#US real estate crash

[finleycannotdraw]

if I had my way, I'd guide you to the rocks

everyone look at my oc his name is Casimir and he's a siren who forms an extremely unstable situationship with a shipwrecked sailor named Kieran.

tumblr i am begging. do not ruin my image quality 🙏

[yunahomes]

cash offer in real estate

Get a guaranteed offer on your home, today.

[eternalxvenus]

ˏˋ°• jealousy, jealousy *⁀➷

summary: You and Sarah have been seeing each other in secret for a while. When she catches you flirting with Rafe, she gets a little jealous.

cw: smut 18+, sarah cameron x f!reader, fingering, oral, scissoring, light nipple play, some fluff towards the end, JJ is a pain in the ass

wc: 1.8k

notes: based on this request from @percyswhxre !! this was my first time writing sapphic smut but i loved writing this and i really i hope you enjoy it!!!

You were at the Chateau having a lazy day with all the Pogues and Sarah. JJ and John B sipped on beers while you all listened to Kie recall the time John B had kissed her.

"Remember how you just kept apologizing and then tried insisting I was acting weird afterward?" She laughed.

John B shook his head. "That's not entirely true! And in my defense, JJ was the one who talked me up to it."

"Okay, now that is true... but I thought she was into you, man don't blame me," JJ chuckled, throwing his hands up in surrender.

The rest of you rolled your eyes and laughed at their banter. Pope and Cleo sat closely next to each other, and you sat next to Sarah with your legs draped over hers.

"Okay, realistically, who'd make the cutest couple in the group?" Pope asked everyone as the laughter died down. Almost instantaneously, everyone's eyes looked over to you and Sarah.

The fire in the middle of your somewhat circle felt like it moved directly in front of your face. You and Sarah had been seeing each other, but haven't told anyone else. It's not that you were ashamed, but you just weren't sure how everyone would take it. After all, she was John B's ex, even though they broke up mutually and on good terms.

Sarah laughed before giving you a quick glance. "Why are you guys looking at us? Personally, I think we all know the real lovebirds are Pope and Cleo. Look how cuddled up they are. No love club my ass."

Cleo shook her head, denying loudly. "No no no, don't try and put everyone's attention on us. You two have been all close and cuddly for a while."

The fire crackled lowly as everyone waited for your rebuttal. You shook your head with a sigh. "You guys are crazy."

JJ jumped in, pointing at you both with skeptical eyes. "We may be crazy, but you guys are hooking up, no doubt about it." 

You gasped, throwing a stick from the ground at JJ. "You're fucking drunk JJ." Sarah nodded in agreement, laughing. Her phone buzzed, and once she checked it, a smile formed on her face. "Come on guys, we're gonna go crash a Kook party."

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱✩•̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

The Twinkie finally pulled up in front of Tannyhill, and the music could be heard from a block away. Out the window, you could see the many bodies holding drinks, talking, dancing, and everything else Kooks did.

Upon entering, you guys got some sideways looks, but no one could say anything since it was Sarah's house. Everyone grabbed a drink and chilled outside. Topper came over and tried talking to Sarah, but she quickly brushed him off.

As you sat back, sipping your drink and people-watching, JJ leaned over and whispered, "I stand by my earlier statement. You know you could tell me." Referring to you and Sarah hooking up. You rolled your eyes and pushed him away, not wanting to deal with his pestering attitude.

A few minutes later, you stood up, announcing you were grabbing another drink. The inside of the estate was loud and humid. Rap music was blasting, and sweaty bodies were all around, drinking and dancing. After grabbing a Mai Tai out of the cooler, you see Rafe across the room talking to a few of his friends. Pushing the bodies out of the way, you made your way to him, smiling once he looked your way. "Hey Rafe, how are you?"

Rafe licked his lips and took in your body with a smile. It was known that he found you attractive, trying to flirt and make passes that you always ignored. "Hey pretty girl, I didn't know you were here. What can I do for you?"

⭑*•̩̩͙⊱✩•̩̩͙⊰•*⭑

Sarah tried to look into the house from her seat, wondering what was taking you so long. She went in after you to make sure there wasn't any trouble being started. When she walked in, she immediately saw you talking to Rafe. She watched as you placed your hand on his bicep and kissed his cheek before walking away.

There was a tense look on her face as you got closer to the door. You saw her by the door with her arms crossed. "Hey baby," you giggled, placing a hand on her hip.

She moved back, making your hand fall. "Don't 'Hey baby' me. You were flirting with my brother. You kissed him on the cheek!"

You tried to hide your smile but failed. "Aw, are you jealous?" Sarah scoffed. "Don't be mad! I was flirting just a little bit. For... this." You pulled a baggie out of your pocket that had weed in it. "I just wanted free weed."

She looked at the bag and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Next time you're gonna flirt with my brother for free weed, get enough for both of us. Plus you know he wants you," she stated rather than asked. You nodded, hands finding their way back to her hips, squeezing softly. "Yeah, but I don't want him. I want you." 

Sarah stared at your lips, which had formed into a cute pout before she grabbed your wrist and dragged you upstairs into her old room. She closed and locked the door, immediately pushing you onto the bed. Her lips crashed onto yours, and she kissed you hard. The feeling of her soft lips made you moan as your hands slid down to grip her ass through her shorts.

The blaring music from downstairs seemed to fade away as she moved down to your neck, biting and sucking. You brought your hands to the front of her shorts to get them off, and she did the same for you. Next to go were shirts and bras, leaving both of you in your underwear. You sat up, taking her nipple into your mouth and massaging her other breast. The softness of your hands elicited a quiet moan from Sarah's lips.

One of her hands cradles the back of your head while the other slides down to rub your covered clit. "You're already so wet and we've just started baby." Looking up to meet her eyes, you smile. "What can I say? Seeing you all jealous was hot as fuck."

Both of you removed your final piece of clothing then Sarah pushed you down once again, getting on top of you in the 69 position. "I'll never get tired of seeing your pussy so wet and ready for me." she groaned, not wasting any time and sucking your clit into her mouth. You moaned loudly, copying her movements with your tongue.

Sarah's hips stuttered as you slipped a finger into her hole that was begging for attention. She started rubbing your clit as she felt her orgasm approaching. "Fuuuuck– baby don't stop!"

You sucked harder and moved your fingers faster as she started to fuck herself on your fingers for more stimulation. A gush of wetness spilled onto your mouth and chin as she came, her whimpers filling your ears.

"I wanna see your pretty face when you cum," she breathed out as she maneuvered her body so that she was scissoring you. You squeezed her thigh as she rocked back and forth at a speed that made your eyes roll into the back of your head. "Ohmygod– Sarah right there, right fucking there!" 

The messy wet sound of your cunts sliding against each other was making your head spin. You pulled Sarah down to place a messy kiss on her lips, wanting her closer than what seemed possible. Her perfectly manicured hand found its way to your sensitive nipples, pinching them with a knowing smile.

The tight knot of pleasure in your stomach was getting tighter and tighter, you knew you wouldn't last much longer. "I'm so close... please, I wanna come with you," you whimpered out. Sarah nodded, and the rhythm of her hips became erratic and sloppy. "You ready baby?" she groaned, and the look in your eye said it all.

Your orgasm took over your entire body, and you almost screamed, leaving your pussy slicked and spasming while Sarah tried to keep her hips moving as her orgasm hit her too. "Oh fuck– God, I love you!" Sarah moaned out, not realizing what she'd said.

She moved to lay next to you while you both caught your breath. When your eyes finally opened, and you looked over at her, you could see the blush on her cheeks.

"You love me?" you asked softly, not sure if it was something she said in the heat of the moment or if she really meant it.

Her head turned to you, and she had a sheepish smile on her face. "Of course I do... you make it hard not to." 

You didn't try to hide the grin on your face as you leaned over and kissed her deeply. "You make it hard not to love you too."

The moment was broken when you heard your phone buzzing somewhere on the ground. When you found it you saw several missed calls and texts from the Pogues. They were all along the lines of 'Where are you?', 'We're about to leave.', and 'Is Sarah with you?'.

After rushing to get dressed and make your way downstairs, you hoped they didn't leave yet, or you and Sarah would be stuck with no ride. They weren't outside where you all originally sat. Walking to the front of Tannyhill, you saw the Twinkie parked in its spot with the doors open as everyone sat around waiting.

Kie saw you guys first. "Fucking finally! Where the hell were you guys? We've been calling and texting you both."

JJ chimed in, saying "I can't tell you where they were, but I bet I know what they were doing." Sarah flipped him off as she climbed inside the car.

"Topper and John B fought. Again." Kie said with an accusatory tone. John B shrugged. "He was being a dick."

You sighed at what seemed to be their never-ending rivalry. After a few minutes of silence, JJ tapped your knee. "So... where did you guys sneak off to?" he questioned, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Give it a rest JJ." You groaned.

He threw his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, fine! I'm just asking 'cause..." he looked at you with a smirk. "I'm pretty sure those are Sarah's shorts. And the hickey forming on your neck is a little distracting."

You felt your cheeks burn as you gasped, looking down at what were definitely Sarah's shorts. Everyone in the car— including you and Sarah— burst out in laughter. You flip JJ off in the middle of it as Sarah leaned in closer and kissed you lovingly on the cheek.

likes, comments, and reblogs are greatly appreciated!

[xveenusx]

Enough

Pairing(s): Rafe Cameron x fem!reader

Summary: Realizing that no matter what you do, no matter how much you love someone, you are still not enough.

Author’s note: I’ve had a severe case of writer’s block so please don’t hate my disappearance.

Rating: Pure brutal angst

Warnings: fucking painful

__________________________

I think I may have made a small miscalculation.

My eyes trailed over the mass of muscle currently spread out on my bed.

Rafe Cameron.

Kook King, heir to Ward's real estate empire, and asshole extrodinare was sleeping soundly in my bed. It was almost laughable if I wasn't so fucking terrified.

The sunlight danced across his tan skin, the sheets bunched up at his hips leaving little to imagination. My breath caught as my eyes followed the small happy trail causing memories of last night to assualt me.

Sitting on the chaise lounge chair, I curl up against the pillows humming softly to myself. Bringing the mug up to my lips, I bite back a smile at the utter relaxtaion on his face.

When Rafe told me to pack a bag, my stomach flipped with nerves. Being the maid of the infamous Cameron family wasn't exactly ideal in the eyes of his family let alone being a pogue. So we kept our relationship a secret at his request. He had too much to lose if his family reacted poorly.

People wouldn't understand. Ward wouldn't understand. That's what he always told me.

Yet, as much as I tried to understand his reasoning, a small part of me ached at the thought of it being much simpler: I just wasn't enough.

It was exahusting to say the least. Always having to hide and watch as other women with more social status and money than me throw themselves at him. It didn't help that Rafe had a tendency to flirt back causing the green monster known as jealousy to rear its ugly head in my face.

So I stuck with what I knew how to do: clean.

And just as I begin to fall off the deep end, straight over a cliff into overthinking, Rafe always manages to pull me back out. This time he did it by offering a small getaway.

The Cameron's weren't set to use their beach house for another month or so, leaving this entire property for Rafe and I to simply enjoy each other's company. Something we rarely get to do.

There was no need to pretend here.

A groan pulled me out of my thoughts directing my eyes to the bed. A cool salty breeze swept in from the open balcony doors, the sounds of waves crashing agaisnt the shore soothed me.

Rafe peered at me from under his arm with a frown marring his features.

"What's with that face?"

"I don't like waking up alone." He complained, staring at me expectantly.

Giddiness singes every nerve in my body as I set down my mug and scurry over to the bed. The moment my knees hit the bed, strong arms envelope me and tug me into a warm prison.

"Mmmmh." Rafe hums, burying his face into the nape of my neck while his hand slowly tugs my leg over his hip. A small giggle slips from my lips at his softness.

"Are you laughing at me?" His voice rumbled with sleep.

"Yes, you’re a very simple man to please."

"I didn't have you, and now I do. There, it's simple."

My heart melted at his words. For someone who struggled wiht expressing how he felt, Rafe always managed to knock me on my ass.

"What did you wanna do today?" I asked, trailing my fingertips along his face, placing every freckle, every spot to memory.

Blue crytsalized eyes follow me every move. "You. In every room in this house. Then outside."

Blushing at his words, I huffed in fake annoyance and playfully shoved his face away from me. "Rafe, I'm being serious."

"I'm being dead serious, baby." He nipped at my fingers before rolling over onto his back, dragging me directly on top.

I rest my chin on the tops of my hands that laid on his chest and stare at the beautiful man below me. Rafe's fingers thread themselves into my hair brushing it softly, alomst lulling me to sleep.

I wanted to capture this moment forever. The sound of the seagulls chirping, the smell of the salty breeze, the warmth of his body under mine, and the utter adortion that dances in his eyes as he looks at me. It was intimate and real. And for a moment, I allowed myself to dream about the possibility of this becoming a reality.

The abilty to hold his hand in public and kiss his body in private. Being able to go on dates and be on his arm for events and dinners. Hanging out with his friends and his family because I knew what they meant to him. Being able to wake up in his bed rather than sneaking out in the middle of the night. I wanted it all.

Our picture perfect bubble. And consider me naive, but I thought this moment would last forever. But the thing about bubbles is they always pop in the end.

"Guess what?" Rafe asked, his cerulean orbs intense and sincere.

A beaming smile stretched across my lips at the familiar phrase he always used. "What?"

"I love-"

"I love you." I beat him to it, making him let out a deep bellyed laugh. I was memoriezed, enamoured by every little thing he did. I wanted to hear it again and again.

Opening my mouth, "No take backs-"

A knock on the door interrupts me.

That's when our bubble pops.

"Rafe? Open up." Sarah Cameron's voice fillters in from the other side of the door.

My eyes dart to Rafe, only for his face to be painted with sheer panic. In seconds, I'm shoved off the side of the bed and fall onto the floor in a heap of sheets.

My mind took a moment to catch up with my body. But when it did, the flood of emotions that crashed into me were nothing short of excruciating. An immediate lump formed in my throat at his actions as I try to make quick excuses for him but nothing came to mind.

"Just stay down, please." The sound of his request has me closing my eyes, his words hitting me deep, knifelike in the size of the wounds that they left.

I nodded softly. I remain still on my side on the cold floor as I numbly stare at the wall.

"Sarah, what the fuck are you doing here? I had the beach house for the weekend." His words were low and sharp, nothing like how he spoke to me mere seconds ago.

"Chill out. My friends and I wanted to get away a little, plus I figured you were already here, so. "

"You brought those fucking pogues here?"

I hear her scoff. "Your friends are worse."

"Just make sure they don't steal anything. I know it's hard for them considering they wouldn't see this type of money in a life time." His words were cruel, twisting the knife deeper into my chest.

I couldn't help but wonder if there was a double meaning behind his words. I was a pogue, just like Sarah's friends, and it would take me years to afford even a fraction of what's in this beach house.

Was that how he saw me? Was this the reason why we couldn't be public?

"Have you seen her? She wasn't at the house when I left." Sarah's question drew me back to the present.

I held my breath as I waited for him to answer about my whereabouts. I couldn't take another hit.

"I know you have about two brain cells, but please tell me why you would think I know where the help is?"

All my breath left my body and I fought the urge to scream. A heavy weight sat on my chest as I blankly stared at the floor, my eyeballs burning in absolute mortification.

"God, you're such an asshole."

"I aim to please. Now leave me alone." With that, Rafe slammed the door shut but I refused to move a muscle.

Instead, I tried to focus on my breath. It was the only thing that would keep me from having a panic attack. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs but it's like my body forgot how to breathe.

Tears finally began to fall silently as I gasped for breath, clutching the sheet closer to my chest. Humilation pricked my very being as his words play on repeat in my mind.

Rafe was the best part of my day. He made me want things I didn't even know I wanted. And yet, this was how he viewed me. So small and insiginifcant.

Footsteps move in my direction but I paid them no mind. Moving was impossible, so I just stayed in the spot where Rafe thought I belonged— on the cold hard floor.

"I know how it looks, just give me a chance to explain." I felt him kneel beside me, his hand reaching to cup my face. I jerked my face away from him and return my attention to the wall.

"Can you please get off the floor?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"This is where you wanted me, right?" The words left a stale taste in my mouth.

My heart pounded in my throat as a hot flush filled my cheeks.

"Look at me." He demanded.

I couldn't. It hurt too much.

"Baby, please. Look at me." He touched my chin and I felt my body shudder.

"Don't touch me." The words tore out of my chest as I wrenched myself away from him.

Rafe's eyes tracked my movement and his face became very still as if contemplating his next move.

The level of betrayal I felt must have been painted on my face, because his expression shifted to one of regret.

"I made a mistake-"

"Stop." I snapped, lifting my hand to cut him off. "Get out. I need to change and leave before Sarah see's me."

"I drove you, where are you going to go when you don't have a car?"

My eyes narrow at his tone. Once again he was painting me as this helpless girl that was nothing without him.

"I have two legs that work perfetly fine."

Rafe crossed his bulging arms against his toned chest. "You're not leaving until we talk."

A fake laugh past my lips. "We're done, there's nothing left to talk about."

He let out a growl of frustation. "We're not breaking up."

Was he delusional?

"This is me breaking up with you. We are done, Rafe."

Rafe's icey blue eyes narrowed into slits. "Stop trying to break up with me."

"You threw me off the bed!" I shouted, my hands pointing to the floor where I laid moments ago, the shame still fresh as an open wound.

"You threw me off the bed." I repeated softer, my voice breaking at the end. "The bed, Rafe. Just so Sarah didn't see you with me."

"I shouldn't have done that-"

"It happened. It's done. Just let me leave."

Protecting what little self respect I had left was my only goal. No matter how much I loved him, it wasn't worth this constant stream of self doubt and humiliation that seemed to follow us like a plague.

Rafe stared at me for a moment before he jumped into action. Heading towards my suitcase, I watch frozen as he goes through my clothes, picking an outfit for me.

Taking several strides to me, Rafe shoved the clothes into my arms, his breath heavy. "Put these on."

"Rafe, what the hell are you doing-"

"I made a mistake. One that I'm going to fix right now. So stop fighting with me and put these on."

Unease filled me chest as my eyes dart to the clothes.

"How?"

"No more hiding. You and me, okay?"

I stared into his hopeful gaze, looking for even a flash of insincerity or deceit, but only found sheer determination. "Rafe, you can get out of this. I'm giving you an out-"

He shakes his head roughly, strands of golden hair falling on his forehead. "I don't want an out, I want you. So put the clothes on so I can go tell the world I love you."

I snorted, "Seems a bit melodramatic. Let's start small, yeah?"

Pushing his hair back, a sexy smile pulled at his lips. "Small."

I made my decision. Turning around, I grabbed the clothes and began to dress.

I wiped my sweaty hands against my mini white sundress as nerves begin to prick every bit of my skin. Rafe stood in front of me, his glacial eyes soft, with his hand held out for mine. "Ready, baby?"

Hope inflated my lungs as I placed my trembling hand in his, the cool feel of his rings brining a familiar type of comfort.

Rafe leads us out of the room and towards the staircase where voices floated up from downstairs. I was nervous. Extremely nervous. He was going to do it. Rafe was going to introduce me as his girlfriend to his sister and her friends, no less.

The sound of our footsteps echoed against the giant house causing the voices to slowly die away.

Coming into view, Sarah and the pogues are all perched in the living room wearing beach attire. An open bottle of tequila and shot glasses are spread along the table.

All eyes zone in on us before they zoom in on our clased hands. Sarah's eyes widened and I fought the urge to pull my hand from Rafe's grasp. As if sensing my thoughts, Rafe squeezed my hand reassuringly and moved me slightly in front of him.

He cleard his throat. "I uh-"

His eyes shot to mine. I let my fingers brush against his arm in encouragement, a proud smile gracing my lips.

This was the first step in the right direction. Once we told Sarah, it would be easier with each passing person.

Butterflies swarmed my stomach like a zoo. I knew how hard this was for him, but he was still doing this for me, for us. Rafe was finally making us a priority. The unattainble future now felt like it was within my reach.

"Sarah, there's something I want to tell you. I've um-well I've been seeing-"

The front door slammed.

"Looks like we're missing all the fun." Ward Cameron walked in, hand in hand with Rose. A loose linen shirt with thin pants dress his body with a hat and an expensive pair of sungalsses cover his face.

I felt Rafe's grip slowly loosen on my hand. Panic clawed at my throat as I turn my head to look at him. Rafe stared directly ahead with his jaw clenched. He refused to even look at me.

In a last ditch effort to cling onto the invisible string that held us together, I tightened my grip on his hand but Rafe jerked his hand away.

I felt the pressure in my chest finally pop and the string that once tethered us together finally tear. Dread sat in my stomach like lead and bile traveled up my throat.

He made his decision and once again, it wasn't me.

Heat rushed up my neck as I left my arms hang limply at my side. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't think. My shoulders slumped as I bit down on my tongue hard enought to draw blood.

It kept me from screaming.

"Rafe, thank god you brought the help. Though it looks like she hasn't been doing much cleaning." Rose tsked as she looked at the littered table in distaste. "Honey, be a dear and make us new drinks. Then when you have a minute, our bags are out front. Go ahead and put them in our room."

With a wave of a hand she dismissed me, as her and Ward walk passed me with no other acknowlegment.

My mouth went dry as I clenched my shaky shands together. I could feel Sarah's gaze drilling into the side of my head, but I couldn't look at her. Instead, I once again looked at the bane of my existance. The source of this crippling pain the crushes every inch of my soul.

"Rafe..." My voice trembled as I begged him, pleaded, for him to look at me. Just once.

I wanted him to see my face. He refused, the only hint of his turmoil was the bob of his adam's apple.

Swallowing my pride, I put my head down and do what I do best: clean.

____________________

I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me alive. I spent the rest of the day doing every little thing Rose asked. I kept my head down and said not one word.

Rafe made my place in his life very clear so I was going to be exactly what he wanted me to be. The perfect little maid.

The entire Cameron family sat at the table for dinner, John B included, as I gently set each of their plates down in front of them. I held my breath once I reached Rafe, knowing that one hint of his expensive musky cologne would send me into a fit of tears.

"Thank you." The timber of his voice caused me to close my eyes briefly in pain.

A familiar touch to my wrist made me jerk away and clear my throat. I continue serving dinner, forcing myself to ignore the gravity that's pulling me towards him.

"That'll be all, you can go relax for a bit. We'll need you back to clean up, of course."

"Of course." My smile was brittle. I allowed myself only a glance. Rafe glared down at his plate, hands clenched into fists at his side.

My feet moved on their own accord and soon I found myself outside, standing beside the pool that overlooked the shore. Taking in gulps of air, I placed my head in my hands.

Starting over was never something I planned. Once I met Rafe, everything else shifted into perspective. All I ever thought about was moving forward with him and starting a life together. One that he would be proud of. One where I didn't have to hide.

"I'm sorry." The words came from behind me and burned a whole straight through my chest.

I choked back on my tears that threatened to drown me and stare down at the rag in my hands.

"Baby." He moved closer now, his heat pressing into my side.

A small shake of my head was all I could muster. The armour I placed around my delicate heart was getting weaker with each passing second.

"I said, I'm sorry." His hand reaches for my waist, turning me to face my destruction.

A light blue linen shirt paired with white six inch seamed shorts don his body. A large gold watch decorated his wrist to match the shiny gold necklace that rested on his chest.

Looking down at myself, a simple tee and leggings, the contrast was so striking it was laughable. In what world had I fooled myself into thinking Rafe Cameron was mine.

Deciding to proctect my sanity, I moved back towards the house with every intention of cleaning up before grabbing my bag and leaving when Rafe blocked my escape.

"Did you hear me? I'm so fucking sorry, for all of it."

"I heard you." Indifference lacing every word.

Rafe gowled, running his hands through his hair in frustation at my lack of emotion. "Stop acting like you don't care and just talk to me."

"I don't care what your family thinks of me and I don't care what you think of me. I dont care anymore, Rafe."

Rafe gripped my chin and his irate gaze burned me. "Tell me what to do to fix it."

There was nothing left of me for him to fix.

The sound of Ward calling out my name is enough to distract Rafe. Pulling my face from his grasp, I promplty turned around and headed towards the house.

"Stop fucking walking." He barked out harshly.

Ignoring his words, I continue to head in the direction of the house. Only a few more hours and I can leave with my head held high despite the gaping hole in my chest.

"I swear to God, stop walking." I could hear his footsteps behind me causing a rush of adrenaline to spread like wildfire through my veins.

"Last time I checked, you work for my family. My last name is fucking Cameron so if I tell you to stop walking, you stop fucking walking." The words are cruel and dark and they have their desired effect because I stop immediately in my tracks.

My eyes began to burn as I pivoted on my heel and slwoly turned to face him. His gaze hardened and I can see him contemplating something before a vicious smirk decorates the face I love.

A glass tumblr was in his hand and I watched in absolute shock as he tilted the cup, spilling the dark liquid onto the floor. The rag in my hand suddenly weighed eight tons as I realized his intent.

"Clean it up."

My blood turned ice cold and a sound a disbelief left my lips.

"I said, Clean. It. Up." He gestured to the floor.

I searched his eyes for anything, for everything, but there's nothing there. Looking back down at the mess, I nodded my head and slowly dropped to my knees.

Tears blurred my vision as I scrubbed the floor clean, wanting nothing more than to disappear. Our fate was finally sealed in that moment.

Leaning back on the heels of my feet, I swallowed. Tears clung to my lashes but the damage was already done. The trails the tears left in their wake burned into my skin as a reminder of his cruelty.

His cold mask finally cracked at the sight of my tears. Rafe took a step in my direction but something in my face made him halt.

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Cameron?” I averted my eyes from his.

A harsh noise escaped his lips then he reached out and grabbed my shoulders. I closed my eyes at the heat of his touch and my lips began to quiver.

“I just wanted you to talk to me….” Rafe spoke softly, his words pained.

I wiped my tears harshly and forced myself to look at him for the last time. His hard glacial eyes study my face.

The memory from this morning continued to fade out of my reach. Pain filled me as I realized that was the last time we would ever be together.

“Am I free to go, Mr. Cameron?”

His face crumbled. For a second, one second, a twisted sense of happiness hit me at the sight of his pain. Rafe did this to us. Not his family, not his friends, but him.

Rafe’s face became very still. He nodded slightly and relief filled me. I stared into his eyes, hoping he could see all the love I had been so willing to shower him with, but it was now too late.

Giving him my back, I allowed the dirty rag in my hand drop. 20 more steps. That’s all that stood between me and the next chapter of my story. One that didn’t include him.

Each step seemed to get heavier the farther I walked away from Rafe. I was wrapped around a haze of heartbreak that almost made my movements mechanical.

I entered the house, numb to the bone, and gathered all my things. Everything around me was out of focus as I dragged my suitcase towards the front door.

I could see Rose from the corner of my eye, her mouth moving, but the ringing in my ears only seemed to get louder. Pushing past her, I headed straight for the door and forced myself not to look back.

Everything was different now. In a way, so was I.

One foot in front of the other, I walked down the drive way. The ringing in my ears and the adrenaline that pumped through my veins was suddenly dulled at the sound of the door slamming open behind me.

Loud footsteps echoed behind me before my arms are grabbed and I’m forced to turn around.

Rafe’s eyes were wild with panic as he panted in front of me. His entire appearance was disheveled with his hair sticking out in all directions.

“Don’t go.”

I was so close to being out of his grasp and being free of this agony that gripped me so tightly it made it hard to breathe.

“You were never mine. Were you?” The question slipped past my lips before I knew it.

“I love you. I do, please just come back inside and I’ll do what you want. I’ll tell Ward and Rose right now.” His blue eyes held so much hope, but it wasn’t enough. The magic was all gone, replaced with this cruel torment.

“I was yours, in every way possible. But, it didn’t matter what I did. I still wasn’t enough for you. I’m never going to be good enough, am I?” My voice cracked, but the words were out along with the realization of how painfully accurate they were.

Warm hands cradled my face pulling me towards his. Rafe rested his forehead on mine, his eyes boring into mine. I could feel the slight tremble in his hands.

“That’s not true. You know that’s not true.”

“How could I possibly know that? You never do anything that says otherwise.”

“I love a man who can’t even hold my hand in public.” He couldn’t hold me gaze, instead he turned it to the floor with his jaw clenched.

“You knew who I was when we started this. You knew what came with being with a Cameron. Our situation is much more complicated than you’re making it fucking seem. So I didn’t hold your hand, now you’re going to leave me?”

His logic was horribly flawed.

“Our situation is not complicated. All you had to do was love me the way I loved you.”

“Whether you like it or not, you’re a fucking maid,” Rafe said through gritted teeth,” The maid to my family, no less, and you expect to be welcomed in with open arms? This isn’t a fairytale, wake up.”

”Then what was the point of all of this? Of me loving you and you loving me, if it was never going to go anywhere.”

“The point was that we were together and we were happy.” Rafe let out a frustrated noise and shook his head. But it was clear, he wasn’t getting it. I knew nothing I’d say would ever get through to him.

“Were we? Together, I mean. Because I was always at your beck and call. Literally and figuratively. Where were you for my college graduation? Where were you when my dad died? I’ll tell you where you were,” I pressed my finger into his chest, “You. Weren’t. There. Instead, you chose to love me from afar because you care more about the opinion of sheep than you do me.”

I couldn’t stop talking. It was as though a wall cracked and suddenly every emotion I held in was flooding through.

“Look at me.” I shouted, grabbing his chin and forcing him to stare. “I want you to look me in the fucking eye. Look at the damage you caused. You did this to us. ”

“Stop being cruel.”

“Cruel? You threw your drink on the floor and made me clean it up. Did seeing me on my knees make you feel big and strong?”

He tilted his head, his expression darkening. “Enough. Come back inside, now.”

“I wanted everything for you.” I laughed at how incredibly stupid and blind I had been. “And you can’t even hold my fucking hand.”

Race’s eyes softened marginally. “Tell me what to do. How can I fix this?”

My stomach tightened. Steeling myself, I swallowed the lump in my throat and pushed out the next words. “You can’t.”

“I can, but you’re not give me a fucking chance here.” His words came out as a plea.

“Being with you was a choice I made every day. One that you clearly couldn’t make, so I’m making it for you. We’re done.

His jaw ticked. ”Try and fucking leave me.”

I wanted nothing more than to run back into his arms and comfort him, despite it all. But I knew, if I was going to survive this at all, I couldn’t be with him.

“I’m always running behind you, trying to keep up. Trying to be everything you want and everything you need, but I’m all out of breath. I have nothing left to give you. But it’s still more than you ever gave me.” With those being my parting words, I clutched onto the handle of my suitcase in a death grip and force myself to walk away from him.

My shoulders jump at the sound of something shattering behind me.

“I love you.” Rafe screamed at the top of his lungs from behind me. His voice was brutal and laced with pain.

Not enough.

_________________

Side note: pls let me know what you think! I’ve been gone for several months so I’m a bit rusty:) I am working on the second part of Hate as promised!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

No, Uber's (still) not profitable

Going to Defcon this weekend? I'm giving a keynote, "An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification and Throw it Into Reverse," on Saturday at 12:30pm, followed by a book signing at the No Starch Press booth at 2:30pm!

https://info.defcon.org/event/?id=50826

Bezzle (n): 1. "the magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it" (JK Gabraith) 2. Uber.

Uber was, is, and always will be a bezzle. There are just intrinsic limitations to the profits available to operating a taxi fleet, even if you can misclassify your employees as contractors and steal their wages, even as you force them to bear the cost of buying and maintaining your taxis.

The magic of early Uber – when taxi rides were incredibly cheap, and there were always cars available, and drivers made generous livings behind the wheel – wasn't magic at all. It was just predatory pricing.

Uber lost $0.41 on every dollar they brought in, lighting $33b of its investors' cash on fire. Most of that money came from the Saudi royals, funneled through Softbank, who brought you such bezzles as WeWork – a boring real-estate company masquerading as a high-growth tech company, just as Uber was a boring taxi company masquerading as a tech company.

Predatory pricing used to be illegal, but Chicago School economists convinced judges to stop enforcing the law on the grounds that predatory pricing was impossible because no rational actor would choose to lose money. They (willfully) ignored the obvious possibility that a VC fund could invest in a money-losing business and use predatory pricing to convince retail investors that a pile of shit of sufficient size must have a pony under it somewhere.

This venture predation let investors – like Prince Bone Saw – cash out to suckers, leaving behind a money-losing business that had to invent ever-sweatier accounting tricks and implausible narratives to keep the suckers on the line while they blew town. A bezzle, in other words:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/19/fake-it-till-you-make-it/#millennial-lifestyle-subsidy

Uber is a true bezzle innovator, coming up with all kinds of fairy tales and sci-fi gimmicks to explain how they would convert their money-loser into a profitable business. They spent $2.5b on self-driving cars, producing a vehicle whose mean distance between fatal crashes was half a mile. Then they paid another company $400 million to take this self-licking ice-cream cone off their hands:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Amazingly, self-driving cars were among the more plausible of Uber's plans. They pissed away hundreds of millions on California's Proposition 22 to institutionalize worker misclassification, only to have the rule struck down because they couldn't be bothered to draft it properly. Then they did it again in Massachusetts:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/15/simple-as-abc/#a-big-ask

Remember when Uber was going to plug the holes in its balance sheet with flying cars? Flying cars! Maybe they were just trying to soften us up for their IPO, where they advised investors that the only way they'd ever be profitable is if they could replace every train, bus and tram ride in the world:

https://48hills.org/2019/05/ubers-plans-include-attacking-public-transit/

Honestly, the only way that seems remotely plausible is when it's put next to flying cars for comparison. I guess we can be grateful that they never promised us jetpacks, or, you know, teleportation. Just imagine the market opportunity they could have ascribed to astral projection!

Narrative capitalism has its limits. Once Uber went public, it had to produce financial disclosures that showed the line going up, lest the bezzle come to an end. These balance-sheet tricks were as varied as they were transparent, but the financial press kept falling for them, serving as dutiful stenographers for a string of triumphant press-releases announcing Uber's long-delayed entry into the league of companies that don't lose more money every single day.

One person Uber has never fooled is Hubert Horan, a transportation analyst with decades of experience who's had Uber's number since the very start, and who has done yeoman service puncturing every one of these financial "disclosures," methodically sifting through the pile of shit to prove that there is no pony hiding in it.

In 2021, Horan showed how Uber had burned through nearly all of its cash reserves, signaling an end to its subsidy for drivers and rides, which would also inevitably end the bezzle:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/10/unter/#bezzle-no-more

In mid, 2022, Horan showed how the "profit" Uber trumpeted came from selling off failed companies it had acquired to other dying rideshare companies, which paid in their own grossly inflated stock:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/05/a-lousy-taxi/#a-giant-asterisk

At the end of 2022, Horan showed how Uber invented a made-up, nonstandard metric, called "EBITDA profitability," which allowed them to lose billions and still declare themselves to be profitable, a lie that would have been obvious if they'd reported their earnings using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP):

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/11/bezzlers-gonna-bezzle/#gryft

Like clockwork, Uber has just announced – once again – that it is profitable, and once again, the press has credulously repeated the claim. So once again, Horan has published one of his magisterial debunkings on Naked Capitalism:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/08/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-thirty-three-uber-isnt-really-profitable-yet-but-is-getting-closer-the-antitrust-case-against-uber.html

Uber's $394m gains this quarter come from paper gains to untradable shares in its loss-making rivals – Didi, Grab, Aurora – who swapped stock with Uber in exchange for Uber's own loss-making overseas divisions. Yes, it's that stupid: Uber holds shares in dying companies that no one wants to buy. It declared those shares to have gained value, and on that basis, reported a profit.

Truly, any big number multiplied by an imaginary number can be turned into an even bigger number.

Now, Uber also reported "margin improvements" – that is, it says that it loses less on every journey. But it didn't explain how it made those improvements. But we know how the company did it: they made rides more expensive and cut the pay to their drivers. A 2.9m ride in Manhattan is now $50 – if you get a bargain! The base price is more like $70:

https://www.wired.com/story/uber-ceo-will-always-say-his-company-sucks/

The number of Uber drivers on the road has a direct relationship to the pay Uber offers those drivers. But that pay has been steeply declining, and with it, the availability of Ubers. A couple weeks ago, I found myself at the Burbank train station unable to get an Uber at all, with the app timing out repeatedly and announcing "no drivers available."

Normally, you can get a yellow taxi at the station, but years of Uber's predatory pricing has caused a drawdown of the local taxi-fleet, so there were no taxis available at the cab-rank or by dispatch. It took me an hour to get a cab home. Uber's bezzle destroyed local taxis and local transit – and replaced them with worse taxis that cost more.

Uber won't say why its margins are improving, but it can't be coming from scale. Before the pandemic, Uber had far more rides, and worse margins. Uber has diseconomies of scale: when you lose money on every ride, adding more rides increases your losses, not your profits.

Meanwhile, Lyft – Uber's also-ran competitor – saw its margins worsen over the same period. Lyft has always been worse at lying about it finances than Uber, but it is in essentially the exact same business (right down to the drivers and cars – many drivers have both apps on their phones). So Lyft's financials offer a good peek at Uber's true earnings picture.

Lyft is actually slightly better off than Uber overall. It spent less money on expensive props for its long con – flying cars, robotaxis, scooters, overseas clones – and abandoned them before Uber did. Lyft also fired 24% of its staff at the end of 2022, which should have improved its margins by cutting its costs.

Uber pays its drivers less. Like Lyft, Uber practices algorithmic wage discrimination, Veena Dubal's term describing the illegal practice of offering workers different payouts for the same work. Uber's algorithm seeks out "pickers" who are choosy about which rides they take, and converts them to "ants" (who take every ride offered) by paying them more for the same job, until they drop all their other gigs, whereupon the algorithm cuts their pay back to the rates paid to ants:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

All told, wage theft and wage cuts by Uber transferred $1b/quarter from labor to Uber's shareholders. Historically, Uber linked fares to driver pay – think of surge pricing, where Uber charged riders more for peak times and passed some of that premium onto drivers. But now Uber trumpets a custom pricing algorithm that is the inverse of its driver payment system, calculating riders' willingness to pay and repricing every ride based on how desperate they think you are.

This pricing is a per se antitrust violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act, America's original antitrust law. That's important because Sherman 2 is one of the few antitrust laws that we never stopped enforcing, unlike the laws banning predator pricing:

https://ilr.law.uiowa.edu/sites/ilr.law.uiowa.edu/files/2023-02/Woodcock.pdf

Uber claims an 11% margin improvement. 6-7% of that comes from algorithmic price discrimination and service cutbacks, letting it take 29% of every dollar the driver earns (up from 22%). Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi himself says that this is as high as the take can get – over 30%, and drivers will delete the app.

Uber's food delivery service – a baling wire-and-spit Frankenstein's monster of several food apps it bought and glued together – is a loser even by the standards of the sector, which is unprofitable as a whole and experiencing an unbroken slide of declining demand.

Put it all together and you get a picture of the kind of taxi company Uber really is: one that charges more than traditional cabs, pays drivers less, and has fewer cars on the road at times of peak demand, especially in the neighborhoods that traditional taxis had always underserved. In other words, Uber has broken every one of its promises.

We replaced the "evil taxi cartel" with an "evil taxi monopolist." And it's still losing money.

Even if Lyft goes under – as seems inevitable – Uber can't attain real profitability by scooping up its passengers and drivers. When you're losing money on every ride, you just can't make it up in volume.

Image: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LA_BREA_TAR_PITS,_LOS_ANGELES.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

I’m kickstarting the audiobook for “The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation,” a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and bring back the old, good internet. It’s a DRM-free book, which means Audible won’t carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/09/accounting-gimmicks/#unter

Image: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LA_BREA_TAR_PITS,_LOS_ANGELES.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[lonelystarrs]

English Jewel

Everything was going great for Reo -he got his treasure back and playing with him in England together like they promised. He had Nagi all to himself again -until you came along, Nagi’s English Jewel. Nagi had no experience in relationships or girls so Reo thought until he crashed at your place after a night out.

Blue Lock Nagi Seishiro x FemReader

Warnings: 18+ MDNI aged up 20+ reo & nagi three years into Manshine contract in England • Handjobs (male receiving) • smut • fluff •

Nagi had no idea moving to England would change his life as drastically as it did. Packing was a hassle, moving into new accommodation was a bother, adjusting to new time zones was a drag. But it was all worth it for his pursuit in soccer, he’d never felt so enthusiastic for something in his life.. He enjoyed the company too, not feeling so abandoned by his parents anymore.

Reo was happy because their promise was kept, Nagi’s enthusiasm for soccer had intensified and playing alongside his treasure was all Reo could have dreamed of happening at this point.

It was all finally going his way, 3 years into their contract with Manshine taking the boys into their early 20’s.

It was great for both, not so much for Reo when Nagi met you.

Yeah, when Reo’s little treasure met his own thing to awe at, that being you who adopted the title of Seishiro’s little English jewel.

Reo thought it would fizzle out quickly because Nagi had no experience with girls or relationships, it would all be too much of a bother because relationships required effort and consistency. Something Nagi struggled with on a daily basis for basic life functions for himself, let alone another.

He didn’t like his spare time taken up, he wanted time to play video games, watch videos and just play soccer so that left him short on time for himself. Why would he waste more time on a girl, especially when he was soaring in his career so early on?

Nagi never took interest in anyone back in Japan, unless they were a virtual being on his screen he found no interest in real things. -oh maybe Choki, who he actually brought over to England with him.

Nagi only bothered with things that sparked him, that made him want to put effort in.

Unfortunately for Reo, into you his friend was. Scarily so for someone who had no experience in relationships.

“What do boyfriends do, Reo?”

“What are girls laughing about when they say guys can’t find it?”

“Uh, have you had sex yet Reo?”

Nagi wasn’t just a virgin in a sexual sense, but a complete virgin when it came to relationships in general. Nagi being Nagi though started acing everything without much effort, quickly becoming a great boyfriend like it was second nature. But how he had got to his 20’s without so much as even kissing a girl Reo didn’t understand.

So how did Reo end up in this situation now? Nagi going from a questioning virgin and asking him for advice a few months ago to listening to you almost bullying his friend sexually and Nagi enjoying it. Reo was pretending to be asleep on the giant sofa across from you guys from a night out, after a successful soccer win for their team.

You had turned up to the celebration party after, Nagi invited you without even saying anything.

Drinks were had until drunk and both boys ending up back at your place, you offered because it was closest and happy to accommodate. Reo not expecting to pull up to some fancy, huge English estate.

“S-shit pretty. It feels good.”

“Shhh, Sei you’re gonna wake up Reo.”

The sound was unmistakable coming from across the room, Nagi’s little pants and groans, you cooing in his ear to encourage him.

Your hand pressed into his hair, nibbling on his ear and using your tongue on his neck. Nagi’s face was buried into your neck, groaning as he rolled his hips, hard cock pressing against you through both your clothes.

“Wanna feel you, can I just put it in now?”

“Nagi don’t say it like that and Reo is there -no!”

“What a drag,”

He sighed heavily in frustration biting at him, his cock resting hard against his joggers, tip leaky and throbbing. You were caged under him on the sofa, after crashing here and squishing you under him Nagi awoke a few hours later and started to grind on you eventually waking you up. Bed humping had become something of a thing for him over the years, it was comfy, warm and he barely had to move -but having you under him now changed that dramatically. Humping you was much preferred.

He’d been chasing for release but couldn’t get it like this, it was becoming painful behind his joggers and he was sure he’d leaked through them at this point. He was sweaty and bothered, frustrated on not finding that high he was seeking.

He leaned onto one arm to pull his shirt up, holding the hem between his teeth to keep it out the way, then reaching back down and pull his joggers down to release his cock, slapping against his abdomen he sighed in relief at the cool air hitting it.

He muffled a little groan from the shirt in his mouth, eyes closing before meeting yours again. You laughed and pulled the material from his mouth tucking it into the collar to stay up.

“Can you get it wet for me Sei~?” You sang

“You just said no, so not really.”

You rolled your eyes flicking his forehead.

“Stop being spoilt. Use your head you genius.”

Nagi sighed, mumbling under his breath before he leaned back, gathering enough spit on his tongue before releasing it to land on his dick. He looked up to you as you smirked and reached out, his stomach clenching and dick flexing in your hand as a surprised groan left him.

“S’sensitive be nice,” he whined at you before leaning forward again planting his elbows either side of your head to hover over you, caging you under him again. Snowy white hair falling framing his face as he looked down at you, the dull light from the loom was breaking through one of the curtains and he could just see you.

“Move your hips Nagi.”

“Huh?”

“Like you’re fucking me, use my hand.”

“You’re not gonna do it for me? What a hassle.”

You snorted a laugh before running your hand over his tip, smearing the precum and spit over the head causing his hips jolted forward and an airy moan left him.

“Ngh -yeah like that pretty, d-don’t stop.”

“You’re so long Sei, you’re not gonna fit in me.”

You rolled your hand down feeling the length of him, pulling the skin down and back over his head before setting a pace. His hips started to move sloppily to chase you and his high, his mouth ajar as little pants of breath left him.

You could see in the darkness the pink tint over his nose and cheeks, his eyes half hooded and glazed as you took him to a place he’d not quite been before. The frustration finally feeling like it was breaking as he fucked into your hand, the way his hips rolled had you moaning into his neck with your tongue against his skin.

“I’m gonna- pretty I think I’m-“

“You gonna cum Sei?” He nodded his head, dropping his face to bury in your neck his weight preventing you from keeping your pace and stroking his cock, he flexed in your hand as he took it upon himself to get to the finish line. His hands gripped the cushions above you as he set a brutal pace you didn’t know Nagi had in him. He was actually pressing you into the sofa as he started rutting with his hips aggressively, it caught you by surprise compared to his usual lazy attitude and movement. God if he was gonna fuck you like that you’d melt under him, he was so needy and desperate yet held this air of dominance about him that lay beneath it all.

“Grip it tighter,”

Rolling his hips as his wet dick fucked into your hand, grip tightened from the space of his stomach and yours sandwiching him.

“Shitshit- cummin’ pretty, I’m cumming.”

He hardened in your hand, groaning against your neck as his hips stuttered forward his stomach twitching as he tried to keep thrusting, the spasms went through his body as he spilled onto your hand and stomach.

“Such a good boy Nagi~”

He moaned against you as your hand moved, using his cum to aid your stroking and a whiny moan left him.

“N-No don’t, s’sensitve. Don’t be mean- Hah- pretty please don-“

Your other hand ran through hair as he went to try pull away from you, his hips rising but your hand gripped in his hair stopping him from pulling away.

“Sorry Sei, m’not done.”

Another whiny moan left him as you focused your palm on his head rolling it over, wet with cum and spit he struggled to keep still, hips rolling uncontrollably as you kept up a pace.

His eyes widened as he looked down to watch your hand, drool leaving the side of his mouth as he left it ajar slightly, he watched your hand coated in his cum and using it to drive him into overstimulation.

“Feels like m’gonna cum again,”

“Yeah?”

He nodded dumbly, as his body started to protest on its own against you over stimulating him. He bucked, rolled and twitched his hips, doing anything he could but unable to pull away at the same time. It was torture but feeling so close to cumming again was making him push through it, just about.

“Ye- pretty I’m gonna-“

Nagi didn’t finish, he groaned so loudly you had to clamp your hand that was in his hair across his mouth. His eyes rolled back as he recoiled his body but you didn’t release him, hands digging into the sofa either side of your hips shooting another load up as his hips moved for you, his thrusting was sloppy and stuttered.

He pulled your hand away before leaning back over you, his arms shaking slightly as he panted through his nose above you.

You removed your hand and rose it to your mouth, tongue leaving to let him watch you clean your hand up. Nagi’s eyes were blown watching you clean his cum from your hands as the buzz vibrates through his body, his cock still hard and twitching at what he just went through. His body was humming and he suddenly felt exhausted as his high left him.

He looked down at the mess on both your stomachs and sighed.

“S’messy, what a hassle.”

You shrugged and followed his eyes.

“Get up, we’ll go shower.”

Nagi groaned again and slumped forward onto you, the warm sticky mess between you made your nose scrunch at the feel of it.

“Get up fatty!” You hissed, still whispering as to not try to wake Reo.

“M’not fat.” Nagi pouted in a whiny tone “-take that back.”

Unknown to you both Reo was laying flat on his back staring at the ceiling with wide eyes, a raging hard on resting against his stomach and trying to not make a move hoping you’d both still think he was asleep.

That was the last fucking time he was crashing anywhere with you both.

© pharix 2023 permission is not given to repost, translate or post anywhere else.

[jojo-heritage-posts]

joseph joestar is so. he’s crashed four planes. became a real estate agent. he’s an objectively awful person. just a horrible, horrible man. got married at 18. cheated on his wife. faked senility when confronted with his bastard son and affair. loves his grandma. collects comic books. his first ever appearance is him beating up two cops. fought an immortal god inside an active volcano. he’s had to watch himself and his entire family before and after him lose their lives and childhoods to the joestar curse. likes weird al. he thought it would be funny to pretend be the man who had tormented his entire bloodline and killed any friend they’ve ever had. just as a little prank. tactical genius who can’t do simple math. died once but he was resurrected so it’s fine. his solution to killing a vampire was use tommy gun. and when that doesn’t work, use grenades

[slayfics]

Muichiro finds it hard to forgive himself after he hurts you during training.

It was a hot day and you were doing your usual training with Tokito just outside his estate. Every time you trained with him it seemed he used more and more of his real strength. It was challenging to keep up, but brought you joy knowing your skills were increasing.

Today he was coming at you particularly hard. Muichiro had noticed your drastic increase in skill and he wanted to push you even farther still. He swiftly dodged your attack and then lunged at you almost full speed.

It was a speed you had only seen him use against demons before, never with you in training. You barely dodged him but not out of the way enough. Your foot tangled against his and you went crashing into the floor. Your arm outstretched to catch your fall but slid on the slick dirt causing your cheek to slam into the floor.

Before you could process what happened Muichiro was at your side lifting you up into an embrace, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed, panicking.

"It's alright Tokito," you uttered, still seeing stars. The Hashria gently brushed his hand against your face to wipe off dirt and tiny rocks embedded in your cheek. Sprinkles of blood escaped from your cheek.

“Let's go inside I'll tend to you," he proposed.

"It's fine Tokito, I can keep going," you protested.

"No! I hurt you, let me care for you!" He demanded bringing you up into a standing position.

He placed your arm around his neck for support, causing you to let out a giggle, "Tokito, I can walk just fine. It's just a scratch."

"No, you hit your head pretty hard! You might be dizzy," he said, shaking his head feverishly back and forth.

He wasn't wrong, you were still recovering your balance. You let the Hashira lead you inside where he gently helped you sit down. He then frantically began to look around the estate for supplies.

"Ok, here is this," he said, handing you some water. Then proceeded to dip some medicine in a towel. He placed the towel against your cheek to clean your wound. The sting of the medicine made you flinch.

"I'm sorry!" He exclaimed again, this time you noticed the dampness in his eyes.

"Tokito stop, I am ok. There is no reason to be so upset-"

"YES! I'm supposed to be helping you get stronger, not giving you injuries!" He yelled in response.

"That just comes with the nature of training. Sometimes you fall down. This wasn't serious at all. I've had plenty of worse injuries." You tried to reason with the Hashira.

As if you hadn't spoken at all Muichiro continued to mull over your wounded face, "This is probably going to swell and bruise," he said, lips in a full pout and a tear finally escaping him.

You let out an exasperated sigh, "You're exhausting you know that."

"I'll get something cold to place on it right away," he said, starting to stand up but you grabbed his hand, halting him.

"Tokito stop. That's enough," you said harshly.

"No! I c-" he started to object when you pulled his hand closer until he was within reach to kiss. You pressed your lips against his trying to relax the Hashria.

"There now you've calmed down," you said, pulling away with a playful smile on your face.

"Don't kiss me, I don't deserve it." He said squabbling with more tears falling.

"You're relentless aren't you," you said before moving closer to plant kisses all over the Hashira's face. After the sixth or so kiss his lips parted and an amused laugh escaped his lips.

"Stop~" He tried to object, but your kisses persisted until he was breaking out in full laughter.

"There, that's better," you said and laid your head in his lap. "Now shhh, I forgive you Tokito and I'm not in any pain. Please stop being so hard on yourself."

He placed his hand on your head, "I know you're tough... but I should have been fast enough to catch you."

"Shhh, or else I'll attack you with kisses again," you responded and Muichiro laughed.

"Don't threaten me with a good time," he smirked.

Tagging those that asked~

@plvuii @aeolia18 @muichirouswife @yandere-kou

[deadbydangit]

Reader who was the killers wife/fiance before the realm? They were looking for killer for months after they were taken, and now they have to be a survior with their killer partner forced to hunt them, even after all the mental anguish of trying to find them after they went missing :((

This with Ghostface, Trickster, Wesker, Knight, and Artist possibly?

You can choose if Reader knew of some of the killers real selves. I'd imagine at least for a few of them (like Danny or Knight), they did.

Thank you! 💗

Aww. That's so sweet. I think I can do that. Sorry if it's a bit sad. Please enjoy.

With a Reader who was married to the Killer in a previous life.

Ghostface, Trickster, Mastermind, Knight, Artist

Ghostface

He's stalking you.

You're totally unaware.

Until he catches your eye.

No... It can't be...

His heart stops

You're alive.

With shaking hands, he approaches you.

Dropping his knife.

"S/O?"

He's so afraid this isn't real.

He's missed you so much.

With the mask, you won't know it was him.

You've just seen the masked person running around and killing others.

Obviously you're frightened.

Danny realizes this, and throws off his mask.

He's been crying.

You started crying.

He pulled you into his arms in the tightest embrace.

Until the thought hits him.

He's going to have to kill you.

So while you're blubbering affection.

He's thinking about how he's going to have to hurt the love of his life.

You'd understand...right?

Trickster

Ah, another survivor hiding in a locker.

His favorite.

Watching their look of horror as the claw to hold onto the back.

He throws up the door to see a pair of horrified eyes.

Eyes he knew.

Your eyes.

Sinking to his knees and trembling, he reaches to touch you.

Was this a trick the Entity was playing on him?

Were you real?

You were!

Ji-Woon will yank you out of the locker and pull you into him.

He's missed you so much.

"My darling!"

You know that voice!

He was estatic.

He could finally see his one true love again.

The only person he had ever loved.

But then it hit him.

But he'd also have to kill you.

He'll explain the situation tearfully.

Understand that he doesn't want to do this.

He's forced to.

So, please, run.

Mastermind

He must be seeing things.

It couldn't be you.

You were back home.

Safe and unharmed.

Rushing in, he grabbed you by the throat.

Listening to those sounds.

Those little cries.

It was you!

He immediately dropped you onto your feet before enveloping you in a hug.

"Dearthart. I'm so sorry. I wasn't aware it was you."

Wesker won't cry.

But it looks like he will.

"My love, I'm so sorry. Why are you here? You don't deserve this."

He won't let anything happen to you.

He's a smart man.

He knows the Entity will have him try to kill you.

But that won't happen.

That damned beast could torture him however it wants.

It won't lay a tentacle on you.

Ever.

He'd die for you.

"I'll protect you. Forever."

Knight

Tarhos is always very focused in trials.

So much so that he doesn't realize who he's going after.

It was Durkos who first noticed that it looked like you.

No, it couldn't be you.

Tarhos had missed you dearly.

He would never say love, but he did.

He adored you.

His men knew that all too well.

As Tarhos spotted a survivor working on a generator, he grinned.

Finally.

Raising her sword above his head to stroke down, he saw a pair of eyes.

Eyes he knew.

Looking at you shaking like a mouse.

He promised himself that he'd never hurt you, never make you afraid of him.

And that promise was crashing down.

Throwing off his helmet, he bent down to your height, cradling you in his arms.

"Forgive me dearest."

Wiping the tears from your eyes with his blood stained gloves.

He was a monster.

But he was a monster that would protect you.

The Entity could kill him for all he cared about.

He wouldn't lay a finger on you.

Artist

She doesn't see as well as she used to.

The ink and anger clouds her vision.

But she knows it's you.

She was slow to approach.

Unlike some other killers, she didn't retain many of her human features.

She knew she was a monster.

But it was worth a shot.

You knew it was her.

That ever present curious look that was in Carmina's eyes.

She leaned in closer to you.

She could no longer speak, she could no longer hold you.

And, eventually, she'd have to kill you.

The thought made her ill.

As you approached, she slashed at the air next to you.

She wanted you to hate her.

To run and scream.

To be afraid.

She wouldn't be able to show you mercy.

It would be easier if you hated her.

[thedeviltohisangel]

All The Things I Did (Interlude): My Little Bunnies

a/n: happy belated easter to all those who celebrate! i wanted to write john & cass' first easter as parents and it became a 10 page fic with smut/fluff/angst. read on to meet their twins, meet cass' parents, learn more about her family history and so much more. and to the anon who sent an ask about them getting a bloodhound, yes. he is here. this was a real labor of love but it is my gift to you. i hope you all love it and please come let me know your thoughts on this little family. xoxo

warnings: smut

When Cass was quiet, it meant she was thinking. And since they had left the driveway of their beach house, she had been quiet. A notebook in one hand and a pen and leash in the other, John thinks she was attempting to memorize her to-do list for Easter Sunday.

“You know part of the reason I was convinced into coming here this weekend was your insistence on family walks,” he looked down at the two little bundles that were already gazing right back at him, “tell Mama she can relax for one night.”

“I’ll relax after everything goes off without a hitch tomorrow. It’s their first Easter and our first time hosting a holiday and the first time my family is seeing the house and-” She paused as Gale let out a sound of discomfort and started to squirm in the carriage, Cass quickly reaching down and smoothing a finger over his cheek with a coo. He quieted just as quickly at her touch and blinked up at her sleepily. “There, there my sweet boy. I’m right here.” Not for the first time, and not for the last time, John was endlessly amazed by his wife. How she managed to be a mother, a wife and still impress the brass in DC was beyond his comprehension. He hadn’t known it was possible to fall more in love with her and here he was. Falling in love with her more and more everyday. 

“We Egan boys get cranky when you aren’t around to dote on us.”

“Is that so? Do you agree with that, Butter?” The bloodhound gave a gentle bark in answer which John took as his agreement. “Well, Miss Penelope does have a habit of looking at every plane in the sky while she waits for you to come home.” He grinned so wide his eyes crinkled at the corners.

“That’s my little lamb,” he said with a gentle tickle to the top of her tummy, her giggles making her parents laugh right along with her. “And what about you? What do you do all day while you wait for me to come home?”

“Oh, I just stare longingly out the window because the thought of you not being around paralyzes me, Lieutenant Colonel Egan.” Cass held her hand to her forehead and feigned hysteria.

“I guess it is kind of beautiful here,” John relented as their walk took them to the beach. The waves were crashing against the sand as the sunset laid a pink backdrop to the view. He lifted his arm and Cass fell into his side with ease.

“I told you so,” she murmured against his chest. Cass had loved growing up on her family’s estate outside of Charleston. She had learned more about life running around that land than she ever had anywhere else. But every summer her mother would take her and siblings for Kiawah Island, where her father would join on occasion, and she would roam free on the sand and in the sun. There were no boys trying to dance with her and her mother didn’t yell at her for being barefoot and she was able to laugh loud and run fast and there were no consequences. “You see that gray house with the white balconies a few hundred yards that way?” She pointed in the general direction and John shaded his eyes to look. 

“That’s not a house, Cass, that’s a mansion.”

“That’s my parents house. My dad built it for my mom when I was little,” she said sheepishly. When she had been old enough to truly understand love and relationships, she had thought it was the most romantic thing. Had seen how happy it made her father to provide for her mother. How happy it made her mother that it was hers and only hers and almost a monument to the life they created together. “Since then, I’ve always wanted to raise my own family here.” John watched her caress the cheeks of their sleeping children with a smile.

“All I ever want, Cass, is for you and Gale and Penelope to be happy and safe. Nothing else matters to me.” The white house that was surrounded by trees on one side and the beach on the other had been a dream of Cass’ for a long time. She had told him about it back at Thorpe Abbotts and he had dreamed about it in his bunk on those cold German nights. Dreamed about buying it for her and carrying her over the threshold and filling it with their love and the pitter patter of little feet. 

“Lucky for you, that’s all I want, too. And maybe some more kisses.” 

“You’re saying I don’t kiss you enough?” he asked with raised eyebrows. She shook her head.

“Not nearly enough.” John had worked overtime for months to set aside enough for the down payment. Had turned down her father’s offer to buy it as a wedding gift. He had wanted to get this for her, for his wife, all on his own. She was the reason he was alive. It was only a drop in the bucket for what he owed her. 

“It’s talk like that that got us here in the first place,” he whispered with a nod towards the carriage. “You being a little kiss thief.” Butter whined with displeasure.

“He doesn’t like when you’re snarky to me.” Their chests were pressed together now, his nose bumping hers as he laughed. “You’re the one that spent his whole puppy life telling him he had to be my guard dog,” she added with a gentle poke to his chest. Cass had just sweet talked her way into convincing John that Butter was meant to come home with them, having found him in a horse stall at her family’s place, when he asked if she wanted to take a drive to the beach. She thought he meant somewhere close but as they drove past the turn for Folly she began to get an idea of where he was taking her. She remembers her heart sinking when SOLD was in big red letters on the sign. John had asked if she wanted to take a look around anyways. For old time’s sake. 

“Yeah and when he successfully chased that crazy bird away from you last month you were very grateful for it.” He scratched behind the hounds ears for good measure.

“I was. Seagulls scare me, you know that.” Ever since one had snatched her lunch right out of her hands on the very beach they were looking at when she was still in pigtails. Cass had told him that story while they walked around the house. Her hands wistfully touching the floors and her smile at the scent of the water making it hard for John to keep the secret in. She had known back then she was pregnant, hadn’t found the right time to tell John yet and hadn’t known there were two baby Egans on their way, but had told him she hoped this house made a family happy. That they loved it the way she had as a little girl and didn’t change a thing. He had told her to close her eyes and hold out her hand. And she looked confused at the cool metal that he placed in her palm, understanding registering when she opened her eyes and saw it was a key.

 What do you say we fill this house with our family, my love?

----

As it was most mornings, her nightgown was bunched around her waist as she gasped into John’s mouth. She was gently rotating her hips while his fingers gripped her hips tighter and tighter and his hips thrusted up into her slowly. 

“Fuck, John,” she moaned as he sat up and kissed her roughly. 

“You close, baby?” It was always a bit of a race to get there before the twins woke or before a housekeeper or nanny knocked on the door to get the day started. John wished he had all the time in the world every time but wouldn’t trade the moments he had with her for anything, no matter how quickly they went. “Look me in the eyes, my sweet girl.” His thumb found her clit between them and pressed until she threw her head back.

“Don’t stop, please don’t stop,” she panted as she knocked her forehead against his. John wouldn’t even dare to think to stop as she came undone around him and his own finish followed instantly. He fell back against the pillow, her lips on his the entire time, and stroked her cheek gently as he tried to regain control of his breathing. “Think they’ve got five more minutes in them so we can-” The sound of one baby crying pierced the tranquility followed in quick succession by the other. 

“That’s a no,” he remarked with a smile. “They probably think if they cry loud enough, you won’t make them dress all fancy and go to church.”

“They are always perfectly well behaved at church.” Butter’s barking joined the cacophony and the bubble was fully burst. “If you let him out and start the coffee, I can change diapers and get their clothes out.” He gave her bottom a gentle pat as she begrudgingly let him slip out of her. 

“Hey, Spook?” Cass turned from where she was slipping her underwear on. “I love you.” Unable to keep herself from blushing, she pecked him one last time before the craziness of the day settled in. 

“Hey, John?” He hummed with delight as his nose rubbed against hers. “I love you, too.”

----

True to her word, the twins behaved like angels at their first Easter mass. Gale had only tried to kick his shoes off for a few minutes and Penelope had only required John to make silly faces through one hymn. Cass had rolled her eyes on their way out the door as her husband produced two stuffed bunnies from behind his back and tucked them between their fingers. She had reminded him they each had a whole basket of stuffed bunnies waiting to be opened by the fireplace and probably many more arriving as gifts later in the day. One more from their dad couldn’t hurt was all he had to say.

The house was near mayhem when they arrived back. Caterers had taken over the kitchen, their house manager Alice was leading a small army in pillow fluffing and men with white gloves were polishing glasses in the dining room. John was once again reminded how differently he and his wife had grown up.

“Mr. and Mrs. Egan, Happy Easter, I hope you had a wonderful morning.” Alice reached for Cass’s purse and gloves, taking them before smiling at the sleeping twins who each had a head on one of their father’s shoulders. “I can have Joan take them off your hands, sir.” 

“It’s quite alright, Alice, I think the three of us are going to find a cozy spot on the beach to keep out of my lovely wife’s way.” 

“Perhaps someone could find them an umbrella and blanket and chair?” Cass inquired as she began to walk towards the kitchen, handing Alice her hat as well along the way. “How’s the ham looking? It smells wonderful.”

“Yes, ma’am, we’ll get the beach set up for them. And the ham should be ready to carve exactly as we scheduled dinner for.” John side stepped around a group carrying boxes down the hall. “That would be the two options for porcelain Mrs. Cooper sent for your consideration.”

“Porcelain?” John thought it was a simple family dinner. He didn’t think it would be such an affair when Cass broached him with the idea of hosting.

“Yes. And if I pick the wrong one then I will never hear the end of it.” She turned back to Alice. “I’ll need to see a complete place setting of each one.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll have them get right on it.” 

“What happened to you not wanting to be reduced to a housewife?” John asked as he walked towards the back door, Cass opening it for him and following him down the back steps and onto the sand. 

“I just want everything to be perfect today. I’ll be back to the Spook you know and love as soon as this is over.” 

“First, I love all of you, all the time. Second, I heard you talking to Alice and Joan about hiring more staff, that word is honestly beyond my comprehension, when we go back to Virginia.” Cass took Penelope from him and laid her gently on the shaded blanket that had been set up, her hand brushing over her curls and kissing her forehead gently. 

“And? You don’t want the help?”

“I thought the two of us were getting by quite well on our own.”

“I can’t put off going back to work any longer and I want someone I know and trust with them during the day. And if Alice or Joan are watching them, then they need someone else to do the things they have been doing.” Sure her and John had figured out a rhythm. But eventually Cass needed to get back to doing the work she loved. Rediscover who she was just as Cass and not just as John’s wife or her children’s mother. “Besides, they aren’t watching them so I can go to tea or try on dresses. I need to get back in there. You know what they’ve been saying about Korea.”

“Is that what you’ve been worried about? It’s a few years from anything active, Cass, if anything at all.” She wasn’t used to the anxiety that coursed through her veins after she had the twins. Wasn’t used to feeling her chest so heavy when she thought about how hard this world was going to make it to protect them. 

“Yes, but if I can even do one thing to help prevent them from having to live through a war…” She trailed off and wiped angrily at her eyes, lifting Penelope against her chest and kissing the top of Gale’s head where he still rested against John. “I don’t want them to ever have to experience anything like what we went through.” He gathered her into his side and kissed her temple.

“We went through that so they could live in a better world,” he said softly. “Came out the other side because right here, right now is where we belong.” She looked up with a laugh as she noticed Butter trotting his way over to them, his nose sniffing at Gale and Penelope before he plopped on his side in the shade. 

“If it bothers you, I’ll tell them all to go home and never come back. The five of us can figure the rest out.” 

“No, they’re fine. It’s just not how we did things in Wisconsin. It’s taking some getting used to.” He had assumed Cass came from money when he met her. The well-manicured nails and silk nightgowns and impeccable table manners cluing him in. He just hadn’t realized he was marrying into a Carolina rice dynasty. It came with multiple homes and polo matches and hunting trips and acres of land and hundreds of employees in the home and around the burgeoning corporation. For so long, Cass had thought marriage and kids were not in the cards for her so the structure of a household was a non-existent problem. But then she had fallen in love with John Egan and married him in London and spent two years dreaming of their future and the comforts of her childhood had found their way in.

“Well, Butter, you keep an eye on these three while I pick out porcelain and tie drapes and whatever the heck else a lady is supposed to do these days.” With one last kiss to the top of her daughter’s head, her son’s head and her husband’s head, Cass was off and pulled into a million directions upon re-entering her home. Whenever she could, she would look out the window at her husband tickling their tummies or helping them put sand in a bucket or carrying them to dip their toes in the water. She knew none of the material things around her mattered. And if it made John more comfortable to get rid of them, she would in a heartbeat. She only needed those three humans and the one furry family member to be happy. To be fulfilled in this life beyond her wildest dreams. Any threats on the horizon be damned.

----

Cass waited anxiously for her parents' new Italian sounding car to pull into the driveway, her siblings, extended family and some of the local friends her and John had found already socializing about the house and grounds. She had taken a sip of her husband’s whiskey she was so nervous. 

“Baby, I know for a fact your dad is going to be too focused on the twins and the other grandchildren running around to even care about the way I carve the ham. And who cares if your mother doesn’t like the color of the shutters? I didn’t spend a whole weekend painting them for her.” He had for Cass. She had spent days deciding between two shades of green that John thought were exactly the same but had provided his minimal input when asked. 

“I rewarded you handsomely for your efforts, Mr. Egan.” John remembered. They hadn’t left their bed for days after Cass couldn’t stand the sight of him sweaty and with a pencil tucked behind his ear working on their house any longer. She had had her way with him and John had taken on many more projects around the house ever since. And every time, his wife was unable to maintain even a shred of decency. 

“I never got that round two you were mentioning this morning, Mrs. Egan,” he mused as he drifted closer and closer until his hands wrapped around the small of her back and her arms draped over his shoulders.

“We have a house full of guests,” she giggled as he nipped gently at her lips. 

“Yes but the babies are occupied which means no little angelic interruptions.” She moaned as he pressed a searing kiss to her lips, her toes curling in her new heels. 

“Not even on Easter Sunday can you two find a sense of decorum?” 

“Shush, Gale, they’re in love,” Marge said with a gentle slap to his arm. If Gale Cleven had a nickel for everytime he had caught the two of them in various stages of passion, he would have been able to use the profits alone to buy a similar house to the one he was standing in.

“Oh, I am so happy you were able to make it!” Cass kissed Gale on the cheeks eagerly and let out a squeal of delight as she wrapped Marge in a hug. “I’ve got you both all set up in the guest room furthest from the nursery so you can hopefully sleep in peace while you’re here.” Before John could even say his own hello, Cass and Marge were off towards the backyard with their heads close together as they whispered. 

“Well, we did always say they’d be thick as thieves,” he remarked as he grabbed the suitcase Marge had abandoned by the door. “Up this way.” Gale smiled and nodded politely at all the strangers that were dressed in black and white, bustling in and out of the kitchen and dining room with haste. He could only imagine how it was driving his best friend crazy.

“Who would’ve thought? John Egan having ten people cook his Easter dinner for him,” Gale teased as John set the suitcase down in the guest room and dropped himself into the armchair by the window. 

“I hear it’s being served on porcelain,” he mused back. Gale settled in the chair across from him. 

“It’s a beautiful house, John. You’ve got to be proud of yourself.” John stared out the window and nodded.

“Yeah, it is. Makes Cass happy to be out here.” It wasn’t that she was unhappy at their home in Virginia but John knew she missed South Carolina. Missed the beach and her family being close by. 

“And are you happy?”

“With her and the kids, always. Just learning this new side to her is all.”

“That seems to be what marriage entails. Learning to love something new everyday.” The hum of a car engine broke the comfortable silence between two old friends and Gale peeked out the window with a low whistle. “Is that a Maserati?”

“That it would be, Buck. You want to come distract my mother in law with your good looks for me?” When John and Cass had their more official wedding last year, Buck Cleven had been the hottest commodity. The women of Charleston hadn’t given him a moment to breathe. 

“No I think you’ve got the Cooper women under control, Bucky.” Gale clapped him between his shoulder blades. “Now where’s that beautiful baby you named after me?”

Cass was at the bottom of the stairs waiting with a baby on each hip, Gale kissing their sprouting curls on his way to find Marge on the beach, and John forgot all about anything negative he had been feeling that day. 

“Say hi Daddy, we were looking for you.” The twins smiled like they always did when they had their parents attention solely on them. The sound of Cass’ voice bringing them a calmness only John could ever begin to relate to. 

“Hi, my little bunnies.” John took Penelope onto his own hip, kissing her cheek around the stuffed bunny ear that was between her teeth, Cass reaching to tuck a few of his curls back into place. “I thought you preferred them all messy.”

“I do but-” the door opened and the words died in her throat. 

“Cassandra Ann, that dog of yours does have a habit of sticking his nose all over the place.” 

“Hi, Mama. Happy Easter to you, too.” John whistled for Butter who came and sat at his side dutifully. “Hi, Daddy.” She pressed a kiss to each of her parents’ cheeks and almost cringed as she saw the line of valets carrying colorful baskets into the backyard. The level of stuffed animals entering her home was reaching a near suffocating level. 

“Oh, John, how handsome you look this afternoon.” Cass rolled her eyes as her mother stepped forward to kiss John’s blushing cheeks.

“Thank you, ma’am, you’re looking very lovely yourself. Sir.” He shook her father’s hand firmly, smiling when Penelope reached for her grandfather instantly. 

“Cassandra, aren’t you going to show me around? I’m very curious as to which place setting you chose.” She looked at John to say I told you so before guiding her mother down the hall. 

“Of course. We can start in the dining room if you’d like.” John felt like a bad father as his son looked at him with wide blue eyes over his mother’s shoulder as they disappeared around the corner but he would make it up to him with something sweet after dinner.

“Can I offer you something to drink, sir?” 

“Whiskey, John, thank you.” While John had had to work his charm hard on Mrs. Cooper to convince her he wasn’t a street urchin there to steal her daughter, Mr. Cooper had taken no convincing to know John was the right man for his daughter. Had sat down for one dinner with the two of them and saw how they looked at each other. How he had kept a hand on her protectively the entire time. Had seen the absolute gratitude in Cass’ eyes that John was alive and next to her every time she looked at him.

“I told Cass you’d be more interested in the grandkids than the way I carved the ham later,” he pointed out as Penelope was filled with utter glee at the way her grandfather was tickling her cheeks with her bunny.

“Cassandra has always been my most perceptive child yet, on occasion, forgets that is one of her own most formidable qualities.” John handed him a glass, bringing them together with a clink before taking a sip. “How is my daughter doing?” 

“This one and her brother keep her busy and she’s looking forward to getting back to work. But she’s good. She smiles everyday, I’ll always make sure of it.” Penelope’s lower lip began to wobble and John gathered her against his chest just as the first tear rolled down her chubby cheek. 

“I can go find the nanny-”

“I’ve got it, sir.” John kissed her forehead gently and she quieted. “She’s just like her mother. Pouts until she gets a kiss then she’s fine.” Now she was focused on the fabric of John’s tie and trying to get it into her mouth. Yes, Mr. Cooper thought, Cass had made the perfect decision to marry this man.

“Son, if I may offer a few pointers on carving the ham.”

----

Hours later, after bellies were full and babies were sleepy, the house was beginning to calm down. Cass had shed her stockings and tied her hair back and accepted Marge’s offer to put the twins to sleep. There were people finishing dishes in the kitchen and packing away porcelain in the dining room. Alice was orchestrating the entire effort for which she was grateful, her fingers wrapping around the neck of a bottle of whiskey and heading towards the small fire that was glowing on the beach.

“You hiding from me?” she teased as she dropped a kiss to the top of his head and sat in the chair next to him.

“Never, baby. Was just having a cigarette before coming in to help with bedtime.” Cass wanted him to quit but was starting with not allowing him to smoke around the kids. She handed him the whiskey and took the cigarette from his fingers, inhaling a few times before putting it out in the sand. 

“Marge asked if she could put them to bed for practice. I ran away before she changed her mind,” she giggled. “Thank you.”

“For what?” he asked around a pull from the bottle.

“Everything.” 

“Spook, you know my ego needs specifics.” He opened his arms, summoning her into his lap, and closed his eyes in peace as her head settled under his chin.

“Not letting me chase you away all those years ago. Not divorcing me when I showed up at your bunk bed in Germany. Our babies.”

“I had very little to do with those two but I’ll take it.” She kissed him gently, lovingly. Without a care in the world and in no rush. “Everything to your liking today?”

“Yes. I promise we won’t host anymore holidays for awhile.”

“You pick the right porcelain?” 

“Of course not.” John laughed and she joined in, taking her own swig of alcohol. “And I was very impressed by your knife skills at dinner.” John kissed the tip of her nose.

“Your dad told me it was important the man of the house not treat it like carving a ham but like he could use the knives to protect his family.”

“Did he?” she asked with a furrowed brow. 

“I think he was trying to convince me to take it more seriously. It worked.” 

“It certainly seemed it did.” Cass twisted her finger around the loose curl in the middle of his forehead as he looked out towards the ocean. “I do have one last ask up my sleeve.” Slowly undoing the buttons of her dress, John was more focused than he had been all day. Between her breasts was an Easter egg with hearts painted on it. 

“I would’ve joined in on the egg hunt had I known, Cass.” 

“Open it.” As soon as he had it in his fingers, her lips were on his jaw and down his neck and he had an inkling what might be inside. He could barely read the words she had written as the blood rushed from his head to between his legs. Round two? His lips were on hers in an instant, John groaning as his hand slid up her thigh and found nothing but bare skin. She made quick work of his belt and zipper, sliding his waistband down just enough to free him. 

“Fuck, baby, no time for teasing.” His hands lifted her hips and he sunk into her with a contented sigh, his lips latching onto her collarbone as she found a steady pace. “Want the neighbors to hear how good I make you feel.”

“John,” she whined as his hand wrapped around her throat and squeezed gently. Unable to hold himself back, he laid her onto the blanket and used the new leverage to increase the pace, her legs hooking around his hips and urging him to go harder and faster. “You’re going to make me cum.” 

“You look so pretty when you cum, baby,” he cooed into her ear as he felt her clenching around him. “That’s my good girl, taking me so well.” His wife looked so good underneath him. Like she truly was made to be his. 

“Fuck, right…there…oh, God,” she arched her back into him as her orgasm washed over her in a waves, John’s hips stuttering as he moaned into her mouth and she took all he had to give her. “I love making you moan.” John was handsome and rugged and all the masculine words that she could think of. But he was also so damn pretty.

“Good thing you’re so good at it,” he said as he nuzzled into the side of her neck. “You’ve worn me out, Mrs. Egan.”

“Can you carry me to bed?” she murmured as her own eyelids were growing heavy. 

“Just let me hold you like this for a few more minutes.”

“Hey, John?” He kissed the side of her neck in acknowledgment. “I love you.”

“Hey, Spook?” She smiled in anticipation. “I love you, too.”

And if Gale earned another nickel as he was closing the blinds that night, no one needed to know.

[renthony]

🏳️‍🌈

My GF and I watch movies together whenever i overnight. For the last month every movie we pick ends up being queer, even if we didn’t know it before. This week it will be Priscilla which we both know is very queer, but we need more to add to the queue - the more niche the better

(Drop a 🏳️‍🌈 in my inbox and I’ll respond with a queer media recommendation!)

Okay, so this one doesn't technically count as "niche," but it is one I never would have watched if my best friend hadn't insisted on it after watching it on a random whim one day. I don't think it ever would have hit my radar otherwise. Even if it had, I'd have probably written it off as generic Oscar-bait. I'm really glad I watched it, though.

A Man Called Otto is a 2022 movie starring Tom Hanks as the titular Otto, a depressed, suicidal man who has lost connection with his community after the death of his wife. It has a decent number of content warnings (primarily suicide attempts and death), so be sure to check its Does the Dog Die page.

Here's the trailer:

It has a very good balance between intense emotion and humor--the comedic beats give a good break from the heavier scenes without giving the viewer tonal whiplash. I'd watch it again if I wanted to have a good, cathartic cry. The ending is bittersweet, but very satisfying.

As for what makes it queer (with some minor spoilers):

During the course of the movie, Otto reconnects with the members of his community and stops isolating himself in his empty house. One of those community members is a former student of Otto's late wife, who was a teacher. That student is Malcom, played by Mack Bayda. Malcom is trans, and at one point in the movie, one of Otto's suicide attempts is interrupted when Malcom knocks on the door asking for a place to crash, because his dad has kicked him out for being trans. Otto lets him stay, and the entire scene made me cry like a baby. From there, Otto remains supportive to Malcom, and Malcom is involved in the (incredibly satisfying) resolution to a plotline about predatory real estate developers.

I think part of what made such an impression on me about Malcom and Otto's relationship is that I'm just so used to seeing elders treated as automatically bigoted--in media, and in real life. There is absolutely no moment in which Otto doubts Malcom or has to have transness explained to him. It was pretty nice to see a grumpy old asshole character be instantly supportive of a young trans guy. So many people think that kind of inter-generational support doesn't ever happen, so it's nice to see represented.

Ask For a Rec | Other Media Recommendations | Support Links

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Halloween prompts no. 9

Desiree was going to get her butt kicked. An then she was going to spend two whole weeks in the thermos.

Danny wasn't sure who wished for what, only that he heard his wish granting ghost yell, "So you have wished it, so shall it be!" And then the whole city was in the sky above another city and now here he was strugging to hold up the entirety of Amity Park while people screamed in terror both above and below him. Parts of the newly formed giant island above him were beginning to break off and fall down to the people below, forcing Phantom to spend more energy to freeze the entire bottom to make it more structurally sound.

A few minutes passed with him slowly inching Amity Park away from the city below it before both a man and woman dressed in American flag-ish colors flew up to him and began helping him out. Phantom was relieved and all together they moved Amity out of the way and Phantom phased it promptly into the ground. By the time they were done the city looked like it had been there for decades. The people introduced themselves as Superman and Wonderwoman and they turned out to be very nice and offered him a place on a "team" of some kind.

Phantom thanked them for their compliments and rejected the offer, not bothering to hide his suspension and then seemingly vanished into thin air. He could take care of himself well enough and didn't need adults to cause him more trouble like they always inevitably did.

Sure. He missed his parents who were in Wisconsin at Vlads funeral. He wasn't sure how the fruitloop kicked the bucket but Clockwork confirmed he was fully dead and not a ghost so. Eh. His sister was seventeen now and could take care of him and Ellie well enough that the authorities wouldn't care. Just like she did all throughout his childhood.

Turns out the city they almost crashed into was called Gotham, a fact Sam loved, and they were in a totally new world/reality/dimension filled with superheros and supervillians. Danny was relieved when he found that the ghost portals no longer worked and thought he could finally go back to being a normal kid.

Nope.

Turns out villains from both Gotham and Bludhaven saw Amity as free real estate and Danny had to fight them off. Whats more is that Danny needed to find a new source of ecto energy to feed off of, which lead to him finding the Lazarus Pit under Gotham, purifying it, maintaining it with filters and whatnot from his parents lab and basically chilling there with Ellie in thier ghost forms.

Jazz, Danny, and Ellie were quick to dismantle all of thier parents stuff to both make thier house look totally normal and not suspicious at all and to get rid of any weapons or info that might harm Danny or Ellie. Of course it wasn't long before the bats and birds infiltrated Amity and Phantom fought them off, claiming this was his territory, thank you very much and now he was fighting off Villians AND heroes alike.

Danny was both glad and dismayed that the internet didn't come with them from thier world, forcing them to use this worlds information. Tucker only had to do minor things to protect Dannys identity and the people of Amity quickly got the memo of not telling anyone about the ghosts, especially Phantom.

Sam was worried about her parents finances do to them no longer being able to access thier bank accounts only to find out that her parent (grangran especially) kept a large chunk of thier fortune hidden away in thier giant mansion. So they were fine.

The Fenton kids (actually just Danny but whatever) were left everything in Vlads will so the mansion and everything in it was thiers. (Danny wanted to sell the mansion but got vetoed by the others who wanted to redecorate it since the place was practically a fortress armed to the teeth. Plus, being the dramatic idiot he was, Vlad had a crap-ton of jewels, cash and literal gold bars hidden throughout the place. Wild. Not to mention all the vehicles and stuff in there. Tucker swears this was the fifth room he entered that had a helicopter in it. Wth.

So they were fine.

The rest of Amity Park couldn't say the same. Many had jobs out of the city they couldn't get to anymore or worked in an office working for a company were the main branch was out of state and couldn't be contacted. Meaning no one could send them a paycheck. Many were forced to look for employment in Gotham and Bludhaven.

Everything was a wreck. Luckly Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake had a plan to help the people of Amity Park while also getting on the local heros good side.

[ya-boi-haru]

You know what, I like you, let me share my headcannons/thoughts on an AU I recently mentioned...

Fable smp Coffee Shop AU...

• Sherb runs a 24/hr (or late opened) Cafe, The Alchemist Brew. They specialise is mixing different coffee flavours to create a new taste and can even create one for a persons specific need or even mood.

The people that have often come in say it was exactly what they needed; students coming in to study found they work best with Icarus' creations - jokes that they put a focusing chemical drug in it. People on first dates say they added an ingredient that was a big ice breaker for them to bond over. A few cases come in home sick and the drinks taste like home somehow.

• Rae runs another cafe in a different part of town. It's a more traditional place, more old fashioned, rustic aesthetic.

Rae got to take over this place a lot sooner than he thought.

His mother went missing when he was young and his step-dad, Fable, left a few years ago. Icarus' was supposed to take over the buisness but they wanted to do their own thing, especially since Rae and Icarus had different ideas on how they should run the place.

So Rae runs the Gilded Cafe. While keeping the more traditional things on the menu, Rae also explores the history with Coffee. Makes ones how they would make it 30, 50, 100 years ago and happily, shares it with their customers.

• Athena is learning how to open their own bakery (Flour Garden) with Jamie. They offer their goods as a trial to both Gilded and Alchemist Brew Cafe. This way they get to try new foods and have people taste test them and both Cafes get a unique item on their menus each week. The feedback from customers is always appreciated and it sparks new ideas for foods and types of foods.

• Momboo runs a flower and tea shop, The Pink Tulip, both as a seperate transaction but has a talent for getting sweet tastes out of nature's prettiest petals

• Which is a dramatic comparison to her sister, Ocie/Kai, who runs a bar, Sea Dragon, iconicly known for its underwater sailor/pirate aesthetic and strong drinks to match

• Wolf is a business analyst and has helped with the businesses as well as a few others around town

• His partner, Centross, helps manage the Sea Dragon. A couple years ago, he tried to start a buisness with Icarus and Easton (who is a real estate agent), but it crashed and burned real quick. Wolf talked to Kai and she was generous enough to help Centross get back on his feet and they ended up working really well together.

• Aax works in the Gilded Cafe with Rae. He came to Rae looking for work - one in a new town with no connection to the Telchin company. They were awful, treated their employees terribly, and they would use special artificial chemicals in their drinks to make it taste like flavours (Hazlenut, vanilla etc), never the real thing, even their machines were designed to cut corners with brewing.

• Ulysses is still with Telchin, casual, but is still in the town with his Partner. He used to be able to do beautiful coffee powder art, but since the accident in the shop he can't even hold a cup steady.

• Will runs little a Cafe - The Traveller - based on flavours around the world, some places he's been lucky to actually travel to. Seven helps him run the place and really good with machines so they never have to worry about things breaking.

• Now all these businesses have their challenges, but Icarus feels they have an extra one...

A night club across the street 2 doors down, "The World Port". It's an exclusive place and Icarus had heard a few things about it.

It's a jack of all trades types of place, has accommodation for any events, Bachelor party's, birthdays, buisness meetings, heck even wakes.

Icarus' problem is that - for some reason - the owner recommendeds The Alchemist Brew to their customers as a place to sober up. Which would be fine if that didn't mean nights of drunks coming in, making a mess and passing out. They somehow get their mail mixed up as well, and The World Port is loud and makes it hard to focus on work.

• The World Ports concept is to be a place for everyone. It's main area is a bar with a dance floor and great music. They have sectioned off rooms, identified by colour, each room can accommodate for certain events. You could hold 3 different events in once.

• Smaller Headcannons/Notes:

• Caspian comes into the Gilded Cafe as a place to write his stories. He started going there for the nice coffee and cozy vibes, but the manager seems really nice and passionate about his work, so he kept coming in and is now a regular. And the Barista working there is cute nice to talk to as well

• Rae grew to appreciate the small talks with Capsian while on shift. He's even made it into a few pages of Raes sketch book - that will never see the light of day - but that has nothing to do with anything! Rae always draws random customers for practice! Despite Aax pointing out that he draws Caspian more.

• Aax and Rae are dating and are peeking interest in Caspian.

• Wolf and Centross are dating, though Centross is showing interest in Kai. He would deny it to hell and back even though everyone can see it.

• Icarus gets new ingredients/inspiration from their friends. Athena and Jamie's creations, Momboos flowers etc

• During the business Icarus, Centross and Easton tried to run, Icarus made a purple drink that turned out to have an addicting side effect. Part of the reason thee business failed.

• Since the World Port is exclusive, Icarus can't get in to talk to the owner. However, there have been times when they've come into the Alchemist Brew, and Icarus has just not been in there at the right time to see them.

• If they don't want to deal with maintenance companies, the other owners ask Seven to come over and fix their equipment, especially if it should be a simple fix.

• Galahad works at The Traveller and suggested their own mix of a spicier blend

Feel free to add onto or suggest things!

[alienpossession]

So I recently connected with some other authors here and read some alien-based stories that inspired me. This is a one-off from a series called Check-Up by @fullfriendnerdpurse hopefully I do your series justice

Check Up: Eric

A young and nerdy scientist worked on side by side to let powerful men around his own proximity and even the whole world fell victim to the control of a crash-landed small batch of extraterrestrial civilization. His lustful desire to the idea of having the apex of human civilization succumbed to the control of him and his invader buddies blinded him. He's sick and tired with the way society treated him and constantly paid attention to the type of men that pushed people around with their powerful influencer or their good looks and muscle. One of them is named Eric

The alien shoved into him clearly enjoyed the otherworldly senses it instantly felt upon controlling Eric's muscle tank body. The testosterone that coursed through his physical system, the complexity of his muscle and organ that far exceeded the complexity of the slimy being, the way his whole body emitted this powerful aroma and pheromone, the alien just knows it acquired a very fine specimen in human standard

A gym junkie with a day job as premium real estate agent, Eric is also a fine stepping stones to access an even richer and more douchebag section of the society. He's been proven useful as he managed to work alongside the nerd to acquire more bodies for the alien as he lured in the interested property buyer into the property where the nerd already waited with a scoop of slimy alien ready to be shoved up into these rich people's orifices

The alien inside Eric also love to tap into Eric's hidden submissiveness. While the real Eric might not be too keen to tap into his more vulnerable side, the alien love to exploit it because Eric's body just responded to it very well with the hardening cock that leaked pre which the alien always enjoyed to experience. So sometimes, after a day where he helped the nerd acquire another bodies, the alien would make Eric said things like

"Look at you buff dumb bull. After fucking up your own marriage to serve small puddle of slime, now you fucked up another family! Because of you, the 27th richest man in America and his 31 years old son controlled by alien now and you are fucking hard because of it! You stupid little slut, a body so big but there's nothing inside of it,"

The alien also remain amazed with its vessel's physique even after months living as him. Either through his social media activity that the nerd watched or when they have video call, it is one of the vessel that is having the most fun utilizing its vessel as it makes Eric more on the playful side rather than arrogant.

During his latest check-up after the video call from the previous week, he welcomed the nerd while doing workout in his garage. He's shirtless and only using a pretty colorful socks (something the alien also love to add to Eric's monochromatic attire set) paired with a tight compression that hid nothing to the imagination.

After doing some more rep of his workout while updating the nerd with info about his activity for the past 1 month, they walked in and the nerd then watched him cleaned up after himself for the check up. He skipped showering for most of the time unless he really need to such as meeting prospective buyer, so the idea of clean up is simply him changing clothes.

Being the playful slime that it is, it started teasing the nerdy scientist as Eric suddenly started jiggling his own ass in the tight short shorts and folded himself to present his ass to the nerd with its vial

"Please, it's been a while. I'll shoot my load if you just pressed that tip in, nerd. Just do it,"

The nerd just smirked, the perks of being the number one ally for a cooperative alien civilization really becomes the number one reason why he's constantly in search for more vessel to acquire, and with the way that the slime multiplies, it seems like there's no stopping soon

[hyuuukais]

.・゜-: ✧ :- FICTIONAL REALITY .・゜-: ✧ :-

pairing • bang chan x fem reader

synopsis • fiction or reality? y/n preferred the former, escaping into another world, escaping her problems. so what happens when reality takes that away from her; wiping her own story-in-progress off both her laptop and beloved usb? and what happens when she opens the door in the middle of a crisis to none other then the love interest of her novel... and he's holding her usb?

warnings • general, brief mention of "expecting", car crash, minor character death(s), blood

MASTERLIST | PREVIOUS | NEXT

CHAPTER NINETEEN • BEGIN AGAIN (2.4k)

A knock at your front door wakes you, unaware you even dozed off in the first place. Stretching, you get up slowly and the knocks increase as you get closer, more aggressive than the last. You're hesitant to open the door, a weird feeling washing over you as your fingers brush the doorknob. Opening it, there's an elderly lady waiting on the other side. You take a quick glance down the hall behind her; was she really the one knocking like that?

"Honey?" Someone calls out from your kitchen. "Who's at the door?"

His voice gets closer, a hand wrapping around your waist. "Um, who are you?"

"You'll remember soon," the woman waves you off, entering your house without permission. "Nice place you've got here. Ever think of relocating?"

"No, why?" Then it clicks. "Oh! You must be that real estate agent I've been hearing about around the neighbourhood. Look, I appreciate the visit, but I'm not looking to move."

"Sure, you could call me that," she pauses at the window, back turned to you. "You're a lovely couple. Are you expecting?"

"W-what?" Your boyfriend sputters beside you, hand gripping your waist tighter. "What gave you that impression?"

"Nothing, I just wondered. I take it that's a no?" She turns around to face you and you shake your head.

"I had a daughter," she starts, a sad smile on her face. "Lovely girl, fell for a bright boy in college and had a beautiful baby boy a few years later. When he wasn't quite ten, they were in an accident." She takes a seat on your sofa, hands clasped on her lap. "Only the boy survived, seemingly unharmed. Do you know why?"

You close the door, eyebrows furrowed. "Why are you telling us this? Who are you really?"

"He had a gift, but you already knew that." A high-pitched squeal comes from the kitchen; the kettle.

"I'll get it," your boyfriend kisses your temple before departing.

"Thanks, Chan," you whisper, watching him walk away. Looking back at the woman, you approach slowly, stopping at the edge of the sofa. "How would I know that when I don't know your grandson?"

"But you did, you did. I wasn't made to raise him, and you tried to save him from the life he lived." She closes her eyes, reminiscing you suspect. "That gift killed him, I always knew it would. Just like it will me one day."

Right as Chan comes back with two steaming mugs, the room starts to fade away from you into white. Panic seizes your lungs, watching in horror as Chan melts away. You turn your attention back to the old lady, eyes wide, her own closed in concentration. When she opens them, the room has completely dissolved into a circular room with a singular mirror in the middle. Something feels oddly familiar.

"Look into the mirror," she orders and although you want to disobey, argue why, why is she doing this, you feel a pull and your feet move on their own. "Tell me what you see."

There's nothing at first, but the longer you stare, the more the background changes around you. Suddenly you're looking through someone else's eyes in the passenger's seat of a car, laughing and humming along to a song playing softly on the radio. You look back, a small child in the back middle seat playing on a game console. He looks up at you, smiling wide and exclaiming he beat his level.

"I see a boy," you don't know how you're still able to talk to the woman. "Your grandson?"

"Keep watching, keep describing."

As you twist back in your seat, rain starts dropping onto the windshield and soon enough, large sheets of rain are pouring down hard. Anxiety gnaws at your throat, but you trust the man beside you to get you through the storm. You look over at him, his eyes concentrated on the road ahead. He drives slowly, not risking anything above the speed limit in weather like this. Glancing into the mirror above, you see the little boy frown at his game, putting it down on the seat next to him.

"There's something wrong," he says, making eye contact with you in the mirror.

"What do you mean, my little fox?" You ask, twisting back around. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think we should be here."

"Don't you want to visit grandma?" Your eyebrows furrow. "She really misses you, you know. I'm sure you'll feel better when-"

Crash, and glass is flying into your face, tangling in your hair as a large vehicle smashes into the side of the car. Dizzy, you feel dizzy as the car rolls over, stopping with a jolt on the side of the road upside down. It takes you a moment to adjust, vision blurring, and a warm feeling traveling up your side. You cough, it's hard to breathe and you can hear yourself wheezing. Next to you, the man hangs motionless, arms outstretched to the ceiling and you can see something red dripping down his fingers. With shaky fingers, you reach out and move his arm, choking back a sob when you see the state he's in. You already know he's gone, getting the brunt of the impact.

"Jeongin?" You call out, scared there will be no response. You can't turn around, a pain in your neck causing you to cry out when you try. "Jeongin, honey?"

"Mom?" His voice is quiet. "What happened? Is dad okay?"

You can hear the panic in his voice and everything in you calms, needing to focus on getting him safe. "Dad is fine, just a little shaken up, okay? Listen, can you get out of your seat?" A bit of shuffling around and a thump answers your question. "You're out?"

"Yeah."

"Is the window blocked?"

"No, but I think it's broken."

"Good," you sigh in relief. "Really good, actually. Can you climb out? See if there's anyone around, any houses, and ask them to call for help?"

"...are you not coming with me?" His voice is small, scared.

"I'll be there as soon as I can my little fox, but I need you to be brave for me right now. Can you do that?" You hold back another cough as he agrees, and you can barely see him climb out of the window in the rearview mirror.

The car fades away and you're back in that room. "Why did you show me that?"

"Because it was your grandmother he asked for help." She places a hand on your shoulder and you come back to reality, feeling wet, hot tears on your cheeks. "Ever since then, weird things would happen in town, miracles and tragedies alike. It's why when you moved in, your book came to life. Living outside of town gave it a while to kick in, but the universe could tell you needed some help moving on and becoming yourself again."

"My book?" You look at her, and when your eyes connect it all comes back. The story, the USB, Chan showing up at your doorstep, the café, nights with him, Minho, the bookstore, everything. Another sob tries to escape your body with the sudden wave of emotion, holding a hand to your chest as you collapse on the floor.

"Look into the mirror again." You do, and this time you can see yourself staring at the blank document that used to be your novel, devastation written all over your face, and you know what to do. Ghostly hands hover over a frozen keyboard, typing out the words you know will get your curiosity going; call him. As your hands pull back, you watch yourself come back to life, pulling out your phone and seeing the number already saved.

The scene changes and there's an envelope in your hands, reaching through the mirror and knocking on the door that's appeared. Dropping the letter on the ground, you pull back and see a man open it and almost close it again in frustration, almost. He spots the letter on the ground, and you know what's been set in motion.

Next, you see yourself in Chan's apartment standing by Minho, watching as Jeongin dashes across the street. You know exactly what you need to say, what will keep your determination to figure this shit out. Taking a chance, you whisper taunts into your own ear and see how your body tenses. And as you turn, you come back to the white room. The scenery changes again and you see two men in the same room you're in now, standing in front of the mirror you're watching them through. Again, the words come to you like a higher power working through you.

"What are you doing here, little fox?" The words leave your mouth before you can think, and they keep going until you pull back control. You see Jeongin on his knees, face drenched in tears and you take the script into your own hands, needing to comfort him after what you've seen, what you now know. "Forgive him, little fox."

You can feel the power working through you as you guide yourself and the others through the mess the universe has created for you, impossible to succeed without a little help. Then you're in your apartment, the man of your dreams by your side, but it's all still so wrong. You play back the wedding, watching yourself from above as you slip the silver band onto your own finger as Chan holds you.

"Why does this feel..." You can't find the right word; incomplete? Dissatisfying? Selfish?

"Because," she cups your cheek with a smooth hand, turning your head. A younger face looks back at you, long orange locks falling down perfectly, a lavender dress hanging off her body. "You didn't accept the fact that you deserve better, that you deserve love, only falsely convinced yourself you did. But you don't feel it, do you?"

Her hand travels down to your chest, palm above where your heart beats intensely.

"No," you admit. "I don't know how."

"I think you do, deep down." Yeji stands, offering you a hand. "Come on, I need to show you something else."

You grab her hand and she leads you to the wall, the faintest dip revealing a hidden door. She leads you down a hallway that matches the white room and realize she's the only person you've seen here in clothing other than the white uniform everyone else has worn. You wonder if that means anything, but are distracted when you notice the framed images painting the walls like a gallery. Taking a longer look at one, you see yourself at a young age sitting at a round table, a large cake with ten candles lit in front of you. A large smile takes up most of your face, eager to make a wish.

The next photo you stop at, you're slightly older. There's a girl by your side as you sit under a tree, her head resting on your shoulder. You remember this day, when you found out Yeji and Hyunjin were moving to a city two hours away, and decided to spend the last days of your freshman year of high school together, absolutely attached at the hip. The job offer her mother took ended up falling through and they stayed; you were closer than ever before, eternally grateful for her.

Your fingers brush each frame you pass, lingering on the different memories portrayed. They're all happy, you notice, until the last where you see Chan waving goodbye as he walks down the front steps of the house you inherited from your grandmother. You wouldn't say this was happy, confusion the overwhelming emotion at the time, and you wonder why it's there at the very end of the hall.

"Do you want to do this the right way?" Yeji grasps your left hand gently, another hand holding your other and you look over to see another familiar face.

"Do you want to do this your way?" Hyunjin asks.

"Y/n." You look over your shoulder. Minho stands a few feet away dressed in those same white clothes, a small smile on his face. "Ready to choose your own destiny?"

Looking back at the photo of Chan, you nod. "I'm so fucking ready."

"There's my girl," Minho laughs, hands coming up to massage your shoulders. "Get your man."

-

Snow covers the ground and you shiver as thick flakes hit your cheeks, but you feel warm all over. Inside this small coffee shop is a man you created, a man who loves you, a man who doesn't know you exist anymore. This hidden gem sleeps a few blocks away from your new apartment, with regulars coming and going during the lunch rush. You'll be a new face, just another customer to him. Doubt seeps through your skin as you walk in, the bell jingling to announce your presence.

He looks up, eyes catching yours briefly before he continues making a drink for the tall man at the counter. They chat and they laugh and you find yourself jealous.

"Next!" A blonde girl calls from behind the register and you already know her name.

"Can I get today's special tea?" Your eyes spot the food special and your stomach growls. "Oh! And the tiramisu?" She tells you your total and you pay with cash; she tells you where to wait. "Thanks Lily!"

She's not wearing a name badge, but you don't wait to see her reaction when she realizes. Instead, you grab a napkin and take the pen out of your coat pocket, hands refusing to cooperate from the cold as you write down one simple sentence. It's shaky, but you know he'll understand.

"Tea and tiramisu?" Chan calls out and you all but skip to the counter, giving him a smile as you accept the to-go bag. You lock eyes only for a moment, but there's a spark and you hope he feels it too as you slip the napkin back across.

As you walk away back through the door, he looks down to see the discarded napkin, about to crumple it and toss it before he notices writing on it. Taking a closer look, he reads; CALL ME! XXX-XXX-XXXX. -Y/N.

"Lily?" Chan pockets the message. "I'm going to take my break now, call me if it's urgent."

●

notes • next chapter is the last! it's almost more of an epilogue too. how do we feel about y/n starting new? i think she deserves it more than anything.

taglist • @yongbbokkie @chaeryred @tenebrisirae @toplinelix @chansdoll @amaranth-writing @3rachachoo @linosjureumi @thebrownemo @tfshouldidohere @channie-143 @frogieeheart @kangaracharacha @skzswife @hopefulrascalstatesmantoad @palindrome969 @laylasbunbunny @bloomingstay

TAGLIST CLOSED ^^^blue means i can't tag you