#watching the map of tiny perfect things and having a normal one

[erodingsinner]

you know the part in time loop movies where the character gets fed up about having to relive the same day over and over and just... gives up. stops predicting what people are about to say, stops catching that mug before it falls. gets fed up over every single little thing repeating and just. shuts down. because if the day starts over and over anyway, what's the point of doing anything? and they try to get it to just finally fucking end but it doesn't work because no matter what they do the day just. starts over. that's how I feel.

[c4shm0neyxxx]

“Glass Cage: Part 5 – Almost Normal”

Geum Seong-je x fem!reader | dark romance, emotional intimacy, small town trip, slow burn, someone shows up from the past

⸻

He watches you from across the room — standing by the window, staring at the woods like they’re whispering promises of somewhere else.

So he surprises you.

“I’m taking you out today.”

You turn, startled. “What?”

“Town. A small one. Off the map. Quiet.”

He sets down a folded hoodie and sneakers at your feet. “No one’ll know you.”

You blink, barely believing it. “You’re serious?”

He looks up. Eyes soft, unreadable.

“I want to give you something.”

You ask what.

He answers without words.

Just freedom.

⸻

The drive is long and winding, the road narrow and wrapped in green. You watch the trees blur past the window, sunlight flickering through the leaves like gold. He’s quiet at first, one hand on the wheel, the other resting between you — close enough to touch.

You eventually take it.

And he lets you.

⸻

The town is small. Too small for crowds. Barely more than a gas station, a diner, and one dusty little grocery store with faded signs and empty aisles.

It’s perfect.

He holds your hand like a warning — not to you, but to anyone who might look your way.

You walk beside him through the store, looking at the shelves, grabbing a few things — fruit, snacks, tea you remember liking. Then you drift.

Your eyes catch the tiny beauty section tucked into the corner. Old shelves. Plastic bins of lip gloss, lotion, cheap face masks in wrinkled packaging. Useless stuff, really.

But something about it makes you smile.

You let go of his hand — just for a second.

And vanish around the aisle.

⸻

You’re holding a little blush compact and a pink tube of something when you hear it:

“ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs sʜᴇ?”

His voice.

Sharp. Controlled. But underneath it — panic.

You peek out from the aisle and see him talking to the bored cashier, who shrugs like it’s no big deal.

You step out. “I’m here.”

His eyes snap to yours.

He crosses the distance in three strides. Grabs your wrist, not hard, but firm.

“You don’t leave my sight.”

You nod quickly, whispering, “I just… saw this stuff.”

You show him the little basket in your hands. It’s got three sheet masks, a cheap perfume, two scrunchies, and a bottle of shampoo that smells like strawberries.

He stares at it. Then at you.

Then walks away with it.

You follow him, heartbeat still fast.

At the register, he adds a few more things. Things you didn’t even ask for — a soft brush, scented candles, a compact mirror.

He never asks if you want them.

He just buys them because you touched them.

Because if you want it, it’s yours.

⸻

The ride home is different.

You’re not looking out the window anymore.

You’re looking at him.

He drives with one hand on the wheel, the other resting beside you again — close enough to grab.

This time, you do.

Your fingers thread with his. And then — you laugh. Out of nowhere.

He turns his head, surprised. “What?”

You smile. “I was just thinking how weird this is.”

“What is?”

“I feel… happy.”

He doesn’t speak for a moment.

Then he says, without looking at you:

“You haven’t smiled like that since I took you.”

You squeeze his hand. “You’re the reason I’m smiling now.”

That gets him.

He exhales slowly, like your words knock something loose in him.

⸻

On the way back, you talk more than you ever have.

He tells you about his first fight. His first scar. The day he realized he was capable of hurting someone and how easy it was to never stop.

He tells you about music he likes (he doesn’t admit it, but he likes old love songs), and the time he got caught stealing a bike when he was twelve, and how he broke his hand punching a guy who insulted his mother.

You ask him things you were scared to ask before.

He answers all of them.

Not because he’s suddenly soft.

But because he knows you’re already his — and he wants you to know the man you belong to.

⸻

By the time you pull into the driveway, your heart is so full you almost cry.

He kills the engine.

The forest is quiet.

And you whisper, “Thank you.”

He looks at you.

Really looks.

Like he can’t believe the girl he once caged is now choosing him back.

His thumb brushes your cheek.

And he leans in slowly, pressing a kiss to your lips — not demanding, not claiming.

Just… grateful.

⸻

Inside the house, he puts your new things in his bathroom.

Not the basement.

Not a guest room.

His.

Because this is your life now.

And even the outside world can’t take it away.

———

You sit in the bathroom — his bathroom — on the edge of the tub while he silently unwraps the little drugstore beauty products you picked out.

He opens the strawberry shampoo.

Sniffs it. Blinks slowly.

Then holds it out to you.

“You like this?”

You nod, a little shy. “It reminds me of being sixteen.”

He says nothing.

But when you look in the shower later, the bottle is already there, standing like it belongs.

He placed it next to his expensive soap.

Side by side.

Like you’re already one thing.

⸻

He brushes your hair out on the bed.

You sit between his legs in one of his shirts while he runs the soft new brush through your hair — slow, patient, careful not to tug.

“Why are you doing that?” you murmur.

He doesn’t answer right away.

Then:

“Because no one ever brushed mine.”

The silence settles like mist.

You twist to look at him.

He’s watching the strands fall between his fingers, like they’re silk.

You lean into his chest. “I’ll brush yours tomorrow.”

His jaw twitches.

He kisses the top of your head.

⸻

The next morning, you wake up wrapped in him — arms across your waist, chest against your back, your legs tangled in his.

You lie there a long time.

Not because you’re scared.

But because it feels like home.

⸻

You cook breakfast together.

Which is to say: you try to stir the eggs while he stands behind you like a wall of heat, one hand on your hip, the other covering yours on the spoon.

“Let me help—”

“I am helping,” he mutters, lips grazing your temple.

You laugh.

He still moves like he expects someone to shoot through the windows. Still glances at the door. Still keeps a gun under the sink.

But with you?

He’s relaxed.

And with him?

You’re whole.

⸻

Later, curled on the couch with a blanket over both your legs, you look at him and say the most dangerous thing you’ve ever said:

“I don’t miss my old life.”

He blinks. Slow. Turns to face you.

“You mean that?”

You nod.

“I was lonely. Empty. The world had me, but it didn’t see me.”

You pause. “You saw me. You… chose me.”

His hand comes up to cradle your jaw.

“I’ll always choose you.”

Then he adds — lower, darker:

“Even if I have to burn the world down to keep doing it.”

And you believe him.

⸻

You go to sleep that night in his bed.

His arms.

His world.

And for the first time in your life… you dream of staying.

Forever.

—————

It’s been three weeks since the grocery store trip.

Three weeks of laughter, touches, stolen kisses in the kitchen.

You even started keeping your own mug by the sink.

You started calling it “home.”

He didn’t correct you.

And you thought — maybe the world forgot you.

But the world has a memory like a knife.

⸻

It happens on a Sunday.

You’re in the garden. He let you start one — just herbs and small flowers. You wear a hoodie two sizes too big (his), and you’re humming to yourself when the air shifts.

Footsteps.

But they’re not his.

You freeze.

Then — a voice:

“…[Y/N]?”

You turn.

And time stops.

It’s your friend. From your old life.

The one who cried when you vanished.

The one who swore they’d find you, somehow.

You whisper their name.

They step closer, wide-eyed. “Oh my god. You’re alive. We’ve been looking for you—where have you—are you hurt? What the fuck is going on?”

You open your mouth.

But the truth dies in your throat.

Because behind them—

Silent. Still.

Like death itself—

Seong-je.

⸻

Your friend doesn’t see him yet.

You do.

His expression is unreadable. Not furious. Not loud.

Cold.

Lethal.

Your friend grabs your hands. “We can go. Right now. I have the car. Come on. You don’t have to be scared anymore—”

You pull back.

They freeze.

“…What?”

You glance behind them.

“Leave.”

“What?”

“Now. Before he—before I—please. Just go.”

That’s when your friend finally turns.

Sees him.

And takes a step back.

But it’s too late.

⸻

He doesn’t touch them.

Doesn’t speak to them.

Just stands there, knife at his belt, calm as a shadow.

Your friend looks at you, desperate. “He’s brainwashed you. You think this is love? This is prison.”

You shake your head.

“No. My life before him was the prison.”

You look at Seong-je then. “This is the first time I’ve ever felt free.”

He finally moves — walks to your side, hand brushing yours.

And you take it.

In front of your friend. Without shame.

“You chose him,” they whisper.

You nod once.

“Always.”

⸻

He lets them leave.

No chase.

No threat.

But they leave pale. Shaking. And you know they’ll tell someone. Try to come back.

You don’t care.

You go inside with him. Sit on the couch.

You’re silent for a long time.

Then:

“You’re angry.”

“No,�� he says. “I’m reminded.”

“Of what?”

He turns to you, fingers tightening around yours.

“That this world thinks it can take what’s mine.”

You climb into his lap. Wrap your arms around his neck.

“I told them the truth.”

His jaw flexes.

You kiss it. “I chose you.”

He nods.

“I’ll always choose you.”

⸻

That night, he doesn’t leave your side once. Not to check the locks. Not to patrol. He just holds you.

And whispers, “They can come back. But they’ll never take you.”

And you whisper back, “I won’t let them.”

————

Reading it back I didn’t know it was this long 😭😭😭😭

[myokk]

It's a clear, beautiful summer's day, the type of day that starts out bright and full of birdsong, that ends looking up at the stars and the moon while crickets chirp and fireflies show soft bursts of light. When the air is warm and full of life and the smell of hot grass and lavender and honey permeates everything.

The whole summer had been like that, really. Running outside with abandon, chasing each other through the tall grass deliriously happy and lying down in the fields surrounding their village, watching the clouds float by while they eat cucumber sandwiches. It's the summer before their first year at Hogwarts; the Sallow twins know that their life's about to change and are determined to enjoy their last summer of childhood.

Maybe they're too old for this sort of thing - they are eleven, after all, but both of them know that this summer is a turning point for them and they want to cherish every moment for as long as possible. Their parents have been encouraging them, often sending them out for the whole day, piling journals and ink and quills and picnic baskets full of food in their hands, encouraging them to research and be curious about the world around them as they had always done.

This day, however, their parents are almost eager to push the twins out of the house. Their mum's smile doesn't quite reach her eyes. Sebastian feels nervous about this, but doesn't realize why until much later, when the memory is analyzed and remembered during his dreams. (definitely not while awake). When they leave the house in the morning, she makes sure to kiss each of them on the cheeks which she normally never does and Sebastian pushes her away in disgust, much to his future horror. In the moment, all he can think is that he might still be holding on to the last moments of his childhood, but he's too old to be kissed by his mum.

(but now, Sebastian doesn't know if his memory is faulty and he is adding moments that never actually existed in the first place. the mind is a tricky place)

He never allows himself to think about these halcyon days, the perfect-until-it-wasn't summer before they went to Hogwarts; this day in particular is forbidden to remember. His unconscious mind rebels against his iron will.

They spend the morning looking for the fairies that Anne had dreamed about the night before. She's convinced that it's a prophetic dream and they march around in circles in the little copse of trees - a forest to the two children, who haven't really ventured out of their village - as Anne tries to remember where she had seen the fairies in her dream.

Sebastian is happy to follow her even if (maybe especially if) he thinks it's a futile adventure - what else are summer days for?

They're in that strange junction between childhood and adolescence; desperate to just grow up already and become the people they were always meant to be, and yet just wanting to spend their days being kids, without a care in the world.

"Come on, Sebastian," Anne calls to him, a tiny stream gurgling between them. In one hand, she's holding the map that she drew as soon as she woke up; in the other, boots stuffed with her stockings.

Sebastian huffs as he trudges behind her, arms full with their bags, his shoes, and the picnic basket. Anne had offered to help him carry things, but he refused on principle. Their dad is always doing small things like this for the women in his life, and Sebastian wants to be just like him.

Anyways, Anne has her own role as the leader today, and it won't do to have her bogged down.

And he's eleven, more than old enough to carry everything.

He steps through the tiny creek, mud and slush squishing through his toes, and he smiles. There isn't anything he loves more than being outside, except maybe being outside with a good book.

"Keep your eyes peeled for a tree with a knobby trunk, with lots of knots that look like faces," Anne tells him, glancing over her shoulder, then turns her face back to her map and scrunches up her face. "In my dream, the fairies lived nearby."

They spend the rest of the morning continuing their fruitless search, laughing as they walk in circles, then set up their picnic in the field next to their house.

"What do you think Hogwarts will be like?" Anne asks, a dreamy look on her face.

Sebastian doesn't look at her when he answers. He lies back and stares at the clouds. They've already had this conversation hundreds of times since their Hogwarts letters arrived, both of them have their parts memorized. "Amazing. I can't wait to actually be able to use our magic instead of just reading about it."

Anne rolls to her side and props herself up on her elbow, getting a better look at her brother's face. With a smirk, she says, "I think I'll like Transfiguration the best. I can't wait to be able to turn you into a -"

A huge noise interrupts her before she can continue. Sebastian sees the confusion in her face before he truly registers that something has happened. It's like everything's moving in slow motion and all he remembers clearly whenever he dreams of this day are his feelings of confusion and disbelief and the smell of fire.

There's a huge explosion and the air is full of smoke and he and Anne are scrambling up, the picnic blanket tangled up around their bare feet and -

Hand in hand they run in the direction of the huge black smoke that is billowing up. It coats the air - they can't see anything and the smell of burning fills their noses and the smoke fills their lungs and they're coughing coughing coughing -

Sebastian doesn't want his sister anywhere near the blackened husk of their former house but he is also terribly afraid to be alone. They stand in the middle of what used to be their house, blackened half-walls, charred wood that used to be their table, the old couch they read on every night, it's all smoldering, all gone, the thick black smoke making his eyes water and choking and smothering everything in its wake. His mind can't comprehend what he's seeing. Everything is so familiar and yet so wrong.

He doesn't know how long he and Anne stand there, clutching each others' hands like they are a tether to reality. Which, he supposes, they are. They might be there thirty seconds, ten minutes, one hour, an eternity...

Then, neighbors are running to the twins, coughing, covering their faces in the crooks of their elbows as they conjure blankets with their wands and wrap Sebastian and Anne up and drag them out of what is - was - their home.

This part is always hazy. Sebastian can't remember if he cries. Or if he even says anything. He just stands there with Anne, the smoke thick and oppressive as it pours out of their house. Everything is crumbling apart.

(A hand gently caresses his scalp, fingers light and reassuring as they dance through his hair)

Their neighbors try their hardest to salvage what they can. The daguerrotype that their mother had cherished more than anything, taken a few years before, miraculously survives. Sebastian stares at it, the tiny figures moving and laughing and smiling as though everything is perfect. He wants to throw it and break it or maybe rip it up to shreds but he can't bring himself to do anything but stare.

Their father's wand is also shoved into Sebastian's hand, unscathed. It was found just outside of his father's curled fingers, lying pristine on the ground as if mocking the destruction that it caused.

At some point, their Uncle Solomon, who they've only really seen once a year growing up, shows up with a loud crack and tears through the rubble, tears carving wet tracks through the soot on his face. His voice goes rough with desperation and when he walks up to the two orphans, he is almost unrecognizable.

As if in slow motion - maybe an after-effect of the curse that has destroyed their lives is that the air has turned into molasses - Sebastian watches his uncle stagger over to them. He looks much older than Sebastian remembers.

Later, when Sebastian looks at his reflection in the mirror of his new home, the boy staring back at him also looks much older than he remembers.

Before It Felt Like A Sin, Chapter 14

[starryhyuck]

shining armor. (m) — PATREON EXCLUSIVE

pairing: knight!doyoung x afab!princess!reader

words: 7.3k+

summary: the kingdom has been pressuring you to marry for years, but maybe the best suitor has been by your side all along.

genre: fluff, smut

warnings: panic attacks, creampies, riding, “no guillotine can take away the head i’m about to give him” vibes

this fic is exclusive to the $5 tier on my patreon, which you can access here! below is a tumblr preview

Doyoung has his whole life mapped out in front of him.

His father was a grim man, never showering his child with affections Doyoung used to watch other children receive. He didn’t see his mother too often, as she lived in a house in the middle of town while Doyoung was brought up in the walls of the castle. He learned everything from his father, who stood guard for the king every single day of his life.

His father was the best knight in the country, succeeding in countless wars and protecting the king’s life at all costs. It was only acceptable for the king to award him by assigning his son the task of looking after his only child.

Doyoung had seen you many times around the castle growing up. After all, you were the princess, which meant a stampede of staff and handmaidens followed after you wherever you went. The staff always praised you for being a diligent child, so Doyoung assumed caring after you would be an easy task. He guesses the staff don’t really know how you act behind closed doors.

As much as you want to be the perfect heir to the kingdom that your parents strive for, he knows you would sacrifice it all to have a normal life. You loathe the fancy dinners and constant etiquette classes, as well as the stuffy dresses and tight heels that pinch your toes. You complain constantly to him about the obligations you owe to people you’ve never even met, and the disgruntled remarks you receive regarding your gender. Many people in the kingdom prayed for the queen to give birth to a son, which they still hold over your head as if it was something you could control.

Doyoung admires you more than anyone else in his life. Contrasting the unforgiving figures that surrounded your father, you’re a breath of fresh air for him. You’re blunt to a fault, genuine in your values, and unfortunately for him, incredibly beautiful and mesmerizing.

He doesn’t know where the lines blurred for him along the way. One day, he found himself leaning closer to you when you were off on one of your rants and swallowing a laugh whenever you suggested throwing all of the princes in the world into the lake in the gardens.

The real kicker for him is when the first prince arrived to court you and the nasty jealousy in Doyoung’s chest burst to life. Over time, he learned to control his envy in the public eye as prince after prince traveled to see you. He was left victorious when they all exited with dejected looks, tails tucked between their legs as they realized they wouldn’t be by your side for your coronation.

Yet they continue to prevail, becoming a thorn in his side as he’s forced to watch them attempt to woo you.

“It’s a rare jewel in my country so we do not have many pieces that showcase them. I wanted to bring it for you, however, since a princess as gorgeous as you should own the diamonds that best compliment her,” Jaehyun murmurs as he hands you the velvet box.

Doyoung desperately wants to throw a vase over his head and demand for him to leave. Out of all the suitors that have come into the castle, Jaehyun was by far the best looking and it worried Doyoung slightly that you would be swept up by his charm.

You take the box from Jaehyun, smiling reluctantly as you pry it open. A sapphire necklace stares back at you, littered with tiny diamonds encrusted over the platinum hardware.

“Wow,” is the only thing you can manage to say.

Jaehyun is pleased by being able to render you speechless, and Doyoung’s hand curls tightly into a fist. Jaehyun smirks proudly before offering, “Want me to help you put it on?”

And then, to Doyoung’s chagrin, you nod and spin around, allowing Jaehyun to lay the necklace between your collarbones. Doyoung sees red as Jaehyun happily adjusts the clasp, watching while you glance down and run your fingers over the piece of jewelry.

Your handmaidens who stand next to Doyoung in the corner of the room giggle to each other, excited by the fact that you’re starting to show an interest in the prince. Doyoung scans the room, wondering how fast he can create a fire hazard and force you to evacuate.

“Thank you,” you mutter gratefully. “It must have been quite a task to convince your council to bring such a precious item to another kingdom.”

“It was worth it to see your smile,” Jaehyun replies, and Doyoung holds back the gag in his throat.

Later, when Doyoung escorts you back to your room, he can’t hold himself back when he asks, “So you accept necklaces from princes now?”

You’re a bit startled by his question. You shrug, your fingers still lingering on the glimmering jewels draped across your neck. “It’s really pretty. And I figured if I have to keep spending time with him, I should get something out of it too.”

Doyoung wants to tell you that he can provide you a lot more than Jaehyun can, but he remembers that his only role in your life is to be a guard stationed outside your door. He’s not meant to harbor any romantic feelings towards you. Your safety and happiness should come before anything else, including his one-sided affections.

“It looks wonderful on you, princess.”

You beam at the compliment. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that before,” you say coyly, eyelashes fluttering. “It must be the nice jewels that make me look exceptionally beautiful.”

He has to hold himself back from wanting to take you into your room and profess his love for you. He chooses his next words very carefully, toeing the line of what’s deemed appropriate for a worker underneath your ruling.

“There’s no jewel in the world that could compare to your beauty, princess.”

Doyoung has his whole life mapped out in front of him but he would throw it all away for the chance to be with you.

want to read the rest? access the $5 tier on my patreon here!

[unrepentantweirdo]

Update + Vault 111!

Hi everyone. I'm doing a little better, at least physically. Mentally, the jury's still out.

First, I'm still working on proofreading the next chapter of Defenders At The Crossroads. (Tiny spoiler: Cassie is getting out of the Vault!) I've also started the next chapter, which will be the last time we see RJ until he and Cassie meet. ADHD is kicking my ass, so everything is taking a lot longer than normal. I'm sorry, and I hope to have it out soon.

Now on to the fun part.

When I was writing the next chapter of DATC, I kept running into a couple of roadblocks. The biggest one was not being able to picture the inside of the Vault.

So, in all of my hyperfixating glory, I sat down and made a blueprint of it. Meet my version of Vault 111:

My personal headcanon is that Sanctuary Hills, and Vault 111, are bigger than they are in game. My version of Sanctuary Hills is based off of the neighborhood I grew up (houses were made in the mid-1950s for veterans returning from war). I doubt I will make a map of it.

More about it below the cut.

Yes, it was made in MS Paint. How many hours did I spend? Too damn many. Am I mentally well? No. Would I do this again? Probably not.

The following is a legend of the numbers in each room.

Atrium/Entrance. The mesh on the bridge took a long time to perfect.

Cryo Chamber 1.

Cryo Chamber 2.

Cryo Chamber 3. This is where Cassie and her family were.

Security Room. Their bedroom and bathroom are attached.

Maintenance Room. Contains toolboxes and some of the machines that keep the Vault running. Like Security, their bedroom and bathroom are attached.

Lounge. In the game, this is where you find the security baton and your first enemy.

Cafeteria with kitchenette. Enough room for about half the staff to eat at a time.

Generator Room. Since my version of the Vault is bigger, I added two more generators. Added a table for the makeshift checkpoint by the entrance to the hall.

Storage Room. Always thought it was unusual that the Vault never had a storage area, whether it was for liquid nitrogen/other things to keep the Vault running or storage for the test subjects' belongings. Everything is stored here.

Overseer's Office. Like in the game, the bedroom and bathroom are attached. I kept the cage where you find the Cryolator, and added more file cabinets.

Scientists' Room. This is where the scientists conducted their side experiments to pass time while waiting for the All-Clear from Vault-Tec. Their bedroom and bathroom are attached.

Surveillance Room. Unlike the limited cameras in the Security Room, these cameras watched the cryo rooms as well as the rest of the Vault.

I might add more details and stuff later. If you have questions, feel free to ask! For now, I'm gonna go take a nap since I slept horribly last night.

-Weirdo

[jonathankatwhatever]

Still 30 July 2023. Watching Sweden-Italy Women’s World Cup. I like women’s soccer. Scrappy.

I find myself thinking of the pairing across a normal distribution, but I can’t connect it.

——————-

Getting there. Something about Triangular to the 1, which is the entirety of the naturals, meaning the 0 locates at the left End and we’re dividing that space into progressions or gs counts that fill the space, a finite number of infinite progressions. I’m seeing that construction as the 1 so there must be 2 progressions . I’m starting to see this as the power of defining a gs prime because that 1 carries across all 1’s through the conception that gs construction defines a 1 and the versions which associate to that 1. This then applies in numbers. Or rather, the other way round because it appears in numbers as a way of labeling what is otherwise occurring.

——

It’s now 31 July 2023. Depressed over my house: the credit markets have dried up for development, so my house is fairly priced but there aren’t buyers because the banks are worried they’ll go out of business because of their real estate exposure. Not a good scenario for me.

I believe we’ve approached another holy grail, the union of numbers as labels with underlying gs construction. Let’s see if that works. We got it with e. We left unstated that CR becomes Pi and carries the relationship between a unit circle and an imaginary unit circle. That’s now clear: we construct Pi out of grid squares! That means we fully apply the D-structure model; we generate those gs out of lower and higher dimensions.

I literally just realized how amazing this work is. We put dimensional structure together to make moments, with their tangible and intangible impacts, in a tiny bit of time or over great lengths.

Again, this must be why Kurt was misled: the stationary part is correct because there needs to be an enclosing gs. He must have been seeing the ambiguous states resolving out of more ambiguous states. Or is that me projecting the idea of the Incomprehensible backwards in time? I mean: you can see an ambiguous state, and you can make guesses about what those mean, like when you trace the path of an unstable ‘particle’s’ existence, but you can’t see what generates what you can see. That’s an application of the 2 rule in Triangular over 0. See? With a normal, you set 0 at the left so you have 2 in the space which must pair, which must share to be on the axis drawn through the curve, which represent the polynomial and its Taylor series, etc. All within the ++ quadrant because we set the 0 to the left End.

That simple way of organizing my thoughts works wonders. It means we can say, for example, that probabilities add up because they’re in these quadrants which accompany the ++ we defined by setting the 0.

To finish the thought above about the Incomprehensible, we don’t need to look far to find it. That is, we seem now to be able to define awareness as Boundary, so then anything beyond a Boundary maps as D3-4 to you, which means it fits D4-3 at you because this occurs within gs, which enables all this construction. What this means is that my cat has a different conception of Incomprehensible than me: the Thing of Billy has its intangible character in gs, so it applies to any new situation what it can as it processes the limited nature of what it can do. This even generates the pee and poop incidents because then they’re the result of the attachment of need to frustration at not being let out. You can see the intangible trail left by the actual actions of a cat. That’s one of the reasons they’re so fascinating: you see them think because thought and action in them become one in a way humans experience and thus see as perfection, as the moments when it all makes sense.

So Incomprehensible is a stand-in for uncountability, which means we have a method for describing awareness as making the incomprehensibile comprehensible. That is another version of the way gs creates countability, which means we’ve fully equated the two. I need to think of countable as comprehensible, because that’s true, and that connects it to algebraic numbers, which reside at the level we’ve been discussing.

That is, algebraics make a 1, make a set of infinite countables which is the ultimate gs prime: it’s the 1 which repeats ad infinitum. And then it becomes easier, doesn’t it, to say that you can see this because you are looking at integer coefficients and exponents, so you know each iteration is countable, so each of these forms is countable, then you look at the roots, which means you take advantage of the gs construction to find the roots, and those are the algebraics. I think that makes clearer the two step process, and why we’re counting roots as the minimal construction of the gs construction. Is that clear? Minimal means like a primitive, but I really mean Irreducible.

Seem to have just realized that we have Irreducibles in roots. See how that makes higher dimensions work? Take D5: we have all those one over to the next and those all idealize to the same, which is an Irreducible, and thus the other Irreducible is the ideal form which combines all these perspectives or views. In other words, we take the hat view which takes one side of a gs and makes a bT with it, and the represenation of that, which extends easily to 6, 7, and 8.

Oh, at 5:30AM Billy had a run-in with 3 racoons. I think they were mostly curious about him, but he bolted into the bushes while we all chatted. Then he came in, prostrated himself at my feet and purred loudly for 10 straight minutes. I didn’t know he could purr loud enough to be audible beyond an inch or two.

So as an Irreducible, we have the ideal form which acts as the 1 for all the representations which can exist, such as the hat drawings. And that takes shape as Boundaries and here is where I go nuts because, and this is hard for even me to believe, the essence of the Mission Storyline’s work was pattern analysis, and I have clear memories of the process I’m seeing in my head now, and they’re appearing as Boundaries around each of the hat drawing states. That makes sense because we already view electron clouds that way, and here we see how that forms through D-structure when it includes Boundaries, not just LayerView. Because of Boundaries, we can see ideal Irreducible form. We have connected layers, have overlaid processes, which enable the 1-0Segments, both in ideal and what we might call semi-ideal form, since that encompasses just about everything. Non-ideal tends to be other perspective. As in, I don’t want to be eaten, but I’m tasty to a larger animal.

I’m so slack-jawed gobsmacked that my mouth grew dry. I was thinking about that aspect of the Storyline, and how I needed to see that in maths because otherwise I didn’t see it correctly or made it up, and the idea is that I’m not making this up, that this is a form of decoding of what already exists in which the more we matchy-match in a specifically twisted complementary manner, one which thus guarantees an overlapping ‘skip’ length or what we call an Extent because otherwise we don’t ring as 1.

That this directly connects to the discussion of the Informational Limit from yesterday is mind-blowing.

I need to post this.

[gay-lien]

Whatever You Say, Merc (Carlos Oliveira x Reader) 18+

(I restarted my account, because I didn't realize I was on my secondary when I posted pffft) 

My A03 Account

Concept: Reader is a member of S.T.A.R.S. and, unlike Jill, is skeptical of Carlos. The whole night she's made her feelings known, and Carlos is starting to get a little fed up...

Raccoon City was a crumbling wasteland at this point. Every hour that ticked by, made the idea of surviving the place seem more hopeless. Every body you stumbled past, increased the tension in your shoulders. Every one of those... things that leapt through a window wound you up like a toy. You had stepped over so much rubble and glass at this point, you could feel tiny pebbles in your shoes. 

Currently, you were shadowing Jill, ready and alert in case Nemesis decided to make any surprise visits. That man... Carlos... was close to Jill, and you never took your eyes off of him. You hoped the man could feel your penetrating gaze burning into his back. 

You studied the Umbrella patch on his shoulder, a feeling of disgust building up inside your stomach. Umbrella. You couldn't believe how effortlessly the man had convinced your partner to trust him. You two would be lucky, if the night didn't end with a bullet in your back. Though perhaps you could shoot the bastard, just before you bled out. At least take him with you. 

However, the more steps you took, the more you questioned the man's intentions. It was just you and Jill... alone out here. Did he not trust his abilities enough to be able to take out both of you? Pathetic. 

As you mumbled the word, your eyes locked with the man, and you felt your breath hitch in your throat. Your hand instinctively went to your gun, as you narrowed your eyes at him. You couldn't quite read the expression on his face. Had he known you were talking about him? You held his gaze determined not to falter. 

You were unsure if Jill could notice you two staring each other down, but it didn't matter. You were silently letting the man know if it came down to it, you'd shoot him without any hesitation. That Jill's trust in him didn't at all extend to you.

His expression was somewhat unreadable, and if you didn’t know any better you’d swear his eyes lingered in certain areas of your body, studying it like a painting. The expression he wore was unreadable however, and as quickly as you thought about it, his roaming seemed to stop. Almost like it had never occurred to begin with. 

You relaxed, after he rolled his eyes, his attention going back to Jill. You were pleased to know he looked away first. It instilled a sort of confidence in you. 

As you walked through the wreckage of the area, it slowly started to waver. Part of you felt as if someone... something was watching your little group from afar. Eyes peering out of the darkness, creatures shifting in the shadows waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.

Though you supposed after walking through the city for so long, that was a normal feeling. You hadn't been alone at all that night. Not really. Those... things... were everywhere. 

You exhaled slowly, shaking the feeling away.

Despite being in the subway tunnels, secluded, it didn't make you feel any safer. In fact, you felt more confined... more trapped, between the narrow walls. Without a map, you didn’t know the area fairly well, nor did you know which tunnels would lead deeper or out.

You were thankful… at least in that aspect to have the man act as some sort of guide. Despite this feeling, you knew better than to relax. Him knowing the tunnels, didn’t mean he was taking you to safety. He could be leading the pair right into a trap. 

You took note of anything that stood out, in each hallway you passed. A slanted sign here, an overturned bench there, and a long crack along the concrete there. You counted your steps, silently keeping track of just how many it was since entering the area. How many you’d have to take if the worst came to happen and you and Jill had to turn back. 

Jill is the first to speak... killing the silence.

"You're really not going to say anything at all?"

She didn't have to address you, you knew the statement was directed at you.

"Don't have much else to say, other than what's already been stated. So for the sake of everyone, I'll restrain myself." 

"Yes, because you've been so charitable tonight," the man replied. 

Jill exhaled loudly, shaking her head. Probably because she was already fed up with the clear issues that remained between the two of you. Undoubtedly she was regretting trying to get you and him to talk. 

"You're still alive aren't you?" you snapped back. 

"Oh how generous. I could say the same thing about you, princess."

"That's because you know Jill would put a bullet in your skull. You'd be stupid to attack one of us. Not when we’re both on high alert."

"If I didn’t know better, I'd take that as a compliment." 

Jill groaned, shooting the both of you a glare, before shaking her head. 

"Could the two of you please... just try not to tear into each other. There's enough of that happening already. At least, not until we get out of the city. Then you two can blow holes into each other all you want." 

You said nothing, but pushed past the man, content to be back in silence. The idea of putting a few bullet holes in him gave you enough motivation to not even care that he had gotten the last word in. You felt the muscles in your back tense up a bit, the offer not necessarily relieving of the tension.

You were gripping your gun so tightly, your knuckles were growing pale, as you pressed forward. Jill and the Umbrella merc were filling the silence in their own way, speaking quietly to each other. Knowing Jill, you knew it wasn’t the childish gossip sometimes shared around the Police Department. You still strained your ears regardless, curious about what the two of them could even be talking about. 

As you listened, your gaze once again raked over the man, almost subconsciously. You couldn’t help but take small notes. The way his black shirt clung tightly to his biceps, his green vest hugging against his back, the curve of his spine. How his pants seemed to somewhat hang off of him yet also cling- 

You shook your head rolling your eyes at yourself. You didn’t care how good looking this man was, it changed nothing. The better looking something was usually alluded to just how dangerous they really were. 

Unlike before, you hoped the man hadn’t noticed your gaze. You felt your cheeks flush, as embarrassment crept along your neck. You gulped quietly to yourself, darting your gaze anywhere but at the man. Reminding yourself of who he worked for. What people like him were capable of. 

You focused once again, keeping your eyes from looking anywhere but at the man. You had gotten so distracted now, you’d lost count of your numbers. This of course, only made you more annoyed with the man that accompanied you. It was his fault. You turned to glare at him once more, but were shocked to find the man’s brown eyes already staring at you. Jill was still talking, not noticing that his attention was elsewhere.

His face held a smug look on it, and it was almost like the atmosphere changed. Your breath hitched in your throat, however, you didn’t dare look away. Didn’t give him the satisfaction of making you back down.

You simply returned his gaze with a special look of your own. Your shoulders tensed as your teeth ground together, your knuckles starting to hurt from the tightness of your fingers around the gun. What really got under your skin, was the smirk that graced his lips, after seeing your face. 

How he turned his head away, even seemed like a slap to the face. Despite not being the one to back down, you still felt as if you had lost. You were thankful for the moment to be forgotten, as the tunnel erupted with a low growl. 

You quickly turned, raising your gun. In a matter of seconds, the sound was met with the all too familiar looming face of the tyrant. He was slowly making his way down the hall, easily spotting the three of you making your way around. He was unlike any other virus victim you’d ever seen before. 

“Go! Go! Now!” Jill shouted, ushering you forward. The three of you began racing down the tunnel, not entirely sure where to go from here. The man took the lead, seeming certain of where to go. 

Jill turned once or twice, to shoot the tyrant, which worked about as well as using your hands to chop down a tree. The thing pressed forward quicker, opening its mouth, as it let out an annoyed scream. 

“STARS!”

The only thing it ever said. The creature’s voice was rough and gravely, making your insides squirm. If you guys didn’t come up with a plan soon, you’d be dead. 

Before you could think more, the man is reaching a gate to your right. He presses a button, as it loudly shakes to life, lifting up. You press through, knowing that the gate wasn’t going to contain the Tyrant. Jill seemed well aware of this fact too, glancing around before making a split second decision.

“You guys move ahead, I’ll distract it and meet up with you on the train,” she explained, quickly rolling under the gate as it came to a close. The button on the other side. 

“Jill, are you crazy!” you screamed in protest. 

“Get back here!” the man shouted back. 

You rolled your eyes, watching as Jill called out to the tyrant. Your attempts at getting the girl to come back were futile, and as the Nemesis approached, the man started pulling you back. 

“We have to go.”

You glared at him, but didn’t argue, rushing in the opposite direction that Jill had gone. You knew Jill was a strong member, but even she had her limits. If anything happened to her, you were definitely going to kill the man beside you. 

After what felt like forever, you and the man finally reached a spot that brought you relief. The train. It would only be a matter of time until Jill was reunited with you. That feeling was quickly shattered, once you were reminded of the merc she had left you with. You didn’t dare glance in his direction, making your way on the train.

You froze, after discovering it was empty, half expecting to feel a gun press into the back of your head. He planned this, he had to have. He wanted to separate you and Jill. You weren’t going to back down without a fight.

“You just let her go off like that, this is what you wanted the whole time wasn’t it? I bet you lured us down here, knowing no one was going to be here. You knew you wouldn’t be able to bring us both down on your own.”

The man scrunched his nose up in response, closing the train door. You could see his shoulders tighten, confusion clouding his eyes. 

“Oh jesus… you’re still on about that. Look, whatever personal qualm you have with Umbrella has got nothing to do with me okay? I don’t know what you think you know about-”

You cut him off before he could finish, scoffing, as you shook your head. This man was unbelievable right now. Either he thought he could manipulate you, the way Umbrella loved to do with the general public, or he truly had no clue who he was working for. Both answers made your insides shake.

“What I think I know? How much do you actually know about your company? Do you even know what Umbrella does?” 

“Do you?” he challenged. 

You let out a sarcastic laugh, gesturing to the city. 

“This! This is what Umbrella does, they create chaos and use idiots like you to clean up their mess.”

“Umbrella is trying to do good work, our special forces haven’t done any different than what you STARS have been doing.” 

You rolled your eyes, crossing your arms. 

“Don’t ever compare me to you. You’re just like that thing out there. I bet there’s a number of STARS member’s blood on your hands. Unlike you I have honor and I know what I’m fighting for.”

You weren’t sure what part of what you’d said set him off. Perhaps it was putting yourself on a pedestal. Perhaps it was blaming him for the death of others. Or even questioning his honor. It could be that after hearing so many of your snarky remarks and threats, he was finally sick of it. Whatever the reason, he was now by you in a matter of seconds, pinning you between himself and the train. 

A dark look crossed his eyes, but you didn’t dare back down, holding that same glare. 

“I have tried so hard with you… But you’re really getting on my last nerves,” he growled. 

“Right back at you merc.” you quipped back. 

“That’s not even what we are, I have a name you know.” 

“I’m just calling you how Umbrella sees you. Someone they pay to clean up their messes, an unnamed nobody. An expendable hired gun. A Merc.”

You were unsure why, but the nickname seemed to really get under his skin. His hands pressed tighter against the train, blocking you in, and his lips were pulled into a straight line, teeth gritting into each other.

“Quite it,” he demanded. His eyes unveiled so much  more than the two words, almost threateningly.

“Make me.”

You were startled at how those words seemed to affect him. The air in the room suddenly felt unbearably hot, and you felt small and weak under his gaze. You were startled, when you felt his knee press up between your thighs. 

Suddenly the coolness from the train against your clothed back, felt too cool. His body is so close to yours it sets off a fire inside of you. Your feet, which had been so firmly planted before, were starting to slip, your knees wobbling. It was very clear the energy in the small contained area had shifted. 

After not seeing you resist or pull away he continued, his left hand moving from the train to your shoulder, gently brushing to your back. 

“I knew I wasn’t losing my mind back there,” he whispered, wearing a devious grin. 

Slowly his hand continued, moving down. The only thing keeping it away from your skin was the jacket you wore. The tips of his fingers brushing along your spine sent chills throughout your body. You were thankful for the man’s knee, certain without it and the help of the train you’d have fallen over from his touch. 

“You were checking me out. Is that what this is really about? You can’t stand the fact that you’ve got the hots for someone like me.”

As he spoke, his face came closer to yours, his lips just ghosting above your neck. You closed your eyes in anticipation, your heart racing. You chewed your bottom lip, trying not to give him the satisfaction. It didn’t matter though. You didn’t have to reply for him to get his answer. He already knew. 

You were instantly filled with disappointment, after no longer feeling his breath on your neck. When you opened your eyes, his hand had stopped on the small of your back, and his face was now far away from your neck. 

The merc stared at you smugly, carefully moving to your ear, his voice a low whisper. 

“I have a name…” 

“Merc,” you spat back defiantly. 

You felt the pressure between your thighs slowly slip away, his hand returning to the train. It took everything in you not to let out a noise of protest, your knees shaking. 

“Not the answer I was looking for,” he continued, his mouth so close to your ear you could feel his hot breath. 

You glared back, certain he wanted this just as badly as you did. You held your ground, not wanting to give this man the satisfaction. Not willing to risk your already bruised pride, just from being turned on by this man. 

His arms slowly dropped, as he started to back away, making your heart rate quicken. Such simple movements, made your thighs shake, a desperate voice screaming inside your head. Your skin was on fire, as he turned around. The opportunity was slipping away as quickly as it came. 

“Carlos…” you whispered, not daring to meet his eye. Annoyed more than anything that he had won this little game. 

He seemed to perk up, hearing his name, as he turned back towards you. The man’s hand didn’t return to your back, but he was back to trapping you between himself and the train. You only grew more annoyed with the smug look he wore on his face, as he slowly raised his leg once more. His knee didn’t quite brush along you, but it was close enough you were already starting to ache for him. 

“You say something estrella? I don’t think I quite heard you,” he teased, his mouth returned to your neck. His lips didn’t touch the skin, but you could feel his breath once more, and you hated how desperate you were for it. 

“Oh screw y- Oooh, ah,” you started, but let out a moan, as his knee brushed a little bit into you. Despite wearing pants, they did little to block the sensation. As quickly as the pressure was there, it was released. 

“Carlos… Carlos…” you pleaded softly, stunned by your own reaction. This man had you in a chokehold, and it made your stomach churn. You couldn’t tell if you were angry with him or yourself, but you were feeling too good right now to even care. With everything he was doing, you were starting to question why you had hated the man to begin with. 

“Oh? So now you know my name,” he teased, gently kissing along your neck. You threw your head back in response, letting out your own little noise. In a matter of seconds, he already had you so worked up. 

“Fuck you,” you replied, though the aggression in your voice seemed to fade with each syllable, as he sucked on a particularly sensitive spot on your skin. 

“Mmm…” was all you could manage, surrendering completely to the man’s touch. Your hands carefully snaked around his neck, as he grabbed your thighs, pulling you up. You wrapped your legs around the man’s waist, startled when you felt something through his pants. It wasn’t its presence that made you gasp, more so its size. 

“Working on it,” he replied in a cocky tone, as his hands made their way slowly up your back, reaching underneath your jacket and shirt. 

His fingertips were hot against your cool skin, sending a flurry of emotions through your body. The smell of sweat and blood filled your nostrils, as his hair brushed along your nose. It was the perfect little mess, as your fingers moved up to pull through it. 

He let out a little laugh against your skin, making a pleasurable noise of his own. You couldn’t help but feel satisfied, doing so again. This must be why he kept it so untamed. 

You frowned, feeling the uncomfortable vest pressing against your chest. Carlos was already moving to another part of your neck, the place he had been kissing before starting to blossom a soft red.

As he slowly put you back down, pulling away, he made quick work to peel off your jacket, eyeing the tight fitting shirt underneath. Despite still being mostly clothed, it wasn’t hard to make out the curves of your body. Just studying your form seemed to drive the man mad.

You made quick work, fiddling with the straps on his vest, when he grabbed your hand gently, giving you a challenging look. There was a playful glint in his eye. 

“Eager to see what’s underneath?” he teased. 

You rolled your eyes at the man, dropping your hands to your side. 

“If you’re not going to let me-”

You were cut off, as his hands grabbed your waist, once again pulling you close. 

“You’re not in control here,” Carlos breathed against your neck. 

Before you could protest, you felt his hand slip down the front of your pants, causing you to let out a little gasp. His kisses grew more aggressive, biting your skin a little, as he began trailing up to your jaw. With his free hand, he grabbed your jaw, making you look at him. His aggression made your whole body shake, as you stared at him. Your heart was racing, and you were completely at this man’s mercy. 

“Understand?” he asked, his lips slowly pulling away from your jaw so he could stare at you. 

You nodded, unsure how to get the words out. Before you could, you felt his fingers gently pull your pants down, causing your legs to almost cave. He smiled at the sight, as he roughly pulled your pants off, pushing you against the train once again. 

“Good girl…” he whispered, pressing himself between your thighs. Carefully he grabbed your hands, moving them to his vest. You two made quick work of the item, discarding it like your own garments. 

With the vest gone, you studied the man’s torso. His shirt was so tight, you were certain it would resist being pulled off, but you removed it with ease. Once his shirt was gone, he attacked you again, with a bit more ferality, biting your shoulder. 

As you let out a moan, he used the opportunity to move to your lips, pressing his tongue inside your mouth. Your stomach exploded from the movements, as the noise echoed in his mouth. You could feel his smirk against your lips, pressing against you roughly. You let out a slight groan of disappointment as he pulled away, his hands under your shirt.

At the noise he stopped, towering over you. You felt small compared to him, eyes scanning his face. Despite the fact that he didn’t wear any particular expression, you could see the hunger in his eyes. 

He quickly pulled your shirt over your head, kissing along the top of your breasts. He let out an annoyed grunt, pulling your bra strap down your shoulder. You were surprised at the sound of a pop, as the strap snapped from his aggressive pulling. Either he was really strong or that was cheaply made. 

Either way, the two of you didn’t linger on it, as he made quick work of the other one, throwing the garment beside him. 

Once there was nothing blocking him from his prize, he attacked again, running his tongue along the sensitive parts. You moaned, your body taking the shape of his hands, as your hips bucked in response. Feeling his hot breath against your now exposed skin, made your whole body quiver. You could feel his smug smile against your skin, which made you pull his hair a little aggressively in response. 

It was now his turn to let out a little noise, as he stopped what he was doing. Carlos let out a dark chuckle, his hands slowly slipping down to your hips.

“Oh you’re in for it…” he growled, quickly flipping your body so you were now staring at the train.

Before you could say anything, you felt his hand instantly slip back into your underwear. His fingertips gently brushed against you, touching just enough to garner the response he wanted. Your hips bucked into his hand, as you threw your head back into his bare chest. 

He was pressing careful kisses and bites along your shoulder. His fingers are just barely entering you, moving in slow and broken movements. It left a desire burning, unfulfilled. 

“Carlos…” you groaned in annoyance. The teasing was really starting to get old. “Either fuck me or move so I can-”

You weren’t even sure what you were going to say, as you felt two fingers ram inside of you, in fast curling motions. It makes your legs buckle, your hips shifting into his hand, trying to match his movements. As quickly as he’s picked up the speed, he stopped, his free hand roughly massaging your boob.

“What did I say?” he asks, biting down a little harder on your nipple.

You let out a slight whimper, mixed with a moan, as you feel his fingers moving once again. Despite the man having pretty large hands, they left something to be desired. The pressure of his body against your back was enough to make up for something lacking. 

You hated how easily he managed to control you with just a few touches. 

“Do your job then,” you snarled back in response. 

Carlos quickly pulled his hand out of you, tearing your underwear off in a quick motion. He had pulled at the fabric with such ferocity, there was now a little hole in the side. You gasped, as he turned you around once again, not giving you much time to adjust.

Carlos’s body crashed into yours, as he covered your torso in rough kisses and bitemarks. He was taking his sweet time with you, trailing his tongue along certain parts of your skin. Sucking on just the right parts to give a groan here and a twitch there. When he pulled back, he gazed at your naked body for a moment, that same dark hunger from before lingering in his eyes. 

“I’ve been wanting to see you like this all night,” he purred, hovering over you. 

You rolled your eyes, grabbing his pants by the belt loop, and pulling his waist closer to you. With his shirt off, your eyes raked his body. It was covered in a few bruises, probably from the events of all night. His chest was about as hairy as you’d expected, however as your gaze moved down it thinned out to a happy trail, hiding away in his pants.

“I’ve been wanting to shoot you all night, so I don’t think we had quite the same fantasies,” you remarked back. 

Carlos quickly grabbed your hand, eyeing you. At first, you’re worried the comment upset him, however it only seemed to turn him on more. He held you in his gaze, pinning your arms above your head, as your back connected with the train once again. 

“You sure about that… I think we have been, yours were just a little more aggressive than mine,” he breathed. 

You scoffed, but did little, as he rendered you completely defenseless. You hated the smug look on his face, knowing you enjoyed every second of it. Knowing that you were going mad with the desire at the idea of being his little plaything. He was completely in control, and he knew it. 

Carefully, he let go of your hands, slipping off his own belt and pants. He was moving at a painfully slow rate, causing you to tackle him and land on the seats on the other side. 

Carlos was startled by your movements, letting out a little gasp, before replacing it with a quiet chuckle. You made quick work with his pants, while he laid under you, a curious look in his gaze. 

“It’s about time you took the hint. I’d been waiting for you to pounce on me, since I noticed your lingering eyes back there in the tunnels.”

You rolled your eyes, not even giving him time to sit up, as you slid his boxers off too.

“I’m waiting for you to hurry up-”

You let out a startled gasp, as Carlos’s hands grabbed your ass, turning himself on top of you. Based on the glint in his eyes, he liked making you think you had a little bit of power, only to take it away as soon as you got comfortable. 

Staring up at him in the dim light of the train, made your heart race. Despite being unable to make out every detail on his face, you could still see how he stared at you, ready to claim you as his own. His hands ran along your body, as he trailed kisses down your stomach. You wrapped your legs around his waist, never wanting him to leave. 

The way your bodies responded to each other, sent a jolt through your veins. Your hands, tangling more into that mess of hair. His body was warm against your own, his movements feral. 

Carlos slowly made his way back up, positioning himself just above you. 

“When you’re not staring at me like you want me to die, you’re actually… beautiful.”

“Aww, and when I look at you as nothing but a warm body, you become a lot more bearable.”

You half expected him to say some smart ass comment, but instead your hips jerked a bit, as you felt him slowly start to ease into you. You let out a slight moan, wrapping your hands around his neck. 

“I don’t think I’ve been rough enough with you, if you think you can talk to me like that.” he grumbled, his mouth once again finding itself by your ear, his breath gently grazing it. 

Carlos gently rocked his hips into you, not quite going all the way in just yet. Looking at him, you couldn’t help but blush. While this absolutely wasn’t your first dalliance, this man was definitely the biggest you ever had. 

His hand made its way to your thigh, lifting it to allow himself a better hold. You were growing impatient, aching for his touch. For him to completely wreck your insides. You ran your hands down his chest, staring up at him.

“What, what do you want?” he whispered seductively, no longer even moving in you. The look in his eyes told you he knew exactly what you wanted. He knew exactly what he was doing to you. You smirked, an idea forming in your head. If he was going to get you all hot and bothered you were going to do the same.

Your fingers slowly curled into his hair, as you gave it a gentle tug, leaning forward. You kissed softly along his neck, a smirk forming on your lips.

“Don’t make me beg, merc.”

At the word, Carlos instantly grabbed your hands, pinning you down on the train seat. One hand held your arms above your head, as the other one snaked to your jaw, gripping it.

“You trying to piss me off?” he growled. 

The tone made your temperature increase, as well as that pulsing between your thighs. This man was unlocking parts of you that you didn’t even know existed. Hell, just knowing that you two weren’t perfectly safe drove that desire further. Added to the pleasure of the experience. 

“Depends what happens if you’re pissed-”

You were cut off, startled at how quickly he slammed into you, no longer gently easing in. It made your thighs clench around him, making your whole body squirm against him. The pain was fading, as you started to adjust to his size. 

“You want to test my patience?” Carlos snarled, biting rather harshly on your neck. You were certain it’d leave a bruise. 

“Me-”

You couldn’t even get the word out, as Carlos quickly pulled back, railing into you once again. Your hands tightened around his hair, as you let out another noise of discomfort, biting your lip.

“I’m going to fuck that word out of you

“I’m waiting,” you replied, startled when he stopped once again.

He was completely towering over you, his dark eyes narrowed. You knew exactly what he wanted. What he was thinking about. He said little else, instead pressing his lips rather aggressively against your own. Carlos’s tongue ran along your lips, forcing its way forward. You let out a slight gasp, as he bit down on your bottom lip, allowing him entrance. 

Caught off guard by the kiss, he increased the speed in his thrusts, hitting you in all the right places. The sounds coming from your mouth seemed to echo in the train, as you raked your nails down his back.

The movement seemed to only act as a compliment to Carlos’s work, as he worked his way around inside you. With every hit, you had the breath knocked out of you, a sweaty whimpering mess underneath his large tan body. 

He slowly pulled back from the kiss, his eyes penetrating your skin. It sent such a rush through you, almost as if you were being fucked twice. You loved how he grabbed your jaw, forcing your face to stare back at him. He was smirking once again, as he let out a dark chuckle that made you tingle all over. Carlos’s lips slowly made their way back down your neck, kissing across your chest. 

“You might still call me merc, but I fucked that angry look off your face. After tonight, you won’t be able to look at me any other way, than how you’re looking now. Pleading, as your little body bounces beneath me. I wonder what else I can make you do for me…”

With each little bite, his lips caressing and moving to different sections of your skin, you grew cold and hot all over. His hips were becoming more eager, moving so fast, you were starting to see stars. Mixed with the pleasure of his lips all over his body, you could feel yourself starting to lose yourself. 

As you threw your head bad, reaching just the right moment.

“Ahhh…,” you started moaning, moving your hips along with his rhythm. Desperate to feel his full length against you. “I’m… so…”

“Just scream my name. That one simple thing, and I’ll give you what you want.” 

Simple thing. He knew what he was asking for. What it would mean to you. You had already moaned his name in pleasure once. He wanted you to submit to him completely. To show that you’d listen to his every command. 

“Dick,” you muttered, unable to hold your glare, as your expression quickly twisted with pleasure. 

The moment didn’t last long, his movements growing slow and sloppy. 

“Come on, I know how desperately you want to. You’ve already marked me. Tell me, what I wanna hear,” Carlos replied in a playful tone, referring to the nail marks that ran down his back and the few bite marks along his body. 

“Fuck…” you breathed, aggressively rubbing your hips into him. 

He bucked against you gently, that same smug look on his face. 

“Give me a reason to scream.”

Carlos seemed to perk up at the challenge, startling you. You had thought you’d experienced everything he had to offer, but the way his hips rolled against you made you let out a light moan in surprise. Your hands found their familiar spot along his back, as you scratched at him once again.

“Carlos! Mmm… please I… Fuck I need you.”

“Yeah,” he whispered, continuing to kiss all over your body. “How much?”

You pressed your now hot body against him, loving the feeling of his hands gripped firmly against your hips. 

“Carlos I-”

You were cut off, as he picked up the pace once again, making everything tighten around him. You felt like you were being sent into overdrive, as your hips did a series of spasms in response, overcome with pure pleasure.

“Carlos!” you moaned out again, trailing your sleepy eyes to meet his. His head was also thrown back, as he let out his own series of pleasured noises, his eyes closed. You could feel him twitch inside of you. 

You both were a panting mess, as he stopped moving, his body still completely pressed against you. Slowly, he pulled out, collapsing.

While laying on you, Carlos rested his chin on your abdomen, looking up at you. You were almost taken aback by the softness in his gaze. It was entirely different from the looks he had been giving you moments ago. 

“What?” you finally asked, after sitting in silence. 

He shook his head softly, pressing a soft kiss above your belly button. 

“When we get out of here, we should get dinner,” 

You let out a little laugh, kinda giving him a little yeah sure look, until you saw he wasn’t laughing. 

“Oh my god, you’re serious.” 

Carlos didn’t seem offended, only smiling in response. You liked how his eyes crinkled when he smiled. How his little nose twitched a little. 

“We clearly work very well together.”

“You still work for Umbrella,” you scoffed. 

“So?”

“So… it’s just a matter of time until we’re put on a mission where we’ll have to go against each other.”

Carlos was gently caressing your thigh, a devious smirk on his face.

“I like when we go against each other.” 

“Caros, I’m serious.” 

“I am to,” he protested, doing a horrible job at maintaining a straight face. 

“Carlos!”

“See, you’re actually using my name now. That’s gotta mean something. Why shouldn’t we?”

“Our jobs!” you answered. 

“We’ve already fucked, I’d say that more than already complicates the situation.”

“I’m not going to throw my life away for some casual affair. Don’t you have women from all over the country lining up for you?”

“None are near as fun as you,” he teased. “And a casual affair? You’re no longer calling me merc, which means you no longer see me as disposable.I don’t think that exactly counts as casual.” 

“God, if I had known you’d be this needy, I wouldn’t have fucked you,” you groaned.

“Yeah you would’ve.”

You couldn’t help but laugh slightly, shaking your head. 

“I’ll tell you what, Merc. We make it out of this city alive, and you happen to be in my area, you can buy me a coffee.” 

You were surprised at the little smile that had slipped on his lips, tilting your head. 

“That doesn’t mean anything else will come out of this.”

“Whatever you say princess,” he teased back.

You two were startled however, when you heard the train doors opening. Instantly you sat up embarrassed, trying to recall where the pieces of your clothing were. They had been carelessly scattered all around the train. 

Carlos didn’t seem as urgent, only pouting, as you got off of you. 

Of course, with your limited time, you were unable to get your clothes back on, as Jill popped her head in. Her eyes widened as she quickly looked away, seeing you two. 

“Jesus, really you two? You couldn’t have waited until after we were safe out of the city. God, how could you be so reckless?” 

You felt your cheeks flush at the lecture, however it was short lived, as Carlos gave your ass a soft pinch. You let out a quiet yelp, trying not to alert Jill, before turning to glare at him. He only smirked, handing you back the bra he had broken. 

“I’ll buy you another one,” he purred against your ear, before slipping by and gathering his own clothes. Your heart raced, as you clutched the clothing, quickly redressing yourself. You were not going to hear the end of it from Jill. 

[sirfrogsworth]

I was worried the TV would be too big, but it honestly feels like watching a big movie screen at the theater and it is so immersive. Like you are *in* the frickin movie.

And even in the 2 years since I got my other TV, the picture quality has improved quite a bit. All of the issues I had with my other TV are pretty much resolved. The only thing it can’t do perfectly is deep inky blacks like an OLED screen. But it comes really close and it gets much much brighter than any OLED, so lasers and lightsabers just look soooo cool. Like they could melt your face off.

I am also finally able to notice a difference between 1080p and 4K. Though it is still subtle and I wish people wouldn't think 4K is the ultimate measure of clarity and quality. Resolution has become one of the least important aspects of picture quality.

I mean, our phones can film in 4K. An Arri Alexa cinema camera can also film in 4K. Do you really believe a $1000 smartphone and an $80000 motion picture camera have equivalent quality?

The goal of higher resolutions is to resolve more detail to provide a sharper image. So imagine a tiny tree in the background where the leaves are all mushed together in a blur in a low detail image and the individual leaves can be seen in a high detail image.

What allows you to get that high level of detail?

Teamwork!

You need a really good sensor with a lot of photosites or pixels. And you need a really good lens with a great design and perfect glass. Bigger is better in both cases.

There is this concept called "perceptual megapixels." This is a measurement of how much detail a camera lens can resolve. So if you have a 50 megapixel sensor but a lens that can only resolve 20 megapixels worth of detail... then you are getting a 20 megapixel image.

The dirty secret of smartphone advertising is that while their sensors might *technically* be 4K or 8K or 100+ megapixels, none of those tiny lenses have the resolving power to support those resolutions. That's why a Samsung with a 100 megapixel sensor does not look significantly sharper than an iPhone with a 12 megapixel sensor. And that's why if you took an old DSLR with a 12 megapixel sensor and slapped a Zeiss Otus lens on the front, the image detail would trounce any smartphone.

But honestly, detail and sharpness really only come into play when you are pixel peeping and zooming way into images. At normal viewing distances, pretty much any modern camera or lens is sharp enough to give you an acceptably detailed image.

If you are looking for a quality TV picture, ignore the Ks and look for things like brightness (nits) and black levels (contrast ratio) and color gamut (number of colors) and HDR interpretation (tone mapping). A great site that breaks all this down is rtings.com. They have the most detailed reviews of anyone and they test various aspects of picture quality. You can decide which aspects are important to you and choose a great television accordingly.

[fluffallamaful]

So, Pet Dream AU. How does the reveal go?

I actually really love the heartbreaking imagery of him automatically transforming back when he feels loved and safe, and how he has to stop himself from feeling either of those things if he wants to actually keep them. (;-; That’s so sad, what.) But it’s also worth mentioning that he IS stuck like this for a while regardless, so while he might transform back for a few minutes or so, being a little blob is kind of…not his choice rn. Which means he will be helpless if anyone decides to hurt him, and he knows it. (Also he really does need to stay in this form for a while as he recovers. He’s probably planning to transform back as soon as he feels like he’s able to not collapse instantly anymore, but that would also be something that would hurt him even more.)

I kind of like the idea of him shifting back in front of everyone, overwhelmed by how much they obviously care for him — only for them to stare at him in shock and the panic making him instantly revert back to being a blob, instead of only after the initial feeling gradually subsided. So now he’s a tiny helpless blob in front of a mob of people with every reason to punt him across the map.

Of course he books it, what else is he gonna do?

He doesn’t make it far, though. Not because he’s not a good hider, but because he’s simply not in good shape. He’s still pretty malnourished, as well as heavily injured, and he’s been sedentary in a closed box for a year. Not to mention that he’s devastated. He had everything he’d wanted for years, and he ruined it! He wants to scream, curse, kick himself — but mostly he just wants to cry.

Meanwhile, everyone is freaking the fuck out because what the hell was that? Probably a whole host of emotions is going on right then, for everyone. But…eventually they actually start to use their heads, and realize that — wait a minute, the little blob — Dream — wasn’t acting like they’d normally expect Dream to act. Dream had been helping them as a blob. He’d point out flaws in a paranoid Tommy’s base defenses for him to patch up. He’d nuzzle into Quackity’s cheeks whenever he stayed up at night crying about Charlie and also his lost loves, using his fur to dry his tears. He’d play fight with Michael, gently and happily keeping the toddler occupied as Tubbo and Ranboo watched with amusement from the sidelines. And sure, maybe some of that could have been manipulation — but all of it? It just wouldn’t make sense.

Maybe Punz spills the beans, or at least some of the beans. Maybe he tells them that Dream just wanted his family back, and that he had a plan for it. Maybe he dips a toe in the water to see how they react. Nobody knows what to think anymore, but they all decide that they should at least TRY to find him. Especially because it has started to rain.

Quackity’s the one to find him. Again, Dream hadn’t made it very far. He had ended up hiding under some bushes, wet and shivering and obviously very distressed. And sure, Quackity doesn’t like Dream. Quackity made it his goal to torture Dream to the point where the man would rather commit suicide than live another day. But Quackity loved that little blob, and the image of that little white blob soaked with rain and crying in little distressed chirps — he just can’t stand it. So he talks in that little soft voice he’d reserved specifically for the little blob, and he successfully coaxes him out of his hiding spot, and he finally manages to pick him up and cradle him in his arms before sending a note to everyone that he found Dream, and that they’ll be at the community house.

i’m going to burst into actual tears like the plot twists and the ducking rain and omg your story telling skills are incredible and i am as distressed as a tiny wet weakened blob rn omfgggf /pos

(discussions wnsjcjxjwhwb)

🦙🦙🦙…

HIM TRANSFORMINF AND THEN STRAIGHT AWAY TRANSFORMING baCK is perfect 😭😭 that’s so sad because he’d be so mad and upset that he had ruined everything but also so incredibly scared :(( and once again he runs but by his luck it starts rAINing 😖

perhaps the first reactions from everyone is to actually run after him, but it’s punz that holds them back — purely to ensure that they’re not running to harm him. he explains dream’s situations and the reasoning behind his blob transformations,, and takes a lot of the blow of peoples anger and confusion (let’s them all yell at him purely so they don’t yell at him)

meanwhile quackity’s the one that branches off, wandering off in the rain to search for the little white blob that he has grown so attached to. it is virtually impossible to imagine sharing the same vulnerability with dream that he had shared with this little blob. but if the human dream that he had despised for so long truly had a softer, genuine side to him,, then quackity felt that it was worth it to truly find out and understand. and more than that, he feels that dream is worthy of help

he finds dream in a bush, not far away from where he had started running at all (cries 😭) and takes a seat next to the bush to monologue to him lmao. but like explaining how much dream has helped him, and asking him why dream did it? was it manipulative? did you actually want to help? was he being used? he’s still soaking wet in the rain, his beanie has just about soaked through and he can barely see through the raindrops on his eyelashes

eventually dreams shivering blob figure manages to drag itself out from the bush,, . hesitantly. his head is dropped in shame, and he is saturated. he looks up at quackity with the saddest most heartbreaking expression quackity has ever seen, and produces a whimpered chirp that quackity absolutely recognises as an apology. he looks pathetic, and quackity has no choice but to scoop him up. he simply cannot stand the sight of the blob that had created so much joy for him, being so broken and scared. he tucks him into his dress shirt — wincing at the feeling of his cold, wet body against his skin — and carries him back to the community house

he dries dream off and feeds him soup fzgshbvkxks. he speaks to him and unloads all his feelings. he laughs when dream tries to consume his complimentary bread roll whole. they light a campfire on the community roof once the rain stops. quackity holds dream up in his palm so that he can appreciate the view of the server better. quackity can’t stop asking if this is truly what dream wants, to get along like this, no tricks or strategy. dream makes it clear that he does. he proves his point by leaping up to nuzzle into quackity’s neck. quackity giggles and calls him a little fuck,, and then catches him and wiggles his own finger around dreams neck.

they stay up on the rooftop all night, knowing that by morning the rest of the server would find quackitys note and would be on their way to confront dream. quackity has already made up his mind though :’)

🦙🦙🦙…

[i-drop-art-in-your-asks]

NONONONONO this is the perfect way to describe Tumblr sirens...

Just imagine it!!

One afternoon, in an old ass looking tavern in the virtual world, a grizzled old Entity (gender is irrelevant in this reality) sits on a bar stool, hunched over a basket of deep fried memes and a half gallon pitcher of stolen tiktok videos that a steampunk stylized bot has set in front of them. They sit bolt upright when they see the neon sign behind the bar that reads "New User" light up.

You ignore them as you reach the bar and take a seat. "Uhh, can I get a bit of Fresh News, please?" You say nervously as the being at the other end of the bar looks at you with the eyes of a deranged beast.

"News, huh?" The Entity is suddenly right next to you. They're so close that their shoulder spikes are clipping through the back of your neck. "That's the last thing you're gonna find at this site, bucko this is the Anti-Social end of the Web."

You count yourself lucky that they didn't force-reload you as you back up a bit. "Anti-Social? But I thought--"

"What you think and what is, are several different things here on the Web..." They cut you off. "Sure, the High-Devs want you to think the Media here is Social... But that's about the only thing here that is."

They watch the thinking indicator over your head as you struggle with finding a valid argument. Unfortunately, you have to force yourself to give up before you buffer out.

"You seem like a good kid," the Entity says, now back to being a comfortable enough distance from you. "I'll let you in on a secret..." They pull something out of a pocket behind their ear, you think that it's a strange place to have pockets, but quickly remember that this is the Web and nothing here is normal so it doesn't matter where someone has pockets... "Here's a map of this end of the Web... Just... Try to steer clear of this area."

You look at the spot on the map they are pointing to... It's a jungle-esque mass labeled "Tumblr". The mass is surrounded by little pill-shaped creatures with mermaid-like tails and red lights on their heads. They easily grab your attention as the Entity snaps their fingers in your face.

"Kid! Wake up, kid!" Their gaze follows yours... "Ugh... Those little beasties..."

You look up at the being, "What are they?"

"Tumblr Sirens," they reply with a tone of voice that indicates a lot of mixed feelings about the creatures. "Special users who reel newbies, like yourself, into the Tumblrverse..." The Bespiked Entity sighs and returns to their seat. "They traverse the Web, spreading voiceover videos of posts that are actually pretty funny... Then you begin to get addicted to the laughs you get from them, their voices get stuck in your head and become the voice of your inner monologue... And, once you've seen enough of the videos, you become entranced and start seeking the land of laughter... Only to find it's a wasteland of Flaming Horse Plinko and Vanilla Extract..."

The entity stares into their pitcher of Stolen Tiktok Videos. A dark shroud suddenly covers their eyes and you realize that they were one of the poor souls sucked into the Tumblrverse...

"There's more to it, isn't there?" You ask as the bot finally brings you a tiny sample cup of Bitter News with a tiny sticker that reads "XTRA DEPRESSING!!!"

The Entity shakes their head... "Don't worry about it... But when you're traveling here on the Web and you hear 'beeeee-doe beeeeee-doe', you better jump Tabs and get to a SafePage before the Tumblr Sirens show up!"

The Entity logs out of the tavern, before leaving, they buy you a shot of Liquid Reality. "Take this, might be your only lifeline if you find yourself in the Tumblrverse. You take care now, kid."

"Wait! I didn't get your --" you turn to look for them, but they're already gone. "Username..."

Oh great and terrible Tumblr siren, you do a good job. I'm on Tumblr now.

We got another one!

(I know you meant the mythical singing creature siren, but I couldn't resist this silly gif. XD)

[djarrex]

So I was wondering, how was rex and reader first kiss, and also the first time they’d slept together? I loved that story about how they met!! I’m genuinely curious

!!Yessssss :’)

Ok, so for anyone who hasn’t read their first meeting/first date, I’ll link it here. Previously, I had included a little bit of their first date in one of the main installments/chapters as a flashback scene during Priya’s birth and you can find that here.

Find the rest in the Post-Order 66 Rex ML

I’ll pick this up from when they’re riding in the taxi on the way to reader’s apartment (from flashback scene found in second link)

18+ only! dry humping, heavy makeout sesh, groping, non-descriptive sex, piv sex, maybe just a hint of ‘first time’ awkwardness but... y’know. overall, Rex is a caring sweetheart. about 2.9k words #Carried Away

<<<>>>

The back of Rex’s hand, the gauntlet plate, that is, lands on your bare thigh - his gloved palm upright and waiting, fingers relaxed. You can’t help your wide smile that grows upon noticing the gesture accompanied by his unsure, yet confident expression as you gladly lay your hand within his - fingers locking into place. 

"Is... this okay?"

So considerate, appropriately cautious, cute.

You lock eyes with his, making it a point when your tongue barely darts out to wet your lower lip while giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. His lips curl at the corners - a little chuckle seeping through his nostrils before turning his head to watch the streaks of lights fly by outside the transparisteel. The ride isn’t very long, but it’s nearly silent. It must be late enough for the driver to have long surpassed the point of wanting to engage in light conversation, thankfully so, and the music is turned down to the lowest volume - just light pulse of a beat coming from the tiny speaker. The whir of the vessel gliding through the air lanes hums throughout the interior, along with the heavy beat of your heart in your ears. Your fingers stay intertwined with Rex’s the entire time. At one point, briefly, his thumb started to absentmindedly brush back and forth over the thick knuckle of yours, and caught himself when the the taxi slowed to halt as it pulled in front of your complex.

Rex scoots out first - extending his hand towards you and helping you out of the seat and onto the duracrete. As you lean into the taxi’s opening to toss the driver some credits, Rex watches the way you move - the way even the miniscule muscles flex underneath your form-fitting dress and with the movement of what skin is exposed. A sudden breeze catches him off guard when that familiar scent of lavender coming from your hair hits him just like it did back on the dancefloor. His own heart is pounding uncontrollably beneath the protective shell of plastoid, though he’s sure you can hear it. Your hearts mirror one another’s tonight - anxious, eager, sure, ready. 

It's quiet after the taxi speeds off. It's late, and the two of you stand just outside the complex entrance in silence, facing one another and staring deep into each other's eyes. There’s a whole bunch being said, without any words actually being spoken. It’s insane the way Rex is just pulling you in without laying so much as a finger on you right now; his gravitational pull is far too strong for you to resist, not that you’re trying to resist. You want to get dragged into his orbit, burn up upon skirting through his atmosphere. That connection... it’s so noticeably there and it’s making your legs weak - weight settling in the back of your head, pushing you forward and closing the space between your faces. You know it’s affecting him just as it’s affecting you. There is no escape, though neither one of you is trying to flee. 

“Is... this o-” 

Rex is unable to echo his question from the taxi once the remaining space between the two of you quickly vanishes. When your lips meet his for the very first time, something just clicks - like two missing pieces from a puzzle that you didn’t even know were absent have just come together and completed it, effectively ending its drawn-out hiatus. You’re sure there are better analogies out there with deeper meaning but it’s hard to think with how wrapped up in him you’re becoming with something as simple as a ‘first kiss’. Your arms flying to wrap around his neck, Rex pulls you closer - his fingers gripping the fabric at your hips and holding you close. A heavy breath escapes from him and you take the opportunity to poke your tongue out to be immediately greeted by his own. It’s medium-paced; not desperate nor casual. The dance you share with the light clashing of teeth, the rhythm that’s set with every little movement of the muscles in your mouths - it’s just right. 

When you move to break away, panting, your eyes quickly dart to the building standing tall to the right of you before they quickly return to his. An overt cue... 

“Do you wan-”

...One of which Rex takes swift action.

“Yes.” Rex didn’t need for you to finish that line; he was already way ahead of you, and was somehow starting to believe you’d never ask. Any nerves of his have long since vanished, as well as any notion of sleep - other, more exciting things urging him on. He knows where he’ll be waking up in the morning, and it’s not on that bedroll in the barracks that he was practically dreaming of back at 79′s before he’d laid eyes on you. For once, the clone captain will allow himself to indulge in what this night holds. 

The two of you are unable to keep your hands to yourselves during the brief ride in the lift up to your floor. Rex holds you impossibly close, hands pressed into your lower back and practically carrying your floating body through the corridors until arriving at your front door; you’d murmured the directions into his lips along the way. With your back pressed against it, your hand swings behind to blindly input the access code. After a few incorrect entries before hearing the musical awarded access, the door slides open, and your fingers wrap around the dip at the top of his cuirass - pulling him to follow you in. You make it as far as the couch, pushing him down to sit as you descend with him, your mouths staying connected in the process. Rex sinks into the cushions, and his hands begin rove your body experimentally from where you’re straddled over his armored lap. You’re melting into his touch, rocking yourself over the hardness of his codpiece, letting the curve of it rub into your clothed heat as his lips trail wet hot down your chin and jaw.

Never had you previously allowed a night like this to get as far with anyone else. 

“I don’t...” Rex pauses as soon as the words leave you - lifting from your neck and meeting your eyes with a flash of concern sinking in his own. “I don’t usually do this, uh, sort of thing,” you elaborate quickly, your hands gesturing to the current situation - nervous, for some odd reason, even though your mind is very made up. His expression softens and a sweet smile creeps on his lips as he traces your own with the pad of his now bare thumb - the touch featherlight, admiring. “I just- just thought I should clear that up.” You’re not sure what it is exactly that you’re clearing up; perhaps you’re afraid that Rex thinks you’re one of those clone groupies, a woman who frequents 79′s to show her appreciation for the brave soldiers of the Republic. Or maybe that you’re someone who often fucks on the first date, just to be casted aside in the morning or the one who does the casting aside. The look he’s giving you, though, as he gazes up at you with something within his eyes that you can’t yet translate, is leading you to believe that he doesn’t put you into any of those categories - didn’t, from the very moment he’d laid eyes on you.

“Mesh’la,” he breathes against your jaw - the foreign-sounding word completely unknown to you but making you clench all the same - the shape of it forming on his lips and pressing into your tender skin. “The same goes for me. I... don’t wanna do anything that’ll scare you away.”

“And here I am thinking that I’m the one coming on too strong too fast,” you jest. Sure, it has only been a single, incomplete night of knowing him, but as silly and cliché as it sounds, it honest to Maker feels like you’ve known him forever. Normally, you’d conclude that allowing yourself to think that would more than likely end up biting you in the ass in the near future, but you truly don’t think that would be the case this time. Not with him.

“Rex...” Breaking from his lips for a breather and cradling the curve of his cheekbones within your hands, you look deep into his kind eyes, searching for the answer to the question you have yet to ask. “Have you ever...?”

“Yes, yes. It, uh, was always quick... when I did.” Rex chews his cheek - his brows pinching together in unwarranted contrition. “I’m sorry,” he sighs.

“For?”

“I don’t want you to think-”

You cut him off with the hard press of your lips to his - grinding yourself down on his lap with a little more purpose. Anything he was about to say, any inhibitions, dissolves like sugar inside your mouth. Minutes crawl by. Maybe longer, you’re unsure; too lost in this milky euphoria to give a damn about something as complex and currently unimportant as time. Your body is on fire; the heat that radiates from his flesh even from under the armor envelopes you in a different kind of warmth. You find your own hands mapping out the parts of his body that aren’t shelled by a plastoid exterior, landing on the piece that you’ve been grinding yourself on since arriving.

“Can I take this off?” Rex peers down at your hand laying over his codpiece; his perfect pout glistening, eyes darkening - the black orbs nearly swallowing the warm honey they reside in as he begins to look you over. 

“Please.”

If it wasn’t already a known fact that you’d never done this with someone like him before, then the way your fingers fumble around the plastoid in a blind search for the clasp - or whatever is holding this Maker forsaken thing in place - sure as hell gives it away. Sensing your evident struggle, Rex’s hand brushes over yours and the hindrance is unfastened in an instant. You raise a brow at him, and he only grins as you lean down to kiss him again.

Rex stands - your arms and legs squeezing him as he walks you to the bed, his erection teasing with its firm press against you. Laying you down on your back, he watches as you shimmy off the rest of your clothing. His breath catches in his throat upon your removal of your bra, eyes widening and fingers drumming at his sides, and you have to urge him to unfreeze so he can finishing undressing and join you.

“I... really want this,” he informs through heavy breaths - a hint of sheepishness engrained within the gruffness - finally moving to climb on the bed between your legs after stripping nearly everything from him and stacking it all in a neat pile. “You. Really want you.” You smile - the gleam reaching your eyes - and grab his arm to pull him on top of you. He’s still wearing his under-armor bottoms, and your hand shamelessly trails down to palm at the hard bulge from above the skin-tight material. 

“I want this too, Rex. You.” He groans - husky and deep - taking a few moments to relish the way your hand feels as you massage him before making quick work to remove the only thing that’s left covering his beautiful body.

It takes you by complete surprise - his extraordinary size. The way it was trapped within the compression bottoms was totally misleading. You swallow a clump of dry air - your tummy tingling and heart racing at the sight of him now completely nude and in the process of climbing back into position. 

“Maker...”

You say the most prominent and immediate thought out loud, causing him to stop in his tracks.

“What? Is everything okay, is- is this okay?” Rex becomes mildly frantic, concerned - just about to climb away but you grab at his shoulder, fingers pressing into the toned, corded flesh where it curves into the base of his neck at the back. 

“Yes,” you sigh - astounded. “I just... you’re, um...” Your eyes remain glued to the erect, throbbing appendage standing at attention between his legs, noting how it curves slightly upwards at the tip and is aimed at your clenching heat. “You’re big, Rex.” When your eyes flicker back up to his, his brow is raised and his lips are pressed into a thin line. Like he doesn’t already fucking know how well-endowed he is. 

Shutting your eyes and sighing quietly, your face stings from the sound of your breathy voice uttering out such truism. He shifts his weight between the arms that are caging you in on either side and looks down at himself - considering. 

“I - uh-”

“It’s okay,” you chuckle with a quick nod of your head as you spread your legs wider with a slight roll of your hips. Your mound briefly brushes the hot, velvety skin along his shaft when you lift your hips again. Your abdomen involuntarily tightens upon noticing the length of him hovering over you, practically marking how deep inside he’ll be.  “I need you, Rex.”

You learn quickly that you needn’t repeat a thing to an esteemed captain of his merit. 

He prepares you, like any true gentleman would, getting your body ready to accept him fully. Licking, touching, sucking, prodding; it’s all so exquisitely slow, intricate, surprisingly good for someone who has had little to no experience in the arena of foreplay. Thick fingers work you open in deep, pleasant strokes - his knuckles knocking into the most tender and pleasurable tissue with every pass. Rex’s lips go from attending to your breasts and trailing along nearly every inch of your skin before reuniting with your own. He inadvertently works a mild orgasm from you from his delicate tongue and purposeful touch alone - the build-up a soft crescendo until you’re moaning his name in the most breathy voice you’ve ever entertained.

You’ve never felt so safe and cared for during moments like these; now is a whole different experience than what you’d encountered in the past. You don’t have an extensive list of previous partners, but all of the ones who had made your short list were boys. Immature, needy, desperate boys. Boys who could never compare to the man who’s currently breaching you with a very gentle roll of his hips laced with all the care in the galaxy. Not to mention, his size. In that alone Rex is unmatched. 

Your lips barely disconnect; the soft whimpers and moans shared between the two of you are breathed into one another and swallowed. You’ve never experienced anything so tender yet deliberate at the same time - the combination of soft meeting its opposite making your head spin and toes curling. Nails forming small crescents indenting into his skin, you hang on to Rex’s broad shoulders as he rocks into you. It’s a steady pace he sets right from the get-go and he keeps that all the way up until your second orgasm flows through you, consequently causing a hint of resistance put up by your clenching walls, affecting his length’s repeating reentry. Not much is said, but a lot is spoken through eye contact. Neither of you want this to end, but when it inevitably does, you’d want to do this again. You want to do more than this; you both want to see each other again. When he finishes, it’s the gravelly, drawn-out groan falling out of his throat that causes you to see the stars from where they’re hung outside Coruscant’s orbit as if you’re sitting directly in front of them, just an arm’s length away. 

You’re cleaned up in such a meticulous and tender way that only Rex could provide. He falls to your side - taking you with him as his strong arms wrap around your torso. It’s insane; the way you fell into each other earlier this evening is comparable to fate itself. You think you’re going crazy, that you’re feeling all these things only after having known Rex for less than several hours, that you’re diving into something too hard and too quickly.

“Do you feel it, too?” 

You don’t know what possessed you to ask him instead of keeping it locked up in your buzzing mind, still keyed up from the best sex you’ve ever had, but it’s out there. Unable to see his face from your position, your heart starts racing with nerves, and in the several moments of silence and lingering regret, you mentally curse at yourself for being so forward.

“Yeah,” Rex says with a soft smile evident in his tone - a huge weight being lifted from your shoulders and tossed aside. “I do.”

With that, his arms hold you just a little tighter and he places a chaste kiss on your temple. It’s not long before the sound of soft snoring fills the otherwise quiet bedroom, and minutes later you’re right there alongside him - content, fluttering heart and all.

<<<>>>

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[thesunicarusfellfor]

Hey!! I love your writing. Can you do a Yandere! Ranboo, Tommy , and tubbo. where they are all in love with the reader and they kidnapped her to ‘keep her safe’ and the reader doesn’t know at first, then she slow realized they are obsessed with her. she like them back but she also want to live her life, so she tries to make agreement? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.

The Ranboo gif is just beautiful and I love it. Lemme see what I can do for ya! I wrote a bullet point Platonic fic if that's fine? I'm still worried about writing the minors in romantic relationships, even if it's the characters.

Sorry, it took so long... My burnout got really bad and I refused to even write basic stuff. But I'm back now! Well. Mostly.

Safe Behind Glass (Yandere!Plat!C!Bench Trio x GN!Reader)

You were a little groggier than normal when you awoke, but it was nothing to alarm you immediately.

Just simply brushing it off as you weren't feeling the best that day, you rolled over to fall back to sleep, but quickly noticed something wrong.

It didn't feel... Right?

The blankets... The mattress... The pillow... They weren't yours...

You peeled your eyes open and your expression went blank with fear.

The room was beautiful mind you.

But it wasn't yours either.

You were laying on a fluffy (f/c) canopy bed, surrounded by quartz walls that were dimly lit soul lanterns that prevented you from being completely swallowed by darkness.

Slowly dragging yourself off the bed, you heard a metal 'clunk' that hit the cold quartz flooring below you.

Turning your head to face downwards, you saw that a decently thick metal chain was cuffed to your ankle.

Somehow, your panic became worse as you immediately grabbed onto it and started to yank on the solid metal, but it refused to budge.

You had no idea how many minutes or hours you spent in that room. Reaching at the iron door desperately, yanking at the chain around your ankle that kept you from reaching the exit, searching the blue lanterns for anything...

But then, the white metallic door slowly swung open, revealing Ranboo, Tubbo and Tommy.

You weren't that close to them, save for a couple interactions here and there, but hey, they came to save you! That didn't matter in the slightest!

You almost cried upon seeing them and moved to walk over, but the chain stopped you from reaching them, and you noticed that they weren't moving to help you.

"You're awake!" Tubbo chirped softly, his tan goat ears wiggling with joy, "I'm glad the potion didn't stick for too long... You could've wound up starving if you stayed asleep."

Horror slowly began to set into your heart as Ranboo nodded and walked over to the dark oak table in the corner of the room and set down a basket of food.

"Ran...Boo...?" You whispered, watching as the monochrome male turned and curiously tilted his head in your direction, "Why... Am I here?"

Instead, Tommy stepped in front of you with a bright cheesy smile, the same one that resembled when he would find a new disc or start a new adventure, "For your safety, (N/n)!"

"Safety?" You choked out softly, Ranboo quickly guiding you to sit in the oak chair, "But... I'm one of the richest people on the server... I have god armour... Nothing could kill m-"

"Techno and Dream can." Tubbo interrupted sharply, halting you mid-sentence.

Right... That masked man... Or whatever he was... He was extremely dangerous, as well as Techno. They could likely pierce your netherite chest plate without even flinching at the number of thorns you had enchanted.

"We don't want anyone to bring you any harm... There's no problem with that, right, (Y/n)?" Ranboo smiled, flashing his sharpened teeth unthreateningly.

No... You wanted to say, but you wanted freedom! You wanted to expand your house to the size of a mansion! You wanted to bicker with Quackity about the stupidest of things! You wanted to get building advice from Phil!

Not be locked away because your safety was a tiny bit compromised!

"Tommy... Tubbo... Ranboo... Please, I'm not going to just stay locked away because I-"

"You'll see things our way soon... Eat up, get your rest." Tubbo smiled and gave you a hug, ignoring how you froze suddenly, before turning and skipping out of the room with the taller two following behind him.

Despite... How screwed up the three were with their methods of making you be their friend, it was working...

They were actually incredibly friendly and funny. It made life in capture bearable! Even though you were incredibly snappy and cruel to them in the beginning, they never held it against you.

Although... Despite their kindness and your quickly blooming friendship, you still had a craving to go outside. Even if what the three told you about everyone forgetting you existed was true.

"You look sad, (N/n)..." Tubbo murmured softly, watching you stare off into the blank quartz wall, "Are you okay?"

Tommy straightened up from his handmade scribble of a map, turning his head towards you in confusion. Ranboo stopped writing mid-word likely and looked in your direction as well.

They never liked it when you were upset.

You pursed your lips silently for a moment, clearly unsettling the males around you, "I just... Haven't been feeling too great... Both mentally and physically I mean... I need sunlight..."

"Yeah... I was reading about that earlier..." Ranboo hummed softly, adjusting his crown as he looked up at the ceiling, "But the issue is..."

"My safety... Yes, I know. What if, I wear my full netherite armour and keep a totem AND a Rapple on me? And also not leave your sides?" You bargained nervously.

That hadn't worked before. But then again, You weren't as close to them before...

The silence that fell upon the room was unsettling and caused your heart to race quickly. If they didn't like what you said, you would be alone for a few straight days... You didn't like it...

"Okay."

What.

That worked?

You just had to ask?!

You watched as Tubbo stood up and pulled the small ender chest from his pocket and set it on the ground, causing it to grow to normal size.

Standing aside, he made a gesture for you to open it and get your stuff.

Hesitantly, You walked over and kneeled down in front of the ender chest. Looking to Tubbo and the others for confirmation, you slowly opened it once they nodded.

Carefully, you began pulling out your armour but paused seeing the lack of golden apples and totems.

Right... Before you had gotten kidnapped by the group, you had used a totem when you fell into the L'Manhole where L'Manberg once was.

That what caused them to kidnap you...

"I-I used... My totem... And Fundy stole my Rapple..." You murmured hesitantly, feeling ready to cry.

Your only chance to escape and you couldn't grab it...

"Hey! Hey! Don't cry! Here!" Ranboo eagerly held the two golden items out towards you at the first sight of tears gathering under your eyes.

"What...?"

"(Y/n)! We want you to be happy! If being outside, even with god armour, rapples and totems, makes you happy, then damn well we're bringing you outside!" Tommy grinned.

After a few tears and lots of hugs, Tubbo helped you hop into your armour while Ranboo unlocked the chain cuff from around your ankle. Tommy had left, leaving the door open for once, going to scout the area for any dangerous mobs.

"Ready?" Ranboo smiled, linking one of his arms with yours, the one that you held the totem in to be more specific. Tubbo happily linked his arm with the other one.

You could only nod, your voice caught in your throat as they began to walk you out the door, Ranboo had to duck down a lot, before leading you to the quartz stairway.

Once up the stairs, Tubbo pressed in a code to the iron door and it slid open quickly, causing you to flinch and pinch your eyes shut at the bright painful light of the sun.

It took about twenty minutes of trying to adjust to the sunlight with the two males encouraging you before you were able to look around.

It was everything you had missed...

The sunlight...

The trees...

God, it was perfect...

Tommy eventually came out of the tree line and sat down beside you as you took it all in...

Months, you were down there. And sure, they gave you plenty of decorations to prevent you from experiencing sensory deprivation, nothing could ever compare to the beauty of the outside world.

A voice cut through the air -calling for someone or something named Fran?- and you almost didn't recognize it. But then the owner came out of the trees, almost a similar direction that Tommy came from earlier.

Sam? He looked so... Different now...

The creeper hybrid slowly lowered his gas mask to show his mouth dropped in shock, "(Y/n)...? You're alive...?"

Tommy, Tubbo and Ranboo were freaking out, trying to bring you back into the bunker, as they called it, but you weren't budging. You hadn't seen another being in ages... And while you did platonically love the three boys, you enjoyed hearing a new voice.

"You... Remember me? But... Tubbo you said-" You frowned at the goat hybrid as they stopped suddenly, realizing that you weren't moving.

"You three... Kept them locked away... For almost an entire year?" Sam's voice was getting a little bit scary now, but it wasn't directed at you, instead, at your best friends...

"Sam! It was to protect them! Please!" Ranboo tried, but he wasn't making it better.

"You made Quackity believe they ran away... Made Philza wake up every morning and walk through the SMP for any signs of them... Gave Puffy false information on where you have last seen them... lied to everyone... Only to be the reason that they were gone." Sam growled out, gripping his trident, "Then you proceeded to make them think we all forgot about them..."

"S-Sam... You've got this all wrong big man..." Tubbo tried next...

The warden wasn't listening as he pointed his trident at them, his communicator in his other hand next to his mouth, then he started speaking, causing his voice to come out of Ranboo's, Tubbo's and Tommy's pockets. He was speaking on the public channel.

"Tommy Innit, Tubbo Underscore, Ranboo Beloved... You are being placed in the prison, Pandora's Vault, for keeping (Y/n) (L/n) imprisoned in a bunker and lying about their whereabouts."

It felt like someone splashed you with cold water...

[utterlyinevitable]

Just Two People

Part I  |  Part II

Pairing: Ethan x F!MC (Becca) Rating: PG-13 Warnings: implied trauma Summary: Sienna comes to check on Becca after she survived the assassination attempt and wants details of her night with Ethan in isolation. Tropes: Hurt/Comfort; 2.11

A/N: This is part of my yolo-posting. atm of writing this i posted part 1 hour ago and part 2 is now queued. So if this flops u didn’t see it. k thanks love you ! 💕💞💕

_______________

Just Two People: III. Later

An hour of moderate solitude passed since Bryce left her to rest. The pair had squished into bed with whatever snacks from the vending machine he could sneak in without the head nurse chastising him for breaking dietary protocol. They watched crappy hallmark movie after crappy hallmark movie after Wheel of Fortune.  

Becca was mindlessly staring at a rerun of Jeopardy when sunshine personified skipped into her room, empty handed and a conspirators smile beaming in every direction.   

Sienna’s eyebrows were dancing, “So…” 

“So what?” 

“Has Ethan talked to you?” 

��It's so weird hearing you call him that.”

“We’re friends now,” Sienna says as she sits at the edge of Becca’s bed, taking her friend’s hand in between her small palms. “He has no say in the matter.” 

An almost genuine smile, her first in the last two days, tugged at the corner of Becca’s mouth. “That’s exactly what I did to him,” she says almost wistfully. “And no, not since I’ve been moved.”

“Hm, okay.”

The pout on Sienna’s face had Becca’s curiosity piqued. Her bubbly friend all but deflated before her eyes; and for a moment things were like normal. For a moment Becca forgot that they’re in the hospital. For a moment she forgot that she was at death’s door mere hours ago.  

“Why?” Becca’s eyes narrowed; even if her senses haven’t fully come back, she can smell a scheme cooking. “What do you know?” 

“Nothing!” Sienna shook her head, acting if she had no idea what Becca was alluding to. “So… tell me about your night together. He didn’t come down to the lab at all.” 

Becca shook her head more to herself than anything. It’s all still surreal. The modest smile that found its way onto her lips was absolutely real. 

“He has feelings for me.”  

“We knew that! The two of you seem to forget I caught him doing the walk of satisfaction out of our apartment.” 

Memories of that last time - that perfect, bittersweet night she got to call him hers and be his in return - flashed like a film reel in her minds-eye. Was that really only seven months ago? 

“I know. But it was literally twice, and ages ago. You know how much things can change in a few months.” 

“Your feelings never stopped,” Sienna waved off with one hand. “You can tell just by the way you two stand next to one another. It's subtle. Only someone who knows your history would pick up on it.” 

“I don’t know if that's comforting.” A flicker of something disquieting flashed across Becca’s features - it was tiny and as quick as a dart of her eyes and a blink, but Sienna caught it. 

“Forget it - tell me more!” she squeezed Becca’s hand as she scooted closer up the bed. The best friends were almost face to face, close enough that if they whispered anyone passing by in the hall wouldn’t be able to pick up on the gossip.  

An unsatisfying lift and fall of her shoulders came before the anticlimactic words, “We talked and he held me until I fell asleep.”  

“That’s it?” Sienna almost exclaimed. Her cute face was scrunched up and her voice ghastly pitched like there was a tarantula on the loose.   

“That’s it.”  

“Seriously? You could have died and he didn’t get down on one knee! What a let down.” 

She knows Sienna didn’t mean to be insensitive - knows she’s a hopeless romantic trying to lighten the mood. Still, it hurt like an arrow to an already wounded chest. 

Becca looked down at their intertwined hands, memorized the irregular circles her friend’s thumb was mapping on the back of her hand.   

“Ethan doesn’t believe in marriage,” she mutters.   

“Didn’t,” Sienna counters with all the assertion of a god - someone who knows the way the world works. “You’re changing him.” 

“I won’t hold my breath.”  

“Do it,” she says, like it's the answer to all Becca’s problems. “He’ll definitely propose if you almost die again.” Sienna’s brows are once again playfully wiggling. 

“He’d kill me before he ever lets that happen again.”  

“Because he loves you.”

“Sienna…”

“What? He does! And he’s finally coming around.”

A little part of Becca hopes this is the turning point they’ve needed. A part of her thinks this is the start of their dreams, of everything she’s wanted since the beginning - since the moment he kissed her on that balcony in Miami. Rebecca Lao knows better than to let her fantasies wander too far; it’s best to tread carefully with Ethan Ramsey.

_________________________

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[awanderingdeal]

Hey hey lucy! So psyched to read all your work, especially that finn/heather one, but if you wanted maybe a WAY fluffier prompt- what about a thing where FinnLo goes to a bakery/restaurant that they really liked back in Harvard because of one specific dish, and then Leo recreates it for them as a surprise? I LOVE your cubs work and just happy fluff! -aj

Hi aj! Thank you for this fantastic prompt! I love it. I hope you enjoy <3

Rating: G

Content warnings: Food

Message me if you think I missed any content warnings.

Credit for Logan, Finn and Leo goes to @lumosinlove. If you haven't already you should definitely check out her work.

"It's left at the fountain," Logan called just before Finn reached the intersection, his body already poised to turn in the opposite direction. Leo chuckled as Finn stopped dead in his tracks to look back at them, his brow furrowed in the most dramatic fashion.

"It's right at the fountain."

"It's left. You always got it wrong and you'd always be late."

Finn huffed, turning his gaze to Leo as he and Logan closed the small distance Finn had on them. "I promise it's left. I'll eat Logan's cap if I'm wrong."

"How does that even make -"

Leo slipped his cell from his pocket, pulling up his maps and tuning out Finn and Logan's argument. He began to type in their destination, the app auto filling it for him, Hogsmeade Bakery and Café. "It's left," he declared, feeling kind of powerful.

"Yes!" Finn gave a celebratory fist pump. He and Logan exchanged a few playful insults before their argument tapered off, Finn glancing around and darting forward to quickly press a kiss to Logan's cheek.

Leo watched them, the air in chest seeming to feel heavier than normal. He wished they could the two of them could have had this sooner. Finn and Logan should have had years of happiness in this place.

"Come on," Finn's voice broke through his melancholy. "Let's show Nutty where to get the best French toast on the East coast."

Or maybe those years of friendship were just as important? Leo let himself be nudged in the right direction, happily listening to Finn retell the story of the time they had accidently discovered the bakery, and thus, the aforementioned French toast for perhaps the thousandth time in the last month.

In Finn's defence, the French toast was spectacular. Leo was taking tiny bites of the meal to make it last longer, Logan having already cleared his plate.

"Do you see that table over there?" Finn asked, waving his fork precariously in the direction one of the tables in the window. He didn't wait for Leo to acknowledge the question before continuing, but Leo was used to that by now. "Me and Lo would come here and we'd always sit at that table and I'd pretend we were on a date."

Logan almost choked on the sip of water he'd just taken. "You said you liked the view."

"I did," Finn winked.

***

"Are you going to tell us what is going on?" Logan shouted through from the living room. Leo narrowed his eyes, listening for the tell tale sign of chairs scraping across the hardwood floor that would indicate that either Finn or Logan had ignored his instruction to stay seated.

"Give me five minutes," Leo replied, hurrying through his last few steps. He had no hope that his boyfriend's curiosity would allow them to sit still for that length of time.

He smiled triumphantly as he scattered the final element over the top of the dish, the fresh mint providing the perfect elevating touch. He picked up the two plates, smiled to himself again and carried them through to the lounge.

The furniture that usually occupied the room had been pushed to the edges, the only thing left in the centre was the small table Finn and Logan were sat at. The checked tablecloth draped over it was the exact same one they used at Hogsmeade; Leo had phoned them to ask for their supplier, but neither of them seemed to noticed.

"Now you can have a real date," Leo explained, setting a plate each in front of Logan and Finn. "I can't do much about the view, sorry."

They both stared at him for what felt like an eternity and Leo began to worry he'd done something very wrong until Logan pushed back out of his chair and practically threw himself in Leo's direction. "Nous ne te méritons pas," he mumbled into Leo's chest, wrapping his arms around him.

"You deserve everything," Leo countered, lifting Logan's chin and pressing his lips against his forehead. "Sit, eat. Before my hard work gets cold."

Finn's eyes were wet when Leo looked back at him. He blinked away another tear and held out his hand. "Sit with us? Please?" Leo hesitated. This wasn't the plan. "Back at Harvard, this would have been perfect. I dreamed of doing this," Finn gestured between himself and Logan. "But we're not at Harvard. We're here. With you, and my fantasy is different now."

Leo swallowed around the lump in his throat, taking Finn's still offered hand and allowing himself to be pulled into Finn's lap. "You're going to have to cut it now," Finn laughed wetly, his attempts to reach the plate futile with Leo there. Shaking his head fondly, Leo prepared a forkful making sure to get a bit of everything: the homemade bread, the ricotta mousse, the raspberry jam, the fresh strawberries, the toasted almonds, and of course, the mint. It looked a bit ridiculous piled on there, but Finn made light work of it.

Leo looked expectantly at Finn, waiting for him to finish chewing. "Good?"

"Better than the original."

[allthingskakashi]

6. you look really cute in that sweater. ← made me feel things

Fluff prompt 6 : "You look really cute in that sweater."

• Knitted Heartstrings •

[ Kakashi x Reader] // 2.5k words

A/n : this title is meant to be cute but i think it just sounds grotesque

It had been a few weeks since winter had arrived at Konoha, bringing with itself a carriage full of moments, gift wrapped with warmth and joy to sprinkle all around. It brought cosy nights to be spent laughing by the fireplace with a loved one, in an icicled platter and first love blossoming in the first fall of snowflakes in a tiny snow globe.

Wherever the eye went, there were sheets and sheets of cotton white snow, shimmering in the sunlight like broken pieces of diamond. The small village looked ethereal.

For you, winter had always been special. There was something about the smell of snow that imbued your heart with hope, like any time now something magical would happen. Many scorned at the childish illusions that you knit inside your mind, dismissing it as a result of one too many Hallmark movies, but for you… the only melody that mattered was the one of your heart. And it said,

it was winter, and everything was magical.

You looked outside your window at the bustle of villagers on the street, wrapped up in cosy sweaters and colourful scarves. It was the first day of the Annual Winter Carnival, and even though it was barely 10 a.m., there was already a long line in front of the hot chocolate stand. Beyond the eager queue, you could see a line of small shops, each adorned with something different: winter clothing, holiday cards, Christmas decorations, plum cakes and pumpkin pies, you name it.

You adjusted your red scarf around your neck, putting on a pair of mittens as you smiled to yourself. It was a beautiful day outside and the festive spirit all around made the sun shine just a little brighter for you. Picking up your keys and wallet from the table, you headed for the door, crossing your nearly decorated Christmas tree on the way. The tall green tree was already bedecked in shining ornaments, colourful streamers and twinkling lights. The only thing it was missing was a tree topper and you made a mental note to pick one up from one of the ornament stalls that were sited around the town square.

You made your way towards the gleeful crowd far ahead, your boots drawing patterns along the soft snow as you went. The sapphire sky seemed to beam down upon your town, every storefront greeting the eyes with beautiful wreaths woven by flower shop workers and window displays of snowmen built by Academy children with styrofoam.

You spotted Gai in the distance, huddled up with Lee and Tenten, all of them holding what looked like mugs of cocoa in their hands. Despite the biting cold, Gai and Lee had on their usual green outfits, you noticed. All three of them waved as they saw you approaching and you waved back at one shivering and two fully unbothered figures.

As you looked around you could spot most of the Leaf shinobi. Some had even arrived from neighbouring villages as they always did at this time of year. Your eyes fell on Sakura and Ino laughing as they tried on funny hats at one of the garment stalls, and Kiba teaching Akamaru how to make a snow angel on the ground. Pretty much everyone was here, laughing, talking, enjoying themselves. Everyone other than…

Anyway.

Such sights of blithe happiness were scarce in the kind of world you lived in. Amidst missions, deaths and tragedies, you always had a black cloud looming over you at all times, following you everywhere you went. It came with the job, there was no way to escape it. But even then, at times like these, it almost felt as if you were a part of the normal world. As if the grains of food on your plate didn’t depend on taking lives.

Taking in the beautiful sights of early winter and humming to yourself as you continued scouring the surroundings, you stopped in front of one of the clothing stalls. It was a small one manned by a middle-aged woman but despite the smallness of the store, the collection of knitted sweaters it displayed caught your eye immediately.

There was one hanging at the back that had piqued your interest the most. It was a cream coloured piece with the image of a pug in a Christmas cap embroidered on it and the word “woof” sewn just above it. It was love at first sight and the knitted sweater was just hanging there, begging for you to come get it.

Stepping in to get a closer look, you requested the woman to get it down for you. You waited as she handed you the object of your admiration and as expected, the soft material melted into your hands. You ran your fingers along the embroidery, admiring the stitchwork and already imagining how perfect it’d be for a cold night in in your pajamas with a nice book and a box of cookies.

You asked if you could try it on, and as the woman nodded in permission, you put the sweater over your head, hastily slipping into it. But in your hurry, you had somehow mixed up the neck and the sleeves, causing you to find yourself in a tangled mess with your head inside the sweater and your eyesight fully obstructed.

You struggled to untwine yourself, squirming and wiggling as you tried to differentiate the damn neck from the arm holes. You knew you looked like an absolute klutz, you even heard some giggles from a passing group of children that you were pretty sure was directed at you, but you were almost getting out of breath and your hair was starting to stick into your mouth, so you decided to put your focus on getting yourself out first and your dignity afterwards. You heard the woman’s voice beside you offering to help and you were just about to take her up on it when you finally managed to slip through, panting as you caught your breath.

You smoothened out the sweater with your hands, before reaching up to sweep away several strands of your now tousled hair, when suddenly your eyes fell upon the tall figure in front of you, leaning against the stall with a book in his hand.

The sudden sight gave you a scare that almost made you jump as you let out a surprised squeak.

“Kakashi!?”

Your widened eyes fixed on his face, meeting his placid gaze as you watched Kakashi’s mouth stretch into a smirk.

“15 seconds.” he stated in a flat yet chaffing tone.

You furrowed your brows at him, voicing your confusion. “Huh?”

“You got out of that 15 seconds faster that I’d expected you to”, he replied, as you felt your cheeks getting warm with embarrassment.

Not only had he been here watching you make a complete fool of yourself, he had also been revelling in it.

That dingus.

But you weren’t about to give him the satisfaction of seeing you flustered, so you settled to play defensive instead.

“And in all your seconds of standing there and watching, did you at any point consider offering to help?” you said, sparing him a narrowed glance.

“Nope” Kakashi replied instantly, the smirk intact on his lips as you rolled your eyes, feeling your own irrepressible smile get the better of you.

Meanwhile, the shop lady pulled a mirror out from the back and placed it before you. You situated yourself in front of it, stepping back to take a look at yourself. You could feel Kakashi still standing there, his eyes on you, peering at you over his book and your stomach churned and flipped inside your body.

This was…new.

Kakashi and you went way back… but minus the friendly greetings and conversations at certain social gatherings, there hadn’t been much interaction between the two of you. Mostly because both of you usually preferred to keep to yourselves. All that, however, changed after you were sent on a recent tailing mission together.

The mission was primarily supposed to last a week, but due to certain complications, you ended up having to be away for over a month. You were both asked to lead the team, and working so close together required many nights to be spent discussing strategies and team formations. You spent more nights in each other’s company, drawing maps and going over plans than you spent sleeping; just the two of you under the wide black sky, awake in the silence of the night with nothing but the whisper of crickets to interrupt you. And in some of these times, your conversations slipped beyond strategic discussions, delving deeper into the kind of territories that required the dark of the night to be revealed.

It wasn’t something you’d ever seen coming, talking to the copy ninja, really talking, but it had happened nonetheless. And when it had, it felt like the most natural thing the world. Like dipping your toes into the pool on a hot summer day.

Even though neither of you had fully bared your souls to each other yet, he was quite easy to talk to and you had come to realise that you had more in common that you would ever have guessed. And that beneath his serene exterior, Kakashi hid a tide of emotions.

Of course, it wasn’t all hefty talk. You had a good laugh the time he told you how the scar on his right arm, which people assume to be the result of a valiant battle is not from a battle at all but a rather embarrassing kitchen mishap. And this other time you had a heated debate about how miso ramen is definitely NOT better than shoyu ramen. The debate ended up in a draw but sitting with him in the glowing twilight, talking about nothing and everything… it made you feel some kind of way.

And then of course, there was that one night. One moment which had stuck out to you the most, amidst all others.

It was just another tiresome day, and you had taken refuge in the woods for the night. Almost everyone in your team had suffered mild injuries, including yourself. You had gone up to Kakashi to ask for a bandage for your sprained wrist since your own med kit was devoid of one and then…instead of simply handing over the bandage to you, Kakashi had taken your hand in his and wordlessly wrapped it around your palm. And for some reason, something about that one moment had stirred something inside you. Kakashi hadn’t made a big show of it, no, it didn’t even feel anything out of the ordinary. But the way he had gently held your wrist in one hand as he carefully bandaged it with the other had made you short of breath. No one had ever shown such gentleness towards you before, not in that way.

And even though nothing had really happened between the two of you yet, ever since that mission things didn’t remain quite the same anymore. The silences became thicker, the glances lingering. Chance encounters became deliberate and every conversation turned to memorabilia. There seemed to be this unspoken attraction, a spark that lit up like firecrackers every time you came in each other’s vicinity.

So yes, all of this was rather new and you weren’t quite sure how to deal with it yet.

Keeping your mind from reminiscing any further and pulling it away from your churning stomach, you glanced at your reflection in front you. The sweater did fit you perfectly but disappointingly enough, it didn’t look quite as good as you’d hoped it would, and suddenly you weren’t so sure of your choice anymore.

Kakashi’s eyes were still on you, registering your frown, and it was as if you could feel his gaze tear through your bones, pulling away all your layers. It was unnerving and you cleared your throat, breaking the silence.

“So, what are you doing here, anyway?” you called out, your eyes still fixated on your reflection as you turned to catch glances of yourself from various angles. “Didn’t take you for much of a carnival kinda guy.”

You saw him smile out of the corner of your eye as he straightened up, coming around lazily to stand behind you.

“I’m full of surprises”, Kakashi shrugged, enunciating every word as his figure towered over yours, the warmth of his body almost tangible to you.

His sudden closeness to you made your breath catch at the back of your throat and you struggled to maintain your composure, staring straight ahead at your reflection to keep your gaze from meeting his, which you knew would be just enough to send your heart hammering.

The moments seemed to freeze as the both of you remained standing, both pairs of eyes fixated on the mirror as air around you started to take a life of its own. You thought you would almost lose your mind when Kakashi’s words finally broke the rippling silence.

“You look really cute in that sweater.”

His words, so arbitrary yet soft hung in the air between you as you felt your heart grow vicious in your chest. You could feel it thrashing inside you, pounding so hard you were scared even Kakashi would be able to hear it. You knew your cheeks were about the same colour as a ripe cherry and you felt your mouth twitching with words that you couldn’t form.

You looked up slowly into the mirror and found the reflection of Kakashi’s eyes, waiting to meet yours. Even through the glass, his gaze burnt with an emotion that almost frightened you.

“You uh- you think so?” you heard yourself stutter, that sweater in the mirror suddenly looking like the most beautiful thing you’ve ever worn. You turned around a few more times, running your hand along the soft fabric again. “well uh I guess it’s not…bad” you said, your voice coming out more nervous than you would’ve liked it to.

Kakashi grinned, moving from behind you and starting to walk away as you pulled the sweater up, getting ready to take it back off. Thankfully for you, it came off this time without requiring any excessive wiggling.

You watched Kakashi’s slightly hunched figure walk away in the other direction, before stopping to turn back around at you.

“So, are you going to take that?” he called, a tease to his tone as he stood holding his book in one hand, the other warm inside his pocket.

“Maybe. I’m still deciding” you called back in the same tone as you watched him smirk, before being faced with his back again as he turned away slowly, walking ahead with his book open in front of him.

You watched him go, wondering if he would turn around again, but he didn’t and his striking silver hair disappeared from view as he became one with the crowd. You turned to the lady in front of you, the sweater hung over your arm as you struggled to hold the grin that threatened to erupt any time now. For some reason, the sweater in your hands didn’t feel like a piece of cloth anymore but something that had your heartstrings sewn amidst its threads.

You folded the soft fabric carefully, making it into a neat ball before holding it out to the lady with both hands, grinning at her.

“How much will this be?”

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S3:E4; Chapter Four, The Sauna Test - [Pt. 3]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘌𝘭, 𝘔𝘢𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘠/𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘯, 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘺𝘯𝘹.

📝: ERICAAA!!! FRICKIN FINALLY!! Less important note, but when writing about Y/n, El and Max, I wrote "the three friends" and autocorrect literally changed "friends" to "fruits". Yelmax confirmed 💀

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

"It is fascinating what twenty bucks will get you at the County Recorder's Office," Robin reports, unfurling what looked to be a familiar layout on the break room table. "Starcourt Mall. The complete blueprints."

"Not bad," Dustin smirks from her left.

"So this is us," she points to a familiar-looking room before gesturing across the map. "Scoops, and this is where we wanna get."

"Yeah, I don't really see a way in," Steve mumbles from his seat at the table.

"There's not. If,"

She rips away a layer of the blueprint, revealing a vastly complicated map of air ducts, pipelines, and detailing that made up Starcourt.

"you're talking exclusively about doors."

Dustin looks at her with excitement growing in his eyes. "Air ducts!"

"Exactly," she smirks, making her way to the whiteboard to retrieve the magic marker. "Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room and these air ducts lead all the way" she circles the secret room in question, drawing one, interrupted line right back to, "here."

Dustin and Steve finally tear their eyes away from the map and follow Robin's mischievous eye. All the way to the air duct tucked away in the far corner of the Scoops Ahoy break room.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

To their surprise, a screwdriver had been harder to find than a ladder but soon enough Steve had managed to reach the air vent and unscrew it from the wall. But as he stood here now, peering down into the vent he quickly realized they were now facing yet another obstacle.

"Flath'ligh'?" Steve asked, finally removing the screwdriver from his mouth and shaping it for the small torchlight Dustin had waiting. "Thank you,"

The flashlight turns on with a tiny click and a soft yellow light bounces down the narrow metal tunnel, enunciation the frown on Steve's face.

"Yeah, I don't know man, I don't know if you can fit in here, it's like... super tight."

"I'll fit," Dustin smirks. "Trust me. No collarbones, remember?"

"Uh, excuse me?" Robin asks.

Steve jumps down from the ladder, turning to Robin as Dustin begins the climb and gives her a nod.

"Oh, he's uh, he's got so disease," he frowns thoughtfully, racking his brain as he tries to recall the word. "It's chrydo... um... something, yeah I don't know. He's missing bones and stuff, he can bend like Gumbo."

"You mean... Gumby?"

"I'm pretty sure it's Gumbo," he snorts.

"Just shut up and push me!" Comes Dustin's muffled voice from the vents.

By now he had wormed himself halfway in, his bottom half sticking out of the wall and still propped up on the latter while they had been talking.

"Okay,"  Steve huffed, motioning knowingly to the kid's feet and turned away from Robin.

She watched with a tired, lazily bemused expression as Steve grabbed a less than sturdy hold of the kid's feet and attempted to push.

"Not my feet, dumbass, push my ass!"

"Uh, what?"

"TOUCH MY BUTT! I DON'T CARE!" Came Dustin's impatient scream from the walls.

With a heavy grimace, Steve hesitantly began pushing against Dustin's rear end and his muffled anger grew louder.

"I'm pushing!" Steve argued.

"PUSH HARDER!" Dustin shrieks as he attempts to inch further into the metal vents. "You're playing with my legs!"

"I'm not playing, I have terrible footing!"

"Come on!"

Steve finally makes it to the top of the latter, Dustin's legs bunched together over his shoulders and locked under his arm as their voice continued to shout over one another.

"I'm gonna just shove you, ready?"

"Just shove me?"

"One, two..."

"Shit!"

"That work?"

"One more time,"

Robin rolls her eyes, finally turning away when she hears the sudden rapid chimes of the customer bell out front and all too familiar patron.

"Ahoy, sailors! All hands on deck!"

Through the partition window, Robin meets eyes with none other than Erica Sinclair who flashes her an exaggerated salute and rings the bell knowingly.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Laughter and joyful screams filled the chlorine-soaked air, the smell of the pool lingering with sunblock was strong enough it wafted all the way to the parking lot where the majority of the Party now stood at the Hawkins pool. It looked quite different than it had the day before when Y/n, Max, and El had last been, but the tension weighing down the atmosphere seemed just as heavy and ever-present.

The storm had of course long since lifted, and the sun was now beating down heavily on their backs as they took shelter behind a Rust Red AMC Hornet, all eyes across the lot on the occupant in the lifeguard chair.

Billy.

He was squished underneath the bright red beach umbrella, hidden underneath a baseball cap, thick shades, a long-sleeved sweater, and a white beach towel draped over his legs where they poked out into the sun. He was completely covered.

"I don't know," Max begins, peering through the group's binoculars. "He looks pretty normal to me,"

"Normal?" Lucas scoffs. "How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?"

Y/n smiles weakly from where she stands in between him and Will. Max lowers the binoculars, conceding a wince.

"I mean, it's a little weird,"

"More than a little," Mike nods. "He was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold. Plus everything El saw—"

"But he's lounging at the pool," Max argues, doubtfully. "Which is like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever,"

"Not necessarily," Will says, pulling everyone's attention. "The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like... like you're dormant. And then, when he needs you,"

All eyes return to Billy.

"...you're activated."

Y/n gulps, shifting on her feet from where she had previously stood rooted to the spot. Ever since that dreaded Halloween night the previous year, nothing seemed to have been the same. The Mind Flayer had set his sights on Will, and in turn, her. Slowly but surely, he had infected all of their lives as he had the town of Hawkins; spreading his rot and poison, and his hate. She could still feel it sometimes; the pain of Will's nails raking into her face and leaving behind the faded scar that had already long since disappeared.

Her eyes dart back through the fence at the suspicious-looking lifeguard and her insides twisted further into a sickening knot. The thought of the Mind Flayer's possible return was enough to drain the color from her face and leave a chill in the humid, sticky summer air. Her mind was running rapid with fear but the sound of Max's voice was enough to return her to earth.

"Okay, so we just..." she shrugs, looking back over towards her brother. "wait until he gets activated."

"No," Mike says with the shake of his head. "What if he hurts someone?"

"Or kills someone?" Will counters, and the Wheeler boy nods.

"We can't take that chance. We need to find out if he's the host,"

"Well, how do we do that?" Lucas asks.

The Party falls silent. The weight of the air growing heavier and heavier as it dawns on them. And one by one, each pair of eyes trickle over to the only present Henderson sibling in the Party. Her head is hung, propped-up against the hood and when she senses the eyes on her she straightens, breathing a sigh. But Will was already shaking his head.

"What? No, no way," he says to Mike and the others, Y/n already turning to him. "No, Y/n, I don't think it's a good idea,"

"I don't like it either," Y/n fretted. "but it's our best chance. The Mind Flayer hates me, and I can push his limits. It's the fastest way."

"And if, by some random chance, Billy isn't the host?" Will countered gently. "He'd find out about you,"

Y/n didn't have a reply for that. Truthfully, she didn't know whether to be relieved or angered he had cornered her. She just stood there, frowning at the concrete sidewalk biting her lip thoughtfully. She tried to think of a way to use her abilities subtly, but all her experience with heat came from seismic blasts or concentrated bursts from her hands. If she attempted that on Billy, he would surely know it.

"There's gotta be another way," Mike cuts in. "I mean, a safe way that doesn't risk you getting hurt or discovered."

Y/n and Will - even El - shoot him a funny look and he shifts under the sudden attention, guiltily.

"What about the sauna?" Lucas says, lighting up.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, it's perfect!" He grins, stepping out from around the car and motioning for Will and Mike. "Come on,"

Seemingly catching onto Lucas's idea, Mike wastes no time in following. And Will hesitantly steps away, sending Y/n and his friends an apologetic shrug.

"Where are you going?" El called after them, exasperated.

"Sorry! Boys only!" Mike throws over his shoulder.

Max scowls after them. "Seriously?!"

"Just trust us!" Lucas cries.

"We'll be back," Will shrugs again. "... I guess."

The three friends sigh, throwing less than impressed looks at the retreating boys. Privately, Y/n wondered if Mike stood any chance of harm just from her glaring at him in this moment. She hadn't shared these feelings with anyone, but since reuniting with Will something had been troubled Ling him and he wouldn't say what. She could spot it right away, the shift in demeanor but she knew it was something different from the return of the Mind Flayer somehow. And she believed it had something to do with Mike.

He was acting differently around him. He had been for some time now, as she had with Max and even El but this was different. Something had happened, and because Will was, well, Will, he was clearly trying to put aside for the sake of everyone's safety. Y/n couldn't really blame him there, but she wished he would open up to her. Tell her what was wrong.

And she wished more than anything she could fix whatever Mike had clearly broken.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"All we gotta do is wait until the pool closes and everyone leaves," Lucas begins, guiding his friends through the first layer of the men's locker rooms. "And then get him from here..."

He steps forward, quickly ripping open the secondary door. The three boys scurry inside, and Lucas's friends quickly seem to catch on to his plan and a small smile grows on Will's face.

"And get him into here," Lucas eagerly rips open the sauna door, expecting to see nothing but steam but his luck had run out.

Five sweaty adult men in towels sat packed in the sauna like sardines, scowls on their faces for the three party members who interrupted their steam. "Hey! Shut the door!"

-"Come on, kid!"

-"Shut it!"

Lucas finally broke from his stupor and slammed the door shut, shuddering.

"I think I just threw up in my mouth,"

Will nodded with a grimace, but shook it off when his eyes landed on the wall beside the door.

"The controls!"

Mike's still bulging, haunted eyes finally broke away from their zoning out and jumped to the wall where Will was pointing. His face lit up.

"We can control from the outside, it's perfect!"

"Do you think it'll get hot enough?" Will asks, feeling more and more relieved by the second. "Like, "Y/n" hot?"

His friends immediately stopped, looking to him with a deadpan expression. Will scoffed at them. "You know what I mean" he snarked, not in the mood though he was trying to ignore the hint of a blush creeping up on his skin.

"Nevermind that," Lucas says. "Look right, here, 220 degrees. That's definitely enough."

"Okay, so we just need to figure out how to get him into here," Will nods towards the sauna door.

"Precisely."

"Then we lock him in," Mike says.

Lucas nods. "-heat him up,"

And Will manages another somewhat relieved smile. "-and no matter what happens, we'll know for sure."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Erica descends from the latter, the flashlight in her hands flicking off with a loud click as she strides up to the break room table where her recruits stood waiting. The group had taken a calculated risk I confiding in the young girl, but she was smart and demanded the information and why they needed to know if she could fit into the air duct in the back room. So here they stood, waiting with anxious breath for her verdict.

"Yeah, I don't know," she says, propping herself up on the edge of the table rather unimpressed.

"You don't know if you can fit?" Dustin asks.

"Oh, I can fit. I just don't know if I want to,"

"Are you claustrophobic?" Robin tries.

Amused, Erica gives the young woman a pitiful laugh. "I don't have phobias."

"Okay, well," Steve begins with a shrug. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is I still haven't heard what's in this for Erica,"

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Steve slides another banana boat ice cream float across the table, joining the already plentiful dairy banquet laid out for the Sinclair girl. She merely gave it a single, disinterested glance and slid it back.

"More fudge please,"

Nobody said anything. And Steve just stared back at the table with tired, glazed-over eyes before Erica sent him a dismissive wave.

"Go on,"

He gave a sigh, and left the booth with the Banana boat in hand, and retreated to the counter. Robin took that as her cue and pulled out the marked-up blueprints she had at her side.

"Alright, you see this?" She points from the circle marked Scoops Ahoy and trail connecting over the flipped map. "This is the route you're gonna take. Then we just wait until the last delivery goes out tonight then you knock out the grate. Jump down. Open the door."

"Then you find out what's in those boxes?" She asks.

"Exactly,"

"And you say this guard is armed?"

"Yes," Dustin quickly nods. "But he won't be there,"

"And booby traps?"

"Booby traps?" Robin echoed.

"Lazers, spikes in the wall,"

Robin couldn't help but give a small laugh, but Erica was all too serious. She turned to the two with a serious look.

"You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child endangerment."

"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time-"

"Uh! Uh! Uh!" Erica stops her. "Child. Endangerment."

Robin sighs, ignoring the knot wanting to twist in her stomach. She knew she was right, and Robin supposed she just didn't want to admit to herself what they were asking not only of themselves but the young girl.

"Erica?" Dustin began. "Hi, uh... We think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?"

"You can't spell America without Erica," she shrugs, taking a long and loud sip from her complimentary Scoops Shake.

Dustin just blinks at her response and concedes with a nod. "Uh... yeah. Oddly, that's uh... weirdly true, so... so! Don't do this for us! Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man. Do this for America, Erica."

Erica, who had been slurping her drink through her straw throughout his entire speech, finally finished it off and shivered, sending him a smirk. "Ooh! I just got the chills."

Dustin smiled proudly.

"Oh, yeah," she quickly corrects, her smile falling. "From this float. Not your speech."

His smile falls right off his face.

"You know what I love most about this country?" Erica began. "Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?"

Both Robin and Dustin mumble a 'yeah'.

"It means this is a free market system, which means people get paid for their services depending on how valuable their contributions are. And this seems to me that my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you all. So-"

Robin and Dustin share a worried look.

"-you want my help? This U.S.S. Butterscotch better be the first of many. And I'm talking free ice cream for life,"

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