#THE WAY HE BROUGHT THE STICKERS SPECIFICALLY TO DO THIS

[oatsmeall]

You and I?

Socially awkward!Jk! X f!reader | college AU

Warnings: Socially awkward jk, very awkward jk, suggestive themes, possible smut.

(人*´∀｀)｡*ﾟ+(人*´∀｀)｡*ﾟ+(人*´∀｀)｡*ﾟ+(人*´∀｀)

For as long as you've been coming to this course you've always seen this quiet guy, he always come in 5 minutes exactly before class starts, he brings the same black metal water bottle with one singular sticker, and he's always quiet but always raises his hand to answer questions. You didn't really pay much attention to him untill today specifically though, of course you noticed his usual quirks but today? Man, it's like he became a new man. You never thought the awkward nerdy guy would pull up to class late with new piercings. On his eyebrow and his lip. You were stunned to say the least, he's... Hot? This totally normal thing called being 'tardy' suddenly seamed like a sense of rebellion, especially for this guy, Jeon Jungkook. Wow, such a bad boy.

Throughout the week he'd show up less covered, usually he'd wear sweater vests with a neatly tucked shirt and black or brown slacks or occasionally jeans. Now he's been wearing oversized shirts and baggy sweats and jeans. And not to mention his entirely detailed sleeve on his arm, which has very much been in the works for quite the while you bet. Where was the cute nerdy boy you knew? This was a whole new man. Even the girls that never bat an eye started noticing. You weren't going to lie and say you weren't a little jealous. I mean come on? These girls were ignoring him just 2 weeks ago, now they're fawning over him and his new look.....

"STUDENT SETTLE DOWN PLEASE. today we'll be writing an essay about what we've learned this month. Please be sure to turn the essay in by Friday night." The professor was making y'all write an essay. This is so boring, you were just thinking about that comfortable bed of yours.

While digging in your backpack for your laptop and some paper, you couldn't find any sort of writing utensils. This was so annoying, how is it that Suddenly when you ACTUALLY need a pen or pencil you couldn't find one. Jesus Christ, what a unlucky way to start on homework.

"pssst, hey.. hey, ppsssst" you were trying to whisper call on Jungkook, he was not budging. "Jeon, hey" you were not getting anywhere. Suddenly he side eye looked at you. Okay?...

"what do you want, were supposed to get busy." He said monotoned, he really is still nerdy sounding.

"well I won't get anywhere near busy if you'd just hear me out for a bit. Do you have a pen or pencil I can borrow, please?" You're regretting asking. He's probably gonna decline and say 'you should've brought your own".

"hmm.. I do, but you have to give it back, I always keep 4 pencils exactly." Close to the response you thought.. kinda.

"ugh okay, thanks" ou! Fancy mechanical pencil! And it had a cool retractable eraser!

This essay was gonna kill you. come to think of it what did you even learn this month?....

You and Jungkook had became friends, this past month you slowly would talk to him or try to talk big conversations, you really found him interesting. He was like a new subject you were trying to learn about. You've learned he's quite....odd? He didn't get your jokes sometimes, he was unaware of social cues at times, and he was too straight up. You thought he didn't like you, he was so blunt. on a random day when you guys went to the library he commented on how messy your notes were, how your hair was messy and looked unprofessional for school, and even on how wearing Birkenstocks with socks was strange. He was nitpicking random things, things you wouldn't even pay attention to. This gave you a feeling of self awareness, you felt like he didn't like you, he was making you realize a lot of things you hadn't.

"Jungkook, I really like you but you've got to stop nitpicking things I don't even notice, I'm sure you can keep it to yourself? You don't hear me saying how the way you styled your hair today looks off from yesterday, or how you're wearing two different shades of black and I don't like that."

"why wouldn't you like it? I like it." He said confused and somewhat agitated.

You gave him a knowing look of "do you see now?"

He sat silently before asking

"do you really not like my two different shades of black?" There was a pause before you started giggling. He looked so confused, you couldn't help but giggle.

"alright. Wanna come by my dorm tonight? Study a little and maybe order takeout and watch a movie? Shrek perhaps?" You tried changing the conversation hoping he'd forget the little conflict.

This would be the first time you invite him to your dorm, you were too shy to ask, he was also shy though, more than you probably. You didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

"uhm..sure.. just send me you dorm number." He seemed shy just asking that, you were excited though. He was such a cute and smart guy, he was very helpful when studying. He taught you new things too, the other day he taught you about why pigeons don't know how to build nests.

Around 6:30 he texted you saying he's on his way to your dorm. You were SO nervous for no reason, you tried to tidy up around your room, and by tidy you mean deep cleaned. You've never seen such a clean room, you loved it though.

*Knock, knock, knock*

"Comiingggg" you walked to your door and opened it to Jungkook. In a black tee shirt and grey sweat pants.. you felt your hear beat faster. He looked so.. FINE.

"Hello Y/n, I didn't know what kind of drink you liked so I bought Gatorade, orange juice, and water. I hope you like.. these." He looked so genuine, you appreciate him for trying.

"oh wow! I like all. I wouldn't have minded your pick. Thanks though, come in. Make yourself comfortable." He came in and sat himself on your bed, he was looking around curiously. He was looking attentively, like he was gather information.

"sorry if you might not like the scent in my room, Im trying this mango air freshener out-"

"I like it. It's okay. So where are your notes and stuff, we can get started right now if you'd like, that way we can have more time to hangout..if you want."

This genuinely surprised you? He wanted to spend time with you? Your heart had a sudden rush.

"oh? O-okay, yeah. Uhm let me get my laptop." You hurriedly grabbed your bag, you bent down you're oblivious but your ass caught Jungkook's attention by accident. He stared.. he felt his blood rush down his pants.

"okay I've got my laptop!" You walked to your bed and plopped next to him.

His face was red. Visibly red actually.

"you okay?"

"y-yeah.." he looked away from you in embarrassment. Immediately onto his notes.

After a long hour and a half, you guys were done, you decided to order for delivery instead, Jungkook didn't want to go out anymore, you were tidying around your room, who new studying was messy.

"can't wait for that pasta, I'm hungry. Also hot, this hoodie is too warm" Jungkook look slightly, seeing you take your hoodie off made HIM hot.. his body tensed up. Your black halter top made your boobs look so good, he caught a glimpse of them before you turned to him.

"freeeee!" you said in a giggle.

He was respectful, of course.. but he still IS a man.... with male... tendencies.

"can I use your restroom, please? I need to wash my hands"

"why the restroom? I've got a small sink by the dresser." You pointed to the hidden sink.

"I have to use the restroom too." He said straight faced. He was trying to get away from you as fast as possible or else his print would be visible VERY quickly, maybe he shouldn't have worn grey sweats. Maybe two different shades of black wasn't bad after all like you said.

"okay, yea. It's that door right there." You're not sure why but you have a feeling you made Jungkook uncomfortable, what could you have possibly done.

*knock, knock, knock*

"ouuu pasta must be here. JUNGKOOK! PASTAS' HERE!" you got out of your bed and quickly answered the door. You're excited.

After some very awkward moments of eating and small talk you put on Shrek the movie, you guys were on your bed now. But you felt a sudden rush, you've been avoiding thinking about him but he's so fine. He's hot in this little ensemble he put together, the grey sweats made his print noticable. Your mouth felt dry all of the sudden. You felt and decided to lay down and drape your legs on his thighs. You felt his body tense up. This made you feel butterflies. It's almost like you had an ad advantage.

"uhm.. Y/n.. I- " you cut him off and looked up at him directly into his eyes. Oh those siren eyes of yours.. they're killing him. His eyes began to widen when he realized that you're now turned around facing his lap. More so his crotch.

"Kook.." you start innocently. "Have you ever been... Touched?" You said softly and quietly. You scared him. He can't comprehend how you'd gone from fun from "fun and nice, sweet and understandable" to "horny seduction demon" he's also never had physical Intimacy, only cute kisses and hugs. This was odd, he liked how he felt though. You gave him butterflies.

"N-no" you looked at him straight in his eyes again. This time you say up slightly and palmed his dick through his sweats. He let out an lewd quiet moan. Your pussy was pulsating from excitement.

"mm poor boy. Do you like when I touch you like this?" You say quietly. You began stroking the outline of his dick, then you pulled his sweats down following after, his boxers. His hard Dick sprung up. You were in awe at the largeness before your eyes. You didn't know what you expected.. but surely not this monster. The sayings are true. It's always the quiet and shy ones.

"auh.. fuck" he whispered lewdly. What a turn on.

"mhm? You like that kookie?"

Precum began to slowly ooze from out the tip. Red and sore from the friction being created from your hands. You started pacing faster, stokes becoming gradually faster.

"augh, f-fuck. I don't wanna c-"

You sunk you whole mouth on his cock. Filling your mouth with only half of his cock. You started deep thoating, harder and faster, the lewd noises becoming louder and messier. Chocking on his dick you took him like a champ.

"I'm not done with you babe." You say with saliva and cum dripping from your mouth. You're Cock drunk.

"Y-you're not?!" He seemed genuinely shocked.

You got up and sat on his lap, legs sitting on either side of his thighs. Your booty shorts rode more up your thighs.

You began to ride him. Fully clothed, you began riding, Jungkook instinctively grabbed your ass and pressed you down to create harder friction.

"mm- F-fuck. Oh my, Jungkook augh- you moaned loudly, your pussy was so wet and it was throbbing. Suddenly. Jungkook's switched. He became the lewd one. You never expected to hear something like this come out of his mouth..

"Yeah? You like that you fucking slut? You like seducing quite guys?" He said through his teeth in a hiss. Gripping your ass. Your so turned on at his sudden switch.

"mhm baby" you mewed.

"take the shorts off. Now" yes sir. Anything for Me. Jeon.

You got up off him and you did a little strip tease. It was better that what Jungkook visioned.

You slowly hopped back on him and you grabbed his cock and slowly sat on him. Man was he stretching you out. Nice and good.

"augh fuck Kook. You're so big" you said in a gasp. He just looked at you with a smirk. Man you loved every minute of this.

"that's right baby take me like a fucking champ" you sat on him completely but suddenly.. when you began riding, his speed increased, he began slamming into you.

"fuck, fuck, fuck, augh babe, you're hitting the spot" your moans were something straight out of a porn video.

"yeah? You like that? Look at me when I fuck you Y/n look at me." He said grabbing your face. Who is this man?! This isn't shy little Jungkook with the cute boba eyes?! This was Jeon Jungkook. The fucking man.

After what felt forever, you and Jungkook did some after care. He went and fetched you an after pill at the nearest pharmacy. Yes at 1 am.

You were beat. Inside and out. Literally. You felt numb, could hardly walk. Your pussy was sore. You can't count how many times he made you cum and squirt but he really overstimulated you. You're so ready for a part 2 of this.

The next day you went to class and sat with Jungkook. Suddenly he became shy again?! Two faced much?

Guys... Let me know if you want a part 2 lol, this is my first time writing a fanfic lol🥹

[allywthsr]

WISHLISTS | (l.norris)

summary: Lando and you check your kids‘ wishlists

wordcount: 1.7k words

pairing: landonorris x fem!reader

warnings: kids

notes: I think it’s cute, what do you think?? Also Lando is older in this than he is right now :)

advent calendar

”Are they both asleep?“

”Yes, we should look at their wishlists now, and see what we can order or not.“

It was later than normal in the evening, but both kids were little troublemakers and did not want to sleep today, both of them were buzzing with excitement over Christmas. They spent the day at nana and Pop's house, and Lando’s parents made a wishlist for Santa with them today.

Louis was about to turn six years old and little Sofia was three and a half years old.

Both of them were opinionated and knew exactly what they wanted. So when Lando’s parents brought up the idea of making a wishlist with the kids, how could you say no? Normally that was a thing that Lando and you did with your kids, but you hadn’t had the time yet, so you were thankful Cisca and Adam did it for you. This year, Louis was old enough to try and write it himself, it almost made you cry looking at his scribble that had been corrected by Cisca or Adam many times, but still, it was the cutest. He was growing up too fast, when you looked at Lando and saw the little pout on his lips when you showed him the paper, you knew he was thinking the same.

Sofia‘s list was written by Cisca, and Sofia had decorated it with stickers and random streaks of colorful pens. The ’Santa‘ on top of the paper was written by Sofia, the wonky letters were different sizes and the second ’a‘ was the other way around, but you were proud of your little girl.

Lando and you sat on the couch, you were in your fuzzy socks and sweats, relaxing with your favorite hot drink, while Lando was drinking some water and was also dressed in sweats and a hoodie. It was almost Christmas and you barely had presents for your kids, a few you both picked up on some errand runs, but nothing specific.

You cuddled up to Lando and held the wishlist of your eldest in your hand.

”I‘m ready to see what an almost six-year-old wants for Christmas. I can’t believe he‘s six, we are old, Lando.“

”Probably a car like mine, yesterday he said: ’Daddy, I want to race with you every weekend‘, so I guess we need to get him in F1, and talk to McLaren about it.“

He let out a high-pitched giggle. Lando said he wanted to wait for kids after he retired, but Louis happened because you weren’t careful enough, and when you broke the news to him, he wanted nothing more than to raise this baby with you. He was only twenty-three years old when you got pregnant, and not ready to retire yet, so he gave it a year to try it out, in the end, the three of you managed it well and he didn’t need to retire. Sofia was planned, you wanted to give Louis a sibling and now he was the best big brother you could imagine for your girl. Both of your kids were totally daddy orientated, whether they were crying and needed cuddles, or they wanted to play with someone when daddy was around, he was their first choice. But when daddy said no, which barely happened, they ran to mummy and asked you, and if you said yes, you were the favorite for the rest of the day.

With your head on Lando’s shoulder, you started to read out loud.

”Alright, dear Santa, I am a good boy and have a few wishes. A new big boy bike without extra wheels, a kart like daddy had when he was younger, the new cars racetrack, a cars lunchbox, new cars, construction trucks, a real bunny, a camera like daddy, my own helmet. Thank you, Santa. That are some wishes.“

”He certainly knows what he wants, but I like most of them, we can work with that. I also love his spelling, cars with a z or boy with an i.“

You pressed a kiss to Lando’s cheek, ”he‘s all grown up, he wants a big boy bike and a kart. I don’t think I can endure another Norris in a kart.“

”Don’t worry baby, I‘ll be with him.“

You talked about putting Louis in a kart when he shows interest, but so far he only loved cars and watching daddy drive around, for a week he wasn’t able to stop talking about driving himself. Lando loved that, he started around the same age and couldn’t wait to put Louis in a kart, especially since he had his own karting team.

”I think the bike thing is something we can give your parents, we can get him the cars things, do you think he wants the lunchbox with lightning McQueen or someone else?“

”He loves this Ryan car, he’s orange and ’looks like your daddy‘, maybe we should see if we can find one with him on it.“

You hummed in agreement, ”What about the construction trucks?“

”Sure, there's probably a set with different cars inside, that would be nice.“

Again you nodded your head, ”I don’t like the bunny idea, animals shouldn’t be something that’s gifted for Christmas. We can talk about that with him next year, but not for Christmas. I want him to understand that a pet is not just a cute thing that you can pet all day long, it’s work and commitment.“

”Yeah, I agree, we’re also away a lot, we can’t take a bunny with us to the tracks, and taking care of two hyperactive kids is a chore.“

You two chuckled, ”Well, they clearly have that from you, you’re always hyperactive, Lando.“

”And I‘m proud of it, we can’t deny that they’re mine.“

”We definitely can’t. What do think about the camera? I saw on Amazon a few days ago, that there are kids cameras, not expensive and does the job.“

”I like that. And I want to make a helmet for him.“

”Do you have his measurements?“

”No, but I‘ll say Santa needs his head size if he wants to make a helmet.“

”That’s sweet. And we also have that new swing play set outside for both of them, that should be enough presents from us, right? He’s going to be spoiled from the rest of our family anyway.“

He hummed quietly and kissed your forehead.

”Onto the next one“, you mumbled, grabbing the page that lay next to you.

”Dear Santa, I am the best girl, I want for Christmas: a new Barbie doll, a new Barbie doll, a new Barbie doll, a new Barbie doll, a bunny, a pretty pink purse like mamas, a bunny stuffie, pets for my Barbie’s, the dogs from paw patrol, new hair clips, a T-shirt from uncle Carlos. Thank you, Santa.“

”A T-shirt from Uncle Carlos? What is wrong with her?“, Lando was confused.

”I think Carlos told her multiple times over Facetime a few days ago, that she should wish for a T-shirt from him.“

”I have to call him tomorrow. But why has she listed the Barbie doll four times?“

”We should call your mum and ask.“

He pulled out his phone from his pocket and clicked on FaceTiming his mum. You two greeted her with waves and ’hellos‘ when she picked up.

”We went through the wishlists and why did Sofia list the Barbie doll four times?“

”I have no clue, darlings, when I told her, I’ve already written it down, she kept on repeating I need to write Barbie doll multiple times, or else Santa won’t get her point.“

”She‘s truly Lando’s child.“

”Oh yes, I can remember Lando also did something similar when he was young.“

”Are you calling me old, mum?“

”No, my darling.“

”Cisca, we thought you and Adam could get him the bike? Or do you have something else?“

”We only have small things yet, we would love to gift him the bike. He said he wants a black one with orange and bright yellow stripes, like daddy’s helmet.“

”That’s fine, I don’t know if you want to buy it with him or without him, should he be with you while picking it out?“

”Maybe that’s better, we can say Santa told us to buy it with him, so he gets the one he wants.“

You two nodded, ”And with Sofia, we need to check first, what dolls she has and which she does not have, we don’t want to gift her some she already has.“

”Sure my darling, let us know if you have any ideas for her from her wishlist.“

All of you said your goodbyes and Lando and you went back to discussing Sofias list.

”We have to check her Barbies tomorrow when she‘s at daycare, as well as the pets she has for them, I like the hair clips and the stuffie, does she want the paw patrol dogs as stuffies or normal toys? The bunny is obviously a no.“

”Yeah, bunny’s a no, but maybe as stuffies? You know how much she loves stuffed animals, she can also play with them as if they’re normal toys. What about the purse?“

”I don’t know yet, maybe we find a kids purse somewhere?“

She may love her daddy more, but she was imitating you, all the time, playing dress up with your bags and shoes whenever she was bored.

Lando hummed to the purse idea and sighed.

”She‘s three and already wants a handbag, and I thought you would be the only one for a while.“

”She‘s a true girl, next year she‘ll ask for makeup.“

”I won’t allow her that, she can do that when she‘s eighteen.“

”Lando, when she‘s fifteen she‘ll be doing her makeup, like it or not. If she already wants a handbag, that’s the next step, soon she’ll have a boyfriend.“

”No, she doesn’t need a boyfriend, she has me and Louis, she doesn’t need different men in her life.“

”So you don’t want to have grandchildren?“

”Louis can make them.“

You decided to drop that topic, you wouldn’t be able to change his mind today.

”And what about the Carlos T-shirt?“

”I‘m not even going to give you an answer on this.“

[rogueddie]

Never- unless it's with you T | 696 words Prompt for @steddielovemonth: Love is being seen and known

Steve hates how bright it gets, how much it irritates his eyes, how it has always made his skin crawl with discomfort. He especially hates how weird people look at him when he tries to wear his sunglasses inside, or in the colder months.

But it's so bright. The sun always finds a way to shine in his eyes, but lightbulbs aren't any better. The sharp blue lights are like knives sticking into his eyes and the warmer yellow lights, though better, quickly build into an uncomfortable pressure.

Robin is the first to pick up on his 'issue'. She makes sure to keep the lights off, even buys candles and fairy lights with dull, soft lights.

If he's having a worse day, the lights getting so bright that sound starts to overwhelm him, she drags him home with her so they can crawl under her bed and relax.

He feels more than lucky to have that much. Having Robin in his corner is not only enough, it's a blessing.

So, when Eddie starts to do little things to help, he feels like he's going to explode.

"I don't see how it's different," Robin says.

"Because it is! He's so- and you're not- but- I'm... fuck!" Steve flops onto his bed, next to Robin, pressing both hands over his eyes. "I don't even know if it's good or not."

"Have you tried, I don't know, talking to him?"

"And how do you think that will go? I want him to like me, not think I'm weird."

"You're not that weird and- well, even if you are, he's weird! He likes weird people and even weirder things! That's his whole schtick!"

"But what if he looks for something different in partners? Like... something more relatable?"

"We are still talking about Eddie, right?"

"Shut up."

"Seriously, Steve, think. You've been on, what, four dates now, right? Do you really think he cares if you're a little weird?"

He doesn't answer her. They both know that Eddie wouldn't care, and Steve doesn't have the words to explain why its different yet.

But, as always, Robin is right.

It takes him a month to slowly realize that, not only is she right that Eddie wouldn't care if he knew, he already does.

Steve had started to pay attention to little things Eddie does so he would know what to expect if he were to start opening up about the weirder things about him.

But instead he found himself noticing how much Eddie already goes out of his way to make Steve comfortable.

It's like he has a sixth sense for Steve's moods.

He doesn't even need to do more than greet Steve to know when it's a quiet day, barely stuttering over his plans- ones that, now that he's looking, Steve can tell are last minute changes.

He always seems to know when Steve needs to be touched, or when the idea of certain things touching him makes his skin crawl.

He always waits until they're settled before bringing up things like his guitar- deflating slightly on days when it would be too much, when he's realized that and subsequently doesn't bother asking.

He uses one of the fridge drawers specifically for food that Steve finds comforting, and has little stickers on food with textures he hates.

He has a specific mug that only Steve uses now, that is always made at a specific time, no matter what, so there's always something consistent and routine for him to latch onto.

Eddie already knows him, Steve realizes.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" Steve manages to say, choking on the affection bubbling in his chest.

"Mm, not nearly enough," Eddie whispers, smiling softly. "But it's ok. I know you love me as much as I love you."

"I do, I really do. You're amazing, Ed. I love you so much."

"What's brought this on, sweetheart?"

"I just... you see me."

"I do. It's why I love you so much. There's so much to you that... I don't know, I could do this forever. Just- learning all the little things that make you tick. That's my happy ever after."

[harlowcomehome]

Coffee and rainy days:

It had been forever since you and Jack took a vacation together, and although you had technically been able to get away for a few days it was so brief that you weren’t entirely sure you’d count it.

Jack had been pulled in every direction imaginable lately so when his schedule allowed him the time to have a few days to himself he knew he had to use them to nurture your relationship. You never gave him any inkling that you needed that, you knew exactly what you signed up for but he still felt a sense of guilt when he couldn’t spend a lot of time with you.

He woke up before you, which was a miracle in itself. He lightly brushed his fingertips against your arm, whispering your name before kissing your cheek.

“Baby, wake up!”

“Hmmm?” You yawned realizing that he had already showered for the day.

“Without me?” You teased with one eye open.

“I didn’t think you’d want to miss breakfast so I hurried and ordered it” he hummed motioning toward the bar cart of food.

Just then your stomach audibly agreed with him, making the two of you giggle.

“Let me just shower really fast” You hopped out of bed and scurried to the bathroom, catching a glimpse of your stuffed French toast.

“Have I ever told you, I think you’re my soulmate?”

Jack blushed, smiling ear to ear at your comment. “Go shower!” He chuckled as he sat up from the bed and started to place the food on the table.

When you got out of the shower, you walked over to him, kissed him and pulled back gently on his bottom lip.

“I love it when you do that” he handed you your utensils as you began to eat.

“The coffee here sucks, so I thought maybe we could go find a shop nearby?”

“Whatever you want babe” You nodded as you took a bite of your French toast, rolling your eyes back dramatically and heavy breathing.

“You’re about to make me jealous of your breakfast, stop that” he rasped, half joking.

You couldn’t contain the giggles that constantly came out of you when you were around him, something that had never happened to you before but you embraced it.

After you got dressed, specifically in a body suit, brown 550s, and NB lounge pants that Jack had gotten for you the two of you left the hotel and started to walk down the street together.

“I hope it doesn’t rain on us” You looked up at the sky which was angry and gloomy looking.

“I don’t think so” Jack shrugged, grabbing your hand as you walked together.

After you walked for a few minutes you pulled him into the nearest souvenir store, earning a chuckle from him as he never quite understood your fascination but embraced it anyway.

“You need this” You handed him a magnet with a goofy quote and character on it.

“I need this huh?” He stifled a laugh.

“Yeah, because it looks like you” you joked only earning an over-dramatic gasp in return.

The store clerk very obviously knew who Jack was and kept her eyes on him the entire time. You couldn’t blame her, the way he was dressed today and just his overall face was worth staring at.

You selected a few stickers, noticing Jack had kept the magnet you handed him earlier. He took your things from you and handed them to the cashier as he took his wallet out immediately.

“Thank you baby” you whispered, but the cashier still heard making a noticeable sour face.

Jack pretended not to notice, for his sanity as she bagged up his small purchases and asked for a picture.

As the two of you left the store you noticed a coffee shop across the street.

“Do you still want coffee?”

“Yeah, it’s freezing out here” he dramatically shivered and you laughed knowing he typically ran cold.

He ordered a coffee for himself and a hot cocoa for you. “Do you want to sit outside?”

“Aren’t you cold?”

“I ordered a hot drink, I’ll be fine sweetheart” his eyes softened at your worry for him.

“I’ll go get a table then” You stood on your tiptoes to kiss his cheek before you found a table to sit at.

Jack brought you your drink and a cookie, before rushing back inside to grab his drink.

“I love this man” you mumbled to yourself smiling as you took in how truly selfless he was.

When he came back and sat down with you, you realized how long you had been walking and that you were pretty far from the hotel.

“What’s on your mind?” Jack sat back in his chair, eyeing you.

“Just love you is all” you hummed, reaching for his hand.

“I love you too, and I’m sorry that I’ve been so busy.”

“You know I hate when you apologize for working” You sipped your cocoa giving him a look with a raised brow.

He smiled, knowing that to be true.

Suddenly you felt a raindrop, your eyes widened as you looked up at the sky.

“Jack, we should probably go.”

He squinted as he looked up at the sky, the sun still slightly shining through the dark heavy clouds above.

“Probably a good idea.”

The two of you started your walk to the hotel, the raindrops becoming more and more consistent.

“Fuck” Jack groaned looking at the stores nearby for an umbrella.

“Baby, I doubt we’ll find one here.”

“Rain wasn’t even on the forecast today” he groaned and you laughed knowing he was always checking the weather.

“Can you finally admit that, that thing isn’t accurate now?” You poked his side making him jump as he was extremely ticklish.

“I will do no such thing!” He smiled as the rain only continued. You started to shiver as the two of you hurriedly walked to the hotel.

“Baby, are you cold? That bodysuit is thin” It was his turn to worry about you.

You sniffled, “I’ll be fine. Let’s just try and hurry.” You wiped your nose, as your hands trembled.

Jack took his sweater off, handing it to you.

“Baby, you’ll catch a cold.”

“I don’t think that’s a real thing” he chuckled as you quickly put his warm sweater on.

“It actually is a real thing” you sighed knowing there was no way to convince him otherwise.

“If I get sick I’ll be forced to take time off and you can be my nurse” he wiggled his eyebrows at you.

“Should’ve known you had ulterior motives” you giggled.

When you got back inside the hotel and to your room the two of you were completely soaked. You had mascara running down your face and Jack's curls were flat, damp and frizzy.

“Holy shit” he laughed as you both took a look at one another.

“You look like you jumped into a pool” he exclaimed.

“Your nose is so red!” You stood on your tip toes to kiss him, his nose cold as it pressed against your face.

“Looks like we are taking that shower together after all” he smirked and you giggled, taking your phone out before removing any clothing.

“We need a picture to remember this” you smiled, making him stand in front of the hotel room mirror with you.

“I don’t think that we’ll ever forget this” he laughed but posed with you anyway.

“I’ll remember it as the day your weather app was wrong” you teased, as he followed you into the bathroom to get undressed.

“You’re never letting that go, are you?”

“Not ever” you giggled as the two of you got into the warm shower.

[tomsretales]

Retales Retold - Day Eighteen

-A woman approached the counter with a three-pack of baby wipes in her hands. She proceeded to open the three pack in front of me, place the three individual packs on the conveyor belt, and hand me the packaging, telling me that it was for the three packs of wipes. I had gathered that much. What I still could not determine was her goal.

-I asked a man if he had found everything alright, to which he bellowed, “yeaaaaaah buddy.” I genuinely admire his enthusiasm for picture frames and decorative pumpkins.

-Mid-conversation with a woman I was ringing up, I looked down. When I looked back up, she was gone. Thankfully she had just stepped away to get a drink from the cooler. I was worried that she had been a ghost all along, which would have been a problem for me, as I do not think ghosts have the ability to carry wallets.

-I handed a mother a second sticker for her daughter. The mother told the daughter, “You can give this one to your sister!” The daughter told the mother, “I can give this one to me!” and proceeded to slam it on her shirt before she could be stopped. This is a hero who knows what they want and will not let anything get in their way.

-I heard a little girl shouting, “I hate this! I hate this!” As I heard her approach, I expected to see a child mid-fit. Instead, I saw a child thrilled with the concept of despising the world around her. At least she is happy with it.

-A girl was ecstatic that her mother agreed to buy her Tic Tacs. To make her day even better, I handed her the Tic Tacs outside of a bag, with a sticker hidden under it. She shouted “Tic Tacs!” and looked as happy as she could possibly be. Thirty seconds later, she discovered the sticker, and started babbling gleefully about having a sticker. This was the single purest, most unadulterated instance of happiness I have ever witnessed, and I think my purpose in life was to bring about this moment.

-My manager brought me a Cadbury Egg Frappuccino. I do not know to whom he sold his soul, but no mere mortal should be able to put anything they desire so perfectly into frappuccino form.

-I talked with a man about the legal drinking age and why it is what it is. This was a good conversation. He then told me how Hillary Clinton looked like a specific blow-up sex doll. This was a finished conversation. 

[missmielyhoran]

Tired eyes are the death of me

Little freak part 2

in which Autumn likes her twin brother's best friend, and maybe he likes her too...

[Warning- Angst (are we even surprised at this point?), Smut🤭, Making out, dry humping, thigh riding, handjob, asshole Harry as always, insecurities, depression]

Masterlist // Series Masterlist

*****

Schools have the most depressing hallways after hospitals. The bright walls and lines and lines of lockers with kids roaming around talking, pretending to be happy but inside everyone was dealing with some shit.

The bright lights and walls did nothing but give you headaches.

You walked down the hallway, your locker being the last one in the corner. At least your locker didn't look depressing. It had a bunch of marvel and Harry Potter stickers, giving you the typical image of "the nerd."

You took out the books for your class when you heard that distinct laugh. His laugh specifically. Peeking from the corner, you saw Harry with his friends except your brother standing in a group talking.

"What about Autumn?" You hear a boy ask. Your ears perk up hearing your name. You saw the boy smirk while Harry's face contorted into something borderline disgust.

"Ohh, she got nice ass." Another boy said who you didn't recognize. Your face mimicked Harry's and contorted into disgust. You wanted to puke your guts out.

"She's Asher's annoying little sister," Harry says before anyone can add anything to it, making your heart sink.

"I heard my name." Your brother sing songs walking towards the group.

"Eric was saying your sister has a nice ass." The first boy spoke, "You wanted to take her to the dance! You brought her up!" The second guy who you know now as Eric said.

Your brother's face changed colors so fast it would put chameleon to shame. He went from shocked to disgust to angry. Looking at his face, you could tell he was about to lurch onto both of them.

"Asher!" You walked towards the group of boys ignoring Harry. Asher's attention was brought to you, and he walked towards you but not without glaring at both boys and giving their shoulders intentional shove.

Asher wrapped his arm around your shoulder and started walking towards your class, "How many times I have told you to just text me, and I will come to you. I don't want you around them, and it's last time I'm telling you this, " Asher said sternly.

"Yeah Yeah, macho man always there to save me. They're not going to eat me alive" You said stopping in front of your class.

Asher turned and looked at you, his eyes hard, "Yes they will. Just do as I say, Autty. I will buy you ice cream on way back home." He sighed.

"I'm not a child." You rolled your eyes at him, "I want chocolate one, though." Asher laughed and walked towards his own class. Harry was behind him, walking towards the same class as yours. He gave Asher a wave and looked at you, and smiled.

You ignored him and walked inside.

*****

Turns out Harry is a very hard person to ignore, especially when you're consciously trying to ignore him.

It also doesn't help that he was sitting in the line of your vision. Every time you looked up towards the teacher, the back of his beautiful curly hair would be in your way.

The whole day went by like this. You never realized how many classes you two had together, mostly cause you were just happy that you got more time to stare at him, but it was torture.

It was English AP class, his seat was right next to you, and you wanted to die. He was far yet so close for you to smell his cologne, the musky earthy smell, like soil after rain.

He was green afterall.

You sat through the whole class like Edward in Twilight movie when he first smelled Bella. But the end was the worst.

"I'm passing out the assignments, and whoever is sitting beside will be your partner," Mrs. Willson said to the whole class. Everyone started mingling reading their respective assignments.

You looked at your other side where some blonde was sitting, but she had already mingled with someone else. Sighing, you turned to Harry on your other side. He was looking at you with monotone expression. You looked him in the eyes, and he sighed and stood up. "We will do this over the weekend," He said.

You thought he would leave after that, but he extended his hand toward you. You went stiff like a statue, looking up at him with wide eyes, then he took out a small piece of paper from your hair and left.

He will be the death of you.

*****

Research says lonely people take hot showers to replicate the warmth of the body they miss, and to some extent, you thought it was true considering the water you just took shower from fogged up the whole bathroom.

You went on with your usual routine, trying not to think about the day at school or that there is a mirror behind. The temptation to look was real, but you were not giving in. Not today.

You put on a tank top and loose shorts forgoing bra cause it was hot as Satan's ass and you just took a hot shower on top of that.

You walked outside calmly, taking your hair out of the towel. Just as you look up after removing the towel from your head, you see a figure sitting near your window and almost scream before they shush you.

They stood up and walked towards you, the moonlight hit his face and you saw Harry smirking cockily.

"What the fuck? What is this some kind of new prank you and Asher are pulling on me now?" You whisper yell at him cause it was late and quiet, and you didn't want to wake up your mum.

"Asher doesn't know I'm here." He shrugs and stands a step away from you. The moonlight was hitting his back, making his face glow in soft light, his hard features looking soft and playful. The green in his eyes was yet so visible in your darkened room that it knocked out all the breath in you.

Asher's annoying little sister

You took a small step back, keeping your guards up. "Then why are you here?" You turned around towards the shelf, holding all your creams and stuff. You took out body moisturizer and started putting it all over your hands, waiting for him to reply.

"We have project together," He said, making you laugh.

"And you think" You looked at the clock, "11 in the night is the right time to do it?" You turned around and raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"No, I just wanted to remind you," He said, moving closer. You took a step back, looking up at him in the eyes, your heart beating out of your chest, "You ignored me whole day." He spoke again with his eyes flicking between your then staying at your left one.

"Yeah well who cares?" you whispered, annoyed by his hot and cold behavior, "I'm just Asher's annoying little sister." You threw his own words back at him. For a second, he looked taken back, but it was gone in a moment and was replaced with a glint, like he was enjoying all of this.

He took a step towards you again, and you took a step back. Your back met the wal, and you breathed out a shaky breath. He was so close to you, the closest he has ever been. His chest was almost touching yours. You could feel his breath on your face and smell the same cologne that haunts you.

Harry brought his hand up to cup the left side of your face, and you melted in it like an ice. The warmth of his hand and the way it was almost swallowing your whole face made you whimper.

"You're annoying" He whispered, "Very fucking annoying" He dipped his head down so it was same level as you, "So fucking annoying you won't leave my head" He exhaled shakily like you.

You were looking him straight in the eye. The shock was drowned by the look of hunger in his eyes and the way your thighs were sticking together from your arousal.

You dared to remove your eyes from his face and look down on his lips. You looked back up quickly, feeling embarrassed, but you didn't have time to think cause soon his lips were on yours and you were trying to breathe properly.

His lips were soft, what started as a frantic mess of lips turned into soft, slow dance of tongues. His grip tightened on your jaw as the time went by while yours gripped his shoulders in need.

He pulled back, resting his head on your. Both of you were out of breath, panting with eyes closed. Harry opened his eyes first looking at you, and as soon as you opened your eyes too, his was picking you up and walking towards your bed. He sat at the edge of bed, and you, in his lap, you could feel the hardness near your thigh, which made you more needy than before.

You pushed your every thought and insecurities deep in and did what your heart (pussy) said.

His lips met yours again, much needier than before. You didn't even realize you were grinding on him before he let out a groan. You stopped for a second, realizing what you had done, so you did it again. The hard fabric of his jeans felt amazing over your covered clit.

Both of you were sweating and panting but not daring to break the kiss. Your head started feeling dizzy from the lack of oxygen and the shivers running up from the core.

His lips went south to my neck, and I titled it sideways to give him more excess. His hands were now on my hips, guiding me as I rolled them.

He stops abruptly and pulls back, looking at me with swollen parted lips wet with saliva. You could see his pupils blown black even in dark, and it made you shiver in excitement.

You looked down at him with the same expression, your bottom lip caught under your teeth in anticipation. There, he was sitting in your room on your bed with you on his lap, making out. You were making out with your childhood crush! It felt like a fever dream.

"Fuck" He curses, his hand sliding up from your hips to straps of your top. You freezed at that. Although the thought was very arousing, it was scary. You haven't been with anyone ever. Hell, you even had your first kiss with Harry when you kissed him out of nowhere the other day.

Harry caught onto your inner turmoil, and his face softened a bit. You tried to relax your muscles so you won't feel so exposed in front of him but you couldn't do anything.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked, his voice not going anywhere above a soft whisper. You gave him a nod, your fingers playing with his t-shirt's neck.

"Can we leave the top on?" You asked shyly. Here you were sitting in front of the coolest boy in the whole school feeling shy to take off your clothes. Maybe that was why you never told him he was your first everything but somehwere he knew.

He smiled and pulled you closer, "Jesus christ I thought I did something wrong" He shook his head and pecked your dip of throat, "Ofcourse we can" he said and went back to kissing your neck and collarbones. He didn't leave any marks knowing you had school and then your brother, but he couldn't stop himself from sucking particularly hard at the spot on the curve of your neck when you rolled your hips again.

He pulled back his lips after some time and feathered a few in front of your throat while you kept rolling your hips. He was going crazy and the clothing between was driving him mad. He gripped your hips to stop you, which made yoh whine, and he almost came in his pants.

"Get up for a sec, Autty." He panted out, seeming to never be able to catch his breath.

You scarmbled back with confused and scared expression, "Omg, did I do something wrong? Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry, Har I-" He cut you off by pulling you against his lips again.

"You talk a lot" He rolled his eyes with a small smile on his face. Harry, while keeping his eyes on you scooted and pulled down his sweatpants. Your eyes nearly bulged out of your sockets when you saw his toned thighs with a tiger tattooed on it. You knew he had tattoos after seeing him in tanktops and shirtless if you were lucky.

Now he was here on your bed only left in his boxers with a very noticeable buldge. Life is wild.

You licked your lips and looked up at Harry through your lashes. He had a cocky smirk on his face, obviously feeling flattered by your staring.

"C'mere" He motioned with his fingers, you took shy steps forward not really knowing what he had in mind but you couldn't complain about it. When you were close enough he hooked his fingers around the waistband of your shorts.

"Can I?" He asked. You bit down on your lips as your eyes flicked between his thighs and then towards yours. The room was dark, so there was no way he would be able to see you properly unless he fixates on it.

You gave him a nod and a breathy 'yes'. He pulled your shorts down along with your granny panties softly and threw them somewhere in the room. His fingers running up your leg caused goosebumps to arise, and you shuddered.

He pulled you down, so you were straddling him again, but then he shifted, so you were straddling only one of his thighs.

"Go on baby, move those hips, take what you want," he said near your ear. You moaned, hearing his crude words, his teeth biting your ear lope, then small nips down the side of your neck. You started rolling your hips again. The lack of clothing made the sensation ten times better.

"Fuck you're so wet" Harry graoned at the feeling of your slick wet centre against his thigh. His hand went from your arm to your lower back, pulling you more towards him. You kept rolling your hips the pressure against your clit feeling euphoric.

Your head fell on his collarbone, panting against his chest while he kept his lips on your neck or anywhere he could. You opened your eyes and saw the uncomfortable bludge in his pants. The snug boxers did nothing to hide the small wet mark that was growing.

You chewed on your lips, thinking if you should go for it or not. You didn't know what to do and how to do anything, but you had watched porn and read smut. It had to help somehow. How much bad it can be?

You pulled back a bit and looked at Harry. Sitting on his thigh made both of you at the same level. You kept your eyes on his when you slid your right hand from his shoulder downwards. Harry's eyes widened when he realized what you were doing, but he didn't stop you, so you kept going.

You felt unsure, and surely your inexperienced touch was showing that. You felt his abdomen twitch a bit on your touch. You always wanted to feel his abs all the workout and basketball practice he does shows on his body. You cupped your hand against his clothed cock and applied good pressure with heel of your palm.

Harry bit down on his lower lip to mute down the moan, leaving his lips. Your brother was just next door, and neither of you want to take any risk. You kept your hand there applying pressure from time to time.

"Fuck-" He breaths out, his hand holding your wrist and removing it from his crotch. You look at him confused until he picks you up with your thighs a bit and says, "Slide it down a bit, babe."

Your hands are immediately on his waist. You still feeling unsure pulled his pants down. His length bobbed up and slapped on his lower tummy. When the pants were down to his knees, he groaned and put you back down on his thigh harshly, causing you to whimper.

He brings back his lips to yours, and you start rolling your hips again. The warmth in your core increased as the time went by, and so did your breathy moans and whimpers. Harry took this opportunity and slid his tongue inside, tasting every corner of your mouth.

You in the moment of bravery took his cock in your hand and start moving up and down and now it was his turn to moan. You were still very scared of hurting him, so you kept your touch light, but apparently, it wasn't enough.

Harry pulled back and looked down to where you were getting off on his thigh, covering it in your arousal and then to where your hand was moving up and down on his dick. "Stop torturing me, babe," He whines, throwing his head back.

You look at him confused, not knowing what he was talking about. Were you taking too long to get off? were you not doing it properly? Did he not want it now? Before you could question yourself more, he looked back at you and put his hand around yours on his length, applying more pressure.

The moan he let out was the most pornographic one you have heard. Scared someone will hear him your hand flew to his mouth covering it but that only made him moan louder.

"Har, you're going to get us caught," you whisper yelled, your own orgasm was approaching quickly, and the way Harry was twitching in your hand indicated that maybe he was close too.

"Shit- Sorry" He said against your hand. You removed his when he calmed a bit. His eyes were heavy and droopy, and so were yours, you were sure.

"Go on baby, cum for me," Harry said against your ear sensually. He started leaving kisses down your neck again, moaning against them as his own orgasm overcame him. One more roll of your hip and warmth spread all throughout your body. Harry kissed your lips to swallow all your noises.

Your hand went limp on his length, but he didn't care. When he pulled back a bit and saw you still rolling your hips to prolonging your orgasm while your eyes were closed your head tilted all the way back and a warm glow on your face he came all over his tshirt without any assistance.

Harry's release covered your whole hand and ruined his shirt while you covered his thigh with yours. Your head fell on his chest while Harry fell back on your bed. Both of you didn't have the energy to do anything.

After some time, Harry looked down at you, hoping you didn't fall asleep on his chest covered in mess. You looked up with big tired eyes shining in moonlight.

"C'mon, let's get cleaned up," He said. You sat up and he tired on to think too much about how you were almost straddling his cock and how slick your core felt or how your tits were almost slipping out of your thin strapped top but it was too late. You gasped when you felt him harden against your inner thigh.

His face was flushed with embarrassment when you realized yours went too. You carefully got off from above him. Your legs were feeling wobbly, so you held the end of the bed frame to balance.

"God you will be the death of me" He groaned and you looked at him confused until you looked down and saw him half hard again and then you saw yourself and how he could fully see your boobs from the top.

You giggled feeling sudden confidence from having so much power over him by just being there. You always thought of your body negatively and treated it negatively but now seeing him like this gave you sense of confidence and power.

"Want to take a shower?" You suggested, and Harry didn't need to be told twice as he picked you up and led to the bathroom.

*****

Next part is also smut no need to thank me🫣

Taglist- @tenaciousperfectionunknown @that-daydream-look @harryspirate @tiaamberxx

Please Like, Comment and Reblog!

You can talk to me here♡ I love it when you guys talk to me about it. Requests are unfortunately closed :(

[syncrovoid-presents]

Wally and the Colour RED

Wally and the colour Red have an interesting relationship in Welcome Home. This is a rambling/analysis of different things I've found that makes me believe it's an important detail moving forwards with the Welcome Home Mystery!

First! Why do I think this matters?

There's a few reasons why I think this matters! First, while all the members of the cast seem to be tied to a colour, none is as focused or as consistent as Wally and the colour red! The two primary examples I'll use to cover this is one that we've had for a while, and two that we got in this update. Those being the signatures at the bottom of the guestbook, the interactable telephone, and the name graphics on the transcript page!

Interestingly, all of the cast are directly tied to a specific colour! The signatures at the bottom of the Guestpage and the colours of the "calls" on the telephone are the same for each character. This being pink for Julie, orange for Sally, yellow for Frank, green for Poppy, turquoise for Howdy, blue for Barnaby, purple for Eddie, and red for Wally. This is consistent (and possibly something to pay attention for in the future?)

Notably however, Home is signed by Wally, while the audio file for Wally's "call" recording is also called "duet" when you open it in another tab. Audio files with "duet" is a sign that Home is present. This means that red is not strictly a Wally colour, but also the colour for Home!

(if you're curious, the other audio called "duet" is Wally's little song he sings)

This is interesting, because Wally and Home are often treated as a duo, moreso than any other characters of Welcome Home. I would also like to point out another detail, one that I think ties into this tie between Wally, Home and the colour red.

The Records

All the records from Wally's hidden message ("I will help you understand neighbor, I will find a way soon.") are red! Sure, some are glitched, but they are all red. As is this record with the strange audio (has anyone decoded this yet?). This audio is directly tied to Wally, as it's called "(DRAWING?) WITH WALLY DARLING".

However the hidden one's may not just be Wally. Though they are all name the tab "answer" when opened, I'm tempted to say that "answer" is wally prompting us to answer (or, alternatively, Wally is trying to answer us, however he perceives us).

I believe that Home is there too in the audio. If you listen to all of them in a row, turning up the audio will reveal that there is a heart beat in the background. This, I want to say, is Home and not Wally, as Wally does not seem to register them. It peaks about halfway through with Neighbor, coincidentally the audio that is both glitching and is made of a series of clicks rather than voice lines.

I have seen people say that this is "Help Me" or "Hello" in morse code. I do not know which is the agreed translation is (to me it sounds like "…. . ..-.. .. -.. ---", which translates to "HEĘIDO", which is not a word. However it most resembles "…. . .-.. .-.. ---" which translates to "HELLO")

Regardless of what Home may be saying, it shows that the hidden recordings can be put together into a timeline that sounds like one recording, which means it's most likely all recorded at the same place. Ergo, Home is in the hidden recordings as well!

Other spots where red is brought up

There are other instances of red being tied to Wally. Some are obvious, like his love of apples (red ones specifically), the Wally prints/finger paint on the bottom of the guestbook, the background of the "i <3 Wally" gif/sticker in the sticker section of the site (also shared with Home. Wally's character description is also shared by home!), Wally himself in the "so-below" page, among other things. Such as the Wally themed telephone being red, despite his more iconic blue swirled hair (or blue and yellow-trimed sweater), his clothing in multiple official artworks, the Wally cereal box, and more.

(Like something I've noticed, which is that Home is the only house that's a solid colour (red!) without any pattern breaking it up, plus the most "standout" red that Wally typically wears being tied around his neck (symbolism?). Plus the "W" of Welcome Home is red! That's fun too!

There's also some... stranger ones. Such as this hidden piece of morse code found by this person, which spells out ".. -- .-. . -..", or "IM RED" when translated to english.

And more hidden ones too, that tie into the hidden staff page (I have a post breaking that down that you can find here!! I cover everything I could find plus went through the website code, if you want to know everything about the secret staff site check it out!)

There is the red safe, which has in WHRP universe lore!! I delve into this in my other post, just know that it is something that exists both in the secret website (it is what introduces you to the hidden website!) AND it exists in the WHRP world, both written about in printed emails and as a physical object seen within The Room:tm:. You may also notice everyone is represented by their original colours, except for home, who is now white (or blank?).

There's also scrap pieces of red paper spilled on the ground in The Room:tm: (that have drawn spirals), a red clock in the style of Wally's red car, a red painting of some sort on the wall of The Room:tm: (that we never get a good look at, though it may have a drawn yellow eye in the upper center), a red apple, and most importantly of all, this:

The Red Notebook

This is no ordinary notebook. This here is the notebook that the WHRP team have "loaned" the Question Answerer, also known as the Head Curator of Question Answer! according to the printed emails. This book is very important because there are multiple signs that it was written by Wally. Inside is a sketchpad attached to the lefthand interior bookcase with little paintings and a handprint suspiciously similar to that on the bottom of the GuestBook page and doodles in the styles Wally has used (spirals, finger paint smiley face, the drawn apple, etc).

(by the way, if you're interested in what the note says the most accurate translation I've found is by Tumblr user truckfreaks

"Hello,

My name doesn't matter. I am here to catalogue something I'm not sure is fully real. But it must be. I'm holding all the evidence in my hands. Pictures. Characters. Text I can barely read. It's called "Welcome Home" and it looks like it might've been a children's book? Like I said, I can't tell.

It was sopping wet when I found it. When I first reached into one of the brightly colored envelopes, my hand was already covered in some gross, [unknown - possibly “oozing”] material. It feels like antiques are always covered in some kind of grime. I'm trying to clean up what I have and do a little more digging.

There's only one name I can make out right now... Wally. Probably important, but like I said, I'll keep looking.

XOXO"

The wrap up (don't want to make this too long!)

Regardless of what you make of this, it shows that there is even more proof of Wally, not just the character but the Wally ""haunting"" the website and the Wally within the WHRP universe, all being tied to the colour red. (Quick clarification: The Wally we see in branding, clips of the show, etc are all Wally, however he isn't current Wally. He is the Wally of the past, the original Wally, the base Wallly, whatever you want to call him. Therefore I separate him from the "now" Wally. It's unconfirmed whether the Wally that's seemingly trying to communicate with us through the website is the same as the Wally that seems to be related to all the objects being sent to Question Answerer, who is the same Wally that is constantly calling them. If so, then there is only one "now" Wally. If they are separate, then there are two, possibly one in the website itself and one focusing on Question Answerer. Please note, this is all speculation).

While it's true that red is Wally's favourite colour, I believe that it's far more than just that tying Wally and the color red together. Going forwards, anything red that isn't immediately branded as a Wally related object should be considered important, at least I think so.

As for the connection between Wally and Home, both sharing the colour Red? I think this primarily is a display of how the two characters either rely on each other or are, in the vaguest of ways, tied together by fate.

Good bye for now!

[rhoorl]

Delta Landscaping | Chapter 13: Pike's Place

Series Summary: In this AU, the boys of Delta Force start a new business post-Colombia. 

Series Masterlist | Chapter 13 A03 Link

Word Count: 6.6k

Previously on As the Mule Falls: The Miller brothers had a heart-to-heart. Tio Frankie left Dallas and made his way back to Tampa by way of Atlanta (and met someone on his flight). The Neighborhood Watch descended upon a skating rink for some Star Wars-themed birthday fun. Frankie had to leave a little early for…reasons. 

In this Episode: Benny gets an earful from Cousin Joel. There’s a full house at the gym to help train Benny. The neighbors set up another party - cue a Neighborhood Watch group chat. The Pikes close on their house and move in. Obligatory corgi scene. Benny gets a bit flustered as we meet someone new.

Chapter Warnings: Marcus Pike comes with his own warnings - we get domestic!Marcus, dad!Marcus, wingman!Marcus, supportive brother-in-law!Marcus. (Can you tell I have a soft spot for him). Cousin Joel makes a cameo. A little flustered and shy Benny along with a distracted Fish. David being David. A few Spanish phrases are scattered throughout. While I try and keep all of the OCs somewhat neutral regarding physical descriptions (I’m still learning, so I’m not always good at this!), a new OFC will be described more specifically (especially in episodes to come). Two characters have V names. Marcus’ wife’s name is Victoria. Her sister’s name is Vanessa.

*Cue the theme music and roll opening credits*

Sunday

Will had just poured himself a cup of coffee when he heard a soft knock at the door. He wasn’t expecting anyone over so early. Benny was still sleeping and it was too early for Santiago and Frankie to show up. He thought maybe it was Lucille stopping by with some treats, so he padded over to the front door, pulling a T-shirt over his head on the way.

When he opened the door, he saw Olivia with Diana balancing on her hip as she held a couple of gift bags in her hand.

“Hi Will, sorry I didn’t interrupt anything did I?” She smiled, trying to be discreet as she looked past Will and into the house.

Will cleared his throat, “Ah, no…just me. Hey there, princess,” he brought his thumb up to rub Diana’s cheek, eliciting a little giggle from the toddler. 

“Oh ok. Sorry, I don’t mean to disturb you. I kind of forget that other people aren’t up at like 5 in the morning every day like me,” she laughed softly. “Um, anyway, I meant to give you boys these,” she handed the bags to Will. 

“You didn’t have to get us anything, Liv. Thank you,” Will smiled as he looked through the bag of Star Wars-themed party favors, including some Lego mini-figures, stickers, and candy.

“You’re welcome. Don’t tell David, but I snuck a little something extra into your bag,” she winked.

He tilted his head to the side and peeked back into the bag, pulling out a couple of Polaroids. One was a candid of the four guys, laughing and having a good time. A small smile came over Will’s face; it had been so long since the guys all looked so carefree. The second photo was of Will with his arm around Katie’s shoulder. He looked at her as she threw her head back in laughter at Benny who was mid-story.

“Thanks, Liv, this was nice of you to bring over.” He murmured as he looked at the photos, his eyes crinkling as his smile grew wider.

Olivia regarded him for a moment, wanting to say more but also didn’t want to pry. “Well, I’ll leave you. I have to go deliver a few more of these. Got any fun plans for today?”

“Nah, just hanging out probably. I don’t know how you do it, Liv. I’m worn out from yesterday. You’re a superhero,” he laughed.

“I have my days, don’t let the cuteness fool you,” she motioned down to Diana, who played with her pacifier. “Say hi to the boys for me.”

“You girls have fun delivering your goodie bags,” he winked at Diana.

As he walked back to the kitchen to microwave his now lukewarm coffee, he plopped the gift bags on the counter. He pulled out the two Polaroids, looking at them before grabbing a couple of magnets and placing them on the refrigerator. 

Monday

“What do you mean you signed up for a fight?” Joel demanded, the tension in his voice palpable.

Benny winced, pulling the phone away from his ear before putting it back, “I…I just kind of did it on a whim,” he said weakly like a little kid being scolded. “Besides, it’s too late to get out of it now since we’re only a few weeks away.”

He paced around his kitchen, chewing his thumb as Joel continued to lay into him for making such a rash decision. After a while, Joel calmed down.

“Bean,” Joel sighed, “I wish you wouldn’t do this shit anymore, man.”

“Yeah. Sorry, I was just…mad and I wasn’t thinking and one thing led to another and I called Herb and here we are.”

Joel paused for a moment. “When’s the fight?”

“Middle of next month.”

“The actual date Bean, when is it?” Joel asked tersely. 

“Um…I think…hold on lemme go to the calendar, Will wrote it down,” Benny trailed off as he walked toward the refrigerator and flipped the calendar to the following month. “Why?”

“If I can swing it I’ll come.”

Benny stopped, a big smile coming across his face. “Wait, really? Y-You don’t have to do that man.”

“I’m not making any promises, we got a shit ton of deadlines and I’m waitin' on these goddamn permits to go through.” Joel pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Oh ok, sure…no, I get it.” Benny replied flatly, he didn’t want to get too excited about the prospect of Joel visiting. He couldn’t remember the last time Joel went on a vacation so he was tempering his expectations. 

Benny proceeded to throw out a bunch of dates, explaining his training schedule and what his plan was before Joel cut him off.

“Hey Bean - look I gotta go, I just got to the site. Send me a picture of the calendar so I can see all the shit you just spouted off. I’m not gonna remember everything you just said.”

“Yeah, you got it. Hold on…ok sending it right now. Hey J, no pressure or anything man, I know you have Sarah, but I’d really like it if you came.”

“I know Bean, I’ll try. Talk to you later, bud.” 

Joel hung up the phone as a text message came through. He opened the photo and zoomed in, cursing the fact that part of him knew he needed to get glasses. Rather than look at the calendar, his eyes were drawn to a photo stuck to a magnet on the refrigerator. Pinching the photo to further inspect it, the shadow of a smile came across his face.

“Where’s Fish, I thought he was supposed to meet us here,” Will looked over at Santiago as he, Benny, and Connor got out of Will's Jeep and walked up to the gym. 

Santiago shook his head and shrugged. “He’ll be here.”

“I thought he was usually done with his meetings by now, that’s why we picked this time. He’s good, right?” Will furrowed his brows.

“Yeah, isn’t it coming up on a year?” Benny followed up.

“Oh shit, you’re right,” Santiago brought his palm to his forehead. “Fuck…yeah it’s next week, we’ll have to figure out something to do for him. But no he’s all good. I promise I heard from him yesterday, briefly. Turns out that girl he met doesn’t live here. She was here for the weekend and flying back this morning.”

“So he’s going to be in a real great mood then huh,” Benny scoffed as he adjusted the strap of his gym bag on his shoulder. 

“Don’t worry about him, he’ll be fine. He knows you need him. Plus, this will be a good distraction because otherwise, he’ll be in a pissy mood,” Will reassured his brother.

“Yeah and none of us want to be around a pissy Fish,” Santiago smirked. “You ready to go bud?” Santiago looked over to Connor, grabbing his shoulder.

“Yeah, happy to help however I can.”

David: Goooood morning! Anyone down for a 4th of July pool party tomorrow?

Megan: You offering? Have you asked Ty already?

Ty: Yes. All good. Figured we could do something kind of small. 

David: And we HAVE to invite the guys. It’s a pool party after all. Need to see some wet Frankie hair again 🫠

Olivia: 😂

Katie: OMG David. 

David: Oh come on, like you’re one to talk. Will in trunks isn’t too bad either. Hell, all of them. Alexa: Add one of each to my cart.

Ty: After the twins’ party I think I’m now Team Santiago 😉

Melissa: I can bring food, just tell me what I should plan for.

David: Damn ok. Wasn’t quite ready for logistics yet…I was still thirsty buuuuut anyway. I’ll shoot you guys over my thoughts later. I need to sit with my mood board for a bit.

Megan: It’s a Fourth of July party - isn’t that enough of a mood?

Ty: you know who you’re talking to right? 🙄

Lucille: Count on me to make whatever you want.

David: Love you Lulu ♥️ Katie - you’re in charge of texting Will so he can tell the guys.

Olivia: Why don’t we just add them to the group chat?

David: ARE YOU CRAZY?! This is my safe space.

Marcus was beaming as he bounced Mariella on his lap and watched Victoria sign the last in the giant stack of papers. 

“Well, Victoria….Marcus, congratulations, you’re the proud owners of 306 Mule Fall Court,” Ethan smiled as he got up and shook hands with the couple, giving Nicolas a high five. “

Once Ethan handed over the keys, the family posed for a quick photo for his Instagram and then made their way to their SUV. Marcus unlocked the doors as Nicolas hopped in, grabbing his tablet so he could go back to playing his game. Meanwhile, Victoria worked on buckling Mariella into her car seat. She handed the toddler her milk bottle and closed the door, surprised Marcus was right behind her.

“Baby, you can’t sneak up on me like that,” she smiled as Marcus cupped her cheek and leaned in for a kiss.

“Congratulations Mrs. Pike, you finally have your dream house,” he smiled against her lips, his thumb rubbing her cheek. 

“Hmm..well, Special Agent Pike,” she wrapped her arms around Marcus’ neck. “Our first night in the house is going to be a little bit different than our first place, huh?” She winked. 

Marcus chuckled, reminiscing about their first apartment together and the rather eventful night they had christening their first shared space. “Vanessa can’t get here soon enough so she can watch the kids, I need to take you out on a date. Speaking of, when is she getting in?”

“She texted she’s only a few hours away. Hey tomorrow, I figured we could maybe do a barbecue or something since we won’t have much of the kitchen stuff unpacked.” The corners of her mouth curled up as Marcus rolled his eyes and shook his head. 

“I guess that means getting the barbecue set up is among my first orders of business today then, huh?”

“Yes, and our bed,” she winked and then froze as she realized where she was. “The kids…fuck…the kids…it’s so hot Marcus, get in and blast the AC,” she abruptly turned around and opened the door as Marcus ran to the other side of the SUV to turn it on.

Katie was walking back to her office with her second coffee of the day. She figured now was as good a time as any to text Will and see if he and the guys wanted to go to David and Ty’s party. 

Katie: Hey! You boys have plans for the 4th?

Will: No, not really.

Katie: No?! Figured it was a big day for you all.

Will: It’s a complicated day.

Katie furrowed her brows at Will’s responses. He was normally curt, but he seemed especially abrupt.

Katie: Oh ok. Well, David is having people over and you guys were my responsibility on the phone tree to invite.

Will: Nice, ok yeah. I’ll check with the guys in a bit and get back to you? We’re at the gym.

She breathed a bit of a sigh of relief but chastised herself for not stopping to think that he may actually be busy.

Katie: Yeah sounds good.

Will: Get back to work Kat 😉

Frankie rolled into the gym about an hour late, having missed all of the cardio and weights.

“There he is!” Santiago clapped his hands as Frankie walked towards the ring. He came in for handshakes and hugs with all of the guys, including Connor.

“You good Fish?” Benny cocked his head to the side, taking in how Frankie’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Frankie cleared his throat, pulling his hat off and running his hair through his curls. “Yeah man, I’m good. Are you?”

“He’s better now that you’re here, Fish,” Will clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Now the fun begins!”

“Yeah, let’s do it,” Frankie went to put on some sparring gloves, not seeing the looks all of the guys exchanged. They were all walking a bit on eggshells trying to gauge Frankie’s mood. 

It turned out that sparring with Benny was exactly what Frankie needed; he was able to get out some of his frustration while giving Benny a worthy opponent. 

“C’mon Ben, you have to try and dodge me. The guy is going to be walking all over you if you don’t pick up your feet,” Frankie panted as he ducked around Benny’s punches. 

“Atta boy Benny, show that old man what’s up!” Santiago yelled with a cupped hand around his mouth.

“Fuck off Pope, I want to see your ass in here,” Frankie muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Can’t, doctor’s orders,” he called back, looking over to Connor with a wink. “Couple of neck surgeries and shit knees,” he tilted his head forward, showing off his scar.

“Aka he’s old,” Will smirked as Connor stifled a snort. 

Meanwhile, Benny locked in a decent combination, pinning Frankie to the ropes as he tapped out. 

“Good, Ben. Wanna take a break?” Franke huffed. 

Benny nodded and he and Frankie took off their gloves, sitting on the side of the ring as the other guys brought them water.

“Oh, since we’re all here,” Will started, “Katie said there was some Fourth of July party tomorrow. We’re all invited.”

Benny, Frankie, and Santiago looked between each other and then back to Will.

“D-do you guys not celebrate the Fourth?” Connor asked.

“It’s…” Benny started.

“Complicated,” Santiago finished as Frankie pointed towards him in agreement.

“Oh, so you guys don’t want like … a lot of attention or whatever?” Connor looked between the four men. “If it makes you feel any better, it’s really more of a pool party than anything else. Ever since that one year, Ty won’t let David shoot off fireworks,” he chuckled to himself.

“Are there…uh…other people who set off fireworks in the neighborhood?” Will crossed his arms in front of him as Benny side-eyed him.

‘Uh, yeah. I think Aria’s neighbors are the ones who do it now…but they live a few streets over.”

“But it’s still probably loud huh?” Frankie mirrored Will’s body language as he looked over at his friend.

Connor straightened up, sensing the tension coming off from the guys, especially Will. He was unsure what to say, not wanting to upset them.

“Ironhead isn’t one for loud noises, hell, none of us are any more,” Santiago spoke up, seeing Connor slightly relax.

“Oh, I hear ya. Ms. Olivia always gets mad because the twins get woken up….I dunno my mom and her always end up talking about it and reading what people are saying on Facebook,” he laughed. “I can ask Mom if she knows if anyone’s going to do fireworks. That way you guys know?” 

“That’s nice of you man,” Benny brought the boy in for a half hug. “We may decide to leave a little early but I think we’re all down for a pool party aren’t we boys?” He looked around and saw them all reluctantly nod. “Well that settles it,” he smiled.

“Alright Ben, let’s get back to it, you’re not done,” Frankie slapped Benny across the chest and then motioned toward the weights.

As Benny, Will and Connor made their way over, Santiago quietly pulled Frankie to the side. “Everything good hermano?” 

“I’m ok,” Frankie muttered as he took the tape off his hands. 

“You gonna see your girl again? Or was it just a weekend thing?” He brief smirk quickly replaced by a look of concern. “Sorry, Fish.”

Frankie sighed, “All good man. I’m going to see her again…at least I hope I can see her again. We uh…didn’t really talk a lot about it,” he let out a soft chuckle, rustling with the back of his hair where it poked out from his cap.

“Ah mano, I’m sure you didn’t,” Santiago winked, eliciting a reluctant smile from Frankie. “You don’t have to tell me all about it now. But seriously, how long’s it been? I figured after finally getting some you’d be less of a dick.” He dodged a playful punch from Frankie, who got him into a headlock.

“Nico, can you help me with that box?” Marcus pointed to the trunk of his SUV as his son eagerly nodded.

“Dada, I big helper too,” Mariella waddled over making grabby hands up at Marcus’ knees for him to pick her up.

“Ah muñeca, yes, you are a big helper too, here,” he handed the little girl an empty plastic bag which she happily took as she trotted up the driveway to her mother.

“Mama I’m a big helper!”

“Wow! Look at that!” Victoria smiled as the family worked on emptying the SUV with their first round of belongings. “Babe, when’s the moving truck getting here?”

“Should be any minute now,” Marcus checked his phone.

“Doggie!!” Mariella yelled as she started running down the driveway, with Nico on her heels.

“Hey, hey, be careful,” Marcus chased after them, scooping his daughter up and redirecting Nico away from the sidewalk as a woman and her corgi approached. “Sorry about that! They both love animals,” he called over.

“Oh, it’s ok! He’s friendly if they want to say hi,” she smiled, motioning down to her dog. 

Marcus walked down the driveway with Mariella on his hip and Nico holding his hand.

“This is Bucky, say hi Bucky,” she looked down at the dog who excitedly looked between all of the new people. “I’m Megan by the way….I live a few doors down, the one with the basketball hoop,” she motioned over her shoulder.

“I’m Marcus,” he reached out to shake her hand. “This is Mariella and Nico…my wife Victoria,” he nodded behind him as Victoria made her way down the driveway.

“Hi! Are you one of our neighbors?” Victoria asked with a warm smile. 

“Yeah, I’m kind of the unofficial welcome wagon,” Megan chuckled as Bucky looked up at her and whined. “You too buddy, you’re part of the committee too,” she winked at the couple. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt you all if you’re moving in. I’m sure you have your hands full.”

“Oh it’s ok, we’re waiting on the moving truck, and then my sister,” Victoria said as she reached down to pet Bucky, who rolled over on his back as the kids giggled.

“He hates attention as you can tell,” Megan laughed. “Hey, I know it’s probably a lot and you may already have plans, but we’re having a Fourth of July barbecue tomorrow if you all want to come. All the neighbors will be there. We just had some guys move in a few weeks ago, they’ll love to no longer be the new kids on the block,” she winked.

“That’s so nice of you, thank you,” Victoria smiled. 

“Yeah, here let me get your number,” Megan pulled out her phone and handed it to Victoria who eagerly entered her contact information.

“Hey, I'm thinking we can get started on Melissa and Danny's backyard the day after tomorrow. I wanted to swing by Home Depot, get a few things, and drop it off so we can just get started right away on Wednesday. Anyone wanna come with?” Santiago asked the group as they were walking out. Frankie was busy checking his phone and not paying attention.

“I, uh, I should get home. I told Lulu I'd help her with some stuff … I'm getting lunch out of it,” Connor chuckled.

“Damn, don't go eating all of the empanadas, she said she'd save some for me. And she probably made something special for you now that you’re back, Fish,” Benny laughed, his face scrunching up when Frankie ignored him. “Fish?”

Frankie looked up from his phone, “Hmm? Oh … ah yeah…sure,” he gave a tight smile.

Will furrowed his brows, looking away from Frankie and focusing his attention on Connor. “How about I drive you home and these three can head to Home Depot? It'll be easier probably with your truck Fish.”

“Hmm, sure yeah that's fine.” Frankie’s lips twitched as he checked his phone again.

“Okay,” Santiago cut in, trying to cover for the fact that Frankie was clearly distracted and had his mind elsewhere. “That settles it, see you back at the house Will.”

“Babe, I think Santi and the boys are going to drop off some stuff … you going to be around?” Melissa walked into the living room, putting on her earrings as Danny played a video game.

“Uh ok, cool,” he paused the game. “You not gonna be here?”

“No, I…uh…I have to go grocery shopping for tomorrow. I told David I’d bring something.”

“Ooo nice, what did you decide on?”

“Ah, I don’t know yet. I figured I’d go to the store and see what speaks to me.” 

“Any instructions I need to know for the guys?”

“Nope, they should be outta here before you know it,” she walked over to the kitchen counter to grab her crossbody and keys. “I’ll be back, love you!” 

“Ok. Hold tight, let me go check and see where she wants the stuff,” Santiago instructed as he jumped out of Frankie’s truck and bounded up the driveway.

“Looks like the neighbors are finally moving in,” Benny observed, looking at the passenger side window.

He recognized the family from the other day. The husband held onto a little girl while a little boy played with a plastic golf club set. He spotted the wife coming out of the house with one of the movers. 

“Yeah, that moved pretty fast, huh?” Frankie responded absentmindedly as he tapped on his phone.

“Fish, look, I don’t wanna pry or anything….but is everything ok? I've never seen you on your phone this much and it’s kinda weirding me out,” he laughed.

Frankie put his phone in his lap and took a deep breath. “I ah…I kinda met somebody,” Frankie looked up sheepishly.

“Well, that’s obvious Fish,” Benny smirked.

“It’s moving kinda fast,” Frankie twirled the curls sticking out of the back of his hat.

“It’s ok, fast can be good…well…not in some cases, but you know what I mean,” Benny snorted as Frankie groaned.

Santiago tapped on the passenger side window, motioning to Benny to roll it down. “We just missed Melissa apparently, but Danny’s gonna open the gate to the backyard and we can just set everything back out by the shed. We’ll figure it out later.” 

“Sweet. Let’s get to work, I wanna get home and take a shower” Benny clapped his hands, getting out of the car and waving to Danny. “Hey, man!”

“What’s going on guys? Lemme go open the gate real quick and I can come help!” Danny held up a key as he walked to the side of the house.

“All good man, take your time,” Santiago shouted back as he unlocked the bed of Frankie’s truck.

The guys started unloading a few things and followed Danny into the backyard, missing the arrival of another black SUV at 306 Mulefall Court.

“Tia Nessa!! Papa! Tia Nessa is here!” Nicolas’ face lit up as he saw his Tia Vanessa park and get out of her car. She placed her sunglasses on her head and opened her arms up for a hug.

“Oye mi corazón!” Vanessa knelt on the ground, bringing her nephew in for a tight hug. “Ah, I missed you. Everything going ok? You helping your mama y papa?”

“Si, Tia Nessa, I’m helping,” he smiled back, “I’m really strong…look,” he flexed.

“Ay dios mio, wow!” She laughed before turning her attention to her little niece. “Oh! Look at you walking mi chiquitita!” she clapped her hands as Mariella made her way over. She picked the little girl up and twirled her around.

���Hey Vandy,” Marcus greeted her with a warm smile followed by a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Thanks, Buck, happy to be here,” she smiled, rubbing his arm with a tight smile. Even before he was “officially” her brother by marriage, Vanessa always had a soft spot for Marcus, the two sharing a sweet, unspoken bond. 

“I like your hair…in the light it looks…purple?” He reached towards the end of the hair sticking out of her claw clip.

“Thanks, had a bit of a crisis so I dyed it,” she chuckled. “Look at yours! I don’t think I’ve seen your hair this long in a while! And with this scruff?! Vic must be losing her mind,” she winked.

“Ha,” a slight flush washed over his face as he cleared his throat. “I’m gonna need you to take care of this before I go back to work on Wednesday,” he said as his hand ruffled through his curls.

“Please don’t cut it too short,” Victoria walked up with a pout before embracing her little sister with a tight hug and a huge smile plastered across her face.

“We won’t go as short as normal, right Buck?” Vanessa winked. “Just shape it up a bit.”

“Ah, I am so excited you’re here!” Victoria squeaked. She was about to bombard her sister with questions about the drive and what she packed, but she got distracted by some movement in the yard next door. “Oh, hi!” She waved at the group of men making their way towards a green pickup truck in the neighbor’s driveway.

Vanessa followed her sister’s gaze, checking out the group. She took a particular interest in the taller man in the bunch. He had a black backward baseball cap on and a T-shirt that fit snugly around his biceps. Their eyes locked briefly and she sucked in a breath as he gave her a lopsided smile. She then noticed his soft, kind eyes that were the prettiest shade of blue. She heard one of the other guys exchanging pleasantries with Marcus, who had walked over to greet the group.

“Damn, I didn’t realize the landscapers were gonna be so hot,” Vanessa whispered to her sister with a smirk. “You have any projects planned?”

“They aren’t landscapers,” Victoria laughed and pulled her sister close as she gave her the rundown of the men. “And the one in the black hat? That’s Benny. He lives a few houses down with his brother...who I don't see.” She side-eyed her sister, who was absentmindedly biting her lower lip as she watched Benny and the rest of the guys chat with Marcus. “Want me to go introduce you?” she waggled her eyebrows, playfully bumping Vanessa in the shoulder.

“No, Vic. Don’t make it weird,” she turned to face her sister. “We have unpacking to do and I am desperate for you to show me around this beautiful house!” 

“I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to help you unpack a box or two,” Victoria smirked.

Vanessa rolled her eyes and knelt to get to eye level with her nephew, “Nico, you wanna help me get some stuff out of my car and then show me your room?”

“Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” Nicolas jumped up and down, running over to Vanessa’s SUV as Marcus walked back over to his lawn.

“That must be the sister,” Santiago motioned over with his eyes as the guys grabbed another load from the back of the truck. 

Frankie noticed Benny try and steal glances behind him. “She’s pretty,” Frankie commented, looking Benny up and down trying to gauge a reaction. 

Benny nodded and cleared his throat before hopping up onto the bed of the truck to continue unloading. His eyes looked past Frankie, finding hers once again from a distance. It had been so long since he’d approached a woman and he felt uncharacteristically nervous. He shook his head to collect himself before jumping down from Frankie’s truck to help Santiago carry a bag of soil.

As they walked up the driveway, his eyes quickly cut over just in time to see her leaning into the backseat of her SUV to grab something. She was wearing workout pants and an oversized T-shirt and her hair was casually up in a clip. Benny’s eyes trailed down her body, lingering for a moment on her ass as she bent down. He felt his pulse quicken a little bit, a thrill he hadn’t experienced in a while.

“You into girls with dark hair now?” Santiago chimed in, pulling Benny’s attention.

“What?” Benny cleared his throat, his brows furrowed as he regarded a smug Santiago.

“Just an observation. She’s not your usual type.” He used his lips to point back towards the driveway next door. 

“What? I…uh…” Benny tried to play it off with a laugh, but Santiago exchanged a knowing look with Frankie.

“Psst, ven aquí,” Victoria whispered to her sister as her husband and son went upstairs to drop off some of the bags from Vanessa’s car. 

“What’s up?” 

“He’s hot, right?” Victoria asked with a smirk.

Vanessa furrowed her brows, “who?”

“Benny, silly. C’mon, you have to admit he’s like super hot, right?” 

“I didn’t realize you were looking, hermana. I figured out of all of them you’d be most interested in the curly-haired one in the hat who kinda looks like Marcus ow-!” Vanessa laughed as her sister playfully slapped her arm. 

“You know what I meant tonta.”

“Don’t give me that look,” Vanessa narrowed her eyes.

“I’m not giving you a look. I’m just surprised. He’s not your usual type is all.”

“Who’s not who’s type?” Marcus asked as he came around the corner.

“Nothing. It’s nothing. C’mon, there’s still a bunch of stuff in the trunk,” Vanessa turned on her heels as Marcus winked at his wife.

“Meddling already and I just got here,” Vanessa muttered to herself as she walked back outside to her car, stepping over some of the toys scattered on the front lawn. When she reached her car, she took a deep breath and collected herself as she waited for her trunk to open.

Moving in with her sister and brother-in-law wasn’t something she had on her mid-30s bingo card, but here she was. She was grateful to them for their generosity, even though it still made her feel inadequate and a bit like a charity case. For the past six months, she felt like she was floundering and was hopeful a change of scenery could give her the reset she so desperately wanted.

She stacked a couple of boxes, struggling a bit to carry them but she was determined to not drop them – especially since she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of the guys next door. Her mind was elsewhere as she walked up the driveway, cutting up into the lawn as her foot caught something. Then, everything felt like it was happening in slow motion.

“You gonna keep staring or are you gonna go and say hi?” Santiago peered over to Benny as he watched the woman walk back to her car. “She’s clearly going to be a neighbor, welcome her to the neighborhood,” he waggled his eyebrows as Benny shook his head and averted his eyes.

“Nervous to go talk to a girl? This is unlike you Benjamin,” Frankie smirked as Santiago snorted.

“Ha ha very funny,” Benny rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath and looking as she struggled with a couple of boxes she had stacked on top of each other.

His hands twitched, wanting to run over there and help her, but he also didn’t want to offend. Thanks to his ex, he second-guessed everything. Benny’s eyes again raked down her body as she walked with the boxes stacked high; he smiled to himself to see her determination. And then, it felt like everything stopped and happened in slow motion. 

She didn’t notice the golf club lying haphazardly in her path. Her shoe caught it and Benny instinctively took off in her direction, knowing he was too far to do anything. She stumbled, unable to recover her footing, and fell forward as the boxes tumbled, scattering their contents onto the lawn. 

“Vandy!” Marcus shouted as he ran out the front door. 

“Fuck,” she muttered to herself as she got to her hands and knees, hoping that no one else saw her fall. Then she heard a couple of heavy footsteps running up the driveway.

“Are you ok?” She heard an unfamiliar deep voice, noticing the Southern drawl.

She turned her head to see the man with the black cap towering over her. His eyebrows were knitted with concern as he bent down, offering his hand so she could stand up.

“Uh, y-yeah,” she gave a weak smile, mesmerized that his eyes were even more beautiful up close than they were from a distance. When he smiled at her, she felt her knees go weak, it was a miracle she was able to stand. “I…um…I’m usually not so clumsy,” she laughed nervously pausing when she looked down to see he was still holding her hand.

“Vandy, are you alright?” Marcus ran up in a huff and brought his hands to her shoulders to steady her. 

Benny dropped her hand and ran it down his mouth and across his jaw, finally resting it on his neck as he watched.

“Yeah, I’m ok, just startled me more than anything,” she reassured her brother-in-law. 

“Sorry, Nico had stuff everywhere, I should have had him put it all away…”

“Buck, it’s ok. I’m ok,” she smiled.

“Here, let me help y’all pick this stuff up,” Benny cut in, realizing he was just awkwardly standing there. He bent down to start collecting the items which consisted of a lot of knick knacks. 

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Vanessa crouched down, embarrassed that the man is getting to see her Funko pop collection scattered across the lawn. But he was working so quickly to help that it brought a smile to her face.

Marcus observed this encounter with a smirk. It had been so long since he’d seen her smile like that and he was amused, even though he knew Victoria would chastise him for gawking. 

“Here, I can take this in for you,” Benny smiled as he picked up one of the newly repacked boxes

“Uh, t-thank you…”

“Benny. I’m Benny,” he smiled and Vanessa felt the butterflies erupting in her stomach.

“Vanessa.” Her eyes locked on his and she thought she saw the faintest blush coming across his face.

“Benny lives down the street Vandy, with his brother Will,” Marcus chimed in.

“Oh, nice,” she smiled tightly, hoping that Marcus wouldn’t make it awkward but she saw that glimmer in his eye. Bless him, he tried over the years to set her up with friends but it never quite worked out.

Benny cleared his throat, “Yeah, we’re just down that way,” he motioned down the street with his chin. 

Benny and Vanessa stayed looking at each other like time stood still. Neither was sure when they last took a breath.

Marcus, meanwhile, happily played the bystander watching the back and forth like it was a tennis match. When he realized neither of them was going to say anything, he cleared his throat. “So, Vandy you gonna keep us standing here holding your stuff or are we heading in,” he smirked.

“Shit, yeah, sorry. Ah, here I can take that.” She motioned to the box but Benny pulled it back.

“Nuh uh, I”ll take it. Lead the way boss lady,” Benny winked letting her walk in front. He couldn’t help how his eyes swept down her body and as he was admiring her ass his view was blocked by Marcus who stepped in front of him with a smile. Benny cleared his throat and got in line behind him.

“I was wondering where you all we-,” Victoria’s eyes widened as she saw her sister and husband walk back into the house followed by Benny. She crossed her arms and rested her weight on one foot, ‘Wow Benny, you’re just a jack of all trades aren’t you,” she winked as Benny laughed.

“Here Benny, it’s up this way,” Marcus nodded for Benny to follow him upstairs. 

Vanessa winced as she rubbed her knee, thankful she fell on grass and not the pavement. “You fell? Are you ok? Let me grab my kit real quick…” Victoria trailed off.

“Calm down Nightengale, I just tripped on the lawn,” Vanessa rolled her eyes, straightening up when her sister gave her that look. “Ok, I fell. But it’s not a big deal. I’m more embarrassed than anything.”

“So you pulled the whole damsel in distress thing to get Benny to come over, huh?” She waggled her eyebrows.

“You and I both know I’m not coordinated enough to pull that off…clearly,” Vanessa chuckled. 

Just then the sisters heard some laughter coming from the staircase as Marcus and Benny walked down the steps.

“Got another load or two maybe, you good to help?” Marcus looked over his shoulder.

“Oh you really don’t have to do that,” Vanessa started to follow before Victoria grabbed her by the arm.

“Can you stop? Let him help you.”

“I can do it myself,” Vanessa huffed.

“I know you can, but accept the help sometimes,” the deeper meaning behind the words was not lost on either sister.

A few moments later, there was laughter and commotion at the door as Marcus came back through with Benny and some additional helpers.

“Got the whole thing unpacked, Vandy. Look at how fast that was thanks to our neighbors,” Marcus winked as he made his way up the stairs. Benny was right behind and gave her a shy smile as he walked by.

A good looking shorter man with curly hair was next. He had an air of confidence and seemed like the kind of guy who would coax you into bad decisions. “Hi, I’m Santi…that’s Frankie,” he nodded behind him. The man with the baseball cap smiled as he followed the group upstairs.

When they were alone, Victoria snorted, trying to contain her laughter.

“Stop it,” Vanessa rolled her eyes. 

“Ok ok, I won’t say anything,” Victoria smirked. “But, how are you thinking of repaying him for his kindness ow-” she ducked as Vanessa threw a cleaning rag her way with a laugh.

“Uh oh, that can only mean trouble,” Marcus called down as heavy footsteps made their way down the stairs. “Can’t leave those two alone,” he winked at Benny.

“This is a beautiful house,” Santiago remarked, taking a look around.

“Thanks, I’m excited to make it ours,” Victoria walked over to Marcus, wrapping her arm around his waist and looking up at him like he personally hung the moon in the sky.  

Santiago looked at Benny, who readjusted his hat, looking down at the ground nervously. “You all coming to the party tomorrow?” 

Vanessa looked at her sister and brother-in-law with a confused look. “You guys have been here a couple of hours and are already getting invited to parties. Wow, that’s a record,” she smirked.

Benny snorted, his eyes meeting hers.

Victoria ignored her sister’s quip and looked at Santiago, “We’ll all be there. Will you?”

“Yup, we’ll be there, won’t we Benny?”

Benny cleared his throat, “Ah y-yeah, should be fun!” 

“It’s a…um…pool party,” Frankie offered, gesturing towards Nicolas who had just walked into the kitchen with his little sister holding his hand.

“Pool party?! Yeaaahh!” The little boy cheered as everyone laughed.

“Well, we look forward to it. Should be a grand ol’ time,” Marcus smirked.

Next Time on As the Mule Falls: We are headed to another neighborhood party - when you have David as your defacto neighborhood social director, expect lots of fun. The boys have some complicated feelings about being the center of attention because of the holiday. Prepare for some Will angst, some Pike smut, and more cuteness with Benny and Vanessa.

A/N: We’ve got a lot of storylines cooking now! In case you missed it, I made a Delta Landscaping Bingo card to keep track of all of the PPCU character references. Based on the plans I have for this series so far, you can make a “bingo” three ways. Not to add additional reading, but my little Frankie series Turbulence gives a bit more insight into what he was up to over the weekend. There is a part 4 coming out soon and after that the story will be weaved into DL. I’ve got a few other surprises up my sleeve 😉

Thank you so much for reading and supporting this story. 

I forgot to post a chapter mood board earlier this week, so here it is...

Taglist: @goodwithcheese / @gemmahale / @trulybetty / @noxturnalpascal / @periodtsparadox / @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin / @maggiemayhemnj / @mysterious-moonstruck-musings / @avastrasposts / @meveispunk / @chaoticfestninja / @beboldbebravethings / @casa-boiardi / @katw474 / @linzels-blog / @laughing-in-th3-purple-rain / @pimosworld / @lynnchun / @anoverwhelmingdin /@lilmizmoz / @pedrit0-pascalit0 / @titlee78 / @noisynightmarepoetry / @inept-the-magnificent / @perennialdoll247 / @for-a-longlongtime / @readingiskeepingmegoing / @harriedandharrassed / @musings-of-a-rose / @anavatazes / @sherala007 / @midnightraain / @partyofone3413 / @inthedarkestnight / @millennial-teenybopper / @csarab615 / @darkheartgatita / @southernbe / @weho2kcmo / @itspdameronthings 

[soft-teddybear]

ateez - gifts they’ll give their s/o

genre: fluff

cw: none that I’m aware

summary: Christmas special! What would ateez give to their s/o as a christmas present and why.

disclaimer: this is a work of fiction made for entertainment and from my point of view of the members.

members under the cut.

seonghwa: thootless plushie.

he wanted to give you something to keep you company while he went away for his activities, but he wanted to be original and after thinking about it for long he finally got it: a toothless plushie with recording of his voice saying different things like i love you, stay safe, take care. seonghwa also made sure that the button was har to get while cuddling so it won’t scare you at nights if you press it by accident, he also got matching scarfs for the three of you so it could be part of your family.

hongjoong: personalised bag.

he would buy a bag of your favourite color and decorate it using things you loved: lyrics from your favourite songs, meaning full dates or things that remind you of special occasions or events in your life, everything to make it more you. for someone that didn’t know you most of i wouldn’t make sense, but you knew the meaning behaving everything and were surprised hongjoong knew you so well. the big was a big art piece of everything that represented and made your personality and it included things that hongjoong loved about you.

yunho: favourite drink gift card.

call it coffee, boba, regular tea, yunho know what you love to drink and that you drink it lots, so he thought of a gift card, but a normal one was boring so he went big. yunho got a membership card and added money to it, the equivalent of a drink for each week of the year, that way he could “invite” you for a drink even when he was away or busy whit his schedule. that isn’t stoping him from paying your drink every time you go out, no, he still pays saying that this way the gift could last longer.

yeosang: gaming set.

most specific a keyboard and headphones, you liked to play online video games with him when you couldn’t see each other, it was like a long distance date but your sent wasn’t the best and it caused problems. so yeosang helped you build your own gaming set by giving you part of it, on your favourite colours of course. that wasn’t the only reason thought, he wanted you to have a set that would also motivate you to do your school work and study and he loved your company while gaming so it was a win-win situation, a gift for the both of you.

san: matching jewellery.

he wanted to give you something to remind you of him even when he was away on tour or really busy to meet you, and he also wanted it to be discrete so he could use it on his daily life with out getting too much attention so a matching set of a necklace and a bracelet was. they has each other’s birth stone, so you’ll have san’s and san has yours, it was an expensive gift but he really didn’t cared because he wanted to feel you close and four you to feel the same but in a more discrete and fashionable way.

mingi: big coat.

it was an inner joke, you always steals his hoodies, jackets and coats because you “were cold” but in reality you just wanted to be hugged by his warm clothing full of his smell, so he bought you a big coat that matched most of your clothing, with a little extra gift inside a pocket: a bottle of his perfume. that way you could ad it to the coat or any other thing you wish that smelled like mingi. he made sure you knew you could still take his clothing but that he wanted to help you build your own style and maybe keep most of his coats to himself in the process.

wooyoung: photo album.

printed and decorated lots of pics of his favourite memories with you, all of them takes by him, the album was almost full of beautiful memories and had some empty spaces for you to fill them with your favourite. the decoration was so pretty too, some doodles, stickers, quotes and detailed that brought even more life to the images, they were really amazing and you almost cried while looking at it, because it was almost full because both wooyoung and you loved every single time you spend together, ben if it’s not really planed.

jongho: big teddy bear.

went extra because it’s dressed and smells like him. once you told him that you missed his cuddles, you were particularly needy that day so the statement came out dramatic, but jongho took note so when Christmas was near and he looked out for a teddy bear big enough to wear human clothing and bought him an outfit soft enough to cuddle with, he then spend lost of nights cuddling with the plushie and adding his perfume so it’ll smell just like him on the day he’ll give it to you. said day came and you cried a bit when you opened it because it was the most perfect gift.

n/a: Rosie Christmas gift, sorry if it’s a mess but i had to rewrite the whole thing besucase i lost the original and i was sad. thank you for supporting my work this year, it was really one of the highlight and it makes me really happy.

[hypnoneghoul]

Gear talk/headcanon ask.

The ghouls have several guitars and instruments, sure, but do you headcanon that they have specific instruments that are special to them and that they treasure more than others?

Which ghoul do you think is a collector who wants one of everything or collects just versions of one specific model? Who sees their instruments as just that, instruments to be used for a specific purpose?

-@ghouletteanon

okay i thought more than i should've about this ahvahsbha

Dewdrop - He is sentimental and does collect, for emotional reasons. He has a few different types of strats because "everyone does something different, it sound different" and tbh it mostly does, lmao. He likes the variety and freedom of choice in case of playing live. His collection at home, though, is a bit different. There's Ifrit's first Fantomen, the first Fantomen that was customized for Dew specifically, the first customised strat, the strat with one sticker, another one with another sticker, etc. There's a story to each one.

Rain - I think they're not exactly emotional about his basses in the typical way, but i think its... uhm, their autism lets say, lmao. I think he just has to have separate basses for specific songs and everything has to be perfectly planned and taken care of and nothing can mix up, if that makes sense. If you'd find Rain crying over a bass it would be only because something ruined some specific practices, routines. I think he'd be the "collector" one but not in the usual meaning? With them it would be like "I have to have so many basses because I cant use this one for this song and I don't wanna ever change this one's tuning and this and that bla bla bla."

Aether - He is sentimental but it doesn't extend to guitars. He went through too many to really care about them. Doesn't really collect them, he doesn't see any sense in doing so. He's got a random one in his room that he can pick up and play when he's bored.

Phantom - Is very proud of and deeply cherishes one specific guitar, the one that Aether put into his hands, the one he was first taught everything by him on. The other Fantomens are just... tools, yeah, for him, but that one he got from Aether himself? IMPORTANT!

Swiss - Swiss has a few guitars, both acoustic and his baritone but there are two that are special. One of his baritones is his babygirl. its the one he humps on stage. He loves it so much because it was basically the first thing ever that he truly felt was his and his alone. There was no ghoul before him to play baritone, all his guitars were fresh out of the factory. BUT, the first one, specifically, that he got even before the decision it was going to be brought up on stage was made, the one he got to just test out, it was his. There's also one acoustic, it's always in his room next to his babygirl if they're not touring, that's also his. Not as symbolic as the baritone but also very important. He always brings it to play and sing to other ghouls, etc, there's a lot of memories with it. Most importantly, it's the one Rain was borrowing from him for their little acoustic sets, and anything Rain touches immediately becomes 10000 times more valuable for Swiss.

Mountain - My boy most certainly is a collector. He goes for the looks and functionality, always begging Papa to let him add something more because "I can make that song sound so much better with this drum/cymbal". He likes the freedom, that he can have control over something like that. He is a bit... possessive of his kit but he won't rip your head off unless you actually fuck something up.

Cirrus - Similar to Phantom, all the keys and everything are just tools except for one. The keytar, because it's Zephyrs. Only one person apart from he can touch it and it's... Dewdrop. Not even her fellow ghoulettes and Satan forbid some tech or Swiss. Only Cirrus and Dew.

Cumulus - Kinda likes to collect but isn't really emotionally tied to anything. She just likes the variety and she likes to switch gear out with Cirrus.

Sunshine and Aurora - they don't really have what to collect if we're talking about everyone's stage instruments, but Sunshine's adhd really loved the rainshakers, to her pack's misery...

@ghouletteanon

[princessamericachavez]

Thinking about 911 s6 and all its big and smaller arcs.

Specifically in thinking about different-sized arcs. For example: Buck’s quest for happiness, the couch, and the donor arc are all a bigger arc that was stablished in the first episode and have been brought up again and again as we move forward (the same way Eddie’s recovery was a main point since the beginning to the end of s5).

(This post is mainly about Buck and Eddie but one could argue there are at least 3 other big overarching arcs this season, like Chim and Maddie’s family journey towards a house and marriage, Bobby and Athena’s stability their old demons -her little missing neighbor, his sobriety- and their eventual honeymoon, Hen and Karen’s ever evolving family life as they figure out their future…)

Anyway, but also I’m thinking about how the season could be broken into smaller arcs (Hen’s medical school, Wendell’s death, the Buckley and Han parents showing up).

Now, when it comes to Buck and Eddie’s relationship we’ve mainly seen 2/3 arcs so far this season.

6x10-6x12: mainly dealing with Buck’s death, everyone’s reaction to it (with a main focus on Eddie at the beginning of the arc during the lightning strike), Buck’s coma (main focus on Bobby and Buck’s familial relationships), and Buck’s recovery (which brought the focus back to Eddie and Buck’s connection).

6x13-6x15: are meant to be a single arc, in which we as an audience see what they can’t. So we start with the math episode, which sees Buddie at the top of their partnership (homework with Chris, shenanigans, extremely in sync and happy, Buck and Chris cooking). Which is meant to contrast Pepa’s words about Eddie’s loneliness and his need to share his life with someone (we know for a fact that he isn’t lonely but he can’t see that). And then crashes with Buck’s new interest in Natalia and his desperate search for meaning after his death (which again we know she doesn’t see him as much as Eddie does because the narrative has made it a point up until now)

6x16-6x18: we are now entering a new arc all together (Lost And Found, Love Is In The Air, and Pay It Forward). These three episodes are probably going to be an arc. And considering we left in a downwards note in the past arc, it probably means we’ll start with them still emotionally at odds and build towards a climatic understanding/better place. Which could be romantic or not.

Things to keep in mind that might be interesting the next 3 episodes:

The couch theory, which has been prominent this second half of the season, has been brought up at the end of every mini arc (6x12 has buck falling asleep on Eddie’s couch, 6x15 literally replicates it with Chris). Symmetry and the narrative Rule Of Threes suggests we will see that scene replicated once again in 6x18 (which tracks with Oliver’s interview saying we will see this metaphor at play up until Buck’s very last episode of the season)

6x16 will not solve the current misunderstandings between Buck and Eddie because it’s a whole arc, but it might shine a spotlight in them or kickstart the road towards solving them.

Knowing 911, they like to tie their arcs by the end of the season and leave them in a happy note so it’s unlikely that Eddie’s loneliness and Buck’s trauma will remain unresolved by the end of the season. Relax and enjoy the journey.

We do know 6x17 was written and directed by two people very fond of Buddie (regardless of whether they have the power of making it canon or not) and we saw the marker with a sticker of the two of them when they were filming it, so it’s likely we’ll see most of the progression between them then, and get them ready for the climatic big 6x18 emergency.

This last batch of episodes should also solve, one way or another, the donor arc which tangentially ties to Buck’s relationship with Chris, since this season has been very focused on fatherhood and adoptive parenthood vs blood relationships.

These three batches of episodes seem to be building a larger 6b arc for these two characters. Buck’s death, Buck and Eddie’s struggle with their respective future, and whatever resolution these final eps bring. But we are meant to keep the past 6 eps in mind moving forward for sure.

Anyway, my point is that 6x16 will probably establish which route we’re going on next and I’m extremely excited about it.

[goldenlavendered]

welcome to my enclosure I have many thoughts and doodles abt lila (shipping mostly)

[ID in ALT!]

hc dump under cut (it gets LONGG lol)

General:

anthro au specific but since my Skid & Lila are both cats, some nights they'll just sit in total darkness (bc cats can see in the dark). it is great and enriching for both of them.

adding onto that, ever since Pump started coming over they added some glow in the dark star stickers along the walls to help him find his way around :)

Lila is transfem to me . I don't need proof or elaboration this is just something I know in my heart /lh

she probably started transitioning pretty young, which is something she feels lucky for. her parents were supportive ^_^ !!

that being said, her parents were rather protective, and she didn't get out too much as a youngin.

-- that is why she was so lax with Skid going outside. she was kind of overcorrecting for that.

She was probably deep into alt fashion in college (elaborated on later)

Shipping Opinions:

I am just some guy on the internet, if you like a ship I don't, that's great and I love that for you! Live your life.

Goldenlavender (x Jaune): gestures at url. I think it is funny. also.

I feel like they've quietly been pining for a very long time now, but they've both been friends for so long and don't want things to change.

there's something quiet and unstated, but definitely there between them. they don't kiss or anything, but they hold each other really close and aren't too shy about being affectionate. you know?

women who are best friends.

also ross would finally have a parent who can pass off as a natural reason why he has black hair. he is beating the hair dye allegations!!!!!!

Grapecandy (x Kevin): I'll be honest right now. I keep thinking Kevin's, like, 17.

He isn't, I think. But I literally didn't even think of him as being a suitable option for her for a while LMAO

I think I can sum up all of the wagegang x Lila thoughts here: It just doesn't compel me, unfortunately. I don't see their potential dynamic as being particularly funny, or spawning interesting drama. Shrugs. Sorry!

specifically w Kevin though I think they would break up as soon as Skid is brought up LMAO. like he doesn't hate the kid but he isn't ready to be a stepfather imo.

(x Bob): Do they have a ship name? Anyw the age gap isn't my main issue with it. Lila's in her late 20s at the youngest, and they're both adults. I don't think anyone means tiny witch Lila when they bring this ship up anyways

nor is the stalking or attempted murder. I had a creepypasta phase, these behaviors are obviously Very Bad irl but they can be interesting to see in fiction. morbid curiosity and whatever.

My main issue is that their potential relationship is so much more interesting if it isn't romantic, you know? Like, how do they know each other? What was he to her? Why did she react so strongly to seeing him in her past? She seems eager to try to reject the idea that the man in the photo is him, but why? Was he important to her? Did she care about him?

TL;DR: I want more fics abt these two's relationship, but specifically non-romantically.

Deadflowers (x Patty): Not sure about this ship name. I don't see this one often. Anyw, I don't actually have any thoughts on Patty, so this is going to be super short.

I think they might have a nice time together on a date, but I don't think it could be anything serious.

Though, if they did.. overworked x overworked means they'll have to take care of the other, even tho it'll mean they call each other hypocrites for working so much all the time.

I could see it as a background/dressing ship, but not really as the focus of anything. sorry girls

Poisonwine (x Skid's Dad): I want to know more from onscreen canon first!!! But I think they could be super interesting!!!

The tweet that implies that he didn't care bout Lila is. hROUUUGH (<- thang whose heart is breaking). He didn't care, but did she know that? Did she care? I feel like she did..

There's no way Lila doesn't know about the cult. I'm a believer that she was a part of it herself until he died (the robes, "Remember Lila") ...Did she join because of her own beliefs, or because her husband was in it? Did he have to coerce her at all?

I think he was a good dad to Skid.

You may notice this is a lot of me dancing around what I actually think they're like. That's because I don't want to really solidify any specific readings of what's going on here. I am embracing the future with open arms!!

they're t4t tho this is non-negotiable /silly

RoyalPurple (x Carmen): this was supposed to have its' own section but now I'm making a fic with them so just. wait a minute there HAHAHA /silly

(& Streber): this is a Specifically platonic headcanon but I like to think they ve gone to the same university. They're definitely in diff strands, Streber to Engineering and Lila to Architecture, but they could've met through an org and just been pals.

They weren't suuper close or anything, but they were birds of a feather. Girl who goes to class with chokers and giant boots, and guy dressed like a victorian fantasy LARPer.

I think she sent him flowers or a get well card in the hospital :) [miserable hand shake between them abt being personally victimized by Bob]

The Ships That Don't Have Doodles

these will just be single bullet points!

(x F. Gregor): same comments as wagegang x Lila; doesn't compel me. Nothing's wrong with it, I just don't see it.

(x Dexter): this is only funny to me because I draw Lila and co as cats in the Anthro AU. he calls her a stupid bitch, we can move on.

(x Jack): I could see a onesided crush from his side, like "the lady who keeps calling is kinda cute" but I don't know if I could see it getting serious. she can give him a smooch if he wants, as a treat.

(x John): ok this one could actually be really cute. eatyourmaker's post abt Skid and John getting along is super adorable and I could maybe imagine Lila hitting it off with him after seeing how much he cares for Skid. maybe Skid plays matchmaker. this could work. I like it.

(x Ignacio): in the deleted scenes she tried to beat a teen to death for calling Skid a dumbass, I don't think she could get over the threats.

(x Fat Thief/Thin Thief): this could be funny if she was still mad at them for breaking in repeatedly. she doesn't seem threatened by them just irritated LMAO

(x Frank): childhood friends who don't really talk but are chill with each other. they're funny. I don't feel the romance tho. S&P's cool uncle

(x Pump & Susie's Parents): Pump & Susie officially get Skid as a brother AND they finally have one (1) parent who isn't always absent, just sometimes absent. other than as a background detail tho there's nothing here.

(x Mayor Evermore): they would ignore each other on the street on purpose

(x Moloch): he didnt get to but he WOULD call her a bitch.

(x Richard): poor man's Lila x Carmen

(x Spider): please let my girl beat the spiderfucker allegations.

[penvisions]

the melting point {chapter 8}

Pairing: Frankie Morales x Baker! Reader (ex EMT! Reader)

Summary: Everything is overwhelming as the farmer’s market draws closer. 

Word Count: 4.8k

Warnings: smuuuuuut, description of injuries, blood, ptsd, triggers 

ao3 link || series masterlist || main masterlist

Take out boxes littered the coffee table, everyone settled around it on the couch and chairs surrounding it in a display of easy comfortability. Will had gone out to get dinner for everyone from the Chinese place a few blocks down the street and had brought back a few different six packs of local brews from the brewery that was at the end of the same block. Softer music wafted through the speakers at a reasonable volume that still allowed for conversation. You were sitting on the arm of the couch, aware that the timer on the oven was about to go off and signal that the brownies were done.

You had made a different batch for each of the ovens: traditional fudge brownies, blondie with chocolate chips, cream cheese, and a new recipe that had come to you in a weirdly vivid dream about an old roommate. It was a blondie base with a banana pudding layer crumbled with vanilla shortbread on top and a rosette of whipped cream. You were excited to try one and see how it played out. You used your chopsticks to retrieve another dumpling from the box of them on the table, dunking it in the ponzu sauce that you loved so much. You used your hand underneath it to prevent any of the sauce from dripping to the floor, aware of a set of eyes watching you.

Chewing as primly as you could with a whole dumpling in your mouth, you moved your chopsticks to reach into another box that was littered on the table. You deftly brought another dumpling to the table but this one was from a box that had little flame stickers on it. You placed it on your plate and reached for the hot sauce as you swallowed your bite.

“Might wanna try it first, mante. Those are kinda hot.”

“Kinda hot or melt my face off hot?”

“Maybe somewhere in between.” Will said as he watched you take a swig from your can of plum saison, you had asked for it specifically when he mentioned beer. He hadn’t been able to deny you even if it had been another block down the street. “Benny here is the reigning champ of spicy food, oddly enough.”

“A white boy the reigning champ with three perfectly good Hispanics present?” You huffed as you cast mock judging glares over Pope and Frankie who were on the couch cushions beside you. You popped the now hot sauce topped dumpling in your mouth with a cheeky grin. “How shameful.”

“I like actual flavor with my food, thank you very much. Sometimes heat is there just for the sake of heat and it’s not good for anything else. Food should be elevated by different flavors, not drowned by them.” Pope had a hand delicately placed on his broad chest as he looked up at you through his lashes with a coquettish air. Frankie coughed around the mouthful of food he was chewing, both at your teasing and at his friend’s weird face. He glanced up at you, taking in the way your legs were straddling the arm of the couch. Your thighs having flattened out against the fabric in a way that begged his hands to press into the softness them. Your jeans were high waisted, sitting allowing for your backside to be hugged by the fabric, creating a very nice view if he were to lean back into the couch or cast his eyes over just a smidge. Your little shimmy had jostled the cushion he was on and he pulled his own plate a little more over his lap as he felt his length jerk halfheartedly.

You hummed as the heat of the dumpling warmed your mouth, the hot sauce doing a good job of elevating the flavor of the spicy beef and pepper mix within the steamed dough, “Oooh, that’s yummy.”

You shimmied your shoulders as you reached for another one, only for a pair of chopsticks to stop your own. You looked up to see Benny giving you a challenging stare. You snapped your chopsticks at his, easily prying them from his hand and tossing them into the container. Scooping up another dumpling you brought it to your mouth with a playful smirk. “But sorry, I think I’ll have to prove I can hold my heat better than you.”

“Wing night, you’re on.”

“What’s the wager?”

“You be the standby medic for my fight night events.”

“And when I win….?”

For someone who got flustered so easily, you pulled off the confident air so well when you tried. With a cheeky smile and a playful wink, you moved as the timer on your phone flashed. The beeping of the oven timer sounded as well and had you up and disappearing behind the kitchen door in seconds.

It was around 11 when the guys began to peel off, Benny first due to some sessions first thing in the morning with a bear hug and two cupcakes in a box. Will followed soon after, a breakfast date with a new girl he was adorably giddy about with a kiss on the forehead and a tart he was hoping to surprise her with. Pope concentrating so hard his tongue peeked out from between his lips as he piped rosettes on top of the chocolate cupcakes with a rich chocolate buttercream. Frankie was beside him, the man’s thick fingers kneading and cutting a giant batch of dough into small, measured boules.

You were up front placing cooled cookies and already finished cupcakes into the case, adjusting the placement of things to make it look nice. You had a half empty can of beer in your hand as you did so, but you set it down as a sigh fell from your lips. Your tags were a little dirty, the one thing you hadn’t made time for. You gathered them all up, the little weighted holders clinking against the counter where you set them by the register.

“Manté! I finished the chocolate, all that’s left is the bread. But you said that had to proof overnight, no?” Pope came through the kitchen door, a smile on his face as he watched you for a moment. You looked so worried, though he knew you’d do great tomorrow. “I’m gonna head out, you’re going to do amazing tomorrow.”

He rounded the corner and swept you into a tight hug, squeezing him to you to place a kiss on your cheek. You returned the embrace, nerves ebbing at the contact.

“Thank you so much, Santi. You all were such a big help, I feel like I might’ve taken too big a bite with all this.”

“Nonsense, being busy is good. It means you’re doing something right. I’ll ask around the office and see if anyone’s kid need a summer job, alright? Until then, I don’t mind helping out some.” He let you go and gathered the bag of takeout boxes before heading out the door. You followed after him and waved as he got into his truck. You watched him drive off before locking the door and turning around to guide a speed rack in front of you and pull one behind you back into the kitchen. You rolled them into the walk in, the backups that didn’t fit in the case needing to be cooled until you needed them.

Frankie was finishing up wiping the counters down with a rag and a spray bottle of sanitizer. The bread he had been portioning out on it’s own speed rack, plastic cling wrap secured over each tray. He smiled at you as you walked up to him and got in his space. Your hands came to rest on his shoulders, his going to the flare of your hips. You leaned up and gently pressed your lips to his.

“Let’s go to bed.” You whispered, lips brushing his as you spoke. You felt his grip tighten before he pressed his lips fully back to yours in a passionate display. You snuck your hands underneath the hem of his shirt and brought them up to rest on his warm chest, the minimal hair there soft on your palms.

-

God, his fingers. Your entire body was alight with pleasure, the man above you taking his time in exploring the entirety of your skin. He was all soft touches and light pressure, reveling in the give of you beneath him. He brushed his nose over your cheek, trailing it down your neck before placing a nip to you collarbone, soothing it with his tongue to pull a breathy moan from your lips. You felt fingers skim over your stomach before they were slipping into your folds, the pads of them finding your clit with ease. Your breath hitched before a whimper squeezed its way from your throat. It was a gentle pressure, slow circles drawn into your skin that had pleasure cascading all across your skin.

“You make the best sounds, sweet girl.” You could feel the hot line of him as he rutted against your thigh, and your brain short circuited as you felt the tip of dig into your skin. Your hips bucked when he added more pressure from his fingers, a gasp sounding in the air. His fingers were replaced by the pad of his thumb as he adjusted his hand to fill you up with two thick fingers. “Gotta make sure you’re nice and slick before I bury my cock deep into you. Isn’t that right, querida?”

Your hands gripped him tight, holding onto his arms, nails digging lightly into his golden skin. He leaned down and took a pebbled nipple into his mouth and pulled. His tongue was hot as he laved attention on it, color blossoming around it in a pretty pink.

“F-fuck.” He crooked his fingers with a grin, taking the way your back arched and began to stroke that soft spot deep inside. You fluttered around him, pleasure building in a tight coil in your middle.

“That’s right, that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m gonna fuck you until you don’t even know your own name, sweet girl. Just gonna be so overwhelmed with this big cock filling you up, taking everything I give you, you’re gonna take it so well for me, aren’t you? You’re going to be such a good girl for me.”

Despite his heady words, his motions were sensual and slow. His fingers were caressing you softly, his thumb gently pressing that little bundle of nerves. He moved to your other breast, giving it the same attention as the other, slowly bringing color to your skin.

“Look at me, sweet girl. Come on, let me see those pretty eyes.” His voice was so deliciously commanding, the husky tone making a jolt of warmth spike in your chest. Your lashes fluttered as you tried to keep your eyes open, body overwhelmed by the way he was working you and the filthy promises he was speaking into your skin. You gazed through the dim light cascading in from the balcony, the sheer white curtains not doing much to keep the moonlight out.

His face was so beautiful bathed in half shadows. His strong nose and scruff sparking warmth in your chest. His tongue flicked across his bottom lip as you looked up at him with hooded eyes, the pleasure pulsing through you making your face soft and open. He groaned at the sight, your copper hair fanned around you in the near darkness, the ink on your skin looking tantalizing on the pale sheets around you. Your eyes were blown wide and he saw heat flare in them as he began to pump his fingers rather than just caress. He swooped down and captured your lips in a kiss.

“Come, sweet girl, give it to me. I know you can.” He felt you clench around him the second the words left his tongue, he rewarded you with a kiss to the temple. He worked you through the waves of pleasure rolling over your body, only removing his hand when a soft whine sounded in the air at your overstimulation. He felt his cock twitch against you, begging for attention in much the same way. He brought his slick covered fingers up to his mouth and licked them clean. You both groaned, him at the taste and you at the sight.

You whispered his name as you reached out to grasp him gently, your soft hand pumped him a few times before you shimmied and made yourself comfortable underneath him. He leaned down, knees between your open legs and kissed you deeply, making you taste yourself on his tongue. He lined himself up at your entrance, head catching your clit lightly as he slid between your folds once, twice, three times.

“Ready, sweet girl?”

“Frankie please,” He could feel your entrance flutter, clenching around nothing before he lined up again and slowly buried himself into you.

“Yes, sweet girl. Look at that, you’re taking me so well. So hot and tight, made just for me, aren’t you?”

He bottomed out, thighs flush with your hips, twitching inside you at the overwhelming feeling of you around him. Your arms were around his shoulders, face coming up to kiss him before you whispered praises against his lips as he began to move. He gripped your hips and thrusted into you in slow, deep drags that had you both moaning loudly.

-

You woke Frankie up with your mouth, trailing kisses down from his peaceful face to his chest, to his hips, biting into the flesh there before taking him in your mouth. He returned the favor before you both showered, getting ready for the day together in your space. With lingering kisses at the back door of the building, you pushed something into his hand. He looked down at the mechanism in confusion. Hooked on the clip for it to fasten to something was a single key ring with two keys on it.  

“For you.” Was all you said as you smiled shyly at him.

“Querida, are you sure?” He shuffled on his feet, warmth flooding him at the thought of having such blatant permission to your space. Guilt flashed in him, overwhelming, something ugly and familiar that he tried to ignore. He hadn’t even invited you over to his space, hadn’t made enough effort to let you know how much you meant to him, hadn’t done enough to show you he was serious about this. All the instances he’s shared with you were in your own space or were in group settings with the guys. He looked down at his scuffed boots, a feeling of inadequacy rearing its head.  “I haven’t even taken you out yet. Haven’t done much of anything for you.”

“We’re both busy adults, but this is something I wanted to do. I feel safe giving these things to you.” A kiss was placed on his cheek. “Frankie, I’ll take what you’re willing to give.”

“Summer camp in next week, I’ll clean up the house. We’ll spend the night at mine after I take you out to an amazing dinner. I swear it, sweet girl. I’ll give you everything, it’s just going to take time.” Your smile was enough to power him through the rest of the weekend as he began to make plans. “Good luck, today. You’re going to do amazing.”

-

You were so focused on the burning in your lungs, the feel of air being pulled in your nose and out through your chapped lips. Sweat bulleted and trickled down your temples, down the small of your back, the hot dampness of it as it collected on the fabric of your workout tank top, the band of the built in bra digging slightly into your skin. the slight resistance in the bend of your knees as you picked them up to step again and again…

Flashes of panicked faces and the sound of a gun going off far too many times had you clenching your eyes. The feeling of your hands covered in warm blood as you struggled to stop the bleeding on an open wound had your fingers trembling as you focused on keeping your body moving in the present. The feeling of hot metal imbedded in your skin and the spike of adrenaline that accompanied it made your next step falter. You caught yourself by throwing a hand out to reach for the safety hand at the front of the treadmill. You quickly recovered and pushed on, trying to run away from the memories.

The sound of the front door of the gym slamming buckled your knees and you went down. You tried to punch the stop button and then pull the emergency stop lever but you couldn’t focus through blurry eyes, your vision having grayed out at the sound. You felt the skin of your knee and thigh skid along the still moving tread as your body crumpled, swept down the length of the machine and then thumped to floor in a heap. Pain was radiating from your knee, sharp and staticky.

“Shit, are you okay?” Benny was quickly running over from the front desk. He ignored the still running machine to lean down beside you, his hands hovering as if he wanted to touch you but was cautious to do so. “The wind caught the door before I could, I didn’t mean for it to slam.”

You reached out for his hands and he took it as a sign to help you sit up, your injured leg stretched out while the other was folded underneath you. You were shaking slightly, but you weren’t sure if it was from the adrenaline or the pain. Your leg felt like it was on fire, the burn of the tread having done some serious damage. The entire side of your right knee and midthigh was scraped raw, the skin a translucent white before the blood began to pill and drip down your shin.

“Fuck, that stings.” You huffed, not willing to touch it until you’ve washed your hands.

“Should I take you to the urgent care? I know you’ve got experience but that looks pretty bad.”

“I think it’ll be okay, give me sec.” You gripped his forearms with your hands and started to stretch out the injured leg. The pop and subsequent rush of pain in your knee had you crying out and your nails dug into Benny’s arms. “Shit okay, my knee is messed up. Emergency room.”

“Fuck, okay.” You looked up in time to see Benny’s expression go from slightly panicked to focused. He pushed the long sleeves of his shirt up and instructed he was going to lift you. Your arms went around his shoulders as he rested a hand underneath the bottoms of your thighs and your back, bridal style to avoid anything touching your injured leg.

“Hey, Maria?” He called as he hoisted you up. His front desk attendant popped up and around the wall that separated the entrance to the actual workout part of the gym. “Can we please get a call into the cleaning crew for bodily fluid and cancel my remaining training sessions for the day?”

Just as she was nodding and reaching for the phone, the front door swung open and two figures walked in. Will and the father that frequented your bakery signed in at the front desk and as soon as they rounded that wall their easy laughter and conversation halted. He said something to his companion before he was at your side in a few long strides.

“Urgent care or emergency room? What number locker did you put your stuff in? Has anybody called Taylor and the guys?” He was as focused as Benny, the two of them moving in synch as they crossed the expanse of the room together, Will having rushed over at the sight of you in his brother’s arms and the blood running down your leg to drip on the floor.

“Emergency room, knee popped when I tried to stretch it to access the damage. It’s pretty much got no feeling and the skid is hurting a little too much for comfort, I’m worried about the muscle.”

“What happened?” Will placed a calming hand on your chest, his fingers brushing the pulse point in your neck to double check you were really okay. Once he realized your heartbeat was still even and your pulse was a tad fast but still healthy, he moved both his hands to cradle your face and looked into your eyes for any signs of a head injury. When your eyes followed his own without issue and your pupils didn’t dilate, he let out a small sigh of relief.

“Wind caught the door behind me and it slammed. My hands were full so I couldn’t catch it.” He didn’t need to say it aloud, but they both knew it had spooked you and broken your concentration while running.

“Okay, again, locker number?” You rattled it off and told him about how you had left the gate unopened for your building because you were expecting a delivery. “Okay, Benny get her loaded up and I’ll bring her bag to the truck. We’ll pull Pope from the office and have him handle the delivery. Fish can meet us at the hospital if you want?”

“No, no.” You shook your head in his hands, panic fleeting over your features as it flared in your chest. “I don’t want to bother him, he mentioned a restoration for this week. He needs to focus on his work.”

“He’d want to know you’re hurt, mantequilla.” Benny spoke as he moved toward the door, Maria holding it open for him to move through as she talked calmingly on the phone with the cleaning crew. Will had moved toward the back of the building, calling out to ensure no one was in the women’s locker room before he entered to retrieve your bag. “He deserved to know before you show up limping somewhere and he finds out that way.”

“I would tell him!” You gushed; worried Benny really thought you wouldn’t. “I just want to wait until we have a time frame if he wants to stop by, he’s got a late shift today and I know his mother already said she won’t be able to watch Lex more than a few hours.”

“I’ll call him while you’re being triaged, okay?” He agreed to wait at least, so that was good. You really didn’t want him to get too worried and peal out of work early. He had a full day and you didn’t want to add to it. You had both discussed being busy this week. Him prepping for his daughter to be away from home longer than a day or two for the first time in their lives. He was nervous but she was so excited for summer camp. He was such a good day, trying to spend as much time with her as possible before her trip.

“Let him care about you, it’s obvious to us that he does. He’s a good friend to have in your corner.” He pinned you with a look you couldn’t quite meet head on. He wasn’t blind, he could see the way Frankie straightened up whenever you arrived at the bar, the way his eyes had kept roving over to you when they had helped you prep for the farmers market just a few days ago. He could also tell your words were a little too fast when he was around, as if you were nervous and couldn’t contain yourself. Wanting to converse with him as much as possible in each interaction. You bit your lip as you contemplated coming clean and then did.

You felt yourself blush as Benny placed you gently in the passenger seat of his truck. Making sure your leg wasn’t cramped or too stretched out to avoid injuring you further. He secured the seatbelt over you and made sure your legs were comfortable before he moved to close the door carefully and round the vehicle. Will jogged over to open your door once again and situated your workout bag by your feet, careful not to jar you at all. He had his phone in one hand, pulled up to his ear as he talked.

“She’s okay, isn’t that right, mantequilla?” His tall figure leaned against the door frame, shifting his phone to hold it in front of him and hit the speaker button. Pope’s even voice was firing question after question but stopped when you said his name to get his attention.

“Santi, cariño, I’m okay. Please listen to me, esto es muy importante. The delivery driver is always the same for my stop, he knows the code but since it’s a larger order than normal and I’m not there to immediately break it down, he’s going to have to put the pallets in the walk in. There should be enough room for them both, with the heat the pallets have to go in the walk in.”

“Si, si, entiendo, mantequilla. Please be safe getting to the emergency room and have Benny text me every update. I’m leaving the office now. Do you want me to feed the little ones?”

“They’d like that, please.”

“Frankie needs to be called, but I think you should be the one to do it.”

“Benny is going to as soon as I’m in triage.”

“When he leaves work early, tell him to come help me break down the pallets after he leaves the hospital, comprende?”

“Will do, Pope.” Benny chirped as he turned the keys in the ignition, the engine rumbling to life.

“I’ll close up the gym if you don’t manage to get back in time, just focus on getting our girl sorted out, yeah?” He carefully closed the door, so as to not jostle you and waved you off. Glancing around to look through the cab window, you watched him cross the parking lot. Your regular patron and apparently Will’s friend was waiting by the front door as the man approached it.

-

Benny pulled the truck into the drive up of the hospital, turning on his flashers and jumped out of his seat. He came around and scooped you back into his arms to take you in, not bothering with retrieving a wheelchair since he knew you’d be assigned one for your visit anyway. He approached the front desk and contemplated speaking before you held up your ID and summarized your injuries in less than fifteen words to the two nurses who were seated there.

“Gotcha, okay. Go ahead and settle over there and we’ll get your triage started and a room ready to run some tests and clean you up.” Benny moved about the waiting room with a slightly nervous air, he didn’t want to leave you for the time it would take to park his truck. But he was also nervous calling Frankie, the man was a good friend but he wore his stress on his sleeve sometimes. The restoration he had this week had been a topic of frustrated enthusiasm on Friday.

“I’ll call Fish while I park, I’ll be back ten minutes tops, okay?”

“Thank you, Benny, I really appreciate you.” You reached up to cup his cheek and bring it down to your level. You placed a chaste kiss to the apple of his cheek before busying yourself with your phone.

With a chuckle, he pulled his own out and scrolled down his contact list. It rang three times before Frankie’s voice greeted him.

“Benny, not that I don’t care about ya, but now’s not a good time.”

“Frankie.” Benny paused as he checked his rearview and side mirrors before pulling away from the curb right in front of the hospital entrance. He hoped the use of his friends name and not nickname would let him know this was serious. “She’s okay, but mantequilla is being triaged right now. She took a tumble at the gym.”

previous chapter || next chapter 

taglist: 

@tanzthompson

[thelunarsystemwrites]

Skeletons can't be too thin. (Underlust fanfiction)

(Warning! This fic is about EDs, specifically ana! It also has mentions of body image issues, weight, depression, self-blaming, self-isolating, self-loathing and self destructive behaviours!) word count: 1,800+.

Running.

Lust finally was making his way to his place, having gone on a dusk run. He wore a black crop top, short enough to show his first three rows of ribs. Trimmed in a short, dark teal mesh. With an upside down heart cut out directly in the middle, said heart was also lined with teal.

The shorts he wore, a bright a magenta with a darker shade of purple as the stitches and accents across the waistline, they would be considered skimpy or cut close, but breezy is the word he'd use. 

Gloves were fingerless, same shade as those maroon purple stitches. The backside of the hands had hearts cut out, that was kind of a theme.

The sneakers that were thumbing againest the ground below him, coloured dark teal, laced in that same bright pink. The tongue was black, pulling the whole outfits colour scheme together. 

Of course, he wouldn't leave the house without his shades, rather needed or not. The dark purple frames in the shapes of hearts, with the lenses being rose. They were pushed up his skull, stickers on either side of the arms to keep them in place. 

Despite not having lungs, his breathes laboured. Exhaustion ridden deeply in his bones, sweat that shouldn't be able to exist dripped down his nose, and a smile of forced habit was barely lingering on his face. Eyes were unfocused, only able to navigate his way home via muscle memory. Ironic, for a skeleton.

The street lamps had come on, and dusk was turning to night. Just ahead, just barely ahead, was his apartment. An older place, run by a kind gentleman and his wife. Rent was cheap, but so was the quality. However, a home was a home, a privilege Lust refused to take for granted. 

As his jogging brought him closer, his head felt more so further away. His thoughts clouded by anxieties surrounding his return for the day. Breathe hitching, the monster forced his legs to continue. Leading to a crosswalk, as soon as the light turned green, he'd be able to push past the doors in eyesight, and hit the hay.

Of course, before that, a car sped by. Recent rain water that was once contained on the street, now completely soaking the poor skeleton as he jumped from the splash. He made groan type of sound, arms hanging as he tried shaking it off. He was already cold, and now having gone to freezing! Bones shaking as the crisp wind hit him, and arms crossing.

Humans, by far, held the least amount of courtesy he has ever had the displeasure to experience. 

Sighing, he practically ran once it was supposedly safe to cross, the sudden chance of pace caused a flash of darkness to blind him, but just for a moment, thank Torial.

Finally able to touch the two large oak doors once more, they had vines engraved on their frame. He grabbed the worn golden handle, and pushed forward. The door creaked open to a empty lobby room, save for the elderly woman working the desk, who greeted him with a wave.

He smiled back with a tilt of the skull, and moved towards the stairwell, faint drips of water trailing him. "Back from your run?" Mrs. Carousel asked, to which the monster replied with, "Mhm, it's always nice weather to get out and about, dear." 

The woman didn't seen to notice the fact that he was soaking wet, shivering, fakest smile plastered. Her poor vision was out of shape. So while he found himself feeling a bit guilty for the mess that now decorated the floors, he could atleast walk away without too much embarrassment. 

He grabbed the splintering wooden rail, taking it step by step as he moved towards the third floor. He's heard complaints about the lack of elevators here, and while he's certainly all for accessibility—the extra steps we're doing wonders for himself.

And so finally, he was able to get to his floor, the hallway leading to his flat was dimly lit, with an unfortunate amount of stains regarding the walls.

Dragging himself closer, he dug into the barely noticeable pockets of his to retrieve his key, before entering the place he currently called home.

"...Sigh." He verbalized with little dramatization, his expression uncaring, stepping in as the door was weakly closed behind him. He reached for the light switch, flicking it caused a purple hue to coat the place. It was a two room apartment. The open kitchen was on one wall with only about three feet of counter space, the rest of the room was the living area, not that grand either. It did lead to a balcony, though, and the view wasn't terrible.

The other room was the bathroom, with a shower/tub, a sink connected to the wall, and a tiny toilet. He decorated the flat to his best ability, with niceish furniture, LED light stripes and holographic DVDs that hung from the ceilings. He put up removable wall paper and even got permission to change thre countertops... none the less, it was depressing every time he saw. 

Shivering, he gripped his elbows. Trotting towards the bathroom to put on his pajamas, they were fairly modest compared to his other items in his wardrobe, and most definitely would keep him warmer. 

Throwing his top off, his brittle ribs were reminding of his progress... a progress he really has tried to stop, or atleast ignore for a bit.

Pulling on his sleeping down, it was a spaghetti strap. The bodice was a silky soft mesh, the neckline in a V shape, that at one point hugged his body. Semi-transparent, the torso attached to a train like bottom, the edges coveted in a feathery texture. It was his favourite part of the outfit, that same trim laced the top, as well as the waist.

He also added an extra layer—A simple pair of leggings that no longer fit him. No, not because he was too big for them, but because they were to big on him. So he pulled the drawstring tighter, and tied it into a bow. Before reaching for the scale kept just below the mounted sink...

The Sans had an awaking expression on his face, as he stepped onto the glass object. Watching the numbers rise felt like molasses, even if it only took mere seconds to calculate his current weight. 

Black numbers flashed onto the screen, and silently, he stepped off it. ...he'd lost another pound, already. 

Already, it's been three days, and he lost an entire pound.

To humans, or even animalistic monsters? That would be considered nothing. But, he isn't that, he's a skeletal based monster, they hold weight differently. They don't have muscle, fat, or any sort of skin. Their weight is entirely based off their bones, how dense, thick or thin they are.

He chewed on the bottom part of his jaw, gazing down at his wrist in the low light. His bones were loosing mass, beginning to look like sticks. They looked like he couldn't even hold up a coat, like the slightest gust of wind would knock him down.

Gently, he kicked the scale away with his foot, bones still lightly ratteling with a chill as he exited the bathroom, going to plop himself onto the two person loveseat. 

He barely even sunk in on it, as he brought his knees to his chin and hugged them tightly. His head placed between his knees, for a mintue, he thought.

Looking over, he snatched his lavender throw pillow, and grasped at that instead. He wore a frown, as his eyes felt like they should be spilling tears.

. . .

He knows, okay? He's fully aware he has a problem. He knows mentally sound people don't actively avoid eating, like they physically can't despite the fact that they could. He knows they don't exercise to the point of exhaustion, have a tightly woven routine that feels so disgusting to stop, that they don't obsessively count calories.

And, he knows that nobody should be doing all this, and then fill with dread as they keep getting thinner. That's the problem, he originally was happy getting thinner.

In the underground, monsters who were on the thicker side were desirable, relationships felt better with someone who had meat on their bones. Naturally, Lust was a chubbier skeleton, and he got so much attention for looking like that... The standards on the surface, are so much different.

People seemed flabbergasted to see a chubby skeleton, the stares he got were out of disbelief, not infatuation.

Maybe it was an unconscious thing, influenced by human media, maybe it was a direct choice... but he began to lose his appetite. 

Tempted to eat breakfast but skipping, turned into tempted to skip but having to eat. And exercise by just doing fun, everyday activities, morphed itself into a requirement of his, something unnaturally strict. His mindset, personal perception, self worth, they all tunnel visioned, all on lowering the number on something that didn't even have feelings. It felt like the breathe was taken out of him, watching anxiously as those same numbers decreased.

Then, he looked like a more so 'normal' skeleton... and that turned into a slowly withering monster. At one point, he realized just how... unhappy he was, doing this to himself.

He's unhappy with how weak he feels now, unhappy with the isolation he puts himself through, unhappy with the empty feelings. But he can't stop himself, he can't eat and not feel weighed down by that posion. He can't stop now, he's past his goal and yet he keeps going.

And he's alone. Sniffing, he realized the tears had come. They had a pinkish, purple tint, as they rolled down his cheeks.

He just wants to get better, he wants to stop thinking of food as an enemy. And, he's desperate to see his brother again, but the mere fear of how Papyrus would react to seeing him petrifies the skeleton. It scares him into closing himself off, it stresses him out too much to even think of food, it makes him need to run away and distract himself.

...And then, all that feeds into the original problem. He's trapped, mentally. Honestly, he's living the delusion that he must be the only monster to ever have been stupid enough to do something like this. God, he feels so stupid...

So he hugged the pillow tighter, and made a strained whine into it as he began to sob. 

He's dying, by his own cold hands. 

Struggling to catch his breath, he finds himself being overtaken by the overwhelming tiredness. The complicated feelings he's had today have taken a toll on him, causing him to just be able to... close his eyes, leaning into the warmth of his furniture as he drifted off. Maybe, tomorrow, he would feel better...

But then again, false hope was a habit he carried even into his new life, something so deeply written into his character that it just wasn't an option to think clearly. 

[just-a-torn-up-masterpiece]

I don't normally request stuff but your joyce fics give me life and this woman has got me DOWN ON MY KNEES so here we go: I'd love to see the reader getting a bit jealous of hopper and how he tries to shoot his shot at joyce, so she wants to show joyce that she's the one that can pleasure her more than any man could ever...and maybe it could end with a little bit of ✂️✂️👀 (if you're comfortable with that)

masterlists

you're mine

Pairing - Joyce Byers x fem!reader

18+ :age gap, secret relationship, hopper slander, smut; fingering (joyce!receiving), oral (joyce!receiving), marking, possessive reader, slight dom/sub energy kind of

Word Count - 2566

A/N - okay so idek how to write uh ✂️ ✂️ 😭 so i didn’t include that part i’m sorry BUT i hope this is okay, i really loved this idea, thanks nonnie 

Also everyone is a couple of years older than canon, so reader is about 21 - idk who’s house this is set at just pretend the layout makes sense

You were laughing with your friends in the Indiana summer heat, just a free and easy day, cool beer bottles in hand with your legs stretched over the grass. The large group of you chatted away, the younger members sipping on coca cola, though you may or may not have let El try a sip of your beer (she did not approve).

From where you sat you could see Murray, Hopper and Joyce talking away beside the barbecue - Murray was sporting his favourite apron whilst the two men decided they’d be in charge of the grilling, spatulas in hand. 

Your eyes zeroed in on them, the conversation you were a part of becoming a mindless background noise as you observed. The way Hopper was gradually inching closer to Joyce - your Joyce. Sure, it was a secret tryst, just sneaking around having sex behind everyone’s back but it’s not as if you could tell anyone.

You couldn’t just go to one of your best friends and say, ‘hey Jonathan, by the way, I’m fucking your mom’. That would not go down well.

It took a conscious effort to stop the scowl crawling over your face at the way he touched her arm, leaving his gross hands on her - only you could touch her like that. You channelled your annoyance into the scraping of your nails on the glass bottle in your grasp, peeling away at the sticker that had dampened with condensation. You flicked specks of paper onto the grassy floor as you saw his hand squeeze her shoulder and she laughed at something he said.

You’re the one who makes her laugh, the beautiful sound was etched into your mind, not him.

“What about you, Y/N/N? Any action in your life?” Nancy asked with a nudge of her elbow into your side, snapping your eyes back to the expectant ones of the group. 

“Oh, uh, no. Not right now.” You smiled with a bashful shake of your head.

“Yeah right.” Robin scoffed. The others looked at you as though they also didn’t believe you whilst you just raised your eyebrows in shock.

“What do you mean ‘yeah right’?” You mocked. “I’m not seeing anyone.”

“Oh please.” Max sighed with a teasing roll of her eyes. “We can all see this weird pep in your step the last few months - you’re obviously getting fucked - even El can see it.” She added, earning a nod in approval from Eleven. 

“Max!” You laughed, taken aback by her matter of fact words but it was clear nobody believed you. Your skin was hot under their stares, it didn’t help that the topic had brought the thought of Joyce’s face buried between your thighs to the forefront of your mind, the way her fingers-

“You’re totally getting laid.” Argyle muttered with a dopey smile. “I bet that’s what you’re thinking about right now.” 

“Just tell us who it is.” Will urged, god they were all ganging up on you. Lucas, Dustin, Steve, Jonathan and Mike were even watching in anticipation.

“No.” 

“Aha! So there is someone.” Robin exclaimed, the others laughed when you lay on your back with a groan. After a couple more minutes of teasing they finally let up, moving on to teasing Dustin - more specifically the ‘Dustybun phenomenon’.

You were mindlessly watching the clouds floating across above you until you heard a loud, boisterous laugh - you rolled your eyes at the sound. You turned your head to the side to see Hopper sidled up beside Joyce, watching her intently as she spoke, leaning up the wall nodding at her words. You were close enough to see his eyes darting down to her lips every now and then as his hands stole touches here and there.

No matter how ugly the sight, you couldn’t help but smile at her voice - explaining the plot of a movie she’d watched recently with great excitement, her hands gesturing wildly. You’d watched it together and it made your heart swell how much she’d enjoyed it, you’d listened to her go on and on about it afterwards. It was impossible for her voice to tire you. 

“That sounds great, maybe we should watch it together some time.” He spoke. This had your eyes that had since fluttered closed against the sunlight to snap open, hoping you could somehow absorb some of El’s powers to burn a literal hole in the side of his head as you stared.

“Oh. Um, maybe.” She answered with a polite grin and she didn’t pull away when Hopper’s hand set up camp on her arm - again. 

You clenched your jaw at the sight, hands balling into fists at your side as you sat up. Despite the anger it was causing to pulse through you, you couldn’t look away. It was when your eyebrows furrowed that Joyce’s eyes locked with yours, a tiny smile accompanying it, an attempt at reassurance though it didn’t quell anything. Especially when he continued to flirt with her.

“I’m gonna get another drink.” You announced, not waiting for a response before you made your way over.

“Hey, kid.” He greeted and you plastered on the fakest and most sickly sweet smile you could muster.

“Hey, it smells good.” You answered. “Ms Byers, you don’t think you could help me out with something do you? I don’t want to interrupt anything, of course.” You smiled but she wasn’t buying that fake, polite innocent bullshit for even a second. 

“Anything I could help with?” Hopper asked, of course he had to interfere - could he not just get the hint?

“Oh, well, it’s girl stuff.” You returned shyly, biting back a laugh at the way red flew into his cheeks and he stuttered out a weak answer.

“Gosh, Hop. Menstruation isn’t so taboo nowadays, you should really educate yourself.” You heard Murray begin as you stepped inside the house, making a beeline for the bathroom with Joyce in tow.

She shut the bathroom door behind her, turning to face your aggravated self - she’d be lying if she said the sight of you jealous didn’t do something to her. She’d not seen it before but it was definitely a good experience so far; the way your jaw squeezed tightly shut and your eyes had darkened.

“What’s up, babe?”

“What’s up?” You scoffed. “That fucker out there is what’s up. He can’t keep his hands off you.”

“Oh? I guess I didn’t notice.” She lied, looking at you with those doe eyes she sports so well. You huffed a laugh at her words. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think somebody was jealous.” She approached you with a teasing poke to your chest. You rolled your eyes and guided her to the counter until she was pressed against it, your rested your hands on it either side of her so she was trapped in and your face was mere centimetres from hers.

“Only I’m allowed to touch you like he was. You’re mine right?” You spoke, an air of nervousness and uncertainty in your question.

“Of course I am.” And she knew you were hers.

“Then fucking kiss me.”

She didn’t waste a single second before her lips crashed to yours, her hands pulled you into her by your hips while yours cupped her face. The kisses were desperate and she let you take the upper hand this time with the way you pushed your tongue past her lips, the taste of your beer in her mouth.

You pulled away with a tug to her bottom lip before lifting her up onto the bathroom counter. She yelped at the sudden action, a movement with the kind of force you’d never exhibited before, the kind of force she’d usually use on you. Though she wasn’t mad at this new side she was seeing. 

“You’re mine.” You whispered against the skin of her neck, lips brushing against her causing the goosebumps to rise over her body. Joyce’s arms looped around you as you kissed beneath her ear, your teeth grazing at her lobe and your hands gripping onto her bare thighs where she sat in her denim shorts. She’d chosen her outfit this morning with you in mind, legs exposed and chest hugged by her fitted t-shirt.

You kissed across her jaw until your lips slotted with hers again and your hands dragged upwards over her waist. She groaned into your mouth when you palmed at her breast through her shirt, arching her body into your touch. You pulled at the hem of her shirt, pulling it over her head when she moved away from you to do so. 

You kissed her exposed chest with a bite to her collarbone, sucking the skin until a decent mark was left behind - a mark to show she’s yours. It looked so pretty against her smooth flesh, just beside your favourite freckle on her body - you’d memorised them all.

You smirked at the way she sighed heavily when you slid your hand beneath her bra, giving her nipple a squeeze between your forefinger and thumb, pulling at the hardened bud, squeezing the pillowy breast in your hand.

She almost protested when you pulled away but soon changed her mind at the feeling of your fingers stroking down her torso to the waistband of her shorts.

“Come on, baby. Show me who I belong to.” She whispered, almost teasing you and the more dominant role you’d slipped into for the first time - she made a mental note to make you jealous more often.

You did just that with a frustrated huff, roughly yanking the button of her shorts open and pushing your hand down. She was so wet already and you smirked at the feeling of her slick coating your fingertips as you teasingly slid them through her folds. 

It wasn’t the most comfortable position for your hand to be trapped in but the way she groaned at your fingers pushing into her made it worth it. You claimed her lips with yours, thrusting into her needy pussy with a perfect curl of your digits, one that made her choke a moan into your mouth, fingers digging into your upper arm where she held on.

A lewd sound filled the room with the way your fingers pulled out of her and pumped back in at a pace that had her reeling. When your thumb began to rub over her clit she had to pull back from the kiss trying to catch her breath, gasping out at the feeling. 

“Fuck, Y/N.” She sighed, attempting to quieten the moans that threatened to make themselves be heard across the neighbourhood by burying her face in your neck. She sloppily kissed at the skin, nails digging into the back of your neck where she grabbed on aimlessly. 

“Cum on my fingers, baby. Show me how good I am.” 

It didn’t take much more for her perfect groan of pleasure to sound beside your ear and her dripping walls to clench around your fingers as she came. It hadn’t quite satisfied you yet, you needed to show her what she’d be missing out on with him. Felt the need to prove just how much better you are than any man could ever be at making her feel blissfully fucked. 

You nudged her backwards from where she was still catching her breath with her chin resting on your shoulder, pulling your drenched fingers out of her and staring into her eyes as you sucked them clean. Humming at the taste as you pushed them into your mouth, making a show of you tasting her, cleaning up the beautiful mess she had made. 

She watched with parted lips as you pulled at her shorts, lifting up to let you pull them from her body along with her underwear, letting them pool to the floor beneath her. You eyed her glistenening slit with a hungry gaze, licking your lips in anticipation, dropping to your knees before her.

You wrapped your arms around her thighs, pulling her to the edge of the counter - hygiene be damned - and pressed a kiss to her still sensitive clit. Your tongue slid through her tentatively, her sweet juices covering your tongue and you lapped them up desperately. 

When you sucked at her clit her hand clamped onto your hair as she fought back a moan; you peered up through your eyelashes to see her, locking eyes with her when she peeked down at you. You saw how her face heated up, a pink blush creeping over her chest when you kept your gaze fixed on hers while you licked through her folds, teasingly flicking your tongue over where she needed it most.

She dug her heels into your back, pulling you into her frustratedly when you just made her grow even more desperate for you. You squeezed at the flesh of her thighs before harshly sucking at her bud, watching as her head fell backwards and her hand clamped over her open mouth to muffle the loud moan at the back of her throat. 

Her chest rose and fell in quick succession as your tongue expertly flicked over her clit, eating her pussy like your life depended on it; her hips bucked slightly as her hands pulled at your scalp, grinding herself onto your tongue in an urgent need for a release. The pull at your hair made you groan against her, vibrating onto her heavenly.

It barely took anything more for her to cum into your mouth, legs shakily wrapping around you whilst a poorly quietened moan ripped from her throat into the air around you. “Fuck.” She breathed as you lazily licked her through her orgasm, dragging it out and helping her ride it through.

You pulled away from her with your lips and chin covered in her arousal, darting your tongue out to clean yourself up. Joyce yanked you into a heated kiss, tasting herself in her blissed state.

When you pulled away for air you bent down to pull her underwear and shorts back up her legs before muttering to her.

“Next time Hopper is fucking you with his eyes, remember how I fucked you in his bathroom. Remember how your legs were shaking and you moaned my name - nobody could ever make you feel the way I do.”

She gulped at your words, stunned at the peck you planted on her lips before smiling and tossing her shirt to her. You were right, of course, nobody could make her feel the way you do. 

You turned and left the room with a smirk tugging at your lips whilst she tried to make herself look a little less freshly fucked. She stepped outside where you were talking to Hopper.

“Yeah we got stuck chatting - you’re taking your time with this food though so at least we haven’t missed anything.” 

He laughed at what he thought was a jest but Joyce smirked knowing it was as much of a dig at him you could come up with.

“Oh - Ms Byers - sorry again for talking for so long. You know what I’m like, my mouth has a mind of its own. My mother always said it’d get me in trouble one day.” 

She choked on the mouthful of beer she was attempting to swallow, smiling lightly at the discreet wink you threw her before sauntering across the grass to the rest of the group.

[rising-volteccers]

Hello there! I've been going through your blog and reading your posts. I've seen in a bunch of them how you mention that you see Friede having undiagnosed ADHD. Do you have headcanons about it? Thank you and have a nice day!

Heya! Thank you so much for going through my blog! You have no idea how excited I was to get this ask! I've been pretty open about my personal interpretation of him so to see an interest about it makes me happy! I will preface this by saying that once again, this is based entirely on my personal interpretation and my own experience being a (highly likely) undiagnosed ADHD-haver myself cause what better way to cope than inject it into your favs yeah?

That being said, here are my headcanons about it!

Friede's working memory is poor. Unless it's tied to something he's interested in, it's very easy for him to forget things. It's a genuine cause of frustration among his crew seeing that he keeps forgetting to share with them important information. Still, they don't truly hold that against him unless it truly affects the safety of the crew.

Mollie has listed down in Friede's medical file about it, and has subtly brought up the possibility of him getting it tested. Thus far he just doesn't have the time nor opportunity to do so since they keep traveling all around the world. That, and he simply forgot the discussion not too long after.

Friede's mind is often occupied by many thoughts, ranging from his surroundings to Pokemon related matter. It's hard to quiet them down at night, so he typically takes night shift and stays up until he dozes off at the captain's chair.

He stims by drumming his fingers atop the nearest surface, fiddling with the patches on his jacket or rock on his heels when he's deep in thought.

Speaking of patches, he loves collecting them alongside stickers. He has a small box filled with patches he never got around to add onto his jacket. He also has a sticker book filled with stickers he collected throughout his time traveling on the Brave Asagi.

Friede's special interest is Pokemon! He wanted to learn everything about them, and has vast amounts of knowledge about them theoretically. It means that early on in his career as a Professor, he struggled with understanding Pokemon beyond what he read up on them. It took meeting Cap for him to work on expanding his viewpoint.

Always feels like he needs to be doing something at any given point if he's not steering the ship. Has the tendency to simply walk around the Brave Asagi to get the energy out if he has nothing to do at the moment. At times he'll fly out on Charizard until he feels calmer.

Whenever he's bored and by himself without a task to focus on, he paints his nails. He uses clear nail polish typically and finds the act of applying them soothing.

Absolutely cannot stand screechy like sounds. It makes him tense and twitchy, wanting nothing more than to cover his ears and hope that the noise that persists in his ears would quickly fade.

If he's fixated on a task, Friede has the tendency to forgo eating and sleeping until it's completed. Thankfully Murdock's kind enough to leave him easy to eat meals or stores away a portion of something for him to eat later.

When it comes to food, Friede enjoys soft, somewhat chewy textures. Doughnuts hit that specific point of being lightly crispy when freshly fried but also having this nice chew between his teeth (at least the ones that Murdock makes). He hates slimy textures and ones where his brain thinks it'll be one texture but it ends up being another (for example, something that looks like it should be crunchy being soft instead).

While he's better at it, Friede has his moments of impulsivity. This can sometimes translate into recklessness, thus leading to moments where he might need to get patched up by Mollie.

Friede's stubborn in that at times, his long hair feels hypersensitive on the back of his neck or when his bangs cover his eyes but he refuses to get a haircut. Instead he wears his goggles and ties his hair almost the entire day until he goes to sleep in his bed.

Friede has multiple of the black shirts and pants that he wears often. He likes the feel and texture of it, not to mention it's easy to wash. He also have a bunch of t-shirts and casual jackets in his closet but he prefers wearing his current one most days.

On a bad day where he's mentally and emotionally exhausted, he tends to keep to himself. Stays within his room or in the captain's deck, keeping interactions to a minimum.