#and as a dumbass i told her i knew. even said i get it cause i suffer too. hell. anyone would have been scared or creeped out

[sar3nka]

Ladies the feelings of longing got to me. Enjoy tags. Or don't. Spare yourself the cringe?

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

You and Eddie are enemies, you can't stand each other, but when you spot him with Chrissy in the woods you're forced to confront your feelings for him and the fact you'll have to hide it from him.

He hates you, he'd only make your life miserable if he found out.

Everybody lives, nobody dies Au, angst to fluff, jealousy and idiots very much in love. 18+ mdni.

❤️

You can hear Eddie before you see him as you walk into the cafeteria with your cheer mates. As usual, he's making a spectacle of himself at the Hellfire table, standing on it and calling out the marching band, basketball players and the party crowd.

Rolling your eyes at his dramatics you attempt to walk past the table but Eddie seeks you out, a smirk on his face as he focuses his attention fully on you.

"There's my favourite cheerleader" his winks at you and you stand your ground, ready for whatever shit he's about to say.

His purpose was annoying you, or at least thats what it felt like. It was always you that got his ire, who grabbed his attention every time. Honestly it was the same for you when Eddie was around.

It was like both of you were moths to a flame, something simmered between the two of you that you couldn't place or at least if you could, you didn't want to examine the cause too closely.

"There's my favourite dumbass" you fire back and he clutches his heart like you've wounded him. Ever since you and Eddie laid eyes on each other it was like you were magnets to the other.

Whenever your paths crossed there was tension in the air, banter exchanged that left both of you bothered and wanting more... Whatever it was between the two of you could wait for another day, you had cheer practice, prom committee and a bake sale to organise.

You did not have time for Eddie Munson today.

Not that he cares about your plans. He jumps off the table and lands right in front of you. Ugh. "Munson, I haven't got time for your dramatics today, go bother someone else"

He pouts and it's frustrating that he looks almost endearing while doing it. "How can I cope if I haven't been told to go kiss my own ass and the many other insults you've spouted at me just in the last week or so sweetheart?"

Here's the thing. You're certain Eddie enjoys arguing with you, gets some sort of pleasure from it. If you're being honest you enjoy it too.

"Oh bite me, you'll survive Munson" his eyes light up and then you hear a snigger from behind you, it's his sheeples or whatever he calls them, Dustin, Lucas and Mike watching the two of you fascinated.

"You say I'm oblivious, look at those two" Mike mutters and Eddie still overhears even though Mike has whispered it.

"What was that Wheeler?" Eddie narrows his eyes at him and Mike turns pink and looks suddenly very interested in his soda. You slip away from Eddie when he's distracted.

Both of you are rattled by what Mike said but you try not to show it as you walk away.

❤️

As the day winds to an end you're beyond relieved to just be going home, then you notice Chrissy walking into the woods instead of heading home herself.

Curious, you follow her into the woods, then freeze as you find out that she's meeting up with Eddie.

It's an awkward conversation at first but the tension melts away as Eddie and Chrissy are talking, he's goofing around to make her smile.

Throws himself backwards into a pile of leaves, asking if there is something in his hair, shy little smiles and hiding his face with hair as he talks to her.

There's a sinking feeling in your stomach, an aching in your heart that multiples when Chrissy giggles along with Eddie.

Seeing enough you stomp away, crashing blindly through the trees, there's wetness on your cheeks and you realise you've been crying. Crying over Eddie fucking Munson and the fact he was obviously smitten with Chrissy.

It wasn't a surprise, everyone was and to Eddie you were just an annoyance, someone who pissed him off and that was that. You always knew that but now the realisation was paticularly crushing.

You liked Eddie, like really liked him. Of all the guys you could fall for, why did it have to be the one who spent half his time thinking of new ways to irratate the hell out of you?

Couldn't you have realised this any sooner?

Shit if he even knew how you felt about him it would he horrid for you, he would never let you forget it and show you his disgust.

So it was settled. You would stay far far away from Eddie Munson, and his cute dimples and pretty brown eyes. They were nothing but trouble.

❤️

For the next few days you keep your distance from Eddie. It's hard though, because he seems to be wherever you are with that amused grin on his face.

You don't even entertain his stupid barbs, you ignore him for as long as you can, but he's growing more frustrated that you aren't your usual sarcastic self.

It gets to the point that you turn around during one encounter and glare at him, embarrassed as tears pool in your eyes. "Will you just leave me alone Munson" his eyes widen at your tears, you storm away before he can say anything else.

...

Eddie does leave you alone, you don't see him the next day which is a rarity.

It doesn't last for too long, you find him at his van talking to one of The Hellfire Members. He turns around and spots you, shooing his friend away.

"Will you talk to me" he sounds almost pleading and it throws you off balance. There's no way he missed talking to you is there?

"Why for you to rant and insult me, or make me feel even more shitty about myself,'" he reels back like you've slapped him.

"What? I don't... 'he trails off as you scoff and turn away from him.

"Yes you do. Not all time but sometimes you're just fucking mean. I guess because I'm and I quote "so bitchy and vapid''you think that it won't bother me" his face falls and he shakes his head.

"I shouldn't have said that. I was a mean douchebag" you look away from him stubbornly and shrug.

"Yeah well, I'm not sweet and perfect like Chrissy, everyone adores her" fuck you adored her, so no wonder Eddie liked her.

"What does Chrissy have to do about this?" He looks puzzled. His big brown eyes searching you for an explanation.

Flustered you explain what you saw. "You were all flirty and sweet with her the other day, when I saw you in the woods together, not that I care" you wince realising that you've gave away that you do care very much.

This was stupid. You were jealous of your friend and you shouldn't be. Having enough you decide to walk away but Eddie follows you.

"Chrissy wanted some weed for her and Jason, that's all, I'm not interested in Chrissy princess and she's definitely not interested in me". You're stunned by this, you never expected Chrissy to ever try weed and this stops you in your tracks.

"Seriously?" you gape and he gestures for you to sit in his van, opens the door for you as he does so.

"Why were you avoiding me sweetheart?" he asks you his tone very gentle. You feel your whole body flush with mortification as he stares at you, waiting for an answer.

"Please don't make me say it Eddie, you'll only turn around and be a complete ass about it"

Or be sweet like he is now and turn you down kindly, looking at you with pity. There's a brief pause and then his fingers interlace through yours, the feel of his calloused fingers entwining with yours sends tingles down your spine.

"Tell me"

"I have feelings for you okay. l've fallen for you badly, seeing you with Chrissy made me realise that. So now you know and if you're going to be a dick about it then do it now" your lip wobbles but you refuse to cry again.

He softens and cradles your head in his hands. The gesture is so tender and kind.

"Sweetheart, you're all I think about. Every single day from the moment I wake up until I fall asleep. Only you" he kisses you tenderly and pulls you close to him, kisses you until you're both breathless and smiling goofily at each other.

"I'm so fucking into you sweetheart, one of the things I talked to Chrissy about, if you stuck around long enough to find out"

Now it makes sense why Chrissy asked you earlier if you had talked to Eddie, looked disappointed when you said no, gently urged you to.

"You know he talks about you a lot" Chrissy grinned at you, there's a knowing look in her eyes, yet you shrugged off what she said. Figured that he only talked about how you annoyed him.

Shit you were such an idiot to not see what she really meant. So wrapped up in the idea that it was Chrissy that Eddie was smitten with. Chrissy would never let anyone talk crap about you either, you should have known that.

Eddie rests his head against yours. Kisses it briefly then a cheesy smile forms on his face. "You're crazy about me huh sweetheart?" he teases and you roll your eyes at him.

"Doofus, you're just as crazy about me" he squeezes your hand, tugs you back in for another kiss that robs you if your next words. That's fine, you could argue about that later... much much later.

💞

[gay-dorito-dust]

Hi hi! Can I request an angsty/fluff piece with Jason? Maybe he hasn't told her that he's Red Hood yet, and they want to tell him that she loves him for the first time, but with his constant disappearances at night they're thinking that he's starting to get tired of them?

This went a little too long when I decided to stop, so I might need to split this into two parts if needs be 🦦

‘Hey honey,’ you greeted Jason with a peck to the cheek, pulling away smiling brightly. ‘Are you all ready for movie night tonight? I’ve already got a couple films set up and ready to go and I promise none of them will make you cry like last time.’

Jason grimaced. Shit, he knew that something was happening tonight but couldn’t remember what and -like a dumbass- had agreed to going out on a patrol with Dick and Damian later on. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry chipmunk I can’t do movie night tonight. Can we do it next week?’ Jason hated how he was the one who made the smile upon your face disappear as quickly as it came, he hated how he was the reason why the excitement left your eyes, only to be replaced by a look of poorly concealed disappointment.

Jason hated how it seemed as of late that his commitment to being a vigilante had been the leading cause of your unhappiness. While he was out clearing Gotham almost every night, you were left in your shared apartment, left to sleep alone in a bed that was designed for two people and ponder how things could’ve gotten to this stage; wondering whether this was a relationship worth being in after all.

You sighed, trying to be understanding but how could you when this was the third time Jason had bailed on you this week. It didn’t seem fair to keep trying at this point when it seems as though you’re the only one who is actively trying to make time for each other. You had planned to tell Jason you loved him tonight but all that was thrown into the bin, all because he apparently forgot all about it. ‘It’s fine Jason, I’m sure whatever you have going on is inherently more important.’ You said, feeling more hurt than anything as you clenched your jaw to stop yourself from saying something you’ll inevitably regret.

‘I’ll make it up to you-‘

‘Would you like to know how many times you claimed that you’ll make it up to me but never have?’ You asked Jason rhetorically and watched his face further become into one of guilt. ‘Three. Times.’ You told him, holding up three fingers. ‘Once is excusable, but three times Jason. I thought you were over making false promises, much like how I’d trick myself into thinking that you would actually like to spend time with me in our own apartment, but it seems like I was wrong as per usual.’ You scoffed.

Jason tried to reach out for your hand to console you, but you immediately took it away before he could and put a good deal of distance between the two of you to show that you were in need of comfort but not from him. ‘Y/n, I’m sorry-‘

‘Don’t bother. Just make sure to have your keys on you before you leave because I wont stay up for you anymore.’ Was all you said before leaving the room to go into your room, where you’d stay until he left for the night doing god knows what. His disappearing act didn’t bother you at first but when it become more frequent and grew more obstructive when you wanted to spend the night with him, a pit in your stomach grew and it had been growing ever since followed by thoughts that doubted Jason’s loyalty to you.

Were you boring him but he didn’t have the heart to tell you? Is that why he’s been disappearing almost every night or so? Just so he could meet up with someone else behind your back and shit talk you? If that was the case then he could stay out for all you cared, you’ve given him your heart but it didn’t seem as though he couldn’t bring himself to even fake in giving a shit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile Jason felt like the biggest dickhead ever. He could tell that you were reaching the end of your rope with him and he wasn’t so sure that he could go back to living by himself if you were to ever leave him, he could try but it wouldn’t be the same when you were the reason his apartment felt like an apartment at all. And yet he has no one else to blame for this but himself.

He was the reason you could’ve have a simple date night at home.

He was the reason for your frequent disappointment.

He was the reason you no longer felt loved by him but that just wasn’t true. Jason loved you so much it physically hurt and scared the poor man of what he was willing to do for you. Jason’s love for you burned him in the most delicious way imaginable, he was left wanting for more, hooked on your love as though it was an easily addictive drug sweeping the streets of Gotham. However even Jason couldn’t ignore the wedge between him and you, a wedge that only seemed to get worse the more Jason bailed on you for his vigilante business.

As he was sulking in the fact that this might be the end of your relationship, Jason got a text from Dick asking where he was and all Jason could think of whilst grabbing his keys and leaving the apartment, was how he was going to make up for every night that you felt as though you were abandoned by him; and if anyone who knew Jason best knew he was anything but a quitter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Movie night was depressing as shit when you were having it all by yourself as a way to cope with the fact that you might not be enough to keep Jason interested.

You were bundled up in bed, hugging your childhood plushie tightly against your chest as you watched a movie adaptation to one of Jason’s most favoured book out of Jane Austen‘s body of work. Hell most of the movies you’ve picked out were based on Jason’s favourite author but you weren’t enjoying it as you would if he was beside you, muttering the lines alongside the characters under his breath as he held you against his chest as though you were something precious; even going so far at to using the excuse that when a kissing scene happens you should be kissing too for a more immersive experience.

He was such a dork but he was your dork and now it feels as though he didn’t want to be called yours anymore.

You didn’t know what it was that you did for him to get bored of you but it hurt like a motherfucker and the more you thought about it the more your eyes began to well up with unshed tears. ‘What am I doing wrong snuffles?’ You brought your plushie to face you with its beady button eyes. ‘Am I really that much of a bore that he can’t bring himself to just end it? What does he get out of dragging me along? Is this some sick joke to him?’ You asked and you asked but got no response, then again that’s what you get when trying to seek answers from a weighted plushie.

‘Who am I kidding.’ You uttered defeatedly as you put down your plushie, switched off the tv after seeing that there was no point in having it on in the first place, and stared up at the ceiling as you tried to will sleep to hurry up and claim you. ‘Did you know that I was planning on telling him that I loved him?’ You asked aloud for no one in particular, smiling weakly as you wiped your eyes. ‘How stupid was it of me to think that we’d ever last. He’s obviously found someone else who doesn’t bore him as easily as I do…so why should I stay?’ You felt yourself wanting to cry again but you were too tired to give your body what it wants and tried to ignore the lump in your throat by forcing your eyes shut.

*knock, knock, knock*

[sassyjoy]

unplanned sleepover

genre: smut

word count: 1.4k

⋆｡˚ ⋆ ☾

"You can sit on my bed," Sooyoung told you upon entering her dorm room. It was quite spacious, you thought. The two beds certainly caught your attention, their neatness contrasting against the cozy disarray of the rest of the room. Posters of romcom films adorned one wall, while a whiteboard covered in colorful sketches and project ideas took up another. On the study desk, a jumble of art supplies mingled with a laptop displaying a digital design in progress. The room felt like a creative hub where the worlds of multimedia arts collided in a harmonious chaos curated by two distinct personalities.

"Do you want anything? Coffee? Juice? Water?" Sooyoung asked as she placed back her roommate's gaming chair near where it belongs.

"No, I'm good,” you replied, casting your eyes around the room, taking in the unique blend of multimedia arts influences in the shared space. You noticed a film camera on the desk and asked Sooyoung if that was hers.

"It's Wonwoo's," Sooyoung responded with a smile, gesturing towards the camera with a hint of admiration.

"Wonwoo? Oh, the guy you've been crushing about?" 

Sooyoung snorted. "That's Jaehyun, dumbass. You never really listen to my stories, don't you?" You laughed when she threw a hoodie at you in which you caught. You knew it was Jaehyun, you were just messing with her.

"Wonwoo's my roommate."

"Oh, I didn't know men and women can share the same dorm room," you said in disbelief, as you knew it was not allowed in most dormitories.

Sooyoung shrugged, unfazed. "My landlord is cool with it and besides, I don't really mind sharing the same room with the opposite sex. As long as they're clean and mindful in their space, I won't have a problem with them. And Wonwoo's really nice. He's neat. We also share the same course so we really get along with each other!" As she spoke, Sooyoung picked her pajamas from her cabinet, preparing to change into sleepwear for the night.

"Why isn't he here though?" You asked as you lay on her bed, getting comfy. The bed felt nice and soft. You noticed some polaroid pictures of Sooyoung with friends near her bedside table. It was cute to see familiar faces from your shared circle of friends since high school.

"Org duties, I guess. He said he'll be home late," she shrugged.

"I'll go get changed," Sooyoung said before heading to the bathroom. You found yourself scrolling and watching tiktok videos on your phone on her bed. It was kind of funny that despite being friends for years, it was the first time being alone together. You usually never had this chance due to various reasons.

Your stay in her dorm wasn't planned. Your car broke down, and with heavy rain outside, the mechanic couldn't come fix it. Luckily, Sooyoung's dorm was nearby. It became your refuge from the storm. Without her help, you'd be out in the cold.

~

You were sleeping in one bed with Sooyoung. It wasn't supposed to be like that but you've had sleepovers with your circle of friends before. Sleeping in one bed shouldn't be a bad thing. 

What's bad is that you're lusting over her. It shouldn't be like this. You know that yourself. 

You wished you didn't enter the bathroom earlier. If you hadn't, you wouldn't see her dirty laundry. It wasn't your fault that you saw her undies lying there. It wasn't your fault that you had the urge to pick it up and smell it. But you did pick it up and smell it. The thought of Sooyoung wearing it just turned you even more and caused tenting on your sweatpants. 

Here you are, lying on your side with your back to her. You're trying your best to fall asleep, but it seems impossible. Sooyoung, on the other side of the bed, keeps shifting and turning, making it even harder for you to find rest. You just want to get off this feeling. 

'Should I just jerk off in the bathroom?' You've been asking yourself this question for the past 30 minutes now. But the bathroom's kinda far from the bed. 

The room was dark. The only sound you could hear was the rain outside. The gentle tap-tap-tap against the window filled the room, creating a peaceful atmosphere. You're finally getting off that idea in your mind until you heard small soft whimpers. 

You changed your position, now you're facing Sooyoung. You waited for that sound again, because you thought that your mind is just messing around. Was it Sooyoung? Or maybe that was Wonwoo? Her roommate, who's sleeping soundly on the other side of the room. Nah, it won't be him. It sounded like a girl's, you thought. 

You were about to sleep when you heard something again, and this time, you were sure that it was Sooyoung. 

The room was dimly lit, but when you adjusted to the darkness you saw Sooyoung rubbing herself. The hem of her dark blue night gown lifted up to her thigh. Your heart beat went crazy, not knowing what to do.

"Ohh," she moaned quietly. You can't stop watching pleasuring herself. It's a new sight for you. You've known her for years and you never knew she has this side of hers. You were always bickering with each other but you always thought that she was all this innocent. 

You felt hot, wishing Sooyoung won't notice. 

You slightly moved, turning yourself more towards her, to watch more clearly. Sooyoung stopped for a second, scanning your face before going back to rubbing again. 

You can't help it anymore, and moved again, this time your arm flinging over to her side making sure to lightly brush her thigh before resting your arm on her stomach.

"Shit," she whispered to herself, not being able to continue anymore. You felt her try to pull your arm away but you just changed your position, your leg now brushing up to her thigh. You can feel her body heat and heaving, getting turned on even more. 

You felt her stop for a few minutes. 

She then finally rested her hand on top of yours. 

You found it cute not until she lifted your hand and put it over her wet pussy. Your eyes instantly opened, obviously shocked at what she did. Damn, she's not wearing an underwear. 

"I knew it, you're awake." She whispered, you tried to pull your hand away but she gripped it tighter. 

"Can you help me with this one? Please?" She begged as she bit her lip as she guided your hand to her cunt. You gulped. With shaky hands, you found yourself messing with the hem of her sleepwear.

'Why are you nervous? She literally asked you for this.' You thought. Sooyoung squeezed her clothed breast as she waits for your next move. You were contemplating for a second before whispering "fuck it" under your breath and placed your hand over her shaved pussy. 

You traced her vagina with your middle finger. You pressed it between her folds, finding her clit with ease. 

"Oh- fuck... this is way better than using my own fingers- god!" You watched her covering her mouth with her own hands, feeling the sensation you've been giving her. For some reason, you liked how's this going. 

You circled her clit. You can feel how warm and wet she have had become. Sooyoung was trying so hard not to make a noise when you added another finger inside her. Her breathing became heavy and a little unsteady. You placed your other arm underneath her to pull her body closer to you. 

"Does it feel good, Sooyoung?" You whispered in her ear that earned you a grip on your forearm. 

"Feels so good," she croaked. The rain was too loud. Wonwoo won't probably hear what's happening between you two, right?

You placed soft kisses on the side of her neck as you increased the pace of your fingers. You can feel her body wriggle from the pleasure. You loved how every time you went deeper, her grip on you got tighter. 

"Just like that," she whispered. You kept hitting the spot she could barely reach with her own fingers. Sooyoung arched her back, palming her tits as she grinds against your fingers, trying to reach that delicious high she's been aching to have. Her breath quickens as you hit the spot inside her, your fingers scissoring her tight hole. 

"Ohhh," then she exploded. Sooyoung's cum wets your fingers. It took her a minute to calm down. You caressed her thighs as you wait for her to calm down from how she fell apart from the build-up you managed to give her.

"You owe me one," you told her, whispering in her ear while still stroking her soft skin. 

[gothmikasagf]

Project matchmaker

Pairings: Lucifer x gn!reader, huskerdust

Warnings: reader is bored, bad choices, Lucifer is clueless and just wants to make Charlie happy, very bad choices, some swearing, crack fic, don't take this too seriously, reader is a dumbass, no smut. You might experience second-hand embarassement, sorry not sorry.

Summary: Valentine's day is approaching and reader is bored and wants to play matchmaker with Angel Dust and Husker. Lucifer is accidentally roped into it because he wants to make a good impression on Charlie. Chaos ensues.

Word count: 3.5k

Notes: I apologize for everything in advance. English is not my first language. Let's pretend Lucifer is actually over Lilith for the sake of the fic. Very, very nervous to post this but here we go.

Residing at the Hazbin Hotel wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. It was actually pretty difficult to find free rent and good company in hell, so even if you weren't sure about the whole redeeming thing, you weren't bothered in the slightest.

You spent the majority of your days going along with Charlie's exercises and gossiping with Angel Dust whenever he was free. You thought of yourself as pretty lucky compared to the average sinner in hell, so you weren't really complaining.

Still, there was something missing, some other form of entertainment, a dynamic that would switch up daily life a little and make it less boring. And after the weekly movie night on Voxflix that's when it hit you.

Since Valentine's day was getting closer, you and Angel decided to watch a cheesy rom-com, one of those that makes you sigh and squeal even if you don't believe in that type of love outside of the screen. You were just wondering about who the main couple reminded you of with flirty banter and hidden stares when suddenly the best idea ever-kind of-came to you!

"You okay over there, toots?" Angel had looked over to you worriedly.

"Never been better!" you smiled at him and redirected your attention to the movie, a plan forming in your mind.

You weren't even sure if Valentine's day was still a thing in hell, but if it wasn't, you were going to bring it back.

What you didn't know, though, was that the very own king of hell was gonna be accidentally roped into your schemes. And that you would end up developing an embarrassing crush on him.

Two days after your (not so) brilliant idea, you were in front of Charlie's room, asking for an audience.

You were ready to oversell your cause if necessary, but you knew Charlie had a good heart, and the fact that this idea might be beneficial for the hotel gave you high hopes.

You told her how it would have been wonderful if you could decorate the hotel's lobby for Valentine's day because everyone deserves a little bit of love, especially in hell! And throwing a small party would surely attract some new sinners.

At the end it didn't take much convincing. Charlie was very happy to have the opportunity to lure more people into trying to redeem themselves, and Vaggie wasn't too opposed either, as long as it was kept civil.

And that's how you found yourself in this predicament.

"I think pink would be the best suited for it." You said to none other than the king of hell. He was hunched over a gigantic banner that read "Valentine's day" followed by various hearts, and his face was scrunched into a deep, concentrated face.

After your successful meeting with Charlie, you thought either she or Alastor would have been the ones helping you with the task of decorating the hotel, you didn't know how wrong you were. Alastor didn't want anything to do with the project, pretending to be fully immersed in who knows what he was able to come up with on the spot. And you guessed that's when the big boss of hell himself came into the picture; having heard of Alastor's failure, he immediately jumped in to try and make himself look better in Charlie's eyes, even if it meant having to work with a lowly sinner like you.

He wasn't as annoyed by your presence as you were expecting, even if you were kind of bossing him around to get everything perfect. You would have the time to regret this later, right now you couldn't afford to not have the right atmosphere for what you were planning.

He nodded in approval and magically switched the color from red to pink, leaving some red hearts to create a better effect.

This wasn't your first time meeting the king of hell, you were right there when he and Alastor started fighting over who was the best father figure to Charlie. Although you didn't get to talk much that time or the one after that, as he was busy kicking Adam's ass. You were amazed by his powers, as any sinner like you would, and you found him to be quite a peculiar person. So you were quite happy, and also a bit intimidated, to spend this time alone with him.

"Now it's perfect" you said, finally happy with the final result. You started to think of a way to put it up effectively without having to use the hotel's old and rusty ladder when he unfurled his wings and easily put it in place.

They were so majestic and you had never seen such a shade of pure white, it wasn't really common in hell. You wondered how he kept them so pristine after all those years.

"Are we done now?" He asked while landing gracefully on the ground.

You looked around the lobby and smiled proudly at yourself. The bar was adorned with pink and white garlands, and cute and small red hearts spread here and there. From the ceiling, some pink and white paper flowers you and Angel Dust made were hanging beautifully, and the banner just tied them all together.

"We're just missing a little something." You said, not looking at him in the eyes. This was going to be the real protagonist of the event, and convincing him was going to be crucial.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at you expectantly. "We just need some mistletoe right there" you pointed at a secluded corner near the bar, where surely you'd manage to rope Angel and Husker close enough so that they at least would have to address the heart eyes they sent each other all the time. They weren't being as subtle as they thought.

"Mistletoe?" Lucifer crossed his arms and looked at you, confused.

"Yeah, you know the one that people usually have to kiss under. I think it makes a lot more sense for Valentine's day than Christmas, if I have to be honest."

"That's-" he tried to say, but you interrupted him because you really needed it for the plan to continue.

"I know, I know, but I spoke to Charlie and we reached an agreement." you really hoped that mentioning Charlie's approval was going to be enough for him to do it. You also hoped he wouldn't actually ask her because you did not have her approval for it. You were playing dirty, but you couldn't just surrender halfway through victory.

The man in front of you sighed, but he did it, you secretly thanked your lucky stars and tried to act as less suspiciously as possible.

You were getting good at this. Maybe you should really start considering a career in matchmaking.

"What does the king of hell think?" You asked while admiring your work. Maybe he didn't exactly like you or find your company suitable for his tastes, but you still thought you did a pretty good job together.

"I think it's still missing something" he said, looking around. He had discarded the jacket and hat half an hour ago, and you were just noticing he looked really good without them.

You were so wrapped up in your little plan that you didn't even take a good look at him. And maybe it should have stayed that way because he was Charlie's father, and oh, when did the room start to become so hot?

"Maybe a duck or two" he whispered to himself while scanning the bar's decorations. You took a little break from the inner hyperventilating to look at the same spot as him.

Was it some sort of hell's tradition you weren't aware of?

Maybe it was the sudden temperature increase in the room, or maybe you just wanted to make a good impression after an hour and a half of bossing him around (what were you even thinking?) but you found yourself agreeing with him. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

That night, the party was in full swing. The hotel's residents and some other sinners who didn't hate the idea of the theme party were all gathered in the hotel's lobby.

Charlie was ecstatic and she was going from sinner to sinner to explain her cause and invite them to the hotel. A way less hyper Vaggie was following her around, making sure everything went smoothly.

Alastor was still nowhere in sight, maybe hanging out with his friend named Rosie; while Nifty was going around chasing with a knife two bugs she found banging. They weren't going to have a good Valentine's day.

You were sitting at the bar next to Angel Dust, who was happily chatting away with you and Husker.

Lucifer was nowhere to be seen; he had appeared just before the beginning of the party, proudly showing you "his latest creation". A pink rubber duck with a bow and a small red hat resembling his own was pushed in front of your face. "It's a backflipping duck who also spits fire, and it's Valentine's day themed!" He grinned at you.

"That's remarkable" you had said and placed it on the bar counter, away from prying hands that could use it for who knows what.

"This was such a great idea y/n! We should do this every year!" an excited Charlie appeared behind you. "My dad is gonna be back soon, but I have to say you two did a really good job with the place." She patted you on the back and went back to chasing sinners.

"Yeah, what prompted you to do that?" Husk asked from behind the bar. You looked at the drink in your hand and shrugged. "I was bored"

Angel Dust snickered from next to you. "Our little y/n watched too many romantic comedies and thought they would hit it off with short king and maybe go at it or-"

"Woah" you chocked on air while Husk hid a smirk pretending to wipe the counter. "Angel, what the fuck?" You looked around to make sure no one important was listening in on your conversation.

"You didn't say no" he laughed, throwing his head back while Husk was pretending to swipe the floor where a couple of the red hearts had fallen. He was so close to the mistletoe.

"Because I don't need to, you'd have to be crazy to think you can bag the king of hell of all people" you hiss while trying to think of a way to get Angel there too.

"Darling, his wife left years ago, and he clearly hasn't gotten it on with anyone yet; don't sell yourself short." You took the duck you had put away and pretended to throw it at him. Only you accidentally pressed it, and actual flames started to shoot out from its mouth, causing Angel to jump back and land on the floor right next to Husk!

Your eyes went wide, and you dropped the duck to the floor. "Shit, I'm so sorry"

"Oh wow, he fell right under it" a new voice added.

Lucifer was right behind you and sent you an amused but also slightly confused smirk. Did he think you tried to kill one of your friends to get him under the mistletoe? Well, no shit he disliked sinners.

"Under what?" Angel started massaging his ass cheeks, you winced a little, thinking the impact of landing on the hard floor must have hurt him.

"Oh, y/n didn't tell you? We put mistletoe right there" he pointed at the exact spot. Now you were starting to rethink this whole plan, but it was already too late, so you had no choice but to push through.

"You know the tradition, right?" Husk shot you an unimpressed look while Angel was still on the floor.

"C'mon, it's not like you have to make out like them" you pointed at two sinners who were getting it on in a corner ever since they stepped into the party. You couldn't really blame them, wasn't that the spirit of the festivity anyway? Any kind of love was supposedly appreciated.

Then something amazing actually happened: Husk took Angel's hand in his, kissed it lightly, and pulled a blushing version of the spider to his feet.

Considering the way they had been dancing around each other for months, this was a huge accomplishment, and it was all thanks to you! At that point, you were too busy mentally giving yourself a pat on the back for the good job to fully pay attention to something that resembled Charlie's squealing coming from the back of the room. Did she have a radar or something?

When you met Husk's eyes the next second, though, you knew you had to get out of there and fast or you were done for. "Happy Valentine's day" you winked at them before sprinting like the coward you were to the other side of the lobby, leaving Lucifer and his little pink duck to handle the consequences.

Realistically, Husk and Angel combined couldn't hurt him even if they tried really hard, so you weren't too worried for him, and the duck had demonstrated she could defend herself quite efficiently.

As the party drew to a close, Charlie had roped you all into helping to clean up the place. You were busy taking down the bar decorations, carefully putting them in a box to store them for the following year, when you felt someone come up behind you.

You turned around and saw Angel dust with a handful of the white and pink paper flowers. He was headed right for the box on the counter, not looking at you.

"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't mean for it to happen the way it did. You shouldn't have gotten hurt." You kept your eyes on the garlands, refusing to meet his eyes.

"No hard feelings toots, but next time I'm not letting you pick the movie. And no more romantic comedies for you" you laughed as he carefully maneuvered the flowers into the box.

"Okay, I deserved that" he smiled at you. You took one of the flowers and offered it to him as a peace offering.

He took it, careful not to ruin your hard work, and pretended to swoon over it. Your friendship was gonna be okay. Surely you were even now? You even gave up rom-coms for a while.

After successfully taking all of the decorations down, you were headed to throw the mistletoe into the trash. It had fulfilled his role and caused enough chaos already.

Halfway through the path to the trash can you spotted Lucifer magically fixing some of the hotel furnishings that had been destroyed by some sinners.

He stopped when he noticed you and started heading your way. Oh no, did he find out already? You couldn't just run the other way now.

"I just spoke to Charlie, and she was really happy about the party, but something tells me the mistletoe wasn't on the list of approved decorations" he raised an eyebrow at you, weight propped on his cane.

You huffed out a breath you didn't know you were holding in and scrambled your brain for an excuse. Surely he wouldn't hate you too much? Having the king of hell against you was already bad enough, but having the king of hell against you while you had a pathetic little crush on him was even worse.

"That was a personal project" you said reluctantly, looking everywhere but at him.

"Oh, and how did this project of yours go then?" you dared to take a quick look at his face, and his amused smirk, which made him look unfairly sexy by the way, was starting to make you think he was on his own personal mission to embarrass you.

"Fairly well, if we don't consider I almost cooked and burned one of my friends to a crisp. Sick duck, by the way."

"No, she's not sick, just themed." you almost burst out laughing at that. Maybe you should tell Charlie to keep him more up to date. "But maybe next time you shouldn't meddle with the heart's matters, you'll find out it's better if things just happen naturally" oh shit, how was he hot even while lecturing you? This wasn't good. He wasn't good for your sanity.

You held up the mistletoe to take one final look at it. "Yeah, lesson learned. I was just about to throw it out."

Only, Angel Dust chose that exact moment to carry out his revenge, and you should have absolutely seen it coming, it was once again your fault, and you could only blame yourself.

"Oh wow, they're right under it. You know the tradition, right?" He mocked. Husk was right behind him, two boxes in his hands, and he was holding in a laugh. They passed right by you and left you and Lucifer alone. You were really starting to question all of the choices that brought you to that moment.

Maybe if you asked him to kill you right there and then he would be kind enough to put an end to your suffering.

"Oh, fuck me" you muttered, your eyes scanning the lobby for the closest exit. Escaping without saying goodbye to Charlie wasn't an ideal solution, but you knew she wouldn't want to see your face ever again after this.

"Won't you at least let me take you out on a date first? I am more on the old fashioned side" he grinned.

You were sure you heard him wrong. It surely was one of those cases when you mix up what the person you like says in your imagination with what they actually say in real life. Was the mistletoe also hallucinogenic? You wouldn't be surprised if it was.

"I'm sorry for Angel Dust, sometimes he just doesn't know when to shut up" You immediately lowered your arm and hid the evil little thing behind your back.

"Should I take it as a no then?" he didn't stop smiling, but it looked less sincere now.

"Wait, oh-" you scrambled for an answer that wouldn't make you look even more pathetic "I would love to, but only if you mean it, this evil thing has already caused enough chaos" you finally tossed the mistletoe into the nearest trash can.

"Darling, you forget I'm the king of hell, no little plant has authority over me" he chuckles, and you smile at him.

If either of you noticed something resembling Charlie's squealing and her being dragged away by Vaggie, you didn't say anything. You didn't even think twice when you didn't see Angel Dust and Husk returning quite yet from depositing those two boxes into the storage closet; so you liked to think that at the end of the day, both you and Lucifer were right, letting things happen on their own was good, but a little push in the right direction didn't actually hurt anyone.

And when Lucifer planted both of his hands on your face to pull you into a kiss, you thought that maybe you shouldn't have thrown away the mistletoe at all.

[ashwhowrites]

Ask her part 2

Here is part 2 of the angst blurb I posted a day ago!

I hope you guys like it and that was worth asking for

I also did not check for mistakes so let’s ignore those

Part 3

Master-list

Eddie selfishly thought being without her wouldn't be so hard. Hell, he hasn't been by her side for weeks, and nothing felt different for him. But knowing he made her cry and shattered her heart to pieces made it all hurt worse. He wished he was more observant and could see when all the problems began. When he subconsciously began to pull away from her. Fuck, even Wayne asked where she went. How did he miss all of the signs? Eddie liked to believe that he wasn't dumb like everyone thought. He liked to believe that he was creative in his campaigns, protective of his lost sheep, and even confident in certain situations. But now, he truly believed he was a dumbass at this point. How do you break your best friend's heart and have no idea?

He wished he could blame it all on her. She technically never told him anything and never shared her feelings for him. She never once told him when she was upset. And never once said anything about Chrissy. But maybe she had her reasons. He did blow up on her the second Chrissy's name was muttered. Maybe that's why she never said anything. She knew he'd protect her, that he'd pick her. And fuck, he realized now, he had been picking her.

He tried to call her, but she never answered. He glared at any of the boys who tried to sit in her Hellfire spot, even though she had stopped showing up. When Dustin asked why she never came around anymore, Eddie didn't even know how to answer. But Robin, who was walking past their cafeteria table, offered some words: "Because Eddie is a selfish jackass." Eddie turned to her fast, and his temper once again got the best of him. "What the fuck did you say?" Robin did not look threatened at all. "You heard me, Munson. Maybe it's time Dustin learned that his little idol broke Y/N's heart and hasn't bothered to pick up the pieces. " Dustin looked at Eddie with a look he was all too familiar with: disappointment. "Once again, I did not know she was upset with me until recently, and I have been trying to pick up the pieces, but she won't let me. " Eddie was fine with being a bad guy if he had a reason to be, but right now, he doesn't think he deserves to be everyone's punching bag. "Oh please with your little phone calls? Pick up the pieces of her heart with your goddamn hands. Make some real effort. Not a short phone call with the problem herself sitting right next to you like a leech. " Eddie felt anger rise up when, once again, Chrissy was getting thrown through the mud. "Look, Robin, Y/N is a big girl and if she wants to continue to play this game of ignoring me as some type of revenge, she can. I am tired of my girlfriend getting treated like she is a problem when she isn't. " "No one can blame Y/N for her little feelings except herself." Eddie's eyes grew at his own words, along with everyone who was watching. And a pair of eyes he wished he had never looked into hers. He saw the cold settle in her eyes like it was a newfound home. "I didn't mean that." He muttered out loud, "Wow Eddie, just go to hell." Y/N spoke with pure hate in her voice. And it fucking hurt. She was out the door before he could even follow. He got up but a hand was placed on his back, "Babe, what's going on?" Chrissy's soft voice cut through the tension. It eased Eddie's shoulders but caused Robin to tense. "Nothing," Eddie whispered as he sat back down. Robin glared at the action with a mocking laugh "Yikes yet again. He picks the cheerleader. " She rather spat at him and ran off after Y/N. She ran after her to make her feel better. It was something he knew he should be doing. The look in Dustin's eyes returned. With a sad shake of his curly hair, he rose from the table and followed. "Pick the cheerleader? What is all of that about?" Chrissy asked with a nervous giggle. Eddie eyed her uncomfortable posture. He figured it was from Robin's side comment. He pecked her cheek with a small smile. "Truly nothing." "So Y/N is just nothing?'' This time, Gareth perked up and left the table. The sound of Y/N's name being announced caused Chrissy to stiffen next to Eddie. He slightly noticed but was distracted, yet again, by a look of disappointment.

Eddie barely focused on any of his classes, not that he ever does anyway. He had too many questions and not enough answers. When did everyone start looking at him with such disapproval? Why did everyone all of a sudden see Chrissy as a bad guy? Then he remembered Y/N said it all started with his birthday. And he knew where to start.

Eddie raced out of the classroom the second the bell rang. He knew Y/N would have to stop at her locker to grab her books to bring them to her tutoring, so he ran straight there. He didn't stop in time and rammed straight into her. Books flew everywhere, and he grabbed her before she fell.

A shriek left her lips at the impact. A "thank you" was caught in her throat when she saw him. She yanked herself out of his arms and quickly bent to grab her books. Eddie, as usual, was much faster. He swiped every book up, but he didn't give them back. He secured them behind his back. "Eddie, give me my damn books." Her tone was not playful like it used to be when he did this exact same thing. "Come on, babes, you know that's not how this goes." He said with a playful glint in his eyes. She knew he wanted a reaction from her. She had been giving him the cold shoulder for days, but she couldn't find it in herself to feel guilty. He deserved a lot worse than this. Hell, Robin was ready to make a deal with the devil himself to get rid of Eddie once and for all. She crossed her arms and looked bored at him. He once again felt small under her gaze. "I want to start with I'm so fucking sorry for everything. And before you tell me to shove my apology up my ass, " A small laugh left her lips at that. She quickly cursed herself for doing so. His eyes lit up at the sound, but before he could savor it, her frown came back. "I want you. I'm going to ask her. I'll make her tell me everything that I've been missing. I want to know exactly where I fucked up so I know where to start to make it better. " Her heart fluttered at the tone in his voice. It was the tone he used when he'd beg her to listen to a new song he'd come up with. The same tone he used when he'd ask if she truly thought everyone would like his campaign idea. It was the same soft and gentle tone he used when she first learned about his family. Her heart hurt at the thought, yet anger replaced it when she began to think. Did he tell her about his new songs? Did he write about being in love with her? Did he tell her about his hellfire meetings every night? Does she know about his past? Did she know all the things about Eddie, like how she used to? Eddie saw hope, sadness, and anger drift through her eyes. He didn't know if he was making progress or was giving her extra shovels to dig him further into the hole he got himself into.

With a sigh, he gave her the books. A small smile curved his lips. But he walked away with a bounce in his step. She finally gave him the time of day. Next stop: Chrissy.

Eddie was pacing around his bedroom, hand deep in his roots, yanking at the anxiety filling his stomach. He was snapped out of his thoughts when his door opened. He gave a small smile when he met her eyes. She ran and threw herself into his arms. A kiss on his cheek, then his lips. He hummed at the familiar taste. "Hey baby, what did you have in mind for tonight?" Chrissy asked with curiosity in her eyes. He studied her face. Her soft eyes blushed cheeks and a small smile. How can everyone see a devil in her presence? She looks so soft, gentle, and loving. Everyone had to be wrong about her. They just didn't know Chrissy the way he did, right?

"I needed to ask you something." She gave him a nod of her head, a signal to ask away. "What happened between you and Y/N on my birthday?"

She went frozen, ice cold, and fear showed through her eyes. The silence was becoming too tense. Why hasn't she said anything yet? "Chrissy?" he asked again. She seemed to snap out of her trance. Her eyes flashed back to normal. "Nothing, baby, why would you ask?" she said, but her voice sounded fake like she had this exact sentence practiced. "Y/N told me she was in love with me," but Chrissy removed herself quickly from his arms. A look of pain flashed through her, almost like betrayal. "Excuse me, she told my boyfriend that she was in love with him? That is completely inappropriate. " She scoffed and crossed her arms around herself. "She said you already knew, the night of my birthday." Chrissy looked at her shoes, shaking her head "Why would I know? She and I don't even talk. She is making things up. I barely saw her on your birthday. I was too busy planning it, decorating it, and making things perfect for you, Eddie. " She rushed out. Her eyes still hadn't met his. "Why would she lie?" He asked "Maybe you should ask her," Chrissy explained. Eddie scoffed at the same sequence of words. "NO! I AM TIRED OF NOT GETTING ANSWERS, SHE TOLD ME TO ASK YOU SO I AM. I am not going to ask both of you and get nowhere. Tell me right now what happened that night. " Hearing a sniffle, he immediately felt bad for raising his voice. He was learning to keep his temper at bay, but God, why is talking to girls so hard? They just fucking need to say what they want to say. Before he saw it, Chrissy fell to the floor, sobbing in her hands. She was rambling, but it was difficult to hear her as she sobbed. He quickly wrapped her in his arms. He pulled her hands away. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled. I'm so sorry. " He began to rush out. What is it with him making all the girls in his life cry? She shook her head and finally met his eyes. Red, wet, and puffy. His heart sank at her sad expression. "Eddie, I'm so sorry," she spoke softly as she placed her hands on his cheeks. His puppy eyes were huge, trying to understand what had been going on. "Just please tell me." He was pleased softly, placing his hand on hers.

"I knew," she whispered, "She told me she was in love with you while we made your cake." Eddie's body went stiff. He held his breath as she continued, "She said she had it all planned. Her gift for your birthday was going to be her confession, and she wanted my help to make sure you guys were alone after you blew out your candles." His hands burned from touching hers. He harshly grabbed her hands and threw them off of him. "Why did she never get to tell me, Chrissy?" But he knew she never got the time alone with him because he was in his room with Chrissy. Chrissy sobbed as she reached for him "You don't understand, Eddie; I really liked you, and I couldn't help her confess to you before you knew how I felt about you." His eyes began to burn, his thoughts were flying everywhere, and he couldn't get a grip on reality. " "MY GOD CHRISSY, you fucking knew she was in love with me and you just needed to beat her to the punch? Is that what happened? "Sink your claws into me to fucking claim your dominance?" He yelled. And he did not care about losing his temper now. He felt so stupid.

He remembered that night. He ran to his room to grab his sweetheart. He knew she needed to be part of his celebration. Like, come on. He grabbed her neck and turned around, and there she was. Chrissy smiled sheepishly. "Before we go back out there, I really need to tell you something." She sounded so innocent and shy. He gave her a big smile to encourage her. Her next words were not where he thought the conversation was going to go. "I have to confess something," she giggled "I have this massive crush on you. I know we are friends, but spending time with you has become the best part of my day. And being here with everyone, celebrating your birthday, I can't help but feel so close to you. " He went into shock. A cheerleader, better yet, the head cheerleader, was confessing she had a crush on him. in his dirty bedroom, in his trailer home, and on his birthday. He felt like he had won the lottery. He had no words, just gaping like a fish out of water. He tried to clear his throat to say something, anything. She smiled and grabbed his hand, leading him out to the kitchen where everyone was waiting. He now understood the look in Y/N's eyes when she saw them holding hands. She was broken. But she put on a smile, one he now came to understand was fake. Before he knew it, Chrissy announced, "I have confessed to Eddie that I have a crush on him." He remembered how the room went silent. Everyone stared. He felt shy under everyone's stares, but before he knew it, a pair of lips crashed onto his. His eyes widened as he saw Chrissy on her tiptoes, arms around his neck, and lips on his. He fell into the moment, eyes closed, and he kissed her back. Some cheers were heard. He shyly pulled away, a blush coming across his cheeks. "Blow out your candles, Eds," Chrissy said with a smile, and so he did. He blew out his candles with his eyes closed. His eyes snapped open when he heard his front door slam. He looked around the room to see who had left. His heart fell when he saw Y/N was no longer there. Chrissy began cutting the cake, snapping him out of his daze. He smiled as he grabbed a plate.

"You kissed me," he mumbled. Chrissy looked at him. "You kissed me right in front of her." He was calm, but Chrissy could tell this was a new type of anger. He was nowhere near calm. But he was so pissed that he couldn't even yell. "How do you do that to someone? How can you stab her in the back like that? Do you even feel bad? Can you even care about someone other than yourself?" His words were cutting her deep. She tried to keep her tears at bay, but they kept falling. "Get the fuck out, and don't you ever come near me again. And don't you ever talk to her, look at her, or even say her name. " She began begging, "No Eds, please. We can talk about this," She was pleading now. "Get the fuck out! Get out! Get out! " She scrammed out the door, crying as she went.

He slammed his door, and before he knew it, he was punching everything in sight. throwing everything off his desk. He felt so fucking heartbroken. Y/N didn't deserve to deal with any pain. She was so sweet, and nice, and took care of everyone. And he treated her like gum on his damn shoe. He tossed her to the side when a tiny skirt came along. "Eddie, what the hell?" Wayne ran in, and he grabbed Eddie to stop ruining anything else "I fucked up Wayne. I broke her fucking heart. " In Wayne's arms, he allowed himself to cry. He sobbed and let everything flow out. "It's okay, Eds. I'm sure you and Chrissy can work it out. " Eddie cringed at the name. He didn't even care if he hurt Chrissy. She broke his best friend's heart, and he helped. "Not her Wayne, Y/N," he sobbed. Wayne rubbed his arms to calm him down. "We'll get her back, Eds." We will. Eddie let himself believe it because he needed to feel something other than this pain in his chest.

tags~~~



@herroyalhighnessqueenmomo  @sage-the-z0mbie @maystecc

[iamknicole]

Chapter Eight

A/N: This is going to be the last chapter of 2024! Enjoy and excuse any typos!

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of abortion, 18+, MINORS DNI

Masterlist

Chapter Seven

“You know when you said you would pay me back I thought you were gonna take me to dinner, not have me melting in the hot ass sun.”

After some bargaining at the hospital, Toni had given Bronco her number and after more bargaining over the span of two weeks, she finally gave in to his invitation to go out with him. Now she sat beside him in the bleachers watching his brother’s baseball practice.

“I told you to dress comfortable and in something lightweight,” he chuckled. “Where did you think I was takin you with that dress code? Mickey D’s?”

She laughed, pushing his shoulder. “Shut up and I would have been just fine with McDonalds thank you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Ms. Toni.” He joked dodging her hit. “But I figured we could sit out here and talk and stuff without the interruptions. If that’s okay with you. Plus you said you needed to talk to me about something anyway.”

She nodded watching the boys on the field for a moment. “You and Zilla are pretty close right?”

Bronco nodded, looking between her and the field. “Yeah we are. Something wrong?”

“Yes and no.” She shrugged. “I’ve been trying to talk to Moriah about it but she’s already got a lot going on. I know she needs to know but I don’t wanna add onto her stress.”

A frown replaced Bronco’s small smile.

“What you seen him creepin or somethin? Cause I can dead that shit real quick. Just let me know what’s up.”

“No, no, no,” she replied quickly putting her hands out to stop him, “No, Zilla is not cheating on her. No. Breathe.”

“Oh,” he blew hard, “I was about to get that man, my friends don’t do that shit.”

“Well I’m glad you hold your friends accountable. Not a lot of men do that,” she praised offering him a smile, “But when her mom was in town a few weeks ago for Thanksgiving, her mom came up to the hospital.”

“Maybe she was tryna talk to Rye after everything.”

“Nope, she wasn’t there to see Rye, Rye wasn’t even working. I overheard her talking to Thomas while I was up on the pediatrics floor.”

His face turned up at her words. “Thomas? Rye’s ex that almost got his ass beat? Him?”

“Yes him,” she chuckled.

“Wait, they fuckin?”

Laughing, Toni pushed him again telling him to shut up. “You just shut up and listen. You get on my nerves. Now, she was telling him to lay low with trying to get Moriah back and to leave the rest of the planning to her after he almost got his ass beat by yall. She said she knew how to get him to leave Moriah since she won't just leave.”

“The two of them in on this together, That’s fucked up, Zilla ain’t even a bad guy. I don’t get it.”

“More of she’s using him as a pawn and he’s too dumb to realize it.”

“She got the right dumbass then from what I’ve seen but she do know Zilla ain’t leavin that girl? He love her mean ass too much to take that lady side or word for anything.”

“That’s the thing though.What she tells him might make him leave. Which is why I wanted to talk to her so she can tell him before her mom does. Or see if you can talk to her.”

“Well what is it that’s so bad?”

While Toni was explaining what she’d overheard, she had to keep reminding him to lower his voice and not get himself upset. Based on his reaction, she knew that the reaction Moriah gets will be even worse. By the end of their conversation Bronco was red from the tips of his ears to the tips of his fingers, Toni was sure if she looked closely she could see steam coming from his ears. It took a lot of convincing for Bronco not to go to the hospital and prove to Thomas that the security wait time wasn’t shit. But he told her if she didn’t let Moriah know, that he would.

After the NXT tapings for the holidays, Zilla and Moriah were on their flight within the hour heading back to Texas. Zilla slept with his head in Moriah’s lap most of the flight but sleep completely missed her. Her mind was moving a mile a minute, worrying. Toni had been trying to have a conversation about Nadine for the past couple of weeks which she brushed off until Toni put her foot down. She told Zilla to make sure Moriah called her as soon as they got situated if she wanted to be off for his next match. Moriah wasn’t sure if she had done something wrong at work or if Toni just wanted to talk about Bronco. Along with that, Moriah stressed about if her mother was going to try and see her and what would happen when she had to be in the same room with her on Christmas since it was the only way she’d see her grandmother and auntie. Before she could get a good grasp on either dilemma, the couple were in their uber headed to Leata’s house. 

They went around to the back of the house and slipped in to surprise everybody. Zilla sat their bags down, then led Moriah through the kitchen to the living room. While Zilla was sneaking up behind Leata, Moriah went to jump into Zilla’s second oldest brother, Ejay’s lap and hugged his neck tight. Leata screamed seeing both of her babies.

“I thought you two weren’t coming for two more days!” 

“We wanted to surprise yall,” Zilla chuckled squeezing her tight.

Moriah continued to squeeze and hug Ejay, laughing. “Hug me back, Ejay! Don’t be mean! Mama, tell him don’t be mean!”.

“Be nice to her, Ejay. She’s been putting up with your brother all by herself. She needs some love,” Leata joked. 

“That’s right and that ain’t easy! He hard headed! He don’t listen! Annnnd … he eats all of my snacks.”

Zilla stared at her playfully. “I’m hard headed and don’t listen? Me?”

Moriah nodded. “That’s right, you.They all know that you’re hard headed and don’t listen. Right, Mama? Right, brothers?”

“Nope, Mama is not in this. I’m gonna go straighten up the room for you two.” She laughed softly as she left the room.

Moriah shrugged getting up. “That just means she doesn’t wanna hurt his feelings. I know my favorite brothers don’t care so…. Naio, Ejay ….  tell him. Please and thank you.”

“Why are we in the middle?” Ejay asked, laughing.

“They not cause they know it’s you, fat head,” Zilla thumped her forehead then stepped back to dodge her hit.”Don’t be mad at me cause you hard headed and don’t listen.”

The couple started to argue while his brothers watched and laughed. They did miss their arguments simply because they never had to get involved. Being ref was their moms job.

“Aye, aye, aye. It’s too much noise in here!”

The arguing stopped, they both turned to the doorway of the living room ready to fuss at whoever it was.

“Arthuuuuur!”

As Moriah was running towards him, Zilla pulled her back and pushed her playfully onto the sofa so he could get to his oldest brother. Laughing, Arthur hugged his brother tight.

“Why you do that?”

“Don’t worry about her, she’ll be aight,” he laughed, “Her fat ass head saved her.”

Moriah huffed standing back up from the sofa and marched over to them, plucking Zilla’s ear.

“I hope it’s funny when you on the sofa tonight.”

“You can’t put me on the sofa in my mama house. She ain’t gon let  you.”

“She let me do it before so I hope you enjoy it.”

Laughing, Zilla pulled her close putting his face in her neck making her giggle.

“Let me go, Fatu” She giggled trying to move away from him.

“Come on, Fat.” He pleaded, still holding onto her, “Don’t do me like that. You know I love you.”

Moriah giggled louder trying to get away from his kisses and tickles. 

“Moriah! Come here!”.

After a little more of their tug of war, Zilla let her go from his grasp so she could answer Leata’s call. Arthur guided his baby brother over to the sofa, both of them flop down on it.

“I thought yall were sickening while yall were here but since yall been in Florida, yall have gotten so much worse,” Ejay joked. “I mean do yall argue at all?”

“Yeah we argue, not a lot but sometimes.” 

“I know what it is,” Naio snickered while his brothers watched him, waiting for him to finish. “It's that sofa.”

They all laughed, Arthur smacked his baby brother’s chest playfully.

“Why did your ass tell her mama that? You knew she almost popped a blood vessel.”

He shrugged. “She was tryna be funny so I was hilarious. I ain’t gon lie to yall that lady lucky I love Fat as much as I do.”

“Shit, I don’t think love would’ve been enough to get me off her ass,” Naio admitted messing with his twists, “I woulda told Moriah to go to the hotel and get her lick back. That bruise was big as shit.”

EJay squinted. “What bruise?”

“You remember I told you Nadine slapped her?” Zilla asked speaking in a low tone to which he nodded. “The bruise from that.”

“She slapped her that hard? Hell nah, she needed her ass beat.”

Zilla shrugged. “That’s her mom, I agree but you know. Rye ain’t talked to her since. Nadine call and shit, her ass even called me tryna get to her.”

“You answered the phone,” Arthur inquired.

“I answered one time and reminded her that she didn’t like me and told her not to call my phone no more. Like I was gon make Fat talk to her.”

While the brothers were talking, Moriah helped Leata make the bed in Zilla’s old bedroom. The two women moved in a comfortable silence. Peace and love radiated through the house, it gave Moriah that warm feeling she missed when they were at home in Florida. If Moriah could bottle it up and take it with her to spread around in their own home she would. When the bed was done, Moriah sat on the side of it watching Leata search the small walk in closet.

“The other day I came in here to look for something and I found something I never realized I left in here,” Leata explained still searching the closet. “I must have put it in here after you two left cause I imagine you or him would’ve found it.”

“Oh? What you got?”

A quiet moment passed between them before Leata emerged from the closet holding the item close to her chest. She closed and locked the bedroom door before going to sit beside Moriah on the bed.

“Do you remember this?” She asked handing the piece of clothing over to Moriah. 

Moriah laughed a little. The shirt she held in her hands had a collage of pictures of her and Zilla, only slightly faded.. “He hated it but he wore it to make me happy.”

“I remember the night you gave it to him in front of all of us. I had never seen him roll his eyes so hard,” she laughed, “His brothers didn’t make it any better. He knew that it meant a lot to you though.”

“I remember the way his face turned up,” she laughed, “But he hugged me and told me he loved it. I knew better though.”

“We all did. I wasn’t 100% sure until that moment that you and him liked each other,” she chuckled, “14 years old and acted like an old married couple.”

Moriah shrugged, finally looking up from the shirt. “I didn’t know exactly what I was feeling but I knew that as long as I had him it didn’t matter.”

“Have you told him yet?”

“No, not yet. I know I need to.”

“I know you’re afraid of his reaction. If you want, I’ll be there while you tell him.”

She shook her head, “No, well … maybe. I gotta do something else first though.”

On Christmas Eve, Moriah slipped away from the Fatu family to visit her own. Her grandmother and aunt were in town to see her, in order to see them she had to bite the bullet and go to her childhood home. Zilla offered to go with her and when she turned him down, he told her he would be accompanying her. The couple stood on the front porch wrapped in each other’s arms, kissing and whispering softly to each other. Zilla wanted her to be in the best mood possible before entering a space he knew wouldn’t be conducive to her mental health.

“I must have missed the mistletoe out here.”

Moriah pulled away laughing. “Auntie Kami! I missed you!”

Kamille Parker, the younger sister of Nadine and the one that was given all the sense if you asked Moriah. The two hugged and rocked from side to side while Zilla watched with a small smile. Kamille kissed her head after she pulled away. 

“I missed you too but I see my nephew is keeping you nice and busy.” She joked, going to hug him. “Hey, Zilla. How are you? I saw your match too. You did that.”

“Thank you, Auntie. You look beautiful as always.”

“That’s because I know how to act and treat people,” she joked, “I keep telling my fat head sister that but we all know she doesn’t listen very well. She’s gonna start aging like milk.”

The young couple laughed as they followed her into the house. Her mother’s voice carried through the house, she sounded happy but Moriah knew as soon as she saw Zilla that was going to change, 

Kamille nudged her, “Stop thinking so hard. Especially about her. You didn’t come to see her anyway, you came to see me and Mama. Fuck her.”

“Auntie,” Moriah laughed softly. 

“No seriously, fuck her, Moriah. You worry about you, she did this to herself. Don’t you agree, Zilla?”

“Yup.”

Moriah stared between the two of them, playfully shaking her head. “Alright, Auntie but don’t be all buddy buddy with him. I’m the favorite here, not him.”

Zilla thumped her ear playfully, “You so jealous. Ion say shit when Mama pick your side over mine.”

“You do so,” she fired back, “Just before we left the house you made her apologize for taking my side.”

“Blah, blah, blah, proof or it didn’t happen.”

Laughing, Kamille stopped the couple from arguing before they got too carried away. They stood in the foyer a little longer to talk, both Zilla and Kamille could tell Moriah needed a little more time. 

“Look what Santa left on the porch,” Kamille announced happily as they entered the living room. 

Trenice Parker, the matriarch of the Parker family, stood from her seat on the sofa with a beautiful smile stretched across her face and her eyes lit up at the sight of her granddaughter. She waved her oldest daughter off when she attempted to keep their conversation going.

“Look at my beautiful babygirl. Spin around let me see this outfit, Rye.”

Giggling, Moriah did a quick spin then went in to hug her grandmother. While they were hugging, Nadine and Zilla made eye contact and he made no move to avert his eyes. There was a slow burning fire in her eyes at the sight of him. 

“Florida has been treating you well, I see. And I assume so has Isayah,” she joked, going to hug him. “How are you doing, baby?”

“I’m good, Mrs. Parker. How you doin?” 

“I’m well better now that the two of you are here. Wait .. wait,” she called out, “I called you the wrong name. Tell me the name again.” 

“Its aight, you can call me Isayah. I don’t mind.”

“Only if you call me Umi like I asked.”

Moriah frowned pushing between them. “Uhn uhn. You’re my Umi, not his. He don’t get to call you that.”

“You always were a jealous little thing,” Trenice laughed, “You’ll always be my number one, Rye. If he’s gonna be in the family then he should call me what you call me. Right?”

Nadine scoffed under her breath, Trenice winked at the young couple.

“You say something, big sis?”

“Kamille, mind your business.” She retorted. “Mama, that boy is not in the family. He can call you Mrs. Parker. Moriah, you don’t see me sitting here?”

“Nadine, stop it. You are just like your father, mean as a snake and for what? It’s Christmas time and I want to enjoy my babies. Now you hush.”

Zilla made eye contact with Nadine again and gave her a wide smile.

“Moriah, I asked you a question.”

Kamille tapped Zilla’s arm, “I need to borrow your muscles for a second. Come on.” Zilla looked unsure between his girlfriend and Kamille. “She’s good. She’ll be good.”

After letting his girlfriend know to call him if she needed him, Zilla followed Kamille out of the room. The generations of Parker women remained, the oldest looking between the others. Trenice clasped her hands in front of her, a smile still on her face.

“Moriah, would you like to speak to your mother?”

“No ma'am. I came here to see you and Auntie Kami.”

Trenice cut Nadine off when she started to speak. “I understand that but what would it hurt to greet her? You don't have to talk to her, only greet.”

Moriah glanced over at her mother, starting to feel herself feeling bad. She took a few moments to take a few breaths. “I'm sorry, Umi. No. I don't want to talk to her and I'm not.”

“See? I told you, Mama.” Nadine scoffed. “Just let her have her little tantrum, she'll be fine.”

Moriah bit her tongue to keep herself from engaging into the argument her mother wanted from her. She had thought about at least speaking to her mother since she was in her house but that thought was long gone. 

“Well if this is how you're gonna act then I wouldn't speak to you either. You should be trying to fix the problem,” Trenice chastised. “Not making it worse, Nadine.”

Nadine groaned. 

“Not you too. I told the girl that I didn't mean to slap her that hard, I apologized for that.”

“You shouldn't have slapped her period, Nadine. Have I ever done that to you?”

“No, but-,”

“So why would you think it's an okay thing to do to her?”

“She was being disrespectful, Mama. I was never a disrespectful child.”

Trenice snorted, “Like hell you weren't.”

Moriah's phone vibrated while they were talking, she slipped out of the room to answer it. She went to sit on the stairs and answered. 

“The ED missing me already? Or you got Bronco tea?”

Toni laughed softly. “The ED does miss you and no tea. Are you busy?”

“Yeah but I needed a break from it.”

Toni noticed the far away tone and became concerned. “Everything okay? You and Zilla alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, we're good. At my mom's house to see my Auntie and Umi.”

“Oooh and your mom is being herself.”

“Right but anyway,” she sighed, “I'm sorry for not calling. Zilla did remind me but Mama had me so busy. She's missed me being here with her. What did you wanna talk about?”

“Well first, where's Zilla?”

She chuckled. “I tried to leave him with his brothers but he put his foot down and came with me. He's helping my Aunt with something.”

Toni paused trying to figure out how she reached to say what she needed to say. She wished Moriah would've called before she went to get mother's house. 

“In just gonna rip the bandaid off,” she sighed, “When your mom was here, she came to the hospital to talk to Thomas. She's using him to try and break you and Zilla up.”

Moriah's hold on her phone became tighter. “What?”

“Yeah but clearly she's realized that's not working so she's got another plan,” Toni explained. 

“Which is what?”

“Rye, she's gonna tell him. She knows that you haven't told him.”

The line went quiet but Toni knew she was still there. Moriah's body started to heat up from anger and some fear. She was planning on telling him on her own time but now she didn't have that option.

“She told Thomas?”

“Yes. I'm sorry, Rye. I'm sorry she made you do that.”

Moriah’s heart fluttered in her chest as tears burned her eyes. “Thank you for telling me. I'll call you later or something.”

“Call if you need me, I'm serious.”

After hanging up, Moriah went to the bathroom to collect herself before her aunt or Zilla saw her. 

“I assume you needed something heavy moved.”

“Nope,” Kamille responded handing him a water bottle, “Nadine had been complaining about how Moriah acts differently in front of me, you, her dad and your family so I was proving a point.”

“Thanks. Yeah? I'm not shocked. She think we brainwashed her or some shit but it's really all her doin.” He shrugged taking a long drink from the bottle. 

“We know that but she acts like she doesn't. How has my baby been? She tells me she's fine but I know better.”

He chuckled, “She was taking it pretty hard at first but she's doin better. I'm happy she standin up for herself.”

“So am I. Now what about you? Found a new therapist yet?” Zilla scrunched his face up at her, making her laugh. “You thought I forgot, didn't you?”

He shrugged playfully. “I was hopin you did. Ain't found one, honestly ain't been lookin.”

Kamille snorted. “At least you're honest. I'm giving you a month to find one. If you don't find one, I'll do it for you. Got it?”

“Yes ma'am.”

“What are you trying to accomplish with this attitude, Nadine?”

Nadine rolled her eyes. “The same thing all of you should want … him away from my child.”

Trenice stared at her daughter at a loss. The way that her daughter had gone from being best friends with the family to public enemy number one had her flabbergasted. 

“What is it that you think is gonna happen if you don't get him away from Rye?”

“She gonna be unhappy, mistreated and neglected for the rest of her life. I went through that and I don't want that for her.” Nadine fussed.

Trenice clapped her hands and pointed, “There you go. You're protecting your feelings onto her. Just because you feel like that happened to you, doesn't mean it'll happen to her. You have to let her live her life and be happy.”

“Wait,” Nadine frowned, “Because I feel like? No, that is what happened. Hassan was a terrible husband and you know that.”

“Do I, Nadine? For almost twenty years I watched that man dote on you, love you and take care of you. Where were these other undesirable moments that you speak of?” Trenice raised a brow hearing her daughter scoff. “And if you scoff, suck your teeth or roll your eyes at me again, you'll be picking eyes and teeth up off the floor.”

“When he decided he was gonna abandon his career and his family for a dream. He was always gone, never had time for us, Mama. Don't act like you remember.”

Trenice stared. “Is that really how you remember that?”

“It's how it happened.” Nadine shot back. 

“No, that's how you're remembering it. He lost his best friend and he decided to live life which still included you and Moriah. But because that's how you're choosing to remember it, you've decided to try to ruin your daughter's happiness instead of talking about it.”

“Mama,” she groaned, “I'm trying to save her from the heartache. I saved her once before and I thought she would've understood and been grateful but look at her.”

“What you did to her was not to save her so save that hero act, Nadine.” Trenice fussed starting intently at her daughter, “You did that to hurt her because you knew by hurting her, you could hurt him.”

Christmas always brought different emotions for Moriah. It was her favorite holiday, she loved the togetherness, the decorations and the gifts but it always bought that pang of sadness. Having to spend every other Christmas without her father and every one without those who were gone. She always woke up before any one else did on Christmas and this year was no different. After making herself a mug of hot cocoa, Moriah went to sit on the front porch to watch the sunrise.

Six weeks had passed since Zilla's incarceration, his family and Moriah were still figuring out how to deal with the loss. Moriah spent all the time she could with Leata, wanting to be close to what reminded her of him as she was taking him being gone outwardly the hardest. 

“Rye, come eat. I know you haven't eaten all day.”

Leata sat on the side of her son's bed where Moriah laid under his covers. 

“I'm not hungry, Ma.”

“Didn't ask if you were hungry,” she explained softly, “I told you to come eat. Arthur's here, he came to see you specifically.”

Slowly, she sat up from the bed and let Leata help her up. Leata hugged her tight before they left the room for the kitchen. 

“A sight for sore eyes,” Arthur joked going to hug her. “I got your favorite.”

At that, Moriah perked up going to sit at the kitchen table with him. Leata went to grab their plates laughing softly to herself. 

“Most excited I've seen you in a while, Rye.”

“Beef barbacoa does it every time,” Arthur laughed, “How you feel, lil sis?”

Moriah shrugged and thanked Leata. “Been okay, I guess. It's weird.”

“Yeah, it's weird, I feel the same way. Ma said you been sick, you got the cooties?”

She laughed a little. “Don't have the cooties. Prolly just a cold or something.”

Arthur and Leata briefly made eye contact with each other. Moriah happily bit into her taco, humming as she chewed it up. 

“Your other friends been sick too?”

When she opened her mouth to answer she started to gag uncontrollably. After a few moments, she ran to the nearest bathroom to empty the contents of her stomach into the toilet leaving the mother and son to sit in silence. Once she was sure she was fine, Moriah washed up and brushed her teeth before going back to the table.

“Sorry, sorry. I haven't eaten all day, guess I ate too fast.”

Arthur grabbed the Walmart bag from the table and passed it to her, a small smile on his face. She took it wearily. 

“What's this? A gift?”

“Something like that,” he answered softly.

Moriah looked in the bag then quickly closed it and shook her head. “No, it's just a cold or the flu. I'm not … no.”

“Manamea, it's not a cold. I'll go take it with you.”

She shook her head again starting to cry. “I can't be. I can't,  not without Zay.”

Arthur rubbed her back trying to comfort her. “Breathe, Rye. In and out,” he instructed doing it with her, “There you go, breathe. It's okay, we're here with you.”

Two weeks later, Moriah sat in the exam room with Leata, Hassan, Nadine and her OBGYN. Having gotten over her initial shock, Nadine had seemingly come around to her grandchild and was willing to be present and helpful. 

“Everything with mom and baby looks good, I don't see any reason to worry.” The doctor informed them happily. “We’re just going to take a look at the baby before you go.”

Hassan helped Moriah lie back on the exam table, he offered her a small smile and kissed the top of her head. They watched the screen intently, Hassan and Leata with tears in their eyes. Moriah was honestly confused the first few moments about what she was looking at. 

“That thing is my baby?” She asked. 

The doctor laughed, “Yes, that's Baby DeBreaux. I know baby looks a little funny now but we're only at week 10 so he or she is still growing.”

“Fatu,” Moriah whispered.

“I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you, dear.”

“You said Baby DeBreaux,” Moriah answered softly, “Baby Fatu.”

“Oh I'm sorry, I should have asked. Well Baby Fatu is growing and healthy.”

“Thank you.”

Nadine mumbled under her breath which didn't go unnoticed by Hassan and Leata. 

“When is the due date?” Hassan asked holding onto his daughter'shand. 

“March 24th. Give or take a few days if he or she is stubborn.”

A soft gasp left Leata, her tears finally slipping out.

“Hmm well maybe they'll give the father a weekend pass to see the birth of his child or do prisons not do that anymore?”

Moriah stared up at the ceiling while Leata and Hassan glared at Nadine. The doctor cleared her throat. 

“Would you all like to hear the heartbeat?”

“Yes,” Hassan answered still staring at his ex wife, “Please.”

As soon as the sound of the baby's heartbeat filled the room, Nadine's rude remark was forgotten. Moriah cried softly, her hand instinctively went to her belly. 

Another two weeks passed, news of Moriah's pregnancy hadn't spread beyond her parents, Leata, Arthur, her aunts and grandparents. They had yet to figure out how to tell Zilla the news as they were worried about how it would affect him not being able to be there for his own child for ten years. When Moriah wasn't at school she was baby shopping with Leata and on some occasions with Nadine as well. 

“Where are you going?” Nadine asked seeing Moriah pull on her shoes. 

“Zilla's mom is coming to get me. We’re gonna go look at some stuff.”

Nadine shook her head. “Call her and tell her that you can't go. You've got an appointment.”

“Uuh on a Saturday? I thought my next one wasn't for a few weeks.” She said genuinely confused. 

“Yes on a Saturday. This is with a different doctor, I just wanna make sure everything is okay.” Nadine explained sweetly.

Moriah smiled. “Oh okay then I'll see if she wants to come.”

“No, no. I want this to be just me and you,” Nadine suggested getting up from her seat, “Afterwards maybe we can go look at some baby stuff. What do you think?”

Even though she was surprised and slightly skeptical, Moriah agreed and relayed the information to Leata, who was skeptical as well. An hour later, Moriah was sitting in the waiting room of an unfamiliar clinic while her mother filled out paperwork beside her. Whenever she tried to ask a question, Nadine changed the subject or told her not to worry about it. 

Getting called to the back, Moriah was extremely uncomfortable and panicking. The looks the nurse gave her were troubling, she wanted to ask but with her mom in the room, Moriah knew she wouldn't get an answer. When the doctor entered, he spoke to them both but Nadine was the only one responding and not for lack of trying on Moriah's part. The doctor took his time explaining the vacuum aspiration to Moriah as they prepped her. At a loss for words, Moriah sat completely still and stared at the doctor as if he was speaking another language. 

“You'll have to take it easy for a few days but after that you should be fine. I'm sure your mother will take good care of you.”

At the mention, Moriah looked over at Nadine, who had a small smile on her face. 

“Mama, I want my baby. I don't wanna do this.”

“You'll thank me later, Moriah.”

She shook her head, wrapping her arms around her belly protectively. “I wanna keep my baby. You said you were happy.”

“If you two need to discuss this more, I can step out,” the doctor offers. 

Nadine shook her head, “No, there's nothing to discuss. She's 15, I'm her parent and I say it goes. Get rid of it or I'll find someone who will, doctor.”

Tears stung Moriah's eyes at her mother's words. 

“You're gonna let them kill my baby, Mama?”

“I am and they are. Get rid of it and you can move on with your life. Stop crying and let them do their job.”

The week that followed the procedure, Moriah stayed in her room, crying, sleeping and avoiding contact with anyone. From her room, she could hear Nadine happily telling her aunt and Umi how she got rid of their problem and how she never wanted ‘it’ anyway. 

Nadine burst into her room, bouncing over to her windows to open her curtains. 

“Alright, Rye, it's time to get out of that bed. I've let you sulk long enough.”

Moriah pulled her comforter over her head ignoring her mother's commands. 

“Oh no no no,” Nadine drug out pulling the comforter back, “Pity party is over. Get up and get dressed.”

“For what?” She huffed finally sitting up. 

“Well, for one because I said so and two, so Leata will stop calling me,” Nadine huffed. “You can go over there and tell her that you got rid of it so she'll leave us alone finally.”

Moriah glared at her mother. “I didn't do anything. You killed my baby.”

“Tomato, tamato. Either way it's dead and we're moving on with our lives so you need to tell her. Be a big girl, just like you were when you got pregnant.”

“I hate you.”

Feeling someone sit beside her brought Moriah out of her thoughts. She looked to her right finding a sleepy Zilla and a soft giggle passed her lips. 

“Good morning, sleepy head.”

“Mornin,” he yawned. “What you doin up so early? Santa ain't come to see you. You been bad.”

Moriah laughed softly. “He ain't come to see you either, you been mean all year.” She leaned over to kiss him. “How'd you sleep?”

“Good till I realized you wasn't in bed with me. Bad dream?” He asked taking a sip from her mug.

“No, I'm always up early on Christmas. You forgot?”

He shrugged. “Didn't forget, just didn't expect you to get up this year. Don't ask why.”

“I won't. Anybody else up?”

“Nah, just us. Why?” He asked taking another sip then wiggled his eyebrows. “Fat tryna get busy?”

At that, Moriah laughed loudly standing up from her seat. “Boy, no. I was gonna say we can go get breakfast for everybody before your niece wakes the whole house.”

Zilla scrunched his face, “Eeh, I like Zilla's idea better but okay. But when we have kids, they ain't gettin up before 9.”

Moriah slightly frowned at his words but recovered before he noticed. “And why is that?”

“Cause Zilla tryna get busy on Christmas morning. That way I'm happy, you happy and the kids happy as it should be.”

Moriah stared at him trying not to laugh. “Its not often that I dislike you and this is one of those moments. You know how to ruin a nice day.”

“Oh I'm ruinin it cause I'm tryna give you some dick? I bet Mrs. Claus wouldn't turn it down.”

“Don't get Mrs. Claus and you fucked up now, Isayah,” Moriah threatened playfully. 

Zilla smacked her ass and wiggled his brows at her. “You know I like it when you get all jealous and threaten me, girl.”

“I'm about to go get breakfast by myself if you don't stop,” she laughed. 

Zilla got up from his seat, wrapping his arms around her careful not to spill the leftover cocoa in the mug on her. He kissed her head, her forehead her nose then her lips and stared down at her. 

“I don't know what all your mama did to you while I was gone and I'm sorry that I wasn't here to help you and be there for you,” he said softly. “But I'm here now. Whenever you're ready to tell me, I'll be here to listen and help in anyway that I can. And regardless of whatever it is that she did, I love you, Moriah. Ain't shit she can do to change that.”

Moriah blinked away tears. “Isayah, you're gonna make me melt.”

Zilla chuckled, kissing her again. “I ain't mean to make you melt, just wanted to tell you.”

Moriah laid her head on his chest, enjoying how it felt in his arms. At least she could enjoy today. 

[fukingsad]

You’re My Home

Ao’nung x Fem!reader

Mainly fluff 🤷🏾‍♀️❤️

Being the eldest child of Toruk Makto means you’re expected to be the example but what will you do when nothing can fill the hole you have within you after leaving your home…? But maybe home isn’t a place.. maybe it’s a person 🤧🤭

𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽𓇽

‘I want to go home’. It was all you could ever think of anymore. Did you show those feelings? No. Why? you were the oldest you had to be composed and give your younger siblings a good example of how to act. But no matter how much you learned, how many friends you made, how much you tried to forget your mind always ended up back to the beautiful bioluminescent forest you had called home for 16 years. Plus having an asshole always reminding you why you didn’t fit in at your new home made it so much worse. You can’t sleep. Every time you closed your eyes all you could see was home. Your real home back in the forest. It’s not even morning yet but you can’t just lay here in silence anymore.

You carefully get out of your family’s Marui pod making sure not to wake anyone. Especially tuk if you woke her up it’d be a bad day for everyone. She is a very cranky child.

Did you miss home? Of course, you did, why wouldn’t you? At home, you had a title you were the eldest daughter of Toruk Makto you were an extraordinary warrior and healer you had a future promised to you. But here you were nothing but a freak whose family is hiding away from who they once were.

This is all you could think of as you walk the shore of the deep blue ocean lit up by the beautiful sea creatures living in the water that surrounds your new home. New Home, you hated those words they seemed bitter and every time they were said this new home became more of a reality.

Walking along the shore was peaceful. It gave you a place to think. It gave you a place to feel. You knew as soon as the day began you’d have to pretend that you didn’t miss home your friends your grandmother your sense of self or any form of normality. You felt somewhat content walking until you hear a very familiar annoying voice.

“Oh look the four-fingered freak what are you doing out here already not like you can do much without me to watch you”. Aonung you swear he has no life he couldn’t he cares too much about you and your family to possibly have one.

“As entertaining as it is to argue with you it’s too late for this and I can’t deal with you right now so please just go away”. You said the displeasure of his company showed in not only your tone and face but your body language as you plopped on the cool sand.

One thing Aonung is not is someone to back down even with OBVIOUS social cues to do so. “Well I’m not sure why your acting like this no one told you to leave the little forest and creep into my home, not like any of us want you freaks here anyways,” He told you looking down at you.

His words circulated your head. As if you wanted to leave your home. You wanted to fight for your home but you couldn’t do it now you’re stuck here. How could he think you wanted to leave? You thought to yourself. Standing up quickly which caused the boy to stumble slightly your clenched fist pinned to your side.

“YOU THINK I WANTED TO LEAVE! Why does your dumbass think I wanted to leave, that any of my family would want to leave! oh, how fun it sounds to come to a COMPLETELY different way of life and have to COMPLETELY relearn how to live! it was either we come here or we not only put our family in danger but our people and I know how much you hate my family and me being here but we don’t wanna be here either!”

Tears threatened to fall but you wouldn’t let yourself cry in front of him or at least you didn’t want to. He just stood there and stared at you if you hadn't known better you would’ve thought he cared for you.

You quickly sat on the sand clutching your knees to your chest clinging to yourself. “Do you think I find it fun to have to act like being here doesn't bother me? I’m the oldest I have to show my siblings that all of this is ok But it’s not, none of it is how could it be?”You asked looking at the boy with big doe eyes full of pain and anger. You place your head down and begin to sob “I just wanna go home I’m tired of being here this place isn’t home I wanna go home I just want to go home”. You said to yourself quietly sobbing. As much as you hated crying in front of others you just couldn’t hold it together anymore it was too much.

Aonung stood there awkwardly, surprised that he made you cry, not even cry practically break down completely. The way you looked at him. It pained him to see you so upset. He just couldn't understand why.

You hear movement assuming Aonung left out of awkwardness. That is until you feel arms wrap around you. You lift your head quickly and push the fish boy away standing up after. You look at each other shocked

“What the hell was that huh?” you asked him slightly flustered but mainly confused.

“One ouch Two have you never heard of a hug before it’s something people do to comfort others duh three you just... you seemed like you needed a hug you know?” He spits the last part out awkwardly.

Your face deadpans at the boy's lack of social skills. “Why would I want a hug from someone who for starters isn't my friend and is the reason I'm crying in the first place? It makes no sense for you to hug me.” You said matter of factly. Silence overcame you as you thought for a second before saying “But thank you I suppose that was kind of you” You once again sit down facing the ocean the moon's bright light reflecting off the water.

Aonung moves to sit to the side of you just staring at your features as the moon's light begins to shine on them. If we're being honest here Aonung feels bad still seeing the tears on your face. He wasn’t used to this he was used to you arguing back or yelling and pushing him to go away. The way you never backed down amused him. He found you interesting he felt a need to break your confident shell, and now that he did he regretted ever wanting to do so. “Look i- I’m sorry for what I did it was uncalled for truly,” the boy said head turned slightly flustered.

You turned your head around quickly your legs sprawling out. “Okay, why are you being so nice?” you ask raising an eyebrow at him. “DID YOU PUT SOMETHING ON ME?!” you reach your arms around to feel for something on your back frantically only for Aonung to grab your arms carefully pulling them toward himself. He let out a (very sexy) light chuckle before saying “As funny as that would be forest girl, no I didn’t put anything on you and I’m being nice because I get where you're coming from…kinda?”

You pulled your arms away from the boy. “How could you ever understand how I feel? You didn't have to pack up your life and leave your home. You didn't have to run away from who you are,” You told him pulling your legs back into you.

Aonung turns his head away from you staring off into the night sky the stars as bright as ever. “I might not understand that way but I understand what it’s like to always be under pressure you know being the oldest and all,” he says sincerely. Out of the sincerity in his soft words, you turn your head to look at him as his light-colored skin seems to shine with the night. ‘When did he get so fine?’ you quickly shook the Thought to continue listening to his words.

“Look y/n, to be honest, I don't care that you're here it's just…” he paused taking a deep breath and continuing. “The fact that I had to teach you and knowing that you all were running away from war was both irritating and scary. Being the oldest means I'm going to be the next olo’eyktan and I not only have lots of training and responsibilities I also have to care for my people. And having to take care of you all adding to my long list of responsibilities and worrying that the war you're all running from might come to my home annoyed me and angered me it… It scared me. And being mean to you all was just my sad attempt to not only run you all away but gain some power back the power that was taken away from me from forcefully becoming your teacher and no longer knowing that my people are completely safe.”

You looked at Aonung shocked. He sounded so mature. So caring. He sounded like less of an asshole and more like a true olo’eyktan someone that deeply cared for his people. It was comforting to know he wasn't as shallow as you thought. That there was more to him than just what you saw. Kinda like Home how even though the forest looks scary it's beautiful and simply misunderstood. Just like Home. Just like Aonung

“Hey, monkey girl you ok? Why you looking at me like that?” he said waving a hand in front of your face. You shook your head realizing you had been staring. “Yea I'm fine it’s just you sounded mature like a true chief and less like a bratty kid,” you said pushing him slightly and chuckling as you did so.

“Y’know you aren't so bad when you're being nice you should do it more often,” you told him “ya think so?” “yea I do” “Well even though you’re from the forest you are quite civilized and easy to talk to” you pause before joking “After all that progress” you giggle smiling at his joke “hey old habits die-hard y’know” He pauses.

“We should be friends,” He says after standing up and holding out a hand. “hmm I don’t know” you stay seated thinking of an answer. Aonung retracts his hand slowly letting it fall limp to his side. He squats down in front of you looking into your bright yellowish amber eyes with his light blue ones. “look I know we had a bad start but I do wanna be friends with you because you don’t seem all that bad and you are easy to talk to I feel oddly comfortable with you plus you’re not scared to put me in my place none of your family is in fact but you especially… so please at least gimme a chance to prove I’m not all bad.” he said standing straight reaching his arm out to you again.

You think for a moment. Were you gonna take the hand of the boy whose only mission since you and your family emerged here has been to run you all off? The boy who makes fun of your family. The boy who not only UNFAIRLY fought your brothers but ALSO almost got one killed. The boy who did all these things yet he gave you a familiar feeling. The feeling you haven't felt since the move. The feeling of home.

“Welp Im not leaving any time soon so might as well,” you say taking his hand. His hand is much bigger than yours given the metkayina’s adaptations to the water his hand completely engulfing yours. He lets out a laugh still holding your hand.

“Hey since we’re friends now you wanna go somewhere cool?” he asks excitedly. You pause for a second “I mean I’d love to but I don’t wanna get stranded in the middle of the ocean to be killed so I don’t know” you tease him. Aonung rubs the back of his next embarrassed “Yea sorry again for that but I promise on eywa I won’t and if I do may eywa bring my spirit to her immediately” he says seriously.

“Well with a promise like that, I guess I have to trust you plus I’m not going to sleep anytime soon might as well” you shrug. The two of you call your ilu’s over. Before we head underwater Aonung pipes up “Hey just make sure to keep up with me don’t wanna break my promise I’m too handsome to die tonight” he teased “Yea definitely too handsome” you roll your eyes.

With that, you and your ilu start to dive underwater making sure to splash Aonung as you do. Aonung quickly dives and races in front of you causing you to lose some balance but it is quickly regained.

You trail slightly behind Aonung as he leads you to this mysterious place. He stops abruptly and signs to go to the surface. “what’s wrong?” you ask “you need to take a really deep breath we’ll be underwater for a while and I would love it if you didn’t drown before we reached our Destination”. You roll your eyes at his playfulness.

As you go to take a breath Aonung comes beside you and places a hand on your lower stomach and chest. “Breathe from your stomach deep slows breaths you need to slow your heart rate if you don’t wanna die”.

You pray to eywa that he didn’t notice the spike in your heartbeat when he put his hands on you. But the light smirk ghosting his face says he did. “ now one last breath ok?” You take a deep breath and you both dive under.

Aonung was right when he said you’d be underwater for a while, it feels like you’ve been under for 5 minutes already. finally, there’s an opening and you both swim up.

after wiping off your face your eyes adjust. “Ok hold my hand and close your eyes no peaking” you grab his hand and think this is the same boy who insulted you every chance he got. Aonung leads you a few steps before letting your hand go “ok now open your eyes” You open your eyes and you are left speechless. A beautiful cave, with bioluminescent plants and creatures scattered across. It reminds you of the nights at home

Aonung nervous by your lack of words asks “So do ya like it?” you turn to him “I love it.” He laughs “I’m glad, I haven’t been here in a while it’s pretty cool right?” “It reminds me of the forest back home, so yea definitely cool,” You say eyes wandering taking in every part as if it’s not only the first but last time you’ll see this amazing place.

“Well, I’m glad you like it because this is officially our spot,” He says chest puffed out smirking. You said an eyebrow and smirk back “Our spot huh?” The boy nods his head. “I kinda like the sound of that,” you say laying down and becoming one with this moment of peace this feeling of home. You feel warmth beside you as Aonung began to lay next to you and everything feels content at this moment. Everything is in place. It feels like home.

🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮🝮

Since that night the days have gone by fast all fading into one but you're not complaining. That beautiful cave truly was Aonung and yours. Only for the two of you. How easily you both could talk there. Words seemed to pour out of both of you as if they were crawling to be listened to by the other

Your urge to go home lessened did you still miss home yes of course but being here wasn't so bad. Maybe you've finally started to accept Awa'atlu as your home. Or maybe it wasn't Awa’atlu that you were accepting maybe it was…Him

Just like every other night, you ended up back at the beautiful cave. No matter how many times you’ve been there it never seemed to lose its hold on you. You didn’t expect aonung to be here tonight he seemed… distant? no busy? Nah maybe distracted? Either way, you both hadn’t hung out at the cave in around seven moons but you can’t be mad at him he’s the future olo’eyktan so he won’t ALWAYS be able to go off in the night.

Plus you had other friends to hang out with so when aonung was busy you’d hang out with them.

Yet there he was sitting there like always it seemed like he was waiting for you. It felt as if no matter what got in your way anymore you’d always find him waiting for you to come back to him and vice versa.

“I didn’t know you were gonna be here why didn’t you tell me?” you asked playfully walking over to the boy. “Didn’t think you’d wanna come” he said standing up and shrugging. What had you done? I mean he’s the one that hasn’t been hanging out with you, yet your not mad so, why is he?

He starts to walk away from you. You quickly grab his hand “hey what's wrong you know you can't talk to me? We can always talk here.” “It's nothing” he replied harshly ripping his hand away from yours “well if it's affecting you like this it must be something”.

“It's just so stupid it doesn't even matter”He said plotting down on the cool cave ground.“Well it obviously matters to you so it matters to me”

“Do you still wanna go home?”

Your whole body froze. Why would he ask that? He always made sure not to bring it up he knew it was a sensitive topic yet he asked so bluntly. You’ve thought of home a lot but since you and aonung have gotten so close home seemed close not the faraway forest. Home felt

“ I don’t know why do you ask?” you said gently, squatting down on the ground.

“It’s just” he started sitting beside you. “I think about it a lot like what would happen if you could go home, would you? and if you did what would I do without you?” He turned towards you.

“You act like you haven’t been without me before it’s not like you’ll be alone if I left” “Yea I won’t be alone but I won’t have you what’s the point of anything if I can’t go back to you?” he said becoming aggravated. what does he mean what’s the point?

“Aonung what are you saying”. Aonung stood up abruptly “I’m saying I see you y/n and now that I do I can’t imagine seeing anyone else the way I see you but I can’t help but think one day you’ll go home and I’ll be alone and I won’t be able to see you ever again” he went quiet.

You didn’t know what to say. Would you go home? Would you really just leave him? What would YOU do without him? He was your best friend the best friend that you’ve grown to love and that you’ve grown to see in one way and another. That’s when you knew exactly what to say.

You cupped his face softly. “I see you aonung deep down I always have and I won't leave you I promise I won't and if I ever had the opportunity to go home it would lead me back to you. Do you wanna know why?”

Still shocked by your words he mutters out a soft “why?” “Because” You pull him into a kiss the salt water present however oddly sweet. You feel his hands wrap around your waist pulling you in keeping the kiss. You pull away slowly still cupping his face

“You’re My Home”

a/n:i hate this might delete it later 🤪🤞🏾 but i had to get it finished so i could finish the others anyways i take constructive criticism and feedback jus don’t be too mean 🤭😻

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Unexpected hyperfixation??

okay so what the fuck guys I just finished watching the Disney film Inside Out (2015) and my god JOY

JOY is so MOTHER like, MOMMY? Literally on the very first minute of the movie, when she was the first emotion to appear, she said "It was me and Riley forever", that caught my interest. And it only snowballed from there. I found how she would hug the memory balls so lovingly, super interesting

So definitely her defining character trait is a control freak, nice but actually covertly nasty. I love me a possessive smother, she was not too thrilled to know that she had to share the room with other emotions. But she eventually tolerated and became nice to them because they had a use to keep Riley alive and safe. But is highkey a hater towards Sadness because she thinks that blue fuck is only there to cause misery towards her beloved Riley.

Like WOW the core memories are all controlled by Joy and she genuinely finds JOY in doing menial shit like "dream duty" unlike the other emotions who finds it a chore. She does not sleep fr fr, rather obsessing over Riley and her thoughts and CONTROLLING everything so that Riley is forever happy and in bliss.

She physically cannot let Riley go to sleep sad, so she played a memory about her ice skating back in Minnesota, and she was also skating around in the headquarters. I interpreted it as Joy wanting to be physically outside Riley's head so she could mother her better and steal Riley from her parents to make her into Joy's daughter. I Pretend I Do Not See TVtropes explanation of that saying she secretly wants to be Riley because that does not fit into my ideal 💯💯

In that scene where a sad core memory was created, homegirl flipped the fuck out and tries to immediately get rid of it, throwing hands with Sadness and pulling her hair and shit just to avoid it creating whatever crappy mcshitster island it might have made.

Then the scene where she sees the mind workers siphoning faded memories to be thrown to the memory dump to be disintegrated, she was also freaking out because those are "perfectly good memories" and proceeds to list some obscure ass esoteric information about Riley's childhood, the names of every Cutie Pie princess doll to be exact LIKE DAMN JOY YOU REMEMBER THAT SHIT? DAMN

she got mad when the workers threw those memories away and briefly told them to bring them back YESS I SEE YOU HOARDER MAMI

and she is WELL ACQUAINTED with Riley's imaginary best friend because she gives a crap about everything related to Riley- like she remembers everything about his antics and work- FUCK BRO like Sadness doesn't seem to know who the hell that guy is but JOY DOES even down to that song they sang, and you can tell that she stays UP watching her dreams because she knew the Unicorn actress and her work too.

Joy's only priority is Riley like what the hell, it's just making Riley happy at all costs and she litcherally abandoned sadness at long term memory just so that she could get back up there and make her happy.

When bing bong's rocket got thrown into the pit and he was understandably devastated, Joy wasted no time in trying to cheer him up JUST SO the party could keep moving, she does not give TWO SHITS about him being sad, she just cared about Riley and Riley is #1 in her abstract ass brain. Like she even got annoyed when Sadness showed actual empathy and talked to bing bong, thinking it will just hinder advancements

And she just does NOT want Riley to feel other emotions if its not necessary, like logically yes scaring an 11 year old in her dream is going to wake her up immediately. But she would rather go the dumbass route of making a dream so happy and joyful that she would wake up like???? sanity and IQ slippage right there because she is distressed over not being able to save Riley just yet, or because of her possessiveness.

Bro?? Like when she's going through the recall tube (that inevitably failed), she was supposed to let sadness get sucked up with her, but because of her blueness is contaminating the core memories she was like "SORRY RILEY NEEDS TO BE HAPPY" and just kicked her to the curb, like with almost no hesitation she just shoved her away

My god, my favourite scene was when she was at the bottom of the memory dump where she sees the grey orbs being turned to dust and blown away, she was crying and mourning over the small details and memories like how Riley would stick her tongue out while colouring, and that one line "I can listen to her stories, all day." Like DAMN MISS OBSESSIVE ATTENTIVE I SEE YOUU

and she watched some random memory about Riley twirling around and falling like an idiot as a toddler, and she sobbed hard, like it isn't that deep but it is to Joy. Like the small stuff that she would obsess to the moon over like BRO FUCK THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT

And the fact that there is this huge theme of "I do not want my Daughter-cum-flesh mecha to grow up" in Joy's character makes me want Joy so bad

Literally, throughout the entire 1h 30ish minute movie Joy's like: "I must save Riley. I live for Riley. In this reality it is only Riley", whereas the other personalities do give a damn about themselves a fair amount, a normal amount. Whereas Joy just devotes her entire concept to Riley, as in she has no personality other than obsessive, possessive, and controlling just for the best of Riley and her happiness, ALL SHE THINKS OF IS RILEY OR RELATING TO HER

like she could have been sadness where she became a sad sack about how she fucked up and stuff, and yes Joy DID fuck up by being an asshat to sadness, because she turns out to be important in regulating Riley's emotions. But Joy does not sulk and mope and become immobilized for long, she has work to do and that is to take care of Riley, LIKE?? DAMN JOY U CAN PUSH THRU SELF HATRED LIKE THAT JUST FOR YOUR RILEY

no she doesn't feel too awkward, too guilty or too shitty that she starts to alienate herself from the 4, but she just continues business as usual for the sake of Riley. Nothing matters except Riley's happiness AND wellbeing.

I swear to god Joy is the Yves emotion man, If my brain works like how the Inside Out universe works, Yves is literally Joy piloting my brain on a daily basis like omg that's YVES

Yves would be kinning so hard with Joy fr fr, he would be breathing so hard and gripping till the handles of his seat breaks, frothing at the mouth and pupils blown out at the thought of getting into your brain and accessing ALL those memory orbs, maybe even finding a way to make copies and export them into real life and to fill up his data vault

[prettyyoungandbored]

Official - Johnny Knoxville

Pairing: Johnny Knoxville x Fem!Reader

Same couple from the other fics.

NOT MY GIF

Y/N let out a big yawn as she made her way to her car. Jeff, her, and Johnny had wrapped up a production meeting with MTV execs that took way longer than necessary.

The guys and Holly begged her to come out with them after she was done, but she was too exhausted to entertain the thought.

She got into her car, throwing her purse in the passenger seat before rubbing her eyes. She was thankful she had the next two days off, planning on spending those moments resting.

She knew Johnny only had the next day off and despite desperately wanting to spend some quality time with him, she wanted him to get his rest.

She also wanted to make sure he was able to have some space of his own.

They’d been seeing each other for a month when Johnny made it clear that they were exclusive. They snuck out on dates or into each other’s hotel rooms. While Holly and Steve-O knew, they kept it from the others.

Just as she went to start the car, a knock at the window caused her to jump in her seat. She turned to see Johnny there and rolled down the window.

“You scared the shit out of me!” she said.

“Sorry, Babydoll,” he pouted. “I wanted to know if you were going to the bar to meet the group or heading back to the hotel?”

“I’m going back to the hotel. I can barely keep my eyes open.”

“You want me to drive you?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine. It’s only a 10 minute drive. Besides, don’t you get sleepy behind the wheel?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes.”

She blinked, wondering how he could be so casual about it. “Yeah, that terrifies me. Want me to drive you to the bar?”

“I’m going back to the hotel. I’m exhausted. Meet me in my room when you get there?”

“Sounds good.”

He held up his finger for a moment, looking out. “See ya Jeff!” he called out as Jeff pulled off.

The second Jeff and his car were out of sight, Johnny kissed Y/N on the forehead. “Drive safe, Babydoll. See you when you get there.”

“You too, Babe.”

=====================================

Before she went into his room, she brushed her teeth and washed her face. She changed into some sweatpants and a tank top before making her way to Johnny’s hotel room.

She eyed around to make sure no one else was coming by before knocking on his door.

The door swung open to reveal Johnny in a wrinkled plain white tee and sweatpants.

“I was wondering what was taking you so long,” he said.

She patted his stomach as she made her way in his room. “I had to get ready for bed first.”

He closed the door behind him. “I’m surprised you changed your clothes.”

“Well I had to get cozy,” she chuckled, wrapping her arms around his waist.

His hands cupped her face. “Could’ve slept naked. I do.”

She hummed as she inched toward his lips. “Don’t tempt me with a good time.”

His lips closed on hers hungrily, as if they hadn’t touched in years. Although Johnny had once told her she was a great kisser, she knew she had nothing on him. When he kissed, he kissed with passion and urgency.

It made her toes curl as tiny fireworks exploded in her stomach.

When he pulled back, she rested her chin on his chest.

“What’re you doing?” he laughed.

“Just admiring you. You’re awfully pretty.”

He threw his head back, laughing. God, how she loved hearing him laugh.

“It’s true!” she pressed on. “Even when you’re covered in shit and wearing some dumbass costume like you wore today, you’re still pretty to me.”

“Now I can’t tell you the last time I’ve ever had a girl call me ‘pretty,’” he said. “Come to think of it, I don’t think they’ve ever had.”

“Not even ‘pretty boy’?”

He shook his head as she sighed heavily. “Well, I’m sorry people have been so horrible to you.”

“Might need to keep you around longer just so you can remind me whenever I need to hear it.”

She snorted. “That’s the only reason, huh?”

“I have my other reasons but I’ll keep them to myself.”

It was her turn to shake her head. “So cruel, Clapp”

He kissed her forehead. “Hey, I talked to my manager and we’ll have three months together after Jackass wraps before filming on that other movie begins.”

“Oh yay!” she beamed. They had talked about what would happen after filming on “Jackass” wrapped and they both made it clear to one another that they wanted to continue seeing each other.

“I already know a couple places I want to take you when we go back to LA,” she said “My friend actually owns this bar in Burbank that we can go to.”

“I can’t wait Babydoll,” he said. “I’m gonna have you all to myself whenever I want.”

“Who says you don’t now?”

“Point taken.”

She patted his chest. “Alright, you ready for bed?”

Before he could respond, there was a knock at the door. Y/N turned her head to Johnny.

“I’ll go in the bathroom,” she whispered.

He nodded as she tipped toed into the bathroom, closing the door. Johnny then opened the hotel door.

“What’s up, Dave?”

“You got any any extra weed on you? I’ve got a date in my hotel room.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Damn! Well, thanks anyway. Wait, why aren’t you at the bar with the guys?”

“I’m fucking exhausted, man. I’ll go with you guys tomorrow night.”

“Ok. Sounds good. See ya.”

Johnny closed the door, locking it. Y/N waited a second before opening the bathroom door.

“He might try you next,” Johnny warned.

“Oh, I have a ‘do not disturb,’ sign on my door knob,” she said. “I figured they’d leave me alone.”

“Wishful thinking, Babydoll.”

“I’m not worried about it. C’mon, let’s go to bed.”

She made her to the hotel bed, crawling under the duvet covers.

Johnny turned off the lamp on the nightstand beside the bed and slid under the covers. He reached his arms out, pulling her to him so her back was against his chest.

“You warm enough now, cutie?” he asked.

She smirked, wiggling her butt closer to his clothes groin. Johnny’s hand slapped her butt playfully.

“Behave,” he mumbled as she snickered.

======================================

A loud bang at the door woke both Y/N and Johnny from their slumber. Y/N let out a sharp gasp as she clutched her beating chest.

“The fuck was that?” she whispered.

Before Johnny could answer, there was another loud bang at the door.

“Are you fucking serious?” he grumbled.

He got up from the bed. “GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP!” he yelled.

“Come outside, Daddy Knoxville! We wanna play!”

Y/N groaned. It was Ryan and the laugh that followed belonged to Bam. Of course it was those two.

Johnny shook his head, making his way back from to bed. He eyed the alarm clock which read 3:19 a.m.

“They’ll get kicked out eventually,” he sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Y/N laid back down and closed her eyes when the two assholes outside the door began screaming some song she couldn’t quite identify. She pulled her lips back, hoping maybe, just maybe someone would put an end to it.

But five minutes passed and eventually she had enough.

“WE’RE TRYING TO SLEEP YOU ASSHOLES!” she screamed.

Y/N froze, heart falling straight down to her ass, as the room and the noise outside fell silent. She eyed Johnny, his eyes as wide as hers.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

He opened his mouth to respond when-

“HOLY SHIT THAT CAN’T BE?!”

“HE BAGGED HER, MAN!”

Johnny got out of bed and stormed to the door. Y/N buried herself under the covers.

“Dude don’t tell me that’s Y/N in your bed-.” Ryan was cut off.

“Not a single word from either of you! You understand me? Not a fucking word!”

Johnny slammed the door, locking it. Y/N sniffled as hot tears trickled down. Of course he was pissed. He went to great lengths to protect her and their relationship and she ruined it because she couldn’t stand two grown men being loud.

She felt a hand on top of the covers that hugged her hips .

“Babydoll, can you look at me please?” His tone was slow, almost cautious.

She shook her head, eyes closed. “I can’t. I’m such a fucking idiot.”

“No, you’re not. Hey, c’mon.”

She pulled the covers off her face and was welcomed by a concerned Johnny.

“Oh, Babydoll,” he coaxed, pulling her into a hug. “It’s ok. I’m not mad at all.”

“I’m so sorry I ruined it,” she whimpered, sniffling.

“You didn’t ruin anything. Besides, they were gonna find out soon enough.”

His finger gently lifted her chin up. “Hey, I’m not mad, ok?”

She nodded as he kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry about those two. We’ll deal with them after we talk to Jeff and fill out any and all the HR bullshit forms, ok?”

She nodded her head again as he collected her back in his arms. “I’m sorry for putting us in this position,” she whispered.

“No apologizing, Babydoll,” he reminded her gently. “Let’s go back to bed and we’ll fix this in the morning.”

=====================================

“Oh I figured it out last week,” Jeff said, sipping on his coffee.

Y/N and Johnny met with Jeff in his hotel room the following morning to explain their relationship and what had happened the night before. Y/N felt sick to her stomach about telling Jeff, wondering what exactly kind of price she and Johnny would have to pay.

Jeff’s casual attitude on the matter, however, came as a massive relief to her.

“Anyway, don’t worry about the disclosure forms,” he went on. “MTV doesn’t do that shit. They don’t care.”

“How did you figure it out?” Y/N asked.

Jeff made a face. “Are you serious? You two were always a smiling at each other and he always keeps you in his eye line, even while he’s filming.” He turned to Johnny. “Also there’s no reason you need to be in her office so many goddamn times a day. I am happy for you two though.”

Johnny nodded as Y/N pat his back. “Well, I’m glad we got this out of the way.”

“There is one thing,” Jeff said. “She is gonna have to do a stunt.”

Y/N groaned as Johnny shook his head. “Absolutely not. No.”

“Relax. I’ll come up with it.”

“Jeff-.”

“She won’t end up in the hospital. I promise.”

======================================

Three Days Later…

“Hi, I’m Johnny Knoxville-.”

“And I’m Y/N L/N-.”

“and this is the milkshake challenge.”

The couple sat next to each other at a table at a podunk diner. Holly, wearing a skimpy diner waitress, appeared from the double doors

“Milkshake for the love birds to share!” she cheered.

She set down a dark green milkshake with spots that reminded Y/N of mold. Of course, it was topped with whipped cream and cherry and had two straws.

“What the fuck is in here?” Y/N asked.

“You’ll have to taste it,” Jeff said from behind the camera

She groaned. As Johnny glared at Jeff and the guys behind him.

“Jeff, you promised,” Johnny reminded him.

“I put the shit in there,” Jeff assured. “No allergic reactions. No poison. No hospital trips. Now take a sip.”

There was no way out. They had to do it. Johnny sighed and rubbed Y/N’s back. “C’mon Babydoll. Let’s get this over with.”

She sighed as her lips inched toward the straw. She said a silent prayer before sucking through the straw.

It was then her taste buds were met with a mixture that could only best be described as dusty, onion mush

She spit it out in the bucket immediately. “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU PUT IN THERE?!”

[heavyhitterheaux]

FL CONCEPT : Urban and FL get into a big argument! Maybe he said something jokingly and she took it to heart so she’s really upset and doesn’t speak to him for a whole week 🤭

I’m messy, call me MESSYca 😈

"Bestie, are we still going to Morris Deli?" Urban asked as he poked your cheek, but you immediately rolled your eyes.

"Go with your other bestie since he's the one you always tell everything to anyway."

"Uhh, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, like you don't fucking know." You fired back and Urban threw his hands up in confusion.

"Obviously I don't! Hence, why I'm asking. Don't start this shit again."

"Start what exactly? Go head Urby, Say it."

"HOLDING ONTO SHIT!"

"BECAUSE YOU LIED TO ME LET’S GET THAT PART FUCKING STRAIGHT! And you had the nerve to say the other day when Clay introduced us to the girl he's dating that you hope that I let him have a peaceful relationship and not be on his back all the time and you would be surprised if the relationship lasts for a week."

"I WAS JOKING."

"WELL IT WASNT FUCKING FUNNY BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHY I DO IT AND WHY I'M SO PROTECTIVE OF ALL OF YOU. SO GO BY YOUR FUCKING SELF!"

"Y/N, COME ON! I DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING BY IT."

You simply made your way to walk up the steps as Jack had opened the front door and saw the pissed off look on your face.

"Uh, baby what's wrong?" Jack asked and you simply waved him off and continued walking up the steps and turned to Urban and eyed him.

"You better not be the cause of that. Why is my baby upset?" Jack said to Urban as he pointed towards the steps.

"Umm, you see what had happened was…"

"What the fuck did you do?"

"Uhh she didn't like how I joked about her breaking up Clay and his girl like she used to do all of my other relationships."

"And the dumbass of the year awards goes to…"

"I didn't mean anything by it." Urban quietly said as Jack was trying to think of how he could get you to agree to talk to Urban because he knew for a fact that you were the queen of the silent treatment.

"But you know how she feels about that! She thought that you would never forgive her for doing that even though there were good intentions behind it!"

"Didn't think about that."

"CLEARLY!"

Jack went upstairs to check on you and found you laying down and when you saw him, you immediately got up to hug him.

He simply rubbed small soothing circles on your back as he now heard you crying and waited for you to speak.

"Do you think Clay thinks that I'm going to do the same thing?"

"No, babe. Even though he knows how protective you are, he at least came to us first and told us. He didn't hide it. That's no shade to Urb, but it's the truth."

"I don't want anyone taking advantage of him either. I will literally flip my shit if someone hurts my little baby."

"I know and I'll be right there with you."

"I hope you didn't come up here to convince me to talk to Urby because my answer is no."

"But baby..."

"NO."

It had been an entire week since you spoke to your best friend and he was going through it.

You decided that this had gone on long enough and knocked on his bedroom door.

You heard his voice telling you to come in and when you did he was surprised to see you.

"Y/N…"

"Get your keys, we're going to get food and you're driving. Jack's already downstairs."

"You know I never meant to hurt your feelings and you know how important you are to me. That's not me at all."

"Urby, I'm hungry so I suggest you come on because I will leave you and I love you too. Pay for my food and I just might forgive you."

"At least you didn’t tell me you wanted a Birkin."

"Don't push it Wyatt because I can always change my mind."

[thecat620]

Who Kept Fizz and Blitz apart?

We've got at least three candidates on who could've kept Fizz and Blitz apart after the fire though I have at least one extra theory considering the medical professionals in Sloth.

In the episode Oops, Blitz mentioned that "they" said Fizz didn't want to see Blitz while Fizz was told by "them" that Blitz never came to see him in the first place. Someone was keeping these two apart intentionally and it makes their split even more tragic since Fizz would've forgiven Blitz or not been as angry at Blitz if he had been allowed to see Blitz. And Blitz probably would've had a better support system if he was allowed to see Fizz.

I want to put arguments for and against each theory to see where we could go from here and what we'll eventually learn about the truth when these two learn it.

Culprit 1: Mammon

Argument: Considering the placement of this sign in the episode Oops, it would be very easy to predict that Mammon would be the one that could have kept these two apart but also have a motive. Let's say he got word of Fizz's talents at the Buckzo Imp Circus through word of mouth and talent scouts. He probably had an eye on Fizz and would've recruited him to be his latest cashcow. He would have the money to give Fizz prosthetics that would help him perform again. Or hire Ozzie to give Fizz the prosthetics which would give a reason on how they met and fell in love. He wouldn't want Fizz to get distracted so he probably ordered any nurses in Sloth or wherever he was recovering to keep anyone out and isolate Fizz, making him easy to manipulate.

Counterargument: Mammon can be a bit of a dumbass so if Fizz auditioned to be his next star after he got his prosthetics, he probably treated him nice to start but the abuse would gradually happen over time. We don't know exactly how long Fizz was working for him but it's enough to make Fizz feel self-conscious about still being good enough to work for him. And he probably would've said something if he knew about Blitz trying to see his former friend. Mammon probably met and had Fizz working for him after he recovered.

Culprit 2: Cash Buckzo

Argument: I love this jackass but he's still a greedy jackass that cares very little about his own son while treating Fizz like the golden child. BUT I could see his ONE redeeming quality that he cares very deeply for his wife, Tilla. Using his son to steal riches from the Goetia and emotionally manipulating him so they could get treasures that he could sell to keep their family afloat. And I'll give him credit that he was disturbed enough by Paimon wanting to buy his son (at first) for Stolas. But his favoritism for Fizz and neglect of Blitz (we don't know how he treated Barbie) could've manifested into resentment for the accident his son caused with the fire. Buckzo not only lost his livelihood and wife but the kid he wished was his son was damaged so he could've kept the two of them apart out of spite and grief from losing the woman he loved.

Counterargument: He's also a bit of a dumbass and the alcohol might've scrambled his brain enough where he wouldn't be able to think of keeping Blitz and Fizz apart. And from the phonecall Blitz had in the episode Unhappy Campers, Blitz does seem to be on speaking terms enough with his father that he'd actually call him to try and figure out where Barbie was. And I think Buckzo would've been dealing with the loss of the circus as well as his wife so as much as he probably would've wanted to get back at his son and protect Fizz from getting hurt worse (since I think he does care about Fizz in some capacity), the grief he was going through probably would've made him unable to actually do it.

Culprit 3: Barbie Wire

Argument: We know very little about Barbie and what we do know is from the few mentions of her we've had in the show and pictures. But I think if her attitude towards her brother is anything to go by, I could believe she tried to separate Blitz and Fizz because of her own issues. We know she wasn't there during the fire and Blitz mentioned to Fizz that Fizz was all he had left. He lost his mother, his father neglected him, and there was probably a growing separation between Blitz and Barbie that hurt Blitz deeply, no doubt her drug addiction. When the fire happened, it seemed to happen when Blitz and Fizz were in their mid to late teens. Barbie could've either been sent away to rehab or gone off on her own, not being happy with the circus life. Maybe she felt resentment that her mother was close to Blitz and wanted to find her own path that isn't being a twin. Maybe she was manipulated by her father into seeing Blitz as the weak link in the family. Or maybe she felt anger that Blitz couldn't save their mother even though he was there when she wasn't there. It's hard to say if she was close to Fizz like Blitz was but if she got her father's attitude, she probably could've kept both boys separated out of spite and grief. She's familiar enough with the staff at the rehab center in Sloth that she could tell them to keep Blitz and Fizz separated "for their own good". And she purposefully used Blitz's old name even though she started with his preferred name when they saw each other, intentionally hurting her brother. Who's to say she wasn't capable of hurting him before? Maybe she felt resentment at how close Blitz and Fizz were and thought Fizz deserved better. Or maybe the drugs caused her to act out.

Counterargument: I don't want to throw Barbie under the bus since we only got a brief appearance by her and I hope she and Blitz will reconcile in some way. If Blitz can make up with Fizz, he can certainly make up with his sister. Since she wasn't around during the fire, maybe her anger at Blitz not being able to save their mother as well as anger at herself for not being there. I could see her deflecting her own feelings of guilt and grief onto her brother, blaming him for everything like her father did. But I could also see her wanting to run away from her feelings; she probably wants to get close to her brother but she just can't face him since I think deep down, she knows that isn't fully Blitz's fault. An accident is still an accident and they were basically children when it happened; Blitz has suffered enough and Barbie probably is trying to cope on her own. Maybe there's even some resentment of being a twin to someone that isn't as good or the lesser twin, feeling like she has to be better than him. If that's the case, she probably would want to separate herself from her old life and lashes out whenever Blitz tries to reach out.

Culprit 4: Sloth's Medical Staff

Argument: Okay this one might be a bit of a stretch (and I'm only using Barbie's nurse to make a point) but despite how nice and relaxing Sloth is and it being a hub for medical care and rehab, it's still a ring of Sin. They have a lot of drugs and use people like Barbie to get drugs from Earth to Hell. They're going to have their selfish parts to them too. It takes five years to get a Hellbies shot for Loona and they have staff that are really lazy that Blitz was ready to shoot them when he was losing his patience. And while people do give Barbie's nurse the benefit of the doubt in wanting to keep Barbie from falling off the wagon by trying to talk Blitz out of seeking her out, even using his preferred name, they don't seem very good at keeping people in rehab that should still be there. Verosika got out because she was still "famous" but it's very likely she got out because the staff were neglectful and got paid off. Who's to say they didn't get paid off to keep Fizz and Blitz separate, saying that Fizz didn't want to see Blitz or Blitz never came to visit. and they only seem to really get their asses in gear when a high profile demon is seriously hurt (ie, Stolas). Since Fizz is famous, they probably could've kept him guarded away where Blitz couldn't visit.

Counterargument: As much as her methods were harsh, Barbie's nurse did seem like she was looking out for Barbie and Blitz in a way. And the goat doctor was probably the nicest character we've seen in Sloth even if he used a needle that scared poor Loona. Whether there's actual malicious intent or just incompetence, we still don't know too much about this ring or the medical practices in Sloth but it's at least interesting to think about.

[ariihen]

some thoughts on netflix's adaptation of atla:

kiawentiio was done dirty cause she has so much of katara's bite and sass in her interviews

u can really tell the writing is the series' weakest point because the actors have what it takes to bring those characters to life but they'll only be able to do so much with the script and direction they're given

the wigs are SO ugly. yue had it the worst imo. she deserved better

suki was perfect

LET SOKKA WEAR DRAG U COWARDS

why the fuck are ppl just bending without bending forms and stances. why is aang able to fly without needing to lose his earthly tethers

why are they randomly cutting and pasting scenes in weird places

why is the swamp scene combined with the spirit world????? that was important in setting up toph's introduction????

the fact that the writers knew it made no sense for katara and sokka to end up in the spirit world with aang so even the characters said it and they just handwaved it bc plot lol

so much exposition. clearly the mark of a good story is when the character have to TELL u everything that's happening 🫠

the writers are such big kyoshi stans

like why is she taking other characters' roles

why is gran gran doing katara's intro

iroh and zuko are cute

zuko's choreo is so good

zhao is still a dumbass

his death is unsatisfying. what happened to getting fucked by the spirit world if u fuck with it. where's the ocean spirit dragging his ass to its demise. why is iroh providing his sentence

mai and ty lee are doing nothing but have terrible wigs and give exposition on ozai's motives that they somehow knoe about

aang: *gets told there's no easy way out in being the avatar*

also aang: *gets told everything he needs to know*

badgermoles are empaths now????

bumi they nerfed u

aang they nerfed u

gyatso u deserved a cooler fight to the death they really nerfed u

it's so fucking stupid that aang has to be in shrines to talk to his past lives

kinda cool they go into more detail of the past avatars' lives ig. even if only slightly

katara vs pakku was so lackluster

these bending fights are so lackluster unless ur zuko ig

no srsly how are some ppl just bending without forms. like sozin in episode 1 roasting that dude by just holding him

jun exists only to flirt w the dragon of the west and good on her, me too girl

what's the point of sokka getting suki's fan if he's not even gonna use it...

there's no stronger relationship than sokka x momo

oma and shu are gay i think. love that for them

why tf did aang spend this entire story not even trying to pick up another element. katara literally offers to learn with him a few times and he just didn't feel like it lol

OG azula was impressive and scary. netflix azula feels more like the eldest asian daughter trying rly hard to get her parents' approval. idk she's just alright

so much expositions

ok sure let's have time sensitive plot A not conclude in one episode, have it stretch to the next episode, and still only rush in concluding it at the very end in the backburner of plot B. let's just handwave the fact that those people definitely should've died in like the three days it takes them to resolve plot B

the cabbage merchant is cabbage merchanting

effects are good

[chewing-drywall]

SKIWSGAAR HEADCANNONS

-secretly prefers they them pronouns, very occasionally she her but otherwise he's just disconnected from what even gender is outside of what he's being told he is (thinks *they* is cool in like a God way, it's sort of an ego thing)

-autistic, music and guitar being his special interest, I could go ON AND ON about this but I won't for this post

-at this point he just has as much sex as he does to keep up his image, he's pretty bored of it honestly, you do even the best things enough times and it becomes mundane

-nipple piercings, dry heaved and almost passed out from the pain cause his dumbass forgot to eat beforehand

-wants a dick piercing for the aesthetic but he pussys out every time there's an opportunity for him to get a piercing

-he canonically fucked 400 chicks in the course two weeks, that's about 28 people a DAY, give or take, and he said he wasn't even trying so god bless if he DID try

-more tattoos than canon

-mostly hairless, gets it lasered and NO chest hair, arm Nad leg hair super fine and pale

- so used to every person expecting the best experience of their life he actually isn't usually on the receiving end for stuff, it's pretty shitty honestly

-he honestly is so disconnected from actual, real intimacy that things like hugs and cuddling without sexual/flirting intent is foreign

-mommy kink, doesn't know WHAT it is but having some hot curvy women act all dominant makes him fold like paper

-sort of plays into his gilf thing, having some hot older women calling him sweetie while ordering him to do something gets him hot under the collar

-vaugly addicted to stimulants, he likes the productivity it brings but not the paranoia (not including the meth bender)

-has A LOT of stds, like he actually has a really restrictive medical schedule for everything he needs to take and what he has to do to keep everything in check. Who knew having casual sex with an incredible amount of strangers over the course of your life would cause this. Shocker.

-cannot parallel park. I mean he never drives himself anyways but still it's so embarrassing, 20 minutes in he's sweaty and flushed, people are side eyeing him and is STILL crooked holding up traffic

-he's like. Beautiful. Sort classically handsome but very pretty features thrown onto a more masculine frame, think grave yard angel

-as he ages he's noticing how his face is getting more gaunt and sunken in, not quite in a unsettling way yet but it really sharpens his features to an extreme extent

-it's because he's so fucking iron deficient his skin would be totally fine if he took a few supplements and STOPPED IT with the fear of sun, getting a little tan never hurt nobody dude GOD. Your not gonna get skin cancer from 20 minutes in the sun girly your so pale your REFLECTIVE

-related topic; at the beach he wears the HUGEST most RIDICULOUSLY large floppy sunhat, the borders of it goes past his shoulders and he always gets roasted for wears it by the band

-has the best skincare and haircare routine out of the band, used to get bullied for it by the guys but he usually just ruthlessly points out every dermal flaw he can find on them BOOM problem fixed

-INSANE calluses, he just doesn't have sensation in his fingertips anymore from the amount of blisters and split fingertips over the years, otherwise very soft hands

-perfect punctuation and spelling over text, no idea why in some fics his accent carrys over into his writing?? Types very deliberately to make sure what he's trying to communicate makes grammatical sense, actually prefers having emotional conversations over text because he can get what he's trying to say across easier sometimes

-doesn't actually let a lot of people touch his hair, and it's uncomfortable when people try and play with his hair without asking

-SKIWSGAAR IN THOSE 80s MOM HAIRCURLERS

[natalynsie]

Butterflies (Gwourtney Oneshot)

Courtney and Gwen didn’t share taste in a lot of things. Clothes, makeup, activities, movies were no exception.

So Courtney mostly just paid attention to painting her nails instead of watching the movie. Gwen seemed to be enjoying, though. As long as she was happy, Courtney was content. At least it wasn’t a horror movie.

“That guy who escaped the prison reminds me of Duncan,” Gwen stated.

Courtney looked up at the screen. The man on the screen was trailing gasoline to a large building. “Yeah. Real in character.”

“I can’t believe he actually blew up Chris McLean’s house. What was he thinking? That he was invincible? No, you’re going to prison. Fucking dumbass.”

Courtney laughed. “I can’t believe he seriously thought he would get sent to juvie after committing arson. I mean, Mr. McLean deserved it, the guy’s insane, but Duncan’s just as crazy.”

“I don’t know about that,” Gwen disagreed. “Chris has done some messed up stuff to this town with no thought of the people in it. Duncan is just a criminal who wanted to prove a point.”

“Fair point.” Courtney sighed. “I can’t believe I ever dated him. Especially when all I wanted to do was fix him.” She laughed, putting the nail polish brush back in the polish and closing it. “What was I thinking? Dating a criminal has had to be one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made. If I talked to myself before I knew Duncan, she would berate me for ever stepping foot near him.”

“God, I can’t believe I dated him either,” Gwen agreed. “I thought you were crazy for leaving him but man was I wrong. Getting together with him was the worst idea ever. Especially since it was right after I became friends with you. I’d pick you over a guy any day.”

Courtney’s heart beat a little bit faster. She brushed it off. Maybe it was just because she had a lot of coffee that day. That caused fast heartbeats, right? She had to stop drinking so much.

“I mean, I liked him, but it got weird fast,” Gwen stated. “You know?”

“Not really,” Courtney admitted. “I don’t even know if I ever even liked him. I think I maybe just liked the idea of him. A bad boy who had a soft spot for me. And he was, but did I really have a soft spot for him the same way?”

Gwen looked at Courtney with a bit more attention. “Woah. That’s news to me.”

“I don’t know,” Courtney shook her head. “I just don’t know anymore. He’s like, the only guy I ever liked. And now I’m wondering if I even did. Because like, when Bridgette talks about Geoff it’s so different. She’s talking about all this stuff I’ve never felt for a guy before. Like butterflies and stuff. Obviously I get those, but not for a guy. Not for Duncan.”

“...Really? I never knew.”

“Well, it’s not like I told you before.”

“I mean like I never noticed. But now that I think about it, I kinda do. I mean, you never went crazy about him like he did about you.”

“I guess so.”

The two remained quiet for a moment. Courtney thought about what Gwen had said. Yeah, she never went crazy about him. Not even in her own head.

“So, for the purposes of this obviously, what was liking Duncan like?” Courtney asked.

“Ugh, I don’t want to talk about that,” Gwen complained. “I’ll tell you how it feels to like the girl I like now, though.”

Courtney blinked. Girl? “What?”

“Oh, yeah. I kinda like a girl right now.”

Courtney shook her head. “What do you mean, girl?”

“Oh,” Gwen stopped. “I don’t think I told you. I’m bisexual. Is… that’s cool with you, right?”

Girl? Bisexual? What? “Gwen, what the hell is bisexual.”

“You…” Gwen was stunned. “You don’t know what bisexuality is? At sixteen?”

“What is it?”

“It’s like… I can like girls romantically the same way I can like guys romantically. I can like both.”

Courtney’s mouth stayed slightly open in awe. “That’s a thing? How have I never heard of that?”

Gwen shrugged. “I learned from my cousin when I was ten. And… do you know what lesbians are?”

“No. What’s that?”

“It’s someone who only likes girls romantically.”

Courtney sat back and stared forward at the movie that was still playing. “I never knew that before.”

“I mean, it’s not like people really teach us. People are assholes. Who think only guys and girls should ever like each other. Which is really shitty. Oh well.”

“Well, that explains why I never heard of it,” Courtney stated.

“Yeah. I guess you can look up stuff about it, if you want. I know you like learning. And research.”

Courtney stayed silent with a smile for a moment before; “So… you were saying you like a girl?”

“Yeah,” Gwen smiled as well. “She always makes me smile just being there, and when she just touches my arm I get butterflies and sometimes she says something and it just makes my heart beat faster… oh you smeared your nail polish.”

Gwen held the palm of Courtney’s hand to stabilize it while wiping the nail polish off of her finger with a tissue.

Courtney felt something light and fluttery in her stomach.

Butterflies.

“So did you ever have any of that with Duncan?”

“No,” Courtney whispered.

She couldn’t be loud. She didn’t have the strength. She was taken aback just moments before, she had just realized. She never liked Duncan, but she liked Gwen.

Who knew? Courtney didn’t know that was even possible until moments ago.

“Well, maybe you’re right. Maybe you never liked him.”

“Maybe,” Courtney agreed. “So… I’m getting tired. Are you ready to go to bed?”

“Oh yeah, sure,” Gwen said. “Let’s go to my room.”

Gwen shut off the TV and stood up, beginning to walk towards her room. Courtney followed, taking her nail polish to put back in her bag. She had to put her nails in ice water afterwards.

She dropped her nail polish in her drawstring bag.

“Be right back, Gwen. I’m gonna go put my nails in ice water.”

“Alright. Turn the lights off.”

“Yeah, totally. Night.”

“Goodnight.”

Courtney smiled. Check. That fast heartbeat earlier? Check. Butterflies? Check.

Courtney could proudly say she had never and will never like Duncan. However, she could not say the same for Gwen.

[nectardaddy]

Foolish [Jean Kirstein x reader] 3

language, (of age) drinking, drunkenness

-- Tunes: Everybody Talks ; Neon Trees High Enough ; K. Flay Come Get Her ; Rae Sremmurd (Not even ashamed about the last one, it fits the vibes.)

As the night continued on, as did your growing intoxication; the effects of the drinks Jean made you hit you in your now swimming mind. Your eyes were blurry and your cheeks were hot, but you tipped your cup back and took yet another sip of the drink that made you woozy. "You should go ask Jean to dance, (Y/n)!" Sasha yelled, causing the other woman next to you to gag.

"Bruh- that's disgusting," the women groaned out. "Please don't tell me you actually like that man," she said with a grimace.

"She practically drools over him, Ymir!" Sasha stated with a laugh, to which Ymir let out another groan.

"Jean Kirstein? The guy that tried to kick Eren Yeager's ass last year, that Jean Kirstein?" She asked, "girl he's a dick. Please have some sense and do better."

"Hey! He's actually really sweet when you get to know him," you defended. "Plus, he's not hard to look at either, he's actually pretty hot."

"He is a pretty nice guy," Sasha shrugged. "He's a ride or die type of friend."

Ymir let out a laugh, "ok, ok- so he's nice, got it. But, Billy Ray Cyrus over there, mullet and all, is hot to you?" You rolled your eyes as she pointed him out, glancing over to see him speaking with someone else.

"Yeah," you doubled down with a laugh. "Pretty fucking hot to me."

"So hot that you'll finally grow a pair and ask him to dance?" Sasha mused, to which you bit your lip. "Be so fucking for real, I know you made out with him on Halloween. I know you have it in to shake some ass."

"You what?" Ymir yelled, grabbing your arm in disbelief. "You told her you made out with that loser, and not me?"

"I didn't even know she knew about that! I was going to take that to my grave," you answered honestly, a nervous chuckle leaving your lips. "How do you know about that?"

"He told me himself," she chuckled. "Said he almost pissed his pants from excitement," Ymir let out a laugh as she continued. "Which is why I'm telling you to dance with him, dumbass."

Putting the cup in your hands to your lips, you downed the rest of your drink. Swallowing harshly at the taste, "fine." You forced out and glanced back at the man. Even drunk, you found yourself second guessing your decision immediately. You often wished the man would like you in the same regard as you to he, but now that it was right at your finger tips it felt too good to be true.

"He's been ogling you all night," Ymir chuckled. "If he says no then there's something severely wrong with his little man brain."

"That man is obsessed with you, he won't say no," Sasha groaned. Nudging you away from the group, "go shake some ass! We'll be right here." You felt your breath steady at the word 'obsessed,' a word so silly it made you calm alongside the liquor you drank. Emphasizing it as much gave you a confidence you truly needed, and pushed past your thoughts as you turned to walk away.

There was a higher sense of confidence filling your chest from the alcohol in your system and your friends words. But you thanked a higher power you had liquor in you at the moment, knowing you would rather die than have the guts to dance with him sober. Haphazardly making your way through the sea of people to the opposite side of the building, you rolled your eyes at the amount of people would bumped or fell into you.

Next to the man you sought out was Connie, looking completely spent as he held himself up against the wall. Chuckling to yourself as you maneuvered around people to finally see him fully: his head hanging but his hand still latched onto a bottle. He was still coherent, but incredibly too drunk for his own good, as he didn't even register you were in front of them until you started speaking. "Fuck, dude, you look like shit."

"I feel like shit," he spoke with a chuckle.

Glancing up at Jean, you took the cup out of his hands without a word with a cheeky smile. Watching as he rolled his eyes as you sipped the drink and returned it. It was a silly gesture, but one that made the man look you over. A drunken haze over his eyes as he shamelessly drank you in. There wasn't an ounce of worry in the man anymore, the alcohol whisking anyway any anxiety he had before.

"Ugh- barf," Connie groaned. "Fuck each other with your eyes somewhere else, I feel like I'm dying."

A laugh left your lips at the man, flickering your eyes over before returning them to Jean. "We should move then," he spoke with smirk pulling at his lips.

"Or you could come dance with me, and problem solved," you suggested with a drunken smile on your lips. Liquid courage now flowing through your blood stream, you simply couldn't imagine yourself asking so casually sober. You also couldn't imagine asking without the conversation just minutes earlier; grateful for Sasha's inability to keep her mouth shut.

Taking your hand in his own as an agreement, he leaned over to speak to you. "Does this have something to do with the two idiots over there staring at us?" He asked, now leading you past people through the crowd. Your eyes flickered over to your friends, and you rolled your eyes to see them shamelessly staring. Both women smiling and laughing upon seeing the both of you notice them.

Your eyes flickered back up to him as he stopped, now standing in the midst of a sea of people. A smirk pulling at your lips from the words that clung to your tongue, "it has everything to do with Sasha telling me you were obsessed with me, actually."

Usually, Jean's façade of charm and arrogance would crack at such a revelation - but it did quite the opposite. His false confidence merged quickly with his real confidence, concocting another smirk as realization slapped him right in the drunken face. Sasha spilled a secret, yet here you stood willingly and openly. He couldn't tell if it was from the alcohol or her words alone, but gladly accepted the result you gave him with open arms. "I'd say obsessed is an understatement."

His voice was low and drawled from the effects of intoxication, making you take a small breath to ease yourself. The man alone made you melt, but his touch and voice so close to you made you want to boil over. You could feel you confidence slip and grasp at straws to stay afloat, but ultimately yank itself up at his next statement. He didn't need to say much as you felt his hands touch your hips as an invitation, "should we give them a show?"

Dancing at a party like this was far from decent; if someone wanted classy they wouldn't find it in a frat house, even in the smallest of corners. Even drunk, your vision blurring as lights melted into streaks, you felt scandalous; even more so as the man gripped your waist which an intensity that made you want to catch your breath. You didn't care that you felt vulgar or obscene, if people wanted to watch - fuck it. All cares were thrown directly out the window the moment you felt the man's hips on your ass.

Everything around you was hot and sticky, a humidity that hung in the air from sweat and liquor. Your skin felt scorched as you finally turned around, putting your hands on the chest of the brunette you danced with. It had only been a few songs, but enough movement and alcohol to make the world feel like it was spinning around you. The man looked down at you in a daze, but understood immediately as you tried to take a deep breath. "Let's go outside," he offered.

With a quick nod, you felt him take your hand and lead you out. As soon as the door opened, you felt yourself groan in relief at the fresh air that hit you. While you weren't at Connie's level of sloshed, you certainly almost reached it as the other drinks you had hit you while still inside. "Fresh air at last!" You yelled with a laugh. Jean's strides were larger than your own, but you usually kept up if you were sober, being so inebrietated you stumbled as you walked with him. But you truly didn't mind, nor even notice, as you continued to follow the man with a laugh. Eventually slowing to a stop, you looked up at him without a word but a drunken smile pulled on your lips.

Unbeknownst to you, the man was near the same level of intoxicated as you; he could handle his liquor better though. His cheeks were red from the heat and he pushed back loose hairs that framed his face with his free hand. His surroundings were wobbly and distorted, only being able to see clearly directly in front of him. He looked down with heavy eyes and chuckled, "I can barely see shit and you are still so fucking beautiful."

Letting a laugh bubble from your lips, you felt a heat rise to your cheeks. "Are you trying to flirt with me right now, J?" You teased, but your already tossing stomach did flips at his words. Sure the alcohol helped ease your racing thoughts but the man had the unique ability to make your heart thump faster in your chest by words alone.

"Am I that bad?" He asked rhetorically with a chuckle. "I thought I was doing pretty well for myself. It got you out here with me tonight at least."

"I bet you say that to every woman." You mused, but you felt a pull at your heart. Your fingers squeezed his hand that still held yours tightly and released. You didn't want to let go of the man's hand, wanting to hold it for as long as possible before he eventually slipped away. He would always leave at this point of the night, would slink away and not be seen again until the next day. And neither of you dared to speak about events from the prior night, even if you both still remembered. It was a reckless cycle you continued despite your feelings, all for the charm the man reeled you in with.

"Nah-" he shook his head. "I saved that one just for you."

You rolled your eyes at his statement, "well don't you know how to make me feel special." Sarcasm dripping off every word, he matched your energy with a smirk.

"You're still here," he quipped, "so I'm doing something right." He felt his tone teeter, knowing he toed the line a bit too far and hoped he wouldn't live to regret it. "I saved another line just for you, y'know?" He began with a chuckle, leading himself down a path of conversation that there was no turning back on. If he was sober, he'd be coherent enough to spin it back to fight his anxiety - but he was far from sober. He walked himself down this path and he walked it with the confidence he truly couldn't believe he even had.

"Oh please," you rolled your eyes again. "Enlighten me with your terrible pick up lines."

"Do you want to come over?" He asked nonchalantly, the question falling from his lips effortlessly as he didn't think before he spoke. He didn't mean for his hand to squeeze yours tightly, but he did anyway as the realization of what he asked hit him point blank. He wanted to recover his statement, but taking it back would make him look like an ass. And fixing it would make him look like a cowardly fool.

"Really?" You posed, taken aback by his question despite how much you eagerly jumped to say yes. Intoxicated or not, the man hadn't had the gumption to ask of your company after a party before. Although this was exactly what you wished for, you felt yourself get nervous regardless.

The man paused a moment, wrapping his drunken mind around the conversation at hand. Letting his swimming mind decide his next move as he looked over your features to find an answer. You wanted to. The way you held his hand desperately in an attempt to have him stay, and your features spoke those of pleasantly surprised than disgust and down right rejection. But his mind only thought in extremes in his current state, and he shrugged off the darkness as he thought it was now or never. "Hell yeah," he said with a chuckle.

Your stomach did flips at his offer, which made you swallow hard as you tried to tame it. Semesters you have craved every aspect of the man in front of you, right down to his very essence. Sober you would pussy out, and think of a lame excuse to further push your own feelings down. So far from sobriety, all you could do was lean into the notion of wanting what was directly in front of you. "Fuck it," you mused with a smile. "I'll come over."