#and also i try not to buy things that are electric that could easily be manual

[femmefitz]

Looking at manual whipped cream makers and got recommended butter churns... I mean yeah I guess...

[heyhoeudoin]

TIMES SENKU TALKED ABOUT YOU

"I will always be by your side."

pairing: senku ishigami x fem!reader

words: 9.2k

genre/s: fluff, mystery, storytelling in the third perspective (special ep, s3, s4), slight angst

warning/s: she/her, swearing, ambiguous/not direct ending

synopsis: there is always someone next to senku, all the time.

masterlist ; loyalty built from love (part 1)

a/n: jokes on you guys, i was already writing a part two even before i got many requests for it. also, i wrote part 1 like months ago and it took months to write as well, so when i re-read it for part 2, part 1 was so ambiguously written good that even i have no idea what the hell i was going for.

also, don't be shy to give any comments, because i am reading those and i love them all <3

anyone could tell that senku misses you

like a lot...

to the point that he mentions you

a lot...

it was rather endearing to the people around him

it's cute that senku still remains the habit of talking about you whenever you're not physically with him

yuzuriha always liked that habit of his

she will never not be bothered by it, she's used to it after all

he would always at least mention you once a day

he just loves talking about you

it's really endearing and an adorable side to the usually unaffectionate friend of hers

"the first balloon that humanity took flight in was made of hemp cloth," shared senku as gen let out an awed noise. "the one massive ordeal to overcome is..."

"right..." yuzuriha raised her hand. "you need a crap ton of cloth, don't you?" she asked with a slightly painful look on her face, already knowing the work she's going to put into.

"oh, look!" senku pointed at yuzuriha with a devilish expression. "i totally didn't realize! we've got the crafts club here!" yuzuriha jabbed a fist at his chest.

senku and kaseki then got onto the floor and bowed, performing a dogeza. "the science team will commit itself to designing the passenger basket," senku explained in a robot manner.

"we'll make any tools you need," kaseki tells her, raising his head.

"can i leave the cloth making to you? to the yuzuriha crafts team?" senku confidently asked, raising his head.

yuzuriha nods as senku stood up and the two shared a high-five. "of course you can!" she exclaimed with a peace sign.

"i could've had y/n help you with this. well actually, i think she would've helped immediately without me saying anything, but..." senku trailed off, but yuzuriha understood what he's trying to say.

she placed a hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner. "i know, senku. it's fine! i've got it handled."

later on yuzuriha asked senku and kaseki to make a loom to get things going a bit faster and easier. as she waited, senku called, "hey, it's done." she turned around expecting a simpler loom, but it was not. she let out a surprised noise, falling onto the ground. a pleasant surprise, she was given.

"was this not what you were expecting, yuzuriha-chan?" kaseki asks, a bit worried.

"we didn't have much time," says senku, looking a bit worried too. "did you want an electric one? maybe i should've. y/n would have my head seeing i didn't immediately make an electric one for you."

yuzuriha hurriedly dismissed their worry. "no! no! i appreciate it a lot!"

"they're the senku department store's first high-end products. it might be a while before they start selling," says gen, looking at the racks that held an assortment of clothes and the people that looked around the new place.

"y/n would've love this," senku absentmindedly mentions. "she would've easily volunteered for that fashion show too."

gen turned to senku as if he grew a head.

"oh, also, hand them out to anyone who works," senku then tells gen. "we have a living manifestation of greed who'll buy just about anything."

that was first time gen heard senku talk about you as if he's some clingy boyfriend that misses his girlfriend, he thought he was finally going insane in the stone world

he genuinely would have never thought that senku's the type to be like that when it comes to relationships

which was already shocking in of itself

he truly never expected to have "senku" and "relationship/boyfriend/girlfriend" in the same sentence

are you two really just boyfriend and girlfriend though?

it doesn't seem right to call you and senku, girlfriend and boyfriend

it feels like the two of you have something more

ryusui never met you

of course because when the fuck would he ever

but he has been in the same room as you a few times

people from the "rich, noble, important" families would hold these galas for the "high-class", and you attended some of them for connecting purposes

he, on the other hand, attended most of these which made it possible for him to have seen you in person a few time

though, he never dared interact with you

he only stared at you from afar in awe

it was also an added bonus that because of one of these galas, your family ended up connecting with his family through buying yachts

though, other than that, the nanami conglomerate and the l/n family has no other connection than a business one

and so when senku mentioned your name...

he didn't know what to think when senku mentioned you as if you were an old friend

and judging by chrome's reaction, it seems that the scientist has mentioned you a few times already

"we're in the sky, protected by nothing but our own skin and flesh. you don't get this kind of extravagance anywhere else," he says, looking on the horizon they are given from the air balloon. "not this unique sensation."

"yeah," senku agreed. "y/n would love to be here right now, but sucks to be her for not being here." he cackled out a laughter as chrome turned to him and gave him a light jab.

"seriously?" he deadpanned, but then got distracted by a flock of bird, flying pass the balloon. "we're with the birds!" he exclaimed.

actually, did he even refer to you as if you were an old friend?

it almost felt like he referred to you as if you were dead...

and in a manner that only a really close friend has the rights to do

ryusui didn't believe that though

i mean, how could he?

you dead?

it's ridiculous (utterly ridiculous)

he can see the reasons on why senku has survived and thrived

he also knows the reasons on why you, too, are just as capable of surviving and thriving

so where are you really?

"it's as good as bread from a popular modern shop," senku says after taking a bite out of the stollen that francois just baked. "it'll last to the other side of the planet, and it's good as hell. a perfect food that i've been dying to have and we've got it now!"

"greed equals justice," is all what francois says.

"y/n's really missing out," senku absentmindedly called out. "she would've devoured these so fast, well, as much as her stomach can handle." he smiled fondly at the thought

gen turned to him and asked, "does she like bread that much?"

"loves them even more so than the average person," senku says with a tired expression from just thinking about it. "that girl dragged me around the globe just to have a damn bread tour."

francois wasn't sure if they had heard the scientist correctly

did senku just refer to you like you two are old friends?

you?

a member of the most powerful family in the entirety of japan?

the eldest of the said family?

the next in line?

the hidden treasure of japan?

it was strange

they were confused on why senku would have connections to you

and judging from gen's casual follow-up question, your name has been brought up more than once by senku

but it wasn't their job to be curious and to question the lives of others

their job was to serve ryusui-sama

and for the sake of the nanami conglomerate, ishigami senku is an absolute want

minami, being the journalist she is, are one of the only few people that knows you a bit better than most

after all, she was handpicked by the l/n family to be one of the few media representation for your first ever media debut

it was groundbreaking for her career

and it also broke the entirety of japan

you had revealed then that you will not be accepting any courting, and offers of marriage because you had already found the person you'd spend your life with

no one knew who you were talking about

she remembered the massive wave of investigation happening shortly after the publication of that interview done by... everyone, really

no one ever figured it out who this person was

...or is

maybe she's the first amongst reporters to finally figure it out

"at least let me take the first picture for memory's sake!" exclaimed minami with an embarrassed expression.

"perfectly fair," voiced ukyo and gen.

ryusui laughed, raising his hand in the air. "i'm buying the photo, model rights, and all!" he declared.

minami turned to him, angry, baring teeth. "why should the first photo be yours?!"

"what are you talking about?" he asked. "it's a record of the beginning of technological civilization. it should be senku, obviously. am i right?"

senku owlishly stared at ryusui and minami.

"an exhibit at the nanami museum, representing the history of the new world." ryusui walked over to where senku stood with all the other cameras.

senku stuck a pinky into his ear. "what are you talking about?" he asked. "if anything, the first picture should be y/n." a wave of silence rose amongst the revived people. they know fully well that what senku had said was absolutely correct.

but they also know that it won't be possible right now.

the scientist sighs, breaking the silence. "it's too bad she's frozen shut right now," he mocked casually with a teasing grin.

"i think you're the only one who can joke about her like that," gen commented with a slightly awkward chuckle.

in the end, senku had the honors of being the first person photographed in the stone age, posing the famous einstein pose and minami had the honors of photographing the first picture in the stone age

but that wasn't the only thing that she got from this

she's always listening, you know? and there was one thing that stood out from the banter around her

no one in japan would have the courage, the boldness to joke around your name like senku had just did

not to your face nor behind your back

and yet senku, being the man of knowledge he is, is bold enough to do so

why is that?

was gen right?

that senku really is the only person who can joke about you like that?

since the surrender of tsukasa, there were many rumors she had heard about the two of you and it was all the same thing

that you and senku have something going on

she refuses to believe those rumors

she's a journalist—she shouldn't be believing in those rumors!

her motto is to find the truth

and the truth she will find sooner or later (when she gets the guts to ask you)

when they found the oil, obviously they had to test it out

gen was the one conducting the test drive (because he's the only one with drivers license)

then taiju dropped by, getting a whiff of that oily smell

"hey! it's the love potion," commented taiju. "are you going to give it to someone, senku?"

the people there were confused on what taiju had meant. "what are you talking about, taiju-chan?" asked gen.

"you made some for me that day, remember?" taiju says as his mind took him back to the day it all started. "so that i would have the confidence to confess to yuzuriha. you also said it worked out for you and y/n because of it. it was the last moment we had before we all got petrified."

senku ended up cackling afterwards. "i did! i said that! i told you it was a love potion! you still believe that, you meathead?! that was gasoline!"

"what?! it was?!"

"also, no way in hell would i ever use something on y/n unless she forces me in another of her batshit insane experiments," senku deadpanned. "but if you think it smells the same with no prior knowledge—"

now, gen is totally one to assume

and what senku said kind of sounded like an implication...

in both that way and a completely different way

although, if it was that way then, knowing senku, he would have never mentioned it

so it was probably an actual batshit insane thing

why does gen feel like his image of you will be changed while they're here

a small moment of reference when yo was whispering some shit to gen, pinning senku as some sort of mad lad

well, he kind of is but...

"i'm pretty sure he's wack," whispered yo to gen. both sweating.

"nah, y/n's the one who's wack between she and i. i've still got my mind intact, just barely," senku retorted, looking back at the two.

when valentines came, gen had an interesting answer to his question

"ah, valentine's day," mused gen as kohaku repeated it, confused. "yeah, events are important. for the drago—i mean, for the morale."

senku and yuzuriha went out of the laboratory, handing out the chocolates. gen turned to senku with a question in mind. "do you give chocolates to y/n-chan, senku-chan?"

senku shook his head. "nah, y/n doesn't really like them," he answered which shocked gen. "she'd rather have things that she could wear or practical gifts."

see

look at that

that gave a lot to gen

senku practically confirmed that he gives gifts to you!

and also does so on VALENTINES

if that's not confirmation of being a couple, he doesn't know what is

but then again...

like he had thought before, it doesn't feel like the two you are just boyfriend and girlfriends

but what other kind of relationship would still condone in the valentines romance gift giving?

shouldn't there be some kind of answers by now?

then after they took the group photo with the finished ship

senku looked a bit... down? contemplated?

it was strange to see

why would he be feeling down?

it was quite obvious as well

"are you unsatisfied about the pictures, senku?" asked minami, holding her camera.

"nah, i don't care about that," answered senku.

"then what's got you so down, senku-chan?" asked gen.

senku stared off in the direction of where the tsukasa empire was with a somber look. gen immediately understood from that alone. "take lots of pictures when y/n comes back, journalass," senku told her as he walked off towards the ship.

everyone knew that you barely had any pictures

after all, you were called the hidden treasure of japan

you probably told senku how you felt about it, and he remembers

gen thought it was sweet

minami felt herself gushing about it

when ryusui called upon the people who were needed on the expedition, it was gen's turn to come aboard.

and, to be perfectly clear, tsukasa was left behind by choice because he felt obliged to protect the kingdom of science since most of the battle team were coming along to the perseus

"uh, you don't need me, do you?" asked gen, frantically. "i've got the strength of a bean sprout."

"we don't know what kinds of enemies we're going to meet. what good is a mentalist if they aren't there when that happens, dumbass?" explained senku. "i'd have y/n instead of you if she wasn't being frozen away like a piece of salami."

the modern people felt cultural shock at the casual way of senku playing around your name, but at the same time they feel that they should get used to it.

"ah so i'm just a second choice, huh?" mused gen as he trekked up towards the ship.

"of course you are," senku answered without thinking. "it's always y/n first to me."

the crowd who watched the take off of the ship awed at the display of loyalty senku accidentally announced. gen started grinning, knowing full well that he caused senku to slip like that. senku then grimaced at what he said even thought it's true.

maybe senku should dial back a bit...

ryusui also knows now that you're very much alive somewhere in the kingdom of science

he just doesn't know why you're not physically present

also, did his ears deceive him or did senku just practically confess his feelings for you?

but it wasn't that...

judging from the way the people present cooed at his confession and how gen was smirking like he set it up on purpose

was there something else between the two of you?

this time, it was yuzuriha who shared something about you

"these kinds of people are always dying to show you the machines they tuned the hell out of," says nikki, looking sympathetic.

"they won't let you go until their done," kohaku added.

"i'll be alright!" yuzuriha clarified, making kohaku and nikki shocked. "i always sat through senku-kun's five hour rocket lectures and stuff."

"we have a veteran here!" exclaimed nikki, still looking shock with kohaku.

yuzuriha laughs at that. "if you think i'm a veteran, then y/n must be something else! she always did listen to him..." she mused with a fond smile.

senku smiled as well from that comment.

yuzuriha may not be as close to you as she is to senku, but she completely adores you!

...after getting over the fact that you're the y/n l/n

you were like... any other person, just a bit clueless in other areas

actually, you were a lot like senku in a lot of ways

it's a good portion of the reason why the two of you have the relationship that you two have grown to have

this time, gen was the one to first mention you to amaryllis

albeit in a more... implied upbringing

despite not actually knowing if you two are intertwined or not

but he's very confident that you two are

"that kind of attack isn't going to work on senku-chan," he says. "he's already married, you know?"

and then he went scummy

to which kohaku shouted and hit at him for

and then she later scolded herself after forcing a kiss on senku to save her own ass

she kneeled on the ground and slammed her head on the floor in a dogeza position, facing the direction of ishigami village. "i am sorry, y/n. i will be held responsible for this action, and i will allow you to give me whatever punishment is deemed necessary."

senku sighed, sticking a finger in his pinky, looking exasperated. "y/n's reasonable, calm down, she won't be that mad." his eyes looking far away in the same direction as if thinking of something himself for you.

while senku was making conditioner for kohaku, he mentions you

"y/n's actually been nagging me about making hair stuff for a while now," senku commented while making the hair products. "she always had this specific routine for her hair."

amaryllis didn't know who you are. "is she the one who's married to him?" she asked gen.

"yes," he answered. "y/n-chan is a very powerful person. she's probably even stronger than the strongest soldiers here on the island."

"really?!"

senku glanced at the implied threat gen displayed with an unamused look, but let him does so anyways. it's true, after all.

when amaryllis tried to girlie-fy the boys,

"you know, y/n would actually be impressed that you could fake being a girl like that," senku mentions, crossing his arms on his chest after washing off the makeup on his face.

"really?"

"she'd probably even call you—in her words—a tall baddie." senku made a grimace as he said that.

then when the two girls and one boy dressed like a girl left, gen mentioned your name to start a conversation

"if only we have y/n-chan, huh?" gen comments.

senku shook his head. "nah, she wouldn't do that," he says. "although if she was here, she'd probably go all stealth instead."

"are they really..."

"i'm not answering any questions you have about them."

"so you do know!"

gen was inspecting the earpiece, amazed and shocked by how simple it can be done

and then, of course, senku mentions you

"it was y/n who actually taught me how to make that," senku commented. "i don't know why she bothered learning to make one when she could literally buy the best one, but she said she liked how simple and cosmetic it can be if made like this. though, i'm glad she taught it to me now because it certainly useful for this."

"of course this is y/n-chan's design, not yours," says gen, holding it up in front of him.

as senku looked through the pile of gold dust

as the pile of platinum grew

it was the first time he felt vulnerable since you had been frozen shut

he isn't one to be all emotional, but at moments like these... it really showed just how much care byakuya had for him

senku scoffs. "if y/n was here, she'd be bawling her eyes out," he says, his eyes a bit glassy himself.

"you counting seconds all that time, and your papa collecting sand for decades..." gen looked wistful. "you two are alike."

once the team were able to make the revival fluid, the thought of reviving their stoned comrades were first in the list

senku ordered kohaku to cleanly cut the greedy captain when given the chance

afterwards, ryusui's stone parts were delivered to them

"i've always known you're ridiculously rational, but... but still you're practically psycho at this point!" screamed gen after figuring out what's happening.

senku shook his head with a smirk. "nah, y/n's the psycho one between us," he corrected. "if she was given parts like these, she'd be experimenting, mix-and-matching them. i'd be the only one to get her to stop."

"every time you say things about y/n-chan that she's a psycho and all, it ruins the image i have of her and i can't help but not believe you," gen bluntly replied. "except you're the only one that knows who she really is, so i have to believe you."

senku cackled.

when kohaku was fighting against moz, all she could think about was how he's nothing compared to you

"i like strong girls, too, as long as they have a pretty face," he says as he took out the machete out of his weapon. "what kind of men do you like, kohaku-chan? how about me? i'm strong as hell."

the girl let out a sigh, then tied her hair up to her usual ponytail while crouching down. "strength is strength of mind," she states, making him slightly confused. "to be able to continue hammering a wedge for as long as it takes to carry out one's will. that's the kind of person i'm drawn to."

her pose changed to a battle stance. "well~ this is a problem, moz. you seem to be the exact opposite," she tells him. "and compared to him?" she scoffs. "actually, compared to her? you're nothing. literally. she's stronger than both of us combined, actually, stronger than anyone else on this island."

"i don't know who you're referring to, but you're cute, kohaku-chan. just not cute enough though."

did kohaku just imply something

AND

maybe come out of the closet?

maybe

maybe not

who knows

but she really wasn't lying

moz really is nothing compared to the people she admires and respects the most

as the parts of the gun was laid out on the table, the people from the 21st century had recognized it

of course they did, after all,

"this is what made men and women, young and old, all of humanity, all of homo sapiens, the apex predators. it's the invention of the gods and demons, and even then, humans who owns these rank higher than what we can see on the pyramid," senku states as kaseki finished the building of the gun.

"we, humans, may be on top of the food chain, but once given some source of power? we become our own enemies. and we all know who's at the top here in japan." he lets out a teasing smirk as some let out a sigh, knowing who he's talking about.

"tools are neither gods nor demons," ukyo says. "it's up to the person to determine how it's used."

"then let's be damn glad that our rulers didn't use these to become demons," cackled senku as he just had to make a joke.

both gen and yuzuriha let out a loud sigh.

ukyo decided to ignore the misplaced joke, and continue with what he was going to say anyways.

then later on when ryusui asked who would wield the gun...

senku turned his head towards the stoned yu. "if i had continued my gun lessons with y/n, maybe i can, but compared to the only police officer? yeah, he's better off with it." then he hummed, turning to his two childhood friends. "how about you two? any of you comfortable wielding a gun? i know you both got lessons from y/n also."

yuzuriha shook her head. "well, it's best to just leave it with yu... my lessons with y/n were more of for self-defense," she says.

"i also think it's better for yu to handle it. he's the professional," taiju says. "y/n tried to teach me, but i just always end up using my hands during the mock fights."

gen, ukyo, and ryusui turned to the trio in different waves of shock.

"i wonder how those lessons went knowing your non-existent strength, senku-chan," gen mused.

the scientist rolled his eyes.

it was actually pretty shocking to hear that the trio had gun lessons with YOU

like what an honor??

but it also makes sense for none of the trio to pick up on it since they've already had pretty different skill sets; a gun just didn't fit within it

it was also kind of scary to think about it

everyone knows that the l/n family are all skilled and powerful people

each person had a different skill set honed and trained to the absolute perfection, and that the regime it took to get there was of on a entirely different level

to hear that you had taught those three a small part of your regime,

just how hard was it?

it was an honor, but at the same time, no normal person can probably handle the regime of a l/n

when the team saw that the islanders were getting evacuated

it was a sign that ibara planned to petrify the entire island

"w-we're in huge trouble!" exclaimed suika in a panic.

"nah, just the opposite," senku says with a confident smirk. "when the going gets tough, the tough get going. we might be able to take all of it. the enemy, the kingdom, and the medusa!"

he starts cackling. "oh, y/n, you could've been so damn useful here, why'd you just have to go and get punctured," he sighs with a shake of his head.

ukyo looked at senku in nervousness. "why does it seem like you always have to insult her situation?" he rhetorically asks.

yuzuriha chuckles. "you'll get used to it," she says with a sympathetic smile. "it's his way of showing his love to her."

ukyo thinks that he'll never get used to it

he was one of the people that didn't know the dynamic between you and senku since your accident had happened right when the stone war ended

it's not like he doesn't believe that you two are together, it's just that he's the type to have to hear/see it to believe it

he still have that image of you in his head

that you're someone like tsukasa, except way dangerous and way scarier

it also doesn't help that you and your family are probably the only people that can get past his enhanced hearing

it's easy to say that he's afraid of you

which is why every time senku goes and makes fun of your accident, it gives him whiplash

this time yuzuriha was the one to think of you as she stared at the broken stone fragments of the master of the island

"it isn't over yet," she says. "we have to keep thinking, and keep going; that's what i learned from him... her... from them! we still have some adhesive senku-kun made for us in the kingdom of science." her eyes glistening as she darted from piece to piece.

you and senku are one of the most goal-oriented people she knows

senku will not stop until he completes what he needs to do

and you will not stop until you get what you want

it's almost scary

and when senku freed hyoga as their last resort

"we weren't cornered," senku tell ibara with a smooth confident voice despite the sweat dripping from his face. "we had you corner us into this particular room." with that, he dropped the glass of revival fluid.

of course, gen felt like he needed to mention you to get hyoga to fight for their side. "also, don't forget that if anything happens to senku, y/n-chan will have you head," he whispered out, loud enough for hyoga to hear. "i wonder what'll happen to you after seeing her dearly beloved bleeding out."

senku sighed and shook his head at the shit gen is saying, but he can't oppose to it because it's true.

the only reason hyoga was able to inflict a critical hit on you is because you were protecting tsukasa's sister. and so what if you weren't protecting anyone AND anger engulfed you?

it's safe to say that no one wants to feel the true wrath of a member of the l/n family, much less from you

"i'm alone," senku says out loud as he watched the sun set off in the distance. his back heavy from the phone, his body aching from tiredness, and his shoulder throbbing with dried blood. his eyes glistened in nostalgia as his memories of the early stone world passes through his mind. "again. i'm alone again..."

the phone rings, shocking him out of his pondering.

"can you hear me, senku-san?" called ruri from the other side. "how are things over there, senku-san?"

he stared at the phone in front of him. a smirk slipping through his lips. "no," he changes his mind. "i'm not alone this time." he then quietly added,

"i also have someone i need to go home to."

as the topic of ruri and the mainland was brought up while they ate, taiju had lots to say

"is this ruri girl chrome's girlfriend or ex or something?" amaryllis asked francois, excited to hear some juicy details about her new allies/friends.

"no, i'm told that she is senku-sama's former wife," they answered.

taiju looked absolutely shocked, shaking from the news. "what?!" he exclaimed, really loud. "when did you get married, senku?! weren't you going to marry y/n?!?!" he shook the scientist by the collar.

senku had his fingers in his ears the entire time, not phased, but annoyed. he's used to the loudness of taiju after all. "just for three minutes! we got divorced right away," he explained.

that only fueled taiju more, shaking the scientist once again. "what?! when did you get divorced, senku!? was y/n okay with this?!"

"okay! okay!" senku exclaimed as he took the hands off of his collar. "i just said we got divorced right away! also, y/n was fine with it! it was ages ago."

now, francois isn't one to oblige in gossip especially when it's related to you

but when taiju implied that you and senku are betrothed, they can't help but wonder

are you and senku really engaged to each other?

they had seen how normal engaged couples are, but the two of you don't seem to act like that

but then again, you're, y/n l/n and he's, senku ishigami

not one is normal

the small group now stared at the trashed upper control room located on the perseus

chrome was fuming. "those assholes made a damn mess! they didn't even know what they were dealing with! bastards!" he ranted as he stomped onto the floorboards.

"now's not the time to be getting all salty," senku piped up as he stuck a pinky into his ear.

"actually, i've never seen senku truly angry," taiju says, smiling at his comment.

"no, i get angry. i'm not a saint. i'm just too busy to," interrupted the scientist. "and y/n definitely seen me angry a few times."

later on, when they finally de-petrified kohaku and ginro

instead of giving ginro a hug, kohaku ran to senku, giving the scientist a hug

ginro was mad about it, but who cares about him and his pervy ways

kirisame was blushing at the sight of kohaku hugging senku. albeit, him not reciprocating that, but receiving it with a smile and soft eyes anyways.

"oh right. kirisame-chan, you think they're in a legit relationship, don't you?" gen says. "senku's actually in a relationship with someone else. kohaku's actually breaking a lot of rules doing this."

"i don't think that's what that hug is about," says amaryllis. "not between those two."

"it better not be," screamed gen, purposely gaining kohaku's attention.

kohaku broke the hug off with senku. "i almost died!" she exclaimed to gen. "let me be relieved of surviving!"

then she kneeled to the ground and made a dogeza once again at the direction of the ishigami village. "i also assure you, y/n, that that hug was nothing. i would never do you like that. i would choose you over him any day," she stated as senku rolled his eyes while both gen and nikki laughed.

"you got that right, kohaku!" nikki hollered.

later at night, once the team finished de-petrifying the islanders and the rest of their people, a party of celebration was happening at the deck of the perseus

ginro and suika found senku and his team down at the lower half of the control room where the comms are

as senku bluntly asked what ruri needed, amaryllis was shocked

"eh?? isn't this your first time talking to your former wife after all that's happened on the island?" she lets out.

"that's senku for you," is all kohaku says.

"who cares about the former wife, he's already got a current wife to think about much less than a former one," retorted gen, making kohaku hit his head.

"that's my sister you're talking about."

on a cliff, some of the battle team gathered

kohaku and kirisame stood in front of each other

ginro, kinro, nikki, and kokuyo were stationed at the side, as the audience

"now that we know why-man is our enemy, our job as the battle team is no longer to investigate," kohaku announced as the leader of the said team. "it's to train for the inevitable battle!"

ginro lets out a frightened screech. "we just defeated the petrification kingdom! this is even scarier!"

kohaku and kirisame took a stance, then lounged for each other. the two neck and neck in skill. those watching couldn't help but be in awe at the sight of the dance.

"they're evenly matched!" exclaimed nikki.

"they're both incredible," kokuyo lets out.

"you're strong," kirisame says in between strikes. "you were holding back the last time we fought, weren't you?"

kohaku scoffs. "i wasn't going easy on you. i would never be disrespectful. i apologize. i was simply not accustomed to moving around in a dress."

ginro then bursts out a scream that he held in during the entire duration of the spar, freezing the two girls in shock. he then also ran away.

kohaku shook her head at ginro. "i won't be able to teach you more than you already know since you and i fairly the same in combat skill. the only person who can teach all of us more techniques is y/n, and hopefully when senku heals her, she'll continue lessons."

"y/n? is this the person you were apologizing for?" asked kirisame.

"she's better than all of us combined," is all kohaku said as her gaze stared at the direction of the ishigami village with a sparkling look in her eyes.

a small blush slowly flushed on kirisame's cheeks the more she stared at the way kohaku looked.

it was quite an intimate look that kohaku gave

kirisame noticed it was the same one she had gave to senku

after building the windmill, chrome looked around and wondered for senku

it took a while for him to figure out where the mad scientist could have gone, but he finally found senku

opening the door to the mobile lab, chrome immediately asked, "yo, senku, what the hell are you doing all by yourself?"

senku managed to let out a chuckle. "working on an exhilarating craft," he managed to say pass his crusty lips.

"oh, shit!" chrome screamed at the shocking sight of a dehydrated and crusty senku.

senku downed a few bottles of water which made his complexion slowly come back. he lets out an exhale after drinking. "completely forgotten about hydrating. got too used to having y/n take care of that for me," he absentmindedly mentions.

senku and chrome continued to talk about the plans that senku had for later during the night.

chrome could tell that senku missed you

how could he not have noticed?

everyone practically knows also!

senku always somehow mentions you at least once a day

he never thought senku could be so damn clingy...

it takes him back to the times he witnessed the two of you intimate moments

they really need to come and revive you already

he could never get used to that empty space next to senku

later at night, a small festival was being held at the beach

the lights dimmed, gaining the attention of all

"do you hear me, all?" chrome exclaimed from the speakers. "we're gonna show you something that's going to leave the whole of treasure island speechless and wanting more! rainbow bridge, max level!"

a few seconds later, fireworks shot out into the sky.

senku stared at the night sky that bloomed an array of fireworks, imprinting their colorful displays for all to see. his eyes glistened with nostalgia, a memory popping into mind.

"hey, senku, do you think you could show these back in mainland?" asked kohaku who now stood next to him.

senku turned to her, the memory fainting away. "maybe, we'll see," he replies.

"would you change your mind if i mention that you could see these again with y/n standing by your side next time?" she retorted.

he hummed. "i was just thinking about her," he revealed, quietly. "the first time she saw fireworks, she was with me and byakuya. i could already see her whining about not being there for the first fireworks in this stone world." he scoffs, then lets out a sigh. "fine, we'll do it again at mainland."

kohaku smiled a teasing grin.

a little later, after the firework show, senku stood in front of the treasure tree. he heard footsteps behind him that got closer, and closer. "why are you here?" he asked without looking back.

"just an early morning stroll," answered kohaku. "is it not the same for you?"

"thousands of years ago, byakuya and the other astronauts set foot here for the first time in an utterly deserted new world," senku quietly says as his eyes glistened. "though they've long since turned to dirt, aside from a few fragments of rock."

kohaku scoffs as she quickly and easily climbed up the tree. "that's not true!" she exclaimed as she walked over to where the treasure laid. "you, i, and everyone else will someday die and return to dust, but their will is passed down, refined, and carried on into the future."

senku stared at kohaku who now stood at the small entrance way of the treasure. "isn't that what humanity calls 'science'? that's what you and y/n taught me, senku," she says, looking down at him.

he chuckled, feeling a bit lighter. "yeah, that's right. we're going way farther than those goofy astronauts. we're going to the moon," he stated. "and y/n will be stoked to hear it; she always did love the moon."

kohaku jumped down from the top of the tree, now standing on an elevated root. "it's not true that byakuya and his team left nothing behind. in fact, they connected everything for us," she mentioned.

senku didn't reply, but instead added, "typical, i mean, he's always done the connecting."

kohaku didn't understand what senku had meant when he said that

there are many things about senku... about you that she doesn't know about

some day, she'd like to know more about the two of you

the perseus landed

people started talking about the missing cracks

chrome immediately showed the medusa

"does that mean that mean she'll finally wake up?" tsukasa asked, stepping forward.

senku chuckled as he walked down. "yeah, let's get her out of that damn cold sleep already. our hidden treasure of japan, y/n l/n." the scientist may have not said anything else regarding you after that, but they all knew how much he wanted you to stand next to him again.

"we say cold sleep, but really, we just froze her..." commented gen.

"yeah, like an ice cube," cackled senku. "i bet you she wasn't even asleep most of the time, but suffering from the cold. she hates the cold."

gen sighs at yet another tease towards you.

"that's not the real problem though, is it? you can always trust a sailor's gut," ryusui piped up, then his eyes narrowed on the scientist. "when ibara jabbed you... senku, given how pragmatic you are, you would have healed yourself immediately with the dr. stone set. am i right? yet the crack in your forehead is still there. in other words, you didn't use it. you saved it for... y/n. why?"

"oh right, you don't know, ryusui-chan?" gen asked. "y/n-chan and senku-chan are intertwined. of course, he'd rather heal his y/n-chan over himself."

some people silently laughed knowing that it's true. ryusui, however, looked shocked. there were many implications, but never a confirmation. senku didn't say anything regarding his relationship with you, though, instead he had a different reason.

"actually, the medusa is out of battery."

that gained everyone's attention.

"that thing runs on batteries?!" exclaimed taiju, next to senku.

senku chuckled. "dunno," he says. "and we don't exactly have the luxury of smashing it open to have a look-see inside. but it is using some kind of energy. the one thing that could never happen is for it to make energy out of nothing."

he turned his head to a certain girl. "kirisame," he called out. "is the petrification beam's area specified in radii?"

"yes, why?" she answered.

"when i stoned ibara, i specified five meters. but the petrification beam barely made maybe a meter and a half."

kirisame looked taken aback. "that's impossible!" she argued. "it's never deviated in size..." then her eyes dilated as some form of realization dawned onto her. "...it's out of energy?" she lets out in shock.

here they are in the cave where you were put to sleep

senku, chrome, kohaku, taiju, yuzuriha, gen, ginro, kinro, ryusui, nikki, ukyo, and matsukaze

chrome lifted the lid of the makeshift freezer making the cold fog explode that slowly dispersed to the floor, revealing your pale cold body.

senku walked over to stand next to you. he stared at you as his eyes glistened with memories. he absentmindedly raised his hand to your face, leaving a lingering touch. his thumb caressing your cold cheek.

the small intimate moment of affection really caught ryusui off guard

senku's eyes always held conviction

after all, his eyes are the most transparent part of him

yet ryusui never saw it that soft and so full of love before

he honestly thought that gen was messing with him

but this?

seeing it for himself really changed everything

kohaku approached and stood next to senku, holding the medusa. the two turned to each other, their eyes making contact. no words were exchanged. senku gave a nod as kohaku then bent down and placed the medusa in the space of your clasped hands.

taiju walked over and took senku's hand and placed it on top of yours. "senku! hold y/n's hand with all you've got!"

senku looked taken aback. "what?" he lets out.

"i see!" exclaimed kohaku. "if you hold her really close to the device, it might give her just a little more of the light."

"that's seriously not going to make a difference," senku retorted, but a small smile formed on his face. "fine, whatever, and if i get caught in the beam, it'll heal my wounds and cracks too; perfect."

yuzuriha then walked over, standing next to taiju. she placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him a smile. then she removed it and placed it on top of yours. kohaku and chrome, too, placed their hand on top of yours.

"one meter, one second."

the green light engulfed you as your skin slowly turned to stone. the others pulled back their hands while senku immediately took the vial of revival fluid and pours it on you. the stone skin cracked and fragments fell, both stone and ice.

you sat right up as you screamed, "senku!" then you stood up and out of the freezer, tackling him into a hug.

"did they hurt you?" he asked as he pushed away and cupped your face with one hand.

your eyes widen as a big smile formed on your face. the others were confused by what senku had meant. "no, no, i'm okay," you answered as you placed a hand over his. "did they hurt you?"

"who cares."

"i do!"

you and senku then bursts out laughing.

"sorry, what just happened?" gen managed to ask. "what was that?"

taiju and yuzuriha were chuckling as well. "every time they reunite, they always reference steven universe," yuzuriha explained. "i think it was one of the first things that y/n watched with senku."

"that gem cartoon from the states?" gen asks, but then he immediately hums afterwards. "no, wait, that makes sense."

you turned your head to kohaku with a smile and soft eyes. her eyes glistened as she stared at yours. you extended your arms as she ran into them. nuzzling her nose into your chest while you tightened your hold.

a second later, you pulled back and turned back to senku. "so what's our situation now?" you asked.

"she only just woke up," says matsukaze in awe.

"i've heard around that that's how she is," commented nikki. "always working like him."

"although, i think that she's more serious and formal than him," ukyo mentions. ryusui nods his head, agreeing with ukyo.

"we're attacking the moon!" exclaimed senku with a not-so-serious face.

you owlishly blinked at senku, then a huge excited toothy wide grin formed on your face. "ah! no way really?!" you squealed as you clasped your hands together which caught the others off guard. "senku, darling, it's your dream!" you engulfed the man into a tight hug that lifted him off the ground. if anyone caught onto that affectionate name, no one mentioned it.

he pushed you away. "we've got company, y/n, calm down," he tells you with a lazy smirk on his face.

"who cares about the company!" you retorted. "tell me: are we blowing up the moon?" you asked looking like a child that just got permission to do something they've always wanted to do.

"what?! no!" screamed out senku. "this is a mistake. maybe i should make tsukasa the soldier for the moon."

"wait, honey, no! i'm kidding!"

"i take back what i said," ukyo says in absolute awe and shock with ryusui, nikki, and matsukaze also looking hella shocked.

"yeah, my image of her is completely ruined," mentioned gen.

it was then you caught sight of new faces. "oh, hello," you formally greeted with a short bow. "i don't think i've met you guys yet. although, your face is familiar. i apologize, but could you relay your name to me again?" you gestures your entire palm at ryusui.

the four felt a wave of whiplash at the sudden change in tone and demeanor of the person in front of them; a very important person they may add.

"h-hello, i'm nikki," she greeted, really nervously.

"ah, you're the woman on the phone. i'm glad to see another woman on the battle team." you smiled at her as she nodded, freezing up and pink dusting her cheeks.

"i'm ukyo," he says, raising his hand up.

"yes! the one with good hearing. i'm pleased to see you on this side now," you tell him as he gave a loopy smile, his cheeks a bit faint of red.

"ryusui nanami," he bowed, taking your hand into his and giving a light peck on it.

your eyes widen at the familiar gesture and at the name. "ah, one of the sons of the nanami conglomerate," you acknowledged, then you realized something.

"wait!" you turned around to senku. "you guys built a boat?! just how many things did i miss?"

this time, gen spoke up, "i'll tell you all about it."

"hello, gen," you greeted with a slight smirk. "you're not walking on eggshells around me anymore," you stated as you looked him, up and down. "what changed?"

gen shook his head as he chuckled. "senku ruined your image for me," he says, making you coo.

"aw, senku, you still have that habit?"

"shut up."

this is when ginro decided to speak up. "senku, i just figured it out!" he exclaimed, his face being way too overly arrogant. "you hurried back to y/n because you were worried she was going to spoil in the freezer, right? i know you hate all that mushy stuff, though!" his elbow jabbing into senku's neck.

"he's absolutely tackless!" says kohaku.

"well, if he just wanted someone super strong, he could've taken my top student—i mean, guard, matsukaze-kun." ginro really got carried away.

matsukaze stared at you

he was wondering why you were considered the strongest

he honestly thought it was that tsukasa man

that man was trained to the absolute limit, he could tell with one look

but you?

you didn't look like you were trained like tsukasa was

he stepped towards you and gave a bow, staying in that position. "my name is matsukaze," he greeted. "y/n-dono, if it would be all right, i would like to challenge you once you are well."

you looked at the new face in glee. "oh? then how about now? let's go outside," you tell him. "oohh~ this is fun! i never had anyone challenge me before."

"gee, i wonder why," mused gen, already knowing the outcome of this fight.

matsukaze now understands why you're the strongest here and not tsukasa

you had defeated him with a single finger

a single finger that you used on his forehead to stop his lunge and forcefully push him to the ground

your leaking bloodlust and monotone stare caused him to freeze on the ground, too speechless and afraid to move

you blinked your eyes and your demeanor changed, reverting to what it once was before the fight. "oh my, i apologize, matsukaze," you tell him as you extended a hand to him. "you challenged me," is all you say.

he politely took your hand as you helped him up. he bowed down to you and say, "i am defeated."

"you're a very capable man, and i'm glad to have new members for the battle team," you tell him.

ginro is now humbled

"since the device is out of battery, senku's crack will never go away now," says suika as she walked over to in front of him

"no!" you exclaimed with a huff as if you were child who were having a tantrum.

people slowly turned to you. senku sighs, feeling like he knows what you're going to say.

"i like the stone cracks!" you announced as you walked over to senku. you then traced the lines on his forehead. "it gives him character and he looks... really... good with them."

"y/n..." senku called with a warning tone. "did that freezer like give you a damn concussion or something?"

you laughed as you just give him a hug. you arms around his shoulders, your head burying into his neck. he sighed and hugged you back with one arm that rubbed your back in a comforting way.

this is when gen was like "why should senku-chan get all the fun?" leading to everyone else getting back their petrification cracks

you included of course, after you had stopped clinging onto senku like a koala

although some people didn't forget the small public display of affection you and senku shared, in fact, it really caught them off guard

ukyo, ryusui, nikki, and tsukasa aren't used to it

you were acting like a clingy girlfriend that hadn't seen her boyfriend in months

and senku is acting like a boyfriend who's nonchalant about his girlfriend's clinginess, but everyone knows just how much he missed you!

two people with the most specific personality and a reputation to uphold, and yet here they are soft for each other

it's strange

but at the same time, it felt right

ukyo was down at the control room, double checking everything in case the islanders from treasure island had touched anything else

he thought no one else was on board besides some who would drop of supplies then leave afterwards

but then he heard you

...and senku

he looked around and saw that no one was on the surface, so the two of you were probably below nearby, in one of the rooms

"what was with you awhile ago?" senku asked.

"what do you mean?" you asked back.

"you..." ukyo could hear the hesitation in senku's voice. "did you not think that we... that i—!" a tremble in the scientist's voice. "were you... unsure of ever waking up?" he finally managed to ask. his voice whispering by the end.

a pause. all ukyo could hear was the breathing and the beating of two people. he could hear the anxiousness from each one.

"senku..." you called, softly in a whisper as well. "you need to understand that..." your voice trembling. "that i wasn't expecting you to find the medusa that quick. those months in the cold dark, i was preparing myself not to see you again for who knows how long."

you inhaled a shaky breath. your heart beating rapidly. "i know that those few months were nothing compared to the time we were apart in stone, but at least we both knew that the other was alive—!" your voiced cracked.

"just when you and i were together again, the stone world takes it away once more. how cruel is that?" you let out a shaky fake laugh.

"i could have died in my sleep, senku," you croaked out to him, sniffling and trembling. your breathing became rigid as senku's became heavy. you were probably crying at this point.

both of your hearts were beating so fast as well.

"no," senku says with full on denial. "no, y/n, you would have not died. y/n, you would have not fucking died!" he screamed out.

"what do you know?!" you screamed back at him. "i was the one in that damn freezer. i know what my body felt like throughout those damn fucking months. you know how my—" you took a deep breath. "my body felt like it was on it's way to death!"

"hah~ shit," you exhaled a shaky breath. "maybe i have already died, and i'm just wishing that you were next to me." a thud to the floor then rapid footsteps, ukyo heard.

"y/n, y/n, shit— don't do this— fuck! i'm here, y/n, i'm real. dammit y/n—! i'm right here!" senku screamed out in reassurance.

then ukyo heard a desperate kiss shared between the two.

ukyo left the perseus in a daze at what he heard

he could hear the emotions the two of you felt during the entirety of that

it was strong

to the point that he could feel it as well

"ukyo-chan?" called gen. "did something happen on the perseus? why are you crying?"

ukyo raised his hand and wiped his cheeks. it's true, he's crying. "um..." he hesitated. "senku and... y/n-san are..."

gen widen his eyes then it softened. "let's leave those two be for now," he says. "it must've been hard for them both. i've never seen them apart from each other for that long."

ukyo fully believes it now

that you two are together

even before the kiss had happen

masterlist ; loyalty built from love (part 1) a/n: i'm actually not as proud of this one compared to part 1, but that last bit? yeah, i like it part 3 will happen when the next season comes

[callsign-muffin]

Heal Together: Chapter 4

(Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw fic)

This chapter came together super fast, I'm a little shocked! Next on my to do list is to make a masterlist, so that all parts are easily accessible. If time permits, I really want to make a playlist. I just love making playlists!

Masterlist

Word Count: 2.3k+

Rooster finished his song behind the piano, surrounded by his friends who were all singing along. The whole bar burst into applause and cheers.

You clapped slowly, still staring in disbelief. He looked so great, so healthy, so… handsome.

Carly nudged you, snapping you out of your haze, “If you two don’t stop staring at each other and say ‘hello’, I’ll drag his ass over here!”

You shook your head, “I have a rule about seeing patients in the wild, I don’t acknowledge them unless they acknowledge me first.”

“But this former patient is sooooo hot!” Madi swooned.

Sam scanned the people surrounding Rooster at the piano, “And so are his friends…”

You and Bradley locked eyes again.

Hi. He mouthed to you.

Hey. You mouthed back.

A smile spread across his face and he slowly stood up from the piano bench, breezing past his friends, and swaggered towards you and the girls.

“Oh my god, he’s coming!” Sam squealed under her breath.

Carly shushed her, “Shut up and be cool!”

“What is my favorite nurse doing at my favorite bar?” Bradley posted up in front of you and winked.

You shifted your weight, trying to calm the butterflies in your stomach, “The youngins on the unit bullied me into coming out.”

He looked over at them, “Oh hey, night nurse.”

Carly laughed, “Oh hey, night patient. Staying out of trouble?”

He shrugged, “I mean, I’d fuck around and get hospitalized if my favorite nurse was there to take care of me.”

“Please don’t do that, Bradshaw.” You rolled your eyes.

“I promise I’ll be good if you let me buy you a drink.” He smirked, glancing towards the bar.

Before you could argue, Carly answered for you, “She would love that! Thank you, Lt. Bradshaw.”

You turned and glared at her.

“Wanna lead the way?” Bradley suggested.

You pursed your lips, he was so cute! “Well alright!”

As you and Bradley walked away from the girls, you could feel them silently celebrating behind you.

“So are you chaperoning a field trip?” Bradley chuckled as the two of you stood outside on the deck that faced the beach. The only thing illuminating the dark sky was the moon and its reflection on the water.

You snorted, “Is it that obvious I’m the old lady?”

“Oh no, it’s obvious that those girls look like they just graduated high school.” He explained and looked over at you, “you look like a grown ass woman.”

“Nice save.” You softly punched his arm playfully, an electrical current ignited all throughout your body as soon as you touched him. Woah.

You wondered if Bradley could tell the feelings that just came over you, he was beaming at you. “It’s clear that they love and respect the shit outta you. Especially Carly, the child.”

You sputtered, “Oh my god, I forgot you called her that!”

He chuckled, “I still can’t believe she’s old enough to a be a nurse.”

“I can tell you this now since you’re no longer under her care,” you prefaced, “But she’s like brand new. She’s only been a nurse for like 3 months, she’s fresh off of her orientation. All those girls are.”

”And you’ve adopted them all?” He asked.

You shrugged, “They adopted me, more so. There’s a big culture of ‘nurses eat their young’. Basically meaning that like older nurses are really shitty to new nurses as a way of breaking them in and toughening them up.”

Bradley nodded, “Sounds familiar.”

“I, however, don’t agree with that.” You explained, “I think it instills insecurity with their skills and clinical judgment. It also makes them less likely to ask for help when they’re in over their heads. So I go out of my way to be a resource for these new nurses. And I’ve grown very fond of them in the process.”

He smiled, “Maybe if I had someone like you in the Navy, I’d be a colonel by now.”

“Maybe you could be that for someone else.” You suggested.

“ROOOOOOOOOSTERRRRRR!” Two tall, buff, tipsy men stood at the window calling for their friend.

He looked at them, then looked at you, “I think those idiots are beyond help.”

█ ✪ █▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓█ ✪ █

Rooster and Y/N re-entered the bar to join his friends around the pool table.

“Hey guys, this is Y/N.” Bradley introduced her, “She was my nurse in the ICU.”

Phoenix's eyes widened, “Oh! The hot one?”

Y/N choked on your drink then looked up at Bradley, who was red as a lobster.

“Yes, Phoenix…” he sighed, “The best nurse I’ve ever seen do the damn job.”

Hangman sauntered up and held out his hand, “Name’s Hangman. How about you come take care of me, Honey?”

She couldn’t help but audibly gag, “That is the worst pick up line to ever use on a nurse, dude. Instant ick.”

Rooster smirked. She was smart, pretty, and completely saw through Hangman’s bullshit. What a woman.

“Hey, I’m Bob.” Bob greeted her, “Thanks so much for taking care of Rooster.”

“Of course, he was a wonderful patient.” She then looked up at Bradley again, “Why do they call you Rooster?”

“Cuz he’s got a big—“ Payback started to say but Bradley reached over and covered his mouth to shut him up.

“It’s my callsign, what I go by in the air as a pilot.” He explained, “We all have one. They’re given to us during training, usually it starts out as someone clowning you and it just sticks.”

She nodded, “Interesting… you’re more of a Bradley to me though.”

Eventually Carly, Sam, and Madi made their way over to the group of aviators as well. Hangman looked a little too excited to see three hot young things. He was starting to get real close and touchy with Madi.

“How old is she?” Rooster asked Carly.

“Twenty two.” Carly chirped.

He took his head and walked over to the flirty pair mumbling to himself, “Absolutely the fuck not.”

Y/N kind of loved that he was protective over the girls. “Glad he got in the middle of them before I had to.”

“It’s giving Mom and Dad.” Sam giggled.

She rolled your eyes, “It’s giving… you’re reading way too far into this.”

“Y/N, come get your patient!” Madi pouted walking back to the group with Rooster, “He’s a cock block.”

“They don’t call him Rooster for nothing.” Carly held up her drink, pretending to cheers.

“Ooooh, good one.” Phoenix prompted a high-five and Carly gladly accepted.

Y/N scooted in closer to Bradley when he stood beside her. He so desperately wanted to drape his arm around her shoulder, to make her feel as safe as she made him feel in the hospital. But he was… nervous. He didn’t want to scare away the angelic figure that he had been daydreaming about for the past two weeks. 

Somehow, Bradley ended the night with three drunk 22 year olds in the back of his vintage Bronco and Y/N in the front seat. 

“If one of them throws up in your car, I’ll pay for it to be cleaned.” She whispered to him.

He scoffed, “No, need to worry about it. It wouldn’t be the first time these seats have been christened with vomit.”

She looked back at the girls, still with a concerned look on her face as they giggled and slurred.

He placed his hand over hers and a surge of electricity shot through his entire body.

Y/N then looked over at him and gave him a soft smile, “Thank you for staying sober enough to drive.”

Bradley winked, “I was planning on it, wouldn’t have driven myself to the bar if I was planning on having more than a beer or two.”

“I guess DUIs are probably frowned upon in the Navy.” 

He chuckled, “I mean yes, but many seamen straight outta boot camp still get them… it’s a lot of fucking paperwork.”

“Y/N… he said semen!” Sam leaned forward in her seat and giggled, making all three young girls burst into hysterical laughter.

Y/N couldn’t help but giggle too, though she tried to hide it. 

Rooster couldn’t help but smile to himself as he turned into the parking lot of the apartment complex that your phone was navigating him to. 

“This is you girls.” Rooster looked back at the silly trio, “You all roommates?”

Carly shook her head, “Noooo, we’re having a sleepover!”

“Ooh, very nice.” He nodded, trying not to laugh at the girls too much as they stumbled out of the truck.

Sam straightened herself up at waved to Bradley from the curb, “Thanks Dad!”

“Thanks Dad!” The other two echoed, making Bradley laugh. 

Y/N shooed them away, “Go to bed! Maybe give each other IVs in the morning if you feel bad.”

The girls stumbled into the building, “Okay Mom!”

She watched them and made sure they were safely inside before turning back to Bradley, “Sorry about them.”

He waved it off, “They’re a trip, I’m happy to be able to help you get them home safely.”

“May I?” She reached for the AUX cord that was hooked up to the updated radio system. It juxtaposed the vintage feel of the rest of the Bronco, but it was a necessity for Bradley to easily jam out.

“Be my guest.” 

“What do you like to listen to?”

He looked over at her and smirked, “is it too ironic for me to say Dad Rock?”

She burst into laughter. Oh god, how Bradley’s heart soared when he heard that beautiful sound. Once she caught her breath, Y/N plugged in her phone. “Have I got the playlist for you!”

The intro to Up Around the Bend by Creedence Clearwater Revival started to play through his speakers.

“Oh hell yeah!” He bobbed his head to the beat and turned up the volume, “I love CCR!”

█ ✪ █▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓█ ✪ █

Bradley drummed his palms against the steering wheel to the beat of And She Was by Talking Heads as he pulled up in front of your apartment. He idled there for a moment before shifting into park.

You sighed… This is so inappropriate. But you desperately wanted to shoot your shot…

He looked over at her, “I just… I can’t believe I saw you again… It doesn’t feel real.”

“Do you wanna come inside?” You blurted out, possibly a little too loud.

He perked up, completely surprised. “Uh yeah. Yeah! I would love to!” He shifted his car into drive and found a guest parking space for the Bronco.

You started to reach for your door handle but Bradley stopped you, “Don’t you dare touch that door.”

You blushed, remembering how he scolded you earlier in the parking lot of the Hard Deck for the same thing.

He got out of the car, walked around to your door, and opened it for you.

“An officer and a gentleman.” You winked at him as you climbed out.

He offered you a hand for assistance, “Now you’re gettin’ it.”

You accepted, placing your hand in his— again that feeling of electricity jolted through you.

He gestured for you to walk ahead of him, “Lead the way.”

You began to ramble as the two of you walked to your building, “So I’m not much of a beer drinker but I do have seltzers, wine, liquor, and all kinds of mixers. Don’t feel like you have to take anything if you don’t want it though. I can also put a pizza in the oven—“

You were interrupted by a large hand on your shoulder, again with the electric feeling. 

“That all sounds wonderful.” Bradley said sweetly, “Please don’t make a fuss over me.”

You sighed, “Sorry, can’t help it. I get nervous.”

“You don’t need to be nervous with me.” 

“So was I correct in hearing that you told the girls to do IVs on each other in the morning?” Bradley questioned polishing off the last sip of his glass of wine.

You promptly refilled his glass and your own, finishing the bottle you opened together. “You are correct.”

“What the fuck?” He was absolutely tipsy now.

“Obviously we don’t do it often,” you explained, “But after a night out, you feel crappy and dehydrated… give yourself a bag of IV fluid and you’re golden for the day. Nurses have actually made businesses out of going to people’s houses and giving them.”

Rooster was so shook by the information he was receiving, “Where do you get the stuff?!”

“I’ve collected some from hospitals over my time working there. As I said, I don’t do it often but… it’s nice to have on hand.” You shrugged.

He smirked, “What are the odds I can get you to give me an IV sometime?”

You laughed, “Bradshaw, I gave you tons of IV fluids two weeks ago!”

“That’s different, I was a patient!” He sipped his wine, “That’s not as fun as getting drunk and having one the next morning.”

You scanned his arms, “I mean… ya do have some great veins.”

He looked down at his arms, “I have never had anyone tell me that before, especially not so sensually.”

You burst out laughing, “Sorry! Good veins are like Nurse Porn. We love them.”

Bradley shook his head, “The more I learn about this profession, the weirder it gets. First you’re telling me about older nurses eating their young; now you’re telling me you all are into vein porn!”

Your laughing continued until your stomach started to hurt. It has been a really long time since you laughed this hard. You looked over and caught him smiling at you, “What?”

“You have a great laugh,” he explained, “I remember the first time I heard it. You were talking to me while I was intubated and drugged up.”

“You remember that?” You asked in disbelief.

He nodded, “How could I forget the first time I felt human in that place?”

You placed your hand over his, this time instead of electricity, there was a wave of calm with your touch. 

He turned his hand so that his palm was up and holding yours, “You made me feel like I could actually get better.”

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[whatthefishh]

until we bleed

Rydal Keener x F!Reader ; part of the Oxford Comma series

Words: 6.4k

Warnings: swearing, an unnecessary amount of big words being used, smut, pinv, um... slight dub con... drama...

Beta read by the lovely @xbellaxcarolinax who basically jumped on the doc every time I helplessly texted her to ask if I was being stupid, and special s/o to @melodygatesauthor for helping me talk out the smut hehe

The charity gala was a front for the girls to get dressed up and the men to boast about their new business ventures. The charity mentioned in the invitation was picked out by the dean’s wife, a hedge fund manager – a most noble career – and she had already swindled enough out of the guests for the entrance fee before the scheduled auction later that evening. 

You didn’t want to go but you couldn’t really tell Rydal that, especially after the whole thing with Chester just last week. He had been a little down since then, his skin halfway healed from where the skin had broken. You couldn’t help but feel a current of electricity pass through you straight to your core whenever you looked at the slightly swollen pout he was sporting because of it. And the bastard knew it, too. He had been using the pout, with the added weight of his baby cow eyes, to get his way for the past few days, easily swaying you into submission for the littlest things. 

Which is how you ended up at the pretentious gathering being thrown in some philanthropic attempt to absolve the attendees of their greed. The dress you got for this event specifically was more expensive than any you’d ever worn before, the black satin silk of it tickling your calves where it hit. Your heels were new and not broken in, the thin straps sitting across your fresh pedicure — also something he insisted on paying for, picking out your nail colour for you. A glossy soft pink, a shade that reminded you of the Chanel perfume he had gifted you with. 

Rydal had taken you out to buy an outfit when you tried to tell him you couldn’t go with him to the gala because you had nothing to wear, rolling his eyes at what he knew was you trying to weasel your way out of it. You felt bad, making him wait while you tried on every dress the saleslady threw at you. He kept telling you it was fine, eventually threatening to come in there and dress you himself if you didn’t cut it out and that he was comfortable lounging on the sofas outside the fitting rooms. 

Slipping on the next dress from the large selection you had gathered in your fitting room, you checked yourself out in the mirror. Flatting the skirt with your palms, you tried to imagine yourself at the party, your arm looped around Rydal’s elbow and everyone’s eyes on you. Would this help you blend in? Was this the golden ticket you needed to finally gain acceptance? You’re starting to feel like it didn’t matter what you wore, they’d be able to sniff you out regardless, the vultures with their sharp manicures and syringe sculpted faces. 

When you finally stepped out in the simple but flattering black dress, Rydal’s eyes flashed as you turned this way and that in the mirror, trying to see it from all angles. This could work, it was simple enough that you didn’t feel entirely unlike yourself but it was still a lot more extravagant than anything you owned.  

You didn’t notice him slowly getting up like a predator stalking its prey, too focused on whether you liked the garment or not until his hands came to rest on your hips and his nose pressed itself against your neck. Only then did you take note of his half hard bulge pressing into your bum, your body temperature jumping at how quickly he was reacting to you all dressed up for him. You weren’t a lingerie girl, never had to be in your experiences but the way he was growing more and more feral by the second had you itching to buy the most delicate, laciest sets just to pull this behaviour from him on demand. 

“D-Do you like it?” you hated the way your voice wavered when you spoke, the slight increase in pressure from his hot hands causing you to blush heavily. 

“Are you fucking kidding me? Go take it off before I do it for you–”

“Yeah, on it,” you pushed his hands away, bolting towards the fitting room before he got any ideas and shaking your head at him. 

He purchased the dress while you were changing back into your regular clothes, coming out to the sight of him holding the garment bag over his arm while dumbly ignoring the stares of the other girls in the store. 

You weren’t used to feeling so aggressively desired so publicly but Rydal never made you feel like he wanted to hide how he felt about you. He would compliment you in front of his friends, in front of strangers, he would speak highly of you despite having told you something that would send your blood boiling seconds prior. It was reassuring, especially since you weren’t blind to the way girls would look at him, especially the ones in his social circles. 

The dress would help you fit into the crowd a little better, the shoes only slightly uncomfortable so far but that wasn’t the part that bothered you. Before leaving for the night, you made sure to try your best with your hair and makeup to look effortless with the help of your roommate, Eleanor, who told you that Rydal was going to go crazy over your look. That didn’t make you feel any more comfortable, however, wearing clothes much too expensive, you began to wonder if he liked you better like this, if he wanted you to be more like them. 

His reaction upon seeing you made your stomach swoop, the reverence in his eyes making you shyer than you’ve felt in a long time. You think maybe you should dress up like this more often, maybe he’d prefer you like this. Trying to shake those thoughts out of your head, the two of you make your way to the party being held on campus, looping your arm through his. Rydal was wearing a beige linen suit himself, the white dress shirt underneath had the first couple buttons open for a more relaxed look that you knew he only did to stick it to his dad.

You don’t know if you would have preferred to be invisible rather than be gawked at by the guests, but either way you were extremely uncomfortable and trying your best to mask it for the sake of your boyfriend. The party itself was unlike any other you’d attended, and why would you have? It wasn’t something you’d normally be invited to, especially with your financial struggles. It was kind of ironic, you being here now. At least you were dressed for the part.

Most of the guests were in casually lavish clothing themselves, almost everyone in the room exuded an air of superiority and arrogance you didn’t know how to handle. Walking by a group of older men dressed in various shades of browns and beiges, you overheard their heated discussion regarding the new instalment of fine art in the library’s entryway. There was a table full of what looked like raffle prizes to be won, along with a small brass raffle drum at the end. Near the end of the room stood a podium next to a sign with the charity of the night outlined in large, black lettering. For the good press, for the photos, you bitterly think. There was even a small group of classical instrument musicians playing classical renditions of modern day music. 

In every cluster of guests, there was an undeniable condescending overtone, the haughtiness oozing from every direction and you didn’t know where a safe space was for your eyes to land so as not to be assaulted by a judgemental gaze. Rydal was walking with ease, his hand at the small of your back, the warmth from it burning your skin due to the backless nature of the dress but you were thankful for the touch as it kept you somewhat grounded, helping you not trip over your heels. 

He walked you through the psychological battleground, gliding through the people who were most definitely whispering about his date for the evening, leading you to the food and drinks table. Exotic delicacies littered the banquet table, carefully prepared for consumption and small enough to grab several handfuls before feeling any sense of satiation. The rich were an interesting breed, despite their indulgence they loved making things tiny. 

The purpose of the night was drowning in the show of snobbery, and you were so bitter inside at the show they put on for each other that you opted to stay quiet so as not to make Rydal uncomfortable. These were his peers, the people he grew up with, the old man in the corner, his godfather, the lady with the laughable plastic surgery was his favourite ‘aunt’ growing up, giving him the biggest presents at his birthdays. Countless familiar faces for him, all of them sneering at you. 

The comforting touch of his hand leaves your back and you immediately turn to him in a near panic, the idea of being left alone in the sea of sharks making you stumble over your shoes. Upon seeing Rydal’s father right behind you, you opted to stay silent. This was not the first time you were meeting him, but it was the first time you were seeing him on school grounds after spending the summer at their family home. 

“Rydal,” he nodded to you and greeted you by name, “Come, I need you to meet a couple of people from that firm I was telling you about. Quickly now.” 

Lawrence Keener wasn’t the most terrifying person you’d ever met but he was definitely intimidating and he definitely was aware of it. The man had influence at the school, and honestly anywhere else he went. His handsome face and strong jaw demanded respect before his clothes did, his bespoke and cleanly pressed suit giving him a reason to tilt his chin just that smidge higher so he could look down at you with a single snobby brow raised. You could see where Rydal learned that expression from. 

He was somewhat dismissive of your presence, which only served to piss you off further but you had to hold back from rolling your eyes since Rydal was looking at you with a plea in his eyes, asking if it was okay to leave you for a few minutes to go meet the senior partners his father was pushing him towards. 

You nodded with a tight smile to him, trying to be supportive without showing how anxious you already were on the inside. Stepping into his world and pretending you were fine with it was proving to be more difficult than you initially thought.

Rydal leaves you with a relatively chaste kiss on the cheek, his father watching you two with blatant boredom before ushering him away with a hand on the back of his neck. After watching them turn a corner, you have to blink a few times before gathering your bearings and heading straight for the hors d'oeuvres, the miniature yet intricate selection taking your attention away from the prickly company. Devilled eggs, stuffed mushrooms with crispy onions on top, micro fig pies, melted brie and shortbread, roasted oysters with butter mignonette, caviar and creme tartlets and bowls and bowls of shrimp cocktail met your eyes. Reaching to try a pie, it almost made you laugh at how tiny it was in the palm of your hand. 

Some time must have passed and you’d eaten several different kinds of mini appetisers, gulping down the mocktail a random floating waiter had offered you after watching you stuff your face while you observed others mingling and networking. Hearing Rydal’s voice over the soft music playing, your eyes start searching for him excitedly. 

There’s a girl. Walking next to him, there is a very pretty girl. And they’re laughing. She’s touching his arm – familiar, they’re familiar – and he doesn’t brush it off, he’s smiling with her and for a moment you forget that you’re together. 

They look… they look quite perfect together, to be honest. She’s taller than you, blonde hair perfectly coiffed with a classic cocktail dress in a shade of blue that matched her eyes, making her smile look all the more bright. The girl in question throws her head back in laughter at something Rydal says, and it must have been funny at the way she covers her mouth elegantly to hide her grin and–and you want to leave. Badly. He’s not flirting but he’s also not taking her hand off of his arm, and he’s still smiling at her. 

They…fit. She looks like she belongs. Here, with him, on his arm, wherever she pleases really. Maybe she’s the girl his father wanted him to go for, the choice that made sense for him. The option that was easier. The kind of girl who crossed her ankles when she sat at the dinner table, the one who knew which one the soup spoon was. The girl with the right parents, the right upbringing. The one who didn’t need a room at their family home because she had her own next door. The one he didn’t have to take shopping to make her look the part at a charity gala. 

The girl that wasn’t a charity case. 

You should just leave now, and leave them to it. They would probably be engaged right after graduation. Rydal would get a job with the law firm his father was pressuring him about and she would be the host of their next charity event. Hell, maybe she’d even run for a council position. Talk about a power couple. 

While your intrusive thoughts were spiralling, you get caught staring by Rydal, his eyes lighting up to see you and you can see the words forming on his lips as he’s about to call out for you, most likely to introduce you to the girl in question. Turning on your heel before he had the chance to get your name out, you walk with speed and purpose, hunting for the washroom to collect yourself. You know people are looking at you walking past them, you probably look a little out of it but you couldn’t care less right now, just focused on getting some air and maybe splashing some water on your face.

Ducking into the washroom with a sigh of relief – the door matched the wood tone of the walls, the little sign above labelled “Washroom” in tiny, cursive writing making it incredibly difficult to find – you manage to find an empty stall. Leaning your head back against the stall door, you close your eyes as you try to even your breathing. You have to manage the anxiety bubbling up in your chest and the influx of negative thoughts about Rydal, it’s not fair to you or him.

The washroom door swings open and shuts, a pocket of music from the main hall echoing for a few seconds before giving way to the animated chatter of the girls who just entered. Their giggles and whispers became more clear once they settled in front of the large mirror hanging above the marble sinks. 

“I’m going to need a lot more champagne to withstand anymore of that woman’s inane chatter, like, we’re already helping so much,” one girl huffed. 

Peeking your eyes through the tiny gap in the door, you catch a glimpse of the back of their heads. 

“Yeah well at least your boyfriend hasn’t been ignoring you all night. All I said was that he was repeating his outfit and that people would notice!” 

“Oh honey, don’t worry. Nobody is going to notice that with Rydal walking around with his charity case girlfriend. What the fuck does he see in her anyway?” Another girl said, carelessly loud. 

Your ears perked up again, your heart dropping in your stomach. Now was not the best time for you to hear this, their conversation only confirming your shameful thoughts about your boyfriend. 

“I always thought he was easy but to stoop so low? She’s basically the farmer’s daughter!” 

The scandal in her voice almost made you laugh in disbelief from where you were hiding in the stall. 

“I think he’s doing it just to get back at his father. Lawrence doesn’t even look at her.” 

Well. That’s not… that’s not what you wanted to hear. Lawrence looked at you, right? He said hello perfectly politely, right? You’re frowning at the thought.

“Ha! That’s because he wanted Colette for him. My mom told me he’s secretly hoping Rydal wakes up one morning, ready to go running back to Barbie Blue Eyes and make them all proud parents,” the loud one from earlier said with a wicked tone. 

Colette… you didn’t know a Colette. Blue eyes? Could they be speaking about The Girl from earlier? Were they right, were you just a phase for him? 

“Oh my god El, you kill me! They are really blue, and that dress she’s wearing tonight looks so fucking good on her, I can’t deny her that. It’s like she got it custom made to match her eyes.” 

Oh fuck. The Girl was Colette. Of fucking course. 

And from the sounds of it, she was Rydal’s ex. No wonder he never mentioned her. No wonder she was so friendly with him, hands all over his arms, giggling together like a couple of young lovers. Compared to her, she was the obvious choice, and it wasn’t a surprise that Lawrence had given his approval. 

“Sounds like Colette,” the third girl chimed in. 

“I don’t care how much Rydal spends on this new girl, she isn’t fooling anybody. I bet she’ll be gone by the winter. Anyways,” the first girl sighs tiredly, as if unloading all that gossip took a physical toll on her. “How’s my lipstick, Vee?” 

They descended into a different topic, focused on adjusting each other’s appearance until they left the washroom leaving you to stew in silence. They wouldn’t have known you were listening but they said everything you didn’t need to hear anyway. 

So Rydal was dating this perfect girl, Colette, before you got together. You were the rebound. You were never permanent. You didn’t belong. 

You should’ve known he wasn’t serious, it was too good to be true. You should never have opened up to him, never have trusted him with all your insecurities and vulnerabilities. He probably bought all the girls Chanel. He couldn’t have been serious about you. He hasn’t even met your mom, hasn’t visited your home yet. You couldn’t let him get any closer. 

Stepping out and gently splashing your cheeks with some cold water, you walk out the doors on shaky knees and look around. Nobody is paying you any attention now and you exhale a breath of relief. These people are never going to respect you. No matter how many pretty clothes he buys you. 

Rydal finds you before your eyes find him, his hand snaking around your waist and mouth finding your ear to whisper a sweet little I missed you, softly kissing your skin. You shiver, and despite the direction your thoughts were going you find comfort in his smell and warmth, closing your eyes while you turn your body into his. 

He’s the same and yet he isn’t. Rydal slips into his social persona and you’ve never really paid attention before but there’s a slight difference to his voice and once you notice it, it bothers you. You stare at him, perplexed and hurt. You wonder if you know him properly at all. Which one is the real one? Is he pretending with you or with them? 

Rydal tells you he has someone to introduce you to but your stomach starts churning and you think you’re gonna be sick because you see Colette making her way towards you in the crowd and you can’t face her, not after what you just heard. 

“I feel kind of sick, actually, can we go? Like, now?” 

You know you have a frantic edge to your voice but you can’t help it. 

“Can we go in a bit? Just stick it out for a little longer, baby—“ 

There’s a bubble of anxiety in your chest that rises to your throat the closer she gets and you look to Rydal with pure panic, upset that he’d even suggest you stay in this stifling room for any longer. He stops talking upon noticing the tears welling in your eyes, brows immediately furrowing in concern and then nodding quickly.

“Okay, yeah. Yeah, we can go, c’mon.” 

His hand returns to the small of your back, guiding you out of the hall and you’re glad for it because all of a sudden your vision is blurry and if it weren’t for his persistent hands helping you, you would’ve surely never found your way out. 

The way back to his room was tense. Not the comfortable silence you were used to, your throat closed and sealed shut since leaving. Your mouth has opened and shut several times, wanting to break the silence but your tongue felt like lead. 

Rydal doesn’t make any attempt at conversation either. After putting his blazer jacket around your shoulders, he stuck his hands in his pocket and frowned the whole walk back. 

By the time he let you in his room, your bottom lip was wobbling and your anxiety was suffocating you in its attempt for release. Either you were going to cry or yell or both. 

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, you reach for the makeup wipes you keep with his things, aggressively wiping at your eyes and fighting with the layers of mascara you had put on. He slowly comes up behind you, not looking into your eyes but his hands reach to unclasp your necklace, brushing your hair aside for ease of access. 

You inhale a shuddering breath. 

You should just do it now. Just come right out and say it. You may as well cut your losses and let him be happy with whoever he wants, let him make his father happy and stop standing in his way. You were only holding him back, and that’s not what you wanted to do. You still loved him, even if tonight did break your heart. 

Dropping the necklace on the counter, he reaches for the zipper of your dress next but his hands still and instead rest on your waist as he presses his forehead into your shoulder. 

“Did something happen? Did someone… say something?” He mumbled, the vibrations of his voice almost triggering your tears. Instead you let out a sniffle.

“She really is beautiful. Why didn’t you tell me about her?” 

“Who?” 

“Why did I have to find out about her from a bunch of girls in the washroom? Does she go here? Is that why your dad doesn’t look me in the eye when he talks to me?”

“…it’s not like that—“ he sighs.

“No? It’s not like you become someone else when we’re around these people? It’s not like you have this whole goddamn life that I’m not part of, that I’ll never be part of because they’re never going to accept me? They’re never going to respect me, never think I’m good enough?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, I don’t even know what you heard!”

“Everyone thinks I’m with you just for your money, you know. They called me the farmer's daughter. They said I’m your fucking charity case. Do you know how that makes me feel? As if I don’t already feel like an outsider here?”

He opens his mouth to respond but you don't let him, rushing to hurt him the way you’re hurting inside. 

“You’ve never had to work a day in your life, you don’t know what it’s like in my shoes.” You laugh humorlessly. “What are we doing, Rydal?” 

“What do you mean?” His voice sounds so small and the knife just twists deeper in your gut. 

“Why should I have to deal with this constant bullshit from the people in your life? I don’t even know them! Maybe… maybe we should—“

“Stop, stop, listen I can handle everyone else being upset with me, but not you. Not you, please. I can’t take it from you, please don’t say what I think you’re going—“ 

“I don’t know. I just can’t, I— maybe, maybe we should break up, I think you’d feel better, too, I think—“

“How could you think that? How could you say that?” He’s upset, expression sour and twisted.

He looks the way you feel. 

You watch him fumble for words. 

“I literally left my dad at this stupid party and he’s going to be fucking pissed, like seriously livid because he was building me up to his buddies but– but I don’t care because I wanted to make sure you were okay!”

His palms grip your waist tighter and he steps closer, crowding you against the basin and doesn’t give you any room to move. You can’t look at him so instead you stare at the makeup wipe, the angry black marks mirroring your heart as your mind yells at you to run, to leave and hide where he can’t hurt you, where he can’t see you crumble and break after he inevitably agrees to leave you. 

You push it once more.

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have. Maybe I should’ve just left you there.” 

There’s a small part of your brain that tells you that you’re being irrational. That he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t care, he must care even a tiny amount, even if you were a temporary toy. 

His hands leave you for a second and he takes a step away. You feel cold, immediately feeling small and stupid, fighting between wanting to cry and going numb until suddenly the familiar warmth comes back, his hand pushing your back with so much force that your hands shoot out in front of you to catch yourself. One on the mirror, one on around the edge of the vanity. 

Looking up at Rydal in shock, you open your mouth to ask him what the fuck his problem is until you see he’s not even looking at you, his eyes are trained on your ass and he’s biting his lip, but he still looks… broken. 

“Rydal, what the fu—“

“Stop. Talking. You’ve said enough.” His voice was almost a whisper but still firm enough to cut through yours, and his hands were still kneading your hips. 

His behaviour is new and kind of confusing, if you’re being honest. It’s clear he’s never been denied before in his life. He looks helpless and angry and worried and aggravated and entirely too focused on your body at this moment for any of it to make sense. 

Rydal’s fingers trail down your dress until they reach the slit in the back and leave goosebumps as they make their way back up, hooking into your panties and then tugging them off and around your heels. Upon rising, he’s still avoiding eye contact. Your cheeks are burning, legs slightly wider than before. Despite being mad at him, your body still obeys. 

“So mouthy all the time.”

Balling up your panties, he surprises you further by shoving them in your mouth even as you protest and try to push back on him but his body keeps your balance wavering. You have no choice but to keep your hands where they were if you didn’t want to fall. 

Your eyes must be bugging out of your sockets and the rise and fall of your chest is coming quicker and quicker.

“If that’s what you really want, then leave.” He’s saying this while the tips of his thick fingers brush and tease your entrance, keeping you frozen in place.

Your mind was at odds with your body as you felt your instinctive reaction to him touching you. Fighting the urge to embrace the desire now dripping down your thighs, you knew you had the ability to walk away if you wanted to and yet you found yourself pressing back against his hand wanting more. 

“Aren’t you gonna leave? Isn’t that what you wanted? No?” 

Rydal slides two fingers inside your cunt, easily and without warning and you grunt but it’s muffled against the cloth. This is absurd, you think dumbly. You want to feel embarrassed but you can’t bring yourself to.

“Didn’t think so, baby,” he’s saying while stepping closer and his fingers reach even deeper, if that were possible.

His mouth comes up to your ear, whispering his next words and sending them straight to your gut, weighing heavily inside you. 

“I need you, can’t you see that? Look at me,” his hot breath hits the shell of your ear and you’re panting. “Can’t you tell? How fucking badly I need you?” 

So you look at him, and you see a desperate and needy man in the place of your Rydal, the one you’re familiar with. This wasn’t the same man you were used to, the one who would make you laugh while he was making his way inside you. This Rydal was upset and he was adamant on making you regret your words. 

His fingers were curling inside your wet heat, pressing up against that spot that made you see stars and stealing your breath so hard your fingers were curling. Your fingerprints were marking the mirror, the squeaking sound making you shudder against his body. Moaning around the fabric still in your mouth, you tried to grind down on his hand, desperate for him to move, to do something, anything to the tension in your body coiling tighter and tighter. 

Rydal could feel your hips moving back against his hand and moved to still you, fingers holding you tight enough to bruise. Slipping his fingers out, he taps them against your clit before removing his hand entirely and making your shoulders sag at the loss.

Reaching one hand up and back to keep him close, afraid of his warmth leaving you, your hand wraps around his neck as he rushes to unbuckle his pants noisily. He’s shaking a little, breaths coming out ragged at how badly he needs to fill you up. 

Once he frees himself, Rydal uses one hand to push you back down and bunch your pretty dress up, lining himself up with your entrance and pushing in swiftly without hesitation. 

He groans loudly, tilting his head back with his eyes shut for a moment before looking down at where he’s seated to the hilt inside you, unmoving. 

“You lookin’? You need me, too, I can see it in your eyes. Look,” he reaches forward to grab at your jaw, making you watch yourself as he slowly pulls his cock out and slams it back inside to kiss your cervix. Again, and again, and again. “See that?”

Rydal forces your head to nod with his hand still holding your face while you try to speak, voice coming out unclear against the panties still in your mouth. The stupid fucking fabric was making it hard to breathe and you were going to pass out, drunk on his cock, you were going to faint against the god damn builder’s grade medicine cabinet. You want to moan out loud, you want to tell him he wasn’t playing fair, that he was going too slow. You want to pull his beautiful hair out and yell at him, you want him to hurry up and fuck you harder, you—

You’re coming. 

“Ohhh, fuuuuck,” he let go of your face, hands dropping to press on your lower back and push you more forward, your hands clambering on the mirror like a fool. “Look so—so, oh fuck, baby, look at you.”

It didn’t take him long at all to make a mess of you. 

“You gonna take it back? Take back what you said, tell me you were wrong,” he whines, still fucking you hard but not hard enough. 

The problem was that he was dragging his girth out slowly but stealing your breath on every hard thrust forward. And it still wasn’t enough, not for this, not for right now. 

Your attempt at speaking is ruined by the fact that your panties were still in your mouth, your saliva soaking the material by this point. You wanted to spit it out, hurl the obstructive garment across the room but it wasn’t possible in your current position. He can’t possibly be stupid enough to expect you to answer him like this. 

He almost laughs when he realises you’re trying to say something, quickly pulling the fabric from your mouth to let you finally have your voice back and you immediately let out a cry at his perfectly timed thrust. His cock was moving faster, intent on not having you speak but making you come again. Now that he could hear you, he was becoming more and more unhinged. 

Embarrassingly, you’re having a hard time keeping your voice down, whines and cries falling from your lips continuously while Rydal fucked you against his sink. Your hands are leaving fingerprints all over his mirror from where you’re trying to get a grip and push yourself back on him, his own hands keeping you bent over for him but squeezing whatever flesh he could reach. 

Leaning forward to kiss your back, he mumbles words he thinks you don’t hear, don’t leave me, mine, my baby, stay here—

“S’wrong, I-I was wrong,” you whimper. “M’sorry, fuck—“

“Shhh—“

“I—“ you hiccup. “I hate them, I, yesss right there, god—“

“I know, baby, I know, I got you,” he’s back to grunting in your ear and you can’t see or feel anything that isn’t Rydal. 

You’re overwhelmed by everything that’s happened tonight, your feelings from earlier still bubbling up and causing you to tear up while he continues to ram into you. He sees you crying, reaching his hand in front of you to toy with your clit.

“Stay with me,” he demands, voice low against the shell of your ear. Desperate, he’s still so fucking needy even after making you cry on his cock. 

You nod before you realise you’re nodding, sniffling in your daze. 

Rydal’s index finger, the same one he teased you with earlier, starts circling your clit in the surefire way he knows how to make you cum, grunting when he feels your walls fluttering over his length. 

And when you’re gushing all over him, his finger still circles your nub but he stills his hips as he feels you come undone and talks you through it. Pretty baby, love you so fucking much, stay, stay with me, stay—

Lifting you off his length he takes off your dress completely and turns you around with his hand wrapped around your neck to bring his mouth to yours, kissing you like a man possessed. He doesn’t wait to slip his tongue into your mouth, claiming it as his own to prove a point. He’s always fucking proving a point, always pushing his way through your walls. 

Walking you backwards towards his bed, he only breaks away from your mouth to help you remove his shirt and pants, your hands mapping out his chest and shoulders. You don’t let him get far from you even as you lower yourself to lay back on the mattress, pulling his body along needily while he crawls over you. 

This time when he enters you, it’s slower, softer, gentle, but you’re shaking in his arms, foreheads touching as you share a breath and syrupy kisses. You cry a little, mascara messy and lipstick smudged, but he shushes you, mocking you, “thought you could leave me,” he says and anticipating your rebuttal — as he does, he always fucking does — he says, “thought you could go on without my cock, hmm?”

And then he’s kissing you again before you can say anything, effectively shutting you up while pressing you into the mattress, fucking the fight out of you as his hips slide into yours again and again. Your bodies are sweat ridden, your pussy is soaking his sheets and he still hasn’t cum yet, but you think he’s close. He has to be, he’s barely pulling out now, his length throbbing inside your pulsing walls as he ruts into you. 

He’s biting your shoulder and your eyes are focused on the popcorn ceiling, your oversensitive core trembling as he tries to pull another orgasm from you. You’re probably crying, it’s hard to tell at this point, face and body damp, but your ears are attuned to his sounds, his gorgeous whimpers and grunts. Rydal’s body is heavy on yours but you’re floating, you don’t feel a thing until his thumb starts pressing hard against your clit that you try to curl in on yourself, thrashing against him and– yeah, you’re crying. 

He’s speaking absolute filth, it doesn’t make any sense, but in the midst of your pleasure you hear him saying he’s going to fill you up. 

He does. It’s so wet between your legs, the glide of his half aborted thrusts smacking lewdly and loudly and you feel like an exposed nerve and numb all at once. His spend is leaking out of you and just when you expect him to pull out and play with your puffy folds, he turns on his side, keeping you full of him. Rydal rests his face against your chest, your sweaty and spent bodies tangled together. Boneless and breathless. 

His arms are everywhere, one running down the length of your thigh soothingly and the other wrapped under your torso to pull you close by your waist. Touching, always touching. That’s been one constant you’ve noticed from the start. Your breaths are echoing loudly and you’re almost afraid to speak, afraid to ruin the tranquil silence that envelops you both. 

You open your eyes to find him already watching you. 

“I’m hopeless without you,” he says, so so softly. “I’ll let you win at monopoly every time, I’ll stop ruining the ending of the books you’re reading, fuck, just tell me what I have to do. Tell me, I’ll do it.”

You just hold him tighter to you, kissing his temple.

[gyusimp]

°•Desire drops•°

🌸100 Followers special One-shot (NSFW)

Minors DNI | Fem reader | Smut content | Modern AU | Human Gyutaro | Insults/Dirty talk

I'm not sure if I'll ever post anything nsfw again, so enjoy! I don't write smut very often so maybe there are some mistakes but I hope you like it anyway. It's written with all my love for you! 💖

Your parents had been leaving the house lately when they weren't at their jobs, they also had things to do. Your mom had recently joined a group with other ladies of her age, they were on a kind of classes or something but you couldn't remember details about it, and your dad was doing some repairs around the house so he went out to buy building supplies and decorations for the house. You usually finish your college homework and chores quickly because you don't like the pressure of having something to do and so, you can enjoy your free time as soon as possible. Today was Friday and your parents weren't at home and Ume was spending the night at one of her friends' house to make a pajama party so you and your boyfriend Gyutaro had planned to spend this afternoon together watching some movies at his house.

Gyutaro picked you up on his motorcycle at 4:00 PM as he promised, you greeted him with a kiss, and a few minutes later both of you arrived at his house. Fortunately, you two arrived quickly because after you closed the front door and went up to his room, it started to rain. The weather was starting to get cold so you two sat on Gyutaro's bed for him to hug you and help you stop shivering, feeling his body warmth. Gyutaro took the remote control and after browsing on Netflix for a while he found a movie that both of you agreed to watch.

You chose an action movie, the kind of movie that makes your hands sweat with nerves and can make you live the adrenaline rush of the main character.

About 15 minutes had passed since the movie started when suddenly the TV went off.

"What the fuck?" Gyutaro said.

He reached for the remote to turn on the TV but it didn't work. You noticed that the small red light on the TV was off so you checked your cell phone and indeed, the electricity had been cut off. He was pretty sure the rain was causing the power out and outside it didn't look like it would stop lightning and rain for quite a while.

"Shit" he cursed. "This's gonna be fucking boring and our date is ruined."

"Don't worry honey, it's not that bad" you said, trying to calm him down. "I'm sure we can entertain ourselves with something else."

No light, no internet. You couldn't even put on some music. You had some songs on your phone but you weren't sure Gyutaro would like them. Maybe you two could cook something? No, Gyutaro hated cooking and it wasn't much fun. Take a nap, maybe? Definitely not, Gyutaro suffered from insomnia so if he slept in the afternoon, he would stay up all night from lack of sleep. Another idea came to your mind but you were too embarrassed to suggest something like that, it's not like you could say that easily: "I have an idea! We should have sex!" it was ridiculous, besides, you weren't sure if Gyutaro was in the mood to do it. You could feel your cheeks burning so you decided to get out of bed and go down to the kitchen for a glass of water, maybe refresh yourself would help you clear your mind of those ideas.

You went straight to the sink and drank a glass of tap water. You could feel how hard your heart was beating and how fast your breathing became, you waited in the kitchen for about 5 minutes and then you came back with Gyutaro, if you took any longer on the first floor he would think that you would want to leave because you felt bored. You step in his room again and found your boyfriend sitting on his bed with his back against the wall, with a lazy expression and looking at nothing. You climbed back on the bed and sat next to him.

"Let's think. Something good to do has to come out of this situation..." you sighed, as you thought of something that could cheer him up.

You were trying to think of something interesting but you didn't have many options, you and Gyutaro were silent for a long time, where the only sound was the raindrops soaking every corner of the city. A pounding sound invaded Gyutaro's mind, it was so loud that he thought you could hear it at any moment. Out of the corner of his eye, Gyutaro watched every part of you. Your gaze was straight ahead so you didn't notice his stare on you. Gyutaro fixed his eyes on every detail of your body. The windows of his room and the door were closed so inside the house it was starting to get a little hot, this made small parts of your hair stick to your forehead. He inevitably imagined how you could see yourself sweating even more. He lowered his eyes to your chest observing your collarbones perfectly under your soft skin, skin that he wanted to paint with his teeth and lips to mark you as his. He looked a little lower to see the beginning of your breasts below the sweetheart neckline of your blouse. He wanted to touch them, rip off all your damn clothes and squeeze them both between his hands. His gaze extended to your hips and legs. That little pressure on your thighs at the start of your tight shorts was driving him crazy. He wanted to undress you right here and now.

Gyutaro placed his hand on your thigh, when you felt his heat you looked at him immediately but you didn't say anything. His touch was not soft, not like a usual caress, he took all the skin he could with his hand and squeezed your muscle with a little more force, running his hand all over your leg. This was the spark you needed to further ignite the thoughts that brought back your pounding heartbeat and heavy breathing. You got closer to Gyutaro to take his clothes and kiss his lips. It wasn't a sweet and soft kiss, you two were just as needy so you opened both of your mouths to lick your lips and let your tongues make some contact too. Soft gasps escaped from your mouth as Gyutaro ran his hands over your hips and arms. You were still sitting next to him and it was a bit of an awkward position so you sat facing him placing both of your legs on each side of his waist.

You took off Gyutaro's black hooddie and T-shirt at the same time, doing this as soon as it made him understand that you wanted action. Your lips did not separate from his, Gyutaro put his hands under your blouse to caress your back and remove the garment almost in a single pull up. The hasty movement made your breasts bounce a bit. Gyutaro continued to kiss you while obscene sounds came out of your mouth and his. With both of his hands, Gyutaro squeezed your butt forcefully making you moan louder, your body gave a little jump at his action and when you moved you felt a bulge under you. You looked down for a while and noticed the tent that was forming inside his sweatpants. Gyutaro continued massaging your butt with both of his hands, his touch was perfect so you laid your head in the space between his neck and chest taking hold of him with both of your hands on his shoulders. Unconsciously, you began to move your hips, rubbing it in circles over Gyutaro's bulge. The fabric of your shorts was starting to get in the way so you couldn't feel much of him under you but Gyutaro's hands went quickly to the front of your clothing to undo the button and zip it down. You could feel the denim fabric of your shorts being slid down your hips and buttocks to your thighs where you lifted yourself off your boyfriend's lap a bit so he could pull them off completely.

Gyutaro's kisses and yours were not soft or tender, both of you felt very turned on for some reason so you would make the most of the time, without rushing or interruptions. Your arms were entwined around his neck while you continued rubbing your middle on his pants, the friction that your panties fabric created in your area adding to Gyutaro's hardness drove you crazy, you began to feel like humidity was going appearing between your legs with every movement you made while you gasped in your boyfriend's ear causing him to lose control. Gyutaro grabbed your thighs tightly and separated your legs so that you sat directly on his bulge. He wanted you to realize what you were doing to him.

"See what you've done? Now you'll have to take care of it, babe." Gyutaro said with a perverted smile. You didn't know if he was challenging you or he had already planned something in these minutes.

"Then, show me what you got, honey." you responded with a challenging and sensual tone, accompanied by a smile.

Gyutaro's hand went down to your panties, he touched the center and a smile formed on his face when he noticed how wet you already were. You rested both arms on the bed behind you, leaning back to give to Gyutaro a better access while still sitting on his lap. He played with his fingers for a while but he did it over your panties, he wanted to tease you a bit because he loves it when you beg. You rubbed against his fingers applying more pressure as he touched your weak spots, you could feel your area throbbing and begging for more of him which caused you to throw your head back beginning to moan desperately.

"W-what are you waiting for?" you could hardly speak. You were desperate to feel Gyutaro and you were angry that he thought so much about it.

"Nothing, what are YOU waiting for? You know that if you want something you have to ask for it, love."

You did not stop moving your hips anyway, from one second to another Gyutaro's fingers remained static. He had fun seeing how you were the only one who kept moving on his hand.

"I won't go on until you talk" he commented "why don't you want to open that pretty little mouth of yours? Is it so hard to do it? Is it so hard to ask me to fuck you?"

Your breathing became more and more agitated, you knew how much it turned on the two of you to talk about your desires while you two did it, you were a little embarrassed but then you were able to be horny enough to feel your wet panties to open your mouth and tell to Gyutaro what you wanted.

"Gyutaro I-I...pls touch me! I wanna feel you, all the way down...just fucking touch me!"

Not a second passed before Gyutaro's fingers slipped under your panties. You let out a sigh of pleasure and satisfaction when you felt his touch again. His left hand massaged your butt forcefully and his right hand entered into your pussy.

He buried his face in your neck to lick your collarbones and leave hickeys all over your skin, you could feel his fingers arching inside you pinching your most sensitive places. He parted your labia with his index and ring finger to expose your clit and kneaded it with his middle finger. This movement drove you crazy, you kept moving in his hand and telling him how good it felt, after a while he changed the position of his hand, you still had your panties on so he couldn't touch as much as he wanted. Gyutaro took you by the hips and while he wildly kissed your lips he pushed you so that you lay on the mattress. Before he took off your panties, he lowered his head and licked over the fabric. He opened his mouth and scraped your sensitive area with his teeth to give you a unique sensation that made you squeeze the sheets under you and moan with all your might.

"That's it, I love listening to you. I love seeing my girl behaving like a needy slut."

He had crossed the limit, the fact that Gyutaro called you on that and other ways or even that on some occasions he insulted you, turned you on a lot. The fact that he now called you like that made all your shyness completely disappear. Gyutaro almost ripped off your panties and threw them on the floor, now he had a perfect view of you.

"Aren't you going to continue?" you asked with a fake sadness expression, when you saw that he was just watching you. You wanted to provoke him too so you decided to continue with the game, you took his hand and spread your legs before him. You brought his fingers to your cunt and began to rub it on your own, although you weren't doing it as well as he was.

"Fuck me Gyu, come on just do it! I'm yours, you know my pussy is yours, you can do whatever you want to me..."

Gyutaro's mouth twisted into a lewd smile, he felt so privileged to hear you say that. He took off his pants before continuing with you, he inserted two of his fingers inside you moving from the inside out while he rubbed your clit with his thumb, his finger was so big that he could almost cover it completely. His fingers pumped in and out of you, with every movement of his hand you could hear a wet, obscene sound from your wet cunt clenching around his fingers. Your moans wouldn't stop, and your legs spread wider to give your boyfriend a better reach of your core. Gyutaro leaned over you and leaned his head to the side of yours so he could listen to you more closely, he took his dick with his left hand to start touching himself while he continued to pleasure you. You didn't know if the splash that was heard in the place was the rain or your cunt slippery and wet. You could feel how wet you were, even your satisfaction was so much that you could feel a couple of sticky desire drops going down your thighs and buttocks. From one moment to the next, you felt a burning sensation, you could feel how your center was throbbing while your abdomen felt tense and you felt something similar to pee, your back arched and you spread your legs as far as you could while you couldn't shut your mouth.

"Aaah! Gyutaro...i'm gonna cum, i'm gonna cum!"

"So do it, babe! Show me what a whore you're!"

You nearly yelled your boyfriend's name as you overflowed him. After you cum, you kept pumping and moving your waist by impulse, Gyutaro took his fingers out in one motion causing a wet sound as he did so, he grabbed your face hard with his dry hand to make you see him.

"You're so beautiful, darling" he told you, smiling almost madly, his eyes full of lust. Gyutaro brought his face closer to yours to make sure that you would see when he put the fingers that he had inside you a few minutes ago into his mouth. He licked and sucked on them until they were wet with nothing but his spit. "And you taste so fucking good too."

Watching Gyutaro savoring you made you feel an electric flowing throughout your body. You were somewhat agitated by your reaction a while ago, so you just rested on the bed trying to calm your breathing. Gyutaro looked down on you, weak and helpless. If you felt tired you would be so submissive and easy to control so he took his hands to your shoulders to lower your bra straps and undo it wildly to expose your breasts. Gyutaro buried his face between them making you moan again, he licked your neck while each of his hands was on top of your boobs massaging them roughly, then he traced a wet path down your chest to your nipples taking one of them with his tongue while groping the other. You felt so good but you remembered that all this time you had been the only one receiving attention, you looked down and noticed the bulge between Gyutaro's legs and yours so you decided to do something. While he was taking care of your breasts, you lowered your hand towards his cock to rub it with your whole hand causing him to moan in surprise. Both of you were satisfied each other by touching the weak points you two already knew, you had the audacity to lower the front of his boxers as you felt that they were already wet enough to free his erection and treat it as you should.

Your hand massaged Gyutaro's hardness and his hands squeezed your softness. You knew you were doing a good job because your fingers began to daub of him and his mouth didn't stop praising your name.

"S-Shit, girl." he was being very loud and you loved that. The two of you were completely alone at home, with no chance of being caught or interrupted, and the rain was heavy enough that the two of you could make as much noise as you wanted.

"Aa-aah! Fuck, I can't take it anymore!" Gyutaro yelled.

He took you by the waist and in one movement placed you face down, your breasts stuck to the bed but he lifted your hips with his hands to attract you to him and enter you without warning. You moaned his name boisterously as you grew accustomed to his firm, sensual thrusts, moving inside you tilting his head back. As he could, he put his hands between the mattress and your body to continue massaging your tits over and over again, you clung to the scrambled sheets under the two of you feeling how little by little your legs began to shake and how you were so wet again.

"Aaah, girl. You're such a whore... my wet and sexy whore. Look at you, so damn soaked just for me. I'm gonna make you cum more than 1 time tonight."

You were about to cum again, Gyutaro could tell by the way your walls tightened around him but he wouldn't make it so easy for you. He immediately came out of you refusing to cum even himself as well to bother you. He could see your annoyance on your face when he placed your back on the bed again. You hated seeing his stupid smirk so you wouldn't give him a reason to make fun of you. With your feet you pushed his neck back towards you so that his face fell into your pelvis, you maintained your grip on him with your feet and thighs. He was surprised by what you just did but it turned him on so much that he didn't have time to react. He immediately began to lick your vagina, his tongue and teeth examining every part of her until he lowered his face further to plunge his tongue into your hole as you cum a second time today, his mouth and the tip of his nose got wet with your juices. It wasn't enough for you, you kept rubbing against him until you managed to get him to lie on his side on the bed being surrounded by the neck with your two legs. Now you settled on top of Gyutaro but turning your back to him, you bent towards his hip to get rid of his underwear completely and expose his enormous masculinity that without wasting a moment more you introduced into your mouth to savor it. Gyutaro had a perfect view of you, your ass almost in his face, your cunt rubbing on his chest leaving a shiny wet trail and your breasts on his abdomen, he continued to touch you while you took care of him until you managed to make him cum.

After around 20 minutes, Gyutaro slapped your ass to make you pay attention to him, he wanted to see your face.

"Hey, bitch. Your eyes on me." he said as he slapped your butt again. You obeyed him and turned around. You sat on him in a sensual way, getting closer to his face. He stopped you when your thighs were next to his face and his neck was below your pussy. You looked at him enticingly, you understood what he wanted so you grab the sheets and began to swing over him, while you applied some pressure with your legs. Gyutaro started to feel hard again but it was nothing his hand couldn't handle. You felt so good over him that for nothing in the world did he want you to move. He was right, you started to get wet again with every move you made on him. Gyutaro had a certain kind of fetish, he has many just like you but he really turns it on when you choke him with your hands, so imagine the pleasure it gives him that right now you are almost choking him with your thighs and your wet vagina. You two moaned without any concern, you were turning on so much hearing the sticky and wet sound of your juices on Gyutaro coming out inside you and to see how they varnished your boyfriend's skin. He grabbed you by the back of your head pulling your hair a little hard so you would look back.

"Just look…look at what your slippery little cunt is capable of."

You looked at Gyutaro's right hand painted with his own seed as well as his thighs and part of his abdomen splattered. Before you could react, Gyutaro bit one of your thighs making you complain to open your mouth and insert his fingers inside your lips, so you could taste a bit of him. You took his arm to better suck his fingers while you continued your movements, after a while, you opened your mouth moaning loudly. You couldn't stop and shut up so a trickle of your spit ran softly down your chin as you kneaded your cunt harder on Gyutaro, listening to your wet, shiny clit slide over him.

You spread your legs, changing your position and giving Gyutaro a full and wondrous view of your womanhood as you fell back onto him without stopping to move. Because of the new position you had taken, your pussy separated from his neck but you were about to cum so you placed one of your hands to open your cunt and with the other pump your hole with your own fingers filling them with your juices until the pleasure was enough for you to cum again, calling out Gyutaro's name. Just before you did, Gyutaro approached you to take a bit of you into his mouth and swallow your dense and sticky satisfaction.

Your breathing was very agitated, you were panting and you could feel the sweat on your face and all over your body. You leaned over to look at Gyutaro who was looking at you with a perverted smile between your spread legs, in front of your drooling and open cunt.

It took a few minutes until you decided to get up to get into a more comfortable position, but as soon as you tried, you felt how incredibly heavy your body felt. Your arms were shaking, your breathing was not fully regulated and you felt as if both legs had been torn off. Your groins and lower back ached like hell from the effort of holding your legs so open. Gyutaro noticed your pained expression and grabbed your hips and back to push you forward and help you up fully so that you were sitting on top of him again. With the little strength you had left, you just got off him and fell next to him on the bed. Your eyelids felt very heavy and you were fighting with yourself to stay awake. You heard Gyutaro say something but not too clearly and then he kissed your cheek. In the dim light provided by the window, you were able to see your boyfriend's tall and thin silhouette taking a towel and leaving the room.

He was probably going to clean up himself because he had half of his body and face wet with your juices, you should too, because you could also feel how sticky you were and how a little cum string stretched from the inside of your pussy up to your thighs when you moved but you just didn't care. You were too tired to get out of bed. You've never had so many so strong and so often orgasms before so that must have used up all your remaining energy.

As your boyfriend walked back into the room, you would close your eyes for just a few seconds to get some rest.

Your eyes widened hurriedly when you heard your phone ringing on the little wood table next to the bed, you extended your arm and took it to answer, feeling your vision blurred and blinded by the light from the device. Your heart nearly sank when you saw that the call was from your mother.

"Hi" you tried to sound as normal as possible.

"I thought you guys would just watch a movie, but I come home at 9:15 p.m. and you're not here! Explain yourself, miss!"

You looked at the time on your cell phone to check it and you were surprised to see that it was true. You were very nervous, your mother was furious and most likely your father was too. The notifications on your phone announced 5 missed calls and almost 20 messages from your parents. How would you go about convincing both of them that the blatantly obvious didn't happen? You had to speak in a normal tone of voice to remove suspicion, causing Gyutaro to wake up. With a nod, he asked who you were talking to and only by moving your lips you told him that it was your parents.

You two were lying on the bed covered with the sheets and your boyfriend was lying on your chest. Gyutaro took the liberty of putting the call on loudspeaker so he could also hear what your parents were saying to you.

"I want you to tell me now why the hell you're not here! You said you'd be home by 6:00 p.m. My God, you were supposed to be gone for only two hours!"

"Yes mom, I'm sorry, it's a bit late bu-"

"A bit!? Your father will go for you this instant."

"No, no! He don't need to come, everything is fine I promise!"

"Then, why the hell didn't you come at the time we agreed!? What were you doing!?"

Your answer had to be firm and convincing. Gyutaro chuckled as he listened to how your parents scolded you because of him and knowing that now you would inevitably have to lie turned him on even more. He looked at you with a lazy look as he slowly kissed your neck and caressed your arm and hand, he pulled the sheets from your chest to reveal your tits and began to kiss them gently.

"Gyutaro and I were playing some video games, then Ume joined us and I guess we played so many different games that I didn't notice how late it got. I wanted to go back but Gyutaro told me it was too dangerous so Ume lent me some clothes and said that I could sleep with her..."

You felt bad for lying, even more when you knew that under these sheets your body and Gyutaro's were completely naked and now he was caressing and kissing you. You knew he did it on purpose.

"I left my bag with my cell phone on the kitchen table, I just came for my phone so that's why I haven't seen any of your messages or your calls."

The story sounded convincing, so your mother let you spend the night at the Shabana's house on the condition that you be back before 10:00 a.m. then you hung up the call and left your cell phone back on the table.

"Videogames?" Gyutaro laughed. "So you're such a gamer, honey." now he was making fun of you while you lay down again.

"Shut up, you better go to sleep."

"Though I must admit you sounded pretty convincing. I hope you can make excuses like this more often so your parents will give you permission to come over and let me fuck you for a while. That would be lovely."

Gyutaro buried his face in your collarbones inhaling the scent of your hair while he clung to you with both arms around your waist. You ran your fingers gently through his tousled curls until you both being lulled to sleep by each other's warmth, falling fast asleep.

Ok, maybe 100 is not a very big number but it does make me very happy. It hasn't been long since I started writing for Gyutaro and I'm so glad to see everyone's support and nice comments. All i can say is thank you and i love you all! 🤧💖

[eternitas]

Unseen Varia - Profiles

Jaque Mendez

Basic Info:

Full Name: Jaque Mendez

Nickname: Jacky, JJ, J man

Age: 25 / 35 (TYL)

Birthday: pending

Gender/Pronouns: cis male in a "gender is fake" way, he/him

Sexuality: undisclosed

Ethnicity: Afro-italian

Height: 188cm

Flametype: lightning, secondary mist

Weapon of Choice: swords

Affiliation: Varia, Lightning Division

Position: Second in Command

Languages: hebrew, italian (+SL), sicilian dialect, korean, chinese mandarin, norwegian, english, german, ukrainian, spanish, portugese

Strengths: coolheaded, swordsman ship, speed, lightning durability, charismatic, diplomacy and negotiations

Weaknesses: illusion spotting, trusting people, sometimes doesn't take things serious enough

Character Summary:

Not many people really know Jaque personally. He doesn't trust people easily, but he gets along with them just fine. He is open, lighthearted and very charismatic. He seems to ooze a certain coolness, capturing peoples attention with how laid back and in control he seems. This side of him is what allows Jaque to be such an effective negotiator and the go to person for mediating between different fractions. He approaches people with respect but distance, never giving them the feeling of being threatened or in a disadventagous position unless the situation asks for it. He is warm and understanding, not minding lending people an ear, but in turn never truly discloses anything about himself. Despite seeing people like Sergey and Leo as his friends they barely know anything personal about him. That is not to say that he doesn't like them or that he doesn't care- he does! A lot even! But coming from a place of constant carnige and betrayal he has learned to keep people a certain distance. The only people he seems to allow closer are Carol and Zarria. While they too do not know much about him, he seems to have a certain soft spot for them.

Background:

Jaque grew up in a rather poor neighborehood in the south of italy, where the region was plagued by constant tension between different mafia families and so Jaque early had to leanr how to survive in the underground. He became part of a group of street kids that tried to make a few bucks by thievery, but was then used as a scapegoat for the others to get away. The family that got a hold of them saw potential in him and due to the then Dons son vouching for Jaque he could afford to pay off the money that was stolen and decided to make use of his skills as a capable fighter. At age 20 he took the Varia initiation exam and passed, quickly making himself known to be not just a capable fighter but also a great specialist when it comes to mediation between fractions as this was something he learned from the Dons son back then.

Fighting Style:

Jaque uses 2 swords he carries on his back, both uncurved katana, or ninjato. He actually modified them to be extremely electricity conducting and keeps a tazerlike battery contraption in the handle so he does not have to use his flame excessively. His slashes and stabs can therefore heat up so extremely that his attacks seem as if to come from a lightsaber, immideatly cauterizing the wound. He doesn't abide by any specific school of swordsmanship and relies on brute strength to break through an opponents defense.

Just like any other lightning division member he is also an expert in hand to hand combat and can easily punch someones lights out. He of course can't get to the same powerscale as Leo, but he is still devastatingly strong.

His boxes are mostly conventional blast, shot or battery boxes.

Trivia:

He is an avid game nerd and especially enjoys games like pokemon, assassins creed, mario cart and Bioshock

Big fan of heavy metal, Hip Hop and Video game OSTs

Makes one mean grilledn corn, I am not kidding this guy does magic

like Sergey he often helps Carol with trying out new hairstyles. He also often buys her small trinkets from when he goes out for a while on mission

He smokes but very seldomly. He seems to enjoy smoke breaks with Lorenzo

Ernest Hemmingway, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen count as some of his favourite authors

After joining the Varia he went on a seach for any related family and could reunite with his grandmother, that he visits regularly. Even if she hates that he joined the Varia, he promises her to keep himself safe

Lorenzo stopped asking Jaque for any help regarding his suffering under Bel, since his response is always either "leave" or "kill him" (we all know he is right tho)

He has a chill relationship with Levi since his officer is someone who likes to handle a lot of things by himself, it opens Jaque up to do more work outside of HQ

One of his first actions once he became Second in comand was bust an old drug circle in his own hometown and set the region under Varia territory protection. Something he promised his old friend, the back then Dons son

He is happily in a relationship for about 3 years now with a woman called Sana and thinks about possible early retirement to marry her and start a family.

[the-takosader]

So, What Next?

Yeah, the title says everything: what's next in my adventures with guitar? Well, there's a few ideas on the table.

And by "a few", I mean "I've got 5 total ideas and they're all fighting for dominance." I wish that were false, but here we are.

So, let's list each one, front to back.

Fender Marauder build

Attempting to recreate John Lennon's modded Les Paul Jr. from a kit

Gretsch Country Gentleman build

Telecaster Bass VI build

Getting (and subsequently modding) an Epiphone Casino.

To fuck with logic and sensibility, let's go from the bottom and work our way up. Also, warning to everyone: this is going to be a VERY long post.

Epiphone Casino mod

You might recognise the Epiphone Casino from when I talked about my first project on here: the Fretless Stratocaster (which I'm hoping to refinish at some point).

The Casino is what I wanted to work with originally as a kit, instead of the Strat that I ended up using. However, I discovered something: you can't actually get a thinline hollow-body guitar as a kit because it's likely (not 100% on this) too niche of an interest for a first - or second-time builder.

This, as you could probably guess, was a massive disappointment to 16-year-old me, but now, 2 years later, I've kinda stopped with the whole "kitbash" thing. I know I listed the LPJr. kit build above, but that's gonna be a hell of a thing to do. More on that later.

Anyway, why would I buy instead of build in this case? To answer that, we need to talk about parallel universes the feasibility of making a fully hollow guitar, from scratch. Also capitalism.

So, what does building a hollow-body guitar actually entail? Well, I'm glad you asked, dear reader, because, as it turns out, quite a hell of a lot goes into building one. First, you have to have a veneer press. Yes, seriously. Why? Because you'll never get a solid top on a guitar that looks like this:

Now, this isn't to say that there aren't solid-top electric semi/fully hollow guitars out there. I'd venture to guess that Höfner do a bunch, just because they do both violins and guitars & basses. In fact, I know the Violin Bass (500/1 my beloved) has a solid spruce top, just because I've spent way too much time checking Thomann to see what they have in stock. But that's neither here nor there.

The Casino has a 5-ply maple body. Yes, five. That's 5 sheets of wood for the top, sides and back, which are pressed into formation to make the Casino. If I remember correctly, the top is made of a veneer sandwich of maple and poplar. I could be wrong, or I could be thinking of what Gibson have done. Either one is possible.

Anyway, where does capitalism come into this? It comes in when you ask "How much would all of this cost?" The short answer is "more than it'd be worth to do it." Not only do you have to find how to press veneers together in such a way that you can make the arched (yes, the top is pressed into its arch, it's not carved out) top, but you also have to source the equipment required to do so, and the veneers themselves. It's way too much hassle, money, and general effort for what would generally be a one-off build.

So that's why I'm not approaching the Casino from the angle of building it. Now, onto what I'd actually do to the thing.

Y'ever wonder why Gibson/Epiphone never stuck a PAF in the ES-330/Casino? I have! There's no definite answer to the question, sadly. In my personal opinion, I think it's because they were too scared to try it. It could, just as easily, be that they tried that, and came to the conclusion that it just didn't work, but I personally prefer the idea that it's the former, because Gibson haven't done shit in terms of new stuff. And before you reply with "What about the Theodore," may I remind you that that was stuffed in McCarty's desk for a reason (that being that it's fucking ugly jfc Gibson).

But yeah, this is the main plan: get a Casino, take out the old P90s, and put something like these things in there. Best part, the dogear covers are curved for such use!

Okay, Moving On.

The Telecaster Bass VI

This one is slightly more unique than the Casino build.

So, you remember the Cherry Telecaster XII build? Yeah, the one that required the use of a separate guitar body. I haven't got rid of that original body. It's still sat, waiting to be used. So, what's the plan?

I have some spare parts that I was so graciously given, including a set of tuning machines, a set of Telecaster pickups, ash-tray and saddles. These will all get used in the process of building the TB6. But you might be wondering - what about the neck?

Y'see, the interesting thing about this is that I want to gain experience in building guitars, not just cobbling together kits and calling it a day. I want to learn how to make a guitar from scratch. Part of that, in turn, means learning how to cut and shape a neck, and how to actually do frets.

This is where the kitbashing was supposed to end. However, I got kinda invested in the whole Lennon Les Paul Jr. thing, and that's my hard cutoff point in this case. I hope.

But enough about that, what does this actually entail?

The build entails constructing a neck from scratch, mainly, and modding the remaining pieces in order to smoothly fit the spare parts. That's it.

There's also the deal about finishes, personal touches and all that funk, jazz, and funky jazz, but the main thing to keep in mind is that this is kinda a one-off, and I'll most likely make shit up as I go. That's why this section is so much shorter than the previous one.

Next on the list...

Gretsch Country Gentleman build

This one is a shelved build, but still on the list.

The Gretsch Country Gentleman (numbered as the G6122 by Gretsch) is the signature model of guitar for the late Chet Atkins, one of the most famous American country guitarists of the mid-to-late 1950s.

It also costs, brand new, US$3,499. As much as I like the sound of the guitar, I don't want to even touch that price point, because JESUS CHRIST that's expensive. So what's the next best thing? Why, building it, of course?

Here, we run into the same issue as with the Casino: materials and methods being really expensive. But where the Casino costs less than a grand, this costs US$3,499. In this case, it's worth it.

The Country Gentleman has more documentation, as well as features, so let's run through those:

Bigsby B6 vibrato tailpiece

2 Filter'Trons (TV Jones Classics, in this case)

Mudswitch

Pickup selector

Standby switch

Flip-up foam mutes

Roller bridge for added tuning stability

ElectroTone body (thinline chambered hollow body)

Zero fret

Grover Imperial tuners

For a non-guitar nerd, that might sound weird. Let me break it further down.

The mudswitch has 3 options: no tone circuit factored in (bright as can be), ~9 on a tone knob, and ~5 on a tone knob; the standby switch cuts the signal from the guitar when you don't want your guitar making noise (like in between songs on a live set); the flip-up mutes allow the simulation of palm muting while not needing your hand to constantly rest on the bridge.

As for the rest of the features, they're not exactly important, and also, did I mention that this was a shelved project? The whole reason is that there's a little too much required work for right now.

Next!

Attempting to Recreate John Lennon's Les Paul Junior from a kit

This one is far easier, because most of the leg-work is already done for me.

Firstly, there was a recreation of his Junior back in 2007, done by Gibson themselves, so I can at least take from that to recreate it to my tastes. Secondly, I've a kit to bash this out of, so I can do most of the work without worrying about the rest of the guitar.

One small issue, however - this is the real thing:

Image source: https://www.mattsguitar.shop/en/vendues/gibson-custom-les-paul-junior-john-lennon

Now, you may be wondering, "Hey, um, what the fuck's that pickup in the neck?" That, my friend, is a recreation of the first electric pickup Gibson ever made: the Charlie Christian pickup.

It's technically the ES-150 pickup, designed in 1936, and gaining its common name through the wholesale adoption by famous jazz and bebop guitarist Charlie Christian. Sit back, folks, this one's a doozy.

The original pickups were built using 2 cobalt steel bar magnets, as AlNiCo magnets weren't widespread knowledge at the time, and were used to not only hold the pickup together, but also keep it attached to the top of the guitar. Remember, this was Gibson's first electric pickup, the P90 wouldn't be invented for another 10 years.

They were also wound with an incredibly thick gauge of wire: 38awg. In comparison, modern pickups are wound with either 42 or 43awg. It's not like extreme wire gauges weren't common at the time - Rickenbacker were using 53awg for their pickups for a long while. The only reason they stopped is because they hand-wound their pickups, and 53awg is such an incredibly thin wire, it's prone to breaking with incredible ease.

Anyway, because the pickup uses such large magnets and large wire coils, it's actually rather inefficient. Due to this, it only averaged out a DC resistance of 2.5-4k Ohms, with examples of 1.1-1.5k Ohms being very common.

Now, that's all fine, nor is it my issue. My issue is with the pickup that was used, because he somehow found a lefty pickup??? and he put it in the neck position upside down?????

Okay that needs explaining. How do I know it's a lefty pickup? Because it has this little notch where it'd pass under the B string. You'll find the same sorta thing on a Strat pickup, the pole under the B string is much lower than the others. But the thing about this is that the gap just... goes under the A string instead??? Either John got real lucky, or he asked Gibson to make him one. And either way, I cannot find one that could replicate that, which is why this build is an attempt at a replica.

Okay, last, but CERTAINLY not least.

Fender Marauder build

This one is much less of a doozy than the pickup and the Les Paul Junior. Let's dive in.

First, I need to explain one concept - the offset guitar body. Leo Fender, by all measures, was Fucking Insane by guitar standards. In a good way, that is. He designed the Fender company's biggest guitars just on the concept of improving through feedback. Take the Stratocaster for example: that was designed based on the feedback of wanting:

a vibrato system that could do what the Bigsby could, then return to tuning with ease.

individually adjustable saddles.

a more comfortable body than the slab of the Telecaster.

That's where the Strat came from, but where'd Leo get the idea for this thing, then?

In short, it was Leo getting further into the whole "improvements" thing. Larger pickups for a more defined response, a lead/rhythm circuit that emphasised an individual pickup in the switching, with which the volume and tone became pickup-specific, and a vibrato that was, in theory, easier to use and produce, meaning no need for back routing.

And y'know, he didn't get rid of everything from the Strat. He kept the body contours, the individually adjustible saddles, but he made one interesting change: the body wasn't aligned anymore. Notice the parts where the body curves inwards, around the waist of the guitar. That's the offset.

And, to his credit, the Jazzmaster was the first example of the offset guitar, with the biggest competitor (Gibson) not making a response until 5 years later, in 1963. Their response, being the Thunderbird bass and Firebird guitar, were the first example of a reverse offset, where the lower half of the guitar is more prominent than the upper half.

It was also designed by Ray Dietrich if you're wondering why it looks so off for a guitar. It's barely even offset!

So anyway, the Jazzmaster was the first of many offsets that Fender produced. There was also the:

Jazz Bass

Jaguar

Bass VI

Mustang

Electric XII

Marauder

Now, most of these have become mainstays of the Fender/Squier line-up over the years, except for that last one - the Marauder. Why? Because the Marauder never saw full production, and all the prototypes ended up going into the personal collection of Quilla "Porky" Freeman. A few have appeared here and there since then, but the model never got its time in the limelight.

Oh, sure there was the Modern Player Marauder back in 2010, but good golly gosh, wouldn't you believe it, that got none of the unique features!

Let's compare what it could have been to what it ended up as.

The Type II (2 different images because of the different headstocks)...

And the Modern Player.

Yeah, it's not exactly a competition between them in terms of features. It got done dirty with the reisue.

In case you're confused:

The Marauder was to have individual 3-mode pickup switching, but got shafted with this 5-way blade switch

Planned to have a Mustang vibrato, but got a 6-screw Strat-style trem. I know the Type 1 prototype had the Strat-style trem, but come on, you could stand to at least give it something more unique.

Was to have a lead/rhythm circuit and a standby/kill switch, and got neither one.

Yeah, the Modern Player Marauder holds nary a candle to the prototypes.

So what's my plans for this build? There's many things in my head related to this, from finish and colour to what I'm going to make it with to whether or not I want to make this kinda Red Special-ish with a zero fret and a floating tremolo, or just use a Mustang vibrato.

I do, however, know what I want to do with the pickups! I have a third pickup from the person who gave me the pair of Telecaster pickups, a hot-rodded Broadcaster bridge pickup, which you can probably guess where that's going. However, what about the other 2 pickups?

As the middle pickup, I was thinking a Burns Tri-Sonic (the same pickup as the Red Special), but I'm not sure on the neck pickup. Maybe a Wide-Range Humbucker? Or maybe a PAF copy? It's a series of long and hard thoughts in this case.

So yeah, that's everything! Keep in mind that this is always subject to change. You'd be surprised what goes on in my head to do stuff like this.

[practically-an-x-man]

Uh-oh! Your OCs were bit by a vampire and turned into vampires themselves! How do they deal with their new vampirism? Do they try to go all "vegetarian vampire" like the Twilight vampires, raid the Red Cross, or go full on murder spree?

Ooooh very interesting...

Rae: Probably spirals a bit at first, both at how much her life will change and at the idea of having this vampire curse affecting her in the first place, but Warren lets her feed from him and that turns out to be a fine enough solution. She doesn't have to hurt anyone, and his healing factor means he bounces back really easily (also the innate eroticism of a vampire consensually feeding from their lover- i mean who said that)

Robin: Honestly, she's got a pretty big support system. It would be a little weird at first, but with nine siblings, her partner (who already heals quickly-), and a lot of close friends at the X-Mansion, I'm sure there are a few people who would let her feed on them when she needs to - as long as she buys them lunch afterwards or something.

Madison: Animal blood - usually she buys it from a local butcher, but sometimes will go out and hunt it herself since she's already good at hunting/trapping animals

Ophelia: Conducts some tests to work out what compound(s) in the blood she actually needs, then synthesizes them chemically so she doesn't have to drink blood at all (just take a pill or inject the compound like medicine)

Gia: Starts incorporating a lot of blood sausage and other blood-based foods into her diet - which doesn't really help, since vampirism is usually rooted in fresh blood, but it's all she can think to do. And her clover probably fixes that for her anyway, so she doesn't even realize forcing herself to eat blood sausage with every meal isn't doing anything.

Jasper: You might think they'd default to blood bags since they're a nurse and have access, but... there's a blood shortage, and it's honestly more dangerous since that blood is usually given to patients who will die without a transfusion. They probably seek out the help of the witches to try and get un-vampirized, first and foremost.

Kestrel: If one of their charms can't break the curse, they're sure there's something or someone else out there in the magical world that can. I don't think Fablehaven vampires even work like that, honestly - I don't think Kestrel could become a vampire in the first place.

Katherine: She's already pretty nocturnal just from being involved with the museum, so avoiding the sun wouldn't be a huge problem for her. As for blood, it's probably similar to Madison's method - buy it from a butcher. The only difference is that Madison doesn't care and usually just drinks it straight, while Katherine works hard to try and mask the taste by incorporating it into other foods.

Quinn: Murder spree. Or at least a feeding spree - murder is a little above the sort of things she usually does, and she's not callous enough to pretend that wouldn't affect her, but she doesn't mind feeding from strangers as long as they'll walk away from it.

Eris: I mean, I can't say much as changed aside from them now drinking from the people they kill. Their healing factor negates most of the sun-damage and other effects anyway, so I think most people in his life wouldn't even realize he'd become a vampire for a good long while lol.

Nikoletta: Voodoo scam 2, electric boogaloo. She's already used to swindling gullible tourists out of their money, and with a few small adaptations she can swindle them out of their blood too. It takes a little while to set up, but think about it: one small vial of blood from each tourist who wants a "voodoo love potion" or "mystic shield" or whatever the hell else she can convince them off, dozens of those little vials every day from people who hardly even notice the difference, versus prowling the streets and taking that much blood from a single person, more effort and more danger? Hardly a choice at all. This is almost easy.

Jimmy: He's a ghost. He's got bigger problems to deal with.

Vivienne: Aha, the only one of my OCs that's actually from a piece of vampire-based media! However... my answer is going to be a little boring, because Vivienne physically cannot become a vampire. Curses like that don't stack up, and it's already a siren. (and yes, this is something I will establish in her fic when I write it - Vivienne can't save Anna by turning her into a siren, because Anna's already been claimed by the vampire curse)

Spider: In his usual life before the apocalypse, he'd probably just end up being one of those weird artists that's like "Hey I'll pay you to get a blood draw for me so I can paint with it", and there would be a whole lot of people who are like "Ok this is weird but I guess it's just art, and I can make a quick hundred bucks which is more than I'd get at the Red Cross anyway-". He gets the reputation as a bit of a weirdo, but a lot of people in the film industry are a little weird, and he's not really doing anything wrong because it's all consensual... he just doesn't tell them he's not actually using the blood as paint. I guarantee you he's still like the fourth-weirdest person on any given film set he works on.

After the whole apocalypse with the Death Angels and all, he's probably dead. What is he gonna do, drink blood from the freaking space aliens that are killing everyone? Even if he found a human or animal host to use among all the violence the Death Angels are causing... good luck trying to feed on them without anyone making a sound. Maybe he could raid a hospital for their blood stores since nobody's really using them anymore, but... let's be real, that's an awful circumstance to be turned into a vampire.

[necarion]

Slow charging in parking lots?

Was working through a thought experiment with @jadagul about one way of improving car charging infrastructure in the US by using unmetered slow-chargers (120V plug outlets) in parking lots.

Obviously, building out a metered fast charger (or even 240V charger) is going to be far, far more expensive than running a 120V line out to that same space. 120V chargers can charge about 1 kW, and electric cars get 2-5 miles/kWh, so a slow charger space can add about 2-5 charge-miles/hour parked. This isn't a lot, but it's enough to cover a ton of ordinary shopping trips in the US. And even if it wasn't a net-positive, it still reduces the effective milage of the trip by 2-5 charge-miles/hour.

One advantage of this system is that it would tend to increase the dwell time inside the store ("we're getting free charging!") so people would tend to buy more stuff.

The problem is that electricity isn't free. Now, I'm going to take a lot of upper bound estimates here.

In CA, rates are something like $0.30/kWh (CA is an outlier in electricity costs, but it's where I live, so). So for a store to be able to eat the cost of the unmetered space, they need to make $0.30/hour more profit per-customer. As a lot of these places are operating under tiny margins (like 2-3% for stores like Walmart), that's about $17 revenue/customer-hour to make this fully pencil out. And that's assuming that every space that's charging is a customer in the store who might be buying things.

Now, to be a little more reasonable, the extra spending a customer might do at the end, trying to eke out another 5 minutes charging (people aren't rational here) is somewhat more likely to be on stuff that isn't quite as small a margin. Checkout candy bars are like 35% margin, so adding 1 candy bar/hour/space would make up that margin. And marginal profit is generally higher than average profit on anything at the store.

And if electricity prices drop to $0.15/kWh (like they are in Texas during on-peak, a rate which is falling as they add solar) on a store with 3% margin, you're starting to see costs at closer to $5 revenue/space/customer-hour. That might actually reach a level we could subsidize, especially when paired with wealthier customers buying higher-margin stuff.

We could also consider subsidizing it through encouraging stores to add solar. One panel produces something like 500W during daytime, so at two panels you're at net-zero during daylight hours even for 100% occupancy. I could imagine having a bonus subsidy for solar panels if you do 1 slow-charger / 4 panels, or something like that. You could even allow stores to only provide free slow charging during daylight hours, although that makes things less attractive for customers, and for the argument for switching to an electric car, that you can just charge in any parking lot.

Lastly, "free slow charging" is something that works a lot better in places where there is a certain degree of audience-captivity. i.e., paid parking garages. City parking lots could more easily spread out the rate increases to all the customers (which is the direction of the subsidy we want, anyway, right?). If you had a parking garage that advertised "free slow charging" on 20% of its spaces, it could increase the hourly rate by like $0.10/hour on all the customers and come out well-ahead. And for all-day garages, this is even better because you can (1) add $1/day which is a nice round number, and (2) the customers can get 20-30 miles of charge. (Now, this does mean that the garages would lose some customers to garages that don't do that, but this is one place where the subsidy comes in to get the transition in the first place). Movie theaters could also handle that through slightly higher ticket prices.

(Funny option for making the public happy if we do subsidize this: we do this via the car companies, who give the money to the big parking lots on the DL.)

Ultimately, this (free slow charging) is something that might ultimately be a viable option to speed the transition to electric vehicles. I feel like in 10 years, the regular charging network should be sufficiently built-out that we can probably figure out actual metering systems here, even for the slow charging ports. And electricity prices seem to be coming down due to the massive build-out of solar, wind (and hopefully nuclear).

We really need to speed the transition to electric vehicles as much as we can. As a thing developed countries could handle subsidizing for a couple years, adding out free slow-parking in big parking lots seems like something that might just be plausible.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Meteor Shower

Summary: Icy has a musical career full of scandals and controversies. She, Darcy, and Stormy strive to beat the faeries in spite of them. But there are things in Icy's past that threaten to work their way into the present and ruin their image. Bloom knows her secret.

Icy slams her eyeshadow onto the dresser, cracking the plastic lid. “I have had it with these losers!” She fidgets with her choker and practically yanks it off. 

Darcy and Stormy flinch when it too slaps onto the dresser. 

“Nobody has any taste! It’s always those prissy little pop fairies who get the awards and attention. Nobody knows good music anymore!”

“They never did…” Stormy starts.

“They wouldn’t know real music if it bit them in the ass and…” She slams her fist onto the dresser, the eyeshadow palette leaps and full bottles of absinthe rattle. “I swear, the minute you add an electric guitar and take out the autotune you forfeit your chances to win anything! Apparently to get any awards you need to sacrifice real talent and make recycled, rehashed garbage. The same easily digestible bullshit!”

“Well that’s why it’s called pop music, it’s popular.” Darcy points out. 

“It’s fucking genaric, that’s what it is.” Icy swipes one of the bottles and flops onto the couch, something between a pout and a scowl etched onto her face.

“What do you want an award for anyways?” Stormy asks. “It’s not like we need mainstream approval.” 

Icy shrugs. “I want the award money, Stormy. I’d like to be able to buy a new guitar or some new boots.” She glances down at her pair of platforms. The worn, tattered look might work for some outfits, but she’d like a pair that works with everything.

“Well maybe we can take out the guitars, add some autotune…”

“And sellout, Darcy?” Icy finishes. 

“I’m not saying that we have to make some silly pop single. There are other genres. We could try Witch House. Darkwave. EBM.” 

“That cybergoth shit? Do I look like a cybergoth to you?”

“Well no. But…”

Icy gives her a dismissive wave. “Forget it.” She snaps. “Just sit down and help me finish this.” She lifts the bottle. It helps keep her mind from wandering back to days when awards came in abundance. Keeps her from wondering when it had all gone wrong. Sometimes she thinks that she is teetering right on the edge of having a problem. Another problem rather, on top of the ones that she already has.

Stormy holds out a glass and Icy fills it until a soft green steam rolls off the top. She takes a sip from her own glass, the absinthe burns cold as it works its way down her throat, leaving a strong tang of licorice on her pierced tongue.

“We'll figure something out.” Darcy murmurs.

“Yeah. Sure.” Icy taps a sleekly and darkly blue manicured fingernail on the bottle’s face and watches the bubbles fizzle to the top. “We also need to figure out how to get that loser Lucy to stop stalking around backstage.” 

“Well isn’t it a good thing…that we have a dedicated fanbase?” Stormy quirks a brow. 

Icy shrugs. “It’s agitating, that’s what it is.” Sometimes she thinks that she is simply getting tired of the music scene and the spotlight, however dim it has grown. Maybe it is well past time to quit and let the tasteless idiots of the world have their silly fairy pop group. Maybe she should have quit after that first scandal. She grips the bottle tighter. But she can’t let those fairies beat she and her fellow witches at this too.

.oOo.

Everything is glitter and glitz; first there is the golden shimmer of eyeshadow, second there is the sparkling of sequined fabric catching in the spotlight, third there is the glint of the confetti on the ground in shades of yellow and rose gold. Fourth there are the smiles, sparklingly white behind lips painted with  pastel pink lip gloss smelling of strawberry and cherry. Fifth there are the personalities—shiny, bright, and bubbly. Lastly and most glimmeringly are the voices. Voices like summer and springtime, rays of sunlight and gossamer butterfly wings. There are six of them Topaz, Diamond, Ruby, Goldstone, Chalcedony, and Kyanite.

Chalcedony sings like waves crashing against a pink sand shore and a shower of petals.

Diamond has the voice of December, of a soft and quiet snowfall.

Goldstone has the voice of midsummer sunshine, of a smoldering July.

Ruby’s singing is more of a feeling, the thrill of being so close to the finish line with a competitor only centimeters behind.

Topaz’s voice is lemon cakes, soft, pillowy, but with a very bold zing.

Kyanite sings the way that fireflies dance over a pond just before they leave for the rest of the summer.

Chalcedony is the fan favorite. Soft and innocent.

Diamond is the face of the group with her cutting, cold beauty.

Goldstone is her warmer counterpart and the group’s rapper.

Ruby can dance and she does it exceptionally. 

Topaz provides excellent background moves and harmonizes well.

Kyanite is the lead singer but it is easy to forget.

Kyanite doesn’t mind.

And it doesn’t bother her that her stage name is screamed less often and less loudly than the rest. Mostly they scream for Chalcedony or Diamond anyways. It is almost deafening. 

And it puts a tickle in her tummy—she wasn’t supposed to have come this far and that is why she hadn’t prepared herself for it properly and likely why she is a background character in her own girl group. Or maybe she just hadn’t expected it to be so overwhelming. Years of small crowds have taken her guard down. She has been doing this for ages, since she was a little girl. 

And every year she somehow seems to lose more and more of her nerve. She finds it quite peculiar that she was so much bolder as a child. But then, mistakes are more forgivable with youth. A missed note or a trip and fall is endearing when a child does it. When a teen fumbles it is something to gossip about for days. 

The magazines love gossip. 

Popstars do not. 

She does not. 

Chalcedony is particularly sensitive to gossip.

Kyanite takes a deep breath and looks down the stage. Ruby who always stands to her right gives her a thumbs up. Topaz, who always stands to her left, flashes a smile. If this goes poorly she will have at least one thing going for her; five things really. She will have them.

She picks up her microphone and holds it to her lips. She closes her eyes, it helps her connect with the music. She likes to think that the rest comes naturally. But her feet don’t move as intuitively when she is thinking about it. Her speech is always softer too. When she is nervous she tends to sound more like Chalcedony than herself and that throws off the harmony that they had been practicing. Her voice is the deepest of all of them, they can’t afford to lose it…especially not to nerves.

Kyanite is running out of time, Diamond finishes her verse and Ruby begins hers. She has only until Topaz finishes repeating Ruby’s last lyric to prepare herself for her own verse. So approximately fourteen seconds. 

She inhales and the spotlight falls upon her. 

Tonight her voice comes like a rippling pond, vacant of fireflies but full of stars and moonlight. 

Tonight she sings better than she ever has. An amazing start to a new era of MeTor music and a sublime start to an end that she doesn’t see coming.

Tomorrow she will meet Valtor.

[talkethtothehandeth]

Hi, I have EDS and use forearm crutches! I actually recommend the brand SmartCrutch because they are fully adjustable. If you haven't used forearm crutches before, it can be difficult to guess what angle is going to be the most comfortable/least strenuous. Being able to adjust the angle to the exact right spot is a huge advantage. I was actually lucky enough to borrow a pair to try them from a friend before I purchased them to see if it was comfortable. They even were kind enough to include a bag I can attach to my crutch free of charge. (Buy through their website, not through Amazon if at all possible!)

I have difficulty in all my joints but especially in my wrists, so anything that puts strain on my wrists was gonna be a no-go. I probably won't be able to do a self propelled wheelchair because of the severity, electric wheelchairs are way too expensive, but I needed something to help me when I have to leave the house. So, in comes the forearm crutches!

When set to the right height and angle I don't feel like it's putting any additional strain on any joints in particular, but it does make walking easier and less painful. If you ever lean against a railing (say, going on stairs or a long the edge of something) it's kinda of like having a railing to lean on wherever you go. I don't grip the handles very hard, I just have a loose grip or rest my palms against the handles. I do personally have mine set more horizontal, but my friend prefers hers slightly more vertical.

The only cons I've noticed are if I go out using both of them, I don't have an easily free hand to grab or hold things. I have a bag on one crutch that helps, but I've dropped a ton of things, like drinks. I often have to ask people who are with me to carry things for me.

The other con (sorta) is that while I'm not straining my joints, I am using a new set of muscles to walk. I did experience muscle fatigue in my arms at first, which got better with practice. I recommend treating them like a physical therapy exercise at first, where you have to train the muscles a little at a time until they figure out the whole walking thing. I don't notice the muscle fatigue in my arms anymore unless I'm up and active for an unusually long time.

I still haven't mastered staircases with crutches. I avoid them as much as possible, but when they're unavoidable I feel awkward using the crutches. It's uncomfortable having the crutches height change when it's up or down a step. Usually I just lift the crutches off the ground, brace against the built in stair railing, and slide up/down the stairs like that. One day maybe I'll figure out how you use the crutches on stairs.

Overall I adore my forearm crutches, they make my life a lot easier! I have them decorated with stickers, ribbons, flowers, and the bag has buttons on it. I think they look pretty cute now and I'm thrilled with them. SmartCrutch is a black base but can put decorative skins on the arm piece, but I got mine plain black because I always intended to decorate them myself and the skins didn't match my vision.

Thank you so much! I know that it will take a lot of adjusting since, like you said, it'll be a new set of muscles working much more for the actual walking and also keeping balance.

I've been looking at SmartCrutch brand for a long time, but never bought one because of the price. They're pretty expensive (I mean, all mobility aids unfortunately are). I would probably get a cheaper set from somewhere like Amazon/Norco and then paint them purple, and if it worked for me, or mostly worked and I felt like I needed more support than what the generic brands could offer, I would probably go for the SmartCrutch brand.

I'm so glad you were able to personalize yours! They sound so cute 🫶🏻 and I’m so glad to hear they help you!!

I really like the color range that SmartCrutch offers. I would probably either get the axolotl cove, or the sunflower fields!

[finniestoncrane]

Hi this is my first time requesting,

Could I request no. 9 from the event?

I'm a really short nonbinary artist from the northeast coast of the US, I like the cold and my favorite holiday is Halloween, my favorite season is Autumn and I like crows.

I have pretty bad anxiety and gender dysphoria, I stay in my house most of the time, and my favorite color is green, but I also like purple and orange. I can be chaotic at points but recently I've had to chill out because of some stuff I went through, and I like swimming.

I like technology and science, and I'm impulsive at points, most of the time I rely on my instincts and knowledge, I act like a dumbass but I have moments of genius.

One of my favorite things to do on Halloween is to pretend I'm a decoration and scare Trick-or-Treaters, it's some of the most fun I tend to have.

Bright lights tend to annoy me, and I bring an umbrella with me whenever I go outside when the sun is out because I burn easily. I also collect pins and bells, mostly pins though.

I can play piano and I've been trying to learn the violin, music is something that I've always loved ever since I was a little kid. At this point it helps me get up in the mornings and has become a requirement to my routines.

My art tends to lean in a sort of cute-yet-terrifying direction, but I do like drawing monsters. My creativity is what drives me for the most part, the other being spite towards my horrible mother to be successful when she didn't believe I could be.

🎀 No.9: Ever Fallen In Love With Someone 🎀

tell me a little bit about yourself and i'll give you a rogue pairing a/n: mmm i am giving you one of my top picks for myself, i hope he's right for you!! 1k milestone info! 🔞minors dni🔞 • kofi • tag: finnie1k

ok yeah halloween, autumn and crows. i was definitely giving you a scarecrow, but this one is perfect for you

he's a homebody, except for when he's teaching or he's out committing crimes. he'd like nothing more than to relax at home with you

any issues you have, past or present, he's so happy to talk through them with you. his degree makes him super helpful with that kind of thing. a chance to put it into practice for someone who deserves it and can utilise it would be wonderful

he relies heavily on his knowledge for most things, especially his crimes. instinct plays a part in that he supposes, but someone who is willing to learn and retain would be after his own heart

an opportunity to do some scaring without it needing to be related to crime would be so relaxing for him, terror for pure enjoyment is something he would cherish, so terrorising the neighbourhood with you? absolutely perfect bonding activity

he's a bit of a shadow, preferring darkness to the light. he'd rather read with a dim overhead or by candlelight for the aesthetics (and also to save on the electric bill)

ah, someone with creative talents would bring so much joy to his life. some haunting, but beautiful music to score his days? he'd treasure that so much, and it would add wonderfully to the ambience he's trying to cultivate for himself. you can play while he reads and offer him some peaceful background noise. he'd encourage you to pursue your talents also, enthusiastically! he'd watch you practice, provide you some feedback, and he'd be in the front row if you ever played somewhere

he'd cover the walls in your art, truly. and he'd probably encourage you to help him design his costumes or his scares. an artistic rendition of what he's trying to achieve would make it easier to explain it to his strawmen, who are a bit less intellectual than he is

and he would understand the spite very well. everything he does is in the name of spite against his childhood bullies, his colleagues at the university. although he does also do things for money to buy books and to spoil you. but he would believe wholeheartedly that you were brilliant and wonderful and deserving of someone to tell you that every day

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 12- Part 3

Oh!! Claus!! That old guy was right, Claus really is showering us with presents!

UM?? HEY, THAT’S PRETTY GOOD. THANK YOU.

Well, that worked out shockingly well! Now what do the other ladies have to say?

Hmm- odd that we still don’t have a Coin Case…then again, I don’t exactly remember how we get the Coin Case in mainline games. Like, I thought you get it once you go into the Game Corner for the first time, but maybe not? Maybe there’s more to it than that? And that means there’s more to it here, too?

Alright, well, we can’t get any of these prizes right now anyways, but no harm in simply seeing what-

GAH-!? SLUGMA!? AND SNOVER!? JUST RIGHT THERE, FOR THE BUYING!? RIGHT BEFORE THE GRASS GYM!?

Okay, forget EVERYTHING I said before, we are going on our gambling arc! I need those two Pokémon!! Where’s the Coin Case!?

Those are…fine TMs, but it’s not the Coin Case! WHERE’S THE COIN CASE!?

Oh, you’ve got to be…lemme guess, we don’t get the Coin Case until after we beat Florinia, right? Because giving the player access to a Fire-type and an Ice/Grass-type would make things a bit too easy in a Grass-type Gym, huh? Like how we couldn’t get an actual Ground-type for Julia’s Gym (unless you chose Mudkip as your starter, I guess)?

Alright, fine, game! We’ve got plenty of other Pokémon in the PC we can work with, we don’t…need a Fire-type…

So, with Onyx Arcade a bust, let’s get to work figuring out a team to take on Florinia. The thing about Florinia and Grass-types though is…unlike Julia and her Electric-types, it’s really hard for me to get a read on what she could have besides the monotype. 

First of all, while Grass-types might have a lot of weaknesses, there are also many ways to counter those weaknesses, especially taking dual types into account. Unlike with Electric-types, where you can at least have the overall “Ground weakness” as like a safety net more often than not (and in the cases of Ground immunity, you can more easily guess the circumstances where that would apply), there is WAY more to think about with Grass-types. 

A perfect example of what I mean is what I believe to be Florinia’s ace: Cradily. As a Rock/Grass type, it still retains several of the typical Grass weaknesses- namely Ice and Bug- with a few new weaknesses in the form of Fighting and Steel. However, being part Rock-type, trying to use Ice or Bug Pokémon against it is extremely dangerous, we don’t have access to Steel-types right now, which just kinda leaves Fighting as the truly safest option. Not to mention Cradily could have Ancient Power, and if it gets that omni-boost…oh boy, we’ll be in danger. And that’s just ONE Pokémon she could have!

Second of all, Florinia herself makes it really difficult to gauge what kind of Pokémon she might have as well. 

Like- look at Julia. What can be said about her? She’s an Electric-type specialist, she’s a cheerleader, and she REALLY likes explosions. With that information, the player can easily guess she’ll have a Voltorb and/or an Electrode (indeed, she has both) due to her pyromania, Plusle and/or Minun (again, she has both) to connect to her being a cheerleader, and Pom-Pom Oricorio to both also connect to cheerleading and because it’s the logical counter to any attempts to do Ground things (being a Flying-type). There, right out of the gate, the player can deduce at least half (in reality, 5/6) of her team before even challenging her, just by her character traits.

For Florinia- well, it’s not that she isn’t a distinct character, she very much is. She’s the head instructor at a prestigious Trainers’ school, described as robotic, she’s highly intelligent, and she’s also good with technology. How does that translate into a Grass-type team? We know for a fact that she’ll have a Cradily- what else…? 

An instructor for a Trainers’ school…Fighting-type, maybe? So, most realistically…Breloom? Perhaps a Psychic-type to reflect Florinia’s intelligence and to counter Poison-types…Exeggutor? Maybe she might also have Mow Rotom because…technology and hacking, and an Electric-type would be kinda cheeky? Being an intellectual, Florinia might be more apt to use more setup-themed strategies, like…entrance hazards. Ferroseed/Ferrothorn with Spikes might be good for that, in addition to resisting most of Grass’s typical weaknesses. And maybe she could also have Roselia/Roserade with Toxic Spikes (or just Toxic) for this same principle, and as a reference to her relation to Fern. Alternatively, I recall one NPC bringing up Vileplume and Bellossom- could that have been foreshadowing to Florinia’s team having one of those as well?

All in all- lots of words, very little concrete thoughts. It’s a bit…daunting, but I may be better off just trying to cover the general weaknesses of Grass-types as much as I can and going from there. 

Thus, after digging around the PC, my current team is:

Glare and Prong to cover Poison- and Bug-types, Claus to cover the Ice niche, our soon-to-be-renamed Noibat to cover Flying and have a whopping quad resistance to Grass, and Brawler specifically to help deal with Cradily. I don’t like the idea of having just one Pokémon to deal with just one opponent, but a Fighting-type seems like the best bet against the possibilities that Cradily can bring to the table.

Now, of course, some level-grinding is required, but before we embark to Grand Hall, there are a few other things I want to take care of. First of all, something that was brought to my attention by a reader- remember way back when, when I was really confused about what the Data Chip was for? Well, if we go into the PC, we go down and see an option that I kinda brushed off before…

The “Add Password” option. Why did I ignore this option until now? I dunno- maybe I’m just so focused on going into the big Pokémon PC that I don’t really pay attention to the other options. Anyways, by selecting this option, we get taken here-

And this is what the Data Chips are for- they’re what you use to input passwords! And this is how you put those passwords in if you didn’t do it with Ame at the start of the game! Which theoretically means I could use that “litemode” thing, but that’s NOT what I’m aiming for here! No- the one that I was made aware of was this one:

And this password does exactly what you think it does: it makes it so, as long as you have the proper TMX and Badge, you can use the TMXs in the field without needing to have a Pokémon learn the move! The very thing I ranted about before!

FAREWELL, WANNABE HMS! But did it actually work? Well, we need to head to Grand Hall anyways, so let’s test it out on a Headbutt tree.

IT WORKS! 

And now, there’s one more little thing we need to do- change the Noibat’s name at the Name Rater! Just need to…remember where the Name Rater’s house is. I know it’s in Peridot Ward, but like- where is it, again?

Is it up this way? Is it over this way? Do I go up and around the-

…Why is Shelly hanging out with a fire-haired guy? Ah, whatever, I don’t have time to ask questions right now-

There it is, finally! Let’s go in and finish up this little personal quest-

Well joke’s on you Mr. Rater, that’s not an option in this game so here we are!!

Previous

Next

[trainsinanime]

Motor Replacement

Time for another model railroad project! The victim this time is this little Kato N-gauge tram:

Kato just calls these DUEWAG tram and reissues them every now and then with different liveries (this one features Cologne). Technically, they’re Aufbau- or Verbandwagen, two types that were built by a number of companies in post-war Germany, sometimes on the basis of older vehicles, sometimes new. Kato’s model is relatively cheap and based around their two-axle chassis that is also used in their pocket line trains, and it’s okay at best. No flywheel, old motor, just two wheels for power pickup, you can’t really expect much here.

Recently, Kato introduced a completely redesigned version of this chassis, with a tiny coreless motor with a flywheel. The difference is night and day: These new trains run perfectly even at low speed and are incredibly quiet and smooth. Kato sells replacement chassis, and if you have any pocket line train from them, you should really consider buying it, even if DCC installation is a big hassle there.

Sadly they don’t sell a tram version of the replacement chassis yet (they do sell exactly one tram with the new chassis), and since all the plastic parts were completely redesigned, you can’t fit the new mechanics into the old chassis.

So I decided to convert this to a coreless motor myself. A coreless motor is a DC electric motor where the spinning part does not contain an iron core, which decreases weight and undesirable magnetic effects. They used to be very expensive to manufacture, and you could only find them in the most expensive model trains, or in super-expensive conversion kits. A motor by brands such as Faulhaber or Maxon can easily cost 50-100€.

But these days, you can also find really cheap tiny coreless motors for like 20€ or less. I’m certain they’re not as good as the brand name ones, but they’re much more attractive. I bought mine from micromotor.eu (via a big green retailer), but there are plenty of other sites available as well.

Here’s the old motor, surrounded by the new motor, shaft extension/adapter and worm gears:

There’s notably no flywheel here; the tiniest motor they sell with shafts on both end, like the original, is the 0816D, which stands for 8 mm diameter, 16 mm length (both approximately) and dual outputs, and that makes it as long as the original. There’s no space for a flywheel, sadly.

To fit the motor into the train, I designed an adapter that would give it the right size, and then 3D printed it (not myself, I use Shapeways for that).

I stole that idea from micromotor.eu, which sell kits with such adapters for many different types of trains, but sadly not this one (yet). The motor is glued into the adapter with superglue, through the hole in the adapter. It needs to be wired up manually, but since I’m running DCC, that’s literally no change; I just added some longer leads here.

And here it’s in the chassis:

So, how does it all work? Well, I’d show you, but apparently I can’t insert a video in the middle of a post and I’m not changing the post type now and loosing all formatting. What I can tell you is that it runs at all, which makes me happy.

The downside is that I don’t have the relative positioning between the cogs on the wheels and the worm gears perfect, so the result is that it can be loud at times (and that is after putting a lot of cardboard shims in there). Also, the lack of flywheel is really noticeable. Power pickup remains as poor as ever, and the tram remains very sensitive to dirt on the track.

Overall, the result is… pretty much useless, actually; it was a lot of effort to get back to about the same behaviour as before. On the other hand, I had fun and learned things, so it isn’t all bleak. But still, I cannot recommend you try this yourself.

[the-therapist-is-ace]

Bendy?

(Here's a little something that I wrote after BATDR. I feel like everyone was thinking the same as I did when we saw Bendy Benders and the twist at Chapter 4 x)

So naturally SPOILERS! SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!

Here's a VERY self-indulgent thing, with a self-insert -or is it a Bendy insert?- Also disclaimer, English isn't my mother tongue so I'm sorry if there's grammatical errors ^^')

"{...} It was delightful to see such progress. The Ink Demon will stay in this small form indefinitely."

"THESE SON OF A BITCH!"

You slam your fist in anger on your desk. The new game had his downsides, but its also had its qualities, and one of them was definitely the little cute Perfect Bendy (called Baby Benders by the fandom) that followed you around in the city at the beginning of the fourth chapter.

He was just a cute little thing that tried to help, and was easily scared.

Well, or so you thought until getting to the GENT building entrance; seeing the Ink Demon morph into Baby Bendy was... something. You half-expected it -there have been theories after all- but seeing it was another thing entierly.

Anyway, after seeing the toon run away -again- you decided to explore the building. After an encounter with the Keepers (they were fucking creepy you decided after seeing and most importantly hearing them) you found tapes talking about experiences run on the Ink Demon.

The Keepers had tried many things before being able to shrink the demon in his toon form; torture mostly. But what you just heard was different: they admitted that they continu to torture him even when they got him into his weaker state. ENJOYED his screams of pain and tears of ink. And probably continued until the poor thing run away.

To make things worst you can't even hurt them with your pipe and are forced to hide away from their sight. Fuckers.

Anyway, now you are insulting the Keepers and Wilson for what they've done to an innocent guy like him; this isn't the Ink Demon. They said it themselves; he's much more timid in this state, and you saw through the game that he was mostly scared and trying to be helpful, nothing more.

Even then, the Ink Demon technically wasn't bad until Joey started to abuse him; the audio log said as much. At first he was merely roaming around, mostly confused. And yes he may have scared a person or two with his appearance, but it's not like he could do something about it. That wasn't his fault. (RIGHT JOEY? You and your goddamn "just a pencil and a dream" bullshit.)

Now you were officially an Ink Demon apologetic, congratulations for joining us. We have cookies over here and Sammy will play you a tune on the banjo as a welcome. (speaking of which where the fuck is he and the main cast? You haven't seen any of them since the beginning of the game! -asides from a quick cameo of Allisson and Boris in the first Chapter-)

All of that just to say: you were pissed.

Pissed at the Keepers and Wilson that hurted and traumatized so horribly a creature that techincally didn't do anything wrong.

So pissed in fact, that you haven't noticed that your computer was starting to overheat from the numerous hours in a row of playing. (you don't have a gamer computer) So pissed that you even throw a punch at your screen because a Keeper just found you and you needed to evacuate your frustration before getting a game over screen.

So pissed that you didn't see the wave of electricity passing from the game to your hand until you felt it.

"Goddamn piece of shit I'll fucking DESTROY YOU- OW FUCK!"

You wince as you jerk your hand away from the screen in a hurry. The screen is fractured, and your computer shut itself on the impact.

Well looks like I'm good to buy another one. you think bitterly.

However, you quickly forget this when you hear a sound of something falling on the ground in the room next to your bedroom: the living room.

That wouldn't have been a problem if you weren't living alone for at least two years.

And you didn't had guests come over today.

Game and destroyed computer completely forgotten now, you slowly shut your computer off and silently got up. As quietly as possible you go to the living room, phone in hand and the police's number ready to be called. And...

Nothing.

There wasn't anyone in the living room. You frown. You're sure that you heard something! And you don't have pets, you're allergic. You don't have neightbors upon or below you as well so it can't be that either.

"Is someone there?" no response.

No response but a little squeaking noise. You smirked. Got you!

And well, you can't help it. You were just playing BATDR so you allow yourself a quote from its predecessor.

"I know you're in here! Come up and show yourself." Let just hope that whatever it is, it's as friendly as Boris is... you think to yourself.

Silence once again. You hear another noise, this time a shuffling one. Is the thing hiding behind the curtains or under the sofa? It must be quite small then. But wait, if it's small and didn't attacked... Perhaps it's frightened? Then...

"You can come out... I won't hurt you. you say in a much gentler voice and crouched down. I promise."

Is an animal even going to understand me? you ponder before hearing another shuffling noise. It looks like it really is a scared pet and not a robber.

Reassured, you get up put your phone on the table -you don't want to scare it even more with a thing in your hand- and turned back to-

Oh.

You pause. You blink several times to do a double take. You even pinch yourself to be sure that you aren't dreaming. But nope, no matter what you do, you still see the same thing.

Bendy.

In front of you.

Who just got out of hiding under the sofa.

Okay this is it; I lost it. you decide. I have fucking hallucinations now. Great. Awsome. What's the number of the nearest psychiatric hospital?

"Bendy" doesn't say anything -not that he could talk in the game in his toon form- and just continu to look at you with clear hesitation and fear in his eyes.

After doing a staring contest -in which you were FREAKING THE FUCK OUT INTERNALLY- for several minutes, the facts of the situation catches up to you. This is Baby Bendy. A toon that -from what you've just learned- only knows pain, torture, fear and disgust until Audrey came along. And is now in a completely new environnement, with someone that he doesn't know and who's way taller and stronger than him.

And upon remembering that, your resolution disolved.

You know what? Screw it. Even if it's an hallucination... you scrouch down once more in front of him.

In response, he take a step back. Like when he met Audrey... You gulped and try to put a smile on your face.

"Hey... Bendy right?"

Upon hearing his name, the toon take another step back. Yeah that's fair. you think, remembering the blasted recordings.

"I'm sorry if I scared you... you trailed off, not really knowing what to say. I thought there was a robber in my house."

"Bendy" shake his head and put his hands before him like at the begining of chapter four when he met Audrey again. You smile at that.

"Oh so you aren't trying to rob me? you say in an amused tone and smiled even more upon seeing him shaking his head again. Awsome. But then, what are you doing here?"

He seems to think for a bit, before shaking his head again.

"Don't have a clue uh? another shake. Well that makes two of us..."

He doesn't seems too bothered by it, you noticed. Then again, he've seen crazier things... And deadlier things.

You cringed at the thought. However, you quickly smile back at the little devil when he tilt his head to the side in confusion.

"It's nothing little guy. you assure him. I just... didn't expected that I guess. you shrugged. But I'm not complaining! you quickly add to not make him feel bad. Just... I have a living toon that just appeared in my living room now."

He doesn't seem to know how to respond to that, so he just doesn't. Continu to stare at you with his big, pie cut eyes.

Well... He sure as hell won't hurt me. And he's scared and confused... I can't leave him like that can I?

You slowly reach out to him with your hand. As expected, he take another step back, and another, until he's cornered by the sofa. At that he looks up to you with ink-tears at the border of his eyes out of fear and you feel your heart shatter.

"Hey- hey come on, I promise I won't hurt you... you spin your hands so that he can see you don't have anything in -or on- them. See? I don't have anything. And no ink either. I won't hurt you... please?"

It definitely takes longer than with Audrey (then again it's happening afterwards... and he got hurt.) but little by little, he take a step forwards. Then another. And then he hesitantly stretch his hand to touch yours. You smile at that and gently squeeze it.

"See? It doesn't hurt does it?"

He shake his head and show his trademark smile afterwards. The ink-tears are nowhere to be seen. He take another step forwards and then before you knows it he's reaching for your other hand.

You blink at that; you didn't expected him to make another move so quickly. But then you remember; he was really quick to forgive Audrey too, despite the fact that she hurt him.

He's desesperate for affection. you realized.

Now you're the one that risk to cry at any moment. But you shove them off and smiled again -it's starting to hurt but you don't care- and gently, oh so gently you take his other hand.

"There we go little guy." you say softly.

Bendy seemed content with the contact for a while (you're almost certain that you can hear him purr and ohmygod it's so CUTE!) before he starts to move again.

He's moving both of yours arms up, and down, and on the sides and- oh.

He's trying to dance. you realized.

Of course. He's called "The dancing demon" why wouldn't know how to? You laugh softly, earning his attention. You grin.

"May I have this danse, Bendy?"

Upon hearing those words, you can see Bendy beam and his pie cut eyes have stars in them. (it's SO GODDAMN CUTE-) He nod several times, clearly happy and starts to guide you in a dance that you never heard of -probably was popular in the 1930's giving Bendy's creation period- for several minutes.

You let him guide you for a while before he suddenly stops, a growling sound can be heard. He let go of your hand to hide his face in -you suppose- embarassment.

"You're hungry little guy? you say with a smile. It's okay, I can prepare you something-"

You stop. He just looked at you with so much hope in his eyes that it hurts to look at. Then you realize another thing.

Of course. Those bastards certainly didn't give him anything to eat. He's a toon, he probably doesn't need to survive... But. you look at him once more. He can feel hunger too. In the cartoons, they eat as well... and food in the studio is not easy to get when you're his size-

Oh god when was the last time he ate?

Now's not the time to get lost in your thoughts though. You stopped walking and Bendy is looking at you with concern. You shake your head and smile at him.

"I'm okay little guy. So! Up to the kitchen we go!" you say, trying to sound enthousiastic.

In there, you help Bendy sit on one of your chair -the poor thing was too little to actually reach it- and get to work. You tried to remember what he ate in the comics that were released after BATIM and you remembered that he snagged away an apple pie. But you don't have the ingredients... But then you remember that he ate some smashed potatoes in those same comics.

You can do that, you have potatoes. With some sausages too, good thing you went groceries shopping this morning. Decided, you start cooking.

"Here you go Bendy. Careful, it's hot." you say fifteen minutes later as you put the plate in front of the little devil darling.

You try not to chuckle at the obvious droll he show. He really is like a little kid -and eating like one too. You will have to clean after he's done- but for now you don't care.

He's eating like someone will come and snatch the plate out of his arms. you noticed with a pinch of sadness.

Gently, you put a hand on his shoulder. He immediatly tense and look at you with fear.

Oh god I'm going to cry before the end of the day. you think upon feeling tears again rising but you quickly blink to make them go away.

You smiled at him before putting your hand off.

"Don't eat so quickly buddy, you're going to be sick. No one's going to steal your plate okay?" you say instead.

The little toon looked at you with bewilderment before turning to his plate and resume eating- but slower this time. Another smile.

"There we go. You're doing great Bendy."

At the compliment he beams, and finish eating while you're struggling internally to not cry in front of him because of all the implication of such a reaction for a simple compliment-

He's done quickly though. So you're putting off the plate, fork and knife -with a round-end, you were careful about that- before thinking. Bendy never really had a treat since when he was pull from the cartoon world right? Then...

"Say Bendy, how does a desert sound?"

You expected the stars in his eyes but seeing them doesn't pull your heartstrings less. You smile.

"I have some fruits, some yogurt... Oh wait. I think I have something that you will enjoy."

You get to the kitchen quickly, put the dishes in the sink, then go to the fridge. Open it, and smile. You intended to eat it for dinner but there's someone else here that will surely please your unexpected guest.

You come back moments later with a slice of chocolate cake on a little plate and a spoon.

Of course, upon seeing that, you can see the stars in the little devil darling's eyes once again. They only grew bigger when you actually put the plate in front of him.

"Here you go buddy. Hope you'll like it."

You don't have time to finish your sentence that he's already eating it. You chuckle softly. You knew he was going to like it.

Once he's done, you put him off the chair.

"Alright little guy, I have to wash the dishes, then... we can do whatever you want. Sounds good?"

Bendy nodded, and put a thumb up. Another smile -you're really starting to feel a pain for smiling so much but you don't care- and you're back to the kitchen to wash said-dishes. Although... You notice that Bendy followed you here. You don't make a comment but it's clear that he doesn't want to be alone.

Once it's done, you're left wondering. You don't really have toys here, you live alone and don't have kids... So how are you going to entertain the little toon? Then you remember.

"Hey little guy, I have crayons and paper, wanna draw?"

Even though you expected the answer, you can't help but let a relieved breath upon seeing the toon litterally jumping out of joy. You go back to your bedroom -while making sure to leave the door open for the curious little dancing demon that follows you- and get to your desk where you know you leave your papers.

You were about to take the crayons -you do like to draw too from time to time; though you're not near half as good as some people of the Internet you saw- when you hear a soft falling sound. You quickly turn around to see Bendy, on your nightstand -he probably climbed to get on it- who accidentally push off your glass of water that you keep in case of nighttime thirst. As you have forgotten to refill it, it was thankfully empty -you don't want to know what would have happened to Bendy if there was still water in it...- but now the glass was broken.

And Bendy was- oh no.

Bendy was shaking from horns to shoes, looking at the glass then at you with ink-teared eyes. You gently put the sheet of paper on the desk and goes to him with worry.

"Hey- hey buddy... Are you okay? you try to reach for him but he nearly fall off by trying to step back. It's okay- I'm not mad..."

He keeps looking at you with teary eyes. Now's not the time to cry too. you remind yourself.

"I'm not mad Bendy. you repeat in a gentle tone. Accidents happens- it's okay. you smile and offer your hand again. I promise. Let me put you away from the shards though; you can be hurt. And we don't want that right? an hesitant nod. That's right; we don't want that." you repeat gently.

He takes your hand after some hesitation and before putting him on the ground you ponder if your reassurance was enough. He's still crying... You smile. After putting him on the ground again, you hug him.

It's... strange to say the least. He's made of ink but he's solid; and you're not stained either. It's just a bit cold to the touch, and smooth.

But you don't care. What's important here is to reassure Bendy that's you're not mad at him. Poor thing's been abused enough.

"It's okay... I'm not mad. I promise. It's okay..." you repeat over and over while passing your hand behind his head.

You keep doing that until you can feel him stop sobbing. You release him from the embrace and smile again.

"Do you feel better now? a timid nod. That's great. I'm going to clean that now alright? Please stay here, I'll be right back."

Another nod. You notice with a pinch in the heart that he's indeed, not following you this time. You take the broom and the dustpan (you have a sympathic thought towards Henry and a wondering one about how the fuck can you knock someone out with one for Sammy) and go back to your room. Bendy hadn't move and look away while you clean.

After putting all that in the trash, you come back to him.

"All done. Now then... he tense up and you try to not feel bad. we were going to draw weren't we?"

The little devil darling looks at you bewildered. Clearly he hadn't expected the activity to still be on your plan after that incident. You smile again.

"I told you, I'm not mad buddy. you take the sheet of papers and the crayons. So what are we drawing?" you say, giving him some of it and keeping some papers for yourself.

He beams at you and make a "shhhht" motion. You chuckle.

"Alright then, it's a secret."

You can't help but feel protective upon the little ink devil. You've played enough to know at least a bit of what he've been through, and you can't help but promise yourself that if you see Joey, Wilson or the Keepers in real life, there's going to be blood. Ink. Whatever; you're going to make them suffer.

Some hours pass by, and before you know it, it's dinner time. You gently put a hand on Bendy's shoulder.

"Hey little guy. It's time to eat."

He get the head up his drawing -what looks to be Boris- in shock. You chuckled.

"Yeah, we've been drawing for some hours. What do we say that we eat and then we show each other what we draw?"

You get another nod. You smile and take his hand to guide him back to the living room. Put him in the chair, set the table -for two this time- and prepare dinner. Some pastas will do tonight, you're sure your guest won't mind.

You eat in silence -Bendy is making effort to eat slowly; you give him praise for that and try not to cry upon seeing his amazed look- and finish by some yogurt -he did like it!- before you go to do the dishes. Afterwards you put the toon on the ground again, and you two are back in your bedroom, showing each other your drawings.

Yours aren't much; some sketches of Bendy. You were tempted to do Alice and Boris too, but you didn't want to make him confused avout how the hell you know about them. Bendy's are... a lot more. Sketches of his friends with him, even some of what you assume are Henry -a young man with a gentle smile and a pen- and Audrey -you recognize her immediatly-. However...

"Is that... Me?" you say a bit taken aback pointing at some drawings.

To your surprise, Bendy actually nodded. He then stretched the paper to you. But before you take it, he pouted and showed yours. You smile.

"A trade uh? a nod. Alright, seems fair. Here you go buddy." you say, giving him yours.

He beamed, and give his to you. Again, you smile. It really hurts at this point but you don't give two shits about it.

"Thank you Bendy. I really like it."

If possible, the dancing demon looked the happiest that you ever saw him, almost radiant. However, the moment is broken by him yawning. You look at the hour on your phone -that you got back from the living room-.

"Oh. It's quite late... you turn to Bendy. You should sleep."

A blink, then a questionning look. You can understand the unspoken question.

"Where? Well... I only have one bed, or there's the sofa but I don't think you like to be alone."

The toon tense and hesitantly nodded. You gently put a hand between his horns.

"It's okay. You're sleeping with me then. a chuckle. I hope you don't mind good ol' me."

He shook his head at that, and you smile.

"Alright then. Get yourself comfortable, I'm changing myself."

You go to the bathroom for that and try to be quick. Pyjamas, brushing teeths and it's all good. You come back less than a minut later to find Bendy sitting on the bed, his shoes taken off, but not under the sheets. You raise an eyebrow at that but don't comment.

Gently, you put him on the ground to take the sheets off, to then put Bendy under them, and get yourself under them too.

"Comfortable buddy?" you say, getting the comforter on you both.

A yawn answer you before a nod does. You chuckled and hug the little devil. He remind you of a plushie. If a plushie was a living breathing cartoon made of ink.

"Alright then, you say as you can see some "Z" above his head start forming. Goodnight Bendy."

You give him a kiss between his horns before shutting your nightstand's light off and falling asleep not so long after, with a smile on your face.

You didn't get to finish that game but you gain something so much better in return.

[cyberloops]

So I bought a decent multi-effects pedal after I got the new bass. Basically the bass version of the one I had for my guitar.

But then I kinda went down the rabbit hole of cheap, affordable pedals and decided to waste a few bucks on the cheapest of cheap multi-effects pedals that I could find. I narrowed it down to three options, and decided to go with the Donner Multi-Pad100. Partly because the reviewers I saw were all pleasantly surprised. Mostly because it's shaped like an SNES controller, and I'm easily influenced.

This is what it looks like compared to an 8bitdo SNES gamepad replica. It's a little wider, and it's a chunky boi. It has to be to fit a 9 volt battery inside for when you don't have access to an outlet or a USB charger.

I started it out with a tremelo effect, mixed with some heavy reverb and light delay. Then I switched from tremelo to a heavy chorus effect at the end. It's pretty easy to use. The dials on the right control the basic effects, the dials on the left control an amp emulator to try and make it sound like you're running your guitar through one of several classic amps that would probably cost more than my monthly paychecks to buy in real life.

The build quality is kinda crap, I could barely get my headphones to plug into it. But the sound quality is... not bad? Maybe even slightly good? This is me playing a sub-200 dollar electric guitar through a 50 dollar multi-effects pedal and recording it directly into my computer. After only poking around with this pedal for a few minutes. Just long enough to figure out how to make the built-in drum machine work for backing.

It also has a clip on the back, so if I wanted to literally clip it to my belt or my guitar strap while I'm playing, I totally could.

As for the guitar I used, my guitar is a Dean EVO XM that I've had for... twelve? Maybe thirteen years now. I'm pretty sure that's literally their cheapest model. And I bought it right when they dropped the price, whenever that was. (I suppose I could look up when the price dropped to figure out exactly when I bought it.) There are knockoff no-name-brand guitars out there that are more expensive.

So yeah. For this thanksgiving, I think I'm thankful that we live in a world where a cheapskate like me can still get my hands on musical instruments and equipment to keep making music, even I've only got a part-time job.

If anyone is curious, the other two that I was debating getting were the Mooer PE100, which usually costs around 90 bucks but was on sale for 60 bucks while I was looking. It has more features and is definitely worth more, but the way it worked was basically the same as my nicer Zoom G1X pedal that I already have, so I decided there was no point in just getting a cheaper, crappier version of something that I already have. And the other alternative was the Cube Baby. Which apparently isn't sold under the name of the company that makes it, they basically just license it out to other companies who can brand it themselves, so there's like 5 different branded versions of it on Amazon. And it seemed nifty, and maybe even a little better in some ways than the one I got. But I looked at a whole bunch of reviews while things were slow at work, and eventually made my decision. For better or for worse.