#I've pretty much ONLY been drawing these guys over the last month I just haven't finished anything <XD

[skunkoon]

Eyyy comin' in clutch at the last minute! Glad I had time to finish this today~

I really liked the pose of @dragon-spaghetti's DTIYS, so I figured I'd draw my two favourite boys♡

(If you wanna see the lineart, check below~)

[eyrieofsynapses]

why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

---

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

[thelunarsystemwrites]

Lunar's mental health. An update.

TW: bad mental health, EDs, depression, s/h, personal stuff, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, vent, self hate, heavy topics.

Sorry I haven't been posting!!

An update on me.

...Hi, you might know me as Lunar, or, TheLunarSystemWrites! I'm just an artist on here, trying to do things I like.... right?

Well, unfortunately, real life doesn't really... care. It doesn't care if I have friends to talk to, art to make, things I like to do.

I've been exhausted, physically and mentally. I've been busy working a lot in our home. (Painting, building, packing, inside work, cooking, etc) and it's always stressful... we're starting to get a little tight on money.

I've spent majority of my time in my bed. I don't wanna face my family members, so I've hidden away. It's hard to get up every day, and try to find the will to take care of myself.

I also recently relapsed with Bulimia, a disorder that, essentially means I throw up whatever I eat. I've been purging since September 16th, 2022. But I had awhile where I only purged once a day or none, but I'm back at it with full force. So my body doesn't have any energy left. I've also now lost my periods do to it.

I don't sleep well. It's much easier to stay up all night than waste my only free time sleeping. So I have no energy from sleeping well unless I sleep a whole day away, which makes me groggy.

Self harm is also something bothering me too, I'm too tired to do it and yet I keep doing it. Wasting precious spoons on it, I literally can't be clean for a whole year this year, that dream is dead. But, I am a few days clean as I type!

Suicidal and intrusive thoughts have been.... pesky. But I can't just leave my friends, plus I have prizes to make.

But, I'm unmotivated. I can't seem to write or draw anything. All my art is looking... regressed, to me. Everything is repetitive.

I've hated myself now more than ever in my life, I'm in a pretty bad place and I hate how self aware I am.

SPEAKING of regression! I have like, regression block. My brain isn't working with me, isn't regressing unless Involuntary. So my main coping mechanism is.... out of order.

I've been angry at the world, really pissy and moody. Tired, hungry, sad, then happy but not much. Numbness is a huge factor, I'm feeling depressed.

Not to mention, there's drama everywhere I look. This creator gets bullied, that one turns out to be disgusting. People get doxxed over opinions... it's constantly anxiety that I'll be wrongly accused, ridiculed, or abandoned. It's terrifying that people will go at each other's throats. It's exhausting to deal with it and be dragged into drama with problematic people.

Every day has been the same for me for the past 3 years. I'm tired, bored, understimulation controls me.

My friends are my lifeline right now.

I feel uncomfortable in my own body all the time, unsatisfied with my art, everything is essentially falling apart in my life.

Depression, anxiety... not a good mix to wake up disoriented and anxious, then gave zero spoons throughout the day. I'm not in a good home situation right now.

So... I kinda just... haven't been posting, role-playing, answering DMs, answering asks, etc...

I'm burnt out.

I feel like I'm a walking corpse.

Useless even.

I don't feel like myself anymore, I barely have the energy to talk to friends, every little bad things sets me back. I just can't bring myself to really engage much anymore.

So... sorry. I'm sorry, if I wasted your time. Or if this isn't like what you wanted to hear. I'm just not okay anymore, April was the last good month I had this year. APRIL.

I just wanted to update you all, there's a lot of other stuff I didn't share because it's nit important. I swear I'll get to the prizes eventually, I just ain't up to it right now. Might not be for awhile, apologies in advance!!

Hope you guys can understand, I might or might not be back to doing art, who knows. But I'll definitely get things done before that if I ever stopped. It just doesn't bring me joy, I used to hope I'd make an AU people cares about, and I've barely achieved that ^^"

Hope you're all well!! Stay safe, take care!! Remember to hydrate and to try eating if you can, you're spectacular!!!

Daily clicks!! ^^

Previous pinned post.

[silvercap]

I really love your fic Aura and I was wondering how you think krauser and leon's relationship would have continued within that story.

Took me a minute to get my thoughts together on this, but boy do I have a lot of them, anon 🤭

They're so complicated to me, and I'm honestly kind of (read: intensely) obsessed with the dynamic of teacher-partner-antagonist they have going. The way things end in re4 is something out of a tragedy, and Krauser's motivations are always a bit of a mystery to me. But let's back up a bit, first:

I actually have plans to write a sort of follow-up to Aura, but I've been so busy with everything else that I haven't gotten around to it, haha. I'm interested in their military training days, and what exactly Krauser and Leon had that made them spar each other in private and for Krauser to train Leon more than anyone else. The fact that he's never been in any sort of military setting before and was thrown directly into special forces training is a pretty raw deal, and I think Krauser would notice him struggling to keep up. It's hard to say what exactly Krauser knows from the government, but the situation is fishy to anyone with eyes, and I think he's a smart enough guy to piece together at least a little bit of what Leon's going through. Leon's presence is an anomaly he has to figure out, and paying attention to him just makes Krauser more interested in his obvious talent and strange paradoxical attempts to do his best. Pair that with Leon's big blue eyes and pretty face, and I think Krauser is pretty much sold on training him more than the rest of his soldiers. Of course, because it's Krauser, that involves brutal conditioning and self-discipline (he likes control) and I've joked with @electricfencing that they probably hunt each other through the forest with knives for 'stealth' and 'awareness' training 😭😭 I also think there's something to be said for the jealousy of everyone else training under Krauser, critical of his blatant favoritism, and there's conflict there I'd really like to explore in a fic!!

I think a lot of Krauser's motivation is to shape Leon into not only an equal but someone who can surpass him as a fighter, taking advantage of his natural skills and honing him into a weapon like Krauser is. He's big on power, especially in re4, but I feel like he's always seeking to make himself better and passes that on to Leon because it's a way to show he cares. With the whole "I trained you well" line in Spain, he hands over the metaphorical torch, acknowledging that Leon has beaten him and has gained the power he wanted Leon to have in the first place. And I think Leon goes along with it because it makes him feel wanted, even if the last thing he wants is to become violent and weaponized, because Krauser is there for him when nobody else is. He's eager to please and easily moldable into whatever shape Krauser wants him to be, and that dedication just draws Krauser in like a moth to flame.

In terms of romance, there's a ton of homoerotic tension from day one, and they've definitely kissed and done more than kiss, but considering the setting and who they are I'm not sure how deep it goes. I think they probably have at least a few months of established 'togetherness' and casual domesticity, even if they don't talk about it. I see Krauser being the one to pull away, and I've written a couple drabbles on the subject, especially with his arm injury and operation Javier throwing a wrench in their relationship and giving Krauser disillusionment in his job and disappointment in himself. I think Leon would be the one to get more attached, and Krauser's 'death' and actual death hit him hard both times.

I could quite literally write an essay on the two of them, and I'm also really fascinated by the concept of them as parallels---with the opening of Darkside Chronicles, we get introduced to the imagery of snakes and butterflies, and ughhhhh the metaphor potential is crazyyy. On the surface, Leon can fit into the butterfly space (pretty, naïve, light etc.) and Krauser is the snake (dangerous, relentless, strong) but the real significance comes from what they have in common... which is metamorphosis. Both snakes and butterflies are symbolic of change; a continual cycle of rebirth and a one-time transformation, respectively, which is why I think Krauser is closer to a butterfly and Leon is closer to a snake. Leon lives a much more cyclical life, always falling apart and coming back together only to fall apart and lose something again, where Krauser's transformation is a brief burst of power and strength that is unsustainable and burns him out. They share the need to change themselves, but the motivations are different, and it's part of what makes them so tragic as a pairing. They were bound to separate from the start!! I had a whole rant a while back about their purposes in life and the way they try to deal with an intangible 'hole' they can't fill, but this is starting to delve into character analysis instead of relationship analysis 😭 you've stumbled onto something I've thought a lot about, haha. I hope this was coherent, and thanks for the ask!! I'm ill about metaltango and I will always talk about them happily <33

[static-sulker]

The Process of drawing all nine mercs (Sniper And Spy)

haha I know, it's been a few months sense my last tumblr ramble and a good amount of time sense anything TF2 based. I've been really diving into my own fiction, with my book! I haven't talked here on it much, but I am a aspiring writer (cringe I know) and currently want to start getting a full book done and in my portfolio and not just dozens of short stories, which will be daunting but I think I can make it. It's been a hobby and a time consuming one at that, so I really haven't dove back into TF2 with the whole book thing, and my other hyperfixation holding me in a chokehold (COUGH COUGH fnaf, epithet erased and undertale COUGH COUGH). But now I have the mental capacity to continue this little series! Right now I have finished the designs for Scout, Spy, Sniper, Pyro, Engineer and Medic. Solider is almost done, as well as Demoman...Haven't touched Heavy's design but I promise I will soon...maybe...BUT! Today, I want to go over the silly little guys of Mundy, and Pierre (Spys headcanoned name for my canon :D) Anyways lets dive in!

Sniper

Sniper is held near and dear to my heart, but jesus fucking christ I could not get his design for a awhile. It wasn't just one thing and little tweaks, like most of the other members so far--Engineer, Medic and Spy--- whos were pretty simple to fix. Engie just had his hair, Medic on his mature features and Spy with what was behind the mask. Sniper had like 5 different core aspects that I couldn't draw when I first starting drawing team fortress. The face shape was extremely long for my styling and for the first few tries, it just felt too off. Either too small when i tried my original style and too much when I did it more accurate but less trained. his hat sucked the soul out of my body I fucking hate drawing hats. His figure at the time was hard, as when I started this journey I only drew twinks and girls, both being far younger then the main cast. So for awhile, I had to place Sniper on a shelf and studied Dell, Ludwig and Pierre more. When I finally adapted my style to older characters, I finally got to draw Sniper. His flavoring aren't much different, as the usual design was for my style. I think it's crazy that the original base game really doesn't show many visible scars on characters (besides the comics and the meet videos which were both for Sniper so that did help his design). I gave him a few bullet wounds and the Percy classic, wolfcut hair. I would give him some greyer streaks as I bet money that you don't stay to calm under the pressure in his shoes no matter how big his professional persona keeps up. Also I give him top surgery scars because I am trans. What do you expect me to do. I also gave him the trademark teeth impracticalities! He has a lot of chips and uneven teeth, cause he ya know...lives in a van. I also don't think they give dental care in popular game team fortress two.

SPY

Spys design is nothing but iconic. If you don't know the game, you probably have seen either Heavy or Spy in some type of meme template. That was the main intimidating hurdle I had to get across (as well as some minor tweaks as usual) on how to make this character still show as Spy on paper. The mask took a good while to get right, as masks were never my strongsuit, and hats. Fuck hats. Spy is really fun to draw though. My main practice to draw the characters was in dresses or formal attire if not their classic uniforms or cosmetics in the game. Spy felt so much easier to draw if I did in some type of cocktail dress or ever some flowery more formal dress. He just has the perfect slim build to work in my style. It was a fun design to recreate and I do really enjoy drawing him. The main issue, besides his mask which was an easy jump, was his face. Like. Behind the mask. I cannot tell you how I got it done, I just looked really hard at the details in popular fanfiction "Solitude, But Two" (READ IT OR DIE I DON'T MAKE THE RULES) By Lu_undy on ao3 Im rabid im crazy GRAJHAHAHA. Anyways. Ahem. I kinda just blacked out and then I had Spys face. I have him more hair as usual, and I got him a different teeth screw up. Impacted canines! it makes them look like little small fangs that are smaller then the teeth! It's really interesting and I had done a lot of just sharp canine work in Sniper and I kinda knew that already before drawing Spy. Give the man some tiny wrinkles because I want him to be angry and be disgusted by his imperfections because I love him. I also would nail him to a tree, no questions asked.

[keefwho]

June 03 - 2024 Monday

10:19pm

4/10

I'm losing focus of the point of this journal, to express myself and rehash my day as if explaining it to someone else. I'm still iffy with having it public, or more like I'm iffy having my identity tied to it. I'd be okay with it if it was anonymous but it's already known. And I don't want to just make a new blog because I want it to be cohesive.

This morning my mom called me at 6am to wake me up so I could get my little sister up. She is 17 and I said she should be able to get herself up for school and it's not helping that this behavior is enabled. It is NOT my job to be doing this.

When I woke up for real it was raining so I couldn't mow. Instead I shaved my body smooth. For breakfast I took one of my frozen breakfast sandwiches and chopped it up to mix it into some rice. Also with onions. I thought it was going to turn out weird/bad but it was actually pretty good so I might do it again sometime.

Before work my mood plummeted and I just couldn't do it anymore. I laid in bed and had a good cry for about an hour before I felt good enough to get back up and start working. I knew I couldn't afford to take the first work day of the month off.

For work I warmed up with human gestures since that would help with the commission today. Then I cranked out this $55 commission which meet my quota almost perfectly. I went about 10 minutes over which wasn't too bad. Since I had started late, it was nearly lunch time when I ended. Before lunch I decided to take some much needed personal time which ate into my lunch hour. As a result, I just made a can of spaghettios and was still a little late to my afternoon period.

I did today's request confidently and opened the file I was working on for idea requests next. I realized I really hate this idea system and it doesn't seem to be very popular so I decided to scrap the idea and I'll figure something else out for the time block. Instead of drawing anything, I removed links to the request form and updated all my profile pics since I forgot to do that. Then I worked on my pony avatar for an hour and got the armature set up.

My therapy appointment originally got set back an hour but the other guy cancelled so I was back on for my normal time. I read my therapy journal to him like usual and we talked about this depressive episode I've been in and a bit about triggers and socializing. At the end I had to quickly squeeze in reading him my homework which was to compile all the relationships I think have contributed to my trust difficulties. My homework for the next couple weeks is to try and identify triggers and practice awareness of how I'm feeling without overthinking it.

After therapy I sat around trying to figure out what to do. DS's friends seemed like they wanted to do an art jam but I correctly guessed that nothing was actually going to come of it. Other than that I waited for DS to get back to me. While she worked on her fursuit, we watched 600lb life. She couldn't actually stream it so I only got the audio. I worked on BD's avatar re-texture just getting it set up for the real work to get done later. Then I booted up the Roblox car game and made the brave move to open up about my feelings for a bit since I haven't done that in awhile. It was a good idea and I learned I need to start speaking up again for my own sake AND for others. In bed we did our puzzles and I finished my car run. For the last 30ish minutes of my day, I watched funny videos.

[kart0]

Little update !

Heyyy everyone !!!! Just wanted to write lol

So last update I told you I was going to my psych appt but she fucking cancelled it ? And then I rescheduled and then she just fucking bailed on me and didn't even show up to her own clinic ? Anyways I got very very upset and angry bc apparently she was TRAVELLING TO FUCKIGN NEW YORK ????????????? y'all...istg I must be a fucking saint to tolerate shit like this. Maybe I'm too passive...I didn't even allow myself to get mad and tell her but anyways. I guess I just am too used to sucking things up.

Ok so she told me to lower my dosage, and now I'm like ? Hm, I don't think so. And I might have done something really stupid ?

And I do not recommend anyone to do this PLEASE DON'T, TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR ! Erhm.... I might have stopped taking my meds ? For like. A month now ?

It kinda just happened honestly... I didn't have money to buy them, and then I started to forget taking them everyday, and then I guess I just. Idk I just stopped taking them ? And I only did that because I felt ok ? Not too bad, not too good, normal actually. And I know this is such a stupid part of me but I don't really think the meds were working anyways ? And since I dont feel bad, I guess I just. Do not care ?

I don't know ? I haven't been very anxious, I haven't been depressed, my mania ended a few days ago, I feel, normal. And ok. Idk ? When I got depressed it felt really debilitating but then I suddenly became maniac and it was over very suddenly and now I feel better. The only thing tho is now my sleep schedule is FUCKED. But idk ? Nothing else tbh ?

And I do not advise anyone to do this, I am making sure to say it as many times as it takes !!!!! Please ! I am saying dumb things I am not a doctor I have not studied medicine I have no idea what's going on !!! But I do know my body, and I can tell how I feel. And for now, I feel ok.

I am currently tabling at this anime convention and it's been taking my time for many weeks now, preparing merch and stuff, and now it's finally happening and ? It's very.... Idk ? Idk ? Idk idk I forgot the word (I'm not a native English speaker btw) it's when something goes below your expectation ? The event pretty much flopped, the tables were expensive, and I didn't sell too much. Idk ? Today's the last day (thank GOD, I forgot how much of a hassle and a pain and how tiring it is) so let's see how this will go.

I am so excited for my winter break tho !!!!! Can't wait to just play games and draw fun stuff and rot. Yay ! Soon.....

Also ! Haikyuu movie is finally here in Brazil !!!!!!! YAS !!! I AM SO SO SO HYPED AND EXCITED ! I haven't gotten tickets yet ofc cuz I'm busy but soon...soon my dear...

And ? It think I might have a little infatuation with this guy on my class. He is very, and I mean, VERY, handsome, and pretty, he's so good looking, I'm embarrassed to interact with him, and I get all awkward and shy. I just forget how to behave normally ? And I try so FUCKING hard to act normal (more than usual since..I act like this all the time. It's the tism) anyways and I found out he's not actually dating anyone ? Last year I knew he had a gf (she's in my class too) and I swore they were still together, but just were very low profile. Turns out no they broke up. Ugh I just. And he makes silly jokes of me and just, acting like an annoying little shit (he's the youngest sibling) and keeps saying I'm bald and stuff like that (just cuz...I dyed my hair blond ? Idk what his thought process is) anyways so like. I can't even tell if he likes me as a person ? He also keeps saying fuck yourself constantly to me . Like. Uhm ? Idk ? I am very intimidated by him but I can't tell if it's because he's the most beautiful person I've ever seen or if it's cuz of these "jokes". At first I thought it was very mean, and I tend to take things vry literally so I tried my best to not interact with him because i didn't want him to keep saying mean things, and didn't want to ruin even more my reputation or what he thought about me, but then I realized he jokes like this with everyone ? Which, honestly, is very very stupid. Hes a little stupid. I think it's because he's a man.

Anyways, I'm just so confused. I'm trying not to think too much about it because I tend to over project and my mind spirals and I start imagining scenarios and I might get confused and convince myself I have feelings that I might not really have ? Idk... I know I'm a romantic for sure so like. I tend to imagine too much idk idk idk so I keep trying to rationalize and think straight. Like, we don't even get along that well ? I think ? I don't even know if we're even friends ? I know he knows prettier people than me. I'm not very good looking. I'm not very nice too. I'm not good at anything really, and I don't have a very good personality. I am just not good. I have a friend and she's so sweet, and her nickname is "jesus". Cuz she's just nice and hardworking, and she always tries her best. And... I won't lie. I really really like her, and I can tell you all these things are true about her. And...it makes a little. Envious. I wish people thought about me that way I wished I was naturally good, and not having to try my best and work to be normal every single day. I wished people would see how much I'm trying. I really really am trying. But it's just not a natural thing to me, I guess. I always, constantly have this feeling, that I'm always performing. Someone is always watching me. And I always have to be my best and try hard and I just. I force myself to be nicer, more considerate, more careful, more thoughtful. Because these things just don't come up to me naturally. I am not good. Sorry for the rant.

Ugh. I think I just am forcing myself to feel something, y'know ? I've always dreamed about falling in love. I don't think I've ever did. Nor will ever do. I am pretty sure I'm aroace anyways.

Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh. Why are boys so stupid.

I just hope things don't turn out the way it did before, with my ex best friend. To sum up, he had feelings, I THOUGHT I had feelings too, but I just really really liked him, as a friend. As a best friend, in fact. So I ended up things and we just. Don't talk or hang out anymore. Which made me pretty upset, and made me think I might had actual feelings. Turned out I was just fucking lonely and miserable, and he was my ONE ONLY friend. Now that I've been hanging around with my uni colleagues, I don't feel that alone anymore. I made more friends ! Yay !

Also ! Happy pride month ! Happy to say that it's been some months since I came out as gender fluid, and I am so proud and never been better and as confident ( with my physical appearance) as I was before !

Ugh anyways, thanks for listening to me. As always, I will try to work on myself and become a better person every day. Thank u all !

Oh ! Ps: I've been slowly eating more ! I might fail sometimes but I've been making sure to at least go to bed with a full stomach. So I won't wake up dying and feeling miserable and in pain. So this is an improvement I believe !

[mushroombonny]

Please read this whole thing or at least the first and last half that talks about the actual game!

Well hello!! I just wanted to pop in and say that the Francuoer dating sim will go on a hiatus for about 6 months to a possible year because I'm currently in a hospital.

My hospital original planned stay was for about a week and a half because my instines were twisted. But come last night they got infected after a little over 24 hours after the surgery to fix them was. And now I'm missing an organ cause my stomach was so big that it ran into my lungs. So I have to heal and use a bag that's comming out if me for the bathroom until December or January since that'll be when i get my new organ transplant. Than I have to wait will next August to be able to take the bag out I think and than a few months later I'll be fully healed.

At least that's what I was told and understand, I've been on a bunch of meds for pain and stuff since the 18th of August so I haven't been fully here at least only like 50-60% here but yeah still not alot. But anywho, as you can see I won't have the energy or availability to finish working on the dating sim. I also won't be working at I'll be finishing my classes by my teachers probably helping me a lot more than I'd want to [cause I'll feel stupid]

But along with these pictures I made before I was ever in the hospital I wanna share with you guys what all I had left to get done! For are I had to finish all backgrounds expect for 2 for his character sprites I have the base of them done just had to draw the odd ones and the different face expressions, I also already had the color palettes ready for his date outfits along with the designs an I just had to draw them. For the script I had pretty much all of it done except for the conversations and the aftermath of what would take place during/after each date. And of course the editing it all together.

Now I know that seems like a lot but if i was able to work on the script while still going to school and work in between than I would have gotten it done in about a week or less. The art would have taken me about a week maybe 2 weeks. And then editing and making sure everything is right and ready before posting would have taken me about 3 weeks since it would be final touches. So all together that would have taken me about a month to finish!!

But now i won't be working on it or other projects [like the animation memes] because I'll be too focused on healing and making sure nothing else goes wrong (;_; ) now I'm not asking for money support or anything because me and family together are able to cover everything [luckily] BUT I would like to ask if everyone got other fans more interneted and showed them this idea? My last couple of post babe talked about it and I'll also includes sneak peaks of what I have done with you all so that maybe by the time I'm all healer I can still have peoples support to finish it!

I would also love it if I could get some voice actors involved and maybe even game developers so that the final project can actually be a game and not only an interactive video!

Voiced characters are Lucille, unnamed co-worker [character sprite is my oc], and Francuoer [who will mainly have chips or hums]

I already have background music covered and same with background art ALTHOUGH if someone or so was interested in being a background artist for the game feel free to either comment or dm me [anyone can also dm me on my main Instagram account: vixthelilbun]

Along side that I'm totally interested in working with game developers who have at least some experiences with dating sims [doesn't have to be mind blowing but I want it to look nice for a final product]

But please show some work history from what you have done and I'll reach back with you at some point and time to talk to go about it [it won't be a year or 6 months since I know work can take a while. The ending peaces will just take a year to 6 months to get to you since I won't have it done around then.

Pricing will also be talked about when we chat as I know everyone pays differently!

Once again comment down below/message me on here or on my main Instagram: vixthelilbun if your interneted in working with me!

[marichat-verse]

Mist Memories

Leo Valdez x reader for his birthday ahhhh (even though it's angsty) with a platonic/developing jason x reader cameo at the end (lmao im sorry i couldn't help myself 😭)

Based on this picture I found in pinterest + also [kinda] based on traitor by olivia rodrigo and omg i really recommend u guys listen to this edit because it reminds me so much of this fic that's been stuck in my head for MONTHS also kind of a run away with me prologue lol

Your POV

I nervously made my way across the forest until I reached a limestone cliff. I knocked on the iron door, not really expecting to get an answer.

My boyfriend has been shutting himself in Bunker 9 for the past few weeks. I stood there counting up to seven before knocking again. I knocked again two more times, until he answered in the middle of my last knock.

He removed his goggles and winced as sunlight hit his eyes. He'd grown thinner and paler, making the dark circles in his eyes more pronounced.

"Oh, Leo..." I reached out to brush a few strands of hair away from his face, but he moved away.

"What are you doing here?" He said in a monotone voice.

I moved to walk inside the Bunker, brushing off his hesitation to let me in. "I'm your partner, remember? And I'm really concerned because you're shutting yourself out lately. You know everyone's starting to worry about you. Percy asked me to check on you because you missed pegasus riding with him. Oh, and I'm pretty sure Jason's coming back from Camp Jupiter soon. I was hoping you and Annabeth could be with Piper while Percy and I hung out with Jason because it's been a little awkward since their breakup. Plus Piper wanted to tell you something—"

"Please," he said forcefully causing me to stop and look at him. "Just... Get out."

Normally, he'd shut himself from the world for a few days to work on an important project or because he was feeling really sad and he needed space. But this was getting out of hand. He had never locked me out of his life when I offered to help him. He was never this mean when he asked for space. I was not having this attitude of his.

"Okay, Leo. I tried to play nice. What is so important that you blow off all your friends for nearly a month that you can't even tell your partner, or maybe say hi to your best friend who's coming back from the other side of the country?"

He didn't say anything. He pursed his lips and avoided eye contact. I scanned he room for any signs.

It was messier than usual with all the crumpled paper scattered on the floor, especially on his desk. He could have been drawing up new plans. Something in my gut told me that something wasn't right. There were no new unfinished projects, indicating that he wasn't starting a new invention. Harley's helicopter lay on his bench in the same state it was weeks ago. Huh, not even his siblings could enter the Bunker.

I turned and Leo was already changing Festus' oil. I took this moment of distraction to pick up a few pieces of crumpled paper on the floor and on his desk. I had to process the words a bit longer—too long that Leo took notice. Damn dyslexia.

I heard footsteps speed up behind me, but it was too late. I read enough and got the gist of what he had been trying to do these past few weeks.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He yelled at me. Small embers started to erupt between his curls.

I laughed dryly. "So this is what you've been up to?"

His fists tightened, further crumpling the paper in his hands. His eyes flashed with anger, despair and confusion.

I sighed and focused my eyes on his desk, not daring to look at him any longer. Under some pieces of paper were old photographs of him and Piper from Wilderness School. Yup, those definitely were the mist memories she had with Jason. I read the latest draft he'd been writing:

Dear Piper,

Remember the mist memories from boarding school with Jason? They were real, but they were with me.

I miss you. I miss when it was just us. I miss the night on the roof.

Yours truly,

Leo Valdez

I tried to keep my voice from cracking. "How long?"

I heard him sigh. "Three weeks."

I balled my fists. Tears started to fall and smudge the ink. I wiped them away as fast as they came.

"How?"

"In a dream," his tone softened now. "Hera came to me in a dream and told me to check an old drawer in Bunker 9. I found the photos and the memories came rushing back."

"How long were you dating back then?"

"Two weeks."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

Silence; then a deep breath.

"No."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Why?"

"Because I knew you'd get upset like—"

"I meant why would you throw away months of our relationship for a couple of weeks of your relationship with her? And without even bothering to tell me? Gods damn it, Leo. We've been together since you've first arrived at camp. And what about those promises you made when we were sailing to Greece? You've been keeping these feelings away from me and you've been lying to me, making me believe that there's still something between us and—"

"Oh, calm down," he said with an annoyed expression and tone, which only infuriated me more, "it's not like I did anything were her yet! I didn't kiss her or tell her how I truly felt for her! She just got out of a relationship with Jason around the same time I had that dream. I had to figure out how to talk to her about it. I've been alone in this Bunker for three. Fucking. Weeks. I didn't cheat on you."

"Oh, and that makes everything better?" I countered. "Being in a relationship isn't about not cheating, Leo. It's about being honest and communicating with each other."

"Oh, like you've been communicating with me? After the war, you take go back to Manhattan for school, and you take a job. I haven't seen you much during the holidays because work has been keeping you in the city. And you won't tell me what you even do for a living!"

I took in a deep breath. "I told you I needed to have a life outside of camp! I needed to know first that I could handle myself in the mortal world as a normal human being. I needed this demigod part of my life to be separate as much as possible! I've been in two wars, Leo. I needed time to myself, too. And I was about to tell you guys in a few more days. But I guess now, I'm glad I've kept you out of that part of my life. At least I have an escape from all of this. And now, especially from you."

I took another deep breath and walked to the door, about to let myself out. I turned back again, both our tear-stained eyes meeting each other.

"If it makes you feel any better," I said softly, "I would've hated the idea of us breaking up. But if you really love her, if you really feel like you have this special connection to her and she makes you happy, then I won't get in your way. You could at least have had the decency to talk to me so we could have left on a good note."

He looked at me with wide eyes, clearly regretting his actions. I sighed and looked around the Bunker, possibly for the last time. Lots of memories were definitely created in this room; all just as grand and meaningful as the inventions they made here. But just like some of Hephaestus' contraptions, some of them were flawed and dumped in his scrapyard, no matter how much potential it could have had.

"Goodbye, Leo."

I sat on a rock on the beach that gave me a beautiful view of Long Island Sound. To my left, the sun started to set, casting an orange filter on everything. My heart broke, remembering how everything glowed orange in the Bunker. Leo always left the fires burning when he was working. The sunlight twinkling against the sea reminded me of how small bits of flame peaked through his hair earlier. I remembered how mad he was at me. Or maybe he was mostly mad at himself.

"Hey."

I jumped when someone sat—or rather, landed—beside me. I turned and smiled, seeing one of my good friends back at camp.

"Hey, you're back," I said weakly. "How long have you been here?"

He smiled at me, although he could maybe sense that something was wrong. "Half an hour, maybe? I saw Annabeth making plans to expand camp to have a city. She made me do an aerial inspection and I told her I'll get back to her tonight. That's when I saw you."

"Mhmm," I mumbled, not really knowing what to say. It was silent for a few minutes before I spoke up again, knowing he was just waiting for me to open up.

"I broke up with Leo."

His head quickly turned to me. I guess he wasn't expecting it to be that bad. "What?"

"Oh yeah," I laughed dryly. "Turns out the mist memories Piper had in Wilderness School with you? They were real. But not with you."

His eyes widened. "Oh... With Leo."

"He locked himself in the Bunker for weeks trying to write a letter. It was heartbreaking. Like, truly heartbreaking. He wanted to tell her how much he missed her and how much he missed them. Then he said how much he missed that night with her under the stars and... It hurt. Like hell."

"Oh," he said. "I guess Piper didn't tell me everything then."

"She knew all along?"

He shook his head. "Maybe not everything, but she told me she's been confused about her feelings lately and she'd been having visions or dreams of possible old memories that were messing with her head."

"I'm sorry about you and Piper," I said.

"Don't be," he said. "I understand her. It did hurt, though. But I think I can get over it some day. We're still awkward around each other, but at least we left on a good note."

I scoffed. "Leo couldn't even give me a good ending to our relationship."

"Hey," he said as he put a hand on my shoulder. "You're a great person, y/n. You've done so much, especially for him. It's his loss that he was stupid enough to let go of you."

"I know that."

"Do you really?"

"I do!" I said. "I'm a great person and I know that. But that doesn't mean what he did doesn't hurt me."

"I know," he said. "You'll find someone who'll treat you like the queen that you are. You're a great person, and I'm not just saying this to cheer you up. I truly think you're amazing."

I smiled at him. "Thanks, Jason. And you'll find someone great, too. Maybe not as great as me but, then again, who is?"

We both let out a laugh. The conch sounded in the distance, signaling dinner. I moved to stand up before hearing Jason speak up again.

"Hey, do you maybe want to just grab a couple of plates and eat out here?"

I smiled. "Yeah. That sounds good. I don't really want everyone else hounding me about the breakup right now."

I don't know how long it was going to take me to get over Leo. We really did gave something special. It was cruel how the universe gave me something so good, to make me have hope that something was finally going right, then have it yanked away from my arms just as suddenly as it came.

He never cheated on me, but that didn't mean he didn't betray every promise we made to each other. I should have known it was too good to be true. Life has always played cruel jokes on me.

Then again, who's to say that things won't turn out for the better, right?

•••

Tagging: @drvrslcense @bubblybubbubs @dreamerball @quteez @aesthetxcimagines @chasingpj @beingleft @wadewilsonsgreatestfriend

[ethanharli]

Paring(s): Kageyama Tobio x Top Male Reader.

Warning(s): NSFW (SMUT), Cursing, Bottom Kageyama, etc etc.

DNI; if you use she/her pronouns.

________

Piercing blue eyes stared up at me with hesitation and determination, a usual combo if you ask me but the first year was practically shaking in his shoes as he opened his mouth every few seconds to peak, only to snap it back closed right after. "Relax Kageyama, there's no need to worry just take your time" I smiled, we had been standing here for a little while after practice ended cause Kageyama said he needed to speak to me, but the poor kid just couldn't utter out a single word. "Um Senpai I uhm-!" A sigh soon escaped past my parted lips, shaking my head slightly at the setter who merely tilted his head at me in confusion.

"Kageyama, you know you can just call me by my name right? I don't care much for the honorifics" I spoke softly, sending the shorter male a lazy smile as he nearly jumped out of his skin- for what reason I do not know but the sight of pink dusting over his cheeks clearly caught my attention. "Yes Senpai!" He shouted, causing me to sigh in defeat, we've been at the whole 'call me by my name' thing for a month or so now, but he is very insistent on calling me Senpai for some reason and unlike Tanaka and Noya, I don't have a thing for it. "Hey Kageyama if you don't mind could we take this to my house? I need to check on my sister before she heads off to a friends house since our parents are out for their anniversary" I asked, glancing towards my watch.

I swear Kageyama's ears burned as he swayed a bit at the mention of coming to my house, so in an attempt to steady him I reached out, gently taking his arms in my hands. "Whoa you okay there?" My tone dripped with worry while I looked him over, not noticing the way he shuffled closer, wrapping his fingers around the front of my shirt. "I-Im alright.." He muttered out with a silent gulp, it wasn't until his gaze met mine that I realized how close we were, "Right, yeah that's good" I whispered, feeling a sudden pull from the way he looked at me, blue eyes swirling with a wanting I haven't seen in a long time.

I couldn't help when my gaze shifted towards his lips, my own tongue unconsciously drawing over mine as I wondered how they'd taste. Nearly jumping from the sudden thought I pulled away from the first year, watching as he blinked himself out of the trance, and with a sheepish grin I scratched at the back of my head. "Anyways! Shall we get going?" Kageyama only nodded and followed along side me, while a pretty pink blush still adored his features, "You know you can tell me anything right? I won't laugh nor judge you" I spoke, hinting at earlier when he tried to tell me something.

Even though the sudden topic was to also keep my mind off what happened only moments ago, "I know it's just-" He quickly cut himself off, sending me a nervous glare before shifting it back towards the ground. Kageyama had been acting weird lately, well, only around me at least. I don't know if he thought I wouldn't notice, even though it's pretty hard not to, he always talked to me a bit more than the others, asking for me to practice with him when no one else could, he'd even show up to my last class and ask if I wanted to walk with him to the club room. However, he's distanced himself from me recently, he'd basically run away or make up some excuse to get away from me, but I've also realized that his face would flush whenever speaking to me, and that his gaze would linger on me a little longer then usual.

"It's alright you can take your time, I don't bite" Unless you want me too.

Shaking my head I quickly squashed the thought, as I walked up to my house, opening the door so Kageyama could walk through, "Th-Thank you" He muttered out, quickly shuffling inside. With a quiet chuckle I walked in after him, "You can head up to my room if you'd like, it's up the stairs, first door on the left" Kageyama just nodded and headed up stairs while I headed towards the kitchen, already knowing my sister would be in there, most likely eating away at the cake I made yesterday.

And turns out I was correct, cause there she is, hunched over the counter with a mouth stuffed with chocolate cake, getting crumbs all over her shirt, and being the lovely brother I am I just had to say something. "I don't think your girlfriend would want you to eat her out with cake all over your teeth" I spoke with a smile, trying not to laugh when she nearly choked on it, "You asshole! S-She's not my girlfriend!" Skyla gasped, trying to get some air back in her lungs while I dug my finger into the cake frosting, licking it off right after. "Hey you know I don't judge, but seriously I think you should brush your teeth first" I winced as she punched my shoulder, heavily glaring at me with her icy blue eyes.

"Don't talk to me like that when you brought a guy home! We both know what you're thinking about if its him" I merely rolled my eyes, as I remembered all the times I talked to her about Kageyama, it's pretty obvious that I like him by now and technically shes not exactly wrong. "Okay okay I get it, just run along now" I huffed, sending her a small smile as she grabbed her bag and ran out the door, while I made my way towards my room.

"Hey sorry for taking so long" I chuckled, shifting my gaze around the room only to find Kageyama's eyes widened, staring at me like a deer caught in headlights. He stood by my closet shirt discarded on the floor, only to be replaced by one of my hoodies that was way to big for him, he looked so small in my clothing, but so god damn adorable I had to turn away to cover the sudden blush that even caused my ears to burn. "Ah! S-Sorry! I'll-" I quickly cut him off my shutting my door with a little more force then I intended, "It's okay! No need to worry, anyways would you like to watch a movie or something?" I asked, quickly trying to change the topic before I did anything I might regret later.

Kageyama merely nodded his head, fumbling with the strings of my hoodie. After a few moments of awkward silence I got a movie on, deciding to pick 'Before I wake' since horror movies seem to keep me at peace, however Kageyama quickly sat next to me on the bed, shuffling so close he was practically in my lap, it's not that I minded it though. Yet when the first jump scare appeared he jumped into my lap, gripping on tightly to my shirt with his legs wrapped around my waist, nearly forcing a groan past my lips from the sudden pressure.

"Hey Kagey-"

"Tobio."

"Huh?" I blinked, hesitantly moving my hands to his waist to keep him in place. "C-Call me Tobio" He stuttered out, looking between my eyes as mine almost immediately moved to his lips, "Tobio.." I whispered, loving the way it rolled off my tongue, and apparently he loved it to, from the sudden shiver that ran down his spine, and the way his grip on me tightened. "Please [Y/n], please kiss me" He whimpered, as I captured his lips with mine, feeling the restraint leave my body at the sound of his moans. His fingers instantly wove through the back of my hair, tugging hard enough to where I couldn't help but groan while I dragged my tongue across his lower lip, pushing my tongue past his parted lips, earning a soft moan from the setter.

The heat of his mouth was to addicting, letting my tongue roll over his teeth and the roof of his mouth, causing him to grind his hips into my own. My mouth instantly latched onto his jaw as my hands moved to his hips, keeping the movement going just so I could hear the occasional whimpers that emitted from his throat against his will. "S-Senpai!" My eyes narrowed at the name, letting out a husky growl while I dragged my hand up his thigh and towards the waistband of his shorts. "C'mon Tobio, even now you decide against saying my name?" I hummed, pressing my lips to the spot behind his ear, feeling him shudder under my touch.

"I guess that's alright.." I smirked, running my hands under the oversized hoodie in order to pull it off him, letting it drop to the floor as I leaned forward, pressing Kageyama's back to the bed, "Cause I'll have you screaming it in no time." I didn't give him time to respond, catching any words he had with my lips, slowly gliding my hands up his athletic build, loving the way it felt beneath my finger tips. I couldn't help but lick my lips at the sight of him beneath me, it was something I definitely hoped I got to see more of, slowly I slipped my hand past the band of his shorts, running my fingers over his twitching cock that forced a shiver down his spine, causing my pants to tighten uncomfortably from the intoxicating sight.

"O-Off" He whimpered, tugging at the bottom of my shirt which I gladly pulled off, watching as his eyes took in every detail of my upper body, those beautiful piercing blue eyes now darkened with desire, a desire I happily shared. With a lazy smirk I brought three fingers towards his lips, narrowing my eyes as he happily took them in his mouth, slowly dragging his tongue up my middle finger, letting my mind wonder what it would feel like to have my cock in his mouth instead. With a quick shake of my head I pulled my fingers away to tug off his shorts, throwing them somewhere in the corner of my room.

We could do that some other time.

Bringing my lips to his ear I kissed it softly, resting my other hand on his hip, "This'll hurt a bit alright? I'll move when you're ready" Kaageyama merely nodded, eagerly bucking his hips up in anticipation that caused me to chuckle softly until I pressed my middle finger to his entrance, slowly sliding it in. Kageyama's nails dug into the skin on my back, letting out soft whimpers as I kissed his forehead and his lips, trying to distract him from the feeling, which seemed to work since he wiggled around, letting out a breathy moan. Carefully I started to pump my finger inside him, trying to be gentle since it seemed like his first time, "M-More!" He whimpered, dragging his nails down my back in a slow motion that forced a groan past my parted lips. Granting his wish I slipped in another finger, moving them in a scissoring motion that caused him to cry out, and soon enough I found the special spot I was looking for that had him screaming.

Pulling my fingers out I ignored his disappointed whine and unbuckled my pants, pull them off along with my boxers, only for Kageyama to wrap his leg around my hip in attempt to pull me closer to him, "H-Hurry." His plea sounded like music to my ears, loving the way he begged for me to take him and for a moment I thought about teasing him, but quickly pushed the thought away as I pushed my cock inside him, groaning at the way his walls tightened around me."S-Senpai!" He gasped out, taking in deep breaths in order to calm himself down while my eyes darkened from the name, "Pl-Please move.." He whined, trying to move but my grip on his hips tightened, keeping him in place.

"What's my name?"

My voice deepened as I spoke, earning a moan from the setter beneath me, desperately trying to get some sort of friction, but I wouldn't allow it until he complied. "[Y-Y/n] please.." With a satisfied smirk I slowly rocked my hips, giving him the pleasure he was begging for while I pressed my lips to his neck, biting softly at the side of his neck before my hands moved under his thighs, pushing them forward so I could get more access inside him. The sudden movement forced a small whimper to emit from his throat, but it was when I hit his prostate that he arched his back, screaming out my name as his nails dug deeper into my skin.

Keeping a mental note of where it is, I repeatedly hit that spot, while letting out soft moans of my own as his walls tightened around me, drawing my climax closer, so with that thought in mind I wrapped my hand around Kageyama's cock, pumping it slowly while running my thumb over the slit. "[Y/N]! F-Faster! Pl-please, I'm close!" Kageyama pleaded, moving his hips in rhythm with mine as I smirked down at him, taking in the details of his sweat drenched hair that clung to his face, his eyes snapped closed tightly, as his body shuddered beneath me when I picked up the pace, slamming into him just to hear those sweet high pitched whimpers.

"[Y/n]!" He screamed, while his nails pierced the skin on my back, but I didn't mind it much as he cummed in my hand. "Just a little more" I groaned feeling my own orgasm draw closer, with a heavy breath I moved to pull out, just to feel Kageyama's legs keep me in place, "C-Cum inside.." He stuttered, hair bouncing with every thrust I made until I finally stopped when I came inside him, sending a shudder through his body once more as my muscles tensed.

I fell beside him since I didn't want to crush him under my weight, trying to steady my breathing before turning my gaze back towards him. "Are you okay?" My voice was barley above a whisper, and luckily he still managed to hear me, "I-Ive been wanting.. To do that for so long" He chuckled in a breathy tone, opening his eyes a bit to smile at me. My heart fluttered in my chest and I drew him closer to me, letting him cuddle up against me even though my body feels all nasty and sweaty.

"Do you want to wait or take a shower now?" I groaned, pressing my nose into his hair.

"Mm, later.."

With a final nod I kissed his forehead, wrapping my arms around his waist protectively, "You're mine now."

"I was hoping you'd say that.."

[stina-is-a-punk-rocker]

'birds of prey': a cinematic masterpiece

It's been a little over a year since Birds of Prey came out, a couple of months since I watched in on a whim, and I'm still not over this film.

Too many men people get pressed whenever you say you like this movie. "It's objectively bad," they say. "It's campy. It's too divergent from the canon. It's SJW propaganda."

Who gives a fuck, Richard? Who gives a single flying fuck?

I'll preface this by saying, my knowledge of the DCU is flimsy, at best. I've watched a couple of movies. My mum used to watch Smallville. I watched the pilot episode of Gotham. And I know enough about it to get the few references sprinkled in other media. But I draw a complete blank when it comes to the comics. So the canon of the comics had no effect on my enjoyment of the movie. Which I did. A lot.

I walked in blind when I watched Birds of Prey for the first time. I was unaware of the controversy surrounding it, and the only reason I even gave it the time of day was because I was bored.

I watched Suicide Squad circa 2016, and positively abhorred it- the only good thing about it was the soundtrack (the best songs are always wasted on the worst movies. Case in point: Twilight). And the not-so-casual misogyny was just... Yikes.

And then, we got Birds of Prey.

Since watching the film, I did a bit of research (see: Googling 'birds of prey movie reviews' and clicking on the first few results that popped up). The response was mixed- which honestly came as a surprise, since I thought it was great, and mine is the only opinion that holds weight.

I've read and watched a lot of those reviews. I watched the CinemaSins video. I watched the CinemaWins video, because CinemaSins has taken a major nosedive since I first started watching them.

Were all the negative reviews not-so-subtly indicative of the (predominantly male) critics' misogyny? I dunno; how did they talk about similar male-centered action films? I don't think it's fair to scream, "SEXIST!" just because someone didn't like the movie. Critics hated Venom (which was admittedly pretty meh. I still enjoyed it, though), but it was still pretty well-received by viewers.

I saw one review say that Birds of Prey was 'for the birds'... I'll let you unpack that yourself.

And yet, though I try to keep an open mind, I find it unfathomable how anyone can dislike Birds of Prey.

One of my favorite parts about the movie was the female gaze present throughout its entirety. I've seen people bring up the obvious change in Harley's costume- which I'm a bit iffy about, to be honest. Don't get me wrong- I love her choppy bangs and fun pigtails and the whole fluffy top thing she's got going on, but a whole lot of the critique towards her getup in Suicide Squad comes off a tad too slut-shamey (that isn't a word? Well, it is now).

Her outfit wasn't the issue. It's how she was framed.

In Suicide Squad, we get loads of shots of men leering at Harley, and a little too much emphasis on her breasts and arse in almost every scene she's in. As opposed to Birds of Prey, where Harley's still sexy (I'm seriously concerned for the straight men who found Harley unattractive in this film... You good, Pete?), but we focus on her face instead.

That part where Harley gives Canary a hair tie in the middle of a fight scene? Brilliant.

The characters have depth (a lot of reviews disagree with me. Well, what do I know? I am but a lowly STEM student). One of my favorites was Canary (and not just because I found her insanely attractive)- I love, love, love her arc in the film.

I've seen people complain that the villain didn't really get all villainy until towards the end of the film; which, if Sionis had to put on the mask for you to finally see him as the bad guy, then you've clearly missed most of the film. He's literally introduced while he's peeling the skin off of someone's face. Not to mention that one particular scene at the club- I won't go into too much detail, because it could be triggering to a lot of people- but it chilled me to the bone.

Following up with the villains: "All the men are bad guys," they say. "The whole film is feminist propaganda," they say.

And me posting this on International Women's Day is a bit on-the-nose, I'll admit, but this particular critique bothers me. Because those men aren't unrealistic. They aren't caricatures of men in the real world. We all know men just like them. A lot of them hit a little too close to home for me.

I've seen people complain that women touting the film as feminist turned them off from it- which, I dunno about you, but seems problematic to me on so many levels. Sure, not everything has to have a political agenda, but it's hardly like Harley & Co. scream, "GIRL POWER!" every three minutes.

(Also: it's funny how way more people get mad about poorly executed feminism than actual issues a lot of women in the world face, but that's a topic for another day.)

The diversity was just- wow. Getting not only one but FOUR Asian characters with lines? Hollywood, am I dreaming? The LGBTQ+ representation (not going into Sionis and Zsasz being queer coded)? Holy shit, yes! Maybe I'm getting too excited about this- Hollywood's a lot kinder to us minorities as of late- but it still fills me with joy whenever I see people like me onscreen.

Another complaint that springs up with regards to Birds of Prey is the skewed order in which Harley narrates the events. Which is kind of one of her defining traits- she's an unreliable narrator. And she makes it pretty obvious (this video explains it better than I can). The cartooned beginning was engaging, as corny as some of it was (loved the style, too).

The fight scenes were thrilling to watch. Not a single minute passed by where I was bored (my eyes usually glaze over during prolonged action scenes in films, which did not happen in this case). The comedy was well-timed and bold; the cartoonishness added to its charm.

And this is probably not even significant, but I adored the color scheme. I loved the bright, shocking colors; the emphasis on the pinks, reds and blacks.

And, finally, how could I go without mentioning the soundtrack? It was divine- I listen to the Birds of Prey album on Spotify almost every day; Lonely Gun and Experiment On Me are among my most-played songs, and the rest of the music is just as delightful.

In conclusion: go watch Birds of Prey if you haven't already. It's the closest thing to a spiritual experience I had last year.

[kaiparker-avengerssmut]

DOMINANT KAI

Pairing | Kai Parker x reader

Warnings | SMUT!!, rough sex, dominant male, oral (female and male reviving), fingering, over-stimulation, multiple orgasms (both)

Word count | 2902

Summary | you’re living with the Parkers because your parents died but we're good friends of Joshua. While you're there you become really close with Josette and you and Kai have lots of sexual tension. (You're 18 and Kai is 19 in this).

A/n | I kind of got carried away... (also character is on the pill so it’s not unprotected sex)

3 months. I'd been living with the Parkers for 3 months now. I rolled out of bed and wandered downstairs, grabbing a hoodie from the chair in the corner of my room on my way out. As I walked into the kitchen the scent of bacon filled my senses. I always loved Saturday mornings in the Parker house - it was family breakfast day. Pancakes, bacon, fresh juice, coffee. I walked in, greeted by Jo straight away. "Morning, y/n." I smiled back, "Good morning, Jo." I pulled my hoodie over my head and walked over to the stove, grabbing the spatula from her. "I got this, you did it last week. Go enjoy the freedom." I joked. Jo smiled and thanked me, before disappearing upstairs. I flipped the pancakes and clicked on the CD player, putting in a random CD from the cupboard. I danced around a little bit while pouring more batter into the pan before turning my attention to the bacon, flipping it over and rejoicing in the sizzling sound.

I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist, a hot breath on my ear. "Your ass looks so sexy in those little shorts." Kai whispered, but before I got the chance to turn around he'd backed away, heading over to the draw and grabbing some knives and forks. He walked over to the table and laid out the utensils neatly by the plates I had already gotten out. "No good morning? No 'how did you sleep'?" Kai said sarcastically. I was just staring at him. Over the past week he had started doing stuff like that more and more, whispering dirty things in my ear, "accidentally" walking in on my showering, touching my ass when no one was looking. "Bacon's burning." He said, pointing at the pan behind me. I snapped out of my trance and turned around, instantly turning off the heat and putting the bacon onto a plate. I finished off the pancakes and brought the two plates over to the table and set them down in the middle. "Where's Jo?" Kai asked, knowing she was usually the one to be cooking. I grabbed the juice out the fridge and set it on the table with some cups too. "I think she went to shower. I told her I'd cook this week."

Kai reaches forward and grabbed a pancake, drizzling it with syrup. He cut a piece off and popped it in his mouth, practically moaning as he chewed. "I wish you'd cook more often. You're amazing at it." He said, mouth full of his next bite and he hungrily ate the food. I smiled and walked over to sit in my usual set next to him as everyone filled into the kitchen and sat at the table. "Food looks wonderful, y/n. Thank you." Joshua said - with a slight bitter undertone. He didn't like me because Kai liked me. It was odd - how Kai was treated so differently. Me and kai got on well because I was the only one who understood him. I saw what his dad did to him and it broke my heart because Kai was such a sweet guy, really.

Everyone dug in and after a few minutes I felt Kai's hand trail up my thigh, going agonising slow. "So, Josette, how's Sam?" Joshua asked. Sam was Jo's boyfriend and he got on really well with Joshua but not so much with me and Kai. I saw Kai's expression turn sour for a moment at the mention of Sam's name before returning to normal. His hand got higher and higher before brushing against my clothes core. I look at him but his gaze was fixed on his food. I stifled a whimper as he pressed a little harder - focusing on my breakfast. "Oh he's doing great, dad. He's just got a scholarship for some sorts collage nearby." Jo said excitedly. Kai suddenly got up, taking his plate and leaving it in the sink. "Where do you think you're going, Young man?" Joshua said sternly. "My room. I have work to do. I'd hate to bother you guys with the full details of my life." Kai said bitterly, brushing by me as he left. "Meet me in my room when your done." He whispered in my ear. I gulped and kept eating, the table falling under as awkward silence.

I finished my food and cleared the table, heading upstairs. I new everyone was going out but both me and Kai didn't want to so we had opted out earlier in the week. I heard the front door close and walked down the hall to Kai's room and hesitantly knocked on the door. The door opened and Kai stood there with a smile. "Hi." He said happily. I smiled and said hi back quietly. "Come in." He said, stepping out the way and closing the door behind me as I stepped in. I stood in the middle of his room, suddenly aware that I was in tiny pyjama shorts and a tank top. I felt his arms snake around my waist from behind me. He pressed a gentle kiss to my neck before whispering, "I can't stop thinking about you." He kissed my neck again, trailing up and down to my collar bone. "Ever since I heard your pretty little moans the other week-" I gulped, "y-you heard that?" He chuckled lightly. "Of course I did sweetheart. I'm always home. And from the sounds of it you thought you were alone with your boy toy." I sighed as he found my sweet spot, which he began nipping and sucking at until there was a bruise. "It was meaningless. A one night stand. I haven't even spoken to him since." I breathed. Kai smirked against my skin. "You're not a virgin then. Good, otherwise I think I might break you." I gulped at his words, a tingly feeling shooting straight through me. I was excited at the thought.

His hands started to explore as I melted into him. He grabbed my boob in one hand while trailing the other down the my heat, slipping it under the waist band of my shorts. "No panties. Naughty girl." He cooed in my ear. "I can't wait to have you moaning and thrashing beneath me." He breathed in my ear. I shivered, the words going straight to my core. He pressed his hard on into my ass, beginning to rub circles on my clit. I moaned quietly. He slipped his fingers lower, teasing my entrance. "So wet and I've barely touched you, sweetheart." Kai whispered. I moaned out loudly as he pushed two fingers into me, curling them around and pulling them out to the tips slowly - making me feel every inch - before pushing them back in again. His thumb continued to draw circles on my clit, driving me insane and making me a moaning, whimpering mess. "Fuck." I moaned as his pace spread up again. "Kai I'm c-close." He dipped his head down and started kissing my neck again, getting rough with his fingers - trying to push me over the edge. "I know sweetheart." I screamed out as I came, shaking and falling into his arms more. If it weren't for Kai holding me into him, I'd probably be on the floor.

He spun me around and his lips were on mine, his tongue sliding into my mouth and dominating the kiss. His hands gripped my waist while mine were tangled in his hair, trying to pull him as close as possible. “Knees, now.” Kai demanded as we pulled away for air. I sank down to my knees before him, eye-level with his bulge. I looked up at him and he nodded, a sign to continue and take his trousers off. I pulled them down his legs, his boxers following. His length sprang up and hit his stomach and I bit my lip thinking about it inside of me. I wrapped my small hand around it and pumped him a few times before kitten-licking the tip. He groaned and wrapped his fingers in my hair - pulling it into a make-shift ponytail. I took his length into my mouth and began bobbing my head back and forth, keeping eye-contact with Kai the whole time. I took him all the way, hollowing my cheeks and gagging as he hit the back of my throat. He moaned and I placed my hands on his thighs for support. He tugged my head back and held me so I was looking at him. “I think you need that pretty mouth of your fucked. Don’t you, y/n?” I swallowed and nodded, his dick back in my mouth. He held my head still and began thrusting his hips forward, so his cock hit the back of my throat every time. Tears streamed down my face from my gag reflex and Kai held me down on his length so my nose brushed his stomach. He pulled me back so I could breathe and repeated the action a few more times before going back to just fucking my mouth. “Fuck, you look so innocent looking up at me - even with my cock in your mouth.” Kai groaned. He let out a string of curse words as he came, coating my tongue with his seed. I pulled back when he was done, a string of salvia connecting his tip and my lips. It broke when he reached down and grabbed my chin, tilting my head upwards and pushing his thumb into my mouth. He pried my mouth open and smirked. “Good girl, you swallowed it all.” He praised, pushing his index and fore fingers into my mouth, letting my swirl my tongue around them before pulling them out and yanking my to my feet again. “Tired yet?” He asked and I nodded slightly.

"I'm only just warming up." Kai smirked at me. He scooped me up bridal-style and dropped me on his bed, crawling over me and placing a lustful kiss on my lip. He straddled me, his hands sliding over my hips and under my top - pulling it up with them. I sat up slightly so he could pull it over my head before chucking it on the floor. Kai stared at my chest hungrily, whispering, "beautiful." Before delving in and swirling his tongue around my nipple, rolling the other between his thumb and forefinger. I moaned and he smirked against my skin, his hand trailing to my shorts again. He hitched his fingers in the waistband and pulled them down my legs, letting me kick them off and onto the floor. He looked up and made eye contact with me while he kissed down my body to my core. He licked a bold strip through the middle making me moan out before kitten-licking my clit. I brought a hand down to his hair, tugging at his brown locks. He teased me entrance with his fingers again, dipping them in and out, hitting my spot repeatedly. I let out a small scream as he enveloped my clit in his mouth, sucking and nipping it like crazy - tugging it out with his teeth. He used his free arm to pin my stomach to the bed, stopping my back from arching any more. "Fuck, Kai." I was moaning like crazy, screaming his name over and over. "I love it when you scream my name." Kai said against my clit, sending vibrations straight to my core. He pushed in another finger, which meant there were now three pumping in and out of my mercilessly. "Come for me, sweetheart." Kai cooed, the vibrations pushing me over the edge.

He climbed over me again, but not before pulling t-shirt over his head and tossing it somewhere in the room. He pushing his fingers in my mouth for me to clean and moaned as I swirled my tongue around them. He groaned and pumped his length - which was already hard again - a few times before teasing my entrance with it, rubbing it over my clit and down to my slit - pushing in just the tip before pulling out and doing it all over again. My control was shot and I clenched around his tip knowing he’d be sensitive. He gave me one hard thrust and I screamed in pleasure. “Fuck.” He groaned quietly as he picked up a bruising pace, knocking the air out my lungs. He collected my wrists in one hand and held them above my head, musing his other hand to keep himself propped-up above me. I began to struggle against his hand, wanting to tangle my fingers in his hair, rake my nails down his back and biceps. “Keep up the struggle. It’s a real turn on.” Kai smirked down at me, thrusting even faster if that was possible. I was moaning uncontrollably, my face contouring with pleasure. My eyes rolled into the back of my head before I felt Kai grab my chin with his free hand. “Uh, uh princess. Keep those eyes on me.” He all but whispered, his voice dripping with seduction. My moans turned into small screams as he started rubbing my abused nub harshly, keeping in time with his harsh thrust. “Fuck, shit Kai.” I screamed, making him smirk as I screamed his name. “I love it when you scream my name.” Kai moaned, his pace quickening again. He pulled my left nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it and nipping it lightly with his teeth, only adding to the immense pleasure. “Come on gorgeous, come for me.” He said, rubbing my clit faster and pushing me over the edge. I screamed his name as I came, shaking like crazy and my eyes rolled back into my head. “Fuck you’re so hot when you come undone under me.” Kai moaned.

He pulled out after I rode out my high, flipping me over and propping my ass in the air, pushing my cheek into the mattress by wrapping his hand around my throat from behind. He gave me a harsh smack on my ass before pushing in again and picking up to his previous, punishing pace. “Fuck y/n, so wet you’re dripping down your thighs.” Kai moaned. I was moaning and shaking from my previous orgasm, struggling to stay up-right. Kai’s hand rubbed over the expanse of my ass before he slapped it again, keeping doing that every time I thought he’d stopped. “My handprint looks so good on your big ass.” He groaned, his hand reaching back round to my clit again. He drew rough figure of eights on it while I fished the sheets, pleasure overwhelming my body. Kai wrapped his hand around some of my hair, releasing my throat and pulling me up so my back was against his chest. “You like me being rough? Pulling your hair and spanking you? Hm?” He whispered in my ear. I screamed in response, the all-to familiar knot forming in my stomach. “Fuck Kai, I’m g-gonna c-cum.” I moaned out as he started sucking on my neck, nibbling a spit at the base. “Mmmmm, you’re so tight around me sweetheart.” He breathed in my ear, rubbing my clit faster to get me to my climax. “KAI.” I screamed as I came, clenching my walls around him and reaching back and grabbing his thigh for support. “Fuck.” He moaned in my ear as my orgasm triggered his, his cum spilling in me in hot bursts. He pulled out and I collapsed forward, my ass still in the air. I could feel his cum and my juices dripping down the insides of my thighs before Kai scooped it back up and pushed it back into me, starting to thrust his fingers again. “Fuck, Kai.” I moaned as he picked up the pace, adding another finger so there were now three mercilessly pumping his cum back into me. “K-kai, I c-can’t take any-anymore.” He kept going, smacking me ass again. “Yes, you can. Do it for me, gorgeous.” My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I dusted the sheets again, tearing them slightly as my fifth orgasm washed through me and I collapsed onto the bed.

Kai flopped down next to me, licking his fingers off and sighing, satisfied. “We should do that again sometime.” Kai said, winking at me. “Definitely.” I panted, still out of breath. Kai smirked and pulled me into his chest, wrapping an arm around my waist. “I think I broke you after all.” He whispered in my ear. I smiled lazily, “Not quite.” Kai sat up suddenly, walking towards my side of the bed, “Then we need round two in the shower, you coming?” He said, offering me his hand. I looked at it hesitantly, before grabbing it and being pulled to my shaking feet.

[cherryblossomstars]

III. Midnight (W. Ushijima)

Taken from my AO3 series of one-shots & reposted here

Pairing: Ushijima x F!Reader

Word count: 2,051 

Genre: fluff/slight crack bc seijoh

Summary: Aoba Johsai's volleyball team has never been able to defeat the Great Ushiwaka of Shiratorizawa. Their manager, however? She can bring him to his knees in mere seconds.

Or, Ushijima Wakatoshi is helplessly in love with Seijoh's Ace's twin sister, and the Aoba Johsai VBC is not appreciative of it.

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"Go fish." Oikawa says with a straight face.

Matsukawa huffs and picks up a white card from the middle of the table, "just when I had Uno."

"Suck it up." Hanamaki smirks, "Eevee uses quick draw. Draw a card, Iwaizumi."

"No, because you activated my trap card." Hajime flips over a card that was on the table.

"That doesn't count!" Oikawa yells.

"Yes it does." Matsukawa defends.

"No, it doesn't." Hanamaki cuts in, trying to avoid losing.

"What does the card czar say?" Oikawa turns to look at you.

You hold cards from Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Uno, Cards Against Humanity and a regular deck of playing cards. You're not sure what you're playing right now, but the upcoming third years seem to have played this before, seeing as they don't have a lick of confusion written on their faces. Next to the large deck in the middle of the table sits a cup of dice. "Er... Makki and Hajime roll a, um, D6 for initiative. Highest number goes first, so, um, their card will be the affective one."

The group around you nods. Makki rolls a 3, then Hajime follows up with a 6. Makki groans in defeat.

You nearly sigh in relief, you weren't sure if what you said was even close to what you were supposed to do.

The summer break of your second year in highschool, all the second years had decided to go together on a volleyball summer camp in Tokyo. Naturally, they convinced you to tag along as well. The camp was split between age groups, middle school and highschool were grouped together and being taught by adults, while elementary was being taught by adults as well as teenagers. The camp had no need of volleyball managers, so you had submitted an application to be part of the staff supervising and teaching the elementary kids.

Because of your decision to be part of staff, you were required to go to the camp at least a week early to get the basics of both teaching and safety for the camp. There, you found out that because the amount of people coming to this summer's volleyball camp was much more than they normally had, middle school and highschool would be separated this year and they needed extra hands for the middle school division. You had volunteered, meaning you would be supervising both middle school and elementary.

Later, you found out they were getting an extra influx of campers because they had decided to make the camp co-ed. You grumbled about it when you found out the camp was co-ed. You must not have seen the option when you signed up online, likely because Oikawa had been pestering you to bump a ball around with him while you applied. Stupid Oikawa.

It was only the third day of camp (and your tenth day of being there), but you were already so very tired and excited to leave. The camp itself would last three full weeks. Afterwards, you would be forced to stay behind an extra few hours to help clean the school that had allowed the camp to use their campus. Luckily, you managed to rope your fellow second years into staying behind with you to help clean up as well. Matsukawa owed you one for spraining your wrist the month before (even though it was an accident, you still successfully guilt tripped him), Matsukawa had asked Hanamaki to stay behind as well, Hajime had given you a shrug and simply stated "wherever you go, I go", and Oikawa had given into peer pressure.

You rarely got breaks during the day and practically only saw your classmates at night after the elementary and middle school's curfew. Highschool did not have an assigned curfew, which is why you were sat on the floor in front of a coffee table in the common room of some other school's dormitory with your classmates playing an abomination of a card game while three of your underclassmen (which surprisingly included Kyotani) sat on the couches around you.

It was already surprising to see Oikawa up late since he was so strict with himself when it came to his schedule (with the exception of studying other teams' past games before tournaments), but what was really shocking to you was seeing your boyfriend and his best friend come down the stairs at 12am.

It seems your classmates already knew he was here, judging by the lack of shock from everyone around you. The saltiness that immediately began to radiate from your friends and fill the atmosphere, however, was practically tangible.

"Wakatoshi! What are you doing here?" You jumped from your position on the floor to walk alongside him and Tendou, heading for the kitchen.

"Tendou wanted a snack." He shrugs.

"A little birdie told me that the kitchens stock midnight snacks after the middle and lower school's curfew!" Tendou practically bounced into the kitchen, opening up all of the cabinets and digging through the pantry to find a snack suitable to his taste.

Your boyfriend and you stood next to the kitchen island, waiting for him. "No, Toshi, I meant here. At camp. I didn't know you were coming."

"I tried to call you to tell you, but you never answered so I left a text."

"You did?" You tilted your head.

"He did!" Tendou chirped, his head poking around in the fridge, "he was even complaining about how you weren't answering. He got all worried cause his precious little girlfriend wasn't answering her phone~"

"When?" You asked.

He is quiet in thought for a moment. "Last week."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I must have forgotten to tell you I was coming here. The club kinda convinced me to come with them last minute, right before the application deadline." You explained.

"It's pretty cool you're here with us, though." Tendou began to empty out the freezer, looking for something. "Oh! You know what, Iwa-chan?"

You hum, "what?"

"I don't think you've met little Kenjiro yet, right?" Tendou asks, tossing a bag of frozen vegetables onto the countertop.

"Kenjiro...?" You think for a moment.

Ushijima slips an arm around your waist. "His last name is Shirabu."

"Hmm... Nope. Never met him." You confirm.

"He's our brand new up and coming setter. He'll be a second year when the school year starts, but he's already pretty good, right Wakatoshi?"

The man next to you nods, "he's very competent. He's here at the camp, too."

Tendou grumbles, "there's no ice cream sandwiches." He turns to you, "Iwa-chan! How come the guys upstairs had ice cream sandwiches? I can't find them anywhere!"

You let out a light laugh, "that's what you were looking for, Satori?" You remove yourself from your boyfriend's side and begin to head towards a freezer with a lock on it.

Tendou nods eagerly, "yep. Why's that got a lock on it?"

You fish out your lanyard from your pajama's pocket and attempt to find the right key out of all the keys you were given. "Because there are certain snacks only meant for the staff. The camp wants you guys eating as healthy as possible while you're here, even when it comes to snacks. It's why there's pretty much only protein bars in the pantry and fruits in the fridge."

"You have a key?" Ushijima asks from behind you.

You finally find the right key and pop open the fridge, "chocolate?" You ask. When you hear Tendou confirm it, you toss an ice cream sandwich his way. "Want a popsicle, Toshi?" You close and lock the freezer when he shakes his head no. "Yeah, I've got a key. I'm part of the staff. I gave my Seijoh boys some ice cream and popsicles earlier too. Oh, but make sure no one knows I gave you guys these."

"Oh, you're part of staff, huh." Tendou nods in understanding.

"That must be why I haven't seen you around the campus." Ushijima adds.

"Yup. I'm part of the middle school and elementary staff, so I don't see highschool a lot except for after curfew. And since I'm so busy with them, I pretty much never check my phone. Sorry about that, honey." You take your spot next to Ushijima's side once again and get onto your tippy toes press a kiss to his cheek.

Tendou almost visibly cringes, "I'm gonna go upstairs before I get any more uncomfortable. See you in our room, Wakatoshi-kun!" And with that, he leaves the kitchen happily munching on his ice cream, leaving you and your boyfriend alone.

Almost immediately, Ushijima's arms snake around your waist and he rests his forehead against yours. "You worried me."

"I'm sorry." You press another kiss onto his cheek and wrap your arms loosely around his neck.

He hums, "what are you doing after camp ends? My family wants to see you again."

"Sorry, my love. After camp I'm going to Sapporo with Oikawa."

He freezes, "just Oikawa?"

"Sorry, I shouldn't have phrased it like that." You bite back the urge to laugh at his reaction, "I'm going to Sapporo with my family and Oikawa's family. We go every Summer, it's tradition. My uncle and my aunt live up in Sapporo, so we usually stay until the last week of vacation. Nowadays, though, the adults and Takeru usually leave early for work, so me, Hajime, and Oikawa get left alone, anyway."

"I see. That sounds fun."

"Yeah. It is. I look forward to it every year. I'm sorry I won't get to visit your family, though."

"They will understand. It's nothing to worry about."

"Can I postpone the visit until the last week of summer? We can all go to the festival together." You hop onto sit on the island's countertop and pull Ushijima to stand between your legs.

He tucks his head into the crook of your neck, his hair lightly scratching you. "Yes, that sounds like fun. My cousins missed you."

"Pfft. Which ones? You have so, so, so many." And he did. His extended family may as well have extended to the entire country of Japan. When you had gone to visit his family during the holidays, there were so many people at his house it was hard to move around. And even then, he had told you that that was only a few of his relatives.

"Hayato missed you very much." He huffed.

Despite trying not to laugh out loud, your body betrayed you when you began to shake from your attempts at stopping yourself. Hayato, who was four when you last saw him, had claimed that he would steal you away from Ushijima and be the one to marry you. Immediately following that, another one of Ushijima's younger cousins had said she had already claimed you to be her playmate for life, so you would be unable to marry either little Hayato or Ushijima. "Your family is certainly a fun one."

"I'm glad you get along with them, but I won't be able to have you to myself at any point during the Summer."

"My first day back. I'll be all yours. I promise."

"You promise?"

"All yours, my darling love." You lean your head against his.

This feeling, being wrapped in the arms of the love of your life in the middle of the night, was pure bliss. The only accompanying noises were the muffled shouts of your best friends from the other room, and the thrumming of the kitchen appliances around you. And still, despite the incredibly unromantic environment, you couldn't help but feel yourself fall for the man in your arms even more. Yes, perhaps you were too young to be in love. Sure, highschool relationships won't always last. But this feeling was one you wanted to savor, and you were not planning on letting him go any time soon.

This is not a fairytale life. Ushijima certainly had the grace and looks of a Prince Charming, but, unlike in the storybooks, whether or not the clock strikes twelve would not matter. You would not run away and you would not be leaving a shoe at the steps. Instead, you would continue to rest in the arms of the man you love. And sure, there would be no huge, elaborate castle or jewels tossed your way, but this was more than enough.

Fin.

[colour-outside-the-liness]

Hey, I'm doing good too. Just normal amounts of stressful stuff right now. Just moved to a country I've never been to before but can't complain, things are not as hard as the last time I did this so. Thanks for asking! Yeah, I saw you posting about some pretty scary health issues before, I'm glad you came out of that alive and hope you're healthier now!

The nerve some people have! Haha I know I would be pissed if people were questioning my intelligence like that especially after a couple of drinks in haha. Though I do like taunting people when I play group games, I'll be like "don't need to try that hard guys, you're gonna lose anyway" just to mess with them or just call people sore losers if they accuse me of cheating haha (they're probably right on the accusations tho). People get real mad sometimes it's kinda funny. 😂

Omg literally laughed out loud reading this! Hahaha, how did you manage to fall over a road sign then end up in a ditch? lol omg hope you didn't get hurt too bad 😂 I was trying to downplay my drunken escapades but since you shared yours I should tell you my worst one:

I was at this summer street party at night and got drunk on something made out of tropical herbs and cachaça (which is about 48% alcohol), drank 3 and a half bottles of that like it was apple juice, made friends with a bunch of strangers in a bathroom queue (who tried to talk to me weeks later but I had no idea who they were), had to be held by my best friend while I peed (mostly missing the toilet), fell in the middle of the street and scraped my knee, threatened this boy who was helping me walk and told him not to try anything funny or I would beat him up, then dragged my friends to the beach and left them shortly after to go make out with my ex, came back with lipstick all over my mouth and chin and when my friends asked what I was doing I said I was just talking to my ex and they were like NO YOU WERE NOT, hahaha then I kissed all my girl friends on a dare and we danced under the full moon, then I told my best friend I had to puke so she took me to the ocean but I changed my mind and happened to step on a dead turtle on the way back and started crying bc of it, but last month my best friend told me it was a rock I had stepped on (I believed it was a dead turtle for 7 years!). Had the worst hangover of my life the next day. ✌️✨

Ah I'm happy you liked it! I've never listened to Six musical before but it sounds fun! I can see why you like it haha made me want to dance around my apartment 💃. And hey if liking musicals is your thing then it's great, I'm sure Hozier will understand if he's not your top artist of the year. 😋 Here's my "damie" Pinterest board if you or anyone else wants to check it out, totally recommend making one if you're a visual person like me!

https://pin.it/UcHVlkq

Oh I could talk about Dani and Jamie forever I think. I love the beast in the jungle speech too and it's so painful to watch, VP delivered that beautifully, but I have to admit I'm always a crying mess from episode 1 when older Jamie starts reciting that song about being sad while waiting for her lover to return, this show is fucking cruel I hate it and love it at the same time hahaha. Omg your mom 😂 but I mean it's truly an honor to be compared to someone like Dani, no? She's really great even if she needs a little help haha (don't we all).

Aaah you're amazing! Thank you so much, I'll read this pirate AU soon!

I used to draw a lot, really loved doing it when I was a kid as I said before, and all throughout adulthood too but I haven't done that in almost a year now bc I've got a bit of a case of burnout I guess, it just takes a lot of effort to do it when it shouldn't be like that at all. I used to do fanart too, for other fandoms. Even made one for Dani x Jamie but ended up not liking how it turned out haha. I've got a lot of respect for writers and fanfic writers also! Yall can make words make sense in really interesting and beautiful ways, build worlds so enthralling I can see them vividly in my head. Writing is such an incredibly fascinating skill to have! And I guess the most important thing is that we enjoy doing these things right? Even if we think we're not particularly good at it.

Anyway, have a lovely weekend! 👋✨

Good I'm glad you're doing great but sorry you're dealing with stressful stuff!! Hope living in a new country goes well for you I'm so jealous that you've lived in different countries I'd love to live somewhere else even if just for s few years!! Awwh thank you so much I definitely came out of it alive and am feeling so much better now thank you I mean I do some pretty ditzy things so when people say it to me it's pretty deserved sometimes, I'm secretly smart and people just don't expect it so I never mind too much haha I might have to start saying the things that you do and just taunting them over it I mean, I usually do win even when they make me answer different questions so I will definitely have to start saying things like that to them Haha I love that you're just like "yeah they're probably right in their accusations" I agree seeing how mad some people get over games and stuff is funny (it's me I'm people I hate loosing games depending on what it is and I am very competitive) So it was very dark and all we had for light was my roommates flashlight on her phone but while we were walking home a friend of ours that lived else where kept texting her to make sure we were still safe (my phone as dead at this point) so while she was texting him her flashlight was facing down and someone had moved this road sign to the footpath and it was on that sits on the floor so while I couldn't see it I walked into it and fell over it but while I feel I grabbed hold of it and flipped with it and fell in a ditch with it on top of me... I was fine and was just laid laughing while my friend looked down at me and in the most northern accent ever just said "get up you dickhead." and helped me off of the floor and then asked if I was okay... and I was so it was all good!! Haha 😂 I love this drunken story that sounds like one hell of a night and is a roller coaster from start to finish!! I'm sorry you thought you had stood on a dead turtle for 7 years though, someone really should've told you that it was just a rock!! But that sounds like my kind of night!! I love nights like that... stories that will last a life time... the only down side is the hangover... luckily I have only ever had one hang over in my life and it wasn't the morning after the road sign fiasco... I felt surprisingly good the morning after that haha 😂 It's such a good musical it's about Henry VIII wives and I just love everything to do with his wives and that musical is so much fun and actually gives a little insight to the lives the six Tudor queens had away from Henry and with him because at school we're mainly just taught about him which sucks!! I loved the Hozier song and am definitely gonna have to listen to more of his stuff!! I love musicals so much I mainly listen to musical soundtracks at the minute- usually, Legally Blonde and Six on repeat haha 😂 Ooo thank you I will definitely check out this Pinterest board thanks for sending it to me!! I could talk about them forever too... since watching Bly Manor my niece has been asking me so many questions about it and I am more than happy to talk to her about it haha!! The beast in the jungle speech just breaks my heart every time I relate to it so much and VP just delivers it so beautifully!! Oh yeah now I know at the beginning that it's older Jamie I am just a wreck the whole show is just so beautiful and heart breaking at the same time I LOVE IT!! Even though it makes me sob- I keep putting myself through it!! I mean, yeah I was happy that she said it Dani is great but it was the way she said it... my mum can be something else sometimes... she said she thought Dani was like me the first time she does the accent when she says "I've fallen quite in love with London" because I just randomly do accents a lot too but it was the way she was like "She needs help... but I like her she reminds me of you" I was just like... "Should I go get help?" I still don't know the answer to my question about if I need help or not but I mean I probably do need it You're welcome I really hope you like it!! It's a

great fic I love it!! Yeah I get that if stuff starts taking too much effort and burns you out you're not gonna wanna keep doing it so it's understandable that you stopped!! I think fan art is great and I really would love to be able to do it myself but I just don't have the skill it takes!! Awwh it's a shame you didn't like the Dani x Jamie one you did I would've loved to have seen it!! Honestly there are so many talented writers out there and when I read their fics I am just in awe of the worlds they have built and the stories they have created we are so blessed in this fandom to have so many amazing writers and so many amazing fics out there Oh yeah definitely its important to enjoy what you do!! I know I love writing and love writing fics for Dani and Jamie so I think I'll be doing it for a while even if I'm not great at it haha Awwh thank you very much I hope you have a great weekend too!! ☺️

[mikkachu8888]

A/N I do not own any of the main plot line or characters of Marvel. Those rights are reserved for the creators. Thank you.

Peter x adult!reader

You were nervous to say the least. You looked at the clock on your wall again. It was probably only 15 minutes until they would arrive. You sighed. Mae and Peter are coming over for dinner. It's only been a few months since Tony's funeral and you can't say you were coping well. Natasha...Tony... Steve... all gone. Steve wasn't dead, but he seemed on the verge of it due to his old age now, but either way you weren't ready to let him go either. It felt like you were robbed of so much time you could have spent with him. He always was my most understanding fake uncle/dad/brother...or whatever you wanted to consider him. It didn't matter how you felt though, it's what makes him happy and you have to respect that... even if internally you weren't ready to bury another one of your family members. These people helped raise you and it broke your heart to see how your family got so much smaller.

Clint made more of an appearance in your life after the events, however. After Nat died you both found great comfort and grieving her death together. He became your new outlet to vent, which had previously belonged to Steve. Actually, this whole dinner was Clint's idea. It was something that was meant to clear the air between Peter and I.

"Are you okay?"

I turned to the voice and saw my fiancé of 8 months standing in the kitchen door with his hands in his pockets and looking at me with a concerned, but supportive smile.

"No..." I admit. "I've faced mass genocide, the largest war to human kind, and losing most of my family all at once... and yet... I've never been more nervous than I am right now."

"What do you think is going to happen?" (f/n) says.

"I don't know... I know it's really not that big of a deal compared to what we've all gone through before, but for some reason I can't bear to see Peter so upset with me. It...Just...It hurts my heart. I can't explain it." you say putting your face into your hands.

"I understand... and to be honest I think it is... a big deal." (f/n) says walking over and placing his hands on my arms gently. "So many families have been disrupted by the blip. Parents seeing their children all grown up all of a sudden, couples having larger age gaps and who have grieved and moved on, people who have blipped and realized that their loved ones that have remained here passed away in that what seemed to be moments they've been gone...in which it was actually years."

You looked up at him. He gave a small smile. "You are not the only one struggling to adjust in these weird times and grieving the lost time. I'm sure Peter is just as confused and nervous as you are. He was your boyfriend, your lover. You guys were very close and I'm sure when he came back from the blip he still thought you were the same as ever... only to realize that it wasn't the case."

"He saw me for the first time at Tony's funeral...and he wouldn't even talk to me. He just stared at me... almost like he was afraid of me." The sentence came out like it was a soft whisper, but ended with just pain and hurt in it.

"Is that a bad thing?" (f/n) asked. "Wouldn't you be? I know I would, especially if I was just a 16 year old kid."

"No no...No... You're right. I honestly should be thinking about him too. He's probably shell shocked and I'm just worried about myself." You take a deep breath and gave a slight bitter chuckle. "I'm the adult here. I've matured and learned to cope. I shouldn't be the one who's scared here."

"I think it's okay for you both to be scared. Don't worry, though. I'll be there and Mae will be there to help. Clint says he'll be standing by if you need help." It was at that moment, the doorbell rang making you jump. "You got this. I promise."

He gave you a kiss on the cheek before leaving to answer the door. You mulled over his words for a moment before sucking in a breath and following him. As you walked through your living room you reached up and began fixing your hair as you walked. You wanted to make sure you at least looked like you weren't a complete mess, but you were on the inside. A horrible, grieving, pitiful, shawarma and ice cream eating mess.

I wore black. It was my go to color. Not because I was sad or grieving, but because it is the most convenient color and showed so much class while also hiding your shame. There was very little the color black couldn't hide. You were grateful that when you joined SHIELD and the main uniform color was black. You cut your hair shorter and mostly wore it up in a tight seamless bun for work, but tonight it is in its full glory. Your fiancé wore basic white button up and black pants. He had on a tie before, but you supposed it was bothering him so he took it off. At least he put on the black blazer as well. You never liked the tie anyway. It was just something Steve had said one time that was necessary for important events. He taught (f/n) how to tie it and everything.

You stood beside (f/n) a little ways back as you were bit afraid. He opened the door and there stood Mae, Peter, and shockingly Happy smiling back. Peter actually wasn't smiling. He wasn't even looking at neither you nor (y/n). His gaze was to the side towards the floor. It was clear that he wasn't ready to face reality either. Your eyes moved back to the group as a whole. "Happy, what are you doing here?" You- asked stretching out a smile that may have seemed a little forced.

"Well, I was just popping over to the Parker residence from visiting Pepper and Morgan, and Mae invited me to come along, so I thought I haven't seen you in a while and there was no harm in dropping by as well. I wanted to see what you've been up to and what not." Happy nodded with a big smile. He leaned close and half whispered "Mae thought that you all could use as much help as you could get with this weird situation anyway."

"O-oh... okay... well um. Thanks for coming. I'm sure it's appreciated." You internally cursed. More people to witness the horror that will be this dinner. You turned your attention to Mae. "Hi, Mae." You smiled a bit and you could tell she already had tears pricking her eyes and she held out her arms for a big hug. She gave you tight motherly squeeze and rubbed your back. "Hi, Honey. Gosh, you've gotten so big. You just look absolutely beautiful."

"Yes. Thank you. It's been so long since I've seen you... Well I suppose not to you." You attempted a joke to lighten the mood. She and Happy laughed though that joke didn't seem to land well with Peter as he didn't laugh and only seemed to be made more uncomfortable.

Your eyes did fixate on Peter now and the silence of the group became thick and very tense. He wasn't saying anything and you bit your lip. "Hey...Peter." Your voice was softer and sounded week. He looked exactly the same. Young baby face with wispy brown hair that seemed to like to hang in his face depending how it fell. He did a pretty good job at keeping it combed back, however. His brown eyes finally looked back at you and widened just slightly. You looked so much different, yet, exactly the same. For starters, the makeup. That was so much more new. You never wore makeup. You were perfectly happy with the nude appearance of your face. Although you weren't wearing much makeup it was still prevalent that you had some on, but just enough to look clean and classy. Your hair wasn't as super long as you had it when you were younger. It was always down and long and it was a daily struggle for you to keep it maintained and out of paint or your food at lunch. You were always getting it caught in your mouth or finding random strands of it on your clothing or in your stuff. He remembered how sometimes when he kissed you your hair would get caught between their lips. It was embarrassing then, but now he missed it. Now it was cut much shorter and seemed more tamed. He wasn't sure if he liked that or not. It didn't matter, however, for some reason in Peter's mind it made you look all the much more mature and older. Everything about you seemed older and mature. Your body was different. Slightly wider hips and a bit larger breasts. He probably wouldn't have noticed either difference if it wasn't for the dress you were wearing... or for the matter that you were wearing a dress at all. Dresses and skirts weren't your forte last time he saw you. You said they restricted you from doing the things you wanted to do. No, leggings and jeans covered in paint, pen marks, sharpies was what you wore on a daily basis along with an oversized hoody of some sort. Peter looked down at the ground. He noticed you weren't wearing any shoes. He cracked a slight side smile. At least that was one thing that didn't changed about you. You always hated wearing shoes. It didn't matter where you were or the temperature outside. Shoes were never the priority for you. You always carried a pair and wore them when you had to, but if they bothered you too much or you just found them unnecessary you'd kick them off and immediately toss them in your backpack. So many times you'd walk down the school halls bare foot with some type of drawing that you drew on them from being bored in class. Peter always thought that little quirk was cute. He could actually see a little tattoo on the side of your foot, but couldn't make it out in that moment. In fact when he looked closer, he saw that both your feet looked slightly different from each other. He wasn't quite sure, but it seemed the foot with the tattoo seemed somewhat off. He just wasn't sure what was different.

His voice finally decided to make an appearance. "Hey... again..." It didn't come out as strong as he wanted it to, but it came out enough for her to hear.

"How are you?" You asked him.

"Uh..." He didn't have anything to say. He just gave an awkward nod and a generic 'ok'. He wasn't ready to talk. You backed off and looked at the group as a whole once more.

"Oh um... everyone. This is my fiancé, (f/n)" you said stepping back and introducing your now future husband. Peter's face immediately dropped. His eyes widened and he looked back and forth between you and your fiancé in an almost panicked state. He couldn't believe it. You had found someone else. You had left him.

"Hi, everyone." (f/n) smiled and waved and shook everyone's hand, except Peter who didn't even attempt to raise his hand. His face now stared wide eyed at your fiancé who waited patiently for his hand in return. Mae nudged Peter's arm and he blinked a couple of times in realization and took (f/n)'s hand to shake. "Oh yeah um sorry... it's nice to meet you." He says politely trying to cover up how frazzled he was for a moment.

"Well, everyone. Why don't you come inside?" You say and step to the side allowing everyone to filter into your home.

"Wow... fancy." Happy says looking around at stuff.

"Happy, you knew I lived here." You say unamused.

"I've never seen the inside, though." He commented back.

"So how long have you lived here?" Mae asks looking at the light fixtures.

"3 years or so now." You say watching them. "I know it's much different than that dingy apartment I was at before."

"Yeah um.... How did you get a place like this?" Peter asks quietly.

"Uh well... with my new job and the housing being cheaper from the blip and-"

"Tony bought it." Happy commented bluntly cutting you off.

You sighed. "Yes. Tony bought and designed it for me. My job at SHIELD lets me be able to pay for it."

"You work at SHIELD?" peter asks glancing back at you.

"Yes. Head of the entire global security and protection program. Also, I'm a public advocate for the international super powered and mutated community." You say with a bit of pride.

"Wow that sounds like a very high position." Mae says.

"It can be, I suppose." You shrug your shoulders.

"You've certainly come a long way since you were young." Mae says a little sad.

"I think everyone who was left here during the blip has. It just depends on if they came a long way for the better or worse. That depends on the person." You state glancing at Happy. "Right, Happy?"

"Yeah. There's been a lot of people who dropped over the edge since that, but also a lot of people who've thrived since then. We've seen it all." Happy says skeptically looking at one of the vases you had on your counter. You walked over and took the vase from Happy's hands. "Why don't we all sit down before you break something." You says putting the vase back down where it was.

"Where did you get that? It's hideous." Happy says moving towards the sofa.

"It came with the house." You stated.

"Why'd you keep it?" Happy says scrunching up his nose.

"Don't worry about it." You say ushering him to the couch.

"I happen to like it. I think it's... unique." Mae says admiring it from afar as she sat next to Happy and Peter on one of the sofas. You and (f/n) sat across from them on the other. He gave them each glasses of water in case they got thirsty. You hadn't seen him even go into the kitchen to get them.

"Oh yeah... I mean... if you look at it that way then I guess it's pretty nice." Happy says backtracking and taking a pert sip of the water he was just given. Your eyes furrow as you look between Happy and Mae. You glance at Peter who also seems confused at the interaction.

"Okay...so Happy. What were you doing at the Parker residence?" you ask Happy with a smirk.

"Oh you know. Just checking in. See how Peter is doing." Happy says not so casually.

"I see." You say as your eyes look back at Peter. "So, Peter."

"Huh?" he asks a little startled by my turn of attention to him. The water in his cup sloshing at the sudden movement. "How are you doing?"

"Oh um... okay, I guess." He responds nodding. That was it. The entire highlight of the conversation between us for the rest of the time. The rest of the time he and you both remained quiet and only spoke when spoken too. You were hurt. He was hurt. You could tell. Not only because you know him, but because teenagers tend to have less of a poker face when they're upset. No matter how hard they try to hide it, it usually slips through that they are emotional in that moment. You have learned to control that side of you a lot better. You are no longer that emotional and even if you were, you've learned to hide it a lot better. Your face remains impassive, but you sit there thinking that perhaps he doesn't need impassive. He needs something to know that you are feeling much of the same feelings he is feeling. You just don't know what to say.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you two meet?" Mae asks setting her glass on the coffee table in front of us. Peter's attention becomes more alert at the question. It was obvious he was wondering the same thing. Just when did this happen?

"Oh no. I don't mind. I suppose that is one of the big elephant questions in the room." You say a little nervously.

"We met in physical therapy. We had the same Therapist and she brought all her patients together for group stretching once a week. It was something that was set up through a volunteer group for people with superpowers and mutations. I can't exactly remember the name, but it was group that helped with the devastation after the snap. They helped clean up and got people out of crisis and arranged for a lot of the people with powers who were injured to receive medical attention and physical therapy from medical professionals that had mutations of some sort as to not expose us or risk exploitation. Do you remember the volunteer organization's name?" (f/n) asked looking at me.

"It wasn't an organization. It was a school, I believe. Dr. Xavier ran the school. He's quite the man. I talk to him every now and again, but I haven't heard from him quite a while. He's part of the reason I got my foot in the door for advocating for those with superpowers or mutants as they call them." You state.

"Interesting. What were you going to physical therapy for?" Mae asked. "Or what I mean is, what happened?"

"Well I was on a train in New York with my sister and mother when people starting dusting away. I suppose the conductor was one of those people because our train never stopped and crashed full force into one of the buildings and derailed us from the tracks over a bridge, it sent us crashing into the streets. My mother died on impact, but I was able to protect my sister with my body. I can turn my body into different materials, so I was able to keep most of the things away from her and she just had a couple of broken bones, but I didn't move fast enough because I got a metal rod straight through the chest. It broke right near my sternum. I had no clue why or how I was still alive. I thought I was going to die in there for sure until some of the students from that school showed up." (f/n) unbuttoned his shirt half way to show the large star like shaped scar right in the center of his chest.

"That's awesome..." Happy muttered looking in awe at his scar before getting nudged in the shoulder by Mae. "I mean terrible. Truly terrible. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Yes, that's awful. I'm sorry that happened to you." Mae says sympathetically.

(f/n) chuckled and buttoned his shirt back up. "No, don't worry about it. These types of things make us stronger right? And I do agree with Happy. I think my scar is pretty awesome." He patted his chest proudly. You smiled in amusement and gave slight chuckle.

"...and you?" Peter's soft voice piped up after a moment. Everyone looked at him. He was looking at you. You weren't really sure what he was trying to ask you. He glanced at everyone before licking his lips and trying again to clarify. "Uh um. What I mean is what happened to you... as well? Why were you in, you know, physical therapy?"

"Oh. I was actually in Africa fighting in battle." You sated simply.

"You were a part of the Battle of Wakanda?" Peter asks sitting up straighter now.

You smiled a bit and let out a breathy laugh. "Yeah. It was like pulling teeth to convince Steve to let me, but yeah. I was. It was a savage alien that bit and clawed into my leg and that started the problems, but it was a female servant of Thanos that actually took my leg. Cut it clean off with swords she had."

"Oh my god. That's horrible." Mae exclaimed and Peter's eyes traveled to your foot once more. That's why your foot looked so off. It was a prosthetic. Peter thought it looked too real to be a prosthetic, but too fake to be real. You were able to walk so seamlessly though. Like you never lost your leg at all.

"Not as horrible as for her. When Natasha found out she was absolutely pissed. She and one of the Wakanda guards kicked her ass." You laughed outwardly. Peter saw the old you come out all of a sudden and all at once. He smiled brightly. "And then what happened?" he asked.

"They sent her ass through her own giant alien sawblade that they tried to kill us with!" You were full blown laughing now. The memory had you almost in tears because of how convenient and karmic the whole thing was. If you remembered correctly you remember yourself laughing in that moment as well. Despite nearly being dead in a ditch and bleeding out uncontrollably, you were still verbally shouting out cheers of praise to Nat as she fought and when she came to quickly bandage you up to stop the bleeding. You remembered Nat replying to you "Shut up, kid or I'll leave you here instead. All that shouting is going to make you pass out anyway." Funny enough she wasn't too far off the target because it wasn't long after she told you that did you fall unconscious from blood loss and woke up with a sweet new robotic vibranium prosthetic leg in Wakanda's medical ward.

"So, if she cut your leg off what happened next." Peter asked now interested in the story.

"Nat bandaged me up, I passed out, and I woke up with a sweet new robotic leg in Wakanda's medical ward. After I was healed enough I was transferred to Xavier's school where I sharpened my powers and did physical therapy along with the others. Once I was healed, Tony came back from outer space. Once he was recovered he told us everything and eventually upgraded my leg. Now it looks almost like I never lost a leg. Well, sort of. It still looks a bit off and it glitches every now and again, but I'm not complaining. I can still walk so." You shrugged now crossing your leg over the other and folding your arms over your chest.

"Wow. That's really cool." Peter said breathlessly. He seemed to admire you so much more. You knew you were now Tony Stark, but it was nice to have those admiring eyes directed towards you for once. The type of eyes that didn't hold romantic feelings, but still held the belief that everything you did was cool and amazing.

"Thank you, Peter." You smiled.

"So when are you two getting married?" Happy asks randomly and taking a gulp of water.

*smash*

The glass in Peter's hand immediately smashes in his palm. Everyone makes a noise in surprise at the sudden sound and turn to Peter. "Oh! Uh... I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I'll... I'll clean it up." Peter says getting down on the floor to clean it up.

"Peter, your hand." You gasp setting your cup down. His hand started bleeding from all the glass shards that decided to embed themselves into his skin.

"Oh um..." Peter's face flushed a bright red. He couldn't help but feel intense embarrassment about the situation.

"Don't worry about the glass. I got it. You go with (y/n) and get your hand all patched up, okay?" (f/n) says already standing to go and get the broom.

"Yeah, come on, Peter. I have a first aid kit in the kitchen." You say standing up and helping him to his feet. You held his arm as he kept his hand underneath his injured one, hoping to catch the blood so it wouldn't get onto your carpet. You walked him to the kitchen. "Just put your hand over the sink and I'll be there in a moment."

"Okay." Peter says doing what you asked as you began to rummage around the medicine cabinet. Peter began to run his hand under a bit of water as you came back with the first aid kit. You first got some tweezers and a dish towel and dragged 2 chairs over so we could sit. You first sat down and put the dish towel across your lap. Peter then sat down and you gently grabbed his hand and set it in your lap while looking closely at it. "Nothing bad it looks like. Obviously nothing the Amazing Spiderman can't handle." You joke looking at him with a smile and he smiles back with an awkward laugh.

A silence falls over you both as you begin to focus on plucking the tiny shards from his hand. You didn't notice how the air got thicker and you certainly didn't notice how things got increasingly more difficult for Peter to stomach. He stared at you the entire time and the longer he did the more his heart broke. You didn't notice how his straight face slowly broke until you saw a few tear drops fall onto the surface of the hand you were working on and you heard a choked back sob. You looked up and saw his face as he turned away. You set the towel with glass pieces aside and held his hand. You knew he wasn't crying because of his hand or if there was a possibility you hurt him. He was much tougher than that. You also knew you couldn't physically hurt him even if you wanted to. His powers made it easier for him to handle a lot more than a regular human. No, his pain was internal. His kind soft heart was bursting with pain. "Peter..." you said softly with a frown.

"I... I miss you." He said finally with his head down and his chest heaved. "I miss you so much."

This is where your heart broke and you couldn't even keep your composure anymore. You hugged Peter and you hugged him tight. You hugged him like how you wanted to hug him the day you found out that he was one of the victims of the Snap. You hugged him like he would dust away again. You hugged him like he would leave you again, but this time not come back. And you cried. Oh, you cried like you should have when you first saw him again. You cried as you were finally getting the closure you wanted. It was five years, but you had him in your arms again and you couldn't be more grateful. "I miss you, too."

"First I lost Mr. Stark and now you..." he began crying harder now. He drops to his knees on the floor and his face goes to your lap.

"That's not true. I'm right here." I told him holding him tighter.

"But you're not mine anymore. You're his... and it only seems like just a few months ago you were at my house and we were playing video games and listening to music." Peter said getting his voice more.

"But it wasn't a few months ago. It's been years, Peter." You tell him stroking his hair.

"I know... but... it's just not fair!" he says gripping the fabric of your dress around your thighs tight in his balled fists.

"I know, I know it's not fair." You tell him as more tears fell from your eyes.

"If... if he wasn't there... If you weren't getting married, would you wait for me?" he asked quietly. You pressed your lips together. This was a very heavy question. It wouldn't change the outcome of how things were now no matter how you answered, but it could change the way Peter thought about things and how your relationship would be from here on out. You had to answer carefully. Either he could be angry with you and refuse to have contact with you, or he could have a false sense of hope and closure all depending on how you answered his question. You just hated to see him so upset and you wanted to give in, but you also could not lie to him either. If you ever loved him then you would not lie to him, even now.

"No, Peter." I told him gently petting his hair. His body tensed at the words. "Look at me."

He didn't move, so you shifted your body away slightly and lifted his chin up, so he would look at you. "Peter, I want you to listen to me. I want you to really hear what I am trying to tell you."

He looks at you with his tear stained face, but he does what you ask. "What happened to us is cruel and unfair, but it did happen. This whole situation is hard to swallow and seeing you like this kills me. Seeing your face for the first time when you came back and realizing you didn't grow up with me was one of the hardest things I had to come to terms with because I immediately realized that we couldn't work. I think it was even harder for me when I realized that when you came back, you had no idea what had happened and you thought we were still together like always. I found it difficult when I saw the reality hit you when you looked at me for the first time at Tony's funeral. I still care deeply for you, but you are still a child, Peter. You blipped. I didn't. I mourned and moved on. I know that when you become in your twenties it won't really be a big deal anymore with the age gap, but that's nearly 10 years of my life waiting for you. That's 10 years of my life halted and stagnant. That's also nearly 5 years of your life wasted waiting on me when you also need to move on. I'm sorry, but it won't be healthy if you wait for me."

He doesn't say anything for a long while. He just sets his head back down in your lap as he thinks over what you just told him. I don't mind, however. You said what you had to. You couldn't lie to him. It wasn't the adult or right thing to do. You had to just rip the band aid off. It seemed we sat there for a while. I knew the others were giving us our privacy. We all knew this dinner was really just to break the news to Peter that our relationship wouldn't work and hoping we could still be okay afterwards.

"Do you love him?" he asked quietly, his voice breaking a bit.

"Yes." You answered back.

"Did you love me?"

"Yes."

"Do you still love me?"

"Yes."

"But... not the same way..." he sighed.

"...No... not in the same way." You tell him gently.

"I... I suppose that's okay." He muttered, even if he didn't like his own answer.

"Thank you, Peter." You say with a smile looking down at him.

"For what?" he asks looking up at you.

"For understanding, for not being angry, for being a good person, for doing the right thing for yourself and I, ... and for just giving me some of the best moments of my life being with you." You tell him happily.

"O-oh. No problem." He says now getting back up off the floor and going to his feet.

You follow suit. His face was still tear stained, but he didn't have complete dread in his eyes anymore.

"It's going to take a while for me to get over you." He says looking at the ground.

"I know it will because it took me awhile. (f/n) was very patient with me." You tell him before thought came into her head. "Peter, I know this is too soon, but may I point you in a direction of people to consider giving a chance?"

"Um... okay?" He didn't seem too comfortable, but he was open to hear what she suggested.

"You know Michelle Jones that was in our class, right? I believe she just went by MJ."

"MJ?" Peter thought taking it into consideration.

[katedrakeohd]

#Wacky Drabbles

Here's part 3 of my Kate and Drake short series where they're visiting Kate's Mom in Oregon.

Find the previous chapter here

Written for @emceesynonymroll and her #Wacky Drabbles game

Other Wacky Drabblers:

@jessiembruno @brightpinkpeppercorn @jovialyouthmusic @sirbeepsalot @bobasheebaby @burnsoslow

Prompt #3 I'll be home in an hour

Word count: approx. 1200

Rated: F for fluffy 😊

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Something in the Oven

After collecting their scrambled box of baked goods from the car, Drake and Kate follow Lorraine into the house. As Kate's Mother holds the door for them the harried cat from earlier appears from its hiding place next to the porch and bolts inside. With a sigh of annoyance, Lorraine looks down and protests, “Lester! You damn cat, you're nothing but trouble.”

Kate peers around the box she's carrying just in time to see the blur known as Lester skitter out of sight. “I take it Lester isn't supposed to be in the house.”

Lorraine pulls the door shut, shaking her head. “He's our only outdoor cat and usually spends days at a time prowling the yard for mice and other little things he can catch. Whenever he comes into the house he disturbs the peace among the indoor crew. Eventually there'll be a minor scuffle and I'll have to shoo him back outside. But in the meantime he'll probably hide like the rest of ‘em.”

Drake stands awkwardly next to Kate, casting his eyes around the space and trying to spy any of the numerous cats that were supposed to live there. He was used to living with dogs that eagerly welcomed him at the door, housecats were a new experience for him. Apart from the large basket of cat toys he saw next to the sofa there was no sign of the feline residents, and he was surprised to not smell the presence of them either. The interior of the house smelled clean and fresh and woodsy like a log cabin should. As he follows Kate and her Mother into the kitchen he catches the pleasant scent of apples and cinnamon baking.

“It smells like your Mom has one upped us in the bakery department Kate.” Drake says as they set their box on the counter.

“Yeah Mom, you could have mentioned you had a pie in the oven when I said we were bringing goodies.” Kate jokes.

Lorraine holds her hands up and laughs, “Hey, in my defense I didn't know you two were coming before this morning. Besides the pie is for dessert later.”

She puts the broom away and then shoos them out of the kitchen, “Please make yourself at home while I go freshen up. I've been tidying the house like a mad woman since you called me this morning. It's not everyday that this humble corner of Oregon is graced by the presence of a bona fide Duke and Duchess.” With a smirk and a halfhearted curtsey she heads for the bedroom.

Kate grimaces slightly at the emphasis that her Mom puts on their titles. She felt guilty for keeping the past several months of her life a secret from her. It had been a chaotic whirlwind to say the least, and the vast geographic distance and many time zones between Oregon and Cordonia hadn't exactly helped. The last time she and her Mom had spoken on the phone she was still living in New York City. Kate wasn't sure how well or if she paid attention to foreign news or politics. Drake gives Kate's hand a reassuring squeeze. In the relative quiet of the house he feels the need to lower his voice, “Your Mom seems nice.”

Kate lets out the breath she's holding with a nervous grin as she squeezes his hand back. “She is most of the time. But I'm fully prepared for her natural skepticism and sarcasm to appear at some point. Expect to be grilled like the proverbial Thanksgiving goose over dinner. I've suddenly shown up married to a guy from Europe with a fancy title in front of my name. No doubt it's a little bit much for her to wrap her head around.”

Drake grins, wrapping his arm around Kate’s shoulders and kissing her on the temple, “I think I can manage whatever verbal jabs your Mom sends my way. I married a New Yorker remember? Besides you know me, I eat snark for breakfast.”

With a smirk of her own Kate leans into his chest, releasing a sigh of contentment when his strong arms wrap around her tightly. “I knew I married you for a reason. You're my hero.”

“And I have the scars to prove it. C'mon let's explore the house while your Mom's busy. You know how much I love log cabins.” Drake slides his hand into hers again and gives her a conspiratorial wink.

Up in the loft bedroom Lorraine is talking to Carol on the phone while she rummages through her closet. “What do you wear to dinner when you're trying too hard to impress someone?” Lorraine sighs in annoyance as she cradles the phone between her shoulder and her cheek.

“So Katherine and her husband have already arrived then? So tell me what he's like?” Carol’s voice holds an air of amusement and wonder.

Lorraine makes a face and shrugs her shoulders, almost dropping the phone which she catches in her hand as she whines back, “I don't know. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I paid attention to what a guy looks like? I've barely spoken to him.”

Pulling a blouse and a pair of jeans out of the closet, she tosses them onto the bed, still uncertain how to dress up her meager wardrobe to impress a Duke and Duchess. At the same time she's wondering why she was bothering in the first place. Shaking her head she strips out of her comfy sweats and throws them aside. On the other end of the phone call Carol presses for more information.

“Oh come on Rainey, if you're fussing around trying to dress to impress then spill it. Is he handsome and pretentious? Is he ugly and boring? I’m dying with curiosity. Besides I haven't met your daughter yet either. I've only seen pictures.”

With a sigh, Lorraine cradles the phone next to her ear again as she pulls on her jeans.

“Well to be honest, you wouldn't know he was European or a Duke at all. He dresses pretty casual like any other guy. Until he opened his mouth and spoke I would have assumed he was American. His accent is unusual but his voice is nice. He's more rugged than refined. I suppose you could call him handsome.”

Carol laughs in her ear, “Uh Huh so you didn't notice him at all. I'll be home in an hour. Should I pick up a bottle of wine to go with dinner?"

“Sure. We're having pasta, but I'm not sure what kind of wine they like so get a red and a white."

Walking hand in hand Drake and Kate explore the downstairs. They find another bedroom down the hall from the kitchen. As Kate pushes the door open, an orangey colored cat streaks out and then runs down the hall passed them. “Well I guess that's cat number one.” Drake says with a chuckle.

“Aww, such a cutie.” Kate says, watching the cat with a longing expression.

Drake notices how her face lights up and scolds her playfully, “No more pets for you. I know we have a big house and everything but I draw the line at two corgis underfoot. Besides..” He wraps his arms around Kate from behind and places a soft kiss on her cheek, his hand straying down to rest on her belly, “We're going to have a little critter of our own in a few months.”

With a smile Kate looks down and laces her fingers through his. “Yes I know. And I can't wait to tell Mom over dinner.”

Continue to the next part