#waiting for the day i finally die of sleep deprivation

[say-sike]

sleep ? what the hell is that

[satanghulu]

the horrors of econs [teaser]

✦ PAIRING: satan x f!reader ✦ SUMMARY: Okay, you didn’t mean to summon a demon nor did you mean to throw a book at him but hey, it’s not like you expected the literal embodiment of Wrath to apparate in your apartment! Now, if only he could go back to where he came from… ✦ WARNING: College AU, crack, mild mentions of violence ✦ WC: 1K

MAIN STORY | FIC MASTERLIST | MASTERLIST

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You were going to kill Solomon.

It’s a well-known fact that that guy was shady but really? Was he trying to give you an express pass straight to Death’s doorstep or something? Maybe he had always harboured a secret dislike for you because why on earth did the Economic textbook he lent you summon a--demon?!

“Human. Are you done staring at me?” The man--no, demon? brushes off the dust on the back of his pants. Wait, were those cow prints you see? No, wait. What are those hideous things draped across his neck? And, what was with his disaster of a shirt? For a second, you thought you had teleported to an alternate Jojo Bizarre Adventure universe.

”Your outfit is ugly as hell.” You blurted out, hands delayed in flying up to cover your mouth when you realised the words had escaped from you. The man--no, demon turns with flashing eyes, his tail swishing dangerously behind him. Oh my god, were those spikes embedded in them? Suddenly, you regret ever opening your mouth. This is why people always tell you to keep your mouth shut when you are in a sleep-deprived state. You could feel sweat beading at the side of your temple as you slowly backed away, edging to the bedroom door.

“Are you courting death, little lamb?” He hissed, taking a step closer. You took furtive glances around the room, swallowing hard when you realised the only makeshift weapon you had was the Econs textbook that Solomon had lent you.

The demon’s eyes had narrowed into slits, breathing coming out hot and heavy as if he was poised to attack you at a moment’s notice. Your grip on the textbook tightened as he advanced nearer to you, now a couple of steps away.

“Answer me, human--” The demon mocked you again, arms stretching forward presumably to attack you as you--

You threw the textbook at him.

Thud!

The textbook bounced off his head with a loud thud as he just stared at you in disbelief. At least, you had managed to get a headshot – your only accomplishment in life alongside the stupidest thing you have ever done. And somehow, you had landed yourself in deeper trouble if the shaking with barely contained rage from the thing was any indication.

You silently sent a prayer to the deity above, hoping that whoever was watching you from above would grant you a peaceful death. Although you weren’t one to believe much in religion, this seemed like a good time to start. Maybe next, an angel would drop from the sky too.

“HAHAHAHA!”

The hands you had raised as a shield were being forcefully put down by the entity in front of you.

“HAHAHA, I didn’t know humans could be this interesting.” Oh. The shaking was from laughter, you noted dumbly. You stared blankly at him before taking another step back, trying to covertly loosen his grip around your wrist.

Great, it seemed like the “demon” was a maniac too.

After struggling in his grip for a good minute, you gave up the fight and waited for his laughter to die down. “HAHAHAHA. I never thought the day would come when I would get bested by a human. HAHAHA.” The entity in front of you kept mumbling to himself with a crazed look in his eyes. Honestly, you were getting kinda worried for him too. There’s no way getting smacked by a book is as funny as he made it sound. 

After another minute, his laughter finally subsided and his hold on you had loosened enough for you to wiggle out tentatively. The thing stared at you before his mouth curled into a grin with a glint in his eye.

“So human, tell me why you summoned a demon.”

Well, at least you got your answer to the burning question plaguing you. However, it was not something you wanted to hear at the moment. It wasn’t reassuring, one bit at all.

“I’m really interested to hear what you want. Tell me why a measly human like you summoned one of the seven Denizens of Hell.” Said demon asked, voice growly in a way that gave you butterflies in the stomach; but the butterflies were trying to tear its way out to escape.

It took you a few moments to register his statement. The seven Denizens of Hell? You weren’t familiar with the concept but it seems to indicate that the demon standing before you holds a high rank which could potentially spell more trouble for you.

“Uh.” You started. “I didn’t summon you, I think?” You dragged out your words hesitantly, holding out both hands in front of you defensively. Immediately, his face pinched into a frown as he studied your expression.

“You’re not lying.” He concluded after a second. “Though, something must have happened for me to be summoned.” He sighed, finally moving out of your personal space to scan around your room – which had been trashed from the black void that had opened up to teleport the demon.

As you quietly bemoaned the state of your living quarters, the demon strides towards the textbook lying innocently on the ground. “This is it.” He bent at the waist to lean down and studied the title of the book. “An Introduction to Economics: 1st Edition.” He said stonily.

“How did you know?” It was a curious sight to witness, a demon with actual horns completed with a barbed tail was standing in the middle of the wreckage of your room as if he belonged there. You could hardly believe it but sadly, no matter how many times you rubbed your eyes, the scene remained the same.

“I felt the magic radiating off it.” He answered simply. 

“Where did you get the book from?”

“My friend lent it to me because-- Oh fuck.” You suddenly froze, feeling the blood drain from your face. The demon stared at you inquisitively, prompting you to finish your sentence.

“I have an exam tomorrow.”

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a/n ▸ teaser teaser!! im still writing the rest of it but i just really like the introductory part of this so i wanted to make a separate post. im also not sure if this would end up as a series or just a long fic so bear w me huehue

edit #1 - full fic out here now!!

[norrisjpg]

parenthood - ʟɴ⁴

in which, lando gets a different kind of package deal.

contains: social media, swearing, lando being whipped, death of reader's pet (no description), hard launching.

lando norris x reader

...

...

november, 2023.

INSTAGRAM

liked by yourusername, maxfewtrell, and 491,302 others

landonorris ... a well spent weekend away with my favourite animals on the planet

view comments ... yourusername ... uhh fuck you?

↳ liked by landonorris

user1 ... you cannot tell me they aren't dating

user2 ... waiting for the day that they hard launch and i'll still die

user3 ... why does lando even spend time with her? she's a waste of space honestly

↳ liked by yourusername

yourusername ... no more nellie cuddles for you bitch

↳ landonorris … NO IM SO SORRY DONT DEPRIVE ME

...

INSTAGRAM

liked by landonorris, maxverstappen33, and 391,194 others

yourusername ... nellie, my sweet girl, how i am going to miss you.

as many of you know, i have had the pleasure of spending every single day with my best friend for the past eleven years, and unfortunately, yesterday was our final day together. nellie was a character, and as i'm sure a lot of you also know, she hated max fewtrell with a passion, and i'm still not sure why to this day. i took her to all of her favourite places yesterday - the beach, lando's house, the park, the pup-cup stand, and i even let her attack max one final time. i hope they've saved you a huge bed in heaven, because the amount of times you pushed me out of the bed is astonishing.

i will look for you in my next life time, my pretty girl, sleep tight angel.

view comments ...

yourusername ... i would also like to disclose that i will be inactive on social media for the next few weeks (at least) due to these circumstances, please respect my privacy and let me grieve in peace.

...

INSTAGRAM

liked by danielricciardo, maxfewtrell, and 510,489 others

landonorris ... i would like to send my deepest condolences to all who ever had the pleasure of interacting with nellie. i genuinely have only cried like i did yesterday in the vet on one other occasion - i feel as if i have lost a large part of my life.

i myself will also be inactive on social media for the next few days, as there are other people in my life i wish to fully focus my attention on, please respect my privacy over this time, thankyou.

...

august, 2024.

INSTAGRAM

liked by lnfour, fia.official, yourusername, and 1,871,404 others

landonorris ... yup 🏆 more like it

view comments ...

yourusername ... so proud of you lan!!

user1 ... ARE WE IGNORING THE FACT SHE'S CASUALLY BEING POSTED ON HIS MAIN ALL THE TIME????

user2 ... WHEN IS THIS MAN GOING TO HARD LAUNCH THEM

maxfewtrell ... proper job this weekend brother. put your shirt back on 🔥

↳ yourusername … 2 wins and he’s a WHORE

↳ user1 … i fucking love her she’s one of us

...

september, 2024.

INSTAGRAM

liked by yourusername, maxfewtrell, and 871,932 others

landonorris ... so, i might have said i couldn't get a dog without a girlfriend - so why not get two dogs and a best friend for a gorgeous girlfriend?

view comments ...

yourusername ... gorgeous, huh?

↳ landonorris ... i guess she's alright to look at

↳ yourusername ... guess who's sleeping in the dog beds!!

↳ landonorris ... sonny and juno??

↳ yourusername ... no honey

user1 ... OH MY FUCKING GOD EVERYBODY STAY CALM ITS HAPPENING

user2 ... FLIPPING HECK WE GET DAD LANDO AND BOYFRIEND LANDO I CAN'T COPE RN HELP ME PLS

user3 ... I CAN'T DO THIS THEY'RE SO CUTE (THEM AND THE PUPPIES)

maxverstappen33 ... proud to announce i knew this six months ago

↳ user1 ... SIX MONTHS AGO?!?!?!

↳ yourusername ... max you weren't supposed to say that

↳ landonorris ... this is why we don't tell you anything mate

...

INSTAGRAM

liked by landonorris, georgerussell, maxfewtrell, and 719,832 others

yourusername ... sun, sea, and my favourite animals ☀️🌊🐾

view comments ...

landonorris ... fuck you??

↳ yourusername ... okay??

user1 ... i am a sonny and juno defender till i die

user2 ... i don't know what we've done to deserve this couple but i'm gonna turn relgious because THANK YOU GOD THANK YOU

landonorris ... this was like buy 2 get 1 free i love it

↳ yourusername ... die??

↳ liked by landonorris

...

this has actually been my favourite one to write so far, even though i cried writing the nellie paragraph for some reason. also, let me know if you want a part 2?? i'm thinking of something like lando proposing to her and them getting married and stuff - maybe like a mini social media series? let me know!!

[cabbage20122]

Taming of the Shrew is so funny, like there's a story inside of another story, half of the characters in both are disguised as someone else, and the only character who actually gets everything he wants in the end does it by being as annoying as he possibly can.

Hortensio: I can't marry Bianca until someone marries her older sister, but I wouldn't wish that girl on any- hey Petruccio you said you wanted to marry rich, right?

Petruccio: Your daughter is definitely in love with me, she's just pretending to hate me in front of other people because she's shy. Can we get married?

Baptista: How sweet! Absolutely

Katherine, standing right next to him: the audacity-

Katherine: sister bonding~ tell me who you have a crush on!

Bianca, crying: please untie me

Lucentio: I'm not actually a tutor, I switched places with my servant to woo you in secret

Bianca: Good start, but you call this wooing? You can do better

There's some old guy named Gremio who also wants to marry Bianca but he doesn't really do much

The wedding is not shown, but apparently Petruccio shows up hours late dressed in the most ridiculous articles of clothing he could find (and all of them are clashing) and riding a horse riddled with every disease under the sun (intestinal worms, tumors, a stuffy nose, etc.) punched the priest, and threw wine in his face because his beard was so thin it looked hungry.

On the way to his house, Katherine's horse falls in the mud and somehow lands on top of Katherine

Grumio, shivering: hey I've been sent to make sure the house is ready. Also can you light a fire?

Curtis: are they coming to the house now?

Grumio: yes, now about that fire

Curtis: is she as rude as they say?

Grumio: please I'm so cold

Curtis: i want gossip

Katherine, sleep-deprived and starving: can I have some food?

Grumio: sure would you like some beef and mustard?

Katherine: yes, that sounds great!

Grumio: ah, but the mustard might make your stomach hurt

Katherine: that's OK, I'll just have beef

Grumio: well, I can't just give you beef without mustard. . .

Katherine: just give me something I don't care

Grumio: would you like just mustard

Katherine, hangry: would you like to die

Petruccio: this dress is horrible, I didn't order this!

Tailor: your servant gave me instructions on how to make it, I just followed those

Grumio: ok but I didn't instruct you to make it ugly

Lucentio, conning a foreigner into pretending to be his dad so he and Bianca's dad can discuss the marriage between Bianca and the servant pretending to be Lucentio: I'm such a genius this plan can't possibly go wrong

Lucentio's actual dad: I think I'll go visit my son

Petruccio: it's 7 am, so if we leave now, we'll get to your father's house at lunchtime

Katherine: it's 2 pm, we won't get there til supper

Petruccio: do you have to disagree with everything i say? Maybe we won't go

Katherine: wait no I want lunch-

Lucentio: hi dad, meet my new wife!

Vincentio: . . .

Lucentio: Ok I'm sorry I got you arrested for impersonating yourself but in my defense-

Petruccio: wow, the moon is so bright

Katherine: it's the middle of the day, that's the sun

Petruccio: again with the arguing? Let's go back

Hortensio: are you kidding me we walked all this way

Katherine: WOW, LOOK AT THE MOON

When they finally get to the house for dinner, Katherine and Petruccio win a bet against the other couples and brag about how they're better than everyone there.

And the whole thing is just an elaborate prank on some random drunk guy WHO IS NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN AFTER ACT 1

[spiderman2-99]

✨:happy-Gabriella

[06.12.2022, TRN-1042]

“Papa. Papaaaa!”

“Hmrgh.”

“¡Vamos! It’s almost noon!”

“HwuAGH?!”

Miguel blearily opens his eyes and is promptly assaulted with, as promised, the bright mid-day sun. And then is physically assaulted by about 100 pounds of over-excited ten year old girl clambering on his bed to wake him up.

“I’m awake, I’m awake,” he says frantically, voice still rough around the edges from the vestiges of sleep, as he futilely wrestles with his daughter in an effort to stop her from turning him into a shaken-up pop bottle. Christ alive, he feels like it already.

  Only once he harmlessly pins Gabriella down so she’s sprawled on her back, himself half leaning over her, does she finally concede, her face ruddy from laughing. How the shock kids can have this much energy is beyond him.

(Then again, it is noon, and he was out all night. So.)

Miguel leans back up when he’s certain she won’t try any funny business again, slowly, like she’s a particularly ferocious little velociraptor.

“You were snoring again,” she states as she sits up beside him, brushing imaginary dust off her shirt.

Though his brain is still trying to boot up, he manages to scoff in mock indignation. “I do not snore-“

“Uh, yes you do. It’s like- HOOOOOONK- SHUUUUUUUUUU”

“-and I certainly don’t sound like that.”

“Yes you doooo- no, wait, actually, it's louder, like,” she throws herself back on the bed for emphasis, “BWAAAAAAAAAA-“

“Alright, missy, now you’re just exaggerating. I don’t always sound like that.” Even with the faux irritation, he can’t help but huff out a short chuckle.

“Noooo,” she drawls, leaning up on her arms. “you only sound like a chainsaw when you stay up all night.”

Miguel winces. After he’d replaced his alternate, he still kept up the mantle of Spider-Man, even though the other Miguel wasn’t spiderman; and that universe, that New York, wasn’t his to protect. Oh, and it was about 70 years behind his native 928. Old habits die hard, even for the most skilled of usurpers.

"Yeah, I do. I just... had a lot of work," he finally concedes, ruffling her hair, making her squawk.

The amount of times she’d caught him sneaking back late and beaten were too much for his own liking— to writ, only four, but still four too many. She doesn’t deserve to be dragged into his shit. Though today wasn’t one of those days, he was still so worn-out that he missed the whole morning with his daughter. He forces a smile, a poor attempt at hiding the complicated feelings stirring in his chest.

"You know how that goes. But don't worry, I’ll make sure to go to bed early tonight. So I wouldn't... y'know. Snore."

She pouts a bit. “You always say that. it's always work and you can't talk about it.”

Ouch.

“You know, if I had a super duper cool secret government job," oh, right, that was the excuse he pulled out of his ass, “everyone would know about it. And I mean everyone.”

"You don't even know what I do for a living," he states, "How do you know it's as cool as you think it is?"

“BecauuuuuuseUH! It’s with the Pentagon! You probably see the President!”

(As far as Miguel is concerned, with the hellhole that this universe’s politics are currently in, he’d rather stick a lit cigarette in his eyeball than meet the President. But that’s neither here nor there.)

“Maybe you stopped World War Three! Maybe you went behind the great firewall of China! Maybe you found the cure for cancer or found aliens and the world will never KNOOOOW,” she continues, throwing her arms out for dramatic flair and flopping back down hard enough to make her whole body bounce.

Miguel had completely bullshat that whole “secret government job” story, and he definitely did not anticipate the amount of implication in it for Gabi to latch onto and try to pick apart. That’s just…

Jesus. Way too much for his sleep-deprived brain.

“Maybe that’s why I’m the one working there and you’re not, princessa. You’d blab to everyone.”

She sticks her tongue out at him. Miguel can’t help but snort in spite of himself. He runs a tired hand over his face and shakes his head.

"The truth isn't as exciting as you think, I'm afraid,” he explains, “I'm like... a glorified paper-pusher, really. I get to read the boring reports and watch security footage all day. Super boring."

“Aw.” She crosses her arms in an exaggerated show of petulance.

“Yeah, ‘aw’,” he murmurs, propping his head up with his hand as he leans on his side. Without really thinking about it, he reaches out to play with the flyaway curls around Gabriella’s forehead.

After a bit of brooding, she glances back up at him. “But are there aliens in the footage?”

"No, honey, there's no aliens," he replies with a dry chuckle. "If I saw something strange on the footage, I would've told you by now."

Finally, Gabriella seems placated with this answer. If there’s anything she inherited from her father, it’s the O’Hara ability to cling onto a subject for ages.

Even if this one isn’t her real father.

“Fiiine. But promise me you’ll be on CNN first thing when it happens,” she says, holding out a pinky.

“When I end up on CNN?" Miguel raises an eyebrow. "You don't think I'm important enough already?”

Her eyes fly open. “I’m just saying-“

She scrambles to sit back up. “None of my friends can say their papa’s on the news! Or that he found aliens!”

"Well... you can tell them I work in a super secret place that I can't ever talk about. That's gotta count for something, right?”

“Yeah, but then they’re like ‘what does he do’ and I can’t even answer it!”

Miguel lets out a sardonic laugh. He should… really work on his lies.

"You don’t need to know what I do,” he chides, keeping his tone light, “it’s boring stuff, anyways. Definitely no meetings with the president or alien ambassadors.”

“Uuuggghhhhhhh.”

“And I should definitely stop letting you watch so much Discovery Channel,” he grumbles, though it lacks heat. Just add that to his list of parenting failures; failing to check if that channel is really age appropriate.

All the obsessive research in the world can’t truly make up for the fact that he barely knows how to be a father. That he’s nothing but a cuckoo in someone else’s nest.

Blessedly, his train of thought is cut short by his daughter’s voice, ever stubborn and ever hopeful. “But what if you do find aliens and you’re on there one day?”

“You’re still on that?!”

“Uh, yeah; I don’t wanna miss when you find aliens! Promise me you’ll tell all about it?”

With a soft sigh, he extends a pinky up for her to hold. She giggles and gives it a little squeeze.

"I promise you’ll be the first to know," he says, with as much conviction as he can manage for this batshit conversation. "And when I'm on TV, I'll tell you 'hi', okay?"

“Okay, papa.” The smile she gives is blinding.

“But right now,” he starts, finally getting up and swinging his legs off the bed (pointedly ignoring the way his body aches from the fights last night) “we need to get you fed.”

“I ate though!”

“What, a donut?”

The silence incriminates her immediately.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. C’mon, let’s get actual food into you.”

Father and daughter, carefree as ever, make a late start to the day, but a good one. Life is good, even if it’s one Miguel had to steal. He has a tiny little brick house in residential Manhattan, he has a beautiful little girl, and the most pressing concerns are making sure he manages to bullshit his way into being a good parent— no multiversal tragedies. Not yet.

Not yet.

[imdoingaokay]

Romanced!DAI Companions and Advisors (+ Platonic!Vivienne) when The Inquisitor returns to Skyhold late

(A/N: Heyyyy guys... I've missed you :) This past few months have been awful for me... but I'm back... teeheehee

I think this is gonna be really niche so I feel a need to explain what I was thinking??? Basically, The Inquisitor has been on a mission for a while now and they're returning extremely late at night.

Apologies for the inaccurate lore stuff, I don't think hours exist in Dragon Age because they don't have clocks? Or they do??? I dunno man I got a final tomorrow and I don't know if I'm gonna pass

Just know that the whole reason I got inspired for this was because it was late and I was imagining Vivienne watching The Inquisitor come back and her wrapping her robe around her waist like a mom watching their grown child come home from a rave or something

Once again, no beta we die like men

And happy late dragon age day, love y'all)

TW: Mentions of death

Blackwall/Thom Rainer: Unable to sleep. He’s waiting, whittling at the griffon he keeps. He doesn’t want to sleep anways, who will greet his lover? The wind? No. He’ll stay up, just for a few minutes longer, he tells himself… But soon he finds himself whittling into the early hours of the morning. That’s when there’s a stir of the guards, the whispers, and alerts are quiet, as to not wake up the many souls sleeping, but the message is clear.

His love has returned. And he will wait by the gate, a grin on his face and sleepiness in his eyes. He greedily hopes his lover may wish to sleep a few hours before the rest of Skyhold truly awakens.

Cassandra: She’s in bed, but not sleeping, reading a book. She’s trying to sleep, but her anxieties are getting to her. Somehow, ever since she got the letter saying that her love was returning, she fears even more. Her mind is plagued with images of an assassinated Inquisitor on the way back to her. Maker! Why didn’t that fool just bring her? 

Just as she scoffs, she hears something of a commotion outside. She prays for a moment, the news is good, and she throws on her armor, knowing better than to leave her room without it, and rushes to the gate. This is where her fears are put to rest as she greets her lover, a relieved smile on her face. And it is with this her sleepiness finally settles in. after a quick word, she urges her lover to rest, with or without her. All that matters that they returned.

Cullen Rutherford: He hasn’t slept since his lover left. A few moments where he stares off into space, drifting off before yanking himself back into consciousness. So it feels normal for him as he scribbles away the missives on his desk, being sure to double check each one so he didn’t accidentally write something foolish in his sleep deprived state. Somehow, in this half-dead state of his, he can hear the murmuring of guards outside of his door, and one enters. 

The guard has been ordered to inform Cullen of when they see The Inquisitor, so when they enter, Cullen knows what it’s for. And somehow, the sleepiness Cullen once had disappears, replaced with a drive he always feels when his lover returns. He rushes down the battlement steps, sure to not seem too desperate to his men. And in his excitement, he quickly meets his lover halfway on the bridge. They may be on their horse, but Cullen will happily walk back with them, looking up at them like they hold his whole world in their hands. When his lover gets off their horse, however, that is when he embraces them, a chaste kiss pressed to their cheek. This is when he finally asks them to rest with him, as his exhaustion is coming to bite him in the ass.

Dorian Pavus: Dorian has lied to himself multiple times throughout the night. He lied to himself claiming he didn’t care if he was asleep when his amatus returned from their very dangerous mission. So he lays in his bed for hours, trying to sleep. And when he can’t? He lies to himself, coming up with some excuse as to why his mind will not rest. So he waits in the library, sipping a glass of wine while attempting to read nonchalantly. Of course, he seemingly can’t. So he decides to wait on the battlements, claiming he must need some fresh air. Even though he despises how cold it is that night. 

But, somehow, without meaning to, he notices the small group of people making their way across the bridge. And, without a reason at all, a huge weight is lifted off of Dorian’s shoulders. 

He lets out a sigh and returns to the warmth of the library, happy to wait for his lover to come to him. And when he does, only then does Dorian finally agree to go to sleep. 

Iron Bull: Doesn’t sleep, but this is because he knew his lover was coming back tonight. So he waits patiently in the tavern, a ear out and ready, waiting for murmurs of The Inquisitor’s return. And when he does hear, he happily shoots up from his chair and makes his way to the gate, happy to greet his lover.

Bull was only slightly worried to be away from his lover, he knew they could handle their mission without him, but still, who knows what could happen? But the news that The Inquisitor was coming back? That was enough to settle his nerves. But seeing… and feeling his lover in his arms? That is what truly relaxes him.

Josephine Montilyet: Josephine is the only one who is asleep, she was corralled to his bedroom by Leliana, who told Josephine that she would wake her up when The Inquisitor returned. True to her word, Leliana gently shook awake a sleepy Josephine who, wrapped in a robe, quickly made her way to the empty Great Hall. She situated herself onto Vivienne’s balcony. She happily watched her lover pass the gates a promptly made their way to her, greeting her with a gentle kiss, which Leliana thankfully turned away from. Afterwards she’s happy to lead her lover to bed, as the second the pair’s heads hit the pillow, the pass effortlessly into a dreamless sleep.

Sera: Sera’s mindlessly making arrows, her door is locked, as she grew tired of Cole trying to make his way into the room to encourage Sera to talk about her anxieties surrounding her Inky leaving without her. She doesn’t even know her lover has returned until she hears the door jiggle a bit before her lover’s voice calls, “Sera, I saw the light was on, are you awake?”

This is when Sera happily throws the door open and grabs her Inky and drags them inside her room, into her arms. The two were eventually found the next morning by a messenger, who reported The Inquisitor and Sera were fast asleep in a pile of various blankets and pillows.

Solas: Solas isn’t sleeping much either, somehow he can’t take his mind off of his vhenan. He completely understand why his lover would take another person on their adventure, potentially a different mage than him. But he worries when they’re away! And there’s not much to do in Skyhold when The Inquisitor is gone. Most servants and nobles steer clear from him. He busies himself painting the various frescos in the atrium. He’s just taken a break and decided to walk along the battlements, and that’s of course, when he sees his beloved. He’s happy to walk down the stairs of the battlements and meet his lover at the gate, awaiting them with open arms. He happily leads them away, whether to their bed in their room, where Solas will leave them to rest. Or if they prefer, they can spend a bit of time in the atrium alone, Solas would be happy to hear the stories of his vhenan’s journey. 

Varric Tethras: Varric is rotating between the tavern and The Great Hall. Ever since he first got the letter from his lover, happily informing him of their return, he’s only been more nervous. Like Cassandra, he fears the image of a truly tragic hero, beaten down on the way back to the arms of their lover. 

He thinks he’s been writing too much tragedy when he firsts gets that mental image

Nevertheless, he pushes through the night.

Eventually, he’s sitting at his usual spot near the fire, unhappily grumbling to himself, sounding like a real dwarf. His mind is racing, and he can’t seem to get the thoughts to stop. So, for one last time that evening, he walks out of the hall, preparing to return to the tavern for a drink and a song from Maryden. That’s when he sees his beloved standing by the gate, quietly talking with a solider who leads their horse away. They’ve returned and they’re safe, that’s all he needed to know.

When The Inquisitor finally catches a glimpse of their lover, all they see is a bright grin spread across his face.

Varric is happy to go along with whatever The Inquisitor wants, bed, a drink, a tale by the fire, he’s just relieved they’ve returned.

Vivienne: Vivienne lies to herself. The day that she hears The Inquisitor will be returning that evening, she nods and nonchalantly walks away. Yet she finds herself constantly checking the gate everytime there is movement in that direction. She has no idea why, however. Her friend, whom she doesn’t really call friend, is taking an awful long amount of time to just get back to Skyhold. 

She justifies her musings on The Inquisitor’s safety as rationally as she can. If The Inquisitor dies, Thedas will be lost. If The Inquisitor dies, her position in court may affected. If The Inquisitor dies, she will be sad-

That is what gives her pause. She straightens her back, hands quickly going to her face as if to smooth out her frown that was previously there, and then she turns on her heel and returns to her sofa. She attempts to swallow down her fear the entire day, but as the night swiftly covers Skyhold, she finds herself unable to sleep. The moons is high in the sky when she emerges from her room, robe tightly wrapped around her. She is sure not a single soul will see her in such a… vulnerable state. She quickly makes her way to the balcony again, and stays there for what feels like an entire age. But just as she gets ready to sigh and return to a sleepless night in her bed, she hears a disturbance coming from the gate. That is where she sees The Inquisitor, alive and perhaps wrapped in the arms of lover. And with a sigh of… relief? She quietly returns to her chambers. Never speaking of this again.

[violentdelightsandviolentends]

can you do kendall roy fluff + only one bed? ☺️

Forced Proximity.

i. Only One Bed

Author's Note - this is a drabble written as part of my 500 Followers Celebration!! find that post here. oh my GOD i love this man. i am a kendall roy defender until i die. i am a kendall girly first and a human being second. (okay so admittedly I wrote this before watching episode 8... ken, me and you are gonna have words.)

Pairing - Kendall Roy x Assistant!Female Reader

Age Rating - 18+

Warnings - cursing

Word Count - 881

Masterlist. 500 Follower Celebration Masterlist.

Another day, another business meeting.

You're in London, this time around. You and Kendall jumped on a flight at the drop of a hat, jetting across the world to appease yet another rich white man. It was part of your job description, after all. Wherever Ken goes, you go. Just him and his best assistant against the world.

You've been awake for what feels like an eternity when you finally arrive at your hotel. You'd made sure to book two conjoining rooms, as always - Kendall likes to have you close. Just in case, he says.

You practically run to the front desk, desperate to shower and jump into a fluffy white bed. The universe, apparently, has other plans.

"So that's room 414 all ready for you, ma'am."

Her English accent doesn't soften the blow of the shock as much as you expected it to.

"Wait... what? Sorry, I'm sleep deprived. I booked two conjoining rooms."

"It says here you only booked one."

"Please," you beg. "I definitely booked two. Do you at least have another room available? I'll just book it now."

She clicks away at the keyboard, acrylic nails hitting the plastic rhythmically.

"I'm really sorry. There's an event happening, it's this huge wedding and the bride is some sort of celebrity and literally every room is full."

"You're kidding."

"I wish I was, ma'am."

And that's how you found yourself apologising profusely to Kendall while dragging your luggage down a never ending hotel hallway.

"God, could this day get any worse? I'm so fucking sorry, Ken."

He stops walking and turns to face you directly.

"It's fine. Stop stressing, please. You're making me fuckin' nervous."

You sigh with relief, and join him in his laughter. You can survive one night, surely.

You swing open your door, to be met with the sight of the biggest hotel bed you've ever seen. Bed. One bed.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

Kendall stays silent, slight smirk on his face. He always thinks you're at your cutest when you're mad.

"God, Ken, again, I'm so sorry. I think the universe hates us."

"You've only figured that out today?"

He chuckles, and the sound calms you down ever so slightly.

"Look, honey, we can sleep top to tail, or I'll sleep on the floor, or in the fucking bathtub. But we're both exhausted, and standing and staring at the bed isn't helping."

He's right. Fatigue is plaguing your bones, practically seeping out of your pores. You need to lie down.

"I'm not gonna make you sleep on the floor, Ken. That's the biggest bed I've ever seen. There's room for the both of us."

He can't argue with that.

You both get ready for bed, taking your respective turns. You never realised how intimate a nighttime routine can be. You feel like you're seeing a side of your boss that's reserved only for him.

You both slide into a side of the bed, making sure to put an adequate distance between you. You roll so your backs are facing each other, to save any awkwardness. Kendall turns off the light, and settles down.

"Goodnight, Ken."

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

You fall asleep the minute your head hits the pillow.

You're awoken by breathing. Not the steady, rhythmic breathing of someone asleep. No, the half panicked, willing-himself-to-sleep kind of breathing.

"Ken?" you whisper. "Are you awake? What's wrong?"

You turn to face him, and make out the shape of him lying on his back in the dark.

"Fuck, did I wake you? Sorry, honey. Just can't sleep."

"You're exhausted. Thought you'd be out like a light."

"Can I tell you something?" he questions quietly.

"Anything."

"I haven't been sleeping."

"For how long?"

"Months. Maybe like a year? I don't know. I go through phases."

"Have you talked to someone?"

"I, uh, tried to. But they wanted to give me pills. I didn't wanna take them, so."

You roll onto your back, mirroring his position. In the dark, you reach out and grab his hand that rests on the bed between you.

"Proud of you," you whisper. "Can't have been easy to say no."

He doesn't know what to say, so he simply laces his fingers with yours, and squeezes a little tighter.

"Do you think it's because you sleep alone?" you ask quietly after a while.

"Honestly? Maybe. I got used to having Rava for so long. Then Naomi. I always sleep better with someone else."

You inch closer to him, using your interlocked hands as leverage. You move so your arms are pressed against each other, your head resting on his shoulder.

"So do I," you whisper. "Don't know if it's the breathing, or the body heat, or just not being lonely. Whatever it is... you have me."

"Yeah?" he asks breathily.

"Yeah."

With that, he pulls you in to him, arms wrapping around you. You rest your head on his chest and exhale.

You settle into the comfort of the warmth of his chest. The smell of your shampoo slowly calms Kendall, his heart slowing and evening out. Within minutes, his breathing becomes steady and rhythmic, body fully relaxed. You join him in slumber almost instantly.

When you wake in the morning, Kendall tells you to only ever book one room from now on.

[indigo-o]

The Pet clown

Pt 2

I think we know who it's abt lmao

Nikolai gogol x reader PLATONIC

And some fyodor

Reader is a teenager

Tw impatient stuff depression, fyodor drugging, sleep deprivation, those annoying blankets they give at mental hospital even tho it's like -1 degrees Celsius if you know you know, talk of death, yandere fyodor, Manipulation from fyodor, Nikolai gogol, I think that's it so yeah

Angst/fluff

I wish you were here, this room is empty. White walls, heavy doors, thin white blankets, and chained blury windows.

This thin gown can't keep me warm. I know him. He just wants what's best for me. I guess that even means putting me in this room. This room to keep me safe.

Safe from me. No possibility of me hurting. I'm to sick leave this bed and to tired to talk. He says I'm helping him.

Im helping him cleanse the world of evil. So I guess if my pain will save the world I'll stay in this room.

Everybody else deserves to be happy and well so I'll hurt for them. If one death would save the world I'd die.

My body's purple now.

I hear a click at the heavy door. To my surprise it wasn't a anemic rat, it was his pet clown.

"QUIZZZZZ TIMEEEEEE! WHY AM I HERE INSTEAD OF DOS-KUN?! I THINK I HEARD YOU SAY CAUSE HES HAVING FUN! CORRECT!".

I looked at him. My eyes were heavy. But he did bring some color to the room. I smiled at him.

I opened my mouth to talk but I couldn't.

"Oh dove you still can't talk! I forgot! Dos-kun told me to take you outside to have some fun.".

He lied, either were not going to have fun or fyodor didn't tell him anything. Either way I was going to have to walk. I knew I couldn't but I was going to try anyway.

Fyodor knew If I could walk I'd escape from him. So he kept me physically, emotionally and mentally sick. I would have no choice to stay.

As soon as I got to my legs I collapsed, but Nikolai caught me.

"Silly me I forgot you can't walk guess I'll carry you.".

He picked me up as if I were a little kid.

"D-dont dr-rop.". I manged to get out.

"Oh dove I may be crazy but not only do we need you, Dos-kun would kill me, but I want to protect you from harm. Not like you can protect yourself in this state.".

I looked at him. Then laying on him. We proceeded to go through his cape.

We were in what seemed to be his house/apartment.

He went to put me down on his couch but he's so warm.

"Wait w-warm.".

He looked down at me.

"I guess we can go out later.". He picked me back up and took me to his bed. Laying me down cuddled with blankets, pillows and now a pet clown. I shut my eyes and finally went to sleep.

I woke up to Nikolai looking down at me.

"Am I a good pillow?". I realized how I was very much on him.

I nodded my head.

"You want to go outside for a bit dove?". He was using a soft tone.

He wasn't ever like this

Maybe because I'm a teenager but I don't know.

He got up "You slept threw the whole night, but the good thing is we have a whole day today and tomorrow, you know why?".

He leaned in close "I lied Dos-kun is away and he doesn't believe in your freedom so I'm here to show him that you're a good kid who won't run away. You see Dos-kun takes away your warmth so you can't sleep making you so tired that's why you slept for so long he wants you to be weak, weak without freedom. I'm here to give you freedom. To fly like a dove.".

He went to his closet and pulled out some clothes.

"Here's so clothes to wear so we're not caught. That sounds weird. I my dear am a very wanted person so I must look different and you can't really walk let alone the sun should hurt you eyes so if I were to be caught you wouldn't leave be caught up in it.".

What ever he said I guess.

I changed and so did he and he look pretty different

He picked me up and took me to wheel chair that he some how got, but I shouldn't question it.

He placed me in the chair and we Leigt looked like sibling going out for fun.

"F-flowers please.". I looked to him.

"You want flowers we will get flowers.".

We went to florist.

"Hi! What flowers are yall looking for!". She sounded very happy.

"What do you want dear?". Nikolai asked

While I could barely see I knew exactly what I want.

"R-rose and Lillys.".

"Of course dear I'll get right to that!".

The rest of day was amazing

I got flowers, yummy pastries and other stuff.

Who knew a deranged clown could be so kind. But at last we came back to his apartment/house.

He made dinner for us and helped me get to the bed. He tucked me in.

"Good night dove.".

I woke up

Back in the room

The room with white walls, a heavy door, thin blanket and blury chains windows. But now there wad a desk but with roses and lily's on top of it.

I heard the door click. An anemic rat with his pet clown walked in.

"You've proven yourself for now, you may keep your roses and lily's. Nikolai may visit you now and then. One thing. You may not regain full energy but.".

He stopped his words and Nikolais smile grew.

"YOU CAN HAVE A NICER BLANKET AND I CAN READ BED TIME STORYS TO YOU ONCE A WEEK!".

He ran over to with a puppy dog smile.

"Don't make regret this.". The anemic rat walked away throwing the key at the pet clown.

That was alot longer than I expected but I hope yall liked it!♡♡

[thelocal-shifter-kai]

You came back.. Only when it was too late.

Yandere x yandere reader

With my oc Leo Moore

Word count: 2,006

Warnings: Mentions of self-harm, mentions of depression, depictions of a rotting body, reader being a dumbfuck.

You've been kidnapped by your stalker, its been months since you've even seen the sun. So seeing any form of escape from this hell was something you've been yearning for more than your stalker has been yearning for you.

You've pretended to love him for the last few weeks to get freedom, of course it worked. He's so delusional and gullible to think you could ever love him, you actually hate his guts and would like to gut him. 

"Y/N.. Are you there..?" You heard your stalker say, you don't want to show him where you are but it doesn't seem like you're going to escape so you decide to answer him.. "Yes, Leo! I'm over here!" You shout back to him with a overly sweet voice that makes you sick, you can't stand being so nice to him.

He opens the kitchen door and smiles at you, he's such a pathetic bitch, yet he still managed to kidnap you. It makes you sick to your stomach to smile back. You go up to hug him and bring him back to you and his bedroom. He was sick, seeing him like this gives you the freedom you've been deprived of for so long.

But for the past 3 days you've been taking care of him because this sickness is nearly killing him. Which means he'll die when you escape. It makes you happy to know that, you smile thinking about how you'll be free and he'll rot alone. He thinks you love him, he thinks you and him are in a happy relationship. Not for long.

The smile on your face is special it's one of knowing after you'll leave you could be held responsible for indirect murder.. You don't care though, he'll be dead and you'll finally be happy.. Though weirdly enough you get an odd gut feeling about doing this.. Why? You're still trying to figure that out.

That night he begs you to stay in bed with him but you decline due to not wanting to get sick. But you know that next morning you'll leave him to fucking rot. You can barely sleep on the couch due to the sheer excitement you have for that morning.

You wake up almost depressed about the day you'll be spending with him… until you remember you're plan. You sit up nearly jumping, you can tell that anyone who sees you knows you're happy. You slowly walk to the bedroom to check if Leo was awake. To your delight he wasn't, you stared for almost a minute too long, he would be cute sleeping if he didn't kidnap you- wait what? No, he wouldn't be cute at all why did you think that?

You silently close the door feeling the anticipation of escaping rise up in your chest. You're actually doing this, you'd probably kill anyone in your way to get this. Each step to the kitchen was killing you from the outside in. You wanted to scream, cry, laugh, or dance.

You would finally be able to go home.. Touching that window finally, you nearly broke it with how fast you opened it. This was your chance, this was your time, this was your escape. This hell was over and you were free.

You had never run as fast in your life as you have now, if only you didn't hear that sickening voice. "Y/N! WHERE ARE YOU GOING? PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME I JUST WANT TO LOVE YOU!" You stopped and yelled back

"I HATE YOU LEO, I NEVER LOVED YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU,I HATE YOU LEO" Is the only thing you can think of saying before running off, you know that pathetic bitch will cry hearing that. You smile and run off again, stopping by a river for a few minutes, you ran in a straight line so you know he could find you.. but Leo's probably dead by now. 

Something gives you a weird feeling about it though, you just ignored that bad feeling. A few hours go by and it gets stronger and stronger, you started to see less and less trees but decided to stay in the forest for awhile just to enjoy the freedom of it all, it's peaceful.

You had never been so alone like this. Yet with that feeling you know you aren't, animals and creatures are all around you, just out of your sight, you breathe in the fresh air you haven't had in so long, cooped up in that house for far too long. Looking into the river you see.. yourself, your own smile, it's been too long since you've seen yourself smile and have been truly happy.

Most things you've been deprived of for far too long.. like human contact! But how to get out of the woods?… that's gonna be the tricky part, walking around the woods.. you're lost, very lost. You don't know what to do, usually Leo would help you out on these things- Wait why are you thinking of him? You left him for dead for a reason, do not think of him.

Now annoyed by the thought of Leo you walk around the woods trying to find something to clear your mind of him. It doesn't work. You're only a little bit pissed off, the animals went away because it's getting dark! But isn't it only 11am? You think it is at least, not taking your phone was a bad idea.. Maybe you should go back..

What? No!? You shouldn't go back! What are you thinking..? You're thoughts are clouded by reasons you should go back when.. you see a crow, just a single one. It had cawed at you.. wanting to get your attention. You shoo it off, not needing to be stalked by a weird crow but it goes into another tree, you wonder why it's alone..

You were stepping back from it when you hit your head with a tree branch, the sound makes it fly away. You ignore it as you start walking again, trying to get your mind off Leo once again. Then your mind wonders to the crow, something tells you that's its job, getting your mind off of Leo.

That's a weird thought though.. Why would that be it's job?.. Nevermind why was that crow alone like that? Don't they stay in a group? Maybe not… You look around for any other crows but you find no others, you walk around the woods to see any more but none are there. Like they're avoiding you, like they only wanted you so see one crow. but that's crazy! Crows are smart but not that smart… Right? Right.

You walk around spotting a pond with lily pads, it was quite cute, looking in the pond you see yourself, this time.. you feel different, still happy.. you think. You feel empty, just not feeling anything. You can almost feel Leo's comforting hand caress your cheek, only then do you feel disgust thinking of Leo.. but oh how you wish to feel his hands again-

You caught yourself smiling into the pond thinking of him, you recoil and sit up from the pond.. but you touch your cheek, noticing how different your hands were from his.. His were so soft and you loved when he- What were you thinking about? You left him to rot and die because you hate him.. You do hate him, why are you doubting what you feel..?

You get up to walk around again to find a way out of the woods when your stomach rumbles, thoughts go back to going back to that house.. When you hear another caw. Looking around you see a crow before it flies in your face hitting you and knocking you over.

You weren't hit into the pond but your head hit the ground hard. It was pulsing when you sat up. God how you just wanted to be in Leo's warm arms and be safe again.. You snap out of your thoughts before you thought anything more sweet about him.. You hate him, you hate him, you hate him, you HATE him.. Right?

You don't know anymore. You don't know your feelings. You don't know yourself. Do you like him? Do you love him? So many questions but no answers. You're stuck inside your own thoughts. You're hungry and tired, it's starting to get late, you're trying to convince yourself that you hate him saying that you should go back just for the night. He can't be alive anymore right?

He can't be alive anymore.. The thought strikes you with a feeling of stress and worry. You try to block it out but fail, you walk away from the pond and sit up against a tree and hold your face in your hands, feeling the realization that you love him.

You start to realize you truly love him, it wasn't an act, you actually love Leo. Why did you want to escape? Why.. did you do this?.. You don't know, but when you wonder why you love Leo.. You have too many reasons. Oh god, why did you do this? Why did you leave? He could be dead!

You get up and start panicking, it's getting late so you won't be able to see and once again, you remember you're lost! You try to think where you came from and run in that direction, you're so worried that you're late and he's dead, but you start feeling calmer, thinking he could still be in the house and he knows where the medicine is! He's fine.. he's okay. He's fine.

You were scared that you were too lost to find him again when… you see the house! You calm down, it's the front of the house. Going up to the front door, you try to open it.. It's locked. Until you remember the window you originally escaped form!

You walked over to the window, still able to see. You were gonna wrap yourself in his arms and apologize over and over for ever thinking of leaving him, you started to realize how obsessed you actually were with him but.. oh well, you chuckled to yourself, knowing you were both insane for eachother but you two needed no one but eachother.

Luckily you'd never leave him again, you were sad you made him cry but you'd kiss those tears away. There was going to be nothing to rip him away from your grasp. You two would be the happiest couple there ever was.

While you liked that the house was big and had a lot of space, you wanted to get back to loving Leo really badly. It was getting darker and darker, you were still able to see and it was nice to get a break from the summer heat but it didn't really effect you while you were taking a walk in the woods. Your hands were in your pockets, you were relaxed and happy.

You did feel stupid for leaving him but you know you'll never do that again. Finally you reached the wall where the window you escaped from is. It got dark enough stuff was getting pretty hard to see but you knew where you were going.. Oddly enough the lights weren't on in the house but Leo has to be asleep by now!

You saw the window and your foot hit something.. You looked down to.. see Leo lying on the ground. Your heart started racing, he couldn't be dead right? You kneel down to look at him and touch him, he was cold. You start to worry, "Leo? Leo! This isn't a funny joke.." You felt stupid for saying that but that was the only reason why he might do this. Even if he didn't do pranks on you..

You try picking him up but he was stiff. Very stiff. His body was a lighter color than his own, you saw bruises form when you picked him up.. "No.. no nonono! Shit! Leo! Please don't die on me, not like this, not right now.." You beg hoping he'd hear you and open his eyes.. He doesn't. You try your best to find a pulse on him but there was none. You knew you wouldn't find one but you didn't want to believe he was dead, you see there were dried up tear marks. He was crying for you, but you had left him

Getting him into the house you try everything you can find to revive him. Spiritual things, medical things, anything. But you know it won't work. You knew it wouldn't. Tears start to flow as you're more frantic to revive him, you don't know why you're trying so hard. That last bit of hope you have is slowly dying just like he did.

After all that it's now 12am, you got to see the time, you had gotten back around 8pm.. You're in bed with Leo's body, telling him you love him, you can't stop crying about the fact he died thinking you hated him and you let him die, alone and crying, all he wanted was you and you left him to rot. You start crying more on his shirt, "I'm sorry Leo, I do love you, I'm obsessed with you! Please don't leave me, I'm a horrible partner to you" You sob out holding him close, but he was stiff and cold, like he was mad at you.

"I was stupid! I thought I wanted to leave you but I love you! I love you so much!" You noticed a faint smell in the air, he was rotting.. And it's all your fault he is. "Please, just open your eyes.. I'll do anything to have you back!" You hold his cold face.. You thought you were going crazy when you saw his eyes move.. Only until a maggot comes out of his eye.

"I'm so sorry.. I let this happen, I let maggots get in your eyes." You sit up when you saw it, feeling yourself go crazy.. You couldn't think. You were so fucking mad at yourself for causing all this on your beloved Leo. Well he's not yours anymore, because you killed him. You kill the maggot and throw it away.

You know what you have to do now, getting the shovel ready you start digging a hole in the ground to bury Leo. Silently saying how much you're sorry for this. You put his body in the hole and place all the dirt on top. You kneel down in front of the grave, knowing you killed your boyfriend. Knowing you did all this, he probably hates you now.. in whatever afterlife he went to.

You want to claw out your own eyes, to cut and hang yourself. Just to feel the pain, you feel like a horrible person for this. Someone who need to pay for their actions. Someone who needs to pay for killing Leo, for hurting him this badly, but you don't. Living without him is more than enough of a pain for you.

You want to go back inside and cuddle him but now, here is the closest you'll ever get to him again, you'll never see him again, let's hope you have a lot of pictures of him.. because otherwise you'll forget what he looks like.. You could go back to your old life. You could meet someone who wants to be with you.. but you would say you have a boyfriend. Well you had a boyfriend, looks like you're single now.

But you know you'll never want anyone but him.

So, out of most of my fics I really liked writing this one and I loved how it turned out! I hope you liked it too. I'll be writing more about him and other characters! Soon I'll have my Writing Restaurant out soon, just a bit more work on it and I'll be done.

Along with that I have my masterlist and intro still in the works but they'll both be out soon!! I'll tag this and other posts with my ocs name:))

[caesariawritesstuff]

would i die if you wrote the "I've been waiting for you to come to your senses." prompt with edward? yes

Senses

Summary: You finally come to your senses about how you feel about Edward.

Word Count: 1.1k

A/N: Fic is not canon to the official Cat&Mouse!Verse, but I like how this turned out, even though it's short and sweet.

You’re an idiot. A fucking idiot. The biggest idiot of them all.

But knowing that didn’t stop your feet from moving towards Edward’s hotel room, as if they had a mind of their own. Heart pounding desperately in your ribcage, you swallowed the lump in your throat, trying to get your thoughts in order. You’d been contemplating this for days now – days which had seemed to drag on, and on, and on. You’d found yourself lying awake at night, tossing and turning, never seeming to find the sweet release of sleep.

Not while Edward Nigma continued to occupy your every waking thought.

You scowled, anger churning in your stomach. Anger at him, at yourself, at everyone – but most of all, directed towards him. Because of the goddamn way he made you feel. He had burrowed his way into your life, into your soul, into your very being, and no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t get him out of your head.

Or your heart.

As you reached the door to his hotel room, you paused, raising your fist. You could turn back. You could chicken out and leave before he knew you’d ever come here. But you were sick of being a coward, and sick of pretending your stupid, silly heart didn’t feel what it did. Sucking in a breath, you knocked on the door, wrapping against it several times with your knuckles. You held your breath, depriving your lungs of precious oxygen, while you waited for him to answer. Several moments later, the door swung open, and you found him standing there. A look of surprise momentarily crossed his face, but it was gone as just as it’d come.

“Detective,” he said, his voice smooth, arrogant. “This is a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect a visit from you—”

“Can we talk?” you asked, interrupting him before he could get another word out.

A shadow passed along his face, as if a moment of uncertainty, but he nodded, a smirk curving at the corners of his mouth. “Of course.” He stepped aside, opening the door further.

You walked inside, crossing your arms over yourself, swallowing the lump in your throat. He shut the door behind him, and you heard it lock, but something about that didn’t bother you. Instead, it only fueled a fire in your belly, and you didn’t look back at him. You couldn’t bring yourself to look into his eyes as the words poured out of you.

“Look,” you said. “I’m sorry to barge in on you like this, but I need to say something, and I need you to listen to me. Okay?”

“Very well,” he replied, but you still didn’t turn to look at him.

You sucked in a breath, trying to find the words. Trying to make sense of how your stupid, stupid heart had led you here, into his hotel room once again. Stop being a coward. Spit it out, you screamed at yourself. With a heavy sigh, you turned on your heels and faced him finally, meeting his eyes. There was an intense look to his eyes, his brows raised in expectance.

“I’ve been thinking,” you said, choosing your words carefully.

“Have you now?” he asked, the arrogance laced within his tone.

You shot him a look, fighting the smirk threatening to twitch at your lips. “Yes, Edward. I am capable of thinking. And I…I’ve been thinking. About us. About everything that’s happened between us.” You paused, unsure of how to continue.

“And?” he asked. You watched his shoulders tense, as if awaiting some kind of verbal blow from you.

“And…” You shook your head, scoffing under your breath. “And…fuck, Edward. This isn’t easy for me to come out and say, okay?” Frowning, you wandered over to the bed and slumped down, perching yourself on the edge, and rested your elbows on your knees.

A soft smile touched the corners of his mouth, and he crossed his arms, leaning against the wall with his shoulder. That smug look on his face made your heart race, made the blood boil in your veins, stoking a fire to life inside of you.

You rested your head in your palm, glaring up at him from underneath your lashes. “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m not going to finish what I was going to say.”

He feigned a look of shock. “My dear, don’t wound me so with such empty threats. If you have something to say about us, all you need to do is say it and—”

You groaned, shooting to your feet as you stalked towards him, “Can’t you keep your mouth shut for five minutes?”

His smug smile grew. “Depends on what you’re going to say. Unless you’d rather I put my mouth to other uses, I’ll happily oblige—”

Angrily, you grabbed onto his shoulders, nudging him back against the wall as you leaned up on your tip toes and crashed your mouth onto yours. If he wouldn’t let you finish your thought, then you would just have to show him – to show him the very reason why you’d come here in the first place. His mouth immediately opened, accepting your kiss, as his tongue snaked out to meet your own. His hands settled themselves on your waist, his fingers digging in, and you moaned softly into his mouth, pressing yourself against his hard, lean body.

“Shut up,” you mumbled against his lips.

“I thought you came here to talk?” he whispered back.

“I did,” you grumbled. “But you’re being annoying, and you talk too much.” You pulled back slightly, enough to look back up into his eyes.

His smirk grew, self-satisfied and arrogant and the kind of look you just wanted to smack off of his face. “Then use your words, detective,” he murmured. “And tell me what you want.”

“I…” you paused, struggling to find the words, but you pushed yourself further against him and said, “I want…you. I want you, Edward. I’m sick of pretending I don’t.”

His eyes sparkled with a mischievous gleam, but he sighed, shaking his head. “Finally. I’ve been waiting for you to come to your senses and admit what you’ve been avoiding all this time. I know I’m simply impossible to resist.”

You smirked. “Stop gloating,” you said, a playful laugh escaping your lips. “And let me have my way with you.” You reached up, wrapping his tie around your hand, and you tugged him lightly as you walked backwards toward the bed, a sparkle in your own eyes.

His grin grew into an excited smile, but he followed you without struggle, letting you pull him towards his bed. As your lips crashed into his once more, desperate, needy kisses, you supposed he was right: you had come to your senses.

And you were so fucking happy you had.

[localgirlywithnolife]

♡ ι'νє вєєη ¢σηƒυѕє∂ αѕ σƒ ℓαтє, ωαт¢нιηg му уσυтн ѕℓιρ αωαу ~

`♡~° ꜱʏᴘɴᴏꜱɪꜱ : ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜɪɴɢ ʜɪᴍ ᴀꜱ ʜᴇ ꜱʟᴏᴡʟʏ ꜰᴀᴅᴇꜱ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ᴀʟᴏɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜɪꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʏᴏᴜᴛʜ.

ɢᴇɴʀᴇ: ᴀɴɢꜱᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɴᴏ ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ᴇɴᴅɪɴɢ. ᴀ ʙɪᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴠɪᴏʟᴇɴᴄᴇ

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢꜱ: ɢᴇᴛᴏ ꜱᴜɢᴜʀᴜ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

/ʸᵒᵘ'ᵛᵉ ᵇᵉᵉⁿ ᵐʸ ᵐᵘˢᵉ ᶠᵒʳ ᵃ ˡᵒⁿᵍ ᵗⁱᵐᵉ./

"Hey!"

You looked behind to see gojo frantically waving at you from the ocean.

"Join us he-"

Before he could finish whatever he was about to say he got splashed with a bucket of water by Riko.

"WHERE DID YOU EVEN GET THE BUCKET FROM!?" Gojo yelled as he started to chase Riko in the ocean. You saw Suguru get out of the ocean and walk towards you.

"Care to join us?" He said with that boyish handsome smile of his.

"No, I think I'll pass for now."

"Why."

You gave him a bashful smile. "I need to really take in this scene of you guys playing in the water so that I can draw it...that way I'll never forget this moment". Some unrecognisable emotions flash across Suguru's eyes. Suddenly he grabbed your arm and pulled you towards the ocean.

"W-wait, what are you doing, Suguru?"

"To draw a moment with the utmost accuracy...you need to experience it yourself beforehand." With that he pushed you into the ocean.

Safe to say you had one of the most fun in your life splashing water around with the three of them.

/ʸᵒᵘ ᵍᵉᵗ ᵐᵉ ᵗʰʳᵒᵘᵍʰ ᵉᵛᵉʳʸ ᵈᵃʳᵏ ⁿⁱᵍʰᵗ/

The sound of somewhat loud knocks filled the empty hallways of jujutsu high. You were on the verge of breaking down Suguru's rooms door.

"Geto Suguru open the damn door!"

Suddenly the door swung opened and the sight of a very sleep deprived Suguru welcomed you. He was trying to smile but you could see that it wasn't real

"Yes, (name)? A little bit more and you could have broken the do-" You didn't let him finish his sentence as you hugged him tightly. You could hear him gulp harshly.

"What happened-" You shushed him with your finger.

"I know what you're feeling dumbass but that doesn't mean you're going to give up over 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 incident. We've all been traumatised but that doesn't mean we can't get better damn it!" You were almost crying at this point. Suguru said nothing and hugged you back. You felt something wet touching your hair. It was obvious that he was crying. He was finally letting himself loose.

That night you both comforted each other by embracing and facing your fears and trauma .

/ᴵ'ᵐ ᵃˡʷᵃʸˢ ᵍᵒⁿᵉ, ᵒᵘᵗ ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵍᵒ/

"Satoru!" You called gojo from afar. Seems like he was training. Both of them haven't been the same as before. Suguru looked more and more tired each day. Satoru was overworking himself.

It's not like you were any better. Blaming yourself because of what happened in that godforsaken day. You were on the verge of going insane but kept it together. Shoko could do nothing but watch as her friends die a little by little.

"Yes, do you need anything (name)?" He asked as he stops training.

"Do you know where Suguru is? I can't seem to find him these days." You asked him with a worried tone attached to your voice.

"From what I know he has been going on a lot's of solo missions right now. I think he had a mission in a village today in particular." He explained thoroughly. From what it seems like, Suguru is avoiding you. You were confused but nodded and thanked him. You quickly left Satoru because it seemed like he was busy.

It's final, when he comes back today you'll confront him.

But he never came back.

/ᴵ'ᵐ ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ʳᵘⁿ ᵃⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘ'ʳᵉ ʰᵒᵐᵉ ᵃˡᵒⁿᵉ/

You don't remember the last time you got out of your room. That conversation still haunts you. You just hope and wish to the gods above that this is just a really crazy fever dream and that never happened. But let's be honest, you lost faith in Gods.

"He killed 112 villagers along with his parents to save two girls." Yaga states.

"What?" You asked quietly.

"In the reports of the incident, 112 villagers were killed by a cursed-"

"I HEARD YOU THE LAST TIME DIDN'T I!?" You screamed at his face.

"It's been proved-" You once again interrupted him.

"LIKE HELL HE DID? DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT? HOW CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? HE'S YOUR FUCKING STUDENT!" You were fuming with and anger but mostly disappointment. You were gripping your hand so hard that blood was dripping. There is no way the Suguru you know would do this...right?

"He has been sentenced to death (name)..."

You didn't say anything after that. You just left.

You tried to call him, text him, hell you even searched for him. Still no clue of him. At the end you just isolated yourself in your dorm room.

You had nothing to do

/ᴵ'ᵐ ᵗᵒᵒ ᶜᵒⁿˢᵘᵐᵉᵈ ʷⁱᵗʰ ᵐʸ ᵒʷⁿ ˡⁱᶠᵉ/

"I thought star religious group already ended?" Suguru said while walking towards the stage wearing a kimono.

"It's a different group but the roots are the same, are you really going while dressed like this?"

"What? I need to make an impression." Suguru replied nonchalantly.

"Geto-sama!" Two children called out to him. He patted their heads and went to the stage.

"Hello everyone I apologise for the wait. So from now on please be sure to follow me."Many objected.

"Hmmm, now that's not good is it....yes! You right there." He pointed at a old man. His head got crushed. Blood splattered everywhere. Some even got on his face.

"Now let's try this again....You obey me now."

'I hate monkeys.

This is the path that I chose for myself.

The path to creating the perfect world.

A world where only jujutsu sorcerers are allowed to exist.

A world where ̷W̷̷e̷ can live in peace.

₥Ɇ ₳₦Đ ⱧɆⱤ'

He was lost in his thoughts when suddenly those two children surrounded him. He smiled and bent down to their level.

₩₳ł₮ ₣ØⱤ ₥Ɇ ₥Ɏ ⱠØVɆ.

/ᴬʳᵉ ʷᵉ ᵗᵒᵒ ʸᵒᵘⁿᵍ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰⁱˢ?/

You were running like your life depended on it. Well it did.

"(Name) Suguru is here."You dropped everything you were doing after Shoko called you stating Suguru is near.

You needed so many answers from him.Why?Running through the crowd, bumping into. some people. Even though they cursed at you, you had no time to say anything or apologise.

You see him.

"Suguru!" You shouted. He looked behind to see you panting.

"Oh hey (Name)." He gave you a soft smile.

"Explain." You glared at him.

"Didn't Shoko tell you?" He fully turned around this time.

"So you're just going to kill everyone who's not a sorcerer!? I thought we wouldn't kill unless it had a point!?" You shouted.

"There is a point. A reason." He states calmly.

"That's bullshit Suguru! Killing everyone just to create a world for jujutsu sorcerers. That's beyond impossible!" You shouted again.

"How arrogant of you." He said calmly. His voice devoid of any emotion and at the same time it sounded like he had no regrets or feelings about what he had done.

"But....what about you and Satoru? If you guys wanted....together we could do it, couldn't we?" His words sent chills down your spine.

"After all, we were the strongest trio...weren't we?" You did not like the way he said that.

"I have decided how I want to live my life (name), what I want to devote myself in. Now it's a matter of doing my best to achieve my goals." He started walking the opposite way after saying that.

You couldn't just watch him leave like that.

You had to do something right?

So why was your hands shaking as you tried to activate your cursed technique?

"If you want to kill me here, do it I won't stop you. There is a point in killing me." He repeated your words.

You were hyperventilating. You need to do something anything.

Anything please.

You couldn't do anything at the end.

/ᶠᵉᵉˡˢ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ᴵ ᶜᵃⁿ'ᵗ ᵐᵒᵛᵉ/

You could feel all that all too familiar cursed energy.

"Damn it! Gather every jujutsu sorcerer available here right now!" You followed the command. You were numb at this point. You stopped smiling long ago. You are just a living machine who followed commands.

Then why did your heart started to beat a little faster when you felt him around?

Gojo dealt with the situation way better than you though. But that doesn't mean his way of coping was good. Drowning himself in practice. You both were just as broken as the other. Both you and gojo ran to your students. There stood Geto. All in his glory, holding Yuuta's hands.

"Get your hands off of my students Suguru." Gojo calmly says. You just stood behind Satoru with your stotic expression.

"Oh Satoru and (name)! Long time no see!" He waved at both of you.

It never failed to flutter your heart when he waved and smiled like that.

Even if it's broken.

"Step away from the students Geto Suguru." Your voice was devoid of any emotion. It made Suguru's heart ache but he said nothing. He just smirked.

"I heard your new first year students are amazing. Never failed to find true talent huh? But oh....what is the Zenin clans failure doing here?" He mocked Maki.

"You bastard!" Maki pointed her weapon at him.

"Watch your words. I don't need any monkeys like you in my world." Suguru glared harshly at Maki.

"You watch your own mouth Suguru. I will not tolerate any insults towards my students." You threatened Suguru. It hurt your heart to talk to him like this but you had no choice.

"My apologies (name), It wasn't my intention to make you angry." He scratched his neck sheepishly.

"Then what exactly did you come for, Suguru?" Satoru was now in front of Suguru.

"To declare war." He states seriously.

"Everyone here, Listen up closely, On the upcoming December 24th when the sun sets, We shall conduct the night parade of a hundred demons. It will take place in the crucible of curses, Shinjuku and the sacred land of jujutsu Kyoto. We will unleash a thousand curses upon each place.

And of course they're only intention would be 'massacre'.

If you wish to stop this scene straight out of hell. Come and stop it with all your might.

Let us freely curse each other to our hearts content!" He smiled.

Except it wasn't the soft and handsome smile you were so used to once. His smile right now contained nothing but malice. Everyone was silent.

"Ahhhh Geto-sama!!! The store will close!" A young teen suddenly shouted.

"Oh it's already that late? Sorry Satoru and (name). The girls insist to eat some crepes." He started to leave.

"Hurryyyyy!" That same girl shouted again.

"Did you think you'd be able to leave so easily?" You said getting in Suguru's way.

"Oh well, I doubt you'd want to do that. The precious students that you both care so much about are all within my range." Numerous types of curses surrounded the first years.

"Well, see you all on the battlefield!" He left once again.

You were frozen on your feet like all those times. You couldn't move.

You had failed to do anything once again.

A/N: so uhhh this is my first time writing a one-shot and it's kinda unfinished. If this is well received I might make pt.2 idk. SO NERVOUS ABT THIS RAHHHH.

Do not repost or copy without my permission. Please reblog to support me. Thank you for reading ♡~

Dividers used from @cafekitsune and @rookthornesartistry ♡

[rainiishowers]

Obey Me Incorrect Quotes

A/N: Haha sleep deprivation go brrrrr

———

MC: So I can either do something dumb that could very well get me injured or I can listen to Simeon and not do the thing,

MC: Well there’s a clear right answer here.

MC: *proceeds to throw five packs of mentos into a barrel full of diet coke*

——

Barbatos’, at Solomon’s “funeral”: I need a moment with them.

Everyone else at the funeral: Of course. *leaves*

Barbatos, leaning over Solomon’s coffin: Okay, listen here you little shit. I know you’re not dead.

Solomon, sitting up in the coffin: Yeah, no shit.

——

Asmodeus: If I'm extra sarcastic with you it probably means I'm flirting with you or you really annoy me and I can't handle your crap... have fun figuring out which one.

——

Satan: ARE YOU-

MC: Fucking.

Satan: KIDDING ME?! YOU-

MC: Fucking.

Satan: IDIOT!

Beelzebub: …What was that?

MC: Lucifer banned Satan from swearing, so I’m helping him out.

——

Simeon: The odds of this happening by coincidence are vanishingly small.

Satan: I would say infinitesimally.

Mammon: And I'd say teenily-weenily. We all know words

——

Leviathan: I lost my fish.. :(

Beelzebub, cooking the fish: …Uhm…

——

Solomon: Protip is you do not feel good about yourself after eating tomato sauce on iceberg lettuce.

Luke: Are you okay???

Solomon: I literally JUST said I ate tomato sauce on iceberg lettuce. Pay attention.

Simeon: No, they mean other than that.

Solomon: Ohhhhhh.

Solomon: I haven't slept in 4 days.

——

Belphegor: Why were you up yesterday until 3am?

Mammon: How did you know I was up until 3am?

Lucifer: We could hear you clapping to the FRIENDS intro every 25 minutes.

——

Mammon: If we don’t get out of this alive… If we’re both about to die… I love you, MC!

*Neither of them die*

MC: …

Mammon: …

MC: So do you wanna talk about somethi-

Mammon: No thank you.

——

MC: How long do you reckon it’ll be until Simeon finally snaps and commits murder?

Solomon: I’ve been going through life assuming it’s already happened at some point and it’s just that no one was ever able to trace it back to them.

——

MC: We’re going to defeat you with the power of friendship!

Mephisto: We’re not friends.

MC, holding an axe: We’re going to defeat you with the power of incredible violence.

——

Asmodeus: Don't break someone's heart, they only have one.

Satan: Break one of their bones instead, they have 206 of them

——

Beelzebub: I’m so jetlagged I can’t even regrender my chorf.

*Everyone stares at Beel*

Beelzebub: …I don’t even know what I was trying to say.

——

Asmodeus: What's worse than a heartbreak?

Satan: Stepping on a cat's tail and not being able to explain that you're sorry.

——

Luke: You know guys, sometimes I feel like Lucifer doesn't take me seriously enough.

Mammon: "Sometimes"?

Solomon: "Enough"?

Luke: …

——

Lucifer: Lord Diavolo? What are you doing here?

Diavolo, wearing a hawaiian shirt, sunglasses and holding a gatorade: My best.

——

Mammn: *is throwing stones at MC’s window*

MC: You have a phone for a reason, Mammon!

*THUD*

MC: DID YOU JUST THROW YOUR PHONE AT MY WINDOW?!

——

Solomon: Guess who just found out the difference between wax paper and parchment paper the hard way?

Asmodeus: Wait, what’s the difference?

Solomon: One you can use in the oven safely, and the other you can also use in the oven... if the thing you are trying to make happens to be fire.

——

Solomon: Wow, they really hate us.

Asmodeus: Yea, perhaps they’re homophobic.

Solomon: But we’re not gay, Asmo.

Asmodeus: We’re not?

[popcorndispenser]

So this idea has been rotting my brain for ages and ages, and I told Discord about it, so now I'll brain spew it here. Angsty WarFlower ahead.

Content warning for attempted suicide.

Imagine a version of events where Freya can't get past her guilt. It's shortly before Ragnarök game-start, and she's not managed to touch Kratos beyond superficiality. He and his son have responded to her persistent attacks by holing up behind the protection stave, and she can't get close. A while passes before she sees them again, months, and with no one and nothing to turn to she feels like she's slowly losing her mind. Without Kratos there in front of her to focus on, her perception of events and time become muddied and jumbled, and because she's isolated herself from her prior life she doesn't have familiar comfort. It's just cold, and dark, and empty, and her failures are playing on repeat in her mind, spreading into nightmares until she can hardly even tell what's real.

And it becomes utterly unbearable. She feels like she hates Kratos, like she has to kill him, like he's the source of all her current pain, but just beneath the surface she's fully aware of her own hand in it, of her own influence, and the what-ifs of her choices drive her mad. After not seeing hide nor hair of him or his son for months, with nothing but blinding snow and pain, the goal of killing him starts to feel as hopeless and surreal as the desire to kill Odin.

It all overwhelms her, and after yet another week of vivid nightmares of her son cursing and screaming her name, she treads to the Valkyrie circle, takes a moment to breathe in the frigid air, and runs herself through with Thrungva.

It's a relatively ineffective and slow method, but she wasn't in her right mind enough to think of so beforehand, having more been motivated by despair and desperation than a well planned desire for death. It hurts, and she can't move, can't muster the strength to get up or withdraw the blade, but her inhuman fortitude and healing keeps her suspended, and for longer than a day she's left in agony waiting to finally bleed out and die.

That is, until Atreus finds her, having sought her early after noticing the wildlife and creatures reacting strangely and trying to urge him along, to help the woman that used to care for them. He finds her lying in a growing pool of her own blood, with a heartbeat that's nearly inperceptible, breathing shallowly and cold as a corpse, and he panics hard because what he wanted more than anything was to make amends with the woman he had been starting to view as sort of another maternal figure, maximised by the guilt of causing her so much pain when she was only kind to him. It's not helping that he saw his own mother die before him not too many years prior.

So the young god freaks out, and tries to treat her, fails, and has to rush to get Kratos. Kratos is obviously rattled, and then actually hesitant. He still cares for Freya, is peturbed by the idea of her dying at her own hand, but he doesn't want to deprive her free will in this way after having just denied her it. What breaks his composure and forces his hand is Atreus' pleading, and then the sight of her.

They take her to the cabin, Kratos confident she won't be able to prove a threat for some time due to the extent of her injury, and he treats her wound while excusing Atreus to distract himself elsewhere to spare him the grisly sight of her injury, which the boy takes to pursue the prophecy tablets, of course. Freya is out for quite some time, until she isn't, and she's less than happy to be saved - particularly about just who had saved her. Kratos is indifferent, only restraining her attempts to move to prevent her from agitating her injury, and stays by her side to watch her condition even when she threatens and spits cruelties at him, trying to get a rise out of him. Nor does he show fear sleeping next to her.

It's upsetting her and muddling her mind more, because the man that snapped her son's neck and inadvertently drove her to suicide is now tenderly replacing her bandages every morning and ensuring she takes medicine and food, and then sheepishly asking for her own advice on medicine for herself. She's feverish, and woozy, and vulnerable, but he only ever treats her with utmost care, and he gently wakes her whenever she has a nightmare. One day, she lashes at him and manages to draw blood, and he still only checks her over to make sure she hasn't re opened her wound.

And this is how their reconciliation starts.

[pseudoartistpostsstuff]

The name that i possess ends with 'matic', and is it possible for you to write a scenario with the yandere linked universe?

It's nothing too extravagant, the reader simply comes back from an unknown location after sneaking out because the chain won't let them have their alone time and they're covered in a lot of scars, some are bigger than the rest and they try their best to hide those scars as to not make the chain worry.

But alas, one of the Links hug them a few hours later and a large scar opened up and the Link saw them wince in pain.

The others notice if not immediately.

Hopefully you're alright with this, and please do take your time.

..perhaps this is extravagant.

This is a great idea! Thank you for requesting person whom I definitely do not know :]

Notes: This took a while and I'm sorry but it's finally here. I hope you'll like it.

Also, finding sweet, genderless nicknames is a pain.

That is why I declare 'doll' Twilight's favorite nickname, idc your gender or appearance, he will use it with you and that's a hill I'll die on.

TWs: Yanderism, mentions of silent treatment, cuts, wounds and scars (non graphic).

The Chain x Reader

I know I almost died but like, it's really not that deep.

As usual, the guys weren't giving you any time for yourself.

Not gonna lie, you weren't expecting love to be so suffocating.

So you made the smartest decision. You ran.

It took a while to get to the perfect moment, the guys were more tired than usual walking until it was dark and fighting moblins before setting camp for the night. It was really hard to keep yourself awake, but still, you waited until it was Wind's turn to keep watch.

Wind keeping watch at night was always something you were against, minors, even more at Wind's age, should be able to have at the very least 8 hours of sleep, and as a self proclaimed older sibling you stand by that.

And technically, by doing what you were about to do, you were going to protest against it.

The boy was sitting on a rock, the tip of his sword was buried in the ground and he rested his arms on the handle, it didn't seem comfortable in any way but by the way his eyes were half lidded and his blinks seemed to last a bit too long you guessed it was comfortable enough for his sleep deprivation to do it's job.

You sat up in your bed roll and approached him, sitting by his side on the rock, almost falling off the edge.

Convincing him to let you take his place wasn't a hard task, you doubted he could even recognize who you were or his surroundings, the fact you tried your best to mimic a deeper voice must've also had something to do with it.

Wind immediately fell asleep when he laid down in his bed roll. You got up and immediately ran, your bag wasn't too big in favor of traveling easily so it wasn't hard to take it with you, not slowing you down in any way. Since you got in here, you also collected enough rupees to buy a small knife and still have money left. It was small enough to fit in your boot easily, so that the other's wouldn't know you had it.

Your heart almost dropped to your stomach one day when Wolfie came close to finding it by sniffing around.

You could only hope the Link's would be too occupied with trying to find you to be angry at Wind.

You didn't stop walking until it was almost dark again, you slowed down to walking a few times, but never completely stopped. Traveling everyday clearly has helped your stamina a lot since the last few months.

You stayed in the wilderness, staying in a village or town would be incredibly stupid, even if you hid the villagers there would tell them your location.

At most, you'd stay hidden a week, if you were being optimistic. The Chain wouldn't stop until they found you and they were… Well, themselves. That was more than enough to find you.

There was also Wolfie, he would probably be the first to find you and undoubtedly be worried for you, he'd end up alerting the boys of where you were.

However, despite your tries, there was something you weren't expecting.

A blood moon.

God must really hate you.

The woods you hid in were infested with monsters, even before the blood moon you had a few encounters with one or two of those disgraceful slimes called chuchus. Now, making your way back to the camp, your body was littered with wounds, some were already scarring while others were very much new, having just barely stopped bleeding.

Of course, you couldn't just let them see those scars, you didn't want them to go on a rampage again or worsen your protection more than they already would right after you got back, you also didn't want the silence treatment punishment thing they did, no thanks, you knew not interacting with anyone would annihilate your sanity and you would like to stay sane until it you were able to go back home.

Some scars were easier to hide than others, most could be hidden by your clothes, some you had to go to the closest village to quickly buy new articles of clothing, like long gloves. While you were there you made sure to also buy more gauze, the amount you had was used to cover your worst wounds. Turns out bokoblin's claws were sharp as shit.

Coming back you felt slightly pathetic for not being able to stay off their tracks for too long, but also very victorious for being able to stay off their tracks for that long. It was a victory, even if small.

The boys must've not expected you to come back because the camp was empty when you came back, even though all their things were still there.

You thought they wouldn't come back for the night when finally you heard lots of steps coming towards your direction in the distance, the moon was already high in the sky by now. Wolfie was the first you saw, while the others came from the direction of the village closest to the camp, Wolfie came from the woods.

Wolfie was static to see you, he tried to jump on you a lot of times, causing you pain, your pained expression made him slow down, choosing to cuddle close to you instead of jumping. He sniffed your forearm as you petted him, he tried to pry your gloves off with his teeth, you prevented that from happening by changing the place you were petting until he stopped, which he eventually did, deciding to lick your wounds through your gloves. Kinda gross but cute at the same time, thankfully, those scars were from the chuchus, so his licking sooted the burning. You wondered how wolves could just sniff wounds out.

The Chain found you just like that, cuddling with Wolfie as he licked your wrist.

They all flocked to where you were sitting, Hyrule hugged you from behind, standing on his knees. His arms around your neck, thankfully missing your wounds. Wolfie growled at Warriors as he pulled you to his lap, interrupting your's and Hyrule's hug and holding you close, also hugging your shoulders.

No words were exchanged during each hug, each of them closed their eyes tightly, you couldn't ever imagine how scared they were over your sudden disappearance, enough so that their first reaction was heartfelt hugging and feeling you close rather than scolding.

You were surprised at your luck, and scared for the moment someone would inevitably wrap their arms around your waist.

Seems like you are a very lucky person.

After being hugged by everyone, every single one of them missing your worst wounds and scars somehow, you received a well expected lecture from Time, Sky and Hyrule shaked their heads sternly when you looked at them for help, much as one would do in response to a child looking for a way out of the consequences for misbehaving. In fact, every single one of them were looking at you seriously for doing something like that. If Time wasn't repeating over and over again that what you did was dangerous and never supposed to happen again the lecture would've taken 5 minutes at maximum.

"You are lucky you're not hurt."

You huffed, as if you couldn't handle it, you're alive aren't you? Sure, extremely hurt, but alive either way.

Not like you could let them know you went through something actually dangerous more than once in those last 2 days.

As Time finally got tired of scolding you, everyone started preparing to sleep, you looked around, whenever Time lectured anyone Twilight would be there doing the same thing. This time, just the one he would be even more present, he is just missing? Where is he?

One or two hours had passed before the missing hero reappeared. By the time he was back, the night was slowly turning into day again, the black sky gaining a purple hue, hints of orange doting the horizon. The moon was almost gone.

In all truth, Twilight never left. Wolfie, who was cuddling right by your side the entire night, shifted into the familiar form of the man. Hands, which before were pawns wrapped around your waist gently, so as to not wake you up. The movement proved to be unsuccessful, as soon as his hands grazed your stomach your entire body jolted, your eyes opening as your tired mind was forced out of it's sleepy state by pain. The man behind you tensed up, sitting up and immediately checking you over with worried eyes. Wild, who had taken the dawn shift of watching over you and the others, had his mind alarmed, the topic of what breakfast would be changing to you, what was going on with you?

Time, who already found himself in a light state of sleep, not only because of the hour (waking up early became an habit since his duty first appeared) but also after your recent 'adventure', sat up in his bed roll, drowsily blinking away tiredness while trying to understand what was happening.

By now you had already woken up completely, trying and failing to assure the two frantic Twilight and Wild that you were fine, you only had a nightmare.

"What happened?" Time asked, approaching you three. His regular expression, the mix of stern, annoyed and tired, already on his face.

"Nothing happened, infact, I don't have a clue on why these guys are making such a big deal out of-"

"What. Happened." Time asked again, turning to Wild and Twilight this time as if to direct the question to them, all the while kneeling on your other side and checking you for injuries, ignoring the annoyed face you were making.

"Twilight touched their waist and they flinched."

"They didn't just flinch, it woke them up." Twilight added to Wild's response. "I was being gentle."

"This is unnecessary. You guys are overreacting."

"Don't even start," Time lifted his eyebrow, again throwing you that look he knew worked on everyone. Even you, much to your displeasure. "Just because you apologized and promised you wouldn't do it ever again doesn't make you gain any of my trust back. You're still on thin ice."

You rolled your eyes as soon as you thought he looked away.

"I saw that." He scolded, flicking your tight, making you hiss out of surprise and out of the thin pain that came with it. You also made sure your "ow" sounded as offended as possible.

How could he see that well? The old man didn't even have both of his eyes!

"Also, I don't think it was when I touched their waist, I think it was when I touched their stomach." Twilight pondered for a second.

Time returned his eye (the good one) to yours, gesturing to your stomach.

"Let me see."

"No."

"Not a question. Lift your shirt." He inhaled sharply as you obliged, chewing your cheek with an expression of guilt on your face. Time closed his eye tightly and furrowed his eyebrows, one of his hands went up to comb his hair back as his jaw tensed, clenching his teeth.

"Look, I couldn't have known a blood moon was coming and-" Twilight interrupted you and you tried to make a lame excuse.

"I knew it. Wild, wake Hyrule up." Wild, who seemed worried over you, didn't protest against Twilight's authoritarian tone, one who mirrored Time's almost perfectly.

"I knew I should have asked more-" Time pushed himself to get up, restlessly moving around, his other hand went up to his hair as well, pulling his scalp a little.

"Time-"

He sighed, his hands furiously rubbing his closed eyes.

"I'll be back before noon." He declared, making his way to his abandoned bed roll, hastily putting his boots before getting up again and scooping up his sword and shield, his hand once more pushing his hair off his face, he stopped before you and Twilight, pointing a finger towards you. "Don't you even think about leaving the camp." Was all he said before going in the direction of the woods you had told them yesterday you had hid in.

"He talks like I would be able to" You scoffed.

"You are in no place to complain, doll." Twilight took Time's place in scolding you, like he would have done last night if he wasn't missing.

You would have questioned him about it if Hyrule had not ran towards you out of nowhere.

"Why didn't you tell me? I thought you trusted me!" Hyrule's fingers trembled as he blinked away tears, guessing by his reaction, Wild must've awakened the poor man already scaring him by saying you were almost dying or something. Poor dude seemed to be on the verge of crying.

He reached out to you, his fingers starting to glow slightly as you exposed your scarred stomach again, feeling warmth and the strange feeling of skin and muscle coming back together, not only on your stomach but on most of your wounds, only missing small ones that had already healed somehow. You reached down to unwrap the red bandages, only partially surprised at your completely healed stomach, having already seen Hyrule do the same thing all the time on the guys around you.

"Just don't do this again okay? Please. I don't mind healing you, but you scared me too much." He smiled sadly at you, a hint of tiredness on his face. This made you feel even worse for him, he literally just woke up and already got half of his energy drained.

You shifted in place to hug him, in return he draped his arms around your newly healed waist, his face fell on the crook of your neck, his breaths coming out in relaxed puffs.

"I think he fell asleep." You whispered, looking over at Twilight who seemed to only barely keep his rage restrained, already moving to get up from where he was, at your side.

"The sun is not even visible yet, I can understand why." Wild strained his eyes to look at the dark horizon, the only hints of the time being the lack of moon, the small hues of orange and the early singing birds who had just woken up. You followed his eyes, blinking with force, recognizing your sleepiness returning as your pain had disappeared.

"There is still time for you to sleep more, if you want." Twilight appeared in your line of vision again, as geared up as Time was when he left just minutes ago. "I'm gonna catch up with the old man, I'm sure you know what to do Wild." The mentioned man nodded in response, both of them glancing at you for a moment before Twilight resumed his steps towards the woods. "Alright then, I'll be back before dusk."

You sighed, gently placing Hyrule at your side as you fell back onto your bed roll, feeling him place his arms around you again as you did, a smile on his face. You heard Wild murmur something along the lines of "lucky" before getting up and moving to wake up Legend, who had the next shift.

You fell back asleep, deciding to worry later about the reaction of the rest, because it certainly would happen as soon as they woke up.

Oh, and Time's and Twilight's reaction wasn't completely done, they just had 'business' to deal with first.

You could only hope the silence treatment wouldn't last longer than it did last time.

[jeanette-luminia]

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞? || 𝑵𝑨𝑵𝑨𝑴𝑰 𝑲𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑶

Synopsis: You smiled and said, “Love is…” you paused, looking up to the moon, then to his eyes. “The person you want to be human with.” You smiled. “That’s how I viewed it though.”

Prompt: Love is... the person you want to be human with.

A/N: I have been unmotivated for the past few days so I browsed through my writing inspo on ig and found this post by @artbyastronoht and it made me think of Nanami. No use of Y/N.

The simple, bare minimum thing makes love humane.

“What is love?”

It was a stupid question, He thought. Everyone knows what love is. Love is something deeper than everything. Love is something that you’d sacrifice to get it. It was something more that people cannot explain in words alone. They express it in different ways that feel almost normal—yet it has different meanings.

He doesn’t know why.

He doesn’t know how to approach this topic to anyone, so he kept it. Years have passed, and many have professed their love to him—yet he didn’t feel indifferent to it. Entering a relationship, in hopes that he’d understand what it means; what love means.

He stopped looking for it. It was a waste of time. In this society, money is the only thing you need to survive, love is just a benefit of it. So, he decided to forget about it. He spends his time working, earning money to live. He wakes up, eats, works, and sleeps. The cycle continues for years.

But, whenever he sees a couple, high school sweethearts, or a family passing by—something in him provokes him. The question he long asked himself lingered again. What is love?

The work was shit. Being a Jujutsu sorcerer is shit. Die with regret, and there is a chance that you can become a curse. Being a sorcerer does not benefit anyone. You die with your comrades, you get hurt on a mission, you fail to save people, and you’ll feel like your youth is robbed.

But, the more he thought about it, the more he saved innocent people, it allowed him to build up small bits of appreciation from innocent people. It was enough to die without regrets.

So he came back.

And there you were. As if you’d been waiting for him this entire time. He’s happy to see you, always has been. You’re still the kind person he knew. You were still the same person all those years ago. You greeted him with a smile—You weren’t mad that he left the Jujutsu world. If anything, you understand him more than anyone.

That's what he loves about you—

Love?

Is this love?

It felt different from all the love he has received. It felt warm and right. It felt like love. It radiates between them. The aura was seen in others' eyes. Yet he wasn’t sure if it was love, maybe it was his thoughts messing with him. He’s been deprived of the thought of love that he thinks that this feeling is love.

You can see something bothering him. He was a reserved man, but this is something you can’t shake off. You asked him what was bothering him.

Naturally, he was surprised. People around him couldn’t see if something was bothering him. Or if he’s having trouble over something. Though some do notice, they usually brush it off. Nanami is a reliable guy, he’s smart. He Can figure it out on his own. He knows everything, he can do it.

It was always “He can do it” but never “Let me help you.”

For him, it was weird. He wasn’t used to it. The care, the way you notice him. It made his heart leap. This feeling is new to him, he was 24 for god sake. Feelings shouldn’t be a problem for him. It shouldn’t bother him, especially now he has returned to become a Jujutsu sorcerer.

The more he stayed silent, you just stayed by his side. Waiting patiently for an answer that may satisfy both of you. You heard him sigh, and he looked up and stared at the moon that shines above. 

He finally said it. “What is love?”

Saying it felt a sort of relief, yet nervousness. Are you gonna laugh at him? It was all unfamiliar to him. He wasn’t the one to be desperate, but he was getting impatient at this point. Soft breaths filled the air of November, soft dim light from the lamp post. Autumn has been getting chilly, it was the evidence of winter once again.

He heard a soft hum, then he turned around to look at you. He stared at you for a while, he stared as you thought of an answer. He can hear the thud of his heart, his nose was starting to flare with pink, along with his ear. He was embarrassed. Rightfully so, he thinks.

You fluttered your eyes open, feeling the cold wind hit you.

You smiled and said, “Love is…” you paused, looking up to the moon, then to his eyes. And he swears something happened. Something definitely happened. His heart couldn’t stop beating. There was a lump in his throat. In this cold November, his hands begin to sweat. This wasn’t him.  What is this feeling?

“The person you want to be human with.” You smiled. “That’s how I viewed it though.”

To be human with. Was it that simple? He wasn’t disappointed by your answer. He was more surprised that he didn’t even give it a thought. To be human is to do mundane routines. Groceries every Sunday. Baking pastries with your beloved. Embracing them in bed. Waking up in their arms. Coming home with your other person, hugging them, and exchanging “I'm home” and Welcome home.” The I love yous every time you’ll leave the house. Cooking each other food. Taking care of each other when one of you is sick. Sleeping in on weekends because both of you miss each other. Enjoying each other’s company.

To be human is to embrace the emotion inside you. Being happy when little things happen. Getting upset over small yet significant things. The feel of anger bubbling inside you. The way jealousy feels. Whenever you felt your heart drop. Feeling every significant feeling that a person can feel. Joy, sadness, love, hate, envy, lust, jealousy; and much more.

That is what it means to be human. The simple, bare minimum thing makes love humane.

All of the things he feels, it was love towards you. It was the love he wants to experience with you. He wants to experience things he hasn’t experienced with you by his side. He wants to be with you.

All the things he have been feeling when you were around, was love. It all makes sense. He wants to spend his lifetime with you. That was love. This is love.

© 𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄 𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐀 - all rights reserved. please do not repost, plagiarize, or translate my work.

[unholyverse]

waterparks // alternative press spring 2023

(full article text under the cut:)

TO THE MOON

With their new album INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, WATERPARKS are diving deeper than ever before. The result is an exorcism of deep trauma and the sweet afterglow of catharsis.

STORY: Alessandro DeCaro • PHOTOS: Jawn Rocha • Styling: Josh Madden

Between international flights, jet lag and no days off in between, it is a miracle that Awsten Knight isn’t face down in a pile of pillows. For the past two weeks, Knight and his band Waterparks have been head down in a run of massive shows throughout the U.K. supporting British rockers You Me At Six as well as a series of intimate appearances at record stores with some of the band’s most die-hard fans. It was a landmark run for a group who have hit the road relentlessly the past year-and-a-half, with sold-out North American and European headlining tours, a top slot at the 2022 Sad Summer Festival and even a “bucket list” opening slot for My Chemical Romance. Their latest milestone? They played to 10,000 people — their largest show in the U.K. region — at London’s historic Alexandra Palace. Exhaustion should be Knight's baseline, but instead, he's as chipper as ever when he hops on Zoom back home in Los Angeles. There's only one problem. The bandleader has been on vocal rest for days leading up to this very interview.

“Dude, my voice feels so shot,” Knight confesses from his living room couch. “We did 12 performances back to back, then combined with really short cut-up sleep on the flight, 1 just feel, ugh.” Sleep deprivation aside, Knight is almost at a loss for words (not from the vocal rest) but because the experimental pop trio he formed 12 years ago have unlocked another level of fandom where new listeners are still flocking by the droves. “It turns out there are a lot of people [in this world].” Knight quips, referring to his newfound fans. But in reality, global domination doesn’t really seem too far off.

Knight barely has time to slow down. The band are set to release their fifth studio album, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (out April 14 via Fueled By Ramen). But the self-professed workaholic has never known any other way. “It's a really hard mentality to shake,” Knight reveals. “When we were a local band, we didn't have any family connections in the music industry, and no one cared, so you had to take on every role. Even though we are not local anymore and get to play arenas with our favorite bands, if I'm not actively doing stuff to push the music, then I don’t know if anyone else will."

In some ways, Knight fears downtime or stillness because that's when he feels like his brain will start to turn on him. He admittedly functions better when he's working on something creative, whether that’s writing a new song or simply designing streetwear for his clothing brand hii-def. “It's not necessarily the most healthy thing in the long run, but people have worse coping mechanisms,” he laughs nervously.

But Waterparks remain his main focus. The trio, which initially formed in 2011, began to truly put the pieces together the following year when Knight enlisted his now-best friends, guitarist Geoff Wigington and drummer Otto Wood, to round out the lineup. “Otto loved classic rock and bands like La Dispute and Touché Amoré, whereas Geoff was all about EDM," Knight recalls. “We all had different tastes, but at the core of it, it's guitar and drums.” Their individual musical backgrounds helped craft the genre-less sound they have now cultivated.

"THE BIGGEST REASON I didn’t want that pop-punk label is that I know exactly what we are capable of." - AWSTEN KNIGHT

It wasn't until 2016 when Waterparks finally released their debut album, Double Dare — an intentional choice. “I always felt like if no one was looking at us, why put out a large body of work? I wanted to do cool shit as opposed to oversaturating and waiting until enough people [actually] wanted to hear it.” There is a common adage that you have your entire life to write your first record and six months to write your second, to which Knight agrees, and from there, the band began making records like clockwork.

With those albums came carefully curated eras — a moment in time with a clear aesthetic, theme and overall mission statement. While always writing music from a subversive and experimental perspective, it was when the band released both FANDOM (2019) and Greatest Hits (2021) that they began to stray from the confinement of genre and inaccurate labels. Knight himself spoke out vehemently about being boxed in by the term “pop punk. “I learned [during that time that] you can’t control everybody, and you can only frame the narrative so much,” Knight explains. “Obviously, we grew up loving and still loving blink-182, Green Day, Sum 41 and Good Charlotte, so it’s in our DNA to a degree, but I just don't want that label because it’s so synonymous with the past and what cynical dickheads or mega naysayers say is just for preteens and kids. However, the biggest reason I didn’t want that label is that I know [exactly] what we are capable of and what our output is.”

Take, for example, the breakbeat madness of the FANDOM single “Turbulent” or the distorted experimentation of “Numb” from Greatest Hits. Nothing is off the table for Waterparks. The group join a cohort of other trailblazing acts like Bring Me the Horizon and Paramore, who both successfully pivoted away from the late Warped Tour circuit in favor of mainstream appeal without losing any substance. “There's a song for everybody, and I once tweeted that anyone who doesn't like Waterparks just doesn't like Waterparks yet,” Knight says confidently.

If you have yet to be on board with the band's music, you've at the very least been entertained by — or seen — Knight's fiery social media presence.

It's undeniable that Waterparks’ meteoric rise has stemmed from the bandleader’s unofficial side hustle as a social media celebrity. And at times, his online presence can feel truly monolithic in scale, something Knight has attempted to analyze over the years in many songs, including the aptly titled “You'd Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out To Get You)" When asked if his status as an extremely online figure has influenced the band’s latest album, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Knight isn't entirely sure but reveals that he has had to set boundaries nonetheless, as someone who's regularly met with constant praise and vicious internet trolls. “I try not to let it influence things too much [lately], and with therapy, I've learned that you can only control yourself. However, that doesn’t mean I'm not still vulnerable in the music that I write.”

He tackles the subject on INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY with closer "A NIGHT OUT ON EARTH" and parts of the song “RITUAL,” where he recalls when he felt things were “caving in" around him due to the pressures of constant attention. “There are people who listen to Waterparks who aren't on Twitter. and then there are those who view the band in this bubble where it's just them and the people who reply to the tweets,” Knight resigns.

But beyond the topic of social media, Knight gets admittedly “introspective” on the record. When asked to discuss the overall lyrical themes and concepts behind INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, he takes a deep breath and delivers a warning: Things might get a little turbulent.

“There is a love story throughout the record that is expressive to and for other people, but the album itself has to do with overcoming, unlearning and growing past religious guilt,” Knight explains. “It's something that I've struggled with for a long time.” On “FUNERAL GREY," he delivers the punchy line “baptized in my spit,” which is a playful twist on a weighted subject. The theme of religious guilt doesn’t just apply to the overall lyrics of the record but also extends to the album's striking cover art, which at first glance appears to be an image of a blue frog over a red backdrop; in actuality, it possesses a much more poignant meaning.

“Frogs have always been one of my favorite animals,” Knight reflects. “However, when I learned that frogs were seen as dirty and unclean in a biblical context, it was interesting to me that something that I saw as so good, natural and beautiful could also be seen as a bad thing through a biblical lens.” In other words, the concept of shame plagued the charismatic bandleader for as long as he can remember, and INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY was the moment for Knight to finally face his trauma head-on and “come to terms with himself” once and for all. That explains why a majority of the new songs possess “hypersexualized” energy — a conscious rebellion against a conservative past. “Growing up in church, you're taught that everything is so wrong and bad. I always felt like shit, so [this album] is the breakaway from that specifically.”

By overcoming his religious guilt, Knight was able to tap into an evolved sense of self-worth that he’s since applied to his very own love life, which he details on the album's stripped-down ballad “CLOSER.” “My concept of love has changed throughout the years, and that song is about [looking at the past] and realizing that when I was younger, it was maybe more of an obsession. Now I'm taking it apart and learning more about love and the way I present the current version of myself to other people.” Inversely, there is the alt-radio-ready anthem “BRAINWASHED,” where Knight admits that he still wrestles with the idea of true love, constantly making sure that he’s not just wrapped up in the “honeymoon phase.” Knight jokes that this track and “FUCK ABOUT IT” which features a guest vocal spot from blackbear, are “polar opposites,” as the latter couldn't be further from the “hyperfixation” he details in “BRAINWASHED.," once again proving that he feels the most comfortable when inserting juxtaposition wherever he can.

"I've learned that you can ONLY CONTROL YOURSELF. However, that doesn’t mean I'm not still vulnerable in the music that I write." - AWSTEN KNIGHT

Beyond the emotional clarity that Knight gained during the creation of INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, it's the album's sonic risks and exploration that he is the most fired up about. Though Knight wanted the band to return to their more guitar-driven and organic roots for certain parts of the LP, much of the record ventures into eclectic territory, with hyperpop, trap, synthwave and even subtle elements of hard rock and nu metal. “RITUAL, ‘A NIGHT OUT ON EARTH, ‘REAL SUPER DARK’ and ‘ST*RFUCKER' are the craziest instrumentals we have done ever,” Knight exclaims. “I love the idea of taking something like a guitar or my voice and making it sound entirely like something else” “A NIGHT OUT ON EARTH,” however, is what Knight describes as “the biggest production flex,” and it most definitely shows. “There's fucking elephant sounds in there and weird Batman villain-sounding horns — it's evil and heavy, and not to mention, the outro is just game over,” he says.

Beyond production, Knight pushes his voice and stretches the idea of what constitutes a strong hook on INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. With “END OF THE WATER (FEEL),” Knight is at his most “bombastic,” in a “cartoon-like” state, weaving falsetto melodies that are meant to shock. “I always make a mental note when I hear a song that makes me go…" He pauses, imitating an explosion. “For me, that's when I hear some high-ass vocals that I'm not expecting.” Even on the first day of demoing “END OF THE WATER (FEEL)” in his home studio, Knight was already so confident in the song that he called longtime producer and collaborator Zakk Cervini and “essentially” forced him to come over to his house right then to help finish it. “I also want the record to show that I had a mustache [during this time], too,” Knight laughs.

With collaboration on the brain, Knight is the first to admit that for many years, he was precious about his art and was hesitant to work with others. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine, Knight changed his mind, which was evident on Waterparks’ previous album, Greatest Hits. This time around, Knight, who's an outspoken fan of the U.K. boy band One Direction, finally got a chance to live out one of his dreams by working with esteemed songwriter Julian Bunetta, who co-wrote beloved One Direction classics like “Olivia,” “Infinity” and “Best Song Ever,” among others. “I flew to [Julian's] place in Nashville, and we ended up making five songs together, two of them being ‘FUNERAL GREY" and ‘BRAINWASHED,” Knight recalls. And while he still plans to keep the majority of his music close to his chest long term, he won't rule anything out. Knight would undoubtedly jump at the chance to work with everyone from Post Malone and Damon Albarn to Donald Glover and Toby Keith.

"I'd rather make the coolest f*cking thing, RATHER THAN HOLD BACK and make something that wasn't that good." -AWSTEN KNIGHT

Now, with the band's new LP incoming, there raises the question: Does Knight feel a sense of relief after both exorcising his deepest traumas and inviting listeners on his journey to self- discovery? "I still feel pressure with it," Knight concedes. “It would be a lot easier if only strangers heard this, but everyone in my whole fucking life is going to hear this album, so that's what makes it strange." But he's never let any awkwardness or controversy hinder the artistic output. "I wasn't not in trouble when I put out a song like [2018's] 'TANTRUM' where I listed a bunch of dudes I wanted to kill, calling out by name," Knight acknowledges. Though his lyrical choices have sometimes resulted in strong reactions, even within his close circle of friends, Knight can't help but accept that he is meant to be unapologetic. "At the end of the day, I'd rather make the coolest fucking thing, rather than hold back and make something that wasn't that good."

Pressures of lyrical vulnerability and transparency aside, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY is Knight's attempt to "normalize” the catharsis he finds within songwriting, which ties into the album title itself. "Intellectual property is the mental space you give to something in your head. The 'property' may be the thing that you are struggling with. By materializing it and giving it its own world, it's actually a great way to express it and then, eventually, expel it,” he explains. "I want this album to go to the fucking moon." ALT