#we aren’t out here getting paid babes

[haikyuuhoo]

Another day another discourse about people feeling entitled regarding fanfic 🫶🏼

[janeyseymour]

Carnival Games

for @gwennybriggs

Summary: Melissa is determined to win the giant stuffed animal prize for you at the carnival.

WC: ~1.6k

It’s been a few months since you and Melissa had started seeing each other, and most of the dates that you’ve been on have been something surrounding food. Whether that be the redhead cooking for you, or you going out to a restaurant, you haven’t really gone out to just spend some time together.

That is, until your girlfriend asks you if you would want to venture out of the city for a day and walk around a fair that has made its way into town.

You remember going to fairs as a child, and it was one of the best things that you used to do during the summer. You nod enthusiastically.

Over dinner, you tell her all about how you used to spend your time at those fairs- eating endless funnel cake, chugging ice cold lemonade, giggling with friends on the different rides, and most importantly: trying to win one of those giant stuffed animals from the game booths. You explain to her that you probably could’ve paid off your college tuition if you had stopped playing the near impossible ping pong ball and fishbowl games. But you always had fun, and a few times, you had come quite close.

Your girlfriend loves seeing this side of you- a playful side that she sees often, but this is a childlike wonder that she knows is one of the reasons that you make such a wonderful teacher with her.

“You’re adorable,” your girlfriend chuckles softly after you tell the tale of when your parents took you and you were so excited to have won even the smallest plush animal.

“Oh, I am not,” you giggle.

“Just wait until Saturday. I’m gonna get you one of those gigantic stuffed animals for you to bring into your classroom and use as a flexible seating choice,” Melissa tells you with a gentle shove to your shoulder.

“I’ll see it when I believe it,” you roll your eyes, but the smile on your face tells her how charmed you are by her. 

So, here are you, just outside of Philly in a small suburban town, wandering a park ground. It’s set up with food trucks, different carnival rides, and a myriad of booths that have some of your favorite games- darts, the water gun contest, the bucket toss, the duck prize, the dead hang contest, and of course the legendary ping pong ball and fishbowl game.

Melissa eyes it up, only for you to drag her off towards a food stand.

“Babe, what are you- I was gonna go win a giant stuffed animal for you!”

You laugh as you take her hand in your own. “I don’t want to lug that thing around the entire day… when you win. Let’s grab some food and look at some of the other things first.”

“Okay, but we aren’t leaving here without a four foot monkey for your kids to sit on.”

You spend most of your day stuffing your face with food and indulging the childish side that both of you possess as you eat cotton candy, funnel cakes, and ice cream sandwiches accompanied with lemonades that were absolutely worth the refillable cup. 

Somehow, you’re able to convince the redhead to go on a few rides with you, and the ones that she won’t go on, you happily ride alone. She spends those minutes googling how to beat the different carnival games- because she promised you that she would come home a winner.

She finds all the tips and tricks that there are for almost every game… except for the fishbowl game. That one seems to be nearly impossible to win- the same goes for the ring and the bottle games. But because she’s Melissa Schemmenti, she’s hell bent on impressing you by winning one of the near impossible games (not that she has to… you still can’t quite believe that you got the woman to go out with you in the first place). 

You get off the ride that has you locked in a cage as you spin around and go upside. You’re all grins, cheeks slightly flushed from the way the ride was whipping you around, as you get off and practically stumble into her arms.

“I think maybe we’re done with rides for today,” you giggle.

“One more ride,” your girlfriend smiles at you as she leads you over the ferris wheel. “I want to be able to say I kissed the woman of my dreams at the top of the ferris wheel.”

And she does. You’re car is the lucky one that gets to stop at the top, and you can see the Philadelphia skyline from where you sit. You’re all smiles, of course you are, as you take a few pictures. And then her lips are on yours, and you’re taken back to the middle school days all over again when the idiot boy you chose to go to the carnival with took you up here. This is so much better though. Melissa is so much better. She’s just simply the best. 

Ever the chivalrous person, your girlfriend takes a hold of your hand as you step off the slightly swaying car and helps to steady you.

“Thank you,” you whisper sweetly as you wrap an arm around her waist. “Today has been so great.”

A gentle kiss is pressed to your cheek as you feel her arm snake around your waist, and her hand lands in the back pocket of your jean shorts. “It isn’t quite over yet… I told you I was gonna win you a big prize to take into your classroom.”

“Hun,” you chuckle softly. “You don’t need to do that.”

“I wanna though,” she almost whines. “C’mon. I think it’ll be fun.”

“Which game are you gonna try to win?”

“The pingpong in the fishbowl game.”

“Oh good lord,” you sigh as she leads you over. “We’re only spending twenty bucks here though.”

“Twenty-five,” the redhead tries to negotiate.

You repeat the number, hitting her with a serious look. “That’s all.”

“And if I don’t win here, I’m spending twenty-five on the ring toss too,” she tells you. At your disgruntled look, she shrugs. “I know physics. I can do it.”

It turns out, she cannot do it. She ends up spending almost forty dollars, fifteen more than she told you she would on the fishbowl game. And she is only able to get away with that because you go off to find a snack. Only when you come back to what you would expect to be a nearly empty bucket of balls that is almost the entire way full, do you raise a brow.

“Mel? Did you buy more?”

Your girlfriend shrugs as she plucks a few ping pong balls from the bucket and aims.

It doesn’t take long for her to empty that bucket, still no prize in hand. When she goes to hand the man another ten, you know you have to pull her away.

“But-” Melissa protests. 

You just continue to drag her the other way. “Mel, we agreed, twenty-five.”

“But I thought I could feel that I was going to get lucky.”

“You seriously have a gambling problem,” you tease with a gentle kiss to the cheek. “C’mon. I think I’m ready to go home anyway.”

You expect the redhead to pout but follow you, but instead she pulls you towards the ring toss.

“Mel.”

“We agreed we could play here!”

“That was before you spent forty dollars over at the other stand!”

The man behind the counter just chuckles. “Well, ladies. Are we playing or not?”

You give your girlfriend a warning look, but she simply pulls a twenty out of her pocket and hands it over. She gets an enormous bucket full of rings and begins tossing them with such precision and care that you think she might actually be able to win this one. 

Still though, you glare over at the man running the stand and huff, “Do not under any circumstances accept any more money from my girlfriend, or we’ll have a real problem here.”

The man raises his hands in surrender and goes back to watching Melissa throw ring after ring with no luck.

She comes close a few times, but they always bounce off. She doesn’t succeed. And when she goes to pull out her wallet again, you have to physically drag her away.

“Baby,” you sigh softly.

“I was so close!” Melissa groans and stops her walking to look longingly at the booth. “I bet if I got one more-”

“No more, hun,” you tell her. “Why are you so insistent on winning anyway? You already got the girl.”

“Because,” the redhead drawls out. “You were so excited telling me about your childhood times at carnivals, and I wanted to be this a night to remember for you- even if it meant something as juvenile as having to lug home a gigantic stuffed monkey that would inevitably never be used by either of us. And this way, if I had actually won it for you, you would have a prize to show off to the kids that they would be able to use.”

You roll your eyes. “Babe.”

“What?”

“This is already a great day and night to remember. And I don’t need some gigantic stuffed animal when I already have the winning prize,” you press a kiss to her lips, your hand finding it’s way into her back pocket. You squeeze gently. “I already won.”

The smile on your girlfriend’s face is so soft, yet filled with a bit of sadness. “I just thought that maybe I would get lucky.”

“Trust me,” you chuckle. “When we get home tonight… you will be.”

tags: @schemmentis @thesapphictimelady @marvel210 @itisdoctortoyousir @morgana-larkin @thesamesweetie @doesthatsuggestanythingtoyou @marvels--slut @gwennybriggs @megamultifandomtrashposts @lemz378 @http-sam @melissaschemmentisbranzino @imaginesmultifandoms @sexysapphicshopowner @lilfartbox1 @maybe-a-humanbean @imlike-so-gaydude @sapphicxrat @a-queen-and-her-throne @notinmyvocab @melanielaufeyson @dvrkhcld @cosmichymns @sasheemo

[slvtforfiction]

can we pls get Jake Webber angst and comfort? like maybe reader thinks they aren’t good enough or won’t be as good as tara was for him :((

Pajamas

☆ :((,anon lots of love <3

☆ Jake Webber X Reader

☆ Angst-Comfort

☆ Masterlist

☆ Hey guys! Before anything else I would ask you to request anything you want because I've lost a lot of motivation and it would really help! :D (Please look at pinned post to see if requests are open.)

☆ Creds to @cafekitsune for dividers:)

I lie in bed,my head spinning as I cried into my arm. He had gone out with Johnnie and Tara to a haunted place and it broke me.

I saw Tara’s appearance against mine,Tara’s personality against mine and I knew she was better than me,she always will be.

She was always seen in my head to be much better,no matter who else thought differently,I would always end up with my head in my hands as I cried myself to sleep.

Though tonight I couldn’t sleep,so I lie here in misery as my thoughts raced through my head.

I knew Jake would never cheat,that was never my concern. I always knew deep down though that if he wanted to he could leave me,date someone much better and I know I won’t know what to do with myself.

Usually Jake texted me that he was on his way home and tonight was no different.

Jake:

Hey sweetheart,be home in a minute x

You:

Okay!! Love youuu x

Read 00:07am

I saw the read receipt pop up and he started typing before ignoring me completely.

What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t yell at my boyfriend because he didn’t love me anymore.

I was a sitting duck,a girl waiting to be broken up with and there was nothing I could do except begin to look for new apartments and cry over my soon to be ex boyfriend.

I heard the door clock open and I quickly ran to the bathroom knowing it was Jake.

I locked the bathroom door,something I’ve never usually done and turned on the shower in hopes he would think I’m in the shower and go to bed.

I stared at myself in the mirror,hating everything I saw. My mascara stroked down my face as I stared,I felt numb.

“Babe! I’m home!!” Jake yelled through the apartment and I barely registered it.

I was caught up in my own self-loathing as I heard the bathroom handle rattle. “Babe? You in here? You never normally lock the door.” He said softly.

“Yeah,I’m just in the shower.” I told him and he quickly replied, “No you’re not,your pajamas are still on the table,so is your lotion.” He told me and I mentally cursed to myself.

Jake was always so attentive,memorising the little things like habits,hobbies etc.

I never thought he paid attention to my shower routine but clearly he had without my notice.

“What’s going on? Y/n open the door.” He told me sternly and suddenly I snapped out of it. I looked away from the mirror and to the door and heard the concern in his voice.

I solemnly opened the door and he looked at me for a moment,nothing was said with mouth,everything said through his eyes.

He knew the state I had gotten myself in and he had no clue what to say,I could see it written on his face.

Before we exchanged any words he wrapped my body in a hug,my mascara streaks smudging into his chest and my arms loosely wrapped around his torso.

“What’s happened princess?” He asked as he kissed my forehead. “You dont love me,you love Tara.” I sobbed into his chest and he pulled away.

“What?!” He asked clearly concern mixing with hurt that I had felt like this. “You didn’t even reply to my text Jake,it’s okay,I get it.” I said and I kept my head down.

“Yes I did,what do you mean? And I’m not in love with Tara!” He said pulling out his phone. He looked at his phone and his face dropped, “It didn’t send,I’m sorry Y/n,I love you so so so much please don’t think any different,I don’t want anyone but you.” He told me and I looked up at him for the first time this night.

“Really? You want this?” I laughed to myself slightly,self aware of the mess I had gotten myself into. “I want all of you,the mad,the sad,the kind,the positive,the sweet,the beautiful,I want all of you.” He told me and I smiled.

I didn’t say anything as I looked up at him and pulled him into the biggest hug I could manage.

“I love you,Jake.” I whispered into his chest, “I love you too princess.” He told me as he lifted my up by my thighs.

“Let’s go to bed yeah?” He asked and I giggled as he half heartedly dropped me on the bed and bought over my Pajamas.

“Yeah.” I affirmed putting on my pajamas.

[daycourtofficial]

Falling in Love on the Fourth Floor - Part 12

Pairing: Azriel x reader | WC: 3.5k | Masterlist |Warnings: none

Summary: Out of an act of desperation, you move in with a guy you kind of know who happens to have a really hot brother who lives next door.

Author's note: we are SO BACK BABY.

Immediately after agreeing to go on this date, Mor whisked you into your room, sitting you down on your bed as she went through your closet. She muttered to herself about your wardrobe not being organized and the two of you argue through her muttering about how you organize your closets differently. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be having sex with Cassian right now?”

She scoffs, moving your hangers about, searching with intent. “No, I want to help you look hot for your date, babe.”

It was your turn to scoff at her as you flopped on your bed, pulling out your phone.

“You’ve never cared before.” You unlock your phone, a bit surprised at her sudden interest in your date. You open your text messages, the last one from Azriel was a few hours ago when he accused you of snoring.

“He’s really cute.” She moved through a few of your dresses, pursing her lips in concentration.

You roll your eyes and your phone starts buzzing in your hands. You decline the call once you see the name ‘dad’ light up your screen.

“Maybe he’ll be so cute that I won’t hear anything he says and we’ll live happily ever after because I can just gaze into his eyes forever.”

Mor chuckles, pulling out a black dress and bringing it to you. “You never know.” You laugh at her antics as she helps you with your hair, her fingers scratching your scalp.

Mor offers to drive you to the restaurant, stating she wanted to be nice. You’re well aware she’s doing it so she can ensure you actually go on the date. The two of you gossip in the car, talking about how Feyre keeps asking you about Rhysand constantly.

“We’re here!” 

You look outside of the car, not having paid much attention to your surroundings, to find yourself in front of a mini golf place. You look around, thinking the restaurant must be somewhere nearby, but the only other stores nearby are a discount tire store and a barbershop. 

“Uh, Mor… I’m not exactly dressed for mini golf.” To further your point, you sweep your hand up and down at your heels and the blue mini dress you were wearing. She undoes her seatbelt, pushing herself across the seat to open your door. She undoes your buckle and starts pushing you out of the car.

“Go, go, go. Be free. Have fun.”

She winks overdramatically at you. “But Mor, I don’t - this wasn’t the plan. Who am I looking for?”

“You’ll know him when you see him - he’s wearing a blue shirt.”

You start to yell her name, but she pulls back on the door and blows you a kiss before driving off, her red car disappearing down the street as you watched, still confused as to how you ended up here.

You turned around, the bright lights of the arcade shining through the windows.

You sighed, ready to get this night over with. She told you she was setting you up with one of Cassian’s friends, but Cassian was friends with everybody. You could be meeting anyone - someone Cassian works with or the guy at the deli that makes Cassian’s turkey sub just right. Then again, the last time Cassian got a sub from there he went on and on about that guy’s arms, so at least he’d be nice to look at. 

You quickly straighten your dress before walking inside. You don’t expect the date to go anywhere, but you still want to look good. Moving through the arcade games, you try to keep your face pleasant, despite the annoyance you feel at Mor. You see a few guys with blue shirts on, and you feel a tad bit ridiculous in your strappy dress and heels, the clicking drowned out by the high pitched whirring and buzzing of the games around you.

None of the guys wearing blue shirts seem to be waiting for anyone, all their focus is on their friends or the games in front of them. Eyes scanning the arcade, a non stop barrage of overstimulation. 

Your eyes meet hazel ones as you smile, a look of slight confusion on your face as you look over to find Azriel playing skee ball, the ball slipping from his fingers as he sees you. You point to him, and he just points back, not paying attention to the tickets spouting from the machine.

You smile walking over to him, and he stands up straighter as you come over to him. Your heels don’t do much to help the height difference between the two of you. You’re peering up at him, not sure what to say. 

You weren’t expecting this.

“Are you my date for tonight?” You tilt your head, and take a second to drink in what he’s wearing. He’s dressed in a midnight blue dress shirt, the buttons undone just enough to get a glimpse of the tattoos on his chest. The shadowy wisps of ink call to you, begging you to undo more of the buttons, begging to be seen. His dress pants hug his thighs deliciously, his belt highlighting his trim waist. You were not being subtle, but neither was Azriel as you finally looked back up and found his eyes roaming your body.

You blush under his scrutiny, and his eyes snap back to yours.

Caught, they scream. 

His ears pink slightly, a smile stretching across his face, “well, maybe Mor can get her matchmaking right at least once.”

You laugh, and he smiles at the sound. “If she’s ever right, she’ll be insufferable.”

He hums in agreement, “but if she’s right about us, she’ll be insufferable with setting other people up, not us.”

“I think she’ll bring it up any chance she gets, thinking she set us up.”

The two of you stroll to the counter. Azriel pays the teenager behind the counter, who turns and grabs putters and balls for the both of you before sliding the blue and red clubs across the counter. He nods at you both before turning away. You grab little scorecards before heading outside, and you write your names on the small line, trying to balance the paper while walking.

“So it wasn’t Mor that set us up?” 

Azriel’s voice shakes you from your concentration, causing the ‘L’ at the end of his name to grow long on the scorecard. You look at him, his arm brushing against your own. You shake your head, “no.”

He smiles, eyebrows lifting, “so our nosy friend didn’t set us up?”

You blush under his gaze, fiddling with your putter. You step up to the first hole, a fairly straight forward, easy shot. You drop the ball on the putting green watching it bounce to avoid looking at him. “Well, I mean she did, but we were- you know…”

“I actually don’t know, enlighten me.” Your shocked face and stammering make his grin widen.

“I mean we were-“ you clear your throat, using the putter to move your ball a bit, “definitely becoming something.”

A moment of silence passes between you two, making you grow more nervous at his scrutiny. “Right?” You add. You lined up your putter, hitting the ball just enough to overshoot the hole, the ball bouncing off the back wall and coming back only a few feet in front of you. Azriel’s laugh is loud at your poor putt and hopefully only about your poor putt.

He gives you that smile that makes you weak in your knees as he grabs your elbow, pulling you from the putting green, his gaze heavy on you as he says, “yeah, we’re definitely becoming something.”

The night moved more smoothly after that, a tension you didn’t know lifting. You still weren’t sure what it was between you two, but at least he didn’t know either. By the fourth hole, conversation was flowing easily between the two of you, your cheeks already hurting from smiling so much.

He spent a significant portion of the evening teasing your poor putting game, around the seventh hole he stopped you after your ninth attempt to get the ball in the hole. 

“You are truly pitiful at this game.”

“Stooooop,” you drag out the word, a faux shocked expression on your face as you look at him. 

“Here, let me show you.” You roll your eyes, looking up at the obvious pass he’s about to make on you. You expect him to come from behind you, wrapping his arms around you to show you how to putt.

You’re surprised when he grabs your hands instead, pulling you behind him as he wraps your arms around his waist, pulling you close to his back. You laugh into his back, the warmth radiating from him making you want to melt into him.

“I’ve never seen them do this in the movies.”

You feel his hum vibrate through his chest into your cheek. 

“And how well did that work out for those people in the movies?”

You laugh, and you put your hands over his, rubbing the scarred skin with your thumb. “Now, just feel how I putt.” You follow his movements as he pulls the putter back, knocking the ball along the artificial mounds until it softly fell into the hole.

“If only I could use you to putt for every hole.”

You eventually untangle yourself from him and he stops to pick up his golf ball as you two walk to the next hole. The people in front of you aren’t finished, so you two stand off to the side, leaning against some rocks as they play.

“I’m a bit surprised you didn’t take a shot before coming here. Don’t you usually have a drink for first dates?”

You hum, “see I drink a bit on the dates that Mor sets me up on, otherwise I won’t make it through the evening. I didn’t know we’d be here without alcohol until we showed up.”

He laughs, putting his hand on one of the rocks. You quirk your mouth, debating what to do, when your hand moves on its own, resting on top of his. He’s quick to rotate his hand, so your palms are together and he rubs his thumb against the back of your hand.

“Those guys were only semi-interesting if I was two or three drinks in.”

He smiles down at your hands, his scarred one much larger than yours. It surprises him a bit how easily he forgot about the scars, his thoughts consumed with just wanting your touch, not dwelling on how you’d react to the texture. 

“And where am I on the drink-to-interesting scale?”

“Hmmm,” you lean back, tapping your finger to your chin, pretending to think. “Welll, if I had known it was going to be you, I would be at least five drinks in before getting here.”

He fake gasps, placing a hand over his heart, “you wound me.”

The family in front of you finish putting, moving onto the next hole. You throw your ball down on the green, looking with annoyance at the tiny windmill on the green that is sure to thwart your game.

You giggle, “I- um, I do like being around you. Sober, that is. If I knew it was you I wouldn’t pregame this date. Just so you know.”

You hit the ball, watching it bounce off the windmill blade right back to you. You groan, but Azriel’s voice cuts through. “I gotta say, Mor might not be great at setting you up, but she’s only set me up once and she did a fantastic job.”

Your cheeks heat, smile too big for your face as you putt again, the ball going underneath the windmill and into the hole successfully. You quickly turn, sticking your tongue out at Azriel.

“See, I just had to get warmed up.”

You pick up your scorecard, excited to write something lower than a 5 for the first time, peering at Azriel over it. You find him looking at you the same way, moving your eyes back down to read the score.

“Stop looking at me, I’m trying to calculate who’s winning,” you mutter, sticking your tongue out trying to do mental math.

You barely hear him whisper out, “math or no, I think it’s me that’s winning.”

Your eyes meet his over the scorecard and you’re frozen by just how soft he looked in this moment - the ridiculous colors reflecting on his tan skin, 

He looked so kind and full of love.

You quickly look back down at the scorecard, trying to keep the heat from spreading across your cheeks. 

He was winning by a ridiculous amount. You could get a hole in one on every shot and still lose.

Several holes later, you watch as Azriel lines up to putt. His gaze is focused on the ball, and yours is focused on how nice those pants make his ass look.

“I really thought this was going to be disastrous for a first date. At least at dinner I can get food,” you mused, watching him hit the ball. “I don’t understand why people usually go to dinner for first dates. No one looks hot while eating. All of those first dates and they all looked so ugly while eating.”

“You’ve never seen Cassian eat chicken wings then. He could make an honest man out of me.”

You shoved him, laughing at the image. Cassian was a notoriously messy eater - a fact you learned very quickly after making spaghetti for the two of you one night. You move to the next hole, having to carefully plan out your steps in your heels.

“Did you know it would be me?”

He turns and smiles shyly at you, “no, I had no idea. Mor told me if I went on this date, she’d never force you to go on another first date.”

You smile back at him as you reach the last hole, making a godsawful putt. “That’s mighty kind of you to do that for me, seeing as I told you before all about Mor’s terrible matchmaking skills.”

He shrugs, his smile growing sheepish. “I figured I’d tell whoever it was that Mor set me up with that I’m a convicted felon.”

“They might be into that.” You move over to where you ball landed, trying to figure out the best angle to hit it. You’ve tried most everything by this point, so you opt for just hitting the thing as hard as possible until it goes in.

“I’d end the date by providing them the address for the penitentiary and tell them they can write to me anytime, but that the guards read it so they should be careful when sending dirty letters.”

Your new plan is disastrous, the ball leaving the green entirely and rolling away. You curse as Azriel runs after it and drops it in the hole for you, watching it disappear.

“I can’t believe you’d receive dirty letters.” 

“Why not? I’d use them as currency in prison.”

“So if I wrote you dirty letters in prison you’d trade them away?” You waggle your eyebrows at him as he moves to putt.

“Absolutely not. I’d keep them hidden away, for my eyes only.”

He takes the last putt, sinking his ball into the last hole, where it disappears to be collected by some employee. You move to mark down his fourth hole in one, grumbling about how this game was rigged as you return your putters.

“Can I see the scorecard?”

“Ha ha, yes my score was terrible, do you want to laugh at it some more?” Your voice comes out deadpan.

“Mmmm, something like that.”

You hand it to him, and he quickly tucks it away into his pocket.

Your gaze is scorching as the two of you walk to the doors, and you forget to ask him about the card when you remember that Mor brought you here, and Azriel rides a motorcycle.

And you’re wearing a dress.

You’re about to ask him about what to do when a dark red truck beeps twice.

“I borrowed Cassian’s truck for the night.”

You raise your eyebrows, but Azriel cuts off your thinking. “Mor told me to.”

“Does Cassian know it’s for a date?”

Azriel laughs as he opens your door before quickly moving to his side and getting in. “No, if I did he would have sent me out with about a thousand condoms.”

You snort, but his face drains of color as he starts stammering, “I didn’t- I mean I don’t… expect that.. Cassian.. I just-”

His voice trails off, and he stares straight ahead as he turns on the truck. Your knee slides across the seat, bumping into his. He pulls out of the parking lot, his hands tight on the steering wheel.

“I’m not a first date kinda girl, even if the walk back to my apartment would be incredibly short.”

His grip on the wheel loosens slightly, and the red light changes to green.

“Third date, though…”

His cheeks heat at your cheekiness, and you watch the cars go by on the road. You turn on the radio, Cassian’s favorite country station blaring through the speakers. You roll your eyes as you turn down the volume, searching through the stations. You stop when you find something soft and slow that sounds vaguely familiar, and you sit back in your seat.

The ride is mostly quiet, save for the radio. You two eventually make it back to your apartment building, Cassian’s small truck idling before Azriel cuts it off. The nerves are back, eating through your stomach as you look at him. The streetlights made his hazel eyes look golden as he watched you.

The silence stretches as you two watch each other, an endless pool of fondness swimming in your shared gaze. His hands move, turning off the engine.

“So.”

“So.”

He turns towards you, his arm slowly going behind your headrest, giving you every time opportunity to stop him. Your eyes just follow the movement before leaning back onto his arm. 

“I had fun tonight.”

His voice is soft, his gaze unwavering. 

“Me too.”

You watch his eyes flick down to your lips briefly before coming back up. “We could do it again, if you’d like.”

Your words fail you as you nod, and his smile widens. He fidgets with his fingers, biting his lip lightly.

A second date - his step forward. Now it was your turn to push.

“Can I kiss you?”

His heart is thrumming in his chest, his turn to nod without speaking. You shift in your seat, moving closer to his face. His hands tremble slightly as he places them on your neck. 

“Gods, yes.” He whispers his words into your mouth, his touch leaving an imprint on your skin.

Your noses bump into each other. Your lips meet his and his touch is all consuming. It’s soft, slow, full of trepidation. 

It’s clumsy at first, both of you so unsure and full of nerves. After a moment you get your bearings, your hands finding their way to his cheeks as the two of you keep kissing, unwilling to stop for air.

His lips are soft against your own, his fingers warm on your neck. The two of you eventually pull apart, panting, Cassian’s windows covered in a thick fog. You giggle as you draw a tiny heart in the condensation.

“Do you um wanna come upstairs? My roommate’s gone for the night.”

All thoughts leave his head, but before he can spiral, your voice stops him.

“I don’t want to, ya know. I mean I do- just not yet. Like I said I’m not really a first date kind of girl for that. It’s just not me, but um ya know I figured we could watch a movie or eat like actual dinner…”

He nods a bit too enthusiastically. “I could order us a pizza? I could stop by my apartment, change into some sweats?”

“I could put on some pajamas?”

You two just nod softly at each other. A moment passes before you realize you actually have to get out of the car to keep the date going. You laugh, a sound that makes Azriel’s heart swell. You get out of the truck, your body close to Azriel’s as you two walk into your building. The lights of the lobby are bright compared to the night sky outside.

The elevator hums softly as it takes the two of you up to your floor. 

“Just give me like ten minutes before coming over? I’ll leave the door unlocked for you.”

You take a deep breath as you unlock your door, watching him go into his own apartment. You quickly shuffle inside, turn your phone off of do not disturb, and immediately Facetime Mor.

Your face is bright red on your screen as you move through your apartment, discarding your shoes and dress, pulling on sweats. Mor declines your call, and you opt to leave her a voicemail.

“Mor, why didn’t you tellmeIwasgoingonadatewithAzrielyouabsolutebuffoon.”

Your words come out hurried and hushed, checking he hasn’t come in yet. You put on a comfy shirt before saying, “but… Thank you. You’re a lovely buffoon, he’s coming over to watch a movie so keep Cassian away for as long as possible. Preferably three weeks. Love you, bye!”

You hang up, deciding to text her too.

I both love and hate you, I hope you know that.

 Series taglist: @anotherbook-obsessedhoe @impossibelle @hayrunnwr @just-a-social-casualty-1@thisisew @brieflyclassymortal @glitterypirateduck @marshmummy @bookishbroadwaybish @azsteris @doriansgf @footyandformula @mybestfriendmademe @od-anon @judig92 @luvmoo @marina468 @buckyandgeraltsupremacy @acotarobsessed @maryssong23

Permanent taglist: @vanilla-seabass @cyrygher @lees-chaotic-brain @topaz125 @chessebookgirl @fides25 @lady-of-tearshed @ashbatz @fxckmiup @lilah-asteria @justvibbinghere @daughterofthemoons-stuff @mybestfriendmademe @heartless-tate @tsunami-of-tears @idrkwhatthisisimsorry @olive-main @azrielsmate3 @pit-and-the-pen @durgenyx

Azriel taglist: @brieflyclassymortal @thisiskaylin

Thanks for reading! 💕

[sturnsbaebackup]

Can you do something where the reader is dating Chris and goes on tour with them & at the first show she gets scared and stays backstage for most of it until the fans beg her to come on stage?

STAR OF THE SHOW - CHRIS STURNIOLO

summary: chris begs you to go on tour with him and you comply, but you get a bit of stage fright so he gets the crowd to help you overcome it.

warnings: none! just pure fluff

—

“please come tour with us, y/n! it’ll be so fun! just think about how it’ll be you, your boyfriend, and two of your best friends traveling the states going on tour together!” he pled as he gave you puppy dog eyes. you had bit your lip in an attempt to find the right words to say.

“yeah y/n! you should come with us!” nick stated from the kitchen.

you sighed, “i guess i’ll go? but the people are there for you guys, not me. i doubt they’ll want to see me,” you shrugged.

“well they’re not real fans if they aren’t excited to see you. you’ve been a major part of not only our lives but also our videos, y/n,” chris said as he pulled you closer to him. you smiled up at him, a small blush grew on your cheeks.

this was a couple weeks ago, long before you realized that maybe you were right; no one’s here to see you. they’re here for the triplets.

you currently stand on the outskirts of the stage watching from the shadows as the boys introduce themselves. the crowd is roaring with cheers and you can’t help but smile a little as you see a flood of happy expressions fill the room. chris keeps looking at you from onstage, smiling a little or even waving at you. he keeps trying to tell you to come onstage before the games begin, but you just keep shaking your head no.

“why not? cmon babe!” he mouths to you.

“no chris, it’s okay,” you mouth back, gesturing with your hands for him to pay attention to the crowd. he rolls his eyes at your stubbornness and quickly taps nicks shoulder. he whispers something quickly to the blonde haired boy. you watch as nicks eyes dart to you, and he immediately nods to chris. you feel a lump in your throat begin as you see chris running towards you.

“what the hell chris?! why aren’t you on stage?”

“i could ask you the same thing,” he says, raising an eyebrow at you.

you groan, “chris the fans aren’t here to see me. there’s no reason for me to be on stage while you guys compete in challenges. i’ll just be a distraction. they don’t want to see me, they paid to see you guys, chris. not me.”

“are you joking? you’re seriously joking right?” he asks, his voice almost sounding like he’s annoyed with you. you just nod, afraid that he may be angry with you. he chuckles to himself and kisses the top of your head before running back on stage.

“okay guys, before we start any of the games i have a question. you all know our dear friend and my girlfriend y/n, right?” he asks and your eyes widen. the crowd roars into cheers and ‘yes!’s.

“okay good. and how would you all feel if she came on stage right now?” he teases the crowd, laughing as they all burst into cheers once again.

“can you guys tell her to come on stage? she’s being a bit shy,” chris asks and nick and matt nod in agreement.

“oh my god,” you say to yourself as you shyly walk on stage. the crowd cheers once again, making a big smile form on your face. “hi guys,” you chuckle lightly into the microphone chris hands you.

“hi y/n!” “y/n we love you!” “y/n leave chris for me, please!” you hear people chant and you quickly feel less nervous. once the boys finish talking to the crowd, you step out of the way and go closer towards the back of the stage as the games begin. chris makes his way over to you and takes you under his arm as you both observe the jenga game that’s going on. chris’ partner makes a good move and you give her a high five. “yes! oh my god you’re so good at this!” you say to her and she smiles widely at you.

“oh my gosh thank you so much y/n! you know, you’re even prettier in person,” she smiles softly and you feel your heart swell. you never realized how much the fans actually love and appreciate you.

—

after seeing the fans reaction to your presence at the previous show, at the next show you feel comfortable enough to come out to observe the meet and greet. you stand closer to the exiting area, not expecting anyone to even notice you.

“y/n, can i get a photo with you?” a girl asks you and you immediately light up with a smile.

“oh my gosh of course you can!” you exclaim, getting close enough to her that you can get into frame of the selfie. as she walks off you notice chris looking at you with a huge smile. he taps his brothers to tell them about how fans are asking you for pictures, and they both turn to face you with big grins.

maybe coming on tour wasn’t so awful after all.

—

this was so rushed i’m so sorry

[agaypanic]

its prom season so i was wondering if i could request smth where reese and reader are temporarily broken up and after the prom (when he went with the girl that paid him to go with her) he realizes he wants reader back and they get back together

Get the Girl (Reese Wilkerson X Reader)

Masterlist

Request Something!

Summary: You and Reese decide to take a break because you don’t think he’s as serious about your shared future as you are. When a girl hires Reese to be her prom date, he realizes just how much he loves you.

A/N: it’s not prom season anymore (sorry about that lol) but here you go

***

“Reese, I think we should take a break.”

You didn’t want to say it, your voice almost broke as you forced out the words. 

“Me too.” He responded, his cheerful tone making you think he was thinking about a different kind of break than you. “Let’s skip math and get some ice cream or something.”

You were right; he had no idea what you meant. “Not that kind of break, Reese.”

“Then what kind of-” Reese slammed his locker shut and looked at the dejected expression on your face. He seemed a bit puzzled, but soon put the pieces together. “Oh.”

“I just…” You sighed. Part of you didn’t want to explain, and part of you felt like Reese wouldn’t care enough to ask for an explanation, but you knew you should tell him why. “I just don’t think you’re that serious about us. Or anything for that matter.”

“I’m serious.”

“Oh really, Reese?” He nodded unconvincingly. “You haven’t applied to any colleges or trade schools, you don’t have any kind of job lined up, and every time I try to talk to you about our future together, you say, ‘Let’s just live with my mom so we don’t have to pay rent.’”

“I still think that’s a good idea.”

“It’s not Reese!” You raised your voice a little out of frustration. “It may be for you, but it’s certainly not for me. I want to have a life with you after high school, and not one that involves sharing a room with your brothers and being cramped in your twin bed.”

Reese let out a tiny laugh, which made you fume. “Y/n, I’d obviously make Dewey switch with us.” He quickly saw that you weren’t as amused as he was. “Babe, I don’t wanna take a break, but what do you want from me? What do you want me to do?”

You groaned, the sadness you had felt earlier being replaced by frustration. “If you still don’t get it after I’ve already told you, then maybe this break is a good thing.”

Reese was about to respond, but was cut off by the warning bell. Giving him one last look, you turned and headed to class. 

***

When you heard that Reese was going to the prom with another girl, you didn’t really know how to feel. Logically, you shouldn’t have felt anything. After all, it was your idea to take a break, so you couldn’t really be mad that he decided to go out with someone else. In fact, it just confirmed the suspicion you had of him not being serious about your relationship. 

But you were still hurt. And you thought you had a right to be, considering you’d been dating Reese for years.

You did your best not to think about him. Prom was supposed to be the highlight of your high school life. But there you were, moping in the auditorium, watching your probably now officially ex-boyfriend dance with another girl. While drinking your punch, you wondered if you should leave now or try to stick it out a little longer.

“Hey, Y/n.”

“Hey, Malcolm.” You responded, a bit surprised by the boy’s presence. “I take it MORP didn’t turn out the way you planned?”

He sighed. “Nope.” He seemed slightly disappointed, but his mood lightened as he looked at the crowd, which was full of both prom and morp goers. “Aren’t you gonna dance?”

“Don’t feel like it.” You answered, finishing your punch.

The two of you stood awkwardly for another song before Malcolm spoke again. “I know I’m not Reese… thank God… but, do you wanna dance?” You gave him a questioning look, wondering why Malcolm was being nice. “Don’t make me regret asking.”

You smiled a little, tossing your empty cup in the trash before nodding. “Okay.”

You and Malcolm danced a bit stiffly around the floor, not really knowing what to do. He wasn’t expecting to dance with his brother’s ex, and you weren’t expecting to dance with your ex’s brother. But after another song or two, you loosened up. You might even go as far as to say you were having a good time. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the giant room, Reese danced with Jeanine. She was very impressed with how well-behaved he was being. He even threw in a few off-script compliments. Needless to say, she was swooning.

She was so busy swooning that she didn’t notice how Reese’s eyes kept searching for you. When he found you dancing with Malcolm across the floor, he was livid. Why was his brother dancing with you? 

And even worse, why were you seeming to enjoy yourself?

“You’re a really good dancer,” Jeanie said.

Reese was so fixated on you that he forgot he had a part to play. He tried to seem genuine as he looked back at his date. “When I’m with you, it doesn’t even feel like we’re dancing. It’s like we’re floating.”

Jeanie smiled. “I misjudged you, Reese. I just chose you because you were completely hideous, and I knew you wouldn’t have a date. But you’re so much more than that. You’ve made me feel wonderful.”

“It’s been a really great night for me, too.” Reese lied. “You helped me find a little part of me that I didn’t even know was there, the part that isn’t a gigantic jackass.” This came from the heart, however Jeanie wasn’t the person he wanted to say this to. 

“You know…” Jeanie said, seeming a bit shy now from Reese’s kind words that weren’t actually meant for her. “I wasn’t planning on the night ending this way, but why don’t we get out of here, grab a blanket and a bottle of wine and go to the beach.”

“You mean it?” He tried to sound excited, but Reese wanted to take a step away from her. Spending tonight, and the whole week for that matter, with Jeanie, really made him realize that there was only one person he wanted to get drunk on the beach with. 

“Yes, Reese,” Jeanie answered, leaning in close. “I really want you.”

Reese was filled with relief when the alarm on his watch went off, signaling that it was now midnight. Jeanie pulled back a bit in surprise. “It’s twelve already? Too bad. Well, see you at school. And you can just put the money you owe me in my locker.” He started to walk away, leaving his date dumbfounded.

“Reese, where are you going?”

The boy turned around, still inching away from her as he pointed at his watch. “It’s midnight. I’m off the clock.” Then he turned back around, the girl’s confused protests fading away as he walked further away. Now, only one thing was on his mind: getting his girl back.

“Oh God.” Malcolm looked at something behind you, seemingly terrified.

“What?” Instead of answering, the boy quickly scurried off. You turned around just in time for Reese to grab your face and pull you into a deep and desperate kiss. At first, you melted into his touch, completely overwhelmed by the affection. But then you remembered your situation, pulling away despite your hesitancy and his protests. “Reese, what are you doing?”

“I love you.”

“Okay…?”

That wasn’t the reaction he was hoping for, but he supposed it was fair. Reese gently pushed you away from the crowd of dancers, hoping to have a somewhat private conversation. “I love you, Y/n. And I know you don’t think I’m serious about us, but I am. This is so corny, and you can never tell anyone, but you make me a better person. And I want you to keep making me better.”

“So you want me to put in all the work?” You knew it was a bit mean to argue with Reese when he was being vulnerable, something that was rare even when he was with you. 

But it didn’t seem to deter him. “No! Of course not. I wanna…” He trailed off, realizing how cliche he was about to sound. “I wanna be with you. Maybe have our own apartment after graduation. And maybe I could go to a cooking school or something. And one day, I’ll have enough money to get you a ring, because I want to be with you.” Reese took a much-needed breath. “I’m sorry it took me being on a date with another girl to appreciate you.”

You were rendered speechless. Reese wasn’t usually a man of many words, especially not this many words. And he was rarely vulnerable, even with you.

“Say something,” Reese said, getting worried. He wondered if he said the wrong thing or went too far. Maybe when you talked about your future with him, you didn’t mean that far into the future. Or maybe he shouldn’t have brought up Jeanie, or the fact that he needed to be with someone else in order to realize how much you meant to him.

Reese’s train of thought was interrupted by you launching yourself at him, arms tightly winding around his neck. He wobbled a little in surprise, but hugged you back like it was second nature.

“That’s all I wanted.” You muttered, kissing Reese’s cheek. “And I love you too.”

Reese sighed in relief, pulling you closer against him. Eventually, the two of you ended up back on the dancefloor. But this time, you were finally with the person you wanted to dance with.

***

Malcolm in the Middle Taglist: @rattilol

Reese Wilkerson Taglist: @hollymaybank @theogirlovermattheogirl

[peppermintmagicianlynn]

TimBer Week 2024: Bernard's Birthday

TimBer Week 2024 Day #6: Bernard's Birthday

This one is set in an AU where the Grieves Trio made it to senior year. Oh, also Darla has magic. Because.

--

“Happy birthday, you filthy animal!”

Bernard had two seconds to turn around and brace himself before Darla came flying into his arms. He managed to catch and spin for two rotations before he started to wobble. Luckily, Tim was there to support both of their weight. Other students sent them dirty looks for blocking the school hallway, but the trio paid them no mind. They were always like this.

“Thanks Dal, but I feel that in light of my new age, you should add Mister or Sir in there.”

She gave him a remarkably unimpressed look, considering she was clinging to him like a koala. “Or I could turn you into a frog and you can just be a filthy animal.” She raised two fingers, letting them spark with red magic as a threat.

Bernard, who never backed down from anything, replied. “As long as Tim will kiss me back to a prince, go for it. That’s the best Birthday gift I could want.”

Tim let them both fall into a giggling heap on the floor.

—

“But what do you actually want for your birthday, Bern?” Tim kept his tone casual, hoping to offset how badly he want to hold hos boyfriend’s hand as they walked the halls to lunch. They did that now and then, but Tim didn’t feel like glaring at all the shit-talkers who had a problem with their PDA. He wanted all of his attention ready for what Bernard would say next.

“You know I don’t,” the blond replied, bumping their shoulders together. “My parents max out my gift limit every time a sale comes out. I guess they think if they preemptively get me stuff, I won’t ask for anything else during the holidays. I don’t know if I’m more annoyed that that plan always works or that they know me enough to get things I actually kind of like. I hope to God they aren’t secretly mind-readers.”

“Nah, you’re just easy to read. If the Dowds were mind-readers, they would know about our plan to get you into culinary school and skip out on that biomed college you got a scholarship for. Just 7 more months before I can get the trust fund Mom left me.”

“If you’re not going to let me fight crime with you, you don’t get to pay my way through life. That was the deal, remember?”

“Hey,” Darla clapped her hands to cut off their bickering, “less sugar-baby debates and more discussions about birthday fun. This a big year, guys; we have to do something for it!”

“We’re not going to Trampoline Planet again, are we?”

“I think we’re banned from there, babe.”

“Yeah, but Aquista money gets us into a lot of places we’ve been banned from.”

Darla ignored them both, using her phone to quickly google some ideas for how to celebrate a friend’s birthday. She saw a promising idea though it would be very hard to pull off on such short notice. Maybe if she asked her mother… Darla glanced behind her, where Bern and Tim were shoving each other and giggling like saps. As long as they were distracted, Darla might manage to send some texts out and get this done.

Bernard would love it.

--

“Thank you everyone for joining today’s French Cuisine class!” Despite her heavy French accent, the instructor was bright and peppy as she grinned out over the class. “We arranged for this lesson on very short notice, I know, but I am glad to see so many of you are here. Our dish for today: a simple and elegant chocolate soufflé!”

Bernard squealed in delight.

As soon as school had let out, Darla threw them into her limo and had her drivers take them to the local community center. There was a cooking class that had spontaneously decided to host a lesson this afternoon and there were exactly three open spots available, which was just so perfect as their Bernard-Birthday activity! She’d pointedly ignored Tim’s suspicious glare while taking in Bernard’s sun-bright grin. The only thing he loved more than conspiracy theories (but less than trolling his friends) was learning new dishes.

Tim, however, had some reservations. The instructor had provided neatly drawn diagrams on the whiteboard to help if they got lost, but the detective could only stare at them like he was in desperate need of a codebreaker. He might excel in chemistry, but the baking arts still eluded him at times. Bernard offered him an empathetic pat on the back, taking a moment to admire his cute boyfriend in his sleek black apron they’d all been given, but really couldn’t contain his excitement for this class. Chocolate soufflés were one of Bernard’s favorite desserts and he was stoked to learn how to make them himself.

While the instructor went on with her explanation of the ingredients, Bernard gave her his full attention. Tim leaned into Darla's side to hiss, “We could have just cone to a restaurant, you know.”

“He loves interactive junk like this. Plus, we have a professional here so you can’t burn the place down.”

“I’m not taking that from the witch-wannabe who blew up a microwave. You’re lucky Raven owed me a favor, or else you’d have Shadowpact on your ass.”

“I couldn’t figure out how to change the temperature settings! Besides, you did worse. Dana still doesn’t know about the ‘additions’ you made to her food processor, does she?!”

Bernard placed a hand on either of their dark-haired heads and turned them gently to look towards the front of the room instead of shooting glares at one another. The rest of the class had already started following instructions, but the teacher was sending the three of them dirty looks for slacking off. You could tell she wasn’t fond of having rambunctious teenagers in her oh-so-elegant French cuisine class. The trio arranged themselves to the ‘innocent angels’ formation and this seemed to convince her they were not going to be any more trouble. Naïve.

Despite Tim's worries, they worked well together even in the kitchen. Tim chopped the chocolate, Darla measured the ingredients, and Bernard cracked the eggs and stirred the pot while they poured everything in as needed. Bernard laughed at the faces they made when he started zesting the orange peel into the chocolate. "I promise you, if you avoid the white parts, this does help make it delicious."

Darla opened her mouth to make a joke, but Tim pinched her before she could get the first syllable out, turning her word into a shriek. This got them yet another aggravated glare from the teacher, and Bernard quickly put the zester out of reach before it could become a weapon.

When it was time to whip the eggwhites, Bernard left it to Tim. He made a hesitant face when Bernard handed over the whisk, but Darla was making faces behind Bernard’s back so he had to take up the task. Bernard watched him struggle to move the whisk fast enough while controlling the bowl but after he nearly flipped the entire thing, it seemed like he’d need to rescue him.

Bernard stepped behind Tim, wrapping his arms around the raven-haired boy to help steady both his boyfriend and the bowl. He gently guided Tim's hands to hold the whisk at the right angle, showing him how to make smooth, controlled movements.

"Like this," Bernard murmured near Tim's ear, helping him create a rhythmic motion. "You want to incorporate air into the whites, but not too violently." Their hands moved in sync, watching as the egg whites slowly began to transform from liquid to soft peaks.

Tim leaned back slightly against Bernard's chest, focusing on matching the steady pace Bernard had set. After a few minutes, the egg whites began forming stiff, glossy peaks that held their shape.

"Perfect," Bernard said softly, giving Tim's hands a gentle squeeze. "See? You're a natural. Darla, would you add a pinch of salt?"

"Sure. I guess I have to serve some purpose around here."

Tim's back muscles tensed, signaling he was about to make a snarky comment. Bernard gently tapped his forehead against the back of his boyfriend's head—a warning not to pick a fight that put their creation at risk. Tim settled for flipping Darla off instead, keeping his words to himself.

Folding the whipped cream and chocolate together was Darla’s job. Mainly because Bernard didn’t want to let Tim go, so she would have to carry them now. “You got this, I believe in you.” This was muttered into Tim’s fluffy hair as they rocked back and forth together, but Bernard trusted her to know who that message was for.

Speaking of messages, there was a beep coming from Tim’s short collar that meant one of the Bats needed attention. They’d all had to remove their watches (and the bat-tech Tim had implanted in them) but he’d kept the mini receiver just in case. Bernard released his boyfriend to run out into the hall for a “personal call” while Bernard continued to not help Darla.

“You think it’s Robin on the other side? I think Tim mentioned Oracle is ‘down for maintenance’ so he had to be the call center.” Though Tim had moved on to a new name and mostly patrolled their neighborhood, he and the Bats still helped each other out. Bernard had even seen the Girl Wonder swinging through the streets when that gang war had popped off last year. She’d helped Batman save Gotham, though it was Batgirl and Nightwing who’d helped Tim save their school from those gunmen.

“Don't worry about that, Bear,” Darla said, using her magic to pull him into her side. It was as much of a comforting hug as she could offer while scooping chocolate-cream mix into the rest of the whipped cream. “Robin is way too good for Tim Drake.”

“Then what does that make me?”

“His perfect match.”

“Damn right.”

Bernard ladled the souffle mix into their cups, Darla cleaned up the edges, and Tim took over to the kitchen ovens where they would bake with the rest of the class. This left them 15 minutes to clean up their station and NOT look like total delinquents.

Which of course was when it all went wrong and this time, Bernard was at fault.

Bernard had been tasked with wiping down their station while Tim and Darla handled the dishes. Everything was going smoothly until Bernard had noticed a particularly stuck-on glob of chocolate. He poured on the elbow grease and took a step to the side, right where Darla had accidentally spilled dish soap. With a shriek, Bernard slipped backwards and crashed into the dish rack. Tim was fast enough to catch the dishes before they smashed on the floor, but Darla was knocked into the leftover flour and egg containers. Bernard made a desperate grab for the eggs but only succeeded in batting the basket sideways—launching them into another group’s perfectly clean cooking area. The flour went right into the sink where they’d left the water running.

It was like a nuke had gone off, a cloud of wet flour exploded out to coat all three teens and most of the surrounding area in a sticky paste. The instructor's shriek could probably be heard from the parking lot. "Mon Dieu! What have you done to my kitchen?!"

Bernard turned to his flour-covered friends with an apologetic grin. "Um... oops?"

Tim set aside the dishes in his hands, the only thing left unscathed, trying and failing to look stern. "This is why we can't have nice things."

"At least it wasn't me this time," Darla said cheerfully, looking like a ghost with her flour-whitened hair and stretched out on the floor where she’d landed.

Bernard wasn’t that surprised that their day trip ended with being kicked out of the lessons, only enough time to return their aprons, and left to sit on the front steps of the community center until Darla’s limo came to pick them up. “Well, that could have gone better.”

"Sorry," Tim and Darla said at the same time. They were self-aware enough to take credit for helping push the instructor to their breaking point.

"Nah, it's okay. The chaos is what I like most about spending time with you two." He leaned over to kiss Darla on the cheek. "Thanks for setting this all up, Dall."

"Hey," Tim grumbled, pulling on his sleeve.

Bernard laughed, turning to face his boyfriend. "And thank you too, boy wonder. I wouldn't have had such a great year without you in my life." The kiss he gave to Tim was on the lips, naturally.

"You're welcome, Bear." Tim smiled, with a touch of mischief. "Though, we aren't done yet."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of white candles. "I snatched this from the pantry on the way out. Darla?"

She grinned, eyes glowing as she waved one hand over her outstretched palm. Red smoke circled until a familiar white dish appeared from thin air.

"You stole one of our dishes?" Bernard grinned. It sure did pay to be best friends with a witch in training, even if her magic was a little bit evil.

"Make a wish!" Darla demanded, setting the soufflé into Bernard's hands while Tim put in a candle. Darla snapped her fingers to light the wick.

Bernard looked between his best friends in the world and really couldn't think of anything else he would want.

So he blew out the candle and made a simple wish: to be with them again like this, next year.

[j-onedrabbles]

Hey hey can I pls request going on an Ice skating date w Hyunjin but he ends up getting hurt and getting a concussion and you have to call Felix to help. I’m in the mood for some fluffy comfort ❤️‍🩹🥹

✧   PAIRING: HYUNJIN X READER ✧   CW: GN!READER, FALLING, CONCUSSION, MENTIONS OF NASUEA AND DIZZYNESS, BRIEF MENTION OF READERS STOMACH, WINTER SETTING, PET NAMES (BABY, BABE, BUB) ✧   WC: 1K ✧   NOTE: when i remember i also write angst and fluff and some people want that 😃

     Winter was on the horizon which meant a lot of cute winter dates—walking in the snow, coffee shop dates, holiday window shopping, just to name a few. Hyunjin had found an ice skating rank nearby and asked his partner if they wanted to go. Obviously, the idea of a cute ice skating date was worth braving the cold.

     Hyunjin was glad the day they decided to go was one of the slower days. Not too many people there so he could have a peaceful date with his partner. They still went with as many layers and face masks to hide themselves from cameras, and to keep warm.

     Hyunjin paid for the rental skates and the couple sat down to switch into the skates before taking to the ice. Hyunjin got on the ice first and held onto the side wall before offering his hand to Y/n.

     “Have you ever done this before babe?” Y/n asked as they joined him.

     “Maybe once when I was a kid.” Hyunjin sighed as they slowly moved along the side, gloved hands joined together.

     Hyunjin kept Y/n on the inside near the railing to keep them safe more than anything, just like he would when they were walking down the street. They moved slowly on the ice as people skated by. Occasionally stopping to take a few pictures for keepsakes. 

     The couple spent probably an hour skating around the rink before calling it a day and going to get something warm to eat. Hyunjin made sure Y/n got off the ice safely before he got off. But got too confident and slipped, falling back on the ice.

     Y/n gasped and rushed to help their boyfriend up as he groaned. They’d seen a few people fall so no one made a scene when the undercover idol fell. Y/n managed to help him up and get on a bench.

     “You okay?” Y/n fretted over him 

     “Back hurts and I hit my head,” The male groaned

     “Imma grab our shoes real quick, okay?” Y/n asked

     Hyunjin nodded as Y/n kissed his forehead quickly and went to the shoe storage area and grabbed their belongings. Getting back quickly and helping him switch back into his street shoes before switching hers.

     “How do you feel baby?” Y/n asked as they saw him leaning forward and covering his eyes.

     “Dizzy, too bright.” Hyunjin groaned, head just feeling too heavy.

     “I’m gonna call someone okay babe? Stay here real quick.” Y/n pulled out their phone and looked to see which of the guys would be free. She knew the producers were busy working on things. Jeongin was at a vocal practice, and Seungmin and Lee Know were at Music Core. They were pretty sure Felix was off like Hyunjin.

     They grabbed the skates and took them back to the desk as they clicked his contact, letting Hyunjin know they would be right back.

     “Hello?” Felix answered

     “Hey, are you busy?” Y/n asked handing both pair of skates to the worker before making their way back to their boyfriend.

     “No. Aren’t you and Hyunjin ice skating?” Felix asked

     “We were. We got off the ice a little bit ago and Hyun slipped and fell. He hit his head on the ice.”

     “Is he okay?” Felix sounded worried

     “Said he feels dizzy and the light is bothering him.” Y/n took a seat next to their boyfriend.

     “Head hurt, any nausea?” 

     Y/n moved their phone away and asked the dancer if he was feeling anything else.

     “Really bad headache,” Hyunjin said

     “Said he’s got a bad headache? You think he got a concussion?”

     “More than likely. Send me what rink you’re at and I’ll come help you guys back to the dorm. Try and wait outside for me.” 

     “Okay. We’ll see you soon.”

     Y/n hung up and slowly helped their boyfriend up after sending their location to the Aussie. Y/n helped their boyfriend up and out of the area. They sat him down on a bench as they waited for Felix.

     Hyunjin wrapped his arms around them and hid his face in their stomach. Trying to block the light that was bothering him and just wanting his partner near him right now.

     “Does your back hurt?” Y/n asked him, rubbing his shoulders.

     “Yeah,” He mumbled.

     “We’ll get you home soon. Sure Felix is almost here.” Y/n assured him as a car pulled up next to them.

     Felix got out and walked over to the two. “How’s he doing?”

     “Not better but not worse,” Y/n sighed

     “Let’s get him back to the dorm.”

     The two got the idol into the car and made it back to the dorm. Y/n made sure his room was dark so the light didn’t bother him more. Felix said he would call their manager to let them know what happened. Y/n thanked him and started unwrapping Hyunjin from his outer layers.

     Felix came back into the room with some medicine and told Hyunjin to rest for the day. They didn’t have any big schedules this week, nothing to film, just rehearsals but the company was still going to put out a notice— not saying anything as to the real reason being the idol went on a date and fell.

     “I’ll text you if we need anything.” Y/n thanked him

     “I’ll call Chan and let the guys know to be quiet when they come home,” Felix told them before going back to his dorm

     Y/n sat their boyfriend up to have him take the medicine before tucking him under the covers. “Lay with me,” Hyunjin said

     Y/n shrugged off their layers and crawled under the covers with their boyfriend. Hyunjin wrapped his arms around them, laying his face in their chest and closing his eyes. “You’re the best partner I could ask for.” He said 

     “Get some rest bub. You need to get better and let that pretty brain heal.”

     “Your brain is prettier,” He mumbled

     Y/n laughed a bit and kissed the top of his head, lulling him to sleep.

M. LIST ✧ TIP JAR

T A G S ✧ @junebug032 @the-sweetest-rose @hanjingin @hyunjinshairband01 @miintmochii @ohish @changbinisabigboy @dreamingaboutjisung @tattywood @stepout-09-15 @cello--190 @just-randomm-stuff @greysweaters @hazyspirts @mhasimp666 @slay-and-gay @smally97 @bloom4yu @itstorimf @linoyouknow @fjseung @jungsodesjoyyy @jjwhorehouse @carinathefairy @litepowee @babyphotos @inniecore @jeonginssa @dolceem @stvrfir3 @tasteskzsworld @ultimatestayandminoronce @seungincore @tinyelfperson @greyyeti @dimpledsatan @camixiez @chansbabygirlsstuff @thatlonelyalto @hopefulrascalstatesmantoad @donut-crazs @meloryme @rubyshoedpixie @cecepop15 @punks-rad @somsungiex @mcratyomama @lilylouise @stayconnecteed @kiko-o-luck @hyunjinswifeee @red-airhead @niaalove @emyferra08 @lovesunshinefelix @bunniieesstuff @enhaskzbtstxtsvt @nandinxoxo @producedbyy3racha 

© 2023 jonedrabbles. Please do not copy, translate, or republish my works anywhere.

[somber-sapphic]

Midnight Quest

〘Day 2- Quest for a Cure 〙

〘Notes- Alright, the title is bad we can all agree on that. I also changed the colors and format just a bit because I wanted to.〙

〘Summary- Natasha runs of soup, forcing you on a 3am trip to the convince store.〙

〘Word Count- 700〙

〘Pairing- Sick Natasha x Reader〙

〚Main Masterlist〛⌶〚Sicktember Masterlist〛

You walked through the isles of the 24/7 convenience store, Natasha hanging onto your arm like a clingy puppy. Ever since she’d gotten sick, she’d been all over you, demanding constant attention. She didn’t let you leave the house, even when you had run out of soup to feed her.

She wouldn’t eat anything else of course, only Campbells chicken and rice soup. You’d offered chicken noodle but were immediately shut down with complaints of how they “aren’t even remotely similar”. How they were different you didn’t fully understand, but apparently, they were.

So there the two of you were, sifting through far too many cans of soup in search of the only one she would eat. Your feverish girlfriend kept putting random things into the cart, insisting that she’d need them later.

So far, you’d had to put back a bag of Fritos (she didn’t like Fritos), a toy car and a comb. The one item you had let stay was a light brown dog with a black patch over its left eye. The look Natasha had given you when you went to put the stuffed animal back was just too much. Did she need a stuffed dog? No. Was she getting one? Yes.

“Okay babe, here it is. I want to grab a few more boxes of tissues and some cough drops and then we can head home.” You said softly, grabbing ten cans of the stuff and shoving them into the basket. The likelihood that she’d consume ten cans of soup was extremely low, but there would be more for next time.

The redhead said something unintelligible and wiped her runny nose on your shoulder, further proving your point about the need for tissues. At least you could make this one trip, had you waited much longer you may have needed to go to the real grocery store. The real grocery store wasn’t open at 3am for your sick, needy girlfriend.

You very slowly made your way to the pharmacy aisles of the store, practically dragging Natasha behind you. She had her arms wrapped around your waist and her head on your shoulder, probably drooling on you. It didn’t really matter; you’d be able to shower after she passed out in front of the tv.

While perusing the several rows of cough drops Nat sort of got away from you. She stumbled a bit further than you had expected and ended up over by the Band-Aids, looking at the Marvel themed ones with wide eyes. You couldn’t help but smirk as you tossed a bag of cherry flavored lozenges into the basket, amused by the look on her face.

“Why’sit have me?” She croaked, turning those wide green eyes on you. The box she had picked up did indeed have a little cartoon version of her plastered onto its side, next to Iron Man and Thor. You walked back to her side and kissed the tip of her chapped nose with a grin spread across your lips.

“Because you’re a hero maylsh, heroes get to be on Band-Aids.” You explained, easing the carton from her fingers and into the box. Natasha wrinkled her brow and seemed to have a moment of clarity, quickly moving to put it away.

“No, we don’t need those.” She tried to put them back, but you snatched them away and put them in the basket again.

“I think we do. Next time I get a papercut you’ll be there to protect me.” You joked, the lack of sleep getting to you a bit. Natasha wiped her nose on her sleeve and let out a small half cough half laugh, shaking her head a bit at you.

“Kay.” She mumbled, the laugh seeming to have sapped her last bit of strength. There was a good chance that she was being overdramatic (she had done it before) but this was a strangely good way for the two of you to spend time together.

“Okay then.”

With that, you grabbed a box of tissues and an extra bottle of cough medicine, paid, and left the store. Before reaching the car, you presented Natasha with the stuffed dog, your heart warming at the smile she gave you.

She leaned forward and kissed you gently, hugging the plushie close to her chest. For this woman you would go out to find soup any time of night. Afterall, you knew she would do the same for you.

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[blackberrysummerblog]

Oh my goddd how is it already Sunday?! I’m leaving for a really big trip on Tuesday and so naturally my house is not ready for the dog-sitters to stay over, and I am not packed. No worries, I’m sure I’ve got this covered 😒

Thank you so much to everyone who’s been tagging me! There’s so much good reading out there, and the art this week for Simon’s birthday—I’m blown away by the talent in this fandom.

I haven’t done as MUCH writing as I would like—I’m at that stage in my life where I no longer handily remember huge swathes of my “internal” writing, so if I don’t get it down right away or get called off to do something in the middle, it’s lost, and that has been my entire week, folks. I did get some done though! Here’s a little bit from my COBB that I fully expect to get some blowback over, because…well. You’ll see:

I bend down to admire some perfectly iced cinnamon buns, and above me hear someone chuckle. “You’re a Pitch, aren’t you?”

I glance up. And up. I rise to my full height and…I’m still looking up. It’s not often that I find myself craning my neck to look someone in the face, but the cheerful-looking man behind the counter must stand 6’5”, at least. He has short dark hair, square-shaped glasses, and a curious glint in his deep brown eyes. There’s nothing unusual about him other than his height, and yet I find myself staring. After a moment, I realise he’d asked me a question. “I am,” I say, keeping my voice even.

He smiles, and something feels like it’s cracked inside me. “Yeah, well, I’m Adam,” Adam says, extending a floury paw. “Adam Price. Your ancestor relieved mine of a herd of goats 500 years ago.”

Long enough ago that a grudge isn’t worth bearing, but then again, this is Watford. I ignore his hand. “If your ancestor had paid mine her due, perhaps he wouldn’t have been so wracked with guilt that he thoughtlessly left his pen open one night. Goats are wont to wandering.”

“…wont to wandering…” Adam repeats, tilting his head as his hand drops reluctantly back to his apron. He narrows his eyes. “Your family raises goats now, doesn’t it?”

“They’re hardly 500 years old,” I scoff, then pause. “The goats or my aunts.”

So yeah, there’s that 🤣 By the way, the art for this fic is SO gorgeous—my partner has been absolutely amazing and I can’t wait for everyone to see it when we post!

This snippet is from the one where Simon cleans up the room after blowing up Baz’s bed, and meanwhile has to sleep on the floor. For the first couple of days, anyway. Ahem:

“Snow.” I’m standing in the middle of the room in my pyjamas, waving my arms. He drives me up a wall. “Take the bed. You’re walking like you’re a hundred and three.” I’ve been spelling the floor soft for him every night after he goes to sleep, but it doesn’t seem to have helped.

Simon is in his school-issued pyjama bottoms and a thin cotton t-shirt, standing mere inches in front of me on top of his blanket heap. He presses his lips together and shakes his head. The motion apparently triggers a crick in his neck, making him wince in pain. “The bed is big enough for two,” he allows.

Absolutely not. “Absolutely not,” I tell him firmly.

“It is!” he objects, misunderstanding.

“Snow.”

“If you don’t want to share, then it’s all yours,” he says stubbornly, sticking his chin up at me. He always has to look up at me. “Is it because you’re a vampire? I won’t stake you,” he adds.

Crowley below. I can’t think too much about that statement, but it’s the last straw. “Sleep on the floor, then. The hard, cold, stone floor.”

And that’s it! I may not be heard from for a couple of weeks, other than posting COBB should the schedule place us on early. I will be traipsing around Scotland, then Paris, and I think it’s going to be a pretty good time! I hope all of you have good things happening for you too. No pressure tags to:

@palimpsessed @rimeswithpurple @valeffelees @cutestkilla @artsyunderstudy @thewholelemon @youarenevertooold @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @bookish-bogwitch @orange-peony @j-nipper-95 @letraspal @roomwithanopenfire @asocialpessimist @aristocratic-otter @aceumbrellaheroes @drowninginships @thehoneyedhufflepuff @monbons @carryonsimoncarryonbaz @forabeatofadrum @c0nsumemy5oul @nausikaaa @alexalexinii @ileadacharmedlife @iamamythologicalcreature @tender-ministrations @fiend-for-culture @larkral @arthurkko @skee3000 @stitchy-queerista @ic3-que3n @raenestee @facewithoutheart @supercutedinosaurs @beastmonstertitan @mooncello @cows4247 @harrie-leithillustration @prettygoododds @sailorblossoms and anyone else with things to share!

[nattinatalia]

Jack Harlow x Reader : RUNNING ERRANDS

It was a Monday afternoon, you and Mia had a plan, and that plan consisted of avoiding Jack and making sure he didn’t see you leave.

“Okay Mia bug, we have to be real quiet and make sure daddy doesn’t see us.” You two are going down the stairs, trying to be quiet since you know Jack was in the kitchen fixing himself a peanut butter sandwich, thank god you convinced him not to mix it with the leftover chicken you had in the refrigerator.

“Okay mommy.” Mia whispers back.

You grab your purse, but as soon as you open the front door Jack is standing on the other side looking at you both with his hands on his waist.

“And where do you think you two are sneaking off to?”

“We’re going to El Mercado.”

“No you’re not, we went two days ago.”

“Daddy, we running errands.” Mia says from behind you.

Jack raised his eyebrows in amusement “Babe, going to Target and Ross isn’t considered errands.”

“To you, to us it definitely does. Plus we’re not going to Ross, only to Target and Zara.”

“Oh I’m definitely coming with you both then.”

“Uh no you’re not. You’re staying here and finishing that swing in the yard. Plus, you have a zoom meeting in a few and the little man is down for his nap .” You remind him.

“Please, only stuff you need.”

You roll your eyes and smile at him, “Okay.”

“I mean it.” He shakes his head.

He already knows you’re about to shop and buy whatever grabs your attention, but he had to try.

He absolutely hates it when you go run your so-called errands. Those errands you claim to run usually means hitting up Target, Costco, Ross, Marshall’s and Zara.

Especially if you take Mia with you, he knows his pockets are about to be hurting for a while.

“I’ll see you later okay?” You go to kiss him goodbye and rush Mia and yourself into your G-Wagon.

•••••••••••••••••

As promised, you only went to Zara and Target, but you also made a quick stop for some lunch. All the shopping got you and Mia hungry.

Three hours later, you and Mia are currently waiting to pay at Target

“Your total is $800, will it be cash or card?”

“Card please.” You slide your card and wait for the confirmation sound that it went through.

“Sorry, the card was declined.”

“Excuse me? There must be a mistake, I just paid not even thirty minutes ago at another store.” You tell the cashier.

“Is there another card you’d like to try?”

You dig through your wallet and take out two more credit cards. “Yes, try these two please.”

“What’s going on mama?” Mia asks from her spot in the cart.

“A misunderstanding baby, it’s okay.” You notice the line getting long, and you start getting nervous and embarrassed.

“Sorry miss, all cards have been declined.”

“Do you accept Apple-pay?” You ask in hope.

“Yes.” She nods.

After you finally pay, you make it to your car and unload your shopping bags.

You call your bank immediately.

“Yes, Mrs Harlow, it seems like your husband called us to get new cards mailed.”

“When was this call made?”

“This afternoon, is everything okay ma’am or was there a mistake?”

“Oh no no, everything is fine. Thank you very much. You have a great day.” You hang up and shake your head.

“Is daddy in trouble mommy?” Mia asks, taking a bite of her cake pop.

“Hmm, I’m not sure yet bug. We’ll see.”

Just then Jack is calling you, but you decide to ignore his call, and every call and text that comes in after that.

••••••••••••

Once you are home, you pull into your driveway, and help Mia out of her seat, she helps you with some bags that aren’t too heavy for her.

Mia is opening the front door and walking into the house.

“I thought something happened, why didn’t your mom answer her phone?” Jack asks Mia, stopping at the foyer of the house.

“Daddy.” Mia rolls her eyes. “We were busy.”

She drops the bags on the floor, crosses her arms and looks at her father. “You’re in trouble, and you need to go help with the rest of the bags.”

You are walking into the house with ten bags from Zara and once you come face to face with your husband, you glare at him.

“W-what happened?” Jack asks you, smirking and scratching his head.

“Oh don’t give me that. You know exactly what happened.” You place the bags on the floor with the ones Mia brought in. “You’re lucky I had Apple Pay. We were in line at Target and my cards kept getting declined. That was embarrassing.”

“You had fifty dollars in your purse, I made sure of that.” He shrugs.

“And how was I supposed to pay the $750?”

“YOU SPEND $800 AT TARGET?”

“Things the kids need, and I got some stuff for your man cave so relax.” You roll your eyes.

“Is this the rest of the bags?” He starts looking through the bags.

You shake your head “No, there’s more.”

“Babe, since when do we need ten candles? And all these Matcha packets?.”

“There was a special, leave me alone.”

“I don’t even want to go get the other bags. I’m scared of what I’ll find.”

“Dad.” Mia interrupts.

“Yes baby?”

“Why do you get mad mama and me run errands?” She crosses her arms, tapping her foot on the floor.

“I’m not mad bug, I just think you two buy random stuff you don’t even need.”

“We got you and Cheesy some stuff too.” She shrugs.

Jack laughs at that. “Things we need or things you and your mama think we need?”

Mia groans and runs off, but comes back just as quick. “You need money? That’s why we can’t use the cards?.” She hands him her swear jar. “You can have some of mine but save some for uncle Dru Dru, he needs even more money.”

“MIA, I AM NOT BROKE.” Jack exclaims.

You can’t help it but laugh. “That’s what you get.”

••••••••••••••

TAG LIST

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[ladykailitha]

If I Rescue You, Will You Rescue Me, Too? Part 15

I am seriously enjoying how much you all love my Mrs Harrington. She is so fun to write. And while we aren’t there yet, she absolutely will go for Mr Harrington’s jugular. She’s been building a case for five years. She’s going to bury him. :D

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13  Part 14

***

Steve sat at the fanciest restaurant in town in just his jeans and a polo shirt. He felt a little out of place, but he knew if it really bothered him, he could change in the restroom.

“I’m sorry, Steven,” Mrs Harrington began. “I had been finding out so many horrible things about your father over the last few years and to learn that he kept your injuries from me as well? That was the final straw.”

Steve grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “You didn’t know. Hell, I didn’t know either. I think he was trying to keep us apart.”

Mrs Harrington sighed. “You’re probably right. Because if we compared notes...” she trailed off.

“Then we would be able figure out what a douchebag he was sooner,” Steve agreed.

Mrs Harrington laughed. “So your father was telling me you were seeing someone new.”

Steve blushed. “Yeah, it’s very new. We went to a concert in Indy last weekend and ended up realizing we both felt that same.”

“That’s so sweet,” Mrs Harrington cooed. “What’s her name?” Steve blushed harder and deeper and she cocked her head knowingly. “Or his?”

Steve’s head shot up and his jaw dropped. “What?”

She covered his hand with her other hand. “Darling, your father might be an ignoramus but I am not. I was one the few DAs in the state that were fighting to get rid of the sodomy laws in Indiana.” She tilted her head and smiled. “Plus you clearly had a crush on John Travolta.”

Steve sputtered. “Really?”

“Oh yes,” Mrs Harrington said. “You had to have your hair just like his in that musical he did with Olivia Newton John.”

“Oh god,” Steve muttered. “I do remember that. And here I was thinking it was a new thing. Something that only came about because of him.”

Mrs Harrington smiled warmly at her son. “Tell me all about this boy.”

And so Steve did.

“He sounds wonderful my darling,” she said once he was done. “Would you have gone to his house tonight if I hadn’t joined you?”

Steve nodded. “Or my best friend Robin.”

“Boy or girl?” Mrs Harrington asked.

And so Steve launched into Robin, which of course led to the kids and then still being friends with Nancy and Jonathan.

“Sounds like you were building a life for yourself,” she said gently, “while I was building a divorce case against your father. I’m sorry I wasn’t there, love. But I promise to be from now on.”

Steve nodded, fighting back tears. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too.”

They finished their dinner and Mrs Harrington paid the bill. “Do you mind if I borrow your car for tonight until I can get mine out of storage tomorrow?”

Steve shook his head. “I don’t work tomorrow so that should be fine.”

She smiled brightly at him. “Where would you prefer I drop you off, Eddie’s or Robin’s?”

Steve blushed. “Would–would you like to meet Eddie?”

“Yes!” she said jumping up and down. “Of course I would!”

Steve jutted his thumb at the payphones. “I’m going to call him so you don’t give him a heart attack.”

“Fair enough.”

Steve waited as the phone rang, his heart in his hand. His mom wanted to meet his boyfriend.

“Hello?”

“Eddie?” Steve asked.

“Stevie!” Eddie greeted. “Hey, you need me to come get you?”

“No, but I will need a place to stay,” Steve explained. “Can I stay at yours?”

“Of course you can,” Eddie agreed. “I’ll just make the bed in the spare room.” He paused for a second. “Steve...I have a spare room...”

Steve’s heart soared. “Yes, you do, babe.” He chuckled when he heard his boyfriend giggle on the other end. “Uh...there is one thing you should know before I get there though.”

“What that, sweetheart?”

“He kicked both of us out,” Steve whispered.

“Both?” Eddie asked. “...Your mom, too?”

Steve nodded even though he knew Eddie couldn’t see. “Yeah, um... apparently he didn’t tell her all the times I got hurt.”

“Holy shit. Does she need some place to stay too? I mean you can share my bed and she can have the spare room.”

“That’s sweet of you, Eds,” Steve said. “But she has some place to stay. She had been planning on divorcing my dad for a while so...because she’s Allison Harrington she had a escape route ready.”

“Wow.”

Steve took a deep breath and let out slow.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Eddie asked. “Are you okay?”

“She wants to meet my boyfriend.”

There was silence on the line for so long that Steve worried the line went dead. “Eddie?” he said, his voice starting to quiver.

“Boyfriend,” Eddie repeated. “She knows it’s a boy?”

“Yeah, she guessed when I told her I was seeing someone,” Steve admitted shyly.

“Wow,” Eddie breathed. “And you told her about me?”

“Of course I did,” Steve said with a sigh of relief. “So would it be okay if you met her?”

“Yes!” Eddie said. “Of course, Stevie.”

“I’ll be there soon, love,” Steve said.

“Bye, babe.”

Steve hung up the phone and went out to meet his mom.

She cupped his cheek. “Everything all right, sweetie?”

Steve nodded. “It was just a shock. When I speak of you and dad, it’s, it’s not...”

“Flattering?” she asked softly.

He shook his head. “I mean it’s most Dad and I did use you as a reference for both my jobs, but...”

“But I haven’t been around.”

“Yeah.” Steve hung his head.

“It’s nothing to worry about,” she said. “I understand. Besides it’ll be more fun this way.”

Steve looked up at her in confusion.

“I get to surprise them!” she said gleefully.

Steve laughed. “You’ll certainly do that.”

*

The drive to the Munsons’ new house was filled with laughter and stories.

“He thought it was a regular dog,” Steve was saying. “Until it ate his cat.”

“Oh no!” Mrs Harrington said through her giggles. “That poor cat.”

“Yeah,” Steve agreed, a bright smile on his face when they pulled up to the house.

“There’s going to be boxes and shit everywhere because they’re still moving in,” he warned her as they got his luggage out of the trunk.

She smiled brightly. “I’m in no place to judge anyone’s housekeeping. As they have one and I don’t. Well, not yet anyway.”

They walked up to the door and knocked.

Uncle Wayne opened the door. “Won’t you come in?” As he led them to the front room, he called, “Eddie! Your boy is here!”

Steve blushed. Apparently Eddie had already told him about his mom knowing about them.

Eddie came thundering down the stairs. He had clearly put some effort into his appearance. His hair was a little damp from a shower and his clothes were clean. He still wore his ripped jeans and the band t-shirt from last weekend. His feet were barefoot but it was his own house.

“Stevie!” Eddie said happily as he bounded into the room.

Steve went over and picked up his boyfriend and spun him around. Eddie giggled.

“Put me down!” Eddie shrieked.

Steve let him slide down in his arms and gave him a deep kiss. “Hey, sunshine.”

“Hey, sweetheart,” Eddie murmured and kissed him softly. “Do you want to introduce me to your mom?”

Steve let him go, but grabbed his hand as they walked over to her.

“Mom,” he began shyly. “This is my boyfriend, Eddie Munson and his uncle, Wayne.”

Mrs Harrington smiled. “It’s nice to meet you both. I’m Allison Harrington.”

“She’s pretty,” Eddie said. “Now I know where you get your good looks from.”

Steve and Mrs Harrington laughed.

She shrugged. “Eh, his father’s good looks was his only redeeming feature. But thank you.”

Eddie laughed. “At least he has one.”

“His only one,” she agreed. “And his biggest curse, unfortunately.”

“Would you like a drink before you go?” Wayne asked. “I don’t think we’ve got much other than beer if you want something stronger than soda or water.”

She shook her head. “I really need to get going. I have so much to do and not a lot of time to do it in.”

Mrs Harrington kissed Steve on the cheek. “We’ll meet up for lunch and I’ll give you the car back then, okay?”

“Sure thing, Mom.”

As she turned to leave, she called out over her shoulder. “Bring Eddie and your best friend, too. I’d like to meet her.”

Steve laughed. “She’ll be there!”

She waved and was out the door.

“Holy shit,” Eddie breathed.

“Holy shit,” Steve agreed.

*

“Edmond Joseph Munson,” Robin said, coming to a dead stop about fifteen feet from the table Steve was waiting for them at. “Why is the most beautiful woman in the world sitting with Steve?”

Eddie chuckled. “Isn’t she just gorgeous? Come on, so you can meet her.”

Robin opened her mouth to say no, but squawked when Eddie grabbed her wrist and dragged her over to the table.

Eddie leaned over a pressed a kiss to her cheek. “It’s good to see you again,” he murmured and sat down next to Steve.

“Oooh,” she said gleefully. “I like this one. So polite. You can keep him.”

Steve laughed. “Was going to happen with or without your permission.”

She cocked her head to the side and then nodded. “Good.” She smiled up at Robin who had gone completely red. “You must be Robin. Steven has told me all about you. Every word not spent on Eddie is spent on you.”

Robin smacked Steve. “What do you mean I’m second? I deserve better than that! I’m your Platonic soulmate with a capital P. One week. One week is all it took for me to replaced.” She sighed dramatically.

The woman leaned forward and stage whispered, “Is she always this exuberant?”

Steve laughed. “No.” Robin preened. “Sometimes she’s worse.”

“Hey!” Robin protested. She sat down in a huff.

“Robin this is my mom, Allison Harrington,” Steve said with a small smile.

“Oh!” she said. “Wow, yeah. Hi.” She looked over at Steve. “You never told me your mom was gorgeous.”

Steve cocked his head to the side. “Doesn’t every little boy think his mom is the prettiest woman in the world?” Allison blushed. “I don’t think you would have believed me.”

Robin thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Fair.”

They got talking and everything just clicked. Steve watched as his favorite people in the world got on like a house on fire. He didn’t think he would have this. Hell, he didn’t think he would survive the final push against the Upside Down, either.

He had a future. And wasn’t that just grand. 

***

Part 16 Part 17  Part 18  Part 19  Part 20    

Tag List: @anaibis @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @goodolefashionedloverboi @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @plyerice27 @thedragonsaunt @chaoticlovingdreamer @sapphirecobalt-1 @a-little-unsteddie @i-must-potato @danili666  @carlyv @rozzieroos @wonderland-girl143-blog @itsall-taken @justforthedead89 @whalesharksart @nburkhardt @snapshotmaestro @shrimply-a-menace @theotalksalot @child-of-cthulhu @bookbinderbitch @cr0w-culture @punctualhowell @obliosworld @eddiemunsonswife @sharingisntkaren @dididisrespectyourbridgegoatman @lillemilly

[gurugirl]

Are we getting anything new from you Guru? I know you are working on king harry but what else????? Sex tutor? How's that one coming along? Anything you can share with it? Have you ever thought about doing a vampire Harry?

So many questions sorry!! Just love your work and I got spoiled being on your Patreon with all the amazing stuff you have going on over there (I really miss loveable rogue btw 😭 how's he doing?) I had to cancel because I have big bills coming up. I will subscribe again soon when I have everything paid off. Love you Guru!!

FIRST!! You're so so nice to say all this! I'm so happy you're here and that you want to know what I'm up to :) Mean King is in the works. He's coming along slowly but surely. Sex Tutor Harry might be ready for y'all next week?? Below I'll give you a bit of a teaser!

And I've not really thought about doing a vampire Harry before. Maybe I'll consider it one day :)

I love all the questions! Thank you for asking hon! I'm also so grateful to you for supporting me on Patreon, even if you had to cancel. I understand things come up and sometimes it's necessary to put thing son pause for a bit. And yesterday I just posted part 7 of loveable rogue! He's kind of going through it right now but things will start to look up for our sweet babe :)

Okay! Now a short sex tutor!harry teaser below!!

. . .

“Well, I’m seeing this guy and,” you took a breath. It was embarrassing to say it so casually at a café on campus of all places. Harry reached toward you and placed his warm palm over the top of yours, “Hey, I know this feels weird. Doing this. I’m not going to pressure you to say it if you find it’s too uncomfortable but just know,” he dipped his head down to meet your gaze with his brows gently raised, “Everything you tell me here will be kept confidential and private. I’m not going to make fun of you or compare you to anyone else. If you change your mind, that’s okay too. I want you to feel like you’re talking to a friend. Okay? It’s up to you how much or how little you say. We move at your pace.” You let out the breath you were holding and smiled. He was so – nice. He made you feel so at ease. “Thank you. It’s weird. Yeah… but I think I’m okay. I want to do this. I want to be better at like,” you looked around yourself and lowered your voice as Harry moved his hand from yours and you settled your gaze back on his, “Better at giving blow jobs. And maybe like initiating more?” He nodded, “Okay. Have you ever given a blow job before?” You nodded, “Recently. The guy didn’t seem very enthusiastic about it so I didn’t know if I did something wrong.” He took a sip of his tea and his green irises bored into yours, “I can tell you one thing I know that is true for nearly every single straight male I know; they love getting head. Even if they aren’t vocal they probably really enjoyed whatever you did. Does that make you feel better about your skill level?” You puffed out a laugh and saw the smirk on his face. He was trying to get you to smile, “I don’t know. Probably. I’m sure I’m overthinking it but I just wanted… like I want to be really good. Want to know tricks to get a real response.” “Did the guy you’re seeing orgasm?” You nodded again. Harry’s grin softened, “Then you did as good as you could have. Goal achieved. He orgasmed and you made that happen.” “But I want to be better. Like… I really enjoyed what I was doing. Made me really… well…” you looked down at your empty mug and sighed, “I felt like I enjoyed it more than he did.” You watched Harry shift in his chair and look around the café before he looked back at you, “What are you doing right now? Like after this?”

xoxo

[bugtransport]

Kamen Rider Stronger finished April 20, 2023

i forgot i finished this on 4/20. LONG POST WARNING!!

Okay, before I start this one, holy shit I’ve done so much since the last time I wrote one of these. Let me get back into the groove here. Stronger is in a weird spot where I feel like I have to recap a lot to talk about what I want to talk about so there’s going to be a lot of that. This one builds. Let me convince you that General Shadow is an interesting character.

AS ALWAYS: I’ll be dropping spoilers willy-nilly for like every series leading up to this + all of Stronger but there's an extra warning before the show ending spoilers. Thank you.

YIPPEE!

I know I've already owned up to it but at this point let's make it official... Showa Rider might be made for me? Every single time I try to think back about what I just watched to write about it I'm hit with the exact same thought: holy shit, that was SO fun. It is, it really is and always is. I had a blast, thanks. This is also the first time I've really felt like the way that I'm watching this (by starting at the very beginning and just blasting through season by season) has actually paid off! The past couple seasons have gotten interestingly experimental but Stronger feels like they were attempting to return to form while still using the knowledge they learned along the way. It's kind of adjacent to how V3 felt like '71 Rider refined; Jo Shigeru came in like "we are SO fucking back." 

The comparison between V3 and Stronger extends to the main characters too; I think that Kazami and Shigeru are more alike than not. We've been rotating protags (sans Hayato, sorry babe but you’re special in my eyes) in a pattern I've described as "sensory issues -> batshit -> wet" where for as much as I compared Hongo and Amazon to each other in the "the world is so loud and scary and I can't trust myself to not lash out and that scares me more" department I have to do the same for Kazami and Shigeru in the "hey boss, I'm gonna go fucking, I don't know, dig this bullet out of my shoulder with a knife I cleaned by spitting on it and then electrocute myself for funsies" department. Like okay, take a look at this list I whipped up here:

Both Kazami and Shigeru wanted to become borgs to avenge people who were dear to them and killed by the organizations in their respective series; Kazami for his family and Shigeru for his friend. Though Shigeru went straight to the source while Kazami tried to convince Hongo and Hayato to borg him first to no avail, you can’t tell me that Kazami didn’t jump into that beam and save the two of them and not think that might win him brownie points that he could then later use to convince the two of them that yes, this is the right thing to do and he would be a great addition to the team. 

Both of them have another Rider with them (I count Tackle!) who aren’t really… fully borged? Yuki isn’t for sure, he’s just got the arm; I’m not sure exactly whether or not Yuriko is a full borg because I don’t believe they straight up address that in the show but they sure didn’t address her like one and I’ve heard some things (...we’ll get into this later) that would lead me to believe that she was meant to be only partially there originally and get to full borgification by the end of the show. Both of them fought with the respective riders they were paired with. Also, both of their mouths are out in their suits! Very cute! 

Speaking of suits, both of them have very silly little suits that I don’t think anyone else in the series could pull off wearing. Imagine if Keisuke transformed into V3 or something. I think I’d cry looking at that. Hayato as Stronger? Man, he doesn’t have the sheer balls for that one. Sorry king…

Which of course leads me to: they’ve both got huge egos. I really don’t need to elaborate on this one, look at the shit the two of them pull… Kazami a little more in the physical department with the stunts he does and Shigeru socially with his cockiness, but you can see the comparison, right? 

And before we go on I think I need to clarify something: Shigeru jumping himself with his bike is very very real. That is actually a scene that happens. Anyway! I adore the way that the show started off and Shigeru and Yuriko had already been through their borg procedures and that the first time we meet them they're already fighting. It's a nice break from tradition! It feels fresh and new! I also think that it's one of the only ways that you could possibly sell how they borged Shigeru in a way that would make sense in a children's show. They gave him electric hands? Like, metal hands that he has to wear gloves over lest he fucking electrocute everyone? There had to have been an adjustment period there but by the time we meet him he's fine with things. I think this was probably the right call; while I love myself some good borg angst and it's interesting to see them adapt to their new lives and Ishinomori back me up here I think you would agree that exploring this idea is fun... for the way that Shigeru is borged specifically I think there's a little too much room for things to go south way too fast. Those two concepts can coexist in my mind. Can you imagine what it would have been like if he had tried to go swimming or something? 

After the first episode we do get a flashback in the second to exactly how Shigeru got borged which was basically:

Shigeru: [walks into Black Satan] hey I want to be on your side I love facism 

Scientists: ok what borgification u want

Shigeru: just fuck me up and make me stronger

Scientist: okay [electric hands]

Shigeru, Stronger: haha fuckin idiot I’m actually here for revenge! you killed my friend and I hate nazis. taste the powers you gave me [explodes them] 

And then he escapes, taking Yuriko (Tackle) with him. From the start he’s really cocky! My remark as I was watching the show was that he really feels like he can do anything because he just doesn’t give a shit about the social implications of anything that he does. Take him just walking into a lighthouse, getting stopped by the guard who works there, patting the guy down and being like “alright, well, you’re not a monster I guess,” and leaving. He’s silly and kind of rude to Tachibana (when he shows up) and has a “Who are you?” “What? Don’t you know who I am?” exchange with all the monsters he meets. He has a whole damn speech he does every time he transforms. It’s so good!

^ HE GOES :D

While this might have set Yuriko up to be the Female Straight Man (which she kind of is for him a little) she’ll rib Tachibana or the two of them will team up and slander a monster together. I love the way they interact… I think it helps them remain on pretty equal footing even though Shigeru is absolutely the primary fighter. He still leaves things to her and trusts her to do them. I don’t think she’s fully borged - she’s never referred to as such and instead gets the term… what’s it in English, electrowave human? So she can do special attacks and such. It kind of feels like a Taki type role but stronger? Not exactly; a lot of Taki’s importance in ‘71 Rider comes from the fact that he is fully human and able to keep up with them to contrast Hongo and Hayato, but Shigeru doesn’t have the same need to connect with his humanity as they do (being borged was his choice, after all) and as such I think Yuriko fits with him much better. If we let Tackle and Taki 1v1 I think Tackle would sweep. 

You see what I mean about Stronger seemingly learning from and refining the previous series? There’s not a way that I can talk about it without contrasting it – I think this is the point where I would stop and say that if you’re thinking about taking on the Grand Prix for yourself in full or in part and would like Stronger to be one of the series you watch to watch whichever of the series come chronologically before this that you are also interested in partaking before starting Stronger. I personally believe that there can be a lot of value in experiencing things in reverse order [<- guy who played the Layton series backwards and loved it] but also… I think that seeing things build up to Stronger as opposed to experiencing Stronger and then going behind the scenes to take a look at the building blocks is the way to go. Nowhere is that more apparently in my opinion than with: 

Hey man, what if the Generals fucked? 

^ he's calling the cops on me for that one

Maybe this was the part of the series I was most excited to talk about. Don’t worry about it. So far I’ve pitched Stronger like a continuation of ‘71 Rider to V3 which I’d say the main cast falls into; there’s not really a lot of the others in Shigeru… but if we’re talking villain generals? We’re talking X, baby. I think that meeting Apollo Geist first is absolutely essential if X is something you’re planning on watching (don’t watch X but like, watch X) so that you can see the fields from which Titan was grown. I have it on anecdotal evidence that doing things non-chrono and going back to watch X and therefore meeting Apollo Geist post Stronger feels a little underwhelming, but meeting Apollo Geist fresh off the heels of V3 feels correct and the ramp up in Stronger comes naturally. All of that to say: we’re back with the sexual tension, but it’s even more nuts this time. 

There’s one scene in X where civvie Apollo Geist shows up at Tachibana’s coffee shop and sits down at the counter to order. He asks where Keisuke is; Tachibana tells him that he’s out, and inquires as to how this man (who has not introduced himself) knows Keisuke. An old friend, perhaps? Apollo Geist shrugs – something like that. It feels like Titan took that scene and decided to build his entire goddamn character around it. 

^ man what the hell was this pick up line

Remember earlier when I mentioned that none of the monsters seem to know who Stronger is? That’s very much true, but Titan absolutely knows. He follows him around and smokes his stupid little cigarettes from his stupid little cigarette holder and just watches him. Titan’s obsessed with this man but whereas with Apollo Geist all the monsters were like “oh fuck yeah, let’s tie up X and drag him back, I’m sure that would make Apollo Geist happy,” it almost seems like Titan wants to keep Stronger for himself and just… doesn’t tell anyone about him. He’s possessive. He’s really intense about it. He is also using X-era techniques which didn’t even end up working against Keisuke to try and get Shigeru, of all people. It’s a fascinating strategy. The two of them follow each other to a concert and just stare at each other across the hall. Titan doesn’t really get his ass kicked, but he knows he’s not strong enough yet for Stronger. He upgrades himself. He fucking goes for it. And Titan… dies.

Well, let’s put a pin in that for a second. In any case, we need a new general, because that’s how these things go. Despite looking like a cross between an anatomical model, an astronaut, and the fucking Joker, Shadow is oddly compelling as a character to me in a way I have absolutely no idea how to describe or talk about? He’s not actually a part of Black Satan – he just kind of heard that Black Satan was fighting Stronger and was like “well shit, I want a piece of that, let me in,” and is just kind of here now. He proclaims so to Shigeru upon meeting him. Shadow really likes to play whatever game he thinks is going on by his own rules and he seems to have a blast doing so. He’s enigmatic, he’s fresh, he’s unlike any general that we’ve had before. His weird secretive nature almost makes him seem more like the leader type than the general type. Shigeru seems to understand that Shadow’s much more of a sinister threat than Titan, but doesn’t really seem to know what to do about it. 

Let me quickly detour you another time just to finish setting up this stage here: throughout my time watching Stronger I was also working on over easy, you know, that Donbros comic I made! Still really like that thing. I know I and others have joked about Tarou being Showa-coded and honestly if you were to pick him up and place him down in a 70’s Rider series I think he’d be right at home; I mentioned up top that Shigeru doesn’t seem to give a shit about societal expectations and while I think that Tarou gives a little more of a shit about the consequences (seems to have less of a grasp on how the implications actually work though) I’m fine putting them in a similar category. Did you know Inoue’s dad worked on Stronger? That’s a fun little fact for you. 

Okay, time to get back to the show. 

Titan gets one funeral (which Shigeru gets invited to in the funniest way, by just Being in a field while this was announced to him somehow) but it was kind of a flop and nobody showed up and they didn’t even manage to use it to capture Stronger, so they decide that he needs another one. It’s at this second funeral that Shigeru finds Titan laying in a casket on a bed of roses (yes, just like Shigeru has all over his outfit) and manages to prick his electric hand on one of them, bleeding like a human, directly onto Titan’s lips, who then revives, licks it, and becomes Hundred-Eyes Titan. Buildup’s over, this is where the mad yaoi really starts. 

You might now be understanding why I brought up Donbrothers earlier; yes, this scene shares really striking similarities with the time that Tarou got the juice sucked out of him at Sonoi’s funeral but even more homoerotic, because it’s actual blood?

Nevermind the actual Showa-era “how human are cyborgs, really” conversation that’s to be had both in the borg angst sense but also about the fact that he can bleed from his what-I’ve-been-presuming-to-be-metal hands. Again, calling back to X, it’s almost like that point after Apollo Geist got resurrected and was going to die unless he took one of X’s parts and put it in his heart, but this actually happened and wasn’t just theoretical. We’re going past where Apollo Geist got to. If first base is fighting the Rider and home base is actually killing them, I think Titan’s made it to second. Uh, but he’s got a problem getting to third. They’ve already brought in his replacement. There’s only one way to fix this one. 

Titan and Shadow Get Divorced 

Titan was kind of a flop in his first life. He’s been powered up a little more with Shigeru’s blood, but Shadow’s also been given Titan’s position pretty recently, and it would be a dick move to fire him. Look, usually the generals don’t come back unless the people they’re working for are the ones bringing them back, and they sure as shit weren’t doing that for Titan. Might as well just make them work it out together? For some reason the Black Satan leader seems to think this will work; really all it does is just instantly sets the two of them at each other's throats, and they begin to fight over Stronger.

They get exceptionally petty about it. Titan shows up, with a rose again, leading Stronger into a minefield, also strewn with roses, just to really rub in the whole “haha, your blood revived me” thing. Shadow at a couple points ends up straight up giving information to Shigeru so that he can get the upper hand on Titan. Shadow (who has a playing card theme, by the way, that’s his whole deal) shows Titan one of the cards that he just did a fortune reading with, and who else appears but Jo Shigeru, dripping wet, in the outline of the spade (cropped with the tail not showing) like he’s being framed in a heart. 

^ the way he looks at that card just takes me the fuck out every time

I feel like I’m losing my mind every time I think about the two of them. Titan staggers up a dune into the good ol’ Toku Desert, dragging himself to Shadow before Shadow kills Stronger so that he can have the pleasure of at least torturing him a little bit before he goes. Shadow pokes fun at Titan for being like “I’ll be the one to kill Stronger!” with a “are you sure you actually can?” and Titan, hand to my heart, blushes. 

Titan staggers up a dune into the good ol’ Toku Desert, dragging himself to Shadow before Shadow kills Stronger so that he can have the pleasure of at least torturing him a little bit before he goes. What the fuck?!

^ DIVORCED BITCHES REALLLLLL

Titan has his own hell! Titan has made his own hell and takes Shadow there to show off his accomplishments in a scene that I can only call “two socialites who desperately need a divorce” in which Titan plays the tired husband who’s got eyes for his secretary (Shigeru) but has to bring his bitch of a wife Shadow with him to work to show off just how much he does for this family while his bitch wife Shadow looks on, unimpressed, and thinks about also fucking his husband’s secretary (still Shigeru) or maybe killing his husband and taking the life insurance money, because there’s no way this plan of his will do anything but collapse down around him, which it does, and Titan once again dies as Stronger throws him back down the crevasse to this pit he’s quite literally dug himself. 

Watching the two of them interact is absolutely fascinating. Titan’s passion for Shigeru seems renewed and completely focused now that he has a rival, Shadow’s ignited something in him, and Shadow seems like he’s having fun playing around messing with Titan while enacting his own plans. Shadow turns out to be superstitious, and bases most of his decisions off readings that he does with his deck of cards, which adds an even more fun element to his character. This is the part of the show where he seems the most… I don’t want to say happy, but how about “in his element.” These are all some really good episodes of television and they’re a blast to watch. 

Black Satan leader susses out that Shadow’s up to some shit (don’t know how that could have happened, it’s not like he’s been telling everyone he meets or anything) and decides to try and bring in another General instead of letting Shadow lead. Shigeru gets captured, defeats the leader, and Shigeru and Yuriko are the FIRST RIDERS IN HISTORY TO CRACK OPEN A COLD ONE WITH TACHIBANA!! 

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL! THE END! 

LET’S GO TO DEMON WORLD! [SHOW END SPOILERS START HERE]

No, things aren’t actually over. This is where you can tell that things got rushed in production as (from what I’ve heard) ratings kind of tanked. Shadow brings in his friends from Demon World (where he lived before?) and decides to start a new army with them called the Delza Army, which he kind of leads. This is what he’s spent his time fighting with Titan and Shigeru and Black Satan secretly working towards - taking over the facilities that Black Satan already had and using them for his own new purpose. And sure, to do this, they need to kill Stronger, yeah. 

In much the same way that Titan and Shadow fought with each other, giving Stronger an edge, the Delza Army part of the show is mostly about these characters showing off their weaknesses through their bickering with each other, but there’s a whole fucking throng of them this time around. They each brought their own themed goons with them, and on multiple occasions the goons even begin fighting with each other while Stronger just kind of looks on in confusion and gets a clean path to the monster he’s actually looking to fight. This being backed by scenes of Shadow (somehow) drinking wine listening to one of his compatriots drone on and on makes it seem like he really misses being on the front lines?

^ look all i'm saying is that it looks like it's 2:55 and he's got another meeting with the guy this dude is bitching about at 3 to hear the other side of this story and he hasn't had lunch yet

The thing about the Delza Army is that it’s absolutely a “too many cooks in the kitchen” situation. Shadow’s brought in a bunch of people with conflicting views and outrageous personalities and different fighting styles who spend half the time using him as HR to work out their interpersonal issues and he just seems… tired. He doesn’t seem like a guy who was cut out for management! This is not a new character type by any means, I could name so many characters who get into a position in their job and realize like “nah, actually, I was way happier where I was,” fucking Jim from The Office does it, but it’s a completely new role for any General and like also, this was what he was working for from the beginning. To finally get here and realize that actually, he doesn’t want this, is kind of weirdly fucked and not at all what I was expecting from this show. All of the characters around him have so much personality and character that they’re completely forgettable because of the oversaturation . They went an oddly adult angle with his character and I can’t tell if it’s at all intentional or if it just happened to turn out this way. I don’t personally think that this part of the show is as good as the part with Titan and Shadow fighting, but I feel like that decrease even more helps support the change in Shadow’s character, so it ends up wrapping around to working.

This is also the part where Yuriko dies. 

There’s not really much that I can say about that one other than the fact that I’ve heard she was supposed to be brought back later as a full rider this time but, because the show had to be cut, isn’t. I have a story in my mind where the rest of the guys – because they all come back at the end, they have to put on one last big show, and they’ve got a lot of science guys there – manage to jump her back to life in much the same way Shigeru did himself and transform her into a full cyborg, like I said earlier, and that she’d fully join the ranks. I know that there was talk of possibly making Taki V3 or even Riderman, which is another reason I compared the two up top. They could have done that without all of the additional angst that it would have caused the '71 cast to borg Taki since Yuriko's already been modified. It would have been so good... I’ll mention this again I’m sure come Skyrider post, but I really liked his little spotted scarf, mostly because it reminds me of Tackle’s suit. It’s like she did get to be with us in a way! 

From there on you get your usual show beats: as mentioned previously, all the previous riders show up which is very fun, they defeat Shadow (who kind of seems relieved to be going out, to be honest) and the rest of the Delza army, and then it’s time to fight the Leader.

^ Tachibana's really silly in this one and but it's the sweetest thing seeing his boys come back to him

The leader this time around is like, I think the quarry come to life? No, but for real: some kind of rock monster that has been pulling the strings of all the different groups that all the different riders have fought. It’s all the same guy behind the scenes. I’ll say it, I kind of appreciated that one as a “no matter what name you put to it, facism is facism” type thing? I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to interpret it that way. It feels kind of appropriate. The specifics of what they’re fighting change but the root cause and their aim is always the same; though there might be infighting between the groups, Kamen Rider is a show about punching Nazis at its core. 

^ and they all love Tachibana so much!

This is the last time (besides the little special) that we get to have Tachibana on the show. There’s a break between this one and Skyrider and you can absolutely feel it looming in the horizon as everyone rides off again. Despite that, Stronger’s a blast of a show! I think this is one where there are absolutely different ways you could watch it and I just managed to take the path where I ended up probably the most satisfied I could have been during the Delza part since I was just watching the degradation of a man in bureaucracy. Which is always, always fun. 

TO RECAP:

YES fuck yes I recommend Stronger, with the caveat I gave at the beginning that you should probably watch whichever shows chronologically come before this one that you’re interested in watching before you Tackle Stronger. 

Bu dum tss…

[fandomsnstuff]

Day 2: Refuge

@blupjeansweek

Read it on AO3

Summary: Lup overhears some slander about her good platonic friend barry and kind of panics.

Lup stands just inside the quad and scans the picnic tables for Barry. Exams are coming up, and studying is a little less mind numbing when you have a friend to suffer with you. She spots him at a table nearby, but before she can head in his direction, she hears from a table just next to her, “oh my god, absolutely not! He’s so dorky I can’t be seen dating him, even if it is fake!”

The table has a group of four girls sitting around it. Lup pulls out her phone and pretends to check her texts. There aren’t that many people out here, so they better not be talking about who she thinks they’re talking about.

“Come ooonn,” another girl says, “not even for 30 bucks a month?”

“Hell no,” the first girl says, laughing. “Why don’t you do it, if you think 30 bucks is such a good deal?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you! You’re cute, he’ll probably be too stunned that you asked him out, he won’t question it.” The girls all laugh, and the first one says, “go on, he’s right over there.”

Lup grips her phone tightly and takes a breath to stop herself from ripping out these girls’s throats. Barry is the kindest, smartest, funniest, handsomest guy she’s ever met. How dare they. So what if he’s dorky and a little awkward? It’s part of his charm. He’s cute when his whole head turns red.

The second girl starts to stand up, and Lup can’t let this happen. “Hey,” all four girls turn to look at her, and Lup freezes up. She wants to defend Barry, tell these girls just how wrong they are for how they’re talking about him, but somehow, without even being present, Barry still manages to make her speechless. “Are you talking about him?” She nods towards where Barry’s sitting, still immersed in his notes.

The first girl Lup heard speak smirks. “Yeah. We figured a guy like that probably hasn’t talked to a girl for more than five minutes his whole life. Carla’s going to ask him out, and she’ll get 30 bucks for every month she manages to “date” him for.” She does air quotes around “date” and Lup’s blood boils. Any girl would be lucky to date Barry, he’d treat her like a princess.

“I’ll do it,” she says.

“Really?” The standing girl, Carla, says.

“Yeah, really?” Her brain echoes.

“For sure,” she says out loud, “but for 40. Ten from each of you.”

The girls all share a look, and the first one says, “alright. But I want to see you ask him out right now.”

“Fine.”

Lup turns away from their table and starts walking towards Barry. She swings her bag off her shoulder and sits opposite him. He looks up, and before he can greet her she says, “pretend you don’t know me.”

“Oh,” he looks appropriately confused, “hi?”

She rests her elbows on the table and props her chin up on her linked fingers. She leans in closer to him over the table. “Hey,” she says, with a tinge of flirtation.

Barry laughs nervously, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink. “I’m confused.”

She lowers her voice so only he can hear, “don’t make it obvious, but see the table of girls behind us?” His eyes flick quickly over her shoulder, then back to her, and he nods. “They apparently never left high school, because I overheard them talking shit about you. One of them was going to come over here and ask you out, then get paid by her other little friends for every month she stayed with you.”

He’d still look confused to an outsider, but Lup can see the twinge of hurt and embarrassment in his face. “Oh.”

“I know, I’m sorry, Bear. I went to defend your honour but, we’re friends, I’ll admit it, I panicked, and said I’d do it.”

The hurt goes back to just confusion. “But doesn’t you telling me about this kind of defeat the whole point.”

“Get with the program, babe. We turn this whole thing back on them. We pretend to date, they pay me, we split the profits, and I sing your praises about how amazing you are so that they feel so fucking stupid for how they acted in the first place.”

Barry studies her for a moment then laughs, shaking his head. “You really are something, aren’t you?”

“Think about it, nothing’s gonna change, and we’ll just get 20 dollars each a month for doing what we’re already doing.” He looks at her with that stupid little smile that makes her stomach do things she’s not going to think about and she says, “so what do you think? Will you fake go out with me?”

“I think I fake will.” She grabs the pencil out of his hand and he says, “what are you doing?”

“I am fake giving you my number.”

She writes out “let’s study at my place,” and puts the pencil down. She gets up from the table, swings her bag over her shoulder, and winks and blows him a kiss. She walks back over to the table of girls and says, “I’ll take my money in cash.”

Months pass, and nothing changes, really. Their friendship is pretty much the same as it was before, they just hold hands in public sometimes, and they’ll go out on “dates,” and sometimes they’ll kiss on the cheek. That was a night full of red faces and awkward laughter when they were practising. They considered trying for a full kiss on the lips, but it was too much. Because they're friends. And this is fake. Not real.

The money's great, too. They use it to go on their dates. They take turns planning it each month, and they start out pretty generic. Mostly just dinners and movies. But they start getting more creative as time goes on. Lup puts together a picnic in a scenic area, using the best ingredients those 40 dollars (plus another 30 of her own…) can buy. The next month, Barry takes her to the science museum with all the interactive exhibits, and they spend what feels like hours in the planetarium. After that, Lup takes Barry on a mini road trip to stargaze for real, and they use a rented telescope to zoom in on the heavens.

There's a weird moment when they're stargazing, though. They'd set the telescope aside and laid back on a blanket she'd brought, watching the sea of stars twinkle above them. The backs of their hands brush against each other, and she links their fingers together, almost on instinct. There's a momentary internal panic where she braces for Barry to pull away, because they're alone, no need to hold hands, but he doesn't let go. He squeezes her hand and says, "thanks."

She turns her head to look at him, and he's smiling at her with a twinkle in his beautiful blue eyes that outmatches the stars above. "For what?"

"I've always wanted to come out to the country and look at the stars, I've just never actually bothered. So thanks."

She nudges him with her shoulder and says, "this just means you have to do something better next month."

"Oh I have plans. You know me," he taps his temple, "aaaaalways thinkin'."

She wants to kiss him so fucking bad. Which is weird. Because they aren't dating. It's just… the conditions are perfect. A nice, mild night. A clear sky filled with stars. Two people lying together on a blanket bathed in moonlight. And his sweet, kissable face is right there.

But they're not dating.

"Bear?"

"Hm?"

"You're my best friend."

He smiles. "Don't let Taako hear you say that."

"Taako's different. You're my best friend, and… I love you."

"Oh."

"In- in a friend way. But yeah. I love you."

His eyes are a little wide, searching her face, and he says, "you're my best friend too, Lup. And I- I love you too."

It's criminal, the way her heart soars hearing him say that. They're friends. They love each other in a friend way.

The next month, Barry takes her to the aquarium. She spends the day being bathed in the blueish light as she stares at all the fish and sharks and other things in the tanks. She's in a trance watching an octopus move around the rocks in its enclosure in that freaky way octopi move along solid surfaces with their tentacles when Barry says, "will you go on a date with me?"

"We're already on a date, Bear," she says, still looking into the tank.

"No, I mean…" she hears him take a breath, and he takes her hand, "Lup," she looks over at him, and she can see a tinge of a blush on his cheeks, "will you go on a real date with me?"

Her brain comes to a screeching halt. Complete shutdown. She's staring at Barry as her neurons send her mind through a hard reset. Control-alt-delete, end task on all that grey matter.

Barry starts to backtrack, "sorry, I- god, this was stupid. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done this here. Or at all. Fuck. I'm sorry, Lup. You really are my best friend and I didn't mean to pressure you into anything, I thought I'd been reading the signals right, but clearly not, and-"

Lup grabs his shoulders, "Barry." Her brain is only at about half it's capacity, but it's running enough that she knows she's been lying to herself. She's been avoiding this conversation for… years, if she's being honest with herself, because she was afraid it wouldn't go the way she wanted it to. But now that Barry- her sweet, anxious Barry- struck up enough nerve to ask the question, she knows she's in love with him. But she doesn't have the words to say it, to accept the date. She's looking at him, face tinged blue from the tank next to them, and watching her, waiting. The place is deserted, seeing at it's 2pm on a Wednesday, but she probably wouldn't care if it was packed. She takes his face in her hands and kisses him. It's a little clumsy, but she doesn't care. He's as kissable as she always imagined. His hands goes to her waist, and when they pull back, his glasses are crooked.

He smiles, "is that a yes?"

She nods, her brain freshly shut down from getting to kiss him, finally. "Guess we should stop collecting our fake dating salary."

Barry scoffs, "hell no. Let them pay for a few dates here and there. They were rude."

Lup laughs. "God, I fucking love you."

[yanalanettebby]

To lay the foundation I’d love to present my foundation piece of me

I.F.T.B; I Felt This Before (Poetry Ep)

Following Me (Poem 1)

Wow

Let me recover

Let me get this right

You don’t know me but your following me

Following me like I have millions

Following me like I have paid the way for you and whoever else

But in all reality instead of following me

Just follow my lead

But see I have to ask myself how can I ask you to follow my lead

When seriously I can’t even follow my own state of mind

But that’s just the selfish act on my claim

But you and me are just showing up in real time

But to be honest with you I know this isn’t the first time of introduction

Showing Up (Poem 2)

Wassup babe I’m here

Yeah your here now

But where the fuck were you

See I can’t get with all this momma called

My sister needed a sitter

My cousin needed advice

I was out with the boys shit

Fuck that

How are you just here for

when I call in the meantime

When you want some pussy

When you tryna get ya rocks off

When your main bitch on ha crazy shit again

Or when your momma

Oop let me not

Cause I see by your face im taking it to far

But how far are you willing to go for me

Cause I see now you’re just here

Showing up to

Claim what isn’t yours

So FUCK YOU NIGGA

But on the other hand

Thank you babe for showing up

Claim (Poem 3)

This is slightly embarrassing to talk about outloud

but when I love someone I love hard

even at first

but I need that love reciprocated

I need that sense of Claiming

I need that sense of I can’t loose you

I need that sense of claiming me as your own

I really refuse to let you go

See that’s how deep it is for me

Cause see god took the rib from Adam to make eve

but see god didn’t take the rib from you to make me

cause to the world we aren’t meant to be together

but as we are together We look beyond that

and make both of our ribs one and whole

That’s how deep our love is and honestly

Loving you is in my bones

You&Me (Poem 4)

Hmmph

This is an area of interest

But locked away in the depths of

What I hope to be real

But what I want to be real can’t happen

When I want it to

That’s the harsh reality

But I pray to gain a sense of self love

A sense of confidence

A sense of belonging in one’s arms

A sense that Cupid is on my side for once

And that I don’t have to worry about him not just wanting me for one thing

When in reality

In fucking reality

I find myself being the one

Stopping you

To reach me

Cause see we can’t even be In Touch

Cause I’m not even in touch with self

I lack in my home depo

While you shop in your

Forever 21

But why can’t we just create

Double C’s

Of love we

We’re made to have

See we were made for each other

Tho the world may perceive it as

Oh that ain’t gone work

They don’t even look right together

But you see me as well as I see you

And all we have is

You & Me

Selfish 5:00pm (poem 5)

Threw away your love letters

Sounding off

As 5pm creeped up

Already knowing what happens next when you pull up saying

Come outside

I’m outside

Can you hurry up

But I don’t get a hey

How you doing

How was your day

Just a come outside

Ooouu I just see you don’t know what love is

But lemme guess

You wasn’t raised in a affectionate home

But how be so

Sub tweeted

Like how can you be

Effectively unapproachable

Like how can you be so

Lack lustre

But let me guess as well

Following me again huh

Just so

Insubstantial

Accurately

Self defined

But I know

Honestly

Selfish

Just selfish enough to forget about me

Just selfish enough to care about what I think

Fuck my mental

Fuck my emotions

Fuck my physicality

You don’t know what love is

But I really need you to know

You don’t know what love is

Cause your just

Selfish

I Felt This Before (Poem 6)

Familiar

Particularly recognizable

The same to me

I can’t quiet shake

This feeling

It’s almost like butterflies in my stomach

But rather my stomach but my

Entire wellbeing

Superstitious of the moment

Cryptic to the state of mind

I don’t know what to call it

Like making my movement in time

Triggering to the memories of the garden

Connecting everything like a harmonic symphony

With every emotion there is to list

My mind tends to thrive in chaos but

This is the kind of chaos that is almost like

Deja Vu

Which I can’t control

Cause it makes its appearance

Like a thief in the night

You’d almost think it was my dreams coming to reality

It’s so undeniable

Only real is surrounding

But what I do know

I Felt This Before