#also shoutout to everyone who saw this early

[paflcalendar]

March 30th - Alexandra (Sanya) Kazarina

adidads. abibas. adios, even.

[wonusite]

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❝ When Professor Jeon realizes his most earnest student is no longer paying him the attention he craves, he goes to great lengths to make sure he’s the only one holding her attention. ❞

pairing: jeon wonwoo x fem reader

genre: teacher au, cam girl au, college au, smut

word count: 9.3k

warnings: illicit relationship, imbalance of power, age gap (reader is in her 20s and wonwoo is in his 30s), sex work, drinking, lots of pining, jealousy, misunderstandings, professor!wonwoo, student!reader, cam girl!reader, masturbation (f and m), oral sex (f and m receiving), unprotected sex, office sex, car sex, riding, multiple creampies, overstimulation, pussy drunk!wonwoo

a/n: this has been in the works for way too long and i’m so happy with how it came out. hugest shoutout to the nonny who sent in the ask that started it all. minors dni!!

You think you might actually die.

If you didn’t spontaneously combust from how embarrassed you felt, then you were going to go find a cliff to throw yourself off of. You can’t remember the last time you fucked up this badly, and it doesn’t help that it’s all your friends can talk (and laugh) about as you’re having dinner.

“Maybe he didn’t open it.” Vernon tries to reason.

“Yeah, right.” Soonyoung snorts. “He probably already clicked on the link and is jerking off to her videos right now.”

Chan’s laugh is one of the most endearing sounds you’ve ever heard, but right now it just sounds annoying. You’re glad you ordered an alcoholic drink with your meal because otherwise you wouldn’t be able have this conversation. When your friend sees your sour pout, he quickly changes his tune.

“You’re worrying for nothing. I’m sure once he saw what the site was, he clicked off.” Chan says as he not-so-subtly scoots his chair away from you. “He’s like the most respectful guy ever.”

“Chan’s right.” Vernon is quick to agree. “Professor Jeon isn’t the type to cross those boundaries with a student. You said you sent him an email saying it was a mistake, right? He’s a nice guy, so—”

“How fucking naive can you two be?” Soonyoung cut in with an incredulous look on his face. “I know his type. Those quiet guys are the biggest freaks behind closed doors. He’s definitely the type to fuck a student. I’ll put money on that shit.”

Chan pauses to mull over Soonyoung’s words while Vernon can only offer him an exasperated glare. The two boys know better than anyone how you feel about your professor, and they also know that the older man was the only person in the history of the universe to treat you coldly. This was definitely the worst situation you could ever find yourself in, but Soonyoung was too oblivious to see that fact.

Being the sweetheart that he is, Vernon is quick to change the topic. “Seokmin just texted me. He said everyone is on their way to Jihoon’s place. Let’s get the check.”

For a moment, it seems like your inner turmoil will be forgotten. Sure, you do have class early in the morning, but right now you were going to focus on having a good time at Jihoon’s party. And Vernon was probably right. Professor Jeon was the sweetest, most respectful man you had ever crossed paths with. He probably deleted the email after realizing what it was. And even if he hadn’t, this moment would eventually pass.

After all, no one ever actually died from embarrassment.

Everything was fine until the four of you are about to leave the restaurant and Soonyoung lets out a sound that resembles a chicken being strangled. His eyes are bugged out as he comically gestures across the dimly lit place. Your heart twists uncomfortably when you finally see what has him acting like a fool.

“I told you so.”

Those four words are the ones you hate the most in the world, especially when they’re coming from Kwon Soonyoung. You love him, you really do, but his lack of perception is fucking maddening sometimes. It’s especially infuriating in situations like the one you were in now.

“No fucking way.” Chan whispers with his mouth dropped open. “That’s—”

“Just because they’re having dinner together doesn’t mean they’re fucking.” Vernon reasons, obviously trying to spare what was left of your feelings.

“Who cares?” You manage to say without letting your voice tremble with the heartbreak that was currently seeping into your bones. “Let’s get out of here before they see us.”

Soonyoung only scoffs, not able to believe that your nosy ass doesn’t seem to care about the juicy scandal the four of you had stumbled upon. Vernon starts to push him out the door while you and Chan hurriedly follow behind them. Luckily, you manage to make it out of the restaurant without catching the attention of your English professor and his TA.

Normally, you would’ve loved to be a witness to any potential gossip, but this was different because you just so happened to be the tiniest bit in love with your professor. The more rational part of you knows that it doesn’t really mean anything that Professor Jeon was having dinner with his TA, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting a little bit (a lot).

No one ever died from embarrassment, but apparently dying from a broken heart was real.

“This is actually a good thing for you, Y/N.” Soonyoung says once you’re all in Chan’s car and driving to Jihoon’s party.

You grit your teeth and manage to answer him in a somewhat calm voice. “What are you talking about?”

“If Professor Jeon says anything about the link you accidentally sent him, you can tell him that you know he’s fucking his TA.”

It actually wouldn’t be a bad idea if even talking about the very possibility that those two were having an illicit affair didn’t feel like someone had punched you in the stomach. But instead of letting any of them see how much it actually hurt, you only offered what you hoped was a convincing laugh.

“Yeah. You’re right.”

You look out the window as the conversation takes a different turn, not noticing the looks Vernon keeps giving you all the way to Jihoon's apartment. He doesn’t say anything because you keep speaking and laughing like everything is fine. He should’ve recognized your calm and aloof behavior as a sign that you were on the verge of spiraling, but he didn’t.

Even as you unbutton two more buttons of your pretty blouse and hike up your skirt when you enter the party, he doesn’t say anything. It’s easy for him to assume that you want to hit on some of Jihoon’s producer friends for fun as you often did after getting a little tipsy.

It’s not until he sees you drinking like the world is running out of alcohol that he feels the need to intervene. Vernon quickly walks over to you, eyeing you with blatant concern. You don’t even acknowledge him as he goes to stand beside you.

“Maybe you should slow down.”

You ignored your friend’s concerned voice and downed another shot. In the back of your mind, you know he’s right, but the need to forget about your hurt feelings and humiliation was far greater than reason. Besides, you can hardly taste the alcohol anymore which makes it easier to drink to your heart’s content.

“This is a party, Vernon.” You remind him. “I’m only trying to have a good time. I deserve to, don’t you think?"

Of course he thought you were in desperate need of a fun night out. In fact, he’s the one who convinced you to come since it had been a hot minute since you left your apartment for something that didn’t involve working or school.

But Vernon can see that the way you’re drinking is only an after effect of what you saw at the restaurant, and if you kept this up you were going to black out like you did at Junhui’s party freshman year. Because he didn’t want to relive that night, he makes sure to bring you plenty of water and keep you within his sight. If he couldn’t stop you, he was going to make sure you were taken care of.

Maybe you’re acting childish, but you don’t really care at this point. All you can focus on is the pain that’s tightly gripping your heart. The alcohol helps a bit, but you still don’t manage to forget the events leading up to your irresponsible drinking.

You could get over your little slip up, and even the fact that Professor Jeon was potentially fucking his TA. But what really hurt is that your English professor seemed to display this great disposition to everyone in the world except you. Sure, you should’ve been grateful that he probably didn’t open the link you sent him because he was having dinner with TA, but your fucked up mind and heart couldn’t care about that for some reason.

It’s not fair, you can’t help but think.

You were down bad, but it wasn’t your fault. Every time your English professor smiles, you feel like your heart is going to implode. The way his kind eyes always form into crescents as the softest smile ever graces his face is possibly the most attractive thing you’ve ever seen.

What’s not fair is the fact that Professor Jeon has never directed his pretty smile at you. Not even once.

It’s not like he’s never had the opportunity to do so. You purposely arrive early to his class in order to sit at the very front, and not to mention that you’re very vocal during discussions and always answer his questions. But all he’s ever offered you is a fleeting glance and a nod of acknowledgement while the entire English department gets that stupidly endearing smile of his.

Chan always tells you how thirsty you look during class, and when you make the argument that he wouldn’t know since he always sits all the way in the back, he actually laughed at you.

You lean forward so much that it looks like you’re about to fall out of your seat, he’d said.

After you catch yourself doing exactly that during one of Professor Jeon’s more riveting lectures, you wanted the earth to open up and swallow you whole. If Lee fucking Chan—one of the most oblivious people you had ever met—had noticed your massive crush, then you were 100% sure your professor had as well.

Just thinking about it made you cringe and down another shot. The burning feeling made you come to a decision. If your professor didn’t care for you, then so be it. Tonight was the last night you would feel heartbroken over him. You were going to shove him out of your heart and mind if it was the last thing you did.

Wonwoo can’t describe the feeling in his chest when his class is ten minutes away from starting, and you’re not already in your usual seat. He tries to brush it off because maybe you’re just running late. After almost an entire semester of always being early, it was only logical that you would be late at least once. Things happened, and he was sure you would show up soon.

At least, that’s what he thinks until it’s actually time to start the class and you’re still no where to be seen. It bothers him and it shows. Bad.

The class is probably the worst he’s had since he first became a professor, but that was the least of his concerns. All he can focus on is the uncomfortable feeling twisting in his gut as he thought about the possibilities of why you didn’t show up to class. Wonwoo doesn’t want to believe that you’re too embarrassed to show up because of the link you accidentally sent him.

You had sent him an email containing the correct link and profusely apologizing about thirty seconds later, and after he saw the name of the website he could see how the mistake was made. Unfortunately for you, the two websites were very similar in name.

If you really were avoiding coming to class because of that, he wishes you would give him a chance to tell you that he wasn’t uncomfortable or angry. But Wonwoo doesn’t get the opportunity to speak to you as soon as he hopes because almost an entire week goes by until he sees you again. He sees you on the way to his office and calls out your name before he realizes what he’s doing.

The way you’re expression drops into a cold discomfort makes him falter a bit. Where was that bright smile you always directed at him? It only makes Wonwoo certain that you were still mortified over what happened.

“I didn’t see you in class on Tuesday.” Wonwoo says after you awkwardly greet him. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, just... personal stuff.”

The air is painfully awkward, and Wonwoo can’t stand the abrupt shift in your behavior. He needs to let you know that what happened shouldn’t make you feel uneasy around him because he understands that it was a mistake. However, he doesn’t react fast enough to do so.

“Professor.” You say hesitantly, nervously biting at your bottom lip. “Did you click on the link I accidentally sent you?”

You’re looking at him so shyly and nervously that he becomes powerless immediately. Wonwoo wants to make you feel more comfortable, but he also is unable to lie to you. “I did.” He says honestly. “But once I realized you sent the wrong website, I clicked off.”

Wonwoo can tell his honestly doesn’t make you feel any better. Just as he goes to comfort you, your attitude suddenly shifts.

“I’m really sorry. I swear it won’t happen again.” The apology sounds sincere, yet it’s missing the usual warmth your voice held whenever you spoke to him. “I have to go. I’ll see you in class.”

Wonwoo’s heart sinks when you run off without even giving him a chance to say goodbye. Maybe this is his own fault for taking your once sweet attitude toward him for granted. He never thought a day would come where you would actively avoid him.

A sudden determination to have things go back to the way they were overcomes him. Unfortunately, things got worse before they got better.

When he sees you again, you’re not early. You aren’t late either, but it’s odd to see that you don’t seem to care to be early anymore. And you don’t sit right at the front either. No, this time you sit all the way in the back between two boys—Lee Chan and Xu Minghao. This somewhat bothers him, but he can’t really be upset. After all, you were allowed to sit wherever you wanted.

It’s not until he sees you giggling and talking with those boys—particularly Minghao—during his lecture that he really gets agitated. He carries on as normally as he can, but this sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach is expanding up into his chest keeps distracting him. Deep down, Wonwoo knows this feeling is nothing more than petty jealousy.

Your new behavior carries on for weeks, and it makes Wonwoo feel like he’s losing his mind.

Finally, he decides he can’t keep his frustrations pent up inside and does something he knows he shouldn’t. When he gets home, he immediately goes to his room and gets on his computer. He opens the browser and is quick to click on the only site that’s on his favorites. Wonwoo quickly logs in, the action of typing his username and password is muscle memory at this point.

His eyes don’t mind the videos on the homepage, he only focuses on going to his subscriptions and clicks on the only profile he has under his favorites. Wonwoo let’s out a laugh. It’s quiet and slightly bitter. It’s funny how worried you were about him clicking on the link when he had been watching your streams since before you became his student.

Wonwoo feels a sense of sour accomplishment. He’s gone almost an entire week without watching any of your videos, but that was all in vain. As he scrolls down, he notices that you’ve done two streams since he last watched you. Just as he was deciding which one he was going to watch, he got a notification.

brattydoll sent you a message!

It’s pretty certain that Wonwoo flinched so hard it can be seen from space. He can’t believe what he’s seeing, and it almost feels wrong that this is happening to him. But he shoves all those thoughts aside and quickly clicks on the notification.

brattydoll: hi! you were the top tipper for the stream i did last week. as usual, you are eligible for a private stream. let me know what time and day best works for you xoxo

It takes him less than a minute to type a response to let you know he’s ready now. He waits in anticipation for your message, really hoping you say you’re ready too.

His dick starts to get hard when you tell him you’ll be ready in ten minutes while also explaining the boundaries you have while doing these private streams. He doesn’t really need a reminder since he’s won a private stream from you a couple of times before. Honestly, all he can really focus on is how he’ll get to have you all for himself. He quickly strips down to his underwear before he settling into his chair.

Wonwoo feels his cock twitch when you pop up on his screen. You have a sweet, seductive smile on your face as you gaze at your screen. It’s not like the one he was used to, but at least he can pretend you’re directing it at him like you know who he actually is. He’s fully hard by the time he notices that you’re wearing the lingerie set he sent you recently. You look absolutely divine in it. His very own temptation. Licking his lips, Wonwoo starts typing into the chat.

you look beautiful, baby. how have you been?

“How have I been?” You tilt your head innocently. “Horny. But what else is new?”

Fuck. This is exactly why he could never look you in the eyes for too long when he saw you in person. Wonwoo was always afraid you would be able to tell how much he wanted you if he looked at you too long. He was never good at hiding his feelings, after all.

“Do you like how your gift looks on me?” Your sultry voice asks, and Wonwoo feels his heart pound when your smile becomes affectionate.

i fucking love it. i knew it would be perfect for you.

Your tantalizing grin makes Wonwoo wish he was there with you. God, how he would ruin you.

“Before I start, I have one question.” You say as you lick your lips. “Are you not gonna let me see your pretty little cock?”

Wonwoo lets out a deep breath because he can literally feel his cock throb in need. He quickly angles his webcam so you can only see his torso before he turns on the camera. Your wolffish grin has precum oozing from his bulbous tip, and he thinks vaguely that he would fuck that complacent smirk right off your face if ever given the opportunity.

“Thought you were getting shy on me, baby.” You say as your hands start to trail up your body.

never.

You giggle sweetly, and Wonwoo feels like he can come from the sound alone. He wonders if you know exactly what you do to him and everyone who gets to see you like this. He suspects you do.

“I missed you.” It comes out breathy as you start to knead your tits. You bite your lip before pulling off your bra. “You hadn’t been on my latest streams, and I thought that maybe I wasn’t your favorite cam girl anymore.”

If only you knew.

you’ll always be my favorite, kitten.

You moan softly when you see the chat, thumb and index finger pinching and tugging at your nipples. “You promise?”

Wonwoo types a quick yes before he grips his cock, thumb rubbing across his slit, spreading the precum all over his tip. His large hand starts to pump his cock, watching as your eyes focus on the what he squeezes and tugs on himself. Wonwoo lets out a shaky groan when he sees your thighs squeeze together.

let me see that pretty pussy, baby.

You’re quick to push your panties to the side and your two fingers along your wet lips. Wonwoo’s eyes are glued to your pussy. Watching you use your arousal to lubricate your fingers is driving him insane, and he has to slow his movements when you sink your fingers into your cunt. He wonders what face you would make if it were his fingers fucking you instead. They’re so much bigger than yours are.

“Fuck.” You moan as you start to grind into your hand.

Wonwoo watches as your fingers move in and out of your cunt, eyeing the way you arousal is dripping down to your ass. Fuck. He wonders if you always get so wet or if the sight of his cock is getting you off. Part of him feels content deludedly believing it’s the latter.

Your moans grow louder when your fingers brush against your sweet spot. It’s rare that you imagine it’s your subscriber’s dick inside you and not your fingers, but cockydom’s cock is just so big and pretty that it’s hard not to. The other part of you thinks about your hot professor despite the fact that you were trying to get rid of the feelings you had for him. Oh well. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Wonwoo curses as his movements speed up. There’s nothing he loves more than watching you play with yourself while pretending that his fist is actually your sweet little cunt.

you close, baby?

“So close.” You whimper as you feel your orgasm building up. “Are you gonna be a good boy and come with me?”

He’ll do anything you want. Instead of telling you that, Wonwoo types in the chat to keep your eyes on him. He wants you orgasm to the sight of him coming.

You’re glad your eyes are focused on the pretty dick on your screen because it makes it easier to reach your orgasm. The sight of the flushed cock aching and throbbing makes you clench around your fingers. You can tell he’s close by the way his hips are bucking into his hand as he squeezes around the sensitive tip. His thighs are quivering, and with a few more drags of his fist, you see the first rope of cum shoot out of him.

Wonwoo lets out a strangled gasp as his cock throbs wildly with each ribbon of cum that shoots from his tip. He comes so much that his seed covers his hand and abs. It glistens over his pulsing dick while he fucks his hand through his high. He smirks when he sees that you’re eyes are completely fixed on him as he milks every last drop from his cock.

A low moan tumbles past your lips as your eyes roll to the back of your head as your orgasm washes over you. Wonwoo is careful to watch your facial expression, his fist subconsciously speeds up. You're just so fucking hot, and he just imagines how you would look coming on his cock.

You smile nicely and sweetly at the camera, biting your lower lip as you moan softly and rub a thumb over your clit. Two fingers spread yourself so he can see the way your folds glisten with your slick. Wonwoo’s zero in on your quivering cunt and the fingers that held them open. He just wants to take them in his mouth and suck them dry.

“I haven’t came that hard in a long time.” You breathe out blissfully. “You always do this to me.”

Wonwoo swallows thickly. Fuck. You’re turning him on all over again.

“Let’s end it here, baby. Be sure to watch my next stream.”

And just like that, the screen goes black and Wonwoo is left staring his own reflection.

Sometimes you have to wonder if your life was fate’s way of punishing you for something you had done in a previous life because there was no fucking way you were this unlucky without any reason.

When you agreed to meet Seokmin for dinner, you never thought you’d be itching to leave the moment you arrived. All you wanted to do was have fun and distract yourself from your failing plan to get over Professor Jeon, but unfortunately for you, fate had other plans.

After the hostess leads you to your table, it becomes clear that bringing along Soonyoung and Chan was a mistake. Because sitting at the table alongside your friend was none other than Professor Jeon Wonwoo. You nearly trip over yourself because not only is he there, laughing and talking without a care in the world, but he looks so fucking hot while doing so.

The older man isn’t wearing his glasses and his hair is slicked up, exposing his forehead. Your professor looks like an absolute dream, but all you can see him as is a nightmare in the flesh.

This could not be happening to you.

It always slips your mind that Seokmin is older than all of you, but now you know that you’ll never forget. You considered turning around and making a stealthy escape, but your overenthusiastic friend spots you before you can even make a move. He greets all of you with a loud shout. At this point you can't just run away no matter how badly you want to. But you decide to stifle all your feelings, and try your hardest to not act like a skittish animal.

“Professor.” Chan greets casually as you three go to sit, and you envy that he’s so nonchalant. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“I haven’t seen Seokmin in a long time.” Wonwoo says, noticing how you’re doing everything in your power not to look at him.

He won’t stand for it. Not anymore. “It’s nice to see you, Y/N.”

It gives him a sick thrill to see you shiver at his words. It’s subtle, but it’s there. He manages to smile instead of smirking like he wants to. Wonwoo has always known you’ve felt an attraction toward him, and he wasn’t going to let you forget it. After all, you were his favorite student.

“Don’t be so awkward!” Seokmin chastises you after you tensely greet your professor. “Wonwoo is just a normal guy right now! Don’t even think of him as your professor.”

If only that’s why you felt so uncomfortable.

Your first mistake of the night was bringing your moronic friends who can’t take a hint. The second mistake was ordering a round of shots to ease your nerves. It’s not like dinner isn’t going smoothly, but the coiling in your stomach refuses to let you relax.

You try to engage as much as you can without letting your emotions slip through, but your professor keeps making it hard. You’re not sure what’s wrong with him, but he seems interested in everything you have to say, no matter how small. You can’t help but feel a little bitter at that.

Where was this energy when you were making a fool out of yourself during his many classes?

“Y/N.” Seokmin calls in a singsong voice after he downs another shot. “A little birdie told me you’re seeing someone.”

You try to ignore Wonwoo’s piercing stare, but it’s hard. Instead of focusing on your professor’s uncharacteristic behavior, you cast a fleeting glare at Chan. He can never keep his mouth shut, and this time you don’t know how you’re going to keep yourself calm enough to answer Seokmin.

Somehow, you manage to respond normally. “I wouldn’t say that. This little birdie is obviously mistaken.”

“Really?” Soonyoung cuts in, and you can literally hear the alcohol starting to dictate his actions. “Because Minghao has been wanting to fuck you since high school, and you finally went out with the kid last week. It’s gonna break his heart to know that you don’t want to be his girlfriend.”

You clench your jaw and give Seokmin a look that said, control this fool before I murder him. Sure, maybe it would’ve been good for Professor Jeon to think that you weren’t trying to get at him because of the link you’d sent him, but talking about Minghao’s apparent schoolboy crush on you was not the way you wanted to do that. Also, it was just uncool to air out someone’s intimate feelings like that.

Before any of you could intervene and stop Soonyoung’s drunken ramblings, your dear friend keeps talking. “Of course you’re not obligated to return his feelings. If that’s the case, Seungcheol also wants to go out with you. Just let me know."

Chan might not be very observant, but he knows when you’re on the verge of exploding. He definitely does not want to see you on the warpath because it’s possibly one of the scariest experiences he’s ever gone through. So he quickly intervenes before you decided to shove one of the utensils on the table down Soonyoung’s throat.

“You said Jihoon asked you to sing on the new song he’s workin on.” Chan cuts in before Soonyoung can keep talking. “Did you say yes?”

This shift in conversation works out for all of ten minutes before Soonyoung starts up again. However, he’s now changed his target to your English professor.

“Wonwoo.” Soonyoung slurs the name slightly. “Can I ask you something?”

You can see the disaster waiting to happen, and you only hope he doesn’t do anything to perturb your teacher. As you share a look with Chan, you can tell he’s thinking the same thing.

“Since you’re not my teacher anymore, I feel comfortable asking you this.” Before he can say anything, Soonyoung continues. “Are you fucking your TA?”

Everything just goes silent.

Seokmin’s smile drops instantly. All he can do is gawk at Soonyoung. Chan looks at Professor Jeon while hiding his mouth behind his hand, and you just know he has that shit-eating grin on his face. That dumbass finds it funny, but you know that your friend isn’t done with his drunken questioning. Professor Jeon doesn’t seem all that fazed. He only blinks slowly before his eyes fall to you.

You’re not sure what Wonwoo sees when he looks at you, but whatever it is, he doesn’t like it. When he looks back at Soonyoung, there’s a lethal coldness in his eyes that you never in a million years thought you’d see. If looks could kill, your friend would be nothing but dust at this point.

“No, I’m not fucking my TA.” His deep voice comes out in a growl and you almost want to hit yourself for feeling turned just by the sound of it. “Why would you—?”

“You don’t have to lie. You’re amongst friends here.” Soonyoung declares with a laugh.

God, you’ve never wanted to throttle anyone more than you did right at that moment.

“Besides, you were seen having dinner at Michelins.” Soonyoung says before he gestures to himself then to you and Chan. “By us.”

It was official. You were definitely paying for something wicked that you had done in a past life.

Wonwoo’s shocked gaze falls to you, but you and Chan are too busy looking like you were one more word away from strangling Soonyoung to pay him any attention. Ten shades of horror goes through him at that moment because even though there was nothing going on between him and his TA, he didn’t want you to think there was.

“Aha,” Seokmin chuckles nervously. “Soonyoung’s a little drunk, I guess.”

“That’s right.” You say with a disgenuine smile and gritted teeth. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Luckily, Seokmin is quick to call for the check with the pretext of needing to get up early to go record with Jihoon. You share a look with Chan as you all get up, knowing you were both utterly fucked. Sure, Professor Jeon didn’t seem like the petty type, but Soonyoung had a way of bringing that side out in people.

“Wanna share an Uber?” Chan asks you as he hold on to a wandering Soonyoung.

Again, you ignore your professor’s piercing gaze and shake your head. “Minghao’s gonna take me home.” You say as you gesture behind you to the waiting car.

Wonwoo watches with a clenched jaw as you slip away after only offering him a halfhearted farewell.

Since his plan didn’t work this time, he was going to move to Plan B.

It makes him smirk a bit. Soon enough, you’d be the obedient, earnest student you were before this entire mess started.

If Wonwoo felt hesitant about executing his plan before, he definitely doesn’t after seeing the way your attention is focused on Xu Minghao the entirety of his class. He can barely manage to keep a calm facade as he tells you that he needs you to see him before his office hours are over. Just as he hoped, you come just when there’s about ten minutes left. He knows you do it so you wouldn’t have to spend much time with him.

You try to rush him because you can’t stand him when he has his hair slicked up and no glasses on. And you feel like you’re going crazy because it almost seems like he’s aware of this with the way he’s looking at you.

“I wanted to make sure you don’t feel uncomfortable around me after what happened the other night.”

It’s a shame that you can’t tell him that you don’t want to talk about it, especially with him. Instead of telling him that you just wanted him to get out of your mind and heart, you only offered him an impassive shrug. “I don’t. Is that all?”

“I also hope you know I’m not sleeping with my TA.” Wonwoo says in a slow drawl that makes a familiar heat gather at the pit of your gut.

“Yeah.” You breathe out shakily. “I know you wouldn’t sleep with a student or someone who was your student.”

You feel like a wounded gazelle when Professor Jeon starts to stalk toward you. A quiet squeal leaves your throat when he wraps a strong arm around your waist and pulls you flush against him. “Who says I wouldn’t?” He hums against the shell of your ear. “I’m not fucking my TA because she’s not the one I want.”

A dull thumping sound fills your ears, and it takes you a second to realize that it’s your heart. You swallow thickly and look at Wonwoo with wide eyes when he pulls away from your ear. “I… but this—”

“Don’t look so surprised.” He purrs in that deep voice of his, and you can already feel the wetness start to pool between your legs. “Despite what you all think, I’m a cocky dom.”

It takes you half a second to figure out what he’s implying. Your jaw drops, feeling like you’ve been body snatched and dropped in an alternate universe. “You—! You’re—!”

“Don’t get shy on me now, kitten. That’s not you.”

If he’s cockydom, then he’s been watching you for a long time. Much longer than you’ve been his student. It flatters and mortifies you all at the same time.

“Do you know how hard it was to have you so close without being able to touch you?” Wonwoo groans as he presses closer to you. He smirks when you whimper at the feeling of his hard cock resting against you.

“I couldn’t even look at you without thinking about your pretty little cunt.”

Suddenly, it all makes sense to you. His coldness, his unwillingness to pay you much attention, everything. That’s all you need to realize before you smash your lips on to his.

Wonwoo moans into your mouth, hands sliding down beneath your skirt to dig into your ass. His cock twitches when he feels that you aren’t wearing any underwear. Fuck. He was going to ruin you in every way possible.

You slowly guide him toward his desk without disconnecting from his lips, needing him to fuck you like you’ve dreamed of him doing from the moment you saw him. Just as you’re about to bend over his desk and show him how wet you already are, a knock startles you both.

“Professor? Can I come in?”

You both recognize it as his TA’s voice, and just as Wonwoo is about to tell her to get lost, you put a finger to your lips. He can only watch as you drop to your knees and crawl under his desk before you motion for him to sit down. It’s almost comical how easily he complies with your wishes, just how he always has during the private streams.

You really do have him wrapped around your little finger.

Wonwoo pushes his chair forward a bit, but not too much so he wouldn’t crowd you. He clears his throat before telling his TA she can come in.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“No.” Wonwoo’s smile is too pretty and too casual for your liking. “Not at all.”

So you do what any other rational person would do.

You start to undo his pants.

Wonwoo is always good at keeping a poker face, but you’ve observed him long enough to know when he’s starting to get flustered. The edges of his mouth tighten and his eyes get this look in them. It makes you lick your lips. Oh, this was going to be fun.

Somehow, you manage to get his cock out of his pants without making too much noise. You find it kind of cute how Wonwoo is acting like he’s unaffected. However, his hard, twitching cock says otherwise. It’s so big and thick, and looks ten times prettier in person.

You lick your lips before you wrap them around the big mushroom top, gently swirling your tongue around to nurture the head. You’re looking up at him, holding back a smirk. He keeps talking with his TA about lesson plans and other shit you don’t really care about. How can you when you finally have his cock in your hands and mouth like you’ve always wanted?

Wonwoo covers a moan with a cough when you take the rest of him into your mouth. Well as much as you can, anyway. They say the camera adds ten pounds, but it didn’t do his pretty cock any justice. You can barely fit half of him in your mouth.

That doesn’t stop you from sucking his dick like a lollipop. It’s heavy against your tongue, weighing it down with the sweet, opaque drops of precum. Wonwoo is surprisingly good at not making any noise, but you can tell he’s close when he starts to carefully thrust up into your mouth, forcing you to take him a little deeper.

You speed up your movements as much as you can without making any actual noise, hollowing your cheeks as you do.

“Are you okay?” That stupid TA of his asks. “You look a little flushed.”

“Just fine.” He grits out with a tense smile. “We should probably wrap up now.”

You hear the rustling of papers just as Wonwoo starts twitching in your mouth. The soft whine you let out feels like a hot rubber band around his cock.

“Lock the door on your way out.” Now your professor sounds like he’s in pain, and you know you have him right where you want him.

“Okay?” His TA sounds confused. “But are you sure you’re—?”

“Just go.” He growls, and in the next second you hear the door slam shut.

You almost laugh, but when you see Wonwoo’s thighs clenching you prepare yourself to swallow every last fit of cum he has for you. It doesn’t take long for his cock to twitch wildly before ropes of hot, salty cum shoot down your throat. He always comes a lot, but you overestimate your ability to swallow it all. Some of this spills out of the edges of your mouth as Wonwoo lets out a loud moan.

When you pull away, he grips your arm and helps you up so you’re face to face with him. He looks so good, sweaty and flushed from his orgasm. Wonwoo’s thumb wipes the excess cum from your chin before shoving his sticky finger in your mouth. You happily lick his tongue clean, making sure to moan wantonly while you do so.

Wonwoo picks you up easily and settles you on the edge of his desk. His eyes are dark and hungry as he put his hands on either side of your thighs. “Such a fucking tease, kitten. What would you have done if she caught us?”

You boldly smirk at him, feeling your arousal drip out of you and spill on to his desk. “No one would believe her anyway. Everyone knows sweet, respectful Professor Jeon would never fuck a student.”

That’s all it takes for him to grip the front of your flimsy t-shirt and literally rip it off of you. The cold air hits your bare tits, and you can’t stop the surprised gasp that you let out.

“No bra and no panties?” Wonwoo growls, licking his lips at the sight of your hardened nipples. “Were you planning on seeing that boy tonight?”

You bite your lip and smirk. Maybe you would let Soonyoung off the hook sooner than planned. “So what if I was? You have your TA to keep you company after hours, no?”

Wonwoo growls a bit before he lifts your skirt enough to expose your dripping cunt. He licks his lips when he sees that your sweet nectar is staining his desk. He gently moves to rub your folds before delivering a harsh slap to your cunt. You whine loudly, hips thrusting upward. He repeats his actions until you’re literally trembling against him.

“Such a bad girl.” Wonwoo says as he start to rub your cunt to ease the stings of his slaps. “But let me make something clear to you, kitten. I make the rules here.”

Before you can think to protest, Wonwoo shoves his fingers inside you, knuckle deep. You can only moan and grind into his hand as he curls them expertly against your sweet spot. His actions almost have you screaming, cunt clamping down on his relentless digits. He pulls out his fingers from your needy hole with a wet pop just before you can allow yourself to fall into true bliss.

Wonwoo smirks when you let out a bratty whine. He loved every second of it. His bratty princess. “Your pussy is so greedy, baby. Sucking my fingers in and not wanting to let go.”

You might feel embarrassed, but Wonwoo drops to his knees and smashes his face into your hot cunt. He smirks against you when you let out the sexiest moan he’s ever heard. Immediately, he shoves his tongue inside you and swirls it around slowly, licking up every drop of your juices.

Wonwoo can’t help but moan at how good you taste. Fuck. He knew you would taste like heaven, and it feels wrong that he’s deprived himself of you for so long. This all feels like a dream to him.

All you can do is whimper and mewl as you grind your cunt into his face. You let out a broken whimper as you feel your climax approaching. “Professor!”

Wonwoo pulls away from your cunt, smirking when you whine. “Uh, uh, kitten. It’s Wonwoo. Say my name.”

He groans when he sees your fluttering hole clench around nothing, and again he dives in like a madman. This time he shoves his fingers inside of you, needing you to come on his tongue. All it takes is a few licks and pump of his fingers for you to close your legs around his head and orgasm with a shout of his name.

“Wonwoo!”

Fuck. He’ll never get over hearing you moan his name. At this point he doesn’t care if the dean himself hears you. He won’t stop until he stuffs you full of his cum.

You can only watch as he tugs off his clothes, appreciating how good his body looks in person. Wonwoo stalks towards you and rubs your cunt a little, mean smirk on his face. You pout at him with a low whine and wrap your thighs wrapping around his waist. “Don’t be mean like you usually are.”

His other hand moves around your body to roughly knead at the swell of your ass, pushing you against his fingers. You mewl softly, fluttering your eyelashes bat him as you look at him with puppy dog eyes that you know he won’t deny.

“Don’t be a fucking brat.” He growls suddenly shoving his slick coated fingers past your lips to shut you up.

Your tongue feels heavy as you twirl the tip around the pads of his fingers, hands scratching at his chest. A low groan rumbles in his broad chest as he watches you with darkened eyes. “Only good girls get fucked, kitten. Remember that.”

Before you can say something bratty as is your custom, the words on the tip of your tongue when you feel the tip of his cock grinding against your wet entrance. It makes your mind go blank with need.

Wonwoo’s fingers slips out of your mouth and settle on your hips to keep you still. “Your little cunt is so wet, all for this fucking cock, huh?”

You nod fervently, mewling loudly as he pushed in slowly. The stretch burns, but also feels so fucking good. You feel every ridge and vein of his thick cock, but Wonwoo isn’t satisfied with only your mewls and whimpers. Even as he’s fully sheathed inside your hot cunt, he’s thrusting painfully slow, dragging his hard cock along your walls torturously.

“Don’t stay quiet, baby. Tell me how much you want my cock.”

Your whine makes him throb inside you. “I’ve wanted your cock for so long. Just fuck me already.”

“What a whiny little brat.” Wonwoo smirks as his hands move up your body to pinch your nipples. “So fucking cute.” His words are slightly slurred, drunk on the feeling of your pussy struggling to fit his whole length.

“Fuck! Wonwoo!” You moan when he starts to thrust into you.

You can only whimper and gasp as his big cock rams into you at an unrelenting pace. It’s almost too much, but you quickly learn that your nerdy English professor is insatiable. His palms trail down to your thighs until he has your trembling legs pushed up against your chest. This new position makes him fuck you deeper, and by now you’re babbling under him, head thrown back and incomprehensible moans on your lips.

“Fucking love your cock!” You moan as he continues to hit the spongy spot inside you.

Your thighs are quivering from how hard he’s fucking you, but you love it. All you can focus on his how the cook in your stomach is on the verge of snapping.

Wonwoo groans at the feeling of your slick walls clamping down on his cock. He pulls back a bit, watching in awe as the base of his cock gets coated in a thin white ring of cream. A broken moan tears from his throat as his cock starts to twitch and throb inside you. “Gonna come for me, baby?”

All you can do is nod stupidly as he lets out another groan from how tightly your pussy is. “Good girl.”

It only takes one more snap of Wonwoo’s hips for you to come undone and coat his cock with your cream. He moans along with you, hips still thrusting to fuck you through your orgasm.

Your glassy eyes stare up at him in your afterglow and you wonder if it’s the mind numbing orgasm singing through your veins or if Wonwoo has always looked so ethereal. 

“Fuck, kitten. All this for me? How cute.”

You can only whine pathetically when you realize Wonwoo is talking about the wet squelch that’s filling his office when his cock slams in your pussy. A string of broken whimpers tumble past your lips at how he’s pounding into your overstimulated cunt.

“So fucking tight, baby.” He breathes out heavily.

From his sloppy thrusts, you can tell me close. It makes you grin and purposely clench down on him. “Fill me up, professor.”

He thinks you’re kidding until you push away the hands that are still holding on to your legs. You stealthily wrap them around his waist so he won’t pull out. Wonwoo moans, unable to hold back his orgasm. You both moan as he dumps his cum into you, his hot seed filling you to the brim.

He slowly lets you go, and just as you think you’re done. Wonwoo flips you over so you’re on your stomach and bent over his desk. He groans at the sight of his cum leaking out of your cute little pussy.

You lay pliant and silent as Wonwoo folds your skirt up, his big hands kneading the globes of your ass in a gentle circle. Being the inpatient brat that you are, you wiggle your hips back until you bump against his damp cock. Wonwoo lets you rut your ass against his crotch for friction until he stills your hips with a click of his tongue. “So impatient, baby.”

“Only for you, babe.”

Wonwoo groans and spreads one ass cheek to the side and exposing your messy cunt to the air. You’re so pretty and wet for him, hole fluttering and glossy with your mixed release.

“Want me to fill your tight little cunt again?” Wonwoo asks patronizingly as he nudges the head of his cock between your wet folds.

You smirk against the cool wood of his desk. “Don’t act like you’re not dying to.”

Wonwoo can’t be angry when you arch your ass further against him in invitation. Not when he knows your words are true. Also, he finds it increasingly difficult to refuse you. His fingers curl around your waist and your body down his desk until he impales your little pussy on his cock. The stretch is painstakingly slow, forcing you to feel every inch, ridge,and vein dragging along your walls.

“Oh!” You moan wantonly. “Fuck me.”

“Look how well you take me. If only you would’ve kept your attention on me, I would’ve been nicer.”

You can’t tell if he’s mocking you or not, but you don’t fucking care. His big cock feels too good that it’s all you can think about.

Wonwoo groans in approval, watching the way your pussy expands as he draws back. He’s obsessed with the way your cunt sucks him in nice and tight as he plunges back into you. Being the insatiable little brat that you are. You start you bounce yourself back on his cock.

“Kitten.” He says through a strained moan. “What did I tell you—?”

His reprimand is cut off with a sharp grunt, his hips stuttering while you tremble and frantically fuck your cunt on his cock at a quick pace, the pleasure coiling in your lower belly faster than before. He smirks and decides to match your pace until you can’t take it anymore.

“So wet and perfect for me.”

Your eyes roll to the back of your head as Wonwoo start to slam into your spot at a brutal pace. The loud squelching from your pussy and your moans is all you can hear. It’s almost a miracle that no one has come to his office from all the noise you’re making.

“But I think.” Wonwoo grunts as the tip of his cock ventured deep into your cunt, intoxicating him with your tightness. “My bratty princess still needs to be taught a lesson.”

His deeps voice makes you shudder, and when you sink your nails into the hard woods, you feel large palms cover your smaller hands. Wonwoo links your fingers together before he starts pounding into you once again. He groans at the feeling of your hot cunt clenching down on him. So perfect and tight.

He fucks into you roughly until you’re wrapped around him so tightly that he can barely move. Wonwoo can tell that he’s fucked you stupid because all you can do is whine and moan about how big he is. It’s nonsensical babbling that doesn’t really make sense, but he loves every bit of it. All it takes is for you to cream on his cock for his own orgasm to hit. Your spasming walls make him thrust deeply into you, fucking his cum back into your walls relentlessly.

Once he can’t handle the overstimulation he gently pulls out of your sensitive cunt. You mewl softly, and Wonwoo feels like his heart is on the verge of exploding. He gently rubs his thumbs against the back of your hands before pressing a sweet kiss to the side of your head.

“Come on, baby.” He says gently as pulls you up from his desk. “Let’s get you home.”

You’re not sure when you fall into an almost domestic routine with Wonwoo, but you’re too busy enjoying the bliss of fucking him to care. A giddy feeling blooms in your chest when you’re leaving your part-time job for the night and see your professor's sleek black car waiting for you. No matter how many times he’s waited for you, the warm feeling never dulls.

Within minutes of getting into his car, your back is brushing up against the steering wheel as you sit on Wonwoo’s lap. By now you’ve taken off your jeans and are only wearing an oversized sweatshirt that originally belonged to him. Of course, you’re also wearing the pair of lacy panties that he bought for you a while back.

“Fuck, kitten.” Wonwoo licks his lips as he lifts the material covering your clothed cunt. His cock twitches when he sees that the fabric is wet. “Did you know I was coming?”

The grin you give him makes him want to ruin you. “I was hoping you would.”

You’re so needy, but he loves it. And now he’s going to ruin you all over again.

Wonwoo loves the pretty little sounds you let out as you start to grind into his clothed cock. “You’re acting so needy. Does that mean you’re gonna behave tonight?”

You give him an impish grin and shake your head. It would be a cold day in hell if you were ever to be pliant for him. Wonwoo growls lowly, and before you know it, he’s pulling out his cock and dragging you up and down the length of it. “You feel that? It’s all for you, baby.”

Being the impatient brat that you are, you don’t wait for him to give you permission to sink down on to his cock and start bouncing on it. Your fingers dig into his shoulders, desperately holding on to him as if he could disappear right in front of you. His fat cock is stretching you out so much, and no matter how many times you’ve fucked already, you’re still not used to it.

“Fuck, baby. You feel so good. So tight.”

You let out a loud whine when Wonwoo starts to thrust up into you. All you can do is moan his name as your pussy spasms and clenched down on him as he grips your ass to help you fuck his cock.

“So fucking good.” You mewl as the tip of his cock hits your g-spot with every thrust.

The sound of skin slapping fills the car and all you can think about is how good you feel. It doesn’t matter that your arousal is leaking down to his balls and staining his pants. Your hot cunt feels too good. Wonwoo moves his hand down to toy with your clit, thumb pressing into it a bit as he starts rhythmically rubbing it with his thrusts.

Wanton moans spill from your mouth as you feel your orgasm approaching. Your fingers claw at his chest as you finally come, feeling the coil in your lower abdomen finally snap. With a few more sloppy thrusts, he goes as deep as he can before finally releasing his load into you.

As usual, Wonwoo keeps fucking into your wet walls, eager to fuck his cum back inside you. Your mixed release seeps down to the driver seat, but that’s the least of Wonwoo’s worries. He pounds into you harder, your cunt practically swollen now by how hard he’s fucking into you.

Finally, he slows his movement before completely stopping. He makes no move to detach from you.

“Will you spend the night with me?”

He asks so shyly and cutely that you can’t deny him. It’s not like you were going to anyway.

“When am I gonna get fucked on cam?” You read the chat with a giggle.

“I don’t know.” You said as you smirk at the man behind the camera. “Whenever my boyfriend stops being so camera shy.”

Wonwoo bites his lip, smirking as you took off your bra. If it’s something you wanted, if course he would do it.

Because you’re his favorite.

taglist: @duolingofanaccount @felix-3002 @junhui-recs @asjkdk @dani41 @kageyama-i-want-tobiors @ohwonwoo

[anothermansjeans]

Bau team having to be at an award show for some reason and you win an award and make a speech:

Shout out to donatella versace for making this dress and to that pretty fbi agent whos taking it off of me tonight *winks*

Spencer: 🧍

Bau: 😲

(LIKE IMAGINE THIS BEING THEIR FIRST EVER MEETING LIKE... HE WOULD DIE)

OKAY SO I DIDNT HAVE THEM AT THE SHOW (im so sorry i will write them at an award show at some point this is just what came to my mind as i wrote) BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY!!

cw: innuendos, pretty fluffy, spencer light (i'm sorry)

wc: 599

singer!reader masterlist

++

You were one hundred percent sure you were currently dreaming. Here you are, sitting in Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles, sitting at a small table with your manager, and your best friend, Katie. It was the night of the Grammys, and your album, favorite, was nominated for best pop vocal album. Never in your life did you imagine you'd be nominated, but here you were.

Early in the day, you had been very nervous regarding the whole thing. You were sitting in your hotel room with anxiety creeping up on you and Katie sat next to you and held your hands.

“Hey, it’s okay, you'll be okay!”

You let out a shaky laugh, “I don't know, K, I’m freaking out. I won't win– I shouldn't have even asked Spencer to be here. He came here to do nothing but sit in this hotel room and watch me not win.”

“Y/N, babe, he loves you and he doesn't care if you don't win. He was very happy to be here, even if he can’t be at the arena.” She sighed, giving you a knowing look, “now, shut the fuck up before he hears you speaking like this.”

You groaned and put your head in your hands. “I just don't want to feel like this.”

Her sigh was soft, and she gently rubbed your back, comforting you. “How about this,” she began, “I’ll give you a dare you have to do if you win. That way you'll be too worried about that and not on the whole Grammy thing.”

You gave her a skeptical look, “what dare?”

She gave an evil look and leaned into you. “Well you're wearing a one of a kind Donatella Versace,” you have an acknowledging hum, “and you're going to look hot as fuck,”

“Yes, and?”

“And if you win, you have to throw in a shoutout to Donatella and the man taking it off of you tonight.”

“Oh my God,” you smacked your hand over your mouth, concealing some of your giggles, “okay…”

And the rest of history. You sat through the ceremony, listening to the live performances and the other category winners, only holding your breath when they made it to yours.

“And the Grammy goes to…” Breathe in… breathe through… breathe deep… breathe out… “favorite, Y/N Y/L/N!”

And holy shit, you won.

You shakily looked over at Katie, who had the biggest grin, and even with her here, you wish Spencer could also be next to you as well, giving you a hug and kiss before encouraging you on stage. After the congratulations from the people around you, you walked up the stairs and over to the microphone, letting out a breath.

“Um, thank you so much, I- wow,” you laughed, looking down at the award in your hands, “thank you to my management, and my producers, and my best friend, and my muse for this album. And a huge thank you to the fans; without you I wouldn't be employed.” You gave another laugh, looking out to your friends and thinking of the man currently thinking of the man sitting on a hotel bed watching this speech. “Also…” a smirk was plastered on your face, “shoutout to Donatella Versace for making this dress, and the pretty FBI agent who's taking it off of me tonight!”

The crowd went crazy over it, and when you saw Spencer later that night, he was a blushing mess. It also helped that Penelope made sure to text you that everyone was watching and instantly had something to say to Spencer.

++

singer!reader taglist: @itsleilabxtch @wietske27 @taylorswiftilovecowboylikeme @marshatesthisreality @ladylincoln @delightfulmakerpiegiant @chericherrypie @punksnotdeadbutiam @stillhere197 @laddywitch @httpstoyosi @obi-wansgirl @amandareids @mynameiskelly

let me know if you would like to be added or removed!!

[shinynewboots]

The Alchemy: Adam x AFAB Morningstar!reader Part 2

AN: Hello all! Thank you so much for all the love and support you have given this story!! Once again want to give a special shoutout to @jennieyeager for the wonderful prompt! I do apologize for the wait. I had a lot of different directions I wanted to go and this was the final project. With that being said:

Confession time: I definitely think this is going to be longer than 4 parts! I kept trying to condense this as best I could but these two idiots really took the plot and ran with it so I hope y'all are ready!

Warnings: 18+ eventually, somewhat dubious consent, language, Adam-typical misogyny

Part 1

The clock on your arm was ticking quickly, time moving at a faster pace than you could fathom. You had made the executive decision to not tell Charlie about your arrangement with Adam until it was too late for her to stop it. A cowardly move, perhaps, but you knew she would try and talk you out of it if she sensed even the smallest hint of hesitation in your decision. 

And there was some hesitation. To leave everything you had ever known to marry this man who had only ever been the boogie man of your nightmares? But you thought of Charlie and her mission and dreams and you knew the answer could only ever be yes. 

There was another part of you, a part that you weren’t completely ready to acknowledge, that was curious and intrigued. No one ever chose you first. Ever. And yet this mythic being upon first glance knew that he wanted you. Now maybe it was the slight resemblance you bore to your mother or desire for his weird revenge but it was still you that he had chosen. That had to mean something, right?

So you left a note for Charlie to find once she finally realized you were missing. 

Charlie,

I’m okay. Please don’t come after me. I went with Adam, the leader of the exorcists. He promised in exchange for me, he would stop the exterminations and give your hotel a shot. Please, Char, I had to do this for you. For us. For…everyone. Please don’t tell Dad, though I doubt he would answer your calls anyway. Please don’t do anything rash. I will try and contact you when I can. I love you. Y/N.

The embassy looked more foreboding than it ever had. The building almost looked like an eyesore along the skyline. Almost too perfect to be seen amongst the squabble of Hell. You glanced down at your watch: 0:05.

Five minutes until your life changed forever. 

You trekked through the embassy, the rooms were just as quiet and dark as when you and Charlie were here only 24 hours earlier. You finally made it back to the meeting room where you had met Adam originally. Light streamed through the cracks in the door and you knew he was there. Another glance down at your watch: 0:02. 

There was no use in waiting for the clock to strike midnight. For your carriage to turn into a pumpkin. It was inevitable, so why put it off? Sighing, you opened the door. 

You looked around the room and only saw Adam, his feet on the table, and leaned back in one of the boardroom chairs, a golden guitar in his hands.. He wasn’t wearing his mask so you got a good view of his human features. He also wasn’t wearing his white and purple robe and instead wore a simple black cotton t-shirt and blue jeans. 

There was no one else present, not even his loyal exorcist from the first meeting. Adam was strumming the guitar, his eyes closed, and his expression was peaceful. 

You glanced down at your watch. 0:01.

You cleared your throat to alert Adam of your presence. The gentle melodies from the guitar came to an abrupt stop and you were suddenly face to face with Adam, who had flown to you with such a speed that you still couldn’t wrap your head around. 

“Hey Babe, good choice.” He said, smirking and taking in your appearance. You found your eyes drawn to his lips and the memory of his smoldering kiss only 24 hours early. My, how much can change. Adam seemed to notice because his smirk became a hungry grin and revealed to you his sharp canines. You found yourself so distracted that you missed his question.

“Hard Candy?” He asked again, holding a small wrapped cherry-hard candy in your line of sight. You looked at him, your eyebrows scrunched. 

“Uh, sure. It’s not poison, is it?” You joked, giving a very Charlie-esque awkward smile. 

“Nah, babe. It's for the travel. You ever portal-traveled before?”

You shook your head. 

“Thought so. Don’t want you puking on me or anything once we get there. This should help.”

You nodded and went to grab the candy from his hand. He had other ideas. He unwrapped the candy himself and held it out in front of your lips. You involuntarily took in a deep breath and could once more taste his kiss from even the subtle scent of the candy. 

“Open,” He whispered and you did just that. He placed the cherry candy on your tongue and it took everything in you not to unravel. To forget your arrangement and to try and find out if his kiss was just as sweet and flavorful as the hard candy that now sat on your tongue. Instead, you chose to swirl the candy in your mouth, the juices emitting their pleasant sweet tang. 

“Thanks,” You breathed out, not trusting yourself with any more expression of language than that measly word. 

“It’s fucking good, right?” 

“Yeah, I, uh, wouldn’t expect anything less from a candy from heaven.”

Adam shook his head. “Nah, that's not from Heaven. They don’t get the cherry flavor right. That’s from Earth.” 

“Oh,” You said lamely, trying to locate this special cherry flavor Adam seemed to enjoy. You wouldn’t call yourself a candy connoisseur but at least now you knew one more thing about your soon-to-be husband: His hard candy preference. 

“You ready to go?” Adam asked, holding out his large hand for your grab. 

“You promise that you’re going to stop the exterminations? And give my sister’s hotel a shot at redeeming sinners?” You asked, just needing one last verbal confirmation that you weren’t making a mistake. You could have tried to hold him to a deal but he was an angel. An angel, who despite being a villain in your parent’s history, had done nothing to conceal his true intentions as far as you knew. And you always felt icky making deals. The idea of owning a soul? Could you even own an angel’s soul?

Adam grinned in a way that could only be described as shark-like, his canines glittering in the light. He held a hand over his heart as if to further prove sincerity. “I promise to do everything in my power to stop the exterminations and give your sister’s stupid hotel a shot.”

You breathed a deep sigh and nodded. You gave him your hand and he squeezed it in a surprisingly gentle manner. His hand was calloused, surprising you as you thought all heavenly things were perfect. But his hand was rough and weathered and worked (especially his fingers, which you attributed to his years of guitar). 

A portal suddenly opened in the wall and you got your first glimpse at the Pearly Gates of Heaven. It was even more beautiful than you could have ever imagined. A piece of your heart began to ache. Charlie should be here to see this.

Adam pulled you forward. 

“Close your eyes,” He whispered, his mouth dangerously close to your ear and warm breath tickling you. “And hold on to me.”

You looked up at him, your eyes wide with wonder and a little disappointment that you couldn’t take in the sight before you for even a moment longer. 

“Trust me, the first trip’s the worst.” He said, and suddenly he pulled you to his side. His body was warm and softer than you had imagined. You closed your eyes tight. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you even tighter to his side. You heard the flap of his wings and suddenly you felt weightless as the ground beneath your feet ceased to be. You could feel yourself flying higher and higher until…

You felt a rush of air and a glorious sun shining on your face. You felt as though the universe had taken you by the belly button and was pulling you closer to it. Your stomach began to flip and you were very grateful for the candy, as the flavor was helping to settle your nausea, at least for a little bit. 

The sensation was lessening and you felt your feet hit solid ground. You hesitantly opened your eyes and were immediately met with various cameras shoved in your face.Angels, winners, and Cherubs crowded around you and Adam. Your mouth had run dry and you couldn’t think. Lights flashed and you felt yourself melding closer into Adam’s side.

“PRINCESS! PRINCESS! Care for a comment?”

“Princess! Over here! How did you manage to get Heaven’s most eligible bachelor to lower his standards to a Hell Born like yourself?”

“Hey Fuckers, get the fuck off my lawn!” Adam growled.

“YOU HEARD HIM, FUCK OFF!” You heard someone else yell. You looked over to see the same Exorcist angel (Lute?) that had been with Adam at the meeting yesterday. She had a menacing grin on the face of her mask and had a spear pointed at all the reporters. Adam gave her a nod which she returned (after she speared through a camera cherub was holding). 

 Adam decided to act quickly since Lute could only hold off so many reports and so he used his wing to shield you and make a path up to the house. You mirrored his footsteps, though you couldn’t take in the world around you due to his wing. Finally you made it inside Adam’s house and were able to take a free breath. 

“Fuck,” Adam cursed. “Fuck Babe, I’m sorry. I don’t know how they found out.” 

He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. You could still hear the reporters outside but chose to not let it bother you (well, it would bother you at least a little. You had never been one for the spotlight).

“It’s okay. It’s fine,” You said softly, placing a hand on his arm. He looked over at you with curious eyes and you felt your heart stop. And then you felt yourself accidentally swallow the cherry candy. You immediately began to cough and choke as the candy slid down your windpipe.

Adam’s eyes widened in shock and fear. He ran up behind you and began to push on your stomach in a pitiful attempt at the heimlich maneuver. Fortunately, you weren’t solely reliant on him to save your life, and you coughed up the remaining cherry red candy. A sliver of what it had been when you had been given it early. Really Sexy Princess Morningstar, real sexy.

Adam must have been relieved when you stopped choking, at least enough to make a joke. “Fuck Babe, don’t choke again unless its because of me.”

Ah, there was the asshole you had originally met. You had let his kind, sexy gestures fool, but the asshole was still there. 

You scowled at him and began to look around the house. It was a modest house, the perfect size for one or two people. Cleaner than you expected too. You had honestly expected trash and leftover food to be strewn around the house, but you were pleasantly surprised. 

A sound at the front door caused you to jump and you looked to see Lute entering, an irritated look on her face. Adam walked over to her, his hand up to give her a high-five which she begrudgingly returned.

“Thanks Bitch, I don’t know how those fucking reporters found out.”

“You made a bit of a spectacle of yourself, Sir. Apparently one of the Saints let it slip that you requested the Hell Spawn.” Lute said, eyeing you with disgust. The feeling was mutual and you could feel your demon form bubbling under the surface, your eyes beginning to turn a reddish color.

“Fucking Peter,” Adam scowled. He glanced over at you and seemed to feel the irritation seeping from your pores. “Babe, she doesn’t mean it.” 

“Yes I do.”

“Yes she does.” You said, crossing your arms and stepping closer to Adam. 

You and Lute glared at each other. 

“Okay, okay ladies reel it in. Lute, you’re a real one. I fucking appreciate it. Just let the girls know I won’t be at training for a few days while I get Y/N settled.”

“Of course sir. Hell Spawn.” She said, nodding at Adam and then you. Your eyes narrowed. 

“Bigoted Cunt,” You responded, giving her a just as condescending nod. Lute bristled but one look from Adam and she quietly slipped out the door. 

Adam turned to you, suddenly more sheepish than you had seen him in the past 24 hours. He rubbed a hand behind his neck. “So, uh, I only have 1 bedroom. I mean I have more rooms, I just haven’t had a chance to get more beds or anything. So I put your suitcase in my bedroom.”

You know, this is the part of the story where the main character gets nervous. Worries that her very sexy, very annoying husband-to-be is going to ravish her and take advantage. Her mouth would run dry and her palms would get sweaty. Only one bed? Give me a break. 

But you weren’t the main character in the trashy romance novel and he certainly wasn't the main love interest material. And you could make do with the idea that maybe living in a romance trope. And he seemed sheepish enough that it was genuine. 

So instead of doing as you would if you had been the same person you had been in Hell, only a few hours before, you decided to draw on some newfound confidence. You closed the distance between yourself and Adam and looked up at him, a coy smile on your features. “Lead the way.”

This seemed to him, as his features brightened up considerably and he grabbed your hand to guide you to the bedroom. Butterflies fluttered in your stomach and you could feel your nerve breaking the longer you walked with Adam. 

When you entered his bedroom, you were surprised to find it to be rather plain. Very few features had been added to the space to make it homey aside from a guitar propped against one of the nightstands. Not a picture or painting or any decor to be seen. Like the rest of the house, it was shockingly clean. On the bed, your forgotten suitcase sat. 

“I’ll leave you to get settled. I'll grab some wine or beer or whatever you drink down below.” Adam said, motioning towards you to begin unpacking your suitcase. You smiled at him, feeling as though you were seeing the real Adam already in the few moments of insecurity he had let shine through. 

“Wine is good.” You said. He nodded and made to move towards the door before stopping and turning back to you. He stood in front of you, his golden eyes meeting your own before they looked lower at your lips. Emboldened, you licked your top lip slowly and looked at his own before devilishly looking back at his eyes. 

His large hands cupped your cheeks and suddenly his lips were on yours. Your senses were once again overwhelmed with that delicious taste of cherry hard candy. Feeling more and more impish, you licked the seam between his lips, a soft request. 

Adam responded in kind and opened his mouth, tongue meeting your own and licking in a controlled, hard manner. Your hands found their way into his hair and tangled in his soft brown locks. One of Adam’s hands left your cheeks and snaked its way down to your waist, pulling you closer. His large hand cupped your hip and squeezed with a firm pressure that sent a pleasant chill up your spine. His body felt so warm against your own and you could feel your resolve weakening. 

(But would it be so bad if it did?)

You reluctantly pulled away from him, your lips missing the feel of his against your own. His cheeks were flushed and his golden eyes were bright and alert. 

“I uh, I should unpack,” You whispered, untangling your hands from his hands. Adam nodded, though you weren’t sure he heard you. 

He coughed awkwardly and you tried to avert your eyes when he tried to discreetly ‘adjust’ himself. “I’ll go get the wine.”

“I’ll unpack,” You replied, mentally kicking yourself for the repetition. You nervously brushed a piece of hair behind your ear. Adam nodded once more and left the room, leaving you alone.

You sighed and tried to calm your breathing. You unzipped your suitcase and smiled forlornly at the picture that sat on top of your clothes. It was a picture of you, Charlie and your parents. You and Charlie were children, grinning wildly at the camera. 

You folded the picture so it just showed the two of you. You placed the picture on what appeared to be the unoccupied side of the bed and continued to unpack.

Tags: @jennieyeager @tati-the-fangirl @alastorswifeee @randomgurl2326 @marxo5 @dragovegogrimborn @ella-janehaven @honestlyshamelesskid @miniaturetalent @klorinda @turtle3586 @naniiiii12 @belladonnadeath

[ghost-proofbaby]

DO YOU WANNA BE FRIENDS? (a barista!eddie x barista!reader au)

summary: eddie really hates being on bar. Especially during morning rush. When you not only notice his impending breakdown, but do something about it, he realizes that the two of you might be capable of being more than just coworkers.

warnings: ONE use of "y/n", fem!reader (use of she/her pronouns), description of being overstimulated/extremely anxious

wc: 4.5k

a/n: shoutout to all the friends that let me make them fellow victims of the siren <3 also thank you to everyone who showed love the first one shot! i didn't expect that at all so it means the world. hopefully with this part, it makes more sense what i meant by little slices of life! the masterlist will always have the individual one shots listed chronologically.

the full menu

Bar was Eddie’s own personal Hell when he first started. It was chaotic, it was fast paced, and it was simply too much to deal with first thing in the morning (especially on the sparse few hours of sleep he functioned off of). 

He was much better put to use on DTO. Taking orders, stalling perfectly so that whoever was on food could get a jump start, cracking plenty of jokes all while still always perfectly reciting back the customer’s drinks. He thrived on DTO. Even when he would be assigned to “one-manning” drive, which simply meant he handled both taking orders and handing them out the window, he was clearly one of the best.

Nicole knew this. Meg knew this. All the shifts knew this — except the newest shift, Gale, apparently.

Because this morning, a major fuck up had occurred. 

Gale was going over his floor plan for the peak rush, explaining who would be in which position, and Eddie knew something was up the moment you shot him a concerned look from across the room. Initially, it was actually funny, the way your eyes so quickly found his and your nose scrunched microscopically. But by the time Gale had made his rounds to Eddie, he understood that the reaction you’d given him the privilege to witness had not been just something cute – it had been a siren going off from across the store, your attempt to forewarn him of the impending chaos and doom. 

Since that first opening, Eddie has been lucky. Just as he had hoped for, that morning wasn’t the last time he saw you. In fact, he sees so much of you on a weekly basis, he’s sure the Universe is playing a sick joke. It was bound to happen; there’s only so many people who are willingly to be openers (for obvious reasons), and you were one of those brave soldiers. He took Nicole’s advice to heart, he decided to let you slip into pace beside him on the front lines, and he’d been reaping the benefits. 

You’re kind, you’re funny, you make the time pass. You make Eddie feel like the two of you might be friends, or at least could be. And it wasn’t the fake kind of niceties that some of the other baristas would extend only from the moment they clocked in to the moment they clocked out. Your sweetness towards him lasted long past being on the clock. In the parking lot in the early mornings, in the lobby after your shift as the two of you solicited just to get a few more jokes in with Nicole. You’d wait for him and walk out to his car with him. You learned how he likes his coffee, and sometimes made him his preferred drink amidst your opening tasks, only handing it over with a smile and charming, “Drink up, Munson. You’re gonna need it to keep up with me today.” 

God, he fucking liked you. 

A month of openings all tallied up to this moment now, in which you’d just opened him up to the possibility of private, silent conversations in a crowded room. He’d never been on the receiving end of that before. Usually, he was the outsider as glances in a secret language were exchanged. 

Not anymore. Not now that you had your sights set on him. 

“Hey, Eddie,” Gale approaches him slowly, a friendly enough smile on his face. He’d transferred here from another store a few weeks ago, “So, game plan for today’s peak.”

The words lay it on me are on the tip of Eddie’s tongue, but they stick to the roof of his mouth instead. He wasn’t that quick on his toes with most people at work. Half the time, he’s lucky he’s managed any banter with you. 

Blandly, Gale explains how Marissa will be on cafe bar. “And then, I’m going to put myself over on front and warming, try to keep myself flexible for you guys. I’ll have you, Y/N, and Ash run drive today.” 

Eddie pales a little, and just as your eyes had immediately sought out his, he’s looking right over Gale’s shoulder to find you peeking out from around the corner, already in position. “Yeah?” 

“Yeah!” Gale is oblivious to Eddie’s nerves, “I’ll have you bar, she’ll be your DTO. It’ll be great, you guys are going to kill it.” 

The only thing dying will be our drive times. 

Gale leaves with a quick, encouraging smack to Eddie’s shoulder, telling him to go ahead and head over to the small nook that’s designated for the drive thru as he ‘splits the bars’ – changing the system so that tickets for cafe and mobile orders will expel out from the printer that sits atop the bar facing the front of the store, while any drive thru orders print on the bar hidden there. 

Eddie is in his own personal Hell. Actually, he’s in his own worst conundrum. 

On one hand, he’s thrilled to be able to spend the day in this corner with you. Plenty of times, Nicole will assign you to bar and Eddie to take orders or greet customers on the window, and it’s wonderful. Forced proximity due to the set up of the store, easy conversation during lulls, and abundance of inside jokes shouted between customers. He loves it. But he only loves it because he’s not the one busting out those drinks, already starting on the next iced caramel macchiato as the customer at the speaker box has hardly finished announcing it as their drink of choice. He loves seeing you in your element; you’re quick, fast and always on your own rhythm that keeps those damn drive times that corporate care about so much under a minute. Eddie could never do that – he could never average thirty second wait times, especially when so many customers order so many drinks. 

Today is not his ideal situation. He will be the one trying to juggle all those drinks, trying to find a pace that works for both him and the customers and fucking corporate. 

“You good?” you whisper the moment he steps up around the corner and up to the bar, turning and facing you. Your mirror images of one another – both of you have your lower backs pressed to sticky counters, leaning with arms crossed and already looking defeated before the rush has even begun. 

“I’m gonna fuck it all up,” he blurts out quietly, the girl who will be on window - Ashleigh, Ash for short – not quite joining you two in the corner yet. “Our times are going to suck so badly.” 

If it were anyone else, he would have just shrugged the question off. He would have smiled politely. But it’s you, still bleeding sunshine even after being back from vacation for a full month, and still offering him a reassuring smile even as his pessimism hangs around the space like a dark cloud. 

“Fuck the times,” you immediately say, and he laughs a little, eyes widening in shock at how serious you look right now, “You know what? I think our store has been doing a little too good. I’ve always wanted to see if we could get it up to a five minute window time. Are you down to test my theory today?” 

He can’t help but fully throw his head back at that, smile wide, no laughter audibly escaping him but he can feel it fizzing in his chest. He used to hate that, especially during his first shift with you – the way you could seemingly make him feel so much better about this entire situation. Now he’s just grateful. If he has to stand on the deck of a sinking ship on this terrible Tuesday morning, he’s so glad he’s going down with you. 

It’s the worst moment for Ash to appear between the two of you, looking wildly confused as she asks, “Did you just say five minute window times?” 

You throw your head back, and the laugh that leaves you is the prettiest sound Eddie has ever heard. The fizzling chuckles in his chest burst, and Ash only looks at the two of you as if you were certifiably insane. 

Oh, yeah. He’s very glad that this is the ship he will go down in. 

—

Famous last words. Not even an hour into peak, Eddie is biting down on every positive thought you had fooled him into entertaining. His jaw aches with both stress and regret as his knuckles sting from burning himself again with the steam wand. Honestly, he thinks he burnt himself less his first time on warming, and he still has a scar on his pinky from those damned ovens. 

“We’re just waiting on a-” Ash starts to say to him when she turns and lets the window close, effectively sealing them off from the customer. 

“A grande hot americano, I know,” Eddie cuts her off. He didn’t mean to snap, but his irritation is getting the better of him. An impending meltdown is already crawling beneath his skin due to overstimulation and stress. 

Yeah, he really hates bar. 

When the newest green bean meekly adds on, “With cream and two sugar,” Eddie prepares himself to scream into oblivion. 

Until you interfere. 

He’s just taken his first breath, shallow and vapid as he glares at Ash, when one of your hands comes down on his shoulder, the other carefully slipping the cup that only needs to have hot water added to it from  his grasp and into yours. 

“I can finish this off for you,” you sweetly insist, leaning forward so that your face fills the minimal space between him and Ash, “That okay?”

Something flashes in your eyes. It isn’t the same look any of your other coworkers send him when he’s falling behind, when he feels like he’s drowning in this position. It doesn’t feel as though you’re insisting on finishing the drink out of impatience, a desperate last call to speed Eddie along like some sort of machine, but instead as though you’re genuinely trying to help him. 

And your hand. It’s still on his shoulder, curling carefully as he finally can feel the way your thumb is sweeping back and forth over his shoulder blade. Such a soothing motion, it nearly makes him cry. Between your thumb and hand, your gentle eyes, your sweet perfume that cuts through the nauseating smell of coffee – all of it makes him just want to throw in the towel, step off the bar, and let you hug him while he’s a giant crybaby. He knows you’re the only one here who wouldn’t judge him. He’s witnessed first hand several other coworkers do almost exactly that, as a matter of fact. 

He was still secretly jealous of your coworker Sam and the day that she’d been on the verge of her own breakdown, still had the image of the way you’d softened when you caught sight of her genuine tears and just pulled her into your arms. 

He swears he isn’t down bad as some of the kids would call it. He wasn’t special – everyone wanted hugs from you. 

“That’s fine,” he answers after far too many precious seconds have slipped away between you two, the customer at the window momentarily forgotten. His voice is thick with emotion and he has to blink several times just to eat away at that impending breakdown once more. 

Just make it another few hours. Another few hours, and you can scream and cry all you want in the van. You can lose your damn mind if you so please, if you make it another few hours.

He has to remind himself of this over and over as he lets you finish off that fucking americano, and he takes a few consecutive stickers of nothing but frappucinos. He doesn’t even know the time, but it might be better that way. 

He doesn’t even realize the way you’re still watching him so carefully, and so full of concern. 

Suddenly, though, your voice sounds over the headsets — this time, without a car at the speaker box. You’ve clicked for the private channel, meant just for communication between any of the baristas wearing a headset.

“Hey, Gale?” you sweetly say. 

Eddie finishes the drink he’s working on with shaking hands.

Gale takes several seconds until he finally answers you from where he is in the back, “What’s up?”

“Can we switch up the floor a little bit?” Eddie’s stomach twists immediately, the burn of betrayal causing his shoulders to tense without facing you. Cool. Great. She noticed. She’s doing something about it. She’s about to throw me under the bus. Whatever. “I’m getting tired of DTO, starting to kind of stutter and I can’t hear the customers clearly anymore because my brain is melted.” 

That he didn’t expect. It’s subtle, and a little white lie. You hadn’t been stuttering. Any mishearings were laughed off easily. You were constantly buying Eddie more time to get a head start on the drinks.

You weren’t requesting a switch for your sake.

Gale sighs over the channel, mumbling your name before saying, “It’s the middle of peak, we can’t-“

“What if me and Eddie just switch?” he finally turns to face you at your suggestion. You’re not quite looking at him with pity, but understanding. You’d been there before — overwhelmed and panicked on bar, left out to sea without anyone to throw you an anchor. And you could recognize an anxiety attack from a mile away. “The customers always like him better anyways. And he has better suggestions for drinks-“ 

You’re blatantly lying. You knew Eddie was more comfortable on DTO. You knew he could handle that, even on his bad days. He almost gives in to his urge to hug you out of sheer relief.

“I- Fine. Yeah, that’s fine.” 

Once Gale agrees, you’re instantly logging out of your partner number and sweeping your arm out dramatically for Eddie to take your place at the order screen with a small smile. He moves forward slowly, finally feeling like he can breathe as you walk up to the bar. 

You didn’t need a break from DTO. You’d thrown yourself under the bus to offer him some relief. 

Wordlessly, the two of you transition into your new positions, and it immediately becomes obvious that it was more ideal. You barrel through drinks all while wearing a smile, and although Eddie stays a bit reserved in his interactions with customers as his anxiety settles, he still shows off all his strong suits. Stalling customers with idle chat, lying about checking to see if something was in stock so you could pull extra shots, repeating back drinks multiple times to make sure you heard it correctly. 

It’s seamless. The times that corporate cares about dwindle down to better match the day’s goal, and Eddie’s chest finally loosens. 

You didn’t have to do that. Anyone else wouldn’t have done that.

When the rush has finally passed, both you and Eddie finally in the final stretch of an hour until your shifts end, he finds the nerve to bring it up.

You’re wiping down counters, humming under your breath, when he clears his throat awkwardly, “Uh, thank you. For earlier.” 

“Why are you thanking me?” you ask nonchalantly, shrugging as you stop pretending to be busy, “I really was tired of DTO-“ 

“No, you weren’t,” he stops you from defending your lie, “You… you’re amazing at DTO. Better than me by a landslide.” 

Your entire expression softens from that constant joy and constant reassurance. But the glow of your kindness doesn’t erase with the relaxing of your cheeks. If anything, it simmers and only reaches Eddie even more potently.

You relay your next words with careful consideration, “I’m really not, Eddie. It’s not a competition. I.. do enjoy DTO, but you were stressed. And Gale wasn’t about to change his floor without someone saying something.” 

“If it had been anyone else, they would have told me to suck it up,” he points out.

“But it wasn’t anyone else. It was me, and I don’t think any of us should have to spend our shifts suffering.” 

You leave off a very important detail that you aren’t quite ready for Eddie to be privy to yet — if it had been anyone else, you wouldn’t have caved so quickly. You actually probably also would have told anyone else to suck it up, albeit still in a light-hearted and encouraging tone. You would have offered extra help, you would have tried to make jokes to ease the anxiety, but you wouldn’t have just thrown yourself under the bus. 

And yet, when it comes to him, you find yourself going soft. Any affirmativeness that you use during your training, that you usually persist with having with new hires, has melted. 

You hated seeing him so stressed. 

“You know,” Eddie’s nervous to say his next words, but they’re true, “You’re probably my favorite coworker.” 

Your smile is back, radiant and comforting. Eddie’s pride swells that it was his hand that ignited that bit of flame back into you. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” 

You’re like a child, looking down bashfully and fiddling with the edges of your apron. He’s sure that any second now, you might start swaying side to side, that your pupils might form into absolute hearts. You visualize exactly how it feels every time he sees that yellow Jeep parked in the lot. 

You bite your lip to break from your shy spell, leaning towards him with a summer glint to your eyes, “Don’t tell anyone, but I’m starting to think you’re my favorite too, Munson.” 

A conglomeration of the past month – it feels as though it all comes to a rise in this moment, hitting an unimaginable peak, and he isn’t scared of a sudden drop. There will be no veering or falling down from these heights, no sudden lack of friendliness. He knows it surely the longer he stares into your eyes. If anything, maybe this is actually just a beginning. 

“Yeah, sure,” he snorts, unable to contain himself, “I doubt that, Sunshine.” 

The nickname slips out without much thought, but he doesn’t even have time to panic – your grin is painfully wide as you lift a brow. “Wanna bet?”

“Never took you as a gambler.”

“John rubbed off on me.” 

He twists his face, holding back any sexual innuendos, and that’s when it happens. Your mouth falls open, realizing the dirty joke he’s biting down on, and you gasp dramatically. Your hand flies out without second thought, smacking him on his shoulder. 

A smack. That’s what breaks the seal between the two of you. A joking smack on the shoulder at a crude innuendo, and suddenly the unspoken and terribly awkward boundary that should always exist between coworkers is shattered. 

“I lied,” you try to deadpan, but you can’t stop smiling at Eddie’s withheld laughter, “Oh my God, fuck you. That’s gross! You’re officially my least favorite coworker.”

“Yeah, but I bet John’s your favorite customer, right?” 

He’s able to block your second attempt at a slap this time, now close enough that he smells your perfume and sweet shampoo. Smells whatever lotion you use, that lingering and stubborn fragrant chai syrup that’s dried on your arms. You’re giggling shamelessly as you wrestle your wrist out of his grip. He swears, if you’d let him, his fingertips would stay pressed there on your pulse until the two of you conjoined in some twisted way. Like overgrown roots taking back control of abandoned buildings, you’d wrap around him and his ridiculous insinuations. He’d die a happy man. He’s already about to die a happy man as he feels your heart racing, and he almost convinces himself that you feel it too. 

God, Eddie really liked you. He doesn’t care anymore, he’s willing to admit it to himself at the very least. He fucking likes you. He’d be a fool not to. 

His fingers are still wrapped around soft skin when suddenly, Gale rounds the corner, and clears his throat. 

“I, um-” his eyes zero in on the space left behind as Eddie drops your wrist, and you’re quick to tuck it behind your back. It’s as if the two of you are children who have been caught doing something you shouldn’t have been. Eddie shoves his own burning fingertips into the pocket of his apron, “I just wanted to say you guys did good today. It’s- uh, you’re both off. So… yeah. Um, good job today.” 

Eddie gets second hand embarrassment from Gale’s stuttering, but you look like you might burst into laughter at any moment. Not teasing chuckles or cruel mockery, but the kind of laughter that occurs when two friends are in trouble, and they avoid each other’s gazes during their scolding in the fear of laughing at an inopportune moment. 

You won’t look his way. It’s exactly that. 

“Thanks,” Eddie forces out, seemingly satisfying Gale as he just nods and scurries off. 

Once you two are left alone in the corner again, you finally look at him and burst into that building laughter. 

Sunshine is fitting for you, he decides, as your laughter fills his lungs with the sun and more. 

—

“So, you don’t live near the store?” you ask, scrunching up your nose cutely as you walk side by side with Eddie across the parking lot towards your cars. Both of you had been eager to get out of the store after Gale’s fiddly dismissal. 

Eddie shakes his head, pulling the straw of his free drink from his mouth, “Nah, twenty minutes out.” 

He’d gotten a caramel frappuccino, emphasis on a blasphemous amount of drizzle, and Ash had nearly castrated him with a glare as she had bustled away on bar. You’d only snorted under your breath and asked for a water. 

“Really?” you stop dead in your tracks, in the center of the parking lot. Eddie can’t lie – it makes him nervous. If any of the usual asshole drivers that usually speed through here decided to arrive, they’d hit you. He has half the mind to reach out and grab your hand, to tug you over to the safe space between the two of your cars, “No way – I live twenty minutes away.” 

He swears his stomach falls to the pavement below, “You live in Hawkins?” 

No. It can’t be possible. He refuses to believe that you could live so close, that you would have been residing so near him this entire time and it took a miserable opening job at some out-of-the-way coffeeshop for him to meet you. You cannot be in Hawkins. Not fucking possible.

“Oh, no,” you shake your head, finally walking over to that space Eddie had deemed safe. The shade from your Jeep stretches only about half way to his van as the sun gets closer to settling into the center of the sky, “Opposite direction.”

“Damn.” 

He can’t help the disappointment; yes, his stomach had dropped at the prospect of having spent years already circling around meeting you, but it’s his heart that sinks as you reveal the actual distance between the two of you. 

At least this means you don’t know anything about his reputation in his hometown. 

“That would’ve been cool, though, right?” you stop and turn to him, kicking as a few of the pebbles on the ground, “If I just so happened to live, like, next door to you or something.”

It would have been Eddie’s innocent crush’s dream come true. To find out his sunny coworker was also his goddamn neighbor.

“Yeah,” he tries to hide his disappointment, continuing on with a shrug, “But if we’re gonna be neighbors, it’s probably better that I live next door to you.” 

You look up at him questioning, “Can I… ask why?” 

“I live in a trailer park.” 

He shouldn’t be handing this information over so easily. He’s one step away from dumping all his childhood traumas onto you. 

And he knows that the others joke that it’s normal, and that there've been many heartfelt conversations on the floor between rushes. But something about this feels more personal – it doesn’t feel like two coworkers just comparing old wounds or exchanging living situations. It feels like two friends just getting to know each other. 

He never would have admitted that to anyone else that works with the two of you. 

You don’t even react, just shrugging as he had to brush off his disappointment. There’s no pity, no disgust. No judgment. It’s just a new piece of the puzzle that is Eddie. 

“Fair enough,” you settle on replying before it looks as if you’ve had a sudden revelation. Eddie swears he sees the lightbulb go off over your head, “You know, no one else knows where I live.”

He finds that hard to believe. They all adore you too much, surely your coworkers would be fumbling over themselves to find out as much about you as they can.

“Really?”

“Really. No one’s ever asked me. And it’s… never really come up.” 

Something about holding this rare piece of information about you makes Eddie want to jump for joy. He wants to hold it close to his chest, tuck it away for safe keepings. He doesn’t really know why. 

But he’s on his way to figuring it out as he says, “I guess it’s not something coworkers really talk about, huh? Probably more friends territory.” 

A slight fib, because plenty of the other baristas have overshared that type of information. The ones that talk too much, that never seem to take a breath or leave a space for people like yourself or Eddie to really insert yourselves into the conversations.

He’d noticed that. You talk quite a bit too, but never about yourself. Always encouraging information out of other people, remembering the little details they share, but it’s never an even exchange. He used to think it was a choice you made, but he’s suddenly wondering if it’s because no one ever cared to listen. 

“I guess so,” you hum. You two should part ways. You climb into your Jeep, Eddie hop into his van. And maybe you’d sit in your respective idle vehicles for a second, even look at each other through tinted windows and make silly faces. But this should be the beginning of the end of your day together. Someone has to leave; one of you should leave. Instead, you just tilt your head curiously at Eddie, and he knows why now he wants to hold you so near and dear and safely as you ask him, “Well, in that case, do you wanna be friends?” 

And – yeah. Eddie does want to be friends. As a matter of fact, he might want to even be more than friends eventually. But for now, this offering is enough. 

He thinks you’ve rubbed off a little on him, because he must be bleeding a little bit of sunshine as he says, “Absolutely.”

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[kirschteinoir]

just thinking about kuroo after the battle of the dumpster...

saw the haikyuu movie and cannot stop thinking about this man!!! kuroo is such an important character to the story and i'm glad his boobs are as big as his love for the game <3 when i tell you i was giggling kicking my feet in my chair whenever he appeared on screen... (≧◡≦) ♡

warnings; teensy bit angsty but has a happy ending i promise!!! mild spoilers for the battle of the dumpster movie and the timeskip

didn’t allow himself to be upset about losing to karasuno until he was alone late at night. for the first time in a while he allowed himself to stay up until the early morning, taking a leaf out of kenma’s book. after everyone else had gone to sleep, he snuck downstairs and re-watched the TV highlights of the match, scrutinising every detail (against his better judgement). he probably doesn’t even realise he’s crying until he can feel snot starting to drip down his lips and he momentarily grosses himself out. but he just lets himself cry and cry, horrible choking sobs that he has to hide behind the sleeve of his jacket so he doesn't wake anyone up. god forbid his team (or coach nekomata) see their giant jokester of a captain expressing his emotions!!!

the ride back home the next day is awkwardly silent. he does his best to remain chipper but he also knows his team needs time to recover and gather their emotions. he makes idle talk with kai since yaku is constantly in tears, who seems to be much calmer than everyone else, and kinda just stares out of the window, chin against his palm, until they pull up outside the school.

he doesn’t see kenma for a few days after the match. partly because kenma has a fever and is sleeping it off, but partly because he doesn’t know what to say to him. especially after the whole ‘thanks for getting me into volleyball’ moment… how do you even begin to talk about something like that? should he even talk about it? or is it something that should be preserved in the moment?

he spends the next few days resting his sore muscles, dodging questions from his dad about how the game went, thinking about how he was going to go to school next week and act like a normal high-schooler again despite feeling like a part of him has died. no more practice, no more volleyball at nekoma high.

of course, everyone at school congratulates the team. they get a shoutout in the school assembly on monday morning and have to awkwardly face the entire school as the principal describes how close they were to winning. it takes a lot for him to not burst into tears again on stage.

a lot of fellow students were cheering them on in the stands and kuroo makes sure to thank everyone sincerely for believing in them as they approach him in the school corridors. people always mention that it was such bad luck that the ball was covered in sweat, causing it to slip in kenma’s hands. kuroo’s smile is strained as he laughs it off, not knowing whether it was worse that their final mistake was something they couldn’t have ever controlled or if he would have preferred it to be a matter of bad technique.

unknowingly he regresses into himself, becoming less talkative and more serious for a short period after the game. it would be especially bad at the end of the school day, when he and kenma would usually meet up and head to the boy’s changing room together for practice. he instinctively packs his gym bag for a while, always realising too late that he didn’t need to bring it with him anymore and then being stuck with it for the rest of the day like some cruel taunt.

eventually he graduates, and real-life problems start replacing the loss of volleyball in his life. he knows the world moved on and now so must he. he speaks to his dad a lot about where he’s going to go after he graduates - he’s always done well in school and performed strongly in the entrance exams he took so he ends up at a decent university in the city, moves away from home (and kenma) to make new friends and start again

on his first day in his new dorm all alone, he feels the introverted, timid kid from his childhood start to resurface again. he thinks he might vomit but he shakes himself out of it momentarily by unpacking his sparse belongings, including his nekoma jacket. it’s comfy, he thinks to himself, and it would be a waste of a jacket if he’d left it to collect dust at home.

thankfully, his lectures and assignments keep him busy for a good month or so once semester starts. at first he texts kenma almost everyday but the younger boy starts to see how kuroo's replies get further apart and much shorter. kenma is still the team’s setter so he doesn’t exactly have free time either, but he wishes kuroo would maybe video call him soon, or at least come home to visit every now and then.

on the whole, kuroo enjoys his first year of university. he’s studying business and joined the uni’s volleyball society and team, through which he made a few friends. people recognise him too, as the captain of the red guys that played that one intense match against karasuno last spring. he’s like ‘yep that’s me :D’ before he thinks about the last time he contacted yaku, kai, kenma or anyone from his life one year ago. he feels guilty and that night, over a bowl of rice and some grilled mackerel, he replies to all of kenma’s awaiting texts (three of them) AND shoots yaku a message about his latest inter-university volleyball match. he also calls his dad, who tells him his sister is back in town and to come home and see her if he can spare the time.

let’s be honest, there probably isn’t a human on earth that kuroo tetsurou doesn’t have chemistry with. he’s definitely fairly popular and the guy that everyone wants to invite out because he always makes it a good time. also had a girlfriend or two (maybe even a boyfriend???) but wasn’t really looking for anything solid so graduated single, much to many peoples' despair.

university got easier when kenma joined him a year later. he helped the younger get acquainted with campus and all the ins and outs of what the students like to do but kenma was never going to be a party animal or a socialite so their dynamic from high-school was largely unchanged. it was just that kenma was now becoming famous and was making shit-loads of money… kuroo was in awe of what kenma had made of his life so far and i feel like he inspired him once again to pursue something he was passionate about, no matter how unconventional it may be

stopped playing volleyball for a while after graduating to work some odd jobs, constantly looking for that one thing that he would do until he would die

one of his uni teammates told him about an internship at the JVA and pushed him to apply for it. of course his application was stellar: interest in volleyball from a young age, outstanding academic performance, captain of his highschool VB team? he was their dream hire

the day he got the internship he invited coach nekomata out for drinks. just the two of them. kuroo still reveres nekomata like a god, despite the older man telling tetsurou he has far surpassed him by now. kuroo remains humble, unconvinced that his future work at JVA would even hold a candle to what nekomata did for him when he was younger. they talk about the nationals match and how it could’ve ended differently, they talk about the nekoma high volleyball club as it is currently and nekomata laments that under kuroo’s leadership it was truly the strongest they’ve ever been. they talk about hinata and kageyama and bokuto and oikawa and all these names from their past excelling in their professional volleyball careers and kuroo realises in his heart of hearts that he wants to be in that world too. maybe not on the court itself but definitely on the sidelines pulling the strings, connecting people. lowering the net.

about me. 

[copias-juicebox]

It's a Sin Chapter 4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5 Pairing: Cardinal Copia x fem! Reader Words: 8941 Genre: romance, angst, smut, fluff, hurt/comfort, SLOWBURN Warnings: in this chap: angst and spice lol Notes: oki guys it has come now. my first lil venture into some spice. i'm feeling shy posting this lol. please let me know if you liked it and if it was ok? and feedback is always appreciated. love y'all. also the biggest fucking shoutout to @fishwithtitz. without your help i would not be able to get any words down.

The sun was shining brightly outside, contrasting the darkness that still lingered in the halls of the ministry. You spent most of the past night inside the infirmary, overlooking the Cardinal. Sister Ana and you both decided it‘d be best to supervise him because of his workaholic tendencies. And it did not even take half an hour after sundown that he proved you in your assumptions correct. He was barely awake and up, trying to get back to his stacks of papers atop his desk as if his grandma was held at gunpoint if he didnt get back to work as soon as possible. This man was really just ridiculous you thought. You encountered many passionate people in your life, especially in the church of your parents. This man though. He appeared to be just built different. Never once had you met someone that invested in his job or hobby.

On one side you were utterly taken with his love for his job and that alone earned him the utmost respect. But on the other side you could not shake the feeling that there was more to his workaholic attitude than just his own love and passion for the job. From what you had gathered so far he was the errand boy. He was sent around the ministry doing work for everyone at all times, doing people a favor when his own desk already overflowed with paperwork. It concerned you especially now that you have seen what a toll it took on him. The whole situation gave you the ick, just how everyone saw how this man worked himself to death and yet nobody decided to help him out. It was one thing you noted and you would make sure to offer your help should you ever have the opportunity to do so.

This morning you woke up early. Thankfully the backroom of the Infirmary offered a nice bed for the nurses on duty for cases like this. However you could not sleep for very long since a great amount of time you spent in the infirmary overlooking the Cardinal’s almost toddler-like sleep. He looked adorable. Realizing you found this odd looking man adorable alone made you shake your head and giggle internally. He was a grown man. In fact a middle aged man about twice your age. But you found his silly antics and awkward behavior lovely. It warmed your heart in an odd way you could not describe. There was not an ounce of displeasure in his presence, rather a feeling of calm and peace. Especially as he lay there in the bed, face finally relaxed. The crinkles on his forehead and around his eyes were less visible like this and he looked younger than you knew he was.

As much as you hated it, you decided it was time to wake him up. Opening up the curtains you turned around, watching him stir a little, the frown back on his face but his eyes still closed.

„Good morning Cardinal. It is time to wake up.“ you informed him, warmly.

„Just 5 more minutes…“ he mumbled barely audible, eliciting a chuckle from you. The sound escaping your mouth made him realize where he was and who was there. His eyes shot open, making him groan in regret as the bright light hurt his eyes and he hid his face in his hands to shield off the sunlight pouring inside.

„S..Sorella I.. good morning Sorella.“ he greeted you, eyes slowly adjusting to the light. His mismatched eyes found yours and he felt the butterflies in his stomach go wild again. There you stood, gracefully in front of the vast window. Golden rays of sunlight pouring in, casting a warm, ethereal glow that enveloped your form. Your silhouette radiant, like an angel descended from the heavens, with the light accentuating the delicate contours of your face and the flowing elegance you carried yourself with. As the Cardinal gazed back at you he sat there in awe, captivated by your otherworldly beauty and the celestial aura that seems to embrace you. Time stood still for a moment, the Cardinal caught in a moment of pure, luminous enchantment. After a moment that felt like an eternity he realized he must have hit his head pretty hard yesterday. What was it about you that made him feel that way? He was attracted to you. He knew that but why was it so strong? He could not pin it down. Was it just your beauty? But there were so many beautiful Sisters in the Ministry, none quite as pretty as you of course but still.

„So Cardinal, how are you feeling today?“ you interrupted his thoughts.

„Mi sento bene, Sorella. Yes I am alright.“ he replied absentmindedly.

„So no pain anywhere?“ You asked him as you started to feel his temperature again.

„N.. No, Sister I feel quite alright I promise.“ the Cardinal smiled sheepishly back at you, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink.

„If that is the truth I am going to talk to Papa Nihil then. In the meantime I will ask for someone to bring you breakfast and I would highly recommend you to stay here and eat. I will be back in a few minutes.“ you ordered.

The Cardinal's eyes widened in surprise. „Ah no need Sister, don't bother Papa Nihil with little casualties like this.“ he tried to downplay his healthstatus.

„I have to Cardinal. He would expect you to go back to work and that would only be counterproductive Cardinal.“

„Ah then.. just tell him I am having a bad headache yeah? And I will be back at work tomorrow.“

You knew better than to discuss with him now and so you decided to not tell him what you were going to tell Papa. „Alright Cardinal. I will be back in a few.“

You left the infirmary, walking down the corridor towards the office Wing of the Ministry. Luckily you remembered most of the layout of this place from your tour with Hannah. Walking down the hallway you checked the Name Tags next to the doors as you passed Cardinals, Terzos, Secondos and Primos offices. The last one was Papa Nihils Office. You just hoped he would be there and knocked on the door three times. A voice from inside called you in. You opened the door, stepped inside and closed it. Inside Papa Nihil sat in his chair while Terzo and Sister Imperator stood next to him.

„Excuse me Papa Nihil. I hope I am not interrupting anything? I can come back later.“ When he saw who entered his office his face lit up. You did not know why but he genuinely liked you even though he knew nothing about you.

„Ah no no of course not.“ he tried to get up from his chair but his old legs refused him so he sat back down. Sister Imperator helped him and he invited you inside with a wave of his hand. You took a few steps inside coming to a halt next to Terzo who fixed you with a curious gaze.

„Now what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?“ Papa Nihil asked, gleefulness in his tone.

„Well unfortunately I am here because of my duty. As you know the Cardinal came into the Infirmary yesterday.“

„Yes yes the Cardinal right. Is he feeling better, yes? Can he resume his work now?“ Nihil asked impatiently

„Unfortunately not. His condition has become better, yes, but he needs more rest I am afraid.“

„More rest? No, we can't afford him to rest now. He needs to get back behind his desk now.“ Nihil nearly barked, absolutely not sympathetic in the slightest. „..The Cardinal wants more time off now?“ he turned to you with a frown.

„No actually I highly recommend a week off for him. He is in a critical condition right now and if he doesn‘t rest up properly he might fall sick for an extended amount of time.“

Nihil seemed to not hear a word you had said, rambling about how dare the cardinal wants time off now until Terzo decided to step in.

„Papa the cardinale is working very hard. You should allow him to rest a bit. Consider it a.. a small holiday yes?“ Terzos deep voice rang in the room.

That successfully just put more gas into the fire. „A Holiday you say? We don‘t do holidays here. Satan doesn‘t take holidays and neither will the Cardinal!“ Nihil fumed.

You were about to speak when surprisingly Sister Imperator stepped in.

„Papa, Terzo is right. He has done a lot lately. He should be granted a gift don‘t you think? He is the most important Cardinal Papa, don‘t forget that.“ Nihil just grumbled in response.

You decided to try your luck and risk it. You knew he liked you but what you were about to do was risky as shit. It might actually have the exact opposite effect on him. You had to try though. „I am sorry Papa. I didn't mean to offend you in any way.“ you tried your doe eyes on him. „I was just thinking that you might need to know how bad it is with him.“ you added a sweet, charming smile to the mix. He looked at you and you swore you saw a slight change in his hard expression. Now or never you thought. „I am begging you as a nurse who swore to do anything to help those in need, to give him a week. I will personally take care of him if you want me to and make sure he gets back as soon as possible.“ At this point you didn‘t know what shit cake you were trying to bake here but to your surprise it seemed to work as Nihils glare seemed to fade and his features softened.

You missed the smirk and raised eyebrow your little act had earned you from Terzo.

„Well if that is so he might get his week then. If that means he will be able to get back and work as he used to that is.“

You smiled and clapped your hands together. „Thank you Papa, thank you so much you are the best. I will go then.“

„Yes yes thank you bella, You go and take care of the cardinal yes. I have other matters to attend to now.“ Nihil said and turned back to Terzo, who still watched the whole scenario unfold in front of him.

You nearly ran the way back to the infirmary, skipping a step just being happy about your successful bewitching of Papa Nihil.

When you entered the Infirmary Sister Ana was doing paperwork on the desk and the Cardinal just finished his breakfast.

„There you are. Are you alright dear? …oh you seem to be in an oddly good mood for someone who just told Papa Nihil that his most hardworking part of the clergy needs a timeout. Does that mean you actually managed to get him a day or two?“

„Well yeah. More than that even. I managed to actually get him a week.“ you smiled proudly

„A WHAT?“ Ana stood up abruptly, bumping into the table and knocking half of the items on top off of it. „How in the name of sweet Satan did you do that? Did you suck his cock or what?“

„ANA!!“ you yelled. „No ew I would never oh my god. I just figured out he has a soft spot for me. And well I used it against him. I know I am a terrible person but it was worth it.“

„Oh you are a clever child. Honestly you shouldn‘t feel bad in the slightest. He tends to be very harsh to the Cardinal. And the Cardinal never owns up to him. You did the right thing child. He could use the time out.“ Ana stated, looking to the door that connected the Backroom with the Infirmary. „Now I just want to give you advice and keep to your word ok? Take care of Cardinal Copia. He will be over the moon to spend so much time in the presence of such a beautiful Sister that is for sure.“ she laughed and shooed you out of the room towards the Cardinal.

„Ah Sorella, excuse me but why exactly are you escorting me back to my Chambers personally? I told you it‘s not necessary I am fine now.“ he kept stealing glances at you from the corner of his eyes.

„You see Cardinal, I spoke to Papa Nihil and he was not exactly.. happy to give you time off. So I had to convince him, yeah?“ You grinned sheepishly, looking down, matching his steps.

Copia stopped dead in his tracks. You walked two more steps and turned around to see why he had stopped. „What is it, Cardinal? Are you not feeling well again? Do you need me to bring you back?“ you asked, taking a step closer to him, worry written all over your face, a hand came to rest on his arm should he need support. The Cardinals cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink. „No no Sorella uh… It‘s just I errm.. You didn‘t do anything to uh…. gain Papas favor did you?“ the man, wearing his black cassock asked. You frowned. „Cardinal I am sorry but I don‘t understand.“ you shook your head. „Sorella.. I..“ he seemed to be thinking hard. He was going to open his mouth again when in the last second he decided against it. „Ah nevermind Sorella. Please ignore an old mans rambling.“ he waved you off as if he just said the most ridiculous thing and wanted you to forget about it.

He began to walk again and you followed him, still thinking about what he could have meant. After a few minutes walk in silence you reached a dark door at the end of the hallway where the higher ranking members of the clergy resided. „We are here Sorella. Thank you for walking with me. I will be fine from now on.“ he turned and opened his door, dismissing you but you were pushing yourself in behind him and he felt the front of your body press into his back. Copia froze before he turned around just in time to see you close the door behind you. His eyes went wide and when you closed the distance between you he started to get nervous. He fidgeted around where he stood. „Ah w..what are you doing..?“ he fidgeted with his fingers out of sheer stress. His mind was trying to comprehend why you were here now as his stomach felt like it was jumping around. „..dinal? Cardinal are you there?? Earth to Cardinal Copia..“ You snipped your fingers in front of his face. His vision cleared again and he got pulled out of his momentary stupor.

„Okay I have had enough of this now. You!“ You pointed your finger at him. „You! Bed! Now!“ you commanded. Copia was speechless. He didn‘t understand what was going on. Why were you here and commanding him to his bed? His bed of all places? You couldn‘t possibly mean to… no. He had to stop himself. He would not let his mind wander there. You were far too good to him, he couldn‘t sully your pretty soul like that. His thoughts were interrupted as your hand found his and you pulled him into the room more. „So where?“ you stared at him as you were walking backwards into his living room. The cardinal's eyes were as big as saucers, staring back at you. „Ah.. Haha uh.. Sorella.. what do you mean where??“ he questioned, nervousness evident in his voice.

„Well the bedroom, silly?“ At this point he was thinking he might go insane. Was this real? The most beautiful Sorella in the whole ministry wanted to bring them to his bedroom. „The d..door to your r..right, there.“ he finally managed to stutter and look behind you. You glanced over your shoulder and gently pulled him towards the big dark door. As you opened it the first thing you noticed was the smell of fresh bedding and the beautiful dark decor of the room. The walls were black as were the silk sheets on top of the Cardinals queen sized bed. You couldn‘t take a much better look because the cardinal's well being was still present in your mind. You wanted to get him to lie down as soon as possible. He was behaving oddly even though he claimed to feel fine.

„Alright then nearly there. Please now lay down. And get some rest.“ at this point you actually had to push him down gently since he was rigidly standing there not moving. When he finally lay on his bed he kept staring at you like you were a ghost. „Cardinal are you sure you‘re alright?“

„I.. I don‘t know.“ he responded and you sighed. „Alright Cardinal just to make it clear to you I am going to be your personal nurse for the week ok? I promised Papa Nihil to take care of you and make sure you are back to work by next monday. So you need to promise me to be honest ok? Whenever something is not right you tell me.“ You sat down next to him on his bed, the mattress giving way to your weight as you sat.

Copia exhaled deeply as you told him the reason behind all this. How pathetic of him to read anything into your actions. Of course you would never show any interest in him of all people. He was relieved of the tension he felt rising between you but he was equally hurt by it. He would never show it of course but deep down he hoped you might like him a little. Just a little would be enough for him.

„Ah uhm if that‘s the case then I think I just need to rest a little more. Sí just a little more rest.“ he told you.

„Alright. Good I‘ll leave you to it then. I will come back soon and bring you lunch, Cardinal.“ you said and got up, walking towards the door.

As the door clicked shut the Cardinal was doing anything but rest. He lay there yes but his mind was racing wildly. He reproduced this morning's events many times in his head. Every time his heartbeat picked up when your hand had taken his. Your fingers were cold and in stark contrast to his own warm hands. He didn‘t understand this infatuation he had. Could he actually have a crush on you? He didn‘t know you one bit, it surely was just his far too long touch-starved body and your beautiful smile that had him worked up like that. He could only dream of someone like you. Oh what he would give to have you. You had said you were his nurse. His. In his delusional mind he created a bunch of scenarios which really didn't help his already misplaced feelings towards you. He wanted to make you his for real. In any way possible. He would give you everything you ever desired. He would offer all of him and more just for you to let him worship you as you deserved.

A few hours later you walked along the corridor, carrying a tray with the Cardinals lunch and fresh juice. As you walked up the stairs you met some Sisters and Brothers, all happily greeting you on the way. You rounded the corner and there you saw Sister Hannah and her group of friends. „Look who is here. If that isn‘t Cardi's personal nurse.“ one of the Sisters teased and winked at you. The group giggled and some of them looked at you with pity. You were slightly appalled at their reactions. „Mhm yes. Is there any problem with that?“ you asked and they answered „Ah no you see it‘s just I am sorry for you. He is so pathetic and you have to spend so much time with him now.“ You looked at Hannah, silently asking her if they were serious. She understood the look you gave her and intervened, trying to defuse the situation.

„Come one girls, don‘t be mean to our new nurse now. And also the Cardinal deserves the best treatment. He is basically running the whole ministry at this point.“ She stated. „Yeah Hannah we know you have a soft spot for the rat man. But really I hope he isn‘t gonna be weird to new sis.“ Sister Moira said, inspecting her fingernails.

„Well I am not worried he would do anything weird as you said. So far he‘s been super welcoming.“ you smiled. „Ugh yeah I‘m just saying sis..“ Sister Moira rolled her eyes. That was when Brother Damien, a tall, dark haired Brother jumped in. „What she is trying to say is that the Cardinal is a little funny, yeah?“ he tried to explain. Unfortunately you failed to understand. „Funny? What do you mean by that?“ you replied „Ugh Sis he is a creep fucking hell. And I bet he is a pervert as well.“ Sister Moira interjected, obviously getting irritated at the conversation.

Your mouth hung open and you were trying to process what you had just heard. „Are you trying to tell me he has..“

„Nonsense Sis. He never did anything like that.“ Hannah interrupted you. „Don‘t even listen to her. The Cardinal is a good and decent man. The one you should watch out for is Terzo.“ Sister Hannah informed you.

„Oh my god are you saying he..“ „No no no don‘t worry. Nothing like that. Satanas, you must be getting all the wrong impressions right now.“ Hannah grabbed your arm, leading you away from the group. „Don‘t worry no one here has done anything to anyone. At least not as long as they didn‘t want to. What I was trying to say is Terzo has a certain way with people. Especially with the Sisters. That is all.“

You sighed, your shoulders slumped as you exhaled. „Okay good. You had me worried for a second. But I meant it so far the Cardinal has been nothing but kind. And I don‘t find him creepy.“

„Correct you are. He is a sweet man. Just very awkward. Many people find that odd. Well he is odd but it‘s endearing really. Don‘t listen to what anyone says here really. Make your own experience with people and don‘t judge a book by its cover because that is what most of them do.“ she motioned back to the group.

„Alright yes. Thank you Hannah.“ you hugged her real quick from the side, balancing the tray in your hands and told her you had to go now otherwise the Cardinals food would get cold. As you turned on your heel Hannah called you one more time. „Hey are you free tonight? We wanted to go out for a drink after dinner. Wanna join?“ You contemplated and agreed. You wanted to belong and fit in and you were going to take any chance to get to know more Sisters and Brothers.

When you knocked and opened the door to the Cardinals room you heard some rustling, quick steps and a thump and a following string of curses. „Cazzo.“ When you entered his bedroom he was lying in his bed, a blanket lazily thrown over him. Unfortunately his feet were not covered and revealed the slippers he wore. One glance at the desk in the corner of the room was enough to confirm your suspicions. Papers thrown all over the desk, the lamp lying dangling off the cable on one side of his working space. You sighed „Cardinal!?“ His eyes went wide at your commanding tone. „Ah sí sorella?“ he grinned sheepishly back at you. You shook your head suppressing a smile. This man was unbelievable yet adorable. „Have you been working?“ „No no no Sorella. I was uh in my bed this whole time, yes.“ he fumbled with the rim of his blanket. „And you always keep your slippers on in bed?“ you inquired. „Oh.. uh.. that is for when I…have to hurry to get to the bathroom, yes the bathroom.“ Copia wanted to punch himself. How would that sound to her? Like he was an old incontinent man that would piss in his pants sometimes. His cheeks grew a dark shade of red when he heard your chuckle. Satanas, you were laughing about him. His head whipped up searching your face. Your eyes were locked to the ground beneath you, smiling a dashing smile. Oh how beautiful you looked like that. „You are unbelievable, Cardinal and you‘re a liar, a bad one at that.“ when your eyes found his he was surprised to find no sign of pity or remorse. Instead your eyes sparked and conveyed nothing but warmness. He was relieved to see that expression on you unlike what he had expected to see.

„Cardinal it is very obvious, don‘t you think?“ You looked around the room. „Anyway I am not here to reprimand you. I have brought you your lunch. And since you‘ve been up anyway you might eat it on the big table as well.“ you walked back out of his bedroom and put the tray on the big table that stood in the little kitchenette he had. A few moments later he followed you. This was the first time you saw him in casual clothing. He wore a wine red hoodie with a fitting pair of pants. Underneath he wore a simple black shirt and under his slippers a pair of black socks. It was a little odd to see such a high ranking member of the clergy wearing such casual clothes but it just helped you relax around him a little more. Not that the Cardinal made it hard for you to do so. His clumsiness and awkward little smiles gave you a sense of security. Like you were not the only one not knowing what to do every now and then. You were still adjusting to this new life you were having here.

Satan and his worshippers surely were going to be the biggest test the lord above had for you so far. You were going to prove to him you were standing strong in your faith and that you could show mercy and help even the misled souls.

„Thank you Sorella. Uh what about yourself?“ he questioned, brow furrowed. „Oh I already had a little snack when I visited the kitchen.“ you brushed him off. „Oh we can share then Sorella it‘s no problem.“ Copia answered already on his way to the kitchenette, opening a cabinet and pulling out a plate and cutlery for you. „It‘s not necessary, Cardinal really.“ „No it is Sorella. You need to eat.“ He patted the chair next to him and you sat down next to him. He then put half of his food on the other plate and handed it over to you. You were a little speechless. „But it is not that much you don‘t have to share with me. I can always get some more later.“

„It is enough. And I am happy to share my food with you Sorella. Please accept this?“ Copias eyes found yours, a hint of worry hidden behind his pleading eyes. It was definitely not enough for the both of you to get full but there was no way on earth you could reject him now. You sat next to each other as you both ate. You were not going to admit it but you were more hungry than you knew yourself, nearly wolfing down your food. The Cardinal stole glances at you from the corner of his eyes and tried to hide his chuckles. „So Cardinal, can I ask you a question?“

„Ah sí sí, what exactly do you want to know?“

„Mh how did you end up here?“

„Cosa intendi? Like how did I end up devoting my life to Satan?“

„Yes. What made you want to become a Cardinal or choose a clerical life anyway?“

„Well.. It uh.. it was a long time ago. You must know Sorella, I was an orphan. I have never known my parents and when I was young I didn‘t have many friends or family.“

„Oh I am sorry to hear..“ you replied, a hand resting on his arm in an attempt to provide some form of comfort.

„Don’t be Sorella. It was a long time ago. And it was the church that I found solace in. Belief carried me through my childhood. I have seen the good and the bad of it.“ the Cardinal spoke, somberness behind his words as his gaze seemed to drift off.

His words struck you and you suddenly became more interested. „H-How exactly?“ Your voice was barely above a whisper. He couldn‘t have experienced something similar as you could he?

„You see I was not a satanic Cardinal from the beginning. In fact I started studying theology and became a young servant of the catholic church. But as time went by I saw the misuse of trust, power and the truly harmful ways of the catholic church so I decided to leave this rotten institution behind.“

„And what did you do after that?“

„I survived doing smaller Jobs here and there until I came across this ministry and the wonderful message they carry out into the world.“

You wanted to know more. But at the same time you were scared to show how little you knew about it all.

„And then you asked Papa if you could stay?“

„Well not exactly. The clergy wanted me to stay here. It is… in a way this place has become my home. The first place that I feel like I am accepted just the way I am.“

You didn‘t know why but it hurt you hearing him say such a thing. He must have spent many years of his life, trying to find acceptance and through many years he seemed to have finally found it. If this place provided that for him it might not be as bad as you were taught it would be.

„I am glad you found that place. The place you can call home.“ you smiled at him and both continued to eat.

It somewhat eased the tension in the room and after you finished the Cardinal got up and took your plates off the table, rinsing them in the sink. „Cardinal.. errm thank you.“ you told him earnestly. „Prego Sorella. I have to thank you. For taking care of me so wonderfully. It is the least I could do. Maybe for dinner you could bring two plates, yes? One for you and one for me?“

„Yes I will do that.“ you two fell into silence again. Him standing in front of his kitchenette and you sitting on the chair across the room. This time it was more comfortable. He seemed less tense and so did you.

„So Cardinal back to business. I have to ask you to refrain from working. That is the whole reason why you are here now. So from now on I forbid you to work one more minute until next week.“ You instructed. His face fell as the last words fell from your lips. He couldn‘t possibly stop working. He never once took a vacation from his work. It was all that he‘d ever known. Bound to his desk, several nights back to back and making sure everything in the ministry ran smoothly.

„Ah Sorella.. I have to intervene.. I couldn‘t stop working all together.. there uh is quite a lot of responsibility that comes with..“

„Nonsense Cardinal.“ you raised your voice above his. „If I remember correctly you are not Papa. You are simply a Cardinal right?“

„Y..Yes Sorella.“ his voice was small now as he looked down to the ground.

„And as Cardinal you are not the one responsible for the ministry. Papa should be. And he will be making sure you get some rest. He even approved to my request and was the first to speak up to Papa Nihil. He has your back Cardinal. You should not worry about it even though I admire that.“

The Cardinals cheeks turned a deep crimson color, as his brain stopped thinking about any other pathetic excuse and he took mental notes that you liked if he took responsibility.

Later that evening you met Hannah and her group of friends outside to go to the local bar and enjoy your time here. To your surprise they seemed to be more friendly and nice than you expected them to be, especially after this morning's encounter with Moira. The Cardinal was not the most popular among some of them and they seemed to know you disagreed which they accepted. They even refrained from making any further inappropriate comments about him for the remainder of your night out. After a few drinks they decided each of them was going to pay you one shot of Tequila as a little welcome celebration. It had been a while since you last had that much fun and you grew closer to the other Sisters and Brothers which was a huge relief. By the end of the day you stumbled half drunkenly into your room and into your bed with a smile on your face.

The next days went by relatively fast. You would check in on the Cardinal every now and then, you would bring him breakfast, lunch and dinner and eat it together over some light conversation. The both of you warmed up more with each day and you could feel yourself relax more around him. While you found some sort of rhythm with each other, him always trying to sneak out to do some work (of course he couldn‘t go without work) and you alway finding him either asleep with his head on his desk or scrambling around his room as soon as he heard you approach, you decided to help whenever you could. Running small errands for him to lift some of the weight he carried on his shoulders. You would stop him whenever he was taking on too much and you made sure he took a good long break every now and then. Copia was immensely happy about that. One of his biggest flaws was that he never truly knew when it was becoming too much, luckily that beautiful Sorella must have been sent by Lucifer himself to help him, saw right through it, always there to remind him to take a break or bring him food when he had neglected his well being for too long.

As you carried on your days like that you got to know each other better in between. The light conversation sometimes, turning into deeper topics that both of you were interested in. He was surprisingly attentive to you and you greatly appreciated that he truly listened to you. He never once judged you for an opinion you had and so it was just natural for you to form a bond with him that relied on trust. It was even comfortable enough for you to reveal your concern working in the ministry. You made sure to choose your words wisely around him so as to not tell him you were not a believer at least not in the same Lord he believed in. You didn‘t even know why but he was easy to open up to and so one day while you helped him sort some papers on his desk you came to talk about your reasons to take the Job in the ministry. The Cardinal had his suspicions that you were not in fact a Sister of Sin. You didn‘t share the opinions most Sisters did but he wanted to know for sure.

„One of the main reasons why I accepted this Job was because of this town.“ you revealed. „This town? How so?“ the Cardinal asked, genuinely interested, head cocked to the side. „It‘s my hometown. I grew up here. Our house was not even too far away from here.“ you reminisced. „Well that was until I went to the boarding school my parents sent me to.“

That piqued the Cardinals interest as he raised one eyebrow in confusion. „Forgive me Sorella but might I ask why they would send you away? You don‘t come across to be the rule-breaking type..“ he asked, trying not to offend you.

„Well honestly I don‘t remember exactly. I was very little back then. But…“ you tried to think hard about how to describe the night and the things that had happened without telling him about your catholic family or the traumatic events of that night.

„It was in the summer. A few weeks into the holidays. I was a child back then and I.. Well, I was a very curious child. And I questioned many things when I grew up. Many things I didn‘t understand. But my parents never liked me to ask too much. And as I grew older I think they grew tired of me and my never stopping mouth.“ you sighed, remembering the angry face of your father as he slapped you hard across your face that night. „My parents were very strict, you know. They were not open for someone to question their way of life. So yeah I overstepped and they finally had enough of me.“ you swallowed the lump in your throat.

The Cardinal beside you grew stiff. He remembered something. A specific night. A night of heavy thunder and rain. A night almost 20 years ago now. It couldn‘t be, could it?

„Cardinal? Are you ok? Do you need to lie down?“ you inquired. „Ah no I am fine Sorella, thank you. Uh may I ask you how old you are Sister?“ Copia was trying to gather as much information as he could.

„I will turn 26 in November.“ you said with a smile. „How about you? How old are you?“

„Oh uh I am an old man..“ He started to stare at his fingers silently counting. „ I am 53.. yes 53.“

„Did you really just count with your fingers?“ you snickered and he just awkwardly shrugged „Eh, I was never good at math.“

„But it is your own age how could you not know“ you still chuckled at his silly antics.

„I never celebrated my birthday so I never counted the years.“ he declared and you saw a sudden sadness flash in his eyes. Memories of his childhood came rushing back to him. He wanted to be like the other kids, celebrating their birthdays with their friends. He never had any friends to celebrate with. On his sixths birthday, the first one he would be allowed to celebrate, he planned a party with food and cake even, sending invitations to everyone he knew. The pain he felt when no one, not a single soul showed up was too much to bear and he swore never to celebrate his birthday again.

Your gorgeous face appeared before his eyes and suddenly he realized he‘d missed whatever you said to him.

„Okay Cardinal, enough of this you‘re going back into your bed now.“ you took his elbow and gently guided him to his bed. He didn‘t protest and followed your lead.

„I will finish this for you.“ you explained as you went back to the desk to sort out the last few papers and envelopes that started to stack on the dark mahogany platform.

„Sorella you don‘t have to. Please. It is not your job to do my Job.“ Copia inferred. „No it is not, I am well aware. But what kind of a nurse would I be if I watched you work yourself to death, mh? A shitty one, yes exactly. And I know once I leave for tonight, you will be up here anyway and work endlessly so I am going to take that off your shoulders.“

The Cardinal smiled at you. You knew him too well already. But what was he supposed to do anyway? You‘d been occupying his mind too much these past few days. The only way he knew to silence his restless brain was to bury himself with work. This way he forced himself to think about something else. Something that grounded him. He needed the distraction or else he would go insane. Plus he needed to actually get some of the workload off or he surely would drown once he was officially back next week. As you told him goodbye for the evening he was glad for your help. He did exactly what you had predicted and was up on his feet as soon as the door clicked shut. He was just going to oversee the finances for the past month and then he would go back to bed and sleep. At least that was his plan. Satan seemed to have other plans for him since his head was swarming with thoughts about you and the child he found all those years ago when he was a Bishop. He nearly had forgotten that encounter but now that you were here it seemed to be coming back to him. The similarities between you and the girl were just too remarkable to be purely coincidental.

Cardinal Copia could not find sleep that night. He was rolling around, restless mind running a million miles. His brain recalled the thunderstorm some 18 years ago. Your name, your hair and even your aura was so familiar. The little girl he found in the woods that night. It was you. He was sure that you were the old Pastor's daughter. His thoughts kept swirling around you and your life up to this point. He knew you were raised catholic and that made him wonder even more how exactly you ended up in a satanic church. Did your parents know about it? Did you fall from your catholic beliefs and joined Satan? He wanted to know you. To know everything about you and help you find your way in this world. Was that why you felt so familiar to him? Was it purely his protectiveness that intrigued him in? He hated the next thought that came to mind. He was attracted to you, he would be lying to himself if he denied that. It troubled him, knowing you were such a young woman and he was such an old man. He was a pervert thinking about you in a less appropriate manner but he was also just a man. Oh Satan what did he do to deserve this? Copia was not even sure if it was a curse or a blessing of the dark one. It confused him deeply why he had placed you back into his way. Was he trying to test his loyalty? He tried to reason his desires with being touch starved for too long. Your breathtaking smile flashed before his eyes and he knew he was not going to get you out of his head anytime soon.

The next morning rolled around and once again you were on your way to the Cardinals room, tray with breakfast and fresh Orange juice in hand. You figured out that was the one he liked best. The birds outside chirped happily as the first sun rays shone through the beautiful coloured windows of the ministry, filling you with excitement and happiness. You always loved to see a beautiful sunrise with blue skies. It was the best way to start a day.

As you knocked on the Cardinals door you didn‘t hear anything and after that you slowly opened the door calling into the room. „Good morning Cardinal. It is me. I brought breakfast.“ you still hear no movement at all. Worried you set the tray down on the table and walked up to his bedroom. You knocked gently on the door. „Cardinal? Are you up yet?“

You decided to peek inside and you saw the Cardinal sleeping in his bed, arms wrapped around a pillow. As you stepped closer you saw he was covered in sweat and you sat down on the bedside next to him and gently shook his arm.

„Cardinal. You need to wake up, Cardinal. It‘s time.“ you whispered gently, leaning closer to him. He stirred slightly, lazily opening his eyes. When is duo chromatic eyes adjusted to the light in the room the first thing they landed on was your frame sitting on his bedside. His mind slowly registered your proximity and he woke up with a little jump. „Cardinal you‘re all sweaty. Did you have a bad dream or..?“

The Cardinal sat up slightly watching you lean in closer to study his moist face „Uh.. oh I don‘t know I don‘t remember.“ he said honestly. You moved your hand up to his forehead to feel for his temperature. At this point you lay halfway on his bed since he had moved away from you as he realized how close you were. He didn‘t know why but close proximity to you made him feel lightheaded. He argued it was just his attraction to you that made him feel that way. When you felt for his temperature, a crease forming between your brows and a look of concentration taking over your features he couldn‘t help but find that adorable. As he turned to look away his eyes found your body, that was presented in front of him, your breasts not exactly visible but enough for his eyes to linger, holding yourself up on one arm, hands gripping his black satin sheets.

He knew he shouldn‘t but he couldn‘t help himself. He pictured you in his bed. Naked body, writhing around in his sheets, head falling back, presenting your delicate neck, moaning and screaming his name as your hands formed fists full of the black fabric as you came down on him hard. It was overwhelming. His pupils dilated at the image in his head and his cock twitched, awakening and growing stiff.

His eyes widened as he realized it. No no no no no no. Not now, not here. Panic flooded him as he gripped the sheets tighter to cover his now painfully hard erection. „Okay you have no fever at least. I guess it was just a bad dream then.“ you summarized as you pulled back. He stared at you, not moving. „Are you sure you‘re alright Cardinal?“ „I.. I am fine, yes.. no. I mean yes… fine.“ You studied his face trying to find any indicator he was lying. „Well then I have breakfast in the other room Cardinal. Maybe I should have brought coffee this morning though. Since you clearly are not awake yet.“ „Breakfast huh? Yeah uh just give me a moment Sorella sí?“ „Of course. I‘ll change your sheets then. Please get up and out of bed Cardinal.“ you started to pull on the sheets.

His eyes grew as big as saucers. „Ahhh.. Sorella uh.. yes.“ he turned around facing away from you and got up, nearly running towards the bathroom with an awkward step. „Are you sure you‘re ok?“ you questioned. „Sí sí. I am just going to take a shower, yes.“ came his response. You simply shook your head and heard the water from the other side of the door run.

The Cardinal stood under the hot water now, closing his eyes as the droplets rippled down his bare chest. He let his head hung and when he opened his eyes his hard erection was staring back at him. He needed that to go away as soon as possible. He couldn‘t spend too long here it or it would be suspicious. But as he saw his boner his mind wandered back to what had caused that reaction. You. And just the mere thought of your face made his cock twitch in anticipation.

He groaned. This way his erection would never go away. No he had no other choice, he reasoned as he began to grab his dick and give it a few soft strokes. His non dominant hand came to rest on the tiled wall as his other hand gently yet precisely moved up and down on his length. His eyes closed and he imagined it was your feather light touch that made him shiver. You‘d kneel in front of him, staring up at him innocently while curiously stroking him, asking if it was feeling good. And how good it felt. If only it really was your soft, small hands and not his own big ones. He picked up the pace and the pressure he had on his rock hard cock as he imagined what it must be like to have your pretty lips sucking is dick like a lolli. He had to readjust his legs as he suppressed moans and whimpers. His cock throbbed in his hands and your watery eyes flashed in his mind. Another whimper.

He needed to get his shit together or else he ran the danger of your hearing him. But here was another huge turn on for him. You were right next door. Hopefully oblivious to what was going on here. His imagination changed and he pictured you back in his bed. What a sight it would be. He wondered what it must be like to fill you up. To fill you with every inch he could offer until you became one. At this point, his other hand came to rest on his cock as well. Using both of his hands now to slide up and down as his head rolled back. Another groan.

Pictures of your face hair sticking to your forehead all sweaty as he thrusted into you. Gently at first and then at full speed with a near supernatural force. You‘d be whining, screaming and moaning for the rest of the night. He would make sure you came at least two times before he would let himself reach that sweet release. You deserved that. He could feel himself getting close, his hips thrusting into his hands, eagerly, aggressively. Again he groaned and whimpered, this time louder.

„Cardinal?“ came your voice from the other side of the door.

Hearing your sweet beautiful voice was all he needed. He bit his hand to stop himself from making too many sounds as your name fell from his lips over and over again. His hips rutted into his hands erratically and he came hard, his cum spilling everywhere over the tiles as he fell to the wet floor, knees giving away under his intense orgasm. Maybe it was just too long since the last time he orgasmed but it felt like nothing he had ever experienced and it took him a few seconds to respond to your pleading calls outside.

„I… I am alright Sorella, I just bumped my head.. and stubbed my toe. I'm still a bit tired I guess.“ he tried to cover up his pathetic actions by a series of equally pathetic lies. He sighed. It made him angry. He didn‘t want to use you like that. He didn‘t want to sully you like that. You deserved better than that. He cleaned up after himself and got out of the shower, plagued by guilt and regret.

He hated himself at that moment. He hated what he did. He was nothing but a pathetic, old pervert, taking advantage of the beautiful young Sorella, who has been nothing but sweet and caring towards him.

When he opened the door, wrapped up in a white bathrobe his face fixed the floor under his feet. His expression was unreadable to you but he seemed to be in pain? Or something else so you decided to ask him. He walked past you into the room.

„Cardinal are you ok? You had me worried there.“ As he walked past you he avoided eye contact and when he heard your worry for him he felt even worse for what he had done not even 5 mins ago. You cared for him and he tainted you like that. He pressed his eyes shut and a painful expression appeared on his still damp face.

„Ah no Sorella I am alright. Now if you could excuse me now I‘d like to dress now and go to sleep. I won‘t be needing you to bring me food for today. I can always call for a Ghoul.“

You were taken aback. He was being so cold to you and you didn‘t understand.

„O-Only after I know you are feeling ok.“ you stubbornly replied with a shaky voice.

The Cardinal turned around, forcing himself to look at you. It broke his heart to hear your voice like that. And he hated himself even more for being responsible. Now he didn‘t only ruin your innocence, no he even managed to make you feel like shit for it too.

„I am okay Sorella. I swear on the dark one.“ he smiled the saddest attempt you had ever seen on him. „Now please…“ his voice broke and you knew you had to give him some privacy. You didn‘t understand what was happening and why his mood had deteriorated in the time span of a few minutes but you didn‘t want to pry. Maybe you had done something to upset him? Or even said something wrong? Offended him? Did you forget something important maybe?

„Alright. But if there is anything please call for me?“ you whispered, fearing if you put more force into your voice it might break.

With that you left the Cardinals chambers and returned to the infirmary.

Taglist:

@hauntedlover03 @adinferix @ghostfangirlsweden @fishwithtitz @pinksweetsxtan @portaltothevoid @bbykens

[leporellian]

as someone who is not really in the know in the opera sphere of things, is there any big drama happening right now? like beef between two producers or a really bad adaptation that's going to happen that everyone hates? i feel like opera drama can be really good but i'm not sure if that's just what i've taken away from media portrayals of opera

ironically enough the early summer is usually the most chill time in the opera world because the big opera houses’ seasons have Just Finished and the summer opera season hasn’t Entirely started yet… that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen however

THE MAIN THING rn is that it’s GLYNDEBOURNE (Glien-deh-born) SEASON which is when the Glyndebourne Festival gets down to business. Glyndebourne has a track record of great opera productions (or at least if they’re not great they’re memorable) but it Also is known for its front lawn, where you can go have picnics with the roaming herd of sheep that populate the area.

Anyway they are doing Handel Operas. Which means that countertenors are coming out of the woodwork like wasps burrowing out of the remains of autumn leaves in spring. Handel operas feature castrati roles- very high pitched roles for men. Back in the day these roles were played by men who had their balls cut off as boys for the sake of the art, but apparently this is “unethical” and “just kind of a bad look” so now in the current modern day and age we have multiple solutions: Either having a woman do the role in drag, or having a countertenor (men who still have their balls and sing super high pitched just as a like natural thing) do it.

Countertenors are so normal about the idea of women playing these roles, as evidenced by this interview in the New York Times:

Castrati roles were not countertenors. They are two very different things with very different sound quality, and were/are treated very differently. However countertenors seem to think of playing these roles as “taking back the right” which is really just kind of an insane thing to say. They even point this out in the same article

(Also it’s wild seeing David Daniels’s name crop up again given uh. Well he plead guilty to sexual assault charges in a very publicized trial last year.)

Where was I going with this. Anyway countertenors are kind of crazy for the way they see playing roles that have for the last 100-200 years been mostly played by women (or even roles that have always been played by women! like in the case of countertenor cherubinos!) and I’m not a huge fan of that frankly. it’s not “taking back” something, or being more “accurate”- it’s just a matter of casting and production vision. If anything they should get more creative and silly with it. Shoutout to the time I saw a countertenor play Marcellina in a marriage of figaro production once that kind of ruled actually. Also I’m a lesbian

TLDR countertenors like to act like this

[nattikay]

Shoutout to my mom who let me dump a bunch of spoilers on her so I could cry about Neteyam. Finally had the chance to get all that sobbing that dehydration robbed me of yesterday out of my system, and I’m feeling a little better now. I mean, the situation still makes me sad, but I don’t think I’ll continue to have my eyes suddenly start leaking every other hour like they did for most of today. :’)

so uuuhhh now that I’ve more or less gotten over that hurdle, I can finally sit down and make a post about all the other stuff from the movie! So here’s a list of some of the other thoughts and observations I had, not exactly comprehensive cuz this is all coming after 24 hours of grieving so I may not remember every single little thought I had, but here we go anyways (also tagging @tenebrius-excellium cuz you said you wanted to hear my thoughts):

-I just want to watch the first five or so minutes on loop for a while (although maybe without the cuts to Neytiri singing the songcord because 🥲, good golly the moment I saw that shot I, already being familiar with the lore behind songcords, was like oh NOOOOO), just the scenes of those ~14 peaceful years where the kids are growing up and the RDA is gone and everyone is happy together and it’s all just so sweet, this is the content I want, I want more of it, please pretty please, I know it’ll be a while before all the gif-makers are able to get a hold of those scenes but man as soon as they do goodness gracious I’m just gonna stare at it all for hours 😭

-While I was already assuming that the Metkayina didn’t actually know English and that we the audience were only hearing English for convenience, I was expecting that issue not to be directly addressed. So I was pleasantly surprised when it was subtly addressed with Jake’s voiceover about now being familiar enough with the Na’vi language to understand it as easily English as the audio of the kids bickering swapped from Na’vi to English. Theory confirmed!

-Speaking of the Na’vi language, I did feel very excited because I was able to understand some of the unsubtitled lines, which was a goal! so yay!! I mean, I didn’t understand every Na’vi line spoken (some of the longer ones I’ll definitely have to listen to more than once to piece together), but to even understand any of it at all, especially the ones without subtitles, felt very awesome!! dopamine rush babey!!!

-And on that note, the fact that Quaritch of all characters was making an effort to learn the language really surprised me! He struck me as the type of character to not give two craps about that sort of thing but hey. I definitely got a kick of out of Spider absolutely roasting him for his lack of skills hrh (note, I very most certainly do not condone actually mocking new learners making mistakes, obviously, but seeing as this is Quaritch we’re talking about...^^”) Spider’s line here was also a place I even managed to catch a subtitle discrepancy -- iirc, the subtitles read “You sound like a three-year-old!” but the actual line was nga plltxe na ‘eveng ahì’i! you speak like a small child! Which, I mean, y’know, same gist, but it was cool to be able to understand the actual words!! I also greatly enjoyed Spider trying to teach Quaritch the distinction between na and nga, just because man that’s one of those things every learner has been through, idk it was delightful to watch it go down between canon characters hrh

-Speaking of Quaritch and Spider....wow, I was surprised just how early they dropped the “Quartich’s son” bomb. That had been a pretty popular and plausible theory for a while, but I was expecting it to either be left up to interpretation or used as a bombshell later in the film. But nope, from the get-go it’s pretty heavily implied that not only is Quaritch Spider’s biological father, but that they’re both aware of this. So. Yeah, that was certainly a surprise.

-Kiri “I would rather drink acid than have Norm be my biological father” good gracious girl! like I mean yes the idea that Norm and Grace were secretly hookin’ up is obviously preposterous, but what did Norm ever do to you to deserve that reaction ^^; haha

-I mentioned in my High Ground post the three primary theories on Kiri’s origins. Having now seen the movie, I now think the mystical-Eywa-conception theory is by far the most likely. However, canonically it still remains a mystery/up to interpretation. Perhaps we’ll get more answers in movie 3...

-Y’know what, vulgarity is not typically my type of humor, but Lo’ak flippin’ Quaritch the double bird when asked to let him see his fingers did get a chuckle out of me hrh

-hey um yo the Metkayina kids were absolute JERKS, what the heck?? like good golly heckin’ rude. Except for Tsireya she’s chill I like her :)

-Personally I don’t think the story of this movie is a total rehash of the first one overall, but I can very mostly definitely see how people would consider it so. There were several lines in two scenes in particular, the one where the Sullies arrive at the Metkayina clan and the one with the tulkun hunters, that were just soooooo similar to lines from the first movie, not quite verbatim but certainly awkwardly close. I can absolutely see this becoming a common complaint from internet critics.

-Tuk pretty much solely exists to make the audience go d’awwwww!!, and y’know what, that’s ok because boy did she succeed :’)

-unfortunately, Quaritch’s ikran has by far the coolest design of all the ikrans, like bruh that color palette is heckin’ dope. what a shame ur now stuck with this jerk lol. Though I did snicker at Quaritch feeling the need to bond with the ikran “the hard way” solely because he couldn’t stand to be outdone by Jake lol

-I liked Lo’ak and Payakan’s friendship, it was very sweet. Also very interesting design-wise that a tulkun’s queue is in his mouth, and that the mouth has more of those bioluminescent patterns on the inside.

-The fact that the tulkun hunters are 100% aware that the species they’re hunting is fully sapient feels very ick to me. Sir that’s...that’s murder. Good gracious. and um “tulkun brain juice stops human aging” wh...what?? can uh...can we get some more explanation on that??? like is that gonna be somehow relevant to later movies or is it just some arbitrary thing to make the brain juice valuable, valuable enough to attempt to justify murder idk but uh....yyyyyyeah 😬

-minor thing, but I was surprised that the swimming baby from the trailer was, in fact, not Ronal’s. In fact, we never actually meet Ronal’s baby, which, again, surprised me. Why make her pregnant if we don’t get to see the baby, it feels kinda random ^^; to link her to her spirit tulkun who just had a calf I guess?? idk. once again, maybe it’ll become more relevant in movie 3.

-until proven otherwise, I am heretofore declaring that final “a son for a son” line to be Spider’s official adoption into the Sully family 😭😭😭

anyways, I guess that’ll do for now. I’m sure there was other stuff but I’ve been sitting here typing for over an hour already. Perhaps later I’ll come back with more comments, idk. I’ll be seeing the movie again next week with the rest of my family, so maybe I’ll notice different things/remember stuff that got swallowed up in the feels. Will I cry more than I did on my first viewing because I’m gonna try not to go in dehydrated again, or less because by then I’ll have had a week to process and accept everything? I have literally no idea. Guess we’ll have to just wait and see...

[legacygirlingreen]

Part 4 - Chapter 3: Graphorns & Phoenix // Sebastian Sallow x Reader

A/N: FINALLY finished the update for you all! Sit back for this one because it is a LONG one! Also I continue to stray from canon because... I don't really know I just want to. I really hope everyone enjoys and once again thanks to all the readers (old and new). HUGE shoutout to my main @strawberrypinky for helping with the smut. Seriously Idk how I'd have finished it without you... I love hearing from you all on your thoughts, feelings, theories, etc so never hesitate to reach out! <3 peace and love you all!

Warnings: NSFW content ahead this time! Mentions of blood, violence, death and almost! SA content also ahead so please be careful if you do not like dark content! This chapter is somehow extremely spicy (via flashback) and also very graphic so PLEASE know that going in. No Dark Seb content, but definitely dark Rookwood/Poachers!

Important info: I also use some Scottish Gaelic in this one along with a slang from the late Georgian/early Victorian era that was used throughout Scotland/Ireland mostly but also parts of England/Wales. If you need an explanation on their meaning/translations here they are ahead of time so it makes sense while you read! Also PLEASE if you have the time check out Francis Grose, he was such a fascinating writer during the time, writing about antiquities in Scotland as well as publishing a book on the vulgar slang being used! Always, there goes my scholarly loving heart for the day...

"Mo Leannan" in Scottish Gaelic is a term of endearment, usually used by men towards a lover, and translates to "my sweetheart" or "my beloved"

"Blow the Grounsils" is a slang phrase that was used throughout the UK. 'grounsils' are foundational timbers for a home, so it is a more polite way of saying floor/stair sex, or as Francis Grose explains "to take a woman on the floor"

Word Count: 14,000

Masterlist for series here: Sebastian Masterlist

Sebastian finally stumbled upon the gorge in which the last trial was to take place; he had come to terms with the fact that his love had been taken and may have to carry out her legacy in her honor… almost. Oh who was he kidding, he was not prepared to face the music. But for now, he didn’t have time to do so. Right now stopping Ranrok was the most important thing to everyone at large. Despite the nagging feeling he had to abandon Fig, and rush straight to find Poppy Sweeting and the grumpy potions master, he knew that if she was still alive and knew he negated his duty simply to rescue her, he would face her disappointment. 

“Ah, Mr. Sallow, I am glad to see you made it. I assume the Keepers agreed to let us proceed without Miss y/l/n.” Fig said, posing his statement as a question and he only found it within him to nod. The light was just about to make its ascent over the horizon any minute now. It felt strange for him to think that less than 12 hours ago he was standing on a piece of land he bought for the two of them, now, not knowing if she was even alive. He shook that off, turning to the professor. 

“So what exactly happens during these trials Professor?” he asked, still unsure how they began, only knowing that she often came back beyond exhausted, sporting minor scrapes and bruises, not wishing to speak of them. 

“No need for formalities all the way out here Sebastian, please call me Eleazar… as for the trials, they have all been different in orientation. This one however, I am unsure how we will enter. There is no portrait to discuss the steps to be taken. Given our friend is currently not available I reckon I will be allowed to help you more than I would have if she had been here. The only instruction I was given was to scout ahead before allowing any taming of magical creatures to fall completely to her.” Fig explained.

“Taming magical creatures? What does that…” Sebastian started, trailing off when he saw the sculpture on the stone behind them. The sight caused him to immediately shake his head before continuing “They can’t possibly expect me to-” 

Fig interrupted him, confirming his suspicions, “Tame and bring a graphorn to gain access. I do believe that is what we will need to do to get inside.” he explained, pondering a moment. 

“Aren’t they mostly extinct sir? Eradicated on account of their horns?” Sebastian asked, recalling the limited knowledge he had on the creatures. 

“That is correct, although I know of one that still lingers nearby. Further down the coast, a famed one still lives within a cave, known as the ‘lord of the shore’. However, he is quite aggressive, and they are nearly impossible to subdue…?” he told the boy.

“Wonderful. So I am to fight, but not kill a graphorn. Graphorns of course being considered one of the most dangerous creatures we know of, and what? Bring him here to open the door? He shall magically produce some key we don’t know of?” Sebastian said rhetorically as if it was all so simple. 

“It appears that way. I would go with you, but I admit I do not move as quickly as I used to. Graphorns are more likely to react aggressively when they feel threatened, and having more than one person nearby is likely to provoke faster.” Fig explained with a sigh. 

“Alright. I will go track down this ‘lord of the shore’ then. Merlin’s beard” the usually Posh boy resorted to the swear as he shook his head. 

“Before you go… and I apologize if I am overstepping my bounds… but you mentioned you were off school grounds yesterday.  Might I inquire where you were and what you were doing?” Fig asked and his blood ran cold. He knew that the man wasn’t asking to get him in trouble, but to admit to someone where he had been, felt odd. Knowing now it might have all been for nothing he decided why not let her closest aly and mentor be made aware. 

Sebastian reached in his pocket, grabbing the tome that disguised the ring boxes, passing it to the man without a word. 

Eleazar opened the tome, expecting to see pages, but was surprised to see it open to reveal two small boxes. It didn’t take a genius to understand what they were as he grabbed the more ornamental of the two, seeing the brilliant ring inside. Sebastian refrained from commenting as Fig passed the book back to him. 

He expected judgement or questioning from the older man, but was pleasantly surprised when he smiled at Sebastian. 

“I can’t say I am surprised, '' he said, his wiry hands playing with his own wedding band as he looked up at Sebastian. The two refrained from speaking for a moment. 

“I just need her to be alright. I can’t -” he trailed off, unsure if he wanted to open Pandora's box in a time of urgency and crisis. “I cannot imagine a life without her in it. She has slowly become my everything. My every waking thought, my main priority, my deepest longing. My strongest aspiration is to be the man she needs me to be. She cannot be gone. I don’t think I could manage to go on without her” Sebastian admitted to the man, holding back the tears threatening to fill his eyes as his fingers stroked the binding of the fake book. 

“If there is one thing I have learned, it is that her strength knows no bounds truly… as does her love for you. I admit, I was slightly surprised when she demanded to return to your side after being injured months ago, but after seeing the way you care for her, the way you boldly proclaimed the depth of your affection to your Uncle… I recognized that this whole time the flame she bares for you is no simple flame, but a raging fire. Ancient magic is one thing, but love is the true strength that binds us. Likely even now I imagine that love in which she burns for you, is what’s keeping her safe,” the man said, reaching a hand out to comfort him.

Sebastian’s eyes went wide realizing the teacher had heard his confession that night in Feldcroft. He chose not to comment on it, trying to let the words seep in and provide him comfort. 

“It is her love for my family however that led to her capture. If she had not been attempting to find a cure for Anne, this wouldn’t have happened…” Sebastian let out a frustrated sigh, pulling at his hair as he often did when he was frustrated, knowing that it was his own fault. If she hadn’t seen the depth of his obsession to find Anne comfort, she wouldn’t go to such lengths to sacrifice herself.  

“You cannot do that to yourself, young man.  I imagine Rookwood would have found her at some point regardless of your sister’s cure.” Fig said sternly, hoping to encourage the boy who seemed to wrongfully take on the blame for what had happened.  

“But-” Sebastian started but Eleazar stopped him, changing the subject. 

“I too, was quite young when I knew she was the one for me… I couldn’t have been much older than you are now.” Fig explained, reaching slightly into his tunic to pull out the chain which held Miriam’s ring, his fingers running over the cool metal. 

“Your wife sir?” Sebastian asked as Fig nodded. 

“Miriam, she didn’t particularly like me very much initially I am afraid. I admit, in my day I was quite, well, an arse. My friends and I were often quite loud, rambunctious and frequently in detention. She was always there, in the background of our classes, not drawing much attention to herself.  I feel guilty looking back realizing I overlooked her for so many years: would’ve saved me a many detentions… She loved the library, spent most of her free time there just reading for pleasure, or keeping to herself around the school grounds. It wasn’t until we were partnered for an assignment, and I spent time with her alone, that I realized how truly incredible she was. She had this wit about her, this amazing way of making the most boring topics sound fascinating.  I never liked to admit to my friends that I wanted to be a professor, or that I found the depth of magical theory interesting… but she could hold conversations that challenged me on an intellectual level I couldn’t truly comprehend. Suddenly I went from nearly nightly detentions to holed up in the library near her, reading in the silence. That silence turned into small conversations, and spending time together outside class. Eventually I was trailing behind wherever she went like a lost kneazle… why she allowed it I shall never know.” he explained, reminiscing his time falling in love with the woman. 

“I admit, that sounds familiar… ” Sebastian started with a smile.

“Oh believe me, the change in your behavior has not gone unnoticed.  I dare say, it’s admirable.” Fig said, smiling. 

“She just makes me want to be a better person. Hell, she had me getting along with my Uncle for a majority of the holiday, which I can’t say has happened in a long time, possibly ever.” Sebastian admits with a chuckle. 

“She mentioned as such. I did inquire about the safety of your home life, and I apologize if I overstepped any bounds. She explained the complexities of your relationship with Solomon with great care. I would like to say, if you do not wish to return to his home this summer, I will make sure that you do not have to,” Fig explained gently. 

“While I appreciate the concern… I do not think that will be a problem anymore… I already have purchased land, along with a house that needs much work I admit, but… it is mine. I was hardly planning to return to Solomon. Our relationship may be slightly more amicable than we used to be, but I do not wish to spend more time than necessary with him.” Sebastian explained.

“I understand. I just wanted you to know, should you ever need a safe place, that my home is open for you and her… I respected your parents a great deal.  I know it would destroy young Alice knowing that you were treated with the harshness you have had to endure from your uncle this whole time.” Fig told him, remembering the young man’s mother, and the love she held for her children. 

“I will keep that in mind if we find ourselves needing a place to go… the sun shall be up soon. I suppose I should be off.” Sebastian said.

“Of course. Sorry to keep you from your task.” 

“This has been… illuminating… would you-” Sebastian started, reaching into his pocket to retrieve the tome, “hold onto this so I do not damage it? I imagine taming a graphorn will not be easy, '' he admitted. 

“Absolutely, I would be honored” he said and Sebastian turned and walked a few paces when he heard the man call out “Might I ask why you chose a star?”.

“You may ask, but I do not believe I shall provide you with an answer…” Sebastian called with a chuckle before aparating away to find the beast he was to tame. 

To say the camp had fallen into complete and utter chaos would be a gross understatement.  The poachers camp had gotten from organized and orderly to a warzone in a matter of moments. She was startled upon seeing dark witches and wizards casting spells upon several centaurs, all armed with bow and arrow. The two groups continued to assault one another as several small fires burned within the camp, and smoke filled the air.  Shouting and battle horns filled the night and amidst the chaos she aimed to locate any familiar faces. 

That search was short lived however, as Rookwood shoved her back inside the tent, casting Incarcerous to force her into binds along one of the posts reaching a hand out of the flap long enough to retrieve one of the men who initially caught her.

“Do not let her escape or it’ll be on your head” Victor shouted before disappearing from her view. The man came closer, standing behind her as she struggled against the binds. 

“Oh would you look at that, someone appears to have scratched you Kitten” he said with a nasty smirk, bringing his hand up to caress her blood soaked cheek. She let out a shriek against the filthy cloth between her lips, trying to move her face away. 

“Would you stop moving!” he spat in her face. 

Reaching down he aggressively groped her exposed breast, making her squirm and begin kicking her legs as she attempted to get him to back up. He took one look down at her leg before he kicked her so hard directly across her]shin  she heard a snap, tears immediately springing to her eyes as he aggressively pulled her hair. 

“You are so easily broken kitten. Next time don’t test me. You are going to sit here and let me do as I please… same as you do for young Sallow you little Harlot” he screamed at her as she continued to cry, the pain from her leg beginning to take over her mind for the first time since Rookwood carved into her back. 

Suddenly she felt the ropes holding her to the beam released, however the binds on her wrists were still tied. She was forced onto her back as he crawled over her, and her eyes went wide in panic. 

“No, no no” she screamed into the gag but it wasn’t much use. All she could do was close her eyes, and think of another time and place… 

His brown eyes scanned hers intently, searching for any signs she didn’t want to continue.  They had decided to spend some alone time inside the room of requirement - as they so often did when they found a free moment - however this time had led to much more intensity than the pair had previously shared. 

“We don’t have to keep going, you know? I am perfectly fine to stop if you don’t feel comfortable…” Sebastian trailed off while his lower body continued to rock into hers.  They currently were pressed flush with one another, hips bones kissing between their clothes.  Sebastian’s right leg had found its between the pair of hers as she slid up and down ever so slightly on his solid and muscular thigh.  

Ever since the night in the shower, in which he finally felt the inside of her womanly walls with just his fingers, he couldn't stop imagining what it would be like to fully be sheathed inside of her.  Every private moment he had since that night was spent with his fist clenched around his manhood, imagining it was her velvety warmth surrounding him, pulling him in, instead of his hand. He almost always was able to release embarrassingly quick as he imagined the way her voice had sounded when he spewed the filth he spoke directly against her skin.  The way he threatened to put a child within her womb - something he had not realized brought him excitement to think about until that moment - became new source material when he was alone. 

Despite this deep rooted desire growing more and more powerful by the day, he still wanted any physical action they took to be by her guiding hand. If he was honest with himself, Sebastian hardly trusted himself to take the lead.  He knew if he did, there would be no stopping until his body got what it had been craving for weeks now: to be tightly pressed within her, until he filled her with every drop he could provide, all as he watched her come undone, squirming beneath him.  His mind would always go blank imagining the way her walls had fluttered around his fingers, and it caused him to become almost painfully hard to imagine what that would feel like wrapped around his length… 

“It is alright… I trust you Bash” she spoke with a shy smile, lifting her arms over her head to allow him to remove her top. Every time he had seen her in various states of undress it had been while bathing. Allowing him to do so now, although not a new sensation, however now without the guise of cleaning themselves felt different somehow. Knowing he would be able to see and feel her skin completely unobstructed by even water… 

Sebastian started to lift her shirt, moving it further up her torso until it pooled at her neck. Without warning he pulled it off her body completely, leaving her only in a thin corset as he brought his head down to her neck. Usually when he kissed her there, he was gentle, most often taking his time, and appreciated the soft sighs it drew from her. Now, she found him moving with haste.  She went to question it when she felt his teeth press into her skin before his tongue moved to coat the bite. His wet appendage soothing the area in which he had marked her. 

His kisses weren’t the only thing that seemed to have more energy than usual. His hips seemed to move faster against hers. His hands gripped her waist more firmly than usual, and if she had to guess, he might be leaving small bruises on her skin.  

His calloused hand lifted and he reached inside the cup of her corset, drawing out one of her breasts and squeezing the skin there almost roughly, as he moved his mouth down to suck her nipple into his warm and wet mouth.

It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy the feelings he was providing… in fact if she was honest with herself, her undergarments were already soaked through as the young man seemingly knew all her weak points.  In their time together he had gotten much better at bringing her pleasure either directly, or by giving her enough of a mental image for when she was alone.  A small part of her wanted him to continue, to keep going until he had her fully naked and flushed beneath him, writhing as he continued this hastened pace while filling her tight hole with… 

“Are you sure? I just felt you shudder…” his voice was soft as he released her now perky nipple from the confines of his mouth, his breath making her shake. She looked away, wanting to avoid his stare. That did not last long as she felt his gentle fingertips abandon her breast and instead softly cup her chin. “Hey… look at me…” he pleaded. 

She always gave in when he used that kind but slightly commanding tone.  

“Please talk to me… tell me what’s going through that beautiful mind of yours” he asked, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, before running the back of his knuckle over the skin of her cheek.  

“I am just nervous that’s all…” she said, her eyes still not fully meeting his, as she felt him scan over every feature of her face. In fact, she found herself with her eyes locked onto the small white scar he had below his lip, apparently from a time in which Anne accidentally hit him in the face with a fire poker when they were young. She reached a delicate hand up, lightly using her thumb to trace over the faint white line that ran parallel with the outline of his plump bottom lip.  

“Why are you nervous?” he asked, in the most tender tone he could muster despite now being filled with anxiety that he had pressed her too far into things she was not ready for. He had hoped she would notice the change in his speech, but hoping for that was as useless as she knew him better than almost anyone. 

Eyes finally moving back to meet Sebastian’s, she kept stroking the small scar below his lip trying to ground herself before she continued. 

“Things have been… different lately when we have been alone. I am not uncomfortable with them, or with you, I simply…” she trailed off unsure how to word her thoughts to both explain her feelings and also not worry him. She had hoped Sebastian would speak up and save her from continuing but he didn’t. 

“How comfortable are we with having fully marital relations… At what point do you intend to stop? And if we continue, what will that leave for a future time?” she asked wearily, her face scrunching up as she hated to even ask him such questions.  In her mind, to commit to the extent of such acts would be to fully commit the rest of herself to Sebastian. Although she had no doubt in regards to their future… engaging in such physical shows of that was daunting to say the least. It seemed so adult, so distant yet physically in this moment it seemed possible. That fact was almost frightening. 

“At what point do you wish to stop?” he countered after a brief pause. She could sense the same inner conflict she was facing written across his features. The way his lips had remained parted, the way his eyebrows had drawn forward, the way his eyes looked both distant and close at the same time. 

She didn’t have a formulated answer for him.  The uncontrollable parts of herself wanting to keep going until they had done all that was natural… The other part wanted to wait. Perhaps not until they were wed, but at least for a time that could be special. She knew dinner was approaching and they would be rushing and she didn’t want Sebastian Atlas Sallow to quickly and unceremoniously deflower her, then go eat his weight in mashed potato surrounded by their friends as if nothing had happened… 

“I’m not… I am not sure… what-” she kept trying to get her brain and mouth to cooperate, however, doing so was proving more difficult than she thought as Sebastian’s hand had returned to stroking the bare skin beneath her breast. 

“How about this…” Sebastian started to speak but when he looked down and saw her wide eyes looking up at him, blinking so innocently and purely, he couldn’t help himself: Sebastian bent down and kissed her. His lips pressing down harshly on hers as he passionately filled her mouth with a groan before pulling away. “Sorry… I seem to be having difficulty restraining myself…” he suddenly felt very embarrassed, as his lack of restraint seemed to be what was causing their issue. Sebastian went to retract himself completely from her, when he felt a hand keeping him in place.

“It’s alright Bash… I am also having the same issue if I am honest.” She thought for a moment. “What were you going to recommend?” she asked, moving her arms to rest on his shoulders, her fingers playing with his hair as she let the weight of their situation evaporate. 

There was no need to be nervous: This was just her and Sebatian. They knew each other. They trusted each other. There was not a thing they couldn’t talk about. They would come to a resolution. 

“I was going to suggest… if you want to keep going we can always go until you are uncomfortable, however if I am honest with you, I do not know how well I will be able to hold back. I mean if you only knew the thoughts I was having right now… you’d probably be disgusted with me.” he said somewhere between shame and humor. The combination would be odd if he had been speaking to anyone but her, but there were no reservations at this point of their relationship. 

“Enlighten me then” she said. 

“What?” he asked, unsure what she meant. 

“Tell me what thoughts you have running through your brain. I want to hear them.  I can assure you Sebastian, they likely aren’t that different from my own” she said barely above a whisper as her hips rocked into his gently. 

“I.. I can’t.” he tried to reason with her, tried to get her to understand that he couldn’t. It would be the furthest thing from what a gentleman would do.  She deserved a kind, honest, man; not a horny, touch deprived, young man who wanted nothing more than to fill her walls with his release, despite not having any real right or claim to do so.

“Please” she begged, forcing his eyes back up into her own as she tried to get him to be honest with her about what he wanted. Except Sebastian didn’t know what he wanted that was within reason. 

“More. I want more.” was all he said with an exasperated sigh. 

“More of what?” she asked, perplexed by his answer. 

“More touching, more kissing, more contact. I want to go further than what we have been doing. More than even that night in the shower. I just want more of you. And I know that’s wrong of me to want, and I can assure you that this is not me asking you for such things. But every second since that night we shared that first kiss, I can’t stop thinking of claiming you in any way imaginable. Every moment in which I am next to you, it is all I can think of. Those sounds you make, the way you look as if the heavens have opened up right before me, it's all too much. How could I not have my mind filled with rich and colorful depictions of you. You lying beneath me, you lying on top of me, you standing next to me as I take you against the wall, you spread out across the desk: simply just you. Oh if you only knew the vulgarity in which I think of you-” he felt his whole body begin to shake at his open admission.  

Sebastian expected her to slap him, berate him, but he was surprised to see him eying his clothed chest curiously.  He was even more surprised when she slowly started to undo the top few buttons with one hand. 

“Hey, just because I told you that… we do not need to continue, in fact I do believe it is better that we do not fully commit to marital relations now.” he explained and she shook her head. He tried to reason with her, against his own body’s desires as she pushed the shirt from his body. “I mean it, I want to wait. I want to make things special for you. I don’t want you to feel pressured by my account when I know-” she interrupted him. 

“You don’t understand.” she spoke so matter of fact that it caused his eyebrows to draw. 

“Don’t understand what?” 

“The ways in which I want you Sebastian. You aren’t the only one who wants to feel the full extent of your length inside of me.  You think that I don’t want to give myself to you? You already have my heart, my mind, my spirit: how could I not want to give you my body as well? I have no concerns for the semantics but Merlin- it’s nearly the only thing I think about these days. How much I want to truly, irrevocably and wholeheartedly give you everything I am.  How much I want you to look into my eyes as you feel the full extent of my love.” She started in a similar tone to which he had spoken before.

“We don’t -“ he tried to get her to stop but she kept going as she moved her fingers lower, reaching for the clasp of his belt.

“You cannot possibly know how difficult it is when I see you sweating at crossed wands to not imagine you taking me then and there. How I see your hands clutching your quill in class and immediately imagine how they felt inside of me. You probably don’t even realize how I’ve gotten so well at rubbing my legs together to ease the tension under the desk have you?” She questioned rhetorically. 

She finished undoing his belt and the button holding his trousers. Sebastian hadn’t even realized she was already holding him in her delicate hands until he looked down and saw his length in her hands, blushing brightly and already leaking. 

“I agree that I do not think we should do such things now but trust me when I say that you are not the only one who wants to.” She said, staring into his brown eyes, trying to assure him that she wanted to go a step further. Not fully commit herself to him yet, but to find a middle ground in the meantime.

Sebastian wasn’t sure what to do. On one hand, she had already stripped him bare and she was nearly in the same position herself: only her uniform trousers and undergarments between them. On the other hand, he was unsure what this was leading to. As if she was reading his mind she spoke to explain. 

“I will tell you when I wish to stop moving forward… Can we please just keep going for now?” she asked, ever so sweetly and he knew that despite thinking this may not end well, he could not possibly say no to her when she begged him like that. 

Renewed was the sense of urgency and almost dominance in which he had before. Trusting that she would in fact stop him should she want to, he let go of the anxiety he’d had brewing and instead focused on getting her trousers down her thighs. It didn’t take long to push the offending material from her body, along with sliding her thin pair of bloomers down as well, leaving her as bare as he was.  

Looking around the Room of Requirement, he realized he didn’t want whatever was about to occur on the sofa of all places, so he stood, grabbing the cushions from the furniture, placing them in front of the fireplace, before tossing the blanket she kept in there over top of the makeshift bed he’d made. Walking closer he held out his hand for her, and she took it, allowing him to walk the both of them to the front of the fireplace. 

Slowly, Sebastian sank to his knees, pulling her along with him, as they both kissed each other while the fire crackled behind them.  He used his arm to pull her closer, wrapping it around her small waist. When her chest made contact with his own he couldn’t help but let out a slight groan, loving the warmth their bodies created together. 

His tongue entered her mouth without much resistance, as they both groped and grabbed at each other in the thrones of passion. Somewhere along the way he snaked a hand up into her hair, retrieving the pin she was using to hold it up off her neck, and pulled the offending thing out of the updo before tossing it as far away as he possibly could.  He then shoved his hands up into her tresses, collecting a handful at her nape before pulling it slightly so that her head tipped upwards to accommodate his tension on her hair. 

“I have told you so many times now, that I prefer your hair down” he said somewhere between a gruff commandment and a love drunk admission before continuing by saying, “All I can think of is pulling it, much like this, as I force my length inside of you, while I pull these beautiful tresses off your face so I can watch as you take all of me”

His words sent such a warm flash all across her body as she felt it almost painfully in her core.  The thought of Sebastian, pressing himself inside of her in that manner, a thought he seemingly had by his own admission, almost became too much. Almost. 

Her eyes immediately sought him in dire need, but for what for, she wasn’t exactly sure. She just knew she wanted him.  She wanted him closer.  She wanted him to keep touching her with the blatant need he was using.  She wanted him to keep talking to her this way.  To encourage him to keep going, she used her hands to grab onto his shoulders and pull him even more against her body as she flung her weight into his open arms, her tongue pressing into his mouth as she moaned against his lips. 

Sebastian didn’t even have time to open his eyes to check if she was alright before she had flung herself more onto him. Not that he was complaining however. He liked having her trying to get as close as humanly possible.  He abandoned pulling her hair, to instead cup the nape of her neck with his large palm, as he continued to let their mouths mesh together. Eventually he pulled away, almost lightheaded as he looked down at her with a hooded gaze. 

“Lie down on your back”, he told her and she humbly did as he asked, sliding off her knees and onto the floor where he had laid out the cushions. For a moment she looked up at him, eyes wide with anticipation before she followed his eyes as they tracked from her face down her body. 

She brought her arms up, attempting to shield as much of herself as she could from just openly being on display in such a vulnerable position but he quickly put a stop to that, as he moved to straddle her hips, collecting her arms in his hands, as he pinned them next to her face. Sebastian let go of her arms as he looked into her eyes. He could feel her body shaking. 

“Is this too much? Please tell me if I am being too much of a brute.” he begged her, hoping that she would be honest. 

“I wouldn’t say you are being a brute, but… perhaps we could ease up just a little…” she said weakly.  The comment about her hair, and wanting to enter her hadn’t been offensive, but it had definitely caught her off guard. While she realized Sebastian would never do so without her consent, and was likely referring to actual married relations, she still wished to dial it back some.  Not that she didn’t find the idea enticing - she did - it just should be reserved for a different time perhaps… 

“Absolutely, I apologize if I went too far.” he said,  shame filling his voice and she moved one of her hands to his waist and the other  to his cheek. 

“It’s alright. We are figuring this out together.” she reassured him. She still felt anxious as she could feel his arousal pressing into her hip bone, as he hovered over her bare frame.  

“Why don’t we just… lay here for a moment?” Sebastian offered after a long beat of silence and she nodded her head in agreement. Letting out a breath he seemed to have been holding in, Sebastian crawled back off the girl, falling to the space beside her in order for them both to situate themselves. He was almost surprised when she turned over, placing her head along his chest, flinging a leg over his hips, but he didn’t question it as he wrapped an arm around her waist. 

They laid there for a while, bare while cuddled up next to each other by the fire. Sebastian almost started nodding off, as the feeling of content washed over him much faster than he anticipated.  He always thought intercourse was the best part of being naked with a woman, however, laying here he realized that perhaps just to hold each other innocently had more appeal. Not that he’d know otherwise. 

What woke him up was a slight movement along his pelvis. When he looked down he saw her, once again moving up and down against his body trying to get some friction. Sebastian decided that it might be best for him to not say anything, and allow the girl to do as she wanted. Closing his eyes he let her continue. 

He didn’t open his eyes as she slid over him, legs going to either side of his hips. He didn’t open his eyes when she hovered over him pressing kisses to his neck, shoulders, chest and just about anywhere she could reach. He only moved to wrap his arms snuggly around her waist when she started to nibble on his earlobe, a feeling he would never get used to or neglect to enjoy. He didn’t open his eyes when she continued to move up and down along his thighs, despite feeling her wetness leaking out on his leg. He didn’t open his eyes when she stopped moving to pick up his length and stroke it - his eyebrows drawing as he was incredibly sensitive. 

He did however open his eyes, when he felt his tip pressed against something soft and wet. The feeling shocked him enough that he looked down to see if she had placed him inside her mouth. He was shocked however to find just the head of his cock enveloped by her thighs. He was pressed within the small area between the apex of her thighs and her womanhood, an area that had seemingly collected the wetness that was trickling out of her. 

Without warning she continued to rut her hips against him, sliding herself along his shaft, as she continued to leak all over him. Sebastian’s mind went blank. 

Sure he wasn’t inside of her, but she had her womanhood pressed against his length and she was getting herself off to the feeling of his manhood applying pressure on her clitorus - that alone made him want to scream in excitement as this feeling was almost too much. 

He looked up at her wildly, mind still blank as she moved and let out a cacophony of small noises. His mouth unintentionally fell open and he tried his hardest to not move a muscle for fear he would fall from between her leg, and this moment would end. 

He cried out when he looked down, seeing himself working open just the outer area of her body, the head of his cock nestled between her lower lips, from the unrestrained movements she was making as she worked herself closer and closer to release. She continued to move her hips along his own, using his body to get herself off and he let her. Something about watching the way she moved, knowing it was him and his body providing her such pleasure made him pulse. 

Without warning Sebastian suddenly felt a new sensation and he panicked. When he looked down again, he felt himself suddenly pressed against something he had only touched with his hands: Sebastian’s cock was lightly kissing her opening, yet not actually entering the hole. Both their eyes went wide, realizing she’d accidentally moved him that close to being inside of her. 

She realized what had happened in her uncoordinated movements a brief moment before Sebastian had, as she knew exactly where her body's opening was and how sensitive it could be. She recalled the feeling of Sebastian’s fingers prodding her entrance a few weeks back, and how he had stretched her. Now with the head of his cock pressed against the same spot, a spot she would one day allow him to enter in this exact manner, brought on a bout of shaking through her body. It was exhilarating to get so close to the edge but not go over it: especially knowing that at any moment Sebastian could thrust his hips and his tip would be enveloped inside her heat…

The unfamiliar weight of him pressing against her opening, as it throbbed with need. Need to get inside. Need to move within her body. Need to hit all those spots that had felt good under Sebastian’s fingers. Need to bury his load as deep inside as it could get. It was as if she could feel all of these things as they pressed together in this way. Her own body, also pulsating, with the same desperation of wanting to be entered, to be stretched, to be filled.

She stilled for a moment, as he looked up at her, on the verge of combusting. He imagined the pair of them looked quite similar. Hair damp with sweat along their hairlines. Blush covering now just their face but their chests and shoulders. Sebastian’s cock twitched painfully, knowing all it would take would be for her to push forward and he would be inside her velvety walls.

If you had asked him, he isn’t sure what exactly possessed him to do it truly. It went against every endorphin, thought and fiber in his being to do so. Yet, he cupped her cheek, forcing her to look down at him before he spoke. 

“This is almost too much truly” he squeaked out, voice very foreign to him. He meant it. As much as his body wanted to keep going he knew deep down this was about to get very real very quick. 

“It, it was an accident…” she tried to explain how they found themselves in the situation. She hasn’t meant for them to be this close to marital relations. She had just gotten carried away as she had been grinding along his shaft, lost in the feeling of pleasuring herself on his hard length, as the warm skin applying friction to her clitorus was exhilarating. 

Sebastian knew it was an accident, but that didn’t stop him from going slack at the feeling. It didn’t stop him from wanting to keep going despite knowing it was not a good idea. He took in a deep and shaky breath, hands abandoning her waist to run over his own face. Eventually he was able to settle himself the best he could while still being nestled that close to her. The pair had stilled when the contact had been made and for fear of what could happen they both remained with their hips pressed together in the same way. 

“Trust me when I say I would love nothing more than for this…” he trailed off insinuating what they both were thinking, “I can’t in good conscience do so without the both of us making the decision with a clear and level head”.

“I agree…” she concluded but didn’t move. 

“However… if you would like to keep doing what you just were…” he implied the rutting of her hips against his. He hadn’t expected to feel so close just from fucking her thighs and labia but the warmth of her skin, the wetness that spilled from her and the feeling of her movements was enough to also be getting him close to finishing, as it had been for her. 

She looked at him quizzically, almost as if asking which part he’d been referring to. Instead of speaking, he moved his hands back to her waist and lifted her hips just enough so that his length moved to lie, his tip touching his abdomen. When they looked down and saw it, leaking slightly near his naval, they sighed. He maintained holding her up for a moment with one hand by placing it under her thigh, then using his other hand to gently separate her lower lips, before setting her back down, this time on top of his shaft. 

Instead of waiting for her to move, Sebastian slid the girl's hips up and down with his hands, aiding her in dancing along his shaft for the friction she seemed to enjoy. They both sighed as she slowly started to move with his aid, her hands falling to his shoulders as she steadied herself on top of his body. 

Sebastian wishes he could say he looked into her eyes the whole time, but the way her breasts seemed to bounce and move with each rut of her hips was entirely too distracting for him. The way her body felt on his - the softness, the warmth, the wetness leaking out of her directly onto him - it was earth shattering. Sebastian could hardly imagine how incredible the real thing would feel some day with how amazing this felt. 

She also found herself in a similar situation.  She had never felt Sebastian’s hardness pressed against her front - it was always her back and usually the result of unintentional morning wood. To feel him tightly pressed against her pearl, sliding up and down on it as she felt the friction unobstructed by clothes, felt like one of the single most important feelings her young body had experienced. More so than when he just kissed her, or used his mouth on her, or even when he pressed his finger inside of her - this was so much better.  It satisfied her in ways she dared not to think imaginable. 

She found herself gasping when he moved a hand up to cup her breast, before kneading the flesh as he stared up into her face. The movement, the way he was holding her body, the way the Slytherin boy’s mouth fell open into almost a perfect “o” shape before his teeth snapping together quickly and his eyebrows drawing at the exact moment his cock twitched again under her rutting. Seeing the faces he was making, paired with the grunting sounds he had started to let out, no longer embarrassed to be vocal, she tipped her head back, unable to keep looking at him. The sights, the sounds, the feeling of his body under hers, it was too much. 

Her soft whimpers were slowly turning into louder and more uncontrollable whines as she felt a burn in her thighs from holding herself up, however she couldn’t stop moving as the pleasure it brought was better than the exertion to her sore muscles. Somewhere between catching her breath she managed to choke out “Bash, I -” as an explanation for why her thighs were suddenly shaking much more than before.  She only had a moment before she knew the exhaustion of moving on top of him would prevent her from continuing before she managed to finish.

Sebastian, despite not being able to put much of a coherent thought together, seemed to understand that her body physically could not move much more, so he abandoned groping her breast and instead reached to where she was rubbed against him, pressing his finger to the small hood there. The satisfaction of his action, almost instantaneous as she let out a shrill noise, letting him rub her clitorus with his middle and pointer fingers, all the while he took over from below as he moved his body up into hers. 

The strain of his physical action caused him to abandon his restraint in other areas, such as preventing him from the occasional grunt or groan leaving his lips instead of the usual more repressive sighs.  Even further, he found himself speaking incoherently to her without even meaning to, but once the words had passed his lips there was no putting them back. 

“You are a dream, Fuck-” he slipped in the swear amidst the phrase, but he knew deep down that he truly meant it. She looked absolutely radiant on top of him, her body flushed and glistening with sweat. Her trembling and voice calling out for him, and only him. Sebastian couldn’t help but bring his other hand up gently, running his fingers over her skin, as if to make sure she was real, that this was real. 

“You like this? Like how I am making you feel darling? Can’t you just imagine how someday you’ll ride me like this? How much better it’ll feel when I am pulsing within you?” he sighed as she looked back down at him, her eyes wide. Sebastian decided now might be a good time to speed up his fingers as he could feel himself about to release and he wanted to make sure she also reached that point of pleasure as well. So he kept going, since his words seemed to be helping her just as much as his hand…

“Naughty little thing aren’t you… almost let me slip inside you earlier… Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me to hold back? Not letting you do so, when all I want is to just claim you…” he said as she looked around the room frantically trying to find something to ground herself as she felt herself about to go over an edge. Sebastian saw her, reaching his hand up to her chin, pulling it down so he could move her face closer to his, kissing her passionately before backing away to continue. 

“Don’t worry Mo leannan… I got you… let it out… don’t hold back…” he whispered sweetly against her lips despite a strong want to shout something much more vulgar as he felt her tense around him then cry out, burying her face in his neck as she shook. 

Sebastian didn’t still his movements, chasing his own release, but he did softly caress the skin of her back and reach over to bury his nose in her hair, breathing her in as he kept going - the more gentle and romantic tone shifting back as he felt himself on the verge of finishing. 

“Merlin, I love you. I fucking love you so much. I love-” he started as he sped up, wiggling his hips with more abandon than before, despite finding it more difficult to, as she had sagged more of her dead weight into him as she felt the aftershocks of her release. The words he spoke caused her to pull back and look him in the eyes. His face contorting with pleasure, his brow damp with sweat, his cheeks bright red. He kept saying ‘i love you’ with more and more gusto as he kept going, as if the phrase became a matra on his lips until he finally felt himself about to start spilling against his abdomen. 

“I’m going to -” he started as a warning to let her know he was finishing. She suckled in a breath, and at the last second she moved herself to rise. Sebastian assumed she was doing so to avoid getting his mess on her, but he was shocked when he felt her fingers angle just the tip of his cock inside the outer area of her womanhood, once again resting at just her opening as he spilled with a string of curses.  

She felt his cock throb intensely as her outer walls were flooded with his release.  She looked down at him, as his usual refined speech had been replaced with vulgarity, and it pleased her to see Sebastian so enraptured by what had happened that he allowed himself to act in that manner. Once he finally stopped spilling against her cunt, she pulled back, watching as it all ran down her thighs, before collapsing onto the floor beside him. 

The two let their breath even out before looking at one another, knowing that they had gotten as close to full marital relations as a pair could. The internal warmth and happiness that radiated between them was unmatched. 

“That was wonderful” she said after a moment. 

“It makes me really look forward to the real thing.” he admitted before he chuckled and pulled her close to his chest, not caring about the mess in their laps. “Although I do recommend us not blowing the grounsils when we do attempt the unbridled version”. 

“What? Do you have a thing against warm fireplaces and soft cushions?” she retorted as she attempted to situate his hair.  

“I am not going to deflower you on the ground: cushions and roaring fire aside.  I plan to save that for a bed, more than likely a marital one at that” he said matter of factly.  

“So you have thought of deflowering me…” she teased

“Deflowering you… bedding you nightly… putting my seed in you… list goes on I am afraid.” he chuckled, because despite the joking tone he used they both knew he was far from joking. 

“Perhaps you are a brute.” she said with a laugh as he joined in, the two of them moving closer in the warmth of the firelight… 

A familiar sound broke her out of the vivid daydream she’d conjured in her mind.  When she reopened her eyes she was shocked to see the phoenix - the one she’d rescued at the recommendation of Deek - with its talons buried deep in the man's eyes as he screamed. Looking down she realized that her bloomers were in fact still on, and the man had hardly gotten far as the creature she had saved, in turn had come to help her in a time of need.  If she wasn’t so tired, sore and frightened she’d question exactly how it had escaped the room of requirement. Perhaps she could figure that out later. 

For now the beast was attacking the man, who sought cover by falling to the floor and crawling in the direction of the flap, using his arms to guide him. She sat up, looking around to try and find something to cut the bindings when the bird flew over to her, sitting on the grown next to where she lay.  It lowered its head, and initially she thought it was to bite at her restraints but she realized instead that he was attempting to heal the worst of her injuries with its tears. 

Poppy had explained the strength of a phoenix tear in healing injury but she hadn’t expected it to be so immensely powerful.  Looking down at the broken bone in her leg, she watched it heal almost instantly.  She removed the gag from between her lips finally.

“Thank you friend” she said, lifting her still bound hands to stroke his feathered head and he bowed gracefully as she struggled to stand.  Still weak from the torture and the other injuries she held, she attempted to manuver herself to the table in search of a weapon to defend herself with or perhaps something to cover herself, however she found herself still shaken up at what had transpired. 

As much as she wanted to just curl up on the floor of the tent and cry, she hardly had time for that. Knowing whatever was happening outside would provide her enough cover to possibly escape, she knew she needed to act quickly. Finding her wand was likely out of the realm of possibility, however perhaps she could discover where the man who had attempted to assault her, had dropped his. 

Falling back to the floor she searched for it in the darkness.  Eventually her fingers found the wood, and she lifted it knowing this was her chance. Just as she moved to cast a spell to remove her restraints she heard movement at the front of the tent.  Moving as quickly as she could while injured she turned around, aiming in the general direction she heard the noise.  

She had expected the man to come back after settling from his injury. Another poacher who had come to check on her… Possibly even Rookwood himself. Instead she was met with the shocked and not to mention horrified face of her potions professor. 

Lowering the wand she stumbled forward, arms crossing over her chest as she made her way to him. Sometime as she moved he called out diffindo, loosening the restraints so that her arms finally broke free, leaving only the nasty purple lines marked in her skin from the rope burn. 

As she finally made it in front of Professor Sharp, he had already removed his outer coat, passing it to her in order to protect the young girl’s modesty.  To say he was completely and utterly disgusted when he had pulled the tent flap back was an understatement. 

Aesop Sharp had seen many things during his time as an Auror. Unspeakable types of horrors - the kind that kept him awake at night. Seeing such a young girl, who hardly appeared fragile, broken and beaten, not to mention stripped nearly bare, enraged him in ways he had not imagined possible. Perhaps it was the knowledge that he would soon be a father, and should he have a daughter himself, the thought of someone harming a girl so young in this brutal fashion made him want to burn every single criminal in the camp to the ground. Seeing one of his prized students near unrecognizable almost caused him to gag, but the man powered through for the sake of getting her out alive, and without further injury. 

He tried to find the words but nothing truly worthy of the situation would come to mind. 

She rushed towards him, tears still on her face as she sobbed a quick sound he perceived to be relief as he covered her shoulders with his long coat. He watched as she pitifully attempted to fasten the buttons on the inside of the lapel, her fingers shaking wildly as she sniffled.  He took a step closer, moving his eyes to look up at her face so he wouldn’t disrespect the young girl, as he pulled the lapels as far away from her body, hoping to avoid accidentally brushing her with his hands as he aided her in closing his jacket. 

It hung off the poor girl's frame, going down to her shins and falling past her fingertips considerably. Given the circumstances it did enough of its job at covering her modesty, despite looking painfully awkward.   

“I fear we don’t have much time Miss y/l/n. The distraction that has been provided to us I imagine has nearly run its course. Unfortunately you are too injured to apparate, so we must make it to the nearby hamlet and use their floo network. Are you able to move on your own?” Sharp asked, removing a potion from his pocket, passing it to the girl before drinking the rest himself. He knew if need be he could carry her, but given the pain already flaring in his leg he hoped it would not come to that. He simply needed to get her out of the camp and find Miss Sweeting as the centaurs covered their retreat. 

“I… I think so.” she said unsure and he looked into her terrified features, noticing the girl had not stopped shaking and her breathing had become erratic.

“We hardly have time to dwell on the fragility of the situation-” he started as the girl’s eyes once again glassed over with tears and he let out a frustrated sigh. He could hardly blame her, she was young after all, but they did not have a large window to escape. 

“Se-Sebastian?” She managed to choke out, seemingly asking if he was there and the professor shook his head, letting her know that the fellow Slytherin was not in the poacher camp. At first he thought she wanted the young man's comfort, especially now knowing the depth of their relationship due to Poppy Sweeting, so it surprised him when the look of relief flashed over the young girl’s eyes. She simply nodded, happy to know that her love was far from the camp as they set off, casting an illusion charm to avoid unnecessary detection.  

She was wholly unprepared for the state of the poacher camp as they made their way outside. Flames licked every other structure except for the tent she had emerged from. Dark wizards casting various spells towards the centaurs who fired spears and arrows. It was much worse than when she had emerged temporarily with Victor before being shoved back inside. The smoke, shouting and all around chaos all too captivating as she stood there stunned until Professor Sharp emerged from behind her, parchment in hand, as he reached to shove them inside the outer part of the coat she wore. Once stowed, he reached a large and calloused hand out, retrieving one of hers as he pulled her along as quickly as his injured leg would allow them.  

They didn’t make it very far before their spell was dropped and he pushed her behind him, her eyes falling on his waistcoat clasp as she heard Victor’s voice call out into the night. 

“And just where do you think you’re going?” he asked as she peaked her face around from behind the professor, the stolen wand she held pointed out. She refused to go back there. She refused to let this man walk away given all the pain he had caused Sebastian and his family. 

Professor Sharp instead spoke for her, “Torturing young girls, defiling them, Victor? That’s low, even for the likes of you” he seethed, not truly caring what the criminal would say. He was simply ready to get them out of the danger as quickly as possible. 

“I would hardly say I have defiled her more than that Sallow boy has. Perhaps you need to keep a better eye on your students, Aesop” Victor replied, not a shred of worry evident in his tone. 

“This has gone far enough. We are leaving.” Sharp was not in the mood to play games and he wasn’t below blasting his way out of the camp should it be necessary. 

“Oh please, that girl is hardly the delicate flower in which she pretends to be. If you could only see what she is capable of…” Victor alluded to her power and she began to feel herself grow more and more angry by the second.  As the two began to argue, she sensed her wand’s presence close by - the thunderbird tail feather core calling out to her like a homing beacon. Using the one she had stolen, she took advantage of the two men being distracted long enough to call out Expelliarmus, looking up happily as it flew from Rookwood’s pocket back into her outstretched hand. 

She dropped the wand she had stolen, suddenly feeling happy being reunited with the wand that seemingly understood her intentions better than herself. Immediately upon feeling it safely back in her own hands, she felt it vibrate, its almost sentience had always perplexed but delighted her. She did not however have much time to ponder this, as the professor was once again pushing her out of the way of Rookwood’s curses and hexes. 

“Y/n!” a voice called out from behind her, as Poppy Sweeting emerged from the battle being accompanied by Dorran. The girl felt Poppy’s arms go around her frame and squeeze her. Despite the pain it caused she was more than glad to see she was alright. 

“Anne, did you get to Anne?” she asked and Poppy nodded. 

“Yes I did. Solomon was furious, but Anne is safety at Hogwarts and the matron is looking over the book now. Perhaps she’s even healed already.” Poppy said slightly breathless as the fight must’ve taken energy from her. It was then the Hufflepuff looked over her beaten frame, eyes softening as she looked at her. 

“What did they do to you?” Poppy asked with a sad tone and wobbly lip, finally seeing the extent of the scar forming across her face and the visible marks. Above the girls a flash of red moved down, landing on a nearby piece of debris as Poppy turned stunned to see the bird. 

“Right now that hardly matters… Solomon knew what Rookwood did to Anne. That’s why he was insistent on Sebastian and I giving up searching for a cure.” she explained, looking up to see Sharp and Rookwood hurling curses at one another. Once again her blood boiling at the reminder he intended initially to hurt her love, and still likely would, given the chance. She refused to give him that chance. 

Walking forward before Poppy could stop her, she watched as one of the curses sent Professor Sharp stumbling back slightly. She moved her body in front of the professors, lifting the wand to stare down Victor. 

“Finally come to fight your own battles little one?” he taunted and she didn’t respond. Lifting a wand she attempted to send him flying backwards with bombarda, only to have him block the curse. 

“I will admit, you have a spark, but it's not going to be enough to protect that boy. It was always supposed to be him. And once we are done here it will be…” he threatened and that was all it took for her to lunge at him, magic neglected for a moment, as she threw as much of her body weight as she could into her fist. 

The satisfying ‘pop’ that echoed throughout the night as it collided with his nose startling everyone from Professor Sharp, to Poppy, even some of the centaurs close by.  Everything else in the camp died down for a moment as everyone came to watch her and Rookwood. She backed up only a few steps giving him room as his nose started to bleed. 

“You dirty little harlot!” he seethed as she stared at him from only a few paces away, wand raised ready for his attack. 

“Wasn’t it you who said that sometimes it's more fun to use your hands instead of magic Victor?” she retorted, remembering what he had said before he had carved into her face. The burning feeling of her now split knuckles only making her feel more energized.  

“You are going to regret that when I get a hold of Sallow do you understand girl? He is going to suffer just as his uncle had initially intended, and then some for your insolence.” he threatened. She did not see the reactions of her companions but the gasp taken in by Poppy drew the attention of Professor Sharp as he realized there was no getting between the Slytherin girl, so best to protect the hufflepuff. 

Calmly she stared down the man, watching as his fingers tightened around the hilt of his dark wand and she felt her own wand warm within her hand. Intuitions correct, she cast expelliarmus as Victor raised and fired his own. 

Expelliarmus. Avada Kedavra. 

Trusting her wand, she let its aim guide her, as its red bolt crossed with Rookwood’s green - a bright light emerging where their wands had crossed. 

She had never actually had her magic cross anothers, so initially she felt overwhelmed, certain he would win out this battle as the fatigue set in and he pushed it closer to her. She knew that if he prevailed she would cease to be.  Trying to steady herself as much as possible, she pushed back, recalling Sebastian’s smiling face and brown eyes, as she kept pushing him back. Their crossed section thus flying back more towards the center between them. 

Eventually Rookwood himself needed to drop the spell, no longer able to hold on. The two of them slid back slightly as they had successfully repelled each other. Using the opportunity she fired upwards quickly, not allowing him a second to rest, before summoning a beam from the sky, drawing it down upon him as he barely had time to react. He only partially deflected the ancient magic, leaving his usually regal robes scorched. 

Victor’s eyes went wide, realizing that despite all the injury, she still had enough power to obliterate him. Once again they stared each other down as everyone else watched, ready to continue fighting or run depending on who walked away victorious. Professor Sharp looked at the two, worried having already seen him use the killing curse once, but knowing if he stepped in that he could accidentally cause her harm by distracting her, or worse make his pregnant wife a widow and his unborn child fatherless. 

She felt wave after wave of rage within her, but knew that with her former auror professor behind her she could not resort to the unforgivables, despite wanting to. She could continue to use spells she knew, or she could keep using ancient magic. But one thing was for certain, she would not allow Victor Rookwood to walk away even if it was the last thing she did.  

“I am not leaving without my birthright! Damn the Sallows, I want what is mine!” he began to shout, once again casting hexes her way as she moved to defend them. 

“Charles Rookwood would’ve wanted you nowhere near that magic! As for the Sallows, you shall not go near them ever again. I will make sure of it.” she responded, anger finally seeping out as she stopped the last of his hexes. 

“The arrogance of a child!” he screamed, once again firing at her, her wand moving instinctively to stop it. This time, not with the use of a spell, but her ancient magic. Blue and Green streams of magic, crossing in the center. Hers not visible to the naked eye, only in the spot that theirs crossed could anyone see what she had done. 

Unlike the previous attempt, her ancient magic was much stronger than simply a disarming charm. She could feel it physically flowing from her, instead of just the air around her. It burned. It burned with power. It burned with her anger. It burned with her pain. It burned with her love for Sebatian Sallow. 

Deep down she knew Rookwood would not walk away.

She watched as it crept closer and closer to the man, as she pushed him back further and further. With each push of the magic she stepped closer as well. Rookwoods hat had been knocked off during the fight and as she made her way to him she could see every detail of his face. The crows feet near his eyes, the slightly grayish blond scruff on his cheeks, his cropped sandy hair damp with sweat along his hairline. Most importantly: she saw the fear in his eyes. 

After all the pain this man had caused she spared little in the way of remorse. Often she would consider herself to be a nonviolent person. She frequently seemed to have to settle Sebastian from wanting to start an altercation with people like Leander or his uncle. If possible with invisibility charms and potions, she tried to avoid using violence even on poachers, dark wizards and even goblins.  Yet this man, she could not help but want to watch as the light left his eyes. 

For all the pain he’d caused Anne Sallow. Every cry in which she witnessed at the girl’s expense filled her ears. For every argue she bore witness to between Sebastian and Solomon. For every night Sebastian had cried in her arms, feeling helpless to save his twin sister, frightened to face the idea that his last remaining family would be stripped away from him. The way his tears had filled her hair as he sobbed, his strong limbs going slack around her. For every frustration she held knowing that Rookwood just as easily wanted to harm him instead. It all came to a breaking point. 

Rookwood fell back, shoving the magic into the air by some miracle of merlin as he struggled along the ground to catch his breath. 

“I promise to stay away from the Sallows! I can tell you how to heal the girl! I promise, please just let me go!” he begged. How pathetic, she couldn’t help but think. 

Not her proudest moment, but she moved to her knees, crouching, then grabbing his coat lapel and shoving the tip of her wand under his chin, “Tell me then. How do I save Anne?” she asked, not feeling very inclined to believe him, but asking regardless. 

“She simply needs the counter curse, I have it written-” he started, frantically trying to appeal to her better nature as he continued to beg. 

“In the journal I stole.” she stated and he nodded, seeming to believe that he’d won her over. As she loosened her grasp. 

“Unfortunately Victor, that means you have no value to me.” she stated, pushing him back to the ground as she raised her wand once more. His eyes grew wide as he made one last attempt to kill her in order to spare himself. 

For the magical creatures. For Dorran and his tribe. For the people of the highlands. For Anne. For her heart and soul: Sebastian Sallow.

In the end her ancient magic pushed the killing curse forward, consuming his body with a dramatic flash of blue, visible to everyone around despite being a magic she alone could see regularly.  Instead of falling to the ground limp and gray, it was as if every fiber of him evaporated into dust, as the area where Victor once stood was replaced with ash. 

At this she fell, the centaurs once again raising their bows as the poachers and wizards within the camp began to apparate away or continue fighting. She could feel Professor Sharp's arms pulling her as she stood there stunned. Her face, she realized, was wet with tears and her body seemed unresponsive as he went to retrieve her. Collapsing into the man, the pain, exhaustion and emotion taking over. She had little fight left in her as he lifted her, despite the protest in his leg and set off to Feldcroft, hoping he could make it back before her injury set in. 

“I’m sorry” she said quietly into the man’s chest as he carried her, Poppy Sweeting lingering close by as Dorran and his second in command lingered to protect their escape. 

“Do not apologize. You are quite brave. Makings of a fine Auror if you ask me” he said, hoping to keep the girl awake, for fear if she closed her eyes she may not wake up. He quickened his pace, knowing he needed to get her back to the school, and quickly. 

“Sebastian?” she asked pitifully.

“I will find Mr. Sallow I assure you. And I will also be speaking with his uncle on the matter of conspiring with a known criminal. Solomon shall pay for what he has done…” he said sternly and she nodded. 

“I- thank you for rescuing me Professor Sharp” she muttered quietly and he looked down at her broken face, covered in soot and dried blood. 

“I dare say you did most of that yourself. Do me a favor and keep talking please.” he said, sensing that she was only a few seconds from nodding off entirely. 

“About what?” she mumbled 

“Anything you’d like.” he responded, shifting her weight the best he could as he felt the pain in his leg beginning to hurt more. “You’ve been such a wonderful influence on Sebastian, I hope you realize that. He seemed very… misguided before you arrived.” he admitted. Aesop recounted the conversations he had in private between himself and the other faculty, and how the girl in his arms seemed to have brought the boy back from the brink of falling victim to something dark. 

“I love him.” she said simply, through clenched teeth. 

“I think it's admirable.  So often we are willing to do anything for those we love.” Aesop recounted, thinking of his wife and how angry he had been when he met her. How he too was headed down a dark road searching for a cure, and only Rebecca had pulled him back to his senses. 

“It hurts” she admitted as a tear leaked out of the corner of her good eye and he softened, pulling her close as he picked up the pace once again. 

“I know, we are nearly there… I’ve got you. I promise.” he said, breaking out into a sprint as he saw the Floo Flame.

Sebastian had never quite felt adrenaline like this before.  Currently plowing through the highlands, running through the dirt paths at top speed as he barreled back towards the gorge with the last trial’s entrance he felt unstoppable. 

Subduing the Graphorn was much easier than he had anticipated. Luckily, Sebastian had always preferred fire spells, and with the ability to hurl them from a distance he did so for a while, until the beast charged at him. Given the opportunity, he remembered the words of his love, explaining how many creatures liked to be shown respect. He wasn’t sure what entirely possessed him to kneel instead of continuing fighting it, but he’s glad he did.

Suddenly the graphorn hauled in front of him, bowing back in respect, before allowing him to mount it’s back, by some miracle of Merlin he assumed. That led him to where he was : rushing into a group of goblins who were wielding that stolen magic in his direction. They hardly stood a chance as the majestic creature he currently controlled barreled through them all. 

Before long he found himself back at the entrance of the cave, Lord of the Shore standing up on its hind legs as he held on the best he could, watching as the entrance opened for him. Sliding off the creature's back, he gave it a gentle caress along its nose, as if to say “thank you” before stepping inside the opening that had only recently appeared. 

Inside he was taken back by the grandeur. The same architecture that filled the map chamber was inside. The beautiful swirls of blue, gold and bronze amazed him, knowing that some place so unassuming housed such splendor. After following the passageway, he finally came to an open chamber, seeing a portrait at the end. 

“Mr. Sallow, it appears you have successfully completed my trial. Only those who are worthy enough to gain the trust of such a strong and wonderful creature are allowed entrance. Perhaps… I misjudged your character.” San Bakar said as he looked down at the young man. 

“Your trial is over?” Sebastian asked, very confused. He was expecting to have to fight the large statues that his love described, and as he imagined he wouldn’t be able to see them.  To hear that Bakar’s only challenge was entrance was a shock to him to say the least. 

“I hardly see the point in nearly killing someone for the sake of understanding this magic. Although the memory you are about to witness will likely make little sense to you Mr. Sallow, you should do your best to remember as much as you can for your companions sake. Then take the pensieve artifact back to the map chamber. You will need to apparate as Niamh explained.” San Bakar said before leaving the portrait frame, signaling for Sebastian to head inside the chamber. 

Once he stepped in the main room, he saw the giant marble statue of the man, and as he came closer a tear spilled from the statue's eye, into the pensieve basin.  From the liquid rose a shard of something, in which he retrieved and pocketed for later, before moving to watch the memory from the late professor. 

As he watched the memory, seeing how Isadora began siphoning pain from even young students, allowing the large and corrupted magic to grow, made Sebastian nauseous to think that he had been begging for his love to do the same to Anne. Following the discovery of the last memory from Isadora he had considered what Isadora was doing to be the solution to Anne’s illness, now realizing it had much more sincestor consequences he refused to further ask her of such or allow Anne to suffer this fate. 

Removing himself from the basin, he looked around one final time before finding himself in Professor Fig and the other Portraits company.  

“Ah Mr. Sallow, I see you were successful in your completion of the final trial. Your love shall be proud.” Niamh spoke and he nodded, a small smile working on his face at the thought she would be thrilled to know he had gone in her honor and done so correctly. 

“What you have been shown young man, I hope you are able to properly articulate to your companion the gravity to which this magic holds. Given your abilities I would also recommend that once she is returned safely and begins to be taught how to wield this magic, that you will remain as one of her keepers. This is a legacy to be passed on, and when the time comes she shall need to formulate her own trusted allies to protect it.” Professor Rackham spoke to him. 

“I will. I must admit… I have not always had the most pure intentions with this magic. From what I have been told, I had grown to not fully trust your methods. Isadora left her own memories that we discovered via a tryptic. I now realize that Isadora, while having good intentions, was misguided in her practices.  I shalt let her fall into that with what I have now seen. You have my word.” Sebastian spoke honestly as the look of shock took their faces, before a small smile took over Professor Fig’s face, proud of the boy for not only his skill, but his maturity. 

“Regardless, there is still more work to be done now. The final repository, the one you saw in the memory is guarded. To gain entrance you will need a wand, composed of the artifacts discovered, to get inside. Professor Fig has the other 3 shards, and as we were discussing has already sent an owl to a wand maker. You are to go and give him the pieces then wait for him to construct the final product before returning here” Professor Rackham spoke and Sebatian sighed. 

Yet another errand for these Keepers when he didn’t even know if she was alive. Surely by now if she was, she would have been rescued. 

Professor Fig looked at him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I know you want to see if she is okay, but this is more important, you understand that right Sebastian?” he asked.

“I do. I just need to know if she’s alive” Sebastian admitted, finally feeling more of the weight of the situation pressing on his heartstrings. 

“I shall go see what I can learn from the other professors. Perhaps Aesop is back already. Regardless, this wand is a high priority. Go to Olivanders and I will learn more of what has happened to our friend… would you like this back?” Fig asked him, retrieving the tome and Sebastian nodded. It felt comforting to have it back in his possession. 

“I will go to Hogsmeade and then return when the wand is completed. Shall we meet near your classroom Professor?” Sebastian asked and Fig nodded, heading out to learn more about their friend. 

“Sebastian -” Fig started just as he was about to apparate out of the map chamber, stopping him, as the man returned to the space next to him. 

“Yes sir?” he asked perplexed 

“Is there anything I should convey to your sister or Miss y/l/n should I see either of them?” Fig offered the chance for Sebastian to let either of them know he was alright. 

“Tell Anne that I shall come and see her as soon as I can. I hope that whatever was discovered will shed some light on the situation… as for y/n… just tell her that I love her dearly and will do anything to keep her, and this magic, safe.” he said, not sure what else would be properly conveyed via another person. 

Eleazar nodded, and watched as Sebastian apparated away, heading to the hospital wing to await the possible arrival of his protege in whatever state she may be. 

To be continued…

Also you can find here, an audio of the spicy bit!

[autumnatical]

Everything Everything, live @ TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, 01/09/24

First time seeing them in over 6 years ! ! ! I don't travel a lot, but it was worth the trip to NL just for the gig alone, not even the 3 hour delay on my return trip could change that (thanks DB).

Random assortment of thoughts (athoughtment):

venue was a bit of an odd choice, it was a nice building and very central, but they had a bunch of other concert halls (mainly for classical/orchestral music I think?), and EE played in a tiny hall on the sixth floor. for some reason, they made us wait downstairs in the foyer where the queue very quickly blockaded anyone from getting through, so they had to shuffle us around a bunch.

also there was a (classical?) music festival happening in town and some events from that overlapped with the show, so there were two Very Distinct crowds in the building and our queue got some Disapproving looks lol.

despite the weirdness of the venue, the hall where they played was great, good acoustics and very intimate. me and a friend were there pretty early and stood second row from the stage, though we drifted a bit over to the left because I chatted briefly with some folks there.

crowd was great too, good vibes, everyone I met was lovely. someone complimented my ATB shirt and a few people got really excited and started pointing at me at the start of Kemosabe :^) also shoutout to the person in front of me who moved the water bottles on stage so I could see the setlist.

there was a girl directly in front of us in the queue and at the stage who was wearing an AMAZING homemade Mountainhead shirt, a button-down with the logo on the front and "I left my work in the pit to come here" on the back, which (I think) she embroidered herself. really need to step up my game the next time I see them lol.

the show itself was stunning, though sadly Pete wasn't there :( I was hyping him up to my friend (who hadn't seen them live before) because he's usually the only one who matches Jon's energy/stage presence. we were directly in front of Alex and he might as well be wearing an "I'd rather be programming synths right now"-shirt lol.

the setlist was really solid, though leaning very heavily into singles (I think only Metroland and NotLK were album-only, and I was blown away by both), and not playing too many newer songs. I can understand why they do it (people at the front were very into it the entire time, but most of the crowd obviously got much more involved near the end when they played Cough Cough/Distant Past), but it's a bit of a shame anyway.

also 90 minutes every 6 years is not enough I feel like a kid whose parents (british bands and european tours) got divorced, badly. have they considered that they could just play for 3 hours? maybe?? as a treat???

I feel like someone on setlist dot fm is making fun of me specifically, bc they added Violent Sun to the setlist which. it was definitely not on. like I saw the setlist on stage at the start and also if they had played it, I would not be alive any longer (as per my previous correspondance).

I don't really understand Mad Stone as the opener (they could swap Mad Stone and Wild Guess around and it would work much better imo), but I was glad for all of the Mountainhead we got.

Jon very clearly sang Arch-Jeremy for one entire chorus and I tragically didn't record it (only have a couple of videos which I'll post later). but it's real and it happened and it's real also.

burned guitar my beloved but also beloathed. I think Jon's on-stage performance is much more engaging when he doesn't have to play guitar and can move around more freely. but also the burnt guitar is really cool.

Enter the Mirror live fucks so severely. that is all.

the show was completely sold out (I think the venue holds ~600 people) and merch was also pretty much gone by the time I left (I got litchrally the last shirt and they only had a few tote bags left I think), so I hope it made enough money for them to consider an EU tour soon. EE at the Gloria in Cologne is my dream gig, so I'm manifesting that for next year. . .

[runnning-outof-time]

Happy 2 Years, To Be Alone 🎉🎉

Thanks to the lovely Flor @raincoffeeandfandoms and her decision to include my OC Celia Farraday in her OC asks that she has been sending out, I realized that I posted the first chapter of To Be Alone two years ago today.

This story was my first endeavor into the world of fic writing for Peaky Blinders, and it was the first story I’d written in a few years. On top of that, it was the first time I’d ever posted a piece of my writing on Tumblr — I remember being so nervous about getting it right but at the same time so very excited to be writing again. My goodness what a journey I’ve been on since I posted that first chapter.

I’d like to quickly shoutout some of the people who have been supporting me since the beginning, because if it weren’t for you showing interest in my story, I’d probably not still be posting on here. @mootiemoose (you were my first follower after I posted my story, the first username I added to a taglist and the first person to comment on it — I’ll remember that forever), @theshelbyclan (you were the first big Peaky blog to share my story — thanks for giving me the recognition) and @look-at-the-soul (you were the first mutual that I really talked to and built a friendship with) — I know there were others who have been along for the ride with me from early on and this post would get super long if I listed everyone…my heart goes out to ALL OF YOU. Thank you for joining me in this fic writing journey!!

So I figured I’d do something special for Celia on the 2nd anniversary of her story beginning … after so much scrolling on Pinterest and many different Google searches, I think I’ve finally found a faceclaim for her ………..

Everyone, meet Celia Rose Farraday!!!!

This is Rose Williams as Charlotte Heywood from the series Sandition. The time periods aren’t the same, but I felt that she could mesh well into canon. — the only thing I believe may be different is that Celia has hazel eyes.

The second I saw a picture of her smiling, I just knew that she had to be Celia’s faceclaim — her smile instantly made me feel happy and that’s exactly what Celia did while I was writing her story, and as I’ve gone back and re-read her story.

I hope you’ll also find that she fits the part!!

I’ve also been in the process of giving the story a facelift and fixing minor things that I’ve been able to find. I’m only on Chapter 7 with that because I’ve actually started reading the story (because I haven’t read it since I posted it on here). So if you see some formatting changes, this is why!

One last time, thank you for joining me on this journey!! 💕

[grim-heir]

very long rant about horrible experience in a selfship discord below

Shoutout to the time (very recently) I joined a selfship server that did not advertise themselves as being fictionkin friendly in any way, no problem I thought. I join, mention that I'm fictionkin and wait to be allowed in. Apparently in my adhd "get things done as fast as possible" stupor I failed to notice that homestuck was a blacklisted media, and my display name was a reference. Again, no problem, I've been meaning to change it for a while and its only for f/os (of which no homestuck ones exist for me), so when the owner asked me I was honest in saying I didn't like it (at least not anymore) and I was just a person with a kin from it.

Now this guy was. Uneducated, to the extent they and everyone else in their server were going off the TIKTOK DEFINITION and as I would also soon find out were not very fond of Tumblr users (aka, the only people you should trust if ur uneducated) and asked me a bunch of questions, the obvious "do you like homestuck" and also what fictionkin meant. They then asked me ABOUT EQUIUS, to see if they'd "be comfortable with your (my) kin", like I would be mentioning a 13yr old I don't selfship with in a 16+ selfship server (people don't like that type where I come from, but that's besides the point)

I did not think this at the moment and just answered hoping to get it over with, they do not allow creepy or bigoted f/os which was the point of contention for be being this literal child I do not ship myself with. He is the equivalent of a douche going into a pride game on roblox, seeing a rainbow, going ew, and then immediately leaving

Eventually I was just like "this is what fictionkin is, feel free to not allow me access but this is what it is to me and just because I'm a character doesn't mean I like the media" and they let me in, the owner also added fictionkins to the exception list (which I thought was for f/o medias?? Dunno why that was looking back, I don't even get it for fictives like did you assume they liked their problematic sources, why do they get a pass for liking it I'm confused) and the server FLIPPED THEIR SHIT. Going off the kff meaning and not listening to reason, going "do what you want but EYE think it's a bad idea and I don't like it!" And then bringing up selfshipping being spiritual in some cases too and that's when I just left. Like no argument makes it better.

Spiritual selfshippers don't get a pass? I'm not selfshipping with this character because it's gross, don't like the media and have no reason to bring the kin up. Some selfshippers.... are spiritual or have spiritual ties? WHY DON'T YOU THINK FICTIONKINS ARE VALID THEN also WHY DO YOU THINK MY MAIN F/O IS MY MAIN F/O, GET REAL.

I also saw in a vent channel that they were being overly critical of who people selfshipped with (and again, kin), namely AM from that one thing I won't mention so it doesn't show up in searches for it. Buddy this is a horror selfship server, why are you hating on people for thinking a villain is hot, your bf is probably just like it but without the extinction of the human race in their list of crimes.

Then in another selfship server that is fictionkin friendly (run by one who's super cool too) and has both me and the owner in it, I saw the previous server's owner KINPOSTING AB9UT POKEMON WHEN I SCROLLED UP TO EARLY MESSAGES IN A CHAT, HOW ARE YOU AS A FICTIONKIN BY DEFINITION "UNEDUCATED"

Selfship discord, to phrase it like another selfshipping fictionkin did (thank you crow, you're never going to see this), is like 2020 kincord. And that says enough.

[zoeology31]

*emerges from today's game covered in blood* Series win, never a doubt!

Nice to see the team get their hitting mojo back late last night and today after that disaster of an offensive hangover the first two games in Pittsburgh. Across the past two series, the Twins have scored 37 runs, allowed 26, and finished 3-3. Baseball!

Pretty solid turn through the rotation after the guys got knocked around in Houston and New York. Ryan looked great, SWR threw 96+ (!?!?!?), Paddack threw 97+ (feat. velo whisperer Cole Sands), and Louie held his own in the spot start. Bullpen has been solid too, with one uh. notable exception.

Thielbar's comeback was such a great story and he's been a fantastic pitcher for us in this current era, and talking about his season feels like sending a beloved pet to the farm upstate, but man. I think this is it. He just doesn't have it anymore, and these last two days have been absolutely brutal to watch.

The offense really picked him up today though, and almost did so yesterday, which has been a wild swing over the course of the week. Lewis is the franchise, Miranda, Margot, and Santana have all been on a tear lately, even Farmer and Vazquez have put up solid June numbers. Also special shoutout to Correa, who's hitting over .500 since porching one in Yankee Stadium last week, capped off with his first career 5-hit game today! That combined with his characteristic stellar defense (error today notwithstanding) and damn, it's always great to have him on the team. He's playing like he saw that poll from The Athletic and/or the Neal tweet lmao.

Let's go back to the score from today, because. 17-9??? Every Twin in the starting lineup reached at least twice, five had at least three hits, and the team combined for 24 hits, their most since 2017 (team record 28). Ten players had an RBI and the team was 11-for-17 with RISP. The combined score ties last year's Cleveland blowout, a game in which position players pitched five half-innings. Everyone's making football score jokes. And it wasn't even at Coors Field! Absolutely wild times.

(Also the game was under 4 hours with a 37-minute rain delay in the middle, in this house we love the pitch clock.)

Nice long early-summer homestand, with the City Connects on-field debut and the annual Pride Day lined up for this weekend. It's a great time to get out to the ballpark and enjoy some baseball, so let's keep it rolling.

[inksandpensblog]

Results for the AvA hangman headcanon/opinion poll

The data is all here! I’d like to thank @occatorcreator @singer-smiles-101 @celestiachan @cindersnows @flowerbarrel @wowieeitsisa @ilikemarshmallows @anonymisprincess and @luizastarry for participating; this has been a lot of fun. Below the cut, I’ll go through the most popular answers to each question, as well as giving my own answer for each, and I’ll also give a shoutout to some of the interesting alternate options or elaborations that some of you proposed!

. So, let's begin!

I: Is the hangman...?

a regular, nonliving stick that came to life

a “dead” stick that came “back” to life

a mannequin/doll that came to life

All but one of you chose #1 for this, and the participant who chose differently was undecided between #2 and #3.

I'm in favor of both #1 and #3, myself; as hard as I've been pushing the marionette propaganda, I can just as easily see him being perceived by the other sticks as a normal stick who's just like them.

II: Is the hangman...?

a new character

Victim reincarnated

Victim possessing a nonliving stick body (not nonliving in the "dead" sense, more in the "no ai" sense)

Victim possessing a mannequin/doll

Victim possessing the living stick body (regular or mannequin/doll) of a new character

Every last one of you chose #1 for this, and I'm inclined to agree. Though with how many "omg could it be VICTIM??!?!" reactions I saw early on I'm surprised nobody went for any of those options. Or maybe those were just the people who reblogged the survey without actually doing it XD

(shoutout to @occatorcreator for their idea about him possibly being a reincarnation of, specifically, the version of Victim from the Bloop animation course, if one were to follow the headcanon that Orange himself is a reincarnation of the first Victim. I love anytime anybody remembers Bloop Victim.)

III: Why does the hangman look so different from the other sticks? (thinner lineweight, longer limbs, head isn't closed)

because Alan wasn't animating

because Alan wasn't trying to bring it to life

because Alan was deliberately trying to not bring it to life

Now, here's where we start to get some diversity in the answers. Two participants chose #1, three participants chose #2, two participants were undecided between both of those, and one participant's answer was a little unclear to me but I know it was one of those two options. I'm undecided between those two as well, though I think my preference leans toward #1.

(@ilikemarshmallows suggested the possibility that maybe it wasn't Alan behind the cursor at all; that perhaps it was one of his animator friends. Which I think is a neat idea. @anonymisprincess also brought up the idea that animations can't come to life until their creator considers them to be "complete" in some respect, which is a concept I'm gonna store away for future examination and use.)

(One of you didn't really give an answer for this one, but you seemed really intrigued by the implications of #3. Unfortunately I think it intrigued you so much that you didn't answer any more of the survey questions after this one XD I don't mind at all though, your speculation was super fun to read, so thanks for sharing it with me!)

IV: Why does the hangman come to life?

proximity to already-sentient sticks

because Alan realized what he was drawing halfway through the game, and once he had the thought it was already too late

because Alan is just incapable of drawing sticks that won’t eventually come to life, at this point

Y'all why did literally all but two of you pick the most boring option XD Like I actually want to know what's everyone's reasoning behind picking #3?

Well, of the two that didn't pick #3, one of you picked #2 and the other of you was @ilikemarshmallows, who had the brilliant idea that the phrase being guessed in the game itself had an influence on the hangman being brought to life. "My Paper Crane Flew Away" is a video about...well...a paper crane unexpectedly coming to life, much like our new friend here does. I'm intrigued by the idea.

Unfortunately, this means I'm the only person who thought about #1 at all. Though my final answer is an even divide between #1, #2, and Marsh's idea.

V: Why is the hangman's first act to wave at the others?

(Another one of you stopped answering after this point o7)

The general consensus among you all seems to be that stickfigures are naturally inclined to be friendly! But some of you did offer elaborations on this concept: @wowieeitsisa brought up that the hangman "wasn't created with malicious intent," which I do think is a good thing to take note of, and @ilikemarshmallows suggested that perhaps the hangman's cordial disposition might be tied to the fact that he were created during something of a game night between family/friends, which just warms my heart honestly.

VI: Why do the others run away?

Three participants suggested something to the effect of "from the sticks' POV it was basically like seeing a zombie/seeing a corpse reanimate itself," and I gotta ask: if that's your answer then why did none of you pick #2 for Question I? I'm legit confused please help me understand.

Two of you suggested that the other sticks were just spooked because of the whole hanging thing. One of you was undecided between this suggestion and the final suggestion offered by the last two participants, which is that the other sticks, plainly and simply, hadn't expected the hangman to come to life, with @ilikemarshmallows also suggesting that perhaps this wasn't the first time they'd all played hangman with Alan and that previously lost games hadn't resulted in a newly-living stickman before. I have to say though that I am partial to @flowerbarrel's idea that they were running to fetch something with which to get him down from the gallows.

.

And that's a wrap. Once again, a big thank you to the nine of you who participated, I appreciate your contributions and participation greatly!

Now to get this posted before everyone forgets about this character after the season finale tomorrow-

[nickmaghighlights]

Nick Mag Highlights - #150 March 2009

Salutations everyone, and welcome to another chewy edition of Nick Mag Highlights. Today we’ll be reading through Nickelodeon Magazine #150, from March 2009!

First off, I’d like to apologize for the time since my last NMH post. I'm still trying to work out a proper schedule for this blog that makes sure I’m able to get these posts out at a consistent but manageable rate. Anyway, on with the show!

This cover is resoundingly familiar to me (yes, I dare even say nostalgic). 

It’s a classic bit of SpongeBob fare, which was indeed a largely familiar sight for Nickelodeon Magazine covers following SpongeBob SquarePants’ release and subsequent generation-defining popularity. For reference, 2009 saw the release of the show’s sixth season. Man, time flies!

Speaking of 2009, that was also the year that saw the unfortunate end of Nickelodeon Magazine in November. Being honest, that does sort of add a sad twinge to these issues for me, but I’ll set that aside for the sake of unbiased, uh, retrospecting! (Is that a word?) 

You can find the full issue here. Feel free to read along with me, if you’re so inclined!

Let’s see what’s on the menu today… Y’know I always get excited whenever the theme of the issue is something more on the oddly-specific side, like “Friends and Enemies”. You wouldn’t expect a whole magazine of content could be squeezed out of something like that, but that’s what makes it so interesting.

I’m most interested to see how stoic, harpoon-wielding Mr. Krabs ties into all this, especially with the theming. What do you think: friend or foe?

Holy moly, these credits couldn’t be more 2009 if they tried! Ah man, as fun as it was to make fun of Facebook moms back in the day (or, more specifically, watch Smosh make fun of Facebook moms back in the day), but funnily enough I think I now envy that sort of online innocence.

But forget about that! The Kids’ Choice Awards is nearly here! Actually, forget about that. There’s a new iCarly special coming out! Wait, no no no, forget about all of that! There’s a new episode of… uh, The Naked Brothers Band… coming out. Yay? On second thought, never mind, forget about that instead. The first two were way more exciting.

Woah, hey now! Aren’t we getting a bit ahead of ourselves here? The calendar was never this early on in any of the previous issues I’ve covered on this blog so far. I wonder what prompted the format change?

Speaking of change, I see they changed the instructions, too. I’m supposed to put this in a binder now? Who keeps a calendar in a binder? Besides, whenever I’ve had to use a binder for school or what-have-you, I’ve always had to use multiple binders. So I’d need a calendar for each binder, lest I be caught without a way to tell what day I’m even living in! This is madness!

Er, anyway, I can’t help but feel they might have been stretching for stuff to put in the March calendar this year. I mean, nothing against vitamins of course. Or even vitamin facts, for that matter! But I’m not sure they make the best calendar theme.

I would like to give a shoutout to this absolute fashionista on page 7 here. Sorry for all the 3D-printed BFF bling you’d have to make to properly steal her style.

Well isn’t this cute? But don’t let your guard down! It’s still just as much of a puzzle as any other puzzle… And when it comes to Nick that means it’s pretty easy, and this quest to spot the fake story is no different. 

Now I know I sound arrogant, but I will admit I wasn’t always such a whiz-kid! I’m pretty sure when I read this section back in the day I didn’t even notice it was supposed to be a puzzle, so I just took all these stories at face-value. Now, I’m smarter. Now, I can recognize a suspiciously flat, edited-in emu and can compare it to all the other dynamic and much harder to fake photos.

Now, I haven’t even actually checked the answer by the time of writing this, so maybe the fake story is actually the hamster and snake, who knows. I’d sure have egg on my face, wouldn’t I?

Call me crazy, but is that Homer Simpson and Bart in the bottom left near the trash can?

You know what I say, two pages spent on some Where’s Waldo?-style picture puzzle action is nary two pages wasted (I always say that). And this one’s a fun concept! I actually got distracted while writing this trying to find all the different situations that fit the BFF acronym. 

Now, I usually try to shed some light on the wonderful people responsible for Nick Magazine’s distinct art, but I’m actually hard-pressed to find much on Andrew Brisman, the artist behind these pages. Searching him online seems to just unearth a couple of gambling guide books written under the same name. And, regardless of whether or not that’s the same Brisman, I’m more interested in finding credits that are more relevant to what we’re talking about today.

So in that regard, the most I could find was that an Andrew Brisman did work as an editor on Dark Horse Comics’ Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Lost Adventures series. I’m inclined to believe that’s our guy, since a DeviantArt post from a former Nickelodeon Magazine editor indicates Brisman as previously working as a co-editor for an issue of Nickelodeon Magazine centered around the same show.

So yeah! Not every one of these artists is going to be so easy to find, but it’s nice to give credit where credit is due. I wish the best for Brisman, maybe he's doing something for those three new Avatar: The Last Airbender movies in development, eh?

I suppose this is a good way for kids to get the lowdown on all the famous media rivalries they probably already know about. I suppose the real engaging part is trying to figure out what the numbers on the Fight-o-Meter mean. 

Also, is it really necessary to spoil The Empire Strikes Back’s twist like that? I get it’s an old movie, but c’mon, there’s presumably kids reading who didn’t know yet.

I can’t be too critical though, since according to the website of the writer behind this section, she wrote this during an internship at Nick Magazine. Everyone’s gotta start somewhere!

Time for some pull-out pranks! Well, one prank and two small inspirational posters. It’s always weird for me whenever I’m reminded that old meme format in the top left used to just be a poster format people used regularly. 

And here we come across a beautiful cover done by the artist Theo Ellsworth to start off this issue’s Comic Book. If you’d like to check out more of his stuff, it seems your best venue is his Blogger site and Tumblr blog, although they’re seemingly no longer active.

Got to shed some spotlight on Scene but Not Heard once again. I may have brushed it off to the side in the last post but I think that’s a habit I picked up from childhood. Since this comic was so consistent I ended up glossing over it back in the day since I knew it was always going to be there. But in hindsight, that’s really not giving this comic and its creator Sam Henderson enough credit. It must not have been easy coming up with such entertaining, imaginative illustrations consecutively for more than fifteen years! Or maybe it was, I dunno. They’re funny either way.

(Also hello down there, Impy! Man, I love that little guy!)

Oh boy, time for another introduction! Grampa and Julie: Shark Hunters was a serialized comic created for Nickelodeon Magazine by Jef Czekaj, which ran from 1999 all the way to the magazine’s cancellation. It follows a young girl named Julie and her scientist Grampa as they do the, y’know, eponymous shark hunting. Mischief also ensues, I’m pretty sure. 

This comic wasn’t really one of my favorites growing up, and this incredibly wordy two-pager that’s really just setting up for a presumably much more action-packed installment next month isn’t really doing much to change my mind on that. But hey, maybe this is just a bad example. Shark Hunters still had (has?) its fans! The Letters to the Editors section of this issue actually includes a message from a reader begging for the return of this comic, as it apparently had gone on a short hiatus. I hope it was everything they wanted!

Now, that would be all, but there’s a bit more history to go over. In 2006, Klasky Csupo (the company behind Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, among others) produced a ten-minute pilot based on Grampa and Julie: Shark Hunters, and pitched it to Nickelodeon as a potential series. As we know now, the pilot wasn’t picked up. But you can check it out here:

It definitely surprises me how much of a departure in art style and tone this is from the majority of Klasky Csupo's other projects, but I do appreciate them replicating the comic's memorable look. What also surprises me is the casting of Academy Award-winning actor Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs. Kramer, Rain Man, Kung Fu Panda) as the voice of Grampa! It's definitely an unexpected choice, and it makes me wonder if he would've stayed on the project had the series actually gotten picked up. 

Coming up next is a nice little SpongeBob Squarepants comic. It’s fun to see Sandy and SpongeBob get competitive and the colors are quite nice. Not much to say, but hey, it's nice.

Eventually, due to the rising popularity of video games in the mainstream, Nickelodeon Magazine saw fit to start incorporating a video game-themed section in their issues to give the gaming populace what they wanted. From my memory, these usually consisted of cheat codes and tips, or sometimes a rundown on whatever new Nickelodeon games were coming out at the time. Here we’ve got ourselves a comedic writeup on how some video game characters feel about their best and worst players. It's a funny idea and the illustrations are nice, but I particularly can't get over the absolute verbal thrashing Mario gives to an 8-year old girl in the bottom left section. 

Also this just came to mind, but aren't all these characters essentially doxxing their players here? Let this be a lesson on why you should always read the Terms & Conditions.

See, I told you that we’d be seeing more SpongeBob in this issue! (Don’t fact check that). 

But yeah, 2009 minus 1999 is indeed 10, and Nickelodeon was all-in on capitalizing on their mascot’s milestone anniversary. This celebration eventually culminated in the premiere of an hour-long special episode titled Truth or Square, but on these pages here we can see an example of one of the off-shoot promotions also coinciding with the celebration.

Starting in March (for some reason) and ending at an unspecified month, Nickelodeon challenged fans with various SpongeBob-themed puzzles, available both in-print and online. The answers to these puzzles would then be utilized to unlock the password to a special “digital prize”. Now, I am having difficulty finding out just how long this promotion lasted for or what the digital prize even was, but I’m willing to guess it was a funky desktop wallpaper. If anyone knows anything about this challenge or the digital prize, I’d love to hear it! Feel free to send a message and I’d be happy to include an update on the blog.

And hey, even if this promotion is close to reaching its 15-year anniversary now, we can still appreciate the art for this issue’s puzzle, which depicts a scene similar to an episode from the show’s third season, “Clams”.

Pretty funny designs for this batch of contest submissions. Readers must have been drowning in anticipation during the seven month-long period between the opening of this contest in August of 2008 and the actual results here in March of 2009. I appreciate giving the kids all the time they need to hone their craft.

Got a favorite? I personally am quite fond of the Spikesicle, it definitely stands out amongst its slimy contemporaries. The Man-wich Sundae is pretty good too. I think it have wings?

Holy moly, Spectacular! And not just Spectacular!, but a tear-out poster and a backside that features everything you need to know about the members of the band and their real-life actors! This is so cool! 

…Wait, what the heck is Spectacular!?

Yeah, sorry, but this really is not ringing any bells. And let me remind you, I had this issue as a kid, so I must have read this at some point! I guess my young eyes must’ve just inherently glazed over when it happened upon teen bands. Sorry to any Spectacular! fans who may be reading.

Uh, hm… In regards to anything else to say on the subject… Let's see… 

That’s the girl from Victorious, isn’t it? Victoria Justice? She seems familiar, yeah… 

Ooh, look on the right! They’re making a show about the penguins from that Madagascar movie! Cool!

Holy moly, the Disrepectoids. Such a strange marketing stunt from the likes of a juice box brand ended up giving way to a very short-lived but incredibly memorable childhood fascination for me. Essentially the whole thing was based around these live-action commercials that each showcased a scenario of a kid beating up, destroying, or otherwise causing grief to their helpless Capri Sun juice pouch. Said kid would then pay the price by being turned into a freak called a Disrepectoid, with each kid sporting a different affliction based on the disrespect they gave their pouch. Here’s one of the first commercials, showcasing the origin of the Disrepectoid featured at the forefront of this page, Bobblehead Fred:

Never really understood how hitting a pouch with a baseball bat links with getting turned into a bobblehead. Shouldn’t he get a baseball bat head instead, or something?

This promotion also included a plethora of Flash games and online cartoons hosted on a dedicated website, featuring stylized renderings of the kids from the commercials. Capri Sun obviously wanted this to be a big deal, seeing as how this was a whole magazine page advertising the airing of a commercial. But hey, I bought into it, and to be honest I couldn't really tell you why nowadays. Maybe I just liked the artstyle? 

If you want an idea on how big I was into this, I could genuinely make a whole post just on these guys. Too bad they’re not a magazine!

Anyway, the whole thing lasted about two or three years I’m pretty sure, before Capri Sun shelved the concept and went back to being a drink for kids who play sports or something, I dunno. Still, for the short time it was around I found the Disrespectoids brand incredibly imaginative and engaging.

Another issue in the bag! It was fun doing another Nick Mag from my childhood. Hopefully it was fun to read, too! As might be able to tell, this was definitely a trip down memory lane. 

Anyway, in regards to my schedule. I was thinking of shifting to something bi-weekly (of the every two weeks variety, not twice a week). Take a look:

So yeah! Hopefully this will allow me to stay refreshed and still keep making stuff people want to see. This blog is already growing bigger than I would've expected and I've gotten nice feedback from people who appreciate Nickelodeon Magazine just like I do. I'm excited to see where this blog goes, and thank you to everyone who's here to see it! 

Have a great day, and as always, keep reading!