#although she's been kinda talkative lately which is nice

[muzanswaifu]

Rengoku x Maid!Fem!Reader

18+

A/n: “My request is a fluff/smut Kyojuro x reader. The reader is a housekeeper for the Rengoku estate, she and Kyojuro have a secret relationship.”

Warnings: Smut, fluff, yandere themes, obsession, panty stealing, masturbation, cunnilingus, blowjobs, vaginal penetration, unsafe sex, creampies, secret relationship, sugar daddy kyo

Your relationship starts off so innocent

Master Rengoku is hardly around regardless, so not much happens initially anyway

You do as your told, clean the bedrooms, dust the doors, sweep the floor boards, life is simple in that you sleep, eat, and work in roughly the same schedule everyday

Your closeness with each other develops slowly, your first official meeting being the master calling for assistance in a nearby room as he’d spilt some cleaning solution, you’d apologized profusely, taking full blame for leaving the bottle out in the open, mentally hitting yourself for being so forgetful

He promptly tells your not to not to worry so much, it was his fault for being so clumsy, as a hashira he should know better

You go to bed that night feeling a bit embarrassed about the encounter and about being so damn awkward, you’d always thought he was kinda cute and handsome, despite only seeing him face to face for a total of 10 seconds

The next day you’re surprised to be called out to the garden, Rengoku wants to eat with you, although you oblige with some persuasion, you remind him of his fathers strict rules about the help slacking off, he tells you to relax, he’ll take full responsibility

When you ask why he wants you to eat with him, he tells you it because of what happened yesterday, he didn’t like how tense you were whike talking to him, wanted to reassure you that he in fact does not bite

Your nervously accept his “apology” and promise to not “be a stranger”

It only grows from there, the man insisting to accompany you everywhere you go when he visits, helping you with tasks that he’s humorously not very good at being from noble upbringing, its nice you’ll admit, but you’re horribly afraid of getting in trouble with his father

You’re especially panicked when you catch him in your room late, a scream nearly tearing out of you before you stop yourself, no need to draw more attention to this damning sight

He quickly apologizes, somewhat stuttering over himself as he excused his intrusion up to the need to find you, when you ask what he needs, he falls silent, eventually muttering out that he forgot and exits the room

Your confusion outweighs your frustration, only compounded in the following weeks of lingering touching and longing stares until it all leads up to the night your catch him touching himself in his room with a pair of your panties pressed to his face

You fall into a trance watching him through the creaked open door, your panties pressed deep against his nose while his hand works so fast that you can hardly see the entirety of his cock, only the blurry image of it, the sight has your thighs pressing together

When he finishes with a long groan, you break from your spell and attempt to step away until he calls with laughter from within the room that you can come in now

You hesistantly enter the room, eyes downcast as you realize he’s already gotten up and standing nude and proud before you

Its beyond embarrassing to be in the presence of the master's bare body but you try to grit through it as he explains to you his excitement of you finally coming to his side of the estate at this hour and that he was beginning to lose hope, you bit your tongue to stop yourself from admitting it was to use his fancy restroom he’d given you permission you to use a while ago, miraculously you didn’t even have to go anymore

When you do work up the nerve to ask him why he had your underwear he laughs delighted and admits they’ve been a great help to him at night to relieve stress, speaking of which...

You don't deny him when he asks you to lie with him, nor do you stop him from stripping you of your night clothes and setting you down onto his bed, one far more comfortable than your own you might add

Its hard to count how many ways you let him defile you that night, letting him shove his tongue into your mouth, kiss all over your body, bury his head between your legs, pierce his cock your guts, empty his sperm inside of you

you want to feel strong regret afterwards, anything to get punishment for what you’ve done, yet your feel none of it, instead overcome with the pure, unadulterated need for more, more of his company, his smile, his body, his mouth, his fingers, his tongue, his big, beautiful cock

Hell you wish it was harder to sneak around to get some alone time, but the effort proves to be rather unnecessary as the maids avoid his side of the estate like the plague and its not like his father’s nosing around looking for anything suspicious, though there were a few times when senjuro had nearly stumbled into you about to do the deed

When he does have to leave for missions, he puts into order two rules, you are to give him at least 5 pairs of panties, used, and you mustn’t touch yourself, at all, he wants you completely desperate for when he returns, as desperate as he will be for you

When he does return from those long, tiring missions, he expects you to be ready for him, on his bed naked and spread for him to go at you for hours

Rengoku doesn’t have the stamina of a normal man, his own ability outweighing theirs in the thousands as he’s able to go round after round with a sinfully short break time

It all gets to a point where you’re hardly even working anymore, only dancing room to room with him so he can take his pick of conversing with you, eating with you, playing games with you, or fucking you, you can even tell based on his posture which option he’s looking for

While it can be at times overwhelming, you dont at all mind the sex as kyojuro is a most giving lover, taking care of your needs first and foremost before he even thinks about pleasing himself , “your pleasure is my reward” is what he always says

But there are times when you force him to allow you to take control, pushing him back on the bed, telling him to keep his hands to himself as you descend on his erection, kissing his veined flesh all over with sloppy, wet kisses before glucking at his cock as best you can

The one thing you don’t like about this whole arrangement (other than the stressful secrecy) is the payment, the man insisted he pay you for your troubles, “triple what my father pays you” he said, you’re sure he doesn’t mean to, but his money makes you feel bad, like your some gold digging whore girl who extorts money from her sugar daddy, so you save all the money that he gives you, every cent, so that if things ever go south, you can give it all back to him

Because despite how…. sexually based your relationship is, you really do care for him

[jahayla-parker]

Uncharted Territory : Tom Holland x Reader

Description: 9.1k wc, Reader finds herself working on the set of one of Tom’s movies in an attempt to escape her stalker. Only, it seems she can’t outrun her troubles even in another country. This means y/n and Tom find themselves in uncharted territory as they try to navigate their way through the ordeal. Dark, stalker, hurt comfort, protective, injury comfort, angst to fluff. Happy ending.

Warnings: dark theme(s), violence, curse words, guns and gunshots, wounds/injuries, blood/bleeding, stalkers, stalker behavior, break-ins, and related.

This was a Ko-fi request by the lovely @theslayerofthevampires Thank you again for the support 💜

“You coming?” Tom asked as he approached y/n. He and a few others from the cast and crew were going out for drinks. He’d worked with y/n by now, but hadn’t spent much time with her outside of work.

Y/n gave Tom an appreciate smile but shook her head. “No, but thank you,” she replied politely.

“Do you prefer to do something else instead?” Tom offered with a smile.

“Oh,” y/n startled. “No, that’s okay,” she promised. She felt bad, Tom had always been nice and was going out of his way to make sure she was invited tonight. But, she couldn’t accept the offer, it would make her too susceptible to having her past repeated.

“Have I offended you in some way?” Tom asked gently, his smile having disappeared.

“What?” Y/n gushed as she shook her head quickly. “No, of course not!” She replied.

“Okay, well if you decide to join us all later, you know where we’ll be,” Tom proposed, a faint smile on his face again.

Y/n gave Tom another small smile and nodded. She felt bad, and truly wanted to be able to go. But she couldn’t risk getting close. Especially not to a guy. She had came all the way to Berlin for work in order to get away, she wasn’t going to undo that.

Y/n groaned to herself as she cleaned up her table. Today had been a total disaster. It was one thing after another. They’d basically got nothing done on set today and the director wasn’t handling it well.

“Ice cream is on me,” Tom commented warmly as he appeared from around the corner.

Y/n quickly looked up and visibly hesitated. But, she was quick to see how Tom’s immediate reaction to her hesitation showed he’d taken it personally. She had rejected spending time with him since they met. Although to be fair, she’d done that with everyone since she arrived. Only, the others had quickly given up on her ending her isolation; whereas Tom hadn’t. Y/n knew she had likely been being paranoid. Nothing had really happened since she arrived. And she was kinda tired of spending each night alone and having no one to talk to. Perhaps ice-cream with a co-worker wasn’t the end of the world. “Okay, sure,” she agreed.

It came as a surprise to herself, but y/n found herself and Tom growing closer over the last few weeks. In fact, she actually now considered him a friend. It was strange and slightly worrisome still, but also comforting. Especially given she was certain she was slowly losing her mind to her paranoia.

Y/n had gotten a handful of calls from unknown numbers over the past two days. All of which were silent when she would answer. She knew odds were it was simply telemarketers, but it still made her anxious. So spending time hanging out with Tom was helpful in that it distracted her from the suspicious calls.

While they’d certainly gotten closer lately, y/n still hadn’t expected for Tom to ask her out today during lunch. She also hadn’t expected herself to say yes so quickly and freely. Granted, that breeziness didn’t last long. As y/n was now in an empty bathroom stall as she tried not to suffer a panic attack.

Y/n knew she had feelings for Tom, but that was simply another reason she tried to stay away from him when they first met. However, as they’d hung out together as friends, her feelings only grew. He was just as respectful and friendly as she suspected he was upon seeing him interact with others the day he had arrived on set here in Berlin. Perhaps that’s why she was so comfortable accepting his offer instead of letting her paranoia cloud her mind and change her decision. She didn’t regret it, but she knew she’d need to still be on edge. At least until she could somehow ensure she could determine he wasn’t like Michael.

Y/n smiled to herself as she walked into her rental. She quickly locked the door behind her, but the smile didn’t leave her face. She’d just gotten back from her latest date with Tom and had a wonderful night.

Y/N’s smile evaporated the second she entered her tiny kitchenette area. She squinted hesitantly at the counter. There was a small pile of mail she’d opened but not dealt with yet on her counter. That wasn’t the odd part though; she’d left that there this morning. What was concerning was y/n swore she’d left her pen directly on top of the pile of mail. Only now the pen was haphazardly set to the side of the stack of documents.

Y/n sighed loudly as she ran her hands down her face. It could’ve rolled off the top of the stack; it was a pen after all. She was just being paranoid again and looking for trouble. Things had been going too well lately that her mind was getting defensive. She just needed to calm down. Surely if someone had been in here, there’d be other signs of it.

Y/n took a deep breath and decided to double check that she’d locked the door. Once she was sure that it was locked, she made her way to her bedroom space and plugged her phone in before it could die in case she needed it tonight. She then grabbed her bottle of anxiety meds from beside her bed and took one. Surely after enough time, she’d not need them anymore. She just had to let herself see that she was safe now. Time would help with that.

“Come on, love,” Tom nudged teasingly as he snuggled up to y/n. They’d been sharing crazy stories about how something that went wrong resulted in something positive down the road. Tom had explained how his Uber driver had told him he wasn’t going to get the role of Spider-Man while he was on the way to his audition. He had told y/n how as much as it had hurt and seemed like a bad omen, it actually increased his nerves and made him have this buzzing energy that matched Peter Parker’s character really well. Y/n had vaguely answered Tom’s question by stating that her ending up as part of the production crew for the movie they were working on and had met through (Uncharted) was actually the result of a situation gone wrong back home.

“It’s not fun like yours,” y/n explained with a fake light laugh.

Tom noticed the way y/n wouldn’t look at him and how her hands started to shake slightly. He quickly grabbed her hands and squeezed them tightly. “‘ey, love, it’s okay,” he promised. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay”.

“Are you sure?” Y/n asked, filled with guilt.

Tom nodded quickly. “Of course, darling, you don’t have to answer. I just don’t want you to feel like you can’t answer just because it has a different tone in nature than my story,” he explained.

“It’s a bit dark,” y/n admitted, staring up at Tom.

Tom nodded again. “That’s okay, if you want to talk about it, I’m here,” he promised, kissing her cheek.

“I don’t want you to see me differently,” y/n mumbled quietly, her eyes staring at her lap.

Tom frowned. “Y/n, I don’t know what’s going on,” he acknowledged softly. “But, I promise you that won’t happen, love,” Tom vowed.

Y/N’s eyes lifted up and she stared at Tom I’m silence for a moment, contemplating. “Okay,” she whispered. She took an audibly deep breath. “So… I- I ended up here because I had to get away from someone back home,” y/n explained vaguely. “I basically ran… changed my info and fled.” “And, yeah, that’s what brought me to Berlin,” she laughed humorlessly.

“You had to get away from someone?” Tom questioned cautiously. “Was it an ex?” he wondered out loud.

“No.” Y/n shook her head. “Not exactly… He-he wanted to be, I guess..,” she replied. “But we were just friends”. Her hands shook slightly as she recalled how it went down.

“I see, I’m sorry, love,” Tom said gently. “Did he hurt you?” He questioned, his worried eyes scanning y/n.

“No,” y/n answered quickly. Upon seeing Tom’s visible disbelief, she sighed. “Not physically at least,” she explained.

Tom nodded slowly. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“It sounds crazy,” y/n admitted.

Tom frowned and took ahold of y/n’s shaking hands. “He stalked you,” he guessed.

“How did-“ y/n panicked.

“I’ve had experience with stalkers before, they make you feel constantly on edge,” Tom sympathized. “That’s the only explanation for why you would think it would sound crazy,” he acknowledged. “Plus, love, it explains why you were so distant before”.

Y/n’s gaze dropped from Tom’s face guiltily. “Yeah… sorry about that,” she mumbled.

Tom lovingly squeezed y/n’s hand as he held her closer. “Don’t be.” “Just know, I won’t let him hurt you anymore,” he whispered into her hair.

“Tom,” y/n sighed.

“I do not mean to minimize what you went though,” Tom promised. “I simply do not want you to have to live in fear. I’ll help keep you safe as best as I can.” “I can get you some security if you need for when filming is over and you go back,” he offered calmly, smiling faintly as y/n relaxed some and leaned into him more.

Y/n smiled shyly but appreciatively.

Tom and y/n sat quietly for a little, Tom letting her steady her breathing. However, he noticed how she seemed to be bendy looking around the room. This helped him realize that while her breathing had slowed, she was clearly still somewhat distraught. “Thank you for telling me,” he said, holding her hands tightly. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I-,” y/n looked up at Tom. She shook her head. “I d-do-don’t think so,” she stuttered. She curled the side of her lip up out of self pity. “I mean, I got a restraining order, ch-changed my name, flew to Berlin,” she trailed off, “but…”

“But?” Tom pressed.

“I still panic over every weird occurrence,” y/n blurted.

Tom squinted. He tried to trace back the areas y/n had been nervously looking at earlier for clues. “What do you mean?”

“It sounds paranoid without context… Maybe even with context… but,” y/n rambled bashfully.

Tom squeezed y/n’s hands supportively. “If you want to provide me with the context, I’m open to hearing it. Either way, I doubt it’ll sound paranoid knowing what you said you went through,” he sympathized.

Y/n nodded in agreement. “It’s kinda a long story,” she warned.

“I’ve got all the time in the world to listen to you, love,” Tom said.

Y/n bit back a small smile. It wasn’t hard when her focus shifted from Tom’s kind words to what she was about to disclose. “I… had this friend, Michael,” she murmured. “H-he and I would go to the movies, or hangout together a lot. He never asked me out; which is good, ‘cause I never saw him that way”. She frowned as she continued her story. “Yet, it was because of that that I didn’t know he saw me that way. Not until he started getting a bit possessive when I spent more time with other people.” She looked up nervously, only to be greeted by Tom’s compassionate gaze. “I didn’t realize how bad it was until I was staying with my cousin and his wife one weekend and posted about it… Michael got mad and … and asked who it was, why I didn’t tell him, and all of that kind of stuff.”

Y/n tucked her legs under her as she hesitantly let herself lean into Tom’s comforting embrace. “We got into a fight over it,” she recalled as Tom rubbed her back, “I said I needed space to myself in order to see if we could still stay friends after the weirdness.” She groaned to herself as the memories flowed. “I thought he was respecting that… but instead, he just started hiding his possessive traits.”

“It took me what I think was maybe, a week, to notice that he was following me,” y/n confessed with a scowl. “When I called him out on it, he apologized and… and pl-pleaded to let him make it up to me.” She shivered faintly, recovering when Tom rubbed her bare arms lovingly. “I told him that I needed to think and he began calling me, all day, every day, every hour of the night, to try to get through to me. I told him to stop but he didn’t.” She gritted her teeth as she reprocessed the events. “I blocked him… and then he started showing up everywhere and these ‘gifts’ started arriving at my house.” Y/n shook her head against Tom’s chest out of frustration. “I got a restraining order as I’d ran out of options, but the police did nothing as they said it was coincidental and I couldn’t prove it was him,” she explained.

Y/n wrapped her arms around Tom’s waist as he continued to hold her. “The part where I ended up here because of it, happened to be that, one night, I got a call saying that I was offered a spot on the production crew for Uncharted that I’d applied for months before.” She smiled faintly as she spoke about her change in luck. “I had my friend verify the offer, so I knew it wasn’t a trap from him,” y/n detailed. “When she mentioned the only issue she saw was that it was in Berlin, I saw it as a chance. I immediately changed my last name so that it wouldn’t show on any passports or flight registries, ordered a new emergency-rushed passport, and flew out here,” she concluded. “So, yeah, that’s me,” y/n added in an attempt to soften the tension caused by the rest of her words.

“That’s not you,” Tom murmured. He pressed a light kiss to the top of y/n’s head.

“What?” Y/n whimpered in a hushed voice.

“That’s something you went through,” Tom acknowledged with a frown. “But, it’s not who you are, y/n,” he soothed. He tightened his grip on her as she melted into his side. “I’m really sorry you had to deal with that.” Tom took a deep breath and intentionally focused on making his voice as soft as possible. “But, I have to ask, when you said there was something you were going to say that would make you sound paranoid, what was it?”

“Oh,” y/n laughed to herself. “That,” she mumbled, “right”. “Well,” she sighed loudly, “it’s just..”. A few moments of silence passed after she had trailed off before y/n spoke again. “See that picture frame?” Y/n asked as she pointed across the room to the shelf by her TV.

Tom nodded. “Yes, the one with you, and who I’m assuming is a friend of yours?” he asked to confirm he had tracked y/n’s finger-pointing back to the correct frame.

“Yeah,” y/n agreed.

Tom nodded again.

“Well, I…” y/n sighed. She truly felt crazy. “I could’ve sworn it was at a slightly different angle yesterday,” she admitted.

“Hmm,” Tom nodded. He looked around her room as he asked, “anything else?”

“What?” Y/n questioned, having been caught off guard by Tom’s response.

“Have you noticed anything else out of place?” Tom clarified.

“You don’t think I’m crazy?” Y/n asked, her eyes slightly widened.

“Not in the least,” Tom argued. “Hopefully it’s nothing,” he reassured, “but the fear is valid, and it doesn’t hurt to consider the possibility”. He wrapped his arms more securely around y/n in hopes it would help her feel protected and safe now.

Y/n was beyond appreciative over having been respected about what she felt might be paranoia. “Ummm, well…,” she mumbled. After reminding herself that Tom seemed to trust her instincts, she felt comfortable continuing to explain the weird things that had been occurring. “I’ve also been getting weird calls… with no one on the other end.”

Tom’s brows furrowed as he gazed down at y/n. He pouted to himself. “How long ago was this?” he asked.

“I got one earlier today,” y/n informed Tom.

Tom nodded. He gently tilted y/n’s head up so he could look into her eyes. “If it happens again, can you let me answer?”

“You want to answer it?” Y/n questioned in bewilderment.

Tom simply nodded. “I was sincere when I said I want to help,” he promised.

“Okay,” y/n nodded. “Thank you”.

“No,” Tom whispered, stroking y/n’s cheek. “Thank you for being willing to let me know and trusting me to help”.

“Tom…” y/n trailed off. Her hesitant eyes were focused in on Tom’s patient ones.

“Yeah?” Tom replied.

Y/n bit her bottom lip. “I wanted to explain that’s also why I… asked for us to stay a secret,” she frowned. “I don’t want my face getting out there, you know..”

“Of course,” Tom gushed supportively. “And darling, you don’t have to explain things like that, it’s your choice, my love.” He smiled softly as he ran his thumb over y/n’s cheek. “Nonetheless, I completely understand.”

“STOP!” Y/n shouted, her body violently flying forward from her sleeping position. She felt the air from the fan tickling her sweaty forehead. Her eyes were widened and she felt dehydrated. She felt someone grab her hand, causing her distant startled gaze to snap towards where her hand was resting on the bed. She quickly traced the hand back until she saw Tom watching her worriedly.

Y/n let out a shaky choked sob. Her eyes shifted away from Tom’s face in embarrassment. She felt him cautiously wrap his arms around her and bring her to his chest. “I’m… I…I’m sorry, T-Tom,” she apologized.

Tom gently shushed y/n and rubbed her back as she buried her face into his torso. He frowned to himself, hating that the woman he loved was so traumatized. He whispered soothing words as he held her tightly. He made sure to let her know that she was safe and that it was okay that she reacted this way to her nightmare.

Tom had almost gotten y/n back to a completely calm state when her phone began to ring. He felt her stiffen in his arms, making his frown return. He quickly reached over to the nightstand and picked up her cellphone. Tom squinted at the screen angrily but upon feeling y/n shimmy against him to try to see, he tilted the screen for her so she could check it first.

When y/n froze upon seeing the unknown number on her phone yet again, Tom delicately pulled her back to him. “Is it the silent call?” He asked her. Upon her nodding slowly, Tom shifted his jaw and pressed answer as he moved the phone to his ear.

“Hello?” Tom answered. He heard nothing in the background. Not even things or people shuffling around. The other side of the call was completely silent. “Either respond now, or stop calling this number,” Tom commanded. He waited for a response, but still, none came. He glared at the phone as the line went dead.

Tom silenced y/n’s phone before placing it back where he’d gotten it from. He adjusted the blankets to completely cover y/n’s shaking frame. Once she was covered properly, he securely wrapped his arms around her as he began to try and soothe her again.

The night Tom had learned about y/n’s history and comforted her after her related nightmare, the couple hardly slept as she was on edge for awhile after the call. But, after that night these weird occurrences suddenly stopped. It was so sudden in fact, that y/n was a bit fearful that Tom might be connected to Michael somehow. However, she calmed herself down and realized that was crazy as Michael wouldn’t have stopped now because of that even if Tom did have a secret connection to him; there would’ve been no reason to. In fact, one would expect if that were the case for Michael to feel more comfortable and increase his stalking behaviors. So, y/n figured she was just being paranoid from the very start as it had now been over two weeks without anything weird happening.

Y/n yawned lightly as she unlocked the door to her apartment and stepped inside. Her tiredness quickly turned to glee upon seeing the decorations Tom must’ve set up. They had agreed to staying in for date night tonight. Y/n had given him her spare key since she knew she’d be having to work at least an extra hour longer than he did on set today. She figured he could let himself in and get comfortable until she got there. She’d texted him about twenty minutes ago to let him know she was finally done on set. Given the romantic dinner that was currently set for two and rose petals covering the floor, he must’ve utilized that extra time to set this up. While she’d been expecting a more casual night in, she appreciated the sentiment.

Y/n walked further into her apartment, blissfully unaware to what was about to happen. Just as she’d approached the dining table, she felt a cold metallic pressure on the side of her head. Her body began to panic but she forced her mind to remain calm. Y/n turned at a glacial speed towards where the cold metal sensation was. Michael. She swallowed thickly as her dramatically widened eyes took in the way her stalker was suddenly standing directly beside her, a handgun barrel pressed against her head. Before she could find the words to say, or any words that is, Michael gripped her shoulder and motioned for her to sit.

Y/n’s hands nervously sat in her lap as she gazed across the decorated dining table. Michael was already staring back at her. While his appearance still filled her with terror, it was slightly better than it had been with the gun pressed against her.

“Eat, beautiful girl,” Michael said, waving the gun loosely around as he used it to point to y/n’s plate. “Come on, it’s our date night,” he encouraged when she didn’t move, “wouldn’t want the food to get cold”.

Y/n eyed the overbooked steak on the plate in front of her. Had Michael poisoned it? Would he do that? He liked her right? So surely he wouldn’t want her dead.. right? Had he somehow figured out about her relationship with Tom? If so, was that enough to make him try to poison her in retaliation? It’s not like she was even hungry. Not anymore. Any appetite she had when she walked in the door left the second she saw him. But she didn’t want to piss Michael off by not eating it either. Perhaps she could play it off.

Y/n poked her fork at the steak. “I.. uhh… I was actually going to try being vegetarian,” she lied.

“Since when?” Michael asked, seemingly deeply interested in the topic.

“I’ve thought about it for awhile,” y/n said slowly as she inventoried her surroundings. “A co-worker… o-on set showed me.. a… a video today though,” she rambled, biting her lip as she realized her only possible escape would be the front door.

“A vegan propaganda video,” Michael commented judgingly with a look of irritation on his face.

Y/n nodded nervously, her fear returning as her eyes made their way back to the gun in Michael’s hand.

“No worries, babe,” Michael said casually, “it’s sweet you care that much”. “We can still enjoy our night together,” he grinned.

Y/n nodded anxiously yet again, not wanting to offend Michael. “What are you doing here?” She asked. As appalling as this was, at least he was having positive feelings for her not anger against her at the moment. She hoped to keep it that way while also finding a way through this. If she somehow survived the night with him, maybe she could sneakily tell Tom tomorrow on set? Tom. How was she going to warn him to stay away? Did she want him to? Or did she selfishly want him to come over and help her? Could he help her? Was it selfish of her to want him to?

"I’ll have you know,” Michael groaned as he set his gun on the table beside his plate. He paused as he took a moment to enjoy a bite of his overcooked steak. “It wasn’t easy, you were really hard to track down, you know that," he complained.

Y/n’s brows furrowed. Not hard enough, evidently. “Oh,” she whispered. “How did you?” Y/n dared ask even though her voice shook as she worried if Michael would take offense to the question.

Michael actually appeared happy when the question left y/n’s mouth. He smirked as he pulled out his phone. The smirk shifted to a grimace as he glared at something pulled up on the screen. A few seconds later, Michael turned the screen towards y/n to show her.

On Michael’s phone was a picture of y/n and Tom. Given the weird angle and the setting, y/n knew it had clearly been taken by either a fan or paparazzi. Fortunately, as to not further anger Michael, the photo was innocent enough. In the unauthorized photo, y/n was sitting very closely to Tom and he had his arm over her; but that was it. The unfortunate part was that it was taken without their knowledge and leaked online for anyone to see; including her stalker Michael.

“Your new guy friend seems to have a large social presence,” Michael commented with blatant disgust.

Y/n ignored Michael’s attempt to act as if he hadn’t heard of Tom Holland before seeing the photo of her and him together. She nodded slowly, “that’s how.. How you knew I was in Berlin…”. Y/n placed her arms on the table, intentionally laying them over the utensils. She ignored the way the ends of the silverware dug into her skin as she asked Michael how he got inside her apartment.

“That was a bit trickier,” Michael confessed, but was still smug about it. “Especially given the name change,” he tsked. “Which, is too bad. I liked your real last name babe,” he complimented, reaching out and taking hold of y/n’s hands across the table.

Y/n froze and her body tensed. She couldn’t pull away without upsetting Michael. But it made her physically nauseated to be touching him. Or rather, to have him touching her.

Michael took y/n’s sudden tension as an implication that she felt bad about changing her last name. “It’s okay honey,” he nearly purred, squeezing her hands for good measure. “Both are nice. Any name is nice on you.” Michael let go of her hands as he resumed eating his meal. “Anyways, dear, to answer your question,” he mumbled with food in his mouth. “Once I went through the list of names for the cast and crew, I realized the name change, but thought it was just a mistake.” He shrugged casually as he continued, “nonetheless, I then name dropped your new last name when I got to set and asked for an extra key”. He smirked to himself, his eyes flickering up to meet y/n’s . “I’m sure you’re wondering how I was able to get one,” he said excitedly. “I pretended to be one of your co-workers who was running behind on their tasks and needed to get some papers you had left at home by accident and said I didn’t have time to get the key from you directly,” he bragged.

Y/n slowly dragged her arms back to her. She was careful to do it gradually as to not accidentally drop the streak knife on the floor in the process. As good of a plan as it was, she still felt very stupid in that moment. She should’ve told the others on set about Michael. She’d wanted to get away and leave it all behind her. But by not telling anyone, she let him worm his way back into her life so easily. She should’ve told the crew so they’d not be so naïve. But it was too late for that now. “Wow,” she murmured, hoping it came across as being impressed and not terrified. “S-so,.. wh-when did you get here?” Y/n questioned as her wrists hit the edge of the table. The serrated knife dropped to her lap; the sound muffled by her question.

“Nearly a month ago,” Michael answered breezily.

“What?” Y/n gasped, practically choking on air. A month?! Those weird occurrences had been Michael after all! She wasn’t paranoid. He’d been in her new apartment.

“I didn’t want to rush things,” Michael defended, his tone suddenly tighter. “We both know how that went last time.” He sighed. “But, I was the one who cleaned up the files in your kitchen, dusted your picture frames, and made your bed that day you forgot,” he grinned. “I also checked in on days I wanted to give you space but also wanted to check on you,” Michael added.

“That was you,” y/n murmured to herself as she thought back through all the crazy things that had happened.

“Of course that was me babe,” Michael scoffed. “Babe, I had to be sure you were taken care of”. He gritted his teeth as he glanced down at the gun beside him. “I’ll be honest, I’m not too fond of this… Tom, guy though, that you’ve brought into our lives,” he complained.

Y/n faltered. At this point, she didn’t know how to proceed. She didn’t know what Michael knew or perceived. “I- I-…” she stuttered nervously.

"I mean, really, babe?” Michael groaned as he shook his head. “Why be with Tom Holland?” “What does he have that I don't?” He asked with his arms crossed over his chest.

“He isn’t a stalkerish psycho,” y/n blurted. "So it’s more of what he doesn’t do that you do,” she said, her hand quickly covering her mouth. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Well, there went trying to keep Michael ‘on her side’.

Michael instantly gripped the gun with one hand and the edge of the table with the other. His face demonstrated his sudden but deep agitation. “You’re a hard one to please, dear,” he nearly hissed. “But, no worries, in time I’ll learn your intricacies.” Michael let go of the gun as he rose to pour y/n some wine.

Y/n watched in anger and fear as Michael got closer. She was beyond fed up of trying to run and hide from him. She was tired of him altogether. She just wanted her life back. “Wh-What do you want from me, Michael?”

Michael squinted at y/n in confusion. “To be with me,” he said simply.

Y/n swallowed as she scooted her chair back slightly. “I’ve told you-“ she reminded gently.

“I know,” Michael nodded. “You see me as a friend,” he acknowledged briefly. “But, friends often become more than friends. You just need to give me a chance”.

“I did,” y/n argued angrily. She’d given him a chance to still be her friend after the first incident. But things hadn’t gotten any better.

Michael squeezed the wine bottle tightly until it broke. He sighed as y/n gasped and leapt from her seat in a panic. But, he nonetheless calmly cleaned up the mess as if it wasn’t some angry outburst. “I meant a real chance, dear,” he corrected though his teeth. “We’ll have time for that soon enough though”.

Y/n utilized Michael looking at the broken shards of glass from the wine bottle to slip the serrated steak knife into her back pocket. “What do you mean?” She asked, partially out of fear and partially to keep him talking. She’d try to wait this out, but if things went wrong, at least she now had a defensive option/weapon.

“I know you enjoy working on set here,” Michael said with what was likely an attempt at a sympathetic frown. “But, our relationship needs to come first, not work”.

“Relationship?” Y/n questioned, stepping back further from the table; and from Michael.

Michael groaned loudly as he picked the gun back up. But, he kept it low and at his side. “I don’t appreciate the fake dumb act, dear,” he scolded. “You’re far too smart for that babe,” he said with a glare, as if in warning. But, Michael quickly snapped back to an overly welcoming expression. “Now, as I was saying,” he redirected happily, “you’ll be coming with me when I leave Berlin tomorrow”. He stepped to the side of the table to approach y/n. “I’ve got your room already set up,” Michael smiled.

Y/n took another step back as she kept her eyes on Michael. “M-my… room?” She questioned. “Leave?”. Y/n rapidly shook her head. “Michael, I’m sorry, but, I think you’re confused,” She tried to empathize.

“I’m not confused!” Michael shouted. His right hand smacked loudly against the table beside him. The dishes rang out in the otherwise quiet room as they tried to steady themselves. “Sorry, dear,” Michael murmured upon seeing y/n’s fear. “Now, as I was saying,” he sighed.

Y/n jumped as a sudden knock hit her door. Someone was here. Tom. It was likely Tom. She still hadn’t settled on whether or not she wanted him to be here for this. Nor if it was okay for her to want such a thing. But that didn’t matter, because Michael had already stomped over to the front door.

Y/n watched silently as Michael peered through the door hole. She noticed the way he gripped the handle of his gun tighter as he glared through the tiny circular window. She froze with wide eyes as he spun towards her suddenly.

“Why is he here?” Michael spat as he stormed towards y/n, waving his gun frantically.

“W-well…,” y/n mumbled quietly. “W-We had a date n-night pl-“ she tried to defend cautiously.

Michael pointed the gun at y/n’s forehead as he glared at her. “No, WE had a date night planned,” he hissed, moving his pointer finger to the trigger. “Get rid of him,” he commanded. Michael grabbed y/n’s bicep and tugged her towards the door.

Y/n nodded frantically. “Tom, I’m coming!” she dared to call out. At least this way Tom would know she was home. That way he wouldn’t just leave and she might even be able to secretly alert him to get her help. She yelped as Michael’s free hand suddenly clapped over her mouth.

Michael dug the barrel into the side of y/n’s head. He lowered the hand from her lips and nodded towards the front door. “Casually!” He whispered harshly. “Don’t act so fearful,” he said, his voice softening drastically, “it’s just me”. When y/n refused to move, he nudged her forward. “Now, go”.

“Don’t act fearful says when there’s a gun to your head,” y/n mumbled to herself as she moved away from Michael. She took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. She schooled her expression into what she hoped would meet Michael’s demands.

Tom looked up from the flowers and wine in his hand as he heard the creaking of y/n’s door. His heart dropped upon making eye contact with her. She was clearly not herself. “Love, what’s the matter?” He asked worriedly.

Y/n resisted a small smile at how attentive Tom was. She shook her head and gave him a sad frown. “I.. uhh…,” she mumbled, pausing when she felt the cold metallic of Michael’s gun move back to the side of her head. “I’m not f-feeling well,” she stated, avoiding eye contact with Tom.

“I can see that, darling,” Tom frowned. He discarded the wine and flowers on the ground beside y/n’s door. “What happened? Did you get another ca-” he began to ask.

Y/n cut Tom off before he could finish his question. She knew he was going to ask if Michael had called her again, and that was the last thing she needed right now. “I-.. I’m sick,” she lied weakly.

Tom squinted. “Does your head hurt?” He interrogated as he scanned y/n’s face.

“What?” Y/n croaked.

Tom pouted, his brows furrowed. “You’ve been crying,” he stated.

Y/n lifted a shaky hand to her face. She hadn’t realized she’d cried at some point between arriving home to Michael’s intrusion and now. But, as her fingers trailed over her cheeks, she realized Tom was right. “O-oh, just-just feeling crummy, is all,” she tried.

Tom didn’t want to pry if y/n needed a night alone. But something told him he shouldn’t leave. If she was truly that sick, he should stay to take care of her. “Why don’t I help?” He offered, taking her hands in his. “I have a strong immune system and can order us some soup-”.

Y/n rapidly shook her head, making Tom release her hands and take a respectful step back to give her space. God, she was already in love with him, wasn’t she?. “I.. it’s not that kind of sick,” she explained. After she noticed the confusion in Tom’s face, she added, “and I just want to sleep”. She felt guilty for the way Tom’s face dropped even more. “Raincheck?”

Tom was still internally questioning the circumstances. But, he wanted to respect y/n’s boundaries so he nodded slowly. “Of course, darling,” he agreed. Tom knew he had to push aside the worry that came with seeing y/n’s wild eyes and clammy skin; she’d all but asked him to leave multiple times now, he needed to do as she asked. “I.. I’ll see you on set tomorrow then, yeah?” He questioned still feeling something was off.

Y/n nodded reluctantly, not wanting to make a promise she wasn’t sure she would be around to keep.

Tom slowly stepped closer, watching for any signs that y/n didn’t want him to give her a goodnight kiss. When she didn’t show any rejection, he leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss on her lips. “Goodnight darling,” Tom whispered, “feel better”.

“Th-thank you,” y/n replied with a small sad smile. Would that be their last kiss? She had to do something. “Goodnight, T-Thomas,” she croaked, making eye contact with him one last time before stepping back to close her door.

Michael dragged y/n away from her front door by her elbow. “What was that kiss?” He growled. Michael glared at y/n as she looked down and tried to stifle her crying. He sighed and pulled y/n into his arms. “I can’t stay mad at you,” he confessed, nuzzling his nose against the top of her head. Michael didn’t seem to notice the way y/n shook in his arms, crying more forcefully now. “Shhh,” he said, it coming off as a demand. When her cries softened in volume, he grinned and squeezed her against him, “that’s my girl”.

Y/n could no longer miss the fact that she was crying. At this point, her tears were actively streaming down both of her puffy cheeks. “Please!” she pleaded, trying to wedge her hands up between her and Michael’s chest to push him back.

Before Michael could react to y/n’s pleas, the front door swung open.

Tom had quietly waited outside after y/n shut the door; unable to ignore the worry he was feeling. His concerns had only amplified when y/n called him Thomas instead of Tom. She never did that. Something was wrong. He was just glad that he hadn’t heard the sound of y/n locking her door after closing it; suggesting it was still unlocked. As such, he readied himself and threw the door open.

Michael spun towards the door, allowing y/n to wiggle free from his grip. He glared at Tom as the man ran towards him with rage in his eyes. As Tom dove into his torso, Michael’s gun slipped from his hold. Meaning the two ended up in a brief hand-to-hand tussle.

After a successful knee strike against Michael, Tom rushed towards y/n. He prayed his grabbing her wouldn’t scare her, but he had to act quickly. Tom gently, but securely, grabbed her hand and tugged her behind him. He positioned himself between her and Michael. “I know it’s hard,” Tom whispered breathily. “But, I need you to trust me,” he explained as he shifted them so they continued to face Michael as the man stalked closer. “Everything is going to be alright,” Tom promised as he reached back and squeezed y/n’s hand. “Do as I, darling, I’ll get you out of here”.

“What do you think you’re doing, mate?” Tom asked Michael as he tried to plan a way to get y/n to safety. “Just leave her be”.

Michael glared at the couple as he stormed closer. “She’s mine,” he growled.

“She’s not property, mate,” Tom corrected with an eye roll. He held his palm out flatly behind his back to signal for y/n to stop; to stay where she was. Tom took several steps forward, towards Michael and away from y/n.

Michael closed the remaining distance between him and Tom, glaring the whole time. “Don’t talk about her,” he growled. Now that he was within striking distance, he raised his fist.

“Hide! Now!” Tom advised as he blocked Michael’s fist with his palm. As he watched y/n run out of the room and into the hallway, he counterattacked, trying to swipe Michael off his feet. It worked, but on the way down, the stalker tried to pull Tom with him. Thank God for the fight training he had to do for Spider-Man and Uncharted!

Tom and Michael wrestled for several minutes. Tom knew the creep was muttering something, but he didn’t bother to try to decipher it. All that mattered was trying to subdue him so y/n could get away. However, Tom’s plans halted when it appeared that Michael had somehow found the gun he’d dropped earlier, and now he had Tom at gunpoint.

Michael grinned wickedly at Tom as he stood up and signaled for Tom to remain kneeling. He used his free hand to wipe the blood from his busted lip. “Y/n, dear!” He called out as he moved behind Tom to hook his arm around his torso. When she didn’t come out of hiding, he groaned loudly and placed his finger on the trigger. “If you don’t come out babe, I’m going to shoot this idiot,” he threatened.

“Don-” Tom groaned as he wriggled in Michael’s hold. “Don’t!” He shouted, hoping y/n wouldn’t listen to the stalker’s demands.

“Shut the hell up!” Michael snapped, tightening his hold on Tom. He pulled Tom closer, making Tom’s back more flush against his torso and dug the barrel of his gun into Tom’s temple. “Y/n, if you care about your friend, you’ll-” he warned.

Y/n’s appearance in the living room cut Michael’s threat off. She stared with wide eyes as she stood before Tom and Michael. This was her mess; she got Tom into this. She needed to get him out of it. “I-I’ll go,” she said with a visible gag. “I’ll-”.

“No!” Tom shouted as he fought against Michael. He even brought his elbow backwards into the man’s torso. But, this only resulted in Michael digging the barrel further into his temple.

“Stop!” Y/n begged. She didn’t care that she’d given up any leverage she may have had. Tom needed to get out of here. No one else needed to suffer. “Just,” y/n cried, “just stop hurting him, hurting anyone, and…” She swallowed thickly, “and then… I’ll go”.

“Y/n!” Tom hissed as he stared at her with wide pleading eyes. “Don’t do this!”

“Willingly,” Michael added. When y/n didn’t seem to understand his statement, he stared at her expectantly.

Y/n nodded shakily. “Y-yes,” she whispered. “Wi-will….,” she paused. After she took a deep breath, y/n cleared her throat. “Willingly,” she lied, the words barely choked out before her tears started to fall. It was a lie, it wasn’t willingly. Nothing about this was willingly done. But she would willingly choose to protect Tom. Besides, she knew there was no way Michael was going to just let Tom live. She knew he saw him as a threat. He was just currently using him as leverage. So, y/n figured she might as well try to flip the situation on Michael.

Tom shook as he scratched at Michael’s arm that was wrapped across his front. “Y/n,” he pleaded, “no, don’t do this! Please!”

Y/n shot Tom a sympathetic look. She wanted to try to silently communicate that she wasn’t going as willingly as she stated, but she couldn’t risk Michael noticing. “I’m sorry,” she sighed.

Michael hummed cockily. “That’s my girl,” he declared with a grin. “I knew you’d choose me”. He slowly released Tom, keeping the gun on him while Tom snapped up and into a fighting stance. He kept an eye on Tom as he walked nearer to y/n, the gun pointed squarely at Tom the whole time. Yet, he noticed the way Tom nevertheless moved closer as if still willing to fight.

Michael waved y/n over to him smugly. When she was by his side, he lifted his free hand up to stroke her cheek, causing Tom to lung forward slightly. “Ah ah,” he scolded, “she said she was doing this willingly”. “I won’t have you violating her boundaries and wishes,” Michael stated ironically.

Y/n’s eyes nearly popped out of her head when she heard Michael say to Tom “now you have to just watch as she kisses her actual crush”. She froze in disgust and panic. But, she quickly recovered as the expectant look on Michael’s face helped her realize she had to play along. She took a deep breath and summoned up any acting ability she may somehow secretly have.

Y/n begrudgingly neared Michael. She closed her eyes as she moved her lips until they were millimeters away from his. She set one hand on his shoulder; for both stabilization and distraction. The other hand she kept at her side, fingers slipping into her pockets.

Just as Michael seemed to become fed up with waiting and began to move his head closer, y/n swiped the serrated steak knife from dinner out of her pocket and slammed it into his arm that was holding the gun. She instinctively took a step back as blood spurted from the wound. However, she knew she didn’t have long; Michael was going to be livid.

Y/n pulled the knife out of Michael’s arm, trying not to dry heave at the sight and sensation of his muscles and tendons tearing against it as she did. She noticed the gun had lowered from being aimed at Tom and was not just hanging at his side. But, before she could grab it and hold him at by gunpoint until the police got there, she watched Michael try to lift the injured arm to point the gun at her as his other arm gripped her hip.

Y/n quickly plunged her weapon into Michael’s thigh and pulled downwards. She once again removed the knife from his leg as she stepped back. She noticed he’d dropped the gun in an attempt to grab at the sudden wound to his thigh. So, this time y/n tossed the bloody knife across the room so Michael couldn’t use it against her. Simultaneously, she scooped up the gun and moved backwards as she pointed it at him.

Y/n had never held a gun before, much less shot one. Prop guns on a movie set? Sure! But a real one, not until now. The weight of it and what it symbolized felt heavier than even the blood-soaked knife she’d stabbed Michael with. As such, she was too distracted by the chaos to notice Tom’s warning shout as Michael grabbed at her leg from the ground. Within seconds, her body slammed to the floor. She groaned loudly but otherwise kept her advantage, the gun only moving off of Michael for a split second.

Y/n kicked and scooted across the ground, her leg hurting too much for her to dare risking an attempt to stand up. She kept the barrel pointed at Michael as she slid further from him. She noticed Tom placing himself between her and Michael as they glared at each other across the floor.

Tom watched Michael closely as he tried to back up slowly until he could reach y/n. Only, he abruptly stopped and went to change directions and head towards her stalker as the man suddenly rose and began charging. Tom and Michael exchanged blows once again. His hand slipped in the blood on Michael’s arm as he tried to grab him, allowing Michael to escape his hold for a moment. But that was all it took for the man to charge towards y/n. Before Tom could even attempt to get ahold of him once again, a gunshot rang out.

Y/n had seen the look in Michael’s eyes as he fought with Tom. She was trying to figure out how to get him to stop. Did she shook him? Just threaten to do so? And if that didn’t work, then actually shoot him? She didn’t have a chance to figure it out when suddenly he was racing her way yet again. With slightly trembling fingers, y/n aimed the gun at Michael’s legs and pulled the trigger. She screamed as the shot rang out and Michael dropped to the ground.

Tom immediately sprinted over to y/n. He threw himself into the floor beside her. He cautiously set his hand over her shaking ones that were still holding the gun. Once she let go of it, he took it from her and moved it to his right hand. With his left hand, he pulled y/n to his side and tried to rub her back.

“I-,” y/n gasped. “I had to do it,” she defended quietly, her eyes still on Michael’s crumpled form.

“I know,” Tom reassured y/n. He held her body tighter to him as he felt her tears soak his shirt. The gun was still in his other hand, but pointed at Michael in case the man was stupid enough to try again. Tom wasn’t going to take any chances. Michael wasn’t coming anywhere near y/n ever again.

Y/n turned her gaze away from her stalker and buried her face in Tom’s side when he tapped her cheek to try to distract her. “I… I didn’t w-wa-want to shoot him,” she cried. Despite Tom’s supportive hold on her, she shook violently against him.

“I know, it’s okay,” Tom promised, resting his chin atop y/n’s head.

“No,” y/n gasped as she choked on a sob. “I-…. it’s not okay,” she argued. “I just shot someone!”

Tom frowned. “‘ey, ‘ey,” he whispered, his left hand gently lifting y/n’s damp chin up so she would look at him. “‘ey,” he repeated when she finally met his gaze. “He was charging at you.” “You did the right thing,” Tom informed her.

Y/n sniffled and hiccuped as she tried to compose herself. “You’re… You’re not afraid of me?” She asked, her voice cracking.

Tom shook his head. “No, love, ‘course not,” he promised quickly. “I’m proud of you for doing what you had to,” he admitted solemnly.

Once y/n was in less of a panicked state, Tom quickly scanned her body for any injuries. “How’s your leg?” He asked, glancing between her and Michael rapidly as to not take his eye off the threat for too long.

Y/n stretched the leg in question out before her. “Just sore, I think,” she answered as she felt out the extent of the injury from her fall.

Tom sighed in relief, quickly pulling y/n back to his side.

“Are you okay?” Y/n croaked out after a few moments of hesitant silence. She was afraid to ask the question. She hadn’t noticed any excessive injuries, but it had all happened so fast she couldn’t be sure.

Tom heard the deep worry in y/n’s tone and hummed. “I’m fine,” he promised, tenderly squeezing her hip for effect. “Much better now that you’re here, and he’s over there,” Tom pointed out as he nodded his head towards Michael.

Y/n whimpered in tired agreement. She nuzzled into Tom’s embrace, appreciating the protection and love she felt. “Th-thank-,” she began.

“Don’t you dare thank me,” Tom spoke softly. “It’s not needed,” he promised. He crooked his neck and placed a light kiss to y/n’s head. “We’re safe now”.

Tom lifted the blanket up to keep y/n tucked in. She was resting curled up against him, his arms wrapped securely around her shrunken frame. They were seated on the couch at his apartment, under several oversized fuzzy blankets as y/n had been freezing; seemingly from her lingering anxiety after tonight’s events. By now they’d already talked to the police and completed any forms they’d been asked to do. They ventured to Tom’s apartment as y/n understandably didn’t want to be in her apartment any longer; plus, it was a crime scene still. But despite the change in environment and how tiring the situation had been, neither one could find sleep. So, they simply held each other as they snuggled on the couch.

Y/n hesitantly broke the silence. The fact that they didn’t feel the need to talk about it right away was a relief. But, there was one question that was bugging her. “Tom?” She asked quietly.

Tom pressed his back against the couch cushions so he could see y/n better. “Yes, darling?” He replied, a small but sympathetic smile on his face as he sensed her reluctance to speak.

“How… I’m glad you did,” y/n said vaguely. “But…,” she nervously bit her bottom lip. “How did… how did you know something was wrong?” She wondered.

“You called me Thomas,” Tom answered easily.

“Wh-what?” Y/n questioned.

Tom smiled and cupped y/n’s cheek with his right hand, the other staying protectively placed on her hip. “Darling, you never call me Thomas, only Tom,” he pointed out.

Y/n bit her bottom lip. It worked. “I… I didn’t know how else to signal it,” she admitted. “But… I… well, I wasn’t sure it would work, that you’d notice the slight difference”.

Tom squeezed y/n’s cheek lovingly. “I notice everything when it comes to you,” he said. “Especially if it has to do with your safety or wellbeing,” he added with a faint smile.

Y/n smiled back softly. “I’m glad,” she confessed. “On the bright side,” she murmured, turning to rest the back of her head against Tom’s chest. “At least now I know how to alert you if someone’s wrong, or if he-“.

“He’s never going to hurt you again,” Tom vowed. He tightened his grip on y/n protectively. “I will do whatever it takes to ensure you never have to worry about him again, trust me”.

“I do,” y/n commented warmly as she squeezed Tom’s hands that were locked around her waist. “I trust you, Tom,” she promised.

——————

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[saltygilmores]

THOUGHTS WHILE WATCHING GILMORE GIRLS: S3/EP6: TAKE THE DEVILED EGGS (PT 4)

Meanwhile, in Boston, the GG's arrive at Creepy Sherry's baby shower. Although Lorelai only intended to drop Rory off and skedaddle to do some shopping, Creepy Sherry lures Lorelai into the affair with the offer of free food and booze. The first half of the event is fairly unremarkable. Sherry isn't exhibiting the same alarmingly weird behavior around Rory as she did the first time she met her (YET). Crusty's incoming spawn will be named Georgia “GiGi”. As far as which Gilmore Girls infant’s life is more fucked just by virtue of being born, Gigi or Doula, at least Gigi has a slight positive advantage by having a normal name. Crusty's apartment is way too nice for a human cockroach to be living in. Sherry claims Christopher doesn't care whether his child is a boy or girl and why would he it's not like he's going to be spending any time with it whether it be boy girl or four eyed purple martian.

Sherry.... ran over a bunch of people with her car and her friend helped her cover it up? The tone in this woman's voice and Sherry’s non response to this accusation are way too netural to tell if she's kidding or not. I tried Googling whether or not this was a reference to some current event of the day (did some celebrity run down a bunch of people with a car in the early 2000s?) but it was inconclusive. Edit: thank you @katereads for confirming that there was indeed a publicist who rammed her car into a group of people in the early 2000s and this is likely what CreepySherry's friend is referencing. It made big headlines at the time and Lizzie Grubman was a household name and late night talk show fodder. I knew I wasn't dreaming that.

I'm sexually attracted to painstakingly alphabetized collections of things and I hate that this beauty resides in Crusty's home.

Women are always cleaning up after useless men on this show.

I beg to differ.

The party continues with little incident as the ladies play silly baby shower games. Lorelai and Rory are uncomfortable because they're quirky and Not Like The Other Basics and Rory kinda looks she has been swallowed alive by social anxiety nearly to the point of tears and Lorelai's pop culture references & jokes don't land causing awkward silences (again). Rory performs some truly ear-splitting karaeoke. Lorelai provides Sherry with her special brand of very helpful commentary.

Okay "I have to childbirth at 5pm" is hilarious. No ine is asking the important question. How did Crusty manage to land this intelligent, beautiful and ambitious over achiever? She claims to live less than 3 miles from Harvard University, yet Crusty is the best man the entire city of Boston has to offer?

Says Sherry as Christopher's first baby that she's at least somewhat aware he had no contact with for 16 years sits feet away from her. Pregnancy hormones have scrambled her brains and she's talking complete nonsense. (but she's clearly already lost her marbles long ago seeing as she had sex with Christopher to begin with).

That is...a thing someone wrote.

This is the distance Sherry claims she lives from Harvard. How utterly convenient. Some very casual and not scientific Googling where I could very well be wrong tells me that the distances between the closest points in Boston proper to Harvard are a lot further than this, more like 5+ miles, but okay. Fine. It's close enough. It's tv. Sherry and Crusty might also live in a Boston-adjacent area and everyone is like eh close enough, let's call it Boston anyway, like Dean saying he's from Chicago the city but he was actually raised in Chicago's sewers. Honestly I just wanted an excuse to go on a side quest to determine if AmyShermanPalladino pulls these numbers completely out of her ass or if there's some research behind it. Like where 22.8 miles from Yale lands you on a map. Sherry claims she doesn't like children and never planned to get pregnant but Crusty got her pregnant anyway, quelle surprise. Hooo boy! Creepy Sherry's about to turn up the Over Familiarity to Eleven.

I cannot be the only person who finds this woman's strange behavior toward Rory alarming. Why do you always want to get so close to Rory, creepy lady? Worry about your own CrustySpawn now. Dial it back. Creepy Sherry is just chock full of presumptions ain't she. Among her wild presumptions are: 1) that Rory will get accepted to Harvard/ that she won't end up at another school entirely 2) that she actually cares about having a half sister 3) that she actually wants to spend every minute of her free time in college with Crusty and an unfamiliar infant 4) that Crusty will still be around when the baby is born 5) that Rory in any way shape or form consented to any of these plans 6) that Rory's visible extreme discomfort upon hearing these ideas is just something to be ignored 7) (as Lorelai points out a moment later) that given the choice she will prefer to spend her weekends with Crusty and Sherry instead of with her own mother who is she is extremely close to. The only assumption that Sherry has correct is that Rory is going to have virtually no life in college besides academics and couldn't use "I'm too busy" as an excuse to escape forced after-school bonding with her father, creepy stepmother and emotionally neglected half-sister.

This...doesn't make a molecule of sense. Lorelai's nephew is Jess, lol. Ain't that grand. I wish Luke and Lorelai had gotten married a lot earlier for no other reason than Jess could start calling her Auntie as soon as possible and call her that all the time. Just to fucking piss her off.

Another round of applause for the prop food on this show. Incredible.

I am of the belief that Crusty has a sniper perched on a rooftop with a red laser dot aimed at Sherry's head and she has to praise him at all times to anyone who will listen, even though everything she says is about how great he is is complete baloney, or it's lights out. Well, this was originally my conspiracy theory as to why Lorelai feels the need to constantly praise Dean and I'm carrying it over. Besides blackmail, hypnosis, a voodoo curse, or brainwashing, there's really no other explanation in either of these cases. Sherry continues that Crusty's supposed attentiveness which is totally a real thing that's happening right now comes as a shock to her because she initially thought Christopher was going to leave her to become a single mother. Now where would she ever get that idea? It was apparently something Lorelai did or said that inspired him to return to Sherry when she would have been better off raising the kid alone like Lorelai did. What did Lorelai do exactly? They did the horizontal mambo at her friend's wedding and then he skedaddled. Please, fill me in Creepy Sherry.

We know what happened. Please don't make me relive it in my memory. There's no way that 1 and a half minutes of boinking between Lorelai and Christopher was THAT good. If you blink, you'll miss Sherry admitting to Lorelai that she almost had an abortion.

[9w1ft]

9wing! thoughts on #that part of the 1989 TV prologue?

this is me admitting im probably not going to be reading the room correctly so my apologies

coming from the perspective of someone who has been focused on building my understanding of taylor’s relationship with one person based on a continuing thread over years, amidst a sea of people doing precisely what taylor described, which is starting rumors about her and whoever she touches, i read this prologue and said, well… yeah! yep!!!

maybe one alternative way to look at it is to say that it’s just her saying “i thought i could take cover with men but i became too big to hang out so i decided to take cover with women but the same things happened!” which is true. and if you believe she had a relationship that she wanted to keep secret but still enjoy some semblance of life with, it is true that there was no combination of men or women that they hung out with that stopped people from assuming the secret was theirs to prove.

now, when i think about the prologue from a more meta perspective, i can understand how many had high hopes for a different 1989 tv era than the one we have been previewed as of late, and i recognize that that the thing is worded in a way that people who send hate to gaylors will take as permission to send even more hate to gaylors, and in the abstract, what this is is taylor choosing words that she should know by now will send hate to a group of people that is majority gay (umbrella term), and there’s something kinda wonky about that whole setup given the power imbalance.. although, it’s not one fan’s tweets against the biggest singer of our time, it’s a sea of people, and in some ways taylor is but one person. she has feelings. and just the same as you and i, it’s probably difficult to always feel like you have to take the high road simply for the principle of the thing, when the way people treat you or speak about you as if they know you might sometimes bother you. maybe sometimes we (the collective we, her fans) can’t have nice things because we break them, and she had to take them away. we are all going to feel different ways about that, but i don’t think taylor’s feelings are illegal for her to have.

i think about a particular span of time — back in the era in which she wrote the 1989 songs spanning all up through the 1989 era and until she disappeared —and how we all can see that she went through a singular hell because things were recorded and things were reported. i’m sure this hell will be punctuated again with stuff in the vault tracks. and part of her experience in that hell was finally finding someone who loved her for who she was and let her wear high heels and let her bejeweled, as it were, someone broad shouldered, a love that was really something not just the idea of something, only for it to be overexposed via a few grainy cellphone videos before taylor was ready for it to be. and people ran with it when she wasn’t ready to, and there were other people who might have wanted a heads up. and yeah she was drunk that night and yes she was dropping hints and screaming it every step of the way but every situation has nuance and gray and there was probably some unexplained line or implied boundary that taylor sees that we as fans may or may not see at any given time when it comes to what she feels is too much.

and it kind of reminds me of how taylor penned the lyric “talk your talk and go viral i just need this love spiral” which probably meant something close to “you can all profit off rumors of me all you want i don’t like it but i can’t stop it and im not going to stop loving who i’m with no matter how viral your claims get” when she probably could have anticipated a lot of people would have just taken “talk you talk and go viral” as some sort of manchurian directive to make all the content always every day 🙈 so for her to drop this sort of prologue right now where she highlights how people talk about her being with everyone probably feels extra hypocritical or unnecessary when you look at it from a certain perspective. but i can also recognize how multiple things, multiple feelings, can be true

and so to circle back to what it made me think personally, from a kaylor perspective, idk it made sense to me in some way 😆 in not gonna be like hey guys think the same as me, no. no, no. please think the way you need to but as for myself i’m just going to keep on in the way that i think is best and keep a lookout for signs of feedback about what she might want more of or less of from me and adjust as i see fit. so yes, these have been my thoughts.

[angel-eyes05]

i remember his hands - chapter 4

PAIRING: kang the conqueror x fem!reader

SUMMARY: after a scientific experiment goes horribly wrong, you've been transported to the quantum realm and have been stuck there for the past decade. with no company, aside from janet van dyne, your life changes forever when a mysterious man in a golden ship crash lands next to your settlement. startled with his initial presence, you two have a rocky start. but as time goes on, you two find each other slowly drawn to one another. you have secrets though, and he has a past he refuses to bring up. can you two make it through navigating an unknown world together, discovering any ulterior motives, and stand the test of time in a place where time has no meaning at all?

INFO: slow romantic burn, pretty fast sexual burn, kinda enemies to lovers????, takes place during that little flashback janet has during quantumania, idk how accurate this is gonna be to canon stuff cause i get very confused about the quantum realm lol, reader is in mid to late 20s while kang is in his “early 30s” (ik he like technically doesn't age or whatever idk the lore but i just made it accurate to jonathan majors age and wanted to give an accurate age range/gap/count), y/n will be very fleshed out like im gonna give her everything lol

WARNING: explicit language (sexual and verbal), smut, p in v unprotected (stay safe people), a little angsty, he’s being nice to her awwwwww

CHAPTER WORD COUNT:  2.7k

NOTES: OMG IM SORRY THIS IS COMING SO LATE!!! its kinda coming from the mix of being really busy this past week and not knowing what to write lol so again, sorry

PREVIOUS PART

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Saying you were furious with Kang was an understatement. Although at this point, you were more upset with yourself for giving into it that easily. You hadn’t even had a full conversation with him and you had sex with him. Honestly, you should’ve seen it coming. That was what upset you the most. You knew exactly what would come of it, and you did it anyways. And worst of all. You liked it. No. You loved it. You tried to make yourself feel better by thinking that it was just the fact that it had been years since someone touched you like that that made you love it. But deep down you knew it was him. The way he handled you, the way he kept teasing and edging you, the way he put you at ease. You loved it. And you wanted it again. 

You had been in this back and forth with yourself for the past three days, the amount of time its been since you’ve started giving Kang the cold shoulder. If you were being honest, you felt bad about how cold you grew towards him. But he deserved it. Part of you wished you had finished the job and killed him then and there. But you didn’t. You still didn’t know why. Right now, you just decided to blame it on clouded judgment from your blood loss. You stopped yourself from trying to figure out why though, as you realized it would send you down a rabbit hole of thoughts. 

After two hours of no luck catching mites for food, you gathered your hunting gear and headed back inside the cabin. And yet again, there he was, just sitting there sprayed across the couch. Despite your pleas to her to get him to work or do anything other than sit around, Janet insisted he needed more to time to recover. Which he would trick her into believing, as you knew what his body was capable of at this point. You would occasionally exchange glances with him while working in the kitchen. In the spilt seconds that your eyes would meet his, you tried desperately to search for any signs of remorse or regret for what he did. But you could never find any. At most, you could only recognize one emotion going through them. Desire. And you knew for what.

Which is why would look away from him so quickly. Janet walked out from her room and over by the couch to talk to Kang. Presumably to try and get some more information out of him. So far, she told you that the only things she found out about him was his name, which you already knew, how he crashed, the core of his ship ran out of energy, and what he called his ship, the Time Chair. He had been secretive about everything else. Frankly, you didn’t really care about finding information about him anymore. You just wanted him out of your house. Janet stood above the couch and asked him to stand up. You turned around to watch and see what would happen. Reluctantly, Kang stood up from the couch and took a couple of steps around the room. You snickered a bit to yourself after seeing the look Janet gave him. He whipped his head around to see you smiling to yourself. “Is everything alright?” He asked sharply. “No no, it’s just funny.” You remarked with a smirk on your face. “That's enough you two.” Janet said, shooting daggers at you. She turned her face back to Kang. “Alright, since it seems like you're well enough to walk, you’re gonna take care of some errands for me in town.” You could see his posture slightly slouch in response to her demand. You couldn’t help but quietly giggle to yourself. “Oh and you’re going with him.” Janet said, turning back to you. Before you could disagree, she said “I need you to show him where everything is and to be there to carry him just in case he can’t walk anymore.” You looked at him up and down, then turned back to Janet. After standing in silence for a second, Janet replied. “Okay, mainly to show him where everything is.” You scoffed to yourself before grabbing your gear and walking outside. Janet tapped Kang on the shoulder as a sign to follow you. He walked outside to find you already about 50 feet ahead of him. This was going to be a long day.

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You walked around the market, making sure to keep at least a five foot distance between the two of you. Your only interaction with him was handing him the bags of wild fruits you purchased to carry. You walked past a pawn shop type building. You knew you and Janet were getting short on cash. You stared at the gold bangle on your left wrist. It was a gift from your father. You could still remember unwrapping the box that contained it on your 14th birthday and putting it on immediately after. You hadn’t taken it off since. But times were getting desperate. And this was your last resort. You took a deep breath and told Kang to wait outside for you. You walked inside and up to the counter to make the trade. You reluctantly unlatched the bracelet and placed it on the counter, tears welling up in your eyes. You took the money from the attendant and turned to leave, but bumped into someone on your way out. “Sorry.” You said without looking at them. 

Your eyes shot up at them though when you felt a hand grab your forearm. “Told you it was her.” One of the men said. Finally taking awareness of your surroundings, you noticed three men crowding around you, one of which held a tightening grip around your forearm. “I thought I told you I didn’t wanna see you around here until you gave me my money.” Once you registered their faces and recognized who they were, you finally responded. “And I’m so terribly sorry it hasn’t gotten to you yet, that’s a real shame on my part.” You replied sarcastically. The man’s smirk dropped as he started to twist your forearm. You stifle a scream as he twists it behind your back. “Oh yeah? And what’s stopping me from breaking your arm and taking what you have now?” You tried to think of a way out of this when you noticed a shard of glass on the floor from when one of the men slammed the pawn shop attendant’s head into the counter. You grabbed the shard of glass and stabbed it into the man’s foot. He screamed and let go of your arm. You picked yourself off quickly from the floor and punched the other two men and ran out the door for your escape. 

Kang was still standing outside the shop when you grabbed his wrist and started running as the two men you punched started to run after you. He breaks away from your grip and starts running with you. “Mind explaining what’s going on?!” Kang shouted at you. “Maybe after we lose them!” You shouted back, maneuvering between the carts and people in the streets. You grab a ball from two children playing in the street and chuck it at one of the men’s heads, knocking him to the ground. You turn a sharp corner and bump into a wandering person, giving Kang time to catch up with you. You grab his wrist again, realizing he isn’t as fast as you are. You look around the street, desperate for an escape. You notice an alleyway just up ahead and run into it, Kang just behind you. You push the both of you back into the darkest corner of the alley as you see one of the men run past. You wait a couple of seconds to see if he will come back before let your guard down. Once a bit of time has gone by, you slunk yourself into the corner. 

“What the fuck was that?” Kang asked angrily. “You know, a little bit of a warning would’ve been nice before you dragged me through the streets while being chas-.” He stops himself when he turns around to see your head cuddled into your knees. He hears slight sobs coming from you mouth. You lift your head from your knees as you clutch the money you just 1) risked his and your life for and 2) just traded away one of your most valuable possessions away for. You couldn’t help but feel at least a little ashamed for breaking down in front of him like this, but you couldn’t help it. He sighed and walked towards you. He kneeled down in front of you and took your face in both his hands. He cupped your cheeks and used his big thumbs to wipe away your tears as they were coming down. “I’m sorry.” was all he could muster up to say. You just nodded in response. “I’m sorry for yelling.” You nodded again, keeping your teary, bloodshot eyes away from his. “And I’m sorry for leaving you that night.” You finally looked at him as he said that. You could see a sadness enter his eyes as you looked at him. Sadness mixed with sincerity. 

You looked back down at the money and clenched it with your hands as you put it away in your jacket pocket. You took some deep breaths, but couldn’t seem to calm yourself down. You just couldn’t believe what you just did. You were angry at yourself for giving something so valuable to you away so easily. And for what? Money that was going to last you two weeks at best. Memories started to flood back into your head. You just missed them all so much. You tried not to think about them too much, but as a result, you began to forget how much they meant to you. You could just sit there for hours, crying and reminiscing. Something ripped you away from those thoughts though. You suddenly felt this huge weight rest upon you. Then it clicked. He was hugging you.

You felt Kang’s big bear arms wrap around your smaller frame. You sniffled as you felt his hot breath graze against your neck. You could feel your cheeks getting hotter and brighter as he tightened his arms around you. You noticed you were beginning to calm down. You pulled away to catch your breath. Then he kissed your temple. Then your forehead. Then the bridge just above your nose. Then your cheek. He stayed on your cheek for a while before pulling away. He was doing it again. His deep brown eyes were swimming oceans into yours. You could sit there for hours just staring at him. Taking in all his features. Noticing the way your cheeks fit into his hands so easily. What happened next was a change in pace though. You kissed him. 

Saying you were kissing him was doing a disservice to both of you though. It was more as if you two were melting into each other. Becoming one. Joining into each other’s body’s. Your hands gripped onto his hips, desperate for more of him. A slight moan escaped him and entered your mouth. You could already feel yourself getting wet. You knew where this was leading. His hands traveled from your jawline to the hemming of your shirt. His warm, coarse hands traveled up your cold, smooth stomach to just underneath your underboob. You took this time to take off your jacket and place it on the floor next to you. Next, you remove your hands from his hips to help him unbutton his pants. You slid them off his legs. He gets the memo and moves his hands from your breasts to your shorts and slides them off. He hooks your underwear with his pointer finger and drags them off. You do the same to his. He helps slide you down from your sitting position to lay down. 

It hasn’t been until this point when your hand dips into a dirty puddle that your remember where you are. You make sure to remind him as well when he goes to take off your shirt. Yeah his cock may be hanging out and your bare ass is out as well, but you’ll take the privacy of a shirt right now if its what you can get. He respects your wishes and puts his lips to your collarbone as he rests just above your hips. After a couple seconds of sucking on your collar, he pulls away, leaving a purplish mark there. You nod in approval just before he slides his throbbing cock into your already tight walls. You let out a wail as he enters into you. He places a hand on your mouth and whispers into your ear. “Not here either.” Yes, you could be slightly louder here than at the house with Janet, but you still had to remember you were in public. You nodded as he continued to slide inside you. You dug your nails into his bare thigh, which only caused him moan more.

Once he was fully inside you, he started thrusting into your hips, fucking you into the hard, rocky, cold concrete below. It definitely wasn’t your ideal setting, but you were gonna take what your could get. His hands moved back underneath your breasts and eventually unhooked your bra. He squeezed one boob with one hand and moved the other underneath your back for more support. Then, he moved his lips back to yours, letting your both release your stifled sounds into each other. It only helped you feel more like you were a part of him. Letting your moans into his mouth as his grunts entered yours. As his thrusts began to speed up, you moved your other hand to his tricep to squeeze for leverage. The deeper into you he went, the more you could feel the heat sink lower into your body. God, you had just started and you were already about to finish. You could sense he was about to also though, with the way his thrusts got messier and his kisses more desperate. 

Everything became so overwhelming to you. You knew he wasn’t going to want to cum before you did, but on the other hand, you didn’t necessarily want to be the first one either. So you stifled the urge by biting down onto his lips. Your lips eventually moved down to his jawline and explored down his neck, until you found the perfect place to begin sucking. His moans into your ear only brought your closer to your brink. Eventually, you couldn’t take it anymore. “G-god Kang I-I’m s-s-sorry, I-I have t-t-to do it-t.” You said, eyes welling up. “Sh-hhhh it-s-s ok. Do it if-f y-you need t-to.” He said quietly into your ear. Suddenly, you let go of everything. You felt the white heat escape your body all at once as it wrapped around Kang’s cock and leaked out of you. You felt yourself relax as Kang began to tense up even more. You moved your hand from his thigh to his cheek and began to rub it with your thumb. “It’s ok, you can do it.” You said tiredly. He closes his eyes, nods, and releases his cum into you. His orgasm takes over his body as he moves his hands to your hips and digs his fingers into them. You both moan as his cum enters your body. 

You both breath heavily once he’s finished and he begins to exit you. He reaches for his underwear and pants before stopping himself. He looks over at you, then grabs your shorts and underwear and helps you put them on before putting on his own. You smile slightly at the kind gesture and help him put on his after you’ve finished with yours. You check your jacket pocket to make sure the money is still inside. Once your hands find it, you take a deep sigh, still disappointed in yourself for making the trade in the first place. Kang notices this and intertwines his fingers into your hand. You look up at him and he smiles at you as he leads you out into the street. You suddenly find yourself doing the last thing you would expect from yourself.

Forgiving him. 

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NEXT PART

A/N: so…hi….its been a minute! again, so sorry for the delay, but if im being honest, i kinda work better when im posting sporadically so yeah dont expect a set schedule for me posting. but yeah i didnt really proofread this chapter cause i wanted to get it out asap so dont judge. but yeah we’ll see where it goes from here lol byeeee.

[raayllum]

Hey! In retrospect, this might be kinda obvious to some, but I was just thinking about the scene early in Season 4 where Callum recalls the fact that he's destroyed multiple powerful magic objects/artifacts and I realized that that scene was probably meant to highlight/make it hit harder later in the season when Callum can't do the same thing to the cube and I got excited lmao

So I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about what gets lamp shaded / referred back to specifically in S4 and possibly why, re: exactly what you pointed out, dear nonnie, in 4x02 (which made me Yell the first time around because I loved it as a lamp shade), as well as Rayllum's scene on the Pinnacle in 4x05. So why not talk about about them? If you are curious about more on Callum's "breaking magical objects" pattern I'd recommend this meta as well as this one, although there shouldn't be too much repetition here

Let's go

4x02 - Accidentally on Purpose

Including this shot because it has the Ocean-Star rune combination for the cube, my beloved.

The primal stone, Ethari -> Rayla -> Callum's pendant, and the Moon Henge all shudder. The mirror, too, will shortly be broken, although by Aaravos' own hand rather than Callum's (at least, not directly). This line and pattern also underscores one of Callum's key flaws, as his impulsive flippancy ("'It's the winter lodge, Rayla, no winter no humans' ugh" / "He tried to copy Claudia's lightning spell, but he doesn't know how to finish it!") when it comes to magic is ultimately related to how Selfish he can be. He, like many characters in TDP, can tunnel vision so hard he doesn't see or fully consider the possible consequences of his actions, but I do think Callum has a thread of like internalized focus that makes it stem from selfishness (more akin to perhaps Claudia and Viren) than it does shortsightedness/shame (Rayla) or inadvertent steamrolling (Claudia, Ezran).

For Callum, just knowing magic isn't enough. He's always focused on how he can use it.

"I just don't want to be useless," he said (S2 novelization, set during he and Rayla's late night talk about "I have to be a mage again").

He'd always known that cube was important. Maybe now Rayla would start listening to him... and maybe now he would find out how he could use the mysterious cube. [...] But Callum was awake obsessing over the Key of Aaravos. What could he achieve with it?

Now, does Callum ever mean to be selfish? No, of course not. He doesn't mean to put Rayla and Zym in danger with his pursuit of magic (or his lie to Amaya), but that's what happens anyway. 2x04 has always stood out to me as a particularly interesting episode, precisely because it shows this flaw on full display in ways that S1 could've neatly resolved. In 1x04, Callum pursues magic ultimately to the group's detriment (just how much, depending on what the cube does, remains to be seen). Then in 1x09, through smashing the primal stone (which we'll talk about more in a minute) he puts the group above his pursuit of magic. It's a nice little full circle, and it could've easily been the resolution of this behavioural pattern. But it isn't, so I'm curious to see if/how it'll come back in future seasons (maybe S5) in some capacity.

To me, this is one of the things that make TDP's characterization so realistic. Callum can learn one lesson partially in 1x04 (don't take unnecessary risks) and apply that portion fully in 1x07 (regarding elves and humans), be willing to sacrifice a more tangible pursuit of magic for Zym ("But without this, I'm nothing") in 1x09, but still not fully learn his "Look before you leap when it comes to magic" lesson by the time we roll around in 2x04 or even 2x07 (although the context for the latter is vastly different). Just like how if saving Zym or being a good enough protector could solve Rayla's self worth issues, she would've been totally fine after 1x09, but we see her have the exact same kind of breakdown two seasons later ("This is all my fault. I dropped it. I let you both down. I let the world down" / "It's me, and it's all my fault. I failed them! I let them all down") because well - issues and emotional wounds are not so easily solved.

Anyway, back on topic: what does any of this have to do with S4's lamp shading of Callum's tendency of breaking magical objects?

Well, I think you're right: the Key is seemingly rare, powerful, and possibly sought after by Aaravos. At the very least it's connected to him, and Callum is now terrified of him. But he won't relinquish/destroy it at this present time, so there's a nice contrast there. The cube has a pull over him for whatever reason, whether that's curiosity, it being Harrow's last parting gift to him, or even possibly the fact it was the first thing he and Rayla really bonded over ("Hey sad prince. Let's go get your cube") and his own potential as a mage. He does, after all, look at the moon rune specifically after lowering it.

But I also think it's indicative that the object and conversation Callum is most directly referencing is this one with Claudia in 2x02 about breaking their joint primal stone:

Which was pretty noble, and inspired a very strong character arc for Callum, full of struggle and interesting character aspects. Breaking the primal stone wasn't the ideal situation for him by any means, but it was undeniably the Right Thing To Do. On the surface, there's nothing to be worried about... except:

I have not seen the stars in centuries. But when I see them again—when the stars are forced to look upon me, their dark brother—they will know how I have waited. And when everything they have built lies shattered, I will savor their fall from the sky. (Patience, TDP reflections)

The Whole World is like a Giant Primal Stone. When backed into a corner and able to save someone he loves and/or cares about, Callum is willing to sacrifice his own source of power. He's willing to bend his morals and do dark magic. He's willing to jump off a cliff with just the faintest hope he can grow wings and save them both. We also know that Callum, either within a possessed state or outside of it, has to play into Aaravos' hands, otherwise it is unlikely the Startouch elf would be released (and he has to be released).

Which, all of this also works fairly well in tandem with

4x05 - You saved me

So Rayllum's scene on the Pinnacle is one of my favourite scenes between them in the season, as well as one of the most interesting. After all, the Pinnacle is the place for quite a few important Rayla and Callum moments in season three: Rayla finding out the truth about her mum and dad, thanks to Callum; Callum trying to tell her that he loves her for the first time (which Soren's interruption also lampshades); and of course when Callum jumps off the Pinnacle to save her. And while Soren's dialogue is a more comedic callback to the second one, Rayla's dialogue calls to mind the latter:

(Callum's face only falls in the second screencap when she gets to "certain death," by the way.)

It's not entirely clear why Callum starts crying when he looks away, as he has a lot of reasons to (the fear of what Aaravos may make him do, thus turning him into something that hurts people rather than saves them; the fact that he's had only like, 1.5 days to process the return of the love of his life and all those complicated feelings) but he does start crying. Rayla then does her best to help, but doesn't get a chance to, and it's not clear if Callum would've let her, either.

But I thought the emphasis on "saving" was interesting, to say the least. Why not be more explicit about the way this was the first time they said "I love you"? Some note of "so much has changed, but not everything's changed" from Rayla, if they wanted a nudge of some sort. Or it could've been something about Rayla's parents, grateful that she was able to forgive them and realize the truth, that'd they'd left for "a good cause".

Well, I think the most straight forward thing is first, that Callum and Rayla are a couple who has always been very defined by reciprocally saving each other; Callum defends them from the smoke wolves, Rayla defends them from Runaan, etc. Rayla saves everyone (Bait, Ezran, Zym, the downed dragon), and Callum saves her (1x05, 2x04, 2x07, 3x09). The second is that S5, if it brings back Callum's possession plot line (and it likely will, with the emphasis on darkness and drowning from some of the TDP shorts for the season: "Soren gasped the darkness like water into his lungs. He could not breathe. He was drowning") Rayla is probably going to the one to ultimately save him from it, somewhat due to the light and dark symbolism as well (Rayla showing up haloed in moonlight with the cube on her shoulder).

An emphasis on how Arc 1 culminated in a big show of love as Callum saved Rayla, if Rayla is going to be the one to successfully save Callum from brainwashing next season (and restore to her that "We can't save everyone" isn't true after all) makes a lot of sense, especially with it foreshadowed / spelled out more directly in this quote from the Book One Moon novelization:

“Wow. So they look identical, but they might kill you or they might save you,” Callum said.

“Exactly. Just like me…” Rayla smiled.

She's certainly not going to kill him and thus, Rayla has to save him. There we get that mutual reciprocation, especially when she left in TTM to try and save/spare him - it'd be a good way for her to realize that the best way to save/protect him is to stay, right here, with him instead. She'll risk the world ("You let him live but you killed us all" "You have two choices: you all die, or just the evil wretched human dies"), and it'll be worth it.

However, as I've already said, Callum has to play into Aaravos' hands in order for the Startouch elf to get out. And Aaravos is clearly pretty confident it'll happen, whether precisely because Callum is worried because of the possession (a more likely manipulation tactic) or due to the possession itself (less likely, as why reveal your checkmate move ahead of time?).

Rayla realizing she can save Callum is also, indeed, only one piece of the puzzle. She also has to realize that she deserves to be saved, which 4x05 seems like a step in the right direction of (she's happy and lovey about it, not guilty) even if her self worth issues are still very prevalent: "This is all my fault. I left [Soren] alone. I shouldn't have—" as well as trying repeatedly to go off on her own.

So 4x05 emphasizing the last time Callum saved her, setting up that he'll also save her again (and possibly risk the primal stone world again, helping to free Aaravos in exchange for also freeing Rayla) in S5?

He'll risk the world, and it'll be worth it.

[teecupangel]

kinda late on the weekly schedule but, what do you think about the latest chapter?

My thoughts on Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (one of these days, I should really just make a tag for them like '#teecup analyze and reacts to acft webtoon' or something XD)

Official English translation (the free chapters anyway) here

Hahaha, it’s fine. I was pretty busy with the moving and unpacking anyway so I only got to read to the latest chapter yesterday XD.

Jennifer gets another mention which is nice.

This part is an important one as it does show what the Assassin Brotherhood is fighting for.

Free will and the right for everyone to decide their own fate, not be bound by the plans of dead ‘gods’.

We’ll get back to Edward’s speech later because I have a few things to say about that but, for now, the way this is presented:

The close-up of the Shimazu Clan’s crest would imply that the Shimazu Clan (or ‘Shimazu’ Sei) has a beef with the Assassins personally that ended in destroying their vision of order or something but, while I’m not all that familiar with how rich and powerful the Shimazu clan is today, they seem to still hold some power even if they are no longer a ruling family from what I can read.

I am unsure if she’s talking about the Constitution of Japan which rendered titles meaningless (which would have weakened the Shimazu Clan in general) or the destruction of the order kept by the Shimazu Clan in connection to the ‘results’ of the Battle of Sekigahara because that’s one of the main information that we have on the Japanese Brotherhood. They put their lot with Ieyasu Tokugawa while the Shimazu Clan (and, I suppose in AC lore, the Templars) placed their lot with Ishida Mitsunari. Tokugawa’s forces ended up victorious but Tokugawa didn’t really punish the Shimazu Clan and let them keep their lands and titles so… I won’t be surprised if these Japanese ‘pirates’ supposedly under the Shimazu Clan had gone rogue from the clan itself, disgruntled members of the clan who didn’t want to bow down to Tokugawa although that’s a bit sorta ‘???’ because the Battle of Sekigahara happened in 1600 and Edward’s parts are set in 1725. I mean, grudges can go on for a very long time so not that “???!!!” but still a “???”

(I will have to point out that my JP history is spotty at best and my familiarity with the Shimazu Clan is even spottier and wiki doesn’t even have a separate page for Shigehide Shimazu who should have been the lord of Satsuma and head of the Shimazu Clan during 1725 so, yeah, maybe something big did happen to the Shimazu Clan that would explain why ‘Shimazu’s Sei’s line of ‘destroying order’ is set in a panel showing the Shimazu Clan's crest)

Webtoon is a stealth promotion and prologue to AC Red Theory: The Assassin that we will play in AC Red is a rogue Shimazu shinobi (we already know that AC’s Shimazu Clan employs shinobis thanks to this webtoon) and they’re the Japanese ancestor of Noa Kim. ‘Shimazu’ Sei’s line of ‘destroying order’ is a reference to how this Shimazu assassin had destroyed the Shimazu Clan’s order in some way.

Anyway!

I guess this is confirmation that Edward has already married Tessa by this time.

Sidebar: not important to the plot (maybe) but Edward, if you’re hunting crocs, that means we can finally see you use a rope dart, riiigghhhttt???

With that out of the way...

Alright, let’s talk about Edward’s speech more.

First of all, this line:

Not an analysis but more of a comment. I would have gone with “gold and glory” instead of “glory and treasures” even if “glory and treasure” could have been a more accurate translation of the Korean version because “gold and glory” is a phrase most commonly associated with pirates which could have been used as a reference to Edward’s past as a pirate.

Now for the sadder analysis, there is something tragic about this line:

Edward is talking about this in reference to why he had become and stayed as an Assassin, even going as far as touching his hidden blade.

If you look closely, you’ll notice that he is touching the Assassin’s insignia with two of his fingers while his pinky is touching the pirate symbol. This is most probably to show that he remembers and learned from his past as a pirate and how being an Assassin is both his present and his future. More importantly:

“If you decide for yourself what’s right and do everything in your power to uphold that idea… Even mortals like us can overcome fate and leave behind something meaningful.”

That entire speech is meant to represent Edward’s loyalty to the Creed and believing he is doing the right thing and wishing to leave something meaningful behind.

The tragedy comes when you remember that there is one Kenway who did ‘decide for himself what’s right’ and ‘did everything in his power to uphold that idea’

Edward Kenway's own son and a Grand Master of the Templar Order: Haytham Kenway

Even if he was indoctrinated by the man who ordered the death of his father, he still stayed with the Order after learning the truth and even went as far as trying to kill his own son to keep the hold of the Order in the colonies although, yeah, an argument could be made that Haytham was planning to die by his own son’s hands during that final battle but that does not change the fact that Haytham remained loyal to the Order even after knowing the Order is the reason why his father died.

Not only that but Edward’s death and Haytham’s indoctrination were fated. The Isus needed Ratonhnhaké:ton to take the key from Haytham and hide it for Desmond to find when the time comes so Edward's life and death had been fated to happen so that Haytham may become a Templar and travel to the colonies.

In the end, Edward Kenway didn’t overcome fate, he became just another cog in the machine called the ‘Calculations’.

But…

His vision of what it means to defy fate? His thoughts of upholding the Creed which became what he believed to be ‘right’?

It was inherited by his grandson: Ratonhnhaké:ton.

Even if they never met… Ratonhnhaké:ton embodied what Edward wanted to leave behind. And Ratonhnhaké:ton’s life wasn’t dictated by the fates the moment he had buried the key for Desmond to find.

He wasn’t like Altaïr whose dying breath had been to give a final message to the prophet for Desmond to hear.

He wasn’t like Ezio who only finally stepped out of his role as Desmond's prophet after leaving the Brotherhood and having a family of his own when he was already in his 50s.

Ratonhnhaké:ton built his own future after he buried the key. The past of the American Brotherhood was built upon the choices Ratonhnhaké:ton made of his own free will.

To leave something meaningful behind.

[missyastreiaaa]

Wedding Dress || T. Mitsuya

A young man hums along with the radio, a measuring tape around his neck a bright pin cushion strapped on his wrist like a bracelet. His eyes were focused on the masterpiece before him, gently handling the fabric and carefully placing down pins in the right places.

“ This will look perfect “ He mutters, lips curving up in a small smile.

Mitsuya Takashi, a world-renowned fashion designer who completely swept the entire fashion industry and the world off its feet. Not only was he talented and good-looking, but the confidence and humbleness he portrayed are also what made people love him even more.

However that wasn’t it all, it was also because he was the youngest to ever achieve this height of accomplishments within a short amount of time. A young bachelor. Sought by many ladies and men.

“ Should I put rose patterns or daisies? “ He wonders. She looks good in anything either way. He thought. Grabbing the notebook with different lace patterns and types of fabric inside.

Just the thought of Y/N wearing his handmade wedding dress gives him all sorts of feelings. He feels like he could pull a cartwheel on the spot, although his back has been having problems lately. He feels like giggling and kicking his feet randomly as if he was still in high school.

Seriously, how could one person make him feel intoxicated and yet cured of all sickness at the same time?

“ Mr. Mitsuya, Miss L/n is waiting by the lobby.” His assistant said on the phone.

“ let her in, “

Mitsuya Takashi is a great guy, with talents and looks, and fame. He’s a confident guy with a righteous mind. Though he’s a pacifist, he wouldn’t hesitate to get in trouble if his friends and family get hurt.

He hears the familiar clicks of heels, knowing fully well who they belonged to, he stands up and attempts to fix his messy workstation. Fumbling around like the lovesick fool he was, the door opens and the most dazzling woman enters the room.

“ Takashi? Long time no see! “ She greets, a warm smile on her lips as she gives him a hug. The same old welcoming and lovely energy she gave off the first time she entered his life.

He hugs her back, burying his face into her hair to hide the silly grin on his face. She smells warm and fuzzy. He thought.

Mitsuya was glad that she was finally back from her travels, safe and sound with all her limbs intact and no slight hint of mental insanity. It was weird when you put it that way but that’s just how he was. A worrywart of a person, turning into a mother hen at the slightest sight of injury.

“ I’m glad to see you, how was your trip? “ He asks.

She brightens up at his question, breaking away from the hug that he desperately wanted to chase after. Mitsuya guides her to a chair, one that he specifically ordered as her exclusive seat. A chair that no one, not even his closest friends were allowed to sit on.

“ I watched Mikey’s bike race! I was actually surprised that the competition was being held in Brazil, Good thing Mikey snagged me a nice seat with a great view of the race– “ She rambles on, Mitsuya wasn't really listening, well, he was but the sound of her voice got him lost in his thoughts.

“--kid challenged me to a dance challenge! It was kinda hilarious too since I ain’t backing down from a challenge! ” Y/n had a habit of talking with her hands, imitating the sound of objects or even animals to further explain the story well. 

Cute. he thought.

Mitsuya was a great listener and he also gives great advice. Along with his extremely long patience, gentleness, and thoughtfulness, it was not a surprise that he was popular with girls and boys. 

His thoughts were interrupted when Y/n stares in awe at her side. He knew what she was looking at, he always did. “ Would you like to take a closer look? “ and god was he so glad to ask her that when he received a bashful look of hesitance from her.

“ Can I really? I–I mean it still looks incomplete and I might accidentally spoil the fun! “ She says to which Mitsuya chuckled.

“ N/n, it's yours. You’re free to look at it, and I think it’s better to see it now. Who knows, you might hate the design after all, “

“ Nonsense! “ She exclaims in exasperation, “ How could I possibly hate your designs? They’re extremely beautiful! “ 

A soft smile painted his lips,” Is that so? Well, you can still check it out just in case “ 

Both of them stood, Mitsuya watched her as she softly walked towards the mannequin with an almost complete wedding dress. Her footsteps were light as if she was approaching a fragile art piece.

Her eyes twinkled with admiration. Something that Mistuya adored along with her other antics such as laughing like a maniac when she pranks someone. His lilac eyes stared at her, etching her face to his mind as if he hadn’t seen her in years.

She glides her hand by the hem of the skirt, “ So pretty, “ Y/n mutters.

“ Isn’t it? “ she asks, smiling graciously at the white dress.

“ Yeah, “ Mitsuya agrees, eyes still focused on her. “ Really pretty, “

“ Do you think I’d look as pretty once I wear it? “ 

I made that with you in mind. “ Of course, you will “ You’ve always been pretty.

A short laugh escapes from her, “ Then I’m glad, I’ll wear this proudly. “ She grins, showing off her now perfectly aligned teeth deprived of braces.

How could someone be this lovely? 

“ I hope, Mikey thinks so too, “ An adoring smile on her face. Mitsuya freezes but recovered in no time.

He purses his lips, swallowing down the disgusting bitter taste on his tongue, “ I’m sure he will, “ He replies calmly.

Mitsuya was popular.

Y/n laughs at the thought of her soon-to-be husband, “ He better does, I’ll kick his ass otherwise, “

Mitsuya was loved by many.

“ As you should, “

Mitsuya was a successful young man, sought by many people. And yet he can’t have the one person he’d ever love so much with his entire heart at stake.

Y/n turns to look at Mitsuya, “ You better attend my wedding okay? Can’t have my best friend be left out on one of my happiest days! “ 

His eyes soften, holding back the regret and tears. He bites the inside of his cheek, “ Of course, I’ll be there “

With how he always watched her, he wasn't really surprised when her eyes didn't look at him with the same affection as she did with manjiro. He always knew, yet the bitter taste still hasn't faded.

Her wedding, with me not as her groom, but the friend who designed her wedding dress.

[enassbraid]

HII! i've been into dance moms lately help😭 can i req akito , toya, and rui (separatly) w a fem s/o who was on dance moms? if u dont wanna write this thats ok hehe have a good day!

-> 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞!

You felt a lot of indifference towards your past position, but they’re always there to tell you you’re more than your past

With Akito Shinonome, Toya Aoyagi and Rui Kanishiro

Cw! Mentions of past trauma, yelling, implied past anxiety attacks, self sabotage (kinda), you punch rui!!!! | fluff (akito’s), comfort (toya’s), Angst to fluff (rui’s)

Akito Shinonome

When Akito first met you, he knew he’s seen you somewhere before. He just couldn’t put his finger on it, but knew you were a familiar face. It wasn’t until one fateful day Ena woke up earlier than usual and put something on the family TV.

He recognized your face instantly, and everything fell into place. ‘You looked so familiar because Ena would watch you all the time on TV.’

A scoff escaped the ginger’s lips, how could he forget that? Although, you have changed quite a bit since you stopped appearing on the show. The version of you practicing on the television now is so tiny compared to who you are now. Both mentally and physically.

“You’ve been a little too interested in Dance Moms Akito, you feeling okay?” Ena said teasingly. It’s not often she saw her brother paying attention to something like that.

“I’m fine. Hey- does it really matter what I watch and don’t watch?” Ena laughed at his remark, brushing him off and sending him to the Cheesecake shop they both like to pick a slice up for her.

The younger rolled his eyes in annoyance at her request, but did so anyway. At least he could get a slice for himself.

The walk was just like any other, gripping the money tightly in his pocket and only focusing on his destination. Well, that was Akito’s main focus. Coincidentally, he just so happened to see your face in the crowd. It took him a moment to recognize that it was the current you. After all, he just finished watching your younger self on an old show.

There was a silent debate in his head on whether he should go up to you or not. ‘Wouldn’t that be creepy?’ He thought. But it’s not like he’s a stranger to you… you couldn’t mind too much, right? Before he could finish the debate, the boy found himself walking your way already.

“Oh, Akito? I didn’t know you came around these parts. What’s up?” The small smile on your face felt a little forced, but Akito paid no mind to it.

“I could say the same to you, I didn’t think someone like you would come to such a crowded area.”

His words rang in your head a bit, ‘someone like me?’ You thought. While you didn’t want to acknowledge it, you knew what he was talking about. ‘I guess I can’t keep it a secret for too long to anyone.’

“Oh well you know, it’s been so long since I dropped out the show. Not many people recognize me anymore. Which actually, I’m pretty grateful for.” You said. While you liked the attention for a bit, it got overwhelming fast. Learning how to keep up with fake fronts to strangers was exhausting, though Akito didn’t seem to mind the natural you.

“Yeah, I only realized it was you when my sister put one of your episodes on earlier. But it’s cool, you’re still (Name) at the end of the day.”

Something about his words were comforting. At the end of the day, you were just a regular person. It felt nice to have someone acknowledge that without putting you on a pedestal.

“Hey, where were you heading?” You asked. Partly out of genuine curiosity, and partly out of wishful thinking. Maybe you can tag along with him.

“The bakery, I’m picking up some cheesecake for me and my sister. She sends me on these errands a lot.” He scratched the back of his head a bit. One thing you both had in common? Keeping up a fake appearance in front of certain people.

“Oh, I know the bakery your talking about, I love it there! Can I come with you, perhaps?” Honestly, you just wanted to get out of the crowded plaza. Otherwise if someone recognized you here, you’d be too exhausted to do anything for the rest of the day.

Akito didn’t mind one bit. He sensed some desperation in your voice, and assumed what you were thinking. There was a mutual understanding that both of you were trying to make yourselves look good right now.

He wouldn’t mind getting to know the other side of your personality a lot better.

Toya Aoyagi

Toya wouldn’t have known who you were until An pointed it out. He wasn’t aloud much television or internet access as a kid, and when he was, it was always monitored. So to say he was clueless would be an understatement.

It didn’t help that An was so casual about it, just casually saying;

“You see that student? They were on this show I used to watch as a kid, Dance Moms, isn’t it so cool she goes to our school?”

When Toya hears this, he thinks it might have been an idol show, and you were a former idol. It wouldn’t be anything new for An to be so normal about being acquainted with a popular figure. The dual hair boy let his curiosity get the best of him and looked up this… “Dance Moms.”

He only watched the episodes you were in, trying to understand where your coming from and what made you so special. Though when he finished, he felt more worried about you than he’d have liked.

Watching you get screamed at over messing up precise steps, seeing you get belittled to put other dancers up, it looked traumatic. He could understand why you dropped out of the show, the experience didn’t seem like a pleasant one.

The next day, seeing you in the halls felt… different. He just watched a big chunk of your childhood, and now he has to act like he doesn’t know a thing about you. Surely you wouldn’t like to be talked to cause you were on such a exploiting show as a kid? With each passing period, he noticed you more and more.

But seeing you alone throughout the day made the boy feel bad. Did you choose to be alone? Did others avoid you because of how they watched you get screamed at so much as a kid? He wasn’t sure. But he was sure something in him made him take a seat next to you on a bench.

The silence was awkward and the tension felt thick. ‘I definitely should have thought this through.’ He thinks. He clears his throat, getting ready to speak before you ended up speaking first.

“What do you want? Come here to tell me how bad of a dancer I was on that show?” Your voice was laced with disgust, emphasizing that disgust even more when you mentioned “that show.”

While Toya was no expert on dancing, he knew that your dancing wasn’t bad at all. Sure, you might have screwed up a few moves. But didn’t everyone? Yours just so happened to get more shunned than any others did.

“No, actually. I’ve seen you alone a lot, and everyone could use some company.” He said sincerely. He knew bringing up your status wasn’t a good idea, and avoided mentioning it. You appreciated that, but only a bit.

You looked frustrated. ‘Why would you be frustrated?’ He thinks to himself. He would understand being upset, or even a bit annoyed. But frustration felt like an odd emotion to feel in this situation. To him, at least.

“You’re just going to try and get close to me, get a little bit popular, and leave with that popularity. That’s what they all do, I assume you’re no different from them. Maybe your double colored hair represents how two faced you are.” That’s a bold claim…

He began piecing the puzzle together. You were always alone because you distanced yourself from everyone, and you had a fear. It made sense now, the fear of being used was a scary one to him. At the same time, he wants you to see having real friends is important, much better than being alone.

“In that case, could I prove to you I’m not… ‘two-faced’?” He asked. You almost choked on your spit at that. Why would he want to prove anything to you?

“If you try hard enough, maybe. I can’t be fooled easily by whatever your going to do.” There was a trace of amusement in your voice, as if this was the first time you’ve heard a funny joke. But with that amusement also came bitterness.

Toya made a pact with himself, and a silent pact with you. He would do whatever it took to show you having friends isn’t so bad, as long as you find the real ones. And he’s okay with being your first real friend.

Rui Kamishiro

Rui was sure he was mistaken. Someone so talented- popular- someone with such a clean reputation… wants to be with him? He couldn’t believe it.

For a moment, he thought of putting distance between the two of you. Someone like you shouldn’t be around someone like him. People would surely get the wrong idea, and then you’d lose everything. He didn’t want that for you, not at all.

The best way to avoid that outcome?

Distancing himself.

The tall alchemist almost felt like he was in junior high again. The way he pushed you away was all too familiar to the way he pushed Nene away, and he hated it. But, this was for your own good.

At least, that’s what he wanted to believe.

He found it difficult to keep you away. After class ends, you’re always running up to him with lit up eyes. It was a subtle part of his day that he didn’t realize he loved so much, he missed it.

Now he had to ignore that light and walk directly to the next class. It hurt, but he paid no mind to it. You were probably doing just as well, if not, better, without him.

Though that wasn’t the case at all.

In your eyes, Rui had left you alone in the dark. There was no explanation for the sudden cut off, there was no sign of it beforehand. It had you running in circles in your mind. ‘What could I have possibly done?’ You thought.

You attempted to confront him, multiple times in fact. But every time he sees you, he scurries away hastily. Apart of you wanted to slap him across the face, but the other part just wanted to break down in front of him and beg for an explanation.

You two were practically best friends before all this. He helped you out of being crowded by old fans and was like a bodyguard at times. Rui never cared about the person you used to be, he only cared about the person you are now. It meant a lot to you.

But now it seems he’s forgotten all about that.

You needed to corner him if you wanted an explanation. He had to be alone with no excuse to just “go away.” You just had to catch him at that perfect time. Even if it takes awhile, you’ll wait as long as you need for him.

A few days went by with 0 luck. The only time you saw an opening, he started messing with two underclassmen. One looked like he was about to snap Rui’s neck while the other was keeping him from doing so. It was an amusing sight, and you were happy to see Rui in his element. Even if you wish those two underclassmen went another way.

Making your way to the vending machines, you spotted the familiar purple haired boy fiddling with the buttons. A look of irritation plastered on his face as he begins to shake the machine from the sides.

‘Ah, something must have gotten stuck.’ You thought. This wasn’t an opportunity you could miss, it was too good. You walk up to Rui and the vending machine, helping him shake it a bit more vigorously before the soda candy finally dropped. He bent down to open the slot and retrieve his snack, and then turned to you.

“Why thank… you..” A face of realization flashed across his face. ‘Theres no way out of this one.’ He thought.

“Rui.”

“(Name)…”

Rui looked at everything except you, trying his hardest not to crack open. What could you possibly want from him that’ll put your reputation at risk?

“Can you tell me? Tell me what I did. You stopped talking to me out of no where, and keep avoiding me! Do you have any idea how hard I’ve been trying to talk to you?” Your voice cracked a bit. There was a deep sense of desperation in your voice that only a fool could miss, and Rui was no fool.

“I just thought you’d be better without me (Name). You’re talented, beautiful, and most of all, a good person. If people see you with me they’re going to think you’re a weirdo like me.” He never realized how dumb his idea sounded until he said it out loud. He wanted to distance himself because you were more important than him? ‘Pathetic of me…’ he thinks.

A silence coated the two of you, and the last thing you wanted was to indulge in it. This whole time… he was avoiding you because of your reputation? Because he didn’t want to ruin your reputation just by being around you? You wanted to laugh.

“I hope you know how happy I am being your friend. You don’t water me down to “a previous dancer on television” and you never did. I always appreciated that and I just- I just want to keep being with you Rui.” This time you couldn’t stop the voice cracks, or the lone tears falling down your cheeks.

Like all the times before, Rui pulled down his sleeve and wiped your tears. His gesture made your heart melt like it always did. He couldn’t stand seeing you cry, it was only worse you were crying because of him.

“I’m sorry (Name), if I had known… I would have stayed with you. I won’t let a mistake like this happen again, I promise.” His tone was sincere and gentle. His hands still on your cheeks from wiping your tears, it was a moment you could stay in forever.

But you weren’t going to forget what he did that easily, no matter the reason. You pulled away and punched his shoulder a little harsher than intended. He yelped in brief pain, clutching his shoulder.

“What was that for??!” He nearly laughed, but refused to give you the reaction you wanted.

“That was for leaving me in the dust for days! Do it again, and it’ll be worse.”

Rui didn’t wanna know what that meant, and deepened the promise he made in his head SK he would certainly never do that again.

Despite the stinging pain he felt, he smiled.

‘I really missed this..’

[astrongtomato]

Hello there!

I hadn't updated my intro post in a long time and it was pretty bare-bones, so I thought I'd make a new one!

My name is Scott! I'm 23 and from Canada, just some random nerd on the internet who decided to make a Tumblr blog xD. I'm a ler-leaning switch and very shy about this place, but I'd love to make friends here!

I love video games! I play a lot of League of Legends (although I've taken a break due to how much toxicity is in the game lately ;-;) Some of my other favorite games include platformers like A Hat in Time, Sonic the Hedgehog, Castlevania, Shantae, and retro games in general. I also really like visual novels like Ace Attorney!

Vocaloid is one of the genres I listen to the most (especially Hatsune Miku, she's my favorite). I also like vaporwave, internetcore and video game/anime music! I love finding new remixes of my favorite songs, nightcore is one of my favorite types of remixes.

Tickling but I'm very shy about it >_<. I haven't really posted or interacted with posts in this community much, I'd love to be able to talk about it though :). As a ler, my favorite tickle spot is armpits! I'm very insecure about it though. Sides/thighs are tied for second favorite. As a lee, it's tough for me to decide. You'll have to find out my worst spots which I'm not gonna say xD

I've been getting back into watching anime! For a while I just didn't really know what to watch, I can be kinda picky sometimes. I just finished Neon Genesis Evangelion for the first time and I'm about to finish Jojo's Bizzare Adventure: Stone Ocean.

Drawing and writing are things I'm trying to improve at! I'm really insecure about it so I haven't done much in a while, I'm really trying to motivate myself >_<.

I love computers in general! just learning how they work or fixing them is something I spend a lot of my free time researching.

I also tend to binge watch YouTube, like a lot xD. Especially gaming channels or memes! I really like watching videos for speedrunning like SummoningSalt, comedic game reviews like Flandrew or The Lonely Goomba

MEMES whether they're just images or animations on YouTube, I like am obsessed with memes. I've got a lot of them saved and definitely would share them if you want xD.

Feel free to DM me or send an ask! I'd love to make friends and you're always welcome to message ^-^. That being said please do not contact or interact with me if you: - are a minor, my blog is strictly SFW but it's still 18+

- are a fully NSFW or sexual focused blog. Blogs with partial SFW/NSFW can definitely interact, as long as you're aware I may not be comfortable talking about some of your interests.

- only are messaging me with the intent to satisfy your needs or meet up with me. While I'm more than happy to talk about tickling, I don't want it to be the only thing we talk about 24/7. - are sending me things or have on your blog content that discriminates people in any way. I've seen enough of that and I'm not gonna put up with it

I hope you have a really nice day and take care!

[queenbees21]

When you meet again

𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐢𝐫𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐨 (𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐲) - 𝐌.𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭

Warning: profanity language, grammar errors, not proffered, ( I most likely got the money meaning wrong, I’m sorry if I did, please correct me if I did!) a little bit of OCC Mikey

Reference: “dios mío, no otra vez” = “My goodness, not again!”

A/n: you’ll be seeing Mikey later on kinda near the end, but for now this is how (Yn)s day kinda went in school.

“Okayyy, Sooo do I turn left or… right? Wait a minute… where is the school!?” You said out loud in your native language, you looked to your left and right. Though; with no luck, you couldn’t find where your new school was.

“I’m so dead…” You nervously looked around; remembering what your mother said earlier today… way too early…

𝟒:𝟎𝟎 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

“Get up, get up! Your late for school!!” Your mother vigorously shook you awake. Which made you quickly get up. You started packing your bag, even though you were half asleep. Which you’ll later regretfully; didn’t check what you packed….

You hurriedly started combing your hair, though; your mother didn’t let you.. since she was late for work. She was also your ride to school…. You quickly took your brush and, some hair ties with you.

As you were halfway there, your mother suddenly stopped at a certain light. “Hija, I’m sorry but this is as far as I can go.”

“Wait…. Wa…?” You asked confusedly.

“Im also late for work, so you gotta get out and walk it there.” She says.

“…but ma… it’s… far..”

“What the hell do you mean is far, it’s only 30 minutes!”

“Okay I’ll go!”

“Don’t raise your voice at me, young lady! I’ll kick your ass!” Before she could say anything else, you quickly bid her goodbye (nicely) and got out of the car. You watched as she zoomed through the stress and left.

….

Oh crap! Gotta hurry!

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 - 𝟕:𝟑𝟎

Just how… how did this happen.. you’ve been aimlessly looking around the neighborhood… and no signs of a big ass building!! How can this be!?

You check your phone, looking at the timer….

7:40! Already! School starts at 8:30! As of now, you were panicking. It’s your first day! How can you be so careless, you are literally off to a bad start…

As you were checking your phone, you didn’t notice a person walking straight towards you. Although; to be fare they-or should I say she; wasn’t looking either…

And before you knew it… you bumped into her… “Dios mío, no otra vez… not again… why am I who dang clumsily…” She and your books fell onto the ground. You quickly apologized to the girl and started gathering her things for her. “I’m so sorry! Here, let me help you!”

“Hehe, it’s okay! No need to worry, thanks for helping me.” She thanked me, as she also helps you gather her things. Once you were done, you handed her; her books and picked up your bag.

“Alright then, I’m sorry about that! Again... I should watch where I’m going..” you once again, apologized to her…

“Oh! No, no, no it’s okay! No need to apologize. I should’ve looked where I was going too, hehe.” She giggled.

‘Awww she’s so sweet’ She girl smiles sweetly at you.

“…uh so um.. see ya later!” You nervously walked away. She chuckled and started walking again to a house nearby.

You quickly started heading in the direction of your new school.

As you were walking away, Hina looked your way and thought back on your accent. She wanted to keep talking to you. Although; she let you be. Noticing you were embarrassed and nervous to have any sort of conversation…

‘Maybe I’ll see her at school!’ She thought, excitedly. She hopes she does; maybe you two could become friends. That’d be exciting!

𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 - 𝟖:𝟐𝟎

‘I made it!’ You panted, and you leaned against the wall, catching your exhausted body. You took a breath in and out, calming your racing heart. You stood up straight, and look towards your new school.

“….”

‘Oh crap I’m so nervous!’ You thought you were ready. Where did all your confidence go? Gosh, what now. You stood where you are for a few minutes.

…. Oh crap! Right, I can’t be late!

You smacked your cheeks, got out of your daze, and anxiously walked through the doors. You step in and followed the instructions of what your new teacher had told you.

Although; once again today was not your day.… You struggled to put on your school shoes... ‘I’m already late as it is! Come on! Fit!’

————— —————

“When entering the school, you must take off your home shoes and put on your school shoes!” The teacher instructed, showing you around the empty hall of the school. With your mother alongside you; paying attention to every detail you’re teacher was saying.

“Um I hope this isn’t rude of me to ask, but how come you er…or the student have to take off… our shoes…?” You ask in curiosity, as you looked down at your bare feet. You currently didn’t have any shoes on, only socks.

“Oh! Not at all, ask all the questions you need. You are new after all.” Your teacher smiles kindly at you, before proceeding to explain. “You must take off your shoes because it’ll avoid bringing in dirt from outside.” Your teacher explains,

“Oh! That makes sense! Thank you very much!” You smiled, and they nodded in approval. “Later on you’ll be provided with indoor shoes for school. I’ll come to you so that dirt doesn’t come in.” They explain, You nodded in understatement.

“Anyways, here is where your first class will be. And then; your next class is just four doors down the hall.” They gestured. Throughout the day; your teacher showed and, explained every detail of what your typical day of school would be like.

“And here’s the lunch area, you’ll have to pay for your food. The payment is around 300-450 yen!”

‘Wait… okay, okay; soo meaning in American money or something… It’d be-I think maybe $3-$4.50?… yeah! I remember it now!’ You thought, trying to rack your brain for the Japan money knowledge you practiced on.

Although; you ask your teacher, just to make sure your information was correct. It turns out; you were right! ‘Good job me!’ You praised yourself.

After visiting various places and classes; the day and instructions were done.

‘Now… I’ll have to wait until the actual day come…. Oh no! I can’t do this!!’ You faced palm dragging your hand down your face.

“It’s okay love, you’ll be fine. Let’s head home.” Your mother reassures. You nodded and smiled at her.

————— —————

You started to speed walk it to your first class. As you walked; you tried adjusting your shoes. You jumped a few times and eventually got the shoes on comfortably.

Your cute little key chains wriggled along with you, which also caught the attention of other students. They were all mesmerized, as they watched you walk down the halls.

“…….”

‘What the hell are they all looking at!!? Is there something wrong with my face!?! Do I look ugly!?? Or maybe weird!? No wait! Clam down (Yn) they're just curious. I’d be curious too if a foreign girl came to a new school too… I hope…’

As you were overthinking your situation, you once again. Hadn’t noticed the person walking around the corner….

“Or maybe it’s because-“ your murmuring was suddenly cut off, your face just literally dumped into something tough and firm…. What the fu-

“Sorry, you alright—Oh! It’s you miss little Klutz!” The voice above you happily says. As you were about to say something to this rude individual who called you a rude name. He unexpectedly lifted your chin. He took a good look at you, making sure it was you.

There were many feelings and thoughts swarming in your heart and mind. First of all; out of all the people to bump into, you bumped into him!

Not only that; the way his hand gently took hold of your face; examining your features. It made your heart speed up, your cheek felt warm and your palms sweaty.

He turned your head side to side, taking in your very alluring face...

You kept looking everywhere else but his eyes…

“Well, well, well. It’s nice to see you again. I missed you! I was really sad you know, I thought I was never gonna see ya again. But here you are,” Mikey smirks, his voice got husky at the late part of his sentence. He watched as your face only turns 50 more shades of crimson.

You were far too speechless, and embarrassed to even utter a word.

Well then.. your school year is just gotten ten times far more interesting, now that Mikey was here.

A/n: Thanks for reading! Hoped you enjoyed, stay safe and have a good day a night honeys!

<< 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 >>

[tailoredshirt]

Hello K!

For Nice Ask Day, I wanted to ask:

You have to pick three favorite character from Lone Star; what book do you think would be their favorite?

Hi, thank you and sorry for the late reply!!!

This is a hard question! I kinda went with general reading headcanons lol.

Paul probably has some obscure book as his favorite, something very smart. This gif set has some of the books he's seen reading. So he's clearly into non-fiction, probably history and/or socio-political topics. I also feel like he'd be into sci-fi though. One of my favorite little headcanons/ideas I had is of Paul loaning TK this sci-fi series he likes even though TK isn't a reader.

Carlos is probably a reader, although I think he likes reading on his tablet best (like in the beginning of 3x13). I think that he'll stay up reading in bed with TK curled up next to him asleep, or reading while TK watches TV. I think he reads history and socio-political stuff like Paul does (and that they probably talk/share books), but I also think that Carlos likes fiction, especially by LGBTQ, Latino, and Tejano writers. And he probably knows Texas history better than anyone, especially the parts they don't want to teach in school.

Grace has been seen reading a parenting book (I think 'Raising a Gifted Child'?) at Tommy's house in 3x13. I think she probably reads parenting books, Christian inspirational books, and general self help. Maybe also fiction sometimes. In one of my fics I mentioned that she loaned Paul the latest Brene Brown, because I think they would both like her!

TK does not seem to be a reader, but I think he probably has a couple of favorites from high school, although I don't know which ones. I think he would be game to read sometimes if someone recommended something they think he'll like! Especially Paul or Carlos.

[littleoldpessimistme]

20230408

So, it’s been a hot minute.

Today I wanna rant a bit about sexuality, because that’s what’s been on my mind in the last couple days. (Warning: long post)

(Also, there’s a bit about a bad relationship I had, nothing graphic, and I wouldn’t call it abusive, just some misunderstandings and hurt feelings, but let me know if I should put a tw.)

Let me just start this whole thing by saying that growing up I believed myself to be straight (I feel like it’s also worth mentioning that I come from a historically very homophobic country, I was like 13 when I first realized that queer people actually exist). I don’t remember having any crushes in my early childhood like how people say that they had crushes on cartoon characters, but by the age of 12 I discovered fandoms and I started becoming obsessed with certain actors and singers.

I don’t know if this is embarrassing or not, but I can’t say that I grew out of my celebrity obsession phase until around my late teen years. As time went on my classmates and my friends kept getting into relationships and for the life of me I could not understand why you’d wanna date our classmate Gary when he’s not Andrew Garfield. I kind of felt like an alien sometimes and not in a fun way. Looking back I do think I was a bit overdramatic (as teenagers usually are), but I did feel very isolated and I kept thinking that something was fundamentally wrong with me cause I did not like the things my peers did. 

(I did occassionally have some fleeting crushes on boys from my school, mostly on friends but those usually passed in like a week)

I remember one time (around the age of 17) I was talking to a girl from my school and the topic somehow came up and I told her that I’ve never been in love with a real person, only fictional characters or actors 20 years older than me and she kind of jokingly called me childish. Although now I realize that she most likely wasn’t trying to be mean I remember feeling really embarrassed and hurt.

Ironically a few months after this conversation one of my (at the time) best friends confessed to me and I felt like I kinda had some feelings for him as well, so we started dating. The first few months of the relationship were really nice we spent a lot of time together and I was genuinely sad when we were apart. I did feel like I was in love with him.

A few things however became apparent early on in the relationship. One of which was the simple fact that I did not want to have sex with him. We were both virgins and when I told him I’m not sure I’m ready, he said that he totally understands and he won’t force me to do anything I don’t want to do. After like 6 months we started having more and more problems. I remember one time we were having a conversation about sex, mainly that he really wanted it. I know now that it’s partly my fault for not communicating my own feelings clearly but in my defense I didn’t really understand them myself. I just knew that the thought of sex made me very uneasy and I couldn’t really imagine myself in that situation. 

One thing I could articulate was the fear of getting pregnant (which was a genuine fear of mine, but deep down I knew it was only one aspect of the whole thing) and that’s what I told him. This turned out to be a mistake because he started coming up with reasons as to why my fear was irrational and listing contraceptive methods (as if I didn’t know that condoms existed). I started crying because I couldn’t handle the amount of pressure I suddenly found myself under which made him upset and he started saying things like he thought that we could talk about stuff like this and this made me feel even worse, like I was letting him down.

Obviously I don’t want to blame him and he had his own mental health struggles. I remember he used to tell me that I was the only person in the entire world who loved him and the only happiness he ever felt was when he was with me, when we were apart he was so depressed that he couldn’t function at all. I guess he thought that this would sound romantic but it just deeply scared me.

After a year of dating I eventually broke up with him, mostly because I felt inadequate at helping him overcome his depression and ptsd and spending time with him started feeling like a chore rather than a thing that I actually enjoyed doing. While we were in the process of breaking up he told me that he regrets never sleeping with me because the hormones released during sex help build a connection and I remember feeling really weirded out about that. The whole thing was especially hard on my part because I felt like falling out of love was my fault and obviously he was upset to the point where he literally quoted Green Day’s song “Nice guys finish last” on me which to this day makes me cringe. 

I hate to admit this but I still feel kind of guilty about breaking up with him when I think about it, but I felt that it would be cruel to keep him in the dark and pretend that everything was alright when in reality I didn’t love him anymore. 

Another interesting thing is that I had my first kiss with him and to this day he’s the only person I ever kissed. I am aware that this kind of makes my judgement questionable, because I don’t have anything to compare it to, so he could just be a bad kisser but I kind of hated kissing him. I rarely initiated making out because whenever we did I felt weird. Sometimes I could tolerate it, but mostly it just felt kind of gross and it didn’t really do anything for me. I know that he noticed this, along with the fact that I never let him kiss me in public, or in front of our friends and he told me once that it bothered him that I “never acted like his girlfriend” in public. I kind of knew that this was unusal but I really couldn’t help it, I felt like I’d rather die than engage in any form of PDA because the thought just made me incredibly uncomfortable, but I knew that this wasn’t because of him, just the general idea of others seeing me like that bothered me.

And this is how we get to the sexuality part. It’s been almost 2 years since we broke up and in the last year I’ve been kind of connecting some dots and I read a lot about different identities and other people’s experiences. I still kind of say that I’m questioning, but I find that I resonate a lot with ace folks’ stories and came to the conclusion that I might be somewhere on the asexual spectrum. 

So I just started kind of accepting the fact that I may not have all the gears in the big scheme of attraction, but in the last few days I’ve been sent into a romantic attraction crisis as well. I’ve been saying to myself that it’s okay if I’m asexual, because I can still feel romantic attraction and will eventually fall in love with someone who will accept me for who I am. I’ve always been a hopeless romantic, I’ve read hoards of fanfics about my fave characters over the last like 7 years, it’s one of my favorite hobbies. But I started to realize that I don’t care much for romantic relationships in my own life.

When I think about it, I realize that I’ve always been this way. I remember my mother (oh boi I could talk about her for hours as well) telling me as a young teenager that I was too closed off, “like an ice queen” and I needed to be more approachable if I wanted boys to like me. But I don’t think I actually wanted them to like me. I only wanted to be liked by boys because I felt left out, and embarrassed that I was the only one of my friends who didn’t get a Valentine’s from a secret admirer.

One of my closest friends got engaged last summer and she’s been telling me about the wedding preparations and how she wants everything to be, and that also made me realize that I’ve never thought about what kind of wedding I’d want, not even as a child. I have two other friends who are also in committed relationships and they too talk a lot about marriage and having kids in the near future and I feel so disconnected from them.

I still meet with my old friends from high school sometimes and some of them always ask me if I have anyone I’m talking to at the moment and I always just say no, and they always look at me with pity and I don’t know how to explain to them that I’m perfectly fine this way. I’ve noticed that people seem to accept the concept of a single person longing to be in a relationship and actively putting in effort to find someone, but they simply can’t wrap their heads around the fact that someone might not want to be in a relationship at all?

Whenever I tried to explain this to people before I was always hit with “you’re too young/haven’t found the right person yet/you’ll change your mind” and these always make me question myself and feel bad about myself.

But to close this on a hopeful note I do believe that it doesn’t really matter. Right now I feel like the asexual-aromantic spectrum resonates with me and if I do turn out to be “too young to know” and I eventually “find the right one” then I’ll do that. And it’s not gonna be a big deal at all. 

So yeah, that’s about it for today. If you stumbled upon this nonsense and had the brainpower to read it congrats and thank you! And if you’re aspec and want to share your experience with me, go ahead I’d love to read it!  💜 🖤 🤍 💚

Stay rad!

[ghost-town-story]

FebruarOC Day 20: Theo

“Okay,” Nessa said, falling into the booth across from Theo and leaning forward. “While I have you here by yourself, what the fuck is up between you and Brian lately?”

Theo blinked, taking a moment to register both Nessa’s presence and question. “Hello to you too,” he said dryly. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Nessa rolled her eyes. “You know full well what I’m talking about.”

There were several things Nessa could be referring to, although there was no way she should know about a few of them unless she had mind reading powers or Brian told her. And, considering the likelihood of either of those options was near zero, Theo felt comfortable responding, “Humor me and pretend I don’t know.”

Nessa gave him her best unimpressed look, then sat back. “Fine,” she sighed. “So, from my perspective, you and Brian were getting pretty buddy buddy during practices. Then you show up one day covered in hickeys, and suddenly you guys are hardly saying two words to each other. So, what the fuck?”

Theo let out a long breath and closed his eyes. He had been expecting some sort of questions about his and Brian’s avoidance of each other, but to be honest he had expected it from Aiden, and not such accurate assumptions.

“Look,” he said. “Yeah. We were… I dunno if you can call it friends, but we hung out a couple times, mostly with Aiden.”

“But?” Nessa prompted when Theo paused.

Just because he was petty, Theo took a nice long drink of his coffee before he continued to speak. “But,” he said, “he kinda found easy ways to annoy me, and apparently he thinks it’s fun or something so he kept pissing me off, and we ended up having a bit of a fight, and that’s when we stopped talking more than necessary for the band.” Which wasn’t exactly a lie. He just neglected to mention that the fight had been more about Theo lying and his inability to commit than it was about Brian pushing his buttons.

Nessa raised an eyebrow. “And definitely no correlation whatsoever to the hickeys?”

“No,” Theo lied.

Nessa hummed, and though her expression said that she didn’t believe him, she let it go for now. “Have you talked to Aiden about it?”

“Nah. Wasn’t planning on it unless he brought it up,” Theo said. “I can play nice Ness, and so far Brian is too.”

“You kids talking about me?”

Theo resisted the urge to faceplant into the table at the sound of Brian’s voice. As it was, he felt his cheeks heating up with embarrassment, and he pointedly looked away as Brian sat next to Nessa.

“Oh you know me,” Nessa said sweetly. “Just being nosy as always, specifically why it seemed you stopped talking to Theo after he got laid for the first time ever.”

“Oh my god you’re dead to me,” Theo groaned. “Aid, back me up here, please.”

Aiden glanced between the three of them as he sat next to Theo. “C’mon Ness, don’t tease him about his love life, we want to encourage it,” he said.

“You’re dead too. I’m sitting with a bunch of ghosts right now,” Theo declared.

Aiden laughed and laid his head on Theo’s shoulders. “Sorry.” At least he had the decency to apologize for his teasing. “But I was actually kinda wondering about why you two stopped talking like overnight.”

“Don’t worry about it kid,” Brian said. Aiden stuck his tongue out at him.

Theo ruffled his hair, feeling vindicated in his distaste for Brian calling them kids. “But actually,” he said. “We’re just… not friends. But I am more than willing to be civil for the band’s sake.” The last few words were said looking directly at Brian.

Brian met his gaze with that usual unreadable mask of his. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Civil.”

[wwenhlimagines]

darius martin x female reader. darius proposing to his gf with the help of secret santa 🥺

This is such a cute idea. I hope you like it!

Darius's POV

Today is the day I am finally going to ask Y/N to marry me, but I knew it needed to be special. So I suggested that we do Secret Santa in order for me to catch her off guard. We have been together for 3 years and, although, we are still young and figuring out the real world, I want to make sure she and I figure it all out together. I had been getting questioned left and right backstage from the other wrestlers asking if it was going to happen soon. Allie, aka The Bunny, had been extremely interested as of late since Y/N had started to train with her more often.

About a week ago

"Darius, my friend, how is Christmas shopping for Y/N going?"

I shrugged my shoulders with a small smirk. "Pretty good. I think she will like what I have for her."

Allie stared waryingly at me for a second before whispering to me. "You should probably know, I got her for Secret Santa. Your gift better outshine mine."

I chuckled lightly before an idea popped up in my head, and I took Allie out of earshot to ask for her help, which she giddily jumped around about before agreeing to it.

Back to the present day

I smiled as I watched Y/N get all dressed up for the Secret Santa party. She had a cute Christmas dress with some heels laid out on the bed as she finished up her hair and makeup. I walked into the bathroom and wrapped my arms around her waist as I set my chin on her right shoulder. "There's my babygirl. I missed you this morning. Training again?"

She smiled as I left a couple light kisses on her neck and shoulder. "Yep. Allie insisted on training and then shopping for an outfit for tonight."

I tried my best to hide my smirk as this means Allie already has the plan working. "Well. I'm glad you are home now, and we get to go hang out with our friends for a bit. But trust me, baby, later you are all mine." I gave her ass a quick squeeze as I left her to finish getting ready and went downstairs to text Allie.

Thanks for getting her an outfit today. She is so psyched to go to the party.

You're welcome, lover boy, but you better not drop the ball tonight.

You have the ring in her present correct? I don't want anything to go wrong.

Yes. It is in its own box that she will open last.

Perfect. Thank you again. I can't imagine how I would have done this without your help.

Yeah,yeah,yeah, just get Cinderella to the ball on time, Prince Charming.

👍🏼

Y/N's POV

As I put the finishing touches on my hair and makeup, I smile, thinking about how Darius is going to react to my new outfit once I have it on. It's a bit more revealing than I would normally go for considering it is a company party, but it's definitely going to boost my confidence once I put it on. I have Hook for Secret Santa, so the present was pretty easy as I just got some chips and gift cards for camera equipment. I wasn't sure who had me, though, so tonight could be really great or kinda meh depending on how presents go. I know Darius has Anthony Bowens, and he is really excited to see his face when he opens up his present as they are pretty close.

I get dressed and grab my gift for Hook from the closet before heading out to the living room to find Darius in a nice red button-down with black jeans. We both cooed at each other, taking in each other's appearances. "Who is she? The goddess of Christmas, perhaps?"

I laugh as Darius takes my hand and twirls me around slowly. He gently pulls me into his arms, and I smile before kissing him briefly. "Let's get on the road, my big strong Nutcracker."

We laughed and made small talk as we drove to the party, and I could sense he was getting more nervous as we got closer. I put my hand on his thigh and gently squeezed it. "Bowens is going to love your gift. Just relax and have a good time, babe."

Darius smiles and pecks my lips after parking the car. He runs around to open the door for me, and I shake my head at him. "Let's get this party started, m'lady!"

We walk inside and talk to our friends, occasionally splitting up, but overall sitting together and eating yummy treats as everybody settles in. We start the Secret Santa gift exchange, and everybody is loving their gifts so far. I deliver my gift to Hook, who smiles and hugs me when he sees the gift card for camera equipment. "Maybe we can have a photoshoot someday soon with the lads and some of your friends as well."

I nod and happily walk back to my spot and watch as the others trade gifts. Darius gets up and hands Bowens his gift, which soon leads to a full bro hug session before he returns to my side. He still seems a bit antsy, but I try to ignore it, thinking maybe he is just nervous about what he might get. Allie stands up and walks over to me, and I squeal lightly as I start to open the gift. She had it wrapped very neatly in a box with another smaller box in the corner. I opened it up to find a scarf I had been eyeing on our shopping trip along with some homemade coupons for girls' spa days with her.

"Oh, Allie! That is so sweet. Thank you so much!"

Allie smiled. "I knew you weren't going to buy that scarf for yourself, and I know you are going to need a spa day for the last little gift there."

I felt Darius move next to me as I opened the last box and found a ring box inside it. I froze momentarily as Allie took the rest of the box off my lap, leaving me to turn to see Darius down on one knee. My fingers struggled to stay still, so he took the box and held it up to me.

"Y/N. You are my person. You are my world. Every day, when I wake up and see you sleeping next to me, I ask myself how I got so lucky. You are my best friend, and although we are still trying to navigate adulthood, you are the only one I want to spend the rest of my life with. Will you make me the happiest man in the world and become my wife?"

I nodded frantically and squeaked out a yes before he slid the ring on my finger and pulled me into a time stopping kiss. It felt like we were the only two people in the world as we kissed and embraced each other, taking in the feeling of being fiancées. Once we pulled away, I turned back to Allie and squealed, hugging her. Everybody congratulated us, and we didn't leave each other's sides for a good 15 minutes before realizing we never finished Secret Santa.

"Wait, hold up, who is left to do Secret Santa?"

We saw Hook stand up with his camera in hand and a small bag at his side as he walked over to Darius. Once he handed him the bag, we smiled, seeing a few inside joke gifts alongside a slip of paper that read "Engagement pictures session voucher with Hook. Just tell me when and where."

The two of us got a bit teary-eyed as we realized he knew the whole time. Darius was stuttering, trying to think of something to say when Hook put his hand on his shoulder. "Did you really think I couldn't tell when my best friend was going to pop the question? I'll let you see the pictures I got from today in a couple of days after I retouch them, and then we can talk about the photoshoot."

We both pull him into a hug and thank him for taking pictures, trying to get a sneak peek. He smirks and walks away to go get some chips. "So that is officially everyone done for Secret Santa now, right?"

Everybody nods, and Darius puts his arm around me before grabbing his glass as Dante stands to make a toast. "To the holiday season, friends and family including my soon to be sister in law and pain in the ass brother."

I laugh as Darius shakes his head, and we all clink our glasses and cheers to the season and our new journey as fiancées. For the rest of the night, Darius and I are basically attached at the hip and steal kisses from one another whenever we can. The party starts to wind down, and we head out to the car before driving home holding hands.

Once we get inside, it only takes a couple of seconds for Darius to scoop me up and carry me to our bedroom before dropping me on the bed. He lays next to me, and we both simply admire the new bling on my finger for a couple minutes just letting it sink in. Darius smirks before kissing my fingers one by one and slowly working his way up my arm. "I told you tonight you would be all mine."

[lunatic-fandom-space]

I just finished season 4 and unlike with the others I didnt have a whole lot to say as a was watching, mainly because I was actually enjoying myself and thought the season was mostly really good ? absolutely wild. Nevertheless I have some thoughts

I LOVE Alya and Marinette working together, its a delight. When I talk about "man can you imagine if MLB did like a magical girl show and focused on female friendships instead of catfighting" THIS is what Im talking about!! And Idgaf about how this affects the Love Square at this point, this is all Ive wanted! Also, I feel like Alya and Nino knowing each others identities cheapens the Love Square conflict more than anything but I cant fully articulate why so I'll just leave it at that

The Love Square is in a very strange place where, when the identity reveal finally does happen, its simultaneously going to feel like its too little too late (a la the destiel confession bc this fucking show is just straight queerbaiting) and rushed because like. what kind of development is there between these two. They barely focused on romance this season (which is definitely part of why I think its better lol) but I dont mean that in the sense that we had less catfights and Marinette making a fool of herself for no reason, I mean that in the sense that it barely felt like they interacted at all, atleast to me so thats kinda odd

In the past Ive complained about how the civillian plotline usually feels very disconnected from the superhero/akuma plotline and I think theyve done a much better job, my favorite episode of the season is probably Qilin both for tying the akuma into the civillian plot and for having a somewhat unique conflict resolution. In general, I liked that we had people rejecting akumas as well as preventative measures in form of the charms, although I do think it sucks that a few episodes afterwards Shadowmoth just figures out a way to circumvent them and then its back to business as usual. I feel like a better workaround would be that the charms can only protect you from one akumatization each, so like, the charm Ladybug gave her grandfather in Simpleman can only protect him from becoming Simpleman again, but if he turns into Bakerix, she needs to give him a different charm. But I do find the charms cute

The new heroes all suck tbh, the only design I liked was Purple Tigress and Pigella came close to looking kinda good but then they made it this intensely unflattering shade of pink, which I find impressive because Rose is already wearing an completely different intensely unflattering shade of pink in her civillian form. One thing that I appreciated about whatever Mylenes superhero form is called, Pigella and Purple Tigress is that they had more justifiable reasons for Ladybug to pick them than most of the heroes in the last season, who were mostly just picked because They Were There ig. And then Penealteam rolled around and we were back to doing exactls that kind of bullshit. great.

Also, Ive already talked about this in a seperate post, but if they absolutely insisted on looking for a replacement for the Bee, it shouldve been Sabrina and they shouldntve invented a whole new character for it

Adrien got a little more focus this season and we actually got some insight into his character when hes not either The Object Of Marinettes Idolization or Ladybugs Punny Sidekick Thats Slowly Becoming Obsolete which I enjoyed because he has a lot of potential from a dramatic standpoint what with being Hawkmoths son and all, but hes usually so bland that I dont really care too much so this was pretty nice. And it only took us 4 seasons for him to get some focus, yknow, the other superhero in the title? Well better late than never I guess

Speaking of Adrien, Ive made quite a few posts where I said that this season would be ruined for me the second the Sentiadrien reveal happens but it never did, we're getting that in season 5 and I am not looking forward it especially considering the small taste Ive already gotten of it with Adrien being very obviously controlled by that ring. Like, I'll probably talk about it in more detail when it gets fleshed out in the show but for now I'll just say it doesnt make the stakes higher like the writers seem to think, it make the story wayyyy less interesting and it feels like its supposed to be an explanation for Adriens behaviour towards his father when we absolutely do not need one beyond "hes being abused"

I know I said that I thought this season was really good and now Im just just complaining mostly like I always do but idk, Im not as good at formulating my positive thoughts as my negative ones. The last thing I'll say is that I loved Scarabella and I loved her design and I loved the whole episode she was in, as well as the entirety of Sentibubbler, Alya really served this season

Thats it, thanks for reading :D