#which is freakin wild

[barebevil]

having a dilemma which relates to a piece of erotic fiction im currently writing and its that i cant tell if i am being confronted with the fact that i only know a limited amount of moves or if i simply need to accept that there just is but a finite amount of ways to say "she licked it" and move on

[nightrae13]

I got heartbroken at prom and did not talk to that person I forced myself to go out in my comfort zone just to be friends with until we graduated. that. 😂😅 Prom was a dramatic day for ending your happy eras ngl. I'm just happy I looked amazing in the pictures esp bc I'm at the center lol

Still, it was pretty crowded with mostly dancing, so I can see how most who rather mind their own business would find boring lol. I just did my best to enjoy the moment because it does not happen every day and it was expensive lol

[kxsagi]

hii if it’s not too much for you how about the itoshi brothers with a s/o that’s way too hyper and is like their number 1 fan/supporter

tyy have a good day/night :)

“𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭”

a/n: hiii i love this idea sm bc i truly believe that opposites attract! have a good day and night as well beautiful

(art credits go to inc3sti on X)

“rinnie baby, you got this!!!” you shriek, leaning so far over the railing you nearly faceplant into the field. 

his teal eyes briefly flick toward you – flat, deadpan, and wholly unimpressed. but the tiny twitch in his jaw betrays him. he heard you. 

“WOOOOOOO!!! THAT’S MY MAN!!!” you scream, practically blowing out the eardrums of the poor stranger next to you. “#1 IN THE LEAGUE AND IN MY HEART!!!” 

a slow, exasperated sigh leaves rin’s lips as he adjusts his sleeve. his teammates snicker under their breath. 

“geez, she’s louder than the announcer,” one of them mutters. 

“does she come with volume control?” another asks. 

rin pointedly ignores them. but he can't ignore you. because, oh no. there you are. again. 

you’ve somehow made your way to the front row, half your body over the barrier, flailing like a wind sock in a hurricane. 

“BURN THE FIELD WITH YOUR RAGE, RIN!!!” you holler, voice cracking mid-sentence. “FLOW-STATE! YOU’RE A MACHINE! A GOAAAAL-SCORING DEMON!!!” 

his eye twitches. your unwavering, god-tier dedication is going to be the death of him. or maybe you’ll get yourself banned from the stadium first. 

rin glances over at you, meeting your eyes for a brief second, but you immediately lose it. you clutch your chest, staggering back like you’ve just been shot. 

“HE LOOKED AT ME!!!” you gasp dramatically, turning to the stranger beside you. “DID YOU SEE THAT? HE FREAKIN’ LOOKED AT ME!!!” 

the stranger blinks slowly. “... isn’t he your boyfriend?” 

“YES!!!” you shriek, gripping their shoulders. “CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!” 

when the whistle blows, rin drags his feet toward you, expression flat but eyes faintly narrowed. he barely has time to wipe the sweat off his face before you’re lunging at him, arms clamping around his torso like a koala on caffeine. 

“YOU WERE SO COOL OUT THERE, RINNIE!!!” you babble, clinging to him like your life depends on it. “THE WAY YOU DRIBBLED? AND FAKED THAT GUY OUT? AND, OH MY GOSH, THAT SHOT??” 

rin grunts as you bounce in his arms like you’re hopped up on five shots of espresso. “you’re gonna give me a headache,” he mumbles against your hair, but his arms tighten around you. 

“i thought you loved me?” you smile slyly. 

he sighs heavily, voice utterly dry. “unfortunately.” 

but the way his lips brush against your temple? yeah, you know he’s just a big liar. 

(art credits go to o_tsukime on X)

“SAE ITOSHI, I LOVE YOU!!!” you screech at the top of your lungs, voice somehow piercing through the entire stadium. 

sae, standing on the field, glances in your direction with the most unimpressed, dead-inside expression. he blinks slowly. deliberately. almost like he’s contemplating walking off the field and changing his identity. 

his teammates barely suppress their laughter. one of them leans over, grinning. 

“hey, pretty sure that one’s yours.” 

sae doesn’t dignify it with a response. but he does exhale sharply through his nose, which, for him, is practically a full-blown emotional breakdown. 

meanwhile, you? you’re absolutely feral. foaming at the mouth. a one-person hype squad in your itoshi #10 jersey. you’re gripping the railing with white knuckles, vibrating with enough energy to power a small country. 

“GO OFF, BABY!!!” you shriek, eyes wild with excitement. “BREAK THEIR SPIRITS!!! LEAVE NO SURVIVORS!!!” 

sae slowly blinks again, wondering if this is his personal punishment for all his sins in a past life. 

and then it happens. he makes a clean, beautiful pass to his teammate. no big deal. just sae being sae. but you? oh no. you act like you’ve just witnessed the second coming of jesus. 

you fling yourself at the person next to you – a random, unsuspecting soccer dad. you grab his arms and shake him violently. 

“DID YOU SEE THAT?!” you scream, voice cracking like a teenager in puberty. “ARE YOU SEEING WHAT I’M SEEING?! THAT'S MY MAN RIGHT THERE!!!” 

the soccer dad stares at you with wide, horrified eyes. 

sae glances over. his eye twitches. if he could evaporate on the spot, he would. 

after the game, he walks off the field and, big mistake, makes direct eye contact with you. you. the human embodiment of a fireworks finale. 

your eyes go wide, sparkling like anime stars. and then you sprint. full speed. like you’re trying to break the sound barrier. 

“SAEEEEEEEEE!!!” you scream. 

he doesn’t even have time to brace himself. you collide into him like a human cannonball, clinging to him with every ounce of strength in your being. 

“i’m gonna die,” he mutters as you squeeze him so hard you nearly knock the wind out of him. 

“nooo, you’re too pretty to die,” you coo, peppering his face with frantic kisses. “and too talented. oh my gosh. the way you were on the field? majestic. powerful. otherworldly. like beautiful destruction.” 

he stares down at you, face completely unreadable. “you’re so annoying.” 

you flash him the biggest, dopiest grin imaginable. “but you love me.” 

his gaze softens by a fraction. barely noticeable. but you catch it. and when he leans down and presses his forehead against yours, muttering, “i wish i didn’t,” you know he’s just being a liar.

© 𝐤𝐱𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐢

[katyawriteswhump]

Second chance (soul)mates 💖

For @stmarchmm day 14 prompt, ‘Second chance romance’ (very late, I’m sorry, though this also sort of works with day 28, ‘broken mating bond,’ so I can pretend I’m early!) Also, @steddiebingo fill, ‘Tears for Fears.’

Some of the herbs/flowers come from amazing fantasy plant designs from @moonjelly69, please check them out here and here. They deserve to be at the heart of a fic of their own, but they helped me get this one going again—thank you 🪻🌹🌸🌺🌻🌼

Rating: M; WC: 4200; CW: Biting, bite-puncture licking, unhealed injuries, saliva as healing balm, rashes, collars, alcohol, sick fic, and passing mentions of drug dealing. Tags: O!Steve, A!Eddie, protective Eddie, sick Steve, hurt/comfort, angst with a very happy ending, herbal medicine, happy ever after. Read on Ao3

🌸💖🌸💖

When Eddie began dating Steve, Eddie was a senior the first time around, and they’d both recently presented their secondary genders.

In a High School drenched in blockers and dampeners, Steve’s dreamy magnolia musk whispered to Eddie. On their first date, they’d shared a black-cherry-and-vanilla sundae at a diner… and their first kiss behind the bike sheds had rocked Eddie’s world. Steve had practically liquified in Eddie’s arms, his perfume blending with Eddie’s tangy cherry and skullcap-herbs.

Unfortunately, they were young and dumb.

The night it ended, Steve threw a party—it was at his house, while his folks were out of town. He’d told Eddie it’d be kinda intimate, and Metallica was totally on the playlist. Eddie, idiot that he was, was actually looking forward to it.

And then he did something crazy.

He spent the afternoon picking flowers from Granny Munson’s garden, plucking the perfect blooms to match Steve’s scent. Then, with guidance from Granny, he foraged deep into the forest to locate herbs and deeply buried roots that matched his own.

It took so long to scrub the dirt off he was late for the party. By which time, Steve was doing shots with that obnoxious beta, Tommy H.

“They’re pretty,” said Steve, when Eddie presented the bouquet.

“Glad you like. The cherry blossom and herbs are from the forest. The wild crimson roses and the rest came from my gran’s garden, which is also in the forest, so—"

“Jesus, can’t afford a florist, Munson?”  Tommy snorted with laughter. Steve vaguely giggled, dumped the flowers in a bucket of melted ice then… apparently forgot about them.

Eddie was pissed, though perked up when Steve dragged him outside to make-out by the pool. Steve was buzzed, his delicate flavor fucked-up with vodka, so it wasn’t surprising he’d not paid attention to the bouquet’s scent. With Steve grinding against his thighs, his hands on Steve’s ass and his tongue delving for Steve’s tonsils, Eddie figured he’d moved on.

Steve kept drinking. They both kept drinking. And then, Steve started asking if Eddie loved him. Whining on and on about it, in fact.

That was when Eddie realised that he’d not quite forgiven Steve’s snub of the flowers.

Fuck, he was seventeen! No way was he gonna drop the l-bomb to some spoiled Omega brat bawling what were doubtless crocodile tears at him.

They wound up screaming at each other. Tommy H and the rest of the dickwads watched from the sidelines, stuffing candy and popcorn. Soon after, Steve threw up into a potted palm—with Eddie pausing in his anger to hold the Omega’s hair back and generally sooth him.

As soon as Steve recovered, he reverted to whimpering about love. Tommy put on Tears for Fears again—Nope, not a single Metallica track had made it onto the playlist. Still, the pop lyrics hit home. Right now, Eddie Munson would happily ‘turn his back on mother nature,’ and he was freakin’ thrilled ‘nothing ever lasts forever.’ He flipped the bird at his sulking Omega and stomped out of the Harrington’s, out of Steve’s life.

They barely talked through the next two years at High School, and any slight whiff Eddie caught of Steve scent made him wanna lose his shit.

Steve graduated. Soon after, Eddie heard he’d gotten engaged to some hotshot banker. Which, for reasons Eddie didn’t want to analyse too hard, made him want to punch a hole in a breezeblock wall. Eddie scraped through graduation the same year as Gareth, then decided he was through with Hawkins.

He said goodbye to Wayne, took off in his van with his guitar and his dreams.

Neither of which made him any cash. But hey, he dealt pot like the stealthy pro he was. He got by. He even peddled legal herbs from his van, courtesy of Granny Munson’s teaching and notes, which she’d bequeathed to him when she sadly passed.

Every few months, he turned his van back toward Hawkins to check in on Wayne. He was heading that way, when he strolled into a liquor store in some small town south of the Indiana state line.

And performed the most profound double-take of his life.

Yeah, that sad, little Omega hunched at the checkout was Steve Harrington.

Eddie’s eyes didn’t lie. Neither did his nose, which caught the faintest whiff of Steve’s fragile magnolia scent, which was, somehow, totally soured and simply off.

Eddie instantly spotted one reason why. Steve wore an ugly brown-leather collar, which smothered his throat from collarbone to chin. Wow! This was fucking incredible! Only the worst kind of trad parents forced chastity collars on Omegas these days. Fired by an anger and protectiveness that blindsided him, Eddie grabbed a random six-pack and made a beeline for the checkout. By which time, Steve had noticed Eddie. A blush spread up the Omega’s too-pale cheeks.

 Eddie plonked down his six-pack. “Hey.”

“Hey! Wow. It’s, uh, great to see you, Eddie.”

Eddie’s fixed-feeling grin concealed how his heart ached. Okay, the hair was still pretty cool. The rest of Steve? His cheekbones were never that sharp before. The shadows beneath his eyes were stark as bruises, and frankly he looked sick.

“You just gonna stare? ‘Cos, ya know, getting creepy.” Steve winced and tugged his collar.

Eddie shook himself out of his fury and grief-drenched trance.

“Great to see you too. Kinda surprised to see you working here, that’s all. Thought you got married?”

“Let’s just say that didn’t work out as planned,” said Steve, keying the price into the register. “That’s three dollars ninety-five, please. Should probably ask for ID, but…”  He rolled his eyes. “Not like I don’t know how old you are. It’s been, what, four years? You graduated yet?”

Eddie shrugged, any words jamming behind his clenching teeth. With every passing moment, he grew more furious at seeing Steve so blatantly uncared for. Worse, Steve would sense that anger, without knowing what it was about. The Omega’s eyes grew saucer-huge. Eddie conjured a tight smile and presented a five-dollar bill:

“When do you clock off? Would be cool to catch up. How ‘bout I buy you dinner at that diner across the street?”

Steve jolted and actually squeaked.

“No pressure,” added Eddie.

The woman behind Eddie in the queue started huffing and hassling them. Eddie glared at her. Steve passed Eddie his change in silence, and his hopes faded. Till Steve shoved the six-pack at him, whispering, “I finish at seven.”

Eddie waited in the diner, watching from across the street. At 7.17, Steve hadn’t shown up and Eddie… Nope, he wasn’t angry, not with Steve. He wasn’t that seventeen-year-old knot-head anymore. He was beating himself up more than anything. Had he scared Steve off with his anger at seeing the Omega so… unloved.

Steve said that his marriage hadn’t worked out. That didn’t mean he wasn’t stuck in a bad marriage where some son-of-a-bitch husband made him wear that collar for punishment, or simply to keep other Alphas at bay. Then again, Eddie hadn’t spied a wedding ring, so did Steve’s parents force the collar upon him? That had been Eddie’s primary hunch, although, as far as he knew, Steve’s parents still lived in Hawkins.

Eddie was revved up to serve any of them a knuckle sandwich. That said, if Steve didn’t want to meet him, he must accept it. He was only shocked at how much that idea pained him.

He paid for his coffee, left the diner. That’s when a faint thread of Steve’s scent hooked him—horribly soured, more than even earlier. Eddie followed his nose around the back of the store where Steve worked, and located the Omega crouched between two dumpsters, which were kinda stinky, though Eddie easily blotted those out. All his senses fixated on Steve.

Steve, meanwhile, must’ve sensed Eddie's approach, because he didn’t startle. He was trying, with trembling hands, to buckle his chastity collar back on.

“Hey, it’s okay. Do you need help, Honey? What are you doing here?” Eddie crouched at Steve’s side, and Steve dropped the collar, instead covering his face with both his hands. Eddie shoved his face closer to the Omega’s throat, because… “Holy crap!”

Steve’s collar had concealed an angry red rash. At its heart was two weeping bite holes. They looked like they could be recent, and… Fuuuuuck! This was why Steve’s perfume was so ruined. He reeked not only of sorrow and rejection. His own scent was polluted with the acrid-protein marker of whatever a-hole Alpha had sunk their dirty fangs into Steve’s sensitive gland, munching deep as those preciously quivering veins.

“It’s so gross. I’m so gross!” Steve crumpled forward into a ball, sliding his knees up to hug them. “My skin gets so itchy and scabby,” he mumbled. “I had to take it off, just to breathe, and…  Seriously, I was doing you a favor, standing you up. Dinner would’ve been nice and all, but I don’t feel so good, and… Get lost, Eddie. You’ve seen the truth. I’m fucking ruined.”

“Ruined? I never gave a crap about that conformity BS, remember? And you could never, ever be gross to me.” It was true. Even now, his inner Alpha wanted to blanket the Omega with his body, to smother this Omega’s pain and sorrow until they were distant nightmares, and after that..? Nope, those thoughts were forbidden-fucking-fruit right now.  Very gently, he laid a hand on the Omega’s shoulder. “I can’t ditch you like this. How about a ride home? If you’re not comfortable with that, I can call you a taxi?”

“My bike’s not far away,” sniffed Steve, peeping up. “I’ll be fine.”

No way could the Omega cycle anywhere in this palpably trembling state. In the end, when Eddie refused to leave him up some dingy alleyway, Steve said he’d prefer Eddie gave him a ride: “No taxi driver would take me anywhere stinking like this.”

It was probably true. Though, to Eddie’s nose, Steve and all his hurts didn’t smell terrible, only tragic. Eddie helped Steve to his van, the Omega leaning heavily against him.

After Eddie collected Steve’s bike, they headed off. They chitchatted about High School and anybody they’d kept in touch with, until Steve, between giving directions, said, “Guess you wanna know how I fucked up my life. Don’t worry, you’re allowed to piss yourself laughing.”

Eddie wanted to growl, I would never! Instead, he struggled not to howl with rage, as Steve spilled his sad tale.

He’d gotten engaged soon after graduation to one of his mom’s business partners. He’d courted Steve with lavish gifts, and silky vows, and Steve had liked him well enough. Enough to let the Alpha plant a claim mark on his gland, before they were actually wed.

Then a business deal fell through, and Steve’s fiancé got the hell out of Dodge.

Steve gingerly fingered a couple of raw-looking blisters under his chin. “So yeah, believe it or not, these marks are over two years old. My parents made me wear the chastity collar while they healed. They wanted to deny it ever happened and get me back on the marriage market… but the punctures never knitted. Happens sometimes, when you’re rejected with a shit-ton of Alpha protein-marker in your blood. So, yeah, I was dispatched here to live with my aunt. Now I have to wear the collar because nobody employs a single Omega with gaping bite holes.” He snickered joylessly. “What a joke. Everyone knows it means the opposite. Might as well have a neon sign above my head flashing, Cheap Omega slut! Oh hey, turn right here, thanks. My aunt’s place is three blocks along.”

Eddie rounded the corner, then pulled up at the kerbside, jerking the handbreak viciously.

“What are you doing?” asked Steve, tremulous.

“Nothing, if you don’t want. Firstly, you didn’t fuck up your life, Steve. None of what I’ve heard was your fault. Secondly, you must know better than me that if your bites never heal, you’re gonna be sick and weak pretty much all the time. You are sick, and look, I reckon I can help you. Listen, I sell herbs, and—” His turn to snicker—"not all of them are illegal. I got recipes for all kinds of natural medicines and a ton of jars and dried plant stuff in the back. Will you let me mix you something?”

Steve crinkled his nose then sniffed. “Okay, shoot. Thanks. You can see how the dumb collar irritates my skin. It’ll keep me awake for sure, and I’m sooo fucking exhausted all the time.”

Eddie went around to the rear of the van and opened the panel between his stash and the front seats. In the aftermath of what had to be a blast of crazy herb odors, he poked his head through.

“Wow! So many amazing smells.” Steve twisted to meet Eddie’s gaze and quirked a slight smile. “Yours isn’t so bad either, tho’ I… haven’t been able to stomach cherries since we split.”

Eddie beamed dopily, and his tongue wettened across his lips. Maybe he’d try and coax Steve to have that dinner with him tomorrow.

“Look, gonna come clean,” said Steve. “The bites tend to flare up bad when an attractive Alpha wanders into the store. Like, they’re trying to repel anyone interested away from fucked-up little me, I guess.”

The sadness returned to Steve’s voice, which only steeled Eddie’s resolution to ask for… Screw it, he was gonna ask for a date.

It was too dark to read in the back of the van. He shoved a stained and dog-eared notebook through to Steve:

“Right, here’s Granny Munson’s medicine notes. Try under A or B for ‘Alpha bites,’ or ‘bite scars.’ Or we could try C for ‘claiming marks.’” The sudden sour wave of distress from the Omega was among the worst Eddie had detected yet. “Steve, what is it?”

“Those flowers you brought me… that night. They were from her garden, right? Your granny.” Steve’s voice wobbled, and he turned sharply away. “In the morning, once I’d stopped feeling so shitty, I smelled them. They were beautiful, and the herbs, they reminded me of… Oh crap, you’d matched our scents. It was incredible, and I wanted to apologise. I was such an idiot. I-I nearly said sorry, so many times. I was too proud… Such an idiot!”

“Hey, it’s all good. We’re all good now.” Eddie reached to give Steve a little squeeze, relieved when the Omega leaned into his touch. “I was a douche that night. It was only three little words you wanted to hear, and with parents like yours… I get it, ’kay?”

Now I know how horribly they treated you.

“I didn’t deserve it,” said Steve, wiping his tired-looking eyes. “Glad you didn’t lie. I’ve… thought about you a lot, you know, over time.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

In fact, as Eddie well knew, those six weeks with Steve remained the longest relationship he had ever had.

Steve read out the ingredients, including heart-fruit and bitter midnight-bloom nettles. Eddie mixed them in his mortar and pestle, adding spring-water and soothing cucumber-like water-way to lessen any sting. Then a pinch of one of his own staples, skullcap, for good luck. He returned to the driver’s seat, showed the paste to Steve, who scented it curiously. “You wanna spread it on? Or should I?”

“I’m fine with you. I’ll only make a mess. As long as you’re not too grossed out?”

“Nope.” Only grossed out that somebody could leave you in pain like this.

He frowned in concentration, using his fingertips to smear the herbs across Steve’s sad skin. Steve shivered.

“Cold?”

“No,” breathed Steve, “it’s nice. Soothing. Erm… The notebook said you leave it for a minute or so, and we’re done. I’ll get outta your hair.”

“Noooo rush.”

Eddie applied the rest of the paste as delicately as he could. Steve sank back into the seat, eyes fluttering closed. “Thank you, Alpha. Soooo nice.”

His voice shook with something that might’ve been a faint comfort purr, and Eddie revelled in it. With Steve’s eyes closed, Eddie even sneaked a suck of his fingertips—yum—before wiping them dry on a Kleenex. Easing an Omega’s pain always made him happy, and soothing this Omega’s pain?

It made his chest puff with intense and super-protective feelings, though one thing didn’t sit right. A minute didn’t sound long enough for the medicine to work. He plucked the notebook from the Omega’s lap to doublecheck.

Steve startled awake. “Oh crap! No, please. You don’t have to do the rest.”

“The rest of wh… Ah!”

Eddie’s eyes raced across granny’s ink-splatted handwriting, and his brows shot high. For the herbs to work best, an Alpha should lick the paste off, mingling their saliva with the medicine. The page also explained how an unwanted Alpha’s protein mark could be erased completely from an Omega’s blood.

“Oookay,” said Eddie, rubbing Steve’s arm, hoping to allay his obvious panic. “If it’s all right with you, I’m happy to do the honors licking it off. I’m afraid to suck out the protein marker, it says I have to be in rut, so—”

“I wouldn’t dream of you having to do that. Simply the thought of licking me must be totally disgusting for you.”

“Gonna be honest. You look kinda tasty.” Eddie beamed toothily and sliced up a hand, silencing any protests. “Not a lie, Honey. Oh, and if I’m gonna have the pleasure of licking your scent gland, I really think we should try again for dinner tomorrow. If you’d like that? A date?”

Steve puffed his hair from his clammy brow. “Yeah, all right. Only if you let me pay.”

“We’ll argue that one out tomorrow. Now, how do we get comfy to do this?”

After some debate and wrangling, and some abortive leaning over the gear-knob, Eddie came around to the passenger seat. Steve slid onto his lap and hooked an arm loosely around Eddie’s neck. Eddie enfolded Steve and found himself perfectly aligned to burrow into the Omega’s throat. Steve kinda fidgeted, started protesting that this was too yuck again.

“Ssssssh, I got this. Relax, Honey.” He couldn’t keep a raspy growl from his voice. “Can you do that for me?”  Steve answered with an adorable little whine. Those years of separation began falling away, and he sagged against Eddie with a faintly floral sigh.

“That’s it, Omega. Take it easy. I’m gonna take care of you.”

Eddie settled one hand in Steve’s soft hair, fingers lightly threading, and rested the other in the small of the Omega’s back. He drew Steve to him, nuzzled beneath the Omega’s ear, and simply breathed him in. “You smell divine,” he whispered, sliding his nose lower so he could drag his tongue tenderly up over Steve’s sad little scent gland.

The bitter tinges of sickness couldn’t disguise how Steve was—always had been—beyond edible to him. His own skullcap musk—mixed with the earthy-kick of the healing herbs and heart-fruit—perfectly complimented Steve’s natural spring-petal nectar. The worst of the roughness and swelling on Steve’s skin seemed to smooth out beneath his tongue, and… Gnnnnng!

Steve’s whole weight suddenly collapsed into him, and Steve flopped his head back, eyes heavy-lidded, bearing his throat completely. The Omega’s prey instincts were kicking in, as were Eddie’s predatory ones. It was all he could do to stop his Alpha fangs quickening and piercing the Omega anew. Thank fuck they were fully clothed! Even so, if he did this long enough, maybe he would go into rut.

Cool it, Munson. You’re here to heal and protect.

He pulled back, effortfully calming his own racing blood, cradling Steve’s drooping head, while savoring the Omega’s contented, faintly purring, sighs. Eddie licked around his own mouth—yum YUM—and swallowed. Calm-ish again, he planted his lips over the quivering heat of that now pretty much uncovered gland with those evil little holes. He lapped leisurely, up and down, lathing far as the super-sensitive flesh beneath Steve’s ear.

When Steve mewled and whined, Eddie couldn’t help it—his Alpha dick stood swiftly to attention. Steve, meanwhile, turned more liquidy than ever, perfuming adorably as during that first never-forgotten kiss. So long ago.

Too long ago.

Briefly, Eddie struggled against a fiery anger. Since they’d split, apart from that son-of-a-bitch who’d hurt him, Steve must’ve been starved of much-needed intimacy like this. No wonder he was sick. Still, Eddie shoved down those thoughts, because the last thing he wanted was to scare the Omega on his lap with more angry vibes.

If Steve tensed, however, it was fleeting, and soon they relaxed into a relatively chaste rhythm. Eddie noticed that each time he stopped lapping to exhale, Steve snatched a swift inhale. Yup, they were literally inhaling each other, and as they did, Eddie felt something inside him untwist and release. As if Steve healed some restless part of his soul he didn’t realize needed fixing.

Soon, every trace of the herbs was gone and all he tasted was Steve’s natural sweetness. The bite-holes seemed to have knitted slightly already and were definitely less raw and weepy. Eddie drew a final, lingering inbreath, which tingled deep as his lungs, then reluctantly drew back. Steve dropped his head to Eddie’s shoulder and cuddled around his neck.

 “Better now, Honey?” whispered Eddie.

“Much better, Alpha,” said Steve sleepily.

Eddie huddled the Omega closer, barely resisted kissing his flushed pink cheek beneath those long fluttering lashes. All those feelings from their teen romance were fully returned, this time, so much more intense and real. Trouble was, Steve wasn’t just the sweetest smelling Omega Eddie had ever met. He was, Eddie knew now for sure, the one he’d die to protect and, also, without rival, the hottest.

Which presented other problems. As while licking, Eddie tried to keep himself calm and cool—after all, Steve was still kinda unwell! Didn’t work. He still nursed a constant semi, which no fidgeting or adjustment could hide.

Steve didn’t seem freaked, though. Quite the opposite.

He snuggled against Eddie for a while, and Eddie could’ve happily nested down for the year. That Steve could trust like this, after everything… It kinda made Eddie want to weep. Unfortunately, a cop eventually knocked on their window to ask what the heck they were up to. After giving away half his marijuana stock as a bribe, Eddie reluctantly took Steve back to his aunt, who freaked out big-time that Steve was being brought home by a strange Alpha. She thawed when Steve wearily explained Eddie was an old school friend and cheered up no end when she noticed Steve’s neck.

While still angry and red, the wounds had one-hundred-percent closed up, and Steve’s rash had faded to a faint cherry flush.

She invited Eddie in for supper, and the next day, Eddie and Steve had that dinner. By the third date, Steve had ditched the collar and wore a rollneck sweater. By the fourth, he wore a silky magnolia scarf Eddie gifted him, which got accidentally dipped in their cherry sundae. Between their dates, Eddie invited Steve back to his van and gave him several more doses of medicine. And of Alpha tongue. And of other kinds of fun, though Eddie was already making plans to offer something better than a van for his Omega’s first real nest.

A few weeks into their courtship, they sat facing each other across a booth in the diner. Steve unfolded a piece of paper from his purse, and a bunch of dried petals tumbled from between.

Magnolia flower, cherry blossom, and wild crimson rose, its petals still mottled and rough.

“They’re from the bouquet you gave me that night we split. I pressed them and saved them—couldn’t bear to see them all die. Thought I was just torturing myself, until—"

Eddie took Steve’s face in his hands and kissed him, thoroughly and claimingly, and above all, nurturing and lovingly. Everything Steve deserved. Everything he’d been denied.

Everything, Eddie realized, he’d denied himself too.

“There’s something I need to say,” said Eddie, when they finally broke for air. “I’m in love with you, Steve Harrington.”

Steve blinked. “Huh?”

“Steve, I love you.” He caressed Steve’s not-that-surprised face with his thumbs, then stooped to nip a kiss on Steve’s delicious throat. “I love you, I love you, I love you. Deep down, I know I always loved you, we were just…”

“…young and dumb? Yeah, we were. And you were totally wrong when you said I didn’t fuck up my life, because I did. That night we split up.”

“We both fucked up, Honey.”

“I guess. Oh, in case it wasn’t screamingly obvious… I love you too, Eddie Munson.”

Eddie went into rut a week later, pulling Steve simultaneously into heat. The very first time they made love, he nipped the flesh of Steve’s shoulder, deep enough to suckle out that other Alpha’s wretched protein marker. The second time, with Steve gasping and begging for it, he bit Steve’s throat all over again, sealing the forever bond that already sang between them.

Steve was thrilled with his two pretty pink claim marks. When they returned to Hawkins to set up their alternative medicine business, he proudly displayed them to everyone, including his parents, who swiftly left town. Nobody missed them. Steve’s sensitive Omega nose soon led them to Granny Munson’s garden, beside her old tumbledown cottage—lost so deep in the forest even Eddie and Wayne had forgotten the way.

The Omega took one look at the overgrown hovel, squealed, and coiled himself around Eddie like a freakin’ vine. They both knew, without a word passing between them, that this was where they were gonna raise their pups.

🌸💖🌸💖

Thank you for reading 💖 You can find my other steddie omegaverse fic on Ao3 here 💖

[mktskii]

—Explosive Fixation

part two.

—Synopsis: Bakugou's pride takes a massive hit when he finds himself drawn to someone outside the hero course—the best support course student he’s ever met, and the person who couldn’t care less about him. What starts as begrudging respect (and annoyance) slowly turns into something he can’t ignore. Now, if only his stupid gauntlets would stop breaking long enough for him to figure out how to deal with these frustrating, unfamiliar feelings.

—Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki x AFAB + Support Course!Reader.

—Genre: Slow-burn romance, slice-of-life.

—Tags: Enemies-to-lovers, banter, RBF reader, grumpy x grumpier, miscommunication, one-sided crush, support course expertise, Bakugou struggling with feelings, Bakugou crushing on reader so hard, reader is tired of everyone's shit, reader does not take Bakugou serious AT all.

Bakugou finding himself crushing on someone from the support course? The very idea would have Bakugou ready to throw himself into an explosion, especially since you're not even in the hero course. How did this happen? You're just a regular student from the support department, not some flashy hero-in-training. Hell, you don’t even try to impress people! Bakugou's Bakugou—so why, out of all the people, is he suddenly caught up in the fact that he likes you like that?

It all started with his gauntlets, which were, as always, broken after another insane training session. This time, however, Hatsume Mei was busy with a massive backlog of orders. So, when he stormed into the support lab to demand a quick fix, Hatsume just waved him off with a nonchalant “go ask them” and pointed to you, buried under a mountain of tools and gear. You were known in the department, even beyond that. People whispered that you were better than Hatsume herself when it came to making support items, which was already wild because Hatsume was a freakin' genius. But here’s the kicker—you didn’t want the attention. You didn’t care for the praise or even the stress of constant requests for new gear. Okay, fine. Maybe you do a little. And when Bakugou, the most demanding, arrogant student in the entire school, barged into your workspace, his booming voice interrupting your flow, you quite literally did not want to put up with his shit. “Get out.” Your voice was cold, indifferent, and to the point. Bakugou had expected, well, anything else—maybe some stammering or apologies and you dropping everything and fixing his gauntlets like he demanded. But this? Definitely not this complete lack of interest. He was fuming. “Do you know who the hell I am?” he growled.

Your eyes barely flicked up from the blueprint you were studying, annoyance clear in your expression. “Yeah. And I don’t care. Get out of my workspace.”

Needless to say, Bakugou had never been kicked out of anywhere before, and the fact that you banned him from ever asking for your help? Or, more correctly, fixing his stuff? That hit harder than any villain could. When he ranted to Kirishima, expecting him to agree with how crazy you were for doing all that, Kirishima was disappointed in him—actually disappointed for screwing up such a basic request. You? You were the best at what you do, and somehow, Bakugou had managed to ruin his only chance at getting you to fix his gauntlets.

Bakugou, in classic Bakugou fashion, decides to fix his gauntlets himself. He sketched up the mechanics of his gauntlets, so how hard could it be? Turns out, really freaking hard. Not only does he botch the repair, but his malfunctioning gauntlets accidentally explode during class, damaging some of his classmates and earning him the wrath of Aizawa and everyone else. He’s pissed—at himself, at his classmates, and mostly at the fact that he can’t get those damn gauntlets fixed without swallowing his pride and asking you.

The next time he sees you, it’s different. He doesn’t storm into your workspace like last time. He’s gritting his teeth, practically seething, but he still manages to blurt out, “Sorry for bein' an asshole. Fix this… please.” It sounds like the word “please” burns his tongue, but he says it.

You stare at him for a moment, and give him a sharp scoff but take his gauntlets. As you examined them, you muttered curses under your breath about “egotistical hero course jerks” and “time-wasting nonsense.” But, despite your annoyance, you went above and beyond. You reinforced his original design, making it stronger, lighter, and more streamlined for better control. When you handed them back, they didn’t look any different on the outside, but Bakugou could feel the difference the moment he tried them on. They were perfect.

For once, he didn’t have anything to complain about.

That’s when the “crush” began creeping in—though he’d rather die than admit it. Suddenly, he found himself making excuses to come back. His gauntlets were “damaged” again because he never knew just when to stop training. His headphones were “broken” (even though they weren’t). His phone “shattered” for no reason. Every stupid thing he could think of, he brought to you, just to have another interaction.

But the funniest part? You never gave him the satisfaction of a reaction. Your resting bitch face (legendary, by the way) stayed neutral, and your voice remained flat, devoid of excitement. You rolled your eyes, cursed under your breath, and muttered sarcastic comments as you fixed whatever Bakugou brought you. If anyone pissed you off, especially Bakugou, you'd mutter high-pitched imitations of their voice while glaring out of the corner of your eye, making him feel oddly uncertain—like he was the one out of place for once.

He hated it. You were smart. You matched his freakish drive to perfect your craft. And worst of all—you looked too good. Even after explosions from Hatsume’s latest disaster left you covered in soot, your tired, messy look didn’t detract from how attractive you were. It pissed him off.

But here’s the thing—he was still a dick. Despite the fact that he’d come back over and over, pretending his gauntlets needed another fix or inventing some nonsense reason to see you, he would never admit to liking you and, so, he’d go out of his way to piss you off just because, well, he can. So, hell no. He was not falling for some support course student who barely gave him the time of day.

...Right?

That’s what Bakugou kept telling himself, anyway, even as he found himself lingering a bit too long in the lab, watching you work with laser focus, unaware of the chaos happening in his head.

Reblogs and comments are appreciated <3

[spennsrs]

spencer having his partner on his stream!?

❍⌇─➭ CAN U IMAGINE HOW SOFT HE WLD BE ﹀﹀ ︵↷

we are going full headcanons mode stay with me here

okay so imagine if you will: spencer playing games and interacting with chat, giggling and having a time

and here comes you, coming home from a long day of work, so excited to see your boy !! your spence!!

spence knows you're coming over, so purposefully has one of the headphones off his ear so he could hear the door and chat is ONTO HIM

to be clear, his chat doesn't just know you, they ADORE you

so when he hears the door opening and your keys jingling down onto the counter, spencer is all smiles and rushes out a hurried "be back, chat" and then he's GONE

all you see is a flash of his curls before you are wrapped in a bone crushing hug and an onslaught of kisses all over your face

oh he is talkative

"hi babe" "missed you so much" "i'm so glad you're here" "my beloved"

and there's a moment of silent bliss as you hold onto each other, his fingers gripping the hem of your shirt to keep you close, your arms around his neck in a hug, eyes closed and just enjoying each other

....

and then spencer remembers he's streaming

so he pulls away from your embrace, much to both of your dismay, but boy is still CHEESIN'

"baby, i know you just came home... but do you wanna make a little appearance on the stream? y'know chat will love seeing ya"

and you hesitate before smiling softly and nodding gently and then

he is tugging you along, he's like a damn kid on christmas cause as much as his chat loves you, he loves showing you off.... absolutely basks in the attention and how ppl will say shit in chat like "ur s/o is soooo cute spence!" "one chance [y/n] i beg" "[y/n] manning the stream real????" "[y/n] nation we are eatin GOOD"

you pull up a chair to sit beside him, leaning against him, fingers absentmindedly playing with his or his hoodie sleeve or his hair as he games and talks to chat

watching him in his element reminds you why you love this dork, and you can't help but press a kiss to his cheek

and of course chat goes WILD

spencer can't help but grin and his cheeks go pink before looking at you....

"that's pretty freakin' romantic of you, dude. careful, twitch might ban me if they see this"

in which you hit his chest and go back to snuggling into his arm as he games

overall... he loves having you on stream <3

[chibigingi]

My Issue with Solas

(To which I'm going to be berated, blocked, loathed, dismissed by his fans, and that's okay because it's their right, but I gotta get this out.)

First and foremost I will openly admit that I've played most of the Dragon Age games and their DLC (exception being one of the DLCs from Dragon Age 2 involving Corphyeus and the deets on Malcom Hawke, and any DLC in Inquisition), and my enjoyment of the series, up until Veilguard, is casual. I preferred the Mass Effect series and even then I can't say that I know all the lore to consider myself a super fan.

That being said, my issue with Solas (besides some of his crazier fans who genuinely can't acknowledge any flaws or unironically say that the Veil should've came down) is the fact that they wrote him to be too powerful, too clever, and thus wrote themselves (or the ones that ended up taking over as I'm told that the development for Dread Wolf and then eventually Veilguard was... uh... a mess xD) into a corner in regards to how they can realistically combat him by making him the antagonist of the fourth game.

Much of the criticism I see from the hardcore Solas/Dragon Age lore fans usually boil down to the fact that they (the writers) nerfed him so that the heroes of the Veilguard could have a fighting chance.

"Remember when he could turn people into stone without even looking at them?"

"He could've easily subdued Varric without killing him." (Something Neve points out as well if you take her with you to the final showdown in Minrathous)

"I can't believe he'd fall for a fake dagger, they had to BS some excuse that he's concussed or say it's his arrogance that blinded him, whatever, they made him look dumb!"

All reasonable criticisms, but I think the problem lies in the fact that the writers, either his original ones or the new ones, just did themselves an oopsie and powerscaled him to the point that ANY effort to overcome him will be dismissed as 'contrived', 'unrealistic', or that they had to nerf him in order to overcome him.

Which... not really?

Think of it like this. Rook is portrayed as the anti-Solas, regardless if you play them as Blue, Red, or Purple. Whereas Solas schemes, plots ahead, plays chess with others as pawns, willing to sacrifice said pawns when necessary, Rook is literally riding by the seat of their pants and making it up as they go. When your opponent is someone who thinks he has everything figured out, the best way to combat that is to be so wild, so unpredictable, that it throws them off balance, long enough to get a few licks in.

Solas's greatest weakness in regards to Rook is that he always, always, always underestimates Rook and that Rook always does the unexpected.

Whereas Solas knew Varric would try and talk him down, he could never predict that the wild card that Varric hired was stupid enough to drop a freakin' statue on him to stop a ritual (instead of doing something conventional, like, you know... shoot at him from afar or charge boldly at him, like an idiot). ((Though, if Solas had taken the time to know Rook, especially Warden Rook, he's have probably been a little less surprised... or not, because who'd drop a large construction ontop of someone else TWICE in the span of a few months? Seriously, who even does that once, much less twice?))

Whereas Solas expects Rook to be belligerent and distrustful throughout their shared sessions in the Meditation rooms, Rook surprises him by actually listening to his advice, despite their dislike/distrust of him.

Whereas Solas expects Rook to be trapped in the Fade prison, because if someone as smart and clever and powerful as he, the Elven god of lies, deception, rebellion, blah blah blah, then an idiot like Rook who Solas clearly thinks lacks insight and introspection (a far assumption, Rook dropping a statue on him and interrupting a Ritual was literally plan A) couldn't figure it out.

Even the three (technically Five I guess) endings, Rook defeats him by doing the unexpected.

Sacrifice, he never expects Rook to have what it takes to make the sacrifice. Sure, everyone SAYS they'll do whatever it takes to save the world, but how many are actually willing to do it when the gauntlet is thrown? How many have tried to stop Solas with the good ol' 'Whatever it takes' mentality and hadn't either been defeated or chickened out when the time came?

Fight, he expects that Rook would be stupid and fight him on their own, never expecting that his companions would be willing to risk life and limb to fight for Rook (hell, even Emmrich, Mr-Always-Suggests-The-Non-Violent-Option is ready to throw hands the moment Rook says it's Clobbering time).

Trick, this is self-explanatory in that he never expects Emmrich or anyone to have made a fake dagger, nor does he expect Rook to be brazen enough to even try pulling such a trick on him. This is a guy that thought dropping a statue on him was a good idea, after all, and Rook hadn't shown signs of such deviousness before, at least not against him. Who would dare try and outDread Wolf the Dread Wolf? Rook, that's who.

Both Redemption endings, he never expects Rook to actually talk to him in the final confrontation, especially after all that he put Rook through. He's expecting Rook to be so out for blood, so determined to see him as his enemy, so determined to stop him, that the idea that he'd go through the hassle of learning about all of his regrets or finding Mythal's fragment wouldn't have crossed Rook's mind. That Rook actually believed that he was worthy of redemption, after everything he's done, to Rook, to the Inquisitor, to Mythal, to literally all of Thedas... is unexpected.

Look, I get that the writing in Veilguard, especially compared to previous games, isn't all that great. Sometimes it's just bad. I think fans had expected Solas to continue to be this all-powerful being that was always being eluded to through in-game journals and codex entries (or these feats maybe were seen in Trespasser, I don't know because I haven't played it and at this point, I kind of don't want to). I think a lot of the issues arise with expectations, whether they're reasonable expectations or not.

People expected Solas to be bested by a character that could match his wit, but instead, they get a chaotic DnD player that is literally making shit up as they go. Which... if you're a fan of Solas and wanted to maybe see him have a better outcome even though you knew he'd have to lose at the end, I can get the disappointment. Or maybe you hate Solas but are still disappointed that you couldn't really do all the terrible things you wanted to do to him (like, me... sorry, but my Inquisitor would NOT have called him 'Friend'... don't give me the option to say 'I want to stop him' if you're just going to be lazy and have it the same as the 'I want to help him' but just a little less nice). Sorry y'all didn't get the game you wanted or the game you feel the series deserves... fate conspired against us players and the developers who tried despite being given an impossible task.

Maybe I'm pessimistic, and I'll admit I have some bias against Solas anyways as I never cared for him even BEFORE the reveal in Inquisition, but I just had a feeling that the decision to have the entire series revolve around him was going to eventually bite Bioware in the butt, because once the expectations was there, the chances of them living up to said expectations was slimmer than Emmrich's waistline. Maybe with more time and resources and not having EA constantly trying to make Dragon Age something it could never be, y'all have gotten the game y'all feel the series deserve.

Or maybe y'all be bitching because there'll be something else that y'all didn't like in how he was handled. I don't know, I'm like Rook in that I don't have time for that kind of insight. I enjoyed the game, for all of its many flaws... only other Dragon Age game I played more than once was 2, and that was because I screwed up with Isabela and I hate finishing a game without a full party available to me (if it is possible and not because of the developers forcing the players to make a choice to kill, or have a character leave no matter what you do).

Anyways, TL;DR version: Rook is my precious baby and we were never going to get a version of Veilguard that would've satisfied the fans nor EA's ridiculous expectations...

[nikibogwater]

I really wish I could've been there for Echoes of Wisdom's story development meetings, because I bet they were absolutely freakin' wild. Like--

"Alright, so we got another Zelda game on our hands here, but this time it's gonna be a little bit different because Zelda is the actual main character, and she's gonna be running around and summoning household objects and monsters to solve puzzles and commit crimes. How do we explain all of this?"

"Well, what if she has a magic wand that summons all the stuff for her? And what if Link was captured by the villain, so now she's on a quest to save him before Hyrule gets destroyed? And what if Hyrule's being torn to pieces by these massive rips in the space-time-continuum that open into an all-consuming void from which there is no escape?"

"Uh, I mean, sure, that could work--"

"And what if we had a villain who is so conceptually horrifying, the only other character in series canon who even comes close to matching it is Majora? WHAT IF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE WAS CONSTRUCTED AS A PRISON TO CONTAIN THIS RAVENOUS ELDRITCH HORROR WHO PREDATES THE GODDESS HYLIA HERSELF???"

"...You do know we're reusing the art direction of the Link's Awakening remake, right?"

"HAHA, YES! IT'S PERFECT!!!!"

[gingerteafairy]

𝙨𝙚𝙭 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 (𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙭 𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧)

Playing games with Alex is obviously something smutty.

tags n warnings: a WAY TOO suggestive fluff, no smut (maybe licking), kinky(?). word count: 3.3k

It was Wednesday, and the store felt like a museum—quiet, dusty, and dead.

Yeah, you could have gotten up and wiped down a few shelves just to kill time, maybe shake up the monotony of sitting around, waiting for another weirdo to wander in. But instead, you just tipped your head back, eyes on the ceiling, and let out a dramatic sigh.  

"You ever think about actually working?" 

Alex’s voice, smooth as melted caramel, cut through your boredom like a hot knife. A smirk tugged at your lips as you tilted your head down, catching sight of him strolling over. He leaned on the counter, elbows resting like he owned the place—which, technically, he kind of did.  

"I would work if there was something to actually do," you shot back, propping your head in your hand. Your elbow was so close to his hands that you could feel the faint brush of his knuckles as he doodled on the dusty glass counter.  

"Touché," he chuckles. His curls caught the faint flicker of the neon sign outside, making him look annoyingly good for someone who claimed to hate his job.  

"Five hours. Five freakin’ hours of standing here, and not one person has walked through that door," you said, watching his fingers trace invisible shapes. You knew you'd have to clean up the fingerprints later, but honestly? You didn’t mind. Not when it was Alex.  

"Can’t really blame ‘em. It’s Wednesday," he replied, finally looking up at you. His hazel eyes locked onto yours, and just like that, your cheeks went warm. Damn him and that crooked little smile.  

"Guess people don't have sex on Wednesdays," you quipped, trying to play it cool.  

"Nah, you’re wrong. Totally wrong," he laughs, shaking his head. "People go hard on Wednesdays. Like, sneaky wild. Trust me."  

"If you say so," you bubble, shrugging as you stretched, trying to loosen up the stiffness in your back from sitting too long. "Feels like we’re the only losers stuck here doing nothing, though."

"Maybe," he said, his gaze sweeping the store before settling back on you. A slow grin spread across his face as he leaned in closer. "But hey, who says we can’t make it interesting and gon wild?"

“Oh, really?" you asked, raising an eyebrow, your lips twitching into a grin. “And what we're gonna do?”

His smile widened, dimples popping as he rested his chin on his hand. "I dunno, something cool. A game, talk some shit, maybe get creative. Why? You scared of a little fun?"

"Tempting," you softened, leaning forward until your faces were a little too close. "But I think I’ll just sit here and embrace the boredom. Really lean into it."

Alex mirrored you, resting his weight on his elbows. "Oh yeah?" His voice dropped as he gave you a slow once-over, his gaze lingering before snapping back to yours. "What if I’m bored outta my mind? Huh? You gonna just let me suffer? Don’t forget, I could totally fire you."

"Wow, abuse of power much?" you shot back, licking your lips out of habit. They felt dry again as his laughter hit you, low and easy, filling the empty space between you.  

“Maybe I like to use my rank to get what I want, even if it's dirty," he admitted, straightening up. The space between you grew, and you hated how much you noticed it. "But for real. Let’s do something. I’m not about to die of boredom with you sitting right here."

His smirk only grows as he stands up from leaning on the counter. You clean your throat, standing up nervously. “What we're gonna do? I'm out of ideas.” 

He takes a step closer to you, only an arms length away. There's a hint of excitement in his eyes as he speaks.“We're in a sex shop. There's a world of fun here.” 

“Yeah…you're right.” You blushed, chuckling as you tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. 

His eyes flickered over your face slowly and motions with his head. "C'mon, follow me." 

You follow him through the store, weaving between dusty shelves stacked with all kinds of oddities, until you both stop in front of a small display of games. He grabs a box and turns to you with a playful, almost mischievous grin.  

"Sex Adventures. Chasing the pleasure chest," he announces, holding it up like it’s some sort of treasure. “Roleplays, fantasies and confessions. An excellent turn on for your sexy night.”

You roll your eyes. “Seriously?"

“No, look. There's more.” he giggles, shaking the box a little for emphasis, his curls bouncing slightly with the motion and reading the back of the box. “Dozen minutes of pleasure. Who's gonna cum first? Ok. This shit is great. We need to try.” 

"Fine," you concede with a smirk. "But maybe we should flip the sign to ‘closed’ first, just in case."

"Nah, don’t bother. Nobody’s coming in anyway," he says, laughing as you both share a knowing glance.  

"You're right," you agree, chuckling as he grabs your hand and pulls you toward the back of the store.  

The warm, calloused feel of his hand sends a flicker of electricity through you, but you shove the thought aside as you step into his office.  

He pushes open the door, gesturing dramatically for you to enter before plopping down in his swivel chair. You take the seat across from him, leaning back as he tears open the game box with exaggerated enthusiasm. Cards, dice, and random bits of paper scatter across the desk.  

You reach out for one of the dice, but Alex swats your hand away with a teasing slap.  

"Hey!" you exclaim, laughing as you pull your hand back and rest it in your lap.  

"Patience, rookie," he teases, his grin wide as he starts sorting the cards into neat piles.  

You watch him, amused, as he carefully lines everything up like it’s some kind of sacred ritual. You grab one of the dice and roll it across the desk, his eyes lighting up with the thrill of the game.

“Four," you announce, picking up your tiny plastic piece and moving it forward on the board. “White card… confession."

"Nice," Alex chuckles, leaning back in his chair. "Go for it. This is a judgment-free zone."

You laugh at his goofy attempt to make you comfortable, shaking your head as you pick up the card. "What do you think about when you masturbate? I dunno. Sex?"

"Really? I can't believe it, you're dirty. Who thinks about sex when masturbating?” he jokes, you can’t help but smile, even through the nervous energy buzzing between you.

Finally, he grabs a die and rolls it across the table.

"Six," he announces with a triumphant grin, picking up a tiny plastic game piece and moving it across the board. "Alright, grab a red card. That’s a dare, and… oh no. Oh man, this is gonna be good… Oh my God!"

"I can’t believe we’re actually doing this," you groan, burying your face in your hands. You peek through your fingers just in time to see his brow furrow as he reads the card. "What’s it say?"

"First of all. Are you ready to go wild?" he asks, his laughter bubbling up as he looks at you with mock seriousness.

"Why? Is it that bad?" you giggle, trying to sneak a glance at the card. He pulls it away, laughing even harder."Come on, Alex! Just tell me already!"

"No, no. First, you gotta answer—are you ready to go wild?" He’s still laughing, his voice teasing but insistent.

"Oh my God!" you cry, doubling over with laughter, clutching your stomach as you wave for him to spill the details. "Just tell me, for the love of all that’s holy!"

“This question is everything but holy.” He announced, giggling. “Alright. Spell ‘fuck me’ with your tongue on the neck of the person in front of you or dance a naughty song.” 

You bite your lip, trying desperately to hold back your laughter, but it’s no use. It bursts out of you, loud and uncontrollable, as you nearly tip backward in your chair. Alex is no better, clutching his stomach as he doubles over, wheezing.  

"What the actual fuck?!" you choke out, tears forming at the corners of your eyes from laughing so hard. You grab the card and read it for yourself, laughing even harder as you wave it in front of him.  

"I know, I know," he chortled, his voice still shaky from laughter as he straightens up in his chair. "But hey, a dare’s a dare. And it's weird cause they give you options. I gotta do it. Unless, of course, I need the lady’s permission first," he teases, pushing his chair back and standing up.  

Your heart skips slightly as a wave of shyness washes over you, but you force it down. After all, this was Alex—your ridiculously handsome, painfully charming manager. You weren’t immune to his magnetism, no one would be.  

“Go for it," you say, your voice a touch too casual as you bite your lip, the faintest hint of nervousness betraying you. His sharp eyes catch it, but he only smirks, clearly amused.  

"Alright then. Here goes the naughty boy on a sexy dance," he declares, stepping around the desk toward you.  

He rests his hands on the arms of your chair, leaning in just enough to make your breath hitch. His grin widens as he kneels dramatically in front of you.  

"Ready?" he asks, his tone dripping with over-the-top theatrics. 

“Ready," you manage, laughing softly as you flip your hair to the side to make access for him. 

Alex sighs, licking his lips as he briefly lifts his body approaching your neck. He eyes you and you couldn't believe what you saw. He was nervous at you. Alex was blushing and leaning to your neck. You swallowed, staring at the wall. The moment you felt his tongue on your neck, you shutted your eyes, containing a mewl when he spelled F. 

"We can stop…if you want to " he suggests, his voice weak as he pushes his head back. Shit. He listened. 

“No…” you breathe, licking your lips when you observe his wet pink lips.”Don't be a pussy, Alex. Keep going.” you teased trying not to sound so aroused. Game didn't even start and you already felt the sticky sensation down on you. 

He leans down to your ear, a dark chuckle escaping his lips. “I won't stop.” He whispered and you shivered, pulse quickening. 

Alex stocked his tongue again and traced an F again. You figured that each letter seemed to be traced slower and more pressed than the other. Seemed like he was trying to get you on the edge and he was. Fucking Alex was making you wet on purpose. 

He pushed back and you groaned, feeling him away again. Why does it have to be such a small word? He could spell a whole book in there if he could.

Alex giggled, watching you blushing and stomping on your spot, touching your neck. “Do you want me to dirty dance?”

Oh, how you wanted him dancing for you. He had a waist that had you looking every single time he picked something from the shelves. 

“Only if you have a whole Spotify playlist.” You cleared your throat, fixing yourself on your place as he came back to his, crossing your legs to suppress the shameful wetness on your core. 

He grinned, rolling his eyes playfully and your mouth fell. “No, Alex… you really have a sex playlist?”

“Who doesn't?” He shrugged. “Nah. Just kidding. It's for the store. The Weeknd rocks like crazy on them. Clients like them.”

“He does.” You concur, giggling. “Almost all of them have The Weeknd and Chase Atlantic. Seems like they're the only artists who do it.”

“Don't forget pillow talk by Zayn,” he playfully interrupted, leaning lazily on his chair, spreading his legs as you pressed yours when he did it. “If I'm gonna dance, I'll choose this one.” 

You could swear to God you saw a little volume on those pants, but you shook your head. Probably imagination. Yeah, definitely. Yeah right, Alex was hard just by licking your neck. No…

You draw another red card, letting out a deep sigh before even reading it. "Alright, here we go… dare. What now?"

Alex crosses his arms, leaning forward slightly with a mischievous grin. Reading the card, your face heats up instantly. "Oh no. No, no, no. I’m not doing this."  

"What is it?" he asks, clearly entertained. "No backing out now. Rules are rules."

You groan, burying your face in your hands before mumbling, “I have to act out a scene from a porn movie."

Alex’s eyes widen, and his grin grows even wider. "That’s amazing. Which movie?"

“Don’t say it like that—it doesn’t help!" you protest, standing up reluctantly. “It doesn’t say which one. I just… have to improvise," you read from the card, sighing in defeat.  

He leans back in his chair, far too amused by your embarrassment. "I’m waiting. Show me your porn moment."

Heart pounding, you take a deep breath and start. First, you throw yourself dramatically from the chair, pretending to be a bed. Then, in a slightly clumsy move, you roll to the side, shouting, “Oh no, not like this… Not on the floor…Oh…God!”  

You crouch behind it, flipping your hair dramatically. “We're fucking hard in the wall, lets go.” you leap into the air, spin awkwardly, leaning on the wall, letting out a triumphant yell. “Yeah! Fuck!” 

When you finish, completely out of breath and with your face burning, you collapse back into your chair, covering your eyes with your hands. "I can’t believe I just did that."

Alex, who had been silent during your entire performance, begins clapping slowly, his laughter full of surprise and approval. "Wow! That was… absolutely incredible. Seriously, where have you been hiding that talent?"

You groan, hiding your face behind your hands, but you can’t stop yourself from laughing too. “That was awful, Alex. Please, never speak of this again."

"Are you kidding me? That was amazing! You should be hired for pornhub. I would sign it.” He keeps laughing, his eyes sparkling with something that makes your heart race. “You went all in, and that’s what made it so good.”

Alex picks up the dice again, glancing at you with a flicker of concern in his eyes. He rolls it, and the number two comes up. Moving his piece on the board, he stops on a black card. His brows knit together as he grabs the card, and you instinctively lean forward to catch his reaction.  

"Black card… wonder what that’s about," he mutters, turning the plastic card over. The moment he reads it, his eyes widen, and you feel a lump form in your throat.  

"Uh… look, it’s totally fine if you don’t want to do this," he stammers, scratching the back of his head. "It’s kinda weird." 

"Just say it," you urge, leaning in a little more, curiosity getting the better of you.  

"Well… uh…" He fumbles, glancing between you and the card before letting out a shaky laugh. "We have to stand up for this one."

You tilt your head, but something about his nervousness makes you nod anyway. Rising from your chair, you stand across from him. He follows suit, and suddenly, he’s right there—closer than you expected. His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows, his eyes quickly darting over you before meeting yours again.  

“It's a game called 10 minutes of pleasure" he finally says, his voice soft but steady. “I need to give you 10 minutes of pleasure.”

Your cheeks burn instantly. That wasn’t what you were expecting. Not at all.  

“Alright," you breathe, trying to keep your composure as he extends a hand toward you. You take it, your fingers brushing against his in a way that makes your heart flutter.  

His hands hesitantly rests on your waist, and you place yours on his shoulder. His gaze meets yours, searching for any sign of discomfort. When you give a small nod, he begins leading his hands in a slow, slightly awkward rhythm on your sides, squeezing it.

“So…do you usually…do it? You know…taking requests easily?” He jokes, trying to make the moment less weird. 

You smile at his attempt. “Not actually.” 

“Then, why are you taking mine?” He asks softly, the simplest question had you rumming. Yeah, why were you easily accepting everything? 

“I like you” you managed, looking at his beautiful dark eyes lighting up with your confession. “I mean…you're not the worst boss ever, so…”

“I'm glad to know that I'm not a bad manager.” He jokes, a soft genuine smile appears on his lips. “You're not the worst employee as well.”

“Thank you.”

The room feels smaller now, the soft sound of your breathing mingling with Alex. His hand holds yours firmly, but there’s a gentleness to his grip.

“Didn't know 10 minutes felt this long.” You stammered, giggling awkwardly. 

“It's not mandatory.” He sighed. “We always can stop. This game is really stupid.”

“No.” You blurt, gripping your hand on his shoulders. “It's a challenge and…we wanted to get wild, right? We don't wanna give up right when things are getting interesting.”

Alex stares at you for a moment, his hand takes a step further and touches your hair, stroking for a bit. You hummed, leaning for more. He licked his lips as the other hand drove to the back of your back, pulling you closer.  

His eyes glance down at your lips and they linger there for a moment before he speaks."You're a very, very, attractive employee, you know that?”

“This was the worst compliment I've ever heard.” You giggled and he threw his head, laughing as well. “No, really. It looks like a porn plot.”

“Fuck, you're right.” He concurs, lifting his head. “I think working here changes us, you know? All I can think is… hey, sexy employee. Come help your boss.”

“You already did it, you know?” You lit, your arms rest around his shoulders. “My next step is coming to your office and suddenly saying I'm trapped.”

“No, that's another movie.” He teased, snorting. His hand came back for your waist, gripping as the other caressed your back. “In this movie, I say I have a big promotion for my best employee.”

“Yeah, and I’d say… Boss, I would do anything for this job.” You cooed, feigning a sexy porn actress voice, pouting. 

He smiles as he raises a hand and gently brushes a strand of hair away from your face with his fingers. “You're very beautiful, you know that?” 

You blush, smiling. “You mean it or it's the acting?”

“No… it's for real.” He tells gently, brushing his thumb on your cheek. “You're really beautiful.” 

“You're very handsome, Alex. Just for the record.” You tease, giddy. 

His cheeks grow a soft pink as he smiles and lets out another chuckle. "Yeah? Is that all I am?”

“No, you're also very talented at making me wash the bathroom.” You laugh. He grins, shaking his head a little while his hand gently brushes against the side of your cheek.

"Of course that's what I do best. I'm the master at making you wash the bathroom.” He lets his hand linger a second more before he takes a breath in and sighs. "But honestly? I have a different talent that I'm incredibly better at than making you wash the bathroom.”

“Oh, yeah? What is it?” You continue, hope visible in your eyes as you take a step closer. 

He takes one more step forward, completely closing the gap in between you, so now his body is pressing against yours. “Ordering you to clean all the store, don't pretend you didn't see the dust.” Alex teased, pushing back as you crossed your arms giggling with him. Alex used the rank again. Lovely. You cleaned up at the end, you really needed the job. And…well… you knew he would reward you, sexually or not. He was still hard by playing sex adventures and would call you for help. He always does.  

[sebaztianlovesgeek]

THE NON CANON PARTS OF THE BLACK BUTLER ANIME IN BOTH SEASON 1 AND 2 AND ALSO THE SPECIALS WERE WILD

(in no particular order)

Ciel hires a random naked dog man who can turn into a giant wolf to be his servant even though he literally does nothing around the manor and just hangs out with Finny all the time

Finny forms a crush on a character we later find out is an angel named Angela and after the dog village arc ends we never hear of his crush again

For the most part the curry arc is the same, but for some reason they decided to change the ending. In the manga Lau and Ranmao killed Nina and her husband, in the anime everyone becomes evil by eating curry, and Sebastian had to feed them all his curry buns to turn them all good again, WHAT??

Sebastian has sex with a Nun in some cult church

Angela took Vincent and Rachel's bodies and stitched them into a weird Frankenstein looking thing because apparently that would combine their souls in the afterlife so they could be together forever

Also the whole thing with Ciel being kidnapped by the cult is never explained despite Queen Victoria and Angela being responsible for the death of his parents, therefore you'd think they'd also be responsible for the whole cult thing? But they would have no reason to sell a 10 year old to be abused by a cult-

Ash (aka Angela because they're the same person) turns Queen Victoria into A FREAKING LOLI

Ciel is framed for drug trafficking

Sebastian is arrested and kept in a torture dungeon for like 3 days where he is BDSM whipped by Angela for some reason

Fred Abberline dies

Fred before he dies mentions he doesn't have any family yet he has a brother who shows up in season 2-

Lau and Ranmao die yet they also show up in season 2

Lizzy gets kidnapped by a doll man and is almost turned into a doll zombie (not a bizarre doll just a doll zombie)

Sebastian ditches Ciel in France for some reason

Ciel finds Undertaker on some random boat and then Undertaker tells him he's gonna freakin' die

London is on fucking fire

Who caused the fire? Pluto. And thats the only part of the story where he is relevant

The final fight between Sebastian and Ash/Angela is fucking awesome though

In season 2 Ciel is just in a suitcase and has amnesia

Alois pokes Hannah's eye out for spilling a drink or something

Ciel and Lizzy try to find a deer or something and everyone thinks they're gonna break up after just 1 argument

Lau even started a gambling thing where people put down their bets on whether or not Ciel and Lizzy were gonna break up

Some weird old lady set random people on fire because she didn't like her husband, for some reason the fire disintegrated the souls so Grell couldn't collect them which doesn't make sense

Some weird bullshit happens on a train with a Pharaoh, a murderer and Sebastian being cool like always

Alois has a dress up party at his house

Soma and Agni cry because Ciel has amnesia

Soma is dressed up as Sherlock Holmes even though black butler takes place before that came out (or at the very least before it became mainstream/popular)

Lizzy dresses up as a Native American, lets just say she's lucky Twitter didn't exist in the Victorian Era

Kinda like the whole curry thing everyone turns evil except its from music from a magic instrument Hannah plays and not curry, and Sebastian stops it by playing his own music kind of like the final battle in Equestria Girls Rainbow Rocks

Alois crossdresses and turns Ciel bi curious

Sebastian and Claude have sexual tension in the lake

Ciel and Alois have a sword fight, Ciel is thrown off a balcony and Alois is stabbed

"PLEASE HELP ME CLAUDE, HELP ME I'M DYING 😭"

We soon find out about Alois' backstory and it's actually quite sad and hits a bit close to home for me, I won't go into detail but the poor kids been through a lot, Alois is genuinely an interesting and kind of well written character its a shame he was put in the non canon pile of shite

Claude then crushed Alois' skull and takes his soul and puts it in a ring

Kids are getting their eyeballs ripped out and apparently Alois is doing all of this, but for some reason Scotland yard THINKS CIEL IS ALOIS WHICH IS SO DUMB BECAUSE THEY'VE BEEN WORKING WITH HIM EVER SINCE HE BECAME THE QUEENS CORGI GUARD DOG

He is taken to some doctor and is dumped into a pool of gatorade to fuse his and Alois' souls

Ciel's backstory is basically half of Alois' and half of Ciel's and thinks Sebastian killed his brother Luca

Ciel doesn't like Claude because Claude is a goober

Hannah does a weird thing with Ciel she like... Possesses him? And his eyeball appears in her mouth or something? I had no idea what was going on

Soon it is revealed Hannah was the one who ate Luca's soul and is now feeling like a mother figure for Alois because of it

Grell shows up again (yay) and she keeps trying to take sexy photos of Sebastian

Soon Claude and Sebastian end up at a maze thingy and they need to answer trivia questions to get to Alois/Ciel's soul

Soon they go to some demon island and they end up fighting using a demon sword while Ciel and Alois talk about shit in some void

Claude fucking dies (rip goober)

Alois' soul is finally set free and the poor kid gets to be with his little brother again

Hannah turns Ciel into a demon so Sebastian can no longer eat his soul so Sebastian just becomes Ciel's butler for all eternity and I lowkey feel bad for him, because yeah eating childrens souls is wrong but BRO WORKED SO HARD HE LITERALLY BANGED A NUN FOR THIS CHILD AND THIS IS THE THANKS HE GETS??

Ciel and Sebastian fake their death, the end of season 2 and a few years after that the ACTUAL CONTINUATION OF THE CANON PARTS come out

Ciel in wonderland is very silly

Sebastian as the rabbit is hot for some reason, does that make me a furry?

There is a lot of weird fan service, for example Ranmao keeps shoving her boobs and butt into Ciel's face... LADY THAT IS A 13 YEAR OLD YOU CANT DO THAT-

I'm glad it wasn't canon because I love Ranmao and she would never do that in canon

Madame Red as the queen of hearts is very cool

Weebalu already mentioned this but I wish J Michael Tatum (Sebastian's dub voice actor) did a Alice In Wonderland audiobook in the Sebastian voice

The one where Ciel puts on a play for hamlet was funny, the part where they're practicing is funny because its like an actual theatre club

Soma and Agni are the kids who are always eating, Ciel is the kid who just sucks at acting, Grell is the one who is great at acting but is very annoying and Sebastian is the theatre teacher who wants to commit kms because of all of these stupid kids

Ranmao is seaweed

Grell tries to commit incest during the play-

The special where its basically a 'behind the scenes' thing kind of like an actor AU

Sebastian is a fucking 2010's boy band looking lad

Grell is just amazing in this

In the final "trailer" Grell got pregnant, Queen Victoria built a giant robot, Claude tried to destroy the world with the fucking moon, Hannah... Uhhh lets not talk about what she did, a whole load of "I am your father" type plot twists took place and Alois was Ciel and Sebastian's great great great great great great grand-

The special where theres this character who's basically a self insert but she's a white girl so if you're not either of those its kind of hard getting into it (cries in gay guy)

The POV shots look like something out of Dora The Explorer

Soma wants to marry us for some reason, I wouldn't mind that he's cute

We also get kidnapped by Viscous Druitt for no reason and then Sebastian and Grell save us from a boat in the middle OF THE OCEAN

Finally Will The Reaper (I'm sure there are more specials but I'm lazy)

Grelliam galore

Probably one of the best specials because Grell and William are the main focus and they're just the absolute best

[respectthepetty]

Hi, this is random, but I saw your post about Pit Babe and you said you will never trust Charlie (Charles ha ha). Just wondering if that means you’re pro/against him and Babe and just don’t like Charlie (for obvious reasons, he did not need to do All That last season)?

I don't know if you followed my journey with the first season, but I watched it muted, without subtitles, on double speed, and with the tag blocked, so I was really livin' la vida loca. I had no freakin' clue what was happening, and even now . . . I still don't really know. But I do know that Charles and Jeffrey were pissing me off every single episode because they would NOT stay blue!

And because I had no damn idea what was going on, a chunk of these characters were suspicious and pissing me off, so I was convinced for the first half of the show that Charles was mind controlling Babe with his superpower

Charles keeps moving Barbie's head and body to face him. He never lets Barbie turn away from him. Then, when Barbie is clearly upset, Charles continues to kiss him, which is why I think he his mind controlling Barbie. When his arm was in the sling, Babe could push him away before Charles could start his mind control bullshit. Sometimes, it's noticeable when Babe's face softens, which should come off as sweet like "ah, look how he drops his defenses around Charlie" BUT LOOK AT THE WAY HE DROPS HIS DEFENSES AROUND CHARLIE! Charles doesn't even know how to drive, yet Babe gave him a car. Charlie's dick game may be strong, but mind control is stronger.

Does this not look like mind control?

I also heavily suspected Waymond of doing it too, so some mutuals decided to tell me that Waymond's power was mind control AND CHARLES WAS TAKING OTHER PEOPLE'S POWERS!!!!!!

AND I WAS LIVID!!!!!!

So to answer your question, I do not want Charles with Barbie because I do not trust him to not do something wild to protect Barbie instead of just communicating, like FAKING HIS OWN DEATH!

But Barbara apparently loves that special brand of crazy, so if he is Gucci than I'm Goodwill, or whatever.

I. Don't. Trust. Him.

[imclou]

I JUST WATCHED ARCANE SEASON 2- At least what there is right now and ITS SO FREAKIN GOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDD

And Ive been wondering, has the latest season inspired/given you ideas for your dca arcane au? 👀

IKR OMGGGG IWAS FLOORED

Arcane s2 (subtle) spoilers ahead! There's talk about the Arcane AU too

I was eagerly waiting for s2 to catch (1) details about Piltover and Zaun's streets and (2) possibly a bit of info about the Arcane itself

The first episodes actually confirmed/developped ideas i had written for the AU mainly concerning :

- The Grey

- The pipework system used to keep the Grey out of the streets.

The network spreads for miles and covers almost all of the Undercity. Firelight Y/N grew up in the deepest parts of the Sumps meaning they got to scour the abandonned Mine tunnels and Pipework as much as they liked. Fastforward to today, they're in charge of scouting around some vital areas that lead directly to the Firelights' hideout. These spots are still pretty far from it, however imagine their surprise when some weird enforcer showed up there. No matter how much Y/N tries to keep it out of the Pipes, it comes back, relentlessly, with no sign of fatigue and sometimes upgraded too. It's only a matter of time until it makes its way into their home.

- Wild runes 👀

No spoilers but one thing's for sure : wild runes and corruption will play very important roles in the AU. To the point where I started gathering papers about the ethics of AI and philosophy of sciences (organicism, mechanism, the mind-body problem etc...) of which I'm neither a fan or an expert haha I find philosophy hard to understand but who knows, it looks kinda fun right now :]

[starsfic]

MK winds up being a contestant in Frankie's Parkour Palace. Of course, he's got all the powers of the freakin' Monkey King, but he tries to be a good sport and not rely on them. That is, until it hits him just how disproportionately dire the stakes are for an obstacle course game show, at which point the kid gloves are off. Xiaotian being Xiaotian, of course, goes out of his way to make sure none of the other contestants end up dying either.

Qi Xiaotian peeked around the corner, his heart thudding in his chest like a drum. Behind him, there was a whimper and a hushed "Quiet, Amanda."

The room appeared to be empty. Xiaotian pulled back and gestured them forward. "I think we're safe for now," he said, looking at the other two contestants. Well, the other two survivors.

Yeah, the tape he had received in the cereal box should've warned him about the death game angle.

Xiaojiao had heard weird rumors about the "Finding Frankie" gameshow when he asked her, but 5 million American dollars was 5 million. Xiaotian had even been flown in on a private plane! Sure, he might be way too prepared for this, but he wasn't gonna use his powers! That felt too easy.

And then that hunting knife had sunken into the contestant next to him.

He honestly didn't really remember what happened exactly, just that there was a lot of screaming and motion. After that, things had come together to create an image he didn't like... No. An image he hated.

"Finding Frankie" was a death gameshow where people, deep in the Dark Web, watched anonymously as people tried to survive a killer game of tag. The cereal boxes were sent to poorer areas, where people were desperate for any chance at a better life. That included Amanda, a girl from the state of Georgia, and Datu, a guy from the Philippines. Amanda was only seventeen and wanted the money to help her grandma win custody of her younger siblings from her alcoholic but popular dad. Datu was a little older, but his family was being threatened with eviction in order to make a golf course, and they didn't have enough savings to find a new place after their family restaurant was forcibly shut down.

"It only lasted a few minutes before the 57th season," Amanda had explained, her voice shivering with tears. "My dad watches it. It used to have this horrifying rabbit that ate everyone. And if someone escaped him, there was this phone guy..."

"What happened in the 57th season?" Datu asked. "I always thought that it had great special effects."

"The Contestant won," she spat. "They took that monster Frankie's place. Views started going wild because...well..."

Because a monster was one thing. A human killing was another.

Now, Xiaotian guided them into the next parkour room, his staff out in case something launched out at them. The Contestant knew this place like the back of their hand and had more than shown this knowledge. "Frankie's Frosted Peak," he read as he pulled out his phone. Xiaojiao had texted back. "She's working on finding us a way out, and she thinks she's almost done hacking the anons," he reported as he tucked his phone back into his pocket.

"That's good," Datu said, keeping his arm around Amanda. He kept his eyes forward, pointedly not looking at the dead bodies stacked up on either side of the entrance.

The three of them worked their way through the beginning obstacles, Datu and Amanda holding each other's hands tight. Xiaotian allowed gold to fill his vision.

Something sparked at the top, at the catwalks that lined everything, not hidden by the fake snow that sprinkled down. Xiaotian kept his mouth shut as they approached the beginning of the obstacle course.

There were more bodies here, even more than at the entrance. Xiaotian found himself coming to a stop to poke at one. Instead of the slash and stab marks on other bodies, these bodies looked like they had been burned.

A soft step was his only warning.

He rolled out of the way of the Contestant's hunting knife and wasted no time in slamming a fist in the masked face. "Go, go, go!" he ordered, jumping to his feet. "I'll catch up!"

The Contestant was the only one who still wore the mask, but that didn't muffle the faint growl as they finally yanked out the knife from the floor. They stared down at each other, circling each other like predators-

An alarm began to blare.

"MK!" Datu yelled. "WATCH OUT FOR THE SLIME!"

"Huh? What-" Purple slime was starting to leak up from the edges of the room and was approaching them fast. "Oh, shit-" Xiaotian slammed the staff up and willed it to go-

The Contestant tackled him as the staff slammed up.

"Get off!" he yelled as a fist slammed into his face. "Get off, get off, get-" He slammed down on the staff and jumped, kicking the Contestant off. The staff shrank in and gleamed. "OFF!"

The staff slammed into the Contestant's side and sent them flying, slamming right into the wall next to the Frankie watching. The staff extended and Xiaotian slammed into the platform under Datu and Amanda's platform and looked up.

The screen used to have a red-tinted Frankie. It buzzed as he looked, revealing the Contestant yanking off their mask.

The person underneath could've been called pretty, with sharp features and blue eyes, dark hair knocked loose from its ponytail, except for the blood leaking from their nose and mouth. He watched as they stared at him, before their look of annoyance tightened into a feral grin. They stood up, wiping the blood from their face, and proceeded to launch themself over the railing.

Oh, fuck, they're an adrenaline junkie.

Xiaotian didn't linger to watch, or he might've heard the Frankie give a little growl.

[katyawriteswhump]

Omega Found, Omega Lost, part 1

Title: Omega found, Omega lost; Chapter: 1/5; WC: 2372 Rating: M (will be E in later parts); Tags: Steddie, Omega Steve, Alpha Eddie, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff. For whumptober 2024, day 1 prompts: race against the clock, search party, panic attack.

Summary: Newly presented Omega, Steve, gets lost in a storm while out searching for Dustin. Unclaimed and un-mated, he's vulnerable to any predatory Alpha... but he can trust Eddie Munson, right? Whump, whump, whump but also shameless fluff!

Billion x thank you to @wheneverfeasible who kindly enabled the omega-verse fun <3<3<3

Chapter 1: Race against the clock (also here on Ao3)

Steve parked up on the edge of the forest and wandered out, wondering which of the noisy search parties he should tag along with. Icy drizzle lashed his glowing cheeks. The skies churned with clouds that resembled purple-black bruises. The winter storm brewing was nearly as intense as the shitstorm over the missing pups.

"Steve?” Chief Hopper left the group he’d been bossing around and thundered over. “What the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Steve wrapped his arms tight around himself. Being yelled at by the most Alpha Alpha in the town pack was super-scary. He lifted his chin defiantly. "Dustin is my friend. I can’t stay on the bench for this."

"Don’t be a fool. Loan Alphas roam these woods at night. You know that, kid. You fall out of step, get left behind? You’re a stripling unmated Omega—you do the math.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lone Alphas are animals who’d as soon spit-roast me alive as hump me. I’ve heard the scary bedtime stories so many times they genuinely make me doze off. Anyhow, they’d be freakin’ brain-dead, evolutionary full-stop Alphas to be skulking around for kicks on a night like this. 

Steve didn’t say any of that, of course. He mumbled towards his boots, “I could come with you?” 

"I can't be looking out for Hawkins’ mouthiest, most hothead Omega, when…"

Steve was never going to win. Even his trump-card reason for joining the search—the walkie-talkie he’d been trying to contact Dustin on for hours—was summarily dismissed.

“We have Lucas’s radio,” said Hopper. “He’s helping with the search.”

“Sinclair? Seriously?” Steve barely kept the whine from his voice. “He’s a pup! Look, I can take care of—"

"Omega, go home."

Steve’s breath jammed in his lungs. Hopper’s deep rumbling growl was pretty much inarguable. As was the arm Hopper slung around him to guide him back toward his car.

Steve drove off. He was so goddamn frustrated, and the worry inside him made his stomach churn as wildly as the clouds. He was nearly home before he slammed to a halt, tyres screeching and skidding.

Screw them all! He was an Omega, not a freakin’ pushover, plus there were pups in danger. Okay, not his pups, and in fact only a few years younger than him. That was total irrelevance. It was his duty as much as anybody’s to look out for them. In fact, presenting as Omega had been a goddamn relief, explaining a lot about his protective instincts toward younger kids.

Oh, and also about Eddie Munson, who’d presented as Alpha the year before Steve presented Omega. 

Simply thinking about Eddie stirred something wild in the pit of his belly. Eddie had been hitting on him, and yeah, Steve was interested. But was Eddie serious?

Eddie Munson never seemed quite serious about anything. Plus, Steve’s parents totally didn’t approve of him… and Steve had no capacity to worry about that mind-fuck tonight.

Dustin was missing. Obsessing over Eddie was making him confused and even more stressed-out, when he ought to be super-pumped to find his younger friend.

He drove back to the fringes of the forest then retrieved his walkie-talkie from the glove compartment. He wrapped himself up in woolly mittens and a scarf—newly knitted by his dad, so it was soft and springy and smelled comfortingly of home—and stomped off in the direction of Skull Rock. He’d a hunch that Dustin was with his girlfriend, so there was a small chance they’d moseyed in that direction, and then…

…Christ, he couldn’t bear to think what might’ve happened.

Steve gritted his teeth against the biting wind. Under the twilight, the fresh snow looked magical, like sweet frosting on the naked branches. He didn’t enjoy it for long. Soon, he waded through drifts that rose to his knees, the dampness soaked through his clothes and seeped into his bones. 

Worse, he wasn’t sure where he was.

He got out his flashlight. Dammit. He figured he knew this part of the forest like the back of his hand. Everything looked crazily different in the snow.

His breath grew short, and the cold burned his chest. Crap, he was scared, but he couldn’t surrender to it. He pulled out his walkie-talkie, removed his mittens to work the thing: “Dustin? Do you copy, you little shit?”

“Steve? Yeah! I copy! Holy crap, you have literally no idea! I’m fiiine, but there was this mammouth search, and…” Fuzzy white noise interrupted Dustin’s voice. Steve caught more snatches: “Suzie… cake… hot chocolate…” 

More white noise. Then nothing. Steve dialled madly, seeking an open channel.

“Dustin? Dustin! Anybody? Do you copy? What the heck? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Please, come back!”

His radio was dead. Totally dead.

“Shit… Shit!”

The cold stiffened his fingers, hampering his efforts to get it working again. Night shrouded the forest completely, save the occasional flash of a near full moon between the fast-moving clouds. 

Oh God. Oh God. This isn’t happening. I’ve got to get home. I’ve got to get home! 

He pulled his mittens back on, smothered his face in his sodden scarf. He could barely glean the reassuring scent. Madly waving his flashlight around didn’t help, as the snow had healed over his footfalls already. Rooting himself to the spot, his mind began seizing up.

Oh help! Oh God… I can’t… can’t! Not by myself… I can’t… I need… Oh shiiiiiit!

Eddie Munson popped into his head.

Which was kinda screwball, but he’d take it. It wasn’t exactly a vision of Eddie, more of a feeling: an idea of Eddie’s body enveloping him, which set warmth glowing beneath his chilled skin. Steve wiped his eyes, shook himself as if waking from a dream. 

Deep breaths. You can do this, Harrington.

The wind had been behind him on his way, right? Okay, so he had to fight against it to return to his car. He set off, wishing the nasty-ass air would stay still, rather than battering him with slap after slap, much like his increasingly negative thoughts: 

Oh Jesus, he was an idiot! 

He couldn’t even follow his Omega instincts correctly without screwing the hell up. Maybe it would be different if he had an Alpha who wanted to mate with him, rather than dumb teen crushes. If he had a nest of his own, to feather for his pups. Oh God! Was he gonna freeze to death, or…

Oh, shit, shit, shit!

When he was home and safe, it was easy to laugh off scare stories about rogue Alphas. Right now, all he could think of was Tommy H, cackling in his face when he’d first presented Omega:

“You are gonna fuck this up so bad, Harrington. You’re such an airhead, you’ll wind up chained in some cave, breeding machine and fuck toy, till you’re not so pretty, and then…”

SNAP!

For a fleeting heartbeat, the sound alone shocked Steve, ripping him from his fearful thoughts.

Then the searing pain in his ankle tore up his leg and spine, and all but fried his brain.

He collapsed onto his butt in the snow, dropping his flashlight. He blinked through the gloom at the snare around his outstretched left leg. He’d walked straight into an old hunters’ trap or…

Maybe this is how those lone Alphas snare their victims?

The pain gathered pace, forcing him into gasping sobs. He was so cold. So scared. No more than a husk of quivering flesh. He huddled into a ball, small as possible, apart from his trapped and bleeding leg. It felt like every nerve and tendon was being ripped and chewed, over and over, by razor-sharp teeth, while cold gnawed hungrily through the rest of him.

When he tried to think, panic throttled him afresh. All he could do was feel, and all he felt was the all-consuming scorching of the fire and the ice, and… something else… another unendurable agony… a desperate yearning:

Please, Eddie… Alpha… Help me?

…

A strange gut feeling propelled Eddie to go open the door of the trailer. 

Fuck, it was cold! He stepped out, closed the door behind him, and squinted into the darkness. 

To be fair, Eddie liked the snow, and he never felt the cold or the heat too bad. Something about growing up in the trailer, he guessed—ball-shrivelling frigid in the winter, and sweatier in the summer than the contents of his snuggest leather pants.

Then Eddie smelt it, striking through the icy air like lightning. 

Fear. Blood! An Omega in trouble? Yes. And not just any Omega. This was the Omega he’d been crazy about for months. Okay, yeah, Steve had been playing kinda macho, hard to get. On the other hand, Eddie perceived that, deep down, Steve was plain scared of him, and he wasn’t sure how to make that right.

He nearly fled straight into the forest. Then he checked himself and went back inside to throw on a warm jacket and grab a flashlight. Steve was in trouble, crying and vulnerable. Eddie had to find him before some meathead Alpha—or lowlife Beta—got their filthy claws into him.

“Hold on, Baby. I’m a comin’.”

The journey passed in a blur. He muscled his way through the snow like he was the goddamn Hulk, not a rookie Alpha of barely a year, with a slender-for-an-Alpha frame. Before long, the scent that drew him grew overwhelming. Steve’s for sure. Blood, tears and naked fear dampened his usual delicious musk, which was like bananas and cream mingled with something even more potent and “grabby-handy.” 

Yup, Steve usually smelt as addictive as the finest weed he’d ever supped.

Eddie now stood dead still. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled, while he swept his flashlight beam across the snow, and then, “Steve!”

Eddie flung himself forward to where Steve was huddled. The white stuff smothered Steve so completely that, without the scent, Eddie could’ve missed him. Eddie dumped his flashlight and blanketed himself around Steve, shielding him from the storm. Steve tensed, whimpered, and struggled slightly, almost elbowing Eddie off. Eddie braced him tighter, rubbed soothing circles on his back.

“Sssssh, it’s okay, Baby. It’s me. It’s Eddie. I gotcha, I gotcha.”

It pained Eddie to unwind himself even as far as he needed to examine the terrified Omega.

“H-hurts,” whispered Steve, curling into Eddie, burrowing his face into Eddie’s chest. Eddie carefully roamed his hands down Steve’s body, checking for injuries.

His gaze alighted on the dark stains in the snow around Steve’s ankle.

And the metal hunter’s snare, lying by Steve’s leg and half-lost in a drift.

Steve’s hands were bare and bleeding too. Obviously, he’d somehow pried the thing off. Eddie’s blood boiled, while a terrible collapsing sensation in his chest seemed to tell him he’d failed already. 

“P-please don’t eat me,” Steve murmured. “Please help me.”

“Stevie?” He touched his knuckles to Steve’s pale cheek, captured a gaze fogged with pain and fear. “Look at me! Hey? Not gonna hurt you. Jesus, you know that, right?”

Steve kinda nodded, comprehension glinting, then his face crumpled completely, and he started to weakly cry. Eddie folded him against his chest, trying not to move his injured leg then gently tucked Steve’s injured hands under the folds of his jacket.

He must stop any bleeding, and get Steve out of here before he froze to death. The wind whooped ever harder through the trees, the snow battered them in horizontal gusts, and worse, Eddie was rattled, too.

Eddie Munson had never been a hero. 

Right outta the gate, this lousy, hierarchical world had conditioned him to be an outcast, a reject. A nothing. On the other hand, presenting as an Alpha had made some sense to him. After all, each time the world dealt him a crappy card, which was pretty much every day, he’d always been able to flip the bird and cackle like a maniac in its force-conformity face.

Right now, though, he was bordering on losing his shit. And Alphas weren’t supposed to do that, right?

Focus, Munson. First, you need to calm and comfort him.

He gathered Steve closer, so the Omega was huddled halfway into his lap, his head tucked on Eddie’s shoulder. Then Eddie dipped to rub his face in the curve of Steve’s neck—yup, right on that tantalizingly unbroken mating gland—dousing him in his scent. All the while, he shushed and soothed him, till Steve’s whimpers disintegrated into soft sighs.

Then he kept on gently rocking and cuddling him.

Steve’s breaths beat against Eddie's throat, and he sensed the too-fast patter of the Omega's heart. Boy, Steve aced at presenting tough. Right now, stripped bare, Eddie saw only how goddamn fragile he truly was.

“Thank you, Alpha,” murmured Steve, startling Eddie, “D-doesn’t hurt so much. Not c-cold anymore. Can’t feel my leg.”

Okay, that was a touch disturbing.

Once again, Eddie forced himself to focus. Which was harder than ever. This was the first time any Omega had called him Alpha, let alone one he was dippy about. If things were different, he’d have been howling ecstatically toward the next glimpse of the moon. Oh, and revelling in Steve’s ethereal prettiness, the shadow of those long lashes across his porcelain cheek, and the faintest vibration of the Omega’s purrs.

There was also the problematic fact that his knee-jerk notion of ‘comfort’ had been to douse Steve in his scent.

Good call, Munson. Douse first. Think later. When your dick’s gonna do most of the thinking for you.

Nope. This wasn’t a good time for his inner Alpha to dump him with a boner: “Okay, Baby, I’m gonna bind up your ankle, and then I’m gonna get you home.”

“Too tired. Want to sleep here. St-stay here with you.”

Yeah. Then we both die, Sweetheart.

Eddie pressed his lips to Steve’s temple. He thumbed Steve’s damp hair from those huge, befuddled eyes, and let his more protective Alpha instincts lead him:

“You gotta stay awake, Omega,” he growled. “Your Alpha is gonna take care of you, but you gotta come with me and do exactly what I say.”

Chapter 2 on tumblr Chapter 2 on AO3

...

If anybody fancies reading more chapters, which will be posted at intervals throughout the month, I would be happy to tag :) Or follow #katya's omega whump

My endless outpourings of Steve whump can be found on AO3 here :)

[sparkly-sediment]

A suggestion for you. The mercs’ s/o massage their chest and the mercs find out they really like that.

If not all then maybe Engineer, Soldier and Sniper :)

ik this isn’t what you’re looking for but

Tf2 Heavy chest hair ripped out headcanons

He’s just an ordinary bear going about his day

Scout, the bastard child, born out of wedlock, is constantly blowing air

Heavy doesn’t give a fuck! He actually like Scout, the kid reminds him of himself as a young man if he wasn’t beaten down by war

It’s after work but pre shower. Everyone is sweaty and grimy and Medic practically has a hard on from the smell of blood

The mercs are crowded in the bathroom but Heavy doesn’t mind. He’s lived in horribly cramped spaces where the only running water was a spicket (which was frozen shut most days)

In communal showers, it’s common decent to not watch someone strip. Every if you’re comfortable with playing with each other’s dicks you still look away for a split second

Unless you’re a fucking freak like most of the mercenaries

Heavy drops his draws and goes to take off his pull over. At the same time, that little scunt Scout is trying to outrun Demo, who is trying snap his ass with a towel

Demo has a lethal whip if I may add

Scout sideswipes Heavy as Heavy has his arms above his head to pull off the sweater

During this critical moment, his Siberian bush of chest hair snags in the zipper. Heavy keeps pulling. Heavy howls and the room stills

GAGGED THEM BITCHES GOOD LIRD Heavy never tweaks out!! He’s big and will Fuck You Up but at his heart is a kind man! An older brother to three strong sisters!!

Heavy swears profusely in Russian. When he puts his arms down, there’s a tiny bald patch visible on his chest and the crowd goes wild. Imagine having your chest hair ripped out and eight other nutjobs start cackling sobbing smacking each other

But they are naked and the slapping stops once Soldier hits to close to a supple ass cheek

Basically, Heavy is fuming for the rest of the shower. Scout does not shower and instead hides and Demo backs up like “ay man don’t hurt papi”

Medic absolutely sticks his finger in the hair hole during sex and they do stop for the night (five minutes then they start freakin)

[starbabyg]

Swiss Pastries and Friendship Renewals | Nico Hischier

For Demi from your Hockey girlies discord fic exchange bb 💞💞 @wyattjohnston I’m actually making you a mini series bc I love this idea so muchhh and I have this whole plot in place I hope you don’t mind!!

Plus as a bonus here’s a whole playlist for youuu!! 💗💗

₊✮⸜ ༘⋆ ₊✮⸜ ༘⋆ ₊✮⸜ ༘⋆ ₊✮⸜ ༘⋆ ₊✮⸜ ༘⋆ ₊✮⸜ ༘⋆ ₊✮⸜ ༘⋆ ₊✮⸜ ༘⋆ ₊✮⸜ ༘

2019

It was autumn in New Jersey, the weather had gone cold and the leaves were starting to turn auburn. Nico watched people through the shop windows as he walked home. Families shopping for the holidays. Couples laughing as they bonded over fondue and pumpkin spiced cocktails. He thought it was sweet seeing people happily living their lives. He came upon a small coffee shop, looking through the window and seeing someone he knew looked familiar. He could only see her side profile, but in his bones he knew he had seen the girl before. The oh so familiar girl leaned a bit over to grab something out of a bag perched on her shoulder, and Nico knew that it was who he thought it was. Nico made his way into the shop, a new sense of excitement flurrying through him.

“No freakin’ way, Demi?” He came up behind her, a large smile plastered on his face. It had been a while since he had seen anybody from up north, he had only spent a short while there but the memories were still fresh in his mind.

“Oh my god, Nico!” Demi immediately brought him in for a hug, remembering that soft face of his, that smile that he had always adorned. “I haven’t seen you since you left for the states!”

“It’s been a couple years now huh, this is the first time I’m seeing anybody from Halifax. God that group was wild. How is everybody?” Memories of that small Canadian town started to flood his senses. The little bits of nostalgia giving him a sense of glee.

“Yeah, our little group really was something, huh. Everybody is doing their own thing. Stacy and Jonah have a kid now. Yeah, they’re still together. Miles moved to Toronto. You know, everyone just in different places doing different things. I haven’t been that in touch with them either. The old times were good though,” she smiled as she reminisced.

Nico saw the look on Demi’s face, a tad bit somber as she was deep in thought. He felt a bit bad. “How bout we catch up over some coffee and pastries? It’s been a while and you were always my favorite.” Smelling the scent of coffee and what smelled of sweetly burnt sugar, Nico could not resist the temptation of a warm drink on that chilly day. The pastries encased in the display window were no help either.

“That is such a lie Hischier, we were not as close as you were with Evan. Or even Julia. Which, by the way, was that all about? I never got the full story,” she joked, scanning the menu although she already knew what she was going to order.

“Oh? Julia? She was a nice girl, she just used to come off very strong. I didn’t really know how to let her down easy,” Nico scratched the back of his neck as he thought about each awkward encounter after the other.

“That’s Julia, always going after what she wants. I’m a little surprised you didn’t date her though, she was one of the prettiest girls in town.”

“I just liked another girl, that’s all. Julia wasn’t my type,” he shrugged as he walked up to the front counter, “what do you get from here? I’m not much of a coffee guy.”

“I got you,” Demi placed her hand on Nico’s shoulder as she turned towards the barista, “Can I get two caramel brûlée macchiato’s and two apple caramel strudels?” Demi began shuffling through her bag again, pulling out her card, as she attempted to hand it to the barista Nico swiftly snatched it out of her hand. Instead placing his card in the barista’s hand.

“Still fast as ever, huh Hischier,” Demi shook her head as she led Nico to a table in the corner. The coffee shop was tranquil, a good handful of customers murmers living up the joint as some soft holiday music played in the background. The lights were warm and cozy, a bright shade of copper that lit the couple’s faces up. Overall just a nice and homely vibe that Nico could get used to.

“You know me,” he chuckled, pulling her seat out for her to sit, “So what brought you to Jersey out of every state?”

Demi shrugged, “Just more opportunities. Close to New York City. Close to my folks who never left Halifax. I really don’t know if I’m going to be honest.” The question came as a bit of a shocker. Demi herself had never really asked herself why she came to Jersey. It had just happened.

“And how’s it going for you out here?”

Demi thought for a second. Career wise, it wasn’t where she wanted to be. She wanted to fib just a bit, just to make the situation sound a bit better for her, but it was Nico and she felt no reason to lie. “Honestly less than satisfactory. I’ve been doing freelance gigs for this company but I’m not passionate about my work. It’s just being an errand girl for people who aren’t the nicest. The pay is measly compared to cost of living. Lately it’s just work, eat, like thirty minutes of actually doing what I want to do, then sleep.”

“So what do you really want to do?”

Demi was taken aback just a bit, “It’s been a while since I’ve been asked that. I’ve always liked writing. Something in journalism perhaps. Maybe write a book or two. I just want the freedom to be creative with my work.”

“Makes sense, I remember you used to work on the school paper! I used to read your little opinion column!” Nico remembered and pointed his finger excitedly. He could still remember the little pieces, always marked by the ‘written by senior editor Demi’ in little letters under the title.

“No way you used to read my writing Hischier,” Demi felt a bit bashful, covering up her blushing cheeks. “I used to try to hide the paper from the group because I was too embarrassed for them to read it. You know how they got with teasing.”

“Don’t know why you were embarrassed. Your writing was really good, funny too.” Nico was a bit surprised by her reaction. Demi had never been one to be shy or even embarrassed. Always holding up a headstrong attitude even when the group was in major trouble.

“Awe, why thank you Hischier. I appreciate that. I wish I could write more now, but juggling these gigs and trying to solidify an actual career out here, it’s just impossible I wish there was something—”

“Order for Demi,” interrupted by the barista, Demi got up for their order. Nico watched as she got up and interacted with the barista, the two of them having a small conversation that ended with laughter. Somehow she was glowing underneath the tungsten lighting. Turning around with tray in her hand, Demi carefully made her way back, cautious as to not spill the two piping hot drinks.

“Okay, this spot has the best fall drinks and the most authentic Swiss pastries in Jersey. I remember you always came to school with a homemade apple strudel, so I had to see you try this one. It’s like fall in a pastry. Apple, caramel, with powdered sugar on top. It’s to dieeee for.”

Nico smiled as he listened to Demi describe the order. It was very thoughtful of her to remember his old favorite school snack all these years later. Watching her place the order down, an idea sparked in his head.

“So first you gotta try the strudel, savor it. Then after try it again and take a sip of your macchiato after.” Demi rested her chin in her hands, just a little too excited to see how her old friend would like the goods from her favorite coffee shop.

Nico did exactly as he was told, lifting the strudel up and taking an ample bite. His senses were then filled with the sweet tang of baked apples, his tongue coated with the spice of cinnamon. Demi nodded, gauging his reaction that she knew he would most definitely have. Nico couldn’t believe that a strudel this good could actually come from a small shop in Jersey. It had tasted just like home. He then grabbed his Macchiato, about to sip it before Demi’s hand jerked it away.

“Oh my gosh, be careful. That thing is piping hot,” she chuckled as she saw Nico’s eyes bulge up. He set the coffee cup down and leaned over to blow it gently. “I know it smells good but you gotta wait a couple minutes so it doesn’t leave your tongue burnt for the rest of the day.”

“You just saved me. I was being a bit hasty huh,” Nico shook his head as he felt a bit bashful. He watched as the cream swirled in the coffee every time he blew into it.

“I’m literally your savior Hischier,” Demi gave him a cheeky wink.

“That means you haven’t changed much from school. You saved everyone’s asses. Always got us out of trouble. Always saved us right before we coulda died. That’s why you were my favorite, you were always the coolest of the group,” he laughed. Now thinking of all the high school shenanigans, all of the times they were yelled at by adults. Caught trespassing. With every time Demi having to mediate and bargain with authority.

“Mmm, makes one of you,” Demi pursed her lips. Her mood shifted a bit as she took a long sip of her macchiato.

“Huh, what d’you mean?” Nico sat there clueless.

“You know everyone else in the group had their closer bonds. Everyone grew up with each other. And I had just moved from Australia the year before you came. They liked me cause I was different and it was a small town, but they didn’t bother to get close to me like they were with each other. And they were all kind of assholes if I’m being real,” Demi shrugged. “Which is why I’m working my ass off out here cause I refuse to go back. I don’t even care if I have to work all day as long as I don’t have to go back there.”

Nico got quiet, only murmuring a little ‘oh’ under his breath. He truly did not know what to say. Just watching Nico sit there in his thoughts, Demi placed her hands on the table. She hated an awkward moment. Couldn’t stand them.

“So how ‘bout some Brunsli cookies? They actually import chocolate from Switzerland and they taste sooo decadent. Just like the chocolate your mother brought you to school that one day. Speaking of your mother, how is she?”

“Oh, she’s fine. Moved back home so I don’t get to see her much except for the off season. She sends me stuff from back home all the time. Especially those chocolates. I can bring you some if you’d like.”

Demi’s eyes lit up, “Really? Those are literally the best chocolates I have ever tasted. You would be a godsend giving me some.” Her mouth started to water at the thought of those chocolates, how they just melt in your mouth. The rich flavor that was better than any American chocolate.

“Of course. You don’t know how many boxes I have in my apartment. My kitchen counter is covered with them. I barely have time to eat them let alone put them away,” Nico jokingly sighed as he pictured his kitchen counter that was literally covered in Läderach and mom- and - pop shop made chocolates.

“Ohhh let me come over to your place and those chocolates will be goneeee. But really, I can help you organize those chocolates and put them away— if you need some assistance.”

“I could use a lotttt of assistance. My life has been hectic for a while now and having those stacks of chocolates out of sight is one less thing to worry about. I’ll even give you all the chocolate from my stockpile that you want.” Nico just

“I mean, I’ll take the chocolates. But I would have done it anyway. You’re my friend. Why wouldn’t I help you out any way I can?” She smiled and took a bite of her pastry, crumbs falling down the sides of her mouth which Nico thought was adorable.

Nico couldn’t help but look at Demi with the admiration he used to look at her back when they were in secondary school. “Honestly people like you are very hard to come across. You surely are a rare breed out here Demi. Nobody is selfless like that anymore. Always asking what’s in it for them.” Demi was like a breath of fresh air to Nico.

“Well duh. It’s Jersey. Everybody out here has a bad attitude,” she rolled her eyes in a joking manner. Although she hoped no native New Jersians heard that because they would surely give her an earful.

“You aren’t wrong,” Nico chuckled and shook his head. He couldn’t help but think about the endless encounters he had faced with rude fans, people in public, and especially people in the industry. It had honestly started to take a toll on him.

“Well you sure are lucky to have found me again huh. The sweetest, kindest, most nicest person in the world,” Demi teased in a sing songy manner. She batted her eyes in the most obvious way. Nico thought she looked like a Disney princess.

Nico just looked at her with admiration, “Why don’t you be my assistant,” he absentmindedly said. “Er— only if you want to. It’s not like you need to—”

“Hischier, Hischier. Calm down. Let me hear you out before you get all anxious on me,” she placed a hand on Nico’s shoulder.

“I’m just saying. It could be beneficial for the both of us. My last assistant was crap. Didn’t help me out in any way but was getting paid handsomely by the Devils. You need a better job. And more time to do what you actually want to. We can help each other out!”

Demi just sat there thinking. ‘It would be a better job than my shithole job. I don’t know about the pay yet but more time to do what I actually want to will help out with my career moves. And it’s just Nico. He’s not that bad. He’d be a better boss than my current one.’

“Okay. I’ll take the job.” She took the leap. Maybe this would be good for her. The change in pace might be just what she needed to get to the next step in her life. Any change in scenery would be better than Demi’s current situation.

“I knew it. It’s fine. I was just suggesting–” Again Nico started with his anxious rambling. If Demi didn’t stop him he would have went on until the coffee shop closed.

“Um, Hischier. Did you not just hear me? I said I’ll take it,” Demi knew Nico wasn’t the best listener but sheesh. How much in his head was he at the moment?

Nico formed a smile, “Oh? I made an offer you couldn’t refuse huh,” he poked at her, speaking in his best east coast accent. It was terrible, but Demi could never tell him that.

“Honestly I could’ve heard a better job pitch from a child. But you’re my friend and you’re cooler than my current boss so why not. I think we could benefit from each other as well. As friends.” But she could tease him still.

“Friends with benefits??”

“Ew, gross. Don’t be gross like that Hischier.”