#yesterday just fucking sucked massive amounts of shit

[sagehaubitze]

Today has been better, I got covered in blood and dirt (gardening), improved my mood and self image. Decided I would commit to the TDOV selfie after forcing myself to pick out things about my body I liked. I like the dark circles under my eyes, I like my scars.

I fought hard to get those scars, I better like them.

[oersteds]

yesterday i was in a lengthy vc, just the usual stuff, and i had Many Thoughts as to why i don't really like alicia / alethea (live a live) (spoilers below cut) (also massive textpost under the cut. by the gods i should be in bed sleeping, it's 3 am as i write this, i'll be cursing myself in the morning at this rate.)

i think the main reason behind my dislike is the lack of agency she has. i know that's not exactly her fault, especially given the setting, but that doesn't make me less pissed when her only act of agency that's 100% guaranteed to happen (the trial of heart is optional content) ends up leading to the demise of an entire kingdom, and puts all of time and space in danger.

"oh, but she didn't know it would happen!" is a correct statement, albeit it takes away even more agency from the little she had in the first place. this is probably just me, but i get a lot more attatched to characters that have agency. i find it nearly impossible to like a character that's just being dragged around by the plot. at best, i'll be indifferent to them, maybe wondering "why do people like this character?" and at worst, i'll be wondering "how does anyone tolerate this fucker, in universe or not???" it's why i tend to dislike the "tagalong kid" trope. because all they seem to do is scream, cry, generally make things worse, cause conflict, and make me wonder why they're being brought along in the first place.

if all a character does is cause problems on accident, i find it incredibly easy to hate them. funny, then, how i like characters that cause problems on purpose... now i wonder how i'd see alicia / alethea as a character if she was outright confirmed to actively wanting to fuck over the entire kingdom, or even just oersted through her actions after straybow's death. straybow, for one, wanted to ruin oersted's life by pullin' that shit. he just ruined more than he expected. alicia just wanted to join straybow in the afterlife.

i mean, she's regretful about it regardless, and she tries making up for it by letting the heroes out of the trial of heart while basically goin "hey. fix this" (it's not even 100% confirmed that she opened the portal herself, too, considering that the exit portal in every trial minus the trial of time opens when you grab the ultimate weapon in it. for all we know, it's a coincidence that the portal opened. hell, it coulda been odio opening that portal, or what little of oersted's left in there.)

i'm not saying i automatically dislike characters without agency, mind you. i can enjoy the damsel in distress trope if the damsel doesn't make things worse, accident or not. princess peach in the first two paper mario games? she's doing something there. in fact, she's helping her rescuers out by spying on her captors. so give the girls some agency. i support women's rights, and women's wrongs. let the girls do crimes.

i look at alicia and i think "damn, no amount of fanon's gonna change my perception here, huh." because to me, alicia is defined by her lack of agency. if a fic gives her agency, she's not gonna seem like alicia anymore. which... sucks, honestly. i wish i could see alternate universes as their own thing, instead of a different version of canon.

(tl;dr) it's the lack of agency. + the crimes may be fictional but my annoyance is very real

[awkwarddystopianwarlord]

*Cough, Cough* I'm Sick

Living alone and getting sick is a stupid combination. I got sick on Christmas, which was a Monday, and it took me out for like five days. I had chills, dizziness, lightheadedness, was feverish and sneezed mucus-y sneezes every five minutes. It sucked. I couldn’t do anything because I was too wobbly to move much. I was like a drunk, three legged baby deer for days. It started off with sneezing in the morning which I wrote off as allergies since I often sneeze in the mornings. The sneezing kept going though and it was getting more and more snotty throughout the day which was kind of concerning but also I was at my friend’s house for crimmus and they have a giant fluffy dog. I’m not usually allergic to beasties but this dog is particularly fluffy so I decided that was valid. I really got worried however, when my throat started hurting towards the evening and that only ever happens when I get sick. It was quite sore and raw feeling. After I got home, I chugged some tea to soothe it and hoped I was overreacting. The next day, alas, I was slammed with all the symptoms in one go and woke up feeling horrendous. 

I did my best to stay hydrated and take my medicinal beverages, but I had to be the one to make them and it was incredibly difficult to do when I could barely move. My dishes piled up, my laundry that I hang dry was still hanging up, my place needed vacuuming and garbage taken out. I had an order to pick up at a shop and money to deposit at the bank. My mailbox was horribly neglected and my plants were thirsty. All I could do was loaf on my couch and somewhat eat from the massive amount of holiday leftovers my friend’s family gave me. Mind you, that was hella convenient and such a treat that I didn’t have to cook anything myself. 

You really get antsy though, not being able to move or be productive. It was such a relief to be able to somewhat function again. That is until the Monday that just happened. After one week of getting the last of my mucus out of my system and my wobbliness under control I…got…sick…AGAIN. ON MONDAY!

It started off the exact same way. In the morning I had one symptom. My throat was kind of clogged with mucus and I had to occasionally sound like a cat coughing up a hairball as I tried hawking it out. This wasn’t too frequent of a thing though so I wrote it off as me still recovering from my cold and this was the last remaining sick. But, come late afternoon, I couldn’t really move my neck because it was so stiff. The phlegm in my throat was getting more problematic and my legs for some reason were incredibly achy. By evening, I couldn’t move my neck at all, my entire body hurt, and my throat was infuriated. So the last four days, I’ve been at war against phlegm goblins that live in, what feels like the middle of, my throat. They’ve become more sentient as time has gone by. I can’t choke one up unless it wants me to. I’ll feel what I can only describe as a goblin dislodging from its throat latch. Only after that can I try to cough it up, except it’s still difficult as shit because it doesn’t really move with a cough. I have to also essentially retch and do a weird throaty cough to get this fucking guy out. And since the phlegm goblin is so thick, it blocks my airway and I can’t breathe while doing this which is stressful as fuck. I didn’t get the sneezing fits this time but my gawds this has been almost unbearable. I could hardly swallow, so I could hardly consume fluids or foods. Trying to sleep was a nightmare since I couldn’t move my neck without severe pain. I even had a mug by my bed to spit in through the night whenever my throat would get so clogged up that I couldn’t breathe well. 

Yesterday was the first day I was able to move my neck and it was glorious to crack that thing every half hour or so. Today was the first day where I didn’t feel immediately dizzy after standing, but that only lasted a short while. I finally folded my laundry from Sunday and did my dishes for the first time since Saturday. I even took out my recycling and felt the outside air for the first time this week. What is so frustrating though is that all of this took so long to do. I had no one else to help out with my dishes or laundry. I lucked out again with food and had enough leftovers from Saturday to sustain me but what if I didn’t? I did not have any strength to move beyond my wee bachelor suite. It took me hours to get out of bed some days or I would sleep in so long that it would be dark by the time I woke up. Wandering around downtown in an unstable haze whilst sick because I had nothing but my friend’s alcohol in my kitchen is a shit idea. Having to make the teas and NeoCitran and jello powder in boiling water and hot milk with honey by myself is wretched when I’m stuck to my bed with my own sweat. I would only get up to stumble to the bathroom until my snarling stomach forced me to get up and get food. I so desperately wanted to wave my hand and gently demand someone else to get my needs. Unfortunately, I was the only one here, and therefore the only one to help. 

It’s been an irritating time for sure. I’ve lost an entire paycheque’s worth of income for missing two weeks of work. And I’m paranoid about Mondays now. I’m so confused about this cursed fiasco because I’ve never gotten sick like this twice in a row. None of my friends got sick, save for one who shared a beverage with me on crimmus, but this clearly wasn’t airborne with them. Yet I caught it somehow and I only work Wednesday to Friday and I hardly go anywhere the other four days. So did I catch something on Friday and it just took a couple days to seize control of my immune system and then strike on Monday both times? I can justify getting sick the first time more since the mall was absolutely insane leading up to the holidays, but the second time it was incredibly quiet. I don’t know, this was just a shitty time and my rent increases next month so that’ll be cool to pay with the money I didn’t make.

[11lights]

August 17th, 2023

0525L

Temp 85°

Saddlebunch Keys, FL

Man oh man my fortunate that my parents basically forced me to play baseball. I mean when I was a kid I absolutely suck and that still kind of permeates. Its way to my skill now, especially with 10 years of no experience. But watching some of these other people and who have never touched the bat and glove outside of gym class makes me feel extremely fortunate that my parents at least attempted to force the traditions of my Latino blood inside of me.

Continued at 0606L

Well I didn't get home till 11ish last night because the game started at 9:00, so I definitely just fell asleep again. Now I'm voice to texting this on my commute to work. Had another visit with the chaplain yesterday to follow up on my initial visit after the crash. I told him I was feeling significantly better and then I had started writing things down here. I also let him know about the fast that I started. He like everyone else was initially worried because everyone gets worried when you say" I'm going to not eat for x amount of days". So I had to explain to him like I explain to everyone. This isn't my first time that my longest one has been 2 weeks now and this is only day one. I told him it's very good for my mental and for my spiritual health not just my physical weight. We then went over the results of this personality test that I initially thought was bullshit, but turned out to be a laser guided missile test of who I am. INFP, I still have to do more googling about it but he read off the results to me and it blew my mind how on the nose it was for the type of person I am. I told him I didn't want to take the test initially because I didn't want to be putting a box or maybe potentially answer incorrectly and skew the results. Nope. This shit got me to the T, I'll Google the results today to get more up to speed on INFP so I can write more about it tomorrow or maybe later but just know it's me. Anyway, he gave me this technique kind of to keep going on improving because I told him I'm doing everything I can right now. There's definitely more I could be doing but you know I'm doing more. He told me about this attitude of gratitude thing. Basically every day he takes a piece of paper, writes something that he's grateful for regardless of the day, regardless of how he feels and he puts it in a box every day. So in New Year's comes around he opens a box and he's got 365. Reasons to be thankful for his life. Ain't that a pretty fucking dope idea? So I'll be doing an attitude of gratitude, I may or may not share it on this since I'm already technically writing it down, but I could definitely use more positivity in my life. So easy to bring negativity as an air traffic controller or in the Navy or just as a human in general browsing social media. So why not produce a little bit of my own? And besides last New Year's sucked by myself on a couch watching the ball while my cousin slept and my roommate went and party downtown and just me and Nimitz, this New Year's can be awesome while I read, however, many days between yesterday and December 31st worth of reasons to be thankful.

Well just made it through the gate to work so I'm almost done. Don't remember if I mentioned this, but my Jim crush joined the softball team last night. Probably 20 minutes before the game after. I'd ask my Master Chief if she was on the team specifically and he told me no. That was nerve-wracking since I hadn't played baseball in years since Hawaii and because I still have a massive crush on her. Funny story is in the second inning she got a free nose job in the outfield and I had to replace her so she sat out the rest of the game. Now I'm almost in the parking lot at work and I can feel the soreness of my right arm/ shoulder that I thought was getting better yesterday prior to the game. Maybe I shouldn't have thrown balls at full speed. I'm flying today. I have to call Barbara to tell her why. I don't want to fly with one of their flight instructors anymore because I don't think he has respect for safety and I get to fly with my original instructor. Kai and probably actually learn how to land. Can't fly with that fool anymore because it was sucking the fun at a flying being worried about being safe and I wasn't looking forward to go do the thing that I'm spending 15,000 to do. I'm paying so I'm not going to waste my time. Anyway, walking through the doors at work. I'll keep you updated.

[hyunjilicious]

a helping hand [henry cavill] - part 2

A/n: I’m sorry it took me so long. I don’t like how this part turned out, at all, but I rewrote it 3 times and I can’t even think about these scenes anymore without getting annoyed. I’m just happy it’s finished and that I can start working on part 3 (that is, if you like this one enough to want to keep reading lol)

Summary: After you post on onlyfans a video starring another man, Henry decides to take matters into his own hands. (cameo: Steve Rogers) KINKY 4k

Warnings: spanking, daddy kink, dirty talk, mentions of smut and masturbation (male), humiliation/degradation kink, groping, mentions of porn and filming pornographic material, stalker-ish/obsessed Henry. (also tumblr crashed when I first tried to upload this so maybe that a sign this sucks)

You can read part 1 here!

-

The sight brought down a storm upon Henry's mind. He stood there, mouth agape, watching the screen, unable to believe his eyes. It was one thing to post videos of yourself on the Internet, but to have someone else take part in them was too much. At least for Henry. Still smart and composed, he realised there wasn't anything he could do about it, but nevertheless, he was determined to not let this shit slide for much longer. 

As much as he wanted to hunt down that man who dared put his hands on you, Henry gathered himself, took a deep breath and closed the onlyfans page. He was perfectly aware that just the right amount of you could get him to lose his sense of control and do things he'd later regret. Still, in desperate need to see you, he grabbed his phone, eyes scheming over your socials, only to see that the last time you had been active was 7 minutes ago. So, without much consideration, he started typing.

"You up?"

"Yep. Finishing up an essay. Coffee in 30??"

Oh, and how deeply that hurt him. "Of course" he sent you, and then checked again the post you made at 3am. '...I'll go to sleep right now, edit it for you when I wake up...'

You were lying? Why were you lying to him? It drove him insane. Henry felt like he couldn't sit down anymore, like he had no chance to catch his breath. He couldn't think straight, so he wasn't really to blame for what he did next. 

Henry's fingers flew over the keyboard, accessing Facebook and logging into your account, desperate to see whether he could find out who the man in your video was. And it was as easy as it could've been, considering your last 5 conversations were with the girl friends he already knew about. But somewhere among them, he spotted an unfamiliar name - Steve R., and instantly clicked and opened the conversation. His blood started to boil when the multitude of emojis you sent reached his eyes, but he scrolled up, until he found the beginning of yesterday's conversation. 

It was started by you, and with a request. You were blunt and went straight for it, asking him with just one message to be in the video with you. There was no trace of your relationship with him on the Internet, so Henry had no idea regarding the nature of yours and Steve's connection. Judging by the way you addressed him, he could easily assume the man was nothing more than a fuck buddy. Even though it angered him, Henry kept his calm and decided to go about this with care. It would only be a matter of time until he removed Steve from your life. But for now, he just had to keep digging for information. 

Steve R.: "Exactly what do you need me to do, baby? Spank you? In front of the camera? Are you serious?" 

"Yes, Steve. Come on!! I know we haven't seen each other in a while, but still... 😇 when it comes to these things, you know me better than anyone"

Henry scoffed. Who the fuck was this guy?

Steve R.: "I know, baby"

Steve R.: "What's in it for me?"

Smoke came out of Henry's ears, and the fact that you acted so sweet and innocent made him want to smash his keyboard.

"Whatever you want! Just do this for me!!! Please!!!! 🥺😊😋"

Steve R.: "Ofc I'll do it, sweetheart. I got you"

"Thank you thank you thank you 😘"

Steve R.: "I should be the one to thank you"

Steve R.: "Send me the location and I'll be over there asap"

After that, your address followed and then that was it. Determined to dig deeper, Henry started to scroll up again, wanting to find out as much as he could about this mysterious man. He didn't get a chance to lurk too much before this computer alerted him of a notification, the onlyfans tab glowing orange. His attention was instantly won, smiling devilishly as he checked the content.

Posted 30 seconds ago, was the new video. Ready to kick back and enjoy, Henry pressed the play button, ready to go at it with an open mind. 

He reluctantly accepted the fact that there was another man in it with you, but he decided to enjoy it nevertheless. The video started, displaying Steve seated on the couch, thighs suggestively parted. He had a pair of black dress pants on, dangerously stretched over his massive thighs. A white, elegant shirt hugged his visibly sculpted torso, the top two buttons undone to show just a hint of chest hair. Quite a sight, but all Henry saw was trash. With his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a silver watch on his wrist and a pinky ring on, Steve patted his thigh, cueing your entrance.

When Henry saw you, he felt his breath reach a new, sudden level of difficulty. With the shortest of skirts barely managing to cover your ass and a mostly see-through shirt on your top half, you made your way to him in such an angelic way that Henry couldn't believe his eyes. 

You looked like happiness personified, and it came in such a painful contraction to what you were about to do, that it twisted Henry's mind in such a perverse way, his cock nearly twitched just by seeing you. 

When you were about to bend over Steve's thigh, he grabbed your chin and stopped you mid action, his lips slamming against your as his free hand lewdly caressed your ass. He flung the skirt over your hips, your flimsy underwear on full display. 

Attentive to the events unfolding on the screen, Henry found his cock, teasingly rubbing it over the material of his pajama pants. His mouth watered when he felt the sensibility in his tip, actually believing this would be easier than he initially anticipated.

"Are you going to be Daddy's good little girl, or do I have to make this fucking hurt?" Steve asked and Henry almost threw up. 

"Yes, Daddy. I'll be good" you mewled, wiggling your feet. 

"Let's see" the man menacingly chuckled, releasing a sharp slap against your ass that made you yelp out in pain.

At this point, about 30 seconds in that was, Henry was already losing his mind. It was as if you took a trip inside his dreams and decided to play out his fantasies. The only problem was that you did it with another man. It was next to impossible for him to keep this going.

"Can you count?" Steve taunted, his hand traveling all over the back of your thighs, your exposed ass and between your legs. 

"Yes, Daddy" you eagerly nodded and Henry almost threw up.

"I wouldn't be surprised if a dumb slut like you didn't know how to" Steve chuckled, "But it's ok, that's how we like our girls. Dumb and pretty"

"Thank you, Daddy"

Henry couldn't believe his eyes. He refused to accept the fact that a random man got to play with your innocence like that. You were his sweet little girl. And if until now he pushed through heroically, when literal yelps of pain started erupting from your lips as the blonde man slapped your ass hard enough to rock your whole frame, Henry's blood ran cold.

But no matter how hard the jealousy had hit him, the video was still pushing his limits of self control. It was still what he always wanted to see. When he reached inside his pants and grabbed his cock, a low grunt of early satisfaction left his lips. He once again found himself picturing you, willing to please him, but this time, he didn't get to go too far. The buzzing sound of his doorbell rang through his apartment, and he never stood up faster.

Cock still hard and completely visible through his pants, Henry slapped the pause button and minimized the browser, before springing to his feet and rushing to the door.

"Henry!" you exclaimed as soon as he came into view. He looked somehow tired, but it was easy to tell there was something else bothering him. "You didn't answer your phone" you pouted.

"Yeah, sorry" he shook his head, a few sweaty curls falling against his forehead. "I was busy with something. What's up?"

You raised your eyebrows and pointed to the door of your apartment, "You said you'd come over? Coffee? Remember?"

"Oh, shit, yeah" Henry cringed, rubbing his forehead. "I'll be over in 10 minutes, that ok?"

"Sure" you beamed, completely oblivious to the way he just tried to get rid of you. With utter nonchalance, you pushed your way past him and strolled into the kitchen.

"You wanna wait here?" he muttered.

"Yeah... Is that a problem? I can leave..."

"No, no" Henry eventually sighed and rushed over to you. He cupped your cheeks and kissed your forehead. "Wait here, I'll be right back"

And that was what you did. You silently sat down, grabbing a bag of chips you found laying around, and settled to wait. And maybe, a few seconds passed where nothing devious came to mind, but as time ticket itself away, boredom got to you. First you stood up, and padded to the hallway, looking around. There was almost nothing new over there, but it still felt so homey you absolutely loved to inspect every detail. The TV in the living room was turned off, a couple of pizza boxes on the floor and his DVD cases laying around - absolutely nothing interesting.

You sighed and plopped down on his couch, folding your legs under your body, ready to flip through the channels on TV until he'd decide to join you. Nothing seemed of interest, being bombarded with news and fishing programs. "Old man" you thought to yourself, before opening up the menu in search for something less depressing. A wave of nostalgia hit you when you came across a Spiderman marathon, and you were done for. Maybe one full episode passed until Henry walked out of the bathroom, but you were nowhere near ready to leave.

"Look what's playing!" you beamed, pointing to the screen. Henry raised his eyebrows in amusement, his shoulders shaking as he softly laughed at your unusual choice of entertainment. 

"Are you serious? Cartoons?"

"Yes!" you scoffed, extending your arms and gesturing for him to join you. Although reluctant at first, Henry agreed to sit and watch the show with you, but not before brewing some coffee first.

When he returned from the kitchen, two steaming mugs in tow, you shuffled to the side and welcomed him on the couch. He brought you close against him, draping his arm around your body. With your head resting on his shoulder, you sipped your coffee, eyes glued to the TV. "You seriously never watched these as teen? You were 11 when it came out."

"I did" Henry laughed, rubbing his hand up and down your side, "I was in love with Felicia Hardy"

"MJ was so much better!" you shook your head disappointed, "You have no taste"

"No need for that" Henry threatened, his fingers exploring their way down your body. The way he trailed his hand across your hips and thighs made you squirm, smiling to yourself as you shuffled closer to him.

Henry was more than happy to reciprocate, kissing your forehead and squeezing you tighter. 

And just like that, you didn't care about Spiderman anymore. You flung your leg over Henry's lap, all but crawling on top of him. The episode was still playing in the background, but none of you was paying attention anymore. Henry wrapped his muscular arms around your frame, eliciting a soft moan from your lips as you pushed your hips down against his thigh. His hands traveled lower, exploring your body with delicate but greedy strokes. 

As you let yourself get carried away with absolutely no worry in mind, Henry knew exactly what he was doing. And considering how easily you let your guard down, he had you right where he wanted. 

When you hid your face in the crook of his neck, your nose rubbing across the slope of his collarbone, Henry's right hand found your ass. You froze for a second, but his gentle caress helped you relax again in an instant. With his lips against the top of your head, he allowed his fingers to sink into your flesh. Your whole frame stiffened as you gathered a handful of his hoodie into your fist.

"What's wrong?" Henry cooed, grabbing your chin, "You ok?"

"Yep" you whimpered, and then winced again as he squeezed your ass once more. "I'm good-" you lied, cupping the side of his neck into your palm as you crawled higher up his body, your lips right against his ear. 

As weak as he was for you, Henry stood his ground. If you wanted to play this game, he'd do it, but he wouldn't let you win.

"Does this hurt?" he asked, roughly groping your ass.

Jumping slightly from the pain, you still managed to shake your head, blurting out another lie. "... no"

"What about this?" Henry teased, grinning widely as he shoved his hands inside your leggings, under your panties. 

The urgency of his touch made your eyes open wide, your back arching as you tried to push yourself off of him.

"Does it hurt, darling?" he continued, keeping you in place with ease. 

Defeated, you sighed and lowered your gaze, "A bit" you mumbled.

"Just a bit?" 

"Henry-"

"Did he fuck you good?" 

Your mouth fell open. "What- no, I didn't- we didn't do anything-"

"Didn’t do anything?" Henry grinned, his perfect teeth showing as he proudly pried information out of you.

"I just... fuck-" 

Seeing no way out of this one, and eager to stop hiding, you pushed yourself back. Henry's hands left your body as you sat beside him, and he watched you curiously, patiently waiting for you to word your thoughts. "I just filmed a video for my page, that's all" you bowed your head.

"What kind of video?" Henry questioned.

His demeanour was so relaxed, he was right in his element, unlike you, who were riled up to the extreme. "A spanking video-" you cleared, awkwardly fidgeting with the hem of your shirt. 

"Did he spank you good?" 

His hand found your hips again, and you leaned into his touch, nodding your head yes as you were too embarrassed to actually word your answer.

"Then show me" 

He was dominant and stern, and even if you wanted to, you felt like saying no wasn't an option. Henry didn't wait for your permission as he grabbed your waist and pulled you up to your knees, chuckling softly to himself when he saw you shyly smile down at him. 

His fingers curled around the waistband of your leggings, forcefully pulling them down your thighs. "Come on" he urged you, softly guiding you to lay down across his lap, your ass barely covered by the pinkish and slightly unflattering underwear you had chosen for the day.

Henry's breathing picked up at the sight, and so did yours. You watched him over your shoulder, his fingers tracing over the bruises Steve left on your bum the night before. 

"Henry-?" you whimpered, the anticipation building up in the pit of your stomach becoming too much to bear. 

"Yes, darling?" he cooed, leaning down to the side to kiss your cheek. His stumble tickled your skin and you whimpered when his hand made its way between your legs.

You felt his fingers against your opening and involuntarily clenched your thighs around him, hiding your face in the cushions of below your head.

"Tell me" Henry pushed, teasing your folds and clit over your underwear. 

"Nothing, I-" you cried, making him chuckle.

He loved giving you a taste of your own medicine. He straightened himself up and grabbed your ass into his hands, squeezing until you yelped out in pain. A soft laughter of approval escaped his throat as he bent down and pressed his lips to one of your cheeks, applying lingering kisses over each and every single bruise. 

The way he took control of the situation and handled your body, turned you on to no end. For whatever reason, being exposed like that for him, waiting for any kind of judgement to leave his lips, you were getting more and more riled up by the second. You were done for. You did your best not to moan with need, but little did you know that was exactly what kept you from being thrown onto the floor and fucked into oblivion. Just one single sign was all you needed in order to break his self control, but you didn’t have it in you to do it. 

But he didn’t say anything, instead just keeping you on your toes as he had his way. You were dripping through your underwear, and judging by the bulge in his pants that pushed up against your belly, you knew he was on the same page as you. But again, he didn’t allow things to go further. Everything about this moment pointed in the right direction - the teasing, the touching, you were all but whimpering in his lap, but he cut the moment short with a sharp slap against your ass before he helped you up. Henry acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened as he pulled your leggings back up, but this glare became colder when he found your eyes.

He bent down and spoke into your ear, "He could've done a better job"

Completely under his spell, you bit your lip and furrowed your eyebrows. "I don't think I would have been able to take any more"

"That's not what I said" Henry shook his head.

"Look at you being an expert" you teased, relishing in the fact that he seemed eager to keep things going. 

"All I'm saying is that if you had asked someone else-" Henry laughed, stroking your cheek, "Things would have turned out much more different"

"Oh" you pouted, ready to tease him further. "Who should I have asked-"

Just when you started getting comfortable and confident enough to push things further, Henry's phone rang. "I don't have to take that" he shook his head when he heard you stopped talking.

"Just see who it is" you giggled, slapping his shoulder.

Before doing so, Henry grabbed your chin and kissed your forehead, his touch drawing you in like a magnet as you leaned into him when he pulled away. With a sigh, you eventually crawled off his lap and then your face fell with disappointment when Henry showed you the screen of his phone. 

"Yeah?" he huffed after picking up, his boss being the last person he wished to talk to right now. 

You watched him closely as he listened to whatever the man was saying, and almost whined out loud when Henry frowned annoyed.

"I'll call you back in 5, ok?" he asked and after a couple of seconds hung up.

"I'm so sorry-" Henry sighed, turning to you, "I gotta go take this, there's a problem with one of the radars, I need to go see if I can fix it remotely"

"Sure thing" you shook your head. "But please tell me you don't have plans tonight"

"I don't" Henry leaned towards you and again, kissed your forehead. As much as you loved the sweet gesture, it was now more than ever that you craved something else entirely. 

"And please don't forget about me again" you giggled, grabbing his biceps and stopping him from leaving without a promise.

"I won't" he sighed, "I'm really sorry about that. I'll make it up to you"

"However I want?" you beamed and licked your lips.

"Absolutely" Henry smiled, sweetly embracing you before walking you to the door.

You had his word now, and you were planning on making it count. There was no way either you or Henry would act as if nothing had happened, and you couldn't wait.

Once alone and seated at his desk, Henry opened up the text editor associated with the code he wrote months ago. When his screen was flooded with errors and his chat popped up with three different messages asking for help from his colleagues, Henry all but yelled out loud in frustration. Not only did he wish to be with you, it was also Sunday, one of his days off. But he couldn't just text the pilot of the plane whose radar went berserk and tell him to wait. So he got to work, determined to get this done as soon as possible. 

But unfortunately, that 'as soon as possible' turned into 3 hours of continuous work. He didn't even stand up to go to the bathroom until he made sure everything was on point. It was about 4pm when the program started running smoothly again, and seeing how he had a few more hours to waste until he had to see you, Henry decided to make the best of them, by getting a head start on his tasks for the following day.

Productivity flowed through his fingertips as he solved the first issue he had been assigned for the day to come, getting ready to start working on the second one when a call caught his attention. He didn't recognize the ring tone, and it only dawned on him that he was still logged into your facebook account a couple of seconds after it stopped ringing. 

Still curious, Henry switched the tabs on his computer, noticing that the chat with Steve, which he left open hours ago, showed that there was an ongoing video call. His jaw fell. Henry tightened his hands into fists, fuming with anger. First as you for doing this, and then at himself for allowing you to believe this was an ok thing to do. He knew there was no way to eavesdrop on your conversation even if he had the password, but that didn't mean his curiosity died down. No, it only grew stronger.

He felt lost for a minute, but then he thought of something. On his dresser, right next to his winter gloves and under his favorite jogging hat, laid an extra set of keys. Henry remembered the day you gave them to him, saying something along the lines of 'I feel much safer knowing that if something were to happen, you could always get to me, Henry.' and then remembered how you stuffed them in his pocket, and kissed his chest before stepping back. Such different times. 

There was no trace of hesitation inside his mind as he grabbed the keys and made his way out of his home. He passed the hallway in less than a second and pressed his ear to the door. It was perfectly quiet, and through the peephole, he couldn't see any light. You weren't in the kitchen or living room, so he felt confident enough. After putting his phone on vibrate, Henry ever so gently pushed the key inside, turning it inside the lock with the most meticulous movement his wrist could muster. The sound of the door knob being turned was so faint he barely even heard it, but his pulse skyrocketed when he heard the click that signaled the door was finally open.

With small, careful steps, he made his way inside. The entire apartment was dark and quiet as he made his way in, stopping just outside your bedroom as the relaxed, deep voice of a stranger became audible through the wall. “Trust me, sweetheart. Just relax, I got you. You’re all tense, I can see it from here. You know I have more experience with this than you do, just do as I say”

With one hand on the doorknob of your bedroom, Henry was ready to put an end to this whole charade. He knew he might regret it later, but he didn't care. The image of a so called friend, pushing you to do anything that you seemed to have clearly stated your discomfort about, flipped a switch inside his brain. There was no stopping him because no one, no one got to push you around like that. Not while he could do anything about it.

[tomtenadia]

Blind mistake

Rowaelin month - day 8

So, this fic was fighting me at the beginning. as I started, deleted and restarted a million times.

Then slowly the idea came and here it is. What I was not expecting was to write a A Little Braver AU.

Aelin and Rowan meet under different circumstances and are two different people from thee actual story. Aelin is still the captain at east station and Rowan still the airforce captain.

Yes, this is a happier fic but as Aelin said in KoA... she loved Rowan because it was him, the man who had known pain as deep as hers.

IN order to enjoy this fic you do not need to have read ALB. A part from Pete popping up for a brief second at the end, this is a complete stand alone story and no knowledge of ALB is needed.

Rowan sighed. His love life sucked so much that he ended up using a dating app. Since Lyria dumped him a year before he had been struggling to go back in the game. He had been on a few dates but so far none of the women he met had sparked his curiosity. Far too bland and with almost no personality or far too bothered by looks. Some of them had been downright stupid and he had been a gentleman and played along when all he wanted to do was run away screaming. The last nightmare had been a woman called Remelle who Lorcan had recommended to him. He had to feign food poisoning and pay the chef to let him escape from the back of the restaurant to flee the monster. He had paid the bill sneakily, and once home he had insulted Lorcan and his poor taste in women.

Now he was again in a restaurant, ready for probably another fiasco. He and the woman had chatted a bit and she had seemed interesting so he had dared to ask her out and she had accepted. On the paper it was all good. In reality he was getting ready for another crazy escape. Maybe he should just give up and live alone and become a grumpy old man.

He had a kingsflame on the table near him, their code to recognise each other at the restaurant. The fact that they knew very little about each other made him nervous. It was a recipe for disaster. He knew she was a personal shopper and that she liked movies and music. He was really dreading the encounter now, and started to realise that perhaps it had been a mistake. She could have lied.

Until he raised his head and he noticed the woman who had just entered the restaurant. He then spotted the flower pinned on her green dress as they had agreed. Gods, the woman was way too hot for him. There was a catch somewhere. His heart raced when realisation dawned on her face and she waved and started to walk to him. The smile. Damn, the smile could stop a man’s heart. The woman walking toward him was a goddess. He was expecting her to turn away for another table until she sat down in front of him at his table. Rowan was speechless.

“Sorry, I am late. Accident on the ring road. I stopped to give a hand to west station.” She used her hand to brush off the smudge of grease he had only just noticed she had.

“You stopped?”

“Yes,” she looked at him with a strange light in her eyes “I am a firefighter. I am the captain at east station.”

Rowan blinked twice. Shit. She was the wrong woman. She was not here for him. Of course. It was too good to be true. She had sat at the wrong table and a part of him was sad.

“I am Aelin.” she said and he knew that it had dawned on her as well that he was not her date “You are not Chaol.”

Rowan shook his head “I am Rowan.”

“Holy shit. I saw the kingsflame. The restaurant. And you smiled at me when I came in. I just assumed...” He did not want her to go. 

“Ach, I was having second thoughts anyway.” He shrugged.

In that moment the waiter came and they were hesitant for a moment then Aelin grabbed the menu and started ordering, surprising him. Rowan got some wine for both and they placed as well their order.

“Our dates are late anyway. Maybe stuck in the horrendous traffic out there.”

“You will not hear me complain.” Said Rowan with a smile “so, you stopped and helped?”

Aelin nodded, sipping a bit of her wine “I couldn’t resist it. West station was there but there were so many cars involved that I had to something. The traffic wasn’t moving anyway.”

Rowan could not believe the woman in front of him. Not only she was a goddess. She had even stopped to help her colleagues save people from a car crash on her way to a date. Where had she been all his life?

The waiter came with their order and smiled at the expression of joy when Aelin looked at the amount of food in front of her. Another point for her. She had an appetite. He had no need of another date ordering a boring salad. He was a healthy eater but loved a woman with an appetite, especially because he loved cooking.

“So Rowan, what do you do?” She asked him while tackling the gigantic prawn on her seafood tagliatelle.

“I am an airforce pilot. I am a captain.”

Her face lit up “as in the uniform and all? And the awesome planes?”

Rowan nodded.

Aelin was about to take another sip of her wine when two figures stopped at their table. A brown-haired man and a blonde woman. Both had a kingsflames pinned on their dresses.

“Excuse me but you are with my date.” Said the stranger.

Rowan looked up from his risotto “finders keepers.”

“And he is my date.” Said the woman in a shrill voice.

“What he said.” Added Aelin while eating another prawn.

“We got stuck in traffic. There is a massive road accident on the ring road.” Chaol complained, not letting it go.

“Yeah I know. I stopped to help and I still made it here before you.”

“So what does this mean?” Asked Chaol.

Aelin stared at Rowan. It was a no brainer. Chaol was cute but Rowan was sex on two legs. Between the silver hair and the green eyes he ticked all of the boxes. And he was a pilot. Chaol was an accountant.

“You two can go on a date together.” She suggested and hoped they took the hint.

“That is rude.”

“Oh shoot,” said Aelin covering her mouth in fake surprise “I must have left the fucks I have to give in my bunker gear.”

Chaol looked at her aghast. The blonde woman turned on her heels and left.

“You missed an opportunity.” He added before he left as well.

As soon as he left Rowan burst into laughter and she joined him “no fucks to give…” he said trying to catch his breath “I have to steal this when my CO drives me nuts.”

“Ansel, one of my firefighters, she taught me that.”

“It’s fucking perfect.” 

And both resumed their dinner without the awkwardness of a blind date. No stupid questions like how many siblings do you have or what is your favourite colour. No, with Rowan there had been a connection from the start and the joke had been the final proof.

“Most guys would have left running at my joke. I have a big and foul mouth. Not very lady-like.” She apologised. “I work in a male dominated place. Apart from Ansel and my two paramedics, I am surrounded by guys and well, they are not easily scared.”

Rowan chuckled “I am in the military. My CO uses fuck you as a term of endearment and one of my lieutenants has the record for the most innuendos in a sentence.”

“How many?” Asked Aelin curios.

“Ten.”

“No friggin’ way.”

Rowan nodded solemnly. Then looked at her and he was glad she sat at his table mistaking him for another man. They had known each other only for twenty minutes but he was dumbstruck by the woman.

She was fierce, intelligent and with a wicked sense of humour.

The meal had been perfect. Aelin had polished every single plate in front of her and also ordered dessert. And when she offered to pay for half the bill he had smiled. He had plenty of dates where the woman didn’t even offer. She took it for granted that he, being the man, was the one paying. He had no issues with that, he was happy to pay, but the fact that Aelin offered made him realise that she was different.

They left the restaurant and he gasped when he saw a red pickup reading Terrasen fire department on its livery, parked just outside the restaurant.

“Way to scare the patrons away.” He joked.

“Sorry. Yesterday I took a lift to work from a colleague and I forgot for a moment that I had a set the date for tonight after my shift. So I grabbed my work pickup to get here. I need to go back to the firehouse and return it.”

“I’ll follow, you drop off the pickup and then I drive you home.”

“I can take a cab, you don’t have to come all the way to the station and back.”

“Humour me,” he said giving her a beautiful smile and she accepted.

Ten minutes later they were at east station and she parked the pickup in its corner at the side and out of the way.

She saw Rowan getting off the car.

“Welcome to east station.” She said extending her arms. She pushed a button and the rolling doors slid up and two big trucks appeared in front of him. He had always wanted to see one up close.

“Cap,” said a man at her back “what are you doing here? I thought you were on a date?” He smiled “that bad? I told you accountants were a bad idea.”

Aelin laughed “looks like I got myself an airforce pilot instead.” She winked at him and Rowan’s heart skipped a beat.

“I’ll tell you next shift, Pete. I just brought back the pickup before Dorian kills me.”

She waved at her relief captain and followed Rowan in his car and told him her address.

While he drove she studied him. He was wearing a nice pair of jeans, a shirt and a black leather jacket. She should have guessed he was military. Aedion had the same posture and he was ex-army.

“Which house?” Asked Rowan, waking her up from her thoughts.

“The one with the blue door.”

He parked and walked with her up to the door “I had so much fun tonight,” she said to him, not wanting him to leave her.

“I am so glad that you sat at the wrong table. This was the best blind date ever.” He looked at her and wanted to kiss her so badly but they had just met and he did not want to pass a a pig.

She moved a step toward him “I am glad too.” And her lips brushed his cheek in a kiss “perhaps we could go on a proper date. One where we are actually meant to meet each other.”

Rowan sighed relieved “It would make me very happy.”

Aelin rummaged in her bag until she found a pen then grabbed his wrist and pulled up his cuff a bit and wrote down two numbers.

“The first one is my personal mobile number. The second one is the direct number to my office. I am known to leave my mobile in my bunker gear.”

“Thank you.”

“Let me know a date and if I am not free we can find a better one. Us firefighters have crazy long shifts so I need to be off.”

He took her pen and her wrist and wrote his number “then you text me. A day that you are off shift. I work regular hours. This makes more sense.”

He took a step down from the few step and she hated the idea of him leaving.

“Goodnight, Rowan.” She opened the door and looked at him one last time.

Rowan waited for her to disappear behind the door and then went back to his car and was grateful for the best blind mistake of his life.

[itstheoneshot]

PHD

Request

Summary: Your one on one sessions with your professor always tend to get a little… steamy.

Word Count: 1.2k

Pairing: Onew x Reader

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Mutual Masturbation.

————————————————————————

You sigh, frustrated and tired as yet again your experiment did not turn out the way that you had hypothesised. The deadline for your PHD thesis is fast approaching, and you feel as if you have spent more time in the lab with your professor than you have doing anything else for the last few months.

Your professor is standing beside you, and sensing your upset, he places a hand on your shoulder to reassure you that it is okay.

“Lovely girl, it’s okay. Are you okay?” He asks you in a soft tone.

Your bottom lip quivers at this, you are exhausted by repeating the same experiment with the tiniest tweaks and still not getting the results that you want.

“I can’t do this, Jinki-nim.” You sigh, “I’m not going to get this finished in time, I can’t think straight anymore.”

As you had hoped, and as he always does, whenever you get like this, Jinki takes a hand to your cheek, turning your head to face him.

Your relationship has been more than just teacher-student for a while now, and you remember the first day that he kissed you as if it were yesterday. Now, whenever you are upset, Jinki knows exactly how to fix that, and today will be no different, you are sure.

“Sit up here, sweetheart.” He urges you, moving to hold your waist and get you up onto the lab table.

He steps away from you for a moment, to move your equipment out of reach before returning to stand in between your spread legs. He leans in to kiss you sweetly, moaning a little as you so easily melt into his embrace.

“We can’t have you upset, can we, doll?” He coos, licking along your bottom lip to ask for permission to taste you.

“N-no, Jinki-nim. I can’t do my work if I am upset.” You respond, playing up your emotions a little, knowing that he loves to baby you.

Jinki kisses across your jawline up to your ear, as his hands roam from your waist to caress your thighs, fuck, he loves your thighs, touching them at every given opportunity.

“I’ll help you,” He starts, “That’s what I am here for, after all.”

You nod, before exerting a pathetic whine, “Yes, please help me.”

His hands travel further up your thighs, finding your centre to tease you through the fabric of your jeans. Your lab coat is undone, falling off your shoulders, and as Jinki kisses you with a little bit more force, it causes the coat to come off completely.

“I’m gonna make you feel better, okay, lovely girl?” He asks, finding the button of your jeans to undo with his thumb and forefinger.

You know how well those fingers work, as they brush against your skin when he slips his hand inside your now undone pants. They are warm, and you are wet, as he sighs in want, feeling how much he turns you on drives him crazy.

“Oh shit, you really need this, don’t you? You’re sucking me in, doll.” Jinki groans as he inserts a second finger.

“Ah— fuck yes, fuck yes, Jinki.” You whine, as he rubs circles on your clit, fingers working fast to bring you to peak.

Jinki kisses up your neck, grinding into you as he finger-fucks, and in your desperate state, feeling his huge, hard cock, you bring him closer, undoing his own pants to free his erection. You wrap both of your hands around it to begin stroking him, and the pleasure it gives him only causes him to work harder.

“God, you’re fucking massive, Jinki.” You praise, knowing that he loves to hear it.

“Mhmm,” He hums, “All the better to fill my favourite student though, right?”

You almost lose it right then, as you are reminded of how good it feels to take his cock. Though as you glance at the clock behind you, you see how late it is in the day, and Jinki chuckles, reading your mind.

“I’ll drive you home, after this. Maybe you can come in, and we can continue.” He offers, as he begins to curl his fingers with each thrust.

You continue stroking his cock, feeling yourself begin to come undone, you rest your head on his shoulder as you grind yourself into his hand. Your breathing is laboured as you lose control, moaning Jinki’s name as you cum on his fingers.

“Oh shit, sweetheart I’m gonna cum, too.” He moans, as he takes his fingers out of you and sticks them into his mouth to lick them clean.

You know that he does not like to make a mess of the laboratory, so you do what you need, what you have been craving to do, and drop down to the floor to take his cock into your mouth. You can barely get your mouth around it, but you manage, and with a mix of hand movements and your tongue swirling around the tip, Jinki releases, sending spurts of cum down your throat.

You swallow every last drop, as the sounds that Jinki makes are like music to your ears, you suck him dry before pulling off, and gazing up at him above you.

“So good to me, sweet girl.” Jinki says, reaching out for your hands to pull you back up to standing, “Are you feeling better?”

You sigh, leaning up on your toes to kiss him sweetly, “I am, thank you, Jinki-nim.”

Jinki smiles at you, as he zips his pants back up, and steps back out of the way so that you can fix yourself up, too.

“Are you ready to try your experiment again now?” He asks, as if nothing had even happened between you.

“Of course, Jinki-nim.” You smile in response.

Jinki buttons your lab coat for you, helping straighten it out before he assists in rearranging your experiment for you, beakers and burners at the ready, before he steps back to let you try again.

With his hand on your shoulder, and your now relaxed mind and body, you try again, tweaking one chemical by only the smallest amount, and your work finally pays off.

“I told you that you could get there! Congratulations, lovely girl.” He praises you.

You are over the moon, so proud of yourself for working as hard as you have. You scrawl down your results and the measurements that you used, so that you can try to do this again tomorrow, as it is so late in the day, and you could not bear to have to restart once more.

“So much thanks to you, Jinki-nim.” You reply, cheeks hurting from smiling so wide.

Jinki reaches across to tuck a stray hair behind your ear, and you blush, despite how common your closeness is.

“We should celebrate,” Jinki offers, “How does drinks at my place sound?”

You nod, wanting nothing more than to spend time with Jinki outside the lab, knowing that you will end up staying the night, like you always do, riding his cock until the sun comes up.

“I’d love to.” You reply.

Jinki holds out a hand for you to take, and the two of you leave the lab together.

[imonthinice]

The Criminal Psychology Majors, Jason Todd x Fem!Reader Part 16/?

Word Count: 4.2k

Author’s Note: Y/N - Your name

I put two days into this chapter<3  I guess the timeline may speedup a bit<3

Warnings: Jail discussion, Victim Shaming, Fighting, Mentions of Injury, Disassociation, Disconnect, Trauma, Swearing, Mentions of alcoholism and drug use, No beta bitch we die like Jason Todd

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13) (Part 14) (Part 15) (Part 16) (Part 17) (Part 18) (Part 19) (Part 20)

Family game night was well underway in the Wayne Manor when Y/N got a phone call from the prison that Justine Wong, her high school friend who went to jail protecting her, was incarcerated in until her trial or the man who attempted to assault Y/N dropped the charges. 

She excused herself and went outside in the Autumn weather to take the call.

“Hello.”

“This is an automated call from Gotham County Prison from Inmate ‘Justine Wong’, to accept this call please press 1.”

She did as such.

“Thank you for your cooperation. All inmate calls are recorded. Your account balance is $50.69.”

“Hello?” Justine asked into the phone.

“Hey, it’s me. Why are you calling? Are you alright?” Y/N asked.

“I need you to come here and get me a lawyer.”

“You’re up my ass right now, aren’t you? I thought he was dropping the charges?”

“He isn’t. Christopher, Thomas, Kaitlin and I seriously need your help now.”

“Are you all in the same prison?”

“Yes, they transferred over the boys yesterday because of this. We can all meet in a recorded room while you get us a lawyer.”

“Fuck, dude. Uh,” she thought about game night, but decided this was more important, “Do you need me now?”

“Yes, we can all get into the room and then you can meet us, I think the jail is 10-20 minutes of a walk away from the Manor?”

“Fuck. Okay. I’ll be there.”

Click. She thought about going back inside and asking someone to drive her to the jail, but she was also just not prepared to answer anyone’s questions about it. It was cold outside, but if she ran she could get there in 10 minutes. But that’s when Bruce joined her outside, she assumed Jason sent him because he was crushing his siblings in Monopoly at the moment.

“So, I’m friends with the commissioner of the county, Jim Gordon,” Bruce said, “And I know what your friends are dealing with.”

“Well, it’s not like it’s plastered all over the news or anything,” she said to Bruce, with a slight [massive] amount of sarcasm tinged in her voice.

“Do your parents know?”

“If they did I wouldn’t be in Gotham anymore.”

“Do you need a ride to the jail?”

“Yes.”

“I can do that, no issue.”

“Thank you, Bruce.”

“Anytime,” he said before leading her to one of his cars.

------------------------------------------

In the car, Y/N tried to keep up conversation with Bruce, it was a short drive but the time seemed to slow and he could tell she wasn’t talkative. This was, what he thought was likely, very, very stressful for her. He was used to this, the court dates, the police station, but he knew that her attackers’ court dates were coming up and she was going to need emotional support, since her parents weren’t in the city.

He didn’t know how to support her as the dad of her boyfriend, he’d probably just mention it in passing to Jason and Jason would deal with her. ‘Deal with’ probably was not the way to describe the girl that his son was dating, especially when she’s in as much emotional distress as Y/N clearly was in that moment, but Bruce was terrible with wording. 

She didn’t even want him to bother with her emotions about it all, because she didn't know how she felt. She didn’t know anything about the situation and how it made her feel, she just froze in the sight of this confrontation and hid from it all behind a mask of seeming to know what she was doing.

They pulled up to the prison, and she got out of the car and waved off Bruce before walking to the front desk and saying who she was and why she was there, providing her ID if need be. They led her into the backrooms, and told her that the room was being recorded and that she couldn’t touch them before letting her in the room.

She looked at the 4 of her friends who were all being charged with assault and battery.

“Y/N?” Thomas asked.

“This... this is surreal. Didn’t think we’d ever end up like this,” she said, looking at the floor before crossing her arms.

“What do we do now?” Kaitlin asked.

“Do any of your parents have enough money to pay for a lawyer? I can call them for you,” Y/N said.

“You didn’t already call them?” Christopher asked.

“No, I didn’t. I’ve been pretending this entire thing doesn’t exist, I don’t want it to exist.”

“But we need a lawyer,” Justine snapped.

“No fucking shit, Sherlock Holmes.”

“Well you should have gotten us a lawyer!” Justine snapped again, raising her voice.

“Now is not the time to yell at her, Justine,” Thomas interrupted.

“Shut up, Thomas! You,” she turned to Y/N, “Look at me! Look what you made us do and you can’t even look us in the eyes!”

“I didn’t make you do anything, Justine.”

“You’re the one who’s a fucking alcoholic and can’t handle her drinks so she almost got raped! You’re pathetic.”

“Now is not the time to victim shame me, Justine” Y/N sighed, “What you’re saying is very hurtful and makes me not wish to help you anymore, understood? You can lash out at me to get the anger out, but this isn’t my fault and you know it,” she said, finally locking eyes with Justine.

“I’m sorry.”

“You should be.”

They continued talking about what to do for hours, with Y/N ignoring most advances Justine made to prove the point that yes, she was pissed at Justine about what she had said to Y/N.

Y/N wasn’t taking anyone’s shit anymore. Ever since she met Jason, and pissed off the press, she stopped letting people get away with everyone, she stopped telling people what they wanted to hear.

And people were noticing, especially her 4 friends in that room. She was trying to get better, to recover so she wouldn't relapse, and it was obvious. 

“Y/N?” Justine said.

“Justine?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I am aware. I’ll be calling your parents when we’re done here.”

“So do you forgive me?”

“I’ll consider forgiving you.”

“You’ve changed.”

“Good,” she turned to the other 3, “Anything you 3 want before I leave?”

“Nope, that’s it,” Thomas said, “Thank you, Y/N.”

“That’s everything yeah,” Kaitlin said, “Thanks, man.”

“What they said,” Christopher joked, “Thanks.”

“Alright, I love you 3, I’ll try to arrange phone calls with you 3,” she said putting emphasis on the word 3. Oh yeah, she was pissed.

She would leave the room without even saying ‘goodbye’ to Justine. She would tell the police she was done with the meeting. They asked who would be handling getting lawyers to the 4 kids, she said she would call their parents. Commissioner Gordon walked up to her and held out his hand, “You must be Jason’s girlfriend. I’ve know that kid all his life basically, I’m Commissioner Jim Gordon,” he said.

“Y/N,” she said, shaking his hand.

“I know these last 2 weeks have been extremely stressful for you, Y/N,” he said.

“I think everyone’s caught onto that.”

“I called Bruce to come get you.”

“Thank you, sir.”

-----------------------------------

Meeting new people filled her with a lot of life after the hell she was pulled through. From stabbing, to head injuries, to friendships crumbling, to court, Y/N was being strewn through the wringer.

She knew it would calm down eventually, she was just being put through a few bad weeks for a lifetime of happiness, and she hoped that happiness was with Jason.

She couldn’t think much longer when Bruce pulled up and she got to the car.

“How was it?” he asked.

“Do you really want to know, Bruce?”

“I do. The justice system can be draining.”

“You could say that again,” she joked, “So, where do I start? Well, I get in there and tensions are high, obviously. I’m sure prison sucks when they shouldn’t really be there, they did the job the vigilantes here do, and we all let them do it. Anyway... my friend I guess, she comes at my throat about my attack,” she paused, trying to swallow her pain, “Starts blaming me for it, uses my alcoholic past against me, you know, the stuff you shouldn’t do. I don’t care if she’s right and I shouldn’t have drank, but she fucking led me to the bar.”

She fumbled with her hands a bit, still trying to not cry, “Anyway, I told her that she can’t talk to me like that, that I won’t let her talk to me like that and she apologized. Guess what? I said ‘You should be.’ and I know that might not mean much to you, Bruce, but I would have never stood up for myself like that had I not met your son, you did something right with that boy, Bruce, I swear,” she joked, “But that was about it, I have to call everyone’s parents to get them lawyers, but that’s it.”

“I figured you had a backbone from the start, kid,” Bruce said in response.

“You kidding? I had to ask Jason if you would hate me for flipping off the press? I’ve never, ever had a backbone.”

“Well maybe, besides the lack of protection,” he joked, “Maybe Jason and you are a good couple.”

“You think so?”

“I think so.”

“Thanks, Bruce. Really. Your kids are a hoot to hang out with and you’re not half-bad yourself, old man.”

“Are you going to start calling me that, too?”

“Maybe jokingly.”

“I’m not that old, kiddo.”

“You just called me kiddo and you think I don’t deserve to say you’re old? Really? Bruce, c’mon, you’re smarter than that.”

“You don’t deserve it. You’re just going to do it.”

She laughed, “About the protection lecture, I wouldn't have done it if I wasn’t on the pill, Bruce. I appreciate the concern, but you were so wrong about us ‘not being prepared’.”

He laughed, “Maybe you should have said something.”

“You never asked me, Bruce.”

“I wouldn't make a good detective, then.”

“That’s why Commissioner Gordon is on the cases I’m involved in, and not you.”

He paused, “Isn’t your head-butting buddy’s trial starting tomorrow?”

“It is.”

“Are you going to watch it?” he asked, off-handedly, “I think Dick might, just to see what the ‘sicko’ looks like.”

“I’m definitely going to watch it,” she laughed, “Might even make it an essay for school.”

“Well that’s one way to handle it.”

“Might as well turn the sick fuck who tried to turn me into a ransom note be turned into a 100% in my classes. Call it; Classy Revenge.”

They pulled into the driveway together, while Bruce was laughing at the comment Y/N made. She laughed, too. It helped heal some of the wounds she experienced over the 2 weeks of knowing Jason, even some of the prior wounds. Bruce told her that the kids were still playing Monopoly, none of them had apparently gone bankrupt yet, it was 12:00am.

To say she was impressed with Jason and his siblings would be an understatement, she remembered playing Monopoly with her family, and they’d all always declare bankruptcy within an hour or so, and thee was never a back-to-back winner when they all played.

Maybe they were bad at managing money, maybe thee Wanes just were too stubborn to declare bankruptcy and they bent the rules of Monopoly a little bit to suit their family, she didn’t know.

They walked into the house and sat back down, Y/N at Jason’s side where she had been the 4, or-so, hours before. Everyone seemed to acknowledge her presence and wished to ask her what happened, but no one knew how to bring it up to her. They knew she wasn’t used to the life of court and trials, the needing to talk to police, it was really one the Waynes and the kids of police officers that were used to tat stuff.

She pretended to not notice them wanting to ask her and opened her phone while Jason tried to negotiate for the 4th railroad from Tim, to see her mother texted her.

How are you, sweetheart? Her mum had asked.

I’m fine, mum. Shouldn’t you be sleeping?

I should, but I can’t sleep thinking about the trial of your attacker

Same. It’s such a stressful situation.

I can’t even imagine how you’re feeling through all of this.

She couldn’t put how she felt into words. How the way that the moments she was in the alleyway made her feel. the way that man’s face was burned into her memory to be a constant reminder tat she wasn’t safe wherever she went. It was something she had never experienced before.

Maybe it was fear. Maybe it was pain.

I don’t know how I’m feeling either, Mum.

How’s your nose?

It’s healed basically. No more nosebleeds at random intervals.

You didn’t tell me about the nosebleeds.

I didn’t tell anyone about the nosebleeds, Mum.

Why not?

I don’t need people to worry about me, to feel for me, to make their times and schedules molded to fit me. Good intentions or not, I don’t need charity hand outs.

Then do we stop paying your rent?

Well, I mean you could. I wouldn’t stop you from stopping paying my rent, but the difference is that you giving me money is to keep me at the top of the school, to make myself the best I can be.

How badly would your studies be impacted if we stopped paying your bills?

Probably massively. Don’t worry, mum. It’s a two-year program and then I can get my own job and make enough money. I’ll get you a little house on a hill and you can be the Queen of the Hill.

That’s nice of you honey. We should both try to sleep if we’re trying ot catch the trial today.

Goodnight, Mum.

they were all still glued to the game, when Barbara chose she would  take the risk and ask Y/N about the meeting.

“So, how was it?” she asked, innocently.

“How much time do you have?”

“We have pretty much all night, the others can go at this till the trial tomorrow,” she joked.

“I mean, challenge accepted,” Y/N laughed, “So, we pull up to the county jail, right. I wave off Bruce, no big deal, everything was going to plan, which should have honestly been my first sign that things were going to be fucked, but I digress,” she paused, “I walk in, give the lady my ID and she looks at m funny, like she knew that I had been drinking underage in that moment and was disappointed in me, as she should be.”

She fiddled with her hands, “So they lead me to the back and before they do they tell me the usual, I can’t touch any of them and my conversation with them will be recorded, then they let me in. I greet everyone like the good friend I am but tensions are high and everyone’s on edge, which is understandable, but.”

Jason perked up when she put emphasis on but, knowing the story was about to get real, really quickly.

“My friend Justine, she called me to get me there, she starts going at me about how this is my fault for being an ex-alcoholic and drinking, which, yes, i should not have been drinking. But she lead me to the bar,” she paused, “She starts blaming me for how I almost got raped and putting them all in there, whatever,” she paused again, “I basically told her that if she wanted my help she was going to have to behave and be nice to me, to which, she apologized,” she paused.

“You didn’t accept that apology, right?” Stephanie asked.

“God, no. I said I’d consider forgiving her. Everyone else was fine though. anyway, I have to call their parents and get them in contact with a lawyer soon.”

“You’re still doing that even after that whore victim-shamed you?” Jason said, he seemed in awe that Y/N would be so kind to someone who did her so wrong.

“Jay, I’m borderline legally obligated to do that,” Y/N said, “I wouldn’t do it if she hadn’t saved me.”

“I think you still shouldn’t do it,” Damien said.

“And you seem very vengeful, Damien. But that’s only sometimes me.”

“Look, thou shalt not sin or whatever, love thy neighbor or whatever, but that girl wronged you in that conversation, do you really owe it to her to call her parents?” Tim asked.

“You know, for a family who’s known for being the ‘Nice Billionaires’ you all tend to really hate my choices,” she joked.

“Don’t make dumb ones, and we wouldn’t judge,” Tim retorted.

”Okay, smartass. I hope you go bankrupt.”

-------------------------------------------

Waking up next to Jason on the day of her attacker’s trial was something to her. The comforting aura of the room seemed to be stripped away because the sun hadn’t risen, the blinds didn’t need to be closed, and Jason wasn’t cuddled up next to her.

She would find him already dressed, pacing back and forth in his room. For her 3 back-to-back days of being in Jason’s house without going home, she never saw him this actively distressed about anything. But given the situation they found themselves in, it was understandable.

Someone actively threatened her life for an attempt at a ransom on her name, because she was now tied to Bruce Wayne, and Bruce had money. Of course, for the Wayne household, the kids and Bruce were used to ransom attempts on themselves, with some of them actually being taken hostage before, but Y/N wasn’t.

She defended herself, and since it was, thankfully, caught on camera unlike the attack on her attempted-rapist, she didn’t have to appear in court, she didn’t even need to video her side of the story, she wrote it in a letter and sent it to the District Attorney's office. The District Attorney, being the prosecutor, was obligated to give her statement to the defense, so she was curious as to how her words would be spun to fit their narrative.

Jason and Y/N were both in the criminal psychology major at their college, they both knew what they were in store for, and they both had the ability to tear the defendant into pieces the minute he spoke. If, he spoke, that is.

Jason didn’t seem to notice that she was awake. He was really lost in his own thoughts, his own concerns. He stopped pacing though, and he was just staring at his laptop, possibly zoned out from the situation.

She got up as quietly as she could and went to hug him from, she could hear him let out a little chuckle, so she greeted him, “Good morning, Jay.”

“I thought you were still sleeping,” he turned to look at her.

“I was, but I woke up, that’s how that works,” she joked.

“That’s insane I would have never thought people wake up after they sleep,” he said with heavy sarcasm, “The more you know.”

“Insane, I know,” she said, “I still don’t even have clothes here,” she laughed, “I really need to go home eventually.”

“No you don’t, what?” he said with more sarcasm, “You can just wear my clothes, baby.”

“I don’t think they’ll fit, Jay, I think you forget you are literally massive.”

He laughed, “Listen, being massive is not my fault.”

“How is it not your fault?”

“Don’t ask questions.”

“I am asking questions, I am curious now.”

“Shhh,” he joked, “No need to worry.”

“Billionaire, playboy, philanthropist and he’s got rippling abs? But zero cause for concern? Where do you even find the time?”

“Well, when you’re not over it’s during my downtime.”

“Can’t believe you won’t work out in front of me,” she laughed, “That’s just rude.”

“You already have free entertainment here,” he joked.

----------------------------------------------

Somehow she found clothes that somewhat fit her so she could go downstairs and watch the start of the trial. She didn’t know if she could sit through the entire trial, she was victim. No one expected her to be able to sit through the entire thing. It was a lot different from studying trials to actually being a part of the trial.

There was more of an all-seeing-eye presence in the living room of the Wayne Manor that morning before the trial began. The sounds of reporters through the television while everyone sat and waited for it to begin, it was not something many would enjoy.

There would be an ending to this story, to this court case, whether it was a month from that moment on that couch or a year from that moment. There would be justice for that bullshit. 

Part of her didn’t even want the trial. She wanted the man to take a plea deal. She didn’t want to be in the spotlight when murders were happening. But no one would let it go, a beautiful woman being hurt in an attack against her? It was the kind of stuff that the news sources wanted, craved, from every court case.

And that was the thing about it. She didn’t want to be the tabloids newest escapade into being more and more corrupt, broken, deceitful. 

She looked to the television as Jason put his arm around her, bracing for any sort of reaction to the news. No one really knew how she was going to react. And then it started.

Cameras were being let into the courtroom and panning over to him. The man who had attacked her in the alleyway. She subconsciously brought her hand up to her nose and felt it. For a moment, it was like she was back in that alleyway, head-butting that man and then running to the Manor. But she wasn’t there and she knew that, trying to snap herself out o that state brought nothing, though. It took the Judge having to shush the entirety of the courtroom to get her attention back to the real world.

The Judge would introduce himself to the press, but mainly to the court, and then request opening statement. Or at least, Y/N thought that was what he was doing. She didn’t really know what was going on, something pulled her away from the court trial she was witnessing for the man who attacked her.

To the outside, the people surveying her to make sure she was okay, her eyes seemed to glaze over and she seemed to just disconnect from the situation. But they didn’t realize she had disconnected. She just looked to be in thought.

She saw colours fade in and out of her sight, people showing up in front of her, him showing up in her sights, the images dancing in her mind as if she was there in that courtroom.

The time began to slur in her mind. Hours became minutes to her. And before she knew it, court had ceased fro the day. She was snapped out of it by Jason letting her go. He offered to drive her home, she agreed.

-----------------------------------

“Y/N?” Jason asked while they were in the car.

“Uh huh?”

“Are you alright?”

“Good question,” she answered, flatly.

“Are you?” he asked, seeming more concerned.

“Probably not.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Uh-uh.”

“Is that a no?”

“Mhm.”

He reached to place a hand on her thigh, attempting to comfort her, “That’s okay,” he said, “You don’t need to talk about it.”

“Mhm.”

He sighed, “I’ve decided something,” he said, “I’m going to spend the night at yours, just to make sure you’re okay.”

“Okay.”

“You still don’t have to talk about it.”

“I know.”

“Okay, here,” he smiled, “Have I told you the full story about the time that we did chair-racing in the halls of Wayne Manor?” he asked.

“No, you haven’t.”

“Well, what happened was we ended up flying down the halls at like 4 in the morning, right? Well,” he paused, “Dick used to be an acrobat, so when he almost went flying off the stairs, he actually caught himself on a handstand on the rails. Chair still went flying,” he said.

She smiled a little bit. He knew he was doing something right.

“We ended up breaking a vase. Bruce was okay with it because it wasn’t his parents, but Alfred was pissed at us for it. Grounded us all for weeks about it.”

“As he should.”

“Look at me go, getting multiple word answers out of you, and I even got you to crack a smile,” he laughed and grabbed her hand to hold it, “I’m just so good at this boyfriend thing.”

She smiled again. The smiles wouldn’t last for long, but they did happen. He knew the trial was traumatic for her. He could tell. Just from the way she drooped after the trial ended, she could normally not shut up when it came to Jason, so this was out of character.

When they got to her house, he would walk, basically lead her, to her house. She was so far disconnected from everything, that he even just let her rest in her bed with his clothes on and her shoes still on, because she wasn’t functioning. 

He would crawl into bed with her and let her rest her head on his chest. 

[mickstart]

hi bestie, I’m honestly still in shock and disassociated with reality after what happened to lewis and I’m so scared to go on social media and look at news articles cause they’ll be going off about how lewis’ dominance is finally ending and whatnot, so I kinda wanted to rant and maybe get reassurance?? that the king is still rising and he’ll only come back stronger cause as nico said, lewis is scarier when he’s hunting from behind??

what are your thoughts on this, are we seeing a red bull resurgence or is lewis only getting stronger and more able as a driver? I’ve only recently got into f1 but I’ve known lewis for years and he’s only gotten more impressive, especially with how committed he is for the environment and equality. will France see the return of the king?? will we see lewis coming back to take the crown like he did in 2018 I think it was? When he wasn’t even leading until halfway through the season?

so sorry for the massive rant, I just wanted to get this off my chest and get some assurance, especially with how wrecked and heartbroken lewis looked yesterday...

;Hey nothing to be sorry for bestie I completely understand feeling a little Out Of It from this! I honestly haven't been able to look at post race stuff with Lewis bc the way he sounded on the radio is just haunting me. Putting this under a cut because I also needed to do a massive rant about how good Lewis is.

First of all: for sure red bull have massively improved and are the best car this year. The regulations specifically target Merc and no amount of Sky trying to downplay how much better the red bull is magically gives Merc the better car again. Valtteri is not struggling that badly with the car because he's suddenly forgotten how to drive, it is clearly a hard car to drive. Realistically, it was only a matter of time before Max and red bull led the championship at some point this year.

But honestly? In Bahrain the scenario we're in now was so far beyond my best case scenario. I truly expected max to lead the championship from bahrain and be running away with it now whilst lewis and merc tried to sort out their problems. The fact that Lewis led the championship - for MULTIPLE races - is like.... it's insane to me. Going into this season I LIKED Lewis as a person sure, but I wouldn't have said he was one of my top 3 drivers. But every single race this season he's been more impressive. His talent, how hard he works, his mentality as a competitor, it has all just been amazing to watch. It keeps hitting me that this is a seven time world champion in his strongest era. I see absolutely zero loss in Lewis' skill, if anything I think he's either still sitting on his peak or still rising.

I know it sucks right now because Monaco and Baku back to back have been terrible races for Lewis, but recency bias is a huge problem in F1 and we need to look at it in context that this feels worse BECAUSE of monaco. Neither tracks suited the W12 and in Monaco Mercedes were an absolute disaster, as poor Valtteri proves. In Baku Lewis accidentally hit one button and the restart went to hell, other than that he was flawless all race and once again got fucked by a bad mercedes pit stop. Also, Mercedes struggle with softer tyres and I think we all suspect the tyres at Baku were too soft for EVERYONE let alone a team that struggles with the softs.

Two bad calls that are entirely on mercedes, and one accidental button press. When you look at it like that absolutely nothing damns Lewis or suggests he's losing it. Quite the opposite actually. It's just unfortunate they happened one after the other.

So Mercedes need to get their shit together - they can do that - but Lewis? Lewis has been dragging these clowns to glory. Lewis has been the apex predator. This season so far has only proven his skill and regardless of what happens with the championship I think that in 5 years time - with hindsight and such - people are going to look back at this year and say that THIS is the year to watch to see an F1 legend at his peak. Lewis has pulled off miracles this year. Two bad races in a row - at tracks where he has to work the car to its absolute limits - don't diminish that.

So yeah, I think that in France Lewis is going to be back at it again. As you said, Lewis always vibes better with the tracks after mid season and at France Red Bull will lose the flexi-wing advantage. I'm not guaranteeing everything will be perfect and rosy from France onward. This is going to be a tight season, and throughout the year we're going to see this pattern of red bull and mercedes trading bad days and good days and tracks that suit either car. Be prepared for that and remember the big picture. But am I worried that Baku means it's 'over' and Lewis is going to get eaten up by Red Bull? Absolutely not.

This sport is made up on hundredths of seconds. We see singular moments where one thing going wrong reshapes the entire narrative. We live in the moment because you have to live in the moment in F1. Sometimes we need to take a step back and see the bigger picture. Lewis was pushing the car to its limits, he lost positions solely because of the team's bad pit timing, and there were tyres blowing up around him with no warning which is a problem that's haunted him before. The pressure on him was immense, and STILL it wasn't really a mental mistake it was a physical one. Not to quote god himself but "Less button?" is a relevant rant today.

I get feeling bad after that race and I'm right there with you I was just sat there in utter shock for the last two laps. But trust me bestie, Monaco and Baku are outliers and should not be counted. Lewis is at his peak and only getting better and I think that Hamilton Resurgence this year is going to be the sexiest it's ever been. You’re feeling out of it BECAUSE lewis making a mistake is so unheard of. Feeling lost and upset when Lewis makes a mistake is itself reassuring proof that Lewis is THAT bitch who is normally rock solid.

The championship is in a holding pattern, neither Max nor Lewis lost or gained anything. Baku might as well have not happened for either of them, so let's follow that example. Strike Baku from your mind, from the record. We are in the same position we were in after Monaco, except we're going to a track that SHOULD suit us more than Baku.

This isn't the first seven time world champion I've defended from the press whilst a red bull driver was leading the championship and mercedes were being clowns, and 2012 taught me how to bite.

TL;DR - Baku means nothing, this is going to be a tight season and there will be days like this, but Lewis is operating at his peak and whatever bad takes the press have this doesn't change that. Baku is over, it's time for France.

[thelastspeecher]

Egg Stan Origins

In my notes earlier today, I saw that someone had liked one of my Egg Stan ficlets, and I decided to reread said ficlet.  And then before I knew it, I was writing stuff for the Egg Stan AU, because I can’t control myself.  So here, have...whatever this is.

——————————————————————————————

              Ford slowly drifted back to wakefulness.  As he opened his eyes, a fish darted across his field of vision.

              Shit!  I’m underwater!  Panicking, Ford began to swim for the surface, before realizing that he wasn’t drowning.  He let himself sink back to the ocean floor.  Why can I breathe underwater?  He held out his hands to inspect them.  His mouth went dry.  Thin, red webbing stretched between his twelve fingers.  He looked down at his legs.  Or rather, where his legs used to be.  In their place was a large, extravagant tail with golden scales and red fins.

              “Fuck,” he whispered.  He ran a hand through his hair.

              I’m- I’m a merman?  How did that happen?  He racked his brain, desperate for answers.  The creature!  The last thing he remembered was being on the ship, with a massive sea serpent bearing down upon them.  When the serpent opened its mouth to spray venom at him, Stan had jumped in front of him to act as a shield.  Stanley!

              “Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Ford muttered, frantically looking around for his twin.  There weren’t any other mermen in the vicinity.

              Maybe he avoided this fate?  Doubtful.  Ford’s eyes landed on what looked like a large fish egg, partially buried in the sand. He swam over, rendered clumsy by his new tail, and gently lifted the egg from the sand.  The egg was red but transparent, allowing him to see the very young mer curled up within.  Is this- is this Stan?

              “No.  That’s not possible.”  Ford spoke aloud in an attempt to convince himself.  The mer in the egg suddenly twisted around, revealing its face.  Ford’s heart plummeted.  The mer had a face he recognized well.  No one outside their family had that large, ruddy nose.  “Stanley…”  Ford held the egg close to his chest, panic rising.

              Stan’s been turned into a mer child still in utero. I’m fully grown, but a merman. What am I supposed to do? Suddenly, his ears picked up the sound of voices in the distance.  He swallowed nervously.  I’m not one to typically ask for help, but I don’t really have a choice, do I? Ford swam towards the voices.  As he got closer, he saw the source – a young merman and mermaid, probably related, judging by their similar features.

              “Excuse me,” Ford called.  The merman and mermaid changed course, swimming over to him.  “I- I need some help.”

              “Why aren’t ya speakin’ Mermish?” the merman asked in thickly accented English.  His tail was a burnt orange, contrasting with his dark hair.

              “I wasn’t aware that merfolk had their own language,” Ford said.  The merman and mermaid looked doubtfully at each other.  “I- I’m human, you see, and-”

              “Uh, if you were a former human, you’d have a belly button,” said the merman, sounding suspicious.  Ford looked down.  His jaw dropped.

              “What the-”  He stared at the completely smooth skin where his belly button had previously been located.  “I don’t- I don’t know how that happened.”

              “Who’s this lil feller?” the mermaid cooed, peering at the egg Stan was in.  Her accent was just as thick as the merman’s.  She and the merman had the same large nose, but her hair was caramel-colored, matching her pale yellow tail.

              “My twin brother.  What happened to make me like this, it- somehow it affected him more severely and-”

              “What’s a twin?” the merman asked.

              “A sibling born at the same time as you.”

              “Yer claimin’ this cutie is from the same clutch you hatched from?” the mermaid asked.

              “Yes?  No? Look, I don’t understand your mer terminology, I’m human!” Ford burst out.  The merman and mermaid exchanged a concerned look.

              “It’s okay,” the mermaid said soothingly.  She held out her hands.  “I can take yer brother so’s ya can swim better.”

              “No!”  Ford held Stan’s egg even tighter.  Stan swirled around in the egg.  Alarm flashed in the mermaid’s eyes.

              “Okay, okay,” she said.  “I won’t take ‘im.  But I think that it might be best if ya come with us to our house, at least fer the night. It’ll get dark soon.  The guppy eels come out when the light fades.”

              “G-guppy eels?” Ford stammered.

              “They eat eggs ‘n guppies,” the merman said. Ford’s heart leapt into his throat. “Are ya goin’ to come with us, stranger?”  Ford swallowed.

              “I don’t really have any other choice,” he mumbled.  The merman patted him on the back.

              “That’s the spirit.  Don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of room fer the both of ya.”

-----

              By the time Ford and the merfolk arrived at their destination, a large underwater cliff face, he was exhausted.  Not just physically, though the swim had been more taxing than he expected.  He was also mentally weary from the immense amount of information he’d learned from the merfolk.  Apparently, humans did turn into mers on rare occasions, but when they did, they kept their belly buttons.  In addition, mer eggs were laid in massive clutches and kept in something called a “guppy basket”.  His hosts had assured him that they had a guppy basket where Stan could go.

              But he’s not leaving my sight.  The merman, whose name was Lute, looked at Ford with some amusement.

              “Yer a bit out of shape, ain’t ya?” he asked. The mermaid, who was named Angie, punched him.

              “Be nice,” she chided.  Ford’s initial assessment of the two being related was correct; they were siblings.

              Not just siblings.  Clutch-mates.  From what Lute and Angie had told him, clutch-mate seemed to be the closest mer analog to a twin.  Clutch-mates were siblings that hatched from the same clutch of eggs, though they sometimes hatched days apart.  

              “I’ll go alert the folks we’ve got a guest,” Lute said.  He opened a door into the cliff that Ford hadn’t seen and ducked inside.  Ford looked askance at Angie.

              “It’s an optical illusion thing,” she said with a shrug.  “Unless ya know where the entrance is, ya can’t find it.”  Of the two siblings, she seemed the kinder and gentler, taking what Ford said at face value.  Unlike her brother.

              Though she could just be humoring me.  I’m fairly certain they think I’m having some sort of nervous breakdown.  Angie smiled at Ford, then opened the door.  I’ll take humoring me over mocking me.

              “C’mon on in,” she said.  Ford reluctantly swam inside.  He was in a pleasantly homey living room that, if it weren’t underwater, could be mistaken for belonging to a human family.  Potted plants lazily swayed from small currents.  A middle-aged merman and mermaid sat on a couch, speaking with Lute.

              Presumably, these are Angie and Lute’s parents. One of the many things he’d been told during the swim was that merfolk lived with their parents until they had a mate, after which they would find their own place to live.  As unmated merfolk, Angie and Lute had yet to move out. Lute was a carbon copy of his father, with the exception of his tail color; his father’s tail was blue.  Angie looked exactly like her mother, down to her tail color, but had her father’s large nose.

              “This must be the poor young man you found,” said their mother, catching sight of Ford.  She got up from the couch and swam over to him.  “Hmm…”  She looked him up and down.  “What’s your name, son?”

              “S-Stanford Pines.”

              “That’s not a mer surname,” the mother commented idly, still looking at Ford with a thoughtful gaze.  “But it is a human one.”  She smiled. “Let me introduce myself.  My name is Sally MerGucket, but if ya like, ya can call me Mrs. MerGucket.”

              “Mrs. MerGucket,” Ford mumbled.  Mrs. MerGucket nodded.

              “My mate Mearl is on the couch.”  Mr. MerGucket smiled warmly at Ford.  “It looks like you could use a guppy basket fer that egg.”

              “No, he’s going to stay with me,” Ford said firmly.

              “Of course he will,” Mrs. MerGucket said, sounding surprised.  “The basket will go in the same room ya sleep in.”

              “…Oh.”

              “Come with me, dear.  I’ll show you to yer room fer the night.”  Mrs. MerGucket took Ford’s hand and led him out of the living room, down a hall, and into what was clearly a guest bedroom of sorts.  Under normal circumstances, Ford would ask a million questions about the furniture in the room, particularly the bed, with a frame made of what appeared to be living coral.

              I don’t feel much like asking questions right now, though.  Ford looked down at Stan’s egg.  Through the membrane, he could see Stan sucking his thumb.  Mom always hated when he did that.

              “Stanford.”  Ford looked up.  Mrs. MerGucket sat on the edge of the bed.  She patted the bed.  “Sit with me.”  Reluctantly, Ford swam over and sat next to her.  “May I?”  Mrs. MerGucket held out her hands.  Ford shook his head, keeping Stan close.  “That’s quite all right.”

              “You don’t believe me, do you?” Ford asked quietly. “That I used to be human.  Your children certainly don’t.”

              “Yes, they’re convinced that ya hit yer head,” Mrs. MerGucket said.  “They were worried fer yer health, as well as the health of the egg, since a confused guardian ain’t a safe one.”

              “You’re dodging the question.”

              “I didn’t mean to.”  Mrs. MerGucket sighed.  “Stanford, I believe ya.”  Ford’s head whipped up.  He stared at her.  “I suspect my children would, too, if they weren’t used to human behaviors.”  Ford frowned.

              “What do you mean?” he asked.  Mrs. MerGucket gestured to her torso.  Ford’s eyes widened.  Unlike her mate and children, Mrs. MerGucket had a belly button.  “You’re…”

              “Yes.  I used to be human.  Since I helped to raise my children, they don’t realize yer behaviors ‘n tendencies ‘re human through ‘n through.  But I’ve spent enough time among merfolk to tell ya used to be human, too.”  Mrs. MerGucket looked at Ford thoughtfully.  “Well.  Either that, or ya were raised by humans.  But I suspect you’d be a tad more traumatized, were that the case.”

              “I’m feeling fairly traumatized at the moment,” Ford mumbled.  Mrs. MerGucket put her hand on his shoulder.

              “Son, you can stay here as long as ya like, okay?”

              “I just want things to be the way they were yesterday,” Ford whispered.

              “I understand.  Unfortunately, I ain’t sure whether there’s a way to do that.  But we’ll do our best to help.  Once we hear yer story from ya, rather than from Lute, we’ll have a better idea of what happened to ya.  But that can wait until you’ve had some rest.  You ‘n that lil egg have been through a lot today.”

              “Yes,” Ford said, his voice breaking.  “We have.”

              “I’ll bring ya the guppy basket to put the egg in, okay?  And once that’s done, ya can get some sleep.”  Ford nodded woodenly.  Mrs. MerGucket left the room.

              “Stanley,” Ford whispered helplessly to the egg that had been his brother.  “What- what are we going to do?”  Stan offered no answers, merely curling up tightly within his egg.

-----

              Stan’s egg rocked back and forth within the guppy basket.

              “Be patient,” Ford chided as he combed his hair. He’d learned the hard way that if he didn’t comb regularly, small crustaceans would take up residence in his thick curls.  After spending a few months with the MerGuckets, he felt more or less settled as a merman.

              At the very least, I feel less like a fish out of water.  Ford managed a small smile at the almost pun.  Every day, he learned more about merfolk and mer society from the MerGuckets.  They had yet to determine what sea creature had transformed him and Stan, however, and as a result, were no closer to reversing the process.  I suspect Mrs. MerGucket was right.  What happened to us can’t be remedied.  His good mood evaporated.  Stanley and I are stuck.  Said stuck egg abruptly rolled in the basket.

              “I told you to calm down,” Ford said, swimming over.  He wasn’t sure how much Stan was aware of in the egg, nor how much he would recall when hatched, but couldn’t shake the habit of talking to the egg like nothing had changed.  Like Stan was still his stubborn, adult self.  “I’ll put you in the sling in a moment.”  The egg rolled again.  “Fine!” Ford grabbed the egg sling off his dresser and put it on.  While it was impossible to carry an entire clutch in an egg sling, merfolk used them to keep close eggs they were concerned about.

              Luckily, I only have one egg, so transporting the full clutch isn’t an issue.  Ford froze. No.  Did I just- did I just think of Stan as being my child?

              “Everything all right in here?” a voice asked.  Ford looked over his shoulder.  Fiddleford treaded water in the doorway, smiling at him. A few days after Ford came to the MerGucket home, Fiddleford, Angie and Lute’s older brother, had returned home from an internship.  Very quickly, Fiddleford had become Ford’s favorite of the MerGucket children. Angie was kind and quite brilliant, but rambunctious in a way that reminded Ford of Stan and was thus painful to be around for long.  Lute was abrasive and curt, and still didn’t seem convinced Ford was telling the truth.

              Fiddleford, however, was gentle and warm, with an intellect to rival Ford’s.  The fact that Fiddleford was obsessed with human culture, and thus fascinated by Ford’s stories, only served to deepen their connection.

              “Yes, everything’s quite all right,” Ford said. He carefully placed Stan’s egg in the sling.  “Stan’s just being difficult this morning.”  Fiddleford swam over, frowning.

              “He’s just an egg.  How could he be difficult?”

              “Oh, he’s been moving around a lot.”

              “He…”  Fiddleford’s eyes widened.  “How long has this been goin’ on?”

              “A couple of days.  Why?”

              “Stanford, eggs start movin’ when they’re gettin’ ready to hatch,” Fiddleford said gently.  Ford’s mouth dropped open.  “I reckon ya might want to put the egg back in the basket.”  Numb, Ford did as he was told, removing Stan’s egg from the sling and gently setting it inside the guppy basket.  The egg began to rock and roll in earnest.  Finally, a tiny hand punched through the egg’s membrane.

              “He’s…” Ford whispered.  His voice failed him as he watched a newborn mer crawl through the hole.  “He’s…”

              “Quite the looker,” Fiddleford said quietly. The newborn mer, with fins and scales a drab green color, scrunched up his face and began to cry.

              “What- what do I-” Ford asked desperately. Fiddleford scooped up the newborn mer and gently placed him in the egg sling Ford still wore.

              “Newborn guppies like to be held,” Fiddleford said.

              Right.  Mer children are referred to as guppies.  And they don’t get their mature scale and fin colors until adolescence.  Ford stared down at the guppy curled up in the sling.  He was the spitting image of old family pictures of Stan.  Which makes sense, given that he is Stan.  Ford hesitantly stroked the guppy’s cheek. The guppy leaned into the movement with a soft crooning sound.  …Is he?

              “Is somethin’ wrong?” Fiddleford asked hesitantly.

              “I…”  Ford swam over to his bed and sat down.  Fiddleford followed, sitting next to him.  “I think that some part of me expected the Stan I knew to hatch from the egg. That he would be himself, with all his memories and quirks, but…a child.”  His voice began to quiver.  “That obviously isn’t the case.  He’s my brother, but not- not really.  Despite my best attempts, I’ve lost him.”

              “Don’t think of it that way,” Fiddleford said. He placed his hand on Ford’s shoulder. “Think of it as him gettin’ a fresh start.  Ya told me how yer pa wasn’t kind.”

              “No, he wasn’t.”

              “Well then, this is a chance fer him to get the kind of father he didn’t get the first time,” Fiddleford said gently. Ford swallowed.

              “…Yes.  I- I suppose you’re right.”  He removed the guppy from the sling to nestle in his arms.  The guppy looked up at him with curious brown eyes.  Ford carefully removed stray bits of egg from the guppy’s thick, brown curls.  “Hello.” The guppy cocked his head, interested. Ford held him close.  “It’s good-” he started.  His voice gave out.  He took a deep breath and tried again.  “It’s good to see you again, Stanley.”

[anonymous0writer]

Not Together Anymore (Part 3)

This will be the last part of Not Together Anymore

Author: @anonymous0writer

Summary: The break up hurt. It hurt a lot. So why is he jumping in to save you?

Warnings: More angst. :) Self deprecating thoughts?? Swearing (the usual) And drumroll.... smutty flashbacks. 

Tags: @lindzaylove @alwayshopelesss @styles-xoxo @lovelymaybankk @imagines-and-preferences1216 @rretrophilee @dpaccione @tangledinsparkles @theblankestofstares @heimdoodle @outofstyles13 @nostalthicc @tangledinsparkles @theblankestofstares @heimdoodle​ @outofstyles13​ @teamnick​ @downbytheouterbanks​ @spookysquishsworld​ @fernweh-fangirl​ @ameeraaa21 @hellahollands​ @blueflame2778 @thrown-off-her-rhythm​

A/N: I’m sorry if I didn’t tag everyone. It got complicated and it was hard to keep track of! And I’m sorry this was so delayed, I feel horrible! 

Also, I know the writing is shitty!! I’m sorry.

 (The passages in italics are flash backs.)

This: ~ means point of view change. 

You scrubbed the counter, arms aching. You’d been working all day. Dealing with customers and fussy orders, busing tables, cleaning the counters, helping cooking. They needed a lot of help today, but didn’t have enough workers so you were running around trying to be two places at once. The Wreck was hella busy during the summer. Especially on Sundays in the afternoon. Something about Kooks and their massive lunches after days lounging by the pool and the golf course. 

You stood straight, sighing. It was a long day. You’d been called in a couple hours earlier than when your actual shift started, and you’d been working overtime. But your boss promised to pay for the extra hours. You spotted another dirty spot on the counter, glaring at it. Shit, the counter kept getting dirty. You swear you just cleaned that spot. You heave a big sigh. God, you haven’t been this tired since..

You moaned, tilting your head to the side so he had more access. You knew no amount of makeup or turtlenecks would cover the hickeys over your body the next morning. He loved putting them on you and he loved you fussing over the marks. He loved when you got flustered when trying to explain why there was a hickey on your stomach, on the hem line of your bikini bottoms. That was hard to excuse for. In fact, Kie rolled her eyes and Pope muttered that he didn’t want to know and John B. told your boyfriend how kinky and weird he was. 

But you loved it. Your eyes fluttered closed, as JJ pressed open mouth kisses to the sensitive spot on your neck, adding to the ever growing collection of hickeys. You were seated on his lap, his hands gripped your hips and your legs straddling him. An ache grew between your legs, causing you to move them slowly against his groin. JJ grunted, stopping his assault on your neck. 

His lust blown blue eyes peered up at you. You eased off the grinding, making your boyfriend make a sad face. He re situated you so you were seated on his thigh. You knew what he wanted, so you rode harder on his thigh, needing friction. JJ’s fingertips tugged at the bottom of your shirt, asking to take it off. You raised your arms, allowing him to slid the material off, fingers darting straight for the clasp of your bra. It fell away, revealing a small peek of your breasts. JJ threw the material to the floor, and started to worship your breasts. Kissing them, sucking on them. Anything had you moaning a little louder and then riding a little harder. He loved making you beg for it. 

And soon enough, you did. You pressed your lips to his cheek, “JJ, please?”

His mouth had stopped on your chest, and his hands had started to rub between your thighs. You bit back a moan. “What baby?”

“I need you,” You whispered, cupping his face and looking into his eyes. You could tell he wanted release as much as you. “Show me how much you love me.”

You knew that’d make him fuck you, so you said it. JJ flipped you over, pressing you against the bed. He met your mouth, hungry and desperate. It was hot and messy. You tangled your hands in his hair, wrapping your legs tightly over his waist. JJ pulled back, 

“You won’t be able to walk tomorrow.”

You giggled, greedy for it. “Good,” You breathed, pulling him back down for another kiss. 

You rubbed your eyes. God, you needed to stop this- whatever this was. Maybe it was a medical thing. Constantly reliving memories? Check. Can’t sleep? Check. Still in love with your ex? Check. 

You checked the clock on the wall. You still had a few hours of work. You sighed, putting away the cleaning supplies and went to ask if the kitchen needed your help. 

You step inside the room, the smells of fresh food ( and amazing food) filling your nose. You grin, 

“Kie?” You call, watching as your curly haired best friend appears around one of stoves. 

“Hey,” 

“Need any help?” You ask. 

Kie nods, “Actually, I have to go to the bathroom, wanna take over for me?” 

“Sure.” You offer and take her spot stirring the soup. 

After a minute, Kie comes back. “Y/N?” She calls, making you glance up from your pot of very good smelling soup. You put the ladle down. 

“Yep?”

You walk over to her. Kie sighs and gestures to the main part of the Wreck. “You have someone here to see you.”

You frown. Who’s coming to see you? When your working?

~

I run my hands through my hair as she appears through the kitchen door. She stops, eye brows raising slightly. I swallow. 

“JJ? What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk.” I answer, moving closer to the counter. Y/N nods slightly, taking a rag from under the counter. She starts to wipe down the counter. 

I don’t really know what I’m supposed to say. That I’m sorry again? That I want to get another chance to love her?

“Y/N?” I ask, trying to get her to look at me. 

She glances up. “JJ I’m at work,” She says, biting her lip. 

“I know. But-” I sigh. God I don’t even know what to do. 

She looks up and sighs. Her hands go to her waist, undoing the ties at her apron. She sets her things down and meets me on the other side of the counter. Walking past me, she takes my shirt in her hand and tugs me to the patio. 

She looks up at me, her eyes bright. 

“Where did we leave things yesterday?” I ask. 

She opens her mouth and then shuts it. She doesn’t know what to say either. I watch as the fading light off the ocean lights up her face. Her eyelashes becoming pale, her eyes glowing. She looks perfect. 

“What are we?” I ask again. 

Y/N sighs. “I don’t know. I-” She gives up. 

“I know what I did. And it hurt you- I know that. But I don’t want to let you go again.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “I don’t want to be just friends.”

~

You look up, searching his pale eyes. He’s never talked like this. Usually he knows what he wants to say, but he’s as clueless as you. JJ licks his lips nervously. I don’t want to be just friends.

You don’t either. So why is it so hard to just say that? Because you’re own fears and thoughts about his feelings towards you. Because you fear you aren’t good enough, and he’ll just leave you again. 

“JJ,” You breath. 

He takes in a shaky breath. He thinks your going to reject him. 

“JJ,” You start over. “I want to go back. I do. But-” You take a deep breath. “You need to tell me what I did wrong- so I can fix it.” 

His brows furrow. “What?” He doesn’t even register your earlier words. The boy in front of you stares at you, wide eyed. 

“Y/N, what do you mean ‘what you did wrong’?” His words are almost forceful. And then he gets it. He knows that you blame yourself for at least a bit of the break up. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” 

You look down at your feet. It’s going to take a long time before you believe that. He touches your shoulder, making you look up at the sudden contact. 

“Baby, you didn’t do anything. It was all me.” His blue eyes are soft. You fall for them like you used to. God, his eyes are your weakness. You give into them all the time. You try to hide your tears. 

But JJ knows you too well. He pulls you close, and you bury your head in his chest. You cry. For all the hurt you’ve felt in the past month. And the horrible memory of him letting you go. And for all the thoughts of thinking it was your fault. You feel better now that he told you it was him, but the seed had already been planted. It’ll take a while before you fully believe him.

He rubs your back, hands making small circles into the tight muscles. He whispers reassurance into your hair, holding on tight. You sniffle and pull back to look at him. Because it he really wants you to feel better, he’ll kiss you. You stare at him with teary eyes. 

JJ leans down slowly, allowing you time to pull away. But you don’t, instead meeting his fragile kiss. The kiss holds everything. Every word left unsaid. Every feeling that wasn’t expressed. Every doubt and regret. Most most importantly, it reveals the love still burning. The love that was never lost, just buried. 

JJ’s hands reach up to cup your face gently and his thumbs wipe away the rest of your tears and you pull away. He smiles softly, and you return it, mind still reeling from the kiss. 

“JJ, I never stopped loving you.” You whisper. 

That makes him grin wildly, a smile of pure happiness etched into his features. His hands still cup your face and he leans his forehead on yours. 

“Me neither.” 

His words make your heart mend a little more. “Can we go back?” You ask softly. “I don’t want to let go of this.” 

“I don’t either.” JJ presses another kiss to your lips, this one more confident than the last. “I never wanted to let you go, so if you let, I will never do it again.” 

You laugh, desperately tugging away from the needy arms of your boyfriend. You sigh, giving up and looking him in the eye. His blue ones shine brightly. 

“J, let me go.” 

“No.” He answers simply, like a child. You roll your eyes. 

“Why not?” You ask, knowing that John B.’s annoyed that your taking so long and Pope and Kie are rolling their eyes at JJ’s clinginess. He’d been like this for the past couple of days and it might’ve been cute the first day, but now it was just annoying everyone. Including you.

You looked at John B. “It’s alright, just go ahead without me. I’ll be there in a second.” When John gives you a skeptical look, you nod. “Promise. I’ll be right there.”

“Alright.” He says, and turns away, walking out of Chateau, Pope and Kie at his heels. 

You turn back to the blonde and frown. “JJ? Please let me go?”

“I don’t want to,” He mutters as he presses another kiss to your neck. 

“Why?” You repeat as you play with his hair. You sigh, frustrated. You want to go fishing with the crew, but JJ refuses. You have no idea why he’s been acting this way. “What’s wrong?”

“I hate letting you go.” 

“JJ, I’m going fishing. I’ll be okay.” You were getting more annoyed the longer his arms stayed looped at your waist. You pushed one arm away. “Let me go.”

“No, because when you leave, and I have to work, he’s always there.” JJ finally lets you go, a half angry frown on his face. But you don’t leave, surprised and confused. 

“What do you mean? Him? Who?”

“Will. He’s always fishing with you. Or surfing. And it’s only when I’m not there and all I hear when you come home is about Will. And I hate it.” He seethes. You blink, eyebrows raised. 

This is about Will? You open your mouth to response, but JJ presses on. He stands, hands running angrily through his hair.

“I hate it because you’re probably gonna leave me for him. It’d make sense.”

“JJ!” You demand. “I’m not going to leave you! Plus,” you reply, standing up to meet him. “He’s always hitting on Kie. Trust me, J, Will doesn’t like me. Even if he did, I’d only want you.” You reach out to touch his cheek, his eyes landing on yours. “I love you, JJ.”

He sighs. “I know. I’m sorry baby.” 

You shake your head, kissing him quickly. “It’s okay. But nothing’s happening. I promise, I only want you.”

He presses his lips to yours in an apology, and finally lets you go join the rest of the crew.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N.” He whispers softly, eyes sad. 

“I know,” You reply, voice just as hushed. 

You missed this. Missed the way he would laugh the loudest at your jokes and his eyes could crinkle and his head would tip back. Missed how his hand would find yours and fiddle with your fingers while you each did your own thing. Or how he’d come up behind you and wrap his arms around you waist and rested his chin on your head. Or how he always whispered “I love you” when he felt like it. Or when you were in the passenger side of the van, and JJ was driving, he’d put his hand on your thigh and his thumb would rub your skin. Or how he’d join you when you randomly sung songs. Or how safe you felt in his arms. Or how there was a perfect spot for you to rest your head on his chest. You missed the way his face would light up when he saw you and he’d pick you up and spin you around. Or how he’d try so hard to make you laugh or smile when you felt down. You also missed the different kisses he gave you. Lazy, half asleep kisses in the morning. Or late night, feverish kisses. Or desperate, needy ones he planted on your lips.

You just missed him. 

And now, you had him back.

[abalonetea]

Just Keep Breathing: Chapter One

I was partnered with @the-dot for the @originalfictionbigbang! Thank you for working with me, Dot! 

Here is the first chapter! I’ve split the first 10k words between four chapters, and will be posting them all in a masterpost in just a moment!

Summary: It’s the height of storm season and everyone in Hi-Banks, Florida is getting ready for the bad weather. It should be a year like any other - but on the tails of a national pandemic, a new disaster strikes. More than one new disasters. So many disasters that Eddie Carver would like to put some of them back, thanks. He’s just a down on his luck guy living in the local trailer park with his boyfriend. He’s not interested in dealing with the revival of an old murder case - which he knows nothing about, thanks -, the storm season of the century, or…zombies?

Yeah. Absolutely not interested in the zombies.

This black-comedy follows the inner workings of a small town as they band together to survive, and the young man - reckless, mean, angry, written off b the big city folk come to look into a cold case - that might hold all of societies survival in his hands.

Forget about society. Eddie’s only interested in keeping his friends alive.

Chapter One – Hi Banks Florida

“ - increased reports of unprecedented aggression all across New York City. This is following in the wake of Mayor Alex Grand’s assault on his wife. These attacks have increased nearly ten fold in the wake of the recent vaccine’s release, prompting many to wonder if the vaccine was released too soon – should more tests have been done? Could this be a side effect of it? We have reached out to the head of the FDA, Doctor - “

The television goes to pure static, a hissing crackle of black and white fuzz. Eddie groans. “Seriously? I was watchin’ that!”

“Guess you ain’t watching it now,” says Carson, draping himself over the back of the couch. He curls an arm around Eddie’s chest, pinning him against the back of the couch. “You should be at work, anyway.”

“Penny don’t got work for me today.”

“Then you should be out working on the truck. I’m sick of walking to the docks.”

Eddie rolls his eyes. He shifts, leaning up and wrapping his own arms around Carson’s neck, tugging until his boyfriend is leaning down enough that Eddie can kiss him. “I can’t fix the truck ‘till we get a part mailed in. Penny let me use the work account.”

“Bullshit,” says Carson. “You just don’t want too.”

“It ain’t bullshit. It’s, uh, truth shit.”

“Wow.” Carson shakes off Eddie’s grip. “You worked hard on that one, huh? Whatever, don’t work on the truck. I’ve got actual work to get too.”

Eddie twists, pulling himself up so he can drape over the back of the couch. “Gonna rain today. Take an extra shirt.”

Carson says, “sure, I’ll put it in the truck so it stays dry. Oh, wait.”

And, okay, so Eddie kind of deserves that one. The truck hasn’t been running for almost a week now. This isn’t the first time that it’s stopped working. Carson bought it straight out of the local junkyard five years back, and it’s pretty much held together with duck tape – literally – and chewing gum – which might be the next step.

Eddie really is waiting on the part to come in.

The problem is that he sort of forgot to order it until yesterday.

Drooping, Eddie makes a disgruntled sound. “I’ll see if I can’t fudge it, okay? Just, I dunno, don’t get hit by lightning. The storm’s supposed to be nasty.”

“Great.” Carson shoves on one boot, then the other. “So we’re going to have no power tonight.”

“I’ll fill the tub.”

“Summer sucks ass.”

“Florida sucks ass,” corrects Eddie.

Carson thinks on it, then bobs his head in agreement. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go with that one.”

“You gonna be home for - “ The television bursts back into being with a crackle of too loud sound. Eddie swears.

The woman on TV reads off, “ - no official links between the two. Gerald Harbrinks has been arrested today for the most bizarre case of armed robbery the county has ever seen, in which he dropped his gun and instead chose to bite the cashier - “

Eddie mutes it. “Sorry. One’a these days we need to get actual cable.”

“Yeah, when toads fly,” says Carson. “You doing dinner?”

Eddie thinks about what they have in the pantry. Not much, but probably enough to throw at least half a meal together. He’s better at cooking and coming up with things than Carson is. “Yeah. You going to be back before dark?”

Carson shrugs. “How should I know? They never tell me anything. I might not even have to stay if it rains.”

“Babe, if it rains, they’re gonna make you stay out of spite, and you know it,” says Eddie, because the guy who runs the docks is kind of an ass.

Carson grunts. “Thanks for the reassurance.”

“No problem.” Eddie shuts the TV off all the way and finally pries himself up off of the couch. “So, dinner, unless we lose power. We’ll have to hit up Red’s. He’s got that grill or whatever.”

He sways his way over to his boyfriend, plasters himself against Carson’s front and schmoozes his way in for a kiss. Carson curls an arm around him for a moment, then makes a face. “Come on, man. I gotta at least get down there before the rain starts or I won’t make shit.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” says Eddie. “Get outta here. Don’t get drowned or nothing.”

* * *

Hi Banks, Florida is the sort of place you’re born into, you slog through, and then you die in. And mostly, the people are okay with that. Why leave a good thing, right? Or maybe it’s more that the people born into Hi Banks just have a hard time getting together the chance to leave.

The trailer park is on the backside of town, filled up with old mobile homes and trailers parked up on cinder blocks. The paths between homes flood any time it rains and Eddie makes a point of sloshing his way through the puddles until the inside of his sneakers are soaked and his stained up jeans are covered in mud. Splash! Slosh! Splat!

The Calloway’s have added a new pick up truck to the collection of cars sitting out front. Eddie would bet it’s like the rest of their vehicles and the engine doesn’t actually roll over. Not that he can say too much on that front, considering his own truck.

If there’s any chance that he can trick the thing into running, he needs another quart of oil and – well, it is his fault that Carson’s going to have to walk home in the rain later, so Eddie figures he’ll pick up a box of swiss rolls while he’s out. Swiss rolls are Carson’s favorite.

Sweets in general are his favorite, but whatever.

So he sloshes his way through the trailer park and out onto the long, main road that cuts through the center of town. If you keep going long enough in one direction, it will take you to the highway. Keep going long enough in the other, you’ll hit the swamps.

There’s just the one commercially owned grocery store in the whole town. The parking lot is mostly empty, which isn’t a surprise considering it’s the middle of a Monday, and also about to cut loose. The wind’s started to pick up and everything, clouds dark and violent overhead. Eddie scurries into the shop, muttering a brief ‘hey’ to Annie Green when he passes her counter and heads towards the back.

Fitz is curled over the meat case muttering under his breath to himself, which is less unusual than it sounds. Eddie opts not to wave at him, and instead just goes for the cake aisle. It’s so picked over that it’s ridiculous. There aren’t any swiss rolls so he grabs the oatmeal cookies instead.

No doubt that the milk and bread aisles are already empty, to go with the alarmingly small amount of paper product. Up at the check out, he asks Anne, “you seen Roy come in yet today? He owes me ten bucks.”

“Nope.” The machine beeps when Anne scans the box of cookies. “Is Ftiz still back at the meat? I swear, he’s been in here for an hour.”

“Yeah. Maybe he’s stocking up on it.”

“Even Fitz isn’t stupid enough to stock up on meat right before we’re due for hurricane season.” Anne holds out her hand and Eddie fishes a crumpled five from his back pocket to pass over. “You talk to him?”

“Nope.”

Anne heaves out a sigh. “Great. Guess I can walk back and deal with it. If he’s drunk - “

“If he’s drunk, call his wife. She’ll have his ass for drinking that much this early in the day.”

Anne snorts. “Yeah, she will.”

Eddie shifts from one foot to the next, peering out the glass front doors. It’s still raining hard outside. “You think this is gonna light up any time soon?”

“Supposed to rain all evening. I’m surprised that they haven’t canceled work at the docks,” says Anne.

“Ugh. Great. Just, double bag them, I guess. I have to walk back in this.”

Anne doubles the bag and Eddie steps back out into the deluge. He’s soaked in a matter of minutes.

* * *

“Fucking Hell!” Eddie shakes himself off as he steps into the trailer. He fumbles around in the dark for the first few minutes, stripping out of his sodden clothes and down to his equally sodden boxers. Still swearing, he drops the bag of soaked oatmeal cookies onto the counter and flips on the light switch for the kitchen.

Nothing happens.

Eddie swears louder.

There’s the sound of something shuffling about from the bedroom. Eddie grabs the natty tea towel off the front of the stove handle and uses it to wipe off his face. “That you, babe?”

No answer. The shuffling sound gets closer. Eddie rolls his eyes and attempts to pat himself dry with the hand towel. It has a mixed amount of success in actually accomplishing anything.

“I got you cookies. They should be dry. Cause of the plastic and stuff?”

Still no answer. Eddie mutters under his breath. Fine, he’ll just have the cookies himself.

He pops open the plastic wrapper and pulls out a handful of them, carrying them over to the couch – where he finds Carson stretched out, massive headphones in, and a blanket pulled down over him.

“What the Hell, man.” Eddie kicks the couch base. “Move your legs.”

Carson grumbles and slides his headphones out. “When did you get back?”

“Like, five minutes ago. I went to get you cakes, but they didn’t have none.” He passes Carson a cookie instead. “You could’ve said something when you came out of the bedroom.”

Carson squints at him. “What are you talking about?”

Something in the bedroom is knocked over. CRASH. Eddie jerks, spinning around and squinting into the dark of the trailer. “So, uh, that’s not you.”

“Of course it ain’t me,” says Carson. He shoves the blanket onto the back of the couch, swings his legs over the cushions, and leverages himself up. There’s a bat by the front door. Eddie grabs it and passes it to Carson, because he’s tiny and Carson’s not.

“Chicken,” mutters Carson, but he doesn’t look thrilled to have to go deal with this. “We got that flashlight in the kitchen?”

“Batteries are dead,” says Eddie.

“Great. Storm season, and we’ve got bad batteries.”

“Pretty sure that’s not a hurricane breaking stuff in our bedroom, babe.”

Carson shoots Eddie an unimpressed look. “No duh.”

They make their way to the little off shooting bedroom, Eddie tucked close to Carson’s back. It’s at least still early enough in the evening that wane, yellow light creeps in through the nearby window. Carson presses a hand to the door, pulls in a deep breath, and shoves it open.

What happens next happens fast: there’s motion from the over turned bedside table. Carson swings with the bat, effectively smashing their lamp to pieces. The neighbor’s fat, orange tabby cat gives an indignant hiss and jumps onto the bed, then out through the nearby busted window. There’s glass all over everything, from the lamp and the window, and rain has blown in from the storm soaking the bed and the table in equal parts. The carpet nearby squishes loudly when Carson takes a step.

“Oh,” says Eddie. “Window’s broke.”

Carson drops the bat onto the ground. “That’s it. We’re going to Red’s.”

[creek-cryptid-deluxe]

It’s been awhile since I truly ranted about my clueless boomer father. it’s absolutely not because he’s been less awful. in fact he’s been so overly awful that I’ve not had the energy to really type out an entire vent post. 

Let’s rectify that! (Disclaimer: this shit is LONG)

So those of you who aren’t new round these parts are well versed in how clueless and selfish my “I’m not like other boomers” (def is) father. You might also know how introverted I am.

Now that word gets tossed around a lot by people who just enjoy their own company or enjoy socializing but need time to recharge, and that’s all well and good. But my personal introversion is much more... serious. Like, I can socialize but it’s draining pretty quickly, save a few people who don’t suck the life out of me because they arent work to hang out with and dont require me to entertain them. I need more recharge time than socializing time by a significant margin. Last summer my father went on vacation for a week (Bailey stayed with grandma) and during that week I didn’t verbally speak to a single fucking soul except when The Spawn (who didn’t live here at the time) came by for something. Best week of my fucking life. 

The less I’m able to recharge, the more unpleasant I become. This is important. 

So we all know that my father likes to claim a lot of things are that clearly bullshit. Among those things is the claim that he doesn’t need friends or socialization because he’s “like me” and the claim that he respects my space and need for down time. these things aren’t true. at all. Let’s look at why I saw that...

This man insists on telling me every small annoyance that happens through his day. Every single fucking day I have to hear (and read texts) repeatedly about how ignorant his coworkers are, the amount of unmasked people at stores/gas stations, & just generally self absorbed people he encounters. EVERY DAY. He clearly needs someone to socialize with. 

He will also just walk into my living room and plop down. Then he starts fucking talking or bitching at the dogs for jumping around on him. If I am watching something, he starts asking questions/commenting on whatever I’m watching. If I’m wearing headphones (which are massive and cover my ENTIRE EAR very obviously) he will stare at me and start talking until I pull my headphones off and say “What?! What is so fucking urgent?!” 

I’ve been getting progressively more short with him. I don’t answer texts that aren’t actually about something. When he interrupts me for something I KNOW will be frivolous bullshit, I exaggeratedly huff, then either rip off my headphones or pointedly pause what I’m watching and say “WHAT?! What do you need?!” If he’s bitching about the dogs playing on the couch while he tries to sit on it (which they do to me CONSTANTLY btw and I just make it work) I snap at him to just move to the fucking chair or shut up. If he goes to bitch about a coworker or people he encounters while out, I just say, “You already told me about this.” in and incredibly short tone, to which he responds “Well I wanted to make sure.” in a huffy tone. 

His most recent two days have really taken the fucking cake. 

So The Spawn frequently goes up to see her godfather, D, in Colorado over school breaks. He usually puts her on a plane or comes to get her, but with her having a car, she’s decided to take a friend with her and have her first Big Girl road Trip. She will be gone a little overr a week and she, the friend, D, and I all meticulously planned it out. My father comes in day before yesterday and says, “Hey do you want me to take vacation time while The Spawn is gone so I can be here?” I look deeply confused, “Why the fuck would you do that?” his response: “Well, I didn’t know if you’d need someone here to help with the dogs during the day while she’s gone.” 

Y’all I nearly died laughing. “Her not being here changes literally NOTHING about how the dogs are handled during the day. When she is here, she is in her room. It’s really funny that you think I have help during the day considering how often I’ve bitched about the fact that I take care of the dogs that aren’t mine far too much.” 

Then yesterday, I had spent the day employing my general tactics to discourage him from harassing me with useless bullshit. At some point, I cut him off from talking AGAIN about “ignorant, maskless, redneck gatherings at the gas station” by saying, “YES YOU TOLD ME AT LEAST 3 FUCKING TIMES. I GET IT. PEOPLE DON’T WEAR MASKS AND IT PISSES YOU OFF. IT’S BEEN A FUCKING YEAR. DEAL WITH IT. Why in the fuck do you insist on telling me this crap?” This fucking idiot laughed and said “I need to vent to someone.” I then told him to get a fucking friend or get a fucking therapist but I am not here for him to fucking vent to. 

At the end of last night I finally lost it. I blew up on him about how I have zero privacy, nobody fucking respects my space or my need to recharge my social batteries, so I’m just constantly running on empty which means I’m getting progressively more unpleasant and frankly downright mean. Near the end I said “I’m sorry but...” and intended to tell him EXACTLY what he is doing that is causing this shit but true to fucking form, this motherfucker INTERRUPTS ME and says  “Oh I never take any of this personally. no apology needed. goodnight.” and goes up to bed. 

YOU SHOULD TAKE IT PERSONALLY YOU STUPID PIECE OF SELF ABSORBED SHIT!!!! YOU ARE THE FUCKING PROBLEM!!! MY NEARLY 17 YEAR OLD CHILD HAS MORE AWARENESS OF MY NEED TO RECHARGE AND NOT BE AROUND PEOPLE CONSTANTLY THAN YOU DO DESPITE ME TELLING YOU ABOUT MY NEEDS IN VERY PLAIN LANGUAGE THAT A FUCKING 5 YEAR OLD COULD UNDERSTAND!!! 

LEAVE.   ME.   THE.   FUCK.   ALONE.  unless the subject of what you want to talk about impacts me directly in some way or i INVITE YOU into a conversation. I don’t vent to him unless it impacts him or the household... so why the fuck can’t he show the same courtesy? Also that whole “respect your space and not invade it” thing... on the rare occasion that he doesn’t just invite himself in and plop down in my space expecting my fucking attention, he will HOVER in the ‘doorway’ to my rooms until I acknowledge his presence, at which point he takes as an invitation. I’ve done an experiment. If I ignore the hovering, he will stand there up to 30 mins, at which point he will ask me a question and when I answer he takes it as an invitation. Like, I know my living room and BEDROOM don’t have doors but that doesn’t mean you have an open invite to just come into them whenever. You want to pet your dog but she’s on my bed? Call her. She’ll come over to you. Want to watch something with me? ASK and then, if I say yes, don’t fucking talk to me. I agreed to watch something, not have a fucking conversation. 

oh but directly telling him any of this doesn’t work because he “doesn’t take any of this personally.” Ok, it’s one thing to not take it personally when I snap at you because I’m in an astronomical amount of pain that day and accidentally snapped. When that happens, I apologize and explain. but if I don’t mention my pain, apologize, or explain then YOU ARE THE REASON IM SNAPPING YOU STUPID FUCK. 

end rant. if you read this whole thing, my condolences on the wasted time. I don’t want/need advice. I’m handling the situation the best I can in my current position. Part of that handling is that while The Spawn is gone, I’m going to do a few days where I’m here for the dogs, then when dad gets off work, J scoops me for the night, then drops me back off in the morning on his way in. He is one of those lovely people that isn’t a drain and if we are sitting in the same room, considers it spending time together. Most times, I lay on his furniture at an awkward looking but comfy angle reading a book while he games. We chat a bit during breaks or when I see him ready to throw the controller at the TV (looking at you Witcher 3...) so that will be lovely. 

as always, don’t steal my shit for your blog, article, youtube, just because you’re boring and fucking lazy. Shoo! Scat! 

[softboymerlin]

So, let’s talk about Chile, right?

Last week, it was informed that the subway ticket would become more expensive, raising from $800 CL ($1.13 USD) to $830 CL ($1.17 USD) for adults. You may think it’s not too much, but if you consider the minimun wage is $301,000 CL ($422 USD), you’d realize that the amount of money that goes only for public transportation is about $33,200 CL ($46.71 USD). It fucks up entire families considering that students have to pay $232 CL ($0.32 USD) five times a week and four times per month.

(Let me say that this happened in Santiago, the capital and one of the two or three cities in Chile with subway/metro.)

So, people got angry. Really angry. They proposed this thing, called Evasión Masiva (Massive Evation), where no one was going to pay for the subway. Highschool students took over the most busy metro stations (the ones in the center of the city like Santa Ana or San Joaquín) and kicked out the metro guards, opening the gates and asking people not to pay with their Bip! cards (the only way we can get in) in the turnstiles and just pass without paying. They did this even when it wasn’t us being affected by the raise.

This lasted a week (October 13 to October 18).

As days went by, things started to become more and more violent. The most savage police union known as Fuerza Especial (Special Force) appeared, which are the same fuckheads sent to protests and shit. They are ridiculously violent. So they were sent to this metro stations that were taken and started to agressively repress students and others so people would pay for the subway. (And let me tell you guys that, in here, public transportation is not public at all. It’s a private service subsidized by the government.) As expected, people started to fight back. So the police started to throw tear gas inside the metro stations and even inside the wagons. That made people even angrier, and so they started to shoot people with pellets/young partridges (TW: BLOOD). And Special Forces were in every metro station

The result? Even angrier responses.

People started to burn down metro stations and have spontaneous protests with barricades and fire. I was in one of them. The police was throwing tear gas at us and they enclosed us in an avenue with different police buses throwing tear gas at us (policemen got new toys! They had tear gas bombs). I admit that I wanted to be there, but so many people were caught up on that without actually wanting to be. Then, helicopters from the police were flying over us in circles. I was in a bus full of kids between 11 and 18 years, and all of them were coughing due to the tear gas in the air.

And what did the president say yesterday? State of exception. Specifically, State of emergency.

For context, state of emergency is declared when the disturbances get out of hand, repressing some rights and sending the military to the streets to keep order. They can control . The military is on our streets with weapons, along with Special Forces throwing tear gas at the protestors and shooting them with pellets.

The media here likes to say this happened because of the raise, but that is not true. The police here is always violent, usually beating and hitting higschool students and, well, they’re also extremely corrupt. This is happening because public education sucks, because there is systemic opression, because getting into university is a fucking challenge, because the minimun wage sucks and everything is way too expensive, because people in hospitals are hospitalized on wheelchairs or on the floor due to a lack of resources, because our indigenous people (Mapuche, which means “people from the earth”) are constantly criminalized for defending their lands, because chilean activists are killed or arrested for crimes they did not commit, because a minister said that hospitals are always so full because people go there to socialize, because another minister said that this ticket raise was made so people would get out of their houses sooner and pay less, because they laugh at our faces. There are schools with so little resources that the ceilings are falling down. The police doesn’t protect us, they protect the rich.

You believe it’s not so bad? Okay.

That is a fucking classroom full of 17/18 year-old boys.

A hospitalized person on the floor.

Policemen hitting an indigenous woman.

That is happening where I live. Yes, that’s the army.

A man was shot in the neck, a girl in the leg, a boy in the head; not with actual bullets, but they can still kill you. I am angry at this system, at our president, at everything. It is not the subway and it has never been just about the subway; it’s about this system at its core.

[astralkoo]

Beautifully Misfit | 4

SERIES: Hybrid BTS

‣ Genre: fluff, smut, hybrid au

‣ Word Count: 8.5k

‣ Pairing(s): skunk!Jimin x reader, puppy!Taehyung x reader, bunny!Jungkook x reader

‣ Warnings: strong language, Baby Kookie can’t read very well ;(, food porn (I’m not kidding), y/n deadass has a pizza kink, Jimin being tiny, nothing else really

‣ to be aware of: sub!jimin, switch!taehyung, switch!jungkook, dom!reader, some kinky ass future happenings, BDSM themes, some heavy angst, and triggering themes.

Summary: you never really saw yourself as a hybrid person. that is, until your best friend introduces you to his hybrid, and you suddenly find yourself craving the companionship. you only intended to bring home one. somewhere between the lines you ended up with three beautifully misfit hybrids who craved nothing but your love.

part. i, ii, iii, iv, v (coming soon)

A/N; I’m sorry this took so long to get up, i’m a slow writer when I’m not motivated, but yesterday I buckled down and wrote over five thousand words because I was determined to get this part posted for you lovely people. hope you enjoy! lmk if I didn’t tag you and you wanted to be added to the tag list!!

“Oh my god you live in a palace!” Taehyung gasped, pressing his face against the window of your passenger’s side seat. You giggled at the absolute wonder that sparkled in his dark eyes as you pulled into your driveway.

Actually getting the three hybrids to your home was probably more difficult than it should have been.

Taehyung was really the only one that understood the general ins and outs of cars, while Jimin and Jungkook were at a total loss. Jungkook expressed through broken sentences that the last time he’d been in a car, he’d been forced to sit in the truck. They may have put a crack in your heart. 

After stuffing all their belongings (which was a shockingly small amount considering there were three of them) into the trunk, it took a solid ten minutes just to get Jungkook to accept that he needed to wear a seatbelt; he damn near ripped it out of your car with all his unnecessary tugging and squirming. You’re ashamed to admit you were very much debating just tying him up with some rope and duct tape to keep him still.

It took another twenty to reassure an anxious Jimin that the car would not eat him and the seatbelt was just to keep him from falling out of his seat. It took Taehyung offering Jimin one of his stuffed animals, an adorable yellow chicklet, for him to finally relax. And you’d be lying if you said seeing the petite skunk hybrid clutching the little stuffed animal to his chest in his tiny hands wasn’t the purest thing you’d ever laid eyes on,

All the while Taehyung was happily bouncing in the passenger seat, a big boxy grin plastered across his handsome face as he waited for you to begin the drive home.

“Not quite,” you chuckled in amusement at his awestruck expression, “but it’s pretty, isn’t it?”

You weren’t going to deny it; you had a nice home.

Plenty of spacious rooms, a beautiful pool accompanied by a hot tub, three bedrooms– although only one (now two) being put to its intended use as the third was being used as an in home gym area. Not a mansion by any standards but definitely up in the higher percentile.

It, of course, had originally been a surprise from your Aunt when you graduated from college. Talk about extravagant gift giving. But she wouldn’t allow you to turn it away, no matter how adamantly you insisted you wouldn’t be able to maintain the place. For god’s sake you were just coming out of the shitty run down college dorms and suddenly having this gorgeous house catapulted onto you. She claimed that it was either hand it down to you or send a bulldozer over the property.

And you were not one to enjoy seeing beautiful things being carelessly destroyed.

So in spite of initial hesitance, you accepted. It took you awhile to adjust to the place, but once you had, it really had become a home to you. And you hoped it could become a home to your three new hybrids as well. A place they could feel safe to be themselves, a place where they didn’t have to hide themselves out of insecurity or fear of rejection. A place they could find genuine happiness.

Shit, when’d you get so sappy?

“Big! Big!” Jungkook chanted as he popped his head between your and Taehyung’s seat to get a better view, blinking those big sparkling eyes in amazement. You giggled, before turning to glance at Jimin. His eyes were squinted, face strained as it seemed he was having some trouble making out what he was looking at. But as soon as he realized you were looking, he plastered a shy, unconvincing smile across his face, head bowing.

“I–it’s nice…” you opened your mouth to question him, but Jungkook cut you off.

“Kookie go in now,” He declared. You watched in amusement as he pushed at the door, nowhere near the handle. He blinked in confusion as it didn’t immediately pop open for him. He then tried a random button, flinching in surprise as the window began to lower. He watched, seemingly transfixed as it slid out of sight, before placing his feet on top of the seat and crouching. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was about to do.

“Jungkook no!” You laughed loudly, reaching back and gently gripping the back of his shirt to keep him from launching himself head first out the window.

He turned to you with the cutest look of frustration, “why?”

“Pull the handle and then push,” you instructed, pointing to it.

He cautiously wrapped his hand around said handle, pulling it towards him and then pushing rather harshly on the door. His brows jumped up in amazement as the door easily swung open. It was only when he immediately hopped out of the car that you realized his seatbelt hadn’t been securely strapped around him. He must’ve undone it when you weren’t looking. Mischievous bunny.

Taehyung turned to you, with excitement in his eyes, “are we allowed to go inside now? I really want to see what it’s like inside!” His enthusiasm was contagious, and a wide smile broke out on your face.

“Of course! Let’s head in.”

Taehyung squealed, quickly undoing his seatbelt and rushing out of the car. You smiled to yourself, about to exit the vehicle before suddenly catching a glimpse of Jimin in the back seat. His lower lip was sucked into his mouth, his knees pulled up to his chest as he cradled the small chick under his chin, delicate eyes downcast. He looked so conflicted.

“Are you coming?” Taehyung tilted his head in confusion upon noticing neither of you had moved from your seats.

“Um— why don’t you go ahead, I’ll be there in a minute, okay? The key is under the potted plant on the right side of the door, you know how to use it?” Taehyung quickly nodded and bounced off to join Jungkook (who was aggressively pulling at the doorknob) at the door.

Once he was out of earshot, you returned your attention to Jimin. “Hey, Jimin, are you alright?”

Despite you having intentionally softened your voice, he still flinched, eyes sliding up to unsurely meet yourself. He seemed at a loss for words, mouth opening and shutting multiple times, on the verge of speaking but never getting out so much as a squeak.

But he did gasp in surprise as you suddenly jumped into the backseat (not very gracefully but still managing not to crack your head open so you’re chilling). “Hi there,” you smiled widely at the slightly baffled skunk hybrid.

“Hi…” his voice was quiet as a pin drop. His closed off nature was really beginning to show, and it made your heart sore with sadness.

“How are you feeling? Please be honest with me,” you shifted slightly closer to him, a tender upturn of your lips all it took to coax him out of his anxious silence.

He swallowed, gaze flitting. “I’m… I guess I’m… scared…”

“What’re you scared of?” You carefully pushed, wanting more than anything to reach out and run your knuckles over one of those adorably round cheeks, but refraining– just barely.

He sucked his frustratingly perfect lips into his mouth, noncommittally shrugging his shoulders as his grip on the small stuffed animal tightened. “I don’t… know… a lot of things, I guess…” each word seemed to grow quieter and quieter as it escaped him.

“It’s okay to be scared,” you murmured softly, “I know all of this change is scary. And, I know we don’t know each other very well right now, but I’d really like to get to know you, Jimin. All of you. I want us to be a real family, and I know we can be. Just… don’t give up on me just yet, okay? I’m pretty fuck— freaking far from perfect, so I know I’ll most definitely make a few mistakes. But I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy, I can promise you that.”

He looked up at you slowly, dark eyes shining behind his bangs. Shit, he had such beautiful eyes. Your chest tightened a bit as a wave of nerves struck you suddenly. You really hoped you said the right things, that maybe he’d trust you just a little bit more. Any progress is still progress, after all— another thing you’d learned from your oh–so wise auntie.

“Would you like to come inside now?”

You extended your hand for him with a gentle smile. The corners of his lips twitched upward subtly, and he shyly nodded his head, “y–yes.”

His hand was warm and soft, and small oh god it was so small as it slid delicately into your palm. You had to hold your breath as you carefully guided him out of the car from the pure adoration you felt towards him.

He didn’t let go of your hand the entire way to your front door, head bowed as an endearing blush settled on his cheeks.

Somehow, you remained outwardly composed. Stepping through the threshold of your front door, you were immediately greeted by a gasping Taehyung as he darted back and forth, taking in every last inch of your home with massive, shining eyes. You giggled, cupping a hand over your mouth as you watched the excited pup practically bounce off the walls every time he discovered something new to gawk at.

“Look at this! Oh my god what is that!? Wow that’s so cool! I’ve never seen one of these before! It’s so pretty! Can I keep this? Ohmygoditssoshiny,” words, questions, and exclamations were being spit out of his mouth faster than you could keep track. Suddenly he halted, ears raised, tail stiff, “wait a second.”

“Is–is something wrong?”

“Yes!” He yelped, before his eyes met yours, and he seemed to shrink in on himself, “I mean— no, no definitely not. Everything is perfectly perfect and beautiful and amazing…”

“But?” You tilted your head, watching as a soft pout twisted the corners of his lips downwards.

“But…” he swallowed, rocking on the balls of his feet as he fiddled with his fingers behind his back, “I was wondering— you mentions— are there may be any—”

It suddenly clicked what he was so hopelessly searching for. A playful, mischievous smile twitched at the corners of your mouth. “Toys?”

His entire body seemed to jump upright, ears raising to their full height, tail whipping upwards and twitching in tiny anticipating wags, eyebrows dramatically lifting as his eyes widened adorably. A desperate whine ripped from his lips as he performed a little wiggle.

“If you go up the stairs, turn left, last door on your right—” aaand he was off.

“OHMYGOD,” you heard his muffled screams of glee, snorting loudly.

Puppy has a kink for toys, that’s for sure.

“Where the hell is Jungkook?” You muttered, suddenly realizing you hadn’t seen or heard him since you walking into your home.

It was more to yourself really, but Jimin stuck his button nose up in the air nonetheless. You watched in amazement as he inhaled deeply, chest inflating, before his finger raised, pointing towards your back door.

“Shit, but that leads to the—”

A loud splash had you shrieking in horror and bolting outside, damn near cracking the glass sliding door in your haste.

The crystal blue water of your pool was jumping and foaming, angrily disturbed from its previous calmness. Below the surface there was a dark, distorted blob, slowly sinking.

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you cursed loudly, “Jungkook!”

This would only fucking happen to you of all the people in the fucking world. You brought the hybrids home not ten minutes ago and one of them was already in danger. There was no way in hell you were about to let his little mutant bunny ass drown.

“Mother of shitness—” those were the last words to escape your lips before you heaved in two lungfuls of air and dove head first into the chilly water. You forced your eyes open in the chlorinated water, easily locating a blurry dark form a little way in front of you.

But, it wasn’t sinking.

In fact, it was rising. Very quickly.

The fuCK.

Breaking the surface, you were immediately greeted by a casually treading bunny hybrid. His eyebrows raised a fraction upon seeing you in front of him, but the surprised look vanished into a happy smile.

“Swim with Kookie?” He asked innocently, head tilting.

“Are you kidding me, Jungkook? Why in the holy hell did you think getting into the pool fully dressed was a good idea?” You hissed, water splashing as you clumsily tread, legs kicking quickly as your hands flung around.

His brows furrowed, a confused pout touching his lips as he glanced down at your submerged body. “Full dress, too?”

“I thought you fell in and were drowning or some shit, I was trying to save you!” You cried, “you gave me a fucking heart attack, Jungkook!”

He suddenly smiled shyly, cheeks rising as his gaze flicked down, “save Kookie?”

“Yes, save Kookie! But apparently Kookie doesn’t need any saving because Kookie already knows how to swim and purposeful jumped into my pool with all his clothes on,” You hissed, reaching out to grab his hand and tugging him to the edge of the pool, “now it’s time for Kookie to get out of the pool.”

You hauled yourself out first, grimacing as your clothes stuck like glue to your skin. Not to mention wet socks. You can’t imagine a time you’d ever been more uncomfortable than when you were wearing wet socks.

With a defeated sigh, you swiveled around, about to lend the bunny a helping hand, “Okay, Jungkook hop out— Jungkook what the hell happened to your clothes?!”

He smiled, proudly pointing at the pile of sopping wet clothes sitting on the side of the pool that he’d managed to strip off weirdly fast. “Naked!” He chirped like it was the most natural thing in the world.

God have mercy. 

… 

“Okay Jungkook, repeat to me the rules?” You hummed, carefully towel drying his wet hair, making sure to be extra gentle with his big, sensitive ears in the way. 

“No pool without ask. Hm, no run near pool. No swim ‘lone. No outside after dark. No swim full dress. And… and no swim naked.”

“That’s right! Good job, Kookie,” you cooed, and he grinned proudly, wiggling happily in place. You turned your attention to the other two hybrids in the room. 

Jimin was nestled up against your back, sleepily watching the movie you’d put on for them. Homeward Bound, a personal childhood favorite of yours. Never failed to bring you to tears. Taehyung, who’s made himself comfortable on the floor in front of you, was more engrossed with the dinosaur squeaky toy that he was happily gnawing on, squeaking up a storm. It might have gotten on your nerve had he not looked so fucking adorable, big eyes shiny with happiness and lips drawn into a never wavering grin. 

“You hear that boys? Those rules apply to you, too. I don’t need anymore incidents like today.” You informed sternly, drawing both of their attentions to you. 

Taehyung quickly nodded his head, toy dropping from his mouth and into his lap as he spoke, “I understand! I’ll be real good, promise! I’m good at following rules, I think.” 

You reached down, ruffling his hair in praise. His tail quickly began beating against the hardwood floor with loud thumps as he leaned into your touch, grinning widely. You turned your attention to the skunk curled up behind you, peering over your shoulder. 

“Jimin?” 

“I–I don’t like to swim… but I understand.” He affirmed in that soft, melodic voice of his, thick with sleepiness. Jungkook piped in before you could reply. 

“Kookie like to swim! What Kookie swim in?” 

“When we go shopping tomorrow, I’ll buy Kookie a swimsuit,” you explained simply, briefly taking your focus off of drying his dark locks to meet his gaze, lips twitching upward at how cute he looked, white towel laid on top of his head, ears flopping down on either side of his face. 

The incident with Jungkook leaping into your pool opened up a few fundamental truths you’d have to face. 

One; clothes. They needed clothes. The one thing you’d failed to collect on your shopping binge earlier in the week for obvious reasons were things for your hybrids to wear. And of the very few things they’d brought from the shelter, outfits held an even smaller portion. Having all worn the same white scrubs everyday left little need for duplicates. 

And after Jungkook soaked his only pair, you’d had to force him into one of your favorite pairs of large grey sweatpants and an extra large white t-shirt that somehow still managed to hug ever inch his admittedly muscular body. It was an interesting look for him. It made Taehyung giggle, that’s for sure. 

You also made a mental note that Jimin needed glasses ASAP. He obviously had a lot of difficulty seeing things beyond a certain distance and you were surprised he hadn’t been given any at the shelter.  Getting glasses was a long, annoying, and expensive process, but you didn’t mind as long as he’d be able to see properly. 

Two; they might need some help navigating life outside of the shelter. You’d definitely be needing to set some boundaries. Obviously, they’d spent most of their lives in small living quarters, closed off from the real word. As a result, they’ve never been exposed to many seemingly ordinary courtesies such as manners, or public decency…or not stripping buck naked whenever they damn well feel like it. That could use some adjustment. 

And three; Jungkook was going to be keeping you on your toes for a while. You’d have to keep an eye on that little troublemaking bastard at all times to make sure he doesn’t do something unintentionally reckless and get himself hurt. 

All in all, you felt a second massive shopping spree was in order. This time for more specific commodities. 

“Kookie swim in swim…s–suit?” He asked, stuttering faintly on the pronunciation. 

That reminded you, you’d also need to ask Hoseok about speech lessons to help Jungkook with communication. As far as you can tell, he has no problem getting his point across, you can understand him perfectly fine, but to what extent does it reach? 

“Can I get a swimsuit, too?” Taehyung asked, a pleading pout resting on his lips. 

“Of course, you can all get swimsuits,” you glanced at Jimin, “just in case you ever change your mind. Now that that’s settled…” you pulled the towel off of Jungkook’s now only slightly damp hair, jumping up off the couch, “who wants pizza?” 

All the boys seemed the grimace at the mention of the cheesy delicacy. 

“What’s with those faces? Don’t tell me you don’t like pizza,” you laughed, but it died in your throat almost immediately. 

You gaped at them in horror, clasping a hand over your mouth as they all shared a telling look. No fucking way. They didn’t like pizza? How was that possible? Maybe they were lactose intolerant or something. There had to be an explanation. 

“How do you guys not like pizza? I practically live off of it most days of the week!” Taehyung flinched faintly as you raised your voice, despite your harmless intention. 

“W–well, we’ll have it if you want us to, master. It’s just that… the shelter gave us pizza every other Friday, I guess it was supposed to be a treat of sorts… but it wasn’t very good,” Taehyung explained in a meek, unsure voice, lead lowering as he peered up at you. 

“That’s probably because it was that organic, healthy shit. No, I’m talking about real pizza. Cheesy, delicious, juicy, thick crust, crunchy on the outside but soft on the in— wait, did you just call me master?” 

He seemed to shrink in on himself. His ears flattened against his head, tail ticking between his legs. You’re no expert on animal behavior, but you didn’t need a degree to see that he was showing submission. 

“Is… is that bad? Am I in trouble? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” his voice broke into a whimper, but you were quick to drop down to your knees in front of him, shaking you head.

“No, no you’re not in trouble, sweetheart, you’re alright. You didn’t do anything wrong,” you made sure to keep your voice soft and stable, gently taking one of his hands in yours, “I was just a little surprised is all.” 

He seemed to calm at your reassurance, body language relaxing, “really?” 

“Really.” You giggled, reaching up to nudge his cheek with your knuckles. That’s all it took to have his face brightening up with a grin as he nuzzled into your touch. “But you know you don’t have to address me like that, right? Unless, you wanted to call me something different, you can just call me y/n.” 

“Kookie call you y/n,” the bunny hybrid declared from his perch on the couch, nodding firmly, “y/n nice name.” 

“Why thank you. Jungkook is a very nice name, as well,” you cooed playfully.

Jungkook shrugged cockily, “I know.” 

You laughed loudly at that. 

“I–I’ll call you y/n, too… if that’s okay,” Jimin squeaked, blushing a pretty shade of pink as your eyes met his fluttering ones. 

“It’s more than okay, beautiful,” you grinned, shooting a playful wink in his direction. 

His eyes widened, face exploding in a deep red as a squeak escaped his lips. You watched with a wide smile as he grabbed the nearest pillow, shoving his face into it in a feeble attempt to hide his rose colored cheeks. Jungkook snickered at the smaller hybrid’s reaction, nose wrinkling in the most bunny like way imaginable. 

“Then I’ll call you y/n, too!” Taehyung sprung back to his happy go lucky self, lips splitting into a massive grin as his tail began to whip back and forth behind him. 

“Perfect,” you smiled, reaching up and scratching behind his ear, “now, about that pizza…”

. . . 

Within the next thirty minutes, you and the boys had swallowed down two whole boxes of large, cheesy pizza for your favorite pizza place. Talk about a food baby. 

“That was so much better than the shelter’s pizza,” Taehyung groaned, tossing his head back as he rested a hand on his well fed belly, “I’ve never been this stuffed in my life!” 

Jimin nodded quickly in agreement, still working on finishing his last piece. He was an adorably slow eater, very careful with his bites in not getting sauce anywhere on his face. Jungkook and Taehyung on the other hand… not so tidy. Taehyung had sauce smeared across his pretty lips and lingering at the corners of his mouth. Jungkook— shit, somehow the rabbit managed to get cheese in his damn hair, let’s just say that. 

You giggled at the puppy hybrid, thumbing a tiny spot of sauce off his chin, “I told you! They were definitely feeding you garbage pizza. This is the real shit, you’re eating with the big boys now, baby!” Taehyung’s tail began its helicopter blade wagging, an incredibly dog like ‘yip’ escaping his lips, his excitement rising right alongside yours. 

“Hell yeah, baby!” 

Throwing your head back, you laughed so hard that your stomach began to hurt. “Hey! Where’d you learn that kind of language, mister!” You cackled, smiling down at him in wild amusement. 

His grin mimicked yours, ears perking, “you!” 

And you’d been trying to keep your cursing in check, too. Perhaps you slipped up a few times during dinner… 

“Ah, I’ve got to watch my tongue or by the end of next week you’ll be able to name a curse word for every letter in the alphabet,” You snickered, ruffling his hair affectionately. 

“More! Want more,” Jungkook exclaimed, holding up his empty plate for emphasis. 

“Kookie, it's all gone,” you trotted over to him, picking up a nearby napkin and beginning to clean his face. He pouted at the newfound information, obviously very disappointed. “Don’t get all frowny on me now, you messy son of a bi–bunny.”

“Nice save,” Taehyung snickered, and you shot him a playful glare before returning your attention to the deeply disheartened rabbit. 

“Hey, but don’t worry. We’ll be getting pizza often. Very often,” because your ass can’t cook for shit, “and next time, I might even get you your own whole pizza, okay? That work for you?” 

His eyes light up at the suggestion, pout dissolving into a content smile, “okay. Work for Kookie.” 

“Fantastic,” you hummed, before tossing the tomato sauce soaked napkin into one of the empty boxes, “okay. I think that you need a bath. Napkins aren’t cutting it.” 

Jungkook froze, eyes widening, then narrowing into sharp slits, “no bath.” 

Your brows shot up at his sudden defiance. “Um, yes bath. You’re covered in pizza guts.” 

“No. Bath.” He hissed, ears pressing back. 

“Jungkook,” you said slowly, arms folded over your chest, “you are taking a bath.”

“No.” 

“Yes.” 

“No.”

You stared at him hard for a moment, him staring back just as harshly. Then you lunged. You should’ve known a rabbit hybrid would be faster, because the next thing you know you’re getting a face full of chair. And that shit hurt. 

“Fuck me!” You shrieked, cupping your throbbing nose. 

“Y–Y/n, are you a–alright?” Jimin gasped, running over to you in tiny font and carefully helping you back onto your feet. 

You glanced over to see Jungkook on the opposite side of the kitchen, looking over at your crumpled form with a piss all smug expression. A growl rose in your throat. 

“I’m good, Jimin, don’t worry.” You offered Jimin a reassuring smile, only wincing slightly. No way in hell would you let the mutant bunny win. He was taking a bath if it goddamn killed you. 

A determined glare found your face as you struck Jungkook with your stare, pushing up your sleeves. “You’re still taking a bath, Kookie.” You sneered, pointing a finger in his direction. 

“Gotta catch Kookie first~,” he sang, excitement sparkling in those big eyes.

“Oh, I’ll catch you, alright.” 

Little need be said, you did not catch him. 

All of fifteen minutes later, you lay face down on the floor of your upstairs hallway, sweating so much it looked like you’d fallen in the pool, completely winded, and on the verge of passing out. You always seem to forget that running is definitely not your strong suit. 

“Y/n?” You heard a meek voice chime from above you.

“Yeah?” You wheezed, not bothering to so much as open your eyes. 

“Are you okay?” 

“I’m fucking dandy,” You chuckled, finally forcing your eyes open. Jimin was squatted down in front of you, head tilted to the side as his large tail calmly swayed behind him. 

“You don’t look dandy.” 

Somehow, you managed a tired smile, “it’s called sarcasm, darling.” 

Jimin flushed at the nickname, cupping his reddening cheeks in the palm of his hands as he let out a soft whining sound. So cute. 

“That bunny is quick.” You groaned, rolling onto your back and letting your aching body melt into the floor, “where’s all that stamina come from, huh? He was going up and down the stairs like it was nothing. Up, down, up, down, up, down, like what the hell? Don’t his legs hurt after that? Well, I guess he does have pretty massive thighs—” 

“Would you like some water, Y/n,” Jimin softly cut off your delusional rambling that was about to take a not so appropriate turn. 

“I would love some water, Jimin, thank you.” 

He giggled that sugary giggle of his as he stood up, “alright, I’ll get you some water. Don’t move.” 

“Wasn’t planning on it.” 

He laughed again, standing and trotting towards the steps, disappearing down them. He has a really pretty laugh. 

Just as your eyes began to flutter shut again, a loud thump caught your attention, and then a shout. 

“Y/n! Y/n I caught him! I caught him!” 

“Can a girl not get a moment's peace in this house—” you cut off your incoherent mumbling abruptly, shooting upward. Caught him? He caught him? Holy shit! You leapt to your feet, frantically scrambling in the direction of the commotion. It wasn’t too difficult to find what room the shouts were coming from with all the noise they were making. 

In your downstairs gaming room, you found Taehyung, his entire body wrapped around a flailing Jungkook, whom he’s somehow managed to pin to the floor. 

“Tricked! Tae tricked Kookie!” The bunny screeched, betrayal shining in his dark eyes. You were trying so hard not to laugh. Taehyung looked absolutely ridiculous, Jungkook even more so as he tried to squirm out of the puppy’s vice like hold. But you knew you couldn’t allow them to continue like this, or else one of them might end up hurt. And that was something you definitely did not want to happen. 

“Tae, let him go, hun.” 

Taehyung’s eyes widened at your request, mouth opening to object, “but—”

“It’s alright, Tae. Trust me,” you shot him a sly wink as you murmured the last bit. He reluctantly obeyed, rolling off the bunny and scrambling behind you before he could retaliate. The moment he was freed, the bunny leapt to his feet, glaring harshly at the puppy cowering behind you. “Ah–ah–ah, eyes on me, Kookie. Tae didn’t do anything wrong, he was just trying to help me catch you.” 

He huffed, lower lip jutting out. 

“I have a proposition.” 

His ears twitched, brows furrowing. “Prop… prop… prop…?” 

“An idea,” you rephrased, noticing his struggle, “one that doesn’t involve running around the house like a couple of chickens who got their heads cut off. If you win, you don’t have to take a bath. I win, you bathe. That cool?” 

He squinted his eyes at you suspiciously, “what idea?” 

You smirked, eyes drifting to something behind him. You made your way over to the large flat screen television, opening up the cabinet to the right off it. Inside were hundreds of games. That’s an exaggeration, but you get the idea. Jungkook’s eyes bulged, pupils practically turning into hearts at the glorious sight. You pulled one out, holding it up for him to see. 

“You race?” 

It was Jungkook’s turn to smirk, “Kookie race.” 

. . . 

“Watch out for the banana peel! Oh my god the red shell! The red shell! Careful on the turn—”

“Taehyung!” 

“Sorry.” 

You were on the third and final race of Mario Kart. The deciding match. Each of you had won one round prior to that, making it an even game. It was tense. But Taehyung seemed to be more on edge than you and Jungkook combined, and he wasn’t even playing! 

The finish line was in sight. It was neck in neck; Jungkook in first, you right on his heal in a close second. 

There was absolutely no way in hell you were letting him beat you at your game. The game you’d been playing since you first learned how to use your thumbs. You absolutely demolished anyone you went up against. But Jungkook was good. Really good. He matched your skill level almost perfectly. He knew all the shortcuts, all the right turns to making, even how to drift flawlessly. And for the first time, you weren’t completely positive that’s you’d win. A thought terrifying enough to send chills racing down your spine. No. No, you were going to win. You had to. That bunny was going to bathe. You’d make sure of that. 

The finish line was approaching rapidly. Your heart thundering against your ribcage, entire body trembling with the adrenaline coursing through it, a sheen of sweat resting on your upper lip. Your hands were aching for the effort, thumbs just about ready to fall off. 

Beside you, Jungkook was just as tense, tall ears fully erect, body stiff and leaned forward as he pinned all his attention to the screen. 

This is it. Time to pull out all the stops. You’re secret move that got you the win every time without fail. The boost and drift. 

“Eat my dust, Kookie!” You shrieked, pressing down on the buttons just long enough to have your car shooting forward and crossing the finish line, earning you the first place slot. A triumphant laugh burst from your lips, and you jumped to your feet, pumping your fist into the air victoriously. You’d be lying to say your ass didn’t hurt from sitting on the hardwood floor that entire time, but the brilliance of your victory washed out any lingering ache. “Fuck yes! We have a winner folks! We have a winner!” 

Taehyung and Jimin giggled from their seats on the couch behind you, clapping encouragingly as you shamelessly gloated. 

Jungkook stared at the screen in shock, unable to process that he was seeing the number two on his half of the screen. Second place. Second place. It was mocking him. 

Squatting down beside the stunned bunny, you placed a hand on his shoulder, “I won, Kook. You know what that means.” 

He pouted, turning his head away from you stubbornly. “Cheated.” 

You gaped at him. “Did not! I won fair and square and you know it! Come on, we had a deal. You can’t just go back on your word,” you frowned, offended by his blunt claim. You would never cheat. You didn’t need to. At least not in Mario Kart. Pure skill, baby. 

Jungkook snuck a glance in your direction, and his ears dropped seeing the expression on your face. He quickly turned his gaze away, focusing intensely on the floor as he worried his lower lip between his teeth. He knew you didn’t cheat. He knew he lost. He hated it, but he knew you won fairly. Admitting it out loud was just a bit harder to do. 

But the look in your eyes was enough to get him to put his pride aside. 

“Kookie take bath.” He relented with a defeated sigh. 

You smiled brightly, gently ruffling his hair, “thank you for keeping your word, Kookie. It means a lot to me.” 

He flushed at the praise, quickly swatting your hand away with a pout, eliciting a giggle from your lips. You stood first, helping Jungkook to his feet as you turned to the two other hybrids. 

“Okay boys. As soon as Kookie here finishes up his bath, we need to discuss sleeping arrangements, alright? It’s getting late and it’s been a hectic day for everyone so I think we could all use a good night's sleep, yeah? Don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone.” 

They quickly nodded in agreement, bidding you soft farewells as you guided Jungkook to the upstairs bathroom. Of course, he donned a pout the entire way, obviously trying to make you feel bad by milking the blow of his loss. 

Tugging him into the bathroom, you sat him down on the closed toilet seat, and began to explain the ins and outs of your bathroom. Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, towel location, how to change the temperate, and even pointing out the bubble bath bottle in case he like that. He stared up at you blankly, blinking slowly. 

“You got all that?” He nodded. “Any questions?” He shook his head. “Good, I’ll sit outside. Just give me a shout if you need any help.” With that, you proceeded to exit the bathroom, plopping down beside the door and pulling out your phone to kill the time. You heard the gush of water hitting the tub, and assumed he’d be fine on his own. Until—

“Y/n?” You hopped to your feet, leaning against the door.

“Yeah, Kook?” Silence. “Kookie? You okay in there?” Silence. “Jungkook?” A nearly inaudible murmur. “I’m sorry I didn’t understand that.” 

“N–need… help…” 

“Okay, I’m coming in,” you took his silence as an okay and slowly nudged the door open, “are you… covered?” He hummed quietly in confirmation and you let out a breath of relief, sticking your head inside. 

He was submerged in the bath, the top of it was covered in a thick layer of white, shiny bubbles. He had his face turned away from you, and seemed to be fidgeting slightly. 

“What’s wrong?” You asked carefully, gliding over to kneel next to the tub. He avoided your gaze, and you noticed how red his cheeks were. You were worried he might’ve made the bath too hot, but when you experimentally dipped your fingers in, it was the perfect temperature. “You can tell me, hun. What’s up?” 

He bowed his head, splashing his hand against the water. “Can… can y/n wash… w–wash Kookie?” 

Hah. Pardon? 

“W–wash? You want me to wash you?” You reiterated, making sure you’d heard him correctly. 

“Please…” he murmured quietly, and you watched his neck melt into a boiling red color that perfectly matched that adorning his face. He looked so humiliated, so vulnerable. It dawned on you that he might not know how to properly wash himself. At the shelter someone had helped with that sort of thing, so he might have never actually done it himself. Your heart swelled at the thought. 

“Of course I’ll help,” you murmured softly, touched by the fact that he’d ask instead of struggling alone and saving himself the embarrassment, “in fact, I’ll do you one better. I’ll teach you how so next time you can do it all on your own, okay?” 

He peered over at you shyly, a light smile twisting the corners of his lips upwards, “okay.” 

“Perfect. We’ll start with shampoo then,” you chirped, reaching down to grab the white bottle of shampoo. 

You learned that Jungkook wasn’t the best reader, something you probably should’ve guessed based on what Hoseok had told you. But it still made your heart clench to see him trying so hard to make out the letters on the bottles you present to him. His bath managed to turn into a reading lesson, as you explained to him in depth how to read the words shampoo and conditioner as well as their individual purposes. And soon enough, something seemed to click in that cute little brain of his.

“You’re a fast learner, Kookie!” You praised, grinning happily as he pointed out the word shampoo every time it appeared on the back of the bottle. 

He beamed at the praise, sighing in content as you massaged the conditioner into his hair, being extra careful around the base of his ears. It was then that you realized how beautiful they were. The fur was sleek and healthy, shimmering faintly under the dull glow of your bathroom lights. Instinctively, your fingers reached for one, gently stroking the silky fur. His body jolted forwards, a loud gasp shooting from his lips. You snapped your hand away as he whipped around, staring at you in shock. 

“D–D–DON’T touch!” He squeaked, his entire face a deep shade of pink, his chest heaving as he seemed genuinely flustered. There was terror in his dark eyes, the emotion read loud and clear. 

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, I didn’t even realize,” you blinked rapidly, clutching your hand against you chest like it’d been burned. You were horrified with yourself. You’d obviously crossed a boundary you weren’t meant to so much as think about. It was careless. “I’m so sorry, Kookie. I shouldn’t have touched your ears without permission.” 

He stared at you a moment longer, breathing heavily as his hands gripped the edge of the tub so tightly that his knuckles paled. There was something in his eyes. Something dark. You couldn’t make out exactly what it was before he snapped himself out of him, shaking his head. 

“It… okay.” He slowly turned back around, facing away from you. You weren’t sure what to do. Did he want you to keep washing him, or would it be better if you left all together? Your prolonged silence caught the bunny’s attention, and he softly uttered over his shoulder, “can keep wash Kookie.” 

“A–are you sure?” You swallowed, needing the extra confirmation.

He nodded, “yes.” 

The remainder of his bath was spent in silence. It wasn’t awkward persay. It was more like both your mind were weighed down from the previous upbeat mood. Even as you were running a washcloth soaked in your favorite face wash over his faintly red stained skin, he wouldn’t meet your gaze. 

“Alright, I think you’ve got it from here. You can wash your body with this green soap and then dry off and meet us downstairs, alright? I put a new shirt and sweatpants next to the door outside, so you can put those on when you’re finished,” You hummed, standing and stretching from having sat for so long, back cracking loudly. He nodded silently, sinking lower in the tub so that his nose hovered just over the water and you took that as your que to exit. 

You were disappointed with yourself. That could have been a beautiful bonding moment— and it had been! But then you had to go and screw it up. Like you always seem to do… 

Taehyung and Jimin were playing with some of the toys you’d gotten in the living room when you came trudging down the steps. They must’ve noticed the heaviness in the air surrounding you, because their sweet giggling ceased rather abruptly and they jumped up to meet you halfway. 

“Y/n, what’s wrong?” Taehyung asked with a soft frown. “Did Kookie hurt you?”

“Ah, no, of course not, Kookie didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. I’m fine,” you reassured, reaching up to pet the top of his head, but freezing and redirecting your hand to land on his shoulder instead. Taehyung blinked, looking at your hand in confusion. 

Without missing a beat, he grabbed your wrist and placed your hand on top of his head. 

You couldn’t stop the grin that found your lips, one he happily returned as you combed your fingers through his dark locks. Jimin whimpered mournfully from his larger companion’s side, staring longingly at your other hand. “Oh you big baby,” you playfully cooed, immediately shifting to stroke the top of his head as well. 

They both melted into your touch, Jimin chirping as Taehyung vocalized his happiness with high pitched whines. It was a rather ridiculous scene, but so utterly precious you couldn’t find it in you to stop. Not until you heard heavy footsteps coming from the stairs. He was dressed in new clothes, lingering droplets of water creating dark patches on the shoulders of the grey material of the oversized sweatshirt.

Jungkook paused, meeting your gaze. You offered him a light smile, but he only ducked his head and plodded to Taehyung’s side, eyes fluttering around the room. You’d be lying if you said that didn’t sting a bit. You’d hoped that you’d be able to brush off the incident, but apparently not. Maybe it’d be forgotten by the morning. 

You cleared your throat, shaking yourself from your thoughts. There were more important things to address than a moment of discomfort. 

“Alright, boys. Now that we’re all here, I have to tell you that we have a small dilemma.” 

“A dilemma?!” Taehyung repeated, blinking at you with wide, concerned eyes. You nodded in confirmation, folding your arms across your chest before continuing. 

“As of right now, I only have one bed for you guys. I’m pretty sure it’s more than big enough to fit the three of you, but I want to ask if any of you are uncomfortable sharing a bed? I know you all had your own back at the shelter, so it would definitely be a change.” 

“I don’t mind! I love cuddling!” Taehyung chimed, unknowingly lifting a weight off your chest. You shifted your attention to the bunny hybrid, who seemed to be in deep thought, eyes squinted, lips puckered as he mulled it over. 

Finally, he shrugged. “Fine with Kookie. Don’t mind.” 

“M–me either. I’m okay with it,” Jimin quickly added, blushing as you smiled gratefully over at him. 

“That’s a relief to hear. I promise that this won’t be permanent, just for a little while until I figure out a better sleeping situation, alright?” You breathed, clasping your hands in front of you, “let me show you guys to your room.” 

The hybrids quickly scurried behind you as you guided them up the stairs and down the hall, before you were pushing open a door. They gasped simultaneously, eyes widening as they took in the sight before them. “T–this is our room?” Taehyung swung his astonished gaze to meet yours. 

“Yeah… do you not like it?” You asked, unable to read whether their reaction was positive or negative. 

“No! I love it!” Taehyung cheered, bolting into the bedroom and pouncing onto the bed. “It’s so big! This is probably the biggest bed I’ve ever seen in my entire existence!” 

“It’s amazing,” Jimin grinned excitedly as he made his way into the bedroom, joining Taehyung on the King sized mattress. 

Jungkook murmured his agreement, “very nice. Very big. Kookie approve.” 

You smiled, watching as they oohed and awed over every little detail of the room, from the dresser to the windowsill seat to the light fixtures above their head. Their amazement made your chest feel light. 

“Well, I’m glad that you like it. You guys can get things to decorate it and really make it your own when we go shopping,” a yawn followed your statement. You hadn’t realized just how tired you’d become. It was a pretty eventful day, if you do say so yourself. But a wonderful kind of eventful. 

“I’m headed to bed if you guys don’t need anything else. But if you do happen to need something in the middle of the night, my room is right across the hall.” You turned to leave, but paused as Taehyung cleared his throat. 

A warm flush was resting on his cheeks, the faintest of smiles on his lips as he stared at you with such sincerity that your skin prickled and your heart picked up, “speaking for all of us… Thank you, Y/n. For everything.” 

Taking a slightly trembling breath, you plastered a smile across your face, biting the inside of your cheek, “Of course. Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.” 

“There are bed bugs?!” 

“It’s just a saying Taehyung. There are no bed bugs.” 

“Oh. Good night then! Sweet dreams!” 

You shook your head in amusement, murmuring a final ‘goodnight’ before you stepped out of their room, gently shutting the door behind you. You plodded across the hall, slipping into your bedroom just as another yawn escaped you. Throwing yourself onto your bed, you groaned as you muscles instantly relaxed. 

“Fuck, I missed you baby,” you muttered, tugging the sheets up to your chin as you nuzzled your head into the thick embrace of your favorite pillow. You know the one. 

In no time you were dead asleep, snoring up a storm as your mind filled with fantasies of living on your own private island. But, this time you weren’t quite alone. Instead, you were accompanied by three beautifully misfit hybrids who seemed to fit right in. An island all alone in the middle of the island might’ve have gotten a tad bit lonely. You were glad they were there. 

“Y-Y/n?” 

Until one of them interrupted your blissful slumber that is. 

“Yes? Huh? I’m awake. Who is it?” You fumbled, jolting upright as your heavy lids adjusted, squinting to try and make out the figure stood in the doorway. It was only dainty enough to belong to Jimin. 

“It’s Jimin,” he identified himself. 

As you suspected. You’re a genius even when half asleep. 

Running a hand down your face in a feeble attempt to draw yourself further from the steel grip of sleep, you acknowledge him with a soft hum, “What’s up, beautiful?” You didn’t have to see him to know he was blushing. 

“I–I… Jungkook accidentally kicked me out of bed and then he spread out and kinda took my spot a–and I was too scared to move him… s–so I was wondering if—” he faltered, fidgeting and lowering his head, “—if possibly… if it’s not too much of a nuisance… if I could—” 

“Jimin, get over here.” You cut him off with a playful chuckle. He gently shut the door before stumbling over to you in the dark, tripping over various items you hadn’t taken the time to clean up. You weren’t expecting visitors. 

The skunk hybrid faltered at the foot of your bed. “You really… don’t mind?” 

“Not at all.” 

That was all the encouragement he needed to climb onto the mattress, crawling up and plopping down beside you. But there was an awfully large space between the two of you, and it made a frown touch your face. 

Sleepy y/n liked cuddles. 

“Do you like to cuddle, Jiminie? Because, unless you’re opposed, I would really love to have a cuddle buddy right about now.” 

You heard his breath falter. Then silence. 

A discouraged sigh escaped you, and you rolled to your other side, facing away from him as you shut your eyes.

“I… I like cuddles.” 

You flipped back over immediately, grinning widely as you parted your arms invitingly, making grabby hands, “then give me some love, sugar.”

The heat radiating off Jimin’s face was palpable as he shifted into your arms, allowing you to wrap yourself around him almost entirely, resting your chin just above his head. You could feel how quickly Jimin’s heart was beating, feel the faint trembling of his body against yours. But the way he nuzzled his burning face into your neck and coiled his arms shyly around your waist told you he wanted this just as much as you did. Small flicks of his ears tickled your under jaw, drawing the corners of your lips upwards. 

You’d long forgotten the warmth of sharing your bed with another. The feeling of comfort that settled in you chest, the sense of belonging. It vanquished any loneliness that had lingered there in nights prior, Jimin taking the place of empty air. You loved it. You loved it so much. 

It was then that you noticed something small and yellow squeezed between your chests. The chick stuffy Taehyung had given him. You bit your lip almost harshly enough to draw blood to keep down a squeal. How much more adorable could he get? Wrestling off the sudden desire to squeeze his cheeks and kiss all over his adorable little face, you drew slow, soothing circles against his back, listening to his breathing grow slower and heavier, until you were certain he was completely asleep. 

“Good night, Jimin.” Pressing a tender kiss to the top of his head was the last thing you did that night before falling into the most blissful sleep you can recall ever having.

tag list: @queenofthecliff @sweetmurder12345 @thatmemechick @abehavedtinychild @twinklestqr @xanny91 @jintrohasarrived @purringpanda @rationalmagic @neocity97 @shelley-hennig14 @catsandstrawberries @brokebinnie @shortpeoplematter @bangtxnbxunch @jinnieseok @sosushy @cottoncandyparakeets @brazilianpal @camilaxpolanco @boononx @enthusiastt @daydreamindollie @kimsamueldeservesbetter @xxqueenwxtchxx @aimee-lucass @maryseesthings @unknownblinkarmy @mrsplisetsky @cliffordmonarchy @serious-addiction

[ascottywrites]

The Sterek List --Heads

I have a guilty pleasure in enjoying Sterek (Heads) and Steter (Tails) fanfiction, if you could not tell by the last post, it's crazy outta control like woah. I hope you enjoy this list of fics that make my day while keeping me up during all hours of the night and tossing my free daylight moments down a swirling time vortex.

 ...don't be like me. It's probably for the best.

           --Sterek a.k.a Stiles Stilinski/ Derek Hale--

  *a.k.a the inappropriate light of my life 

Move A Mountain by ZainClaw (Complete: 9/9| 69,008) --Sterek/ --Biker!Derek 

Stiles goes camping with his friends in New Mexico after graduation where they befriend a biker gang led by Derek: a guy whom Stiles can’t decide if he will be either relieved or devastated to never see again once their week is up.

Racing With The Wind by lowlifetheory (Complete: 3/3| 26,478) --Sterek/ --Biker!Derek

'Sure thing Scott, I'll give him a ride,' Derek practically leered. Stiles faltered, the sudden image of Derek pinning him down, his muscular torso rippling with movement. Derek's smile spread into a smirk as Stiles got closer.

'I'm not really comfortable with this particular mode of transport.' Stiles said clutching the helmet. He wondered what it was made of, how secure it was, would it save his life if he fell off?

'Don’t worry, I know how to handle her,' Derek said resting a warm palm on Stiles's shoulder, fingers squeezing slightly as he guided Stiles closer to the massive hulking black bike.

'I should hope so,' Stiles muttered glaring at the motorbike.

The Feeling That I’m Under by wearing_tearing (Complete: 20/20| 289,584) -- Sterek/ --Biker!Derek Bunnysuit/Paramedic!Stiles

Stiles is a paramedic and Derek gets into a bike accident. It’s kind of love at first sight.

Part of the Pack by JusteAmusant (Complete: 7/7| 13,035) --Sterek 

Season one of Teen Wolf, seen through Sterek-colored glasses. Canon Divergence after season 1 idk there's slow burn Sterek and a puppy, and way more Derek sneaking in through Stiles' window

“He could have shifted in front of them,” Derek hisses. “That means they find out about him, and in turn find out about me.” He pauses. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s a washing machine, what the hell does it look like? It’s a puppy.”

In which Derek is a struggling Alpha, but still the Pack Dad, and oh god, does that mean Stiles is the pack mom?

(There's) Sulphur in Our Blood by WonderWolf (wip: 18/20| 178,650) --Sterek 

"Harris put you on a recon mission with Derek. You. Alone with Derek. On a mission. Together,” Scott says, slowly. “Does Harris want you dead?”

“I believe so," Stiles says gravely.

(Secret Agent AU where Derek blames Stiles for his sister’s death and Stiles is pretty sure that Derek’s going to murder him. As if that weren’t enough to deal with, Stiles’ familiar keeps having public breakdowns. Oh, and there’s a mole in the agency, so there’s that too).

Prince Among Wolves by Rawren (Deshonanana) (Complete: 20/20| 101,000) --Sterek 

Looking for full day/evening sitter. 2 twin boys age 4. Must have exp. w/werewolves. Must be human. No pedophiles. No teenage girls. Pay negotiable.

Pretty Human Virgin Boy Comes to the Pond- Feed Him All the Best Heads by Delta_Immortal (Complete: 8/8| 49,771) --Sterek/ --Dark!Derek 

Stiles knew it was a bad idea to go into the woods, but little did he know his actions would cause the death of everyone around him. Running from the thing that killed Danny, Scott and Stiles stumble upon a pond, which happens to hold a strange man named Derek who floats around in the middle of it. Derek assures them they're safe now.

What appears to be salvation is nothing more than the start of the death of everyone Stiles cares about. The being known as Derek haunts him at every turn, unsatisfied until Stiles succumbs to Derek's whims. Stiles isn't sure if that involves sexing him or eating him, and he really doesn't want to find out.

*This had me like Holy Crap

It Was a Wednesday by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella) (Complete: 2/2| 80,119) --Sterek

What happened? Where are you? What’s that sound?” Derek jumped, having momentarily forgotten Scott was on the phone with him because Stiles had started moving. He’d stalked over to the other side of the cave, still eying Derek warily and growling, then settled protectively over a mass of clothes, leaves and animal innards. It was probably where he was sleeping. Lovely. No wonder he smelled like death. “Stiles,” Derek said, answering Scott’s question. Or, one of them, at least. “Stiles? What do you—Stiles is making that noise?” “Yes.” “Why?” “How fast do you think you can make it to the south lot of the Preserve?”

*Looking for that Stiles whump? 

I'll Be With You Through The Dark by the_misfortune_teller (Complete: 61/61| 138,101) --Sterek

"Me and Scott talk about everything, about all my poor decisions.” “So I’m a poor decision?” “Probably, yes. Considering how you rudely threw me out of your apartment the other day after convincing me to kiss you and admit that I like you." ~ Set post Season 2 finale. Stiles is having a rough time at home and finds himself going to Derek for help in Scott's absence. He doesn't expect for Derek to end up turning to him for support, leading to something more than just friendship between them. Slow, slow, fluffy slow build!

*Based on the spoilers that just keep on coming, this is very likely to be canon divergent for s3!*

I Think the Problem Here is There's Nothing Wrong by wait_for_it (Complete: 1/1| 5,156) --Sterek 

"Stiles wasn’t really sure what was going on, but if he had to guess, he’d say Derek Hale was losing his touch. The amount of times he’d been called out with the guy, presumably to stake out some new supernatural baddie only to have it be a false alarm, was starting to inch into the double digits."

In which Stiles and Derek are dating and everyone knows it. Except Stiles.

The One You Choose by Livinginfictions (Complete: 7/7| 13,440) --Sterek 

Stiles hadn’t seen Scott in over a week, except for glances he caught during school hours.

How I Long For Yesterday by sweetbutterbliss (Complete: 1/1| 6,017) --Sterek

Stiles blinks, his throat going dry, and he moves his thumb without thinking - liking the post. He feels a surge of petty satisfaction. At least the fucker will know he knows now. He stands up, his body feeling too heavy, and he blows out the already guttering candles. He lets out a sob of frustration when the last one won't fucking blow out. But he sucks it back in and bites down on his tongue, using his thumb and forefinger instead.

He throws himself into their empty bed without undressing. He lies there repeating the words 'Derek blew me off for Isaac' over and over. He tells himself to shut up while rearranging his pillow violently, but he goes to sleep with the refrain continuing its painful loop.

And You Say You're Alone by taelynhawker (Complete: 1/1| 30,314) --Sterek

Between the kanima, the Argents, and Peter's untimely return from the dead, everything has fallen apart. Stiles and Derek try to put their lives back together once the crisis has passed. Stiles deals with the aftermath of being tortured, and the distance growing between he and Scott. Derek attempts to become a stronger alpha and keep his pack safe, and that includes Stiles.

Can't Take the Heat? by Ilovesocks_24 (Complete: 15/15| 55,425) --Sterek/ --Chef!Stiles Chef!Derek 

Hi, I’m Stiles, and what I have for you today is…”

“Stop, just stop.” Grumpy Eyebrows interrupted. “That is honestly the worst looking Pasta Primavera I have ever seen. I don’t even want to eat it, it looks so bad.”

Stiles narrowed his eyes. No one insulted his creamy bacon carbonara without even trying it. And no one insulted his creamy bacon carbonara after they tried it either. “It’s actually a Creamy Bacon Carbonara, asshole,” Stiles snapped. “And for the record, it’s supposed to look like that.”

Or the one where Stiles is a new sous chef at Full Moon Steakhouse and Derek is the Gordon Ramsay of all head chefs. So of course they fall in love.

*This is one of my favorites

Love Runs Wild by DevilDoll for neptunepirate (Complete: 1/1| 9,494) --Sterek/ Neckz 'n' Throats

"You've got a hickey on the back of your neck!" A Neckz 'n Throats story.

If I Could Trade Mistakes For Sheep, Count Me Away Before You Sleep by alisaj (Complete: 1/1| 33,383) --Sterek

"Thing is, Stiles," Derek says, his voice hard and unfaltering. "I didn't sign up for you. You just hung around until we got used to you being here."

That stings. He hadn't realised how Derek feels about him. They've been getting on quite well, teaming up on little missions and bantering back and forth without malice. Stiles sometimes lets Derek crash in his room after a big fight, trying not to let on how intriguing he finds the werewolf.

"Well now we can get used to you not being here. You're a liability, Stilinski. You can't protect yourself and we always end up having to help you when we've got more important things to do. You're out of the pack."

or

The one where Derek is a terrible Alpha and Stiles ends up walking into a big pile of shit.

Teach Me How Love Goes by RoseByAnyOtherName17 (Complete: 1/1| 9,482) --Sterek 

Derek asks Stiles to have sex with him. Stiles says no, because he doesn't want to get his heart broken again. Somehow it happens anyways, but really, it's his own fault. He's the one who fell in love with Derek against despite knowing how bad an idea it was.

a taste for the forbidden by demonicweirdo (Complete: 1/1| 5,982) --Sterek 

Stiles narrows his eyes. “I haven’t been doing anything to you.”

“Bullshit,” Derek snaps.

The air in the room grows colder. “I swear it. The only magic I’ve used around you is to make your crops grow!” Stiles takes a step away. “How could you think that I would… You know what? Screw you, buddy. I’m sick of walking in circles around you.” His words are sharp and annoyed, and his shoulders are tense, as though he’s preparing for a fight. “You feel something for me? Wow, it must be sorcery! Because - what? I’m not good enough for your feelings, Derek?” he snarls.

Hello, Heartbreaker by astoryaboutwar (Complete: 1/1| 18,472) --Sterek

It’s a popular joke among Alphas: fuck an Omega, get heartbreak on your hands. Omegas are fragile little emotional things, needy and whiny. Stiles refuses to become that, or to believe that he’s anything like that.

Stiles and Derek have been fuckbuddies for a while when Derek loses his memories of the past three years - and them - in an accident. (Also - everyone's a werewolf, and everyone's alive.)

Bruises and Bitemarks by orphan_account (Complete: 27/27| 121,566) --Sterek 

Biologically, Stiles is weak. When he presented as an omega, he knew that to be the truth but that never stopped him from running his mouth as a defense mechanism. However, it could only save him so many times before he ended up pissing off the wrong person. After he's attacked in the parking lot outside of school, Stiles realizes he can no longer protect himself with just pure wit and sarcasm. When the attack lands him in the hospital, his dad forces him to pick between two options, report the alphas who attacked him or join a kickboxing gym run by omega rights activist and alpha, Derek Hale, a man Stiles has been in love with for many years. *Now includes an extended chapter featuring Nate/Jupiter*

I know that you love me, even when I lose my head by LunaCanisLupus_22 (Complete: 13/13| 135,577) --Sterek 

“We’re not mates, Cora,” he insists. “I mean look at him-“

“Ouch,” the kid says, no longer pushing that shit eating grin.

“He’s- he’s,” Derek tries, at a loss of how to explain why this can’t be possible. Why it shouldn’t be possible. Or the one where Derek gets attacked by hunters, ends up with amnesia and forgets Stiles is his mate