#yes last year he worked on the boat instead too

[pierrelott]

so my bf sent me his latest achievement at work:

[sc0tters]

It Ain’t Easy | Ethan Edwards

summary: love would be a whole lot easier if your brothers were all on board with your boyfriend.

request: yes/no

warnings: swearing, 4:00am slightly edited writing 😭

word count: 1.63k

authors note: this is the official last piece before we start working on the December works. This is less than perfect because I tried to get this done beforehand, so let’s all play nice.

When Luke left Michigan he never thought that you’d end up dating one of his friends.

Sure you were twins and in the same friend group but the idea of you and one of his previous teammates was truly not something Luke even contemplated. Had he asked his ex housemates to keep an eye on you? Yes. Did he think that it would end up biting him in the ass as you rocked up to the lake house for the summer before your senior year with a boyfriend? Never in a million years, but somehow he was still sat there watching you cuddle Ethan on the couch.

You thought you struck the lottery dating a guy that your brothers already approved of. Ethan treated you well and after months of growing closer as you leaned on the older boy whenever you missed your brother it was no surprise when he finally made a move on you.

It was a warm February evening as Ethan walked you back to your dorm “you know you don’t have to do this every time we leave.” Without fail each time you came home from these parties Ethan was by your side keeping you company “someone has to make sure you get back in one piece.” The hockey player teased as he wrapped his arm around your shoulders.

You looked up at him with a smile “well thank you for that.” You squeezed his hand as your heels clicked against the concrete path “I’m gonna have to find someone new to walk me home when you get a girl.” You joked letting out a giggle that was like music to Ethan’s ears as you both stopped seeing your dormitory appear in front of you.

Ethan scrunched his face in disgust at those words “not interested in those girls.” He explained shaking his head “didn’t know I’d be fighting men for you.” Amusement was evident on your voice as you crossed your arms.

It made Ethan click his tongue as a laugh left his lips “y/n I’m looking at the damn girl I want.” His words made you stop with wide eyes as your jaw went slack “you better not be fucking with me E.” you warned as the boy reached out to grab your hands with a smile lingering on his face.

Before either of your could wait for wind to push you two together you instead let fate do it “you gonna let me kiss you?” The hockey player asked as he smiled “fuck yeah.” You swore pushing yourself onto your tippy toes so you could kiss him.

Over the next few months the relationship blossomed into the thing that became both of your missing pieces to the puzzle that was your lives. As you kept it to yourselves only letting images hinting to who your boyfriend could have been appear as they got sandwiched into your monthly dumps.

Quinn accepted that you’d eventually tell him who the boy was but what he didn’t think was that Jack and Luke would spend the days leading to the family trip to the lake house with a board guessing who your boyfriend could be.

The umich boys had been sworn to secrecy as you didn’t want to just tell Luke over the phone. Yet as you watched your brothers guide Ethan to the boat you wondered if maybe you should have told the boys sooner “they will play nice I’m sure of it.” Ellen could see the look of worry on her daughters face who could do nothing more than send her daughter a hopeful look that your mom was right.

But of course the Hughes brothers were fulfilling their brotherly duties as they stared down Ethan quickly bombarding him with questions about his intentions. Everything from if he saw himself being in a relationship for the long term with you to what he would do if you got pregnant. Any question they all seemed to not care that it was maybe a bit too far to be asking because as messed up as it seemed in essence they wanted to know if Ethan loved you enough to stay when they got scary.

Luke barely said a few words to his friend as he was still upset that Ethan could have gone behind his back to get with you. So as you helped Ellen start dinner Ethan was actually figuring out the quickest way to get off of the boat “you’re back!” The relieve in your voice was evident as you wiped your hands on the kitchen towel and sped to the living room “baby?” You added furrowing your eyebrows as you saw Ethan with a frown on his face “we need to talk.” His hand wrapped into yours as he pulled you to the staircase.

You couldn’t help it as you turned around to send your brothers a glare who could do nothing more than smile “please tell me you boys didn’t do what I think you did.” Ellen sighed as she crossed her arms behind them. Ethan made your heart break as he began pulling his clothes back into his suitcase “could you just talk to me!” You complained making him frown as he stopped “your brothers hate me so it’s for the best if I go.” His words made you feel sick as you furrowed your brows.

Part of you wanted to grow defensive and irritated as the other part of you just hoped to wake up from whatever this was “I know they’re tough but you’re really going to leave because they asked you a couple of questions?” You knew what your brothers were like but you thought Ethan of all people would have survived it.

Your irritation quickly became his too “it wasn’t just a couple fucking questions.” Ethan spat shaking his head “look I love you but I’m not gonna sit here and have my every move questioned for the next two weeks.” Tears began to form in your waterline “maybe we should take a break.” His fingers brushed through his hair as he sighed.

It felt like your world was coming to an end as it dropped off of a ledge “god I thought you were gonna be good.” You didn’t mean to be as harsh as you were but seeing him so ready to leave was a punch to your gut “they’re just protective it’ll blow over!” Your fists clenched “look they are important to you and I think you need to spend time with them.” Ethan cupped your cheeks as he leaned forward to kiss your head.

Maybe you didn’t agree with his logic but you knew that it was only going to end in an argument and for that you kept your mouth shut “I’ll see you out then.” Ethan had to admit that he was partly hurt that you weren’t putting up a fight for him but if only he knew you were holding all of this back because you didn’t want to make this harder.

And you had a sneaky suspicion that your brothers were stood at the door.

As you watched the car roll down the drive you couldn’t help it as you turned to glare at the boys “could you not let me be happy?” You frowned as you looked at your brothers who sat on the couch.

Quinn was the first to shake his head “we are just making sure you’re safe.” He pointed out as Jack nodded “we know hockey players and we know you.” That comment enraged you as you scoffed crossing your arms “you boys don’t know shit!” You hated saying it but you had fallen away from your brothers as they all became NHL players.

You would never admit it but you felt left behind as their lives “last season you all managed to forget my birthday when I fucking share one with you!” You pointed at Luke making him slide further into his seat on the couch.

The boys weren’t proud of the fact that it took a call from Ellen to make them remember that it was the youngest Hughes kids birthday too “Ethan reminds me how to smile and how to be happy.” Tears streamed down your face as the boys finally realised how they had screwed up “y/n.” Quinn was the first to keep up wanting to apologise “just stay out of my way for the rest of summer please.” You were the one sibling who never got mad, Jack broke your toys more times than you could count as a kid but you never lashed out. Luke cut your hair once and all you did was laugh.

But here you were now in tears as you could barley look at your brothers as you pushed up the stairs to your room. Quinn looked down to his younger brothers “we fucked up.” He mumbled falling back into the couch “like big time.” He frowned thinking about how upset you had gotten.

It was clear that all of the boys hadn’t noticed how much they actually pushed away from their sister. With Luke being at school with you they didn’t need to make the effort, so when he went the gap in your life truly begun to show. You were always going to be supportive of them but it felt like you were losing your boys.

Jack led the trio to the door “where are you going?” Ellen furrowed her brows as she watched the boys slip on their shoes “someone has to go get y/n’s boy back for her.” Luke sighed agreeing with his brothers that they all took things too far with Ethan “Quinn is upstairs apologising to y/n.” He added motioning to the steps.

The Hughes boys had a plan.

[lilsmv1]

august - MV1 (1/?)

- you're on your own kid [pt1]

Pairing: Max Verstappen x Juliette Durand

This is a story for the Max (and Taylor Swift) girlies. 

masterlist

Summary: They were doomed from the start. Two completely different worlds colliding, there was no way this could work. But what happens when they keep running into each other, as if gravity was pulling them together. 

Trope: slow-burn af

(*dialogues in italic are meant to be in French, I’m just too lazy sksksks)

Word count: 1,1k

A/N: This is the first chapter guys! I'd love some feedback :) Enjoy !

Having recently graduated meant finding a job and getting your life together.

But Juliette was only 25, how was she supposed to know for sure what she wanted at this point in her life? 

Juliette was completely lost. She wanted to do everything and nothing at the same time. Everyone expected her to know everything, especially her parents.

Instead of facing their incessant questions on the matter, she ran away, in hopes of overcoming her current situation.

Hence why Juliette booked her tickets for Italy, and found herself wandering the streets of Orta San Giulio.

Juliette felt at peace here, the sound of the water banging against the boats, the cool breeze gently brushing her cheek, the smell of sea water. She didn't know anyone, and no one knew her. No one to expect her to be anything.

She was strolling through a bookshop, her fingers brushing the edges of the books as she went. Her eyes lit up as her hand touched her favorite book. She couldn't even tell how many times she'd read it, but it always had the same gut-wrenching effect on her. She took one last glance at the book before leaving, Martin Eden, by Jack London, a fan favorite, or at least hers.

As she left the store, Juliette’s phone rang. It was Pierre. 

“Ju?”

“Yes Pierre?”

“Did you arrive safely? You were supposed to text me once you get there.”

“Sorry dad!” She laughed. Pierre was her best friend and he could be a tad bit overprotective sometimes. 

“You know I worry about you. How are you feeling?”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine, I just need time to figure things out for myself” Juliette was lying. She wasn’t fine. Her anxiety was really getting the best of her lately.

“I know, and you’ll figure it out. You’re the clever one, you’ll find your path” Replied Pierre, trying to reassure her.

“Easy for you to say, “Mister I always wanted to be a Formula One Driver”” .

Juliette and Pierre met when she was in middle school. They actually met in detention. Pierre was there after talking back to a teacher and Juliette was there after throwing her eraser on a friend. He was three years older than her and immediately saw her as the sister he never had. Since then, she has been cheering for him throughout his entire career, being there for each milestone. She was very proud of him.

“What can I say, I have always dreamt big” laughed Pierre “By the way” he added “Kika is coming to spend a couple days with my family next week, will you be there?”  Pierre asked.

“Of course! I can’t wait to see her again!” Juliette was so happy to see Kika again, she was a real sweetheart. She was glad Pierre had found her. 

“Well I gotta go Pierre, I’ll call you back during the week, alright?”

“Ok, take care Ju, love ya!”

"Love you, see you soon!" replied Juliette.

Juliette cherished her friendship with Pierre more than anything. They couldn't see each other often due to his intense schedule, but he was always there for her and vice versa. To her, he wasn't Pierre Gasly, he was just Pierre, her best friend from middle school. She felt really lucky to have such a friend by her side.

Juliette kept exploring the city for a couple hours. As the evening went on, she decided to grab a bite in the nearest restaurant. Once she settled, she pulled out her film camera, snapping candid shots of the people surrounding her. 

That camera was always in her hand, having thousands of film rolls at home, each capturing snippets of her life.

She watched the people through her lens throughout the whole dinner, until her gaze fell on a pair of piercing bright blue eyes already staring back at her. She slowly lowered her camera, and looked away shyly, embarrassed that she'd been caught red-handed.

She looked back up and that’s when it hit her. She knew those dashing blue eyes. They belonged to none other than Max Verstappen, one of Pierre’s fellow drivers. Except for Charles, she had never met any of them, trying to stay away for the spotlight as much as possible. 

Juliette was completely mortified, and to make matters worse, he was headed in her direction.

“Ciao” he said when he reached her, cringing at his own attempt to speak Italian.

It was all it took to make Juliette burst out laughing, a mixture of surprise and nervousness.

After seeing Max’s defeated look, Juliette pulled herself together.

“I’m sorry”, she said “It’s just, I wasn’t expecting you to speak Italian”. 

This made Max smile. 

“You speak English… then, made a fool out of myself here, didn’t I?” he asked, chuckling.

“Kind of, but it was entertaining” she softly replied with a grin. Realising he had been standing there for five minutes, she invited him to sit with her, which he did.

"I'm Juliette by the way"

"Nice to meet you Juliette, I'm Max"

“So,” he kept going, “did you take any nice pictures, hopefully some with me in them” he said smirking. 

“So you did see... Well, I would’ve but I got a little interrupted” said Juliette.

"Don't worry, I'm flattered" he replied laughing.

"Don't go feeling too special, I take many candid shots of strangers... Although it might sound weird like that" she laughed. "I just find it beautiful to capture snippets of life".

"Well you definitely make it sound beautiful" he replied with a warm smile, making her blush.

They stayed like this for a while, chatting about this and that, although Max failed to mention that he was an F1 driver and Juliette, on her part, failed to mention that she knew who he was and that Pierre was her best friend. They both did not want to make this conversation weird, knowing that were never going to see each other again anyway.

"Well, Max, it was lovely to meet you, but I think I'm gonna head out" said Juliette after a while.

"Yeah me too, have a good night Juliette" replied Max with a smile.

"Good night Max" said Juliette softly before leaving.

They each went their own way, a smile on their face as they though about this one-off encounter.

But after all, Orta San Giulio isn't a big town. Who knows, they might run into each other again.

[dilemmaontwolegs]

Running from the Flames {3}

Pairing: Pierre Gasly x OFC Summary: Brianna Vowles grew up on the paddock. It was what filled every weekend. There were endless trips around the globe with her father and Uncle Otmar in Formula One, until she went to college. Suddenly her life revolved around studying and boys, one of whom wasn't as nice as he had appeared. Five long years later, with a hiatus in between, she graduated with her engineering degree and had decided to use her VIP pass to see if life in the fast lane had changed. Warnings: 18+ only, domestic violence survivor, lots of drama and fluff, this is a work of fiction and the events are not based on reality. Chapter: One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven || Eight || Nine || under construction

Adelaide walked sleepily from the bedroom until she saw Pierre, then she rushed across the room and barrelled into his legs. “Hi Pear!”

“Bonjour, princesse,” he greeted as he picked her up.

She was quick to steal the blue and white Alpine hat from his head and flopped it over hers until it swamped her dark curls to hang over her eyes with a giggle.

“You’ll be lucky if you ever get that back now,” I warned as I went to the kitchen and cut up some fruit for her. She had quite a collection of memorabilia from when we visited Kelly and Max but her favourite was a Mercedes cap she bribed from Lewis with a half eaten raw carrot when we went to Brackley for the day because my dad had a meeting and it had been months since we last saw him in person.

“You can have that one, I have lots of them,” Pierre said as he straightened the hat and met me at the table so Addie could sit and eat.

“What do you say, sweetheart?”

She shoved a handful of mango into her mouth but it didn’t stop her from turning to Pierre and saying, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied with a suppressed laugh.

Addie picked up a slice of apple and offered it to Pierre, pouting when he politely declined. “Share, please,” she said as she lifted it closer to his lips. She laughed triumphantly as she guilt tripped him into eating the piece and I shook my head with a laugh. “Don’t like apples.”

“But they are good for you,” I reminded her as I walked past and bent over the back of Pierre’s seat so I could whisper, “She played you like a violin.”

“I happen to like apples, so it was a win-win,” he replied with a cheeky grin and shared a high five with Addie. “Don’t eat too much, we are going out to a special dinner and I know there will be lots of desserts.”

Addie pushed the plate away and scrambled away from the table to go back to the bedroom. Pierre looked a little confused by the abrupt departure but just as quick as she left she came back with her suitcase dragging behind her.

“We aren’t going to dinner right now, sweetheart,” I said when she unzipped the bag and started rifling through the clothes until she found a purple dress covered with butterflies.

She held the dress up to her and twirled around the room, the colour making her ice blue eyes pop brightly. “Can I wear this?”

“Yes, but find a jacket for when it gets colder.” She wasn’t impressed with the idea of a jacket and instead ran off to the room to get dressed.

“She’s very independent,” Pierre commented as I took a seat beside him at the table.

I snorted a laugh thinking he didn’t know the half of it before covering my mouth at the unladylike sound. “Oh god,” I mumbled as I covered my face but Pierre just grinned when he pulled my hands away.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” he chuckled, “it’s cute.”

“Just pretend you never heard it,” I begged and he draped an arm over the back of my chair with an innocent look on his face.

“Heard what?”

I sighed gratefully and sent him a smile as the flames on my cheeks receded. “Thank you.”

“Do you want to go for a drive before we head to the boat?” he asked after checking the time on his phone.

“Boat?” I questioned, looking down at the thin material of the dress I wore. “The team dinner is on a boat?”

“It’s a big one,” he confirmed, thinking I was worried it was going to be a small dinghy. I completely forgot about getting changed into something warmer when Addie came running back into the room, barely missing the doorframe in her haste.

“Look at me!” She held the skirts of the dress out as she spun around and looked like a little princess except that she was still wearing Pierre’s hat.

“Very pretty, but maybe the hat can stay behind,” I tried to suggest but she planted her hands on her head to stop me from taking it away and darted out of my reach. “Okay, fine, Poppa will like it anyhow.”

I grabbed my handbag and checked I had the essentials for the night before convincing Addie to use the toilet. Her carseat was already waiting beside the door where I had left it after the taxi ride from the airport and Pierre picked it up easily while I was helping her get her shoes on.

“I think that is everything,” I stated as I grabbed the room keycard and slipped it into my wallet. “Probably a bit more than you are used to?”

“Not really, Ocon doesn’t travel light either. Did you all carry this in by yourself?”

“Dad sent some poor intern over from FIA, but normally I manage on my own. You just get used to it, you know.”

He fell quiet as we walked to the elevator and Addie took a hand of us both, suddenly dropping her weight to swing between us. Pierre had quicker reactions than I did and caught her weight before she could hit the carpet, sparing us both from hearing her tears that would have undoubtedly come from grazing her knees.

The reprimand faded as she grinned at Pierre and I didn’t want to taint the moment of joy when I remembered how I used to do the same to my parents when I was younger. This was the first time that she got to experience that and I wasn’t going to take that away from her.

“Again!” she demanded as she stopped walking before running forward and swinging. This time I was prepared and we swung her higher before she was safely back on the ground.

My arm was aching by the time we reached the elevator and I was grateful for the reprieve as it went down to the basement where Pierre had parked. I hadn’t even thought to ask what he drove and if it was even suitable for a child car seat but I was pleasantly surprised to see it was a practical Audi Q8.

“For a second I was worried it was going to be a 2 seater,” I admitted when he unlocked the luxurious SUV. “Is it terrible of me to assume that you would only own a Ferrari or McLaren?”

Pierre’s head tipped back with a laugh that echoed across the car park. “Absolutely, if it wasn’t true,” he said with a wink. “Can’t show my face in Monaco in a rival car, so I came in the Audi.”

He opened the back door and placed the car seat inside before scratching his beard. “Uh, how’s this work?”

I showed him how to anchor it in place while he joked that it was more technical than his racing harness, only for him to find the next battle was even harder.

“No, Addie, stop playing, put your arms in,” I said as we wrangled her into the car seat and tried to keep her still long enough to buckle the harness around her. Finally we were triumphant and I climbed into the front seat as Pierre walked around to the drivers side.

It was impossible to look away when Pierre made even just something as casual as walking look good. He could easily have been a model if he didn’t get into formula racing, especially when he ran his hand through his hair and sent a smile my way. It was impossible to resist his charm and it wasn’t even intentional on his part - he was just so likeable.

“East or west?” he asked as he started the car and put it into drive. I supposed even professional drivers wanted the simplicity of an automatic car sometimes.

It had been a while since I drove around Monaco. Most visits had been spent at the FIA track headquarters while dad got ready for the big race, I never came here purely for leisure so I had no idea what was in either direction. “Surprise me.”

“Woah, no pressure or anything,” he joked before pulling out of the parking garage and heading east. He drove along the coastline and I marvelled out the window at the sheer amount of super yachts on the shimmering water.

“That's a bit ostentatious, I can see the Red Bull boat from here,” I commented as the black and red hull stood out among the rest. “Oh, and there’s Lewis’ one. You’ll have one out there soon too.”

His eyes darted across the car to quickly peek at me before he turned back to the road. “You think so?”

“If it’s what you want, I think you can make it happen.” I reminisced on the words of encouragement I had received throughout my formative years. “You’re only limited by your own determination.”

“Otmar?”

A grin parted my lips and I nodded. “Did he give you the same speech too?”

“Every time I get in the car.”

“How about ‘be patient and the opportunity will come’?”

Pierre laughed at the quote. “It’s a favourite of mine.”

“Damn, here I was thinking I was special.”

My playful pout earned another smile and he reached across the console to take my hand. “I know I may have just met you, but I think you’re pretty special.”

Butterflies erupted in my stomach, their flutterings making me giddy as I giggled, a sound I didn’t know I could make. “Are all French guys this cheesy? What a pick up line, and with the accent - 10/10.”

He dropped a lopsided grin and looked at me as we waited at a red traffic light. “Tu t’appelles Google? Parce que je trouve en toi tout ce que je recherche.” (French: Is your name Google? Because I find in you everything that I’m looking for.)

I burst out laughing and shook my head. “Do you just have these filed away in that brain of yours?”

His eyebrows almost disappeared beneath the waves of hair hanging down. “You understand?”

“Of course!” I gasped with mock offence. “It's practically an unwritten rule in F1 to learn the holy trinity: Italian, French and Spanish.”

“Tu lo capisci?” (Italian: You understand this?)

“Sí, y vas a probar mi español también?” (Italian: Yes, Spanish: and are you going to test my Spanish too?)

“Was that Spanish?” he asked as wove between the traffic and parked in front of a small waterfront playground. “I have no idea what you said but it sounded good.”

“I should hope so. My mother is Mexican and she would probably disown me if I wasn’t fluent.” Pierre looked a little stunned at the news and I laughed as I waved a hand over my body. “I wouldn’t be able to maintain a year round tan in England without her wonderful genes. Thankfully, Addie seems to have got them too, except for her eyes.”

They were the only feature of her father that I could see in her, the ice blue coming from Erik’s nordic heritage while mine were a russet brown. Everything else she had inherited from me, from her dark brown wavy hair to her olive skin. A small part of me was grateful I didn’t see more of him in her, a thought that made me immediately feel terrible because she could look exactly like him and it shouldn’t matter. She was not her father.

Addie was kind and sweet, and she would be raised to know that love didn’t come with stipulations and threats. If it did, then it wasn’t love.

“I thought maybe you got spray tans, like those women on Love Island,” he teased and I punched him on his arm only to feel the hard muscle hiding under his shirt.

“No hitting!” Addie shouted from the back seat and I dipped my head to hide my smile.

“You’re right, baby, that was naughty,” I conceded and unbuckled my belt so we could go explore the playground.

She wasn’t satisfied as she frowned and pointed to Pierre’s arm. “Kiss better.”

Pierre clutched his arm and began to wail about the pain dramatically. “It hurts so bad, I don’t know if I can race tomorrow.”

“Don’t quit your day job for acting,” I warned as I leant over the console and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, the stubble of his short beard tickling my lips.

“She was convinced,” he pointed out with a wink to Addie who was clapping in the back. “Wanna go to the park, princesse?”

There was no way a two year old was going to deny the chance to run around after having a nap and being confined to a hotel room. She was so excited she could hardly keep still long enough to free her from the car seat before sprinting ahead of us and straight to the swings.

Click here for chapter four.

[wolfiemcwolferson]

Piarles and 7 "Feel my heartbeat" 💙❤️

I actually got two prompts for this and I was waiting for something to hit.

Have some…post race copium.

Charles is fearless.

Pierre knew that when they were kids and he knew it when they were teenagers and he knew that when they were staring down F1 seats.

He’s his best friend. The person who knows Charles the best so it’s surprising to him that he doesn’t realize that Charles is not so fearless until they’ve properly gotten their shit together.

One week on a boat and the most ridiculous conversation of Pierre’s life and they slip into boyfriends relationship lovers like they’ve slipped into everything their entire lives.

There’s no learning curve. Pierre doesn’t have to adjust. No, now he only has to refrain from kissing Charles senseless in front of other people instead of all of the time.

Except.

Well, except now Pierre sees the little worry lines in Charles’ face sometimes. Maybe it’s the fact that he knows Charles body better than he ever has and maybe it’s just because Charles is letting it slip, but he notices it.

He notices it when he’s watching Arthur race and he notices it when Lorenzo says Norman is sore from a crash and he notices it when they part ways on Sunday morning and Charles says, “Have a safe race, Pear.”

Never a good race. Have a safe race.

And Pierre understands. He understands because it was Suzuka last year that cracked them all to hell and forced them to finally work it out, but he never looks at it head on. Because he’s afraid he’ll do something stupid like ask Charles to quit racing so they can elope in some foreign city and design baby onesies while they raise a whole football teams worth of children.

Anything but get in a car.

So, he knows that when he sees the pictures - his car underneath Esteban’s - Charles is going to…be a little fearful tonight.

“Hey,” Charles whispers, slipping up beside him outside the Alpine center.

Pierre is showered and changed and is only hanging out because they’re on separate flights out and won’t see each other for two days.

Ben moves around, making it look organic but shielding the two of them from cameras or eyes or - he nods once and Pierre clasps Charles’ wrist in his hand and tugs him away, in the tiny corner between Alpine and a trailer. The angle of it hiding them from anyone.

Charles looks exhausted. Angry and exhausted, but that little line in his forehead….

Even though they’re hidden, they don’t have much time and they wouldn’t risk it anyway. Too much at stake.

So, Pierre takes Charles hand before wrapping it around his wrist. They could be talking. They could just be talking.

“Feel my heartbeat, Cha.” Pierre whispers, squeezing his own hand down on top of Charles’. “Do you feel it?”

Charles blows out a shaky breath. The line in his forehead disappears. “Yes. Yes, I feel it.”

They don’t say anything else. Pierre doesn’t kiss him like he so desperately wants, but he doesn’t remove his hand.

“My debrief.” Charles eventually says, and Pierre let’s go.

“I’ll see you at -“

Charles leans in brushing their cheeks together and it throws Pierre so much he stops speaking. “Joris will cancel my thing tomorrow. I will be at yours tomorrow morning, yes?”

Pierre nods once, jerky and thrown off balance by it.

“I need you.” Charles says with a raw edge and so Pierre nods, more thrown off that Charles is changing up his beloved schedule. It must have shaken him quite badly. And when will he not give him everything?

“Tomorrow.” Pierre smiles at him, and then Charles is slipping away, back to Ferrari for his debrief and his shower and his post-race ice bath.

Ben levels him with a look when he too slips from the shadows.

Pierre tries to play it off, by making a joke. “Won’t need you tomorrow, Ben. Got my own personal trainer coming to visit.”

“Good.” Ben says immediately, touching his shoulder. “You scared us today.”

Pierre knows. But he has to be fearless.

Except maybe when he’s with Charles.

[dioxazinereads]

Congratulations, You're a Dad! Ch1

Before you read this, please keep in mind that English isn't my first language and that the timeline in this is vague. Expect the RE cast to be OOC, and that the whole virus shtick confuses me, so sorry if I got it wrong.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Chapter 1

This was supposed to be a simple mission.

Grab the files and leave.

Kill a few wayward zombies here and there.

Maybe meet Ada again.

But other than that, it was supposed to be trouble free.

Leon should’ve known it wouldn’t be as simple as that.

Especially with a track record like his.

But this was just bizarre.

(e/c) eyes stared at him from behind a tree. And Leon stared back, watching as the little child peek out from behind the tree before retreating back when they saw that he was staring and peaking out again when they thought he wasn’t looking anymore.

Leon could feel a headache coming. 

Approximately 14 hours ago, Leon was at home half way through his 4th bottle of whiskey when Hunnigan called him for another mission, 3 weeks after he finished the last one. 

Honestly, Leon was surprised when they took so long to contact him again. Usually, they’d give him less than a week’s rest before sending him out on another one. Such was the burden of being the top agent of the D.S.O.

Even more surprising was the mission he was getting assigned to.

“A retrieval mission?” Leon asked, pouring himself a drink. He took a sip of it, licking his lips before asking, “Who is it this time?”

“It’s not someone. It’s a file.” Hunnigan replied. “Very important ones, might I add.”

“And how important is this file that you're sending me, of all people, to get it?” He downed the whole glass before pouring himself a new one. He’s almost finished his 4th bottle, should he stop? Nah.

“According to our intel, there used to be an Umbrella lab underneath Coral Island.” Hunnigan replied, and Leon could hear her type something on her computer before continuing. “The citizens were unaware of the lab’s existence until they were searching for refuge from the infected.”

“And you got this where exactly?” Leon asked, finishing his glass and picked up the whiskey. He was about to pour it into the glass before deciding that that’s taking too long, and drank straight from the bottle. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand still holding the whiskey. “I thought communications were cut after the island was contained?”

“It was.” Hunnigan confirmed. Leon couldn’t see her but he imagined Hunnigan nodding when she said that. “Some of the survivors found a working boat and escaped the island. They were caught by US officials and were promptly quarantined and questioned.”

Ah, yes. 

‘Quarantined’.

Sure they were. 

Head tilted back, Leon downed the remaining whiskey, shaking it for good measure once he finished it. He placed the bottle back on the table and sarcastically said, “I’m sure they were welcomed with open arms and a party.”

Hunnigan, like a champ, ignored Leon’s words and continued on, “According to them, despite the lab being abandoned for years, it was notably clean.”

“Well, yeah.” Leon cut in. “It’s a contained area after all. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t want something like dust and open air to fuck up their experiments.”

“Sealed rooms can get dusty still.” Hunnigan explained, not even bothered by Leon cutting in. “Further in the lab, they spotted infected scientists. And instead of, venturing further, the survivors went back to the surface-”

“Smart.” Leon said after sipping his 5th bottle. While Hunnigan recounted the events to him, Leon went to his stash of whiskey and grabbed another bottle which he was now drinking. “Don’t venture into places you know nothing about. Especially underground labs that would require passcodes and ids.”

“..and founded a refugee camp.” Hunnigan continued despite Leon cutting in for the 2nd time. “Your mission is to investigate the labs for any documents about future projects and/or the T-virus that plagued the whole island.”

The urge to be an asshole outweighed the resigned and tired agent.

“What if I don’t go?” Leon asked, leaning back on his chair, legs crossed while he tapped the whiskey bottle. He should not be doing this. Especially not to Hunnigan, who’s had to put up with his shit for years.

“Your plane leaves in 3 hours.” Hunnigan said, ignoring Leon’s words like it was second nature. “Pack your stuff and leave as soon as you’re ready. Additional weapons will be at your disposal at the airbase. Hunnigan out.” 

And the call ended as soon as she said that, leaving Leon to his thoughts.

He did not like that. 

Leon turned off his phone and chugged down the remaining whiskey before standing up from his seat. He placed his phone on the table and picked up the 4 other bottles on the table and disposed of them. 

After that, Leon headed to his room and picked up a duffle bag, his clothes already packed. He barely needed the bag nor the clothes in it, but he has once used it and that’s all the reason he needed to keep up with the habit. 

Besides, it was better to be over prepared than underprepared. 

Once everything was locked, Leon left the house, thinking about the bottles of whiskey he’d be drinking once he’d return.

That is, of course, if he’d survive this time.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I'll be honest, I have no idea where this is going. I just have an idea that I want to write and zero plans how to execute it.

Another thing to note, I have an AO3, however I'm scared of the AO3 curse. So I'll only post this story here.

If you guys like the story, please don't post it on other websites unless I said so.

Also don't expect any post schedule, I'm writing this as it comes to mind.

[oneatlatime]

The Avatar State

Season 2!

I KNEW Aang wouldn't be ok with getting possessed by the megafish. Called it!

As well as the most comfortable looking hammocks I've ever seen, this boat has decorative turtleshells.

Having learned the very hard way that bending is not infallible, the northern water tribe finally takes some safety precautions and installs non-bending means of locomotion on their ships.

So glowy is called "the Avatar State." I was kind of attached to calling it glowy.

Pakku continues his consistent and unwavering pursuit of being a poophead. You almost have to admire his unwavering jerkiness.

We're going to see Bumi! I like Bumi.

I don't know about constructing a building complex that near a waterfall. The cherry blossoms are nice though.

So they weren't eaten by vultures after all. Not so subtle exposition from Iroh. And then Zuko is as subtle as a kimodo rhino with his backstory rehash. That being said, there was probably a few months between seasons, so a refresher was needed.

Yes that did come out wrong. Rare misstep from Iroh.

This is Zuko's crazy talented sister right? The one he was angsting about in the snow cave? She seems to be just as much of a dumbass as her brother, although she makes her stupidity seem threatening instead of embarrassing. I don't care how much political power you have, you can't win against tides. Literally the last episode was all about how the ocean always wins.

I am begging you guys to see the pattern here. First time the Gaang got a hero's welcome, Suki's village burnt down. Second time, the whole season finale happened. At this point it's probably safer if the Gaang sticks to going where they're not especially welcome.

Aang saying "I try not to think about it too much" is kinda ouchy given his nightmares at the beginning of the episode.

WAIT A MINUTE

Gotta look something up

That's Bato's map! The animators had no reason to have such crazy good continuity.

I don't think Aang is too happy being described as "the ultimate weapon."

Thank you Katara for calling the general on his pushy steamrolling. They've committed to nothing.

I think the guy in front has a burn on his cheek. I have been surprised by how few burns I've seen after a whole season's worth of episodes. We've seen Zuko's, and Bato's. But the Fire Nation is supposed to be this all-dominating unstoppable war machine, so why isn't every random earth kingdom background character covered in burn scars?

It's amazing how many people can't see the 12 year old for the avatar. Guilting him into cooperating by showing him wounded vets? Harsh.

Also, the last time Aang tried to leapfrog his destiny he burned Katara. Yes, the war needs ending, but maybe don't skip learning the basics before you try?

Heh. Basics. I sound like Iroh.

Pretty sky. I was hoping for a continuation of the 'so pretty it hurts' background trend. I wouldn't have equated fire with electricity, but apparently Zuko jr. can make lightning? And yes, this is very obviously Zuko's sibling: unreasonable and completely out of touch with reality, although rather in the opposite direction than Zuko. The lightning you're throwing around will still kill your target whether or not your hair is pretty while you throw it.

Aang this seems like a bad idea. Even you think it's a bad idea.

The earth kingdom seems to use green lighting. It's weird.

Katara is unreasonably angry about this. The hard work being thrown away isn't really her's, it's Aang's.

Please do not give the hyperactive airbender caffeine.

They gave the hyperactive airbender caffeine. Starting to think this general's not so bright.

Shout out to Aang' voice actor for such an accurate rendition of getting sucker punched.

That's pretty good. Momo really understood the assignment.

The sacred Bellows! This just gets stupider and stupider.

Pretty.

Well in MY country, politeness is only owed to people who don't pour the power of 1000 mean girls into a single line read. I'd be quick to get to the point too if it would get her out of my house.

The ego on this girl. She drops a life-changing bombshell on Zuko, who has spent the last three weeks as vulture food, and explodes when the conversation doesn't immediately pivot to showering thanks on her for the extreme hardship of going somewhere on a royal ship? She's surpassed Zhao's whole season of assholery in barely half an episode.

Now we get the real reason Katara was so angry about "wasting their hard work" or whatever it was she said. She's frightened. I get that. Glowy floaty Aang is frightening.

Another rock and a hard place situation. People are dying everyday, Aang is 100 years late, but the Avatar state is scary, and turning a pacifist into a weapon is a bad idea. Once again the world needs a fully realised Avatar and all they have is a half trained 12 year old.

Iroh's right. It IS unbelievable. Mostly because Zuko jr. is nowhere near as subtle as she thinks she is.

Doubling down and lashing out when the truth is uncomfortable: classic Zuko. Iroh really puts up with a lot.

This is how you know it's a dream: real Zuko runs towards mysterious glowiness.

I'm not a dreamologist, so I have no clue why Aang would dream about hurting Zuko while glowy after being told that the avatar state is hard for his loved ones to watch. Seriously, why is Zuko in this dream?

"Uncle! You've changed your mind!" "Well someone's gotta save your dumb ass."

Not to imply that this general isn't INCREDIBLY stupid, but he's certainly done something right to so solidly secure the loyalty of his soldiers. That's the avatar, and also a 12 year old kid, and they don't hesitate.

It's all wibbly

Double nutshot. Boy's got heels of steel.

Apparently the horse bird things can do parkour.

Things you can get away with in cartoons but not live action: this eye colour. The only place I've seen this colour in the real world is goats.

I like how the voice acting for the helmeted fire nation soldiers sounds like it's coming from inside a metal helmet. Such a tiny detail but they put the effort in.

Nifty transition between screaming Zuko and screaming Aang.

This! Why doesn't every earthbender just to this to their enemies? Turn them into sitting ducks. You don't even need benders to finish them off, just a guy with a bat. How has the Fire nation gotten this far when their enemies can do this?

That's going to cause some trauma.

Iroh is a beast. He's taking out the whole royal guard. I also love that they're lining up to be taken out. So polite. They could teach Zuko Jr. a thing or two.

I feel like Zuko usually does better than this in fights. And really, I know little sisters are extremely talented at goading, but Zuko's really too easy to goad. His sister's not even trying that hard.

This episode's most satisfying shot. Hoping the tides take revenge for that earlier comment.

That's the lowest quality animation I've seen in this show. It bobs unmoving across the screen.

What the hell is the green lady throwing? Elaborately carved thingies?

So it's actually very dangerous to Aang to go glowy. And to the world in general. Neat. I guess an unmatchable power like that needs some sort of limiting factor.

"You're out of your mind." THANK YOU.

No, THIS is the episode's most satisfying shot. About time someone did that to him.

Katara's "I think we're all set" Is a delightfully polite 'get fucked'.

Wow she got those printed up quick.

"There will be no place left to hide" except a short run upstream.

That ends a bit suddenly.

We did not go to see Bumi. Bummer.

Final Thoughts

Quite the explosive start to the season. They really hit the ground running. Also this is very much not a show where you can skip seasons.

Katara was right about it being a bad idea to try and run before Aang can walk. You can't blame the general for wanting a quick way to end the war with few casualties (on his side at least). You can blame him for being really bad at listening. Does earthbending cause stupidity? Because I definitely remember that all non-Bumi earthbenders we've seen so far are not too bright.

We've met what I'm assuming is going to be the antagonist of the season. I don't like her. I'm aware that I'm not supposed to, what with her being the bad guy and all, but would it be too much to ask for a fun villain? This girl's just mean. When Zhao was first introduced, the episode turned into a win for Zuko. This girl's introduction just makes him even more pathetic than usual. I guess starving on a raft for weeks has negative side effects, because this CANNOT be the same Zuko who one-shotted Katara in the spirit oasis.

This does answer my question of what they're going to do with Zuko and Iroh this season. They're going to ground. Zuko's scar is pretty distinctive though. I bet that's going to cause problems.

Sokka has never suffered fools, and seeing him knock out the general is just so satisfying. Both water tribe siblings were supportive of Aang in their own ways this episode: Katara by standing up to the general and giving Aang on honest opinion on what's going on; Sokka by backing up Aang's decisions for and against the proceedings. And also literally standing up for Aang against the general's soldiers. We already knew they were ride or die, but it's good to open the season with a refresher.

Before this devolves into a discussion of the differences in required narrative elements in season openers during the bingeing/streaming era compared to old fashioned network television, let me say one more thing: poor Appa hasn't been sidelined this hard since The King of Omashu.

[shina913]

The Boyfriend Experience | KTH

The Boyfriend Experience: Taehyung

The BFE: Masterlist

Pairing: Escort!Taehyung x Fem!Reader

Rating: M🔞

Genre: sex!workAU; exes to something; smut; some fluff; hint of angst

Warnings: legal sex work (in this AU); sex for hire; cussing; explicit sexual conversations; alcohol consumption; dirty talk; Tae and OC have filthy mouths; hair pulling; fingering; clit play; breast play; oral (F-receiving); heavy petting; protected sex; multiple orgasms; stamina!

Word count: 7,023 words

Summary: 💬 If I can hire a massage therapist to help relieve my back pain, a hairdresser to cut my hair, a mechanic to service my car and a handyman to replace a broken door, I should be able to legally hire a man to have sex with me.

A/N: Yes, yes, a couple days later than promised but...life happened! Anyway, I try to make each experience relatively unique but I am one person and sometimes, I find myself drifting towards the same themes. But hopefully each one is unique enough where it would still be entertaining! Thanks to my sis, @internetjunkdrawer for looking this over 😘

Your boyfriend of over two years turned to you one day and said that he didn’t want to be in a long-term relationship any longer. You’d been living together in the last year and things seemed perfect.

But at some point, he claims to have had an epiphany and expressed his desire to travel more, experience new things, and ‘find himself’. It sounded like an awful cliché and you were understandably crushed. What else could you do? You loved him but you were not going to beg him to stay.

He moved out shortly after breaking the news to you. You still followed each other on social media and saw glimpses of his new life–traveling around, drinking champagne on a boat off the coast of some paradise.

He looked so carefree, happy…you were envious of it all. You would also love to leave everything behind and go soul-searching. You would also love to just yell out, ‘fuck it all’ and jet off to some random island and live off the sea.

But other responsibilities were calling your name. As quickly as you’d shred those bills and toss them up carelessly in midair, you’d be waiting to catch each piece of paper before they hit the ground, taping them all together to settle them.

Instead of spending your days doom-scrolling through Taehyung’s exciting new life without you, you just dealt with the breakup in the best way you knew how–throwing yourself into work.

Pretty soon, a year passes. You worked a fast-paced office job and for a while, that worked as a distraction. But at the end of the day, it didn’t do much to get your mind off your loneliness.

You’ve always been a relationship girl and you thought that Taehyung was going to be “the one,” until he wasn’t. At this point in your life, the prospect of casually dating seemed so daunting. You wondered how your peers kept up with it. Just thinking about the logistics was excruciating, but you still wanted to give it a try.

You weren’t itching to jump into a relationship again but you certainly craved some fun and excitement. Although, let’s be real…you craved for sex. You needed hot, sweaty, skin-on-skin contact and that familiar rush of flirting just because.

You thought that it’s been more than enough time since your breakup and you were ready for it!

Well, it turned out that casual dating was nothing short of a disaster.

Some of your prospects seemed more comfortable with being flirty text-buddies but they ghosted you as soon as you pressed them to meet. What the fuck was deal with that?

Some of those who did turn up looked nowhere near close to their profile photo. And then there were just some whom you felt that you had absolutely zero sexual chemistry with.

These apps only caused you distress and the thought of one-night stands were hardly worth the morning-after awkwardness.

Was it too much to ask the universe to have a time period dedicated to you, having the time of your life, followed by receiving a good dicking-down from a man whom you found attractive and was solely focused on pleasuring you at the drop of a hat?

For a while, that seemed like an impossible ask.

Until one day, during a particularly heated bitching session at happy hour, your friend Yuriko, hinted at this ‘very exclusive’ dating service that she just joined. To you, ‘exclusive’ was synonymous to ‘expensive’ and you didn’t want to pay more than what you had put into these other dating apps.

But…after a series of frustrating dates and equally disappointing sexual partners, you prod her about it.

The Boyfriend Experience.

It was an escorting app. You were very skeptical about it but she suggested referring you to the company so you could get in–since it was ‘exclusive’ and all. The price range made you hesitant to jump the gun but she told you that there were no commitments or any other binding contracts with the exception of an NDA. If you weren’t satisfied, you could terminate at any point, and they would give you your money back.

That seemed unusually bold for this type of business to guarantee a refund if you weren’t 100% satisfied.

You were a few drinks in during happy hour and thought, at least there was some assurance that you’d get your money back if your guy turns out to be a terrible lay!

******

Your friend said that you should hear back as to whether the escort service has accepted your referral in about five business days.

But it’s been over a week now and you still haven't received a notification. You thought it was hopeless and decided you’d just get back into the dating pool again.

Later that night, you tucked yourself into bed, vibrator and lube at the ready for yet another exciting Saturday night of solo masturbation. Right before getting into it, you hear a buzz–not from your little toy, but from your phone.

You’d normally ignore it and rather take care of business first but something compelled you to check it.

Welcome to the Boyfriend Experience, YN!

You gasped. Actually gasped. It was like scoring a coveted golden ticket. Except, instead of touring a candy factory, it was…well…a dick factory.

You scrolled through images of escorts they had on their roster. They were all intriguing in their own way. Some photos were professionally taken with the occasional sprinkling of personal selfies–mostly closeups of their abs or gifted crotch areas–trying to prove that they didn’t stuff any rolled socks down their underwear. Some photos included the escort in settings that reflect their personalities–each profile had a list of varied interests and specialties that would fit any client’s needs.

Could you really follow through with this? You’ve considered yourself a bit of a prude. There was that fear of shame that niggled at you from the back of your mind.

Then you thought, men did this all the time! Women also had desires and needs…and currently, that ache between your legs was demanding to be serviced.

Now was the time to push yourself out of your comfort zone, albeit in the wildest way possible!

It was about 9:45PM when you hit send on a message to your chosen escort. He had abs you could grate a slab of granite on. He looked like he had a nice face…if it was actually his. 

While waiting on a response, you fire a text to Yuriko.

[You] 9:50PM: What if these photos weren’t of him? What if it’s fake?

[Yuri] 9:51PM: You can DM them and ask. They’ll send you a photo to confirm 😉

[You] 9:53PM: Girl, what if he’s a murderer?

[Yuri] 9:55PM: Oh, he’s a murderer, alright…a murderer of pussy 💀

“Fucking Christ, Yuri,” you breathed out, laughing.

Forty-five minutes pass and you haven’t heard back. It was a Saturday night–must be busy for him. At this point, you had lost your lady-boner so you decided to just knock out.

******

The next day, you wake up to a response from him. He asked straightforward questions about time, date, and other logistics. He asked if you’d like to take advantage of the half-hour mini-date at the club, which you turned down. You wanted this to be as no-frills as possible.

The exchange felt professional, as if you were booking a spa appointment.

You asked if he could send you a real-time selfie of him holding up a photo of your name. Minutes later, he DM’ed a photo and you exhaled a sigh of relief–it was indeed him.

Looking into how the site vets escorts helped you relax further. He asked you about what kind of fantasies you had in mind, but you told him you’d rather have a drink and get to know each other as ‘normally’ as you could.

Your session was set for next Friday night, he told you what his rate was for two hours. It was a bit steep but…he looked hot and at least Yuri could vouch for their services.

******

You were distracted at work that day with more butterflies than your average Friday feeling. As soon as you got home, you gulped a glass of wine and put on a dress and heels, as if you were going on an actual date. You were a bundle of nerves. A small part of you worried that he’d see you and terminate the date. You read under the terms that they are well within their rights to do that. 

What if he thought you weren’t worth the money you were paying him?

To your surprise, he didn’t run away. He was very punctual and polite. You weren’t sure if those were adjectives you’d ever use to describe an escort but–he was!

Obviously, he was also very attractive. You expressed how nervous you were and he immediately put you at ease. You offered him a glass of wine then casually chatted about your lives, nothing too deep or familiar.

He asked you about your job and how you came to know about the service. It felt very similar to an actual date, except the chemistry felt instantaneous than any other date you’ve been on.

The intimacy happened naturally. It started with a light grazing of your arm, a cheeky touch of your ass while you were putting away some dishes in the sink. There was nothing forced or mechanical about it. It’s as if he mastered the user manual on how to turn you on.

‘Unbelievable’ seemed like such an inadequate way to describe the sex…but it was! It’s like he knew everything your body craved before you did. 

There was a certain level of commitment to your pleasure and your needs that you had never experienced from past lovers before. He didn’t expect you to do anything for him nor did he allow you to try and return the favor.

It was all about you. As he left, you told him his price was selling him seriously short.

******

Admittedly, you felt a little dirty afterwards but only in the way a one-night stand always made you feel, in the back of your mind. You still worried that it was embarrassing. Fear struck you at the thought of anyone you knew finding out even with the NDA in place.

Your need for sex had gone to the extreme except that this was way more satisfying than picking up any random guy at a bar.

By the second time you booked him, you felt braver, more empowered. By your third session, the shame and awkwardness wore off.  You saw the same guy four times in total, on a monthly basis. You have officially made it part of your self-care routine.

Some women liked mani-pedis or getting their hair done while you preferred feeling a man's weight on top of you.

Obviously, you were fully aware that your relationship was strictly business, but it was nice to feel familiar, in a way. You kept in contact and had casual chats while arranging your next meeting.

It felt almost like a special friendship, except that there was no stress over ‘what any of it meant’, or whether he was ‘giving off signs.’ There were none of those complicated mind-games that usually came with casual dating. It was refreshing!

Your fifth booking was certainly a memorable one.

As you were preparing for your monthly meet-up with your usual, he sent you an urgent message saying that he was feeling ill and apologized profusely for not being able to make your date. However, since you’d been such a great client, he didn’t want to leave you hanging so he had spoken to his other colleague to show up in his stead to make it up to you.

[You] 5:20PM: You really don’t have to do that–we can reschedule when you’re better!

[J] 5:25PM: No, this is last minute and I know that we were both looking forward to it! But my friend will take very good care of you, I promise!

[You] : Hmm…I don’t know. Send me his profile?

He forwards you the link after a few minutes.

[J] 5:35PM: I promise you, he’s great! I’ve known him for a while. If you like me, you’ll definitely love him. 

[You] 5:40PM: 😅 How are you so sure?

[J] 5:42PM: Just trust me on this! Don’t I always deliver?

Multiple orgasms during every date? He had certainly met and even exceeded your expectations each and every time.

[You] 5:45PM: You got me there. 😏 I’ll wait to hear from him then. Feel better, baby!

[J] 5:46PM: Thank you, love 😘. He’ll be at your door at 8 tonight!

You scrolled–more like skimmed–through his friend’s profile. The photos were mostly of his body. There weren’t any that included his face, except for one where he was looking away from the camera. You were about to text him when his alert came through, confirming that he’d be arriving at your address in a couple hours and that he was looking forward to meeting you.

It was enough to distract you from the nerves. So, you texted him back saying that the feeling was mutual. Then, you went about your evening, preparing for your mystery date’s arrival.

It certainly added some thrill to it–not knowing who would show up. Since everything had gone so smoothly with your previous date, you thought that this escort service wouldn’t compromise its reputation with a dud. His body seemed good enough for you that his face was the least of your worries.

You get a knock on your door at 8 o’clock, on the dot. Also very punctual, like your usual. You liked him already!

You stop by the mirror at the entranceway, checking your hair and making sure you had nothing between your teeth.

When you open the door, your jaw drops. The next few moments play out like a scene out of a movie.

“YN?!”

“Taehyung?!” You gasped at the sight of your ex-boyfriend. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” Taehyung’s tone was accusatory.

You scoffed. “I live here!”

His eyes widened. “You…" he gulped, "You live here?” He asks in complete disbelief.

The man standing in front of you looks freaked out. He turns his head from side to side, looking around the hallway and at your door, making sure that he has the right apartment number. 

You gasped out loud when realization sets in. A realization that you refuse to believe. Mortified, you ask, “Oh my god…a-are you–”

The look on his face confirms your fears. “Your 8 o’clock? I’m afraid so,” he grins awkwardly. 

“Oh shit,” you choked out.

It turned out that he had been using a fake name. And though you had used your real first name on the site, it was pretty generic enough. You had also moved out of the old apartment that you shared not long after you broke up so he didn’t recognize the address.

Moments later, you both burst out laughing. It was hysterical, really.

“Well, this is awkward,” you croaked.

“Uhm…I could just go?” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

You stared at each other in silence. His eyes rake you from bottom to top and you suddenly feel a little self-conscious.

You’d forgotten that you decided that you wanted to look extra hot tonight–a silky slip dress that clung onto every curve and a thigh-high slit.

“Can I at least offer you a drink? For old time’s sake?” You gave him a polite smile and opened the door wider.

He hesitates for a second but only to confirm that you were sure about letting him in. Once you gesture for him to come in, he obliges, and you tell him to make himself at home.

When you go back into the kitchen to retrieve the champagne, you remember something and go into your storage closet.

You balance the bottle of champagne and a banker’s box and set it in front of him while you pop the bottle.

He chuckles when he opens the box. It was filled with some belongings that he left behind when he moved out.

“Oh wow…I thought I had lost these 45’s,” he remarks while he holds up a couple of vintage vinyl records that he purchased when you were together.

“Yep, it’s all there,” you tell him after pouring champagne into glass flutes that you set out.

“I’m surprised you hadn’t thrown these out,” he murmured while he superficially rifled through his things..

You’d hung onto this box for nearly a year. One would say for sentimental reasons but no matter how much it hurt when you broke up, you couldn’t bring yourself to throw away his personal belongings. You’d sooner donate them to the nearest charity consignment store.

You shrug your shoulders at him when you settle on the couch next to him. “I wouldn’t dare throw away classics,” you answer him quietly.

He gave you a rueful smile. “Well, I appreciate it.”

You pick up a champagne flute, hand it to him and clink your glass against his.

“So, Taehyung…what have you been up to?” You ask after taking a sip of champagne.

He laughs heartily, nearly choking on his drink as you follow suit.

You drink in silence for a minute, staring, waiting for the other to speak first.

“Are–”

“How–”

You both break into laughter again. He gestures, signaling that he yields the conversation to you.

“How have you been?” You ask him.

“I’m good. You?”

“I’m…doing pretty good, too.”

“I see that. Nice place,” he remarked after he gave the room a brief once-over.

“Yeah. I got a promotion about a year ago. That’s the only reason I can afford this spot. Otherwise, I would have moved in with Yuri.”

He nods softly. “Yuri…” he repeats your friend’s name. “How is she?”

“She’s fine. She still hates your guts,” you added jokingly. “But…she was actually my ticket to your little operation here.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Oh…well, thanks for the heads up on that. Wouldn’t want to answer her booking.”

You laughed. “She has her usual, I think? So maybe you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Still, though. Would not want to cross paths with her!”

You both take sips of your drinks again.

“Does this mean you’re not seeing anyone currently?” He asks.

You scoffed. “You think I’d be booking escorts if I was seeing anyone?”

His shoulders lifted. “We have clients who are…” he paused to think of the right term. “You could say, attached.”

You were shocked. “Really?”

“Oh, of course. That’s why part of the service is discretion.”

You puckered your lips and squinted one eye at him. “Have you ever gone out with somebody who was married?”

He kept his face neutral. “What do you think?”

You stared at his blank expression for a bit, trying to get a read on him–then your eyes widened. “Kim Tae-hyung!” You gasped.

“I won’t confirm nor deny,” he laughed before downing the rest of his champagne.

“You’re a savage,” you say to him.

He raised his hands innocently. “I never said anything, YN!”

******

You and Taehyung had been so distracted in getting caught up in each other’s lives that you barely noticed that over an hour had passed.

You were attempting to sit up, recovering from laughing so hard from some anecdote that you were bonding over. When he helps you up, the strap of your dress slips off your shoulder.

“Oops!” You giggle, clumsily trying to reach for the strap, which you couldn’t seem to get a grip of.

“Here, let me.” He leaned closer, finger curling around the strap to slide it back up your shoulder. His hand lingered there for a bit. It sent a shiver down your spine. 

His face was too close to yours, it took all of your energy to tear your eyes away from his mouth. They drift to the empty bottle of alcohol instead.

You cleared your throat. “Excuse me while I put this away,” was all you could say before gripping the neck of the bottle for dear life while you walked towards your kitchen.

You bent down to open up the cabinet under the sink, where you kept your recycle bin and dropped the bottle there.

When you turned around, you see that he was standing right behind you.

“I thought that maybe you needed some help?”

You straighten your posture and cock your head slightly. “You thought I needed help putting an empty bottle away?”

“Among other things,” he says with a low voice then suddenly holds up the empty champagne flutes and the appetizer plate that you had laid out. You hadn’t even noticed that he held anything in his hands.

You chuckled and walked towards him, taking the dishes from his hands, making sure that your fingers brushed against his.

“You’re a guest. You should just sit and relax.”

You turned back around towards the sink. While you wash and rinse the glasses, he stands beside you, watching your every move.

You eyed him from your peripheral and poked him on his side to knock him into his senses. “What’s up with you? You act like you’ve never seen me wash dishes before or something.”

“I just didn’t think I’d see you again.“

“To be honest, I thought you’d be off the Mediterranean coast or someplace where it’s warm and sunny all the time.”

He chuckles. “It was fun getting lost at first…then reality set in and I had to come back.”

“You should have just told reality to fuck off.”

That made him double over in laughter. “Wow, YN! I love this new side of you.”

You turned the tap off. “Shut up, don’t patronize me,” you smiled. “Just saying. Things don’t always have to be heavy.”

“You’re right,” he agrees emphatically.

You picked up the clean dish and dried it with a towel. When you were done, you walk to the cabinet closest to him. It was a tight squeeze so you brushed past him. You distantly hear him inhale sharply.

With that reaction, you decide to play a little game with him. The champagne has long-settled into your veins. You stand on your toes to reach up and place the dish back on its shelf. It didn’t really belong there but you knew the effect it would have when you reached up that high and with your hemline being lewdly short.

You see his reflection on the glass, watching your dress hike up, revealing a hint of your ass to him. You linger there for a bit, pretending to push the dish securely in place.

When you were satisfied, you turned back around to finish up with the champagne flutes, brushing past him again. You picked up a glass from the sink to dry it.

“I know what you’re doing,” his voice has a hint of warning.

“What?” You ask with a straight face.

“You’re trying to seduce me,” He states.

“Me? No,” you deny innocently, picking up the second glass to dry it.

“Oh,” his face fell slightly. “I was gonna say, if you were…it’s working.”

You cocked an eyebrow at him. “And why would I need to seduce you? Isn’t that what I’m paying you to do?”

He laughed huskily. “It is. But I’m always up for a role-switch.”

You stopped and set the glass down on the counter. “And what makes you think that I’d be into that?”

He shrugged. “The thrill of it?”

You said nothing but the look on your face confirmed his suspicions.

“I will say, though—I won’t touch you unless you ask me to.”

You scoffed. “Guess that cockiness hasn’t gone away since we last saw each other, huh?”

He smirked then leaned in closer. “I seem to remember you liking it…the cockiness.” He put more emphasis on that syllable.

You licked your lips, shifted your weight where you stood and suddenly switched tact. “You know that I was heartbroken when you left me?”

His expression softened and traces of guilt marred his face. “I’m…I’m sorry. I was just feeling…I don’t know…like, I couldn’t give you all of me. And I knew you deserved better.”

You chuckled and folded your arms across your chest. “That sounds like such bullshit.”

He remained serious. “It’s true. You wanted a future, wanted to get married. I just wasn’t in that place and I didn’t know if I would ever get there–at least, not at the point when you needed me to. I didn’t think it was fair to carry on through that.”

You nodded and stood in silence for a minute, staring at the floor. Afterwards, your eyes flicked up at him. “You know, if this conversation happened six or ten months ago, I probably would have smacked you really hard on your face.”

“And I would have gladly accepted that,” he said sincerely. “You deserve someone who is sure of themselves and on the same page as you are.”

He slowly backed away from you and picked up the dried champagne flutes himself to stow them away. After he shuts the cabinet, he turns and leans back against your kitchen counter.

You exhaled sharply. “Well, lucky for you, I’ve changed my perspective recently. I feel like, for the longest time, I was looking for Mr. Right. And I think that was adding to my frustration.”

He watched carefully as you sauntered towards him. “So, I’ve decided, for my sanity…to settle for Mr. Right-Now.” You brought your face up to his. “Are you up for that?”

The corners of his mouth twitch mischievously. “I’m up for whoever you want me to be tonight.”

“Good. Now give me a kiss and make it all better again,” you quietly demand.

He tilted his chin up and bit into his lower lip. “My friend warned me about this…and when I found out it was you, I couldn’t believe it at first.”

You cocked a challenging eyebrow at him. “People change. You should know.”

“I know. And I like it.” He grabs your face between his hands, forcing you to look up into his determined eyes.

Your mouth opens and he takes advantage of your lapse in willpower, thrusting his tongue into your mouth, exploring and lapping every corner. He’s kissing you, almost violently.

Arousal explodes throughout your entire body as you kiss him back, matching his fervor.

You run your hands across his suited back, your fingers delving into his dark, wavy hair. You knotted through the strands and pulled hard. He groans, a low sexy sound in the back of his throat that reverberates through you.

His hand moves down your body and past the hem of your dress, grazing the back of your thigh, until his fingers are digging into the fleshiest part of your ass. Then he moves between your thighs, brushing over your clothed clit very gently. You jerk at the sensation and you let out a cry of pleasure. He slides his finger under the material and slowly circles your burning core. All you could do is helplessly moan into his mouth as he continues his excruciatingly slow, controlled drives with his fingers.

He broke away from your kiss. While you’re in a pleasure daze, he switches your position around to back you against the kitchen counter. He hooked his fingers onto the band of your thong, pulling it down. When you wriggle out of them, he takes you by surprise when he drops to his knees to lift your dress, propping your leg up onto his shoulder.

You are half-conscious about what he was about to do when you stopped him. Due to the nature of these dates, safety was always a priority. Condoms were always a necessity and oral sex was optional–for obvious reasons. 

“W-wait, Taehyung. I thought you didn’t do–”

“I know, we don’t have to, but I want to. I want to please you.” He paces a lingering kiss on your inner thigh and gently suckles on the flesh.

That made your breath hitch. You don’t remember him being this attuned to your needs before. You had great sex then but he didn’t always seem this eager to please you. It certainly brought a different dynamic to the table.

“But if you don’t think–”

“Can I trust you?”

His eyes staring up at you, he confidently answers, “Yes.”

After a brief pause, you lifted your skirt up higher and leaned back. “Continue.”

With your prompting, he wrapped his mouth around your wet heat. You dragged out a deep sigh when he groaned into your core. His tongue relentlessly licked every fold, every crevice. He sucked and teased your clit, making you tug at his hair even tighter.

You felt your left leg start to buckle with your impending orgasm. Just then he replaces his tongue with his thumb and rubs your aching bud. The friction inching you closer and closer as your walls clench at nothing. You sank your teeth deeper into your lower lip making you wince in pleasure.

He slid his ring and middle fingers into you, massaging your tender tissues while his tongue fluttered over your clit. Your mouth went slack and head lolled back in pleasure while your hips rocked against his face.

“Your cunt is so sweet,” he murmurs against your folds. “It’s just as I remember it.” He gripped both your ass cheeks and brought your center closer to his mouth.

What a difference a year made. You don’t remember him being this good with his mouth but you didn’t really care about how he was back then. Right now, his tongue and lips were goading you into an orgasm.

“I just want to spread you out and lick you until you beg for my cock.”

While one hand gripped at his head, your other hand clung onto the edge of the counter. “I can beg now, if you want,” you breathed out, your climax threatening.

“You’re so fucking wet and ready for me. I want to hear you say my name when you cum.”

And just like that, you fell apart with a drawn out, high-pitched moan, mouthing his name incoherently. You were desperately trying to catch your breath, but he didn’t let you. Next thing you knew, he was upright, lifting you off your feet, bringing you both into the bedroom.

After he sets you on the mattress, you shed the rest of your clothing.

You made quick work of undoing his jeans, his cock already visibly straining against his boxers.

The moment he pulls them down, your mouth starts to water. He had such a pretty cock. The memories begin to stir again. 

As if reading your mind, he shakes his head.

“Tonight is all about your pleasure, baby,” He brushes his fingers to your cheek and seals his mouth over yours once more.

He moves lower, placing wet kisses down your neck and onto your collarbone, stopping to suck on each perked nipple.

Before you knew it, he was back down between your legs, sinking his mouth on your cleft–as if he just hadn’t had his fill of you in the kitchen.

“Fuu…uuck,” you choked out as you felt the deep suction from his mouth. Your hands fisted the sheets beneath you, back arching as Taehyung pinned your hips to the bed and fluttered his tongue across your folds.

Your vision started to blur as your core tightened with another threat of an orgasm. Your pulse quickened with the steady feel of him humming into your center.

Your thighs quake with another building orgasm threatening to attack you from every direction, and your grip on his hair increases. He gets the message, sucking on your clit harder and more frequently. The strokes of his fingers become firmer as you're bulldozed by pleasure and rocketed skyward. Then your mind goes blank, except for the bliss of release riding through you. 

Holy fucking shit!

He reached down on the floor to where his trousers were to grab some condoms out of his pocket.

When he settles back into the mattress, he’s cradled between your thighs. Not long after, you feel the wet, slippery head of his hardon push in. Your mind is a jumble of thoughts, but then he rests on his elbows and gazes down at you, like you're the only thing that exists in his world. 

You move your hands so your palms are on either side of his face.

“God, I forgot how sexy you sound when you cum,” he says softly as you stare up into his eyes, drowning in them, pleasure and desire flooding between you. You smooth your thumb across his moist lips and slide it into his mouth, withdrawing slowly and resting the tip on his bottom lip. He plants a light kiss on the end and smiles down at you as he lifts his hips while maintaining your eye contact, my pelvis shifting to meet him.

You sigh in pure, unapologetic pleasure as he slowly, unhurriedly and reverently slides deep inside of you. You close your eyes and slip your hands to the back of his head as he fills you completely. He holds still, his cock pulsing inside you. His breathing changes to quick, fast bursts of breath--it was a familiar trait. He was struggling to maintain control.

“Fuck, I’m so hard for you,” he says between pants.

You force your eyes open and gasp a little when you feel him jerk inside you. “I missed this pussy,” he whispers, his voice cracking. You inhale sharply at the words.

“Hmmmfuck, yessss, Taehyung–fuck me harder…”

You know he’s in a lust-filled daze and to be honest, so were you. 

His hips surge at your prompting. Your hands fall away from his head and squeeze at your breasts. He circles his hips into you, drawing a collective moan from both of you.

He withdraws and pushes deep and high. You try to rein in your scattered thoughts, but a deep groan escapes. He places his hands over yours, pinning your wrists on either side of your head. 

Thrust. “Taehyung!”

“So good.” Thrust.

“Fuck!” He pulls back and rams back in.

“Ah!” He stills on a few deep breaths. He withdraws and slowly plunges back in.

“Are you gonna cum for me, Taehyung?” You ask, shifting your hips up to capture the deep penetration.

“Yeah…you want me to?” He pants.

You reached up with a free hand and rested it against his throat. “Fuck, yes. I want you to cum hard for me,” you breathed out.

He lowered his neck against your touch. You didn’t close in on his flesh, even though you were tempted to. “Yes…and I want you to make a mess all over my cock,” he countered. “Want to make you cum again and again.”

He pushes high and grinds firmly, a sweat breaking out across his brow. “Don’t hold out on me, YN.”

His words hit you like a lightning bolt. He’s about to fuck another orgasm out of you. He rams into you repeatedly. Another perfect grind and your internal muscles spasm furiously, tremors inching their way into the center of your nerve endings. Your core stiffens.

“Oh my god…I’m so close…” you cry, throwing your head back.

He hits you with a full, hard strike, and your eyes squeeze shut at the feel of his hips smacking up against your flesh.

You came with a hoarse scream, your breath feels as if it was punched out of you. He stops his movements completely as he goes rigid, his forehead pressed against yours as he growls through his climax.

Your back arches on reflex when the rush reaches its climax and sends you tumbling into the deep pool of pleasure. You cry out again, your body trembling in his hold as the pulsing recedes, slowly and lazily with his continued even strokes, fully emptying himself into you.

Your breaths are rushed and pulses frantic.

The intensity of the last few minutes waning away as he gingerly lifts his head to look down at you. He smiles faintly and slowly withdraws himself, making you wince at the emptiness.

As sanity returns, you open your eyes and turn your head sideways at him. Taehyung is staring up at the ceiling, his expression is soft, tender. You turn to your side, bearing your weight on your elbow, stroking your fingertip on his nose.

“Holy shit,” he breathes.

“You can say that again,” you deadpan.

“We’ve never fucked like that before!”

You exchanged looks and suddenly burst out laughing again. You laugh so hard until your elbow gives out and you’re flat on your back on the mattress.

******

You remained sitting on the bed with the sheets pulled up under your armpits while you silently watched Taehyung get dressed. You reach over by your nightstand.

“Hey, before I forget…”

He turns around to see you holding up an envelope. “YN, I can’t accept that–”

“Can’t? How come? It’s the rate that was agreed upon.”

“It’s what you and he agreed on,” Taehyung says, referring to your original escort. “I was just covering for him.”

You sighed, feeling slightly confused. “Look, Taehyung…let’s not make this weird–”

“I’m not making it weird! It’s okay, YN. Really,” he chuckled, waving the money off.

“Right but…service was rendered and I’m a paying customer.”

Taehyung paused while smoothing his shirt, looking offended for a second. “YN, I am not taking your money. Just think of it as a random catch-up fuck.” He turns away from the cash that you held out to him, grabs his pants off the floor and sits at the edge of the bed to put them on.

“If we didn’t have history, would you take it?” You say to him while his back is turned towards you.

He pauses again and you see his shoulders slump over slightly. You scoot closer to the edge of the bed, and sit next to him, still dressed in your bra and panties.

“Look, Taehyung–I didn’t think I’d ever see you again–much less, in this setting. But, business is business, right? I know the night started off awkward but…I hope that we wouldn’t end it on that note.”

He sighed heavily then looked up and returned your gaze, giving you a small smile in return. “I’ll only accept this if you let me take you out for dinner tonight.”

You roll your eyes and chuckle at his acquiescence. “Fine.” You present the money to him again and he takes it this time.

You rise from your bed and walk towards the bathroom to clean up. “I’m still a cheap date, by the way,” you call out past your shoulder.

He laughed again as he stood up to finish buckling his belt. He knew exactly where he'd be taking you.

******

“Mmm…godddd, that hits the spot right there,” you moaned in appreciation.

Taehyung watched you suck the sauce off from your thumb while you savored your taco. La Corneta was a frequent late-night ritual for you and him back when you were together. It’s been ages since you’ve stopped by this taco truck.

You’d almost forgotten how delicious their carnitas tacos were–especially after sex.

“Don’t tease me like that,” he remarked with a warning.

You paused mid-bite. “What? Give me a break, I haven’t been here in a while.”

“Really?” He asks in disbelief. “You always said you loved the tacos here.”

“I know,” You nodded, taking a bite out of a chip with some salsa. “Haven’t been back since we split up.”

His face falters a little from guilt, but he doesn’t make it obvious. “I see,” he says softly, picking up another tortilla chip and holding it to his mouth.

“It’s just that…I usually had a craving for this place after we’ve had a good night of fucking.”

His ears perk up and his eyes lift up at you.

“And I haven’t had that in a while so…” you give him a knowing look before trailing off, taking another bite of your taco.

He shifted in his stool and leaned in. Not that the bistro-style table and chair wasn’t small enough for you to sit closer but he wanted to whisper in your ear. “Are you trying to tell me something?”

After you swallow your last bite, you turn your head to him, and lick the excess sauce off your lips. “I’m just saying…I really love these tacos.” 

He smiled then his eyes drifted to your mouth. He reached out to swipe the corner, then licked the leftover sauce off his finger. “I do, too.”

He walked you back to your apartment and you ended the night with a hug going your separate ways.

When you laid in bed, you stared at your phone screen. There were two icons on your BFE app now–two escorts you’ve ordered. Your finger hovered over Taehyung’s icon. Although the sex was unbelievable, you weren’t sure if you wanted to see him again.

Sure, the app guaranteed some layer of anonymity but this was something that you did not foresee. The beauty of the service was the no-frills, uncomplicated nature of it. And you wanted this to remain your own thrilling secret.

You swiped at the row for Taehyung’s icon and a red button appeared, prompting you to confirm whether you wanted to delete it from your history.

The inner turmoil ate at you but there have been too many hassle-free orgasms for you to stop. With a groan, you push the power button on your phone to lock your screen, effectively canceling any action you were trying to execute.

You place your phone back on the nightstand and sink into your pillow and sheets. When you take a deep breath, you catch his scent still lingering in your bedroom and you feel the faintest flutter in your belly.

Guess you would just count down the days until your next fix. It might even warrant another late-night trip to the taco truck! 

You’ve reached the end! Thank you so much for reading!

If you loved it, please comment, reblog, or send me feedback! 📩. I love hearing from readers! If you didn’t like it so much, I would still like to hear about it. Help me become a better writer! 💜

Tagging: @internetjunkdrawer @deepseavibez @itdoesntmatterwhy @yu-justme

[lovelyleclercs]

Chapter Five- One Day at a Time

Arthur Leclerc x Sofia Sine

-> Arthur goes to the top of a hill and recalls a memory he tried to shove out of his mind for good.

warnings: mentions of Herve's passing, cancer, swearing, sad Arthur

word count: 1130

a/n: this is more so a bonus chapter as it is quite short, but it was something I wanted to share regardless.

Arthur was sitting at the top of a random hill in Monaco, one that couldn’t be seen by the naked eye from those walking up and down the road below. It was around 10am, the streets of monaco crowded with people walking- or driving- to their morning destinations, some in a hurry, others taking their sweet time.

Arthur always came to this specific spot whenever life felt too heavy for him to handle. It had been a while since he had visited the isolated spot on top of the hill, the last time being with Sofia, shortly after his father passed.

After searching for Arthur all around Monaco for nearly three hours, Sofia finally found him with his knees pulled to his chest, leaning against a tree on top of one of the tallest hills in Monaco. 

After searching for Arthur all around Monaco for nearly three hours, Sofia finally found him with his knees pulled to his chest, leaning against a tree on top of one of the tallest hills in Monaco. 

Sofia didn’t say a word to him, knowing that right now he wanted space- if he wanted to talk to Sofia, he wouldn’t have walked out in the first place. Instead, Sofia sat down beside him and placed Sofia’s hand on his arm which had been wrapped around his legs. Sofiar thumb gently rubbed his forearm, trying to comfort him without being overly touchy. 

Arthur didn’t acknowledge her presence, he knew Sofia was there in the back of his mind, but the only thing he was truly focused on was the ache in his chest. 

After about an hour of crying into his knees, Arthur had begun to grow exhausted from all of the crying he had done. He leaned his body against Sofias and closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths to try to get his breathing under control. 

Sofia wrapped her arms around him gently and kissed the top of his head.

Arthur sighed and looked up at Sofia, his eyes burning and bloodshot from nearly four hours of crying his pain away. “I don’t understand why such horrible things happen to such good people. He has never done anything wrong, he was always selfless, kind, caring… and this is what he got in return. It’s not fair” Arthur whispered, almost as if he was too broken to even speak. 

“I don’t know, Art. I wish I had an answer… unfortunately it’s just how life works sometimes. We can’t control what life throws at us, but we can control how we choose to deal with it. I know you’re hurting- you have every right to be hurting right now- but papa would want you to stop crying about it, get up, and go do all the things that he can no longer do.”

Arthur sighed and looked away from you. “It’s not that easy. I can’t just continue to live my life to its fullest when papa can’t do that anymore”

Sofia placed her hand on his cheek, turning his face back towards her. “Yes you can, Art. It is what papa would want you to do. He wouldn’t want you to be sulking in his loss, he would want you to be celebrating the life he did get to live. He would want you to keep racing, just as you promised, go boating until sunset like the two of you once did together, and above all, he would want you to figure out a way to live life without him.”

Arthur sighed and wrapped his arms around Sofia, pulling her into a hug. “You’re right. You’re always right.”

Sofia laughed a little and hugged him tightly. “I’m always here for you, too. Don’t forget that.”

Arthur smiled a little and nodded. “I won't.”

A familiar feeling washed over Arthur as he thought back to that day nearly three years ago- lost. There was simply no way he would be able to survive this lifetime without his father AND Sofia. The only reason he was able to get over the loss of Herve was because he had you.

“Art?” Sofia whispered as she stood behind him, shivering from how cold the wind was as it blew against her.

Arthur didn’t turn around as he didn’t want Sofia to see him in this state again, especially now that his heartbreak was caused by her. 

“Arthur.. Please…”

“I should be the one comforting you right now, not the other way around. It’s not fair for you to see me like this, Sof. Just go back home and I’ll come see you when I'm in a better state of mind.”

Sofia sat down beside Arthur, putting her hand on top of his as she looked over at him. “You’re struggling with this diagnosis as much as I am. You deserve to be comforted, too.”

Arthur looked over at Sofia, his eyes glossy as tears were waiting for their que to fall down his cheeks. “I can’t lose you, Sof. The idea of losing you scares the hell out of me…”

Sofia wiped the few tears that managed to sneak their way down Arthur’s face, giving her an excuse to rest her hand against his cheek. “You won’t lose me, Art. I promise. I have a much better chance of surviving this than papa ever did. He had stage 4, I have stage 2. Mine was caught in time. With some treatments and some medicine, I’ll be ok. I promise”

Arthur leaned his head against Sofia’s hand and sighed, looking into her eyes. “What happens if the treatments don’t work and you get sicker, then what?”

Sofia smiled sadly and sighed. “Then the doctor will decide what steps need to be taken to make sure nothing happens to me. Right now, we need to take everything one day at a time. There will be days where I feel like I'm dying, and there will be days where I don’t feel sick at all, that’s how all of this is going to go, but I am determined to get better, and I promise you I will fight like hell to beat this, ok?”

Arthur nodded a little and wrapped his arms around Sofia tightly “One day at a time…”

“Exactly, one day at a time. Today, I’m feeling better than I was yesterday, so how about we head back home, grab a coffee on the way, and then we can bake cookies or something. Sounds good?”

Arthur laughed a little and nodded. “Only if we can bake chocolate chip cookies. Those are my favorite, you know.”

Sofia laughed and got up off of the ground, holding her arm out for Arthur. “Oh trust me, I know.”

Arthur got up and took Sofia’s hand. “Sof?”

"Yeah?"

“Thank you.. For following me up here.. For reassuring me that everything is going to be ok. You know how I get in my head sometimes..”

Sofia smiled softly, squeezing Arthur’s hand gently. “I’m always here for you, Art. Always.”

chapter 6

tag list: @hammick @Cl16msc47 @majkaftorek @04ashely16 @itsrogersstuff @polyjuiceslytherin @lizziebitch33 @viktorie16

[transmogrified-in-the-void]

Hey 18-20 year olds? You’ve only just started the hardest part of growing up: learning how the hell to do that and how to be an adult. And yeah, I’m in the same boat, here’s some things that have helped me so far

- a friend who is older than you

My best friend is 7 years older than me, and he’s been able to give me so much advice on personal philosophy, how to work on personal issues, etc.

- a friend who holds you accountable/is very honest with you

having a friend who will take you aside and tell you “x thing you’re doing is actually making y hard/unfun/stressful/etc.” is more valuable than yes men friends. These are the friends who will question life decisions if they seem to make you unhappy, in the pursuit of making sure you’re exactly where you need to be.

- learning how to make accountable apologies

Here’s how I structure my apologies now, and I’ve had not only good reactions and conversations afterwards, but I’ve had to use them in various ways. “I’m sorry about x. Y was happening, and instead of doing x thing I should have done z thing. Again, I’m sorry.” It not only has removed the loathed “but”, but it also allows for explanation and a plan on how to avoid it. I will also sometimes add “I’ll try my best to do z thing” if I know I’m going to need some time to fully erase the mistake if it was a habit, but in general that helps a lot.

- start trying to find who is a small dose person and who’s a large dose person

What is a small dose person? For example: I know someone who I can only be around for maybe an hour when with other people before I become irritated by their presence. Is it their fault I’m irritated by them? No, and they’ll never know I am. Because I’m only around them for around an hour once every few months. That’s small dose. It’s the “you’re not a bad person I just cannot be around you for long periods of time”.

- if things you read on social media/the internet make you emotional, restructure how you spend your time

Here’s a really hot take. For those who were tuned in for the dungeons and dragons drama, I’m about to tell you guys something crazy. The draft that was leaked was actually incredibly lenient (I can’t remember what it was called haha). How do I know this? I could tell I was getting a little heated and sent it to a friend who knows way more about that sort of stuff and asked for his opinion, and he told me about other examples of it that were more harsh but not lambasted. If you read a headline or a post or tweet and get up in arms, take a step back and take a breath. You don’t have the time to get emotional about every little thing, you’re too busy growing up.

- make friends or acquaintances who don’t believe the same thing as you

My best friend is a centrist who leans more right than left. I am more left leaning than he is by a good amount. We both have very enlightening conversations because of that. Here’s the funny thing, I do hold some right leaning beliefs anyways because that better supports the area I live in. I don’t want the government grabbing the land around me because they’ve proven to be incompetent. I’m fine with looser gun control because there have been times where mountain lions just. Appear in my city. We have an overpopulation of wolves right now. A few other ones I don’t feel like sharing. My friend has changed how he views certain issues and so I have I because we talk about what we disagree about. If they respect you, they’ll debate but not argue

- not everything is about you

Building off that last point, not every counterpoint is an attack on you. It can feel like it, because you’re still expanding the telescope you see out of into two working eyes (I’m still getting there too), so being able to say to yourself that this is either a) bigger than you or b) not about you at all can help you get through more conversations more levelheaded

- you’re in puberty

Final thing: your body is still a hormonal war zone. Emotions are heightened, thought processes are everywhere, you are still growing up. Give yourself time. And grace. And kindness.

[popculturebuffet]

Pirate Month III: The Pirates! In an Adventure With Whaling! (Comission by WeirdKev27)

Ahoy all you happy people and welcome back to Pirate Month! As we wind it down, it's time once again for our yearly look at Gideon Defoe's pirates series. We started with Aardman's fantastic adaptation of his work, went on to the first book and now where we are at The Pirates! An Adventure with Whaling... or Ahab if your in the US like me... or Moby Dick for the reprint for the 2012 uk reprint.

For those just joining in pirates is a series of comedy novels by british author Gideon Dafoe. The first book, and parts of this one and possibly others but we'll get to that, was adapted into a movie by Aardman Animation. I'd seen that film but now kev has me reading the books as he's a fan too.

Last year I read the pirates first adventure, adventure with scientests where our heroes casued a lot of black comedy deaths, halfheartedly helped Charles Darwin on his adventures, wore dinosaur masks, picked up a new crew member in Jennifer, met a humanpanzie and other nonsense i've likely forgot. I also found out the film was a great adaptation as while it didn't follow the book to the letter it captured the spirit of these books fantastically.

I did have one worrying question in the back of my mind going into the second one: Would the books keep up the momentum or lapse into the formula of "the crew meets and teams up with a historical figure, wackiness ensues" i'm delighted that while that's technically true, Adventures With Whaling ups the ante, tightens the plot and is still gut busting all the while. It's a nice evolution of the series that makes me excited to keep sailing with the other three books eventually. To see what I mean join me under the cut for whale puppetry, mobs of cowboys in las vegas, and severe crippling debt.

So to start us off Adventures with Whaling has a tighter plot. Like Scientists, the plot is largely a loose frame to work jokes in but unlike Scientests, where the pirates really barely cared about Charles Darwin's plight and only needed his money, here the stakes are a lot more personal and are the reason for all the wacky nonsense we know and love.

This time Pirate Captain makes a mistake i'm sure many has and overspends. With the pirate's unamed boat falling to bits their fearless leader Pirate Captain takes the crew to Nantucket, insert your own dirty limerick here, intending to get the boat fixed by Cutlass Liz

Yup to my plesant suprise Cutlass Liz was also in the books, having a bigger role that likely could've come up , and still could come up, in any sequels. I'm seriously hoping now Aardman is on steady ground with netflix we get a sequel. And reading through the jackets of the future books it seems like the pirate of the year compettion is directly taken from Adventures with Napoleon. The Aardman Film simply took a bunch of neat bits and pieces and the basic characters and reconfigured them into it's own mostly original plot about charles darwin badly wanting to get laid. Not something i'm against mind as it worked well and like i've said it gets the spirit of the books down perfectly.

Here instead of just another rival pirate and the object of Pirate Captain's affections for one fantasy sequence, Cutlass Liz is an infamous pirate who runs a boat yard and enters the book killing a pirate who couldn't pay her while terrifying the crew. So naturally.. the Pirate Captain gets into massive debt with her due to a combination of trying to impress her and his oldest foe, Black Belamy.

Yes to my delight Black Belamy is back, having set off the previous book by setting our heroes on Charles Darwin. He's also not voiced by jeremy piven, another well worn plus. He has a bigger role this time out, not only setting off the plot AGAIN, but also coming back twice to bedevil our heroes. He's also one of the few things the film didn't do better as rather than just a broish bully he's the kind of bully who pretneds to be your friend while mocking you and is far more cunning. While he generally just meant to insult pirate captain here, his later two schemes show a nicely petty and manipulative streak.

To start he just mocks the boat Pirate Captain was going to buy and Pirate Captain's own ego does the rest, instead buying the biggest boat possible. Thankfully Bellamy leaves before he gives a bs excuse about his treasure he bragged about to impress Liz but still for some reason agrees to still buy it.

Liz is at least.. sorta forgiving and agrees to give him a few weeks to pay it off .. or else. SO our heroes with low suplies, less money and a threat to cut off the captain's luxioruus beard set off.

This elevates the book as rather than the adventures mostly being disconnected, with the very loose goal of we need money , we have a firmer goal: We need money or we're all gonna die horribly.

It's not the only connecting bit too as while Liz is the looming threat that sets the plot off, well that and Pirate Captains fragile ego but that's the kind of threat you can nevery truly beat, there's another figure we see throughout the first half. While the Pirate Captain is having some drinks he runs into Moby Dick's Captain Ahab. I haven't read moby dick but thankfully this book just really requires you to know he's a grim old man whose leg got bitten by a whale and he's been trying to murder it ever since. Ahab pops up once or twice before becoming the center of the last act. It's small stuff sure but it helps make the silly story feel all the more impactful by the end: tying together these loose bits into one uprorarus set piece

Before we get there we have some smaller set pieces: the pirate captain's old mentor mails him a treasure map... that turns out to be a child's smile.. which they try to grin and bear but throw into the ocean because what the fuck man. I mean.. it's not a bad lesson but come on.

Since that fails the next one and one that made the book jacket is VEGAS BABY. Which I was so excited for and it did not disapoint. It's filled with kitchy landmarks, gambling and naturally our heroes loosing what little money they had left gambling. For once it's not even pirate captain's fault as he warned the crew. He runs into Ahab again who was told the whale was in the casino. And now I just want a version of Ocean's eleven where Ahab is one of danny's crew. I mean.. we're getting Godzilla vs the Great Gatsby and the rest of western literature this year, it's no longer impossible.

The Pirate Captain's real plan and reason for going is simple: Showbusiness! Vegas is all about those big flashy shows and this series has no concept for time or accurate history so the Pirate captain puts ona bit peformance. Antecdotes! Knife Throwing! An Albino Pirate! all the usual stuff.

To my shock given the title isn't adventures in vegas though given my love for vegas set stories I badly wish it was, it works. THey get a decent if not nearly enough pile of money scare a child who dosen't know the albino isn't a ghost, and have the child fead the albino merunge to show he's not threatning. All sentences I just got paid for recapping, all so over the top as not to be offensive

Sadly this dosen't pan out as Black Belamy, the bastard swoops in with a better show and the pirate captain's attempts to have a lymicrk battle with him result in him insulting an audience of cowboys and having to run for their life. A once an adventure staple, but not exactly good.

Our heroes seem to be at a dead end, depressed about their possible death and lack of success on the stage. I love how pettily angry the pirate captain is about how little they appricated his work. Such a good character. He stays largely the same this time, a bit of an ass (the bit about him trying to go into the showers while jennifer there has aged like fine mlik on a sidewalk but thankfully he clearly never got away with anything), an egotistic and a layabout, but a guy who genuinely loves his crew.

Well.. MOST of them. There's one exception introduced this book and he is a delight, the only pirate beyond Captain's #2 pirate with a scarf, the albino pirate and jennifer to really get much of a personality: The Pirate in Red. The Pirate in Red is a sarcastic bastard who freqnuently makes jabs at the Pirate Captain's expense, only stopping when the captain gestures to his cutlass. He's the only one besides pirate with a scarf who seems to have an idea what he's doing and unlike Scarf Pirate, will actually point this out.

While Pirate Captain DEFINTELY wants to kill him he either defintly knows...

Or more likely it's a sign of a change between books: Scientests relied HEAVILY on black comedy, lots of casual murder and death. This is still present in Whaling, Liz's plans ot kill our heroes are repsented by a threatning greeting card reminder and several people still do die, but it's tone down a bit, more in line with the eventual movie. There's still racy jokes, some that work like PIrate Captain not wanting his beard to get hurt as it'll hurt their gay following as he's known as a bit of a bear, and some age like fine milk left inside a monster truck in a hurricane, like the mention of thiland's "Ladyboys". Bleh. But most of the humor has held up perfectly and it's leaning a bit more into the nonsense, while keeping some casual deaths and murder for funsies. IT's a better ballance. I also got a rather large chuckle out of both times the inventory included the acordian pirate who died last book still stuffed and and mounted after his death.

So while Pirate Captain is loathe to agree with Pirate in Red, he finds his suggestion to... do some fucking pirating for a change actually has merrit. We get them boarding a leper boat an da school trip, both jokes that would be used in the movie. Both are pretty funny with the lepers giving them used bits and with the kids after getting what little money they had they just.. hang out. They build frankestines out of the leper parts, which is fucked up but man if I didn't giggle and Pirate Captain dosen't take them with him as they have moms to think about. Awww

Eventually though they find a whaling vessle and Ahab. Once again the rest of the plot is kicked off by a bad bit of piracy.. but it works largely because rather than someone they barely know.. it's a casual aquantince and it's hilariously awkward, with PC having run through his first mate and Ahab being angry as hell. I just love how it comes off as if you ran into a friend while doing something embarassing and having to make that awkward small talk. And invite him to dinner which is also awkard.

It does provide our heroes an out though: Ahab blows up at the pirate captain making a whale with his mashed potatoes, but admits it's more because he's just fucking tired. So he offers bounty: the same 6000 dubloons our heroes need.

So the rest of the book, the bulk of it really is truly an adventure with whaling as our heroes have no clue HOW to actually do this. The schemes are fast, furious, and stupid with having a bunch of pirates pretend to be krill, dangling various pirates off the bow, and naturally loosing a bunch more to sharks, and the Pirate Captain reading his secret romance novel loudly, which the crew naturalyl enjoys but dosen't do anything.

Eventually in a turn I find neat that REALLY ups the stake the Captain gets obsseed: he works everyone harder, then does the unthinkable: his prized ham, which gets mentiond quite a bit gets nailed to the door for the winner.

I like how this emphasises how the crew works; Sure pirate captain's killed a few dozen of them, and is incompitent as hell.. but he makes the ship fun, gives them adventure and does love his crew. He's not a great leader but he's THEIR captain and him taking all that fun away makes them deseprate

So ... because rule of threes.. the turn to the devil himself: Yes Jennifer suggests the impossible: A few of them including her sneak out and ask Black Belamy. I'ts a genius turn I did'nt see coming: we've seen how clever he can be, and it's the exact worst thing.. but our heroes are short on time and actual ideas.

Belamy being his bastardly self is actually.. helpful, wooing jennifer with a dinner and to his credit not being a dick: he clearly IS trying to win her into bed with his fancy dinner, flirting and what not, btu when she just calls him friend and dosen't quite catch onto his intrest, he dosen't force it. It's a bare minimum but Bellamy is such a scoundrel it's neat to find out he has standards. And he agrees to help. Granted it's of course another scheme on his old school chum and arch enemy, but it's more of a solution than our heroes have

I love how Pirate Captain reacts too: he's mildly livid for a second.. but upon it being explained they were all worried about him, he's genuinely touched by their gesture and belamy giving them what seems to be THE whale in 20 minutes.

As I said though it' sonce again another classic Black Belamy prank. Honestly i'll be dispaointed if adventurees with communist doesn't have him pull some half assed con on our heroes at this point that only works because our heroes are a few barnacles short of a hive minded barnacle monster.

He painted a whale from the zoo white... and our heroes just run with it. Yeah for once his half assed scheme actually helps as they had no other plan so "Hope he buys it" is all they got. Pirate Captain naturally has to take it one step further and stupider: have someone puppet the whale from the inside and apologize. On his last fucking nerve with the guy, PC assigns pirate in red for the job.

So our gang plans to have the whale apologize and arrives to a sketpical ahab and cutlas liz for a GLORIOUS climax. I mean it this finale is just so damn good. It starts with Pirate in Red going off script to insult pirate captain who can't just point to his sword as he can't see him, one of my faviorite gags of the book. Lucky for them before Cutlass Liz can understandably kill them, Moby Dick himself shows up and starts destroying their boat thinking i'ts a lady whale. This is also a great callback as that was thier first scheme. So the book climaxes in pirate captain hanging on for dear life as the whale bats him around and destroys his nice new ship while everyone thinks he's a total badass, cumilating in him and his prized ham, which he ran back for while everyone else jumped ship, ending up in the whales blowhole.

With the newfound respect of their creditors and thier debts paid Liz gives the pirates thir old boat back and we get a pretty sweet ending as they all watch clouds as they did at the start of the book.. they didn't really gain MUCh from this adventure.. btu they learned something: don't get into debt to impress women. Also maybe whaling's not for them.

Adventures in Whaling is a perfect sequel: it ups the stakes, ties the plot together way better, ups the jokes nad in general is just a delight. I dont' knokw if I can wait a year for the next one, this one was pretty damn fantastic. Thanks for reading

[legolasghosty]

your rarepairiest pair: Is this a mid-life crisis because if it is I'm a bit worried about your lifespan.

Oh gosh yes please! I will take any and every excuse to write JuBobby! (Also I think I accidentally set this in my Jem and the Holograms AU... whoops! Oh well, I think it makes sense still without context.)

Bobby generally considers his girlfriend a levelheaded person. Sure, she's done some crazy stuff (See the history of how they even met in the first place), but in general, Julie thinks things through before she does them. And that's probably a good thing, considering the insanity of at least half of her brothers/band.

But even for the most even-keeled individual, fame does weird stuff. So when Julie gets back after what was supposed to be a casual family dinner (no significant others allowed on the first night of the visit to give Julie and her brothers a chance to catch up with Ray, Victoria, and Carlos), crashes onto Bobby's bed, and says, "I'm going to get a yacht," Bobby isn't entirely sure how to react.

He hits the save key on his computer and rises from his desk. "Is this a mid-life crisis?" he asks slowly, approaching his girlfriend and sitting down on the edge of the bed beside her. "Cause if so, I'm a little worried about your lifespan. I don't want to outlive you by that much, Molina."

Julie groans and rolls onto her side to look at him. "People can't recognize me on a boat," she states, voice flat.

Bobby winces, suddenly understanding. He'd turned off most of his notifications while he was working, which is probably how he missed whatever pictures have made it online of Julie and her brothers just trying to spend time with their family. He reaches out to run his fingers gently over her arm, offering what comfort he can.

"We didn't even have our food yet before someone came to ask for an autograph," Julie sighs, wriggling a little closer to him. "And then the waiters were staring, and...sometimes I wonder why I told the world my real name."

Bobby hums softly and lays down on his side, pulling her into his chest. "I'm sorry, Ju." This sort of thing has been happening more and more over the past nine months since Julie took to the stage as Dahlia and the crowd was chanting her real first name by the time she and her brothers finished the show.

"So I'm gonna get a frigging boat so I can hang out with my family without getting interrupted," Julie huffs, curling into his embrace, letting his cool hands smooth out the rough heat racing through her body from all the unwanted stares.

"I mean, I know it doesn't really solve the actual problem," Bobby begins, resting his chin against her hair, "but you could just bring them here if you wanted. Get some fancy takeout and just stay in together."

"I wouldn't want to kick you out of your own house though," Julie protests, looking up at him. "I mean, I know the guys and I live here too, but it's your home too. You shouldn't lose your safe space just because my family is in town."

Bobby forces down a joke about being used to it from how things were with Caleb up until a year ago. His therapist says that's not healthy, to downplay it like that. "I don't mind," he promises instead. "They're important to you. So, important to me. I can stay out of your way no problem as long as no one ends up in my room."

Julie cracks a tiny smirk. "Awww, so no sleepovers while they're here?" she teases.

Bobby chuckles and shrugs as best he can without loosening his grip on her. "I suppose something could be arranged," he responds. "You know, if the situation were desperate enough."

"So... you last maybe one night without me," Julie snarks.

"Hey, you leave my insomnia out of this," Bobby complains lightly, unable to resist the slow grin spreading across his face. "I managed just fine before we met."

"Lies," Julie retorts, pushing herself up on one elbow so she's above him.

"Oh yeah? Whatcha gonna do about it?" Bobby challenges.

"Go sleep in my amazing bazillion thread sheeted bed in my room by myself," she answers, smirking. "We'll see just how well you sleep by yourself."

Bobby raises an eyebrow. "I don't see you moving."

"Hey I got accosted by twelve-year-olds today, I'm not moving very fast," Julie says.

Hah, Bobby thinks. An opening. He reaches out and grabs an edge of his bedspread, flipping them over and pinning her down with the blanket and his body. "Well then you're not going anywhere," he teases.

"Oh no, woe is me," Julie laughs as she fumbles one arm free to cup the back of his neck. "I shall never escape."

"Nope, mine now," Bobby agrees before giving into her gentle tugging and leaning down to kiss her. "I'm serious though," he adds, pulling back a hair after a moment. "Just bring your family here. I know it's not ideal, but we can make it feel just as fancy as those stupid restaurants downtown. And here you can just be you."

"You're amazing," Julie says. "Think we can make it happen for everybody dinner tomorrow night?"

"Caleb has an impressive wine cellar," Bobby promises. "And he owes me and Willie and Carrie like... a lot."

"You know I'm technically underaged, right?" Julie jokes.

"Well, rockstars are allowed to do fun stuff sometimes," Bobby responds, leaning down to kiss her again. They'd figure it out, one way or another.

[matcha-milkies]

WELL, YOU DID ASK

Summary: Aboard the Stan-O’-War II, Stan finds out and confronts Ford about his past relationship with Bill.

Alternatively: “Ford, why did Bill call you babygirl?”

Relationships: Sea Grunkles, Bill Cipher/Ford Pines (Mentioned)

Content Warnings: Implied/Referenced Sex

Tags: Humor, Light Angst, Banter

Inspired By: This Meme and This Comic

Word Count: 2,489

Link to AO3: Here

A/N: Yeah it’s been a HOT MINUTE five years since I watched Gravity Falls, and I’m still waiting on my copy of Book of Bill, so I’m sorry if there are any inconsistencies with canon in this. I was riffing hard off of secondhand material lol

Stan stares up at the top bunk as the room gently sways from side to side, a cabin cradled in the bosom of the ocean. He’s lying face up on his cot, hands on his abdomen, and he’s contemplating something very deeply. It’s unnerving, this thing. He almost wishes he could forget all about it. Almost.

He bites his bottom lip and deliberates over what to do about this. He could just leave it alone. Things have been good lately. Why rock the boat, so to speak? They could go about their day, have their coffee, cast their lines into the sea, fry that leftover kraken meat for dinner. Blegh, he’s so sick of kraken meat. He’s going to have to find a way to season that thing to spice it up a bit or else he’s gonna go crazy. Why do krakens have to be so enormous anyway?

Yeah, he could do that. He could be normal.

After all, if the answer is no, then there’s nothing to worry about in the first place. And if the answer is yes… does he really want to know about it? What is he going to do, where is he going to go from there? Ask for details? He’s racked by a fullbody shudder. As if.

But deep down, he knows he’s kidding himself. If he doesn’t confront his brother, then this is going to linger in the back of Stan’s mind for all of eternity. He won’t be able to look at his twin without pondering all the ‘why’s. Why him? Why didn’t you tell me?

Stan hauls himself to a sitting position and swings his legs over the side of his bunk. He stares at the wall for a little bit, mouth quirked to the side. The Stan-O’-War II creaks, as if it’s also pondering to itself. He can hear his brother rustling papers a ways away in the other room. It’s a small boat. Of course it is. There’s only two of them to man it.

Stan starts to walk into the other room, then turns around and changes course at the last second, heading above deck instead. Hopefully his twin was too preoccupied with his work to notice. Stan walks over to the port side and leans his arms against the railing with a sigh. It’s a nice day out, at least. The sun is shining high in the sky with only a few clouds drifting overhead. They’re somewhere off the coast of Canada.

Somewhere further south but still along the same coast are his great niece and nephew, going to school again. He wonders how they’re doing. He wishes he could call them. He misses them, but he also wants to take his mind off of this. He hears footsteps pacing below deck, probably to grab a book off a shelf or something, because they soon pace right back to where the desk would be. 

Stan lowers his head until his forehead is against the railing and sighs. He’s probably going to have to ask. The thing he’s dreading is knowing that it’s not gonna go over well. He gives it maybe another ten minutes to psyche himself up, then turns and tramps back down the stairs.

Ford is situated at his desk (it’s not anyone’s desk but really it’s Ford’s desk), sifting through some old creased pages that look like they’re about to disintegrate at the slightest breeze. On his right-hand side is a cold, half-finished cup of joe. Occasionally, he mutters something to himself and pens something in his new journal. He’s entirely absorbed. He doesn’t even seem to notice when Stan appears in the doorway and leans his elbow against it.

“Uh, hey, Sixer, how’s it goin’ in here?”

Ford starts. The pen drops from his hand and rolls around on the swaying floor. “Stanley, how many times do I have to tell you not to sneak up like that?”

“I didn’t sneak up on you. I’m notoriously loud. You’re the one with your nose glued to that journal.”

“I–” Ford’s breath catches in his throat before he lets it out in a sigh. “I suppose you have a point. I’m sorry, Stanley. I’m just frustrated at how little progress I’ve made with this. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

“You know you say that, like, every time we find some weird thing, right?”

“I didn’t think we would encounter this many paranormal phenomena outside of Gravity Falls.”

“Maybe you’re the weirdness magnet.”

“Perhaps both of us are. After all, you were the one living in my shack for all those years pretending to be me.”

“Ha, yeah…” Stan musses his own hair. “Must run in the family.”

“Anyway–” after stooping to pick up the pen, Ford seats himself at the desk again– “you know I always appreciate your company, Stan, but I’d like to make some real headway before dinner if at all possible.”

“Uh, well, actually,” Stan says, and Ford glances up with a raised brow.

“What is it? Don’t tell me you accidentally dropped something overboard,” replies Ford, testing the temperature of his coffee. He looks displeased at the result but nevertheless continues to sip it anyway.

“Relax, relax, it’s nothing like that. Sheesh, are you ever gonna let me live that down?”

“It happened yesterday.”

“Ancient history!” Eh, might as well spit it out, right? “Hey, speaking of ancient history, what was going on with you and Bill?”

Ford makes some sort of choking sound and dribbles coffee back into his cup. He casts about for a napkin or a towel. “What do you mean by that?”

“Were you like, just a fling, boyfriend-boyfriend, married? What was going on there?”

Ford sputters, gives up and rolls up his sleeve to wipe his mouth on his bare arm. His voice cracks a little as he speaks. “What- What do you- What do- Why would you–”

“Look, don’t play dumb with me, IQ. When he was in my head, he said some things. And I didn’t think much of it at the time, but see, now I got nothing but time out here on this tin can, and I…”

His twin finally manages to school himself back into neutrality, although they’re both well aware it’s too late. He’s already shown his hand. All he can do is pretend, deny, for whatever that gets him. He spares Stan a glance over his spectacles, and it seems to last an eternity, before the man finally returns his gaze to his notes. “Now is not the time to talk about this.” Oh. Okay. So not even a denial then.

“Uh, right. Sure. And when exactly is the right time gonna be?”

Ford pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs with a kind of bone-deep exhaustion. “I don’t know, Stanley, any time I’m not trying to decipher the code that we found etched onto the side of that washed up precolonial artifact last week?”

“Well, I don’t know why it needs to be a whole song and dance, Einstein, it’s a simple question.”

“Yes, we were… romantically involved. Obviously. Now please leave me in peace.” Not that he had expected that answer to buy him anything, but he still finds himself chagrined when Stan stubbornly continues his line of questioning.

“Why didn’t you tell me about that?”

“I didn’t think it pertinent.” Ford closes the book on his left-hand side, resigning himself to the unfortunate reality that this conversation is happening, and there is no walking away from it. Where would he even escape to? They’re stuck on a boat together until they land at the next port.

“You didn’t think I’d wanna know you were getting… close with the literal demon that tried to kill us?”

“He wasn’t trying to kill us when I was getting to know him. Again, this should be obvious, Stanley. I don’t know why you’re making me spell it all out for you.” He strangles the air, vibrating with more frustration than he can dissipate. “Unless it’s just to torture me, which I wouldn’t put past you.”

“What is that supposed to mean? After all the things I’ve done for you, all I’m asking for here is a little honesty.”

Ford very graciously decides not to dwell on the “all the things I’ve done for you” bit and reopen that particular wound. Instead, he doffs his glasses, the better to massage his forehead.

“Oh, for the love of… We’re in our 60s, Stan.” He unfurls his arms on the table, palms upward. “What did you want me to do, honestly? You wanted me to sit you down and tell you about my crush like we’re still in high school?”

There’s something in the sincerity of his tone that throws Stan off kilter, disarms him.

“I’m not sayin’ that! I just— You’re makin’ it sound more unreasonable than it is! I’m still your twin and I thought you trusted me with this kinda thing.”

Ford pushes his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He stares at a point just past Stan’s shoulder, mouth flattened into a line. “Oh, god,” he laments, as it dawns on him that the emotionally mature thing to do is to be vulnerable. He sighs, busying his hands by straightening all the papers on his desk. “It’s embarrassing. It was already embarrassing, don’t you see? And this just makes it so much worse.”

“What?” Stan pulls up a chair and sits across from his twin. “Sixer, come on. You think I came in here and brought this up just to laugh at you? I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is objectively very funny, hilarious even—” he grins in the face of Ford’s glare— “but the last thing I’m gonna do is judge you. Between you and me, I think your relationship with that freaky triangle was more stable than anything I’ve ever had with any human.”

“Stable is not the word I would use to describe anything that went on in that shack in the 1980s.”

“Yeah, that just goes to show how low the bar is. Anyway, my point is, while I’m not gonna laugh at you, I definitely will still laugh.”

The scientist raises an unamused brow. “With me, you mean?”

“No, I’m just gonna laugh. Ha! Ha-ha!” Stan reaches across the desk to nudge Ford with his elbow. “Come on, it’s funny! You had a relationship with a triangle! Oh, the kids are gonna be so traumatized!”

“Wh- D- Stan, don’t tell them!”

“Why not? Dipper worships the ground you walk on. This won’t change anything for him. And Mabel… well, Mabel will laugh too actually. Very hard.” He brings a hand to his chin and narrows his eyes. “Or worse, she’ll start shipping you.”

“What does that even mean? She’s going to ship me? Where? How?”

“Uh, not important, and for all intents and purposes, I do not know what that word means either. Look, I’m just pulling your leg, Poindexter. I won’t tell them if you don’t want me to. It’s your business.”

“You honestly mean that?”

Stan sweeps an arm through the air with finality. “It’s your own business and nobody else’s. Look, I’m—” He finds himself rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry for pushing you about this. It’s not something you’d wanna look back on, I get it.”

“Oh.” Ford doesn’t really know what to do with that so he resumes straightening papers even though they’ve been straight for the past three minutes. “I’m not used to fights ending like this.”

“Yeah, me neither. It’s weird. It’s like we emotionally matured or something.”

“Something like that,” Ford agrees.

They lapse into awkward silence. That should've been the end of it, and yet.

“I guess I just don’t get it,” Stan admits.

“What don’t you understand, Stanley?”

“He’s a— Well, he’s a little two-dimensional, don’t you think?”

“It was an extremely intellectual affair, Stan. Physicality had very little to do with it.” Well, that isn’t entirely true but his brother doesn’t need to know about any of that.

“You know what, I’d believe that. I’m just having trouble envisioning what it… what it was like.”

“Why are you trying to envision that?”

“Because it’s weird, Ford! It’s weird and morbidly fascinating. It’s like a train wreck, I can’t look away.”

“Do you have any more questions? So that I can answer them and we can be done talking about this forever?”

“So you… you never… y'know…”

“No,” Ford says about five seconds too late. There’s heat rising to his cheeks and he smothers his face with his hands as Stan sits slack-jawed in abject horror.

“What? Wait, seriously? How did that even work?”

“Ask me something else.”

“Okay. For scientific purposes, hypothetically, in a hypothetical situation, how would a human with glasses and a triangular demon go about—”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Stan!”

“God had nothin’ to do with it, I know that much.” Stan leans back in his chair, then eyes Ford suspiciously. “Wait. He didn’t possess someone else, did he?”

“No!” Ford sounds genuinely horrified. “How depraved do you think I am? That would be tantamount to— I wouldn’t do that. Do you really think so lowly of me?”

“I mean, they could’ve consented beforehand anyway, right? That’s all I’m saying. Although, Sixer, I cannot stress this enough: You locked yourself in a cabin in the middle of Nowhere, Oregon and started drawing freaky symbols on the floor and communing with a literal demon. I think I’m allowed to be a little concerned.”

“Well– Sure, when you put it like that, it sounds more occult than scientific, but I can assure you my methodology was very sound.”

“Oh, okay, good. I’m glad your methodology was sound. That was the main thing I was worried about.”

“May I return to my cipher now?”

“Your Cipher, huh?”

Ford stares pointedly at his twin, trying to telepathically communicate how exhausting this conversation is.

“I just need to know how you did it. It’s gonna keep me up at night.”

“I fail to see how that’s my issue.”

“And then I’ll keep you up at night.”

“And then I’ll throw you overboard so that you can find that notebook you lost!”

“And then I’ll haunt you from the watery grave, you know I will. Besides, it’s laughable you think you could throw me overboard, Poindexter.”

“You really want to know?”

“For my own peace of mind, please.”

Ford sighs deeply, eyes shifting from wall to wall, as though afraid someone’s eavesdropping. Maybe he’s paranoid that a mermaid is listening in from outside. He gestures for Stan to lean in closer, cups his hands to his ear and whispers for a few seconds. Stan’s expression becomes unreadable.

“Oh. Wow. Creative. Okay. Welp. That answers that.” He claps his hands together as if to dispel dirt. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have another one of those memory-wiping guns?”

[nine-of-words]

No Vacancy (Part Three)

M Merfolk x M Orc Reader

PREVIOUS || STORY TAG || NEXT

Wordcount: 2879

Content Warnings: Gambling, Sexual Harassment (Verbal)

Back to Varuj’s POV. It’ll be following this back and forth pattern for the rest of the story.

Ironically, I think this is the first SFW thing I’ve posted here.

It's official: you're divorced.

Needless to say, you're thrilled to bits.

The heavy weight you've been dragging has been cut loose; you feel lighter than you have in years.

If it had been much sooner, you would probably be devastated right now. But as it is, you've had long enough to grieve the loss of your relationship, your home, your place in your birth tribe -  and a part of that will always sting a bit. But right now, you're only feeling the elation and catharsis from being able to tie the last loose ends from that part of your life, and fully leave it behind.

It's been difficult to be torn up about it the last few months. You have a lot of reasons to be happy, now…

It seemed like a good enough reason to celebrate.

That is how your beloved ferry ship, typically hauling around prim and well behaved tourists, has become overrun by grisled seaworthy men during this port of call.

A surprising number of the former crewmates you invited showed up - enough to have more than enough men for cards, with some rotating out and mingling. Most of them are men that you had formed significant bonds with during your time on the same vessel. …Then again, there is significant overlap between the ones that showed, and the ones that you have had no-string-attached trysts with while you were married and suppressing your true desires. 

It’s just good to have some of your old friends together in one place.

"Hah! Well well, I'll just be taking these spoils for meself now-" Uttar slides the pot full of loose notes and coins towards himself, to a chorus of displeased groans from the rest of the players at the table.

“That’s it, I’m washed!”

“C’mon now, that’s the third hand in a row! Ye must be cheatin’!”

“Aye, that’s what happens when you go on account, as it were.”  “Hornswagglers, the lot of ‘em.”

Many of your buddies from your time working on fishing boats are still in the trade, while some have pivoted to… less than legal marine careers. Easier on the back, they say.

You can't say you're that harsh of a judge when it comes to some of them turning to piracy. Not everyone had the opportunity to save up for their own ship to fix up the way that you did.

“Not my problem none of ye can muster a serviceable hand this evening.” He snorts, rising with his winnings in pouch, and for a second you worry he’s about to hock a loogie on your freshly cleaned boat deck. Thankfully he doesn’t, instead directing it over the gunwale.

“Hey, it could just be a string of lucky hands. No reason to jump to accusations.” You say, seeming to successfully deescalate the situation well enough.

“If yer not cheatin’, play another round then. Or are ye turnin’ tail now that the jig is up?”

"I know when to quit when I'm ahead," Uttar laughs, motioning to Rosing, who’s cracking her knuckles as she sits down at the table where one of your friends has abandoned his spot in the game. “That one knows what she’s doin’, unlike you lot. I need to wet me whistle and have a smoke, then I might give ye an encore.”

Another round passes, then another. Your guests come and go from around the table, filtering between the main deck and the galley.

Just as there's a lull between rounds being filled with jovial conversation, apparently an interesting sight captures your tablemates' collective attention. The source of the hubbub is easy to guess, so you're unsurprised when you turn to see Noa emerging from the main cabin entrance.

"Ohoho, and who's this Mr. Fancypants o'er yonder? I've never seen a fishy with quite so many stripes!"

"Reckon they must be lost. Far too pretty for this lot."

"He's a good friend." You say in a diplomatic tone, yet hopefully stern enough to tamper any potentially tasteless comments.

"You hear that, ye barnacles? The man said keep yer filthy peepers off!"

Noa must’ve come up through the hatch in his room (that you now keep reserved for him) and gotten changed first. Probably for the best to not be completely bare, considering the present company, even if Merfolk tend to… He's wearing one of the pairs of slouchy pants Rosing was kind enough to tailor for him; his fully aquatic lifestyle hadn’t given him much need to own clothes before.

“Oh good, I didn't miss the entire thing.” Noa says, approaching the table and pulling up an empty chair.

“Nope. Would you like to play a round? There’s space.” You say, unable to keep the grin off your face just from laying eyes on him again.

There's a pleasant series of small clattering sounds from the shell beads on the ends of his braids hitting the top of the metal folding chair behind him as he takes a seat. He smells good, like he always does. And the early evening light makes his blue skin nearly shine, even if his markings are more subdued now than they are during Spawn.

“Hah. No. I know better by now than to play Rosing for real gold.” Noa smirks, which the kobold woman returns with her small, sharp teeth. “I’ll just watch.”

“Smart lad!” One of the orcs howls. “No use in wastin’ yer gold, not with these sharks in the water.”

"What's the occasion, anyway? I forgot to ask."

You open your mouth to respond, but are interrupted by a loud guffaw and an audible slap on the back from the man closest to your left. You almost forgot there were other people here…

"Why, this seadog finally dropped the ol' anchor!" You snort and shake your head in mild mortification as he emphatically goes on. "She's really off sleeping with the fishes now, bwahaha- No offense meant o'course laddy, nothing wrong with likin' the fishfolk."

"Congratulations." Noa nods in acknowledgement, a muted, bemused smile forming on his face. "How do you feel?"

"Free!" You laugh, probably a bit too loud from the slight buzz you’re cultivating. "Like a new man."

"That's great. I'm happy for you." Noa says, before you both get swept off into the greater flow of conversation at the table.

A few more rounds later, Rosing is separating everyone from their gold as expected. This development seems to be much better accepted than Uttar’s previous win streak, for whatever reason. 

The supply of beverages at the table has dwindled significantly. In fact, one single bottle of ale sits amongst the half melted ice.

"Who's gonna bite the bullet, laddies? Poor bastard that takes the last cold one makes the galley run."

Noa reaches out and grasps the neck of the bottle before anyone else can volunteer.

"I've got it- Since I'm not playing anyway." He says, picking up the cooler as he stands. "I'll be right back."

The table is nearly silent until Noa disappears past the galley door, at which point the table immediately breaks out in excited chatter.

"Nice boy, he is." One of your friends says in what is probably supposed to be a dry tone, but he's too amused to muster it. "Very niiiice."

"Oh no, please don’t-” You feebly chuckle, feeling the wave of playful torment rising up to crash down on you.

"And fit- Sink me-" Another chimes in, fanning himself. "I'd walk around shirtless too if I had that sort of build around me middle! If only we all could be so lucky!"

"I don't recall that keeping you from going shirtless any time before-"

“He got a brother?” A third laughs. “Or a father would do. Or we could share ‘im. No need to be stingy, aye?”

You suddenly get to your feet, feeling the heat creep up your neck and onto your cheekbones from the merciless banter.

“I need a little breather.” You laugh, the ribbing becoming slightly suffocating, even though you know from experience it's good natured teasing. Despite the embarrassment making you feel as if you could drop dead at any moment, there is a genuine smile on your face. “Go ahead and play a round without me.”

You head into your cabin’s head for a bathroom break. When you’ve finished washing your hands, you splash some water onto your face to help cool the embarrassment from your skin.

As you stand there, you can make out the muffled sounds of a conversation happening in the galley through the wall. Normal, as this part of the ship always carries sound due to the way the plumbing runs through it.

Ah. Maybe I should put some more insulation in next time I do some work…?

“Why are you even here? I wouldn't have come if I knew you were going to be here.”

You don’t want to eavesdrop, but as soon as you recognize that one of the voices is Noa’s, you’re straining to hear every last word.

“Ugh. I’m just trying to take this back out there. Just let me by!"

“Sorry. Ya want by, you’ll have to pay the toll.”

And the other voice - that’s Uttar. They know each other?

“What, you going to charge me gold?”

“Oh no- I was thinkin’ a different form of currency this time.”

Whatever this is, you shouldn't be hearing it. But your concern keeps you frozen in place, your palms still dripping above the sink.

“Let go of me.” Noa snaps, losing his cool in a way you've never heard him speak before. "I told you before- I’m not interested."

"Oh, yer gonna be interested, fish. Sooner or later.” Uttar laughs a grumble of a laugh. “Interest adds up fast… especially with a tab the size o’ yours. You’ll have to pay it off, some way."

Tab? Noa has a debt with him?

You know that sometimes pirates in the area also deal in loansharking, but you can't really imagine the Uttar you used to know being that ruthless.

But with this playing out (practically) in front of you, it’s hard to doubt. People do change…

Noa…

You dry off your hands quickly, a knot forming in your gut. You need to get back above board and make sure nothing worse happens. It’s bad enough that he’s being harassed at a party you’re hosting.

And, if you’re honest with yourself, there’s a small flicker of anger on his behalf.

When you emerge onto the deck and head for the galley, readying to throw them open and make a scene, when Noa exits through them before you can reach. To your relief, he makes a beeline straight to you as soon as he sees you.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Oh. Do I not look okay?” Noa tosses his braids over his shoulder. He laughs a clearly fake laugh, and draws a clearly fake smile. 

He’s standing so close to you that in any other circumstance you would think he was crowding you.

“You look a touch pale, is all."

"Must be the ale," He brushes it off, already regaining his composure. "I don't drink that often."

That would be an easy enough to swallow lie, if you already picked up on the fact that Noa doesn’t drink. Even the ale from earlier he picked up stayed in the cooler when it returned to the table.

For the rest of the majority of the night, Noa sticks closer to you than normal. Not that you’re complaining, because it keeps you from worrying about his safety. He finally seems to be less on edge when Uttar departs, just after dark. When Uttar says goodbye to you, he acts completely normal, despite Noa being seated beside you. You wouldn’t be any the wiser that anything was amiss, if you hadn’t overheard their interaction earlier. You manage to thank him for coming and wish him well, despite it.

Evening proceeds into night. Eventually it’s become so late that all of your guests have either stumbled back into one of the empty rooms on the ship you allocated for that very reason, or dispersed into port to keep the night rolling. In the past you may have gone with them- it's your celebration, after all- but you don't want to put your liver through that much abuse. Your cushy ferry ship captain life has destroyed most of your tolerance from the old days by now, and you think you’ve had more than your fill by now.

You also find that where you really want to be is here, anyway; since the only one left now is Noa. You sit at the edge of the lower deck, with your legs hanging in the water.

You hoped he’d stay the night, and it seems he had similar intentions. At least, given the way that he’s currently attacking your mouth with such fervor, you assume he wants to stay the night.

This isn’t the first time Noa’s kissed you, but it might as well be, given how it makes the surface of your skin tingle. Every slight movement of his wet lips teasing yours sends you further towards a blissful precipice, and the warm feeling of his hand on the back of your head just another push towards your demise. It’s an exhilarating mix of thrill and fear. 

You know you shouldn’t be kissing if you want things to stay casual. You would assume he knows too, but he keeps seeking out your lips whenever he visits.

The thing is, you don’t want it to end.

You certainly don’t at this point, but Noa hasn’t given any indication that he’d like things to change. And because you are the penetrative partner, as an orc, it would be taboo for you to be the one to initiate a romantic relationship. You’re stuck.

You knew when you started this arrangement six months ago that it would lead to this. But you just couldn’t help yourself…

“I like having you so close.” You say faintly when Noa breaks for air, your lips still close enough to brush against his as you speak. You can’t ask him directly to date you, being an orc in your position, but hopefully he catches your drift. “It would be nice to see you more often.”

“Yeah.” He says in agreement, and pulls all the way back, leaning back with his weight on his palms behind him, looking up at the sky instead of at you. 

You’ve heard this ‘yeah’ before, many, many times; just not from him. You’ve spoken it more times than you could possibly count. It’s not an enthusiastic one, and more one of non-committal placation. Of knowing that what you’re agreeing with can’t really happen, and hoping that the topic just gets washed away with the conversation.

"Ah, sorry. Do… I have the wrong idea?"

"No, you don’t. I just- I couldn't. My job…" He sighs and rubs his neck, wincing. "There's a clause in my contract against dating. It complicates things."

"Quit, then. You’re already renting the room- You can stay here full time. We could see each other as much as we’d like. And there’s more than enough work, if you want a job. Rosing’d probably love the help.” You find yourself hazily and eagerly rambling your daydreams out loud. “Would that be so bad…?”

"You don't get it." Noa says, clearly trying to keep his tone even, but even the irritation that’s seeping into his words sound more like a cover for sadness than true ire. "I can't just quit."

Unfortunately, you do know why he can’t just quit. At the very least, you can hazard a guess. But you can’t tell him without revealing what you heard - even if you didn’t mean to eavesdrop, it’s something you didn’t learn with permission. Noa is a secretive man, and you don’t think he’d take kindly to you having information he was keeping private.

“Why not…?” You quietly give him an out, if he wants to use it.

Noa just shakes his head, keeping whatever secrets close to his chest. Too stubborn to accept your help.

A cold silence sets in. You decide to break it early, before it becomes unbearable.

"...Yeah. So… I don't want you to feel pressured by the offer." Your lip quivers slightly around the edge of your tusks from the tension of your drawn smile. "Nothing has to change if you don't want it to, between us. We can talk about it-"

"I don’t want to talk about it. I need to think." Noa finally manages to say after a long, troubled pause. “I should go.”

"...Yeah. And… I should probably get some rest, huh?" You rub the back of your neck to ease the shame,  the last vestiges of tipsiness vanishing fast. “Sleep this booze off…”

Noa removes his pants and hoists his weight overboard, smoothly entering the water tail first with barely a splash into the night-darkened sea. And then he’s gone into the dark blue, without another word.

You’re left alone, the weight of the silence oppressive, now.

You want to fix this for him. Even if it’s something you can’t fix, you want to help him, somehow.

If Noa doesn’t want to tell you, perhaps you could find out for yourself…

>> ✨ MASTERLIST >> ☕ KO-FI

[lunanight2012]

Im posting this first chapter here first to get a feel for how much love it gets before i cross post it to AO3 (absolutely not because i dont want to open my laptop up again to post it on ao3)

The Tale of the Other Vinsmoke

Chapter 1: No longer a Vinsmoke

Luniju was born shortly after her twin sister, Reiju, to the Vinsmoke family. Her light blue hair contrasted her sister's light pink hair. She loved their mom, Sora, so much. Her kindness brought joy to her heart. Then getting 4 little brothers, one of which had the same eyebrow curls that she did? And another brother with blue hair? She was so happy, until they got older. She became protective of Sanji, the 3rd boy in the quadruplets. As Ichiji, Niji, & Yonji started bullying Sanji because he had kindness in his heart.

Luniju saw how her best friend, her twin sister Reiju, started following along with Judge and the boys. She would walk with Sanji to Sora's room and hang out with them. She felt isolated like Sanji. Her name meant Run, unlike her siblings who all had numbers in their names. Sanji being the only one of the quadruplets that has kindness in his heart.

When their mom died, Luniju found out that Judge had locked Sanji in the dungeon. She wasn't having that. She ran down to the dungeon to check on him. Hugging her baby brother through the bars broke her heart. She was only 9 when this happened. She had talked with Reiju about getting Sanji out of Germa, to which the two agreed that Luniju should go with him.

They stood outside of the throne room, holding each other's hands as they listened to Sanji trying to fight Judge. Tears streamed down both girls' faces as they listened to Judge telling Sanji to leave and never mention that he is his father. As soon as Reiju, Luniju, & Sanji made their way to the shore. Luniju, now wearing ragged clothes to hide who she was, held Sanji's hand as she talked to him.

"Sanji. Me and you are going to get on that ship and get as far from here as possible. We're going to meet some nice people and live happily, ok?" Luniju explained, tears in her eyes.

She gave Reiju one last hug before she pulled Sanji with her towards the boat on the beach. They managed to sneak on and hide in the storage room. Luniju gently squeezed Sanji's hand. Soon enough the ship left the dock, Luniju breathed in a shaky breath as she heard talking outside of the door. The door opened, revealing two men in chef attire.

"Please let us stay and work! We can't go back! Please!" Luniju pleaded, tears streaming down her face.

She could hear Sanji sniffling as he cried too. The two men looked at each other before sighing as they agreed. Luniju and Sanji were given uniforms and put in the kitchen. They stayed on this ship for a couple of years.

But when Sanji was 8 and Luniju was 11, the ship was being raided by a pirate crew, the Chef Pirates. Luniju doesn't remember much, one second the two are peeling potatoes, the next she's screaming as Sanji fell into the ocean. She watched as the pirate captain, Red-legged Zeff, jumped in after Sanji. The pirates held her back as she screamed her lungs out.

When Zeff and Sanji didn't resurface the crew began making plans to search for them. This gave Luniju the chance to wander their pirate ship, hoping to find a map of the area. Instead she found a chest with a blue fruit that had flame designs to it. Her stomach growled as she looked back at the door before taking a bite of the fruit. On an empty stomach it was bad. She finished it in a few minutes.

"Hey! What are you doing in here?!" One of the pirates exclaimed. Luniju stood up quickly and shook her hands.

"I-i was looking for a map of the area! I'm not familiar with the East Blue Sea! And I found this strange fruit and-" Luniju froze as her hands were now blue flames.

"You ate the devil fruit?!" The man exclaimed, concern clear in his voice.

"T-that was a devil fruit?!" Luniju exclaimed, trying to make her hands return to being flesh.

"Yes, the Blue Flame-Flame Fruit! We were going to sell it!" The man explained before kneeling down to be eye level with Luniju. "Just don't think about the fire, imagine that your hands are there." He calmly stated.

Luniju took a breath in then let it out, calming herself down before imagining her hands were back to normal again. She smiled when her hands returned to normal. "I did it!" She exclaimed before realizing she shouldn't have eaten the devil fruit. "I'm sorry I ate the devil fruit. I was really hungry and I didn't think before I ate it." Luniju apologized, bowing her head a bit and closing her eyes, expecting to be yelled at or hit.

"Well, we can't change the past. Come on, let’s go back on the deck and keep looking for the captain and kid." The man stated.

Luniju opened her eyes and noticed the man had stood back up and was holding out his hand. She carefully placed her hand in his and followed him out to the deck. She almost hid behind the large man as the crew stared at her.

“Patty! Why is the child hiding behind you?” A crewmate questioned.

Patty sighed before looking back at Luniju. “The child accidentally found the devil fruit and ate it. Now none of you can get mad! She's a kid, her brother is out there somewhere with the captain. So we're going to keep her safe while we keep looking. Got it boys?” Patty stated, getting a unanimous agreement from the crew.

Over the next 85 days Luniju grew close with the crew, learning how to control her newly gained power, how to peel apples and potatoes, even beating the crew in cards. Finally at the end of those 85 long days, they found them. As soon as her brother was on the ship, Luniju ran up to him and hugged him.

“Sanji! Oh my you need food! Look how scrawny you've gotten! What happened?!” Luniju questioned, looking him over thoroughly.

That's when she noticed two of the crew helping Zeff onto the ship, looking down she gasped as she noticed the missing leg. Sanji began to weakly cry as he fell into Luniju's arms.

“He gave me all the food and had to eat his own leg to survive.” Sanji cried, causing Luniju to hold him close and slowly rock back and forth.

She made eye contact with Zeff and bowed her head in respect. After this moment Luniju and Sanji both felt like they owed their lives to Zeff. Joining him as he retired from piracy and became a restaurant owner to a sea restaurant. The two worked in the restaurant for many years. Luniju started smoking at 16, much to Zeff's disdain. Although at 18, Sanji quickly followed suit.

Luniju and Sanji learned from Zeff how to fight with their legs and Luniju even learned how to harness her devil fruit powers. Luniju was an amazing waitress, able to carry multiple trays of food and not drop a single one. While Sanji enjoyed cooking, even if Zeff didn't let him cook very often. Zeff had nicknames for them, Sanji's was Little Eggplant, and Luniju's was Little Pepper.

Their lives continued until one day, when a boy in a straw hat crashed through the Baratie. Luniju believes that the universe smiled upon them that day.

(What do you think? 👉👈 let me know! Please!)

[plant-gt-thought-box]

Plant write me the fluffiest fucking crimbeoys and /or eret and wilbur please I’m crawling at you I want soft and silly/nf/gen

Lil Raft Boy

I will gladly write the fluffiest thing for you! You sent this when I was playing a lot of Raft so yeah that explains a lot of what inspired the story, I really hope you guys enjoy this story! It might get a part too but I'm not completely sure.

TW- fear and bad rep for sharks

------------------------------------------------------

It had been a year now since Tommy had been separated from his raft cluster and despite being stuck out in the middle of the ocean all alone he had actually done pretty good to keep himself alive! He had taught himself how to make beet and potato soup, how to fish, and how to scare off the pesky sharks if they try taking a bite out of his raft!

Tommy was struggling to get a worm tied to his fishing hook as he sat down near the nets of his raft really hoping he could catch a fish today and have that for dinner. He was kind of getting tired of beat and potato soup considering he had been eating it for 2 weeks straight now. Tommy cheered a little as he got the worm tied to his hook and cast it out to see patiently waiting for something to bite it. The sun was slowly starting to set when something finally bit Tommy's hook and he quickly started pulling the fish in excitement when he pulled out a small fish.

"Yes! I am eating well tonight!" Tommy proclaimed excitedly as he pulled out his pocket knife and started cutting the fish up into small pieces and starting to cook it on his small grill, he ignored how his raft started to sway back and forth a little assuming that just meant it was probably going to start raining soon. That was until Tommy heard something large emerge from the water and quickly turned around worried a shark might have jumped onto his raft- but found himself staring at something much more terrifying.

Emerging from the water and looming over Tommy's little raft was a giant- person-fish thing! It had long brown hair, yellowish scales running along its sides and neck covering where its gills were, and its eyes were a solid black the only thing reflecting from them was the smallest torch on the lower half of Tommy's raft. He slowly started backing away, trembling as the creature opened its mouth making strange noises and leaning closer to his raft.

Tommy watched as a giant hand emerged from the water and started reaching towards him and (out of pure fear) started screaming covering his head, he just continued screaming until he heard water splashing and hesitantly looked over it where the Giant fish had been and saw- nothing. There was no trace of the giant creature, just a big open ocean with no real landmarks and miles upon miles of water.

Tommy quickly made up his dinner and ran into the small sheltered part of his raft where his bed was, he tightly sealed all of the curtains and quietly ate his food listening closely for something large emerging from the water and hoping- praying that whatever that giant fish had been was gone. He climbed into his hammock and quickly fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy woke up early as he usually did and instantly got to work adding salt water into the empty part of his water purifier, taking the purified water to water his potatoes and beets, drinking some water for himself, and eating a few roasted beets for breakfast. The blonde crawled underneath the stairs checking his chest for any resources he needed to stock up on when he heard something emerge from the water, he slowly and hesitantly came out from under the stairs instantly regretting this when he saw the terrifying creature from last night.

Tommy quickly picked up his spear getting ready to fight just in case this thing tried grabbing him again- but instead watched as a giant creature opened its mouth and let a bunch of slimy fish pour out onto his boat, it quickly retreated underwater before Tommy could even say or do anything, the blonde stared at the fish extremely confused for a few minutes as he used his spear to pick up one of the fish and brought it closer to himself. It didn't look like the giant creature did anything to it and it surprisingly wasn't missing any of its body parts despite being in a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, he placed the fish down on his small grill and started putting the other fish away in his food chest realizing he wouldn't need to worry about fishing for a few days.

Once Tommy was happy with all the fish he had packed away he started using the fish that remained to make some shark bait, he was running low on wood and if you wanted to not worry about his ship getting bites taken out of it by the shark that had been following him he would need to distract the creature.

And sadly speaking of that pesky shark- 

Tommy spotted in the corner of his eye the shark swimming straight towards his wrath and most likely getting ready to bite it, he quickly got his spear out getting ready to stab at the creature's face to hopefully stop it from destroying part of his raft. But as the shark got closer a giant hand emerged from the water wrapping around the shark and quickly dragging it down into the ocean depths.

Tommy just stood there absolutely horrified as the giant fish person slowly emerged out of the water with a bit of the shark's fin still sticking out of their mouth, they licked their lips swallowing the rest of the fin down, and opened their mouth to say something. Tommy out of pure panic and also just not wanting to understand what just happened began screaming at the top of his lungs, he watched as the giant fish person slowly sank back down underwater with the fins on the side of their head painting against their hair.

The blonde stopped screaming once the giant fish was gone slowly starting to calm down but instantly starting to scream again when the fish person tried poking their head out of the water again instantly going back down, Tommy and the giant fish person did this a few more times throughout the day until it was time for Tommy to sleep. 

Hopefully, the giant fish person wouldn't do anything too horrifying tomorrow morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy was actually a bit concerned the next morning when he woke up and didn't see the giant mer anywhere, he had expected to at least see the top of their head poking out of the water watching him as he took care of his plants and water. But throughout the entire day, Tommy found himself all alone, which he was used to considering he had been out here for a year…but it was nice having someone around even if they didn't talk.

As the day carried on Tommy became more and more worried about the mer creature as they continued to not show their face or any signs of them being under the water, he didn't scare the big guy off right? The blonde walked over to the edge of his raft looking down into the water and hoping to find a glimpse of the mer, he hesitantly reached his hand into the water splashing the water a bit and hoping it might get the mers attention.

Sadly instead of getting the Giant mers attention, he got the pesky shark who had been attacking his boat for the last few weeks, he quickly pulled his hand out of the water as he saw the sharks swimming up towards the surface and backed away from the edge looking for his spear. The blonde screened as the shark jumped onto his boat and started trying to bite at him, Tommy used his wooden spear to keep the shark from getting any closer as he called out.

"HEEELP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!" Tommy screamed as he felt something sharp poke the sides of his leg and continued struggling to keep the shark away from him, he just continued screaming out desperately hoping there might be some other rafters around.

As Tommy's spear broke something large emerged from the water and easily grabbed the shark and lifted it up into the air, Tommy watched in slight horror as the giant mer opened its mouth and dropped the shark swallowing it whole. The blonde just continued watching as the shark disappeared down the mers throat and the giant looked over at him quickly moving closer to him.

Tommy didn't scream as the mer gently wrapped its hand around him and was slowly lifted up into the air, the mer brought him closer to their face carefully inspecting his injuries and making some strange purr noise. The blonde took in a few deep breaths as tears started running down his face, he had almost just died- he would have been one of the missing rafters no one knew what happened to if it wasn't for the Giant mer.

Tommy completely broke down sobbing as the mer gently tried to comfort him, rubbing his back with their thumb and holding him close to their chest. Tommy happily leaned into the surprisingly warm skin desperate for any kind of comfort.

"I-I'm sorry I screamed at you- please stay- please don't leave again-" Tommy begged as he looked up at the mer with tears-filled eyes, he felt some relief wash over him as the giant nodded their head and started swimming in some direction noticing them pulling his raft along in the corner of his eye.

Tommy closed his eyes as the mer continued swimming doing his best to calm down and study his breathing, he opened his eyes quickly as he felt something solid beneath his feet and fell backward into a small pile of sand. The blonde looked around and realized that he had been placed on the coast of a small island.

Tommy took a few steps back to better look up at the giant mer that slowly swam out a bit from the island and went a bit under the water, the blonde watched as the giant mer carefully docked his raft and then gave all of their attention to Tommy. The young rafter looked around and grabbed a nearby stick and hesitantly moved closer to the shore of the small island.

"D-Do you know how to talk or write? I um- I want to know your name and why you're so…big?" Tommy asked offering the large stick to the mer, he stayed completely still as they took the large stick and started writing upside down in the sand.

Tommy walked along the written letters in the sand spelling them out loud as he put the syllables together. "W-Wil-bur soot, your name is Wilbur Soot? That's a pretty normal name for a weird giant fish."

'Wilbur' rolled his eyes at Tommy's comment and softly growled at the kid, Tommy simply chuckled to himself as he carefully climbed the rocks on the island and made his way back over to his raft.

"What? It is! You're literally a giant fish thing that eats sharks! Hell, I fit in the palm of your hand, it makes more sense that your name would be something fish related to!" Tommy proclaimed as he safely climbed onto his raft and started repositioning his sale, he chuckled a bit more as Wilbur growled at him again. "Not my fault your giant fish Wilbur, anyway you still going to stick around and hang out with me?"

Wilbur's ears perked up at the question and he happily nodded his head making a strange chirping noise at Tommy, the blonde smiled back at the mer as he started grabbing some tools from a chest. "Ok then! Well, I'm going to grab some resources from the island, can you get some of the metals and scrap from the coral reef?"

Wilbur nodded his head before diving underneath the waves and causing the raft to sway back and forth rapidly, Tommy waited until the waters had calmed down a bit before he climbed back onto the island and started collecting the wild watermelons that grow there and wood from the trees.

Tommy slowly started to look forward to the idea of having a giant companion with him.