one-sided.

Of course we do get some really important canonically queer characters. Parian, Foil, Tattletale, Regent, Legend, Kenzie, Sveta, Tristan, March, Amy, Goddess... which makes it more baffling that Wildbow keeps writing in sapphic innuendo as a punchline.

There are legitimately very very few things I'd criticize Parahumans for writing wise but this is one of the few I would. If it was once or twice it'd be weird but it wouldn't feel so targeted as it does when you see how often it happens. Even in Ward where queerness is so much more at the forefront of the story this keeps happening.

Regardless, even with Wildbow shoving in "haha they aren't actually gay" in the story... it doesn't exactly make the story less queer. He keeps accidentally writing Taylor and Victoria and Swansong and so many others as being extremely queer to the point that any deflections otherwise only make it even more obvious they are queer. Seriously, Breakthrough and the Undersiders are a bunch of fruit loops in a rotating polyamorous relationship.

This isn't a hate post, just something I've thought of a lot lately. And it's this that fuels my desire to write Wormfic where the protags are just the queerest little people ever. They are some of the gayest girls to ever gay for girls.

[seyvia]

gameplay/concept/banner by @jonquilyst

character drawings by me, @seyvia

Find all these amazing characters below! Cheer on your favorites as they take on @jonquilyst challenges in! TOTAL, DRAMA, SIMS!🎭

(LINK) to the first post incase you missed it!

note: I drew them based off of their intro posts as they were posted, so if your thinking "why is my little bean wearing that?" it's because that's how you showed them.🤷‍♀️These are purely my impressions of your sims in TD style, it's completely fine if you feel like your sim would look different. ...I do hope you like them tho♡~(๑•́ ₃ •̀๑)

ASHLEE SCHAEFER (she/her) by @shmoodlet - A rap artist who always wants to be the center of attention

BRODY SHERMAN (he/him) by @aniraklova - A football captain who loves to party and cause mischief

COFFEE BEAN (she/her) by @riverofjazzsims - A gloomy and introverted polyglot who was entered into the competition by her twin sister so she can have more typical teenager experiences

LIANA MORRIS (she/her) by @bloomingkyras - An introverted computer whiz who chose to compete in TDS so she wouldn't have to go to her grandparents' house

DREW PINTO (she/they) by @witheringscreations - A talented track athlete who wants to make friendships outside of those she trains with

ENZO ESPINOZA (he/him) by @seyvia - A handsome model who wants to prove to his brothers that he's the most exceptional sibling

FLO HARPER (she/her) by @akitasimblr - A nosy "rebel" (she only dresses the part) who secretly loves to bake

PAULINA CALLAWAY (she/her) by @cowplant-ate-my-sim - A cheerful girl who signed up for TDS so she could have a free vacation

HANS SOMME (he/him) by @ethicaltreatmentofcowplants - A physically gifted, socially inept snob who doesn't think TDS will be that hard

NEAL WARD (he/him) by @nakasumi-sims - Son of famous actor Judith Ward. Judith signed him up for TDS2 so he could be occupied while she's filming overseas

TAKASHI ABBOTTSFORD (he/him) by @stargazer-sims - A friendly and talkative boy who thinks he'd be good at TDS due to growing up in a large chaotic family

TONI STROUD (she/her) by @simsinfinitylt - A creative and imaginative thespian who is determined to make a name for herself

TRISTAN BACHMAN (he/him) by @micrathene-w - A snarky academic genius who accidentally arrived at TDS when he was meant to go to his academic decathlon meet

WILLABELLE LOWES (she/her) by @invisiblequeen - An overachiever who is confident she'll win TDS

🎵 I WANNA BE, I WANNA BE, I WANNA BE FAMOUS! ��☆*: .o(≧▽≦)o｡.:*☆

[jonquilyst]

Day 0 - Introduction

🎵 Dear Mom and Dad, I’m doin’ fine. You guys are on my mind… 🎵

Welcome to the premiere of THE 2ND SEASON of Total Drama Sims: the hottest, freshest reality TV show on simblr. I'm your host jonquilyst, though if you tuned in to the show last season, you'll already know who I am!

14 more teenagers have gathered to put their wits, guts, and strength to the test to seek out the ✨ grand prize. ✨ Like last season, they will compete in crazy challenges, deal with less-than-perfect living arrangements, and face the judgement of each other!

🎵 You asked me what I wanted to be, and I think the answer is plain to see… 🎵

🎵 I wanna live close to the sun. Pack your bags 'cause I’ve already won… 🎵

Allow me to give you the grand tour of the no-longer-abandoned film lot we claimed for this season! Instead of cabins, contestants will be staying in these cramped trailers, just like actors on set! There's one for each team with 7 beds each and complimentary bathrooms.

Our mess hall is a bit less rustic than the one we had at the summer camp, but it's got that same ol' charm with 2 dining tables and a small living area for everyone's convenience!

Now, on to the fun part: replacing the shoddy outhouse, our contestants' destination for providing their juicy confessionals will be a makeup trailer right behind the trailers! Get used to it: it'll appear every single day with a different contestant providing their thoughts.

And finally, the auditorium! This will be the site of our ever-so-exciting elimination ceremonies. In front of it is the walk-of-shame, where losers will say goodbye to Total Drama Sims to catch the lame-o-sine at the very end!

🎵 Everything to prove nothing’s in my way. I’ll get there one day! 🎵

Now, allow me to formally introduce you to our 14 new contestants!

(from left to right; top to bottom)

(also fun fact: the poses are all different this time, so everyone's portrait is truly unique to them!)

ASHLEE SCHAEFER (she/her) by @shmoodlet - A rap artist who always wants to be the center of attention

BRODY SHERMAN (he/him) by @aniraklova - A football captain who loves to party and cause mischief

COFFEE BEAN (she/her) by @riverofjazzsims - A gloomy and introverted polyglot who was entered into the competition by her twin sister so she can have more typical teenager experiences

DREW PINTO (she/they) by @witheringscreations - A talented track athlete who wants to make friendships outside of those she trains with

ENZO ESPINOZA (he/him) by @seyvia - A handsome model who wants to prove to his brothers that he's the most exceptional sibling

FLO HARPER (she/her) by @akitasimblr - A nosy "rebel" (she only dresses the part) who secretly loves to bake

HANS SOMME (he/him) by @ethicaltreatmentofcowplants - A physically gifted, socially inept snob who doesn't think TDS will be that hard

LIANA MORRIS (she/her) by @bloomingkyras - An introverted computer whiz who chose to compete in TDS so she wouldn't have to go to her grandparents' house

NEAL WARD (he/him) by @nakasumi-sims - Son of famous actor Judith Ward. Judith signed him up for TDS2 so he could be occupied while she's filming overseas

PAULINA CALLAWAY (she/her) by @cowplant-ate-my-sim - A cheerful girl who signed up for TDS so she could have a free vacation

TAKASHI ABBOTTSFORD (he/him) by @stargazer-sims - A friendly and talkative boy who thinks he'd be good at TDS due to growing up in a large chaotic family

TONI STROUD (she/her) by @simsinfinitylt - A creative and imaginative thespian who is determined to make a name for herself

TRISTAN BACHMAN (he/him) by @micrathene-w - A snarky academic genius who accidentally arrived at TDS when he was meant to go to his academic decathlon meet

WILLABELLE LOWES (she/her) by @invisiblequeen - An overachiever who is confident she'll win TDS

🎵 I WANNA BE, I WANNA BE, I WANNA BE FAMOUS! 🎵

Wait... What About Teams?

Yea... about that: teams will be sorted a little differently this season! Instead of randomized teams right away, they are being formed after the first socialization day, when everyone has time to form relationships! Shortly before the first challenge, two people will be selected at random to be the "captains" of the teams. From there, they will select their teammates schoolyard-style (alternating between boys and girls) based on their relationships with the other contestants!

[vigilskeep]

regarding the amaranthine/wardens vs kirkwall plot happening in the background of da2, how does minerva handle that?

oh she’s running that show.

i doubt she engages in trade and combat on the waking sea personally, there’s an image to maintain, but it’s definitely her people. definitely it’s her people out there asking shady kirkwall mercenaries to take out those trying to stop her.

she’d be so into throwing amaranthine’s weight around a bit, and of course defending the fereldan crown’s interests on the high seas. (while they’re platonic divorced, king alistair and warden-commander minerva still get a kick out of doing things in each other’s interests, both out of devotion they can’t otherwise act upon and because it lets them get an inch of the moral high ground on each other. it’s as weird as it sounds. and for more pragmatic reasons, the closer she can politically tie him and anora to herself, the more indispensable and integral and convenient she is to them, the better. as a sensible ward against them ever being able to turn against her or cut her loose.)

i’d love to see a saga of her joining hands with the sons of the sea wolf—in my heart my tristan cousland still exists as well as fergus, though god knows what happens to him—to do it. highever & amaranthine have always been closely bound for a reason, sharing the northern coast, and i would love to see minerva negotiating that dynamic after its, ahem, complete breakdown under her predecessor, while categorically refusing to swear the fealty the howes once did. really fun. she’d be incredibly in her element in all of this and i’ve been thrilled ever since i found out that da2 hints at it

[victoriadallonfan]

We give Byron a lot of shit, but he might be less cringe in conversation

Not high praise but…

I don’t think Tristan has any rizz.

Not intentionally.

I think he’s just a huge himbo that thinks he suave and it’s endearing enough for the boys to give him a chance.

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌈 Queer Books Coming Out in June 2024 🌈

🌈 Good morning, my bookish bats, and happy Pride Month!! Struggling to keep up with all the amazing queer books coming out this month? Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Remember to #readqueerallyear! Happy reading!

[ Release dates may have changed. ]

❤️ The Shadow of Summer - Marlon Yelich 🧡 Of Stardust - (ed) Avrah C. Baren 💛 The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye - Briony Cameron 💚 Triple Sec - T.J. Alexander 💙 Same Difference - E.J. Copperman 💜 The Pull of the Tide - Various ❤️ The Misadventures of Getting Lainey a Date - Eija Jimenez 🧡 Surface Pressure - Adrian J. Smith & Neen Cohen 💛 Mirrored Heavens - Rebecca Roanhorse 💙 The Fire Within Them - Matthew Ward 💜 One and Done - Frederick Smith 🌈 Digging for Destiny - Jenna Jarvis

❤️ She Who Brought the Storm - Vaela Denarr & Micah Iannandrea 🧡 Tristan and Lancelot: A Tale of Two Knights - James Persichetti & L.S. Biehler 💛 London on My Mind - Clara Alves (translated by Nina Perrotta) 💚 The Deep Dark - Molly Knox Ostertag 💙 Furious - Jamie Pacton & Rebecca Podos 💜 Gay the Pray Away - Natalie Naudus ❤️ Such A Small World - Jordan Clayden-Lewis 🧡 Make It Count: My Fight to Become the First Transgender Olympic Runner - CeCé Telfer 💛 Cicada Summer - Erica McKeen 💙 We Used to Live Here - Marcus Kliewer 💜 Dandelion - Merlina Garance 🌈 The Curse of the Goddess - C.C. González

❤️ The Schoolmaster - Jessica Tvordi 🧡 Cigarette Lemonade - Connor de Bruler 💛 Coil of Boughs - Penny Moss 💚 Ballad for Jasmine Town - Molly Ringle 💙 Asking for a Friend - Ronnie Riley 💜 Pleasure Principle - Madeleine Cravens ❤️ Perfect Revenge - Jessica Burkhart 🧡 Lockjaw - Matteo L. Cerilli 💛 Markless - C.G. Malburi 💙 Queer Art - Gemma Rolls-Bentley 💜 Morally Straight - Mike De Socio 🌈 Our Bodies Electric - Zackary Vernon

❤️ Love Is All - Various 🧡 Becoming Ted - Matt Cain 💛 Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet - Molly Morris 💚 Dear Cisgender People: A Guide to Trans Allyship and Empathy - Kenny Ethan Jones 💙 Pole Position - Rebecca J. Caffery 💜 Something to be Proud Of - Anna Zoe Quirke ❤️ Hot Hires - Nan Campbell, Alaina Erdell, Jesse J. Thoma 🧡 Lord of the Empty Isles - Jules Arbeaux 💛 Kissing Girls on Shabbat - Sara Glass 💙 When You Smile - Melissa Brayden 💜 We Could Be Heroes - Philip Ellis 🌈 But How Are You, Really - Ella Dawson

❤️ A Bluestocking's Guide to Decadence - Jess Everlee 🧡 Take All of Us - Natalie Leif 💛 One Killer Problem - Justine Pucella Winans 💚 Why Are People Into That? - Tina Horn 💙 Free to Be: Understanding Kids & Gender Identity - Jack Turban 💜 Lady Eve's Last Con - Rebecca Fraimow ❤️ Sea of Broken Glass - Jenna Pine 🧡 Rapunzella, Or, Don't Touch My Hair - Ella McLeod 💛 Wolfpitch - Balazs Lorinczi 💙 Looking for a Sign - Susie Dumond 💜 Director's Cut - Carlyn Greenwald 🌈 Wish You Weren't Here - Erin Baldwin

❤️ Act Two - Rochelle Wolf 🧡 Unexploded Remnants - Elaine Gallagher 💛 The Stars Want Blood - Morgan Lawson 💚 Shadows Dark and Deadly - Andrea Marie Johnson 💙 Design of Darkness - R.D. Pires 💜 Two Sides to Every Murder - Danielle Valentine ❤️ Meet Me in the Sky - Jeffrey K. Davenport 🧡 A Shore Thing - Joanna Lowell 💛 The Lions' Den - Iris Mwanza 💙 Under the Dragon Moon - Mawce Hanlin 💜 A Sea of Wolves - Sarah Street 🌈 Saints of Storm and Sorrow - Gabriella Buba

❤️ Private Rites - Julia Armfield 🧡 Everyone I Kissed Since You Got Famous - Mae Marvel 💛 The Stars Too Fondly - Emily Hamilton 💚 Keeping Carmen Ruiz - Alyson Root 💙 Cuckoo - Gretchen Felker-Martin 💜 Heartwaves - Anita Kelly ❤️ Bound to the Wild Fae - Tavia Lark 🧡 Four Squares - Bobby Finger 💛 The Ghost of Us - James L. Sutter 💙 Poison in Their Hearts - Laura Sebastian 💜 Puppy Love - Elle Sprinkle 🌈 Hot Summer - Elle Everhart

❤️ Liddy-Jean Marketing Queen and the Matchmaking Scheme - Mari SanGiovanni 🧡 All Friends Are Necessary - Tomas Moniz 💛 Six of Sorrow - Amanda Linsmeier 💚 Shanghai Murder - Jessie Chandler 💙 PROUD - Anthology 💜 Little Rot - Akwaeke Emezi ❤️ Fling - Deja Elise 🧡 Too Many Stars to Count - Frances M. Thompson 💛 Rakesfall - Vajra Chandrasekera 💙 The Unrelenting Earth - Kritika H. Rao 💜 Freakslaw - Jane Flett 🌈 Please Stop Trying to Leave Me - Alana Saab

❤️ A Sense of Shifting - Coco Romack, Yael Malka 🧡 Moonstorm - Yoon Ha Lee 💛 Now, Conjurers - Freddie Kölsch 💚 Hide No More - Rita Potter 💙 Running Close to the Wind - Alexandra Rowland 💜 The Afterlife of Mal Caldera - Nadi Reed Perez ❤️ Her, Him & I - Christian Weissmann 🧡 The Sons of El Rey - Alex Espinoza 💛 Show Me Your Teeth - Amy Marsden 💙 Defeating Demons and Breaking Up With My Boyfriend - Dylan James 💜 For Real - Alexis Hall 🌈 The Clarity of Light - Jade Church

[captainsophiestark]

So something crazy happened this week - I hit 1.5k followers! 🥳

Genuinely thank you all so much for following me and supporting my writing. When I first joined Tumblr, I truly never could've dreamed how wonderful the community, friends, and fandom I've found would be. I love you all so much!

I've never done a follower celebration before, but I really wanted to do one for this milestone, so here we are! It's D&D themed, but no knowledge of D&D is required to join in the fun.

Our 1.5k follower campaign is going to be running from today, May 29th, to Wednesday, June 6th. During that time, feel free to send me as many things off the list below as you like! Interacting with people on here is one of my absolute favorite parts of Tumblr, so feel free to come into my ask box as many times as you like 😄

I'll be tagging all posts for this celebration as #Sophie's 1.5k Follower Campaign. You don't have to follow me to participate, but it would be greatly appreciated. Without further ado, here are the actions you can take during this campaign:

Zone of Truth - Send me an ask with a game, like KMK/FMK, Would You Rather, or anything else you can think of!

Roll Initiative - Roll some dice and send me a character from the list at the bottom of this post, along with the numbers you rolled! I have prompt lists left over from my Year of Fic planning, and I'll put your character and your dice rolls togeter to write a corresponding headcanon (or possibly longer fic, if the inspiration really strikes!). Roll one of the following, some of the following, or all of the following: 1d8, 1d10, 1d12, and 1d20. You can roll with real dice or by typing "roll dice" into google! Please specificy if you have a strong preference between a romantic or platonic fic.

Nat 20 (2 left) - Send me a character I write for and a request, and I'll write you a oneshot! My time's a little limited right now, so I'm capping these at 3 total requests. In the immortal words of Brian Murphy, "Roll three Nat 20s in a row!". If you want to also roll a d20 and send me the result, I'll add a dialogue prompt corresponding with the number you rolled to the request. Please specificy if you have a strong preference between romanitc and platonic fic.

Perception Check - I have a good amount of writing queued up for my Year of Fic and a few other projects, so send me this for a sneak peek of works to come! If you want to include a few fandoms or characters you'd most like to see included in the sneak peek, feel free to do that! Just no promises that I'll have something including them to show you

Behind the DM Screen - Send me the title of an existing fic of mine, along with specific questions if you have them, and I'll give you a little info on the process of creating the fic!

Free Action - Come into my ask box and chat with me! About fandoms, cute pet pitcures, or whatever else! Anons are welcome as usual, and if you feel like you want to be recognized without coming off anon, then you can claim an emoji and use it as a signature on your asks, so I know who you are! As of now, 🥰 emoji is the only one taken

Thank you again to every single one of you who's here with me now, from the beginning of this blog or from earlier today! I'm so happy to have you here and as a part of the party!

Writing Request Character Options:

Bridgerton: Anthony Bridgerton, Benedict Bridgerton, Colin Bridgerton, Eloise Bridgerton

Crescent City: Tristan Flynn, Ithan Holstrom, Lidia Cervos

DC: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd

Marvel: Grant Ward, Jack Thompson, Daniel Sousa, Angie Martinelli, Harley Keener, Pietro Maximoff

*Riordanverse: Luke Castellan, Thalia Grace, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean, Jason Grace

Star Trek: Jim Kirk

Star Wars: Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala

Top Gun: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Natasha "Phoenix" Trace

The Vampire Diaries: Mason Lockwood, Klaus Mikaelson, Kol Mikaelson, Damon Salvatore, Enzo St. John, Kai Parker, Caroline Forbes, Matt Donovan

*All characters in the Riordanverse are going to be book-based, since that's what I know best, and will be written as their ages at the end of Heroes of Olympus or older for requests involving romance

****************

Tagging a few mutuals who I've absolutely loved getting to this point with 🥰 thank you guys for being such a wonderful part of my experience in this place!

@ghostofskywalker @bandshirts-andbooks @trekkingaroundasgard @arttheclown-coveredinblood @flowers-and-fichte @everyhazyday @dawn-petrichor-world @space-helen @ro-is-struggling @writeroutoftime @shadowdaddies @hawaiianpizzaenjoyer

[rainof5]

ward opinions (as of 12.3)

I might start liveblogging (if I do, it'll be tagged as #ward lb, so block that if you want), so I figured I might as well put out my opinions thus far.

Firstly, I went in with very low expectations, given the popular opinion of Ward. And so far, I've been very positively surprised. I really like Victoria as a narrator, and I find it a lot easier to relate to her than I did with Taylor. A lot of her thoughts and actions regarding Amy remind me of myself, and her experiences with and as the wretch sound a lot like how I've experienced dysphoria.

I like Breakthrough as a whole a lot. I find the Capricorn dynamic to be very interesting, and I fucking love Rain. Each of the characters have intriguing storylines that keeps me interesting in their development.

For storyline, I think the Hollow Point fight dragged on a bit, but I've never been super invested in fight scenes. I tend to get distracted and can't keep track of who did what, when, where, etc. I'm not able to visualize well and I can't really "picture" the fight happening as I read it, so I either have to put in a lot of effort to think logically about how things are happening or, more often, it just kind of blends together. I actually ended up taking ~6 months off from reading in the middle of 5.3 or 5.4 I think it was. That's just personal preference, though.

I'm personally much more invested in the character development and interpersonal dynamics, especially with Breakthrough.

I definitely thought the Goddess arc would be bigger and more disastrous, but I don't mind how it went. I knew that Chris eventually left the team and went with Amy, but I didn't expect it to happen like that, nor did I anticipate the Lab Rat reveal.

Currently, I'm loving the Cradle/mall cluster arc. I imagine if you don't like Rain/the mall cluster, their story would seem way too drawn out and obnoxious, but I really like it, with Rain definitely being my favorite character (at least thus far).

So far, my favorite moments have been Rain getting his haircut (I was reading it in class and had to try really hard not to cry during lecture lol. I still get teary-eyed thinking about it). I also really liked the Capricorn interludes. I relate to Byron a lot, and I don't think I've gotten so angry, especially while reading, at something in a while.

Character relationships I'm interested in seeing how they develop include Victoria and Tattletale, Victoria and Ashley, Rain and Tristan, March and Foil, Kenzie and Chicken Little, Vista and Bitch, and Victoria and Byron.

As with Worm, I'm constantly being surprised by moments of foreshadowing or just referencing small details. One example I can think of off the top of my head is the Lab Rat reveal. When it was revealed, I immediately went back to Worm to reread parts of it with this new context in mind, as well as to refresh my memory on who Lab Rat was. In Worm, he's described as "the last person one might expect to be a tinker. He had a mouth full of teeth that were screaming for braces, all crammed towards the very front of his mouth, overlapping and sticking out of lower gums" (27.3). That immediately hits two notes from what we know about Chris: 1) he has braces because him "changing" affects him physically. 2) he hid the fact that he was a tinker, claiming to be a changer instead.

I love these little details, and I'll notice some subtle foreshadowing as I read because of the things I've been spoiled on.

Of course, there are criticisms to be had (do we really need to know this character's chest size, Wildbow?), but overall, I'm really enjoying the story and characters.

[starrrling]

TASK 005: THE TALENT SHOW

"Y'know, I had to retune my guitar for this, you guys..."

Richard got her the guitar for her fourteenth birthday, and she named it Desdemona. It was a vintage Taylor, exactly like she’d asked for, an electro-acoustic Dreadnought in whiskey sour. She’d loved it fiercely for years, irritating everybody on the third floor (Reece didn’t like the sound-proof music room in the basement—not enough light) with her covers of Liz Phair, The Cure, No Doubt. 

How many Fridays in a row were the wards treated to a breakfast performance from Reece, singing “I don’t care if Monday’s blue…!” into her cereal spoon? (That was after Richard made a rule about Reece not bringing her boombox down to the breakfast table, but before Mrs. Tristan made a rule that Reece could only eat cereal with her hands—a rule which lasted all the way through 1992.)

Desdemona remained behind at the Woodrow House when Reece moved out, replaced by her more portable electric Jaguar, Jenny. But she had Desdemona with her again now, still spangled with faded stickers, just a little bit too big for her to comfortably cradle sitting down. She wanted to tell herself that something about it just felt right. She didn’t want to think about the fact that she’d forgotten the Jaguar at the apartment that she was not sure she could go back to, the apartment she’d shared with Jack and from which she’d fled to Alison’s car with only the essentials. But Jenny had been an essential, and Reece had forgotten. 

So she had Desdemona in hand when she stepped into the pool of golden light in the spare room, onto a sort of stage they’d set up, because they were doing a talent show. Reece was plaintively aware of her status as entirely unextraordinary in comparison to the vast majority of the other wards; rather than brimming with potential, she’d been a lost soul, somebody to be saved. 

“Last January,” Reece said, moving to the mic, squinting a little against the light, her smile self-effacing, “when D was driving me to rehab—that long, quiet drive downstate, y’know, hours where you don’t see a single other soul on the road—he turned on the radio. Switched it from static to NPR, sort of mindlessly, but they were talking about Bush’s second inauguration, which made me want to drink, so I changed the station until I got to one playing Green Day. This song. The chorus came on, and there’s this part, right, where Billie Joe Armstrong rhymes the word ‘again’ with itself, a little clumsy. So, when he heard that, Richard sort of frowned, and he said, ‘Adverb epiphora in a chorus? That makes me want to drink.’ So, this is for him. Just the verses.”

The song’s main riff itself was simple enough, a lot of 0-2-3 stuff around the fifth and sixth chords, quick and twangy and vaguely hypnotic. A few repeating counts of just that sound in the quiet, her calloused fingers plucking at the strings in rote memory, and then Reece began to sing. Her voice was somehow both dulcet and hoarse; she didn’t think she had the kind of voice that anyone really needed to hear, but when had that ever stopped her?

Summer has come and passed,  the innocent can never last, wake me up when September ends. 

Richard had signed her up for singing lessons shortly after she arrived at Woodrow (“What she lacks in discipline, she makes up for in volume,” the instructor had told Richard once); then followed piano, percussion, guitar, music theory. When she started really learning to write music at 15, it was euphoric, like her skull had split clean open, but her actual aspirations for her future remained vague. Maybe she never really believed that she was talented enough to get very far, or maybe she just couldn’t picture any future version of herself that was successful, capable, exceptional. She wandered her way through a few years of majoring in ‘recorded music’ at NYU, and she ended up as a dropout guitar teacher in Staten Island. 

Like my father’s come to pass,  seven years has gone so fast, wake me up when September ends. 

The song, she knew, was so absurdly apt, almost too on-the-nose. It seemed somehow like the safest option for her performance, like the plain honesty of the song would keep every other true thing that Reece didn’t want everyone to know from pushing past her lips when she stepped onto the stage. Reece was trying very hard to make herself opt for whatever the safest option was, but it was behavior that didn’t come naturally to her at all. 

Ring out the bells again, like we did when Spring began wake me up when September ends. 

Her voice was too loud in her own ears; her exposed skin felt sunburnt from the spotlight’s glare. She was too terribly present, so here and now exactly when she didn’t want to be, exactly when she didn’t know if she could handle it. It was as if Reece could suddenly see her whole life condensed, a series of saviors and nosedives, the bleakness of who she was when nobody else was around to hear her. The word curse was lodged behind her uvula, it was catching between her two front teeth. Richard was dead, and she was starting to wonder if maybe it mattered that she was a lost cause who was probably completely doomed.

[darkwolf76]

49 from the angsty prompts for Criston and Deidre 👀👀

Thanks for the ask! I had a lot of fun with this one! Enjoy!

49. “You hurt me. I didn’t think…”

The blood leaves of the weirwood shivered in a passing breeze. Deidre found Criston under the heart tree’s bone white branches when she came to the Godswood, seeking solace after recent events at court. Off shift and out of his armor, he sat in his simple linen shirt and gray breaches, leaned against the trunk, whittling a broken off piece of the sacred tree itself, carving through the white bark on the surface to sap soaked wood underneath, red as blood and the leaves above him.

Deidre froze when she saw him, a myriad of emotions swirling inside her. He studied her with hard dark eyes, black and unreadable as he tilted his head like a predator and slowly stood, tucking away whatever he had been carving. Both regarded the other silently across the clearing before the heart tree. Deidre should have walked away but her mother’s grief won out and the words slipped from her lips before she could think to hold her tongue. “Alicent is taking my boy from me. You put her up to it, didn’t you?” Her words came out sharper than she intended.

Criston smiled at her, a slight and mocking thing. “Your boy? I thought he was your husband’s younger bastard brother, your ward you call him.”

“Bastard he may be, yet Alicent covets him as a companion for her sons and a squire for the crown? She would never make such a request of me unless you put it in her ear. You are taking my son from me simply to spite me!” Deidre narrowed her eyes as she stepped towards Criston, standing tall as she could. Yet the slight stature she had inherited from her Crannogmen mother could not compare with the tall warrior’s build of the Kingsgaurd before her.

Criston let out a bitter laugh, a thin and hallow sound far from the deep, warm chuckle she had so craved to hear in her youth. “Your son, your boy? Are you so quick to forget yourself, Lady Blackwood?”

Deidre flinched at the accusation in his voice but forced herself to meet his judgmental gaze. “Why must you resent me so, Ser, after all these years? Every decision I ever made was to protect you, and countless others to come. There are things greater than our personal desires and fancies.” Her eyes flickered to the heart tree, it’s morose face weeping tears of sap blood.

Criston’s sun kissed face, normally a stoic mask of hard lines, erupted with emotion, anger curling his lip into a sneer. “You continue to speak in your cryptic riddles, using your ancient gods as an excuse for what you did.” His jaw twitched in anger. “You didn’t protect me! You hurt me. I didn’t think…”

Deidre stared up at him wide-eyed, her mouth opening but no words coming out in response. Never before had he judged her faith, her, so harshly. He had once looked at her with fascination when she talked of her old gods, accepted all of who she was freely and with love, as she had him. Her eyes began to sting and she felt a lump form in her throat.

Criston shook his head. “So many of these high lords have made their judgments of me, a brute of a knight, when none of them know me at all. Of all people, I didn’t think you’d ever be among them, but…” His brow furrowed in disbelief. “You think I would hurt you, intentionally? Tristan is not just your boy. He is my son and Dyana is my daughter! You took them from me, and you were about to do it again! Already are they beyond my reach, and you’d have taken them beyond my sight, where I might never see them again, at least ensure they were safe!”

“I never meant to cause you pain,” Deidre whispered in a tearful voice. “I simply wanted you safe. I just want to keep all of us safe. The gods have whispered unspeakable horrors of what is to come if the course of fate doesn’t change. I had to do something.”

Criston’s hard eyes softened, a dark brown filled with sadness and agony as he stepped towards her. “And what do you think I want for the children? I did ask the queen to let the boy stay to train with the princes, so I may watch at least one of my children grow, give him opportunities even the highest born of lordlings could only dream of, and to keep him safe.” Criston stopped not a hands width from Deidre, staring down at her with pain and yearning warring in his amber gaze, chest heaving with emotion he’d suppressed for so long.

Deidre’s lips quivered at the tenderness she’d missed in that hard face, an earnesty and devotion she had once so treasured for herself burning in him for Tristan. “This place is a pit of vipers. Tristan will get hurt, if I leave him here alone.”

“He will not be alone. I will keep him safe. Let me keep him safe, and teach him so he may do that for himself someday. Please.” Criston’s hand came up to her shoulder, the squeeze of his callous fingers soft and reassuring.

Feeling his firm and steady touch after so many years broke Deidre. She nodded as a sob left her lips. “I will let him stay.” Tears streamed down her pale cheeks as she gasped, “I am sorry, I am sorry I kept him from you.”

Criston trailed his fingers along her shoulder, up her neck, and to her jaw. His thumb traced her cheekbone, wiping the wetness away as he tilted her face upward towards his. His face drew close enough so their noses almost brushed. Deidre knew she should step away from him, a wife, a mother, but she could not. His breathe warm on her lips, she closed the remaining distance, tangling her fingers into his black hair as her mouth closed over his.

Criston’s arms wrapped around her waist as he pulled her against him, his fingers finding their home again in the soft flesh of her hips. As their lips continued to dance, Deidre pulled him back under the cover of the heart tree, the weirwood’s bone white branches shielding them from prying eyes once again, for the first time in many years. Overhead, the blood leaves of the weirwood shivered in a passing breeze.

[lakesbian]

i understand if i sound like i've been assimilated into the ward hivemind but. did you ever read the brian interlude of ward or just the aisha one. some stuff in there you might find interesting

this is fucking hilarious and i love him. he's such a strange little man. i am also reminded of the excerpt you posted earlier where he was like "sigh....i used to be normal....i used to do groceries and chores..." except during the timeframe he's remembering he was literally fucking seventeen. SEVENTEEN and his life was about Groceries And Chores. my god brian "would've taken care of him if he'd gotten cancer" 😭 you're not sixty please. he's SUCH a strange little man. i think during worm sometimes he woke up in the middle of the night and remembered he (seventeen) hadn't drafted a will yet (17yo) and then started experiencing crushing guilt over an extensive 30 minute long imaginary scenario where he died and aisha didn't get any money. i think he took it really seriously when the dentist told him he had gingivitis and stresses the importance of good flossing. i miss him so so much every day i yearn to return to worm and see him again. losing my mind over Alternating Chore Schedule being canon. i bet he watched her vacuum in a calculated grid pattern to ensure neat and visually satisfying parallel lines on the living room carpet and got flustered about it

who do you take me for charlie brown. "no trust me THIS time wildbow will hold the football for you." you just read through tristan dying and kenzie being kenzie maybe your perception of how good the brian interlude actually is is skewed due to the horrors. i am NOT going in there. if i refuse long enough The Ward Hivemind will dripfeed me all of the information i would care about as an attempt to convince me anyway. gonna keep eating all the free ward samples and then run away when someone tries to ask me to pay (actually read the book)

[naomikojima]

Naomi Headcanons: [gif credit here!]

The Tormented was her first crush. For a period after moving out she wasn't sure if she was into other girls too, but her exploration led to the conclusion she's bisexual. She likely doesn't discuss this much with the others.

Reuben and Naomi would both be in the kitchen bugging Pierre, Reuben with conversation and snacking and Naomi with trying to learn from the chef.

Sama and Naomi had an overall positive relationship, mostly marked by hanging out quietly, engaging in parallel study/play

Natalia and Naomi have a good relationship, both enjoyed working on their knife skills in the kitchen, trying to make tiny and precise cuts.

Naomi and Mrs. Tristan are not friends, they both have a sort of distrust about each other and Naomi may have some unresolved issues with maternal figures.

I realize I said Naomi did not do therapy and forgot that Richard had counseling for the wards, so I am going to say Naomi was not a client who was forthcoming with her feelings and therefore, doesn't think it counts.

You know those photos of beautiful women playing chess and its just women focusing but it's all kind of a vibe too? That's Naomi and chess. She's pretty good but if your muse can't stand losing, she'd probably let them win to avoid issues.

Naomi would probably love making cakes/birthday meals but not interacting so she's just watch what your character ate and make a cake with those flavors, so sorry if you cinnamon cakes for 7 years because Naomi didn't want to ask

[rcubens]

Southern Hospitality

TASK 2— A Eulogy by Reuben Sharpe

So he had finally found a tie. Did it fit with his outfit? He wasn’t exactly sure and with the compounding weight of a White Russian hangover and an impending funeral, he couldn't care less. He was grateful that Angus had given him a heads up about the eulogy, he spent the entirety of his night restless staring at the ceiling of his second childhood bedroom trying to string a cohesive sentence together. Nothing sounded right, it was either too sappy, or too vindictive, or too guilt ridden. As Mrs. Tristan read out the order of proceedings to the small group he almost asked if he could be excused; the cue card in his jacket pocket burning a hole in his side.

Reuben wasn’t well versed in funerals— something he used to be grateful for but, currently regretted. The whole weekend had been an exercise in time-travel. The same rooms, the same halls, the same bickering and same ridiculous thing they called a family. And to Reuben it seemed as though nothing had changed. He wanted to remain there forever. Sell his DC condo, quit his job and just roll out of bed and into the kitchen where breakfast was already prepared. Walk around the grounds, drink the wine cellar dry, bother all of his siblings daily. In DC, he was an island— well, there was Angus but, still he was alone. A solo office, a one bedroom off Columbia, an only child.

Hyperaware of his own presence and looking to the other wards for guidance, like he was thirteen again. This time he walks through the cemetery without his mother by his side, but rather, in his breast pocket. He needed her strength today, thinking about her for the first time in a long time. Today, he might very well be orphaned. There are too many people here for his liking, people he doesn’t recognize. Rich philanthropists, local politicians and other old geezers that probably knew Richard back when his dad did. Red rimmed eyes dart around, maybe his aunt was here. Or perhaps she moved her practice back to Georgia, or maybe she was dead. Maybe Reuben was orphaned long before Richard left.

As he sat listening to the other eulogies, he’s fidgeting with his father’s cufflinks. The smooth gold beneath his fingers reminds him of his father. He’d know how to do this. How to wrap your venom in niceties, Southern hospitality or some bullshit. Before he knows it, someone is nudging him and motioning him to stand. Suddenly, his attention seeking efforts don’t feel so brave. It’s like that reoccurring dream you have when you’re walking down the hall of your high school stark naked and everyone’s laughing at you. His cheeks are hot, and he’s trying not cry, to not deceive these people into thinking he cares.

He stands at the pulpit, hands gripping the sides so tightly his knuckles are white. He can’t look out at this crowd and say the things he wants to say. He looks down at the worn wood as he slips his notes out of his pocket. Looking up for a beat through blond curls at Mrs. Tristan, her face says Reuben is on very thin ice…or maybe that’s what mourning looks like on someone who did all the work and received none of the credit.

He stands a little taller and takes a deep breath. “For those of you who may not know me, I’m Reuben Sharpe— my father was Senator Benedict Sharpe and my mother is Evangeline Louise Marston Sharpe, and after the death of my father I was brought here to Woodrow House.” He pauses to chew the inside of his cheek, which is raw from all the nerves of the past 48 hours.

“Richard Woodrow was not a good father—” a wave of anxious energy floods every vein in his body. But no one rushes to silence him or chalks it up to Reuben just being Reuben. Fortunately for him, there’s a captive audience. “A good father loves unconditionally— there’s no favouritism for the smartest, or the ones who could charm the birds out the trees or the one’s that mirror those he’s lost. No, a good father is there for them all, not his money or the people he hires to stand in but, the man himself.”

While it feels like an opportune moment to cry, Reuben feels the absence of feeling at all. Like he was slowly floating upwards like a rogue balloon that escaped the hands of a small child.

“But I don’t blame Mr.Woodrow, he wanted to do the right thing— shit, we all do. It’s not like they write a manual on how to raise 16 kids at once. He did the best he could and delegated all the harder tasks to Mrs. Tristan, whom I don’t think likes me very much right now but that’s nothing new—” he smiles sheepishly, mostly to himself.

“I spoke to Mr.Woodrow last week and said some things I don’t exactly regret but ,would take back if I knew it was the last time I’d ever see him. If I got to speak to him one last time, I think I’d say something along the lines of: thank you for being the next best thing. You did your best, and now I think I understand.”

Whatever tension he’d been holding had rapidly dissipated. If he didn’t get horizontal quickly, he might pass out. He raps his notes against the pulpit before stepping down and walking out of the ceremony.