#and frankly i don't care if he never did anything with any guy

[russellsppttemplates]

I'll never give up on you (Franco Colapinto)

You think your age is an obstacle, but Franco is set on proving you otherwise

Note: english is not my first language. It's the big doe eyes, the curly hair and the fact that he's very funny, isn't it? It's a very crappy situation for everyone how they got here, everyone recognises that. This is also the first time I'm writing for him 🤍 I always feel and know I have to put this - for those who are here and have stayed, thank you for being so patient and for staying - I hope this is good enough ✨️

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm not taking requests right now, so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to send them in but know that I don't know when I'll be able to get to them!

my masterlist

Cw: reader is slightly older than Franco (three years), alludes to previous bad relationships, alcohol consumption, relationship insecurity, reader gets accidentally hurt

Tag list: @myloverjk-blog @hiireadstuff @c-losur3 @sltwins

"You look gorgeous, Y/N! I love love love this!", Olivia squealed, clapping her hands when she got to your bedroom.

"It's nothing special", you blushed at her compliments.

"It will catch some eyes, you will catch some eyes!", she smiled, "can you help me with my dress, please?", she turned around so you could zip her up.

You and your bestfriend Olivia shared an apartment in university, and once you entered into the job market, you quickly realised that it would be best to keep the same living situation, knowing you'd save some money in a beginner salary and you both felt comfortable about eachother. Her boyfriend Mark had just got a work promotion and he wanted to celebrate it with his friends, so you had been invited.

"Who else is going to be there?", you mused as you packed the essentials on your small purse.

"Some guys from the new department he's in now, Luke - the one we met a couple of weeks ago at the shops -", she began listing the names she recalled, "Amber, and Franco, I think - he doesn't have a race this week", Olivia said.

"Oh, okay", you smiled.

Franco Colapinto knew Mark from one of the teams he had driven for, and despite his career, he was an incredibly down to earth guy. You had met him in a few other occasions and he was funny, kind, always up for a challenge and not easy to persuade out of things. "Things" including flirting with you. At first, you thought it was just his nature and posture towards new people, but after realising he only acted like that towards you, and the fact that he kept making advances and going as far as talking to Olivia about it, you knew it was something else.

"You still haven't changed your mind about him? He's such a good match for you, Y/N/N", Olivia pouted.

The premise was simple - Franco was younger than you, and as much as he seemed interested, it would never lead to anything good. He was young, aspiring an amazing career you were sure he would achieve, and frankly, you couldn't see you in there. He would like to party all out, not have responsibilities and certainly not have to date someone older than him. And this was just at the top of your head - if you let your insecurities really work you up, there were many other reasons.

"We are not! If we did date, it wouldn't last long and I'm not up for that - I've learned my lesson", you tsked.

"You know he's very into you, I'm not sure you can get him to back down", Olivia advised, "I get that you have your walls, but maybe you could give him a chance?".

"He'll probably find someone else, if he hasn't already - now let's go!", you pulled her with you, not wanting to arrive late.

Once you were inside, you quickly spotted the group, greeting everyone and ordering some drinks.

"You're sure you don't want anything else?", Mark wondered.

"I don't feel like drinking anything strong today, but I'll toast to your promotion - congratulations again!", you hugged him.

"Careful, everyone!", you heard the argentinian accent call out, getting you to make room on the table so the bartender could set the tray with all the drinks, "Hello, Y/N, how are you?".

Turning to face Franco, you were instantly met with his bright smile, shiny eyes and wavy hair perfectly tousled, "Hi, I've been good, and you?".

"Even better now that you're here", he winked, "you look amazing by the way, that colour looks beautiful on you", he complimented.

Hoping the dim lighting hid your blushing cheeks you nodded, taking the coaster to our your drink on before looking at him, "thanks, it's not new or anything", you brushed him off.

The night was on a good roll until you came back from freshening up in the bathroom - just as you were about to sit on the high stool, a guy pushed his friend in a playful manner, only for him to accidentally hit you and making you hit your knee on the piece of furniture.

"Fuck", you mumbled, bracing yourself against the table as the sharp pain climbed up your leg no matter how much your hand tried to soothe it.

Before you could process the whole thing, a large hand was placed low on your back, "are you okay, Y/N? What happened?".

"It was us, I'm so sorry", one of the guys apologised as he carried his friend to their table, "do you want me to get something? Again, I'm so sorry".

"It's fine, I've got her", Franco dismissed them before looking at you again, "are you okay?", he asked worriedly.

"Of course", you attempted to speak firmly even though you were sure your face said it all. Your mother always told you you weren't a great liar.

Franco didn't seem to be convinced either, and ignoring your words, he bent down to check your knee, "you should sit so it doesn't swell up, and ice it too", he stated, tapping his shoulders for you to support your weight in them and help hoist you up on the stool.

"I'll go get some ice", Olivia offered.

As she excused herself, Franco gingerly touched your knee, fearing that he would hurt you even more, "is this fine?".

"It's not terrible, but it's hurting, like, it's a pulsation", you winced as he squeezed.

"I'm sorry, Y/N", Franco apologised, "just needed to check that it's not broken".

"You don't need to stay here, Olivia is coming back already", you added, watching the rest of the guys back on the pool table after you assured you were fine all things considered.

"You're the only one I care about, the rest can wait", Franco spoke.

"Look at that group over there", you pointed with your eyes, "wouldn't you prefer to hang out with them?".

The balloons let you know it was one of the girl's 20th birthday, and judging by the way they were looking in your direction, they noticed you too. Or Franco, you assumed.

"I've told you, I don't care about them, now where is the ice?", he muttered, looking around in hopes of spotting your friend in the darkened room.

"She's coming back", you pointed out.

The ice pack seemed to help relieve the pain and perhaps help with the bruising you were sure was going to take over your knee, "Franco, you can go be with the guys, I'll be fine", you reassured him again, "or be with the girls over there, they're very keen on you", you nudged.

Franco looked up at you, his gaze intense and serious, "those girls don't interest me", he replied, "you're the only one I care about".

There it was again.

"Don't say that", you tried to push it away before it dwelled on, "they're all very pretty, your age I'm sure".

Franco smiled softly as his eyes remained fixated on you, "who I pay attention to is you, you're the one I've always paid attention to", he spoke, not caring about the fact that Olivia was right there as she seemed distracted, "I don't care about their age or what they do. They're not you, and I want to be with you, so I'll stay here with you", he stated.

You heart took a lep, and even though you wished you could say something rational, something that made sense, the way he was looking into your eyes didn't let you. There was honesty and sincerity that never seemed to fail and that you could never ignore.

"Let me help you", Franco spoke softly, "right now, you're the only thing worrying me".

Hesitating, you allowed him to adjust the ice pack and keep talking to you about random stuff to take your mind away from the state of your knee, and for the first time in a while, it felt good to let someone else take care of you.

.

"Do you really think that we won't workout because of our age difference?", Franco spoke.

Mark and Olivia went to get coffee for all of you and left you and Franco on the picnic blanket to save the spot and keep your belongings safe. The plan for the afternoon was to enjoy the sun outside and while you were sure your bestfriend had something to do with this whole arrangement, you decided to let it slip and focus on relaxing for the afternoon.

"What?", you mused.

"You always point out that you're older than me, and whenever I make any advances, which I assume you're not too blind about, you never say yes, but don't say no either", he offered, "is it an obstacle?".

"We're good, aren't we?", you spoke.

"We could be better", Franco spoke and he supported his torso on his hands on his sides, "do you know how much I care about you?".

"We're friends", you replied.

"And you're telling me we couldn't be more?", Franco wondered.

"You have so many things to do still, I can't imagine you'd want to be tied to a 24 year old with a job and mundane responsibilities", you chuckled.

"Is that what it is? Do you really think our age difference is an obstacle?", he spoke softly.

"I can't say with such certainty", you mumbled.

"Can I keep on showing you that it isn't?", Franco spoke.

"I'm very stubborn", you recalled, "and I don't want you to waste your time".

"I'm not going to pressure you, but I'm not going to stop trying to show you how much you mean to me - you're very important in my life, Y/N".

.

"Did you salt the water already?", Franco asked as he grabbed the pasta from the cupboard.

"I did", you told him as you chopped the peppers and onions to add to the sizzling pan.

Franco happened to be around the area for lunch, and after he saw your story about being on your own, playfully claiming that Olivia had abandoned you, he offered to keep you company. Taking Olivia's advice that you should give him a chance and explore what you felt for eachother, you invited him over for lunch.

"Can I ask you something?", Franco asked as he dried his hands on the kitchen towell, throwing it to you so you could do the same.

"Now I'm worried...", you joked, "but sure, go ahead".

The smell of garlic browning in the pan filled the kitchen as you added the rest of the veggies, and you could feel the driver's eyes watching you. Up until now, the atmosphere was light, but there was an unspoken tension at the prospect of the question.

Franco couldn’t take it anymore. He was spending time with you whenever he could, getting closer little by little, but he felt there was a wall. A wall that you held strong, despite your shared glances and conversations that often stretched into the night.

“Why…”, he paused for a second, as if he was choosing his words carefully, “why do you keep pushing me away?”.

You stopped stirring the pan, slowly setting down the spoon aside and turned to face him.

“What are you talking about?”, you asked even though you knew exactly what he meant.

Franco turned fully to face you, his eyes fixed on yours, “You know what I’m talking about,” he said, his voice low, almost a whisper, "I’ve been trying to… get closer to you. You know how I feel about you, but every time I take a step toward you, you back away. There’s something you’re not saying, and I want to understand why, and if it's the age thing...", Franco let it out.

You sighed, fiddling with your hands as you gathered your thoughts.

“It’s not simple", you murmured, looking down at your feet.

"Then explain it to me", Franco's voice was calm, but insistent, "because from my side, it seems very simple. I like you. You like me, or at the very least you don't seem to hate me and…”, he hesitated, leaning a little closer, "whatever is stopping you… I can deal with it, we can talk about it".

Your heart raced as you looked up at him, "the age difference", you began hesitantly, “we’re from different worlds, different lives. You have so many options, people around you who… who are more in your vibe and in the line of life you can have. I’ve been through things you haven’t even begun to experience. What makes you think this… us, would be a good idea?", you mused.

Franco took a deep breath, taking a step closer until he was almost touching you, “What makes me think this would be a good idea? That we may have something to explore here? Have a shot at something good together?”, he repeated, looking directly into your eyes, "because every time I’m with you, I feel like I’m in the right place. Because no matter how much you think age is relevant, for me, what matters is how you make me feel. I’m not interested in anyone else, because you’re the one I want to explore these feelings with".

You fell silent, feeling his words invade her defenses. No one ever stood up for you like this.

“Age?”, he continued, "That doesn’t scare me. What scares me is losing you for a reason that, in the end, has no bearing on how I feel about you. You're so amazing and I don't want to lose that".

You bit your lip, feeling yourself wavering between the logic you had always used as a shield and what Franco was doing to your heart at that moment.

He took another step forward and gently placed his hand over yours, “I just need you to tell me… is it really age, or is it something more? Because if it’s just that… then we have a lot more to gain than we have to lose.”

You looked at his hand on hers and, for the first time, let yourself relax a little, allowing your brain to consider the possibility.

“What if it doesn’t go well?”, you whispered, voice hesitant and full of vulnerability, "I don't want to make a promise I can't keep, and I haven't let myself explore these feelings yet and... I don't want to hurt you, Franco".

"Y/N", he sighed softly with unexpected tenderness, “What if it does?", he smiled, "I'm not going to pressure you, and from the moment you tell me that there's no interest, I'll stop and we can remain friends. What I'm asking you is that you consider it first... take your time, I'll wait".

In a moment of confidence, Franco cupped your cheek and kissed your forehead, and for that moment you allowed your wall to lower a little more.

.

The good thing about the hot temperatures outside was that most people had taken their Saturday plans to the beach or the pool, so there was less traffic on your way home. You parked your car in the building's underground garage and went up the stairs to the floor where the apartment you share with Olivia is. Judging by how late you left work, your best friend must be home given that she has the free afternoon on Saturdays.

Turning the key in the lock and opening the door, you find a completely dark apartment, which is strange considering you left the blinds half open this morning to let in sunlight. As soon as you step inside, closing the front door behind you, you're surprised by lights that suddenly turn on and a chorus of voices singing the Happy Birthday song.

You hadn't felt in the right mood to celebrate your birthday this year, given and the changes from studying and the stress of your new job, so to say you were caught off guard by this surprise was an understatement. You had told Olivia that you could have something special for dinner to celebrate the day, and while she insisted a little more, she ended up dropping the subject. And you thought that meant the had agreed to your simple plans - that morning, she caught you when you were having your breakfast, wished you happy birthday and gave your her gift, a very simple necklace with a medal with your initial in it, and didn't make any more fuss.

You definitely didn't expect her to be preparing a surprise like this for you.

Besides Olivia and Mark, Franco is the first person you see in the living room of your apartment - which makes you feel a little bad about yourself considering you hadn't even told him that today was your birthday. Besides the three of them, Maria and Julia, your two closest friends from school, were also present, as well as Pedro, one of your best friends from high school that moved to another city, and as it turns out, came all the way to your party.

When the chanting ends, Olivia approaches you with the cake so that you can blow out the candles, everyone's attention still on you. You know you should say something, but right now, you were completely surprised, and talking under pressure was never your strongest suit.

"Thank you everyone!", is all you can say at first, earning laughs from your friends.

You rolled up the blinds, as they had been down so the surprise had full effect and opened the windows, allowing the air to circulate as everyone gathered in the living room, picking at the foods and drinking on the table you were sure were Olivia's doing for the small celebration.

She is the first one you turn to, tapping her shoulder softly.

"I know... I know you said you weren't in the mood to celebrate, but I thought that this is actually what you need - being with the people that adore you and care about you", Olivia goes first before you can utter out a word, "so, please, just enjoy this, okay?".

"Thank you, Liv", you smiled as you pulled her into a hug, "I can't believe that you went through all this trouble".

"It wasn't too much trouble, and Franco helped a lot", she answered, "the guy didn't even know what day your birthday was, Y/N... That's cruel!", she jokes, to which you roll your eyes.

"I probably forgot about that detail", you answer with a giggle, "thanks again".

"Stop being annoying and enjoy it", your best friend says, joining her boyfriend Mark's and Pedro's conversation.

You take the opportunity to greet Mark and then Pedro, who you haven't seen in person for a long time, "I can't believe you came all this way for this!", you exclaim.

"Of course I came! Olivia told me all the news and not only could I not miss your birthday, but I couldn't not come at a time like this", Pedro explains, "besides, how long has it been since we've been together in person?".

"Too long", you reply with a smile on your lips.

"Exactly! We need to catch up!", your friend exclaims, earning your agreement, "but go greet the rest of your guests first and we'll talk more later", he squeezed your shoulder.

You approach Maria and Julia, hugging them both tight. Although you finished your master's degree as they finished their undergraduate just over a year ago, you hadn't seen each other very often since then as work kept you all busy.

"I'm so happy you're here!", you smile, feeling genuinely happy at having all your people together in one room.

"We couldn't miss it. Besides, we've been missing you so much - you were truly a mother to us and I miss being coddled by you -, and we've already noticed that there's news you haven't been telling us...", Julia comments, wiggling her eyebrows and sharing a suggestive smile with Maria.

"What are you talking about?", you wondered with a quirked brow.

"You don't know? I'll tell you then! About Franco Colapinto!", she snickered, "you didn't tell us you were that close", Maria says.

You're quick to roll your eyes - a common response at her usual antics over the years -, "I told you we were friends", you recall.

"Yes, but we didn't know you were that close!", Julia insists.

"I see your annoying curiosity hasn't ceased", you joked, rolling your eyes again, "Anyway, thanks for being here, I really appreciate it", you joined your hands over your heart before excusing yourself.

Your eyes are quick to search for Franco, but you can't find him in the room. A few seconds later, you spot him returning from the hallway, assuming he had gone to the bathroom or had to take a phone call.

"I should be mad at you for conveniently forgetting to tell me when it was your birthday...", Franco starts, to which you shrug your houlders, trying to put on your best angelic and innocent face.

"I know, I'm sorry... with everything going on, I barely had time to think what month we were on and I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it to be honest", you explained, "but I must confess I'm happy Olivia arranged this, and I know you helped a lot, so thank you so much, Franco".

"I get, I was just messing with you", he smiles, "and you don't have to thank me for it, you know I'll always do anything to see you happy".

"I know, and that's why I am so grateful", you smiled back.

"Might as well give you the present I got you now", Franco points out, "give me two seconds so I can get it from where Mark told me to put it so it wouldn't be in the way of Olivia's plans and before she started staring at me with her 'I'm going to chop your head off' eyes", he chuckled.

You nodded and waited long enough for Franco to pick up a bag and give it to you, " I racked my brain to decide what I should gift you, because nothing seemed good enough, but I hope you like this".

Undoing the bow keeping the paper bag together, you found a copy of your favourite book with a collectable cover. The intricate detailing of the golden foil complimented the colours beautifully and there was a bookmark inside it, the little tassel falling to the side. Taking it to inspect it closely, you read the delicate lettering Don't lose the sparkle that makes you.. you.

"Wow, Franco", you gasped, completely enamoured by the beauty of it all, "this is spot on, I love it!", you exclaimed, hugging him.

"I'm glad", Franco smiles, jokingly wiping sweat off his forehead and making you laugh.

"Have you met my friends?", you wondered.

"Yes, Olivia did all the introductions", the driver answers.

"Good, let's find out what they're going on about", you suggested, setting the present back in a safe place and pulling Franco with you to join the rest of the group.

You spend the rest of the afternoon and early evening chatting, while you eat and drink the things that Franco and Olivia kindly prepared, and playing some board games. At the end of it, you end up having a really good time, in a way that you haven't in a while, feeling really grateful that Olivia had prepared this surprise. Without knowing it, this was exactly what you needed: your friends and some good moments of relaxation.

"Are you leaving already?", you ask Pedro when the young engineer announces his departure.

"I still have to drive back, Y/N, remember?", he reminds you, earning a nod, "but don't worry your heart too much, I'll keep bothering you with messages and calls and stuff... You won't get rid of me that easily".

"Fine by me!", you smiled at him, "thanks for coming, truly!".

"You have nothing to thank me for. I'll be here any time if you need me - I'm a phone call away", he reminds you, "Are you okay?".

"Of course", you smiled, "let me know when you get home, okay?".

"I will. I had a great time meeting you guys today", Pedro waves at everyone, "until next time!", before leaving the apartment.

At around 10pm, Maria and Julia also announce that they need to leave since they would have an early morning. You bid them goodbye to your friends with the promise of a lunch whenever you could find the time to catch up.

"Don't tell me you're chickening out now and going home too?", a slightly tipsy Olivia teases Franco as he got up from the his spot in the sofa.

"I've already told you that I have the day off tomorrow, my friend", Franco teased her back, getting you and Mark to laugh.

"Let's play another round then", Mark suggested, "since there's only four of us now, we can split into two teams and play Party & Co.".

"This is a recipe for disaster if I have ever seen one", you muttered, "Olivia is a terrible loser and you are a racing driver".

"That's why you should want to have me on your team, I'm used to competing", Franco argued in his favor.

"Strong point, argument accepted. Let's do it!", you declared.

During the game, Olivia ends up making up consequences for those who make mistakes, making everyone drink a few sips of their drinks and even Franco joins in with these punishments, arguing that today is an exceptional day to his usual regime.

By the end of the first game, it's clear that you're all drunk, so you make the responsible and sensible decision not to play anymore. Mark and Olivia end up retiring to the room, leaving you with Franco in the living room.

"I hope they don't make too much noise", you point out as you adjust your position on the sofa so that you're facing Franco, making him burst out laughing at your words, "What?! I'm not telling any lies! Have you imagined how uncomfortable it would be for us to be here and hear them having a baby making practice session?".

"You're right, you're right. I hope they don't make much noise", Franco repeats your words and, this time, you both laugh, "So... did you and Pedro date in high school?".

"Did he tell you that?", you ask, unable to contain your giggles.

"Yes, why? Is it a lie?", Franco asks.

"Half, half", you answered with a gesture.

"How is something half half a lie? It's either the truth or a lie", Franco states.

"I had a crush on Pedro, I tried my luck, but nothing ever happened between us", you admitted, deliberately pausing briefly before continuing, "Because Pedro is gay, Franco, and he was clearly making fun of you", you finally let out a laugh that's been bubbling up since he first asked you.

"Are you serious?", Franco mused.

"Yes. Apparently, he found a weak spot in you and decided to exploit it", you answered amused by the situation that must've enrolled when you weren't home yet.

"A weak spot? Nah... We were talking and he just dropped it, I have no idea why", Franco said, shrugging his shoulders.

"What were you talking about?", you wondered.

"Considering we were at your birthday party... We were talking about you", the brown-haired man answers.

"Please continue", you encouraged.

"Curiosity killed the cat, Y/N Y/L/N", Franco declared, but your glare was enough for him to keep going, "He asked me how we met and I told him. And then he told me about you. And he clearly told me a lie".

"Does it make you feel relieved that it's a lie?", you spoke before thinking properly about it. The sudden courage is unusual for you, but you're playing with all your cards on the table.

"I don't know what you're getting at, Y/N", the driver changes the subject, which makes you roll your eyes.

"I know you undertand it, stop acting like you don't. It's a yes or no question - are you relieved or not?!", you insist.

"Honestly? It doesn't do much. If it were true, it would be something from your past, not your present. We both have a past", Franco responds in a somewhat evasive manner.

"But it could be my present again, especially since he was here today", you decided to insist, wanting to understand how far you could push him.

You weren't sure about the game you were playing, and you couldn't quite say that you were thinking clearly, but this feeling of dominance and being in control was enjoyable. Understanding that this was making Franco uncomfortable also made you realize that he wasn't so sure about talking about what he felt for you. The part of you that wants to understand what he really feels for you is ignited, and you can't tame it down.

After the conversation you had, Franco didn't make any advances and never showed that he wanted more than a friendship, which, in a way, left you at ease, but also perhaps a little disappointed. Had he realised that you weren't worth it?

"Honestly, I don't know what you're getting at...", Franco pretends not to understand again, which makes you sigh loudly, "What's wrong?".

"What I'm trying to understand is if what he said to you bothered you or not. And if so, why. But clearly you are not ready to admit it", you state.

"You're playing a dangerous game, Y/N... You're trying to cross a very complicated line", he warns.

"Why?", you keep going.

"Because you asked for time and space and I gave it to you. And now you're trying to cross a line that I've been trying not to cross, because I'm trying to respect your wishes", Franco answers, this time sincerely.

"That's true, I asked you for time and space and you gave it to me. And I appreciate it", you begin, "but... I know I'm getting closer to that line, maybe I'm even playing a dangerous game too, but I'm doing it consciously".

"What if you're not ready for my honest answers?", Franco argues.

"Well, that's a me problem, isn't it?", you shrugged your shoulders, "can I ask my questions and get back honest answers?", and Franco's answer comes out in form of an unhappy sigh followed by a nod of agreement, "did what Pedro told you bother you? Did it bother you to think that we had dated and that he was back here?".

"Like I told you, we both have a past", Franco avoids the question. Tries to, anyway.

"Honest answers, Franco!", you exclaimed, pleading in exasperation, "of course we have a past, but I'm not going to give the past a shot and I think you won't do again what you did before! With Pedro, it would be different, because if we had dated and he was here, that would mean we had a good relationship. So, I'm going to repeat the question again, and I want you to give me an honest answer - did it bother you or not?".

"It bothered me!", Franco suddenly exclaim, "do you want honest? Here it goes! Yes, it bothered me exactly because of what you just said. Even if, by some act of the devil, your other boyfriend came back into your life, I know for a fact that he would never have another chance with you. However, if you had dated Pedro and if he was here today, it meant that he had a chance with you. And if he had a chance with you, then he was someone I would have to look at as competition".

"And now that you know that there never was and there never could be anything between me and Pedro?", you ask him.

"It makes me feel a little less worried. It means that I still have time to try to continue to mend the damage that others have caused, it means that I can still work to show you how much you mean to me and how high I hold you in my life", Franco replies in a calm and honest tone, which surprises you.

Faced with his words, this time, you are the one who doesn't know what to say. You did ask for honesty and there it was.

"You wanted honest answers...", Franco argues, as if he could guess what was on your mind. Lately, it seemed like he could do it effortlessly.

"I know, I'm not complaining", you admitted, "Does that mean that what you feel for me goes beyond friendship?", you ask directly. You needed to hear it from his mouth.

"What can my answer change in our relationship?", Franco asks, not answering your question.

"Nothing. I won't walk away from you this time, I promise. I just need to know", you clarified.

"Do you really want me to be one hundred percent honest with you?", Franco asks.

"Yes, please", you ask.

"Yes, what I feel for you goes beyond friendship. I tried not to let it be like that, I tried to pretend that I wasn't falling in love with you, but there's no way to control what we feel", he declares honestly without ever stopping to fix his gaze on yours, "Every time I look at you, I see someone with whom I can imagine a future... And I know how hasty this may seem, and I know your reservations about us, but it's simply how I feel. You asked me to be honest and I'm being as honest as I can... But I don't want to lose you, Y/N. In fact, I can't lose you, because, the moment that happens, I think I'll end up losing myself too", Franco stated.

His words leave you completely disarmed, not knowing what to say. Looking at it, you don't think anyone has ever said something like that to you. The words overwhelm you and there doesn't seem to be a right thing to tell him back.

"Can we just forget I said all this?", Franco says, "I don't want things to get awkward between us".

"But I don't want to forget it", you answer quickly, "It was the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me".

Judging it by Franco's expression, he was also caught off guard by your words, probably because he thought this would change your relationship again and brung unwanted distance between you.

Truth was, you weren't going to run away anymore. You didn't want to, and you couldn't do it.

Yes, you were scared, but you knew you need to move on. The comfort zone can be very good, but no boat was made to stay at the dock and you needed to drop the anchor and launch yourself into the unknown. Besides, you know that, in a few years time, you won't like to look back and regret what you didn't do.

"Can I ask you the question back, then?", Franco tries and you nod, "Is what you feel for me just friendship? Or something more?".

"I don't have an answer as assertive and confident as yours, but I know that I look at you and I don't see you just as a friend. You are very special to me, Franco. You are the person I want to talk to about everything, the good and the bad. You are the person who I know will never judge me, who will always try to understand me and help me. After all, you were the first person I was able to trust one hundred percent", you admit, "and I'm still figuring out how I'm supposed to allow myself to believe in love again after everything that happened, but I really wish you were by my side on this journey... That you would make me believe in love again", you offered.

"I don't like to make promises, Y/N/N, but there's one thing I'm absolutely sure of - I'll do everything in my power to make you believe in love again", Franco says, pulling you into his lap and embracing you in a hug that makes you feel safer than ever.

.

When Franco called you and asked if you could join him in the park, you were quick to let him know you were leaving work and heading to meet him. The past two weeks had been crazy with him travelling to races and you visiting your family, so texting had become the way you found to maintain contact.

As soon as you spot him by the trees, you walk a little faster, hugging him as soon as you are able to, "can I say that I've missed you?", you joked.

"I missed you loads, so I think it's only fair you tell me", he smiled, "Hi, how was your day?", he asked as he squeezed you against him.

"I missed you", you spoke, "and it was good, better now that I'm here".

Lately, your walls had lowered progressively - Franco's reassurance and a constant defiance of your thoughts had helped you break down the worries you had. Olivia pointed it out, everyone noticed how much happier you were, and even Franco could sense you were feeling more comfortable.

You end up sitting so close to each other that your knees touch and you rest your arm on Franco's and let your head fall on his shoulder, closing your eyes for a few seconds and just inhaling his scent.

"I...", Franco begins but soon stops before saying anything else.

"What is it?", you ask, raising your head to look at him.

"Nothing, nevermind", he shrugs.

"I don't like it when people say that to me. If you were going to say something, don't tell me to forget about it", you state firmly, "Whatever you were going to say, you can say it. Always. I will never judge anything you tell me. I know you, okay, Franco?".

"Yes, but...", he sighs, "I think I'm missing the courage".

"Please, just say it!", you exclaim, starting to get anxious and worried about his hesitation, "Is it something serious? Is there a problem?".

"No, nothing like that!", he clarified.

"Okay, then...", you encouraged.

"It's about a conversation I had with my mother", he says and, although you don't say a word, your expression lets him know he can continue, "about you".

"About me?", you ask curiously.

"She doesn't know it's you, but... It was about us and about what I feel for you", he offers.

At these words, your heart suddenly accelerates, "she told me that life is supposed to be lived and that..", he gulps.

You remain silent, because you don't know if ot what your supposed to answer. There's nervousness and anxiety as you're not sure exactly where this conversation is going to end up at.

"We can't predict the future, we don't know how much time we have", Franco spoke, "what I mean by this is that I've been thinking that, many times, we waste time on things that, perhaps, don't make that much sense. And I think I've been wasting some time in the sense that I've wanted to do things calmly, I've wanted to respect your time and I think I'm the one who's been afraid of taking the next step. I'm too afraid of losing you, but I'm wasting time and we never know when it is too late".

Part of you knows where Franco is going with this, but the other one doesn't fully understand what he's trying to say.

You're nervous, your heart feels like it's beating out of control and there's a lump in your throat. Despite not crying often, you feel the tears right at the back of your eyes, ready to fall at any moment.

"I'm not particularly good with words, Y/N, but what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm madly in love with you. Damn, I'm trying to tell you that I love you. And I know you're scared and I'm scared, because there have been bad experiences, and because what we have is very special and neither of us wants to ruin it. But I think we're wasting time apart when we could make the most of this time together", Franco continues, "I believe we were very lucky to have found each other when we did. I think we had the perfect timing. And every time I look at you, all I can think about is how lucky I am to have found you. I love you, Y/N, and I want to be with you one hundred percent", the brown-haired man stops his speech as if to catch his breath, and then concludes, "That is if you want to be with me, obviously".

What can you say to someone who declares themselves to you in this way? What do you say to someone who has told you everything? How can you say something that comes even close to what you just heard?

"Did I misunderstand everything and after all you don't like me the same way, is that it?", Franco asks, "it's just, your texts and the way you talk, feels like you do".

The insecurity in his voice is the trigger you need for the words to simply come out of your mouth without having to think much about them, "No, it's nothing like that!", you exclaim, "It's just that it's hard for me to say anything after everything you said. I don't want you to doubt for even a second what I feel for you, Franco. I know I haven't been the best person to express my feelings, because when we say things out loud, they become real. And I was so afraid to admit the truth, so much so that I preferred not to say it. But you're right. Life changes in the blink of an eye and it doesn't make sense to keep leaving things unsaid or undone and wasting time. I'm in love with you, Franco. A part of me has wished, since the moment you made an effort for me, that I could have someone like that by my side, willing to protect me, take care of me and be there for me. I have no doubt that my life has changed for the better because you came into it. And I should have told you all this sooner, because you deserve to hear all this and much more. You are an extraordinary person and you deserve to be happy. And I want to be able to make you happy", you stop for a few seconds, taking a deep breath and gathering all the courage in the world to say the dreaded words out loud, "I love you and there is nothing I want more in this world than to be with you and be your girlfriend".

Despite all the nervousness you felt when expressing your feelings, the relief that follows leaves you feeling like a weight was lifted off your shoulder. Suddenly, you understand that fear paralyzes people and prevents them from moving forward.

The fear of not being enough for Franco, that he couldn't possibly have a girlfriend older than him and the fear that he would suffer from that was what was holding you back, stopping you from being happy. Now that you got that off your chest, that you said what you feel out loud, you realise you're ready to be happy again with someone else.

The smile that appears on Franco's lips makes your day. He wraps his arm around your waist and pulls you towards him, pressing your lips together.

You close your eyes and savour every second of the moment: from the way his hand is resting on your waist, while the other caresses your cheek, to the way his lips slide over your and your tongues touch.

When you break the kiss, needing to breathe, you keep your eyes closed for a fraction of a second, enjoying the sensation his lips left on yours.

"I have something to ask of you", you say, opening your eyes.

Franco's arm continues wrapped around you and you remain very close to him without moving, appreciating the closeness.

"Whatever you want", Franco says.

"Don't give up on me. Whenever I try to push you away, pull me to you. Whenever I yell at you because I'm angry, hug me. If I don't answer your texts or calls, look for me. When I feel too insecure, remind me that I'm the only one and how lucky I am to have you. If I'm giving up on us, kiss me and remind me why I shouldn't give up. And I know this is asking too much, but I know you love me enough to do this, to stay with me. I promise to do the same with you, to never give up", you declare.

"I promise, mi amor. I'll never give up on you, not even if you ask me to", Franco smiles as you cup his cheek, bringing your faces closer once again to kiss him.

[rinhaler]

assuming ur reqs are still open, can we please get younger stepbro!megumi watching you get off through a peephole in the wall? and like you know he's watching so you call him a little perv and he gets harder 👀

i'm sorry if it's too specific sdjsdjsjjls ofc u don't have to do this, have a lovely day!!

-a follower who's too shy to come off anon

I hope this is okay for you! I've never really thought about writing a younger step brother thing before since I'm not into younger guys myself but I hope I made it fun for you to read, enjoy my angel!

warnings: 18+ MDNI, fem!reader, masturbation (m+f), voyeurism, vibrator use, stepcest ofc.

words: 1.1k

Going from being an only child to having a little brother was always going to be a big adjustment. It’s not like you’re that much older, but moving into a new home to accommodate a four person and two dog household was a big change. You had your own room on the ground floor of your old home. Your mother didn’t stop you from coming and going as you pleased.

But now, you have a room directly next door to Megumi.

You’re always butting heads and even your stepdad has been giving you trouble since your family merged. You have a curfew for the first time in your life. You aren’t allowed boys over and you haven’t been able to party in months. You’re frustrated. Constantly pent up from the lack of excitement in your life.

Megumi hasn’t helped the situation in the least. He’s a quiet introvert with a wicked tongue when he starts. You argue a lot, and he always gets you into trouble. You’re the wayward party girl. Whereas he’s the studious quiet guy that couldn’t ever put a foot wrong.

You’re going stir crazy.

And it’s been weeks since you got laid.

You took a risk when you decided to order a new vibrator to alleviate your tension. If you can’t satiate it with sex, a big pink wand will have to do. You didn’t want to get caught by a stupid mistake like your parents or your brother opening the parcel. So you ordered it to a friend’s house. She didn’t judge, but she dropped it off the very next day for you, winking and telling you not to have too much fun.

Fingers aren’t enough, they haven’t been for years.

The only thing that can relieve your growing tension is the buzz of a vibrator. You have small bullets and they do just fine, but if your stepdad is insisting on you having no life and no hook ups, you knew you had to up the ante.

The only other person home right now is Megumi. Your parents are at work and you quite frankly can’t wait to watch some porn and cum all over your toy. You hurry up the stairs and take it out of the packaging. You test to see if it has any charge, it does, and decide to forgo charging. You don’t care about a lengthy edging session. You just want to cum.

And you’ve known about the sick little hole Megumi drilled between your bedrooms for weeks now. He thought you weren’t home when he did it, opting to hide when he started peeping through. It’s behind a Weezer poster adjacent to his bed. You’ve seen the familiar green eye numerous times and opted not to say anything. Not because you want him to leer at you. But because you’re holding it to use as ammunition next time he really pisses you off.

You hear the indiscreet sound of his poster moving after you test the buzz of your vibrator. And you smirk, hearing how he carefully tries to unzip his pants and groans softly the second his hand holds his cock.

It’s an all too familiar sound, now. Him wanking over you at any given chance. It’s weird considering he has zero interest in you as a human being, doing anything he can to hinder your life. But watching you undress slowly everyday multiple times leaves him spent. And the intimate moments after dark that you have to yourself and the quietly playing porn you choose to watch on your phone are the highlights of his day.

He strokes himself slowly as you strip down to nothing, you’re teasing him as you fondle your breasts before getting comfortable on your bed. You settle for some lewd ASMR. A random man with a deep voice telling you what a good girl you are among other things. You do exaggerate a few moans, pretending that you have no idea that your brother is home and playing with himself over you.

It feels incredible.

You knew a wand would be powerful, but you had no idea to this extent.

“O-Oh, fuck, shit—” you gasp, cumming almost instantly as you up the speed to full. You’re shaking and shivering as your orgasm rips through you, and the sheer quickness of it all makes you burst into laughter. You cover your mouth, giggling, in a state of disbelief of how amazing this pink silicone toy is.

Megumi licks his lips, beating himself off quicker after realising you’ve came already. He hadn’t expected you to finish so quickly, but he keeps replaying the sound of your moans in his mind as he tries to chase you in your release. But he slows, again, when he hears you restart the wand. He grunts, too loudly, as he watches your hips roll into the wand, chasing the feeling of that release again.

“Such a little perv, Megumi.” you moan… not stopping the buzzing against your clit as you talk to him. “W-What would dad think? If he knew you were getting hard and cumming over me?”

He bites his lips, unable to believe you knew he was doing this. And even more shocked that you aren’t stopping, letting him watch you. Maybe even getting off on it? If he’s a perv, what does that make you?

But he knows he’s a perv. He’s had a thing for you since the minute he set eyes on you. Unable to believe how brazen you were with bringing boys home and making out with them without a care in front of your parents. Toji hated it, and so did Megumi. But he couldn’t deny it turned him on. And seeing how riled up you were getting after Toji’s boy ban was when he knew he had to take the plunge and make a little peephole for himself.

Spying on you every chance he got whenever you felt particularly needy or just wanted to change your outfit. He’s had so many jerk-off sessions to you thinking you were clueless.

But you’ve known… the whole time. It’s too much for him. It’s going to bring him to his fucking end.

“You’re such a slut…” he pants, his teeth piercing the skin on his lip enough to draw blood.

“I-I’d rather be a- a slut. Meg-umi. Than a gross little perv like you. Watchin’ me cum everyday… watchin’ me change… such a sicko. Hnng—!” you tense up, trying to hold back your orgasm while taunting your brother.

He cums, spurting white globs all over his fist and up the wall. You hear him hissing and grunting as he finishes, you even hear the sticky fisting sound over the buzz of your vibrator. He begins to pant, deep and heavy as a bead of sweat runs down his forehead.

“I hate you.” he mutters, putting his poster back down and moving away to clean himself up.

“Awe, come back Megs!” you giggle. “Don’t you wanna watch me cum?”

© 2023 rinitxshi

[sailortongue]

"Baking with my boyfriend!"

pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

wc: 1.6k

summary: you run a popular baking vlog, and after a Q&A video where you said your boyfriend helped you eat all the delicious things you baked, the people demanded a bf reveal

------

“Hi guys!” You waved at the camera enthusiastically. “In honor of the upcoming fall season, today I’m going to be showing you how to bake pumpkin bread!” You were practically sunshine incarnate when you were filming for your viewers, but today was special and you were even more cheery than usual.

The last video you did was a Q&A and apparently many viewers were very curious about what you do with all the baked goods you make because surely you don't eat all of that yourself. You’d laughed, pleased to tell them that you share everything with your lovely boyfriend, and, if you made a particularly large batch of something, then he’d take them to work for his coworkers.

You hadn’t thought much of it, but when you read through the comments it was flooded with requests for a boyfriend reveal. You’d immediately called Spencer into the living room, excitedly asking him if he’d film a video with you. How could he possibly say no to you when you were looking at him with those pleading eyes? He caved embarrassingly quickly, but frankly he’d do anything if it meant that beautiful smile would continue to be directed at him.

And so here you were, standing in your kitchen with Spencer and getting the ingredients and supplies assembled. Now, as much as you loved him, there was a reason he’d never been in one of your videos before: that man was a klutz in the kitchen. For all his intelligence, he couldn't bake a cake to save his life.

Spencer, bless his heart, had neglected to place the eggs in a bowl and accidentally knocked one off the counter, sending it to splat onto the floor. You glanced at the cracked egg slowly seeping across the floor and then back up to Spencer, a grin teasing the edge of your lips. He did the same as you, and as you both made eye contact the tension broke, both of you bursting into laughter.

“I’ll clean it up,” he said sheepishly. “And get another egg.”

You chuckled and continued with your instructions. “Once Spence gets that taken care of, then we’ll have everything we need to start. As usual, we’re going to preheat the oven while we prepare everything. This particular recipe says 325℉ but if any of you would like to bake this at home, there is a note at the bottom of the recipe. It says that if you're using a one pound loaf pan instead of a 9x5, then it may come out underbaked, and if you feel like you need to add more time to it then you should bake at 350℉ instead.”

You felt Spencer’s presence return to your side, this time placing the eggs in a bowl to prevent any more mishaps. He bent down and kissed the top of your head as his way of apologizing. You reciprocated the action and got on your tippy toes to kiss his chin since it was the closest you could get.

Continuing with the recipe, you put Spencer in charge of the streusel topping since it was the most straight forward. You were confident that even with his lacking baking skills he’d be able to do it. You were promptly proven wrong.

“Wow, I’m impressed,” you said.

“Really?” he asked excitedly, ever eager to please you.

“Very. I think you got more flour on the counter than in the bowl.”

He threw his head back and groaned. “Oh come on, it's not that bad.”

“Whatever you say, hun. Can you put it in the fridge?”

He nodded, and you turned your attention back to the camera. “And now for the star of the show we’re going to start on the batter!” As you spoke animatedly and explained every step of the process, Spencer was watching you with rapt attention, a small smile fixed on his face.

Occasionally you’d ask him to measure out some of the ingredients and put them in. You’d had to correct him that the brown sugar had to be packed in, but other than that there was no way he could mess up. The only notable thing that happened was his insistence on tasting the vanilla extract. How could something that smelled so good taste so bad? He was going to learn the hard way and there was nothing you could do to spare the stubborn man. You had practically doubled over with laughter when his expression instantly changed to one of profound disgust. He rushed to the kitchen sink, trying in vain to spit out the vile liquid.

He was positively green when he looked back over at you. “Why would you let me do that?”

Taking pity on him, you poured him a glass of water and handed it to him. “Here, swish.”

He took it gratefully and did as you said. “Thank you. Lesson learned. Vanilla extract is a liar.”

“Would stirring make it better?” you asked, offering the whisk to him.

“No, but licking the batter might.”

You shrugged, “Your loss.”

With your attention back on the camera, Spencer took the opportunity to stand behind you, placing his hands on your hips and watching you mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones from over your shoulder. He took advantage of the close proximity and placed a tender kiss on your temple. You were practically melting on the spot at how domestic everything felt.

“Ok, so with that all mixed up the next thing we have to do is pour it into a greased loaf pan and then sprinkle the streusel on top.” You turned your face to the side, “Hey, hun, can you get the streusel from the fridge?” He hummed in affirmation, leaving you to pour the batter, intentionally leaving a bit more than you usually would to make up for Spencer’s unfortunate experience with the vanilla.

He resumed his position at the counter, standing next to you this time. He was eyeing the bowl with the leftover batter, being very obvious about what he wanted. You giggled. “Trade?” Without a word, he snatched the bowl and handed you the cold one with the topping. As you were sprinkling it onto the top, Spencer was busying himself with licking the spatula.

“Perfect!” you exclaimed when you were done. “Now all that’s left is to put it in the oven for an hour and twenty minutes.” After closing the oven door, you turned to see Spencer scraping more of the batter from the bowl and onto the spatula. You also noticed that some of it was smeared around the corners of his lips. You huffed a breath out through your nose, finding him utterly adorable. You grabbed a rag from the drawer and ran it under the faucet. You walked over to Spencer and he spoke before you could do anything. “If the batter is anything to go by, then the bread will be delicious.”

“Of course it will. I think it'll be one of the best, just because you helped me with it.” He beamed at you. “That was cheesy, but cute.”

“C’mere,” you said, placing your hand on his cheek and adjusting his face so he’d look straight at you. You brought up the hand with the wet rag, wiping his face. He laughed and took the rag from you, using it to clean the stickiness from his hands as well.

Now that there was nothing to do but wait for the pumpkin bread to finish baking, you stopped recording and set about cleaning the mess you two had made.

With both of you working together, the kitchen was pristine in no time. You decided you’d go ahead and start editing the footage you already had, and by the time you had it looking as aesthetic as always, the oven timer went off. You gasped excitedly, hopping off the couch where you were sitting next to Spencer. You quickly slipped on a pair of oven mitts and took it out to cool.

Thirty minutes later and you began recording again. “I wish y’all could smell my kitchen right now,” you started. “Smells so good. Like cinnamon and pumpkin goodness.”

You cut two slices of the loaf, one for each of you. Spencer took a bite before you did and groaned. “It's so good,” he said.

“Better than the batter?” you teased.

“Definitely.”

You took your own bite and reacted just as he had. It really was tasty. “10/10. You guys should definitely make this at home! It’s perfectly moist and pumpkin-y and the streusel topping adds a lot of texture. I hope you all enjoyed this video and I’ll see you next time! Bye!” You waved at the camera before stopping the footage.

There wasn’t much editing that needed to be done since the second take was just a review of the dessert, so you had the video uploaded shortly after, titling it "Baking with my boyfriend!"

You were both splitting a second slice when you started getting notifications on the video. Spencer placed the plate down on the coffee table and got comfy next to you, putting his arm around you and pulling you close. You leaned into his side and opened the app to read the incoming comments.

“#relationshipgoals”

“You two are so cute!”

“Does he have a twin brother? 👀”

“Can we reply?” asked Spencer. You nodded and handed him your phone.

“Does he have a twin brother? 👀”

“Sorry, @user but no, I don’t.”

“Homeboy is so down bad”

“According to Yn, that means I’m infatuated with her. Yes, I am.”

“Omg his HANDS”

“Thank you? I guess?”

You laughed at his reply to the comment about his hands.

“Did yall see the way they look at each other? 🥺”

“Lmao see if he’ll try cacao powder”

Spencer looked at you after reading the cacao powder comment. “Is cacao powder also a liar?”

You shook your head. “Nope. It tastes just like chocolate.”

[februarybluues]

enemies with benefits. || 1. - p.u.n.k boy!

warnings: swearing, fighting, you and hobie hating each other, reader gets slightly injured but nothing that bad, horrible british (i'm very sorry🙏 )

part 2 - wounded.

You were bold, abrasive, honest, and never afraid to fight for what was right. He was the exact same - if not even worse. Logically, it was obvious for people to assume you’d be best friends. But, they couldn’t be further from the truth.

You heard a lot about Hobie. Mostly from Gwen and Miles rambling about ‘how awesome he was’. They told you about his cool style, his badass attitude, how caring he was, and pretty much everything there was to know about him. When they said he was a great guy, you almost believed them. But, your opinion quickly changed when you met him for the first time.

Miguel had called you to see him immediately, without giving any context as to why. Logically, you were confused and quite frankly, a bit scared. Did something happen? Were you in trouble? Needless to say you rushed over to him as quickly as you could.

“Y/n. New mission for you. There’s an anomaly that’s broken free and it’s jumping from dimension to dimension, wreaking havoc. I need you to stop it from corrupting anything, alright?” his face remained stoic as he spoke in a low, orderly tone. You smiled. It was no secret to anyone that you loved to fight. Whether it be fighting a villain as spider-woman, or fighting a sexist scum as y/n. You loved to make the world a better place. And you looked sick as you did it.

“Got it. Just send me the location and consider it done.” you responded, eagerly. Miguel cleared his throat, which caught your attention. “No, no, no. This is way more dangerous than your usual anomaly. You can’t do this on your own. Which is why I've assigned Hobart to be your partner.” You looked at him, confused. “Hobart? Who the fuck is that?” Without missing a beat, you heard the sound of rustling behind you. “M’right here.” you turned around, only to be met with a cocky smile, and a thick english accent. You quickly examined him. He was your stereotypical punk; tight jeans, combat boots, a sleeveless vest that was littered in pins and patches, and a guitar on his back. Everything about him screamed asshole. It was then that you realised he matched Gwen and Miles’ descriptions. There was no denying it, you were looking at the infamous Hobie Brown.

“You must be Hobie.” you held your hand out to him for a handshake. But he pressed a kiss to it instead. “The one and only.” he winked at you. You pulled your hand back, rolling your eyes at him. ‘Great.’ you thought to yourself. ‘He’s one of those people. A selfish, self-absorbed, cocky flirt.’ your head already jumped to conclusions, despite not knowing him for more than five minutes. You hadn’t realised you had been staring at him until he spoke up again. “Take a picture. It’ll last longer.” you scoffed at him, turning to talk to Miguel instead. “You can’t be serious. You know I work alone. I always work alone. I can handle this by myself.” Miguel shook his head, not wanting to hear your complaints. “I know. But, this is a job for two people. And, I firmly believe that you guys will work together greatly.” As much as you wanted to fight alone, you knew Miguel was right. You sighed. Hobie opened his mouth to speak again, but you cut him off before he could spew another snarky comment. “If you-” “Shut up with your elitist bullshit. All of you punks are the same.” You turned around yet again to look at his face. He immediately perked up with slight anger. You were testing his patience. “Aye. I’m no elitist! I don’t believe in’at crap! I don’t believe in labels!” your smile got smaller, but it stayed there nonetheless. “Yeah well I don't believe that you’re as cool as they say you are. Bet you’re just all bark and no bite.” his lips quirked up into a slight smile, completely disregarding what you had to say. “They? Who’s they?” his eyebrow raised, which made you notice his abundance of piercings. You'd be lying if you said they didn’t suit him. “Miles and Gwen.” you answered, the tone of your voice was slightly annoyed. He lit up slightly at the mention of their names. “You know Gwendy ‘n Miles?” “So what if I do?” His eyes grew wide, you could see the cogs whirring in his head as he put the pieces together. “Wait. A’you tha’ badass that kicked the teeth in o’that group o’knobheads?” Ah. So, gwen and Miles must’ve talked about you as much as they did him. Fucking hell his accent was almost incomprehensible. “So what if I am?” you crossed your arms at him. He scoffed. “And here I thought you’d be nicer.” you rolled your eyes and focused your attention on the portal you opened up. “Come on, we can finish this up later - after we’ve beat this bastard.” You spoke, pointing inside the portal. For a split second you both shared a smile. “Right behind you, mate.” And with that, you walked into the portal, mockingly mumbling his accent as you did so. “mate.” 

You landed in the alternate earth with grace, quickly scanning the area to make sure no one was there. And then Hobie arrived. His chest bashed against your back, which caused you to almost fall forward. “Whoops. Sorry about tha’'.' he smiled, but he wasn’t sorry. His voice was laced with a teasing venom. You turned your head to look at him. “You did that on purpose, prick.” you scowled at him, and his smirk got wider; cockier. “Yeah, I did.” he admitted. You couldn’t believe him. “We don’t have time for this. Let’s just get this over with.” you put your mask on and looked around for the anomaly, swinging your webs from building to building as you flew around. It was then that you spotted it; a big, scaly monster. Its skin resembled that of tar; sticky and black. Accompanied by a menacingly sharp smile, its fangs were almost as big as you were. Your eyes widened with subtle fear as you watched it engulf its surroundings. You signalled Hobie over to you, careful as to not make any noise. He followed, his once-teasing demeanour gone without a trace. He was much more focused on taking down the anomaly now. “Fuckin’ ‘ell. That’s a big one.” he stated, looking at it before attempting to jump at it. but, you grabbed onto his arm to prevent him from doing so. “Are you crazy?” you whispered. “You can’t just spring into battle without a plan!” he groaned impatiently, you quickly shushed him as to not catch the creature’s attention. “Right then, what’s your plan then, missy?” he crouched down next to you, looking down at the enemy from the rooftop. The spikes on his mask shimmered from the sunlight, almost distracting you. Almost.

You snapped back to reality and shared your plan with him. He listened intently to everything you had to say - for debatably the first time ever. He had no snarky comments to share. You almost thanked him for his maturity. Once you finished telling him, it was time to initiate the plan. “Lead the way.” he said as he watched you walk towards the edge of the rooftop. You took a deep breath, preparing yourself for what was to come. Without any delay, you jumped forward, latching your web onto the nearest building and springing into the creature's field of view. Once it saw you, it instantly began to attack; sending a few of its tentacle-like arms(?) in your direction. You dodged each of its attacks, cutting off one of the arms in the process with a powerful kick. Hobie remained on the rooftop, waiting for your signal. He watched as you fought. Soon finding himself lost in his thoughts. You fought the creature with expertise, swiftly gliding through the air as you dodged each attack flawlessly. He was in awe. He had underestimated how strong you were. But, there’s no way he was admiring you, right? He was just caught off-guard. Definitely. Which meant, it was his turn to show off. He wanted to impress you. And soon enough, his time came. You gave him the signal and he quickly sprung into action. He pulled the guitar from his back, holding it from the neck as if it were a weapon. 

The two of you worked together to take the anomaly down. Although you hated to admit it, you made a great team. Miguel knew that, which is why he put you together in the first place. But, before you managed to successfully beat the monster, you got distracted. You watched as hobie ripped tentacle after tentacle from it and didn’t notice the one that was flying right at you. It lashed you right in the chest, making you grunt in pain as you fell backwards. Hobie must’ve seen this happening because before you made contact with the rough concrete, a familiar web enveloped you, lifting you back up. “Careful, love. Wouldn’t want ya ruinin’ that pretty face o’yours.” You ripped his web off of you, and smiled through your mask. - grateful that he couldn’t see it. “I didn’t need your help!” you yelled at him, jumping back into battle. He laughed, which annoyed you even more. Successfully fuelling the energy you needed to knock the anomaly out. You delivered the final blow; kicking it right in its eye, which was apparently its weak spot. “Whew..” you let out, landing on your feet as you looked at it. Hobie landed next to you, placing his arm on your shoulder. “Nice one,” he said. He sounded sincere. You nodded before going back to work, informing Miguel that you had successfully taken it down. Hobie’s hand stayed on your shoulder, tightly but not enough to hurt. 

Although he was an asshole, he was starting to grow on you.

“How ‘bout we get some dinner - on you, aye? it’s the least you could do considering i saved y’life.”

“Get a grip, Hobie.”

Nevermind.

[brbsoulnomming]

Tell Me Sweet Little Lies Part 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | AO3

-----

Eddie doesn't graduate.

He's stuck here for another year, and he screams into his pillow, throws himself a pity party for the better part of two days, and then drags himself back out and gets the hell on with it.

In Eddie's second senior year, Hagan finds his new liege in the form of fucking Billy Hargrove.

Hargrove and Hagan fixate on Harrington, who frankly, doesn't seem all that interested in either raising to their bait or defending his title. Eddie'd almost have respect for the guy, if it weren't for the way their shit gets everywhere. The mess he'd been watching over the last year starts to spill out and out and out, and there's something in Hargrove's eyes that, for the first time, makes Eddie consider ducking his head and staying out of his way. There's a bitter taste in his mouth, because goddamn, if he did even a quarter of the things Hargrove is, he'd be getting queer written on his locker instead of freak before the end of first period.

But no, when it's a jock obsessed with another jock, it's a vicious rivalry. Hargrove is new, and pretty, and dangerous, and the balance seems to shift and waver on whether the masses find him thrilling or distasteful.

Eddie can't wait to graduate and leave this all behind.

Some time after Halloween, he finds I don't need to go to the hospital scrawled onto his hip, and his heart lodges itself in his throat. He's never been more tempted to say something - anything - to make his soulmate go to the damn hospital when he needs to.

But he's a coward who doesn't want to open that door again, and a bitter part of him reminds himself that his soulmate probably has tons of friends - a girlfriend - to bustle him off to the hospital and fuss over him.

He's a little bit ashamed of himself for the thought, but not enough to make him say anything.

Around the same time, neither of the dueling kings show up to school for three days straight. It's not entirely unexpected for Hargrove, but the last time Harrington missed school was the year before, when all that stuff with the missing Byers kid was going down.

It gets people talking.

When they both come back, the buzzing intensifies, and things come to a head at lunch. The cafeteria had dimmed a little when Harrington walked in, looking like a fucking trainwreck, but his swagger is just as strong as ever and he sits down with some of his friends like he's just daring anyone to ask him about it.

Then Hargrove walks in, looking not nearly as bad but still pretty clearly messed up, and the entire room goes quiet.

It makes Eddie's leg bounce in agitation, every bone in his body screaming at him to get the fuck out of there, but his sheepies are looking at him for their cues and he forces himself to look bored with all this shit.

Hargrove's swagger is even worse than Harrington's, and he saunters across the cafeteria as if he doesn't have a care in the world. Someone asks him a question, too low for Eddie to make out, and Hargrove grins, wide and amused.

"Harrington and I sorted our differences," he says, loud enough to echo across the cafeteria. "Ain't that right, Steve-o?"

Hargrove licks his lips as he looks over at Harrington - and see, see that's what Eddie's talking about, Hargrove is looking at Harrington like he wants to eat him. Some part of Eddie perks up a little, because fuck, that is one attractive man, but once again the look in Hargrove's eyes kills it. He looks like a fucking predator, like if a fight does spring up he'll go and go and go until one of them is dead, and Eddie feels a chill over his spine as his eyes snap back to Harrington.

If they're suddenly friends now, Eddie's going to have to make a dramatic exit to go be sick.

Fortunately for Eddie's stomach, there's a flare of disgust in Harrington's expression before it smooths over, looking bored and unaffected.

He smiles at Hargrove, sharp and wide and toothy. "Any time you want to skip the foreplay and get to the main event again, you just let me know."

Eddie bites the inside of his cheek, firmly telling his dick to sit the fuck down, that any attraction he might feel for him should die the same way it does for Hargrove. It doesn't listen to him, not until -

Hargrove tips back his head and laughs, wild and frenzied, and there's a titter of laughter that scatters across the cafeteria - some of it uncertain, some of it mean, some of it genuine. Just like that, everyone's back to their normal days.

"Jesus H. Christ," Eddie mutters under his breath. "And they say I'm the dramatic one."

He hears a smattering of soft agreements from the rest of Hellfire, a couple of snorts of laughter, and that buoys him a little. He tilts his head, making a sweeping gesture that nearly knocks over Jeff's milk. "Well! It seems our entertainment for the meal is over with. What say we adjourn to get set up for tonight's club meeting?"

He doesn't look at Hargrove or Harrington. All the people in this world, the chances of his soulmate being one of them are pretty damn small, despite their situations fitting. He doesn't think about how both of them probably could have used a fucking hospital, doesn't let himself wonder which one is the type to deny they needed it.

Doesn't let himself decide that he'd so much rather it be Steve Harrington.

He really doesn't want it to be Steve Harrington.

—

Lies spring to life on his skin throughout the rest of the school year - not as much as last fall, but what he does get is… a little bit strange, a little bit personal, more so than Eddie's seen before.

Rabid dogs, you know, they're no joke.

I still think this is dumb.

You'd be surprised how many coyotes are in these woods.

I'm never going to play this thing with you, man, you might as well stop asking.

Nothing to worry about, all right?

I'm not lying, I'm totally fine.

Billy Hargrove and Steve Harrington graduate with the rest of their class, that year.

Eddie doesn't.

Taglist (let me know if I missed anyone, and I'm always happy to add more!): @vampireinthesun @koibug @estrellami-1 @mentalcyborg @allbimyself26 @questionablequeeries @the-s-is-silent @whimsicalwitchm @a-gae-af-racoon @tinyplanet95 @n0-1-important @velocitytimes2 @swimmingbirdrunningrock @newtstabber @jcmadgirl @roblingoblin285 @lexyvey @paperbackribs @goodolefashionedloverboi @evix-syne666 @raisedbylibrarians @stxrcrossed186 @nightmareglitter @greekgeek24 @starman-jpg @crazyhatlady86 @affablevixen @imfinereallyy @manda-panda-monium @deleataecount @prideandsensibility @chaoticvictorianspirit @maydillydally @disrespectedgoatman

-----

Part 5

[moremaybank]

jj x routledge sister reader with the prompt "i can't focus on anything but the idea of fucking you"

INDULGE — j.m

pairing jj maybank x routledge sister!reader

summary john b only had one rule for jj; jj could not, under any circumstances, touch his sister. unfortunately for john b, jj has never shied away from breaking the rules

warnings 18+, language, oral (male rec.)/face-fucking, unprotected sex, hair pulling, choking (kinda), breeding kink/creampie

author’s note jj & reader are both over 18. not proofread.

jj masterlist

"We shouldn't be doing this. Fuck, we should not be doing this."

JJ cursed at the sight in front of him.

Y/N was on her knees for him. Hair tousled but sexy nevertheless. Gorgeous tits on full display, her nipples hard with arousal. Bottom lip between her teeth as she grinned at his hard, begging cock in her hand. She jerked it at an undemanding pace, movements relaxed and gentle.

"I want to suck you off so bad, JJ. Wanna feel your come slide down my throat," she rasped.

JJ gulped.

"But if you want to stop, we can stop right now. Just say the word."

JJ was at a loss for words.

How did they even get here?

JJ was lying on the couch in the chateau, the movie Just Go With It playing on the TV as Y/N sauntered in from the backyard.

The flesh of her tits bulged out of her tiny bikini top and the bottoms of her ass cheeks were in sight thanks to her skimpy little shorts.

God, was she trying to kill him?

Clearing his throat, he spoke up.

"I thought you were hanging out with that guy you've been seeing. What was it? Chad? Connor...?" JJ inquired.

"You mean Chase?" Y/N replied, giving him an amused look.

"Whatever. At least I remembered that he had a douche-y, frat boy name."

Y/N simply rolled her eyes in response, "Nah. I broke things off with him."

"What? Why? I thought things were going well?" JJ asked.

He wasn't really asking. To be quite honest, he didn't fucking care. What he did care about, though, was the fact that Y/N was once again single.

Not that he could make a move if he wanted to. Promises to keep and all that. Thanks a lot, John B.

"They were. He was really sweet and thoughtful. Fun too. But he just...he could not get me off. I literally had to pretend he was someone else while he was fucking me."

Y/N caught sight of JJ's gobsmacked impression, and she chuckled, "What? We can't talk about stuff like this?"

JJ took his hat off his head, running a hand through his dishevelled blonde locks before clearing his throat again.

"Nah, we can. You just caught me off guard there," he responded. "So uh, who were you thinking about? When he was trying to get you off?" JJ's greedy thoughts beat out his critical thinking, the question escaping his lips before he could stop it from tumbling out.

"Wouldn't you like to know," she smirked, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and heading to her room.

"Actually, yeah. Yeah, I would," he mumbled, getting up from the couch and following her into her room. He pushed the door open, his eyes meeting Y/N's bare back as she slipped on a t-shirt.

"I don't think you're ready for my response," she shrugged. "Also, thanks for having no boundaries and for barging into my room while I was half fucking naked."

"Anytime," he winked, "And for the record, I am completely ready to hear it."

"Mhm."

"Come on, Little Routledge. Just tell me, " JJ pouted dramatically, pulling a small giggle from Y/N's lips. JJ approached her, slowly. "Was it Pope?"

Y/N chuckled, "No, JJ. It wasn't Pope."

"Topper?" JJ guessed, gaining on her.

"God, no."

JJ stepped directly in front of the younger Routledge sibling, his chest threatening to touch hers. He peered down at her, "Then who was it, pretty girl?"

Y/N exhaled. She was tired of hiding her attraction to the boy in front of her. She had hidden it for years, and frankly, she wasn't gaining anything from it besides the solo orgasms she blessed herself with when she thought about him and what she would beg for him to do to her. So, she womaned up.

"I was thinking about you, J."

"You— What?"

"I was thinking about you. When Chase was kissing me, I thought about your lips on mine. When his hands were on me, I imagined that they were your hands. And when he fucked me, JJ, I pictured your cock inside me."

JJ swallowed thickly, tearing his gaze away from her. "Y/N, don't go there."

"Why not? Don't act like you haven't thought about this, JJ. I know you have."

"Look, it's not that. It's just that I-I promised JB—"

"Shh," she whispered, shushing him with her index finger. "I don't wanna talk about JB right now. I want to talk about you."

JJ swallowed harshly, "What about me?"

"I hear you panting out my name when you jerk yourself off in the guest room almost every night. It's like you're trying to let me know that I'm on your mind," she whispered, placing wet kisses up from his neck to just below his ear. Her teeth grazed the skin of his earlobe as she placed her hands on his strong biceps, and JJ shuddered at her hot breath on his skin. "You're on my mind too, you know. You don't know how long I've wanted you to touch me JJ. I'd be such a good girl for you, I swear."

JJ would be lying if he said that his cock wasn't hardening at the very thought of touching Y/N. In fact, he'd be the biggest liar on planet Earth. He needed her. Badly.

But could he really betray his best friend?

"Whatever you promised John B, it doesn't matter. He can't tell me or you what we can or can't do with our bodies. I'm not his property, and neither are you."

Alright. She had a point there. JJ was grown. He could do whatever he goddamn wanted to.

"Focus, JJ. I'm here. You're here. We both want this, unless I'm imagining things."

"No," JJ replied, shaking his head slightly, "You aren't imagining anything. And I can’t focus on anything but the idea of fucking you.”

"Then do it, handsome."

Clothes were tossed onto the ground. Hands were threaded through the other's hair. Their lips collided against each other with utter passion, again and again. They were finally drowning in each other, and it felt good.

"JJ?" Y/N questioned, bringing him out of his daze. "Do you want me to stop?"

JJ weighed the pros and cons in his head, but to be honest, he was fooling himself. There was nothing bad enough to make him walk away from this, from her. He'd been patient for years, and now that he'd tasted her lips on his, his hands had grazed her completely bare skin, he'd heard those greedy little moans she made when he sucked on the soft spot below her ear...there was no stopping what they'd both wished after for years now.

"Fuck no. Don't stop. Never stop."

Y/N grinned up at him from her position on the floor. "I want you in my mouth, baby. Can I taste you?"

JJ nodded, his mouth dry as he thought about burying his cock deep in her throat.

Y/N gripped his cock a bit harder, giving it a slight squeeze as she brought his reddened tip to her lips. She tapped the needy head on her tongue, visibly pleased with the weight of his thick cock. Her tongue drew over his slit, his pre-cum running over her tastebuds. JJ hissed at the contact.

"Mm," she moaned, throwing her head back. "You taste so good, JJ. I knew you would."

She looked up at JJ through her thick lashes, "You wanna fuck my face, JJ? Wanna feel me gag on you when you touch the back of my throat?"

JJ smoothed some hair away from her face before both hands threaded through her hair to gain a grasp on her head.

"Open up for me, baby."

Y/N happily did as she was told, her lips parting open so JJ could slot himself into her mouth.

Carefully, JJ brought the head of his cock to her lips, pushing in slowly. He inhaled sharply, the warmth and wetness of her mouth had him wanting to keep himself in there for the rest of his life. If this was how he died, he'd die a happy man.

Y/N braced her hands on JJ's thighs as he slowly began thrusting into her mouth, testing his patience. His movements were steady and deliberate, starting off slowly because he knew he could bust from the sight of her mouth around him alone. He felt her hot tongue slither against his shaft as he slid in and out, and he threw his head back.

"Christ, baby girl. You look so fucking pretty when your lips are wrapped around me," JJ rasped, throwing his head back as he picked up the pace. "Oh, shit."

Y/N felt herself grow wet as she watched how good JJ looked. Pleasure is visible on his face and his abs were flexing as he thrusted into her mouth. His moans also had her hooked, and she swore she had never heard anything half as heavenly as that.

JJ began to fuck her face roughly, the sounds of her gagging on him spurring him on even more. Strings of drool were escaping her lips and running down her chest, her wet nipples perking up even more when a breeze of cool air danced across them. Her lips were swollen, her eyes were teary and mascara was staining her cheeks. She looked fucking mesmerizing.

"Fuckfuckfuck. I'm getting close, baby."

Y/N wanted his cum to spray the walls of her throat, wanted to feel it glide down as she swallowed it. And more than anything, she wanted to watch him fall apart at her hands, or mouth, rather. So carefully, her hand found and began to massage JJ's balls as he continued his assault on her throat.

JJ gasped as she toyed with them, and let out a groan when his cum shot out and coated the inside of her mouth, and his hips jerked when he felt her swallow around him.

He pulled out of her, panting. "Jesus, fuck. Where did you learn how to do that shit?" he questioned, his thumbs rubbing under her eyes to remove the fallen tears and flakes of mascara.

"I've been practicing. Wanted to make you feel good when I got the chance, daddy," she smirked, looking up at him.

"C'mere," he said, pulling her up from the floor and pushing her front flush against the window of her bedroom with him standing behind her. His hand found her core, fingers sliding through her folds to get a feel of how wet she was. "Fuck, Y/N. You like me fucking your face with my cock that much? You're making a mess already, baby."

His fingers moved up to her clit, rubbing slow, teasing circles on it as he nipped on the skin of her bare shoulder.

"JJ, please," she whined, "I can't wait any longer. Impale me with your cock before I lose my goddamn mind."

"You sure you're ready for me to split you open, Y/N?"

"I swear to god, JJ, if you don't—"

Her sentence was lost in the air when JJ gripped onto her hip with one hand, the other guiding his cock toward her entrance, and he slammed into her without warning, burying himself to the hilt.

"Shit, you're so big, J. I can feel you in my fucking throat," she gasped. Her hands clawed at the curtains at her window, before grasping onto the windowsill in an attempt to ground herself.

JJ's hands gripped at her hips as he began to roll his own into her harshly. The sound of her ass and the back of her thighs smacking against his front filled the room, along with their groans of pleasure.

JJ's hips were unrelenting as he fucked her hard and fast.

"I don't know how the hell I lasted this long without fucking you, but nothing's stopping me now. This pussy is where I belong. So fucking perfect and tight for me," JJ grunted as he thrusted into Y/N.

Y/N began panting as JJ fucked her, her legs already beginning to tremble. If it weren't for JJ's grip on her, she'd be nothing more than a puddle on the floor.

JJ reached up and grabbed Y/N's hands, pulling them behind her back and he held them there with his right hand. His left hand wrapped itself in her hair and yanked her head back, allowing him to bite on the sensitive skin of her neck as he pounded into her.

"You like this, pretty girl? You like how hard I'm fucking you? I know you do. Fuck, you're gonna feel me for days when I'm done with you," JJ growled in her ear after landing a harsh smack on her ass. All Y/N could do was let out a whimper in response, and he felt her clench around him.

"Gonna c-come, J. I'm so close," she cried, her tits smacking against the window from the force of JJ's thrusts. Her legs began to shake again, and they jerked when JJ's hand released her hair and found her clit, rubbing it furiously.

"Wait for me, baby. I'm almost there, I'm right behind you," he rasped, his hips pounding even deeper into hers.

"I can't. I can't," she whimpered, "I need it, JJ. Need you to come too. Inside me."

"You want me to claim you? Fuck a baby into you so everyone knows who you belong to?"

Y/N nodded furiously, "Give it to me, J. Give me your baby," she begged.

JJ felt his balls tighten as he began to reach his release.

"Fuck, Y/N. Come for me, baby girl. Soak my fucking cock. Make a mess," he urged her.

Y/N came with a cry so loud it could have very well shattered all of the windows in the chateau. Her vision went out for a second and she could barely feel the oxygen in her lungs as JJ fucked her through her high. Her body went limp but JJ held her against him as her walls were still tight around his sensitive cock.

Once they both came down from their releases, they stood there, JJ still inside of her. He pulled out slowly, both of their bodies jerking slightly. JJ leaned his head on the back of Y/N's shoulder and wrapped his arms around her, and she grasped onto his arms as their breathing slowed.

"So...round two?" Y/N asked, turning her head to smirk at him playfully.

[janewayintersection]

the amount of people who are like "omg i ditched kaidan for garrus after he was mean to me on horizon!!" baffle me. shit on bioware's writing for making shep work with cerberus all you want, but kaidan calling shep out on this and not joining them is NOT the issue. in fact, him reacting like this is why i love him??

he specifically states he trusts shep, just not cerberus. which is the only rational response in that whole entire goddamn game!! like?? you spend all of me1 stopping cerberus operations. they kill several alliance soldiers and admiral kahoku, try to make a rachni army -- they are WELL known for cloning and ais... miranda even outright states she wanted to plant shep with a control chip. there is literally zero reason for kaidan to believe the shep in front of him isn't some cerberus sleeper agent. or an ai. or indoctrinated. or being manipulated (THIS ONE IS CANON BTW). even if he trusts shepard, he doesn't trust cerberus not to pull any of this. quite frankly, i'm baffled more companions don't have this exact, entirely justified concern.

loyalty is important, but blind loyalty is dangerous.

honestly, the crew in me2 is lucky that the illusive man was so weirdly and uncharacteristically insistent on shepard remaining untouched. things could have gotten very bad otherwise.

being best friends with someone, or more notably, being in love with someone, isn't the end all be all magic potion in this world. being in love with someone doesn't mean you should blindly trust their actions. if my significant other joined a terrorist group, you can bet my ass i wouldn't join them! sorry! if anything, it's healthy that kaidan has his own sense of morals and priorities he follows over shepard. he's his OWN person, love shouldn't be something that makes you suddenly give up who you are and what you believe in.

not to mention kaidan is entirely out of the loop for the whole game. his intel states that cerberus is behind the abductions (the horizon incident is partially a result of cerberus' fiddling btw), and that shep has been alive and never even reached out to anyone. he doesn't have the information we the players have. he doesn't know that the illusive man insisted on no control chip. he doesn't know about the lazarus project or its specifics.

and as for the "cheating" discourse if you romance someone new in me2, i do personally believe shep getting with one of the me2 love interests is cheating on their me1 love interest. to shep, they skipped those two years. they wake up as they did during the me2 prologue. no time has passed. and then they immediately get with someone else after one (1) argument with their love interest over them, may i remind you, joining a terrorist group. even if you don't think it's "technically" cheating, it's at the very least pretty trashy and flakey.

if anything, i'm gonna say it! kaidan is more forgiving than i'd be! the fact that he even sends an email saying he still cares and that they can see what happens after this is all resolved is WAY more than i would have done. the fact that kaidan will find out shep got with someone else, and STILL be willing to give shep a chance is like. man. it's saying a lot. i am just saying.

imagine losing someone. you see them literally die as your ship explodes and they burn up in the nearby planet's atmosphere. you grieve. you put yourself into your work. then suddenly, two years, later. they pop back up again. ALIVE. and with a terrorist group. and basically tell you the equivalent of "just trust me bro" despite the fact that while you trust them, you don't trust the terrorist group. so you're like hey, what the fuck. why are you with a terrorist group. and they're like i'm not with them, we just have common goals. and you're like. i'm gonna say it again. i trust you, not the terrorist group. okay?? i can't join you for this reason. please be careful out there, seriously.

and then they immediately jump into the pants of that one guy you knew back on a mission from two years ago.

what would you do?? would you not feel hurt? betrayed? upset? confused?? i'm sorry, i'm completely on kaidan's side. i'd go as far to say that he's far more understanding than he should be in me2.

me3 is all about regaining that complete and undying trust back, and that cerberus didn't fuck around w shep. or that being with cerberus didn't change them. his "loyalty" quest is just visiting him in the hospital and showing him shepard still cares. that they're still the same. that cerberus truly didn't alter them. that there was more going on. that shepard was forced to work with cerberus out of complete necessity and only did what they thought was right. and i think that's neat!!!!

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I've been thinkin' on it, and I think the biggest reason people are still insisting that Ed is just awful and abusive and whatever (aside from the racism of it all) is because the writers of OFMD fundamentally assume that viewers will like him and be on his side.

And, like, that is one hell of a reasonable assumption. Before s2 we spent a lot of time getting to know Ed; we see he's very sweet and smart and can be silly, and his self-esteem isn't great and he already has a lot of self-destructive tendencies and struggles with believing he can have nice things. These are all things we see in s2 and none of them should come as a surprise. We've gotten to know Ed and in s2 the writers assume we will be able to grant him even the barest ounce of sympathy.

"But he's being super violent and hurting the crew!" Ed's behavior at the beginning of s2 is best described as "a bit over the top" in the context of the show, and before he pulls out all the stops trying to get the crew to mutiny on him in his suicide attempt, he never actually hurts anyone except for Izzy (Izzy's the guy who threatened him and caused all this, or he'd still be crying in his blanket fort at the start of the season. OFMD has ALWAYS had a "talk shit get hit" philosophy and Izzy should not be the sole exception).

"But he never had to face any consequences for his actions!" I think almost getting beaten to death and then having to spend an entire episode convincing yourself you deserve to live is a pretty big consequence, actually.

"But he never apologized!" The group apology in s2e5 was obviously a joke (Stede clearly wrote it anyway and made Ed memorize it, look how Stede mouths along and Ed fumbles his lines), and it's pretty clear that Ed's conversation with Fang is meant to represent what he's doing with everyone. He's trying. He thinks up a way to try to give Lucius closure, even though it doesn't work, and when Fang mentions something Ed did that hurt him, Ed immediately and genuinely apologizes. It is not a wild jump to assume Ed's doing that with other characters and the show just assumes we're smart enough to figure that out from context considering how the crew are good with Ed again in s2e6.

"What if he hurts Stede/is abusive to Stede?" Multiple characters ask Stede something to this effect, Stede says "that's really stupid, of course he won't," and Stede is right. Question easily answered.

We're shown that Ed's response to being hurt and upset is not immediately violence. His first response is to go and hide and make himself feel safe - tub, blanket fort, hiding under the blanket and Anne and Mary's. Violence is Ed's response to feeling threatened. There's a difference. We're shown this over and over and over again, and frankly the only reason I think some people miss it is because they don't care to think about what's making Ed feel threatened in the first place.

It's just so clear that some people watching this show care so little about Ed and only care about what he can offer in a scene with other characters. Ed did not enjoy anything that happened at the beginning of the season - the last time we see him in s1 he's sobbing his poor eyes out and that's implied to have been consistent through s2e2. He's suicidal and having a miserable time and yes, he's hurting people who care about him, but it's not just for funsies, it's because he's trying to get himself killed. It's wild to me that some people can turn on the Ed and Stede show, see Ed pull himself out of such a terrible place by the end of the season and commit to a life with his boyfriend, and think that the show is setting up Ed to be abusive or imply he hasn't gone through any character growth and just coasted through the season.

[bubbles-for-all-of-us]

"Don't be gentle with me—I like it when you're rough." And “That Noise…keep making it.” With Garrick if it strikes your fancy?? Like they’re friendly and reader is In their friend group but you know. ~mutual pining~ and maybe they’re sparring but then *peak sexual tension*

warning: maybe slightly steamy.

Scream it why don't you

You two were the definition of enemies to lovers. Or more like enemies in love. Or lovers too prideful to acknowledge their feelings. Rilling each other up had become your hobby and quite frankly you both took it seriously. There wasn't a day when you two weren't jabbing insults at one another or pushing each other to a limit. To an untrained eye, it looked borderline mental. To your friends, it was an average Monday.

You all usually trained together away from other cadets. Not that you had anything against them, your group just enjoyed private time for that where you all could talk without any priding eyes. But that also meant that any restrictions you did have when upper superiors were around were out the window.

"Tell me that today is my lucky day", Bodhi muttered as he stretched next to you. "If you're once again asking me to get on my knees for you that will never happen, Bo", you chuckled leaning forward to meet your toes. Bodhi snickered, "I was drunk and that was one time", he said in defense, "And you do know that most males can't resist you". You smiled to yourself, "Full of flattery today aren't we?".

You leaned to the side, popping your hip out towards the guy. Not enough to touch him in any way but the implication was quite obvious. "Look...", Bodhi breathed out. "The only way you're looking is in the other directions", Garrick's voice sounded from the other side of you, "Move Durran". The warning was so clear. And gods did his territorial side turn you on. "Jeez man... I wasn't doing anything", Bodhi huffed.

"You're being mean Tavis", you sang, coming right up as you stood to face him. "What games are you playing?", he said through gritted teeth. You just tapped his cheek a couple of times, before walking past him, "Deflate your ego, it's cutting off your blood circulation".

But you had barely made a step past him before he gripped your hand, pulling you back to him, "Careful, baby, or you might end up regretting your actions". You pressed your body even closer to his, "You want me to simply moan it or should I scream it instead?", you batted your lashes at him, making him curse under his breath. "Get your ass on the sparring mat", Garrick said through gritted teeth. "Uu, exhibitionism, I like that", you nodded, strolling through the gym, making sure to sway your hips even more.

You caught a glimpse of Imogen as she shook her head trying to suppress a laugh. Xaden smirked as he moved to turn around. You cracked your knuckles before stepping into the position. Garrick's dark eyes followed you, as he too stepped closer. Pulling his shit off his body with one smooth mission. Your eyes lingered on his muscles. How could they not? He was a good-looking guy there was no denying that. You shook your head quickly, "Don't be gentle with me, I like it rough", you muttered.

Garrick struck first with a growl but you dodged it effortlessly. Twirling and turning. Throwing each other off balance but never close enough to land a decent blow. Until you made a false move, allowing Garrick to pull at your wrist. He spun you around till your back was tightly pressed against his chest. One of his hands holding your hand beneath your back, the other coming to wrap around your neck. It was shameful truly the way you had whimpered when he pressed harder, cutting off the flow of air ever so slightly. You pressed harder onto his crotch, feeling the already forming hard-on. Garrick pulled your head back, closer to him. Making you moan out once more. "Keep making the pretty sound for me, baby", he whispered, nibbling on the side of your neck as your eyes rolled back.

"We do have underage kids here, guys", Imogen shouted, breaking out of the intimate bubble. Causing your eyes to shoot open. "Fuck that", Bodhi hissed, "Date already because my sanity can no longer stand this", he huffed making you giggle. You ran your hand along Garrick's thighs as he prospered your shoulder and neck with kisses, smirking to himself. "Back room in ten?", he questioned against your ear. You turned to face him fully now that he had let go of you, "Make it five, I have needs", you pushed to your tiptoe whispering right against his lips before pulling away.

[zombiigrll]

ALWAYS YOU. ⋆｡°✩ carl grimes x reader .ᐟ WORD COUNT .ᐟ ⭑ 1.6K ꩜ .ᐟ WARNINGS ⭑ enemies to lovers, use of y/n, near-death, apocalypse stuff (of course), kissing <3 .ᐟ SUMMARY .ᐟ ⭑ after years of hating each other, the group gets sick of the constant arguments between you two and send you on a run together. ꩜ .ᐟ A/N .ᐟ ⭑ this is somewhat an edition to my carol fic, but you don't have to read that to read this! theres not any relevance besides a little reference to it here and there >_0

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you and carl's constant bickering was pretty normal to people at this point. i mean, they've been dealing with it since the prison.

you had been with lizzie and mika since the start, so you naturally arrived at the prison with them by your side.

what did this have to do with you and carl hating each other? well, probably the fact that lizzie was a bit... odd? she'd always name walkers, attempt to play with them, stupid things like that. and that pissed carl off.

-

"they're not people and they're not pets. don't name them." he sternly ordered lizzie, giving her a nasty look as he spoke.

as much as you understood where he was coming from, lizzie was like a sister to you, and you weren't going to let anyone talk to her like that.

"who do you think you are telling us what to do?" you put your hands sassily on your hips, giving him back the snotty look he was giving lizzie just a few seconds ago.

carl simply laughs in response, rolling his eyes at your response. "my dad is the leader here."

"so? what does that have to do with you?" carl looks at you as if he didn't have a plan of what to say after that. "...whatever. it doesn't mean anything, either way. you shouldn't be naming walkers. it's weird." he crossed his arms and turns around, walking away and signaling for patrick to come with.

-

...but there has to be a stop to everything.

as much as the group was used to your guys' bickering, they were sick of it. it was basically impossible to go a day without the two of you arguing. the two of you had a zero tolerance for one another, you were basically each others verbal punching bag.

so, rick and michonne decided to make a plan for the two of you to go on a run together. they told you separately that you needed to go on a run, but didn't say with who.

"hey." you heard called from behind you with a knock of the doorframe. you turned your head around to spot michonne with a smile. "we have you set up for a run today."

"oh, okay." you nodded, setting your comic book down to your side and spinning around on your bed to put your shoes on. you never questioned who you were going on a run with. frankly, you didn't care much. they never usually put you on runs with carl, and only with the same few people for a consistent schedule for everyone.

but carl was a different story. when rick told him, rick couldn't have prepared for how persisting carl would be about who he was going on a run with.

you see, with carl, he had to know everything about a run. where he was going, how he was getting there, who he was going with, everything.

"why can't you tell me who i'm going with?" carl threw his hands up in the air, confused and angry.

"why does it matter so much?" rick retorted, raising his eyebrow and crossing his arms.

"you told me were going to the center market. that's decently dangerous. i need to know who's going to be with me."

"...you're going with y/n." he caved, a hand on his forehead as he spoke.

"are you kidding me?" carls tone turned soft, lightly laced with anger. "that's too dangerous for her!"

carl was genuinely speaking, but rick was mostly confused why his first reaction was worry instead of anger.

"it's not too dangerous for her. that girls been through a lot. she knows how to handle herself."

"that doesn't change the fact that its dangerous-" "you're going on the run, that's final." rick cut carl off, walking out of his room and slamming the door shut.

after carl finished getting ready, you met up with him at the car.

"i'm going on a run with you?" you laughed, your eyebrow raised.

"yep, suck it up." carl blanky responded, hopping into the drivers seat swiftly.

you got into the passengers seat with a huff, crossing your arms and leaning your feet up on the dash as he started driving, but he quickly swiped your feet away.

"keep your feet off the dash." he ordered with his eyes still pealed on the road.

"whatever."

well, isn't this going to be a fun trip.

...

the two of you arrived at the center market, and to say it was packed with walkers would be an understatement. the two of you could still easily get past them and into the shops, but it was still dangerous.

you kept your knife in hand as you walked out with carl by your side holding his knife in one hand and having his other hand laying on his holstered gun around his waist.

you guys made it into the large shop that was simply just labeled 'food' and began scavenging for anything.

and to your guys' luck, it seemed as if no one had scavenged in here yet. at least not too much. you found canned food, bottled water, chips, so much. your backpacks were at least a couple ounces heavier afterwards.

"is that everything?" you asked carl, practically shouting across the store to him.

"keep it down!" he whisper yelled. "you're gonna attract them. and yes, as far as i can see."

you put your backpack back on, as just as you got your hand through the other strap, you heard a crash.

coming from the entrance of the building.

"y/n!" carl shouted, running over to your side.

"holy shit!" you pulled out your knife just in time to stab the walker coming up behind you. "god, oh, god."

carl caught up to you and stood by your side, gun in hand and shooting at the long distance walkers as you stabbed the ones closer.

"if you weren't shouting like a fucking idiot, maybe this wouldn't have happened." carl muttered as he shot the incoming wave of walkers roaming into the building.

"i know, i'm sorry!" you replied, your voice wobbly and anxious. you felt guilty enough all ready, and his smartass comments were not helping.

carl would usually snap back at you, but he didn't. instead, his face turned somber. “look, if we don’t make it out of this.. just remember that it was.. it was always you.” carl mutters under his breath as he’s slashing at the walkers.

“what?” you turn your head to face him, eyes wide in confusion.

but before he gave any explanation on his words, carl grabs your hand, interlocking your fingers together, and begins dragging you into a nearby room right through the walkers.

"keep the door shut!" he yells as he runs further into the room and with zero hesitation, you throw your back against the door, applying your full body weight onto it to assure the walkers don't get in.

carl pushes over a table into the corridor, signaling for you to quickly move before ramming it into the door.

he steps away from the door, breathless. he runs a hand through his hair as he re-regulates his breathing.

“…so.” you lay your hands on top of your knees, catching your breath. “what did you mean ‘it was always you?’”

carl rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, his face shading into a slightly pink tone. “..i don’t know.”

“come on, why did you say that then?” you persisted, stepping closer to him with your arms crossed. “you never say something for no reason.”

he sighs. “i thought we were going to die, and i didn’t want my last words to you to be something i didn’t mean.”

“so you didn’t mean the ‘fucking idiot’ comment?” you raised an eyebrow.

“no. i didn’t. i never really meant anything like that. i've never felt like that about you.” he averts his gaze down to his feet, messing with his hands. “kind of the opposite, actually.”

“…what?” you slowly processed what he was getting at.

“i mean, like… i can’t stand you, but i also can’t stand the thought of losing you. or you getting hurt, anything like that.” he anxiously confessed. “even after all of our pointless arguments-“

you grabbed the collar of his flannel and pulled him down into a kiss. when you pulled away, he stared back at you wide-eyed.

“…why did you do that?”

“because you never stop talking.” you laughed, staring at the dumbfounded boy lovingly.

“so you don’t hate me?” he muttered curiously.

“i never did. i just always thought that you hated me.”

...

the two of you were trapped in that little room for a bit, so you were left in an awkward silence, processing your emotions.

you were sitting criss-crossed in front of him, your hands behind you and leaning you up.

"y'know, people are gonna be confused when we get back to alexandria." you chuckle, looking at him with a smile.

"yeah, probably." he returns the smile. "at least we wont be at each others throats anymore."

"definitely." you responded, but your gaze quickly goes toward the window on the door. the walkers had gotten distracted by something and were walking in a different direction from the entrance of the shop.

"carl." you pointed towards the door, standing up quickly.

he nods, walking over to the table in front of the door and peaking to see if the walkers are gone before pushing the table out of the way, quickly grabbing your hand, and making a run for it.

the two of you ran through the door as fast as possible and through the walkers. luckily, you guys were faster than them, and you made it to the car. you practically jumped into the passengers seat, along with carl in the drivers seat, and he floored it back to alexandria.

and you guys still thankfully had your backpacks filled with food and water for the rest of the alexandrians.

and a repaired friendship, plus a newfound relationship.

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[666writingcafe]

Level Six

Content Warning: sub!/needy!Lucifer antics ensue, possibly OOC?

It all ends in Lucifer's room.

Upon reaching his bedroom door, I notice a note taped to it. Reading it reveals that as soon as I enter the room, I must remain in there for thirty minutes. If I succeed, I'll earn my star.

I stick the note in my pocket, take a deep breath, and open the door. The sight that greets me makes me audibly gasp. Lucifer's wrists and ankles are tied to the bed, leaving him quite vulnerable to anything that wants to have their way with him. That, combined with the fact that he's naked and hard, tells me that this is going to be a long half-hour.

"MC." His voice is higher than usual, making him sound a bit whiny.

"Lucifer?" I walk up to the bed, resting my hand on the nearest post.

"Is this how you want me?"

"I mean, sometimes," I answer honestly. "I just want to be able to take care of you from time to time. You have so much on your plate, and you rarely get to relax."

"I suppose that's true." Lucifer sighs. "I'd be lying if I told you that I've never wanted to do something like this."

"Yeah, with Diavolo."

"With you," he corrects. He's never this candid with me. Not unless he's under the influence of something. Yet, when I question him about it, he tells me that he's completely sober.

I don't know who blushes more: me or Lucifer.

"Frankly, I'm surprised," I respond. "I didn't think you were the submissive type. Not willingly, anyway."

"Only with people I trust completely."

"I'd imagine that's a rather short list." He hums affirmatively.

"You're one of maybe five in my entire existence that I've felt comfortable sharing this with." I feel like my heart just leapt up my throat, making it impossible to speak. How in the world did I manage to do something like that? While I'm proving to be rather powerful, I'm still only a human.

"Quit it," he states.

"Quit what?"

"Thinking that you're unworthy. I don't make these kind of judgements lightly, MC. If I didn't think for a second that you'd be able to handle this appropriately, I wouldn't have agreed to indulge you in this particular way." His red eyes stare deep into mine, making me gulp. It reminds me that I'm dealing with the literal Avatar of Pride and not just some handsome guy off the street.

I have to distract myself. I can't give in now, not when I'm so close to completing this whole test.

I walk away from Lucifer, choosing to sit in his desk chair.

"MC, please." Ignoring him, I pick up one of the books off his desk and begin reading.

"MC!" Oh, he definitely sounds needy. And desperate. I take a deep breath, summoning as much self-control as I possibly can.

"No."

"Ple-ease!" Is he crying? "I wanna be your good boy so bad!" My hand grips harder on the book's spine. If he's acting, then he's nailing it.

"I can't." I hear him whimpering.

"Master, please." Oh shit. He's going there. "Give me an order. I'll do anything you ask me to." Glancing up from my book reveals a wide-eyed, flushed, and panting Lucifer. He looks so pretty right now.

How much time has passed?

"I would under any other circumstances, but not now."

"Whyyyy?!"

"Because I'd fail this part of the test." I try to focus my attention back on the book, but I hear Lucifer struggling against his restraints.

"Behaving like a brat isn't going to get you what you want, Lucifer." I'm surprised the thought escapes my mouth.

"I don't care. I need you, Master. I'll be so good for you."

"You're not being good right now." Would Asmo and Solomon consider this cheating? I hope not. I'm just trying to distract Lucifer--and myself--until the thirty minutes is up.

"If you untie me, I'll give you everything you ever dreamed of."

"Tempting, but no." His subsequent whining slowly turns into white noise, and I'm actually able to focus on the book. Not that I'll remember anything that I'm reading, but as long as I'm able to block out Lucifer, then I should be able to pass.

Suddenly, I hear a timer go off, indicating that the thirty minutes are up. I'm hesitant to move, though. Knowing Solomon, he's hoping to lure me into a false sense of security and then ding me for giving into my desires. Just out of curiosity, I start the stopwatch on my D.D.D. and continue reading.

Sure enough, another half hour has passed by the time Solomon enters the room. Waving his hand, he summons a sheet to cover Lucifer's naked form before walking over to me.

"I must say, I'm impressed, MC," he tells me as I close the book and set it back on Lucifer's desk. "I thought for sure you would have fallen for that." I shake my head.

"I figured it was a trap." Solomon smiles.

"Hold out your hand." Once I do, he causes the star of chastity to appear on the magical crest. He then guides me out of the room and gently shuts the door.

"Who's going to untie Lucifer?" I ask.

"The same person that tied him."

Taglist: @lost-in-time-wanderer, @fuzztacular, @dianedancer18, @sweetbrier2908, @flare-love, @completelyshatteredbrokenmschf, @thunderlightning351, @l3v1chan

[butwhatifidothis]

Talking from a fe3h discourse perspective I get hating Rhea, as a Rhea lover. To a lesser extent I GUESS I get Seteth. But Flayn??????? She's just vibing and eating fish??? She has NOTHING to do with Rhea's decisions? Like at that point you're (not you op, general you) just looking for issues. To be clear if you hate her because of her personality or whatever sure, to each their own. But hating her because "church bad" feels really stupid to me. That's like a rhea/church fan hating the black eagles on principal because they're part of edelgard's house or because they don't hate edelgard.

When you realize they ascribe to this kind of mentality

it starts to make a lot more sense. Yeah, if two members of a race being bad if enough for you to ascribe malice and evil to every single member of said race, it's pretty easy to also say that the very blood of that race is evil and having it course through your veins makes you evil.

Which they've been saying for a while now!

Yes, you are in fact seeing a ~year-and-a-half old screenshot of them saying the exact same racist garbage they're saying now.

Also, just. This fucker keeps repeating this stupid fucking point about Nemesis and frankly it pisses me off.

Two years. From as early as two days ago (as of July 11th 2024) to as far back as two fucking years, they've been repeating "Nemesis couldn't have been THAT BAD you guys, because the people he's been tyrannically ruling over for over a century and who didn't know the full extent of his actions which include the genocide he committed believed in the lie about him being a liberator! A supposed liberator of a group of people these oppressed ignorant civilians would have had literally no contact with whatsoever given Nemesis has been ruling for over a century! Meaning any human alive during the actual reign of the Nabateans would have been fucking dead by the time Nemesis was killed, meaning any alive during Nemesis' reign had no way of knowing how that rule actually was! This lie was so imprinted into the people's conscious that Rhea couldn't erase it, so it has to be true and not a lie anymore!"

Literally saying that Nemesis was right to do what he did because he said he was and the people who had no choice but to believe him believed he was. Like I said, they are so fucking desperate to defend this genocider and to degrade the Nabateans as an entire race to be biologically inclined towards evil, and have been desperate to do this for years.

Here are a couple more choice words Shandale has said!

"He didn't genocide them because he WANTED to, he did it because he HAD to! If he didn't, anyone he brought with him to genocide the Nabateans would have been killed!"

Oh, but silly me! What I am talking about?

It wasn't a genocide! It was getting rid of oppressor and conquerors! Those oppressors and conquerors, you know, just so happening to be the entirety of the Nabatean race.

Which, hm! Guess what nonnie!

Explicitly includes Flayn! Someone who literally never did anything to anyone! Oh, except be willing to kill followers... who are a direct threat to others and are desecrating her mother's grave. Oh, but who cares about silly little nitpicks like that, she's willing to kill her followers!! ...Oh wait, there's only reference to Cichol in that paralogue? Cethleann isn't even mentioned once anywhere in the paralogue? Like literally anywhere? Bah! Who cares! Flayn is evil, just like all the other Nabateans! Let's """"""""joke"""""""" about killing her over and over and over and over and over again!

Teehee isn't it so funny guys! They're killing Flayn, haha, soooo funny! Ignore how they think Flayn's race in its entirety needs to be killed and how they lie about what Flayn's done to paint her as evil, they're just jokingly killing Flayn and joking about how fun they find the idea of killing this member of a race they clearly hate over and over keekeekee!!! This race isn't real guys you're not allowed to find this disturbing plus they're just joking anyway hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!

(there's actually more of these "jokes". Like way more of them. Just, lettin' everybody know)

And, oh, wow!

This includes Indech and Macuil! Nabateans who cut off all contact with humanity after they had helped kill the genocider of their race. Macuil isn't even in Fodlan anymore, he's in the middle of a Sreng desert, but, nope! They helped kill Nemesis, meaning they are also completely evil :)

Funny how every single Nabatean who stood up against the human who killed them all is deemed irrevocably evil no matter what, but the human Agarthans are just poor little victims who deserved more nuance and sympathy even after they literally murder children. But we're the mean ones for pointing all of this out as bad tho

[celaenaeiln]

What is your opinion on Babdick/dickbabs? I personally hate it because it doesn’t look like a healthy relationship especially when Barbara doesn’t seem to love dick all that much

It's not and she doesn't and I don't like them together at all.

Oracle Barbara was mostly fine but I CANNOT STAND Batgirl Barbara and Dick.

Take this comic for instance, Dick and Barbara have broken up (as they always do) and Dick is thinking about it and being sad about their relationship. He calls Barbara to say sorry as he always does

DC's Crimes of Passion

But Barbara's feelings on the breakup?

DC's Crimes of Passion

When Barbara says she's scared of needing someone, I can totally understand that. It's a immense feeling and perfectly acceptable reason but-

"I don't know what to call us. I don't even really know what I want us to be. Or what we're supposed to be."

Really?

This isn't the sound of a girl in love, this is the sound of a woman stringing along a man.

She doesn't want to be together with Dick but she's doesn't want to be away from him. She loves him but can't stand the idea of loving him.

And truthfully? I get this too - because I almost did it myself. A guy I'm good friends with asked me out on a date and to be honest I didn't even feel the same about him that way. I was just friends with him and when he asked me I thought about accepting. He's super kind, good looking, and smart and he's an absolute catch. I thought about saying yes - not because I had a crush on him or anything, but I just wanted to be in love. But I didn't because that's a terrible thing for me to do. I didn't have any attraction for him romantically but if I started going out with him just because I wanted someone that would super, duper crappy of me. He's an awesome guy and he deserves way more than that. I didn't want to string him along. It would make me an awful person if I had done it.

To go out with them just because I wanted someone.

DC's Crimes of Passion

It's the constant back and forth between that I can't stand.

Nightwing (2011) Annual 1

What. Timing.

I genuinely don't understand what's she trying to get at here. I thought love was about working through the hardest times in your life together, achieving successes together, and always being there for each other. I didn't think love was about falling apart during every crisis big or small. I didn't think it was about breaking up when you felt like it and not bothering to resolve the issues that caused you to break up in the first place.

Later on in the comic, Barbara talks about talking it out later and goes to meet Dick but he had to leave cause he got called for a case.

Really. Now it's on the both of them here. They can't be together because then it's going to be a long distance relationship?

Frankly Dick in a semi and Barbara in a vest is...is there some stereotype about trucker families not working out that I'm missing here? what is this.

That's another thing that bothers me about Dickbabs. They never resolve the issue that caused them to break up in the first place. Sometimes I'm reading them and all of sudden Barbara's like "we should stop seeing each other," and I'm like why??? There's literally nothing going on??

Barbara cares a lot about Dick. She cares about his safety and sometimes his emotional wellbeing but she doesn't love him for who he is. She loves the idea of him but not him.

I swear I used to root so hard for them but it's exhausting to like them together when Dick is dumping buckets of love over Barbara's head while she's holding up an umbrella. And then she takes the umbrella and stabs it through his heart.

She can be super toxic when it comes to Dick.

Nightwing (1996) Issue #86

She literally blames Dick for trying to make her happy. In the comic he's doing acrobatics all over the place, fixing her computer so it's easier for her, and generally being overly cheerful for her so she'll forget her pain and become happy at least for a moment and in turn-she literally Gaslights him??

"You can't stop reminding me of what I once was. You can't stop flaunting your own health. You still think you're immortal, Dick, and you're not."

Are you for real?! If someone is walking and you're in a wheelchair, you want them to be in one too because you feel sad about yourself?

And the constant way she talks down to him.

But even this I can sort of understand. Let's throw the blame on Dick here for a split second even though it's not his fault. Barbara is recently put into a wheelchair so she's depressed. Dick is being overly helpful. He wants to do everything for her so he can make her life easier, to alleviate her pain and she's tired of that. That's understandable and honestly they did need a little break here so Dick could turn down his enthusiasm and let Barbara be the strong woman she's known to be. BUT WHY IS SHE BLAMING HIM?? Just tell him you want some time apart to figure out yourself without throwing the blame and breaking the heart of your boyfriend who loves you so much.

Dick here reminded me of family members after their child has been diagnosed with cancer. They want to do everything they can but they don't know how so they keep smiling through the pain and being as positive as possible.

Here's my main issue with Dickbabs. Writers are incapable of writing the two of them together in a way that lifts both of them up.

They got it into their heads that to make Barbara look smart, they have to make Dick look dumb. That to make Barbara look skillful, they have to make Dick look incompetent.

But hey it's unfair of me to use Nightwing comics only (DC crimes of passion isn't a nightwing comic but the point still stands) to talk about Dickbabs.

I'm not saying all Dickbabs is bad. There's a couple that are good like this one

Batgirls Issue #8

They're so cute!!! They look so hot together too

but. Writers as always are incapable of writing Dick as a strong independent character that relies on Barbara.

Batgirls Issue #8

Sorry, Dick - who has beaten Batman, destroyed Justice Leagues, runs superhero teams with some of the strongest metas in the world and has beaten them without breaking a sweat - just lets himself get kicked and punched around for fun? Are you trying to tell me that Dick only fights because people insult Barbara? I can't believe I'm saying this but Tom Taylor has written better than this.

Their love can be so one sided.

She abuses Dick as an emotional outlet for her anger and resentment.

Nightwing (1996) Issue #87

Context: She's blaming him for being sexually harassed by Catalina. Catalina earlier broke into their date night, beat Barbara up in the wheelchair, kissed Dick and kneed him to surprise him before Dick beat her off Barbara.

And not only is she busy victim blaming him, she's also busy calling him incompetent. And Dick's rightfully mad that as a vigilante of nearly two decades she's telling him he's pathetic.

And what does Bruce have to do with anything here? From the Titans, we know that Dick's greatest fear is turning into Batman. They fight so hard to protect him from it, and what does Barbara do?

"Congratulations. You've managed to turn into Bruce."

This makes me the most mad though-

"Bludhaven was managing a long time before you got here."

The anger I felt was incandescent. Why do people fight crime Barbara? I guess Bruce should just call it a night and take Batman for a nap forever. Why was Batgirl created if Gotham was managing before Batgirl even existed? In one sentence, she's managed to trash the multiverses of superheroes.

No wonder Wally wants Kori and Dick together. Barbara's mad at him for protecting her against Catalina. If Dick had just kept sitting and waiting for the bodyguards in that fancy place then Barbara wouldn't be severely injured. But oops. His bad.

After he punches the board she gets mad and leaves and Dick's emotional well-being goes on a downward spiral.

I have other issues with them because Dick's relationship with Barbara diminishes his canonical relationships with the superhero community.

Again - writers' problem.

So...complicated. They could be amazing if written right but right now I'm wavering between being indifferent to them and disliking them. They should seriously just be friends instead.

I need to clarify something first. Barbara Gordon herself is fine. She's cool. But when she's with Dick? The way writers write them as well as her own personality comes out in the worst, most toxic ways.

And that's not even getting into what writers did to Kori's personality and Dick's morality. They just dashed decades of Teen Titans comics to make both of them look evil.

That's not even touching the atrocity of their Dark Nights: Death Metal scene or the way Barbara victim blamed Dick for having amnesia.

Batgirl (2016) Issue #50

This is so unfair. She can victim-blame Dick for having amnesia because she's mad at bruce but if Dick even yelled at her when he's mad at Bruce, it would be an International Incident in the fandom. Where's the equality in this?

I know Barbara is pretty mad at other things in this scene but she has a tendency to use Dick as an emotional outlet

Batgirl (2011) Issue #3

She's literally beating him up because she's upset at losing her fight against some villain and thinking about her own insecurities. He just dropped in to show her some love and help.

If Batgirl Barbara only acted this way in Nightwing comics, then I would be inclined to say that the writers have a preference against her. BUT she's acts like this in the Nightwing comics, the Batgirl comics, the Batman comics, the general DC comics, and practically every comic that has them together. Given that DC is rooting for Dickbabs and trashing Kori for it, there is literally no reason for her to be acting this way. And the thing is, Dick's other relationships have been fantastic. Not just the big ones, but the minor ones too that people forget have been full of love. So why can't they write Dickbabs that way?

I didn't even know how bad they were together until recently. I just kinda glossed over all the toxic components of their relationship because, you know, "girlbossing" right? But there's only so many plot holes you can sell to your readers before they start questioning the legitimacy of your product. Thus my feelings about them have changed.

This being said, I don't like them romantically but I love them as friends. When Barbara is just working with dick as crimefighting partners or friends, they make an awesome team and they're so fun to read. I just can't stand them together as lovers anymore. And really, even their good Batgirl/Nightwing lover moments just seem like it's them being good friends.

They have the potential to be great.

Nightwing (2016) Annual #1

Batgirl (2016) Issue #16

But usually they're just not.

[hippolotamus]

Inspiration Saturday 🪩

Tagged by the delightful @thekristen999 @daffi-990 @lemonzestywrites @bidisasterevankinard @wikiangela

@theotherbuckley for Fuck it Friday. Thank you darlin’s (tagging you back for today) mwah! 💖

Made a lil moodboard for today's snippet. I'm not in love with all the words but that's what editing is for. So, here's Buck visiting Eddie's workplace for the first time. Surprise (because I don't think I've mentioned this before???) Eddie's not a firefighter in this either. He's a mechanic who works with a bunch of homophobic jerks. But also with Hen! Buck knows Eddie isn't out to most people so this is an... enlightening moment for him. Some of it's under the cut to save your dash. masterlist of posts here and no I'm not writing this remotely in order

“Oh, thank fuck,” he mumbles to himself when he pulls the door open and is greeted with a cool blast of air conditioning. 

Looking around the interior, he thinks it could pass for a museum. A snapshot in time, forever preserved exactly as it was. Gold framed articles about the 1973 grand re-opening hang on the wood-paneled walls alongside prints of hot rods and muscle cars. There are vintage metal signs mixed in for Shell, Texaco, Gulf, and some other brands he’s never heard of. 

“Do you have an appointment?” A gravelly voice asks from behind him.

Buck jerks around to the desk where a middle aged woman with auburn hair and green gray eyes glares at him with a mix of boredom and curiosity. Or maybe suspicion? He can't quite tell.

Her bronzed skin is littered with freckles and screams that she’s spent too much time outside with no sunscreen or other protection. A name plate, half hidden under papers and key rings, identifies her as Estelle. He’s heard a few stories about her from Eddie, but he’s not sure any of them did her intimidating demeanor justice.

“Uh, no?” He answers, not sure why it comes out as a question other than he’s not entirely convinced the five foot something couldn’t somehow manage to hurt him. 

It must take every ounce of strength to conceal the whole body sigh she wants to make as she looks down, licks her fingertip and begins flipping through a giant paper scheduling book. “If you don’t have an appointment I can maybe get you in next Thursday. Depending on what you need.”

“Actually, uh, I don’t need anything.” Estelle glances up, mouth slightly parted and eyes narrowed as if she’s about to ask what he’s doing standing in her lobby. He quickly adds, “Well, what I mean is, my car doesn’t need anything. I’m here to see Eddie? Uh, Eddie Diaz.”

She nods with something like understanding. At least he hopes that’s what it is as she picks up the phone receiver and punches in a few numbers.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Hey, is Diaz around? Someone here asking about him.” 

“No, it’s not the cops! What’s the matter with you? I don’t know. Just some guy here looking for Eddie.”

Estelle huffs an exasperated sigh and looks toward the ceiling like it’ll give her strength. “Jay, I don’t have time for twenty questions and, quite frankly, I don’t care.”

“About time you quit screwin’ around. Send him out.” She hangs up the receiver and mutters something about not caring that he’s a relative. 

“He’ll be a few minutes. Take a seat.” She gestures to a line of metal chairs with sticky looking vinyl cushions without so much as glancing in Buck’s direction. 

He momentarily gets excited when he spots a gumball machine in the corner until he realizes it would require actual coins that he definitely doesn’t have. And he’s not about to ask Estelle if she’s got change for a twenty just so he can satisfy his sweet tooth. 

“Buck?” Eddie appears from a side door, wiping his hands on a rag. His hair is sweaty and mussed, likely from pushing it out of his face. His gorgeous, kissable face that Buck very much wants to kiss even more right now despite the streaks and smudges of god knows what decorating it. The corner of Eddie’s mouth twitches like he knows what Buck is thinking, but he clears his throat and schools it just as quickly when Estelle grunts, reminding them they’re at his workplace. 

“Uh, Buck. Hi. What can I do for you?” Eddie tilts his chin in the direction of the parking lot. “Everything okay with the jeep?”  

“Hi,” Buck answers, a little too breathy for their current situation. He can’t seem to help himself. Eddie’s always cleaned up when they meet, whether it’s at the club, a date out somewhere or an evening in. He’s never seen him marked up from his job, in his grimy army green coveralls. 

“Uh, yeah. Jeep’s fine. Just, you know, was nearby and thought I’d stop in.” Buck tracks the movement as Eddie’s tongue darts out, wetting his lips, before sneaking him a flirty, amused smirk. 

“Glad you did.” Eddie chances a look at Estelle who still has her head down, shuffling some papers that probably don’t need it. He takes a step closer and lowers his voice. “I haven’t taken my lunch yet. Give me five and we can get out of here?”

Buck nods, not knowing how to respond without giving anything away. 

Eddie puts more distance between them again, sticking his hand out. Buck takes it, thrown by the familiarity of his boyfriend mixed with the very conventional, socially acceptable handshake. “Great to see you again, Buck. Check that place on Viscount Boulevard. I think you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

“Uh, yeah. Thanks,” Buck answers, reluctantly letting their palms slide apart. But he gets it. Eddie’s coworkers are all a bunch of ignorant, homophobic assholes. Well, except for Hen apparently. Regardless, Eddie can’t be risking his job and livelihood when he has Chris to think about. “I’ll go check it out. You said it’s about... ten minutes from here?”

“About that, yeah. Maybe fifteen.”

A warm, fluttering feeling washes over him as Eddie winks and smiles, seeming pleased that Buck caught on to his little game. He has to force himself to turn around and leave instead of watching his boyfriend walk away. 

“Have a nice day,” Estelle says as he opens the door, setting off a chime. It’s enough to snap him out of his haze, offering a weak ‘you too’ as he hurries back to his jeep.

np tagging @actuallyitsellie @epicbuddieficrecs @loveyouanyway @a-noble-dragon @tizniz

@mountedeverest @fortheloveofbuddie @weewootruck @saybiwithme @shipperqueen6

@ramonaflow @taketheplanspinitsideways @spotsandsocks @dangerpronebuddie @stereopticons

@kitteneddiediaz @mrs-f-darcy @drowsy-quill @your-catfish-friend @filet-o-feelings

@underwaterninja13 @lizzie-bennetdarcy @rainbow-nerdss @steadfastsaturnsrings @queenmabcreates

@inell @jesuisici33 @rmd-writes @shortsighted-owl @queerbuckleys

@bi-buckrights @elvensorceress @bucksbiawakening @giddyupbuck @hoodie-buck

@indestructibleheart @ladydorian05 @monsterrae1 @statueinthestone @slightlyobsessedwitheverything

@the-likesofus @thewolvesof1998 @watchyourbuck @welcometololaland @wildlife4life and anyone else who wants to 😘

[andorskenobi]

The Good I'll Do | J. Seresin

Pairing: Jake 'Hangman' Seresin x F!Reader

Summary: Jake had always been viewed as the guy who just screws around, no feelings attached. Really he just wanted someone to remind him he's worth more than just one night, and then he met you.

Warnings: angst(?), use of nicknames, no use of y/n, allusion to smut, pls lmk if I missed anything else !!

A/N: I just think that this song is very Hangman coded idk its in my hangman playlist so yeah, also I am very new to this so please feel free to leave any requests/recommendations that you may have anything Top Gun, Star Wars, or GoT.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was the fifth 'date' you and Jake had gone on and he was just waiting for you to decide you were done with him. But you just wouldn't let him go. He had always thought that people only ever wanted him for the sex, but it was different with you. The two of you had only ever had sex twice which was almost refreshing for him.

Now the two of you sat in your driveway, his callused hand in your soft ones. Neither of you wanted to get out just yet and it was evident in the air around you.

You were the first to break the comfortable silence that had built between the two of you, "Do you wanna come in?"

Jake turned to face you, taking in your eyes and the way they incapsulated the light from the streetlamps, "Yeah."

His response came out airier than he meant it to, and he knew you took notice of that. The two of you got out of his truck and he watched as you unlocked the door, going inside sideways as you always did when you were tipsy.

When you both got inside Jake closed the door, locking it behind you, before following you to your bedroom where you had made yourself comfortable.

"Nope, get up, you are not going to sleep with your shoes still on." Jake sat on the edge of your bed, pulling your feet into his lap.

"I don't care, I wanna sleep," you mumble into the pillow. Jake just rolled his eyes and continued to take your shoes off.

"C'mon honey, lets get you out of those jeans. You'll thank me in the morning." You begrudgingly rolled over and let Jake remove the jeans.

Jake watches as you crawl underneath the covers before putting the sweatpants that he left at your house for nights when he slept over on. When he got in bed you immediately snuggled into his side, slotting your legs between his and putting your head in the crook of his neck. Jake never wanted to let moments like these with you go. These moments made him believe that he was worth more, worth more than just an evening.

The next morning Jake woke up to find your side of the bed cold and empty and the smell of cooking coming from the kitchen. Jake smiled to himself before removing the covers from his body and made his way to the kitchen. It took everything in him not to laugh when he saw you dancing in front of the stove as you cooked.

Jake walked up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist. You turned your head to look up at him, a smile on your face.

"Good morning Bagman." Jake rolled his eyes as you placed a kiss to his jaw.

"Ha ha, real cute honey. What are you making?"

"Oh, well it was supposed to be pancakes but they turned out to be more like scrambled eggs, but made with pancake batter." You frowned before turning back to the stove, "I'm sorry, it turns out I am not actually as good of a cook as I thought."

"Yeah, go ahead and hand me the spatula sweets." You handed it to him, moving out of the way so he could salvage your attempt at breakfast.

You watched as Jake cooked a smile on your face knowing that you were the only person getting to see this side of him, and frankly you would be happy if you could see this side of him for the rest of your life.

"I can feel your eyes burning into the back of my head." You laughed, shaking your head.

"I am just thinking."

"About?" Jake turned his head to look at you and then turned his attention back to the stove.

"You, us. Life? I don't know." This got Jake's full attention.

"What about us?"

"What are we? Like what is it that we're doing here?" Jake nodded before smiling, which annoyed you.

"We," Jake gestured between the two of you, stepping closer as he did, "are whatever you want us to be. You want a label, fine. Nothing, it'll suck but if that's what you want then I'll understand."

"What about what you want?"

"I just want you," Jake brushed the hair stray hair that had fallen from your braid behind your ear, his hand resting on your cheek.

You pull him closer connecting your lips for a quick kiss, "Then I am yours."

Jake smiles before pulling you in for another kiss, this one more rushed than the other. His hands began roaming your body, pushing the straps of the sundress you wore off your shoulders.

"Jake," you sighed into the kiss, "your pancakes are burning."

Jake pulled away from the kiss just long enough to turn the eye off and move the pan to a cold eye, and then turned his attention back to you.

"Jump." Jake commanded his hands under you to support your weight as you jumped up, wrapping your legs around his waist. Jake carried you to your bedroom, never once breaking the kiss.

[blacknedsoul-blog]

My bets on Nevermore's development

In the middle of the arc and with the White Raven divorce beginning, I think I feel comfortable betting on how all the story lines the comic has laid out so far will play out. A mixture of analysis and theories.

Duke and Montressor

I don't think Duke will die. For several reasons (one of which I'll explain below), but the main one is that Duke is a character who still has a lot to give: they've gone to the trouble of giving him a name, a past, a personality, and yet none of these things have been properly explored. The comic wouldn't really benefit from Duke dying because he still has a lot of interesting things to bring to the story.

Coupled with the fact that we're still learning how Spectres work, and with Duke unable to manifest, it's the perfect time to flesh out that part of the lore and give us a cool moment to show us his Spectre.

That said, I have a hard time seeing a way for Montressor to stay in the game once this issue is over: he's proven himself to be a menace that won't stop and an unmitigated sadist. The guy is just evil, and frankly, he didn't seem to have much more backstory or anything new to bring to the table.

My bet on him is that he'll die, maybe Lenore will go with the group in psycho-killer mode, Duke will confront him with his spectre, Morella will go against him to save Ada, Annabel will try to make merit so Lenore won't be asked for a divorce, or the Deans themselves will see him as a problem they need to take care of. If the comic thinks murder is irredeemable for its characters, maybe he'll have a Frollo-style death where it's his own ego that kills him (what if he becomes one of the creatures roaming the school?).

I think this because, besides how satisfying it would be to see him die, I think it would be a good time for the comic to show you the consequences of death within Nevermore. We know that going to the Land of the Dead is a terrible thing, but we don't know exactly what it entails. And seeing it would make any future threat seem more terrifying.

Post-Divorce

The White Raven will reconcile. This is obvious: the comic is about their relationship, the publicity for the comic has them together, and much of the appeal of the work comes from their romance. It's not a question of whether it will happen or not, but how it will happen and what the consequences will be.

Maybe some extraordinary event will happen to bring them back together, or we will have the equivalent of the Greenhouse 2.0 scene where they have a whole conversation about why, even if Lenore understands Annabel reasons, this is a situation that can never happen again.

One thing I want to point out here: I don't think Annabel did this out of jealousy. Maybe she feels it, but this story has made a consistent effort to show you that while Annabel is hypocritical, manipulative, and Machiavellian, she still has a moral compass: her reaction after when Montressor makes Ada bark and when Prospero is about to have a breakdown indicate that her limit is to hurt others gratuitously. She won't defend them if it puts her in a problematic situation, but this clearly pisses her; by that logic, it would even be out of character for her to try to hurt Duke because she's jealous, and more importantly, it would do irreparable damage to her relationship with Lenore (which is why I don't think our favorite Frenchman dies).

Understanding that, there's one thing these two haven't really talked about: for Lenore, getting her friends out of here is not something optional, she's completely determined to do it, and given this moment, it's very likely that the next step will be for Annabel to join the "save everyone" team: she thinks Lenore is capable of anything, and so she's going to put all her faith in her being able to pull this off.

Coupled with the fact that the plan to keep Lenore as a harmless figure went to hell after the incident in the tower, she's going to have to adjust things. And my theory on this is that Annabel is going to expand her rivalry plan to the group level.

I believe this because the logical conclusion after the banquet is that the Deans, for some reason, want the students to fight, to foster an atmosphere of competition among them. So far, giving them what they want has worked perfectly for them, so they would suggest that it would be helpful to pretend that things are going exactly as they think they are while they try to figure out how to get out of this place, at least until they can think of something better.

Yes, I assume Annabel will join the Misfits. She'll probably be like Zuko from Avatar, begging for forgiveness and winning them over one by one in individual arcs.

Another important development that will come out of this is that when Lenore is fed up enough with her bullshit, she will remind Annabel of her promise about how they both get their memories back: they are already right in the middle and it will be time to start putting the puzzle together.

However, I have reason to believe that Annabel will manage not to talk about the exact way they both died for a very simple reason: whether Lenore was Annabel's executioner or not, they died together. Lenore was there, and she will most likely blame herself because "if I hadn't gone looking for her, Annabel would still be alive" and for "not protecting her".

But by the time they have this conversation (or she finds out otherwise), the comic may be starting to address one of Lenore's major conflicts as a character: because of her fear of abandonment and her feeling that she is undeserving of love, she has no qualms about putting herself in danger to protect others. This is a terribly damaging perspective in the context that the Deans have created: not only is it naive to think that she can always protect her friends or Annabel from getting hurt, but Lenore unwittingly carries the feelings of the people who love her by endangering herself.

My head canon

Everything I've said so far is based on things the comic has shown and storylines that may not be explored in this specific way, but are more or less on the comic. But there's a lot of nonsense out there that I'd really like to see, even if there's little or nothing in the artwork to indicate to me that any of those things will come to fruition.

Annabel vs. Montressor

I would love to see Annabel vs. Montressor precisely because Annabel has no chance against Montressor: she has no experience in a fight, even if her spectre is a powerful one, Montressor would wipe the floor with her. But I think it would be a nice way to put a point: Annabel and Montressor are not the same.

He enjoys torturing others, she will be a villain to protect what she loves.

I can also think of two interesting things that could come out of this encounter: Lenore having her moment where she thinks Annabel is dead, parallel to the maze scene (for Lenore, Annabel is an unbeatable queen, so she could use a little reality check), and a conversation along those lines:

-L: Did you think that by putting yourself in danger like this I was going to forgive what you did?!

A: I didn't do this because I thought you would forgive me. Deep down, I know you already did, even though that doesn't mean I shouldn't face consequences for my actions.

-L: ...Then why?

-A: Because I promised you I would. I said I would distract our enemies, that I would protect you from my allies, and that's exactly what I did. I knew I couldn't handle him, but I was distracted and wounded enough to get the job done.

This would finally establish one thing that has been up in the air about Annabel: yes, she really behaves and acts like a villain. But after something like this, there would never be any doubt (for the readers or for Lenore) that she always keeps her promises.

Imagine the delicious drama that could come from establishing that so forcefully.

Eulalie is a Lennabel shipper

Come to think of it, the two of them haven't done a very good job of hiding it: we go from Lenore running all over school to take care of Annabel to watching them fight for no apparent reason.

I like to think that Eulalie seriously suspects something is going on between them, and when the Misfits inevitably find out about Annabel and Lenore's relationship, she'll be like, "Oh, you guys hadn't noticed?" while saying things like, "Oh, so you're the one who took us to the haunted mansion!"

Annabel and Berenice as unlikely friends

I love the image of Berenice physically threatening Annabel with the knife and saying something like "You're a posh bitch, but you've got style" after she doesn't react in fear. I also think Bernice would be the first to admit that while she won't easily forgive Annabel for putting Duke in danger, she wouldn't have hesitated to throw Annabel, Prospero, Ada, or Will under the bus to protect any of her group of friends if necessary.

Also, the idea of Annabel saying, "She's a violent slur. I want her around" is oddly hilarious to me.

Prospero as the ultimate "tired friend"

If Annabel takes Prospero with her, I can imagine the guy banging his head against the wall all the time because he sees all these idiots who are strangely competent when you get right down to it, but choose to spend their energy doing stupid things when no one is dying.

A terrible deal between Duke and Annabel

Remember that wonderful scene in Avatar where Katara threatens to kill Zuko if she thinks he's going to hurt Aang? I like to think that Duke and Annabel will have a scene like that:

-D: They didn't see the look on your face when they put up the wall, but I did. And I can assure you that I won't hesitate to act if I think you're going to hurt my friend or any of them, cherie.

-A: Promise?

-D: ...

-A: That you will be there to protect her no matter what, even from me. I wouldn't mind you holding the sword of Damocles over my head if it proves to me that you can protect her from any threat.

-D: You have my word.

In conclusion

So that's my bingo on how things will go in the comic from here on out. There are some things (like Morella's development, what's going to happen with Ada, or when the hell we're going to get some backstory on Will) that I don't think I have enough information on to theorize. But here it is.