#I mean... all things aside; her dad was pretty nice

[cloudsonclouds]

OH NO! She got her charm from her father!

[agendabymooner]

SOMETHING ANGELIC !!! CHARLES L. X FEM!READER (18+)

summary: she was so sweet but her ex should've known better than keeping her his dirty little secret. OR it was wrong to lust after her ex's teammate but charles leclerc was willing to give her everything.

content warning: smut under the cut (minors dni!), use of explicit language, tbh there's barely smut in there but charles is nasty as fuck so 🙃, ex!carlos sainz x pr manager!reader, hint of corruption kink (not really), p in v, unprotected sex (plz use protection), lowkey possessive!charles, i barely understand what i wrote tbh

note: i only post a lot of charles when he's a dad to the leclerc boys but god did i have some filthy thoughts about him tonight. enjoy xx

something sinful (smut) masterlist

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if you’d like to get on one of my taglists, check this post out

it was wrong to lust for your ex’s teammate, but charles leclerc was determined to make her his and he made sure that she knew that.

a whole winter break was enough to move on, right? right. charles couldn’t give much shit about the time limit for a person to move on from their ex. 

not when he saw her throughout the first race week as she took long strides while she followed esteban ocon for the french driver’s media duties. charles used to see her in the ferrari area — being carlos’ sweet secret girlfriend and public relations manager. 

how carlos had managed to get away from his crimes of being seen with another woman in public while fucking his manager behind the scenes was something that charles would never understand— but the monégasque pitied the sweet woman for having to see her boyfriend play tonsil hockey with someone else.

she was angelic, having to put up with that kind of thing. and all charles wanted to do was to make her his— to somehow make her realize that she was worth more than what carlos had recognized her for. 

his green eyes nearly darkened when he saw her, sitting alone at the booth that the alpine drivers occupied for the night with a sad expression on her pretty face. four months of break away from carlos and she was still affected by the break up that occurred half a year ago. 

and her sadness was quickly swept aside when she saw charles taking a stride towards her direction, scooting over instinctively as the ferrari driver offered her a grateful smile and sat next to her. 

“i haven’t seen you for a while,” charles told her with a smile, “pierre was incredibly foul for not inviting you to any of our functions during the break.”

“ah- yeah,” she let out an apologetic smile, “i’ve been trying to adjust to my new place in nice. i figured if i was going to be working for alpine, i might as well live in france.”

“oh you moved? trés bonne,” charles nodded, earning a sheepish smile from her. he nearly melted at the sweetness on her reaction. god she was so fucking perfect. 

“it’s such a shame i don’t get to see you in the office anymore, though,” he shrugged. “ferrari lost an asset.” 

she snorted quietly, “hm, fred even said so. but you know— people come and go.” 

“it’s such a pitiful thing, though,” charles said, looking at her while they both drank, “you should’ve been my manager— you’d do more good with me.” 

“you’re right,” she drawled, now staring at his eyes as she playfully said, “you wouldn’t fuck me and i wouldn’t get emotionally attached.”

as if they were both in another universe, charles then chuckled darkly and boldly claimed, “i mean... i still would’ve fucked you— i just wouldn’t be stupid enough to let you go and treat you like a dirty little secret.” 

she saw how his pupils darkened as he spoke, feeling her legs absentmindedly closing and squirming. as if the floodgates had opened and arousal had gotten the best of her. 

“nobody knew about you and sainz but me, right? the amount of times i’ve had to turn a blind eye was insane— i almost thought i’d have to intervene because it was compromising his media duties,” charles admitted, “i wondered what kept you from getting him to move and do his job— it turns out he’s just fucking you in his motorhome. i’ve had to tell the social media manager that he’s just woken up from a nap.”

“he pretended that you’re not even worth the attention after his races because you’ve always been second best to him,” charles tutted.

she huffed, “there’s no need to rub it on my face—“

“—oh no, mon tresor, i’m not being a dickhead about it,” charles shook his head, placing his drink down on the table. 

the lights in the club were nothing but colourful strobes that didn’t even spot them, making it easier for him to get closer without anyone noticing and interrupting them. 

his breath fanned her ear as he whispered huskily, “i wouldn’t allow him to make you see yourself as second best, mon ange.”

“charles—“ she let out a breathless sigh, feeling his mouth leave open mouthed kisses on her skin. “this is so wron—“

“nothing’s wrong with this when we don’t work anymore, mon tresor,” he murmured. “there’s nothing more wrong than allowing your sweetness to get in the way of the things you so deserve.” 

“and you know how to show me the things i deserve?” she asked, almost innocently. god, was he about to cream in his pants if she continued to say shit like this. 

“you can demand the world and i’ll give you the universe,” charles watched her accept his offer as he smiled widely.

it was so wrong to lust after her ex’s teammate, but if charles leclerc was willing to give her everything then who was she to reject the offer? the monégasque was telling her to be greedy, and this was the best way to do it. 

she felt too overwhelmed. whether it was because of how charles treated her body or how he spoke so dirtily— she wasn’t sure. 

her mind was on an overdrive. all she could think about was him. his godlike figure, his prettiest eyes and his thick cock that continued to pound inside her cunt. 

she almost shook at his tone as he groaned delightfully right by her ear, “mon dieu, chéri, tu te sens si divin.” my god, darling, you feel so divine.

charles helped her prop herself up back on her knees as his hand guided her eyes towards the mirror in front of them, watching her eyes glistening as much as her cunt did in pleasure.

he then murmured, “do you see yourself, sweetheart? you look so pretty.”

she couldn’t even find herself to look when all she’s thinking about was the cock that stuffed her from behind, a strangled whine escaping her throat as she urged him to move. 

“i wish carlos was here to see this,” he chuckled deeply, his fingers pinching her hardened nipple before trailing down her clit to stimulate her even more. she let out a loud whimper, now feeling overwhelmed by his words and his actions as he fucked her once more. “so he knows not to treat you like you’re not worth bragging about.” 

“but i guess he had a reason to keep you a secret, hm?” he taunted her, rocking his hips against her as he bottomed out inside her. “because he knew that once you’re out in the world you’d be corrupted by some men. he was so selfish that he thought his sweet innocent girlfriend shouldn’t be corrupted by anyone but him.” 

“oh how wrong he was,” charles moaned, his thrusts turning rough and fast as he growled. “you know you deserve better than being a dirty little secret, no?” he tapped her face lightly with his palm as he said, “answer me, mon ange.”

“o- oh- yes,” she cried out, “yes, yes—“

“i can give you everything, mon tresor,” he murmured, “everything that he couldn’t give you.” 

“fuck, charles! please,” she mewled, looking behind her with pleading eyes as she begged desperately, “want to cum again, charles please~”

“gonna cum in this pussy of yours, mon ange—“

“please, cum inside me,” she moaned aloud, her desperation echoing around the suite as well as the skins slapping against each other. “please pleaseeee~ just wan’ to cum. god! feel so full, fuck!”

“gonna cum inside you, and make you mine,” he growled quietly, nibbling on her skin as she whined and mewled. her walls clenched at the thought as he chuckled, “oh? you want that, hm? you want me to make this pussy mine?” 

“yes! fuck-“ she exclaimed, her body convulsing while she whined, “want you to own me, charles. wanna be stuffed full by you only, charles please~”

“you could’ve asked me a long time ago, mon tresor,” his thrusts turned hard and slower as he came inside her, feeling her clench around his cock as they reached their highs. 

she was too fucked out and full, content at the feeling of his cock inside of her while feeling nothing but happiness being in his arms. 

charles couldn’t help but grin widely at the sight of her limped body and the dazed expression on her face. he couldn’t find himself to think about his teammate when this sweet woman was finally his.

he knew that he could do so much better treating her like a queen that she was than carlos would ever do. 

everything that her ex never gave her— charles would be more than willing to hand it to her on a gold plate.

the next morning, charles found carlos at the hotel lobby as they were both heading to the airport. the two ferrari drivers got to speak to one another before pierre gasly and esteban ocon saw them and talked amongst themselves.

carlos sainz sure was the kind to be confused and puzzled, and he showed this when esteban’s manager — who was once carlos’ girlfriend and manager — approached the group and talked to the drivers before turning to charles with a sweet smile. 

“are you going to go now, mon ange?” charles asked with a smile, watching her blush at the attention she got from him as she nodded meekly. “you could just come with us, you know? we’re heading to the same place, anyway.”

“yeah but,” she gestured to the two alpine drivers, “someone has to control these two before the next race week starts.” 

the alpine drivers protested against her words as she and charles giggled. charles then looked at her and said, “okay well… text me when you get there, okay?” 

she nodded and gave charles a sheepish smile (as if she hadn’t found herself saying the filthiest words to him the night before; not that carlos knew). 

charles wrapped his arms around her before kissing her passionately, humming at the taste of her. pierre let out a whistle and esteban grinned at the two toothily. 

while carlos… carlos was just confused as fuck. 

“see you tomorrow, pretty girl,” charles winked at her, smirk playfully written on his face as she giggled quietly and left with the two alpine drivers. 

charles found carlos staring at him with his mouth slightly agape, making the monegasque chuckle and shake his head. “she’s so sweet and pretty, no?” 

♡ moony’s reminder 🅶 (general): @hiraethrhapsody @avaleineandafryingpan @topguncultleader @enhacolor @roseandtulips @woweewoowa @magnummagnussen @happy-nico

♡   moony’s reminder 🅴 (explicit edition): @glitterf1 @savrose129

[multifandomgirl08]

A Year in Moments [Mini Verstappen Series]

Dad!Max Verstappen x Mother!Reader (Established Relationship)

Photo Credit: Pinterest/Tumblr

Format: Social Media

Summary: 2026 in little moments

Previous Part → Next Part Mini Verstappen Masterlist

danielricciardo

Liked by ynverstappen and 386,457 others

tagged: maxverstappen1 & ynverstappen

danielricciardo Apparently I crashed date night. Sorry for being the third wheel guys.

ynverstappen Third wheel? What are you talking about?

maxverstappen1 danielricciardo You were flirting with my wife just as much as I was. ynverstappen He was flirting with me only when he wasn't flirting with you. danielricciardo Have you seem Max?? Why wouldn’t I flirt with him? ynverstappen True, he's something that needs to be cherished. danielricciardo I love that we're fighting over Max. How you feel about that mate? maxverstappen1 Pretty good! Please do continue... or you know save it for when you are next at the house.

View all 574 comments

fan85 Wait, does this mean that Y/N knows about Maxiel? The Verstappens and Daniel?!

fan61 I thought we all made a gentlemen’s (fangirl’s) agreement not to bring up Maxiel on IG.

fan23 Does Daniel get invited out to dinner with Max and Y/N often?

fan38 There has to be more to this story!

February 10, 2026

ynverstappen

Liked by georgerussell63, lilymhe and 348,926 others

tagged: lilymhe, carmenmmundt,...

ynverstappen Things can get crazy when it's just us

sebastianvettel Please bring back my wife in one piece.

alex_albon Should I be concerned that my flat is going to be a mess when I get home?

View all 745 comments

fan18 When all the F1 WAGs have dinner together!

fan67 How do you get an invite to this dinner? Asking for a friend.

fan39 Become a WAG. How else?

fan49 Is no one going to talk about the fact that all of the WAGs are having dinner together just after Mother’s Day??

May 28, 2026

ynverstappen 📍Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Liked by danielricciardo and 234,845 others

ynverstappen Our weekend in Spa

View all 842 comments

fan95 Nico looks just like Max

fan76 Has anyone ever met Y/N at a race?

fan45 I met her last year at Silverstone. She was super nice, even offered to take my picture with Lando who was walking with her and Nico.

fan63 I feel like Nico is just the sweetest kid.

fan56 Can confirm. Aside from Y/N, Nico just wanted to spend the day with his dad and his little brother when I saw them earlier today.

fan44 Wondering why Y/N hasn't posted any pictures of Nikita given that he was at Spa?

fan60 I don't think it's strange for Y/N not to post any pictures of Nikita given that he's only 9 months old. Y/N wasn't even sitting in the garage like she normally does on race day. It's probably too loud for his little ears.

August 2, 2026

ynverstappen

Liked by yourbestfriend and 451,045 others

tagged: maxverstappen1

ynverstappen Best view in The Maldives

danielricciardo I taught this man how to thirst trap!

ynverstappen You did, I've never been more grateful!

View all 456 comments

fan23 I love that they've become the couple that just drops thirst traps of one another

fan74 Y/N is feeding us all of the good content

fan86 Is that baby Nikita with Max in the last photo?

August 27, 2026

ynverstappen

Liked by maxverstappen1, victoriaverstappen and 238,475 others

tagged: victoriaverstappen

ynverstappen Happy Birthday to my awesome sister-in-law. Between the lunch dates, retail therapy, and picking on the man that I love. I wouldn't be able to survive family vacations without you.

📸: sophiekumpen

lilymhe The perfect sister-in-law duo

ynverstappen You know it babe

fan67 Lily is in Y/N's comments! OMG

fan23 When Y/N's photos are giving off S and B vibes

October 21, 2026

maxverstappen1 and ynverstappen

Liked by martingarrix, and 734,724 others

maxverstappen1 I would die for her. I would kill for her. Either way, what bliss.

📸 : lilymhe

georgerussell63 The actual physical embodiment of these characters

danielricciardo You've never looked better mate

landonorris Did you dye your hair? Brave man

maxverstappen1 Not hair dye, it's like spray I think?

View all 392 comments

fan73 They already give off this energy 😍😍

fan59 Mom and Dad

fan84 She really is everything, and he worships her.

October 31, 2026

----

Mini Verstappen taglist: @karmabyfernando, @barcagirly, @sachaa-ff, @iamahallucinationnn, @musingsbyshreya, @glow-ish, @nonsensical-nonsence, @fanboyluvr, @champomiel, @gothicwidowsworld, @lighttsoutlewis, @itsalwaysgay, @minkyungseokie, @mynameisangeloflife, @ursforever129, @aundercover, @bborra, @mindless-rock, @cixrosie, @barcelonaloverf1life, @taylorslovesswifties13, @konsti081, @mellowarcadefun, @smnthnclj, @brekkers-whore, @lpab, @thedecalcomania-blog, @xoscar03

[whirlybirbs]

— BURNER CELL ; 2 ; DABI ; 荼毗

summary: after a week of silence, you finally text dabi. pairing: dabi / f!reader ; quirkless word count: 1.3k tag: humor, maladjusted dabi meets normal adult woman, flirting, canon-based world building, cancer mention, texting as a plot device, slight au, univeristy student!reader a/n: this stole all my concentration. siri play emo boy by ayesha erotica ← previous | the tag

It's the kind of week where, aside from class, human interaction isn't really on life's setlist. 

It's also the kind of week where you rediscover making a meal of raw cookie dough straight from the package. Your econ textbook might have a stranglehold on you, but you make enough time to scarf down a few globs between chapters — after all, who needs protein or fiber when you're sure this five-year master's program will kill you first?

Your head hurts.

You slump against the counter, refilling your water bottle. 

It's late now — and you can feel the quiet woes beginning to wane as you blink at the clock. By now, your friends are probably on their second or third drinks. You turned the invite down when they asked yesterday. Nuri tugged on your sweater sleeve and pouted the best pout she could manage, but you didn't budge. 

I've gotta finish this paper, I'm sorry, Nur'. 

You roll your jaw as you shut the faucet off, wandering to your freezer to wrangle some cubes from the tray. You bend it slowly, deep in thought. A few pop out, and you idly drop them into your water bottle with a twang. 

You're staring at your phone. It's by your computer on the counter. 

...You never did text Dabi. 

You told yourself it was for the best — after all, you weren't looking for a catastrophic derailment of your life at the moment. Things are good. You're two semesters away from finishing University, your family's bakery back in Kyoto is doing well, and Dad's chemotherapy seems to be working. Things are good! It's almost fall, you've managed to stick to your monthly budget, and Mizu settled in happily to your new apartment. 

No four-day poop strike like the last time you moved.

The large tuxedo cat in question ambles through the kitchen — brushing against your leg and letting out a long, low mrrooow. 

Things are great! 

You shouldn't text Dabi.

But... even if you did, it's not like it'd be the end of the world, right?

Wait, could he figure out where you lived from your number...?

You could use one of those anonymous texting services. Then, it wouldn't even be your number. Just some fake string of digits that allow you to satiate the bizarre curiosity that's been swirling in your head for the last week. 

You're sure the novelty will wear off. 

He's probably not even going to respond. 

You're telling yourself this is stupid as you begin to set up an account with the service — the app boasts privacy, andunlimited calls and texts... You can't help but feel a little strange as you finalize your account. 

It's done.

You import his contact with two taps and stare at the blank screen. 

...Now what?

Are you really going to do this? I mean — he's a wanted criminal. He's a member of the League of Villains. If anyone ever found out you were in contact with him, you'd be toast. You'd have All Might kicking your door in and demanding to look through your phone and that mental image is enough to make you cringe. Say goodbye to your degree, goodbye toyour future as Sakura Flour's owner, and goodbye to freedom. You're sure the Safety Commission would place you on some watch list for the rest of your life, and frankly, your tweets are already questionable. You don't need more scrutiny. 

...So, there are two options. 

Delete his number and move on... or don't get caught. 

You shouldn't text Dabi.

...But, you do.

Truth be told, he isn't shocked to see that cute Nuri girl hanging on Giran's arm again. The Broker seems pretty into her — the guy even mentioned something about taking her to a nice dinner during the week as a congrats on passing some big test. Dabi can't blame him. She's cute. Looks good in red. Not his type, but he can appreciate it from time to time.

However, Dabi is a little shocked that you're not a part of the group cheering in Giran's VIP section. There's bottle service being ordered, laughter, dancing, and a gaggle of pretty, five college girls — and none of them are you. 

His lips twist into a scowl. 

He decides he's leaving; his piss-poor drink is tossed back, and he dumps a bill down for the bartender before tugging his hood up and sucking his teeth. 

He never liked this club anyway.

He's crossing the threshold of the back door, stepping into the damp and dark alley, when the phone in his back pocket buzzes. Someone's smoking a Marlboro by the dumpster. The familiar smell makes Dabi's fingers twitch. 

He's tryna quit.

He tugs the phone from his pocket, no longer bothered by the splintered glass screen. His battery is at 13%. This fuckin' thing barely holds a charge anymore. 

The number on the screen isn't one he knows.

Dabi's passcode is unnecessarily long. His phone clicks open as he narrows his eyes and shambles towards the opening in the alley. He doesn't know this number. He has everyone's cell memorized that he needs. Shigaraki, Toga, Spinner, Jin, Compress, even Giran. He doesn't keep contacts. Doesn't work when he's ditching phones all the time. He's got his noggin. That's good enough.

The text is one word:

hi.

Dabi's squinting at the text when another buzzes through. 

← 909.999.3399 ;  11:48pm sorry, this is bar girl

→ dabi ; 11:46pm thought u were never gonna txt me ur girlie nuri is here where r u

There's no way.

Your phone buzzes three times from its far place where it sits face down on the counter — you just walked away from it, hellbent on distracting yourself while you waited out the potential reply. You go rigid in your kitchen. 

Did he seriously text you back immediately?

You purse your lips, then slink towards the phone. It buzzes again.

→ dabi ; 11:47pm c'mon don't leave me hangin pretty

Your eyes are wide as you stare at the string of replies. He has read receipts turned on like the psychopath he is. 

You lean back against the counter, chewing your cuticle as you let out a ragged sigh. Nuri is with him? Or... No, they said they were going to that club you hate. 

← 909.999.3399 ;  11:4pam oh, are they at the bar?‎

Dabi's fingers move fast.

→ dabi ; 11:49pm nah in downtown club tropical or whatever the fuck it's called

You snort a little.

← 909.999.3399 ;  11:49pm i hate that place. their drinks suck.

Dabi has started making his way back to their hideout — back to the shit box apartments they're renting above Kurogiri's bar. He's slow, idly texting as he weaves through the crowds of nightlife in Kamino Ward. 

→ dabi ; 11:50pm a girl after my own heart where r u ur dodging my question u on a date or smthng????

He's insistent, you'll give him that. You cross your legs as you lean back against the laminate counter and chew the inside of your lip.

He's typing. It starts, then stops, then starts again. 

When you start typing, the bubble disappears. 

← 909.999.3399 ;  11:50pm nah, got a huge paper to finish uni student, remember? sorry to disappoint 

→ dabi ; 11:51pm ur missin out giran got bottle service  him and nuri looked cozy

← 909.999.3399 ;  11:51pm not shocked she thinks she can fix him

→ dabi ; 11:51pm ooooo love when that happens poor girl

Typing... 

Typing...

→ dabi ; 11:51pm u think u can fix me? :p

The emoji makes your face break into a smile — it's so... not what you expected. 

← 909.999.3399 ;  11:52pm nah i'm not stupid

→ dabi ; 11:52pm just busy.... really lame of u tbh coulda been fun

← 909.999.3399 ;  11:52pm wasting cash on mid drinks is the opposite of fun

→ dabi ; 11:52pm i meant seeing me

Oh, what the fuck.

Why does that text make your face feel hot? Why does that text make you feel like you're not texting the League of Villain's #1 Arsonist, but some cute boy from class? He's not a cute boy from class. He's a danger to society. 

You're glad you don't have the opportunity to reply. Your phone is buzzing in your hands, the haptic feedback lighting the neurons in your brain on fire.  

→ dabi ; 11:53pm gtg phone is gonna die have fun with ur paper u loser hope u get a good grade or whatever i'll txt u later

You shouldn't have texted Dabi.

But you did. 

[entitled-fangirl]

A civilized meal.

Joel Miller x reader

Summary: Joel admires Bill and Frank's daughter at the table. Bill hopes his glares are enough to kill him.

Words: 1,378

Warnings: gun, talk of infected, tension.

Author's note: I just know for a fact Bill and Frank are such chaotically great parents dude. Girl dad energies.

Masterlist <3

..............................................................................

“Well, this really is just- it’s amazing.”

Tess and Joel sat at the outdoor table of Bill and Frank’s. The two lovers had invited the QZ members to lunch. Well, Frank did. That much was obvious by the smile plastered on his face and the handgun in Bill’s hand.

Their daughter sat next to Bill at the table. 

Frank had found her outside their home one day, cold and starving. Of course, Frank took her in. How could he not have? And Bill, as always, rolled his eyes and kept an eye out for any signs of danger from her. When none showed, he hesitantly opened his heart out to her. The two adopted her under their wings. But that was many years ago. Now, she was very much a woman. Beautiful, graceful, innocent. Bill and Frank had made sure of that. They gave her everything in the world that she didn’t have before. Bill would sometimes teach her things about how to survive, but Frank would always interrupt, saying his lover was corrupting her, and as long as Bill was around, everything would be fine. She didn’t need those things. Not under the careful watch of the two men she adored.

She sat next to Bill, her eyes watching the two visitors curiously. She hadn’t seen anyone other than her parents in over 10 years. And God, were these people interesting. 

It seemed that went both ways. Because Joel watched her just the same.

“Can you not, please?” Frank asked Bill politely. 

Bill listened, of course. He set the handgun down on the table, but kept it pointed at Joel.

Bill was not an oblivious man. He was noticing the looks Joel was giving his baby girl. And he didn’t like it at all. 

Not that this was a dirty look. No, not at all. It was a watchful, almost admirable gaze. He thought she was beautiful. 

And Bill agreed. His daughter was beautiful. He knew that. And by fucking god, he wouldn’t see her be taken by some outsider.

Frank poured Tess another glass of wine, both Joel and Bill staring across the table at each other. Their daughter watched the exchanged, her eyes shifting back and forth between the two.

Joel finally spoke up, “I’m the same way.”

Frank teased, “Oh, you’re a paranoid schizophrenic, too?”

Bill immediately rebutted, “I'm not schizophrenic.”

Their daughter let out the smallest of laughs, a soft breath coming from her nose. 

Joel turned to look at her. She was such a pretty thing. Especially in the sun like this. But he quickly turned back to look at Bill, who was already glaring in his direction.

Tess felt the tension, “Well, can I just say, uh, gun aside, which I get, how nice this is to have a civilized meal in such a beautiful place? It’s been so long…”

Frank looked over to Bill quickly, the two sharing a knowing glance before Tess continued.

“I mean, I just… uh… I wanna thank you. Even if we don’t end up working together.”

Frank held up his glass, “We ARE working together.”

The two touched their glasses with a small clink. 

Bill continued to glare at Joel, even while Frank tried to dilute it.

Frank got an idea, setting his napkin on the table, “You know what? Let’s go inside. Tess, I wanna show you something.” He quickly stood, as did Tess. They began to walk to the front door of the home, Frank grabbing the wine bottle to take with him.

Bill sighed, “No, not inside.”

Frank continued.

“Frank… FRANK!” God, that man would be the death of him. 

When he and Tess closed the door behind them, a silence filled the table. Bill immediately cocked the gun on the table, setting it back down, like a warning to Joel. 

Joel simply watched with squinted eyes. 

Bill’s daughter awkwardly stared at the gun, wishing her father wouldn’t do anything rash. The last thing she wanted was for him and Frank to fight. That was her least favorite thing in the world. 

Finally, Joel sighs, “I understand…”

Bill retorts, “No, you fucking don’t…,” he looks over to his daughter, “Go inside.”

She sat a little straighter in confusion. “I… what?”

Joel couldn’t help but stare at her. Her voice sounded so sweet. So kind. But Bill wouldn’t let him look for too long. 

“I said go inside. Now.” He tips his head towards the door as if pointing. 

She immediately stood with a quiet, “yes, sir.” She glanced over at Joel one last time, as did he, before she walked to the front door to join her other father indoors.

Joel sighed. He can’t lose his temper. Tess really wants this. “If my, uh,… if mine brought strangers into our situation, I wouldn’t be happy either. But of all the people he could’ve found on the radio, we’re actually decent people just tryin’ to get by.”

Bill gave a scoff, “Oh.. well, aren’t I the lucky one?”

“There’s stuff we have in the QZ that you don’t have here. We can help each other, and get that gun outta my face.” 

Bill was slightly thrown off by the shift in Joel’s tone towards the end. He leaned back, thinking for a moment, before putting the gun in the holster on his hip. He couldn’t help but rub in what he did have, “Well, there are things here that you don’t have.”

Joel knew exactly what he meant. The girl. Of course, he couldn’t help but point out Joel’s staring. Joel’s jaw clenched slightly, “Yeah… Suppose that’s true. So, what, you were a… prepper or somethin’?”

Bill relaxes slightly, “A survivalist.”

A silence set in before Bill breaks it again.

“Maybe you are decent people, maybe not. Doesn’t matter. We’re self-sufficient here. I don’t need you or your friend complicating out lives. Is that clear?”

Joel looked over in thought, considering the older man’s words before a small laugh raked through his body. “That fence has got a year on it, tops.”

Bill peered over at his fence, gawking slightly.

“Galvanized wire already started to corrode. I can get you 10 spools of high-tensile aluminum. Last you the rest of your life…,” Joel’s head tilted to the house, “…lives.”

Bill looked back at him, slightly impressed. 

…

The group all walked to the front gate together. Tess and Frank led, whispering to each other happily while the other two men hung back slightly in silence. The daughter walked between the two groups, looking at the trees, watching the birds fly. In her opinion, it beat trying to talk to Bill at the moment. 

Frank and Tess squatted next to the fence, packing more into her pack as they giggled about something. The daughter watched, happy for her father. She stood, rubbing her arms to keep warm despite the sunshine.

Joel took this opportunity to try one last time to make sense with Bill.

Bill stood a little further back, his gaze watching his girl and Frank carefully, his eyes never leaving the two of them. He wouldn’t let a thing happen.

Joel stood next to him, watching the girl as well, “FEDRA’s never gonna come up here. And you’re well protected against stray infected. But sooner or later… they’ll be raiders. And they’ll beat that fence and your tripwires…”

Bill turned to face Joel now, listening intensely.

“…they’ll come at night… quiet and armed.”

Bill stared at the man, “We’ll be fine.”

Joel turned his head to look at Bill, before looking back at the girl, and back to him. He then walked forward, pulling his backpack on.

He walked past the girl, the light breeze of his movements brushing her arm. Her head perked up, watching him walked away. She turned around to look at her father. 

At first glance, he seemed angry. But, she knew that look. Bill wasn’t angry. He was actually considering whatever Joel had told him.

She knew that meant Tess and Joel would visit again.

And she couldn’t wait for that day.

…

After dinner that night, she sat Frank down and told him everything. And he giggled with her, telling her he would ask Bill about the interaction later. 

God, she couldn’t wait to see Joel again.

......................................................................................

[pinkiemachine]

Diana Prince and Steve Trevor

Okay, okay—yes—I am taking a lot of influence from the 2017 live action film, but I thought they did a pretty good job (minus the moustache. If you know, you know.) Anyway, I did make some changes. First off, Steve is British. There was a very distinct difference between the mindsets of the soldiers depending on which country they were from, and I’d prefer to explore WW1 through the eyes of a British soldier rather than American. I’m also still deciding whether or not to keep him a spy or to make him a pilot because, while at first glance at the movie, the idea of him being a spy sounds all cool, it really only serves one purpose and it’s at the beginning of the film and then him being a spy almost loses all meaning (except for that one scene at the party). I then thought that making him a pilot would be a better option because, hey, he crashes onto Themyscira in a plane, doesn’t he? And come on, you do need to be taught how to fly those things. Anyway, that aside, Steve’s personality: He’s a relatively stand-up bloke who just wants to go home and take care of his mum. It’s 1917, which means it’s been roughly three years since the War’s started. His dad’s already died in the service of his country. His older brother too. He can’t risk dying now, someone’s gotta come home to his mother and take care of her.

When his brother and father enlisted, they were all for serving. Everyone was. They were promised an easy war. A noble war. An opportunity to stand up to tyranny and let righteousness prevail. What they found instead was Hell. WW1 was unlike anything the world had yet seen—some of the things—the weapons—invented and used in this war are downright creative in their ruthlessness and twistedness. Steve’s done. He wants out. He’s not coming back.

Diana, on the other hand, still has not seen active combat. She’s battle ready and gung-ho to jump into the middle of this war… but Steve rebukes her. Their story is one about maturity and the nature of right and wrong. Is it right to fight? What’s the right way to fight? Is WW1 really justified when you look at how many men had to die? Just the nature of war, in general. A big topic, I know. But if you’re gonna write a WW1 story, write a WW1 story. And you know something, after reading about it all, the Wonder Woman movie seems downright PG by comparison.

Diana proves to Steve that there is still good in the world, while Steve teaches Diana to be wary of those who are not so good. Diana helps to bring a little joy back into Steve’s life after everything he’s been through, and Steve teaches Diana about some harsh realities of the 20th century. They balance each other out nicely.

[squerlly]

Fair Exchange Chapter 6

--------------"love shows us to appreciate what we have"----------------

Alastor x (F! wife doe reader)

The Buck & The Doe---------------------------------------

The Buck:

y/n has been avoiding me lately, she serves me my breakfast and hurries off before I get a chance to speak to her. I'm sure this has to do with what happened last week, I regret yelling at her like that but I must keep my shadow away from her, I don't need it causing trouble. Especially with what it did, I should have known when it was following her.

It keeps pacing through the walls of my office, eager to see her... because..., I want to see her. How soft her cheeks felt under its fingertips, her rosy lips and warm skin. But I made a deal I wouldn't touch her, and a promise to myself I wouldn't get attached, I can't get attached. Not when I have a reputation to uphold.

I hear Charlie starting something downstairs, so I stand from my desk and make my way to the railing on the top floor. While investigating I see poorly spelled decorations and sloppy streamers pasted around the hotel. The banner said "welcome dad" wich can only mean...

I faze to the floor and appear downstairs by the door, Charlie opens it and- "CHARLIEEE!!" Lucifer says while giving Charlie a life-squeezing hug "It is so good to see you!" "Hey, Dad its uhh- good to see you, too..." she takes a breath and announces his welcome to the hazbin hotel.

He acts so childishly with his color pallet of ugh... white, and his sad excuse of a staff. He looks around before spotting the bar I had created "What in the unholy hell is that!?" "Just some of the renovations we had done, adds a bit of color don't you think" he gives me a sneer "And who are you?" I faze behind him causing him to flinch "Alastor pleasure to be meeting you, sir, quite a pleasure" I shake his staff, cleaning off my hand from whatever filth he accumulated "It's nice to finally put a face to the name, you are much shorter in real life"

"Who- who is this are you the bellhop" How dare he "Aha, no I am the host of the hotel, you must have heard of me from my radio broadcast~" At the corner of my eye I see y/n beside me looking at lucifer curiously, she hasn't stepped this close to me in a while. "Nope I guess that's why Charlie calls it the Hazbin hotel aha"

I turn my attention back to the "fun-sized" man in front of me "Ahaha it was actually my idea" "Hahaha, well it's not very clever" "Aha fuck you!" Charlie grabs Lucifer and y/n grabs my arm separating us.

The Doe:

Lucifer the Lucifer Morningstar is here? And he fighting with Alastor... I pulled Alastor away trying to calm him down, he just scowled at Lucifer while I tried to pull his attention away from him and onto me. We haven't talked in a while and I assumed it would be best to give him space since he seemed quite unhappy this past week.

I frown, and he looks away with a huff, walking away from me. "Without Alastor, we haven't been able to pretty it up this much," Charlie says with a smile "Charlie has a unique vision, and I am happy to fulfill her bizarre requests~"

Lucifer growls and I just know things are about to get ugly "she is quite an impressive young lady, we are all veeery proud of her" Really Alastor, provoking the king of hell!! Really smart "Charlie why don't you introduce me to your OTHER friends," he says pushing past Alastor.

She introduces vaggie and the others, he seems really supportive of Charlie in an... odd way. Although I would have expected the king of hell to be a little more, scary...

Charlie walks up to me where I stand next to Alastor "And this is y/n one of Alastors friends!" Ouch... "hello it's nice to meet you" I say with a polite smile and wave, he shakes my hand and I hear Alastors static get louder. I feel somebody grab me by the waist and shove me aside before seeing the chandelier fall on the floor with dust everywhere.

I look and Alastor stands behind me, his ears pinned back slightly with a tight smile. Lucifer breaks into song, telling Charlie how he can help her with anything she needs free of charge, I step aside watching Alastor bud in and tell Charlie how he's better fit for the job. I haven't seen Alastor this riled with anyone other than Vox.

Their little argument over who is better was cut short when... "it's meee yes it's meeee, I know you were waiting for MEEE" I groan as Mimzy bursts through the doors singing.

"Mimzy!!" Alastor shouts from behind me, giving her a warm hug. "I thought I'd stop by, say hi for old times sake" "Of course sweetheart everyone is welcome here" Mimzy has been around Almost as long as I have, with her knowing Alastor when he was alive, dancing and drinking together like they're best friends "oh quite a talent this gal hoho, you should have seen her in her heyday~"

She also sees me as competition, its no secret that she likes Alastor more than just friends, its why we don't get along. I was never the jealous type, it didn't matter to me how close she got to Alastor, but its was the way she did it, Pushing me around or secretly judging me. I didn't like her because Alastor always let her get away with being well... a bitch.

I stand at the bar with husk and we both exchange annoyed glances, husk doesn't like Mimzy either, she's always teasing him about being Alastors pet. Charlie, Alastor, Vaggie, and Lucifer walk down the hallway for a tour, and Mimzy bounces over asking for a drink. She purposefully sits beside me "My my is that husker? Alastor still has you slinging hooch for him I see~ classic" She then turned to me with a frown "y/n, you're looking well"

My eye twitches and I grip the counter's edge "As do you..." She takes a long sip of her drink and then speaks "I thought Alastor would have got tired of ya by now" "And I thought an exterminator got you" She narrows her eyes and Angel walks over "So uh... you and Alastor are what friends?" He says sitting between both of us, exchanging glances with Husker.

"Well your words, not mine, but I think it fits" She stops and gives us a confused look "Why so surprised?" Angel gives me an ill-handle this look and I stand up to leave, and I make my way over to the hallway where Alastor is. I see Husk rush out passed me with a scared look and I stop, "Alastor?..." I call out, seeing scratch marks on the ceiling.

"Yes" I hear from behind me and I turn with a gasp "Oh my, heh you, uhm... ok?" I say holding my chest from being startled "Don't worry my dear just a small matter that's already been taken care of" he says straightening his bow tie while We stand in the hallway in awkward silence.

The Buck:

I look down at y/n as she toys with her fingers, and I lift my hand almost touching her. She looks up at me nervously and I stop, she so close in reach, I wanted to touch her, and hold her close but I don't. I drop my hand and speak "I apologize for my behavior last week, I'm above yelling at you for things you didn't do, I'm sorry..." I say and she looks up at me with those sweet soft understanding eyes.

"That's ok, I forgive you..." she whispers with a smile, my heart speeds up and heat burns my cheeks. What is the matter with me why am I acting like this, I have known this woman for more than 75 years, and not once have I had a reaction like this towards her. I'm the radio demon, I'm not soft and weak, I'm merciless and terrifying. I shouldn't be fretting over silly little feelings for my wife.

I grip my staff tighter, feelings for my wife... my wife "Are you alright Alastor, you haven't been acting like yourself" she reaches out and touches my hand, making my breath hitch. I have fallen for my wife, I have fallen for y/n heartfelt. This small, innocent woman who has cared for me, tended to me, helped me since the day I dragged her down here, And It took decades to realize.

"I'm alright dear, it has been a stressful week. Shall we head back to the lobby?" I say gripping her hand lightly, she visibly relaxes before nodding.

The Doe:

As Alastor and I make our way for the hallway, we feel the floor shake, and I give Alastor a puzzled look. He looks around and we rush to see what's going on, lucifer, Vaggie, and Charlie walk through a portal and everybody starts to panic. "Mimzy you lousy bitch, we know your in there!!" Everybody turns their attention to her and she retreats behind the bar.

"Mimzy what did you do!?" I say storming over to her "I may have crossed some lone sharks that I may or may not have borrowed 50 grand from, and stolen a car, that I then ran over the lone shark's girlfriend with but that bitch had it comin'!!!"

suddenly large rocks burst through the windows and the hotel begins to shake, Alastor pushes me behind the bar and walks over to stop vaggie from attacking "No my dear leave this to me, it's time I remind everyone why I am here" large black tendrils start coming out of his back and his eyes turn into radio dials "A reminder to all not to mess with the radio demon!" he crawls out of the hotel's broken doors, his body getting larger and larger "I'm going to devour each and every one of you!!"

I step out from behind the bar witnessing what can only be described as a massacre, I have only seen Alastors body expand once or twice, and surprisingly I'm not as afraid of it as I should be. Charlie and her dad argue about the hotel's cause while Angel and Husk eat popcorn.

once Alastor is done he shrinks back to his normal size and I run up beside him "Oh I miss getting to let off steam~" he says twirling his staff. Mimzy comes out from the corner and claps "Oh Alastor you did a fantastic job, bravo as always thanks for helping out little old me from a tough spot, your such a pal"

The buck:

I turn and see Mimzy walking over to me, pushing y/n out of her way nearly causing her to fall. she's not going to bring danger, have me clean up her mess, and throw my wife around. no... she's not getting away with it this time "Sorry about the mess but I'm sure y/n could take care of it for ya~" my eyes narrow as I speak

"Mimzy I think you should go" She looks at me and scoffs "Oh you are so funny, such a jokester. you don't really care about this hotel do ya? you heartless. son. of. a. bitch" I peel her hands off of me "I mean it, you deliberately brought trouble, you are welcome to stay if you really want to give redemption a try, but we both know that's not your style, so you need to leave" she looks at me in disbelief and I raise a brow "pff fine, who needs ya, good luck with your hotel and your little princess, see if I care"

She walks away and I turn my attention back to y/n whos dusting off her dress, I look at her seeing that she has not a single scratch "Are you alright my dear?" she nods with an expression I can't quite read "We should head back inside, and check on the others"

The Doe:

I rush in seeing the hotel in bad shape, with holes in the walls, glass everywhere, and parts of the ceiling missing but thankfully nobody's hurt "Oh Charlie I'm sorry about the hotel..." she breaks her hug with vaggie and walks over to me "hay its ok, I'm sure Alastor can help fix this up in no time" I look around but don't see lucifer "Uh... Charlie where is your father?" "he left back to his house... mansion... castle... whatever you wanna call it but he got me a meeting with heaven!!!"

she lets out an excited squeal, grabbing vaggie "Come on vaggie let's go pack, we're going to heaven!!!" "oh that's, great... yeah let's do that, yay heaven..."

I'm so so so so so so sorry that this came out later than I wanted but some family things came up while I was working on this. however, its finally out. I hope you guys liked this chapter and as always stay tuned and have a wonderful day/night!!

-squerlly

@pooplyface1423 @strippezzz @kimmis-stuff @sakuraluna2468

for more content and chapters please click this masterlist

[writtcnbycassie]

𐙚 WARM WELCOMES — LEO VALDEZ .ᐟ ˚⋆. ˚ ₊ · ͟͟͞͞➳ ꒰ leo valdez x gn!reader — a riordanverse blurb ꒱

— ordered﹔yes / no - here!! — ingredients﹔fluffy whipped cream, use of y/n, purpose use of lowercase alphabet soup, reader has a supporting/loving family, established relationship, probably not well proofread, lmk if i missed anything! — wc﹔500+ // 4 min average reading time — recipe﹔read the order above :) — cassie's tea time﹔i've been scrolling on pinterest for so long and couldn't find any good photos for 'handmade' stuff so i decided to just go w those three 😔😔 i also had like no idea what to name this HELP [also thank you to that anon who told me what i got wrong because i was like half asleep when i wrote this]

﹙the cafe // dishes // menu // barista board﹚

leo valdez stood nervously at your doorstep, one hand stuffed into the pockets of his jeans and the other fiddling with a gift he brought for your family. despite the confident grin he usually wore, you noticed the anxiety in his eyes. you reached over and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"they’re going to love you, i just know it." you said, smiling warmly.

"easy for you to say," leo muttered, but his smile became more genuine as he looked at you. "you're not the one who has to impress their partner's family."

"you'll do great," you assure, kissing his cheek.

as you opened the door, you could hear the sound of laughter from the living room. leo’s grip tightened on your hand for a moment before he took a deep breath, following you inside.

"mom, dad, this is leo," you introduced him to your parents. leo smiled nervously, giving them a small wave, his eyes looking around the room as if taking everything in.

your father stepped forward first, a kind glint in his eyes. "nice to meet you, leo," he said warmly, extending a hand. leo shook it firmly, a bit of the tension easing from his shoulders.

then came your step-mother who treated you like you really were her own. "my child's boyfriend, yes? she talks about you a lot." she chuckled.

you blush, and leo can't help but laugh as he glanced at you, his anxiety melting into amusement. "they're truly one of a kind."

"i made a few things for you guys.. just as a gift, y'know?" leo says sheepishly with a smile, handing your family the handmade gifts he had spent all night working on.

"made this yourself?" your father says, impressed as he examined the wrsitwatch your boyfriend gave him, turning it over in his hands to inspect the fine details..

"yep!" leo nods, squeezing your hand for reassurance.

"can you really make anything?" your little brother asked, eyes wide with awe and curiousity.

leo grinned enthusiastically, his eyes lighting up with excitement. "pretty much. wanna see?" your little brother nods eagerly.

he pulled a few random items from his pockets — a couple of screws, a piece of wire, and a small chunk of metal. in minutes, he had crafted a tiny bird that flapped its wings and chirped. your sibling’s eyes widened in amazement.

as the evening wore on, the tension leo had disappeared. by the time dessert came around, he was trading jokes with your dad and sharing stories with your mom like they’d known each other for years.

when it was time to leave, your parents pulled you aside.

"he’s a good one," your mother said softly, her eyes warm. "and he clearly cares about you."

your father nodded. "just make sure he knows we’re always watching," he added with a wink, his tone teasing but his meaning clear.

you couldn't help but roll your eyes playfully. "yeah, yeah, dad, got it."

you walked leo to the door, the night air cool against your skin. he turned to you, his expression a mix of relief and happiness.

"that wasn’t so bad," he admitted, pulling you into a hug.

you laughed, resting your head against his chest. "told you they’d love you."

leo kissed the top of your head. "thank you for believing in me."

you smiled up at him. "always."

— thank you for placing your order, and i hoped you enjoyed your meal! kisses from jvpiterzs <3 — cafe guest list﹔n/a

[luveline]

for your dad!steve au, can we see steve making the girls laugh? or just any slice of life? thank u!

thank you for your request! dad!steve x mom!reader, 1k

Steve doesn’t play rough with the girls because he’s a schmuck who’s constantly terrified of dislocated elbows (shockingly common in young kids —all you have to do is pick them up wrong), but Avery has discovered via soft play club after school that landing on or being thrown at a soft surface is extremely enjoyable. 

“Please, dad, just chuck me! I won't get hurt,” she insists. 

You, sitting on the floor by your bed, look up from the clothes you’re sorting into piles to smile at him. “Go on, handsome, just throw her.”

“I don't want to throw you,” Steve says unhappily, trying to ignore Avery where she’s sat pleadingly on the edge of the made bed. He’s putting your folded pyjamas away in the dresser. 

“Please, dad, please, please, please!” she begs, climbing from her knees onto wobbly feet.

Steve sighs. Today hasn’t necessarily been long or anything, as it’s a Sunday, so you’re home. When you’re home, you insist on handling the majority of childcare to give Steve as much of a break as he can get, which isn’t often a break at all because you have three kids and a house and a lot of chores that are unavoidable. Steve reveres your efforts. You work all week just like he does, and at least he gets the pleasure of being surrounded by the people he loves. A full work week and everyday you come home tired but willing to keep on fighting until bedtime. 

He closes the dresser drawer. Realistically, there is no reason to say no to Avery. He isn’t so tired as to not be able to play for a bit, and he knows himself well enough to know he won't hurt her. 

He crouches gently and opens his arms. “Fine. C’mere, Ave.”

She launches herself at him. Steve picks her up, and he rocks her lanky but still so small body in his arms, each rock a threat that prompts an excited laugh from his oldest. She screams with joy when he finally throws her into the bed, her body bouncing up toward the pillows (two for you, about six for him).

“Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to drop you,” Steve teases.

She giggles giddily and crawls back to the end of the bed for another go. 

You pause with clothes unfolded in your hands. Kids wear altogether too many clothes. Dove must change three times a day, Bethie too, your youngest girls both burdened with a penchant for mess. Avery is much better, but even if they were the neatest girls in the world they’d still make a mountain of laundry at the end of the week. 

Simply put, you’re sick of clothes. It’s much more fun to watch Avery scream with joy as Steve scoops her up and drops her down again. He looks nice tonight, like he always does, lean but tough, not as fit as he once was because there’s no time for swimming when you’re raising kids but really, really pretty. The suggestion of his biceps strain against his short sleeve t-shirts, and when he pulls Avery up against his chest his shirt gets caught and you can see his soft tummy. 

“What is happening?”

You turn to the source of the new voice. Your second oldest, Bethie, stands in the doorway in her white nightie, hand in hand with your toddler, Dove. Dove is in very sweet, very small pyjamas, thin white cotton dotted with dainty blue flowers. They wear twin expressions, an apprehensive sort of confusion. They can hear the laughter and they want to be involved. You can’t blame them; Avery’s squealing in her disorientation, having way too much fun. 

“Dad’s throwing your sister,” you say. 

Bethie takes a step back. Not from fear, never, but because she’s a shy girl who doesn’t like asking for things. You don’t understand how you managed to make a daughter so different from your first, but you're delighted anyways. You love her exactly how she is. 

“Do you want to play, too?” you ask her, setting aside the last pile of folded clothes.

“No,” she mumbles. 

Steve tosses Avery at the pillows again and turns to the newcomers as she rolls. “Hello,” he says sweetly. “Now all my favourite girls are in one place! Come here, Beth, let me see you.”

Bethie is the world’s biggest daddy’s girl, immediately dropping Dove’s hand to crowd Steve’s knees. Dove’s happy to be set free. She squeezes through all the hubbub to flop into your lap, kicking over a neat pile of laundry as she goes. 

“What’s this?” Steve asks Bethie as he picks her up. He smooths a hand down her face. “What have you done here? You have a little mark.”

“I don't know,” she says. 

“No? You know what I think? I think it’s–” He tosses her in the space Avery vacated. Bethie is shocked beyond words and delighted by his deception, screaming as she lands in the rumpled sheets. Steve laughs at her laughing, and quickly moves around to the side of the bed to check he hasn’t done any lasting damage. “I thought you’d like that,” he says, hands sliding under her shoulders. 

“Do you want a go?” you ask Dove.

Dove can’t speak much yet. She knows lots of words and fractions of sentences, but all her pronouns are messed up, and she doesn’t like speaking anyways. She’s a quiet girl like Beth, though she doesn’t quite have her older sister's happy disposition, and she frowns at you. 

“Want boppy,” she says. 

You wrap your arm around her to feel her stomach like that might reveal a certain truth. “You’re hungry?” you ask, rubbing her side. “Okay, baby, let's go get your bottle.”

“She had loads at dinner,” Steve says. “I’m not sure why she’d be hungry.”

You laugh, because when he turns to you he has the two girls under his arms like bags of flour. They laugh and squirm to be released. Steve pretends to drop them, hiking them up again with a grin when their giggles thicken. 

“She’s a growing girl. Why don’t we all go have some milk, milk and cookies?” you ask, giving Dove an indulgent kiss. 

“Two seconds,” Steve says over the sound of excited agreement, “just need to–”

Steve throws the girls into your bed again. 

“Dad!” Avery scolds, her hair ruffled, her t-shirt collar rolled. “I’m fragile.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” He turns to you with a showful glare. Vindicated at last. 

Bethie stands up, an uncharacteristic loudness to her as she says, “Again, dad, please!”

Steve has trouble saying no to any of the girls but especially Beth. he drags her onto his chest and gets ready to toss her.

“I’ll meet you downstairs?” you ask knowingly.

“Yeah, yeah.”

—

more of this au &lt;3

[oliveisme533]

My dad’s neighbor is a dilf

Chapter 1

Joel Miller x you

Summery: You had decided to spend your summer in Austin with your dad. You used to spend almost every summer there, but hadn't spent a summer there since you were a teenager. Which means you hadn't seen a certain Joel Miller in years..

You were a teacher so the summer months were nice and slow. As you packet your suitcase, you thought back to the phone call with your dad just a few weeks prior. "Hey babygirl, why don't you come on down to Austin for the summer? I know your roommate has been driving you a little crazy lately...wouldn't hurt to get a break ya know? Plus I miss you sweetheart... would love to see you"

You smiled at the memory of his words. He was right about your roommate being annoying lately. Nothing crazy...just normal roommate things. But most of all you missed your dad. Your college summers were all spent with your mom in Boston, so this visit was long overdue.

There airport was fucking packet of course. Airports made you anxious and you always got to your gate a couple hours early for fear of missing your flight. You sent a quick text to your dad letting him know you made it to the airport and would let him know when you safely landed. He loved the message and moments later your phone buzzed again.

Venmo: Dad sent you $50 for "Uber 🚗"

Your dad definitely did well for himself, He was a financial consultant and never missed out on an opportunity to splurge on you and your sister. You knew you wouldn't be swiping your card a single time once you stepped foot in his house for the summer, and you weren't complaining...teachers don't exactly make a ton of money. There was one thing nagging at the back of your mind that you hadn't let yourself think about until now. You always had kind of a girlish crush on your dad's friend and neighbor. You hadn't seen him in years and you wanted to believe he could find you attractive now that you were actually a grown woman. It was a fantasy you know would never come true even in your wildest dreams, but it was still fun to think about from time to time. You put your headphones and closed out the world.

You smiled as the warm air hit your skin as you walked across the tarmac with one hand shading your eyes from the Texas sun. Austin was where you spent your childhood. Before their divorce, your parents had brought you and your sister into a comfortable lifestyle that you were forever grateful for. Your mom headed to Boston after the divorce, you and your older sister followed suit, but Texas never stoped feeling like home. "Uber for y/n?" You slumped down into the air conditioned car with a sigh of relief. "Yes." You looked out the window as the familiar scene flew by. By the time the car turned into your neighborhood your mind had drifted far from Boston. Your stomach lurched slightly as you passed Mr. Millers house. His truck was in the driveway. You remembered a recent phone conversation with your dad where he mentioned Mr. Miller having kind of a hard time spending his first summer without his daughter Sarah. She was with her mom for the summer, a new arrangement you were pretty sure. Maybe you would go and visit him. He was the kind of family friend that had a key to your dad's house . What if he didn't remember you? You were being stupid. Mr. Miller didn't need to entertain a 20 some year old girl. He had friends his own age, a life, and for all you knew maybe a girlfriend. You brushed the idea off as the car slowed in-front of your dad's house.

Your key clicked in the door and you were promptly greeted by Lea, your dad's new kitten. Your sister and you joked that this was his first symptom of his mid life crises. The second being the fact that he now had a girlfriend. You flung your suitcase aside and sunk into the window seat of your bedroom. You have many memories of a younger version of yourself sitting here in the summer days, reading or just watching. In the evenings you were too busy sneaking out the back gate to do such things. You smile as you recall your reckless, teenage activities. You sigh and look down at your watch. Your dad won't be home for a couple more hours. A nap probably would serve you well. Before you get up, you feel your phone buzz again. It's your dad.

"Hey sweetheart I see you made it to the house. I completely forgot Joel said he was picking up some tools I borrowed from him last week. He knows the garage code, but didn't want you to be alarmed if he's there before I get home. See you soon xx"

You found yourself staring at the text... would Mr. Miller ...Joel, you correct yourself, would he even remember me? In the spirit of southern hospitality you decide to get dressed in something that does smell like the airport and go downstairs when you hear the garage opening. You walk through the front door and out towards the driveway where Joel is loading some tools in the back of his pick up truck. He glances up at you and a wide smile forms across his face. "Well hey!" He says. "Your dad told me you were coming in... welcome home!" The words warm your heart. This was home for sure. "Thanks, I'm glad to be back. Even just for the summer!" God his arms look good in that t-shirt... "well I know your old man is happy you're here. Hasn't shut up about you comin' for the last few weeks. 'Course I get it, countin' down the days 'till Sarah gets back myself." You giggle at the comment of your dad's excitement about your arrival. "Yeah dad told me she's with her mom for the summer right?" Joel nods closing the back of the pick up. "Yeah that's right." You noted a twinge of sadness in his voice. "I'm sorry I'm sure that's hard...I mean I know she loves being with her mom and you too. Of course she'll be back for school in the fall, but still I'm sure the summer feels different with out her. I'm not a parent though so I really have no idea what I'm talking about." You fumbled through this response and ended with a nervous laugh. Joel didn't mind. He looked at you with those fucking puppy dog eyes that could make you melt. He laughed too you were pretty sure the laugh was more at you than with you, but you kind of deserved it you figured. "You're sweet, yeah she's having a blast with her mom and that's all that really matters. Your dad has been putting up with me a lot. With an empty and quiet house it's just not the same, and he's been havin' me over lots" "Well I'm sure he appreciates the company too" you couldn't help but feel a little guilt that you had possibly made your dad feel the same emotions as Joel. "Well I gotta run, but I'm sure I'll be seein' you around. Good to see ya Darlin'" you waved as he pulled out of your driveway, grateful that he was probably too far away to see the blush on your cheeks.

The next few days went by with not much to remark on. On Friday your dad mentioned that Joel would be coming over for dinner tomorrow. You told yourself it was time to act like an adult and put this girlish crush out of your mind. Joel was at least 10 years your senior and he was a close friend of your dad, In fact these fantasies are simply degrading to him or disrespectful. You're not sure of the right word, but he's a person with a life and feelings and things he's going through. To make him the object of your fantasies was wrong, you decided.

Saturday evening came around and your dad was in the back grilling and playing his country music on the speaker you had gifted him last Christmas. There was a knock and the door and the sound of Joel's voice echoing through the entry way. You didn't bother coming out of the kitchen, knowing he would come to you. Your back was turned, focusing on the sangria recipe you were sure wouldn't turn out the way you wanted. "My dad's outback." You said gesturing to the back door. " I'm sorry, where are my manners!" You turned to open the fridge and pull out beer for Joel. "You ain't gotta make a fuss darlin' is just me" Joel chuckled. You wished he would stop calling you that, but you also hoped he never would. Joel y through the utensil draw to find the bottle opener. He asked about your day and you asked about his. "I can't get over how much you've grown up" he said at one point. "Yeah o guess the last time you would have seen me I was a lanky teenager with braces" you laughed and so did he. "I think you're right... if I recall you were just about the death of your old man when you were that age." You shrugged. "Yup that's about right. I had a nack for getting into trouble." He laughed that wonderful deep laugh and said "well you turned out alright, kid"

The rest of the evening you debated whether Joel saw you more as a grown woman or a kid. He had referred to you as both in a matter of minutes...so which was it? "What's on your mind kiddo?" Your dad's voice snapped you back to reality. "Oh ..um, nothing honestly. I'm just kind of tired today for some reason." You were both in the kitchen, Joel was still in the back yard getting ready to light a cigar. "Baby why don't you go upstairs and rest. I'll make sure to kick Mr. Miller here out if we get to rowdy." He said that last part loud enough for Joel to hear. "Dad jokes.." you mutter to yourself as you climb the stairs to the second floor of the house. Your bedroom is on the front end of the house, so by they time you get there, no noise from your dad and Joel can be heard. The sound of the shower in the bathroom drowned out the noise of your phone buzzing on your nightstand. When you exited the shower there was a missed call from "Ben" Ben Sinclair was your on again, off again boyfriend for the last 4 ish years. This time you were done. You had been broken up for a month this time and you told him (in no uncertain terms!) this was it. So what could he possibly want tonight...

[youcouldmakealife]

SOTM: Lourdes Family, David; family traditons

For the prompt: Jake's sisters slowly warming up to David

The problem with Nat and David, Allie decides early on, is that they’re too alike. Not in most ways, really — she doesn’t think they’d agree on much when it comes to their taste in media, or hobbies, or any of that, and she’s sure they’d both be surprised if she said they were similar at all.

But Allie knows Nat better than she knows herself, probably, and she’s made an attempt at getting to know David, because she knows how important it is to Jake, and some of the things that make Natalie Nat to her seem to be pretty similar to the things that make David David.

They’re both quiet, but it’s not shyness with either of them, though it can seem like it unless you know them. As often as not, Nat’s quiet because silently dismantling whatever’s being said in her head, about to spring it on whatever poor unsuspecting person just claimed they ‘could care less’ or called a pterodactyl a dinosaur or something that matters to nobody but Nat. 

Though mostly she doesn’t actually say it to them — unless they’re family, she corrects Allie all the time, and poor Jakey doesn’t stand a chance — she’s saying it as an aside to Allie, or recalling it later ,‘my co-worker thought Babylon was a mythological place, and when I said 'oh yeah, like Bethlehem?' he said 'yeah, exactly!'’ or ‘If I hear someone use literally when they mean figuratively one more time, Allie, I swear I'm going to snap’. 

She’s quiet, and sometimes she seems checked out, but she’s always paying attention to what everyone else is saying. Allie’s learned it’s the same with David — she’ll mention something and then nine months later David will have gotten her a Christmas present based on her offhand comment. Or he’ll ask if she wants the same drink as last time, last time being like, six months ago. Allie doesn’t know if he’s got that kind of memory for everybody, or if it’s just because she’s Jake’s sister, and he’s still trying to impress all of them, but, well — consider her impressed, she guesses.

But also, she’s pretty sure he’s also picking up on the mistakes everybody else makes, except instead of ‘Allie, let me tell you the misspelled bumper sticker I saw today’, she isn’t hearing shit from him. She doesn’t think Jake is either, at least if the people making mistakes are them. And they probably are. Allie has no illusions that she makes no mistakes: if she did, Nat would have beaten that belief out of her by now.

“He thinks he’s better than us,” Nat complained once, and Allie pressed her lips together very tightly, and she didn’t say a thing, and frankly, she thinks she deserves a medal for that.

As similar as David can be to Nat, he’s absolutely nothing like Jake. If Allie was asked to list their similarities, it’d be like — ‘very athletic white dudes around the same age’, and then a bunch of hockey specific things. Beyond that, she’s got nothing. It isn’t just their personalities — they have completely different taste in everything. Different priorities, outside of similar career ones. Some overlapping friends, but Allie just attributes that to Jake being able to make friends with a table leg if he wants to. They could not be less alike.

Allie’s never been a big believer in the whole ‘opposites attract’ thing, but honestly, maybe she should be: mom and dad are a pretty good example of it, and Jake and David seem to bring out the best in each other.

It took Allie a little while to come to terms with them getting back together, but she can’t deny that Jake seems to grow when he’s around David. Maturity wise, but he also just seems to stand up straighter, like just being around David makes him more alert, or aware, or maybe even self-confident, though that’s never been something he's lacked.

It probably isn’t just David he’s like that with — Allie hasn’t seen him around the Panthers too much, but he is the captain, after all — but either way, it’s a nice thing to see Jake grown up.

He’s still the baby to her, will probably always be the baby to her — anyone she put in pigtails and pulled around in a little red wagon while telling everyone to look at her pretty little dolly is going to be a baby to her forever, let’s face it — but for all that he’s been taller than her since he was twelve, he felt like a kid to her the whole way to the show, and for awhile after. He doesn’t feel like a kid anymore. Baby, sure, he's always going to be that, but not a kid. 

If anything, David feels more like one. Not that he’s childish, or immature, or whatever, because Allie suspects he wasn’t even childish when he was an actual child. Maybe more someone suddenly immersed in a foreign culture — he doesn’t know where he’s supposed to be, what he’s supposed to do, what the hell is up with the wishbone thing. 

She’s seen Jake explain things to him, the traditions she thought everyone did, and the traditions that are very Lourdes specific, the way mom gives extra mashed potatoes if you're a suck up, and how if people don’t take turns opening presents it turns into a free-for-all, and how nobody actually eats the cranberry sauce.

When Jake isn’t there to do it — rare, but the dude does need bathroom breaks — Allie figures it’s no skin off her nose to do it instead, and she even overhears Nat doing it once, though  she might have just been venting about someone saying dumb shit again. She does love to do that. 

The important thing is that he keeps showing up, even though he’s uncomfortable every single time — though maybe Allie’s imagining it, but she thinks he’s reached the ‘almost comfortable’ stage this Christmas, like, maybe feeling a little awkward, but no more than anyone else would, spending Christmas with his boyfriend’s family.  Maybe more than someone typically would if they’ve been doing it every year, but Allie knows they can be a lot, that most people have trouble keeping up with the rapid back and forth — even Jake gets left behind sometimes, then pouty when they start tease him about it.

David was a wide-eyed spectator, the first few times he saw that. Jake told Allie later that he didn’t hear the fondness in it, just the mockery, got defensive on Jake’s behalf. Allie doesn’t know how he’s survived locker rooms for so long — their love language is basically just mockery and punching each other in sensitive places, at least judging by Jake and his teammates back in the day. Probably now too. She’s met Cody Gallagher, unfortunately.

He takes it better now though, even joined in yesterday when everyone was shit-talking Jake’s recent stab at growing facial hair, while Jake tried and failed to defend himself through giggles. On the one hand, Allie’s just glad it isn’t a mustache, but on the other hand, maybe he’d do a better job with that. This morning, Jake comes down to breakfast clean-shaven. Allie isn’t delusional: he didn’t shave it because his sisters gave him shit. That was all David.

“High five,” Allie says when David joins them downstairs, and she’s half expecting a quizzical look, maybe even the ‘what the hell are the Lourdes talking about now’ one that surfaces sometimes, but instead she gets a tiny smile and a high five.

“I’m sitting right here, guys,” Jake says, but once again, he’s laughing.

[sirfrogsworth]

I guess I'm going to Florida.

Not until December, but I am looking forward to my first plane ride ever.

I know a lot of people hate air travel, but ever since I took a helicopter tour of Branson I have been obsessed with flying. I was just a kid, but my little mind was blown seeing the world from that high up. I've been dying to have another experience like that and I just never got the opportunity.

So I don't really care if it is the worst flight in the world on the worst airline ever, as long as I get to look out that window at the world below, everything else is trivial.

Although I did get the big seats.

Which means I probably won't be getting new tires right away. Sooooo... let's try not to think too hard about that. (Feel free to donate to the tire fund. Or not.)

But that should help make things more comfortable as I stare out the window for 3 hours.

Also, I GET TO SEE MY BEST FRIEND!

I mean, how cute are we?

I was pretty upset because the last time Katrina came to visit me I got extremely sick. I had a horrible reaction to some medication and I was unable to enjoy our visit at all.

Her visit was not long after my mom died and I was taking care of my dad full time and I was so overwhelmed and all I had to keep me going at the time was the thought that I would get to see my favorite person. And my stupid body just ruined it. Aside from my parents passing, I don't remember the last time I was that devastated. The timing was just so cruel. She arrived late at night and I got sick the next morning. I was legit traumatized by that horrible luck.

But now my friends no longer have to come to me. Now that my caregiving duties are over, I can go see them. And I am determined to spend some quality time with my bestie without getting sick this time.

Hopefully I can go see Delling after the new year. We did have a nice visit after my dad died, but I'd love to see them under better circumstances.

I mean, how cute are we?

I just have an endless supply of the most adorable friends.

AND I MUST FLY TO THEM!

[guess-that-ship]

S12 Round 2*

Dad's little successor

A single father and his daughter. It's no doubt that family is the main thing keeping the man afloat. He's straightforward and serious, but whenever he's around his kid, you can finally catch him smiling. On top of everything, they bond over the same… hobby? Kid has a huge interest in her dad's job, dreaming about being like him when she grows up. And it's very likely, since she puts a lot of effort into following her goal. One problem is that the job may be pretty dangerous at times, and her dad is one of those parents that worries about every single detail in their kid's life, especially when it comes to their safety. Still, he wouldn't be able to bear hurting her feelings, so her talent and enthusiasm thrive as dad lets her take a look at real work he has to deal with, with the exception that he always stays near to be in control of any potential danger. One big problem is that the father hates his job. It sucks life out of him, and it's the actual reason for his strict personality. Outside of work, he's a loving parent always thinking about spending quality time with his child, sometimes doing embarrassing things for her enjoyment. However, at work he often deals with people's worst side. Aside from that, it leaves little to no space in his schedule for rest. All of this means that watching over his daughter participating in his job is a rare chance to spend time together. Not allowing his personal experience break daughter's dreams, he still can't help but stay focused at work. Sometimes it may seem like he's too cold about her achievements, but in the end he will always and let her know how impressive her work is and that he's proud of her.

Old(ish) men one-sided yaoi

cw: spoilers

They are childhood best friends who swore they would always work together and never let the competitiveness for the job they both wanted get in the way of that… until character B gets a girlfriend and gets her pregnant and decides he will give up on that dream for his new dream: marry his gf and be a family man. Character A gets really hurt by this and cuts all contact immediately, swearing he will never forgive him.

Years later character A gets the job they both wanted and goes on to live his life wishing him and character B could meet again, but still being incredibly stuck in the past and hating him all the same. A then meets B's grandson due to work-related reasons and they end up working together but A is so petty that at the first disagreement they have he tries to beat the shit out of him. He later realizes he's just a nice, honest kid who is honestly kind of insane and it reminds him of B, so he let's him leave and decides to visit B.

B is really really exited to see A, who in his head is like "I hate you but I love you and I missed you but fuck you", and then they have a nice hug where A thinks about how gentle and kind B is and feels dumb for how he acted… until A tries to beat the shit out of him. They semi-reconcile and end up meeting up more tho, and B makes it abundantly clear again that he is very happy to reunite with A.

They later team up because they're worried about B's grandson and have a very meaningful talk where B reassures A that overall he has made a good impact on society and is doing a good job. A also realizes that he can't keep dwelling on the past and that B was not evil for deciding to change his plans for the future and go after the love of his now dead wife.

*Ship does not have to be romantic.

[duhragonball]

Chainsaw Man ch.1-4

Put the kids to bed, lock your doors, and grease your sprocket bearings, because July 31 was yesterday and that means it's

That's right, it's finally time to liveblog that popular manga series by Tatsuki Fujimoto, His and Her Circumstances. No, wait! I keep forgetting the name of this thing. Sorry. No, we're actually going to spend this month covering Chainsaw Man.

To be honest, I don't actually know a whole lot about this thing, except that it stars a man with chainsaws for his hands and face. And there's this spooky hot lady in it. That's... yeah, that's about it. Does his dick turn into a chainsaw too? Is the spooky hot lady underage? Well, I learned a long time ago that I'll never get a straight answer unless I read the thing for myself.

This was actually a recommendation from @rakruined way back in 2021. It's taken me this long to get to it, but suffice to say the internet buzz for this thing got my attention. I've seen cosplayers, discourse, reblogs of popular scenes, but none of it really makes much sense beyond "These are characters from a popular manga". So let's dive in and see if I can't form my own opinions.

I'm only planning to cover the first 97 chapters, because my understanding is that this was the first part of CSM and the second part is still ongoing. Also, I only set aside a month for this, and I doubt I can cover much more than a hundred manga chapters in that time. If this goes well, we might look into the rest of CSM in the future.

Now, before we get too deep in the weeds, I think we need to establish one thing up front. This is a completely new series for me, and I know nothing about this Tatsuki Fujimoto. It's all well and good to write a manga about chainsaws, but is he just doing this for a quick paycheck? Is he riding the wave of chainsaw hype? I guess what I'm asking is: Does he even like chainsaws? Or is he some phony?

Okay then. I think we can do business here.

So this story is about a sixteen-year-old boy named Denji, who is deep in debt. To pay it down, he sold one of his eyes, a testicle, and some other organs. He cuts trees for a living. Also he hunts devils, since there seems to be a lot of money to be made in that line of work. Unfortunately, it might still take a livetime to pay back what he owes, and he's stuck living in abject poverty until he does.

In one scene, Denji eats a cigarette for some spare cash, which he uses to buy enough bread to eat one slice a day. He's heard people put jam on their bread, but he can't even afford this.

Denji's only friend is a devil named Pochita. Shortly after Denji's father died and the Yakuza threatened to kill Denji unless he repaid a bunch of his dad's debt, Pochita wandered up to the gravesite. Denji resigned himself to debt, but noticed Pochita was injured, so he allowed Pochita to bite him, since human blood is supposed to help devil's regenerate their bodies. Denji called this a contract, where they would help each other survive. And with Pochita's help, Denji hired himself out to the Yakuza as a Devil Hunter to pay his debts.

But this not-so-cozy arrangement doesn't last. One night the gang takes Denji to some spooky lair to take down a devil, but they reveal it was a trap. The gang tried to make a deal with this devil for greater power, except this devil's power turns humans into zombie slaves, so it's not much of a bargain. Anyway, this devil sics his army on Denji and they chop him and Pochita to bits.

Huh. Well, it was pretty short, but the art was nice. I wonder if that lady was from some other series... Oh wait, we're not done.

At some point during their friendship, Denji told Pochita that if he ever died while Devil hunting, then he wanted Pochita to merge with his body. Or something like that. Denji only knows that devils can do that sort of thing, and Denji's proposing this because he thinks Pochita would be able to survive on his own more easily this way. So when the bad guys dump their remains in a dumpster, Pochita begins putting all their pieces together.

Denji wakes up to discover his wounds are healed. He even has his right eye back, and presumably that one testicle he sold. Also he's got pull cord sticking out of his chest, similar to the one Pochita had for a tail. In some sort of dream or hallucination, Pochita tells him that this is another contract between them. He'll be Denji's heart, and in return Denji will go on sharing his dreams with Pochita, because Pochita always enjoyed listening to Denji's dreams of a better life.

But the devil who killed Denji is still there, and he's pissed that Denji somehow survived. It occurs to him that the mobsters were just like him, even though they had a lot more money and power. They had aspirations for more, which led them to dealing with the devil who made them zombies.

But they clearly followed their ambitions to a bad end. Denji pulls the cord on his chest and turns into some sort of man-like creature with chainsaws coming out of him. A "chainsaw man", if you will. At first the devil thinks that means Denji is on his side, but Denji still considers himself a Devil Hunter, and killing all of these guys will wipe out his debt. I don't know if he means the payout for this caper will clear the debt, or if he thinks killing all these Yazuka-zombies will wipe the slate clean. Maybe both.

When the slaughter is finished, he changes back to normal, and is discovered by a different group of Devil Hunters. Led by Makima, these guys are with "Public Safety", so I assume they're a government agency, as opposed to civilian devil hunters like Denji.

Makima senses that Denji is somehow both human and devil, so she gives him a choice: Either she kills him as a devil, he can serve her organization as a human. She refers to him like a pet, which Denji seems to accept readily, because all he wants right now is food. She promises him bread with jam, and some other stuff, but honestly, she had him at "bread with jam."

True to her word, Makima takes Denji out for a meal, but before he can eat, a civilian shows up talking about a devil who abducted daughter. Makima doesn't want her noodles to get soggy, so she tells Denji to handle this alone.

Aren't noodles... supposed to be soggy? Like, the idea is to soak them in boiling water to make them soft. How much wetter can they get? I'm thinking of like chicken noodle soup here.

Anyway, Denji tries to object, since he's exhausted and starving, but Mikama insists. He's her dog now, and she has no use for dogs who don't follow orders. So he's got no choice.

It doesn't take long for Denji to find the girl and the devil, but the girl pleads for the devil's life, claiming they're friends, and her dad abuses her. Denji can sympathize, since he was friends with Pochita, after all. So for a little while he's conflicted, but he suggests that the three of them can run away together and escape from her father and Makima. But the whole thing is a setup. The devil was controlling the little girl with his powers and tries to ambus Denji. But he failed to consider one thing...

That thing is chainsaws. I believe it was Sun Tzu who wrote: "When setting a trap for your enemy, first make certain that he cannot turn himself into a monster with chainsaws for hands."

Denji succeeds in his mission, so Makima finally lets him eat. She even feeds him, since he's so worn out from the transformation. The noodles are soggy, but he doesn't care, because he's been living on bread this whole time. Also, he's got the hots for Makima, so working with her is a pretty cool arrangement.

Or it would be, except Makima takes him to their headquarters and assigns him to work with some dickhead named Aki Hayakawa.

It's around here that Makima's whole manipulation bit comes into focus. This isn't some one-sided infatuation here, where the girl has no idea how the boy feels about her. Makima is clearly aware of Denji's feelings and she's perfectly willing to use them to get what she wants out him. And she can get more out of him by constantly keeping herself just out of his reach. Oh, we're going to be working together all the time... well no we won't, you'll be spending most of your time working with my other subordinates.

It's a bait-and-switch that I find... Well, let's just say "surprisingly relatable". Denji's too young to know how this turns out, so he thinks if he goes through all the hoops he'll earn Makima's favor, except she has no interest in favoring him. He's just a curiosity, to be discarded when he's no longer compliant or useful.

When they're alone in an alley, Aki beats Denji up and tells him to quit. He can tell Denji's only in this because he's got the hots for Makima, and Denji admits it. Aki feels that Denji's not cut out for this work because his motives are too shallow. Only those with strong motivations and conviction can hack it in this business. But as Aki turns his back on Denji, he's forgotten one thing.

Knee to the groin.

Aki made a nice speech, but here's Denji's rebuttal: He actually got treated like a person today, which might seem shallow to some, but for Denji, it's a dream come true, and he'd go to any length to keep this new lifestyle going. Aki thought he could scare Denji out of this with a simple beating, but Denji got killed yesterday, so you're not gonna run him off with a few punches. Also, Denji's willing to fight dirty. I'm sure Aki has some kind of badass fighting style, but Denji's fighting style is to focus all attacks on the balls, and it seems to work well.

And this is why I'm not impressed with Aki as a character so far. He doesn't approve of Denji, and he's clearly intended to be a "rival" character, and he's very serious motivations for devil hunting, but so far he hasn't shown us anything that makes him worth having around. We've already seen people treat Denji like shit--hell, that's all anybody ever does in this comic. What makes Aki such hot shit?

Anyway, Makima wants Denji and Aki in the same squad. Aki's the leader of the squad, but Makima wants to pick a roster with a "unique experimental setup."

Their first mission together is to kill a fiend. This is just another devil, but one who has taken possession of a human corpse. Isn't that what Pochita did to Denji? Apparently not, Aki says, although how the hell would he know? I guess the difference is that Denji can switch back and forth between human and devil form, while fiends are stuck in this one form.

Anyway, Aki wants Denji to kill this fiend so he can see his devil powers in action, but Denji decides to decapitate him with an axe instead. Why? Denji says that his chainsaw powers are kind of painful, and he wanted to give this fiend a quick, merciful death.

Aki gets all pissy over this and warns Denji that he shouldn't waste any sympathy on devils. Aki also informs him that a devil killed his entire family in front of him, which is probably what got him so motivated to do this kind of work.

Aki leaves in disgust, and Denji reveals the real reason he held back: He wanted this guy's dirty magazines, and all that chainsaw-slingin' might have gotten blood all over the pages.

Denji reflects on his recent good fortune, and realizes that he still wants more, even though he's already succeeded beyond his wildest ambitions. What is his true goal? The other devil hunters and the police want to protect their families, and Aki wants revenge, and Makima wants... something, probably. What does Denji want?

He concludes the answer is to touch boobs. Now, I saw someone on Twitter the other day trying to paint Denji with the same "anime pervert" brush used for characters like Master Roshi. That misses the point. Denji is a teenage boy, an orphan living in a violent world, forced into indentured servitude to the Yakuza, and now forcibly recruited into Makima's group. Until now, the best he could hope for is some jam for his bread.

The joke with Roshi, tasteless as it may be, is that he's introduced as this "Invincible Old Master" who's advanced so far in the martial arts that he's above all worldly desires and concerns... except he's still a giant horndog like teenage boy. Denji is a teenage boy. It's not the same thing.

I should also point out that Denji, lonely and desperate as he is, recognizes that he can't just go up to Makima and ask to touch her boobs. That would be awkward, even if she likes him. That's something Master Roshi couldn't figure out for literal centuries. It's not the same thing at all.

What we're seeing here is Denji advancing up Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs. You know the one.

Usually this gets turned into a meme, where someone will color most of the diagram in and label it with something they like. But for Denji, he literally started at the bottom and he's working his way up. He achieved physiological safety when he met Pochita, who could help him kill devils and help him pay down his debts. He achieved safety when he merged with Pochita and Makima recruited him. Now that he's physically secure and has a meal in him, he's thinking about the next level: belonging and love.

I mean, he calls it "touching boobs", but come on. He's never been to school, his parents died when he was young, and he's been living hand to mouth for years. He doesn't know how to articulate any of this. That doesn't make him a bad person.

Anyway, Makima later introduces Denji to the next member of this squad, Power. She's a fiend, like the one Denji killed earlier, but she's part of this devil hunting group. Makima wants Denji and Power to work together as a team building exercise.

And Denji's fine with that, because Power has boobs, and he might find a way to touch them if he plays his cards right.

Overall, this is a promising start. I feel like I still haven't gotten to the true appeal of the characters yet, but I'm sure we'll get there.

[sarnai4]

Archipelago Academy

Here are some modern headcanons I have for the younger Dragons characters (including the Defenders because they're fun. I don't actually they are young enough to be in high school with the others. Looking at you, Mala👀)

Hiccup: He's the geek for a while. He's still not athletic and gets picked on for that and absolutely hating gym. As a student, he's pretty good. Lots of As and maybe a few high Bs depending on the subject. (He'd do better if he didn't daydream so much and he's not acing any music class. Might be get a pity D). When he finds out he's really good with exotic animals, he starts getting popular and that's when more people realize that he's also a lot of fun, a nice type of sarcastic, and gutsy. He's probably in a chess club before he starts his own that's about unique creatures.

Astrid: She's popular, but she's a little bit of the mean popular type. It's not that she actually is bullying anyone, but everyone knows she's tough and most think she's unapproachable. She's one of the top athletes and is captain on just about every team for the girls. If she's on the team, she's the captain. She doesn't have time for clubs since she's at practice a lot. She's a strong student who gets mad if there's ever a B in her report card, so she works really hard to balance physical and mental sides of school. Afterschool, she'll take some time to hang out with her friends.

Fishlegs: The nerd. We all knew this was coming. He's getting A+ every time (respectable) except in gym. He has the skills, but he's too scared to really have the aggression he needs unless he's just pushed to the edge. Then, maybe he finally wins dodge ball. Aside from that, he's part of the mathletes, is in charge of a book club, is in the chess club too, and enjoys volunteering in his spare time. He sits with Hiccup the most often at lunch.

Snotlout: The jock of course. He's basically the boy Astrid in how he's the captain for all the other sports teams. He'll talk badly about the girls until they had an unofficial game and they wipe the floor with his group. Then, he'll give Astrid the credit she deserves. When his dad gets in his head, he acts like the school bully. When he's able to just be himself, he isn't afraid to not sit with the popular crowd and will actually just eat with his buddies. Still, he values his status in school and doesn't want to ever lose a real game since he takes that to heart. His grades are pretty bad, but it's due to him spending so much time at practice and training. He has no clubs and basically no life outside of this because of Spitelout being an overbearing and sucky dad.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut: They're the class clowns. Their grades are constantly as low as possible without actually flunking because they secretly could do great, but they want to annoy teachers. They're the epitome of using their energy in the wrong ways. Undercover geniuses who'd rather find the best method for making stink bombs. Every chance they get, they're pranking some student or teacher. You'll find them at the front of the class just so they can irritate the poor instructor more with questions they already know the answer to. They're not in sports because no one will let them involve boars, so they're not interested. They're only in clubs started by their friends. They also have a YouTube channel where they do dangerous stunts.

Throk: He's another jock, but I think he'd become a coach's assistant. He takes his studies very seriously and offers tutoring, but he intimidates most of the younger kids, so he never gets many pupils. Snotlout might alternate between getting tutored by him and Fishy, but that's about it. Teachers love him because he's great with authority figures and is always trying to get the others back in line. This leads to him getting verbally picked on a bit by those in his grade since they think he's a teacher's pet. No one invites him to parties, but his friends make sure he never feels excluded in things they do.

Heather: She's in some of the teams with Astrid, but she doesn't do as many. She does soccer and more of the graceful activities like ballet and gymnastics. She's a pretty good student and also does some tutoring, but not for Snotlout since he wouldn't stop flirting last time (even though he apologized). She's known as the sweet girl in school and is pretty popular because of that. Her fiery side comes out on the soccer field. She can get obsessed with projects and will normally be asked to help set up events for the school, which she takes very seriously. She's not one for parties, but sometimes, her friends talk her into them and she has a fun time solely because of them.

Mala: She's the class president and basically right under the principal. Because of that, some students are terrified of her. She's a no-nonsense person, but she's more fair than most give her credit for being. She tries to help the students who are struggling and keeps an eye out for anyone who looks like they're being mistreated. She's an excellent student and cannot fathom receiving less than 100% on assignments. She wants to join some teams, but she has too much time that she spends caring for injured and sick animals. She also volunteers at soup kitchens, but only her friends know this. Other people think she's a bit cold, but her friends help her reputation change.

Dagur: He's the one most of the students really try to avoid. They are horrified with the idea of being alone with him. Somehow, he's always getting into trouble. He isn't always trying to cause trouble, but it keeps happening. Despite what everyone thinks, he's actually a really good student because he thinks good grades will give his family something to be proud of him for. So, he's the only A student who's always in detention. He's normally in a fight and is the person bullies are scared of since he doesn't tolerate that being directed towards his friends. This put Snotlout in his line of fire for a while, but they're cool now. They were very not cool when Snotlout flirted with Heather, but a few death glares later and they're buds again. He's in no sports teams because he got banned after tackling someone in basketball and not stopping when his wrestling opponent tried to tap out (he misunderstood the rules). He's in his friends' clubs and winds up starting one of his own for the other troubled kids.

[spyridonya]

Lots of People You Want to Know Better

I was tagged by @arendaes, @yunessa, and @dujour13!

Three ships:

I'm going for canon ships! Even if I love my OCs, I don't want anyone to feel left out!

Clarice Starling/Hannibal Lecter - NOT THE TV SERIES!! Regardless of Hannigram aside, Clarice would probably stab TV!Hannibal five thousand times for the shit he pulled on every woman in that damn show. But in the books and in the movies? Their angst an UST is absolutely fantastic and treating down the Good Girl trope in Hannibal the novel is excellent in it's problematic glory.

Dispater/Erecura - Pathfinder did the funniest damn thing and made a goddamn Hades/Persephone love story. No, listen. Dispater is the Roman adaption of Hades. Erecura was an association for Proserpina, the Roman adaption for Persephone. They meet through work after Erecura is a goddamn badass and gets booted to hell, have a casual romance, and get married, and he is absolutely smitten with her. This isn't head canon, Paizo goes 'HE SINCERELY LOVES HIS WIFE'.

Nicole Haught/Waverly Earp - No, Wynonna and Doc Holliday were not the main romantic ship. It was Nicole and Waverly. It was love that began with flirting and grew, and grew, Nicole and Waverly overcame so goddamn much together and was the glue that kept everyone sane. Also, they were hot. Really hot. Oh my gosh were they hot.

Last Song:

RIELL - Wrecking Ball (Original Lyrics)

Last Movie:

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once - My second time seeing it but I wanted to watch it with my dad. The vibe fits.

Currently Reading:

Authority – Jeff VanderMeer

This is the toughest book in the Area X series, with Annihilation being the most accessible (Acceptance is a pretty accessible read but you need to get through Authority to not get overly lost). However, it's a great audiobook and it has two of the most horrific moments I've read in a while. The plot is good, but the way how it's written means you need to pay attention, and reading along with audio is absolutely worth it.

Currently Watching:

I've got so many series, but I'm trying some older TV series. Person of Interest has been my favorite so far due to Michael Emerson being opposite of what he is in Evil.

Currently Eating:

Nothing at the moment, but dinner should be pasta.

Currently Craving:

Jeans and cheesecake.

Favorite Color:

Purple

Favorite Flavor:

Lavender has recently become my favorite.

Current Obsession:

Baldur's Gate 3, though WotR isn't too far behind.

Last thing I googled:

'middle ages trapping'

Favorite season:

Mid-Fall, when the weather is nice and not ruining my skin, when it's not too cold, and there's a few fun holidays making the time go quicker!

Skill I’d like to learn:

I'd love to get back into painting and one day I want to take an anatomy class for drawing so I can do something other than portrait.

Best advice:

"Compete against yourself, not against others."

I am tagging (with no pressure!) - @chaosteddybear, @cassynite, @amatres, @tenmillionbees, @serenbach86 - Though if you've already done this, I wouldn't mind a link to see!